#i will always consider echo to be the “mom friend” of the group

[laughhardrunfastbekindsblog]

I've come across the opinion before that the personalities of the Clone Force 99 characters change somewhat between the TCW arc and "Aftermath."

While I don't share this opinion - I think their individual characterizations/personalities and group dynamics remain very consistent between the two stories - they DO seem to generally give off a more, shall we say, mature vibe in "Aftermath" and beyond.

I strongly headcanon that development between the two shows is ENTIRELY due to Echo's influence as a member of the squad for the 6(ish) months leading up to Bad Batch.

Because it's Echo.

[greenglowinspooks]

Gävle Goat v.s. two drunk half-ghosts (DCxDP)

—

Tw: alcohol consumption (no way), one(1) mention of sex

Summary: Jason and Danny accidentally burn down the Gävle goat. You all voted for this, and I delivered. Merry crisis, tis the season and all that.

—

Jason wove through the ever-shifting crowd, an irritated scowl on his face.

Kori and Roy had dragged him here to celebrate a successful mission together, but the two had wandered off together not thirty minutes after they arrived, effectively stranding him in an unfamiliar club in Europe.

Now, his only two options seemed to be stealing someone’s car and getting back to their temporary safehouse himself, or waiting for the two to come back for him.

Still, considering the lecture he’d get from Dick if he hotwired a random guy’s car just because he didn’t want to wait for his friends, option one wasn’t much of an option at all.

It was humiliating. He was a crime lord, not a little kid who’d lost their mom in the store.

Jason sighed, slumping against the wall as he watched the drunken crowd swirl together.

He had never really felt at home in places like this, especially not since his resurrection. It always felt like people were staring at him, like they just intrinsically knew that he was other.

Jason startled when he felt someone tap on his shoulder.

“Sorry!” The stranger said, “I just, um, are you okay?”

Jason blinked. The person talking to him was clearly somewhat tipsy, wearing a blush on his face and a slightly loopy smile. How had he possibly snuck up on him? Was he really that deep in thought?

“My asshole friends ditched me, and now I’m stuck here,” Jason blurted out without thinking. The stranger barked out a laugh, clearly surprised.

“That sucks,” he said, leaning on the wall next to Jason. He hummed in response.

The stranger looked back at the open bar, where quite a few people were frantically miming to him. He motioned back to them, clearly hoping for them to stop, before just flipping them off. Jason chuckled at that.

“Those your friends?”

The stranger blushed brighter, the tips of his ears going red.

“Uh, yeah. We’re here to celebrate some legal stuff that I finally got done with, but, uh, they wanted me to go talk to you.”

Jason hummed again, giving the stranger a quick once-over. He was actually pretty cute; he had messy black hair, icy eyes, and an outfit that screamed “I’ve never been in a club before but my friends dragged me here anyways”.

If he was gonna be waiting for Kori and Roy anyways, why not have some fun?

“Well, I am technically here alone, now that my friends wandered off,” he said, looking at the stranger meaningfully.

The stranger grinned brightly, holding a hand out to him.

“Then, d’you wanna hang out with my friends and I? I promise we’re lot of fun! I’m Danny, by the way.”

Jason took his hand, the beginnings of a smile on his face.

“Call me Jason,” he said, following along as the (surprisingly strong) man dragged him over to his friends.

-

Danny was having the time of his life.

The restraining order on Vlad had finally been granted. The abolition of the Infinite Realms’ monarchy had gone through. And, on top of all that, he was on the most incredible club-hopping adventure of his un-life.

And sure, it might not have been the best idea to give ghost alcohol to Jason, the mortal his group had picked up in Germany, but he was taking it like a champ!

He hadn’t thrown up yet, in any case, so clearly it wasn’t that much of an issue.

Danny giggled, leaning up against Jason as they walked along the street, his ghostly friends filling the street.

As the night went along and they all got more and more tipsy, they’d mostly let go of their mortal forms. Despite being surrounded by a bunch of ghosts with death-blows clearly exposed and mythological creatures, Jason didn’t seem to be too bothered. He had an arm wrapped around Danny’s shoulders and was singing along with some of the ghosts in Arabic(?), his lovely baritone voice echoing out amongst the dead and unborn.

Danny just snuggled further into his side, enjoying the novel feeling of human warmth. He’d have to get Jason’s number after this, Danny sluggishly thinks. If he wasn’t freaked out by Danny being dead once he was sober, at least. He found that most people weren’t quite so open to cuddling up to a corpse. Even if that corpse could talk and walk around.

The streetlights around them began to spin as they once again walked into a rip in the veil. Everyone cheered as the lights warped and distorted, the sky becoming neon green and foggy.

Danny stumbled forward on unsteady legs, dragging Jason along with him. He wanted to get to the front of the group, to see where they were going before everyone else!

Jason tripped as Danny continued to drag him along, stumbling off the path and straight off the Realms island they were currently on. Danny, still clinging to him like a lifeline, fell alongside him.

A cheer from the spirits rang out above them, unaware of their mistake, fading as they fell. Before Danny had a chance to call out, though, they fell through another rip in the veil.

-

Jason sat up. He’d fallen face-first into a snowbank, and judging by the pair of legs sticking out of the snow, Danny had a similar fate. He dragged Danny out of the snow by the feet, tumbling over nothing and falling over in a heap.

Danny rolled over, laying down in the snow next to him with both arms around his waist.

Jason just looked up at the sky in awe.

It was most certainly the alcohol, or maybe the lack of pollution, but the sky looked so much more beautiful than usual.

There were so many stars in his blurry vision, and each one twinkled and shone and spun like they were dancing.

With a tremendous amount of effort, he got to his feet, dragging Danny up with him.

He twirled the man in his arms, his legs unsteady as he tried to waltz. Danny giggled, trying to match his uneven steps.

The arctic wind blew over them, carrying with it the snow and ice of the ages. The wind curled around them, spinning in circles around the pair as they danced. Sprites of fire glimmered in the corners of Jason’s vision, glimmering cheerfully. It seemed that something had caught alight, but nothing was going to distract him from the man in front of him, grinning widely with a blush that covered his entire face.

Jason fell over again, collapsing in the snow, and Danny fell over on top of him.

-

Light shimmered down from the snow-covered trees, falling onto Danny’s face. He scrunched his eyes closed, groaning in agony.

He was so, so hungover.

Served him right for agreeing to go out partying with Johnny of all people.

Danny’s head pounded to the beat of his heart, his core humming in rhythm. He buried his face into the fabric beneath him, trying desperately to block out the light from reaching his sensitive eyes.

Where was he, anyways?

The area around him was definitely snowy; even arctic, maybe, judging by how strongly his core was thrumming. Still, he was perfectly warm, laying on top of…

…a person?

Fuck, he was never partying with Johnny again.

Through great willpower, Danny squirmed off of the stranger and sat up, scrunching up his face as he turned away from the sun. It didn’t make his headache any better, though; the snow reflected the light almost as bright as the sun itself.

Fresh snow can have an albedo of 0.9, Danny remembered, a college lecture popping into his head. It had the highest level of albedo of anything on earth. That’s why it was bouncing the light of the sun directly into his poor sensitive eyes.

Of course Danny would wake up next to a strange man and the first thing that he thought of was science facts.

The man next to him groaned, immediately bringing his arm up to block the sun.

“What the fuck did I do last night?”

“I know, right?”

The man went abruptly still. It took all of Danny’s willpower not to laugh.

“…Do I still have my kidneys at least?”

Now Danny did burst out laughing, bright and cheery. And then he groaned and clutched his head.

“Oh gods my head hurts,” Danny hissed, “does this happen every time you drink?”

“Not unless you hate your liver.”

Danny laughed, and they both fell into silence for a few moments. It wasn’t comfortable silence by any means, though; it was unbearably tense and uncomfortable. Danny almost wished he could die on command, if only to get out of this.

“…Wanna go get breakfast?”

“Fuck yes,” Danny said, getting to his feet before helping the other man up. “Your treat?”

The other man laughed loudly.

“We’ve known each other properly for a total of five minutes, and you’re already bleeding me dry?”

“Come on, I’m a college student, it’s basically my job to ask for free food.”

-

The two of them sat in utter silence as they ate, watching the TV in the corner of the diner with a fascinating flavor of giddy horror.

Someone had burnt down the Gävle goat, and from the footage, it was very clearly them.

It wouldn’t be obvious to anyone else, luckily; the video had gone so staticky that it was very nearly unwatchable. But when combining the scene on the shitty box TV to Danny’s (very limited) memories of the night before, it was clear that they had done it.

“…Knew I forgot something that happened last night.”

Danny barked out a laugh at Jason’s comment, which earned him a sly grin in return.

“Better or worse than getting laid?”

“Eh,” Jason shrugged. “With most people? Better. With you? Worse.”

Danny laughed harder, wrapping a leg around Jason’s and waggling his eyebrows.

“Hey, arson isn’t the worst end to a first night out.”

Jason snorted.

“By the way, are you a meta? I just assumed, with the fire and all…”

Danny looked at him in surprise.

“Oh, I thought that was you.”

“What?”

Danny summoned a small burst of wind, twirling it around in his hands, creating tiny snowflakes.

“I can do that,” he said, gesturing to the snow, “but, like, fire? Nope.”

To Danny’s utter shock, a core in front of him pulsed in confusion, his own mirroring it.

Jason’s core. Jason was dead.

Jason looked at him, his face pale.

“Did you feel that too, or am I having a heart attack?”

Danny laughed nervously.

“As long as we don’t get arrested, I promise I’ll explain everything on the way back to Germany.”

—

Notes:

If Jason really was alive, he wouldn’t be for long after drinking ghost alcohol.

I brought up albedo because I learned something new in science class. Godbles

The wisps were Jason’s core forming and activating for the first time. That’s also what got the goat

[meiiie]

dave lizewski, i’m so into you. (pt. 1)

summary: you say something unexpected about Kick-Ass while discussing with your friends which hero you prefer the most.. Kick-Ass? Or Red Mist? little did Dave know or so you thought, you knew it was him all along..

a/n: uhh this is just a silly little imagine.. no one is probably going to see this post anyway but i’m new to this so this isn’t really the best thing i wrote, i hope u still enjoy reading this LOL i’ve also added my OC named Melilah who will be your best friend in this, um slight nsfw mention near the end but no actual action, thats it i think! yeah that’s it, happy reading :)

(pairing: dave lizewski x fem!reader) link to pt. 2

word count: 1.5k

It was a normal day, going to school, attending your classes, eating lunch, procrastinating your school works, submitting homework… attending more classes… rinse and repeat. But today was not what you expected, like.. at all.

ring ring… ring ring… you pick up your ringing phone while walking down the street, on your way to the convenience store.

“hello.?” your voice turns out more tired and groggier than you expected “hey when are you getting home sweetie? the food is getting cold and its already almost 6:30 pm, where are you?” your mom says with a worried voice, you could already imagine her face by just hearing her voice

this week has probably been one of the most stressful weeks of your entire life, class has been giving more school works, more due dates, you probably see your life flashing before your eyes right now “um yeah i’m on the way home already, don’t worry mom!” you say attempting to make your voice sound enthusiastic “well you better not be hanging out with that pretty boy.. actually maybe you should invite him for dinne-”

“mom— i—“ you cut her off but then you sigh giving up to even explain. “…he’s just a friend i swear..”

this supposedly ‘pretty boy’ your mom is referring to is Dave Lizewski, this guy in your class who you were paired up to work on a major project so he’s been at your house a few times already. surprisingly you get along with him really well? you’ve even become a part of his friend group including your best friend Melilah. She always points out the fact he always stares at you whenever you all hang out in Atomic Comics and during classes, but you’ve never really thought about him that way, or maybe you were considering it?

while walking down the road the street lights flicker a bit and you see someone trying to hanging onto the ledge of a billboard of some sort. you hear the figure shout at the cat sitting, waiting for him to fall “FUCK YOU MR BITEY!” his voice echoes, but wait.. why does his voice sound so familiar…? “okay okay okay, but call me and update me on where you are okay? be here quick, i love you!” your mom says- *THUD* you quickly look at the direction where the person, you assume, fell “UH yeah i’ll call you! i love you mom, BYE!” you say hastily, almost whispering.

beeeep.. beeeep.. you hang up the phone call, quickly putting your phone back in your messenger bag and hide behind a car. you spot a green figure, uh, “what in the world is that…” you think to yourself. the figure is wearing a weird.. cosplay suit.. it’s almost as if he looks like a green condo-

your thoughts are interrupted as he storms off looking frustrated, most probably because of the cat he couldn’t save.. he walks hurriedly into the dark alley. for some what reason you felt a little curious, just a little bit. so you go and follow the ‘super hero’, “this is so stupid.. someone remind me why I’m doing this to myself?” you whisper to yourself as you hide behind a pole, (you think this helps you stay hidden but you should’ve seen dave’s face when he saw you) trying to get a peek at the stranger. he takes off his mask angrily, you watch his curls fall into place, there are some scratches on his face from the fall, “damn why does he look so fine” you say in your thoughts and then you realize.

those are the blue eyes you see everyday in school, THAT’S DAVE LIZEWSKI. you silently gasp covering your face. his eyes dart at your direction, he shudders at the sound of your noise then next thing you know you start running away like a cockroach flew at your direction “WAIT!” he shouts, good thing you ran quick enough so he probably didn’t see your face, key word: probably.. actually there was no reason to be running from him at all- but you just felt like it..? considering you’re still in your denial stage about your feelings for him, who wouldn’t? you open the door to your house and get in as fast as you could just in case he followed you. the tv is bright and the news displays the text in bold ‘SUPERHERO KICKASS SAVES THE DAY’ you stare at the tv in shock because that’s… how… he’s Dave..?

your mom pops out of the kitchen “hey your back home! i thought you were going to call me to update me where you were..- oh yeah that superhero… what’s his name? Kickass? apparently he stopped a bunch of guys yesterday who were trying to beat up another guy that was in front of a convenience store and a bunch of people saw it then recorded blah blah blah you get it” you just stare at the tv in shock. “hello…? earth to y/n?”

it’s been almost 2 days, you’ve been avoiding Dave, trying not to make eye contact with him, passing by him in the halls, not even acknowledging his presence, even avoiding the hangouts to Atomic Comics, despite the fact you still have to do a major project with him. you open your locker getting books out of your locker, “hey have you heard about those two new superheros? Kickass? and Red Mist?” Melilah questions and your eyes widen at the question, only being reminded of Dave “yeah- well- i think its kinda dangerous doing that you know? being a um.. a superhero? why are people even so into them nowadays?” you say hesitatingly “ugh you are such a buzz kill, anyways Todd and Marty invited us to hangout… in Atomic Comics…” she looks like she’s about to ask a question, but she hesitates “go on.. continue” you gesture her to reply “why are you like.. i don’t know avoiding Dave? we’ve all kind of noticed that you know and the tension is killing all of us..”

you close the locker door and bring her to an empty classroom, you say “okay i know this sounds a bit crazy but DAVE IS KICKASS.” she “pffts” at your statement then turns to look at your face again, “oh.. your being serious” she says “YES I’M BEING SERIOUS?? i was on my way to the convenience store right and Kickass or Dave- i don’t know anymore was trying to save this cat then falls from this thing- anyways he walked in the alleyway so i was like ok i’ll just follow him! what could possibly happen!? then he took off his MASK SO THEN I RAN AWAY AND HE WAS LIKE ‘wait!🤪’ BUT I KEPT ON-” Melilah tries to comprehend everything, slowly nodding… slowly.. she whispers loudly “OKAY KEEP IT DOWN SOMEONE MIGHT HEAR YOU, okay so are you SURE this was Dave?” still whispering

“a HUNDRED percent.” you say trying to defend that you weren’t just seeing things

she sighs “well what are we going to do? I already told them we were going to be there..”

“you said WHAT?”

“okay okay chill they didn’t say Dave was coming, they obviously noticed how awkward it was with you guys so why would they invite him right haha.. haha…..” she laughs nervously

after both of you gather your thoughts you find yourself already settling down in a booth, in Atomic Comics, contemplating your life decisions. fidgeting nervously already imagining what’s going to happen. hoping not to see him. Melilah comes back after gathering a bunch of comic books to read while waiting for them to arrive. “hey stop fidgeting your going to be fine, plus he doesn’t know you know. right…?” you both just stare at each other. you both start praying in unison—“lord give us the strength to-“

“give you guys the strength for what?” Todd interrupts, you look behind him frantically to check whether Dave was there or not. to your surprise, he wasn’t. does he know? did he see my face when i ran? what if he doesn’t like me anymore? wait. why did that even matter? Todd and Marty took a seat beside Melilah leaving you alone sitting at the other side of the booth, obviously planning something.. “guys what do you think of Kickass?” Melilah asks, you kick her leg from under the table making a face screaming WHYAREYOUBRINGINGHIMUP. in fairness the both of you didn’t know whether Todd and Marty knew about it too, you shoot a glance at her giving a ohhhhiunderstandnow look to what she’s doing (spoiler alert: you've got the wrong idea, she was in fact not helping you) “i think he’s fine i guess, to be honest Red Mist is way cooler though because of his cape and all..” Marty says with Todd nodding his head to show that he agrees

“well- for one i think Kickass is wayy cuter, i’d fuck his brains out if i got the chance.” you say out of your thoughts completely regretting saying the said statement- “Really?” Dave says out of nowhere observing the conversation from behind your booth, making you jolt “y/n that just came out of nowhere what in the world.” Melilah says right after staring at you for a few seconds while Dave is making eye contact with you, smirking like he knows something. the conversation falls quiet.. real quiet… “okay wrap it up you two.” Todd interrupts, i wonder what happens next?

a/n: and the rest is history, I hope this was good enough lolol hope you enjoyed reading! (pt. 2 coming soon)

[ichig00]

Enemies LOVERS

A/N: I do not hate Ada (no one should because she's a great character and made the game more interesting!) I LOVE ADA. Her character here is ONLY FOR THIS STORY'S PLOT.

WARNING: cheating, violence, revenge, anger, etc.

Your mouth agape opened, shocked upon what you have witnessed. Ada, pinning a random guy in a bathroom stall while kissing him.

"I fucking new it." bursting the door out open as you enter the comfort room, Ada and the guy look up to you. Ada smirked. "Oh, I'm sure you knew it." Ada, move away from the guy with a smirk on her lips as she stands feets away.

"You're cheating on Leon!" Your voice echoes across the women's comfort room. She let out a laugh.

"What you gonna do now? Run around? shouting everyone the great news you found?" Without fading the smirk, Ada spoke. Your hand curling into a fist as you glared back to Ada.

"You run to us, ruining our relationship and cheating on him!" You took steps to close off the gap between you and Ada. Both of you now stand close to each other face to face, the tension becoming hotter as the atmosphere around becomes heavier.

"Leon is the one making the choice. It's not my fault you're not good enough f to satisfy him." Ada's words make you chew your inside cheek, gritting your teeth while trying not to smash her face at the sink of the restroom.

After finding out that Leon cheated on your, Leon had decided to break ties with you. Afraid that he might hurt you more if he continues his relationship with you. Now you found his 'new girl' that he cheated on you, cheating on him too. How karma works so mysteriously.

You love Leon very much. Even until now, you still love him, but there's already emotions mixing with it. You still care for your ex-boyfriend after he cheated and broke your heart into tiny pieces.

How pathetic you are.

"He chose you, and you wasted the choice he made." You replied with gritted teeth. It hurts you so much, knowing that he would be hurt after knowing it.

Your heart is still in pain after he broke it a month ago. It hurts how Leon can waste years of being together just to be with another cheater.

You hissed when Ada pulled your hair from the back of your head. "A word from you wouldn't change anything to us." She whispered then let go of your hair. You pulled yourself together, trying not to fight back because that wasn't you. You don't fight back physically. You're smart enough not to raise a hand to anyone.

She walked out of the restroom with the guy tailing her around. You rolled your eyes and landed on the mirror. You sighed and fixed your hair.

She's not getting away with it. They're not getting away.

It wasn't Ada's fault. Atleast not everything of it. It's Leon's fault for letting himself submit to Ada and for not considering everything in your relationship. You gave everything, you gave him love. Provided care and was always there for him when he needed someone.

But you can't help but blame Ada, too. She already knows that Leon's already in a relationship but still went for it.

You're not letting yourself hidden in the dark. Vengeance is on the way.

"Stunning as always." Said by Chris, who's standing at your front door. "I know. You look good as always." You complimented him back and kissed your parents goodbye.

"Show them what you got, baby!" Your Mom cheered as you walked out of the door with your longe evening gown wiandarm curled up to Chris biceps.

"We will!" Chris shouted back as he opened the door of his passenger seat. You went inside with Chris' help.

Chris isn't whom you expected to be your escort in the prom. Leon and you were very excited about this that you two even do windowshop for the one you will wear on a very special day, but all those went down the pit when he cheated.

You arrived at the prom, greeted some of your friends. "Good thing Chris had already someone to go with the prom with." Claire teased after you greeted her, everyone in the group laugh.

Chris has always liked you eversince before you dated Leon. Of course, you knew about that. He was so obvious when he's with you until he admitted it one day. But Leon is whom you love, Whom you wanted to be with. Gladly Leon returned those feelings but unfortunately broke it down, too.

"Now, don't be falling too hard, Chris." Jill added knowing about Chris feelings. He shook his head with a chuckle in response. "Too late." He said and lifted your chin up and kissed you, which you gladly kissed back.

"'Atta boy!" Carlos cheered, followed by the cheer of everyone else in the group. The kiss broke off , and you followed it by kissing Chris in the cheek, which he smiled softly to.

Now, you and Chris are not dating, but there is something between you two. You started to grow fond of him as the bond between the two of you deepened. He console you and been with you since the break up. He's taking the chance, and you're using it. He knows that you haven't moved on from Leon. He accepted that he was second in your heart and probably would be there for the rest of your life. He respects you a lot and respects your feelings towards Leon.

He tried moving on from you when you dated Leon, but he couldn't. He loves you too much, so he let those feelings flow and grow.

And he must say, it is totally worth it because know you're in his arms and he would cherish you so much while you're at it.

"I'll borrow your love for a while." Ashley pulled ypu away from Chris, Chris nodded and sat down with Carlos and the others.

Ashley pulled me at the drinks table. "Surely, you haven't moved on, have you?" Ashley, ask whispering in your ear as her arms wrapped around yours.

"Does it matter now?" You ask, grabbing a drink from the table. Ashley frowned her brows while she looked at you like you've said the dumbest thing she heard in her life.

"Well, your plan is working. Leon already knows about Ada cheating, and he is mad." Ashley whispered once again. You smiled.

Of course, it was under your fingers. You told your friends about what happened the other day, and your friends always got your back and did their job to spread everything to the whole campus without mentioning your name.

This was only the taste of your vengeance. The after-party would be good at Luis house later.

You saw Leon and Ada enter the venue, your eyes met, but you didn't look away or smile. You just stared into his soul, shooting daggers.

The prom really went well with Chris and friends. It was really fun. You enjoyed the night as it went on. Leon and Ada got named as the King and Queen of the night. You clapped but didn't let that affect you. Your eyes met Luis, and he smirked as you smiled.

Your friends really got your back.

In Luis house, everything is going smoothly as planned. Everyone is enjoying, and Leon and Ada are here, of course. Your eyes are everywhere, taking notes of the things that might ruin your plan.

"Ready for the show?" Luis asked as he handed you a glass of alcohol. You smiled. "You know I love drama." You replied, taking a sip at your glass.

You see your target couple seating and making out at the couch, and here comes the bait standing behind the couch while shooting signals to Ada, who literally took the bait as she excuses herself to Leon and went up the stairs. The guy smirked at you before following Ada upstairs. Your eyes met Luis, and Luis let out a small laugh.

Minutes later, you're standing near the staircase drinking with your friends as Leon starts to look for Ada.

"Oh, I think I saw her upstairs." Claire answered him with a smile and drink on her hand. "Don't worry, man, she might be with her friends." Carlos said, assuring him while being aware of the whole plan.

"Let's look for her, Amigo!" Luis said then wrapped his arms into Leon's shoulder, Leon hesitated at first but let out a soft chuckle before sparing you a glance and went up the stairs.

"Working well, huh?" Chris whispered in your ears as he wrapped an arm around your waist. You turned to look at him and pulled him in a kiss. "It always works well." You whispered back after pulling away, he smirked.

Chris liked the plan you have set up. He thinks Leon deserves this after breaking your heart.

"Let's watch the drama!" Ashley excitedly said and pulled Claire and Jill upstairs. You followed from behind with Chris and Carlos.

"What the fuck?!" You smiled upon hearing Leon's voice at the first room you saw at the second floor. Some people started to gather at the doorway. You made your way through the crowd.

Your eyes widen as you do not expect Ada to be almost half naked in the bed, while the guy is already topless.

Your eyes met Ada, she glared as she fixed herself up. "It's all because of you!" Ada shouted, looking directly at you, eyes shooting daggers. Your mouth agape opened, as the crowds spared you a gaze but then back to Ada.

"What the fuck are you talking about Ada?" Leon growled as Luis is stopping him to throw hands. "You're already caught red-handed." Jill commented.

Everyone started to murmur, confirming the rumours about Ada that's been going around the campus.

"I can't believe it, Ada." Leon stated again, Ada looked at him before running out the room, followed by the guy.

Leon eyes met yours. It was filled with pain and anger, like how your eyes were when you found him cheating on you. Leon walked out without saying anything else and disappeared from the crowd as you stood there.

The vengeance itself.

"Oh dear! Honey! Get down here!" You immediately emerge down your room upon hearing your mom downstairs. You stopped in the middle of the stair case upon seeing your "unexpected" visitor.

"Are you drunk?" You asked Leon and went down the stairs, and he immediately pulled you into a hug. Your mom gives you a meaniful look, you smiled as she walks away.

You heard Leon mumbling your name over and over again. "What happened?" You asked, you felt your shirt getting soaked. He's crying?

How dare he cry because of Ada when he didn't even shed a tear over you.

"Come, upstairs." You pulled the drunk Leon to your room, set him down the bed and comforted him.

"I can't believe... I cheated on you to get cheated on." You rolled your eyes mentally as Leon cried out. You patted his back and sighed. "Why are you here then?" You asked after he rant all of his heart out.

"I missed you... I miss you so much, and I hated myself when I hurt you." He sobbed. You're the only one who saw Leon at this state. Weak and pathetic, just like how you cried over him.

He got you confused. Is he crying over you or Ada?

"I'm really sorry. I shouldn't have done it, I shouldn't have cheated on you." You smiled softly. You hate seeing him like this, but at the same time, it felt good.

'Do I really have to hurt you before you run back to me?'

"It's alright, Leon."

'I know you will always run to me.'

"What about Chris?" Leon asked, looking at you while he's leaning down; elbows in his thighs for support.

"He's just a friend." You said, of course you would lie if you want Leon to chase you again.

"Then." He said, sitting up, his hand went to cup your face. "I can do this." He then kisses you, you kissed back. He tastes like liquor, and you love it.

He's back to you now, but your love will never go back the same way as before. It was his fault, after all, for hurting you a lot.

"Can I go back?" He asked, his eyes pleading after you pulled your lips away from him. You smiled softly.

"Of course." He smiled after hearing your answer. "But not like before."

The game of flames begins now.

[wildcatboltons]

closed starter for @freakymathgrl location: winter festival

Attending the winter festival together was something plenty of friends did, this much he knew for a fact considering he’d been coming to the event since he was kid with his whole social group. There was nothing about the christmas markets or booths that made this an exclusively romantic type of day… Yet, as he waited for his ex to meet him at the spot they agreed upon, Troy couldn’t help the nerves that were coursing through his system. It was going to be their first time hanging out just the two of them since Gabriella returned to Echo Isle and while it was all purely platonic, he couldn’t truthfully deny that there were definitely still underlying feelings there on his end. Though he would do his best to try - because the last thing he wanted to do was ruin this fragile friendship they’ve been working so hard to build. Spotting her finally heading over his way, Troy was quick to put his phone into his coat pocket and raise his hand in a wave. “Hey,” he greets, trying to keep his smile from growing too large. “You, uhh, you made it.” Mentally smacking himself for sounding like such an awkward loser, he shakes his head ever so slightly to regain his focus and force himself to act like a normal human being. “So, there’s a hot cider booth down that way that’s been calling my name from the moment I got here - but I didn’t want to start without you. Wanna head down? We could look at some of the other stalls on the way. I still have no clue what to get my mom for Christmas and you were always better at that kind of stuff than me, so I thought maybe you could help me look for that as well today?”

[tilbageidanmark]

Movies I watched this Week #131 (Year 3/Week 27):

I must start watching all of Claude Chabrol's films!

His final film, Bellamy, was my most enjoyable film of the week; So pleasantly mature, so well-made, simply a pleasure. Inspector Gérard Depardieu's infatuation with his beautiful wife, the cemetery where Georges Brassens is buried, a convoluted Georges Simenon crime story told with cinematic beauty and restrain. Magnifique.

“There is always another story, there is always more than meets the eye”. 8/10.

🍿

2 Danish films:

🍿 I finally went to the cinema, for the first time in more than 5 years! (Photos Above!). And what I saw was Tove's Room, a new, brutal chamber play by Martin Zandvliet (My second film by him, after 'Dirch'). It tells of the long-suffering feminist writer Tove Ditlevsen and her (4th) husband, the abusive Victor Andreason. Like George and Martha of 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?', this takes place in one room over a few hours of a sadistic and disgusting cat-and-mouse struggle for control and mental degradation. Together with a visiting Klaus Rifbjerg, and the cryptic maid, the two perform an unpleasant flogging act, not for the faint of heart. Shortly after the time of this play, she committed suicide.

🍿 Jørgen Leth's classic short from 1967, The Perfect Human. Lars von Trier considered Leth his mentor, and in 2003 they created 'The Five Obstructions', challenging the original by making it 5 new, different times.

🍿

70 years ago, Gentlemen prefer blonds turned Marilyn Monroe into a global sex symbol. Her Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend song and dance number was indeed sensational. It was Howard Hawk's only (?) musical. A surprising feminist screed. 7/10.

🍿

10 Icelandic films, 6 of which are by Rúnar Rúnarsson:

🍿 Re-watch: During this project and before this week, I've seen 9 Icelandic films, and most of them were excellent. But Rúnarsson's magical Echo was the one that moved me the most. It's a gentle patchwork of 56 short vignettes, all taking place during the Christmas holidays, each delivering a discreet and poignant story: A young girl comes to visit her father's new family, a group of old people doing aerobics in a pool, a librarian calls his mom on the phone, a farmer is being rejected for a loan, a family is buying a Christmas tree... Each one more beautiful and heartbreaking than the other. If you could improve on Roy Andersson's movies, you'll get 'Echo'. Get your handkerchiefs ready. 10/10.

🍿 So I decided to visit the rest of his 'oeuvre'.

Anna (2009) was his final presentation short from his Danish film school. It tells of some challenges of a 12-year-old girl who lives with her single mom in a small fishing village. A touching, beautiful poem in a minor key.

[The Danish Film School itself has a good Vimeo account!]

🍿 The Last Farm earned him his first Oscar nomination. An old farmer in a remote valley prepare to bury himself together with his dead wife without telling anybody. Tremendous 17-min. short, with score by Sigur Rós. 9/10.

🍿 2 birds is another short about lost innocent; A shy teenage goes with a girl he has a crush on to a house party with a much older crowd where things get out of hand.

🍿 Volcano was Rúnarsson's debut feature. [Spoilers: Hannes is a grouchy withdrawn "Ove", who used to be a fisherman and is now retired after being a school janitor for 40 years. It starts as a standard Nordic fair, with him trying to kill himself after his retirement party, being alienated from his family, and sour on his lot. But when he overhears his grown-up children talking how miserable his long-suffering wife must be with such a curmudgeon, he takes heart. His apology to his wife turns into a shocking and tender "old people sex", and it looks like this will be a story of healing. However, their happiness is short lived when she suffers a massive stroke and falls into a coma.

A year before Michael Haneke's 'Amour' won all the prizes, he tragically erupt at the end in exactly the same way.] 8/10.

🍿 Sparrows was Rúnarsson's second feature. On the one hand, it tells of a 16-year-boy who moved from the capital to the countryside, and have to put up with his estranged, "loser" father. But at the end he shifts gears and repeats the exact same story from his previous short '2 birds' (above): The boy and friends go to a party, score some Ketamine, and he watches helplessly as three party-goes date-rape his girl. Later as she comes to, he reassures her (in an act of selflessness) that it was he who deflowered her. The boy is even played by the same actor in both movies. And I didn't like it either time.

🍿 Completing all of Rúnar Rúnarsson's films, I continued with some other winners of the Icelandic "Oscars" Edda Awards:

Heartstone was the debut feature by one Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson. A sensitive and beautiful love story between two preteen boys in a remote fishing village. Sensual and moving. If it was just a tiny bit shorter, it would be a perfect companion piece to Belgian Lukas Dhont's 'Close' and 'Call me by your name'. 9/10.

🍿 Guðmundsson's previous poetic short Whale Valley also opened on an attempted suicide by hanging. A short poem about two brothers who live far away in an isolated fjord. A beached whale is being cut up. 7/10.

🍿 Rams tells another tragic story of two estranged brothers, both sheep farmers, who live next to each other at a remote Icelandic countryside, and who hasn't spoken with each other for 40 years. It was voted the second-greatest Icelandic film of all time. 8/10.

🍿 Sker ("Skerry") is an 11-minute wordless story about a kayaker who find a little islet. 9/10.

🍿

My first 2 films from Uruguay:

🍿 Whiskey does not refer to the drink, but to the way they "Say Cheese" down there. Another random pick of a film I never heard of, this low-key joyless comedy turned out to be a magnificent little masterpiece.

A shabby, lonely and drab world, like one of the forgotten provincial towns described so well in "100 years of solitude", it slowly and meticulously follows the dreary life of Jacobo, a 70-year-old owner of a modest sock factory. He has only two workers, and one loyal lady supervising them. Their laconic and minimal interactions are repetitive and awkward. But when his long-lost brother comes for a short visit, Jacobo asks Marta to pretend that she's his wife. The uncomfortable interactions between the three ungainly, melancholic characters brings to mind the heart behind Aki Kaurismaki''s dramas.

100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and it's hard to imagine that this mature gem was created by a young 30-year-old (who committed suicide two years later!). 10/10 - The best film of the week!

🍿 A Useful Life, another terrific art film by one Federico Veiroj. An economical, bare-bone story about a middle-age curator at a small Cinemateca, a dilapidated, struggling institution. Like the real 'Cinemateca Uruguaya of Montevideo', it is about to close after 50 years, because the few visitors it has cannot support its existence any longer. It's delicate and humane, like the movies shown in the half-empty auditorium for a few aging cineastes. 9/10.

Coincidentally, it starts with the two film archivists going through a package of films from Iceland! (and most of the films I saw this week are from these two small film countries, Uruguay and Iceland!)

Both these films portray life in Uruguay, a little country between Brazil and Argentina, as a sad, marginal and neglected place.

🍿

Suzume, my third animated fantasy by Makoto Shinkai (after 'The garden of words' and 'Your name') is about a girl looking for her dead 'Okasa' (mother). As beautiful as some of Ghibli-Studio productions (The story even starts at a place called Miyazaki), with high imagination and stunning visuals. But also with confusing theology and a story with too many elements: Romance, supernatural, lost parent, trauma over the 2011 earthquake.

🍿

“… why would I want to save a homeless shelter?…”

Another repeated re-watch, often paired with 'The American President', Ivan Reitman's charming Dave about an ordinary person who is suddenly thrust into a position of power. Written by Gary Ross (who also wrote 'Big', 'Pleasantville', 'The hunger games') and with superb acting by everybody involved: Kevin Kline, Sigourney Weaver, Charles Grodin, Ving Rhames and Frank Langella. Sweet romance, and idealistic presidential fantasy, made in 1993, before Clinton turned into the massive Neo-liberal douche-bag he ended up being. 9/10.

🍿

The man with two Brains. Steve Marin as Dr. Michael Hfuhruhurr was unfunny, and sexy Kathleen Turner also unfunny. 2/10.

🍿

Unknown: The lost pyramid is a new documentary about the interesting archeological digs in Saqqara, Egypt, but told in the usual Netflix style, shallow and melodramatic.

🍿

A chump at Oxford was a 1940 Hal Roach comedy with Laurel and Hardy, a juvenile pratfall. With James Finlayson (I think) and Peter Cushing. Not funny - 2/10.

🍿

(My complete movie list is here).

[majestyeverlasting]

Everyone I Love’s in This Place

Paring: Dad!Bucky x Mom!Reader

Children: Jamie (James Jr.) and Eden, ages 9 and 8

Summary: There are some places that always manage to feel like home. And after spending time with the Wilson family and their friends in Delacroix, you can safely say that the little community is one of them. Even more so when you get to dance with them into the night.

Word Count: 1.4k

A/N: Consider this an ode to togetherness and good times. There's lots of warmth with cuteness and humor sprinkled in. The title is a line from the song "Idle Town" by Conan Gray, and I thought it was fitting for this story. I hope you enjoy!

All it took one glance around the table to let you know that you were right where you belonged. It was a deep knowing that settled within the innermost part of you. The evening air was warm. And along with the sound of utensils meeting ceramic plates, laughter rose up to the sky like an offering. Not a single pair of eyes, from the lightest blue to the darkest brown, was void of light. The faces of those who started off as strangers seemed as though you’d known them for a lifetime. As if you’d personally been around to see the genesis of their smile lines or spent countless hours with them under the Delacroix sun.

The Wilson’s were hosting Thanksgiving. After settling into a rental along a bayou the previous day, you, Bucky, and the kids had swung by to assist with last minute prep. A few of their cousins were at the family residence as well, and 80s R&B played as you sat in the kitchen assembling centerpieces. They consisted of petite vases and thin artificial berry branches. Small white pumpkins were to be placed around them once on the table. Sarah had already finished cooking everything, and was tidying up the house, though it already seemed presentable. Jamie and Eden were somewhere off playing with Cass and AJ. Bucky and Sam were in the backyard situating the outdoor dining table and seats.

Now, as you sat gathered with everyone, it was nice to see that everything had come together. The rest of dinner carried on with stories and jokes being traded as if they were of the utmost value. When it came time for dessert, you helped Sarah bring out the cakes, pies, and cobblers to the serving table. Within a matter of seconds, a line formed. The children, especially, were ready to have their fill.

“Just so you all know,” Sam began after everyone had settled back into their seats. “My baby sister really did her thing with these desserts. Especially the pecan pie. She let me try some last night, and you’re lucky I even saved y’all any.”

“I believe that’s worth drinking to,” Ghalen said. He was a fisherman and long-time family friend of the Wilsons'. “To Sarah and her magic.” He raised his glass.

“To Sarah,” Everyone echoed.

She smiled and shook her head. “Thanks. There’s no other bunch I’d rather use up all my sugar for.”

Later that evening, everyone settled at the fire pit down by the lake. The tide lapped gently onto the shore and crickets chirped from their places tucked within the grass. Above, the sky was a rich blue, and the remaining sunlight casted the color onto the face of the water. There was no denying a certain stillness had settled over the group. But it wasn’t void of life. There was still plenty of that as people took turns sharing memories and expressing what they were thankful for. Every so often, Bucky would take a swig from his beer. The air of ease surrounding him had yet to fade. It was a good look on him.

At one point, Ghalen began to recount a fishing trip with his father from when he was a boy. He told the story with his whole body, eyes scanning and hands moving. His hair was a bold silver from age, and that only added to his wise demeanor. As Bucky listened, he leaned forward in interest with each new detail and twist. When the man finished, he clasped his hands together and looked around.

“How about some music?” He proposed. “I could go for a few tunes right about now. Hope I didn’t put anybody to sleep.”

“Absolutely not, Len. I don’t see a single shut eye,” Ciara, cousin to Sarah and Sam, spoke up. “You’re one of the best storytellers around these parts.”

“Well, thank you. I appreciate that.”

“'Course.” The smile she gave him was ethereal. “I say we crank up some classics for old times’ sake,” she said. “Hey, Ace, did you bring your portable speaker out here?” Ace was her teenage son.

“Yeah, it’s right here,” he picked it up from its place on the ground. “Anyone got a request?”

“It’s never the wrong time for some Marvin Gaye,” said one of Sarah’s friends.

“True,” Ciara chuckled. “I had 'Ain’t No Mountain High Enough' on repeat all last week. Everybody else down for Gaye?

There were no objections, and the very song she mentioned was settled upon. It featured Tammi Terell.”

As soon as the first few notes broke into the air, heads began to bob as feet tapped. Seeing it as a perfect opportunity to get attention, some of the children sprung up from their chairs and began grooving. Eden, being among them. She joined hands with one of the girls she’d been talking to all evening, and they hopped around and took turns spinning each other. A few of the adults jumped up as well, and when the chorus rolled around, they belted it into the night.

‘Cause baby, there ain’t no mountain high enough

Ain’t no valley low enough,

Ain’t no river wide enough

To keep me from getting to you, baby

Towards the end of the song, Jamie had taken your hand and coaxed you up for the remainder. With those pretty blue eyes that looked just like his father’s, it was impossible to resist. You smiled until your cheeks hurt. As the final notes drifted into the air, an applause rose from those who had remained seated. Bucky was one of them. He was relaxed back into his chair with his legs a part in a small man-spread. When he caught your gaze, you got butterflies from the adoration that was radiating straight to you.

If only the night and the feelings it fostered could’ve lasted forever. After losing yourself to the countless songs that went on to play, it eventually came time for the last one. A classic by The Temptations.

I’ve got sunshine on a cloudy day

When it’s cold outside

I’ve got the mouth of May

I guess you’d say

What can make me feel this way

My girl, my girl, my girl

Sam shot Bucky a look. “Man, you better get up and dance with your girl for this one.” He then drunk from his beer, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

Bucky looked to where you were swaying to the rhythm with Jamie, Eden, Sarah, and her boys. Surely, you were the embodiment of beauty and grace. Suddenly, the music began to resonate on a level that compelled him to stand.

“You know what? I think I will.”

Given that your back was turned to him, you startled a bit when he wrapped his arms around your waist and began moving along with you.

“Daddy!” Eden chirped.

“Hey, sunshine.” He smiled down at her. “You guys mind if I steal this one away from you?”

Sarah offered a smile. “Not at all.” With that, Bucky pulled you away from the group.

You wrapped your arms around his neck upon settling in a spot. The light of the fire illuminated his face. “Hey, handsome.” You leaned in to give his lips a sweet peck.

“Hey,” he breathed. “I love watching you enjoy yourself.”

“Well, it sure is easy to have a good time around here. It’s like you can’t help but to.”

“I know. I’m really glad we were able to make the trip. Wouldn’t trade tonight for the world.”

“Me neither.”

I don’t need no money, fortune, or fame

I’ve got all the riches baby one man can claim

Well I guess you’d say

What can make me feel this way

My girl, my girl, my girl

Upon feeling a small tap on his lower back, Bucky turned around. Standing there was a girl with wide eyes and a head full of thick long curls.

“Are you two in love?” She asked.

His brows rose, but then he chuckled and spared you a quick look.

“We are,” he told her.

“That’s nice,” she mused. “I love a lot of people. In fact, everyone I love’s in this place.”

That was easy to believe. Delacroix was just the place to love and be in love. There would never be a big enough thank you to extend to the little community. But as surely as the sun sets at the end of each day, you were going to find a way to come close.

-

Songs featured (both are YouTube links): "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell and "My Girl" by The Temptations.

Thank you so much for reading!

For more fluffy Bucky fics, click here.

To join my "taglist," turn on notifications for @taleseverlasting

[m-yg93]

Surface Pressure

Pairing: KSJ x Reader

WC: 6k

Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Fluff

Rating: T

Warnings: Panic attack, emotional abuse, parental abuse, bullying, mention of mental illness, descriptions of depression and anxiety, mention of JK Rowling (don't support TERFs)

Part of @thebtswritersclub project: “Sentimental”

Banner by @introlxv

Beta’d by @mapleglasses27

Summary: Your life has always had various aspects of pressure. Cracks in the wall at every turn so it's no surprise when it finally breaks. Thankfully there's someone there to help keep you together.

Under the surface, I feel berserk as a tightrope walker in a three-ring circus

Academics

“Gifted.”

Your mom looks so proud when she says it. “You’re doing well, sweetie. You’re a natural.”

Is it natural? Does she understand that your grades are a reflection of your life at school? The other kids aren’t as studious because they’re outside during recess, running from each other in games of tag, giggles echoing in the courtyard. You still hear it when you hole yourself up inside. You ask your teacher if there’s anything you can do to help them with so you don’t have to go out there and face that you’d sit alone under the slide hiding from the group of girls that spend their time hunting you down only to throw insults at you.

The bullying makes the day pass slowly with nerves on end but the side effects are beneficial. You never see your mom as happy as when she’s looking at the dean’s list with your name plastered with other ‘gifted’ kids. Students that have surpassed academic expectations. Students who can be considered above their peers, better. You.

For nearly a week after you the bulletin comes in you can hear her behind the door. She’s bragging, as she always does if she thinks she has anything to leverage above anyone else. You’re her leverage this time around. She loves that she gets to boast to everyone she knows that her child is superior, that she is superior. Your accomplishments are just as much hers as they are yours, she raised you after all. You know better than to point out that your grandparents have spent more time rearing you than she has. She claims it’s her genes, she was considered ‘gifted’ too at your age.

You’re congratulated and treated to a movie and a meal at any restaurant of your choice. You get ice cream and indulge in what your little heart desires, simply spending time with your mother as she looks at you with a light in her eyes.

The routine follows into high school, bulletin coming in every quarter to cement your reputation of the perfect student. Your mother’s smile stays, until she forgets and waits for the next one to come and bring your worth back up to the forefront.

The lulls between your achievements are filled with harsh words. Insults and gaslighting from both her and her new husband. You continue to push through, tears staining your pillow every night.

It’s nearly 2 weeks before your second year of high school when you answer the phone. It’s the school, they’re asking for your mother. The fear that fills you should be unfounded. You’ve been a star student, there’s no reason for you to be scared of what they might possibly speak about.

Your nerves are quelled when you hear how high your mother’s tone reaches. Her fake perfect family voice. You’ve heard it at every extended family event or when she’s around her friends. She sounds charming and sweet but you know the viciousness that usually inhabits her voice.

“That’s amazing news! Of course, sign her up. She’s definitely capable.” You can only hear bits of the conversation as you wait for her to exit her office. They’re talking about you obviously but what are you being enrolled in?

It’s not long before you can hear her end the call and her steps come closer to the door. You’re light on your feet as you flee from being caught eavesdropping, throwing yourself into the couch to act as if you’d been there the whole time, uncaring about what could have possibly been discussed.

“You did so well last year that the school wanted to know if you wanted to enroll in the higher elective program so your classes will be taught differently next year.” You catch where she says that the school wanted to know if you wanted to enroll but the question never came your way.

You never had the control over that choice and you know her expectations will only grow. You would have to continue to outshine your classmates even though these ones will be on equal ground, you’ll all be considered ‘gifted’. Your grades next to the class average will no longer feel so bright and shiny.

Each year the climb gets higher. More AP programs and more challenging electives every year. Your friends are excited as they discuss the various trips they get to take with their leadership class whereas you’re struggling to lug the various textbooks from your two separate sciences courses from your locker to the classroom across the building.

It’s inevitable when you cross the threshold of your home, your mother waiting behind the door hand extended knowing the report sits heaving in your backpack. You avoid her eyes and try to slip away but she doesn’t let you off that easy.

You’re stuck under her shadow as her eyes peruse the names slowly. One by one to make sure she’s not wrong when she notices that yours isn’t among them. You try not to flinch as her lips purse, her knuckles nearly white with the force with which she grips at the paper. Her eyes are daggers you don’t need to face, preferring to keep your vision at the floor.

Your voice falters when you try to defend that you’ve just barely missed the mark but it’s useless. For the first time you don’t hear her blabbering on the phone.

Pressure like a drip, drip, drip that'll never stop

Student Council

It’s public school and these are teenagers. The student body isn’t fighting each other to be part of the student council so you easily get onto the board but that’s not enough. You’re aiming for the top prize.

Most of the other students in the room are happy enough to be part of the council itself since it’ll be good enough on their college applications to pick them apart from other candidates but not him.

Namjoon is well known around the school. He keeps good grades, not to the point of following you in your academic path but enough to shine out of the mass of the mediocre crowd. He’s popular, seems to greet everyone in the hallways as he swaggers from one classroom to the next with his group of goons.

You try to argue that popularity doesn’t make someone fit for the role but you’re overruled. The board decides to simply eliminate the vice president position and elect you co-presidents. You’re not happy about the decision but it’s better than being in a position under him.

Your expectations are met as you walk into meetings too often to find yourself the only one present out of the two. It’s nearly insulting when you can peek out of the window and see him below in the quad laughing with his friends.

You don’t need him to do your job anyway. You take on the responsibility of the position and organize the various school events. Bake sales and fundraisers, every penny passing through your fingers.

You’re furious when you see Namjoon congratulated by teachers when you pass by.

“The latest fundraiser paid for nearly all we’ll need to organize the graduate dinner this year. Those events aren’t really within budget and we need all the help from the students to make them happen. You’re an integral part of these successes, my boy.” The teacher’s hand lands on Namjoon’s shoulder with a solid thud.

He doesn’t spare you a glance as you pass by him. He’s so casual with his answer. “Thank you, sir. I’m glad it helps.” You disappear down the hall.

Pressure that'll tip, tip, tip 'til you just go pop

Cheerleading

You’re clenched, body tight as you go down and back up again. Breathe out as you fall. Your coach’s eyes are hard as she inspects your form.

“You start spinning too late. You won’t land correctly because you’re not out of the spin in time. Again.”

Your bases connect, hands gripping tightly around the other’s wrist to form the square for you to gently put your feet onto. Your arms are sore as they hold up your body weight. Eyes forward, elbows bent, deep breath.

5, 6, 7, 8

Their counts are off. You can feel it as you’re propelled upwards. You don’t go into the spin. Your gaze is pulled to beneath you, their eyes up at you completely blank. You’re veering off course and they’re not moving to adjust for your trajectory. You’re going to hit the ground.

You anticipate the thud of the hard gym floor under you but you’re met with an uneven mess of limbs and a grunt. Luckily your best friend has been on spot and has taken it upon herself to throw her body under you to break the fall. It’s not graceful but neither of you are injured. Coach calls it for the day but the inadequacy feels personal.

There’s a game tonight and the eyes that follow you through the halls are judgemental. It’s not your fault your school’s colors are an ugly mess of green and yellow. The skirt of your uniform attracts all the wrong kind of attention. Your ponytail feels too tight, pulled high with a scrunchie. Your lips are painted a too ostentatious red, you never liked red lipstick.

Cheerleading may be an extreme sport but the school board would never treat it the same as the other sports on their roster. Your work only gets to be showcased at home games paired with ridiculous pom poms that have nothing to do with the discipline. Who cares if you’re probably in better shape than most of the other student athletes. You’re made to dance around the sidelines as the boys bring in the school’s merit.

Your throat is raw from the screams and silly little rhymes you’re forced to let out to encourage idiot teenage boys. You’re shaking. Is it from the cold October wind or because you’re being held up 10 feet in the air, supported only by the flimsy grip under your soles.

Pop.

Kick.

Twist.

Cradle.

You’re back on the ground as the referee whistles the end of the game. You can only defy gravity and the burden of expectations for so long but the brief moment where you fly is relief enough to keep going. 

You’re curled up into yourself in the hallway. The tears are hot against your cheeks, running without control. There’s a sharp pain gnawing at your spine, fanning throughout your back, up to your neck and down to your knees. The pain is excruciating.

You start missing too many practices as you go into physio appointments. Your therapist tries her best to bend you back into shape but you can’t move the same anymore.

Your teammates are cruel in their jabs.

“You’re not flexible enough for this.”

You can’t be flyer if you can’t bend like you used to.”

“You’re useless on this team.”

So you give up.

Cheerleading is breaking your body apart and your mother says her insurance has capped out. There’s no more money to upkeep your treatment. You’re freshly 15 when you’re told you’ll be in pain for the rest of your life.

Pressure like a grip, grip, grip and it won't let go

Humanitarian

It’s no secret that you’re extremely competitive. The mention of any type of contest gets your neurons running. The expectations thrust upon you by your mother have taken root deep within and the need to come out on top.

Your ears are ringing as soon as the words leave your teacher’s lips. You’re sitting in your journalism class, the only elective you manage to convince your mother to let you take that wasn’t a STEM related subject.

The group is made up of 7 people, each with their individual tasks from promotion, fundraising, documenting, topped with you at the wheel as project coordinator.

There’s a lot of preparations to put in place. The prize is to put the plan you’re tasked to create into action from start to finish. Your team is much more excited about the possibility of traveling to Peru to document the organization’s efforts than actually planning how to convince them to pick you to begin with.

There are too many sleepless nights. Too much pleading for your team not to get ahead of themselves. There’s a lot more to this than packing your suitcases.

The deadline comes too quickly and the document your plan still sits too empty, your cries for help falling on deaf ears. So you do it yourself. Hours spent with your teacher huddled over various promotion ideas and reaching out to various media, anything to cement your proposal as the right choice.

You’re in line at the cafeteria when you’re hunted down by one of your team members. The decision has come in and if the squeals she’s letting out are to be trusted the answer is obvious. You won. Of course, you don’t fail when you decide you want something.

You’re going to Peru.

Fuck.

You’re not a traveler. You like your routine and your safe space. You’re reminded of the two weeks you spent at sleep away camp as a child and how each of those nights were spent crying yourself to sleep. You suffer through the multitude of different vaccines you need to take to protect yourself from illnesses you might be subject to.

You miss your connection due to bad weather. You call your grandmother from the room at the hotel you’re placed at for the night. You miss her already and you’re barely halfway to your destination.

Your group finds a 50’s inspired diner in the airport and it lifts everyone’s spirits. Belly full of burgers and milkshakes you finally make it to Lima.

Your luggage does not. You’re in a foreign country with a limited and broken knowledge of the language with only the clothes off your back. You’re told your luggage will be found and sent to you soon.

It takes three days for it to happen. You suppose it’s not easy to deliver luggage into the mountainous range of Peru. The change of clothes feels heavenly after so long. The only respite to the crusty and smelly fabric that clings to your skin is the cold showers in your host family’s bathroom. The only way for the hot water to run is through an electrical device and the open wires so near the stream makes you too nervous.

Your group is more focused on taking hikes to see the sunrise or bathe in the waterfall of the forest that you visit than the actual task at hand. You watch them frolic and giggle in your peripheral as you’re bent over the laptop that holds your work, transcribing the bits of interviews you understand.

Your reservations from the village in which you stay works in your favor after all. Every single one of your team members comes down with something in one way or another. Some suffer from sunstroke (you made sure to keep your shirt and pants long and never stepping outside without your hat). Others fall to exposure from the water (you didn’t partake in the waterfall). Most are just unlucky. You’re up thousands of feet off ocean level and their bodies weaken from the altitude change or get visited by pesky bed bugs throughout the night.

You leave Peru intact but exhausted and longing for familiarity. The best part is the flights. You don’t remember your previous experience in a plane; you’d last been on one when you were 7 years old. You snag a window seat and seeing the clouds surrounding you feels freeing until you’re back home and the routine starts again.

Pressure like a tick, tick, tick, 'til it's ready to blow

 Technician

You got roped into it by complete accident. There was a showcase happening in the auditorium and the dance teacher needed some extra hands to man the spotlight and film it for review later.

One minute you’re in your seat and the next you’re handling the large equipment necessary to highlight the dancer on stage. It’s hot under your touch, the light within strong enough to blind. Your muscles strain with the effort of shifting it left to right as your classmate twirls and frolics in front of the audience.

You’d never bothered to spend any time in productions. Crowds are terrifying and the idea of being under scrutinous glares is enough to make you run but you feel comfortable here. The light you project into the room keeps you invisible behind it, hidden and safe.

When the show closes the dance teacher thanks you for your help and asks if you’d be open to repeating the experience. The yearly musical needs to fill the light tech role. It’s an easy decision to accept.

You’re taken under the wing of the senior that’s been doing the sound tech for various activities held by the school. You learn what each switch and dial controls on the soundboard that’s so large you can’t reach the ends of it with your arm span while also becoming the expert of the lighting board. 

He graduates that year but he leaves you with the knowledge you need to keep the work going. Technically a senior has to be ‘head’ of the team but it’s mostly in name only, the responsibility falls to you. You’re at the helm of the technical team for each variety show, musical, and announcement. You build your own little team and continue the tradition of imparting your own knowledge upon them.

Your senior year you’re finally ready to get the title, officially. Unfortunately the dance teacher has moved along and supervision of the technical team falls on an administrator that’s had it out for you for years. You dress your friend in drag one time in a school bathroom after school one time and you’re on the chopping block for years. Honestly, that’s just homophobic but whatever.

She picks a classmate you’ve been on good terms with, you’d consider yourself friends honestly. Taehyung is nice and could probably have learned the role perfectly well except it was already yours and you weren’t giving it up.

He notices how you’re always the one called out of class to help with something in the auditorium, how at every event he can see you at the top of the stacked seats seated behind the console. He not only asks to be included but dares to demand that you treat him as your superior such as his title deserves.

You entertain him for a second. Bring him up to the consoles after an announcement when the student body is filing out of the room. You’re nonchalant as you point to the boards before you. You ask him how to mute a certain microphone, open a particular light, change the output from a speaker, and no matter how many switches he flicks the result never comes.

Did you really have to humiliate him to prove your point? Probably not but did it hammer it home? Absolutely. At the next event he asks politely if you needed extra help. You turn him down, you’ve got it handled. He may outrank you on technicality but your skills will outshine him and the teachers and administration that need the help know who to come to.

The variety show is probably the biggest pain. Between having to link up all the students’ instruments and readjusting your outputs as they rotate through the acts and having to tamp down their attitudes when they claim you’re distorting their sound. Too often a greasy teenage boy in a dirty band tee marches up to your board to try and adjust your settings.

“Touch my board and you’ll be down a hand. Not sure how your mediocre solo will sound then. I know what I’m doing, maybe tune your shitty guitar and we’ll see if that improves the sound, how about that?” Putting each of them in their place brings a smile to your face.

By far your favorite is the year end musical. You’d spend the better part of the school year in the auditorium, your nose in the script learning the light cues. You’re out of class every week to be at rehearsal, moreso during tech week right before opening day. Tae’s eyes follow you as you walk out in front of him every time.

When rehearsals go into a break you bring your team up to the catwalk. You’re hidden in the ceiling of the auditorium. You could see each actor look small beneath you. You all carve your names in the crumbling cement of the beams, marking your presence as every technician has before you. A small piece you own, your little haven against the rest of the students.

You spend many afternoons after classes controlling the various lighting cues of the play as the opening day comes closer. You go in on every ped day and every weekend in the month before.

Your mother complains every time you ask for a lift to the school. She never bothers but thankfully your grandparents pick up her slack for parental duties, as they always have.

You invite her to opening night. She scoffs, insulted at the idea that she’d have to buy a ticket.

“You’re not even in the play, why would I go?” It’s clear how she views your efforts. If there’s nothing to show off that she can brag about then why bother caring about your interests at all.

You take your bow on stage when you’re invited on by the cast when they thank the crew members. There’s nobody in the audience for you.

Line up the dominoes, a light wind blows, you try to stop it tumbling but on and on it goes

 College

You only apply to one college and get accepted easily. You pick Modern Languages, not a terribly difficult major to meet the requirements of. It’s in the big city and your home sits in a smaller town a nearly 30 minute drive away. You’ve just reached the age at which you could sign up for your driving courses but being able to drive in yourself is still 2 years off and your mother hates your current town.

She gives you a choice. Either move to the new town in which she and her husband bought a house, one without a room for you where you’d have to make a space for yourself in a basement and she’d drive you in and out of the city every day since she had to go in for work too. Unlikely. You know her words are empty and you’d have to suffer through the nearly 3 hours of public transit you’d need to reach both ends.

The other is to move into the city by yourself. She’s found student housing just next to the school. You’d be a 3 minute walk from your bed to your classes but you wouldn’t be with family anymore. Boohoo, tragic.

You don’t even have to think about it. The second the dormitory lets students move in you already have your boxes packed. The semester doesn’t even start for another month but the sooner you’re out of the house the better. It’s 2 weeks after your 17th birthday and your life truly begins in a cramped room, walls so close to each other you can touch them with the tips of your fingers if you extend your arms enough.

You thought the distance would make expectations diminish. The control your mother held over you just a little harder to reach. You’re wrong, of course. She might not be just behind the door but she is still right in your phone.

You’d bought yourself the coolest phone on the market at the time, the one that flipped open to reveal a whole keyboard so you don’t have to input every text through the keypad.

She has a copy of your class schedule but that doesn’t stop her from texting you in the middle of a lecture, each message increasingly impatient as you ignore her. You feel your teacher’s eyes on you as you try to appease her, pressing one key at a time slowly from within your bag while trying to keep your eyes ahead. You sheepishly run out of the room, whispering soft apologies to escape into the hall and call her.

It’s the first step you take towards establishing boundaries with her. Do not contact you during class time. It’s the least she could do after forcing you to take the maximum of 7 classes this semester. You’re barely keeping your head above water as it is, being distracted in class isn’t helping.

She appeases you. Your grades are her only fuel to showcase how she’s managed to succeed at maternity.

You’re in your Psych class. You somehow managed to sign up for a second year class on mental disorders and you already stress enough trying to catch up without the Psych 101 foundation. It only gets worse when you realize that you’re a little too familiar with the various symptoms that are outlined.

The DSM is a garbage manual and severely biased and outdated but you do have to abide by it for class. You feel targeted. Depression. Generalized Anxiety Disorder. Borderline Personality Disorder. Every class feels foggy as your own mind screams for attention.

You skip half your Spanish classes for the semester. They happen twice a week but you can’t focus after your Psych class so you run back to your dorm on autopilot. One foot in front of the other until you’re in your bed, body numb.

A flaw or a crack, the straw that breaks the camel's back

You stop going to your Gym elective. You tried to explain to the teacher that you have issues with your back and that you’re trying but your efforts will look lackluster next to the others but he doesn’t care. Your grade for the class is already nearly failing and all you’re doing is adding more pain to yourself. Screw that guy.

Your lack of attendance in Spanish bites you in the ass. Turns out learning a new language when you miss half the lessons isn’t sustainable, who knew? You still attend, you sit in the back and avoid questions and look at your test papers dejectedly when they land on your desk.

English had always been your best topic in high school. You had a great relationship with your teacher and had upheld the standards of the AP program until you graduated. Your college English class feels inadequate in comparison. The teacher spends too much time explaining how to use a comma in class once and she was wrong on top of that. Your midterm essay is on Pride and Prejudice. You’re confident in your ability to create a literary analysis. You even visit your high school teacher to look over your work. He smiles and says he’s proud of you. The warmth that spreads through you is unfamiliar.

It shocks you when your grade shows up on the online portal. 62%. You’d basically failed and your teacher refuses to give you any reasoning behind the grade other than it wasn’t what she was looking for.

The only thing keeping you going is your Humanities class. The topic for the semester is Greek Archetypes and you’re thrown into an old obsession as you spend every class reading and analyzing the myths of the twelve Olympians.

You’d spent most of your childhood using books to escape your reality, fantasy being your poison of choice. You’d read every Percy Jackson book and every series Rick Riordan published thereafter. You’d escape into worlds created by others: Christopher Paolini, JK Rowling, VC Andrews amongst others.

You aced every quiz, your name always coming out on top of the list. You were so excited when the topic of the final essay was announced. Analyze the archetypes for yourself or a fictional character, a minimum of 2 pages. It was a very light assignment for a final and boy did you run with it. You easily pop out a 10 page essay analyzing the archetypes of the Golden Trio of Hogwarts in an evening which earns you a near perfect grade. 

Unfortunately Humanities is your only class to end on a high note by the end of the semester. Your presence in class has dimmed so much that it’s landed you in the school’s psychologist office. It only took one class where your German teacher noticed that your head stayed bent over your textbook instead of your usual alertness to send you straight into counseling.

You were upset at first. You didn’t need help. You could handle it yourself, you were strong enough.

Who am I if I can't carry it all? If I falter?

The cloud you feel over your head clears when the psychologist can pull some strings and make your failing grades disappear. She can strike them from your record completely. It’s as if you never took them. No credits, sure, but also no ugly taint of failure attached to your name. It feels a little easier to breathe.

You have to call your mother to update her. She pays for your tuition after all. You half hoped she’d be happy to hear that you have a new slate and can start fresh. Maybe you can lower the amount of classes you take next time, it’ll take an extra semester or two to finish but you’d have a much better end result.

You’re not shocked or surprised with her reaction. The failure is stamped onto you even if it’s expunged from your academic record. You’re not enough, you’ve never been enough.

The dam finally overflows. The crack in your voice is the first fracture you can feel. The rest of you shatters through the tears falling onto your cheeks, your knees buckling from under you sending you hurling to the floor, the phone clattering onto the cheap linoleum of your dorm room. 

You’re unsure if she even hears your final words, “How would you have felt if the same pressure would've pulled you under?” but it doesn’t matter. You’re aggressive as you hang up the phone and turn it off completely knowing she would immediately call back to continue the barrage of insults she had started.

The world buzzes around you. The blank white walls seem blurry through your tears. Your throat is raw. Your knees are sore.

There’s a knock at the door.

Your eyes shift up but there’s not enough energy to muster getting up. Your breath is coming in gasps and your limbs are shaking as you’re trying to push yourself to stand. Darkness floods back, your eyes struggling to stay open. There are noises around you but you can’t quite make out what’s going on outside yourself.

“Hey, it’s okay. I got you.” The voice is smooth, lower than your inner monologue that keeps screaming in your ears. There are strong arms around you. You’re pulled tight against a strong chest, hard against our back.

There’s a soft hush bleeding through the fog. Your hands which had been hard into fists are being pulled apart, fingers weaving through your own. Your arms are crossed over yourself. You can’t move, between the force in which you’re held and the hard mass behind you.

It takes some time for the suffocating feeling to ebb away and you can focus on the little things again. The wide shoulder where your head rests. The small comforting rubs of a thumb against the top of your hand. The soft reassuring words being whispered in your ear.

Your sight comes back into focus enough to peer behind you. It’s Seokjin. Of course, he’s the only one with a spare key to your dorm room since you tend to lock yourself out repetitively.

Apologies jump to the tip of your tongue, your body trying to remove itself from his grasp but he continues to hold strong. “Don’t apologize, it’s fine. I get it, it’s your mom again. Sorry I overheard, the walls are trash. Just take a second, make sure you can breathe.”

Sweet, sweet Seokjin. You’d struck the dorm lottery when he’d been assigned the room next to yours. You share a few classes and he had already been incredibly helpful in sharing notes and studying together. The friendship that blossomed between you had been so natural, you’d assume you’d known each other for years.

It’s not the first time he sees you in this kind of position, though not nearly as bad as this. He’d always burst through the room when the sounds of your erratic breathing or muffled sobs went through the thin walls of the dormitory. He’d just start a movie on his laptop and hold you as you both waited for the panic to melt away.

He doesn’t ask for an explanation but you give it anyway. You know he’ll never judge you and being able to unload the burden within you helped lighten the weight you held. His brow furrows and his jaw locks when you lay out the different insults your mother had laid upon you at the most recent update but he lets you finish. Your breath is quick again as the thoughts come rushing back, head bowing low to stomach the wave of panic.

His hands leave yours to rise up to your neck. They hold the bottom of your jaw softly and his thumbs wipe away the new stray tears that run down to meet them. “She’s wrong, Peach. You’re enough. No, you’re more than that. You’re perfect. So what if she doesn’t think you’re perfect for her. You’re perfect for me.”

His eyes flit away from yours for just a millisecond but it’s enough for the air around you to shift. He’s still just as soft as he’s always been with you but the intention behind his touch sends a flame through you. He’s licking his lips, as if he could taste the nerves on his skin. He’s hesitant, you’re just recovering from a panic attack, still vulnerable.

“Kiss me, Kim.”

And he does. Your surroundings fade away again but the screams of your earlier disassociation make way to a warmth that spreads from the gentle pressure of his lips on yours, down to where his hands still hold your face, and through your body fighting against the cold of the floor which you’re still collapsed against.

It all ends too fast but you’re endeared by the blush that colors his skin, the red of his ears so familiar. Your foreheads are pushing against each other, the only strength to keeping either of your heads up.

“You have no idea how often I want to do that.” It’s a soft chuckle that escapes him at the thought.

“How often?”

“Every time you beat me at Mario Kart, since that very first race.”

“So nearly every night since the beginning of the semester then?” There’s a teasing smirk behind your tone.

He’s quick to defend himself. “Yah! You don’t beat me every time. I win races too!”

“Winning a race and winning a cup aren’t the same thing and you know it. Sure, you won seven races last time but I won the other forty one. Not to mention the ones I won with my hands literally behind my back.”

There’s a ridiculous squawk that escapes him at the jab. “I was just being a gentleman! I was letting you win!”

“Sure, whatever you say.” You’re hiding a grin and rolling your eyes at his preposterous exclamation.

“Fine, get up. I’ll beat you right now and if I win you have to be my girlfriend.” He doesn’t wait for an answer, practically throwing you off him back onto the floor in search of your Switch.

You don’t bother telling him you’d agree to be his even if when you win.

If I could shake the crushing weight of expectations would that free some room up for joy, or relaxation, or simple pleasure?

_______________

Masterlist || 

[e-dragoons]

the oc master post

:') under the cut because this puppy is long. it's just a general overview but i love answering questions about my ocs so please don't hesitate to ask me anything <3

one day i will edit this so all of the pictures match but that day is not today.

some things to note: if you're looking to rp or discuss lore with any of my characters, most of them are pretty flexible with their lore. this is mostly just what i consider "canon" for them. i love talking about AUs and things like that.

lehna is my best girl and main wol! she is a dragoon and dating estinien (sometimes they are poly with thancred, but that's not canon; that's just me being self-indulgent). big jock anime protagonist energy. would do anything for her friends and will absolutely turn into a mean girl a la regina george if you offend her or her friends, but is generally very kind to everyone she meets.

nike is my azem. he's a lancer and a gremlin shitlord pain in emet-selch's ass (endearing). also he absolutely wants to fuck your mom and your dad, and probably has. punches gently to show affection. dating no one, because he has commitment issues (but emet-selch is in love with him). he's pansexual.

leon is a wol (separate from lehna) in a shared universe with some friends of mine. black mage nerd who likes to pretend he's cool but is actually very awkward. probably listens to too much my chemical romance. dating my friend's oc asra. very flirty, but if he fails to disarm you by flirting then he stumbles and doesn't know what to do. he's homosexual.

helena is from a poorer noble (?) family in ishgard (not enough to be well-off, but enough to stay out of the brume). secretly writes blasphemous smut under a penname, despite being rather inexperienced herself. childhood friends with zephirin de valhourdin and eventually lovers to enemies. eventually she gets with artoirel de fortemps. i'm currently trying to write a nanowrimo project about her story. helena does not really exist in any of my wol-verses, but kind of exists in all of them? she is bisexual.

althea is an ascian. she worked directly under lahabrea. part of the S.T.A.R.S. verse, and she's inspired a teeny bit by albert wesker from resident evil (hence the name). while not particularly skilled in combat, her mind is her weapon. cold, cruel, and calculating; but she thinks she's doing it for the right reasons. initially an orphan from the steppe, she left after getting her powers. she's bisexual.

rowan is the wol in S.T.A.R.S. verse and mostly sticks to samurai and dark knight. from thavnair, he left after an Accident that killed his father that was mostly his fault. rowan is incredibly soft-hearted and loves his friends more than anything (even if he doesn't think he deserves them). he's always putting other people before himself. in S.T.A.R.S. verse, he's dating quientien. rowan is bisexual.

quientien (aka quin) is a sage from old sharlayan. he's a bit cold, but not on purpose or because he doesn't care; it's more because he thinks about things logically. that is, until althea betrays the group and he becomes an ascian. after this, he becomes a lot more emotional as he feels torn between two lives. ultimately, he decides to stay with the scions and his friends. dating rowan in the S.T.A.R.S. verse. quin is bisexual with a strong preference for men.

jetei was childhood friends with althea. as an oronir, he was bullied a lot by magnai as a child for being smaller than the other boys (though as an adult, he is particularly large by even by au ra standards). he is the only member of the S.T.A.R.S. group without the echo. like althea, he is from the steppe as well. he left with her when she gained her powers, not wanting to remain there alone. her betrayal hurt him most of all. jetei is quiet, reserved, and incredibly shy. he mostly keeps to himself. althea convinced him to pick up reaper not long after the two of them came to eorzea. despite his resting bitch face, jetei is one of the sweetest people you will ever meet. i am currently unsure of jetei's sexuality at the moment, but i am leaning toward asexual/biromantic.

naolih is the queen of my heart was a 1.x warrior of light and is part of the S.T.A.R.S. verse. she is a warrior. after all of her friends died and the world forgot about her, she eventually remembered her past. instead of picking up where she left off, though, she joined the scions to continue helping people and refused to pick up the mantle of "warrior of light" once again (if you try to call her a warrior of light, she WILL fight you). she's very blunt and tells it like it is. while she can come off as a bit harsh, she genuinely cares about the people around her and does not want to disappoint them. she's a lesbian.

[bbhyeoliskooks]

hellooo !! can i request a reaction for txt when they see that an idol from a different boy band has a crush on their idol!s/o bc they think that idol!reader is single,,

❝𝐖𝐚𝐢𝐭, 𝐃𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐓𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐞 𝐘𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐉𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐬!❞

TXT’s reaction to seeing an idol from another boy band have a crush on idol!you and obviously getting jealous.

Genre: Few cups of fluff ~!

Warnings: Maybe suggestive from jjuniebug... or so...

(so sorry this took so long my gosh 😭😭 also i liVE FOR THIS??? HONESTLY??? LIKE LITERALLY I WOULD LOVE TO SEE THIS AND BE THAT PERSON SKLFDJ catch txt getting a bit jelly over hereee 😏😏 n e way, yea hope you like it lots and that it makes up for the time being losttt 🧍 btw... i’m so sorry if i get one of the members from another group’s personality wrong :(( just know i can always edit it since i don’t want to make any of you mad~~)

최 연준:

° 𐐪𐑂 YALL DONT GET ME STARTED ON HIM I CAN ALREADY IMAGINE THIS VIVIDLY IN MY HEAD KSJFDS

° 𐐪𐑂 Anyway... the two of you would be backstage, chatting it up a storm and congratulating each other of how great your guy’s performance was for a VERY long time- enough for it to be suspicious

° 𐐪𐑂 No one could really suspect a thing tho... like... the two of you were being very cautious just in case about that, however it was a bit too crystal clear to see that there was some attraction between the two of you 😏

° 𐐪𐑂 And you know how as I said, quiet?

° 𐐪𐑂 Well,,, haha,,, I guess I forgot to mention one thing

° 𐐪𐑂 It’s-- as obvious to the staff... idols... people who walked there that you absolutely were in la vie en rose with each other~~

° 𐐪𐑂 Because up close, any sane person would definitely see there was something going on between you and Yeonjun with the soft yet playful flirting in both of your eyes

° 𐐪𐑂 Are we that shocked??? you’re dating in secret so obviouslyyy 🥺🥺

° 𐐪𐑂 how scandalous~~ hehe~~ (i’m kidding, it’s really not scandalous at all???)

° 𐐪𐑂 ++ Sometimes Yeonjun would get bold and make physical contact with you so... I mean he knew no one was going to spread rumors to snakes like Dispatch and... why not when he could show everyone he loved you the most?

° 𐐪𐑂 Before talking and catching up about some random stuff, you ask him if you can go to the bathroom first and ofc he says yes bc he’s best boy !

° 𐐪𐑂 ... cue the 5 minutes later...

° 𐐪𐑂 so after you’re done doing your business and all... you come face to face with??? GUESS WHO???!! TAEHYUNG FROM BTS???!!!

° 𐐪𐑂 **insert gasp**

° 𐐪𐑂 You pretty much did after you accidentally bumped into him

° 𐐪𐑂 but it was all good actually ! you were just dying inside since you just embarrassed yourself in front of the one of the greatest people in the whole entire world

° 𐐪𐑂 Taehyun was really sweet about it tho and he only smiled at you, making you grin back at him easily since the atmosphere wasn’t as awkward anymore

° 𐐪𐑂 “Ah, you’re Y/N from (), right? I love how you performed today! I’ve been listening to your songs for a while but I have to say that I adore your voice much more,” he complimented with a smug wink

° 𐐪𐑂 You just gaped at him, feeling your ears burn up immediately

° 𐐪𐑂 “M-my voice?! Taehyung, that’s so sweet of you to say! Thank you so much!”

° 𐐪𐑂 From then on, the two of you decided to talk more about yourselves and got to learn more

° 𐐪𐑂 All that time and you didn’t realize you could enjoy talking with someone so much and how you weren’t nervous in front of him at all???

° 𐐪𐑂 Bc by now, you would be a stammering mess before him because he really was one of the coolest guys on earth

° 𐐪𐑂 And yea that’s Taehyung for you 🥺 he’s such a sweet boy like mom i love him

° 𐐪𐑂 It had just reached almost 10 minutes of both of you talking, and it was time for the boy to go on stage and perform

° 𐐪𐑂 You were a bit sad since you probably couldn’t get to know him more as a good friend considering both of your schedules...

° 𐐪𐑂 but luckily ! Taehyung was enjoying this too and he pulled out his phone, ready to ask you something he’d been meaning to for a while

° 𐐪𐑂 “Do you think I could treat you sometime? Actually, I’d love to get to know you if you’d like and it’s okay for you to say no,” now the boy in front of you went from confident to shy in a second, his hand flying to the back of his neck to nervously scratch it

° 𐐪𐑂 Eyes widening with excitement, you were going to jump at the opportunity to say yes until-

° 𐐪𐑂 Pulling you close and wrapping his arms around your waist from behind emerged Yeonjun with a not so hidden sour expression as he held you tenderly in his embrace, not daring to ever let you go

° 𐐪𐑂 “Taehyung Sunbaenim! The staff told me to come get you for your performance! You better hurry up and go there, so you won’t be late.”

° 𐐪𐑂 Well... at least Yeonjun’s tone was polite but both you and Taehyung could obviously tell it meant something else- more like back off, which you weren’t surprised

° 𐐪𐑂 Getting the hint Taehyung took a few steps back, giggling at the evident passive aggressiveness from the boy

° 𐐪𐑂 “Thanks, Yeonjun! And I’ll be sure to be there, thanks so much for the heads up.”

° 𐐪𐑂 You couldn’t help but groan quietly at the tense atmosphere now and how the boys waved goodbyes at each other- although you were sure your boyfriend was more than happy enough that the “predator” went off by himself

° 𐐪𐑂 Once Taehyung was gone, you were surprised to hear how silent Yeonjun was behind you, biting his lips so as to not mess up and say anything disrespectful

° 𐐪𐑂 Nonetheless, you had to say that you were worried about the sudden change in his demeanor

° 𐐪𐑂 “Jjunie, is there anything wrong?”

° 𐐪𐑂 “I’m so sorry,” he muttered, burying his head into your neck, “I shouldn’t have acted like that... I know Taehyung Sunbaenim didn’t mean any harm or you either... I promise I won’t do it next time.”

° 𐐪𐑂 Knowing he truly felt sorry, you just turned around to look at him more clearly, lifting up his chin so that he’d cheer up even from the tiniest bit of affection

° 𐐪𐑂 And. Oh. My. Gosh. His. Adorable. Puppy. Eyes. That. Shine. So. Brightly. You. Fall. In. Love. Every. Time.

° 𐐪𐑂 “It’s okay Jjun,” you cooed, cupping his cheeks, “But don’t be so jealous next time, you know that you’re the only one I see.”

° 𐐪𐑂 True to your words Yeonjun seemed to cheer up at this and smiled brightly, the one that always made your heart melt whenever you see his face flowing with ardent joy

° 𐐪𐑂 But yea, remember how we all know he has such a shocking duality?

° 𐐪𐑂 ... we were absolutely not ready for Yeonjun to quickly slam his hand against the white boundaries of the room, almost pinning you to the wall if you could call it that, and whispering in your ear so teasingly it made you crazy:

° 𐐪𐑂 “Now, how about you make it up to me for leaving me back there for 10 minutes? I think you deserve a good punishment from me, baby.”

° 𐐪𐑂 gosh.... i just... okay moving on with the holy water???

최 수빈:

° 𐐪𐑂 Fridays where you had to MC was certainly the best because you got to spend it with a very special someone~

° 𐐪𐑂 A very special someone who would do their very best to make you laugh and succeed at it every time he forgot to say his line

° 𐐪𐑂 A very special someone who encouraged you to be confident even in front of your favorite idols whom you were dying to talk to

° 𐐪𐑂 A very special someone who comforted you when you thought you weren’t good enough in front of the TV screen... and someone who cheered you up by giving helpful advice with soft kisses on the nose as well~

° 𐐪𐑂 Oh wait, who was that very special someone?? You guessed it! Only the sweetest boy ever, Soobinnie from TXT !

° 𐐪𐑂 You couldn’t be more than happy to say yes to interviewing idols with him even if the questions were already scripted with a small piece of paper

° 𐐪𐑂 Every moment with him in front of the cameras was heaven to you, to hear his perfect voice echo inside the walls in the room

° 𐐪𐑂  Perhaps the idols behind you could tell you were whipped for each other at this point... you honestly wouldn’t be surprised but you didn’t want to release the fact that you were dating since it wouldn’t do good for both of your images

° 𐐪𐑂 This time, the idols behind you were the one and only Stray Kids !

° 𐐪𐑂 An excellent group with excellent music~ (maybe I should stan, hehe)

° 𐐪𐑂 The questions only took a few minutes since they were just talking about their song, but you had to say you enjoyed every single second of it

° 𐐪𐑂 And with the bunny grin on Soobin’s face, it looked like he was pleasant himself too

° 𐐪𐑂 Although, every good thing has to come to an end~!

° 𐐪𐑂 The cameras just turned off after getting the perfect cut and you were waving off to a few of the members when one of them came up to you with a huge smile on his face

° 𐐪𐑂 You noticed he had a lot of freckles on his face which definitely made him even more prettier, and you welcomed him with the same expression back

° 𐐪𐑂 “Hi, Y/N! I hope I’m not bothering you, but I just wanted to say that I absolutely love your songs. Oh sorry, I didn’t introduce myself. I’m Felix, if you didn’t know,” he looked off to the side shyly but didn’t expect to see you kindly answer him back

° 𐐪𐑂 Honestly, he looked really sweet ! But you were wondering why he made some time to talk to you all of a sudden before catching up with the rest of his members on a time crunch

° 𐐪𐑂 “No, it’s okay! Actually, I’m happy you came up to talk a little since I wanted to say that I love your songs as well. Um, did you need me for anything?”

° 𐐪𐑂 The boy just shook his head, moving closer to you so you could at least hear him better,

° 𐐪𐑂 “Well, I sort of do... if it’s not too much to ask, do you think I could maybe take you out some time? And it’s fine if you say no! But I’d really like to get to know you.”

° 𐐪𐑂 The heat of your ears was a bit too much now, and you could feel yourself becoming a wee bit too warm in your outfit

° 𐐪𐑂 ...you couldn’t lie to him, he seemed like a nice boy and all that you’d definitely love to have as a friend but how were you going to tell him you were already taken if both your boyfriend and you agreed to keep the relationship a secret in the first place?

° 𐐪𐑂 From beside you, you could hear Soobin sigh longingly, waiting for you to come talk to him after a while of not seeing you

° 𐐪𐑂 He was a few feet away from you, staring down at the situation as if that was going to do any better and scare the other boy away

° 𐐪𐑂 What do you expect??? The bby boy misses you sm :((

° 𐐪𐑂 And he gets very polite so he won’t be able to do anything until it gets too far for him 😭😭

° 𐐪𐑂 Seems like the type to accidentally get the wrong order thanks to the mcdonalds staff but accepts it anyway bc he’s too scared nice to say anything (just like me for example)

° 𐐪𐑂 As I was saying, the two of you just glanced over at Soobin who had a somewhat grumpy look on his face, leaning on his hand while sitting down

° 𐐪𐑂 The sight was definitely something to see... it only peeked obvious jealousy but it looks like the dude from Stray Kidz wasn’t able to see it just yet 😭

° 𐐪𐑂 But to you, who absolutely knew Soobin inside and out not mentioning the fact you dated him, could tell that boy was CLEARLY in envious pain watching this

° 𐐪𐑂 “Yeah, of course! I think we’ll be really great friends too! Maybe once our schedules are free, then we can meet up somewhere.”

° 𐐪𐑂  Subtly nodding your head to where the jealous bby was sitting, you hoped it would be enough for him to figure out in the meantime

° 𐐪𐑂 Felix, seeming to understand what was happening between the two of you, just chuckled handing you the tiny paper of his number in hands

° 𐐪𐑂 “Okay then! I hope we can be good friends in the near future. Just let me know whenever you want to hang out, and we’re good to go!”

° 𐐪𐑂 And with that, the other boy left, scrambling to catch up to his group which was already far away

° 𐐪𐑂 It was silent for a few minutes until Soobin heaved out another sigh, but it was instead one of relief once he saw that every staff and performer was out of the room for a little while

° 𐐪𐑂 “He obviously likes you,” he muttered, sticking out his bottom lip to create the most precious pout you had ever seen, “it’s not fair at all... why does everyone have to like my significant other?”

° 𐐪𐑂 You just smiled knowingly at his tone and pulled him up from the floor-- did he always feel like this whenever someone asked you for your number?

° 𐐪𐑂 Taking his fluffy cheeks in your hands, your thumb rubbed against his cheekbone before booping his nose with a teasing touch

° 𐐪𐑂 “Soobin, I love you, silly. There’s no one who can ever compare to you, okay? It’s alright to get jealous sometimes, but

° 𐐪𐑂 He puffed out an amused chuckle through his nose, satisfied at the answer you gave him, smirking that omg smirk that really had your heart beating too swiftly like the first time you met him

° 𐐪𐑂 “I’m really lucky to have you... I swear every single person on this Earth is in love with you? But now that you’re encouraging me like this, I feel just fine. But... just in case, could you promise to stay by my side forever, please?”

° 𐐪𐑂 He held out his pinky finger, gazing at you expectantly as if to wait for your answer, but wasn’t it evident enough?

° 𐐪𐑂 It really was impossible to say no to those puppy dog eyes 😌

최 범규:

° 𐐪𐑂 It wasn’t hard to miss that Jongho from Ateez liked you more than everyone else usually did

° 𐐪𐑂 Beomgyu could certainly tell

° 𐐪𐑂 Yes he was staring at the other boy’s reaction for some time (although it was mostly you) while your group was performing and he could see that same boy squirming with excitement whenever it was your turn to lead the stage

° 𐐪𐑂 Yes he was deathstaring him down when they shook hands, but at least he was polite enough to smile back when all the cameras were flashing in their faces

° 𐐪𐑂 And man... did he hate it as much as he tried not to show that jealousy itself

° 𐐪𐑂 Of course he thought nothing wrong of Jongho !

° 𐐪𐑂 Truth be told, he actually wanted to become friends with them since he found them to be such a talented and strong person who could easily break apples with just a flick of his wrist

° 𐐪𐑂 it intimidated him sure sskdsd like what if he was the apple in jongho’s hands instead...

° 𐐪𐑂 OKAY IM GETTING OFF TOPIC IT MUST BE BC ITS LITERALLY 2AM ON A MONDAY NIGHT

° 𐐪𐑂 But when it came to you.... Beomgyu really had no chill in wanting needing to protect you always like omg pls 😭😭

° 𐐪𐑂 The glares he sent poor Jongho who didn’t know the two of you were in a relationship was laughable man

° 𐐪𐑂 Maybe it was bc of his hairstyle he didn’t know 🧍 but he would for sure figure that out soon enough when he was brave enough to finally come talk to you after your performance~

° 𐐪𐑂 This choreo was exhausting but you were starting to get the use of it after tons of practice and performing !

° 𐐪𐑂 You were happy tonight with how it came out, so you were going to ask for your breathtaking boyfie how it looked in order to appease that weird craving for his opinion

° 𐐪𐑂 When you came to the backstage where everyone was congratulating you, you weren’t the very least bit surprised to see Beomgyu waiting for you

° 𐐪𐑂 but instead of the usual cheerful mood-boosting smile he had on his face, was the sour frown that had you thinking curiously in your head what the matter was

° 𐐪𐑂 Before you could even ask him what was wrong, someone cut in and you weren’t able to ask him just yet

° 𐐪𐑂 “Wait, Y/N, before you go! Can I just say that you did really well on the dance tonight? I mean you always do, don’t get me wrong, but I think you did extra amazing for this one.”

° 𐐪𐑂 Excitedly you smiled, whooshing behind you to see that it was one of your favorite idols from one of the greatest bands in the universe

° 𐐪𐑂 “Oh gosh, really? Thank you so much! I wasn’t planning on

° 𐐪𐑂 Under his breath Beomgyu muttered to himself as he was watching this, “oh look, here comes the boy trying to steal my bby..”

° 𐐪𐑂 gosh why is that hot to me i need some help-

° 𐐪𐑂 “Yeah, of course it was! I don’t know about you but you have to know that I practice that dance if I were you since I love it so much!”

° 𐐪𐑂 what.

° 𐐪𐑂 You were so taken aback that you just chuckled nervously before chatting a bit more

° 𐐪𐑂 A few more minutes passed by, and Beomgyu couldn’t stand seeing you laugh at all of Jongho’s terrible jokes

° 𐐪𐑂 To him it was as if you were forcing yourself to laugh at all his jokes, but that really wasn’t the case ksfjsk Jongho was just a funny dude

° 𐐪𐑂 But all that time you were worrying about your boyfie and why he was so sad :(((

° 𐐪𐑂 You hated seeing him in the corner by himself, looking at most likely nothing on his phone and you wanted to talk to him since there could be something wrong

° 𐐪𐑂 It seemed as if the clock saved you bc wow !! Thank gosh the time for Ateez to perform since you needed to help gyugyubear at onceee

° 𐐪𐑂 “Maybe we could switch numbers? Would it be okay with you?” He shyly suggested, something much more different compared to the confident aura he had earlier

° 𐐪𐑂 you would’ve loved to take time for that but noooo :(( beomgyu was getting his stuff and leaving??? IN FRONT OF YOU???

° 𐐪𐑂 “Umm, yeah!” You swiftly agreed, glancing back at Beomgyu who was about to leave from your sight, “but I have to go! I’m so sorry, maybe next time?”

° 𐐪𐑂 poor dude was feeling very confused when you ran away just like that??? but he got over it by shrugging and going onstage since he had better things to worry about skdfjs

° 𐐪𐑂 Hurriedly you went off to Beomgyu, tugging onto his arm so that he’d pay attention to you

° 𐐪𐑂 It took a few tries thanks to the pettiness he was trying to pass off, but eventually you did it... somehow

° 𐐪𐑂 “Is there anything wrong?”

° 𐐪𐑂 “No. There’s nothing.”

° 𐐪𐑂 “Nothing? Are you sure?”

° 𐐪𐑂 “Positive.”

° 𐐪𐑂 “Beomgyu, just tell me what’s wrong, dude 🧍.”

° 𐐪𐑂 “That’s it, you’re calling me dude and I don’t like it all 🥺.”

° 𐐪𐑂 Wait, was that just it 😭😭?? You wanted to die right then and there after worrying so much for nothing and being so tense during your conversation with Jongho

° 𐐪𐑂 “Wait, Gyu, are you being serious? So nothing was the matter?”

° 𐐪𐑂 Well now he couldn’t lie to you :(( at first he was going to act like he was fine but with the way you were looking at him :(( he simply couldn’t !!

° 𐐪𐑂 “Fineee. I’m jealous, and I don’t like it because he’s so close to you. I can’t help it sometimes since I tend to overthink too much but I know you love me since we’re together but I just-”

° 𐐪𐑂 CHUUU !! CHUU !!

° 𐐪𐑂 Seeing him panic and ramble on and on, you cupped his cheeks and pressed your lips against his so he wouldn’t have to be that anxious anymore

° 𐐪𐑂 As much as you loved hearing his voice, you didn’t like it when he got sad about your relationship... so hopefully a little kiss would do the trick?

° 𐐪𐑂 AND YESSS IT WORKED YOU GOT THE BOY EVEN MORE WHIPPED FOR YOU PLSSS 😭😭

° 𐐪𐑂 After a few seconds you pulled away, much to his disappointment but he was more than happy enough you did that thooo 😏😏

° 𐐪𐑂 “Ahh my bby!! I don’t love him!! I love you!! And so much at that!! I’m glad you trust me with your feelings and told me this, but you always have to remember that my heart belongs to you, okay? It’ll always be and I know you know that too,” you sighed while kissing him yet another time

° 𐐪𐑂 It was such a sweet moment but... how were you getting through this without him teasing you until now??? well surprise, surpriseeee

° 𐐪𐑂 “If this is how you’re going to act every time I get jealous, then I better become jealous even more at this point~~”

° 𐐪𐑂 “Oh be quiet, Gyu, now the mood is ruined 🗿🗿.”

강 태형:

° 𐐪𐑂 “Wait, Y/N... is that you?”

° 𐐪𐑂 From all of the clamorous chaos in the room, you were stunned to hear the familiar but relatively a much deeper voice compared to before in the same place as you

° 𐐪𐑂 It had been a while hearing it and you were tearing up just knowing who it was

° 𐐪𐑂 It couldn’t possibly be him... could it? A few years had passed since the last time you saw him so hearing him in the same workplace as you- well technically the - was almost too hard to believe

° 𐐪𐑂 But no, he was right in front of you, smiling like an angel as always- that same smile that was so contagious it made everyone else in the room light up

° 𐐪𐑂 “Jisung (from NCT)? You’re kidding me right now... But it’s been so long since I’ve seen you! Don’t tell me that I completely am missing the fact that you’re actually here? In this moment? Right now?”

° 𐐪𐑂 He only laughed at you, inching so much closer each second that you felt as if you were witnessing a delusion or something of the sort

° 𐐪𐑂 “No, it’s really me, Y/N! I’ve missed you... do you think we could catch up for a while? Just for a few minutes if that’s okay with you,” he offered, reaching his hand out to you

° 𐐪𐑂 You could only say yes after glancing up to see Taehyun’s reaction, but he just smiled- clearly encouraging you to go so that you could meet up with an old friend during your break time

° 𐐪𐑂 You hastily said goodbye, pondering if Taehyun was really going to be fine with it since you thought boyfriends would become suspicious of what other boys’ intentions were

° 𐐪𐑂 But thankfully, Taehyun being the best understanding boyfriend he was, plainly stated that it was more than great for you to go since you could talk to someone you trust

° 𐐪𐑂 but ahhh you weren’t sure- perhaps you really liked it whenever someone showed their love through jealousy (ofc not too over the top since that’s just toxic), and he didn’t seem to have any interest in becoming sad at all

° 𐐪𐑂 ++ Like you’ve noted before, he wasn’t one to get jealous since he trusts you very much ofc 🧍 but maybe.. just maybe...

° 𐐪𐑂 Your sliver of getting some attention and feeling love was shut down when Jisung brought you along to where he wanted to talk to you alone

° 𐐪𐑂 It was the clean white hallways where really nobody was ! The only people there were the two of you so you easily understood why he chose such a random spot like this

° 𐐪𐑂 And yea.. that’s where all of the getting to know what happened after training started and the two of you, curious to hear a few juicy details about whatever, were completely entranced in alllll of the stories you each had to tell

° 𐐪𐑂 MAYBE FOR LIKE 25 MINUTES OR SO????

° 𐐪𐑂 Taehyun sat in the other room scrolling through his phone mindlessly, but all the meanwhile wondering when you were going to come back

° 𐐪𐑂 He knew it was going to take longer than what he was at the very least patient for, but this long???

° 𐐪𐑂 The poor bby just moped around as he looked through moas’ comments, too bothered about you to answer any of them with a happy feeling

° 𐐪𐑂 And with you? You barely noticed the time, and so did Jisung as well

° 𐐪𐑂 You were both talking about random topics as well so when the line below appeared out of nowhere, there was no lie saying you were paralyzed with shock

° 𐐪𐑂 “You know back then... I’ve always wanted something more, but since we became idols it never happened. These days have always been work, work, and more work but I think that if we make it work, then we’ll be able to love each other well! And you do have the same feelings for me too, right? You told me just before I became a trainee so I never really got time to tell you that I felt the same way.”

° 𐐪𐑂 Oh, the way your jaw dropped when listening to him was just... something that should be hung in a museum

° 𐐪𐑂 W-was that a confession or....? 🧍

° 𐐪𐑂 “Y/N? Is everything okay? You seem to be... spacing out there.”

° 𐐪𐑂 But you weren’t 😭 You were dying inside thinking of how sudden it was and what you should say back???

° 𐐪𐑂 bc you already have a bf and he’d give the whole entire world just to make you happy 🗿🗿

° 𐐪𐑂 The familiar clacks of someone made you jolt, and from that scent you absolutely knew who it was right then and there

° 𐐪𐑂 “Taehyun, what are you doing here?” You whispered, getting up too quickly that could’ve showed how thankful you were for him to come and save you at the last second

° 𐐪𐑂 “Okay, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to eavesdrop on your conversation! But I had to come get you or else your one hour break would run out and the staff would get mad at you for not coming earlier.”

° 𐐪𐑂 Jisung shot a confused glance at you when your boyfriend kept whispering in your ear, so you just held up a hand to let him know

° 𐐪𐑂 “Ah, sorry, but I think I have to go now! But thanks for the contact, we’ll need to exchange phone numbers next time because I really enjoyed talking to you! You’re such an amazing friend; I’m sure that we’ll become even closer in the end.”

° 𐐪𐑂 If that wasn’t enough of a friendzoning response, then idk what is 😔

° 𐐪𐑂 Jisung shot you a soft smile, albeit you could see a bit of sadness in it... you felt bad but you didn’t have the heart to lead him on like that

° 𐐪𐑂 “It’s okay! Go ahead, it’s more than fine with me. And yeah, I guess we’ll talk more next time!”

° 𐐪𐑂 Without any word, you solemnly waved a goodbye before wondering if Taehyun’s words about the one hour break was really true when not that much time passed anyway

° 𐐪𐑂 “Is it already time for me to prepare? Thanks for letting me know, otherwise I would’ve been dead meat by now!”

° 𐐪𐑂 He didn’t respond, and you raised an eyebrow at his reaction after giggling yourself at your stupid joke

° 𐐪𐑂 “Love? Are you okay? What’s wrong?”

° 𐐪𐑂 It was certainly awkward right now, and you hated it more than anything but you couldn’t place your finger on what made him to act like this

° 𐐪𐑂 “Taehyun?” You tried yet again, running faster to catch up on his too quick pace that only dripped of hurriedness

° 𐐪𐑂 And just like that the boy stopped after you called him for the third time, ceasing you in your tracks just to look back at you with a grimace on his lips

° 𐐪𐑂 “You’ve gotten me all twisted, love, that it’s quite pathetic. And yes, I am totally jealous even though I know I shouldn’t be.”

° 𐐪𐑂 Oh... so that’s what it was 😏😏

° 𐐪𐑂 He never admitted he was jealous those other times either so this was just-- wowww 😭😭

° 𐐪𐑂 “My love, it’s you that I’m with,” you huffed, getting close enough to intertwine his fingers with yours, “and it’s you that I’m going to be with forever, whether you like it or not. You have no reason to be jealous since I completely adore you! I want to be with you, can’t you already see how much I’m whipped for you?”

° 𐐪𐑂 He didn’t answer for a few seconds like you expected, so you pretended to be sad and turn away

° 𐐪𐑂 But when you did, he immediately grabbed your arm-- something you weren’t surprised of since he was the softest boy at heart and couldn’t be too mad at you for too long

° 𐐪𐑂 “Love, don’t go! I’m fine, I already know that and I love you too... it’s just that-”

° 𐐪𐑂 “So you were jealous...”

° 𐐪𐑂 “N-no, I wasn’t jealous- you heard nothing!”

° 𐐪𐑂 You caught him off guard by kissing him on the cheek and booping him on the nose until you could see the softness of his cheeks turn crimson red

° 𐐪𐑂 “Awwe, you cutie. Now let me make it up to you by giving you my utmost attention until break is over!”

휴닝가이:

° 𐐪𐑂 Ahh my bby Hyuka, i’m just so in love with him pls 🥺

° 𐐪𐑂 Well... speaking of which, who wouldn’t be in love with a sweet boy like him???

° 𐐪𐑂 Obviously not you, that’s for sureee 😭😭

° 𐐪𐑂 N E WAY--

° 𐐪𐑂 You just came back from performing one of your most popular songs and the adrenaline rushing through your body was enough to happily keep you on your toes as you

° 𐐪𐑂 You were really happy tonight and you were hoping to share that same joyfulness with the best boyfie ever, Hyuka who supported you in whatever you chose to do !

° 𐐪𐑂 Why though?

° 𐐪𐑂 Because this just had to be one of your best performances yet !!

° 𐐪𐑂 Like the way how you looked gorg on stage with your charismatic presence 🥺??? You knew it yourself that you looked amazing dancing and singing along with everybody... and the fact that they were fully enjoying it too was the true icing on the cake

° 𐐪𐑂 Kai must’ve seen it, huh? You were itching to see his proud smile and reaction of you since it would definitely make the passionate swelling in your chest boost 100%~~

° 𐐪𐑂 But right now, he wasn’t anywhere to be found :((

° 𐐪𐑂 Usually he’d be waiting at your dressing room whenever the two of you went to award shows together

° 𐐪𐑂 Or he could be at his dressing room and you asked the txt boys but... nooo he wasn’t there eitherrr 😭😭

° 𐐪𐑂 So... you decided to look for him ! He could’ve gotten lost, who knows ++ there could be some good food somewhere...

° 𐐪𐑂 Searching for Kai, surprise caught your features when someone with a very familiar face passed by

° 𐐪𐑂 Unfortunately it wasn’t your boyfriend whom you were looking for :((( but it was Jay from Enhypen and he seemed like a cool dude !

° 𐐪𐑂 I mean... you needed some idol friends anyway so why not talk to him ?

° 𐐪𐑂 Well, it all started with a polite hi and hello from senior to junior...

° 𐐪𐑂 The two of you ended up talking a little while that you ended up forgetting that your original task was to find Kai and ask him his opinion about your performance

° 𐐪𐑂 Somehow Jay made the conversation flow really easily and the two of you wouldn’t be able to stop talking to each other about literally everything

° 𐐪𐑂 It was like he was an old friend of yours and you were finally catching up... he was just that great of a dude yuh

° 𐐪𐑂 Maybe 5 minutes passed by...

° 𐐪𐑂 or 30, who knows...

° 𐐪𐑂 While Jay was talking, you glanced at the clock on the wall before him and almost gasped from how distracted you were

° 𐐪𐑂 LIKE HOW DID 30 MINUTES PASS BY THAT QUICKLY????

° 𐐪𐑂 and you promised you would get ready by then but now you spent all of your time talking to Jay when you could’ve been catching up with Kai 😭😭

° 𐐪𐑂 Although that itself wasn’t a bad thing at all, actually ~~

° 𐐪𐑂 You were more than happy to make a new friend in Jay ! And maybe the two of you could at this point be very good ones if you talked a lot in the future

° 𐐪𐑂 ++ You were happy talking to him, so if he was okay with it, then you definitely were !

° 𐐪𐑂 True to your words, you ended up talking to him a little bit more until he told you he needed some time to prepare for his stage

° 𐐪𐑂 A few goodbyes here and there passed between the two of you and he handed you his number to talk whenever you were bored to which you easily agreed

° 𐐪𐑂 And as promised, he was about to go as his shoes made some clickity-clacks against the spotless floor until-

° 𐐪𐑂 “Wait, do you hear that?”

° 𐐪𐑂 You just looked at him and knitted your eyebrows, confused as to what he was saying, “hear what?”

° 𐐪𐑂 and then BOOM! You could definitely hear it now???

° 𐐪𐑂 IT WAS KAI RUNNING OVER TO YOU, PANTING DRAMATICALLY AS HE SNEAKILY PLACED HIS HANDS ON YOUR SHOULDERS 😭😭

° 𐐪𐑂 You jumped at his touch a little, shocked to see him so suddenly when he was gone for at least 35 minutes

° 𐐪𐑂 “What is it, Kai? Is there something wrong?

° 𐐪𐑂 “No, NO! Nothing is wrong- I just need you to come look at this real quick!”

° 𐐪𐑂 Hurriedly Kai tugged you on the hand and you laughed loudly, following his lead to take you somewhere

° 𐐪𐑂 Jay laughed as well, waving towards your direction as the other boy dragged you along to another place

° 𐐪𐑂 “Alright, bye then, Jay! I’ll text you!”

° 𐐪𐑂 With the grin he was giving back, you were sure he would respond too

° 𐐪𐑂 However, that wasn’t really an aversion to what was going on rn 😭

° 𐐪𐑂 As soon as you were out of sight from everyone, Kai seemed to be a quiet mess, staring down at you like you were doing something weird

° 𐐪𐑂 The two of you were all alone now, but it was close enough to the staff’s room where they did your makeup

° 𐐪𐑂 Although it was pretty weird he was acting this way, considering he was a chatterbox whenever the two of you were together no matter what

° 𐐪𐑂 “What is it, Hyuka? What did you need to show me?”

° 𐐪𐑂 Because of the silence, you couldn’t help but wonder ! What he was thinking in that head of his- you couldn’t possibly be sure at all with the quietness all around you

° 𐐪𐑂 “I didn’t have to show you anything,” he finally responded with a blank expression, “I just had to get you away from a love rival who was obviously fighting for your love.”

° 𐐪𐑂 Well wow that was some bluntness-

° 𐐪𐑂 But a love rival??? You could completely understand why he was acting like this now- and it was all because he was jealous 🗿

° 𐐪𐑂 “Kaiiii,” you whined, pursing your lips tight together and bringing his hands into yours, “I’ve missed you too and I know we haven’t been talking much thanks to schedules but you have to know that I love you the most out of everyone here!”

° 𐐪𐑂 ._. <-- aka the same face he had while listening to you, so you went on

° 𐐪𐑂 You truly found this situation to be entertaining but you weren’t going to say it out loud ! Hopefully he would really see that you were being sincere though because you really did love him the most in the world :(((

° 𐐪𐑂 “Jay may be a great person and all, but you know that it’ll always be you that I choose. And why is that? It’s because you’re the one who stole my heart, not him, you fool.”

° 𐐪𐑂 Now the smile on his face was enough to convince him you were happy enough with the truth you gave

° 𐐪𐑂 Him believing you was one of the best feelings you’ve ever had and you were going to ask if he wanted some ice cream but he beat you to it, taking you by the hand and keeping you close by his side,

° 𐐪𐑂 “I absolutely do have the best bf/gf in the world... I just have to treat them with some ice cream after jumping into some weird conclusions! Also, what’s Jay’s phone number? I might talk to him instead 😏.”

° 𐐪𐑂 ...what were you expecting...

Posted: 4/26/21- 3:00am

(it’s literally monday today and i have school 😭 i didn’t expect to stay up this late but oh well iggg 🗿🗿)

Tags:

[libraryofloveletters]

More Days, Fewer Words

Eddie Diaz x Reader 

Warnings: fem!reader

Category: angst 

Word Count: 4.2k

Author’s Note: based on my failed talking stage so this was self indulgent :)  also thank you to @hotchsdarling​ for her help :) <3

-----

Cold. 

The word that describes the current state of your relationship with Eddie. He sat across from you in your bedroom, his shoulders hung as he slouched in the chair. Your foot tapping against the floor was the only continuous noise echoing through the room, ever so often Eddie glanced at you before directing his attention back to your tapping foot. 

Today was supposed to be a nice day, sunny and hot in El Paso, as were most days but not today. Today was gloomy, grey and raining. The wind that blew through the cracked window was cold -cold enough to cause goosebumps. The words that were spoken lingered in the room although nothing was being said. 

“I think I should go” he pipes up, his voice quiet and soft, as if he spoke louder he would break you more than he already had. 

“Okay” a whisper left your throat, barely. 

Eddie pushed himself up out of the chair and headed towards your door. He stepped out, looking back at you now laying on your bed, staring up at the ceiling. 

“I-” 

Silence.

He sighed, shutting the door. His steps quieter as each went. His voice back to normal as he said goodnight to your parents. The tear rolled down your face, the back of your hand wiping it away when you stand. Eddie stood out in the rain in front of your house, you watched as he looked at your bedroom window. He stood there for a moment and you opened the window. He waited - waited for you to shout for him to come back into the house, for you to do something, anything. 

You didn’t. 

Shoulder slumped and now rain soaked, he turned and walked the other way. 

How did you end up here? Never did you expect him to leave. He was always the constant in your life, there through the good and the bad, as you were for him but something changed. People change and people drift apart. Some things things were just meant to happen the way they happened. 

----

Last you heard, Eddie had moved after his wife left. You had seen him at the store and he saw you too. An awkward moment of eye contact was had and you both went your separate ways. His mother was the one that had told you about his move, she kept up with you even after the falling out. She always stopped and spoke to you if she saw you, still sent you flowers for your birthday until this day. She had really started telling you that Shannon had left to take care of her mother, but of course, Eddie was an angel in their eyes so Shannon was left to take all the blame. 

Not that you knew Shannon personally nor did you know the ins and outs of her relationship with Eddie but you had heard enough from friends to know that things weren't good. She had commitments, one to take care of her mother and of course, she had one to take care of sweet Christoper but you could understand why she left. It’s hard raising a child when your partner is gone and when he returns, he’s just there with no sense of what’s happening. You would never blame Eddie but you couldn’t exactly blame Shannon either. 

So as anyone would, you went to see Eddie’s mom before you left for LA. there was nothing left for you in El Paso, most of your family had moved. You didn’t want to stay there by yourself with all the memories of your past.

It was time for a fresh start. 

Imagine your surprise when Mrs. Diaz goes “that’s where Eddie is too!” She had known the two of you stopped talking but she didn’t know why. Neither of you spoke about your feelings and that was part of the reason why the friendship ended to begin with. She told you he had become a firefighter when he moved, he had just gotten a job at station 118. 

Something you loved about her, she always told you what you wanted to hear without asking. 

She wished you good luck and promised to visit you when she and Ramon came out to see Eddie and with that, you were off. 

The entire time, your mind wandered back to Eddie. Surely, he had moved on. He did with Shannon, you couldn’t have given him what he wanted. Stability, a marriage sometime in the near future, a child after that, all things you weren't ready for at that point in your life. Truthfully, you still weren't sure if you were ready now, but maybe and only maybe, would you consider it for the right person. 

LA was new and fresh, a clean stale for you to try things and meet people. Right now you were just focused on getting settled in with the new place and the new job. Lauren, the woman whose desk was next to yours asked you to join her and some of the others for drinks after work to celebrate the account the team had gotten earlier. Being new to town and all, you had no other plans so you agreed.

9:30 on a Tuesday night and you were at a bar not far from your workplace. 

Lauren and Matt, who you now realized was her boyfriend, were telling everyone about this new fancy restaurant they went to for their anniversary. You smiled and nodded, but truly you were zoned out. Eyes wandered through the bar, from groups much like yours, to couples, some men and women sat at the counter and then a group of people by the pool table. You watched as a shorter man with black hair hit the ball into the pocket, another man, this one blonde and tall, patted his back and then took his turn. Your focus was on them until Lauren called your name. 

“Y/n?” 

“Hm?” 

“What do you think about that ?” 

“About what ? Sorry, I missed what you said” smiling apologetically at her. 

“The restaurant, isn't that crazy ?” 

“Yeah it totally is” Lauren hums at your response and carries on with her conversation. Gaze drifting back to the pool table at the other end of the bar, you excuse yourself from the group for a moment. You watch the blonde man miss yet another shot as you walk towards the bathroom. Not that you needed to go, you just wanted to have a better view of the game. Your back was up against the wall, the man with the black hair hit another ball into the pocket and surprise surprise, the blonde man missed again. 

“He's totally kicking your ass” stepping forward, your hands resting on the edge of the table. The blonde man looked offended while his friend laughed. 

“I am, aren't I ?” he asked you, smiling in amusement. 

You nodded, he introduced himself. “I’m Howard, but you can call me Chimney. My friend here is Buck.” 

“Chimney ?” your brows raise, he shakes his head, “long story.” 

“You are ?” Buck asks, “y/n” you smile. 

“Okay, y/n. Think you can do better than me?” he asks, holding the stick out for you. Smiling, you take it, “definitely can do better than that” as you lean over the table, Buck steps to the side and watches as you line the shot up. One hit and the ball rolls into the pocket. 

“Yeah, she’s got you beat Buckaroo” Chimney laughs, “Buckaroo ? How cute” you smile, Buck rolls his eyes. 

“Don’t listen to him” he says, nodding to Chimney. “Your go man” 

Buck lets you take his turn for him, Chimney missed the first one but gets the second one in. Just as you lean to line the stick with the ball, you hear him. His voice still brings chills to your spine. He hadn’t noticed you yet, you can hear him talking to Buck, you glance up ever so slightly to make sure you heard right. 

What are the odds that the two of you lived in the same place your entire lives and never run into each other but not even 2 weeks into your move to LA and you see him? 

Pushing the feeling and thoughts of Eddie from your mind, which wasn't the easiest considering he's right in front of you, you hit the ball and it rolls into the pocket. 

“Good shot y/n!” Buck calls from his chair. You wince, hoping Eddie wouldn't look back but he did. The two of you looking at each other like you were the only people in the room. All the feelings from that day returned, the heavy tension weighing you down. Eddie’s reaction made you want to run, far and to never return, to somewhere you’d never see him. Yet, you were stuck, froze and fixated on him. 

“I think I should go.” you hand the stick to Chimney who’s now exchanging confused glances with Buck. “It was nice to meet you guys. Enjoy your game.” you smile at the two men, one last glance at Eddie before walking away. You say goodnight to your friends from work and apologize for just disappearing on them. Lauren and Matt offer to give you a ride as you came with them but you decided you’d walk. 

---- 

Eddie follows his morning routine per usual. Up at 7, wake Chris up, breakfast, shower and get ready, out the door by 8:15 the latest, drop Chris off at school for 8:30 and at work by 9. 

As soon as his bag hits the floor, Buck comes running in, Chim hot on his tail. “Good morning” Buck smiles at his best friend, taking a seat on the bench across from Eddie’s locker. “Morning Eddie, how’d you sleep ?” Chim asks, Eddie turns and looks at Chimney, “how did I what ?” Eddie’s face twisted into his typical scowl.  

“Sleep, how did you sleep ? Friends ask that don't they Buck ?” Chim faces Buck, his back against the wall across from the lockers. Buck nods but Eddie ignores them, he goes back to changing for work. The room is quiet except for Eddie’s tumbling through his bag and locker and Chimney throwing a tennis ball at the wall across from him and catching it. Buck being Buck, decided to ask the question they had actually gone in there to ask. 

“So why did our new friend just up and leave after you showed up?” 

Eddie didn't answer, Chimney kept bouncing the ball and Buck asked the same question over and over again in different variations, hoping to get an answer. Finally Eddie turns to face them, the locker door slamming shut. Buck and Chimney’s heads perking up at the sound. 

“What do you want to know ?” Eddie asks, Buck opens his mouth but Eddie cuts him off. “You can only ask one question each. That's it” the two men nod, Chim joining Buck on the bench. “Do you guys know each other from your past life or something ?” Buck asks the first question. 

“She was an old friend.” Eddie’s simple answer didn’t satisfy the curiosity that Buck and Chimney had. 

“What happened between you two ?” Chimney used his question, earning him a sigh from Eddie. 

A loss for words wasn't a common thing for Eddie, sure he didn’t confront every problem verbally, that was usually the last option he chose but he looked for the simplest terms to put what happened. 

“We drifted apart” 

“Oh c’mon! There has to be more!” Buck looks up at his friend who was in no mood for questions, the look on his face was enough to get Buck to stop but did he ? Of course not. 

“Eddie, come on. It's us. You can tell us what happened” 

“What I say here, ends here. Understand ?” his friends nod. Eddie sits on the bench beside them. 

“We were friends back in El Paso. Grew up together our whole lives, everyone thought that we'd get married,” he chuckled at the thought, “but obviously, didn’t happen. It was right after we had graduated, we had feelings for each other but neither of us said anythi- well that’s not true. We admitted that we had feelings once but nothing ever happened. She went off to college and I was still figuring out my life. After I told her I enlisted, we drifted. Hung out less, the calls became shorter and eventually they stopped. The only time we saw each other was if one of us showed up at the other’s place. I told her that I couldn’t have a relationship like this, with nothing happening. I wanted a life together, to get married, to have a kid and she said she didn’t want that, she ‘couldn't give that to me.’ We stopped talking after that. I left and when I came back, I met Shannon, we got married and had Chris.” 

“So that’s that. Anyone want a smoothie ?” He stands and waits for an answer, both men shake their heads and he walks out like he hadn’t just told them all of that. Buck and Chim sat there, staring at Eddie walking away. He had this great romance and it ended because they had shitty communication skills ? There was no way Buck and Chim would let this slide, they’d hatch a plan but one that Eddie would know nothing about. Only to figure out how they can get the two of them together in one place. 

---

A routine fire drill for an office building was a normal day for the 118. Bobby coordinated with the team from outside. Hen, Chim and Buck all inside the building, they went through various floors checking to make sure they were clear while Eddie was in the lobby. 

This was their first shift back after their 24 hour shift as was it the first shift back since the Eddie “I had a friend that I loved but did nothing” bomb was dropped. The team took their sweet time clearing the building, they were supposed to be in and out as fast as they can be because they were supposed to be acting like it was a real fire. 

You on the other hand, were now arriving to work. You had a check in with your doctor and called in to say you’d be late. You find your way through the crowd outside of the building and spot Lauren by a corner. 

“Hey!” she smiles, you smile back at her. “What’s going on?” you ask her, turning to look at the crowd forming by the door. “Fire drill” she informs you, nodding towards the 2 big red firetrucks parked in front of the building. You hum, the side of the truck had big white numbers that said 118. Why did that feel so familiar to you ? 

“He works at station 118 now” Eddie’s mother’s words ringing in your head. 

No no no no no, not again. God I hope he isn't working today. 

Everyone reenters the building and there he was again. You couldn’t help but look at him. He had grown since you saw him that day at the store, you didn’t know what you were expecting. He stood there, his coat undone and his helmet in his hand, his typically well kept hair was wavy and messy from the helmet. He looked cute, but you wouldn't dare to tell him that. Not then, not now. You look away before he sees you. Making your way up the stairs, you were searching through your bag for your phone when you bumped into someone. Their hands on your arms, “sorry about that” you mumble before looking up. 

Buck smiled at you, “it’s okay. I didn’t know you worked here” 

“Yeah, started a few weeks ago” 

“Hey, why don't you come out with us tonight ? Chimney will be there and my sister Maddie, plus Hen and her wife are coming. She works with us, you’ll really like her” Buck gave you a smile, his eyes pleading for you to join them. He didn’t mention Eddie but you’re sure he would be there. Oh what the hell, you co-existed in El Paso for years, you had the same friends there too, what difference did it make here? 

“You know what, sure. Where and when ?” 

Buck reached into his pocket for his phone, giving it to you. “I’ll text you the details” you type your number into Buck’s phone. HIs radio went off, someone was looking for Buckley which you assumed was him and it was, he shouted that he’d text you as he ran off down the hallway. Chuckling at the man, you wondered how someone as joyful and sweet as him stayed so joyful and sweet doing a job like his. Surely, he had seen some messed up stuff, there was no way he didn’t. Nothing thinking much into it, you head into work for the day. 

----

Buck didn’t take long to text you a name of a restaurant and a time, he also told you to ask for Buckley when you arrived. Work kind of flies by when you have something to do, soon enough you were at home getting ready. The place was 20 minutes from your place, you arrived on time surprisingly. The man at the front smiled at you and led you into the restaurant when you gave him the name. Just as you were walking in, your phone chimed. 

From Buck: Okay don't be mad but Hen and Karen can’t make it. Chimney and Maddie are having a date night in and I’m sitting on my couch but have fun  

From Buck: But drinks tomorrow I promise, if you’re not mad at me :) 

Did he send you here to have dinner by yourself ? 

When you looked up, the man had just stopped in front of a table, had you not looked up you would have walked into him. Eddie sat at a table for 2, you look at him and he looks at you. The man excused himself as the two of you are looking at each other like you’re the only people in the place once again. 

“Buck ?” you ask him 

“Buck.” he answers, you hum. 

You pause for a moment. “Well, I can leave. We don't have to st-” “no please, sit” Eddie says, your brows furrow before you sit across from him. 

“I didn’t-” “When did-” the sentences cut off each other. Gesturing to him, “you first” your attention on the man in front of you. He takes a sip of water before speaking. “I didn’t know you moved to LA” he says, you hum. “I didn’t know you moved either.”

“Yeah after Shannon-” 

“Left. Yeah, your mom told me.” 

“How did Buck get you here?” Eddie looks over at you. “Bumped into me during the fire drill. He asked me to come out with the team tonight, to meet them.” 

“He told me that he wanted to get dinner and help me plan Christopher’s birthday party” 

“Chris has probably gotten so big” 

“Yeah, he did” Eddie pulls his phone out to show you a picture. Eddie and Christopher sat on the couch next to Eddie’s grandmother. 

“Awe, he’s grown so much. How’s your Abuela ?” 

“She's good, she's been helping me out with Christoper since I moved here.” 

Your eyes drifting back to the phone that sat on the table, it seemed like a recent photo. The cake on the table read “happy birthday” and Christoper’s arms are wrapped around Eddie’s waist. Chris is laughing with frosting on his cheek while Abuela feeds Eddie a piece of cake. The picture was from Eddie’s birthday, it was from last weekend. 

“oh my god, it slipped my mind.” you look at him, Eddie’s brows furrowed and his head tilts slightly. “What’s wrong ?” he sounded concerned. 

“Happy birthday Eddie” smiling at your friend- if you could even call him that. Eddie returns the smile. “Thank you” 

The waiter returns to the table, asking if you were ready to order. Eddie looks at you, unsure what to say to the waiter. You speak up, “No thank you, I think we’re going to get going.” 

“Is there any way we could get you to stay ?” the waiter asks, you smile politely and shake your head. “Thank you but the babysitter called, our son isn't feeling too well so we’re going to head home” now smiling sweetly at the waiter, he nods and leaves. Eddie’s eyes are on you, you could feel them on your from the moment you say “our son”

Getting up, picking up your purse. “It was nice seeing you Eddie” 

“Wait! Let me walk you out” he gets up from his seat, he follows you as you make your way through the tables and out of the restaurant. 

“No thanks, I’m more than capable of walking myself out” you say with a hint of annoyance in your voice. You’re out on the street walking towards the direction of your car when you feel a hand wrap around your wrist tugging you back slightly. 

“I know you’re capable, but please. It’s the least I can do” he gives you a pathetic look, a small pout on his face. 

“God, stop it. You know I hate that stupid face” pulling your hand away, you continue towards your car. “What face?” he shouts, jogging behind you as he follows you to your car. 

“That stupid pout of yours. It always got me to give in” turning around, you hadn't realized how close behind you Eddie was. His chest against yours, his hand on your waist instinctively when you bump into him. Eddie had no clue what you were talking about, a pout ? He had never pouted a day in his life. Clearing his throat, he relaxed his face as best as he could. 

“Can we talk, please ?” you shake your head, moving his hand from your hip. “Eddie, what more is there to say ?” 

“I love you.” 

The 3 words you had been dying to hear since freshman year of high school. The 3 words that would have been the glue to hold your relationship together all those years ago. 

“Eddie, what-” you breathe. You were at a loss for words. Why now? Why not all those years ago?

“I know” he takes a step back. 

“Why now? Is it because you already got married ? Because you have Chris ? Because you don’t need me to give you those things, you just- why ?” 

“Y/n, it was never about those things with you.” he reaches for your hand, you pull away. 

“But it was. It always was about the future we would have built together. You wanted to get married, you wanted to have children and I didn’t. I wasn’t ready. I still don't know if I am. So please, if you’re just going to leave again, go now before I fall in love with you again.” admitting your feelings to him in the middle of the street. 

“I got married, I have a kid - and you’re right. I don't feel the need to do those again because I already have. It doesn’t mean I stopped loving you. It doesn't mean a day hasn't passed by that I didn’t think about you or that I didn’t want to call you.” he sighs, his heart on his sleeve. Eddie wasn’t only one to talk about his feelings, ever. It meant a lot to both of you that you had your feelings out in the open. 

Eddie’s hands grabbed your waist, your body pressed against his. “Eddie, please don’t. I can’t do this. We’ve both moved on-” his hand cradled your face,  his lips on yours ended your sentence. 

Your heart pounded in your chest, you could only focus on how Eddie’s lips felt against yours. You had been dreaming for another moment like this since he left you that day in your bedroom, it felt as if time stopped and it was only the two of you while the world melted away. 

Eddie’s eyes had ever so slightly opened, taking the beautiful women in front of him. Taking in the moment just to make sure he wasn’t imagining what he had dreamt of and for the first time in all those years, he didn’t feel sad when he thought of you, he saw the one he had been waiting for.  

“Ed-” “Y/n, I love you.” 

“Eddie I-” 

“No, it’s you. It's always been you.” 

“Oh my god, Edmundo! Shut up, I'm trying to tell you something” you groan, Eddie bites back a smile.

“What is it?” 

“I love you too.” 

---- 

Yeah I got lazy, but happy ending :) Just assume they worked things out and are happy now :) 

taglist: @advicefromnixxxx​ @dralexreid​ @keenmarvellover​ @mikaelson-emma​ @beth-winchester21​ @averyhotchner​ @fernandaweasley2​ @yikesyikesyikes95​ @hotchsdarling​

[purrincess-chat]

Marinette Dupain-Cheng’s Spite Playlist: Remix CH18

I commented recently after GoS aired that canon Alya was on her way up, but MDCSPR Alya was on her way down. Consider this the beginning of the end for her for a while. 

Previous     First      Next     AO3

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

Chapter 18: You Are In Love

“Good evening, m’lady! You’re looking radiant as ever tonight,” Chat Noir called. His boots clanked against the roof, and he tucked his staff into his belt as he approached the love of his life.

Ladybug stood on the edge, the lights from the city reflecting in her dark hair. Her eyes sparkled when she turned to him, and his heart fluttered. There was no contest—Ladybug was the most beautiful girl in the world, and his heart would always belong to her. She flicked his bell with the playful smile that made him melt.

“When are you going to stop calling me that?” she asked.

“Only when you fall in love with me.” He grinned. “Or if you kiss me.”

She looked up at him through long, fluttery lashes. “Do you want me to kiss you?”

His heart took off into a sprint as Ladybug wrapped her arms around his neck and stretched up on her toes. He leaned down and touched his lips to hers, savoring those few moments of bliss while they lasted. Nothing else mattered—just his lips on hers. The girl of his dreams was kissing him, and he wanted to stay locked in her embrace forever.

“Adrien,” she sighed his name when they pulled away, lingering close.

Her bright blue eyes found his, soft fingertips trailing down his arms. A light breeze blew through the garden, and Marinette smiled up at him.

“Are you going to kiss me again?” she asked.

He answered by leaning in, arms wrapping tightly around her waist. Her lips were soft and warm, and they kissed him back eagerly. Their hearts beat in time together, passionately entwined. There was no one to interrupt them here. The invisible force that drew him to Marinette bound him tightly, and he wasn’t letting go. He didn’t want to.

Marinette was beautiful and kind, and Adrien wanted to stay in the garden with her forever. His Marinette. The girl he’d always protect, no matter how far he fell to do it. He’d never thought about it before, but holding her this close felt right. She felt right. Marinette had seared her name onto his heart the day they met, binding them together forever. They were always meant to be.

“I love you,” he murmured against her lips, “Marinette.”

A clap of thunder boomed, and Adrien shot upright in bed, heart pounding. What once was a small flame now blazed wildly, burning his chest, his cheeks, his head. Marinette. Marinette was…

People don’t sneak off into the garden to kiss their friends, Adrikins.

Adrien touched his lips, still tingling from his dream. It felt so real. He’d kissed Marinette, not Ladybug. It was never Ladybug. From the moment their lips touched, it was always Marinette. The pounding of his heart, the fire burning through his chest, was all from Marinette.

Kicking off the blankets, he stumbled into his bathroom and flicked on the faucet. His cheeks were bright red and hot to the touch. Everything was too hot. He splashed cold water on his face, but the flames were too big to extinguish now. His heart refused to slow the cadence ravaging his veins.

I love you.

Sparks shot up his arms, numbing his fingers. He said it to Marinette. It had all felt so right in his dream. Now his heart had been stirred so violently in the waking world that not even he could control it. He could still feel the pressure of her lips on his, the warmth of her breath on his tongue. It had all felt real…

Outside the storm raged, the downpour beating against the windows too loud for him to make sense of his racing thoughts. He squeezed his eyes shut in an attempt to drown out the noise, but it was no use. His heart and his mind were at war, and Adrien was caught in the crossfire.

Has another lady finally stolen your heart?

He didn’t call her m’lady. When he saw Ladybug that evening, he didn’t call her cute names or tell her she was beautiful. His heart didn’t burn when she called him kitty. Not like it did now. His head was spinning.

He gripped the countertop until his knuckles turned white. The eyes staring back at him in the mirror buzzed with the electricity spreading across every inch of his skin. Lightning flashed, and the sparks vanished. His racing thoughts skidded to a halt, and the air in the room hung still and quiet. Adrien held his breath.

In the silence, his heartbeat echoed in his ears in a deafening chorus, and when the thunder finally came, all of the tension came crashing down, threatening to crush Adrien under the weight. His head had gone quiet, but his heart was loud, beating to a new rhythm. No, not new. It was old and familiar, a song that had been playing the whole time, too quietly for him to notice. Marinette’s rhythm.

He and Marinette hadn’t kissed in the garden, but Adrien wished they did. If Chloe hadn’t interrupted, then he wouldn’t have stopped. He would have kissed her again and again and again. Marinette. His first friend. The girl he’d go to hell for. The girl he couldn’t stop chasing, and now he knew why. She’d stolen his heart and run away, and this time he was going to steal hers back.

♪♫♪ willow ♪♫♪

Marinette skipped down the stairs to the bakery the next morning, lips pursed. News about Gabrielle had spread rapidly, and everyone at school knew now. Macy and Eliott texted Marinette the moment she got home from the party. Gabrielle told her not to worry, that Marinette shouldn’t care about her, and she was right. It wasn’t like they were friends, and after everything Gabrielle had done, Marinette should be happy like everyone else. But she wasn’t.

Maybe she was stupid. Or maybe she just couldn’t help herself. Tikki was right after all—Marinette couldn’t stop helping people.

“Good morning, sweetie,” her mom greeted.

“Morning.” Marinette stooped to kiss her cheek.

“Did you have fun at the movies last night with your new friends?” her dad asked.

“Yeah,” she said unconvincingly, biting her lip.

“Well, it takes time to adjust to a new school, and we’re happy you’ve already made some new friends. They’re welcome here anytime, okay?” Her mom lifted her chin, and Marinette offered her a smile.

“Thanks, Maman. I’ll see you tonight.” Marinette waved over her shoulder.

The sky was still gray from the late-night storm, casting a dreary haze over the city—a true testament to her mood. Droplets dripped from the overhang onto her blazer, and she brushed them off with a sigh.

Everything would be fine. If she tried hard enough, she could introduce Gabrielle to her group, convince her to be nicer to everyone, and they could all be friends. She’d helped Martin, Eliott, and Macy a lot since she met them. She could do the same for Gabrielle.

“Ya know.” She jumped at a familiar voice. “I think I’m starting to like the uniform.” Adrien leaned through the open window of his silver car, dreamy as ever.

“That makes one of us.” A smile curled on her lips.

“Oh, come on. It’s not that bad.” She gave him a look. “Okay, it’s pretty bad, but if it makes you feel better, I think you look cute in anything.”

She faltered, cheeks burning hotter than the bakery oven. Adrien thought she was cute! He’d almost kissed her. Twice. And now he was calling her cute! Dreams really did come true.

“I- well, it’s not- I mean, I’m not nearly as cute as you,” she stammered.

Nailed it.

“True, I am the cutest teen in Paris. At least, that’s what all the tabloids say.” He flashed her his best model smolder. “But if you look as cute as you did last night all the time, you might just give me a run for my money.”

He noticed! Chloe sat between them on the ride home and refused to let him walk her in, so Marinette worried that he didn’t get to see how cute she looked. Lisette needed to teach her how to work that kind of magic all the time.

“Well, after Chloe hosed us down, I had a little help getting cleaned up,” she said.

Adrien’s bodyguard cleared his throat from the driver’s seat, and Adrien flashed her an apologetic wince.

“Guess it’s time to go. I’ve got a full schedule this week, so I wanted to see you at least a little bit,” he said. “Let’s hang out when I’m free again.”

“Yeah, of course,” she said, and Adrien smiled.

“See you later, Marinette.”

“Yeah, see you.”

♪♫♪ Ain’t It Fun ♪♫♪

Things were as bad as Marinette expected at school. Everyone was elated about Gabrielle, and Marinette’s friends were no exception.

“I can’t believe she’s really broke. What did her face look like when everyone at the party found out?” Macy chattered before class.

“Yeah, how did you get invited to Lisette’s party, Marinette?” Eliott asked.

Marinette squirmed in her seat. “I-” She flicked her gaze over to Gabrielle, sitting in the back of the room. “I went with some old friends.”

“Oh! Chloe, right? I heard she helped Ladybug and Chat Noir defeat an akuma as Queen Bee again. It must be so awesome being friends with a superhero!” Macy said, and Marinette didn’t have the energy to correct her. “But more importantly, word on the street is you and Adrien came in soaking wet from the garden. Wanna explain yourself?”

Marinette’s heart skipped. She’d been hoping the Gabrielle news would be enough to distract people from that detail. Remembering the warmth of his breath so close to her lips sent her mind into a tizzy. Then there was this morning…

“We went for a walk in the garden, and the sprinklers turned on,” Marinette said as if it were no big deal, even though it was probably the biggest deal of her life.

“Then why is your face so red, hmm?” Eliott smirked.

“I- we- nothing happened!” Marinette insisted, but when her friends seem unconvinced, she diverted their attention. “Want to hear something horrific that happened? After I got cleaned up from the sprinkler-incident, I ran into Thomas, and he kind of hit on me.”

“Ugh!”

“Gross!” Macy and Eliott both recoiled.

“He is such a scuzzbag. Please tell me you told him off.” Macy groaned.

“Well, I started to, but then Gabrielle interrupted, and they started arguing, then Thomas told everyone Gabrielle’s secret, and yeah,” Marinette said.

“Serves her right. If Thomas wasn’t just as awful, I’d commend him for taking interest in you. You’re definitely a step up from Gabrielle,” Eliott said.

“I dunno… Don’t you guys feel at least a little bad for her?” Marinette winced, and Eliott and Macy looked at her like she’d grown a second head.

“Absolutely not. It’s going to be a lot quieter around here without her bossing everyone around,” Macy said.

“Yeah, she got what was coming to her.” Eliott agreed.

“Well, she was terrible and mean, but maybe if we showed her a little kindness, she could change,” Marinette said. When Macy and Eliott stared at her again, she faced forward with a sigh. “Never mind.”

“Look, Marinette, we love you, and it’s super sweet that you want to help everyone. Seriously, you’re an angel, but Gabrielle is a demon. She’s run this school ever since she set foot in it, and now her kingdom has crumbled. Those of us who have been enslaved by her tyranny are enjoying our newfound freedom,” Eliott said. “I mean, if that mean girl who stole all of your friends from your old school got exposed tomorrow, wouldn’t you be happy?”

He had a point. If it were Lila, Marinette would be over the moon. She couldn’t blame them for celebrating, and even though Gabrielle tormented everyone for the past three years, Marinette couldn’t help feeling like she wasn’t all bad.

If she had learned anything since leaving her old school, it was that people could change. People she thought were trustworthy could become strangers overnight, and people she never thought possible could become her most trusted allies. But maybe they were right. Maybe Gabrielle was a lost cause, and Marinette should just let her go. Things would be easier that way.

“Yeah, I guess…” Marinette mumbled as Mr. Mercier called for everyone to find their seats.

Marinette didn’t bring Gabrielle up again for the rest of the day. Her friends weren’t going to forgive her any time soon, and truthfully, she shouldn’t have expected them to. Gabrielle Burton was their Chloe Bourgeois wrapped in Lila Rossi. The reigning queen of their nightmares was now reduced to a powerless shell of her former glory, and peace had been restored to the kingdom at last. If someone told Ladybug on her first day that she would willingly give Chloe Bourgeois a Miraculous to fight beside her, she would have thought they were crazy. Healing would take time, but just because they weren’t ready to forgive, didn’t mean Marinette couldn’t help on her own.

Gabrielle was by her locker at the end of the day, having waited until everyone left to change into her work apron. She bristled when Marinette approached.

“What do you want?” She crossed her arms over her chest.

“I wanted to make sure you were okay,” Marinette said. “Everyone else was so mean to you, and I just thought after everything that you could use a friend.”

“Of course they were mean. In case you’ve forgotten, I haven’t exactly been nice to them in the past either.” Gabrielle rolled her eyes. “I told you, I’ll be fine. Don’t risk your reputation for me.”

“You did.” Marinette nodded. “But there’s no one around now.”

Gabrielle eyed her, perplexed. “Why do you care so much?”

It was a question Marinette had been asking herself all day, and looking at Gabrielle now, she finally knew the answer.

“When I left my old school, I was afraid I’d lost all of my friends, and I felt so empty inside,” she said. “But then I met my new friends, and I knew that everything would be okay. They helped me find my footing when I felt like my world was crumbling, so I want to be that for you.”

“You’re stubborn, Marinette. I’ll give you that.” Gabrielle leaned against her locker with a smile. “Thanks, I guess.”

“Do you want to take the subway together?” Marinette offered.

“Fine.” Gabrielle shut her locker, slinging her bag over her shoulder.

She averted her gaze as they walked, cheeks pink, but a small smile tugged the corners of her lips. Gabrielle may have a complicated past, but maybe with the right influence, she could learn to be nice after all. Sometimes all a person needed was the right friend and to know that they weren’t alone.

♪♫♪ crushcrushcrush ♪♫♪

Alya descended the stairs to the courtyard slowly, her stomach churning in knots. When Malin showed up, Alya thought Ladybug picked new allies for all of the Miraculouses. After all, she and Nino knew each other’s identities, and everyone knew Chloe’s identity. So why did Queen Bee get to fight by Ladybug’s side again? What had Alya done to deserve being replaced that Chloe hadn’t? None of it made any sense.

Lila and Ladybug had never met before, and truthfully, I don’t think they really even like each other.

Was it all because of Lila? If Adrien and Marinette’s stories were true, then Ladybug would know if she was a liar. Had Alya ruined her chances of wearing a Miraculous by aligning herself with Lila? It was the only thing that made sense, but Alya couldn’t bring herself to believe it. She needed answers.

Alya vaguely remembered Adrien’s fencing schedule from helping Marinette with her hopeless confession schemes. She almost missed those days. Things were a lot simpler back then. If she remembered correctly, Adrien should have been finishing his private lessons, which would put him in the locker room.

Alya hurried to the double doors across the courtyard. At first she thought she’d missed him, but voices mumbled several rows down. Alya crept in quietly to get a better listen.

“Are you sure these questions will get her to spill the tea?” Chloe.

“Yeah, all we have to do is get her to agree to it,” Adrien said.

What were they up to? Sure, everyone knew that Chloe and Adrien were friends since childhood, but on most days ‘friends’ was a generous exaggeration. As far as Alya knew, Adrien could hardly stand Chloe, so why were they talking now? Ducking behind the next row up from theirs, Alya held her breath and listened.

“Lila isn’t going to know what hit her after our interview with Ladybug goes live. She is so done for,” Chloe said darkly.

“I’m not doing this to ruin Lila’s reputation-”

“I know, I know.” Chloe groaned. “I can’t believe you’re going through all this effort to trick a superhero into exposing Lila for Little Miss Nobody.”

What?

“Her name is Marinette, and I know you miss her too, Chloe,” Adrien said.

“Ugh, don’t tell me you’ve actually got feelings for her—I might barf. It’s bad enough I had to chase you two out of the garden last night,” Chloe groaned. “Let’s just get rid of Lila, then you can go play the hero for Dupain-Cheng, and I can get back to being the reigning queen at this school.”

“We’ll try to signal Ladybug tomorrow afternoon. After that, no one will ever trust Lila again,” Adrien said.

“You and I make such a good team, Adrikins. We should ruin lives together more often,” Chloe said.

“I don’t plan to make a habit of it.”

The locker door slammed, and Alya scrambled to the end of the row, diving behind a cart of basketballs. Her heart hammered, blood pounding in her ears. She waited until the courtyard doors shut and the room fell quiet to move.

Chloe and Adrien were working together to get back at Lila for Marinette! She’d been right not to trust him. All this time she thought Adrien was a good guy, but she should have known better. No nice person could be friends with Chloe Bourgeois for so long. Ugh, that girl made Alya so sick! How could anyone be that cruel? And Ladybug actually trusted her over Rena Rouge? After everything Alya had done to prove herself. Chloe was the most selfish, bratty, conniving person Alya had ever met! Why did Ladybug ever trust her? Unless…

Unless she didn’t.

What if Chloe was manipulating Ladybug too? She said they were going to trick her into exposing Lila, so what if she tricked her into giving her back her Miraculous? Chloe was very good at getting what she wanted, and it wasn’t beneath her to ruin someone’s life just for stealing attention away from her. But why would Adrien and Marinette help her?

Alya’s head was spinning. What was the truth? Was all of this a long con set up by Marinette, and Adrien and Chloe were just the pawns? Why would she do that? None of it made sense. Why did they all hate Lila so much?

One thing was for sure: she needed to warn Ladybug about that interview. If Chloe was manipulating her, then Alya needed to put a stop to it. Maybe then she could prove to Ladybug that she was still worthy of being a hero. But she needed to hurry.

Her fingers dialed quickly, and Lila answered on the third ring.

“Hello?”

“Hey, I just overheard Adrien and Chloe talking. We don’t have a lot of time. We need to call Ladybug. Now.”

[roanniom]

Phillip and Miss Perfect

Phillip Altman x Reader

Word Count: 2,866

Part 1/?

Summary: Back in high school you were a perfectionist and he was a charming douche. You’ve spent years suppressing the feelings he awakened in you senior year because you’re better than that, right? You’ll sure find out now that you’re back home for the holidays right in time to run back into him.

Warnings: NSFW. Language. Masturbation (F/M kinda). Gratuitous Altman charm.  

Phillip Altman had long been the bane of your existence. Phillip and his cheeky grin and his gaggle of older siblings whose mere existence somehow afforded him an untouchable cool status amongst the weaker minded of your peers. A status you’d always felt was completely unearned as he swaggered through the halls of your high school, winking at pretty girls and tossing innuendo-laden comments to his fawning admirers.  

Yes Phillip Altman, you’d decided long ago, was the bane of your existence.

Handsome and arrogant and too smart for his own good, not that he ever applied himself, for crying out loud. It was senior year that solidified your loathing for the boy. Mr. Weathers had paired the two of you together for the group-project winter final. Only a sadist would assign a group project for a final, so you should have seen it coming. Always the instigator, the old man had been thoroughly entertained by the way you and Phillip would constantly bicker in class. Though “bickering” probably wasn’t the right word considering that the interactions were less a volleying of insults and more a pattern of Phillip smoothly complimenting you and you spewing vitriol back in response.

“My place or yours?”

Your head had snapped up hard when you heard the baritone voice laced with amusement too close for comfort a few moments after Mr. Weather’s class had ended.

“Altman. What have we said about my personal bubble?” You made sure your voice dripped with venom. Phillip straightened from where he had leaned to whisper in your ear as you placed books into your locker.

“Your personal bubble is your own and I am not allowed inside it,” he rambled off, as though reciting a vow from memory. After a breath he wiggled his eyebrows and added, “unless expressly invited.”

“In your sticky dreams,” you shot back.

“Every night, Miss Perfect,” Phillip said, giving a roguish half-smile that you wanted to slap off his face. Instead you slammed your locker door and stalked off.

“So, your place it is then?” Phillip called to your retreating back. You ignored him. He cupped his hands over his mouth and shouted after you, making sure that everyone in the hallway could hear his humor-tinged voice.

“Parting is such sweet sorrow, Juliet!”

“We’re presenting on Hamlet, moron,” you said, shooting him a look over your shoulder as you continued to walk away. “That quote you just bastardized is Romeo and Juliet.”

Phillip had just laughed and walked in the opposite direction. Leaving you to fume on your way to the bus while wondering seriously to yourself if murder would be enough to make colleges take back the early acceptances you’d already received.

~*~

And so you two had spent one blustery weekend in early December holed away in your bedroom. You trying desperately to keep Phillip’s tiny attention span from wandering to your panty drawer long enough for a presentation on the themes of Hamlet to miraculously get written. Phillip trying desperately to get into said panty drawer and avoid the slaps you repeatedly sent his way. To the surprise of absolutely no one, you both failed tremendously on all accounts. Your mom certainly didn’t help matters by bustling in with Christmas cookies and cooing comments to Phillip about how cute he was. True to form, he thanked her through a mouthful of gingerbread before throwing an infuriating wink your way. That was it. You knew you and your perfect grades were doomed.

And yet on the day of the presentation, something crazy (a miracle, if you’re sappy) did occur. Phillip pulled – out of his ass, presumably – a 180 and gave a performance to rival anything old Willy-Shakes could have staged. Not only did he express a genuine and insightful knowledge of the themes of the play, but he was also a generous presenter, setting you up for and supporting you in points that even made you, the top of the class, look better. As Mr. Weathers complimented the two of you on your efforts at the end of the presentation, you couldn’t help but stare at Phillip, struck for the first time by the way his hair curled a little at the ends and the way his eyes sparkled under the attention of the class. You didn’t like admitting it to yourself, but your stomach was in knots. Phillip parading around like he’s god’s gift to high school girls? Gross. Phillip confidently presenting literary analysis and showing a glimmer of genuine intelligence? Fucking hot.

After class you’d felt a little intimidated at the prospect of talking to him. You weren’t sure why. It was Phillip Fucking Altman, class clown and grade-A pain in your ass. You watched him out of the corner of your eye as you slid your books back into your bag. His frame stood out amongst the small circle of his friends, his dumb, tall body making it so that you could always see him from far away.  

You gripped your bag close to your body and walked briskly toward the door, deciding against any further interaction with the boy whose eyes had suddenly made your cheeks grow hot for the first time in all the years you’d known his stupid ass. As you walked by, however, he broke away from his friends and chased after you, calling your name. You didn’t stop until you reached the destination of your locker down the hall.

“Hey, so it seems like we killed it in there.” Phillip leaned against the next locker, slightly breathless from having jogged to catch up with you. It was after sixth period on the last day of the semester, and the last few stragglers filtered through the hall on their way to the sweet freedom of winter break.

“Yeah, I guess we did alright, didn’t we?” you said noncommittally, refusing to look up from organizing the inside of your locker.

“Alright? Pretty sure Weathers jizzed his pants when you brought up biblical allegory,” Phillip let out a bark of a laugh.

“Only you could make academic achievement sound vulgar, Altman,” you said, trying but failing to hide the smile that broke across your face.

“It’s not as hard as it seems. All of those stuffy writers were pervs. You know Mary Shelley fucked Lord Byron on her mother’s grave? And that horny bitch wrote Frankenstein!” His smile lit up the corner of your vision and you looked up, blushing at how cute his stupid crooked teeth looked all of a sudden.

“She fucked Percy Shelley on her mother’s grave, not Lord Byron, you idiot,” you replied, rolling your eyes. Phillip’s eyebrows had shot up and his smile had grown wider.

“Well, well Miss Perfect. Never took you for a girl who reads the naughty books, too.”

“Shove it, Altman.” You punched out at his arm, but he successfully dodged, finally demonstrating fast reflexes for once after years of similar assaults from you.

“Well either way, we did it! We made Lit our bitch – up top!” He offered up a hand which you high fived reluctantly. Before you could pull your hand away, his large one wrapped around yours and he yanked you forward. Your body crashed into his and before you could flail, he wrapped his arms around you in a tight hug.

You were too shocked by the action to move, too surprised by the feeling of his strong arms twisting around your back and his hard body against your breasts. You’d always known Phillip was hot, it was one of the things you hated him for. But feeling the evidence of that hotness against you? You felt the knot in your stomach from earlier drop a little lower.

Phillip ducked his head down to the crook of your neck, his warm breath blowing on your ear. You became hyper aware of the silence in the empty hallway, marveling at the fact that there was no one there to witness the sudden intimacy of this weird moment. Was there a memo you’d missed about a Christmas Fair that everyone had rushed off to? Damn. You took a breath to speak but Phillip cut you off, the vibrations from his rumbling voice sending shivers down your spine.

“Yeah, yeah I know. Sorry about your personal bubble.”

You bit your lip, not trusting yourself to speak during this odd experience that balanced precariously in a space between uncomfortable and enticing.

“It’s just that…” Phillip began, but trailed off. Your heart beat in your throat, and somewhere lower, as he began swaying your bodies a little in place. This couldn’t be real, though nightmare or dream you couldn’t decide how you’d classify it. You felt his ribcage expand against you as he went to speak again, barely aware that your own breath was held captive in your chest in anticipation.

“I, too…jizzed in my pants when you brought up biblical allegory.”

It took a few seconds for his words to register in your mind before you reacted. Your hand connected with his face so hard you scared yourself with the volume of the sound. Both of you stood frozen and staring at each other for a moment after that. Him with his hand on his cheek where it had flown to shield his stinging skin and you with your hand suspended in air where it had reverberated back after impacting with his face.

Then Phillip began to laugh.

It was a full sound that echoed off the walls. Your face screwed up in response, immediately feeling shame heat your ears and cheeks. But then you noticed that his smile held no derision, no malice. He was genuinely entertained by the fact that, after all these times slapping him, you’d finally hit the mark dead on.

Your hand flew to cover your lips, dozens of emotions dancing on your features as you began to register the humor of the moment as well. However, you also felt foolish. Not a second before he’d let loose the comment that broke all your physical self-control your mind had been toying with the idea of losing physical self-control in a very different way. The hot, knotted feeling in your lower belly had not gone away with this turn of events, it had merely intensified. Your palm tingled where it had made contact with Phillip’s cheek.

The rush of emotions, so many and so dissonant, overwhelmed you. So you did the only thing you could. You slammed your locker door, ducked your head down, and ran for the door, leaving a very confused Phillip still chuckling to himself in your wake.

~*~

That night, laying in bed, you had chastised yourself for feeling what seemed to be every feeling but your usual hatred toward Phillip. This wouldn’t do. You were the top of the class. You hadn’t gotten this far for this long by having twisty turny feelings for stupid beautiful boys with crooked teeth and lots of charm.

Somewhere in your self-admonishment, however, your thoughts turned back to the feeling of his hard body against yours. His arms, large and muscled, containing you with such ease and solidity. The planes of his large chest as they pressed into your soft curves. Without even thinking much about it, your hands moved under your sheets, squeezing those curves.

The knotted feeling from before returned, but this time it was less of a knot and more of an ache. You knew the feeling. Had willed it away while watching movies where hot actors sucked too convincingly on the necks of their leading ladies. Had clumsily tried to remedy it with fumbling rubs and twisting legs on nights when the tension got to be too much.

But that night as you’d thought about Phillip Altman’s arms around you, your pointer finger moved to your clit, rubbing small circles around the sensitive nub. As you thought of Phillip Altman’s lips as he rambled confidently in front of a crowd, and Phillip Altman’s big nose scrunching as he winked at you across a classroom, and Phillip’s dimples as he laughed at one of your personalized insults, and Phillip Altman’s dick as it could be seen outlined in his athletic shorts during gym….

The ache inside grew and you felt your pussy clenching around nothing, desperate to be filled by something you hadn’t known you wanted. Haphazardly you thrust a finger inside your folds, the hand not preoccupied with circling your clit reaching up to grab one of your breasts.

You tried to imagine Phillip’s large hands replacing yours. Tried to imagine how he’d fill you, how he’d squeeze you. You could almost hear the way he’d put that already dirty mouth of his to good use.

“You want to cum, Miss Perfect? Hmm?” You imagined him saying. The vibrations from his deep voice rang through your mind, left over from when it had caused you to shiver earlier. “Want me in your personal bubble now?”

You whimpered in the darkness of your room, speeding up the friction on your clit and thrusting two more fingers in your slick heat. You imagined his lips at your neck, at your clavicle, at your sternum, sucking at the skin and tickling you with the stubbling facial hair he’d only been sporting since last summer.

“You’ve always been such a good girl,” the Phillip in your mind practically purred. You felt yourself reaching a precipice you’d never quite attained before. The muscles of your legs quaked and your squeezed your nipples, needing more of something.

“Why don’t you be a good girl for me and cum?”

Your whole body convulsed against the mattress and your muscles seized, your fingers trapped inside your pussy as it contracted over and over. You felt absolutely euphoric for a moment, almost nothing passing through your mind but the image of Phillip, smiling at you with that same, familiar, cheeky smile.

But as you came down from your high, your sweat ran cold with a realization. It had been your first orgasm. Phillip had caused your first orgasm. A mixture of shame and anger flooded your system as you curled into yourself. It wasn’t enough Phillip Altman was the golden boy of the school, it wasn’t enough that he could – and did – have any girl he wanted, he had to have your orgasm, too?

You felt silly but you also felt indignant. You had prided yourself on not being affected, on being above him. After all, why go after the boy who had it all and who only teased you because it felt like an accomplishment to make the smart girl squirm under his gaze?

No. You hated Phillip Altman and you wouldn’t let him have this. You silently thanked whatever militant non-secular whacko had pushed the Christmas agenda on the school system so hard that you had two weeks off now to help distance you from any interactions with the boy who plagued your mind.

You had drifted to sleep that night, unaware that several streets over, in a room very much like your own, Phillip Altman was tugging at his hard cock, groaning over thoughts of the girl who challenged him, the girl who yelled at him, the girl who slapped him. The one girl he was so sure he’d never get with, but who he wanted most.

~*~

Now, twelve years later, you wander down the baking aisle of the local grocery store, praying to all that is holy that you won’t bump into someone from your high school. After graduation you had peaced the fuck out, leaving for college on the opposite coast. You’d spent years convincing your parents that you were too busy with undergrad and then grad school and then publishing deadlines to ever make the crazy trip back to your hometown, instead baiting them into visiting you for warmer holidays that smelled of the beach and your new life. Two consecutive shitty breakups on your part and one knee replacement surgery on your mother’s part combined to turn this into the year that your parents insisted you finally made the pilgrimage home.

Which is how you find yourself on a winter night browsing the alternative flour selection, having been sent to look for the perfect gluten-free option that will make your mom’s gastrointestinal system “not blow up like a friggen balloon.” It was funny how not even a medical diagnosis could deter that woman from her festive baking habits. You’re deep in thought over the differences between coconut and almond when a deep voice rumbles out from your deepest memories, reverberating right into aisle four.

“You know I read your latest book.”

You look up and almost drop your two flours to the ground. Instead you fumble, gripping them tightly to your chest and causing vaporized coconut and almond to puff into the air in front of you.

As the powder settles out of your line of sight you see him. Phillip Altman. Twelve years older, with more facial hair and a couple laugh lines, but it’s him alright.

“Hey there, Miss Perfect.”

His nose crinkles as he winks at you. You intake breath sharply.

And choke on some flour.

It tastes like coconut. And you know then that you should have just trusted your gut and gone with almond.

You also know that you’re in trouble.

~*~

Tagging some very kind people who have been very welcoming: @mariesackler​ @direnightshade​ @safarigirlsp​ @sacklerscumrag​

[purpletaecup]

6 ☾ these echoes of laughter fade into a distant memory

note: fully written chapter again this time, with social media half chapters coming later this week! this chapter is mainly Yoongi and we see a little bit of his side and how he felt in the past and how he feels in the present. not edited, wanted to post this before the concert so we can all cry together!

rlly important note: i suggest you guys listen to nineteen by hayley williams because i basically base this whole story off that song (and some chinese webnovels i read lmfao). It’s one of my favorite songs ever and it hurts a whole lot. I wish i could experience how I felt when I listened to it for the first time again. As always, feel free to vent/rant and tell me your theories about how the story is going to go! let’s cry together :’)

final note: IM SORRYYY FOR THISSSS don’t hate me pleaseee 

word count: 2,523

That night, Yoongi slept in your hospital room. The emotional weight of everything that had happened had kept him nailed to the chair beside your bed. The smell of the air after the rain permeated into the room and reminded him of the day that his lawyer delivered the divorce papers to you, who was alone at home and probably waiting for him. Looking back at it, maybe it was an impulse decision that he made due to the frustration and exhaustion that your marriage caused him. He grew weary and waking up in the morning felt like a chore. You were distant, he was distant and both of you were living lives going in different directions. But you loved each other, and for a while, he thought that could be enough. Evidently, it wasn’t. He doesn’t regret the divorce because in the end, he thought he was doing what was best for the both of you. He knew how tired you were and how you felt being around the people in his life. He felt the same way with the people in yours. Everything about your lives clashed and he thought that divorce was the best solution for both of you to become happy again. He wasn’t getting any younger, but you were still very young and you could still find someone who could love and cherish you better than he could.

He didn’t regret it.

He didn’t.

Or at least that’s what he keeps telling himself. He didn’t regret it. He couldn’t regret it. But remembering how you looked when he came home that night breaks his heart to pieces. Your pale and shivering figure crying by the front door and the way your trembling hands shook him off when he tried to help you up. It was a sight that would remain ingrained in his mind and his heart forever. When you two finally made it inside your house to sit on the couch, he fully expected you to shout and scream and throw a tantrum about the divorce papers. He did not expect the quiet sobs that wracked your figure, or the broken “why are you doing this?” and finally the resignation in your voice when you told him you’d sign it. He remembered, at that moment, that he began crying too. He walked over and sat next to you and took you in his arms like you were his whole world even though he knew he had just ruined yours. With his head buried in your damp hair and neck, he whispered a million apologies. Sorry for breaking your heart. Sorry for wasting your time. Sorry for not knowing how to love you properly. Sorry for not trying.

These apologies meant nothing to you. They were nothing compared to the pain you had endured to be with him, to love him. He didn’t know that. For the last months of your relationship, he didn’t know who you were and that’s what pushed him to get the divorce. You were a shell of the woman you were when you two first met. Your smile didn’t make butterflies appear in his stomach anymore and your laugh didn’t make his heart flutter like it used to. It wasn’t the same anymore. You were both different people, changed people.

In the midst of this change, he was introduced to Yura by Jungkook. A model he worked with a couple times and a really nice woman. Beautiful, even. Almost as beautiful as you, he had thought when he first met her. Jungkook pushed and pushed for him to hang out with them and the rest of the guys and the more he saw Yura, the more he talked to her, the more he began to like her. She reminded him of you when he first met you.

You were 19 and he was 23 and you were modeling at the same set he was supposed to shoot at an hour later. He came early to help the staff prepare for his music video shoot and hopefully talk to the director but he had ended up watching your shoot for most of the time until it was his turn for the set. The people around you liked to say that Yoongi fell in love with you at first sight. He often refuted that it wasn’t at first sight because he wasn’t the type of person to fall in love because of how someone looks. In private, he told you that he fell in love with you at first smile, first laugh. The sight of you laughing genuinely in the middle of hydrangeas and baby’s-breath enchanted him so much that he remained rooted to the floor for the remainder of your shoot.

The laughs and the smiles were Yoongi’s favorite. You were the most beautiful person he’d ever met. You are still the most beautiful he’d ever met, but perhaps it was the exhaustion of life that wore the both of you down. What had started as a beautiful, youthful romance filled with picnics in meadows had ended with divorce papers on a rainy day in September.

These are the thoughts that followed Yoongi to sleep that night.

☾

[nov. 10, 2020]

The same thoughts haunted him day in and day out ever since he left that next morning at the insistence of Jungkook and Taehyung. He spent 4 days on his own, working and living his life but only on the surface. Conservations with people, including his friends, remained minimal. He couldn’t stop thinking about your broken and bruised body laying in the hospital bed, and he was anxious for the news of you waking up but none had come. He received no calls from the hospital since he left, and Taehyung said that visiting was meaningless unless the doctor told him new information.

Yura told him, verbatim, “I understand that you’re worried about her safety, but the doctors said she would be fine. She’s your ex-wife, I get it, but she’s not your responsibility anymore.”

In a way, she was right. But he couldn’t help but feel sick at the thought of leaving you all alone there. He knew it was hard for Jin to come out because he was incredibly busy with work, and when he wasn’t traveling for his job, he lived too far from both of you to ever accompany you in the way that you needed. In addition to that, he had no idea what happened to you and your mom. The last he heard, which was when you were still married, you were on speaking terms with her and there wasn’t a problem between the two of you. At least not that he knew of. Namjoon was on a book tour and Jimin was constantly booked due to his dance career. In any case, you had no one here. Yoongi was all you had and that was evident in your unchanged emergency contact list.

After Yura had said that, he felt uneasy being around her so he told her that he truthfully couldn’t stand to just move on with his life while you were practically lifeless in the hospital, and if that was a problem with her then maybe they should just take a break from each other. He kept telling himself that he really liked Yura and he wanted what she could give him, but he couldn’t ignore the four years that you two spent building a life together. Especially not now that you were pregnant, a fact that he had kept hidden from Yura.

When he thought about the pregnancy, everything else seemed to melt away. Despite the circumstances, the news of your pregnancy made him happy. Extremely so, albeit a little scared as well. He wondered how long you had known, and if you were happy or scared.Or what if you didn’t know at all? As far as he could tell, you weren’t showing. There was no sign of a bump on your little belly, but the doctor’s words were irrefutable. There was a baby growing in there. A baby that was half you and half him and that thought of that made him smile like he hadn’t in a long, long time.

That night, he dreamt about a little girl with your eyes and your smile and a nose that resembled his. A laughter that reminded him of yours echoed in those dreams.

☾

[nov. 11, 2020]

Pleasant dreams faded into a pleasant morning as Yoongi woke up much earlier than he was used to and felt better than he had in ages. He spent some time by himself before his phone was bombarded by phone calls and text messages from the group chat with the boys asking him when he was coming for work.

As he saw the sun take its place in the blue skies and white clouds, he decided that the day was too beautiful to waste on a day in the company. 5 days passed since your accident and he thought it was time to go back to the hospital and see how you were doing. Of course he wasn’t expecting any changes to your condition considering he hasn’t gotten any phone calls from the hospital yet, but he thought it might make him feel more at ease to sit next to you.

On his way to the hospital, he stopped by the flower shop you often went to, the one next to the park with the yellow flowers that you liked so much. The woman at the front, whose name was Yerin by the looks of her nametag, recognizes you immediately.

“Mr. Min Yoongi? How can we help you today?” She asks, immediately standing up straight at your intimidating presence.

“Just here to get some flowers.” He replies nonchalantly.

Yerin runs around the counter to stand in front of him.

“Is there anything specific you’re looking for?”

“No, not really—wait a second, that flower right there. Give me a bouquet of those.” He says, pointing to the bunches of purple flowers hiding behind Yerin.

She turns to see what he was pointing to. “Ah, purple lilacs. Okay, I’ll put it together for you really quick!”

He saw her go around the many shelves of flowers to what he assumed was the back inventory of the shop and didn’t see her come out until a couple of minutes later. In her hands was a beautiful bouquet of the purple lilacs with white baby's-breath. His eyes softened at the sight of the white flowers. The sight was familiar to him.

“That would be 25,830 won.” Yerin handed the bouquet to him and smiled.

He handed her 35,000 won, murmured his thanks and left. Once out of the shop, he was hit by the bright sunlight and couldn’t help looking over to the park. Kids were running around while their parents watched them on picnic blankets.

Warm and sunny days like this reminded him of you. Spending your days in the sun, laying on a picnic blanket and eating fruits, was your very existence.

He spends only a few moments admiring the scenery of people enjoying the weather before he makes his way back to his car and to the hospital. When he arrives at your room, nothing has changed except for the fact that your skin has regained a bit of its color and the bruises began the healing process.

Yoongi sets the flowers down on the table beside your bed. He moves the chair from the wall to the side of the bed so he could sit right next to you. His heart almost stops when he sees your face. It seems like the nurses changed the bandage on your head as the bandaging was noticeably lighter, but he could still see a bit of blood seeping through. The bruises on your arms and everywhere alarm him but he knows that you’re okay and you’re healing and that’s enough for him. It’s enough to know that you were alive and going to be fine.

His eyes trail down to your stomach and he lets it linger on them for a long time because he takes your hand in his and takes a deep breath. Two months ago he could have never imagined that this is where he would be right now. Two months ago, both of you had walked away from your marriage and Yoongi honestly thought that you two may never have crossed paths again despite his thoughts going to you more often than it should be. Now, two months later, you were divorced and pregnant with his child. His eyes continue to stare at your stomach, still flat and showing no signs of carrying a second life, and he resists the urge to caress it. You weren’t conscious and even if you were, would you allow your ex-husband to feel your stomach like that? No, probably not.

And that’s when he felt a twitch in his hand, not coming from his own. He looks down to see your fingers moving just barely. His first reaction was shock, then anxiety. He didn’t know what to do and the shock of your movement paralyzed him. It was only when he felt another movement, stronger this time, that he felt the need to press the call button to alarm the doctors and nurses. You were moving, which meant that you might be waking up.

The moments pass quickly and slowly at the same time. The doctors barely made it in time to see you flutter your eyes open and groan with a broken voice. Yoongi looked down at you, still holding your hand. You blinked your eyes multiple times. The light was too bright to take in all at once. He squeezed your hand at the relief he felt in seeing you wake up.

“Yn, how are you feeling baby?” He couldn’t help the pet name that came out of his mouth. You looked so vulnerable and fragile that it came out on instinct.

Yoongi waited for a reply for a little bit but heard none. The doctor came around to stand next to you.

“Miss Yn? Can you see us? Hear us?” he asked.

You nodded slowly, wincing at the pain in and on your head.

“Where m’I?” You attempt to speak out, but it comes out broken and croaky.

Yoongi is glad to hear your voice, to hear you talk for the first time in so long.

“You’re in the hospital right now, you were in a car accident but you’re okay now baby. How are you feeling?” He couldn’t help but ask.

You craned your head towards him, blinking furiously with your eyebrows furrowed. Confusion marred your features. Yoongi was scared that you finally realized he was here, with you, and would kick him out at any chance. He was scared that you were going to kick him out of you life before he could ever see the baby that you had made together, but this fear of his could have never prepared him for the next words to come out of your mouth.

“Who are you?”

☾

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[gwynrielendgame]

Nyx x Tamlin’s daughter part 3

Y’all cannot stop me from writing this series 😭😭I want to write more gwynriel, but the thought of a love triangle has angered me once again, so my hyper fixation has transferred elsewhere.

If you have any suggestion for future fics leave a comment below.

"Do you think mates are as rare as the Fae say? Everyone in my life seems to have a mate, yet lore claims it to be rare." Nyx turned his head from his spot next to Isa in the meadow. They laid right next to each other as they stared up at the sky. Close enough to touch, yet not feeling it necessary in the moment.

"That iz odd that your entire family iz mated." She laughed. "Your family are the only mates I have ever met, so I would say it iz rare for everyone except them." He sighed deeply.

"What troubles you?" Isa turned her head away from the sky to look at Nyx.

"What if I never get a mate?"

"Then you never get a mate."

"Isa, I am being serious right now." He groaned as he lifted himself up onto his elbows, so that he could look at her without the grass getting in the way.

"I am too. It will happen or it will not happen. No point in fretting over it." She shrugged as if it truly did not bother her. Nyx did not understand her.

"You really do not care if you ever find a mate?"

"I do not need a mate to find love or pleasure."

"But what if you find your mate while with someone else?" He felt the need to point out. He could not love someone while his mate was still out there. Nyx thought it selfish to love someone with the knowledge they were not his mate. What would they do once he did find his mate? What would he do?

"Like my father and your mother?" Isa raised an eyebrow at this.

"Well not exactly like that, but yes I suppose." Nyx laid himself back on the grass and looked back up at the sky. Isa turned her head away after a minute as well.

"Well if they were truly my mate, then they would wait for me. And if the person I was with is not my mate, then fate has us ending at some point, no? I would let everything occur naturally I suppose."

"If you were my mom, would you have left Tamlin for my father if he had not been awful?" Nyx had always been curious about Isa's opinion on the matter. She always seemed so spiteful of Feyre that perhaps she had heard a different story than what Nyx knew to be true.

"Yes. I would have found myself unhappy with life as a wife. I was made for so much more than that." She let out a deep sigh. Nyx contemplated her answer. He supposed that to be true. He could not imagine Isa playing house wife to anyone, but especially one that expected her to pop out babies and display herself only when beneficial to them.

"Would you ever marry?" He asked. She seemed quick to offer a marriage proposal to Nyx when they first met, but that had obviously been a joke.

"For love?" She shrugged. "I am far more likely to marry for political power than I am for love. I am strides behind with alliances among the seven high lords. When I take power the Spring Court will be weak simply because I am unknown of. Other courts will test my strength and intelligence."

"That is strategic." He also felt it was sad. She clearly was not a romantic at heart like he was. "I want more from life than power. I want what my parents have. Is that too much to ask for?" Nyx found himself frustrated with the fact that he had not found his mate yet. He had to keep reminding himself that it took his father five hundred years and his grandfather nine hundred years. It might make him mad if he had to wait that long though.

"I shall pray to the spirits about it."

"About what?"

A noise interrupted them before she could respond. Both of them stood quickly to surveil their surroundings. They saw nothing, but moved to put their backs to each other so that they could not be blindsided. Isa pulled her two short swords from their sheaths as Nyx prepared his ax and shield.

"What was that?" He whispered to her. She shushed him as they turned simultaneously with their backs still firmly placed together.

"Let's get out of here." She finally responded back but before he could respond a figured winnowed right in front of each of them and blew a powdery substance onto them. They winnowed away again just as Isa lifted one sword.

"Shit." She muttered. Nyx tried to winnow only to discover that he could not. Fucking faebane he thought. Nyx's hand went slack around his ax, and then a group of six males approached them. They came at them from Isa's side so Nyx turned to face the males. He stumbled a bit. The line of Fae males stopped about twenty paces away. Nyx did not recognize them. It was possible that Isa did, but she did not say otherwise as they stood across from them. Each male was armed with a weapon and a shield.

"I will take the three on the left. You got the other three?" She asked. He did not respond as she ran towards them. He wanted to wait to let them make the first move, but after she started running, the assailants came forward as well.

He seemed caught in a trance, watching Isa fight. One of her swords clashed with the tallest male while she simultaneously swiped at another one of the fighters. The tallest one swung his arm out, almost decapitating Isa, but she bent backward at the last second. She sliced an artery in one of their legs before checking her surroundings. Nyx assumed she was looking for him, but he had not yet moved for some reason. The second of distraction allowed for the tall one to cut her arm. It was so deep that Nyx swore he could see the bone all the way from here. The only acknowledgment of pain from Isa was a grunt, and then she ran her sword right through him. Nyx was jostled from his trance by an approaching fighter. Surprisingly, he walked up to him at a leisurely pace. Isa, once again, glanced back.

"Nyx!" She shouted as the male lifted his weapon. Isa tried to run back towards Nyx, but was tackled to the ground as she started to flee. Right before the male delivered the killing blow, his face started to droop. Nyx stared in horror as his face appeared to be melting off. The assailant went to grab at his face as he stumbled away from Nyx. His screams would haunt Nyx's nightmares for a very long time after this. He looked for Isa again. She was slicing the neck of one of the males on his knees. To his surprise though, her tattoos were glowing. She used witch magic, he realized.

"Move your ass, Nyx." She shouted from where she engaged all three males.

He continued to find himself surprised that they focused all their attention on her. He was not proving to be much of a threat, he supposed. He willed himself to move towards Isa, but something stopped him. He wanted to help his friend, he truly did. Her use of blood magic made things complicated. He did not want to be associated with the mayhem that was bound to be the consequences of it. As she took out her fourth male, the last two winnowed away. He watched her take a deep breathe of relief. Their eyes made contact, but before she could start berating him, the males reappeared right in front of Nyx.

"Fight!" Isa shouted. Nyx assumed his reflexes were worse than he originally thought because he did not move a muscle. The males smiled at each other and then they burst in flames. It horrified Nyx to watch them burn, to hear their pleas and screams. He could do nothing to stop it. He flicked his eyes to Isa as she intently watched the burning men. Her tattoos were glowing still, and she was reciting something. He could not hear her, but watched as her lips moved. After what felt like an eternity, the males were nothing but ash. He could hear their screams echoing in his ears though.

"Vat da fook vaz dat?"

It was the thickest he had ever heard her accent which meant she was spitting mad. He could not necessarily fault her for her anger, but he was in shock. Even in war, he had not quite seen brutality to that extent in a fight. Nyx continued to stare at the body with the face that Isa melted off. His eyes flickered back to her. She was breathing heavily and had a deep cut on her arm that she was now trying to twist around with a ripped piece of cloth from her dress. Her tattoos were no longer glowing, but several new ones appeared on her hands and fingers. They looked similar to her others, but now they were bright red and irritated as if someone had scratched them into her skin instead of tattooing ink. She wiped sweat and dirt away from her forehead and roughly pulled her hair away from her bruised face in a messy updo.

"Are you actually insane?" Isa asked.

She was more composed now as she slipped into strategic mode. She was planning on what to do now since Nyx was obviously going to be of no assistance and they could not winnow for probably a few more hours. He continued to stare at the bodies, thinking of how easy it seemed for her to do this. Even now, she seemed unbothered.

"I mean when Lucien said you were a mediocre fighter, I assumed that meant you vould at least fight. Not just stand there as I did all the work."

She was digging through all their pockets rather roughly. She was looking for any identifying information from their attackers, but it only managed to annoy Nyx. She did not have any respect for the dead if this was how she handled their bodies.

"You melted his face off." Was all he could say. Her head snapped up to glare at him harder than she ever had anyone else. She was upon him in an instant, shoving him by his shoulders.

"To save your unhelpful ass!" She screeched.

"You set these two on fire!"

"Well I apologize that in the heat of battle I did not consider more humane methods of death." She turned to walk away.

"My father was right." He muttered to himself. Isa stopped cold in her tracks, slowly turning around. Her face was void of emotion.

"Say that again." Her voice was deathly calm. It unnerved Nyx after what he had just witnessed.

"You have claimed that witch magic is not malevolent. Clearly, your definition is a bit skewed."

"I make no apologies for how I save the people I love. And you have no right to pass judgement when you just stood there and watched! You vould have let them butcher me, yet I am the immoral one?"

They both recognized what she accidentally admitted but neither of them was willing to call attention to it or address it.

"Why did it have to be like that though? You could have used any method."

"That iz not how it works." She grabbed at her hair, clearly frustrated. "I request the help from the spirits and they oblige. I do not get a choice in the manner of their help. But trust me, it iz not without a price."

"What is the price for this?"

She pursed her lips. She would not tell him what she must give for saving both of their lives.

"You have been waiting to throw this back in my face, no? Waiting for one moment where you could prove your parents were not in the wrong?" Isa was pacing back and forth at this point, but her tattoos had finally stopped glowing.

"Trust me, I never expected something like this from you." Nyx spat at her. He wanted to reel in his anger. However, he found it almost impossible.

"Do not zit on your high horse and pretend your father would not have done the exact same thing for your mother."

"We are not my parents." He reminded her. She tried to compose herself before Nyx could see her reaction. Unfortunately for her, she was not fast enough. Nyx watched her flinch at his vehement response.

"Vell you are certainly right about that. Neither of your parents would have stood and vatched as the other risked their life."

He had no excuse for why he stood there. Normally, he would have fought side by side with her. He had fought in battles before and he thought he had seen all the evils war had to offer. This was a completely different level. While they had been outnumbered, the males were unskilled and untrained. Isa could have held them off alone with no magic. It may have required more effort, but Nyx believed any magic was unnecessary. As much as he wanted to help, for some reason his body refused to move. The faebane the attackers used did not allow for them to winnow away, but Nyx had never heard of it impacting the body physically.

"You could have shape shifted." She laughed almost hysterically at that.

"If you knew what my other form vaz, you vould realize that death by it vould not be lezz brutal."

He shook his head and finally moved from his position. He started scouting the area to make sure there were no more assailants hiding anywhere.

"Oh, zo now you are helpful?" It was full of sarcasm as she rolled her eyes. She plopped herself down on the ground and closed her eyes.

Nyx was not exactly sure why he was so angry. Perhaps it was because he felt embarrassed that she saved both of them while he stood there like a statue. Perhaps he felt lied to like everything she had ever defended was really just a scheme to win over the Night Court. But truly? It had more to do with the fact that if he had aided Isa, she would not have felt the need to use her witch magic.

"Damn-ti your parents to come retrieve us." She demanded after laying down on the grass and covering her eyes with the crook of her arm to block out the sun.

Now why could he not think of that before? Just another thought to make him feel guilty. He almost corrected her enunciation like he normally did, but he stopped himself in the last second.

"Oh and next time, a zimple thank you vould suvice."

                                           ***

"What the hell happened?" Tamlin shouted as Feyre and Rhysand winnowed in Isa and Nyx. Isa was looking worse for wear, but since neither of the children were talking, the high lord and lady did not have an answer. Tamlin zeroed in on Isa's hands and the new tattoos that were present.

"Oh Isa," his voice changed and was suddenly much graver than it had been. "What have you done?"

"Vat I had to." She snapped as she dropped herself down on the couch in Tamlin's study. She was exhausted after the fight and just wanted to sleep.

"Well you look fucking fine." Tamlin turned his glare to Nyx from where he stood in front of his desk. "Care to explain why you leave with my daughter in perfect condition, and return her home on the brink of collapse?"

Nyx clenched his jaw. He did not want to say anything in front of Tamlin or his daughter. He wanted to go home and talk to his parents. Though, his parents kept giving him nervous glances, so he was unsure if they would be willing to do that right about now.

"Just leave it." Isa muttered. Her eyes were closed with her good arm thrown over her face. Rhysand scanned Isa's entire body. His eyes rested on her hands like Tamlin's had.

"What did you give? To protect our son?" His voice was soft and his eyes were sad. He must have known more than Nyx about potential consequences of witch magic. Feyre sat next to Isa on the couch to grab her hand. Nyx was confused by his parents change of heart where Isa was concerned. Previously, they had always been antagonistic towards her, but now they were being...soft.

"My first born." She muttered. Feyre sucked in a harsh breath as Tamlin closed his eyes in frustration. Nyx did not know how to feel. She was willing to give up her first child for him? He felt that only proved his point further. What kind of female was willing to give up a future child for a male she barely knew just three months ago? And one that was not even her mate? Nyx furrowed his brow.

"I never asked you to do that." He defended, but he was only met with three pairs of glaring eyes that told him to remain quiet. Isa must have been exhausted though because her response was understanding.

"I know."

Tamlin did not understand, however. He pounded his fist on the desk.

"Isabelle, you are my only offspring. It is your responsibility to continue the family line. There will be no one to succeed after you die, if you do not conceive multiple children. You know how difficult this is for the fae." Something he said ignited a fire in Isa. She immediately sat up from the couch to glare at her father.

"That iz not a fair responsibility to put on me! You could have more children! All you would have to do iz stick it in a different woman everyday until one stuck."

"Isabelle, watch your mouth." He scolded her as though she were a child. Tamlin walked back around the desk and took a seat. Isa took a long, deep breath before speaking again.

"I do not," she paused nervously, looking around. "Think I vant children." She finished. Isa rubbed her hands together in a way that she normally did when she felt anxious. Suddenly, Nyx felt his parents and him should not be here for this conversation. It felt private. Nyx never knew Isa may not want children. They had never really discussed it, but had assumed- as much as Tamlin did, apparently- that she would have at least one to continue the line.

"Oh." Tamlin awkwardly shifted in his chair. He made eye contact with Feyre and tried to motion to her to say some words of comfort. Feyre patted Isa's arm gently.

"You might change your mind once you find your mate?" Feyre offered unhelpfully. Tamlin put her on the spot and she was unsure what words of comfort Isa may be seeking. Those were not it if her reaction was anything to go by. She huffed loudly.

"Does not matter now, no? I cannot have children without sacrificing the first one which I vill not do. Besides, I am no mare meant for breeding. I vas meant for something more than being stuck at home caring for and nurturing a child."

"That is hardly a fair assessment of motherhood Isa." Feyre shook her head as she said this. "You can still do great things and be a mother."

"Are you to tell me that you took trips to the Court of nightmares to handle izzues while Rhysand stayed home and breastfed Nyx?" Isa raised her eyebrows at his mother. "That you vere able train amongst Rhysand, Cassian, and Azriel while pregnant? Vould you have ever earned the title 'cursebreaker' if you had been a mother at the time?"

"Motherhood is not without challenge." Feyre once again defended.

"And that is what I speak of. I do not want challenge. I have too many obstacles to overcome as it is. I do not want to add the obligation of a child to that." Isa pulled at her hair. Nyx felt it best that he stay quiet. There were too many emotions flying as it was, no need to add fuel to the fire.

"Enough." Tamlin declared. "Isa, you are right. I should never have put that responsibility on you. I could just as easily have another child."

Isa let out a breathe in relief. Nyx could see that she feared disappointing her father. He wondered if she would have had multiple children if Tamlin had insisted on it. Luckily for Isa, Tamlin seemed to have changed his ways from when his mother and him were together.

"I think it is best if you were to leave." Tamlin suggested as he stared at Nyx's parents. "I need to check on Isa's wounds and continue this conversation...privately." Feyre nodded before walking over to where Rhysand stood.

"Thank you again, Isa." Rhys murmured before grabbing both wife and son and winnowing away.

"Thank fuck." Is all Isa managed to say.

[sxfik]

and when the seasons change (will you stand by me?)

read on ao3 • main masterlist • law school masterlist

summary: when kang sol's mother has to work late, she has to take care of byeol. it's just her luck that she has an exam the next day, one for professor yang of all people. joon hwi, being the kind classmate he is, offers to study with her.

or: byeol is solhwi mastermind, and she's says everything we wanted to say to the two dummies.

request by anon: hiya! saw that you do solhwi prompts so I was thinking that Sol A has to babysit byeol but there's a big test the next day so she calls joon hwi over to help her w studying. meanwhile byeol(being iconic) tries to set them up in true shipper fashion.

a/n: this is based on a request i got on tumblr, pictured above! i have around 5 (ish) fics that will go out over the week so stay tuned for those lmao! uh yeah, i don't really know what else to say other than im really sad law school ended so i've just been sad and mopey, but still writing to fill that hole. as always, enjoy <333

Although Joon Hwi was the 'star' student of Hankuk Law School, he was never much for studying. It's not because everything came to him that easily, but because finding the strength to concentrate and study when he could be hanging out with his friends or doing anything better with his time was insanely tempting. Finding the effort to get to the library, and read up on his textbooks was arduous and he always found it easier to study by himself, no distractions around. This was, of course, until Kang Sol came along. For Joon Hwi, everything in his life was turned on its axis when she came into his life.

When he first met her, in Professor Yang's class, she was just the poor girl being grilled by the professor. His heart went out to her, watching her pull her hair out of the bun to avoid the question. He didn’t know what possessed him to answer for her, but he assumed it to be a one time thing. But from the moment she crashed into him yelling "Second Round Judicial Exam, save me!", he was stuck on her.

Slowly, she was everywhere in his life, from the study group to the legal clinic to a majority of his classes. Unlike so many of his classmates, who were by the book and generally clinical in personality, she was a fireball of energy and passion. In class, despite not being the best student, she would argue with so much passion and energy that it was impossible to win against her. It was fascinating, watching her connect and jump from case to case. She would throw herself into everything she believed in, which included defending him from the school and his uncle.

Joon Hwi has liked girls before, but he's never been so captivated and head-over-heels for anyone in his life. Love and dating seemed secondary, and he preferred to keep it out of his life until he reached his goals. You could call him selfish but he prefers to call it being focused on his goals. He's always had one goal in life, and it was to work with the law, whether as a judge or working as police or as a prosecutor.

Yet, if Kang Sol was in the room, his eyes were on her. Whether she was frustrated at him or teasing him or gleeful with him, he couldn't help but smile at her. If she was around, he was right by her side, making her laugh or cringe or annoyed.

So there he was, studying in the school library with Kang Sol. Professor Yang’s exam was right around the corner and unlike last time, he cannot miss the comma in the given case. Plus, he doesn’t even have the excuse of being accused of a murder this time, so both Sol and Joon Hwi were hunched over their books, pouring into the texts when Kang Sol’s phone blared loudly from her bag, startling them both.

Sol cringed as she dug around in her cloth bag, the classic dirty looks tossed her way by the sleep deprived students as she stood to leave the library and take the call. He buried himself back into the textbook, but the concentration was lost and he was more interested in the call she’d gotten than ins and outs of defamation laws.

Around 10 minutes later, Sol was speeding back to her chair, the phone clutched firmly in her hand. But Joon hwi could see her frustration from a mile away. Her face held that pout, her eyebrows furrowed and grumbling under her breath. It was adorable.

But he was worried, considering it was the day before the exam, Sol couldn’t afford to be distracted from her studies. He wasn’t blind to her struggles in school, but Joon Hwi never considered her lesser than him for not being able to pick up the concepts with speed.

Unlike him, and a majority of his classmates, she had passion and a heart when dealing with clients. He could see it in her mannerisms with clients in the legal clinic, patiently explaining the clause or the issues they might face to the client. She’s sympathetic to the max, always hearing out the client’s grievances before making a judgement on what they had done. She was exactly what the world needed: a sympathetic, patient lawyer that was willing to fight for the client, someone that they can cling to. He and every professor in the school knew it, but it seemed Sol was the only one who never realized how essential she was.

Suddenly, he felt himself getting up to gather his materials with her without a second thought, despite the confused look Sol shot him. He wasn’t sure what exactly possessed him to do it, but he knew that if she wasn’t there, he didn’t want to study at the library either. Grinning at her, he walked out, side by side until they were outside the quiet library. She paused in her tracks all of a sudden, taking him by surprise and he paused too, looking back at her, tilting his head in confusion.

"My mom needs to work late today, so I need to rush home and take care of Byeol," she looked up at him finally, her face apologetic. "I'm sorry, Joon hwi but I don't think I'll be able to study for the exam with you," she started to walk away, but he couldn't let her go that easily.

"I'll come with you," he offered, surprising himself, "I'll study with you. Plus, it'll be easier to take care of Byeol with two people than one, right?"

She paused, looking back at him, conflicted. Sighing, Joon Hwi stepped closer to her. "Come on, let's not keep her waiting. Shall we?" He was determined to keep her company, especially since she’d have less time to study since she’d have to take care of Byeol. It was easier this way, and I’d do this for any friend he told himself.

The ride there was slow and quiet, but not an uncomfortable one. They both walked in tandem, with their backpacks filled with everything they'd possibly need to study, and even the bus ride was peaceful, the two of them staring out the window, watching the scenery pass by them. Joon hwi sat beside her, rather than across from her like last time, just to save space on the bus. On the very empty bus they were riding together.

Days like this, where the air was heavy and humid, the earth preparing for a heavy rain, were the most comforting types of days. The air was still warm and humid, making Sol’s hair poof out slightly, her naturally wavy hair frizzing out of her bun. The feeling of her beside him, as if this was a regular ritual for both of them, brought a sense of content in his heart. He couldn’t pinpoint exactly what it was, whether it was the girl beside him or the past year’s chaos, but watching the trees and the traffic pass by them brought more peace to his life than ever.

The two made their way into the alleyway, where Joon hwi had once stood guard of when Lee Man Ho once lived, threatening her family. He's standing in front of Kang Sol's house behind her, holding her backpack in hand as she struggles with the keys.

Finally, finally, she gets the door open, and a figure zips by, crashing into Sol. Byeol’s arms wrapped Sol's waist, like the adorable sister she is. Sol stumbled back into him slightly at the sudden weight thrown onto her, but nonetheless, crouched to envelop her sister in a bone-crushing hug. Joon hwi couldn’t help but smile at the two sisters, their love for each other enveloping him

"Unnie!" she grinned up at her, "Did you bring him with you?" Her eyes were serious and wide as Sol opened her mouth to answer.

"Byeol-ah!" Joon hwi yelled out from behind Sol, peaking out to see the 8-year old grinning at him, much wider than she did at Sol. Ha!

"Joonhwi-oppa!" the girl squealed out, leaving Sol's grip to run to him. As she ran to him, he picked her up and twirled her in the air, the girl's giggles echoing through the small alleyway as the two greeted each other.

Sol, standing by the door, smiled faintly before calling out, "Come in, before either of you catch a cold!" Both of them filed in, incessantly chattering as if they hadn't seen each other in months, even though it had only been two weeks since Joon hwi had been by to take the two sisters out to the park.

"Oppa! Why did you come with Unnie?" Byeol asked, finally being set down inside the house, looking up at him curiously as Sol

"Ah, we have an exam tomorrow, so I'm here to study with her," Joon hwi replied.

"Good," the girl jumped onto the couch. "Unnie needs a lot of help," the girl quipped back, nodding her head solemnly, making her look a lot older than 8 years.

"Yah Kang Byeol!" Sol exclaimed, indignantly. Joon hwi chuckled at the two as Sol turned to him. "Here, we can work in the dining room," she moved to grab her backpack from him, stepping towards the dining room.

"NO!" Byeol yelled out at the both of them, her hand flying out to stop the two of them, "Unnie, you should work in your room instead! You know I'll be watching TV and obviously, it'd be too loud for you to focus," the girl rushed out, her doe-eyes a bit too wide, her voice a little too innocent. She is definitely plotting something, Joon hwi narrowed his eyes at her but she avoided the look, choosing to jump off the couch and walk towards them instead.

Before either of them could protest, the girl pushed the both of them towards, presumably, Kang Sol's bedroom. Sol awkwardly laughed at him, Joon hwi shooting her an amused look. They awkwardly stood in her room, Joon hwi avoiding her gaze and choosing to look at the walls instead. Her room here looked similar to the one she had back on campus. Her desk was stacked to the max, sticky notes lining the walls with old reminders and little notes of encouragement. It was neat, but brightly colored, which suited Sol so very well.

“Let’s get started shall we?” Sol finally said, clearing her throat, gesturing for him to set down his books. He obliged, sitting at her desk while she chose her bed. They both set up all their materials, the awkward silence shifting into a peaceful one, the two working themselves into a comfortable rhythm.

It had been almost an hour of straight studying, both of them regurgitating criminal codes and case precedents from memory. Joon hwi was sure that by this point that his mind was complete mush, and Sol was starting to wither, her eyes almost glazed over while she started into one of her casefiles. Her hair was a lot puffier than it was when they started. Turns out, Sol had a habit of ruffling her hair with her pencil each time she was confused or working herself too hard, which was often.

“Let’s take a break shall we? I’m going to get a glass of water,” he said, standing up and stretching his arms out, trying to put the two out of their misery. He yawned, the stiffness in his muscles finally noticeable when he stretched out. She nodded back to him, yawning and stretching out in her chair, before she picked up her phone to check some messages.

He walked out of her room and back to the living room, where byeol was still glued to her seat, her eyes on the TV playing some cartoon. Heading over to the dining table, he poured himself a glass of water with the pitcher, before heading back to check on Byeol.

“What’s this show called?” he asked her, taking a sip of the water while watching the show with her.

“Hm?” Byeol turned to him, “Oh, it’s this show about two kids who set out to find a treasure mapped out by their parents,” she explained, gesturing towards him to take a seat beside him. He obliged, opting to sit beside the girl, both their eyes glued to the screen. A few moments passed by, before the little girl turned towards him.

“You know, my sister’s favorite color is dark green. Not like emerald green, but forest green tinted with some dark blue,” Byeol said nonchalantly. Joon Hwi’s eyebrows furrowed, confused as to why the girl is telling this to him. “And, her favorite ice cream is this nutella infused one that you get down the street, closer to the town square. It’s been her favorite since she was little,” she continued, not giving his confusion any heed. The girl rapidly started telling him facts about her dear sister, all the while confusion took over his features.

“Joonhwi-oppa,” she squinted at him, pausing as her face grew serious, “You like my sister, don’t you?” He sputtered, choking and coughing out the water. “I knew it!” she excitedly squealed.

“Byeol, byeol, shh, you can’t let your sister know okay,” he brought a finger to his lips, his eyes alarmed. For an 8 year old, Byeol was surprisingly cunning and observant. She had managed to figure out what he had been struggling with for the past year after just a few short visits. They shared a look of understanding between the two, before the girl turned her attention to the show, leaving Joon Hwi walking back to Sol’s room. The Kang Sisters,  he shook his head, laughing as he thought, what a perfect duo.

bonus

It had been almost 3 hours of studying together before Kang Sol realized that the sun had set outside, and all of a sudden, they were in a rush to clean up. Joon hwi had to leave before the dorms closed entrance and because of their studying, the two of them had their head buried in books since the time they got to her house.

She was glad to have him over though. Despite her hesitation at the school and fears of inconveniencing him, having Joon hwi made the process a lot smoother. With his careful and gentle help, she had a much easier time understanding the concepts and she was eternally grateful, considering Professor Yang’s exams were always some of the toughest.

They were rushing out of the house, his backpack in her hand as he hurriedly put on his shoes and stepped outside the house. But before Joon hwi could turn with a hurried goodbye, she called out to him, her breath suddenly lodged in her throat.

“Thank you,” she quietly told him, the prospect of looking into his eyes as he leaned over her doorstep daunting. “Thank you for helping me, Joon hwi, it was really kind of you,” she beamed at him, trying to convey her gratitude and more in the only way she knew possible.

They both paused, looking at each other as the air got thicker between them, as if a string was drawing him closer to her. She watched as he swallowed slightly, his adam’s apple moving slightly before he let out a soft “You’re welcome,” and a classic smile, before he rushed out, trying to catch his bus.

She sighed, watching him as he rushed off, capturing the bus. Soon, she thought, Soon, I’ll tell him how I feel. She reassured herself, turning around only to find Byeol hiding behind a pillar.

“Byeol? What are you doing, weren’t you watching a show?” she questioned her sister, but Byeol made no response. Suddenly her sister frowned at her, muttering something about how can she possibly be a lawyer and she’s so blind, leaving her in utter confusion at the front steps.