#i would have emotional outbursts so people purposefully tried to set me off

[dreamsy990]

people who talk about masking are really interesting to me because like. i think i tried to mask but i certainly did not succeed. teach me your ways

[demontonic]

Ethan Landry - Perverted 3

lets ignore how the last chapter i posted was in july and pretend that im a consistent writer please:3 anyways i hope everyone enjoys this because it took me so long to figure out what i wanted to do for it. if you havent read part 2 i suggest you do that for this to make sense

Word count: 2269

TW: knives, blood, murder, suicide

“Oh my god,” Your heart dropped as you realized the killing had connections to ghostface, after last night you wanted to believe it wouldn’t get this bad. Ethan squeezed your hand softly, attempting to break your attention away from the news channel. His efforts were in vain as your own mind swelled with an endless amount of thoughts and emotions. Did Ethan purposefully intend to make you swoon in order to get closer to the group? Who was the other Ghostface? Why now did the killings start when things had finally seemed normal? The room had broken off into conversations between each other, trying to figure out how they wanted to handle it. You on the other hand remain in shambles, shaking in Ethan’s arms as he pulls you back into your room.

A silence fell upon you both, there were no words to be offered in a situation like this. Sure he could try and comfort you like you hadn’t already known he was a killer and you could try and pretend you didn’t catch him leaving the scene of a crime. No matter what you two did, reality was inevitable, Ethan was a cold blooded killer and you were a potential victim falling in love with him. Nothing now could change it, prevent it, or create a path to a life in which you two live happily ever after. The facts were plain and simple, a bright red sign flashing right in front of your eyes, still you chose to ignore it. Today was supposed to be nice, you’d finally given into Ethan but to everyone else you’d won over the quiet nerd. It wasn’t until you felt Ethan’s hands cup your face gently that you’d snapped back to reality.

“I swear it wa-“

“Of course it wasn’t you but… you know who did it don’t you?”

“…”

“I thought so-“

“I’m sorry-“

“No-“

“I am I didn’t know they were gonna do it tonight I swear I-“

“No, no, no- Ethan you’re not!”

It was quiet again after your slight outburst, it didn’t anger him but then again, did he even have the right? His hands stayed glued to his lap while he watched you go through the motions in silence. He wanted so badly to know what you were thinking, did you hate him? Have you ever hated him? Would you hate him now? You didn’t even have an answer, you wished you did but the feelings flowing through your body were indescribable. You wanted to hate him, you wanted to tell everyone he was one of the killers, maybe then it would end with no more death. What you wanted and what you’d decided before you even knew you had was set in stone. You wouldn’t say anything, ever, to anyone. If they found out you would say you didn’t know but, you didn’t want your friends to get hurt. Ethan knew this, he’d wanted to sympathize and stop everything once he’d truly begun to like you but, of course he couldn’t.

“Please- just listen to me before you hate me for the rest of eternity.” The bed shifted quietly when he tried to meet your clouded gaze but it was to no avail. Swiftly he’d kneeled on the floor, his body shoving your legs apart giving you no choice but to stare into his eyes. The same brown eyes that had instilled fear into your soul when you were hiding in the alley, that had made you blush and stutter. The same eyes that had seen you so vulnerable and raw and held the same adoration you’d once felt; before you’d discovered his little hobby.

“I wanted to stop it but they wouldn’t let me, I’m outnumbered. It's plain and simple. Even if we tried to run away from all of this and salvage whatever this is, chances are they’d come for us if they finish the job. I don’t want anything to happen to you I-“

“But you want to kill the only people who’ve ever really been my family in exchange for what? Fame? Plot? Fun?”

“Revenge.”

A knock came from the door abruptly ending the much needed conversation. Tara opened the door softly, explaining that Quinn had called her Dad for information on the Ghostface killing that was undoubtedly connected to the group. Ethan had sat on the floor in front of you while she relayed the order of events. Eventually she left, saying that they’d be going to the station to answer some questions which were pretty standard by now. You’d offered to accompany the sisters but they decided it was best to handle it alone. The entire group dispersed, breaking off into pairs and trying to grasp onto the slight normalcy that remained. Ethan had convinced you to follow him to an unknown location, claiming that he would explain everything once you’d gotten there. Of course you were concerned with the sudden idea of being alone with him but you still tried to have some sort of trust.

“I… I know that this is all going so fast and happening so sudden but, I need you to know all the facts before-“

“Before what, Ethan?” He slowed to a stop when you interjected, you sounded so drained and defeated and it hurt to know he was the reason. He could try and tell you it wasn’t his fault and that he had no part in it but he did, no matter how badly he wanted to make you happy.

“What the fuck.” You whispered to yourself, trying to comprehend why Ethan would bring you into an abandoned theater. Sure it fit pretty well for his alter ego, it makes sense considering he wanted to explain everything. At this point you’d wanted nothing more than to leave rather than bare witness to what horrors could be lying within the old theater. Of course you were right, you’d wish you hadn’t seen it, the dedication to the series of Ghostface murders. Actual evidence encapsulated in glass boxes, clothing placed on mannequins, drawings of victims and killers next to each of their own murders. Ethan walked you down to the end, it was right next to the original Ghostface killer’s display. Your necklace, gifted to you by someone you’ve held dear to your heart, was laying in one of the display boxes. Alongside it were hand drawn pictures of you and the group, and a singular box seemingly a tribute to Dewy. Your necklace had been snatched off your neck the first time you had been attacked, Amber had always admired it. The natural formed ruby was an heirloom, before your childhood friend had committed suicide she’d gifted it to you on your 16th birthday.

“My brother was obsessed with the murders, obsessed with the concept of a horror movie being real. He’d always make short films, stories, chapters to a book that he could never finish. Richie was fucked up but he was the only person who took care of me, you have to understand that Sam took the only comfort-“

“No Ethan, he’s not your only comfort at least not anymore- Ethan you have an entire life to lead. Richie made his decision, based on a wild fixation to someone else’s tragedy.”

“Wouldn’t you protect your loved ones? Would you not kill to protect that precious group you call family? That’s what I’m doing, that’s what Richie is to me, don’t you understand this is to avenge him-“

“He killed people for fun and when he was killed it ended the meaningless game he was playing. Don’t you understand the way he’s influenced you into thinking what he did was right?” Silence, anxiety, anticipation and the sound of heavy breathing separated you two. Ethan seemed to be contemplating his next moves whereas your eyes trained on the mended necklace lying on the table. It would’ve brought you to tears being reunited with the priceless gift if not for the conversation he’d initiated.

“My family was always so focused on Rich, trying to get him to be a normal kid and dealing with his problems at school. Quinn was exactly like she is now and the only girl so you can imagine what little that left me. Even through all of that he made sure I felt seen, if not by anyone else, by him.” Ethan spoke as if he already accepted the fact you’d never be able to agree with him, and he knew better than to argue. He reached into his pocket and slipped a glove over his hand before reaching over the glass box. Sliding the lip over just enough to pick up the ruby necklace before closing it back up.

“Dad got most of this stuff but Richie took this from Amber and gave it to Quinn as a last minute gift. Amber was the one who snatched it off you but I’m sure you figured that out. I fixed it without question but it feels wrong not giving it back to you.” It hung off his fingers, holding it in front of your face with what seemed like no more life in his eyes. With a small sigh you grabbed it by the roughly shaped ruby, he dropped the chain and stood silently as you admired the seamless fix. A mistake in hindsight because by then he’d placed his other glove on, slamming your head against the glass table. Thankful it was thick enough to prevent it from breaking upon impact, much less could be said about you.

Tears filled your eyes as you wailed from the pain in your temple, your legs barely holding the rest of your weight as he pushed down on you. Then it clicked, he was leaning his entire body onto you, his knife was pointed into stomach.

“I just wanted you to be able to understand the purpose of everything. You are so fucking stubborn, I don’t want to do this but I can’t let them live with his blood on their hands.”

“So you’re going to kill the one person who was willing to look past your little hobby instead of leaving your past behind? Ethan you are being fucking used-“

“No I’m not! I loved Richie, he wasn’t perfect but he treated me better than anyone-“

“Anyone? So fuck me and kill me that’s fucking bullshit, I should’ve known better than to be stupid enough to get involved with you!” Your sobs rattled your entire body, it was hard to even differentiate between his tears and yours. From where he was his tears fell onto your cheek, mixing with your own on the table. It pained him to even speak to you like this, to inflict so much fear and suffering onto you because you were right. You were trying to love him, trying to look past his faults, trying to have a normal life with him. Ethan seemed to only sabotage his own happiness especially now when he’s hurting the last person that’d be willing to love him the way he wanted.

“It’s-It’s not like that I love you-“

“Don’t say that while your knife is digging into my body you sick fuck.” Disappointment could only be heard in your cries, disappointment in both Ethan and yourself.

“Oh but it was different last night you stupid bitch!” His hand pushed your head harder into the glass, beginning to crack under the pressure. A complete 180 from the sniffling boy he was half a second ago, it terrified you despite it being one of the things that had lured you in.

“You’re such a petty asshole, I bet I was the only girl who even gave you the time of day.” Laughing in his face was his breaking point, grabbing you by the hair and tossing you onto the floor in front him. Pain riddled your spine and it was then you felt the thin wound on your abdomen. Bittersweet as the hand he’d slashed at the night before covered the leaking cut. Just as fast as he’d thrown you he was on top of you, pinning your arms down with his knees.

“Why can’t you just accept their fate? We can be together happily, alone, in peace once it’s all over. Please I’m begging you my love, don’t make me do this I don’t want to!” His face was red and wet with the rush of tears spewing from his eyes, his knife pointed at your throat while he pleaded with you. It sounded so sweet and tempting as he always was, your little obsession being your own demise was all too perfect. You knew what your choice was so you turned your head, searching for the necklace he’d lured in with. With the ruby being in sight you felt calm, at ease with your end, it felt that if anything, at the very least you’d be with your friend once more.

“Fucking kill me already you piece of shit, lowsy excuse of a man!”

The next morning everyone was convinced it was you, after not returning to the dorm it was easy to pin it to you. Yet here the group was, following Gale into an abandoned theater, stumbling upon your lifeless corpse leaned against the stage. Blood pooled around you, sourced from your throat which had been slit open. However the silver chain shown clearly under the stage lights, with ruby barely noticeable amongst the crimson liquid. Ethan in shambles crawles next to you, cradling your cold body and rocking back and forth begging for you to wake up.

The End :D I hopes you liked this small series and please don’t be shy, leave requests for any of the characters in my masterlist or horror movie franchises as I’d love to do more with the horror genre. I simply wrote the first one based off a song so it was very difficult for me to turn it into the miniseries but i promise i did my best and i hope you liked the ending<3

@hana-1235

@i-do-be-vibinn

@meh-karma

@cumbermovels

@acornacreacure

@c0untryclub

[raggaraddy]

Mouthy

Prompt: You say to Yandere BTS "Oh my god! Just shut up!"

A/N: Couldn't sleep, so I wrote this laying in bed. I hope it's not some sleep-deprived nonsense ^-^

Trigger warning: Yandere themes, violence, emotional manipulation, choking, non-con, D/s themes, examples of a bad D/s dynamic.

Alpha! Namjoon

"Oh my god! Just shut up!" You scream it through your bedroom doorway. Storming to the railing of the stairs, you lean over and scream again. "Shut up!"

The sea of people on the ground floor go quiet. Only the music dares to keep making a sound in the background. You skulk back to your room, slamming the door loudly behind you. You had had a long, disappointing day. You were tired and grumpy, and moody and sad. But the dozens of uninvited pack members couldn't care less as their party raged on into the night.

Not allowing you enough time to even climb back into bed, Namjoon storms after you to address your outburst.

"Y/n, go downstairs right now and apologize." He orders.

"No." you mope. Feeling it's a wildly unfair request. All these people are in your house making so much noise when you're trying to sleep. How is it you that's in the wrong?

"Do you think I am asking you? I'm telling you. Get downstairs now." He says sternly. His strict tone making you even more emotional. You just wanted him to be on your side for this.

"But- But I," you sniffle, with tears in your eyes.

"No," Namjoon cuts you off. "I've asked you all afternoon what's wrong. And you wouldn't tell me. So right at this moment, I don't want to hear it. You have been disrespectful to me and my people. So you are going to put some more clothes on and cover-up, and you will go out there and apologize to every single person." He growls, leaving no room to argue. "And you will do it sincerely, or I will give you something to cry about."

King! Seokjin

You didn't say it to his face. You would never be that stupid. But still, you clearly weren't smart enough. While gossiping to a friend, someone you thought was a confidant, you're complaining about a seemingly endless, boring meeting you had to serve today.

"And I just wanted to tell all of them; Oh my god! Just shut up!" You laugh. 

But hours later it's no longer a laughing matter.

"How did you enjoy serving me today, Princess?" Jin asks his tone giving nothing away of what he already knows.

"I enjoyed it. Thank you, your Majesty" You politely smile, thinking his question to be a kindness.

"I often find these meetings so dull. Many of the Lords do like to ramble on. Sometimes I would enjoy telling all of them to just shut up." He speaks the words so purposefully that you know at once you've been exposed.

"My Lord, I-"

"If you are smart you will not say another word." He speaks softly, with a grin on his face. "I want to thank you, Y/n.  I have an endless supply of other people I can hurt. Each one of them is freely at my disposal, but you are my favourite toy." He fills the space in front of you. "However, I am a man of my word. I swore to you that you will be unharmed if you are obedient, and I would not dare to break this vow. Of course, I have sorely missed playing with my beloved little dol, though."

Towering over you he sets off your instinct to get to your knees and grovel, begging his forgiveness for your carelessness. But that would only be a wasted effort.

"So thank you, Princess, for giving me the possibility to hear your pretty cries of pain again. I will make sure to use this opportunity to its fullest."

Assassin! Yoongi

He had been in a hyper mood for 2 days straight. His energy and enthusiastic interaction was something you always craved, but you had never dealt with it this long before and you were losing your sanity and your composure.

"Oh my god! Just shut up!" You shout at him as your last nerve snaps.

"Okay, Y/n." He gives little to no reaction. "Remember you said this in a month from now when you're begging me to speak to you."

But it didn't take a month. In two weeks you were in tears apologizing. He left you free to roam the house, but he revoked all communication from you. The only times he gave you any attention, was when he forcibly made you stop doing something he didn't like. Or when he wanted you for sex. But still, he wouldn't utter a single word, only bending you over to take what he wanted.

After 5 weeks, just as you thought you'd never hear his voice again, he finally broke his silence. Only to break your heart.

"Listening to you these past few weeks, I realise how much you talk. It's time you take your own advice and shut up. Y/n, I don't want to hear a sound out of you until I say. 5 weeks was easy enough for me. So let's start with that, and then I'll see if I want to hear from you yet."

Vampire! Hoseok

Hoseok was always so animated. Normally it didn't bother you, but he was talking and reacting through yet another movie and you were sick of it. It might have been because you were PMSing or maybe because Hoseok had forgotten to feed you all day, but when he yelled at the TV, you yelled at him.

"Oh my god! Just shut up!" And right away you were teeming with regret.

"I'm sorry baby. Am I being too loud?" He laughs with an unexpectedly harmless reply. Playfully but roughly slapping his hand on your thigh. "I'll keep it down."

You're not dumb enough to think that your eruption would go unanswered. So you sit tensely, anxiously waiting to see how he will repay you.

"Baby," he whispers in your ear, after sitting in silence for 20 minutes. "You know I have very strong hearing right?" You nod nervously. Chewing your lip. "Well, your breathing is too loud and very distracting. I can hardly hear the movie. Can you please fix that?"

You know this is going to lead to something horrible, but you have no choice but to do as he says. For the next 10 minutes, you're completely distracted trying to inhale and exhale as softly and shallowly as possible.

"Hmm baby, it's really too much. I can't concentrate on the film." He stands, pulling his belt off. "Here let me help you."

He wraps his belt around your neck, pulling and setting it so tight that it's biting into your skin. Your throat constricting, barely letting you breathe.

As you wheeze and splutter and cough, he holds the end like a leash. Sitting back on the couch, he turns his focus back to the movie without letting you loosen the strap or get away. Your whole body is shaking, your eyes starting to roll back as you struggle to inhale. The belt is cruelly not tight enough to have you pass out though. Only allowing you to sit in your suffering. The sound of your gasping filling the room.

"Ahh, there you go baby. That's much better. Don't worry, it's just while we're watching movies. And there's only two more left in the trilogy."

Playboy! Jimin

He was telling you over and over how sorry he was. How he didn't mean to kiss that girl. That he was drinking. And that she kissed him. It was every excuse and lie he had spouted 100 times before.

"Oh my god! Just shut up!" You yelled at him. And for a moment it worked. He sat in stunned silence. But as you got off the bed to leave, taking your car keys with you, he chased after you.

"Where are you going?"

"Out Jimin. I need some time alone to think." You scowl.

But he refuses, blocking the door. Holding his arms to either side to barricade you in.

"No, you can't leave! I said I'm sorry."

"Fuck off Jimin, your apologies mean nothing." You say shoving him.

He doesn't accept that. With a roar, he grabs your shoulders throwing you down onto the bed. Quickly straddling you, using far too much force to keep you pinned beneath him. Tearing off the pillowcases, he makes some shoddy but effective restraints. Tying you to the bars on the headboard.

Ignoring your screams and how you struggle he starts to kiss down your neck, pulling at your clothes, rubbing his hands down your body.

"I'm gonna make you feel good Y/n. I'll show you that I only want you, then you'll have to forgive me." He says sounding desperate and unhinged.

You cry and yell for him to stop, trying to buck him off you, but his hand covers your mouth, his other successfully tearing down your panties from under your dress.

"Don't fight me, Angel. Just let me in. And I'll prove I love you the most."

Dom! Taehyung

Finally, Taehyung had agreed to spend some time with you in a social environment. He and you went out to a movie and dinner with some of your friends. They were vanilla friends though, so as an exception, for the day he loosened a lot of the restrictions and formalities you normally had in place.

You, however, you were getting a little too relaxed. While you joked with you're friends, you started to speak to him the same manner. As you and he were playfully arguing about trivia facts you realized you were losing the debate.

"Oh my god! Just shut up!" You joke. But in the company of your friends or not, Taehyung was not about to let you disrespect him. Even in jest.

"Is that how you should talk to me girl?" He asks loudly and in front of everyone, bringing the group conversation to a grinding halt.

His change in tone and his use of the possessive pet name, right away have you back in your place.

"No," you whisper. The sting of embarrassment hot upon your cheeks.

"No, what?" He pushes it.

You can't stand to look up. All of the attention is on the two of you. And even in your peripheral, you can see your friends looking at you judgementally, wide-eyed and in shock.

And he was making it worse by having you use his title around them.

"No, Sir." you surrender, your head hung low.

"Shouldn't you also apologise to the other people at the table? For interrupting our night with your rudeness." He keeps piling on one shame after the other. Stretching out the ordeal.

"No, it's fine." One of your friends tries to laugh off the awkwardness and speed the discussion away from this point. "She doesn't have to."

"Y/n," He prompts you, disregarding what your friend had said.

Thoroughly humiliated, you can't imagine how you are going to repair these relationships or explain this treatment away.

"I'm sorry for interrupting the night with my rudeness." you swallow heavily, hands shaking.

"Good girl. Now mind your mouth. Before you make me embarrass you further."

Mafia! Jungkook

"Oh my god! Just shut up!" you say in a hushed voice. More of a prayer said to yourself than an actual demand you expected Jungkook to hear.

"What did you just say to me?" he lowers the phone, gawking at you.

You really didn't mean to, it just slipped out. He was talking on the phone, going into too graphic detail about how he and his men dealt with a threat recently. You couldn't handle the gruesome details he was recanting anymore and the words just fell out.

"What did you just say? Did you just tell me to shut up?" He repeats again through your nonreply. His tongue running through the inside of his cheek, his jaw and muscles tensing. His voice jumping rapidly from stunned to aggressive.

You're at home alone with him, so you weren't paying much mind to what you were saying. But this afternoon he's been dealing with work. And right now he isn't Kookie, no the person in front of you is Jeon Jungkook. The temperamental Mafia head, who would as likely hit you as he would speak to you.

"I'm sorry," you squeak.

"You're sorry?" He scoffs, slamming the phone down. "If you had said it and meant it, that would be one thing. I could respect that. But you really just can't control your stupid little mouth can you."

"I-" you start a defence, or more a plea for mercy.

"Shut the fuck up!" He growls leaning forward in his seat making you flinch back. Darting his hand out he grabs you by the hair, pulling you back to where you were. "Don't flinch. I'm not gonna hurt you, I'm gonna help you." He smiles.

You wriggle in his clutches, mewling the same trifle apologies under your breath.

"Shhh, my brainless little Kitten. I'm gonna give you a gift." He smirks. "For your own safety, you don't need to talk for the rest of the day. I just need you to come when I call. Sit on my lap when I tell you. And purr for me like a good little pussy." Grabbing your arm harshly, he yanks you off your chair and onto the ground. "There you go, where you belong." He laughs. "You think you can remember to do all that? I know you can. Otherwise, I'll buy you a kat collar to remind you how my Kitten should behave."

[realcube]

his offer || nishinoya x reader

  summary: nishinoya has one night to prove to you that he’d be the best boyfriend

not a song fic! but it might seem like that at the beginning

tw// swearing, sexual references, energy drinks, lord’s name in vain, murder references, fluff, angsty, crying, skirt wearing! reader

‘ ♪ shawty’s like a melody in my head, that i can’t keep out, got me singin’ like  ♪ ‘

You groaned, lifting your head off your essay which you fell asleep on while writing and rubbed your eyes, confused and disorientated. Not at the fact you had fallen asleep while studying - that was a fairly normal occurrence - but as to where that music was coming from? 

Surely, your neighbours hadn’t started a party at midnight - the time which you had caught a glimpse of on the My Melody clock sitting on your desk - especially because both of your neighbours were old couples but hey, you were in no position to judge their music choice.

Like any reasonable human-being, you got up from your desk and lolloped over to your bedroom window, where the music seemed to be blaring from. Once you reached the window, you opened the lock then proceed to push it open which required a lot more strength than you’d like to admit, but figured that you’d blame it on the fact you’re tired. 

You craned your neck out of the window to hiss as the chilly air suddenly nipped at your skin, then scanned the surroundings for a source of the music but there didn’t seem to be anything out of the ordinary: no lasers, no rave lights, no crowds of people and not a speaker in sight.

Sighing, you were just about to call it quits; blame the noises on sleep deprivation hallucinations and go to bed - until you heard a familiar voice call out to you from your back garden. 

“(Y/N)! Down here!” The voice yelled, lowering the volume of the music momentarily to guarantee that you heard their shout. 

You tossed your head back, letting out a fed-up groan as you instantly recognised who’s voice that was so when you squinted and through the darkness you saw the bi-haired boy - in his white pyjama set under his black puffer-jacket, with black trainers on - standing in your garden with a speaker on his shoulder, it only confirmed both of your suspicions; the first being that he was source of the obnoxious music that woke you up. 

The second suspicion being that the voice belonged to none other than the boy who has been on your ass for the last few months - Yū Nishinoya. 

“Oh my god.” You muttered, rubbing your temples, desperately trying to process the sight you had laid your eyes on - was he seriously blaring music outside your house right now? At midnight? “Nishinoy--”

“What?!” The boys screamed, cupping his ear to show that he was struggling to hear you due to the distance between you both but mostly because of the loud music which was blasting in his other ear and throughout most of the neighbourhood. 

“Turn the fucking music down!” You shrieked, something about the ear-splitting volume of the music causing your blood to boil. 

Nishinoya chuckled, complying with your request and in fact turning the speaker off all together, “As you wish, m’lady.” He joked, setting his speaker down on the bit of concrete just by the back door of your house, “Is it alright if I just leave this here for now?”

You quirked an eyebrow at his question, was he not going to explain to you what he was doing or were you just supposed to play it off as normal? “Sure.” You replied as if you were asking him a question. 

“Anyway,” You started, clearing your throat and attempting to regain your composure now that the music was gone. “What is the meaning of this, Nishinoya?” You inquired, resting your chin on your elbow which was perched on the windowsill. Relaxing as - knowing Nishinoya - this interaction was going to be far from brief. 

“I told you to call me Yū.” He complained, jogging back to the spot in your garden he was standing in prior to placing his speaker down, as from there he got an excellent view of your gorgeous moonlit face. “I’m here to make you an offer.” 

You let out another exasperated sigh as it was one of the only reactions you had enough energy to give. If it was anybody else, you would’ve just told ‘em to fuck off and went to bed but it was Nishinoya and something you’ve learned after months of dealing with his antics and endless advances, is that it is easier to listen to him than get him to leave you alone. “What’s your offer, Yū? Also, be quick about it.”

“Okay,” He began with a wide grin, chuffed to see that you’re actually conversing with him for a change, instead of just ignoring his whole existence. “I know you said that you’d never go out with me but I’m here to change your mind--”

His offer was interrupted by your murmur of disapproval from above, but he brushed it off with a chuckle and continued explaining his plan to make you fall in love with him. 

“Just an hour; that’s all I need! I won’t waste your time! And I chose tonight because it’s not a school night, I know how much you hate staying up late when you have school the next day!” 

A small smile tugged at the corners of your lips at the naïve boy’s reasonings -which you attempted to hide with your sleeve, you didn’t want him to think that you were the slightest bit charmed by his proposal. “Yū.” You mumbled, looking down at him with eyes filled with empathy. “I- I don’t know--”

It was clear that Noya’s offer wasn’t especially tempting yet, so he had no choice but to pull out the big guns. “If you come with me tonight, I’ll never annoy you ever again, on god!” 

You blinked a few times at what he just said - it seemed too good to be true. This drastically increased your chances of accepting his proposition but you still needed to be filled in with some information, “What are we going to do?”

Noya beamed, his pearly whites almost blinding you, “That’s a surprise!”

You rolled your eyes, mentally comparing the pros and cons of accepting his offer; the main pro being the fact he promised to leave you alone afterwards and Noya wasn’t one to purposefully break a promise.

The fatigue weighing on your mind wasn’t helping you conclude your decision either, hence resulting in you taking around a minute to think about it and once you eventually snapped out of your unrelated thoughts, you just blurted out the answer which had apparently been waiting on the tip of your tongue the whole time.

“Uh- fine.” You uttered, your reply causing Noya to pump his fist into the air with a bright smile on his face, “Yes!” He let out a celebratory cry, along with a little happy dance which made your heart flutter - not that you’d ever admit it though. 

“Alright.” You giggled, playfully scoffing at his actions as you hastily went to close your window, “I’ll be out in a moment--”

“Wait, (Y/N)!” 

You immediately halted in your tracks, “Yes?” You quirked an eyebrow at his sudden interjection, yet you were hardly surprised as random outbursts were far from uncommon for him.

“Make sure to wear shoes that are easy to run in.” He said, devilry laced in his voice as he tried his best - but failed - to resist a mischievous smile forming on his lips.

His comment was a tad suspicious but you thought nothing of it since it was coming from Noya - he probably just wanted to play tag or something. Locking the window, you swiftly turned on your heels, grabbed your coat and rushed to your backyard. 

Nishinoya probably chose the best day for his shenanigans as your parents were both abroad for a business trip and - since they had no reason not to - they trusted you to be left home alone, meaning that it’s not like you’d have to sneak by them on your way out or anything.

As you approached you back door, you realised that you had very limited choices when it came to shoes; that is, if you wanted to leave quickly. Lying by the back door were you school shoes, your gym shoes and a pair of flip flops; the favourable option was obvious. 

You slid on your gym shoes while internally scolding yourself for falling asleep in your tight, uncomfortable school clothes then you proceeded to jingle your keys around in the lock until you were able to slip outside and glance at Noya, who had taken a seat on the paving next to the door. 

Once he noticed your arrival, he hopped to his feet and that was when you noticed the bag - which was almost the same size as him - slung over his shoulders. “Hey, what’s the bag for?” You inquired, momentarily averting your gaze from it onto him as you noticed he had his arms wide open for a hug.

Perhaps it was the sleepless euphoria, or maybe it had something to do with the dreamy ambience held by the dark lunar night; but either way, it convinced you to do something you would never even consider doing in any other situation. You leaned in and snaked your arms around Noya’s chest, allowing him to hold you in his embrace for a solid 5 seconds - the best 5 seconds of his life.

Although you hated yourself for feeling this; something about the way the outline of his muscles flexed against your back and the tingling sensation of his warm breath against the soft skin of your neck caused an unfamiliar emotion - perhaps slight arousal but mostly admiration - to shoot through your body.

Feeling something so foreign made you immensely uncomfortable so jerked away from the hug before your brain had any time to process it. 

After you pulled away, it took a moment for the overwhelming bliss Noya felt to subside - and you could tell by his starry-eyes - but once it did, he gave you a somewhat straight answer to question you asked prior to the embrace. “Oh, the bag? It’s got all the the things we need for tonight in it: snacks, money, my Switch, a blanket, a ball, a first aid kit, a fake ID and just a few other things.” 

You snickered, hardly able to imagine what those ‘few other things’ were but knowing Noya, he was sure to surprise you; that’s one of the things you loved about him. 

However, you knew that if you ended up falling for him, it’d completely ruin your grades. If you were with Noya you’d probably end up going out on these little adventures every single night and although you weren’t opposed to the concept, in reality you needed to study as you were quite ambitious and the university you aspired to get into required nothing less than perfection in terms of GPA. 

So, it’s not like you didn’t have any romantic interest in Nishinoya - in fact, you’ve kinda had a crush on him since the beginning of the school year - it’s just that you knew it would be in both of your best interests if you remained friends. You’ve tried to explain that to Noya several times but he simply didn’t understand and he didn’t try to either, which is what irked you. Thus, you stopped your feeble attempts to reject him in a kind manner and moved on to just blocking him out entirely.

However, a new problem was afoot. Both you and Noya were coming into this ‘date’ with completely opposing incentives; he wanted to make you fall for him and you had to do everything in your power to suppress your feelings for him but if he continues being so damn sweet, that’s gonna make things a whole lot trickier for you. 

“Alright.” Noya chirped with his signature daring smile, “Let’s go! Follow me.”  He instructed, grabbing your hand and intertwining his fingers with yours before guiding you to the front gate of your house. Upon noticing how the gate was hanging wide open, you realised that your stupid-ass forgot to lock it, meaning that anybody could’ve waltzed right in. Noya seriously chose the best day to pull this little stunt. 

Your breath hitched slightly as he kept his cold fingers in with yours but you didn’t protest as this would be a great starting point in convincing yourself that you weren’t in love with Noya; his strong, possessive grip definitely did not make you blush and the way he caressed his thumb gently against the back of your hand resulted in mighty rage bubbling in your stomach - not butterflies - rage!

The pair slipped passed the gate and he paused in his tracks, momentarily releasing his grip on your hand to allow you to lock the gate behind you. But as soon as you finished, he immediately took your hand back with his own and began swinging it back and forth as he led you to an unknown destination.

You giggled at his childish - yet cute - action but the fun was short-lived as your blood ran cold as the romantic aura which was blinding you at first finally lifted, hence the reality of the situation hit you like a truck; Noya was taking you a location which he refused to disclose, he carried a large bag which could easily fit a body inside, he had taken you out alone in the dead of night, he had a powerful grip on your hand so you couldn’t run away and worst of all, because you were in a rush to leave, you forgot to bring your phone.

Of course, a large part of you doubted that Nishinoya - Karasuno’s guardian deity and #1 simp - had murderous intentions behind his actions, it was surely just all one big coincidence. However, it’d put you at ease if you mentioned it, “Yū, um, I kinda forgot my phone at home.”

Noya sensed the anxiety in your voice and in all honesty, he couldn’t blame you. He was aware that what he was doing was suspicious - to say the least - and he wanted to give you more clarity on what he was happening but he thought it’d be more engaging if he built up some suspense. “Oh, um, I mean, if you want, we can turn back so you can grab it but I also brought my phone, you can have mine if it’d make you less worried.”

You tensed your whole body at his suggestion, ‘don’t fall, don’t fall, don’t fall!’ you internally commanded yourself before shifting your attention onto your options. It’d certainly calm your nerves to have access to any mobile device you could use to call for help, but there were a few holes in his plan, “Well, that’d be nice..but what if I lose you and you need to phone someone?”

Nishinoya simply rolled his eyes as a cocky chuckle erupted from his throat, “As if! Why would I ever need to do that?”

“In so many situations: you could have a heart attack, injure yourself, set something on fire, throw-up, get possessed, be struck by lightening, fall in a river, get jumped--”

“That’s silly.” Noya scoffed, ignoring the fact you suggested he could be struck by lightening despite the fact that there was not a cloud in sight, instead he chose to focus on how you insinuated that someone could possibly assault him. “I could be jumped? Ha! In your dreams! If someone shady comes up to me - or you - I’ll give ‘em one of these-” Nishinoya jumped into an offensive stance and aggressively uppercutted the air, “And one of these too!” He followed up with a swift roundhouse kick before planting both of his feet on the ground and looking at you with sincere eyes, “Trust me, (Y/N). I won’t let any creeps lay a finger on either of us tonight - or ever.” 

You couldn’t help but smile at how eager he was to protect you; it made your heart flutter more than you’d like to admit. Also, upon seeing how keen Noya was to fight - plus, remembering that you had taken those 5 years of karate lessons for a reason - put your mind at ease slightly. 

Still, you were tempted to accept all the safety you could get your hands on. “That’s sweet, Yū. But if it isn’t an issue, could I keep your phone in my jacket pocket?”

Noya unzipped his jacket so he could reach into the pockets of his pyjama bottoms to grab his phone and once he did, he presented it to you, “If it’ll make you feel less tense, then take it.” He single-handedly zipped his jacket back up while shooting you a kind grin which caused your body to do the thing again.

Your expression softened as your gaze met his and in that moment, everything felt right; you weren’t stressing over exams, you weren’t thinking about your chores, you weren’t fretting over your friend group drama, all you worries seemed to just dissolve away into the background - in that moment, it was just you and Nishinoya, appreciating each others company on a empty country road.

But perhaps you appreciated his company for a bit too long as he snapped you out of your trance by teasing you, “Oh, you’re falling for me already?~ We haven’t even arrived at the surprise yet.” 

You blinked rapidly, instantly scowling and rolling your eyes at his silly comment - which you knew deep-down was true but let’s conceal those feelings for a bit longer. “Uh, no. I just zoned-out thinking about..how stupid you look in those pyjamas.”

Nishinoya gasped in an exaggerated manner before sticking his bottom lip out to form a pout, “I didn’t have time to change.” He dropped the first excuse that came to his mind before glancing at the phone which was still waiting patiently on the palm of his hand. “Are you gonna take it or?” 

You nodded, carefully picking up his phone and sliding it into your jacket pocket, “Thank you, Yū.” You muttered, tucking it in as deep as you could to secure it so it wouldn’t fall out. “I had no idea you were into Pokémon--” You said in reference to his lockscreen which lit up when your finger accidently grazed the power button. If you were ignorant enough, you probably could’ve mistaken his background for just a bunch of words written in a red font but in reality, those words were connected in such a way that they formed the outline of a Charmander.

Noya’s eyes widened at your comment, ‘Shit, I forgot to change my background- she probably thinks I am a nerd like Tsukishima now or something-’ he mentally rebuked himself, desperately scanning his surroundings to find a topic he could just blurt out to pretend as if he didn’t hear your comment. 

Fortunately for him, the ‘portal’ to the desired destination finally came into vision, so he hurriedly grabbed your hand again and bolted towards - what looked like to you - the entrance of the Forrest. “C’mon, (Y/N)! I can’t wait for you to see where we’re going!” 

You laughed at how obviously he tried to dismiss your comment and change the subject, but you excused that part for now and focussed all your attention on trying to match Noya’s pace without letting your school skirt fly up in the wind. 

So you continued to sprint up to the entrance of the Forrest with Noya but as soon as you passed the first tree, you paused to catch your breath and squeezed Noya’s hand, communicating that he should stop too. “Wait, Yū.” You panted, taking a moment to admire the new scenery you had been introduced to. “You’re too fast.” 

You hummed, tossing your head back to inspect your surroundings; which was predominantly Cryptomeria japonica trees that stretched up to meet the sky, creating a mystical yet mysterious atmosphere. There was also the distant song of flowing water which rang throughout the Forrest, and that was seemingly the only thing to be heard - besides you and Noya’s puffs - as the Forrest was known for lacking Fauna. 

Although you have lived near this Forrest your entire life, not only did you not know the name and opted to call it ‘the Forrest’ whenever you spoke of it - which wasn’t often - you also had never stepped foot in it before today..with Nishinoya. 

He was always pushing you out of your comfort zone, persuading you to try new things; most of which, you would never even consider doing if he wasn’t in your presence: like the time he convinced you to go on every ride at the amusement park with him and you actually kinda had fun, or the time when he insisted that you play MineCraft Bed Wars with him despite the fact you had made it clear that you hated most server games..but now you play Bed Wars every chance you get. 

Nishinoya could say the same about you though; you were constantly pushing him to be the best version of himself that he possibly could. For example, there was when he texted you saying that he was going to skip school so he asked for you to cover him but instead, you induced him to come in by telling him that his future self will thank him for having the best attendance possible. 

Before you had a moment to collect your thoughts, Noya took your hand again and guided you through the Forrest, the sound of rushing water getting louder as y’all went along. “Yū, this place is so pretty.” You mumbled, the chilly air lacing through your hair elegantly as you were dragged through the Forrest by Noya. 

“You haven’t even seen the place we’re going to have our date yet!” He exclaimed, his lips curling into a smile as you didn’t object against his use of the word ‘date’ like you normally would. 

Suddenly, he came to halt and once you caught up with him, you took a moment to study the smug expression painted on his face before following his gaze only to realise that y’all had finally arrived at his desired ‘date’ destination.

You studied the setting he had brought you to and to say you were pleasantly surprised was an understatement. 

There was long, lush green grass growing on the outskirts of a clear crystal pond which was being poured into by many miniature ‘waterfalls’ that were just water squirting out from in between the rocks decorating the far edge of the pond. Along with that, there were cute little flowers adorning the sides of the pink, checkered picnic blanket which Noya had kindly laid out beforehand. 

“Noya- it’s- this place-” You choked, absolutely lost for words at the beauty and magic that this place emitted. 

The adorable look of awe in your eyes was enough to make Noya fall for you even more, “Do you like it?” He inquired sincerely, taking off the mask of pride he wore to impress you to get your genuine reaction.

“It’s stunning, you- how did you even find this place?” You eventually managed to blurt out, turning to look at him with a gleeful grin which set his heart ablaze.

Noya shrugged, thinking back to the first time he stumbled across this serene setting and how - upon laying eyes on the bewitching sight - his immediate thought was of you. “I guess, I just followed the noise of running water.” He spoke, as if asking you the question while tapping his jaw with his index finger. 

Then, before you got a chance to take a seat for yourself, Noya pulled the moves on you which he had practising with a volleyball since he first found this place; he took your hand by tucking his index and middle finger under yours so he had access to your knuckles, then he bent over to plant a long, tender kiss on it.

That action on it’s own was enough set the tips of your ears on fire but when he looked up from the kiss so his enchanting brown eyes met your wide (e/c) ones, you felt ‘the thing’ again and shuddered yet somehow unable to bring yourself to yanking your hand away. “Yū..” was all you could choke out in a breathy voice.

He didn’t reply, instead he led you over to the blanket he had set out on the ground by the pond, sat down and let go of your hand so you could take a seat beside him. 

You went along with him, mindlessly dropping down by his right side but all while keeping your eyes glued to the breath-taking sight of the pond water glistening under the moonlight which penetrated through the slats in the canopy.  Appreciating the environment as you were well aware that it’d be a while before you were taken some place so beautiful again. 

Noya couldn’t help but chuckle at how fixated you were on the scenery, taking this opportunity to drop the line he had been refining for many weeks prior. “You’re acting as if you’ve never seen something as magnificent before  - I mean, you’ve looked in a mirror, haven’t you?” He asked, a cocksure smirk tugging at the corner of his lip as he thought he delivered that line rather smoothly.

Meanwhile, you playfully rolled your eyes, cringing slightly at how poor Noya’s acting skills were; he made it dead obvious from his clearly google searched ‘synonyms for beautiful’ use of ‘magnificent’ to the fact you just knew that there was no way he’d be able to come up with something so suave on the spot. There wasn’t a doubt in your mind that he had rehearsed that line many times preparatory for today but something about the thought that Noya cared enough about you to go through the effort of practising lines made your knees weak for some..unknown reason.

“Anyway,” Noya broke the deafening silence between the two of you by sliding off his bag, pulling it up to his left and rummaging through it in search of something. “I brought snacks and drinks for us.” 

“Oh, you’re too kind.” This piqued your curiosity as you sat up straight to try catch a peek inside of his bag to see what other stuff he had in there, along with what he could’ve possibly brought as a ‘snack’. 

Noya whipped his head back around to face you as he slammed two cans of Monster Energy onto the few millimetres of space on the blanket between your thigh and his, “Mango Loco for me and a Pipeline Punch for you!” He exclaimed with a foolish grin on his face which just got wider as he noticed a sweet smile gracing your features as your gaze dropped to the cans.

“How did you know Pipeline Punch is my favourite? Or was it just a guess?”

Noya snickered as you asked the question which he was praying for you to utter so he could give his ‘nonchalant’ response, “Oh, I just remembered the time at the arcade when we found a Monster vending machine and you chose Pipeline Punch - no biggie.” 

You chuckled, internally ecstatic that he would remember such a trivial detail about you but externally you were ecstatic to chug down some well-deserved Monster. You opened your can and promptly poured it down the hatch - bottoms up - taking a few audible gulps before letting out a faint ‘ah’ as the can parted from your lips. 

“That hits the fuckin’ spot.” You mused, staring blankly into the void as you felt any fatigue or sleepiness that might’ve been lingering inside your body slowly melt away, being replaced by passionate urge to..make out with someone. Shit. 

Noya guffawed at your visible enthusiasm for the beverage, which reminded him to open up his own. Gulping down the sweet taste in unison with you before sitting the can back down by his side, “I think that’s my third can today.” He said indifferently, as he turned to his bag and began hunting through it again.

Your immediate response was to gasp and luckily you didn’t have any liquid in your mouth at that moment or else it would’ve came spewing out, “Third?! Yū, that’s too much! I think this is my third can this year. You’ve seriously got issues, man.”

Noya nodded in agreement with your last statement as he tried desperately to stifle a chuckle, “I know.” He replied, then threw a bag of Doritos over his shoulder for it to land perfectly in your lap. “And here are the snacks.” 

You smiled, glancing down at the bag of chips sitting in your lap before shifting your gaze onto Noya, expecting him to turn around with a second bag of chips in his possession but instead, he was empty-handed. You quirked an eyebrow at this, knowing that Noya wasn’t the sort to give food to others without leaving some for himself, “Yū, where is your snack?” 

Noya opened his mouth, clearly about to give you a serious answer until inspiration stuck him like lightening - he just had to say it. “Sitting right next to me, why?”

You couldn’t help but titter at his stupid little joke; still, you were able to read him like a book despite not receiving a straight answer, “I’m guessing you want to share this bag then?”

“Well, yeah, it’s party-sized so I’d be surprised if you were able to finish it on your own.” 

“Is that a challenge?” You inquired, popping open the bag and twitching your nose slightly as all the ‘flavour dust’  effused from the bag sprinkled across your face, leading to you having to wipe it off with your jacket sleeve.

“No, I’m starving!” He cried as he aggressively stuck his whole arm into the bag to grab a fist-full of Doritos, pull it out and shove most of it into his mouth like the glutton he is. 

You scoffed, tossing the bag onto his lap as there was no way you were going to eat a single chip from that bag after he put his grimy, unsanitized hands in there, “Did you even wipe your hands before eating?- god knows where they’ve been!”

Noya shrugged, choosing to ignore your grimace and continue indulging himself in his bag of Chilli Heatwave Doritos which he now had all to himself. “Haters gonna hate.” He mumbled to himself through a mouthful or chips, causing little pieces to go flying everywhere.

“Haters gonna care about your health and wellbeing!” You snapped back, attempting to say that in all seriousness but a playful smile kept creeping back onto your features.

Although there was an effort made to hide it, his whole body tingled when you said that you cared. The fact that you’d admit to something like that was - in Noya’s mind - proof that you were starting to catch feelings for him. 

He couldn’t be too confident in his hypothesis just yet but he needed answers right away as your endearing little actions caused him to grow more impatient by the second; how you said you cared for him, the way you gazed blankly at the moon or the stare filled with longing that you both shared on the way here - all of those factors snowballed into a feeling which was brimming inside Nishinoya this whole time and now, he finally bursts.

He tossed the bag aside, swiping his hands against each other to remove all the ‘flavour dust’ and once he did so, he grabbed both of your shoulders and adjusted his whole body to face you, exchanging a yearning gaze similar to the one you both exchanged before arriving at the Forrest. 

You instantly flushed red like anybody would do in your situation - I mean, his face was only inches away from yours, close enough for you to feel his light exhales tickle the skin of your lips and as much as you wanted to look down, for some reason you couldn’t pry your eyes off of his. There wasn’t a word spoken between the two of you for a solid minute but the fierce look in his eyes did all the talking for him, he undoubtedly wanted to tell you something important.

Nishinoya mentally scolded himself for being so impulsive, he pulled you in before he had even mustered up the courage to say anything so now you were both intensely staring into each other’s eyes as you waited for Noya to find the right words. 

“(Y/N)-” he spluttered at last, “I obviously really really like you. And I know the night isn’t even close to over yet but I just gotta know, do I even have a chance? Is there literally anything I can do to win your heart? Or am I just fighting a losing battle?” 

You internally sighed of relief, glad that it was just about his feelings rather than your sneaking suspicion that his forceful grabbing was the first step in his plan to - quite literally - take you out. “Yū..I can’t-” You were about to explain your answer until you froze mid-sentence, realising that you didn’t even know the answer to the question yourself. 

“I’m- I’m not sure. I’m sorry.” You murmured, averting your eyes from him and lowering them to the blanket beneath y’all. In all honesty, you were ashamed to have such little control or knowledge over your emotions - you usually don’t let your feelings run wild like this but something about just looking at Nishinoya evoked something special inside you. 

“I don’t even know what to say- I guess, I’m just mortified thinking about the way I’ve treated you up until today. And how I can’t even give you an answer to the simplest of questions, an apology doesn’t even cover half of it.” You gushed, feeling something horrible weigh down on your chest and you didn’t need a therapist to figure out that it was guilt. Next thing you new, tears were streaming down your cheeks but you paid no mind to them in hopes Noya wouldn’t even notice.

However, he noticed, of course he did. The faint sobs didn’t even need to reach his ear for him to be able to sense you sadness, thus slipping his arms around your waist and pulling you in so the side of your head rested against his heart while he kept you secure with one hand on the small of your back and the other cradling your head. “Don’t cry..” He whispered, not sure how exactly to comfort people in these situations but aiming to do his best anyway. 

“I don’t think it even matters if I like you or not; you deserve someone a lot nicer than me - and someone who shares more of your interests and ambitions so y’all can skip class together and whatnot.” You butchered the last part of your excuse but so be it, he’d get the memo either way.

Nishinoya chuckled which - in the moment - seemed inappropriate but after he flopped backwards - taking you down with him - you understood why he was laughing and you’d be lying if you said a faint one didn’t escape your lips too as he fixed his position so he was laying down with your head still against his chest. “You’re silly, (Y/N). Have I ever told you why I fuss over you so much rather than any other person?”

You paused, your breath hitching slightly, “No, you haven’t, actually.” Surely that was something you’ve learned by now after the many times you’ve asked him to go simp for someone else but no; every time you tell him to do that, his response is always the same, ‘If their name isn’t (Y/N) (L/N) then I’m not gonna fuck with them.’. At the time, you thought it was a great misfortune that there wasn’t any other (Y/N) (L/N)s at you school but now that you are laying in Noya’s arms in the crisp winter air, you consider yourself lucky. 

“Well,” Noya started as he usually does when he is about to go on rambling about something, “I think we are soulmates, to be honest. I mean, two incredibly attractive people, both with immaculate music tastes - it’s basically written in the stars that we should be together. Also, we are kinda like ‘opposites attract’, y’know? Like, I am the sexy rascal and you’re the sexy librarian - I help you live your life and you help me with algebra.” He wasn’t really sure where he was going with that comparison so he just decided to leave it there, “Basically what I’m trying to say is I really like you because you are you and I am me, y’know?”

There was just something about his chatter that you found so inexplicably captivating, so you allowed a small giggle to pass your lips at his final comment. “Yū..” You cooed, feeling your eyes drift shut under the warmth and comfort of his body pressed against yours. “The only reason I didn’t want to go out with you is that I was afraid I’d mess up my GPA. But genuinely, it’s hard to give a single fuck about my grades now; you just make me so happy, Nishinoya. I can’t even begin to describe how amazing I feel tonight, especially since I’ve kinda been studying non-stop for a week or two.” 

Noya’s heart skipped a beat as he waited in anticipation for you to continue, eliciting him to prod you a bit, “So..does that mean..?”

You felt the world fade away around you - right now it was just you and Nishinoya, enjoying each others company and keep one another cozy. “Yes, Yū. I’ve officially fallen for you. Will you be my boyfriend?”

Nishinoya was simply unable to contain his rejoice and excitement so he temporarily lifted his hand from your back to pump it into the air in celebration, “Yes!” He cheered, a toothy smile plastered onto his face which didn’t seem to diminish any time soon. “Of course I’ll be your boyfriend!”

He tensed, his eyes darting around to find something to express his joy onto until he recognised that the perfect opportunity was laying right on his chest. Hence, he lifted your chin with his index finger so you were gazing at him with your sweet, tired eyes and then he leaned in to plant an adoring kiss on your forehead. 

“I promise to treat you better than anyone else ever could!” He beamed, entitling that as his final comment as it was clear that you just want to fall asleep peacefully in his arms - which was odd considering you had a few sips of Monster Energy but he wasn’t opposed either way.

After all, now that you were his, he could spend as much time with you as he desired so there was no rush.

[slugtranslation-hypmic]

important question that's been bugging me for a while. since hypmic plays in a female powered society.. does that make everything like..our world but reverse? so that guys are more often oppressed and girls are more likely to be predators, taking what happened to hifumi (like men are more likely to us) and stuff like that? (or like if we imagine everything genderbent and apply our society to that) sorry I hope this is not too triggering. love your work!

This is a delicate question. I am going to put my answer below a cut. Topics included: sexual predators, misogyny, assault, kidnapping, the mistreatment of male sexual assault victims

I don’t think that I’m necessarily the best person to answer this or examine this. I’m not educated enough in this particular topic. However, I have tried to give it as much thought and respect as I can.

The Question of Female Predators

This is a very complex topic. Female predators are already not uncommon in the world we live in, so I guess the question of whether there would be more or less female predators depends on what factors contribute to people becoming a predator.

I could be entirely wrong about this, but I think one factor that causes a lot of fear of being preyed upon is the size difference between most AMAB people and AFAB people. Obviously, there are millions of exceptions to this rule, but AMAB people generally tend to be taller, more muscular, and broader than AFAB people. The majority of AMAB people are also men (whereas the majority of AFAB people are women), so on average, an altercation between an untrained man and an untrained woman is not likely to end in the woman’s favor. This isn’t going to change in the world of Hypnosis Mic.

It’s the societal factors that would change. The Center for Hope and Safety says, “A sexual offender generally believes he is better than other people and so does not have to follow the rules that ordinary people do.” This is a stance the Party of Words elevates. The Party constantly practices “othering” and promotes themselves as an elite group. Only they are allowed to enter a certain area. Only they are allowed to write the name of their ward in kanji, whereas every other location must use the foreign-looking katakana. ARB events frequently feature Party members shoving characters around from place to place with no explanation, as questions are not allowed. Only the Party can know what’s going on. Using this as a guideline, I think it’s very possible for predators already within the Party to use this as an excuse for being a predator. “Men are worthless, so I can abuse them.”

You could argue that the Party is founded on the principles of safety for women and non-violence, but the Party is also very hypocritical. Its promises of safety are only for the party itself; it puts on painful gladiator battles to turn a profit and purposefully cause infighting to keep the Party safe. Ramuda even suggests (and I have no reason to disbelieve him) in TDD 12 that they have a stockpile of weapons as well. The Party doesn’t care for anything but itself and staying in power.

So yes, predators within the Party are probably more likely to abuse their power, but would the shift towards a female-dominated society create more female predators? That’s a much harder question to answer. I am not remotely equipped to speak on what causes someone to become a predator. I do, however, think that societal norms can enable predators or foster mindsets of fright against certain groups.

In the world that we live in, it is very possible for men in certain areas to sexually assault or otherwise mistreat a woman and be applauded by their communities. Think of online communities such as “The Red Pill” or “Men Going Their Own Way”. Such communities believe that women deserve this mistreatment, and while these are very extreme examples, this same mindset permeates a lot of global societies. Even on a small scale, a lot of men tend to make casual sexist comments because we were raised with the notion of this being socially appropriate. And there’s the issue - it’s inappropriate, but it’ll continue to be socially appropriate as long as we don’t continue to challenge ourselves, challenge our friends, and raise our children with better standards of accountability and respect. These social changes do not happen in the blink of an eye, and I highly doubt that a single three years with the Party of Words in power would change that.

Similarly, a lot of girls in our societies are taught (both consciously and subconsciously) to defer to their male peers or even to fear men in positions of power. Once again, unlearning this and teaching future generations more positive standards does not happen overnight. I doubt that most women in the Hypmic universe are able to make radical shifts of thinking and acting over the course of three years. Furthermore, I doubt that many men are really taking the Party’s misandristic words to heart. None of the main characters seem particularly bothered by Ichijiku calling them barbarous fools on the regular; it’s an annoyance, sure, but that’s it. We’d have to see the Party in power for a much longer time to witness any large societal changes.

Additionally, the world inside Chuuouku and the world without are quite different. While Chuuouku boasts state-of-the-art architecture and technology, the rest of Japan gets by like normal, if perhaps in a bit shabbier fashion than to be expected for this futuristic world. Men and women seem to still fit into stereotypical gender roles in much the same way that they do today. Doppo’s bosses are all men; the majority of doctors we see are men, and the nurses tend to be women. While some of Jirou’s female classmates seem to be especially assertive, male and female students get along in the same way as we would expect to see in our world. Women are still kidnapped and trafficked by primarily male yakuza. The former military looks to be exclusively made up of men. Progress moves slowly, so I think we can assume that the Japan outside of Chuuouku is approximately our modern Japan.

One of the major issues in examining this topic is that we see so little female-male interaction in regards to sex or romance. Ramuda and Hifumi are the only characters (that I can think of off the top of my head) who have any on-screen sexually/romantically charged interactions with women, but probably because this is a series largely marketed towards women, these interactions never go beyond light, impersonal flirting. To really take a look at how predators and assault may be featured in the Hypmic universe, we would need a much larger sample size. That being said, I’d still like to examine two case studies: Nemu and Hifumi.

Nemu

The two driving forces of Nemu’s character are her rejection of violence and her desire to have personal strength. The first of these is probably rooted in her childhood, from living with an abusive father, witnessing his violent murder, and witnessing the subsequent suicide of her mother. Samatoki doesn’t appear to have any resources for dealing with his own processing of these events, and he turns to violence and emotional outbursts as a way to channel his feelings. This violence continues to wear on Nemu, but she can still withstand it under normal circumstances up until the moment she is kidnapped.

Nemu cites her kidnapping as an example of her weakness, when in reality, it is an exhibition of anything but weakness. She remains calm throughout the entire ordeal, comforts Jirou and Saburou and keeps them hopeful, throws her shoe at Genchou, and offers him to cut her fingers off if that means the others will be spared. Nemu isn’t weak – she is a hero. She is a seventeen year old girl who lost both parents at a young age and has witnessed horrifically traumatic situations, yet she keeps her head during a hostage situation and acts with courage in order to keep everyone else safe.

Nemu calls herself weak not because she thinks she’s weak for anything she did during the situation, but because the situation happened to her in the first place. She is victim blaming herself for violent assault. This isn’t a logical position, but it’s a very understandable position for someone with her background. Unfortunately, Samatoki doesn’t have the knowledge or resources in order to help her process her trauma safely, and his own coping mechanisms only set her off further.

Nemu isn’t mentally weak, but she is very emotionally vulnerable. Even without the Party’s hypnosis, an offer from the Party would be too tantalizing to ignore. They can promise her a world in which suddenly she has the power over everyone else and where violence is not practiced. An offer like this is impossible for her to ignore. Even though the Party are the ones putting her in jeopardy again, they implicitly promise her that she can never be hurt again. For a young, brave, powerful girl holding in so much pain, that promise is everything she’s ever wanted.

As mentioned before, the Party doesn’t care about stopping violence. In fact, it encourages infighting among its civilians. If Nemu were not in an emotionally vulnerable position, she could see that and reject the Party’s offer, but that’s exactly why the Party targets her and not any of her peers. Imagine how many other young girls in similar situations fall prey to the same trap. These girls need healing and positive environments, but they are fed propaganda instead.

Hifumi

I don’t talk about this much because it’s a very uncomfortable subject for me, but the way Hifumi is depicted is a real tragedy.

We don’t know the details of what this particular girl did to Hifumi, but we do know that it continues to impact him over ten years later. We know that Hifumi developed his coping strategy on his own, seemingly without professional help, and that without it, he can’t begin to live even an approximation of a normal life. The illustrations of him encountering a woman show him hiding, cowering with his neck covered, or crying. He looks to be in genuine fear of losing his life. Consider being this afraid of half of the population and how frequently he must encounter women in his daily life: on the street, in the grocery store, on public transportation. Without the jacket, Hifumi’s life is a nightmare.

And yet the canon source material frames it as a joke. The humurous background music in ARB and Hifumi’s exaggerated gestures in the manga show that his fear and discomfort is a punchline. This would definitely not be a funny gag with the genders reversed (a woman sobbing in fear and running away every time she sees a man), so it is a travesty that this is the stance the authors continue to take.

The world we live in is, generally speaking, not kind to its male assault victims. Misogynistic attitudes create an environment in which it is shameful for men to admit that they were assaulted, especially by women. It should not be a punchline when one human being hurts another, and it is wrong and sexist beyond all belief to perpetuate the idea that women can’t be cruel, violent, and manipulative just as much as anyone else can.

I would like to hope that Hifumi’s case isn’t indicative of all Hypmic universe male assault victims, but I don’t think that’s the case. Hifumi definitely has access to mental health resources, considering that his roommate does, but there is no evidence that Hifumi has ever come forward to ask for help about this issue. This is probably a combination of Hifumi’s internal shame and an unsupportive environment. While Doppo does help Hifumi navigate daily life around women, Doppo’s facial expressions suggest he considers the matter a nuisance. He threatens to take away or withhold the suit when Hifumi’s coping method annoys him, and otherwise doesn’t seem to take Hifumi’s distress seriously. Jakurai appears to be more supportive, but he doesn’t ever offer additional help or resources to Hifumi beyond what Hifumi already has. In fact, the majority of Jakurai’s interest in the subject seems to be around examining Hifumi like a case rather than as a person needing assistance.

It’s also probably a result of the faux macho attitudes that are rampant within the Hypmic universe. Hypmic men are bound by a multitude of ridiculous expectations that I always feel like an idiot translating. “Men don’t cry.” “Men don’t get stuck feeling disappointed.” Absolute nonsense. Men can and will do anything, just like any other group of people. It’s far more productive to encourage men to be their best selves, respectful and helpful to themselves and everyone else, than to feed into this sort of behavior which implies the hideously false “men can’t be assaulted”.

This all results in Hifumi living a double life and only being able to remove his façade in the safety of his own apartment or with his two friends. That’s a miserable existence, and while Hifumi appears to be cheerful enough, it’s sickening to see that this is supposed to be comedic.

The Question of Male Oppression

The Party of Words does institute laws to oppress men, but this oppression is fairly ridiculous. Yotsutsuji says that men are taxed at a higher rate than women and that men aren’t allowed into certain areas (such as Chuuouku, I presume). Despite these challenges, the majority of Hypmic universe men seem to lead pretty normal lives. As mentioned above, the professional fields still appear to be dominated by men, and male-on-female violence doesn’t seem much different from how it is in our contemporary world. These laws aren’t making a significant change in male lives, so they must be made to impact women. Yet these are token impacts only, as they don’t in any way actually make the lives for non-Chuuouku women any better. By making this an “us against them” deal, the Party is able to make more women sympathetic to their cause and cause more infighting (thus distracting people from “us against the Party”) without actually having to make positive changes for anyone.

These laws also aren’t the reason why rebel groups exist. Consider the motivations each character gives in TDD 11. Ichirou mentions a lack of central law and regulations making it difficult to keep loved ones safe. The infighting that the Party promotes via its rap battles allows for power-hungry individuals like Mozuku to take over whole areas and instate whatever rules they want, no matter the cost to the citizens. Samatoki is frustrated by being directed to fight when he can’t see a good cause; similarly, Ramuda is concerned about the effects of the fighting on the neighborhoods they pass through. Even with non-lethal weapons, a country in constant conflict is not one in which its citizens can prosper. Jakurai is concerned about inequalities between Chuuouku and the rest of the country. He mentions in FP/M 15 (which we’ll have up in a few days for you to see for yourself) that he’ll use the prize money from winning the DRB to provide medical care for locations that the Party can’t or won’t supply with aid. Later in the chapter, he drives away from the spectacular, futuristic city of Chuuouku back into a Tokyo marked with graffiti and squalor. Even the male citizens don’t care about how they’re treated as compared to their female counterparts; they care that everyone is suffering together under the Party’s poor governing.

The Party has never sought to oppress men and elevate women. The Party’s goal is to elevate itself and oppress everyone else. The gender inequality is as much of a diversionary tactic as the Division Rap Battle.

[writers-block246]

Bucky Barnes x Reader - The Light Amidst my Darkness

Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4,

Warning: Mentions of mental illness. I tried to present Bucky’s challenges as accurately as possible. However, if anyone has some suggestions as to better portray his illness and resulting therapy, please lmk! (I researched to depict his struggle with mental illness and the type of therapy he would recieve as accurately as I could). Curse words are also included.

Notes: Italics are thoughts and emphasis. Set before Infinity War and Endgame. Slow burn.

——————————————————————————

Chapter 5:

You were worried.

James hadn’t shown up to any of your recent sessions, and you had yet to glimpse those striking blue eyes.

What do I do now?

You were struggling with how to approach the subject. On one hand, you wanted to give him his space. On the other, however, you were worried that time away from your consistent sessions would only be detrimental.

To put it simply, you were running out of ideas.

You were already taking more strolls around the compound in hopes of seeing him. What I would do if I did run into him still remained a mystery, though. You dared to go to Fury, subtly inquiring over his whereabouts, and yet, according to the Director, no one had seen the sergeant. (Fury then told you to get your issue solved quickly. Although, his orders were a little more crude). You even went to his favorite coffee shop, though you suspected he wouldn’t be gracing it with his presence anytime soon.

Now, you were left with one option.

Steve Rogers.

Initially, you did not want to ask him for help because of his close relationship with James. You had even discussed confidentiality with Steve before. At this point though, you were willing to cross the confines of your profession, as long as it was for James’s well-being.

Whether you liked it or not, it was time to find Steve.

Sighing, you stood from your chair, ready to begin your journey to find the Captain.

And then a knock sounded at your office door.

Could it be...?

It wasn’t.

But it was the next best thing.

Standing at your door was Steve Rogers, in all his Captain America glory.

Huh, I must’ve summoned him.

The two of you made eye contact.

“Have you seen James?”

Well, so much for his help, you thought.

At the same time, both of you had inquired the same question of each other. Steve looked panicked, and you sighed. “No, I haven’t. Not since his last outburst.”

Steve was visibly upset. “I was hoping he had came back, but I should’ve known better. He’s stubborn as a mule.”

You snorted. “You got that right. Come on in.”

With that, Steve stepped around you and into your office.

Both of you taking a seat, you relayed to him what had happened during your last session.

Steve sighed. “I know he’s hard on himself because of what he’s been through. But he seemed to be doing so well with you.”

You nodded. “Yeah. Though to be completely honest, I was waiting for something like this to happen.”

Steve raised his head. “You were?”

“Definitely. It’s common, expected even, for patients with great mental trauma to act out and separate themselves from others. But with his background, handling the situation is very difficult and delicate. I mean, the first issue would be to find him, and no one, not even you, has seen him. Hell, we are literally dealing with an ex-assassin, here. I wish there was like—a book, or a manual over him, ” you gave a non-humorous laugh.

Steve looked thoughtful. “I might just know where he is, now that you mention it. Honestly, I can’t believe I didn’t think of it sooner,” he mumbled half to himself.

He stood, purposefully ignoring your confused expression.

“You’ll see him, soon,” he confidently stated as he strode out of the room.

Well, okay then.

Bucky didn’t know what to do.

You had to hate him now. He knew, he knew, his behavior was absolutely horrid. You had to fear him at this point. You had to see him as the monster everyone else did.

But oh, how he didn’t want you to.

He wanted, so desperately, to hide his outbursts from you. He had talked to you about them, yes, but he never wanted to actually show them to you.

He didn’t want you to leave him once you saw how bad he could really get.

The funny thing, though? You didn’t even look scared. You just sat there, waiting for him to finish. But it had to be a mask, right? You had to be scared of him. After all, everyone else was. The only time you showed any emotion was when he had called you a liar.

He didn’t mean it.

He was just so angry after his run-in with the man in the coffee shop. The stranger (and, really? A stranger had affected him this much? Pathetic) had confirmed his worst fears and destroyed one of his favorite places all in one go. And he didn’t know what to do. Where to go. Except to you. He had went to you for comfort (because you were his only true source of consolation, if he were to be honest), but the time spent making his way to you only served to make him feel more angry, more confused. His emotions came crashing over him like waves in the storm he is, and by the time he reached you, the only form of communication he could use was taking his frustration out on you. He couldn’t help himself, he just needed a release, and you were the closest person to direct it at.

And he knew, knows, you aren’t a liar. After all, you

truly didn’t think he was a monster. Or, at least, you didn’t before.

I’m sure you think differently now.

Even after everything, he still wanted to go back to you. To continue as if nothing ever happened. To have you comfort him. But he knew that was impossible.

Sighing, he strolled along the book store’s aisles, noticing a familiar head of blonde hair.

Steve.

James sighed, his friend truly did know him well. Maybe too well.

“Hey, Buck.”

James looked up from the book in his hands. “Couldn’t just leave me alone, could ya, punk?”

Steve smiled. “You know I can’t.”

Bucky sighed again. “I know why you’re here. Just spit it out already.”

“You need to go back. She really helps you, Buck. Don’t throw that away over one incident.”

“Incident?” James scoffed. “I destroyed her office.”

“Bucky, she’s a trained professional. She’s used to dealing with her patient’s emotions, good or bad. Hell, it’s her job.”

James looked down at his feet, shaking his head. “She has to hate me now. Or at the very least, not want to come anywhere near me.“

Steve laughed.

James whipped his head up. “What?” he snarled.

Steve laughed again. “It’s quite the opposite, pal.”

James looked confused. “What do you mean?”

“She’s been looking all over the tower for you, Buck. She’s been asking after you and everything. Even faced Fury’s wrath just to see if you were okay. She wants you to come back, pal.”

James gave a shaky breath. “She does?” he asked meekly.

“Yes. And you want to go back, too. Don’t deny it, I know you. Just do us all a favor and continue your sessions.”

A solemn look crossed the sergeant’s face. “The things I said to her, Steve. I—I don’t know if I can face her after that.”

Steve sighed. “Buck, look, I know you’re beating yourself up over it. But, she’s a trained professional, like I said. She’s used to outbursts and angry patients. She didn’t take anything you said to heart, not really. And she’s already forgiven you for it. Even though, and I quote, you “didn’t do anything that needed forgiveness.”’

James laughed shakily. “Yeah, that sounds like something she would say.”

Steve smiled. “So, it’s settled, then? You’ll go back?”

After a moments deliberation, James nodded.

Steve slapped a hand on his shoulder. “Alright, then. You’ve got an appointment.”

For the past few hours you had been busying yourself with work, trying to keep your mind off of James and whatever the hell Steve was up to.

Did Steve find him? Will—can—he get James to come back?

You had never been so tied up with a patient before. Sure, you worried over all of them and wished them the best. But this—this was different. You wanted—no needed—James to come back. You needed to make sure he was okay. You needed to see his smile again (and what a beautiful smile it was). You needed to make sure you didn’t lose a close friend, one who you had gotten to know very deeply over the past few months.

He wasn’t just a patient to you anymore.

And you were worried.

So, like any other healthy individual (ironic because of your profession), you dived into your work. You were so fixated on your task that you almost—almost— didn’t catch the timid knock on your door.

Your hand stilled on your piece of paper.

It’s him.

You just knew it was. You could feel it.

What do I do now?

Taking a deep breath, you steeled yourself and called for him to enter.

This is it.

He had become very comfortable with you over your time together. To the point where his silent steps has turned confident. Now, however, it seemed to be his first session, with how bashfully he entered your office.

“Take a seat, Mr. Barnes.”

“Bucky.”

You blinked. “What?”

“I think we’ve been through enough together that you can call me Bucky.”

Swallowing, you nodded. “Okay, Bucky. How are you doing today?”

He looked baffled. “So you’re just gonna pretend my whole scene didn’t happen?”

You smiled. “Look, Bucky. I’m used to that sort of thing. I deal with it, sometimes, on a daily basis. It happens. You were upset, and you acted on it. It’s as simple as that.”

He shook his head. “People don’t throw shit and cuss out their friends when they get mad.”

Laughing, you said: “Well, some do. But with your history of mental distress, it’s totally normal for you to get overwhelmed and need an outlet. I’m fine being that outlet, Bucky. I am your therapist.”

He frowned. “Aren’t you mad at me?”

Always so blunt. Gotta admire that, though.

You smiled once more. “No, Bucky. I was never mad.”

He looked a little shocked. “You weren’t?”

“No. Like I said, your behavior was totally normal. I’m not going to get mad at you when I completely understand where you were coming from.”

He snorted. “I take it Steve told you what happened.”

“Yes, and I’m glad he did. It helped me better understand what was going through that head of yours.”

He looked a little uncomfortable at that last statement, not quite ready to divulge his feelings. He needed a little time to get readjusted, and you were pretty sure he was still worried that you were mad at him. So, you changed the subject. “Anyway, where did Steve find you today?”

“A bookstore,” he quietly replied.

Your face lit up. “The one on 75th?”

He looked up in surprise. “Yeah. Have you been?”

You sighed blissfully. “Yes! It’s like my favorite place. Right after Fort Washington Park.”

He looked contemplative. “Hmm, I’ve never been to that park before.”

You smiled. “I highly recommend it. I love to just sit and read. A little break from all the chaos around here, ya know?”

He smiled ruefully. “Yeah, I think I get what you mean.”

You frowned. “You’re not part of the chaos, by the way. In fact, you make it all the more bearable.”

“I find that hard to believe,” he scoffed.

“I’m not lying, Bucky. I truly never have.”

He looked down at his lap. “I know.”

Relief settled in your stomach. You were so glad he didn’t truly think you a liar. Just as you had expected, those words were just out of anger—not at you.

You grinned. “Good. And I never will. I don’t make it a habit of lying to my friends.”

Because if there was one thing Bucky Barnes needed in this world, it was a friend.

-Admin Cheyenne :)

More chapters on the way!!

[leah-halliwell92]

Dinner? Part 2

Summary: Billa is a part time music teacher, Thorin is the PE teacher of the school and has made no secret about his dislike of the young woman with the copper curls. What happens when during a staff bonding activity Billa is asked to sing?

Part 1

That Saturday - Function Day

Billa tugged at her cardigan as she entered the karaoke bar (of all things) and made her way through the crowd to where Gandalf had reserved a table. It wasn’t hard for Billa to find her colleagues and their table, if the loud laughter was anything to go by.

‘I shouldn’t have come, I’m not a part of this…familly,’ Billa thought as she saw how Thorin and his company interacted.

Billa chose to sit between Elrond, English Lit, and Galadriel, Chemistry, far enough away from the company as possible and kept her head down.

“Well don’t you make a beautiful little morsel,” Smaug, European History teacher, said as he spotted her.

Billa held her tongue not wanting to egg on the man. Attractive he may be but neither his manners or personality matched his outer beauty.

“Leave her be Smaug, she’s already turned you down twice how much longer do you want to prolong your embarrassment?” Thranduil, theater teacher, said snidely at the dragon like man.

Smaug huffed an irritated laugh and went back to during his drink.

Billa nodded her thanks and went back to trying to blend into the background.

“You came!” She heard Bofur say excitedly as he made his way over.

Billa drew and internal deep breath and nodded with a small smile not meeting his eyes.

“Why don’t you come sit with us?” he asked.

Billa looked up then not knowing what to do and said, “You all look well settled it would have been a shame to disrupt such a lively flow.”

It was a far fetch and they both knew it but Bofur knew her well enough not to put her in a tough spot or push her buttons and nodded before retaking his seat as Gandalf stood and greeted the staff.

“Thank you all for coming! Now I know you all think this is a rather…unique idea for a bonding or team building but I assure you there is nothing better than having a few good laughs for people to get comfortable with each other. Now remember that we are here to enjoy ourselves,” Gandalf said an odd look in his eyes as he occasionally looked to where Billa sat.

And one by one each teacher went up and sang their chosen songs. There were two songs per person or group and all were from different genres. It was hilarious to see Smaug talk through a hip hop song from the early 2000’s which ticked everyone pink.

Billa had purposefully decided to be last for one she wanted any and everyone to forget she was there to see if she could by some miracle not go on that stage and sing her set of songs. But as luck would have it of course she would be pushed up by none other than Smaug himself…bloody bastard.

Billa focused on the words of the screen and began to sing her emotions taking the better of her.

(Insert lyrics While My Guitar Gently Weeps the version from the movie Kubo)

Granted she had not gained such a love and lost it to pin the song on but the emotion behind it was enough to get the point across. She saw the flabbergasted. Billa turned and hoped to make a swift escape but found her way blocked by a rather excited looking Thranduil.

“Sing the next set,” he said nudging her back on stage.

“I didn’t pick this song!” Billa said as she saw the title of the song.

“I know,” Thranduil said with a curious air in his voice, “I want to see how much you can give a song.”

'Oh why,’ Billa thought as she took hold of the microphone again.

(Insert 'Almost Love’ by a Fine Frenzy)

Thranduil applauded and stated, “I found my Maria!”

“What!?” Billa exclaimed.

“For my interpretation of 'The Sound of Music’ of course! And even better news is that I have an idea of whose going to portray Baron Von Trapp,” Thranduil said happily.

'At least one of us is happy,’ Billa thought bitterly.

This time she was able to get off the stage without being cornered. Going to the table Billa said her goodbyes and made a dash for the door and making a call to a friend at the same time.

“Are you leaving so soon?” She heard Thorin ask.

Turning to face him Billa nodded 'yes.’

“I–Uh wanted to apologize,” Thorin said nervously, “For what I said the other day.”

“You mean you’re sorry that I heard what you said the other day,” Billa said quietly but no less confident.

Thorin swallowed as he held to keep from worsening the situation at hand instead he decided to switch tactics and said, “You sing beautifully Billa.”

Billa rolled her eyes and said, “Yes for someone who can’t speak properly, doesn’t belong and is nothing but a spoiled little girl.”

Thoring winced and said, “I’m sorry.”

Billa rolled her eyes again in exasperation.

They both fell silent after this. Thorin was no fool, he knows he hurt her and if he wanted at least one chance at making it up to her then he had to do something.

“Who were you singing to?” he asked blatant curiosity in his voice.

Turing to face him fully Billa tried not to imagine what it would really be like should he really have broken her heart.

“To someone who doesn’t love me back,” she said simply honesty and resignation in her voice.

Thorin’s brows rose up to his hairline as he read between the lines and would have willingly jumped of a cliff for being so blind. But he couldn’t say that and expect any positive feed back from it.

“Would you forgive him for being the arse that he is?” he asked not sure how to ask her to dinner or even gain her forgiveness.

“Maybe,” She said seriously yet suspiciously, “Depends–”

“I know why he can’t seem to say the right things,” Thorin blurted out.

Billa was more than a little surprised at the outburst but let him continue on.

“I’m not saying that he was right to say them but he can’t seem to know how to talk to you,” he was rambling and he knew it but he had to get her to see that he does return her feelings, “You are so lively and free, open and…warm. That he doesn’t know how to appeal to you. Maybe lashing out is his way of getting your attention.”

Billa’s eyes widened at what he was saying.

He was acting like a kid with a crush. Doesn’t know how to get said crush’s attention so he does just about anything to get her attention.

“You’ve been through a lot growing up haven’t you?“ Billa wondered.

Thorin nodded and took the plunge, "If you’re still interested in this fool, I’d like to take you to dinner? I doesn’t have to be anything serious if you don’t want it to. I just would like a chance at getting to know you and vice versa.”

Tag List: @fizzy-custard, @patanghill17

[adriata-archive]

You Can Hear it in the Silence (12/?)

Modern AU. “We’ve been best friends for years and we act like an old married couple but we’d never date each other…right?”

1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5 // 6 // 7 // 8 // 9 // 10 // 11 // ff.net

The next few days are a blur. Their friends start looking after Killian in shifts, afraid of what he’ll do when left alone, but Emma is a constant, no matter who is around. She’s the only one who can tell that deep down, underneath all of the worry and the hurt, he’s furious.

“Killian, come on, talk to me. You’re not angry at yourself, are you? We’ve gone over that,” Emma says quietly. She had spent the first night convincing Killian that he was not to blame for the accident, that it wasn’t his fault for telling Milah that he couldn’t be involved with someone who was already in a relationship, that she had to fight for what she really wanted. She had thought that she’d finally broken through to him, but he was pacing, and Killian never paced.

“No, it’s not me I’m angry with. It’s him.” There’s a hate in Killian’s eyes that she’s never seen in all the years she’s known him, and it’s hard for her to recognize the gentle boy who still insists on capturing and releasing spiders in the wild when she’d rather exterminate the entire species.

“Who’s him?” Emma asks, bewildered.

“The bloody crocodile who thought it fit to play god and crash into her car!” Killian shouts, his hands going to his hair. Emma doesn’t think and flinches before she can catch herself, but this outburst is better than the seething, quiet anger that she knows he’s been struggling with.

Killian notices the small movement and sighs, reining in his frustration. “I’m sorry, love. It’s not you I’m angry with. I just wish I could do something, but because he has money and power he gets off scotch free while Milah’s in the hospital fighting for her life! Her own bloody father won’t do anything for fear of the repercussions to his damn company!”

“I know. But Killian, there are things you can do so you don’t have to sit in my apartment driving yourself insane. Aren’t you the one who always says that you want to pursue law because you believe in justice?” She’s set him on a warpath and she knows it, but she also knows that he’ll do something he regrets if he continues to be influenced by uninhibited rage.

“I need to make some calls,” Killian says suddenly. He hasn’t spent the last couple of years networking and doing internships for nothing, after all. He stops and kisses Emma’s head before rushing out her door. “Thanks, Swan.”

He’s gone in a flash, and she makes a few calls of her own.

-

Between Emma’s reputation as one of the best bail bondsperson in Boston and Killian’s contacts in the courthouse, they begin to build a case against Milah’s former lover, the man responsible for her coma. A man as rich as Mr. Gold won’t be easy to put behind bars, but if there’s anything Emma and Killian are, it’s stubborn.

David tries to help, too. When people stop by the animal shelter, he tells them about the accident, how law enforcement currently isn’t persecuting Gold, and asks them if they won’t mind signing a petition to get someone, anyone, to pursue the case. Walsh keeps a petition sheet in his store because Emma asks him to, but he doesn’t try and push it the way David does.

Right after the accident, Walsh had been exceedingly understanding when it came to Emma’s concern about Killian. A week later, she can see his patience fading, but her best friend needs her and if Walsh wants to be in her life, he has to learn to deal with that.

Besides, he had once told her that the thing he loves most about her is her loyalty to her friends, and she had to believe that was still true. She didn’t have the time or emotional capacity to think otherwise.

The story about Milah and Mr. Gold goes viral on social media, thanks to Mary Margaret and Ruby. Emma hadn’t expected to be so distraught about the situation, but she had grown to like Milah, and she hated how Gold was affecting Killian.

“Emma, you aren’t dressed for dinner,” Walsh says, walking into her living room with a frown. Her hair is in a sloppy ponytail and she’s wearing sweats and one of Killian’s shirts, and when Walsh sees that, his frown deepens. “Did you forget we had a date?”

Emma takes off her glasses and rubs her eyes. “Oh God, Walsh, yeah. I’m sorry. One of my contacts offered some information on Gold that might be useful and I got caught up emailing them.”

“I see.”

Emma opens her eyes and peers up at him. “Are you upset?”

Walsh takes a deep breath and starts laughing, but there’s no humor in it. “Are you kidding me, Emma? Of course I am!”

“Okay…” Emma mutters, trying to not let her own temper rise. “And why would that be, pray tell?”

“All you can talk about is this goddamn case! It’s taken over all of our lives - I never asked for that! I own a furniture store, for Christ’s sake. I shouldn’t be on a crusade to put some billionaire in jail, and neither should you! Killian’s somehow managed to get all of us sucked into his own personal tirade, and I refuse to be a part of it anymore.” Walsh is seething, all of his usual charm and tact gone, replaced by wild eyes filled with frustration and jealousy.

“Personal tirade?” Emma repeats indignantly. “His girlfriend is in a coma because some jackass refused to accept the fact that she was leaving him and purposefully crashed into her car. How are you not angry about that?”

“I refuse to put my life on hold because of this, Emma! I refuse to put our relationship on hold!”

“Our relationship isn’t on hold!” Emma shouts back, gaping at him.  

“Really? Then why is it that every time we’re together, you can only think about Killian, and what he needs, what he wants? You might as well be in a relationship with him!”

“How can you even say that?” Emma asks, the pitch of her voice growing higher with indignation. “He’s my best friend!”

“Oh, please, we can all tell that it’s way more than that!”

“Do not try to taint our friendship with your own petty jealousy! I can’t believe that Milah’s barely alive and you’re making this all about you.”

“It’s him or me, Emma.”

Emma stops cold, staring at him in disbelief. “What?”

“You heard me. Make your choice. I refuse to be in a relationship with you when you’re so concerned over another man.”

This time, it’s Emma who laughs, and the look she gives Walsh is devoid of any emotion. “The very fact that you’re asking me to choose means there’s not even a decision to be made. Get out, and don’t call me.”

Walsh’s transformation would have dumbfounded Emma just a few days ago, but their argument had revealed him to be insecure and vindictive, and she wanted nothing to do with him.

The glare Walsh directs at her might have cowed the lost little girl Emma used to be, desperate for love and affirmation, but not the woman Emma is now, the one who knows she doesn’t need Walsh for either of those things, not when she has friends like Killian. The thought is enough to bring a wry smile to her face, and she gives Walsh a sarcastic wave of her fingertips before he slams the door behind him.

-

“Just when I was finally starting to like him,” David remarks dryly when Emma recounts her breakup with Walsh to him and Mary Margaret the next day.

“Yeah, well, hidden beneath all of that charm was the whiny, self-absorbed flying monkey Killian originally said he was. Don’t tell him, though. He’s got enough on his mind with Milah - I don’t want him to think this is his fault,” Emma says, sighing.

“How is he?” Mary Margaret asks, her eyes full of concern.

“I haven’t seen him in days,” David adds. He would never admit it out loud, but Killian is practically a brother to him, and he’s one of the few people he trusts to be a part of Emma’s life.

“He said he couldn’t sleep in his own bed,” Emma tells them, closing her eyes at the memory of how broken Killian had seemed when he finally admitted why he’d been staying at her apartment instead of his own. “It reminds him too much of Milah.”

“He must be hurting so much,” Mary Margaret whispers, and the sight of her tears are almost enough to bring some of Emma’s to the surface.

“I’ve never seen him like this before. It’s not just justice he’s after anymore; it’s revenge. He’s gonna kill himself trying to hurt Gold.”

“You don’t mess with a man that powerful and get away unscathed,” David agrees. “He’s starting to get reckless.”

“I don’t think he cares what he does, as long as Gold suffers too,” Emma says, unconsciously mimicking Killian when she runs her hands over her face and through her hair. David raises an eyebrow and glances at Mary Margaret, who shrugs and fights a smile, despite her worry over the situation.

Emma bites at a fingernail, something she hasn’t done since she was a teenager. Despite her efforts and intentions, she can only do so much to help Killian, and all of them combined lack the influence necessary to bring down Gold. She’s helpless and she hates it, hates that she has to watch her best friend suffer and can’t do anything about it. She’s kept the tears bottled in for two weeks, pushing her own feelings aside to take care of Killian and make sure he gets through each day. She starts to sob and can’t stop, and she doesn’t know what she’s crying about, who she’s crying about, but she cries like her heart is broken, and maybe it is. Maybe for Milah, maybe for herself, but almost certainly for Killian.

Mary Margaret and David wrap her in a bear hug, David’s hand automatically coming up to cradle Emma’s head. They’ve been worried about her, too, but knew better than to voice their concerns about her when Killian was hurting. Whether she knew it or not, Emma had insisted on putting Killian’s needs above her own from the moment she met him.

“God, I’m sorry,” Emma says remorsefully, her eyes red and puffy and her face streaked with tears. “I shouldn’t be crying. What Killian is going through is ten times worse than whatever it is I’m dealing with right now.”

“Emma, he wouldn’t want you to ignore your feelings. You just broke up with Walsh - you’re allowed to cry. Even if that wasn’t the case, you’re still allowed to cry. It’s not selfish for you to take care of yourself too,” Mary Margaret reminds her, wiping away a lingering tear. “Killian would be overcome with guilt if he found out that you wouldn’t let yourself hurt just because he’s hurting. You two are allowed to be upset at the same time, you know.” The last part is said in a sardonic tone that, coming from Mary Margaret, is enough to get Emma to chuckle.

“I just hate seeing him like this,” Emma admits. “He looks hollow. I think the only thing keeping him going is his need for revenge, and that’s far from healthy.”

“Maybe you should tell him that,” Mary Margaret suggests.

“Somehow I don’t think he’ll be receptive to that particular insight,” Emma says with a little more bite than she intended. “Sorry, again. I know I’m being insufferable.”

Mary Margaret shrugs, and her smile is a touch too innocent. “We’re all insufferable when it comes to the people we love.”

Emma knows the love Mary Margaret is talking about is the platonic, familial kind - at least, she tries to convince herself that. Still, she pretends like she didn’t hear the all too mild suggestion her friend is hinting at, and is only betrayed by the slight tinge of pink in her cheeks.

[shiroe-is-my-baby]

You Have The Nerve? - 2

Summary: Based off of the movie Nerve, an AU/crossover fic that doesn’t exactly follow the storyline but does have a similar plot and a few scenes from it. A hard breakup throws Ashley into an emotional wreck, acting out in ways that she never knew possible. When the opportunity to play a game of dares for money, she can’t help but play along. Throwing her into a spiral of dangerous games, along with meeting a few new faces and possibly falling in love yet again.

W: self-insert, romance, angst, strong language, au, crossover

Part One | Part Two |

My hands wrapped around the cup of hot chocolate, the heat warming up my rather cold hands. Even stuffed in the sleeves of my cardigan they were cold. I sniffled loudly, feeling the similar feeling on my nose. I hoped that being in Marielle’s warm house would help, given that I had to walk all the way here. I really needed a car. The money just didn’t seem to be there at the moment, and I kept putting it off in hopes that the asshole would help me buy one. He never did. Figures.

My other, female best friend, sat in front of me, her chin in her hand. She twirled her spoon in her cup, eyes flittering to me a few times. There was an awkward silence between us that seemed to grow and grow the longer I had been here. It began the moment I stepped through the threshold. I knew that she was nervous to talk to me about the whole situation. I was sure that lately, I hadn’t been all that fun to talk to. But I knew that she was purposefully walking on eggshells to not hurt my feelings.

I sipped on the hot chocolate, feeling the warmth spread through my throat.

“Shit, that’s good,” I sighed, licking my bottom lip.

“You always did like your hot chocolate.”

Marielle giggled, rubbing her thumb across the rim of her cup to catch some that dripped down it. I nodded along with her, trying to give a feeble smile. Something to at least help humor her. I came here to help forget or at least talk to Marielle about the things that bothered me. But I can’t even do that right. Folding my leg over the other, I sat back in the chair and forced myself to speak up.

“I’m sorry I invited myself over here,” I mumbled, “I just couldn’t stay at that house.”

“It’s okay. I’m glad you called. I’d much rather you be here with me than alone.”

She reached for my hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. I smiled a little wider, squeezing back to give her some affirmation.

“Thanks…”

She gave a nod, taking her time in one long sip of the hot chocolate. The two of us sighed happily, enjoying he warm refreshment a little too much. We laughed in unison, but it slowly faded into the air as quickly as it left. Usually, this house would be filled with both of our laughter. I missed the days when I could laugh with her for hours without even knowing what was so funny. It all seemed so long ago when it really wasn’t. I tried to think of ways that I could get that back.

Have my freedom again.

Freedom to be happy.

I bit my bottom lip, opening my mouth to speak. But before I could say anything, Marielle was already beating me to it.

“He was a jerk,” She said, “You did the right thing. Even though… it feels kind of crappy right now.”

“It does, but I’ll get over it. I’m just more pissed at myself that I didn’t see it coming. They were texting for almost two months, and I never once suspected a damn thing. I trusted every word that mother fucker said.”

“Don’t you dare blame yourself for that! It’s not your fault at all. We don’t want to see things like that, but that doesn’t much us stupid. It just means that we trusted people, which isn’t a bad thing. It can just… hurt us sometimes.”

Man, was she right about that one.

I’ve grown up trusting people so easily that it always ends up biting me in the ass.

I remember listening to everyone telling me how fucked I was going to be as an adult. How I was going to let people walk all over me. Everyone suspected that I wouldn’t do anything because I was always afraid to take chances. That’s why I was so quick to move in with the asshole and get away from everyone. Show people that I could be independent. But all of that was proving to be as much of a joke as everyone else saw it as.

Except for Marielle. She always believed in me. I wonder how she felt about me now.

“I’m just happy that he’s gone. I’ve got his computer too,” I said with a small smirk.

“Nice. Whatcha gonna do with it?”

“I dunno. I was gonna break it, but Sae stopped me. Y’know he’s still stalking me? I’d call him a perv if he wasn’t one of my closest friends. Besides you.”

Marielle laughed, gently kicking my foot from underneath the kitchen table. She quickly tied her hair back into a bun, lazily setting it on top of her head.

“When are you two going to start dating, anyway?” She asked with a teasing smile, resting her elbows back down onto the table.

“Excuse me? I just broke up with my boyfriend! Besides, we’re just friends.”

“It’s obvious that you two have something going on. But I was just trying to make you laugh. And it worked.”

I rolled my eyes, hearing the small hint of laughter in my tone. She was right. I was definitely laughing, even if it was only a tiny bit.

The truth was, I did use to have a crush on Saeyoung. But things faded after a long time. Especially since he has such a crazy life planned out that I just don’t see myself in. Plus, when I was dating the asshole I assumed we’d be together forever. I didn’t want to ruin that for someone that may or may not like me more than a friend.

Chewing on my bottom lip, I felt the conversation slowly fluctuating to something more important. Where we were going to get food. Marielle and I were starting to become really hungry after the light cup of cocoa we had. “Speaking of Sae, I promised to meet up with him at the local diner. You wanna come?” I asked, tipping back my cup to drink up the remaining drops of hot chocolate.

“I’d love to! Just let me grab my coat!”

She scampered off to grab her things, leaving me to trail my gaze around the large kitchen.

Marielle was doing well for herself here. Way more than I was. She’s offered for me to room with her, but I wanted to live on my own. Learn how to pay my own bills, even though it wasn’t doing very well for me now. Her home was always so nice and clean, not to mention smelling of cinnamon. I found myself envying her, but also being extremely happy for her at the same time.

The woman came bouncing into the room, her boots high up her calves and coat that seemed to hug her figure nicely. “Are you ready?” She asked, the sound of her keys jingling from her pocket. I gave her a quick nod, pushing off of the chair and stuffing my feet inside my boots.

I’ll just have to stop comparing myself to her and just enjoy being her friend.

The thoughts of living in her shadow were just not true.

The diner was a little bit of a distance away from her place, and by the time we made it, I felt even hungrier. It wasn’t very busy, which was surprising since it was a weekend. There was a booth near the back that I immediately claimed the moment we walked in, plopping down into the seat. A few of the patrons looked at me with curiosity, but it was quickly lost when they became more focused with their meal. Not a lot of people judge in here, which is nice. Everyone is just more focused on eating.

Marielle took the booth in front of me, sitting down much more calmly than I did. She pulled out her phone, surveying a message with furrowed brows.

“Hey Ashie, have you…”

Before she could say anything, a loud and boisterous voice sounded from the front of the building. I glanced up to see a tuft of red hair jogging in our direction. Now, the other people around seemed to roll their eyes and glare as Saeyoung announced his arrival. Similar to how he always did. He gave a little swirl, sliding down onto his knees and taking my hand. Bringing it to his lips, he kissed the back of it with a small smirk.

“My, my… aren’t you a beautiful young lady. What, may I ask, is your name? If I do have the pleasure of knowing such a glorious word?”

Marielle giggled loudly front her seat, still not used to Sae’s strange antics.

I decided to play along, acting as if I was flustered with the back of my opposite hand to my face.

“Oh, gosh, I… I’ve never been approached like this before. My heart is pounding,” I cooed along, hearing Marielle laughing louder, “But I guess you’re cute enough to know my name. It’s Ashley.”

“Ashley? That’s such a coincidence. I have a beautiful best friend whose name is also Ashley. But… her eyes are not as beautiful as yours.”

“Okay, now you’re pushing it, Sae.”

My tone was stale as I quickly pulled my hand away from his grasp.

The man smirked, laughing while he pushed himself onto his feet. With a wink, he squeezed his way beside me on my side of the booth. I scooted over, rolling my eyes as he motioned a finger gun in Marielle’s direction. “What are you two lovely ladies doing?” He asked, placing an arm behind me on the seat. The two of us rolled our eyes once more in unison.

This was normal Saeyoung behavior.

I remember all the times that it took to get used to his humor.

The embarrassing outbursts in public that seemed to bring too much attention to us. Now, it seemed like a normal thing. I was no longer embarrassed by it. I had fun with it myself, and it usually helped cheer me up. Which, today, I really needed that. Saeyoung always seemed to know just how to make me laugh and feel better.

“Just chatting,” Marielle said, “I was about to ask her about this weird message I got on my phone.”

She pointed the screen in our direction, the blinking message similar to the one I’d seen earlier on my computer.

I took the item from her hands, reading the similar dare description. The two options for playing or observing flashing on the screen, as well as a warning label at the bottom. Something about only being in the game until a dare is completed. That’s how they decide who wins, I started to assume. This all seemed even stranger now that I saw other people were getting the message. It was either some global virus, or it was a real thing.

Saeyoung took the phone from my hands, eyes growing wide.

“I’ve heard about this!” He exclaimed.

“You have?”

“Yeah, it’s all over the internet. Well, the deep parts of the internet, but that’s beside the point.”

“Okay, but what is it, Sae?” I asked.

He pursed his lips, shutting up as soon as the waitress came by to take our orders.

Everyone at the table ordered their usual, with Sae getting the most food out of all of us. That wasn’t a surprise. Once the woman walked off, he threw up his hoodie, a flicker seeming to glow through the lens of his glasses. It happened all too fast before I could make a joke about it.

“Similar to truth or dare, this game limits the option to only dares. Each dare is made by the public, all with a specific cash prize. The more cash and dares you win, the more fans you gain. At the end of the game, the top two are chosen for a showdown. The winner gains ultimate bragging rights between peers, as well as fame,” Saeyoung said in a deep, menacing voice.

Within seconds, he returned to his normal demeanor, throwing the hoodie off his head.

“At least, that’s what I read online,” He said, sipping on the Dr. Pepper the waitress brought.

Marielle and I blinked, looking at him and then between the two of us.

This game sounded strange. I’d never heard of anything like it before. It sounded extremely dangerous as well, especially if Sae heard about it on the deep web. That sounded scary in itself. I almost couldn’t believe that it was real. Things like this don’t just happen unless it has some kind of catch. Like ultimate humiliation of something like that. Maybe it was an elaborate prank by some stupid YouTuber. That usually happens in the big city.

“Has it ever been done before?” I asked.

Saeyoung shrugged his shoulders, “I’ve heard rumors of it happening in a town not too far away from here. But those are just rumors. It’s hard to tell for sure, anyway, given that this game is top secret. Nothing is traceable and it’s all anonymous. There’s some kind of rule that you can’t talk about it either.”

“That’s so weird.”

Marielle took her phone back, glancing at the screen a little harder.

“Apparently, you can observe which costs money.”

“I have to admit,” Sae said, “I’m kind of curious. Even though, it sounds way too suspicious.”

“Coming from a hacker that says a lot.”

He nodded along with my words, sucking down the rest of his soda in one long gulp. I rolled my eyes, watching him flag down our waitress for a refill. This was a normal thing for Sae, given that he had an obsession for this drink. I didn’t judge him, though, given that I did as well. One of the things that we had in common and that honestly brought us closer together.

I took out my phone, seeing that the same options were appearing on my screen.

I had to agree with Saeyoung that it sounded interesting. I would probably never try it, but it was still a weird concept. There was a strange pull that it had on me, a voice in my head egging me on. Telling me that I could use some excitement after today.

Saeyoung seemed to see my curious eyes, leaning down close until his nose touched my cheek. I would have yelped and jumped if I wasn’t used to it by now. His breath tickled my skin as he whispered softly.

“So… tell me, dear sweet Ashley,” He said, “Are you a player or an observer?”