#i would look dead in the eye to a teacher explaining something and not hear a word about what they were saying

[isadibus]

I was trying to organise my bedroom when I found an old notebook where I wrote one of the most ADHD and daydream things I ever read, and I think I didn't knew what these words meant when I wrote it.

It says:

"Sometimes I think I have a curse and a blessing at the same time.

I will focus on something so deeply that I forget everything around me, I forget about myself or others, I can be looking at something and don't see anything; only the thing I'm focusing about exists.

It can be a video, a project, draw or even just thinking of an idea.

That's untill something brings me back suddenly to reality.

And lately, I feel reality more and more disgusting.

So sometimes, I try to stay out longer.

It's a problem, don't you think?"

I be getting a little too much poetic when I am sad

[colonelarr0w]

singledad! nanami having the hots for yuji’s kindergarten teacher who has the tendency to overwork herself to the bone in the name of her precious students

he gets her to unwind with him 🫣 they fuck LMAOOOLLL

Sypnosis - Read above request.

Pairing - !SingleDad Nanami x !Kindergarten Teacher Reader

Warning(s) - None besides some foul language.

Word Count - 2.6k

A/N - Hi, yes, okay, I know the request had a smut element to it, but I took a fluffy route. If you want a part two that has that smut element or an alternate version that focuses on that smut element, please send me a request and I will get to it as quickly as I can! But I hope you enjoy reading this just as much as I enjoyed writing it!

! PIECE BEGINS UNDERNEATH THE CUT !

ENCOUNTER 1 : 

“There! He’s over there!” Yuuji says happily, his grip over your hand tightening as he points to a blonde-haired man standing in the crowd of awaiting parents. You follow his gaze, smiling kindly as the man lifts his hand in a wave, grinning at both you and Yuuji.  

“Alright, off you go then,” you smile down at Yuuji, releasing his hand and watching as the six-year-old toddles over to his father, wrapping his arms around the taller man’s leg and smiling widely up at him. His father stands straight, waving once more to you before vanishing into the crowd. 

ENCOUNTER 2 : 

"Mr. Nanami, correct?" You cast a glance down at your clipboard before your gaze returns to the blonde male standing in front of you. He nods, smiling apologetically as Yuuji tugs once again on his arm, trying his hardest to get his father's attention. "You can both come inside." 

Nanami smiles again as he walks past you, taking a seat on the too-small chairs that you had set up in the center of the classroom. His knees curl up to his chest, but he says nothing as you sit in front of him, smiling first at Yuuji before your gaze shifts to settle on him.  

"Yuuji is an absolute pleasure to have in class. He's very helpful with others and myself, he focuses on each task he's given – he's a very gifted student," you explain, lifting up the pages on your clipboard and smiling as Yuuji's toothy grin widens, gleeful with the praise you were giving him.  

"Is that so? I'm very glad to hear that," Nanami nods, turning then to Yuuji and placing a palm over the top of his head. The six-year-old giggles, leaning into his father's touch with a closed-eye smile.  

You watch the interaction with a gentle smile of your own, fingers releasing their hold on the papers of your clipboard and listening as they quietly fall into place.  

ENCOUNTER 3 : 

"Papa, look! It's Miss (Y/N)," Yuuji bubbles happily, tugging on Nanami's pant leg and pointing in the direction that he had seen you. Curious, Nanami allows his gaze to follow Yuuji's finger – the scolding he wanted to give about pointing falling dead in his throat.  

You're preoccupied with whatever shopping list is curled between your fingers, lips pressed firmly together in thought as you struggle to decide which brand of potato chips to buy. Nanami can't help but silently admire you from his place farther down the same aisle. His lips tug upward in a soft smile – maybe one day he would have enough courage to stride up to you. 

ENCOUNTER 4 : 

"Oh, hello. Did Yuuji forget something at home?" you inquire curiously, raising an eyebrow as a very disheveled Nanami straightens himself out in front of you. His fingers fiddle with his tie, trying to make it look a touch more presentable – but to no avail.  

"I apologize for my appearance, this morning has been hectic. But yes, Yuuji accidentally left his lunchbox," Nanami answers, holding up the small metal lunchbox decorated with superhero stickers – some scratched and some brand new.  

You smile gently at him, reaching out to take the lunchbox from his fingers. "Don't worry, we all have those mornings," you say reassuringly, chuckling gently at Nanami. He returns your smile, cheeks warming at the lingering feeling that your fingers had left behind.  

ENCOUNTER 5 :  

"Hey, isn't that Yuuji's teacher?" Gojo asks, lifting his index finger to point across the bar. Nanami's eyes follow Gojo's finger – which then widen at the sight of you mingling with a few friends, nursing a fruity cocktail in your hand.  

Nanami hums in response, trying his hardest to return his attention to his drink, but your outfit is much too tight, pushing up exactly what needs to be pushed up and making your figure just that much more attractive. Behind his eyeglasses, his gaze roams up and down the dips and curves of your body, his lips quirking up in tune with his wandering eyes.  

"Yeah, it is," he mutters offhandedly, lifting his glass to his lips and resting it against the skin there. Gojo smirks, lowering his finger before standing from his place at the bar. Nanami's eyebrows pinch together in curiosity, watching the snowy-haired male swagger his way across the bar – not stopping until he reaches where you stand with your friends, then throwing a slender arm over your shoulders.  

The once loose grip Nanami had over his glass is replaced by a tight curl of his fingers, one that could surely shatter the glass should he apply the right amount of pressure. His eyes narrow in an almost predatory manner – watching as Gojo smiles at both you and the friends that had come along with you.  

You return his smile and laugh at the cheesy jokes that he throws your way, but Nanami can see the hint of discomfort that lies behind the curl of your lips. Oh, so that was Gojo's plan. 

Downing the rest of the whiskey in his glass, Nanami stands from his place at the bar, striding across the small space until he stands just a few inches away from you, your friends, and Gojo – the latter of whom is wearing that shit-eating grin he always wears when his plans work out just the way that he wanted them to.  

"Oh! Mr. Nanami! I didn't expect to see you out here," you say, turning quickly to glance at the blonde as he wanders into your line of vision. Your smile, once uncomfortable and forced, was now that same smile that you flashed at him when you noticed him at dismissal. "It's nice to see you." 

Nanami's cheeks heat, and he silently thanks the bar for being so dim, its lighting hiding the gentle pink hue that imbues over his face. "It's nice to see you as well Miss (Y/N)," Nanami nods at you, feeling himself smile as you shift an inch closer to him.  

"Oh, would you like to join me at the bar? Your friends can as well, if they'd like," Nanami offers, shooting Gojo a pointed glare. Gojo only smirks, shrugging his shoulders indifferently. That bastard. 

You glance to your friend, who nods encouragingly at you. You turn back to Nanami, smiling at his offer and reaching a hand out to squeeze his arm – your touch lights a small fire underneath his skin, one that he most certainly does not complain about.  

"We'd love to, thank you." 

ENCOUNTER 6 : 

"Where's your father Yuuji?" Your voice is a quiet mumble, your fingers still closed around Yuuji's as the both of your gazes sift through the crowd of awaiting parents – and yet Nanami is nowhere to be seen. The pink-haired boy sinks back onto his heels, a saddened look falling over his face as he leans into your side.  

"I don't know," he mumbles in response, his eyes already glossing over with tears. You soften, kneeling down to be at eye-level with the boy and smiling as reassuringly as you can at him. "Did he forget me?" 

You shake your head quickly, squeezing the tiny hand that still rests in yours. Yuuji sniffles, his cheeks puffing out in an adorable pout. "No! No honey, your father did not forget you. It could just be that work is keeping him a little later." 

Seemingly satisfied with your explanation, Yuuji nods, rubbing his free hand against his tear-filled eyes, sniffling. You smile again, squeezing his fingers before guiding him back to the entrance of your classroom.  

He follows, sitting down at his seat and taking the coloring sheets and colored pencils that you offer him, already scribbling away at the black-and-white monkey that laid in front of him. You take the seat at his left, feeling your heart warm as Yuuji tilts the sheet towards you – a silent invite for you to color with him.  

You take one of the colored pencils that he offers you, coloring in a small section of the page and occasionally looking up to your classroom door – where the hell was Nanami?  

"Wait here for a moment Yuuji, I'm going to call your father, okay?" You lift a hand to ruffle the boy's hair, smiling at him before silently moving towards the chorded phone tucked into the corner of your classroom, located just behind your desk.  

Just as you finish dialing in the now familiar number, the door to your classroom opens, revealing a disheveled Nanami. He leans quietly against the doorframe for a moment, catching his breath before Yuuji turns, smiling widely at the sight of his father.  

"Papa!" 

You turn from where you stand beside the phone, smiling in relief as you watch Yuuji bound up to Nanami, wrapping his little arms halfway around his father's legs.  

"There you are. I have to admit, I was getting a little worried about you," you admit with a smile, waving to Nanami as you walk closer to the pair, watching through softened eyes as Yuuji reaches for his completed coloring page, wanting to show his father.  

"I apologize for my lateness. I had not expected my office to keep me as late as they did," Nanami apologizes, bowing his head at you. You wave him off, then folding your fingers together in front of you.  

"It's not an issue at all. Though you did give Yuuji quite the scare," you admit, not failing to notice the way that Nanami's smile fades for a quick moment, but returns when Yuuji lifts his coloring page up to him.  

"Oh," he hums, turning to Yuuji and laying a palm against the youngster's head, lovingly ruffling his hair. "I apologize Yuuji, I didn’t mean to frighten you." 

"It's okay Papa! Miss (Y/N) and I colored together!" Yuuji bubbles, his eyes crinkling in a wide smile as his eyes momentarily flicker to you. "See? I made this one look like you." 

Nanami smiles fondly, then turning to you and once again mouthing his thanks. You merely wave him off, watching with a smile of your own as Yuuji continues to explain each little character that he had colored in.  

ENCOUNTER 7 : 

"Good morning Miss (Y/N)!" Yuuji exclaims happily, smiling brightly up at you as Nanami leads him forward, releasing the little boy's hand as he tugs his father towards you.  

Biting back the yawn that rises in your throat, you will yourself to smile back at your student, waving politely at him and watching through half-lidded eyes as he lets go of Nanami's hand. He opens his mouth to question you, but is immediately distracted by the call of one of his friends.  

"Good morning Miss (Y/L/N)," Nanami bows politely at you, one that you return clumsily. His eyebrows pinch together in a mixture of curiosity and concern – you weren't acting like your regular self. Your once bubbly attitude and bright greetings were replaced now by half-assed "good morning's" and small waves that carried none of your usual warmth.  

"Morning Mr. Nanami," you return, your smile wobbling as your eyes flicker to meet his own. It's then that he notices the exhaustion that weighs heavy on your eyelids, practically tugging them down to a point where you look as though you're about to fall asleep standing upright.  

"Are you feeling alright this morning?" 

"Oh yes, just tired is all," you wave off his concern, smiling once again at him before a comfortable yet uncomfortable silence falls over the both of you. "I'll be seeing you later?" 

"Yes, have a good day," Nanami smiles at you, his heart warming when you return it – though it doesn't quite reach your eyes that way that it would normally. You wave again at him as he walks off, then turning to your awaiting students and clapping your hands once together.  

ENCOUNTER 8 : 

"Oh! Miss (Y/N)! My papa wanted to talk to you after school today," Yuuji mentions to you, smiling as he glances up from the worksheet that he had been previously occupied with. Your eyebrows pinch together in intrigue, glancing down at the pink-haired boy and tilting your head at him.   

"Alright then, I'll be waiting for him," you reply with a kind smile, then continuing your routine check on the rest of your students, being sure that none of them were struggling with the work that you had handed out.  

< … > 

"Yuuji mentioned that you wanted to speak with me?"  

Nanami swallows the growing lump in his throat, suddenly feeling oddly choked up as you stand in front of him, lifting his hand to scratch at the back of his neck. His shirt feels tighter than before, the air surrounding him is suddenly hotter than it had been previously.  

"Yes – uhm – my apologies if I am taking up your time," Nanami begins, fiddling with his fingers and scratching at already existing hangnails, "but there is something that I wanted to ask of you." 

You smile kindly at him, a gentle laugh falling from your parted lips – a sound that Nanami wishes that he could commit to the very depths of his memory.  

"You're not wasting my time at all," you're quick to reassure him, your gaze momentarily flickering to Yuuji as he takes advantage of the empty classroom, organizing the books in your small-shelved library.  

Nanami inhales deeply, holding the breath in his chest and wondering if what he was about to ask would make you view him in a different light – though he sincerely hoped that you wouldn't.  

"I was wondering...and forgive me if this is too forward...if you would like to join me for coffee sometime this weekend?" His voice is dangerously quiet, a light shake to his voice as the fear of being rejected finally sinks into his bones – maybe he shouldn’t have said anything at all.  

Your laughter dies down, fading completely as you stare at Nanami – you certainly hadn't expected him to ask you that.  

Just as Nanami opens his mouth to apologize again, you cut him off.  

"I'd love to." 

With cheeks dusted pink and a smile that could only be compared to a lovesick fool, Nanami glances up at you, feeling his chest warm at the sight of your dimpled cheeks and crinkled eyes.  

< ... > 

"So that's how you and Papa fell in love?" Yuuji tilts his head curiously, biting back his yawn as he nestles further into his comforters. You smile gently at him, reaching a hand out to affectionately ruffle his hair, threading your fingers through his pink locks.  

"That's exactly how Papa and I fell in love. He took me for coffee that very weekend, and the rest is history," you recall with a lovesick smile plastered onto your face. Yuuji smiles sleepily, a sight that you mentally commit to memory.  

"I'm happy you and Papa met," Yuuji whispers adorably, yawning again before his heavy eyes finally flutter shut, exhaustion taking over him. You smile again, leaning forward to place a gentle kiss against his forehead before you stand from his bed. 

You turn your head, jumping at the sight of Nanami standing in the doorframe to Yuuji's bedroom, leaning against it with crossed arms and a gentle smile on his face. "How long were you there for?" Your voice is almost accusatory as you walk into your husband's arms, resting your own around his neck and tracing your fingernails along his nape.  

"Long enough to hear you retell that story for – what – the eighty-fifth time?" Nanami perks an eyebrow at you, leaning down to slot his lips against yours. You hum against his mouth, tugging him a bit closer and biting playfully at his bottom lip.  

He pulls away after a moment, the tip of his nose affectionately brushing against your own, his large hands squeezing playfully at your waist.  

"And every time I tell it, you hang off of my every word, don't you?"  

Nanami smiles, his lips ghosting over your own as he tugs you impossibly closer, your chest pressed flush against his own.  

"That I do." 

[rey-129-fan]

Gotham-Amity Co-op AU Part 3

Part 1 | Previous | Next

“Hola beauties, and welcome back to Fashionable History, I’m Paulina,”

“And I’m Star, and on this channel, we teach you how to be at the height of fashion, no matter what time period you find yourself in.”

“Now for our long-time viewers who missed our community posts, you might be wondering about the change in location.  Well, we are moving up in the world.  That’s right, fam, we are officially-

“College girlies!” The two shouted into the camera.

“Ah, such a big step,” ‘Star’ sighed.

“Indeed it is.  And to celebrate, let us dress up like we’re going to meet the queen of fashion herself: Marie Antoinette!”

***

“So you would think it would be hard to demonstrate Amity Park’s weirdness while no longer living there, but you would be wrong,” a black man said into the camera while walking down a hallway, his glasses fallen ever so slightly down his nose.  There were voices in the background progressively getting louder.  “You see, Danny’s mentor popped by this morning, and apparently, he decided that the perfect way to tutor Danny and piss off his bosses at the same time was to allow a bunch of college kids to summon a historical figure of their choosing to discuss their area of expertise.  Once a week.

“Jazz got to go first.”

The black man stopped in a doorway.  Much clearer in the background was a woman’s even voice.  “And Jazz, being the future psychologist that she is, picked the most sex-obsessed man in history.”

The camera flipped to show a young red-head sitting across an older man with a white beard in a blue three piece suit.  In the background was a younger man, his blue eyes glazed over as he sat there sipping from his mug, his head of black hair bobbing as he fought to stay awake.  Really, it wouldn’t gather a second glance, except for the tiny detail that the older man’s skin was as green as a sunburnt person’s was red.

“-indeed homosexuality is not an illness, and in fact the only link between it and mental health has been observed to be caused by familial and community reactions.”

“That is good to hear.  Indeed, many people throughout history were homosexual, and a lot of them did not show any other signs of mental illnesses.”

“It is.  However, with the recent pushes for public acceptance of those not heterosexual, many have come forward with sexual orientations beyond just hetero and homosexuality, including those that are attracted to both men and women at the same time, as well as those who experience no sexual attraction or are completely repulsed by the idea of anything sexual.”

The camera flipped back to the first man.  “She is explaining how psychology has developed in the last 100 years without trying to rip apart Freud’s work.

“This isn’t even the first time something like this has happened.  Occasionally, we’d get guest speakers that would turn out to be some famous author or pioneer in their field.  It’s how our English teacher got his copy of the Tempest signed by the original author.  I think this might be the first one that won’t end in a raid by government idiots in white, though.

“So yeah, we occasionally get to talk to dead celebrities and don’t bat an eye at it.  Amity Park is very weird.”

***

“Danny!  You left your cups in the sink again!”

“How can you tell it’s mine?”

“They’re glowing green and you’re the only one that drinks ectoplasm!  Now take care of them before you bring the food to life again!”

“Fine…”

The camera pans over to a goth woman giving the camera a flat look.  On screen, there’s some text that reads: ‘When your boyfriend forgets to clean off his dishes after his mildly radioactive smoothies.’

***

“Urgh!” Just die you stupid, lazy skeleton!”

“How long is this attack going to be!”

“I don’t care, because when it’s finally my turn, I am going to stab the dust out of this depressed sack of bones!”

On screen was a couch, and on that couch sat 3 young adults, two women and one man.  One of the women was Valarie Gray, US National Taekwondo Silver Medalist, was jabbing her thumb down on the d-pad of her controller, lips pulled back in a snarl.  The other was Samantha Manson, more known for the TikTok channel Our Strange Lives.  The man was a muscular blond.  All three were focusing on the screen, their eyes emitting faint light and Valarie’s teeth seemed to be getting sharper.

Quietly a blond woman walked on screen, a backpack slung over her shoulder.  The woman was Star Strong from Fashionable History.

“You guys are still streaming?”

“This boss is stupid difficult and Manson and Gray are the only ones willing to play.”

“What happened to the guys?”

“Fowley, Wes, Singh all had work.  Fenton got to the first boss and then lost it because ‘Goat Mom just wanted to protect us’ before getting a call from his lil sis asking for help.  Kwan is working on a lab with a guy from his chem class, and Kyle passed out a couple hours ago.”

“Stop dodging!”

“Wanna play?”

“Can’t.  Going to the library to study for a calc exam I have coming up.  See you guys later.”

“Later.”

“FUC-”

***

“And so, with this polaroid image, we have evidence to prove that-”

“Hey, Wes, do you have something I can use for a collage?  Oh sweet, thanks bro!”

“What?  No!  Kyle!  Get back with that! That was the proof I was going to use to prove the existence of Yetis!”

“Oh damn.  This is some nice creature work!  Danny, your friend has an incredible costume, man!”

“Thanks, Kyle!  I’ll pass it on!”

***

Tim paused the video right as Wesley Weston stood to chase his older brother.

There.

The red-head’s eyes had a slight glow to them.  Tim clicked over to the other images he had gathered of the Amity Park teens, all with their eyes glowing or other signs of something inhuman.

Tim had been introduced to this group by Stephanie when she found a martial arts demonstration Gray did that involved breaking multiple boards, all several feet above her head.  Stephanie had meant it as a ‘check out his cool person doing what we’re doing,’ but Tim noticed something.  All the boards were being held by seemingly the same person- or at least people dressed very similarly.  And not in a way where they’re sitting on a ledge above Gray and are switching out the board each time she broke one.  More that there were multiple companies of the same white glove all holding a board and all floating several feet above where they should have been.  That was already a little weird, but it could’ve been some special effects or just a uniform.

No, what caught Tim’s attention was the quick glimpse of the face of one of the board holders.  It was youthful- late teens- but with paper white hair that showed no signs of bleaching.  Now these features would have been a thing to cement the mysterious person in Tim’s mind.  But it wasn’t that.

No, what got Tim to do some digging to find out about a previously unknown supposed hero from a small town that has been blacked-out by the US government, was his eyes.

His calm, glowing Lazarus green eyes.

***

So we finally get a taste for the shenanigans our liminals are up to. Sam, Tucker, and Danny all share a TikTok where they show off how weird the other two are and how weird their town is. Wes is trying to prove cryptids exist, which Kyle ruins. Dash has a gaming stream that most often Kwan joins in on, and Paulina and Star do dress history. Oh, and Valarie is a national taekwondo because karate has only been an event for one Olympic games, but taekwondo has been an event since 2000 and Val seems more like a kicker than a thrower. Plus, I actually took taekwondo when I was younger.

We do get another Bat showing up at the end. There is absolutely no plot, however, so who knows where this is going. Certainly not me!

I'm still looking for names (please, I need them). As for majors:

Jazz-Psych (obviously)

Kyle- Liberal Arts (I wanna put him in accounting, but Liberal Arts works for now)

Tuck- Comp Sci

Danny- Poly Sci, minor in Astronomy

Sam- Double Poly Sci and Environmental Science

Val- Criminal Justice

Dash- Undecided (both me and him)

Kwan- Pre-Med for now, though he wants to do Child Development/Education

Paulina- Fashion Marketing

Star- Sports Science

Mikey- Music

Wes- Journalism

[gaypirate420]

Stars // Jasper W. Hale.

Jasper Whitlock-Hale x gn!reader.

Summary: You're bored in class and doodle on Jasper's arm.

Fluff. Jasper's Battle Scars.

A yawn scaped your lips as you stared down at your teacher as she gives a lecture that is not registering on your mind at all. She's talking something about the history of Forks, you don't care, she's boring and it's making you sleepy.

You stared down at your notes, empty except for today's date, your eyes travel to your right to find Jasper actually paying attention and writing down what he finds useful.

"Isn't that a bit useless?" You whisper to him, Jasper's eyes meet yours and he smirks, he raised an eyebrow.

"Writing down notes for history, I mean, I don't think you need notes, you where there." You explained, whispering very low the last part, Jasper lean over closer to you.

"I don't, but you need them, darlin'." He whispered back with a small smile. You smiled and felt your cheeks warming up after hearing the nickname. Your hand went up to his messy hair and brush it down with your fingers, he smiled at your action and let you be.

He quickly stealed a kiss off your cheek and kept paying attention to the class as if nothing happened while you felt your cheeks burning.

Jasper saw how your attention went to anything but the class, you took your pencil case that's full of scrunched up post its and colorful pens and started doodling on your notebook.

Jasper doesn't mind helping you, he gets to spend more time with you and you get a handsome vampire tutor to explain you what you missed over and over if necessary and never gets angry.

The vampire looks back at the teacher, as he hears your pen moving all around the page.

He feels you lifting the sleeves of his sweater and cursing under your breath when you found his dress shirt.

"So many layers, can't even get cold." You murmur teasinly, if it wasn't from his increased hearing he would miss little things like this. Jasper smirks and continues to write before he feels the pen against his marble skin.

He stayed still for a second, his eyes moved to look at you.

You can't see them, his scars, not all of them. But the ones you do seem to be treated with extreme care as you started doodling on his pale arm.

They don't itch, they don't hurt, but, for him, it felt so nice, so important.

Jasper felt flustered, almost like his dead hearth skipped a beat at the sight of the tender scene.

You drew stars, it felt right. You smiled widely as you keep adding more and more, along with little hearts and even a flower on his forearm.

"Do you like your tattoos?" You whispered with the cutest smile he's ever seen. Jasper nodded.

"You're very talented, pumpkin." He could feel your heart skipping and of course your emotions going wild. He smiles as your happiness rub off on him.

"Now you do mine." You offered your pen to him, Jasper looked back at the teacher who spoke nonsense by now, he could make the teacher look like fool on another day for now he smiles and picks up the pen.

His icy cold fingers gently grabbed your arm, bringing it closer to him, you felt a shiver down your body at the sensation.

Your felt the tingly sensation of the pen against your arms, making you giggle silently.

Jasper drew flowers, some skulls that matched your wristband and of course, stars. Your eyes admired him, his blonde hair falling on his face and his furrowed eyebrows showing the absolute dedication to this task.

"There, sugar." He spoke gently, you looked at your arm and grabbed his hand. You saw his wrist and with your free hand you passed two of your bracelets from your wrist to his.

Jasper smiled again, it's odd for him to doing that so many times on so little time, he's getting giddy in the best way possible.

"Now we match." You spoke with an excited whisper. Jasper nodded, your eyes went wide with an idea.

"We should wear matching outfits one day." You smiled wider at the thought. The vampire nodded in agreement.

"That's a great idea, dear." His golden eyes looked at you before he leaned and kissed your lips.

"Mister Hale." The teacher called his name and he pulled away from you, your cheeks were burning again and you looked at the floor in embarrassment.

"I'm sorry, Miss." Jasper spoke with a victorious smirk as the teacher's frown disappears and turns into a smile, and of course the rest of the class magically turning their heads from you and Jasper.

"Don't worry about it." The teacher spoke with a following chuckle before returning to give her lecture. You giggle softly and shaked your head in mocking disapproval.

Jasper steals another quick peek on your lips before focusing back to writing notes for you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N: Little fluffy one shot for y'all, I'm working on the requests do not worry. Hope you like it!

[pbnbucks]

Kate x Reader!

Strangers, Friends, Lovers, Strangers Again.

word count : 1733

warnings : sad, non happy ending, cursing, crying, toxic relationship, cheating

summary : basically the title, you and kate met when it was your 3rd year and her 6th… once kate was drafted your relationship completely fell apart

From Strangers…

flashback:

after a long day you’re finally walking up the stairs to the top floor to get to your dorm and when you think your day can get any worse you feel a sharp hit in your shoulder, you turn your body to face a Tall, Blonde Woman. “watch where your going asshole” she rolls your eyes at you and you can tell bye her body language you just pissed her off even more then she already was “me watch out? your the one who bumped into me so cry me a river and get over it im not in the mood to deal with this shit right now” theres no way she just said that “are you serious? your mad cause you couldn’t watch where your going? get over yourself and just watch where your going next time” you turn around and walk away hearing her mumble something under her breath. when you thought your night couldn’t get any worse it just did.

To Friends…

flashback:

your close friend has recently been complaining about you being distance and lonely which you didn’t mind but she wanted to see you, so she invited you to the bar with her. “so whats been going on recently you’ve been so distant” and she was right honestly, you have been so busy with school recently to notice that you’re taking her for granted, she is a great friend and you wish you have reached out more. “i know i know school has just been so busy and my annoying family sciences teacher has been so annoying and trying to fail me i’ve distanced myself from everyone.” you where trying to explain yourself but she just kept looking behind you “what?” you say trying to grab your attention “theres a tall blonde staring at you. change of words, you want to tell me who’s made you distant recently?” you shift your body around in you seat to look at who she was talking about and to your luck she was talking about the girl in the hallway from 2 weeks ago… “oh my gosh.. she walked right into me about 2 weeks ago and she had a terrible attitude as if it wasn’t her fault, i actually cursed her out when it happened shes probably still pissed.” she she just looked at you stupid “you know shes on the basketball team right? thats Kate Martin dude, she would probably beat your ass to be honest…” you immediately get offended and quickly back yourself up “come on now i would fuck her up easily, she stands no chance” she just smiles and nods at you comment “well why don’t you tell her that yourself she walking up to you.” your heart drops as you look back to Kate walking towards you just to look back to see your friend ditching you and walking to the bathrooms looking back at you just to laugh at you. you quickly try to get up just to be stopped by Kate in front of you not letting you leave. “look if you just here to complain-” she rolls her eyes at you “can you quit acting like your better then me for a second and hear me out?” you want to argue but just decide to cross your arms and let her talk. “look i just wanted to apologize for what happened and apologize for you bumping into me.” theres no way she could be serious. your whole face expression changes and she smirks knowing she had a impact on your emotions, she knows what shes doing. “so your telling me you came over to me just to state that it was my fault. your the most immature person i’ve ever met, now if you would move out my way so i can go back to my friend that would be lovely.” except she doesn’t move, nor does she remove her famous smirk from her face. “calm down im just messing with you. actually i was telling my friends about it and they where telling me i should get your number.” at first you thought she was joking but she was dead serious as she points to her friend group, you look over her tall frame to see a tall brunette, 2 tall light skins, one with pretty eyes and the other with a low slick back bun, and a bunch of other tall blondes. you debate on giving her number but eventually give in. “now when i text you, you better text me back, i know where you live.” you laugh at her statement watching her walk away staring at her for a moment to turn back to see your friend walking back. “so how’d it go?” “you wont believe it” you turn around to look at her and you see her, and the group of girls your with staring at you and your friend then turn there heads to quickly look away “so first she…”

Friends Into Lovers….

flashback:

Kate💙 6:43

can you come over? i

want to talk to you. you

yea of course! omw.

Kate💙

text me when your

outside.

you

i will im about

5 mins away.

read 6:45

you aren’t confused or concerned because this isn’t a un normal thing with Kate. she often asks you to come over to either watch movies, help with homework, or just because shes bored and wants to see her best friend.

kate’s POV:

“caitlin what if she says no and gets weirded out” i look at my room to see the poster i made on my bed filled with pictures of me and my best friend throughout the 3 months surrounding the big red words saying ‘will you be my girlfriend?’ my hearts pounding thinking about the worst thing she can say. “Kate shes not going to say no you guys already act like a married couple there is no way in a million years she would say no.”

Y/N 👅❤️

im walking up the stairs

right now. kate💙

alright my doors unlocked

sent 6:58

“caitlin shes here i have to hangout up.” “alright Kate just remember she will say yes just be confident.” i say bye as i hang up on her.

your POV:

you open her door to see her pacing around her dorm. “Kate are you okay? what happened?” the looks at you shaking and you can see that shes obviously nervous about something “i need to show you something.” she says quietly. “okay?” you follow behind her trying to hope that she will return back to her normal self. she opens her bedroom door to a big poster with pictures and words on it that you cant quite make out but as soon as you get closer she grabs it and holds it up so you can see. in bright red words it reads ‘will you be my girlfriend?’ you stand there in shock with your mouth open not knowing what to say other then just freaking out because its her. of course you want to be her girlfriend. “so will you?…” a big smile forms onto your face and you burst out laughing. “of course i will Kate oh my gosh your so cute.” she lets go of the breath she didn’t even know she was holding. she walks up to you giving you a big hug not letting go for at least a minute and you pull away to see the board laying down on her bed again, you see multiple pictures that there where surprisingly so many pictures of you together in only the span of 3 months. “oh my gosh i remember that, thats when i suprised you at your opening game of the season. who even took a picture of that?” she started to blush trying to hide her face “i think everyone took a picture of that moment but im pretty sure i used gabbies.” you pull her into a side hug finally feeling whole again now that you finally didn’t have to worry about someone else being her peace.

And Strangers Again.

present:

you woke up to your phone blowing up with 35 messages and calls from friends, family, and Kate. you knew it couldn’t be something good. you open your friends text first

look at your tagged post

on instagram y/n.

okay? whats going on?

just look.

read 1:34

you open instagram to 569 notifications from being tagged in a post followed by Kate and a few of her teammates being tagged in it also. the video started of slow with her teammate Kelsey in a bar talking in the video on a live and then she adjust the camera frame only to see your girlfriend and her teammate aja Wilson in the background of the live kissing on each other with their other teammates surrounding them. you should’ve expected it would happened and part of you did since she was drafted but you didn’t want to believe Kate could ever be like that. you tried to look for a mistake in the video hoping it could be editing or she could just be in a weird position of hugging or anything else, but it was obvious that they where making out in front of 160k people on the live, it was humiliating not only for you hut the entire team as well. as soon as Kelsey saw what she just did she moved them out the camera frame and ended the live. you went to your texts to see 26 missed texts from Kate.

Kate💙

its not what it looked like.

please just text me when

you get this please.

im sorry please just text me.

hello?

sent: 12:15

look baby please just

awnser me i get your

upset but i need

you to awnser.

im so sorry it wasn’t

supposed to happen like

that.

sent 12:34

i know your getting

my text can we just talk.

bro.

sent 12:46

i think its safe to

say that we need to

break up

read 1:43

please just call me

and we can talk it out

you cant be serious.

Kate we are over, your

probably with her right

now so please stop

texting me

Blocked 1:45

you guys where only together for almost 7 months it shouldn’t hurt this much right?

[xxgoblin-dumplingxx]

How about something for a verse we havent had in a while (if you want to of course, otherwise something for Erik?) Uhhhh maybe something for secret!reader jason verse?? Or whatever you have inspiration for :)

This is what I can see in my head so... here we go.

You knew the dance. The steps were simple. They move forward and you move back. If you toe the line and keep your head down, no one looks at you. If you can keep from being perceived, you're safe.

But you see everything.

As soon as you touch an object, you can know what has happened to it or will happen to it. Gloves help. Sleeves help.

But... it's a crime family. They use you to touch things. To know if the glass will break. If a gun will misfire. If a guy will rat them out to the cops.

Keeping your arms around yourself is safest. Rubbing the patches on your denim jacket. The ones you stole laughing with your friends, the sun shining on your face as you ran up the sidewalk. It's not real, the pictures- and as long as you don't look forward; to know what else happens it's okay.

Because what happens later- that... well. If you look too far forward you're dead.

___________________

Pages turned to ash in the flames curling like rose petals. And you fed more pages into the grate one by one, ignoring the brooding man behind you and the smell of cigar smoke.

"You good, kid?"

"Just cleaning house," you answer, not turning. Ignoring the feel of the flames as you picked up the notebooks to tear them apart. Behind you, you could hear him take a seat and rolled your eyes.

"Gettin' late-"

"Figured if I did this earlier Jubilee and Kitty would be down here tryin' to make s'mores on it," you snort. "Didn't really want to have to explain THAT."

"Fair enough," Logan said.

You could feel him sizing you up. And you knew he had... questions. How a professor that was in the same class as Scott and Jean know how to pick locks and hotwire cars? Why's Charles seem to defer to you when it came to things that were 'criminal' in nature? And how the living hell did you become a teacher with a rap sheet? But you don't know if you have the patience to answer right now.

Writing was supposed to be theraputic. To give you a place to get it all out. Storm told you to just write it all out but... it felt too much like having a written confession. Like it was just all laid out for the cops and waiting.

So you fed the last of the pages to the flames and watched them catch. And that was... Somehow more satisfying.

"Love notes?" Logan scoffed, teasing.

"Sure," you shrug, carefully scooping up scraps of paper from the spirals and the metal that wouldn't burn into the wastebasket.

"It's either that or bad poetry-"

"Not really a poem kind of girl, Logan," you tell him, getting to your feet. "Tequilla is good or it isn't- why do I need to 60 words to say it?"

Logan took a drag on his cigar and regarded you, smirking, "Sometimes it's really fucking good tequila."

[tremblingmuse]

could you maybe do Wally Clark with prompt 6 like fluff level 9/10?

xx

Weird Ass Dream

Wally Clark x Reader

Im very much willing to do a pt.2

Two best friends, died a year apart. How tragic.

Just a year after Wally Clark broke his neck, Y/n fell off the roof. It was an accident, she was having a cigarette and tripped.

Now she was dead, sitting in a circle with other ghosts. And next to her deceased best friend.

She wasn’t sure if they were friends anymore really. He won’t even look at her.

“Yeah I wasn’t wearing my good shoes, what can you do?” She shrugged it off when the teacher in shoulder pads asked her how she felt.

Everyone had been looking at her strangely. Only more so when she didn’t seem to mind her death.

“Is something on my face?” She asked.

“No it’s just, you don’t seem to care that you’re dead.” A boy named Charley spoke up.

“Well it was my fault, my only unfinished business is to stop being an idiot.” She laughed to herself dryly. No one else found it funny.

After group Y/n stopped Wally. “Hey! Wally wait up!” He has been ignoring her.

“Oh hey.” He cleared his throat, feeling awkward.

“Look, I know this is weird. But you’re acting like you don’t even know me.” She lightly shoved his shoulder. She always did that when she was trying to get him to listen.

Like really listen.

“And why is everyone looking at me?” She mumbled as everyone walked out the door. Smirks on their faces.

“I kinda told them we dated.” Wally spoke quickly. So much so she almost didn’t hear him.

It took her a moment. That would explain the girl in black’s comments. And the funny look Charley had been giving her all day.

“You what?!” She smacked him in the chest. He retracted in on himself.

“I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to- stop hitting me!”

“Why would you do that? What if there are any cute ghost boys? They won’t want me now!” She whispered.

Wally rolled his eyes.

“They were just asking why I would follow you around all the time and I told them we were fiends but they didn’t believe me.” He explained.

She sighed.

“So you just told them we were dating?” She asked flatly.

“Well I didn’t think it would matter! Then you just had to go and die!”

“This is not my fault! You need to tell them you lied!” She started to walk away.

Wally grabbed her arm. “Y/n, wait.”

She spun around. Looking at him, she realized how stupid it was to be bad at him for something like that. She had her best friend back, she’s already dogging on him.

She hugged him. “Wally, I’m just glad you’re here.”

“Me too. But I was gonna say we could just, fuck with when for a while. This is a great opportunity.” He looked down at her.

She took a moment to think. And realized the genius of his plan.

“Okay, but don’t mess it up.” She pointed at him.

He gave her a look of betrayal. “I won’t mess it up!”

“I will not let you ruin my dream of fake dating.”

“That’s a fucking weird ass dream.”

“Shhhhhhhh.”

[animeshotsh]

Human | Gojo Satoru x GN!Reader

Summary: Gojo finally finds someone who seems him for who he really is

Warnings: Off canon events - Adult!Gojo - Depress!Gojo - Suguru is mentioned - Kind of OP reader -

The first time Gojo hear of a new teacher joining the school he did not really give it much mind.

He was after all the strongest, no one could close to him in fight, not in this era at least.

"Hello, sorry to interrump but could you tell me where Principal's Yaga office is?"

The question itself was not what caught Gojo off guard, it was the fact that he did not sense you. He had to do a double check, no there was curse energy he could see it. It was being well controlled and (he dared to say) supressed. But no one (well someone but that was when he was younger and naive) had manage to get so close to him without him noticing.

"Ah sorry, im (Y/N) the new professor"

And like that you managed to catch his interest.

~☆~☆~☆~☆~☆~

Gojo did follow you around like a puppy, at first it was his curiosity that got the best of him. He was trying to get a hand on you, who were you? You did not came from any clan. Non did your name ring any bells.

Also, what was going on with your technique?

You had explained to him (after a mission that were he decided to tag along) that you could just know and use others techniques. You needed to touch them at least once and that was it, not only did it work on other sorcerers or curses but on curse tools as well.

"As long as it has curse energy I can pretty much just know how to use it. I still get the side effects of them so it kind of sucks"

You were so humble. Gojo had tried there to make you touch him and see if you could use his technique but you had declined much to his confusion.

Why did you not want to use the strongest technique ? Why were you so...different ?

~☆~☆~☆~☆~

Maybe he did read too much into it. But Gojo found your decline (and the rest that followed) charming. Somehow and for some reason you did not want to use him. Not that you went out there getting technique after technique, you had said how you felt bad because of it. Like it felt you were robbing others but also:

"Sorcerers are still peopel, even if I dont like all of them or how much of the society thinks...I cant just see them as weapons"

Then...

You did not see him as the strongest weapon of all time?

~☆~☆~☆~☆~

I took time for Gojo to even accept that he liked you as a friend and even longer to come down to terms that he liked you more than that.

He had closed himself a long time ago, convinced that his only friend was gone (killed by his own hand and later cremated) and that no one would ever see him again.

Not Gojo Satoru the strongest, but him. Gojo Satoru, with no important titles or anything.

But you did.

You remember his favorite sweets, you greeted him like any other collague, you would check on him and ask how he was doing. If missions were too much.

"Its not like I dont think you are not captable of taking them" You have said one afternoon as both of them took a walk around the city "But even you need to rest"

Gojo had tried to hide his fast heart beat and how happy that comment had made him by joking with you, only for you to stop dead in your walk and look at him. Gojo felt like your eyes were pircing his infinity.

"The head ups loves to pick someone strong and use that person like a tool till is rusty and useless. But it does not mean you have to take them, they know you could kill them all if you just wanted to"

It was true, but really Gojo did not know what to do if not take these missions. He knew they overworked him to no end. And did send him on missions a grade two could do. But what was he supposed to do ?

Gojo realized there, he did not know how to be human.

~☆~☆~☆~☆~☆

Gojo had to take weeks to think on what you had said to him. And what it did mean to him at the end.

He ended up doing something he thought he would never do.

He visisted Suguru's grave.

It was strange, Gojo never felt comfortable to come, non did he know what he was supposed to do. Did he just talk? He knew he would get not response so what was the point?

But was there not the same line of thoughts he already had ?

He would not Open to others because he knew the outcome.

He took missions because he knew he was a tool.

He kept a good facade because he could not be seen as nothing but the strongest even if he was dying inside.

But then you came. You who would treat him like a human, you who did got worried when he took too Long on missions. You who saw him as human.

Slowly Gojo had found himself letting you in. His infinity just being able to keep away your physical touch but not your mental one. Not the connection you seemed to craft not the love and care you gave him.

~☆~☆~☆~☆~

Gojo does not cry. Never. But December its a hard month.

Its when missions are its lowest so he gets too much time to think.

And when he thinks he gets screwed.

He was not suprised on the outside when he felt your curse energy at his door, non did he left you see his tears when you offered him to pass the week together since missions were low and non did he let you see his heart shatter and be rebuild when you offered him to pass Christmas together.

No, he did not show it.

But he knew he did not need to do it.

He knew you just knew how he felt without the need of him to tell you anything. That was your greatest gift, the way you made a home for him with you. The comfort you gave him and support. Not caring if others saw it as pointless.

And with that smile of yours.

Gojo thinks he can be just a regular human when he is with you.

[wonderfullyinlovewithlife]

of monsters and men (part i)

kai parker x reader

This work is part of a larger body of work that I am putting together. I'm thinking it will be a five-part story.

Warning: Dark Subject Matter Ahead. This is a serious warning. I am talking Dead Dove, do not eat. The threat of SA is constant throughout work, emotionally fried reader, a Kai Parker that is as canon as it gets. Murder of child (we watch them die). Men abusing women. I CAN NOT HIGHLIGHT THIS ENOUGH THE THREAT OF SA, but it's not kai that's the problem. Blood. Lots of it. Blood everywhere.

Read at your discretion. 

Also, please leave your comments below, I really appreciate them and would love to take requests. Because either you ask for what you want or I'm going to write and you're going to have to deal with it! So love!!

You kept running and running and running until the air you took in burnt your lungs. You couldn’t hear those other boys anymore; you felt they had dropped behind a few miles back, but you couldn’t be sure. They knew this place like the back of their hands, or that’s what they had told you. They had let you run into the woods. 

‘We’ll fucking get you.’ The smaller one had all but screamed as he pressed your head against the window of the truck, trying to shove you back into the car. He pulled you back by your hair then and smashed your face into the corner of the door. The skin on your forehead split, blood spurting out into your left eye. You had turned to spit on him then, right into his open mouth, and hit him in the eye. You felt your index finger connect with his eyeball before you bolted.

As you ran, you couldn’t help but think: Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! What were you thinking when you got into that truck? You should have just walked the 7 miles home. What had you supposed they would want, pulling over in front of you to stop you from walking down the dirt path? A thin branch scratched at your cheek as you continued to run. 

It was almost night now, and it was getting harder to see between the trees. Even as they were spaced out a little. You kept on running. It felt a little safer now. Like you could relax, almost, until it didn’t, you ran past a crumbled stone wall, and you could swear you felt the density of the air change. You were lightheaded suddenly, so sure that someone was watching you. You whipped the blood out of your face.  You got A prickling feeling at the back of your neck, alerting you that you were not alone.

This was what anxiety was for; you suddenly remembered your biology teacher explaining once. That fight or flight would kick in to help you notice all those things that went thump in the dark, like bears and killers and things that sorta lurked around. You hadn’t taken that seriously then. But now you were sure that if you stopped, you were going to be sick all over yourself. Many people would talk about this forest, and you had heard some stories—campfire shit. You tried to reason with yourself as you ran, hoping to keep up your momentum by dismissing this illogical sense of dread. You were alone—all those stories of witches, sabbats, and the devil were just created to keep kids out of the woods. 

But all alone in the forest it was hard to be so dismissive. So practically. You were sure that something was out there. And as it got darker, with each passing step, a strange cold voice, your self-preserving instinct perhaps, declared that you should have stayed in that truck and let them touch you. They would have hurt you, but it would be over. Maybe if you pretended to like it, they would drop you back home afterwards because that’s all you wanted now: home.  

Where was home in the middle of this forest? What was to become of you? There were bears here and poisonous snakes, and you were scared. You were so scared. And of what, you couldn’t even be sure. But you knew it was something out there. The general darkness began to fill up the space between the trees. 

You heard a gunshot go off suddenly. You turned back to look, thinking it was those boys, but tripping over your feet, you twisted your ankle, falling back into what could only be described as a large rabbit hole at the base of a rotting tree. It smelt like putrid fruit—an earthy, wet smell, like iron and salt. You tried to crawl back out, legs first. But something grabbed you. You felt thing figures curl around your arm. 

‘He’s out there.’ The small disembodied voice said. Its hand felt like a child’s. ‘You have to be quiet.’ 

You started to shake. You turned ever so slowly to see what it was. 

Pressing against the makeshift dirt wall was a small girl, not much more than six, covered in what looked like mud and blood.

‘Are you real?’ You whimpered. ‘Is this real? Am I dead?’ 

The little girl shook her head slowly,  tears coming to her eyes. Another gunshot went off. You could hear crows calling as they fluttered above you. You moved back up, right beside her. Worms stuck out of the wall and licked at the back of your arms. Looking back at the hole you fell through, you felt that whoever was out there wouldn’t be able to see you. Or perhaps they would, had they intended to kneel and crane their neck. You pulled your feet close to your chest.

‘Who’s out there?’ You turned to her. You couldn’t make out much about her face, but you did notice how her small hands held onto her stomach like she was cramping. 

‘My brother.’ 

‘Your brother?’ You closed your eyes, your brain short-circuiting,’ Is he trying to kill us?’ You had never heard yourself sound so afraid. 

‘Hm.’ She said.

‘W-why?’

The little girl took in a deep breath, looking down. ‘He’s upset with my mommy.’

‘But, why?’ You asked, frowning at her, trying to make sense of this all. 

‘I don’t understand.’

‘What? What don’t you understand?’

The little girl said nothing, but after a while, you felt her slowly slump into you. Her little hands fell from where she held her stomach, and you noticed the pink of her shirt was stained red with blood. There was a deep gash the size of your palm cutting up into her. How had you not noticed?

‘Hey!’ You shook her little shoulder. ‘Hey! Come on now! Wake up, please!’ You tried to whisper-shout, but her eyes remained shut. You notice then that her trousers are only dark because of the blood. How long had she been hiding here? Her brother had done this to her? You couldn’t understand. But a colder, cooler, more primitive voice took over. The one from before that had you retract your hands from her and shut up.  Stay here. You thought to yourself. If she could hide here long enough to bleed out with a gash like that, then it’s probably a safe place. 

You couldn’t believe it. But knew that crawling out of the hole would not be an option. You pushed yourself to the other side of the hole and decided to wait until sunrise, and then you would go, running out of the hole and to wherever your feet took you. 

[rachelsfav-queer]

Alone

Summary: The one where Wednesday gets… nothing.

Warning: Heavy angst, happy ending, but so much pain before that

It started off just like every other day. Wednesday woke up in her dorm room and went about her morning schedule. But this time, something was off…

It took the seer only a second to realize… Enid’s not here. Now, Wednesday isn’t one to jump straight into a panic, but for the life of her, she absolutely cannot remember any possible reason that her blonde roommate wouldn’t be there.

Enid didn’t give her any heads up, nor were there any messages left on her phone explaining her strange absence.

Now… Wednesday’s panicking.

Wednesday quickly prepares for her day, making sure she’s still presentable while going as fast as she can. Once she’s done, the seer almost throws the door off its hinges as she bursts out of the dorm. Wednesday stomps her way through Nevermore's halls in search of her blonde roommate, her pace even more aggressive than usual. It's a terrifying sight for the other students and spare teachers, even for Wednesday Addams' standards.

Finally, Wednesday spots Bianca. Despite all their differences, the two girls have formed a type of bond with each other. At the very least, Bianca will be willing to help find Enid if she's truly lost somewhere. Wednesday quickly approaches the siren and immediately notes her strange body language.

Eye roll.

Scoff.

Body turned in preparation of a confrontation.

There's something off.

"Barclay, I need your help," Wednesday demands in her signature dead tone, the slightest hint of worry giving away her true feeling of desperation.

"Oh, you need help?" Bianca turns to properly face the seer, "Well, I have to admit, that's a new one. Seriously, me? Help you? Why... would I do that, exactly?"

"Enid wasn't in our dorm this morning, I think she might be missing or in some form of danger."

Once again, Bianca scoffs and rolls her eyes, "Oh yeah, cause you care so much about Enid's safety, right?"

Wednesday feels a flash of rage shoot through her as she takes a threatening step towards the other girl, "What did you just say to me, Barclay?"

The siren raises an eyebrow, "You're kidding, right? You don't have any right to be offended. You're the one that pushed her away with your ego and all the bullshit you put her through."

Wednesday is about to rebut against Bianca’s claims, but is distracted by something in the corner of her eye. The seer turned away from the siren, who scoffed in annoyance at being ignored, but Wednesday was too focused on what she saw to even pretend to care. She walks towards one of the open entrances to the quad… and what she sees drives a rusty metal stake through her heart.

Wednesday can hardly fathom the sight in front of her, it doesn’t make sense. What in the seven circles of hell is Enid doing… kissing Yoko Tanaka? Wednesday is simply frozen in place, her breathing shallow, as she watches the werewolf and vampire sitting on the side of the fountain in the middle of the quad, making out with each other as if they aren’t in plain view of the whole damned school. The raven doesn’t even realize she’s crying until she lets out a huge gasp, alerting all the other students in the quad to her shattered presence, including the two girls who have just broken her heart.

Strangely, Yoko and Enid look at Wednesday with concern, genuine concern, in their eyes, even while the rest of the students around them glare at Wednesday as if she was some serial child murderer. In fact, Yoko and Enid are the only ones who seem to be looking at Wednesday with any kindness at all. Wednesday doesn’t hear anything past the ringing in her ears, but she sees Enid standing up and walking towards her quickly, her mouth moving to form her name, but Wednesday still can’t hear anything. She feels the blonde girl lay her hands gently on her shoulders and shake her just as gently, the taller girl still saying her name, though it looks like she’s screaming now as her face is twisted up in fear and concern.

Suddenly, Wednesday’s hearing returns and the only thing she hears is Enid shouting her name, “Wednesday? WEDNESDAY! WEDNESDAY WAKE UP! PLEASE WAKE UP, YOU NEED TO- WEDNESDAY!!”

The raven wakes up sobbing, and immediately clings to the closest source of warmth, a body so familiar, soft and strong at the same time. She notices the scent first, a familiar body wash mixed with a perfume that belonged to herself. Wednesday wraps herself around the body, not understanding where she is yet, but recognizing the safe feeling produced by whoever she’s clinging to currently. She can hear her own voice sobbing loudly, shouting out pleas and begs into the warm shirt in front of her face. Desperate pleas for a certain werewolf not to leave her, to please please please forgive her and to just stay and give her another chance. And every plea is met with a gentle hand stroking her hair along with an even more gentle voice telling her that she’s right there and she wasn’t leaving, ever.

Wednesday continues sobbing for so long, her mind not registering how much time passes. But the body, the voice, doesn’t leave her. She keeps her promise, she never leaves. Eventually, Wednesday’s sobs slow down to tears which slow down to tiny sniffles, though her body still shakes as if she were bare naked in a blizzard. But the arms around hold her tightly, and she’s never felt warmer. The tiny seer slowly pulls her head away from the warm chest to look up at whoever’s holding her. She only feels a slight touch of surprise when she sees that it’s Enid holding her, wearing her purple set of pajamas, and as Wednesday quickly glances around, she notices they’re both in Enid’s bed. Looking back at the blonde werewolf, Wednesday speaks in a torn and tiny voice, “E- Enid?”

Enid smiles warmly despite the deep concern swimming in her eyes, and responds in a gentle whisper, “Hey Willa. Yeah, it’s me. I’m here. You’re okay, we’re safe. We’re together, Wednesday.”

“Where- are we… I don’t…” Wednesday stumbles hopelessly, trying to find her place in the universe again. Thankfully, the taller girl sees her struggle and helps guide her back to reality.

“We’re in our room, Wends, at Nevermore. We’re in bed, I think it’s like… two in the morning? We’re cuddling, like always. You saw, we’re in my bed after I begged you like, all day yesterday,” Enid giggles softly, the sound melting even more of the tension in Wednesday’s body, and Enid continues, “I woke up a few minutes ago or so, you were breathing way too fast and you kept throwing your head back and forth, you looked like you were having a nightmare, and not an enjoyable one. Then you started saying my name and so I tried to wake you. When you did, you were begging me to stay, saying you were sorry for something and you were crying so hard. I’ve… never seen you like that, Willa. Do you… want to talk about it? Your nightmare?”

Wednesday swallowed harshly, looking away for only a moment before realizing that she couldn’t see Enid like that and immediately looked back at her. Letting out a sigh, Wednesday timidly explains the horrid dream, one that not even an Addams could enjoy. She explains the terror of not being able to find Enid, the pangs of guilt at Bianca’s accusations, and finally the devastating feeling of heartbreak and betrayal she suffered from the sight of seeing Enid kissing Yoko. Enid barely holds back her own tears as she swiftly pulls Wednesday into a bone-crushing hug, and Wednesday returns it with just as much passion, the two girls crying together in silence.

Finally, Enid pulls back after pressing a firm kiss atop Wednesday’s hair, and she makes the shorter girl look her in the eyes, “Oh Willa… I’m so sorry-” her voice breaks again, “I can’t imagine how scary that must’ve been for you, sweetie. Wednesday, I swear to you on everything that I have ever loved and cared about, I will never leave you again. Okay? Gods, I never knew… how badly that night affected you, baby girl.”

Wednesday doesn’t cringe at the pet names, but instead furrows her brow in confusion, leading Enid to explain, “The night of our argument? Your birthday, remember? Shit… I can’t believe that was your birthday. Listen Wednesday, I can’t apologize for doing what I did. It was necessary, I needed time to figure myself out and you needed to understand how your actions hurt the people around you that care about you. But baby… I think this nightmare just goes to show that we haven’t actually talked about that night. And because of that, you haven’t properly worked through how it all made you feel. And that’s not healthy, mi luna! Look, right now isn’t the right time to have a deep conversation about everything, but later, at least once the sun is up, we’ll talk about it, okay? Right now, we’re gonna cuddle and snuggle super duper tight like two girlfriends who love each other more than anything else in the whole world. You have no choice, BTW, I’ve already decided.”

All Wednesday can do is nod, and bury herself in Enid’s chest again. With a simple “okay” the two girls do just that, cuddle together for the rest of the night. And when the sun rises, they take a bath together and then get ready for the day ahead of them. A conversation long past due awaits them. But for now, it’s just them, alone together.

End <3

(Note: So I kinda abandoned this for a while back in January, but scrolling through my drafts, I found it and decided to finish it. I did rush the end of the nightmare a bit because honestly, I wasn’t feeling as angsty as I was when I first started writing this lol. ANYWAY! I hope y’all enjoyed!)

[dark-elf-writes]

I am going feral over your MOD Harry at UA with Oboro au, help

Just Oboro, who had been watching over them for who knows how long, being so grateful he can finally be with his friends again at all.

Him seeing Kurogiri and feeling something is *wrong* but he doesn’t know what, but it feels like he was violated.

Oboro never left his friends.

He had been there for his funeral, standing at their sides as they cried; he was there for that first birthday after his death when Shouta broke his hand punching a brick wall and refused to go to the hospital for it; he was there at Shouta and Hizashi’s wedding, taking his rightful place as Best Bud to mirror Nemuri on the other side.

It hurt that they couldn’t see him, couldn’t hear him, but still he would never leave them. They needed him. They had always needed him.

He had all but given up on the idea of ever being heard when he heard Nezu’s announcement.

“We have a transfer student coming from England. His schooling has been… unconventional but considering his circumstances I have offered him a place at UA.” He doesn’t explain those circumstances. No one is stupid enough to ask. The rat takes his students safety seriously after all, and if he thought they needed to know he would have told them or put it in the files they were now flipping through.

“Necromancy?” Snipe read off of the file. “Like zombies?”

Nezu’s smile was unsettling. “Not exactly. Potter-kun’s quirk deals with spirits and ghosts rather than raising the dead… as far as we know at this point that is. His was a… late mutation.”

Everyone in the room froze. Oboro nearly phased through the meeting room table in surprise. Mutations were hardly unheard of but for them to occur so long after the quirk had manifested usually meant one thing.

Trauma.

Significant trauma.

Oboro didn’t know what to think as he waited at the gates for their transfer student (he totally qualified as an honorary UA teacher at this point after all the lessons he had sat through) but it certainly wasn’t Harry Potter.

He hadn’t bothered with the uniform (wisely as the area around UA was always a pit of vultures approaching term and doubly so with the rumors of All Might teaching this year) instead choosing a rather oversized sweater and jeans that were more hole than pant at this point. But what shocked Oboro most was his eyes.

They were like beacons drawing him in. Glowing a bright green that looked.. otherworldly. Like the first moment of his afterlife. Like death.

No wonder the ghosts of UA flocked to him.

Harry Potter was something different, and Oboro wasn’t going to let the first person who had been able to seen him in years deal with all of that.

(And having Hizashi Shouta and Nemuri see him again was just an added bonus in his mind)

[dgalerab]

Oboro sits by Shouta's hospital bed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Of course he knows that every time they go out on patrol, there's a chance...

...

Of course he knows that. He tries to be an optimist, but in their line of work optimism needs to be colored with realism.

He just wasn't expecting to be hit with that possibility during a random class with the first years.

He'd always thought Shouta would make a good teacher, but if he's honest with himself, the UA position had been a relief in more ways than one. Less time on patrol. Less time in the thick of things.

Less time that Shouta manages to be as shitty at taking care of himself as he is competent at hero work - something they've had many a screaming argument about. (The fact that they scream at each other whenever they argue doesn't really fill the space Hizashi left behind, but Oboro still gets a sense of satisfaction every time he gets Shouta to raise his voice.)

"You really had to take on all those villains, didn't you, Shouta?" Oboro sighs to his friend's bandaged face. He can barely see one eye peeking out from between the layers of gauze, squeezed shut in a nightmare.

It doesn't surprise Oboro. Shouta's new class is loud, frantic, powerful. Of course he'd do anything to protect them. So would Oboro.

He just wishes that maybe sometimes Shouta could put himself a little bit higher up the priority list. It's not like Oboro hasn't told him a million times that he doesn't want to lose two best friends.

He shakes his head. He shouldn't be thinking of what happened to Hizashi right now. It can't be good luck to do so when Shouta is still hooked up to all these machines, both arms broken and skull fractured.

(And yet it's so hard not to.)

As if he hears Oboro's thoughts, Shouta croaks a weak, "Yamada..." beside him.

"You're not dead yet, Eraser," he reassures, leaning back to massage his neck.

He hears the heartbeat monitor speed up, and Shouta's cast thump against his arm, and when he looks down his heart skips a beat.

Shouta's good eye is wide open in horror as he struggles against his injuries and bandages to try to grab at Oboro. "He was there," he gasps. "Oboro, he was there."

"Hey, hey, calm down," Oboro says, nudging him back down before he hurts himself. "That's... That's quite the near death experience, but you're okay, you're..."

"No!" Shouta grits out. "He was there. He was at USJ."

A chill runs through Oboro. The students had mentioned some sort of sonic blast when they'd explained what had happened, but...

He shakes himself. He's not the one concussed and on pain killers here. He takes a deep breath and puts on his rescue voice.

"One of the villains had a voice quirk," he says. "It wasn't him, Shouta. You took some hits to the head so I know it all seems confusing, but..."

"I saw him!" Shouta cries, voice low and insistent. "I saw him, it was his face, his... his... It was something else but it was him."

Oboro wants to protest. Wants to insist that it's some sort of twisted near death experience, but...

He pulls out his phone and calls their contacts at the police department.

---

"You were right," Tsukauchi confirms. "There's no human DNA in the ashes you gave me."

It had been a harrowing ordeal to get them. Reassuring the Yamadas that it was probably nothing, just a strange fluke in an old case. It had already felt awful to lie to them, but now it feels worse.

This isn't nothing.

"We saw the body," Oboro says. "Over a dozen people watched him die, there's no way that..."

Tsukauchi shakes his head. "He did die. UA oversaw all that, and I know the people involved. It seems somewhere between the autopsy and the cremation, however, the body... went missing."

Oboro looks to Shouta, who's staring out the window in silence, still vaguely mummified.

"Say something," Oboro pleads.

"He had scars on his face. Bandages over his limbs, too, and claws. It was like someone replaced his arms and legs with... something else," Shouta murmurs.

"Sewed pieces of his corpse together with... what? Other corpses?"

Shouta shrugs.

Normally this is when one or the other of them would start yelling. Oboro craves that cathartsis, but...

Right now, it feels impossible.

"Is it still him?" Oboro asks.

"I think that question is above my pay grade," Tsukauchi says, not unkindly. "But we're looking into this with as much effort as we can. We'll do whatever it takes to get you answers."

With thar, he leaves them to themselves.

"The sports festival starts tomorrow," Shouta says, and Oboro thanks every god who might be listening that he doesn't have to start the conversation.

"I guess so," They've commentated every year since they started teaching, in honor of Hizashi who had begged and pleaded his way into commentating even as a first year, and then again as a second year when the first year was a mess. "I suppose that comes first, then..."

It's quiet. They usually work rather hard not to let it get this quiet unless they're on patrol and stealth is of the essence. Oboro wracks his brain for what to say.

Their eyes meet, and it becomes clear. "We're going to find him, right?" Oboro asks.

"Obviously," Shouta says.

---

They spend the next few days obsessively going over everything they know (which admittedly isn't much). They've planned for everything - how to catch him, how to test his memory, how to handle the cops if he responds, how to handle him if he doesn't.

They spend almost every waking moment pelting each other with what ifs and emergency plans.

It somewhat helps to quiet the horror as Shouta slowly heals and gets his bandages off.

They're going to figure this out. If they got through Hizashi being dead, they can get through him being... whatever he is now.

... is what he thinks until they come back from patrol one night, crashing into their respective bedrooms, only for Oboro to wake in the middle of the night to Shouta shouting for him frantically.

He grabs his quarterstaff from beside the bed and runs to Shouta's bedroom.

Ah, he thinks, as he looks up at the creature all but racing across his best friend's ceiling, tail lashing and eyes glinting green in the dark, giggling and swiping at Shouta like a small child trying to pull a cat's tail, entirely unafraid of the knife Shouta brandishes at him. Perhaps we've forgotten how much spontaneity Hizashi brought to our trio.

[arlmy07]

Strawhat Crew As Things Me and My Friends Have Said

Nami: "Imma spend my money like money ain't shit. And by 'my money' I mean 'your money' because I kind of need mine for later..."

Robin: "When I was twelve, my teacher asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I looked her dead in the eyes and said without hesitation: 'Deceased'. She sent me to the counselor and told my parents I needed therapy..."

Sanji: "I know things seem pretty bad right now but look on the bright side...my ass has never looked better."

Franky: "According to my expert opinion....I'll need exactly four rolls of duct tape, a two liter coke, a Philips head, three Band-Aids, a whole pack of Twinkies, and twelve screws to fix that...Oh, and maybe some spit in case of a fire."

Luffy: "If I say I'm going on a diet, what that really means is that you should probably keep a closer eye on your food when I'm around."

Usopp: "If I were to write a poem about how I feel right now it'd go something like this: roses are red, melted ice cream is sticky, my foot's stuck in a hole, get me out of here quickly"

Zoro: "The benefits of you all getting me a sword for my birthday: 1) It'd be cool as fuck and 2) I'd never have to hear my neighbor watching romcoms at full volume at 3am ever again."

Brook: "My grandma says that if I get any thinner and paler she's going to hang me up with her Halloween decorations..."

Chopper: "I know I'm cute, stop telling me or I'll punch you."

Jimbei: "I told my dad I was going to sleep with the fishes and he said 'good night, don't let the sharks bite' and now I'm a little concerned for my safety."

Luffy: "Sorry, I zoned out. I was looking at my gummy bear..."

Usopp: "Look at this gourmet cereal."

Nami: "Well when you're five feet then four inches is a lot..."

Zoro: "Sign this petition to make weaponized stilettos legal. I'm not asking in case you were wondering *brandishes stiletto*."

Jimbei: "I think the reason I like the ocean so much is because it tastes like the tears of my enemies. Salty~"

Chopper: "Don't send a search party, my phone is just having an identity crisis."

Brook: "You have no idea how many women I had to seduce to get this music."

Sanji: "What's it gonna take for a guy to get a fancy set of knives around here?"

Robin: "Did you guys put the fun in funeral?"

Franky: "Explain it to me like you would to a five year old."

[fascinatedscrawls]

Phic Phight Prompt: Kwan starts a poetry club and invites everyone at school to the first monthly poetry slam. Some unexpected poets show up.

Word Count: 1881

For TheSilentBard

Summary: When Kwan revives the old poetry club he gets a bigger crowd than expected. Danny's sure no one is going to forget this meeting, especially not Mr. Lancer.

The club room is full to bursting, students - some excited, but most reluctantly - occupying each of the cheap chairs scattered almost haphazardly around the place. Slouched in one of the back corners, Danny watches Mr. Lancer pick his way through the messy array of seats to get to the front of the room with a dead-eyed stare.

"Excuse me, pardon me, please don't leave your - oof!" The teacher trips and nearly falls, barely catching himself on the back of a chair instead of braining himself on it and all Danny can muster the energy for at the sight is a slow blink. "Lord of the Flies, Mr. Baxter! Do be more careful with where you rest your feet!"

Closing his eyes even if he knows he can't sleep here Danny hears a snort which could only come from Sam. Technically, unlike him and Tucker, she isn't required to attend the club session for a chance at extra credit because she's acing the class.

"It hasn't started yet." Tucker points out helpfully, stylus still tap tap tapping away at his PDA. "You could leave. If you actually wanted to."

The teasing barb hits its mark once again and Sam slouches further into her seat with a tsk.

"I'm here to watch how hard this bombs." In her pause for emphasis, Danny can almost hear her rolling her eyes. "I haven't wasted fifteen minutes of my afternoon just to leave before the show even starts."

"So you admit that you're attending the new poetry club for fun." Tucker snipes, smile clear in his voice. There's a scuffle over Danny's head as Tucker ducks whatever Sam threw in retaliation. Used to it and too tired to participate, Danny slumps down until his head is resting on the back of his chair. The smooth plastic is uncomfortable and his spine is already protesting at the angle, but pushing himself back up is just too much work.

Now at the front of the room, Mr. Lancer speaks to Kwan at a volume that's likely a little louder than he thinks. Or, Danny grimaces as something else flies over his head and Sam hisses, it could be some kind of ghostly hearing he's developing.

Ancients he hopes its not that, but it would explain why he's finding it so hard to sleep these past few nights. Even for the evenings without ghostly visitors he's barely getting a couple of hours at a time. He opens his eyes to glare at the injustice of it all, which looks a lot like the pockmarked ceiling of the club room.

"Now, we're all very excited to see the old poetry club get enough interest and funding to finally return after over a decade with no members," Mr. Lancer says catching Danny's attention and likely repeating himself for what must be at least the third time if Kwan's disinterested smile is anything to go by. Two encouraging pats on his shoulder courtesy of their teacher twists his smile into something closer to a grimace for half a second before it settles into a more natural expression. "I know you had something in mind for the first meeting and hopefully, by offering that extra credit today you'll see membership continue to improve. However, if things go off the rails you can count on me to help with your inaugural meeting."

The words would likely be more comforting if someone didn't yelp in the back of the room just as he said them. Wincing, Danny closed his eyes at the loud noise before a tingle at the back of his throat made him straighten up abruptly. Eyes wide and far more alert than before, he stares open mouthed at a handful of ghosts calmly floating in through the closed door, drifting towards the front of the room without any care for who might be sitting in their way.

Another aborted scream or two rings out before Mr. Lancer even has a chance to turn to address it with a, "Edgar Allen P-"

The last of the English teacher's oft stated and highly creative use of the famous poets name as an epithet cuts off in the face of the man himself.

Or more accurately, the ghost himself.

Mr. Lancer coughs behind a hand, clearly having a hard time believing his eyes. At least a third of the room is on their feet, but when the ghosts do nothing more than mutter to each other they clearly start to relax. After months of ghost attacks and at least a few weeks of less dangerous hauntings happening all over town it looks like most of his classmates are willing to risk a sudden, potentially dangerous turn around in an attempt to earn a few more free points for class.

"Poe?" Mr. Lancer finally manages to squeak out. He looks ready to faint as the ghost nods a greeting (the ghostly raven on his shoulder doing the same, pulling a snicker from a few people around the room including Tucker), but holds it together with a gulp as he straightens his tie.

"Shakespeare, Poe, Dickinson, Frost - what do you know," Sam mutters as she identifies more of the ghosts on stage than Danny could have managed. It's no wonder she's actually passing the class. "Maybe this won't be so bad after all."

"How," Mr. Lancer visibly swallows back his nerves even as his hands shake. "How nice of you to join us. Will any of you be participating in our poetry readings today?"

"Yes. As always, we're here to share our works -" One of the ghosts (is it Frost or Dickinson? Wait, Danny corrects himself, he's pretty sure Dickinson is the lady actually) says before getting interrupted by the raven.

"Evermore!"

The ghost sighs at the spectral bird, but they clearly expected the interruption as they don't comment on it. Instead they go back to consulting with the ghost beside them, quietly discussing which poem they'd like to read today if their only faintly indistinct mutters are anything to go by.

"Delightful!" This has absolutely made Mr. Lancers day if not his whole month judging by his wide smile. He turns the slightly manic expression on Kwan who flinches under the force of it. "Perhaps we can hold off on your planned presentations until after our guests have, ahem, graced us with their works?"

It sounds less like a question and more like an order, especially when Mr. Lancer doesn't even wait for a response before motioning Kwan to a nearby seat.

Danny relaxes into his own with a light sigh of relief as the scattered conversations around them take on an edge of awed excitement. Not a fight then. Huh, he's actually not sure why he thought there was going to be one when clearly these ghosts are just here to indulge in their obsessions. 

He quickly puts the thought out of his mind and settles in to hopefully enjoy a performance straight from the horses mouth (maybe that will be what finally helps him understand iambic pentameter), which means he jumps along with half the students when the door gets kicked in.

"Freeze, ecto-scum!" Two white suited men shout in what has to be a practiced synchronization of words and poses. Both of them have ecto guns in their hands. Hilariously, neither of the  blasters are pointed anywhere near any of the ghosts.

"They should probably take off the sunglasses." Sam snarks, now on her feet and sounding more relaxed than her tense posture displays.

"But without them they'd just be odd wedding ushers." On Danny's other side Tucker eyes the GIW agents with all the suspicion they're due.

"I think they'd be just as blind either way," Danny points out, sliding his chair a little further back in case he needs to disappear behind his friends. It's looking more likely.

Or it is before Danny gets a look at Mr. Lancer's face.

Danny has done many things that his teacher does not approve of. He's missed class, forgotten homework, fallen asleep on his desk, and even attempted to cheat on his exams, but never before has he seen Mr. Lancer look like this. Instinctively, he finds himself hunching his shoulders in an attempt to make himself smaller, less noticeable, in the face of someone clearly ready to rain hellfire upon their enemies.

The GIW are making an attempt to aim at their foes only to find themselves blocked bodily by one enraged vice-principal.

"Gentlemen," Mr. Lancer grinds out, frowning hard enough that Danny starts to wonder if the expression hurts him to maintain. His words are polite, but the tone is very clear: he doesn't hold even an ounce of respect for these invaders. "Our poetry club was just about to start. Please see yourselves out if you plan to be disruptive."

The white suited agents protest loudly, but it's abundantly clear that between Mr. Lancer and the students who were excited for a chance to hear from the masters (or possibly, just very invested in this afternoon's extra credit) that they won't be capturing or shooting any ghosts today.

That's good, because Danny's too busy trying to slow his heart rate down after he finally noticed Sidney Poindexter hovering just behind his shoulder. It took Tucker pointedly clearing his throat and Danny's pretty sure he nearly jumped out of his skin at the sight of the glowing teen.

"I see you've found the Dead Poets Society," He pushes his glasses back into place with a bland look in the face of Danny's weak glare. "I had wondered where they got to when they missed our usual club meeting."

"They meet regularly?" Danny asks, but doesn't get more than a nod in response before Sam cuts in with a question of her own.

"Why at the school? I'm sure there's other good places to meet."

"I invited them and offered it as a neutral ground." There's a pause as Danny shares a look with Sam and Tucker, all of them imagining the circumstances behind some famous poets needing specifically 'neutral ground' to meet on. Danny winces as he suddenly remembers every bruise or worse that he's gotten since ghosts started visiting Amity Park's very clearly not-at-all-neutral ground. Sidney ignores their silent conversation, not looking away from the ghosts quietly arguing at the front of the room. "It certainly made the poetry club less repetitive, so I've let the weekly meetings continue."

"So what you're saying," Tucker grins as the door to the classroom is slammed shut and locked, muffling the indignant agents' argument, "is that we're definitely in for a show."

"Well, I could imagine worse ways to spend my afternoon." Arms crossed, Sam settles back into her chair and, following Sidney's example, ignores how Tucker's smile somehow reaches new heights of smugness.

"Well, at least it will be an interesting extra credit assignment."

And maybe, if he's lucky, it'll be a reoccurring one. Danny could really use the extra help passing any of his classes. Besides, if the stars in Mr. Lancer's eyes are anything to go by, Danny wouldn't be the only one checking in on the poetry club's weekly meetings from now on. Danny might as well get some extra points for keeping an eye on some positive ghost-human interactions.

[veggie-tales]

"Please Be My Teacher"

Feat. My OC Lars and Emmrich Volkarin.

Short little drabble by Veggie below the cut so as not to take up dash space.

Please don't ship these characters.

(Sorry that it's not the best. Just a spark of inspiration)

Lars had a light hold of Manfred’s hand, muttering to himself as he touched along each finger, bone by bone, “Distal phalanx, distal interphalangeal joint, middle phalanx, proximal-”

The young man was cut off as he heard a book drop behind him, followed by a, “Maker’s Breath-! Lars?!” From a very frazzled Emmrich. He’s seen Lars about nine months beforehand when Professor Thaddeus Lades presented him in a demonstration for a few colleagues of theirs. He had presented him as a thinking undead man, but many were not impressed, as Lars didn’t seem that different from the dead they could already conjure with the wisps. Just this one still had all his original flesh. Emmrich had noticed Lars had been shy and quiet, but he didn’t really think much of it.

Lars let go of Manfred’s boney hand and spun excitedly to look at him, “Professor Volkarin!” He said excitedly, “Your friend is excellent anatomy study for the skeletal structure, in action!” The undead man exclaimed, magenta eyes wide and smile even wider.

“My word! You-” Emmrich blinked, unable to process what he was hearing. He straightened his collar and cleared his throat, attempting to sound a bit more dignified, “Apologies. Last time I saw you, you couldn’t- uh-...” He placed his palms together and pointed at Lars, “...speak. I’m a little caught off guard.” The man admitted.

“Yeah!” Lars’ smile evened out, falling a bit to be more general as he spoke, though the excitement was still evident in his tone, “It’s what my dad was trying to explain at the demonstration. My brain plasticity is advanced beyond a normal level. My mindset was childlike before, but I rapidly processed the world around me. I am on a cognitive level on par with a young man, now. Probably around… eighteen to twenty two.”

Emmrich bent down to pick up his book, silent for a moment as he let the words sink in, “Is he… here?” The man asked, a grimace on his face. The two never really got along. Thaddeus didn’t get along with anyone, really, “Oh… I apologize!” Emmrich cleared his throat, “Your advancement is superb, however… And I realize this is quite rude, but-”

“My father dropped me off.” Lars chuckled, cutting him off, “Just me.” The young man nodded, “He doesn’t like you, either. Thinks you’re too indecisive. Something about needing to pick whether you’d prefer to be living or undead.”

Emmrich hummed, an unamused expression crossing his face, “And yet he brought you to me.”

“I insisted upon it. I think he’s smart, but also… mmmmmmm…” He scratched his head, poking out his grayish tongue, “...A huge asshole?” Lars shrugged, “But He spoils me. I use it to my advantage.” The undead looked quite proud of himself.

This got a chuckle out of the professor as he stepped closer, “Raised by Thaddeus and yet nothing like him. Interesting.” He mused, “What can I do for you, then, my boy?”

“I want to be an alchemist.” Lars said, very matter of factly, “I think learning from Professor Lades and Professor Volkarin on the subject matter will do me good.” His talking began to pick up speed, now, “I’m at a disadvantage, as an undead. People are going to classify me as slow. I’d like to get ahead of the curve. I’m researching my own kind and teaching myself anything and everything I can get my hands on and-!”

“By the Maker, Lars! I am not giving you a quiz. Take a deep breath.” He patted the young man’s back, “Tell me about your research over tea. We can talk about private lessons once I understand you a tad better. Does that sound appropriate?”

Lars chuckled a little, a flush going to his cheeks out of embarrassment for jumping to the outright conclusion that Emmrich would immediately decline, “That sounds delightful. Thank you, sir.” He responded bashfully.

[animeniacss]

Seoksoo - imperfect Part 1 - Chapter 6 - A Lot to Unpack

Synopsis: Lee Seokmin likes a lot of things: karaoke, stuffed animals, his friends, his family (when they're not at each other's throats), and when things go according to plan. It's perfect that way. That is...until Joshua Hong, the Education Department TA, stumbles into his view one day and suddenly Seokmin has to start facing the fact that maybe not everything in life will be perfect...but with Joshua, that might just be ok.

Tags: College!AU, ActingMajor!Seokmin, Teacher!Joshua, Romance, Angst, Fluff, Mutual Pining, Misunderstandings, Side GyuCheol, Side JunHao, Side Verkwan, Other Idol appearances, Anxiety/Panic Attacks, Domestic Violence (not between the main couple), Joshua is a dork 90% of the time, (More Tags will be Added as needed)

Length: approx. 6.1k words

Chapter 6 - A Lot to Unpack

Midterms are the worst. Whichever sick individual thought that it was a good idea to slam multiple tests worth a significant part of your overall grade right before the holidays, was a cruel human. Seokmin liked most people he spoke to, but he did not like this human, and based on the dead-eyes of his friends around the table, they didn’t either.

“I hate this.” Seungkwan groaned.

“Preach.” Mingyu typed away on his laptop. “How the hell am I supposed to write an entire data plan on a student I only have 3 lines of information on? In reality, I would have a whole full human to work with.” Mingyu groaned. 

“I have that one ready to submit,” Seungkwan said. “It’s the week-long lessons for Effective Lesson Planning that is going to make me pop a fucking blood vessel.” Mingyu nodded in agreement. 

“I haven’t even started that one. The last time I opened the document, I wanted to chew on glass.” Seokmin and Junhui chuckled from behind their own textbooks. 

“That doesn’t sound too bad,” Junhui commented, eyeing the two flustered men on the other end of the table. “Can’t they color or something?”

“Tch, no.” Seungkwan rolled his eyes. “As much as I would like to just write that. Each day has to have its own 4-page paper explaining each part and the lesson plan itself is at least 3 pages once you finish writing everything.”

“And you have to do that in each subject?” Seokmin asked.

“No!” Seungkwan only got more fired up. “I asked like 3 people who actually are teachers, and they tell me the plans they have to write are maybe a page at most.”

“Wow.”

“My cousin says she writes her plans on a fucking sticky note before class starts each morning.” Seokmin snorted at Mingyu’s comment, but he didn’t look amused.

“Why are you yelling?” A voice called from the other hall, and the group of boys looked up to see Seungcheol stagger into view. He had his video gaming headset on still, one tucked behind his ear so he could hear. Mingyu groaned, falling onto his back and glancing up as his boyfriend approached, bending at the hips to peer down at the larger college student. 

“I want to quit school, Cheolie...” Mingyu said.

“No.” Seungcheol didn’t seem phased, as it seemed like something Mingyu said often. “You’re almost done.”

“Yeah, with school. I’m dropping out to be a stripper.”

Seungcheol’s eyes widened, Seokmin immediately catching the intrigued glint in his eyes. “Oh?” Mingyu nodded, his grin widening as Seungcheol fell to a squatting position, his face still just hovering over Mingyu’s. “I thought I was the only one you moved your hips for, Gyu~.” His voice was low and husky, which earned a hum of intrigue from Mingyu.

“Well, only when you ask nicely, Hyungieeee….” His comment made Seungcheol cover his face, laughing into his hands at the nickname that has now most likely been reserved for behind closed doors. Seokmin caught a glimpse of rosy cheeks behind his hands, Mingyu’s laughter only continuing, ripping from the belly. He immediately sat upright once again, only to be pulled into a large back hug from Seungcheol. Like one of those little wooden shaped toys for children, Mingyu fit perfectly into his embrace as if he were always expected to be there, grinning as Seungcheol peppered his cheek with kisses. Seokmin couldn’t help but hide his little grin as he looked down at his papers once more. He just loved love, especially the love his best friend seemed to share. 

“Besides-.” Seungcheol added, nestling into the other’s neck. “If you want to put on a show, just-.”

“OH FUCKING GOD, EW!” Seungkwan gasped. “Could you please get a fucking room!?”

“This is my house!” Seungcheol snapped, glaring at Seungkwan. “I won’t let you come over here and watch Music Bank on the big TV anymore if you keep running your mouth!”

Seungkwan gasped. “You fucking wouldn’t.”

“I can and I fucking will!” By now, Mingyu, Junhui and Seokmin were in stitches, Seokmin clapping his hands and laughing as he leaned into a snickering Junhui. 

With the option of stripping shelved for later conversation, Mingyu tilted his head back to face an irritated Seungcheol. He used his hand to take the other's jaw, gently guiding his gaze back. “Then will you go take my midterms in my place? I promise I’ll cook dinner for a month.”

Seungcheol grinned, forgetting about his threat to Seungkwan when Mingyu was back in the forefront of his view.. “You trust me that much?”

“He never said that.” Junhui snickered when Seungcheol now shot him an annoyed glare. Seokmin smiled, watching as Seungcheol sat Mingyu back up and put a little kiss on his head, which left the big puppy dog of a man grinning in content.

“Hopefully that’ll be enough to get you through it. I didn’t drop out of college to take someone else’s exams.”

“Kaaay.” Mingyu called, still riding the little high that Seungcheol’s kiss left in its wake. He chuckled, ruffling the short, black hair on his boyfriend’s head. 

“Get back to it.” he encouraged, before heading back to continue gaming, leaving the rest of them with their studies. 

“You both are disgusting,” Seungkwan commented, and Seokmin snickered when Mingyu was shot a very well-known side eye from Seungkwan. The taller of the two only shrugged.

“I’ll make sure to say that when you and Chwe Hansol are all lovey-dovey in a few weeks.” 

Seungkwan’s carefully planned rebuttal? Shove the straw of the iced americano into his mouth and shut the fuck up, a move that leaves a triumphant grin on Mingyu’s face. He turned back to his open document on his computer, his smile finally fading as he continued to type.

Seokmin glanced between the trio around him, all of whom were in very committed relationships or slated to be before the end of the term if things went right. Mingyu and Seungcheol had been dating for about a year already, Seungkwan was pursuing things with Hansol, and Junhui was living a pretty domestic relationship with another Chinese transfer student, Minghao. While they never confirmed their relationship to others, Seokmin did notice Junhui stopped flirting or even entertaining the idea right after Minghao moved into his apartment as a roommate. That just left Seokmin, a seventh wheel on a very long bus, placed right in the middle of the other wheels because that meant he was able to keep them all balanced, keep one from falling off and sending the bus toppling down a cliff. He was good at that.

“Seokminnie won’t be too far behind, I’m sure.” The teasing tone in Junhui’s voice made his eyes dart to the smirking male beside him. “Double the couples in the honeymoon phase. Great.” Mingyu snorted, eyes still glued to his computer screen as his fingers typed away.

“What?” Seokmin asked, putting a hand on his cheek to make sure it wasn’t heating up – it was.

“You and Joshua Hong?” Junhui asked. “Have you spoken to him since the audition?”

“Once or twice, but he said he was busy with midterms. I haven’t heard from him in a few days.” Seokmin remembered the last text the duo shared; three days prior while Seokmin was sitting waiting for class to begin. It was a reassurance text about their lunch plans once midterms came to an end, a reminder to pick any place that Seokmin’s little heart desired. A white heart and a sticker wishing him luck in his studies was all Seokmin sent back, and by the time he felt like that wasn’t nearly enough of a proper response, a few hours had passed and Seokmin didn’t want to be a double texter. He was working very hard to avoid that.

“He’s been leaving class really early these past few weeks.” Seungkwan said, Mingyu nodding in agreement. “Like he doesn’t even stay behind to talk to kids anymore. He passes back papers, packs up, and books it out of the room before the professor even gets up from his seat.”

“He’s probably really busy. I couldn’t imagine being the TA of one of the hardest professors in the Education Department and working on your own senior classes. I envy the people who can do that.” The group nodded in agreement with Junhui’s comment, and the room finally fell back into silence, all of them back to studying their own respective midterm study guides or working on their mid-year projects. 

Distracted by the silence, Seokmin glanced at his phone, seeing no new messages staring back at him. A cheek rested in his hand, distracted fingers fiddling with the messages. He kept scrolling them down, hoping that another message would pop up in his inbox. No luck, instead just an old message thread. Two-day-old messages that reminded Seokmin he needed to start looking for restaurants because he would be damned if he went into making plans with someone without being prepared.

Seokmin didn’t hear from Joshua the entire week of midterms, but he was too busy focused on his own to care. He spent his weekend hunched over his desk, working tirelessly to make sure he was prepared. Finally, midterms came. As Seokmin headed to his first class of the week, he had gotten several texts from his mother and sister wishing him luck – plus another from his sister asking him to tell Mom to get off her back, but he didn’t read the entire message before heading into class. As he sat down, he reopened Joshua’s text messages, now four days old, and texted him one more time wishing him luck for the upcoming week.

He didn’t get an answer for another 5 days.

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         [Joshua] (now): How did the midterms go? Thank goodness they’re over!

         That was the first text in an entire school week, sent to his inbox Friday evening while Seokmin was on his way back home. He looked down at the message, before showing it to Seungkwan, who was resting on his shoulder and babbling about plans for the entire friend group to go out and celebrate over the weekend.

         “What are you going to say?” Seungkwan asked, eyeing up the older of the two. Seokmin shrugged.

         “No idea.” He admitted. He was stunned Joshua really did message him right after the midterms came to an end. He stared at the message before his fingers began to type.

         Were you really off your phone for an entire five… backspace? Do you actually care??? Delete! I’m glad to hear from you! I was scared you weren’t going to text me… Backspace.

         [Seokmin] (just now): They were fine. You?

         He set his phone on his lap screen down, looking out the window of the bus as the world before him passed by. “Are you still going to go out with him?”

         “I don’t know.” Seokmin hummed. “He might not still want to. He could have forgotten with how busy he’s been…”

         “It’s been like a week. He’d really have to try if he wanted to forget.” Seokmin nodded, though he wouldn’t be surprised if Joshua forgot. However, when his phone beeped again, he looked down and saw another message.

         [Joshua] (now): Exhausting, but good! I’m glad to be done.

         [Joshua] (now): Did you decide on a restaurant? I’m not scheduling anything this entire weekend until we make plans first!

         Seungkwan seemed to catch Seokmin’s growing smile, because he pushed himself closer to his friend and tried to peer down to his messages. “What has you all smiley, Hyung?” he asked in a sing-song voice. Seokmin held the phone close to his chest, all the confirmation Seungkwan needed. “Mmmmm, I see. You have a date, hm?”

         “It’s not a date.” Seokmin said. Seungkwan only laughed more.

         “Yeah…right.” He snickered. Seokmin looked back down at the phone messages.

         “I’ll ask someone who has dating experience if this is a date, thank you.” Seokmin smirked down at Seungkwan as his eyes went wide.

         “OW!” He gasped, hands over his heart in shock. “Jeez, Seokmin, you’re vicious!”

         Seokmin laughed, muttering a quick: “Kidding!” As Seungkwan nudged him. He looked back down at his phone, pulling up the messages to Joshua and planning for tomorrow evening. It took until the next bus stop, but Joshua responded with a thumbs up and Seokmin finally felt excited again.

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         “What do you mean ‘it’s not a date?!” Mingyu leaned forward in his chair, staring into the Facetime camera. Seokmin had propped him up on his end table with support of his lamp while he was busy looking through clothes in his closet.

         “That’s what I said!” Seungkwan said, cross-legged on Seokmin’s bed as he watched his friend. Seokmin turned to Facetime, seeing his best friend’s furrowed brow.

         “It’s just lunch. He never said it was a date.”

         “Well, yeah. But you’ve had plans to go out to lunch – which Hyung said could be expensive. Just the two of you, on a weekend.”

         “…Right.” Seokmin pulled out a black and white striped button up, motioning it to Seungkwan. He immediately shook his head, so it was shoved back into the closet.

         “…Cheol!” Mingyu called, head tilting from frame for a second. Seokmin looked back over at the camera as Mingyu pulled his boyfriend into frame. “Is Seokminnie going on a date?”

         “With Joshua!? Seokmin, that's great!” Seungcheol offered a wide grin. “I knew it would happen.”

         “It’s not a date.” Seokmin whined, and on the other end of the line the couple began laughing. “…Is it?”

         “It is.” Seungkwan nodded

         “How would you know?!” Seungcheol called, making Mingyu laugh more.

         “Why is everyone being so cruel to me today?” Seungkwan’s comment made Seokmin look over at him, mind flooding with the joke he made from the bus. Did he not take it as a joke? Seungkwan was grinning as he eyed the older males on the other side of the camera.

         “Alright, alright, go make out, you disgusting gremlins.” Seungkwan called, leaning forward. Mingyu and Seungcheol called out their goodbyes before the call was disconnected. Seungkwan sighed, setting the phone back down. “They’re so annoying.” He snorted.

         “I was kidding before when I said that.” Seokmin turned to his friend, who glanced up at him from the bed. “On the bus. About the dating experience.” Seungkwan chuckled.

         “I know.” He said. “It was pretty funny, too.” Seokmin sighed in relief. “Now, what else do you have for this date? We need to make you actually look good.” Seokmin’s lips dipped in a frown, but Seungkwan shrugged innocently. “It was a joke~.” He cooed.

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

         Seokmin gave Joshua the name of the restaurant Friday night, a twenty-minute bus ride from his house. It was a nice lunch spot that Seokmin had been dying to go to since it opened the previous summer, rave reviews from friends on his socials only encouraging him more. He had no reason, until now. It wasn’t too expensive, despite Joshua’s requests, but it looked like a really good place. He checked the time. They had agreed to meet at noon, Seokmin arriving by 11:40 to make sure they could get a table as soon as possible and avoid a longer wait. He had spent the night before mentally planning his entire arrival. Get up at 6, shower by 7, eat breakfast and get dressed by 8, facial routine by 9, pre-screen the menu and decide he wants a buffalo chicken wrap and fries by 9:30, mental breakdown at 10 with support of Seungkwan in the form of a water, and at the bus stop by 11 to make it to the restaurant by 11:30 and get a table secured by noon. Foolproof. 

Seokmin didn’t feel his nerves come down from the panic attack until the kind woman at the front of the restaurant told him it would be another 10 minutes until a table opened, so he waited outside on a bench, scanning for Joshua’s arrival. He was early, but he couldn’t help but feel anxious as the minutes ticked that Joshua would be late again. Three strikes and you’re out, right? Isn’t that the term in baseball? He looked down at his watch. 11:50. Still no table, still no Joshua. He looked back at the restaurant as a few groups of people shuffled out, chatting about how full they were or how delicious their meal was. Seokmin looked back at his lap, lips pursed together until his name was called, lifting his head up.

         “Seokmin!” Joshua came hurrying down the street, grinning as Seokmin entered his line of sight. He waved, his running slowing to a jog as he got closer to the bench. Seokmin felt his nerves dissolve into nothing as Joshua got closer, holding back the full extent of his grin as he sat up a little straighter. Joshua, pace slowing to a stop, immediately checked his watch. “11:53. Perfect. I was aiming for 11:55.” He grinned. Seokmin stood up and slipped his phone into his back pocket. “Did you wait long?”

         “No. I got here ten minutes ago and put our name in. It shouldn’t be much longer; do you want to wait inside?” Joshua nodded, and the duo made their way inside. Seokmin dragged behind just a second so he could admire Joshua’s outfit. Both of them seemed to acknowledge the windy spring day upon them, the option for wearing long-sleeves shirts. Joshua’s was a neutral cream while Seokmin sported a light pink sweater. Both opted for jeans and sneakers. Joshua’s hair was still as wavy and beautiful as ever, the caramel locks lightening a bit in the sunlight. Seokmin wondered why Joshua wasn’t a model. He watched Joshua pull open the door, stepping aside and motioning for Seokmin to head in first.

         Seokmin couldn’t help but chuckle. “Very gentlemanly.” He commented. Joshua shrugged.

         “My mom taught me it’s polite.”

         “The same mom with the ‘housewarming gift rule?”

         Joshua slipped in behind him, letting the door close behind them as he grinned. “The very same.”

         “She’s smart.” Seokmin nodded. As the duo headed inside, the wait had significantly decreased, and it wasn’t long before they were seated. “Did she also say you should pull out someone’s seat?”

         Joshua snorted. “Alright, you’re pushing it.” he earned a laugh from Seokmin. However, Joshua immediately stopped in front of Seokmin, pulling out the chair he was going to sit on. “But yes.”

         Seokmin settled into the seat and watched Joshua do the same across from him. He smiled, arms crossed over his chest. “I’m glad to see you looking happy,” Joshua said. Seokmin’s lips dipped just a bit. “The last time I saw you in person, you weren’t. That, and not really talking during midterms, I was worried it would be awkward today. For a few minutes, I wondered if you would even show up at all. Not that I don’t deserve that.”

         Seokmin had to admit he worried about the same thing, hence that breakdown in his living room at 10 o’clock….

----two hours prior----

“I can’t do this. I can’t do this! I cannot do this, Seungkwan!” Seokmin screamed into balled up fists. “I’m going to make a fool of myself, I know it!”

 “Seokminnie…” Seungkwan hummed, leaning over the back of the couch with a cool water in hand. He had been at this for the past 20 minutes, a complete break down after looking himself over in the mirror and hoping he looked good enough. “Here. Drink something and calm down.”

“What if he doesn’t show? What if he doesn’t show up again and I look like an idiot waiting for a table for two?”

“Then I’ll meet you for lunch instead.” Seungkwan smiled. Seokmin hiccupped, a string of whimpers trying to disguise themselves as breaths trickling from his lips. “Now, please drink something. You’ll make yourself sick.” Finally, if only because he knew his friend wouldn’t stop pestering him, Seokmin pulled his hands from his eyes, soaked with tears that pooled there. Seungkwan pushed the water closer to him and he finally took it into his hands, uncapping it and swallowing it all in one gulp to the point where he coughed after pulling it from his lips. “There.” He chuckled. “Better?” Seokmin nodded, setting the empty bottle on the floor. After a second to catch his breath, he numbly rolled onto his side and picked the bottle up, Seungkwan extending his hand. “I’ll throw it out.” His voice was gentle as he took the plastic. “Do you want to go?” Seungkwan was mostly a sarcastic kid, but he was gentle and caring when it counted, and now is a time that it really counted. 

“Yes.” Seokmin choked.

“Then go. Three strikes and you’re out, right? If something happens then that’s it. Drop him. And I’ll make sure to give him lots of dirty looks the rest of the term.” Seokmin coughed out a little laugh, but it didn’t stop him from gasping out shallow breaths, the pain in his chest making his eyes continue to pool with tears. “Seokminnie.” Seungkwan’s hand dropped down and rubbed Seokmin’s arm, but he immediately retracted from the touch, and Seungkwan knew not to press further. The duo stood in silence for a few more minutes, the sounds of Seokmin’s ragged breathing being the only thing to overpower the sound of the clock.

“What time is it?” Seokmin choked out, coughing into his fist. 

Seungkwan eyes the clock on the entertainment system. “It’s 10:30…” he said softly, and Seokmin only let out another pained groan.

         When the clock struck 10:35, Seokmin sat straight up, so robotically that it scared Seungkwan back. His eyes had stopped leaking, and he licked his dry lips. Getting off the couch, he hurried into the bathroom to redo his face and cover up any red blotches. Seungkwan followed him in, asking if he was okay now, but not getting a response. Seokmin simply fixed himself up and grabbed his belongings. He needed to catch the bus. He couldn’t make Joshua wait.  

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         “It’s all water under the bridge,” Seokmin said simply. He thought back to the pain in his chest two hours before, the tight way he gripped the hairs in his scalp and the red blotch marks under his eyes from tears that pooled in them and wouldn’t stop no matter how hard he tried. He hoped he had on enough foundation to mask that. “No big deal.” As he scanned the options, he could feel Joshua staring at him for a minute longer. His stare, gentle yet curious, sent shivers down Seokmin’s spine. “Hm? What are you staring at?”

         Joshua shrugged, his smile not fading. “Nothing.” His gentleness made Seokmin nod his head. “What are you in the mood for?” Joshua picked up his own menu and flipped it open as he asked, humming. “I’m craving a hamburger or something.” Seokmin looked down at the section for burgers when Joshua mentioned them, wondering if Joshua also pre-screened the menu before arriving. “So.” Joshua piped up again. “Your midterms went well?”

         “Yeah,” Seokmin said. “I think I did pretty good.”

         “That’s good.” Joshua smiled. “I think so, too. Can’t believe I’m almost done.”

         “What do you want to teach?” That was a good conversation. 

         “English.” He said simply. “I only need my bachelor’s degree from this year, and a few more certifications to be qualified.” Seokmin nodded. “What about you? I know you’re focused on acting. Movies? TV? Or are you just sticking to musical theatre stuff?”

         “I….” Seokmin pursed his lips. “I don’t know yet.” He frowned. “I’ve only ever done theatre. But a few of my friends over the years have asked me to help with their movies for projects, and that was fun too.” Joshua nodded, shrugging.

         “You’ll figure it out.” Before Seokmin could reply, the waiter came and took their drink orders. When he walked away, Joshua leaned back in his seat, playing with the sleeves of his sweater. He glanced up at Seokmin, his nose scrunched up a bit in amusement. Seokmin thought it was cute. “You doing anything fun for the long weekend?”

         “Seungkwan wanted to have some sort of celebration for midterms being over, but he hasn’t mentioned anything about it since.” Seokmin shrugged. “I was going to head home and see my family, but I don’t know if it’ll be worth the money and travel for less than three days. Especially with Christmas break coming up.” Joshua nodded. “What about you?”

         “I’m going to try and get a head start on some of the latter half of the professor’s work probably. He asked me to lead a few discussions so I have to start preparing everything I would need for that.” Seokmin imagined what Joshua would look like teaching in that large lecture hall, leading a discussion about education practices. He imagined Joshua’s button-up sleeves rolled to the elbows, eyes focused on each and every student as they added to the discussion. Even in the large lecture hall, Seokmin knew Joshua would be the type of person to look them right in the eye, much as he was doing now.

         “You’ll be a good teacher…” Seokmin said, looking down at his hands on the table. When he glanced back up at Joshua, he saw a hint of pink on the other’s cheeks, his nose scrunching up more as flattery took over his expression. “I can feel it.”

         “Thank you,” Joshua said sheepishly. “I’ll do my best.” Seokmin nodded, glancing up at the waiter who returned with their drinks. “Are you ready to order?” Seokmin glanced back down at the menu, nodding his head as Joshua wasted no time to put his own order in, Seokmin not far behind. With more time until their food arrived, the duo continued to fall into casual conversation.

         While Joshua was sharing a story about his midterm studying experience, where he forgot to do laundry for the entire week much to the dismay of his roommate, Seokmin listened. Well, he tried too. No matter how hard he tried, his brain kept reminding him of one thing.

         He was late twice. Sure, he’s here now. But it could happen again.

         It will happen again. It will happen until he stops coming altogether.

         Seokmin pulled his lips into a tight line as if to hold his thoughts back. Joshua was seemingly oblivious to his plight thank God. Seokmin had no idea how he’d navigate the storm of assuring Joshua he was no longer upset when in fact he was.

         You’re allowed to be upset with people, Seokmin. Especially when they hurt your feelings.

         “Mmm.” Seokmin blinked, locking eyes with a confused Joshua. He was still smiling. “Oh. Sorry…” he said. “Go on.”

         “I’m done.” Joshua chuckled. Seokmin nodded, chuckling shyly. Maybe he should start carving into that hole in his brain beforehand, get the headache out of the way early. “What about you?” When Joshua saw Seokmin’s expression contort in confusion, he clarified. “You just listened to me ramble about education and teaching stuff. Tell me about your acting.”

         “Like what?”

         A shrug. “Callbacks. When do you hear from them?”

         Seokmin had to admit, he didn’t even think about the callbacks ever since he left what he considered one of his worst auditions ever. “They usually come out after midterms end. That way we have the rest of this semester and the entire spring semester to practice and put it together.”

         “So soon?” Seokmin nodded. “Then you’ll hear some good news.”

         “I doubt it. I really don’t think it was my best work.”

         “You never know until it happens.” Joshua leaned back in his seat. “Besides, you’ll have to get a callback. I want to be there and hear you sing.”

         Seokmin felt his chest explode, but he couldn’t tell if Joshua’s comment made him feel flattery or fear. He’ll keep being late until he stops showing up altogether. Being five minutes early this time was a coincidence. It won’t happen again.

         Desperate to change the subject, and wondering if the waiter had caught his plea, the food arrived, and Seokmin watched eager eyes widen across from him. “Awesome.” Joshua grinned.

         “Enjoy your meal.” Seokmin eyed the waiter as he smiled, to which Seokmin politely returned.

         “You too.” The seconds the word hit his own ears, he chewed his lip. “Mhm…thank you.” The waiter grinned, amused at the comment he must hear hundreds of times a day. With a polite nod, he headed to a table on the other side of the room to assist with their order. Seokmin covered his face. “Why me?”

         Joshua immediately snorted into his hands, tilting his head back in amusement as he laughed. “Oh, noooo. The classic ‘you too’.” He snickered. He watched Seokmin try to disappear into his chair, hands buried into his face. It only made Joshua laugh harder. “Awww, don’t be embarrassed.”

         “I’m such a dork.”

         “No, it was so cute.” Joshua leaned forward. He reached his hand out, gently brushing his fingers against Seokmin’s wrist, guiding his hands back down onto the table. Seokmin looked down at his hands, seeing his wrist held gently in Joshua’s grip. Seokmin glanced up, lips pursed together in a little pout. “It was so cute. I do that all the time.”

         Seokmin looked down at his wrist in Joshua’s hand, a feeling he never wanted to forget. He licked his lips, which felt dry for a moment. Joshua’s other hand stuck a fry in his mouth, his smile of amusement still on his face. Joshua’s gentle reassurance calmed Seokmin’s mind just a bit, but maybe too much.

         “Why have you been late for our plans the past few times?” Joshua’s smile dropped, the fry dangling from his lips. There was no going back now, Seokmin knowing he’d regret asking later. “I’m sorry,” Seokmin said quickly, pulling his hand back. Joshua’s hand stayed in its spot on the table, palm facing up as if it was waiting for Seokmin’s wrist to come back into his grip. “I didn’t-.”

         “Seokmin, I’m sorry….” He said softly. “I shouldn’t have done that.”

         “No, it’s okay.”

         “No, it’s really not,” Joshua said. “Not if you’re still upset.” Seokmin leaned back in his seat, biting his lip as Joshua took a deep breath. “Midterms took a lot of my time, and I-.”

         “I know. You don’t have to explain anything to me.” Joshua didn’t seem convinced, in fact, he seemed even annoyed that Seokmin kept pushing him. His eyes narrowed a bit, crossing his arms. “Sorry…” Seokmin whispered. “It slipped out, I didn’t want to make it a thing….”

         “Seokmin, I made two promises and came late to both. That’s shitty to do and I’m sorry. You can be mad at me, it’s fine.”

         “I-I’m not…” Seokmin could feel his heart continuing to beat in his chest, his throat threatening to close. Joshua’s words sounded reassuring, but his tone was laced with annoyance and regret. How could Seokmin let himself slip like that? Now he’s completely ruined the lunch. He’s completely ruined the date. 

         “Seokmin…” Joshua’s voice was gentle again, and he looked across the table. “I will work to fix my time management. Not just with you, I could stand to do it for a lot of things...I promise.” Seokmin blinked, head tilting to the side and exhaling a deep sigh.

         “Okay…” he said softly. Joshua smiled once again. With the situation seemingly handled for now, both of them finally began to eat. Seokmin was taking a bite of his meal, glancing up at Joshua. He was sipping his drink, eyes staring out the window at the world passing outside.

“I’ll be right back.” He said, sliding out from his chair and heading towards the bathrooms located in the back of the room. Seokmin watched until he disappeared behind the bathroom door. Alone, Seokmin painted Joshua’s face in his mind, needing to study it without interruption. He noticed the bags he remembered from the first time Joshua came to his house were still there, still caked under the foundation. His eyes, now that they weren’t focused on Seokmin, looked almost glazed over in exhaustion. Apologizing and claiming accountability seemed to take a lot more out of him, a sight that made Seokmin only feel more guilty for his comments. Joshua had his reasons, he shouldn’t have made such an outburst, especially in public. He did the one thing he never wanted to do; cause problems for others without fair warning. He felt absolutely disgusting.

Seokmin pulled out his phone, seeing a text from Mingyu; a thumbs up and a heart sticker as his way of wishing Seokmin luck today.

[Seokmin] (now): What do I do? I asked him about being late and now I think he’s upset with me. I feel awful. I wanted to leave but I couldn’t do that. Could I? No, I don’t want to. I can’t believe I asked, it’s no big deal, I’m not upset with him.

Seokmin watched the wall of text grow and grow as his fingers flew frantically along the letters. Finally, with a ragged sigh, he deleted the entire thing, simply sending Mingyu a smiley face sticker in response and setting his phone back down. He covered his mouth with his hands, watching the bathroom door silently until Joshua returned. He was smiling once again, hands in his pockets as he returned to the table.

         “Are you okay?” Seokmin asked softly as Joshua sat back down beside him. “You look tired.”

         Joshua nodded his head. “Yeah, of course!” Seokmin immediately clocked the forced tone in his voice, mostly from personal experience. He put another bite of his fries in his mouth as Joshua leaned forward. “Hey, do you want to come to my place after this?”

         Seokmin almost choked on his food, turning his head and coughing. When he glanced back, Joshua was offering another small smile at him. “Sorry, what?”

         “Do you want to come to my place?” He asked again, seemingly unbothered in the request. “I just bought a few new beads and boxes and I’ve been itching to break them open and make a bracelet or something.” Seokmin watched him. “I remember you said you wanted to learn.”

         “Oh uhm….” Seokmin swallowed, putting his water to his lips and taking a long sip in hopes he would come up with the right answer this time. When he set his cup down, Seokmin saw Joshua waiting for an answer. “You don’t mind?”

         “Would I invite you if I did?” He cocked his head to the side. He had a point.

         “Uhm…okay.” He smiled. Joshua nodded, grinning in what Seokmin could only hope was excitement.

         “Awesome.”

         Seokmin couldn’t stop staring at Joshua’s eyes for the rest of the meal. Between finishing up their meals and Joshua signing the receipt and sticking his wallet back into his pocket, Seokmin wondered if the bags under his eyes felt as heavy as they looked. But he always spewed too much nonsense for one day, and kept his mouth shut for both of their sakes.

⚔🦌⚔🦌⚔🦌⚔🦌⚔(im)perfect🦌⚔🦌⚔🦌⚔🦌⚔🦌

         “You live here?” Seokmin’s neck craned up at the stunning set of apartments looming over them. Located only a five-minute walk from the restaurant, the building stood tall and proud over the rest of the area. Seokmin’s eyes darted down another street, one that led to his house. He wondered if he could see the apartments from his own with how tall they were. He had never actively tried to look for them, but he would now. Joshua chuckled a bit.

         “According to my key, I do.” He winked, pulling the little silver piece of metal from his back pocket, dangling it between the duo. Seokmin glanced back up at it as Joshua headed towards the front entrance. “Come on, then.” He motioned to Seokmin. “I live on the sixth floor, so we can take the elevator.”

         Without question, Seokmin followed behind him, hands in the pockets of his jeans as they headed in. The apartments were definitely expensive, and Seokmin immediately caught this by the large main area that welcomed him, giving him the feeling of a hotel. It smelt like strawberry, and Seokmin suddenly craved one. Joshua motioned towards the elevator, leading Seokmin past the P.O. Boxes lining one of the walls. He waved to the few people making their way through the halls, all of them knowing him by name and Joshua seeming to know them in the same way. A few polite nods of his head got Seokmin to the elevator, and they both stepped inside.

         The trip up was quiet, Seokmin’s eyes glued to the number as it ticked up. 2…3…4… Seokmin felt his heart tighten at the idea that on date one – pull yourself together! – Seokmin was going to his apartment. What would people at school think of him if they found out? He didn’t have time to weigh the options, as the elevator door rang and Joshua stepped out. “This way.” He turned to Seokmin, motioning down the hall. He hooked a left at the end, and pulled his key out. “I know I already told you I’m an amazing actor, but I’m an even better jewelry making.”

         Seokmin’s lips perked up at the comment. “Yeah? I don’t think I’ll be that good.”

         “It’s not as hard as you think.” He confessed, turning to Seokmin. “Besides, it’s mostly to relax. At least for me.” When he got to his door, he stuck the key in and clicked it, flinging it open. As Joshua stepped in, motioning Seokmin to follow, Seokmin swallowed a big lump in his throat and followed. He had already texted Seungkwan and Mingyu that he was going to Joshua’s apartment after lunch, and he could already feel the vibrating frenzy happening in his back pocket with what he could only assume was their lewd forms of encouragement. As he stepped into the main room of the apartment, Joshua closed the door behind them.

         “Wow.” Seokmin admired the layout before him, an arch to his left leading into what he could only assume was the kitchen, and a small step leading to an L-Shaped couch and large TV hanging on the wall. He could immediately see college parties being held here. “This is really nice.”

         “Thanks.” Joshua said. “At first, I thought it was too big, but I kind of like the space. We have a nice balcony and everything.” When he saw Seokmin’s eyes dart left to right, he smiled. “Want to see it?”

         “Oh, okay.” Seokmin nodded, and Joshua led him deeper into the apartment. As he took a few steps, just about to step into the little dip that was the living room, his footsteps stopped. At the edge of the couch was a man, someone Seokmin had never seen before. His eyes immediately widened at the stunning vision before him. A slender man with flowing black hair that reached his shoulders, and a beautifully delicate face. He was sitting on the couch in nothing but a pair of long pajama pants and a robe that was untied just enough to expose his collarbones and chest. Seokmin had to glance away, so he looked at Joshua to gauge his expression. That didn’t help.

         Joshua’s cheeks were red, annoyance buried in his brows as he put his hands on his hips. The male on the couch glanced over, grinning. “Hey.” He said. “You’re back, Joshuji!”

         “Jeonghan…what the fuck are you doing here?”        

The second those words filled the living room, Seokmin’s feet felt as if they were glued to the floor, and he so desperately wished he was closer to the balcony.

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