#if anything red clashes.. which is why he has pink

[smeraldo-heart]

What if Greez found Cal on Bracca after the purge?

Because Cal deserves some happiness in at least one universe.

Greez had to search his storage for another jumpsuit from his academy days that would fit a human. He found one but it was oversized, at least until he washed it… Now it’s both shrunk, and washed out to a pale pink instead of its usual red.

Not that Cal minds though. He insists this is better. Strange kid.

Greez wouldn’t trade him for the world.

[leftdestiny-posts]

Good morning, Shiro, DOTT!! When I heard about your bakery, I just had to check it out. Which pastries would you recommend for a first-time customer?? :3

"That depends on the customer."

DOTT places the last cupcake from this morning's batch behind the glass counter. The bright blue and pink icing does not stand out between the other bright colors in the bakery. If anything; it seems like it'd be a signature item on the menu.

Once he's satisfied with its specific placement, a smile forms on his face and he gently pats his hands against the apron that's tied around his waist.

DOTT Bakery (Also known as .bakery on official papers and the sign on the building) has always had a peculiar reputation.

It's unusual in the way the building appeared in the corner of a street in Snezhnaya's capital out of nowhere, unusual because of the neverending new items and recipes; their unusual ingredients which somehow taste amazing when prepared by the baker, and the unusual DOTT himself;

An eccentric guy that no one really gets.

He's rumoured to be, well... many things.

Quite frankly, the rumours clash and people can't seem to make up their minds about him.

Some people say he's too friendly; his smile is too wide and, really, why would anyone be smiling in Snezhnaya's current conditions?

He is too much; a freak, strange, and most likely an outsider.

Other people praise his creativity and are attracted to the welcoming feeling of the bakery. They say it's a refreshing shop amidst the otherwise grim streets.

Too friendly turns into a sigh of relief to people who experienced the coldness of the world. To them, his eccentric nature can be accepted as a form of comfort.

A hope that perhaps, some day, the Archon of Love will bless the nation with prosperity and happiness again.

And while you can't judge these things upon someone you've just met; you can see why there would be contradictions surrounding him.

Despite the smile and the welcoming impression he gives off, a set of lifeless eyes makes you feel uneasy as they glance your way. Their red color is alarming, unusual. Unique, yes. Certainly. However, for something so bright, his eyes are seemingly lifeless... dull????

If you were staring, DOTT would not be bothered by it. Instead, he seems quite cheerful at the sight of a new customer!

From the counter, he grabs a card and turns it to you. His fingers slide over the words. "My bakery is specialised in sweets, although we have a vast variety of savory pastries as well."

If you were to look at the menu, you'd notice that the items on it do not match the items currently available. From the looks of it, it's not outdated. Perhaps he is still trying to decide what to add.

"Feel free to look at the items with reviews. If you find nothing to your liking, you're free to request something to your taste."

UNLOCKED: MENU ITEMS

> every time a customer orders a [ new ] item, it will be added and delivered with a fragment of DOTT's memory

[stxr-bxy]

alternative marauders headcanons

james

somewhat alt, more of a rock person but definitely appreciates alt culture. favorite artists are fleetwood mac, melanie safka, jaco pastorious, the smashing pumpkins, and heart.

sirius

punk rock badass. his favorite bands are bad brains, death, black flag, bad religion, and sleater-kinney. he likes the sex pistols too. but has an appreciation for lots of music. he likes david bowie, sisters of mercy, and deftones.

remus

prefers rock but also enjoys punk. favorite artists are david bowie, the strokes, october country, pink floyd, and iggy pop. considers himself punk-ish because he listens to the music and agrees with the ideology. the proof that you don’t have to dress punk to be punk.

peter

grunge rock stan. favorite artists are nirvana, soundgarden, mudhoney, red hot chili peppers, and stone temple pilots. dresses like he’s homeless (which is basically how i dress) but makes it look cool with diy and studs and spikes.

lily

loves almost all music. favorite artists are radiohead, evanescence (idk why i just think she’d like them), bratmobile, pixies, and x ray spex. she dresses kinderwhore-ish grunge and loves dressing feminine and distressed (idk how to describe it). adores the punk subculture and loves when baby punks come to her shows.

marlene

the ultimate riot grrrl. dislikes the movement from the 90s bc it wasn’t super intersectional and excluded queer/trans women and poc but recognizes that it did help some women and should come back with some improvements. favorite artists are bikini kill, hole (but doesn’t support courtney love), bratmobile, emily’s sassy lime, and L7

mary

somewhat alternative but definitely a badass. favorite artists are abba, fiona apple, björk, kate bush, the bangles, and blondie. she likes anything raw and emotional with meaningful lyrics. loves to analyze songs and find out the symbolisms behind them. in her opinion music doesn’t need to sound good to be good, she cares more about the meaning.

emmeline

loves female artists and queer punk. favorite artists are mommy long legs, kittie, pinkshift, cheap perfume, and baby guts. loves subversing gender roles in music and fashion so she sometimes dresses masc and incorporates those themes in her music. proof that someone can be both a sweetheart and a total badass at the same time.

emma

loves all music. literally everything. favorite artists are coven, the slits, mitski, garbage, and limp bizkit. her style changes all the time but she loves hippie and indie styles. her favorite song is california dreaming by the mamas and the papas. loves lighting incense and going for walks. somewhat alt but more of a mellow subversive alt instead of an in-your-face-let’s-tear-it-all-down angle.

regulus

goth and punk. favorite artists are joy division, alien sex fiend, the muslims, and the clash. doesn’t dress very punk but dresses in a more casual goth style. only goes all out for shows and concerts he goes to. most of his wardrobe is black so he can never find specific clothing items.

pandora

faerie goth and hippie-ish. loves ethereal wave and cold wave music but also likes other stuff. favorite artists are molchat doma, cocteau twins, nine inch nails, and siouxsie and the banshees. dresses in a hippie-ish fairycore style and never dresses casual unless she’s at home. definitely shaved or bleached her eyebrows at one point.

barty

punk punk punk punk. the punkiest mf you’ve ever seen in your life. he exclusively wears leather jackets and crust pants. favorite bands are dead kennedys, rage against the machine, pure hell, the runaways, and pansy division.

evan

barty’s badass boyfriend. listens to almost all music. his favorite artists are eminem, the neighborhood, kiss, and joan jett and the blackhearts. somewhat alt, fashion is whatever he can afford and thinks is cool. gets a new piercing or dyes his hair as a coping mechanism.

dorcas

punk rock princess. favorite bands are pure hell, gina young, vulpes, bad brains, and mannequin p*ssy. they love poly styrene (x ray spex) and really look up to her because she was a very influential black woman in punk music. always had headphones on and is blasting “germfree adolescents” at all times. also loves kat bjelland (babes in toyland) and ari up (the slits)

[diamondcrownacademy]

DCA Info Part 61: Fairy Brother Trivia

To learn about their roles in DCA, click here!

❤️ Florence

• The eldest fairy brother who loves to shop for anything red or pink. He is very much into jewelry trends and would have clippings from magazines into his journals to take note.

• His personality is more of a charming gentleman who is a social butterfly and is always up to date in trendy topics. He doesn't care if the clothes he's wearing are close to a dress, if he looks fabulous in it then he wears it, no questions. Much like Asher, he acts like an overprotective dad towards his students, even during events where RSA and DCA have held balls on either campus, he's always scanning the area to make sure the boys don't do anything rash to his precious students.

• Once met Divus during a fashion show and the two keep in touch from time to time. Though there were times Divus starts to contact him more often ever since Ella got enrolled into the school. And he's always kept tabs on her latest creations and he sends Divus pictures with her permission.

• Even though he and Asher may bicker from time to time, they do care about each other but it's a tough love kind of relationship between them. Their ideals and morals just always seem to clash and it leads to comical arguing.

• He absolutely loves flowers and sometimes the students place a lovely arrangement in the vase placed on his desk. He makes bookmarks and even would make flower crowns out of them.

• Florence has a small flowerbed full of roses and he named each one. Every time the flowers wilt and regrow into buds he addresses it with "(Flower name) II, III, IV..." and he will proceed to go up a number every spring. He keeps the flowerbed in his quarters.

• He can be seen snacking on strawberries during break. He likes chocolate-covered strawberries when buying his snacks.

💚 Faustus

• The second fairy brother that keeps to himself sometimes. He does say something now and then but he likes to spectate rather than interact. He is a rather small-talk kind of guy. Doesn't say too much and won't make the first move at all.

• For some reason, he can't spend a single second in the kitchen without something catching on fire when it involved the stove or oven. Which is why his brothers insisted that one of them but him gets to use the kitchen. The only thing he could make was PB&J.

• His skills in music were so phenomenal that even the animals gathered and danced around whenever he starts music class.

• Secretly a bit of a troll who wants to watch the glorious chaos unfold. When Florence and Asher start yelling, he's sitting on his folding chair and munching popcorn. He got the idea to set up the “Asher vs. Florence” club and everyone but the two professors knew about its existence.

• Usually he wears a polite smile, but the thing that his brothers know is NOT to make any noise when he's napping or sleeping. He's very terrifying and will become such a menace that it almost looks like he's going to commit murder on the perpetrator.

• This is the only time the two would try to get along and even reschedule an argument at a later date in fear of facing Faustus' wrath.

• He loves a good tea party and can even be seen lounging around Futterwacken's tea table during lunch break. He likes sample platters, he thinks it's like a mukbang but it's the miniscule version.

💙 Asher

• The youngest of the fairy brothers who is the toughest out of them all. He gets along with Actius and they sometimes work out together and they even have arm wrestling competitions. They even took turns on the mechanical bull to see who can last the longest. Sometimes they play matador with it, purposely trying to make it angry and try to dodge it's large metal body.

• He is rather blunt and won't sugarcoat unless necessary or the situation is dire that being straightforward won't help. He isn't as strict as Mozus, he's just stern because he thinks logically that people will take advantage of someone who is innocent so he wants to open their eyes on reality, his views clashes with Florence's who thinks that girls don't have to always be tough to be taken seriously.

• Asher likes to drink a variety of alcoholic beverages. His favorite is vodka. Though when he isn't craving anything alcoholic, he'll sometimes get a root beer float. He is great at making the most aesthetically pleasing sundaes and floats when he feels a little hungry for something sweet. He dislikes eating plain ice cream and will bring out a lot of toppings and snacks to add to it.

• When he gets mad, he rolls up his sleeve and goes in to talk with his fists, it's instinct by this point and he has to be held back.

• Divus makes him nervous every time he smacks that whip, he thinks it's the sound it makes and how he can imagine how painful it would be if that hit someone.

[croissantlover24]

Writing idea:

Spaniard has a body in this idea.

Spaniard going dress shopping/looking at dresses with Earth, since he wants to hang out with her.

He watches her check out different things, and eventually decides to try on something himself.

To his surprise, he ends up liking the dress he tries on, but then gets worried that Moon won’t approve of Spaniard getting one.

Earth reassures Spaniard that it’s fine though, and if he’s really worried about Moon, she’ll help him talk to Moon about it.

In the end, he ends up getting the dress, with Earth having to pay for it. But she doesn’t mind though.

(Love love love love this one)

Spaniard hadn’t known why he agreed to go shopping for dresses with Earth. He wasn’t going to do anything but watch. In fact, he wasn’t even sure why she even asked him to come with her.

But here he was, in the middle of a mall and surrounded by all kinds of flowery and vibrant apparel. Earth was giddy with excitement. At least a hundred dresses were draped over her arm, and she was still racing through the aisles. She ran back over to him as he stood there awkwardly.

“I’m going to go try these on,” Earth explained smoothly, her voice like a balm on Spaniard’s mental wounds. “Could you tell me what you think of them?”

Spaniard nodded, watching as the animatronic thanked him and ran into the dressing rooms with a smile spread wide across her face. He began to set up simulations for color theory and which hues complimented which skin tones.

He had no opinion himself, after all, so why not let science choose for him?

Earth returned after a brief pause wearing a brilliant, creamy white dress fading into a soft pink at the bottom. Cherry blossoms lined the sleeves and skirt of the clothing item. The apparel flowed around her form perfectly like a cloud.

The colors, however, clashed with her earthy hues.

“What do you think?” Earth inquired, practically bouncing in place. Pollux was rubbing off on her, it seemed.

“I don’t like the colors,” Spaniard replied blankly, listing off the general rules of color theory said outfit violated.

The two continued this with several more dresses: deep greens, sky blues, sanguineous reds. Spaniard was deeply enjoying himself. He found that he really liked helping Earth out.

Or maybe he just liked being away from the pressure and expectation Moon’s presence brought.

Earth held onto the few dresses the computer approved of and began to waltz towards the exit. He followed before pausing, turning to face something that caught his eye.

A periwinkle dress sat before him. It faded into a grape-like purple. Magenta sleeves glistened like stained glass. A lilac belt beckoned him. His eyes widened in awe, as if he were a child watching a solar eclipse for the first time.

“Do you like that one?”

Spaniard jumped at the sudden sound of Earth’s voice before responding monotonously in the affirmative.

“Try it on,” she urged.

“…Are you sure? I don’t have any money on me.” Other than Moon’s bank account, but Spaniard was asking to be murdered if he used that.

“I’ll pay for it.”

“Are you sure? I don’t want to—“

“I’m sure,” Earth interrupted before insisting he try it on.

The computer sheepishly agreed and put on the dress, admiring his reflection.

He looked… pretty.

He searched for a different word, but couldn’t find one more fitting. That was it. That was him: pretty.

“I’ll buy it for you,” Earth said, already running with it to the check-out line.

“I don’t think Moon will want me to wear this,” Spaniard murmured.

Earth frowned, protesting, “You look great in it! He won’t care; I promise.”

The computer agreed, but couldn’t help but feel that he was inviting a disaster into his home.

If he even had one.

[mandysxmuses]

(( could you go more into the color symbolism of your Keeper characters? as in, why certain colors were chosen for them? ))

//OH BOI, absolutely

With Emma, the answer might be a little disappointing but it really was a matter of the stereotype of girls liking pink, there isn't really much deeper symbolism there. She just likes pink, just thinks it's neat, though as she got older she wore a bit more purples and was canonically wearing a lavender dress when she died

and the purple there had nothing deeper either she just. thought it was neat

That being said, her having ginger hair like Trost might be the best hit for symbolism since it could symbolize how he was the caretaker she was the closest to and the way they were both connected to the tragedy

and with most of the others, I can really put my tinfoil hat on and draw all the red lines. ... about characters I created.

Ok so Niemand/Tulpen's main color has always been yellow. As the certified main helper character -- wait crap

SORRY ALWAYS FORGET HOW TO SPELL THAT WORD. as the deuteragonist I wanted to make sure he had a bright, hopeful color associated with him and that it was unmistakable. From the very first concept he was supposed to be the one helping MC out of the bad scary place, so it was both important to have a color they could easily pick out in any environment while also not having it clash with my vision of who he is as a character.

And despite everything he is still one of the most innocent and childlike characters in the Void, which I think yellow is a great representation for, just childlike warmth and innocence

also

help. what did I do wrong

Jemand, similarly, is one of those characters I've had in mind from the very get-go so I've had a while to solidify his design and personality

Black-and-white is deeply embedded in the character. Even his spirit, which along with the others' is supposed to look like a cloud, still follows a strict checkered color-scheme and it's a cloud, boi is defying physics for his aesthetic and we should love that for him. We should be jealous, honestly, and feel bad about ourselves to not have that.

But not getting into how great he is and how awful we are, since he can do that himself...

Jemand is one of the only characters who can, and is the only one who DOES, choose to appear in grayscale. He can make his entire body look like it's showing up through a black and white filter, and while I don't bring it up often while writing him, he usually looks like that unless he's in an environment where that sort of thing would bring on too much confusion for his safety (ex. Earth).

And I think there is a strong symbolic importance to that.

It's important to note that during his performances and concerts, despite remaining in grayscale, Jemand's shows are some of the most dramatic and bombastic explosions of color you'll see. They are over-the-top and beautiful, and he really goes out of his way to make sure they're incredible to any audience.

But there is something deeper to those performances. Anyone close enough to Jemand will have him admit at some point that despite the parties and shows, he feels empty. He not only feels like people only appreciate him if they see something so surface-level, but that's all they CAN do because who he actually is would be so unlikable they'd leave if he showed anything real.

And while that's already complicated, and while it would be understandable since Jemand truly has done some horrific things, these sorts of feelings have been stewing even since Emma was alive. It's something that goes to the core of his character.

But that's another thing the black-and-white can symbolize.. it's technically a form of deception. If there's one thing about Jemand, it's that he constantly lies. He can do so effortlessly and without even thinking about it. He paints a black-and-white view of the world where he's an innocent who can do no wrong and everyone else is the bad guy, and sometimes he lies when there isn't even any need to do so for his own self-preservation. I think the checkered motif can symbolize a blinkered view on behalf of whoever only has his deceptive words to go by.

And while I did want to do this in chronological order, just for Renee I'll break the pattern like she breaks spines, because the black-and-white motif also carries over to her, and for a similar reason.

I mean obviously she's not a shameless liar but she does have an extremely black-and-white sort of way of thinking. "You are a bad person, you are a good person", etc. etc. she thinks in strict dichotomies, no nuance. And while it is very understandable with what she's been through, this "one side or the other" perspective is preventing the recovery of the boys she claims to want. Similarly to Jemand, she'll think of any and every of her own actions in the most charitable light possible, and try to justify any and every abuse to the people she hates.

... I guess I don't need to explain the symbolism of her other main color being red mksaldmd

BUT SHE DOES ALSO HAVE GOLD, she both wears gold jewelry and her office building has some gold highlights inside

Which I think could symbolize her somewhat holy/religious nature, being literally empowered by the spirits of dead humans

ALRIGHT BACK TO TRYING TO DO THIS CHRONOLOGICALLY

(lmao I messed it up from the get-go by putting Niemand before Jemand)

Laut's color is purple, and this is typically a color symbolic of royalty and wealth and... well. Laut is the only one who puts any form of emphasis on wealth and even exhibits some forms of classism (and the only reason this DOESN'T make him look like a complete tool is because he doesn't actually know what wealth or an economy even is or anything)

But yes, he is a very pompous uppity "high class" man, who wants to present himself with an air of regal superiority, so purple really suits him

and he wears a purple SUIT hahaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!

TODDIIIEEEEEEE

(ngl I think it's funny how that literally started as Schatz's nickname for him that he hates, and then some of his ships were like "I'm gonna call u that" and he's like "omg I love that name..........")

anywho

while Toddie's bright orange hair is the first thing most people would notice about him, he kind of has the most basic look of everyone of the Void, just dressing in brown sweats and sometimes not even wearing shoes

And while the orange could be said to have symbolic meanings to his character and is technically his "main" color, the brown, to me, holds a lot more to him. It's a color that doesn't match his spirit yet he chooses to wear it.

He deliberately goes without bathing or other forms of hygiene as a form of self-harm. He doesn't want to be friendly, he doesn't want people near him. He wants (or at least thinks he wants) to be repulsive.

But given that orange is a color that has symbolized warm feelings and optimism and happiness, I do think that does hold some truth to who Todd was, and who he could still be even if he's convinced he can't

and while there technically are a lot more characters I could get into the weeds on this is actually already getting really long so

I PROMISE I'LL GIVE A PART 2

[midnightsingvogel]

Got tagged by @partyinthemysterymachine you’re a SWEETHEART

Rules: Tag 10 (or less) people you want to get to know better

relationship status: Wouldn’t you like to know, weather boy 👀 This post alone is gonna get me 4 sugar daddy bots the moment I set it loose!

favorite color: I like vibrant colors. Cardinal red, poison purple, sunflower yellow/orange, acid/apple green, seafoam blue, tyrian pink- Like honestly my room looks like a bird nest- which is ironic cause I mostly wear black and gold/silver, or stripes cause I’m 2000s late. [but, I do, have the Boom Boom Boom, allegedly. Don’t tell the 3008′s authorities. I’m not sure I’m supposed to have it.]

song stuck in my head: (Paper Cages - Franz Ferdinand)

Well we'll never be free; If our incarceration Is a story we tell; A tale of invention Is it personal choice; Personal conviction Or are you living like me in paper cages?

three favorite foods: As long as it’s savory I’m on board. I genuinely have the worst taste buds I will eat anything (anything but olives). But uh I guess 1- I’ve been craving tuna tartare like you wouldn’t believe since I came back from the hospital 2- crepes 3- pistachio gelato

last song I listened to: (Doombop! - The Toxhards) apparently spotify is picking up on my pseudo-neurotic “oh yes this is fine 🙃” song trends, vaguely gorey roadkill thumbs up wildly clashing tone/lyrics gnawing on the coffee tables. It’s somewhat recent I think.The kind of song that makes you want to storm a room singing the chorus, balls to the wall, ideally covered in blood.

dream trip: Until recently somewhat I didn’t think I’d be down to travel but meeting the right people made me realize it could be an adventure and not just a chore. I think I’d be down to go anywhere as long as it were with the right people. My dad keeps trying to tell me he has FB friends in europe I could visit and mannnn I don’t know these people. Come on.

But yeah short term I think I’d be happy to just see as many cheesy tourist traps as possible, as long as I’m with good company. Although, in the long term... I think I’d love to see has many Art-Nouveau style buildings/expositions as possible.

last thing(s) i googled: “What is the meaning of ‘A Stitch in time saves Nine’ proverb” (for a DnD game)

That’sssssss it I think?

Feel free to steal that post if I haven’t tagged you.

Aight hopefully you guys haven’t been tagged already (I did not check and I will not be checking. get TAGGED mfks): @sleeping-potatoe @eyeimagery @northerngrail @toonysart @neptunes-salty-butthole @clubsdeuce @canadian-riddler @acapelladitty @lfthinker @ac0nites @flyfloyd @lankybrunettepartdeux @paperweight-jellyfish @voiceboss @spinejackel @flsalazar @aldynafox @hoodienanami @hiilovetrash @cloverchameleon @hurdygurdywizard @big-urchin-energy @sandeyminebook @crying--crow @auroramoth @hellohellomorgan @susanstranglehands @mx-dyke @finzphoenix @obscurism @mrs-faggot @sarahchagalls

(I can’t figure out which urls are from the folks from the pie server aside those already named istfg anyway consider yourself tagged TAN I DON’T KNOW YOUR BLOG PLEASE I DON’T EVEN KNOW --- ALSO WHY ARE SOME OF YOU MATURE BLOGS I CAN’T FUCKING TAG YOU WHAT IS THIS, 2016???? COME ON)

[moonpersonalter]

Lipstick

Fandom: Fate/Grand Order Rating: T [in case] Warnings: N/A A/N: very self indulgent fic I wrote because I've been thinking about a certain Berserker hehe. Please note that the Master here has a name but is not mentioned.

Today, the Master wore purple lipstick.

The dark shade was reminiscent of amethysts untouched by light. It clashed with her eyes more than complimenting it, the bright yellow hue of her eyes being overshadowed by her own makeup.

Cu Alter didn't knew when she decided to wear such a terrible shade. Then again, he didn't knew exactly what idea floated in that head of hers that drove her to wearing lipstick. It just... happened. On one boring day, she showed up, with lips full of the color of pink roses.

It didn't match her skin at all, too light to even be called make up. Others seem to think otherwise, sending compliments her way. She looked happy though, thanking each one for the kind words, but her eyes kept fluttering his way, as if expecting something from him. The quiver of her lips, pulled back slightly into a tense bite. The kind master, however, was too kind to ask the Berserker and kept her mouth closed instead.

The day after that, it was a bright yellow hue similar to her eyes. Cute but once again, the way the shade awkwardly sits on her lips didn't compliment her that well. She looked his way again, expectation flashing in her eyes before turning her head the other way, her shoulders sagging in disappointment at the lack of reaction.

And the day after that? A new color, the shade of red that reminded him of strawberries. It... fits her. The way her lips move as she speaks, it draws his eyes in, focuses more on the subtle movements. The way they purse or pout, making it look plumper than usual was... sort of adorable. If his Master knew what he'd think, she might feel more inclined to wear it often.

Sadly, with how she read his straight face when her eyes glanced his way, it disappointed her once again, leaving her to change it to the color it is today. It was a downgrade for sure. Or it was a downgrade to him. Most Servants continued to compliment her color choices, some more over the other, but complimented her still. And as usual, her eyes kept fluttering back his way, disappointed at his lack of reaction.

This... was where his last bit of wondering broke.

Approaching his Master once every person had gone off someplace else, the poor girl yelps as she noticed his shadow casting over her. Turning around to greet him, she was instead met with his face already close to hers, glaring at her with an unreadable expression.

She gulps, a blush beginning to color her cheeks. "Yes... Cu—"

"What do you want?" He immediately cut her off. She responded with a weak 'Pardon?', rolling his eyes as he rephrased his question. "Why were you looking my way so much?"

Her blushing cheeks grew brighter, head turning the other way again. "I... it's because...," she fidgets, trying to find the proper words.

It took her a moment.

Two moments.

A glance and then another.

She took all the time in the world to come up with something, anything decent, coherent, or even believable enough to convince him that— "I wanted to know... which color you liked?"

A moment of silence. The Master, too afraid to look his way, remained glued to staring at someplace else while the Berserker before her continued to glare at her. Not out of impatience nor frustration. Far from it.

If she had simply asked him the question before, he'd have answered in kind. Instead of going through this cat and mouse chase of catching which color he'd react to most, he'd have made his choice already so long ago. But knowing her, she didn't want to overstep her boundaries with someone as stern as him, didn't want to inconvenience him with something as trivial as makeup.

"You overthink too much," he said, breaking the silence that lingered longer than she wanted. Opening her mouth as if to apologize, was quickly shut by his lips locking with hers, his tongue already slipping past her open mouth.

She let out a small yelp, throwing her arms around his shoulders as she held onto him tightly, her legs giving way as his arms wrap around her petite form, pulling her closer to his. His hand, the same one that held tightly around his spear, carefully tangled into her hair, making sure she didn't turn and escape from their kiss.

Once he was satisfied, he leans his head back, the string of saliva still connecting their lips. He stared down at her face, that half-lidded look in her eyes and flushed face, paired with her lipstick smudged. He forgot for a moment that she wore that horrendous shade of purple. "You look better with red lipstick."

Her face deepens red, "O-oh... okay."

He didn't bother letting her speak after that, leaning in again for another kiss.

The next day, she wore red lipstick again.

[percontaion-points]

Clawless chapters 23 & 24

Today's review might be difficult for some; reader discretion is advised

Click to see the rest of the snark & image descriptions

Click here for the rest of the series!

Chapter 23

…and a pale pink sweater with a rolled neck. It didn’t quite cover the collar, so I added my school scarf. It was Marshall red, which I was pretty sure clashed with my sweater, but I couldn’t find anything better in my limited closet.

It’s not so much that it clashes as it is that you probably look like Valentine’s day. 

They were gathered in the breakroom of Omega House. The tables and chairs had been pushed aside and they were a blur of shining hair, bright smiles, and beautiful dresses in every shade of the pack colors. The combined chatter and laughter were almost overwhelming, and I hovered in the doorway, scanning the crowd. All the senior omegas were there, along with a smattering of betas. And there wasn’t a male in sight, if you didn’t count the squirming, yawning, yipping bundles of fur in their mothers’ arms. 

Here’s the thing about the dynamics presented IN THIS SERIES: that all omegas are made to be caretakers. 

Yet somehow in the same breath, they say that the male omegas are somehow above taking care of the babies. 

Yay internalised misogyny! 

“I think it’s best you return to your room, Omega. Den Night is a privilege that must be earned.”

Again, seeing as how much Vail doesn’t actually want to be doing literally all of this stuff… Why the fuck does she keep trying to goddamned hard? 

If it was me, I would have flopped down on my bed and gone straight to sleep. Like fuck them kids. 

“Jasper’s brothers,” Nadia whispered. “We couldn’t bear the thought of you not meeting them.”

So here’s a quick question: has this woman spent a single moment of her adult life not being pregnant? 

And then I remember that Jasper killed his father, so maybe “constantly keeping his wife barefoot and pregnant” was one of the dozens of reasons why he ended up doing it. 

The parentification of the older wolves must be fucking insane. 

 The pup in my lap gave a whimper and licked my face, his tongue as sharp as sandpaper.

Is he a dog or a cat? Dogs don’t have sandpaper tongues. 

And it wasn’t me sitting in the tangled mess of my bed, but a black wolf, with bright green eyes.

Chapter 23 summary: Later that same day, in the evening, they have their first Den Night (aka overnight babysitting of the puppies). Since Vail is new, the mothers are trying to sort of… interview Vail, trying to understand where she comes from. Especially since she was basically raised by humans. (We think.) However, Pearl comes over and she’s like “This bitch was given a collar. She also almost killed your son while she was high on wolf fire.” This makes all of the mums really angry, and they basically kick Vail out. 

She goes and mopes in her room for a while before Jasmine and Nadia show up with two puppies that they introduce as Jasper’s siblings. The narration is honestly kind of vague about if they’re actually puppies or more like human babies, or if they can shift between the two forms. As soon as Vail is handed one of the babies, she starts to see images of important stuff to the puppies. Which is exactly what you’d think would be important to somebody with a toddler-like intelligence: snacks, mummy, toys, etc. Vail expresses surprise over this, and the girls tell her that babies are only able to share thoughts like that with people that they’re related to. Which makes no sense, considering that at best, Vail would eventually end up as a sister-in-law. 

Right before the girls take the babies away, they share one last image with her: of walking into Vail’s room, but instead of seeing Vail, they see a wolf on her bed. 

Chapter 24

Because Trey Barakat was watching me, the other pup held hard against his chest. 

Forget Jasper, Trey is officially the fucking worst. Don’t kidnap a literal child simply to get what you want, dude. 

And if I didn’t return with his brother, I’d be facing a shitstorm way beyond a secret nighttime visit.

Why is somebody breaking into the school to kidnap a child somehow Vail’s problem? Like I know that literally anybody would probably rush out to save the child, but come on. These people treated her like crap, and now she’s telling the readers that she’d face punishment for something SHE WASN’T EVEN FUCKING INVOLVED WITH. 

Punish the girls actually participating in Den Night, because the baby was taken on their watch. But holy fucking shit, don’t punish Vail. 

I had no idea what security upgrades had been made to Omega House, but I had to assume there were cameras and regular patrols, at the very least.

And yet, somebody fucking broken in and kidnapped a baby? What kind of security joke is this?

I wasn’t sure if it was the claw marks in my throat, or the frantic flashes the pup was throwing at me, but as the guard’s hand hooked around my arm, something made me turn my head and bite down hard.

Chapter 24 summary: Vail is awoken in the middle of the night by one of Jasper’s baby brothers climbing in through her bedroom window. He sends her flashes of basically Trey having taken his brother, so Vail looks out the window in time to see Trey holding the other baby brother. He sees that she’s seen him, and goes into the forest. Vail knows that she’ll randomly be punished if she doesn’t get that baby back, so she goes after him. 

Now face to face with Trey, he tells her that his father died, so things are going to be different now. He tells her that his hands are kind of tied, but that he’s going to help her out soon. He reminds her that she’s tough from having grown up in The Horn, and then vanishes, leaving her with the other baby. 

Right then, the most useless security guards imaginable finally bother to show up. Probably a good fucking 10 minutes after Vail herself left the house after the stolen baby. They shove her to the ground, but Jasper’s brother is having none of it. He starts biting the guards super hard, which is so unbelievably comical. When they try to reach for Vail, she bites them too. 

[depressocafe]

I decided to Republish this because as I said previously there were more examples I wanted to give as evidence but couldn't do so due to the image limit. This is for that. One thing I wanted to do is to dive further into Haggar's body and her physical differences. The reason for this is I believe that when Honerva's body was possessed by the dark entity, the body deformed and changed to match the physical characteristics of the entity itself. Take a look at these image examples.

The entity shown has a blue tint to its overall body matching Haggar's blue skin, it also has a gold eye matching Haggar's golden eyes as well. But that's not the only similarities. I stated earlier that Haggar's magic differs immensely from altean alchemy. Well there's one more physical difference to magic as well that I failed to mention. Haggar's magic looks like the exterior form of the entities body.

Being a clash of violet and black. It also behaves similarly to how entities are seen to move within the show.

Another thing I noticed that is up to your interpretation is Haggar's clothing. After Honerva had begun communicating with the entities from the quintessence field, her clothing began to change as well, almost psychologically. What was once red, black, and gold, representative of Daibazaal and of her position as Queen consort, now was becoming a mixture of purple, black, and gold. The same colors we see on the entities. Now Honerva has changed clothes before from blue dominated clothing to her royal clothes but that change made sense. Honerva wore Blue dominated clothing because it was her uniform as an altean alchemist and scientist. It represented Altea and made known to others her position. It is natural that on Daibazaal she would change her colors to red and black as she is no longer an Altean citizen or royal altean scientist. She is the queen of the galra and must represent that accordingly to her citizens and to other empires. It's because of this that the change to Haggar's traditional garb doesn't make sense because it just doesn't correlate. Which is why it leads me to believe that it is psychological. Perhaps Honerva was already under the influence of the entity at this point.

Color schemes within the empire started changing as well. Anything that Honerva was in charge of the color would become a muted purple or variants of greys and blacks. No more striking red, light purples, pink hues, or any other colors. We see the start of this when we see Honerva at the quintessence field doing research alone in a surprisingly dark lab and wearing the start of Haggar's clothes. It's different from the previous times we see her at the quintessence field. All those times it was brightly light. On the first occasion she's lively even. Then becomes disconnected from others on the second occasion we see her once she is queen. Then the final we see her as I mentioned, her demeanor is completely different and the lab lacks presence. And by the time Haggar comes into existence the overall look is completely changing. Violet command ships, bases, palaces, and more. All darkly lit as well. Even Zarkon's primary ship matches that scheme down to the throne room where it's all violet coloration and a large black wall.

This also further debunks Zarkon's transformation since if this is true, Zarkon would have gone through the exact same things Honerva went through on a physical and psychological level such as the memory loss, the color obsession, talking to seemingly yourself, the deformation, But he didn't. He just became an ass.

Maybe I'm just a little crazy but I just can't ignore this theory or put it past me especially when there are so many similarities and things that just don't add up within this show. I wish the real final season of Voltron didn't get cancelled because maybe, just maybe, all this stuff I'm pointing out was in fact purposeful and would have received an explanation, especially when the show strived so hard to represent entities within the show only to leave them and their existence unexplained and left to the viewers to decide upon their importance and necessity.

Post Made: Oct 18, 2021

Updated: Sep 17, 2023

I don't believe Honerva and Haggar are the same person

I believe the body is the same but haggar and honerva are seperate individuals and you'll see what I mean if you keep reading.

Note: there were supposed to be more image examples to go with this theory but tumbler only allows you to put a limited number of images onto a post and I didn't want to make a part 2

So let's have a talk about Haggar and Honerva. So from what we know about them from voltron is that Honerva was an altean Alchemist and close friend to Alfor. She eventually met Zarkon and later on married him after traveling to Daibazaal to research the Rift. Shortly afterwards she fell ill, zarkon attempted to save her but it was in vain, they eventually resurrected and Honerva, due to memory loss, became Haggar. However, the supposed cannon explanation to Haggar and Honerva's existence doesn't make sense when you put into perspective their differences, especially the ones that were never given any explanation to.

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So first off let's discuss looks. Honerva is a pure blooded altean born woman. She has purple hair with slight waves to it, prominent eyes the color of Gold and deep Violet, a straight nose, dark skin, and average sized ears.

Now as for Haggar she is clearly much different, but not just in what can be clearly seen. For example, the most notable differences would be Haggar's skin and eye color differences. However, Other prominent differences include her nose, curved differently than Honerva's. Her eye shape is more, what can be considered if she genuinely existed, almond shaped. She has longer ears, her hair curls more than honerva's. In addition another difference would be their voices. Honerva's is Mature and feminine, while Haggar's is more hoarse.

Now a lot of you can say, "well the changes could simply be another side effect to the quintessence corruption." And while that may be an easy explanation it doesn't make any sense since, if that were true, Zarkon would be widely different. But he's not. The biggest changes is that his skin developed a slightly more prominent silver Tone to it over time compared to his original and, of course, his eyes changed in color. But that's about it.

And I don't accept the explanation, "well zarkon was at the rift less than Honerva" because, well we all know how much he adored her. So much so that in Both Coran and honerva's own memories as well as alfor's we see him actively being there when Honerva is conducting her research.

Another thing I'd like to point out before we move on is how, I mentioned haggar and honerva's physical differences as well voice differences, but I also want to mention that honerva's features and voice stayed completely the same throughout the entirety of her life up until after she "came back to life" as Haggar. In addition she goes back to her original features once she reclaims her body and becomes honerva again. It's strange to me how, if she and Haggar were truly the same person, how easily it would be for her to somewhat go back to her original looks. Especially go back to her original voice. For example, go look at the two pictures of honerva and haggar then look at images of season 8 honerva. You'll see that not only has her skin and eye gone back to normal, but her ears returned to their original length, her nose is straight again, and her voice is back to what it once was. But why, even if the skin and eye colors could go back to normal, wouldn't the voice, nose, and ears stay the same as they were when she was Haggar due to deformity?

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So, we've gotten physical differences out of the way as well as debunked some things. But what I want to point out next is the most prominent and LEAST talked about difference in the entirety of the series. Even though it was referenced by Alfor's trapped spirit in one of the final episodes of the series. And that's Haggar's magic.

There's no way Haggar's magic can be written off as corrupt altean alchemy, it's just too different. From the magic circles, to the way she releases it, or uses it within her creations or daily life. To give an example Haggar's magic is too chaotic and seems to lack its own laws whilst alchemy has many laws. One such law being the law of equivalent exchange. And no I'm not taking this information from the fma series. This is a genuine alchemic law that exists within Voltron.

Now, to explain further lets take a look at examples of altean alchemy. You'll notice just how different they actually are especially within the use of inventions and machinery, like I referenced in the previous paragraph. To obtain alchemy Allura had to travel to a temple and under go trials. Her final trial she came face to face with the temple's guardian. Allura then states she seeks the secret to life, realizing what she wants she gives up her life in exchange. The law of equivalent exchange. However, the case of obtaining supernatural power functions differently for Haggar or at least it did function differently for honerva when she comes into contact with something dark.

That all being said, if Haggar's too different to be Honerva well then what is she? Well, she's an Entity from the Quintessence field. Yes everyone, the same thing that wreaked havoc on Daibazaal with chaotic power after it escaped from containment. Also, interestingly enough the same thing that allura allows to inhabit her body in season 8.

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Season 8 is honestly really strange when you think about it but the thing that stood out to me was how much entities were represented being able to possess an individual's body as well as the power that they bring to the host as referenced by Alfor's trapped soul, Hallucination Lance, Hallucination Lotor, and Honerva herself.

And funny enough, when allura allowed that entity to possess her, her powers changed. They became much darker, stronger, and more destructive compared to alchemy. As referenced in the paragraph giving us a brief look at magic.

It's also worth noting that no one in the series who knew of Honerva ever treated Haggar as Honerva. Zarkon, who risked his life for her, pushed her away from any romantic or sexual relationship even though she was supposed to be his wife who he loved. And Lotor always spoke so strangely about Haggar. Calling her, "a twisted perversion of what was once so pure and beautiful." And refusing to believe she could be his mother. He also never once denied the notion that her and Honerva were one in the same, but he never accepted it either. Even when it was completely apparent to him and told to his face by his own mother in the cannon explanation. But even then he disregards it. Also, even after that point he never refers as haggar and honerva as the same individual regardless of the fact they inhabit the same body. In fact, the only time they are verbally refered to as being one in the same is when lotor says so in season 8 when he's speaking with allura through his example using juniberries (altean flower). But that's not lotor. It's a hallucination made up by the confined entity and possibly honerva to persuade allura into allowing said entity into her body. So that statement from lotor isn't feesable. Because the real lotor knows. They are not the same. So to believe haggar and honerva are the same person even though it's told to us through the show that's false would be the same as believing Zarkon is still who he once was and the corruption incident never happened, but it all did. And lotor knows. The woman that came out of the rift is not Honerva, and zarkon and Lotor know.

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So then, what happened with the real Honerva? Well, the awnser stared us right in the face the entire time. The souls of the paladins of old were trapped within the confines of Haggar's mind. In fact, millions of souls were there. Souls of everyone she's ever killed. That being said, if an individual can slaughter someone, take their soul and trap it within the confines of a mind within another body inhabited by a seperate soul, then what about the ability to steal a living body and trap the original soul within the mind's confines as well? Thus comes the possibility that Honerva's soul was trapped there as well, unable to surface because an entity had taken over her body. In fact it's entirely possible said entity Haggar entered Honerva when she was still alive within the quintessence field, when honerva and Zarkon were being surrounded by said entities. Or what if it was prior to that. What if in the words of Honerva when she said, "we must always push forth into dangerous territories in the pursuit of knowledge." She held that Statment to close to heart and allowed an entity to inhabit her body in pursuit of knowledge and even worse, it somehow went wrong. After all, entities exist within the quintessence field and thus must need mass amounts of said chemical to stay alive. Which means it could have been feeding off of honerva's quintessence to keep itself alive. And evidently, Honerva also needs quintessence to live as does any other being and possibly allowed raw quintessence to inhabitant her body, possibly causing her disease and weakening her further

Eventually honerva may have decided to try and rid of the entity when she fell horrendously ill and mentally unhinged. We eventually see her ill on her bed unfocused on zarkon and seemingly focused on something else. She starts saying things such as "Get back. Get back. Get back." On repeat but it doesn't seem like she's speaking to zarkon. Additionally When she says, things like, "we must have it, quintessence!" Who is we? Zarkon? Or someone else. "Quintessence is life!" Is this truly honerva speaking anymore. Perhaps her body was in the process of being owned by the entity. "Into the rift... We must have voltron, voltron! Voltron! It is the only way.." Could this sentence have been honerva reaching out to her husband to bring her to the quintessence field in hopes the entity will leave, or could this have been the entity trying to persuade Zarkon to bring honerva there so it could gain more power? Perhaps it's both. In addition, it's entirely possible that the reason for Haggar and Honerva's physical differences is because the body had to adapt to its new soul. Haggar, who ended up taking the body over.

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Now before I end this post I want to say that I don't think Haggar is just some emotionless individual or corrupt supernatural beast. I do believe that when she came into existence she developed proper emotions as well as some form of morality and wasn't just some monster. She is seen to physically care for Zarkon and Lotor to the point that seeing them harmed causes her great pain. Though, why an entity would want to possess someone in the first place, I don't know. Maybe Haggar is the same entity that was in Honerva's test tube and didn't actually die to voltron. Maybe after seeing what realities looked like it wanted a shot at a real existence. Which, honestly, makes me pity Haggar even more. Since if that were true, then her first moments/days of existence were pain from Honerva's left over disease, fear and paranoia of everything, lack of understanding of ones self and the world around it while simultaneously understanding everything due to Honerva's left over knowledge, Intense hours of painful child birth to an infant she did not know of nor initially want, and even after all that still lost some of her very own memories due to trauma. Honestly, this theory is a sad thing to think about.

Post Made: Oct 18, 2021

Updated: March 9, 2023

[smalls-words]

Chapter Three: Did I Squeeze Too Hard?

Summary: You and Natasha clash heads a bit whilst investigating a new friend of hers.

Warnings: Steve being a bad dad/partner at the start, murder (via drowning/asphyxiation), Horny Natasha, Angry Natasha, panic attack.

A/N: A bit of trauma at the end, so please be careful! Otherwise, enjoy

Series Masterlist

*not my gif*

You sat at home, happy to finally have your sling off as Peggy came bounding towards you. "Mama, did Daddy forget to pick me up?" She asked innocently.

"No, peanut, I'm sure he's just stuck in traffic." You reassured her, rubbing her back gently.

"Are you doing homework?"

"Um, sort of."

"What's the assignment?" Peggy leaned into you to see the screen better.

"I saw Natasha do some things I can't explain. So I'm trying to figure out her tricks."

"Is Natasha a magician?!" She gasped, making you chuckle.

"That's sort of what I'm trying to figure out."

"When Daddy gets here, maybe he can help. Sometimes he helps me with my homework."

"I'm not sure if Daddy has the answers to these questions."

"Why don't you just ask Natasha?" Her head tilted in confusion.

"Because if she's a magician, then she won't reveal her secrets. So I have to find out on my own how she does... them..." You trailed off as your phone rang, an unknown number at the top.

You told Peggy to go get her bag as a car pulled into the driveway. "Natasha, how did you even get this number?"

You blared your sirens as you shot down to the luxurious house, knocking on the front door to find Natasha looking at you almost regretfully. "What did you do this time?" You grumbled.

"Well, it's-it's better to show than tell, really." She chuckled nervously, guiding you to the pool area.

Only to find a girl in her lingerie, floating face down.

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You stood in the middle of the closed off room, having been cleared out by investigators, and you glared at Natasha. "What were you doing here?"

"I was having some fun! You should have tagged along, we could have had a few drinks and danced together. Who knows? We might have even ended up in this room together." She wiggled her eyebrows at you but you shook your head.

"One, I don't drink, and two, I would never sleep with you. Ever."

"What, are you straight or something? That's not the aura I was getting from you." She raised an eyebrow but you dragged your hand down your face in annoyance.

"If anything, you are right about that - I am gay."

"So that's why you and Detective Douche broke up! I must ask, was he actually that good in bed? Because although he looks like it, his reputation isn't a great track record."

You glared at her, which only made her chuckle. "What?" You asked.

"You look so funny when you're angry." She smirked.

"This is not helpful. Stay here whilst I finish with the investigation." You looked at her, pointing your finger before you made your way to the 'lost and found' area.

As soon as you put your gloves on, however, an annoying stride echoed in your ears.

"Hey. I heard all hands on deck. I came as quick as I could." Steve grabbed a pair of gloves too.

"Yeah, and on time." You scoffed.

"Look, Y/N, I'm sorry about earlier, okay? I got held up at an arrest in Hollywood. I couldn't get away." He argued.

"I get it, Steve. Save the apologies for Peggy. This is work, and right now, we have a victim with no fingerprints on file."

He sighed as he began to comb through the items. "These are all the unclaimed items from the party?"

"Yeah. Unfortunately, no I.D. that matches our victim according to the others that have searched so far."

"So, what are you thinking?"

You continued searching in the dozens of bags in front of you. "Well, I'm thinking our victim wore a cute red dress. There's no way she'd have that pink clutch. She was out to have fun, so that nullifies anything big and bulky, like a tote. I'm looking for something small, a little sexy..." You grinned as you picked up a flashy yet small clasp bag, the layer of studded jewels having caught your attention. "Something like this."

"Wait a minute, I-I thought you said all this stuff was already searched for ID." Steve asked, confused.

"I'm not looking for an ID. I'm looking for a car." You smirked as you found a set of keys, clicking the unlock button to hear a small chirp from outside.

You instantly walked to the car, Steve hot on your heels, and checked through the car.

"You know, you haven't told Peggy that you're gay yet." Steve remarked as he lifted a cigarette off of the floor.

"There's no point in telling her until I actually date someone." You shot back. "And besides, shouldn't you already be back in bed with someone new? Only took a few months for our fling of a marriage to end."

"I told you, I didn't kiss her, she kissed me." He scoffed.

"I doubt that. I would kiss Sharon rather than kiss you." You smirked at his obvious frustration, knowing you'd won that battle.

"Detectives!" A voice came from the front of the house, a younger agent running up towards them.

"We found something in the master bedroom."

After following her in, you already spotted the crucial evidence. "Found this here in the bed. And it matches the missing fingernail of the victim." The agent reported.

"Isn't this Ty's bedroom?" Steve questioned, watching the gears in your mind spin like crazy.

"Yeah, looks like they did a lot more than talk." You muttered.

Moans entered your eardrums, and Steve was slightly alarmed by how quickly you went after them.

"What the hell are you doing?" You hissed as you found Natasha leaning against a wall, phone in hand.

Well, since you banished me, I decided to make myself useful." She smirked.

"You call watching porn on your phone useful?"

"This isn't my phone, Detective. I think it's our recently departed's." He gestured to the pink wrap case.

"Where did you get this?" You took it from her, turning the volume to mute.

"Just heard a ringy-ding and followed the noise. Now, is delete the little rubbish bin?" Natasha's finger hovered over the screen before you slapped her hand.

"No. You can't delete anything on this phone."

"But it shows Ty and Ali having sex. It's very distracting."

You looked down the hall to see Ty being questioned by another officer. Natasha saw the look in your eyes change before you walked down to him.

"Where are you going? Detective! Detective, you're making a mistake." She scolded but your hand almost slapped her on the chest.

"Stay out of this, Natasha. Cuff him." You ordered the officer.

"Wait, what?" Ty scoffed.

"Ty Huntley, you're under arrest for the murder of Ali Thornton."

"This is ridiculous. Natasha, this is all your fault. I wish I'd never met you!" He hissed at her.

You ignored the way Natasha looked at you, knowing that it would be filled with confusion and disappointment. But, she wouldn't quit it.

"Trust me, Detective. I have been doing this a long time. I know evil. You've arrested the wrong man. The person responsible is still out there!"

"How are you so sure?" You questioned.

"What desire would Ty have to kill a girl giving him a wonderful time?" Natasha chuckled sheepishly.

"Ty had a squeaky-clean image. He sleeps with a girl. Then he finds out she's taping him. She's gonna ruin everything. He gets angry and loses control. You saw the video." You explained shortly.

"The only thing that that video proves is that Ty had sex. He was horny, not murderous."

"Then why would he lie about it?"

"Blame the tequila!" Natasha's hands threw up into the air, seeing a small glimmer of fear in your eyes before she lowered them. "Look, I just want to make sure that you're punishing the right person."

"I will. That's what I do." You said, your voice monotone.

"Lovely, we want the same thing. And there's something else on the phone that you should look into-"

"No more porn. I'm good." You smiled thinly.

Natasha rolled her eyes. "No, it's not that. We should look into it-"

"'We,' as in the LAPD, will look into it. You can go now."

You watched Natasha walk away, looking back at you with confusion painted on her face before she left. You, however, still had to interview the other 200 or so suspects, so you gathered yourself and found a new suspect to talk to.

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Natasha was not pleased with you.

Every time she tried to get close to you, have a laugh and a drink, you closed off. I mean, honestly, who doesn't drink? And no porn? You must be lying about that. And what was with that thing you did when she raised her arms? You didn't seriously think she was going to hit you, right?

She was determined to find out what was wrong with you, so she headed out to find her target. She found the agency Ty was with and charmed her way through reception, flirting with a few agents before she felt a gaze on her.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" You asked after dragging her away from the crowd.

"Finding, then punishing Ali Thornton's actual killer." She replied.

"How did you know to come to this agency?"

"I did try to tell you, Detective. On the dead girl's phone. She called here-"

"And traded calls with Ty's agency a few hours before she was killed. I know, I checked her phone records." You ended for her.

Natasha raised an eyebrow with her smirk. "And you're welcome."

"I also found out that the call was transferred to Ty's agent, Joe Hanson."

"Right, so why did the dead girl even know Ty's agent? I mean, she was Ty's one night stand. It hardly makes sense." Natasha shrugged, incredibly entertained by you.

"Well, that's what I'm here to find out. And that's why you can go now." You smiled dryly.

But Natasha just laughed.

"What's so funny?"

"Well, the fact that you think I'm gonna go. It's hilarious actually."

"Natasha, I don't need your help."

"Look, I'm not trying to solve this for you. I'm ensuring that the right person is held responsible. Look, come on, I've been helpful before, haven't I, Detective?"

You thought it over for a moment, weighing the pros and cons of having Natasha with you. Pros - 6 foot 4, beefy arms, hypnotism. Cons - loves to annoy you to the point of making you want to shoot yourself. "You step out of line one time..." You warned her.

"You can give me a right-good spanking, I promise. Come on, let's go." She responded excitedly, walking a few metres before she turned around to look at you.

"We haven't got all day."

You rolled your eyes and walked with her to Joe's office, opening the door to find him on a phone call.

"Hey, I'm gonna have to call you back. What can I do for you, Detectives?" He asked once finished.

"We have a few questions, Mr. Hanson. We believe that Ty may have killed Ali Thornton last night at his party." You replied, not acknowledging Natasha's stare on you for being called a Detective again.

"Ty wouldn't do something like this. He's such a good kid."

"I'm actually more curious about you, Mr. Hanson." You stated, sitting down in one of the chairs whilst Natasha observed the awards shelf.

He chuckled. "Me? Why? I didn't even go to the party. I had to work."

"You spoke to the victim a few hours before she was killed."

"Maybe it's best if I don't say anything without my attorney." He stated, looking incredibly nervous.

Natasha spun around and walked over to the desk. "Joey! Joe, Joe. There's no need for that. Why don't you tell me what you really want, hmm? What desires drive a man such as yourself?" She asked, not noticing your keen eyes watching her every move.

"I want... to be the greatest agent of all time." Joe replied.

"Really?"

"And to do that, I need to... protect my clients. And, uh..."

"If you want to protect Ty, tell us what you know." You interrupted, watching how Joe snapped out of Natasha's hypnosis.

He grinned widely. "Let's make a deal. I'll tell you everything. You look into something."

You shook your head. "Here's a deal. Tell us everything, and I don't cuff you in front of your co-workers and take you in. I know how this goes. Ali's a young actress looking for a break. An agent promises to help her out, in exchange, she's treated like a party favour to your star clients."

Natasha looked at you carefully - were you speaking from experience?

Joe surrendered. "Okay, okay. I did call Ali. I hired her to have sex with Ty."

"Wow, seems I wasn't the only one who wanted the young virgin to loosen up." Natasha grinned.

"No, I loved the virgin angle. It's a clean hook, got him a lot of attention. But Ty was a mess. I needed him to get over his ex."

"Why?"

Joe turned around and grabbed a thick file from a drawer, dropping it onto the desk with a thick thud. You opened it to find many letters and scrapbook-designed posters with dozens of snippets containing Debra and Tyler.

"Popular boy, this Ty, isn't he? So what, did this anger his ex or something?" Natasha questioned.

"No, it's from his ex, Debra Macall. She left this behind one of the many times she came here trying to find him. She used to call all the time trying to get a hold of him." Joe complained.

"So, he dated a crazy fan?" You concluded.

He nodded. "He didn't know it at the beginning. So when I figured it out, he had already fallen for her."

"Oh, suppose I can understand why." Natasha showed you the poster.

You shouldn't have looked.

"See, after a while, Debra got possessive, controlling. She thought she was managing him. So I told Ty he needed to break up with her. He refused. I made Ty file a restraining order after she broke a girl's nose just for buying him a mojito."

Natasha turned to you, eyebrows raised in surprise. "Quite a hair trigger on this Debra, by the sounds of it."

"If Debra found out that Ty was with that poor girl..." Joe trailed off.

You nodded and thanked him for his time, leaving quickly as you sent a message to Steve. The car ride was quiet, and it was even quieter when you arrived at the yoga studio and parked.

But then little pitter-patters of raindrops on the car roof broke it, sending you into a slightly more relaxed state as you exhaled your deep breath. "Finally, some rain. Maybe someone up there is looking out for us."

"I can assure you, He's in no way meteorologically inclined. Apart from the whole Noah thing, and that was a one-off." Natasha grumbled.

You rolled your eyes. "Anyhow, her roommate confirmed that she took the 4:00 p.m. class, so... Ty's ex should be out any second now."

"I told you that you had the wrong man. Wrong gender as well, apparently. Finally, we're getting warmer."

"Why are you so hell-bent on proving Ty's not the killer?" You asked her.

She sighed. "Like I've been saying, I want to punish the real killer."

"But why? Is it because you pushed him towards Ali at the party?" You pushed her for a better answer.

"Well, I don't see what that has to do with anything. And I think you're starting to agree with me. Otherwise, you wouldn't be here, would you?" She deflected, making you lose interest and focus back on the case.

The short blonde with a purple jacket exited with a friend, the two conversing but it was muffled by the car insulation. "There she is." You muttered, unbuckling your seatbelt.

You watched her eyes widen slightly at the sight of you. "Debra Macall? I'm Detective Valeria, LAPD. We need to ask you a few questions about Ty Huntley."

"I've got nothing to say." She replied, walking towards her car more quickly.

"It's either here or down at the station." You bartered.

"Leave me alone!"

"Debra-"

Natasha caught your stumble from the shockwave of the explosion as Debra's car went up in flames. You immediately came to her side, rubbing her shoulder comfortingly as she looked at the burning car in shock.

"Definitely warmer." Natasha commented.

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You never expected to be in Natasha's penthouse, the heavy bass below creating vibrations beneath your feet. Other agents shuffled around, setting up different equipment and getting into character for the sting you were co-commanding.

"Do I get a code word? You know, for when you take her down. If so, might I suggest 'monkey bottoms'? 'Cause trust me, I can work that into any sentence quite naturally." Natasha grinned, having a drink from her hundreds of bottles lined on the wall behind her.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Steve asked from your side.

You looked at him annoyedly. "Natasha reached out to her and she agreed to meet her, so it's our best shot." You turned to Natasha. "You won't need a code word and you won't be miked because she'll be looking for that. This is a simple handoff. All we need you to do is vouch for Steve as someone that needs her services."

Natasha cringed. "Vouch for Detective Douche? Oh, gosh, this is gonna be harder than I thought."

Steve rolled his eyes. "Once I engage with her, I will hire her to fix a problem of mine."

"Well, if it's that stick up your ass, I'm afraid there's no one strong enough to pull that out." The redhead sighed, her apologetic tone followed by a smirk.

"She goes there to fix my problem, our people will be waiting to arrest her." Steve clarified.

"And then we'll have leverage to find out what she knows about Ali's murder. She has information we need, so let's just stick to the plan." Your eyes silently asked Natasha to listen carefully.

"Assuming, of course, Ronnie hasn't run off because our sting suddenly turned into a Michael Bublé concert." She gestured to Steve's get-up.

"Natasha, this isn't a game. Are you up for this or not?" He huffed.

"Am I up for encouraging someone to commit a nefarious act? Mm, let me think." She pretended to do so, looking over at you with a mighty grin. "Put me in, Coach."

Natasha made her way down to the club with a small smile on her lips, complimenting some of her dancers with their moves. As she walked past Steve, his arms splayed across the top of the booth, she smirked. "I don't think you could look more like a douche."

She felt Steve's annoyed stare burn into the back of her head, but she ignored it incredibly easily.

You sat up in the penthouse, because apparently that's where Natasha thought it'd be best to put you, whilst you watched the duo on the security cameras. "She's here." Steve reported.

"I see her too. Here we go." You murmured.

Natasha made her way over to Ronnie, passing by her before stopping and leaning over her shoulder. An 80's-style up-do matched her biker outfit, looking like the female version of John Travolta in Grease. "Ronnie Hillman, problem-solver extraordinaire."

The woman turned around and immediately began feeling up Natasha, starting from the back of her neck, down her chest, before finishing at her belt. "Mm, are you checking for a wire or are you just pleased to see me?"

Ronnie smirked, pressing herself against Natasha. "Little bit of both, Ms Romanova. Rest assured... I can help you with your problem."

"Well, actually, I don't need your help. I... Wait, what do you think my problem is?" Natasha faltered.

Ronnie grinned. "Impostor running around ruining your name. Your professional reputation has taken a bit of a dive. As has your sexual one, I'm afraid. All those unsatisfied ladies... Word gets around. That is the reason you reached out to me, isn't it?"

Natasha put her mask back on. "Yes, it very much is. I do have a problem that could use your help."

"I am all yours." Ronnie promised.

"Oh! Well, I like you, monkey bottoms. Here's what I need you to do..."

You watched Natasha and Ronnie converse with whispers, their mouths hidden by their hands so you couldn't even read their lips. "Natasha, what are you doing?" You mumbled, grabbing your walkie talkie. "Hey, Steve, what's going on?"

"I don't know. They're still talking. And now she's leaving."

"Fucking hell, Natasha." You cursed, making your way down there.

"What was that for?" You asked her when you arrived, a newly poured martini in hand.

"I made a better plan. You'll see." She smirked.

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It was a better plan. Sort of.

Natasha had lured Ronnie back whilst using her to solve an identity theft problem; the girl who looked nothing like her had been parading around as her, using her cards and reputation to get what she wanted. Then, you interrogated Ronnie and found out that Joe had told her a lie - Debra didn't kill Ali.

You dragged Natasha away from the conversation, her eyes looking at you like she could see the gears turning in them. "You think Joe's the killer, don't you? That he took things into his own hands, quite literally." She inquired.

"Yes, but we don't have any proof." You replied.

"Right, well, how do you propose that we get him?" She put her hands in her pockets.

You voiced your racing thoughts. "Joe pointed the finger right at Debra, painted her as crazy. Why was he so certain she'd make a good suspect?"

"Maybe he found out she went to Ty's party." Natasha shrugged, but saw your eyes light up.

"Maybe he knew she went to Ty's party." You grinned.

You dragged Natasha into your car and sped off, calling for backup on your radio halfway to the agency. When you arrived, two officers were waiting for you and led you through to a meeting room bustling with applause.

"This is Ty Huntley, rebranded!" Joe cheered, looking up at you as his grin faltered.

"Rebranded, eh? Does it come with a new scent? Free toy inside?" Natasha jested.

"What do you want? Ty is free on bail." The agent grumbled.

"We have to talk to Ty down at the station again, maybe walk him past a few reporters." You stated, grabbing a set of cuffs from the officer next to you.

"Whoa, hold on, uh, Joe, what is this?" He asked as you locked the cuffs around his wrists.

"Oh, come on! This is ridiculous. Ty wouldn't hurt anybody!" Joe barked, stepping to you but Natasha moved into his way. "What about Debra? I told you to look into her. She's the crazy one."

"But Debra was home with a friend the night of the murder." You explained.

"What?! She's lying."

You shook your head. "Well, no. There's no evidence placing her at the party. No one saw her." You turned to Ty. "So are you ready to face the cameras?"

Natasha walked to your side, still facing Joe. "His sponsors will love the free publicity. Tell me, what's ten percent of nothing?"

You took a few more steps before Natasha watched the smirk grow on your lips at Joe's protest. "I saw Debra there!"

You turned back around, hiding your smirk beneath your mask as Joe continued. "I went by the party. But a work call came up, and I never made it inside. I didn't say anything before because I told my wife I was working late. When I was driving away, I saw Debra outside Ty's window."

"So you admit you were there that night." You questioned.

"Yeah, and so was Debra. That's the proof you need, right?"

"No, that's the proof we need. We have a sworn statement from Ronnie Hillman saying that you hired the victim to make a sex tape with Ty to blackmail him. I just needed to place you at the scene."

"Yeah, see, that's why I don't lie. It's so hard to keep track of who knows what." Natasha smirked her infamous smirk.

"It's not true. I only want what's best for you, Ty." Joe pleaded.

"You know, I still don't understand. Why is it that my own agent would want to blackmail me?" Ty asked.

"Because he thought eventually you were gonna leave him." You answered for Joe.

"What, because I took one meeting with another agency? Joe... I only did that to make Debra happy." Ty sighed.

"But even though you'd broken up, he knew you'd get back together, so he decided to strike first, get some leverage." Natasha added.

"If he left me, I would be ruined. I mean, do you understand? He is my Brady, my Manning." Joe interrupted, but he really shouldn't have.

"But Ali wasn't cut out for this sort of thing, was she? She didn't want to give you the video." The redhead's voice grew slightly louder.

"Stupid bitch. She said she realised Ty was a good guy. She didn't want to go through with it." Joe paced slightly.

"Her name was Ali Thornton, and you killed her. For what? Greed? Ego?"

"I didn't want to hurt her. I just wanted her phone. But I squeezed too hard." The agent sighed. "I'm done. Forget this. I'm out of here."

As he tried to walk past Natasha, she grabbed him by the neck and threw him through the glass window, his head smacking onto the side of the desk and sending him unconscious.

"Did I squeeze too hard?" Natasha mocked.

"How did you...? What did...?" You stammered, but quickly jumped in front of Natasha as she stormed towards him.

"Natasha, what are you doing? Stop, you can't-"

She gripped your arms and shoved you out of the way. You stumbled and hit the side wall hard, gripping your previously injured shoulder whilst you managed to keep yourself on your feet. "Puttana. (Bitch.)" You winced, the foreign language almost snapping Natasha back into reality.

"Oh, shit. Y/N, I..." She reached towards you but you flinched.

"Take him into custody when he's conscious." You ordered the two uniformed officers as you stormed past them.

"Where's the nearest bathroom?" You asked the receptionist by the elevator, to which she directed you down the hall and on the first left.

You ignored the footsteps coming from behind you, knowing exactly who they were attached to. Your strides got longer, quicker, and you pushed through the door to a completely empty bathroom.

You just missed the lock of the door as Natasha stormed in, immediately snatching your gun out of its pocket and aiming it at her. Natasha watched as your hand shook around the grip, your voice spitting like venom. "Don't you dare take a step closer."

She raised her hands in surrender. "Alright, alright, that was wrong of me. I didn't mean to hurt you, Y/N, I'm sorry." She apologised.

Her eyes fell onto the barrel of the gun as it shook lightly, watching your eyes fight back tears whilst your bottom lip trembled. You threw the gun to the side and turned away from her, curling your arms in on yourself.

Natasha turned only to be shoved out of the way by Steve, his hands coming into your view before he hugged you. "It's okay, it's okay. Brad is gone, he's not going to hurt you. Peggy is safe at school, your mom is still at her holiday house. It's okay, Y/N."

Natasha watched you break down in the bathroom, reduced to a thoughtless stare and thin breaths paired with whimpers and sniffles. You winced as Steve held you tighter around your arms, pressing into the spaces where Natasha had gripped you.

"Y/N, I-"

"Get the fuck out of here." Steve snarled at her.

She had half a thought to punish him for disrespecting her like that, but she couldn't bring herself to do anything violent whilst you were in this state.

So, she left.

[lazuli-bloom]

Zoo Day is Today

Cartoon Beetlejuice x Reader

Word Count : 11,275

Your first field trip after starting work as a teacher for Miss Shannon's School For Girls. A simple trip to the zoo. You even have a student's uncle there to help you chaperone. Everything was nice and planned out, surely nothing could go wrong.

Archive

--=--=--

The morning sun steadily rose but had not yet chased off the nipping chill of the night. A shiver ran down your spine and you pulled your jacket tighter over your chest. You only brought a light coat for the day. Hopefully, if you focused on your work, the chilly bite could be easier to tolerate.

You tapped your pen against the edge of the clipboard. The papers listed off groups, schedules, notes on animals, and a map. On the page of groups, you circled the list of students assigned to you. Seven girls of which you knew only two.

You had been teaching at Miss Shannon's School for a month, but you memorized the names of the two most infamous students. Claire Brewster and Betty Juice. And lucky you, the school assigned both girls to your group. How wonderful. You prayed this field trip wouldn't end up a disaster.

The girls mingled in front of the main building, eager to get onto the buses. Once you had glossed over the list, you peered over the assemblage of students. Other teachers gathered their students to line up for the bus, and you needed to do the same.

There was no sign of Claire or Betty, so you shifted your search to the others in your group. You called out the names listed as you walked the perimeter of the cluster of girls, and one by one you gathered them.

Bertha, check. Prudence, check. Mindy, Gwen, check and check.

You accounted for over half your group and given them red bands that just left three more students. Betty and Claire were still nowhere to be seen, making a Lydia Deetz the next student for you to find.

The short redheaded girl with glasses, Bertha? Or was it Prudence? Regardless, the shorter girl pointed out a dark-haired student with hair styled in a bob cut. You thanked her and left to speak with the next student.

The girl stood off to the side next to a man that you noted bore a striking resemblance to Betty. The man's wardrobe gave a sharp contrast to the prim and proper appearances the headmistress cultivated for the school. He wore a vibrant Hawaiian shirt in magenta patterned with neon green bones. Clashing with that were his shorts striped vertically in black and white bars. Rather unusual, but to each their own.

You focused back on gathering your group and get their attention with a small cough. The two stopped their conversation and turned to you, the girl giving you a pleasant smile when she did.

"Good morning, teacher."

"Good morning, ah..." You trailed off and checked your clipboard. "Lydia. How are you?"

"Good! I can't wait to get to the zoo!"

The man chimed in saying, "Kid's been excited to go all morning. 't's all she's been talking about for the last few days."

"Uncle BJ!"

The girl huffed while the man snickered with a crooked smirk. You bit your lip and fought to keep your shoulders from bouncing from your own laugh. You cleared your throat and ignored the slight pain in your cheeks from resisting a smile.

"So then, Mr...?"

"Beetleman."

"Mr. Beetleman," you said with a nod, "Will you be helping chaperone the field trip?"

"Yep!"

"Alright. Then since Lydia is in my group, you'll be with me as well." You helped Lydia get the red band on her wrist. Just two more students. "Lydia, are you by chance close to Betty Juice? You wouldn't know where she might be, would you?"

Mr. Beetleman opened his mouth only for Lydia to cut in, saying, "She's out sick!"

You frown and nod, jotting a note on the paper. "That's unfortunate." While you didn't like the idea of a student missing out on a field trip, you couldn't help the relief that washed over you. No Betty, that only left—

"Ugh! Like, what do you mean I'm stuck with Lydia and her weird friends?"

Claire Brewster.

You took in a deep breath and let it out as a slight hiss. Before you headed over to Claire, you pointed Lydia and her uncle over to the rest of your group. They made their way to join the others and you steel yourself to talk to the irritated blonde. When Claire noticed your approach, she wore a pout on her face.

"Teacher! You can't seriously expect me to be in a group with Lydia and her weird friends. Let me switch with someone else!"

As if you hadn't asked the same thing once you saw the roster for your group.

"I'm sorry, Claire. The groups have already been assigned. Miss Shannon doesn't want there to be any switching around. Now here's your band and if you could come over with the rest of the group, we can—"

"Red? Ugh! This day just keeps getting worse! Red doesn't go with my bow, or eyes, or anything! Why can't it be pink?"

"Claire, it's just a band to keep things organized. No one is going to notice or even care, I promise. Please, come over here with the rest of the group so we can get things going."

"Fine."

You hummed on your walk back, happy to have rounded up everyone. With a quick go through attendance, you marked off all the students present. Once done, you asked Mr. Beetleman to watch the girls while you turned in the attendance sheet to the headmistress. You returned and smiled at your group. "Alright, does everyone have everything they need? Lunches, spending money?"

Most of the girls nodded, while a few checked through their bags to make sure they did. After a minute, everyone had everything in order. You nodded and flipped through your clipboard.

"Alright, we'll board the buses soon. Mr. Beetleman since you'll be helping me chaperone—"

"Oh great. I'm stuck with Lydia and her grody relative."

"Claire!" You jerked your head to her with a deep frown. "That is highly disrespectful! Apologize this instant!"

Claire huffed and gestured to the man. "But he is! Just look at him!"

You narrow your eyes at the girl, then glance to Mr. Beetleman. His appearance was definitely abnormal, with eyes a tad more sunken and yellowed than what seemed healthy. Mr. Beetleman flashed you a smile where his slight overbite showed off crooked teeth. He may be a tad odd, but that was no reason to insult the man. You gave him an apologetic smile before turning back to Claire.

"Claire. Apologize to Mr. Beetleman right now or I'm going to insist that you sit out the field trip."

You tapped your foot, waiting. She groaned, rolling her eyes before she spat out a short, insincere apology. You shook your head and rubbed at your already aching temple. This was going to be a long day.

Once given the go ahead, the teachers and chaperones ushered their groups on to the buses. They assigned your group to the last of the three, and you were the last to board. The other two teachers on board sat in the back while the students scattered across the rows, clustering in the middle of the bus.

You followed your students and watched them pick their seats. Claire sat with girls from the other group. Most of the others took their seats, intermingling as well. You had shuffled into one of the front benches and noticed Lydia and her uncle had sat behind you with one empty one open as a buffer.

You scanned over the girls, all chatting and abuzz with excitement, as the bus driver pulled out from the school grounds. Before you turned back to face forward, you made brief eye contact with Mr. Beetleman. Claire's remark replayed in your head and you glanced away, frowning. That comment didn't sit right with you. You cleared your throat to get his attention and offer another apologetic smile.

"I'm sorry for earlier. Claire is... not always the best with social skills."

He shrugged with a lopsided smile. "No skin off my nose."

You gave a slight nod and glanced over to the blonde gabbing with the other students. So young and full of potential. If only she'd apply it to things other than her vanity. You shook your head and looked back to Mr. Beetleman, who had his hand over his nose.

"Are you alright?"

"Uncle BJ is fine!" Lydia said. "He just has some allergies that have been acting up. That's all."

"What the kid said." he nasally said while holding his nose.

"Oh no, do you need an antihistamine or anything? I could break one in half so you don't get too drowsy."

"Nah, I'll be fine. Thanks though, teach."

He let go of his face and gave grinned, showing you there was nothing to worry about. You covered your mouth to hide your own growing smile.

"If you're sure. But don't be afraid to ask if your allergies get worse. I have a travel first aid kit with me."

For the rest of the drive, you triple checked the schedules and your group's tour route. The first field trip you'd be going on as a teacher for the school. A simple trip to the zoo. You wanted it to go as smooth as possible.

You could still hardly believe you landed this job. It's rare for a position to open, but the last teacher in your spot left with little notice. He said he had gotten too stressed to teach anymore. But you had heard through the school gossip that it was more likely an excuse to get away from a certain student.

You shook off those thoughts. It's best not to dwell on rumors. You needed to focus on doing the best job you could.

The bus stopped at the front entrance. Outside the window, the students from the other buses waited in rows to get into the zoo. The teachers from the back stood up once the bus stopped and lead their students out. Once it was just you and your group, you got up from your seat to do the same.

You lined up your students at the end and waited for Miss Shannon to take care of the admissions. Groups were let in one at a time, and you quadruple checked the tour plan as you waited. Finally, it was your turn to go inside.

"Alrighty girls. The first stop is the penguins."

The girls' anticipation nearly hit its breaking point. They followed you like a flock of ducklings as you navigated the park. Between the map the school provided, and the boards set up for visitors, you found your way to the Arctic section. Once in that area, however was when it got a little more tricky. You mixed up the paths and ended up taking a detour by the puffins and walruses.

After those brief stops, you lead the students to the correct enclosure. The girls ran up to the divider, noses pressed to the glass, and watched the Antarctic birds. The girls moved around to watch different penguins, looking under the water level to see the ones swimming, while the ones on land preened each other. Most the students gushed over the cute birds, and you noticed Lydia off to the side bobbing along with a penguin whose attention she caught.

You hung back and smiled at the girls. It was adorable to see the students so ecstatic. Even Claire cooed at the penguins, though you heard her comment on how the penguins should totally wear cute pink dresses rather than tuxedos.

You shook your head with a roll of your eyes.

You flipped through your papers looking for the lecture notes for the penguins and notice Mr. Beetleman had taken a few steps back. His niece sprinted from one end of the glass to the other, while the penguin on the other side followed her movements. She also interspersed her laps with snapshots of the birds.

"Looks like your niece is enjoying herself."

Mr. Beetleman turned his attention towards you. He huffed a small laugh and showed off a crooked but kind half smile. "Yeah, kid's got a soft spot for animals, no matter how big, or scary, or smelly."

Your lips twitched up in a small smile.

"What about yourself, Mr. Beetleman? Any animals that you have a soft spot for?"

"I like to think of myself as quite the connoisseur of bugs. Especially beetles."

"Is that so?" You asked with a laugh. His faux posh accent caught you off guard. You coughed into your hand and did your best to ignore the pain in your cheeks from biting back a smile. "Well, you're in luck. We go through the insectarium before we break for lunch. They have a large exhibit of bugs from all over the globe."

Most of the students voiced their disgust with groans.

"Like, we have to go see gross bugs before lunch?"

You closed your eyes and took in a breath before you bothered to turn to Claire. You forced a pleasant smile and let the air out through your nose in a short huff. "Yes. We're going through the insectarium later—"

The girls groaned and made more disgusted sounds.

"—I know not everyone likes bugs, but they are an important part of nature and we're going to be learning about them."

Most of the students made disgusted faces. Mr. Beetleman and his niece looked to be the only ones interested in the exhibit. You hummed and flipped over your papers to get back on track. Might as well start the lesson part of the tour, since everyone had their attention on you.

You read off the prepared notes, and prompted the students with questions. The short bookish girl answered most of the questions, though you encouraged the other girls to answer when they could.

Once wrapped up with the penguins, you—with the aid of Mr. Beetleman—ushered the students to the next animal on the schedule. Next up was the polar bears, which were technically Arctic and not Antarctic, but hey the zoo only had so much room available.

You arrived at the polar bears' enclosure to find them lazing. Two sat on the land in large piles of snow, while the third floated in the water. Like before, you hung back to let the students watch, but they were far less engaged this time.

Mr. Beetleman stepped back once more to let his niece watch and get photos from all angles of the bears. You hunted for the next lesson in your notes but spied Mr. Beetleman step back a tad more than last time. You paid it little mind until he said, "With all this excitement it's almost un-bear-able," under his breath.

You sputtered a laugh and raised a hand to your mouth to hold back more. Despite your attempt, however, you caught his ear. He looked to you with a half smile showing off crooked teeth.

"You like that one? Maybe you and me aren't as much of polar opposites as I thought! Seems like all these arctic animals are helping break the ice!"

You bit your lip and pressed your knuckle to your mouth, but you couldn't stop your shoulders from bouncing as you snickered. You didn't want to disturb the other visitors, but he made that difficult with his goofy puns and cute face.

You took in a breath to let out gently, only for it to get chopped up from more laughter. There were lessons to be taught. You needed to get yourself under control. Poised and proper, you could do this. You coughed and cleared your throat as quietly as possible.

You gave your fellow chaperone a playful glare before you gathered the girls to a central spot for the lesson. One or two of the students yawned as you read off the notes. You gestured to the bears as you read another factoid.

"Polar bears are the largest carnivo—what on earth?"

Your train of thought crashed when you looked out at the bears. The two on land stood on their hind legs and dived into the water. All three met in the deepest part of the pool and swam in a circle with an eerily human synchrony.

You couldn't bring yourself to look away, afraid it would break the spell. But you had to know if anyone else saw that too. You pried away and found your students and many other visitors had their eyes glued to the bears. Good to know others took notice of the bears' swimming skills.

"Wow! I never knew they could swim like that!" said a taller brunette from your group.

You watched the bears again. They swam in circles, each bear matching the strokes of the others; left, then right, spin, then dive. You were at a loss for words. To witness such a spontaneous act from them, and done so well, it was as if it were magic.

The routine lasted a minute, ending with the bears looking around, confused. Whatever showboating spirit overtook them, it had left. Even they didn't know what had possessed them to do that.

You blinked a few times and gathered your thoughts. The lesson continued, but the girls and you glanced at the bears several times throughout the rest. The polar bears, however, returned to lazing around their enclosure. When you finished the lesson, you announced the next stop.

"Okay, next stop is the seals!"

On the walk over, the students chattered among themselves, still baffled by the polar bears' routine. Mr. Beetleman laughed with his niece, though you couldn't hear the topic. He caught you looking back, and you whipped forward to focus on leading the way.

Much like the last few times, the girls rushed to the glass to watch while you and Mr. Beetleman stayed back. You kept your eyes forward, watching over both the students and the seals. Despite your focus, you still noticed Mr. Beetleman taking a few side steps in your direction.

"I see this one gets the seal of approval from the kids."

You press your lips tight, redirecting your laugh as more stuttered exhales. With a smile growing on your face, you turned to get a better look at the man and find him sporting a grin of his own.

You cleared your throat and in the most deadpan tone you could muster, you said, "Mr. Beetleman, that has got to be the seal-iest thing I've ever heard."

He blinked and his features sank a bit, only for his grin to grow back even stronger. "Animal humor, you know I love it!"

You let out a giggle and shake your head. "So how are you and your niece enjoying the trip so far, Mr. Beetleman?"

"Lydia's loving it, and I can't complain much. But You don't have to keep bein' so formal. Ya can just call me BJ."

"BJ? Hmm, may I ask what it's short for?"

He stiffened at your question before he reached up to scratch the back of his neck. "Short for? Yeah, it's uh—"

"Uncle Ben!" You and Mr. Beetleman turned to his niece Lydia, waving him over. She pointed to one seal flopping around on the land part of its enclosure. "Isn't it so cute?"

He walked over to Lydia. She took photos, some with her uncle posing in them. You chuckled to yourself and gave the girls one more minute before the next lesson.

Afterwards you moved on to the next animal in the arctic section, followed by another, and another. Soon your group made it through the entire section and moved on to the next. From the Arctic to South America, followed by Europe, then Africa.

In between your lessons as the students gawked and cooed at the various animals, you laughed more and more at Mr. Beetleman—no, BJ's jokes. You even got him to laugh at a few of your own jokes. There was a childish sense of pride and glee that swelled in you any time you got him to laugh.

"You know, teach, seeing all these lions is giving me the urge to sing." BJ said as the kids watched the large cats.

"Oh?"

"Yeah, breaking out into 'The Lion Sleeps Tonight' is just a whim away. A whim away. A whim away."

You bit your knuckle and shook your head at him as you fought back tears and laughter.

"Trust me, teach, I ain't lion. It's a real paw-blem."

You couldn't hold back your fit of laughter anymore and snorted louder than you'd like. A few of the girls looked back at you and BJ, and you hid your burning face behind your clipboard. You take a few quick breaths to calm yourself, fighting the smile on your lips as you did. Once calm again, you shoot the man a playful glare.

"You are the worst, have you no since of pride?"

He beamed at you and you call the girls over to get the lesson started before he can crack more jokes. As you went through the last lesson of the African section, you calmed more, but your smile stayed plastered on your face. Once the lesson wrapped up and you asked the last of the questions, you announce the next destination.

"Time to head to the insectarium."

Most of the girls groan and make disgusted protests. You let out a sigh and open your mouth to say something, but BJ spoke up first.

"You heard your teacher, kids. Gotta get going!"

BJ ushered the kids along to get them moving, and you knitted your brows in a mix of amusement and bewilderment. BJ had helped keep the students together and moving along, sure, but that was the first time he did so with any sense of diligence. The man must really like bugs.

You rolled your eyes with a smile and lead the group. With the map on your clipboard you follow the asphalt path to the insectarium, weaving around the growing crowds as you made your way there. Unlike the other animal enclosures, the insectarium was a building all to itself. A man exited the building, towing two young boys, and blew passed you. You huffed and held open the door as BJ ushered in the group of less than enthused girls.

The warm, muggy air hit you as you followed the girls inside the building. Countless displays of bugs filled the room, lining the bright orange walls and placed in various rows. Signs throughout the room showed pictures of spiders, praying mantises, centipedes, and scorpions, as well as butterflies, dragonflies, and beetles. While the floor was spacious and open, the displays formed a few nooks and crannies that obscured parts.

The students stayed clustered around you, not that eager to venture a glance at the displays. Most of them, anyway. Lydia grabbed her uncle's hand and pulled him away to a section full of spiders. Two girls you noticed hung around Lydia, the tall brunette and short redhead, also mustered up the courage to break off and peruse the exhibits as well.

The remaining three followed you and didn't dare approach any of the glass displays. You hummed and scanned the room. Perhaps if you showed them the tamer and prettier looking insects, the students would be more engaged. You gestured to them and guided them through the displays.

Brightly colored butterflies and gem-like dragonflies darted in their large cases off to the side, away from the more creepy crawly bugs. The girls peered around you and took a few steps over to see the enchanting patterns on some of the butterflies' wings.

Except for Claire.

"Teacher! I don't want to be here. Like, it's just a bunch of gross bugs."

"Bugs are very important, Claire. Here, do you like flowers?"

"Well duh. Flowers are pretty and they smell nice."

"Well, flowers need to be pollinated in order for there to be more flowers. And do you know how flowers get pollinated?"

"No."

"Bugs. Bees, and butterflies, and even some beetles. They go from flower to flower and get pollen all over. Which helps the flowers make more flowers. Bugs are an essential part of a lot of other animals' diets. If there weren't any bugs a lot of animals would go hungry."

"Gross, who would want to eat bugs!"

"Birds, lizards, fish. Heck, even people sometimes."

"Ew! Nasty! I would never eat a bug. Like, why eat that when I could have something fancy like lobster?"

You bit your lip and held back a laugh. This poor, naïve child. You debated on whether you should tell her. Before you decided, Claire huffed and marched over to watch at the butterflies with the others. It was probably best to keep quiet on the matter, but boy was that child in for a rude wake up call.

You sigh and left to check on the others. The brunette and redhead—Prudence and Bertha, or was it Bertha and Prudence? Which ever way it was, the pair watched an orchid mantis climb flower stocks. The shorter one in glasses smiled at you and read out loud the plaques for the orchid mantis. You asked them a few things on the insect, and the brunette chimed in with some answers. You praised the two and smiled.

After jotting notes, you scanned the room for Lydia and BJ, only to frown when you saw no trace of them. You tapped your pen against the clipboard and scanned the room again. Claire was still with Mindy and Gwen at the butterflies. Bertha and Prudence were right next to you. So where were Lydia and BJ?

You walked through the rows of exhibits searching for Lydia, but there wasn't any sign of her. Prickles of fear crawled up your spine, and you hurried your pace. You tapped your pen faster against your board to let out your building anxiety, but it never spent enough energy. Once you looped back to Prudence and Bertha, you asked them if they had seen Lydia and her uncle.

The redhead—Prudence—pointed out where she last saw Lydia. You thanked her and weaved your way through the exhibits as fast as you could without running. The displays jutted out to form a nook tucked away from the rest of the floor. At one display, with eyes glued to the tarantula in the case, was your missing student. You put a hand to your chest and let out a relieved sigh. The sound caught the dark-haired girl's attention, and she waved you over to watch with her.

"Teacher look! Isn't she pretty!"

You crouched to look at the fuzzy arachnid meandering across the gravel floor of its enclosure. Dark brown hairs covered its body save for the legs. Stripes ran down its legs in long thin bars of the same dark brown and contrasted with ones in ivory. You looked at the name for the specimen and read it.

"The Costa Rican zebra tarantula, or striped-knee tarantula. I see where your uncle gets his fashion advice." You said. It got a laugh out of her, which got you chuckling as well. After a quick sweep of the area you realize BJ wasn't there. Your lips sank into a slight frown as you hummed in thought. "Speaking of, where is he?"

"Oh! Um. Uncle BJ said he had to go to the little boy's room."

A thunderous clatter cut through the air, followed by shattering glass and screams. A wave of icy fear crashed over you. You told Lydia to stay put as you bolted around the corner to see what happened.

Your eyes grew to saucers. Toppled displays, shattered cases, and an angry swarm of bugs filled the room. Those with wings whizzed by, while others spread out from the crash sites as an infestation.

Your students and the other patrons scrambled to get any distance possible from the bugs. You bit your lip. What do you do? What can you do? Keeping the girls safe was your utmost responsibility. You tightened your grip on the clipboard charge to the group, swatting at any bugs daring to cross you.

"Girls! Outside!"

You darted straight for the front door and gave the group a sharp look. The students wore various nervous expressions, not wanting to go through the swarm of bugs to reach the door.

"NOW!"

Bertha and Prudence were the first of your girls to budge. They ran out, followed by the other patrons, then the last of your group. You ran out hot on their heels and got your girls grouped together. You counted heads—Bertha, Prudence, Claire, Gwen, Mindy. Five. Where?

Your heart sank.

"Stay out here. Stay away from the doors, get back and wait for me or a Zookeeper."

You swallowed the lump in your throat and pivoted. You rushed back in and find the swarm had spread to fill the now empty room. Among the infestation you could see bright warning coloration. Whether the colors of true venomous insects or mimics, you didn't want to hang around and find out. You held up your clipboard and took in a few steadying breaths.

"Lydia! Where are you?"

"Over here!"

You rushed over to the voice, avoiding as many bugs as possible. Despite that, they grazed your exposed skin and buzzed passed your ear. One of them even bumped up against your lip. You pushed your shivers down, dead set on getting your student out of there.

You looped around the displays to find the path of least resistance, only to stop dead in your tracks when you get to Lydia. Wasps, several of them, all buzzing between you and Lydia. You tapped your nails against the clipboard as your mind raced to work out what to do.

You bit down on the clipboard, hard enough to hold it, and stripped off your jacket. You shuffled things, so the board was under your arm and held the jacket in both your hands.

"Lydia. I'm going to count to three, and you're going to run over to me. Okay? Run as fast as you can."

She nodded, and you counted.

"One."

"Two."

"Three!"

Lydia bolted over to you, getting the wasp's attention. You threw your coat over her and scooped her into your arms. Once you had a hold of her, you made a mad dash to the front door, as angry buzzing chased you. You reached out for the handle, yanking it as hard as you could, only for it to stay closed. You held Lydia tighter and pulled again. Still nothing.

"Shit. Why would they lock the fucking door!" A sharp stabbing pain shot through your calf, and you buckled some from the pain. "Shit!"

"Teacher? Is—"

"Shi—um sorry. It's okay. Just got to find another way out."

You turned to search for the emergency exit and winced when you moved your stung leg. The buzz of insect wings beat against your ears, and you swore it was getting worse. You wanted to cover your ears, but that wasn't an option while you held Lydia.

"Ribbit."

You flinched and found a fairly large frog munching away on what remained of a wasp. The chihuahua sized frog sat staring up at you for a moment with bright yellow eyes. Its pattern and coloration reminded you of a poison dart frog, but no species of them grew bigger than a few inches at most.

Once the monochrome striped frog ate the last of the wasp, it hopped away on long legs ending with bright red toes. Its tongue lashed out and snatched more bugs, devouring them in seconds and reducing the swarm at an impressive rate.

As the frog thinned out the bug population, you carried Lydia towards the emergency exit on the far side of the building. A long green blur shot out in front of you, and you flinched back with a squeak. You glanced to where the blur came from to find the frog retracting its striped green tongue with a freshly caught beetle.

"Teacher? What's going on?"

"It's alright, this frog just startled me."

"A frog?" Lydia asked, squirming in your arms. She pulled down your coat to look and when they made eye contact, the frog croaked at her too.

"He must be in froggy heaven with all these bugs out. But we still need to get out to the others. And wait, where's your uncle? Oh no. Is he still in here too?"

"I'm sure uncle BJ is fine! He's probably just... getting something to eat after he went to the restroom."

You hummed, still worried something could have happened, but you still needed to get Lydia and yourself out. The frog croaked again before it hopped away to catch more lunch. You huffed with a small smile and continued to the exit.

Once outside with the door shut behind you, you set Lydia down and walked her to the rest of the group. The girls clamored around you as you approached, asking to know what happened. When your responses didn't give them the answers they wanted, some students switched to bombarding Lydia with questions.

"Girls, please. I'm not sure what all caused the bugs to get out. I'm sure the zookeepers can handle it from here."

"Teacher, was it scary to go back in there?"

You offered a half smile and gave the students a few answers, hoping they'd more readily follow instructions with a sated curiosity. Once they asked their questions, you asked one of your own, wanting to know what happened while you were getting Lydia.

Apparently one zookeeper, thinking everyone had cleared out the building, locked the front door before running off to get help. You pressed your lips tight when you heard that. On one hand, you understood the keeper's actions, but on the other they should have poked their head in to at least check!

"Hey teach, everything alright?"

You whipped around to find BJ sporting a sheepish grin.

"Mr. Beetleman! Oh, thank goodness you're okay. Yes, everything is alright. Everyone is here." You said and heaved out a sigh. You glanced back to the girls. "Alright, let's all sit down and make sure no one else got bit or stung."

You guided the students over to benches on the side and had them sit. One by one you examined them, checking arms, legs, faces and necks. Once you checked over every student, you breathed a sigh of relief. No one had gotten bitten by any of the bugs. You took a seat and tended to your sting when there was a yelp from one student.

"Like, ew! Something bit me!"

You got up to look over Claire again and found a mosquito on her upper arm. You pinched it between your fingers and dusted it off her.

"Ew! Gross!"

"Well, it's gone now. You can wash off your arm before we break for lunch."

Claire pouted, and you did your best not to show the flicker of annoyance on your face. She's just a child and the whole bug escape had everyone on edge. You blew out a small breath and went back to tending to your minor injury.

Once washed off and slapped with a bandage, you got up and stretched your leg. It still hurt, but was tolerable to wait for the painkillers to take effect.

The staff returned shortly after and pushed everyone further back. You asked if they needed you to stay and give any testimony, but the gruff staff member just told you to leave the area. Rude.

You huffed at him and pivoted to march away, ushering the girls away. If he needed nothing from you, then so be it. The girls needed to get to lunch, anyway. As you guided the girls away, the man let out a shout. You looked over your shoulder to see him swatting at the air, likely being honed in on by a few mosquitoes. You huffed once more and looked forward. Out of the corner of your eye, you noticed BJ chuckling to himself with a few glances back of his own.

The school organized for everyone to meet for lunch in the same picnic spot. When you arrived, you got the kids to wash up before heading to the tables for lunch. The group scattered and mingled with the other groups already dining. You smiled only for it to fall as you looked for a seat. The students took up most of the tables, with the other teachers taking up one of their own. And the teachers' table was so crowded, asking to sit there would just be awkward. You'd only been teaching at the school for a month and had yet to make friends with any of the other teachers. Sure, you were professional and polite, but that didn't mean you were much more than acquaintances.

An empty table off to the side sat a tad ways away from the other tables. You hummed to yourself and walked over to claim it. As you mindlessly nibbled away at your meal, you watched over the other tables to make sure the girls didn't get too rowdy.

"Excuse me teacher, may we sit with you?"

You snapped out of your trance and found Lydia smiling at you and still wearing your jacket. She held her uncle's hand and pulled him closer to the table. You blinked and swallowed your bite of food with a nod.

"Oh, uh, sure. I don't mind."

She grinned and sat diagonally to you, leaving her uncle to sit directly across from you. Lydia set her lunch box on the table and took off your jacket. She haphazardly folded it and leaned over the table to hand it back to you.

"Thank you for saving me. Those wasps were furious."

"Yeah, I kinda got the point back there. My leg still hurts a bit. Oh, and um... If you could not mention my more colorful word choices to anyone, I would appreciate that."

BJ tilted his head and asked, "Colorful word choices? Do bugs normally make ya shout out the colors of the rainbow? Ooh! What color would you say for spiders?"

"Uncle BJ, that's not what they meant."

"It's not?"

You bit your knuckle, trying and failing to hide your laughter from bubbling out. The pair took notice, and you waved them off while you fought to stop laughing.

"I'm sorry," you said in between laughs, "You two are just really cute."

Lydia giggled into her hand while BJ scrunched up his face and stuck his tongue out. You bit harder on your knuckle as your shoulders bounced. How were they so cute?

You got your laughter to subside and resumed eating your lunch. Lydia did the same, but BJ had nothing in front of him.

"Are you not going to eat, Mr. Beetleman?"

"Nah, I got some grub back when we were at the bug house. And ya really don't have to keep calling me that. Like I said, just call me BJ."

"Right. I'm sorry Mr. Beetle—um, BJ."

A smile stretched across his face as his nickname rolled off your tongue. You smiled back with a giggle.

Lydia looked back over her shoulder and said, "I think I hear Bertha and Prudence calling me to go sit with them! Thanks again, teacher."

She dashed off with her lunch a moment later. Curiously, it looked like her friends had only just rounded the corner. But you couldn't blame the kid for wanting to sit with her peers over adults.

"So, um, BJ. Are you okay after the little... insect fiasco? I'm sorry I forgot to ask earlier, I was just so worried the girls might have gotten hurt."

"Oh yeah, babes, I'm fine, no need to worry about me."

You blinked once or twice with a growing warmth on your cheeks. The new moniker caught you off guard. You murmured the word to yourself and felt the warmth intensify. Another giggle bubbled up in you, and this time you didn't suppress it.

"Well, I'm glad you're okay, too. Though I missed you while we were going through the insectarium. I would have grassed you'd hop at the opportunity to make all the insect puns you could, Mr. Beetle-man."

"Nah, jokes like that really bug me."

"That's hard to bee-lieve."

"Glad my joke didn't fly over your head."

"I'm gnat that gullible."

He snickered with a grin, showing off crooked teeth. That, strangely enough, suited him. You couldn't help but join in with a chuckle of your own. He certainly was cute, even if he didn't agree. Your laughter trailed off a moment later with a warm hum.

"So, BJ, do you live in Peaceful Pines or somewhere close?"

"Eeh... My place is kinda close, but hard to get to. It's this out of the way neighborhood that you've probably never heard of."

"I suppose so, considering I'm pretty new to Peaceful Pines myself. What do you do for a living?"

"Oh. Well... I~ 'm... A musician!"

"A musician?"

"Yeah! In between gigs right now."

"What do you play?"

"Better question is what can't I play! Guitar, drums, keyboard, ukulele, armpit!"

That last one got a sudden laugh out of you, and you bit your lip to stop your abrupt laughter. "My, that's quite the assortment of instruments." BJ's smile stretched at your compliment and you couldn't help but smile back. "Have you written any of your own songs?"

"Oh yeah! Loads of songs! Smells Like Ten Spirits, Ghoul Is In The Hearse, Boo-hemian Rhapsody."

"Sounds spooky. I wouldn't mind hearing you play sometime," you said with a small giggle.

Whatever he planned on saying died in his throat, and he pressed his lips tight for a minute. You could have sworn that his pale tone flushed with a bit more color at that moment. Which honestly got you to giggle more.

"Really?"

"Of course! I'd love to hear you play! I love all kinds of music. What sorts of genres do you play? Rock? Metal? You mentioned a keyboard, do you play any electronic?"

He glanced away and rubbed the back of his neck, still sporting more color than normal. But he wore a smile on his face, so that's good.

"Ah, you know, a bit of this and a bit of that. I don't know what genre they'd actually fall under."

"Well, I'd still love to hear it."

"Heh, yeah. Maybe sometime."

You smiled and took a few more bites of your lunch. Between bites you asked about the town and what was there. Sure you knew the bigger things like where the grocery store was, but you had yet to venture out and explore Peaceful Pines. BJ made outlandish claims concerning the town, like how he and his niece set up a store one time and everyone in town clamored to buy from them. You rolled your eyes and listened to his yarn, smiling as he got invested into telling his stories.

When lunch ended you rounded up your group, the other teachers doing the same. Some girls grumbled over having to part with their friends in other groups—Claire—most other students fell in line with little fuss.

As the students cleared out from the tables, other zoo patrons overtook them. One group being a man with two boys loudly griping something or other about schools. You shook your head and focused on looking after your students.

After counting everyone, you lead the group to finish your tour through the zoo. The next stop on the schedule had you at a smaller farm-like section. You guided the girls to the front of the gated area and lead them into the main pen. Various cute domesticated animals stood around with the odd zookeeper milling around, supervising.

"Alright girls, you have some time to go see the animals. Please be gentle!"

The kids scattered, seeking different animals. As they left, you overheard Claire voice her disgust regarding the smell of the stinky farm animals. You let out a sigh and rubbed at your temple.

"I don't get what she's complaining about. This place smells great!"

You sputtered a laugh and glanced sidelong at BJ. Your lips curled into a half smile as you shook your head.

"BJ, you are—a very strange man."

"Hey babes, 'Strange' is my middle name."

"Is it now? Ben J. Strange Beetleman?"

"Uh... Yep. That's my name don't wear it out!"

"You're a goof." you said laughing. You scanned over the large pen and saw the students with animals. At least this time you had an unobstructed view of all of them.

"So, teach, how you liking your job with the school?"

You blinked and glanced at him before you thought over an answer. "It's been tricky, but I'm extremely thankful to have gotten this job. I still can't believe the last teacher just left though."

"Mr. Greener?"

"Yes actually. You knew him?"

"Yeah, he was a piece of shit! Lyds put a lot of work into a group project but because he hated me—my other niece Betty, he flailed them!"

"Oh dear, please try not to let the girls hear that language," you said. The distance between you and the girls made it unlikely that any of them could hear your conversation. But you'd still wanted to be careful. "I'm terribly sorry to hear that, though. Did you speak to the headmistress to get your nieces' grades corrected?"

"Eh. Sorta. Except I went and saw Mr. Greener personally."

"I hope he was reasonable."

"Yeah. Nothing a bit of juicing couldn't solve."

"J-juicing?" you asked, tilting your head. "Like, you went out for drinks?"

He flinched and rubbed the back of his head. BJ shifted his weight from one leg to the other before he pointed a thumb in Lydia's direction. "Something like that. Hey, I'm going to check on Lyds."

"Oh, of course. I should check on the other girls too."

He nodded and jogged over to his niece and her friends. He was far enough away that you couldn't make out what he and the girls were saying. Whatever it was, the girls giggled, and BJ ran his fingers through his pale blond hair as he glanced away.

You chuckled to yourself and looked over your clipboard. As you flipped through the pages, a loud bleat came from behind you. A lamb sneaked up to you in search of affection. You knelt to dote on the small lamb and it bleated at you more. After you cooed at the baby for a minute you stood back up, you still needed a to check on the students.

You circled around the petting zoo pen and counted each of the girls. A bonus of your walk was the chance to find other animals on their lonesome and in need of pets. Claire and a girl with a ponytail found rabbits to hold. One student was with a small flock of chickens, while Lydia and her friends gave a goat love and affection.

You made it to a corner of the pen away from most of the other animals save for a lone donkey and resting ducks. You smiled to the donkey and stepped closer, gently reaching out a hand to give the cutie a pat on the head.

The donkey enjoyed the attention and butted its head into your hand more. You giggled and scratched the top of its mane, which appeared to be significantly lighter than what was common for donkeys. Then again, given that it also had zebra stripes, it may be a hybrid.

You left to speak with the girls only for the donkey to follow you. It nudged your free hand asking for more pets, and you laughed. You broke every time and gave the little donkey more pats and scratches as you made your way to check in with the students.

You got over to Lydia, Bertha, and Prudence and greeted them. After a quick hello to them, you end up getting another nudge from the donkey. You caved yet again and patted its head.

Lydia gave the donkey an accusing look, and it responded with a huff. You chuckled at the exchange.

"Is something the matter?"

"No teacher, I'd just keep an eye on that donkey if I were you."

"Oh, he's harmless," you said and bent down to pet the animal's head, "he just likes the attention. Doubt this poor guy is as popular as the other animals here."

You scratch along the back of its ear down to the back of its jaw. The donkey, in response, leaned its cheek into your palm.

"Such a sweetheart."

It blew its lips at you and got a laugh out of you.

"No? You sure?" It huffed at you and you scratched its cheek more. "Alright, have it your way."

You gave it one more pat on the head before you stood. The donkey, despite its chagrin, still followed you. Throughout your check in, the striped donkey nudged at you, demanding more affection. You checked in with Gwen amid the chickens, then proceeded to Mindy and Claire.The pair each cradled a bunny. You greeted them as you walked up and asked how they were doing. The donkey took a few steps closer to Claire and brayed loudly in her face. It startled the rabbit she held, causing it to squirm out of her arms and hit the ground running.

"Ugh! You stupid, ugly thing! You scared off my cute little bunny!"

You took a step, wanting to get her to calm down in case she got the animals upset. Before you could, the donkey brayed in her face again and dropped to the dirt. It rolled on the ground and kicked up an enormous dust cloud that got in your eyes. The girls started coughing, and you ushered them away from the donkey, enjoying his dirt bath.

"Come on, let's see if you can get the bunny back. Or maybe there's another animal here you'd like to play with."

The blonde huffed as she adjusted her bow. She said nothing and marched off in search of another rabbit to hold. You sighed and spared a glance at the donkey wallowing. It rolled onto its legs, tucking them under its body, and looked your way before it blew a raspberry at you.

When the time came to head to the next destination, you got the students to line up near the entrance of the petting zoo. Lydia and her uncle lagged behind, and you swept the area to see where they might have gone off to. The only real hiding spot would be the large open barn.

You turned a corner and could hear BJ's voice before you saw him. "What? I'm telling you, Lyds, it was an act! I was just playing the part."

You stepped closer and cleared your throat to get the pair's attention. Both their heads jerked your way, and you gave a half smile. "It's time to go. We need to get to the Asian section of animals next."

Lydia's face lit up, and she grabbed BJ's hand. She pulled him along, saying, "Let's go! I can't wait to see pandas!"

You shook your head as she dragged him passed you. However, you called after them when you got a look at BJ's back.

"Goodness BJ, did you fall down? You're covered in dirt."

You closed the gap between you and dusted off his back. Some of the light brown dirt came off, but the shirt needed to go through the wash to get off the rest of it. Once you wiped off all the dirt you could, you smiled at him and lead the way back to the others.

You held the gate open for everyone. The girls chatted among themselves, still gushing about the cute animals. As BJ passed by, you noticed his face flushed again. You hoped his allergies weren't too severe, but he never asked for an antihistamine, so they must have been tolerable.

You fished through your bag for the bottle and bumped into the arm of a man. You stepped to the side and apologized. His sunburnt features twisted into a sneer. He said nothing as he walked with his two screaming boys into the petting zoo. You tapped your finger against a metal piece on your bag before you hurried off to get back ahead of your group.

You lead the group through the other continents, showing the students animals from Asia followed by North America. You and BJ kept up your jokes while the girls watched the different animals on the tour. To your surprise, BJ even sprinkled in a few more questions about yourself between jokes.

You shared your favorite movies with him, a story about an awful vacation you had a few years back, and what insects you were fond of the most. BJ then told you his own answers. Like how The Exorcist was his favorite comedy, he hated trips to his aunt and uncle's place, and how beetles were his absolute favorite bugs. No surprise on that last one.

You lead the group to the last of the continents for your tour. Your chest ached as you counted the handful of animals left to visit, but you put on a smile and lead the students through the Australian part of the zoo. The girls cooed at the kangaroos and flinched away from crocodiles in the middle of their own lunch. BJ even flinched away from the large perentie lizard that, as far as you could tell, was just soaking up the sun in a nice little sandy spot. When you got to the last animal on the list, the girls rushed to the railing.

"Hey! Don't climb on the railing! Get down from there!"

"But like, I can't see the koala bears!"

"I said get down Claire. And they're not bears."

The girl did as told, but she groaned and griped. You frowned, but let it be so long as she nor the others climbed up again. The kids had trouble getting good vantage points, but with time everyone found spots to watch the koalas. Once the kids settled, BJ stepped back to crack a few more jokes with you.

"Goodness, BJ, you sure have a vast pool of jokes to pull from."

He cracked a half-smirk-half-smile at you. "Well, it's nothing but koala-ety jokes from me babes."

You laughed harder and caught yourself a moment later with a cough into your fist. "BJ, I've been meaning to ask; do you help chaperone for the school often?"

"Not really. Came this time cause Lyds was beggin' me to come along with her. Sweet girl, wants to spend as much time with her uncle as she can."

You smiled and looked back at the girls. Only for your blood to chill. "Claire!"

Your shout shocked the blonde scaling the bars. She lost her grip and fell back onto the ground. You scowl and march over to her. With your hands on your hips, you tapped your foot, waiting for her to get back to her feet.

"I told you not to climb the railing. What if you fell in?"

"But I can't see them!"

"If you won't listen to instructions, you can stand back next to me."

"Ew! Gross."

Claire wasn't happy in the slightest, and neither were you. You stood closer to the railing so Claire could still see. However, standing with her put a stop to your banter with BJ. You sighed and mindlessly checked over your clipboard for the last lesson.

A few minutes later you rattled off the educational part of the tour. It didn't last long, only five minutes, and once you finished reading, that was it. No more lessons. No more tour.

"Alright. That's it. We got a bit of time left before we need to head back to the buses."

"Teacher?" the tall brunette said. "Can we go by the gift shop? I want to get something for my mom."

You checked the map. It was on the way to the buses, so you didn't see any harm in perusing the shop for a while. You nodded, and the girls got excited. You showed BJ the location of the shop and guided the kids there.

After the twists and turns of the zoo pathways, and weaving through the growing number of patrons attending the zoo, your group makes it to the gift shop closest to the front gate.

You crossed into the shop where colorful souvenirs stacked high on every wall. Shirts in every color of the rainbow lined two of the wall, along with hats and tote bags. Stuffed animals of all sorts piled into the shelves of another part of the wall. Display stands covered most of the sales floor, packing in as much products as the building could hold. The girls scatted the instant you stepped inside, each drawn to different areas of the store. You rolled your eyes and strolled through the shop, interested to see if anything jumped out at you.

Claire and Mindy played with the plushies. The two pulled the smaller toys from the shelves and checked each one. As you passed by, Mindy asked you to check the price of the large giraffe toy on top of one of the floor displays. You found the tag of the toy nearly as tall as her and told her the steep price. She frowned and hugged the smaller giraffe toy in her arms tighter.

She went back to playing with Claire, and you moved on to check on the other girls. Bertha, Prudence and Gwen examined tumbled rocks that sat in a large bin. Prudence meticulously inspected rocks before deciding whether to place in the velvet pouch. Bertha and Gwen, in contrast, didn't scrutinize the rocks they put in their velvet pouches.

You passed them by with a smile and wondered to a corner of the shop stocked with candy. Odd that none of your girls browsed that section.

You shrugged to yourself and looked over the selection. Packages of chocolates, bags of gummies, jars filled with rock candy, and many, many more types of sweets crammed into that corner display. You grabbed one thing for yourself and notice peculiar lollipops next to it. The longer you looked at the lollipops, the more you thought it a good idea to buy one as well.

You grabbed one and took your selections up to the register to pay. The cashier rang up your items, and you handed them the payment as a booming voice cut through the air. You and most everyone in the shop turned to find a sunburnt man jostling two rowdy boys into the store. You sighed but turned back to finish your transaction. Not your circus, not your monkeys.

Once paid for, you take your candies, and head over to check on the last two members of the group. Lydia and her uncle compared boxes of solid white figurines in need of painting. You glanced over the various sets for sale, dinosaurs, birds, savanna animals, fish. Lydia held a box of the dinosaurs and looked it over with a slight frown.

"Can't decide which one you want?" You asked.

"I was hoping they'd have the one with bugs. I can never find that one."

You hummed and looked over the shelf. Birds, birds, fish, dinosaurs, birds, oh? You leaned closer and pulled out the front kits, handing them off to BJ. You grabbed the kit from way in the back and handed that one to Lydia.

"Deadly voo! I can't believe you found it!"

"They always hide the good stuff in the back."

"Thank you!" She rushed off to the register, clutching her prize. You chuckled and turned to BJ, still holding the stack of other kits. "Oh dear. Here." You helped him put the kits back on the shelf and freed up his arms. "Sorry about that."

"Nah, you're fine. Plus, you helped Lyds get that kit she's been wanting."

You breathed out a small laugh and gave him a half smile as you fiddled with something in your coat pocket. "Oh!" You pulled out the lollipop and handed it to him. "Thought you might like this since you said you were a 'connoisseur of bugs'."

He studied the lollipop, where the transparent pink candy encased a whole cricket. BJ grew a lopsided smile on his face and he put the candy in his shirt's chest pocket.

"Thanks babes! Save that for later."

"What do you think you're doing? Get out of the way, you brat!" The booming voice from earlier cut through the room again.

You spun around and find the man glaring down at Claire and Mindy. Hackles raised, you darted straight over to your students. You pulled the girls behind you and away from the upset man.

"Is there a problem?" you asked in a tone so sharp it could have cut diamonds.

"Yeah, these stupid girls of yours are in my way."

"Sir. I'm sure if you had asked politely they would have moved."

The man leaned to sneer at you. The faint stench of alcohol drifted on his breath. You glared back with your nostrils flared.

"Ow! Hey quit it!"

You break eye contact with the man to find the other girls getting pelted with rocks by the man's two rowdy boys.

"Stop that this instant!" you barked

"Hey, don't you go telling my boys what to do!"

"It's showtime!"

The lights flickered, casting the entire store in shadow for a moment. When the lights turned back on, the head of the giraffe toy had lowered to separate you and the man. The toy faced the man, and you swore it leaned in closer to him and said, "Hey, how's it going."

The toy's head swung at the man, decking him square in the face. The man reeled back and stumbled to the floor. You took that opportunity to remove yourself and grabbed the girls' shoulders to usher them to the other side of the store. You left them with Lydia up front by the cashier—on the phone with what sounded like security.

A deep scream bellowed out. Stuffed animals covered the man on the floor. He squirmed, but couldn't sit up, let alone get to his feet. You spared a disgusted glower at him before darting over to round up the other half of your group.

The boys chased your students into a corner and pelted the girls with their arms full of rocks. You grit your teeth and barked at the two to move. The boys turned. The younger of the two stuck out his tongue while the other said they didn't have to listen to you.

A second later, the boys screamed out and dropped the rocks. Beetles crawled up the two's arms and they both frantically flung their arms to get the bugs off them. The younger started wailing for his dad—still pinned to the floor by stuffed animals. The boys ran over to their father and you grabbed the girls to escort them to the rest of your group.

BJ stood with the other half of the group, laughing at the misfortune of the disaster family. You got the girls accounted for, triple checking you had everyone, and asked the cashier if you needed to stay. The poor kid looked like a deer in the headlights. They couldn't be more than a year out of high school. The cashier made another call and after which they said it was alright for your group to leave.

From there you lead the group back to the front gates and met up with the rest of the school. It wasn't long after that you and the girls boarded the bus. Once you sat, your head started swimming as the last bit of adrenaline drained out of you. It was maybe ten minutes into the drive home that you let out a deep breath and tried to collect your thoughts.

"Are you okay, teacher?"

You sat up and looked back to the row behind you. Lydia sat with her uncle, with her brows knitted in concern. Your mouth felt dry, and you swallowed to relieve the discomfort before answering.

"I've been better. But no one got seriously hurt, so there's that." You lolled your head onto the back of the bench and hissed out a small laugh through your teeth. "Got a crazy story to tell people now. First the bugs, then the jerk in the gift shop."

You heard movement in the seat behind you, followed by BJ's chuckle. "Crazy stories are the best kind!"

"They are after the fact, but between that jerk in the gift and the bug break out earlier, I am very much done with today. My leg still hurts from that wasp sting. If not for that little frog I would have gotten a lot more stings."

"I suppose the frog took a liking to you," Lydia said, "just like that donkey at the petting zoo."

You closed your eyes and sighed once more. BJ muttered something that you didn't bother to decipher. When he spoke clearly, he said, "Besides the minor mishaps, that was a fun trip though!"

You huffed out a dry laugh, but couldn't muster the energy to reply right away. When you did, you asked them to let you rest your eyes for the trip back. They agreed to, and you mumbled a thanks.

Regardless of whether you crossed over into a proper sleep, you managed a semblance of rest by the time the bus pulled up to the school. You sat up and rubbed at your eyes before glancing out the window. The students filed off the bus, followed by the other teachers. You got your things and left just behind the other teachers.

The crowd outside the bus thinned at the edges as students left the school grounds for home. You got to the edge near the building to watch over the students leaving. Among them you caught sight of Lydia and her uncle BJ. You bit your lip a tad worried you came across as rude earlier. An urge to correct that mistake overcame you, and you scurried over to catch them.

"Lydia, wait."

"Is something wrong, teacher?"

"No. Well, possibly. I wanted to apologize if I came across as rude on the bus. After that incident in the gift shop I felt rather drained."

"I understand. I didn't think you were rude."

You gave a soft smile to the girl. "I guess I should let you head home now. I'll see you in class, Lydia. Oh. And BJ, I... hope to see you around too."

"Ya really mean that, teach?"

"Please, you don't have to be so formal," you said with a laugh. You told him your name, and he repeated it to himself with a smile. "I enjoyed your company and wouldn't mind spending more time with you. Perhaps you could even show me around town."

He blinked at you a few times before the biggest grin split his face. "You got it, babes! BJ's Peaceful Pines Town Tours! Just say the word and I'll show you everything from here to the Neitherworld!"

"The Neitherworld? What?"

"Ah, uncle Beej, I think we should get going now. I need to get home for dinner."

"Oh. Right."

They waved you a farewell. You waved one back as you bit your lip and chuckled. Such a strange duo. Especially her uncle. But you've always liked the strange and unusual.

[choerrypuffs]

my best friend wants to be abducted by aliens.

pairing: son of athena!renjun x daughter of aphrodite!reader

genre: fluff, angst

word count: 14.6k (this was supposed to be 5k 😌)

author’s note: hi so here is renjun’s chapter to my 00 line x camp half-blood series (i’m sorry, i know it took forever)! thank you so much for all of the support, and i hope you enjoy 💞

warning: one (1) makeout session

You are currently crouched behind a cluster of bushes, trying to get a glimpse of your targets through binoculars. 

Does that sound stalkerish? Perhaps. 

Are you actually a stalker? Debatable. 

However, no matter how suspicious it looks, your motive is pure—for the most part. 

You’re spying on Kang Daniel (son of Hermes) and Park Jihyo (daughter of Apollo), both of whom are at the Archery Range. Jihyo is showing Daniel how to shoot, encasing him with her arms as she nocks the arrow for him. The tips of his ears are so red that they could practically be a flare; you can see how flamboyant they are all the way from your hiding spot. 

You start grinning like a maniac, excited that your plan is finally unfolding. 

You had noticed how awful Daniel was at archery during a training session a couple weeks ago, and you casually suggested to him that he should ask Jihyo for some lessons. You’ve always known that Daniel has been hopelessly in love with Jihyo since the moment he saw her (it’s a child of Aphrodite thing—you can just sense it), but she’s been oblivious to it this entire time. 

Well, until now. 

Just as you guessed, sparks flew immediately. You could cut the sexual tension between them with a knife. You give them a couple more passionately-charged archery lessons before they inevitably surrender to their emotions and begin to date—and your predictions are never wrong. 

“Another job well done, Y/N,” you mumble proudly to yourself, “Mom would be so proud.”

“Excuse me, ma’am. I’m going to have to ask you to stop loitering by these bushes and stalking those two campers over there, or else I’ll have to report you to the camp director,” a sudden voice from behind you says. 

Letting out a loud yelp, you drop your binoculars in surprise and whip your head around to see who it is. You turn so fast that you almost fall backwards into said bushes, quickly using your palms to balance yourself. 

“Renjun, you asshole!” 

Huang Renjun, your long-time best friend and professional asshole, is standing in front of you. He’s wearing the iconic orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt with black jeans, his hands tucked inside his pockets. His dark hair is parted to one side, with a single lock of hair falling perfectly into one eye, giving him the I-wake-up-and-my-hair-is-naturally-like-this look (even though it’s most definitely not true). No doubt that he’s the best-looking person in the entire camp, but his brusque personality makes him a rose with thorns. Sharp thorns.

You often wonder how the two of you even became as close as you are. Children of Athena and Aphrodite notoriously clash due to their mothers’ history with each other. 

You met Renjun four years ago at Arts and Crafts Center, which is a hotspot for children of Athena. It was your first time at the camp, and you wanted to try making a ceramic (maybe a bowl or vase) to bring back to your family as a souvenir. Of course, you failed miserably and got snickered at by other Athena kids. Renjun, who had been sitting beside you, was the only one who didn’t laugh. He even gruffly gave you some pointers. Grateful, you complimented his painting—a mix of pink, yellow, blue, and purple watercolors that meshed together to resemble a galaxy. In return, he gave it to you.

“It’s not my best work, so you can have it,” he had said nonchalantly.

Even though it was the most beautiful piece of art you’ve ever seen, and it’s remained one of your most prized possessions to this day. 

After that incident, you basically attached yourself at the hip with him. He would constantly complain about you following him around, but he also didn’t do anything to stop it. He��s been complaining for four, going on five, years now, yet he’s become your closest friend. Renjun likes act like you’re a pain in the ass (which isn’t untrue), but you know he cares about you. Even if he doesn’t verbalize it, you can tell by his actions; it’s all about the small things with him. Despite being rough around the edges, Huang Renjun is actually just a big softie on the inside. 

“—could you stop snooping around like a weirdo?” Renjun asks, cutting your trip down memory lane short.

You rise to your feet, dusting your palms off and glaring at him. “I’m not snooping around like a weirdo. I’m just snooping around on one of my projects, like a good matchmaker.”

“Sure,” he says, rolling his eyes. He leans down and picks up your binoculars, handing them to you. 

You take them and hang them around your neck. “Why are you here anyway?”

“Aren’t you the one who asked me to meet you at the Dining Pavilion for lunch?” He raises an eyebrow. 

“Oh, sorry! I lost track of time,” you exclaim. “How’d you find me?”

Renjun gives you a pointed look. “Well, seeing as how Daniel and Jihyo are your current quote-unquote project, all I had to do was figure out where they were because I knew you’d be somewhere close.”

You give him a sheepish smile. “You know me so well, Junnie.”

“The hell? Don’t call me that, it’s gross,” he snaps, pretending like he’s about to gag.

“You’re not cute at all,” you huff. 

“Neither are you,” he replies.

“You are so rude! You’ll never get a girlfriend with an attitude like that!” You place your hands on your hips.

“I’ll live,” he says, shrugging. 

You don’t know much about Renjun’s love life because he refuses to tell you anything; he’s like a stubborn clam that won’t open up. However, he’s made it very clear that he does not want your assistance when it comes to finding romance. Obviously, it hasn’t stopped you from trying, but this is one of the few things you can’t seem to make him give in to. 

Yet.

“Whatever,” you sigh. “Let’s go eat.”

The two of you walk to the Dining Pavilion, which is a relatively long walk from the Archery Range, but you make enough conversation that it feels short. When you arrive, you see that they’re serving chicken curry and rice. Your stomach growls embarrassingly loudly when the mouthwatering scent hits you, which prompts Renjun to laugh at you. You give him the middle finger and then turn around to grab a lunch tray. Once you get your food, you two sit at a table in the back. 

Before you begin to eat, you notice that your curry has chunks of potatoes and slices of carrots on it—you abhor carrots more than anything in this world. Noticing your disgusted expression, Renjun slides his plate over without even batting an eyelash, so you can pick out the carrot slices and give them to him. It’s a routine thing for the two of you, since you’re an extremely picky eater and he’s not.

After you take out all of the carrots, you begin to devour your food. You’re wolfing it down so fast that you’re basically asking to choke, in which you immediately do. A piece of chicken lodges itself in your throat, and you begin to cough violently. Renjun sighs, patting your back before handing you your cup of water. 

“I feel like I’m babysitting a toddler every time I eat with you,” he points out as you gulp down your water. 

“Thanks,” you say after you recover.

“For dislodging the food in your esophagus or calling you a toddler?” 

“Both!” you say cheerfully. 

Renjun shakes his head at you, but he’s smiling. You take advantage of his good mood by quickly reaching over and swiping a couple of grapes from the fruit bowl on his tray. He rolls his eyes when you pop them into your mouth and wink at him. 

“Um, Renjun?” A small, different voice cuts in. Both of you turn around to see who it is. 

Hwang Yeji, daughter of Iris and one of the most popular girls at the camp, is standing there. She’s fidgeting, and you can see pink dusting her cheeks. Her friends are at the table right behind her, giving her supportive looks. She smiles shyly at Renjun. 

“Can I help you?” Renjun asks, deadpanning. He isn’t rude per se, but it’s also not a friendly tone. 

Yeji slightly falters at his lackluster response. “Oh, um, I’m going to be performing at the amphitheater tonight...and I was wondering if you could come watch?”

“Why?” 

You know Renjun is asking because he’s genuinely baffled, but it doesn’t lessen your urge to want to slap him upside the head.

“N-No particular reason! O-Okay, bye!” Yeji turns on her heel and runs away. You watch her go back to her table, head hung low in defeat.

“What was that all about?” Renjun is still bewildered. 

No longer able to control yourself, you punch him in the arm. “You moron!”

“Ow! What the hell, Y/N?” he hisses, rubbing his arm.

“She invited you to watch her perform because she likes you!” you hiss. 

“What? No, she doesn’t.” He furrows his eyebrows. 

“Yes, she does! I should know of all people, you dingus. Even without powers, literally anyone else would be able to see that Yeji likes you!” You’re trying your best to keep your voice down, but he’s making it difficult for you. “You are the densest person on the planet!”

“Look who’s talking,” Renjun mutters underneath his breath. 

“I can’t believe you just blew her off like that,” you continue, not hearing what he said.

“How was I supposed to know she liked me? I’ve never even spoken to her,” he protests.

You stare at him in disbelief. “Couldn’t you tell by the context clues?” 

“What context clues?”

“Oh my gods,” you groan, covering your face with your hands.

“What do you want me to do then?” he asks tiredly. 

“Go to her performance tonight,” you say immediately, uncovering your face and whipping your head to look at him with a hopeful expression.

“I don’t really want to though. There’s no point in getting her hopes up if I don’t like her back,” Renjun states matter-of-factly.

“How do you not even have a little bit of interest in her? Look at her! She’s stunning!” You feel like your eyes are about to pop out of your head.

“I’m not saying she isn’t, but I just don’t feel anything special towards her,” he explains. 

“You’re actually insane,” you say incredulously. “There’s no way someone can look at Hwang Yeji and say they don’t feel anything special.”

“If you feel so strongly about it, you could date her,” he suggests.

“No, I’ve decided,” you cut him off, slamming your hand on the table with determination. “I’m going to find you a girlfriend.”

“I’ll have to respectfully decline your services,” he answers, sighing.

“Give me one week,” you plead, “all of my matches have worked out within a week. Please, Renjun? The worst thing that can happen is that you actually like someone and you two become a couple.” 

“And what if it doesn’t work out?” He tilts his head.

“Then, I’ll drop the girlfriend topic for good. I swear on River Styx. And I’ll also give up my title as Camp Half-Blood’s official matchmaker,” you promise.

“You gave yourself that title.”

“Shut up.”

“Why are you so adamant on finding me a girlfriend anyway?” he asks.

“Because you’re so set on not getting a girlfriend, and that drives me crazy. I want to know just who on this Earth can make you feel something special, if even Yeji can’t do it. I want to crack you, like a walnut,” you admit.

“Bad analogy.”

“Yeah, it sounded better in my head.”

Renjun falls quiet, and you can practically see the gears turning in his head as he weighs the pros and cons of your proposition. Athena kids think way too much and way too loudly; they need to let loose and follow their hearts more.

You sit in anticipation for just a little longer before you see the tension on his face begin to dissipate and his features begin to droop. It’s an expression you know well; he’s going to let you have your way, like he always does. 

He pinches the bridge of his nose, sighing. “You get five days. That’s it.”

You squeal loudly, launching yourself at him so you can envelop him in a big bear hug. He grunts as he catches you, saving the both of you from toppling backwards onto the floor. “You’re the best, Renjun!”

Even when he’s irritated or annoyed, Renjun never pushes you away when you hug him. He isn’t exactly the affectionate type, yet his embrace is always so warm and calming. His words may be cutthroat, but his actions are always gentle.

He circles his arms around your waist loosely as he sighs into your hair, seemingly waiting for you to pull back to face him before he says anything. When you do, he flicks you on the forehead instead.

Okay, so you take the his actions are always gentle part back.

“Ouch!” You shrug yourself out of his hold, rubbing the probably reddening spot on your forehead.

“Payback for punching me earlier,” Renjun says, crossing his arms. “But are you sure about this?”

“What do you mean?” 

“You have a perfect record when it comes to your matches. Plus, you’re losing two out of your usual seven days. Are you sure you want to risk breaking your streak?” he asks. 

“What makes you think it’ll get broken?” you shoot back.

“I don’t just think; I know it will,” he smirks arrogantly. “That’s why I’m asking.”

You feel your left eye twitch. Riled up by his cocky demeanor, you grab your cup and chug the rest of your water, wincing like you just downed a shot. Wiping your mouth, you point your finger at him.

“Huang Renjun, just you wait. I’ll make you fall in love so hard that you’ll forget your own name.”

ও DAY ONE.

The Athena Cabin is a marvel to you every time you enter it. Rather than a cabin, it’s a workshop and a library in one on the inside. There are beds pushed haphazardly against the walls, and if you didn’t know that this was the official Athena Cabin, you would’ve thought that the Athena children had simply just crashed at a random facility at the camp and decided to call it their place of residence. 

Renjun is still asleep, despite the commotion of his brothers and sisters running around in the library and/or constructing something in the workshop. His bed is located in the very back, hidden by a bookshelf that’s not frequented often. He’s curled up into a ball, with the blanket covering his head but you can still see tufts of his hair sticking out from under it. 

“Rise and shine!” you sing, lifting blanket off his face. 

His peaceful expression twists with discomfort as its exposed to light, and he immediately rips the pillow out from under his head and puts it over his face. He says something to you, but his words are muffled. You just assume it’s some sort of profanity. 

“Come on, Sleeping Beauty! We have business to attend to,” you say cheerfully, taking the pillow away and tossing it to the foot of his bed.

“And what exactly is this supposed business?” Renjun asks dryly, opening his eyes and squinting up at you. 

“We’re going to scout for potential candidates for you,” you answer as you grab his arm and pull him up. He reluctantly lets you, slumping forward like a limp puppet. 

“Isn’t that your job?” He raises an eyebrow, running a hand through his messy bedhead. Renjun always looks particularly adorable when he wakes up. His pajamas consist of a pair of basketball shorts and an extremely stretched-out t-shirt. The shirt is so big that it’s slipping off his shoulder, which makes him look like a little kid. His hair is sticking up in all sorts of directions, and you can’t help but grin at how cute it is. 

“Yes, but you’re a special case.” You talk to him like he’s five, running your hands through his hair and messing it up even more. Renjun scowls at you, but he sits there and lets you do it.

“Geez, who peed in your cornflakes?” you tease, seeing his stormy look. 

“You.”

“Okay, fine! I’ll wait for you outside, but don’t take too long to get ready,” you say, finally retracting your hands. “No more than thirty minutes or else I’m gonna come find you!” 

He gives you another nasty look, and you blow him a kiss before skipping away. As you head back to the entrance, you greet a couple of Athena kids who pass by. Normally, Aphrodite and Athena children stick their noses up in the air and ignore each other, but you’re such a frequent visitor that they have had no choice but to accept you. It also helps that Renjun is quite popular, so the campers that don’t like you are forced to tolerate you anyway because you’re his best friend. 

That’s another thing you don’t understand—why Renjun hangs out with you when everyone around him is practically foaming at the mouth at the prospect of being his friend (or something more). But for reasons unknown to you, he chooses to ice them out and spend time with you instead.

It’s not that you’re inherently unpopular or someone that would “tarnish” his reputation, but he could probably find someone that annoyed him less and didn’t cause as much trouble as you do. However, you’re glad that he’s choosing to stay by your side in spite of how crazy you can get, because you’re not really sure what you would do without him. 

Not that you would ever admit that because Renjun would roast you to high Olympus.  

As if on cue, you spot Renjun trudging toward you. True to your request, he got ready within thirty minutes. In fact, it only took him about fifteen. He doesn’t look very happy, but he’s always had a resting bitch face (though you’re pretty sure he’s just pissed at you right now).

Strangely, you’re a little embarrassed to see him. You’re not sure why you suddenly thought of your friendship with him and got all sappy. You’ve never really been good at handling the mushy-gushy stuff—only helping others find it.

“Let’s get this over with,” Renjun says begrudgingly when he reaches you, crossing his arms.

“Okay, well, first thing’s first,” you respond, trying to get back on track. You loop your arm through his, which prompts him to instantly uncross his own so you can cling onto his bicep. It’s such a natural action for you that you don’t even think about how quickly he accommodates you. “What’s your type?”

“Where are we going?” he asks, furrowing his eyebrows as he lets you lead him around.

“That depends on your answer to my question,” you reply breezily.

“Aren’t you supposed to be the one who figures that out? You know, with your whole Aphrodite-love-sense-tingle thing.” 

You ignore his dig at your ability. “Normally, yes. But seeing as you’re incapable of feeling any emotion other than bitterness, I have to directly ask you.” 

He laughs at your comeback. “I see. But even if I do tell you my type, what makes you think she will like me too?” 

“If she doesn’t, then just woo her with your irresistible charm,” you say sarcastically. 

“My irresistible charm has a tendency to make people hate my guts, actually,” Renjun says, shrugging. “Wouldn’t want that, would we?” 

“Renjun, you are fully capable of making a girl fall for you,” you chide, huffing at his negative attitude. “I’m not concerned with that. My main issue right now is finding someone that will make you care enough to want her to like you back.”

“You think so?” he asks quietly, looking down at where your hand is resting on his arm.

“Hm?” 

“I hope you’re right,” he says a little louder, dragging his gaze away from your hand and giving you a small smile. “About being capable.”

When Renjun looks into your eyes, you feel him for the first time. Your heart wrenches with his, like a knife was driven into it and something keeps twisting it. It’s an excruciating pain that makes your lungs want to cave in, a pain so unbearably sad that it makes you want to assume fetal position and bawl your eyes out, an exhausting pain that drains you of all your energy until you want to collapse, a pain that makes you hate yourself—but it’s a pain you never want to get rid of. It’s a pain that makes you happy. It’s a pain you’re willing to endure for...for...for what? 

But the pain only lasts for a moment, flashing by like lightning. As you try to reach deeper, it slips through your fingers. Just as suddenly as it hit you, it vanishes. What remains in its place is the metaphorical iron wall that you always seem to run into every time you try to look into Renjun’s heart.

You can already feel your body starting to forget the pain. It’s so fast that you begin questioning if you even truly felt it in the first place, or if it was all some fever dream. You could also be having a stroke, so there’s that.

All jokes aside, you’re not sure what you’re more surprised by: the fact that Renjun has been feeling like this or how well he’s managed to hide it. 

And you’re not sure what you’re more hurt by: the fact that Renjun didn’t tell you or if you’re the one he’s trying to hide it from.

“—hello? Y/N? Earth to Y/N?” Renjun waves his hand in front of your face. 

You jolt, blinking several times as you detach yourself from your whirlwind of thoughts. “S-Sorry! What were you saying?”

“What’s wrong?” he asks, brows furrowing in concern. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” 

“Ghosts don’t exist,” you retort automatically.

“Yes, they do! How many times have I told you there’s no way that my glass bottle could’ve fallen from my bed without shattering, yet it was underneath my bed, completely and totally unsc—” He begins to protest. 

You cut him off by wrapping your arms around his neck and pulling him in for a hug. Thankfully, Renjun stops rambling about his ghost story that you’ve heard about a million times and trails off. His hands slowly come to rest on the small of your back, giving you soothing pats. It makes you sad that he’s always ready to comfort you when he’s the one that needs it. Your vision gets blurry with tears, but you hurriedly blink them away.

“How can you be so smart yet so dumb?” you whisper into his shoulder, clutching him tighter.

“You know, you’re sending me mixed signals here,” he says wryly. 

You hug him for a couple more seconds before pulling back. Reaching your hands up, you cup his face. Unfortunately, you do it a little too enthusiastically and basically slap both of his cheeks. “Shit! I’m so sorry, Renjun!” 

“Ow! What is wrong with you?” he demands, wincing. His lips are adorably jutted out and his words probably aren’t as angry as he wants them to be because you’re squishing his cheeks way too hard. 

“I just wanted to tell you that I will definitely find you a girlfriend. No matter what,” you declare with determination in your eyes.

Because I don’t want you to be in pain anymore. Because you deserve to be happy. Because you should have someone to lean on too, you want to say.

Renjun is staring at you like you’ve grown another head. “Y/N, you’re scaring me.”

“Don’t worry about it,” you dismiss. “Now, hurry up and tell me your ideal type.”

“Are you sure you’re feeling okay?” 

“Oh my gods, I’m fine. Stop with all the questions and just answer me!” you say, placing your hands on your hips.

“I think I’m starting to reconsider my ideal type right now,” he replies, eyeing you suspiciously. 

You sigh loudly. “Could you tell me one character trait that you would like in a girlfriend? Just one. Pretty please with a cherry on top?”

He snorts, and you begin to grow frustrated. “Renjun—”

“Stubborn,” he answers. 

You raise an eyebrow. “Of all the things you could’ve chosen, you went with that?”

“I finally answer your question and now you’re shaming me for it?” he shoots back. 

You put your hands up in mock surrender. “Okay, okay, sorry. Anything else you can think of?”

“Unpredictable. Hotheaded. Infuriating. Nosy. Reckless. Unable to take anything seriously. No concept of personal space,” he lists them off like he’s has it memorized.

“These are all terrible traits,” you point out, frowning. 

“Tell me about it.”

“Stop messing around,” you snap, giving him a small shove. “Some positive ones, please.”

Renjun pauses. “This might take a second.”

You give him a pointed look, crossing your arms and tapping your foot impatiently. At this point, you’re not even sure if he’s just joking or if he actually means it. However, it’s the only thing you’ve gotten out of him so far, so you have to work with it. 

“Dedicated,” he finally says after some intense pondering.

You exhale in relief. “Thank gods. What else?”

“Kind. Cheerful. Carefree. Funny. Always makes me smile. Marches to her own beat. An open book when it comes to her feelings. Says whatever is on her mind without thinking twice. Gets excited about things that don’t matter. Has a wonderful laugh. Able to see the good in me, even though I’m an asshole—”

As he continues, you eventually stop paying attention to his words and watch his expression. All of his features have softened, and there’s a warmth in his eyes that you’ve never seen before. He has the gentlest smile on his face as he talks, but you’re not even sure that he’s aware of it. 

You wouldn’t be a child of Aphrodite if you couldn’t recognize a boy in love, and Renjun certainly fits the bill. 

Suddenly, you feel an ugly sensation twisting in the pit of your stomach, coiling like a poisonous snake. It’s an awful feeling, and it makes you ashamed because it resembles jealousy way too closely for your comfort. You hate feeling like this, but you don’t know how to stop it. In fact, you don’t even know why you’re feeling this way. It’s foreign to you, but you know it’s not coming from Renjun. This is all coming from inside you.

“Stunning in every way,” Renjun finishes quietly. His voice is barely a whisper, but you can hear it clearly, as if it’s right in your ear. 

Digging your nails into your palms, you let out a low whistle. “That was very...specific.”

“Afraid of a challenge?” he counters, smirking. 

His banter makes you grin. It’s almost enough to make you forget the feeling in your stomach. You wonder why you keep getting worked up by yourself. Maybe the summer heat is getting to you, and you really are on the verge of having a stroke. 

“It’s like you don’t even know me,” you retort dramatically, clinging onto his arm again. “Alright, let’s go!” 

“Where?” 

“The Training Grounds!” 

“Why there?” His nose crinkles. 

“Your ideal type is as Ares kid as it can get,” you say, snorting. “So, obviously, we’re going to their turf.” 

“Ares children are obnoxious and arrogant,” Renjun scoffs. 

“And you’re a smartass, so it’ll be fine,” you say breezily. 

He rolls his eyes, muttering under his breath. 

“You’re such a drama queen. Besides, it won’t be only Ares kids there,” you point out.

He shrugs in a noncommittal manner but ultimately lets you lead him to the Training Grounds. When you arrive, as expected, it’s mainly Ares kids there. For people who aren’t used to it, the Training Grounds could be mistaken for a battle royale, judging by how vicious it can get at times. Even though it’s just a bunch of sweaty young adults angrily swinging swords at dummies and each other. 

Stroking your chin, you begin to scan the area. It’s only when your eyes fall onto Park Sooyoung, the daughter of Ares that’s infamous for making men cower to their knees, that the lightbulb goes off in your head. 

“What about Sooyoung?” you ask excitedly, tugging on Renjun’s shirt. 

He frowns. “She hates me.”

“You don’t know that,” you say.

“She tried to throw a dagger at my head once,” he states flatly. 

“She does that to everyone,” you dismiss. “I think you two would work well together.”

“Please, enlighten me.” 

“She could be the brawn to your brain. She’s super rambunctious, while you’re more reserved and can keep her in check. But she’ll be able to teach you how to live a little, and you’ll just perfectly balance each other out. You know, that whole opposites attract and enemies to lovers trope,” you explain. 

“Enemies to lovers?” He raises an eyebrow.

“Yes,” you say dreamily, “You two start off absolutely despising each other, but neither of you can fight the tension building and eventually just get entangled in the throes of your passion!”

“Okay, Fifty Shades of Grey, calm down,” Renjun says, scrunching up his features in disgust. “Stop writing fanfiction in your head and come back to the real world.”

You glare at him for killing your vibe. “Just go and try to talk to her.”

“I don’t want to be mauled.” There’s actually a small glimmer of fear in his eyes. 

“Don’t be ridiculous. She’s not gonna kill you. At least not in front of everyone like this,” you reassure him. 

“So you’re admitting that there is a possibility she would kill me.”

Fed up, you snatch his wrist and begin dragging him. He makes noises of protest, but you keep a vice-like grip on him. Sooyoung is sparring with some of her brothers (and frankly, handing their asses to them). You’re envious of how beautiful she is even with sweat dripping from her chin and tendrils of hair stuck to her neck. Her face is flushed with effort, but it makes her look like a peach. 

However, don’t ever judge a book by its cover because she proceeds to lift one of her brothers, as if she’s bench pressing him, and tosses him aside like a rag doll. He comes flying directly toward you, but Renjun wraps an arm around your shoulders and yanks you aside with his surprisingly quick reflexes. Sooyoung’s brother lands with a hard thud, right beside your feet.

Renjun holds you tightly against him as he scowls at Sooyoung, who is smirking at him. Your heart is pounding wildly, though you’re not sure if it’s from the adrenaline rush of one of Sooyoung’s brothers hurling towards you like a projectile or the way Renjun is cradling you to him.

“Are you out of your mind?” Renjun demands, livid. 

“Sorry about that,” Sooyoung says, trying to hide her amusement. 

“No, you’re not. You did it on purpose,” Renjun snaps. 

“Remove head from ass, Huang. If I didn’t think you’d be able to get her out of the way in time, I wouldn’t have done it,” Sooyoung responds, sounding bored.

“What if I hadn’t? Your tank of a brother would’ve knocked Y/N out,” Renjun says angrily, gritting his teeth. “And trust me, she doesn’t need any more screws loose than she already has.”

“Hey!” you chime in, offended. His arm falls from your shoulders and back to his side when you give him a dirty look. He seems a little surprised, whether the reason be from your sudden protest or how long his arm’s been around you. 

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Sooyoung says, rolling her eyes. “Anyways, what do you want? You’re here to see me, right?” 

Renjun opens his mouth to say something, but you slap a hand over his mouth. “Renjun thinks you’re really pretty and wants to train with you.”

Perhaps you could have delivered it in a smoother manner.

“Mm?” He stares at you with wide, horrified eyes. He’s trying to speak, but it’s all muffled by your palm. 

Sooyoung snorts, crossing her arms and tilting her head. “Does he now?” 

“Yes. He’s just too shy to admit it,” you lie through your teeth. 

“Mhm, I’m sure he is,” she laughs. “What’s the actual reason you’re here?”

“Whatever are you talking about? That is the reason,” you answer sweetly. “So, what do you say? Wanna spar him?”

“Mmmmmm!” Renjun has you by the wrist, trying to remove your hand from his mouth, but you won’t budge. 

“You must think I was born yesterday,” Sooyoung sighs. “You’re trying to set us up together, right? Glad to see you’re sticking to your whole matchmaking schtick.”

“Maybe,” you admit sheepishly. “Also, it is not a schtick! I have a natural affinity for finding people that are compatible with each other, like all Aphrodite children, and it is my duty to use that ability in order to help others.”

Despite how proud you look, Sooyoung and Renjun exchange knowing glances, and she reaches forward and gives him a sympathetic pat on the shoulder. “Stray strong, soldier.”

“Mm,” he responds, sounding tired.

You watch the interaction with a baffled expression. Neither one of them seems intent on providing any context for you. You’re hit with another pang of jealousy. 

“While it would be my utmost honor to be Renjun’s girlfriend, I will have to decline. Firstly, because I would definitely murder him by our third date tops. And secondly, because I already have a girlfriend,” Sooyoung says nonchalantly. 

Your hand goes limp and falls off of Renjun’s mouth, finally freeing him. Your jaw is hanging wide open, a direct invitation for flies. The both of you just stand there and gawk at her. 

“What?” you exclaim, grabbing her by the shoulders. “You have a girlfriend?”

Most Aphrodite kids are just naturally aware of all the couples at Camp Half-Blood whenever they see them, but you make it a point to keep tabs on them so you can avoid incidents like this while you’re trying to find matches for others. Clearly, you’ve missed one. 

“Ye—”

“Who is it?” you demand, resisting the urge to shake her until her bones rattle. “How could I not know about it?”

“Well, that was the goal,” Sooyoung explains, “we want it to be a secret.”

You’re gripping her so tightly that the tips of your fingers have turned white, though you’re sure it doesn’t bother her since she’s pure muscle. You want to know who it is so badly, but you respect her privacy, so you decide to let it go. Even if you really don’t want to.

“I understand,” you say solemnly, begrudgingly releasing her. Your body is slightly twitchy as you fight to control your need to snoop. 

“You look like you’re about to pass out,” Renjun cuts in, half-joking and half-concerned. 

“Today has not gone well for me,” you sigh, spirit crushed by the sudden news and exhausted because of your weird mood swings that have been happening. “I’m hot, and I just want a nice, cold shower, followed by some nice, cold ice cream, and then followed by a nice, warm nap. We’ll try this again tomorrow.” 

“Want me to walk you back to your cabin?” Renjun asks. 

You nod, shoulders slumped in defeat. “Sorry to bother you, Sooyoung.”

“No problem. You’ll get ‘em next time,” Sooyoung says, trying to sound encouraging. 

As you turn to pitifully walk away, you notice Sooyoung and Renjun exchange another look in your peripheral. She gives him a thumbs up and he smiles wryly before he also turns to follow you.

It’s just the icing on the cake for your awful day. 

The walk back to your cabin is pretty quiet; Renjun sensing your foul mood and making the wise decision of letting you pout all by your lonesome (not that he’s much of a chatterbox anyway). You’re looking down at your feet as you walk, and he kindly navigates you through crowds and moves you out of the way when campers run by. This is something Renjun does often, since you have a tendency to not pay much attention to your surroundings on a regular basis, so you don’t even think twice about it. 

When you finally arrive, Renjun gives you a comforting pat on the back. “See you tomorrow. I’ll meet you here. Do not barge into my cabin and give me another rude awakening like you did today.”

You give him a strained smile and wink. “No promises.”

Of course, your act doesn’t fool him. He sighs. “Did it really bother you that much that Sooyoung managed to hide her relationship from you? It’s not like you to be so down after one failure.”

Honestly, that’s the least of your concerns right now. Did it hurt your pride? Yes, but you’ve recovered from a wounded pride countless times. 

What bothers you the most right now is the vile jealousy that you’ve stored in your heart. How shitty you felt when he was describing his ideal type (and how absolutely lovestruck he looked), or how bitter you were when you saw that Sooyoung and Renjun were in on something you weren’t. It eats away at you, seemingly within moments, before you even know what’s happening. But why? Where is it all coming from?

This is Renjun you’re talking about. Renjun, your best friend. Renjun, the one who’s always there for you. Renjun, the closest person to you other than your bloodline. 

Or so you thought. 

The pain that you felt from him earlier still haunts you, even if it’s faint. You’ve always seen Renjun as someone you can confide in, no matter what, yet it doesn’t appear like he feels the same towards you. In fact, an irrational part of you thinks you may be the one he’s trying to keep it from. 

And the paranoid part of you thinks Sooyoung knows about it too.

You know it’s horrible to think that, but you can’t control it. Renjun isn’t required to tell you everything he feels just because you do, not that it doesn’t hurt any less. It just bugs you that there could be someone closer to him than even you, which is an incredibly toxic mindset to have. You’re upset by the fact that you’re so possessive of him, yet you can’t seem to let him go either. 

I guess it’s alright if it’s Sooyoung, you admit to yourself, since she has a girlfriend.

You blink.

Wait, what? 

Before you can figure out what the hell your brain meant by that, you feel Renjun place his hand on your forehead. It jars you from your thoughts and you come back to reality, where Renjun is staring at you with furrowed brows as he checks your temperature. 

“Are you sure you’re feeling alright? You’ve been spacing out all day,” he says, clearly worried.

“F-Fine!” you answer way too enthusiastically. “Sorry, what were you saying?”

“Don’t worry about it,” he dismisses. “Just go get some rest.”

“Aye, aye, captain,” you nod hurriedly, giving him a two-finger salute. “I’ll see you tomorrow, bright and early! Don’t oversleep!” 

“Yeah, yeah,” he waves you off, smiling. You can tell he’s still concerned, but your brighter attitude relieves him just a tad. “Oh, and Y/N?” 

“Mhm?”

“I forgot to mention one more trait for my ideal type.”

“What is it?” You wish you had never asked him in the first place. Just when your mood was getting a little better, it sours just as quickly. 

“Dense,” he adds. 

You give him a puzzled look. “Huh?”

“I want her to be dense,” he states simply. 

“No way,” you argue, when his words finally register. “How is it gonna work out if both of you are dense as hell?”

“Who knows? Maybe our denseness will cancel each other out, and we’ll fall in love instantly,” he shrugs.

“Of course. PEMDAS and shit,” you jokingly agree.

“Exactly,” he says, nodding with a deadpan expression. 

You laugh loudly—a big belly laugh that makes Renjun beam. The tension eases off his features, and he seems much more reassured. Your heart swells at how hard he’s trying to make sure you’re okay, not that he would ever admit that.

“Okay, for real now. Bye, Y/N.” He gives you a lazy wave before walking away, shattering your touching moment. 

You huff at how he turned around without even letting you respond, though you still wave back (even if he can’t see it), and go back into your cabin. The moment the door closes behind you, you make a beeline for the shower. Peeling off your sweat-soaked clothes, you close your eyes in bliss when the cold water hits you. 

As you let the water run down your body, you begin to feel more and more like a petulant child that just threw the biggest tantrum ever. You’re embarrassed that you overreacted like that and got so emotional for no reason. You chide yourself for being selfish. Just because you’re upset that Renjun doesn’t confide in you the way you do him, it doesn’t mean that he shouldn’t have someone. You should be happy for him when he finds a person he can fully open up to, even more so than you. Isn’t that what you’re trying to do for him right now? 

You shut the water off before slapping your cheeks hard, giving yourself a wake up call. Resolving to be more composed tomorrow, you decide to just take a nap for now as you change into comfortable clothes and dry your hair off. 

When you get to your bed, you see a small bowl of ice cream on your nightstand. Luckily, your shower didn’t take too long, so it’s still relatively frozen. It’s two scoops of chocolate, which is your favorite. You’re so excited that you almost miss the note tucked underneath the bowl. 

don’t know when you’re going to get out of the shower, so this might just be soup by the time you’re out. if that’s the case, drink it anyways since i went through the trouble of getting it. 

You snort. It’s so like Renjun to write a tactless note like this and not even bother signing off on it. If he’s going to be sweet, he shouldn’t ruin the moment by doing what he always does—opening his mouth (figuratively, in this case). 

But it’s not enough to wipe that big grin off your face, as you carefully fold up the note and put it in your drawer. 

He’s not cute at all.

ও DAY TWO.

The next day is about as successful as the first one, if not worse.

You had woken up with a game plan. Before you went to meet Renjun, you drafted up a list of campers that matched his ideal type (for the most part, since he was a little too specific). The goal was to narrow it down to a couple names before trying to march in head first, since that went disastrously yesterday. 

Unfortunately, instead of things going smoothly like you had hoped, you find yourself banging your head against a tabletop repeatedly.

You and Renjun are currently sitting in the library of the Athena Cabin, having been there for almost an hour now. He’s nearly eliminated your entire list that you so meticulously curated this morning. You’re starting to wonder if he’s purposefully being difficult just to see you riled up.

Renjun watches you hit your head a couple more times before outstretching his hand, catching your forehead in his palm and blocking you from hitting it against the table again. “Stop before you bleed all over the table, and I get stuck scrubbing it out later.”

You raise your head to glare at him. “I’ll show you bleeding all over the table.”

He doesn’t even blink at your threat, infuriatingly unfazed. “Are you done with your list already?”

“No,” you grumble, “I still have some left.”

“So, if I’m not interested in the rest, does that mean we’re done for the day?” he asks.

“Haha,” you say wryly, “you wish. If you don’t pick one, then I’ll just go through the list myself and pick one that I think is the most compatible with you.”

“Damn it.”

“Okay, what about Hyun Seunghee? She’s an Apollo kid. Super talented and sweet, one of the most adorable people on the planet, and loves art just like you,” you suggest.

“Seunghee is a very sweet girl,” Renjun agrees. “But I don’t think I have the energy to keep up with her. She’s even bubblier and more hyperactive than you, and I can barely manage dealing with you.” 

Sighing, you cross out Seunghee’s name on your list while simultaneously flipping off Renjun with your other hand. “Okay, what about Lee Mijoo? She’s one of my sisters, and honestly, she’s way out of your league but I’ll keep her in the running for now.” 

You figure it’s best to not mention that, despite being way out of his league, Mijoo has expressed some very...explicit interest in Renjun before. It’ll make things awkward if they do end up talking, and you aren’t one to expose your own sister like that.

“Ew, no way, that’s weird,” Renjun says, scrunching up his nose.

“What, why?”

“I don’t want to date anyone related to you. That would make us sort of related too, and the last thing I want is to be your brother.” He spits out the word like it’s a stale piece of gum that he’s been chewing for four hours.

“First of all, slow down, tiger. You would have to marry her for us to be related. This is just a casual thing. No one said anything about marriage. Second of all, that is so mean! Why wouldn’t you want to be in-laws with me?” you demand, offended.

“Don’t most people enter relationships with the intention of spending the rest of their lives with each other?” he asks, skillfully dodging your question. “I won’t date someone if I think we’re just going to breakup down the road.”

There’s a beat of silence as you stare at him with wonder. Your lips curl into a gentle smile, and you can’t hide the adoration in your expression. Renjun truly is all bark and no bite. Who would’ve guessed there’s such a lovely and pure person behind his sharp tongue?

“Why are you looking at me like that?” he asks warily. You swear you can see a little pink dusting the shells of his ears and the tip of his nose.

“It’s just...you’re much more of a hopeless romantic than I initially thought, Huang Renjun,” you say teasingly. 

Now, you can definitely tell he’s embarrassed. He mumbles a “shut up” under his breath, but you can barely hear it.

“Don’t put so much pressure on yourself,” you advise, “it’s totally natural to date and breakup. You can love someone with all of your heart, but that doesn’t mean they’ll be your life partner. Loosen up, my friend, and just have fun! Fall in love recklessly, and don’t think about anything else! That’s what youth is all about!”

You expect him to make fun of you for lecturing him like you’re centuries old, when the both of you can barely label yourselves as adults, but he doesn’t. 

Instead, he’s gazing at you with a deep melancholy in his eyes. You’re sitting right across from him, but the way he looks at you makes it seem like you’re galaxies away. Your gut wrenches at how hurt and helpless he seems, like he’s yearning for something that is out of his reach. 

Time seems to slow down as the two of you stare into each other’s eyes, as if you’re both entranced. It’s hard to tell how long you stay like that, but it feels like you’ve woken up in the middle of a sweet dream when Renjun finally breaks eye contact. You’re slightly disoriented, even though it’s probably only been a few seconds.

Clearing his throat, Renjun mutters, “Anyways, don’t put anymore of your siblings on the list.”

You take a moment to gather your thoughts before sighing. “Fine. But now I’ve run out of names on my list.”

“Well, gosh darn it, what a shame,” he says in a terrible Southern accent while attempting to get up. “Look’s like that’s a wrap for today!” 

“Not so fast,” you cut in, snapping your fingers at him to sit back down. “We’re not done yet.” 

He groans but reluctantly obeys, dramatically throwing his head into his arms when he does.

“Behave while I go through this list again,” you order, putting stars next to names that you’re going to force Renjun to reconsider with. 

“Now, you’re making me want to hit my head against the table,” he complains, voice muffled by his arms.

You ignore his whining, focusing on your current task at hand. Just as you finish narrowing it down to a select few, someone brushes past you and it’s like you hear angels singing. Seo Soojin, daughter of Nemesis and actual hotness personified, walks by. 

Soojin is relatively new to Camp Half-Blood, having arrived for the first time last year. You don’t know much about her personality because she keeps to herself and her tight-knit circle of friends for the most part. You know for a fact that she’s a far cry from Renjun’s type, but you’re starting to think he doesn’t really know what he wants—seeing that he shot down every single person on your list already. She will be a nice change of pace for him.

“What about Soojin?” you ask in a hushed whisper, leaning forward. 

“Who?” Renjun looks around, not lowering his voice or trying to be subtle in the slightest.

“Shhh!” you hiss, grabbing him by his shirt and yanking him forward. You pull a little too hard and end up knocking your foreheads together. 

“Ow! Why is your head made out of cast iron?” Renjun winces. He tries to lean back, but you don’t let him escape. 

“Shut up! You’re the blockhead, asshole,” you protest, getting offended for the second time. “Anyways, Seo Soojin. The girl over there. The one with the bangs, big lips, and is hot as fuck?” 

He squints, finally zeroing in on her. “What about her?”

“That’s what I’m asking you, dipshit!” 

Renjun shrugs noncommittally—an action that you’ve grown extremely accustomed to during these past two days, an action that makes you want to rip your own hair out. “She seems nice.” 

“Well, try and talk to her then,” you say, spelling it out for him. “You know, so you can see if the two of you will hit it off or not.”

He gives you a look. It’s the same look that a twelve-year-old kid gives his mother when she makes him take a picture in front of a national monument that he doesn’t know anything about, nor does he care to. However, she insists, so he reluctantly trudges over to it and takes the picture—hands firmly balled up by his sides and his lips pressed into a hard line, no matter how much his mom tells him to smile.

So, in other words, Renjun looks like he wants to crawl into a hole and die.

“Are you sure that you’re human?” you ask incredulously. You’re not even being sarcastic at this point; you genuinely want to know how he is able to feel absolutely nothing for women that could rival the goddesses themselves.

“Technically—”

“If you say that you’re only half-human because we’re demigods, you’re going to get a pen through the jugular,” you warn, pointing your pen at him. 

“Am I wrong, though?” 

“You know what I mean, you smartass. Are you or are you not capable of feeling romantic attraction towards another person?” you demand.

“I am,” he simply says.

“That’s it? That was the most robotic answer I’ve ever heard in my life!” you exclaim. 

“What else am I supposed to say?” he asks, throwing his arms up. 

“Have you experienced any blackouts recently, like woken up without memory of the past twenty-four hours? Have you checked your body for any chip implants under your skin?” You eye him suspiciously. “Been beamed up by any UFOs? Gone somewhere haunted?” 

Renjun gives you a pointed look, sighing. “While it is touching to know that you do, in fact, listen to me whenever I talk about topics I’m interested in, this is not how I wanted you to apply your knowledge.”

“You know, now that I think about it, you sure talked about alien abductions a lot,” you say, stroking a fake beard on your chin. “Could it be because you were actually abducted by aliens and got brainwashed into gathering information about us demigods, but they took away your ability to feel emotions so they wouldn’t get in the way of your mission?” 

You pause, waiting for his reaction. Renjun is very obviously trying not to smile, with his chin being propped up by his palm and his fingers covering his mouth. “Please, continue.” 

“But ultimately, that will be your fatal flaw and the downfall of your mission because you can’t empathize like humans can,” you finish dramatically. 

“Alright, let’s say I was brainwashed by aliens. Why would I then draw more attention to myself by talking about the very thing that happened to me? Wouldn’t that be counterproductive?” he asks, raising an eyebrow.

“Reverse psychology,” you explain, “you talk about them, so you won’t seem suspicious.” 

Renjun exhales sharply before looking down at his feet. You can see his lips twitching as he tries not to laugh, though you’re pretty sure that exhale from before was a small laugh. You’re grinning, despite the fact that you’re also trying to keep up your detective act.

“I’m kind of wish I had been abducted by aliens right about now. Maybe brainwashed me would be a little more courageous,” he mutters under his breath. You’re not sure if you were meant to hear that, but you do anyways. 

“That sounds exactly like something someone abducted by an alien would say!” you say in an accusatory tone, pointing a finger at him. He rolls his eyes, but a tiny smile eventually makes its way to his lips. 

You gasp loudly, grabbing his face and pulling it towards your own. He makes a small noise of surprise, eyes as wide as UFO saucers. Your faces are so close that your noses are slightly brushing up against one another, but you’re not paying attention to that right now. 

“Or you could be a lizard person,” you whisper, “you know, the ones that people think take the place of government officials.”

“They’re called reptilian humanoids,” Renjun corrects. His breath (which smells like the blueberry muffin he had this morning) rustles your baby hairs. 

“Your eyes are glowing yellow, and your pupils are turning into slits,” you tease.

“Are they, now?” 

No, they aren’t. His eyes are a cool, icy gray, like most Athena children. It’s always been a trait you’ve been jealous of. They sparkle like stars, or freshly fallen snow. They change according to his mood too. For example, when he gets angry, there are no stars. Instead of twinkling, they flash like lightning. His eyes are truly the window to his soul; they’re one of your favorite things about him.

Renjun slightly leans into your touch, and it finally hits you how close he is. You’re cupping his face with both hands, tilting his chin up, and it looks like you’re about to...kiss him.

 It seems you’re not the only one who thinks so, because almost the entire library is gawking at you. Including Seo Soojin. She looks surprised, and slightly disgusted, by the two of you.

Oh.

You feel heat rise from your neck to your entire face.

Oh gods, they all think we’re a couple.

You recoil away from him, withdrawing your hands like your just burned yourself. “We have to get out of here.”

“What?” As always, Renjun doesn’t know what’s going on.

“Just come on,” you say quickly, grabbing his arm and dragging him out of the library. 

Your face burns for a long time after that, and you can no longer focus on anything else. In the end, you decide to call it a day after a few more half-hearted attempts to find more candidates for Renjun. When you come back to your cabin, you take another cold shower. 

You’re not sure what you’re so flustered by: the fact that you didn’t realize what you were doing or the fact that everyone in the library saw it.

Or the fact that you didn’t mind the notion of being mistaken for a couple with Renjun.

ও DAY THREE.

You don’t meet bright and early with Renjun today. He demanded to sleep in this time, since he’s not an early riser to begin with and the past two days have sucked all the energy out of him. 

Which means you’re free until noon. You check the time—10 AM. 

Two hours to kill. 

You don’t feel like getting all sweaty and hot, so any activity outside is out. You really don’t want to be judged by more Athena kids in the Arts and Crafts Center without Renjun. So, you decide to head back to the library, despite how yesterday went.

You check out a book that goes into depth about some of the most believable conspiracy theories; Renjun actually read it a while ago (and totally geeked out about it to you), but who would have thought that you would end up reading it too? Past you definitely would’ve laughed in your face if you told her that. 

Once you get back to your cabin, you curl up in your covers and begin to read. You get about two chapters in when you hear the door open and Jeong Jaehyun, one of your brothers, walks in. He’s wearing his orange t-shirt that’s soaked with sweat, and his hair is dripping from perspiration too. His pale skin glistens, and he looks like a sweaty and sparkly vampire. 

“Hey, kid,” Jaehyun says, nodding at you. He isn’t that much older than you, but he’s gotten into the habit of calling you kid for some reason.

“This is a surprise. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you come back from training before 5 PM,” you tease.

He lets out a low whistle. “Way too hot out there. I needed to get some A/C before I had a heatstroke—is that a book in your hand?”

“What about it?” you ask, raising an eyebrow.

Jaehyun snorts. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you near a book, much less read one.”

“Rude. I am expanding my horizons,” you retort. 

“It seems so. What was up with you and Renjun at the library yesterday?” Jaehyun plops down on the edge of your bed. 

“How do you even know about that?” you ask, wrinkling your nose. “And go take a shower first before you sit on my bed! You stink!” 

“Do I?” He waggles his eyebrows and throws his arms around you in a bear hug. You try your best to shove him off, but he has a hold on your like a python. 

“I hate you,” you say when he finally pulls back, sniffing your shirt to make sure you still smelled like your fabric softener. “Anyways, how’d you find out about the library thing?”

“Rumors spread fast around here, dear sister. But, seriously, what’s the deal?”

“There is no deal, Jaehyun,” you sigh, closing your book. “It’s all just a misunderstanding. We were joking around while I was trying to find a potential girlfriend for him there—which, by the way, is going horribly. I don’t think he feels romantic attraction properly like everybody else.”

“Oh right. I forgot you roped Renjun into your matchmaking thing,” Jaehyun says, disappointed. “Damn, and here I thought he finally made a move.”

Your head snaps up to give him a quizzical look. “What?”

“What?” He tilts his head.

“What did you mean by that, the part where you said you thought Renjun finally made a move?” you ask. 

Jaehyun stares at you for a couple of seconds, an astonished expression on his face. “Do you really not know?” 

“Would I be asking if I didn’t know?” you shoot back, annoyed that he still hasn’t answered you. 

“Gods, all this time, I thought you were just pretending like you didn’t know because you didn’t want to make things awkward,” he continues, shaking his head.

“Jaehyun, what are you talking about?” you demand.

“Renjun is in love with you, Y/N.”

You gape at him. It’s a good thing you’re already sitting down because you definitely would have fallen on your ass if you had been standing.

“Th-Th-That’s impossible,” you stammer, like an absolute idiot. “There’s n-n-no way.”

“Oh, come on, lil’ sis. He’s never even tried to hide it. He’s so obvious about it that I seriously don’t understand how you didn’t know,” Jaehyun snorts. “You don’t even need to have powers to see that he’s head over heels for you.”

“But—but how? I would’ve sensed it!” you exclaim.

“You’re so sharp when it comes to other people, but you’re dense as hell when it comes to yourself,” Jaehyun points out, shrugging. “You just never paid attention, Y/N.”

You don’t respond. Your mind is a mess, a jumbled mishmash of emotions. You’re feeling so many things right now, and you can’t pinpoint any of it.. You wouldn’t be surprised if you passed out.

“Do you like him back?” Jaehyun asks softly. 

“I—no! Of course not. Renjun’s my best friend. If I liked him, why would I be trying to find him a girlfriend right now? That’d be stupid of me. Yeah, that’d be so dumb. Why would I do that?” You’re rambling now, and it’s glaringly obvious that you’re trying to convince yourself rather than Jaehyun (and you know he can see it too).

“It doesn’t seem like you’re trying that hard, though.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” you ask defensively. 

“The Y/N I know spends all hours of the day gathering information on her potential matches and making sure even the tiniest detail goes according to her master plan that she’s already drafted inside her head. She wouldn’t be sitting here, leisurely reading a book, especially if it’s going horribly. She would be doing everything in her power to get things back on track,” Jaehyun notes. “Ask yourself. Do you really want Renjun to get a girlfriend?” 

“Wh-Why wouldn’t I?” You ask him, hoping he knows the answer, because you sure as hell don’t know. 

“Because he won’t always be there anymore. He won’t have time to let you constantly drag him into your antics anymore. You won’t be his number one anymore. His girlfriend will be his first priority, of course, as she should. Think long and hard about that, Y/N. Will you be okay with that?”

“I—” The words seem to die inside your throat as you come to realization that you might not be okay with that at all. You’ve always gone to Renjun for everything and knowing that he may not always be there makes you feel lost, like a compass without it’s True North. You’re being selfish again, but it seems like you’ve gotten into the habit of acting selfish whenever it comes to Renjun. You’ve let yourself grow too reliant on him. 

“Why do you care so much anyways?” Now, you’re deflecting. “Why did you tell me all of this?”

“Because you’re my little sister and I care about you. I want you to be one hundred percent sure of your own feelings, so your heart doesn’t get broken. The only reason I didn’t say anything sooner was because I thought you were already sure. Take some time and think about it, Y/N. It’ll be better for your friendship with Renjun if everything is crystal clear between the two of you,” Jaehyun advises, giving you a pat on the shoulder. He gets up, presumably to take a shower, and leaves.

You barely notice him go.

You sit in your bed, staring blankly at the wall, until Renjun finally arrives. He’s still a little groggy, probably having woken up ten minutes ago before coming. His clothes are a little rumpled and his hair isn’t styled, with his bangs flopping in his eyes. Normally, you would have made fun of him and mussed it up, but you have other things on your mind as of the moment. 

Like always, he can tell something is up. He gets that concerned look on his face—the one where he has a deep crease between his brows and his rosy lips are turned downwards. 

“What’s wrong?” He places a hand on your arm, lowering his head so he can’t get a better look at your face. 

Physical contact with Renjun has always been something normal for you, but suddenly, you’re now acutely aware of everything about him. You can feel the pad of every one of his fingertips on your bare skin, the warmth of his palm, and just how easily his touch makes your body relax. Even when your brain is a whirlwind of thoughts, your muscles, like clockwork, instantly loosen up with just a brush of his hand.

“We need to talk,” you say shakily, moving away from him. There’s a flash of hurt in his eyes as his hand falls to his side. You feel bad, but the longer he’s touching you, the more confused you get. 

You lead him a secluded area behind the Dining Pavilion, and he follows wordlessly. He waits for you to speak as the two of you stand there. Now that you’re here, you don’t really know what to say anymore. 

“Are you in love with me?” you blurt before you can stop yourself. “Jaehyun said—”

“Yes,” Renjun answers. If he’s surprised or taken aback whatosever, he doesn’t show it. In fact, it seems like he knew this was coming. There’s no fear or hesitation in his eyes. He’s unwavering in his answer, and you wonder how he can always be so certain of his feelings. 

“How long?” you ask tentatively. 

“Probably when we first met,” he says. 

“Why?” 

“Are you asking me why I’m in love with you?” He raises an eyebrow. 

You’re not sure. You’re not sure of anything anymore.

When you don’t answer, Renjun looks at you for a very long time. “You make me happy, Y/N. No matter how shitty things get, no matter how much I want to ram my fist through a wall, I see you and it’s like I can finally take a breath again. When you smile at me, I forget about everything that was bothering me. You and your daily shenanigans are the best part of my day. You’re obnoxious and frustrating and exhausting, but I fucking love you for it. I’m at your beck and call; I’d do anything for you. Whenever you’re happy, I become happy too. Nothing else matters to me anymore. That’s why.”

“You should have told me,” you say, voice cracking. Your heart is singing with joy, and you want to cry with relief. He talks about you like you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to him, and you so desperately want to be exactly that for him. You’re not confused anymore. Everything has finally become clear for you now. You truly wonder how you managed not to notice anything at all—whether it be your own feelings or his. 

“I knew it would upset you,” he murmurs. 

But then it hits you. 

You can’t even fathom how much Renjun has had to endure throughout the years. He’s loved you all this time, yet he hasn’t said a word—out of consideration for you. In everything he’s ever done during the course of your friendship, he has always put you first. Even if it hurts him, he was willing to withstand it for your sake.

Yet all you’ve done for him is force him into letting you try to find a him a girlfriend, despite the fact that he was against it, and he had to pretend like he was okay as he watched you parade around like a fool telling him to love someone else. 

You don’t deserve to be loved by someone like Huang Renjun.

You don’t deserve to love someone like Huang Renjun.

Suddenly, you begin to feel nauseous—probably sickened by guilt. Black spots dot your vision, and your legs start wobbling. Your body collapses only moments after, but luckily, Renjun manages to catch you before you can hit the pavement. 

“Y/N? Y/N? Hey, talk to me,” you can hear him say very faintly. He’s cradling you against his chest, and you bury your face in it. Your head is spinning, but you feel surprisingly grounded in his arms.

Has he always smelled this nice? His scent is a mixture of books and sandalwood, and you’re basically crushing your nose against his chest like an absolute pervert. You don’t feel embarrassed because you know you can blame it on being sick later. 

Speaking of sick, even though Renjun smells so good, you proceed to lean forward and vomit all over him and yourself.

Once again, you don’t feel that embarrassed because you black out soon after.

ও DAY FOUR.

You wake up tucked nicely under your covers. Much to your relief, you’re also in clean clothes—your favorite set of heart pajamas. Unfortunately, that’s the only bright side to your current state.

It feels like you haven’t had a sip of water in ten years, and your lips feel like they’ve been glued together. Even the tiniest movement makes your head feel like someone is drilling into your skull. Your body feels twenty times heavier, and not to mention, you just generally feel like shit because of what happened with Renjun.

“Oh my gods, you look so creepy right now. Who just lays there with their eyes wide open? If you’re awake, you should say something,” a voice chides. Turning your head just a smidgen (and wincing because of the pain), you see your sister, Lee Mijoo. She has a glass of water in her hand, setting it on your nightstand.

“How long have I been asleep?” you ask hoarsely. 

“Let’s see. Renjun brought you back at like 2 PM yesterday, and it’s now 8 PM, so...thirty hours?” Mijoo counts on her fingers. 

“Fuck,” you groan.

“Heatstroke will do that to ya,” she says, making a clicking noise with her tongue.

“I had a heatstroke?”

“Yep. It was a pretty nasty one too. You really did a number all over Renjun’s shirt. It was like a vomit Picasso,” Mijoo says, sounding kind of impressed.

Your face burns from humiliation. 

“Here, sit up and drink this water,” she orders, helping you get up. Your head is screaming in pain, like a million little jabs to your brain. You down the water in one big gulp, not realizing just how dehydrated you were until your lips hit the water. 

“So, you and Renjun, huh?” Mijoo asks sheepishly.

If you still had water in your mouth, you would’ve spat it out. “What?”

“Jaehyun told me everything,” she explains.

Traitor, you think to yourself.

“Don’t be mad at him. Renjun looked like a kicked puppy when we saw him. There’s no way I wouldn’t have asked questions,” she says. “Did you break his heart, little sister?”

You sigh, putting the cup back on your nightstand. “I hope not. His heart shouldn’t be broken by someone like me.”

“And what does that mean?”

“It means that he shouldn’t concern himself with me,” you sigh.

“Well, he does. He came to check up on you like a billion times. I had to ban him from coming back until tomorrow,” Mijoo snorts. “He’s a really good guy, you know.”

“Trust me,” you say, rubbing your temples. “I know that better than anyone.”

“So, what’s stopping you? I would be all over that.”

You glare at her before letting out another sigh. “He’s too good for me, Mijoo.” 

“That’s for him to decide, no?” She raises an eyebrow.

“It doesn’t matter. I’m just saying the truth,” you say. 

“So, you won’t mind if I date him?” she asks seriously.

Your face falls instantly, and Mijoo doubles over laughing. 

“Geez, Y/N, you looked like you were about to claw my eyes out!” She wipes away a tear.

“Very funny,” you say dryly. 

“But what if I had been serious? What would you have done then?”

You don’t answer.

“I think you really, really like Renjun, Y/N,” Mijoo whispers loudly.

“I think I love him,” you whisper back.

“Then, you should probably tell him.”

“Yeah, I should,” you echo.

Ignoring the major migraine you have and the fact that you’re still a little sluggish, you throw your covers off of you. You don’t change out of your pajamas, simply throwing a thin cardigan over it. 

“Uh, Y/N, maybe you should wait until you feel be—”

“No, I have do it now before I change my mind,” you cut her off, slipping on your tennis shoes.

You hear Mijoo call after you, but you’re already out of the door. The Athena Cabin isn’t too far from the Aphrodite Cabin, so the walk is short. Much to your surprise once you’re inside, he isn’t there.

Grabbing the nearest Athena kid you see, you ask, “Where’s Renjun?”

“Um, I think he went to the amphitheater?” 

The amphitheater is a bit further, so you promptly release and thank the kid, before taking off. You’re not sure if running is recommended right after a heatstroke, but you do it anyways. By the time you get there, your cardigan is slipping off and you’re dripping with sweat from the humid summer heat. 

The amphitheater is extremely crowded, since there was probably a performance tonight. It’s actually a little hard to see over all the people. However, you find Renjun pretty quickly.

You see him standing off to the side, away from everyone else. He’s staring emptily at the stage, hands tucked inside his pockets. He looks so tired and dejected. His entire body slumps as if it’s too exhausting to stand up straight anymore. 

All because of you.

You wait until you finally catch your breath, opening your mouth to call out to him. But you don’t ever get the chance to because a girl walks up to him. You can’t tell who she is because the back of her head is facing you, and you see Renjun give her a small smile before saying something.

The girl laughs and turns her head, giving you a view of her side profile.

Hwang Yeji.

All of the courage you had inside you withers away like a dying flower.

You take a step back, accidentally bumping into someone behind you. They say something to you, but you don’t hear it at all. Instead, you turn on your heel and run. You run wildly and blindly, nearly whizzing right past your cabin. You’re barely able get back inside, eyes so blurry with tears that you can’t even see where you’re going. 

When Mijoo sees you, she doesn’t ask any questions. She just turns on the shower for you, extra hot. You step in without a word, letting the water mix with the tears running down your face. 

It’s not that you think Renjun is in love with Yeji now. In fact, you know he’s not. It’s just that they would be much better together. 

Yeji is one of the sweetest girls you know. She would treat Renjun with the kindness he deserves. She would consider his feelings first before making him do anything. She would make him happier than you ever could. They would be so compatible, and if you weren’t in love with Renjun yourself, you would definitely be trying to set the two up. 

After your shower, you change into the clothes Mijoo set out for you—an oversized sweater with cotton shorts—and miserably crawl back in bed. You’re so drained that you don’t even have the energy to drink the fresh glass of water on your nightstand. 

Everything hurt—mentally and physically. 

Your heart aches most of all. You’ve dated here and there, gone through some breakups, but nothing has ever been as painful as this. 

It’s a pain that consumes you whole. A pain that makes you want to scream but no sound will come out. A pain that makes you want to tear your heart out. A pain that makes you wish a bunch of aliens abducted you and brainwashed you into not feeling any emotions anymore.

It’s the same pain that you thought you felt from Renjun on the first day of when this all began.

And then the last puzzle piece finally falls into place.

That pain was never his.

It has always been your own.

You love Renjun too, and you’ve loved him for a very long time.

ও DAY FIVE. 

“Come on, Y/N. At least get up to wash your face and brush your teeth,” Mijoo pleads.

You ignore her, pulling your covers over your head and turning away. It’s already well into the afternoon, but you’ve been feigning sick so you didn’t have to get up. The rest of the Aphrodite children have left and gone about their various activities throughout the camp, but Mijoo was tasked by Jaehyun to take care of you.

“If you just do that, I’ll leave you alone for the rest of the day,” she bargains. 

You think about it for a second before sighing, begrudgingly sitting up. You can see the pity dripping out of her eyes when you brush past her to head to the bathroom. When you see yourself in the mirror, you can understand why.

Puffy eyes, matted hair, tear-stained cheeks, and chapped lips. It’s too bad you hadn’t been wearing mascara last night because the only thing you’re missing in your hot mess look right now are those dark smudges right under your eyes.

You brush you teeth, which takes a lot more effort than you realize, and splash water on your face. Not even bothering to brush your hair, you head straight back to bed. True to her word, Mijoo doesn’t say anything else after that.

That is, until a couple hours later.

“Um, so I know I said I would leave you alone, but I think you might want to get up for this one, Y/N,” she whispers. You can’t see her because you back is turned to her, but you can tell by the tone of her voice that it’s important.

Irritated, you yank the covers off you and sit back up once again. “Mijoo, I—”

You almost choke on air when you realize Mijoo isn’t alone. Renjun is right beside her, looking not much better than you. He’s in a wrinkled t-shirt and sweatpants, his hair looks like he just ran his fingers through it and called it a day, and he has purple bags under his eyes.

“Can we talk?” Renjun asks. 

You hesitantly nod. 

“I’ll, uh, give you two some privacy,” Mijoo says awkwardly before turning around and running out of the cabin. 

You don’t know what to do now, staring down at your clasped hands. You hear Renjun take a step forward, and you feel the edge of your bed dip under his weight. There’s a sizable gap between you and where he’s sitting, but he’s still close enough for his scent to waft over to you. He smells wonderful like usual, and you hope you don’t stink in return.

“How are you feeling?” Renjun asks quietly.

“Like shit,” you answer honestly.

He laughs under his breath. “I know what you mean.” 

Your heart skips a beat, and you feel giddy all of a sudden when you see him smile. How did you manage to turn into a lovesick little schoolgirl over night? 

“I talked to Yeji last night at the amphitheater,” Renjun says after a moment. 

“I know,” you mutter. 

He blinks. “You do? How?” 

You’re not sure how to answer that.

“Well, that doesn’t matter right now,” he dismisses, taking in a deep breath. “I just wanted to tell you that I ran into her after I checked up on you, and she invited me to watch her performance. I wasn’t going to say yes at first, but I thought it would make you happy if I did. I tried, Y/N, I really tried. Yeji’s a nice girl, but I can’t help how I feel. I love you, Y/N. It’s always been you, and it always will be. I’m not asking you to love me back. I just want to stay by your side, as your friend, if you’ll allow it. I—”

“Stop,” you interrupt, scooting closer to him and putting a hand over his mouth. “I have to tell you something.” 

Renjun gives you a bewildered expression but nods nonetheless. 

You remove your hand from his mouth, before taking in a deep breath of your own. “You’re my best friend, Renjun, and I’ve always confided in you for everything. I took you for granted, and I only thought about myself. Deep down, I think I’ve always known about your feelings and my own, but I was afraid to dig for it. I was comfortable, and I didn’t want to ruin that, even though you were hurting. I’m truly sorry for treating you that way, Renjun. From now on, I want you to tell me everything—the good, the bad, the ugly. Don’t bottle things up for my sake.”

He goes to say something, but you hold up your hand to stop him.

“The reason why I knew you were with Yeji at the amphitheater last night is because I was there too. I went to look for you,” you finally confess. “When I decided I was going to find a girlfriend for you, I thought I would be able to step aside when you did find someone. But once I saw you with Yeji, I realized that I couldn’t do it. What I want with you isn’t a friendship anymore. I’m in love with you, Renjun. I have been for a long time, and it took me four, almost five, years to see that because I never thought to listen to my own heart until now. I don’t think I will ever deserve you in his lifetime, but I love you. I’m selfish and I’m a mess and I always cause trouble for you, but I—”

Renjun wraps an arm around your waist and tugs your body flush against his. His hand comes up to cradle your cheek as his thumb lightly runs across your cheekbone. You’re clutching his shirt like a lifeline, holding your breath, as you stare into those gray eyes.

“You,” he whispers, his lips barely brushing against yours, “are more than I deserve.”

He leans in and closes the infinitesimal gap between your mouths. He kisses you desperately, like you’ll disappear any moment, and you can feel all of the emotions he’s been locking away. His arms are wound tightly around you as he pulls you into his lap. You weave your hands through his hair, and he deepens the kiss. Your shirt rides up as you shift, and you feel his hand slip up your shirt and rest against your back. It ignites a fire within you and you want to tell him to take it off completely, but your lungs are screaming for air, so you have no choice but to pull away.

“Sorry,” Renjun says breathlessly, his chest heaving up and down, as he takes his hand out from under your shirt.

“No, I liked it,” you say, shaking your head and placing your forehead against his. “I just ran out of air.”

“No,” he disagrees, “I didn’t mean for it to go that far. It was supposed to be a sweet kiss, but I lost control.” 

He tugs your shirt back down and gently sets you back down next to him. You can’t help but giggle at how flustered he is. It’s not often that Athena children, especially Huang Renjun, loses control of their emotions like that. 

“I’m glad you find this amusing,” he says wryly, rolling his eyes. 

“You know,” you say in a sing-song voice, “I still technically never broke my streak. I found you a girlfriend within five days.”

“Does it really count if you ended up being my girlfriend?” He raises an eyebrow. “Seems a little unprofessional to me.” 

“Don’t be a sore loser,” you taunt.

“You also said you were going to make me fall in love so hard that I’d forget my own name,” he points out. “And I didn’t, so that’s false advertising. Unprofessional and unethical? I could sue you.” 

“You are so petty,” you squint. “And come on! That kiss didn’t make your forget? It made me forget!”

“I don’t like you that much.” He deadpans.

“Huang Renjun, you are so not cute!” 

4 YEARS AGO.

“It’s not my best work, so you can have it,” Renjun says, trying to act casual about it.

You look so happy that Renjun would have painted a thousand more if you asked him to. You have a smile that could make the goddesses envious, and he can barely hear what you’re saying over the thumping of his own heart. He hopes his expression looks somewhat elusive because he’s not sure how to handle himself right now. 

You’re the prettiest girl he’s ever seen in his life. 

Renjun feels like he’s been shot by Eros’ arrow. He used to never understand why everyone was so wary of Eros; he’s basically just a mascot for corny Valentine’s Day cards. Apollo and his children avoid Eros and his children like the plague. Though granted, Eros did force Apollo to fall in love with Daphne and then she ended up turning into a tree. So, there is a little bit of history there. Point being, Renjun just didn’t get it.

But he think he does now.

“Thank you so much!” you say excitedly, extending your hand. “I’m Y/N!”

Renjun just stupidly stares at you. He’s not even sure if he’s worthy to touch your hand, but he also doesn’t want to be rude. He carefully shakes your hand, unable to say a word.

“What’s your name?” you ask, tilting your head. 

Is it possible for a person to be this adorable? he thinks to himself.

“I’m...” 

You’re looking at him, waiting expectantly.

“I’m...”

You’re still smiling, but he can see the slight confusion in your eyes. He’s never felt like more of a moron in his life. 

“Ren...jun,” he finally says after an extreme amount of concentration. 

You beam at him, and he wonders if he’s the only one seeing the ring of light surrounding you. There’s no way you aren’t Aphrodite’s favorite child.

“Nice to meet you, Renjun! Let’s be friends.” 

Renjun isn’t sure he wants to be just friends, but he finds himself nodding along anyways. 

Fuck, he thinks, I’m in trouble.

[thefanbasewhore]

"Mine." || Part 2.

Summary: Din shows you who you belong to just to discover something life changing.

Warning/Content: 18+ ONLY. NSFW. Fingering, oral (female receiving/male receiving), P in V, a hint of degration, slight breeding kink, dirty talk, ROUGH SEX. Dom!Din, jealous!Din and tatted Din. I would add another tag but it would give away the ending.

Paring: Din Djarin/Female Reader

Part 1.

A/N: I also do not ever write smut, this is my first fic with full sex in it so if something does not seem right please, please let me know. Thank you, hope you all enjoy!

His lips don't give in, pressing his tongue until it feels heavy against your own. Fingertips unforgivable as they sting your skin with how rough he was moving your face for he had a better angle to kiss you at. He's ruthless, pissed, marking his territory, claiming you his.

Anger warmed his whole body and honestly he wasn't even sure it was jealousy anymore just the sheer fact that life has separated him from you and from his son, it's unfair. As he pulls away, brown eyes dark with meaning, lips bruised and puffy from your own. "Tell me." He urges, "You're mine, I want to hear you say the words."

Dins’s eyes following every movement of your eyes as they move from the creases in his forward to the facial hair that peppered his jaw. "You know I'm yours. I'll forever be yours Din."

His eyes are starting to soften but find you reaching for his hand to press it against the thick colum of your throat and squeezing fingers over his feeling the air restrict just enough it burns for there is just enough air passing through, making you dizzy. The deep burn of desire inside the deepest pit of your stomach just wanting him to fuck you hard, remind you that your place is with him; imaging sitting on his lap on the golden throne he will soon own, truthfully where ever the hell he wants you because you without a doubt are putty in his hands. "Please remind me, I need it so bad."

Finding yourself blaming it on how sexy he is when he's angry, the way his cheeks colored red as he pulled on the your hair, forcing you too look at him as he asked if you fucked another man. It may be that the separation from the man weighed heavy on your heart. Seven months is a long time, the lingering desire to grow. Satisfying yourself didn't even come close to him.

The soft moan against your open mouth from the words is enough to have you soaking, fingers dip into the soft fabric of the tunic, harsh fingers grasp the tie of the robe and when it doesn't budge rips it right off, throwing it over his shoulder with a snarl against your lips. "You missed me sweet girl, you need me?."

"Yes."

"Maker -." He gasps at the feeling of small hands cupping his erection through his pants, hips bucking to meet them with certainty, lips hot against your own with one goal. "Greedy girl. Not happy unless she's touching a cock."

The way he talks as if you're not even there, patronizing but oh, it makes you mewl and tut hips against his hardness which throbs underneath you. A fire inside ignites with an endless flame, desire seeping to form into the throb between your legs. A problem that only he can fix. Absolutely starved for him, his touch, his lips as they press your own. Moaning softly with praises for his good girl.

His hands arr greedy as they cup your breasts, pinching the nipples a little to rough until they puff and sting, it hurts but he doesn't seem to care much as Lips press against the warmth of your neck, kissing, nipping any part of skin he can manage, purple marks left it the wake, tongue soothing the bruising skin, heart stammering against his chest at the thought of Luke seeing them. His voice is rough, calculating as the pads of his fingers lift your face from seeing what he's doing from you using the plam of his hand to angle it towards the headboard. "You want to see? I don't think you deserve it, haven't been a good girl. From what I remember you picked his side over mine."

"Did.." You try to speak but the thigh between your own stops you, heavy as it presses against your clit and makes you gasp. "...Not."

"Surely did but look at you now. I wonder what he would think if he saw how cock dumb you get." Din's’s hand falls between both of your legs to his hard member squeezing it through his pants, throbbing under his own palm.

He's teasing, testing the waters to see a reaction out of you, he's so so close but biting the inside of your cheek manage to stay quiet.

It has to be quick as hands press against the mattress under you, tightening your trunk to use the new found strength he didn't know about to flip yourself from under him. Din is quicker though, halfway through pulling you closer for it's impossible to escape his arms, pulling you to straddle him as his back lands on the bed with a huff.

You really do try to move but he's just too strong, hair filling the gaps between his fingers as he pulls your lips against his again, teeth clashing as a moan vibrates his chest. "You're not going anywhere cyar'ika."

Anchoring yourself against his lips, pushing down roughly on his hardness as you cry against his lips as a hand lands on your ass, skin taunt and red instantly at the roughness.

"You're upset." Words whispered against his chest, fingers running over the outline of the square jaw teasingly, tongue reaching out to lick it. He feels his own eyes roll into the back of his head with a whimper. "Let me make it up to you, I wanna taste you in my mouth again."

Muscles scream and ache, sore already from his brutal grip but it's the least of anyone's concern as you sink into knees between his large, muscular thighs squeezing them teasingly. Mouth pressing over the cloth covered skin of his inner thighs, mouthing him through the fabric as his face turns red. His fist roughly tightening in hair until it's so tight it hurts when he pulls your head back to pick your haze towards his face. "Don't tease me girl, you're not going to like what happens if you keep it up brat."

Your mouth waters watching his taunt muscles bunch the fabric of his shirt at the collar pull the beskar and shirt in one go careless of where it lands. He's bare now, muscularly lean as his hips press himself into your hand, a reminder of the task but you can't find yourself to look away from the tanned, creamy chest right above his heart, eyes reaching the black lines of words. "Another one?"

The one on his neck was large, a symbol of what he claimed was leadership but in plain English right above his heart made your heart beat faster. Shaky fingers trace the curves of letters on his pec, skin soft. Your name, it was healed and black already starting to fade, it's been there for some time now. Heart stammers against his chest as he hears the softness of your tone, "Why?"

"It belongs to you, I thought it was only right."

Despite the swelling of your heart finger’s play with the waist band of his pants before curling around them pulling them just enough that they're almost revealing his throbbing erection but his finger's cupping your jaw hault all actions forcing you to look at him through hooded eyelids. "I want to hear you want it."

“Please.” A shock of pleasure running straight through his body to his throbbing cock, “Can I touch you? I wanna suck you off, please, please let me.”

You must look pathetic on your knees, eyes welting with tears of the new found discovery on his chest, bottom lips slightly pouting that he stopped you in the first place. Big doe like eyes never leaving his, you sound so fucked. "Please..."

A small groan leaves the half naked man's throat pressing his thumb against your chin roughly, while his other fingers leaving a trail along their wake on their way to your breast cupping gently, teasing you just a little more.

The way he stares at you, as you wait for any gesture, any tilt of his head to say you can. He's testing you seeing if you're even capable of behaving but little does he realize when it came to him his girl would so anything he asks. It's intimating, feeling his eyes shift over you, tall even sitting down, towering actually.

“Fine, only because you asked like a good girl." Din's finger help you as he lifts his hips to move the pants and boxers up and over his ass and to the floor leaving him completely bare. After so many months it's a beautiful sight, hard, throbbing under your touch, an angry pink that just wants relief.

Tongue meets the delicate skin of his balls first, a soft huff of relief falling from his lips as you continue to lick a stride against them, taking one into your mouth almost as fast.

The Mandalorian actually chokes, the feeling of you after so long as him falling from his elbows to lay flat against the bed. Hands gathering your hair into a messy pony tail, not only for a better view but to taunt that he can take control anytime.

He's about to warn you about teasing him again when he feels a small kiss against his inner thigh but his tip pushing past your lips as him bitting down on his lip so hard he swears he tasting blood. "Sweet girl, so-- good."

The mixture of salty pre-cum and saliva makes it easy to move him past your lips until he reaches the deepest part of your throat, holding him there a few seconds to taste the saltiness of him until your nose feels the dark hairs of his abdomen Warm and tight around him, fingers gripping harder as his hips involuntarily buck into you deeper, choking you until eyes start to water.

After that you waste no time taking him inside your mouth to the point that your lips were completely around him as him he hits the back of your throat with every stroke. Adding his own hips to the mixture as the intense feeling of your gagging only vibrates against him, the sounds that fill the room are filthy, wet and slippery as spit begins to dribble down your chin.

"Maker --." He squeezes his eyes shut feeling the distant building of heat run down his legs, warm his belly. "Did you think about this? Think --." He can't even finish a sentence with how deep you take him, throat already staring to ache but every time his cock pierces the threshold of your throat soothing it instantly. "Think about sucking me off?"

Head nodding frantically as one of your hands slip just to relieve the pressure between your legs but his own around your wrist stops you. A soft whine makes around him makes it almost impossible to push away but with every ounce of self control he has he pulls his throbbing cock from your mouth, the thick line of spit that comes that connects you two makes him want to explode on your face right there.

Din pulls you up by your arm onto his lap once again as fingers waste no time to reach between your legs, thee slick of your wetness coating the tips of his fingers as he pulls the pants from your hips. “You're so wet honey, is this all for me?"

He doesn't even give you the chance to reply as fingers dip down to your wet slit, sticking a finger in your gaping hole a quarter of the way with one goal in mine to coat them in some wetness before slipping it past his lips, wanting a taste. "Just as sweet as I remember, want you to taste."

With his face only inches from your own, it's so filthy. The way he pulls his fingers from between lips, his own string of spit as the appendages slip past your own lipsb rolling against your tongue before closing your lips around them. “Such a dirty girl aren’t you?” 

The heat of Din's chest flushing your breast is enough to have you dizzy with bliss. He's so sexy like this, confident, radiates with new found power that turns you to putty in his hands.

You can't help as you lean forward to capture his lips again tongue eagerly meeting his. Din kisses back instantly, the taste of you being exchanged passionately through the heated kiss as hands falling to the back of your hair, tugging it gently as hips buck as you lower yourself against his cock. At this point Din feels his heart pounding against his chest, doesnt believe the way you dry hump, he wouldn't even call it that: the wetness that soaks his thighs is anything but dry.

It almost physically hurts not being inside of you, hot a ready against you, gentle fingers hook at your hips effortlessly flipping your whole body weight until your hands and head push against the softness of the mattress using fingers to bring your ass towards him until it's presses against his own bare hips. “Ass up baby.”

Din couldn’t help but groan at the sight of you, naked, pussy in the air for him, ready to be used in any way he sees fit. A rough hand kneading the flesh of your ass cheek, other one coming up to spank you so hard you gasp as it sends tingles of pain down sore legs. His lips coming down to the point of attack pressing a small kiss against it, then using his hand to run over the bubbling spot, welt red with pulsing pain. “You looked so pretty with your lips around me around my cock but seeing red with my marks makes me want to destroy you."

"Please, please.." At this point you don't know what you're begging for but Din's not ready to give up that easy, he's not done reminding you that you are without a doubt his.

A large hand guides down your back feeling the grooves of your spine against his own fingertips until hand reached the back of your neck with one hard grab but then down back down until he reaches your ass kneading both cheeks so close to your throbbing heat. A lingering blaze of heat where his fingers were as he pushes your head deeper into the matress. "Beg me to touch you needy girl. I don't think I'm convinced you want me anymore."

"I do." The clock of his tongue tells you he's disappointed, panic tearing through your throat as his finger moved further from where you need him most, tears of frustration prickling eyes as his hand pushes your head deeper into the mattress. “No! No -- please touch me. I want it, need you so bad, lay here every night thinking of it." With one last crack of your voice words spewing at any effort of some type of relief. "Do whatever you want to me, fill me up bear, I wanna be yours.."

It's only for a second, the way he tenses and throbs between your ass cheeks, chest doesn't dare move, not believing the words that came from your mouth. Soft kisses against the back of your thighs, lip meeting with your clit that sends a shock up your spine, goosebumps breaking out at the euphoric feeling. Din didn’t waste any time as he puckers his lips and sucks on your heat, tongue trusting inside of your tight hole enjoying the sounds coming from you as he mumbles against you, "Want me to fill you up sweet girl? Want my seed deep in you?"

Wet, sloppy noises falling from where his lips connect to you the sounds he was making with his lips and tongue are almost sinful as a rush of heat runs through your body hand coming down on your ass, a little awkward at this position but it's more to show how serious he is. "Answer me."

"Yes! Oh, yes! I want you to feel you all night."

The tip of Din’s tongue flickers the soft bundle of nerves making you mewl, his finger filling you snuggly and to the brink without warning, not wasting any time they leave only to come back and reach that spot in that makes your eyes roll back into your head. The sounds falling from between your legs were heavenly, wetness dripping from your thighs to the bed but he could care less about right now.

“I’m gonna cum.” The devilish smirk was not visible to your own eyes as pulls his finger from the wetness, eyes running over your swollen pussy puffy with pleasure. 

"Wha?” The orgasm haze was starting to take over leaving you slightly drowsy as tears sting with frustration groaning into the pillow trying to lift your head but Din's hand in your hair prevents that pressing you back against the soft material. 

“Good girl take what they're given." He growls harshly but the gentle kisses against your neck say otherwise; soft and wet soothing the spot where he grabbed earlier. Words dangerous as lips chaste over your ear, "You can remember that the next time you stick up for him."

Din is kneeling between your thighs, leg against your inner knee spreading your legs just enough for he can fit. Arching your back against him, silently begging to end your misery already.

The sounds of his hand using your wetness to jerk himself off behind you otherresting against your ass and squeezing the softness. He doesn't give any warning, the sudden feeling of a burning but pleasurable stretching causing a small gasp to fall from lips swollen from all the biting from the previous finger fucking.

Din’s finger come behind you to tease the bundle of nerves, making your whine as he sinks every inch of his cock until he's nestled so deep it's hard to breath. It's a delicious burn, one that makes you so light headed it's hard to even form words. "Maker, Din."

Din's hands rest against the swells of your ass, eyes tilting towards the filthy sight of him snuggly pressing into you, testing the waters with one deep, slow thrust. The sound you make is straight up sinful, makes him groan on his own accord as you clench around him.

Hips snap faster watching his cock disappear and reappear into your silky opening over and over again a wave of pleasure tingling his spine every time he hits the spot that makes you dumb. He wants to comment on it but can't form words at the sight of his cock covered in your arousal, it has his thighs shaking with heat, stomach stirring with the familar feeling of relief, his whole body on fire. With every push of hips, strokes steady, long and rough hitting to fill you every single time.

The sounds falling from you mixed with pleasure and pain but it felt so good having him in you again. Din loves it, hips rolling into you, pussy dripping between the two of you, smearing his thighs, leaking down yours. Eyes trained your bouncing ass as he listens to the squeals of his name.

Back arching pushing him deeper inside of you to hit that spot that makes you cry as a hand rest against the small of back giving him a better angle to fuck you senselessly. “Din, oh maker, so fucking good."

"Yeah sweetheart? Missed me huh?"

Nails digging into the flesh of your hip as sweat begins to bead on his forehead and chest, heat washing over his whole body as he feels himself grow closer and closer to giving you want you want most. “i’m so close bear, please let me..” you manage to mumble as the pleasure pinches your voice hoping he doesn't steal this one from you as well.

"Want me to fill you up sweet girl? Tell me you want it.

"I want it so bad, want to feel you for weeks." There is no doubt in any of your minds you will.

"Come for me, give it to me." Your orgasm hits you instantly clenching around him so hard he chokes. Din on the other hand continues to drive his cock deep inside of you a small whine falling from his lips. 

With the last of his trust he explodes, cum lining you, filling you to the brink. Maker, there's so much as it drips between you and onto the bed, he doesn't dare move trying to keep whatever he can manage in. Taking a second to recover with heavy pants against your back before fingers hook around you turning you to face him as you both breath with heavy breaths.

Sagging into the matress completely spent, chest rising and falling to match the pattern of your thumping heart. Eyes blurring in a haze even though it's only temporary your limbs feel heavy as a gentle hand cups your cheek tilting your head in which you can only guess his direction. Din doesn't move, keeps himself burried deep inside of you, not daring to break the warmth he's missed.

"Are you with me Cyar'ika?" The post sex haze wearing away but he's till blurry, you're too tired as eyes slowly begin to shut.

"I want to go with you. I want to go home."

There was no home, Din knew exactly what the words meant, a metaphor for himself, he would forever be your home. It was sweet, made him warm and blush but lazy lips trail from your shoulder pressing his face into your neck with a sigh, words whispered breathlessly. "You belong here, I will come back when you are ready."

"I don't want you to leave." The words are hard to process as hot tears slip past your eyes flushing the cold skin of his cheek.

The way the words sound so broken, gasped out with emotion is soul crushing. Din presses his face deeper, cheek against cheek as the tears burn. "I'll try and visit more.. it won't be another seven months. Luke will have a way to communicate with me for emergencies." He pauses, hands rubbing over your hair to comfort in any way that would help, lifting his face until your nose bumps his own. "I wouldnt able to live with myself letting you leave here yet... You have come so far, you have so much more to accomplish my sweet girl."

"Stay an extra day." Tomorrow morning was coming too fast, it breaks your heart knowing it would be months before laying eyes on your Mandalorian again. Din turns his head not being able to look you in the eyes that he can't, he promised Bo-Katan that he needed one day then he would be back to the war, it was bad timing as it is. The sniffles against his neck, the whine as he shifted inside her once again made him crack. "Anything for you baby, I love you so much. I'm sorry for before, did I hurt you? I -."

"It's okay, It's been a long time Din, I understand. It was perfect." It's doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand, the uncertainty of seven months and you couldn't find yourself to blame him.

**

It's funny how missing someone works, it's been weeks since he's left but in the morning you find yourself not being able to move from the bed, the sheets still smell like him. Remember all the soft spoken words, the promises that he'll be back to you home, to him where you belonged.

Luke sits in front of you, Grogu on his lap as you try and concentrate but the small hands against your stomach make you frown, head tilting down at the green fingers that coo softly. He's been doing that very often lately. What a weird little creature.. cute but weird.

The soft huff that falls from Luke makes you pause, now question his eyes with your own. He closes his eyes, taking a deep breath, accomplishing what you failed to do. The force is strong with him, murmuring things of the past and impending future.

Now his hand covers the child's who lays his forehead against it. "He senses life. I feel it."

The words stun you, momentarily pausing as your mouth falls open. "I saw the future, I saw your baby due in months time. Another generation of Jedi."

And the heir to the Mandalorian throne.

[sunjaesol]

THE MANY CRUSHES OF LUKE PATTERSON... AND THE ONE THAT STUCK

💌💌💌💌💌💌💌💌

1982

Luke Patterson's first crush ever was Haley Martin. He adored the colour of her hair — like the clementines his mom bought — and the way she finger-painted, enough for his four year old eyes to stare at her in awe.

He watched her make mud pies in the sandbox from the monkey bars, only to ruin them to get a rise out of her. He couldn't understand why she didn't like him the way he did, so he nagged his mom to explain.

"Teasing girls should be fun for them too, sweetheart," she soothed. "This Haley clearly didn't like it."

He blinked. "Huh?"

Her smile stayed warm, similar to hot chocolate and whenever grandpa conjured candies from behind his ear. "Why don't you share your grapes with her tomorrow? I'm sure she'll like that."

His nose scrunched up. "Why?"

"Because it's sweet, Luke."

"I don't get that," he shrugged. "But I'll try."

The next day, he sat beside her during storybook time and that seemed to help a little already. By the time it was lunch, her mood was lifted, which excited him too, and urged him to offer the grapes.

It earned him a featherlight kiss on the cheek.

Luke squeaked in surprise, flushing a firetruck red, to which she giggled and plopped another grape in her mouth.

Three days later, his crush was gone from his mind and he began sharing his grapes with his new friend Reginald instead.

1986

"Can you ask Jessica what she thinks of me?" Luke hurriedly whispered, eyes flickering between Reggie and the girl from across the courtyard.

Normally, Luke Patterson exuded confidence. The resident class clown, always opening his jaw to react to the teacher without raising his hand, catching fights with stupid classmates, sneaking into dad's stationwagon to create mixtapes.

Fearlessness was his freaking middle name. (It was actually Beck, but whatever. He wished it was something cool like Duran Duran though.)

But when it came to girls... he got so nervous. Because they were girls! He didn't understand them! They hated rambunctious boys and only listened to stupid pop music and blabbered about how they stole makeup from their sisters.

Jessica, however, somehow made his heart flutter and his stomach twist up. She just looked cool in her dungarees and she had a pretty smile and she didn't wear that overwhelming, sugary perfume that was now popular.

Reggie snickered, in the way only eight year old boys could. "You liiiiiiike her!"

"No!" He scowled. "I–I'm just curious."

"Sure," he drawled, but then shrugged in agreement, the oversized leather jacket rustling on his shoulders. He stole it from his older brother after he saw him kissing (!!!) some girl and figured it held some magic to impress the ladies with.

"Just do it!"

With a dramatic flourish, the boy left their hiding spot, Luke lurking around the corner of the alcove to watch. Jessica looked up from her hard work of creating friendship bracelets and smiled at Reggie.

Oh, gosh. She was pretty.

A minute later, a sheepish Reg slowly crawled back to him, cheeks red and fiddling with the zipper of his jacket.

Luke grabbed his shoulders, urgent. "What did she say?"

"Uh... well..."

"C'mon, dude!"

Reggie sighed. "She... likes me, buddy. Sorry."

His hopeful face crashed into one of devestation, quickly covering it up with a laugh and a squeeze of the shoulder. Oh, man, what would Steven Tyler do?

"That– that's dope!"

In the end, Reggie and Jessica were boyfriend and girlfriend for a week while he wrote an angry poem about how stupid dungarees were.

Huh... it was surprisingly good.

1988

"Hey, Luke," Gwenn greeted, shy, tucking her hands in her Camp Wacky Rocka hoodie. "I really liked that song you made about your guitar."

Jumping from the tree branch to the ground, Luke dazzled her with an appreciative smile. From above, Reggie and their new friend Alex watched on curiously.

"Thanks!"

Who would've thought that summer camp would be the first time he made a real, girl friend! Gwenn was super cool and she played the saxophone and she liked Joan Jett and her hair was all curly and big and it reminded him of pretty clouds.

Looking over her shoulder, he noticed a gaggle of girls staring at them. Like they were waiting.

Gwenn stared at him. "Can you close your eyes?"

He frowned. "Why?"

"Just 'cause."

Whatever. Maybe she wanted to show him something cool and would stick it in his hand. Complying, he closed his eyes and impatiently waited, bouncing on his heels.

"So?"

Suddenly, he felt a light, warm touch on his mouth and — oh! She was kissing him!

Luke staggered back in surprise, gawking at a blushing Gwenn as she squeaked a sorry and ran back to the now giggling and screeching girls. They ran away like a flock of birds.

It was a dare! His first kiss, stolen by a dare!

His boys jumped down beside him, awed.

Reggie hollered. "You kissed Gwenn!"

"I don't get it," Alex muttered.

Luke's face twisted up in a sour expression. Camp Wacky Rocka should be all about the music and becoming legends and Gwenn ruined it!

He stuck his tongue out. "Whatever. Let's go to the mess hall!"

1989

When Luke turned eleven, he kissed someone for real.

His birthday party was at the arcade, loud chatter and robotic sounds clashing together in an amazing cacophony. His parents hated the place, which is why Luke loved it.

Of the twenty guests, Yasmine clapped the loudest after he finished his song with the boys — Math Is For Losers! — and grabbed his hand as they walked to a duel game.

Luke felt fuckin' giddy the entire time. (Freakin' in front of his parents, fuckin' with friends.) The swoop in his stomach, his cheeks stretched into a wide beam.

Freshly eleven and the king of the arcade, he boldly asked if he could kiss her.

She smiled, her purple headband glittering in the neon lights, and nodded.

It was short and warm and her lips tasted like pink lemonade and sour gummies and it gave him an entirely new buzz. It was exciting.

He kissed her a couple more times the days after, eager and curious, until she claimed she was now only interested in twelve year old boys.

Since Luke now held the record of most kisses between him, Alex and Reggie, he wasn't too bothered by it. They shook hands, complimented each other on the kissing, and that was that.

1992

"Are you or are you not my boyfriend?" Olivia bit, crossing her arms.

Luke sighed, lazy gaze drifting from her to his band waiting by their bikes. Damn, he thought having a girlfriend would be way easier. Why was she so tense?

"I am," he said. "Why do you think I'm not?"

"Because you ignore me, like, all the time!" Pouting, she fiddled with the hem of her tartan skirt. "And now you're going to be with your band!"

He shrugged. "You can come with us and listen, if you want."

Luke met Olivia this year as deskmates in French class. Her raven hair was long and thick and her lips were all shiny from lip gloss and maybe he got a little cocky, thinking he could be dating the hottest girl of freshman year, so he naturally asked her out.

Maybe he should've considered beforehand whether they had anything in common, but he'd always been the overzealous type. And besides... she was a good kisser.

She scoffed. "That's not any better. Whatever. I'll just hang with Tina and Priscilla then. Laters!"

Plopping a kiss on his lips, she turned around and stalked to her whispering friends. Luke puffed, adjusted the beanie and made his way to the boys.

Girls were confusing.

"I bet dating boys is easier," Alex mused. "Like, equally terrifying, but also... easier. I think. Maybe."

Bobby laughed. "How's the girlfriend, Luke?"

"Ha ha," he deadpanned. "Let's go. I got this new song, Crooked Teeth, and it's a fucking banger!"

Olivia broke up with him after Sunset Curve's first, official gig at the arcade with the explanation that he loved music more than her. He never loved her to begin with, so maybe that was the problem.

She made out with Bobby that same night.

Holy shit, man. He supposed that bitter feeling at the sight of them tasted like rock 'n roll, the one thing he actually craved.

What a funny, funny feeling. (He wrote a hell of a lot of songs about it after. He never quite looked at Bobby the same way either.)

1995

"Hey, Maisie." Leaning against the locker beside the girl, he shot her a million dollar smile. "You comin' to our gig tonight? It's at The Orpheum."

Maisie was fucking awesome. Always in short, flowery dresses and fishnet tights and thick eyeliner like a rockstar, always listening to something new on her walkman. She came from a rich family, but that didn't hinder them from becoming friends.

Her jaw fell slack in awe, him instantly gaining more confidence. Ducking his head to meet her eye, he leaned a little closer. He knew damn well what he was doing, and he got a thrill every time it worked.

"Really?" She gasped. "That's awesome! I'll so be there!"

"Sweet," he grinned. "And stay after too."

A brow quirked up, intrigued. "Why?"

He shrugged. "Just 'cause."

"Right," she drawled. "Nothing is 'just because' with you, Luke."

"And that's why you gotta stay," he teased, nudging her shoe with his. "To find out."

If they rocked that gig and he felt like a fucking legend, he hoped it would end with the two of them hooking up. He wasn't interested in dating — having learned his lesson after Olivia — and he knew she wasn't either, but she was fun.

And that was the most important to him: to have fucking fun. Luke Patterson was here for a good time, not a long time.

And if nothing happened between him and Maisie, then he'd still feel like a legend. In a couple of hours, he was going to play at The Orpheum! How gnarly was that?!

2022

Twenty-seven years later, Luke was still seventeen years old. While he preferred to not question the science behind ghostly activities — he flunked physics anyway — he was happy that he froze at this age.

Because Julie was seventeen, too.

And, man. He was madly in love with her.

He loved everything, from the babyhairs curling around her ears, to her voice and compassionate soul, to her beautiful smile, all the way to her cute, doodled sneakers.

Her epic music taste, her snark, the way she always found his gaze, the way she finished his lyrics, the way she always knew what to say to make him feel better.

His heart melted to a flickering candle whenever she hugged him, a raging wildfire erupting between every kiss. He was a fool for her.

"Stop moving," she giggled, one hand coming up to hold his chin.

He grinned, "Sorry, Jules."

Shifting closer, she dabbled more glitter on his cheeks. They were playing at a black-light club tonight, so Julie and Flynn bought all the glow in the dark makeup available at the store for the occasion.

They looked ridiculous in daylight, Julie's weirdly pink lipstick claiming all his attention, but he knew they'd look fucking cool once the lights went down.

"You want to watch a movie after the gig?" she whispered.

Luke rolled his eyes, playful. "You're gonna fall asleep."

"Yeah." With a bashful tilt of the shoulder, she leaned in closer. "But then you'll be with me."

"Julie! How scandalous," he teased, though his chest swelled at the thought of having some alone time, some cuddle time, with Julie.

"So?"

Murmuring a yes, he closed the little distance to kiss her, sealing the deal, only for her to chase after him — an attempt to wipe the lipstick stain off his lips.

"Nah, keep it." A smirk grew. "So the people know."

She tsked. "Idiot."

"You like it."

"I'm still taking it off though, seeing as you're supposed to be a hologram," she pointed out. "But... you can kiss my lipstick away after the show."

He sighed, dreamy. "I love you."

Finishing his glitter and removing the stain, she dazzled him with a satisfied smile. "Love you too."

She rose up from the couch and went to search for Reggie, the boy likely with Carlos. For a moment, Luke was alone in the studio, allowing himself to sink into that warm, fuzzy feeling.

No matter how many blunders he went through with girls — Haley, Jessica, Gwenn, Yasmine, Olivia, Maisie — they all prepared him, in one way or the other, for Julie.

To not only recognise when an awesome girl was standing right in front of him, but also how to treat her — because Julie Molina deserved the fucking world.

Even if that world now included the supernatural.

Whatever. They were all a little crazy.

💌💌💌💌💌💌💌💌

@bluefirewrites @blush-and-books @pink-flame @ourstarscollided @constantly-singing @unsaid-emily @willexx

[theleftovertaco]

You Were Maid For This

There is an increasing amount of boys on tiktok in maid costumes, and when someone dressed up as Malfoy in a maid outfit, I had to write this (if you want the video just send an ask and I’ll send you the link). Here we have Fred, George, Harry, Ron, Neville, and Draco. Just a heads up, some of the details are purposefully vague so that the reader can be interpreted as being from any house, in any year, and of any gender, if i trip up or you think there is a way i could improve, please let me know since i finally have asks and submissions enabled

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Whoever decided this was a good idea.... was absolutely fucking correct

It was you, you decided it was a good idea

You darted into the great hall, sat down, and told Colin Creevey to set up his camera and to not be a snitch, and then you waited.

Fred and George came first, and to an onslaught of laughter and a little bit of applause.

Because low and behold, they came in wearing matching maid outfits. 

Pink. Frilly. Fucking. Maid. Outfits.

“We wanna know”, George said as he plopped down on your right, “who thought it would be funny to take all our clothes in the middle of the night and leave us with only THESE!” You stifled laughter by shoving a piece of scrambled egg in your mouth.

Fred tilted his head your way from the other side of you. “You think this is funny, do you love?”

“I find it to be the purest form of comedy.”

“Ugh” came the simultaneous replies, “This has to the fluffiest thing I have ever worn.”

“I don’t know”, laughed Harry, “the cat ears just bring out your eyes so well!”

He got identical middle fingers in response.

“Maybe you should just work with it, not against it” , Hermione interjected her two sickles into the conversation, “try to rock it.”

“Rock it?” They both titled their heads a little to the left.

“It’s a muggle expression, when a person tries to make a style work even if they’re not fond of it.”

“Ah.” Came the reply from your left.

“Maybe we should try to, uhh, rock it.”

You giggled and turned to Colin, “You two have fun with that, in the meantime, would you mind taking a picture, I’d like it for blackmail material.”

“Colin, you take that picture and I smash your camera.” Fred’s threat fell on deaf ears and after the image was pointed out on Colin’s new Polaroid you took the image, fanning it as you slipped 5 knuts into the small boys hand.

In McGonagall’s class, the boys flounced into class and immediately began flirting with the other boys in class.

“Weasley and Weasley, sit down before I turn the dress green!”

“Professor, that would clash with our hair.” A stern look silenced George pretty quick and they both sat down, though after they did McGonagall had to turn around to hide a smile.

Professor Sprout let out a booming laugh when they entered greenhouse four and simply shooed them to their stations. The Dittany plants they had planted into the plant beds saw that the white of their costumes were freckled with brown, but a quick scourgify from Sprout and they were good as new.

She sent them on their way with a comment that they, “look adorable!”

Flitwick couldn’t say much, he fell off his book stack laughing when they walked in and stayed on the floor for half and hour.

Charms class was excused for the rest of the day since their professor couldn’t calm down.

They reconvened with you for study hall in the courtyard looking a little too pleased with themselves.

“I take it people liked them?” You shouted across the yard.

“Yeah, Flitwick couldn’t stay on his stack.” Fred grinned.

“Well, I really must say, you both look very pretty.” They both laughed but you didn’t miss the way their cheeks flushed at this very different compliment.

“Yes, they look very pretty, don’t they”, Malfoy sauntered across the courtyard, “It’s such a manly look for them. Very fitting, since you two are too stupid to get any job outside of being janitorial staff.”

Fred nearly growled and you and George had to pull him to sit back down on the fountain ledge. 

“Don’t worry, he’s next on the list.” You whispered. Identical mops of red hair whipped towards you.

“It was you!” came the in unison exclamations.

“Of course it was me, who else would it be!”

“Y/N!” Fred bemoaned.

“How could you betray us like this?” George was howling like he’d just been stabbed. 

“I wouldn’t call it betrayal, just a bit of fun.”

“How did you even get up to the common room?” Fred was incredulous.

“You should know by now that I know how to get past those charms.”

“Ok, we’ll admit that was pretty funny.” George replied.

“Thank you, I try. Just make sure you don’t tell anyone else yet.”

“Of course. So, where are our clothes?”

“You’ll get them back when I’m finished with the prank. Bye you two.”

You got identical “NOOOOO”s as you left the courtyard.

2 down. 4 to go. 

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                         “Creevey! Same drill as yesterday.” Colin nodded and whipped out his camera to get it ready.

“You might wanna hide for this one, I doubt Malfoy would appreciate you taking his picture in this state.” He promptly ducked under the table until just the lens peeked out above the table. 

Draco stomped into the Great Hall, sat over at the Slytherin table, and huffed as most of Gryffindor let out thunderous laughter. 

“Whoever did this will be on the very unpleasant end of an unforgivable when I find them!” You could barely hear him above the giggles. 

“Mr. Malfoy, I know I did not just hear a threat from you?” McGonagall walked past the table and let out an affronted sound.

“Er-...of course not professor.” She hmphed and walked off.

“I don’t know Malfoy, maybe this could be good for you. This is what you get for making fun of the twins.” Fred and George nodded next to you, still in their outfits from the other day.

“Shut it, Y/Ln. If this was you I swear to Merlin.”

“I will admit to no such thing.”

Draco, unlike the twins, very much did not rock the maid outfit. Flitwick had finally gotten over his laughter and could teach as normal, but Professor Sinestra couldn’t help but let out a chuckle when a very grumpy Malfoy stepped up the astronomy tower with a few Gryffindor students trailing after him, making some rather inappropriate jokes about his backside.

Snape merely grumbled that his costume better not interfere with the lesson and moved on.

“Ok.” Malfoy finally sat down at your table in the library, “I concede, now please give me my clothes back.” 

“I have no clue what you’re talking about.” You said with a sinister grin. 

“Y/Ln!!!!” he groaned. 

“It's not that big of a deal. So you wear a dress. Guys can wear dresses.”

“Doesn’t mean I want to!” he yelled, before being shushed by Pince. 

“You know”, you began to speculate, “I think you’re arguing to deflect because you don’t want to admit that you actually like wearing a dress, even if it’s just a little bit.”

There was only silence in return and you smirked.

“You get your clothes back when I’m done with my prank.”

“Thank you. One more thing.”

“Yeah?”

“Can you change my outfit to be green? Pink is not my color.” 

“I disagree, but fine.”

Halfway done. 

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By day three, many of the boys at Hogwarts held the mild fear that they would be next to have their clothing swapped. 

Creevey had also picked up on the drill at this point.

Ron and Harry were next. 

You knew Harry would at least try to be a good sport. Ron, on the other hand, was a bit more of a wild card and you were a little nervous for his reaction.

“What. The. FUCK!” He whisper shouted when he got to Breakfast, slamming his hands down on the table. Harry chuckled and sat down next to him.

“So we were the next victims, hm.” Fred and George must have told Harry it was you, since he looked you way and playfully glared and stuck his tongue out at you, which you happily returned.

“Mature, Y/N.”

“You started it- wait no, ok now I hear it.”

“I swear to Godric Colin if you take my picture in this I will end you.” Ron snapped as the kid squeaked and ducked down, but the click of the lens appeared nonetheless. 

Harry and Ron went about their classes trying to attract as little attention as possible. Flitwick was used to the skirts at this point and merely smirked and asked the boys to sit down while commenting they should be careful with the lace collar since it was delicate.

During quidditch practice, Harry and the Twins did have a bit of trouble flying with the dress, since some of the other players and onlookers made comments from below. 

“Oi! Stop peeking!” Fred shouted at a third year girl who giggled and scurried off.

Professor Trelawney stared at the two before claiming that the fates told her to advise them to wear a blue dress the next time. 

“Harry told me it was you.” Ron huffed as he slumped down in the grass by the lake near you. Harry sat down shortly after.

“It’s not that big of a deal. Honestly, I think you look cute in it.” Ron blushed at the compliment but didn’t say anything more. 

“I’m guessing we won’t be getting our clothes back for a while?”

“You’re catching on. Only one more day. The last person is tomorrow and then you get your Friday off from wearing it.”

“Oh thank Merlin.” You heard Ron sigh in relief.

1 more person left.

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If we’re being honest you were most worried about Neville. That’s why you wanted him last, so he would only have to deal with it for a day in case it backfired. Also so that Malfoy couldn’t say anything because he would also be wearing his.

Neville kinda just shuffled into the Great Hall, and then darted over to the table where he wolfed down his beans on toast before rushing back out to hide until his next class.

“Neville!” Harry and Ron ran after him, dresses jumping back and forth as they left.

It was doubtful you woulf see anything from them directly, you didn’t share any classes with Neville on thursdays.

Ron and Harry would have to catch you up afterwards.

You met back up with them at dinner.

“You ok, Neville?” He offered a sheepish smile and nodded.

“Harry and Ron said I’d be ok and that no one else could really say anything.”

“Snape just said not to be ‘any more of a nuisance than usual’”, Harry interrupted with a shitty impression, “ Binns was too interested in his fucking textbook to make a comment, McGonagall called the three of us ‘adorable’ and Dean and Seamus keep playing with our ears!” He batted away Seamus’ hand for what probably was the 40th time that day.

“Well, Neville, what did you think?” Eyes turned towards him and he blushed bright red.

“I”, he paused for a second, “it was fun, I guess. It was kind of funny seeing Malfoy in them.”

There was a slight pause, and then.

“I guess I’d do it again. Not the outfit but the dress or skirt. Maybe even the headband. Just not as fuzzy.” Neville looked down and kinda whispered the last part.

“I would too.” Ron, surprisingly was the next to admit it and from there came a round of agreements at Gryffindor table.

“Well if we’re being honest I think that George and I did indeed rock it.” Fred said as he dug into his pot roast

“That you did. If you lot want, we could go to a shop next Hogsmeade weekend, take a look around for some other skirts?”

You got a round of “yes”s and the conversation turned elsewhere.

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“Hey,” Malfoy dropped into the seat next to you during study hall, “ how are you.”

You squinted at him.

“Fine? Why are you being so weird? You’re never nice.”

“Er, well, I mean I was hoping...that maybe... perhaps...”

“Spit it out Malfoy!”

“Could you take me to get a skirt?”

What?

“It’s just, after the first day, I kinda liked the skirt.”

You glared at him for a second.

“Yeah, ok, meet me at Hogsmeade entrance next month and we’ll go. Everyone else is going so play nice.”

He thanked you and left quickly.

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“Well, you all look beautiful if I do say so myself.” You said as they each stepped out of the changing room wearing their skirts. Fred and George twirled around, Harry and Ron did a little dance, Neville jumped around a little bit, and Draco shifted his weight from foot to foot.’

“Well thank you love.” Fred skipped over to you in a plaid circle skirt, “I will say I prefer this skirt to the poofy one in the maid outfit.”

“You like the skirt, huh? You could even say you were maid for it.” You offered with a sly grin

“Why are you like this?”

“Nooo!”

“Shittiest pun ever.”

“Whyyyyy!”

“Please never speak again.”

“I literally hate you right now.”

Well, you win some, you lose some.

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