#it just causes so much stress man. especially in a college setting which i am currently living

[giddlygoat]

being adhd is crazy ill spend all day worrying that i’ve forgotten something, triple checking my calendar and my messages to make sure i haven’t missed an appointment or left someone hanging, and it still happens anyway. incredible

[saphiraarts]

Chapter 3 Since when was my Godfather half dead?

For the past few weeks essentially Danny Fenton has been a nervous wreck with countless accidents at home and at school. He was banned from handling any fragile school property now and he sighed as he walked home that friday. He just wanted to curl up in his room where no one could see him and get dinner that night. He perked up hearing voices in the kitchen and walked closer and he smiled.

“Vlad!” He called happily, seeing the man at the table.

“Danny,” Vlad said warmly, standing and opening his arms and he rushed over and gave his godfather a hug.

“Where have you been?! You missed the start of the school year!” Danny called.

Jazz sat across the table drinking some tea after a day at school and she smiled seeing her brother so happy noticing how stressed he had been. She thought he had been stressed about starting high school but she wasn’t sure how to approach him just yet. She had been a bit short with him lately especially at the end of her sophomore year and finals. Vlad wrapped his arms around him and gave him a gentle squeeze.

“Sorry I was at a conference. I could not reschedule it no matter how much I tried,” Vlad said with a gentle tone as he pulled away.

Danny settled into a seat setting down his bag. Well he tried to but his bag fell to the floor and Vlad’s eyes widened seeing his arm vanish from sight. Danny sighed, sounding tired as he sat down and just did his best to smile.

“New year jitters my boy?” Vlad asked.

“I guess so,” Danny said with a nervous laugh but sighed. “I think I should lay down in my room.” He stood his smile fading, not wanting to face his sister or Vlad right now.

He grabbed his bag and went upstairs. He heard footsteps but he shook his head and he gripped his pants just in case. When he reached his door his arm phased through the door as he went to grab it and he waited for it to become solid again before he entered his room and flopped onto his bed. He didn’t even feel motivated to hang out with Sam and Tucker; he was one freak accident away from becoming the local freak. There was a knock and Danny buried his head under his pillow which just phased through his head and he panicked when he went through his bed and yelped when he crashed to the floor under it.

“Daniel?! You alright?” Vlad called.

Oh crud. Danny said, “Yeah!” He crawled out from under his bed covered in dust. “Uh come in!” It would cause more concern and problems if he turned Vlad away.

Vlad opened the door and shut it behind him and he saw him covered in dust and confirmed what he needed to know without having to see it. That incident he saw was no trick of light Daniel was half ghost.

“So uh what brings you here?” Danny asked, rubbing his arm praying he didn’t do anything as he sat down on his bed.

Vlad took a seat at his desk pulling the chair up and he said, “I will just be upfront. There is no gentle way to go about this.” He held up his hand and pink energy wrapped around it and he shut the curtains of Danny’s room and turned on his desk lamp.

Danny jumped tensed seeing it gripping the bed and his eyes widened when black rings wrapped around Vlad washing over him. Vlad went from a pale toned man to a well built green skinned vampiric looking ghost with black hair with solid red eyes.

“I am half ghost as well. It seems that your transformation or should I say partial death happened recently,” Vlad said.

Danny was in shock, “Si-Since when were you h-half ghost?!” He called. He yelped as he phased through the bed again. Vlad flew over and turned intangible, grabbing Danny and helping him back up onto the bed.

“Twenty years ago this year, senior year of college,” Vlad explained calmly as he flew away. “I understand why you've been so nervous now I would be in your shoes in a house of ghost hunters who speak of tearing ghosts apart.” He floated back to the chair, settling back in it.

Danny was breathing a bit heavily as he took this all in that his godfather was half ghost like what?! He ran a hand through his hair as he sat there and Vlad gave him this silence letting him come to terms. Danny looked up to him and he drew in a breath and focused. The ring of light appeared at his waist washing over him. He appeared in the inverted fenton jumpsuit and his white hair covered his face.

“I can help train you but not here. Too many risks. How about you stay the weekend at my manor?” Vlad asked him. “We could work on the basics so you don’t have so many incidents.”

“You would help me?!” Danny called as he stood.

“Of course. I know too well what it is like to have no guide,” Vlad said smiling. “Let’s cover the basics now while we have some time.”

Danny stood at attention waiting for instruction, unable to believe how lucky he was that he found a mentor in the form of his own godfather. There was solace in the fact he wasn’t alone. To Sam and Tucker this was just something that made him stand out and they didn’t seem to truly understand his fears.

“Your ghost powers respond to your emotion and that they are still unknown to you. You are still learning how they feel. It is like awakening to a new sense so to speak and you have to recognize its triggers and be able to temper it,” Vlad explained as he stood.

“Okay so how will I know what it feels like?” Danny asked.

“Well from what I gathered it is different per ghost based on something called an elemental core,” Vlad replied. “We need to determine your element. Mine is fire so my powers felt like a burning sensation flaring up and intensifying at times. The emotions they respond to most often are fear and anxiety.”

“Oh great,” Danny said after hearing that part sighing, running a hand through his hair. “How can I not be scared or anxious?!” He asked him throwing his arms out. “I am half dead now! My parents want to hunt me and do who knows what to me!”

“I don’t know how they would react to this knowledge so it is understandable to be fearful,” Vlad said which didn’t comfort Danny that he didn’t even know how his parents would react. “But know that if the worst does occur and that is if, I will protect you.”

Vlad approached and placed a hand on Danny’s shoulder and gave him a smile and Danny wrapped his arms around him feeling tears form. He let it out the tears he had been holding in and cried into Vlad’s chest. Vlad pulled him close, wrapping him in his cloak and letting him cry it out. He remembered how he was like after he fully transformed after the slow and painful partial death from ecto acne. He was a nervous wreck breaking down in the dead of night where no one could comfort him. He was alone in figuring it out and spent those years living in fear before he gained control then he channeled that fear into anger and then regret. Vlad changed back and produced a handkerchief from his breast pocket and knelt down and held it out to Danny who took it and wiped his green tinted tears away.

“I know it doesn’t seem like it Daniel, but you will be okay. You don’t have to endure this alone. If you need me message me I am an email away,” Vlad told him. “So chin up. You will learn control. Even if there are a lot of unknowns I can do what I can to help you.”

Danny smiled but blinked when the rings of light washed over him shifting to his human appearance, “That wasn’t supposed to happen.”

“We’ll figure that out,” Vlad said, chuckling as he stood. “I went through similar phases.”

He held his hand out for his handkerchief and Danny handed it to him and blinked when he set it aflame and turned it to ashes. He walked over to the trash can and deposited it.

“Don’t want your parents suspecting anything. Let’s go down to dinner,” Vlad said and Danny nodded, feeling better with Vlad there.

Danny was packed for his weekend at Vlad’s but it wasn’t just normal time with Vlad it was training. It took convincing but Sam and Tucker were allowed to stop by if they wanted as they knew his secret being there for his accident. He knew they were hiding it but what happened traumatized them. Tucker recoils slightly everytime he sees a bright flash and Sam has been weary of electricity and appliances that use it. She says it is a part of her counterculture views but it didn’t start happening before his accident. He also noticed some nights that they don’t get much sleep with bags under their eyes. He still has nightmares of the accident so he was glad for some time out of the house. It was hard being in the lab with everything that happened. He walked outside and looked at his parents.

“Have fun sweetie!” Maddy purred hugging him.

“Have a great time with V-man!” Jack called patting him on the shoulder.

“Th-thanks see you guys Monday,” Danny said and he rushed to the car where Vlad was waiting.

He climbed into the passenger seat and Vlad gave him a smile and he waved goodbye to the Fentons and he pulled away.

“Are you sure you are ready to train right away?” Vlad asked him.

“I wanna get a handle on this as soon as possible,” Danny said, looking at his hands. “I need to. Ghosts have been entering the house…” Danny admitted.

“I see they haven’t figured out a gate lock yet. Then again it doesn’t work the same way as you would think,” Vlad said as he drove. “You have to have a reinforced lock with a passcode made from a material that is hard for ghosts to manipulate which is difficult to come by. I can give your parents the supply. Maddy and Jack aren't fond of my manner of help when I have figured things out they haven’t.”

“You are a pushy fruit loop,” Danny said, the nickname being one of endearment he had from when he was a child.

“Hey,” Vlad said, narrowing his eyes at Danny before chuckling knowing he was right and focusing back on the road.

Danny laughed and Vlad cracked a smile and they finally reached his manor and he climbed out and so did Danny grabbing his bag from the backseat. He walked with Vlad inside the garage door closing and he was used to his godfather’s extravagant tastes. It still made him feel out of place even though he was at his godfather’s home and been here throughout his life.

“Did you make sure to have a lot of protein?” Vlad asked and Danny nodded with Vlad transforming. “Alright let’s begin. We will work on mastering flight, intangibility, and invisibility.”

Danny transformed into his ghost form ready for training and the pair would spend the day training trying to master the basics and he made headway. It wasn’t perfect but Vlad called it for the day and began to prepare dinner. It always surprised Danny that Vlad made his own meals and didn’t have a 100 staff members. Then again Vlad was half ghost so it made a lot of sense now. Danny was laying on the couch in the living room when his phone went off and he pulled it out. He hadn’t been able to convince Vlad to let him tell Sam and Tucker over the fun.

OnlyTechUnderstandsMe0101: Heyo still up for us stopping by Vlad’s?

TheOneGothGirl42: Were you able to keep things all hidden?

SpaceTraveler60: Uh yeah come on by! Vlad’s making dinner

TheOneGothGirl42: You’re keeping things from us you better spill when we get there let’s go tucker!

TheOneGothGirl42 Signed off

OnlyTechUnderstandsMe0101: See ya then dude better spill when we get there lol

OnlyTechUnderstandsMe0101 Signed off

Danny sighed as he stood walking to the kitchen, “Sam and Tucker are coming by. Will you tell them you're training me?” He asked.

Vlad looked back at him, “Yes I will. You asked me to tell them and be honest with them. I hope they both are trustworthy.”

“I know they are,” Danny said firmly. He knew his friends were some of the more trustworthy people he knew.

“I trust your judgment Daniel, just be cautious. The government has been slowly building up the agency that hunts the supernatural like us. It started with Witch Hunters in the colonial days before more knowledge had been gained to form an organization known as Supernatural Elimination and Containment Agency or SECA. Fortunately funding has been reduced for those government dogs but they have enough to be ready and all Congress needs is a reason. So be cautious of who knows your secret. The government just needs a miniscule excuse to spend taxpayer dollars on anything military over actually useful programs,” Vlad explained as he knew that tone.

Danny listened to Vlad’s explanation and he had no idea a government organization like that existed and he looked to him. Vlad sounded scared almost even though he tried to hide it. It sounded like they weren’t bad for now but he would try to avoid them if Vlad recommended it. While he didn’t outwardly say it he knew and if they had been around so long there had to have been old methods his parents tested before switching to more advanced tools.

“You will recognize members by their cologne. It is made from Blood Blossoms,” Vlad explained.

“What’s blood blossoms?” Danny asked.

“It’s a rare species of rose that has been cultivated by those that hunt the paranormal and government agencies due to its ability to repel and weaken ghosts. A bundle of Blood Blossoms is more effective than the strongest ghost weapons but fortunately it became endangered. The government has been focused on building up the species so they are only able to have a cologne made from the extract of the rose,” Vlad explained. “It smells overwhelming. Sicking almost. Sickeningly sweet and bitter like being trapped in a room you have sprayed air freshener in but also with hints of rosemary. The pain it causes is one of the worst I have experienced.”

“I see,” Danny shuddered hearing its description. It was terrifying that a plant could do that.

Vlad finished dinner and the two were eating when there was a knock at the door. Vlad went to the door insisting Danny eat after today and he brought Sam with her arms crossed and Tucker fiddling with his shirt to the table.

“There is plenty more if you want some Tucker,” Danny said gesturing to the kitchen. Vlad had made a japanese style curry with white rice. He knew Sam couldn’t eat it due to her diet.

“I already ate before I left,” Tucker said.

“I ate too,” Sam said.

Silence consumed the dinner making it awkward and when the pair stopped eating Vlad stood with the dishes to clean and let Danny tell his friends.

“So how have you been hiding your powers?” Sam asked, leaning forward.

“I haven’t needed to. Vlad is half ghost too,” Danny said simply.

“What?!” Tucker called. “Vlad Masters head of Vladco is half ghost?!” He hissed, being much quieter now.

“Woah didn’t see that coming,” Sam said.

“I know right?! He has been training me and I made progress! After this weekend I shouldn’t have any more accidents at home or school! Or at least not too many,” Danny sighed at the reminder Vlad gave him to not put his hopes that one weekend will perfectly give him mastery.

“Hey that’s great man!” Tucker called.

“How did Vlad become one?” Sam asked.

“Something called Ectoacne which he compared to cancer,” Danny said frowning.

“Well that’s dark,” Sam said, blinking at the response Danny gave.

“For real!” Tucker called.

“Hey Sam? Could you look into something for me?” Danny asked.

“Shoot,” Sam replied.

“Something called Blood Blossoms,” Danny explained.

“I didn’t know you were into botany,” Tucker said.

“I am not! It’s a flower that can repel and even hurt ghosts,” Danny sighed. “We need to know all we can about it.”

“I can find that info for you,” Sam said, seeing his worry. “But who uses it that has got you worked up?”

“Government ghost hunters known as SECA for short,” Danny sighed. “With the ghost portal at home they are bound to show up eventually.”

“I’ll look into those guys too and sulk around the forums,” Sam said.

Danny sighed resting his hand on the table and Sam stood placing a hand on his shoulder and Tucker reached over and placed his hand on his arm.

“Hey dude we got ya!” Tucker called.

“Yeah you have people to support you. You aren’t alone,” Sam echoed, smiling.

Vlad stood in the doorway smiling seeing the three. Maybe he was wrong to judge them so harshly as Daniel seemed to have good friends at his side.

----

I am not sure how to continue this fic. I have ideas for how my au will go like how Dani will come to be and how Dan would still exist but I am not sure how to write it from here as he will face still similar threats just Vlad at his side. The government is the one that creates Dani due to how active he is fighting the Guys in White and they learn his secret early. It will be broadcast still against Freakshow when he has the reality guantlet. And Danny makes the guys in white forget he is half ghost, forget ever making dani, forget vlad, and ignore all of them as threats before destroying the reality gauntlet. So consider this the ending!

[latte-fairytaekwoon]

Night Drive (Kim Hongjoong and Park Seonghwa) Rated

Pairing: Dilf!/College Professor! Kim Hongjoong × Younger College Student! Reader (Female) × Dilf/College Professor! Park Seonghwa

Genre: Smut, Fluff, Dilf AU.

Summary: Being picked up by her boyfriend for a date, Y/N has no idea about Hongjoong's plans nor about the surprise guest joining them in their little night drive.

Word Count: 6K+

Warnings: Aged up/Older Ateez (but age differences are still within legal boundaries), exhibitionism, voyeurism, breast play, fingering, tiny allusion to infidelity (which I do not condone nor justify), breeding/pregnancy kink, slight creampie kink, katoptronophilia (mirror kink basically), daddy word, degradation, manhandling, unprotected penetrative sex (always use protection), Dom! SeongJoong, Sub! Reader

Taglist: @seacottons @little-precious-baby @yunhofingers @multidreams-and-desires @brie02 @deja-vux @daniblogs164 @couchpotatoaniki @a-soft-hornytiny @yunsangoveryonder @minhyukmyluv @mingismoon @nanamarkie @ateezbabysitters @rainteez02

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Rolling down the darkly tinted window of his midnight black Buick Regal, Hongjoong greeted the young and beautiful student that was standing by the curbside of the entrance to his college dormitories, her face lighting up instantly when she saw him. Wasting no second, she quickly opened the door and fitted her frame inside the passenger seat of the car.

"I was supposed to get the door for you." His lips curled up slightly into a pout.

"I know, but..... I just couldn't wait to see you." Leaning over, she boldly pressed her lips against that of the older male's, a soft and content hum being breathed out by him, soon turning into an annoyed whine when she pulled back too soon for his liking.

"Professor." Her tone changed slightly, a suggestive giggle escaping her lips as she leaned back in, this time the kiss turning more heated with her tongue attempting to slide inside his mouth, which he would have allowed had he not had on the back of his mind the other plans he had for the night.

"Naughty naughty girl, wanting to get frisky not even a minute into our date." He snorted softly as one of his hands came up to lightly pat her cheek with his palm in a chastising manner.

Switching the gear shift to drive, Hongjoong pulled out of the entrance and onto the main road to take both of them to the place he had chosen for their nightly getaway. The girl beside him was clearly anxious and he didn't blame her. It had been a grueling time the past weeks due to the semester being over and everyone, students and teachers were stressing over final exams. Hongjoong's hand still ached somewhat from grading too many papers and reports, his head pulsing endlessly with a killer migraine. But at last, that was all over and he was finally able to take his younger lover out properly, spend time with her after missing her voice, touch, body, and all of her in general. He had the entire evening planned out, unlike anything she would have expected. It was hard for him to suppress the smirk creeping into his features as he thought about how the night would end if his plans succeeded how he wanted them to.

He often took a small glance to see her pretty face looking out the window, tediously watching all the shops and cars they passed on the drive to whatever destination he was taking to her, which he adamantly refused to say, keeping his lips sealed. Every once in a while, he'd notice the way she squirmed in her seat, her fingers occasionally playing around with the hem of the white skirt she decided to wear or her palm straight on rubbing the side of her thigh.

"Oh so you are indeed horny my little kitten. Absolutely perfect." Hongjoong thought to himself. It was exactly how he wanted her: wet, horny and desperate by the time they made their first stop.

"Honey, I hope you don't mind, but I have to stop here for a second."

The girl didn't protest, simply nodded and didn't think too much about him pulling up and parking in front a luxurious building. Parking the car, Hongjoong waited patiently until a familiar figure finally came out and made their way over to his car, waving a hand in his direction. Not knowing there already was an occupant in the front seat, the stranger hastily opened the door, taking a step back when he saw who was sitting next to Hongjoong.

"Y/N?" He questioned in shock.

"Professor Park?" She exclaimed just as he, her head whipping over to demand an explanation from Hongjoong as to why one of the other professors from the university was currently there, especially when their relationship was to remain a secret from the school. Hongjoong however kept his grin plastered on, as if nothing was the matter.

"Sorry Hwa, looks like someone already took your seat."

Pointing over at the backseat, his friend let out a soft huff as he began closing the door.

"Wait! Seonghwa, don't close that door yet."

Reaching his hand over, Hongjoong unbuckled Y/N's seatbelt before telling her:

"Honey, go ride in the back with him."

Her eyes bulged out, her mouth muttering softly to him if he was insane, yet Hongjoong was still calm as he reached a hand up and caressed her cheek.

"Trust me baby." He whispered before placing a soft peck on her lips.

Reddening significantly, Y/N got out of the car, thanking the other male when he was kind enough to open the door for her to let her inside first before he himself took his place right next to her. Both of them looked over at each awkwardly, wondering what on earth was Hongjoong thinking. Y/N averted her gaze and stared at the floor mat, desperately hoping that afterwards, the witness to hers and Hongjoong's relationship wouldn't go directly to the school board and cause problems for them. Seonghwa on the other hand had so many questions spiraling in his head, mainly his friend's relationship with the student next to him, and more importantly, why he had kept that secret from him. The car ride now felt even more long and brooding with the tension in the air, the music playing from the stereo not helping at all and just making the environment more unpleasant.

Looking back at them through the rearview mirror, Hongjoong let out a small chuckle.

"I'm sure you're both wondering why I brought you here without telling you the reasons."

Seonghwa and Y/N glanced briefly at one another, the older male shrugging softly, just as lost as she was. Sighing softly, Hongjoong continued.

"Well to start off, I think it's very clear that all those rumors about a teacher and student sleeping together are indeed true my friend."

Seonghwa widened his eyes at Hongjoong, his lips parting as he let out an astonished scoff. Although more than once he heard a few whispers every now and then about his colleague getting too friendly with one of his students, he always believed them to be lies, knowing Hongjoong to be a sensible and well respected professor that would never risk his career over something like that. As if reading his friend's thoughts, Hongjoong piped up once more.

"What can I say? I couldn't resist myself when I saw her, especially when you see what's underneath those clothes of hers."

Peeking his head over, Hongjoong sweetly smiled at the quiet girl.

"Baby, do me a favor and unbutton your blouse for me. Let Seonghwa see those pretty tits of yours."

Y/N was taken aback by his sudden order, her voice getting caught in her throat and stammering out a bit of gibberish as she tried to remind herself to form proper words.

"Hong- Hongjoong!" She whisper yelled at him, embarrassed about being asked to do such a dirty request in front of another teacher. Seonghwa himself shifted uncomfortably in his seat, still saying absolutely nothing as he tried to look somewhere else.

"Oh come on kitten, don't be shy. You have the cutest set of tits a man could see. Besides...." Y/N could clearly see the smug grin on he was donning through the rearview mirror, his eyes also looking at her direction.

"I know very well you want Seonghwa to touch you. I heard you the other day talking with your friends, and if I remember correctly, you said you wouldn't mind having him play with your body and be his little toy."

Y/N lowered her head in shame. She didn't believe Hongjoong would have heard her when she said that. She didn't even dare lift her eyes to the man next to her, afraid of seeing whatever expression he had in his face. She did however, hear him chuckle amusedly, his voice finally being heard.

"Oh my. Hongjoong, is she really that much of a whore that she's fantasizing about fucking other men even when she has you?"

Taking off his seatbelt, Seonghwa scooted over towards her, his face coming so dangerously close she could feel his breath against her ear.

"What darling? Does he not fuck you enough? Is he not treating you properly? Or do you perhaps just want a more......endowed cock?"

Y/N couldn't help but shudder when his hand lifted up to cup her chin, turning her face so he could look her directly in the eye. Seonghwa couldn't deny that her startled look turned him on extremely.

"Now I'm extremely curious to find out just how cute you really are without those clothes on. Is Hongjoong just talking you up or am I really going to have to restrain myself from eating you up if I tear those clothes off one by one?" He hummed softly as he brushed his lips against hers, causing Y/N's breath to hitch slightly.

"Kitten, I believe I gave you an order a few minutes ago and you know I hate repeating myself. Undo your shirt so Seonghwa can look at your chest."

Y/N bit her lip as her hands reached up and began to pop each of the buttons of her grey cardigan. The pair of eyes on her right were burning a hole right through her and it only served to deepen the intense wanting she was feeling in between her legs. After undoing enough buttons to expose her black bra, Y/N pulled the material down enough so her breasts could pop out of them. The soft groan her teacher emitted helped fuel her pride, especially after looking up and seeing him nearly drool at the sight, tongue coming out to moisten his luscious and pink lips.

"Fuck Joong....you weren't kidding when you said she has a pretty rack." His hand clenched and unclenched itself in an effort to meet from reaching out to cup one of her tits in his palm.

Knowing exactly the lustful thoughts running through his friend's mind, Hongjoong was more than willing to grant them without any grudges.

"Now kitten, I want you to be a good girl and let Seonghwa play with you as he wants. Tonight, you're going to be his personal toy and you have to do everything he tells you to do. Am I making myself clear?"

Y/N quickly nodded, too aroused and turned on that she wouldn't have cared if it was Seonghwa touching her and Hongjoong watching or Hongjoong touching her and Seonghwa watching. She just wanted someone to help the emptiness she was feeling.

"You're serious about this Joong? I can really use her as my personal sex toy?" He questioned with a wicked grin, hand coming up to clasp around Y/N's jaw.

"She's all yours Hwa. We have a couple minutes before we reach the hotel that I booked a room in. Think you can get her wet enough by the time we get there?"

Seonghwa let out a hearty laugh at Hongjoong's challenge.

"I'll get her drenched without making her cum, don't worry about it."

Tilting her face towards him, Seonghwa winked at her before crashing his lips onto hers. Just as she suspected, Seonghwa's lips were soft and plump, and they seemed to be avid fans of nibbling playfully against her own lips. The hand that was on her chin swooped itself down and pressed itself against her sternum, fingers delicately caressing the skin around it. Sweeping his hand with feather light strokes, Seonghwa moved his fingers across the top of her breasts and then to the sides, caressing each and every inch of her skin, being careful not to directly touch her nipples. He wanted to tease her, rile her up, have her writhe and whine about the lack of contact on the parts of her body where she most needed him. He was enjoying himself, enjoying as he silently tortured the girl by merely touching the outer parts of her soft mounds. It didn't take long for her to notice this cruel pattern of his, the frustrated groan she poured out as his tongue devoured her mouth being a tell tale sign.

"Such an impatient one." Seonghwa chuckled, dragging his tongue down the side of her neck.

He then surprised her by cupping one of her breasts into his large hand, tenderly massaging the spongy like flesh while his thumb worked to harden the nipple even more. Y/N threw her head back, giving Seonghwa more access to press tiny love bites across her neck and collarbone. His other hand, being bored with nothing to do, came up and proceeded to give the same treatment its twin was receiving, groping it and fondling it until she was releasing the cutest noises to bless his ears.

"If you're already like this with me just touching your breasts, how will you be when I play with that pussy of yours?"

Y/N couldn't help but let an embarrassingly loud moan escape when she heard him say that, her walls tightening and clenching around nothing as she thought about having Park Seonghwa sliding his hand in between her folds. Even Hongjoong was surprised by the effect his friend was having on her, making him slightly jealous and yet not so as he was enjoying glancing over every now and then to watch his beloved girl be used in such a way by another man. He couldn't quite explain why, but offering up his prized possession as nothing more than an object of pleasure to someone else, his closest friend nonetheless, made him get unbelievably hard. If he could, he would have whipped himself out and would have started to beat his meat, but unfortunately he had to pay attention to the road in front of him, going slightly above the speed limit in an effort to reach the hotel as fast as possible, all while occasionally sparing a glance or two through the mirror to look at Y/N's lust filled state of mind.

"Spread your legs for me young lady. Let me see just how wet you are."

Obeying without hesitation, Y/N made sure to pull up her skirt, revealing the skimpy choice of lace underwear she had chosen for the evening. Seonghwa sucked in a deep breath when he saw it.

"Did you come here knowing you were gonna get fucked?"

"More like hoping she would get fucked." Hongjoong spoke up with a lighthearted teasing tone.

Hooking his fingers on the top of her panties, Seonghwa practically ripped the material off her body, sliding it down her legs before bringing it up to his face and inhaling deeply.

"Oh god you smell so delicious." He grunted as his nostrils basked in the scent of her arousal.

"Why don't you keep them as a memoir? Cause after tonight, I'm not letting you touch her again."

Hongjoong's statement made Seonghwa remember that he still had a task at hand. Making sure to tuck her panties inside his pant pocket, Seonghwa turned his attention back to her glistening folds. They were practically inviting him to shove his hand as far as it could possibly reach inside, he was very tempted to even fist her tiny hole right then and there. But he would much rather prefer to work her up even further, tease her until she was begging him to fuck her. When she saw his hands come down, Y/N instinctively parted her knees even further, adjusting herself on the seat so he could reach every part of her exposed womanhood.

"You've trained the slut well Hongjoong." Both the trainer and his trainee lit up at the praise from their guest.

"Yes, my girl is the best." Hongjoong proudly added, as he reached a hand back to squeeze one of Y/N's legs in a loving manner.

Seonghwa's thumbs slid themselves right up to her groin, massaging the tendons at either side of her pussy, only briefly allowing them to brush against her lips. Y/N couldn't help but gasp as he pulled the flesh at either side, stretching out her wet entrance slightly, the cool air from the air conditioning hitting right at her slopping mound. Seonghwa continued this pattern of pressing her swelling lips apart and then rubbing his fingers down the sides, frustrating the recipient as he didn't actually touch the parts where she needed him most. He was toying around with her again, no doubt trying to get her to beg.

"Please daddy-" Being so frustrated by the slow, shallow movements of the fingers that refused to budge and stimulate her clit, Y/N called out for the person in front.

"Babygirl, you're asking the wrong person. I told you that for now you're Seonghwa's little plaything. So if you think I'm going to intervene, you're absolutely wrong." One corner of Hongjoong's lips curled up when they heard her pleading whines, yet he still did nothing.

"Why don't you ask him yourself what you want? No.... beg him. I know for a fact he likes girls who beg."

When she looked up at him with a pout, Seonghwa let out an amused chortle.

"What is it you want darling? Hmm? Tell me." He encouraged her as his fingertips faintly brushed against her clit, causing her legs to tremble and her hole to secrete more juices out her body.

"That... please...touch me there." She groaned as she tried to take hold of Seonghwa's hand and place it right on top of her heat, but he kept it firmly away, lightly laughing at the state she was in.

"Where darling? You're going to have to be specific."

He was making her feel more and more frustrated to the point of losing all timidity and decorum.

"Park Seonghwa fucking pound my pussy with your fingers!"

Hongjoong widened his eyes in amazement at her use of his colleague's name, but he wasn't mad. On the contrary, he wanted to see how her tiny show of disrespect for the older male, who was also her professor, would play out. Seonghwa stayed still momentarily, making Y/N believe that she might have gone too far. Just as she was about to apologize, a half strangled yelp was pulled out of her body when two fingers dove inside her drenched hole with no warning, aggressively starting a pace of deep strokes, burying themselves as far as they could reach. While his 2 longest fingers were busy working her open, his thumb decided to occupy itself by rubbing against her clit, its rhythm matching that of the other members.

"This what you wanted?" Seonghwa asked, lips attaching themselves onto her neck once more.

"Oh God yes! Yes! Fuck! You're gonna make me cum..you're going to.."

Y/N panted loudly, hips practically humping themselves against Seonghwa's hand, trying to reach that peak that was just within her reach. Just as she felt herself about to spill over, Seonghwa stopped all movements inside her pussy and against her clit, hindering her desire to cum.

"No! Please!" She cried out, eyes scrunching with tears as her head dropped back on the head rest of the car. When her own hand tried to reach down to her groin, Seonghwa was quick to catch it, nearly crushing it in his own.

"No darling, we're having none of that. I told you I was going to get you wet without letting you cum. We could have taken this the easy way but you chose to disrespect me and therefore I had to punish you. Now..."

Releasing her hand, he dropped his fingers and stuffed them back inside her pussy, her walls pulsing against them, screaming to be allowed to release into his palms.

"Let's try this again."

Y/N's eyes fluttered closed as she felt the delicious sensation of Seonghwa slipping his fingers in and out of her, this time setting a more slow and sensual pace. Being edged by him for what seemed like hours and having been dangerously close to her high just minutes ago, it didn't take long for Y/N to start producing those endearing moans of hers again, her high building up once again rather fast. She melted into his touch, hips once again grinding up as if they had a mind of their own. Just as her walls clenched up once again, Hongjoong made his presence known.

"We're here."

Letting out a disappointed sigh at being denied her orgasm again, Y/N began to quickly fasten the buttons of her top while Seonghwa helped out by adjusting her skirt and pulling it down to cover up her lower half. Helping her out of the car, Hongjoong gestured for them to follow him as he led them through the reception desk and towards the elevators. As if it was fate, the elevator they got in was completed alone, leaving the three of them inside as it climbed up towards the respective floor they were assigned to. Looking over and seeing was currently distracted by watching the numbers on the screen change, Seonghwa took the opportunity to continue his fun, fingers snaking under her skirt to cup her ass. Being startled by the sudden touch, Y/N let out a soft whimper that was heard by Hongjoong. Looking over, his eyes immediately spotted what was the cause of her reaction.

"Seriously, couldn't even wait til we were behind closed doors?" Hongjoong let out a disappointed click of his tongue.

"Hey, you did say I was free to play with her as I liked. Besides, wanna make sure she stays as wet as possible cause as soon as the door is locked, I'm stuffing her full of cock."

Y/N's thighs squeezed themselves together after hearing him say that, the action not going unnoticed by both men at her sides.

"Just wait a little longer doll and I'll make sure you cum like you want to."

It seemed like forever until the doors finally opened to let them onto their floor. Knowing just how antsy the other two were about fucking each other, Hongjoong went up ahead of them and quickly slid the key in. Opening the door, he let them both inside first, a suspicious smile still on his face that confused his friend.

"You're enjoying this a little too much aren't you?" Seonghwa quirked an eyebrow up at him, his hands making a quick work of his shirt.

"Oh trust me when I say I'll enjoy it even more by the end of it." Hongjoong answered as he took a seat on one of the beds.

"I don't want you complaining later though if your little slut prefers my cock over yours." Seonghwa's little taunt had absolutely no effect on Hongjoong, he knew very well where his sweet heart's love resided with.

Turning around, Seonghwa was surprised yet also not surprised to see Y/N already naked on the bed, her legs spread out and inviting him to take advantage of her. Her facial expression seemed restless, eyes begging him to come over and end her torture already. Coming over to the front and seeing her more clearly, Seonghwa felt his cock twitch when he saw her full nude body, the light in the room letting him fully see all the details he couldn't quite clearly make out back in the car.

"Oh lord, she is absolute stunning Joong." Seonghwa complimented as he finished undressing himself, his cock already leaking at the tip.

"I did tell you once that younger babes were extremely hot and better. Well now you get to fuck my babe." Hongjoong's face proudly donned a satisfied expression at someone else appreciating his girlfriend.

Looking over at the dresser that had complementary goodies left for them, Seonghwa went and grabbed the pack of condoms since he hadn't planned on getting lucky that night.

"Ummm actually Seonghwa, I want you to fuck her raw, and be sure to spill your cum inside her."

His friend wasn't the only one who looked at him as if he was insane, Y/N was shocked by his request.

"N-no Daddy......" Her voice called out.

"Hmm? Why not princess?" Hongjoong smoked at her.

"My birth control ran out 2 weeks ago. If he cums inside me, I could....." She didn't even dare finish that sentence, but she knew they understand what she meant. Hongjoong however continued to look unfazed, in fact, his smile grew wider, almost to the point of being mischievous, which slightly worried her.

"Even better if I ask me princess, you see..... I want you to be bred." His confession both scared and aroused both of the other two participants.

"You've really lost your mind."

Giggling at his friend's words, Hongjoong looked at him with an assuring gaze.

"No I haven't. But trust me Seonghwa, I won't say anything, no one will know. Just do me this favor and fill my baby's pussy up with your cum."

When Seonghwa still hesitated, Hongjoong decided to persuade him even further.

"Look at her and tell me you don't want to stuff her young cunt full of your cum. And if you do knock her up, think of how cute she'll look with a swollen belly, carrying your child."

Unable to resist looking over after Hongjoong painted that image in his head, Seonghwa's gaze dropped towards Y/N's stomach. He unconsciously bit his lip as he thought about how fertile she probably was, and the thought of impregnating her with a baby of his own was driving him wild. Tearing down anymore hesitations he had, Seonghwa went back over to where she was. Y/N gasped when he pulled her towards the edge of the bed, hands keeping her legs open as he rubbed the tip of his cock against her folds.

"You ready to get knocked up with one of my babies?" He chaffed at her, smirking when a loud moan was drawled out by her as she pressed herself against his shaft even more.

"Cause I know I can't wait."

Letting out a piercing grunt when the cock of her professor penetrated deep inside her, Y/N's hands clutched at the sheets underneath her, whimpers already being poured out as Seonghwa's hips snapped roughly against hers. She shut her eyes as she sunk deeper and deeper into a blissful, euphoric haze, feeling nothing but how deep the cock inside her was being driven in, the head brushing against her cervix. That thought alone had her inner flesh pulsing and squeezing against the girthy shady tearing her apart, making her dizzy and blind with nothing but lust. She couldn't even register or hear all the sounds coming out of her own mouth.

"Such a nice and tight pussy. Keep clenching around me like that and it won't take long for me to fill you up with my seed." Seonghwa hissed, a hand dropping to rest on top of her stomach.

Y/N's back arched upwards, mouth fully agape as the most earth shattering wails were produced even heard by the rooms next to theirs.

"You enjoying this darling? Don't worry. You're certainly not the only one."

Clasping his fingers around her jaw, Seonghwa tilted Y/N's face so she could look over at the bed next to where they were. She spasmed violently when she took in the image of Hongjoong, sitting there shirtless, pants and briefs pulled down enough so he'd be able to pump his cock in his hand. When he had undressed, she didn't know, but she couldn't take her eyes off him, watching as he jerked himself off to the scene of his friend fucking her into the bed, the pace of his hand matching the pace set by Seonghwa's thrusts.

"Oh trust me she's enjoying this just fine. She's absolutely loving being treated as nothing more than a fuck toy, being lent to another man as her owner gets off on the sight of her being bred." Hongjoong's words were not helping as she started to tense up, feeling ready to explode and cum all over the thick cock inside of her.

"Please, please Mr. Park..." She muttered out, face turning towards him once again.

"Please what toy? Speak up." He commanded her as he started grinding his hips harder into her, the movements of his pelvis rubbing against her engorged clit and heightening her pleasure.

"Please let me cum. Wanna cum." She begged him, whine after whine being forced out of her each time Seonghwa pushed back into her body.

Feeling merciful, especially after edging her so much in the car, and more so because he felt himself about to shoot his load in her as well, Seonghwa moved his hand that was on her stomach so it could come down and rub aggressively at her clit.

"Go on baby. Cum for me so I can breed you like the little bitch you are."

Y/N toppled over the edge after hearing those dirty words, strangled cries and unintelligible words slipping out of her throat. She couldn't stop shaking underneath the older man that was fucking her, body out of control as it twisted and writhed from the sensuous oblivion she fell into. Desperate gasps scrambled for air as liquid gushed out of her to coat the dick that was still being driven in her.

"Oh fuck fuck! I'm going to cum inside your little hole now."

She barely registered the grunts being said by the person in front of her, her body only feeling and paying attention to the hot fluids being impelled to her womb. Knowing she was full of cum and it was extremely probable she'd be pregnant thrilled and excited her, while simultaneously making her anxious and nervous.

After finally catching his breath, Seonghwa pulled out of her, the cum that was leaking out of her threatening to make him hard again and fuck her once more just to see it all over again.

"Don't get any ideas." The warning voice of his friend brought him back to the reality that the young woman on the bed was only borrowed for the moment, and mostly due to the sick amusement of said friend.

Dressing himself up in his clothes, Seonghwa went over where Hongjoong was.

"Satisfied?"

Hongjoong snorted as he looked down at the tiny splatter of cum that had dripped into the carpet.

"Very much so."

Rolling his eyes, Seonghwa finished putting on the last of his clothes before picking up his phone. Seeing the time, he apologized and told Hongjoong he needed to get home right away.

"I'll take a cab. I'm sure you probably want some more time with her."

Hongjoong blushed a little at his friend's insinuation. Before Seonghwa could walk out the door, Hongjoong called out to him.

"Hey....say hi to your wife and kids for me."

Seonghwa couldn't help the laugh that bursted out his lips.

"I will. See you soon."

Closing the door, Hongjoong was finally left alone with his girl, who was currently sitting up, staring at him intently. Getting up from his seat, he came over to where she was and helped her stand up. Smoothing out some of her disheveled hair, he leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to her lips, his free hand tilting her face up as he pressed his body closer to hers. Pulling away to soon for her liking, Y/N pouted at him as she wrapped her hands around his waist.

"Come on. We gotta get you cleaned up."

Taking her hand, he guided her inside the bathroom, where he sat her against the vanity counter. Noticing that she was still looking at him funny, Hongjoong tilted his head to the side and cupped her cheeks.

"What's wrong babygirl?" He mimicked her tiny pout, a feat he often did that tended to annoy her, making her feel as if she was a little child.

"Funny how you care so much about getting me pregnant, yet you get someone else to do the job for you."

Huffing loudly, she brushed past him to be able to get inside the shower, but she was quickly pulled back by one of his hands that slammed her back against the counter. Looking up, she was expecting to see an angry expression, but instead Hongjoong had a smirk that told her he was up to no good.

"Is that what's bothering you princess? The fact it wasn't me the one breeding you? Oh baby.."

Turning her around abruptly, Y/N gasped when he pried her legs open and pressed her chest against the cold marble counter. When she felt his dick come to live and poke at her ass, she immediately pressed her lower half out towards him, the action making Hongjoong get a smug expression.

"You really are the best girl kitten, offering yourself to me like the little slut you are."

Y/N felt her body getting hot once again when on of Hongjoong's hands caressed in between her thighs, running up dangerously close to her heat until he reached her entrance.

"Ok then kitten. Let's fill you up with my cum now, since you want it so much."

Being stuffed with a cock once more, Y/N clung onto the counter underneath her as Hongjoong was showing no mercy as he rammed into her from behind. He always did enjoy brutally fucking her until she was left sore and limping, something no one would have ever guessed given his stature being more on the shorter side. But he definitely made up for it with his experience in making a woman numb to everything except the feeling of his dick being pounded into their pussies, precisely the feeling Y/N was going through at the moment. Her head rested itself against the counter, unable to bear the overwhelming pleasure the man behind her was putting her through.

"Oh no no kitten. I'm having none of that."

Wrapping his hand around her hair and twisting it to a makeshift ponytail, Hongjoong forced her to look up into the mirror in front of her. The ravenous and almost beast like way his eyes stared at her made her weak, pussy contracting around his length as her legs started to wobble.

"Look at you, I want you to watch as I fuck you full of my cum. Look at how I'm going to knock you up with my kids."

Strangled panting was the only audible sounds Y/N could make out, through the mirror she could see that Hongjoong was falling into the same haze she was in. Releasing her hair, he wrapped his hand around so it could rest on the top of her belly button, gently caressing the soft skin there.

"You're such a good girl for letting me do this. You know I'll take care of you right?" His loving reassurance, followed by the light presses his lips made on the nape of her neck were making her go insane. Her mind was running wild with thoughts of Hongjoong getting her pregnant, such a risky and dangerous situation but she was ready for it.

"Hongjoong fill me up! Fuck a baby into me! I want it, I want your cum!"

Her desperate pleas had an immediate effect as Hongjoong pistoned his cock deeper in her, a few last powerful jolt of hips and he was filling her to the brim, her tight pussy making sure to milk him out of every last drop of cum he had in him. Feeling him spill inside her and seeing him throw his head back in pleasure through the mirror, Y/N followed not long afterwards, shockwaves rippling through her body in another intense orgasm. It was a miracle Hongjoong still had his hands around her hips to keep her from falling down to the ground due to the violent shake of her legs. Even after they had both calmed down, Hongjoong still stayed nestled inside of her, nose brushing against the back of her head, inhaling her scent passionately. He let out a tired hum as he buried his face into her neck.

"I love you so much." He admitted, which made Y/N smile.

"I love you too." She responded, turning her head to press a kiss on his temple.

"And I can't wait to carry your baby."

[fa-headhoncho]

Amajiki Tamaki x Reader

Prompt: You get drunk at a party and Tamaki saves the day.

Word Count: uh 2487

Reader: Female

Warning: very Americanized, out of character Tama??? I've never written for him before so be nice

Masterlist

=====

You walk up the stairs to the large house, the music echoing through the street through the open door. The party was in full swing, drunk college kids littered the lawn playing various games or talking amongst themselves. It was a normal occurrence by this point. Mirio threw a party almost every weekend and invited everyone he knew… which was a lot. His kindness and ability to make anyone feel welcomed made him friends with almost everyone he encountered.

The blonde was impressive, to say the least. He managed to keep his place in the top three of his class and party. You didn’t understand how he did it. He never seemed stress either… Oh, to be Mirio Togata.

“(Y/N)!” A voice calls interrupting your thoughts. You look around, spotting Nejire trying to wiggle her way between the dancing twenty-year-olds. She gives one of them a hefty shove, apologizing before finally standing in front of you. The periwinkle-haired woman, pulling you in for a short hug, “I didn’t think you were coming-- Oh, my god.” She cuts herself off as she takes in your outfit.

You fidget nervously under her gaze, pulling down the end of your skirt. You were wearing something you stole straight from Pinterest, a black lace top with a simple blue miniskirt and some boots. It was simple enough for a college party but edgy enough to catch a certain someone’s eyes. She stares a little too long causing you to rethink the entire thing.

“Neji, finish the sentence. You’re scaring me.” You snap her out of her thoughts, shaking the arm she had a gentle grip on.

A small smirk comes across her face, leaning in slightly as she whispers, “Are you wearing that for Tama?” She innocently questions. Blood rushes to your cheeks and you duck your head away from her. “You thought you were being subtle, I know why you come to these parties. Mirio isn’t good at keeping secrets.”

You let out a groan, bringing your hands to your face to hide. A couple of weeks ago, you got a little bit tipsier than you planned and ended up confessing how you felt about the awkward, indigo-haired man to his best friend. Explaining how the only reason you came to these parties was to catch a glance of him. Mirio, of course, encouraged you to just ask him to hang out but you were too scared to ruin what little friendship you built up.

Nejire giggles, knowing she caught you redhanded. “He likes you more than you think, (Y/N).” She mindlessly confesses causing a kaleidoscope of butterflies to erupt in your stomach. “He was actually talking about you the other day! Oh, you should’ve heard him. She just so sweet for her own good--” She lowers her voice to mimic Tama. somehow keeping a straight face in the process.

“--The way her eyes light up when she talks about--” She stops talking again, his intoxicated state making her distracted. You furrow your eyebrows and try to figure out where her mind just went before she lets out a squeal. “Oh, I love this song! Come dance with me!”

“Actually, I wanted to go see Tam--” You don’t have any time to finish your sentence before she drags you into the sea of drunk college students.

=====

Tamaki sighs, running a hand over his face as he contemplates the pros and cons of not going downstairs. Pros: he didn’t have to interact with anyone or possibly embarrass himself in front of almost everyone in their grade. Cons: starve to death… which sounded better at this point. The last time he went down to the kitchen during one of Mirio’s parties, he accidentally ran into someone and made them spill their drink all over themself.

He feels his face start to burn at the memory, he couldn’t even bring himself to apologize before Mirio stepped in and lead him back up to his room. After that, Tamaki stocked up on snacks in his room but they, unfortunately, ran out when he got a bit too hungry last night.

A loud growl sounds out from his stomach finalizes his decision. He decides to rip the bandaid and sets his laptop on the floor, flinging his covers off then marching towards the door. He makes his way down the stairs, the confidence he found now diminishing once he reaches the bottom.

Indigo eyes scan the first floor. Bodies were everywhere, people from different grades and even some from nearby universities filled the small three-bedroom home. It was times like these that made him grateful for his two best friends.

When Mirio, Nejire, and Tamaki moved in together, it was an unspoken agreement that Tama would get the room in the attic. It was tucked away and you couldn’t hear the noise from the constant parties they threw. And, no matter what state of mind the two were in, the severity of the “no one goes past the second flight of stairs” rule was no joke. If they caught anyone trying to sneak off up there, they were kicked out and never invited to their home again.

Tamaki sucks in a breath then b-lines towards the kitchen. He skillfully avoids the bodies and safely makes it to his destination. Quickly, he goes to his cabinet of snacks and grabs the first thing he sees. He turns around and rushes back to the stairs but is stopped when he hears someone call out his name.

He immediately recognizes the voice and closes his eyes. Don’t say something stupid, don’t say something stupid, don’t stay something stupid--

His eyes snap open and his whole body goes stiff when he feels arms wrapping around his neck. Your signature scent flooded his nostrils making him relax into the hug. It feels as if the whole room disappears around the two of you, the music going silent and the people vanishing. His anxiety of coming down here was worth seeing you.

“Tama! I’ve looking for you everywhere!” You slur out, keeping your arms around him as you pull away from the embrace. “I asked Nejire where you were and I’ve been trying to get up to say hi but people keep dragging me away. I came here to see you, I--” You start to ramble off, your drunken mind taking over and allowing you to word vomit. He listens with stars in his eyes, his heart singing at the thought you came to one of these parties just to see him.

“Oh, I’m so sorry for hugging you.” You suddenly unattached your body from his, a frown slipping onto your face at the action. “I know you don’t like that kind of attention. I just messed everything up--”

“It’s fine,” He rushes out before you could start rambling again. A small blush coats his cheeks as he watches your shoulders relax. “I don’t mind it from you.” He wasn’t sure you could hear him over the blaring music in the background but the large smile on your face says you did.

You open your mouth to respond but are cut off by some guy sliding next to you. “Hey there, sweet thang.” The man chirped out with a small smirk on his face.

“Hi!” You innocently giggle out, eyes turning to him for a second before directing it back to him to continue your conversation. “Tama, I found this little cafe you might like--” The man looks Tamaki up and down before going back to you, stepping in between the two of you causing a pout to appear on your face. “Hey, I was talking to Tama.”

“Why don’t you and I go find a place alone?” He more of demands than offers. You furrow your eyebrows in confusion at him, opening your mouth to deny him but snap it shut when he rests a hand on your hip.

“No, I don’t feel comfort--”

“Come on, don’t be a buzzkill.” He interjects, moving to lead you away from the crowd of people. Tamaki doesn’t know what takes over him when he reaches out and pulls the guy off of you. He has his hand on his shoulder as he looks down at him. He could tell by the steadiest of his words and the overpowering smell of body spray that he wasn’t drunk. He’s heard about the guys at parties that stay sober and scope out innocent girls who drank too much to take advantage of them.

He doesn’t realize how hard he was gripping the man’s shirt until he feels you gently place your hand on his lower back. “Tama, it’s fine. Let him alone.” He snaps his head to your voice and then back at the man, giving him the most intimidating look he could muster up before releasing the cotton.

“Tch. You can have her.” The man scoffs out, fixing the collar of his shirt and smoothing down the wrinkles. “She’s not even that hot anyways.” He mumbles out before walking away. Tamaki watches in satisfaction as Mirio stops him a few feet away, the bright smile on his face replaced with a scowl as he talks to him and then leads him out of the house.

Reality seems to come back to him when he hears a whine squeak out behind him. He spins around to see your lip pouted out and tears brimming your eyes. “Am I really not pretty?” You question causing his eyes to widen.

“No, no.” He rushes out, quickly moving forward to comfort you but stops himself. He didn’t want to make the situation worse by giving you an unwanted touch so he just stands there frozen. Your cries soon turn into body-shaking sobs, bringing attention towards you from other party-goers. Tamaki starts to panic on the inside, he was never good at consoling people but he couldn’t just stand there and let you degrade yourself.

Pushing down all his anxious thoughts, he reaches out and rests a gentle hand on your shoulder. He starts leading you out of the kitchen and towards the stairs as you continue to let the sleazeball’s words get to you. He couldn’t let you put yourself in front of all those people when he knew you were far from that.

Tamaki lets out a sigh of relief when you finally make it to the comfort of his bedroom. It was much easier to talk to you without anyone else around especially in this state of mind. He could focus on his thoughts and let you release your emotions freely without fearing the embarrassment tomorrow.

“I am ugly, aren’t I?” You suddenly croak out, voice still muffled by your hands.

“No, I-I think you’re very pretty, (Y/N).” You shake your head at him, dropping your hands to reveal your face. His heart sinks at your puffy eyes and red cheeks.

“You’re just saying that, Tama!” You cry out, stomping your foot like a child.

“No, I’m not!” He rushes out but you don’t look up at him. He allows his body to move over to you, cupping your cheeks and making you look at him in the eyes. Your lips were still in a pout but he noticed your tears yield. That gives him enough confidence to continue talking,

“You are the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen.” He confesses with a small blush on his cheeks. “You don’t even need to dress up to make an impression. When you show up to class in sweats and a sweatshirt, you still take my breath away. Don’t let that guy’s words make you doubt your beauty.” You let his words soak in, sadness replaced with fluttering in your stomach.

“Thank you.” You manage to whisper out with a tiny smile on your lips.

He lights up, a large smile on his own face seeing that he succeeded at comforting you. “No problem, bunny.” He gleams and presses a gentle kiss to your forehead. He doesn’t even realize he let his nickname slip until you let out a giggle.

“Bunny?” You innocently ask with a lift to your tone. He feels his face heat up, eye-widening once again. “I like that. Bunny, bunny, bunny.” You repeat as you rest your hands over his on your cheeks. “I’m your bunny.”

He can’t help the chuckle that escapes his lips at how joyous you were with the term of endearment. “You’re so cute.”

“So are you.” You're quick to reply, nuzzling yourself into his cheek. There's a moment of silence as you just bask in each other’s presence. The air shifts around the two of you as it happens. His gaze absently flicks to your lips then back to your eyes. You seem to notice since you start leaning in.

Before your lips could touch, Tamaki turns his head. He knew you weren’t in the right state of mind and he didn’t want you to regret kissing him. He dreamed your first kiss would be much more than that, something the two of you would remember.

Your kiss lands on his warm cheek. Your eyes flutter open to meet his downcasted ones. “I’m so sorry. I thought--”

“No, don’t apologize.” He cuts you off with a whisper as he takes your hands into his. “I really want to kiss you…” Your face lights up at that, “but I-- just think about it more, okay, bunny?”

You nod excitedly, “Can we cuddle then?”

“Of course, let’s get you into some comfy clothes first.” He suggests then presses another kiss to your forehead. You let out another giggle and wait patiently as he moves to his dresser and pulls out a t-shirt and sweats.

Tamaki turns around to give you some privacy while you change. He holds back a laugh when he hears you struggling behind him. Once he hears your shuffling stop followed by the sound of something plopping onto his bed, he decides it’s safe to turn back.

His heart nearly explodes as sees you in his clothes laying on his bed. You easily burrow into his pillows and find comfort in his blankets. He shakes his head, knocking out all the inappropriate thoughts and makes his way over to your grabby hands.

He slips under the covers and you’re immediately cuddled up to his side. He tries to calm his internal dialogue as you press against his side, carefully sliding an arm around your body and adjusting in a more comfortable position. Your head lays on your shoulder with a leg and an arm slung over him to get as close as possible.

You let out a content sigh, feeling the warmth of his body completely relaxing you. Your eyelids start to get heavy and you yawn, “Night, Tama. Love you.”

Tamaki’s body stiffens under you like a board, the hand that was absently playing with your hair comes to a halt. “I-I love you too.”

[peekawommy]

The Tale Of The Stars

Pairing: Wooyoung x Reader

Genre: Fairytale au, prince!Wooyoung

Words: +2.9k

A/N: This is my first post, I hope that youike reading this as much as I liked writing it. Without further ado, enjoy the reading

Since you were a little kid, your mother used to tell you a fairytale, your favorite fairytale. At that time you hadn't realized that she had made the fairytale up, creating the main female character to your liking but as you grew old and read about all sorts of fairytales you came to the conclusion that it was your mother’s own creation, making you hold it dear to your heart.

When you were younger you wanted to live in that story, so you could find your own Prince Charming and have a happy ending especially since your mother had never added any sort of villain nor monstrous creature to the story in your childhood. When your teens came around and you still asked your mother to tell you about the wondrous story, because you loved how your mother’s eyes sparkled whenever she told the story and the way she seemed to get in character every time, she had changed it up a little.

You remember the day she had told you with a smile 'Princess you're getting older now and you should learn that life is not as beautiful it may seem, even in fairytales’ and with that she started adding new characters to the story, some villains that were ready to take down the princess and her Prince Charming, friends that in the end betrayed the girl and anything her mother could think of to show her daughter just how much the world could be cruel.

Nonetheless, you still knew that the fairytale was your favorite, the story your mother liked to call ‘the tale of the stars’.

But now you were older, in the beginning of adulthood and you knew that your life would never become the fairytale you had wished upon when you were younger. You had responsibilities to attend to, friends to care for and a life that you couldn't leave behind. As of right now you were getting ready for work, your part time job that you had so you could pay for your education. College was one of your big responsibilities, sometimes you wish you could just drop out at some point, the stress it caused you was becoming too much but your future depended on it.

Once you were ready, you took your bag with all of your necessary stuff that you needed for work and later on classes. You thanked your past self for having chosen afternoon classes because the classes were not crowded and it was easier for you to have a job and study. As last, you took your keys and then you were out of your door, walking towards your car and driving off to start your day.

After a long day of school, you finally got home, feeling exhausted from all of the day's activities. No matter how long you’ve been doing all of that you couldn't get used to how tiring working and studying was and getting home late at night. Although you never got used to it, it became your routine. You come home, tidy your small apartment a little bit, make food for yourself, watch a little bit of Netflix and then go to bed. At times you realize that your life was dull, nothing seemed to bring you excitement anymore.

It was in those moments that you wished you did live in a fairytale, no matter what happened, there will always be some type of adventure going on, something bigger than having to decide if you were going to eat beef flavored ramen or chicken flavored ramen. Unfortunately that was impossible and the best you could do was get your degree and move to another city in hopes to start a new, hopefully more exciting life.

With a small sigh, you shook your head and moved on to take your clothes and take a shower.

After the shower you decided on skipping dinner and going directly to bed ‘what an exciting change from my routine’ you thought for yourself. Quickly, you got under the bedsheets and let your body relax. No matter what, your favorite time of the day is when you get to lay down in your bed and rest.

Since you were tired from the day you had, it didn’t take you long to fall asleep. In less than ten minutes you had already fallen into a deep sleep to which you would have hoped it was a dreamless sleep.

The next thing you know, you were hearing small noises as you were pretty sure it was something in your dream but it felt way too real to be a dream. Although you were confused, you could still feel a calming peace inside of you, as if you were in the most comforting place you have ever been, as if you were home.

"Excuse me lady, wake up...wake up, this isn’t a safe place to sleep” A voice, which seemed to be distant, called and with a small frown you started to wake up.

Like always, when you were woken up by someone, you let out a small whine and just turned to the other side while mumbling ‘five more minutes mom’. it took you a moment to realize that your bed did not feel like it was supposed to. It normally was comfy and warm yet now it felt hard, ticklish and slightly...humid? That seemed to fully wake you up as you frowned and slowly opened your eyes. At the bright light, your eyes squinted and you groaned light but the second thing you noticed was the sudden green that invaded your sight.

Now you understand why it felt so different because you were not in your bed but somehow you were laying on some grass. You confusedly sat yourself up and looked around, having no clue of where you were or why you had woken up there. All you could see were trees around you and the bright morning sun shining down on the leaves, making the dew drops on them visible. It seemed like you were in a forest.

“I am sorry to disappoint you but I am most definitely not your mother.” A deep voice startled you from your confused daze.

Everything just kept making less and less sense for you, you couldn’t remember when you had fallen asleep next to a guy nor did you recognize the voice. Had you been drunk the day before? Not that you could remember, all you could remember was taking a shower, going to bed and waking up in this weird yet beautiful place.

Once your eyes adjusted to the light, you slightly turned to the man standing beside you, which apparently you have only noticed now to be there. As your eyes laid upon the boy, or rather man next to you, you couldn’t believe your eyes, he was the most handsome guy you have ever seen in your life. His blond hair was perfectly combed back, his lips set in a visible amused smile, his clothes seemed to be elegant although rather old-fashioned, as if he came out of one of those medieval fairs and he had cosplayed as a king or a prince. You were about to comment on his choice of clothes but you were cut off by yourself as you noticed that your clothes weren’t the clothes you had fallen asleep with, you were sure that you didn’t even have that outfit in your closet. You were wearing a white dress which was long-sleeved and a black corset was hugging the top of the dress closer to your body, every curve of the body being accentuated because of it.

You probably looked quite crazy or weird to the boy beside you as you were looking at your clothes like it was the first time you were seeing them, let alone wearing them. You looked like you were out of place, like you did not belong there. The boy was trying to figure out if he had seen you before but he quickly decided that he had not met you before, he most definitely would have remembered your face, which contained a beauty that seemed to be different yet still ethereal.

“Where am I? Who are you?”You asked, your voice slightly raspy and strained as if you hadn’t used your voice in ages. It was quite uncomfortable so you cleared your throat a few times and hoped that your voice had gone back to its normal state.

The unknown man stared down at you and contemplated his choices, should he introduce himself and answer you or just leave you there and let you figure it out yourself. Fortunately for you, it wasn’t in the boy’s nature to just leave someone that seemed to be in need and besides he didn’t think that you would be any danger to him.

“I am Prince Jung Wooyoung, son of the King of Aldshore and successor to the crown and you are in my father’s kingdom” The boy introduced himself.

Your face morphed into an even more confused expression but this time it also held surprise within it. For some reason his name and the name of the place where they were were very familiar to her yet she couldn’t place her finger on why they were familiar. You searched in your mind to find a reason as to why it sounded so familiar yet all the places that you knew about on earth didn’t have any the name of this so-called kingdom and you would remember if there was a kingdom called Aldshore.

Then it suddenly clicked in your mind and your eyes widened at the memory. You knew exactly what that place was and who the boy was but now you were thinking that the guy must be kidding you and that it was some kind of prank. That place and the boy belonged to the fairytale that your mother had created and told you for years and years. It had taken you a while to remember because it had been years since you'd last heard the story since you were now a young adult and didn’t live with your mother anymore.

“You are joking right? If this is a prank, let me tell you that it is not funny now tell me where I am and why I am wearing these clothes. Were you the one changing me from my clothes? You creep” You let out loudly and stood up suddenly, just wanting to go home since you had to study for an upcoming exam.

Looking around, you realized that you had no idea where you were and you seriously doubted that you would be able to find your way home on your own when all you could see was trees and a clear trail where it seemed to extend for miles.

“I am sorry but I do not joke around when it comes to my title, my lady, and what does that word mean that you said, p-prank was it? Anyways I assure you that I was not the one that changed your garments, I would never take a lady’s clothing without her being my concubine or unless she gives me her consent to do so”

The prince answered, his eyes furrowed deep in confusion. The way you spoke was so different from what he was used to. He knew that you both were speaking the same language yet it sounded weird, more vulgar than his language. It quite shocked him how you had spoken to him, no one had dared to speak to him in such a tone and he for sure had never been called a creep before. Wooyoung didn’t know if he should be furious or be amazed that you had talked to him in such a way.

Suddenly you let out a laugh at the situation just thinking that it was all a big joke and that he was just a great actor but when you noticed that his face stayed unchanged, your laughter started to die down and you looked at him trying to find any type of humor present in his face but unfortunately you found none. Slowly but surely you were starting to believe him yet you couldn’t wrap your head around it, it was all supposed to be made up, a story told for little children and not real and standing in front of you.

“Am I dead? Is this my type of heaven? If so I want to talk to whatever god that made me come here because I need to have a talk with them” you asked more to yourself than to the boy still standing next to you.

The boy could not help but let a chuckle out before shaking his head at the question “I’m sorry, my lady, but you are definitely not dead unless I am talking to a spirit”

You could feel a huge headache forming as your brain tried to make any sense out of all that was happening. You decided to play along for now, hoping that somewhere along the way it all would make sense. With a little hesitation, you turned towards the so called prince and gave him a small tight smile

“I apologize I realized that I haven't introduced myself yet, I am Y/N. I am very sorry for behaving like this but…” you started but you remembered that you could not tell the truth of why you were behaving like that so you quickly made up a lie “I think I’ve lost my memory and I can't remember anything besides my name and my mother”

The prince seemed to believe you as his face turned into one of understanding. Prince Wooyoung was starting to pity you since you couldn't remember anything, for all he knew you were not even from his kingdom. He instantly made a decision to let you stay at the castle during the time that would be necessary to get your memory back. The boy smiled and nodded to show that he did not take offense in the way you had behaved nor in the way you had talked to him, he was sure that he would have reacted in a similar way if he was in the same situation you were in - in the situation he thought you were in.

“It’s alright, lady Y/N, I understand why you behaved like that and I do not blame you, if it had been another royal, they might have not been as forgiving as I am. Fortunately for you, I do not like seeing people in need of help, especially someone as beautiful as you, so I am offering you a place in my castle to stay in until you remember more about your life.” The young prince offered as he put a charming smile on his face.

The prince did know how to charm any lady in the kingdom, even some men too but you could not focus on that, the only thing that really mattered to you for now was how you ended up waking up in a fairytale and how the hell you would go back to your world. After his offer you just chuckled awkwardly and rubbed your arm, a nervous habit that you had, and blushed softly at the compliment.

“Oh I don’t want to bother you, prince Wooyoung, you probably have more important matters to attend to than having to help an unknown and lost girl” you answered as your head bowed slightly in embarrassment. "Nonsense I am more than glad to help you besides I can attend to those matters while also taking you in, I can multitask and I will also request a servant to be at your service, helping you with whatever you may need” The prince waved her reasoning.

You knew that there was no way you could refuse his offer, you remember how your mother had described the boy as stubborn and headstrong so all you could do was nod and accept the offer. Wooyoung couldn’t help as a bright smile grew on his face and holding a hand out to you so that he could guide you out of the forest and towards the castle but all you did was return his smile with your much smaller own smile before starting to walk in a random direction. This did surprise the prince that you had rejected his hand but he did not do anything about that as he let his hand fall to his side.

The boy suddenly laughed and smirked, which made you stop in your tracks before looking at him with a raised eyebrow because you could not understand why he was laughing out of nowhere. The blond boy only pointed in another direction and grinned innocently.

“The castle’s that way, if you go that way you might get lost and eaten by whatever animal lives in this forest” He explained which made your face redden in embarrassment and just turn towards the direction he was pointing to and walk without any word to avoid any further embarrassment. The boy just snickered to himself as he shook his head before going after you, jogging a little to catch up with you since you had already advanced quite a bit.

‘This girl is most certainly very interesting’ Wooyoung thought to himself before starting to explain the way back to the village and his house - the castle - and explaining every single building or house on the way there

[yikeslads]

A Relaxing Evening - Yandere Sero Hanta x Reader

Trigger Warnings! - 18+ only. Non Con (sex and non con drug use). If this bothers you p l e a s e do not read this fic! You are responsible for your own consumption and this is your official warning. Also they smoke a lot of weed in this but I don’t think that really needs a warning but idk

Author’s Note: Hey guys! Long time no see (please don’t kill me, I’ve been hella busy). I’ve started my last year at university so I am super thrilled about that, just turned 21, and I have spent my entire summer working full time. But enough about me, I’m sure everyone is dealing with a ton with the pandemic plus whatever they have. Anyways, I will be doing my best to update more! I have a WIP that should be released soon (i only have like 400 words left) so that should be fun. 

Big big big big thanks to @yanderart ! If you don’t know recognize the name, she is a phenomenal artist (both in visual and literary works, an icon) who shares the yandere/dark love. Thank you SO much for your super helpful edits/comments/encouragement with this <3 

Also thanks to @opheliadawnwalker3 for the advice to start small when getting back into the writing game! I took that to heart and tried to keep it shorter this time and helped me get this out so thank you!

And thanks to @rat-suki @weebsinstash @drxwsyni because I have definitely binged all of y’alls content and used the immaculate yandere vibes you write as inspo so thank you <3 

Now let’s get started!

It was eerily silent in the hallway as your feet made their way to their destination through the mostly abandoned college dormitory. Your mind was so preoccupied with the many thoughts that demanded your attention that you weren’t paying attention to where you were going. Not that it mattered. You had made this walk so many times, you could find your way even if you were blindfolded and hammered, that you were allowed to fully slip into your thoughts without having to worry. Before long you were standing in front of a very familiar door, the only one in the hallway with light peaking through the crack at the bottom. Music could clearly be heard through it, Jimi Hendrix’s singing the only sound of human life that you had encountered during your entire walk over here.

It took you a moment to snap out of your thoughts and come back to reality and notice that you were already standing at your destination. Clearing your throat awkwardly at the realization, you raised your arm and knocked solidly on the door to be heard above the music and waited as patiently as you could for an answer.

From behind the door you could hear someone swear, causing a small smirk to rise on your face, along with the sound of some rustling. A few moments later the door cracked open a bit as the familiar raven haired male peaked into the hallway, a bright smile pulling at his lips as he  regarded you.

“Well this is a pleasant surprise!” Sero chirped, opening the door all the way, seeing that it was only you standing in the hallway. “What can I do for ya, sunshine?”

His cheery, warm response to your presence unknowingly brought a small smile to your face, a needed break from your tense, concentrated expression you had been wearing when Sero first opened the door.

“Sorry to bother you, Sero,” you began, stuffing your hands into the pockets of the jacket you were wearing to stop you from wringing them anxiously. “I’ve just been really stressed with final exams and choosing which agency I want to officially sign for and… it’s just been a lot.” As you explained, Sero’s face softened slightly as he listened intently to your words, not liking the fact that you were so stressed.

“Anyway,” you continued with a chuckle, bringing yourself back onto the subject, “I was wondering if you had any of your stash left that I could buy from you? I know I bought from you a little while ago, but I’ve been more stressed out than I can handle,” you admitted, hoping that Sero might still have some weed hidden away in his room somewhere that you could use.

It was a little into sophomore year of college that you found out that your classmate, Sero, was a bit of a stoner. And as someone going through the hero course, you are understandably dealing with a lot of stress. So what’s wrong with smoking a little Mary J every once in a while to relax, right? Or at least that’s what you told yourself when you first asked Sero if you could buy weed from him. Ever since then he had been your personal plug, but over time, you two became close friends. “I think you might be in luck, sunshine, I think I have some on reserves. Come on in,” he welcomed, and you crossed the threshold without a second thought. As you stepped inside and took off your shoes, a large but gentle arm carefully looped around your shoulders, gently pulling you into the tall man’s side as you led you to the couch and sat you down on the soft fabric in front of his laptop that was open and had various work assignments in different windows.

“Tell ole Sero what’s troubling you,” Sero propositioned as he moved to his desk, opening a drawer and grabbing his needed paraphernalia as he waited for you to begin speaking. He settled down next to you on the couch, pulling the small table holding the laptop in front of you a little closer as he set down his bong, and pulled out his grinder and began the process of loading you a bowl.

You were about to begin venting, but you paused as you took in the sight of Sero wordlessly working for your benefit, and you pulled your wallet out of your jacket pocket after a few seconds. “Sorry, before I forget, how much do I owe you?” You asked, opening your wallet and beginning to pull out a few bills. You didn’t get far though, as a warm hand covered yours, drawing your eyes to meet his black ones. He gave you a boyish smile and shook his head at you, giving a small laugh. “No way, sunshine. You need a little break, this one is on me,” he offered with a grin. You were hesitant for a few moments, not seemingly convinced that you should let him give you part of his stash for free. The potential feeling of guilt ebbed away as Sero’s warm smile never faltered, kindness seemingly exuding from his every pore. What was the harm, right? Nodding, you gingerly took the loaded bong from his large, calloused hands into your own smaller ones.

“Alright,” you agreed thoughtfully as you mirrored his smile, “but I want you to smoke with me. It’s no fun getting high alone,” you countered to which you could almost see Sero’s eyes sparkle in response at your words.

“I would be happy to,” he assured, never one to miss out on the chance to smoke, especially with you, but you added one more condition.  

“And,” you drawled, his eyes never leaving your face as he waited patiently for you to continue. “Whatever food we order when we are stoned off our asses is on me.”

A soft chuckle resonated from Sero’s chest as he nodded along to your stipulation, finding no qualm with having the promise of food.

“Deal,” he agreed, and with that you went to take your first bong hit of the evening.

~~~~~~~~~~

Your sides ached as you tried to force yourself to stop laughing, but your efforts seemed trivial as Sero laughed just as hard, if not harder, alongside you as you finished Sero’s favorite flick, Scott Pilgrim vs the World. It felt so good to let go and really laugh, it had started to feel like it had been too long. Time seemed a distant concept to you at the moment, as nothing from the outside world weighed on you as you merrily enjoyed your high with Sero.

Your eyes were pink from smoking, little tears forming at the base of your lower eyelashes as you gasped for breath as your laughing fit began to subside. You don’t even remember what you had been laughing about exactly, but you couldn’t really bring yourself to care. Your attention was brought back to Sero as he began to rise from his spot beside you on the couch, your eyes following his lazy movements as the movie credits began to roll.

“I’m getting a bit of cottonmouth,so why don’t I get us some drinks while you choose something else for us to watch?” Sero offered to which you agreed, lazily beginning to scroll through the other titles that were currently available on Netflix as Sero made his way over to the little kitchen he had equipped.

“Thirsty for anything in particular?” You heard his voice call out to you, but you didn’t take your eyes off the laptop screen, still searching for another flick to watch.

“Just water would be fantastic,” was your response as you searched through the comedy section, knowing that Sero preferred comedies.

A few moments later, Sero had returned to your side, a glass of water in one hand for you and a soda can for him in his other hand. Thanking him as you gently took it from his hands, you took the glass and raised it to your lips. Taking large sips, reveling in the cool feeling of the water flowing over your tongue and to the back of your throat, you failed to notice a pair of eyes watch your every movement adoringly.

“Wanna take another hit?” Sero asked as you finished taking a drink, setting down the mostly empty glass back down on the table.

You hummed in thought at his question, before nodding, a small giggle escaping your lips, “What’s one more hit, right?”

Sero, the practiced stoner he is, had another bowl set up for you ready to go in what seemed like seconds, graciously handing you the now loaded bowl. Gently taking it from his hands and placing it in the bong, you fired up the lighter and took a huge hit.

A h u g e hit. It was a little larger than you had meant, but being high had made your judgement a little empaired. You coughed a bit as you expelled the wave of smoke from your lungs, waving your hands as Sero laughed.

Your cheeks flushed slightly with embarrassment at Sero laughing as you tried to regain your composure. “S-Stop laughing!” You cried, setting the bong back down, but Sero just shook his head.

“I can’t help it, sunshine. Seeing you not being able to take that hit is hilarious,” he continued to laugh, as your cheeks burned warmer at his words.

“Its not my fault that I don’t have your iron lungs,” you mocked, picking up your glass once more and finishing the contents in an attempt stop your coughing fit. “Not all of us are stoners.”

A small gasp tore from Sero’s throat, as he held a hand to his chest, pretending to be surprised by your words. “Me? A stoner? How could you even say such a thing?” He asked, shooting you a kicked puppy look which just made you giggle in return, your head feeling a little fuzzy from the extra hit.  

“Oh don’t be a baby,” patting the spot next to you, you flashed Sero a loopy smile, “come on, lets watch another movie,” you countered to which Sero agreed to, settling back down in his spot beside you. You reached forward, setting your now empty glass next to the laptop and hit play on the movie, before moving back into the cushions. Your body began to feel heavier as  you gingerly leaned into Sero’s side, who in return wrapped his arm around your shoulders and gently tugged you a little closer to his chest as the intro finished and the movie began.  

You weren’t long into the movie before you were struggling to keep your eyes opened. You shifted slightly, trying to force yourself to wake up, but the more that the time wore on, the harder it became to stay awake.

It wasn’t more than twenty minutes into the film before you were out cold, your deep and even breathing soft in Sero’s ear as your tired figure slept against his shoulder.

“Sunshine,” Sero whispered, tentatively placing a hand on your knee and gently shaking you. He watched your face carefully for any sign of rousing, but your breathing continued at its deep, even, undisturbed pace. An eager smile danced across Sero’s visage at your lack of response, his heart pounding in his chest in excitement. Wrapping his strong arms around your pliable person, Sero gently maneuvered your sleepy shape to be laying on your back, tummy up, the skirt you had worn riding up on your thighs as your leg lay limply, slightly apart.

Sero took a moment just watching you, drinking in all of your beauty. You looked so sweet and vulnerable asleep on Sero’s couch defenseless. He gazed at your unconscious body oh so lovingly as you lay completely helpless to the danger that lurks around you. It makes Sero’s heart squeeze in his chest in realization that you need him. You needed him to protect you and Sero would happily be your knight in shining armour.

“Her knight in shining honor”, Sero thought to himself merrily, infatuated with protecting his little ray of sunshine. His fingers began to skim the skin of your thighs, slowly pushing your skirt up higher and higher. Shouldn’t your knight get a little reward for his services? Sero certainly thought so, afterall it was only fair that he get to enjoy his sunshine in return for all he does for you.

Sero’s breath caught in his throat at the sight of your black laced panties, skirt bunched up past your hips, leaving your panty clad intimate parts exposed for his greedy eyes. There were no such things as imperfection to Sero when it came to you. All of your little bumps, blemishes, and things you didn’t like about yourself were all things that Sero adored about you. It's what made you you, and he simply ached to worship you.

Hungry hands hooked fingers into your panties, swiftly pulling the soft material down your supple skin in earnest. A groan tore from Sero’s throat at the sight of sticky, clear strings sticking from the fabric to your little treasure.

Fuck was he glad he slipped you an aprodiasic alongside the sleeping pills. Seeing your hole already wet and begging for his attention had his pants quickly tenting uncomfortably. He could not wait to get started.

Moving quickly and silently, he settled himself on his stomach between your thighs, carefully placing your thighs over his shoulders. His starved stare meets your slick slit and he couldn’t stop himself from licking a stripe up your lips, moaning at the delicious taste of your essence. His eyes flickered back to your face where he found you still sound asleep, unaware of reality.

“Perfect”, he thought to himself at your unconscious state, “just like last time.”

Confident in his security, Sero began to feast on your unprotected pussy, his tongue swiping through your folds as he drank every ounce of you in. His eyes almost rolled into the back of his head at your taste as if he was tasting the most divine thing ever created. He couldn’t seem to get enough as his hands encased your thighs, hungrily pulling your closer to his famished mouth. Your breath quickened in pace at Sero’s ministrations but the sleeping pills kept you nestled peacefully in between complete unconsciousness and your dreams, deep asleep. It seemed almost as if Sero had been eating you out for hours when he had finally come up for air, sucking in deep gulps of air into his lungs greedily.  He knelt in front of your vulnerable body, lips and chin shiny with your slick as he slipped a finger into your heat, quickly followed by another as he gently began to scissor your walls apart. Your warmth gushed around his fingers as he worked you open for him, using his free hand to slip down to his belt and make quick work of that before tugging his boxers and pants down. His cock now free of confinement slapped against his abs before he gently removed his fingers from your heat. Your juices completely soaked his hand as he brought it to his cock, using your wetness to get him slick for you. He watched your sleepy face as he stroked himself, his bottom lip caught between his lip as he intently drank in your features. With both of your bodies prepped, patience grew thin, so he tilted his hips down, nudging your dripping entrance with his plush tip, your legs lazily spread and looped loosely around his hips.

Slipping himself between your folds, Sero took a deep breath before pressing himself into your warm, wet, tight cavern. He didn’t stop slowly driving his cock into your twitching heat until he became fully sheathed inside your awaiting pussy. He groaned softly at the feeling of his cock being encased by your velvet walls, his eyes never leaving your face as he adjusted to the delicious feeling you were giving him. After a few moments of adjustment, Sero pulled his hips back, feeling his manhood drag against your plush walls, a soft moan escaping your sleeping shape as you stirred slightly in your hazy state. Once you settled and he was positive you were going to stay asleep, he drove his hips forward into your cunt his eyes moving away from your face and down to where his cock was buried deep inside of you. The erotic sight of you being fucked by his cock kicked him into gear as he soon found a steady rhythm as he pounded into you.

With every thrust of his hip, your cream coated his silken rod, making Sero almost feral with the sight. It took every ounce of self control he had to not fuck you the way you deserved, the way you needed him, but he couldn’t risk having you wake up during your little relaxation session. It took every ounce of self control that he possessed to keep himself from fucking you silly, but with plans for the pair of you in the future, he was willing to wait to rock your world for when you were awake and in more of a … receptive position to receive the full force of his love for you.  

It wasn’t long before Sero found himself reaching his end, much to his displeasure, but he knew it wouldn’t be long until he was able to get to do this again. He always made excuses to get the two of you alone, for “purely innocent reasons” according to your knowledge. He couldn’t help it! He loved you too much, and he needed to get his fix.

“F-Fuck,” he moaned as he fucked himself into your pussy, panting softly as he drew close to his completion. “You feel so good, sunshine. You were made for my fucking cock, shit,” he swore, his thrusts becoming increasinly sloppy. He pulled himself out before he came, hips hovering over yours as his hand frantically worked his length trying to finish himself off.

“Fuck yes!” Sero growled as he came, hot white, sticky ropes of cum decorating your glistening pussy as he furiously worked his hand over his cock. “God, love you so much,” he groaned as he finished,  hovering over you as he caught his breath. His eyes watched as his cum dripped down your pussy, becoming entangled with your own juices. Without skipping a beat, Sero reached over and grabbed his phone, taking a quick snapshot of your fucked out pussy covered in his essence and saved it in a secret gallery of pictures he kept of you. He needed to add to the collection, something to help tide him over until the next time. Setting his phone back down, he leaned over you and gently kissed you, like a lover would, savoring your lips while you were still asleep. Breaking the kiss, he gazed lovingly down at you, gently playing with a strand of your hair. He wished this moment would never end, but he knew that he had to get going, sighing softly to himself.

It was time to start up the cleaning process.

~~~~~~~~~~

A phone ringing caused you to stir from your deep slumber, a deep yawn escaping your lips as you stretched your stiff body from sleeping on the couch. You rubbed your eyes slightly as you woke up, before you took in the room before you. You saw Sero back turned to you as he spoke in hushed tones over the phone, hearing Bakugo’s voice grunting something to him over the phone about working out later that day. You glanced around the room as you yawned again, slightly confused as to how you got here before remembering coming over to Sero’s place the previous night after being really stressed and wanting to take a break. It wasn’t long until Sero finished his phone call, turning back to your and finding you awake, looking back at him.

“Sorry,” Sero began, rubbing the back of his neck, “I didn’t mean to wake you,” he apologized sheepishly with a small smile, taking in your figure.

“It’s no worries,” you hum out sleepily finding yourself naturally returning his smile. “Did I pass out last night?” You asked, not fully remembering what had happened after that last bong hit.

“Yeah! You fell asleep about maybe half way through the first movie? I don’t remember exactly when, I was paying too much attention to the movie,” he lied smoothly, your face showing telltale signs of embarrassment at having fallen asleep during the movie. Especially in Sero’s room after having come to his room for a favor. How could you ask to hang out with someone then fall asleep on them!”

“Oh… Sorry about that, I didn’t mean to fall asleep on you like that,” you laughed a little uneasy, but Sero was quick to reassure you. “Don’t worry about it! You said yourself that you were stressed out of your mind, and it seemed that you needed to give yourself some rest. No need to apologize,” Sero soothed you easily, a smile returning to your face as you nodded. He almost felt bad lying to your face, but this was just more proof that you needed him! He had placed all your clothes back on properly, cleaned up the mess last night and you were none the wiser! Your lack of realization of what had happened, though it pleased Sero to know he got away with his little love session, cemented your need for him in Sero’s mind.  

“Well will you let me buy you coffee as a thanks for letting me crash? We can study together at that cafe near the gym if you want? ” You offered, wanting to express your gratitude to your friend, who graciously accepted your idea, pleased to spend more time with you.

“Now that sounds like a good idea,” he chirped, quick to pack up his things in his backpack and get ready to go.

The sun was rising slowly from the horizon, fluffy white clouds moving lazily across the sky, as the two of you walked to the cafe together. The birds sang so sweetly as the pair of you made your way, but their songs meant nothing to Sero, too entranced with your own sweet voice as you chattered happily with him about whatever came to mind.

Opening the door for you once the pair of you arrived, you flashed him a sweet smile in response before stepping inside the warm coffee shop. The smile you gave, to him, was brighter than the sun, warmer than the core of the Earth, and he realized he needed it. Just like you need his protection, he needs you, his sunshine, to bring warmth into his life and make him whole. With your back to him, browsing the menu of its many drink options, you failed to notice the pair of eyes drinking in every inch of your form with intense infatuation. You had no idea the danger that lurked behind those kind eyes, and unfortunately for you, you didn’t notice that Sero’s friendliness was more until too late.  

[marveldc-imagines-hub]

Subtitles: Episode 8, Previously On

Subtitles Masterlist

Summary: As they seek out Vision a Westview that doesn’t seem to want them to find him, more memories from [Y/N]’s past begin to appear. They almost seem drawn out of the dark depths of their mind by some unseen force but it’s hard to tell whether it’s friend or foe. Who is forcing [Y/N]’s memories to the forefront of their mind--Wanda or someone else?--and is it tied to the suddenly hostile Westview blocking them from finding Vision? Who is trying to keep them distracted?

Word count: 6,584

Warnings: Cursing, descriptions of death and declining mental health. Mostly angst, tbh.

Tag list: @madamevirgo @ravennight41 @multifandomgirl16 @cyanide-mustard @badasspolygenderfriend @austynparksandpizza @sophster1881 @haileyybird​ @maceidelic​ @alexpress @angelvinella

Ko-Fi Shoppe

~~~

You were too busy trying to calm the anxious gnawing in your stomach to notice Westview subtly changing around you. It wasn’t until a vine wrapped tightly around your ankle and made you almost trip and fall face-first into a fire hydrant that you looked around with a frown.

    The vine itself—thick, spiky, and definitely not native to the suburbs of New Jersey—had sprouted from cracks in the sidewalk, which spread and opened further as other vines crept after it. After tearing the one holding you off and stepping out of its reach, you noticed the fences of houses reaching far past their yards to create maze-like paths that covered the sidewalks and street ahead of you. The houses that these fences belonged to were also warped in a way that made them look like you were viewing them through funhouse mirrors, stretching far into the sky and bending overhead in your direction like they meant to block you from leaving in that direction—or meant to block you from being seen by anyone flying overhead.

    Your eyebrows arched so far up on your forehead that you weren’t sure that they were still there. “What the fuck is going on?”

    You weren’t as concerned about the magic happening itself—if some random civilian walked by, they’d barely react at all and the maze and houses weren’t causing any actual damage, just being incredibly annoying—as you were by the fact that you couldn’t tell who was doing it. Your first thought was Wanda, naturally, but it made no sense that she’d be trying to keep you from finding Vision when she was the one who’d originally sent you to go get him; not to mention that she’s never created such a bizarre display of magic, at least intentionally. You considered yourself next, as you’ve known yourself to cause random transmutations when you get too antsy, but this wasn’t the type of power that you controlled and when you tried to reach out to interact with the energy, you received opposition instead of energy bending to your will. It was somewhat difficult to pick out because it seemed to hide away under the blanket of Wanda’s magic that reached across everything in Westview, but the aura of the twisted architecture surrounding you was dark and hostile.

    You first attempted to humor whatever magic was at play and made your way through the maze but as you did so, the fences shifted around you to extend their white picket prison. You stopped and sighed. “The end is nigh… and I am not going to spend it dealing with this shit.”

    A little voice in the back of your head told you that you could probably set fire to the whole magic mirror setup and be done with it but you ultimately decided against it; Wanda would probably find out and definitely wouldn’t be happy when she did. Instead, you placed your hands on the fence and as you did so, posts morphed into gates that you could easily pass through. You continued through the maze via this method and were surprised to feel the opposing magic back away from you after your pushback.

    “Oh, thank god,” you grumbled under your breath as you made it through the last of the maze. 

Unfortunately, you celebrated too early as the cement underneath your feet suddenly began to melt back into its liquid form. It would have been fairly easy to use your powers to reharden the cement but exhausting yourself fighting with the opposing force until the sidewalks of Westview shifted into grassy fields on its outskirts seemed like a bad idea in the long run, especially with the twins’ disappearance, Wanda dealing with Agnes’s strange behavior, Monica’s return, and the warning churn of your stomach telling you to stay alert. So, you settled for trudging along through wet cement until the magic decided to back off again.

Not so much trying to cause damage as it’s trying to mildly inconvenience me, is it? you thought.

Just as before, once the magic trying to keep you distracted was rivaled by your own, it receded and you were soon walking on the regular, hard sidewalk once more. You cleaned your pants and shoes up by turning the wet cement still clinging to them into something much more manageable—water—and continued on your way. Sorting through the mix of concern, nips of mild hunger, and the energy-seeking compass in the center of your now twisting in every which direction, you managed to eventually focus back into the feeling of Vision somewhere in the distance. It got stronger as you walked, so you began to pick up the pace.

Then your unseen opponent returned, stronger and now in the mental realm instead of the physical. At first, you thought the kickback was just Westview’s borders—the Hex, Monica had called it—trying to right the wrongs of someone within it having memories of the outside world, something you’d experienced before. However, you felt the menace rippling underneath the surface of the haze and when you tried to fight back this time, you were met with an angry strength. The fog making your head feel heavy seemed to spread through your bloodstream and take home in your bones, weighing your body down until you stood still and lame in the middle of a random neighborhood. You were a prisoner in your own body; you couldn’t move even if you wanted to, but you didn’t even know if you did because your brain was so full of dark storm clouds that you couldn’t think straight. You knew that you stared slack-jawed into space but it felt more like you were sitting in a dark room inside your skull and watching the outside world from a TV screen. As you watched on, the fog that took over your mind and body took your eyesight too.

===

===

===

The first few memories were fleeting. 

You were a few years old and holding your mother’s hand. It was much less boney and knotted than you remembered your mother’s hand being, as was the rest of her. She was younger and stronger, standing next to you in a worn nurse uniform and overcoat and staring ahead with a scowl, concealing whatever emotions she was feeling otherwise. You were in a bedroom that was only vaguely familiar to you and the two of you watched an old man that was barely more than a skeleton slept under a heap of fraying blankets. As you stared on through the wide eyes of your child self, your grandfather heaved a final breath before falling into a deep, eternal slumber.

A couple of years older, you were in the old but cozy, sunny yellow kitchen that your mom love to cook in. You sat at the dining room table, kicking your legs and picking at the splitting wood as your mother and a stranger argued in the other room. You had never heard your mother raise her voice to such an extent before but at the time, you were much more concerned about what kind of sandwich you were going to help her make for lunch. You never saw the stranger aside from a flash of [H/C] as he left and he was never seen or heard of again.

You were still in the kitchen but its appearance had changed ever so slightly. Yours did too, as you were a teenager now, and now your mother sat across from you at the table. Though she was still healthy now, her overall haggard appearance would be one that she carried on for years to come. She was telling you about her doctor’s appointment but you were only somewhat listening as you were stressed about high school drama and final assignments to be turned in before summer break. You heard words like “dementia” and “Alzheimer’s” but the meanings were lost on you in that moment.

Then you were in a nursing home. You could feel the harsh lighting, hear the TV from the lounge behind you. The smell of cleaning supplies burned your nostrils but the smell of your mother’s stale perfume soothed it. Unfortunately, nothing could soothe the ache that made your heart feel like it was going to shrivel up and die when you came to tell her that you changed your major in college so you would be better equipped to help her, only for her unable to recall having a child at all.

You were pinned against a wall in a Sokovian HYDRA base, although you didn’t know the organization that you were studying with was HYDRA at the time. Shivers of equal parts fear and exhilaration made your entire body quiver and the clipboard you’d been holding clattered to the ground. While a large group of Sokovian war protestors had to hunch together to fit in the cramped and cold holding room, Wanda seemed to take up the majority of the space just from her spot of holding you into place. Her hair was a mess and her face and clothes were dirty but her eyes were full of more life than you’d experienced during your entire time working in the base. She was angry and determined and powerful and gorgeous, and she told you that if you ever ran into her again that she’d kill you—and you were surprised with how okay you were about the idea, as long as you got to see her again. When she let you go and you apologized, she told you what she and the others were doing here; this was the catalyst that sent you investigating into HYDRA and finding out about their much more sinister nature, as well as the pain you’d helped cause.

Finally, the slide show of memories slowed and instead of being confined to your brain, you were back in your own body—or so you thought until you looked around and found yourself staring at a younger copy of yourself. Instead of Westview, you were in a HYDRA testing room, and instead of simply re-experiencing, you were quite literally watching a memory unfold around you as if you were an unwanted audience member standing around the active set of a TV show. Or a ghost, you decided, as the younger you walked through you as if you were nothing but air.

Your younger self was dressed in an all-black work uniform and lab attire, with an identification card clipped to your chest that granted you high-level clearance. You’d worked immensely hard playing HYDRA’s game to get to where you were now, which was standing in the control room with two other agents and preparing to analyze the test about to unfold on the other side of a large glass window. In the test chamber, a door slowly slid open and Wanda, unkempt and spacey, entered.

You wanted to break her out. Judging by the way your younger self tensed up—not enough to be noticed by your superiors; you’d mastered your mother’s emotional lockdown of a scowl at this point—your feelings weren’t far off from the initial experience. 

Wanda made her way farther into the room, closer to a scepter with a glowing blue stone that was being held on a pedestal. As she did so, the younger you readied their clipboard and pen to take notes and one of the two agents spoke, “For our notes, Miss Maximoff, can you please state your name and confirm your status?”

The younger copy of your current partner did as she was told. “Wanda Maximoff. Volunteer.”

“Begin experimentation,” the other agent—a doctor and one of your immediate superiors—stated.

“Doctor,” the first man said, “with respect, not one subject has survived direct contac—”

He was broken off as the doctor flicked on the intercom to speak to Wanda again. “Touch the sample.”

Wanda made her way forward but before she could do much, the stone suspended in the scepter—the mind stone, you knew now—detached itself and floated towards her. As it got closer, its glow grew brighter and bright blue magic wafted over Wanda as she stared before reaching out to touch it. While you remembered this situation thus far, what happened next was completely new to you. The mind stone shattered before Wanda’s eyes, revealing yellow golden yellow magic that poured from the remains. There was an explosion of light and within it was a flash of a shadow. From where you were standing, you couldn’t quite make out the shape.

Then the light died and Wanda collapsed, and the rest of the memory ran as you remembered. The scientist and doctor ran out to check that Wanda was still alive, while your younger self recollected themselves enough to take pictures of notes and research reports from the control desk with an old school digital camera that they’d managed to sneak in.

“Well,” a familiar, incredibly out-of-place voice sounded from behind you, “that’s a surprise. I had no idea you and [Y/N] went so far back.”

You spun around to see Agnes and a modern Wanda standing just behind you. Agnes watched your echo with mild curiosity as they carefully rifled through the control desk and gathered as much information as they could to examine at a later time. The dark energy that radiated off the woman was the same that you’d sensed earlier, hiding just underneath Wanda’s own. Being this close to the unhidden source now, the magic felt sharp and acidic and tasted like bile on the back of your tongue. The anxiety that had been gnawing at your stomach increased tenfold as your guts twisted around themselves. It had been Agnes all along.

Past you finished their investigation as they were called in to take Wanda to solitary by one of the other HYDRA agents. When they rushed out of the control room, they passed through Wanda and Agnes, confirming that the women were in a similar state of being to you.

Surprisingly, Agnes was completely unaware of current you’s presence. She walked casually over to the desk and attempted to make sense of younger you’s rummaging before making a face and shrugging.

Wanda, on the other hand, was staring directly at you. To anyone else, it could be said that she was simply looking through you who the commotion happening in the test chamber, but when you met her gaze, the slightest of jaw clenches told you otherwise. While it was Agnes—Not Agnes, a ghost of a whisper in sounded in your head—whose magic had been toying with you, it seemed that it was Wanda’s doing, at least to some extent, that brought you to watch this scene with them. 

“You know,” the ravenette said, “I really did like them for a while. They were fun to string along for entertainment, and they were a hoot at events and to run errands with. Such an awkward little thing. I could see their crush from a mile away whenever you three were around each other. I just thought they’d be the out-of-place, pining neighbor whose love was unrequited, a comedic plot device of sorts. I didn’t think you would actually return their feelings, let alone both you and your husband, you naughty dogs. I should have known sooner that something was up.”

You and me both, sister, you thought with a soundless snort.

“Oh well,” Agnes—question mark?—said with another shrug, “our friendship was fun while it lasted. Let me know if you ever get bored with them. We did often flirt a bit, [Y/N] and I.”

“What do they have to do with any of this?” Wanda asked, throwing a mild glower in the other woman’s direction.

“Why don’t you tell me?” Agnes responded with a sickly sweet smile, then walked past Wanda and out of the testing room. “Come along, dear! We’ve got much more digging to do.”

Wanda glanced at you one last time before following. After a moment, you trailed after them.

===

===

===

Past Wanda was sitting and watching sitcoms via the one amenity she had the dungeon-like room she was held in when your past self walked in.

“Wanda,” past you gasped and moved to rush to her side before freezing and throwing a glance towards a security camera in one corner of the room. The faintest blue-black light danced appeared to dance around your echo’s fingers as the lens of the camera warped and changed into a round silver disc, then the light disappeared and you watched yourself hurry to younger Wanda’s side. 

She didn’t acknowledge you until you placed a gentle hand on her back. She jumped a bit and turned her glassy-eyed, hollow-cheeked face towards you; in the same instant, the TV turned off. 

Past Wanda offered past you a wobbly smile that you returned. You reached into your pocket and pulled out a candy wrapped in colored foil that looked neon in comparison to the dull coloring of the rest of the environment.

“Hey, look, Wanda,” you tried, offering the candy to her, “I brought you something. Remember these? You told me once that they’re your favorite.”

Wanda stared blankly at your gift. After a moment, she took it and began picking at the foil.

Past you gave past Wanda another strained smile. Your furrowed brows caused deep lines to be etched into your forehead, showing no lack of concern, but you tried to stay positive. Gingerly running your hand up and down Wanda’s back, you carefully looked over as she freed the chocolate-covered candy from its wrapper. “You look good. You’re doing much better than you were when we brought you back.”

Wanda’s eyes lazily traced the pattern of the room’s stone walls as she brought her treat to her lips and carefully nibbled at it. When she found it free of tampering, she relaxed a bit and popped it into her mouth.

You watched as your past self rested their chin on her shoulder and squeezed her eyes shut. “I’m going to get you out of here, Wanda. I promise that I’m going to save you. I just… wish you’d let me help you more.”

Well, young me, you thought, you certainly broke that promise, then went off and murdered a bunch of people. Nice job.

Wanda’s past self finally fully acknowledged yours; she rested her head on top of yours and her thin fingers brushed brushed over the knuckles of one of your hands. She shook her head and mumbled, “I have to do this. For my people.”

Your echo sighed. The two of you sat like that together for a few moments longer before you separated yourself from her and headed out of the room. As you walked out of the room, the silver that blocked the security camera transformed back into a lens. Wanda looked back to the TV and blinked, and the television turned back on.

“Huh,” Agnes piped up to Wanda again, “they were just as piney here as they are in Westview then. Weird. I thought they had a reputation as a crazy psycho killer outside? Hoo boy, did you see any of the work that they did after Sokovia? I looked into it when I figured out that they weren’t just another ordinary townee. The Alchemist? Wished I’d managed to keep them on my side; I’d love to sit down and talk about all the ways they tore up those agents.”

You grimaced. You never regretted going on a HYDRA manhunt but it wasn’t exactly one of your most redeeming qualities.

Wanda frowned. “Trying to cope with all they had done while working with HYDRA was too much and they had to do it alone. I told [Y/N] I would return but then I never did. They thought it was their only solution.”

You were surprised to hear her empathize with you, let alone know about your revenge spree at all. You hadn’t realized how much it felt like a secret that you had been keeping from her until a weight was lifted off your shoulders when she talked about it.

“Still,” Agnes said nonchalantly, “turning an alive former HYDRA agent into a very much not alive scarecrow and leaving posting him up in his own field? Genius and I love the creativity. And the way they turned the guy who shot them into a bloody bag of bones? Delicious.

“But anyway,” she went on, the glee in her voice shifting to something more pensive, “little orphan Wanda got up close and personal with an Infinity Stone that amplified what otherwise would’ve died on the vine. The broken pieces of you are adding up, buttercup. I have a theory, but I need more.”

With a wave of her hand, a dark wood door appeared in the room’s far wall. Wanda’s eyes widened slightly with recognition and she immediately walked forward and through it. Agnes trailed cheerfully after her.

You made a move to follow them but you didn’t make it before Agnes shut the door behind her. You jiggled the doorknob but the door wouldn’t budge, and then it melted back into the wall and vanished altogether. While you were relieved to be away from Agnes’s acrid magic, panic rose in the back of your throat at the idea of Wanda being alone with Agnes and you being trapped in a bizarre memory realm with no idea of how to get out. You ran your hands along the wall in hopes of finding the door’s outline once more, to no avail. You spun around to search for another route—

—and you were suddenly standing on a street in Westview. 

This wasn’t Westview as you currently knew it but Westview before Wanda had turned it into her special little safe haven. Instead of watching this memory like a movie, you were now involuntarily reliving it as a prisoner of your head again as your body and mouth move on its own accord.

You were paused mid-walk across the street and staring at a breathtakingly gleeful Vision for the very first time. He was standing out in the open without a human disguise of any kind, wearing a very attractive form-fitting turtleneck and looking over an empty plot of land. He must have felt you staring because he turned his warm, earth-shaking gaze towards you.

“Hello there!” he hollered with a friendly wave and a smile that made you wonder if one look from a stranger could make you weep over how attractive they were. He stepped from the dirt plot to the sidewalk, then made his way to the curb. He held a slightly crumpled piece of paper in one hand and you could see a red heart in its center out of the corner of your eye.

For whatever reason—maybe because of the fact that there was a very inhuman-looking man, who was causing your body to have all sorts of reactions, walking towards you—you felt compelled to walk over and meet him. 

“Excuse me,” Vision said as you got closer and pointed to the lot behind him, “I’m looking to buy this spot here. Do you live around here?”

Temporarily, while I try to look for a cure for my dumb-bitch memory disease, you thought. Instead of saying this aloud, though, you said something much more stupid. “Are you aware that you’re red?”

Vision blinked. He looked at his hands if he was in fact just now realizing this, then looked back at you with wide eyes. One hand moved to touch the golden gem embedded in his forehead, which you now connected to the mind stone on the previous memory that you had experienced—Wanda’s memory. 

“Oh, goodness,” Vision said, “yes I am. I’m sorry, I hope my appearance doesn’t make you uncomfortable. If it does, I could make a more appealing one—”

You felt yourself break into a grin and one of your hands waved itself dismissively at him. “Not sure there’s a way to make yourself any more appealing than you already are. It’s just unusual is all.”

Vision chewed on one side of his bottom lip before smiling sheepishly at you. If only you’d been able to tell when this interaction had actually happened that he was “blushing” in the only way his synzethoid body allowed over you complimenting him; you would have had a field day with making him flustered.

Then his eyes drifted slightly above your eyeline and the hand touching his forehead gem fluttered slightly to the right—his left. Without thinking of how it might come off, he said, “You’re unusual-looking yourself.”

Luckily, you weren’t too easily offended. You briefly touched the gunshot scar on your forehead with one hand, the exit wound scar on your neck with the other, before dropping them both and shrugging. “Got shot in the head once. Operation gone wrong.”

“A soldier?” 

Unfortunately, the version of you in this memory was already struggling to recall memories. Instead of telling the pretty stranger that, though, you said, “Something like that.”

Vision nodded and awkwardly fiddled with the paper in his hands. His gaze flitted around before settling on you again, “Well, I think you’re appealing too.”

You felt your cheeks grow warm but you hid your embarrassment with a snicker. “Thanks.”

The man cleared his throat. “Yes, well, that’s good then, isn’t it? That we both like each other’s looks just fine. Not… that I want you to find my visuals appealing. Not— not that that’s a bad thing to be doing so either! It’s just that—” he paused to collect himself. “I have a partner. A girlfriend of sorts.”

“Of sorts?”

“It hasn’t really been discussed,” he clarified, “but we are deep in the throughs of our relationship.”

“Congrats? Also yeah.”

Vision blinked. “I’m sorry?”

You pointed over your shoulder. “I live around here. In a hotel more often than a home but I’m considering getting a rental a couple houses over.”

Because if I don’t find who I’m looking for—a doctor? Scientist maybe?—I’ll be stuck here until I remember where I came from.

    You were brought out of your grumbling thoughts by the childish excitement that erupted from Vision’s shining smile and spread throughout his body until he was practically vibrating. He quickly scrambled the rest of the way over and flashed the paper he held at you, then almost immediately folded it up before you could actually see anything other than a flash of red on white. He told you how wonderful it was to be meeting someone from the neighborhood and before you open your mouth to say anything in response, a billion questions seemed to pour one after the other from his mouth. You caught a few—did you know why the plot he was looking at was open, if there was a nefarious reason behind it lacking any home already? Was the neighboorhood safe, did you like it there?—but you soon found yourself distracted by the way the gear-like patterns in his blue irises swirled faster as Vision became increasingly giddy.

    Then one word came flying out of his rambling mouth and you felt like you had been hit in the gut with a sack of bricks. You actually had to stop yourself from choking on a gasping breath and steel yourself in preparation in case he said her name again. Luckily, Vision seemed too deep in his his own thoughts that he didn’t notice you blanching from the kickback of yours.

    Wanda? It couldn’t be. It wasn’t like there weren’t any other Wandas in the world. Then again, you’d never met another Wanda since your Wanda and there was something about her name coming from his mouth that assured you that his Wanda was yours too.

    Is that why you had come to Westview? Was Wanda the one you were looking for?

    You placed a hand on Vision’s shoulder, both as a way of grounding yourself and grabbing the man’s attention. It worked and Vision’s bumbling died off as he looked at you with wide eyes.

    “I’m so sorry,” he said, and lifted his free hand to scratch at the side of his neck, “I got quite carried away there, didn’t I?”

    This past version of you wanted so desperately ask about the Wanda he spoke of, to confirm that she was the Wanda that you’d known in what seemed to be a past life at this point. You wanted to know if she was safe, happy, and if he was taking care of her in the way that she so needed after everything she had been through. When you looked at Vision, though, and the plot plans in his hand and the place of his and her future home, you bit your tongue. Something told you that it wasn’t your time to ask nor was it your right to do so. It had been so long since you’d tried to help the Sokovian woman escape a dingy HYDRA base and failed, and wherever she was now, she was probably better off without you intruding.

    You put on a mask of a friendly smile to hide the way your heart was being picked to pieces by a thousand imaginary needles and gave Vision’s shoulder an equally friendly pat. “No worries. I do have to stop you, though, have an appointment to get to. I’m really not the person to ask about future home life—like I said, usually a hotel—but if I have anything to tell you, it’s that this is a good place to settle.”

    Vision beamed. “Really?”

    You dropped your arm and stepped away from the robotic stranger to take your leave. “This place is easy to turn into a home. You’ll love it here.”

    Vision heaved a sigh a relief and he waved to you and you gave a parting nod and began walking. “Thank you! Oh, and it was nice meeting you, neighbor! Hope to see you again soon!”

    Something deep in your heart told you that you wouldn’t be seeing the British gentleman again, or maybe you were finally coming to terms with the fact that your brain would drop yoru memory of him before the day was over. You cast one last glance over your shoulder, trying to commit every detail of Vision to memory the best that you could, before heading back across the street.

    “Looking forward to it!”

===

===

===

    One minute you were walking and the next you couldn’t feel any part of your body that was below your waistline. The scene had shifted again and you now found yourself staring spacily off ahead. You were outside and you felt the familiar presence of a large facility behind you but you couldn’t place what the building was for or why you were there. In fact, try as you might, you couldn’t place much meaning to anything. Your brain was blank aside from several questions that you had no answers to.

    Why were you in a wheelchair? What had happened to your legs? Why were you outside? Why were there old people and people in scrub uniforms milling around you and talking to you in passing as if you had any idea who they were? Where was your mom? You had classes to attend and needed a ride.

    You took a sighing breath and felt a tanginess of citrus on your tongue that sent shockwaves throughout your body—or what left of it that you could feel. Your eyes shot open wide and you swung your head around, looking for the source of the taste of candied citrus, the feeling of thin fingers carefully brushing across your knuckles. There was a memory there, clawing just under the surface of thought-killing fungus that seemed to have taken over your head over… however long it had been now. You just had to remember—

    Before you could could remember, you saw her appear before your very eyes. She was walking down the street past you with only a green yard and strip of sidewalk separating the two of you. She wore a dark outfit and her hair cascaded behind her in the breeze, fluttering like flames. You couldn’t see her face well because of the distance you could feel the deep, powerful sadness radiating off her in waves; it was almost strong enough to force you into tears. Still, she walked with purpose and she held a piece of paper in her hand that she glanced at every other second. She happened to turn her head to toss a stray chunk of her back over her shoulder and for a brief moment you thought that her dark eyes met yours.

    You screamed her name and attempted to chase after her. However, in that moment, you forgot that you were paralyzed from the waist down and stuck in a wheelchair, so when you lurched forward to stand, you were quickly greeted by hard earth knocking the wind out of you. You hissed in pain but the impact didn’t stop you, nor did your lack of working legs. You shoved the wheelchair away in a fit of irritation, then began crawling your way across the public yard, following a trail of a very specific shade of red as you dragged your body along.

    You didn’t make it very far before you felt strong hands grasp your shoulders. You flailed around, prepared to fight whoever was trying to disrupt your mission, only for you stop struggling altogether when a flash of reddish hair appeared in the corner of your vision. You looked up at and stared at the only face that held solidity in your mind with eyes the size of dinner plates as she knelt next to you and helped you into a decent sitting position. Once you were settled, her hands moved from your arms to cradling your face and when you could see the heartbreak in her eyes this time, you actually did feel a few tears wet your cheeks.

    Your eyes fluttered shut as her gentle hands caressed your face, brushed away the tears that were now flowing like a waterfall. Your own hands found their way to her waist and you held on for dear life. With a wobbly voice that was barely above a whisper, you gasped her name again, “Wanda…”

    You felt the warm touch of her forehead pressing against yours, her nose ungracefully bumping against your cheek as she held you. “[Y/N]?”

    Hearing your name on her tongue sent you into a fit of sobbing laughter, though you weren’t sure why. Goosebumps erupted across your skin and you felt the stuttering of a billion bird’s wings in your stomach, pounding against your ribcage. You had so many things you wanted to say and yet you could remember a single word, so you merely fell into a bumbling chant of “My Wanda, my Wanda, my Wanda, my Wanda…” Your eyes stayed squeezed shut for fear that if you opened them, she would no longer be there. 

    Wanda’s lips brushed against your eyelids and then your cheeks, not quite leaving kisses but a warm, tingly feeling nonetheless. A smile was there, you could feel the curve of it as her mouth traveled from your temple to your hairline, but it was one of the same sadness that you’d seen in her eyes. She mumbled against your scarred forehead, “Oh, [Y/N], what happened to you…?”

    You finally opened your eyes—luckily, she didn’t vanish into thin air once you did—and finally met her gaze again. You moved your hands to cover hers that still held your face and pressed them harder against your cheeks, as if you could imprint her fingerprints into your skin.

    After a moment of just silently basking in her presence, you sighed softly and replied, “I don’t know.”

    Pain further etched itself into the lines of Wanda’s face; you quickly reached out to smooth them out with your fingertips.

    “You don’t remember anything?”

    “Not much,” you replied. Then you smiled. “I know you. All I know for sure is you.”

    Wanda looked like she was on the verge of bursting into tears herself but she swallowed her sobs instead. She adjusted her position and sat back slightly, scrubbed her hands over her eyes and looked around at your surroundings. She glanced at the paper she’d once been holding but now sat in the grass next to her before her gaze settled back on you. Sadness shifted into determination as she took your face her hands once more.

    “I’m going to get you out of here, [Y/N],” she said, “I promise I’m going to save you.”

    You went to nod but the sound of something flying overhead caught your attention, then a flash of yellow light over Wanda’s shoulder.

    A powerful jerk in your stomach seemed to control your entire body, forcing your head and body upward. Then you were standing on the sidewalk on the outskirts of a neighborhood with a maze of twisted houses and picket fences behind you. You were no longer trapped inside your own head, watching or reliving memories, but standing mid-step in the Westview that was bubbled by a Hex of modern Wanda’s own creation.

    Vision was flying through the air nearby and approaching fast.

    Your powers seemed to move one step ahead of your mind; before you finished the thought, one of the fun mirror houses was turned into a staircase that led to nowhere in the sky. As you turned and began racing up them, you waved your arms in Vision’s direction and hollered, “Hey! Toaster oven!”

    Vision was clearly on a mission home but you managed to catch his attention before he flew too far past you. He rounded back around and met you at the top of your stairs. He quickly surveyed your immediate surroundings, taking in the bizarre scenery before casting a concerned look your way. “What in the world is going on here?”

    “Uh, well,” you paused and took a glance around yourself, then rambled off, “I just spent a nondescript amount of time trapped in a mental live-action remake of my past and I’m pretty sure Agnes is not Agnes but some unpleasant, magic-y person who kidnapped our kids and now is trying to get… something, I’m not sure what, from Wanda. Also, I think she might have a crush on me and I’m pretty sure she caused the carnival set-up next to us.”

    Vision blinked. “Well, that’s… a lot.”

    You hummed your agreement and nodded. Then you held out your arms to him. “Shall we?”

    Vision eyed you from your place on a freshly mutated staircase then snorted softly as he gathered you into his arms, bridal style. “Surely there must be a way for you to travel with those powers of yours.”

    “There is,” you affirmed, “but this is probably faster and I should probably keep my strength to save our kids and your wife. Oh, by the way.”

    Vision gave you a questioning him as he prepared for flight. You wrapped your hands around his neck and brought your lips to his in an quick kiss. When you pulled away, you met his curious gaze and said, “I’m so happy to have met you.”

    Vision’s expression grew warmer and returned your kiss with a softer one of his own. He briefly nuzzled his forehead against yours before pulling away.

    “I’m glad to have met you too,” he said softly. Then he shifted his gaze to look past you, towards home, and he said, “Now, let’s go get our family.”

[btsqualityy]

Heaven Sent; Part 5

Jin x Reader

Genre: Angst, hurt/comfort, fluff

Warnings: None to note.

Author’s Note: I know it’s been a while and I’m sorry! I’ve been busy with college work but here is an extra long chapter to make up for it! I hope you guys enjoy!!

Month five was normal. At least, as normal as you could get. Work was great, Aera was doing amazing, and you found yourself crying much less as time wore on. Yep, everything was good....until you hit month six.

Month six was October, which also meant that it was Aera’s birthday month. When you looked at the calendar one day and saw just how quickly October 7th was approaching, you found yourself almost dreading it because it would be Aera’s first birthday without her father. After realizing that though, you made up your mind right then and there to make sure she enjoyed her day to the fullest. 

“Wait, she asked you for what?” Jin laughed loudly, and you reached out to smack his abdomen as the two of you made your way through the grocery store together. 

“A unicorn,” you repeated, not being able to help yourself as a small giggle escaped you as well.

“I know you want her to have fun, especially this year, but don’t you think a unicorn would be hard to deliver?” Jin wondered.

“Nope. All we’d have to do is rent one of those mini ponies and put a horn on it’s head. A fake one, of course,” you added, and Jin nodded thoughtfully.

“Of course, because you’re nothing if not ethical,” he teased, making you gasp as you reached out and smacked him again. Over the past month, you and Jin had begun to spend more time together, even when he wasn’t babysitting Aera. You found that he was extremely funny, even though his dad jokes sucked, and it was refreshing to be around someone who didn’t pity you. 

“You give in to Little Heart way too much, you know that?” Jin mentioned and you gasped dramatically.

“That’s the pot calling the kettle black,” you laughed. “She’s not even 4 feet tall but all she has to do is look at you and you crumble.”

“Oh please, I’m no weakling like you,” Jin snickered.

“Oh yeah? Why are we here at the grocery store then?” You asked with a smirk.

“I have no idea,” Jin lied. 

“Let me help jog your memory then,” you smiled. “Uncle Jinnie, can you please make japchae and samgyeopsal for my birthday food? Please?” You recited the words that Aera had said to Jin not even an hour before.  

“It’s what she asked for from me for her birthday!” Jin shot back. “What was I supposed to do, say no?”

“All I’m saying is, don’t make it seem like I’m the only weak one here,” you pointed out. 

“Honestly though, how can anyone not be weak for her?” Jin smiled, making you do the same thing. “She’s too precious.”

“Yeah, she is,” you nodded in agreement.

........................................

Luckily, Aera’s actual birthday fell on a Saturday and the weather was pretty good for October so it was the beginning of a good day as you bustled around your house getting things ready for the party. 

Per Aera’s request, she only wanted your parents, Hae-il’s parents, Yoongi, Taehyung, Jin, and Jin’s friends Namjoon, Jimin, Jungkook, and Hoseok to be there so those were the people that you invited. Jin ended up showing up early in order to help you decorate and get the food ready.

“Do you think I have enough cups? And plates?” You wondered as you moved frantically between the kitchen and the dining room, setting the tableware down on the table.

‘Yes, you have enough for a small army in here!” Jin shouted back from his place in front of the stove in the kitchen. After making sure that there were enough plates and cups on the table for everyone that you expected to come, you walked back into the kitchen, having to stifle a laugh when you caught sight of Jin dancing in place to the music that was playing through the small speaker that he had brought with him. 

“Having fun?” You asked and Jin glanced at you over his shoulder, smiling evilly. 

“Yes I am, in fact,” he chuckled, setting down the spatula in his hand before turning around fully.

“Do you think that I have everything we’ll need?” You questioned and Jin nodded his head.

“You do, and you need to stop worrying so much,” he advised you, making you sigh heavily. 

“I know, but I can’t help it,” you whined childishly. 

“Dance with me,” Jin said suddenly, stepping over to you while you shook your head insistently. 

“I can’t, I need to finish getting things ready!” You squealed loudly, gasping when Jin grabbed your hands in his and began to drag you around the kitchen in a backwards conga line. 

“No, what you need to do is relax, so that’s what I’m helping you do,” he smiled, moving quickly and spinning you around before bringing you into his body.

“You make me fall, I’ll kill you,” you threatened him.

“You wouldn’t kill me on Little Heart’s birthday,” he called your bluff. “She’d never forgive you for offing her favorite person.”

“Taehyung’s her favorite person, so try again,” you replied, laughing afterwards at Jin’s wide eyes.

“Damn, you really know how to cut a man Y/N-ah,” Jin huffed, making you smile as the two of you continued to dance together. He used the hold that he had on your hands to guide you, leading you around in a small circle. A loud giggle escaped you when he almost tripped over his own feet and suddenly, you realized that you felt more carefree than you had in months; probably since Hae-il died, if you were being completely honest with yourself. 

“You’re still thinking too hard,” Jin noted and you looked back up at him. “I swear, I’m gonna be forced to dip you the same way they do on the dancing shows.”

“Jin, you better not,-” you tried to threaten but you were cut off by Jin wrapping his arms around you, pulling you close to his body and then leaning down in a bow. You squealed loudly, bringing your arms up and looping them around his neck tightly to make sure that he didn’t drop you; or that if he did, then he’d go down with you.

“Better?” He smirked and you just rolled your eyes as you shook your head. 

“You’re very annoying, you know that?” You told him. 

“I’ve been told,” he chuckled.

“Can you let me back up now?” You asked, your eyes narrowing at him when he shrugged his shoulders.

“I don’t know, you seem pretty comfortable down there,” he pointed out. “Less stressed.”

“I’m worrying about you potentially dropping me on my head,” you laughed. “I’m definitely still stressed.”

“I wouldn’t do that,” he replied and you could hear the seriousness in his voice. “Trust me.” He then slowly straightened his body, lifting you back up gently to make sure that he wouldn’t drop you. Once your body was vertical again, you realized that the way you had looped your arms around his neck was now causing you to be pressed right against his chest. 

“I should, uh, go finish getting things ready,” you muttered.

“And I should finish the food,” Jin nodded, reaching down and setting his index and middle fingers underneath your chin, lifting upwards so that you were looking up at him. The two of you stayed liked that for a few seconds, just looking at each other, and the rational part of your mind told you that you should do what you said and pull away but you also just didn’t want to. 

Jin was extremely handsome, anyone with eyes could see that and it wasn’t lost on you. However, being up that close made you appreciate his looks even more.

“We shouldn’t,” you spoke up suddenly and to your surprise, Jin nodded his head.

“We shouldn’t,” he agreed easily. “But God, do I want to.” His confession made your breath hitch in your throat and you felt your cheeks warm up from embarrassment. You met his gaze, your eyebrows furrowing as you tried to read the expression on his face.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered, seemingly realizing the weight that his previous words held. Even more surprisingly, you found yourself lowering your head and shaking your head gently.

“It, it’s o-ok,” you stammered. You then looked back up at him, gasping when you saw that he was starting to leave forward. You panicked for about two seconds when you realized that he was going to kiss you. The grip that you had around his neck tightened even more, and you found yourself inching forward as well. 

Just as you could feel the hint of his breath against your lips, Aera’s shrill voice rang throughout the house. 

“Mommy!” She hollered, and the sheer loudness of her tiny voice made your arms fall from around Jin’s neck as you jumped about a foot in the air. You set one hand on your chest over your racing heart and the other hand on your cheek, your chest heaving as you tried to catch your breath. You then looked over at Jin, who was rubbing his hands over his face. 

“I,-” he tried to say but he was cut off by another call of your name from Aera.

“Mommy! I need help getting dressed!” She called. Giving one last glance at Jin, you stepped around him to walk out of the kitchen.

“I’m coming Love,” you replied, using every ounce of restraint in your body to not glance over your shoulder at Jin. 

........................................ 

“Grandma, grandpa!” Aera shouted after you had opened the door, revealing Hae-il’s parents, whose arms were loaded down with large gift bags for their granddaughter.

“I heard someone has a birthday today,” Jin-joo, Hae-il’s mother gasped playfully as she and Hae-il’s father Gun stepped into the house. You shut the door behind them and took the presents out of their hands, moving into the living room in order to step them down onto the table. 

“It’s me! It’s my birthday!” You heard Aera exclaim happily and you couldn’t help but to smile to yourself at how excited she was. As you moved to walk back into the front hall, Jin appeared from the kitchen and you didn’t miss the way that Jin-joo’s eyes widened at seeing him. 

“Seokjin?” She called out in surprise. “What are you doing here?”

“Aera requested my presence,” he told them with a smile. 

“I asked Uncle Jin to make samgyeopsal and japchae for us,” Aera added happily. “He makes it the best!”

“Even better than me?” Jin-joo wondered with a smile and Aera nodded her head shyly.

“Well, it’s good to see you son,” Gun said as he walked over to him, setting his hand on Jin’s shoulder and squeezing lightly. 

“You as well, Gun-ssi,” Jin nodded. Over the next 45 minutes, your parents, Taehyung, Yoongi, and Jin’s friends Jimin, Namjoon, Hoseok and Jungkook all showed up for the party and Aera was in absolute heaven.

“Kookie!” Aera squealed happily as Jungkook lifted her up into his arms and kissed her cheek multiple times. 

“Hey, has my baby forgotten me?” Taehyung pouted and Aera quickly lifted her head, shaking it so hard that her ponytails hit her in the face. 

“I love uncle Tae Tae,” she told him, smiling shyly afterwards. “But I love Kookie too.”

“Aww, I love you too cutie,” Jungkook smiled as he pressed another quick kiss to her cheek. 

“Tae’s gonna be pouting for the next week,” Yoongi grumbled, making you laugh because you knew that it was true. Not too long after that, Jin walked out of the kitchen and announced that the food was ready and that everyone could come eat. Walking into the dining room, you were surprised at how good the food both looked and smelled. 

“Dig in everyone,” Jin smiled and that’s exactly what everyone proceeded to do after they sat down. 

“Here, have some meat Little Heart,” Jin said to Aera as he brought his chopsticks to her lips, and she opened wide to bite into it. “Is it good?”

“So good!” She nodded happily before turning to you. “Mommy, have some meat!”

“I have some baby,” you giggled as you gestured towards your own plate.

“No, you have to eat it from uncle Jin,” she insisted, making your eyes widen just a fraction. “It tastes better that way.” You then looked over Aera’s head at Jin, who was already looking at you. 

“Y/N-ah?” He said and you knew that he was asking if it was alright. You just shrugged, watching as he picked up another piece of meat from his plate and brought the chopsticks to your lips. You accepted it easily, chewing on it thoroughly as both Aera and Jin watched you.

“Good?” Jin smiled and you nodded before swallowing. 

“Really good,” you replied, and you swore that you could see his ears get red as he looked away from you. The rest of the dinner passed in relative ease, filled with good conversation and you didn’t miss how well Yoongi and Taehyung seemed to be getting along with Jin’s friends. You were grateful for it because you knew that Aera loved all of them and it would’ve killed her if they didn’t like each other. Your daughter was nothing short of dramatic, but she got it honest. 

“Alright, I think it’s time to cut the birthday cake,” you announced once the dining table had been cleared and Aera’s eyes lit up. “Jin?”

“Happy birthday to you,” Jin began to sing as he carried the cake out of the kitchen and into the dining room, and everyone else joined in as well. 

“Happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Aera, happy birthday to you,” everyone finished before clapping. You helped Aera stand up on her chair as Jin set the cake down on the table right in front of her.

“Make a wish Love,” you encouraged her and she nodded before shutting her eyes tightly. You all waited for a few seconds before she opened her eyes and then blew out her candles. Everyone in the room cheered loudly and you pressed a quick kiss to her cheek before moving forward to pull the candles out of the cake before any of the wax managed to drip down. 

“What did you wish for Aera?” Hoseok asked. 

“Yeah, anything cool?” Namjoon wondered.

“I can’t tell you uncle Hobi and uncle Joonie, it’s a secret!” She giggled. 

“But we’re your uncles, you can tell us,” Jimin tried to convince her but she shook her head firmly.

“Uncle Jinnie said that I can’t tell people, or else it won’t come true. Right?” She checked as she looked up at Jin and he nodded his head with a small smile.

“That’s right Little Heart,” he assured her before looking over at his friends. “So stop pressuring my baby.”

“It was just a question,” Namjoon chuckled. 

“Him and Y/N-ah sure know how to bite people’s heads off,” Yoongi grumbled and Jungkook snorted in agreement.

“Right?” He agreed. 

“Our friends are dramatic as hell,” you muttered to Jin.

“Tell me about it,” he whispered back, making you smile. You and Jin then made quick work of cutting into the cake and handing it out to everyone. Once you were done, you took a second to look around the room and you smiled at the sight. Your parents, Hae-il’s parents, and Jimin were talking to each other as they ate their cake, Aera was perched in Jin’s lap as he fed her cake and carried on a conversation with Namjoon and Yoongi at the same time, and Taehyung and Jungkook were carrying on a heated discussion about what the best video game was that came out in recent years.

Admittedly, you never imagined your daughter’s sixth birthday to look like this but as you looked around at all of the people that had shown up for your baby, it was the first time that you began to feel like just maybe, everything would turn out ok.

........................................

“Did you have fun today Love?” You asked Aera as you pulled back the covers to her bed, watching as she climbed inside before pulling the covers over her little body. It was about an hour after everyone had left, and you had managed to calm Aera down enough to get her in the bath and then into bed. 

“So much fun Mommy,” she exclaimed and you smiled.

“I’m glad to hear that,” you replied. 

“Mommy?” Aera called, and you could tell from the sudden softness of her voice that something was worrying her. 

“Yes?”

“Can I have a Daddy hug?” She asked and your heart dropped a little.

“Of course baby, come here,” you said as you opened your arms and it took less than a second for Aera to sit up and throw herself into your arms. It had been a while since she asked you to hug her the way that Hae-il used to, and you were kind of sad that she felt the need to ask again on her birthday. 

“I missed Daddy today,” she whispered and you sighed as you squoze her body gently, the same way that Hae-il used to. 

“I did too Love,” you admitted, pulling back and pressing a kiss to her forehead. 

“Is he still sending us love, like you told me?” She questioned and you didn’t hesitate to nod your head. 

“Of course. He always is,” you promised her. 

“Ok,” she said and she seemed to feel a little better at your reassurance. You helped her lay back down, tucking her in before brushing her baby hairs back away from her eyes.

“I love you Aera,” you whispered.

“I love you too Mommy,” she replied, and you gave her one last kiss before standing up and walking out of the room, making sure to leave her bedroom door cracked open just a little bit.

When you walked down the hall and back into the kitchen, you saw that Jin was still there, washing all of the dishes from dinner and dessert.

“Need some help?” You asked and Jin glanced over his shoulder, smiling gently when he saw you.

“Sure,” he said and you walked over to him, pulling up the sleeves of your shirt as he moved over to give you enough room to stand in front of the sink as well. He continued washing the dishes, handing them off to you for you to rinse and dry them before setting them down onto the counter.

Now that you finally had the quiet time to think (and Jin’s proximity to you wasn’t helping either), you began to think about this morning and what had almost happened between you and Jin. On one hand, you liked Jin. He was funny, he loved Aera almost as much as you did, and he was always there without being too overbearing. On the other hand though, you weren’t sure if you actually liked him because you were attracted to him, or because it had been 6 months since you even showed interest in a man or had one show interest in you.

Also, and what was the most glaring, he was your husband’s closest friend. Not only did you feel like you were betraying Hae-il, you also felt like it was way too soon for you to be trying to move on and if you did, what would that say to how you felt about Hae-il?

“I have no idea what I’m doing,” you confessed gently and Jin looked over at you with a raised brow. 

“About what?” 

“This, us,” you said and he made a soft noise of acknowledgement. 

“If it makes you feel better, I don’t either,” he replied and you looked over at him. “I genuinely just wanted to help you and Aera but yet here I am, developing feelings for my dead best friend’s wife.”

“It’s terrifying,” you muttered.

“It is,” he agreed easily. 

“I don’t want to use you Jin.”

“You’re not.”

“You don’t know that,” you shot back. 

“I know you’d never do that purposely, so I do know,” he replied. “I also know though, that you like me. You may not be sure why, but you do.”

“I do,” you admitted. Jin then pulled his hands out of the water, grabbing a dry towel and quickly drying his hands off before gently placing them on your face. 

“I’m willing to help you find out, if you want,” he offered and your eyes widened. 

“Jin, I don’t think I can,-” 

“I’m not asking you to marry me,” he chuckled. “I’m asking you to explore this attraction that we have between us, together. If it turns out that one or the both us are just attracted to the other because of what’s happened, then whatever. We’ll chock it up to grief and leave it at that.”

“And if it’s not just because of what’s happened?” You asked as you turned your body so that you were fully facing him. 

“Then we can be scared together and figure it out,” he smiled gently. You bit your lip as you thought about what he had said, and you realized that you did want to try and figure it out with him.

“We’ll go slow?” You questioned and Jin nodded instantly.

“As slow as you or I need to,” he promised. 

“What about Aera?” You asked suddenly.

“We don’t have to tell her right now, especially since we don’t know what’s going to happen,” he told you and you relaxed at his words. 

“Ok,” you finally relented.

“Ok?” He checked and you smiled lightly.

“Ok,” you repeated. 

“Ok,” he chuckled happily. 

“I have one request though,” you said and Jin shrugged.

“Anything.”

“Kiss me?” You asked shyly. “I know we just agreed to take things slow and everything but I’ve kind of been thinking about it since earlier and-”

“Hey,” he gently interrupted you. “You worry too much, you know that?”

“I can’t help -” you tried to excuse yourself but you were cut off by the feeling of Jin’s lips pressing against yours. You squeaked against his lips before relaxing against him and letting your eyes close, reaching out with your hands and gripping his shirt at the waist. After a few seconds, he pulled away and looked down at you, his eyes searching yours.

“Ok?” He checked in, and you slowly nodded your head as you opened your eyes to look at him.

“More than ok,” you smiled and when you thought about it, it really was ok.

[therectoress]

yennaia + gamer au

This was supposed to be three sentences and definitely not crack but I just had to... sksjsjssksjjs.

Yennaia prompt: Gamer AU.

LINK TO ARCHIVE OF OUR OWN IN THE REPLIES.

Word count: 1.8k+ Pairing: Yennaia. Rating: T.

Tissaia really had no idea why she was doing this. Perhaps to appease Rita. Perhaps because her addiction to nicotine had worsened over the course of one year of a bloody Continent-wide pandemic and she was loath to use her credit card every time she needed a new pack of cigarettes. Perhaps she was going through a midlife crisis to cope with the fact that being the Chancellor of Aretuza College was already stressful enough without half the generations there trying to fool her subordinates into thinking cardboard replicas or even mannequins counted as attendance or simply because the rest of the Board of Governors (Stregobor) couldn't differentiate between what could be said through an email and what required her to clean her entire house so the background of her call was pristine.

Her controller vibrated in her hands, (Why, for the love of the Gods, couldn't that setting be turned off?) her knuckles turning white from gripping it so strongly. "Oh, for fu- heaven's sake." There, she had been ambushed. Again. A funny and wholly unexpected thing happened, though, one of the users turned on her companions, offing the lot of them with clean headshots the brunette definitely couldn't pull off in the span of twenty seconds.

"Uhh..." What does one say when your virtual saviour just betrayed her entire party on a whim and was being cursed at obnoxiously loudly and vulgarly for it?

Yennefer ignored Sabrina calling her names that absolutely applied to her and her hormonal reaction to a lovely blue-eyed MILF the likes of which she had only seen in her dreams. "No thanks needed, love. I was getting tired of seeing you frown like someone had keyed your car every time you got killed. A pretty thing like you should only have cause to smile." Oh, Gods, now she sounded like a creepy old man that lived in his mum's basement. Great. Good job. Her Social Studies major was an absolute hit. Fuck her life. Fuck Oxenfurt College. And fuck Sabrina's witch-like cackling while she was at it. "Name’s Yennefer." She choked out miserably.

Tissaia scowled at her laptop. Hackers. Amazing. This was the best day of her new normal life. "Mind telling me how you broke through the most expensive antivirus in the Continent, dear? Because now I really need a refund." Now she also needed to contact Aretuza’s IT team on a Saturday night, because she was not about to mess any further with these blasphemous machines, thank you very much.

Wait, what? "That wasn't me... You left your camera on." The woman legitimately squealed at that, her oversized jumper sliding down her left shoulder and exposing just a glimpse of her collarbone as she pinned up her hair into a bun with... were those pens fashioned as swords? Oh, bugger, this was so not the time to get turned on! "Are you alright?" Mercifully Sabrina, Renfri and Phillipa were already accosting someone else, else she was sure the brunette would've completely lost it, more than she already was doing, anyways. "Hello?" No answer.

Tissaia was fishing for her boots when she started ranting, “Oh, don’t you worry! I’m fine! Just dandy! This is exactly how I wanted my life to go.” She motioned with her hand to the space around her. “I wished for nothing more than dealing with complete morons from nine to six, five days a week, whilst trying to make sure my sanity doesn't desert me.” Biting her lower lip for a moment she began checking that the ends of the laces were the same length when she pulled them up. “Running right after to my local grocery store to buy more instant meals that are probably going to give me cancer in five years if the bullshit articles my mother keeps sending me-”

Yennefer had told herself she wasn’t going to allow this wasn’t going to get any creepier than her misguided comment but she still had a gift code for that nice liquor store which conveniently had retailers popping up every six blocks everywhere for the last few months, especially in Thanned isle, only Gods knew why. “This bloody succubus of a twat that is my best friend has been forcing me to constantly use this cursed game by changing the password for my email and then Aretuza’s server and then-” Bingo. One text to Philippa and they had her IP address, with a mortified Triss already calling Jaskier since she was the only one that had managed to get a decent scholarship at that posh college.

This was her future wife who was about to jump from a bridge from the looks of her and they just had to do humanity a great service by saving her from herself and from sobriety.

“Can you believe that tosser? I am a lesbian! I spent my teenage years clad in flannel until my girlfriends staged an intervention kind of lesbian! Yes, Vilgefortz, I will sue you for harassment in the workplace and I will blacklist you. No, Vilgefortz, I don’t want to break quarantine to go on a date with you and I definitely do not want your disgusting cologne anywhere near my-” Tissaia’s head shot up, her doorbell was ringing and she pinched the bridge of her nose, reaching for a new, disposable, mask.

“You stay right there.” She threatened the girl, who had the most beautiful violet… Perhaps she really ought to let Coral get her a therapist. It rang again. “Gods-damn-it.” She thought.

Her plan was going marvellously. She would only have to sleep with a knife under her pillow for a few weeks for blackmailing Sabrina (Who honestly hadn’t the slightest talent to pass off plagiarism as a sudden stroke of genius in her final project without her aid.) into going along with this. The blonde was lighting the candles around the monitor without trying to burn her hair off and had given away her best bottle of cheap but still good wine for the cause. Thanks to Renfri and her frankly psychotic, owl obsessed, girlfriend she already knew what she would be replacing her trauma-ridden last name with! Splendid!

The brunette shut the door on Jaskier’s face after taking the brown paper bag from his hands, spraying the bottle of vodka inside it with so much disinfectant that it dripped down onto her carpet. Taking off her gloves and disposing of them, she grabbed a knife from the counter and ignoring the annoying blue light that came from the kitchen table, “Oh, shit. You’re soulmates. I’ll tell the rest of the girls we’re all fucked.” Tissaia cut off the upper part of the glass in one smooth hit, like Calanthe had taught her when the then teacher could still be considered fun by her groups of friends.

“Shut up, tiddybug!” She heard Yennefer sing-song.

Feeling like being crass the blue-eyed woman took a rather large swing directly from the bottle. Sitting back down, she sighed. Yennefer took a dignified sip from her wine; she could do balanced when her significant other to-be needed to let loose. “Did you like the bottle? It has good reviews from… wait a minute… apparently several alcoholics who don’t know what a budget is.”

Tissaia’s face paled. “I thought you weren’t a hacker.” The woman muttered. She didn’t fancy getting kidnapped and… No, no, no. Fucking Rita. What was the cost of moving, again? If she slept four hours less a day and split her cleaning time in two she could probably trade this house for Stregobor's in-

“I am not!” Yennefer cried. Bloody hell. “You just mentioned that you worked at Aretuza and-” Sabrina had probably started a group call and Phillipa was indeed hacking into her computer to save her arse. The Redanian was currently writing a script for her to follow. “Your username in the game is your surname. My friends and I tried to get into that school a few years back and I do remember that the Chancellor is a woman and that her last name is de Vries.” Her username wasn’t her last name, it was actually something that suggested she was an Ice Queen of the highest order. Queen Elsa from the movie Frozen would be intimidated kind of Ice Queen.

“Everyone is aware the highest-ranking members of the faculty live in chalets near the castle, pardon, the building.” True. According to Triss, that was a part of their contract that if unfulfilled prohibited them from working there ever again. To Yennefer that seemed borderline cruel, forcing them to be available at all hours like circus animals for juniors that didn’t deserve their spots.

“My best friend is a student there and she knows which one is your home because she wants to eventually be a teacher.” Partially true. Until that day came, Triss, like any rational individual, avoided the Chapter’s Village like the plague lingered inside, and wouldn’t be caught dead there unless she had to stop Sabrina from doing something stupid because of the anarchist phase she was going through. Jaskier was an acquaintance of hers of sorts because Triss had tutored his boyfriend Geralt in Biology and being daddy’s boy, he knew which one was Tissaia’s house because he had almost gotten expelled like fifteen times.

“I honestly just wanted to do something nice for you, you sounded like you needed it and… I know quarantine hasn’t been lifted once in Temeria since it all started.” Philippa wrote then that she would probably make for a decent actor without flashing her breasts to the audience every five minutes. She pursed her lips and replied in the mock post-it note to fuck off.

“I… I… Thank you. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have assumed- I’m sorry, darling.” Her pale cheeks flushed at the term of endearment that slipped her tongue and Tissaia bowed down her head, red-painted nails caressing the glass bottle almost reverently. “Say, why don’t you tell me what your email address is and I send you my mobile via chat? The explosions in the background aren’t that, uhm, comforting to listen to when I’d much rather be hearing your voice.” Should she have looked up she would have seen the smile that threatened to split Yennefer’s face. “Only if you want to, of course! I- what am I even saying? Never mi-”

“No! Wait!” She placated. Sabrina squeezed her shoulder as she went to retrieve her phone charger, offering her a genuine smile. “I’d love to.”

“Okay.” Said Tissaia, an awed sound leaving her throat when blue finally meet with lilac. Gods, she was drop-dead gorgeous. Rita could have whichever bottle, all the liquor she wanted from the school’s cellar for indirectly enabling this.

Was one week a proper enough courting period to then buy the engagement ring? Or should she just have Philippa get her the best, costliest one from that jewellery eshop they all liked through some minor fraud that would take her like half an hour at most, today? “Good.” Yennefer de Vries had such a nice ring to it.

[bethhxrmon]

passed down like folksongs, chapter fifteen- steve x reader

[gif credit to @flyingrichardgrayson​]

chapter fifteen- time, mystical time, cutting me open and healing me fine

series summary: Living in Hawkins was never easy for anyone. However, it becomes ten times more difficult than usual when you catch feelings for one Steve Harrington. What should be a simple schoolgirl crush ends up being complicated by your step-brother, Tommy Hagan, and the mysterious goings on in the town of Hawkins. [masterlist]

pairing: steve harrington x female! hagan! reader

chapter summary: With all of the events of the Upside Down behind them, Steve finally finds it in himself to open up about the past.

warnings: swearing, hurt/comfort, fluff

word count: 3.5k

a/n: Wooo!!! Technically what I would consider the last chapter!!! Because of that, I will be uploading the epilogue tomorrow, so hopefully one of those will get to go in the steeb tag (also bc classes started up again and I don’t wanna upload in the middle of a school day okay)

~*~*~*~

It was towards the end of July when the official funeral for your step-dad was held. There had been a service for all those who were killed in the fire a week before. One you ended up getting dragged into. Not that it was bad, Steve went with you. Though, it was clear he was just as keen to be there as you were.

Though, being at an actual funeral felt somehow worse. Steve kind of felt he had been to the worst one already when he went to Billy Hargrove’s a couple of days ago. He specifically told you that you shouldn't go. That he was mostly there to watch out for the kids. It was understandable. You remembered that Hargrove had a step-sister and if Steve felt like he could be helpful, you didn’t want to intrude. Especially when you wouldn’t have known anyone all that well.

Steve also insisted on going to your step-dad’s funeral when the time came as well. Not because he thought you needed him the way you needed someone at Barb’s funeral, but because he didn’t want you to be there alone. While you would have had your mom, she was so busy dealing with all the serious arrangements that you wouldn’t have wanted to give her any stress.

The only thing she let you handle were the flower arrangements. Most of which was dark red, almost black roses and assortments of white flowers. You never knew what sorts of things he liked. In all fairness, he never bothered to tell you much.

You tried to ask Tommy, just to see if grief changed him any. It only made him angrier. Your working theory was that he was convinced his dad left everything to your mom instead of him. Which was a possibility, but you knew that he’d turn out fine. He was leaving for college and with his dad gone, you were pretty sure that you were never going to see him much again after the funeral. That only made you look forward to it that much more.

All you wanted was for him to no longer be in your life. After all the things he did and comments he made and how much he came in between you and all the things you wanted to say and do, you probably should have wanted more. Maybe it would have made sense for you to have wished he had been the one to die in the fire, but you didn’t. He was so close to being gone and you could only be glad for that.

After all, had he not gotten his dad to vouch for him, you were pretty sure he would have been staying in Hawkins like Steve. Though, you were glad Steve was staying for a while. It meant there was time for both of you. No, you were never going to get him walking up to you at your locker or have him hold your hand as he walked you to class, but that was okay. What mattered was that you had him now and it made all the difference in the world to you.

With how nice it was outside, the actual burial was taking a long time as people talked to each other, trying to console your mom for her loss. It made you want to roll your eyes out of your head.

“You know, like, a month ago all these people were still calling my mom a cheating slut behind her back,” you said, leaning up against a tree.

Steve nodded, “Yeah, I know.”

“What, were your parents saying that?”

“Uh, yeah, they did… not that I really hear them talk much,” he sighed, “But, my mom always worries that my old man’s gonna divorce her for some younger woman like Tommy’s dad did.”

You nodded, “That makes sense… I just wish people wouldn’t be so damn nice about it now. It’s so fake and patronizing. And all for some guy who wasn’t even that great anyway.”

“Do you wanna get out of here for a bit?”

“Steve, I should at least stay-”

“Not out, out. Just maybe to someone else’s grave?” he took your hand, “Come on, I think you could use a few minutes somewhere else.”

You were pretty sure you knew where he was going with this, so you went ahead and followed Steve through the cemetery. It was pretty this time of year with many trees giving shade. Families still left all sorts of flowers on graves and the grass was well-kept.

Sure enough, Steve led you right to where Barb’s headstone was. The grave was relatively well-kept, though the Hollands ended up moving to the next town over. Enough for a fresh start, but also close to where their daughter was.

“I really hope ghosts are real,” you said softly.

Steve nodded, “I’m sure they are.”

“Well, if they are… I really hope Barb’s doing okay. I- I still think about her a lot. The things I said and the things I wish I’d said instead had I known I was never gonna see her again,” you took a shaky breath, “I don’t think I’m ever going to feel like I’m actually over it.”

He wrapped an arm around you, “I know what you mean.”

“How? Sorry, I- I just… I never really thought you missed her all that much.”

“I guess it’s not that I miss her. Well, not in the same way you do. It’s more in the way I really wish I didn’t have that party. And how I miss being able to look at my pool and just see a pool. Instead, all I think about is her and whatever she must’ve gone through.”

You leaned into Steve, “Did she disappear there?”

“Probably… no one really knows how it all happened.”

Every day it felt like Steve was getting closer and closer to telling you what happened. He would let odd and end details in. Though, none of it was enough for you to figure out what happened. It was enough at this point that you were pretty sure it was worse than whatever chemical leak the lab got accused of.

Still, no matter how curious you got or how badly you wanted to know everything, you weren’t going to make Steve say anything that he didn’t want to. It was enough that you knew he was going to tell you. Or that if he never told you, it wasn’t because he was trying to dupe you. It was because he simply couldn’t bring himself to talk about every awful thing that had ever happened within the last couple of years.

“Oh, um, I think I forgot to leave this at your stepdad’s grave,” Steve said, pulling out a white chrysanthemum from the inside of his suit jacket.

You felt him press it into your hands, “Oh, did you want me to leave it here?”

“Whatever you want. You could put it in my hair if you’d like,” he suggested, grinning.

You rolled your eyes, though you couldn’t help but chuckle a bit as you knelt down and set the flower at Barb’s grave. Hopefully, she somehow knew that you still cared about her after all this time. That while it didn’t sting to the same degree, you knew that most of the damage could never be fixed. Not really.

“Is it okay if I tell you what happened to Barb?” Steve asked, sitting down on the grass.

You moved over to sit next to him, “Of course, if- if you’re ready, I wanna know.”

“Okay, well, I just don’t want you to get mad at me for not telling you when I knew. ‘Cause I’ve known a lot longer than you have and I’ve beaten myself up over it every day, but I really thought that telling you the truth was going to get you hurt,” he ran a hand through his hair, “I- I know it’s stupid, but I was told I couldn’t tell you. Technically, I’m still not supposed to, but you saw what happened at the mall and… it’s all connected and you deserve to know.”

You held his hand, “Well, you’re telling me now, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, you’re right, I am. Um, do you remember how Will Byers disappeared around the same time?” Steve asked.

He explained everything that he knew about the Demogorgon. At least, that was the name the kids gave it. How it went between dimensions and hunted people. It was attracted to blood and Barb had just the luck of cutting herself at his party. Something that he never thought would have been a big deal. He never even invited her, Nancy just insisted she come. In hindsight, Steve still didn’t get it, but it didn’t matter because she ended up getting killed either way.

No one knew if she died due to exposure to the other dimension or if she was eaten. Well, if anyone knew, they never told Steve about it. In all fairness, at the time he only cared about not getting into trouble for that said stupid party. He hadn’t realized how bad things truly had been.

Steve even tried to explain why he had cut you off so many times at that time. Right when you needed someone the most, he knew he couldn’t be around you when you were that hurt by what happened to Barb. It would have only made him more guilty.

“I know I shouldn’t have said those things, and you were smart for not wanting anything to do with me at the time,” Steve said.

You frowned, “You were grieving too. I never thought about that… I mean, you were still a total asshole, but I thought you were just doing it because you could. Because you wanted to just hurt me even more. I- I’m so glad that I was wrong about all of that.”

“I’m still so sorry that I said those things. That I told you she wasn’t going to come back. I knew she was dead and- well, hearing you talk about her like she just went on a road trip was hard to hear.”

You nodded slowly, “Yeah, I never really thought about that.”

“Of course you didn’t. I’d be surprised if you put all the clues together on your own. I- I wanted to tell you, just so you know. I felt awful about never telling you what happened. Like, when I saw you biking all the way out-”

“Why didn’t you tell me then?”

“Well, I um… I didn’t think you’d believe me,” he said, shrugging, “Plus, if I didn’t let you do some sort of digging, I figured you’d just try the whole thing again and- I couldn’t leave you on the side of the road like that in the first place.”

“I mean, I guess you’re right,” you admitted, squeezing his hand.

In all fairness, you wouldn’t have believed almost anything that Steve told you. Though, it made a lot more sense. That entire first year after Barb went missing made sense. How Nancy and Jonathan seemed to both be aware of something completely unknown to you, that wasn’t you going crazy. You noticed all those weird things because there were weird things happening around you.

You took a look at the watch Steve wore, “We should probably get back, or I should anyways.”

“I’ll go with,” he replied as he got up, helping you off the grass, “I heard there was supposed to be some really good food after all this funeral stuff.”

You laughed as you got up and walked back to where everyone else was. No one seemed to notice that the two of you had been gone for a while. It seemed like people really had been shaken by this happening to someone they knew. Though, most of the town was in that boat. Around thirty people had been killed by whatever happened that night. You just knew it was a lot more complicated than some fire.

The funeral eventually ended and time continued to press onward. It was getting to be August once more and it was a lot better than the first time you tried to be with Steve. He was a lot more open, even if he didn’t explain himself completely. That wasn’t what you wanted. What you wanted was for him to know that he could trust you and that you cared about him.

Some nights, the strange monster would haunt your dreams and it would force you awake in the middle of the night. Steve wasn’t always there when you woke up, but he was always ready to answer the phone. Then, he would sneak up into your room and hold you close until you officially calmed down.

While you didn’t mention it, you thought it was stupid of you to be so hung up over something you saw. Something that didn’t even feel real. Steve was the one who dealt with all that. It made sense for him to be so shaken up about it. Though, you knew he would have insisted that you had every right to be scared of that thing. You would have been an idiot to not be scared of that sort of thing.

One morning, you were in the garden, watering some red tulips when Steve came in. He tended to pop in whenever. While the summer was nearing an end, you saw a lot more of him than you had before. Sometimes it was with the kids or with Robin, but he was getting paid rather nicely after losing his job since the place burned to the ground.

You two got plenty of time alone, but you were used to that. What you weren’t used to was him holding your hands in front of the kids he watched while Dustin would make some comment about it. While it was a quick way to make your face heat up and look at the floor, it also meant that Steve cared about you enough to show you to other people. That was more than you ever expected in the past.

“So… before everything at the mall, did you ever see anything weird that you couldn’t explain?” he asked, leaning on one of the tables inside your greenhouse.

You shrugged, “I don’t know, what constitutes weird?”

“Uh, let’s say something you saw once and then never again. Something you always had questions about but never got an answer that made sense, those types of things.”

You stood there and looked around, trying to think of something. The last couple of years had been so odd and you never expected to get a serious answer to your questions. Yet Steve was right there, always more than happy to offer an explanation at this point.

“Oh! I got it, back around last Halloween, when all the farmers lost their crops, everything I had planted in the ground just went rotten. Our new tree died and it was from some weird, slimy fungus. I think it was from some slugs I caught on a couple of plants, but they were really odd slugs too.”

Steve  looked at you, “Wait, you saw actual slugs? Were they normal and you just didn’t recognize them or… what?”

“Well, I don’t know, they didn’t have the right coloring and they were hiding in some of the shadiest, darkest parts of the greenhouse which made it so hard to find them and throw them out,” you explained, “Wait, why do you ask?”

Steve took a deep breath, “You’ll wanna sit down for this one. I know exactly what you’re talking about.”

You went out of the greenhouse and sat on the lawn. Steve sat next to you and began to explain what happened all those months ago.

While you were busy wondering what could have been if Steve had decided to get back with you before that point, he had been learning about how those slugs were actually monsters. That the rot in the ground was from that other dimension. You had been a mere few feet away from tunnels that ran throughout the entirety of Hawkins.

Every time you picked up a slug and threw it out into the lawn, those things were going to molt into things similar to the Demogorgon creature that Steve described at the funeral. You had been so close to such a terrible fate this entire time and you never would have guessed it.

“So… you’re saying I’m really lucky to be alive right now?” you asked.

Steve nodded slowly, “Yeah, uh, I guess I am. I- I guess I knew about the whole thing with your plants, but I didn’t really connect it all until now.”

“Makes sense why you were with all those kids now,” you said.

At least, you were able to understand why Steve would be the one watching all those kids while Will was possessed by something from that different dimension. You just could barely believe that it happened twice. Well, technically three times, but you didn’t know much about the events of that summer.

To try and make up for such a jarring conversation, Steve got you lunch at the diner you liked so much. It just felt so surreal that you could have ended up exactly like Barb. Only, you weren’t so sure you would’ve had as many people out looking for you. Steve probably would have tried to do something, but he probably would’ve figured out what happened to you.

At least you wouldn’t have had some poor girl on a wild goose chase that she set up for herself just to try and find you. There was something mildly assuring about that. Though, if nothing else, hearing that finally got you to feel like you truly were lucky to still be around.

Time continued to pass by and you stayed with Steve. He was so good to you and you did everything you could to make him happy. School started and he was starting to look for another job with Robin as it became clear he wasn’t going to be getting whatever severance pay he had gotten for forever.

All the finances that dealt with your step-dad’s passing were still being sorted out. Though, it seemed more and more like everything was going to go to your mom. He never had a will in place, no matter how hard Tommy tried to insist they keep looking. At this point, you were sure he was just trying to delay the inevitable. Not that you thought your mom was going to cut him off. Though, you mainly hoped that just because it would keep him out of Hawkins.

The leaves on the trees were starting to turn orange, red, and gold in the park that you walked through with Steve. You had just gotten out of school and you wanted to see him. It had only been a day, but you had spent a lot of that day seeing other dumb couples getting to see each other the whole time.

“Hey, I think it’s about time I told you why I was so late to your party,” Steve said as he pulled you over to a park bench.

You nodded, “Okay. Is this the last thing of all the stuff that I’m technically not supposed to know?”

“Yeah, I think this is it. And if anything else happens, I swear I’ll tell you the first moment I think anything is going on,” he squeezed your hand, “It’s funny, because I was actually really close to telling you about this one before any of the crazy stuff happened.”

Steve finally explained everything with the Russian code that Dustin found that summer. How it all led to the Russian Base in the mall that had been spoken about on the news. The reason you didn’t see him at work was because he had been stuck down there, getting tortured by Russians. All the while the Mind Flayer that pulled the strings a year ago came back for more.

Your step-dad had both been killed by the monster and was the monster all at once. It made a lot more sense once Steve explained what happened in full, but it did make you feel sorry for him. Mostly because you couldn't imagine what being killed like that must have felt like. 

“So, that thing I saw that night, that was a bunch of melted up people?” you asked, furrowing your brow.

Steve nodded, “Yeah, it’s pretty gross to think about, but that’s how it happened. It’s all over this time, though. At least, I think so.”

“Hey, I’m sure it is. Whatever gate existed before is closed now and no American or Russian is gonna be able to change that again. It’s over,” you insisted.

At least, you hoped it was. You couldn’t blame Steve for being skeptical about it after the same thing happened three times. Still, you had been around through all of that one way or another. You weren’t planning on leaving now that you knew the full story.

taglist: @flyingrichardgrayson​ @stonersteve​ @scooprtroopr​ @insideafictionaluniverse​ @l0ve-0f-my-life​

[welllpthisishappening]

Welllp These Are Books: the April 2021 Edition

I did not read Romeo and Juliet this month. I read a bunch of other books. Like, a bunch. More than one series. Because Big Bang burnout is real and grown adults missing their deadlines is a real good way to stress me out. So, I read a bunch. Good books, very bad books, books that caused limbs to flail. For positive and not-so-positive reasons. Naturally, all those reasons must be shared. Under the cut with occasionally long and rant-prone reviews, as well as spoilers. Beware of spoilers under the cut. Please keep telling me what to read, internet. My library wish list is almost comically long now.

GIVE ME ALL THE WORLD BUILDING AND SNARK AND FIGHTING! WITH MAGIC! AND SWORDS! IT’S MY FAVORITE THING IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD!

Shades of Magic Series by V.E. Schwab

Kell is one of the last Antari—magicians with a rare, coveted ability to travel between parallel Londons; Red, Grey, White, and, once upon a time, Black. After an exchange goes awry, Kell escapes to Grey London and runs into Delilah Bard, a cut-purse with lofty aspirations. Now perilous magic is afoot, and treachery lurks at every turn. To save all of the worlds, they'll first need to stay alive.

— Picture it, approximately twelve forty-seven am. My husband is asleep. I am reading. The second book in this series ends. And I say, right out loud, at what might now be twelve forty-eight am, HOLY SHIT IT JUST ENDED. Justin thought we were under attack. No man has ever snapped awake quicker. He was not pleased. At least not in the same way that I was about these books. Which I goddamn LOVED. Loved. The world building. The magic. The banter. Rhy and Kell’s relationship. Once more. RHY AND KELL’S RELATIONSHIP. Which I might have cared about more than the romance??? Maybe??? I cannot get over how good this world building was. I know people have quips with it, and that’s fair. I saw the “twist” coming in the first book, and I think trying to preserve that left some plot holes that are understandably frustrating. Because Lilah definitely needed depth perception to fight as well as she did. Also did Schwab really refer to her as a cross dresser in her author’s note? Yikes. She wore a dude’s jacket, like—c’mon V.E. Other than that though. I loved it. Also shout out to @peglegsjones for suggesting this one in my 2020 post and call out to me for taking so long to read it.

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price—and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can't pull it off alone. . . . A convict with a thirst for revenge. A sharpshooter who can't walk away from a wager. A runaway with a privileged past. A spy known as the Wraith. A Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums.  A thief with a gift for unlikely escapes.   Six dangerous outcasts. One impossible heist. Kaz's crew is the only thing that might stand between the world and destruction—if they don't kill each other first.

— I’ve talked about how little I cared about anything that happened in Shadow and Bone before, but I kept seeing gifs of the Crows in the Netflix show and my brain was like: huh, I could like them. So, after some help from the very helpful internet, I’m happy to report I do in fact like them. At one point, I slunk into the couch. Like that’s how overcome with emotion I was. Kaz ripped a dude’s eye out! For Inej! Matthias loved Nina’s laugh! I would like to hug Jesper. Seriously, this hit all my high points and world building and banter and I lol’ed at “scheming face.” I would like my hold to come through faster on the sequel.

THEY DID NOT CALL INTERMISSION HALFTIME AND MY COLLEGE EXPERIENCE WAS WAY DIFFERENT THAN THESE KIDS

The Off Campus Series by Elle Kennedy

Hannah Wells has finally found someone who turns her on. But while she might be confident in every other area of her life, she’s carting around a full set of baggage when it comes to sex and seduction. If she wants to get her crush’s attention, she’ll have to step out of her comfort zone and make him take notice…even if it means tutoring the annoying, childish, cocky captain of the hockey team in exchange for a pretend date. All Garrett Graham has ever wanted is to play professional hockey after graduation, but his plummeting GPA is threatening everything he’s worked so hard for. If helping a sarcastic brunette make another guy jealous will help him secure his position on the team, he’s all for it. But when one unexpected kiss leads to the wildest sex of both their lives, it doesn’t take long for Garrett to realize that pretend isn’t going to cut it. Now he just has to convince Hannah that the man she wants looks a lot like him.

— The first book in this series was free on Amazon. So, I read it. And really liked it??? It was so chock full of cliches and badly written tropes and Garrett probably should have accepted that Hannah didn’t want to go out at the start, but like—he was cute? And as we all know I am TRASH™ for stories set in the same verse, so, like, I just kept reading these trashy college hockey books. Trashy is a compliment here. God, these kids had so much sex. So much. An incredible amount, really. I once had a guy tell me he was physically attracted to me, but not emotionally attracted to me in college. Like, that was my college experience. The first and second books were the best, I think. I didn’t really like Dean that much.

MAYBE IT WAS BECAUSE HE WAS A RABBI???

The Intimacy Experiement by Rosie Danan

Naomi Grant has built her life around going against the grain. After the sex-positive start-up she cofounded becomes an international sensation, she wants to extend her educational platform to live lecturing. Unfortunately, despite her long list of qualifications, higher ed won't hire her. Ethan Cohen has recently received two honors: LA Mag nominated him as one of the city's hottest bachelors and he became rabbi of his own synagogue. Low on both funds and congregants, the executive board of Ethan's new shul hired him with the hopes that his nontraditional background will attract more millennials to the faith. They've given him three months to turn things around or else they'll close the doors of his synagogue for good. Naomi and Ethan join forces to host a buzzy seminar series on Modern Intimacy, the perfect solution to their problems--until they discover a new one--their growing attraction to each other. They've built the syllabus for love's latest experiment, but neither of them expected they'd be the ones putting it to the test.

— Ok, I know that sounds bad. Again, I’m a creature of predictable habit and this was the sequel to The Roommate, which I absolutely LOVED last year. But where as the relationship in that one was kind of swoony, this one was...I don’t know, really. Everyone was a well-rounded character and the plot was good, but there was this semi-invisible something that made it difficult for me to get fully on board with the whole story. Honestly, it might be because he was a religious figure?? Also, they got together real quick. Like zero to sixty in twenty-six seconds flat.

I KNOW IT’S BAD, IT WAS BAD AND YET—I CANNOT STOP READING IT???

Too Wild to Tame by Tessa Bailey

Sometimes you just can't resist playing with fire . . . By day, Aaron Clarkson suits up, shakes hands, and acts the perfect gentleman. But at night, behind bedroom doors, the tie comes off and the real Aaron comes out to play. Mixing business with pleasure got him fired, so Aaron knows that if he wants to work for the country's most powerful senator, he'll have to keep his eye on the prize. That's easier said than done when he meets the senator's daughter, who's wild, gorgeous, and 100 percent trouble. Grace Pendleton is the black sheep of her conservative family. Yet while Aaron's presence reminds her of a past she'd rather forget, something in his eyes keeps drawing her in. Maybe it's the way his voice turns her molten. Or maybe it's because deep down inside, the ultra-smooth, polished Aaron Clarkson might be more than even Grace can handle . . .

— Last month I read the first book in this series and it was absolutely ridiculous. This one even more so. The Clarksons are still on the road trip (sans one sibling because she fell in love in a week in the first book) and Aaron was, like, not a root’able character? Very Edward Cullen I’M A BAD GUY, BELLA vibes and his relationship with Grace was so strange. Super rushed again, obvs. Meeting in the woods is weird enough. Professing love forty-eight hours later is decidedly unbelievable. Also there was a kidnapping involved? I totally put a hold on the next book in the series.

COME UP WITH DIFFERENT TRAUMA, I DARE YOU! OR NO TRAUMA. WHAT A CONCEPT!!

The Trouble With Hating You by Sajni Patel

Liya Thakkar is a successful biochemical engineer, takeout enthusiast, and happily single woman. The moment she realizes her parents' latest dinner party is a setup with the man they want her to marry, she's out the back door in a flash. Imagine her surprise when the same guy shows up at her office a week later -- the new lawyer hired to save her struggling company. What's not surprising: he's not too thrilled to see her either after that humiliating fiasco.

Jay Shah looks good on paper...and off. Especially if you like that whole gorgeous, charming lawyer-in-a-good-suit thing. He's also infuriating. As their witty office banter turns into late-night chats, Liya starts to think he might be the one man who truly accepts her. But falling for each other means exposing their painful pasts. Will Liya keep running, or will she finally give love a real chance?

— I had such high hopes for this one. Which is on me, I guess. Because I didn’t hate this one, but it was...not great. Maybe I’m just getting old and crotchety but I am BEGGING romance writers to come up with different trauma for their female protagonists. Not every woman has to have been assaulted to rationalize their current personality. Doesn’t have to happen. Like, ok, yes it does happen. Far more than it should. But that’s an entirely different story, and I am so tired of female characters getting absolutely destroyed by their past only to have that be their defining characteristic for so much of the book. Until a nice man they were initially mean to shows up and he’s UNDERSTANDING and he CARES and it’s just, bleh. It’s bleh. Tired and predictable and I’m over it.

IN WHICH I SHOULD HAVE LOOKED AT THE COVER

Much Ado About You by Samantha Young

At thirty-three-years old Evangeline Starling’s life in Chicago is missing that special something. And when she’s passed over for promotion at work, Evie realizes she needs to make a change. Some time away to regain perspective might be just the thing. In a burst of impulsivity, she plans a holiday in a quaint English village. The holiday package comes with a temporary position at Much Ado About Books, the bookstore located beneath her rental apartment. There’s no better dream vacation for the bookish Evie, a life-long Shakespeare lover. Not only is Evie swept up in running the delightful store as soon as she arrives, she’s drawn into the lives, loves and drama of the friendly villagers. Including Roane Robson, the charismatic and sexy farmer who tempts Evie every day with his friendly flirtations. Evie is determined to keep him at bay because a holiday romance can only end in heartbreak, right? But Evie can’t deny their connection and longs to trust in her handsome farmer that their whirlwind romance could turn in to the forever kind of love.

— Ok, so I had had this book on hold for so long that I genuinely forgot about it and forgot who it was written by. Samantha Young wrote that one book that I called the worst book I had ever read. Only I did not realize that when I started reading this one. So, you see how this sets us up for disaster. Because this book was a disaster. Everyone was goddamn annoying. And whiny. Shit, everyone whined. About everything. Also, the actual writing was atrocious. I am not usually one to be like “men can’t write,” but at one point I told both @shireness-says and @optomisticgirl that this book must have been secretly written by a man because no woman writing it would be so obsessed with pointing out where her cellulite was. Like, what??? Also the first sex scene? Oh my God, I laughed. Guffawed. The so-called love interest literally asked: “Are we going to have sex now?” And then they just did. It was so bad. Also there was a dog? Who went everywhere with the so-called love interest. And they just never explained that? I thought it was going to be part of some crushing and depressing backstory. Nah, he was just there.

HOLY SHIT THIS WAS SO DUMB I CANNOT BELIEVE THIS WAS A BOOK! A BOOK MEANT FOR YOUNG ADULTS! WHAT IS YOUNG ADULT???

The Queen’s Secret by Melissa de la Cruz

Lilac's birthright makes her the Queen of Renovia, and a forced marriage made her the Queen of Montrice. But being a ruler does not mean making the rules. For Lilac, taking the throne means giving up the opportunity to be with love of her life, the kingdom's assassin, Caledon Holt. Worse, Cale is forced to leave the castle when a horrific set of magical attacks threatens Lilac's sovereignty. Now Cal eand Lilac will have to battle dark forces separately, even though being together is the only thing that's ever saved them.

— Remember last month when I was like: can’t wait for my hold to come through on this sequel so I know what happens? What an idiot. THIS BOOK WAS SO DUMB I CANNOT BELIEVE IT WAS A BOOK. As always in my rage-induced rants, no apologies for spoilers because seriously do NOT read this, but Lilac (legit, that was her name) married some other dude but just kept fucking Cale??? Like she had a secret door? So he could come in and they could fuck?? I just—oh my God. So, all these things kept happening. Magic and bad stuff and horses were killed. Lilac’s mother was the absolute WORST. Honestly the most worthless character who at one point was like “well, my story is over, guess it’s time to leave,” and then just left?? Forced Lilac into a marriage of alliance and no love and then everything evil was defeated in point two four seconds. It happened so fast I wasn’t even sure it happened. So, then I’m like, ok, how are Lilac and Cale going to end up together? Because this is YA and that’s how it’s supposed to work. Only her being married and that marriage requiring an heir is something of a rather large hurdle. Don’t worry! Remember when Lilac and Cale were fucking? Everyone totally knew. Including the king Lilac is married to. Who is somehow like...ok with this? And tells Cale that Lilac is pregnant. ISN’T THAT WONDERFUL! Sure, because now they can lie and claim its the king’s heir. ONLY IT’S CALE’S KID! AND CALE IS COOL WITH THIS! His entire internal monologue during this is about how he realizes he might not ever be able to tell his kid he’s their father, but he’ll be around and that’s good. Wait, what??? But there’s more! Not only is Lilac having Cale’s kid, but the king she’s married to is in love with one of Cale’s spy associates. So the king and the spy are going to go hang out (and presumably have their own kids) at one castle and Lilac and Cale are going to go to another. Lilac and the king never get divorced or annulled or whatever. Everyone stays as is and married as is and—they all live happily ever after? This was presented as a good ending, I swear. What the shit, guys, seriously.

[bqstqnbruin]

Distractions

Oof I’m glad we still have some rat king fever going on here.

But anyway, it’s now after midnight on Friday, which means my college graduation is tomorrow and I still don’t have all of my cords and medals and stuff which is sad but I’ll get them eventually, right?

This was requested, so I hope you like it! Here is the original request!

___________________

“I don’t get why you want to come to the rink and study all the time?” you hear Sam say through the phone. 

“Because I know that guys won’t harass me there like they do at the coffee shop on campus. And if they do while I’m at the rink, you can just hit them or something.”

“Y/N, c’mon.”

“Sammy, please,” you call him the name you know he hates. It might not be the best strategy to use it, but it always gets you what you want. “I pay you for gas to come pick me up, don’t I?”

“Yes.” 

“And I make you dinner once a week if you let me study there already.”

“Yes,” he groans. 

“So, then, come pick me up and I’m studying at the rink.”

“Fine.” He hangs up to hopefully come pick you up and drive you to the rink as you get your books and computer together in your bag. Your exam was coming up in your Reformation and Revolution of Europe,1500 - 1850 class, and you needed to do some hardcore studying and prepping of essays before you got so behind you weren’t able to catch up. 

Sam was happy when you had decided to go to University of Calgary for school, because it meant you would be right near him, he would know you’re safe, and most importantly for him, he would be able to keep an eye on you to make sure you were safe. What he didn’t seem to like was that you had a hard time studying unless you were at the rink, a habit and mindset that developed growing up. Your parents would take you to Sam’s practices and you stay the entire time, your mom or dad being the parent volunteer that would be the extra set of eyes in case a child needed help off the ice. You had to get your homework done somehow, especially in high school. What choice did you have?

You find your keys and run out the door of your apartment right as Sam pulls up to your apartment. “I hate two things: one, that you know my schedule so well because I get stuck doing crap like this, and two, that you’ve gotten so good at nailing down my schedule you know exactly how long it will take me to pull up in front of your door.”

“What can I say. History is all about the timeline.”

“I hated everything about what you just said.”

“Yeah, me, too. Just drive.” 

“So what are you studying for this time?” he asks.

“Ref and Rev. My exam is next week.”

“I don’t understand why you like history so much. Like, who likes history?”

“Plenty of people. It’s a good major for law school. Who likes hockey?”

“Enough people that I make more money in one year than you’ll probably see in your entire life.”

“Oh, shut up!” 

“Hey, ya know, some of the guys might be happy that you’re coming to practice today. One of the guys even said that after you came, he played the best game of his life,” Sam says, pulling up to the practice facility.

“Yeah, sure. Which one?”

“Remember Matthew?” 

You definitely did. The curly-haired, blue-eyed, lispy rat boy that was your brother’s teammate was one of the players, from your understanding, that you were supposed to either love or hate with no in between. “He’s that rat-type boy, right?”

“Maybe don’t say that too loud, Y/N/N. Most people don’t really enjoy being called ratty, even if Matthew really is a rat.”

“Fair enough,” you shrug, parting ways with him to go find a seat for yourself to study in for the day. 

The first thing you had to do was actually figure out which unit in the class the exam was actually on. You loved that your professor was so passionate about history; every day she was genuinely excited to teach the class, even if it was an 8 am, but wow was she disorganized and all over the place. The first essay you had to outline was asking whether or not the reformation did what it meant to. The vaguest possible question: did something succeed? was probably what you hated most about being a history major. You could say one wrong thing, and the entire answer goes to shit faster than you can come up with something that actually makes sense. 

All you had to do was outline the essay now and memorize it next week. Then outline the other essay, and basically fill out the four page study guide that you now realize you have. “You’ve got to be joking,” you say to yourself as the boys start coming out onto the ice. 

“Y/N, why are you all the way up there?” you hear Sam call out.

“Where else would I go?” you yell back, the guys turning to look at you, your feet up on the seat in front of you, a book and your laptop open in your lap.

“On the bench? Come here before we have to come move you.” 

You lean your head back, groaning, a smile on your face anyway. You know what he’s doing. Sam wants you close so that Matthew can go talk to you. You shove your stuff in your bag, getting up to make your way down to the bench as Sam starts cheering like an idiot. “You’re annoying, you know that?” you tell him, sitting down and trying to do your best to get comfortable with your computer and books.

“I would be a horrible older brother if I weren’t,” he says, skating away. You roll your eyes at him, getting back to the essay you were starting to outline. You finally get in the zone with the paper, hoping that you had a solid thesis and a good direction to go with for the paper. 

“So?” someone says, snapping you out of your zone, causing you to jump.

“Jesus Christ!” you squeal, nearly dropping your laptop, your book falling off your lap and onto the bench.

“Wow, jumpy much?” Matthew says, leaning over the wall to try to see what is on your computer. 

“I was clearly not expecting you to sneak up on me when I am obviously doing work.” 

“Why do you come here to study? How is all of this not distracting?”

You look up at him. The curls sticking out from his helmet, the slight lisp in his voice, the beads of sweat dripping down the side of his face. You just want him to leave right now. You just want to study. That’s the only reason you came. “What’s distracting about being here?” 

A smirk grows on his face, a devilish look in his eyes, “Oh, I think you know what would be distracting.”

“You’re right. There is a pest problem,” you return his smirk, looking back down at your laptop. You started typing, even though it was complete nonsense just so he would go away.

“See ya later, Y/N,” he says, skating off, the grin still on his face.

Every time you looked up for the rest of practice, his eyes were already on you, looking away just in time to make you think you had been imagining it. 

By the end of practice, all you wanted to do was get home and finish the section of the study guide you had started. You were waiting for Sam by his car, on your phone scrolling through Insta when you hear two voices approaching you, both of them way too familiar for your liking. You look up to see Sam and Matthew, freshly showered, Matthew looking directly at you as they came towards you.

“So, Y/N/N, Matthew actually lives closer to you than I do, so he said he would take you home,” Sam says, unlocking his car.

“I was going to get us dinner tonight though, remember?”

“Uh, get it with Matthew. I’ll eat with you another time, I just want to go home right now.” 

“Yeah, I’m down for dinner with you,” Matthew says, taking your arm and starting to drag you to his car.

Before you can protest, Sam shuts his door, you not even realizing he got in and started the engine. “Watch it Chuky, she’s still my sister. Love ya, Y/N,” before driving off, leaving you no choice but to follow Matthew to his car.

“So what were you thinking for dinner?”

“Enough food just for me,” you tell him. Yours and Sams number one rule was no dating friends or teammates. Sam was not allowed to date any of the girls on the track team with you when you two were in high school, you were not allowed to date any hockey player that had the same logo on their chest as Sam ever. Matthew was definitely no exception. But then why would Sam have even mentioned that Matthew was the one who liked you coming? And what did he mean by ‘she’s still me sister?’ “Sorry,” you tell him, shaking your head, “I’m just stressed over the exam I was studying for.”

“What class?”

“Reformation and Revolution of Europe, 1500 to 1850,” you tell him the title of the class that was slowly becoming your least favorite.

“Why would you do that to yourself?”

“I’m a history major. It fulfills like eight requirements that I need for graduation so I figured, why not? Plus, Martin Luther is kinda interesting once you get past the whole, ‘he’s the Donald Trump of his era.’”

You keep talking the rest of the way, realizing that Matthew didn’t actually know where you lived. “Where are you taking me?” you ask him, surprisingly not scared about his answer. 

“Oh, shit. I was driving back to my place outta habit.”

“I’m fine with that if you are,” you hear yourself say, not even realizing it was actually something you wanted, or at least, wouldn’t mind.

“Yeah, sure.” The smirk from before returns to his face. “You know, you staring at me while I’m driving actually is a distraction. Kinda like you sitting there on the bench looking so,” he stops, like he’s trying to find the right word, “nerdy.”

You can’t help but roll your eyes, “Should I be taking that as a compliment?”

“If you want.”

“Now I understand why Sam likes Noah more,” you tease, knowing it gets under his skin. Is this flirting with him? Should you be flirting with him to begin with?

“Oof, you know how to hurt a man, Bennett, just like your brother on the ice.”

“Why did you come up and talk to me during practice?” you ask, changing the subject.

“How could I not?”

“No one else did, not even Sam,” you point out.

“I guess I just wanted to talk a cute girl today.”

“Matthew Tkachuk, are you supposed to be hitting on one of your teammate’s sisters?” 

He pulls his car into a parking space, not even realizing you were in the garage of what you assumed to his apartment building. You hadn’t even been paying attention the entire drive where you were going, other than the fact that you weren’t going home. He turns off the car, turning to face you. “Your brother said it was ok.”

You can’t help but burst out laughing. “What, you asked Sam’s permission to flirt with me?” 

“Maybe not just flirt?” 

He starts to lean in for a kiss, your heart pounding. “Wait a minute. You’ve gotta at least buy me dinner first,” you tell him, your hand on his chest, feeling his heart pound just like yours is. The look in his eyes, the longing, shock. You get out his car before he can say anything.

“You’re just doing this as a distraction, aren’t you?”

“We all love distractions, don’t we?” you say, as he takes your hand in his, leading you to his apartment.

“So, what do we want to eat?”

[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #388

“i wanna stay inside all day  /  i want the world to go away  /  i want blood, guts, and chocolate cake  /  i wanna be a real fake”

Name three people who you'll never forget: I doubt I'd forget Jason even if, God forbid, I had dementia. That's trauma for ya. I HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHLY doubt I could EVER forget my mom, either. In many different ways, she's literally kept me alive and has done so, so much for me. Then there's also Sara, whose friendship with me matches no one else I've been friends with. Have you ever been told you are fake? No. What was the name of the last pet of yours that died? Teddy, my dog. Do you like pineapple? I do. When was the last time you wished the day would just get over with? I know this sounds seriously depressing, but that's... pretty much every day. My life is just currently such a drag that being awake bores me senseless. But it's funny, because then some nights I stay up late for like... no reason. My existence alone is confusing. Is there any specific number that has any significance to you? No. Do you remember much from high school? I remember a lot from high school. Where would you go for the ultimate honeymoon? Isn't there a black sand beach in Iceland or something? Take me there, man. I'd also love to go to the Bahamas, but ew humidity and also I'm afraid of the Bermuda Triangle lmfao. If you had to get a tattoo tomorrow, what would you get? The big piece I want to get on my left upper arm; it's called "Denialism" by NukeRooster on deviantART. I got her permission forever ago to get it tattooed. Do you have any alarms set? What time and what for? Not currently. Have you ever had to work while there was a film crew at your work place? No. Have you ever supported anyone’s Kickstarter? If so, what was it? No. What do you like in your omelet? Ham pieces and cheese. Have you ever boycotted something? Yes: Chick-fil-A. Homophobic, transphobic pieces of shit aren't getting my business. Has anyone ever borrowed something from you, and not returned it? Yes. Most notably a video game I LOOOOVED as a kid. I was mad salty and still am lmao. Do you vent a lot on social media? God no, not anymore after embarrassing the everliving FUCK out of myself with a suicide note. What was your first bill you started paying on your own? I don't pay any bills bc unemployed. .-. Do you watch ASMR videos? No. What is your favorite charitable cause to donate to or volunteer for? The Trevor Project. Have you ever received a misdiagnosis? Yes. A psychiatrist I had in middle school thought I had ADHD, which was ABSOLUTELY ludicrous. Most recently, my long-time bipolar 2 diagnosis has been questioned, but I do think I have it. I think. Does it bother you when others don’t share the same religious beliefs as you? No? Freedom of religion is a thing. What was your last argument about? Ummmm... I don't remember. Probably something with Mom. Have you found your first gray hairs yet? No. Somehow. You'd think all the stress would have me pure gray by now, lol. What are the names of all the pets you’ve had? Dude, I've had WAY too many for this. What’s the most you’ve ever spent on a cosmetic or skincare product? *shrug* Who was the last person that invited you to go somewhere? Did you accept? Mom invited me to come with her to Nicole's to get out of the house because at the time our A/C was still out. I didn't want to go, even though damn did I suffer, haha. What was the last food item that you toasted, other than bread? That's... a great question. I don't know if I toast anything other than bread. Have you ever named any of your pets after a cartoon character? I remember I had a cat named Taz when I was younger. What was the last thing that someone else recommended, or suggested you try? My TMS doctor is like SUPER friendly and makes the treatment go by so fast (it's exactly 22 minutes and 30 seconds; don't ask why), and recently she was fangirling to Mom and me about the show Once Upon a Time, haha. I saw very little of it with Jason, but Mom did check it out. When was the last time you wore a hat? What kind? I have zero idea. When was the last time you ate a bowl of ice-cream? What flavour? Oh wow, it's been a long time. It was probably vanilla with chocolate syrup? If you menstruate, has your cycle ever synced with anyone close to you? Yes. Tell me something positive about the town or city that you live in. ... You said "positive," right? Did your parents have high expectations for you to excel in school and go to college/university? Yes. They were pretty serious about going to college when my sisters and I were younger, but they opened up to the concept that maybe it wasn't for all of us (coughmecough). Are you a polite person? I genuinely think I am. I definitely try to be. Have you ever been in a relationship where everything with your partner felt natural and effortless? Sigh. Yeah. Have you ever been in a relationship where everything was difficult and rocky? No. That's not the kind I'd stay in very long at all. I mean yes, there are always bumps, but there comes a point where you gotta say fuck nah and find something better. When you were a teenager, did your parents set rules about dating? Other than keeping age gaps in mind, no. Have you ever committed a crime that directly harmed another person? No. Did you grow up in an urban, suburban, or rural area? My childhood home was suburban, but leaned towards rural. We were on the very edge of the town. Which disease do you personally think is the most horrible? After seeing my mother suffer from borderline stage 4 ovarian cancer, I've gotta say cancer. My mother is the strongest person I know and yet she cried so frequently from chemotherapy. It broke my fucking heart. The person I copied the survey from mentioned especially childhood cancers, and I have to agree. Like just... why. "Everything happens for a reason." Bull. Fucking. Shit. Just TRY and convince me why a young child has to deal with CANCER. Do you remember where you first drove to after getting your license? I still don't have my license, as I've said in many a survey before. What did you get into trouble for the most when you were a kid? Being on the computer too much. What is your biological sex? Female. Do you use online dating? Or do you use another method for finding dates? Nah. I'm at the point in my life where I wanna let love just find me and not actively search for it. What is the oldest gaming console you own? We MIGHT still have our old Atari? If not, it'd be a GameBoy Advance. Which accents can you emulate pretty well? Just British. Do you think you'll ever manage to do everything you want to? No. But then again, I think that sounds pretty realistic? I doubt most people check off everything on their bucket list. What do you fear most? Probably becoming truly homeless, living on the streets. Do you wear shoes around the house? No. Are you a good driver? If you can't drive yet, do you think you'll be good? I mean, I'm not the worst in the world. My mom's always pointed out though that I ride on the brakes (which I do out of fear) and I tend to speed up and slow down quite a bit. I also stop kinda abruptly sometimes. What is/was your favorite thing about school? Seeing friends. What are you most likely to spend money on? My own personal money, tattoos, lol. Have you ever been a complete fangirl/fanboy over anything? @_@ Do you hate how, when the public like a celebrity, they overpublicize them? I feel bad for them, more than anything. You breathe wrong and suddenly it's news-worthy. It's like your every inconsequential action is under heavy surveillance and judgment, and it seems so unfair. Have you ever became attracted to someone you weren’t at first because their personality made you find them physically attractive? That was Jason for me. I never thought he was ugly, but regardless, he became THE most attractive man in the world to me. Have you ever worked in retail? Yes. -_- Are you even a little bit racist? Nah man, it's 2021, baby. Were you more fond of swings, monkey bars, or seesaws as a child? I was all about the swings. Do you believe in a near-future apocalyptic event? I don't know or care, honestly. A gamma ray or whatever they're called could incinerate us all tomorrow. A black hole could swallow the earth in an hour. We don't know. Do you have a chandelier in your home? No. Do you have a bar with stools? No. Is your Christmas tree faux or real? If faux, what color? We use a fake green one. Do you eat the crusts of your bread? Yes; it's the first part I eat. Which body type would you say you had? Did you know whales can survive on land? :^) Have you ever flown a kite? Yeah! I used to LOVE doing that with Dad as a kid when the field across our house wasn't in use (tobacco was grown there). What’s your preferred flavour of jam? I just like grape. What kind of animal did you last pet? My cat! Name a celebrity that you admire that nobody would expect you to: I massively admire Jeffree Star's work ethic. Do you prefer to shave or wax? Shave. I used to wax my eyebrows, but now I just don't care. Would you ever have sex in a public place? Uh, no. Do you think Jenna Marbles’ videos are funny? I've actually never watched her. Your favourite pasta dish: Just your normal spaghetti with meatballs. Strangest thing you’ve ever seen? Probably what I'm assuming was a star (but it was green???) flickering and then fizzling out of the sky kind of like some sort of backwards firework. I'd been watching it literally grow over a few nights, so when this happened, it was a big "?????? the fuck??????". It honestly scared me for some reason so I went inside after that. Aliens? I say aliens. Ever had a crush on somebody of the same sex? Yes. Has anybody ever called you a bastard? I don't think so. Who is the last person you ignored? uhhhhhhh Would you wear feathers in your hair? So actually, for my first prom, I wanted to wear a blue jay feather I had in my hair, reason being Jason's nickname from his parents was always "J Bird." It ended up not working out because we couldn't make it look natural with what we had. When was the last time you were well and truly scared? Hm. Favourite member of your favourite band: Ozzy, obviously, haha. Who’s your favourite female rapper? I don't have one.

[twisted-leader-of-something]

Trey, Riddle, and Che'nya (feat. Cater) Scenario - Respite

There's not enough Che'nya, Riddle and Trey content. So, here. Have some.

"How stupid can you be?! I said you were supposed to do that and you're slacking off already! OFF WITH YOUR HEAD!" was heard from down the hallway. It was loud, and sounded angry. 

Very, very angry. 

The fifth, maybe seventh one today. Trey Clover had honestly lost count at this point. 

Then footsteps ones almost stomping to the next room, and then a slam loud enough to be heard throughout the dormitory on the room next door. Then a crowd of people quietly talking and footsteps coming down the hallway. 

Not another one. . . Please, for the love of the Gods, I already have---

"Clover-san! Open up!" An angry voice was heard from in front Trey Clover's bedroom door, with an knock that was loud enough to startle the two freshman already inside collared by Riddle's magic, if the door slam wasn't enough to send them back into hysteria. 

Too late.

Trey sighed, and walked towards the door to the room, and opened it. "Yes---?"

"Clover! Aren't you going to do something?!" A collared second year growled at the disheveled vice dorm leader. 

"I would, but---" 

"What?! Didn't you just hear him?! Or are you coddling the freshman again?" A collared third year said, sounding pretty upset and looked ready to fight Trey if he didn’t get what he wanted.

"I did hear Riddle, but there's---" 

"Then do something about him! It's been two weeks and if he doesn't stop using his magic over the dumbest of things, I'm going to involve the headmaster for nullifying the match he had with dorm leader Cater! This is bullshit!" Another collared third year said, with several students chiming in with words of agreement. 

Trey was silent for a moment, staring at the crowd of angry faces staring at him. 

I'm not going to win, today, huh?

 "Alright. Let me finish with these freshman, and I'll talk with him." 

"Yeah, you better." And group of people said, as they left the hallway leading to Trey's room. 

Trey couldn't even sigh at this point, he was too tired. He looked back at the two freshman, who were still scared on his bed. The two boys where trembling so bad even from how far away Trey was, he could still see it clear as day.

"T-T-Trey-senpai? A-Are you r-really going to s-speak with dorm leader Riddle?" The freshman looking the least scared of the two asked when Trey sat down at his desk.

"Yeah. I am." Trey said, doing his best to sound confidant. 

Not like I have an option at this point. 

"B-But! A-Are you sure?! T-That man isn't a leader, h-he's a monster! He'll never listen to reason!" The freshman said back.

So, Riddle is a monster to them, huh? 

"If I won't, then who will? It's my duty as your vice dorm leader." 

"T-True, but---" The other freshman said. 

"It'll be alright. I promise, I'll find a solution to this." Trey tried to give his best smile at the freshman, which seemed to work for them as they seemed to calm down a bit more. "I'll be out of here and in Riddle’s room in a few minutes. Don't worry. I'm going to fix this, somehow." 

Trey ordered his dormmates to leave the main building of Heartslabyul, saying he didn't want anybody to get in the crossfire of what might happen. He also told Cater he probably was going to have a long night ahead of him and said he'd leave in dorm in Cater's care, to which Cater then immediately agreed to let everybody do whatever they wanted for the night as long as they didn't disturb what Trey was about to do, and said for those who wanted to stay in the dorm he'd throw a party in the cafeteria. And as soon as the other students had left the dorm and the two where alone, Cater dropped his friendly act and gave Trey and sympathetic look of pure worry. 

"Good luck, Trey-kun. I'll do the best I can on my end." Despite Cater's look of worry, his voice sounded he completely understood Trey's situation, and he gave Trey a sympathic pat on the shoulder.

"Good luck to you too." Trey tried his best to smile as Cater left through the door to the Hall of Mirrors. 

As soon as Cater left and the dorm's lights turned on because of how late it was getting, Trey's eyesight became blurry and he sunk down to the ground and covered his face. 

Gods, it's too much. 

There's so many complaints and Riddle isn't helping anything with how he's been acting lately! 

Why is he so upset? 

He hasn't acted like this before! 

Did something happen to him? 

He's been acting like this since he became dorm leader! 

I can't figure it out why! 

And they're all. . . Everyone's getting worse by the day. . . It's. . . So---

"Trey? You alright?" A familiar voice said. 

When Trey looked up from his hands, he saw a familiar purple head floating close by him. 

"Hi, Che'nya." The Night Raven College boy stated, as the Royal Sword Academy beastman fully appeared in front of the crying green haired man, kneeling before the crying second year.

"It's Riddle, isn't it?" Che'nya asked, but it sounded more like a statement.

Trey nodded with any second thoughts. 

The two where silent for a moment, as Trey tried to wipe away his tears, with Che'nya using his Royal Sword Academy uniform to help. 

"I want a violet cake." Che'nya stated out of the blue. 

"Huh?" Trey answered. 

"Let's eat some sweets before we talk with him." Che'nya offered Trey his hand to stand up.

"We? Che'nya---"

"It's not hard to come to Night Raven, Trey. Especially for me. Everybody at Royal Sword is asleep by now, so they won't notice if I'm gone for an hour or two." 

Trey was silent for a few moments while he was lifted off the ground by Che'nya and the two stared at each other for a bit. 

"Alright.” Trey simply sighed, but this action was enough to make Che’nya perk up “Let's have it inside, because it looks like it will rain." 

Riddle Rosehearts was doing crossword puzzles in an attempt to calm himself down before he smelleda faint smell of violets, sugar, and some strawberries. 

"Is Trey baking?" Riddle simply asked to himself as he looked at the time, it was almost midnight at that point. 

At this late? Why would he be doing that? It's past curfew. Doesn't he---I'm going to make sure he's alright. 

Riddle got up for his desk, turned off his desk light and then left his room to be hit with a variety of smells much stronger than before. 

Breads. . . Tarts. . . Pastries. . . It smells just like the Clover's bakery back home. He must be stress baking again. It's even stronger than usual to. . .

"Ah! Riddle's finally here nya~!" An familiar voice was heard as Riddle entered the lounge area. "Nyah, Nyah, Riddle. Trey told me you got aced one of the first Alchemy projects. As expected of the one who is always in his bedroom studying." 

"Che'nya? What are you doing here?" Riddle asked Che'nya, who was currently surrounded by plates of sweets, of which the beastman was happily eating. 

"Oh~? I heard a rumor Trey had been stress baking recently nya~. So I came to check it out to see if it was real nya~." The beastman flashed his signature Cheshire cat smile at the dorm leader of Heartslabyul. 

"Always thinking about food huh---wait, is Trey alright?" 

"Trey? Mmhmm. He said he'd finish up the peach turnovers and he's be back." 

"Ah. Good evening Riddle." Another familiar voice said as he entered the lounge with a tray of turnovers in his hand. "You alright?" 

"Trey! Why're you up so late stress baking?! You know that's never---" 

"Oh? You haven't tried to figure out why he's been doing it? Not that I blame you though, Trey's sweets are delicious nya~!" Che'nya jumped in as Trey set down the turnovers in front of him, starting to eat them. 

Why Trey's been so upset? 

"What do you mean by that?" Riddle asked the purple beastman eating away at the turnovers.

Che'nya stopped eating, and gave Riddle a look of seriousness with a hint of disappointment. "Aha. I keep forgetting you aren't the most social out of the three of us somedays. . .You understand Trey is an stress baker, right?" 

"Of course I do!" Riddle raised his voice at Che'nya, as Che'nya got up from his seat and moved himself behind Trey. 

"And you know what a stress baker is, right?" Che'nya asked, hugging Trey from behind and purring into Trey's left shoulder, which Trey seemed a little weirded out by, but accepted. 

"Of course I know! Why wouldn't I?!" Riddle's voice got louder, enough to make Che'nya and Trey flinch, even if it was just a bit. 

And Riddle noticed that.

Wait, they---

"Trey, Che'nya, I didn't---I wasn't---" Riddle tried to stutter out an apology, but his words became more and more jumbled as he realized what was really happening here.

No, no, no, no! 

I've really messed up! I’ve really, really messed up!

That's why they're here, with each other! 

They're both stressed out about me and I've made it worse! 

No, no! I just wanted to---

"Riddle, you don't need to cry." Trey said as he walked towards Riddle, with Che'nya still holding unto him not far behind. "It's not that---"

"But, it is!" Riddle said, as Trey stood in front of him. "After all, I've only caused you trouble recently. That's why you're here Che'nya, isn't it?" 

Che'nya didn't say or do anything, but from the look on his face Riddle understood his true intentions. 

"So, why Trey?! Why didn't you say something?" Riddle's cried out as his vision blurred and tears fell from his cheeks. 

Trey was silent for a while, and from the look on his face even despite RIddle’s blurry vision, he didn't have an answer. 

"Isn't it obvious, Riddle?" Che'nya piped in. "Trey isn't that type of person."

"Eh?" Riddle said, looking towards his friend. 

"You know Trey isn't the most expressive of people and often lets others take center stage, like when we would have tea parties and we'd always have to push him to be the head of the table. And on top of it, he's been with you since forever. He knows you better than anybody in this school. He's a good person that can't bring himself to fight with you." 

“But---" 

"You've known this since we were little, Riddle. I understand you not fully comprehending it since out of the three of us you are the biggest lone wolf but keep it in mind next time, okay?" 

The room was silent for a moment then Riddle spoke up. "Alright. I'm sorry, Trey, Che'nya for causing all this trouble." 

"There we go." Che'nya said, as he popped in front of Riddle and patted his head a few times, which seemed to calm Riddle down some. "Now, let's go eat some sweets. That always makes me feel better nya~."

"You'd better not eat them all!" Riddle added, giving his signature pouting face despite the tears in his eyes, which only made him look cuter than usual.

"The early bird gets the worm, nya~!" 

"Oh dear. Well, I suppose since it's going to be so long, I'll make some tea." Trey added, and Che’nya sat down expectantly and Riddle sat down with the pout still on his face. 

"Ah! Can we have the Earl Grey~? I wanna feel fancy!" 

"Don't loop Trey into doing really hard things, Che'nya!"

"Eh~? But we're all together like we used to nya~. Why not celebrate~?"

"It's already so late, all of us have classes too!" 

"Nyah. Let's ditch~. That way you guys can hang out with me~. Royal Sword is so boring~"

"No!" 

[frustrated-writer-skyeknight]

The One with the Runaway Groom, Part 2

Previous

After Dimitri finished his Iced tea, Jack had the group moved back into his apartment especially since they were getting too much attention with a heavily sweating, nicely dressed companion. Plus, there was a call that needed to be made. Sooner, rather than later, before the cops would be called on Jack for abduction of an heir. Surely, Dimitri wasn't a child nor was it time enough yet to report a missing person.

But Jack also knew that his friend's parents didn't like him that much and wouldn't put it passed them to blow the situation out of proportion.

If that meant the others taking space of his apartment as if they lived there, for certain leaving him a lot to clean up after... Well, it wasn't like that wasn't already usually the case. At the very least, it forces him to clean his place often. And in the event his mom would drop by for an unexpected visit, the tidiness would prompt the idea: 'Hey yo, your son is doing fine and not living like a slob just because he separated from his ex-wife.' It helped that Jamie had moved out of his apartment and went to take up space in his older brother's guest room, something he couldn't do with Jack still living with Elsa originally since she used it as an workshop of sorts for any of her fashion design projects. So it wasn't like he was completely on his own in housekeeping, it had been rough going at first when Elsa first moved out and Jamie couldn't move in until he had finally paid off the lease in his previous, smaller unit.

"I’m fine, uncle Vlad. No, really. I know you haven't met him yet, but Jack's a good friend from college so don't worry about..."

Dimitri was using their phone. Because apparently, in his whim to run from the wedding, he forgot that he had given his Smartphone to hold to his best man and uncle, Vlad. Meanwhile Jack was refilling bowls with chips and pouring drinks for everyone, who were watching TV, Jamie was taking stock of ingredients that he could cook for he and Jack's dinner. After deciding on one, he closed the fridge and went to join the others at the center of the apartment.

"Ever notice that the most popular KDramas usually involve love triangles, petty jealousy, and cliché main guy heartthrobs? I could never understand the hype." Hiccup mused, taking a Dorito from the bowl Jack had set down. "Songs are awesome though, even though I don't know what they're singing about half the time."

Jack shrugged, pulling over an ottoman to sit on so he would still be near the chips. "I don't know, I only watched one so far. Because of my in-laws. Well, ex ones anyway. And Kingdom isn’t like that..."

"Yeah, but that one has the overused zombie infestation plot to make up for it."

"When will you guys just watch shows for their purpose?" Jamie raised a brow. scrolling through his phone and thinking of which film to watch instead. No one seemed too heavily invested in Start Up right now anyway.

Who even put it on then? Jamie supposed one of Elsa's friends or other, since this Netflix account was shared between her and Jack. Something they continued to share even after the divorce, as they didn't see the need to stop.

Astrid shrugged, "And what’s that?

"Entertainment."

"Well, when it’s actually doing its purpose I guess."

Jamie rolled his eyes, about to question why they weren't changing what was playing when he was cut off as Dimitri, from the Island counter, was starting to get particularly loud as he talked over the phone. "...I’ll feel much better if I wasn’t hearing dad cussing like a sailor in the background." He said in a bit of a huff, "You know what, just put him on and let’s get this over with…"

Jack took his own phone and paused Netflix, much to the ire of Jamie, so they could all turn to not-so-subtly eavesdrop on Dimitri, even Jim stares at the Russian after acquiring a muffin from the fridge.

"Yeah, it’s m─dad no─Well, if you stop cursing my existence long enough to let me explain─Is mom there? Cause she’d be rubbing soap on your mouth by now!" Dimitri spat at the phone angrily.

Jamie cringed, awkwardly getting up from the couch to head to his room.  Jack and the others passed the Doritos around. As far as he was concerned, it wasn't anything he hadn't seen before.

"─Me?! An ingrate?! I don't owe you anything; you're the damn parent, it was your job to provide those things! And you never even came to watch those Equestrian competitions I joined, and I only ever took up lessons on your demands; I never asked you to spend on those lessons!"

Jim didn't know what the argument was about, but he was definitely taking Dimitri's side. "Huh, dad troubles." he hummed as he walked back to the others, "A good enough reason for the Russian ran."

"In your case," Hiccup shrugged, "your dad ran though…"

That got him a glare from the part time Astronomy professor, "This muffin" Jim growled, holding the muffin towards his friend. "could be used as a lethal murder weapon, Haddock."

"In your hands? I don't doubt it, bud."

"Znayete chto, k chertu eto, ya prosto skazhu eto!"

Astrid, Hiccup, and Jim blinked in confusion. They turned towards Jack, who raised a brow in response. "I was his roommate," he said. "but I didn't learn his language. Turn up the subtitles or something."

"I’m gay, and always have been since forever. Even Anya knows!"

Jack raised his closed fist up, before a finger folded out, "Called it."

"He was your roommate at college." Hiccup pointed out leadingly, "Of course you called it."

The silver blond scowled at the brunette, "We weren't like that," he said. "More like he kept claiming he was bi, when I kept telling I already knew he was gay."

"Yeah well, tell mama I love her but screw you pops!" Dimitri huffed, putting the phone away to scream at it before bringing it back near his ear. "It’s my life, and I’m gonna live it the way I want…… Well, maybe I don’t need your roof to return to. I’ll just stay here…… Hey! he may be bottom feeder Jack to you, but he’s my friend bottom feeder Jack! And what the hell, his big ears don't even have anything to do with the possibility of him being a gold digger."

Hiccup and Astrid both snickered, as Jack looked unamused. "I guess we established I’m still bottom feeder Jack..."

"With big ears."

"I was pointedly not mentioning that."

Then, Dimitri continued with some tone of finality, his voice lowered as if sounding tired now, it somber up his audience. "It’s my decision now, dad… Well, maybe I don’t want to keep my inherita─" He cuts himself off quickly, his eyes widening. "No, no! I said maybe!" There was a click at the other end of the phone, and Dimitri's face fell. "Well, now I’m cut off." He places the phone back on the counter and slumps on a dining room chair. "Shostakovitch… I don’t know if the heatwave is just hitting now, or if I’m having a panic attack…"

At the phrase 'panic attack', Jack moved. The paper bags weren't where they usually were, and he remembered Jamie was the last one who went grocery shopping. He called for his brother, who returned outside to get the paper bag. The silver blond gave it to Dimitri, placing a hand behind the Russian's back as well to rub comforting circles against it, pretty much what they'd do for each other whenever one of them came back to their shared dorm room drunk after random frat parties they've been invited to.

Jack: Okay, just take calming breaths buddy. It's not the end of the world.

Dimitri: *breathing quickly, narrowing his eyes at Jack*

Jack: Okay, maybe it's a big deal but c'mon, don’t look at me like that. I mean, what were you expecting? Just… You know, think of less stressful thoughts. Think happy thoughts.

Dimitri: *inhales* I am *exhales* drawing a blank… Little help?

Jamie: 🎶Think of a wonderful thought. Any merry little thought…🎶

Jack: 😐

Dimitri: 😑

Jamie: 🎶 Think of Christmas, think of snow. Think of sleigh bells off you go!🎶

Dimitri: *throws off paper bag* Not like that.

Astrid: *shrugs* Made me happy. You should join the choir, Jamie.

Next

[girlsbtrs]

My Senior Soundtrack - Playlist

Written by Jen Moglia. Graphic by Allison Thompson. 

At the end of this month, I’ll finally be graduating high school. Typing that sentence definitely felt surreal. 

Years and years of hard work and stress, with some not-so-bad times mixed in, will culminate in the moment I’ve been waiting for for as long as I can remember. I had been told countless times that senior year would be easy and that high school would consist of the best years of my life, and while I did enjoy a lot of it, there were also some incredibly difficult times, especially this year. 

What follows is a list of songs that got me through some of those darker moments. I hope that they can be there for you too. 

“Roses” - Watsky

Favorite Lyric: “Leaving is supposed to be hard / Man, I thought it so was selfish of people I love to keep falling out of my life / But now I know / No, I don't take it personal”

This was a song that I connected with a lot when making decisions for college - did I want to move away and start a new adventure on my own, or did I want to stay home with all the people and places that I knew and loved? Listening to these lyrics helped me feel better about my decision to move away for school, learning that I wasn’t selfish for wanting to start fresh.

“Never Grow Up” - Taylor Swift

Favorite Lyric: “And you can't wait to move out someday and call your own shots / But don't make her drop you off around the block / Remember that she's gettin' older too / And don't lose the way that you dance / Around in your PJs getting ready for school”

Taylor Swift is one of my favorite artists of all time, and this song has been hitting particularly hard for me lately. For as much as I can’t wait to start this next chapter of my life, there’s so much about home and my family that I’ll miss more than they will ever know.

“Boston” - Augustana

Favorite Lyric: “She said ‘I think I'll go to Boston / I think I'll start a new life / I think I'll start it over / Where no one knows my name’”

Augustana’s most popular song, I listened to this track a ton when I was first starting high school, dreaming of running away someday. The fact that that day is almost here is crazy to me.

“Swim” - Jack’s Mannequin

Favorite Lyric: “You gotta swim, swim in the dark / There's no shame in drifting / Feel the tide shifting and wait for the spark / Yeah, you gotta swim, don't let yourself sink / Just find the horizon / I promise you, it's not as far as you think”

Another song that I loved in my late middle school/early high school years, this band and all of Andrew McMahon’s projects in general have been staples in my Spotify library for years. This track in particular served as motivation for me to keep going during hard times.

“North Hansen” - Bearings

Favorite Lyric: “I've got dreams, I've got needs / I've got things I believe / That I just can not let go / I still, think about you every single day / I still miss that old North Hansen Home / Sometimes I wanna go home / All I'm saying is the ending scares me every time / Your words replaying / Over and over I save them in my mind / Now I'm grabbing a hold / Of what's about to unfold”

On the flip side, Bearings has been a huge part of the last few years of my high school experience; their 2019 tour with Grayscale, Belmont, and Rich People was the first tour I ever did multiple dates of, and those days and nights I spent traveling and singing my heart out truly changed my life. I leaned on this band’s entire discography during my junior and senior year, but this song specifically reminded me that it’s okay to be scared of leaving home as the future approaches.

“Ribs” - Lorde

Favorite Lyric: “This dream isn't feeling sweet / We're reeling through the midnight streets / And I've never felt more alone / It feels so scary getting old / I want 'em back / The minds we had / How all the thoughts / Moved 'round our heads”

How could I make a “coming of age” playlist without this song on it? Lorde has been a big part of my life for a while now - her hit song “Royals” was the ringtone on my first Smartphone in fifth grade, and I saw her live for the first time on the night before my 15th birthday on her Melodrama World Tour in Brooklyn, New York. Much like the last song, this track perfectly captures the fear of the future and getting older.

“Atlantic” - Grayscale

Favorite Lyric: “This place feels more and more like nowhere to me / I'm sick of waiting for a fire to ignite / I could just leave here without a goodbye / I'll burn down this bridge / And set my life up in smoke...I want to go / Run from this panic / I need the unknown”

As I mentioned earlier, attending four dates of Grayscale’s Nella Vita Part One Tour and six dates of the album cycle in total (bringing me to a grand total of ten times seeing this band) was a formative experience for me. Getting to end every night screaming the lyrics to this song, once again, dreaming of starting a new life as soon as I could, was cathartic.

“City Lights” - Emblem 3

Favorite Lyric: “Caught up in those pretty city lights / Wishing on a star for your direction / Thinking of a new and different life / Babe, I know this one ain't what you've been dreaming”

I choreographed my “senior solo” in my dance class to this song, one of my favorites for many years. Although I have a feeling it’s about someone moving thousands of miles away to chase dreams of stardom rather than moving two hours away to attend college, it certainly served as a source of comfort for me.

“Play” - Rich People

Favorite Lyric: “Because I know I'm beautiful enough / For someone to love / I don't know many things / But I feel everything / And I'm just too young to give up”

Rich People is my favorite band of all time, which you probably already know if you follow me on social media, and getting to watch them perform and connect with them was a major part of why following the Nella Vita Part One Tour was so pivotal for me. This song is my favorite off of their most recent album “Harmony”, and my graduation cap will have these lyrics in frontman Rob Rich’s handwriting on it later this month. This band and this song mean everything to me.

“Dream Envy” - Rich People

Favorite Lyric: “It's no way to live / Sitting on the fence asking myself ‘what if?’”

Another Rich People song, no surprise here, this is one of my favorites from their first release, “Jacob’s Ladder.” It reminded me that “sitting on the fence asking myself ‘what if?’”, is, indeed, no way to live, and it pushed me to make definitive decisions, leaving no stone unturned.

“Something Bigger Than This” - Trophy Eyes

Favorite Lyric: “I'm still flying through my twenties / Waiting for someone to say I made it / Golden boy, tiny paycheck / Big ideas and broken heartstrings / Waking up in the same old skin / It ain't easy to believe / We were born for something bigger than this / It don't make much sense right now / But it will all come together when the lights go out”

I saw Trophy Eyes live for the first time at the start of my sophomore year at the Stereo Garden in Patchogue, New York, leaving my last-period algebra class early to attend their show with Neck Deep, WSTR, and Stand Atlantic (sorry, Ms. Sloane). Their music has resonated deeply with me since then, and this song has especially been a huge source of motivation for me when I was feeling down about myself.

“Forevermore” - The Maine

Favorite Lyric: “Never really ever felt this type of vulnerable / Don't have to hide, don't have to fear / All you have to be is here...And I said, ‘I wanna feel like this forever’ / Even if forever's just for now / We're on fire, let us burn / As the outside world, it turns / We are here and alive / In our corner of time / Forevermore”

The Maine is another band that I feel has been here for me for as long as I can remember, remaining in my daily rotation since the summer before high school started. This song, off their most recent album “You Are OK”, has reminded me that wherever I am is exactly where I need to be at that point in time and to embrace every single moment.

“Flowers on the Grave” - The Maine

Favorite Lyric: “Feel the moment all around you / And the quiet that surrounds you / The time you have is sacred / Don't wait around and waste it / They can't take that away from you / Everything is temporary / Even the sorrow that you carry...'Cause you don't plan life, you live it / You don't take love, you give it / You can't change what is written / So when fate cries, you listen / And flowers on the grave / Of the child that I used to be”

The first time that I saw The Maine was at the New York City date of their “The Mirror” tour at Webster Hall. When they closed with this song, I was near inconsolable; my friends were practically passing me around to hug me and make sure I was alright. Similar to the last song, this track reminds me to live life to the fullest and not take anything for granted, not wasting any time mourning the past and only looking towards the future.

“Old Book” - Real Friends

Favorite Lyric: “It really weirds me out / Because I never thought I'd be where I am today...This isn’t where I want to be / Getting older scares the shit out of me”

On the topic of bands that were constants for me in my formative years, Real Friends was one of the first pop-punk bands that I truly loved. I wore a shirt with their “The Home Inside My Head” album cover on it on my first day of high school, and their 2018 show with Eat Your Heart Out, Grayscale, and Boston Manor at Irving Plaza in New York City was one of my first real general admission concerts; I don’t think I’d be where I am today if I didn’t go to that show. This song  always served as a reminder that I wasn’t alone in my worries about the future, and that it would all be okay, even if I didn’t know what I was doing or where I was going.

“Satellite” - Rise Against

Favorite Lyric: “We'll come clean and start over / The rest of our lives / When we're gone, we'll stay gone / Out of sight, out of mind / It's not too late, we have the rest of our lives...This is a life that you can’t deny us now”

Four years ago this week, I saw Rise Against for the first time, opening for Deftones at Jones Beach in Wantagh, New York with my dad; at the end of July, I’ll get to see them kick off their latest tour at Pier 17 in New York City with one of my best friends. If that isn’t a full-circle moment, I don’t know what is. Rise Against is one of my favorite bands of all time, and their music has always made me feel strengthened and empowered. This song specifically inspired me to reclaim my own life, not letting anyone else determine the outcome and my mindset but myself - it’s also the perfect angsty soundtrack to a fresh start.

“Something Special” - A Will Away

Favorite Lyric: “‘Pull out your clothes / You're made for something special’ / If that's what it takes to get you out of bed / You think you're meant for California / But that's just in your head / I saw you howling at the street lights / Pressed against the skin you want to shed / You tore down all the walls for answers / And found this shit instead...Don't let the poison that surrounds you / Stifle out the life you want to live / Please know it truly doesn't matter / And truly never did”

Though I’ve been listening to them since my sophomore year of high school, A Will Away is a band that I really got into this year as a senior. “Something Special” is my favorite song off of their album “Here Again”, and while I know it wasn’t written about finding friends that feel like family, rejecting negativity, and starting a new chapter, that’s certainly what it’s about for me.

“Lead Balloon” - Vanna

Favorite Lyric: “This isn't how we die / You're not reading the ending right / You are meant for greatness / Open up your eyes and face it / Now to your feet and follow me / The road is hard but you're harder / Can't you feel your heartbeat starting?...You're weak but you can feel now / Your soul slowly getting out / You are so strong / And you'll have to carry on now / Cause I know that you know how”

Vanna’s “All Hell” was an album I discovered around this time last year, and I listened to it non-stop for all of summer 2020. It became one of my favorite records ever (and not just because of the pink aesthetic, though I do appreciate the use of my favorite color). When I was struggling a lot during the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic in more ways than I could count, this song really helped me through, these lyrics in particular. It gave me hope that I’d make it to the end of my senior year celebrating, which, thankfully, I did.

“Give Yourself A Try” - The 1975

Favorite Lyric: “Won’t you give yourself a try?”

While the lyrics of this song are a bit odd, frankly pessimistic, and hard for a teenager to relate to, its catchy, more optimistic chorus served as a mantra for me throughout my last few years of high school. If I couldn’t take a chance on myself, why would anyone else want to? This song’s refrain sparked a ton of self-love in me, and I spent many nights dancing around to it in my bedroom. Also, I couldn’t leave this band off of this list - I’ve been listening to them since their self-titled LPs came out when I was 10 years old, and the album that this song is off of, “A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships”, is one of my favorite records of all time.

“Garden Song” - Phoebe Bridgers

Favorite Lyric: “I don't know how, but I'm taller / It must be something in the water / Everything's growing in our garden...She told me my resentment's getting smaller / No, I'm not afraid of hard work / I get everything I want”

Much like A Will Away, Phoebe Bridgers is an artist that I had known of and had recommended to me for years, but I only really started listening to her as a senior in high school. “Kyoto” and “Would You Rather” are probably my favorites by her, but this song, along with “It’ll All Work Out”, helped me through feeling scared for the future and wondering how I grew up so quickly.

“Growing Up” - The Maine

Favorite Lyric: “We'll never lose what we had...Growing up won't bring us down / Graduate, what's a kid to do now? / Get away, yeah / We've got so much to prove / 'Cause it's time to move on / And I start to let go...We're in this together / Yeah, we'll make it somehow / Nothing's gonna stop us now”

Finally, to close it out, one more song by one of my favorite bands ever, and one of the bands that carried me throughout my senior year, as well as all of my high school years. I had to include this one - my graduation pictures were captioned “graduate, what’s a kid to do now?” At its core, this is a song about holding on to childlike energy and teenage memories despite growing up and moving on. Every time I listen to it (which has been a lot, lately), I’m reminded that I have the best friends in the world who have given me some of the happiest years of my life, and that doesn’t have to end just because we’re getting older. “Growing up won’t bring us down.”

For more songs like this, you can follow my Spotify playlist titled “senioritis” here. 

Congratulations to everyone who is celebrating this month, whatever you might be graduating from!