#it was raining hard all day and I knew my family could not handle putting on and off

[lloonlloon]

@campfirecanines

Popped it on her for shaming purposes. Truly I don’t think she ingested a significant amount, rather her modus operandi is shredding into tiny pieces around herself like a confetti party of one. The damage is also not that bad. I keep telling myself one day I will hem them up and it will be perfectly usable again.

Before The Incident…

[kteezy997]

The Candy Man-Part Eight//W.W.

warnings/info: Wonka family fluff, mention of secret sex room at the chocolate factory

A few months later…

It was all coming together. Willy worked day and night, creating the chocolate factory, all while coming home late and still helping with the babies. Your man barely slept, and you knew he was tired, but he was determined to create the most spectacular chocolate factory that the world had ever seen. You were just glad that he had hired an entire staff to help him, so he wasn't doing it all on his own.

Finally, he allowed you to come and work with him as well. He didn't want you to go back to work too soon after giving birth. But you insisted that you were ready.

The first day, you brought the babies along to see their father's work. They had grown so much. They were crawling everywhere, and so interested in the world around them. Their hair had thickened and become curlier, and they had plump, healthy little bodies. Maple was sweet and cuddly, and you were able to tie her hair up into tiny ponytails on the top of her head. Mocha was sweet too, but he could be a little too adventurous, almost to the point of getting into mischief.

You carried Mae and Willy carried Mocha into the chocolate room. This room was going to be special; you could tell by the way Willy had talked so excitedly about it.

"Alright, it's just behind this door." he said, turning the handle. He looked at you, biting his lip.

The door opened, and you didn't know where to put your eyes. The room was vast, with vibrant colors. Lush green grass, giant mushrooms with whipped cream spots, edible flowers of all shapes and sizes, and trees that rained gumballs. And trees adorned with giant gummy bears as well as multi-colored candy canes. The walking path was a rainbow of lights under your feet.

"Everything you see is edible, y/n." he said, setting Mocha down to explore.

However, the most jaw-dropping thing was the centerpiece chocolate river that flowed all through the room.

You were speechless, it took you a moment to really take it all in.

Willy took Mae from you, letting her join her brother in chewing on the candy grass.

"Willy...this is incredible. It's like nothing I've ever seen."

He came over to you, taking you in his arms. He kissed you, smiling softly as he pulled away. "It's all I ever wanted for myself, but I did it even bigger because of you and the babies. You, my family, are my biggest inspiration."

Your heart melted, and your eyes welled up with happy tears. "Oh, Willy, we are so lucky to have you. You work so hard, and we are so proud of you." you looked around the room again, "This is like a dream."

"It's just Pure Imagination, my love." he looked into your eyes, "Come with me." he said with a nod. He picked up both of the babies and started a stroll through the candy room.

You were delighted to follow them, and watch your children ooh and ahh at their father's creations. All the while, Willy sang his little tune, which he used a lot at home with kids, "Pure Imagination." His voice was so angelic. Maple and Mocha were mesmerized every time their father sang. You were certain your children would know the song by heart by the time they started to talk in full sentences. He had been singing it to them since they were still in the womb, after all.

You could see your future. Your curly headed kids growing and running amuck through daddy's factory. Willy would let them have all the sugar that they wanted, within reason, of course.

Now that Mr. Hudson had granted you a divorce, you had a vision of a magical wedding with Willy, sans candy. Sugary treats were your life with Willy, but you were both happy having a traditional wedding without all the busy colors that came with your Wonka treats. Mocha was the ring bearer and Mae the flower girl. It would be absolutely perfect; a day full of pure love.

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

One evening, Willy came home, all excited. "Honey, your office is ready. Let me show you." he said, grinning widely and taking your hand.

"Whoa, whoa, Willy, who is going to watch the kids?" you giggled.

"Oh, I've got that covered." he said confidently, opening the front door of your home to reveal Noodle and her mother, Dorothy.

"Hey, y/n!" said Noodle, her eyes already searching for the little ones she adored. Once she spotted them in the living room, she ran to them immediately.

You greeted sweet Dorothy, thanking her for babysitting as well, and then you and Willy were off to the factory.

…….

Willy showed you your new office, and it was spacious and cozy. It was the perfect workstation! He even took the time to put up a couple of photos of the twins on your desk, as well as a vase of fresh flowers for you.

But he was more excited to show you something else. He led you to another room just down the way from your office. He put in a secret code that was several digits long. “Alright, my love, I hope you like this.” he smirked.

You walked in, seeing a queen-sized bed in the middle of the room and suddenly you were realizing what this room was meant for. There were big jars of different chocolates and candies all along the walls. Large ropes of red licorice hung on hooks. There were oversized candy canes as well.

“Wow. You continue to surprise me, Mr. Wonka.” you said, in awe of the…playroom.

“The walls are stone, of course, so no one can hear what goes on in this room.” Willy took your hands, “Honey, there are things that I want to experiment with, but just for us two. I hope you’re comfortable going on this…sexual journey with me?”

“Oh, yes, Willy, of course!” You kissed him, “I can’t believe you went to such lengths for me. It's so sexy. I love you, baby.” you then nuzzled your nose against his.

“You know that there’s no limit to what I’d do to please you. It’s my life’s work, darling. Well, after being a good husband and father, and making chocolate of course.”

“Wait, Willy, we’re not married.” you giggled.

Willy’s eyes widened, “Oh yes, that’s right. I forgot.” Then, he got down on one knee, "Y/n, will you marry me?" He presented you with a little jewelry box, opened it, revealing a beautiful diamond ring.

You gasped, without even thinking, you blurted out, "Yes!"

Willy smiled from ear to ear, slid the ring on your fourth finger on your left hand and shot up to his feet to hug you.

You were lifted off of your feet by him, and you cried tears of joy as he spun you around with glee.

"You're gonna be Mrs. Wonka!" Willy cheered.

@gatoenlaciudad @thebetawolfgirl @musicandbooksaremyhappyplace @tchalamss @softhecreator @bitchyunknownuser @lixzey @kpopgirlbtssvt

[partywithoutsmiling]

What would happen if Thorn was alive in either of your aus (or in canon) what would he be doing?

Pft honestly, if Thorn is alive, then Mulberry would be alive as well, because there is no way he'd abandon her or wanted to live without her.

When he and Mulberry were caught, Bergens were already slowly combing through the Pop Troll territory, decimating their numbers, most likely setting up what they thought were permanent settlements that would however eventually fail as the local source of Trolls dwindled and the Bergens were forced to go hunting further and further away, until they simply couldn't sustain their need for a happiness boost and they had to pack up their things and move on to the next 'patch'.

The one way I can imagine them surviving, was if they attempted an escape but were only semi succesful; the Bergens would have most likely troll-proofed their settlement to the best of their abilities, and so complete escape wouldn't have been so easy.

So while escaping their confines, they wouldn't have been able to trully get out.

Then, perhaps an accident, that would have greatly hindered one of them; and then, maybe the changing of seasons; no matter how attuned to Nature the Trolls were, they could hardly handle a heavy rain season or winter- especially Thorn, who is from volcanic area, and grew up living mostly underground.

For a pair of two mice sized critters, that makes the world around them especially hard to traverse, and they would have been forced to make frequent stops.

Imagine, if you will, if they tried their best to get back to the Troll Tree to warn the Pop Royalty about what was coming, but just failed- and they arrived just in time for the Tree to get caged, trapping all of their remaining family inside, with Bergen guards constantly patroling around, and the Chef and her assistants snatching up any would be runaway Trolls until they were cowed enough not to try anymore.

They have no idea that at that moment, it is only Rosiepuff, Branch and Clay remaining in the Tree; but any grand plans in trying to get in are put on hold when the old injury rears its ugly head and greatly hinders their ability to function- leaving the other to be the sole protector of them both.

After that, it is only poor compensation, to be able to watch the Tree be still alive and hear the trolls singing, despite Trollstice starting to happen every year. They live in the city; in the walls, in the attic, in the basement. Like Borrowers, they scavenge what they can, take items that won't be missed, while every day watching, hoping, waiting for a chance to get to the tree and saving their sons.

They never manage to cross a path with the 'Borrower Teams' from the Tree; never spot their boy Clay among the scouts, always managing to sneak away at any louder noise.

Then, the Last Trollstice happened- they noticed the Trolls escaping and knew they must be heading towards the northern woods- taking that as their chance, they head there too, over the roofs and over the battlement, taking the Bergen's distraction as a blessing to finally be reunited with their family.

And they are!

Only not with Branch's side of the tribe.

Instead they encounter Viva, Clay, and their band of misfits.

SO! That's my take on what Thorn would have been doing XD He'd have his reunion with Clay, and had to force himself to terms with the fact that all his other sons- even the youngest one- must have been killed. But he was born and raised a leader; while he was never raised in Pop Troll culture, he was raised to be tough and to fight back- and if there is one Troll that can help Viva make their 'Tribe' survive, it was him.

Of course, he wouldn't have been able to stay in the Golf Course forever; growing restless, catching wanderlust, but also starting to disagree on how isolated Viva keeps everyone. Then, suddenly, a sliver of hope comes on the air, as a blurry ruined postcard shows up, with barelly legible invitation to a wedding; their son Spruce is alive!

Thorn is immediatelly keen to go- but Viva puts him in an ultimatum: if he leaves the golf course, he can never come back. Thorn, being a stubborn asshole, of course doesn't care- especially when Mulberry faithfully follows her mate, despite Viva's surprise (as she expected Mulberry to stay behind with her son) Clay, for his part, is conflicted- oh he is unhappy with Viva doing what she is doing, but at the same time, he understands why she is doing that. He doesn't want his parents to leave- but at the same time, he is a grown man now, and Viva needs him.

So, off Thorn and Mulberry goes, on another adventure, trying to find their second oldest Spruce; a search that definitelly takes them more than just few days to complete. It most likely takes them all over the possible current world map, searching for clues- but honestly, they can only do so much on vague invitation and ruined postcard.

Their age eventually catches up to them, and, without no-where to go, they settle down among the minor genres, saddened, but not really able to do anything but try to live out their lives in peace.

(You have to understand, by the time Branch was born, both Mulberry and Thorn were in their late thirties, and they are definitelly over sixty years old now, when the plot of the first movie happens)

[strscrossed]

OMG COMIN THRU W THE NANNYKASA!!!! Omg I love it so much!!! You’re too amaze balls!! I would love to see how their first few romantic interactions went and Eren’s pov. I just love the thought of him being so enthralled with her beauty and thinking this is too good to be true

hope this is good! a little self-inting in here!

Eren had no intention of loving ever again. 

When his wife passed, his life revolved solely around work and his boys. For almost a year, Eren had tried the balancing act of single parenthood and running a flourishing law firm. During that time, his mother had stayed over and helped tremendously with the boys. 

But she couldn’t stay indefinitely. And soon it became clear that the boys were going to need a nanny. He wasn’t too keen on the idea of a stranger handling his kids while he wasn’t looking. So he looked. He was brutal in the interview process. He left no stone unturned and some possible nannies even left the home in tears. 

He had no time for that. 

He never saw her coming. It was his last interview of the week, having done this for nearly a month. She was a pretty young woman, something he noticed but chose to overlook for the time. 

He showed her no mercy. But unlike the others, she was calm and collected, had the correct answers for all of his questions and during the test run, he observed how well the boys took to her and how well she cared for them and kept them on schedule. 

She was perfect. In more ways than one. 

At first, he encased his heart in stone because it would be too good to be true. Even so, he found himself staring at her from his office. She handled baby Leo and little Max with so much care. 

From the day their mother died, there was a perpetual rain cloud over the boys’ heads and they hardly ever smiled. With Mikasa, those precious smiles and laughs had returned. 

It was like their mother had come back to them. She wasn’t completely erased, as Mikasa would show them pictures and home videos. 

Slowly, the stone started to crumble and Eren quickly realized that the boys weren’t the only ones whose hearts she’d slowly crept into. 

He tried to keep it professional at first, with lunch and dinner here and there. But he realized it was slowly becoming more and more difficult. 

She was beautiful, gentle, intelligent, and a part of the family. He knew nannies weren’t permanent but the thought of her leaving them – leaving him – was too much. He hated the idea. He wanted her to be here with him forever. 

They spend several months toeing a very fine line. He knew that she was feeling something too because some touches and glances were lingering. 

And then one night, reality just crashed onto both of them. 

She’d just given Max a bath and put him to bed. 

Eren stood by the stairs as Mikasa’s eyes lingered on his sleeping boys before closing the doors. She was almost startled to see him. 

“Oh! Mr. Jaeger!” 

Cute, even her gasps were adorable. 

“Call me, Eren, please,” he grinned and Mikasa returned his smile. 

“Alright, Eren,” his name sounded so right coming from her lips. Her lips, which by the way, were inviting right now– 

No, stop it Eren. Control! 

“I thought we could have dinner. As you know, I’m an amazing chef.” 

She smiled, humoring him. 

“Oh yes. That pan seared salmon was burnt – I mean charred to perfection.” 

Protein and pan sauce was certainly not his specialty but hey, shrimp scampi and linguine was hard to mess up, right? 

She seemed to think so because the moment she took that first bite, there was a look of absolute delight on her face. 

“The key is oregano actually.” 

They chatted about normal things, their days, work, and about the boys. Naturally, 90% of that conversation centered around the boys. 

“They really like you,” he commented as he cleared the dishes. Across the kitchen island, Mikasa sat with a glass of wine. 

“I really like them too,” she said, smiling. “I’m very fond of them. I barely have to do anything at all.” 

Eren laughed, “They’re my kids. I promise their wild streak will appear at some point. I guarantee it actually!” 

“Oh, nothing I can’t handle.” 

Some silence followed as he cleaned up and then they sat on the couch. It was a Friday night and they could stay up as late as they wanted. Mikasa didn’t have to work on weekends, technically she was only contracted for the weekdays. She had a place and Saturdays and Sundays were her days but she spent it with him and the boys all the same. 

It was some dumb movie that Eren put on. Or so he thought. The night started out pretty tame with them sitting a respectable distance away. 

Turns out, it was a horror movie. Not the slasher kind, oh no, it was the paranormal kind. The kind that would have one scared of the dark and quiet places for weeks, 

Another discovery: Mikasa was terrified of horror movies. Somewhere between the demon making its presence known and appearing on screen, Mikasa ended up shaking in his arms. Her face was buried into his chest as she shook. 

He couldn’t say he hated it. He didn’t make any sort of attempt at moving her away either. He rubbed her back and rested his chin gently on top of her head. He wanted to kiss her so badly. 

But it was too much, even for him. 

He turned off the movie and the lights followed but Mikasa stayed buried in his chest for a minute longer before looking and realizing what she was doing. 

She jumped out of his arms. 

“Oh I’m so sorry I–” she stammered but he stopped her. 

“No, It was perfectly fine,” he assured her. 

No more words were exchanged because she quickly retreated and disappeared in the direction of her room. 

He stayed for a moment longer. 

He should’ve kissed her.

[hellishattempt]

angst superache songs as relationships with the batboys pt 2

eee okay so the last one did really well so here's tim + damian !! you can also find part one here

sorry i'm late, loves! i know i said 10pm, and it's 11pm, but life happens. send requests, i'd love to write them <3

just like last time it's a gender neutral reader / no pronouns used.

memories - tim drake. your relationship with tim drake was never perfect, but it was exactly what you wanted it to be. but, things started to get rough. you two became the constant on again, off again couple. his disappearances and distance became too much to handle. you were exhausted from his "i'm sorry's" and poor excuses. although you loved him, you couldn't stay with him. now, it's been a couple months, and that's just about enough time for you to stop crying over all the pictures. now, you kinda... smile. you haven't felt like this in a while. all those pictures of you two in gotham's museums, wandering the same halls you knew like the back of your hand; of tim, hunched over his laptop on a desk full of papers, his hair ruffled and an empty cup of coffee next him; the ones with you lying in his lap at that same desk; the ones of him laying on top of you after long days. you broke up in february, and now it's april. it's late, and you hear the doorbell ringing, and it's pouring. the rain never stopped in gotham. opening the door, you see his blue eyes at the entrance. the irises are dark and vibrant, just as they always are. the whites of his eyes are still tired and bloodshot. he hasn't slept in four days, you can tell. "i just wanna talk," he says, and you can't turn away a wet dog. now you can't say goodbye, and he stays the whole night. it's hard to find the end to something that you keep beginning over and over again. "the ending always stays the same, tim! there's no good reason in make believing that we could ever exist again. i can't be your friend; i can't be your lover; i can't be the reason we hold back each other from falling in love with somebody other than me." you sound exhausted. tim starts to mumble another apology, and you can smell the alcohol on his breath. oh. he's drunk. great. you cut off the apology. "i just wish that you would stay in my memories, but you show up today just to ruin things. i wanna put you in the past, 'cause i'm traumatized, but you're not letting me do that!" he's drunk in your kitchen, curled in the fetal position. the alcohol not letting him see reason, instead, too busy playing the victim to be listening to you while you scream "i wish that you would stay in my memories!" he's not paying attention, and it's too late for you to deal with this. dragging a hand down your face, you help tim off the floor and lie him down on the couch. since he came, you have to let him stay. but only for as long as it takes to grab his books and his coat and that one good cologne that he bought when you were fighting. it's still on your clothes, and everything you own. "you made me feel like dying, tim. i was barely just surviving. we can't keep doing this." tim grabs your hand as you turn away, and mutters three words. "i'm red robin." you press your lips into a line. it made sense. all his disappearances. his distant words. the bruises. you can't make sense of anything right now, so you just leave him on your couch, muttering "i wish that you would stay in my memories."

people watching - damian wayne. damian was always the quieter of his family, and you tried not to let that bug you. he was in his head a lot, but that's how he dealt with things, so who were you to judge? you just wanted him to notice you, wanted him to talk to you and be interested in you, like you were in him. he never really did though, he was too busy being in his head. little did you know damian's thoughts centered on the very thing you wanted with him: a relationship. being the observant child he was, damian constantly stalked his older brother dick, in his pursuits to court barbara, aka oracle. her current situation of paralyzation didn't stop dick. he really loved her. damian pick up on certain things, like the way dick would say something that wasn't funny, but barbara laughed so hard she almost cried; they're counting months they've been together, almost forty nine. he makes fun of the way she acts around the holidays. she wears a ring, but they tell people that they're not engaged. they take a class together, metaphysical philosophy. dick says he likes her, 'cause she's so much smarter than him. they have talks about their futures until four am. and dami's happy for them. damian watches them with envy. he wants to feel all that love and emotion, be that attached to the person he's holding. someday he'll be falling, without caution, but for now? he's only people watching. he's watching dick and barbara, while you watch him. as much as the youngest wayne acts as though he doesn't notice your existence, he does. damian has chosen you to be his experiment of love. you're completely unaware of his intentions, but your obsession with the boy only grows as he actually attempts to make conversation with you. two days of awkward talks turn into two weeks of flirtation; two weeks of flirtation turn into two months of inside jokes. two months becomes six. six months become nine. soon, it's nearly been a year since you and damian began talking. you've spent eight of your eleven months as a couple. recently, however, damian's attitude towards you changed. something was off, and he was closing up in response. he was back in his head again. at the moment, you are on the couch in the titans tower, rewatching the first season of your favorite tv series. damian storms in, and stands in front of you, blocking the television. "i have a confession." that's the most words he's said to you since he started acting like this. immediately, you perk up to listen. "i'm only looking to live through you vicariously. i've never been in love, not seriously." damian's words are as distant as you are hurt. "what?" your voice broke. "i don't understand." damian sighs. wait, is he mad at you? he's trying to break up with you, and he's upset? "i don't love you. you were part of an experiment. i grew envious of grayson's attachment to gordon. i wanted something like that. you were so obviously infatuated with me that you were an easy target. you fell in love quickly, and it wasn't hard to fool you that i, too, attained the same feelings for you." you were sick at his words. how could he treat you so callously? like you were not a human with human emotions? that certainly wasn't a concept damian understood. "that's real shitty of you, damian. i had a dream about a house behind a picket fence, and i thought you were going to fulfill that dream." the wayne nearly shrugged. "next one you choose to trust with your heart, you should hope you'll use some common sense. i cut people out like tags on my clothing. you should've expected this." damian left without another word. he had such high hopes for you and him, but it just wasn't meant to be. people are nothing but itchy tags. sure, he ends up all alone, but inside, he still keeps hoping that he won't be scared to let someone know him. not like you did. life feels so monotone, but he still keeps hoping. that was the end of damian wayne's first and final relationship.

[noodleshark]

Terror fam Headcannons 3

or i guess facts, since theyre my ocs now.

Raffi has an animal special interest

He has thought about what animals him and his family would be VERY IN DEPTH

Sori is awful with names

She named herself after her special interest(her name is sound in korean and her special interest is music)

She heard paru say the japanese word for friend before and picked up on it, you'll never guess what she came up with when yujin asked for a new name

When they get a cat, he names it the korean word for CAT

oh speaking of sori knowing korean: Raffi is Malaysian, Raine is brazilian, Yujin is british, sori's korean, obviously, and paru is japanese and british

Sori does not know shes korean

Raine can't spell in english and sori cant spell at all

Raffi likes bugs and refuses to wear bug spray. but then he'll get annoyed about being itchy from bites

During any holiday with fireworks he throws those popit things at raine's feet.

Raine would wear shoes in bed if paru didnt tell her she wont snuggle with her if she does that

Sori does that thing where sometimes if she wants to cuddle she'll just go inbetween those 2

one of the things from being a monster for a lil bit(design change pending), she can purr now!

When she was little she had a cat but she got seperated when she was 6

when raffi sees yujins eyes for the first time he just goes "harbor seal"

in july raine started to try to teach sori how to swim

Sori had an ED for a while so when one day he(nervously) asked raine to make something specific for one of their meals she was like "��� yeah of course!!!"

she always made them what they wanted when they asked for like 2 months

Along with the ED it also helped with sori's issues with control!!!

Oh related to the harbor seal comment: When Yujin saved sori from the bullies(name and lore change is an eventuality, those names are stand ins) she had a concussion and could see his eyes she was just like "kitty!!!"

Raine has seen multiple kids die from sicknesses so she gets very anxious when one of the others get sick

she usually can't sleep and just sits by their bed just to know they're still breathing

Yujin has a BIG sweet tooth

but he CANNOT handle sour stuff

whenever raffi has some sour candy he begs for some and raffi always warns him, yet yujin eats it anyways. everytime

When they have campfires together people switch out to sit with yujin because he's afraid of fire

Paru has picked up on some portugese from raine's flashbacks

she cant converse in the language though because its only stuff like "die" "died" "dead" "parents" "theyre dead" "im gonna die" "help (me)" "theyre gonna kill me"

Sori gets mobility aids when she's 11

Yujin likes outer space

he probably has a space blanket and telescope

Sori has a weighted blanket!

She puts it around herself when shes scared or upset about something that makes touch feel gross at the moment

Sori loves plushies and probably has the most cat plushies out of any animal or anything

She kept an orange cat plushie the broadcaster got when she was in the radio station with him

when raffi has flashbacks or freaks out really bad in a way that isnt a sensory meltdown, sori hides under a blanket or leaves the room so she wont freak him out more

one time she didnt, either it took her too long to realize what was happening or the first time it happened and he screamed as soon as he saw her

Raffi's worst sensory expirence is usually bright lights while Sori's is loud noises

Raine sometimes sings sori to sleep

When sori is cuddling with someone, espicially raine and paru but this also applies to yujin, it is SO hard for them to move bc they'll make a sleepy grumbly noise and also theyre baby, this is even worse during bad pain days

Raine eventually just started to carry sori around.

one time paru and raine had to have a serious conversation(about one of sori's traumas that paru just found out about and raine knew for a while) but sori was laying on paru's thigh so she just covered his ears

Yujin had a tough time transitioning to having his own room bc fears about being alone so he slowly adjusted by sleeping in sori's room a lot and slowly started to sleep in his more

Paru thinks that curly-afrotextured hair is fun to style to she likes to mess around with raine's

[gamerbearmira]

I wrote this during my free period. Also THANK YOU FOR THE ART ITS BEAUTIFUL YOU GOT HER WINGS PERFECTLY ID LOVE TO SEE MORE

Flight AU part 2

Mirabel is nine in this AU, about a year before Antonio, is born. Her dynamic with her family is pretty much the same, the only difference is that corrected their negative behavior toward her early on because Casita got pretty violent to whoever was mean to her, that included Abuela. The first time she showed dismissive behavior to Mirabel Casita threatened to put out the candle. Also, Candle and Casita can communicate with each other and Casita has a potty mouth.

When Mirabel's wings first emerged her little nine-year-old body couldn’t handle the energy it took out on her body and had to stay in bed. Her back was bruised beyond comprehension but she could at least lie down on it. She was born early so the pain made her really woozy and dizzy, so she was back on bed rest. But the most difficult part was keeping the girl in her bed, she git a door, you bet she was gonna see it.

The grandkids were just in complete awe because her wings were beautiful, and they were super soft. Camilo couldn’t stop touching them. Mirabel was still getting used to having extra body parts, so she accidentally smacked a few people, mostly her dad because it was taking some time for her to handle them properly.

The adults had a private meeting when all the kids were playing with Mirabel and her wings. About the elephant in the room. *Cough cough* her being the next candle holder. *cough* Abuela couldn’t stop staring at her door, and had even tried to open it, but restrained herself because it was Mirabel’s right. She waited long enough for this. She talked with Julieta was believed that they could spend more time together, but being the next candle holder shouldn’t be her entire personality. She was still a kid. She shouldn’t have such an important task on her shoulders now at nine years old.

Her relationship with her everyone is pretty much the same. Except everyone LOVES her. Camilo has completely claimed her as his twin and Dolores has been an older sister to her for years. Isabela is a little more complicated. She was never outright mean to her, never belittled her, and allowed her to be bullied, she just never really spent any time with Mirabel. Which is part of the reason why she didn’t stay in the room. She felt like she was overstepping and her presence wouldn’t be welcomed when they barely spent any time together.

Pepa has all but adopted her. Julieta has chanced her with a rolling pin more than once when she found out that Mirabel was having her call her Tia Mami more than once when she was a baby. She still does.

This was actually perfect timing because her birthday was literally in two days when they realized how close it was they all panicked and rushed into town for last-minute preparation which wasn’t hard since everyone knew Mirabel’s birthday was coming so they set special supplies aside for the family.

Abuela is much kinda and sweeter to her, even before she got her gift. It’s no secret that even while Isabela has her favorite gift, Mirabel was her favorite grandkid personality-wise because she reminded her so much of Pedro. Abuela had asked if Mirabel wanted to redo her ceremony at her 10th birthday party. She’d walk to her door, her wings open for everyone to see and everyone would see her amazing door. Mirabel nodded and hugged her Abuel. She realized her mistake early and is doing her best to be the greatest Abuela she can be.

Her party is awesome. Like they went all out for the girl. Sparklers, all her favorite foods, and flowers, Pepa refused to rain at all the sky was completely clear. The only issue was the birthday girl in question was gone. She was hidden behind the curtain at the start of the party and stayed there until everyone arrived. When they did Casita parted the floors with a red carpet and moved everyone over to make way for her. The town just insert Pikachu face. Mirabel wore a white dress that faded into various shades of blue on the skirt. Her wings are in full view. Casta covered her room with a tarp to not ruin the surprise for the town.

When she reached the top she placed her hands on the candle as Abuela gave her usual speech with a little twist.

“Mirabel. Fifty years ago we were given a Miracle, that blessed each member of our family with a gift, and now it is your turn. You have been a miracle of your own with your sweetheart and kind voice. You have been blessed twice: once with the wings of an angel and our family candle. Do you promise, when the time comes, that you will watch over our beloved Encanto when I am no longer able to?”

“I do Abuela.”

“Do you promise to watch over our family and our magic?”

“I will.”

Abuela smiled fondly at the young girl, and gently cupped her cheek. “Go, open your door.” Everyone was on the edge of their seats, leaning forwards and gasping when the tarp rose to reveal the image of Mirabel holding the candle with her wongs in full view. She hesitated to open the door, the fear of it disappearing and her wings leaving her. Casita tapped the back of her feet, and she smiled. The fear disappeared as she firmly took the doorknob in her hand and turned the nob.

We had started to glow! Some of the white and blue feathers fell and turned gold before changing into butterflies that floated above her head. One sat in her hair and changed into a beautiful hairpin with blue jewels, the winds white with specs of different colors here and there. The door flashed and blinded everyone when it opened. Once her vision returned, her eyes filled with tears.

The room was HUGE. Far bigger than Isabela’s, the biggest in the house. The ceiling was endless, and you couldn’t even see the walls. The room itself was an endless field, lush green grass stretched as far as the eye can see. A garden filled with all her favorite flowers greeted her. Trees stretched upwards and vines hung down, some holding up her giant white and blue bed. Above the trees, were floating islands, dozens, each one different. One was a desert oasis, and another was an island of storms and lightning, with an ocean. Another one was a few smaller islands collecting a source of water that had a waterfall that fell into a giant pond on the side of her bed.

A flock of gold, blue, and white butterflies flew from the trees and swirled around Mirabel, some nestled in her hair. One sat on her nose and stared at her before perching on her shoulder. The rest floated into the air and dissipated into a cloud of glitter. Mirabel was in shock. She stood with tears streaming down her cheeks. She excitedly flapped her wings and suddenly took off into the sky.

Her wings were big when they were folded in, but stretched out they were gigantic. She was fast. A trail of feathers followed her that changed into butterflies followed her around her room and around the islands. Her wings were strong, and she couldn’t control her speed, but she didn’t care. She was FLYING! She looked down at the cheering crowd and the prideful looks of her family. She smiled back at them. She flew down into the trees and caught some vines to stop herself and sprinted over to her family. Her mother pulled her into a tight hug and whispered “you looked so beautiful mija.” Abuela called her over, “A picture! Come on everyone, we need a picture!” She was pushed into the front, her wings stretched out for all to see. This was perfect. This is exactly what she wanted. She was really part of her family. Her Abuela knelt down and placed the family candle in her hands and patted her cheek. “I am so proud of you, Mirabel.”

“Alright, everyone! One, two three!”

“La Familia Madrigal!”

The picture was perfect. Her wings kept glowing, and her smile matched.

—------

Mirabel’s gift is kind of three in one. On top of flying, she can pluck a feather from the wings and make it transform into whatever she wants and needs. Like, say if she’s out of thread, she can take a feather and think about the kind of thread she wants and the feather will transform. If the feather fell off on its own then it can turn into a butterfly, one of three colors. Each color has a different role.

Blue butterflies huddle close to Mirabel to help with small personal things, like bringing her an arepa if she’s hungry. If there's a bunch of them together she can communicate with them and have them do bigger tasks.

Golden butterflies are ones that can be given to people and change into whatever they need. Note NEED.

White butterflies can shift into copies of her. Only a few of these can be used at a time. They are pure white copies of light that hang around for a few minutes so long as the butterfly is intact, if the butterfly is damaged in any way the copy will disappear.

This will only work if SHE plucks the feather. It won’t hurt if she does it and will immediately grow back. If someone else does, it’ll hurt her, and won’t do anything but turn back and fade away. She can’t fly for too long and she can’t use too many feathers as it takes a lot of energy for her, and if she overexerts herself she’ll pass out, which is dangerous when she’s in the sky. It helps if she eats, it’s a lot like Camilo and his gift, and it uses a lot of stamina.

THANK YOU FOR MAKING THIS AU⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️ LOVE DOING ART

Shoutout to the family for staying by her side in the after math, that’s so kool 🔇🔇🔇Love the Alma for letting her redo her ceremony, that’s so cool <333 also the grandkids being. Amazed by her wings is so valid. Lets be real, Camilo (and later Antonio) always ask for rides. BUT ANYWAY CEREMONY. Her being nervous, poor girl, guve that girl sum water 😭 she was probably. SO SCARED. But she had her family next to her, and they’re so real for that <333

AND HER ROOM…SO RAD…I imagine she has a lot of room to fly, so that’s cool <333 and her abilities, they’re so unique‼️‼️ I lob the butterflies 🦅🦅🦅🔇🔇🔇 Let’s hope the town doesn’t try to run her dry cause. That’s not cool 🤨

I’m sorry there were so many that fit. I have a terrible sense of humor <\\3

One without of course <33

THIS WAS SO COOL THANK YOU FOR DA LORE…

[salaminingpolitika]

Breathe In, Breathe Out.

by Kristine Raine Gabriel, Kim Ama, and Terry Polancos

"Breathe in, Breathe out. 1..2..3."

I opened my eyes and stared at the loading screen. I ran out of mobile data load again. I looked inside my wallet and counted the coins I had left, just enough to get me by our next synchronous class.

This has been my life since I started going back to school.

I live in a small town called Sto. Domingo in Albay, but I have big dreams for myself and my family. I stopped my education to work and help put food on our table. Life is complicated like that; the only thing I can tell myself is to,

“Breathe in…Breathe out, 1…2…3.”

I decided to go back to learning ever since the pandemic started. My employer laid us off because there wasn't enough funding to pay us for our work. My parents suggested that I go back and enroll. I was still young, they said. I was still 19 and still had hope to graduate. So I enrolled myself in the 9th grade of Sto. Domingo National High School.

I still didn't know if it was the right decision to go back, so I breathed in… and breathed out, preparing myself for the next school year.

It was the first week of July, and I noticed my friend didn't attend our classes. It wasn't like them; they always had perfect attendance. I got a bad feeling, so I went by their house to check on them, but I wasn't ready for what I saw.

I saw them hanging from the ceiling. I saw them struggling as they accepted what they thought was their fate. I ran and scrambled to get them off the ceiling. I didn't understand what happened and why they did it. I felt tears fall down from my eyes and screamed for help.

I hugged them. I hugged them as I tried to get them to respond to me.

I hugged them and told them to breathe in and to breathe out.

Help came, and I stayed with them until I knew they were safe and alive. They survived.

I couldn't get that image out of my mind for the past few days. I racked my mind to think of reasons why they did it. They had a perfect life and perfect grades while I struggled to get by and attain my education.

Problems plagued everyone who lived in our house, including my family. How can I tell them what eats me up inside when we can barely afford food for the day? It might be a huge burden for them.

I had no one to turn to, and I could barely see the light of my situation. The problem isn't that I don't try; it's just that there isn't a way to make it. But how can no one see or realize how much this stress is destroying me?

I ran out of load again. I complained to my mother about how expensive these internet fees were to attend class and learn. I complained about how I spend so much of our money on internet promos for classes I can't even understand because of weak signals and lag interruptions when we can just spend it on food.

I was frustrated, but most of all, I was tired. So I reminded myself,

“Breathe in….Breathe out…”

I stared at my workload. I can't sleep. I wanted to finish each one before the deadline, but I needed more money to purchase load data. I left my room and looked at my sleeping brother and my parents. I tried so hard to fight and persevere for them, but I was so tired.

I left our home and went inside a small hut nearby; I couldn't bear to let them see me.

Thoughts filled my mind as I slowly understood what was going through my friend's mind that day. I finally understood why they did it.

It was tiring. Trying to live in a system that doesn't give us a fair chance, even in education. It was too expensive for us to learn and was tiring.

Nobody has noticed the burden I carry. Even though I wanted to share my anguish with others, I resisted doing so for fear of adding to their weight and suffering. I couldn't take it anymore, so I cried in the dead of night. I can't hold it any longer; it's tearing me apart. The extreme pressure, anxiety, and pain were too much for me to handle. I'm too young to have these grave worries inside me, and I'm too young to suffer in silence.

I had goals as well, but the circumstances we were in hindered me from reaching them, especially with mine. You might not grasp or won't understand the tremendous amount of drive that even a modest cause—such as a simple online class—can provide.

I took matters into my own hands: I decided to end it all. But even up to the end, I continued to put the weight on them. However, this is the last time I will cause them pain. After this, the burden will be lifted from everyone around me.

I stood in a chair, tightened the noose above me, and braced myself for what I was about to do.

I thought of my family; I hoped they'll forgive me.

Patawarin niyo ako inay, itay. Alam kong mahirap tayo at kayo’y mapapagastos gabi gabi para sa aking lamay.

Patawarin mo ako, aking pinakamamahal na kapatid, kung ako’y iyong makita. Sana’y hindi ikaw ang unang makakita.

I closed my eyes and told myself for the last time.

"Breathe in…Breathe out…1…2…3.."

[mindful-mateo]

"You're right, I'm just as happy not knowing." Mateo held up his hands, smiling a little. Better that he didn't know, clearly, though the levity drained out of the room, at least out of him, as they approached the next subject.

Finn was settled and waiting and Mateo picked up the other mug of tea, just holding it like he needed something to clutch as he approached this. "Sorry in advance if this gets long and rambly. I talk too much sometimes." He was still stalling a little and he let out another breath, fortifying himself. He'd talked about it before, to Rhys, to therapists, but it didn't seem to get much easier. "I don't use my magic. Anything that doesn't happen naturally, like the healing and the eyesight, I just...I don't use it." Mateo swallowed and stared at his tea. "When I was young I never really learned how to control it, never spent time working on it even though my family told me I should. I was more fascinated with the human world as much as they warned me away from it. The only thing I spent any real time on was my human disguise. I got that down and then...well, eventually they couldn't stop me and I went into that world. I was so curious, so captivated by all their stories. Anyway, I fell in love with it and soon enough fell in love with a woman." Mateo paused and sipped his tea, smiling faint and sad. "Carina. She was an artist. Mischievous, could find humor in just about anything, always covered in paint. I fell so hard and was lucky enough to have her fall back, we were married within a year. We had four years together after that and I think they were the best four years of my life." He looked at Finn, his smile genuine but a sadness in his eyes that probably left no doubt about Carina's fate, especially given his use of the past tense.

He sighed again and the smile fell away. He was still stalling, really, though in some way he felt the context was important. Mateo knew, though, that he was just trying to push away the inevitable even as the familiar grief and guilt, so intertwined they were inextricably linked, rose up in him. "Guatemala was in the early years of a civil war at the time. It was dangerous but we did our best to steer clear of it. We got caught in a crossfire one day, though, in a storm and I...I just wanted to protect her, to keep her safe, to get us out of there. But the storm made me too strong and I didn't have much control anyway, tapping into all of it at once I...it all went overboard." He swallowed hard but forced himself to keep going. "It was like all that power, the electricity, things I barely knew I could do or didn't understand how to do properly just poured out of me and when it finally stopped...when I reined it back in...." Mateo closed his eyes and let out a shaky breath, seeing again imprinted on the backs of his eyelids the rain soaked street and the carnage. "...they were all dead. All the soldiers from both sides...and Carina. And it wasn't from a stray bullet it was clearly me, clearly electricity, I'd killed her." He could say the words aloud because he'd said them aloud before though it didn't make it easy. Mateo clenched his jaw against the emotions, kept his eyes closed for a moment then slowly opened them again, forcing himself to look at Finn as he kept going.

"That's why I don't use my powers why, honestly, I'm scared of my powers. When I came here and put this collar on...it was like taking a full breath for the first time in decades, not constantly having to worry about what would happen if I slipped or who I might hurt. So when it got turned off for Spring Mischief and I could feel all your magic..." He wet his lips and shrugged helplessly. "...I couldn't handle it. I panicked, worried that the same thing was going to happen again." Mateo looked at Finn for a moment longer, pained and sincere, then away again, grip tightening nervously on his mug. Well, there it was, the explanation he felt he owed Finn. He didn't know how he would react or even how Mateo wanted him to react but at least it was out there now.

"You definitely don't want that answer," Finn chuckled, giving Mateo an amused grin. As long as Finn hadn't woken up with any new scars or marks or another video of himself on the internet he hadn't been there for, well, seemed like a pretty good day. He at least hadn't done anything with Mateo's body while he'd been in it since the circumstances were vastly different and he had a feeling the thunderbird might be weirded out by it. First Spring Mischief and all, he wasn't risking it.

He nodded, taking a seat then so he was a bit more comfortable for this next part. "Of course, yeah, explain away," he said, sipping on his tea while he waited for Mateo to begin.

[aloneinthehellfire]

Chapter 1: Flickering Lights

Raining Hellfire Series | Season One

Word Count: 6525 words.

Warnings: Swearing, flashbacks to past trauma, bad relationship with biological parents, Will's disappearance (let me know if I missed anything!), + fairly decent writing if you pretend it is

[A/N: I can't blame you if you find this hard to read, my terrible writing + a high word count would make anyone suffer. But, if you do read all of this chapter, I hope you like it :) Also much more Eddie content to come it's hard putting Eddie into the story when he wasn't introduced until Season 4]

Flickering Lights

What did you do?

Oh my god Y/n

WHAT DID YOU DO???

You wake up with a pounding heart, sweat soaking the bed. It had been a while since you had that dream.

The alarm clock on your bedside table read 8pm, meaning your well-thought out ‘power nap’ has lasted 8 hours. All the sleepless nights you spent studying seemed to have caught up with you.

“Fireball him!”

Your head spins to your window, noticing that you had left it open before sleeping. Bed creaking, you walk over, grabbing at the handle while hearing the busy chatter of young boys.

Living next to the Wheelers’ house meant that you had your very own commentary of the events that unfolded in the basement. Mike and his friends usually played D&D down there, something you never knew existed until you moved to Hawkins and got to know the family next door.

Mike’s friends were as annoying as they were loud, happily interrupting your day as you came home to drone on about their campaigns. Personally, you didn’t truly mind. While you’d rather walk into your uncle’s house in peace, it was sweet that they saw you as someone they could talk to. All because you and Nancy had grown close over the past 2 years.

You thought being the new Freshman in Hawkins’ High School would at least give you a fighting chance. Until you learnt that everyone already knew eachother since they had grown up there, and you felt just as lonely as you looked. Nancy being assigned as your tour guide was blessing sent from the big man himself, she not only showed you around but began inviting you to lunch with her friend Barb. Admittedly, it was probably out of pity at first but after you got to know eachother, there was an instant connection.

You count yourself lucky to live next door to a family that welcomes you as if you were one of their own.

Slamming the window shut, you quickly adjust your look in the mirror. Even though you had been here two years, your room was still pretty bare. You hadn’t taken much with you in the first place, leaving most of your things in California since you left so quickly. There wasn’t much reason for you to decorate. Your plans to leave as soon as you graduate were set in stone. No matter how long you stay here, it isn’t ever going to feel like home.

You make your way into the living room, noticing the beer bottles that had been abandoned on the kitchen counter as you walked past.

You live here with your uncle, an arrangement your parents had made since the event. It’s not that you hated your uncle, but you certainly didn’t like him. You understood how inconvenient it all must have been, especially since your aunt had died three months prior to your arrival. But rather than just talk, he liked to drink. A lot. So did your mother in all fairness, so it must run in the family.

The living room was filled with pictures of your aunt. Mostly from when she was younger but your uncle loved taking photos when she was alive, taking any opportunity to snap a picture when he thought she looked beautiful. It was something that was quite bittersweet now. Even the chair that sits untouched in the corner as if it is waiting for its owner to return. Bittersweet.

A note was stuck to the dining table.

‘Out with a few people from work. Try not to get into trouble.’

You sigh. It wasn’t an uncommon note for him to write. The notes he left were always short and snappy and always left out any possibility for you feeding yourself.

Grabbing the note and ripping it in half, you venture into the kitchen, swiftly grabbing the bottles to take with you as you exited through the back door toward the metal trash-cans. The air was much colder than you realised as it attacked your bare legs. Clearly this wasn’t the weather for comfy shorts.

The sudden sensation caused you to drop a bottle, smashing as soon as it hit the concrete.

“Fuck.” You whispered, knowing that there was no way you would be able to pick up every piece.

“Need some help there?”

You brought your gaze to the young boy who was now staring at you with a goofy grin, clearly amused at your impromptu balancing act.

“Oh hey, Dustin.” You said casually, as if your arm wasn’t cramping from the awkward position.

Without a word he takes a few bottles from your hand to help you straighten up, you both discarding the bottles before turning back to eachother.

“Thanks.” You chuckle, staring down at him. There was a pretty big height difference between you two, but that was expected for a 16 and 12 year old.

“Anytime, Y/n. You know you’re my favourite Wheeler.” His smile was too precious.

“You realise I’m not actually- wait. What about Nancy?”

Yes, there was Mike but him and Nancy always had a special bond.

He begins walking back around to the Wheeler house, curiosity leading you with him. He brought you to join his friends, silently pointing at Nancy’s window. Looking up, you could see her stood by it and facing her room with a phone in her hand.

“Ah yes, she uses a phone. She must be the devil.” You mock, earning a small giggle from Will.

Dustin ignores your comment, turning to Mike instead.

“There’s something wrong with your sister.”

“What are you talking about?” Mike questions, helping Will with his bike before walking over to join you.

“She’s got a stick up her butt.”

“Yeah. It's because she's been dating that douchebag, Steve Harrington.” Lucas chimes in, shaking his head in disgust.

You look back up to her window, seeing her twirl her hair. You knew she was talking to Barb but it was undeniable that she was talking about Steve.

“So she’s dating ‘The Hair’... I don’t think that qualifies her as a jerk.”

“Yes it does!” Lucas replied quickly.

“Yeah, she's turning into a real jerk.” Dustin said solemnly, Mike adding that she had always been a jerk.

“Nuh-uh, she used to be cool.” He said defensively, grabbing his bike. “Like when she and Y/n dressed up as elves for our Elder Tree campaign!”

“Hey! Don’t go spreading that around. And if anyone asks, Nancy did that long before I did.” You really didn’t need him blabbering about something you did two years ago.

“She didn’t even accept the pizza slice, Y/n. Who would do something like that?” Dustin stared at you. It was pretty clear that Nancy’s recent behaviour has left him disheartened.

“Only a true monster.” You said shaking your head and grabbing your heart dramatically before faking a faint. The eruption of giggles meant you had succeeded in cheering them up.

Dustin gave you his signature toothless smile and you ruffled his curly hair before they all said goodbye and rode off. Will and Mike still behind but talking to one another so you thought it best to just go back inside.

After kick-brushing the shards of glass towards the bin (you’d deal with it tomorrow morning), you stepped onto the small porch of your back door and swung the door open. You heard Will’s goodbye and the sound of pedals before the porch light began flickering.

Great, you thought, I guess I have to fix that too.

“So did he call?”

“Keep your voice down.”

You were stood by your locker with Nancy and Barb. You had no idea how you got to that conversation but clearly they preferred the topic of boys much more than you did.

“I told you, it's not like that. Okay, I mean, yes, he likes me, but not like that. We just made out a couple times.” Nancy says with a lovesick look in her eyes.

You groaned, placing your head on your locker. Your so-called ‘nap’ meant you hadn’t slept more than 2 hours last night and you were starting to feel the consequences hammering in your head. Barb, however, took your groan as a different meaning.

“‘We just made out a couple times’,” Barb mimics Nancy’s voice before returning to a serious tone, “Nance, seriously, you're gonna be so cool now, it's ridiculous. Even Y/n agrees with me.”

“No, I'm not. And Y/n just doesn’t like Steve.” She replies, sending a satire glare your way. It’s not false; you did like to fantasise about Steve’s reaction to waking up bald one day. But seeing how much your friend liked him meant you had to be nice.

“It’s not him necessarily. It’s those friends of his.” You say, shuddering as if the thought was disgusting. Truth is, you and Steve used to be good friends in Freshman year until he started hanging out with Ken and Barbie.

“You better still hang out with me and Y/n, that's all I'm saying. If you become friends with Tommy H. or Carol -” Barb says.

“Oh, that's gross! Okay, I'm telling you, it was a one-time... Two-time thing.” Nancy defends herself, opening her locker to find a note. You read it immediately and groaned again.

“As much as I love talking about someone who thinks there’s no such thing as too much hairspray… I need to get to class.” You slam your locker shut, saying quick goodbyes as you walked off.

Class didn’t start for another 5 minutes but truthfully, the conversation was boring you. Sure, you’ve talked about boys before. Plenty of times. But it never felt the same as when you were 13.

“Oh my god Y/n, did he, like, kiss you?” Your best friend asked, her voice squeaking slightly at the word.

“Ew, no. Well, not yet anyway.” You said, leaning back nonchalantly. In actual fact, you were screaming inside.

“Well when you do, I want to be the first to know. Your first kiss is a big deal and I’m lonely so let me live through you.” She giggles, bumping your shoulder.

“Who else would I even tell?”

You hadn’t thought about that night in a long time. You stop and take a breath. To think that the year only went downhill from there.

Shrugging off the thought, you quicken your pace, turning the corner at such a fast pace that anyone coming the other way would surely collide with you.

Which is exactly what happened.

“OW!” A loud, slightly higher pitched voice rung out as your forehead most certainly hit theirs. The force was powerful enough to send you backwards, sending your books to the floor and scattering the pages that you had hoped would stay tucked into them.

“I’m so so so sorry.” You said hurriedly, wincing as you grabbed your head. That was gonna bruise.

“Well yeah I should hope-”

The voice stopped for a second and you removed the hand from you head to get a better view. And immediately, you blushed.

Before you was a boy, which normally wouldn’t phase you but this boy looked… cool. His clothes, first of all, were incredibly cool. All black with a long sleeve shirt that read ‘WELCOME TO HELL’ in bold red letters, hidden beneath a black jacket. And then his hair was just… wow. It was messy, but the good kind. It fell to his shoulders but was layered so it made it fluffier. Lastly, his left hand held three chunky rings, designs that you couldn’t very well due to the aching in your forehead. That very hand was now held out to you as he looked upon you with concern written on his face. He was just, well, beautiful.

All that staring at him caused you to become temporarily deaf.

“Helloooo?” He sang, waving his hand to get your attention. He most certainly already had it.

“Sorry?” You said, blushing even harder. What was happening.

“I asked if you were alright.” He smiled. God, you loved that smile.

“I, uh, yeah. Well, um, yes.” You rambled, attempting to pick up your books before you embarrassed yourself any further. You needed to get it together.

“As long as you’re sure.” He laughed, handing you a book.

Both of you slowly stood with you attempting to shuffle your books into a more comfortable manner. Why did you leave your bag in your locker? Ugh. When you looked back up at him, you opened your mouth but found you had nothing to say. Why was your brain just malfunctioning?

“Look-” You began, ready to apologise again and again. You didn’t want to make an enemy.

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone.” He cut you off, crossing his arms.

“What?”

“I get it. Avoid the freak or you’ll be thrown from your little group.”

“I… what?” Confusion was setting in.

He leaned in, looking around the hallway before speaking.

“I get that you and the other clearly superior beings don’t like people like me or, well, just me. And seeing as I’ve never seen you around before, I will spare you the traumatising experience of having to admit that you and I bumped heads.” His voice had changed along with his demeanour. You were seriously missing that smile now.

“I’m not with them.” You were shaking your head now, and his eyes fell to your journal.

“Ah. Y/n. I’ve heard quite a few rumours about you.”

“What?” There were rumours?

“Hm. Yeah, you’re the one that’s trying to fit in with all the other pricks in here because you didn’t make it at your last school. So please, don’t use me as your way to prove your shallow heart to your glorious leaders.” He took a step back, clearly waiting for you to throw an insult his way.

Your heart sunk. You knew he had to have a good reason to hate them, the same way you did too. But you definitely weren’t expecting him to speak to you like that. You were wrong about him, the same way he is completely wrong about you. He was just like every other boy.

“Fuck you.” You said, barging past him, trying not to notice the way his eyes widened. You think you heard him say something but you just needed to find a bathroom fast. Tears were threatening to spill. It’s not what he said, but the mention of your last school tore at something inside you. Pain. Anger. Regret.

You burst into the first bathroom you found, closing and leaning on the door while trying to will the tears away. You needed to get your emotions under control. You let out a sigh before you heard giggling erupt from the other corner of the room. Pulling your focus towards them, your breath hitched. You’d notice that hair anywhere.

“Y/n, hey.” Nancy’s voice rang out. It was nice of her to pull her lips away from Hawkins’ very own playboy for two seconds just to talk to you. You tried not to notice the way her face was flushed.

“Hi.” Steve said, sliding his arm around Nancy’s shoulder.

You stared at them before realising the situation.

“Gross.” You plainly said, turning around and swinging the door back open. Nancy noticed your teary eyes and stepped away from Steve to look at you with worry.

“Wait, are you okay?” She asked.

“Never been better.” You muttered. Not wanting to stick around longer you quickly exited and made your way to class.

As much as you liked Nancy, it was none of her business.

Photography was something that you discovered a passion for in Hawkins. While living in California would have provided you with so many amazing photo possibilities, Hawkins just felt different. It was quieter. You found so much beauty in that. So when the opportunity of taking a photography class was presented to you, you took it.

Most days your teacher would let his class experiment with the school supplied cameras, something you loved since you didn’t have the money to buy your own. You desperately needed a job but nowhere would take you, mostly because you were only 16.

You sat next to Jonathan, watching him shift around with the focus on his camera. You liked Jonathan, he wasn’t like the others at Hawkins. In fact, it seemed he was the only male here who didn’t make you want to rip your hair out. He was most definitely shy, usually stuck in his own world. For the first year you knew him, he had barely uttered two sentences to you. But now he was a lot more comfortable with you. He was a friend.

“Taken any new photos lately?” You asked, resting your chin on your hand.

“A few. Nothing worth adding to my project though.” He said quietly before a satisfied hum sounded; he had set the camera to his liking.

Your teacher had given us a project that he, to your dislike, had named ‘Happiness’. You were instructed to take photos of what makes you happy, hoping you would dig deeper and create more meaningful pieces. The minimum amount of photos was twenty. You didn’t even have one.

“You wanna borrow my camera tonight?” He turned his eyes to your direction, raising his brow.

“Uh… no, no. It’s fine. I don’t really know what I’d want to shoot yet anyway.” Shaking your head and flipping through the textbook in front of you.

“You know you need to start sometime. Even if it’s just something small. Like a favourite place of yours, or even a person.” He says, bumping your shoulders with a knowing look.

He knew you were struggling with this. It wasn’t that you couldn’t take great photos, because you were amazing at it, but happy things just weren’t your expertise.

“I’ll think about it. So… you up to anything tonight?” You look at him, begging to change the subject.

He just shrugged, making notes in his book before putting his pencil down and turning his body to face yours.

“Have you seen Will lately?”

The question caught you by surprise. Was something wrong with Will?

“Yeah, I saw him last night when he was at the Wheelers.”

“Did you see him leave?”

“I remember he rode off with Dustin and Lucas but that’s about it.” You began to feel your stomach twist. Something was clearly wrong.

“Okay, thanks.” He said, rubbing his face.

“Is everything okay?”

He looked at you, eyebrows scrunching together before he shook his head and continued fiddling around with his camera.

“He just-” He said after a while, setting his camera back down, “He just didn’t come home last night. And I was working when I shouldn’t have been but my mum needs the extra cash right now and I know I should have been there to make sure but-”

“Hey, hey,” You placed a hand on his shoulder to calm him down, “He might have just stayed the night as Dustin’s or something and forgot to call.”

You knew it was an empty gesture, you had a bad feeling that you just couldn’t shake. You hoped that by convincing Jonathan he was fine, you’d convince yourself.

Will was a quiet kid, much like his brother, but you’ve seen the way he talks about his friends. When you first met he usually let the other kids take the lead in talking to you but as soon as you asked what D&D was about, you saw his face light up. Usually you would be bored half to death, but seeing how happy it made him, you became invested. You began to feel protective of him, of all of them. You don’t know what you’d do without them.

“I hope so.” He said in a small voice before the bell rang out. He grabbed his stuff, saying how he needed to get home. Understandable. You just wished that Will would be home when he got there.

Every day, after the last bell has rung, you would make your way to the benches that sat just behind the school, further up the field. It was usually an empty area where you could sit and listen to music without being disturbed. Somewhere you could think while not thinking at all. You were meant to meet Nancy for a study date later but it still gave you two hours to yourself.

Grabbing your Walkman, a tape already set in its slot, you placed the headphones over your ears and pressed play, laying on your back so that your legs hung off the edge of the picnic bench.

I hear the ticking of the clock

I’m lying here, the room’s pitch dark

I wonder where you are tonight

“Hello?”

No answer on the telephone

“Yoo-hoo?”

And the night goes by so very-

“What the hell?” The headphones were suddenly yanked away from you, causing you to squint against the sun at the figure that stood over you. You sat up straight and prepared to take back your headphones.

“Sorry, I did say hello but your music was too loud- wait, what even is this?”

“None of your business.” You say, snatching the headphones from their hands. The rings glinted in the sunlight, catching your eye. You recognised those rings. Oh shit.

“Keeping it to yourself. That’s cool, very mysterious.” He said with a chuckle.

It was him, the guy you had bumped into earlier. Even now, after a long day at school, he looked incredible- No. He may look like a god but he still insulted you.

“What do you want?” You ask defensively, a glint of anger in your voice as you remembered past events. Making sure to stop the tape, you clutched your Walkman before stuffing it back in your bag. So much for having some time to yourself.

“Hey!” He said, waving his arms to stop what you were doing, “I just wanted to talk. About earlier.”

He crossed his arms against his torso, looking at the ground. He looked shy all of a sudden. He then took your silence as an opportunity to speak.

“I didn’t mean to be dick to you. Or insult you. I just…” He paused, walking around the space as he thought of what to say, “I get pretty guarded when I speak to someone. You spend so long as ‘The Freak’ that you get used to being treated like ass and I wasn’t in the mood for it today.”

“I-” You began, setting your bag down.

“No, I was an idiot and I insulted you. Which wasn’t cool of me at all, I don’t even know you and I was just as much of a judgemental asshole as the rest of them so I’m so very, very, sorry.”

You weren’t expecting this at all. In all honesty, you would have probably forgotten about the meeting in a few hours time. Words were stuck in your throat and you just blurted out the first thing in your mind.

“I like your rings.”

He looks at you in surprise and you feel the colour rushing to your cheeks. Why the hell did I say that?

“Sorry, I just didn’t know what to say and I didn’t want there to be this awkward silence because, like, the more awkward it gets the more I want to be silent but then that just makes it more awkward and I… I was rambling wasn’t I?” You clock his amused grin that spread across his face, creating the most precious crinkles you have ever seen.

“No, no it’s fine, it was cute.” He blurted. It was now his turn to turn red. He laughed weirdly, obviously embarrassed of his own remark.

“I’m sorry too. That’s what I wanted to say… that I was sorry. I get it, the whole people treating you like shit thing. I get that too. I can’t blame you for defending yourself. I just… is that really what people say about me?”

“Huh?” He shifted his gaze from your lips to your eyes.

“That thing you said, about the rumour. Do people really say that?” You quieten. You’ve been here two years now and you didn’t even begin to think what people were saying behind your back.

“No, no, no… well, not exactly.” He quickly sat down next to you on the bench top, placing his hands lazily on his lap, messing around with his rings. Why does he only have rings on his left hand?

“What do they say?” When he stays silent you enquire further, “Seriously tell me. At least if I know I can prepare myself for when Tommy and his band of walking cliches come for me.”

“I haven’t heard much,” He finally says, tilting his head towards you, “But I heard people say all sorts of crazy stuff when you first appeared. Something about you being sent away because your parents didn’t want you. And one about you only being friends with that Wheeler girl because you wanted in to the hoard of wannabes.” He said so matter of factly as if he didn’t believe it’s true.

“Oh.” That’s all you say. You had to admit, that stung.

“I don’t believe them!” He raises both his hands as if he had just been caught by the cops.

“No, don’t worry it’s… fine. At least I know now.” You quickly added. You weren’t a wannabe, but the first part was true.

“Anyway,” He said, “I never got to formally introduce myself when I made the most awful first impression in the world.”

He gets up to stand in front of you, bowing so theatrically that you began to giggle.

“Eddie Munson, at your service.” As he straightened up, his hair whipped behind him and he extended a hand, “And you are?”

“You already know my name.” You laughed, shaking your head.

“Shh, pretend I don’t, I’m trying something here.”

“Okay, I’m Y/n, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Eddie.” You take his hand, trying to ignore how the brush of his skin made your heart flutter.

“Pleasure is all mine, Y/n.” He pretended to kiss your hand before gently dropping it and sitting on the grass in front of you, stretching his legs and using his arms to prop himself up.

“No last name there Y/n?” He asked.

“Not something I use very often. I’m thinking of dropping it completely, like Madonna or Prince.” It’s true. You never say your surname out loud. You weren’t even sure you were allowed to after that look your parents had given you that night.

“I like it, make a statement.” He nodded, he obviously noticed how uncomfortable the mention of your family surname made you.

“Exactly.”

You both talked for a while, mostly about school and how much you both disliked Harrington and his gang, laughing at eachother’s jokes until there was a moment of silence. Not awkward just… peaceful. You were looking into the distance, noticing the young boys you knew were riding their bikes past the front field. There were only three of them.

Remembering what Jonathan had told you suddenly brought you back to reality. As you looked back at Eddie, you saw he was already staring at you, a soft smile on his face.

“What time is it?” You asked, looking at the watch on his wrist, attempting to hide your own smile at his own but failing immediately.

“It’s about… 5.” He said nodding in agreement with himself.

“Oh shit I’m late!” You started grabbing you bag, hopping off the bench and turning to look at Eddie who was already stood next to you.

“For what?” He questioned, closing the space between you both as he looked down into your eyes. You couldn’t deny the warm feeling in your chest.

“I was meant to be meeting Nancy to study like 20 minutes ago! My god, I think she might actually kill me.” It was true, Nancy was very serious when it came to studies.

“Ah well, that sounds… fun.” He smiled, leaning against the bench.

“Yeah I can’t wait for her to scream at me about hydrogen atoms.” You laugh, adjusting your backpack. Thank god you decided to ride your bike in today. You had your drivers license but you were missing a key part; a car.

“Thank you,” You said, turning around, “for coming to apologise. I’m glad you did.”

“Me too.” He smiled again, grabbing part of his hair to cover his cheek, “Now go, I would hate to find that you were brutally murdered by a science book.”

You laughed, saying a quick goodbye and sprinting toward your bike. Maybe he was better than you thought.

Your recent high had been shattered when you made it to the Wheeler house.

Karen had opened the door, welcoming you in and letting you know that Nancy was in the dining room with everyone else. As you both walked through, you could hear Mike’s raised voice as he complained about having to stay in.

“We’ve been over this. The chief said-” Karen said, sighing as if they had been having this conversation long before you arrived.

“I don’t care what the chief said.” He snapped, both of his hands on the table.

“Michael!”

As they continued to argue, you made your way to Nancy, smiling with raised eyebrows at the quarrel before you. She just shook her head in disappointment, smiling back as you took a seat next to her.

“Will could be in danger!”

“Wait, what?” Your attention now completely focused on the dark haired boy, “What happened?”

“He went missing, they found his bike on the side of the road today. He hadn’t made it home last night.” Karen answered solemnly. Your heart sank, so many scenarios running through your head.

“They’ll find him.” Mr. Wheeler said in monotone. He was clearly more interested in his paper than the conversation.

“More reason to stay put.” Karen chimed. She was clearly just trying to protect her child.

“Mom! I don’t see Y/n staying home!” Mike whined. You glared at him. Why did he have to bring you into this?

“Y/n lives next door, it’s not like she’s riding out in the dark. End of discussion.” His mother demanded, finalising their argument by taking a sip of her water.

“So… Y/n and I were gonna study for the chemistry test at Barb’s house tonight. That’s cool right?” Nancy spoke, looking at you to agree with her. This was news to you but you nodded along nonetheless.

“No, not cool.” Karen said, spinning around to face you.

“What? Why not?”

“Why do you think? Am I speaking Chinese in this house? Until we know Will is okay, no one leaves.”

You chose to stay silent. You knew Nancy didn’t want to leave just to study at Barb’s house.

“So we’re under house arrest?”

“Don’t be dramatic Nancy.”

“This is such bullshit.”

“Language!”

You zoned out of the conversation, your thoughts drifting to Will. You had possibly the nicest time of your years here talking to Eddie while at the same time, Will had been missing. He could be all alone and afraid. And you told Jonathan that he was okay.

“You’re just pissed because you wanna hang out with Steve.”

That caught your attention. Of course this had to do with Steve. Nancy looked at you with an expression you couldn’t quite read, yelling at her Mike for spilling her secret. You came here to study with your friend and she was just going to ditch you for her new boy toy. Rude.

“You’re such a douche, Mike!” She screamed, shoving out of her chair and storming off to her room.

“I… should go with her.” You mumbled as you stood up and left. You didn’t want to stick around much longer.

When you entered Nancy’s room, she was sat on her bed with the phone that she must have grabbed along the way. You silently sat on the edge of her bed, setting your bag down on the floor and taking your shoes off.

“Yeah, sorry, we’ll meet up another time… okay. Bye.” She hung up and placed the phone on her night stand, sighing.

“Steve?” It wasn’t really a question, you knew she wasn’t talking to Barb.

“Yeah… I’m really sorry. He asked me to meet up with him tonight and I couldn’t find you at the end of school to tell you.” She gave an apologetic smile. “But I guess that doesn’t matter anymore.”

“Your mom is just scared. Will is literally missing. I can’t even imagine how Joyce is feeling let alone your mom.” It was a heartbreaking thought, knowing Joyce and Jonathan were having to deal with all this right now.

“I know, you’re right. Mike just gets me worked up sometimes. I mean, can you believe he just blurted about Steve like that?”

“It was uncalled for, I guess.” You chuckled as Nancy grabbed her cards and held them out to you.

The night went smoothly. You still worried about Will but trusted that the sheriff would find him soon. As you quizzed Nancy, the images of a familiar smile filled your mind. You just couldn’t get Eddie out of your head. Clearly it was written all over your face when Nancy tilted her head laughing.

“What’s that smile for?”

“What? Nothing. I just… really love Chemistry.” A failed attempt at misdirection.

“Shut up, you’re thinking about a boy.”

“How did you-”

She just raised her eyebrows.

“That obvious, huh?” You might be able to keep in words but your face always gave you away.

“Well, tell me! Who is he?” She squealed, excited that you may have met someone.

Before you could answer, there was a tapping noise at the open window, causing both of you to jump and scatter the cards everywhere.

“Yeah, who is he?” Steve said in a high-pitched voice, clearly mocking you both.

“Steve!” Nancy made her way to the window. You just stayed sat on the bed.

Yay..., you thought while rolling your eyes, it’s Steve.

“What are you doing here? I told you I would have to stay in tonight-”

“I know. We’ll study here.”

“No, I told you, absolutely not, go away-”

Yes, please go away Steve.

“I don’t want you to fail tomorrow.” He interrupts, flashing his signature smile. You didn’t think it was possible to roll your eyes harder.

Despite her earlier protests, she opened her window further, allowing him access. He climbed through, landing softly on his feet. You would be impressed if you weren’t aware that he has snuck into many girls’ windows before. What a gentleman.

“What did I tell you? A ninja.” He was clearly referencing an inside joke you didn’t know.

You began putting your shoes back on and stuffing your books back into your bag. It was obvious that you weren’t wanted anymore.

“Y/n, what are you doing?” Nancy asked with so much innocence that you figured she was oblivious to Steve’s actual plans for being here.

“She’s probably just tired.” Steve remarked, shrugging. That asshole.

“I didn’t feel like sitting here while you made out with Mr Hairspray over there.” You shot back, happy with Steve’s offended reaction that Nancy ignored.

“What? No, we’re just studying I promise.” Nancy walked to you, hand on your arm. “Plus you didn’t even tell me about that boy.”

“Wow, never thought Y/n would even have a boy.” Steve snorted with his hands in his pockets.

“Steve!” Nancy hushed. She knew you two didn’t get along but still managed to act surprised when you fought.

“Y/n!” She also said as you stuck your middle finger at him, standing and swinging your bag onto your shoulder.

“I’ll see you tomorrow Nancy.” You said, smiling in reassurance that you didn’t blame her for this sudden situation.

“Bye, Y/n.” Steve said cheerily, giving you a wave.

“Bye, Hairy.” You replied as you left her room, smirking to yourself.

You didn’t need to turn around to know Steve was angry with your nickname. A nickname that surely was going to make a comeback soon. It was too good to let go now that you started.

You stood at the counter as your uncle walked in, bringing the stench of alcohol in with him. He had been drinking with his work friends again. You were pretty sure he doesn’t consider them as ‘friends’, it just gave him an excuse to drink.

“Aren’t you meant to be asleep?” He muttered.

“I’m 16 and it’s only 9.” You replied softly. He wasn’t a horrible man. Truth is, he was still mourning. He and your aunt never even got to have any kids before she died. This was as new to him as it was to you.

“Ah. Well, I’ll be in the other room if you need me.” He patted your shoulder and left holding a beer bottle he had removed from the fridge.

You just sat in your room for the rest of the night, attempting to study the cards you hadn’t gotten the chance to look at before the horny mascot of shampoo had crashed your study date. But no matter what you tried, your mind was running a hundred miles an hour with every thought but chemistry. Will. Eddie. California.

You knew this year was going to be different. You felt it as you got into bed, body shivering as you turned off the bedside lamp that had began flickering.

Yet another bulb to replace.

Chapter 2: Pool Parties and Good Punches ->

[strxnged]

SKZ: # how are you doing?

word count. 3.2k genre. breakup, angst, comfort.

overview. seven months after a messy relationship with lee minho, the details of your breakup suddenly resurface and your friend group has outcast you. everyone hates you, and at this point, you can't blame them. that is... everyone but chan.

warnings. false cheating rumours, profanity, crying, upset characters, did listen to "she's in the rain" by the rose during the writing process. also, barista!chan because i think he'd be hot. also, i did not read this over at all. 😙 enjoy!

“How are you today?”

The tone of the question caught you off guard. You were normally inclined to lie in response, but you were struck with the feeling that it would be decipherable to the inquirer. Chan’s cafe uniform looked foreign on him, you were so used to the school one. But the apron hanging around his neck was like a little casual reminder that you weren’t at school, that you didn’t have to put on a collected persona. Maybe you could just answer honestly for once.

“Not great,” you replied, sitting your chin in your hands on the counter.

Chan’s eyebrows raised and he hesitated polishing the glass in his hands. “Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. How come?”

You stared. He seemed like he genuinely wanted to know. Of course, he knew exactly why, but it was like he was encouraging you to go on.

“Hey, are you okay?”

“It’s nothing. Just got some things on my mind. I wouldn’t bore you.”

The point of coming here had been to keep him company while he was on his shift tonight. You knew how busy he’d been with a hard semester and a messy family situation, and he was still keeping up his job here. He never complained, though. He never let it show.

“Bore me? No, you wouldn’t. I can listen, if you want.”

“It’s nothing compared to what you’re going through,” you mumbled. You wished you could take it back the second it came out. You’d meant it, but saying such a thing was probably the last thing he wanted to hear.

Chan squinted at you, busying his hands on a mug again. “Y/N. Don’t… say things like that. It’s not fair to you.”

You apologized, tilting the bottom of your mug to the ceiling as the last drops of tea fell into your mouth. You fidgeted with the handle. Things were different when you two weren’t at school with everyone, and you didn’t know whether you liked that or not. “What time are you off?”

“In an hour. Now, are you going to tell me about what’s troubling you, or do I have to make you another tea for you to cave?”

You pushed your mug forward with a small smile. “Well…”

He picked it up and flashed a dimple at you. “Okay, then. Why don’t you start talking?”

You took a deep breath. He really was quite insistent on having this question answered. Somehow, that hurt more than anything anyone had said to you today, because this, unlike anything else, was unbelievable. That he cared enough to hear your side.

“Everyone’s stressed out right now,” you began. “I recognize that. I see how tiring this is, not just for Minho and I, but for everyone.”

Chan didn’t interrupt you, pouring hot water and glancing at you to show that he was listening.

“But everybody thinks they can solve the problem by attacking me or Changbin. There’s nothing either of us can say. Nothing happened, it wasn’t… it wasn’t what everyone is saying it is, nobody believes us, but even though all of that is true…” You sighed again. “I fucked up. Because I didn’t tell Minho anything to begin with. So I can’t blame anyone for assuming… I can’t blame Changbin for skipping every day… I’m starting to want to do the same.” That wasn’t entirely true. You liked the class you had with Changbin and Chan. “I just want to get out of this town for good.”

“Have you and Minho talked since…?”

“No, we still haven’t.”

Chan gave you a sorry look, setting a fresh mug in front of you. “So you still don’t know each other’s sides.”

“It should have stayed between us,” you said. “Now, it would be better to never talk to any of the group again.”

“Hey, hey, that’s not true.”

“Jisung basically told me to go fuck myself if I think about talking to Minho again.”

He shook his head. “He didn’t mean it.”

You remembered the way your friend’s eyes had narrowed at you today, the way he’d slowed walking in the halls to look you dead in the face to say it. “Don’t come near him again,” Jisung’d said, “you’ve hurt him enough. Just… stay way from now on.” Him being Minho, of course.

You didn’t know what pissed you off more; that Jisung would say something like that to you, or that Minho had probably encouraged him to do it. There was no way Han Jisung, who you’d spent many a band class laughing with, would have such a quick change of heart based off of a few rumours. Even the worst of rumours… wouldn’t he have had some faith in you?

It was the same story, over and over. But every time, it got a little more viscous, a little more outrageous, a little more justifiable for the whole group to turn their backs on you?

“He meant it, Chan. And it’s really all my fault.”

“Can I ask a question?” Chan glanced around the cafe, and you did the same. Besides his coworker, who was in the kitchen, and a hooded person out of earshot by the storefront windows. As far as the two of you were concerned, you were alone enough.

You paused, and then said, “Yeah.”

“What really went on with Changbin? At the cabin?”

There was that tone again. The one you’d been hearing all week from the whole group. The one implying the belief — rather, the fear — that seven months ago when you’d showed up to visit the cabin that night, you’d broken every rule any relationship should have and any childhood friendship should have.

“I’ll start with what was true,” you said. “Yes, I did show up when everyone else was asleep and he happened to be awake. Yes, we did sit on the porch and talk. Yes, we did yell “I love you so much” at each other loud enough for the entire neighbourhood to hear. Yes, we hugged.”

Chan stayed quiet, nodding and allowing you space to continue.

“We made up. That was it. We hadn’t talked in months, and we finally talked things out. It was private. It was things between us. But it was never crossing any lines, except for that someone saw us at the wrong time. That’s all I know. I didn’t tell anyone about it, which seemed to make sense to me at the time. But I should have told Minho. I didn’t anticipate this.” You paused to take a first sip. The tea was just the right temperature, a comfort.

“Seungmin,” Chan said. “Seungmin saw you out the window, and the next morning he told me and Minho that you two had been ‘together’. Speculations, confusion, miscommunication… it led to…”

“What? What did you guys think happened?”

“That day everyone was whispering to everyone, except Changbin. It was bad. I tried to quell it, and so did Minho. But it seemed to be a fact that Seungmin had seen the two of you… you know… and poor Minho…”

“I’d come initially to see him that night. Minho, I mean.”

“Really?”

“I brought a bag of marshmallows.”

Chan’s jaw dropped slowly. “We’d forgotten marshmallows.”

You slid your head face-down onto the table. “It’s a mess,” you mumbled into the wood. “It’s a fucking mess.”

“The weeks after… he was trying to figure out how to break up with you…”

“I knew. But I didn’t know why until this week.”

“I guess not.”

You raised your head, this time looking at the ceiling with both your hands on your head in a pose of agony. You could feel a sob of frustration ringing in your throat but you swallowed it down. “If I had just told him… if he had just told me…”

“That wasn’t the first time you guys had had that problem, though, was it?”

“No. Of course not. We had a complicated relationship. Really liked each other, had nothing in common, our personalities barely matched. I loved him. But we couldn’t get our shit together and communicate. I knew that, and I still know that. I’ve reconciled with the fact that we weren’t good anyways. I just didn’t realize that it was really such an awful misunderstanding that led us to break up.”

Chan’s eyes shifted behind you and then back to you again, pursing his lips. “He loved you, too. It was really … ”

“A mess.”

“Would you go back?”

You rubbed your eyes. “I don’t know. I don’t know if it would be worth it."

"Why not?"

"Even though now isn’t all that great,” you said, “it would have been better if the two of us had never dated in the first place. It would have been better for both of us. I should have gone for you, honestly.”

Chan gave you an easy smile. “All either of you talked about for a few months was each other. I heard the good and bad from both of you.”

You frowned. “See, that’s why I wouldn’t go back.”

“I understand.” He glanced behind you again, and this time he perked up. “Gotta check on this customer. I’ll be right back.”

Part of you had forgotten he was still on shift. Having nothing else to do, you nodded and watched Chan round the counter, heading to the table at the window. He’d been hearing all this time that you cheated on his best friend, but hadn’t made you feel like a criminal once. Was it that he hadn’t cared or blamed you? Or was it that he’d had faith in you?

After taking the customer’s dishes, he told you he’d take them to the kitchen and come back in a bit. You nodded. “We can talk after you’re off,” you promised, although it came out as more of a question.

“Of course,” he said, and disappeared.

You were left to your own thoughts.

The racing of your heart was only noticeable now that you weren’t distracted by Chan. You felt so cared for, so important. You hadn’t felt that way for months, with everyone giving you silent treatment until this had finally come out. No, you hadn’t really felt this way for years.

He didn’t have to say it for you to understand. He cared about you. The way he cared about you didn’t really matter, because it was something real and genuine. It hurt, because even though you hadn’t made the choice everyone thought you had, in the last week you’d said a lot of things you regretted. It hurt, because you’d said things to him even that you could remember being wrong. It hurt because this week had made you realize that this was what the world decided people who fucked up like you deserved.

So why…

Why did he ask you how your day was going? Why did he care?

You sighed loud enough that you expected the other customer could hear you. Out with the exhale went your anxiety about tomorrow, your regrets about the past, and your bitterness towards Minho. What was left was a shadeless appreciation for Chan and this evening and the fact that maybe although it had felt like it, all was not lost.

Your eyes had closed but they opened now at the sound of a chair moving next to you. Next to you was the hooded customer that had been sitting by the window earlier.

“Hey,” he said in a quiet voice, and pushed back his hood. By this time, you’d already understood.

Minho.

He’d been here the whole time.

Your skin crawled and you involuntarily remembered every detail of your past relationship. That day after school, getting food together and walking around town. The smile on his face that day, how it had made your heart melt. That first night of summer, during which you’d both told each other you loved each other, and not ten minutes later were yelling at each other about a disagreement. The morning two days later when he’d brought you a box of cookies and told you he was still right but shouldn’t have reacted the way he did. That time you were going to apologize to him at the cabin and had him on your mind the whole time you talked to Changbin, ending up making up with the friend you’d iced out of your life during the relationship instead of your boyfriend. And then, every day since until tonight… unchanging eyes. Eyes that didn’t smile at you in the halls anymore, conviction that you’d imagined there’d ever been anything good about your relationship.

You cleared your throat, averting your eyes. “How much did you hear?” you asked, your voice breaking.

“Enough,” he said.

“Enough?”

He clicked his tongue. “Well, I know that I broke up with you over nothing.”

Over nothing…

No, it wasn’t over nothing. In a healthy relationship such a misunderstanding would have been way less likely and effortless. “Did you and Chan plan this so that you’d hear everything?”

“I just came to talk to you and I didn’t want to interrupt anything.”

You nodded. You weren’t sure whether to believe it or not, but it didn’t matter.

“I have some regrets.”

“About coming?”

“About not coming sooner.”

“Oh.”

Silence, again. You saw Chan out of the corner of your eye take one step out of the kitchen only to quickly change his decision and disappear again. Probably for the best. You glanced at Minho again.

“I’m sorry I—”

“I just wanted to say I—”

You both spoke at the same time. It felt a little too ridiculous for the situation.

“You can go first,” he said.

“Of course,” you said. “Putting off your apology.”

He set his jaw until he realized you were teasing him. He sniffed at you, and you began.

There were a lot of things you couldn’t say. You’d realized that by now. There were a lot of things you wanted to say, but very few that would actually help both of you gain closure over what was the two of you. “So. I didn’t tell you Changbin and I made up.”

“No,” he said. “You didn’t.”

“So me and him spending a sudden increase of time together this year must have come across wrong, huh?”

He nodded. “Yup. Basically confirmed our suspicions.”

“I didn’t mean to hurt you, ever.”

Minho curled his lips into an empty, sardonic grin that seemed to be directed at himself more than anyone. “And that’s why I have to apologize. I’ve been mad at you before, but after that… it felt like you’d not only been lying to me for months, but then you never tried to break up with me after that as if it didn’t matter to you that you were obviously in a relationship you didn’t… want to be in.”

“It’s not true, though.”

“What isn’t true?”

“Our relationship was a mess but I never wanted to leave you. And I certainly wouldn’t have…”

“I know. I know that now.” He sighed and you could almost feel the anxiety radiating from him although he tried to keep it invisible with a smile and loud facial expressions. His knee was quivering. “I was so angry,” he whispered.

You held your breath, feeling tears coming. You just felt sorry, though you weren’t sure what for. It was all so bittersweet. You wanted to hug him and it seemed like the time and place, but you felt so distant from him even now. Still, you couldn’t bring yourself to look him in the eyes.

“Do we try again?” he asked.

You almost accepted. You almost said yes, let’s date again. Let’s spend this summer together, too. We’ve matured, we’ve grown, we’ll be better. I love you still.

“Would you go back?” Chan had asked you, earlier.

You’d said no. You’d thought about it seriously. Going back to that relationship would be destructive to both of you, wrong, even. There was nothing left to try again. You’d tried again, and again, and again. You both agreed to be better, and then fixed nothing.

There was nothing left. What you were inclined to say wasn’t how you felt, and it wouldn’t solve anything anymore.

“I don’t love you anymore. I’m sorry.”

He inhaled, running his hand through his hood-tousled hair. And although you were very much attracted to him just as you’d been throughout all the time you’d known him, even during the silent last few months, it just wasn’t enough anymore.

“I figured you’d say that,” he said. “And I lost feelings a long time ago.”

“Then why’d you ask?”

“Just in case.”

You could understand where that was coming from. It felt like he was trying to fix things, knowing very well that the two of you belonged nowhere near each other.

It wasn’t him, and it wasn’t you. It was your past, and all the things you knew you should never say to him.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” you told him, inviting him to leave.

“Okay,” he said a bit awkwardly. “Good talk, Y/N.”

“Sorry about everything,” you said.

He pressed his lips together and nodded once at you. Then he left, the homely doorbell ringing to indicate his departure and Chan wordlessly stepped out of the kitchen a moment later. He came and sat where Minho had been sitting, and warmly put one hand on your shoulder. Neither of you said anything for a minute.

Then, Chan asked you, “Are you okay?”

You didn’t respond because you were crying, without any idea why. It was like you’d finally actually broken up with Minho, like your relationship had been on pause for seven months and now you could finally breathe again. And you finally knew, and he finally knew. And Chan cared about you more than either you or Minho had each other. Tears were rolling down your cheeks and your breath shuddered as you tried to inhale to talk.

You felt his arms around your shoulders, and you pressed your face into his. Just having him care, just having him want to listen and be there for you, it hurt.

“Aren’t you working right now?” you asked after regaining control over your breath.

“I’m off now,” he replied.

“Has it really been an hour?”

He chuckled. “And a half.”

You sniffed loudly and he grabbed you a few napkins from a box on the counter with an apologetic expression. His hand massaged your shoulder and everything was okay.

“Thank you,” you said. “Thank you, Chan. I’m sorry about…”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“Thank you.”

He smiled, putting a head on the top of your head and looking into your eyes. “You’re very strong, you know.”

“Me? I’m the one with snot pouring out of my nose over my ex.”

“Yeah, that’s what I mean. You’re letting yourself feel everything.”

“You’re letting me feel everything.”

He stood. “I’ll grab my things and walk you home, alright?”

“Sounds good. And on the way, maybe you can tell me about how you’re doing, too.”

Chan paused, turning to you as if he were about to say something to decline. But seeing your earnest expression — which was no different than the one he’d given you earlier — he gave you a closed smile that said all it needed to.

note. thank you for reading ??? i dunno what to expect for how this will do, but i sure had fun writing it and feeling ALL the feels. yes i know it was incoherent but guess what, when friend groups get messed up nothing really does make sense does it 😊

reblogs are highly appreciated !

[bnha-more-like-bnh-gay]

Rarepair headcanons because I am ignoring my problems

Serodeku:

Izuku reenacts the Spider-Man movies with Sero. Izuku is MJ. They also alternate being Spider-Man sometimes

They skate together

They get very protective when people call their boyfriend “plain”

They play dnd together

Sero tries to make sure that izuku gets some rest

They’re both kinda insecure, izuku more than sero, but still; and they make sure to reassure each other as often as possible

Sero likes listening to Izuku’s ramblings and finds them cute. He has told izuku this, only for the poor boy to imitate a tomato

After Izuku has been particularly reckless, Sero takes advantage of his quirk, wraps Izuku in bubble wrap, and tapes it there

Tokodeku:

Jocknerd bf and goth bf, we love to see it

Tokoyami teaches izuku how to sword fight

They start a dnd club at U.A.

Izuku talks to dark shadow a lot, Dark Shadow approves of him, and has claimed the spot of best man at their wedding

Izuku comes up with ideas to help Tokoyami gain control with Dark Shadow

Dark Shadow is very protective over Izuku, no matter how many times Tokoyami tells him that he can take care of himself, Dark Shadow will put himself between Izuku and any form of danger as often as possible

Dekoyama??? Aoyama/izuku:

Aoyama gives him makeovers, obviously

Aoyama drags izuku to the mall and tries to revamp some of his wardrobe, but he actually finds the “pants” and “flannel” type shirts cute

They help each other train their quirks

Aoyama is trilingual, and teaching izuku English and French.

Izuku always brings Aoyama home some new cheese

Y’all, I love them so much. There needs to be more aodeku content

Monoshinsou:

They have people watching dates. They come up with stories for the people they’re watching; their job, family, background, etc.

They judge people together

They call each other “love”

They’re both dramatic bastards, who will flop onto their lovers lap and proclaim their death due to a minor inconvenience

They jokingly sh*t-talk class A

Shinsou said “I love you” first, and it was because Monoma brought him coffee to class

Monoyama:

Like monoshinsou, they’re both dramatic bastards, who will flop onto their lovers lap and proclaim their death due to a minor inconvenience

They go shopping together and pick out the most dramatic pieces of clothing for each other

I love them so much, please 😭✋

They have tea parties every week, where they sh*t talk everyone else and gossip

They are both fancy bastards, and they wear the most exquisite outfits to go grocery shopping, and the outshine everyone

They both actually make clothing, they’ll go fabric shopping together. Gift exchanges are often articles of clothing that they’ve made for each other

Momomei:

They work on gear together!!!

Momo makes sure that mei gets some sleep

Mei helps redesign momo’s suit

They often work together with izuku to work in gear and such

They actually got together after izuku introduced them. He had been working on gear with mei, and studying with momo and he thought they’d hit it off. He was correct

Shintsuyu:

Dude they’d be so cute

Tsu is a vent gremlin, and you can’t change my mind. So she and shinsou will play a game where they try to find each other. Tsu is in the vent and shinsou is in the classrooms. Shinsou will try to find whichever vent she’s in, or she’ll find whichever classroom he’s in, in 20 minutes or less

I always headcanoned tsu as a dog person, so they’d have two cats and two dogs, and a bunny that they named Deku

They like comparing their friends to animals, hence the bunny, Deku

Kamideku:

Kaminari is a flirt, and izuku does n o t know how to handle it

Kaminari likes listening to izuku’s ramblings, and can keep up with them. He’ll ask questions on things too, and Izuku has never felt more appreciated

I don’t know why I feel like they’d have so many animals, but I do. They’d have so many, man. Three cats, two dogs, four sugar gliders, a hamster

Adhd power couple. They hyperfixated on complimentary things at the same time one time

Kaminari tutors izuku in English, and izuku turots kami in some other subjects. He’s also teaching kami JSL on the side. Kaminari has a live of languages

Momochako:

Study dates, Momo asks ochako to quiz her a lot

Ochako takes to floating momo’s things when she wants attention. Especially when Momo is studying. She makes a game out of how many things she can float until the other girl notices

Uraraka’s confidence does wonders for momo’s. Uraraka always makes sure to reassure momo that she is strong and that she can do this

Momo makes Uraraka whatever her heart desires. Uraraka blushes all the time, and momo takes great pride in getting her girlfriend to blush

Minatoru:

Mina clings to everyone, but especially to toru

They give each other stuffed animals so often. They’ll go to the store to get food, and come back with three stuffed animals that reminded them of each other

Please, they’re so cute 😭✋

They will play hide and seek, I stand by this.

Mina helps toru design a new costume. I hate hers, it’s horrible, and sexist, and not suitable for a fucking child

Toru says that pink is her favorite color

They flirt with each other all the time. Half the class thinks it’s cute, half of them used to think it was cute.

Iidamomo:

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, but study dates. they quiz each other, and it actually gets pretty competitive

They also have rage room dates. I will not budge on this. Iida tried to murder someone, and I am excited to see momo finally snap. She deserves it

They alternate paying for dates, don’t try me.

The go hiking a lot

They started liking each other after one late night, both having nightmares. Momo had tea, and offered some to Iida. They talked until the early hours of the morning

They can’t flirt. They try. But they’re horrible at it. They’ll compliment each other all day long, but they cannot flirt.

KIRIDEKU, MY BELOVED:

Y’all,,, y’all, I love them so much

They train together, obviously

They ran into each other one night in the common room after both having nightmares. They talked about middle school, how they were both bullied, izuku’s quirk coming in late, katsuki being abusive, kiri being bullied because his quirk wasn’t “cool.” After that, they were practically inseparable.

They started going on dates, not that either of them knew they were dates. The entire class knew, so did the teachers, so did the rest of U.A. Kirishima picked up on it first after a comment from Mina, he had is realization.

So, he started courting Izuku. Not thag izuku realized this. He brought him flowers on most ‘dates,’ he bought him hero action figures whenever he could, he complimented him until Izuku was red in the face (which was honestly very easy.) Still, izuku remained ignorant to the fact that he was indeed dating Kirishima.

The final tipping point, was due to Uraraka’s help. She was quite tired of watching the two of them pine for each other. It was amusing for the first couple months, watching Kirishima try so hard, and Deku being totally oblivious. However, she took pity on her friends after a while.

So, Uraraka devised a devilish plan to get the two together. She involved Mina, Sero, and kaminari in this plan. What was the plan, you ask? Oh, simply to trap the two in one room until they broke through izuku’s obliviousness.

Kirishima finally “straight” up admitted his feelings, to which Izuku had the sudden realization of “oh my gods, have we been dating this whole time??” Yes, Izuku. Yes you have.

They have two anniversaries after that.

Let’s be honest, they are really, annoyingly, horrifically lovey dovey. Kirishima brags about having “the manliest and bestest boyfriend in the world.” Izuku flaunts his many PowerPoint presentations on how talented and incredible Kirishima is

Uraraka doesn’t know if she did the right thing by helping them. She is so tired

Tsujirou:

Jirou makes playlists for tsu

The few sane ones in class A, I swear

They go on walks in the rain as often as they can

They go for dates in the bookstore too. They each pick out an album and a book for the other to listen to and read

Y’all, they make so much sense togetherrrrr, I’m love them 🥺

Jirou started liking tsu after the crew saved bakugou. Jirou sat with tsu after momo, Iida, kirishima, Todoroki, and izuku apologized and sat with her. They had movie night, and Jirou joined the Bakugou saving crew and tsu with taking well into the night. She just appreciated how much tsu cared

Tsu started liking Jirou after she helped Iida, momo, and izuku try to keep the class in order. She appreciated how diplomatic and calm she was

Jirou would talk to izuku all night long about how gay she was, and how adorable tsu was. So, izuku decided to try and suggest ways for Jirou to ask her out.

She did not end up getting to ask her out though, as Tsu walked up to her the next morning f and asked if she wanted to go on a date. Jirou said yes. Izuku cried

Izujirou:

They make playlists for each other

They go for runs on the beach a lot

They both have insomnia, and often spend time making blanket forts and talking, or FaceTiming and listening to music

Jirou walks into the common room once a week looking for new music. She started liking Izuku after he made a playlist for her for one of these occasions.

They’re both quite awkward when it comes to romance, but neither of them will shy away from facing the truth. So, Jirou made izuku a playlist filled with love songs that reminded her of him and sent it to him. Sadly, izuku is dense as hell.

So, then Jirou wrote a love song and told izuku that the song was for him. Sadly, izuku is dense as hell.

So, then Jirou write analysis about izuku’s quirk for him. Sadly, izuku is dense as hell

So, then, after thinking that Jirou had done so much for him, izuku made her a playlist filled with love songs. Jirou took this to mean that izuku had finally picked up on her feelings, and accepted them.

So, they started to go on dates. Not that izuku knew this, as he is dense as hell. All leading up to izuku finally confessing his feelings on one of their ‘dates,’ to which Jirou responded, “dude, we’re already dating? Aren’t we? I- I thought that was obvious??”

May this awkward couple be forever blessed

Tokoyama:

Goth/prep boyfriends, we love to see it

At least once a day, Aoyama will proclaim that Tokoyami “shines almost as bright as he does, in his fabulous emo way”

They sword fight, and come up with really dramatic scenarios and scenes that they’re in

They bond over being in the izucrew and their shared love of swords. Aoyama took fencing classes in middle school, and Tokoyami got into sword fighting after watching it in pirates of the Caribbean as a young child. He is self taught and watched countless videos on the art of sword fighting

Tokoyami asked Aoyama our by dramatically presenting him with a dagger and going “will you accompany me on a formal outing as my lover?”

Shinyama:

They flirt constantly

No really, it’s getting quite annoying. Someone please stop them.

They both plop down in random areas and proclaim their deaths, the difference between them, is that Aoyama will burst into shinsou’s room, and yell “love, I’ve been murdered. Mourn for me” while plopping down on shinsou’s lap. Shinsou can be found laying face down outside aoyama’s door, and when Aoyama goes to open the door, he just goes “I’ve been murdered.”

^^ one time, shinsou did a very fun Halloween prank for this, where he poured fake blood all over himself for Aoyama to find him an hour later, asleep.

Nap dates. Aoyama get glitter all over shinsou’s room

Iiyama:

Aoyama enjoys making Iida blush, obviously. But he takes joy in doing it specifically when class is about to start. Aizawa is tired of his shit

Here is how I think an iiyama conversation might go:

Aoyama: I ask for one thing in this relationship-

Iida: Aoyama, you know that’s a lie-

Aoyama: for my boyfriend to carry me around all day-

Iida: Aoyama, I cannot feasibly do this with class-

Aoyama: and I don’t think that’s too much to ask for 😤

Anyway, Aoyama got carried around all day that day, despite Iida’s blush and Aizawa’s eye twitch

Everyone in the izucrew is close, but Iida and Aoyama started to get close after Iida told the crew about Stain. Aoyama wanted Iida to know that he wasn’t alone, and that he wanted to help him. So he started packing extra cheese for lunch and giving it to Iida. Iida was very confused at first. But this was Aoyama trying to court him. This was only made apparent by momo and Jirou telling Iida that this was aoyama’s attempt at expressing romantic interest.

Aoyama flirts with everyone, that’s just who he is. But with Iida? Oh it was tenfold. The poor boy was red in the face constantly. Aoyama was a persistent little bugger too, following him around and calling him ‘mon amour’

Kirikamideku:

My dearest traffic light trio, I’m love them

They train together, and kiri and kami always appreciate izuku’s analysis snd ideas

Kiri falls even more in love with izuku and kaminari when they go off on rants. Izuku rants and kami can keep up with him so he asks questions about it. Kiri loves to watch his boyfriends go on rants, I don’t make the rules, but I do enforce them

They started to get closer after kami and kiri found bakugou causing a ptsd flashback (could be on purpose of an accident, up to the reader.) they stated with him and tried to talk him through it. After this, izuku started to tell them about having been a “late bloomer” and being bullied, etc. (I don’t know, man; I tend to over share after flashbacks and after panic attacks)

Izuku tutors them in several subjects, but kami tutors them in English. Kiri just falls in love with his smart boyfriends

Izuku is teaching kami JSL and kami is helping izuku with English and Italian (personal headcanon that Italian has been one of kami’s special interests) kiri loves to listen to them, and finds it relaxing and calming to hear them do this. When he has panic attacks, he’ll ask them to tutor each other in different languages

[ineffable-and-galore]

I Think We Need to Talk

Pairing: Doctor Strange x Gender Neutral Reader 

Warning: Mentions of terminal illness, depression, grief, death, injuries, hurt 

AN: I haven’t posted an original one-shot in awhile so here’s one of mine from Wattpad! My handle is @Bleecker_St_Magician on there so be sure to check it out if you like my work!

Summary: Y/N, after being cursed has finally had enough but will the words that Stephen has to offer be enough, or will it finally drive them over the edge?

The curse has been going on for far too long. It took away almost everything, your life, your family, your friends. When you entered the Kamar Taj you thought it would just go away with the magic, or you could at least learn how to get rid of it, but it only seems to get worse with every waking minute with no cure, even when you finished your studies and moved to the New York sanctum.

Your partner was the one that convinced you to study the mystic arts. It was his fault you got cursed, even if you did feel uncomfortable blaming him. He didn't cast the spell or put the curse on you, instead, it was one of his enemies, that hated him for the powerful sorcerer he was, and the influence he had.

The curse was painful, it was like a chronic illness, slowly consuming you, but instead of killing you, it was worse. You would be a monster by the time it was over with, no longer yourself in the least bit, instead just evil, plain evil. You never wanted that day to happen, if there was a way for you to prevent it you would take any measures necessary, even ending yourself even if it would hurt and break the last person that loved you.

You knew you only had a little bit of time left, you'd dedicated years and years to learn these arts, just all for nothing. No hope was left for you. You had days, if not a few weeks left to live before it consumed you fully. The only thing you could do was worry and wait and cry and try to enjoy yourself in the tiniest bit with the man you ever so loved.

Sitting in your chair you gazed out the window, a storm filling up the cloudy night sky. This could be it, your last storm, the last time you saw rain, the last time you enjoyed the peace and joyful feeling it brought.

You gazed out the window, trying to store the moment in your mind. He wasn't home, he would make this moment perfect. The revelation you'd been putting off while gazing out struck you, the terrible luck and draw of a card you'd been given. Tears filled your eyes, slowly starting to drip down your face.

Still gazing out the window, you could see your sad reflection. The hopelessness that filled your eyes, the tiredness from nights desperately searching taking its toll on your figure and appearance.

Putting a hand to the glass, you tried to wash out the thoughts. Wallowing would only make the curse seem to appear quicker. Standing still, you thought about the happy moments you had.

You thought about meeting him, Stephen, the one you were made for without any doubt. That moment when he became flustered and spitted the words out, asking you on a date. You thought about your first kiss, in the rain on a walk to your house, part of the reason you loved the rain so much. You thought about your first time, and how nervous you were, but he made you feel like the luckiest person in the world. You thought about your first "I love you" and how both of you just suddenly blurted it out and ended up in tears from laughing so hard. You thought about when you moved in together, how he was so scared to ask and he planned a romantic evening leading up to the simple question. How that very night the two of you planned what you wanted to do with your life together, get married and settle down in a calm life, live together till the end. That would never happen now.

"Y/N," his baritone voice rang through the room and your ears,  he was here, finally, you could enjoy this with him.

"Yes?" turning around to meet his defeated-looking figure, the curse seemingly taking its toll on him as well.

"I think we need to talk," he gazed at you with a saddened expression, tears filling his eyes as well.

This can't be good.

"About what?" staring at him, only a few feet away from you, his cloak drooped in defeat along with his broad shoulders.

"I can't do this anymore," he sighed as he looked towards the window the rain as loud as ever as you thought.

Is it really over? When I only have a few moments left to live? How could he do this when we've been through so much?

"What do you mean?" Your voice quivered with the question that unwillingly left your lips.

"The curse Y/N. This," he started to get angry, you could hear the slightest tone in his voice.

You begged the sob forming not to escape you but just your luck it did. You whispered just loud enough for him to hear, "No."

"It's taking up everything. We never see each other anymore," the words spat out of his mouth.

Please no. Gods if you're real let this be a nightmare, I promise I won't complain anymore.

The tears flowed like a river now, you could not stop them if you tried. It couldn't be true. Stephen wouldn't do this in your last few moments left to live.

"Please, please no," you spoke through your tears, "you have to understand, I'm trying to get rid of this for us. If I don't I'll die Stephen. I don't want to die."

He was always so perfect. How could he?

"It's because of me," he mumbled under his breath, hoping you couldn't hear it. This was breaking his heart but it was for the best.

Hearing that made you break, if you thought you were broken before this was ten times worse. Letting your emotions loose you turned to him your voice almost a scream, "I don't care if it's because of you. I just want to be with you. I don't have much longer, how many damn times do I have to say it."

"It's consuming you Y/N. It's not just because I blame myself, I just can't anymore," Stephen whispered as he began to pace back and forth.

Collapsing to the floor, you looked out the window once more, this time the rain didn't seem so peaceful and joyful, instead, it felt like your heart being broken by the one person left that cared, or at least pretended to.

"This curse it's consuming you. I thought it was bad when it first happened but now it's worse than ever," he stared at you unbeknownst to you he was going through the same heartbreak but his idea, that maybe just maybe, the curse would be taken away if you left had to be true It was the only option left for you and him, the only option to save you, even if it broke your heart.

"Stephen, love, please stop," you whispered, barely getting the sentence out. You could feel it consuming you now, the monster crawling up, soon to be all that was left of you. It would have to be destroyed, there would be no hope.

"No. I won't. I'm leaving until you pack your bags and go to the Kamar Taj," he began to walk away, but couldn't bear it when he heard your sobs of pain and misery.

The pain was too much. This wasn't how you wanted it to end. Your last moment spent losing the one person left in your world. The curse was making its way through you, soon you'd be transformed, Stephen wouldn't have to deal with it anymore.

You caught a glimpse of him walking away then standing still. "Stephen please," you weakly cried out, "it's coming right now. All I want is to be with you. Please," the last part came out as a barely audible whisper as the pain got even worse, causing your body to contort.

He felt guilty, surely this wasn't the end. He couldn't deny your calls even if they were a trick, so soon he found himself cradling you in his arms.

He knew this wasn't a trick now, he could see your features changing. Tears began to fill his eyes and drip down his face onto yours.

Reaching your arm out you gripped onto his stubbled face, "I'm sorry, for wasting so much time on this curse."

"You didn't," Stephen whispered to you and he hugged your body to him, "I love you Y/N. I'm sorry."

The curse had almost filled you now, you knew this was the end. At least your last words wouldn't go to waste, "I'll see you in the next life. I love you, my sorcerer."

The end caught up to you. The curse had taken over. At least the last feeling you got was in the one you loved arms.

Stephen cried more than he ever had before when he felt you go away and the curse take over. Calling for Wong, who had prepared for this situation, he looked out the window at the rain, his thoughts now filled with the fact that he caused this, the curse, everything, he rid you of your last moments of peace and love and filled them with pain and sadness.

[metalheadcowboy]

"Fuck did you just say?"

Shit. Steve sighed, hazy cigarette smoke seeping from his lips as he looked up towards the sky, grey clouds taunting the chance of rain, "Forget it," the brunette mumbled, a hint of sorrow and longing laced in the words.

This only seemed to anger Billy more, "Like hell I'll forget it," he retorted with an increasingly alarming tone, "Saying shit like that'll kill you one day, Harrington, saying stuff you don't mean haphazardly like it isn't worth a damn."

And maybe it was true that Steve hadn't thought about it much in the moment, but he'd be damned if he hadn't thought about it nearly every moment leading up to this one.

"And what if I do mean it, Billy?" he snapped, promptly plucking the cigarette they'd been passing from between his lips, throwing it to the ground mere seconds before the sole of his Nike crushed it flat.

He couldn't say he was much of a fighter anymore, those days had long past since he'd started hanging around the party, especially Eleven, wanting to set a good example or whatever it was his responsibility to do. But he'd be a liar if he said the younger teens doubt didn't light a fire inside if him.

"Trust me," the blonde started with a huffed out laugh before his voice went stone cold, "You don't." His gaze, borderline furious with a hint of disgust gave Steve a sick feeling in his gut, so much so that just looking at the other boy filled him up with dread.

If Steve didn't know Billy better he'd have though the teen was just in denial or really good at keeping up an act. But Steve knew Billy like the back of his hand, too well to know that he was dead serious. He pushed back the burning feeling in his nose akin to the signature sting of tears threatening to spill over and instead channeled his sadness into anger.

"How the hell do you know what I feel, Hargrove?" Steve grit with just enough edge that Billy visibly looked shocked, head spinning to look at his counter part, "Maybe I was an idiot for thinking you'd ever think the same about me, but you're the idiot if you think you know the first thing about what I'm feeling!" He was practically shaking with the force of his own emotions, half hovering over the old bucket he was using as a makeshift stool, but not quite standing.

Before he could even blink Billy rose from his own crate, the old wooden think toppling over with the weight of the backs of Billy's knees slamming into it, almost as much force as the blonde put into grabbing Steve by his collar and pushing him up against the sturdy brick of the alley behind Family Video.

They stood like that only for a second, breathing hard against each other for all the wrong reasons, Billy's baby blues clashing with Steve's own whiskey brown eyes to create a most toxic combination, "You don't love me, you just love having my dick up your ass, queer."

Billy's words cut like a knife, but only fueled Steve's rage, "Wouldn't exactly call sticking your dick in another man 'straight activity', fag," he spit, practically watching Billy fly off the handle, hitting a nerve.

He smiled, but in a sick sort of way as Billy's fist made contact with his nose, blood gushing out almost immediately down his chin, dripping onto his green work vest. Not having time to recover before the fist came back for seconds, this time slamming into the soft, vulnerable part of his left side, causing him to lose all control over his stance that he once had, falling to the ground once Billy let his shirt go.

Steve groaned, flopping onto his back, grimacing at the hefty "thud" his head made when it hit the asphalt. He weakly reached up to wipe at his nose, Billy rubbing at his knuckles all the same. Without another word the younger boy gave him one last look before striding away, pride still firmly intact while Steve's laid somewhere behind the dumpster.

And later he would go back in to Robin who would set his nose back in place and swear up and down to rock Billy's shit, but for now he just closed his eyes and basked in the small beginning droplets of rain soaking into his skin, shamefully wishing Billy were here to make it all okay again.

[starlightxsvt]

Home | k.mg

pairing ➳ businessman!mingyu x female!reader

genre ➳ strangers to lovers, romance, slice of life, angst, fluff, gets spicy at the end

word count ➳ 5.6k (apx)

warnings ➳ cursing, reader is really indecisive, heavy makeout, implications of sexual activity.

synopsis ➳ an attractive stranger visits your cabin for a week with whom you quickly bond, developing some strong feelings in the process; leaving you to wonder if he's worth leaving everything behind.

A/N: henlooo~ I finally posted! This has been sitting in my drafts for a while but I didn't really feel like writing for a while, hence the delay. I hope y'all enjoy this piece and please don't forget to leave some feedback! It really motivates me :)

A cool gust of wind blew by as you finished typing your last column, leaving a soothing feeling behind as you exhaled loudly. It was hard to finish this piece of writing for some reason, maybe because you lacked inspiration or maybe because your life had been monotonous for a while or simply, a mix of both. Closing your laptop you stretch your hands and legs, feeling somewhat productive. Humming a tune, you looked out the window to see a Lamborghini come to a halt at the entrance.

It piqued your interest because it's not often that people riding Lamborghini come in this cabin so genuinely you're interested in the visitor. You shifted in your chair, waiting for the man to come upstairs to the reception and sure enough a tall- really tall man dressed in a neatly pressed suit appears into your view, briskly walking towards the reception where Chan stood to greet him. You could not get a good look at his face as he moved around quickly, grabbing his small carry on and heading towards his cabin after the formalities.

You watched his tall frame walking away as you got up from your seat and moved towards Chan.

"Who is he?"

"Kim Mingyu," Chan explained, resting his arms on the reception table." A millionaire, owns a lot of companies. No wonder he looked familiar."

"Oh, really? How long is he staying?"

"He has booked for five days. Said he might extend his stay."

"I see."

"Why are you so curious though?" Chan raised a brow at you, tilting his head to a side.

"Nothing." You shrugged. "He just has different vibes than the other people that come here you know?"

Chan hummed in agreement.

-

There was never much visitors during the rainy season which was both a blessing and a curse. Blessing because that meant the cabin was less hectic and curse because sometimes you are bound to get a bit too bored. You were helping yourself with a cup of tea to somewhat feel re-energised when your newest and the only guest for the week appeared from his cabin, padding through the corridor and stepping into the common kitchen area. You were taken aback for a moment before you composed yourself and smiled at your guest, "Good morning, Mr. Kim. May I help you with anything?"

"Mingyu, please," the tall male replied while scanning the kitchen area. "You're the owner right? What's the food arrangement here?"

"Well, our guests generally cook for themselves or order takeout. When there are many guests I sometimes do the cooking."

Nodding, he hummed before putting in a capsule in the cappuccino machine. You took a seat by the window, tea in your hand as you watched the male move around like he knew this place. Dressed in his pajamas and judging by the fluffy mess that his hair was you assumed he had a good night's sleep.

"I hope you had a pleasant night, Mr- Mingyu." You said to your guest who had whipped out a pan from the cupboard and was making omelette. "Yes, surprisingly so. Normally I have trouble falling asleep but I slept like a baby last night," he casually conversed as he prepared his breakfast.

You smiled, "Well, I'm glad to know that. If you need anything let my staffs or me know."

"Sure. Oh- I didn't get your name though." Mingyu turned to meet your eyes.

"___," you smiled.

"___, okay."

-

"This is gonna be a rainy week," Hoshi said from behind you as he stood holding a tub of fresh soil for the plants in the backyard of the cabin. You sat on your knees, eyeing the plants which needed their soil changed.

"Yeah? Well, good thing there isn't much guests now."

"I think there should be, I mean it's so pretty here during the rain too. People need to look at it themselves." Hoshi complained.

"Well, most people don't like going out in the rain. Pass me the soil, Hoshi. Let's get this finished before the shower starts."

Hoshi handed you the tub of soil as the sky above started growling, full of thick black clouds. It was gonna start raining soon.

Hoshi spoke, "Oh, Mr.Kim, Mingyu you know, asked me about the beach by the marketplace. Apparently he wants to visit so he asked me if I was free to show him around."

"And let me guess, you aren't?" You rolled your eyes.

Soonyoung pouted, "No! Well I would have given him a tour today if the weather wasn't so bad. And my friends are coming tomorrow, so I'll be busy then."

"Wait- you're friends are coming?" You turned, glaring at the boy who smiles sheepishly, "Oh! Um- I didn't tell you? Well they're only staying for a couple of days and it's not like they're staying for free."

"Well, make sure they clean after themselves okay? If I see them trashing all over the place like last time, I'm kicking you out with them." You gave him a pointed look.

"Okay okay," Hoshi rolled his eyes, puffing his cheeks. "Just- take the CEO out on a tour tomorrow for me okay? I haven't seen my friends in a long time."

"Alright, I will...if the weather is good which probably won't be." You sighed, gently removing the old soil.

Hoshi mused about Mingyu, "Bummer for him, he came in a wrong time. It's weird, no? We don't have such guests like him."

"Yeah," you hummed, focused on handling your roses.

-

Hoshi's friend, Seokmin and Seungkwan appeared early in the morning next day as you watched Hoshi vibrate from happiness when he hugged them. You smiled to yourself, laughing at at the antics of your staff as you saw him guide his friends into their cabin. The day was once again filled with dark clouds and raining which occurred every other hour. You and Chan cleaned up and completed some chores as the noon fell.

"Should I cook something up for them?" You wondered as Chan finished cleaning the common space of the first cabin.

"Nah, Seokmin hyung is cooking for them. He's a pretty good cook actually."

"Really? That's nice." You said pulling up a chair to sit down. "Are you gonna join them? Hoshi has been with his friends since they came."

"Yeah, probably. You should join us too."

"No, I think I'm gonna take a nap. I feel so tired."

"Alright."

You watched as Chan climbed down the stairs and stepped towards the second cabin where everyone else was. You were about to head to your room when the CEO, Mingyu appeared in the kitchen.

"Oh, hello."

"Hi."

"I haven't seen you since morning," you said watching as Mingyu poured himself a glass of water.

"Yeah, I woke up early today, went for a jog."

"Ah, I see."

"Couldn't go far though, the weather sucks you know." He said leaning against the kitchen top.

"Yeah. But I heard that it should get better from tomorrow. I could show you around if you want to. Hoshi, my staff, is going to busy for a while so I can guide you around."

"Really? That would be cool." Mingyu smiled. There was a small stretch of silence as you both listened to the rainfall before he spoke, "Have you had lunch?"

"Uh-no."

"Would you like to join me?" He asked "This is the longest time I've been alone and it feels a bit weird," he murmured more to himself than you.

"I mean- I don't mind," you shrugged. "Though I should be the one doing it."

"It's okay. People say I am a good cook," Mingyu smiled, his eyes crinkling.

"Well, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to see."

-

It was weird how comfortable you felt watching Mingyu being clumsy and bump into things as he prepared your meal. It felt like you've been doing this forever- like you've known him forever and you thought to yourself what was suddenly wrong with you. He made small talk as he cooked and it felt easy talking with him- almost impossible to believe that he was stranger. He was friendly and easy to get along with, definitely not a cold and grumpy businessman like you imagined him to be.

Mingyu grinned as he set down the food in front of you- chicken soup, rice and cheese omelette. His eyes twinkled excitedly as he watched you take a bite, waiting for you to say something.

"What are you? A part time chef or something?" You tried not to moan as you chewed because it was that good. Mingyu laughed- a sweet, shy laugh that had his canines showing and his eyes forming crescents. "Thank you. I learned from my mom. I like cooking for myself when I get the time which is not often," he smiled- almost sadly.

"Well, you can cook for me all you want as long as you're here because this is amazing!" You grinned at him, cheeks puffed with food.

Mingyu chuckled softly as he dug in and you both started eating. It felt nice, to talk to someone new and spend time with them, someone other than Chan or Hoshi. It was a nice change- a change you probably needed for a while.

"So...What brings you here?" You asked as you finished your food, setting down the spoon and leaning back into the chair. Mingyu who was still eating, looked at you with a perplexed expression so you spoke, "I mean...we don't generally have guests like you. And it's not even a good time to visit...so I was wondering what brought you here?"

"Guests like me? What does that mean?"

"I mean...rich, okay?" You fumbled, feeling awkward. Maybe you shouldn't have asked. "Like...there are fancier places to visit, you know..."

Mingyu smiled at your words for a moment before he deadpanned, "I'm running away."

"Running away?" You gasped, almost jumping from your seat, "From who? The cops?"

"It would have been better but no, my family," he said, his voice as serious as ever.

"Oh...I see," you fell quiet. It definitely wasn't the answer you expected. You both remained silent for a while as he started out the window, lost in thoughts. "It must have been really bad if you're hiding out here." You spoke softly.

"It has always been," he mumbled. "I just couldn't take it anymore, you know? I desperately needed a break," he spoke more to himself than you. Instead of prodding further, you sat quietly, watching him and listening to his words. Seeing him now, he definitely looks troubled and you didn't exactly have the words to console him.

So you whispered, "Well, I hope it gets better."

-

Later that night, you find Hoshi and his friends and Chan preparing for a bonfire in the front yard of the cabin.

"Wow, you all are really having fun, no?" You said as you fisted your hands in your pockets from the chilly weather. The air was colder than other nights and everyone including you had put on some warm clothes.

"You wanna join us?" Seokmin asked as he stacked logs on top of each other.

"Nah, it's fine. You four carry on," you patted his back as you started walking back towards the cabin and saw Chan and Hoshi coming out with some boxes in their hands.

"Hey! There are marshmallows in the kitchen cabinet if you want.... nevermind," you finished as you saw beer cans and soju bottles in their hands.

"We're gonna get drunk baby!" Soonyoung yelled, grinning like a fool.

"Hyung, you look drunk already," Chan gave him a side look as they trudged towards the bonfire.

Laughing at their antics you climbed the stairs to the kitchen, preparing some hot chocolate for yourself. Holding the mug on one hand you knocked on the door to Mingyu's room, checking up on him since you haven't seen him since lunch.

The door opened revealing Mingyu in a baggy shirt and pajamas, his hair fluffy and messy.

"Hey," you chriped. "Wanted to check up on you. You wanna join the others in the bonfire?"

"Nah, I'm good. I've been watching them from the balcony." He smiled, his pointy canines showing.

"Oh, I see."

"You wanna come in? I've been getting lonely." He offered, moving away from the door to make space for you.

"Uh- I don't mind," you murmured, surprised that he asked you to come in. You tentatively stepped in and it was fair to say that you were surprised to see the room neat and pristine as most guests kept their room messy.

He ushered you into the balcony, which had a great view of your yard and the forest behind. You saw others laughing loudly as Soonyoung acted something out. Mingyu's voice pulled you out of your thoughts.

"You didn't join them?"

"Nah, they can get too loud sometimes," you chuckled, taking a seat on the bench. You eyed an empty mug lying by, guessing that Mingyu already had his fill of hot chocolate.

Mingyu took a seat beside you, stretching his legs and sighing as he mused, "The view is great."

You hummed your agreement. It was indeed. Not only did you have the full view of your yard and the forest, but you could see a vast horizon of the night sky, some stars twinkling through the clouds.

"It's even more beautiful during summer. You can see so many stars that it feels unreal." You told him.

"Then I will try to visit again during summer," he smiled and you were not sure if he was serious or joking. However you replied with a smile, "You're always welcome."

A silence falls among you two after that but it's not uncomfortable, as you both watched the night grow and Soonyoung and his friends got louder.

"Things got really hard for me, you know," Mingyu started speaking, his voice soft as he stared at the mesh of trees ahead. You were somewhat surprised at his words, but you didn't interrupt, opting for him to continue.

"Running a million dollar company was never easy but...it suddenly was unbearable. My parents always interfered in my work and how I run the company but I managed through all of that, really...until..." Mingyu heaved a long sigh, abruptly stopping.

"Until?" You tentatively asked, peeking at him.

"They want me to get married. With the daughter of their business partner. A marriage of convenience, really."

Oh.

You fell silent, watching him as the moonlight dimly lit the side of his face. There wasn't enough light to see his face completely, but enough to see the curve of his face, his sharp jawline and the sad, lost look in his eyes. Your heart suddenly ached for him. Silently you patted his shoulder, conjuring up some words to console him.

"That's ...awful, really. I'm sorry."

"I've never been so mad in my whole life. Can't they just leave me alone? They treat me like a puppet, like my only job is to live for them. I'm so done. " He said, his hands forming fists.

There's a beat of silence as you quietly patted his back and watched your friends get wasted by the bonfire before he chuckled softly, "I'm sorry for dumping all these on you. I just couldn't hold them in you know-"

"It's really fine, Mingyu. I don't mind. It would be nice if I could actually help you," you sighed, retracting your hand.

"Trust me, you are," he said and you caught a smile on his face.

"I suppose you don't have a significant other? Someone you could talk to freely?"

He shook his head. "That is why I came here. Needed to get my thoughts together, away from them. Not to mention I don't remember the last time I went on a vacation."

"And have you got your thoughts together?"

"I think so, yeah." He shrugged.

"What are you gonna do?" You asked tilting your head.

"Stand strong in my ground, I guess. There's no way I'm marrying their business partner, I'd rather die. And if all else fails, I'm staying here. I'm sure you have some type of job for me, right?"

You laughed at his words, "Maybe. But I'm not sure about your skills, Mr. Kim."

"Oh I'm a fast learner, Miss ___."

You both grinned at each other.

That night when you went back to your room, your thoughts were plagued by Mingyu and you could swear you saw him in your dreams too.

-

The next morning is brighter and shinier; the sky relatively clear other than some light clouds. After getting dressed and checking up on Hoshi and Chan who were still sleeping, you trudged through the cabin and towards Mingyu's room, before knocking on it. A fully dressed Mingyu appeared, clad in a white polo and jeans, his hair styled messily. He looked effortlessly attractive, making your heart skipp a few beats.

Damn it, what was wrong with you?

"Hi," you almost missed a breath, your face flushed with warmth.

"Oh, hey. I was about to come to you. I believe you were to show me around." Mingyu grinned, his pointy canines showing.

"And that is what I'm here for, Mr. Kim."

"Great! Let's get going. We'll take my car."

-

After showing Mingyu around for a couple of hours, you both ended up at the beach by the marketplace, sitting on the sand next to each other. The weather was nice; not too hot, not too cold as a light breeze flew by occasionally. Though you could see some black clouds gathering above, it wasn't to rain until evening if the forecast was correct.

"This place is so pretty," Mingyu mused, making you smile.

"I know right. The weather is great too."

You both watched the waves crash to the shore, occasionally wetting your feet as you both relaxed on the sand. There was a silence, a comfortable one as you finished eating the corndog you bought from the market earlier with some groceries. As you finished the last bite, Mingyu turned to face you and asked, "Tell me about yourself."

"What?" A squeak of surprise escaped from you.

"I shared a lot about myself last night. It's only fair I get to know about you too."

"Well..." You pondered. "There isn't much to tell. I've a pretty dull life, unlike you."

Mingyu chuckled, shaking his head, "Does the cabin belong to your parents? Is it like a family business type of thing?"

"No, not really," you smiled softly. "My parents are dead. The cabin belonged to my grandfather."

"Oh- I'm sorry."

"No it's okay. They passed away in an accident when I was a kid so I don't remember them much." You spoke, watching the sea, "My grandparents raised me. Growing up I've spent a lot of time in the cabin and when my grandfather retired he handed the job to me."

"Are they alive? Your grandparents?" He asked tentatively.

You shook your head, "Grandpa passed away a couple years ago and it's been a few months since grandma did too."

"I'm sorry, you must've been lonely," Mingyu offered, his voice soft.

You shrugged, "Yeah, like I said, nothing interesting going on in my life."

Mingyu hummed noncommittally and there was a few moments of silence before he spoke again, "Was managing the cabin something you have always wanted to do?"

You were quiet for a while as you thought over the question, "No...not really. I've just kept doing the job I was handed to. I haven't really thought about what I want to do."

"Well...I think you should hire a manager in your place and maybe...I don't come to the city and make friends, see what calls for you."

"Yeah, I've thought about it. But I don't know really." You murmured.

"Well, give it some thought. I could help you find a manager. In fact, I could help promote and upgrade your cabin if you'd let me. It'll be a good investment."

You laughed softly, not taking his words too seriously. He was just a guest. He was probably just being nice.

A gust of strong wind flew by, ruining your hair as it poked into your eyes and you laughed when your eyes landed on Mingyu.

"What?"

His hair was sticking in different directions because of the wind and you shook your head with a smile as you reached to pat the hairs back into place. It happened naturally, before you could stop yourself. For a moment your eyes meet as you quickly retract your hand, face heated.

Something was definitely wrong with you.

Mingyu's gaze stayed at you for a while; you could feel his intense eyes on you and you thought maybe he didn't like you touching him. Before your thoughts ran more rampant, he spoke.

"___?"

"Y-yes?"

"Do you...Do you have a home?"

"Home?" You were confused.

"Yes, home. Not like a real house but like a... person. Someone who makes you feel at ease, someone with whom you can be yourself without judgements, someone who keeps you cozy and safe and loved...like a home."

Somewhat taken aback by his words, you fell silent but their depth hit you and you found yourself thinking about it. Do you have a home?

No. No, you don't.

You shook your head, murmuring, "No."

Mingyu nodded taking his eyes off you.

"What about you?" You asked.

"Me neither."

You smiled, "Figures. Because if you had someone you wouldn't have run here but went to them."

Mingyu smiled, a sad smile gracing his lips. It was a somewhat bitter truth, he hadn't found his home no matter how much he looked for it. Maybe that's what he was doing wrong, looking desperately.

"Let's get going. It has started to rain," Your voice dragged him out of his thoughts as he felt small drops of water fall on his face. You reached your hand out to him and he took it, standing up. As you both jogged towards Mingyu's car, your hands remained connected, no one bothering to let go.

-

That night you had dinner with Mingyu again but this time it was you who did the cooking. After enjoying dinner over small talk, Mingyu like the gentleman he is did the dishes as you poured some wine for the two of you.

Sitting on the small table in common space by the window, you both watched the clear sky that had appeared after the shower. You sipped your wine, watching the vast expanse of stars that blinked in the dark sky.

"I think I've to go back tomorrow," Mingyu suddenly whispered, his tone so low you almost thought you misheard him. A bolt out the blue, you looked at him.

"Tomorrow?"

"Mmhmm," he fiddled with the hem of his cardigan as he stared at the table. "I've got so many calls and messages from work. My company won't run on its on, I can be gone for only so long." He sighed.

You didn't offer any words, too shocked to know that he'd be gone tomorrow. What is this attachment you've developed towards him? Why did the thought of someone, almost a stranger going back to where he came from, where he belonged hurt you so much? You didn't know what to label your feelings but realizing that you'd probably never see him again was tugging at your heartstrings.

Should you ask him for his number and stay connected with him? Is there even a point in that? You both live miles away from each other. Or should just take his advice and follow him to the city? Would that even be a good idea? Are you just reading all this wrong?

You were so invested in your thoughts that you didn't realize Mingyu was calling you until he shook your shoulder.

"You okay, ___?"

"Huh? Yeah...it's just, the news is really sudden. I didn't... expect you'd return so soon." You mumbled.

Mingyu sighed, his shoulder dropping a little bit. "Trust me, if I could I'd stay here forever. But...I can't keep running. I need to face my parents, the sooner the better."

At a loss of what to say, you just nodded. Reaching for your drink you took a big gulp, trying to calm your nerves. It's okay, you can do this. He's just another one of your guests.

You stood up, taking the empty glass in your hand, "Well, I better leave you alone now. I'm sure you've got packing to do."

You almost turned away; until a strong hand gripped your wrist and pulled you back, making you stumble towards Mingyu's body.

"Don't. Stay for a while. I don't want you to leave." His voice was soft yet deep and it immediately broke your resolve as you set the glass down and looked into his eyes.

He didn't let go of your wrist; instead only wrapped his other hand around your waist, pulling you closer, leaving just a few inches between your faces. You didn't tell him to move neither did you make any effort to get away from him- you didn't want to. It felt good, comforting as he held you and looked at you almost like you were his whole world. His eyes had so much emotion swirling in them and you were sure yours looked the same too.

"___?" His voice was breathy and it set your heart aflame.

"Y-yes?"

"Can I...kiss you?"

You inhaled sharply as his hold on you got tighter. You couldn't process a reply, overwhelmed with emotion. So you just nodded and Mingyu leaned in, pressing his lips to yours.

It was soft at first, his lips just resting against yours, as if he was testing the waters. When you didn't resist but only pulled him closer, he started devouring you, his tongue prodding in your wet cavern. Moans espaced from you as you kept pulling at his hair almost grinding on him, desperate for more. He was the same, kissing you with so much passion and vigour like you were the last female standing.

You somehow managed to tug off his cardigan between the kiss and when you pulled apart for air, Mingyu panted, "Can we take this to the bedroom?"

His deep raspy voice spread liquid heat throughout your body and you had to stop yourself from pouncing on him.

"Yes please," you breathed. Mingyu stood up straight, his tall and built body intimidating you in the best ways possible, "Oh baby, you don't have to beg. I'll give you anything you want."

Once again your breath was trapped as he picked you up, his hand under your ass to support you. When he dropped you on his bed and took off his tee you realized you were in for a long night. In the back of your mind, you also realized that this would make it even harder to let him go.

-

Next morning you were the first one to wake up as the sun barely seeped through the blinds. If you had to guess it wasn't any more than six am. Mingyu's hand rested on your waist as he remained snuggled against your back. It was so comforting that you almost forgot your reality and went back to sleep, until you remembered what had happened last night. Before you could start overthinking and possibly had a breakdown right there, you ever so carefully removed his hand from your body and scrawled out of the bed, grabbing your shirt and quickly throwing it on. Then you tiptoped out of his room despite the ache between your legs and rushed straight towards yours.

Slamming the door shut, your sat down, head in your hands. You've to now prepare for saying goodbye. Right, you just need to act casual and not let him know that you might have developed feelings for him in the past week.

His words came back to you.

"Do you have a home?"

You didn't have one until now but the realization that you may have found it brought tears to your eyes.

-

You spent the next hours wallowing in your self pity, curled up in your bed too afraid to get out and face Mingyu. Soonyoung dropped by once, knocking at your door and asking if you want breakfast, which you declined. Time slowly ticked away and you watched as the clock struck eleven. You couldn't stay inside forever. You needed to bid Mingyu a goodbye- that is if he hadn't left already. But you were sure he didn't; he wouldn't just leave without any words.

Sighing, you gathered every last bit of your courage and stepped out of your room. Immediately you saw Mingyu coming out from the opposite end of the corridor, the carry-on he brought with him in his hand.

"Hey, where have you been?" He asked, his steps getting quicker to come and stand in front of you.

"Oh- um, I took and shower and then dozed off, sorry," you lied easily, not meeting his eyes.

There was a beat of silence as you both stood in front of each other and when your eyes finally met his, a blush spread across his face like wildfire. The air was heavy with unsaid words and you coughed, trying to get rid of the terrible awkwardness.

"So, you're leaving now?"

What a nice question.

Mingyu seemed to be lost in thoughts as he snapped back to reality and scratched the back of his head, "Oh yeah, right. It'll be a couple hours drive so the earlier I leave the better."

Nodding you motioned your hand towards the exit, "I'll see you out."

Mingyu seemed to have something to say but he pressed his lips in a thin line and started to climb down the stairs, you behind him. Soonyoung, who was standing at the entrance gave you a conspirational wiggle of his brows but said nothing as he watched you follow Mingyu out.

You observed as Mingyu loaded his bag in the trunk, peeking glances at you every other second. When he finished, you spoke, "Well...good luck. I hope you can overcome your problems."

"Thanks. It won't be easy and my dad will probably take away my shares of the company but...I'm done living like this."

You nodded, smiling softly as you crossed your arms against your chest. It suddenly felt cold.

You both gazed at each other, saying nothing even though you've so much to say, as if the silence would carry your unsaid words to him. You were torn- wanting to talk about last night but chickening out knowing it was probably just a fling, a one night stand for him.

"___..." Mingyu spoke but the words died on his tongue. Not trusting yourself to speak, you swallwed the ball of emotions and looked at him with a curious tilt of head.

"...I hope you find what you really want to do. And I hope you find your home too," he said, his words so soft and gentle. For some reason you had a feeling that those were not the words he wanted to say yet you forced a smile and nodded, "You too, Mingyu."

His eyes swirled with so my emotions but you didn't know what he was thinking. He looked pained, just like you but you were too afraid to speak your feelings, scared that you misread him.

When you spoke no more, Mingyu sighed and backstopped slowly, "Well... goodbye, then."

You managed to choke out the words, "Goodbye."

Your emotions overwhelmed you, tears stinging your eyes as you watched him enter his car. Why did it hurt so much? Why did it feel like your heart was being ripped right out of your chest?

His engine roared to life and your stomach sunk. Was this really the right thing to do? Should you just let him go like this?

You made a split second decision that moment, just as his car moved forward a little.

"Mingyu!" You called after him, immediately making him stop the car. He came out, almost in a hurry, an expectant look on his face as you ran towards him. Then you made another split second decision as you wrapped your arms around his tall frame and held tight.

"I like you, Mingyu. I really like you." You mumbled in his chest.

He didn't say anything back but you felt his arms wrapping around you tightly and you stood there in each others embrace for a while. It felt like time has stopped, the warmth and safety of his arms comforting you and making you realize how you would have regretted if you had let him go.

Mingyu pulled back to take a look at your face, his hand cupping your cheeks, his warm but intense eyes on you, shining with love and adoration.

"Say something," you whispered, still unsure.

He chuckled, a light-hearted, carefree sound that made your heart swoon. "I like you too, if it wasn't obvious after last night."

Elated, you pulled his face down and kissed his lips as you felt him grin and wrap his arms around you once again.

"I want to go with you...to the city," you murmured into his chest as he rested his chin on the top of your head.

You couldn't see it but you felt him smirk, "Good. Because I think I found my home."

Your heart couldn't become fuller as you grinned like a happy child.

"Me too."

A/N 2: If you enjoyed reading don't forget to like and reblog and let me know your thoughts!

© startlightxsvt 2021 | All Rights Reserved. Do not copy, translate, adapt, or repurpose any of my works.

[makeste]

BnHA 326: What’s up Kids, It’s Me, Your Old Pal Stain

Previously on BnHA: Ochako shamed the U.A. Clown Mob into letting Deku go back inside his own fucking school by giving them an hour-long speech about how not to be humongous dickheads. Kouta and Gigantic Fox Lady saved the manga by being the only ones brave enough to give Deku a hug. Shouto was all “man, all this togetherness sure does remind me of that promise you made that we would handle Touya together which you immediately bailed on, doesn’t it, Dad.” Aizawa was all, “for the one and a half people out there who thought that my losing an eye and a leg might actually make me less sexy, I’m very happy to prove you wrong.” All Might was all, “[standing outside the U.A. fortress alone in the rain talking to someone or something??].” Like seriously, what was up with that though.

Today on BnHA: All Might is all “here I am in Kamino having a belated mid-life crisis because Deku abandoned me and I’m a terrible mentor and everything sucks and I hate myself.” Stain is all, “don’t make me come over there and give you a ten page speech about why you’re still the goat while menacingly holding you at swordpoint the entire time” because idk if you knew this guys, but Stain is pretty crazy actually. Anyway so he does that, and then All Might gets all emotional, and then the lady from chapter 92 shows up and gives All Might’s statue an encouraging pep talk, and then Horikoshi is all “and it even stopped raining lol can you believe this shit I’m not even a little bit subtle,” and he really isn’t. But I still got emotional anyway, because seeing people reassure All Might that everything he’s struggled for his entire life hasn’t been in vain just got to me okay. Horikoshi knows I am weak to the All Might feels and he just goes for the jugular every time, that bastard.

lmao. “in the neverending downpour, All Might is...” yeah, thank you, glad we’re getting right to that then

“All Might is driving 95 mph in his busted ass car in the pouring rain, is what he’s doing.” huh

so basically a day or two after his adopted child refused to accept the handmade bento that he packed with love, my man is out here acting like he’s got nothing to live for anymore. this sure bodes well for certain prophecies on which the clock is still ominously ticking down

his fucking face though omg. is it weird that I’m kind of hoping more people ambush him just because I think it’d be funny to see them get their asses kicked like the last bunch

(ETA: or maybe he will just stand there openly not giving a fuck and basically daring them to stab him!! get it together please All Might.)

side note, “anti-hero supporters” is such a strange way of saying “people who hate heroes”, which I’m assuming is what they actually wanted to say?? this makes it sound like it’s a group that really loves antiheroes. “these Hannibal stans have been a real menace lately. time to go deal with them”

ha ha ha, fucking ouch

are you really gonna do it Horikoshi you bastard. are you really going to let that be the final encounter between the two characters whose relationship you once described as the vertical axis of the entire fucking story. are you really gonna?? huh??

huh

you’re telling me you were driving 112 mph and you still didn’t get there in time. you’re losing your touch old man. lol Todo’s ice is almost fully melted already, how late were you

(ETA: so apparently this is taking place after the end of chapter 325, meaning he went to U.A., hung out for a bit, saw the kids come back with his bedraggled half-dead protégé in tow, watched as they shamed the civilians into some long-overdue character development, and then was all “welp, time to go argue with the hero-hating faction or something because I’m feeling useless.” and Edge just let him go, just like that. though to be fair I have to imagine it’s pretty hard to say no to All Fucking Might.)

also belated lol at the fact that the kids were all “yeahhhhhhh we are definitely not gonna touch that thing, let’s just leave it here, he doesn’t need it anyway.” probably the right call to make since they couldn’t get a hazmat team on such short notice

fuck. ha ha ha fucking ouch part two

All Might please put that thing down before you get gangrene. also yeah, you dropped the ball, good for you to acknowledge it. nobody’s perfect and you did your best. but yeah you could have handled a lot of things completely differently. but I still love you

is Horikoshi really putting this flashback here. are you serious. what kind of fucking sadist

look, I swear I’m not one of those people that runs up and down the street shouting “DEATH FLAG!!” at every third panel lol. but this shit screamed Death Flag when we originally got it, and it’s screaming DEATH FLAG!!! even more now. like with the capital letters and exclamation marks and all. and that’s just a fact. I don’t like it but that’s how it is

ffkdjslk

“DID YOU READ THE SIGN??!” Horikoshi asks while zooming in maniacally because he thinks we’re blind or something. lol what

-- though actually, it only just occurred to me that this sign is actually written in English. I never really paid attention up until now and had been assuming it was written in Japanese and translated by the scanlators, but the writing here is clearly part of the original image. anyway so maybe that’s why he’s zooming in?? just to make sure everybody pays attention lol

okay fuck this

see, this is the whole problem right here. once again All Might is all on his own. Deku’s self-destructive angst spiral was fortunately brought to a grinding halt because he actually has support from his friends and family and teachers and classmates. but All Might never had that same kind of support, and it’s made all the difference between the two of them, and not in a good way. Katsuki wasn’t wrong when he said All Might and Deku were both cut from the same cloth. but now when it’s All Might’s turn to go all “I WALK A LONELY ROAD~~” once again, there’s nobody in sight

just, after forty plus years of him carrying this torch, I just wish someone would finally come along to let him know he doesn’t have to. all those things that he wanted to say to Deku are also things that he needs and deserves to hear himself. Aizawa was making a little progress there, but now he’s got his sad zombie cloud boyfriend situation to deal with, and we can’t expect him and his perfect hair to solve all our problems. someone else has gotta step up

oh my god

“you rang?” never mind I take it all back sob

omg why am I laughing. shit

this man truly has the best PR game in the series. we were truly convinced he was gonna suddenly become a good guy and defend All Might against the other villains or some nonsense. as if this wasn’t the same man who decided on a whim that Iida Tensei deserved to be paralyzed, and that his fifteen-year-old brother deserved to die for daring to be upset about it

lol even All Might is all “I genuinely never saw this coming” lmao

just want to say, for the record, I have always harbored a very sensible hatred toward Stain. feeling very vindicated right now. good job Past Me

adsfklwkfsdwgkj

ffffwefjslkg. ghsdlkg. dsfkkkslkjldwkjrg

STAIN: heard you talking shit old man

ME: smh that’s what I thought you’d say you dumb fucking Stain

STAIN: how dare you talk about All Might that way

ME: gljfljgk

(ETA: in hindsight I have no idea how I didn’t clue in sooner that he didn’t recognize him -- or, well, ~didn’t recognize~ him, to be more accurate lol. I think it was the whole “is that a slight against the heroes?” thing that threw me. Viz’s translation makes it much clearer that he’s offended on behalf of All Might specifically, not heroes in general. anyways.)

sob. so All Might is all “yeah I don’t blame you for not recognizing me in this sweet leather jacket”

good thing he still knows how to do this party trick

A+ reflexes on Stain’s part presumably pulling the sword back a few inches to keep this dumbass from impaling himself with his whole pufferfish routine. can you imagine if that was the gruesome death Nighteye foresaw. and he was just too embarrassed to say anything

lol anyways guess I was wrong about Stain everyone

way to fucking go, Past Me. you really biffed this one

oh wait

Stain sure is one wacky rollercoaster ride

oh fuck me lol I forgot how much I did not miss this

(ETA: “this here is the sacred ground where All Might gave up the last of his power and turned into a shriveled old man!! please ignore the part where I admit to knowing all about that, and yet pretend not to recognize said man when he’s standing two feet in front of me.”)

Past Me, I know we’ve had our ups and downs these past ninety seconds, but I’m really starting to think you were on to something. this dude has always been kind of insufferable. always acting like his high horse is a fucking giraffe when it’s actually a Shetland pony

dammit now he’s got All Might going off on a depressed monologue

oh my god my heart

shit

why the fuck does that hit so hard. he became a hero because he couldn’t bear to just sit back and let bad things happen to people who didn’t deserve it. I mean that’s basically the same as every hero ever, right? so why does it still hit so fucking hard every single time though. what is it about seeing someone so determined to stand up for other people and fight on their behalf. it just never loses its impact no matter how many times I see that determination mirrored in so many of my favorite characters

“I wanted to make the world a better place.” omg. but you did, though. like seriously, I feel like people are always dogging on him for not being 100% perfect, and fandom really doesn’t give him enough credit for everything he still managed to accomplish. this man came of age at a time when Japan was by all accounts a total shitshow, and singlehandedly managed to bring about an era of peace that lasted for four fucking decades. can you imagine having peace for that long?? that’s longer than I’ve been alive. shit

and he gave people hope. he inspired them and protected them and made them feel safe. and no, he couldn’t save everyone, because he’s only one fucking dude (and also because the whole time AFO was also out there desperately working to undermine him so that he could keep preaching his narrative of “heroes are bad actually”). but you know what he did do, is inspire multiple new generations of heroes who, if they can all manage to work together, will finally be able to accomplish everything he never could

so yeah. forty years of peace, and inspired the “that’s how we all became the greatest heroes” generation -- that’s a fucking win in my book. talk about having a net positive impact on the world. lol anyways now I’m all fired up and ready to fight anyone who tries to talk any shit about you, All Might

“but what if I talk shit about myself” okay listen up All Might I’m gonna need you to try just a little bit harder to work with me here okay. please calm down and stop blaming yourself for every single bad thing that’s ever happened in the world. do you remember that time Bakugou was blaming himself for Kamino, and you gave him a hug and told him it wasn’t his fault, and that he was only a boy, and that even though he was strong, even strong people can struggle with the burdens they place on themselves, and that you were sorry for not seeing that earlier? do you remember all of that? that’s what I want someone to tell you too, dammit. anyway please stop breaking my heart please and thanks

wtf

are you dead All Might

um

I don’t even have the slightest idea what’s happening lol

oh snap did he grab him so they could hide??

hold the fucking phone. don’t tell me this person in the background with the umbrella is here to actually do something decent??

oh my godddd

and here come the feels. oh boy. okay don’t mind me, I’m just gonna sit here sobbing over this fictional lady and her simple act of kindness in this weekly shounen manga that I care about way too much

FUCKING DAMMIT AND HERE’S A SECOND HELPING

DON’T MIND ME, I’M JUST GETTING DISPROPORTIONATELY EMOTIONAL OVER THIS WOMAN’S DETERMINATION TO HONOR A MAN WHO SACRIFICED EVERYTHING TO SAVE HER AND COUNTLESS OTHERS. I’M JUST HAVING SOME FEELS OVER HERE ABOUT HER HEARTFELT, DOESN’T-EVEN-KNOW-ANYONE-ELSE-IS-WATCHING FEELINGS OF GRATITUDE THAT COMPELLED HER TO COME OUT HERE AND MAKE THIS SMALL BUT POWERFUL GESTURE. I’M JUST OUT HERE GETTING ALL PROFOUNDLY WORKED UP ABOUT STATUE MAINTENANCE AND THE HUMAN RACE. NEVER MIND. JUST IGNORE ME AND CARRY ON

holy shit. I was not even remotely prepared. you can’t just do that to me. you can’t just leave all these death flags on my lawn and then suddenly shift gears to show me the best of humanity in a chapter where I was expecting the worst. that fucks a person up lol

OH ARE WE STILL GOING

my heart. you see that, All Might. your legacy is so much more powerful and meaningful than you think

...has. has Stain actually been giving All Might a pep talk this entire time

I give up lol. this dude is a fucking enigma

YAYYY

it may just be a metaphor panel, but I’ll take it lol. I missed them. nice to see the traffic light trio front and off-center. I know the whole “this is the story of how we all became the greatest heroes” thing had left some questioning whether certain characters would continue to play a central role in the narrative, and hopefully this will help to ease those concerns just a bit

anyway, so idk if it’s getting a bit chilly down there in hell, but damned if Stain didn’t just give an actual decent fucking speech

I have to say, earlier when I was whining about All Might not having a support squad, I really was not expecting Stain to be the one to come over and pat his head and reassure him that he made the world a better place

-- okay LISTEN

YOU CAN’T JUST COME INTO MY HOUSE AND HIT ME WITH THOSE ALL MIGHT TEARS AGAIN GODDAMMIT THIS ISN’T FAIR. my god. first 317 and now this

holy fucking shit

“I’m just gonna pretend like I haven’t been stalking him for two days and didn’t see the entire Deku bentogate thing go down, and then I’ll give him the whole big speech that I rehearsed, and then I’ll turn around and be all ‘BUT IF YOU’RE A TRUE HERO’, and then I’ll toss him the super-secret AFO wifi password that I stole from Tartarus. god I’m such a badass. fucking give myself chills”

so basically what you’re telling me is that this whole time my “what’s up kids” characterization of Stain from this shitpost has actually been 100% accurate. just want to make sure I’m understanding this right. okay then

“and then I’ll dramatically spin around and be all NOW COME KILL ME BITCH”

it must be so much fun to write Stain. drawing this coked-out maniac who talks like a chatbot that was trained to speak by reading Alan Moore monologues. that must be a trip

anyway so All Might is still crying, the awesome lady from chapter 92 is admiring her handiwork totally oblivious to the batshit insanity going on fifty meters to her right, and it’s finally stopped raining lol

“THE RAIN WAS A METAPHOR YOU SEE” yes, yes, we got it lol. thanks for that Horikoshi. don’t think we needed any help putting the pieces together on that one but I appreciate the effort

so that’s the end! and as I mentioned in another post, I had the count off by one chapter, but next week should be cliffhanger week! so break out your U.A. Traitor bingo cards, friends and fiends. either that or something else happens that I’m completely not expecting at all. which, based on my success rate with Stain predictions, I’d say is more than likely lol

mmm but anyway, so now that the Hug Deku 2021 campaign has finally come to an end, what’s it gonna take to get a hug for my struggling bento-preparing jacket-rocking world-weary death-flag-waving husband who is the worthiest man to ever live and deserves the fucking world, goddammit