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ghostly-cabbage · 4 years ago

Text

Frigid (Chapter 5)

Genre: Horror, Angst, Enemies to Friends (to maybe more??? ohoho)

Chapter Rating: T (Language, Canon Typical Violence, Brief Mention of Underage Drug Use)

Word Count: 6,554

AO3 FFN

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The black and white dashed pavement was all Wes saw. It moved underneath his clumsy feet in slow motion.

Someone was holding his hand; he could feel the heat of their palm enveloping his. His hand was small in theirs. His shoulders were heavy, weighed down by a backpack.

He wrung the padded red strap with his free hand. The person leading him tugged him along after them, insistent, but not unkind. When he looked up, he couldn’t see who it was. The sun was too bright, glinting in his eyes and allowing nothing but the dark impression of a silhouette.

He had to get home, Wes remembered faintly. They had to get home or they’d be in trouble. An odd feeling crept up his legs, and he stumbled over an untied shoelace. The person with him made sure he didn’t fall, pulling up on his arm.

“Silly Wesley, I thought you said you knew how to tie your shoes?” The person said. Their voice sounded muffled, like he was underwater. It sounded… familiar. Somehow. Like Wes should recognize it.

They kept walking across the street, the far side growing no closer.

Wes swallowed, his throat dry.

“Something’s wrong,” he said. His tongue felt clumsy in his mouth. He tried to look up at the person guiding him. They weren’t looking at him, and the sun drove his gaze away again. He looked back at the road, then over his shoulder where the blurry shape of school became more distant with every step.

“Please listen to me this time, something isn’t right,” he tried again. His voice was small in his throat. His chaperone ignored him, or maybe they just couldn’t hear him.

Cold panic seeped into him and he tried to resist against the person guiding him. He dug his heels into the rough hot pavement. He twisted and pulled at his hand, gripping the person's wrist in hopes he could slow them down.

“It’s okay, Wessie! Your friends will be there when you come back,” came the voice, happy and completely oblivious. “I know it’s sad, but you’ll see your friends again, you’ll see.”

“No,” he protested, the fear condensing into a lump in his throat. “No, we can’t keep going.” He didn’t know why. He just knew they had to stop.

They had to stop before it happened.

It ached deep in his bones, the dread and the sirens. His vision swirled and he blinked furiously against the tears.

“Please,” he pleaded. “Please, stop, you have to.” He yanked on them, but they showed no sign of being inconvenienced. A wail rose in his throat.

Why were they not listening?

“Maybe your Mom will let us have some fruit snacks when we get there, how’s that sound?”

And then it was too late.

His guardian gasped, and yanked him back. It sent a painful jolt through his arm. He stumbled backwards and hit the ground so hard it rattled his brain.

The sound he could never push from his memories filled the world. The squeal of tires and a wet crunch. A squeal: high pitched and girlish. The solid thunk and crack of a body hitting the pavement, skidding and rolling and breaking and—

Wes sat bolt upright, strangling back a scream.

Panic tingled over his skin and he clutched at his chest, fingers curling into the cotton of his nightshirt. His breath came in rapid gulps and his eyes darted around his room. Like he was expecting to see—

He screwed his eyes shut and bit into his bottom lip until he tasted blood. God… He hadn’t had one that bad— that vivid in a long time. He focused on the beat of his heart for several long seconds, forcing his breathing to slow.

God. He hated nightmares.

He opened his eyes, taking in the dimly illuminated shapes of his dresser, desk and footboard. His curtains were drawn, and the weak light of morning tried in vain to worm it’s way into the room from behind the fabric.

Wes reached for his phone on his bedside table. He unplugged it from the charger and winced against the light of the screen, 6:31 a.m. Friday.

They’d had the last two days off from school due to damages to the plumbing system, but apparently it was all fixed up because school hadn’t been cancelled today.

After that, going back to sleep was a lost cause.

He shook his head and peeled his covers back. Might as well get an early start on getting ready for school. With a yawn he opened his door and glanced down the hall.

Kyle’s door wasn’t open yet, which wasn’t surprising. Kyle was late most mornings; he liked sleeping in about as much as he liked weed… he slept in so much because of the weed more specifically.

The house was chilly and quiet.

That was until Wes heard footsteps and the sounds of drawers opening and closing in the kitchen.

His right hand slid along the guide rail, the polished wood still smelling of lemon. Reaching the bottom of the stairs he poked his head around the corner of the wall and into the kitchen. He blinked.

It was his dad. He was standing at the toaster, a butter knife held in his hand. Neatly ironed suit already on.

Wes walked in without announcing himself and went to the cupboard. His dad jumped, catching a glimpse of him over his shoulder.

“Oh, Wesley.” He cleared his throat and shifted towards him. “You’re up early.”

“Yep.”

He got a box of cereal and closed the cupboard. He turned his back to his father to get a clean bowl.

“Right. Uhm. Did you… want toast?”

Wes nudged the cupboard door closed with an elbow.

“No, I don’t want toast.” He put his bowl on the dining table and filled it with cereal. His dad watched him.

“There’s eggs in the fridge too if you—”

“Dad, it’s fine.” Wes didn’t look at him, and put the cereal box away. He got the jug of milk from the fridge and poured it over the sugary monstrosity that had the audacity to call itself a balanced breakfast. Other than the sound of the milk glugging, the kitchen was tense and silent. Wes screwed the cap back on the milk and put it back in the fridge, getting a spoon next from the silverware drawer.

The toaster popped, and his Dad startled.

Under different circumstances Wes might have laughed.

He pulled out a seat at the table, its legs scraping over the hardwood floor. He sank down into the cold chair and started eating. He pulled his phone out from his sweatpant pocket and scrolled without really paying attention to the images and text that slid past.

“Aren’t you late for work or something?” he said. His dad stopped scraping the butter on his toast.

“Now that I’m finally settled into the office a bit more I don’t have to be in till seven.”

Wes clicked his tongue. “Oh. Joy.” He shoveled another spoonful of cereal into his mouth. His dad sighed, and he could see his shoulders slump out of the corner of his eye.

“Your uh, tryouts are today, right?”

“Why’s it matter? Not like you ever have time to come to my games anyway.” He said it hoping it would hurt. It was childish, Wes knew it was, but he just wanted his dad to get it for once.

“Wesley, kiddo... I know this has been hard on you and your brother—” Wes snorted. His Dad pressed on. “But this job was an amazing opportunity, I really think it could do a lot of good for us.”

“We were fine with the job you had.”

“I thought a change of environment would help after everything that happened. I’m only doing what’s best for the two of you. For all of us, as a family.”

Wes laughed. It was empty and brittle.

“Well, that’s news to me. We’re hardly even a family anymore.”

“Wesley,” his dad’s voice took on a stern edge.

“You didn’t care about us, if you did you would have asked what we wanted.”

“And this is exactly why I didn’t.” His Dad gestured jerkily towards him with the butter knife.

“What’s that mean?” Wes slapped his phone down and glared up at his dad.

“It’s clear that you’re still too immature to deal with this like an adult. I’m doing this with your futures in mind, Wesley.”

“By ripping us away from home? From all our friends? From Grandma and Grandpa? Uncle Ronnie?” Wes’ heart was thumping in his ears and he wanted to scream, flip the table over, something to make the pressure in his chest go away.

His dad scoffed.

“Don’t raise your voice at me. I told you when we moved that we would visit for the holidays.”

“That just makes it all better. Doesn’t it?” he pushed through grit teeth. He squeezed the handle of his spoon in his fist, the cool metal pressing indentions into his skin.

“The world doesn’t revolve around you and what you want. It’s no one's fault but your own that you’re choosing to learn it the hard way.”

“You’re such a fucking hypocrite.”

“Wesley!” his dad snapped. “One thing you won’t do is speak to me like that under my roof, you understand me?”

Wes held his dad’s gaze, not backing down.

“After tryouts you come right home and stay here for the weekend.”

“What? Seriously?!”

“Yes, seriously.”

Rage whirled in his throat and he bit down on his tongue. He stood up, his chair skidding backwards. Fucking bullshit. It was fucking bullshit.

He threw his spoon down onto the table. It clattered and bounced off the side of his bowl. He snatched his phone and stormed away from the table and back up to his room. He slammed his door behind him and stood there seething, his hands balled into fists.

He stood there as the seconds ticked by, eyes roaming over his room for something he wouldn’t mind breaking. The buzz of his phone distracted him, and he looked down, turning on the screen.

If it was from Dad he was gonna—

Alien Fucker: ?

Oh. Right.

It made sense that he’d probably woken up Kyle. He typed a message back into their chat.

Basketball Freak: Nothing

Alien Fucker: Didn’t sound like nothing

Basketball Freak: Dad grounded me again

...

it’s whatever at this point

Alien Fucker: F in the chat

…

want me to talk to him?

Basketball Freak: no, its fine

Alien Fucker: K just lemme know

Kyle always felt like he had to be the mediator. In the year leading up to the divorce he was the middle man between Mom and Dad, despite Wes telling him that it was ridiculous. Their parents were grown-ass adults. They shouldn’t have fucking needed their seventeen-year-old-son to deliver messages back and forth because they couldn’t stand to talk to each other. And Dad called him immature.

Kyle hated the tension, he took on the peacekeeper role like a job, trying to hold them all together in vain as the family crumbled around him. Wes probably hadn’t helped any, looking back.

He picked fights with Dad like it was his job.

And Mom… He still didn’t talk to Mom.

He tried to get where Kyle was coming from, he really did. But pretending that shit wasn't fucked wasn’t going to unfuck it.

Their parents deserved to know what they'd done was wrong. And if hating them was what it took, then goddamnit, Wes was going to do it.

Wes tossed his phone onto his bed and started getting dressed for school.

***

The school day passed by uneventful. Mia had the scoop about some couple that had broken up over the two day break that Wes hardly paid attention to. He helped her set her shutter speed and they took pictures of fast moving objects outside.

At lunch he sat with Kyle and his stoner friends.

In chemistry, Wes got there after Danny. He set his stuff down, scooting his stool away from him. They ignored each other the best they could as people got settled for class.

Wes bounced his leg on the stool’s rung and kept an eye on the clock. Two more classes until tryouts.

Mrs. Merriweather erased the notes on the board from last class and once the bell rang her iron gaze flicked over the class to make sure everyone was where they were supposed to be.

“Once I take roll, you’ll work on writing your findings from the last lab in a short essay.” An unenthused murmur filtered through the class. Wes glanced sideways to see Danny grimacing.

Hah. Served him right.

“Mr. Fenton. You can make up for your absence last class in an hour's detention after school today.”

Some of their classmates turned to look at Danny, half smiles and shared glances. Nothing was more unifying in a classroom than someone who wasn't you getting in trouble.

Danny hunched his shoulders and sighed.

“Yes, Mrs. Merriweather,” he said.

Sucked for him, but really, what did he expect? Skipping class was a risk he decided to take.

Wes used his notes from the lab he’d done by himself, and started writing his short essay. The class quieted and the only sound was the occasional whisper and the shuffle of papers.

Danny was quiet, fiddling with a pencil and looking at his phone under the table when Mrs. Merriweather wasn’t watching. Wes couldn’t tell who Danny was messaging, but if he had to guess it’d be the other two-thirds of his friend group. Eventually, Danny pulled out papers from a beat up binder and started working on it. From the corner of his eye he’d guess it was history homework.

All Wes cared about was that Danny didn’t bother him. He wrote his essay with his mind half on the words and half on the growing excitement of hitting the court. Finally, finally he’d be able to do one of the only things he was good at. The minutes dragged past and around the fiftieth time he’d glanced up at the clock Danny shifted next to him.

“Dude, chill out, you’re making me nervous,” he said quietly. He didn’t even look up from his homework when he said it.

Wes lifted his head from his partially done essay and narrowed his eyes.

“Mind your own business, Fenton.”

Fenton rolled his eyes but said no more.

Class wrapped up twenty minutes later, Wes turned in his sloppily written essay and bolted out of the room. The hallways swelled with students as they poured from their classrooms. Econ was all that stood between Wes and tryouts. He swung by his locker, grabbing his books.

He was about to turn to leave when he bumped into someone. They both stumbled back and Wes recognized the pungent smell coming off the other person.

“Whoa man, sorry ‘bout that.” Said a guy with blond hair and a beanie slouched over his head.

“Don’t worry about it,” Wes said, trying to get around him.

“Hey wait, you’re Wesley, right? Kyle’s lil bro.”

Well, that explained the smell.

“Uh, yeah that’s me. Sorry, but I’ve gotta—”

“Dude, sweet. Name’s Robbie, I’m pretty chill with your brother,” he said.

“That’s nice. Well, nice to meet you and stuff.” Wes stepped around the stoner and headed towards his class.

“Yeah, totally! I wasn’t here for lunch but Kyle said you hung out with the group today—” Robbie said, following after Wes.

He pushed a breath between his teeth. Great, guess this was happening now.

“—but like Kyle’s told me a lot about you, man.”

“Cool?” Seriously, why was this guy talking to him?

“Yeah, I just wanted to say the group’s mega on your side.”

“Uh-huh. Cool.”

Wait.

“On my side about what?” Wes slowed his pace.

“The ghosts, bro!”

“What about them?”

“Pf, bruh. We’ve lived in Amity Park for like, ever? We’re trying to convince him that this ghost stuff is legit.”

Wes scoffed. “Good luck with that. I’ve been trying since I was like six.”

Robbie shook his head. “I know what’cha mean, bro. Dude’s like a steel trap... or however that saying goes.” Robbie shrugged.

Wes chuckled. “Let me know if you guys make any progress with him,” he said. He’d meant it as a joke, but Robbie nodded seriously.

“Hell yeah, dude, that’s what’s up. You can count on me.” He held out a closed fist to Wes.

He rolled his eyes but didn’t hide his grin. He fist bumped Robbie.

“Okay, well… I’m going to class now.”

Robbie held up his hands. “Oh, yeah, totes. I should probably do that too, now that I think about it.”

“Probably.”

Robbie turned and walked away in the opposite direction, a single textbook swinging in his grasp. Kyle’s friends were always friendly. Even if they were a bit annoying.

Wes was almost late for Econ, thanks to the fact the class was on the other side of the building. He slipped into the room and sat down, letting out a breath when the last bell rang thirty seconds later.

Mr. Brown took his place at the front of the class, voice as monotonous as ever. His button-up was wrinkled around his midsection, and he ran his hands over it like that would help.

“Alright class, we’re going to start talking about the stock market today,” he said, pulling up Google on the projector.

Wes hardly absorbed a word from Mr. Brown’s lecture, which was a total snooze-fest. The stock market wasn’t exactly riveting stuff. He bounced his leg under his desk, watching the clock.

Mr. Brown was in the middle of describing the homework: picking three stocks and tracking their ups and downs through-out the weekend, when the bell rang. Wes had been about ready to start pulling his hair out.

He shot up from his seat and was first out the door.

Wes made a beeline for his locker. Or at least he tried. He got stuck behind kids walking at a snail's pace three times. He got a few dirty looks for pushing past people loitering in their groups.

Eventually, he made it to his locker and fumbled with the lock. Once open, he stuffed his books and notes anywhere they’d fit. Papers crumpled and his notebook creaseed down the center. He pulled his bag from the hook and slung it over his shoulder. He headed to the locker rooms at a jog, back to bobbing and weaving around people in the halls.

“Mr. Weston, no running in the halls!” He heard Mr. Lancer call after him as he went past the English room. He slowed down to a power walk, not caring that he looked stupid.

He got to the locker room and got his gym clothes out. He changed quickly, ripping his shirt off and almost tripping over his jeans.

There were other guys in the room, some he recognized and others he didn’t. Before he put his phone away he checked it, the screen lighting up. At the very top of the lock screen was a message notification.

Mom: How was the first week of school?

His fingers tightened around his phone, pushing the blood away from his fingertips and leaving them pale. He stared at it until the screen dimmed.

He didn’t want to think about it, not now—not at all. He tossed his phone into his bag and zipped it up.

Out of sight out of mind.

He locked up the rest of his stuff and left the locker room. He followed a few other guys into the gym.

The overhead lights reflected in bright streaks on the polished wood floor. He took a deep breath, filling his lungs with the smell of cleaners and old set in sweat. He scuffed the toe of his sneaker on the floor. The high pitched sound echoed around the room; it felt like home.

Mrs. Tetslaff was standing by the bleachers, writing something on a clipboard. A few students that looked like freshmen were wheeling out a wire cart heaped with basketballs.

Wes walked towards Tetslaff, coming to stop a ways away. He shifted from foot to foot in anticipation. Within a minute or two there was a loose ring of guys waiting around. A majority were talking amongst themselves, joking around. Clearly they were last year’s team, bonded by hours of blood, sweat, and tears. Wes was on the outside. He felt a sour twinge in his stomach watching them. He wondered how his old team was doing… None of them had messaged him since he left. Not even Cole or Adam.

“Ay, new kid!”

Wes turned to see a guy with short black hair and olive brown skin. The guy was a bit taller than him. He came up and clapped Wes on the back so hard it stung his skin. He stumbled forward a bit before catching himself.

“I hear you played point in Cali.”

Wes tapped the toe of his shoe against the ground a few times. “Yeah?”

The guy smiled, dark eyes sparkling. He had a nicely structured face, the stubble on his chin making it a reasonable guess that he was a senior.

“I’m José. Wesley, right? ” He crossed his arms over his chest. Wes didn’t know if he was intending to show off his biceps or not, but it certainly seemed like he was. “I was point-guard last year, and ain’t no way in hell some lanky California kid is gonna yoink my spot.”

Wes carefully gaged for any hostility, but there was none. José was all smiles. A friendly challenge?

“I guess we’ll just see about that, won’t we?” He smirked back.

Somehow José’s smile got bigger. He laughed, his posture breaking into something more casual.

“I like you already, Wesley.” He stuck out his hand for a handshake. Wes obliged. José grabbed his hand without mercy and shook so vigorously Wes thought he’d lose his arm.

“Just ‘Wes’ is fine,” he said with a wince. José released his hand. “Ow,” he muttered, shaking his hand out.

“C’mon, you can hang with us, save you the embarrassment of mingling with the Freshmen.” José slung an arm around his shoulders and steered him into the inner circle of guys. He followed, mostly because he didn’t have much of a choice. As they got close the group looked up, varying levels of welcoming.

“Wes, this is Mark,” he pointed to the dude the farthest from them. He was shorter than Wes, long brown hair tied behind his head.

“‘Sup.”

“Next we got Joseph.” José motioned to a guy with terrible posture, it made it hard to tell how tall he was. He looked familiar and it took a few seconds for the light bulb to come on. It clicked and Wes remembered he had Homeroom with him. “We just call him Jo or Joey though.” The guy in question threw up a peace sign. He had light grey hair, obviously the product of a good chunk of money and some bleach.

Now that Wes thought of it, living in Amity Park, it was weird how many people didn’t have crazy bleached or dyed hair. Maybe it was more of a west coast thing? Or Amity was just behind on the times. Probably both.

“This is Anthony,” José moved to the next guy. He was about Wes’ height and he had neatly cut and styled almond brown hair. He looked like he belonged in a boy band. His eyes were hazel green, and he looked Wes up and down.

“Hey,” was all he said. Wes tried not to stare too long as José moved on.

“Last but not least we got our boy Isaac.” He had black hair, shaved on the sides and longer on top with loose curls. He had dark skin like José. Isaac pointed finger guns at him.

“Yo, man, pleasure to meet ya,” he said. He had more of a detectable latin accent than José.

José broke away from Wes to clap hands with Isaac and pull him into a one armed hug.

“This here our inner circle, Joey and Mark are Juniors like you, but the rest of us ’re Seniors.”

“It’s nice to meet all you guys, God, you don’t know how long it feels like I’ve waited for today,” he said. He rubbed his upper arm.

“I just hope you ain’t rusty. I heard you got game.” Isaac said.

Wes shrugged a shoulder. “I mean…”

“Humble,” José nodded. “I like that about you, Wes. I’m ‘bouta smoke you, make sure you stay that way.”

The rest of the group let out a chorus of “oh”s. The gauntlet had officially been thrown down in front of witnesses. Wes didn’t fight his smile as he sank into the familiar feeling.

“Cool, dude. Just don’t cry when I dunk on your ass, okay?”

The group oh’d louder this time.

“Dammnn, new kid! You got spunk, never would have guessed from class,” Joseph laughed. “Seriously, in Homeroom he never talks to anyone,” he told the rest of the group.

“Hey, no judgment, Anthony’s been needing another introvert to keep him company.” Mark grabbed Anthony by the shoulders and gave him a rattle.

Anthony waved him off. “Shut up.”

The sound of a whistle pierced through the gym. They all cringed and turned to look at the source of the noise.

Mrs. Testlaff had her hands on her hips.

“What’re you all waiting around for? You know the drill, warm-ups first.” She clapped a palm against the back of her clipboard. Her voice boomed through the gym. “Two laps around the gym, go!”

***

The amount of drills they did had to be criminal. Wes’ muscles burned and his hair was spiked with sweat and water from the fountain down the hall. He’d forgotten his water bottle at home, which he wholeheartedly blamed on his dad.

It took a while, shaking off the rust and sinking back into his comfort zone. It felt like the court snapped into focus and all that mattered was the squeak of shoes and the fleeting touch of the ball against the curve of his palm. His body moved the exact way he wanted it to. He spun and dodged, nailed three point shots more often than not, felt like he was riding a high.

They practiced individual skills before they moved onto mock games. José was no joke. He moved like he could read the offence’s mind. It was frustrating and exhilarating at the same time.

The group’s synchronicity of their plays made their history together obvious.

The practice games were intense and competitive. For every layup and three pointer Wes scored, José would score the same. The others weren’t pushovers either. Isaac would shut him out with a shit-eating grin and Anthony was way faster than he looked.

José blew past his sophomore defender and jumped, slamming the ball through the basket and holding onto the rim for a few seconds before he dropped. He bounced into a jog, whooping in triumph. Isaac and Mark high-fived him while Joseph and Anthony, who were on Wes’s side, groaned.

Mrs. Tetslaff blew the whistle and everyone stopped, turning towards her.

“Alright, gentlemen, good job today. Take a five minute break. Go get some water and then we’ll move into cool downs.”

Wes sighed, his shoulders sagging. Admittedly, he was tired, but he didn’t want to stop. His new friend group walked towards the corner of the gym to a bench where they had water bottles and towels. Wes, who had neither, just went for the company. Issac grabbed his shoulder as he neared.

“Shit, man, you can actually play,” he said, giving him a shake.

“So can you guys,” he breathed. Wes grabbed the hem of his shirt and used it to wipe the sweat off his face. “You didn’t take it easy on me that’s for sure.”

“Mrs. Tetslaff was impressed, I could tell,” Joseph said, sprawling out on one of the benches.

“You think so?” Wes glanced back at the stern woman who was in the middle of yelling at a pair of Freshmen across the gym.

“For sure, bro. The way you played you might jus’ make varsity,” José said, smacking the cap of his water bottle closed.

“‘Might’?” Wes quirked a brow.

“Homie, yer gonna have to get past us to make varsity,” Isaac pointed out, gesturing to the rest of the guys. Wes blinked, looking at the five of them.

“Damn, guess you’re right.”

“It’s okay, you can take Joey’s spot, he won’t miss it,” Mark said, snapping his hand towel at Joseph. He squawked and rolled off the bench onto the floor with a thud.

“Asshole! And what the hell d’you mean I wouldn’t miss it?” He pushed himself up to glare up at Mark.

“Bruh, all last season you cared more about flirting with Tiff than showing up to practice on time.”

Joseph’s cheeks flushed pink.

“So? I still got better stats than you did. Plus who doesn’t lose track of time when flirting with a cute girl?”

“I dunno, man. Sounds like a straight problem,” Anthony said from Wes’ other side. Wes looked over at him, a little surprised.

Joseph pushed himself up. “Shut up, Anthony, as if you haven’t been late because you’re flirting with some guy.”

Anthony snorted. “At this school? Gimme a break.”

“Whatever, dude, at least I don’t wanna fuck a ghost.”

That managed to get a reaction out of Anthony. He stiffened, cheeks tinting red. His gaze darted around the ground before his expression hardened.

“If I remember right, Joseph, you retweeted Dash’s ‘Its not gay if he’s dead’ tweet just like everybody else,” he shot back, lifting his chin.

Joseph’s eyes widened.

Isaac, Mark and José spluttered from behind Joseph. Anthony smirked and crossed his arms over his chest.

“Because it was funny! It was a meme, dude!”

“No need to get defensive now, it’s okay. You can admit that Phantom made you have a gay awakening.” Anthony had an evil twinkle in his eye, like a shark that’d caught the scent of blood.

“What? Dude, no I— Guys come on, help me out here.”

Isaac stepped up next to Joseph and threw an arm around him, pulling him closer by his neck.

“Homie, no cap, I wasn’t bi till I moved here. That probably ain’t no coincidence, know wha’m’sayin’?

Joseph looked stricken, like he could feel himself losing the argument.

“Oh come on—what about you, newbie?”

All eyes turned to Wes and he swallowed. Oh, God. Why were people in Amity so goddamn weird? Attracted? To a ghost?

“Uhm… I mean. Uh. I’ve only seen him once…” He twisted the toe of his shoe against the ground. “Also he’s technically dead, right? Isn’t that like, messed up?”

Everyone who wasn’t Joseph just rolled their eyes or puffed out a breath.

“He’s new, give him a while, he’ll come around,” Isaac said, sharing glances with the guys in support of literally thinking a ghost was hot. Wes tried to hide his bewilderment. He seriously doubted he’d “come around”. What was wrong with these people?

Joseph shoved himself away from Isaac’s grip and interlocked his arm with Wes’.

“Fuck you guys, Wes is my new bestfriend now.”

“Boy, you literally out here with silver hair, who’da fuck you think you foolin?” José said, jabbing a flat hand towards him.

“...Elliot said it’d help me get girls’ numbers,” he said softly, lifting his hands to tend it with a frown.

“You actually listened to that clown?” Anthony grimaced.

“Bro, I thought you said you liked it?”

Anthony rolled his eyes. “Whatever.”

“Oof, Anthony hit his word limit, guys.” Mark said. The guys broke into laughter. For the first time since moving to Amity Park, Wes actually didn’t hate being there.

But because it was in-fact Amity Park, of course that’s when shit went sideways.

There was an explosion from above them. Wes flinched, whipping around towards the source of the sound. The overhead lights flickered, and debris rained down on the center of the court. There was a gaping hole in the ceiling of the gym, sunlight streaming through. A huge shape flew down through the hole, stopping to float thirty feet up. The being glowed unnaturally and had what looked like a mohawk of green flames. The thing looked around, and then flew straight towards Wes and the group. Wes stumbled back into Isaac, his brain short circuiting.

“What the hell—”

“Ghost!” someone screamed, and that’s all it took for the gym to descend into chaos. People scattered, fleeting through the nearest exits.

But Wes and his new friends had nowhere to go. They all backed up, pushed against each other in the corner.

“Oh shit,” José said, voice hushed. “It’s Skulker.”

“What? Who?” Wes whispered back.

“Dude, shut up! He’s coming closer,” Joseph hissed, slapping a hand over Wes’ mouth. He didn’t even have time to be pissed about it before the ghost was right on top of them.

It grinned. The air felt heavy and Wes’ heart kicked in his chest. Its body was grey and sleek like metal. Out of all the ghosts that they could have, of course Amity had a fucking cyborg ghost.

The ghost loomed over them. “Have any of you feeble little humans seen the Ghost Child recently?” Its voice was gruff and low, echoing horribly against Wes’ ears. Its eyes were disks of solid green burning into them as it stared. It was still smiling, jagged metal teeth gleaming in the dim reflected light.

Wes wanted to say “no”, maybe that would make it leave, but Joey’s hand was still firmly over his mouth. The ghost leaned closer, its glare narrowing.

“Well? Speak, you sniveling humans,” it growled.

There was a moment’s silence, then: “recently? No.”

Wes, along with the rest of the group’s attention snapped over in dismay to Anthony. He looked nonchalant, or would have if not for the rigidness of his arms and the tension in his brow. Their gaze slowly craned back over to the ghost, terrified of its reaction.

But the ghost leaned back, demeanor doing a complete one-eighty. “Huh, you haven’t?” Its eyes went cartoonishly big. He looked at a panel that appeared on the back of his wrist. “My scanners say he’s in the area.” The ghost tapped in the scanner a few times, before he gave up and shrugged.

“No matter.” The cruel smile spread over its face again. “All I have to do is stir up a bit more trouble and my prey will surely appear.”

Wes watched in horror as long wicked green blades extended out from the ghost’s arms. It closed the small gap between them, a chuckle building up from its throat—or whatever ghosts had.

“Why hasn’t someone hit the Ghost Alarm?” Mark whispered.

“Shh,” José snapped.

Wes swallowed, his mouth going dry and his knees shaking.

Yeah, he absolutely hated it here again.

The ghost lifted a blade, resting its tip just above his collarbone. Holy shit, holy shit, holy—

Wes caught the sight of movement from behind the ghost: a flash of black and white.

“Skulker, leave them alone,” came another echoing voice. Instead of feeling hot and stuffy a chill spread over Wes’ skin as the temperature of the gym dropped.

The metal ghost spun around, its absence opening up the group's line of sight enough to see none other than Phantom. He was floating some ten feet away, arms crossed over his chest. He paid them no attention, his eyes fully locked on the hulking metal ghost.

“Oh thank fuck,” Joseph breathed, relaxing enough to release Wes.

“There you are, Ghost Child,” the cyborg said, sounding pleased. “I was wondering when you’d decide to—” Phantom became a blur. The next thing Wes knew, the huge ghost was sent flying, crashing into a wall on the right side of the gym.

Phantom was now occupying the space the cyborg ghost had just been. He shook out his hand before curling it back into a fist. “Seriously, how many times do I have to tell you not to drag people into our shit, Skulker?” There was a beat, and Phantom looked over at them, like he’d just remembered they were there in the first place. His eyes flicked over all of them, and Wes couldn’t suppress his shiver when the ghost looked at him.

“Oh, ‘sup. You guys might wanna, ya’know...” He jerked his head towards the closest exit. And then Phantom was gone, reappearing across the gym. The group didn’t need to be told twice, the next second they were moving. They scrambled out of the corner, practically tripping over one another.

Wes felt like he was frozen in place. He stared dumbly at where Phantom and the metal ghost were now locked in battle.

“Dude, what’re you waiting for? Let’s go!” José said, grabbing Wes by the arm and hauling him towards the doors.

“Wait—” he objected weakly. His legs felt like jelly as he moved. He wanted to see the fight, see Phantom. He didn’t know why, but something in the back of his mind was screaming at him.

He had questions.

But his new friends didn’t stop until they’d dragged him out through the metal swinging doors of the gym and into the hallway. The door slowly swung back closed, and Wes caught a glimpse of green bolts streaking like comets through the air and Phantom colliding with the ground.

#Danny Phantom #danny phantom fanfiction #Danny fenton #frigid #wesley weston #Wes weston #Kyle Weston #Walter Weston #Danny phantom fanfic #cross posting here on tumblr is a nightmare #copy and pasting doesnt copy over the bold and italics so I gotta go through and make sure every italicized thing is right and uuuuhhhhhgg #anyway hope yall enjoy #Also this cliffhanger isn't as bad as it seems I promise lmao

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sleekervae · 4 years ago

Text

The Neighbour [0.1]

Masterlist

Everything had played out like the rising action in a horror movie. And before the whole world's eyes, life on Earth had slowed to a snail-like crawl. Covid 19 was ravaging through cities and countries faster than a salmonella outbreak at a restaurant even Gordon Ramsay couldn't attempt to save. It was terrifying to watch, and even more terrifying to see work and interaction dry up so quickly. Especially for those who relied on social interaction to stay sane.

Luckily for Remington, he happened to be stuck with his brother when quarantine measures went into full effect.

It was no big deal living with Emerson, if anything, it was relatively more calm with two out of the three of them sharing a space. Sebastian and Larissa were staying well and safe in their own house, popping by now and again at the gate to check in on his little brothers. No doubt, it sucked. The album was pushed back, the tour called off, the only thing keeping the hype for 'The Bastards' release was social media.

At least Remington had comfort in the fact that he wouldn't have to endure this quarantine alone. Living in his own house all by himself, he'd probably drive himself up the wall and find himself hanging off the rafters (literally).

Tuesday morning was bright and warm, as they tended to be in LA. Emerson was sat comfortably at the kitchen table, drinking his usual cup of tea and reading the depressing headlines coming out of the news. Pepper was curled up at his feet, snoring softly and her little marshmallow body rising steadily. The neighbourhood was quiet, it always was, but it was especially tranquil these spring days in April. He simpered sardonically when he read the latest quote from the president, promising that the pandemic would pass come July.

His attention was gripped suddenly when he heard the low squeal of car tires. The youngest brother glanced outside the window, his dark eyes falling over the little blue Waivecar that had pulled up at the opposing apartment complex. Those cars had been coming back and forth for the last four days, with the same girl coming and going. And at night, the apartment facing the house would keep the lights on until two or three in the morning, but she wasn't partying. The most noise this girl made was the hum of her radio drifting out of an open window.

Clearly, whoever she was, she was still in the weeds of moving. Perhaps when she was settled, Emerson would go by and introduce himself, make her feel welcome. Considering how warm the climate was, this particular neighbourhood had a tendency to be quiet cold and private towards neighbours. No doubt many of them weren't a fan of the band and their at home antics.

Emerson was startled when his brother came bounding in, dressed in the same moppy grey sweats he had been practically living in for weeks. Thank goodness he wasn't wearing his heelys this time around; the other day he had crashed into the couch and flipped over onto the cushions, nearly smashing his head on the coffee table.

"The guys will be by in about half an hour," he said. Emerson narrowed his eyes at his older brother.

"He says as we're under strict orders from the state health officials to not see anybody," he murmured.

Remington pouted, running a hand through his evidently growing blonde hair. He pulled up a seat next to his brother, "Hey, you were the one who said it's getting too quiet around here. And besides, it's not like we're coming from opposite counties. Seb lives like four blocks down from us,"

"I'm just getting a little nervous, is all," Emerson shrugged, showing him the article on his tablet, "The numbers are still going up,"

"And they'll keep going up until they find a cure. And while they're doing that, we're going to be in the backyard playing soccer and eating pizza," Remington smiled.

"Who said we're having pizza?"

"I did. I just decided,"

"Maybe I want Mexican? Did you think about that?"

Across the street in the fresh red brick and black-trimmed apartment, three floors up from the ground and in direct line of the sun sat Eva. The twenty-four-year-old literary bachelor sat comfortably at her newly furnished desk, typing away at her laptop that was due for a battery change -- Eva just hadn't found the time to physically take it into the store. On her right she had a lukewarm cup of coffee, on the left her speaker which was softly blasting Tove Lo's new album. All the while, her bony fingers flew over the keyboard, her big stormy blue eyes skimming the words that sprinted across her document.

Eva got by as a writer, not a novelist or a poet, but as a ghost writer. She was hired to write materials for would-be authors and journalists, all of whom either didn't have the drive or commitment to write to the extent Eva did. Surprisingly, she made some pretty good money just off that. And while that work tended to be dry and bleak, Eva had spent her free time writing various fanfictions -- mostly for Hannibal and Criminal Minds. She happened to be quite prolific on Tumblr because of her literary fantasies.

And while her work was often isolating, Eva didn't live alone by any means. She had her pale tabby, Pluto, to keep her company. He was snoozing on the couch, despite how often Eva had trained him not to do that when he was a kitten.

She had just returned from an early morning run from the grocery store -- having learned the hard way that despite the pandemic, people will continue to flock to the stores in droves and it's almost impossible to social distance within them. As if moving out of her old apartment wasn't hard enough, now she had to deal with hastily late movers, jumbled lease agreements, and a pandemic.

In the throws of bittersweet silence, Eva's concentration was broke when a shrill alarm had her nearly jumping out of her seat. It was only her phone, the screen lighting up with a 'Blocked' ID. Eva smiled wickedly and declined the call.

The young writer pushed her rolley chair away from the desk and did a stretch, her head turning towards the house across the street. She figured a couple of frat boys shared the place, they had a few of their friends over from time to time but they were relatively quiet. The most she would hear out of them is some smack talk coming from the backyard.

Pluto's head popped up from the couch, then he leapt onto the floor and trotted over to the window sill, hopping up to spy on the unfamiliar car that was pulling up to the house. Eva could hardly care less. There was a statewide order to see only a small group of people as little as possible, and as long as the neighbours wouldn't bother her, she wouldn't bother them.

It was a shame, as if having to meet new people wasn't difficult enough for her...

A few hours passed and soon the silence in the Los Angeles neighbourhood was broken by the grunts and thwacks of a backyard game of pool basketball. The boys and a few of their friends were all the more engaged in their game while their girls sat aside on deck chairs under the beating sun. Under the shade of the pergola, their friend Andrew was grilling some sausages -- beef and tofu -- on the barbecue.

Remington was taking the piss out of Sebastian for being all over his girl, but who the hell could blame the kid? There was a new rush of life in the guitarist's face whenever the topic of Larissa came up. The same could be said for Emerson and Shy. Remington wouldn't dare admit he was a little jealous of his brothers' happiness, so he'd settle for loving his brothers but torturing them at every opportunity.

Breaking out from the cold water, Emerson gripped tightly to the rubber red ball in his hand. Just as Sebastian came to take a running dive into the pool, he reared the ball back and hucked it at his older brother, nailing him square in the chest. Instead of a graceful dive, Sebastian flailed sideways and crashed into the water. The ball ricocheted onto the deck and bounced away towards the front yard.

"Oh my God!"

"Emerson!" Shy scolded, a little horrified and yet not surprised at her boyfriend's actions. Sebastian broke out of the water and shook his hair out of his eyes. It was more his pride and the laughter of his friends that hurt than the fading sting of rubber against skin.

Emerson meanwhile just giggled happily as he high-fived Remington.

"You guys fucking suck!" Sebastian glowered at the younger boys.

At the same time, Eva had given up on work for the day. As random as it was, she decided she'd try to make bread: the apparent trend that was surging during this quarantine. She bought all the things she would need this morning.

Stepped a few feet into the kitchen, she pushed open the window a brisk breeze flooding in and freshening up the air. Her attention was skewed to the house across the street, hearing some mild echoes of conversation and the thrum of a radio in the air.

She went to gather her ingredients and tools, however, as she turned to fetch an apron she realized something was missing: the patter of feet behind her. Pluto was usually Eva's shadow whenever he was in the kitchen, always the opportunistic cat he was. However, he wasn't on the couch. He wasn't in his bed. He wasn't snooping around in her closet or hiding under the desk.

"Where'd the ball go?" Daniel called, clinging to the ledge of the pool.

"I'll get it" Remington swam to the ladder and pulled himself out of the water. He shook out his sopping blonde hair, unintentionally shaking his ass in his colorful swim trunks. Their friend, Michael, whistled from the pool. Remington only smirked on him.

"Flattery will get you nowhere, hunny," he sassed, waving his hand and ducked off to fetch the ball.

Puzzled, Eva grabbed Pluto's favorite bag of cat treats and shook it, the sound was always able to bring him out -- when he was within ten feet of the treats. The fact that he didn't appear told Eva that he must've gone out the window once again to wreak havoc.

With an irritated huff, she switched out her house slippers for her sandals and hightailed it out with the bag of treats.

The red rubber pool ball had rolled across the grass and lodged itself into a bush at the fence. Remington was awash in frigid goosebumps, not even the California heat could will away the pool's chill quick enough. Nevertheless, he crawled down and retrieved the ball from the brambles, swatting off what little dirt he could. However, his fixation swerved to the complex across the street when he heard a heavy slam.

"Pluto!" a young girl came charging out of the apartment complex, dressed in a slightly wrinkled white t-shirt and her jaw-length hair swivelled smoothly around her face as she frantically looked up and down the street, "Pluto!" she was shaking a little yellow bag.

Remington looked up and down the quiet street, almost expecting to see Pluto the Dog standing at the corner like Cartoon Cat. He glanced down quizzically at the ball, then back at the young woman.

Eva rubbed the stress lines on her forehead out of pure frustration. This wasn't the first time Pluto ran off, he always came back. However, the damn cat would always find ways to stir up trouble; rowling up dogs, plucking fish from little ponds, scratching at hanging laundry.

"Pluto!!" she shook the bag of treats.

"Hey!" Remington called, waving his hand to the stranger, "You alright?"

Eva glanced at the owner of that soft, yet scratchy voice. She hadn't even noticed the bleach blonde kid standing in the glint of the sun. Eva crossed the street and stood a few feet from the gate, keeping more than two meters distance.

"I'm sorry. Have you happen to see a cat running around? He's a pale tabby, couple black stripes, likes to chew shoes," she shrugged.

Remington only shook his head, "Sorry. I'm afraid not," he smiled sheepishly, "Did -- did you say he was a cat?"

"Yeah,"

"And you named your cat 'Pluto'? Like -- the dog?"

Eva smirked, but shook her head, unable to help but glance at the tattoos that crossed over this boy's torso, "He's named after The Black Cat," she said, "You ever read Edgar Allan Poe?"

Remington smiled sheepishly, "Oh right, right! I haven't read that in a while, actually. He named the cat after the Roman God for death,"

Eva smiled pleasantly, not having pegged this boy to know so much about EAP, "That's right. I wanted a black cat to fit with the theme but the damn tabby stole my heart,"

"He knew what he was doing, obviously," Remington grinned, "I'll keep an eye for him though, if I happen to --" he was cut short however when he heard Pepper start yapping from the backyard. The yapping was followed by the clanging of metal and a screeching yrowl.

"What the fuck?" Andrew suddenly shouted, “Where’d this cat come from!?”

Panic flooded over Eva's face and Remington didn't think twice to open the gate and let her in. Social distancing aside, they two of them rushed into the backyard to find a tray of sausages had crashed onto the floor, the meat had rolled everywhere. Shy clung to Pepper as the little pomeranien yapped and growled incessantly at the scruffy tabby on the patio table, back arched and hissing at the dog while he guarded his captured sausage.

Eva was understandably horrified.

"What the hell happened here?" Remington asked, just as in shock over the mess.

"Cat came out of nowhere and dive bombed our lunch!" Daniel replied, having just crawled out of the pool.

"Pluto!" Eva ran to the table and scooped up the snarling cat, Pepper was still yapping away, "What is the matter with you?" she scolded at Pluto before turning to Remington and Andrew, who still wielded the metal tongs in his hand, "I am so frickin' sorry!"

"No, no, it's okay," Andrew shook his head, glancing at the lost sausages longingly, "I was kind of craving sushi, anyways,"

"It's no big deal, honestly," Remington assured her, "Five second rule applies, I'm sure,"

"It's been about thirty-seven seconds," Sebastian spoke flatly.

"Since when were you counting?"

Larissa was the only one who didn't seem annoyed or surprised at the feline intruder. She smiled warmly at the young girl, "Is this your cat?"

"Unfortunately," Eva grinned sheepishly, "I should know better. He's in a new area and he tends to get into trouble. Also, if anyone happens to lose a shoe, he did it, and I'm apologizing in advance," she pointed a finger at the now calmed tabby.

Shy smiled, "Well, Pepper's no better. She tends to think she's a way bigger dog," she held up and coddled the fluffy pomeranian. Eva smiled awkwardly, only now noting that she forgot to grab a face mask. And here she was: in a backyard full of strangers in a pandemic.

"Wait, I recognize you," Emerson said, "You just moved across the street, right?"

"Yeah, that's me. Eva," she nodded, "Great first impression, right?"

"You couldn't do any worse than Curcio over here," Sebastian grinned, "Remember the split pants?"

"You're going to hang that over my head for the rest of my life, aren't you?" Daniel glowered.

"Maybe," Emerson turned back to Eva, "I'm Emerson, that's Sebastian, Daniel, Larissa, Michael, Shy, Andrew... and you've already met Remington, I see,"

"The best looking one," Remington grinned.

Eva nodded, "Well, it was very nice meeting you all, I should get going, though. And again, I'm so sorry about the cat,"

Remington shrugged, "It's just sausages. We can get more," he assured her, "Here, I'll walk you out,"

"Thanks," Eva smiled, keeping Pluto close to her chest as she passed Shy and Pepper. Pepper gave one last fleeting bark as the cat passed by. Pluto simply licked his lips.

Michael couldn't help but lean over as he caught one last glance at the new neighbour, then turning to Emerson, "How come you get the pretty neighbour?"

The drummer shrugged, reaching over to grab the rubber ball that Remington dropped at the end of the pool, "Dumb luck?"

#palaye royale #Palaye Royale imagine #Palaye Royale fic #remington leith #Remington Leith imagine #emerson barrett #sebastian danzig #boy bands #band imagines #band imagine blog #original story #original female character

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sparkles-and-trash · 4 years ago

Text

South Park Main 5, Headcanons Masterpost ~

Stan Marsh

Looks:

hair is actually nice and somewhat floppy naturally, but because he wears a hat most of the time, it’s usually flat and a little greasy kshdhsd

hair is that blue-ish black color

eyes is piercing ice blue

skin is light, kind porcelain like, but he also tans really fast?

soft sweaters are the only thing he’ll wear from early autumn to late spring

in summer he’ll literally only wear band shirts and flannels lol

Personality and General Trivia:

totally cares more for animals than most people let’s be real

sometimes he struggles with seeing things from others point of view and ha can come across as a little self centered

he is aware of it tho and tries to be better at it

his instagram is filled with Sparky haha

let’s Sparky sleep in his bed every single night even tho Sharon tells him not to

likes reading and writing, has a tiny obsession with dark themes and Lovecraftian stuff

he and Kenny volunteers at the local pet shelter and homeless shelter together

the pet shelter was Stan’s idea, and the homeless shelter was Kenny’s

wants to be edgy but is really just very soft

“Kyle said...”

believes everything Kyle tells him lol

enjoys video games a lot, prefers single player, story based ones tho

also still enjoys boardgames a lot, and when the big group isn’t up for hit, he, Tweek, Jimmy, Butters and Cartman groups together to nerd it out

has clinical depression, but is managing it with help of a therapist, his mom and friends

sometimes things gets pretty dark, but he is getting better at reaching out and asking for help in those times

Friendships:

like I mentioned above, he struggles a bit with seeing things for other’s point of view

but he is aware of his flaws and is trying to be better

can get a little bit caught up in his own drama, but listens when his friends tells him he needs to get over himself

will always stand up for his friends, especially if they’re not there to do it themselves

when he starts getting closer with Butters in early high school he gets really upset when he realizes how much he gets shit-talked

enjoys spending time with his friends individually, probably the most of the group, and takes initiative to do so a lot

which is very important to Kenny, since he tends to feel a little overlooked sometimes, and it makes their friendship really strong

same with Butters, except Butters doesn’t usually doesn’t mind mainly being in a group, but the first few times and Stan hangs out alone it’s obvious he really appreciates it

Family:

daddy issues

sorry I don’t make the rules lol

has a decent relationship with Sharon tho

she’s a good mom

and he wants to be a good son

Shelly is still kinda angry and scary

she keeps the “only I can beat you up bro” attitude and there is secretly mutual respect there

but we don’t talk about that!!!

Ships and relationships:

okay so my main ships for him are stutters (Butters), stenny (Kenny) and Style (Kyle)

my fav is stutters tho

I usually head canon him as bi or pan, but as with everyone in SP, I’m open to different interpretations if different Au’s and stories!

I just really like the idea of them learning to balance facing their issues AND celebrate the good things in life together

I def think he can be a bit insecure in relationships, struggling with feeling like he’s not enough, and would need a partner that naturally will be affirming and positive

that’s not to say he’s super needy or clingy, he’s just a bit insecure

but I really think he would truly be a good partner

he’s caring, kind and very appreciative

which is again why I really like him with Butters offh

Kenny McCormick

Looks:

sandy blonde hair that’s always messy and floppy/softly curled

teeth is kind of crooked due to lack of funds for braces

his front teeth are kinda big and has a significant gap

lots and lots of freckles man

all over his face, shoulders, back, hands and arms

tans fast

I actually really like him with brown eyes? like, soulful deep brown eyes

but also very, very clear blue ones, like almost unnatural (yes that’s a mysterious thing)

medium tall

wears his hoodies, usually with the hood up, no matter if it’s freezing or a heatwave

not conventionally attractive, but charming looking lol

likes to wear some eyeliner every now and then

and nail polish, but it’s like super clumsily put on and always chipped

Personality and General Trivia:

falls asleep in class a lot, but always seems to know the answer if the teacher asks him something

also has decent grades

I think he’s way smarter than he gives himself credit for, both socially and school wise

the therapist of the groups

actually, the therapist of the whole school

knows a lot of secrets due to this, but he always, ALWAYS keeps them

I see him as very friendly and approachable, but terribly hard to get close with

lots and lots of walls, man

very much an observer type?

quietly stays in the background if that’s an option

but if he is talked too, or feels like he has something to really contribute to in a conversation he’ll jump in and be comfortable talking and taking up space if he is with friends or people he knows

if not, he’ll just stay in the background with that.... look on his face that just makes you know he knows more than he says

works at Tweek’s parents coffee shop, is kinda close with Tweek because of this

zones out a lot

“…what?”

can fall asleep anywhere

Friendships:

is pretty close friends with Butters!

Butters used to have a little crush on him, but Kenny didn’t find out until years later lol

he also has a lot of patience with Cartman compared to the others

which is why Cartman actually cares when Kenny sets him in his place

likes learning new things, and does that with Kyle a lot!

both school and homework stuff, and things like cooking and other homey stuff, the two of them really bond with this

him and Stan volunteer together, and I already mentioned, and that time means a lot to Kenny

since he works with Tweek, the two of them are pretty close and good friends

is the one of the main boys who gets along the best with Craig and those guys

actually hangs out with them from time to time, so does Butters

it low-key drives the others crazy

Family:

I often like to think his parents would keep having these bursts where they try to get their shit together?

and it’s slow, and one step back and two backwards, but the fact that they’re trying at all means a lot to the kids after years of them... not

I can also see Kevin stepping up and taking more charge, Kevin get’s way too little love in this fandom!

Kenny usually never fights with his sibs

but when he does it’s with Karen, usually because he’s worried about her and it’s nor pretty

none of them can stay mad at each other for long tho

Kevin trying to be all “big brother” and kinda failing because he is chaotic, but he really wants to do right and Karen and Kenny knows that and appreciates it

Ships and relationships:

ohhh kay here we go, unpopular opinions ahead!

first, my main Kenny ships are Tokenny (Token x Kenny) and Stenny

rn Tokenny is my main, I love the potential dynamics, both with their personalties and backgrounds and families

I tend to head canon him as pan or bisexual, and demiromatic

I know the demiromantic part is... controversial, at best

but hear me out!

I see him being very comfortable with discussing sexual stuff, and being attracted to someone physically is never something he feels awkward or bad about

but when it comes to more emotional connections, he is way more awkward and fumbling

for those who doesn’t know, a demiromatic person (like myself! surprise!) won’t have crushes or romantic feelings for someone they don’t already have some form of emotional bond with! We can still feel sexual attraction tho, and some of us are comfortable with casual sexual encounters (like me!) and others are not, and both are very valid!

I usually have two ways of writing him

either him being comfortable having casual sexual interactions, but struggling with the romantic aspect and having to figure out how this works for him

him having some trauma related to debating sexually very early, thinking he was all ready and it was just sex, but getting his emotions caught up in it and being very heartbroken and confused, and therefore having issues with being intimate with people for a while

I mix them up depending on the story, but the first one is usually my go-to!

Kyle Broflovski

Looks:

he still covers his hair a lot, either with hats or hoods?

because I really see him being insecure about it

it’s a medium sort of red, and like, really curly and fluffy

not frizzy, big like... big

I usually give him green eyes, but I also could see him with a light brown or hazel!

some light freckles on his face that only really shows up if he’s spent time in the sun

pretty tall, kind of lanky

d i m p l e s

Personality and General Trivia:

big nerd energy

in every way, board games, video games, loves school, like genuinely, enjoys studying for tests, loves fantasy books, the longer and more complicated the better

co-captain of the debate team with Wendy

is good with arguments unless he gets too passionate on the subject, or if someone knows his weak points and uses them to tick him off

it’s usually Cartman

his mom wants him to go to an Ivy League but honestly he just wants to go to the same one in Denver as Stan, Butters and Cartman are planning on, and now that Kenny is also considering it he seriously think he’ll die if all his friends go to the same college without him

he struggles with FOMO, which is kind of an issue since he’s a busy guy, and some of his friends are not lol

if any one of these kids become a jock, it’s def Kyle with his basketball change my mind-

but not like, a letterman wearing fuckboy type of jock, but like, is obsessed with his sport and his team and works really hard to do well type of jock

Friendships:

very loyal

he and Stan walks Sparky together at least twice a week, just to be sure they’re always caught up with each other even when they’re busy with school, sports and dating

yeah they’re still super best friends

when they started high school he got closer to Wendy as she’s also on the debate team, in all of his AP classes and they share a lot of the same interests

they’re still good friends, but nothing more

the first time Cartman got really drunk was at a party freshman year, and at the time everyone was pretty fed up with him, and he ended up crying and Kyle found him, and Cartman thinks Kyle doesn’t remember, but he does

that was the first night Kyle really kinda understood why Cartman was the way he was, and even though he still thinks he’s a dick at times, he tries to remember everyone have a story, and to give people time

but he often gets too riled up to remember that lol

good pals with Jimmy, they share a lot of interests in fantasy stuff and have the same humor

he also start to go along well with Craig when they are around middle school age, but they’re both kinda too stubborn to admit they’re friends until a year later lol

Family:

even tho Sheila is pretty overbearing and can be too much, he is a mommy’s boy deep down

tense relationship with his dad

enjoys cooking, so that’s where he spends a lot of time with his mom!

tries his best to keep up with Ike and his life

sometimes he is a tad cringy when doing so, but Ike appreciates the gesture

Ike is pretty confident and strong in himself so he doesn’t care if Kyle is a bit awkward lol

the type of brothers who genuinely enjoys spending time together

Ships and relationships:

I like Style, Kyman, K2 and Kyvid!

I think he’d be a late bloomer when it comes to love and dating

struggles with opening up and letting himself feel these things

I often think of him as biromantic asexual, but I’m not always set on it!

he’d enjoy traditional dinner and a movie type of dates a lot, such a nerd

Eric Cartman

Looks:

keeps his hair cut pretty short and styled

has heterochromia iridium (different colored eyes), one blue and one brown

also he has a real nice smile when it’s a genuine one

which is rare but like

it happens

is kinda insecure about his weight and tries to compensate with always having the newest stuff and pretending not to care

sometimes tries to diet in secret

he isn’t huge anymore, but is still sort of broad, and isn’t skinny, but like..

kinda bulky, if he wears the right type of clothes it’s hard to see if he’s chubby or buff

but he is def chubby

Personality and General Trivia:

spends way to much time on reddit arguing with randoms

angry gamer, will call you a slur on voice chat

after almost getting dropped by his friends in middle school he tries a little harder to be a more decent person

still an asshole at heart, but like, an asshole who sometimes cares about some people

always tells people that’s he’s seen that meme before, even when he hasn’t

nothing is ever his fault and the only ones who can get him to admit he’s wrong are Kenny and, very, very rarely, Kyle

he wears supreme hoodies for a full year of High School and stands in line all night for the new ones and never shuts up about how he is the first in South Park to have the new stuff

Kenny finds it hilarious to buy the fake supreme stickers and put then on his own worn out hoodies

Kyle makes it his main goal in life to put things (everything from used gym socks to old food he finds in his locker) in Cartmans hoods and see how long it takes for him to notice

can’t handle alcohol, is constantly being teased for it

sloppy drunk lol

one of the main reasons the other bothers with Cartman trough middle school, when he is at his worst, is because of his big basement, the old Coon Lair, who got a big renovation around 7th grade and is an awesome, private hangout spot with a big TV and wifi and gaming systems

Friendships:

constantly says he hates his friends but would die if everyone left him

is secretly terribly jealous of Kyle, both his closeness to Stan, his basketball skills, his grades and his family

but they had that thing in Freshman year when Kyle found him drunk, alone and sad, and Cartman himself barely remembers it, and doesn’t think Kyle does because he never mentioned it

but he does

so much tension there, but also co-dependency

sees Kenny and Butters as his best friends, and knows deep down neither of them feel that way about him and it secretly kills him

is in the same board game group with Stan

is low-key terrified of Tweek lol

Family:

big mommy issues

but also very protective of her

I really enjoy the AU/headcanon that Liane marries Clyde’s dad

it’s not like, the only version I like, but I put it in as many au’s and works of mine as I can

I def think both boys would be mortified right away

but Clyde comes around first, because he really wants a brother, even if that brother have to be Cartman

Cartman would never admit it, but after some time he really starts to see Clyde as a brother and genuinely cares for him

Ships and relationships:

I mainly see Cartman as gay

sometimes I start of AU’s and stories with him not being out to himself or anyone else tho, I think that whole journey for him will be very interesting and help him grow as a person

I def think he’d have a few girlfriends before he comes out tho?

he can be very charming when he wants too yanno

my only Cartman ship is kyman atm, but I’m def open to explore more of

Leopold Butters Stotch

Looks:

I really really really like T A L L Butters???

like tall and gangly and adorable

I know it’s very popular to head canon that he bleaches his hair, but I like to think he has very light blond air naturally!

keeps it short on the sides and longer on top, with cute ass curls

soft sky blue eyes

also dyes his bangs light blue in high school!!

Pete the goth helps him because he is a pro of dying bangs

I like to think he’d be into pastel grunge, and keep his love for Hello Kitty and Sanrio etc, but still be a bit more... edgy?

Personality and General Trivia:

one of those people who’s friendly with almost everyone

but that doesn’t mean he’s friends with them, yanno?

gets drunk from one wine cooler

loves the theater and is in the drama club, but likes to be behind the stage, not on it

wants to be a director one day

watches Netflix on his phone every single time he has any time to spare, because he’s always binging a show

is usually pretty positive and kind, gives people the benefit of the doubt

but can be very stubborn, and if he has decided he dislikes or doesn’t trust someone, it’s almost impossible to change his mind

Friendships:

Butters put up with Cartman for so long because he genuinely thinks he can be fun when he’s not horrible, and he really tries his best to believe in people

he was also the first one to forgive him after the others cut him off

a very loyal and fun friend

takes a lot of initiative to do stuff, and loves hosting movie nights

thinks of these boys as his closest friends, but is also real close to Wendy, Bebe, Jimmy and Tweek

Family:

I just hate Stephen so much you guys

so tbh I usually like to just... have Linda leave him, or straight up kill him off oops

I know Linda is terrible too, I do, but I think she could possibly have a moment of realization if something happens like Butters potentially being taken away?

idk I’m not gonna go too deep into this, I know it’s such a heavy topic and I don’t wanna seem like I just ignore it, but I personally don’t usually include Stephen directly in my stories, and this is why, I hope y’all understand and respect that!

Ships and relationships:

my main Butters ship is Stutters (Stan x Butters)

I mentioned a lot why in Stan’s headcanons?

but idk, I just really think they’d balance each other well, and could have a very interesting and cute relationship!

I usually headcanons him as pan or gay, and genderqueer, but I’m open for other interpretations too!

he does date a little bit, but have never been in a real relationship and isn’t stressing about it!

he did have a pretty huge crush on (a very unaware) Kenny during middle school, but then they started hanging out a lot more and became really close and Butters didn’t really bring it much thought?

that’s until Cartman gets jealous and throws out a “what are you guys dating and fucking and being gay huh???” and Butters mind immediately goes to “omg ew no he’s like my brother!”

aaand that’s how Butters realized he was over his crush

they two of them stay close friends tho, Kenny makes Butters laugh and helps him be more sure of himself and Butters helps Kenny remember that they’re still just kids and should have fun and be good

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spaceskam · 4 years ago

Text

what's it gonna be? (1/3)

Summary: Max likes Alex, Michael likes Liz, and they are determined to be each other's wingman. Which would be a lot more successful if they didn't fall for their brother's crush.

| next

ao3

Michael Guerin quite liked everything that was Liz Ortecho.

She was smart, pretty, and nice. Maybe his standards were beyond low, but she still fit them all and really that’s all that mattered. The problem was she really didn't give him the time of day. She didn’t really give him much attention when he tried to speak to her and it left him not knowing how.

His eyes followed her as she held a tray above her head, twisting skillfully as she made her way towards the table of her friends. She sat down with a proud smile as her friends just took their respective meals. When he reluctantly looked away, he found Max staring at the same table. Michael furrowed his eyebrows.

“Were you staring at Liz’s ass?” Michael asked blatantly. Max snapped his eyes to Michael, face flushed a deep red.

“No,” he insisted. Michael was more than a little doubtful. Max sank into the booth. “I wasn’t!”

“Well, don’t say it like that, she’s not ugly,” Michael said. Max looked at him with wide eyes again.

“I didn’t say she was.”

“Okay, shut up, we don’t argue about girls or boys at this table,” Isobel said firmly, a motherly tone in her voice, “We only talk about important things.”

“Like what? The fact that I know you failed your math test and didn’t ask me for help?” Michael asked. Isobel glared at him and he offered a smile. Eventually, though, his eyes drifted back to Liz again.

She was laughing, glowing in the fluorescent lights of the Crashdown. She looked fucking gorgeous. It was completely and utterly unfair.

As she got up to get back to work, his eyes followed her again. He wanted to go up to her, ask her out, get to know her as more than just the girl who could outsmart him during every single test without fail. It was hard to even imagine what he would say to her, though. His mind always went blank. It wasn’t even like he was bad at talking to girls or anything, there was just something about her that made approaching her specifically an extremely difficult operation.

“I’m gonna do it,” he decided, “I’m gonna go talk to her.”

He stood up before Isobel and Max could change his mind or make him nervous, making his way to where she was now back behind the counter.

“Liz?”

When she moved to face him, the world seemed to slow down entirely. Her wavy ponytail swung as she turned her head, her face looking ridiculously picturesque. She was almost too pretty to be real, seeming far more fitting to be the cover of a magazine. Dark hair, big dark eyes, nice lips, nice figure. Her genetics had done wonders and he was always stunned by her, well, everything. She was perfect.

And he was Michael.

“Oh, hey, Michael,” Liz said, smiling wide and inviting. He blinked dumbly. When did she learn his name? “You need anything?”

Just ask her out, he told himself. It wasn’t hard. All he had to do was ask if she wanted to get dinner sometime. That was it. Simple as that. What was the worst that could happen?

“Coke?” he said lamely instead. She gave a little laugh, nodding her head. The antenna on her head bobbed and she grabbed a fresh cup, spinning around to fix him a drink. She handed it over with a pretty smile and he felt like his brain short-circuited all over again.

“It’s on the house,” she said, “Anything else?”

“No,” he said, wanting to hit himself when he realized he’d again ruined his chances, “Thanks.”

“No problem.”

Michael lamely made his way back to the table, ignoring the expectant eyes of Isobel and Max. He just tried not to seem too annoyed as he took his straw out of his half full drink and put it in the new, completely full one.

“Well, did it work?” Max asked.

“I don’t wanna talk about it.”

Isobel snorted a laugh and Michael just did his best to ignore her as well as keep his eyes to himself. Staring at Liz wasn’t going to do anything. He just needed to do something that made it easier to talk to her.

Back to the drawing board.

Alex Manes was a goddamn gift.

Max bit his bottom lip so hard it nearly bled as he watched Alex in gym class. His gym clothes of choice were black sweats and a black t-shirt, not too unlike his normal clothes, and he was walking around the basketball court with Liz and Maria. He looked gorgeous, eyes lined with makeup and hair long and pulled back into a low, messy bun. Max didn’t have the right words to express how badly he wanted to speak to him.

The problem was that Alex Manes was far too cool to speak to. He’d gotten in two fights so far this year, both of which he’d won, and most guys in school stayed away from him for one reason or another. There were rumors that he was gay and Max had a feeling that was where the fights came from, but it didn’t bother Max if he was. In fact, he hoped that he was. It would take away at least some of his anxieties about it.

“Evans!” Coach called and Max was reluctant to listen. It was hard to watch Alex whenever he had to focus on the ball.

Still, he joined in the game of basketball and tried not to get distracted. It almost worked, actually, but all of his senses failed whenever Alex tilted his head back in a laugh. It was gorgeous and rare and Max was so completely and utterly fond. Why didn’t he do that more often?

Of course, that was when he missed that he was being passed the ball and suddenly he took a ball straight to the stomach.

Max doubled over and then fell to his knees as the wind was knocked out of him, desperately gasping for breath as Coach ran over to make sure he was okay. He did his best to focus on breathing and not checking to see if Alex had seen him make a fool of himself. That was more embarrassment than he could actually handle.

“You alright, Evans?” Coach asked. He nodded, slowly pushing himself up as he caught his breath. His stomach was sore and his lungs ached a little, but he was fine. “Alright, go sit down until you’re good enough to play.”

“Yes, Sir,” he said, nearly wheezing. He winced and Coach fixed him with a look, so he just went and took a seat back on the bleachers.

Alex and his friends passed him at that moment and Max thought about joining them, but that would be too weird.

“Max, you okay?” Maria asked, though. It meant Alex slowed to a stop in front of him as well and he wasn’t about to be embarrassed. Max had seen Alex get his head slammed into a bathroom stall and be completely unfazed, totally fine enough to hit the other guy hard enough that his mouth bled. Max couldn’t seem weak.

“Yeah, I’m okay,” he said. Maria gave a smile and nodded.

“I have an extra water bottle if you need it,” she offered. He shook his head, his eyes not-so-subtly looking at Alex to make sure he didn’t think he was lame. He didn’t seem to have any reaction at all as he stood there, but Alex had a blank face most of the time. Max took it as a good thing.

“No, no, I’m fine, thank you though,” he said. She smiled and they went back to walking around the court.

Max watched them walk away, his eyes on Alex Manes. He was so, so gorgeous and he didn’t even know it. How could he? Everyone was so mean to Alex, Max was sure no one told him how great he was enough. Sure, Max didn’t know much about him other than the fact that he looked great, but still. He was sure he was great.

He wanted to get to know him, to ask him out, to find out what made him Alex. That was just much easier said than done. Hell, he wasn’t even sure if Alex was actually gay or if that was just a rumor. Asking him out without knowing for sure might just make him angry. He needed a better way to find out.

He just needed to think.

“Can you believe this is our last Homecoming dance?”

Michael didn’t say that he was glad it was the last. He hated dances and yet he’d let Isobel drag him to every single one since middle school. Every single dance she’d had two dates in Max and Michael no matter how unenthused they were about the whole thing. But they had never been ones to tell Isobel no when what she wanted was so easy to provide.

“I think I’m going to ask someone to be my date this year,” Max said out loud from his place on Isobel’s bed. It got both Isobel and Michael’s attention, both looking over at him with wide eyes. “I don’t want to have every single dance I go to be with my sister.”

“Well, excuse you,” Isobel scoffed.

“Not like that, Iz,” he sighed, sitting up. Michael stayed in his spot on Isobel's beanbag, fiddling with the loose string on his shirt. "There's just someone I really wanna ask."

Michael bit down on his lip and wondered if he should make it worse by saying there was someone he wanted to ask as well. He looked between Isobel and Max and tried to guage the situation.

"Who?" Isobel prodded, "I thought only Michael was being stupid."

"How is liking someone stupid?" Michael asked. She thought about it for a second, clearly trying to come to some conclusion that would be viable. Both Michael and Max waited until she came up with nothing.

"It just is," she said, "It's a waste of time."

"I don't know, I think it'd be nice to have someone," Max said. Michael nodded.

"Yeah," he sighed, trying to rip the string and only pulling it out more, "If I could only figure out how to talk to Liz."

"Same, but Alex," Max groaned, falling back in bed. Michael raised an eyebrow.

"Alex? Really?" Michael asked.

"You like the bad boy type or something and didn't tell us?" Isobel wondered, walking closer and sitting on the edge of the bed. Michael brought the string of his shirt into his mouth to bite it off, trying to see in what world Max would like Alex.

"He's so hot," Max stated, "But I have no idea how to approach him without risking pissing him off."

"Get Michael to approach him to ask if he'd like you, he's kind of a bad boy too," Isobel suggested.

Michael spat out the string, "I am not a bad boy."

"Close enough," Isobel said, "Besides, if you both are going to act like it's hard to talk to people, might as well use a wingman."

"It's not that easy, Izzy," Michael said. She raised an eyebrow.

"Why not? Max gets to know Liz so you know what to say to her when you go up to her, you get to know Alex so he knows what to say when he approaches him. Or do I need to do everything?" Isobel said, sighing dramatically. Michael considered her words and looked to Max who was already looking at him.

"Would you be down to talk to Liz for me?" Michael asked.

"Are you gonna be okay talking to Alex? 'Cause I can understand thinking he's scary," Max said. Michael rolled his eyes.

"Who, Alex? He's not scary, he just wears a lot of black and pouts a lot," Michael insisted, "Besides, he's friends with Liz and Maria. They wouldn't hang out with him if he was scary."

"So we're all set and we don't have to talk about this shit anymore?" Isobel asked hopefully.

"Well, wait, you're not gonna, like, fall for my girl or anything, are you?" Michael checked. Max rolled his eyes.

"I should be the one asking you that," Max said. Michael scrunched up his nose.

"Alex isn't my type."

"And Liz isn't mine."

"So, deal?"

"Deal."

"Fucking finally," Isobel huffed, pushing herself to her feet, "I'll try not to be angry at you both for ditching me in favor of being thankful this conversation is over."

"You're just jealous, Izzy," Max laughed. Isobel scoffed.

"Jealous of what? I could get anyone in that damn school if I wanted," she said, looking at herself in the mirror hung on her closet door, "I'm just too good for all of them."

"Sure," Michael laughed, looking back to Max, "You gonna start talking to her tomorrow?"

"Yeah and you start on Alex tomorrow and we'll fill each other in on what we find out in, like, a week. Sound good?" Max said. Michael nodded, biting down on his lip as he realized he might actually have a date with Liz by next week.

This was going to be perfect.

"Cool."

#malex #malex fic #echo #echo fic #michael guerin #alex manes #max evans #liz ortecho #rnm fic #my fic #whats it gonna be?

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nextqueue · 4 years ago

Text

Love and Volleyball

Genre(s): college!au, romance, slow burn, coming of age, friendship, drama, angst

Pairing: Johnny x OC black female (certain NCT members make appearances)

Word Count: 5.3k

Summary: Soraya is starting her first year of university in Chicago on a full ride volleyball scholarship. Her life hasn't been very eventful and a guy she meets one night is determined to change that.

[a/n]: This is my first fanfic! I plan to add more to this story if you guys like it so lemme know what you think. Thank you 🥰

~~~Soraya~~~

“Mom. Mommy. Mother. Female that pushed me out of her vagina!” My mother finally stops fawning over my belongings long enough to listen to me.

“I got it. I’ll finish decorating it later.” she gives me a withering look because she knows I’m lying.

“I’m still not moving until I meet your roommate so you can stop tryna get me ta leave.” rolling my eyes I examine the rest of the room liking the simple double room layout.

Excited for my first year of college doesn’t even begin to describe how I’m feeling right now. Finally all my hard work paid off. The four years of only studying and practicing in high school lead me here to this moment. Chicago State University became my dream college after a class field trip in my junior year, I fell in love with the city and the overall vibes it gave me. I didn’t have a specific school I wanted to attend, my mother did, but I knew I wanted to play some type of sport. When senior year came around and the scholarships started rolling in for all three of the sports I played I was overwhelmed. I didn’t know which school to pick let alone which sport.

The answer was made for me when a letter from Chicago State University came in. My mother wanted me to take the basketball scholarship to Duke but I had already made my mind up.

A loud bang followed by multiple voices shouting brings me out of my reverence. Looking at my mom we move in sync to the door. Before we can even touch the knob the door bursts open and a tall asian girl all but falls in followed by four more bodies.

“Oh! Hello! Sorry for the commotion.” addressing my mother and I in a heavily accented tongue. Japanese I presume from the conversation I hear from her family.

She is really beautiful, standing at like six feet two inches. Arms and legs long and muscular from what I can see under her clothes. Her hair is cute short in a pixie cut which accentuates her face well, bringing out her delicate features. Her face is small, lips full, eyes large and nose small and straight. When she smiles rows of perfectly brace aligned teeth flash at you.

The girl and her family drag in hella suitcases all the while talking over one another. I laugh at their dynamic while my mother looks offended at the intrusion.

“Um...hello? Yeah, excuse me what are you all doing here?” shaking my head at what is to come I try to stop it before it does.

“Oh, my name is Miyabi and I am on the volleyball team. This is the room I was given. We just came from the airport.”

As my mother was fixing another round of probably intrusive questions I jump in.

“Are you from Japan?” my curiosity winning out as usual.

“Yeah! How did you know?”

“Good guess.”

The smile that over takes her face makes me smile as well. She introduces her family to my mother and I before starting to unpack. I have never seen a group of people move as fast or as efficiently as hers did within the span of 20 minutes. Her entire side of the room was cleaned and fully decorated, clothes placed neatly in her side of the closet, desk organised and bed made. My mom and I watched as they interacted with each other for the first ten then continued setting up my side. All we finished setting up was my desk and bed area. Finally convincing my mother to leave the rest for me to finish we head to the cafeteria with Miyabi and her family for some lunch.

The campus is filled with new students moving in with their families much like Miyabi and myself. It’s nice to see so many different demographics of people in one place, a complete 180 of where I grew up. Montana is predominantly caucasian so I got used to being the only dark skinned kid, it became normal to me to be the odd one out. Now in a place like this where so many look like me I feel more out of place than I ever did in Montana.

Miyabi’s family leaves to rest at their hotel before they leave tomorrow, each one of them crying over having to leave the other. Before they depart her mother takes my hands in hers and asks in broken English if I can look out for her. Not knowing what else to do I promise her I will.

My mother leaves a little while after, our goodbyes far less emotional. I make her promise to let me know when she arrives safely back home and she makes me promise to at least send a text once a day to let her know I’m still alive. The rest of the day Miyabi and I explore the campus and get to know each other.

She is a middle blocker and was personally recruited by the head coach. When she learns I am a wing spiker her shock is unrestrained. Being so used to this reaction I just laugh it off. Standing at only five feet eight inches I am more in line with being a librero than a wing spiker but my athleticism and vertical leap do more than make up for my lack of height.

We meet a few more of our teammates along the way and introduce ourselves. They tell us about a party being thrown at one of the frat houses tonight in celebration of new pledges, suggesting we come. They part ways with us when some guys from the basketball team come up to them. Never being much of a partier it takes Miyabi unleashing a potent dose of puppy dog eyes on me for me to agree to go. I also would feel terrible letting her go out her first night here alone although she does well interacting with others, I doubt she would have any trouble making friends.

Heading back to our room we spend the next few hours unpacking and picking out our outfits for tonight. Both of us came here in very travel savvy fits consisting mainly of oversized shirts and sportswear. Summer hasn’t completely abandoned us yet so we both opt for lighter more summery clothing. Keeping my look simple I throw on a pair of high waisted mom jeans and a white tee tied in front with my old white Keds. Miyabi’s fit is a little more extravagant but suits her bubbly personality well. Black and white plaid schoolgirl skirt paired with a white skin tight faux turtleneck tucked into them and the sickest pair of white platform boots I have ever seen.

“I am so mad we don’t wear the same shoe size right now.” I gush at her as I salivate over her shoes.

“I can send you the link of where I got 'em if you want.”

“Girl, please do cause those are everything.”

We both opt to keep our makeup light and soon we are making our way to the frat houses. Other people are walking in the same direction as us clearly having heard about the party as well. Soon enough loud music can be heard and flashing lights become visible, the amount of people we see increases also. A large group has formed around what looks to be a group of guys, pledges I’m assuming. Pushing our way to the front Miyabi and I watch the guys be put through a rough series of trials, from drinking water with a goldfish in it, to being forced to streak. Things like this never interested or entertained me so I tell Miyabi I am leaving to go check out the rest of the party, she grabs my arm telling me we go together everywhere. Agreeing with her we make our way into the house. The music is loudest there, people are everywhere and all over each other. Finding the kitchen quickly Miyabi drags me with her to find drinks for the both of us. When she offers me a Corona I decline.

“No thank you sis. I don’t drink.” she nods and switches drinks to a Coca-Cola for me.

Taking the unopened can I thank her and we chat amongst ourselves until the girls we met earlier find us and drag us to the dance floor, the living room, where we spend the next hour dancing our lives away. I break away first to get water.

Finally making it to the kitchen through the mobs of people packed in one place I catch my breath. The only other person in the kitchen with me is a guy. He smiles softly at me when he notices me. He’s cute, well more than cute. Standing well over six feet he towers over me as he straightens up from looking in the fridge for something. Smiling back at him I put my locs up in a messy bun away from my neck as I crouch in front of the open fridge looking for bottles of water.

“What are you looking for?” a voice startles me a little, peering around the fridge door I see the guy watching me closely.

The lighting in the kitchen is dim but enough for me to see just how beautiful he really is up close. Longish dark brown hair messily falling into his eyes, pretty down turned eyes, pretty brown down turned eyes that look sleepy hidden behind glasses. Round glasses that sit atop a gorgeously straight nose bridge. My hand itches to trace his features as I lay my eyes on his lips. A deep cupid’s bow, plump pink lips that upturn at the corners, the most striking part of his face to me besides his eyes. Clearing my throat to answer him I stand tucking the last loc away from my face.

“Bottled water.”

“Thought so. They are outside in the cooler out back.” gesturing for me to follow him he leads me through the house to the backyard where the setting seems more intimate. Couples holding to each other tightly and strangers finding comfort in deep conversation.

“Here you go.” he hands me a bottle of water. I thank him then go to sit on the steps of the deck we are on.

I don’t expect him to sit next to me and jump a little when he does. His large frame filling the rest of the space on the staircase.

“Johnny.” holding his hand out for me to shake he looks into my eyes. Looking from his eyes to his hand and back again I shake his hand lightly.

“Soraya.”

The smile that over takes his face makes me hold my breath. It is beautiful, adding a youthful effect to his overall look. His eyes crinkle up into slits and my heart skips a beat.

“Nice to meet you Soraya.”

~~~Johnny~~~

She is beautiful, one Soraya. With her long black locs, mischievous feline eyes, high cheekbones, a cute upturned button nose and lips so large, pink and soft looking I find myself staring at them anytime she speaks. I remember seeing her in the cafeteria earlier today with who I assume is her mother and the tall girl she came to the party with. I couldn’t stop looking at her then just like now. She looked mean and unapproachable at first but the longer I watched her interact with everyone around her I realise she is so full of life that you can’t help but be drawn to her.

I watched her dance with her friend and some other random people that she welcomed to be in her presence. Deciding I was being a little too creepy I left to go hang in the kitchen away from the girls trying to gain my attention and my friends getting wasted.

I never expected her to walk in, let alone by herself. Her skin glowed in the soft light of the kitchen. Little beads of sweat dotting her forehead. When she began fanning herself and tying her hair up I couldn’t look away. She crouched in front of the open fridge and I truly noticed all of her for the first time. Her body caught my whole attention. She is tall, not tall like her friend who clearly stands over six feet, but tall enough to be noticeable. Her arms and legs are long, her waist small, hips wide but not too wide and even though the pants she has on are kind of baggy you can tell her legs and ass are quite ample. She looks athletic and quite flexible. It’s not easy for people to squat into the crouched position she is in unless they have an Asian heritage or some sort of dance/gymnastics background. When I asked her what she was looking for I wasn’t prepared for what she sounded like.

There was a slight presence of an accent which made her deeper voice sound all the more sexy to me. I wanted her to keep talking to me somehow.

When she sat on the porch steps just watching everyone interact with each other my heart lurked in my chest. She looked so at peace but so lonely sitting there I couldn’t help myself when I sat next to her. I want to know everything about her.

“Nice to meet you Soraya.”

“Nice to meet you Johnny.” loving the way she says my name and the little smile that graces her lips. I throw all caution to the wind.

“Are you a freshman?” she doesn’t avoid my eyes as I ask her questions and that makes me nervous. Usually the average human can’t hold eye contact for more than a few seconds especially in this close of proximity. I like to hold eye contact with people because I feel a surge of power and excitement when they look away. She doesn’t waver though and I find myself fighting to keep hold of her gaze.

“I am.”

She has freckles and little moles all over her face and parts of her skin I can see. I want to count them all. I remember my mother telling me where you have moles is where your lover kissed you most in your past life.

“Do you play a sport?”

“Volleyball.”

“What position?”

“Wing Spiker.” her answer is surprising to say the least. I figure she would be a libero with her smaller size. One look at her face tells me she is used to this assumption.

“Your vertical must be ridiculous, makes sense though.”

Cocking her head at me she asks what I mean.

“Your legs. I can tell they are really powerful not to mention long. Your arms are really long too and your hands are huge.” She looks away from me for the first time since I sat next to her and I see her play with one of the rings she wears.

“What about you? Do you play a sport?”

“I used to my freshman year, I’m a junior by the way, then I got hurt.”

“What happened?” she looks back at me, her eyes holding concern and warmth.

“I blew out my knee last year. Now I just redshirt. I was never really into sports intensely anyways. It was just a way to pay for school.”

“What sport did you play?”

“Soccer.”

“Really? My little brother plays, he’s really good.”

The way her face lights up talking about someone she loves makes me feel funny. I want her to light up that way when talking about me. It’s been a while since I felt like this about anyone.

“How many siblings do you have?”

“I have two younger brothers. Kyle and Andre. Seventeen and Thirteen. Andre just turned thirteen in August. Do you have any siblings?”

I want her to look at me this way for the rest of eternity. She holds stars in her eyes and has my heart in her hands already.

“No, I’m an only child.”

“How old are you?”

“I’m twenty-one. You I am assuming are eighteen.”

“I’ll be nineteen in a few weeks.” September. Her birthday is in September.

“Nice.”

“What is your majour and what are you passionate about since sports ain’t it?” her question catches me off guard. She seems to have relaxed some.

“Music. I majour in music. I’m the DJ for the campus radio station also.”

Her eyes open wide at my revelation. The way she listens and takes in information is cute like it is the most amazing thing she has ever heard in her life. It’s honest. She can’t seem to hide her emotions well all being shown on her face.

“I’ll have to subscribe!” I chuckle at her excitement.

“What is your majour?” I tried to guess what she would be studying but the longer I talk with her the less I can grasp an idea. Maybe some sort of psychology, something to do with people.

“English majour with a minor in International Relations.” Yupp, would have never guessed that.

“Why those?”

“I’m not from America. I am from Barbados and have always loved to travel, to write and love learning languages.”

“Ahh, that makes sense now.”

“What makes sense?”

“The little accent I hear.” shock passes through her eyes.

“You can tell?”

“Yeah, only cause my parents are from South Korea and I grew up around accented English. I’ve always been able to tell no matter how slight it is. You say certain words differently.”

Nodding her head she starts speaking to me in Korean. I am so shocked I don’t hear a word of what she said.

“W-what?” Repeating what she said I am floored at her fluency.

“How do you know Korean?”

“I told you I like learning languages.”

“Yeah, but Korean? That’s kind of random.” I laugh a little.

“Not really.” She goes on to tell me the story of how she came to speak Korean and I can’t help but like her more than I already do.

“Have you ever been?” the way she speaks about the country you would swear she has been or is Korean herself.

“No, sadly I haven’t. I have plans to though. Have you?”

“Twice yeah. I was born here though, in Chicago.”

“How was it?”

Stars light up her eyes as she leans closer to me without realising in her excitement. She smells so good, not like the annoying fruity perfumes most women wear but something more earthy and deep. Under the lights from the house her skin looks even softer than before. Swallowing heavily I glance quickly at her lips. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Why does she affect me so badly?

“It was great, there is alot to do and it’s alot more diverse than you think in some places.”

She hangs onto every word that exits my mouth even leaning against my shoulder slightly as we trade stories late into the night. After talking for hours she suddenly jumps up.

“I have to go find Miyabi.”

“The girl you came with?” seeing her panic a little over her friend is cute. She leaves me sitting there as she all but sprints back into the house. Trailing after her I watch as her body relaxes visibly upon seeing her friend sitting in the living area playing a game of Never Have I Ever with a few other people.

“Soraya! There you are. Come play!” tugging Soraya down to sit next to her she declares the game restarted.

A few of my friends are in on the game as well so I decide to join.

“John where you been?” one of my best friends and teammates asks. He is sprawled out on a couch looking at peace with himself. Yuta’s eyes flit to Soraya momentarily then back to me raising an eyebrow.

“Around.” is all I say sitting down next to my friend Taeyong.

The game starts pretty mildly with innocent topics such as stealing or skipping class. Soraya still has all her fingers up and is quietly watching everyone around her lose fingers myself included.

When the questions made their way around to Yuta I could almost hear the trouble start.

“Never have I ever slept with more than three people in one night.” He looks directly at me daring me to lie. Glaring at him I begrudgingly lower another one of my fingers.

Out of the corner of my eye I see Soraya staring at my hands. Ashamed for once in my life I wish she didn’t have to see this side of me.

~~~Soraya~~~

More than three people in one night. Chuckling softly to myself I see him peep at me from the corner of his eye. The guy is funny, seeming so calm and collected all night but now I see as usual you can’t judge a book by its cover and humans are far more complex than they ever care to admit.

The questions continue and all my fingers stay spread. I realise my life has lacked any real excitement or adventure, this realisation makes me melancholy. At least I will win this game it seems. Everyone in the room has either folded all their fingers or on their last two or three. Miyabi has three fingers left. Johnny has two.

“Never have I ever stolen a friend's crush.” Johnny brings me out of my stupor with his question. Looking up at him I see him staring down the guy lounging on the couch.

Yuta I think his name is. A cheeky fellow with a serious expression and a lovely smile when he does use it. His appearance is kind of messy but in a very aesthetically pleasing way. Hair dyed a bright red and long, pulled back into a half updo bun. Yuta puts his last finger down with a smirk on his face. Looking between the two of them the tension is palpable.The moment passes and the game continues with everyone none the wiser. Finally it is my turn, I have only folded two fingers so far and for very minor things compared to what the others have done. Wanting this game to be over I choose a question everyone will most likely have to put a finger down for.

“Never have I kissed someone.”

As I thought everyone who was left put their finger down. I win the game. Johnny openly stares at my hands, an unreadable expression on his face. Miyabi yawns loudly declaring she is tired and ready to go to sleep. Checking the time on my phone I see it is well into the early morning hours. Excusing us I let Miyabi lean on me as I lead us out of the house and back to our dorm. The walk was longer than when we came with her full weight on me so I stop and help her up onto my back. Carrying her the rest of the way on my back we reach our place of residence quicker.

Dropping her onto her bed heavily and taking her shoes off I search through my things for makeup wipes to clear both our faces.

Tonight was an experience, my first real party that wasn’t a team dinner or school dance. The drinking, smoking, and general freeness of it all was not something I am used to. Talking to guys also was never on my radar but talking to Johnny wasn’t so nerve-wracking. He was intriguing and very honest in the way he speaks something I notice you don’t see very often these days. I wouldn’t mind talking to him again, finding out the story behind the apparent wild choices he made and the obvious tension between him and Yuta.

Gently wiping the little bit of makeup from Miyabi’s face then applying some of my moisturising lotion just so her face wouldn’t be dry when she wakes up. Taking care of my skin I finally change and make my way into my bed.

Waking up I check the time, sighing when I see I haven’t been asleep for more than two hours. Insomnia is a bitch and she just keeps coming back.

Rummaging through my backpack I pull out my diary, in times like these it’s the only thing that gives my mind peace. Writing has always been a safe place for me, when I would forego parties I would write about them. When I lost a game I would write that I had won as if the words scribbled onto paper or typed onto a document could change the past or predict the future. I write until Miyabi wakes up then we decide to go to the cafe for breakfast after we wash up.

It’s still early when we enter the cafe so not many people are present. Entering the line for breakfast, Miyabi and I chat about last night.

“No, but listen! He was so cute and charming. Yuta I think his name was and he is Japanese too from Osaka. I think he might be on the soccer team.” Yuta. That name…. I think it’s the name of the friend of Johnny’s from last night.

“We can go to a practice later if you would like.”

“Can we really? I didn’t get a chance to talk to him long last night but…wait what about that guy you came in with before the game? He was cute and seemed into you.” she watches me with a twinkle in her eye, a hopeless romantic type, not what I would have pegged her for. Cute.

“Johnny. Yeah, he was nice.”

“He seemed more than nice. All throughout the game he was watching you.”

“Mmmm.”

“He seemed surprised when you ended the game with that question. I’m curious too, have you really never kissed anyone?”

~~~Johnny~~~

Waking up early for my morning run and exercise I can’t seem to get Soraya off my mind. Her innocence baffled me. When she implied she had never kissed anyone I wonder if that was the truth or if she just wanted the game to end? She looked tired so maybe that was it, she just wanted to go sleep and didn’t want to be rude. But what if?

Coffee. My body is screaming for coffee as I end my run, deciding to stop by the cafe. It’s empty, the few people in here don’t look like they have woken up fully yet. The coffee here is surprisingly good, not what I’m used to but tasty enough.

Scanning the cafe I see two girls looking a lot livelier than the rest. The shorter one looks familiar, it’s hard to make out her features without my glasses but it looks like Soraya. Her hair is covered by some sort of scarf and her clothes are extra baggy sweats. The coffee machine pings bringing me out of my stupor.

You should go talk to her Johnny. Yeah. Yeah. Do that. It’s no big deal. She’s the same girl from last night right? Right. Let’s do this!

Making my way over to her I pause when I hear the conversation she is having with her friend. The same friend from last night.

“No, I wasn’t lying. I haven’t kissed anyone.” she chuckles a little then fills up her plate with more food.

“Seriously? Like ever? Never? Why?”

Yeah, why? I want to know why too.

“It just never came up or was a priority of mine.” I am sure my face looks stupid right now.

“Wait does that mean you have never had a boyfriend?”

Surely she had to have had a boyfriend. What man or even an adolescent boy would see her and not want to date her? In the daylight she is even more mesmerising. She looks warm in her oversized grey hoodie and matching grey sweat shorts. The scarf hiding her locs is a pretty golden yellow. The starkness of the colour against her skin is gorgeous. The way she stands like she is the most important person in the room is quite attractive as well.

“Correct. I’ve never had a boyfriend.”

Coughing from shock I alert the two women to my presence.

“Oh! Johnny right?” her friend addresses me first.

“Hey. Morning.” I wave at them. Wave? Come on John.

“Morning Johnny.” the smile that falls on her lips makes my heart stutter. Dimples. Fucking dimples. Of course she has to have dimples.

“Morning Soraya.”

~~~Soraya~~~

My goodness he looks so good. Like he just came from working out or something. His hair pushed back with a sportsband. The shirt he wears is black and sleeveless, giving me an unobstructed view of his arms and damn it if they look amazing. His joggers are black as well but fit him so perfectly I wonder if they were specifically tailored for him. My eyes travel up from his feet to his eyes. Those eyes. Like freshly made honey straight from the comb of the most hardworking bees.

“Are you here for breakfast?” Miyabi breaks the ice once again. Her bright personality proving to be a joy to have around.

“Uh, yeah.” he grabs a plate and begins adding food to it.

Watching him fills me with a sense of warmth.

“Come eat with us.” the words leave my mouth before I can stop them. He looks surprised but nods and finishes piling food on his plate. He follows us to a table near the windows.

We eat in silence for the most part each one of us taking turns to make polite conversation with one another. Miyabi finishes eating first then leaves claiming she has something to do but as I watch her leave she has a shit-eating grin on her face and is making obscene motions behind Johnny’s back. Rolling my eyes I focus on the gorgeous man in front of me. The sun is hitting one side of his face just right, highlighting his sharp features and bringing out the lighter tones of his eyes.

“What’s your favourite colour?” I blink a few times not sure what I heard.

“Huh?” smooth as sandpaper Raya.

He smiles softly and repeats the question.

“Violet.”

“Violet? Isn’t-” cutting him off with a hand before he can even finish that statement I go off on a tangent about the differences in the colours Violet and Purple, going so far as to pull up a chart on my phone.

“You get that alot I see.” he laughs like a teleprompter wrote it out and I find it so endearing.

“Yeah. Only artists seem to understand what I mean.”

“You should meet my friend Taeyong then, the shorter guy I was sitting next to at the party. He is an Arts majour.”

“I would love to!”

“Give me your number and we can all hang some time then.” smooth Mr. Johnny. Real smooth. Don’t think I didn’t see what you did there sir.

I give him my number because truthfully I was looking for a way to ask him for his as well, he just beat me to it. Talking some more I learn quite a bit about this man. As more people fill the cafe the quiet almost magical bubble we had for ourselves pops. Figuring there is no point in dragging this on I make up an excuse to leave.

“So, can I text you sometime?” standing outside the building to the cafeteria I get shy as I watch literally everyone that passes us stare at our interaction.

“If you would like. I must warn you though, I’m terrible at replying unless I deem you important or entertaining in my life.” he smiles at my words and says he will just have to become both before he leaves.

Watching him jog away I can’t help but fawn over him. I didn’t come here to this school to date but maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to try it out.

#johnny #nct #johnny fanfic #johnny romance #johnny angst #johnny fluff #johnny scenarios #nct fluff #nct 127 #johnny series #seo youngho #johnny seo #love and volleyball #nct fanfic #taeyong #yuta

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what-ever-happened-to-chip · 3 years ago

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The Adventures of Squall

Squall's observations. Hmm. I don't know what Rinoa wants me to do. I guess I'll ask Eli for his notes and just give them to her. *knock knock* "Cheerio good boy, may I help you with anything?" "Do you have notes on that thing Christian was talking about?" "Ahh you've came to the right residence, just let me....hold on just a moment..." He began digging through piles of loose paper, flipping through notebooks, all whilst mumbling to himself. "Alas! Here is one of my more rudimentary charts, but it shall accomplish what you're intial questions preface." It was hard to concentrate, he was talking very fast and using a lot of words that I didn't know. Akio says because of my ASD I sometimes get what he calls "verbal dyslexia" and it's hard for me to comprehend what other people are saying, especially if they talk different from me. I'll have to concentrate very hard if I don't want Rinoa mad at me again. "But see this is where it gets confusing, we have many great forces here, coincidence? Doubtfully so, but these overlapping characteristics I believe have come here for a reason. Many of our members, including myself, have had interactions with Christos, Christian you call him, and I can't imagine why he would let so many familar faces corner him in the same scenario, unless of course he had a plan for each individual. See, I believe..." He pulled out a chair for me that I sat in. I took out my notebook so I could remember what to tell Rinoa. "If you look here on this chart.." he pulled out a large beige canvas with several pictures pinned to it, threads of twine connecting different ones. "First you see here that Christos comes to my noble world and plants himself as Cyrus, the destroyer of worlds. He taints Noah and I am his right hand man. He tells me a great many things, we can go into later. Do realize this isn't in chronilogical order, I have no way of telling yet the timeline of all our respective worlds. "Next he plants himself as an alien, "Jenova" he calls it on Gaia and and infects the whole planet. The only one to save it was Aerith who possesses extrodainary spiritual powers. She was the last chance tho and aside from her sacrifice Geostigma went on beyond her time..." "His next target, alas, Thomas. A young, troubled boy whom Christian fictionalized a companion for. An alter ego of sorts and made thomas believe it was himself. I believe he might have been weak and needed a human body to recover on. At some point Christian went to Aiden and found him by the Sanguis River, which is the border between our world and ubi requiescit dolor or "where sorrow rests. I haven't been able to spot where he showed up in Harry's world, but I do know he was there at some point. He likely was only a death eater of no great importance. Same with Roxas, Christian probably took the form of a nobody, which of course begs the question...." It was really hard for me to take notes as fast as he talked. I was really tryign to spell words better to get in the habit of it. Reading was easy for me, but writing made me nervous. I'll just get the names and maybe i'll remember. "can one become a nobody without having a form first? Perhaps that's it. He was a formed human on one planet and when he was almost destroyed at some theroetical part, he latched onto Thomas but only came back as a nobody which of course is an allusion. Details, details, but where were we? Oh yes, next on his infamous walk through time was of course Aangs world where he brought the powers of darkness to a seemingly balanced world, probably dating back to around...." I needed to yawn, but it seemed rude. I wonder how he knew all of this. He seemed confused himself. Maybe I should talk to some other people. Rinoa will be mad if I only talk to him. I should have gotten more information earlier.

“And of course Akio’s unfortunate fate with him, presenting himself as illusions to drive the man mad I’m sure. I do believe he could do that, his evil seems endless.” He paused and looked around at all his charts and papers. this will be a good time to excuse myself. "I have to use the restroom, excuse me" He didn't seem to notice me leave, he kept talking and looking at his papers. While I was walking I saw Harry with a plastic cup pressed up to a door. As I walked closer to him he dropped the cup and ran. I went to the kitchen. "Hey Zack" He was drinking really fast out of a big water bottle. Some of it was spilling on his black shirt. "Heya buddy, I broke 20 in 80, my new personal best. Gotta love the summer time." "What?" "Oh 20 miles in an hour and 20, a 4 minute average." "...." "So do you know anything about why we had to go to Camp A and Camp B?" "Ulquiorra seemed pretty on edge, everyone getting riled up like that. Maybe it's time for the old man to retire!" "What about the dark world place?" "I don't know much about that, but I tell you I sure don't know want to get to know it better if you know what I mean. Anyways bud, lactic acid builds on stiff muscles, gotta do my cool down." He then clapped me a little hard on the back, it was sort of uncomfortable, then left the room. I continued walking around looking for someone else to talk to. Rikku is on the couch watching a cartoon called the Powerpuff Girls. She is flossing on the couch? Why isn't she in the bathroom. I'll wait until she's done. I'll wait around the corner so she doesn't know I saw her doing it. After about 70 second she dropped the floss on the ground. There was a garbage can right on the table, but I guess she didn't see it.

"Hey" "Uhhh hey..." Her eyes never left the screen. "Do you know anything about the dark spirit place Christian was talking about?" "Hmmm, there was this one story Buddy used to tell us to scare us, it seems like the same thing and i don't know with all this world collide bs i wouldn't surprised if it's the same. "Do you know the story?" "I don't know ask Buddy, i'm busy." "..." Okay I wonder where Buddy is. I heard a basketball hit the basket outside. Sometimes we play basketball together. "Yo, yo, yo man 3 on 3, pussy slayers vs bitch playas." "AW SHIT" "wooof woof woof" "Which ones which?" asked Aang. "My brutha you knows yous a slaya!" on that they bumped their fists together. "I guess that means i'm with you guys" Tifa said and smiled. That means I'm on Adam's and Riku's team. I played basketball up to 21 points. My team lost. I'm good at making baskets, but not as much at passing and working with my team. "Aight, aight, how bout a smoke break and then maybe we'll give ya'll a rematch." As they all began to disperse, I walked up to Buddy. "Rikku said you could tell me a story about the dark place." "Rikku tol you that?" "Yes. The one you use to tell her." He looked both ways and then straight at me. "I don know nuthin about no story." "Okay, sorry." I guess I better ask someone else. I was getting tired. I should have done this earlier, but I see Rinoa tomorrow. I think it would be a good idea to ask Thomas. I'll see if he's in his room. *knock knock* He opened the door slow, but wide and stared at me. "Can you tell me anything about the dark place." He looked surprised and happy. Akio tells me sometimes people's facial expressions don't always show what they mean, but it's a good indicator if I'm confused. I think he wants me to come in. He was sitting in his computer chair and he had clothes folded on his bed so I don't want to sit there and get them dirty. "I find it rather odd you're the one asking me this question. Eli wasn't surprising one bit, but it's not like he'd listen if I did tell him anything." "So you don't know anything?" "Don't know anything? Yeah right. I know everything that I need to. And ultimately however this goes, there's nothing left for me to lose." "...." "I must admit it does get rather boring having to hold back such genius in my mind. Feigning ignorance on all matters that go on here just to be able to thrive. This truly is the best case scenario for me and I know i'm not alone." He was frowning now. I didn't say anything so I know he probably isn't mad at me. I've learned that most people just keep talking if you say nothing. It helps a lot because I usually have nothing to say. "Are you looking for the nitty gritty, the gory details, or simple how're you're involved?" "Rinoa wanted to me to ask people about it. She thinks we're being lied to." "HAH. Just now she thinks she's been lied to?? Foolish girl." "Rinoa is smart." "Perhaps she is, all the same it's all clouded by her ego." "....." "So rinoa wants to know about the dark world they've after all this time brought up. You have to know though, Simon wouldn't have brought it up if there wasn't some gain to him, some strategic reason for his timing. He's a puppet master, he probably knew you would be here talking to me. It's all going just to his plan.....or perhaps he thought I would kick you out and that would keep him advantageous. But he knew that i'd knew that he was planning that." I was getting pretty confused. "Who's Simon?"

He frowned at me. "He's Christian." "Okay." "That's right "Christian" has had many names, many forms. He's wormed his way into many of lives and took everything they had with them. A leech. Of course a leech needs to eat too." I had been in his room almost 15 minutes. It was probably time to talk to someone else. "The dark world, purgatory, the eternal space, the fog, every world has a different name for it. Some are ignorant, but most know that not everyone gets the "good death". It's origin is beyond me, but I know what it is now. And I know he wants to go there. He's looking for something. Or maybe he's helping someone else." "I have to go now." "Then go, i'm not keeping you if that's what you thought" Thomas sneered at me. "..." *door shuts* As I left Thomas's room, Zidane came in really quickly from the front door. He looked really skinny these days. He pulled off his knapsack and begin looking for something deep within it. I don't know why he still uses his old knapsack, a good messenger bag would look a lot nicer and be a lot less stressful on his shoulders. "OKAY DADDY'S HOME, who wants to party???" As people began pouring into the dining room, they gathered around as he poured a large bag of cocaine out onto the clean glass table top. I remembered when I went fishing the other day how when I dropped bread crumbs in little fish would swarm to all try and get the food at once. It reminded me of that. I used to do cocaine sometimes with Irvine and his friends, but Akio says that it might make my OCD and ASD worse. I didn't want to mess with it, I had already had a stressful day. That's good enough for now. I'll just go to bed and maybe in the morning someone will talk about it and I won't have to ask. I did my bedtime rituals in the normal order, brush teeth, clean face, comb hair, change out of all clothes into two pairs of fresh underwear, socks, and pajamas. It was nice tonight I could turn off the air conditioner. I rested my head on the pillow. The cocaine was making everyone rowdy and I could hear it. Great I could hear Aiden yelling from his room that was right next to mine, on the side my bed was pushed against. I've asked Garnet multiple times if he could switch rooms, but she says no one wants his room cause it smells like blood and has a bunch of holes in the walls. And I was definitely not going to switch my room, everyone was right in it, it didn't need to change. I don't want to spy on people, but last time I said I wouldn't do what Rinoa wanted she threatened to not talk to me for a month. Instead, she talked, or more so bitched, the entire month at me, never letting me have some peace and quiet. I don't want that again.

I took out my nightly form to see how I’’m doing and filled it out.

Anxiety: 8/10

Mood: 6/10

Insomnia: 2/10

OCD: 7/10

Triggers: Talking to people, missing lunch because no one would leave the kitchen, having to ask questions, shoe lace breaking and not having a replacement.

Medication issues: None

Overall: 6/10

He kept yelling, but I could hear another voice too. He often talked to himself so at least when someone else was there, it was only half yelling. I really didn’t want to do it, but I felt Rinoa demanding me why I didn’t. I didn’t like lying to her.

I remembered Harry earlier. I poured my water cup out and pressed my ear against the bottom of it. "Denny if that's the case, what do you have to lose?" "EVERYTHING. DON'T YOU GET IT!!! I've been waiting too long for you to FUCK things up." "Well I do admire your dilligence Denny, you truly never give up." "I will never give up, I will never stop until things are right." "Being when you have Jenn back?" "NO SHIT. All you are is a pawn. There is no other reason you're here." "The life of a king or the life of a pawn, really only is affected by perspective. I take my place with pride and am grateful for whatever else life I get to cherish." "I've waited long enough, i'll wait forever, but I sure as fuck don't want to." "Aside from your said goals, I am curious, did J really return from there?" "Fuck if I know. It has nothing to do with me." "There feels as if there is things you aren't telling me Denny." "WELL HOW THE FUCK DID IT GO LAST TIME I DID." "Please.....I want to help." "As long as Christian holds up his end of the deal, I won't need to use you. And he has the same goal." "I get the feeling you two are not alone in your quest. Are there others?" "Yeah but they're not important really. Just gotta an eye on them." "Even more useless than I?" "No one could be more useless than you." "Ahh how appropriate I and Lana are spending our time in this waiting room together, both readily discardable part of the larger schemes of the world. I've never felt quite so zen before." "haha maybe they should bring Liza around and see how well you two get along." "I believe they would get along splendidly. they like the same music, both androgenous yet stunningly feminine, thrill seeking." "Ur forgetting one thing, cock makes bitches crazy, look at Jenn and Yuna. They'd be the best friends in the world if Yuna hadn't sucked my dick." "And by Jenn, you mean that girl masaqurading as your girlfriend?" "Watch it fucker." "I'm only stating your sentiment seems strangely misplaced seeing Yuna is in real danger whereas "Jenn" is only what you make her to be" "I don't think anything has to happen to her, but if it does she knew what she was getting into." "Yes, but that was a long time ago. A long time before now I would have sacrificed myself for your well being, do you think things are the same now?" ".......what do you mean..? but you....just said...WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN??????!!!!!!!" "I was only teasing Denny, of course I'm here at your service, seeing of course you are the sole reason I am here. I don't think it's wise to betray our gods." "Heh yeah right, I'm your fucking god." "Indeed I am in religious awe." "heh yeah sure. So fucker whatchu got in the briefcase." "Zidane went and filled my reservoirs, I'm back in business" "Hook it up bitch." "I wouldn't have it any other way." After that they started talking quieter in a way that didn't bother me, Finally I can go to sleep.

#cheeseskittles #squall

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nctinfo · 5 years ago

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[TRANS] Jaehyun’s interview with HIGHCUT January 2020 issue!

It looks like 2019 will be remembered as a special year for Jaehyun. The most meaningful thing, if I were to pick something, was to finish the first tour successfully. I learned a lot, and I have reflected a lot to become more mature on the inside too. Also, for the first time since I debuted, I had some free time which I spent learning what I personally wanted to learn. Of course, at the end of the year, I was very busy preparing for the stages.

Don't you feel more nervous when you have to work by yourself without your team like during a photoshoot or MCing? Rather than being nervous, I tend to put more attention to various things. When I'm MCing alone for <Inkigayo>, I receive a lot of supportive text messages from the members so I don't particularly feel lonely.

Your daily life is like a pictorial. In particular, your airport fashion stands out every time. What makes you decide what to wear on which day? Haha when we're going overseas, I usually wear items that are recommended by the stylists but to make the style match those particular days, we would mix and match the plain clothes accordingly. Recently I'm weirdly drawn to 'All Black'. All black has only one main style?

Your image seems to change depending on the concept or style. When you had black hair, as Czennies called you, you were like a 'Prince' and when you had purple hair you transformed into a 'bad boy'? Haha, first of all, thank you. I think what you just said can be considered a strong side of me. Since having different faces is a good thing. Personally, I think it's fun to change it up from time to time. Stong, hip-hop, warm or nerdy... I like all the concepts.

NCT's music is expanding on to the global stage. In fact, your group has aimed for a global stage since debut so it seems your sense of accomplishment has become greater. Are you satisfied with the current speed? There wasn't any speed that was expected or planned for. So I don't really know if it's fast or slow, but I can feel that it's steadily going up. Whether it's our sense of accomplishment or to see the amount of fans, who come to support us every time we perform, slowly increasing. Little by little, I feel we're gradually progressing.

Although K-Pop is booming in the overseas market, what is NCT's secret that makes the music connect so well? Uhm... at first, we often explained the 'neo' concept. As we went forward, we pushed through with our concept and even when we challenged new things, we felt fearless. For example, today's pictorial concept's keyword is 'universe' which, in some ways, can be difficult [to portray/grasp] but my fear for it has disappeared. So I continue to challenge myself both musically and performance-wise. I think such diverse sides of us makes us interesting [to them].

Does that 'diversity' also apply to Jaehyun? I'm curious as to whether Jaehyun's color changes in every NCT unit. Depending on what each unit emphasizes, I try to give it a slightly different feeling in terms of performance and vocals. So I can be in harmony with every concept. But still, in regards to vocals, I want to continue having my own tone. On the other hand, regardless of what role I will have, in terms of daily life, I think it will be the same all the time haha.

The cover video for Lauv’s ‘I Like Me Better’ surpassed 14m views. It also became the most viewed video on NCT’s YouTube channel. How did you come up with the idea? This is really haha… For a long time, I thought I wanted to showcase a side of me freely singing. I was like, we could film this while touring. Back in the day I would only do covers. Once I had my recording I just wanted to capture the natural traveling image while wandering around. So I personally suggested that to the company. Thankfully the video came out well… Haha. If I get an opportunity I would like to do this again.

Are all the cities that you went to on tour as pretty as they are in the videos? To be honest you’re not aware of these things when touring. I get to go around a little when we do different things, and I think then I try to enjoy these places instead. While touring I went to Europe for the first time. I really liked it. I only saw pretty streets and night view and it still healed me… I thought I wanted to go back there for a trip and just wander to my heart’s content.

Aren’t you into boxing these days? It’s been 3 months now since I started. (You must be jumping rope?) That’s right I do haha. Right now I’m learning a little bit of the technique and my teacher said it [boxing] suits me well and complimented me, so it’s even more fun now I think. I’ve always liked sport and wanted to try boxing at least once in my life and luckily because I had some time I was able to give it a go.

Seems like when boxing somehow both the body and mind go limp… No really, when I finished my first test I had no strength in my hands. When I was holding my phone it wouldn’t stop shaking… Haha. But even then it still felt somewhat refreshing.

Before that what sports were you mainly into? Any ball game. Even back in school I was mostly playing football, basketball, and badminton. (I wonder what position in football you are?) I mostly came out as a midfielder? But to be fair when playing football at school… There isn’t much meaning behind the position haha.

I imagine you must’ve been very popular. Uhm… I was quite a bit among male friends I guess haha.

The fans know every single charm of yours, but the general public seems to refer to you as the ‘Face Genius’ or keep coming up terms like ‘Mom’s Friend’s Son’ a lot (t/n: someone that moms would compare their sons to because he’s so good at everything). But it feels like there is way more that is still unknown, and even more that is yet to be seen. I think so too? Haha. I’m thankful for nicknames like this, but even then please keep an eye on me. Then you will get to know even more sides of me...

Is that the style of ‘The longer you look the prettier it gets’? Haha. What do your old friends say about you? This to be honest.. What people say when they first see me and what my old friends say about me is very different haha. I think the closer I am to someone the more comfortable I get. The more comfortable I am the more I’ll let go?

What's is your strength that keeps you going forward? That's something I felt recently yet again when we completed our tour. I felt "Wah, it's really great that I became an artist". It was the first time we were able to show our own dances, songs and various other things in front of our own fans, on our own stage. I'm able to continue because there are people who support me and watch over me. Personally, the people around me are a huge source of strength to me. Talking and sharing [stories] with people I really like and trust.

Did your family expect their son to become an artist? Probably not…? I actually couldn’t imagine it at all too. Although I liked [performing] to the degree to be on stage during school festivals, I didn't imagine it would become my job. By chance, I got casted in my 3rd year and my parents said "give it a try" and I felt I might regret it too if I didn't give it a try, so I said, "I'll be back [and went to audition]". Since then, I somehow have come here. (Then they must really like it now?) Haha of course. Actually, they are the style to say: just try whatever you want to do.

It’s already been 5 years since your debut. Between debut and now, what’s something that has changed the most? Woaaah clapclapclapclap (suddenly starts clapping) Woah… Really. It doesn’t feel real. I feel like I’m still stuck at that place… I have a lot of thoughts. Something that’s changed would be that I’m not awkward at music shows anymore and I don’t have to bring manager hyung with me when going to a convenience store? Right now I can go to a convenience store on my own haha. Other than that, everything’s the same. My mindset and how I feel.

NCT’s Jaehyun perfectly became Jung Yoonoh’s daily routine. That’s right. But I still get nervous. One of the things I was bothered about the most when I debuted was freezing. The moment I saw the camera I’d tense up so whenever we did any broadcasts or performances I was always bummed so much. Then I was loosing up a little I think. I started letting go bit by bit and did my best without any regrets.

Is there a side to you that you want to protect in the next 10 to 50 years? It's to not take anything for granted. Whether it's the people around me or whatever I'm doing now, I hope to be reminded to be grateful once again before moving on.

With what's left of the winter and new years, if you were to pick something from your bucket list? I haven't gone to a ski resort yet since I debuted... I've always liked going and this time I want to go snowboarding or skiing. I've got so many New Year wishes though? haha. [I want to] practice playing the piano so I can play just by seeing the chords. Try to do all the things I want to do in various ways.

What kind of winter do you wish for people who like you? To people who like me, I wish you a winter in which your body may be cold, but your heart stays cozy and warm. (You’re good at cooking. Something you’d like to make for them?) For everyone I’d make, uhm… Hot chocolate? I think I can get that for everyone haha.

Translation: Alex, Esmee @ FY! NCT (NCTINFO) | Source: HIGHCUT Scan — Do not repost or take out without our permission!

#NCT #jaehyun #t:interview #t:trans #200107 #HIGHCUT #HIGHCUT: January 2020

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suckerfordylansstuff · 5 years ago

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New Journey (S.H.) Chapter 2 Season 2

Pairing: Steve Harrington x henderson!reader

Summary: Y/N Henderson joins her brother's little adventure and makes a new friend on the way.

Warnings: swearing

Notes: back with a new chapter. Thank you for all the love and motivation to continue this story. If you want to be tagged just comment. Enjoy!

Not requested

Also gif not mine

Chapter 1 << New Journey Masterlist >> Chapter 3

" No, Dustin. You will not take Dart with you to school." you told him sternly.

It was the next day and when you went to check up on Dustin and Dart you caught him in the act. Right when he was ready to put him back in his ghost trap to take him with him.

" Y/N, come ooon.. The party might be able to help me figure out what he is." he said looking at you with his puppy eyes.

" No, not gonna work, buddy. It is way too dangerous to get him out of here." you said and pointed to the tank. He sighed in frustration and put Dart back to Yertle's tank, mumbling something under his breath.

" Alright, now that that is covered I'm gonna go to the library before class to pick up some books to learn things about slugs, lizards or whatever that thing is." you said and looked at Dart, but something caught your eye. "Hey.. Did Dart get bigger?"

" Um.. A little I think.." Dustin answered you like it was tottaky normal to grow that fast.

" Ok... Well, I'm leaving. Bye, Dustin! And don't do anything stupid." you warned him and he stuck his tongue out to you.

You went to get your backpack and kissed your mother goodbye "Bye, sweetheart." she called out to you and you went outside. But of course the moment you got out of the house, Dustin ignored your warning and put Dart right back to his trap, without you knowing.

You stared your car and went straight to the library and picked up some books that would help you figure out what Dart is. You went to the library lady at the front and put the books down for her to check.

" Hello, miss Henderson. Doing a project at school?" she said marking at her notebook the books you were getting.

" Yeah.. Kind of." you answered her with a smile. She gave you a look, but didn't ask anything else. She handed you the books and wished you good luck. You waved at her and went to your car to go to school.

___

It was now your free period and you decided to take 2 of the books and see what you could learn about Dart. As you were sitting at the back of the school suddenly you heard two familiar voices talking.

" What are you doing here?" said a male voice. A very known to you one.

" What do you think? Where were you this morning? I missed first period." answered him a more feminine voice. 'Was it..'

" I just figured Jonathan would take you." told her the other person and by now you knew who it was. Steve and Nancy were finally talking about what had happened yesterday and it seems like she doesn't remember anything.

While Steve was explaining to her what had happened yesterday, it was clear that he was getting quite irritated from the whole situation and you couldn't blame him.

'This is wrong' you thought. You knew you shouldn't be listening to them, but you were afraid to move. They could hear or see you and that would have been ten times more terrible.

"... Oh yeah, also, you don't love me" he finished. This part broke your heart.

" I was drunk, Steve. I don't remember any of that."

'Yeah, Nance, but it doesn't explain your actions' you thought.

" So that makes everything that you said.. It's what? Just bullshit, too?" Steve told her, like he was somehow reading your own thoughts.

" Yes!"

" Well, then tell me." he pleaded.

" Tell you what?"

" You love me. " Steve told her desperately and by her silence you knew it wasn't gonna end well.

" Really?" she finally spoke up, but was interrupted by a loud noise.

" Harrington! Dude, we need you, man. That douchbag's killing us. Let's go!" said a voice, probably another basketball player.

" Alright!" Steve told him, but you didn't hear any footsteps.

" Come on!" the other guy spoke again, but it still stayed silent.

Finally, you hear walking and Steve saying "I think that you're bullshit." and left.

'Ouch..' were your only thoughts until you heard sniffing.

Nancy was crying. You wanted to badly to go and calm her down, but it would make things worse if she found out that you had been listening this whole time. So you let her be and she eventually left.

But after all of this you couldn't go back to reading about frogs and lizards. Your mind was too set on Steve.. And Nancy. Their whole situation. So you packed your stuff and headed for your next class.

___

" Hey, little guy." you said after entering your brother's room.

"Hi.." he replied softly. Everything looked normal- well.. As normal as it could be. Dustin was on his bed reading a comic and Dart was on the tank.

" I'm sorry for being harsh in the morning." you started sitting next to Dustin " It's just.. If someone saw Dart they might have freaked out or hurt him or God knows what and, even if he's gross, he clearly means something to you. So it would be a shame for something bad happen to him because some idiot is scared."

" You were scared." Dustin answered trying to come out as cool.

" Yeah, true. But can you blame me? He's something we've never seen before and he shows up all slimy at our garbage can?." you said with a giggle and Dustin joined you. "But, tell you the truth, I really think he's kinda cool now." you finished looking at Dart.

" Wish she did, too." Dustin said quietly, so you didn't hear.

" What?"

" No.. Nothing. You're.. You were right. We don't really know what he is and until we do, it's better we just keep him inside. Hey, did you find anything at the library?" he asked you with hope in his eyes.

" I already had my theories about him, but I'm not too sure anymore.. At first I thought that he was a pol-"

" A pollywog, right?" Dustin interrupted me.

" Exactly! But I read that they usually are aquatic. You think that Dart is?" I asked him pointing at Dart.

" No.. I gave him water yesterday, but he hasn't drank any of it." Dustin explained.

" So, he isn't.. However, there actually are terrestrial pollywogs, two types to be exact. The Indirana semipalmata and the Adenomera andreae. One is from India and one's from South America."

" And how the hell did he end up here?"

" Wait. I didn't finish. Dart doesn't stand heat. And reptiles are cold-blooded. They love heat."

" Does this mean..." Dustin looked at you with happy, big eyes.

" You were right.. We might have found a new species." you said, a smile forming on your lips.

" Holy shit." he said with his cute little smile and then turned to look at Dart " You heard that, buddy? You're something new! Everyone's gonna love you!" he said and went to pick him up.

You just watched and smiled. All of this was very exciting and you couldn't wait to tell someone your new discovery.

___

As you were walking down the halls the next day you went to look for Jonathan, but you couldn’t find him anywhere. You hadn't talked to him in 2 days and you were kind of getting worried.

' Maybe I'll go check up on his house after school..' you thought to yourself right before something big crushed into you.

You gasped and took a few steps backwards, but fortunately did not lose your balance. " Hey, watch out a little." you told the person harshly.

" Sorry, doll. Guess I'll have to be extra careful when I come at you again." said the voice of the most insufferable man in the whole school. Billy Hargrove. You shot your head up and saw his smirk and that stupid cigarette between his lips.

" Yeah, maybe you should. " you responded and tried to leave, but he couldn't make it that easy for you.

" Woah, Henderson." he said catching your hand "Why the rush? Take things slow, that way you can enjoy the moment." he told you tracing his fingers on the side of your face, but you slapped his hand away.

" Get you dirty fingers off my face." you said clenching your teeth and a couple of 'oh's ' were heard from his supposedly friends.

" Ohh, getting feisty. I like it." he commented and leaned in closer to you, but before you could make him regret ever talking to you, another voice was heard.

" C'mon, Hargrove, quit it." Steve said out of nowhere and shoved Billy away from you. You weren't used to Steve defending you, actually you weren't used to anyone defending you, you pretty much handled things yourself, but when he came and stood next to you, you felt safe.

" What, Harrington? Little miss perfect left you and now you come searching for a new chick?" Billy smirked. I both blushed and got mad when he said it.' What is wrong with me?'

" You're an asshole, you know that?" Steve said with anger filling his voice, but before he could do anything stupid, you stopped him.

" Steve.. Thank you, but let me deal with this on my own." you said towards Steve, gently pushing him away. He looked at you like you were some lunatic, but realized something was up when you winked at him.

" Yeah, Steve. Let the lady speak for herself." Billy mocked him and looked down at you. You smiled sweetly and grabbed his shoulders. You pulled him just a little bit down, while your knee was making its way up to his crotch, but nearly missing.

Billy let out a sharp breath and gave you a wide eye look. You leaned up and whispered to his ear " Next time you will 'come at me', I won't miss." referencing to his earlier comment and walked away, without looking back and missing his shocked expression.

When you turned the corner a voice was heard once again, but this time a more friendlier one.

" Hey, Y/N." Steve said running to catch you.

' Deja vu' you thought.

"Hi.." you simply answered.

" I have to admit, that was.. That was pretty badass of you." he said smiling softly.

" Yeah, I guess. But he deserved it. He can't just go around thinking he owns everyone and everything. Someone has to teach him some limits and I got no problem doing that." you said and Steve chuckled. You missed that sound. You had actually heard him laugh before that, but this time it was genuine. 'He is getting better..'

" Anyway, have to get to class. See you around, crazy." he said and waved goodbye.

You giggled at the nickname and waved back as went on to your own lesson.

___

Once you stepped in the house the first thing you saw was your pretty upset mother. She was looking around with Mews's food in hand.

" Hey, mom. What's wrong?" you said touching her shoulder. She turned around and looked at you with sadness in her eyes.

" Hi, dear. Did you, by any chance, see Mews outside? I can't find him anywhere."

" Um.. No, but you know him. I'm sure he's not too far away. He's probably out there exploring. Not the first time, he'll come back." you tried to calm her down and kissed her cheek. She gave you a sweet smile and went outside to search a bit more.

You shook your head smiling and went to your room. As you opened the door you were surprised to see your brother with tears in his eyes, trembling. You threw your bag and rushed to hug him. He accepted the hug and after a couple of seconds you spoke up.

" What happened, little guy?" you asked stroking his hair. And what he would tell you next was not what you had expected.

~~~

Tag list : @bookscoffeandotherstuff @i-am-the-coffee-queen @a-hoe-for-vanya @stiles24ever

#steve harrington x reader #steve harrington imagine #steve harrington #steve harrington x you #steve harrington x henderson!reader #stranger things #stranger things fanfiction #stranger things imagine #stranger things x reader #dustin henderson #Nancy Wheeler #joe keery #steve harrington fanfic

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weightlessau · 4 years ago

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Illegal Dreams [ateez; ot8]

after a very very long time i’m finally back (hopefully for good) please enjoy this story!

this was my entry for the ateez writing competition. i used all the prompts that were published by ateez.

4.7k words

no ships nor ateez x reader this time sorry :(

Member One

Big hands reach towards a black fedora and secure it on a man’s head. His face is covered with an equally as black mask, leaving only his sharp eyes on display. A long, dark coat swishes after him when he makes his way to the door, necklaces clinking against each other, making clear sounds echo through the empty, abandoned building. He lifts his hands up again and gestures towards the door. These gestures seem a bit foreign to him, fingers hesitating, arms getting tired quickly.

The effort pays off as a bright, golden light shines where the door was before, as if it was painted over. Suppressing the delight that he is feeling, the man quickly makes his way towards the dazzling light, stepping through, because he knows he does not have much time left before his amateur portal closes.

An unusual feeling spreads through his body. It is not uncomfortable, just very foreign. Before he even has the time to get his eyes used to the brightness, it subsides and the masked man can make out the faint outline of a man lying on a couch. He knows this man; he has been searching for this man for quite a long time. Not specifically him, but someone who could bring hope to the hopeless. And this man sleeping on the couch had the potential.

Hongjoong may seem like an ordinary man, but behind that facade hides a determined man, ready to take on the whole world at once just to fulfill the dreams that he is not allowed to have.

Dreams may be expensive in this world, but that never stopped Hongjoong. Even as a little boy, growing up less fortunate than his peers, he allowed himself a few sneak peeks into the world of the others. The others were not his peers; no, they treasured their expensive dreams too much; the others were the multiple versions of himself. The small boy did not know how he was able to breach the wall that the higher ups put up around dreams, but he never stopped climbing that wall over and over again, never telling anyone of his discovery.

They always say a child’s mind is the most creative; untainted and innocent. Hongjoong was one of the very few in this universe that was able to keep this child alive and turn into a creative adult. He kept this spirit alive, even though it came with many consequences.

Pens and several ripped pieces of paper are strewn on the coffee table in front of the sleeping man; cursed to never see the light of day, locked in the four walls of Hongjoong’s small apartment. If the government ever found out that he was being creative and conjuring up an illusion without buying any dreams, they would have his head. It is illegal and forbidden.

Just like the visit by the tall man cloaked in his dark suit. Forbidden in all the worlds. Slipping into a dimension you have no permission to visit. Mendling with time and space is dangerous and could lead to devastating situations. But the shadowed figure did not care. He has endured this hopeless torture for too long and he wants, no, he needs Hongjoong to bring light to the world again. To stop this exploitation of the desperate. To stop the selling of dreams, something that should be free to all in every universe.

His world has already progressed past the possibility of any hope. Hongjoong’s world, set in a time behind his own, still has a tiny glimmer of hope; or rather, eight glimmers of hope.

Picking up his hands again, he tries to remember what he has to do now. He learned everything he could before coming on to this important mission.

Drawing shapes and mumbling incantations, a light erupts again from the tips and the man seems to become almost transparent. There is no change of surroundings this time. The only thing that changes is the now stirring man on the couch, Hongjoong. The darkly dressed figure has done it, he has entered Hongjoong’s illegal dream.

Hongjoong does not notice the strange man looming over him, nor does he notice that he is still in his dream as he swipes his vibrant blue hair away from his eyes sleepily. Sitting up, he stretches his arms as far and as wide as he can.

“Kim Hongjoong,” the deep voice startles him, makes him draw in a shocked breath to repress the scream crawling up his throat, arms drawn in front of him. He cannot get caught directly after a dream, if the neighbours decide to call the police to investigate.

Before Hongjoong can come to his senses and question him, the man continues, “I don’t have much time, so you have to listen carefully.” The voice suits the tall man, dark and deep.

“There are countless dimensions in the world. You are just one of many. Hope remains for you that is why i need your help. Seven men, all from different backgrounds, are forlorn, waiting for your call. Help them see the illusion and you can change the world together, forever.”

Hongjoong has no time to ask, to even observe the man as the near transparency fades more and more.

“Remember, it’s not the reality that makes you lose your dream. It is your decision,” his voice is getting more muffled with every word he utters, “So I advise you to make the right one.” And he is gone.

Hongjoong startles awake, suddenly realizing that he had been asleep the whole time the masked man talked to him. Before he can doubt the words that were relied to him, he sees it. Next to him he sees an hourglass for the first time, and the sand begins to flow from the bottom up.

His mission has begun.

Tender hands carefully picks up the glowing hourglass. Gingerly Hongjoong tilts the hourglass from side to side, slightly, curiously watching as the sand keeps flowing up, up, up. Corn by corn the sand floats against gravitation, breaking the laws of physics.

Tilting the hourglass more steeply, Hongjoong suddenly realizes that the sandcorns all point towards one direction, no matter how he turns the figure in his hands. A compass, Hongjoong deducts.

To the next member.

Member Two

When he was younger his parents told him to stop. Stop dreaming, stop talking about his friend, stop trying to dress like him, stop trying to get into the large black fedora of his grandfather, stop dragging the long dark coat onto his small young shoulders.

Eventually he did stop. He stopped dreaming and even suppressed the visits of his friend, turned away from accidental daydreams and lost sleep at night, violently waking himself up whenever he saw the dark silhouette of his older lookalike.

Now Jongho has grown up from a boy to a man; from a happy, hopeful boy to a forlorn young man.

He made new friends, real friends that do not look like an older replica of himself. Friends that can show their hair and their faces.

Year after year Jongho tries to forget his friend; and with him the happiness he felt back then. If he does not know that feeling he would not miss it, right? With no luck.

Every day he asks himself the same two questions.

“Where am I now?”

“Where should I go?”

Without any hope Jongho just wanders through life, trying to distract himself by playing basketball with his friends on the weekends.

“Jongho! Do you want to walk back home together?” one of his friends asks him after a basketball game, ready to go back home.

“No, man, you can go ahead without me, I want to chill some more,” Jongho smiles up at him from his seat on the side bench.

After all his friends are gone, the basketball court turns quiet and empty, people passing by occasionally. The sun starts setting, but Jongho cannot bring himself to look up, his arms resting on his thighs and his head bowed down.

Hopelessness is starting to spread once again.

Jongho’s murmur breaks the silence, “Where am I now?” A heavy sigh follows. He does not know. Physically he is at the court, but where is he really? At what point of his life is he? What has he achieved and what does he want to achieve? It is not like he has the luxury to buy himself some dreams from the shop and he is forbidden from ever accessing the part of himself that can dream naturally. Showing signs of an illusion can be dangerous in this world, if it is not registered and controlled by the government.

Not being able to imagine where he is in his mind, Jongho is also unable to allow himself to imagine where he wants to go next.

Exhaustion engulfs Jongho, mentally and physically, making him close his eyes for a second. Or more. He drifts off for a short while, bodyweight slightly slumping more onto his thighs.

The only thing Jongho can hear is his own breathing and even is in his focus less in less. His breathing slows down and he allows himself to calm his heartbeat even more after just running around for the past hour or two.

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

“Kim Hongjoong.”

Jongho instinctively jumps up, immediately standing pin straight after hearing that whisper echo dangerously close to his ear.

“Find Kim Hongjoong and end your sorrow,” the whisper sounds again.

Frantically Jongho looks around the court, trying to find a figure that could have said these words, but he sees no one, not even outside the gate.

“It is not reality that makes you lose your dream, Jongho.” His heart is beating in his throat and his hands are sweating profusely. He still cannot see anyone, but the voice is ringing a bell in his mind.

“It is not reality, but your decision, Jongho.”

It can not be. There is no way. He is awake, and not dreaming.

“Find Kim Hongjoong. Make the right decision.”

It is his own voice. Jongho recognizes his own whisper echoing to him on the court.

“Dream again,” his own voice whispers to him and then silence returns to the court and Jongho wakes up with a startle.

So he was asleep without even realizing it. Jongho dreamt again after a long time.

He heard from his friend, his dear friend that he so desperately tries to forget. But there is no doubt that it was him, even after more than a decade of avoiding him, Jongho is sure that it was his lookalike from another universe. A universe a little more advanced in time than Jongho’s is, the other told him when they were younger.

Tales of multiple universes each a little bit different than the other, each unique in their own way but yet so similar. These tales always fascinated the little Jongho when he was growing up. What he did not realize back then was that not everyone could see what he could. No other friend of his could see his older friend from another universe, nor could they dream like him without taking the expensive potion from the shop. Jongho became an outcast, doing illegal things at the young age of five, maybe even younger he cannot remember. Thankfully no one ever told on him. His innocent, hopeful mind filling the empty hearts of many discouraged adults, who just wanted to give a little boy a piece of happiness.

“Kim Hongjoong,” Jongho repeats the name he learned out loud, “who are you, Kim Hongjoong?”

Taking fast steps Jongho makes his way home the second he shakes himself out of his shock. He does not doubt that what he experienced was not real. A dream can be more than just an illusion and he has to find the reason why his friend came back over a decade later, just to tell him these few words and vanish immediately after. The internet can help him on his search. The name is an unusual one so he should be able to find an answer.

Jongho’s fingers fly over the keyboard as he types.

“Kim Hongjoong, Kim Hongjoong, Kim Hongjoong,” he repeatedly mumbles under his breath as he skims the first page of Google. Nothing. His hands glide the cursor to the second page and he clicks through that one.

“No, no, not that one either.” The silence in the room is filled with the clicking of the mouse and Jongho’s grumbling.

“Who are you, Kim Hong-” He stops dead in his tracks. There it is.

“Kim Hongjoong,” Jongho starts reading out loud, feeling like he has already uttered that man’s name for the nth time, “looking for another individual, who saw a dark concealed man in a black fedora and black mask, wearing a long black coat.”

His contact number is posted under his post and without giving himself a second to reconsider, Jongho has already picked up the phone and pressed the numbers in.

He has made his decision.

Member Three

At one point in life you have to make a decision that can change your entire world. Wooyoung realized that after the man with the black fedora visited him in an unexpected dream.

As someone who has never before experienced a thing such as a dream, Wooyoung has to say it was a little bit disappointing. It was nothing like his richer classmates had told him it would be. No crazy things he could never imagine, no, instead he got the same place where he fell asleep, on his desk at school, just with the not so mind blowing addition of a man in black. It felt like a joke to him. Wooyoung had not even realized that he was in a dream until after he woke up.

But even if it was underwhelming, two things significantly stood out to Wooyoung, leaving him with questions.

What did the man with the exact same voice as him mean with “making a decision”? How is he supposed to lose a dream if he never even bought one?

He thinks back to the decision a good friend of his made a long time ago.

San, Choi San. His lost friend, who vanished from one day to the other with no warning whatsoever. He had made his decision.

But could Wooyoung make one?

He gave up on the easy way out to find his friend. He searched and searched all he could, but after months of waiting for San to come back to school Wooyoung gave up. Evidently he did not want to be found.

But maybe he is wrong. Maybe he should not have given up and taken the easy way out of his problem. Maybe that is what the masked man meant.

“Look for your friend and do not stop until you have found him.”

Maybe then they can find a way together to finally dream their first dream.

Wooyoung is not going to give up this time. He stands up, determined, and rushes out of the classroom, away from the startled teacher.

He is only going to think about one thing now.

Member Four

Living without dreaming is a normal thing for a guy like Mingi. Dreams are too lavish for the poor. Mingi’s innocence was lost at a young age as he had to start working early due to extreme poverty. There was no time, much less money, for Mingi to stop and dream. In a world where dreams, a way to escape reality, are highly valuable, legalized drugs, Mingi has to work hard to get by. There is no time for him to be hopeful, to think about a world where he has everything he could ever want. Even if everything he wants is just a permanent home, not an old furnished warehouse where the social worker, Hongjoong, would drop by every once in awhile to check on him.

Speaking of the devil, Hongjoong barges into his temporary home very uncharacteristically. In his delicate hands he holds an hourglass. There is something off about it, but Mingi cannot pinpoint what it is.

“The sand kept flowing faster the closer I got,” Hongjoong pants the second he enters through the doorway, “and it pointed towards your direction and, Mingi,” he takes another deep breath, “I think you may be the next one to the puzzle,” he points his shaky finger at Mingi, who just stands there, perplex, “ and I can’t believe it’s actually someone I know! I can’t comprehend it! This thing is just so strange, one day I’m dreaming illegally and now I’m supposed to bring together seven more people and spread hope?” Hongjoong gestures around wildly, talking with his hands, now that he has regulated his breathing.

Before he can get even more animated, Mingi grabs Hongjoong’s shoulders and looks him deep in the eyes, “Hongjoong, calm down.” He shakes him lightly, just enough to make it clear that he is present. “Now tell me what you are talking about, I have no idea what you’re even saying.”

“I need to find more people for my team! The man with the black fedora told me,” Hongjoong says while looking up into the confused eyes of his friend, Mingi.

“What man with a fedora?”

“He visited me in my dream and gave me this compass, I’m supposed to help you dream.”

“Hongjoong,” Mingi’s shoulders are slumped forward, head hanging low, “you know that I can’t dream. Why would you try?”

“Why would I try?” Hongjoong’s loud outburst echoes through the empty warehouse. “The government steals our hope! Don’t you see it, Mingi? We’ve been given the opportunity to change that! Just imagine it!” This time Hongjoong is the one gripping Mingi’s shoulders tightly. “Just imagine a world full of dreams! And hope!” Excitedly, Hongjoong shakes Mingi, while Mingi just looks down at the other and endures it, indulges in this ridiculous idea of free dreams for a few seconds before reality will come crashing down on Hongjoong.

“It’s not possible, Hongjoong. At least not for many people. You may be an exception, but you don’t even know anyone else that is like you. Stop getting your head up to the clouds and return to reality.” Mingi is starting to get a little angry the more he thinks about it. As if he does not suffer enough from hopelessness. Hongjoong does not have to rub it in that he can dream naturally.

“That’s the thing!” Hongjoong paces back and forth and raises his voice again. “It’s not reality that makes you lose your dream, it’s your decision! Your decision of listening like a good little marionette or actually do something against the stolen desires!” He stops in his tracks and abruptly turns towards Mingi again. One finger pointing at his tall figure and the other hand on his hips, he continues his rant, “and I did find someone else that can dream freely. His name is Choi Jongho, he contacted me just an hour ago and has agreed to meet up with us in two hours at the city center, so get ready, because you’re coming with me.”

Member Five

Moving, moving, moving and, once again, moving. San is sick of his life. The life of a nomad.

He had wished that they would stay in this town a little bit longer. He had found friends here and was happier than he had ever been. But of course his happiness was crushed when he was told that they had to move again. Over night, he had to pack his bags and leave the city abruptly, as if he is a criminal on the run from the police. Which he technically was, dabbling in the very illegal art of recreating the dream potion.

He throws his two bags onto the moving car. After years upon years of moving he only has two bags full of valuables left now. One for his clothes, the other one for his little amateur chemist lab.

San is so sick of his life. Every day he wishes he could just escape. Just leave and never come back.

“Why can’t I?” he mumbles to himself, swinging his legs on the side of the moving truck, “what is holding me back from leaving?”

The car stops at a light, San grabs his bags and jumps out of the car.

Nothing is holding him back from leaving.

Member Six

Adults always tell Yeosang “look up at the stars in the night sky. That should be enough dreaming for you. Buying dreams is useless.”

But whenever Yeosang looks up at the sky, he sees darkness. Not a light shines through the thick blanket of hopelessness, no rip, no gleam of change.

The stars are not enough of a replacement for dreams. They are not meant for that. And Yeosang realizes that, which is why he walks around, not with his head in the clouds but with his eyes on the ground.

Just like he is doing it now, head down he walks around in the crisp night. His bleached hair falls into his eyes, but Yeosang does not bother pushing the strands back. There is no use. Like everything in life.

He is ripped out of his thoughts when he suddenly feels a sharp pain in his shoulder and falls on his back.

“I’m so sorry,” a voice gasps. As Yeosang looks up he can see a young boy reaching out to him on the floor, unsure if he can touch him and help him up or not. Yeosang makes the decision easy for him and takes the offered hand, heaving himself up.

“It’s alright,” Yeosang mumbles in a monotone voice. He does not have the energy to actually reassure the other guy right now.

“No, no! It’s not! I can tell that you’re in pain,” the other points at the sagging left shoulder that Yeosang is still rubbing, “I’m meeting up with someone in half an hour, but I can buy you ice cream as an apology if you want!”

Yeosang looks around. He must have walked all the way to the city center while he was lost in his thoughts.

“Alright,” he accepts. What is the harm? He does not have anything to do anyways.

With that they now walk side by side, looking for the next ice cream shop.

“I really am sorry.”

“Stop apologizing, you’re buying me ice cream already.”

“Alright, alright. My name is Jongho,” he introduces himself, as if he is trying to make a new friend.

“I’m Yeosang.” And they are back to silence.

“You know,” Jongho carefully starts, “I saw that you were a bit dejected and I just want to tell you to not give up.” A kind smile stretches his full lips, but Yeosang can only scoff as he takes the ice cream that Jongho is holding out to him.

“Dreams are useless,” is all Yeosang says to Jongho before he walks away.

Jongho does not relent and comes back, jogging to the position next to Yeosang again.

“It’s not the reality that makes you lose your dream, it’s your decision.”

“But what decision can I make that makes me dream?”

“You can come with me and I can show you.”

Member Seven

Running. Running until his legs cannot carry him anymore. Cars beep at him, cursing him out as he rushes past red lights and green light alike.

His whole life he has been dreaming with Seonghwa. Showing up in each other’s dreams, playing around, having fun, but now he is just gone. Seonghwa disappeared and never came back to Yunho’s dreams again.

Night after night he takes his dream potion and waits for Seonghwa’s return, but no luck. Even less luck now, because Yunho ran out of potions and he only realized when he wanted to go to bed.

Now he is sprinting towards the dream shop before it closes for the night. He has to get at least one potion. What if tonight is the night Seonghwa comes back and Yunho is not there to greet him?

But luck has left him. The shop is closed. He is too late.

A group of four men are standing in front of the shop too, so he asks them for help.

Maybe he is addicted, but he cannot think straight, he has to find his friend and if that is only by dreaming every single night, then so be it.

“Do you guys maybe have a potion that I could buy off of you?” Yunho pants, “I really need one just for tonight, I’m willing to pay extra, my friend, I need to find my friend.”

The four men just look at him in confusion before the smallest of the group speaks up, “I'm sorry, but we don’t have any potions.”

He says this loud enough for another man, standing a few steps away to hear.

“You’re looking for potions? I have some, if you want?” his whole face is sharp and the smile pulling at his lips, make Yunho question the man's intentions, but he does not care for now.

There is no need to be extra cautious as the man immediately clears why he is so suspicious, “I made them myself and tested them. They work just as well as the one’s sold by the government.”

This seems to make the quartett perk up as well.

“How much are you selling them for?” the tallest one, as tall as Yunho, asks.

And with that the six of them come to an agreement to form a little group. Hopeless achievers that just want to reach an illusion.

“I may know someone else that would agree to do this with us,” San, the an with the sharp face, says and pulls out his phone. Yunho catches a glance of him unblocking a number belonging to a “Woo”.

Member Eight

Everyone left, but only her scent remains. No name or address to be known. As if Seonghwa was dreaming within his own dream, it all faded away.

She only left behind the ocean waves that used to crash against her walls. Her woody smell does not leave Seonghwa’s mind. And Yunho, too. He, too, never came back. No friend to accompany him on his adventure within a dream.

Seonghwa cannot fathom what happened. It is as if he is having a nightmare within his dream.

Where is everyone?

That is what the newly formed group of seven wonder as well. What happened to Seonghwa and where is the hourglass pointing towards?

With no clue as to where to go next, they go to sleep in the warehouse.

“Open your eyes.”

It is the masked man again, except there are eight of him.

Hongjoong rubs his eyes and notices that, no, that is not the same man eight time, but rather a group of men.

“Open your eyes,” Hongjoong’s voice echoes through the warehouse again, but his own mouth is closed.

“Find Seonghwa and fulfill dreams. Find him and you will find your treasure. Follow the hourglass.”

And with that the seven jump awake all at once. Looking around San tries to find the eight men that just visited their dreams.

“Those were,” Yeosang starts, eyes wide, “those were us?”

“Yes, us from another dimension,” Jongho answers him.

“And the eighth was Seonghwa!” Yunho excitedly tells them.

Quickly they pack up their things and follow any direction the sand corns point at. The sand flowing faster and faster the closer they get to Seonghwa. Until they find him at the seashore, sitting on the sand, head in his hands.

From another universe, the masked people watch as the last corn floats up, leaving the bottom empty.

But not for long. Now that they are together, the mission has just begun.

Eight Makes One Team

And just like that eight men came together as one team.

As adventurers, pirates, criminals, delinquents or whatever you want to call them.

They call themselves

ATEEZ

And they have a mission.

Spread hope and happiness and make people dream again freely. No matter at what cost.

Will you join them?

#feedback and requests are welcome #ateez #ateez au #ateez imagines #kpop imagines #masterlist #weightlessau #weightlessau masterlist #ateez writing #ateez one shot #ateez oneshot #kpop oneshots

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thatssonanii · 4 years ago

Text

Just the Two of Us (20)

HAHN AU

Excuse any typos please!

Two weeks passed since the trip to Savannah and things had been relatively quiet. Lainey, Marcie and Melissa were moved into the house Caleb had fixed up. Both, Marcie and Melissa had served their husbands with divorce papers. Lainey knew her brothers, her father and boyfriend were all working hard to fix and handle things so she didn't protest when she realized she had a detail. Bishop was already following her, another person didn't bother her.

Charles had been back and forth from Atlanta to Savannah without Lainey knowing. He wanted to focus on business and not lead anybody to her new place just in case they were dumb enough to follow her.

He walked in the Love Train diner taking a moment to look around. Once he found who he was looking for, he winked at one of the owners an older woman before going to the booth. Making himself comfortable, he smiled at the man across from him.

"Mitchell Malone, you are not a hard man to find." He said coolly.

Mitch had to do a double take when he looked up from the menu. "What can I do for you, Charles?"

Charles chuckled picking up the menu in front of him opening it up. "You should get the pot roast, it's pretty good. And for the record, governor will always do from you. Alright, Mitchell?"

"You know I could kill you right now? There is a price on your head, ya know?"

"Hmm, I think I might try the iron city meatloaf. Did you know that the woman who owns this diner, Ms. Hattie, named that after Mama Rose? She loved it so much."

Mitch stared at him sitting the menu down. "Did you not hear me?"

Charles kept his eyes on his menu, "Maybe you're more of a chicken man. You have a lot in common."

"What's that mean, Charles?"

"I think I was very clear about what you could call me," Charles responded his eyes still on the menu, "You know Mama Rose is a sweet woman. She always tells me that she wishes you had even a little piece of what I have in me."

"Don't you dare bring up my grandmother."

The waitress approached the table for their orders, Charles took the initiative to order for them both disregarding Mitch's disdain. After he ordered, Charles turned his attention back to the man sitting across from him.

"I can do what I want, she's my grandmother as well. She invited me into the family a while ago," he smiled, "Yeah, you're her favorite grandchild but me? I am her favorite everything. When she's in trouble, when she needs anything she calls me. When I need anything, she volunteers to handle it."

Mitch grunted. "You say that to say what?"

"If and when Mama Rose finds out what you and those clowns are planning, family or not, she'll handle it. I won't even have to lift a finger if I don't want to."

"Yeah okay, dude. Whatever."

The waitress brought their drinks and food with a special message for Charles from Hattie. Quickly, Charles said his grace and started to eat his meatloaf.

"Eat up, no sense in having this conversation on an empty stomach. And don't worry, it's on me."

Begrudgingly, Mitch started to eat his food looking cautiously around the diner. He wasn't sure who or if anyone had come in with Charles so he kept his eyes opened. The thought of calling his uncle came and went, by the time his uncle got there Charles would've been long gone.

"You're familiar with Alaina Parker?"

"Yeah I know Lainey. Why?"

Charles corrected him quickly, "Alaina. I was told that not only do you have a growing obsession with her but you can't keep your hands to yourself when it comes to her."

"Don't know what you're talking about."

Charles hummed. "No, you know. I'm sure of it. Whatever you're thinking about that concerns her in any capacity, it'd be in your best interest if you let them remain thoughts."

"Look, I'm grown. I'm gonna do what I want."

"That's right you're gonna do what you want," Charles repeated then took a sip of his drink, "And if you do what you want that includes Alaina in any way then I'm gonna do what I want to you and whoever else that's involved."

Mitch leaned onto the table. "Is that a threat?"

"No, not at all, Mitchell. I am not threatening you, I'm simply telling you what's going to happen. And if you think what her brother did to you was painful then you don't want me to get my hands on you."

Mitch eyed him, his nostrils glared in annoyance. He couldn't believe Charles was trying to scare him. No one ever tries a Malone like that and gets away with it.

"You just watch your back, Governor."

"Only cowards kill from behind. Malones aren't cowards," Charles said wiping his mouth and getting up, "Or did you forget?"

Charles tossed the money on the table then strolled out of the fine going to the waiting SUV. He knew he'd put a fire in Mitch, that's exactly what he wanted. Mama Rose anyways told him how impulsive Mitch could be and that's exactly what he wanted.

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

Melissa sat in the middle of her bed waiting for Benny to come out her bathroom from taking his shower. She figured out a way to tell him that would hopefully put a smile on his face. Ten minutes later, Benny came out the bathroom in a t-shirt and basketball shorts going to plop on the bed beside her.

"You good? Look like you thinking?" He asked rubbing his head.

"Yeah tryna remember this riddle I learned today."

Benny laughed, "Look at you but you said mine were annoying."

Laughing, Melissa turned to face him on the bed. "They are annoying. Mine are actually good."

"Yeah yeah. Lay it on me then."

"I’m small but very important and loved already. I’m free to make but expensive over time. You’ll see me very soon but you cannot see me yet. What am I?"

Benny frowned thinking and repeating what she'd said. "Free to make but expensive over time? What the hell?"

Melissa laughed, "Think really hard, B."

He sat quietly, mumbling occasionally to himself. To be honest, it was getting harder and harder for Melissa not to blurt it out. She wanted him to know but she wanted him to work for it.

"See me soon but not yet ... small but important and loved," he said softly. A minute later he clapped and sat up. "I figured it out!"

"What's the answer, B?" Melissa laughed.

"Its a baby, that's the answer. Gone and tell me I'm right. Go head."

She nodded having his hand putting it on her stomach. "You're right, B. Its a baby."

Looking from her face to his hand and back again, a slow smile spread across his face. "A baby? We havin' a baby?"

"Yes, we're having a baby. You happy?"

Benny moved his hands to her face and kissed her urgently. "Yooo ... I'm havin' a baby. I can't believe this shit. That's my baby in there."

"That's right. I'll get a DNA test if you want, B. I don't mind."

"Nah," he said quickly, "Ain't no need for that. This baby couldn't be nobody's but mine. That's all me."

"You sure?"

"I'm damn sure. That's my baby and so are you."

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

Because of the appointment she had with Veronica and Victoria, Lainey let her stylist know that they weren't opening until 1pm. As soon as she pulled into the parking lot she noticed something was wrong. Throwing her car in park, she hopped out with her phone in her hand rushing to the salon where a few of her other girls were standing, staring.

"What the hell happened?" She asked looking at the broken glass everywhere from the window and doors. "What is this?"

One of the girls shrugged telling her they had all just gotten there right before she did. Nodding, Lainey carefully walked truth the glass and into her salon glancing momentarily at the all but destroyed doors. Tears stung her eyes with every step she took. Her salon had been destroyed. Dryers and sinks ripped from the wall so water had been spraying everywhere from the pipes, chairs ripped from the floor and beat to hell, all the mirrors were smashed. The computer in the reception area was smashed, there was damage to the desk as well. Her plants were uprooted scattered around along with the soil. Her pictures, her signs were all broken. There were things spraypainted along the walls that she didn't bother to read.

She opened and closed her mouth a few times but nothing came out.

"You want us to call the police, Lainey?"

Lainey shook her head slowly. "No, no don't. My brothers."

Taking the hint, her employee left her and went to make the call. Lainey's phone started to vibrate in her hand, she answered it slowly putting it to her ear.

"You free? Or you back at work?" Charles asked with joy in his voice.

"Charles," she whispered trying not to cry alerting him.

"What is it? What's wrong, baby?"

"My ... they ... its ruined," she mumbled still looking around.

"What's ruined? I dont understand."

"My salon," she cried into the phone. "Its ruined."

"Shit, I'm coming. I got the chopper on standby, thirty minutes at the most but I'm coming."

Lainey stumbled into the only chair that was still somewhat in tact and put her free hand on her face crying. Charles tried to soothe he as best he could but he knew she was devastated which pissed him off. He knew this wasn't a one and done, this was a warning and he was about to give one of his own.

#hahn au #just the two of us #have and have nots au

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noonaduck · 5 years ago

Text

SeXd (sex ed) pt.2

Pairing: BTS OT7 x reader genre: Fluff,smut, non idol Au Warnings: some heated making out Words: 2993 A/N: At first I tought about adding more sexual things into this chapter but then i thought ‘‘Hey the reader is so new all to this so lets take it slow at first.’‘ IDK if the part 3 will be published as fast as two first ones. Summaray: Y/N is a woman who is inexperienced in anything when it comes to relationships and sex. Luckily her friend Jimin along with his six other friends decide to show her what she has been missing. If you want to be tagged msg me or send ask. Starting from this point I won’t add you if you ask to be tagged in comments.

1. < 2. > 3.

tags: @lylanie12 @hopeivx @vannilacake @mina-messed-up @lonely-hufflepuff @soularbangtan @all289854 @hobitoons @vanessalovesonedirection @bbjel

[gifs belongs to their rightful owners]

You are tapping the table nervously while looking out from the window. You are waiting for Jungkook at small cafe who is supposed to take you to your first date. You have no idea what he had planned for you but he had said that you should wear something casual. After long debating between yourself you had ended up with blue hoodie and pair of jeans. Your hair was on loose ponytail and you had added only slightly make up, you were after all going for that natural look. The cafe is empty except three other customers which you are grateful for. In your small meltdown its better that there isn't many witnesses. You felt excited and scared at the same time. There was seven amazing men and one plain you. Sometimes you wondered that did they see same person which you saw every time when you looked into mirror. You look impatiently passing people trough the glass and sipped your almost empty drink. You weren't huge fan of coffee so instead you were drinking mug of hot chocolate. ''I'm sorry that I'm late.'' Familiar voice startles you from your side.

Jungkook had entered the cafe while you were looking out of the window deep in your thoughts. He looks unfairly good in his simple clothing. He is wearing black leather jacket over white v-neck shirt and pair of black jeans where is zippers on the sides. On his feet is plain black sneakers and lonely silver earring is hanging from his ear. ''It's okay. I haven't been waiting for long.'' You smile softly and Jungkook sits opposite of you. ''Good. It was kind of hectic at my workplace. My boss was breathing for my neck about some missed deadliness which I'm sure he hasn't even mentioned before.'' Jungkook sighs. Jungkook works at small accounting company and his boss is known his demanding nature. ''So, do you want to anything to drink or what you are planned for us?'' You ask while spinning your spoon in your mug nervously. ''There is no need. I will eat on the site of our date.'' Jungkook grins excitedly and rubs his hands together. ''We have one hour before we have to be there so take your time with your drink.'' You phone dings and you pick it out from your pocket. ''Do you mind if I look what was it?'' You gesture towards your phone. ''Go ahead, I don't mind.'' Jungkook assures you. You smile for thanks and open your message app to only notice that you have message from Jimin. Jimin: *I hope that you and Kookie will have good time :)* You: *Thanks, I'm kind of nervous.* Jimin: *Don't be, everything is going to be fine and if it isn't just message me anytime. If kookie even looks you wrong give me a call and I will come to rescue.* You: *Haha, I'm sure that its not going to that.* Jimin: * Just making sure that you know I'm there for you* Jimin's last message makes you blush and Jungkook looks you curiously. ''What was it? Something nice?'' ''It was Jimin.''You admit smiling shyly. ''Oh, I see. I hope he didn't spoil anything to you.'' ''So he does know where we are going?'' You are turning more curious. ''Yep. Did you finish your drink?'' Jungkook asks and you take one last sip from your hot chocolate. ''All done.'' ''Good, let's get going then. We need to get a taxi so we be on time.'' Jungkook stand up and waits you to collect your jacket and purse. When you exit the cafe you are simmering for excitement. Luckily you are able to get a taxi quite fast and you sit into backseat. Jungkook gives the driver an address that sounds familiar to you but you can't still pinpoint where you have heard it before. Jungkook glances you nervously but sighs on relief when there isn't expression of knowledge on your face. The back seat feels small and it doesn't help how Jungkook's thigh rubs yours time to time. You are relieved when you finally get out of the car and into fresh spring air. Jungkook pays for the driver and you look curiously around. You are on the parking lot of the sports stadium. There is cars parked everywhere and mass of people is heading towards the doors. ''I hope that you like basketball.'' Jungkook smiles shyly when he sees your curious face. You spin around and face Jungkook who has came to stand next to you. ''I used to go watch my little brothers basketball games on his high school. I'm not expert of the sport but I found it quite enjoyable.'' You give Jungkook assuring smile and he seems relieved. ''Shall we go then?'' Jungkook asks and offers his hand to you which you instantly accept. You end up following steam of people and waiting your turn on the line. Jungkook's hand is much larger and warmer than yours, his hold has calming effect to you and feel like your insecurities are slowly fading into back round. When it is finally your turn to get in Jungkook hands your ticket for the man by the door. The lobby is full of excited people who are wearing merchandises of their favorite team. You frown when you notice that you and Jungkook are almost only ones who isn't wearing colors of their team. ''Don't worry. I left all my fan goods at home so I wouldn't ruin the surprise for you. If you like we can by something to support our team.'' Jungkook tells when he notices your glances towards the other basketball fans. ''Really?'' You ask excited. ''Wait which one of them we are supporting?'' You add soon awkwardly. Jungkook tells you the team's name and you head into line where you can buy items to support your choice. Jungkook buys scarf for you and pennant for himself even when you insisted that you could pay yourself. When you are done Jungkook lead you to your seats which are located right in front row. The noise of fans cheering for their favorite teams is deafening. ''Wow, I think that I have never had this good seats in any event.'' You are thrilled. ''Thanks for it belongs to my boss, as much as he can be ass sometimes he is good with his bonuses.'' Jungkook rubs his head awkwardly while blushing. ''Aww, you are so cute.'' You coo and his blush deepens. Jungkook coughs and changes the subject. ''There is about fifteen minutes before the game begins. I was thinking that we could go buy something to eat when half time comes. I know that hot dogs aren't the most fancy food, but I hope it is okay.'' ''Hot dogs sounds fine.'' You assure Jungkook. The audience has finally found their seats and chanting to their teams to come out. The stand darkens and loud music begins to play. Spotlights sweep on the ground when the teams come out followed by loud cheers. Even you and Jungkook join the screaming mass. You don't know what you had hoped for your first date, but you were pleasantly surprised for Jungkook's choice. A Judge blows the whistle and the game begins. The game pulls you's and Jungkook's attention completely and you cheer and boo in all the right parts. Even one point when the opposite team makes a score you both scream with red faces. You are having so much fun that you forgot to be nervous. Finally the half time comes and you and Jungkook head for the food stand. The line is long, but at least it moves fast. ''Do you know what you are going to get?'' You ask while standing on your tiptoes looking for pictures on top of the stand. There is basic hot dogs, sodas and other fast food options on display. ''I usually take the same thing, hot dog with spicy sauce and cucumber salad.'' Jungkook shrugs his shoulders. ''Maybe I should try it too.'' You agree and Jungkook grins widely to your words. ''I'm sure that you are gonna love it.'' Soon is your turn to order and you take bottles of coke with your food. You find free stand table and head towards it. You put your hot dog on the table and sip your drink. You take a first bite from your food and began to cough. Your mouth is on fire. ''This. Is. So. Hot.'' You wave your hand in front of your mouth even though it doesn't actually help you. ''Are you okay? Is it too spicy for you, I can get something else for you if you want...'' Jungkook frowns his brows worriedly. ''No, its okay. I was just surprised that all. I knew that the hot dog would be spicy, but not this spicy.'' You grin. Jungkook looks you insecure at first but his frown turns as smile when you keep assuring him. ''I'm glad that Jimin was right when he told me that you like basketball.'' Jungkook says and takes a bite from his food. You don't know how someone eating can turn you on. You look enchanted how his mouth moves when he chews his food or how his lips turn even redder caused by the spicy food. ''Y/N, did you hear what I said?'' Jungkook smirks, he surely had noticed your stare. You blush and clear your throat. ''I didn't know that he had told you about it.'' ''well I asked what kind of interests you have so I could plan an evening which you would enjoy.'' Jungkook tells shyly. You feel so happy, never has a guy gone so far that they would have tried to get to know you better, at least not intending to make sure that you are enjoying yourself. You smile widely and reach for Jungkook's hand which is resting on the table. ''Thank you.'' You smile gratefully. Atmosphere is changing from light and happy for something entirely different. You never knew that someone being thoughtful towards you could be huge turn on. ''Do you want to learn something new today?'' Jungkook asks his voice low. ''What you want to teach me?'' You are curious. Your first tough has that he wanted to tell something about basketball but his eyes were telling a different story. ''I will teach you how to kiss properly. I know that you kissed Jimin, but you both were drunk and I doubt that you did it correctly'' You feel heat rising inside of you when you quickly agree to his offer. Jungkook leads you towards the restrooms and you look him surprised. When he sees your confused face he explains. ''Half time is over soon and everyone will be focused to the game so there wont be people hanging around the restroom.'' Indeed every person who you are passing by is hurrying back towards their seats. Jungkook pulls you inside of ladies room, which is empty for your luck, and heads into the furthest restroom booth.Luckily there isn't stalls where everyone could look under or even over if they were tall enough or standing on toilet seats. Instead the restroom was full of those small rooms where was small sink alongside of the toilet seat. Jungkook pushes you in gently and locks the door behind of him. The booth is small and you both are barely able to fit in at the same time. And still Jungkook is capable to spin you around and pull you to sit top of him on closed toilet seat. You are so close to him that you can hear his beating heart. You are glad to know that you aren't only one who is affected. ''So, what I do next?'' You finally break the heavy silence. Jungkook seems to shake himself from his thoughts before he answers. ''At first put your arms around my neck.'' You obey him fast, at least the first step is easy. ''Lean closer, good. Then tilt your head little on to other side and... well its best that I demonstrate the next part.'' Jungkook takes hold of your hips and tilts his head to opposite way which you are. Jungkook comes closer and the distance gets even smaller between you. Your hear is beating faster and your hands are getting sweaty. His breath smells like cherries when he finally kisses you. The kiss begins slow and Jungkook moves his lips softly against yours. You are insecure what to do at first but try to mimic his lips movements. You seem to be doing quite well when his hold on your waist tightens. Jungkook parts from you and looks you with indecipherable eyes. ''Second step is when I'm going to kiss you again, open your mouth slightly.'' Jungkook pushes his lips back to yours before you are able of answer. You can hear cheers of basketballs fans somewhere in far distance. You part your lips like Jungkook told and his pink tongue comes to explore your lips. He licks your lower lip and your breath hitch on your throat. For your surprise Jungkook's tongue slips inside of your mouth. Surely you know hot to kiss in theory, but still his actions caught you of guard. His tongue explores your mouth following your teeth and searching trough your mouths roof. You feel Jungkook hardening in his pants. You are first to pull away and look him with wide eyes. Sure you felt already hot and bothered, but Jungkook hardening under you came in shock.

''Don't worry we don't have to do anything to it. I would never force you to do anything that makes you uncomfortable.'' He assures you when he sees your worried eyes. Jungkook pushes curl of hair, which has escaped from your ponytail, behind of your ear. Even though his face is hungry his movements are slow. ''Is there any other steps that I can learn about kissing?'' You ask shyly by Jungkook's surprise. ''You can always do the actions to your partner which I have taught you, but there is one another step we can try.'' His cheeks are covered in light tint when he says this. Opening bathroom door surprises you and soon nearby bathroom stall's door is shut. Someone is in the bathroom while you two are practicing kissing. You freeze and Jungkook notices your distress. ''Or we can stop here and return to watch the game. I believe that there is at least twenty minutes left.'' ''What the last step is?'' ''Are you sure? We can stop Y/N.'' Jungkook looks you worriedly. You are tired of not knowing anything and you don't surely want to stop on half way. ''I'm sure.'' You look back to Jungkook with so much of determination that he finally agrees. ''Last step is making out.'' He finally tells. You hear someone leaving the bathroom booth and washing their hands. ''How making out is different from kissing?'' ''Well Kisses can be quite innocent, but when it comes to making out it usually includes lot of touching. I'm not talking about gentle sweeps of other person's cheek, I'm talking about hot hands wandering along others body.'' Jungkook words makes heat rise to your face and you feel more than slightly turned on. ''I want to try that.'' You admit quietly. ''O-okay.''Jungkook is turning red as well. ''So basically we kiss like I did teach to you and touch each others bodies. If I make you uncomfortable at any point let me know.'' Soon you are kissing again and this time you follow Jungkook's lips with your tongue. He parts them gently and let's you take a lead. You slip your tongue into his mouth when his large hands starts to wander on your body. At first his actions are rather innocent and his hands move along your sides. You pet his neck hair with your fingers which are still dangled to his neck. You deepen the kiss and then Jungkook grins against your core. You gasp out loud but don't stop kissing him which Jungkook takes as a green light. He repeats his actions and soon his hands find hem of your shirt. His hands feel warm against your skin and you tighten your grip on his hair. Jungkook moans gently when you tuck his hair too hard by accident. Interesting that he has a hair pulling kink you note to yourself. Jungkook's had reaches higher and soon his fingers touches hem of your bra. You pull apart panting for air and you look each other breathing heavily.

''More.'' You demand filled with lust from the man. ''More what?'' Jungkook struggles little when he tries to find his voice. ''Touch me more.'' You pull himself again into another kiss. Jungkook obeys and soon he squeezes your breast top of your bra. Your hand begins to slide along his torso and small gargle sound leaves from his throat. Jungkooks free hand starts to wander towards your pants and when he is about to open the button of your pants loud cheering disturbs you. ''I'm so happy that we won.'' Cheerful female voice says and soon the bathroom is filled with chattering voices. You part away with wide eyes. The game must have ended.

Jimin is laughing his ass of to your story. ''So you had to wait basically and hour in small restroom booth until you were able to leave.'' ''It's not so funny. I was scared to death that someone will break in and find us in such situation.'' You sulk and poke your salad with your fork. You are at the theaters break room during your lunch break when Jimin has insisted that you tell him about your date. He had hear some details from Jungkook but he wanted still hear your version. Jimin leans closer to you and you can't help but glance towards his lips. ''So did you learn anything?'' He asks with low voice. You are sure that he knew but wanted you to admit it yourself. ''I learned proper way of kissing.'' You admit whispering. You and Jimin gain few curious stares from your coworkers when you are so close together but you both ignore them. ''I'm sure that there is going to be other thing to learn on your next dates.'' Jimin smirks and pulls away. ''Like what?'' You are curious. ''You'll see, you'll see.'' Jimin refuses to let anything on.

412 notes · View notes

hu4ngs · 5 years ago

Note

jisung as your boyfriend! thank you ♡

AAAAAAAA THIS MADE ME SO SOFT jisung is a big baby

can u believe this baby is 18 this year? cuz i don’t

i personally REFUSE to believe he’s 18

anyway

you met jisung during a basketball match

it was your school against his

you weren’t really THAT supportive you just came because everyone told you there was gonna be handsome players

also the food stalls during school matches are always the b e s t

so here you are

you were happy that you got a pretty decent seating so you immediately started looking for cute players

you figured you probably looked focused as hell cuz that’s how you met jisung

he was sitting next to you, you can tell he’s from the other school judging from his school blazer

he chuckled looking at you squinting to see the match when it hasn’t even started

when he noticed that you noticed him, he immediately looked away

you stared at him for a couple seconds longer before diverting your attention back to the court

the horn blew, indicating the game had started

you noticed a light haired fella from the other school literally killing your school’s team

he was fast, he was sharp, you can tell he’s in ace

you watched him effortlessly shoot a 2-pointer goal, which made the guy next to you immediately cheer

you were a bit surprised from his sudden cheer, which made you jump

your attention diverted yet again to him

“is that your friend?” you asked absentmindedly

he was taken aback for a few seconds before finally nodding

“he’s gonna kill it” he said proudly

a smile automatically formed on your face, another favourite of yours is watching people get excited during matches

“are you here to support your whole school or to just support #30?” you asked again

he laughed shyly, “of course it’s to support the whole team. it just happens that my best friend is the ace of the team” he bragged a bit in his words

you giggled

you found him super cute

“what about you?” he asked

you were a bit embarrassed to admit that you were just here to look at cute players

so you went with option #2

you lied

it’s a white lie so it’s ok

“oh yeah, i’m here to show support for my school’s team” you said, although you sound hesitant

you thank the gods he didn’t question your hesitation though

“jisung” he muttered with a smile

“y/n” you told him back, and he nodded to himself before turning back to the game

you did the same

long story short

you ended up cheering with jisung together for his friend (which you learned his name was chenle)

you earned a lot of stares from your schoolmates though

but you didn’t care

from the looks of it, your school’s team was barely winning

chenle was really beating their asses off

“dude, your friend is on fire”

jisung nodded proudly

“what did i tell you? that’s an ace right there”

you giggled at him before continuing to cheer on for chenle

when the match ended, you had gathered up all the courage you had to ask him to go around the food stalls with you together

because 1) he’s genuinely the cutest boy you’ve ever met

and 2) you had no friends to do this with you

yknow like seulgi once said. sometimes you gotta be BOLD

so anyway

before jisung was even thinking of leaving the court, you had asked if he wanted to go around the food stalls with you

you noticed him get a bit too flustered with the request

your brain had immediately started telling you that this was a mistake

and that he probably has a girlfriend already or something

but then he said yes!!!!!

HE SAID YES!!!!!!!!

you probably realised a bit too late that you got a little too excited

bc by then jisung’s face was already red after seeing you like that

“sorry” you chuckled

and he shook his head, “it’s okay”

just when you’re about to ask him to get out of the court he said something

“is it okay if chenle joins, though?” he asked

you were 100% okay with that, although a small part of you wished it was just you and jisung

but at that time it was still too early for you to notice that

so you agreed wholeheartedly

so that’s the story of how you became friends with chenle and jisung

chenle wasted no time to show his true colours

by seconds he was already a loud, laughing mess

he’d also make fun of jisung whenever he has the chance and you find their jokes toward each other to be super funny

you were super glad that this whole thing didn’t turned out to be awkward

when the overall event was coming to an end, you had to go on your own way

jisung made sure he got your number before you two depart,,, so that’s saying s o m e t h i n g

and after you left..... poor jisung was teased even more by chenle

“you asked for their number FIRST? you like them don’t you?” chenle asked teasingly, nudging jisung by his arm

“do me a favour, and just, shut up? please?”

chenle laughed

“i’m just saying, if you need help to ask a certain someone out.... i’m right here” he said proudly while puffing his chest out

ANYWAY

days after the event,,, like literally so many days later

you find yourself not able to stop texting jisung

the conversation just keeps on going

it’s crazy

you didn’t think he’d be a good texted but he simply is

whenever you text him first he’d immediately come online??? that’s a whole MAN

and he always have something interesting to say that would keep the conversation going

you find yourself drawn to him

it’s crazy

you’ve never felt like this before

like okay, you’ve had crushes before

but you never felt like THIS

everyday you’ll find yourself wishing that you’d get to see him again

and it’s really driving you crazy

like y/n???? smitten over a boy????? that’s crazy

jisung, on the other end, also felt the same

he lowkey wants to go watch a movie with you or something

but he can’t admit that to anyone

he can’t admit it to chenle because chenle will LOSE his mind

and he most definitely can’t admit it to you in fear he’d get rejected or get you weirded out

so he’s basically stuck

sometimes he’s on the subway on the way home and he sees two couples in it with him wearing matching jackets or are talking about getting boba together,,,,, he lowkey wishes he’d get to do that with you

it’s really driving him mad bc he can’t tell if he’s in love or just lonely or just going through puberty

he’s not really one to understand these type of feelings yknow.....

at the end he decided to contact his long lost friend

who’s like super older than him

it’s taeyong

he’s contacting taeyong

one night he suddenly sent taeyong a text

which caught the elder one off guard cuz it’s been so long since they talked

but it’s okay taeyong’s a nice person

when he asked jisung what was up

jisung immediately went into details

he told taeyong everything

from the basketball match

to the way you always stays online and wait for him to finish typing bc he admits he’s a bit of a slow typer

and he admits to taeyong that he does wanna hang out with you again

and not,,, platonically,,,, he genuinely wants to take you out on a date

taeyong let out a laugh when he read jisung’s super long explanation on what’s bothering him

he gave jisung advice alright

and he tried as hard as he could to make sure it was a good advice too

because it’s probably the first time the boy has ever felt like this, he can’t ruin this for him

and thanks to taeyong, jisung felt like the clouds in his head was finally clearing up

he was finally able to see a solution

which wasn’t that much hard to find,,, but he needed assurance from an older, experienced man

so yes, jisung ended up asking you out

when you received that text you were blown out of your mind

you were literally on cloud 9

the butterflies in your stomach? there were swarms of them

you couldn’t get a good night’s rest because your mind won’t let you stop thinking of the fact that you just got asked out on a date

BY PARK JISUNG TOO!!!!!

who’s doing it like you? not me, not anyone else. YOU’RE DOING IT LIKE YOU

jisung even made it clear that there wasn’t going to be a zhong chenle this time. just the two of you

and you find it sweet of him to reassure you that

nah, you’re just smitten by him

LMAO

so anyway

you spent your whole trying to find the perfect outfit

best believe you even went out to buy a pair of new shoes too

that’s how in love you are

on d-day, you two met in the subway

you met him after two stops, and he looked SOOOOO good

he literally looks like your future boyfriend

he wore something simple, but it really complimented his figure

unlike the other time you saw him, this time he wasn’t in his school attire, he had one airpod in, and overall he just looks dashing

you figured by now you ARE in love, because no boy wearing black jeans with a pair of converse topped with an adidas jacket had ever made you feel this way

but you’re not gonna complain

if you’re gonna fall in love with someone, it better be park jisung

when he noticed he thought similarly as you did too

he wondered how you could so good wearing something so simple

yup. if he was gonna get boba with somebody, it better be you

the subway was kinda full, so you were standing

he immediately went over to you

and you were lowkey blushing looking at how tall he was now that he’s standing right in front of you

“you look good” you commented, to make things less awkward, although that obviously backfired, because jisung immediately turned shy

“you.... you look good, too” he mumbled, looking away

luckily, after a few stops, both of you warmed up again to each other

he asked you about your day, and as usual you somehow carried away with talking about completely unrelated topic

but that’s what attracted jisung the most

he doesn’t do much of the talking

but he sure as hell enjoys listening to you talk

you were amusing too, and on top of that you made sure you weren’t just blabbing about yourself, you made sure he finds the fun in the conversation too

when you arrived at the mall, neither of you knew what you wanted to do

so you both ended up wandering around the big mall, and every once in a while you’d stop at a fast food restaurant to eat something light

you had to admit, even though you two weren’t doing anything specific, you were sure having a lot of fun

when (still) wandering around the mall, you two walked by a phone cover store

and jisung had the bravest, most brilliant idea ever

he asked if you wanted to get matching phone covers and honestly that was the sweetest thing someone has ever said to you

and like??? getting matching phone covers with jisung???? YES PLEASE

you agreed with your whole heart bruh let me TELL you

and that’s how jisung finally knew nothing wrong could really go with confessing

after buying matching phone covers, he finally fulfilled his wish to get you both boba

AND in the boba store

it’s not the most romantic way nor place to confess but,,, that’s jisung for you

it’s not the fanciest place ever, but it’s still the sweetest thing to happen to you

ngl you were gonna cry but you’re a bad bitch so you DIDN’T

so now he’s your boyfriend

and compared to before, he became way awkward now, more than ever

but again, that’s just park jisung for you

he gets shy super quickly

and i’m not saying you aren’t shy too, but sometimes whenever you absentmindedly grab his hands to go somewhere or something, boy, he will n o t stop thinking about it

good news is that you two go on dates much more often now

and he’d visit you sometimes when he has the time whenever you have extra classes

and he strictly asked you not to reveal your relationship to chenle yet because he wasn’t sure if he was ready to face that boy yet

anyway

so during the first few........ months of dating, please don’t expect to have that much hand touching, or hugs, let alone any types of kisses

he’s just that awkward

and he’s super grateful if you understand him and doesn’t pester him to do any coupley things

in fact he’d fall in love with you even more if you’re like that

but eventually he’ll come around anyway

he wouldn’t really initiate anything first other than the simple arm-around-shoulders thing, but he definitely won’t flinch or blush like a madman whenever you hug him or hold his hand

daily facetimes with him are a must that’s a requirement from park jisung himself

he doesn’t show it but we all know he’s secretly clingy

like SUPER clingy but in his own way

if you don’t give him attention he’s definitely gonna sulk

if you give chenle more attention, he’s 100% gonna sulk

once again he doesn’t tell you about it, but he LOVES having his arm around your shoulders especially when you two are in public

he lowkey likes the feeling??? like it kinda boosts his ego when he does this so he does it a lot

he doesn’t buy you gifts too much but he definitely loves hanging out/going out on dates with you

he’ll definitely buy you all the foods you want too

when he does buy you gifts he’d buy you little things like a keychain of your favourite anime character maybe, or a pair of adorable socks, maybe a cute little necklace and a shitton of phone covers

whenever you’re stressed out with your studies he wouldn’t bother you, but he’ll definitely accompany you if you asked him

he’ll comfort you a lot when you’re breaking down, although he doesn’t say much, but having him hold you tightly in his embrace is enough comfort for you, especially when it’s coming from jisung

your first kiss together would be waaaay overdue tbh

like, your first kiss is probably a year after dating he’s just that shy

but it’s sweet

best believe this time it’s jisung that initiated the first move

as usual you guys are on a date

and unlike other dates, you guys decided to have a picnic by the river

and unlike other dates pt. 2, he’s much more smitten for you than he has been the other days

maybe you surprised him at school when he’s super stressed out

maybe you brought him something he had been wanting to have

maybe you took him out to a cafe that he’s been craving

WE’LL NEVER KNOW but he’s super smitten

and his heart keeps racing in a different way whenever he sees you on that particular day

so when you were busying yourself taking cute pics of the river with the sunset

he suddenly slides in his hand onto your cheek

which caught you off guard

you were like,,,,,

“is this really my boyfriend is he really doing something other than having his hand on my shoulders?”

you’re lowkey panicking and excited to see what’s he gonna do next

at first jsung was hesitant but his heart was screaming for him to do it

so HE DID

he leaned in and kissed you

and you gladly kissed him back,,, hell, you’ve been waiting a lifetime for this moment

your kiss with him was super innocent, and was so gentle

it was perfect

you two were on the picnic blanket, by the river, accompanied by the sunset

you can’t think of any better way for you to share your first kisses with each other

and to top that all up, after all that, he told you that he loves you for the first time ever

and that’s a lot for jisung

in conclusion, jisung will be a hard shell to break

it will take a lot of patience from you

but it’s all worth it because he’s a treasure

he will cherish you so so so so so much

and if that’s not love idk what is

don’t ever break his heart or trust bc he can NEVER handle that

OH also on a side note now that you’re dating jisung, you’ll have to deal with chenle too

he WILL annoy you as much as he annoys jisung it’s just zhong chenle tingz

lastly, jisung would probably, at one point in your relationship, tell you that he’s glad he shared his firsts with you because he honestly can’t think of a better person

ugh wtf im jealous somebody get me a bf like park jisung pls

37 notes · View notes

leigh-kelly · 5 years ago

Text

Elf: Chapter 1

As always, my Christmas fic of 2019 begins! This will diverge from the move quite a bit in the coming chapters, but this first one is based pretty heavily on Elf.

Once upon a time, at an orphanage in New York City, a baby girl was put to sleep by the one of the nuns who cared for the children. It was Christmas Eve night, and when a red-suited stranger entered the room where the tiny girl slept beside so many others like her, she grew curious. That was one of the things that the nuns always said about her, she was the most curious little girl they’d ever seen. They thought that she would make such a good child for a family in want of a baby, but time and again, she was passed up for someone else.

While the red-suited man piled presents beneath the meager Christmas tree, the baby girl managed to escape from her crib. She slid down the sheets and crawled across the room, finding a big, brown, open bag beside the fireplace. There was a teddy bear sticking out from the bag, and the little girl decided that she had to have it. When she grabbed hold, she noticed that it wasn’t the only thing in the bag and so she crawled further inside. Before she knew it, she had reached the bottom and the sack closed around her, leaving her trapped inside.

She was all giggles and smiles as she played with the toys in the bag while the red-suited man made his rounds on Christmas Eve night and when he returned home and set his bag down in a room full of his treasured workers, the baby girl crawled out, being met by surprised and excited faces.

“What in the name of Sam Hill is that?” Asked the red-suited man, looking down at the baby.

“It’s a human!” One of the elves cried, kneeling down to have a look at her. “Santa! It’s a human!”

“Now how did you get in here, little one?” Santa scooped her up and she laughed as his whiskers tickled her chin. “What are we supposed to do with you?”

“Santa.” One of the older elves shuffled forward, he’d wanted so long to have a baby of his own, but he’d been so caught up in his work that he’d never found the time to settled down. “Let me raise her.”

“As you wish, Pierce. Seems like it’ll be too hard to figure out where she came from now.”

Pierce the elf took the baby into his home and raised her as his home, calling her Brittany after the first name he noticed on Santa’s nice list. She grew twice as fast as he and the other elves expected and by the time she was eight, she was taller than Pierce and all the others. Brittany didn’t seem to notice though, she went to school with the other elf children and before long, Pierce took her into the garage with Santa’s sleigh and started her on her tinker training.

Everyone was surprised that Brittany never figured out that she wasn’t an elf, but it became common knowledge among the elves that no one should ever tell her. She would figure it out when she was ready and Pierce was very protective of her. Even as she grew into adulthood, he wanted to keep the little girl he raised as his very own safe from anything that might hurt her. The problem was, when she began building toys with the other elves, it became increasingly apparent that she wasn’t like the others.

“Jingles.” Brittany looked up at the head-elf one day while she was hard at work building Etch-a-Sketches. “I think I’m going to be a little behind schedule.”

“That’s alright, Brittany. How many did you get done?”

“Um…eighty-seven.”

“Eighty…seven?” Jingles opened up his scroll and looked down at his chart. “Well, that puts you nine-hundred-seventeen behind schedule.”

“I’m sorry.” She frowned, tinkering with the toy in her hands.

Frustrated with the slow progress, Jingles put Brittany where he put the other special elves, in toy testing. Brittany was miserable, being scared out of her pants every time she turned a Jack-in-the-Box and he jumped out at her. Still though, she worked hard, trying to make her Papa Elf proud of her. On the second day, she heard Jingles talking and she peeked her head up over the rafters that were barely tall enough to hold her in.

“Can you help me pick up the slack on those Etch-a-Sketches, Delfy? We’re still behind from where Brittany left us. She’s killing me.”

“You got it, boss. Do you think she’ll ever figure it out?”

“If she hasn’t figured out that she’s human yet, she never will.”

Brittany’s whole world felt like it was spinning out of control when she heard the words “she’s human” and she tried to get a grip on herself. Her whole life passed before her eyes, from the fact that she’d been taller than Papa Elf since she was a kid to the fact that she was always picked first at basketball so she could dunk the ball. But human? All she had ever known was being an elf and if she was human, then where did she come from? Head still reeling, she walked out into the workshop and Jingles looked up at her.

“Hey Brittany, are you okay?”

“I…just need a little water.” She told him, before fainting face forward and nearly crushing Delfy.

When she came to, she ran home as fast as she could and locked herself in the bathroom. Her knees touched her chin as she crouched down on the toilet seat and she could hear Papa Elf banging on the door. She didn’t want to talk to him, she didn’t want to talk to anyone. All she wanted was to go back in time to before she learned that her whole life was a lie. But she knew she couldn’t avoid him, her father had a way about him that meant he wouldn’t go away until she would talk to him.

“Please, Papa. I just want to be alone.”

“Brittany, I think we need to talk.” Pierce called gently

“I don’t wanna.”

“I know, but we should have had this conversation a long time ago. Come out now please.”

Sniffling, Brittany stood up and let herself out of the bathroom, ducking under the door. She followed Papa Elf into the living room and when he sat in his cozy chair, she sat right down on his lap. She had always known that she was too big to sit there any longer, but she didn’t care, she loved being close to her dad and he never seemed to mind.

“Jingles said I’m a human.” She sniffled. “Is that true?”

“It’s true, honey.” Pierce told her, patting her leg. “You came to the North Pole when you were just a baby and I took you in and raised you. Once you got bigger than all the other elves and hadn’t figured it out, I was hoping you never would.”

“But how did I get here?”

“You crawled into Santa’s sack and he brought you here. It took Santa awhile to figure out where you came from, but it turns out, you came from an orphanage in New York City after your mother put you up for adoption.”

“New York City? That sounds like a magical place.”

“Here, stand up.” Pierce gently got Brittany off his lap and went over to his shelf to pull down a snow globe. “This is New York City and this building right here is the Empire State Building. That’s where your mother works.”

“My mother? I have a mother?”

“Her name is Whitney Pierce, absolutely no relation to me and she was very young when you were born.”

“I need to see her, Papa Elf! How do I get to New York City?”

“I think before you do anything.” Pierce raised an eye brow. “We ought to talk to Santa.”

Normally, just before Christmas, it was impossible to get an appointment with Santa, what with all the running around he had to do to get ready for his big night, but considering the big reveal of Brittany’s parentage, he made an exception and called for Pierce and Brittany to come to his cottage. The whole way over there, Brittany was incredibly nervous and still kept wishing that she didn’t know anything about Whitney Pierce and New York, but it was a little late for that and part of her was…fascinated. She had never left the North Pole before…at least not that she remembered, and the idea that she had a mother, something that she had always wanted even though Papa Elf had been an amazing father, so she wanted to find her.

“Well Brittany, I can’t say I was looking forward to this day coming.” Santa started. “But here we are.”

“I’m really not an elf?”

“You’re really not an elf. But that doesn’t mean you’re any less special in the North Pole.”

“I want to find my mother.”

“Before you go on off to New York City, there are a few things I ought to tell you. One: gum you find on the street is not free candy, don’t touch it. Two: if you see something called a peep show, that doesn’t mean you get a sneak peak at Christmas presents, stay away. Three: there’s something about your mother.”

“What about her?”

“You’re not going to like to hear this, but…she’s on the Naughty List.”

“The Naughty List?!” Brittany screamed, face contorted in horror. “How did this happen?”

“Now, now. You know that the Naughty List isn’t permanent, sometimes people just lose their Christmas Spirit and need help finding it. I think you might be able to help her get it back.”

“So I can go?”

“You can go.”

It took Brittany nearly two days to get across the river at the North Pole, through the Candy Cane Forest and eventually walk through the Lincoln Tunnel, but when she reached New York City, she was absolutely amazed. Maybe she had always been a little easy to please, but the city looked like the most wonderful thing she had ever seen and she couldn’t even stop long enough to admire everything because she was so desperate to get to her mother. But she did take time to congratulate the diner that won the world’s best cup of coffee—because how cool is that?—and take paper after paper from the guys outside of the store that claimed everything was one dollar. Only one dollar! That was like Christmas every day!

She looked down at her snow globe and then up at the building in front of her when she reached the Empire State Building and she was sure that she was in the right place. Her mother was in that building, on the fifteenth floor, Santa had told her and she was just so excited to meet her. Brittany had never seen an elevator before, so when she got in, she excitedly pushed every single button, lighting up the panel like a Christmas tree and showing the man next to her who didn’t seem nearly as excited as she was. She was even so excited that she forgot to give him a hug as she got out on the fifteenth floor and approached the woman sitting at a desk.

“Hi! Are you Whitney Pierce? I’m Brittany the Elf!”

“Oh how cute! A Christmas-Gram! Hold on just one second.” The woman pushed a button on her desk and Brittany heard a grumbling woman’s voice on the other end. “Mrs. Pierce, you have a Christmas-Gram!”

“I want a Christmas-Gram!” Brittany clapped her hands together. “What is that?”

“Oh, you are too cute! Go on in, she’s expecting you.”

“Mom!” Brittany cried out when she walked in the door of the closed office. “You’re here! Hi! Can I give you a hug?”

“What the hell is this?” Whitney snapped. “Who sent you?”

“I came from the North Pole, just to see you!”

“Right, right. Just get on with it, sing your song so I can get back to work.”

“A song? You want me to sing a song?” The crowd began to gather in the office and Brittany blushed a little bit. “Okay…um. Merry Christmas! You’re my mom and you want me to sing, so I’m sing-ing. Mommy! I love you! I love you! I love you!”

“That was…something. Normally they just put my name into ‘Jingle Bells’ or something.”

“So can I hug you now, Mom?”

“Someone call security.” Whitney snapped. “Does this look like the place for a joke to you?”

“But—”

Before Brittany could say anything else, two men were dragging her back into the elevator as she begged them to let her go. She was so close to hugging her mom, she couldn’t be take away from her now. She had to get her off the Naughty List, this was absolutely urgent business but those guys were really strong and she couldn’t get herself away from them.

“I’ll see you soon!” She cheered once they let her go.

“Oh no you won’t, you won’t be back here any time soon!” One of them shouted.

“Yeah, go back to Gimbal’s where you belong.”

Brittany had no idea what Gimbal’s was, but as luck would have it, she saw a big sign announcing that it was a giant store on the next street. Everything inside was decorated, not quite like the North Pole, but enough for it to feel a little bit like Christmastime and Brittany walked inside, filled with wonder. She had just gotten to the second floor when someone grabbed her by the shoulder and she spun her head around.

“Hey elf, get back to work!” He shouted.

“Where am I?”

“You’re in the North Pole, where do you think?”

“This isn’t the North Pole! If this is the North Pole, where are the reindeer?”

“Are you trying to be cute with me, kid?” The man snapped. “Get back to work, Santa is coming tomorrow!”

“Santa! Oh my God! Santa is coming!” Brittany jumped up and down and clapped her hands and then, just when she was starting to get excited, she turned her head and stopped dead in her tracks.

There, decorating the Christmas tree was the most beautiful woman she had ever seen—not that she had seen many human women, but still. Brittany felt her heart go into her throat and her palms go sweaty as she stared at the woman dressed like an elf hanging silver ornaments from the tree. She wanted to go talk to her, to tell her that she was beautiful, but she knew that was probably a bad idea.

“Hey you.” The woman snapped. “What are you staring it?

“It’s just…” Brittany stammered. “I’ve never met another human who shares my affinity for elf culture.”

“Are you messing with me? Who told you to mess with me? Was it Schuester?”

“No, no one told me to. I’m being serious. It’s Christmas, the best time of the year!”

“Yeah…psht…okay.”

“What do you mean?”

“We’re all just trying to get by, okay?”

“Get by? How could we just be getting by when Santa is coming? We have so much to do! And guess what? We should sing! The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear.”

“I don’t sing.”

“Oh come on, singing is easy. It’s just look talking only louder and longer and you move your voice up and down.”

“I know how to sing, I just don’t.”

“Why not? Singing is my favorite!”

“Okay, weirdo.”

“I’m actually Brittany. Brittany the Elf.”

“Okay.” The woman rolled her eyes a little but then a hint of a smile crossed her face. “I’m Santana.”

#brittana #elf #christmas fic #brittany the elf

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softbiker · 5 years ago

Text

A Familiar Place - Part 2

Warnings: a bad word or two, literally zero editing

Word count: 2.1k

A/N: Not sure if I’m satisfied with this, but posting to celebrate hitting 200 followers!! Thanks for being here, I love you all! As always, let me know what you think :)

This is not an “x Reader” or romance story.

“Okay, I’m 100% sure it’s not supposed to look like that.”

“Shut up, bird brain.”

“Will you two stop it I can’t hear the instructor.”

Three soldiers exchange glares behind their easels, brushes poised over canvas. Their stools are set in the back of the class, clustered close together so they can peek over each others shoulders. Other easels are arranged in semi-circle rows towards the front of the classroom, with the instructor at the epicenter, walking back and forth and making comments to the students. To her credit, she tries to ignore the fussing commentary from the back of the room, only sparing them a glance every once in a while.

An oil painting class. Painting was never Steve’s strong suit - he prefers pencils and charcoal, quick messy sketches under his flurried fingers, captured on the spur of the moment. Bucky faintly remembers a smaller, softer Steve, the graphite on his hands, the smudges that covered his nose. Pencil fixed behind his ear, where Bucky would have placed a cigarette. But when they came here, settled into their place in Bed-Stuy, Steve decided to try out something new. And today he invited Sam and Bucky to join him.

Steve takes easily to new mediums, whatever his protests about not being a “natural” painter. Sam has no idea what he’s doing, but Bucky knows that has never stopped him from having a good time.

Bucky, though.

Bucky feels nervous each time he dips his brush, blends his paints. He feels somehow wasteful, putting his own brush to the canvas. Hand him a knife, a gun, hell - even one of Stark’s high-tech weapons, and he’s steady. A deadshot. But a paintbrush? He doubts every stroke and line. Without a talent like Steve’s, he thinks, this canvas would be better off with someone else.

But Steve is having a good time and he hates to ruin that, so Bucky quietly frowns at his canvas, tongue poking between his lips. Today’s class is a still life, their reference a pale blue vase of flowers on a table in the center of the room. Steve has rendered it beautifully, even captured the soft lighting from the windows on the west wall of the room. Sam’s attempt is passable, for someone with no training at all in studio art.

It isn’t that Bucky doesn’t have some skill, or proficiency, or artistic eye. He remembers sitting through a couple of figure drawing classes with Steve - he managed to learn a thing or two, when he wasn’t winking at the models. And his work isn’t bad, he knows that, but -

Well. He doesn’t think it’s worth making.

**********

He keeps coming to the class for a few weeks, when Steve’s schedule is free from missions and meetings, of course. They sit near the back of the room and Bucky makes good attempts but he’s not really sure if he’s making art.

“You know, I’m really not sure if oils are your medium.”

The class is over, and the instructor stands at Bucky’s elbow, looking at the row of paintings laid along the shelf to dry. Bucky had been comparing his work to his classmates, thinking pretty much the same thing.

“Not that you don’t have a hand for painting,” the instructor continues, hands slipping into the pockets of her overalls. “But I think you’re letting it intimidate you - you put too much pressure on yourself and then you hesitate. I’ve noticed.”

“Yeah, maybe,” Bucky shrugs. “I guess.” The instructor laughed a little, adjusting the glasses on the bridge of her nose.

“See? You hesitated to tell me that you hesitate.” She was shaking her head with a not unkind smile.

“Jeez - you have a side gig as a therapist?”

“Nope - just good at seeing people.”

Bucky shifted his feet, not used to the feeling of being closely observed - it definitely wasn’t something he liked. Seeming to sense this, the instructor took a step back, shrugging her shoulders and looking away from him.

“Look, you should keep coming,” she offered. “You have some talent, that’s for sure. But you can try other things. Doesn’t have to be oil paint and flowers. What do you want to make?”

Steve is waiting outside the classroom, reading the bulletin board in the hallway. Fluorescent-colored flyers litter the board, interspersed with lost pet ads, ride shares, roommate offers, and piano lessons. Steve fingers one, tears off the number for an Asian cooking class, and tucks the slip of paper in his jacket pocket. He turns when he hears Bucky’s footsteps, that classic smile curling up his mouth.

“You, ready?”

“Yep.”

They take the subway back, dutifully ignoring the raised eyebrows and cell phones that turn their way. It’s New York - sooner or later people get over it. Bucky’s metal hand is wrapped loosely around a pole that Steve leans against, supersoldier strength and balance making him barely shift as the train speeds and slows.

“Sam is supposed to get back from that recon op this afternoon,” Steve says, his voice low enough keep their conversation private. “He’ll probably want takeout for dinner.”

Bucky nods. “He always does, after a mission. Milks it for all he’s worth, so we have to get his favorite - I bet he’ll want fried rice from that Thai place, and we better make sure there’s cold beer in the fridge.”

Steve just smiles, glances down at his sneakers, shifts his feet a little. He’ll never say a word, a single goddamn word, about how much Bucky and Sam pay attention to each other. About Bucky remembering Sam’s takeout order from every single one of their usual places; about Sam bringing home new exotic fruits from the health food market so Bucky could try things that weren’t available back in the day. He will never breathe a single word about how Bucky took Sam’s laundry and scrubbed the blood out after that mission in Denver went bad, or Sam driving back and forth to Bucky’s therapy appointments, in spite of the distance.

Loose lips, Rogers. Nope. His are sealed.

**********

“If I didn’t know any better, I would honest to God think that Stark didn’t respect me,” Sam shakes his head, shovelling rounded lumps of rice into his mouth with his chopsticks. His cheeks are comically full, but he continues to talk. “I mean, the guy really asked if I needed air support. Me? Baby, I am air support.”

Steve makes a noise of assent around a mouthful of noodles that he continues to slurp into his mouth. Bucky says nothing, but smiles into his egg roll. The coffee table in front of them is littered with takeout boxes, some still full, some already emptied. Steve and Bucky have already finished 2 beers each - Sam is drinking at a slower pace so he can continue to talk.

“I fucking invented air support. Pssh.” Sam rolls his eyes, settling back against the cushions of the couch and pulling his standard blanket over his lap.

The TV is set to a sports channel, a college basketball game they’re not too invested in carrying on in the background. Sam talks and talks, the other two barely getting a word in, but that’s alright - he always needs this, after a mission. Sam has to get it all out, decompress, debrief, de-everything in that post-victory rush of adrenaline he’s still high on when he comes home. They let him - they sit around in their sweatpants and half-watch a ballgame and shoot the shit over beers and Thai, and let Sam come back to himself.

“So,” Sam sighs, sipping his beer. “What’d you old farts get up to while I was gone, huh?”

“Mm, not much.” Steve’s reply is muffled as he continues to inhale his noodles. “Art class. Running.”

“Getting some goddamn peace and quiet,” Bucky pipes up, crumpling up the now empty egg roll bag and reaching for a full styrofoam container of steaming fried rice.

“Ha ha.” Sam doesn’t even look up from his food. “Y’all know it’s boring as hell around here without me. And who else is gonna help you two to meet some females? Hm? You think people are lining up to wingman for your hundred-year-old asses? No way!”

“What would we do without you, Sam?” Steve asks, that ironic twist to his mouth that Bucky has known all his life.

“You’d be star-spangled roadkill, I can tell you that much.”

They laugh and settle, eyes passing over the ballgame as one of the teams lines up for a free throw. It’s just the three of them in their little place, but it feels full. It’s enough. It’s home.

**********

Over the next few weeks, Bucky takes the painting instructor’s advice.

He rolls out huge canvases on the floor and slings paint in random patterns, layers of splatter until he feels like his eyes have crossed. The freedom, the lack of pressure, the fun of throwing paint around like a child - all of that he likes, but still.

“Still not sure if it’s my thing,” he tells Steve, as they look at his finished piece propped up against the wall. Steve nods, lips pursed.

“Well, we could hang it up at the compound. Tony keeps talking about needing more art around that place.”

Bucky just rolls his eyes.

“I’m not five, Steve. You don’t have to hang my scribbles on the fridge.”

He goes back to the studio and slings pots - pots and vases and key bowls and jewelry dishes and mugs. They’re passable, usable, functional - these are the words he thinks of when he glazes them in soft blue and yellow shades. Bucky likes the feel of it under his fingers, the wet firmness of the clay that yields to his hands. He’s gotten little bits of dried clay between the metal plates of his arm, but he doesn’t mind - he’s learned they’re easy enough to dislodge with a toothbrush. He gives away or takes home all of his little projects, happy to see them used.

Sam gifts him with a polaroid camera he found going through some of his parents things, and Bucky fiddles with it until he’s quite good at taking pictures. Whenever they go out he has his camera slung around his neck, an extra packet of film and a flashbar in his backpack. He has dozens of photos now - photos of Steve sipping coffee and flipping off the camera. Photos of Sam and Rhodey laughing, in full gear, when the team had drinks at the compound last month. A few photos of Natasha and Wanda, who come over to the brownstone sometimes - Natasha’s legs are folded over the end of the couch, while Wanda gets a piggyback ride from Steve. He tacks the pictures up, covering nearly half of the wall of his bedroom, not caring about the holes he leaves in the drywall.

It’s Wanda who introduces him to knitting, one weekend when both Steve and Sam get called out on a potential terror situation in London. There’s a rule - unspoken, unwritten - among Steve’s friends that someone comes to check on Bucky whenever they have to leave him alone. He doesn’t protest, knowing that they do it out of kindness and loyalty to Steve; he knows all about being loyal to Steve.

Wanda sits cross-legged on the couch, her fingers working the knitting needles at a hypnotic pace. He likes Wanda; she’s quiet and sensitive, all soft smiles and knowing eyes. A room always feels calmer with her in it. She had used his hands earlier to loop the yarn, and now he watches her over the top of his book, which he has all but abandoned.

When he asks her about the knitting, if she can show him, she looks up. Soft smiles and knowing eyes.

Bucky has always been good with his hands, so no one is surprised that he’s good at knitting. Eventually, they all have something he’s made: a beanie for Sam, a scarf for Steve, fingerless gloves for Wanda, and blankets galore for their too-cold brownstone.

**********

It fills up his time, somehow.

Bucky makes drawings, and paintings, and little origami birds out of grocery receipts. He makes bowls he can give to his friends and pictures that he can keep and blankets that he can share. He scours google and breaks a few (literal) eggs and makes banana bread that fills the brownstone with a smell that he could float on. He makes pancakes and poems and -

Bucky makes.

On the subway with Steve - a figure drawing class tonight - Bucky is staring at his hands. Ungloved metal and soft scarred flesh. His hands are tools, they’re instruments. They can be molds or looms or brushes or chisels.

“Weapons” doesn’t even enter his mind at all.

Tags:

@vacant-writings

@bitsandbobsandstuff

#bucky barnes #bucky barnes fic #bucky barnes fanfic #bucky barnes fanfiction #bucky barnes imagine #stucky #sambucky #marvel #marvel fic

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