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chemicalpink · 4 years ago

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TEEN IDLE ♡ MIN YOONGI

Pairing: Min Yoongi x Reader

Genre: SMUT (with plot *question mark*)

Warnings: unprotected sex, public sex (inside a bathroom at a party), kinda power dynamics bc Yoongi’s a CEO

Word Count: 3.2k

A/N: AHHHHHH I ACCIDENTALLY DELETED THE OG SO THIS IS A REPOST Missing Boongi hours but lowkey also horny hour. This took various unexpected turns but it ended up being just what I had first pictured, perhaps a second part may follow after I’m done with the series. I would love to hear your thoughts on this! As usual! Stay safe and enjoy this lil something!

Summary: I want the world to go away. I want to be a real fake. Baby, don’t you wish you’d been a prom queen fighting for the title instead of being sixteen and burning up a bible?

As a producer, Yoongi would like to say that he’s got an eye for it. Like that time he stopped his friend Namjoon, now his producing partner, from pursuing a vocalist career when the kid was around 15 and instead showed him the paradise that holds being a rapper (and man, did the kid got some talent for it) or how he is in charge of Kim Seokjin’s full career now that both him and Namjoon got a pretty stable and constantly growing entertainment company in Seoul.

So yeah, you could say he was quite pleasantly surprised when he met you.

You had been working at the company for some time, he was sure of that since they weren’t that big of a company and he had most probably interviewed you back then, but either now there was something that wasn’t there before, or he was slowly but surely losing his touch for spotting upcoming artists.

“Hey Y/N? Yoongi was asking to see you in his office” a girl that you recognised from somewhere on the fifth floor of the company said as she placed down her working papers next to you, with you nodding thanks to her way before standing up and making your way towards the elevators. Min Yoongi was the mastermind behind the whole company, so to say that having him ask for you made you nervous was the understatement of the century. You had only encountered him a few times after your initial interview, here and there, dishevelled hair, pouty lips at some ungodly hour in the morning, most probably from sleeping in his studio (which Namjoon said he did quite often). The elevator dings to let you know you’re in the penthouse level, trying your hardest to keep your heart from beating loudly whether from him being your boss, office crush (enabled by Kim Namjoon thank you very much) or both, you push the small button on the right for a few seconds before a buzzing sound is heard, unlocking the door and coming face to face with Yoongi’s back, carefully making your way to the nearest chair, across from him, on a glass desk.

“Y/N? right?” he said as he turned around to face you, stoic face in place, just the way he liked to carry himself out there; you nod a little disappointed, who can blame you if you were at least hoping for a small smile from him seen as he personally asked for you “Y/N, it gets hard to remember everyone sometimes, which department are you on?”

“Oh I’m-uh, just an intern, I help here and there” and may the ground swallow you up after the fakest laugh you’ve laughed in your life, to which Yoongi smirked at.

“Let’s say, I’m looking for a personal assistant” he trailed off, locking his gaze on your face as if to watch your every gesture, and from the lightning, you could see your reflection on his blue light glasses that refused to fall off even when barely standing at the tip of his nose “Would you be up for the challenge, Y/N?” and you knew, deep down, that his offering had little to do with your abilities, seen as you were only on an internship, barely fresh out of college, and being the PA of a very famous, very busy, CEO of an entertainment company was indeed a challenge, to say the least; which then lead you to assume that Min Yoongi had much more different reasons for giving the newest intern such a high position so yeah, perhaps with better judgement you suppose you would have said no, but Min Yoongi was a respected man that was constantly under the spotlight so there was nothing to worry about. Right?

And you sure did, envious whispers and glances from most of the company aside from how fast you ascended in the business hierarchy, being producer Min Yoongi’s personal assistant was quite a wild ride, something in the back of your mind had told you that it might even be a fun one, given that he was just two years older than you and most of his and Namjoon’s signed artists were always invited everywhere, sadly, Min Yoongi turned out to be that type of person that would only go out if it was strictly business, while Namjoon handled year-end award shows and afterparties, Yoongi maned the board meetings and the correspondent (and mostly boring) New Years company dinner. Coming to think of it perhaps it would have been much more fun being Namjoon’s personal assistant. Or Seokjin’s hairdresser. But may your daddy issues and love for power dynamics of seeing that man dressed up in a black suit, glasses perched on his nose and Rolex on his wrist while you imagine the most inappropriate things to think about your boss win, right?

So yeah, perhaps over the months it had become fairly monotone the way you just schedule meetings, lunch and organise files for Yoongi, nothing out of the ordinary (or out of your wet dreams that no one should know of) up until yet again the end of the year came around and Yoongi, in full CEO mode, was supposed to attend a gala with the stockholders and sponsors of the company, which, from what you and anyone working there could tell, Yoongi was pretty much begging Namjoon to spare him from going. You approached the door to his office while the younger was still there, smirking at his business partner

“Yoongi-hyung, you can’t just evade them like the plague for the rest of your life”

Yoongi’s eyes closed in on Namjoon’s face with a challenge in it as he straightened his posture “Just watch me”

Namjoon just rolled his eyes and let out an airy laugh “Do whatever you want hyung, but remember the company please” and as fast as that he was gone out the door.

You, of course, having grown fond of the man in front of you, had your brain short circuit as you blurted out “Love problems?” trying to keep it cool, pretend that deep down you weren’t feeling your heartbreaking at your office/boss crush having an interest in someone that clearly isn’t you while he turned to look at you in a funny way, making you feel as if you had just started a conversation that was going nowhere, that he didn’t want to have with you “Sorry, I overstepped”

“Ah, no it’s fine, yeah, you could say that, yeah” he cleared his throat as he fixed his uptight posture and god did the man had to do the bare minimum to get your fantasies going “My ex is going to be at the gala and I just- don’t wanna seem like there is nothing more in my life other than work”

“Well that is pretty much all you have going on in your life though” you joked and effectively made him crack a lopsided smile at you “But I would admit for a second there I thought it would be funny to see you pulling a fake dating card to make your ex jealous”

“A what?”

“You know, an arm candy, be the centre of attention, the new item, make your ex think there’s a lot they don’t know going on in your life” you laughed to yourself at the image of a man like Yoongi pulling a high school scheme in the middle of a company gala, that would surely make the weirdest thing you could witness in your life. CEO, Min Yoongi, pretends to date someone just to get his ex jealous. That would be a hell of a headline.

But your inner image came to a halt as you turned to your boss and felt something shift in the air, quite indescribable but his feline eyes scrutinizing you sitting on the armrest of the sofa near his desk, his lip clasped between his teeth for a few seconds too long “And you think you’d be able to pull it off?”

You swore your heart skipped a beat at that “Well- I wasn’t...really referring to myself” your eyes unable to hold his stare any second longer “..sir”

“You have quite a childish mind, Y/N” he laughed lightly as he took his phone in his hand, the heavy air dissipating from the office “But I must admit, you got me at the textbook high school jealousy act, I was never the type to do it back in the day”

“Yeah, it kind of is childish” your mind was racing a hundred miles per second, unable to decide whether to take him calling you childish as an insult or him suggesting to do it and have you with him as his partner in crime as an insinuation of reciprocating your feelings.

“Well, Y/N I sent you the gala info, sleep on it and let me know your plan, okay? consider it work stuff” The guts of this man to disarm you with a glance and a few words was beyond incredible “Oh and while you’re at it, can you tell Seokjin-hyung to come to my office for a second?” And that was your cue to leave. Just like that. As if he didn’t just basically asked you to attend a yearly gala with him. To make his ex jealous.

.-.

As it turns out, there is a worse thing than to feel butterflies in your stomach due to your boss wearing a dark suit and that is having an overwhelming need to kiss him stupid while he just bleached his hair, dressed in a tailored grey suit and pulling up in a sports car to your apartment building as you wait outside, dressed in something that feels so expensive you would have to work a lifetime and still wouldn’t be able to buy again if it wasn’t for Yoongi sending it to your house sometime in the morning.

“Oh it fits,” he says as a greeting as you round the car and get in after fixing your dress and smiling at him, trying (and most probably failing) to conceal every racing thought in your head and feeling in the bottom of your tummy.

It was a very predictable silent ride with just a lo-fi tune coming from the radio as he drove both of you through the streets and ended up in a secluded real estate area deep in Seocho-gu “You know, I kept thinking this whole idea was stupid and so so childish but Joonie says that now is the time to let loose before I’m actually old” he turns to look at you at the red light, shamelessly scanning you up and down and may you thank the universe for taking that acting class back in college, mustering up both knowledge and courage to get you through tonight, playing the part. You may also thank that unlike Yoongi, you had your fair share of teenage escapades and jealousy acts back in the day.

“It’s going to be fun, oppa” you say the last part teasingly sexy just to watch him react to it and both of you burst out laughing. Him muttering something about getting dragged into the whole situation.

For the most part, the gala consists mostly of you smiling and greeting people while Yoongi talks to them about things that your sober brain couldn’t comprehend, and as the champagne flutes kept coming, stock numbers and share percentages just flew by you as you stuck to your boss’ side. And listen, one can only hold so much liquid for so long. And the whole gale fiasco seems to extend until the end of times. Now you can understand just why Yoongi practically has to drag himself to these things.

“I’ll be back in a sec, I’m going to the restroom” you whisper to him as you lean into him, smiling your fakest but brightest smile at the man in front of him

“Sure thing, sweetheart” he replies back, eyes glistening and you have to pretend that the nickname just didn’t affect you enough for your legs to give out before walking away.

That quick face refreshing was not nearly enough to stop you brain shortcutting again at the sight in front of you, a very notably awkward Min Yoongi and a bubbly dark-haired lady laughing non stop at him (or with him, but he clearly wasn’t getting the joke) and you instantly had to channel your inner cheap rom-com actress to get the poor man out of his misery. Not the greatest plan that’s a given. Kind of on the childish side, as Yoongi liked to put it. But hopefully, it would do the trick.

“Yoongi-oppa! I thought you had left the party!” Yoongi turned his face to your higher-pitched voice in disbelief before you clung to his side, the girl flinching and quickly stepping back, Yoongi’s face just amused at your weird approach and decision to do aegyo in the middle of a business gala. Not that he was complaining, you were definitely playing the part. Him soon realising that he had to play the part too.

“Y/N, baby, this is Ara, my ex” he said as he slipped his left hand around your waist, you faking surprise and extending a hand to her very surprised face.

Not having enough of the way Yoongi seemed to enjoy her starstruck face, you decided to step it up a notch. “Ara, I’m so sorry, I’ll steal Yoongi from you for a second time, okay?” if her face was anything to go by, she was either about to implode or become a tomato, which to be honest was most probably the first one. Yoongi bit his lip amused, trying to hold his laugh in and ignore the way you two had pretty much caused a small scene that went on for the expecting eyes as you dragged the man away from his ex and very much openly into the women’s bathroom.

“I thought I was going to faint for a second there,” you said as you let out a breath you didn’t know you were holding in, walking up to click the door to the small bathroom closed. You definitely needed a second “Yoongi?”

“Oh no, totally, she was most probably plotting your funeral right there” he smiled that gummy smile everyone knew he had reserved for his acceptances speeches on best production at you and your heart did a whole backflip inside your chest “But that was also hot as shit, Y/N” now that right there was a novelty, Yoongi behaving his age or a few years younger, language and all, away from the whole Oscar-worthy act you two had pulled.

“Oh so he curses”

You could feel the air shift again like that time inside his office, the air heavy with something recognizable as lust but the reality far away from it. Your boss was on the other end of it. An invisible line you knew was stupid to cross. “You just wait until I get a string of curses out of you, Y/N”

His eyes seemed even more feline-like as he stared intently at you a few steps away from him, your weight on the small counter, reciprocating his lustful stare. “Well doesn’t that sounds like a challenge, boss?”

Something inside him snapped and in a second he had his lips on yours, hands keeping you the closest to his body, tongue tracing your mouth as ragged breaths filled the room, his mouth making its way down your jawline and latching onto your exposed skin just beside your shoulder, big hands cupping your ass from beneath your dress as you let out a whine.

“You’ll have to be quiet for me, doll, as much as I am enjoying the whole reckless adolescent ride, I would like to stay clear from any sex scandal” You simply nodded as he placed you on top of the counter, dress bunched up on around your waist as his skilled fingers began playing with your clothed folds, wetting them with your already dripping juices “You have no idea how much I’ve dreamt about this”

Your head whipped back towards the mirror as the air hit your cunt when he removed your panties, ringed fingers teasing your entrance, his free hand pocketing the small thong inside his slacks, your hands gripping his hair tighter every time he pressed your nerve bundle against his palm. Under the whole lust haze, still, a bit conscious of your surroundings a door clicking open, a voice on the other side and you had half a mind to back both of you into a bathroom stall as you heard steps approaching, turning back to signal Yoongi to stay quiet. The whole teenage breaking loose taking a whole real adult implication of getting caught and ruining the company’s reputation. But he didn’t seem to mind as he pressed himself against you, his hard cock grazing your exposed ass as you were pressed against the door, Yoongi rubbing himself on you and you could feel him smile against your shoulder.

“I’ve let you lead me Y/N, but right now you’ll just have to keep quiet for me doll, be a good girl for daddy, okay?” You could only inhale sharply midway into trying to tell him how much of a crazy idea this whole situation was as you felt the tip of his cock against your entrance, him expertly placing your leg at a somewhat awkward angle around his hips in order to have better access. Him taking a few seconds for you to adjust after inserting himself whole, moving at an experimental pace that had you clawing at the door in search of some support from the thrusting but finding none as he set a faster pace, a moan threatening to fall out of your lips every two seconds, your mind hazy and exploding with every possible feeling at the realization that Min Yoongi, your boss, whom you have thirsted over for moth on end, was fucking you stupid at a public gala, inside the bathroom, with people just outside the stall, the thought enough to make you clench around him and have him groaning lightly at the feeling.

“I thought I told you to be good” he muttered against your skin before pushing you down further so he could balance his pace while grabbing your hips, deepening his reach and hitting your g spot each time, a hand coming down between your legs to play with your clit to throw you against the edge at the same time as him, legs trembling and barely keeping you up if it weren’t for him holding you in place.

“I’m not sure I’d call this a remembrance of being a ten idle,” you said as a way to lighten the post-sex awkwardness that had built up as you cleaned yourself and tried to make yourselves look somewhat presentable, “I thought I had locked the door”

“Oh no, you did, I unlocked it though,” he said, a cheeky smile to accompany his words and gummy smile, “Thought it would be fun to experience the whole high school experience, now come on, we’ve still got the whole walk of shame in the middle of an international gala as a bonus activity to this”

#networkbangtan #bangtanarmynet #hyunglinenetwork #yoongi smut #yoongi one shot #bts smut #bts imagine #yoongi imagine #bts x reader #bts scenarios #yoongi scenarios #yoongi scenario

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woman-of-culture · 4 years ago

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The traitor (1/2)

Dabi x reader

Part 2

Warnings: Dabis identity, 3rd year age up, this does not accurately follow the plot when it comes to timing and character introduction, (most likely) a lot of grammatical errors

This is gonna be a 2 part story with the smut in the 2nd part! (Not to mention it’s gonna be much longer)

The semester is finally over! No more assignments and no more work so I present to you my first ever fanfiction. Hope you enjoy this as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Words: 3,056

The League of villains might not have the best plans. Sometimes, they're poorly thought out, other times... Again, not all that effective.

From their poor managing skills to the attack on USJ where they consequentially lost the perfect nomu, their planning could use ‘some’ work. The leader, Shigaraki, being quite immature for his position, executed his plans prematurely and without much thought - oftentimes underestimating his opponents (even if they were just high school first years). Saying he has a ways to go from being the perfect leader would be an understatement.

But no matter how much you complain, you can’t ignore the fact that he’s also a valiant leader who fights for what he thinks is right, even if he does need some help along the way. That’s where you come in, being Shigarakis right hand (wo)man, alongside Kurogiri, wasn’t an easy job. Having to deal with his temper tantrums, being forced to execute a plan you didn’t 100% agree with and having your advice ignored completely most of the time wasn’t exactly what you thought joining The League of Villains would be like, but eh, nothing ever goes the way you want it to.

Which is exactly what led to this situation.

"So let me get this straight..." You say, whilst letting out an exasperated sigh "You want to kidnap and persuade, of all people, Bakugou Katsuki to turn on his dream of becoming a hero just because you've seen him compete in the sports festival?"

Not really getting your point, Shigaraki just nods with an assertive "Yes"

"No" You turn your back on him, disappointed he would even suggest this thought.

Narrowing his eyes, as if to challenge any further refusal on your part, he demands to know why you so vehemently refuse the suggestion of your next big mission.

Not at all wavering with your determination, you look him in the eyes, practically begging for him to understand how fruitless this endeavor would be.

"He might act...villainous when facing certain confrontation but he is solely focused on becoming the number one pro hero one day, it would take a hell of a lot more than just kidnapping and talking for him to turn his back on that dream. He’s determined, passionate and has a real fighting spirit. I believe if you really want him to join you need to break his spirit in some way, target him when he’s at his lowest"

Contemplating your words for merely a second he decided against listening to reason on the ground ‘It’s the perfect next move for the League to cause distrust among society, even if he refuses there will be chaos from the fact that we managed to capture a UA student whilst on a training camp.’”

Seeing no point in arguing further, you declare that you will have no part in this plan since:

1) You truly believe this will end up a failure

2) You are a student participating in the training camp and your involvement would be too risky

"Goddamn it, I knew I shouldn't have told you where the training camp will be held..." You mutter under your breath, as you look to Kurogiri, who has been silent during that whole argument, to open a portal to your apartment.

Exhausted and in need of some food, you trudge your way up to the small apartment you've called home ever since AFO took you in 4 years ago.

It was a small one bedroom apartment fit for one person, certainly better than the streets you've come to know so well during your years of desperation and homelessness.

A sigh of relief escaping once you managed to close your door and take off your shoes.

"Good evening doll."

"Good evening burnt rat, who I specifically warned not to come here anymore."

He winced, as if the comment actually hurt his feelings. "Ouch, why the sour attitude sweetheart?" Walking up to the couch, glaring at your ‘guest’ who had decided to make himself at home despite your warnings of dumping his body in the nearest ditch.

“You tell me Dabi, why in the world would you continue coming here after all my threats and the fact UA is 5 minutes from here?” “Isn’t it obvious? Despite your constant nagging, you never kick me out, you have a pretty fucking nice TV and not to mention you’re a decent cook.”

Ah, Dabi...one of the newest members of the League who joined not even 2 weeks ago. He’s a peculiar guy who comes to raid your fridge and annoy the shit out of you every other day, refusing to leave until the next morning to go God knows where. When it comes to the topic of kicking him out...you never seem to find the will to do so, whether it be the crippling loneliness forcing you to get some form of social interaction or the fact you find his company kinda enjoyable. Of course, you wouldn’t admit either to anyone even if it costs you your life.

You look at his form lounging on the couch in his pants and pale gray, scoop-neck shirt. “So, I’m guessing you ate my dinner again...?” You picked up his dark blue jacket that was lazily tossed onto the back of the sofa and made your way to the front door in order to hang it, just then noticing the dark dress shoes placed haphazardly next to the shoe rack.

With a sly wink sent your way he confirms he ate the tempura you prepared that afternoon. “But you know what? Could you be a sweetheart and make some more food? It was just so delicious but unfortunately not all that filling.” He asked, hoping flattery will get him some more food.

Looking into the fridge you could physically feel a headache coming when you confirm no tempura in sight. You would feel more frustrated if a brilliant idea didn’t come up that second. “Listen Dabi, let’s make a deal.” You turn the corner, ready to give him an ultimatum. “Oh? Where is this going? In exchange for some of your cooking I’d eat something else out first?” He tries to guess, suggestively lifting one eyebrow whilst crossing his arms at the back of his head.

Stopping in your tracks, you look at him speechless, the blood rushing to your cheeks undeniably creating a faint pink blush.”W-what!? No, you asshole! T-tomorrow are final exams so I wanted to suggest you spar with me and after I’d cook anything you want.” In what little time you knew Dabi, that was the first suggestive comment he has made towards you, breaking your thoughts for a hot second - enough to make you stutter during your protest.

Looking proud with the pink he managed to conjure on your cheeks, he closed his eyes with a smirk on his mismatched, pale-burnt lips. “Don’t know ‘bout that doll, sounds like too much work and I’ve had a long day.” He groans to emphasize his point.

“Ok then, starve”

...

“Well, actually-...”

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The next day, during the practical exam, you ended up with Jirou against Present Mic (I’m sorry Koji but plot) which you managed to win with ease considering Dabi helped you strategize. Not to mention he gave you tips on how to improve your quirk which you implemented in the battle only to end up victorious. You’d probably need to thank him later.

Whilst reminiscing on the event, Aizawa enters into the classroom informing that no one will be left out of the training camp, but the ones who failed will receive harsher training. He gave out lodge guides and all the information needed (which you of course knew thanks to sneaking into the teachers lounge after hours) Everyone also decided to go on a shopping trip to buy the necessary things for the trip, with the exceptions of you, Bakugou and Todoroki.

Worrying about the events that will transpire did you no good so you contently walked home thinking of going to the store for some ingredients in case a certain uninvited guest decided to show up again.

Thinking about what will inevitably happen reminded you of the fact you haven’t visited the bar since your little disagreement with Shigaraki. ‘I guess I can’t blame him, even if Bakugou doesn’t join it will still provoke some fear and distrust among the general public, I guess I should apologize to him...’

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

“TOMURA!” The bar rattles with the impact of the door against the wall, barely keeping itself on it’s hinges after the kind of force you used. The people inside the bar looking at you with mixed emotions, some shocked, some indifferent and some enjoying the drama. Spinner, Toga, Dabi, Magne and Kurogiri silently looking at you for answers to their unanswered questions while Shigaraki looks at you completely shocked for he has not yet seen such an outburst from you.

“Wasn’t this supposed to be your plan? How careless can you be? In order for a stunt like this to succeed you’d need to be extra careful and methodical. Yet, what do you do? You confront Midoriya at the mall as if it wouldn’t have consequences”

“Oh, that’s all?” He returns to his planning as if you didn’t almost break down the door.

“What do you mean ‘that’s all’? Do you understand how irresponsible that was, you could have gotten caught! The whole mall was swarming with police officers literally 5 minutes after your little ‘chat’.”

“They wouldn’t have caught me even if they showed up that instant, if you used your brain you would remember that Kurogiri could just teleport me out.” Scratching his neck, clearly done with this conversation, he turned to walk away to get some quiet to finalize the plan in peace.

“You don’t get it do you? Aizawa announced the camp will not be held in the forest lodge it’s usually held every year because of this ‘incident’.” You explain taking a step to his form that stopped walking the moment those words left your lips. He turned, the scratching getting more violent by the second. “Well, where is it then?”

You don’t want to admit it but the way he looked at you, as if it was your fault the camp relocated, sent a chill down your spine. “I don’t know, the new location won’t be revealed until we get there.”

“Then you’ll send your location the moment you get there, is that so hard?” You felt your anger and frustration bubble the moment he dismissed the problem as if it were nothing, however you continued your calm-ish facade. “Tomura, I’m begging you to understand! With this there are a lot more unknown variables. You won’t have time to prepare, to get to know the layout, the schedule, anything! You’ll be going in there blind, this is definitely not a safe plan for the members. What if some of them get caught? What if-...”

You weren’t even able to finish the rest of your concern before he yelled out for you to shut up, that it was none of your concern since you weren’t apart of this mission. “We will simply have Dabi burn down half of the woods so they won’t know what’s going on, the rest only concerns the participants of this plan which, again, you are NOT, now LEAVE!”

You looked Tomura in the eyes, tears welling up in yours due to the sheer frustration of the situation. Did your opinion really mean so little to the man? You wanted nothing more than the success of the League, to fulfill your debt to AFO for saving you so many years ago. Sometimes staying up past 3 AM helping with whatever you could just because you felt as if the League really needed you. Were you really so useless to the man before you, who you would consider a dear friend, family? He ignored your advice, existence even, except when he needed insider information. You were quiet most of the time, rarely giving resistance to the point your bottled up feeling reached their limits. You lifted your head, a single tear making its way down your face as you uttered your next words.

“I will send you the location, I will figure out the schedule, I will inform you on everyone's position during the attack but just know this Tomura, your carelessness will shoot you down from that pedestal you made for yourself. You’re childish, immature, naive and juvenile. If you continue thinking you can do all of this alone it’s gonna cost you your life, the members lives, masters life-...”

That was the trigger...the last straw that finally diminished his last nerve. Lunging at you with all five fingers ready to disintegrate your arm as a form of cruel punishment. It was like slow motion, not really thinking of this outcome proved to be your downfall as you could only watch his hand getting closer.

20 centimeters...

10 centimeters...

5....

Oh fuck...

As if God heard your prayers, an arm found it’s way around your waist, pulling you to a lean, muscular chest while the other grabbed Shigarakis, pulling it away from your form and pressing his hand, that was moments away from your trembling arm, onto the counter, decaying a part of the wood until there was nothing but dust left.

The shock of the situation being felt all around the room. You didn’t fully process the severity of the event until Dabi let out a low growl, ready to use his quirk if need be. Looking up his face, situated not even 5 cm away from your own, you saw the burning fire behind his glare directed at Shigaraki, a threat, daring him to move a single finger in your direction.

In any other situation you’d pull his arm off, threatening to cut it off. However, this wasn’t any other situation. His warmth providing a sense of security you’ve never felt before, making you wish it could stay there just a minute longer. His natural musk invading your senses, calming your pounding heart to the point you almost forgot the predicament you got yourself into.

All too soon, he let go of you only to pull you behind his back with his arm stretched to the side, blocking the view of your leader with his back. Relieved, angry, confused, terrified... You couldn’t exactly categorize your feelings, the information not fully processed in your mind. You grabbed onto the back of his jacket as a means to get closer to him, scrunching it between your fingers to keep him where he is.

Whilst this was going on, Shigaraki looked at his hand, eyes wide open. For a few seconds he couldn’t fathom what he just tried to do. He looked at your form, cowering behind Dabi who only glared daggers at him silently questioning his actions.

“Out.” was the only word able to come out of his throat, not knowing how to deal with the consequences of the previous moment.

Not needing to be told twice, you ran out of the bar as fast as your legs could take you. Stumbling on your own feet, chest heaving and vision blurry you didn’t notice the set of footsteps following behind you until a hand reached out stopping you in your tracks. You panicked, kicking at your assailant in an attempt to get free.

“Calm down, would ya? It’s only me...” Turning around, to face what you had correctly presumed to be Dabi, you lunged out of his grasp narrowly missing the wall behind you.

“Why did you do that?” “What do you mean why?” He looked at you, not understanding the point of the question. “I mean... Why did you jump in to defend me? This was between me and him. Don’t get me wrong I more than appreciate your help but why... You ran the risk of a fight, not to mention injury, just because i provoked him.” You said, your gaze following the trail of his body further down till you reached his black shoes.

He scoffed, as if you just uttered the stupidest sentence he has ever heard. “Provoked? What you did in there proved you have some serious balls. You pointed out the flaws in the plan and confronted hand-job about them. You prioritized every ones safety over some mission and even put yourself at risk by ultimately agreeing to the plan and sending vital information that will be used.” He took a step forward, lifting your head between his index and thumb caressing your cheek along the way to hopefully calm you some more if his words didn’t help.

“That being said, you should still have some faith in us, well, in me specifically.” He smirked noticing the corner of your lips twitch up at his comment. “I’ll burn down every obstacle, every hero that comes in my way so you won’t have to worry so much.” Finally, pressing his forehead to your own he managed to fully calm your nerves, unintentionally, you also synced up your breathing to match his.

You looked at his beautiful teal colored eyes unable to focus on any of your surroundings ‘Were his eyes always so mesmerizing?’ You felt your eyelids droop almost closing them by the time he took your hand in his and started to lead you down the road. “H-huh? Wait, where are we going?” “We’re going to your apartment to eat something and sleep, perhaps watch a movie to forget today.”

You look at the man in front of you, his coat waving with the wind to make the moment just that much more special. Has he always been like this? He actually made the effort to defend you, to run after you when you thought nobody cared. He assured you that what you did was the right thing and plans to make you forget what happened today. Did you finally have someone that cared for you?

“Yeah, sounds good”

(A/N This was my first ever attempt at writing so I hope I didn’t flunk it TOO bad. And I’m not all that satisfied with this but eh... I feel bad for having to cut it short, but I actually got requests to do more stories and I’m bad at multitasking so I’m terribly sorry for the precious users that sent me requests and the readers that want a part 2, maybe)

#dabi x reader #dabi #bnha #bnha dabi #mha #dabi x you #dabi x y/n

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phantom-curve · 4 years ago

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find the strength, find the melody pt. 7

lmfao I love how I posted an update 2 days ago like “this fic will have sporadic posts! idk when they’re coming!” and then I spent the last two days writing this. when that insomnia inspiration hits ya gotta just go with it!

this chapter went in a completely different direction than I had planned on soooo yeah...honestly not sure where this is gonna end up! the characters from my OC novel that I’m loosely basing this story around didn’t have a connection before they ran into each other so when Julie gave me this I almost cut it because I genuinely wasn’t sure where it was going. I think I’ve almost figured it out and I’m pretty sure I know how this will end. and now we all get to laugh at me together because it’s definitely gonna be more than 3-4 chapters. it might even be more than 6. Luke’s POV will have roughly the same amount of chapters I think, possibly longer because boy oh boy does he have A LOT to say (most of it about Julie). fair warning: this one has an awkward cut off because of the way I need to set up the next chapter. sorry about that.

and now something I probably should be embarrassed to admit: I don’t remember writing the part where I managed to sneak an “I’ve Got The Music” reference in so now we know for sure this show has infiltrated my brain. it’s fine, I’m fine, at least I WILL BE WHEN WE GET A S2!!!! KENNY!!!! SAVE ME HERE!!! MAKE MY UNHINGED OBSESSIONS WORTH IT!!!!!

taglist: @blue-hat-girl, @lwhoscribbles, @bluefyoto94, @5sosmukefan, @moonlightxnder, @leahthewonder, @kat-maybe-not, @lukewearingbeanies, @imastrugglingartist

It was no small miracle that Julie made it through the afternoon without Ray asking for details about her supposed ‘plan’ to play with the Sunset Curve boys. She didn’t think she would have been able to pull off spinning a story quite as well as Luke had earlier. She had expected at least a small amount of interrogating about when she had started playing again, but apparently the news that she was playing at all, let alone with other people in front of an audience, was enough for Ray to ignore all of the other plot holes involved in this scheme. He seemed to have almost forgotten the meeting with Principal Lessa entirely, humming on the drive home, kissing her forehead and turning her loose to freak out alone in her room while he sat down to work on his computer in the dining room. Julie took full advantage of the time alone to restlessly pace her room and send Flynn a 911 text. Her bestie’s contact photo lit up the phone screen 30 seconds later.

“Okay, I’m hiding in the basement girl’s bathroom, so you’ve got exactly 5 minutes before I get too grossed out to stay here.”

Julie’s chest loosened at the sound of Flynn’s comforting voice. There wasn’t anyone else in the world that loved her the way Flynn did. It was reassuring and made it easy for Julie to let loose.

“Lessa told Dad about the music program and then You-Know-Who ambushed us outside of her office and basically forced me to agree to perform with them.”

“Voldemort was at Los Feliz?!”

Flynn’s gasp was overflowing with sarcasm.

“Flynn!” Julie whined. “Be serious! Luke showed up out of nowhere again! And he did the thing again! The charming his way into getting what he wants thing! And now I have to play with his freaking band! What the hell am I supposed to do?”

There was silence for a moment. When Flynn spoke again her voice was softer, more serious.

“You don’t have to play with them, Jules. You can tell them no, and they’ll have no choice but to respect that. The only person who can make you do anything is you. But...I kinda think you might want to play with them.”

“What?! No!”

Julie’s exclamation was a second late. Flynn didn’t say anything. She didn’t need to. Julie sighed.

“Okay fine. There’s something about Luke that makes me want to play again. Are you happy? He gave mom’s song back to me when I thought it was lost forever. He’s the only person who’s heard me perform it, and he...no one else has ever made me feel that good about my music before.”

Julie thanked her lucky stars Flynn wasn’t in the room to see her blush. There was a long moment of contemplative silence on the other end of the line. When she spoke again, there was that extra note of take-no-shit in Flynn’s voice that made Julie sit up and really listen.

“I think you should give it a chance. Who knows, maybe this is some sort of sign from your mom. You said it was a miracle he would have even found that song in the first place. You said it felt like she was there with you when you were playing. Maybe she made sure it would find its way back to you when you were ready for it.”

Julie didn’t say anything, just worried her bottom lip with her teeth. Her heart beat a little faster in her chest. It had felt a little too perfect to be just a coincidence. The way Luke kept appearing in her life at the exact moments she needed him someone or something to help her keep moving forward. Flynn sighed.

“Look, I’m not saying it is your mom. But I’m not saying there’s not some kind of greater power out there that keeps pushing the two of you together. I think you should give it a chance. If nothing else, you can get back in the music program and we can bring Double Trouble to life in time for our Junior Showcase!”

Julie couldn’t help laughing. Her eyes felt misty, love for her best friend welling up in her heart.

“I never agreed to that name you know. But thanks, Flynn. I’ll think about it.”

“Good. Now. I gotta get the fuck out of this grimy ass bathroom. Love you, bye!”

Flynn waited for her to return the sentiment before hanging up. Julie flopped back on her bed, letting her breath out in a loud whoosh as she hit the comforter. A glance at her phone told her she only had a couple hours until Luke and the other boys would be out of school and on their way to her house. She tried her best to ignore the way that thought made her stomach roll with a type of nervousness she would rather not name. It was easier to blame it on nerves over playing with new people rather than nerves over playing with Luke. Except...now that she actually thought about it, she had played with Luke before. Her head spun, eyes fluttering shut as she remembered the one music class she had shared with Luke last year.

She had only been a freshman, stuck in a lowly Introduction to Composition class. It was supposed to be for new songwriters. Julie had a little more experience than the rest of the class, after all she’d been kind of composing with her mom for a few years now, so when it had been time to write a duet for their final big project she had gotten paired up with the classmate whose skill level most matched hers. It was supposed to be a way for them to challenge each other and grow as writers instead of one person doing most of the work. Julie had been paired with Luke.

He’d been a grumbly sophomore, held back for failing his last semester of Intro to Comp the year before. He had been stuck there only for the second semester, forced to double up between their class and his second year Composition class. Julie hadn’t been all that excited about partnering with him. He hadn’t really seemed to care about the class at all, and even though Julie also sometimes felt like it was holding her back a little bit, she never once voiced that thought. It was a privileged mindset, and Julie was well aware that she had an advantage over her classmates since her mother was a professional songwriter. Luke, on the other hand, had made it well known that he felt like he was wasting his time just waiting to get through the semester so he could move up to the Advanced Composition class that he felt he truly belonged in. Julie could usually do no more than roll her eyes in those moments.

It was true that Luke was talented. His guitar playing was impressive, his lyrics were heartfelt and sometimes even downright poetic. Julie just didn’t think anyone deserved specific things in life because they happened to be naturally talented at something. Their songwriting experience had been...interesting to say the least. And short. It had ended abruptly when Julie’s mother had died 5 days later. In the end, they’d only worked together for two 40-minute class periods before she had been lost in the fog of grief that consumed her in the weeks following the loss of her mom.

Julie shot up in bed, eyes wide. She didn’t even fully remember what had happened with the half-finished song they had been working on. Errant notes echoed in her head, like a song that had only existed in dreams until now. She absently wondered if Luke had held onto that as well. It was no wonder she had kept that particular memory suppressed all this time. That time in her life had been particularly painful. Luke had been gentle with her though. Almost all traces of his typical arrogance gone in the two short class periods they’d had to work together. He had kept things light, steering their songwriting in the direction of a rock ballad more than a true duet. Julie hadn’t minded. She had been floating through classes by then anyway, on edge every second she was away from her mom’s bedside. It had been easier to work on something that didn’t have as many sappy emotions attached to it.

She groaned, burying her face in her hands. No wonder Luke had been so sweet with her. He must have had a front row seat to her breakdown throughout the last year. She hadn’t even realized it. Had never before seen the way he watched her from a distance, checked in on her during class. She should have. Now that she was thinking about it, trying to identify every instance, she could name a million. How had she missed it for so long? How had he gone so long without saying anything? The Luke she remembered was terrible at keeping his mouth shut. He had always been ready to speak his mind, never afraid to start a discourse. It didn’t track that he had been holding himself back. Unless...it was more about her musical ability than anything else. She remembered now; Luke had been thrilled to partner with her for the duet. He had made some remark about how her sound was the perfect complement to his. Maybe he only cared about the ways they would mesh as songwriters. She could only hope that’s what his words had meant.

She felt more secure in her footing as a musician when it came to dealing with Luke than she ever had as a simple teenaged girl. If it was just about the music she could compartmentalize better, keep herself from getting too emotionally invested. Music had always been a safe zone, neutral. She breathed in and out deeply, remembering the technique Dr. Turner had taught her to slow her breathing and recenter her mind. She could do this. It was just about the music. They would play a song together, Julie would get back into the music program, and life would move forward much in the way it had before. Except Julie would actually participate in class this time. She had the music back in her soul, she wasn’t ever going to let it go again. On her next exhale, she heard the doorbell ring. Showtime. Julie zipped down the stairs, ripping open the door before her dad had a chance to get more than three feet away from his computer. Luke, Alex and Reggie all stumbled back a step as she tumbled outside, pulling the front door shut behind her. The three teenaged boys shared a look.

“Studio. Now.”

Julie raced down the path to her mom’s studio before they could react, not even waiting to see if they followed her. If they were smart, if they truly wanted to do this, they would. She hauled the garage doors open, only turning around when she had the piano at her back. The wood felt warm and solid, almost like she had her mom as a support behind her instead of an instrument. The boys appeared seconds later, Luke leading the way. He stopped a couple feet inside of the studio, studying her with wide open earnest eyes. She let out a deep breath. Reggie spoke up before she could get a word out.

“Woah, Julie, this studio is so cool! It’s like a tiny home! A musical tiny home in a botanical garden!!”

His green eyes were wide, expression awed as he spun to take in the space that Julie and her mom had spent countless hours turning into theirs.

“How did you get chairs on the ceiling?! Are you, like, a witch and a siren?!! Man, you and your mom must have made some serious magic in here.”

Luke’s arm shot out faster than lightening to backhand Reggie’s bicep. Reggie cringed away, a soft owww! just barely audible over the loud sigh Alex let out as he buried his face in his hands. Reggie shrugged, looking back and forth between his bandmates before giving Julie a confused yet apologetic glance. What had he said wrong this time? The giggle that bubbled out of her was as unexpected as it was welcomed. Warmth blazed in her heart, memories of the time she had spent in here with her mom washing over her with a kind of hazy bliss she hadn’t ever experienced before. She gazed at Reggie, letting that same feeling of motherly love from the night before fill her up. It was all she could do not to react to Luke’s jaw dropping when she gave Reggie a soft smile.

“We did. We made so much magic in here.”

The words were gentle and filled with a kind of genuine love that overshadowed all other feelings of awkward nervousness. Alex and Luke relaxed instantly, Reggie’s face losing all traces of uncertainty as he beamed at her with a smile so large it almost looked painful. Julie couldn’t help but let herself return it, just a little bit. The silence that settled between them was more comfortable, the tense moment from earlier broken. Julie studied the boys in front of her. She hadn’t ever thought of them as friends per se. They knew each other, would say hi if they encountered one another outside the walls of the high school, but at the same time, they didn’t actually know each other. Julie’s little run in with Luke the night before had made that painfully obvious. She wasn’t really sure what to make of them.

“Are you guys actually serious about this whole Showcase scheme? Did Luke even tell you about his dumb plan?”

“Hey! That plan is genius. Even your dad agreed. He seems pretty cool.”

Julie couldn’t help the fond way she rolled her eyes. Alex was quick to reassure her that they did, in fact, know about the plan.

“Not that I actually think it’s a particularly well thought out plan.” He stated with a lingering glare at Luke’s back.

The planner in question did his best to ignore the skeptical look on Julie’s face.

“Julie, you really don’t deserve to be out of the music program.” Reggie’s voice was soft and sincere. “You have the voice of an angel. If we can help convinced Ms. Harrison and Principal Lessa to give you your spot back it will be so worth it. And even if we don’t, it’ll be worth the looks on their faces when we rock the pants off that crowd!”

Julie laughed in spite of herself, slightly reassured even as she chewed nervously on her lip. Luke took a few bouncy steps forward, pulling her attention to him completely. His eyes locked on hers and she was sure she was drowning, throat tightening at the look he was giving her.

“You got this. I wouldn’t have come up with this idea if I didn’t believe it 100%.”

Honestly, that was what scared her the most about it.

“We don’t even have anything prepared.”

Her voice was barely a whisper, unsteady and wavering. Luke took a few more steps towards her, Reggie and Alex ghosting along silently a few feet behind him. Julie didn’t even notice, so laser focused on the brunette boy in the cut-up tank top in front of her. She watched his muscles flex as he reached into his back pocket, flicking out a piece of folded up paper in a move scarily reminiscent of when he had given her mom’s song back to her. He bit his lip, head ducking a little to be closer to hers as he unfolded the worn sheets of scrappy notebook paper. She let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding, focusing on the messy handwriting in front of her.

“I thought you would say that.”

The smile on his face was so soft and sweet it should have been illegal.

“It’s called ‘Bright’. It’s a Sunset Curve song that we never performed because it’s missing something. Look,” his bare shoulder brushed hers as he shifted to point at the notes, warmth seeping through the thin material of her t-shirt, “it’s perfect for your range. I was thinking, if we add a little bit of piano here and here,” fire blazed a path up her arm as his fingers traced along the opening notes and chorus, forearm flexing against her own, bare skin brushing in teasing licks, “it’ll be perfect.”

Julie forced herself to focus on what he was saying, eyes roving across the paper. She hummed a little under her breath, hearing what he described in her head. His eyes lit up when he saw her get it, feet springing up and down as he dipped even closer towards her and started to sing.

We will rise, through the night

You and I

We will fight to shine together

Bright forever

His voice vibrated in her chest, the sound filling her with an emotion she couldn’t fully identify. Alex and Reggie bobbed along behind him, Reggie’s fingers plucking out the baseline on an invisible guitar while Alex nodded along to an unseen beat. Julie could envision the way the song would sound with a complete band, could practically see herself fitting seamlessly into the mix with her piano and vocals. She couldn’t help the smile that curved her lips as she joined in, reading the lyrics off of the page.

And rise through the night,

You and I

We will fight to shine together

“Go up high.”

Luke cut in, fingers twirling towards the ceiling. Julie automatically made the adjustment in notes to harmonize her voice with his for the last line, holding the final syllable for a beat longer than him.

Bright forever

“Yes!”

Luke’s arm pumped up and down, bicep flexing and distracting Julie momentarily. She dropped her head shyly, trying to hide her blush. When her cheeks cooled a moment later she looked back up at the boy in front of her. His eyes were glowing, smile stretched a mile wide as he stared at her. Unconditional belief in her was practically oozing from his pores. She felt her face soften as their eyes locked, giving him her own sweet smile that was meant just for the two of them. She thanked him with a gentle murmur, heart melting as he simply bit his lower lip and nodded.

A throat cleared in the background, and Julie was snapped out of their private bubble by the sound. Her entire face felt engulfed in flames as she looked over Luke’s shoulder to see Alex and Reggie still standing a few paces behind him. Reggie’s face was bright, his sunshine temperament back in full force. Alex was a little more guarded, but he was giving her an encouraging smile and there was cautious optimism swimming in his sage green eyes as he fiddled with one of his drumsticks. She inhaled deeply and let her breath out in one smooth exhale. The same sort of peacefulness from the night before settled over her.

“Okay. Okay, so we’re doing this.”

Luke’s whoop was so loud both her and Alex jumped. Reggie raced forward with a cheer to sling one arm around Luke’s shoulders and the other around Julie’s, pulling them so close to his chest that their noses nearly touched. Julie saw the blush staining Luke’s cheeks and felt her own warm to match. Alex coughed again.

“Reg, c’mon. Let it settle for just a sec before you go all human octopus on the poor girl.”

“Oh, right! Sorry, Jules!!”

Reggie released both of them quickly. Julie flicked her gaze between the three boys, enjoying the glimpses at their band dynamic. Alex’s words had sounded a bit exasperated, but there was a fondness running through them as well. He gave a half-hearted roll of his eyes at Reggie’s abrupt movements and reached his own long arm out to pull the dark-haired boy close.

“Help me unload the van? I still don’t trust our little Lukey boy with my kit.”

“Hey! That was one time!”

Luke sounded downright offended. The dark look Alex leveled at him in response had Julie choking back a laugh with a badly disguised cough. Clearly once of whatever he did was enough. Luke pouted, arms flexing as they crossed over his chest.

“You put your foot through my bass drum, and you think that isn’t reason enough not to trust you with it ever again?”

Luke sputtered, eyes flicking to Julie and back to Alex as his ears reddened.

“I told you I didn’t see it!”

“It’s the biggest part of the kit, dumbass. Literally the hardest thing to miss.”

Alex’s voice was as unimpressed as it was dismissive. Luke threw his hands in the air as the other boys headed out of the studio, laughing amongst themselves. It was clear this was a regular argument between the two, no heat or anger left in it, only a loving sort of tease. Like the way Carlos still brought up that time she accidentally gave him a concussion double-bouncing him off of their neighbor’s trampoline when he wanted something from her. Or the way her Tía would still laugh as she remembered the time her mom had almost gotten them both arrested for a bar fight on her 21st birthday, Ray affectionately filling in the parts that she tried to leave out. Warmth bloomed in her chest. This wasn’t just a band, wasn’t just a ragtag trio of friends. These guys were brothers. This was a family. And they were letting her into that intimate circle.

The thought was both humbling and nerve-wracking. This Showcase was a big deal. It wasn’t just some school assignment. This could impact their future as a band career-wise. They were all trusting her with this, fully believing in her, or at least, fully believing in Luke’s faith in her abilities. She wasn’t sure anyone had ever believed in her like that. Not anyone that hadn’t known her since she was in diapers. Her head swam, knees feeling a bit weak. She stumbled her way over to the couch, collapsing onto it with a barely audible huff. Luke was in front of her instantly, crouched down so they were face to face. His hands twitched in his lap, but he didn’t reach for her.

“Hey. Julie. Breathe.”

She sucked in a breath, zeroing in on nothing more than his face. After a few seconds she realized he was breathing in and out slowly, just loud enough for her to hear over the jumble of thoughts running amok in her brain. She matched her own inhales and exhales to his, the room slowly coming back into focus as her head cleared. He gave her one of those soft smiles she was starting to think of as hers.

“We don’t have to do this if you don’t want to. But I wouldn’t have stopped you in school if I didn’t think you were gonna rock it. I heard you last night. I listened to you for years before last night.”

His chin dropped in embarrassment for just a second before he pulled his gaze back up to hers. Julie felt like she was on the edge of a cliff. Not for the first time she wished she knew how long this version of Luke had been lurking under the surface. It took everything in her not to let herself step off that ledge and fall.

“Music is in your soul. It’s a part of you. Not everyone is like that, but you are. Your life without music...”

He tapered off like the thought was physically painful to him, eyebrows furrowing in a slight wince.

“Living without music would be like living in a world without stars: dark and empty and uninspired. You deserve galaxies, Julie. You deserve the chance to shine exactly like the star you are, and the world deserves the chance to hear you. Please, just...have a little faith?”

She saw it then. As he gazed at her with those bottomless ocean eyes, with that special smile on his lips and sincerity bleeding through every word, she knew. Luke was like her. Luke got it. In a way that no one else except her mom ever had. That’s what this was. They were kindred spirits, two sides of the same coin. And that feeling? The wind rushing through her hair and stealing her breath away while her limbs all turned to jelly feeling? That was definitely her falling head over heels off of the cliff and into Luke Patterson completely.

“Okay.”

She breathed out, and his answering smile set off the butterflies she thought had finally left her stomach. He stood up and held a hand out to her, easily pulling her to her feet in one smooth movement.

“You know,” his smile turned rueful, “eventually you’re gonna have to answer one of my questions with something other than ‘okay’. That’s a pretty passive word, and I’m not really a passive type of person. I wanna start hearing some ‘hell yeah’s and ‘awesome’s pretty soon.”

Julie rolled her eyes, moving away from Luke to set up her keyboard. He gave her a bouncy little shrug of his shoulders, and she let the levity of his joke wash over her, releasing the last bit of nerves. She could do this. Luke believed in her. Her mom believed in her. Hell, Alex and Reggie believed in her and she barely even knew them. She could do this, just like her mom had said.

Noise from the other boys making their way up the driveway had her rushing to pull both doors to the studio open so they could haul in Alex’s drum kit. The three of them left together to grab amps and guitars, Julie finishing the rest of the set up in the garage. Before she had time to overthink things or freak out again, they were all settled into their spots and Alex was counting down for their first run through. Fingers against the keys, Julie breathed out, opened her mouth, and began to play.

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sunny-sings-sooth · 3 years ago

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more oc asks💅

color codin: pink is for the character the question is bout, orange is for other characters mentioned.

《~•°🌸aiwin🌸°•~》

is amy in aiwin's pov a good person, or is she more grey? does he have any strong opinions on her? is he neutral w her?

what would ya say is aiwin's fatal flaw(s). like wraght, greed, peide etc,

how was his childhood? was it good, or bad? did it affect the way he sees the world and people now?

w whitch animal do ya associate him w? can ya explain why?

what are his opinions on the gods? more specifically apollo, hermes and dio?

《~•°🌸amy🌸°•~》

how did amy meet aiwin? what was her first impression of him was? her first thought?

whitch color do ya associate w amy? are there any reasons for it?

did amy ever recieve a formal education? did she ever went to school, or did hermes teach her everything?

if amy could change one thing bout herself, what would it be? would it be her looks? her personality? her childhood?

what are her deapest fears? her darkests insecurities? what would amy consider worse than death? or maybe even hell?

Chaos my dude you’re a real one

Aiwin:

1. Aiwin starts off with seeing Amy as basically a child who doesn’t understand that people aren’t inherently good and that you cant just hurt yourself to help others. A naive idiot who confuses the hell out of him. As time goes on, this perception changes greatly, can’t say much without spoiling

2. From the seven deadly sins it would be envy for sure. He’s envious of all the things he can’t have: comfort with his emotions, a childhood, friends. Outside of those I would say just his inability to allow himself to healthily feel emotion. Man hasn’t cried for years but really needs to.

3. Oh man. It was bad. Very bad. Forced to suffer high expectations and not allowed to thrive, soon became a victim of child abuse, then forced to become an assassin. This all planted some terrible toxic masculinity standards in his head and trust issues.

4. Well he’s known as ”Huntsman” as in the huntsman spider. These spider don’t even have to set traps for their prey because they’re so big and fast that they can just run it down. I think that really fits Aiwin because he’s super dangerous and a balance of strength, speed, and “venom” like them.

5. Oooh this is a fun one

Apollo: Initially despises Apollo because of the whole drama with Amy. Eventually he grows to respect the man since Apollo helps Aiwin with all the chaos the other two gods cause. Apollo helps Aiwin process emotions and Aiwin helps him with the issues with Amy. Apollo basically adopts him.

Hermes: Aiwin cannot handle this man. Aiwin likes things neat and orderly, Hermes is chaos. The god causes him so much stress poor dude has a will written where he gives everything to Amy. He does admire Hermes‘s intellect and when he’s actually not dealing with the mess he likes to learn stuff from Hermes.

Dionysus: It’s like Hermes but with no redeeming qualities. Aiwin cannot stand Dionysus, as the god has made it his mission to crack through Aiwin’s uptight shell. He actually kinda looks down on the go, writing him off as dumb and a nuisance. Dw, he will have this ideology challenged.

Amy:

1. Can’t say much without spoiling, but he’s her math tutor. She thought he was quite intimidating and was surprised to find him actually quite nice.

2. Yellow, firstly just cuz of the whole sun thing, but also because it fits her duality: warm and bright on one end, dangerous and overwhelming on the other. Also deep red/reddish orange cuz of her rage.

3. She has gone to actual school but retained nothing from it (except maybe from music classes). Anything important to her she learned from Hermes (thievery, hacking) or taught herself (playing the guitar, dancing).

4. Lot of contenders but I think top would be her brain. She thinks she’s very stupid and that’s what’s causing her to screw up so much and cause so much harm. She wants to be smart and clever like Aiwin and Hermes but her brain is just built for different types of intellect, which she fails to see.

5. She‘s afraid of living a worthless life. That one day, when she takes her final breaths, she will know she did nothing but cause pain. She despises so much about herself: her idiocy, her body, her messed up brain. Being totally alone is worse than death to her, and considering Hermes can’t visit often, she faces that a lot. Being purposeless is also worse than death, and she struggles with that too. She’s basically living in her own little hell, and when the story moves on and more people get dragged into her mess, the self blame and hatred only grows.

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sachigram · 4 years ago

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hi it’s me scrambled (=´∀｀) I think a one shot about highschool Shizuo and Izaya dealing with homophobia would be really interesting (saw it an ask on glaces blog abt it) and I can’t stop thinking abt it, sounds really interesting and kinda angsty (please don’t kill anyone,,,smh,,) but still sounds good! You’re amazing I stan you too hard I love your writing and I love everything about it <3

((Thank you! <3 So you...want me to write about someone with a death wish???? You want me to write someone being an ass to Shizuo AND Izaya? Ooh boy.))

Everyone at school knows about Shizuo and Izaya. They're kind of infamous, especially with the way Izaya spreads rumors around. At first, they just fought all the time, but most of the time they could wait until they were out of school to come to blows. Usually, they wound up being caught by Simon and then dragged into Russia Sushi for the remainder of the afternoon. Izaya would make scathing comments in Russian, and then Shizuo would launch at him, and then Simon would say something like, “Izaya only say he wants pickled radish! Why so mad, ShiZUo?”

To this day, Shizuo doesn't really understand what changed between them. He thinks maybe he caught Izaya, and Izaya kissed him out of desperation. Or maybe Shizuo kissed Izaya first. Once their lips met the first time, it didn't really matter who kissed who. They just kept kissing, and Shizuo thinks it's much better than fighting with Izaya all the time, though they do still fight pretty often.

Being in a sort of relationship with Izaya has many perks, actually, one of which being Izaya can help with homework. Sometimes Izaya is a real dick about it and he gets off on watching Shizuo struggle, but other times, like today, he's informative and indulgent. He's winding his fingers through Shizuo's hair while chattering away about some mistake Shizuo made on the English homework, and Shizuo is struggling to listen to what he's saying.

They're on their lunch break. They always meet on the roof, and sometimes Shinra and Kadota will come too, but today is one of those days where it's just Shizuo and Izaya, and Izaya is being touchy, and Shizuo forgets all about the past, present, and future tense on his worksheet.

“Are you listening?” Izaya asks. “You're going to fail.”

“Shut up,” Shizuo says. He presses his face into Izaya's neck and breathes him in, his hands going to Izaya's back. “You're distracting me.”

“Don't blame me for your short attention span.” Izaya sounds gleeful, and knowing him, he's distracting Shizuo on purpose. He'd laugh for hours if Shizuo failed his class.

There's no one else around, and it really wouldn't matter if there were. Even the teachers will struggle to separate the two of them when they argue in the hallways and inevitably end up making out violently.

“I don't think I'm gonna get it even if you keep talking about it,” Shizuo says into Izaya's neck. He lifts his head. “There's better things we could do.”

“You could eat your lunch,” Izaya says, but he's smirking in that way of his. Shizuo used to want to punch it off Izaya's face, but now he likes to kiss it.

“Nah, I wanna eat you,” Shizuo says, and he pulls Izaya's lips to his. Kissing Izaya is one of Shizuo's favorite things to do. It shuts Izaya up, and it always becomes a challenge to get Izaya so worked up that he becomes compliant. It doesn't usually take too long, but Shizuo refrains from getting handsy since they're at school. His parents have been indulgent about the whole Izaya thing, but Shizuo thinks it's because they'd rather Shizuo be fucking Izaya than actively trying to kill him.

He nips at Izaya's tongue, and Izaya shivers before crawling forward and straddling Shizuo's lap. This is dangerous— If they get too worked up, Shizuo doesn't think they'll be able to stop. Still, Izaya is persuasive, and he's tugging at Shizuo's hair, and then...

There's some annoying noise that's not either of them.

Shizuo growls and pulls away from Izaya, who turns and raises an eyebrow. Shizuo follows his line of sight and observes some guy he's never seen before.

“Takeda-san,” Izaya says smoothly, like he's not hard in Shizuo's lap. “Did you need something?”

“Who the fuck are you?” Shizuo asks, already pissed they were interrupted.

“He just transferred to my class,” Izaya says, and Shizuo grumbles.

“Uh, yeah, I was coming to ask you about homework. A girl in class said you'd be here with your...uh. Friend.” Takeda looks very uncomfortable, and Shizuo doesn't like the way he's looking at Izaya.

“Ah. I'll help you after break. I'm a little busy,” Izaya says.

“Is this like. Allowed?”

“Why are you still here?” Shizuo barks, and the guy narrows his eyes. It's been a long time since anyone at school glared at Shizuo like that. Most people are afraid of him, but Izaya just said Takeda is a transfer.

“What do you mean? Kissing? I don't suppose it's allowed, but no one is going to stop us,” Izaya says, and he grins at Shizuo playfully. Shizuo hugs him closer and noses against his cheek, growling impatiently. Izaya giggles.

“I'd just think you'd be a little careful, since it's... I mean, you're both guys,” Takeda says.

“So?” Izaya asks, and the look in his eyes changes. Shizuo recognizes it well. It means Izaya is about to make this kid's life hell.

“I'll just ask someone else for help. Sorry to interrupt your time with your boyfriend,” Takeda says, clearly not all that sorry.

“It's really no problem,” Izaya says. “I can—“

“No. I don't wanna talk to a queer.”

Izaya sighs, and Shizuo is up on his feet in an instant, carrying Izaya right along with him.

“Say that again,” he says, walking right up to the fucker. “I dare you.”

“Look, it's my first day. I'll just avoid you from now on,” Takeda huffs. He's looking Shizuo up and down as if he's trying to gauge how strong Shizuo is.

“No, you already opened your fucking mouth. So say it again.”

“Yes, Takeda-san, call me another slur. They really get me going,” Izaya purrs.

“It's just gross, okay? It's fucking gross, and you'd think the two of you wouldn't be in broad daylight sucking face like that. You should be ashamed,” Takeda says, and Shizuo clenches his hands into fists.

“Apologize to Izaya, or I'm gonna throw you off the roof.” Shizuo feels immense anger, but he also feels strangely calm. Usually when he loses his temper, he feels guilty about it because the other person might not deserve it. Now, Shizuo doesn't feel the least bit guilty.

“Fuck that, I'm not saying sorry to that—“

Shizuo punches him before he can continue. Takeda flies backward, but he's on his feet again fairly quick. He lunges at Shizuo, who punches him again, harder this time, and uses Takeda's dazed state to lift him by the back of the shirt and carry him to the corner of the roof.

“Dangle him upside-down,” Izaya says, and Shizuo gives him a look.

“Why?”

“Why not?” Izaya shrugs.

“Oh, good point.”

By the time a teacher makes it to the roof, Takeda is crying in fear, all the blood rushed to his head, and Shizuo is holding him by one ankle, threatening loudly to let him fall.

Shizuo avoids suspension when Izaya explains what happened, though he's still in trouble, and his parents don't seem pleased with him. He honestly doesn't care though. He never really considered people like that before, someone having a problem with Shizuo kissing Izaya just because they're both guys. It seems so trivial.

“Most people aren't like you,” Izaya says when Shizuo mentions it. They’re exiting the school together, hand in hand. “They aren't scary and strong. They get bullied.”

“Do you get bullied when I'm not around?” Shizuo asks.

“No. I have a reputation on my own.” Izaya turns and grins at Shizuo. “You protected my honor today, Shizu-chan. Heiwajima Shizuo, defender of gay rights!” Izaya shouts it right in the middle of the sidewalk, and other people turn to stare at them.

“Shut up!” Shizuo huffs, swiping for him. Of course, Izaya dodges him.

“No cops at Pride, only Shizu-chan!” Izaya sings, dancing around, and Shizuo grumbles before giving up and letting Izaya get whatever the fuck this is out of his system. It feels good to see him happy about something other than someone suffering.

“Want to come over?” Izaya asks after he finishes flailing around. “I'm sure you don't really want to go home right now.”

“Are your sisters home?” Shizuo asks warily. He likes the twins, but he doesn't like the way they keep pestering him for pictures of his brother.

“Nope. They have martial arts today,” Izaya says. He bats his eyelashes. “You have me all to yourself!”

“Lucky me,” Shizuo says, and though he means it sarcastically, it comes out sounding sincere.

#asks #scrambledshizaya #shizaya #prompts #izaya orihara #shizuo heiwajima #homophobia #tw: q slur

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dreamersmemes · 4 years ago

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jessie reyez ‘before love came to kill us’ sentences

feel free to change pronouns & things ! DO YOU LOVE HER

‘ i should’ve fucked your friends ’ ‘ it would’ve been the best revenge ’ ‘ i’m trying to heal but it’s a process ’ ‘ there’s a stranger where my heart is ’ ‘ i’m sick with feeling like i deserved better ’ ‘ you’re sick for everything you did to me ’ ‘ it was a setup ’ ‘ if i blow your brains out, i could guarantee that you’ll forget her ’ ‘ i could kiss it better ’ ‘ kiss me ’ ‘ i’m the monster that you made ’ ‘ kiss me, i’m the monster that you made ’ ‘ you made me ’ ‘ now i’m just like you ’ ‘ don’t complain ’ ‘ i do the things you like hoping you’d stay ’ ‘ you don’t want me unless i’m someone else’s ’ ‘ you don’t even know you’re being selfish ’ ‘ that’s when you get off and you can’t help it ’ ‘ all your bullets, they feel like velvet ’ ‘ i let you do it ’ ‘ i loved you too much ’ ‘ your dead to me ’

DEAF ( who are you )

‘ what the fuck’s a day off? ’ ‘ i don’t love ya ’ ‘ go get your bitch ’ ‘ she’s all on my dick ’ ‘ i am the one that got you in love ’ ‘ i heard you got a lot to say ’ ‘ i ain’t a killer, i’ll let you breathe ’ ‘ oh, now you don’t recognise my face? ’ ‘ i never listen ’ ‘ who are you? ’ ‘ if i’m sipping jameson, i don’t answer ’ ‘ i’m taking everything i came for ’ ‘ i ain’t fucking asking ’ ‘ who are you, bitch? ’

INTRUDERS

‘ this is mine from now on ’ ‘ when i see intruders, i load up my weapons ’ ‘ you’re beautiful ’ ‘ i see them stare ’ ‘ you belong to me ’ ‘ i’d kill all intruders ’ ‘ my love is ruthless ’ ‘ you are my kingdom ’ ' heads on a stake of people that failed ’ ‘ don’t you come in ’ ‘ this is my land ’ ‘ please, no intruders ’

COFFIN

‘ we fought until the sun rose ’ ‘ i still ain’t been to bed ’ ‘ the devil wakes up in my head ’ ‘ he told me that you hate me and you blame me ’ ‘ you hate me and you blame me ’ ‘ you said that you wish that you were dead ’ ‘ you make me wanna jump off a roof ’ ‘ i love you to death ’ ‘ i love you to death, just like a fool ’ ‘ i walk up to the edge and say a prayer before i let go ’ ‘ you get there just in time to save me and apologise ’ ‘ maybe we can go back to bed ’ ‘ i had to watch you jump off the roof ’ ‘ maybe buddha’s got it right? we reincarnate every time ’ ‘ i’ll find you in another life ’ ‘ i don’t really wanna fight ’ ‘ i just wanna spend the night ’ ‘ hit me in the eye, bit me on the thigh, then began to cry ’ ‘ i’m at the end of my wits. let’s end this ’ ‘ pledge your loyalty, treat me like a king ’ ‘ no matter how mad i get, i’m mad about you ’ ‘ i know we’ve had our challenges, still i keep trying to salvage it ’ ‘ bet you think i’m fucking around on you ’ ‘ it never changes, i doubt if it will ’ ‘ cheat on me then say “how does it feel?” ‘ ‘ how could you? ’ ‘ i almost had a child with you ’ ‘ i’ll put you in the ground ’ ‘ you’re just trying to pull me down with you ’ ‘ if you jump, i’m jumping with you ’ ‘ neither one of us having nothing to lose but each other ’

ANKLES

‘ we fight just to fuck just to fight again ’ ‘ i never thought you’d leave me ’ ‘ i doubt you’ll ever find anyone ’ ‘ these bitches can’t measure up ’ ‘ you apologise, but your twitter says ‘no regrets’ ’ ‘ i’d kill for a mute button in my head ’ ‘ i’m tired of pretending like i was the guilty one ’ ‘ you’re shallow ’ ‘ why’s it always me that’s gotta feel bad? ’ ‘ you left me in a heartbeat ’ ‘ it will never go back to the way it was ’ ‘ she’s not on my level, you could’ve done better ’ ‘ you make me sick ’ ‘ i’m back on my shit ’ ‘ she doesn’t ride like i used to ride it ’ ‘ i doubt you’ll find anyone to measure up to me ’

IMPORTED

‘ my bank account is looking mighty fine ’ ‘ we can skip the wine and dine, go straight to the wind and grind ’ ‘ wanna cum? i can make it happen ’ ‘ you can be my biggest secret ’ ‘ you’re gonna have to leave him ’ ‘ you’re in love with somebody else ’ ‘ maybe i could offer some help? ’ ‘ get over them by getting under me ’ ‘ you might o.d if you get too much of me ’ ‘ my name is not important ’ ‘ i’m not from here ’ ‘ i drink liquor like it’s water ’ ‘ what happened here ain’t nothing sacred ’ ‘ that got me fucked up ’ ‘ i know that dude just saw me naked ’ ‘ fake it ‘til you make it ’

SAME SIDE

‘ how come i can’t leave you? ’ ‘ i feel like i am tied down to someone who’s making me cry more than making me smile ’ ‘ i don’t want you. i hate you, i think. but i don’t wanna be alone either ’ ‘ you’re such an asshole, but i see a prince ’ ‘ i’m a good girl, but you see a bitch ’ ‘ i wanna make love, you wanna burn a bridge ’ ‘ i wish i was a bad guy ’ ‘ we could be fighting on the same side ’ ‘ you said you would be out of my life ’ ‘ you used to be paradise ’ ‘ you used to be where i would go to hide from people who treat me how you treated me ’ ‘ i don’t believe you ’ ‘ sorry i’m not your ex ’ ‘ i’m sorry i’m lacking self-respect ’ ‘ should’ve left you when you started hopping beds ’ ‘ i’m sorry, i swear that i tried my best ’ ‘ can’t you be sorry instead? ’

ROOF

‘ it be skinny dudes packing those anacondas ’ ‘ i’m a fucking monster ’ ‘ everything i do hits the roof ’ ‘ i got nothing to lose ’ ‘ you lucky i don’t want your man ’ ‘ never really ever had a high like this ’

DOPE

‘ tell me do you need a teacher? ’ ‘ i know i got what you need ’ ‘ i know what you like ’ ‘ that shit dope ’ ‘ come here hot boy ’ ‘ it’s only bad if you get caught ’ ‘ pull that trigger ’ ‘ put that drink down ’

BEFORE LOVE CAME TO KILL US

‘ i love you in the worst way ’ ‘ you knock me down like a heavyweight ’ ‘ we fell in love ’ ‘ nobody gets out of love alive ’ ‘ we either break up or we say goodbye when we die ’ ‘ for a moment at least, i know you were mine ’ ‘ winter comes and roses don’t survive ’ ‘ it’s getting late and i should go ’ ‘ i wanna hold you ’ ‘ we’re not supposed to but i can’t learn my lesson ’ ‘ i miss when you were my best friend ’ ‘ i think about you everyday ’ ‘ life’s good and i’m getting paid ’ ‘ when i miss you i medicate ’

LOVE IN THE DARK

‘ we’re only humans, floating on a rock ’ ‘ i think you are made of stardust ’ ‘ you put up with so much ’ ‘ the sweetest goodbyes are never with smiles at all ’ ‘ our lives are running out ’ ‘ i’ll be there to pull you back up ’ ‘ i’m nothing without you ’ ‘ i won’t leave you alone ’ ‘ there’s love in the dark ’ ‘ i’d do anything to relive our memories ’ ‘ i thank god for everything that you showed me ’

I DO

‘ we let this castle fall down, what a tragedy ’ ‘ do i still live in your head? ’ ‘ do you still live with regrets? ’ ‘ because i do ’ ‘ i do ’ ‘ do you got something on your chest? ’ ‘ do you wish we weren’t finished yet? ’ ‘ come bring me all your sins ’ ‘ put a band-aid on the scars ’ ‘ would you give me your heart again? ’ ‘ if i could just see you. we don’t even have to talk ’ ‘ i’ll take an argument ’ ‘ all i want is a familiar face ’ ‘ i’d much rather hurt from familiar pain ’

FIGURES

‘ i gave you ride or die and you gave me games ’ ‘ i’m crying ‘cause you just won’t change ’ ‘ i gave it all and you gave me shit ’ ‘ i wish i could hurt you back ’ ‘ what would you do if you couldn’t get me back? ’ ‘ you’re the one who’s gonna lose something so special ’ ‘ tell me boy how in the fuck would you feel? ’ ‘ i’m the bad guy because i can’t learn to trust ’ ‘ you say sorry once and you think it’s enough ’ ‘ i got a lineup of girls and a lineup of guys begging for me just to give them a try ’ ‘ i’m willing to stay because i’m sick for your love ’

FAR AWAY II

‘ i think you’re the love of my life ’ ‘ i feel like i need you tonight beside me ’ ‘ i feel what you feel when you’re far away ’ ‘ i ran out of heart, don’t got feelings ’ ‘ you left your panties and bra right under my pillow ’ ‘ you gonna stay on me until i’m finished ’ ‘ your body won’t say stop ’ ‘ you feel it in your soul ’ ‘ i fuck with your vibe ’ ‘ i never meant to do you dirty or make you cry ’ ‘ you’re just my type ’ ‘ like the love of my life ’ ‘ i care about you so much it’s kinda scary ’ ‘ I’m happy that it’s happening ’ ‘ i just miss you ’

WORTH SAVING

‘ you’re trying to leave while you can ’ ‘ i might be worth saving ’ ‘ when you come back i might not be here waiting ’ ‘ didn’t you say that your mama liked me? ’ ‘ there ain’t gonna be one like me ’ ‘ don’t let me go too easy ’ ‘ i’m not the easiest ’ ‘ to be real i don’t blame you for leaving me ’ ‘ all my friends, they hate your guts ’ ‘ i’m here defending all you’ve done ’ ‘ i’m not the easiest, don’t even blame your dumbass for leaving me ’

SUGAR AT NIGHT

‘ i could blame your parents, but you’re grown now ’ ‘ a couple vodka’s and you lose all control ’ ‘ if it ain’t about you, you just peace and zone out ’ ‘ it’s such a joke to hope that you could just be normal ’ ‘ you’ll never make me a bride ’ ‘ you just give me fight scenes ’ ‘ you always take away my smile ’ ‘ you always fuck up my dreams ’ ‘ sometimes i wish that you’d never entered my life ’ ‘ you had a wild light ’ ‘ embarrassed when i had to call you my guy ’ ‘ you stole my good years ’ ‘ i could’ve dodged your cheating and some bad scars ’

NO ONE’S IN THE ROOM

‘ i’d go to church every sunday ’ ‘ teenage love still took my virgin skin ’ ‘ after my first time i cried ’ ‘ after my first time i cried because i thought heaven wouldn’t let me in ’ ‘ the priest has got a boyfriend ’ ‘ the teachers smoke weed after school ’ ‘ when you’re young they try to keep you in cages ’ ‘ most of them don’t follow their own rules ’ ‘ i need to talk to god there’s just some things that i don’t understand ’ ‘ who am i when no one’s in the room? ’ ‘ does the voice in my head that talks me off a ledge belong to me? ’ ‘ vices only pacify for the moment ’ ‘ vices that they made to hold our pain ’ ‘ spend your whole life being graded ’ ‘ you’re not enough ’

#ask meme #inbox meme #jessie reyez #lyric meme #rpc #sentence meme #*

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why-are-you-even-here-tho · 4 years ago

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AALSKDJFAHLKJDF OKAY GUYS STORY TIME

okie bit of background first

so our first chair (first standing dot?) percussionist. let’s call him D, for the sake of ease. he’s almost always doing something that he probably shouldn’t be doing: wandering around the room, going out of his way to annoy our first chair alto, just. general kinda annoying things. nothing ever over the top. nothing that really interrupts class. really funny guy; good jokes, surprisingly perfect timing to go with those jokes. he’s that person that everybody likes.

so i’m in band today right and we’re all kinda on edge cause we’re running through the songs we’re going to play for the elementary kids right. D seems a bit worse affected than the rest of us. he is a low-energy distraction throughout all of class today.

so we’re going through each instrument and the song they’re gonna do right.

we finally get to the last song, which is a marimba duet. and halfway through or so the girl doing the bottom part looses where she is.

and cause nobody in this dumb ass band knows how to be anything close to a proper musician it’s pretty scary to mess up during what’s basically a solo, she starts panicking about it.

out loud.

“oh my god i’m sorry” she cries. “i swear i was gonna come back in!”

and suddenly the band goes really quiet

of course you can probably guess that every single one of us is imagining ourselves in that position and feeling really freaking bad for this one girl.

this one fucking percussionist sees his chance.

the clouds roll apart, a single ray of sunshine glows on this guy, angels sing for a moment. the field next to the school glows greener with each word he then speaks.

“that’s what she said.“ he utters.

and the band fucking looses it.

i’m laughing so hard i’m crying.

our only tenor sax? he’s fallen out of his chair and is now rolling around on the floor.

even our director’s trying (and failing) to hide her snickers.

i think the people in study hall (about 15 yards away at the minimum) could hear us. in this moment i’m immensely thankful that there’s no choir class last period as the two music rooms are connected.

in the meantime, the other marimba player has finished the song. mind you, he’s also laughing. the pitiful splutter of applause that was supposed to be for the people on mallets has now turned into a thundering round of applause for this one percussionist.

the teacher tries to calm the class despite her own failure to stop her laughter. “D!” she gasps through her snickers. “go to the office.”

the band room is eerily silent for a moment.

“wait. really?“ D asks, any last thread of amusement wiped form his face.

“yes, really. i may be laughing but i’m serious.“ the director replies.

D slowly makes his way to the door. he’s laughing again; this time out of a more morbid disbelief.

“you can’t send him to the office! you’re laughing!“ comes the first challenging cry from our tenor sax. he’s back in his seat by now.

“that’s not how this works! i’m in charge!“ the teacher explains, exasperated.

an echo of similar protests arise from around the room. D is leaning against the doorframe to the hallway; a smug grin making its way onto his face.

“this can be a democracy if we let it!“ the tenor cries, back out of his seat but this time on his feet. “we just won’t do what she wants us to!“

“there’s a door right there! if you send D to the office, i’ll walk out!“ a flute adds on.

“no! D! to the principal!“ the director exclaims. “This is final!“

“wait! what am i supposed to tell him? that my teacher was laughing at a ‘that’s what she said’ joke?“

“just tell him exactly what you just said! go!“

D walks sullenly from the band room. i’ve never seen a person look as upset yet content with their actions.

“okay,“ our director breathes. “pull out the the ma-“

“wait so do i just walk into his office? that seems kinda rude..“

the class again breaks into laughter. much calmer laughter, yes, but laughter all the same.

“yes! just go!“

D really does leave that time.

we don’t see him again until class has ended and everyone is packing up instruments to take home.

turns out D has a detention. just one. not for being a steady distraction all class. not even for the joke in class.

it’s for what he laughed at while he was in the fucking principal’s office.

turns out that the principal was telling him a story about another group of boys that got in trouble for this kind of joke.

“Three openly gay boys,” i was told the principal opened. my hand hit my forehead immediately. this could not be going anywhere good. “they got in trouble for walking around, arm-in-arm. not for that necessarily. it was the fact that they kept calling themselves the ‘three muska-queers’ that got them in trouble.”

now i cannot stress enough that i do not blame D for laughing at this. it was a great joke.

the principal?

didn’t think so.

#bug does band #i'm sorry this is such a long fucking post #but seriously this was the most fun i've had in a class in a long time #long post

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kiyo-yoon · 5 years ago

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Hes already bored of watching everyone fawn over valentines day so he's probably spent all his time listening to music. Yamaguchi has been oddly quiet all day and anytime he speaks, he won't shut up about the event. He thinks a quiet Yamaguchi is an annoying Yamaguchi and eventually breaks when they're walking home after practice.

"Why do you look so depressed?"

"Umm...I'm not, it's just...Daichi and Suga were really affectionate weren't they?"

"Well they are boyfriends and its valentines day. Are you blaming them or something?"

"What? No! No! No! No! It's just...we're boyfriends and...we don't really do that...umm, but I'm not trying to hint that we do more stuff, just pointing out and observing! Ahh! But not in the creepy way! Just th-umm?"

Yamaguchis rambling would be interrupted by Tsukkishima suddenly placing his headphones on him. He would get to listen to some metal band playing for two seconds before the blonde would lean over and kiss him.

"Valentines is about love isnt it? I love music so...so take what I love. Here, J-just listen and shut up..."

And he would walk away with a blush on his face, but never allow Yamaguchi to see it! Meanwhile, Yamaguchi is literally dying on the spot, face red and hands shaking and lips tingling. Plus he's got to listen through Tsukkis headphones which is a bonus!

All day, he's been watching couples get together and give each other gifts and cards and even kisses. During breaks between classes, he cant help but point out a new couple that's gotten together, or even someone who's been kissed or hugged...

They had a short practice of volleyball today, but he couldn't even concentrate because he's been busy admiring Suga and Daichis affectionate teasing and behaviour. He's totally jealous, but doesn't show it and as a result, realises that his own boyfriend has actually forgot what day it is. They all leave Asahi and Noya to lock up and on the way home, Tsukki finally breaks and asks him what's up.

He explains and then totally freaks out when Tsukki thinks hes not happy for Suga and Daichi. His freaking out disappears when Tsukki gives him headphones and a kiss and...that's enough for him, really.

"I can't believe Tsukki just-oh my g-!"

"What did you say? Something wrong?"

"No! Sorry Tsukki!"

Considering that they're already a couple, Daichi plans out the perfect day for them. His parents are away on holiday for a week, so he's pretty keen to get Suga at his house. He's been admittedly more lovey dovey than usual and after giving Asahi a pep talk for later, he takes Suga out of practice and out to town. He takes him to a cake shop where they would have cake and whilst he's ordering, Sugas waiting at the table.

Daichi is totally known for his jealous nature and when he returns to the table and spots some drunk delinquent high schooler, with an arm draped around Suga, he politely tells the guy to...go away.

And of course when he doesnt, Daichi would provoke him until the delinquent ends up trying to start a fight. The cake shop owner ends up kicking all three of them out and Daichi storms away in a mood because everything's been ruined until Suga stops him and grabs him into a hug.

"Sorry...I guess I just wanted today to be...perfect..."

And after a bit of reassurance from Suga, a cheeky innuendo, they end up sharing a smooch and head back to Daichis.

Suga would be the type to constantly tease Daichi for not getting everything right, it's in his nature to be cheeky. He succeeds in making Daichi blush when he lies and says he's upset for not getting flowers. Where's his kiss and hug? He didn't even get him a card? Heartbroken...

Still, Its cute that Daichi is dedicated anyways. Suga would probably be the type to leave a longing kiss, enough for Daichi to remember long in class. He's been listening to his boyfriend mumble their plans to himself and he's totally flustered with that because that's just adorable.

At the end of practice, they walk towards a cake shop, hands joined together and Suga sits down at a booth whilst he's waiting for Daichi to come back with cake. Suddenly theres a weight on his shoulder and he realises it's a teenager, maybe his age? And...yep, definitely drunk and now rambling about anything and everything.

After a few attempts of trying to get this guys arm off him, the guy is refusing to budge and Daichi is standing there and then the pair start arguing and before they know it, the owner of the shop has kicked them all out. Suga ends up chasing Daichi down the street when he storms away in a huff.

"Oi wait up! Daichi! Oi!"

Daichi rambles on about how he wanted today to go perfectly and then Suga pulls him and hugs him again.

"Today was more than perfect. You were pretty perfect too"

Suga would bring his face down for a kiss and then squeeze Daichis hands and grin and hint that they should probably go back to his place because Daichis parents arent in and the rest is up to them.

All day today, his new boyfriend of one week, Kageyama has been in some sort of weird mood. It's their first valentines together, so Hinata had done some research and bought Kageyama chocolates. Unfortunately for Hinata, he didnt know Kageyama is...allergic to nuts and therefore couldn't eat it.

Practice was short that day so Kageyama decided to use the special date as...their official first date together. Hinata is still wondering why the heck his boyfriend is in a bad mood until he spots an arcade poster and teases Kageyama that he would beat him in all the games.

Challenge accepted.

They head to the arcade and after constant arguing about the other somehow cheating, they go to the coin slot machine because...its impossible to cheat on that game. Hinata spots an adorable keychain of a nose with kawaii eyes and tries his best to get it. He fails, watches Kageyama get it and when Kageyama does, Hinata has to scream at him that the keychain is not ugly, it's cute!

On their way home, Hinata is about to split ways from Kageyama when Kageyama gets all sad and moody.

"I'm not just saying it though! I'm serious!"

"Really?"

Hinata would nod with a smile.

"This is my favourite day with you!"

Kageyama would surprise him by tossing the nose keychain over and after listening to Kageyama have some sort of weird battle with himself, Hinata would try something they've never done before.

Kiss...

Except...they've never done it, Hinata doesnt know how to and he's too short to reach Kageyama. Kageyama leans down because Hinata is making some weird face and Hinata pushes himself up on his toes and kisses Kageyama on the cheek.

The lips are too far for their early stage relationship right now.

But his face turns scarlet and he cycles away home and turns around and laughs when he sees Kageyama wobble in his steps. Not bad for a first valentines.

So as soon as he wakes up, Kageyama NEEDS to plan out today since he and Hinata just got together last week. Only problem is...he's utterly clueless. What's he supposed to get Hinata? Flowers? Chocolates? Those are normal...if you're a girl.

Still, he's unsure but decides to just let today go with the flow. At school, Hinatas been commenting on his 'scary' face which, rude, it's the face he was born with. Hinata tries to give him chocolates but...hes allergic to those specific ones..oops.

He's still pretty much clueless, decides at the last minute that maybe he should do extra volleyball practice because Hinata likes that, only for Nishinoya to explain that he and Asahi are locking up instead. They havent been on a date yet so...maybe a date would be pretty good for today?

So on their walk after school, thankfully Hinata finds something for them to do! He finds a poster for a new arcade that's opened and he literally just called him a loser...

Challenge accepted!

Hinata somehow wins the air hockey game three times in a row, cheating obviously, until they both settle on a coin slot game. No way Hinata could cheat on that...

He doesn't, but now Hinata has a new motive and that's to get the most ugliest nose keychain in the world...it even has kawaii eyes on it, as if that'll make it look cute.

In the end, Hinata doesn't win the keychain, but he does instead. He keeps it for a while because...is he supposed to give it to him right now? Later?

They end up walking to a certain path that they'll split ways when Kageyama finally decides to hand over the ugly stupid keychain that makes Hinata smile so much.

"Yeah, just keep it, or throw it away, or keep it..."

And then Hinata would surprise him by making some sort of...weird face by widening his eyes and suddenly theres lips on his cheek and...wow, they technically just kinda kissed in some sort of weird way...

Before he knows it, Hinatas cycled away and he needs to walk home and...wow, his legs are so wobbly right now.

Thank God Hinata can't see his embarrassing smile right now.

Hopefully valentines will be the same next year.

She's not really bothered about valentines to be honest. She's just getting right into her studies and managing the volleyball team etc...

During school, she spots several couples acting all loved up because of the day and...well, she just passes by. She's not one for poking around in anyones personal business, even if it is just something silly like receiving a box of chocolates.

Her only thought right now is...why is she the manager of a ridiculous childish volleyball team?

Because it certainly looks like Tanaka is proposing to Nishinoya and the libero is hiding some sort of letter behind his back. Oh. Tanaka is using his girl voice...isnt it usually the guy who proposes?

Still, she cant help but let out an adorable giggle which attracts Tanakas attention and suddenly, he's bounding over towards her with his face flushed red. He shouts her name loudly, once exactly and then suddenly retracts and spins around and sprints out the hallway.

What...just happened?

Later, at practice, Kiyoko ends up getting a call from her mum, warning her that it's still quite dark at night so she was to be careful.

Tanaka, being the loud person with a heightened sense of hearing, decides to shout and declare that he'll walk her home and...well, maybe a bit of company would be nice?

Maybe she should put Tanaka out of his misery already...

Nah, she's way too playful like that.

"Maybe...maybe you can walk me home?"

And Tanaka? Well, he does his usual adorable cheer that he does and they're on their way! She refuses to let him hold her bag though, shes self independent that way.

Its decided as soon as the clock struck midnight and its valentines, but he decides that he wants to make today a day that Kiyoko will remember!

Obviously he'll get the bro advice from Nishinoya since he has also asked for some advice. So, he ends up heading to school, bumps into Nishinoya who is...screaming about a letter that was posted through his door that morning and Tanaka can only snort at the original poem that's been written inside.

He advises his bro that he should totally just let it play out, be all romantic and even does a simple drama performance for him to follow. And then...Kiyoko is standing there looking perfect as per usual and she blinks twice and suddenly, his feet have left the floor, ready to shout for Kiyoko to hear his confession!

Wait

Hes supposed to be all suave and romantic, especially on the most romantic day of the year. So he stops, clears his throat and spins around and sprints out of there, embarrassed! He was totally NOT cool!

Later at practice, he hears Kiyoko mention that they'll be finishing up soon and then answers her phone. Tanaka just so happens to be standing nearby and hears Kiyokos mother mention how dangerous the streets are because it's still quite dark. This could be his chance!

He could totally walk her home, right? At least occupy her?

"Oi! Kiyoko! I can walk you home if you want!"

For a second, it seems like shes gonna just ignore him again, but then she gives him the most adorable tiny smile ever and nods ever so slightly.

"Maybe...maybe you can walk me home?"

Then hes ready to run away because Kiyoko ignoring him is pretty hot but-hang on, she just said...

Yes!

"Spending valentines with Kiyoko!"

She smiles again and he notices her bag and holds a hand out.

"I'll carry your bag!"

"No thanks"

Where to begin?

Asahi ends up having a nightmare of a valentines! Hes spent every single day of being in Nishinoyas presence, debating whether he should confess to him or not. He ends up asking for Asahi and Sugas advice over the phone for several nights before he finally comes up with the idea.

A letter? That's pretty basic and even Nishinoya should understand the concept behind that. So he wrote one out, maybe the original poem was too much but he had too many things to say and a poem sounds like it should be enough to express his feelings.

He slides it into Nishinoyas foot locker and sprints away before the said boy comes in and catches him. Now he just needs to wait.

So naturally, in class, he cant concentrate. He cant focus on any of his schoolwork and Suga ends up flicking him on the back of the head with a rubber during class because he can literally see Asahi shaking that much...

Why did he ask Nishinoya to stay behind after practice again? Why did he write that? Nishinoya probably wants a different valentines. What if he rejects him? What if he decides that he just...oh god. What if he quits the team? Never speaks to him again? Could he be reading all of Noyas signals wrong?

Something hard hits the back of his head again and he turns around and theres Suga again with his criticising look. The teacher yells and he turns back around with an apology. How embarrassing.

Later, at practice, he's ready to freak out again because Kageyama asks Nishinoya if he and Hinata could lock up. They'd recently become a couple...what if Noya said yes? Asahi wouldnt be able to give his confession...

Thankfully, Noya says no with an apology and then a short explanation that he and Asahi would do it instead. Then Daichi is running over and patting Asahi on the back with a calm 'Try not to freak out. Dont worry, just worry about Suga if you do end up chickening out' and then hes away again!

When it's just the two of them, they clean up together, quietly until Nishinoya finally pulls out the letter from his bag and looks up at Asahi.

"This letter..."

And of course...he freaks out.

"Umm! Oh! It's just...you dont have to read it, well even though it looks like you already have, but it's not worth reading, I suppose you could just look at it as a joke if you want to, but even though it's real...I'm sorry if it wasted your time!"

And to his surprise, Nishinoya only laughs and wiggles the letter in his hand.

"It didn't waste my time, but...are you serious? About your feelings...about you liking me since I was a first year?"

"Mhmm! Of course! I just...sorry, that probably sounded creepy!"

"Eh? No! No of course not!"

"But it's the truth! I'm completely honest! You...you're the best person to have ever come into my life so...so please hear my confession! I...I love you Noya!"

He's pretty sure he hears Noya chuckle for a bit and he wishes he could see him, but suddenly tears are building in his eyes and the thought of rejection from Nishinoya of all people is enough to make him cry.

His body is suddenly falling forwards, Noya is falling backwards because hes grabbed onto him but Asahi is fast, so he loops his arms around Noya and straightens them up so they're standing. Noya grins and then pushes forwards for a hug and presses his forehead against Asahis forehead, his blonde fringe pushing against the aces headband. Asahi can only sigh in relief because thank god...he couldn't imagine going on in life if this turned out differently.

He's never really thought about valentines to be honest. He's always had one person in mind and he's pretty sure that's rude to try and confess to your upperclassmen. Sure he plays along with Tanaka to protect Kiyoko, but its more of a...let's protect the girl because guys are creepy predators kinda thing...

Anyways, he heads to school like a normal day, changes shoes and...is that a letter?

It totally is!

Someone just...this is definitely Asahis handwriting! This was a dream, right? If so, please dont wake him up!

He reads the inside, smiles at the cute poem and when he realises theres a message asking to stay behind after practice so they could talk, he fist pumps the air and rushes to find Tanaka.

He shows him the letter, asks for advice and all Tanaka does is simply tell him to let the day play it out, just like a volleyball game. He even gets down on one knee and pretends to propose, as if that'll happen today.

Still, he keeps it in mind, not for...future reasons...

He watches Tanaka sprint over to Kiyoko within seconds and then run away and remembers that he and Tanaka were on the phone last night. The future ace had declared that he wanted valentines to go perfectly for Kiyoko, so he would act like the perfect gentleman!

Still, he waves to Kiyoko and heads to class.

The rest of the day, he doesnt see Asahi which isnt much of a surprise since they're in different years. He has caught sight of Suga and Daichi kissing at some point and frowns.

If he and Asahi were to get together, there would surely be a lot of looks. People already mistook him as an elementary kid and Asahi as a grown man who is also apparently a delinquent. But hey, when was he to care about looks?

He looks away from Suga and Daichi in the distance and lightly pats his burning cheeks twice before shaking his head. He liked Asahi, no, he loved Asahi! He'd admired the man from day one!

So when it comes to the end of practice which is cut fairly short, he has to quickly explain to Kageyama that he and Asahi would be locking up instead. Kageyama looks slightly annoyed but hey, he always looks like that. He ends up showing Asahi the letter and of course, the big ball of anxiety starts to flip.

But in the end, Asahi confesses properly...reveals that he's liked Noya from day one and...

"I love you too you big baby! Oi! Why are you crying?! I accepted your confession! Baka!"

And then he lunges forwards to try and grab Asahi into a hug but they end up staggering for a bit and...god, he wishes Asahi would just stop crying! He does though, and they hug and Noya really wants to kiss him right now, but hes pretty sure the ace would faint if he did it right now. So he settles for a forehead touch, just so he can reassure Asahi that he's there and...he's not planning on going away anytime soon.

He's there, he's not disappearing and even when Asahi graduates, he knows they'll still be together, no matter what obstacle they face.

#tsukkiyama #daisuga #kagehina #tanaka x kiyoko #asanoya #tsukishima #yamaguchi #daichi #suga #kageyama #hinata #tanaka #shimizu kiyoko #asahi #nishinoya #haikyuu!!#haikyuu #happy valentines day

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miraclesnail · 4 years ago

Text

1000 Ways and I Can Name You One

A thousand ways to tell the Stoll brothers apart and I can name you one. Travis and Connor centric oneshots featuring characters from PJO/HOO.

Chapter 32: Michael - Food

Plus the whole 9.7k fic under the read more but with funky formatting

Michael — Food

Michael (14) — Travis (13) — Connor (13)

Early June 2007

Pre Sea of Monsters

[8:07 AM]

The whole drive to Camp, Lee has been saying the weirdest things.

‘This camp is special.’

‘This camp is for children of Greek gods and goddesses.’

‘This camp helps the said children harness the godly gifts inherited from said gods and goddesses.’

‘This camp is top secret and no matter what, you cannot tell your mother about Camp Half Blood. Not a word. Not a complaint. Not even a compliment. Michael? Are you listening? Ar—are you laughing?! Michael, I’m not joking around. This is not a joke.’

Did Michael take Lee seriously? Not at all. Not even to humor him. What does Lee take him for? An idiot? Like, he doesn’t really have many friends at school (none actually) but even he knows when someone is trying to pull a prank on him. Lee typically goes for jump scares, but it’s good to see him broaden his horizon and try new things.

Yeah.

Michael wholeheartedly believes Lee is 100% kidding around.

It’s kind of a shock when he walks through the camp and sees flowers being grown in someone’s palms, men with hooves and horns trotting around, a goddamn girl rising from the lake like some kind of b-grade horror movie but minus the sunken eyes and gray skin and tattered white dress.

It’s a big shock. Kinda earth-shattering actually. Very disorientating. It’s taking all his mental capability to process the fact that the Greek gods are real , that the Greek myths are real , that his atheist beliefs are all wrong and holy fuck?? God is real .

It’s probably why when that SOB Shermie or Sherlock or whatever his name is picked a fight, he welcomed the easy distraction and picked one right back.

In hindsight, he should have maybe exhibited more self-control.

“He shoved me.”

The utter stare of incredulity has Michael quickly rephrasing his initial statement, fiddling with a loose string on his t-shirt.

“He shoved me first. ”

“And so you decided to turn it into a slugfest?” Lee says, arms crossing as they stand on Cabin 11’s porch.

“To be fair, to be fair,” Michael says, scrambling for excuses as his eyes dart from cabin to cabin, “to be really fair, that Sherm-guy started it.”

Lee didn’t buy it, not that Michael expected him too.

“You promised me, Michael,” Lee says, disappointed, and Michael looks away with guilt.

He did promise Lee. Right before they left the apartment complex, Lee explicitly said, “Promise me, Michael, that you’ll be on your best behavior?” And he said he will.

“Mike, I don’t want any phone calls from the head honcho again, okay?” his mom said, exasperated. He said there wouldn’t be any.

“Mikey, please tell us all the fights you’ll get into!” his four little siblings — Leo, Raphie, Carly, and Sam — screamed together with cheeky, smug, knowing grins as he got into the car with Lee. He said ‘in your dreams.’

Not even one full hour and he failed two out of three. Possibly all three if Travis and Connor decide to hand his ass to the director.

“I’m really sorry, Lee,” Michael says, head lowering, “I promise for real this time. I won’t get into any more fights. I swear.”

Like clockwork, the frown and crossed arms drop for a bright smile and a hair ruffling, like he actually believed Michael can do it. Lee’s weird like that. He believes in people and their lies despite what their actions are saying, believes in him even with the 14 years of experience that Michael cannot follow through on that promise.

It’s that same idealistic, stupid belief that has Lee clinging to the hope his birth mom will one day want to actually be a mom.

Michael slinks back into the cabin as quietly as he can. Miranda catches his eye and waves him over, patting the empty spot next to her. Michael hesitates (still remembers the way she tosses a boy a whole head taller than her like nothing) but thought better of it.

The promise, he thinks. Remember your promise.

He sees Sherman sitting on Miranda’s other side. As he slides down to sit cross-legged, he’s mentally preparing himself for a jeer. But Sherman is just staring at Miranda, wide-eyed and star-struck and totally ignoring him which is perfectly fine with Michael.

Miranda angles her body towards him, a slight smile on her face as she tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. “I just want to warn you that you’re in Connor’s bad book right now.”

“Should I be worried?” Michael says, glancing at the brothers talking on one of the upper bunk beds.

To which Miranda smiles sweetly. “You should keep your head down. I heard he gets a bit prank-crazy with people he doesn’t like.”

A sharp whistle brings his attention upfront.

“Okay, so hey, everybody! Exciting first day, I know. Welcome to Camp Half Blood,” one of the pair says with a big grin, standing on top of the upper bunk bed. The other sits at the edge, feet swinging over. “We’re already late for breakfast so I’ll make this super-duper quick. My name is Travis Stoll. I am one of your head counselors. This is Connor, my little brother.”

Connor waves, his smile matching Travis’s.

“I’m also your counselor. Any problems you guys have whether it be life problems, camp problems, prank problems, you can come to us. Lucky for you guys, you have two of us. Most cabins just have one,” Connor says.

“Where’s Luke?” someone in the back yells.

“Luke is gone now. If you see him, either in person or in a dream, tell us right away. Please come talk to me after this meeting if you want more details,” Connor answers, still cheerful but Michael kinda feels like his words are too curt. There’s definitely bad blood between this Luke person and them.

“Moving on,” Travis follows after, “the beds are all taken. Any more fighting over them will result in the instigator getting a timeout. For everybody else, sleeping bags are available and we will make room. Your stuff can be placed in the closet or tucked in your sleeping bag. I know this cabin’s patron is the god of thievery, but please show respect and decency towards your fellow cabinmates and don’t steal from each other. Steal from other cabins instead. Apollo’s kids are the easiest to steal from. So are Aphrodite’s if you want to practice before moving onto the big leagues. Athena’s and Hephaestus’s cabins are where the real challenge is.”

“What about the claiming rate? Someone said the gods would claim us more now,” a girl asks, standing from her sitting position with a bounce, hope in her eyes.

“Uh, um...” Travis falters, looking down at Connor for guidance. It’s hard to notice but Connor bites his cheeks and just barely shakes his head.

��Claiming, yeah. I’m not too sure about that. I’ll talk with Chi — Tantalus about that. Tantalus is the activity director now in case you all don’t know,” Travis answers.

There’s a chorus of groans.

Someone grumbles, “It’s been years.”

“What happened to Chiron?” another asks.

“Temporarily relieved of duty due to, uh, an investigation of his effectiveness on the job. Which, if you ask me, Chiron has been doing a fantastic job of and we should all write a very strongly worded letter to Zeus to get him back on his job.”

A boy in front of Michael shoots his hand up.

“I heard Luke went all ‘Anakin Skywalker’ on us and joined Kr—”

Connor blows an air horn and interrupts the boy before he could finish. Travis’s smile is strained as he says, “Okay, first rule on Camp Half Blood for the foreseeable future! No mentioning any of the bad guys by name. Names have power. Instead we will refer to him by initials. The evil titan guy will be called K.T. K for his first letter and T because he controls time.”

“Can we change it to K.K. Slider?” the same boy says.

Beside him, a girl socks the boy in the arm. “No! How dare you sully K.K.’s name like this?”

But Travis is already jumping down his bed, landing with grace. “K.K. Slider it is. That’s all for the morning announcements. Now everybody gets in a straight line. We’re going to the pavilion for breakfast and it is the best thing ever. You can literally get whatever you want. All you need is the power of imagination. Well, imagination and common sense. Don't imagine something you won’t eat. It’s not a contest to create the grossest food.”

Connor follows down after his brother with a grin and shrugs. “But if it was, I would win.”

Growing up, Michael is what everybody called a ‘problem child.’ Absolutely zero friends not helped by him picking and starting fights for the ‘smallest’ reasons. No remarkable talent except for his athleticism. Mediocre to poor grades due to inability to focus (and it doesn’t help that he’s dyslexic and that his teachers all hate him and that he has a homing device for all the school’s bullies).

The teachers blamed his mother for his attitude and academic abilities. But they don’t know shit. His mother helps him with his homework after coming back from work. His mother searches for ways to help him manage his ADHD and dyslexia. His mother is raising five kids all by herself with zero help from his deadbeat dad. Going to their extracurricular activities, funding their education, making time to have game and movie nights. His mother is literally Superman for finding time to do all that across five children. No. Make that six. Mom always attends Lee’s band performances and includes him with all their activities and outings and supports him the way Lee’s own mom should be doing.

Michael’s pretty sure his mom isn't the problem.

Besides his four younger siblings are literal angels. Clearly, the problem is him. Not his mother.

That’s why going into high school he had every intention of becoming a better son, a better brother, and a better student. Set a better reputation for his family, you know?

Unfortunately, this whole mess with him being half-god kinda put a pause on his plans.

And put every weird thing Lee ever did into perspective.

That one time Lee slapped his brand new Nokia cellphone out of his hands and ended his cell’s short life by stomping the hell out of it? Those dozens of times Lee lectured him about not using technology with his stupid excuse of ‘it rots your brain, Michael. Don’t touch it,’ despite Lee himself using a phone and a laptop on a daily basis?? Those hundreds of times Lee excused himself from dinner, movies, and the middle of game nights to ‘use the bathroom’ and coming back with a thin layer of gold dust??? Those weird dreams he gets of standing on top of a broken, tethering bridge and falling thousands of meters to his death in a ravine and Lee saying, ‘it’s just a dream. Don’t worry about it’ with a high-pitched, forced laugh that says he should be worrying????

Now he sees what it was all about. Obviously a metaphor for the earth-shattering revelation of his heritage.

He’s half- god . A demigod. Some part of him came from an immortal being.

It makes him see his dad in a whole new light.

Like, Michael always knows his dad is an asshole, leaving his mom and whatnot.

But now? Knowing his dad is a literal god in the Greek myths he read back in 6th grade? Those freaky assholes with their crazy sex adventures and ego-driven tantrums?

At least the fantasy asshole dad he had in mind didn’t commit mass genocide or is an egotistical, narcissistic jerk or had sex with their siblings, parents, animals, and who knows what else freaky shit the gods like to stick their dick in to.

And the most bizarre thing is that he’s expected to honor them by throwing the best parts of his meal into the fire.

Well, he’s not gonna.

“Throw your food into the fire, Mike,” one of his counselors says beside him as he tosses a bag of M&M into the flames.

“Why should I?”

“So the gods don’t get angry,” says the other counselor, throwing half of his strawberries — Michael stares at the plate. It’s just strawberries. Nothing else. That’s not healthy — into the fire before turning to help the others.

“They’re gonna threaten us if we don’t worship them? Sounds like a pretty unhealthy parent-child relationship,” Michael says.

The one that tossed the M&Ms shrugs. “Just toss something in. It can be anything. Even something you ha— don’t care about. That’s what I do. I don’t think Hermes minds.”

But what Michael hears is that this Hermes fella doesn’t give a shit.

A small boy with round glasses wedges in between them, frowning, and tosses in a sausage link. “Don’t listen to Connor. You’re never going to be claimed if you listen to him.”

Connor shrugs again. “Hermes hasn’t disowned me yet.”

“That’s because Hermes is busy with other things. The other gods don’t have a child plotting to usurp—” the kid starts to say but at Connor’s harsh nudging and loud cough and not so subtle nod towards the others in the pavilion and (kind of scary) glare, he shuts up. A second passes before the boy says to him, “Everybody likes to feel appreciated, Michael. Even gods. It’s good to remind them we’re here for them. Now more than ever.”

Michael frowns at the exchange. Child? Usurp? Usurp who? The gods? Yeah. Like that is even possible.

“What were you trying to say—”

“So I see you got over your embarrassing loss,” Connor interrupts with this infuriating smug grin. “Man, I would have hidden my face for like a year after the way I kicked your ass.”

And just like that, Michael forgets everything but that day back in March when he met the brothers. It’s an obvious bait and Michael just lunges for it like the dumb fish he is.

“No, I kicked your ass. Kicked it all the way down the stairs,” Michael huffs at Connor’s heel as they walk to the table. Connor slides into the first open spot he sees and Michael sits down across from him, elbow to elbow to his cabinmates. They need a bigger picnic table.

“Ass?” Besides Connor, Miranda’s head swivels to face them, her smile innocent but Michael knows better now. Behind that sweet smile is a demon. “Who kicked whose ass? ”

“We met Michael back in March when we hopped in Lee’s car and we’re not using that language, Mikey,” Travis says, sitting down beside Connor slurping a mouthful of cereal.

“So? Who won?” Miranda asks, leaning over to slide scrambled eggs onto Travis’s plate and picking off 75% of Travis’s many, many strawberries from his plate.

Travis stares at the egg with disdain. “Connor won, of course. And I don’t want that. Take it back.”

“Will said you need something more than just strawberries in the morning. Doctor’s orders. Disobey and you’ll feel his wrath,” Miranda says.

For half-a-second, Michael thinks Travis is going to fight but he turns back in his seat and just grabs his fork.

“There’s nothing wrong with just strawberries for breakfast,” Travis grumbles, stabbing his fork into the scrambled eggs. “Right? Nothing wrong with strawberries.”

“I think that depends on the quantity but don’t worry, Travis. I totally got you,” Connor says, pulling out a basket of strawberries and ducking from Miranda’s sudden lunge for it. With ease, Connor holds Miranda back while Travis indulges in his unhealthy obsession with a satisfied, blissed smile.

Michael thinks of the half Travis threw into the fire and before he knows it, he’s saying, “You really love strawberries, don’t you?”

Travis nods, mouth full. “Favorite food in the world.”

“Then you must like your—”

But Travis’s eyes shoot to a girl entering the pavilion, heading straight towards the table with the plant-speaking kid, and Michael knows his words are falling on deaf ears. Travis nudges Connor and whispers into his ear, a shit-eating grin sprouting on Connor’s face as he looks over his shoulder.

Miranda catches their grins and stands, yelling, “Katie, wait!”

But Katie sits down and Michael hears what is probably the world’s loudest, strongest whoopee cushion rip through the pavilion. Travis and Connor laugh as Katie stands back up, cushion in hand and face flushed tomato red.

“Welcome back, Miss Tattletale!” Travis yells.

“That was months ago, you pieces of — of — fertilizers! Give me a break!” Katie roars. The ground rumbles as a tree sprouts beside the table, hooking Travis and Connor up by the back of their shirts. They’re way too calm as they’re dangling several feet in the air. In unison, both brothers pull out squirt guns and aim them at Katie.

And it is definitely not water judging by the smell.

[9 AM, Sword Fighting]

Lee said he was a demigod. That monsters are real. And that they sometimes must fight off the monsters that come to eat them.

Michael never really thought about what it entailed. What they’re supposed to fight the monsters with.

Dimly, he’s aware of his counselors talking. Something about introduction to swordsmanship and the bare basics plus safety today, then tomorrow they will be training with Ares? Apollo? ‘Some god with the letter A’ cabin and learning a few techniques. He isn’t really paying attention to them as he stares at the blade in his hands.

It’s real. It’s a real, metal blade. And by the looks of it, everyone has one. Even the little 9-year-old. What the fuck? That’s how old the twins, Sam and Carly, are and holy shit. The thought of them with a real sword? The thought of them having to use it to battle some mythical monster? It's enough to make him vomit.

“Michael? Michael, hey.” Someone is snapping their fingers in front of his eyes and he knocks the hand away, glaring at … at … well, it’s either Travis or Connor, staring at him blankly, but he can’t tell who’s who yet. They should have worn nametags.

“What?”

“Have you ever used a sword before?”

Michael kinda felt it should have been obvious, but he shakes his head.

“Okay, well imagine you’re holding a kitchen knife and you’re cutting some veggies for a veggie soup but instead of a broccoli, it’s a monster and instead of small dainty cuts, you’re making big, wide, full power slashes. So nothing like what I told you to imagine. Forget I said that. You want to grip it like this with both hands—” Connor (or Travis?) demonstrates and Michael mimics the action, “—for the most control. You can try one-handed but the strikes tend to be flimsy at best unless you’re gifted like Clarisse or Percy. You want to kill the monsters as fast and in one go as you can while still being safe. Here’s—” he is walked over to a hand-made, hand-stuffed dummy with straws sticking out its seams. A happy face on a yellow sticky note stuck to where it’s head is. “—a practice dummy for you. Give it a few swings and get a feel for the weapon. I’ll be right back with more pointers after helping everyone. You good to be by yourself a bit?”

Then Travis (Connor?) is leaving after Michael hesitates to say ‘no, I’m not good’, taking off with a thumbs up and a crooked grin.

Michael almost called him back, but they’re a big cabin. Only a quarter of them have been gotten too, the other three-fourths goofing around while waiting their turn. Michael has never been to a summer camp before, nevermind one as strange as this, but he guesses they’re on a tight schedule.

So he looks down, readjusts his grip, and swings, missing spectacularly, losing his balance, and nearly taking his eye out.

[10:00 AM, Archery]

Michael didn’t need much help here.

The bow feels right in his hands. His body knows what to do, his arms pull back the bow like it has done this a million times and his first shot lands dead center in the bullseye.

The next five shots are the same.

“Woah,” his counselor mutters, face scrunched in thought before it lightens up, blue eyes shining with a gleam. “You’re a natural. Hey, you wanna be the archery tutor? I’ve never seen anyone aim so well and had such perfect form. Not even Annabeth.”

Michael lowers the bow and tries to figure out how he did what he just did despite never once using a bow before in his life.

[11:00 AM, Greek Mythology]

Michael knew Lee was a decent teacher, tutoring him in both English and Math, so it’s no surprise he’s decent at teaching Greek mythology too. All the campers are in the amphitheater with hand made wooden desks courtesy of the girl from breakfast. Lee is in the center with an overhead projector just having the time of his life explaining what each of the 12 Olympians plus Hades represents with a mind map.

He tries to pay attention. He really did. He gets through listening to Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, and part of Demeter’s history before his attention is pulled away by Travis and Connor. They’re far away from the group, beside the cabins, hunched over a … birdbath? It looks like they’re arguing to the birdbath, but Michael squints and with his perfect vision sees that there is a person. On the surface of the birdbath. A girl with blonde hair. There’s a girl in the water of the birdbath.

There’s a girl. In the water. Of a birdbath.

Maybe he shouldn’t be so surprised. Food pops into existence with a thought. A girl can grow fullass trees without blinking an eye. Miranda can toss a boy almost twice her weight over her shoulder.

So what if the camp has a Moaning Myrtle?

Before he knows it, Lee is done, Michael misses the other 8 Olympian’s tales, and everybody is packing up their notes to head back to their respective cabins.

They’re ending early to have enough time for a tour of the camp. Which is kind of telling where their priorities are when they hold training first over the tour.

It’s kind of even more telling what the camp’s view of safety is when there’s a climbing wall that spews lava and when asked about why there’s lava, Travis and Connor say cheerfully in unison, ‘it’s more exciting that way.’

“Hey, Travis,” a kid starts, tugging on one of the brother’s sleeves.

“I’m Connor, but yeah?” Connor corrects, turning to face the camper.

“Um, I heard from someone in the Ares Cabin that because of us, we’re in war with Kro—K.K. Is that true?”

Connor smiles and shakes his head. “No. We didn’t do anything.”

He didn’t refute the war part though.

And as if Connor hears his thoughts, he addresses the cabin, “You don’t have to fight if you don’t want to. But monsters are still a thing so you still have to go to the morning training. No way out of those. Sorry.”

[12:30, Lunch]

Michael is starting to think Travis is some kind of strawberry fanatic and that’s putting it lightly.

There’s another concerning amount of strawberries on his plate coupled with a grilled cheese sandwich and a salad, yes, but that’s way too many strawberries for one day.

“No such thing,” Travis says, scraping half of his ungodly amount into the fire.

“I think there is a limit though.” Connor shrugs, tossing a bag of M&M right after.

Michael follows them to the table, even more cramped now. Five new campers, unclaimed, arrived late because of road traffic. He tucks himself into the first opening he sees, shoulder to shoulder and elbow to elbow. Many inches too close in his opinion.

“Travis,” Michael starts, thinking back to breakfast, “You’re claimed, right? You know who your godly parent is?”

“Yup, Hermes. God of Pranksters,” Travis says, stabbing his fork into a lettuce and turning to wave it at Lee’s table which is much more roomier. Lee catches the action and nudges a boy beside him with an elbow, snickering. The boy turns and rolls his eyes at Travis.

“You like your dad, right?” Michael asks.

A quarter of the cabin immediately stops talking and not really subtly turns to them. He’s pretty sure he’s breaking some sort of taboo. Not that it bothers Michael all that much.

“Yeah, of course I do. He’s pretty cool,” Travis responds, rolling a cherry tomato around with a fork and not looking him in the eye.

“Why?” It feels like everyone in the cabin is staring at them now, but even then Michael can’t stop.

“‘Why?’” Travis repeats, twirling the fork. Michael can’t help but notice Connor gripping his fork tighter and he has a vivid image of the boy stabbing it into him. Connor seems like the type. “He’s my dad. I think I’m supposed to like him.”

“But he never talked with you though, right? He has never been there for you. How could you possibly like him?”

Travis shrugs. “He’s a god. He’s probably busy.”

Michael frowns. His mom is busy too. Granted, busy with normal things like a job but she still finds the time to tuck his siblings to bed. Still finds the time to cook breakfast and dinner for them. Still finds the time to make movie nights. Still tell them every day, without fail, that she loves them. Is still there for him and his siblings.

“So it doesn’t bother you? The way your relationship is with him right now?” Michael pushes.

Travis fidgets with his strawberries, muttering something under his breath that sounds suspiciously like French.

“What was—” Michael starts to say, but Connor glares, hard. Michael thinks he can see the promise of pain and suffering Connor will inflict upon him. Guess he’d just written his name in Connor’s bad book in Sharpie.

“Look, Michael, it’s the social norm around here to not talk about our godly parents. Especially in ways that demean them.”

Social norm? Like he cares about something as trivial as that.

“I just want—”

“Drop it, Michael. Travis’s relationship with our dad is none of your business,” Connor snaps.

Travis is quiet, a hand resting on a cheek as he stabs into a strawberry, red juices spattering over lettuce and grilled cheese.

“I want his approval. He’s my dad. What kid doesn’t want their parent’s approval?”

Lee pulls him aside as lunch wraps up, leading them a bit away from the others.

“Michael, can you chill with the public grilling for a bit?”

“I just don’t get the worship around here for them though,” he argues.

Lee falters, thinking about his words. “Michael, for some of us, our godly parent is the only one that cares.”

“Wait, are you saying your dad talks to you here?” Michael says. He doesn’t really know what the whole deal is going on with Lee and his mom, but he knows enough to know that Ms. Fletcher deserves the worst mom of the century award.

Lee frowns a bit and shakes his head. “We talked once when I was claimed but other than that, no. Not really. And none of my half-siblings said anything to me about him either. But he’s already doing so much more than the other gods.”

“Really? Like what?”

And Lee answers without hesitating, “He claims us as his.”

Michael recalls the talk before breakfast and the questions. About claiming. About waiting. About giving up. The bitterness in their voices. The longing. The yearning. And a sinking feeling grows in the pit of his stomach.

“How long did it take for you to be claimed?” he asks.

“I was claimed the second I stepped onto Camp. Apollo tends to be rather fast when it comes to claiming his children. The longest he ever went without claiming is one week. Demeter claims fast during the fall and winter months when Persephone is away. Hephaestus takes on average a month or so to claim.”

“And the slowest god at claiming?”

Lee’s eyes narrow in thought. “Let’s see… Ares, Athena, Aphrodite, and Hermes seem to be the slowest.”

“How slow?”

“Slow as in… months, years.”

“Why?”

Lee looks away in discomfort. “Who knows? We shouldn’t speculate though. That’s just asking for a curse.”

He catches up to his cabin gathering for the next event and when he asks around about the claiming rate, he gets a mixture of answers.

“Because we’re not their favorites,” Miranda says cheerfully, while arm-wrestling (and clearly winning) with a flushed Sherman.

“Because we have to prove ourselves first,” the kid with the glasses states, eyes fixed on his shoes.

“Because they forgot we existed,” others say.

“Because they want something from us.”

“Because they don’t want the responsibilities of a parent.”

“Because they don’t care.”

“Because they don’t think we’re worth it.”

“It’s because they suck ass,” one of the older campers says with dead serious eyes as Travis chokes on his strawberry, tossing the rest of the fruits into the fire, plate and all.

“Shh! Celise, you’re gonna get cursed! Everybody, no bad-mouthing the gods or you’ll be turned into a snail and as cute as snails are, I like you all as humans.”

The camper shrugs and whispers, it’s true .

Trust me, they whisper next as they’re pulled aside by Travis’s frantic tugging.

They don’t care.

All of this is truly making him appreciate the gods more.

Connor whistles for everybody’s attention, standing on top of a rock with a piece of paper.

“It’s free choice from now until 3:30. Each counselor is hosting a different event. Travis and I are doing canoeing. Silena will be hosting horseback — that needs to be changed to pegasi — riding. Malcolm, you will take over for Annabeth since she isn’t here yet for the intro to Origami. Katie will be watching over the wall climbing. Lee, intro to guitar and lyres. Beckendorf, intro to welding. Pollux will be taking over Clarisse’s place at the arena for additional sword and archery lessons. And Castor will be teaching DIY soda. Here’s a map for each of you where everything is. Any questions? Yes, you, in the back. Hao, right?”

Michael takes the map, finds Lee’s name, finds the corresponding location, and then crumples the flimsy paper in his hands.

But before he can walk away, Miranda is there in front of him and tugging him by the arm with a beaming smile.

“Follow me for a sec? I want to show you something. It will be quick, I promise.”

[1:30 PM, Free Choice]

“Everybody gets a celestial weapon,” Miranda explains as they walk to the armory, “It KOs the monster and turns them into gold dust if it nicks them in the flesh just enough.”

Gold dust… like the gold dust Lee comes back sometimes covered in?

She leads him to an unassuming building beside one of the cabins, opening the door and revealing shelves stocked full of weapons. Miranda strides to the back without a double-take. Like it’s normal for a summer camp with children to have a stockpile meant for war.

“Do you have a preference?”

“I… uh…”

“Want some help? Based on what I saw in training, I think you’re better suited with something long-range. You looked uncomfortable with a sword. Aha! What about this?“

Then Miranda pulls out a rifle from one of the boxes.

Michael stares at it for a full second, wondering if he’s imagining it, wondering if Miranda is kidding, wondering if this whole day is just one big funny dream. But, no, Miranda remains standing there with a big ol’ grin and rifle in hand and waiting for them to say something.

“No.”

“What? Why not?”

“First of all, it’s a gun. Second of all, I share a room with two of my siblings who get into my shit all the time. Third, my mom would literally kill me if she sees me holding a rifle. And fourth, it’s a fucking gun .”

”It’s okay. This is a magic rifle. If you engage the safety and remove the magazine clip, it turns into a telescope.” Miranda demonstrates it for him and would you look at that. It actually became a telescope. “See? No problem. Mom won’t find out and plus! It actually works as a telescope! You can go stargazing with this thing and also kick any monster-butt.”

“What happens if it goes off and a bullet hits someone?”

“That’s okay too. The bullets are made of celestial metal. It can’t harm mortals.”

“But it’s a gun. And I don’t have a license.”

Miranda shrugs. “You can’t kill a mortal though. I don’t think you need a license if you seriously can’t hurt anyone. But if you don’t want a gun, then we can get you a bow. Apollo’s cabin is full of them. Come on.”

And as Michael follows Miranda out, he mutters under his breath, “Why are you all like this?”

Miranda laughs, spinning around her heels to face him.

“And you’re like a completely normal kid. If you didn’t pass the barrier, I would have thought Lee brought someone fully human.”

[2:20 PM, Free Choice]

“What is that?”

Lee does only a cursory glance at where Michael is pointing before going back to tuning his guitar engraved with his name and last initial on the Big House’s porch. “It’s Thalia’s Pine. Someone poisoned it unfortunately. A couple years ago a girl sacrificed herself to save her friends. Her father turned her dying body into a magic tree that protects all of camp. We’re trying to fix it, but it’s kinda slow-going right now.”

“That’s cool. That’s cool, but I’m talking about that .”

And Lee really looks at where Michael is pointing at. A … well, he doesn’t want to say robotic because there’s no way a robot can move that fluidly, but fine. A metallic bull the size of an elephant is charging towards them, running full speed but going nowhere. It’s like an invisible wall is holding it back. Just a bit aways are five people in a line in full bronze armor and a variety of weapons with two more people running towards them. A girl with a gruff voice is ordering to get into position.

“Is this some sort of play?” Michael asks, waiting for Lee’s answers but when there’s none, he turns to face him. “Lee?”

Lee is pale. His guitar falls out of his hands as he stands.

Michael tenses, alarmed. “Lee?”

“Shit,” Lee curses for the first time ever. “Fuck.”

Now Michael is really worried. “What’s wrong? What’s going on?”

Lee whirs to face him and Michael doesn’t like the fear, the panic he sees in Lee’s usually calm eyes.

“Michael, Beckendorf is in the forge. Get him first. Tell him there is a Colchis Bull at Half Blood Hill. Then go get Travis and Connor next — Hey? Michael, are you there?”

A second bull crashes into the invisible wall and they break through. They’re breathing fire. People are being set on fire. People are having their armor melted off. People are being burned. People are being trampled on. People are—

“Michael!” Lee shakes him hard by the shoulder. “Don’t look at it. Just go run and get Beckendorf.”

Then he’s forcibly turned around and pushed away to the sound of terrified screams and dying cries.

[3:00 PM, Free Choice]

So that’s a monster.

And he’s expected to fight one of them?

The guy who took out the first bull —Percy he thinks is the name — Percy did it with a little help with a flame-resistant man and Percy is about the same age as him. And Clarisse took out the second bull all by herself. So it’s definitely possible. With training and maybe a bow instead of a sword, Michael can do it.

He can do it.

…

Just because it’s possible, doesn’t mean it’s right. Doesn‘t mean it’s normal and fuck.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

How can anyone not see how messed up this whole thing is? Monsters exist and they eat twerps like him? They’ll hunt him for as long as he lives? He’s always going to have to watch his back? He’s always going to have a weapon on him? This is what his day will be like every day? This is normal? This is what being a demigod means?

From the porch of the Big House, Michael watches Travis and Connor, amongst a few others with just as many beads on their necklaces, triaging the injured. Passing around nectar bottles and ambrosia brownies, helping them stand, checking their wounds all with an air of professionalism.

They were trained for this. They prepared for this.

Michael doesn’t like that little fact.

And speaking of little facts he doesn’t like, one just sits down next to him. When he’s not standing around like a dumbass, he goes to get more nectar bottles from the infirmary where a team of two people is running around tending to the patients. One is Lee. The other, and the clear leader, is the boy in blue scrubs and yellow flip flops. The kid barked orders left and right, telling people where to go, where to place the patients, how to treat the minor wounds until he can get there, basically keeping everything orderly and efficient, all with this air of confidence and calmness. It would have been very reassuring if the kid himself wasn’t this little, baby-faced 11-year-old.

And said 11-year-old is now sitting down beside him, downing a bottle of water then downing half a bottle of red Gatorade.

Michael is starting to see why Lee doesn’t want his mom to know where Camp Half Blood is. If she ever visited and saw how the camp is being run primarily by pre-teens and teens… well… she’ll probably lose it.

“Hey,” the kid says.

“Hey,” Michael replies, cautiously.

Then, silence.

The most awkward silence he has ever experienced as they just sit side by side.

The kid takes another sip from the Gatorade.

“You’re Michael, right? You’re Lee’s upstairs friend?”

Michael bristles at the words. “How did you—“

“When the cabins burned down, we stayed at Lee’s apartment for a couple days,” the kid explains, staring at Travis and Connor milling about the battlegrounds. He fidgets with a bandaid on the back of his hand. “This is going to sound really weird, but I thought I heard his voice and your last names match so it might not be my imagination. But do you have a younger brother named Raphael?”

“Yeah, I do. How do you know that?” Michael says, trying and failing to tone back the defensiveness in his voice. God please don’t let Raphie be a demigod like him.

The kid breaks into a big smile and it really makes him look like the child he is. “We used to be in a class together with Mrs. Rem. How is he by the way? Is he still watching Ninja Turtles? What did he think of the newest episode?”

Distantly, from a dinner chat a long time ago, Raphael mentioned a ‘Will’ who left class because of a stomach ache and was never seen again. He remembered Raphael being really worried. He remembered Raphael even saying that ‘Will doesn’t ever get sick’ and he remembered dismissively saying, “Don’t worry. The kid’s probably fine.”

There’s no way the kid next to him is that Will. It has to be a coincidence. It got to be. Forget how this kid knows Raphael is a fan of Ninja Turtles. It’s a popular show right now. Somewhere, in this 6.6 billion populated planet, there’s got to be a Will and a Raphael who both go to the same school with a 5th-grade teacher named Mrs. Rem and both watch Ninja Turtles and both love Raphael the sai-welding turtle.

“You went to Hodgkins Elementary School?”

“Yeah.”

There’s still a chance this is all a coincidence.

“Your favorite turtle is Raph?”

“Well, it’s Leo now but I used to like Raph.”

Still a coincidence.

“And your name’s Will?”

“It is.”

Just one big coincidence.

“And you left the classroom—” Michael wracks his brain — when, when did Raphael talked about the kid? — “Because of a stomach ache back in October?”

For a minute, Will is silent. A minute filled with nothing but the whistle of the wind and commanding yells of campers. Will chuckles, low, as the plastic bottle crinkles in his hands. But when Will speaks, his voice is carefully blank, devoid of emotion. “Not exactly, no. I saw something strange at school that nobody could see and I called my mom, er, my aunt. But she raised me so I considered her my mom. She said to get out, even if I have to lie. So I did. A stomach ache was the easiest to fake. She picked me up from school. I think she was going to take me to camp. But on the drive here… a cyclops showed up and totaled the car. We ran. She told me to go ahead and get help. And I did. Without looking back. I found Lee and he took care of the cyclops but mom… ”

The kid’s voice is still blank. Emotionless.

“She died because of me.”

A bitter smile.

“Because I was too weak. Because I was too scared.”

The bottle bursts in his hand, the red dripping off his hand and staining his scrubs.

“No one is ever going to die because of me. Not again. Not ever.”

The kid leaves, running back inside when someone screams bloody murder and another voice yells, “Solace!”

(“Will’s last name was on our vocab lists,” Raphael had said a long time ago. “Solace. It means comfort. That’s so cool. No way can I forget that.”)

Michael continues to sit there, watching the battlefield empty out one camper at a time until everyone injured has been attended to.

(“She died. Because of me. Weak. Scared.”)

Weak. He understands. Too scared. He understands that too. He experienced all that today with the bulls.

If it had been at home with his family, at school with his classmates, even at the park with random strangers, what would have happened? He would have fought, right? Adrenaline would have kicked in and he would do something. Or would he have frozen? Just like he did today? Just stood there, watching his family be stomped and kicked and lit on fire until someone kicked him into gear? (“Run, Michael. Don’t look back.”)

No.

No. Fuck no. Three months. He has three months of this summer camp / orphanage / ‘let’s-all-become-child-soldiers-together!’ hellhole. He has three months to kick this stupid deer in the headlights reaction.

(“She died because of me.”)

He’s not going to let anyone die.

[5:00 PM, Free Time]

He finds them in the cabin, one slumped on the bed with an arm over his eyes and the other sitting at the foot with a sketch of the cabin in one hand and a pencil in the other.

They’re talking about something secret because as soon as Michael slams the cabin door open, their conversation stops. He catches the last sentence though. Are the nightmares getting worse? And god, if these two are okay with everything that just happened today, just handled it all with a face that says this is nothing, then Michael doesn’t want to know what kind of nightmares are troubling them.

“What’s up?” Connor or Travis, the one on his back, asks, trying and failing to get upright. The arm moves and tired eyes peek at him from underneath.

“Is it Lee? Does he need us again?” the other asks, tossing the drawing under the bed.

“You said, whatever problems we have, we can come to you two,” Michael starts.

They nod together in sync.

“Then I want you guys to train me until I drop dead. Now until the end of summer.”

[6:00 PM, Dinner]

He barely has his food on the plate when a bright light shines over his head. Flashy. Illuminating. Almost eye-blinding. Michael looks up, squints, and sees the sun with 21 arrows surrounding it, representing the sun’s rays.

Distantly, he’s aware of a bored voice proclaiming him as a child of Apollo. But all he’s really focused on is his cabin’s, ex-cabin now he guesses, reactions. He can see all their faces down the line. Most are happy. They smile and cheer for him, patting on him on the back and congratulating him. But he can see it, beneath their grins, beneath the genuine elation, is frustration, jealousy, longing.

(“It's been years.”)

Travis, with his pile of strawberries, bumps him in the shoulder with his own. “Hey, congratulations. Apollo cabin is a lot roomier than ours so you get to actually sleep on a bed.”

Connor nods, tossing an M&M bag into the flames. “Too bad you’re gonna miss the experience of being crammed like sardines on the floor. It’s actually pretty cozy.”

Michael frowns as he conjures up a PB and J sandwich exactly how Mom would make it, cuts it into halves, and toss it in . “Are you guys still going—”

“We’ll still help you,” Travis interrupts, but his smile is impish, borderline devilish. “But—”

“It comes with a price now.” Connor follows with a just as sordid grin. “Two conditions. One, you have to help us with archery. We’re not bad but we’re not good either and could use a bit more work. Annabeth and I have this sparring contest every week to see who is more proficient in what weapon. She beats me every single time when it comes to archery, but that’s ending this year. And two, you have to be our inside man.”

“Inside man?” Michael asks, already kind of knowing what that means.

“Let us into your cabin. Help us set up pranks in your cabin. Tell us everything we want to know about your cabin. You know. That sort of thing,” Travis says flippantly.

And before Michael can reject, accept, do literally anything, Travis turns around and walks to the table with this unbearably cheerful hum. “Will is going to regret ever messing with my diet.”

Connor falls in step with a fond smile. “But seriously, Will has a point. You need to balance your meals a bit more.”

For such nice people , Michael thinks as he’s corralled towards the Apollo table by an ecstatic Lee , they can be such dicks.

[7:00 PM, Volleyball]

“Hey, Lee, when did the monsters start coming for me?” Michael asks as he twirls the volleyball in his hands once, twice and tosses it to Lee. In the background, Michael can hear the yells and cheers of the far more serious, far more competitive match going on. Apparently, there’s a tournament between the cabins and the winner gets bragging rights and no cabin inspection next month.

Lee isn’t participating. “Our cabin is always clean and orderly,” he had said with pride, though that didn’t stop his half-siblings ( my half-siblings) from making a team and participating.

“Eh? The monsters? Uh, l-last year,” Lee says, fumbling the ball just like he’s fumbling the lie.

So it’s been more than a year.

Michael bites his cheeks as he bends his knees and extends his arms to bounce the ball back.

“And you’ve been taking care of them all this time?”

“Well, not all of them,” Lee admits, catching the ball with both hands. “A lot of them went away on their own.”

Liar , sings his guts. He’s lying .

Because Lee is way too nice. Way too selfless. Way too noble to tell the truth that would most definitely hurt.

“Why? Why didn’t you take me to camp earlier? When the monster started coming? Why now?” he bites out, just barely holding back the snarl. You could have saved yourself years of pain, years of trouble.

“Because…” Lee looks over to the courts, to where Travis and Connor are arguing with Annabeth (the moaning myrtle girl, Michael realizes). Something about which team Percy should be on.

(“Your dad is the god of Athletes. Your cabin already have an advantage.”)

(“Okay, but consider this, only Travis and I are claimed. Everyone else on the team could be anyone’s child. And your team is completely made up of god-tier and gifted strategists.”)

(“Your #4 is literally speaking ten languages. He’s got to be a son of Hermes.”)

(“That is a stereotype. Abraham could just be remarkably smart.”)

Lee’s eyes go back to him. “Because I wanted you to have a normal life, to know that there’s more to life than just this. Besides, I’ve been watching you for years. You learn how to do something like it’s nothing after a few minutes. It’s kind of ridiculous and I am lowkey jealous. But if you feel like you’re not ready, I can always—”

“Shut up, idiot. You’re not dropping out of school for me,” Michael grumbles, Lee’s stupid chuckle not at all comforting.

“I heard you guys are in a war,” Michael says, “Are you fighting in it?”

Lee serves the ball over, high and easy to hit. “Yeah. It feels wrong not to.”

And Michael spikes it back as hard as he can. “But you’re going to college in a few months.”

Lee shrugs, easily leaning forward and kicking it back high into the air for another easy hit. “Julliard is close enough to camp.”

Michael catches it, tucking it under an arm. “That’s not what I meant. What’s the point of going to college if you might lose an arm or leg fighting in this stupid war? You should just focus on school.”

Lee laughs of all things. “That’s nothing. Will fixed worse.”

Michael bristles at Lee's casualness. “Well, if you’re gonna fight, then I am going too.”

Lee laughs again, tenser this time. “You think your mom is gonna let you?”

“She lets you!”

“Because she doesn’t know what I’m doing. And I’m not the one living with her. Besides, do you even know what we are fighting for?”

“Of course, I do! The enemy is K—” Crap. He never got the full name or title of the bad guy. And somehow he feels like saying Cabin 11’s made up name isn’t going to make Lee take him any more seriously. “I’ll learn more about it. Besides, you’re a great guy. I’m sure you’re fighting for the good guys.”

“Michael, your faith in me is nice but getting involved without knowing the full story is dumb. You’re not fighting.”

“Yes, I am.”

“No, you’re not.”

“Yes, I —”

Lee’s face hardened the way it does when he’s mad or worried or dead serious. Like that one time Leo microwaved a spoon. Like when Raphael tried to jump down a flight of stairs for a dare. Like when Carly and Sam ran onto the streets without looking. And crap. Michael is 14, practically an adult. He shouldn’t be cowing under Lee’s hard stare anymore. But he is and he’s (slightly, only just slightly) scared.

“No, you’re not,” Lee says, “Because I don’t want you to fight when you have so little experience. Because your mom will literally kill me if something, anything happens to you. Because something bad will happen to you if you do join this fight. So no. You’re not going to fight. You’re not going to participate. You’re only here to train and enjoy camp life.”

“Fine. Fine. I won’t,” Michael grumbles, ducking his head. “Sheesh, you make it sound like if I join, the camp is done for.”

The hard stare melts back into that familiar, soft, (almost) carefree aura with a shrug and small smile. “I just have a feeling. It’s good to trust your instincts.”

And my instincts are telling me right now that you need to quit. But Michael is pretty sure Lee won’t appreciate it and moves the conversation to the climbing wall and why it’s on fire.

[9:00 PM, Campfire Song]

“Mom,” Michael says, the phone pressed against his ears. He looks out the window, watching the vibrant flame of the bonfire climb high into the starry skies and the circles of cheerful campers surrounding it.

“Michael, I was wondering when you would call. How’s camp? Do you like it?”

“Camp is…Camp is great. Lots of activity. Really unique. I—” I like it dies on his tongue. He doesn’t like it. He might have if there was a bit less training. Luckily his mother didn’t catch that pause.

“That’s great! Made any new — Carly Yew, are those markers I see in your hands? You better not draw on the walls. Get some paper, baby, okay? Made any new friends?”

“A few.”

“You should invite them over! We can have a nice little movie night together.”

Michael frowns as he recalls someone, somewhere, saying not to gather in more than threes outside the barrier. It attracts the monsters apparently and Michael isn’t about to test that. “They can't. They’re busy. They’re like—um—they’re head counselors, you see, and have a lot of duties.” Like practically running the camp but he doesn’t think Mom would appreciate knowing that.

“Well, it’s nice to see you make friends even if they’re a bit older.”

Are Travis and Connor older than him? Possibly. They exude confidence that no normal teen has. Or maybe they have just been here for a long time. And that is all kinds of sad.

His mom asks him about his day, what he did, if he has something he really likes, and for the next hour, Michael goes into a heavily censored, G-rated, parent-safe tale of his first day at Camp Half Blood. It could have been worse. On his way to the Big House to use the phone, he overheard an older boy telling a couple newbies how a kid fought a Minotaur on his first day here and a girl having to sacrifice herself for her friends.

Wow, it would suck to be them.

[11:00 PM]

He meets dad in his dreams.

Michael doesn’t know why, but he thought Apollo to be a refined god. A serious god. A graceful god.

Instead he sees a teenager sporting pilot shades and leaning on a flaming red sports car in the dingy parking lot of Camp Half Blood with the early morning sun just breaking the horizon.

“Dad?” Michael says, (who else could it be?) but still not really sure. “Uh, Apollo?”

And the teen waves, flashing a smile that nearly blinds him. “Michael! It’s so good to finally meet you.”

Before Michael could react, the teen — Apollo — dad — pulls him into a crushing hug that knocks all the air out of his lungs.

Apollo is strangely… warm. But not overbearingly warm. Warm like first snuggling into bed under the covers. Plus he smells like laurel leaves, sweet and bright. And Michael has a vivid flashback of his mom — younger, much much younger — in the hospital bed smiling at a man in his mid-twenties with a bundle of sheets in his arm.

Michael blinks as Apollo pulls away, holding him at arm's length and looking him up and down with a musing stare.

“You resemble your mom more than me,” Apollo says with a nod, “Most of my children tend to take after my looks, but you’re different, Mike. I have to say, I like it! I can’t stay long. Godly matters I have to attend to, you know? Here, I got you a gift for making it so far in life. Tell Audrey I miss her and think sweetly about the time we spent together.”

Apollo is pressing a guitar into his hands with his name engraved in the body and stepping back to get into his car. It’s exactly the same as the guitar Lee has except for the engraving. So not unique by any means. But it is a gift. And mom would kill him for rejecting a gift. It’s rude she says, but Michael doesn’t care about Apollo enough yet to give a fuck. Besides if Lee’s experience is anything to go by, this is probably the last time he’ll ever talk to his dad. He needs to make this moment count for something.

“Wait.”

Apollo pauses just as the engine roars to life, purring sweetly and the window rolled down.

“I want to ask for something else.”

Apollo blinks and Michael can see the inkling of annoyance in the young face, but Apollo nods and says without a lick of irritation in his voice, “Sure, shoot.”

“I want you to spend more time with Lee.” Then Michael has a realization. “You know who Lee is, right? The oldest one in the cabin? About to go to Julliard? Want to become a teacher?”

Now Apollo is definitely irked, a telltale wrinkle in his brow. Michael can now add ‘gods’ to the list of people he can make pissed off. “Of course I know Lee, my little music enthusiast child. How could I not? But I’m a God, Michael. There’s only so much free time I have.”

“Then just a few minutes a week, or even a month. So he knows you care.”

Again a slight scowl, but it lingers for a few seconds more.

“I do care but okay. Okay, I will.” Apollo shifts the car into drive still a little annoyed. Michael thought that was it. Any minute now he’s going to wake up and start the day, but Apollo sighs, leans back in the leather seat, and hangs an elbow out the window. “Michael, you’re so much like your mother. Caring. Gutsy. Compassionate. It’s crazy how much you resemble her. You’re going to do great things. You’re—” The annoyance drops and for a brief second, Apollo looks grief-stricken. And once again, Michael dreams of falling, of a bridge, of a boat wafting through a chasm of fire. But Apollo smiles that blinding smile, fond, and shakes his head.

“Don’t worry so much about your family. They’re going to be fine. You’re going to be fine.”

Michael wakes up just as the car drives off, his gut itching.

Apollo is lying to you.

#fanfiction #ao3 #archive of our own #my writing #travis stoll #connor stoll #michael yew #lee fletcher #will solace #miranda gardiner #pjo #percy jackson

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