#kinda wanna Reas it for them but like I KNOW she is ending with the other dude so eeeeeh do I wanna subject myself to suffering once again?

[moeblob]

Deacon loves two things: Ymber and digging himself a grave.

Fulj hates one thing: Deacon.

[mazojo]

I LOVE them

[essentiallyleaf]

day 01. titfucking. with. yel.

1709 words.

tags.

kinktober ‘23, idol x male reader, college classmates, subby(?) reader, cutie not-really-dom-but-not-really-sub-either yel, i know that doesn’t mean anything but that’s kinda how it is, public, handjob, blowjob, some spit, fondling, self-fondling i guess, masturbation, titjob, titfucking (are they the same thing?), actually it’s probably just softie dom yel, idk how to do this, barely edited, it wasn’t supposed to be this long.

notes.

i accidentally opened a google doc and this is what happened. if you read this, i love you and i’m sorry, and if you don’t, i also love you and you might be dodging a bad-writing bullet, so congrats, reader. or, non-reader, i guess. lovingly, leaf.

You need to get your shit together. The first day of college was always going to be hard, but the combination of you waking up half an hour late, of your ancient, rectangular-spectacled professor blabbering for an hour, no, an hour and sixteen minutes, about derivatives and limits, and your ponytailed deskmate’s disproportionate tits almost popping out of her tight white t-shirt, begging for your attention, well, that made it incredibly harder.

So as soon as the lecture ends, you take your tired, bored and horny ass off the chair and go to the restroom to try to freshen up.

“Do you like them?” A voice pops out of one of the stalls behind you, making you jump on the spot. You see her face in the mirror, it’s the pair- or, the girl who was sitting next to you in class.

“Sorry?” You turn around, startled and confused.

“Do you like my boobs? You've been looking at them for the whole class, do you like them that much?” She asks again calmly, on her face the same bright smile she had when she entered the classroom. Guess her rack wasn’t the first thing you noticed about her. Probably the second though.

“I’m so- I wasn’t look- I’m sorry.” You can’t hold eye contact for more than like, a second and a half straight.

“You didn’t answer” She tilts her head to the side and crosses her arms, pushing her breasts together even more.

“I- Did the professor ask me anything? Sorry, I’m still half asleep from-”

“My question. Do you like my tits, pretty boy~?”

Wasn’t that a rhetorical question? Besides, how did she get in the men’s room? Before you, nonetheless. She even hid in a stall, like a ninja, hiding in the trees before jumping on her prey. Is this part of a conspiracy, an ambush orchestrated towards you? And why is your dick getting hard at her calling you pretty?

“Answer honestly. I won’t get mad” She really looks like she won’t. She has the smile of a person who’d never hurt a fly. Her head swings lightly from left to right and back, making her ponytail dangle with it.

“I- Yes” You look away awkwardly and try to fix your pants so your hard-on doesn’t show.

Then, like she’s not in the middle of a public bathroom of a public university, or maybe like she knows that she is, and finds the whole thing that much more intriguing, she goes:

“Hehe~ Wanna see them?” What the fuck?

“Yes.” You don’t even say that. The word just leaves your mouth of its own accord. And while you’re wondering how it did, she’s already taking her t-shirt off and reaching behind her back for the clasp of her bra.

Click.

She takes two steps towards you while removing the straps from her shoulders, now only holding her cups with her palms, still smiling like this is a game, and she’s winning by a landslide, playing with you at this point. And now you can’t look away.

She slowly lowers her hands and lets her bra fall to the floor, revealing a pair of magnificent, big, round breasts. You’re now fully erect and don’t give a shit about hiding it.

She lets you stare for a couple seconds, then attacks your lips while holding your head. Your tongues meet and wrestle for a while, your hands still awkwardly holding the sink behind you.

“You can touch, you know~” Your hands grip her wide hips tight, then move up her back while you’re still kissing her and reach to the front, finding her soft boobs. You fondle them with both hands, your thumbs playing with her nipples. She moans softly.

One of her hands leaves your cheek and darts down towards your shaft, stroking up and down through your pants and making you growl in her mouth.

Then she detaches from your body in a flash, like she just had an epiphany, and heads towards the stall she came from.

“Come here, I think you’ll like this” She’s not asking this time, so you don’t answer. You simply smile back, follow her in and let her take the lead.

The girl gets on her knees and starts unbuckling your pants, her stare not leaving your eyes. She pulls your pants and boxers together down to your ankles, your cock plopping down right in front of her face. She looks at it with hunger, licking her lips, while she starts stroking it. She knows you don’t need her to, you’re already fully erect, she’s just playing with it for her own pleasure, and you’re ok with that.

“You’ll need some of this, hehe~” she says as she spits on your dick, spreading her saliva around with both hands now. She then does the same on your balls, and just to keep you busy in the meantime, she wraps her lips around your rod, slowly inserting more and more of it into her mouth.

“Fuck!” You know you’re still in a public bathroom, but her mouth is too good to care about that.

She takes more than two thirds of your cock, you almost touch the back of her throat before she retreats, drooling a little.

“Hehe~ You having fun, pretty boy?” You shudder slightly at the pet name. “Don’t cum so soon though, this is not even the best part~”

She spits again, this time on both of her hands, then begins fondling and massaging her own boobs. She’s staring at you when she starts, but she slowly gets more and more immersed into her own massage and closes her eyes halfway through, high-pitched whimpers occasionally leaving her mouth as she flicks her nipples. She licks her lips, like she’s longing, waiting for something, so you instinctively reach towards them with your finger, which she accepts into her mouth. She coats it with saliva and licks all around it, even bobbing her head on it a little, still smearing saliva onto her breasts. Your dick is hanging there untouched and you just stare at her pleasured state in awe. After what felt like almost a minute she breaks out of her trance.

“Oops! Sorry, I got a little too into it, I do that sometimes” she shyly remarks. You give a doting smile.

Then she immediately wraps her tits around your shaft and starts bobbing them up and down in a frantic rhythm, causing you to seek support on the wall behind you from the sudden pleasure.

“Hehe~ I knew you’d like this, you’re so cute”

This girl will be the death of you. You know that when she casually throws compliments at you, you know that when she puts that giddy smile on, but more importantly you know that when she does all of that while squeezing your dick between her boobs and bouncing on it.

As your hand reaches for her now slightly messier ponytail, she lowers and opens her mouth, letting her tongue out. With each thrust your tip now meets her soft, wet tongue, adding more stimulation to your shaft. She even gives it a little lick once in a while, and now you’re silencing your moans. You feel your orgasm building, so you take things into your own hands.

“Fuck, wait a second”

The girl only mouths a cute “Okay~”, simultaneously taken aback and amused at how you take the lead. You grab and place her back against the wall, then reach for her tits. She’s still on her knees, but she’s quite tall, so you only need to bend your knees slightly for your dick to be right in front of her breasts. You then place your shaft between her mounds and press them together before you start thrusting up slowly.

She can now keep her eyes on yours as you gradually pick up the pace. Both of her hands are free, but you only feel one wrap around the back of your thigh, both slowly stroking it and slightly supporting you. She reaches up towards your butt, helping your hips’ motion and now almost guiding your rhythm as you speed up and feel yourself getting closer. As you thrust between her breasts, you start squeezing them like stress balls, and at this point there’s nothing other than you, her boobs, and your impending orgasm. So when she starts fondling your balls from behind, the moment the pace of your thrusts reaches its peak, you know that’s the last bit of stimulation you needed.

“I’m about to cum. Where do you want it?”

She doesn’t even speak, just takes your dick and wraps her lips around it, licking all around it while spurts of white hit the back of her throat again, again and again, as you feel her mouth vibrate on you like she’s moaning on your girth. She keeps up the tongue work while bobbing her head up and down slightly, and as you release the last few drops, you’re just spent.

It takes a minute with your back against the wall for you to even be able to say anything.

“Are you okay?” She nods cutely and you notice she seems to be storing something in her cheeks. She opens wide and shows you the pool of your cum still in her mouth, not a drop wasted, then swallows it in one go. You stare at her mouth agape, she just chuckles.

Then you realize. “Shit, you didn’t- Do I need to-”

“Don’t worry, I got my share” she says while taking her still wet and sticky right hand out of her panties, then licks her fingers clean. “Yummy~” You bet. You’d love to have a taste, next time. “Thanks for offering though, you’re so cute~”

This girl will be the death of you.

The two of you put your clothes back on and wash up, trying to look as presentable as possible. When she’s ready, she turns towards you.

“My name is Yel, by the way, nice to meet you!” She extends her arm for a handshake like it’s the most normal thing to do after giving a titjob in a public bathroom. And in the awkwardness of the situation, you find that endearing.

“See you at class tomorrow?”

-

footnotes.

so, i'm trying this kinktober thing. i don’t know how many days i will write, maybe 31, maybe 10 , maybe even just this one, but i’ll try. some of them will be shorter, some longer, some softer, some kinkier, most of them probably very sucky. for now, just thank you for reading. have a kith and a good day <3. hopefully, leaf.

[microwavetoaster-selfships]

🪄💎👕eh? muahahaha...

@markbeakskisser

Ahh thank you!!! Hehe, I was purposely saving this for a proper moment to go through!

I was just going to originally put a read more at the end for the last question cause I have several photos I was gonna use cause I actually had drawn a thing a while ago that lines up perfectly with that, but obligatory yapping gets lengthy so I'm putting a read-more for it all just incase.

Actually, I've also decided I'll upload it separately as well, but some references for me/my S/I leaked at the bottom haha

-future Kane here, I just wanna say that you saying that you thought I was gonna pull out Tomadachi Life outfits as a reference has to be one of the most sound and incredible analyses of me, especially because I have done that with F/Os who have been from non-modern times. Also my fursona. My fursona outfit is ripped straight from a Tomadachi Life outfit I really like.-

🪄 Which canon character is the closest to being the complete opposite to your S/I?

This one is really really interesting for me to think about, cause I can name a character or two that I very much feel close to or relate heavily to, but the opposite? Cause like...there is such a VAST amount of characters and personalities displayed throughout the movies that narrowing down a polar opposite is almost ironically harder! It feels kinda fun though, like a puzzle, and I love puzzles >:) cause there are absolutely plenty of characters I'm not like at all, but I think "opposite" is the key word here.

I almost wanted to say Finn after some thinking, cause he is so well-composed, smooth, he doesn't really hesitate in what he does and he's quick-thinking, and he doesn't really ever waver in his demeanor or actions. And that's very different from me in the sense that I am incredibly indecisive, and(especially around him) I am a complete mess, I'd probably trip over my own two feet. But I wouldn't go as far to say we are complete opposites, cause I think we are both sweet and very dedicated to particular things, and are both a bit of hopeless-romantics. We have a tight-knit little circle of who we are with and stuff we do. At least, I'd like to think some of those attributes apply to me as well, haha!

Though, hear me out here, cause I know the knee-jerk thought reaction here is going to be "Kane, is there a REASON why you're saying that?🤨" and YES. THERE IS. And it's not entirely the one you think. I mean it is, but it's not the focal point reason. But I also kinda wanna say Sally. Just cause I do not ever really find myself agreeing with her actions throughout any of the movies, nonetheless how she treats Lightning(I am refraining from giving the whole essay here), but even before I did/knew I had feelings for Lightning, she always frustrated me a bit in how she did things, cause there's several moments in the movie where she's just using lawyerly tactics to kinda wring out what she wants. Sure, I don't really like her, and I have a pre-bias for not liking her cause she's Lightning's canonical love interest, but I've had characters before where I was merely just jealous and didn't dislike the love-interest as a character. She's not one of them. Like Holley is a lovely character. Am I little jealous? Sure, but she's great and kind and you won't ever see me saying otherwise.

💎 What’s your S/I’s most prized possession? (Other than your F/O)

This sorta depends on which story here we are talking about, cause depending on the story with what F/O there's normally a key item in a sense that plays a role in things. You could argue my bunny plushie that I insert into the story, because nearly each story has a moment of "This is my friend that I regularly talk to"/catching Kane sleeping with it so it can be introduced to the F/O, and irl that plush has been quite important to me.

In the story with Axlerod, it's technically his suit in a sense, because his suit has all his weapons in it, and he kinda gives that up and gives up being a spy as a really big key trust gesture to Axlerod as a "I'm not going to hurt you" thing. But also many of Kane's treasured items are left back in the US, as he figured he would just be running to the UK and back as shortly as he can, but that takes a turn, and so there's also the situation of him leaving all his stuff in the US for a new leaf turning in the UK. Which, asides from sentimental value and a few things, isn't too horrible cause money is not a problem for Axlerod, so some things can be replaced or retrieved.

In Finn's story a lobster plushie becomes a very valuable prized thing for Kane and Finn, since Finn gets one for Kane(or moreso makes Leland get one while he's busy doting over and trying to comfort a slightly injured Kane), and Finn got it as hopefully something to help soothe Kane, and because he knows that Kane likes that aquatic sort of aquarium stuff, and they had just gotten back from a particularly eventful mission. Kane also leaves the US for the UK here, but it's less of a focal point in this story, and just comes up occasionally.

Kane not having much is a strong-point, so it sort of shifts around what he keeps most closest to him.

Bonus mention of in Francesco's story, Kane has a scarf that he knitted in the Italian colors(I knitted this scarf in real life actually, and I uploaded a photo of it aaggesss ago. I actually want to re-knit it now that I know a better method of doing it and never got to add a design detail that I originally wanted to).

👕What are some other outfits your S/I wears throughout their story? Show us some examples of clothes they wear!

I might upload this separately just cause these are the closest I have to a reference for me/my S/I and it'd also be good contribution to the Kaneart tag, but here:

Top left is what he wears in the story with Axlerod and Finn, this is what I most frequently draw him wearing and kind of his 'staple' outfit as a character.

Top right is just casual, based on what I normally wear irl, one of my favorite hoodies and just some slacks. The striking resemblance of the hoodie color to Acer's hoodie is purely coincidental(/geniune).

Bottom left is also essentially another day-to-day outfit of a jacket that I wear most often when it is too hot for me to wear hoodies(except I left out the jack design cause it is too complex for me to want to bother with), the red shirt is just a plain red t-shirt that I really like. At the time of me drawing that it was particularly for my story with Francesco, hence the F1 VIP pit-lane free pass tag he's wearing.

Bottom right is..... hopefully self-explanatory. Particularly Cars 2 related, hense the fire design at the end of the 95 bolt like Lightning's paint job is for Cars 2, and also the WGP tag that I wrote small-ly cause I was too lazy to do the proper WGP tags or the sponsor tags that should be all over the suit.

Just for clarification cause I always fuss myself over it, my hair isn't curly, it's just puffy, I don't know why I draw it like that. I think my hair might also be a littleee darker brown in real life.

[hellfire--cult]

I AM SO SORRY THIS IS SOOO LONG!! BUT THIS IS SHOW YOU HOW MUCH I LOVE YOUR WRITING SO MUCH!! I fucking love Do I Wanna Know?. Got me takes forever to finish it but worth it! You can skip all the way down to bottom 😂

Part one: OH MY GOD. Steve is masterpiece, I would kiss all over his body fuck me. I am sooooo jealous of Barb got a touch lips by Billy! I do wish they could be date together because they’ll be so cute 😭 I DIE IF EDDIE DID TO ME AND, YEAH, I WOULD FAINT TOO!

Part two: Reader is so adorable. I wish Eddie could help me too, I’m not great around guys either. (Panic panic panic) I did laugh when reader yell “I’m sorry” and made Eddie jump, spill coffee. Reader and Robin are perfect best friend, it’s so cute when she told her that she was talking to Eddie, a stripper. JASON? LIKE ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT JASON CARVER A STRIPPER?!?! I need to know how Jason end up. I did little mad at Eddie because of Harry Potter, I was like how dare him?! 😂 but it cute that he already knew to make her to look at him. Nice one Eddie. You made me look up to see if black is colour, turn out it wasn’t, I am so mad but Black is my favourite COLOUR!!! I’m going to stick with that 😤🖤.

Part three: i love how eddie help her out at the mall (I wish he was there with her) to help pick out the dress (omg beautiful dress) I can see that Robin and Eddie are going to be great friend. First time to see reader dress took Eddie breath, oh yeah he’s going to falling in love with her. “I like spicy.” Eddie held in the smirk at your words, closing his eyes to not make a dirty joke out of it. had me giggling. I like how Steve and Billy gentler with her and helping her too, I like them. Billy… Billy… that goddamn blue eyes. (Hand fan) I had to look up what is Anchovy pizza look likes and ew. Haha there no way I’m going to eat them, I’m on Steve side.

Part four: I am sooooo proud of reader that she did it! Meet the other guys in eyes and didn’t even stutter! Ah so proud. I love how Robin yelled “Holy shit! GOD BLESS STRIPPERS!” got me laugh. I, Lucille, want taste Steve foods, I definitely want to call him my sexy chief. The touch! The TOUCH!! Billy AND Steve kissed?! I must need to see that! I’m sad that Billy is straight 😂 I kinda want Steve and Billy together. Why is so sexy that Billy help Steve, Eddie helped Billy and Steve helped Eddie that I can imagine them, kiss, touch skin and sexy dancing, my god 🫠 And the kiss!! The Kiss!! THE KISS!!!!! AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!! Had me MELTING. I’m speechless. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 Reader got second kisses from two men in one night! Why can’t that be meeeeee?????? 😭😭

Part five: Austin, oooohhhhh, he likes Harry Potter books, aaahhhhh. I do love Harry Potter, so obsessed and I do have tattoo! (Picture in bottom) Steve spit cheerios out had me laugh, poor Steve! But Poor Eddie. I love Robin taught her to cross her arm and make chest pop. I wish Robin’s my best friend or a real person. And she’s doing a stripper dancing for R! I. Am. So. Jealous. Steve dance for r? My god. BILLY dance for r? OH my god! “Angel” had me sweating and couldn’t breather either. Eddie- Eddie- Eddie- you kill me, you already kill me and I’m dead. I’m going sue you for that. He can take my dollar, no, hundred dollar. “I’ll help you shut your mind off. So… please- please let me make you feel good” o-oh Eddie, please make me feel good. Again… THE KISSING!! (Me: Gif ⬇️) “Feel me” WHY CAN I FEEL THAT?! I NEVER BEEN THAT HORNIEST IN MY LIFE!! I want to give you a handshake for thankfully because that was amazing I ever read. My husband give me the weird look, he asked “why are you so squirming so much?” I actually answered this, “well… Eddie is fingering me” 🤣 I cannot believe you choose Austin Butler and you got that right, I’m going to sue you. I can’t believe you didn’t pick Jamie/Henry! 🤪

Part six: 22.4K? Sweetheart. Darling. Roe. Whyyyyyyyyyyy?????? I have to make that plan to read them on weekend (my only day off) and it wasn’t easy not to read them! he whispered into his ear the same question he asked you before. "Did you have fun last night?" had me screaming! Reader shaved again and the black laced lingerie set? Oooohhhh I can feel spicy coming 🌶️ the date seem went well but then Dustin called. That little shit. 😅 I hope they meet one day and play game together! He make my cheeks hurt so bad from smiling. I love dustin so much! The smut! THE SMUUUUUUUUUT!!!!!! OH MY GOD I WOULD GIVE YOU THE BEST AWARD!! (Me; gif ⬇️) 🏆🏆 my husband gave me the weird look again 🤣

Part seven: ahh it made me so happier for Eddie and reader (love sight). But………. HOW DARE EDDIE?!?! No wait… HOW DARE YOU?!?! How could you do this to meeeeeeee?? 💔 not the purple dress! I’m so scared for her, I don’t want her to come back in shy again 😭 I hope Eddie better explain that

That’s all folks! Wow! This is incredible I ever read. And yeah, I read them each parts while write the reviews. I never done that before 😂 I’m so sad that your taglist is full but I am super looking forward for more and I cannot wait to read more!

My tattoo 💚

Oh wow LOOK AT HOW MUCH YOU WROTE I CANNOT BELIEVE IT

I love all of your feelings throughout the parts, it does make me feel like i did something right 😭❤

Can't believe you wrote your thoughts and feelings for each part, I am still in awe from reading it all! I am really happy that you liked them so much that YOU WROTE THIS MUCH AND YOU MADE ME SMILE SO WIDE, YOU HAVE NO IDEA

LOL YOUR HUSBAND, I had many people tell me that their partners were looking at them weirdly when reading the smut part or the cute parts of them all, AND I DONT BLAME THEM, NOR YOU, BECAUSE EVEN I THE WRITER WAS KICKING MY FEET WHILE WRITING IT

I AM A FAN OF HARRY POTTER MYSELF, and I lovE YOUR TATOO OMG. THE CUP!? THE DEATHLY HALLOWS?! AND THE FUCKING FLOWERS .S.FS.SE.FS

I love it so much and thank you again for this amazing response, it truly brings a smile to my face to know that I am making people feel these things just by my mere writing 💕💕

[yamigooops]

I posted 1,147 times in 2022

13 posts created (1%)

1,134 posts reblogged (99%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@bfbkg

@prettyboykatsuki

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I tagged 123 of my posts in 2022

#cel saves - 59 posts

#cel screams - 41 posts

#cel suggests - 27 posts

#cel sobs - 25 posts

#bakugou x reader - 24 posts

#cel speaks - 20 posts

#bakugou katsuki - 14 posts

#cel simps - 10 posts

#soft bakugou - 8 posts

#bakugou smut - 5 posts

Longest Tag: 103 characters

#i kinda wanna replace his fingers with mine on the carb and make him take a fat fucking rip on the bong

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

I have yet to put last year’s sticker on anything bc I’m too hesitant and feel like I’ll regret it, so you best BELIEVE these popsicles ain’t goin anywhere yet… it has to be perfect because they deserve nothing left 😌💕

Thank you so much for these @birfart I literally can’t wait to hang them in my new apartment when I get it (mind you I haven’t started looking but I just graduated so it’ll happen soon hopefully lol) The prints will be front and center on my anime wall 🥰🥹✨

15 notes - Posted August 8, 2022

#4

Chapters: 1/? Fandom: 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia Rating: Mature Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Todoroki Enji | Endeavor/Reader Characters: Todoroki Enji | Endeavor, Reader Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Dragon King Endeavor, Queen Reader, Arranged Marriage, Alternate Universe - Arranged Marriage, War, Todoroki Enji | Endeavor Redemption, Soft Todoroki Enji | Endeavor Summary:

When a chance to end the 100-year-long war sits itself right at your feet in the form of a 7-foot-tall dragon king, you can't help but accept. Little did you know where you'd end up...

Hi lovelies!! So I’m writing my first ever series (though I have another in the works hehe) and I wanted to share it with you all. I’ve decided to post it to Archive Of Our Own instead of Tumblr, but I may cross post it here in the future, depending on how well it does over there. I hope you’ll all consider reading it, because I have big plans for it. Chapter 1 isn’t any nsfw, but that’s coming very soon! 

20 notes - Posted January 3, 2022

#3

Y’all Shinsou really ain’t that nice of a guy in the show, and he’s so driven by the need to prove to both himself and others that he’s not a villain that sometimes I wonder if he really wants to be where he is, or if he just feels obligated to prove that everyone’s expectations that he’ll be a villain are wrong.

It makes me kinda hurt for him bc sometimes he seems unhappy with his journey to becoming a hero, but at the beginning I thought he was just as competitive a person as Bakugou, only super cold instead of explosive. But now, high and on my third rewatch of MHA, I feel like he just feels obligated to prove everyone wrong, whether or not that is what he really wants to do with his life.

Idk, I feel like he’s a really open-for-discussion character when talking about him canonically and I kinda love that about him. If y’all have thoughts about him and his character, lemme know bc I just love this boy so much and truly think he’s severely underrated

is this opening the possibilities for a shinsou hurt/comfort fic? maybe it is maybe it isn’t I guess you’ll have to wait and see huh?

24 notes - Posted November 3, 2022

#2

Hey I know you beta’d for Gnarlypunkassbitch for Our Enigma. I noticed she’s deleted her ao3 account and her Twitter, do you know what happened or if she’s ok?

Omg yes! Ok so she DMed me before deleting and let me know that she’s had some ongoing issues with both her physical and mental health. I’ve known about them for a little while, as that is the reason she hasn’t updated the story since like February I think?

Essentially she had been feeling a tremendous amount of pressure over not having the time, energy, or inspiration to write and/or update the story. Despite readers’ support and reassurance for her to take her time and prioritize her wellbeing, as writers online we can often get caught up in the trap of thinking that just because we have a story that might be successful, which I would absolutely consider OE successful with tens of thousands of reads, we have to update on a constant schedule or our readers are going to get mad.

I know when she first started it she updated regularly, but from what I know it was supposed to end a while ago but she kept extending it bc readers wanted more. She eventually had to prioritize her well-being over the story, since she lost inspiration. And while this happened a few weeks ago, she still felt the pressure from AO3 and Twitter, so she decided that a full cleanse would be best for her.

However, we are still in contact, so she hasn’t completely vanished. I’ve emailed her in response to the DMs she sent me before leaving Twitter, and expressed my support for her to take care of herself first. She did say in the DMs that she may come back and repost the story in the future after she’s worked on herself, but that’s completely up to her. I do still have the beta read documents, and she still has the originals, so the story still exists, just not publicly right now. I was also talking with her about releasing a podfic of the story, though I hadn’t planned to even start recording it until October.

As of right now, she hasn’t responded. I emailed her on April 6th when she left, so it hasn’t been super long since then. But I expressed that she didn’t have to respond or anything if she needed a full cleanse from everything. Though I did express that I was sending her good vibes and thoughts, as well as my willingness to act as a channel for her to communicate with all the fans of OE in order to update you all on her state, as well as share your support and love for her.

I just feel so incredibly privileged to have been a part of this story, even if the work I did never got shared publicly. Because I got to become friends with a generous, kind-hearted, marvelously talented woman, while also sharpening my editing skills at the same time. Like I literally kept a cry count throughout this fuckin fic and the first read through I cried 15 times, and by the end of the beta it was up to 27. If a writer is able to make you cry even when you know what’s coming next? That’s true mastery in my opinion. So like wow. I just…. I’ll never shut up about this fic y’all. Never ever. I wish I could share the beta docs so y’all could still read it, but that would be a breach of her trust since she took it down publicly and hasn’t responded to my message yet. So I unfortunately won’t be doing that.

I’m also honored that people have come to me to ask after her. Like wowza. I’ve had numerous people do so, and I just can’t get over it. The love that has already been shown just in the past 6 days is astonishing. She impacted so many in such a profound way, and I am more than happy to act as a bridge to you all now. Though I will say that if you’d like to send her love and/or we’ll wishes that I won’t be contacting her again until she responds to me. Because we all need to respect her journey to healing, and if that means never hearing from her again, I hope you’re all willing to accept that and still wish her well.

So really all we can do now is sit together in our love for her and the story, send her positive energy in her road toward healing, and cross our fingers that she will one day bring this masterpiece back to life. But the decision is completely up to her, and I hope you’ll all support her just as much as I do. Keep an eye out for her possible return, maybe check like once every month or two. I will also make an announcement if she does return, so let’s do what we can right now to get her those good, healing vibes 🥰🥲

Below are my true feelings regarding the (hopefully temporary) loss of this absolutely incredible writer and friend:

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64 notes - Posted April 12, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

good luck charm

synopsis: when you decide to get a little cheeky and put on a cute cowboy’s hat you get a lot more than you bargained for

warnings: strangers to lovers, slight size kink, overstimulation, multiple orgasms, unprotected sex, Katsuki’s a playful bastard (if there are any I’m missing let me know lmao)

length: 9.7k

inspired by an ask submitted to @kingkatsuki by @thecowboykatsuki-anon and featuring art based on the same idea by @jozstanko-art​ we’re all just whipped by this fucker and want to put his hat on and have him fuck us silly

Rodeos weren’t particularly your thing, considering you had grown up in the suburbs your entire life. College had introduced you to people who had grown up with lifestyles contrary to your own, including your best friend Mina, who had grown up in a small rural town. Where she had grown up everyone knew each other, and things like farms and town fairs and rodeos were commonplace among the population.

So, when she invited you to one of said rodeos after your junior year had ended you were intrigued enough to oblige. She had told you about them for the past three years, and you were somewhat curious after all the hype she had placed on them. So about two weeks after the semester ended you found yourself in her hometown. It was a small town, with a main street that consisted of about three blocks of bars and independent shops that provided everything from boutiques to ice cream parlors.

As the day approached dusk on your summer vacation you found yourself at the main fairgrounds for the (apparently monthly) rodeo and trying not to entirely mentally check out. You genuinely had no idea what was going on, despite the fact that Mina had spent the hour and a half drive from your university apartment to her childhood home explaining everything that happened at a rodeo. All you could grasp was that there were three events and which ones her friends competed in. One competed in two, while another competed in the other.

The third friend competed in all three events and was recognized area-wide as exemplary in all of them, and by the way Mina described this man he was incredibly attractive. So, you spent your free time on the drive imagining how this man looked. You only knew he had blonde, spiky hair, red eyes, and a near permanent scowl. However, considering he participated in all three of these events you had to assume he was in peak physical condition. Something about Mina’s description of him made your stomach flutter.

As she pulled into the parking lot of the arena you realized just how popular this event was. It seemed as though every person in town was here, and the parking had spilled over from the actual lot onto the field surrounding it. Once you had parked in the closest possible spot, you and Mina made your way over to the competitors’ area.

Since she knew so many of the participants the two of you were permitted past the gate reading “Competitors and staff only.” She led you through a light crowd of men and women, many of whom were decked out in full cowboy regalia. There was also the occasional horse, bull, or steer being led to their pens to await their turn on the arena floor.

Coming to a pair of young men, Mina bounced on the balls of her feet and tapped a red-haired man on the shoulder. He turned around questioningly before lighting up at the sight of your best friend.

“Well look who finally made it,” boomed the man. He towered over you, absolutely built but attractive in a big puppy kind of way. His smile was infectious, and as he pulled Mina into a bear hug, you found yourself smiling as well.

“Eiji, I missed you so much!” Mina practically jumped onto her friend, her arms clinging around his neck. So, this must have been Kirishima. Now that you heard his name you could recall several stories Mina had shared with you about the red-haired giant. She had also shared with you, in confidence of course, that she’d had the biggest crush on him since middle school, but never worked up the courage to ask him out.

“Missed you too,” he murmured, his face buried in her neck. If you didn’t know any better, it would have looked like the two were already dating. The thought had you chuckling, as it was quite obvious that Kirishima felt the same way about Mina. You supposed it was probably easier to see as an outsider.

“God, get a room, will ya?” came a gruff voice from behind the pair. You shifted your attention from the closeted lovers before you to the man standing just behind them. Sure enough, based on Mina’s description of him, you assumed it was Bakugou Katsuki. Only he was so much more attractive than you had expected. His garnet eyes were piercing as they moved from Kirishima and Mina over to rest on you, and you found yourself blushing and looking away under his intense gaze. “And who are you?”

“Oh, guys this is my best friend and roommate Y/N,” Mina supplied, releasing Kirishima from the chokehold she had him in and moving back to your side to prompt you forward. “She finally agreed to come see you guys compete!”

“Wow, that’s awesome. Thank you so much, and it’s nice to meet ya,” grinned Kirishima as he held out his hand to shake yours. He was the picture of gentlemanly perfection, and you found yourself instantly drawn toward him.

“Absolutely, I figured I should come see what all the hype is after this one talked it up so much for three years,” you chuckled and gestured toward your pink-haired friend. “She talks about you guys all the time.”

“Better be good things,” grumbled Bakugou, crossing his arms over his chest. The action had his black, green and red plaid shirt pulling tight over his biceps and chest, drawing your attention to the rest of his physique. His thighs were massive, though you supposed that was from years of training to ride bucking animals. His leather chaps had imagery of explosions down the sides, and flared out at the ends along with his dark jeans to accommodate his leather cowboy boots. Atop his head sat a well-loved black cowboy hat, beneath which his spikes of ash blonde hair peeked.

“Oh, only the best. I hear that you guys are some of the best riders around,” you nodded. His slight scowl didn’t budge, and in that moment, you decided you’d make it your goal to get him to smile by the end of the night.

“Aww, thank you Mina,” Kirishima crooned, throwing his arm around the smaller girl.

“Of course, I’d say good things, ya doofus. You guys are my best friends.” Mina’s cheeks were darkening from the proximity to the “love of her life,” as she had put it so many times. 

You chuckled, watching as the childhood friends caught up with one another. There were two more that joined, named Sero and Denki, and as the conversation continued and the crowd shifted, you found yourself shoulder-to-shoulder with Bakugou after a while. You chimed in every once in a while, but mainly let Mina catch up with her friends. Bakugou seemed to have a similar approach to the conversation, watching as Mina and Kirishima cluelessly flirted and teased one another. 

“Are they always this oblivious?” You kept your words quiet as you directed them toward the blonde beside you.

“Those two have been doing this shit for years,” he sighed. “We keep tryin’ to get em together, tell them that they’re into each other, but they’re about as dense as two blocks of concrete.”

You snorted, “Must be exhausting having to watch that for so many years.”

“You ain’t got a clue.” He let out a puff of air through his nose, and when you peeked up at him through your lashes, you realized it was a chuckle. There was a shadow of a smile on his lips, and you felt your chest glow with pride at having gotten even that out of the stoic man.

“You should smile more,” you said teasingly, bumping your shoulder against his, though it was admittedly more against his bicep than anything.

“That a command, little missy?” He turned those burning eyes on you once again, and you felt something tighten deep within you. Feeling a surge of confidence roll through you as you captured his attention, you reached up and plucked his hat off his head before plopping it down on your own. It was warm and smelled like his shampoo, something deep and spicy. His lips slowly slid into a sly grin as you tilted your head back slightly more than before to be able to see him under the brim of it.

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2,759 notes - Posted October 29, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[jess-the-vampire]

As someone involved in the star vs fandom it does kinda weird me out in terms of hunter and willow that ppl are making the “Can’t guys and girls just be friends” thing? 

Like i have had that argument before, but it only really applies to very specific situations for me, like either a romance either feeling forced between the characters just to force one, or the show is extremely bad at presenting m/f friendships.

With star vs, and anyone who knows me knows how much i hated the romance subplot, that show had a nasty habit or just....making every single m/f friendship (That didn’t involve ponyhead but the fans didn’t care about her much anyway) romantically implied in some way or another?

star and marco

tom and star

kelly and marco

marco and jacke

Star and Oskar

janna and marco (Janna bullies him but also flirts in some scenes)

Marco and Hekapoo (But that’s a whole thing in itself)

Tom and Janna technically were one of the few that really didn’t have any explicit implications and even then they’re a popular crackship and the only reason they probably interacted in the show was because they were a popular crackship before that point.

Like Star vs is a flawed show and it has a lot of good from it i do still enjoy, but that show fails to really showcase healthy M/F friendships that either don’t turn romantic, have implications, or are actually healthy.

Even those you could argue for are ones with very little to work off of.

and there’s lines of dialogue even IN the show that seem to push this idea males and females can’t be friends, even if purely on accident. You’ll have scenes like jackie and marco be friends (Before the show ends so it doesn’t mean much), followed by tom telling star “She should date a best friend and she already has one”, unintentionally implying some pretty negative stuff. (Because she had ponyhead and in the beginning of the show she considered both her and marco to be her “Best friends” but tom ain’t implying she is somehow an opponent, so it comes off like it’s because he’s a guy and also feels unintentionally homophobic as a result).

even star and marco, the main friendship/ship in the series, failed to work for it’s own fans, for a multitude of reasons and bad writing that i can’t get into everything because we’d be here all day. But for a lot of people that relationship not only became toxic, but forced, as if the writers were trying to make you like it instead of making it feel natural as time went on.

And you can feel free to disagree on this with me, but i feel this is a far better example of “Why can’t girls and boys be friends?” then something like toh.

Toh doesn’t force every single guy and gal into some implied romance, the show is chock full of platonic friendships between girls and guys luz, willow and amity are friends with gus (more luz and willow), you have hooty and lilith become pals, hunter and luz are pretty strictly platonic in the show (Tho fans who ship them for fun are allowed to do so)...

even side friendships, steve and Lilith, viney with jerbo and barkus, hunter with both viney and skara, ect ect.

and most of these friendships are shown in extremely positive lights (Excluding ones such as bria with her two guy buds) without a ton of unhealthy implications.

These shows are not the same sure, and you could say it has a lot to do with star prioritizing the shipping over the plot and trying to cater to every ship over it’s own story, but the point i wanna make here is that i think it’s weird as hell to claim hunter and willow is “Taking away from male and female friendships” in a series that doesn’t even have many m/f onscreen romances to begin with?

Pretty much all M/F couples in toh are like....side couples who don’t get much in terms of screentime, outside of alador and odalia (And we see how that went down).

Like maybe if we’re lucky we’ll get something for caleb and his witch lover in s3 or possible future content (Maybe even camila and luz’s dad?), but willow and hunter are the only real prominent romance between a girl and boy on this show?

So this whole argument feels silly to me.

You can def not personally care for them to have a romance, but the idea that this show is pushing the idea “Men and woman can’t be friends” is not only wrong, but extremely strange for a series where they are the only prime example of a healthy one in the show.

Because i have seen shows who do this poorly, and i think it should come up when appropriate, and not simply because you personally just don’t like m/f romances or want them.

F/m romances can still be good ones when well written, and huntlow as a ship is still representation and clearly makes some people feel very seen.

We absolutely could benefit from m/f friendships who don’t turn romantic in more shows and movies, but toh is not really doing much of that and this criticism should not apply to them.

Because if they were pushing that idea, this show would probably not be as good as it is.

[reaganseyebags]

I’ve got a request!! 💕 what do u think Reagan’s reaction would be like if they had a crush on reader first? How would she try to make the first move/romance (if you think she would make the first move)?

//SFW!!

Ooooh ok,, this one is gonna be fun

We know from that one episode that she’s brutally honest,, something about you tho,, she doesn’t wanna fuck up

She overthought this WAY TOO MUCH to the point of having a panic attack.

Brett was there to comfort her like the good friend he is and when he asked what happened she just spilled it all out.

How amazing you are. What a amazing smile you have,, that she would love to have you as a partner,, she goes into details

Brett offered help. He mentioned this party organized by one of your coworkers and he’s pretty sure you are gonna be there

It’s perfect,, she doesn’t have to awkwardly come to you and ask you out.. this will be more natural. You will have just a little a chat together and at the end she will ask you if you want to be hers,, easy peasy

Lemme tell you, this woman was preparing for this night. She bought a new perfume,, got her best dress.. she even took a shower and shaved her legs.. just to make sure she looked good for you

She actually hates these types of parties. They are just so loud and chaotic it gives her headaches. But she’s going to try,, for you

She walked in, she was immediately welcomed by Andre and Gigi.

“Oh hey Rea! I wasn’t expecting you to come. “

“W-well yeah.. sometimes you need to come out of your comfort zone ahah “

She started searching for you, leaving them behind.

She ended up finding you sitting on the couch, alone. That sigh made her kinda sad.

She just went for it, leaned against the wall right next to you and turned her head so she can see you better

“Hey,, you kinda look lonely,, may I join you?”

“Reagan hey!! Sure go ahead. I don’t have anyone to talk to anyway right now”

She sat down next to you and you two just naturally started talking. About work, your hobbies,

In conclusion, you two had a lovely chat.

She notices how close you two were which made her blush. You were just keep getting closer and closer to each other that eventually your arms were touching. Neither of you cared tho. It felt nice to have you close to her

After like an hour Reagan asked: “wanna get something to drink and go outside for a walk?”

You nodded and stood up, handing to the kitchen

Reagan followed you there, she had this stupid smile on her face <333

You got your drinks and headed outside. It was pretty cold night. Your breaths were leaving white clouds.

Your conversation went on. This time is was more personal. Reagan mostly talked about her emotionally abusing dad and you were talking about personal problems.

After a while there was this comforting silence. Reagan decided to not waste any more time.

“H-hey Reader,, I wanna tell you something,,”

“Sure what’s up?”

“I kinda suck at these things but- f-fuck,, you are amazing person and I would love to have you in my life like,, you know,, like my partner..”

You were shocked to say at least. But also so so happy.

You just presses your hand to her cheek and and said: “yes reagan,, I would like that,, as well. I want to be yours”

The look and the smile she gave you <333

The next thing you know she’s wrapped around you and she’s crying into your shoulder. They are happy tears tho!!

Just the relieve that you love her back

Hope I did ok hun!! Thank you for requesting!

[softyn]

Scintilia | Han Jisung

Scintilia (n): a tiny, brilliant flash; a small thing; a barely visible trait

Summary: Jisung knew he fucked up when he told his friends he had a girlfriend when he actually hadn’t, but he fucked up even more when he started to have feelings for the girl he asked to be his fake girlfriend.

wc: 5k

genre: fake dating! au, fluff, angst

warnings: some curse words, a little make out session.

a/n: I wasn’t really going to post this for Jisung’s bday buuuuut I just finished it so ^^ Happy Jisung day! I hope you have an amazing day 🤍🥺 Stay love you!🥰 (sorry for the end of the au its actually shit lmao but it’s 2am and I falling asleep sjhedjh)

-

You looked out of your classroom’s window; This class was taking too long and you were hungry enough not to focus on it anymore.

You looked at the people who were sitting in the garden, either enjoying their free period or skipping classes.

Among them, you spotted Felix, your classmate, with his group of friends, laughing at something one of them said.

Their group was pretty popular at your university, they were known to be quite friendly, handsome, athletic, and good students, and you wouldn’t be joking if you said that more than half of the university would die to date them.

You only knew Felix for sharing some classes with you and once, you were paired up to do a project together and, to be honest, it was a lot of fun and you enjoyed doing the project with him even though you barely knew each other.

Suddenly, the sound of the loud alarm indicating that the class was over interrupted your thoughts.

You jumped from your seat and, quickly, picked up all your things. You were starving and you wasted no time in texting your friend to meet you at your favorite ramen place so you could eat together.

-

“Text me once you arrive home.” Your friend told you.

“I will.” After you said goodbye to your friend, you headed to your dorm, but what you didn’t expect when you arrived there was to find one of Felix’s friends waiting in front of your door.

You frowned and checked the floor and the door number, thinking that maybe, you got off the wrong floor, but indeed, this was your dorm.

“Excuse me.” You said, trying to catch the boy’s attention.

He turned around and seemed surprised to see you there like he wasn't expecting you to appear at all.

"Do you need anything?" You asked.

He opened his mouth, finding the correct words until he finally decided to introduce himself.

"Yeah, hi! I'm Han Jisung, I live a couple of doors from here." He said, pointing with his thumb to the left, where his dorm was. "Also, I'm Felix's friend, you know him, right?"

You nodded quietly surprised to hear that he was your neighbor.

“I wanted to talk to you about something.” He said with a shy smile. “Do you wanna go for a walk meanwhile?

You looked at him and you squinted your eyes.

Why would he suddenly want to go for a walk with you?

“Actually, It’s kinda late you know...” You said, looking for your keys.

“Y/N, please! I really need your help!” He begged, holding your hands in his. “I just... I really fucked up and I know we barely know each other but... I’ll do whatever you want to just please, help me!”

Taken aback by his behavior, you looked around in case someone was watching you and you sighed.

You opened the front door of your dorm and offered him to enter.

“Okay so...” You started saying but you were interrupted by Jisung.

“Will you be my girlfriend?” He suddenly asked, making you choke on your saliva.

“WHAT?” 

“It doesn’t have to be real! Like, you can be my fake girlfriend, you know?” He said nervously.

“And why on the earth would you want to have a fake girlfriend?!” You asked confused.

Jisung blushed slightly and looked at his feet. “I told my friends I had a girlfriend so they now want to meet her.” He explained but for the look from your face he understood that you needed much more explanation. “It scaled so quickly, they were saying that I’m a chicken and I couldn’t ask a girl out and I told them I had a girlfriend just to shut their mouths but I didn’t think of the consequences.” He said.

You stayed in silence, examining his face. “I see...”

Suddenly, the ringing of your phone startled the both of you.

“Shitshitshit.” You said when you saw it was your friend Sohye the one calling you.

“Sorry! Sorry, sorry I totally forgot to text you, I’m already at home.” You said after you picked it up.

“You scared me dickhead!” Your friend yelled at you.

“I’m sorry, something came up and I totally forgot.”

“Is everything okay?” Sohye asked.

“Yeah, don’t worry, see you tomorrow?”

“Yeah, oh! And don’t forget I have a really important exam tomorrow, I won’t be able to eat lunch with you.” She said.

“Yeah, yeah, good night.”

“Good night y/n.”

You hung up and looked at Jisung.

“Don’t tell me it was your boyfriend?! Or girlfriend?! Oh my God, I’m so sorry, I should have asked you first.” He said, covering his mouth with his hands.

You giggled and shook your head. “It was my friend and don’t worry, I don’t have a partner.” You informed.

“Ok, so...” He said.

“What do I get in return?” You asked.

He seemed to be relieved that you didn’t say no, but that didn’t mean that you would say yes either.

“I can treat you to food every time we’re together.” He asked.

Ouch.

That was such a good offer.

“Deal.” You said, shaking hands with Jisung.

You spent the night discussing your “relationship”, how you two met, where, who confessed first... But of course, you also set some rules; The skinship and PDA were exclusively reserved for when the boys were around, no touching and of course, he wouldn’t brag about you doing “the dirty” because you would not only tell his friends everything was a lie, but you would also slap him in the face.

“Okay so long story short, we know each other because we are neighbors, one day I asked you out and after a few more dates I officially asked you to be my girlfriend but we never said anything because you wanted to keep it low.” Jisung recapitulated.

“We’ve been dating for five months now, don’t forget about it.” You added.

“Oh yeah, true.”

“And we will break up in two months.” You added again.

“Yeah, I remember that as well but there’s no need to tell them that.” Jisung giggled

-

“Hey, baby.” A voice behind you said, startling you.

You turned around and saw Jisung with a big smile.

The boy pecked your lips softly then he took your backpack and hung it on his shoulder, placing his other hand on your lower back, guiding you to the table where his friends were.

You could feel the looks of disbelief, not only from Jisung's friends but from all the people who were there, on you, making you feel uncomfortable.

“Hey guys, this is Y/N, my girlfriend.” Jisung’s friends looked at you in astonishment while Jisung introduced them to you.

Felix frowned his eyebrows looking at both of them.

You found quite funny his reaction, he seemed to be confused.

“You’re dating Y/L/N Y/N?” He asked.

“Yeah,” Jisung said and smiled at you, sitting down next to you.

“Since when?” He asked again.

“We’ve been dating for five months already but I asked him not to say anything, I wanted to keep it low for a while, sorry.” You said with a shy smile.

You really wanted to pat yourself on the back right now, you never knew you were such a great actor.

“No, it’s okay... we understand.” Chan said with a soft smile.

“How much did he pay you?” One of them asked you.

“Minho hyung!” Jisung complained.

You couldn’t help but laugh but you weren’t really sure if it was because his question was kinda funny, the fact that he actually was paying you with food or just because you were really nervous.

The rest of the guys laughed as well, even though he sounded quite serious when he asked you, they all seemed to take it as a joke.

“Ji, I’m hungry.” You said looking at him with puppy eyes but indicating him you wanted your part of the deal.

He was surprised to hear you call him by a nickname, but he didn’t show that, instead he smiled at you and asked you to choose whatever you wanted on the menu and kissed your temple.

“Bro I still can’t process this shit.” Felix said.

“Yeah same, I was waiting for him to tell us he was lying.” Seungmin commented.

“I’m so happy he’s not staying virgin forever.” Changbin added, proudly.

“Can you guys not talk like I wasn’t here?” Jisung said, embarrassed.

After eating and chatting for a while with Jisung and his friends, you decided it was time to you to go back to your dorms to study.

-

It was around 11 pm when you heard someone pounding the door.

Scared, you approached the door and suddenly, you heard Sohye’s voice.

“Y/n open the door right now! I know you’re in there!” She yelled.

Confused, you opened the front door and she stormed inside your apartment.

“Can you dare to explain to me why is the whole university calling you “Jisung’s new girlfriend”?” She asked, looking at you in disbelief.

You sighed and sat on the sofa, closing your eyes and massaging your temples.

Of course, this was one of the biggest cons of dating Han Jisung (or any of his friends actually), the whole university would gossip about it.

You looked at your friend and you made a gesture for her to sit next to you.

“Well? Are you dating Han Jisung, y/n?” She said.

You sighed again.

Should you play along and tell her all the gossips and rumors were true or should you tell her the truth?

“Yes.”

You bit your lip, feeling guilty seeing her hurtful expression.

“What? Since when?” She asked, in a low voice.

“For five months now.” You replied.

“Why haven’t you told me anything?” She said.

You were feeling even more guilty now, you and Sohye always tell each other everything.

“Look y/n, I’m not mad, I know you must have your rea-

“We’re not dating.” You interrupted her, making her look at you confused.

“I’m so confused right now.”

You started to explain everything, from how Jisung asked you if you could be his fake girlfriend to your last conversation with his friends.

“Wow... I’m glad you trusted me and told me everything.” She smiled. “Well, if you ever need help with anything you know who to call.”

-

You were currently in Chan and Changbin’s apartment for a movie night.

It’s been almost two weeks since you and Jisung made “your relationship” public and it seemed like the boys didn’t suspect a thing.

“Baby hey, come here.” You were in the kitchen with Chan and Jeongin making the popcorns, when you arrived to the living room, where the rest of the boys were, your boyfriend called you, patting his lap, indicating you to sit on his lap.

You stopped your tracks and looked at him narrowing your eyes, with the bowl of popcorns still in your hands, you wanted to tell him that in a million years your would sit on his lap but since the boys were there, you ended up agreeing.

Jisung placed his arm around your waist and his other hand rested on your thigh.

You observed all his movements carefully and rolled your eyes when he asked you to feed him with popcorns. You filled his mouth with a handful of popcorn and giggled seeing him happily munching the popcorns, it reminded you to a little squirrel.

“Okay lovebirds, let’s start the movie.” Minho said.

-

Seungmin looked to his left since he couldn't stop hearing whispers but turned his attention back to the movie with a disgusted face seeing you and Jisung acting all lovely-dovey.

On the outside, it seemed like you guys were just innocently flirting but the reality was far from there...

Not an hour had passed since the movie started and you were already sick of Jisung not stopping moving.

“Can you stop, like, for five fucking seconds, Jisung?!” You whispered.

“Sorry! This movie is too boring I think I'm going to die of boredom.” He whispered back.

You stayed silent for a few seconds before he opened his mouth again.

“Should we make out?” He asked, tucking a few strands of your hair behind your ear. You felt your heartbeat strongly against your chest and your cheeks and ears burn

“W-what? No! I’m not gonna make out with you! Much less if your friends are here!” You said, flustered.

“But that’s the point Y/N! They never saw us kissing.” He said and you looked at him incredulously. “Those weren’t kisses! they were innocents pecks.” He said.

He had a point there, you just pecked his lips in front of his friends.

Also, it’s been a long time since the last time you actually kissed someone.

And Jisung was your “boyfriend”.

And this movie was, indeed, boring.

“It’s okay Y/N, I won’t force you to do something you don’t want to, I already made you sit on my lap.” He said but before thinking it twice, you cupped his face and you brought your lips together.

You caught him by surprise but quickly, he recomposed himself and he tightened his grip on you, leaning even closer to you, stealing your breath away.

Even though there were seven more people in the room, it felt like it was just you and him. His lips were soft and warm and his grip on your thigh, slowly caressing you, wasn’t helping at all.

You break away a few seconds but soon, he pulled you back to him.

You moved your hands from his face to his nape and you caressed the strands of his hair, making him hum against your lips softly.

“Hey! Get a room!” Hyunjin shouted at you two, making you break apart quickly.

You bit your lips, feeling your cheeks burn for the second time that night and looked with the corner of your eye at Jisung, who was also blushing.

“Should we change the movie? This one is kinda boring, don’t you think? Chan asked and you all agreed.

The boys played another movie that it was to Jisung's liking, since he barely moved this time.

You leaned your head against Jisung’s chest and hearing his heartbeat, slowly, you fell into a deep sleep.

Jisung’s P.O.V

Jisung couldn’t stop thinking about that kiss.

At first, he said it as a joke. In these two weeks he has learned about you more than he would like to admit, he knew you get flustered easily and he actually enjoys to fluster you but he didn’t expect you to kiss him that way at all.

And now you were peacefully sleeping on his chest.

Slowly, he started patting your head and giggled softly when you hummed in your sleep.

At that moment he felt a sensation in his chest he couldn’t describe, the only thing he could say was that it felt right, that moment, right there, felt just right.

-

A few days later, after your class was finished, Felix approached you.

“Hey y/n!” He said with a bright smile.

“Oh! Hey Lix, what’s up?” You asked, smiling him back.

“I was wondering if you could help me to study for the incoming exam?” He asked. “I’ve been struggling with this subject for a while now and I thought that, maybe, since it’s our last exam, it would help if I studied with you since you’re quite great at this subject.”

“As long as Jisung is fine with it, of course.” He added.

“Yeah, of course! And don’t worry about Jisung, he won’t mind.” You smiled.

“Oh! Thank you so much, you’re saving my life right now.” He hugged you, making you laugh.

“I was going to go to this cafeteria and study there, wanna come?” You asked.

“Sure! I’m craving some bubble tea as well.”

After a few hours later, you guys decided to call it a day.

“This is what I call a productive day.” Felix said and you agreed.

For the rest of the week, Felix and you had constant study sessions after your classes so it was difficult to hang out with the rest of the guys.

Suddenly, the image of Jisung popped in your head.

He’s been asking you to meet him, at least to have lunch with the boys but you always declined his offers.

He thought you were being a little harsh on yourself, Felix who has the same exam as you, spends his lunch with them, while you just bought a sandwich or whatever you felt like and went back to your dorm yet he was understanding and told you you would meet once your exams were finished.

You smiled at the thought.

In this whole month you’ve been “dating” Jisung, you’ve found out what an amazing person he actually is.

He loves to make people smile, he makes people laugh without even trying, he’s considerate and, even if you wouldn’t admit it out loud, he’s a great boyfriend and his future partner will be lucky to have him in his life.

A loud sigh left your lips and you shook your head.

You needed to concentrate and go back to your book.

Not so long after, a knock on your door drew your attention.

You looked at your clock.

23:02 pm

“Who in the hell is it at this hour?” You asked yourself.

Opening your front door, you were surprised to see Jisung with a big smile in front of you.

“Jisung? What are you doing here?” You asked confused, moving to your side, allowing him to come inside your dorm.

“I didn’t see you at the cafeteria today so I thought that, maybe, you skipped your meals and since that’s not very healthy, I decided to buy some of your favorite ramen.” He said, placing a bag on your table and flicking at your forehead.

“Ouch.” You whimpered.

You felt your cheeks gain a light pinkish color and a little smile was drawn on your face.

That was very nice of him actually.

Indeed, you skipped your meals today, you felt really stressed today and you even canceled you study session with Felix. Your dorm was a mess and you weren’t any better, to be honest.

“Thank you.” You muttered feeling suddenly shy.

“No problem baby, I bought some for me as well, so I could keep your company, I hope you don’t mind.” He said.

“On the contrary.” You smiled, picking up two pairs of chopsticks and some water.

You sat together and started eating together.

A moan left your lips when you munched your food.

It tasted like heaven.

“Don’t skip your meals again, do you hear me?” Jisung warned you. “It’s not good for your health.”

“Sorry, I don’t usually skip my meals but this exam is going to kill me I swear.”

You keep talking about some trivial things, laughing every now or then about some anecdotes Jisung told you about.

“Anyways, it’s kinda late already and I don’t want to distract you anymore.” He said looking at his phone.

It was almost midnight now and even though you were having a great time with him, you really needed to pass this exam.

“Let me walk you to the door.” You said, getting up and leaning against the door frame once you arrived there, just like the boy did.

You and Jisung stared at each other in complete silence, a very comfortable silence.

You examined his face, you never noticed before but Han Jisung was handsome. His eyes were big and very roundish, and the dark brown of his irises was captivating.

Your sight fell on his lips and you suddenly felt your heart skip a beat.

You suddenly felt your face heat up and you looked into his eyes again, trying to avoid something you could regret in the future, but it didn’t help at all as your pulse sped up when you noticed Jisung looking at your lips.

You wanted to say something, to do something, but your body didn’t want to move and it wasn’t until Jisung made eye contact with you again when your body finally responded.

“I have to go.” He said. “Don’t skip your meals, okay?” He warned again, ruffling your hair.

“I won’t.” You said, giving him a small smile.

-

It was Saturday night, and again, Changbin and Chan invited you all to their apartment to celebrate you and Felix finally finished your exams.

You were sitting between Jisung’s legs, your back against his chest, while his chin rested on the top of your head.

He had you wrapped around his arms and refused to let you go, saying that you’ve been too busy studying for your exam that you barely saw each other, which was actually true since it was your last exam of the semester you and Felix spent your days glued to your books and notes.

“So how did that exam go?” Chan asked.

“Actually great, I had the best teacher.” Felix complimented you.

You giggled. “I didn’t do anything Felix, you-.” But before you could finish your sentence, Jisung interrupted you. 

“Wait, you guys studied together?” He asked, unwrapping his arms from around you.

“Yeah, I thought y/n told you?” Felix said, 7 pairs of eyes now focusing on you both.

You turned your head to look at Jisung, making eye contact with him. “All this time, you’ve been studying together? Why didn’t you say anything?” He asked you, with an annoyed look on his face.

You looked at him speechless. Why was he acting like that?

Jisung scoffed at your loss of words, getting up from his spot on the floor.

“Jisung mate, calm down, we-” Felix was saying but, again, Jisung interrupted him.

“Y/n, can I talk to you for a second?” He said, pointing at the front door behind his back.

You nodded confused as to why he was acting like that and followed him in silence until you two were alone.

“Why didn’t you tell me you and Felix have been studying together?!” He asked you, irritated.

“Oh God Jisung, why are you acting like this? It’s not that deep.” You said, crossing your arms on your chest, rolling your eyes.

“Not that deep?! Not telling your boyfriend you’re hanging out with other guys is not that deep?!” He yelled.

“Did you forget that you’re NOT my real boyfriend?” You whispered harshly, pressing your index finger on his chest.

Anger started to boil inside of you. What’s gotten into him?

“Yeah but for them, I am your boyfriend.” He said, mimicking your actions.

You scoffed rolling your eyes, “yeah, so what? What’s the big deal about it!?” You yelled, getting angrier and angrier as time passed. “Felix is your friend and he could never get in your girl’s pants if this is all the fuss about!”

“Yeah, but would you?!” He yelled.

You looked at him in shock.

Yes, maybe you weren’t a real couple but, to the public eye you were, and for some reason, hearing him accusing you of doing something like that made your heartache.

“JISUNG WHAT THE FUCK? DO YOU REALLY THINK I WOULD FUCK YOUR FRIEND BEHIND YOUR BACK?!” You yelled, not caring if the guys could hear you.

“OF COURSE I DO!” He yelled back at you.

At that moment, you felt a pang on your chest.

You didn’t know what hurt you more, the way he saw you or the fact that it was Jisung the one who said all those things to you.

Without a word, you turned your body and you walked out of that place but you stopped middle track.

Turning around again, looking at Jisung, you opened your mouth, your voice was low but loud enough for Jisung to hear.

“You know what Han Jisung? You already proved your friends that you’re a big man that can ask girls out, you showed them how fucking big your pride and ego is so I don’t see the point of me being around you anymore, this is over.”

-

“Y/n don’t cry, please.” Sohye said, looking at you curl up on her lap and caressing your back.

You tried to control your sobs but you found it difficult.

“It wasn’t even real Sohye, why does it have hurt so much?” You said, tightening your grip on the hem of his shirt.

Sohye looked at you with pity. She’s never been good with relationships so she wasn’t sure about what to tell you. “Wait here y/n, I’ll make you hot chocolate, okay? I know you love my hot chocolates.” She said, getting up.

You nodded, trying to control your sobs.

You really thought he was your friend.

Friend.

Was he really your friend?

Or you just wanted to believe that he was just a friend?

The kiss in Chan and Changbin’s apartment, the day he bought you food just because he noticed that you skipped your meals, that weird moment in your door frame, all the times he made you laugh...

Suddenly, your thoughts were interrupted by Sohye’s voice.

“She doesn’t want to see you right now.”

You got up so quickly that you even got dizzy.

Sohye was in your front door, arms crossed on her chest and a threatening look on her face.

In front of her, Han Jisung asked desperately to see you.

“Please, just... I just want to tell her that I’m sorry, I’ll leave after that.”

“I don’t think it’s a good idea.” Sohye replied.

“Sohye.” You called her. “It’s okay, let him in.” You said.

“Are you sure?” She asked and you nodded. “Okay.” She said and hugged you before leaving your dorm. “Oh! By the way, if you make her cry again I won’t hesitate to kick your balls so watch out.” He threatened, making you giggled softly.

Finally, it was just you and Jisung, alone.

The atmosphere was so tense that I could be cut with the back of a knife.

“I’m so sorry.” He spoke. “I had no right to tell you all the things I said to you yesterday, it was out of place.”

You limited yourself to look at him in silence, letting him finish whatever he wanted to say.

“I hope you know I didn’t mean none of the things I said, to be honest with you, I was jealous.” He admitted.

Your eyes opened at his confession.

“Yes, I know they thought you were my “girlfriend” but in reality, you weren’t and after realizing that I actually liked you, it made me anxious to think that you could fell in love with someone else, someone that it wasn’t me.”

“Y-you like me?” You asked, surprised.

He nodded. “That night, when I bought you ramen, I couldn’t sleep at all. I couldn’t stop thinking about you, your laughter, your smile, the fact that you still looked stunning after studying for hours and being stressed as fuck... That’s when I realized that I genuinely liked you.” He confessed.

“And I could sense you were getting closer to Felix but I didn’t really think anything about it. I mean, you’re classmates, you guys knew each other but when Felix said you and him studied all this time together...” He sighed. “I got mad, but I was mad at myself because you were spending time with Felix because you wanted while I was forcing you to spend time with you.”

“I realized that maybe, I was the only one who ended up falling in love with his fake partner... and it would be okay you know! I’m not telling you this so you pity me and date me or anything, I just want to let it out of my chest and trying to justify my actions.” He rambled.

“But it’s okay if you don’t want to talk to me ever again you know... I acted like a dick so...”

“Are you done rambling?” You laughed.

He looked at you surprised.

“Jisung, first of all, I never felt like you were forcing me to go with you, you introduced me to your friends who I ended up loving and I enjoyed every single time I spent with you all. And yes, I actually got closer to Felix but that’s because we majored in the same thing and we share a lot of classes, we spend a lot of time together but i just see him as one of my closest friends. And actually, you weren’t the only one who felt in love with his fake partner so...” You smiled.

You looked how his face got brighter which made your smile wider.

“Wait... Are you serious?” He asked, excited.

“Yes, how could I not fall for the great Han Jisung?” You giggled.

“Oh God babe, I’m so happy right now.” He said, hugging you.

You hugged him back, with your arms around his neck.

“I promise you, I’ll never say any of those things to you, I won’t make you cry ever again, I’ll make you the happiest girl on this planet, believe me.” He said.

“You better do it Han Jisung.” You joked.

Jisung separated from you and cupped your face, pressing his lips on yours.

The kiss was slow, soft and you could feel the love in it.

“Let me ask you for real this time... Y/L/N Y/N, will you be my girlfriend?

// Masterlist //

-

tag list: @seung-minnie​ @ukiyolixx​

[bitch-im-your-biggest-nightmare]

Parents fucking suck bro. [Corpse Husband & Reader]

Warnings: Arguments, bad parents, swearing, crying Summary: Y/N loves playing with Among Us with the others, even if she's the youngest among them. While shes playing with them, her parents walk in and are not happy with the fact she’s playing with them. There's a big argument and shit goes down but Corpse is there to comfort Y/N. Tag list:  @save-the-sky @alilshit @whatifwedo @hughugh20 @fleurmoon @bi-andready-tocry @itsminniekat @yoongi-holland @loraleiix @hacker-ghost @fanworrior @marvelous-musicals @annshit @unknown-and-invisible @letsloveimagines @hairbrush-anon @babyhoneystvles 

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

“Hey guys” Y/N greeted happily as they entered the lobby in Among Us. They have been playing Among Us with Felix, Sean, Rae, Toast, Sykkuno, Charlie, and Corpse for a while now. Y/N was 18 and still living at home, making money off of YouTube. They’re parents were strict and wanted them to have a “real job” like being a doctor. Y/N knew their parents were toxic and would disapprove of their job choice, so they keep it a secret.  

“hey Y/N” 

“Hello” 

“hii” 

“Whats up Y/N” 

Everyone began to greet them, which made them smile. Y/N was filming the gameplay of this for a new video on their channel. Everyone seemed to love when they played Among Us, so they always played it- doing commentary and music on the side. “How you guys doing on this..” they looked out the window of their darkened bedroom, seeing heavy rain pouring down from the dark clouds in the sky. “Pretty damn depressing day where i'm at, holy shit.”

There was a couple of laughs and chuckles, and everyone began to state what the weather was like where they were. There was a lot of “Its nice out where am”s. It rains a fuck ton where Y/N lives, especially during spring. But they loved it, rain was their favorite. 

“Alrriiight is everyone here?” Toast asked.

“Nope, Corpse is joining.” Sean announced, which caused sounds of happiness. Corpse was everyone's favorite, it was that damn voice. Corpse was Y/Ns bestie, they always had each other backs. There was many people who shipped them, but they both only wanted to be friends. 

A few seconds after Sean spoke, Corpse joined. “Hey guys.” Corpse said, he sounded tired. But that was common for him, he told you about his insomnia. He probably didn’t get any sleep last night.

“Alright lets start the game.” Sean said, clicking to begin the game. Y/N smiled at the big letters reading “IMPOSTER” at the top of their screen. They’re a really good imposter- as they were told. They first went to blend in with crewmates, going to walk around a bit. While roaming around, they went into electrical to fake a task. Y/N saw this as the perfect chance to get their first kill in. So, they snuck up and killed him, then they vented to escape. 

After a minute, a dead body was reported and they were now at an emergency meeting. 

“Where was the body?” Toast asked. 

“I found the body iiin.. electrical.” Rae replied, “Who was in there last?”

“I did see Y/N walking towards electrical.” Felix said, “That is where the body was found.” 

“Yeah, but did go into electrical?” Y/N said, “I was heading to reactor, I had a task there.” 

“Not the best alibi.” Sean said, “But I’ll take it.” 

“Could be Rea, but.. wait no.” Sykkuno said. 

“How could it be me if I reported the body?” Rae chuckled. 

“Yeah I know I just realized.” Sykkuno replied. 

“So... skip vote?” Corpse said. 

“I’m still sus on Y/N.” Felix said while voting for Y/N. 

“Vote Aoc shes kinda sus.” Y/N said, voting for Rae.

“Wha- Y/N!” Rae said. 

“Sus.” Y/N said plainly. 

“Ok yeah i'm skipping this vote.” Toast said, skipping the vote. 

Most people skipped the vote, so no one was out. Y/N continued to play the game how she would, until she killed someone and had to quickly vent because someone just walked by. That made them shriek, “oh sugar honey ICED tEA-” they laughed, “That was a close one, hah.” Well seemed they were being too loud because their mother walked in. 

“Why are you being so loud?” She asked, just as an emergency meeting started. 

“Oh shit- my moms here hold on.” Y/N said, going to mute but misclicking, so now they were all going to hear this. “I’m just playing Among Us.” 

“Shouldn’t you be looking for a job instead of playing stupid video games?” Mom said, stepping into the room. 

“Oh- uhm... I do YouTube as a job. I make money of it.” Y/N replied quietly, knowing what was to come next.

‘whAT?! YouTube is not a fucking job Y/N!! Me and your father told you many many times that we want you to be a doctor!” Mom yelled. Y/Ns sister got into a great college because of her smarts and intelligence, shes going to be a surgeon one day. But that just wasn’t Y/N, they wanted to make content for the people on the internet. And so far, it was working pretty damn well.

Y/N sighed, “Oh my god mom shut up! I hate all that doctor college bullshit. Im making enough money on here!”

“Are you delusional?! Why can’t you be more like your sister, shes so successful!” Mom yelled, she was in disbelief. She wanted to have the perfect children, but she only got one. 

“WHY DO YOU ALWAYS COMPARE ME TO HER?!?” Y/N screamed, beginning to cry. “What does it fucking matter?!” 

“You are such a fucking disappointment. Get off that damn game!” Mom said, running over to pull Y/N away. But Y/N pushed her back. 

“Bro FUCK off! its my goddamn business, Im a fucking adult now, leave my shit alone!” Y/N screamed through the tears. 

“I am your mother! I know best! Now get off that fuckin- OW!” Y/N slapped their mother straight across the face, pushing her out of their room and closing the door, locking it. They sat back down and looked at her screen. 

“Oh fuck. You heard all of that.” Y/n choked a little, “Shit.”

This is where Corpse came in, breaking the silence and shock between everyone. They listened to the whole thing, messaging each other in the chat what to do. “Hey, your moms an asshat.” 

Y/N flinched, hearing banging on her door and screaming. “And a fucking psychopath!” they sunk down a bit, putting their hands on their forehead and breathing heavily. “Shes gonna kill me!” 

“Hey hey hey, its alright Y/N. Don’t let her get to you, she doesn’t know what shes saying.” Rae said. 

“I personally think you have great content.” Toast said, “I don’t think i would trust you as a doctor.” 

“hey don’t listen to her Y/N, we’re always here for you.” Corpse said, “DM me and we can talk about it more, ok?” 

Y/N sniffled, “Ok.” Then they muted, taking their phone out to DM Corpse. 

T/N: Hey 

Corpse_Husband: Hey are you doing alright?

T/N: No

T/N: Do you think im a disappointment? Is YouTube really worth it?

Corpse_Husband: Disappointment? no. The only disappointment is that sad excuse of a mother you have. And YouTube? hell yeah its worth it. I started youtube off when I was younger and had a blast. If you’re having fun and making bank keep doing it! You’re 18, your mother doesn’t control you anymore. 

Corpse_Husband: Pewdiepie is a subscriber to your channel

Corpse_Husband: That should be enough motivation

T/N: you have weird ways of making me happy :’) 

Corpse_Husband: I do have facts. 

Corpse_Husband: But seriously, please dont have a panic attack, those suck. But do you wanna play more Among Us? It might cheer you up :D 

T/N: Yeah yeah yeah thanks. And sure, I’ll play more among us. Thanks Corpse, your the best best friend 🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🌹🌹🥀

Corpse_Husband: 🥺

~The End~ 

Oh my god this ones terrible. I might rewrite it in the future. 

[shintorikhazumi]

“CABBAGE”

A/N: First, I wanna apologize to the Diakko day mods that reviewed a completely different fic for me that was supposed to be my entry, but then... boom new diakko day entry. I’m sorry ;-;, I just couldn’t figure out a flow that would still have what I had in mind. Uwu, sorry for using up your precious time.

Soulmate, non-magic? AU. Cliche stuff, common trope. STILL. I’m using it. Fun fact, I slaved away for this for two/three days hoho~ peak procrastination, don’t encourage it. Also on ao3, but I have a habit of posting full chaps on tumblr. Teehee. This is... long... (could have been a crazy multi-chap, ey?) but I guess that’s what you get for trying to fit a full story with an AU setting that needs to be established. Sorry if it feels slow with regards to reaching DiAkko, but don’t worry, from when they come along til the end, you’ll have loads of them. Sorry for the pacing tho :((( I also apologize in advance if there are some OOC bits that y’all might not like. Not too confident in it, but hope you all like it. I DID NOT BETA READ THIS ANYMORE BECAUSE I’M TIRED OF THE LENGTH OF IT LMAO. Anywho...

Happy DiAkko day! Enjoy?

~Shintori Khazumi

It was a normal thing, really. She had grown up with a thin chain slung around her neck, attached to another tiny metal thingy resting against the skin of her collarbone. On cold days, she would keep it in her pocket because god knows how weirdly tingly and-or painful that felt on bare skin. Sure she could have chosen to just wear it so that others could see it- actually, wasn’t she going against society’s rules when she hid it? She was, wasn’t she. Heck, it surprised her now that she’s realized it. Why hasn’t she been arrested yet? This is a crime isn’t it? Her mom, her dad, would they get to say their farewells once she got incarcerated-

“I can see it on your face, that you’re thinking about something totally stupid again.”

“Shut up, Sucy.”

“Just saying.” Sucy shrugs, going back to working on their chemistry lab activity. “I mean, I kinda just want you to focus on what we’re doing. Unless you want me to slip in some stuff in your project there.” She grinned in that evil little way the brunette had come to know her for.

“If I know you, which I do, you’ve probably already done that.”

“Akko! I can’t believe you’d accuse me of something like hurting my friends.” Sucy really couldn’t sell the ‘feigning shock’ act as her monotone words did little to convey emotion, and that forced gasp was probably just everyone else’s normal manner of breathing. Which was scary, now that she thought about it. Did that mean Sucy’s normal breathing was even less obvious? Oh god, now that Akko thinks about it, she would sometimes joke in her head about how she often wondered whether or not Sucy was actually dead during sleepovers.

‘I mean, come on! She sleeps like a corpse in a coffin! And she always looks so pale-’

“I knew you were thinking about something stupid again.” Once more, her thoughts were brought to a halt by that lazed, snarky voice that could only belong to her best friend who shared her mutual desire to strangle one another.

“I was just wondering if you were undead or something.”

“Screw you.”

“Wish I’d find someone to do that...” Akko muttered under her breath, to which Sucy sighed. She had heard it, and immediately knew what the Japanese was about to get hung up on. Again. Like she always did.

A hand reaching over to pat her back in consolation, but Akko felt a little worse, feeling that small, hard material lightly tapping the area along with the rest of Sucy’s hand. Sucy chuckled, sympathetically. “I know you’re constantly in a state of heat, Akko-” Or not.

“I am not, you bitch!”

Sucy could stand to ignore that. “-But really. Are you really that obsessed with finding your soulmate? We’re all young and all that jazz that those old hags keep yapping about. You have a lot of time, you know?” She smiled a sincere smile this time, trying her best to comfort her friend. “And besides, even though it’s something written on official print that most people find their soulmates at sixteen, most isn’t all.”

Akko felt a little better. Sucy could be an asshole, but as a best friend, she really knew what to say to Akko sometimes.  

“-That’s basic English that even you can understand.”

She takes it back. She takes some of her heartfelt gratitude back. “I hate you.”

“Aww, I abhor you with all of my non-existent heart as well.” Sucy smirked, swatting Akko’s attacking hand away. “Muah~” She threw in a wink for good measure.

“Ughh, oh gosh... Professor Croix!” Akko bemoaned to their supervising teacher. “Can I please use the emergency shower? And eyewash. I think Miss Manbavaran got her unholy sappiness spilled all over me.”

Croix sighed, rubbing the spot between her eyes with her thumb and index finger. Not this again. “Can’t you two ever pipe down in my class?” She sighed. “PLEASE?!”

“Nope.” -Was the deadpanned response.

“I now see why you guys are friends.” Croix groaned, walking over to their table. “You little shits just won’t give me a break. And yet, you’re so behaved with Chariot.”

“Hey! Sensei, cursing your students is bad!” Akko scolded, before adding, “Besides, this and that are separate matters. Prof Chariot is just sweet and so nice, you can’t bear the weight of guilt of hurting her. Right?” Akko turned to Sucy who just nodded.

“Shut it, Kagari. That is not a valid rea- wait... maybe it is.”

“See?”

Her head was starting to hurt. Just why had she decided to be a teacher in place of any other job involving chemistry? Really, there were so many other things she could have done!

Just as she was about to return the verbal jabs, a gentler voice inserted itself into their conversation. “Umm... guys, professor, the other students are being distracted by your... um... exchange.”

Three pairs of eyes blinked, before two widened in apologetic shock, while the other seemed to gleam in pleasure. “Sorry, Lotte.”

“Sucy, please try to look even the slightest bit sorry.”

And disappointment replaced them right away.

“Tsk.”

“Sucy... we will be having a talk back in our room.” Akko heard that audible gulp, reaching for her friend’s hand under the table, squeezing support.

“Don’t die.” She whispered.

“You too, Akko.”

“Noooo! How? I don’t even live with you two!”

Lotte was about to respond that Akko always stayed over, anyway, but the frantic screams of their teacher took the words far away from her mind.

“Akko! Akko! Your solution is bubbling! Wait, that’s not supposed to do that-” Croix’s concern was justified as in a matter of a split second, everyone in their immediate circle was covered in some bright pink substance. “SHOWER, EMERGENCY SHOWER-”

“W-we won’t all fit, Professor!” Lotte had begun tearing up, wondering if she was about to die from whatever toxic chemical their beloved dunce must have mixed in. Maybe if she prayed to something somewhere out there, the spirits of nature would take hers and maybe she could live as some kind of forest sprite in some alternate magical world, and crap, she was becoming delusional.

“Hoho~ What a nice outcome~.”

“Manbavaran!”

“Relaaaax, I switched out all of Akko’s components for some of my stuff. It was a precaution.” She smiled, unbelievably innocent-looking. “...and maybe added a little surprise.”

“Su.CY!” Akko lunged forward before being stopped mid-air, caught by the collar.

“Akko. Sucy. I’ll see you in the office later.”

“...your office?” They seemed amazingly unfazed. They’d probably been so used to being there that they must see it as a lounge of sorts. But no, Croix wasn’t going to be defeated by teenage rascals that were the cause of her hair prematurely turning white. No.

“Nope.”

“Th-then, Finneran’s?” They weren’t completely scared of the aforementioned teacher. She just gave them such an earful, sometimes they’d joke to Lotte about needing hearing aids at some point.

“No.” Croix’s smile grew despicably wide and dark. “Holbrooke’s.”

Lotte sighed in sympathy. Well, she’d expected this development sooner or later. “I’ll wait for you by the usual bench.”

//-//-//-//-//

A week of suspension. One week off school, no school or class-related updates allowed from classmates, and only check-ins and work drops from teachers. That was... surprisingly light after all the trouble they’d accumulated over the past first month of the semester. Or maybe it was because it was just the start of the school year that the headmistress really wanted as little to go wrong as possible. Preferably nothing would go wrong. Or it could also be the fact that they were in their senior year, and the teachers really wanted all their students to graduate.

But you could never tell with a group as rowdy as the ‘witches’ of Luna Nova International Institute. They were rightly labeled as such with the cursed terrors they had inflicted, every incident they’ d caused all over the school premises and beyond.

If it wasn’t Akko and Sucy, it was Jasminka somehow being able to sneak in and out of the classroom and buy out the entire snack section of the cafeteria, and making it back to class without anyone noticing. With her size, it was some kind of scary magic trick. If it wasn’t that either, then it was Constanze constantly installing who-know’s-what in the schools’ computers. It it wasn’t her, then it was Amanda and Hannah pulling at hairs, or cutting at each other’s necks, then the next thing you know they’re either making out in public, or making out in public... with Barbara. There was also Lotte when she was in her wild states of fangirling after a new Night Fall release. People tended to keep a safe distance from her during those times. (She’d once shaken a girl unconscious out of her sheer excitement at the mention of, ‘Oh, I read the latest release too’.)

Never a dull day with them.

Scarily so.

Holbrooke had smiled at them kindly as always, but there was just a little something else behind it that felt like Akko and Sucy were about to die on the spot.

“Please. I beg of you. Your first two years, we tried to overlook all your mischief as it did not pose any threat to the masses, only towards you and your friend group... well... physical harm or threat, at least. I don’t know how many people are psychologically scarred because of you.” She had said that, but they didn’t know if it was a joke, a serious statement, or both.

After being given twenty blank pages to write their usual apologies on- they shared a laugh, thinking back on when Amanda got fifty-, the pair made their merry way to the bench just by the school gate where Lotte sat, chatting alongside and excited Barbara, a Hannah with a fond smile directed at her life-time partner, and Amanda who was carrying both their bags for them, waving goodbye to Constanze and Jasminka who looked like they were just leaving.

“Aww, didn’t get to catch my little friend.” Akko pouted, wanting to hug Conz as she always did. She was so cute. And soft. Like a plush. Always calming Akko down.

“She’s gonna shoot one of her tiny lazers at you again. Those actually burn.” Amanda reminded, laughing as she remembered what Lotte told her about why they were late. “And I heard you two got some quality time with the big woman upstairs?” Her grin widened. “How many?”

“Twenty.” They responded in synch, hands aching from the memory.

“Heh... not bad. Doesn’t beat my record though.” She cackled, slinging an arm over Hannah’s shoulder, Akko not missing the glint on her left ring finger. How nice.

“Don’t egg them on, idiot.” Hannah sighed, peeling the limb off her. “And you all got nothing on these two.” She pointed a thumb to the still excitedly conversing pair. “They wrote a fucking novel for their apology. Literally. But the teachers were so tired of reading that they weren’t made to write apology notes anymore.”

“Hey! Cleaning the bathrooms aren’t the best either!” Barbara, now done with her talk with Lotte, turned to pinch the ginger’s arm.

“I mean, we all have cleaned them at some point.”

“True, true.” The group nodded in consensus.

“...”

“This is not a very good fact.” Barbara pointed out, and they all laughed, the ones seated slowly getting up, everyone ready to go home.

As they exited the gate, they all waved their goodbyes, Akko and her two best friends heading one way, and Amanda and her girls the other. Just as the sun was setting at that hour in the afternoon, red eyes caught the reflected glimmer of light against the three bands on each girl’s ring finger. Those same eyes traveled to similar hoops donned by the pair walking quietly in front of her, hands brushing by one another.

Really. She was happy all her friends had found their destined ones. Some partners may look to be as mismatched as Sucy and Lotte, and some cases were as rare as the three-way between the snarky British girls and their American idiot, but... the system had worked some magic in perfectly matching people, it seemed. They all seemed happy with who they had.

Akko didn’t know if this was some kind of spiritual occurrence like fate or the likes, or if this was just one ginormous scientific experiment on billions of guinea pigs across the globe, but... Akko wanted in on it too.

Placing a hand over where her heart was, she felt for the metal against her chest, clutching it through her uniform blouse.

Just when would her “soulmate” come?

//-//-//-//-//

Their first stop, as per usual, was the small apartment complex that Lotte and Sucy lived in. When their parents had discovered that these children had found the one meant for them, they were more than willing to help the girls move in together, and get used to a life-long companionship. They trusted them as they were both capable and level-headed, and Akko was so happy that her friends were happy. She always was.

Lotte invited her in. As always. And Akko should’ve accepted like she always did as well, but somehow, today... she just didn’t feel like it. So she made a random excuse, something believable enough, like how her parents had asked her to make dinner because they’d be home late, and the Fin just had to let her go, even if she felt something was off, and that the brunette might just be lying.

There had been a time when Lotte and Sucy had just gotten together that Akko seemed to distance herself from her best friends. They soon found out it was out of her concern that she might be intruding on their relationship, or bothering them, taking away from the time the pair could spend alone together as a couple. Obviously, they had never seen Akko as a nuisance, and were saddened she would think of such things.

With a talk, reassurances, and clarifications in place, their bond as friends became ever stronger, and more trusting.

But Akko still wanted to be considerate. Out of love.

...and maybe a little envy that made her want to distance herself from the sight of people with fulfilled partnerships.

Maybe she was just a sore, lonely loser who couldn’t truly be happy for her friends.

Who knows.

After jogging the rest of the way home, a simple five-minute distance away from the apartments, she reached that familiar wooden gate, the name plate “Kagari” shiny and clean, like her mother liked it. Pushing the swinging portion open, she walked up the driveway, smiling at her share little garden with her Mama. Looks like the vegetables were growing up healthy. Maybe she could try some new dishes out and have her friends give her feedback. The usual agenda.

“I’m home!” She called out in the foyer, shoes slipping off and set neatly to the side. A habit strongly instilled in her since childhood. “Mama?” The scents of vegetables and meat, and was that... cookies! Her mom was baking cookies! “Mama!”

Padding down the hall and entering the open living room, she found her father splayed out, snoring on the couch with a newspaper covering his face. Giggling to herself, she continued her way into the kitchen, spotting the one she’d been looking for, ear buds in and swaying to some music only she could hear. Akko smiled. Her mom was so youthful, she was such a girl. With her bright pink apron and bunny slippers, and impeccable manners and home skills.

“Ma~ma!” She called, hugging her mother’s waist from behind.

The older woman yelped, spatula flying into the air, but with Akko smoothly catching it and licking off some of the sauce on it. She tried not to look into those disproving eyes, and simply released her mother and went to wash the utensil.

“Akko...”

“I said I was home! You didn’t hear me, mama. This is revenge.” She grinned cheekily, her mother sighing before a fond smile played on her lips.

“Fine, fine. But just this once, okay?”

“Hai~” Akko gave a mock salute, enjoying this moment with her mother as the her co-brunette rolled her eyes fondly. Akko walked up to her, kissed her cheek, and attempted to “appease” her mother by offering her exemplary culinary services- or so her dad had once claimed. “Let me help you out?”

Unable to keep up the annoyed act longer, her mother slipped into giggles, turning to gather her daughter into her arms and pepper kisses all over her hair. “Thank you, baby. Please chop me up some of the veggies in the bag by the sink.”

“Roger!”

And they shared another laugh at the voice coming from the other room, screaming a sleepy, “WHO’S ROGER?! ANOTHER BOY-”

The usual always felt so good.

//-//-//-//-//

Dinner had been fairly uneventful. Her cousin- the relation fairly distant- who currently lived with them wasn’t home still, just like always. She knew he was always busy at school, and with the little business her father had him manage, so that was a normal thing as well. She had ended up just confessing to her parents what she’d done in school this time, in hopes that her being honest instead of them finding out via a phone call from school first would ease the inevitable punishment awaiting her.

It... kind of helped. Kind of.

Her father had laughed so hard, clearly amused at her and Sucy’s antics. Her mother sighed deeply, not knowing if she should even still be disappointed anymore. Akko and school accidents and incidents weren’t uncommon at all, after all. It wasn’t a surprise. Really, the biggest school-related surprise they’d gotten was the fact that Akko wanted to take a science-related course instead of an arts one. They knew it had always been her dream to be a performer. So why was she taking that when Luna Nova offered the Arts as well. It was something they would forever wonder about.

Akko was usually so open and honest with them in just about everything, but this was one thing she would never clear up with them. And they could never understand why. There was definitely a deep reason behind it. But why did she have the need to keep it to herself? They worried, but they also believed in her, that she would tell them if she needed to. She was that kind of child.

They hoped.

Kissing her parents good night, She walked away from the kitchen banter of who should wash the dishes between the two adults, and trudged up the wooden stairs to her room. Akko had offered, but they said she should just rest up. She looked like she had a long day. Besides, she had a week to help out at home. Akko shivered at the thought of being worked like a mule. That was a joke of course, but her mama could be so Spartan sometimes.

Her door clicked close, and she immediately found herself face-first in the soft covers of the lower bunk of her bed, lights of the room still down. Originally, the Kagari’s had been expecting twins because of how large Akko’s mother’s stomach had been. Apparently, they were simply blessed with a very healthy baby. (She was a fair bit taller than her mother, and had a good height for a Japanese woman). As Akko grew up, however, she insisted to keep the bunk as it seemed like it could be useful to turn into her own little fort. Plus, sleepovers wouldn’t be much of a problem in terms of space.

Flipping onto her back, she stared at the glow-in-the-dark stars pasted onto the top of her ceiling. It was fairly high up, with this side of the house being designed a little differently, the roof of Akko’s room forming a dome. This was at her request as a child after attending one of Professor Chariot’s public lectures on stars as a child. Akko had since then been hooked to them, the fading glow of the stickers allowing her sights of the constellations she’d painstakingly formed, sticking each point one by one with the help of her dad and a ladder.

She had been saving up lately to buy one of those small, portable planetarium projectors. She didn’t want to outright ask her parents for one, and she had taken a few secret part-time jobs to make up for the amount she needed. Little by little, she was getting close to her goal. She’d have one someday. One day.

Her eyes felt heavy all of a sudden, an arm moving to rest over them as her breathing slowed, thoughts drifting to stars and constellations, and myths, and tales, and fate, and...

Her world shut down.

//-//-//-//-//

“Atsuko. Atsuko, get up. Akko. Wake up, bloody hell, you sleep like a log!”

“Mmrrnghmm... eh?” Blinking her eyes open, she spotted a young man, brown hair just like hers, dressed in a cardigan and slacks, looking ready to go out on some date, or the like, or maybe he had more business as usual. “Andrew.”

“Akko.” He responded dryly. “It’s eight in the morning. I know it’s the weekend, but really, sleeping in isn’t a good habit.”

Rolling over to shield her eyes from the intrusive sunlight and man, she waved him away sloppily, ready to get back to rest, body feeling heavy for some reason.

“Akko!”

“You really do take my mom’s place when she isn’t around, Andrew.” Akko complained, sitting up, if only to get Andrew to pipe down. “Alright, I get it.” She rubbed the sleep away from her eyes, stretching her body out and taking in a breath of fresh air. “But if you’re here, I’m figuring my parents are out?”

She received a nod, followed by an explanation. “They said they had a picnic date planned for the whole day.”

Akko pouted. “Aww, and they didn’t think to take me along? How mean~”

“They tried to wake you up, believe me.” Andrew scoffed. “You could sleep through world war two without problem, however.”

“Gee, thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Get out, please.”

“Later.”

“I’m asking nicely.” Akko whined, slipping out of her bed, realizing she hadn’t changed out of her uniform last night.

“After I tell you about our plans for today.”

A well-shaped brow raised in suspicion at the words. “Our plans?” Akko voiced. “What do you mean. ‘our plans’? I don’t have any plans of spending time with you today, as far as my knowledge tells me.”

“Not that you have mu-” Andrew was about to throw in the usual insulting jab, playful banter, but refrained. He did actually need Akko to go with him.

“Hmm?” The lack of a biting response didn’t sit quite well with Akko. Something was up with her cousin, and she was sure that she was about to find out just what.

There was an awkward pause in the air before the older boy cleared his throat; maybe he should begin with getting on her good side. “L-lovely weather we’re having today.”

“Just tell me what you want from me and leave.”

“We’re going to the mall, please help me.”

“Why?”

“...”

“Why?” Akko pressed. If Andrew wasn’t going to give her a good enough explanation, she wasn’t going to move a single inch.

“...It’s Denise’s birthday soon.” He confessed, and Akko actually backed off.

“Oh.” She immediately understood what Andrew wanted without him having to expound on his earlier statement. Really, he could be such an adorable dork sometimes, especially when it came to Denise.

Denise was Andrew’s set partner. She was a kind person, gentle, lady-like, intelligent, mild-mannered, but strong-willed. She was great. Too good for Andrew, Akko would tease at times. But really, they made such a good match. She liked Denise; she was sweet to Akko, exchanged treats with her, as well as tutored her from time to time, being in the same school and all. She also kept Andrew busy and out of Akko’s hair, so she was perfect! So if not for Andrew’s sake, Akko should at least do something nice for her friend.

“Give me half an hour. I’ll be ready by then.”

Andrew breathed a sigh of relief, offering Akko a grateful smile. “Thank you. I’ll see myself out then.”

“Finally!”

With a childish sticking of the tongue out at each other, a habitual thing they had formed, Andrew had closed the door to Akko’s bedroom, not forgetting to lock it behind him for privacy’s sake. Akko was thankful.

Instead of getting up, however, and preparing for the day with Andrew out of the room, Akko lay back down on the soft mattress, eyes trained to the top of the room again. As she saw her little clusters of stars and constellations, red ribbons connecting points one to the other, always to be linked even if they were far apart, never to be broken, her regular intrusive thoughts had begun making their way to the forefront of her mind again.

Fated people... soulmates, huh. Weren’t those terms just glorified ways of saying everyone was in some kind of arranged marriage they could never get out of? Wouldn’t there be at least one person averse to all this? Maybe? But why... did all the people she’s known, who’ve met their match-why did they all seem content?

Feeling for that familiar metal piece under her clothing, she pulled it out by the chain, observing it as it glinted against the morning light. Her finger traced over the engraving on the outside, admiring the workmanship, but frowning at the words.

She thought back on it all. How all this destined person stuff all started out, as the history books told them. Before the records of History ever existed, they said that the leaders of the ancient world had gathered together, seeing the ‘sorrow of the world’, and came to a decision of what to to do to make the world better in that regard. They decided that ‘LOVE’ was the answer, as cheesy as it sounded. And so a system was put into place that would overcome barriers and seas, both literal and figurative, of difference, and bring to mankind the meaning of true joy- Akko always found it incredibly sappy and cringey when it was laid out like that.

Like any system, there were the finer details that made it all work one way or the other. It is said that people are born issued with a ring to be worn on their person on all times. It was a mystery as well, how one could never seem to outgrow the ring. Like it was made to grow alongside you. It was made out of metal, however, and it made things all the more perplexing. Who knows what magic goes on behind all of this? No one knows who makes the rings, or who created this system; nor does anyone know who assigns partners to each other. All they’ve known are the facts that the rings were created, containing words that served to be a hint to who your soulmate is supposedly. When you meet that person, you’d just know. The words, they’d just make sense. It didn’t matter if it never did all your life. One day, everything would just click, apparently. That was how the words were chosen, they said. Then these rings would be distributed to countries and the government would be responsible in ensuring that they got to their rightful owners.

Honestly, this whole thing sounded like some deep cult-ish shit, and Akko was quite shocked that she- along with possibly millions, or billions- had never questioned it before. After all, it was the usual; as always, the norm. It could be something of a mysterious world movement that no one knew of, but with it simply claiming to have the goal of ‘bringing happiness to all citizens’, people hardly seemed to mind where it took them.

Akko remembered the first time she ever found it weird. She was in the fourth grade, and that day, they had learned the importance of the words on the rings. ‘Hints to finding your one, true love, their teacher had claimed, trying to rouse excitement from the students at the prospect of soulmates.

And while every other little girl squealed in joy and giddiness upon reading the words written on their rings, Akko had a look of distaste on her face at the sight of her words, immediately hiding the item from possibly prying eyes of her classmates who had already began to compare words with others.

She hated it. She had then ran home to tell her mother about it.

“Mooommm! Mom!”

“Akko? What’s wrong? You’re all sweaty and you still have your outdoor boots on-”

“Why does my word suck so much?”

“Huh?” The woman was lost for words, confounded by a simple question.

“Why does it suck so much? My word!  I mean...” Holding her ring out for her Mama to see, Akko continued on her rant. “What the heck does cabbage even mean?! IS HE A FARMER?! DOES MY SOULMATE LIKE CABBAGE THAT MUCH?!”

“Ah... well...”

“Why couldn’t it be something cool like yours and dads. ‘Eyes like rubies’, and ‘Rider from the north’ just sounds so badass and romantic! And then there’s me with CABBAGE.  Sure, the ring is pretty and all, but... WHAT IS CABBAGE?!”

“I... don’t know, sweetheart.”

Akko had felt so frustrated with her word, that she wanted to cry. “My soulmate sucks!”

Thinking back on those times, she sure was such a child. It wasn’t her soulmate’s fault that the government or whatever authority or higher power decided to describe him or her that way. If anything, her partner is a victim of slander. Even Sucy had it better with the description. Akko chuckled mirthlessly. What are those people thinking. Ah, her head was starting to hurt from overthinking all this.

“’Bring happiness to all citizens’, my ass. With a hint as weird and cryptic as this, how am I supposed to be ‘happy’ like everyone else?” Akko sighed once more, unclasping the chain from behind her neck, and taking her ring off, hanging it over her eyes, watching it dangle in the air, the elegant cursive of ‘cabbage’ pissing her off a little more than it should.

Along with the ring came a handbook of sorts. Akko’s sat atop her bedside drawer. In it were more rules, guidelines, and information to be taken note of, but they could only be read at certain ages, sections sealed off by some kind of technology that only unlocked come one’s birthday. An example of a rule was related to how to wear the ring. It didn’t seem to be a heavily imposed rule as Akko had done away with it all her life. It was that rings should be worn on your right ring finger so long as you hadn’t found your assigned partner, moving it to your left once you have. Akko had been ashamed of her word and had always carried it around her neck, hidden underneath her clothes. Her mother had scolded her for it in the past, but she didn’t care. She didn’t want to get teased by the other children for having such a strange hint. She had believed that it would give her a hard time.

And it still did. With it being so vague and odd, there was no way this hint made much sense to her, at all. Would she ever find the person her whole being was linked to for a lifetime?

Besides the rules came soulmate-related explanation for the rings and words. An instance of this would be that the meaning behind the words would only be revealed to them once they entered fourth grade. She never understood the significance of that. Why couldn’t one just read through everything and understand it all at once? Well, not that it mattered. She would soon be turning eighteen, and opening a section that made her feel just the slightest bit bitter.

[What to do if you haven’t found your soulmate yet.]

Sucy may have told her that each person had their own time, and that she was still young, and had plenty of years to go searching. But when everyone else around you had already found theirs by the “normal” designated time, you’d start to feel quite isolated and lonely, right? She was already different from the rest with the weird-ass word she was stuck with, and now she wasn’t even close to being on the right track to finding the person it was pointing to.

It was frustrating.

Three knocks and a voice followed suit. “Akko? Are you ready? It’s been about twenty-five minutes, but I didn’t hear any noise coming from your room. Are you actually okay?”

Right. Andrew.

“I’m fine! Sorry, I got lost in thought. Be right out! Maybe in fifteen! My bad, really.”

“It’s fine, I’m the one requesting a favor, after all!” Andrew responded through the wood, and Akko felt his presence leave her immediate area.

Hopping off her bed and grabbing her towel, she made her way to the bathroom. Maybe a cold shower would help her stop thinking about all of this for a few. She really should stop questioning the whole system of practically the whole world. It wasn’t good for her sanity.

Turning on the shower and soaking herself, her assumption of her endangered mental health was confirmed.

“AH, I FORGOT TO STRIP!”

//-//-//-//-//

“You sure took your sweet time getting ready.” Andrew commented, locking the door behind them and tossing the keys into his pocket as they got to walking. Opening the gate for Akko with a bow, they shared a laugh, going on their merry way down the street.

As often as they got on one another’s nerves, they undeniably enjoyed each other’s company. It was nice. Akko liked it to an extent. The conversation was fun, the exchanges never dull, it was time spent well. What she didn’t like about hanging around with Andrew were all the stares and glares she got from people around. Much like now.

It would’ve been great if it ended with just observation, but there was always that one brave (or maybe stupid) soul who would come up to the pair to ask if they were an item. The brunette pair would then proceed to do their usual schtick of jumping a meter away from each other, and pretending to gag whilst glaring.

“NO WAY. WITH HER/HIM?!”

And despite the denial, instead of feeling joy at the availability of Andrew- Akko assumed it was him that people always wanted to confirm about anyway- there was no delight, only some form of fear. The creeped-out kind maybe?

Continuing their walk, Akko slapped Andrew’s shoulder, hard. The boy looked like he could bite her.

“Ugh... it’s already such a pain in school when we have joint functions and people mistake us for a couple. I was hoping it was obvious we were related.”

Andrew scoffed at the statement. “I’m sorry, but I’m actually quite pleased I don’t look to be related to your ugly face.”

He deserved the stronger smack, Akko would say.

“AKKO! That hurt!”

“You know what else hurts? The fact that people can’t seem to get it in their heads that not every guy and girl walking next to each other are partners. Damn, and I used to think it was a good thing that I could use you to get out of awkward confession situations.” Sometimes people did that, despite the entire ‘destined partner’ situation. “Weird times.”

“You actually get confessed to? Hahaha, why? Guys must need glasses.”

The tall lad flinched at the held up fist. “I’m kidding. You’re actually growing up to be quite pretty Akko.”

Eyes wide one second, then smiling sweetly the next, a chill ran up Andrew’s spine at Akko’s reaction... that suddenly morphed into disgust, a hand pinching his side. “Ew, I kinda liked you better when you weren’t so gross and cheesy.”

“Ah- h-hurts, that, Akko, that stings, ouch! Let go! I was trying to be nice!” Andrew retaliated with his own pinch to Akko’s slightly rounded cheeks. “Let go!”

“You lwet gfho!” They released their holds at the same time, rubbing the sore spots on their bodies. “Why were you suddenly being all weird?”

“...ate...etter...man...”

“What was that?” Akko couldn’t understand any of Andrew’s incoherent mumbling.

“...My soulmate told me I should really try to be a better gentleman... to you...”

“Haha, she’s right about that! You’re such a dick!”

“Oi!”

Before Andrew could physically get back at her, Akko made a dash to the mall entrance across the street right as the street light turned green for pedestrians. “Loser has to buy the other ice-cream!”

“That’s cheating!”

“Maybe!”

//-//-//-//-//

“See? You’re all out of energy now because of how rowdy you were earlier today.” Andrew scolded, hands on his hips, a paper bag with the chosen gift in it, slung around one wrist.

“Y’think so? This is usually... hah... nothing... to me.” Akko panted, plopping down on one metal chair by the ice-cream bar. “Weird.”

Andrew sighed, deciding to cater to Akko’s needs since she was nice enough to help him out today. “I’ll get you a water. What flavor of ice-cream would you like?”

“Matcha-Vanilla~” Akko drawled, now slumped against the table, liking the cool surface against her somehow, heated cheek. “Go forth, my peasant!”

“Noted, your eminence.”

“Mm, mm!” Akko nodded in approval, arms going under her head to cushion it. Her eyes were getting heavy. Did all that walking around really make her that tired? Her head was starting to hurt, and her body still felt heavy. Just what-

//-//-//-//-//

“Akko. Akko! Atsuko!”

‘...Andrew?’

“Tsk. Should I call an ambulance?”

‘Andrew...’

“Excuse me, are you in need of any assistance for your friend? My family owns a hospital nearby and we could take her there.”

Akko felt Andrew’s hand supporting her suddenly tense. “Geh- Cavendish...”

“My, Sir Hanbridge. Date?”

“Cousin.”

“Hmm...”

Oh? Someone... A lady? What a nice voice. Somehow it was comforting to Akko. It felt warm, it felt kind, it felt gentle. For a voice to feel something rather than sound like something, Akko must really be out of it.

Hands.

Careful, tender.

“A-An... wha-”

“Akko! Don’t talk. Just rest.”

“Akko, huh. Is that her name? Miss Akko?”

“mmrm?”

“You’ll be alright.”

That voice. Akko wanted to believe it. Who...

Soft. Soft. Akko was leaning against something soft.

“You’’ll be alright.” Was said again.

“Akko, you’ll be alright.” Ah, Andrew. But somehow, Akko would rather hear those words from the other person currently holding her in her arms. She felt bad. Not just in the sick kind of way. What was she supposed to do again? Oh right, she was helping Andrew. Where was she? Was she causing trouble? Ah, what if she was bothering this sweet-smelling, comfortable-feeling, gentle-sounding lady.

‘Hey... you...’ Hmm, her voice wasn’t quite working like it should. Maybe she should try to express herself again. Clearing her terribly scratchy and dry throat, she managed to croak out a single word.

“So...rry...”

“It’s alright.”

//-//-//-//-//

White ceiling, the absence of sticker-stars. Dim lighting, the low thrum of the air conditioner unit, and the occasional sound of something dripping. The scent of antiseptic.

Her right hand felt uncomfortable, like something was stuck in it. She lifted it up, seeing a slim tube running out of some secure, clear tape.

“You’re in the hospital, idiot.”

“Never a quiet moment with you, Andrew.”

A sigh. “I was worried.”

“...Mm. I’m sorry...”

“You didn’t tell me you were feeling unwell.”

“I wasn’t.”

“Don’t lie.”

“Couldn’t tell.”

“Akko!”

“Say, Andrew. Who was with you earlier?”

“Don’t change the subject, Akko- huh?” Reprimanding words died on the boy’s lips as the question sunk in. “Ahhh.” Recollections of earlier events came in. “The daughter of the owner of this place.” He threw in a few other details he thought Akko would want to know. “High-class lady. This place does too.” He decided to humor her queries, knowing she didn’t want to argue with Andrew anymore. He didn’t either, not when she was like this. A time and place for everything.

“Hmm...” Akko hummed, sitting upright and looking out the window. Andrew panicked, stepping forward, but Akko shooed her cousin away. “She sounded nice.” Akko commented. “Was she pretty?” Somehow her mind wanted to know. Her heart was clenching in some unknown need to know more about a voice she barely registered, a touch she fleetingly felt.

“You could say that. I guess to most, she’d be considered gorgeous?” Andrew mused. “Weird hair though.” Was added as an afterthought.

“Heh...”

“Curious?” He didn’t say it in a teasing town, only genuinely inquisitive at Akko’s not-so-subtle expression of interest in someone she barely even met.

“No? Not really.” She responded, everything becoming still. “Can I go home?”

“Once your tests come in.”

“How long have I been here?”

“Overnight.”

“Mama and dad?”

“Dropped by while you were asleep. Uncle was sobbing buckets, but Auntie dragged him out because they both had work. They paid off the bill and said they’ll see you when we all get home.”

Akko sighed, dropping back against her pillows. “I can’t believe I’ve caused so much trouble in a span of, what, three days?” Covering her face with one of the pillows, she screamed lightly into it, the muffled sound concerning Andrew. “I have to apologize a lot to them. Have to make it up to them... I even had them spend a lot of money on -ow! Andrew!”

Retracting the hand he used to chop her head, Andrew huffed. “Stop that. Your parents love you, you’re not a bother. Shut it. If you really want to make it up to them, get some rest right now as we wait, and get better soon. I suggest you make some dinner if you’re well enough.” He knew she often had insecurities, and tried her best not to bother people so much. He’d observed it from her relationship with her two best friends. She really was just a ball of energy that she couldn’t help but cause scenes, though. People hardly minded, anyway. If only she realized.

“Duly noted.”

Andrew nodded, walking over to the bed and sitting at the edge, whipping his head about to glare at the  owner of the leg that had just attempted to kick him off.

“You’re making the foam awkwardly sink. It’s uncomfortable. You’re inconveniencing the patient’s recovery.” Akko grinned, trying to get rid of the stuffy atmosphere that had settled by stirring up another banter session.

“Could you settle down for once?”

“I mean, I could.”

“Unbelievable.” He chuckled. “Fine, fine, I’ll give you your space. I’m going to the store. Want anything?” He offered, since the ice-cream he initially was supposed to treat her to as thanks was long since forgone on some cemented floor, probably already cleaned up by the workers of the shop.

“Orange juice.”

“Coffee? Understood.”

“Ass.”

“The good ass genes run in our family.”

“Oh my gosh, you did not just say that.” Akko guffawed, waving her hands, eyes sparkling with pride at the crude joke of her prim and proper, perfect-gentleman cousin.

“I did not just say that.” Andrew smirked. “Now rest before your fever comes back from all that tension you release. Good thing you’re off school for a while.”

“Don’t remind me.”

“I’ll be back in fifteen.”

“Hai~”

“Don’t disappear.”

“...”

“AKKO!”

“I won’t, I won’t!” She giggled, dropping the tease. “Now scram!”

“I swear to god...”

And with that, she was alone again.

Great. More time alone with her thoughts. And what better way to occupy that blank space that was her mind then to fill it with all her doubts, insecurities, and questionings.

One particular question stood out at that moment.

“Who... was the owner of that voice...” Along with that single question came a wave of interconnected ones that Akko could not understand. Why was there this sudden desire to just... know.

What did she look like? How tall was she? Was she fair-skinned? Tanned? Long hair? Short hair? Curled or not? How old was she? Were they the same age? Was she an older lady? Was she maybe in the same grade? From the haze that was her memories, it seemed Andrew knew her? An acquaintance? Why couldn’t he give Akko more details besides insulting that woman’s hair? Where was she from? She had an accent. British? Scottish? Did she live around these parts? Why...

Why was Akko so curious?

Knock. Knock. Knock.

“Andrew, you know you can just, like... come in, right? You know I can’t even get up to open the door for yoouuu...huuu...” With the door swinging open to reveal the person on the otherside, Akko could only hope that she did not appear to be the stupid-looking gay dance she most probably was. “-...huuu...who...?”

‘Beautiful.’

“I apologize for the intrusion, but I just wanted to check on you. Oh, you may not even know me, I’m sorry. I should probably introduce myself, isn’t that right? Oh blood hell, Andrew, telling me to check on someone I barely know because you want to go off somewhere...” Akko heard her mutter that last bit under her breath before watching this gorgeous lady seemingly recover her senses. “-Ah, apologies, um... sorry! Wow, I suppose I’m saying that too much, aren’t I? We didn’t exactly ‘meet’ earlier, but... I don’t know, I was probably meddling in issues not concerning me, but... I couldn’t help but want to help you out. It was an automatic reaction as someone who has wanted to be a healthcare professional all my life, and I was so used to it, and then it just so happened to be Andrew and... well, you and- and I-” Fair skin, lithe, fairly tall frame, a melodic voice, gorgeous blue eyes hidden by long lashes and ...strange hair, due to an immediate bow upon spotting the confused gaze of the patient; this person was...

“You’re rambling, miss.”

Said Miss bristled, expression flustered and eyes darting about in her embarrassment. “S-sorry.”

Akko panicked at the saddened apology. She just made a pretty girl sad! “N-no! I-” Their eyes met and then it was one of the most magical and equally painful moments of Akko’s life, she concluded. “Hi.”

“Hello.” The girl nodded back in acknowledgement.

“Akko.” She blurted out. Then just like that she witnessed a world wonder contained in such a small room, in just one girl. There was just something in the way her eyes lit up that pleased Akko very much. It was as though she was the catalyst for such a breath-taking phenomena. Blue stars, passionately burning, brightly so, like her favorite celestial bodies. “...Rigel...” She murmured.

“Huh?”

“Oh? Huh? Eh, um...” Arms flapping about, she tried to graps control of the conversation, not knowing where it was going anymore. “Uh, my... name! My name is Akko! Ahaha, sorry ‘bout that.” --She scratched the back of her head sheepishly with the hand not attached to the IV tube.

“Miss Akko... Rigel?” She tilted her head, and by gods that was the cutest thing Akko had ever seen in her life. But Wait-

“Oh! No, nono... no hahaha.” She laughed, waving her hands in front of her, realizing that what she said had been mistaken as her name.

“I... My name is Kagari Atsuko, but you can call me Akko.” She clumsily reintroduced herself.

“And Rigel...?”

‘Is a blue star that is put to shame when in comparison to your ethereal ocean eyes-’

“Oh, it’s just... just a star I like, hahaha...ha..ha.” She needed to save this dying interaction, fast. She didn’t want this goddess of a lady to walk away just yet. Who was she? Why was Akko panicking so badly? Why was her heart running miles per second? Where did these confusing feelings stirring from her chest come from? Could this just be... Was this girl... Was she... could she be who Akko thought she was? She didn’t even know her name yet, but the way she made her feel, it was like some universal, natural phenomena that could only make sense in the context of... that. Who was she? Who was she? Who-

“Diana.”

Diana, apparently.

“Diana.” She tested, the name unfamiliar, but incredibly welcome and sliding off her tongue so naturally, and with ease. Like she was meant to know such a name all her life. “Nice to meet you.”

She patted herself on the back for a good greeting, with good manners, even happier when she received a soft smile in return.

“The pleasure is all mine.”

“No, no, the pleasure is mine, I mean... pleasure, I’m... feels good to meet you, I mean, because you saved me and all, from what I can understand, so pleasure, good feels- no- what am i saying?! I’m sorry, Diana, er miss? Diana? Miss Diana?”

“Diana is fine.”

Diana was indeed SO fine.

“Th-thank you for being so beautiful.”

“What?”

“Tha-thanks for saving me, I mean, helping Andrew out in saving me, but that means you saved me too, so I just thought I should properly thank you and all that and express gratitude because that’s the right thing to do, amiright? And of course I’m right so thank you, Diana, thanks for everything, and the hospital and the room and all, oh but you don’t own it, but your family does, so does that mean you own it-”

“Akko.”

“Yes?!”

“You’re rambling, Akko.”

Akko was a burning hot mess of foolishness, but if it prompted such heavenly giggles from such an angel- no a goddess, alongside her name that sounded divine coming from soft pink lips- that she was absolutely not staring at- then she hardly minded at all.

And then there was silence.

“So...”

“So...”

Diana awkwardly shuffled on her spot, the tip of her shoe tapping against the floor impatiently, hand fiddling with a button on her shirt. It took so much willpower for Akko not to direct her eyes there.

“I guess I’ll get going.”

“A-already?”

“Eh?”

“Eh?”

“Ah... I mean... if you have... stuff to do, I guess... I... shouldn’t be stopping you or anything of the sort, right?”

Akko didn’t like that frown, however miniscule it was, on Diana’s face.

“I... I’m a little busy, I apologize.” She spoke softly. Akko’s heart clenched, and she cursed her insensitive ways. “But... I can come back tomorrow? If you’d like?” -And it leaped up in joy just as quick. More time! More Diana! More getting to know her!

“Y-Yes! Of course! I’ll wait here for you! Pinky swear! I- woah...” The world was suddenly spinning, and Akko had to lean back for a moment, vision swimming in color.

“Akko!”

Said girl was beginning to get addicted to the feeling of Diana’s presence by her side. That was not necessarily a good or bad thing. She couldn’t get attached to her, not when she knew nothing about her. She couldn’t... be acknowledging these feelings blossoming out of nowhere without confirmation of whether or not this person was meant to be hers, and she was meant to be with as well. But she was addicting, Diana. A strong drug. Just one whiff and she was high on her existence.

“Geez, you should be resting. I’m sorry for bothering you, and keeping you up this long.”

Akko heard none of those words. Akko was curious. So Akko just had to check. Hands weakly grasping Diana’s cooler ones, fingers roamed, feeling around until they touched even colder metal... on Diana’s... left... hand.

“Akko?” The concern was palpable in her voice, Akko’s senses blurring the world out as her hands dropped to her side.

Frustrating.

She somehow hoped what she’d been experiencing these past few minutes were the signs of her finding her soulmate, but it seemed as though she may have been wrong. Maybe it was simply infatuation, or a shameless lust overtaking her in her weakened state.

It shouldn’t be this frustrating.

It shouldn’t be this painful.

She shouldn’t have been so impatient and jumped to subconscious conclusions.

Diana had already found her soulmate. Just like everyone else.

Everyone but Akko.

//-//-//-//-//

When she came to, it was dark. She felt much better than she had yesterday, and earlier on today. Turning to her right, she saw Andrew seated on a chair, back facing her as he was conversing with someone.

“I wonder what got into that girl? Her new friend seemed worried.” That voice...

‘Mama.’

“You mean Diana?”

Akko flinched at the name.

“Is that her name? My, she was so cute. If you weren’t already matched to someone, Andrew, I think you’d look good together.” Akko felt a twinge in her chest, only slightly soothed by the sound of Andrew choking on something, his drink maybe. Tea? Coffee?

“I’d rather not be involved with her like that.” Andrew responded after composing himself.

“Eehh-”

Akko couldn’t listen any longer. The pain of everything was just starting to come back. She just wanted to get away. Away from this place that kept reminding her of her chance encounter. She just wanted to go home. She just wanted to hug her mama.

“Ma...ma...” Her voice warbled. “Mama...” She tried, louder. Somehow her voice was so weak, the thought of it not being able to reach the person she trusted the most in the world, hurt. “Ma... ma... mama! Mamaaa...” Slowly, she regained her voice, cracked and unsteady. And finally she was heard. “Mama!”

“Akko!” Before Akko could even blink again, the woman was at her side, a hand brushing bangs away to clear her warm forehead, a refreshing kiss planted there. “Akko, my baby.”

“M-mama... Mamaaa...” She moaned out, engulfing the woman in her tight hold, sinking into a familiar scent. “Mama...”

“Yes, Yes. I’m here. I’m here, Akko.” She cooed, hands combing through chocoloate-colored tresses.

“Mama.”

“Yes?”

“I wanna go home.”

“Eh? But you aren’t okay yet-”

“Please. Let me go home...”

She felt her mother pull back. She couldn’t face the eyes seeking hers. “Akko? What’s wrong, sweetheart? You’re not feeling well, and yet you want to go home before you get better. Is something the matter?” Akko couldn’t lie to those.

But she could try.

“I just think I’ll be able to rest better at home. My... my fever isn’t that bad.”

“But you were just crying out for me...”

“I was just... feeling lonely. Please, Mama. Let’s go home.” She couldn’t say it was because she didn’t want to meet a certain lady, weird blonde hair and enchanting blue stars never leaving her memory. “Please...” Because more than the pain inflicted by her sickness, she couldn’t stand the squeezing of her heart, its labored pounding more burdensome than the throbbing in her head. “Please, mama.”

“Akko...”

“Don’t be such a selfish brat.”Andrew scolded, eyes burning into the Akko’s skin. “Didn’t you just say you didn’t want to cause anyone trouble?”

Akko deflated in her mother’s embrace, and the elder boy sighed. He really hated seriously hurting Akko, especially emotionally. “But... We can leave first thing in the morning tomorrow, if you prove to be alright.” He turned the other way, hiding his expression from the girl. “So just get better.”

“Andrew...”

“Get better soon.”

//-//-//-//-//

It was against institutional rules to be running about in the building at any given time. Crowded or cleared, the halls were not made for such dangerous sport. Workers constantly made their way through these corridors; some pushing wide carts carrying planned food and beverage for every patient in the hospital; some nurses walked along with important, and sometimes painstakingly prepared medicine and treatments for patients that Diana threatened to compromise should she bump into them. In other areas she could risk bumping into one of the sanitary maintenance people, infectious waste at the risk of being spilled all over.

And Diana grew aware of all these things, surrounded by them from a tender age. Yet at this moment, she was in complete disregard for them, her footsteps rushed and padding softly against a marbled floor. Her eyes scanned every plaque above each door she passed, counting off the numbers, and reading the letters, her trip on autopilot.

One more corner, just the end of that corner. If she rounded that, then walked past three more rooms- She was feeling a regretful that she couldn’t come by earlier, the colors of the afternoon sky telling her just how close she was cutting it to the end of visiting hours. Curse all the school-transfer procedures she had to sit through. They didn’t need to take that long, did they? But she had made a promise of sorts. She had promised her new... friend, Akko that she’d come by and see her. She must not keep her waiting. She didn’t quite understand what it was that made her so happy about the prospect that the other girl actually wanted to see her- Diana assumed as such with how she was acting yesterday. Really... it was amazing.

Diana herself couldn’t deny that she saw something different in Akko, a substance far beyond what others could offer her that suddenly shifted the usual motions of her world upon meeting this girl. All her life, so many people came along trying to woo her, claiming that she was the one defined by their flimsy phrases that never moved her heart. ‘Beautiful lass’, ‘doctor’s daughter’, titles among other things. She had even found out a few faked rings that had been promptly reported to authorities for the grave sin committed. Thus, Diana could trust no words written on silly little rings; only the one written on her own, worn about her left ring finger.

She hadn’t found her soulmate, no. And maybe this was against the universal rules of whatever matchmaking system had engulfed society, but Diana did not want to be caught in a trap of a forever she could not escape unless she was absolutely sure that this was it. Maybe it would be unfair to her soulmate; maybe it would throw them off; maybe they wouldn’t realize right away; but if there was one thing Diana believed in that was rooted in this entire system, it was that if you met the one meant for you, you would know.

Her mother told her so. And Diana trusted her mother’s words above all other words.

One more door, one more plaque. Diana readied a hand to knock against closed-...open? The door was... open. Did Akko have visiting doctors? They sometimes left doors open for quick checks to save time during rounds. But no, that did not seem to be the case. She was surprised to see one of the cleaning personnel of the hospital folding up the sheets of the bed, passing it to his companion before they changed the covers.

Approaching an elderly male of the pair currently clearing the room out of any trash possibly left behind, Diana respectfully inquired, “Um sir? Where is the occupant of this room?”.

“Hmm? Ah! Young Miss, what are you doing here? Oh, were you perhaps the friend of the little girl staying here recently?”

“You... could say that.” Diana muttered, unsure.

“Oh, then she must have just forgotten to tell, you ey? Already left, y’see. The little miss, along with her mother and some fine lookin’ gentleman. Do you think that could be ‘er soulmate? Ah~ young, concerned love.”

Diana tasted an inexplicable bitterness in her mouth, heart squeezing. “Y-young man?”

“Mm-mm! Handsome fella, looked kinda familiar, but maybe I’m just getting it on in years.”

That... couldn’t be, right? While Diana wasn’t one to be guided purely by feeling, priding in her rationality, she just knew that that couldn’t be. After all... Akko was the only one she’d ever felt this strongly for in the lifetime she’s lived so far. She’d swear on her family’s motto of ‘affection’ that she’d only offer her fullest romances to the one the universe had destined for her, corny as that may sound.

She just knew it. She just knew it was Akko.

So who-

Andrew.

She suddenly chuckled. Of course. Who else could that young chap accompanying Akko be? He was the one who came with Diana to the hospital, he was the one who had told her go take that first visit. So of course, logically, without a doubt, the man that Akko should have been with was Andrew. Of course.

And there was nothing to worry about, soulmate-wise. Diana knew Andrew already had someone. She’d met up with them constantly at banquets. There was no obstacle, no other person for Akko. Right?

Akko... Akko who wasn’t here. In this room. Gloom encompassed her heart as she stared at the room dimming bit-by-bit as the staff turned off the lights. They told her that they should get leaving, and Diana nodded, informing them she’d just do one last look over the room for any possible missed items, then she’d lock the room herself, to which the workers reluctantly agreed, unable to go against the owner’s daughter. Well, she was known to be a good kid, so nothing should be wrong with that.

Diana, now left alone, remained stood by the doorway that served as the only light source to the room for a few more seconds. It wasn’t like constantly looking into it would magically make the one she was seeking appear, huh? With a deep exhale, she closed the door behind her, frown tugging at the edges of her mouth.

“You said you’d wait for me.”

//-//-//-//-//

Scritch. Scratch. A line, then two. A squiggle, a letter. A bubble from brew-

...huh?

“Aren’t you supposed to be helping me with my homework?” Akko frowns at her companion currently mixing questionable substances on her floor-table in her room. “That is why you’re here, right?”

“Course not. What fun would that be?”

“Should’ve known better than to invite you over.” Akko muttered under her breath, getting back to the unending pile of chemistry homework she was sure Croix assigned to them out of spite. “And how did you finish this all, anyway?”

“I’m smart like that.”

“You’re mean like that. Why can’t you help me out at least?”

“I believe that learning for yourself is the best teacher.” Sucy replied, emotionless as always.

“No you don’t.”

“True.”

“Hah...” Akko gave up. Forget getting help from Sucy. That wasn’t a possible feat, now that she thought about it clearly. The girl was just bored out of her mind so she easily agreed to come over. Akko was sure of it. Without Lotte in the house, and on their fifth and final schoolday away, Sucy- who had slowly gotten used to the concept of companionship- must have just wanted someone around, regardless of whether there was flowing conversation or not.

“Akko?” Andrew’s voice came from behind the door. Finally! A distraction! Wait, wasn’t Akko avoiding Andrew lately? Why was she avoiding him lately? “Akko?”

“Come in!”

“...huh? You’re actually letting me in?” The muffled voice asked, door now ajar. “Hey Akko, so... about what I’ve been telling you all week...” He began, looking nervous, and Akko had to wonder why. “So my friend, Diana, she-”

Ah. Right.

That’s why.

Quick on her feet, Akko gunned for the door, pushing it forcefully, and locking Andrew out, the boy’s yells the only things making it through the barrier.

“Akko! Akko! OH, COME ON! We’ve been at this the whole week!”

“And I told you this whole week, I don’t wanna hear it!!!” Akko hollered back.

“But WHY?!” Andrew’s exasperation oozed out of his voice. “Just give me a reason! Give her a reason! From what I’ve heard, you seemed to have hit it off pretty well?”

“Says who?” Akko asked.

“Diana!” Andrew didn’t like yelling, but Akko was being so hard-headed after he mentioned his blonde acquaintance. “Just what happened between you two?”

“Nothing! Nothing happened!!!”

“Then why does she keep bugging me about you, and why are you avoiding her like the plague?!”

...Why was Akko avoiding Diana? Was there any reason to? They’d met just the other day, had the most awkward conversation in her life to date, and then Akko felt something. Something she shouldn’t have, and let her hopes up, only to drop them lower than where they already were; and none of that was Diana’s fault. If anything, Diana could have proven to be another great friend she’d make along the way in life, y’know?

Akko didn’t know. She didn’t know what was going on; within herself, within her mind and her heart, in that one moment frozen in time between her and Diana, in a silent hospital room.

“I don’t know, Andrew. I don’t.”

Sucy’s potion stopped brewing.

//-//-//-//-//

“MY MADLADS! I MISSED YOU UGLY FACES!”

“Ugh, Amanda.”

“Oi!”

Akko grinned, messing up Amanda’s fiery mane in comfort from being rejected by Sucy. “Missed you too, Amanda.” A high-five rang out through the school lobby, the two energetic troublemakers missing that burning feeling on their palms.

“But man, you guys sure missed a lot. Who knew a week without y’all could turn the school upside-down.” Amanda whistled, their small group of eight finally assembling complete as Jasminka and Constanze walked up.

The small girl gave Akko this look that she completely understood, giving the girl a big thumbs up, and receiving a smile and nod. Jasna held out a lollipop which Akko gratefully accepted, and they all made their way to the corridors.

Suddenly registering what Amanda said a few moments ago, Akko’s interest was piqued. “What did you mean by turning the school upside-down?” She wondered just how much a school could change for her who was out for a week.

“Oh, well, maybe I was exaggerating a tiny bit.” Amanda chuckled, scratching her cheek. “Just that, some new girl came along and now everyone is all head over heels for her somehow.” Amanda fake-cried, sniffling up some. “She even stole my babes! Along with all my popularity!!!”

That earned her two smacks to the head from two certain British girls. “We already told you, she was our childhood friend! Of course we’re inclined to keep her company and show her around!” They defended, scoffing. “Besides, you didn’t mind ogling her at all the other day, huh? You should feel grateful we let you in our dorm the other day.”

“B-babies...”

“Oof. You brought that on yourself, hot stuff.” Sucy grinned, wickedly. “But now I’m curious. If she could even catch Amanda’s eyes then...”

“Total hottie.” Jasminka commented through a mouthful of chips. “Everyone can vouch for that.”

“Woah, even Jas...” Akko laughed lightly. “Alrighty, let’s meet this new kid in town then! Where is she and what’s her name?” Just as they were about to pass the headmistress’ office and head for their homeroom, a hand tugged at the brunette’s collar, along with Sucy’s.

“Wait a second, you two. You’re supposed to report to Professor Holbrooke first, right?” Lotte, ever the dutiful friend, reminded.

“Ah dang, right.” Akko scratched her cheek, throwing Sucy a beckoning glance. “Guess it’s better to just get it over with.” She shrugged.

“Whatever.”

“See you all in class!” Akko waved goodbye, smiling as Lotte left a peck on her pale friend’s cheek, enjoying her rarely flustered state. Her heart warmed when Lotte gave her one two, patting the blonde’s hair fondly. “Thanks, Lotte.”

“Anytime.”

With their friends out of sight, they faced the suddenly intimidating doors.

“Now or never.”

//-//-//-//-//

“I’m glad we got excuse slips for being tardy to class. I do not want more yelling. Though I guess Prof Chariot wouldn’t do that, huh.”

“What did you say? I think I’ve gone deaf.” Sucy complained, rubbing her pained ears. “Finneran yaps like a bitch.”

“OI! Don’t let her hear you say that!”

“Don’t worry, I’m not up for more ‘counseling and healthy reminders’.” Sucy mockingly mimicked the strict teacher. “Christ, that woman must be senile.”

“Shhh, we’re almost at the classroom.” Akko hushed her bestfriend, door coming into view. She could hear a Professor Chariots distinct voice posing a question to the class, and there was a quiet that Akko knew was due to no one knowing the answer, not very uncommon.

But then there was one. A voice very uncommon, but somehow familiar, attracting, pulling her in. With her curiosity getting the better of her, Akko slid the door open, planning to softly sneak into class, forgetting that the room’s backdoor had a tendency to-

SCRREEEEECCHHHH

...that.

“H-hi? S-sorry we’re late?” Akko tried, dozens of eyes now resting on them, most surprised. But one pair stood out the most. ‘She looks good in our uniform.’ Akko’s jaw hung slack, a fight or flight response hesitantly building up within her. Her legs tensed, ready to bolt or stay rooted depending on the next move the one she was staring at made. “...Rigel...”

“...Akko.”

Then a hand reached out, and she was gone. Like the wind.

//-//-//-//-//

It had been a difficult week. Amanda was definitely right when she said things had been turned upside-down. Akko felt like she was too. So Hannah and Barbara’s childhood, hottie, transfer student, best friend just so happened to be Diana. Diana, Akko met her in the hospital and became enraptured with, Diana.

This posed a problem, along with unbearable tension within their group. Akko would always want to run away, and Diana would always seek after her. After awhile, the blonde grew weary, and just distanced herself, her childhood bestfriends obviously sticking by her side. Amanda had girlfriends to attend to. And Constanze and Jas usually followed Amanda. So now, it was just Sucy, Lotte, and little ol’ Akko. Like old times.

“Akko, just why are you avoiding Miss Cavendish? How do you know her?” Lotte asked on their way home. “Please? Tell us? I can’t stand to not spend time with the other girls anymore just because you two are at unknown odds. You’re a kind person, Akko. And Miss Cavendish is as well, from how I’ve gotten to know her lately.”

“Lotte, you... you wouldn’t get it.” Akko sighed. She was tired of entertaining Diana-related questions. All the ‘why don’t you two get along’ interrogations wearing her down thin: with Andrew at home, and Hannah and Barbara indirectly hounding her in school at every chance they’d get, trying to fish out for an answer that Diana couldn’t give to them herself, apparently. Not that Akko blamed her. She must just be as confused as everyone else with regards to Akko’s averse reactions.

“M-maybe I could try?” Akko missed the shift in the Fin’s tone, irritation over the week threatening to make her lose self-control and lash out. But no, she couldn’t do that. Not too sweet Lotte. She still had her senses intact.

“No, I’m sure you wouldn’t.” She firmly stated through gritted teeth, not looking at Lotte as she replied, so unlike her.

“I-I-”

“Akko, Lotte just wants to understand you.” Sucy stepped in, feeling that change in the air that she didn’t quite fancy. “Why can’t you just tell us? I know I may not act like it a lot, but aren’t we your best friends?” Akko held back a hiss behind pearly whites. She didn’t want to be a bad person. She had to be considerate of people’s feelings. Like always. Everyone was just curious. They were all just confused... but then Sucy had to just say, “Don’t you trust us?”

And Akko couldn’t hear that.

“I trust you! I do!” She whipped her head about, pointing a finger to them one-by one. “But you guys, you wouldn’t get it because you have your soulmate by your side constantly, okay?!”

“Akko...” Lotte’s eyes widened.

“I... I’ve been waiting a lot, and I know you said I’m being impatient. It doesn’t have to be now.” Akko huffed. “But do you know how it feels to look at all of you, all happy with someone who can love you completely? Understand you completely? I don’t have that! Not yet! And sure, somewhere down the future road, I might.... and it’s stupid of me, but I’m a lot more jealous and selfish than I look, okay? Everyone has nice words, and has met the person those words described perfectly, at the designated time, normally, as the book says.”

“Akko, the book doesn’t completely control everything-”

“And here I am, always subconsciously looking around, because maybe my person is out there too, y’know? But how the heck do I know?” A hand reached for the chain on her neck, ripping it out of her shirt so hard, it broke, the ring flying onto the ground. “Stupid! Stupid chain! Stupid Ring! Stupid words! Akko marched the few steps to the item, bending and snatching it off the ground, hand going in too hard, too fast that she scraped her knuckles badly in the process, the area quickly leaking red. “Sh- damn it, stupid- gaahhh!”

“A-Akko.”

Lotte stepped back, retracting the hand that had been reaching out for the heated Japanese girl, stomping at the ground. This... wasn’t an Akko she knew. How many years of pent up frustration was going into this session?

“You guys,” Her eyes were scary, sharp and menacing. Sucy jumped in front of Lotte at the sight of Akko’s bloodied knuckles coming their way at eye-level. But then it stopped. “You haven’t seen it, right? My words.”

They couldn’t even react.

“Cabbage.” Akko spat. “Goddamn cabbage. How am I supposed to know what that fucking means. How are you guys supposed to understand when... I can’t either... these words... myself... why I’m so impatient... what I’m feeling... Why... I thought it could’ve been Diana, but...”

“...but what, Akko?” Lotte hated how scared she sounded, seeing Akko flinch, knowing her friend noticed her fear. She knew how afraid of hurting her friends Akko was. This was all just a shock. That’s all. “What’s... what’s with Diana, Akko? Diana and you?” She posed the earlier question for the last time. Was Akko hinting at what she thought it was?

“She wears it on her left.”

//-//-//-//-//

Orange juice didn’t taste as good when you drank it alone on the stairwell leading to the roof. It would have been better had she been able to stand under the cloudy mid-day sun, the refreshing breeze taking her mind off things. But then it just had to rain, hard, and that ruined all her plans of clearing her mind via the healing powers of nature. Maybe she shouldn’t have told Sucy and Lotte to stay away and give her space. Having no one to talk to really sucked. More so than the strange word on her stupid government-issued ring.

“Ahhh, should I just go and apologize to everyone?” She muttered, squeezing the juicebox she thought she’d emptied, but did not know had bits of liquid left. The purely concentrated citrus then spilled onto her exposed, skinned knuckles, making her hiss in pain. “Tsk, stupid. Grrr!”

“Ah-!”

“Ah?” The yelp caught her attention. She was alone in this place, right? “Hello?”

No response.

“Anyone there?” The only ones replying to her were the winds that howled behind the metal door that led to open roof. Those sounds were starting to sound like how she’d imagined ghosts would in the dead of night. “Helloooo~”

Still nothing.

“Maybe it was just my imagination?”

“STAY AWAY!”

Okay, that was NOT her imagination. That was a girl. Looking around for some kind of weapon, Akko readied herself to beat up whatever girl-harassing creep she’d find once she rounded the bend in the stairwell. Holding up a sturdy wooden broom, she tiptoed down, steps making no sound.

On three, she’d jump and smack the living shit out of whoever was there. One... two...

“Akko, please save me!”

And she slipped and fell in her surprise; her back was going to hurt like hell over the next few days. Alas! She must stay vigil! Save whoever this damsel in distress was- Diana... It was Diana. Diana Cavendish, as she’d learned the girl’s name, and a few other trivial details about her, over the course of their time not together. (Akko also denies any and all claims that state that she spent a lofty amount of time observing the taller girl. She didn’t know things like how she was Scottish, or how she loved horses and anything that looked like a unicorn, and that she was intelligent, and smelled like vanilla and mint.)

“I’ll save you?” She managed in her ruffled state. Before she could process anything more, the girl had clung to her, both now laying on the floor; one in an utter state of bewilderment, and the other... dealing with whatever it was she got going on before Akko had found her. “Umm... Diana?” She tried, forgetting her phobia of the girl over the past few days, and rubbing her back gently to gain her attention. She was shaking like the leaves outside in the storm. Just what had happened. “Diana? What’s wrong? What am I saving you from?”

There were no signs of any bad guys, as far as Akko could see. She was grateful for that. She wasn’t sure she could defend them in this position.

“Miss Cavendish? Heir to a billion-dollar hospital? What’s up?” She was trying to be nonchalant in an attempt to possibly calm the girl, and it worked somewhat, allowing her to see that beautiful face, tear-stained and all. “H-Hi.” How lame.

“Akko... the... there... it...”

“Hmm?” She lent an open ear, looking around, still not seeing any signs of danger. Then a well-manicured finger came up and pointed to one of the panels of the hallway’s windows. Akko squinted, not seeing anything. Had Diana seen some kind of floating ghost outside? Or was she seeing it inside, and Akko didn’t have the sixth sense for it? Did Diana have some kind of sixth sense? “What exactly...”

“B...”

“Buh..?”

“Bee.” She squeaked.

Akko gawked.

“Bee.”

“B-bee.”

“Bee?”

“Bee!”

“B-”

“Akko, please just get it away! I’m scared!”

“Y-yes, ma’am!” She scrambled to her feet, but not without gently seating Diana up, even if it was on the dirty corridor floor. Opening the window and grimacing as strong winds blew droplets of water into her face, Akko shooed the poor insect into nature’s claws of death. “Sorry, buddy. Princess doesn’t seem to like you.” Blowing it a kiss, she shut the window, wiping her face on the sleeve of her jacket.

Now... to face a larger problem... or not face it. Maybe Akko should get running again.

She should.

“Well, this was nice and all that, but I guess I should get- ouch!” Diana had caught her hand in alarm, accidentally pressing against her open, yet-to-heal wounds.

“M-my apologies!”

“It’s f-fine. It’s okay, please let... let go.” Akko didn’t like the way her heartrate spiked in Diana’s presence. It grew even more erratic, wildly jumping every which way in her chest as her hand was held more gently, blue eyes scrutinizing the reddened skin, the heiress didn’t seem to have any plans of releasing her. “Diana?”

“May I... May I treat you? That blue sparkle was redirected from her knuckles to her own dark reds. They were so hopeful and compelling that Akko, despite thinking that avoiding Diana would kill whatever held-back, buds of feelings she hoped to dash, just couldn’t help but consent, cursing the way her chest lightened, heart soaring.

She was absolutely doomed.

//-//-//-//-//

It was a quiet affair.

Torturous. No one said a word. To be fair, they’ve only had two somewhat proper conversations so far, so not knowing how to break the ice shouldn’t be that odd.

But it was, and Akko couldn’t take it. Diana had just finished cleaning Akko’s wounds under the sink in the infirmary, and was now dabbing them gently with antiseptic. She was so careful, touches feather-like soft. Akko barely felt anything, much less pain. So maybe she could start with talking about that. Maybe.

“You... You’re hands are real nice.”

“H-huh?”And down fell the cottonball she’d been holding.

“I-I mean... you’re really good at this. Tender and all that. You’d... make a good doctor.” Akko commented off the top of her head, running out of things to say, as she always did when faced with one Diana Cavendish. “A pretty doctor. Patients would... probably feel healed just from your... face. Or something.” Smooth, Akko. Smooth. Could Diana, like... at least help her out a little by responding? “Please say something.” Akko begged in a whisper.

“O-oh, I... thank you, Akko. Thank you for the compliment. I...” Momentarily lifting her eyes and meeting Akko’s gaze, the blonde averted hers, a thin touch of red spreading up to her ears, not unnoticed by the injured Japanese. ��I appreciate your words.”

Akko hummed, not trusting her mouth to communicate properly anymore.

“I think you’re... face is a healing balm as well.”

Akko felt herself blush as well, head tilting up so she could face the ceiling. It was one of the most brainless compliments she’d ever heard in her life, and she knew she just said something along those lines as well. And yet it made her heart flutter like nothing else had before.

“Don’t mention it and... thanks.”

//-//-//-//-//

You never know when an event becomes a catalyst for reality to undergo great changes. Their little bandaging session had returned the next day. Akko was quite clumsy with these types of things. Each time she’d gotten hurt in an accident, she’d always ask Lotte to do it... but today... all their friends, and even the classmates they’d unintentionally dragged into their awkward little world, were staring in awe as Kagari Atsuko stood in front of Diana Cavendish’s desk, inviting her out to the infirmary.

“I-I’m just having her help me with my bandages! Don’t get the wrong idea!” Akko yelled as she guided Diana out, unknowingly holding her hand all the while. No one commented on it. Not even Barbara and Lotte who were exchanging curious little smiles. Something was changing. And it was a good change.

Reaching the infirmary, Akko headed straight for the sink, rinsing her knuckles under clean water while Diana gathered what she needed. Once done, they met by some chairs placed about the room and took a seat, the blonde girl looking over Akko’s hand.

“Come tomorrow, you might not need to bandage it anymore. Just apply some ointment. I think the nurse can recommend something.” Diana stated, looking up to smile at Akko who flushed at the attention.

“O-okay. I got it.”

“Great.” She then got to work, applying what needed to applied, and wrapping the clean white bandage after. Diana did this in her usual silence, focused. Sort of. There was one thing that had been nagging her for quite some time now, ever since she got to take a better look at Akko, now that they attended the same school. It was a  unnerving, however. It hadn’t been long at all since they... ‘got along’, and Diana didn’t want to present something that might cause them to drift apart again. But it was eating at her, the need to know about it. It would determine how she’d interact with Akko from now on. It would show her what kind of relationship she was allowed to pursue. She needed a confirmation. She braced herself. Trying shouldn’t hurt. She could change the subject after testing the waters.

“Akko.”

“Hmm?” Was the casual-sounding hum.

‘She’s calm. Calmer around me.’ That little detail made Diana happy. So happy. This was progress. “May I ask a question?”

There was a pause, and Diana considered backing out. It appeared as though Akko was thinking about it deeply. Before Diana could take it back, Akko responded, “Sure. Ask away.”, and the heiress breathed a relieved sigh. “What did you wanna know?”

“Well, um... I just happened to notice that... you don’t...” Diana was really hoping this wasn’t a sensitive subject. She’d finally managed to close the gap between her and Akko. Sure it was by unconventional, and very strange means- unintentional, above all. She had just been worried about the girl upon seeing that her friend group was all gathered in the classroom except her. So Diana had gone searching, and was planning to offer to stay away from her friends for Akko’s sake. She was glad that things turned out the way it did, though.

“Diana?”

“Um... Akko.” She finished her job, smiling at the neat covering on her.. friend’s... hand. (They were friends now, right? At the very least...)

“Yes?” Akko seemed to notice the hesitation, and her instincts guided her to take hold of Diana’s trembling hands, encouraging her to continue.

Well this was new, Diana thought. Now or never, she supposes. A deep breath, and the floodgates opened.

“I just wondered... why... don’t you have a ring? Did you somehow lose it? Is that possible? But how? Wouldn’t you get in trouble with... everyone, I guess? Have you found your soulmate or not? If yes then I should probably just say goodbye here and, oh but not in the way you think, you might not get what I mean, but I still want to be friends-”

“Diana.”

“Yes?”

Akko’s cheeks puffed up, trying to hold it in, but ultimately failing as she burst into giggles, instinctively tucking a stray strand of hair behind Diana’s ear as she leaned forward to bump their foreheads together.

Ah, screw fate and it’s ways. Screw Diana’s soulmate that existed somewhere out there. In this one moment, she just felt so at peace, and in place, she’d deal with all the raging storms in her mind later. For now, it was just the two of them, hanging out in an infirmary, the smell of antiseptic on them, stupid words be damned.

“You’re rambling.”

//-//-//-//-//

It had been a few weeks- maybe just shy of two months- of friendship (?) with Diana, and Akko had never felt more alive in all her years. They had even spent her birthday together! Well, everyone else was there to, but... Anyway. The afternoon the question had been dropped, she had ended up explaining to the Scot her story with the ring, leaving out the detail of what it had written on it. That was a little too embarrassing for her to share yet. Baby steps.

She’d never dare ask about Diana’s ring, and she appreciated that the girl never brought up any soulmate talk that involved herself. Akko felt that it helped her cope with this one-sided love a little longer. She would no longer deny this attraction. She was so undeniably into Diana, it was crazy. She didn’t understand how teenage hormones and falling in love worked, but somehow she just knew. She felt a little apologetic to her soulmate, no longer feeling the need to search for him and her, the section of, [What to do if you haven’t found your soulmate yet.] remaining untouched. But well... things happen sometimes.

And sometimes, you become so much of a fool that you invite the girl you are in love with, who already has a soulmate, to your house, to your room, just so she can be the first to see that portable planetarium projector you were finally able to get your hands on for an affordable deal. You wouldn’t even cry at losing months worth of saved allowance and work wages. It was all worth it, to see her entire being practically glowing in awestruck wonder as you lay on your backs on the cushioned floor, having the chance to flaunt years of star study to your crush. The impressed gazed directed at you felt so good. You could get used to this. Especially when the visage of wonder glimmering in the dear girl’s eyes was outright precious.

A Diana in awe was cute.

So much so that Akko was in awe.

“Hey Diana...”

“Hmm?”

“Do you believe in magic?”

What a strange thing to ask in that moment. That’s what Diana thought. Akko thought the same. Just what had gotten over her. Yet she still wondered, thoughts flying far off into space, just as they always did when she gazed upon the stars in the night sky- or her ceiling’s artificial one.

‘What are you saying, Akko?” Diana chuckled, right hand reaching out to grasp Akko’s, fingers lacing together. She felt her heart flip as it was squeezed tight, unaware of the inner turmoil Akko was enduring at the lack of presence of a ring on that hand. Their eyes remained trained to the glowing heavenly bodies above, stories of the past, of fate, and the like, written all over.

“Do you believe in other worlds, Diana?”

“Well, many studies propose that they indeed exist.” Diana responded.

“What about alternate universes? A completely different you out there, living a different life.”

Diana turned her head to face Akko, the brunette still facing upwards, eyes glistening with unshed tears, barely noticeable in the dim lighting; but Diana always noticed. Because it was Akko.

“Don’t you think that somewhere out there... there could be another version of us; maybe a clumsy me, and a fantastic you, saving the world with strange words not understood by the rest of the world?”

“Maybe...” Diana breathed out in a whisper, oxygen effectively stolen by the tear that slipped down shapely cheeks. The moment felt so fragile, she was afraid if she made a move, it would shatter into a million pieces, never to see the light of day.

And god forbid it happen. Diana wanted to boast this tender feeling out under the brightness of the sun, for the world to witness.

“Why do you ask?”

She listened in agony at the choked intake of air, followed by the frailest of whispers. “Because maybe... the impossible for the Kagari Atsuko here... is possible for the Akko there.”

The heiress pondered those phrases a moment. “...Impossible, like?” Diana replied in equally hushed tones, something hopeful in her pitch.

‘Like you being meant for me, and I for you.’

But Akko couldn’t just say that.

“As impossible as using magic here, maybe?” Akko laughed in a normal, in-house voice, volume not too loud, but no longer a whisper. She should just bury her illegal thoughts deep down.

“I guess so.” She deflated. What had she desired to hear anyway? “Magic does seem like an unattainable power, some unimaginable, impossible concept.” Maybe she should get ready to leave soon. There was something heavy weighing in the atmosphere and in her heart, and she did not wish for a memory as sweet as this to turn sour due to her mood.

“You think so?” Akko’s steadying voice kept her rooted in place. “What if it isn’t so impossible after all?”

“How so?”

“Well, don’t they say that when people put their minds to it, when they truly desire and wish for it with all their hearts... like how the song goes, y’know? ‘When you wish upon a star your dreams come true’, or something.”

“Like the law of attraction and manifestation?” Diana supplied. “If you think positive things, positive things will come to you. Your reality becomes better. Like that?”

“Hmmm...” Akko tapped against the back of Diana’s hand, still entwined with hers, with her index thoughtfully. “Yes, but no. Kinda, but not really...? I don’t know how to describe what I’m thinking at the moment based on existing principles. Not too good at remembering. Heck, is there a quote that already exists?”

“Why not make your own, then?” Diana proposed.

“Heh... good idea. Let me think.”

“Take your time.” Diana enjoyed the little sounds Akko made as she thought.

“Oh! I got it!”

“Hoh? And what would those words of wisdom be, Miss Kagari?”

“Ready the papers, Miss Cavendish. We’re about to make the headlines with this!” They both giggled at their antics. “Drum roll, please! Dugudugudugudugudugu....dan!”

Diana nuzzled into Akko’s shoulder, enjoying all these little sound effects, the brunette’s voice calming her gradually, lulling her to sleep.

“Just what are these magnificent words, dear Akko?” Diana was far too drowsy to notice the splash of color painted across her companions face, the shyness melting into tenderness as she felt her warmth shift closer.

“A believing heart is your magic.”

And sleep was nearly robbed of her, eyes widening in the dark, unseen by Akko as the thumb on Diana’s free hand now brushed over the engravings on her ring. It was for sure now.

“You really are... the one.”

//-//-//-//-//

Something was off about Diana today. Was it her hair? No, impeccably styled as always, that couldn’t be it. Was it her makeup for today? No, it wasn’t that either. It was still that natural looking glow that brought out her innate beauty in all the best ways possible.  Akko continued to check off boxes on her mental list, trying to figure out just what it was that was bothering her about Diana’s appearance today. Was it her clothes? But that was the uniform they wore daily! Did she... get any new jewelry? Hmm, she didn’t seem the type to wear any at school.

Then...

Was it the ring that painfully reminded Akko that the person she might be in love with was already meant for someone else? No, that couldn’t be it either. Last Akko checked, the ring was snugly fitted, definitely on... huh? The ring was... gone? No? Akko scanned Diana’s smooth looking left hand. No it wasn’t there. Not on the left, and her eyes couldn’t help but guide her hopeful soul to... ah. It really wasn’t on the left, but on the right.

Huh? That wasn’t right.

This confused Akko. Enough to make her approach Diana’s seat during lunch, tapping her attention away from her conversation with Lotte and Barbara.

“H-hey Diana, I have a question... “

“Yes?” Said girl gave Akko her full attention. There was something different about the way she smiled at Akko today as well, it seemed. Odd. Nice. But odd.

“So like... uh... W-Why is your... your ri-” Akko could feel droplets of sweat forming on her brow, threatening to trickled down the side of her face if she so much as twitched.

“Ri?”

“Why’s your ri- r....r-r- Right ear larger than your left?!”

Dainty hands shot up to cover her ears, blushing shocked and mortified. “WHAT?!”

Whoops, Akko messed up. “HAHA AHA.. KIDDING! Nah, I was messing with you!” The brunette forcibly laughed, patting Diana’s back in uneasy comfort.

“Akko, that wasn’t very nice.” Lotte scolded, and the said girl nodded, sighing.

“I know. Sorry guys.” She apologized properly, looking to Diana in particular. She received a gracious smile and a pat on the cheek, the skin underneath the ringed-hand warming speedily.

“It’s alright.”

That kindness allowed her to gather bits of courage to finally state her inquiry. Diana would answer her just fine, right? Akko had to when asked about the whereabouts of her ring. It was fair trade?

“I was just wondering, because I recalled you wearing your ring on your left hand until recently. But now it’s on your right. I guess you could say I was just curious?”

“Eh?”

“Is that so, Diana?” Hannah questioned, eyes wide. “But why would you move it in reverse? Now that you’ve actually found- mrrrpmmphhh.”

Akko shot a puzzled glance at Hannah and Barbara, the latter clasping a hand over the ginger’s mouth.

“N-nothing. You didn’t hear anything.” She covered. “You heard nothing, are we clear?” She threatened, and Akko actually shivered.

“Holy crap, your women can get so scary, Amanda.” She mentioned to the redhead seated in front of the other girls.

She heard her release a heavy sigh before getting up from her seat and turning to face the group. “It’s because you two are such a pain, that’s why. Just get it over with, Cavendish! What’s holding you back? It’s as simple as this, see? When you have a dense mofo like Akko, you just gotta give her a little push. A literal one.” And that was the only warning they got before Diana felt soft, slightly chapped lips barely missing her own, brushing against the corner of her mouth.

Akko removed herself so fast, they all worried she’d get whiplash. “S-s-s-s-s-sorry! Sorry Diana, I didn’t- it was... AMANDA!”

“I was helping.”

“You little...”

“Rather than giving me your attention, shouldn’t you talk it over with miss salad head over there?”

Akko blinked, the cogs in her mind slowly spinning, then clicked. “Did you just... insult... ah, screw you!” Akko yelled, blush burning so hot, it was hard to keep her eyes open.

Heeding Amanda’s advice nonetheless, she turned to an equally red Diana, unable to meet her eyes. Akko didn’t think her face could get any hotter than it felt right now, but at the sight of Diana’s tongue quickly swiping across her lips, Akko’s face might as well be venus.

She should at least try to say something, right? Something comforting... or witty... or clever.

“Sorry...” That would work.

“It’s alright.”

//-//-//-//-//

She stared at her invitation. Wow. Did Andrew really take her to shop for Denise’s birthday gift months before it happened? The neat script spelling out, ‘You are cordially invited’ underneath the older woman’s name with the date of the ball kind of set her nerves on fire.

She was not one for formal events. But then Denise had been nice enough to hand it in person, looking like she’d be willing to beg for Akko to come. Andrew stood behind her menacingly, a pressuring force looming in the room.

But really, how was she supposed to do this? Sure she had experience with the arts and dancing. She had wanted to be a performer at some point in her life before deciding on her current course, keeping the arts as a hobby. That covered her bases in terms of the ballroom dancing part. But as for etiquette and all that jazz, Akko had no clue. She was just a normal girl, living a normal life, having met amazing people, and... the love of her life.

She groaned in remembrance, pulling out a slip of paper, an extra entrance voucher. ‘Bring a plus one’, Denise had said. Well... that wouldn’t be a problem, Akko supposed. Maybe... She could always ask Diana.

The thought of the girl set flurries of butterflies wild in her stomach, face warming up along with her heart. She fiddled with the band situated around her left ring finger. She was still getting used to it, the metal feeling awkward in that spot. That’s just what she gets for never wearing it all these years. Kind of a nuisance, if she were being honest; but... at the same time... it was a reminder that...

[“So you’re... my soulmate...”

“Looks like it.”

“Did you... know about it?” She watched fluffy hair bounce along with the bobbing of a shy girl’s head. “How long...?”

“I had a feeling right from when we met... then confirmed it after you first showed me your planetarium.”

“...that’s a few weeks back.”

“You’re just so slow.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright. It really is now.”]

“AAAAHHHH!!” Akko hollered, ridding herself of the embarrassed tension in her body. “Hnnnggghhh...” Holding in all her squeals, she flew onto her bed, hugging a pillow tight and rolling about. Maybe she should call Diana right now, if only to hear her voice. Oh, and she should just pop the question while she’s at it, the invitation.

A few rings, one, two, three fo-

[“Hello?”]

“Did you know I love your voice? It was the first thing I fell in love with, ever since you saved me from the clutches of death.” She couldn’t hold back the adoration she felt for the Englishwoman any longer.

[“Oh my god, Akko. Did you really just call me so you could be such a sap?”]  Her giggle was always the best, Akko reveled.

“No~, or kind of yes, but not entirely.”

[“Is that so?”] Diana teased through the line.

“Don’t believe me?”

[“Of course I do! After all... it’s my magic.”]

“Who’s the sap now.”

[“I learned only from the best.”]

“Amanda?”

[“YOU, you idiot!”] Akko laughed at the reaction, squealing inwardly in delight. Diana’s laughter alongside hers died down, the phone going silent for a bit. And then, [“You’re the best.”].

Akko just couldn’t handle it.

“I love you.”

[“I love you too, sweetheart.”]

“I love you, I love you, I love you.”

[“I love you more.”]

“I love you! I love you! I love you!”

[“I love you more than anything in this world.”]

Akko was not crying.

“I love you... be my plus one?”

[“...”]

[“Always.”]

//-//-//-//-//

“My baby... so grown up now and looking all gorgeous.” Mrs. Kagari wiped a tear from her eye, admiring her daughter in a russet-toned gown, sleeveless, with a low dip in the back, fitting, and at the same time, flowing off her frame and onto the floor. It was simple, yet elegant. It matched well with Akko’s hair; usual bangs side-swept, signature ponytail gone, her long brown hair slightly curled and hanging off on one shoulder, exposing the other. All this topped with a little make-up, and even Andrew commended this picture of Akko that could pass as part of high society.

“Shall we?” He held out an arm for her to take, door open with a car waiting right outside. Akko’s father sobbed loudly, holding onto his wife for dear life.

“M-Mama! MY BABY! MY BABY IS BEING TAKEN AWAY BY SOME RICH YOUNG BRAT WHO JUST LOOKS GOOD, AND IS A LITTLE SMART, AND OWNS A HOSPITAL.”

“Well, don’t those sound like amazing specs.” Akko’s mama laughed, consoling the poor man. “You sound like a father sending his daughter off to meet her groom.”

“I AM.”

“But Diana-chan is so cute, though?”

“Man or woman, whoever takes my baby away from me and ends up hurting her... they will never see the light of the afterlife.”

Diana felt a chill run up her spine as she waited in the car.

“Oh, hush you. You’re overreacting.”

“AM I?!”

“Byebye, papa. I’ll be home soon. Love you~ Love you more, Mama!”

“Ah- bye, my darling daughter, my baby, my sun, light of my world, my angel!”

“You can stop embarrassing her now, darling.”

//-//-//-//-//

“Akko, don’t be so stiff.” Diana whispered into the girl’s ear, a hand caressing the small of her back to ease away the nerves. “You’ll be fine. Just think of it as any old party.”

“E-e-e-easy for you t-to say. You g-grew up with th-this.” Akko retorted, a hand with some champagne shakily approaching her lips.

“Really, you’re too high-strung.” The blonde sighed, pointing to Akko’s best friends. “Look at Lotte and Sucy, they look normal.”

Akko glared at her best friends who seemed to be enjoying themselves without a worry in the world. Oh, golly, what a treat. Maybe she shouldn’t have offered their extra tickets to them so she wouldn’t feel as bitter.

“Hey.” A flick was sent to her forehead. “No mean thoughts.”

“I wasn’t-”

“Di.A. NAAAA~” Here came a wild Denise, flying through the air to hug an alarmed Diana, barely catching her. It would appear as thought they were good friends, and Denise, not knowing anything about the relationship between her two dear bosom buddies, had sent them each an invitation with the hopes of bringing a plus one to introduce to her (so she could tease them about it), all the while, being kept in the dark that their plus one just so happened to be each other.

Which also explained the extra tickets that had gone to Lotte and Sucy. Akko was afraid it would be rude to just hand them away, but Diana reassured her it would be just fine. They both knew how kind-hearted and open-minded Denise was anyway.

“M-miss Walsh... please let me breathe.”

“Diana~ It’s Denise!”

“D-Denise... please... my airways...”

With greetings out of the way (Akko being squeezed to death as well, to be fair), the announcement were made, and the party commenced, music playing as the floor opened for the dances.

...

Akko swore she was a good dancer. Really! She was the ace of their studio. She could dance almost anything after learning it over the course of a few weeks at most, and so few days at the very least. So she couldn’t understand just how she’d suddenly acquired two left feet, constantly, and clumsily stepping on poor Diana’s feet.

One step. “Sorry.”

“It’s alright.”

Another miss. “Sorry.”

“It’s alright.”

“S-sorry!”

“...”

“Oh my gosh, I really am sorry!”

“I-it’s quite alright...”

“...”

“Wanna get some fresh air?”

“Pleasured.”

//-//-//-//-//

The Walsh’s family gardens were certainly award winning, Akko admired. As someone with a hobby in that field, this was a dream come true, to see such stellar workmanship. With flowers o’er the earth, and stars up above, the moon reflecting ripples into a still, small lake just a few yards down, it was the picture of beauty.

Yet nothing could compare to Diana by her side. Akko admired the way the woman’s gown clung to her curves in all the right places, how midnight blue reminded her of the skies they were under, and the dear stars in the heiress eyes sparkled ever brighter. How the earrings that dangled sparkling silver matched Akko’s own, only in gold, how her hair was fixed to the side as well, a portion of her bangs tucked neatly behind her ear, held back by a pin Akko had gotten her recently.

Akko was transfixed, as though she were under a witch’s spell. A very gorgeous, kind-hearted, hardworking, and sincere witch. A woman she loved with every fiber of her being, with the entirety of her heart.

She watched the moonlight caress ivory skin, glistening under its kind rays. Akko wanted to do so as well. Touch it, and know she was real and not just a figment of her imagination.

“I love you.” She murmured, reaching forward, arms wrapped around a slim waist, lips pressing against a bare shoulder. “I love you.”

Diana hummed, hands resting over Akko’s latched on to her abdomen. “Dance with me, Love.” She beckoned, leading them to sway under the night sky, the crickets and the breeze playing them a song of romance solely for their rapture.

The moon as their only witness, they vowed silent words, moving along the area, spinning, swaying, dancing, laughing, smiling, crying.

Akko never felt as lucky as she did in this moment. She was beyond fortunate. This moment she’d never forget, a memory never to be destroyed all her life, reminding her that she was blessed.

Blessed, and still a little foolish.

“I still don’t get it, you know. Why ‘cabbage’?”

Diana laughed into the tranquil night. Slapping Akko’s bare arm in fondness. “Did you really just ask that? Now of all times? With a romantic mood set up like this?” She shook her head in disbelief. “You are amazing, Kagari Atsuko. I love you to death, really I do... but are you seriously still hung over that?” She inquired, spinning her fated partner about, bringing her back in close. “Does it have to make sense? Isn’t it enough to know that you’re meant to be mine, and I’m forever yours?”

Akko returned that tender smile, leaning up to place a kiss against Diana’s throat. “Well, yeah, I guess; but... like... doesn’t that defeat the rings’ purpose, then?”

“Does it matter?”

“...It doesn’t. Not anymore. Not when you’re by my side, because that’s all that matters.”

“Great answer.”

“Diana?”

“Hmmm? What is it now?” Diana asked, amused that the peaceful mood didn’t look like it would settle back down anytime soon.

“For ruining the moment.... sorry.” All Akko’s laughing refuted that statement. Diana knew they both didn’t regret it one bit. Not at all. So with a smile only meant for her world nestled in her arms, leaning down and closing the gap bit-by-bit, what else could Diana reply with except,

“...It’s alright.”

And they saw stars.

//-//-//-//-//

This... was an unexpected development.

“...Wanna come over?”

“I’d love to.”

Cold, soaked and dropped off by the Cavendish’s service car, they made their way up the drive way, Akko fumbling for her house keys in the wee hours of the morning.

“Sorry, I really didn’t expect it to rain when I invited you out.”

“It’s fine, it wasn’t something within our control at all. The night looked perfectly clear, too.”

Flipping on the lights by the threshold, Akko guided Diana in, drenched shoes flying off, but immediately retrieved and set to the side to drip properly. They’d have to clean and dry those tomorrow better, but for now, a bath of warmth was in order.

Akko had insisted Diana take one first, but ever the gentlewoman, Diana did not move an inch until she was absolutely certain Akko would be alright. Her strongest argument stood to be, “Just who was it that I had to take to the hospital upon our first encounter.”, and Akko could only pout, begrudgingly accepting her defeat and warming herself a bath, but not without leaving Diana a towel and a temporary change of clothes so she wouldn’t get chills.

As Akko tagged Diana with a kiss to the lips, switching places after drawing the girl a fresh warm bath, she made her way to the kitchen, deciding to make them some vegetable soup to warm them up from the inside. Would Diana like that too?

Choosing and gathering her ingredients, she began prepping, chopping up everything as her water in the pot was brought to a boil.

It didn’t take her long at all to finish. By the time the food was ready, Diana was back downstairs, clad in one of Akko’s oversized shirts and pajama bottoms. It did strange things to Akko’s dear heart. On Diana’s part, just the sight of her future wife (she was a woman with a vision for tomorrow) preparing her a meal, fresh from a bath, in their own little world... How could she not fall deeper in love? So in love that she could just kiss her!

And she did just that.

Walking up to the shorter girl, Diana coaxed her into warm arms, a hand making its way into brunette strands, entangling them around her fingers, ring shining amidst them. This was bliss. This was everything to her.

This was everything to Akko. Everything she’d hoped for and wanted, and even more.

“I love you.”

“I love you.”

Soft. A little salty, maybe the soup’s seasoning. Warm and gentle, yet pressured and emotional. Tenderly passionate, and passionately tender, their lips danced a song that they’d forever remember.

And as they sat down to eat, seated in front of each other, they motioned for cheers with their chopsticks, a leafy green clipped between one pair.

And that’s when Akko realized that it all made perfect sense.

The rings weren’t wrong, and the words would always be right.

“Ah...

Cabbage.”

~end.

A/N: Can you believe it? All that, just so I could say in the end, “Cabbage”. Honestly, Akko is so slow. Somehow I’m not quite satisfied with this, and maybe I should’ve gone with a different approach or piece, or simply edited my original plan to fit safely within the guidelines, but... Idk. Maybe I’m as much of a fool as Akko, that way. Was it worth the thousands of bothersome words to read? Haha. Feedback is appreciated, as always. Hope you enjoyed.

~Shintori Khazumi

[dream-a-little-bigger-x]

Change My Mind | Carrie Wilson

Request: Hey! Love ur writing! Could I request a JATP fic where the reader is Julie’s sister who can see the band too, and she’s in love with Carrie. Carrie loves her too but she pushed her away. And basically Julie and the boys trying to get them together.

Author’s note: This is my first Carrie fic I’ve written! And the first wlw au at that! Thanks for requesting this, I loved writing for Carrie! I hope you like this! 

Song(s) used: Change my Mind - One Direction

Pairing: Carrie Wilson x Fem!Reader

Warnings: none

Words: 4,250

“Hey sis, we’re gonna rehearse, wanna co--” Julie stops in her tracks on the threshold of her sister’s bedroom as the older sibling quickly drops her phone on her bed, startled at the sudden noise from her sister.  “What are you doing?” Julie asks, finding it a tad suspicious why her sister would just drop her phone like that. “Nothing!” Locking her phone, she scrambles off her bed and moves towards the door, “Just scrolling through Instagram, waiting for you to come and get me for band practice.” Julie shoots her a questionable look, but decides not to dig any deeper even though she knows her sister is lying to her. And she’s right. The truth is, Y/N was stalking Carrie Wilson’s Instagram profile. She’s had a crush on the blonde-haired girl since the very first time she saw her perform with Dirty Candi. It may have been the pink wig, or just the fact she looked incredibly confident on that stage with her girls, but it just did something to Y/N that ignited the flame in her heart. Sure, Y/N is a year older than Julie and Carrie, and those two used to be best friends when they were younger, but that doesn’t take her enormous crush away. Besides, it’s not like Carrie could ever like her back. She’s only Y/N Molina, Julie’s big sister with no talent whatsoever. Julie inherited all of their mother’s skills and talent. “‘Sup, guys!” Y/N throws up a peace sign as she enters the barn where Julie’s bandmates are waiting for the two Molina sisters to show up. Julie’s band are ghosts. Yep, you read that right. Ghosts. They showed up here when Julie played their demo and now, every time they sing with Julie everyone else can see them too. Julie and Y/N are the only ones who can see them all the time. It was kinda funny the first time Y/N saw them, actually.  They were about to eat dinner when Y/N found Julie in her mom’s studio, talking to three boys. “Uhm, Jules… What are these boys doing here?” Julie and the boys were very confused that she could see them too. But it made it so much easier for Julie since she could at least talk about them with someone. And ever since that first day, she’s been Julie and The Phantoms’ number one fan. The first few minutes of rehearsal, Y/N listens to every song and sings along softly with a couple of them, but by song number five, she’s back on her phone, scrolling through Carrie’s Instagram profile again. At first, it’s just a scrolling through her grid, but then she turns to the highlights of Carrie’s stories, starting with the one titled ‘Dirty Candi’. Giggling, she watches each and every single one of the funny behind the scenes bloopers from their rehearsals. As long as Carrie is certain they’re going to get these routines down and there’s no time pressure, she can actually be very chill and hilarious. Or that’s what Y/N has noticed whenever she sees them rehearsing in Los Feliz High’s gym. “Earth to Y/N,” Alex’s voice makes her snap up from her day dream about the it-girl. “Wh-what?” she stutters, unaware they were talking to her, but very aware she’s grinning like a fool. All four of them stare at the older Molina, all with teasing smirks on their faces. “What’cha looking at?” Reggie asks even though he already knows the answer. “Nothing,” she quickly utters whilst locking her phone as if that would make things less suspicious. “Just some funny TikToks,” she shrugs. Her four friends in front of her exchange knowing glances before placing their instruments on their stands or coming out from behind them to surround their very own Pinnocchio. “What were you really looking at, Y/N?” Luke asks, crossing his arms. “And don’t tell us another lame excuse, we know what you were really doing, Pinnocchio,” Julie adds, raising her eyebrows. Letting out an exasperated sigh, Y/N drops her phone next to her on the sofa and rubs her hands over her face. “We know how you feel about her, Angel,” Alex chimes in with that soft voice of his that could calm Y/N down in an instant. “You don’t have to lie to us.” Luke nods his head in agreement. “Yeah, Y/N. We just wanna help ya,” he says. Y/N hesitates, but then shakes her head anyway. “Just… Don’t,” she says and stands up from the couch before heading into the house again. The four bandmates are left dumbfounded and utterly confused. “Don’t what?” Reggie asks the others, “What can’t we do?” The three others simultaneously roll their eyes before getting back to their instruments. “Can’t we help Y/N? I mean, everyone knows she’s in love with Carrie, right?” he picks up his bass as the words roll off his lips. “Yeah, but if she doesn’t want our help, there’s not much we can do,” Alex replies with a shrug. “I know my sister like I know my own mind, she’ll want to figure it out by herself before getting others involved,” Julie adds while plopping down on the stool behind the keyboard. “So, we’re just gonna do nothing?” Reggie queries. The other exchange solemn glances. “Some friends you are,” he mumbles before plugging his bass into the amp. “Reggie’s right, guys,” Luke finally says. Reggie’s face lights up at his buddy’s words. There aren’t very many moments where Luke would agree with anything Reggie says. “We can’t just let her mope around the house and do nothing about her crush on Carrie, which by the way is totally mutual.” Julie’s eyebrows rise at the leadman’s words. “How’d you know that?” she asks. Luke lets out a huff as the corners of his lips turn up ever so slightly into the cheesiest smile as he shoots alarming glances at his buddies. “Luke  Patterson, how do you know that?” Julie’s voice sounds so stern and nearly angry, it scares Luke ever so slightly. “Uhm…” all three of them shriek out into that high-pitched tone of theirs they only use when they’ve said something they shouldn’t have. Alex sighs when he sees Julie’s face turn from angry to I-swear-I’d-kill-you-if-you-weren’t-already-dead. “We may have stalked Carrie a tiny bit when we found out about Y/N’s crush on her.” “Alex,” Luke snarls, but immediately calms down again upon seeing Julie’s glare directed to him. “But we actually found some pretty interesting things!” he continues as if that’s going to make it any better. “Yeah! We found her lying on her bed, scrolling through Y/N’s Instagram for a while before she started writing a song called ‘my love’,” Reggie carries on with the story. “Spoiler alert, she didn’t sing about a boy or ‘his eyes are so pretty’. Nope! It was actually about a girl!” “That could be about everyone, guys,” Julie rolls her eyes. The boys exchange another glance before bursting out into the snippet of the song they heard that day in Carrie’s bedroom. “I’d so be with you if it wasn’t for your sister, or the fact that you’d rather be with a mister!” Julie’s eyes widen at this. Girl code states you never date your brother, but in this heteronormative world, no one ever said anything about sisters. But that’s probably a given you wouldn’t date your best friend’s sister either, right? Plus, Carrie and Julie haven’t been friends for a while, that could be another reason why Carrie wouldn’t date Y/N. “You guys might be right,” Julie whispers as though she’s telling them a secret. “Let’s end rehearsals and think of a way to help them get together!” The four of them placed their instruments back in their places again or come out from behind them, and gather on the couch and armchairs to figure out a scheme to trick Y/N and Carrie into a date. It’s going to be difficult, but they’re all up for the task. They just want to see Y/N happy. 

About three days later, while at school, Y/N receives a text from Julie, telling her to meet the band in the music room during lunch. Confused as to why the band would be at Los Feliz High, Y/N drags her feet towards the classroom, only to find a picnic blanket with food scattered all around it in the middle of the floor. “Guys?” she calls out, hoping the boys would explain what’s going on. “Y/N?” a soft, melodic voice sounds from behind her. The girl immediately turns to find, in her opinion, the most beautiful girl that ever walked this earth. Her hair is curled to perfection, cascading down her right shoulder and framing her beautiful round-ish face. Her brown eyes are curiously and confusedly darting around the room before landing on Y/N’s face. Question marks are haunting the beautiful dark orbs Y/N had fallen in love with. “What’s going on?” “I-I…” Y/N doesn’t even know what to tell her. She barely knows what’s going on herself. Carrie holds a perfectly manicured finger up as a thought crosses her mind. “This isn’t what I think it is right?” Y/N opens her mouth to say something, but nothing other than weird sounds fall out. Making a great impression, Molina, she thinks to herself. “Y/N, we can’t. I can’t. Just… Don’t.” Carrie turns on her heels and leaves the music room along with the sadness and pain of a broken heart. She hears a whoosh behind her before she hears Alex’s voice say, “We’re so sorry, Y/N, we wanted to help…” As tears stream down Y/N's face, she forcefully turns around to face her friends. “I told you guys to just not do anything and you can’t even do that! Stop meddling in my life, for crying out loud! I never needed you here! I never asked you to do this! Just stay out of my life!” Her voice is shrill and cold. So cold, it even chills the three ghost boys. After sending them one last sharp glare, she turns on her heel and rushes out of the room. She doesn’t even realize she’d run past her sister and her best friend, even though the two call after her. The sobs wracking through her body deafen her whilst she blindly finds her way to the bathroom and into a stall where she collapses to the floor. “Hermanita?” Her sister’s voice calling out is the first thing she hears between all the sobs and sniffles. Julie, hearing this, starts pushing against all stall doors until one opens slightly before bumping into Y/N’s knees. The girl scoots over as far as she can to let her sister inside, deciding she needs her little JuJu right now. “I’m so sorry, Hermanita,” she whispers as she slides down to the floor too on the opposite side of the stall. Their knees touch, which feels weirdly comforting to Y/N.  “No, it’s okay…” she sniffles, “At least now I really know where I stand, you know?” Julie presses her lips together into a tight smile before sliding forward onto the dirty bathroom floor and wrapping her arms around her big sister in a kind of awkward hug. “You deserve so much better than Carrie Wilson, Y/N/N,” she whispers in the older Molina’s ear. “So much better and so much more.” More tears roll down Y/N’s cheeks upon hearing these words. “But all I want is her, JuJu,” she cries out. Hearing her sister break down like this breaks Julie’s entire heart in a thousand pieces. She was so wrong about trying to set her sister up with Carrie on this date, but there might just be another way to help her instead. All she’d need is the boys for moral support and a bit of alone time with Carrie. That should do it. 

That night, Julie takes the boys with her to go to the Wilson’s. To Julie’s surprise, Trevor opens the door with a surprised smile on his face upon seeing his daughter’s ex-best friend. That ex-best friend, however, tries to focus on the man in front of her instead of the tensing, nervous boys behind her. They still hadn’t been able to talk to Trevor about the whole song-stealing thing. “Hey, Trevor, is Carrie home?” Julie asks with the widest smile on her face to try and hide how nervous she really is. This is either going to ruin Y/N chances with Carrie completely or help them finally get together. She’s banking on the latter, trying to stay optimistic. “Uhm, yeah, she’s upstairs in her room. She hasn’t left since coming home from school,” Trevor explains as he steps aside to let the young girl inside. “Think I heard her crying too, so I’m kinda worried, but kinda scared to go in and ask. You know how she is.” Julie simply nods her head at the overexplaining man. “I’ll go and check up on her. I wanna talk to her about something anyways.” Trevor offers her a thankful smile before letting her go upstairs. Still being followed by the three ghost boys, Julie makes her way up to Carrie’s room. Memories from when she used to come here on play dates when they were younger flood in her brain. It’s a nostalgic, yet heartbreaking feeling. Upon arriving at Carrie’s bedroom, Julie raises her fist to knock on the door, but stops half-way there. “What’s she waiting for?” she hears Reggie whisper behind her. “You got this, Julie,” Luke encourages, and Alex chimes in too with the words she needs to hear at this very moment. “For Y/N.” Her fist knocks a soft, steady beat on the wooden door, and then the waiting game commences. Which doesn’t last too long. Twenty seconds max. Before that, there’s some rustling, some nose blowing noises, and then the door opens. Carrie’s face falters upon seeing Julie’s face, but Julie doesn’t care. All she cares about is the fact that Carrie’s eyes look red and puffy, as if she’d been crying all day. Trevor was right about hearing sobs. “What do you want?” she asks sharply, but her voice still wavers ever so slightly. “I wanna talk to you…” Julie says, and as Carrie opens her mouth to object, she follows with, “About Y/N.” The blonde girl’s eyes tear up upon hearing the name as it’s clearly the big trigger for her breakdown. Carrie opens her bedroom door a little further before turning and walking inside, leaving it open for Julie to follow. She and the boys walk inside, and while Julie stops in the middle of the room, the boys scatter around. Luke goes to sit on the edge at the foot of Carrie’s bed since she’s resting against the headboard, Alex takes a seat in the bright pink armchair and Reggie sits down on her desk, knocking Carrie’s pencil case off. The owner’s eyes widen upon seeing the pencil case drop without a cause while Julie just shoots Reggie a glare. He whispers a sorry while holding his hands up in defense. “What do you have to say?” Carrie then focuses back on the intruder in her house. “I …” She realizes she has no clue what she’s going to say or how she’s going to say it. “Carrie… I know you’re in love with my sister,” she then blurts out. Carrie perches up at this, eyes wide and filled with terror. “It’s fine, Carrie. It really is okay. I’m glad, even! She’s mad for you too, girl. And I kinda set up the whole picnic thing in the music room to force you two together, finally, but I guess that kinda backfired…” “Y/N’s in love with me?” she asks, and Julie nods. “I thought she hated me because I kinda dropped both of you when your mother died…” A twinge of pain shoots through Julie’s body at the memory of their fight. “I don’t get it either, but she does really love you.” Carrie chuckles light-heartedly at that, telling Julie it’s okay to do so, too. “Why did you run away from her at lunch?” she then asks, looking at Carrie who’s fidgeting with the hem of a cushion. “Because I’m scared,” she says after a few beats of silence. “Scared that if we date, people are gonna talk. Scared our fighting might put a wedge between our relationship. Scared my dad’s going to react weirdly.” Julie subtly glances at Alex. He’s giving her a reassuring look, telling her Trevor was really okay with him being gay. “It’s 2020, Carrie, I’m sure most people at our school would be jealous of whoever you date, whether it’s a guy, a gal, or a non-binary pal.” She carefully inches closer to the bed. “I heard your dad is pretty okay with the lgbtq community. My mom once told me he had a friend that was gay and he supported him and didn’t treat him any different.” She takes a deep breath before sitting down next to Luke. “And as regards to our fight, I’m willing to put that grudge aside if it means you’ll tell my sister the truth.” A twinkle in Carrie’s eyes tells Julie she likes the sound of that idea very much. “It’s been a year, Carrie. I’m pretty sick of us fighting anyway and I miss the fun times we had together,” Julie shrugs as she brings out the words carefully. Before she can even register it, Carrie has launched herself forward and taken Julie in her arms for a tight hug. Julie is surprised at first, but then wraps  her arms around her oldest friend too. The boys watch the scene with tender eyes, glad this is going so well. After a while, Carrie pulls back and holds Julie at arm's length. “Can we keep the rivalry for our shows though? I think it adds a little more showbizz to it,” she says, which makes Julie snicker, shaking her head in disbelief. “Okay, then can I ask you for another favor?” “What is it?” Julie asks, glancing at Luke quickly. He’s as intrigued as she is. “I don’t know what to say to Y/N that doesn’t make me look like a fool.” The Carrie Julie used to know back in the day is rearing its head again. It’s a soft, shy version of the one Los Feliz High knows. It’s the version Y/N fell in love with. “I have an idea.” 

For about a week, Carrie comes in on rehearsals to rehearse their surprise for Y/N, but of course, they have to hide it for the older Molina. They’d rehearse at Carrie’s place or in the garage whenever Y/N was with friends or at Carlos’ baseball games. Whenever she did walk in, Carrie would hide behind Alex’s drum kit, trying her hardest to withhold herself from jumping out and just confessing her love to the girl. This is the most perfect surprise and if she ruins it now, it’s going to take away the romantic flair of it all. On Friday, they’re finally ready to execute the plan. Julie sets up her keyboard outside in the garden underneath her sister’s bedroom window, along with a microphone for Carrie, plugged into the amp. The boys are ready to jump in too, instruments in hand, ready to go. “Ready?” Julie whispers to Carrie. The girl nods her head, but the fear in her eyes says something different. “You got this,” she utters the words Luke always tells her. “Okay, let’s go,” she whispers. Julie starts playing a couple of notes on her piano whilst Luke starts to strum his guitar, suddenly appearing to Carrie. The girl, now a little calmed down, inhales deeply before starting to sing, her soft melodic voice carrying through the night. “The end of the night We should say goodbye But we carry on While everyone's gone” Y/N’s lying on her bed, scrolling aimlessly through Instagram when she hears the voice of an angel in the night from outside her bedroom window. Thinking it’s Julie and the band rehearsing, she ignores it and continues scrolling. “Never felt like this before Are we friends or are we more As I'm walking towards the door I'm not sure” Alex and Reggie join in too, appearing next to Luke and Julie, and giving Carrie another boost of confidence. In the past week, these hologram boys have really given her a little more confidence for this surprise as she really didn’t think she could do this. “But baby if you say you want me to stay I'll change my mind 'Cause I don't wanna know I'm walking away If you'll be mine Won't go, won't go So baby if you say you want me to stay Stay for the night I'll change my mind” Y/N finally starts to realize that this isn’t Julie’s voice at all, and crawls off her bed, leaving her phone there. Carefully, but drawn in by the music, she moves to her window and opens it further to find Carrie along with the rest of the bend on the lawn. Upon seeing Y/N’s beautiful face, Carrie’s lips curl upwards, reaching her eyes. The other confidence boost she needed. “Lean in when you laugh We take photographs There's no music on But we dance along” Y/N sits down on her window sill, enthralled by the gorgeous voice serenading her from her backyard. She glances at the boys and Julie once, and each of them has the proudest, happiest smile on their faces. Happy they could help their friends finally get together. “Never felt like this before Are we friends or are we more As I'm walking towards the door I'm not sure” Then Y/N focuses back on Carrie and the words she’s singing, feeling each and every single one of them deep in her heart. It even makes her tear up a little. “But baby if you say you want me to stay I'll change my mind 'Cause I don't wanna know I'm walking away If you'll be mine Won't go, won't go So baby if you say you want me to stay Stay for the night I'll change my mind I'll change my mind” Carrie takes the mic off the stand and walks even closer towards the window, never breaking the intense eye contact the two are sharing. “Baby if you say you want me to stay I'll change my mind” Quickly wiping away the tears that have fallen, Y/N makes her way downstairs and into the yard as fast as she can, in time to hear them sing the last chorus. Carrie, having seen this, is waiting for her at the door and grabs her hand to lead her towards the rest of the band whilst still singing to her girl. “But baby if you say you want me to stay I'll change my mind 'Cause I don't wanna know I'm walking away If you'll be mine Won't go, won't go So baby if you say you want me to stay Stay for the night I'll change my mind” The boys stop playing, and to Carrie, they disappear, but Y/N can see they’re still there. It does make her relax a little, knowing she has their moral support. Carrie takes both her hands in hers, pulling her a little closer to her body as she inhales deeply. “That was beautiful, Care, I--” Carrie interrupts her by placing a finger on her lips. “Please, let me talk?” Y/N nods her head slowly as Carrie removes her finger and places her hand back in Y/N’s. “I’ve been so scared about what people at school would say behind my back or what my dad would say, but… I don’t care what they say, Y/N. I am so in love with you and I have been for a while now, but I was so scared to admit that even to myself. But I know now that it’s okay to love whoever you wanna love and I know that the people who love me will still love me and will realize that nothing has changed. I know now I wanna be with you, Y/N.” A smile plays at Y/N’s lips upon hearing those words. The words she wanted to hear for such a long time have now finally reached her ears and settled in her brain for her to think back on later. “I wanna be with you too, Carrie. You have no clue how long I’ve wanted to tell you that,” she chuckles, and Carrie lets out a giggle too. It’s Y/N’s favorite sound in the entire world. Carrie then lets go of Y/N’s hands and places hers on her cheeks instead, bringing the girl closer to press their lips together for their very first kiss. The firework-filled, long-awaited kiss that sends Julie’s ghost band into loud cheers. Y/N is too focused on the girl kissing her, she doesn’t even notice. Carrie is finally kissing her. The girl she’s been pining for is finally kissing her. They’re actually together. That’s something she’d never thought would happen, but now that it’s happened, it’s better than she could ever dream of. 

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Firsts with Hikaru Hitachiin Headcanons

Pairing: Hikaru Hitachiin x reader Genre: Fluff, angst  Warnings: Light making out A/N: I just finished OHSHC for the second time and I just couldn't help myself. this is already kinda long but I highkey wanna write more but idk if people will read this. Let me know if I should write a part 2 :) also omg this has been sitting in my drafts for a hot second cause I had to reread all of this it’s 5,830 words give or take to edit any mistakes and I’m like 78% sure I still messed up but it’s fine. anyway, enjoy! Just realized I haven’t posted in like a year sorry bout that

First meeting:

y’all met through, you guessed it, The Host Club

it wasn’t your idea to go 

but

Haruhi, poor, sweet, innocent Haruhi, was about to lose her marbles

she practically got onto her knees to beg you to keep her company

and what kind of friend would you be if you declined?

(you mainly just went because she bribed you with free tea and desserts)

when you showed up to Music Room #3, it was all that you were expecting and not at all what you were expecting at the same time

you eventually spotted Haruhi through all the people and eventually made your way over to her

the look on her face was almost comical 

she bid her guests she was entertaining farewell and they left with watery eyes

you covered your mouth to hide your giggles as you took a seat on the soft couch across from her 

“Thank god you showed up,” she groaned as she slumped back into her seat

you let your giggles out freely, studying her tired form 

“Awe, is Haruhi tired of flirting?” you teased

she only grunted in response, closing her eyes and letting out a content sigh

you hummed in return, picking up a cookie that was on the table and starting to munch on it

you two had a few minutes of silent peace before it was rudely interrupted 

“Oh, Haruhi!” you hear two voices shout from behind you in unison 

you swear you saw an irk mark appear on her forehead 

you raise your brow and go to turn around to see who was causing her so much trouble just by saying two words when two people were suddenly leaning over the back of the couch you were sitting on

you looked to your left and saw a boy your and Haruhi’s age

you turned to the right and had to do a double-take when you saw the same face

these must be the infamous twins, you thought as you studied them 

“What?” Haruhi groaned with dead eyes

you could see the smirks come onto the two boys’ faces

“What are you doing slacking off-” the one on the right started off

“-when you have a guest?” the left one finished you raised a brow at them as you pursed your lips

“She could ask you two the same thing? Why aren’t you tending to your guests?” you defended

the twins’ eyes widened as they turned to look at you, both silently studying you for a moment 

“We got bored-”

“-so we came to see what Haruhi was doing.”

your brows furrowed as you look to the one on your left

“You just left your guests?”

Haruhi was the one to respond

“Kaoru probably ran out of fake tears,” she said with a smirk

the twins’ attention went back to her, the one on the right’s eyes widening 

“Fake tears? My tears are real!” he defended

you took a mental note that the one on your right was Kaoru. Haruhi may have told you about them before but you were terrible with names

Haruhi only grunted in response before closing her eyes again 

you saw their mouths open, ready to bother her some more

so, being the good friend you are, you quickly said something before they could 

“Just leave her alone, okay? How about you entertain me?” you offered

from what Haruhi has told you, the twins liked to mess around with people. Whether it is playing pranks and tricks or just annoying them

so, you figured they’d happily take you up on the offer to ‘entertain’ you

as soon as you finished your sentence, a smirk was curling up on their lips 

“Entertain you?”

“Why, we’d be honored!” 

they ended up trying to actually do so at first, using their little brotherly love act

you quickly shut that down

once they realized you knew all their secrets, including Haruhi being a girl, there was a sudden shift in the way they acted towards you 

they were more open suddenly 

First hug:

it wasn’t long until you became close to everyone in The Host Club

especially a certain auburn male

along with Haruhi, of course

you two grew closer by you becoming friends with her other friends 

everyone, especially Kaoru, knew something was up 

you both just acted friendly, a little too friendly at times, but friendly nonetheless

you ended up leaving for a week to go on vacation with your family

you, of course, kept in touch with everyone

mostly through the group chat that someone probably Tamaki made

you sent pictures of everything you thought would be cool enough to show them 

everyone was enthusiastic for the most part that you were having fun and spending time with your family 

except for you know who 

he acted perfectly happy in the group chat but a lot of times sometimes he’d message you privately 

you didn’t know why but his texting tone sounded off 

he’d talk like he would in the group chat but it just sounded off

you never pointed this out but you could tell something wasn’t right 

you soon enough came back and were excited to see all of your friends again

you decided to surprise them when you came back 

you came back on Friday instead of Sunday just to see them earlier 

you had quickly dropped off your stuff at home before racing to Ouran Academy 

The Host Club hours were coming to a close so it was perfect timing 

you stood out the door and took a couple deep breaths, trying to get some air into your desperate lungs from all the running you just did

the door opened and you heard Tamaki saying goodbye to the two girls who were leaving

you slipped in through the open door, wanting to surprise attack them

you saw them all lounging around one of the couches

of course, Takashi, or Mori as he allows you to call him, with his spidey like senses, knew you were there right off the bat 

you brought a finger to your lips to show him to be quiet, which shouldn’t be a problem for the usually quiet male. A small smile came to his lips as he watched you creep closer 

you tiptoed towards the others, most of their backs being to you

Kyoya was the next to see you, a sly smile came to his face but he remained quiet

the twins and Haruhi were sitting with their backs to you on the couch, Honey was sitting his back to you in a chair at a table with Mori eating some cake, and Tamaki was standing in front of Kyoya ranting on about whatever it was he was ranting about, his back also being to you

you smirked as you crept up to the couch, raising your hands above you

Haruhi wasn’t an easy one to scare but surely you shouting out of nowhere should get to her

“Haruhi!” you screamed while slamming your hands down gently onto her shoulders

a yelp shot out of her mouth as she jumped

the other boys, besides Kyoya and Mori, also jumped and turned to look at you

once Haruhi’s brain caught up with what was going on, she let out a small gasp as she turned around on the couch to face you, going up on her knees to do so

“You're back!” she called happily as her arms wrapped around the back of your neck to hug you

you chuckled as you happily returned the hug

as you two hugged, the other boys got up and swarmed around you

you pulled away with a bright smile, seeing Haruhi’s was even brighter than yours 

before anyone could do anything, someone wrapped their arms around your waist and pulled your back to their chest

your eyes widened at the sudden hug, trying to turn to see who was being so affectionate

you blushed when you saw auburn hair resting on your shoulder, feeling his breath fan across your neck 

you looked up to see Kaoru staring at you two with a smirk, his arms crossed over his chest 

you smirked back at him, one hand resting on one of Hikaru’s arms while the other goes to gently comb through his hair 

“My, my. I didn’t know you liked me this much to miss me this badly, Kaoru,” you teasingly joked

Hikaru let out a huff as he squeezed you closer to him, his face pressing into you neck

“Oh, whatever,” he grumbled against your skin

goosebumps raised on your skin from feeling his lips on your neck 

“Who would’ve thought you were so affectionate,” your teasing continued as you turned around in his arms to look at him 

he picked his head up long enough to let you turn around and to study your face for a moment before his face went right back into your neck

you giggled and wrapped your arms back around him, weaving your fingers into his hair with a smile brighter than the sun 

you both tried to ignore how fast your hearts were racing at being so close to one another 

“I want to hug Y/n-chan too!” Honey suddenly shouted

you laughed a bit at Honey’s whining, feeling Hikaru’s grip tighten even more

it took a while to get the clingy boy off of you 

First time holding hands:

it was the weekend and you were currently at Haruhi’s house just hanging out 

it was around noon when she said that she’d make you two lunch 

you accepted the offer gratefully, going back to reading your book

your brows furrowed when there was a knock on the door

you bookmarked your book and went to set it down when you heard it 

“Haruhi! Are you home?” Tamaki’s exuberant voice shouted loud enough for you both to hear 

she perked up and deadpanned at the same time somehow 

you chuckled as you went back to your reading, letting her get the door since she was already there by it

she opened it and started talking to Tamaki 

you then heard many other voices 

of course. Who would they be if they didn’t travel like a pack? you thought as you smiled 

six pairs of feet made their way inside, all chatting amongst each other

“Y/n! I didn’t know you were here!” you heard Hikaru shout joyfully before making his way over to you and sitting down beside you

“But, Hikaru, isn’t that the reas-”

“Kaoru! Why don’t you come sit by me!” Hikaru shouted, quickly cutting his twin off 

Kaoru snickered as he walked over to his twin, taking a seat by him 

“Actually, if you’re all going to eat, I need to go to the store,” Haruhi said as she gave the boys a slight glare

you smiled as you closed the book you were reading, setting it on the table as you stood up 

“I’ll come with, Haruhi,” you said with a smile as you walked over to her

Hikaru instantly popped up from the ground as he followed after you 

“Me too! I want to see the commoner market!”

Haruhi doesn’t even try to argue as the other boys chimed in saying they wanted to go

you only chuckled as you slid your shoes on and walked out to wait for the others

of course, Hikaru was right on your tail 

you leaned against the railing as you took in the scenery, smiling when you saw some kids playing with a ball

unknowingly to you, Hikaru was appreciating every second of that smile 

once everyone was out, you walked up front with Haruhi to lead the way 

you both chatted the whole way there, debating on what you both should make 

as you guys shopped, some of you would wander off but eventually, y’all would group back up together 

at one point, y’all were passing by some books for sale and you just couldn’t help yourself 

you steered away from everyone and ended up looking at a few 

you looked up from the book you were currently checking out when you felt someone’s eyes on you 

you smiled when you saw Hikaru holding a book 

when he realized he was caught, he quickly snapped his gaze back to the book he was holding 

you giggled as you sat the book you were holding down, casually strolling over to him with a smirk 

“I didn’t take you much as a reader,” you teased

the pink hue in his cheeks worsened, his eyes stared down at the back of the book unmoving 

“What are you talking about? I love to read!” he argued

you chuckled as you plucked the book from his hand to look down at it

“I didn’t think you were into mermaids,” you teased as you held the cover of the book up for him to see

the book’s cover had a mermaid on it, upon with the title that clearly states it’s about mermaids

his blush went scarlet and you can’t help but laugh at how cute he was being him

he tried to stutter out an explanation but he seemed to not be able to find any reason as to why he’d be holding that book that wouldn’t worsen the situation

you sat the book down and grabbed his hand, still laughing

you then lead him back to the others, his hand clutching onto yours a bit

you two stayed in the back of the group, not bringing any attention to yourselves as you just followed after them quietly 

you two never stopped holding hands until you left the market 

First kiss:

by now, everyone and their distant cousins knew that you two had a thing for each other 

even the girls that would come to The Host Club knew and even encouraged it 

so, yeah 

y’all would flirt and all that good jazz 

but 

Hikaru is an oblivious fool 

he knew he felt differently with you then he did with others but he couldn’t put his finger on why 

that was until Hikaru was walking to the library to meet you to study when he sees it 

you were against the wall and a guy was talking to you, too close to be friendly 

Hikaru debated what he should do 

does he charge in headfirst and shoo the guy away?

but what if you two are friends or something?

that thought vanishes when he sees you glare at the guy, a scowl on your face

this was a ‘shoot first and ask questions later’ kind of situation 

Hikaru did what he initially thought he should do

he gently (not really) shoved the guy to the side, smiling down at you

“Babe! There you are! I was starting to wonder where you were!” Hikaru said as he pulled you into a hug

your eyes widened at his sudden appearance, gawking at him a bit 

you both heard the guy that was talking to you scoff, his arms going over his chest 

“‘Babe’? Yeah, right. Y/n doesn’t have a boyfriend, so piss off,” the guy said lowly to Hikaru

Hikaru loosened his grip on you a bit to turn and look at the guy, raising a brow at him 

you held your breath as you watched the two of them

you know how bad Hikaru’s temper can get

what if he fights him?

what if he gets expelled? 

all sorts of worries and questions filled your head 

Hikaru smirked at him and gave a light chuckle, turning to look at you again 

he stared into your eyes for a long, silent moment 

your brain paused all thought when you met his eyes 

your proximity made your heart race and brain start working again, filling with ideas ideas you probably shouldn’t be having 

it seemed that Hikaru was sharing one of your ideas since his lips were suddenly on yours 

you weren’t surprised that your first kiss with him wasn’t romantic or cliché

it sounds just like him to get jealous and to kiss you like there’s no tomorrow

you two just kept on kissing too 

not bothering to pull away from each other’s hold

the guy eventually scoffed and marched off

that didn’t stop you and Hikaru though 

you both kissed until your lungs were begging for air 

you pulled away from each other and pant, staring into each other’s eyes

Hikaru then smirked and you just closed your eyes, breathlessly giggling 

you were just waiting for him to say something smart or dirty 

First Date:

once you both realized that you two were going to have to be official after that kiss, you decided to go on a date

Hikaru was a blushing mess while he was asking you to go out with him on a date

he’d barely look at you 

you, obviously, agreed 

he ended up taking you pretty much everywhere 

he used his wealth to help make it the best date ever 

you honestly felt bad since he was paying for everything 

you tried to tell him to stop 

but did he listen?

no

he was making it out as if it was his life mission to spoil you

you both shopped at the mall, went bowling, played laser tag, got food, and ended the night by seeing a movie which most of it was spent making out

you have no idea how you found time to do all of this stuff in one day 

but it was magical

as close to perfect as it could get 

he held your hand whenever he could, even while you were bowling and playing laser tag 

it was kind of funny to see the playful trickster be so soft and caring towards someone 

don’t get me wrong, he was definitely still his playful, trickster self 

he’d tease you any chance he’d get and if he ever took anything a little to far, he’d be sure to put a smile right back onto your face 

like when you both were playing laser tag 

you ended up chasing after him, even though there’s no running allowed, and ended up falling 

he was by your side in a second

literally 

he apologized repeatedly even though it wasn’t even his fault 

eventually, to make you feel better, he grabbed your hand holding the gun, pointed it to his chest, shot himself a couple times, before dramatically collapsing to the ground 

a smile instantly came to your face 

when he takes you back home, you both are reluctant to leave the other 

you end up just hanging out in the back of his limo, talking about anything and everything for hours 

the only reason you two parted is thanks to your parents who started to question where you were with worried texts

you texted them back and reassured them you were alive and that you were even outside the house

they were still breathing down your neck about getting inside, so you reassured them that you’d only be a little while longer 

you put your phone away and focused back onto Hikaru

Hikaru was already staring at you when you turn your attention back to him 

the moonlight shined down on him through the car window, making him look ethereal 

he really is the epiphany of perfection, you thought

you ended up kissing some more, not being able to keep your lips off of each other

you kissed until your phone started vibrating repeatedly

you already knew it was your parents freaking out over your well being 

you told Hikaru goodnight and to text you when he gets home 

you force yourself to only kiss him for a few seconds, knowing if it was any longer, you wouldn’t want to leave

when he texted you he was home, he ended up calling you to talk to you 

you stayed on the phone together until you both fell asleep

First “I love you.”:

the way it happened was so cute and precious and just SIMPLE

it was also kinda cliche but that’s completely fine

you both were having a movie night at his house (seeing as how they had one of those projector things in a big room so it was basically like one big, empty movie theater)

you both made a huge blanket and pillow fort

you were the one to bring snacks since his mom doesn’t like him eating junk (”tO KeEp HiS fIgUrE”)

you’ve never seen someone eat so much food in one sitting

you’re pretty sure he almost cried when you made hot chocolate

the movies themselves ranged from cheesy romances to heart-stopping horrors

all the movies were good options

the scary ones gave you two an excuse to cuddle

the funny ones had you both ugly laughing

you know, the laugh that few get to witness and when they do, it’ll never leave their memory and they’ll taunt you for it for the rest of your life

yeah, the ugly ugly one

for some reason, when you both would calm down, Hikaru would stare at you like you were the most precious jewel he’d ever seen

now

the romances

your reactions varied

for the ones you’ve never seen, you actually paid attention

and mostly blushed at the scandy scenes

but for the ones you have seen before

you guys were the ones making the scandy scenes

at one point, it started getting a little too steamy between you two

once you pulled away for air, you realized you were on his lap, his hands on your waist and thighs, your hands up his shirt, resting on his abdomen 

your heart was trying to force it’s way up your throat to come up to show him just how fast it was beating

“I love you,” he whispered in a breathless tone

you’re surprised that your heart didn’t come out right there and then

his face got darker than it already was, his eyes wide as he stared at you breathlessly

he then started stumbling over his own words trying to explain himself

“Sorry! It slipped out! You don’t have to say it back!”

he then went on a tangent

you tried to let him get it out of his system but eventually, he started to feel self conscious and wanted to take it back

you, like anyone else in that situation, connected your lips again

you ran your hands over his chest soothingly, bringing your hands to his hair to run your fingers through it

“I love you too,” you reassured

First time getting jealous (as a couple):

you were standing in the hallway with your books lightly clenched to your chest

a red-faced boy was in front of you, staring at the ground

your brows were furrowed as you studied him, your mind seeming to short circuit at that moment

Hikaru hid behind the corner to listen in on what was going on

“Please consider it, Y/n! I’ve liked you for so long! Please allow me to take you on a date!”

you frowned a bit as you stared down at him, biting your lip

you didn’t know this guy 

you were pretty sure this was one of those moments where the person just admires the other person but doesn’t actually know anything about them

before you could even reply though, Hikaru came swooping in out of nowhere

“Hey, man. Hate to be the one to break this to you but,” he wraps his arm around your shoulder, “she’s taken,” he finished 

he didn’t sound remorseful at all to be the one to break the news to him 

the red-faced boy stared at him with wide eyes before quickly nodding his head and taking off down the hallway

you watch him go, gaping a bit as you try to process what happened

you then turned to Hikaru with a smirk, feeling his other arm wrap around you as well

“What?” he asks when he saw the look you were giving him 

your smirk turned into a smile, beaming brighter than the sun

“You were jealous!” you teased, poking his nose

his nose wrinkled in response to your touch 

“What? Was not,” he argued, dropping his arms to his sides before starting to walk away from you 

you chuckled as you chased after him, walking alongside him once you caught up to him

“Don’t lie! It’s cute!” you teased further

his cheeks dust pink but he said no more, simply just taking your hand in his as you walked alongside one another

“I love you,” you cooed

his face grew darker in color, turning his head away from you 

“I love you more,” he replied

anytime you two have a ‘fight’ or anything of the sort, you always tell the other “I love you” and when the other replies with the same words, it shows that everything is okay 

it’s like a reset button, in a way

first fight:

you came to the host club after school just like any other day

members of said club were just lounging around until it was time to open up the doors to guests

your eyes roamed the room, looking for a certain favorite boy of yours

your eyes finally spotted him

you only saw the back of his head but you knew it was him from the shoes he was wearing

for your six month anniversary, you decided to buy these new shoes that he had been ranting about 

you didn’t understand why he wouldn’t just buy them for himself (something about his mom being mad that he bought clothes from someone who isn’t her?)

so, you bought them yourself and gave them to him 

he felt guilty for having you buy him such an expensive thing when he had the money to buy it himself 

so he ended up spoiling you for a whole week (and I mean spoiling since he usually spoils you anyway against your commands to stop)

he was planning on spoiling you for a month but you finally told him you’d feel so guilty if he just wastes his money on you

it took some convincing but he eventually agreed 

anyways

you quickly headed over to him, wrapping your arms around him

“Hey, baby,” you greeted as he spun around, quickly pressing your lips to his

your lips had touched for less than two seconds before Hikaru was ripped away from you 

Kaoru was suddenly punching him in the face, sending Hikaru spiraling to the ground 

“Kaoru!” you screamed, watching him mount Hikaru and start to repeatedly hit him

Mori and Tamaki ran over and pulled them apart, pulling them several feet away from each other

you instantly ran to Hikaru, accessing his injuries  

“Ka-” you began to shout at Kaoru before realizing something 

Kaoru stared at you, face red with anger, jaw clenched tightly, a vein popping out of his forehead

it dawned on you then that Kaoru was actually Hikaru 

which meant...

you turned to look at Kaoru who Tamaki was holding up, wiping away blood that came from his mouth and nose

you all stayed deadly silent, everyone else in the club turned to look at what the commotion was all about

you stared at Hikaru, feeling his gaze burning on your lips

he then turned to Kaoru, his clenched fists starting to shake

“I don’t understand...” he started off quietly 

Kaoru stared at the ground as he waited 

“You...we share everything. We share the same house, the same last name, the same classroom, the same club, the same friends, and even the same face. Y/n is the only thing I’m not willing to share with you,” he spat out at his brother, his tone straight venom

“Hikaru,” you began before deciding against it as he looked at you

“And you...” he started

his face suddenly morphed into despair, his eyes watering quickly

he pulled away from Mori and slowly walked towards you as he spoke

“You...” he trails off, “I don’t...” trails off once more, “why would you do this? How could you do this? You know how I...” more trailing off, “you are—were mine. No one else’s,” he spoke softly

your own eyes started to water as you shook your head, your chest feeling heavy 

“No, Hikaru. You don’t understand. I thought it was y—”

“Don’t lie to me!” he shouted, cutting you off which caused you to jump

you’ve never heard him scream before

well, you’ve heard him shout while laughing, or scream whenever you two would be outside and seeing who could scream the loudest, and innocent times like that

but you’ve never heard him angrily shout like he is now

he turned his back to you as tears started to fall, quickly wiping at his face

“We’ve all known you for,” his words get caught in his throat, “for too long for you to not know the difference. You,” his voice shakes, “you’ve never been wrong about that before. So,” a small whimper escaped him, “so, don’t lie.”

the last word came out as a croak 

you shook your head, trying not to sob in front of him as you gently grabbed his shoulders 

“I love you,” you whispered

before you could say or do anything else, he ripped himself away from your grip and took off

he didn’t say it back

that’s how you knew it was serious 

well, I mean, obviously it was serious but this time...

you didn’t know if you could fix it...

it was an honest mistake 

really

it was

you felt so terribly guilty

you didn’t really ever think this was going to happen

how could you make such a careless mistake?

he’s opened up to you before about how insecure he is about the whole twin situation

and here you were kissing his brother

putting the cherry on top 

first time making up:

it’s been at least two weeks since the whole kissing incident

you’ve tried to stop by his house but he refused to see you 

you’ve tried going to his class but he was either never there or he had someone escort you away 

you’ve tried going to the host club but he was either, once again, not there or he was too busy to talk to you

not like he would anyway

you mostly steered clear of Kaoru, feeling beyond guilty for bringing him into your fight

the one time you did try to talk to him, he remained quiet and couldn’t look at you

the other host members still talked to you, just not as much 

they knew something wasn’t right, even if they did see with their own eyes what you had done

it didn’t make sense for you to openly kiss Kaoru in front of Hikaru 

they let you explain yourself and they were very understanding 

they wanted to help you somehow but you didn’t want them to get involved

you didn’t need Hikaru hating them too and ending up with no one

nearing week three, you had had enough 

ten minutes before school got out, you went outside 

you found the Hitachiin limo and knocked on the driver’s door

he recognized you from how much you and Hikaru used to hangout 

he asked where you’ve been, which you gave a vague response to, before asking him for a favor 

Hikaru walked out to the limo, loosening his tie and undoing the first button

he got inside the limo, shutting the door with a heavy sigh

the limo started to move and this was when your plan kicked into action

the driver starts to roll down the window that seperated the back and the front, Hikaru becoming confused

he frowned when he saw you in the front, gasping when you started to climb through the window 

“No! Stop! Get out! Stop the car!” Hikaru shouted

the driver didn’t listen and you continued to climb through 

Hikaru attempted to open the door but it was locked, automatically locking every time he tried to unlock it (thank god for his overprotective mom who was afraid he’d accidentally open the door and fly out into the road or whatever) 

he growled and looked up at you, watching you situate yourself across from him 

the driver rolled up the window once he saw you were through, giving you two the privacy you’ve been wishing for 

Hikaru crossed his arms over his chest and looked out the window, planning to not give you the time of day

you frowned as you studied him, leaning forward 

you took a deep breath, prepared to recite the speech you’ve been practicing for weeks now 

“Hikaru, listen,” you start softly

he didn’t respond in any way; he didn’t even blink 

you sighed a bit before taking another deep breath 

“Hikaru, I love you more than words can describe. It was a honest to god mistake what happened. I saw him wearing the shoes I got you and just assumed it was you.”

you trailed off after that, waiting for him to reply 

he didn’t reply

nor did he say it back

“Think about it. It doesn’t make sense for me to kiss him. If I was cheating on you, wouldn’t I try to be sneaky and for you not to find out?” you continued, trying to use logic on him to get him to understand

at this, he turned to look at you finally 

he had tears in his eyes once more 

“Hikaru, please. I don’t know what I can do to prove to you that it was a mistake. I would never do anything to harm you in any way, you should know that.”

Hikaru wiped at his face as he started to cry, shaking his head

“I'm not sure what to believe,” he replied in a whisper

you sighed and nodded your head as your own eyes started to water

you gently grabbed his hand, seeing him flinch a bit at your touch 

you then brought the hand to your chest, right above your racing heart 

“Believe in this. This bloody organ in my chest that solely beats for you,” you whispered, hoping he could understand you through all of your crying

he, once again, didn’t reply 

“I don’t know what I can do to prove to you tha-”

you were surprised when his lips suddenly crashed against yours 

you returned the kiss immediately, feeling all of the emotions you both have felt during this rough patch 

anger, frustration, disappointment, confusion, betrayal, guilt, sorrow, remorse, acceptance, forgiveness 

love

“I love you. Please, accept my apology. I miss you. It hurts me to know I’ve caused you pain,” you cried softly, holding onto him for dear life in fear that this was just a dream and you’d end up waking up to find that he still hated you 

“Shh, it’s okay. I love you more. I’ll love you ‘till the day I die. Just, please, never do anything like that again.”

you laughed breathily and nodded your head, connecting your lips once more

he pulled away after a while of kissing to mumble, “I’m going to kill Kaoru for stealing my favorite shoes.” 

⊱ ────── {⋅. ♪ .⋅} ────── ⊰

MASTERLIST

More with Hikaru

⊱ ────── {⋅. ♪ .⋅} ────── ⊰

[anderson-residence]

@ruthlessnessisyourdesire​ beeped: ❓(hank, ava) Send ❓  and my muse I will answer all these questions honestly on behalf of my muse because they would not say a damn word

// Some are ic if the muse would work with me others are ooc because gotta get those answers out there and the muses won’t say a damn word! Too bad for them I know all! Some are a mix haha

Hank:

Does my muse trust yours? “Hell no, he gave my kid a cat for his birthday and not even the kid we share custody over!” Not as far as he can reach him. But there is something. A bit of trust since he trusts him with Mayson and Hank is very careful with his kids so that's saying something. He at least trusts him to keep Mayson alive and well. Still, he keeps him third on the boy's emergency contact list.

Does my muse dislike yours? Oooh. Yes. There's a major dislike there. Hank doesn't like Sixty and merely tolerates him through any of their interactions....which is sometimes a lot of interacting because of their son.

Would my muse kill someone for yours? ....Perhaps.....depending on the situation. But Hank won't tell him that. Nope. Won't give him that but if it ever came down to it he possibly would come to his side. He's sure he'll get shit for it though.

Would my muse kill your muse? He shot him before and would do it again if it came down to it. But Hank wouldn't just kill the man unprovoked especially since Mayson is damn attached to him. But as long as he stays in his lane Hank will stay in his.

Would my muse save yours? As with everything else with them, yeah uhh it's a bit complicated. Hank would love to say no but he knows he probably would. He fucking would. He'd say it's because of Mayson buy that's only part of it.

Does my muse find your muse attractive? Nope. Now that's something he can say with certainty.

Is my muse disgusted by yours? No...well...yeah yeah it's a no. He'd say he is but he really isn't. Not disgusted just disliked.

would my muse go on a date with your muse? “Fuck no” No. At least not a real date. He'd probably begrudgingly would fake date him if throw into that situation. He wouldn't like it tho.

would my muse kiss yours?  “Why the hell would I kiss you?” N O P E. He wouldn't. Real, fake, none of it.

would my muse betray yours? Possibly, yes. If you're on thin enough ice Sixty.

my muse’s favorite thing about yours is ____ Hank thinks Sixty has a good sense of fashion but shhhh he won't tell him that.

the thing my muse dislikes about yours is_____ Him. Just all of him in general. Is that fair? Nope but Hank is easily irritated and combined with their history he just...generally dislikes the man.

Ava:

Does my muse trust yours? “Yeah sure, I guess. I mean I don’t really know him well yet but I don’t see why I wouldn’t” Yeah. Kinda. It's building. Ava hasn't been given a reason not to trust him.  

Does my muse dislike yours? Nope. She likes him actually. Just wanna be friends.

Would my muse kill someone for yours? No, probably not. She isn't the type to kill but if it came down to it in a dire situation she would?

Would my muse kill your muse? “Why the hell would I do that?” No, she likes him and wouldn't just kill someone.

Would my muse save yours? Yeah, she would probably jump in and save him if she saw him in danger and thinks she could help even if she knows he can take care of it on his own. She wouldn't really be thinking.

Does my muse find your muse attractive? Uhhhh, pass?  Yes. But don't tell her that.

Is my muse disgusted by yours? “Nope.”

would my muse go on a date with your muse?  Uhh, also pass? Yes would. Might not jump right on it or be the one to ask (as of right now) but yes she would go on a date with him.

would my muse kiss yours? What's with all these questions she has to pass on? smh  Yes. She might not realize it herself right now? But yes she would. Maybe just a nice friendly cheek peck not like a 'kiss kiss' and not if she knows he's taken but if he's 'open game' she would kiss him uwu and then maybe even on the lips!

would my muse betray yours?   No..she doesn't have any reason too and she isn't the betrayal type.

my muse’s favorite thing about yours is ____ His smell. uh I mean what? she doesn't know why she likes him and wants to be friends or really what her favorite thing would be because all of their interactions have been met with resistance on his end. Hard to have a favorite thing when told to go away but she's working on it!

the thing my muse dislikes about yours is_____

She thinks he's quick to get irritated which might also just be her hmm she isn't to sure but knows he also snaps at Anderson so! There's that! Yeah. That's what she dislikes. “But maybe he gets better?”

[mrpenguinpants]

Alright, I finally read Reincarnation no Kaben

AFTER MONTHS (it’s probably been a month? My mind doesn’t keep track of the days) I FINALLY CAUGHT UP TO RNK. Ty to Okita anon for the recommendation (*￣3￣)╭💕💕💕 I absolutely loved it. 

After this I’ll start on the other recommendation you gave me. I kept a bit of a log of my reading journey under the read more tag. 

Major spoilers for literally everything in RNK up to ch 53 “Withdrawal”. 

Oh, and I’ll finish answering all my leftover asks and I SHOULD have a fic done by tomorrow. I was so ready to write and then I got up. Now I’m back to bed. 

I’m just gonna write this as a log since I read super super slow and I’m only on ch 7 at the start of writing this but I’m really liking it already. Though to be fair. I love everything okita anon recommends haha. I remember you saying you were simping over Kouu and I haven’t gotten to the part where he appears but I wanted to quickly google what he looked like to prepare myself and I see this:

Well. That’s reassuring. 

I was actually kinda surprised by how many western figures were in the manga since I know there are only like 7? Around 7 western figures that pop up in any anime/manga but seeing people like Albert Fish was kinda surprising but I really liked it. Also, at the end of certain chapters they write little bio’s on them so you get to know more about them was such a nice touch.  I also love that the tradition of making males -> females still stays strong even outside the fate universe hehe.

---

Literally, the next chapter I see him. AHHHHHHHHH. Well maybe not him but his eyeballs. 

This guy lowkey reminds me of the MC’s brother but it’s 99% because he has the same long ponytail. I wouldn’t be surprised if the brother was apart of the the Greats. Honestly, Ein reminds me of those really hard headed girls that are actually really kind on the inside but aren’t good at expressing themselves (maybe because that’s pretty much her character). I also like that Ein doesn’t like males but she’s hiding behind this guy. At least, I’m..99% sure this is Ein. 

I FUCKING KNEW IT. AS SOON AS I SAW HE GOT A THEIF TALENT I COULD FEEL THE SOLO LEVELING VIBES IN ME. HE CAN STEAL TALENTS I FUCKING KNEW IT!!! I’m surprised that Neumann didn’t say anything and  Haito seems to be aware of it.  

Edit: Ah okay, I understand a bit now but it almost seems like Haito is the only one aware of Toya’s second talent.

Edit 2: Okay, as much as I love power hungry MC’s I’m really glad they didn’t make Toya into that. I am such a softie for sympathetic and kind MC’s like these even though it’s been done so many times. I’m really glad this didn’t feel like a rehash. I mean, some points some of the stuff Toya says it does but it’s fine, I don’t mind that. I actually gave a crap about him since I usually prefer the side characters (I UNDERSTAND ANON, I CARE ABOUT KOUU SO MUCH AHHHHH) but HAITO?? AHHHHH. 

---

I like that Izo always has the same hat in every adaptation he’s in lol. Istg, cats are always op. Schrodinger seems so strong and the parallel universes are my absolute shit. Sometimes I think, in one universe I did this and in this universe I’m not. Would I rather stay in this universe or be in the one where I am actually productive. Usually I pick the productive universe and actually work but sometimes I’m a bit of a slacker haha. I think this is my approach to a lot of things in life. But I digress, I don’t wanna get too deep into my life. 

I can sorta sympathize with the sinners. At least the ripper guy to say the least. I love love love unhinged characters that just want to basically destroy the world or at least have fun. But then you find out- wait they are actually sympathetic oh no. That’s how I felt about Djoser in “im the great priest imhotep” (please...i beg...someone read this...I’m so starved). 

As much as character development and rooting for the hero is cool and all, I just want to simp for the crazy “let’s burn the world to the ground” kinda character. I’m also so glad Toya doesn’t automatically become evil and try and steal everyone’s talents because he does seem like a good person and I really don’t see him suddenly switching fields so when he saved (I don’t remember names I’m sorry), the undead solider it was really nice. Proves that he still has his humanity and isn’t strictly relying on the branch of sin. 

It makes sense that he wants to steal talents since he never had one (and it was kinda out of left field when he killed Vlad and we just never addressed that ever again haha) but to see him actually consider his actions and if he actually want’s to steal his teammates talents feels right to me. Poor guy doesn’t seem to have a lot of friends so this is the first time he’s ever seemed to have companionship, aside from Haito, so I really hope he doesn’t attempt to steal their talents. I think I’m thinking of the slime? That time I got reincarnated as a slime manga/anime. Where he’s the pokemon catcher of skills. I thought that was where it was going. 

But I do kinda like how selfish Haito and Toya’s talent stealing relationship is (I mean, later it develops but my first draft of writing this I wasn’t there yet). I’m not sure if selfish or like self-gratitude/pride is the right word but it’s kind of a breath of fresh air. Rather than Haito trying to contain or “help” Toya’s inferiority she’s actually encouraging it and using her own talent for her own...acknowledgement? Er, yeah let’s go with that. 

---

This. This interaction. I love this. Like, genuinely love this. We need more of this. Two people from opposite sides finding some common ground and their fight to the death is less about morals or whose on whose side but for themselves. I love that. This is actually some wholesome stuff. 

Edit: AHHHHH CATCH MY UGLY CRYING IN THE BACK BECAUSE ALL THE “SINNERS” ARE ACTUALLY AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. IM DEAD. YOU’VE KILLED ME. 

---

I KNEW IT! YOU CAN NEVER TRUST THESE KIND OF PEOPLE!! I’m going to slap the whiteboard on this but if I see any “goofy” character I’m immediately sus of them. 

As much as I hate that Hitler is getting drawn as a small child I really like this. I know the whole, oh I killed your friends but I’m letting you go because you express humanity but I’m gonna finish my death with a sympathetic line, can be annoying to people but idk I really liked this. 

Honestly this and the undead soldiers death hit me hard ngl. This manga might not have my favourite art style during some points compared to like main stream manga but it has some really beautiful scenes. 

BOOM CALLED IT, though it’s pretty obvious lol. 

THE PONY TAIL NEVER LIES AND HES DA VINCI IT MAKES SENSE NOW

He looks so cute lol. I like that Seiya has the talent of being talented in everything while Toya has the talent to steal other talents. Seiya can probably only cap his power by his own physical/mental abilities with Toya can pull a solo leveling and go further beyond. Thinking of it like jack of trades vs master of none type deals. Though, I might be thinking too hard on this. I like that this man is actually humble but I really wish there was a tiny bit more to him since we only get this one interaction/backstory but the manga isn’t completed yet. I really hope we get to know about Seiya more;; like how he became da vinci or etc. 

Everytime I see Neumann I look at that comic sans type and it kills me on the inside. But I love that her eyes are 01 just, mwah perfection. These little details that aren’t that big but it’s soooo nice. I also ahem, unhinged character heart be still. It’s really nice reading manga in bursts because you can see the art progression and damn does she look good. 

tiny fang appreciation post. 

ngl i’M HARD SIMPING FOR THIS MAN. It’s the pony tail, I have such a thing for guys with long hair (and this is why genshin broke me) but man the art really picked up here. 

I didn’t get into it but OKITA ANON I GET IT. KOUU??? AHHHH. WHY DID YOU HAVE TO DIE??? As much as his whole “war” was a bit questionable in the beginning and tbh I still don’t really get it I like that he knows he’s not the same as the other Greats but still tries to help the other “sinners” in a way only he knows. That’s why Seiya was so important;; I get that he wanted them to have a fun death and to be understood but idk, the whole war idea and having them kill each other (especially the Hitler fights because I understand the others since they reached some kind of acknowledgement) but nonetheless, what a great guy.

Nightingale gives me mad masaki vibes from chainsawman. I hate them and I can’t wait for you to fail, but the inner part of my is cheering for you because unhinged characters are my shit. I feel really bad for Neumann, I had suspicions she wasn’t actually like that since it’s sooo out of left field but I’m really glad the manga seems to know what it’s doing. I really wish we got more Kouu interactions with everyone tho. 

NOW THIS. THIS IS SOME WHOLESOME STUFF. I WANT THIS. I REALLY WANT SPIN-OFF OF REALLY SAD ANIME/MANGA/STORIES WHERE ALL THE DEAD PEOPLE HANG OUT. That’s how I’m feeling about JJK and the scroll segments or BSD WAN that just came out. IT’S SO WHOLESOME TO SEE EVERYONE NOT TRYING TO KILL EACH OTHER. 

UGLY SOBBING IN THE CLUBBB AND KOUU AND CHARLOTTE AHHHH. I hate how this is phrased but the respect I have for Hitler?? YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW HARD THAT IS TO TYPE?? Kitazuka is cool tho, I really like him. Some god given talent. I’m hard simping over him but I really hope we get to know more about him later. 

Getting smug mona vibes, I love this. 

AHHH IVE NEVER FELT THIS UPSET OVER AN APPLEEEE. I’M ACTUALLY UPSET. IF HE DIES IM ACTUALLY GOING TO CRY MY HEART OUT. 

THE FAMOUS SLAP 

I’M SORRY WHA- SLENDERMAN?

Oh..wow. Okay, be still my heart. When I first saw her I thought she was really pretty but now I’m absolutely smitten. God damn, can I please have some more crumbs on these characters before they die;; 

AHHH SAME GIRL FUCKING SAME????? I adore these small panels and translator notes. It’s a real breather after the sad 3am hours talk these characters go through. 

Yagyuu. Jesus christ. WHY ARE ALL THE DEATH SCENES IN THIS MANGA ACTUALLY SO PRETTY AND STABS ME IN THE HEART??? that’s it. goodbye. im fucking out. im actually so upset rn. WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME? 

---

In conclusion, and I should probably re-read what the characters say and not go off on memory because I’m about to get really deep. I really like how they phrased why they wanted to stop the branch of sin. That there are people just like Toya and Haito who, if they never found the branch of sin, could still probably lead respectable and okay lives. That there was a “them” in another universe that didn’t go down that road and that they want to be in the same universe as “them”. I know this sounds really confusing if you haven’t read the manga but going back to what I said about the parallel universe stuff. 

There was a universe where Toya and Haito didn’t rely on the branch of sin, that even without their talents from becoming a returner, they could still live a happy life given their own personalities and attitudes. It was kinda moving since in the beginning, Toya wanted a talent so badly and now that he has one. He’s realizing that wait, I don’t need a past life talent in order to live. Honestly, I hard relate to that because I totally agree with him. If you have a talent you can probably live a very happy and comfortable life that other factors wouldn’t matter if you just have that incredible talent. Thinking of it as a painter or artist, if you had actual god-given talent you wouldn’t need to worry about other factors since people would naturally seek that talent. So you end up comparing yourself to others and setting that limit on yourself. 

But that’s okay, it’s completely natural and I’m not saying it’s horrible if you do this. Fuck, I do this all the time. I’m not saying the manga is changing my life but it’s kind of refreshing that it get’s talked about since other adaptations of this just make the character super OP. I understand wanting to have that incredible talent, fuck who doesn’t? but you don’t need it in order to live earnestly in the bigger picture sense. Not everything you do has to be productive and honestly, learning to be okay with having fun is nice. Just being okay with who you are right now, even if it isn’t perfect in your eyes, you still have time to build upon yourself and your own talents but doing it for yourself. 

But I probably missed the point and I’m going way to deep haha. But I really enjoyed reading this and thank you once again to okita anon for the recommendation^^ I always love everything you send me and I’ll start reading the next one. If anyone else has any recommendations let me know! 

[michellemagic]

WMMAP x Tangled AU

Hiya! This is my crack at a Tangled x WMMAP au. Made with love for @athy-n-lucas ‘s crossover writing event! If you wanna see more stuff like this check the Suddenly Became a Fan One Day discord server! Please enjoy reading!

Warning: Slight Language

Athanasia felt numb as Jennette took the flowers out of her hair. She should have known better. Father told her falling in love with that criminal would just bring her heartache in the end, but she fell anyways and now look at her.

“I finished taking out the flowers father.” Athanasia could feel Jennette’s hand softly disentangle from her hair. Her sister was back to her usual self, soft and timid. Nothing like the bright, energetic girl who danced for hours in the Empire’s courtyard.

Their father came up to expect her hair before nodding, pleased with Jennette’s quick work.

“Good.” His dark eyes turned to hers. “Like it never happened.”

He gestured to Jennette to come to him and she quickly rose with the basket of discarded flowers in her hands. He murmured something quietly to her which caused her to nod quickly before she swiftly exited the room.

“Now, wash up for dinner.” Her father ordered her firmly,” Your sister has agreed to make hazelnut soup.”

Athanasia’s favorite. It seemed her father wanted to make up for how horribly the night before had ended by asking Jennette to make her favorite. She didn’t move though, her body still felt numb and washing up was the last thing she wanted to do at the moment. Something her father picked up on quickly.

“I really did try Athanasia.” Her father’s started, sounding quite sorry. “I tried to warn you what was out there.”

“The world is dark and selfish and cruel. If it finds even the smallest ray of sunshine.” Athanasia flinched softly at the sound of her father crushing a cracker in his hands. “It destroys it.”

Athanasia stayed silent as her father finally left the room, her eyes downcast to her balled hands. Opening them, she let herself look at the only token she had left from her day in the empire. A small, holdable version of the Obelian Empire’s flag- the jeweled flower laid beautifully in the golden crest. Athanasia sighed, tearing her eyes away from the flag and letting herself fall against her bed. She let herself open her eyes and found herself staring at the ceiling. There was artwork everywhere. Sketches of flowers and silhouettes and designs, all hand drawn by herself and her sister. But...

Athanasia lifted the flag back up to her face, quickly looking between it and her ceiling. Getting up slowly, Athanasia kept her eyes to the ceiling.

It was the same pattern.

In all the artwork, suddenly Athanasia could see the flower everywhere. The flower in the center of a doodled field. In between the smiling faces of the painted versions of herself and Jennette. In the empty space between different sketches. It was in all of them and suddenly Athanasia could see.

(The scene was blurring, all but the jeweled flower that hung over her, twirling within the mobile. She shifted her head, the two silhouettes hovering over her were blurring but- the scene shifted. She was in the courtyard now, looking at the mural of Emperor and Empress holding their missing daughter. Her eyes focused on the baby in their arms- shift. Suddenly she was back to the day before, lifting the lost princess’ crown of her head, Jennette watching dazzled beside her-)

And Athanasia was back in her room, her head pounding and her eyes dizzy. She felt herself move backwards, off of her balance and winced when she crashed into her vanity.

But as her head cleared and the pressure behind her eyes went away, the knowledge stayed with her.

____

Lucas felt the chains heavy on his wrists. Walking down the dungeon hallway surrounded by guards really wasn’t where he saw himself being last night, but yet faith was cruel. He was smarter than this. He knew he was smart enough to not get caught, but love had blinded him. He let his eyes wandered, scanning the cell closet to him.

His eyes caught sight of the two people hunched over in the cell and suddenly he felt anger fester in his chest. Using a strength he didn’t have before he swifty broke free from his guards before he paced over to the jail cell in front of him and went to grab one for the two sisters in the cell. His hands latched onto Penelope’s shirt collar slamming her against the bars. Her bitch of a sister coward deeper in the cell.

An unnatural anger fueled him now, ”How did you know about her? Tell me, now!”

Fear in her eyes, the older lady quickly blurted out,” It wasn’t us! It was the old man!”

“Old man.” It took Lucas a second before he suddenly came to a realization. But the guards were already back on him, grabbing his arms and restraining him.

“Wait. No, wait!” Lucas felt desperate. Fighting against the guards as they quickly marched him to his cell. “ You don’t understand. She’s in trouble, wait!”

____

Back in their tower, Jennette quickly ran back to her and her sister’s room at the sound of what seemed to be her sister falling over and taking something down with her.

“Athanasia! Athanasia what’s going on in there?” Her father’s voice rang from somewhere behind her and Jennette couldn’t help but purse her lips at how stern he sounded.

She reached her shared room just in time to see her sister stumble out. Jennette was at her side in a second,” Athy! Are you all right?”

Athanasia hesitated for a split second, causing Jennette to reach out and squeeze her hand.

“I’m the lost princess.” Her sister’s voice was barely a sound, so soft that it seemed she didn’t want Jennette to hear. But Jennette did hear and the grip she had on Athanasia’s hand went lax.

“Oh, please speak up Athanasia,” Jennette saw the way her sister flinched back and could hear the firm scolding in her father’s voice. Her grip got stronger. “You know how I hate the mumbling.”

The two sisters locked eyes, Athanasia’s worried and Jennette’s soft… she trusted her sister and while she had no idea what was going on it was clear Athanasia had some choice words for their father.

Jennette could feel her sister calm at her support, quickly gripping Jennette’s hand back and turning to face their father, eyes hard and voice clear.

“I am the lost princess. Aren’t I?” Her sister’s voice was clear this time. Jennette could see her father going frigid and widening his eyes from her position behind Athanasia.

“Did I mumble, father?” Athanasia’s eyes narrowed. “Or should I even call you that”

Their- her (?) father was quick to reset. He was back to the charming man who was their father in a second.

“Oh, Athanasia.” His voice was like honey, “Do you even hear yourself? Why would you ask such a ridiculous question?”

He went in to hug them both but Jennette let herself flinched back and Athanasia shoved his arms away from her, quickly distancing herself from her father.

“It was you, it was all you!” Jennette felt cold watching her father’s eyes narrow.

“Everything I’ve done was to protect you.” His voice sounded cold. Harsh in a way Jennette has never heard before, not even when getting scolded. That didn’t seem to be what her sister wanted to hear. Athanasia shoved their father out of the way, quickly stalking down the stairs. Her father called,“ Athanasia!”

“I’ve spent my entire life!” Athansaia sounded mad now. Her father was quick to follow her, Jennette got up, “Hiding from people who would use me for my powers!”

“Athanasia!” Her father was getting louder, his voice getting more desperate.

Her sister reached the bottom of the stairs, turning to face her father, “When I should have been hiding from you!”

“Where will you go? He won’t be there for you?”

(-Lucas was still fighting the guards. There were more coming for him, trying to restrain him, but he needed to get out, needed to save her-)

Athanasia’s voice sounded cold, “ What did you do to him?”

“That criminal is to be hanged for his crimes.” It hurt the way her father sounded so sure of himself. He didn’t know Lucas like she and Athanasia did! Didn’t know how kind he could be…

She could see Athanasia’s heart breaking right in front of her eyes, “No…”

“Now now, it’s alright,” Jennette wanted to vomit at how quickly he went back to playing the loving father role. Her father went to pet her sister’s head, the way he always did when he felt like being extra parental to them. “Listen to me, all of this is as it should be.”

But Athanasia grabbed his wrist, her eyes going hard,” No. You were wrong about the world, and you were wrong about me.”

Jennette could she her father struggle to get his wrist out of her sister’s surprisingly tight grip. But Athanasia wasn’t letting go. “And I will never let you use my hair again!”

Her father finally jerked his wrist out of Athanasia’s grip, falling against a mirror, causing it to shatter. Jennette saw the hatred on her sister’s face as she turned to walk away.

Jennette walked over to look over her father, her heart was pounding and her head hurt but… it was still her father and she needed to make sure he wasn’t hurt, “Fath-“

Slap

Both girls froze at the sudden contact. Jennette felt pain as she suddenly found herself on the floor surrounded by shards of glass. Her hand went to her stinging cheek and she risked a quick glance at her sister - Athanasia look like her father had struck her himself- before looking back at her father.

“Fine. You girls want me to be the bad guy?” Jennette watched as her father’s eyes went dark. His presence that was oh so comforting usually, made Jennette want to shrink into herself, “ Now I’m the bad guy…”

Quick note!

- Athanasia is Rapunzel. In this world, Athanasia’s hair is brown until it’s cut and turns her usual blonde

- Anastasius is Mother Gother

-Jennette’s kinda a mix of Pascal and Cassandra here. If I decide to write more I’ll elaborate :)

-Lucas is Flynn, he’s usually smart enough not to get caught but falling in love caught him off guard.

-Ezekiel exists as a part of the royal guard but he didn’t really fit in the story so he wasn’t actually mentioned. He’s kinda the Maximus and Varian of the story.

-Fun fact, Kiel saw Lucas at the festival and only let him hang around the kingdom because he got very sidetracked by dancing with Jennette