#legit i have like coached my friends into getting raises

[lionfloss]

i hung out with a coworker for the first time last night (love her sm) and she told me that i have a reputation amongst the Team Leads for being "scary" and making them nervous LMAO apparently because i always "will ask for more money or for the Leads to provide documentation that what they are asking of me is within my job description" ...I...DIED i cannot believe that my unwillingness to be taken advantage of has left me with such a reputation🫠lol

[swappermanent]

Summoned For Help

When Cal came to me with his proposal, I thought he was joking. He had that mischievous grin plastered on his face—the same one he’d worn when we were nine and he dared me to jump off the garage roof into a kiddie pool.

“Okay,” I said, leaning back in my chair. “Run that by me one more time. Slowly. Because it sounded like you just asked me to possess your body.”

Cal shrugged, as if he hadn’t just proposed the most insane idea I’d ever heard. “Yeah. Possess me. Just for a bit.”

“Cal, what the actual hell? Did you hit your head at the gym or something?”

He leaned forward, his hands clasped together in mock seriousness. “Look, man, hear me out. I’m just saying, you’re good at... you know, doing the deed. And I’m not.”

“Yeah, no kidding.” I smirked. “Pretty sure half the girls in town could write a Yelp review about how bad you are in bed.”

He threw a cushion at me, but I dodged it. “Screw you, man. It’s not like I don’t try.”

“No, that’s the thing—you don’t try,” I said, crossing my arms. “You’ve been coasting your entire life on your pretty-boy face and abs. And since when do you care about this, anyway? Girls keep coming back, don’t they?”

“They did,” he muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. “But word gets around. I think my, uh, reputation is starting to take a hit.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “So now you’re coming to me—your scrawny, five-foot-five, not-half-as-handsome best friend—for help. And instead of, I don’t know, asking for tips, your genius idea is... possession?”

“Look, it’s not just possession.” He reached into his bag and pulled out an old, weathered book. The pages were yellowed, the cover cracked with age. “It’s this.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Did you steal that from a museum?”

“No! I bought it online.”

“Oh, even better. Definitely trustworthy.”

“Shut up,” he said, flipping through the pages. “It’s legit, okay? Some ancient Mayan thing. Says here it was used by their priests to channel the spirits of gods or ancestors. It’s voluntary—you have to, like, open yourself up or whatever.”

“And you thought, ‘Hey, instead of channeling an ancient god, why not summon my weird little best friend to make me better at sex?’” I shook my head, but I couldn’t stop grinning. “You’re unbelievable.”

He grinned back. “What can I say? I’m a problem solver.”

“This is so stupid,” I said, but I found myself leaning forward, squinting at the text on the page. “And how exactly is this supposed to work?”

Cal’s eyes lit up. “I knew you’d say yes.”

“I haven’t said yes,” I corrected. “Yet. But go on—what’s the plan?”

Cal pointed at the book, his finger tracing over a block of text surrounded by faded, intricate illustrations. “From what I can figure out, it’s all about intention,” he said. “The person being possessed—that’s me—has to want to improve something. And the possessor—you—has to, you know, want to help.”

“Right,” I said, dragging out the word. “So this spell is just gonna... summon me? Whenever it decides you need a little extra help in the bedroom?”

“Pretty much.” He grinned.

“And then what? I just get booted out of your body after you’ve—sorry, I’ve—sealed the deal?”

“Exactly,” he said, clapping his hands once, like it was the most straightforward plan in the world. “As I get better, you’ll get summoned less and less, until eventually I won’t need you at all.”

I stared at him, trying to process the sheer absurdity of it. “So you’re telling me that some ancient Mayan priests came up with this whole spell—probably to commune with gods or ancestors—and you’re using it for... sex coaching?”

He shrugged. “Hey, it’s a tool. I’m using it for what I need.”

“This is insane.” I laughed, shaking my head. “Wild. Weird. Completely ridiculous.”

“But you’re gonna do it.” He was practically bouncing on the couch now, his excitement as contagious as it was baffling.

I sighed, crossing my arms. “I’m gonna regret this, but... fine. Let’s do it.”

“Yes!” Cal practically leapt to his feet, grabbing the book and flipping to the spell. “Okay, okay. Sit still. Don’t interrupt.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.”

He cleared his throat, his face suddenly serious as he began reciting the words. It wasn’t English—or Spanish, or any language I could recognize. The syllables rolled off his tongue in a deep, rhythmic chant, filling the room with a strange, heavy energy.

When he finished, we both sat there in silence, waiting.

Nothing happened.

“Did it work?” I asked, after a long beat.

Cal frowned, looking down at his hands like he expected to see some kind of glowing aura. “I don’t know. I feel the same.”

I rolled my eyes. “Maybe it takes time. Or maybe you just bought a really expensive paperweight.”

He scowled, tossing the book onto the coffee table. “It’s legit. You’ll see.”

“Sure, buddy.” I stood up, stretching. “Well, keep me posted if I suddenly pop into your body. Until then, I’m grabbing a beer.”

“Go ahead and laugh,” he called after me as I walked to the kitchen. “You’ll believe me soon enough.”

As I pulled a cold one from the fridge, I shook my head, grinning despite myself. Cal had always been full of wild ideas, but this? This took the cake.

---

It happened a few days later.

Cal was out at this trendy bar downtown, the kind of place where everything looked expensive even though the drinks were just watered-down vodka with fancy names. He’d texted me earlier about some “hot brunette” he’d spotted across the room, and I could practically hear his grin through the phone.

I didn’t think much of it until I felt it—a sudden, almost magnetic pull. My vision blurred, and for a moment, it felt like I was falling, weightless, through space. When my eyes refocused, I wasn’t in my dingy apartment anymore. I was at the bar.

And I wasn’t me.

I was Cal.

“What the—” I started, but my voice came out deeper, smoother. Cal’s voice.

“Oh, hey! It worked!” His voice echoed in my head, excited and smug. “Told you it was legit!”

I blinked, looking around. The bar was packed, dimly lit, and alive with the sound of clinking glasses and laughter. I caught my reflection in the mirror behind the bar—a chiseled jawline, piercing blue eyes, the kind of good looks that could sell cologne in a magazine ad.

“What the hell, Cal?” I thought, feeling a mix of amazement and panic. “You didn’t think to give me a heads-up?”

“Didn’t know when it would summon you! I don’t control it myself, remember?” he said, sounding annoyingly pleased with himself. “But hey, you’re welcome. She’s right over there, by the way. Don’t screw this up.”

“Gee, thanks for the confidence,” I shot back.

I turned my head and saw her—a stunning brunette in a red dress, leaning casually against the bar. She smiled at me, and I swear it was the kind of smile that could melt steel. My legs moved on their own./ Before I knew it, I was standing next to her, flashing his signature grin.

“Hey,” I said, feeling the smoothness in Cal’s voice as if it had been tailored for moments like this. “Can I buy you a drink?”

She tilted her head, her eyes sparkling with intrigue. “That depends. What’s the catch?”

“No catch,” I said, leaning against the bar. “I just saw you and thought, ‘Wow, the night just got a whole lot better.’”

The conversation flowed easily after that, and I couldn’t help but marvel at how effortless everything felt. Cal’s body did half the work for me—his height, his confident posture, even the way his voice carried over the music.

Before I knew it, we were back at his place. That’s when I felt it—the constant, distracting presence of Cal’s voice in my head.

“Dude, you’re killing it,” he said. “She’s totally into you—”

“Cal, I’m gonna need you to not talk right now,” I interrupted.

“What? Why not? I’m just trying to help.”

“Because it’s weird. Like, next-level weird. So let’s see if I can mute you for a bit… Oh yeah, that’s it. Don’t take it personally.”

“Wait, you can—” His voice cut off mid-sentence as I silenced his consciousness. The quiet was instant, like flipping a switch.

I stood there for a moment, taking it all in. His body felt incredible—like a high-performance machine finely tuned for moments like this. I glanced at the brunette, who was looking up at me with this mixture of excitement and curiosity. And wow... I mean, wow.

So this is what it feels like to look down at someone, to tower over them. It wasn’t just the height—it was the power, the sense of being able to protect someone. I felt... strong. Confident. Invincible.

And these muscles? Holy hell. Every movement felt effortless, powerful, like I could bench press a truck without breaking a sweat.

“Is everything okay?” she asked, her voice soft but teasing.

“Perfect,” I said, flashing Cal’s grin. “Absolutely perfect.”

I won’t bore you with the details of what happened next, but let’s just say I got the job done. Better than done, honestly. Here, see for yourself.

When it was over, she was smiling like she’d just found religion, and I was left sitting there, marveling at what had just happened.

Not just the act itself, but the feeling of being Cal—strong, tall, and undeniably desirable. For the first time in my life, I understood what it was like to walk through the world like that.

That’s when it happened.

A sudden jolt—like static electricity but coursing through every nerve in my body. The room around me blurred, the brunette’s satisfied smile dissolving like smoke. I felt myself being yanked out of Cal’s body, like a hook catching me by the ribs and pulling me backward through a tunnel of light.

The next thing I knew, I was back in my apartment, sprawled on the couch. My own body felt... smaller, weaker, like I was wearing a jacket two sizes too small.

I sat up, my head spinning. “Well, that was abrupt.”

My phone buzzed on the coffee table. I grabbed it, seeing a text from Cal.

CAL: DUDE. THAT FELT SO WEIRD.

ME: NO KIDDING.

CAL: Well thanks for the help man, I appreciate it.

ME: Yeah, no problem dude. I had actually had a great time. Thanks for badgering me into doing it.

I set the phone down, leaning back with a mix of exhaustion and exhilaration. This was going to be one hell of a ride.

[braveclementine]

Day 36

Warnings: None, Readers under 18 can read this book.

Copyright: My OCs are Coach Yonce, Emma, Ila, Tempus, and Itty Bitty. I own these characters. I do not condone any copying of this.

EXCERPTS FROM SEBASTIAN STANS JOURNAL

EVIDENCE FOR RUSSO TRIAL

JOURNAL ENTRY SEVEN:

Today was nerve racking. They went through with the rape. I heard her ask him to stop, but didn't enter the room until she screamed for me. I felt disgusted with myself for waiting so long. I'm trying so hard not to raise suspicion, but it felt so good to punch that man's face in.

Luckily, he hadn't even gotten her pants off of her, which relieved me greatly. I kissed her and I know I'm in love with her. I didn't mean to, I really didn't, but I do. I love her.

She had gotten rid of the nose chain. I preferred her face without it. She looked beautiful like this, and I told her so. Her eyes shone when I told her and she admitted she'd hated it to. I knew she had been uncomfortable with it on day one.

I kissed her again. I would write about her lips, but I want to keep that private in my head. And besides, this is more an account on the deaths, in case I don't make it out of this alive.

That's a scary thought.

I did try not letting her know that I wanted a future with her if we got out of here. It didn't seem realistic. She's so young, only nineteen. And I'm thirty-two. Not to mention I'd have to figure this out with Margarita. And the whole of the world would hate it.

But I don't care. I don't think I'm going to ever act after this.

I can't. They'll have to get a new actor for Bucky Barnes.

I'll never be able to act again. I'll always doubt what is going on.

If we get out of this alive.

JOURNAL ENTRY EIGHT:

Tempus made Y/N play through all the games. She nearly died- twice. The fact she's still alive both electrifies me and impresses me. God, but I bet she's in so much pain.

In the last round they brought in someone who I guess her friend was in her past. Y/N didn't even look surprised her friend decided to kill her over her other friend. Y/N actually thanked her.

I was on the edge of my seat until she disarmed her friend- getting herself shot in the process.

I took her back to her room. I sewed up the wound myself. I was getting better at having a tougher stomach during these things. Luckily, the bullet only grazed her.

Tomorrow we all get to leave. I'm thinking something bad happened to Henry, or maybe the police can't find us, I don't know. Or maybe we're already surrounded but they can't get in.

Tomorrow is supposed to be the scene where the Avengers break in and save the rest of the kids. I don't know how it'll actually play out. The others aren't ready, they'll fake fight like they're supposed to do.

I keep kissing Y/N. I feel like we're both going to die. It makes me wonder about my real feelings about her. If it's because of where we are, or if I truly do like her in that way.

She does keep talking about after this place. She was talking about a YouTuber that she'd introduce his videos to me. I can't answer because I don't know about after. I think she picked up on it too because she went quiet after that and then went to sleep immediately after I gave her the pain meds.

I don't want to play with her feelings. I really don't. Not after all of this. But I don't know how to not mess with her feelings when I don't know mine.

Or if we'll even be alive by tomorrow night.

JOURNAL ENTRY NINE:

I don't know where Y/N is. The others came today and she killed Tempus. Tempus had killed everyone but her and her three friends. She was going to kill Y/N, but Y/N didn't let that happen.

Y/N really had no idea who I was before this. I could see recognition in her eyes once the others came in, the other actors. I saw the hurt there too and also betrayal.

I wanted to go to her side, but she turned the gun on me. I hated seeing her cry. She looked broken and hurt. Told me to stay the hell away form her.

I think I now realize my feelings were legit. Those couple words from her felt like a stab wound to the heart.

She continued speaking, and her words told me that she thought I thought all of it was fake. That her cut off pinky wasn't enough proof that this was all real. I wanted to tell her I believed it was real. That I did think it was real. That I knew it was real.

She accused me of playing with her feelings while I let children die around us. And fuck, I knew she was right.

I called for the Russo brothers, trying to pretend her words hadn't hurt. They came, they admitted to letting Tempus take over for money. There was almost a billion dollars they were going to get paid for this game.

Then Y/N got the others out of there. She looked at me and I could barely hold her eyes because it hurt so much to see the betrayal in her eyes. She threw the gun at my feet and I can still hear the words in my head. 'It was real to me. Fuck you Stan.'

I wanted to tell her it was real to me too. I didn't want her to spit my last name out at me like it was poison. I had really liked my name falling from her lips.

Now, I'm sitting on the bus that had brought the other actors in, writing this. Downey, Evans, and Hemsworth had jumped the brothers. Hiddleston and Mackie slugged them across the face until they were knocked out.

We had to spend another couple of hours there with the police. They never brought back Y/N or the other girls. I knew we were in the middle of Death Valley, California. If they ran the wrong way. . .

They promised to put out searches for the girls. I hope they find them. Even if Y/N never wants to even look at me again, as long as she's okay and alive, that's all I care about right now.

The others tried speaking to me. Some of them are still trying to speak to me. Johansson can't shut up, trying to be sympathetic about everything I had to go through. But I was treated fine. I'm not the one dead. I'm not the one with my pinky cut off. I'm not the one that was almost raped. But they're treating me like the victim.

Well, Downey, Cumberbatch, and Hiddleston aren't. Downey has been on the phone for ages. I don't know who he's calling, but he's angry.

Evans got me a phone so I could call Margarita. Still haven't. Can't bring myself to.

God, please bring Y/N in safely. Please.

⬅️➡️

[uwuwriting]

Tsukishima and Ushijima  falling for their childhood friend.

Request: Hi I saw that your requests are open so I dropped by. Um for Haikyuu boys Tsukki and Ushifalling in love with their childhood best friend?? Thank you and YAY you’re growinggg!!!!- anonymous. 

You have chosen the best trope ever anon!! Way to go!! I love this scenario and wish it would happen to me like legit. Small sidetrack, if anyone is willing to hear me rant about the last of us part 2 plz don’t hesitate to message me, no one understands my suffering. Love yaa. 💖💖💖

rules

warnings: fluff and maybe some angst

Tsukishima Kei

-You moved next to the Tsukishimas when you were 6. 

-You weren’t the most social bean at that age so your mom had t give you a slight push to make friends.

-That’s why she would always invite people over with kids around your age so you could play. 

-Once you moved things didn’t really change. 

-She invited the Tsukishimas over and you got to know their kids. 

-Akiteru was intimidating to you.

-He was so open and talkative it made you anxious. 

-Kei on the other hand was more calm, always giving you enough space so you could approach him when YOU wanted and he would invite you over to play with his dinosaurs in silence. 

-Like complete silence. 

-His mother always wondered if you two were alive. 

-You were inseparable though. 

-It was the first time in you whole life that you clicked with someone so easily and could actually interact.

-Kei, being the salty bitch that he is, pushed you out of your comfort zone once you began school. 

-He would help you in class with refusing to ask a question for you or he would make you order your own lunch in the school’s cafeteria. 

-You still had trouble talking to other kids though and Tsukki didn’t mind. 

-He was okay with having you stick around and may have been slightly terrified at the idea of losing the only friend he had. 

-He would never admit that though.

-The first time you talked on your own accord to some of your classmates was when you saw three boys mocking another one who was laying on the ground. 

-He was trying to grab his backpack from the taller boy. 

-You looked at Kei and he just continued walking sparring only a glance at the commotion. 

-You couldn’t just let them pick on the boy though. 

-You used to be picked on and Kei would always scare them off and so you puffed out your chest and marched over to the boys.

- “Hey! Leave him alone!!” 

-You were surprised at your own voice but kept your ground as the three boys glared at you.

- “Isn’t that the girl that doesn’t talk?”

- “Yeah I heard she’s mute!!!”

-All of them snickered and pushed the other boy to the ground again. 

-He was looking at you with wide eyes as the bullies made their way to you.  

- “What do you want mute?”

-Your knees started to feel weak as your fear set in and the words you wanted to say caught in your throat. 

-Your mind was screaming at you to call for Tsukki but you couldn’t turn your head around. 

-Every single part of your body was frozen. 

-The bullies kept laughing and making fun of you as you backed away when you back hit something warm but steady.

-Looking up you were met by none other than Kei himself. 

-He told them off with his snarky comments and helped you calm down.

-Then grabbing your hand he started walking not glancing at the other boy. 

-Years passed and now all of you are friends. 

-A dynamic trio.

-Everything was going great.

 -You were all into volleyball, practicing together both in school and out. 

-Kei would no longer take you to his room and play with dinos. 

-You two would go on for hours on end playing volleyball in his back yard, until his brother got home and he would be infatuated by his brother’s practice stories. 

-He really looked up to him. 

-Then the fateful game happened. 

-Kei’s image of his brother was shattered. 

-And so was the boy you met all those years ago. 

-He didn’t particularly push you away he was just more distant. 

-He had raised so many walls to protect himself he had become cold. 

-But you didn’t leave and neither did Yamaguchi. 

-You remained friends all the way to high school. 

-Being part of the volleyball club was a must for the two and you told them that you were there to support them.

-When Kiyoko came to you and Yachi for the manager positions you immediately accepted, excited to spend more time with you boys. 

-During the practice camp in Tokyo, you overheard his argument with Yamaguchi and were disappointed in him. 

-How could he be so cold towards his best friend when all he was trying to do was help? 

-You went to talk to him too but ended up fighting and it was pretty bad. 

-He was angry you would see that more angry than you expected but you thought that it would be different if you talked to him. 

-You had been there for everything after all. 

- “Kei you can trust me, I’ve bee by your side since forever. I know YOU.”

- “You don’t know shit Y/N so why don’t you go back with the others? Aren’t you a manager or something? Do your damn job and leave me alone!”

-You were stunned at that, not believing what had come out of his mouth.

-You obliged though and without another word you left. 

-You two weren’t on speaking terms for weeks. 

-It had gotten to the point that you wouldn’t hang out with the two boys during lunch.

-As time passed you would greet each other but nothing else. 

-That is until the match with Ushijima happened. 

-You were up in the stands with Yachi when Tsukki tried to block the ball.

-He doubled in on himself,clutching his hand and you had never ran faster in your life.

-He was taken out of the court when you reached him and coach Ukai gave you the okay to take him to the back to patch up. 

-You sat in silence in front of him as you wrapped his fingers with the gauze. 

-His head was hanging low and you could see his shoulders tremble as he breathed. 

-When you were done, you placed your palms on each cheek and lifted his head. 

- “You’re going to go out there and you’re going to show him what you are made of. You will show him what Tsukishima Kei is capable off. Okay?”

-He looked at you with wide eyes before nodding and placing his own hand over yours. 

-With a shy smile you went to get up but he pulled you into him, crashing his lips with yours. 

-The kiss was too short for your liking as you were being rushed due to the game but he put all his feeling into it and you reciprocated with as much passion as him. 

- “I missed you, let’s not fight again.” 

- “I’ll consider it after the match, no go kick some ass.” 

-Tsukki’s blocks were three times more accurate than before and then it happened. 

-He blocked Ushijima’s spike successfully.

-The scream he let out shook you to the core and when his eyes scanned the stands, landing on you, you knew how happy he was. 

-Post victory celebrations have never been sweeter. 

Ushijima Wakatoshi

-He met you because of Tendou. 

-Um you were a Tendou yourself after all. 

-When he met Satori he didn’t believe him when he said that he had a twin. 

-He assumed that it was just some of Sato’s weird shit. 

-Satori would go on and on about his twin telling him how cool and smart she was and how he couldn’t wait for her to come and join them in Shiritorizawa. 

-Again Ushiwake didn’t really believe him. 

-That is until one day, a month after school started, he met her. 

-He and Satori were jogging when they heard a high pitched squeal followed by a SATORIIIIIII. 

-Next thing he knew Satori was no longer next to him but laying face first on the ground with another person on top of him. 

- “Y/N- chaaaan you’re suffocating me!!!!!”

-The girl got off him and pulled him to his feet only to crush him in a hug. 

-Ushijima never thought he would meet anyone more hyper than Satori. 

-Well he was wrong. 

-Satori’s sister was a replica of him. 

-Almost the same red hair only hers had some H/C highlights in them while they had different colored eyes, while Sato’s were red Y/N’s were E/C. 

- “Hi, I’m Tendou Y/N! You must be Ushijima, Satori has told me so much about you.”

-After that the three of you became a package. 

-Someone was looking for Tendou? 

-Look for Ushijima he’s with him. 

-Looking for Y/N? 

-Follow the loud noises, it’s probably her brother and she’s with him.

-Trying to find Ushijima? 

-Just track down Y/N he’s with her. 

-Even teachers would follow that strategy. 

-Ushijima was the first who caught feelings even though he didn’t know he caught em.

-It was your last year of middle school and you were sad. 

- “But aren’t you sad that we’re saying goodbye to middle school Ushi-kun????”

- “You can see the middle school building from the high school dorms, Y/N.....”

- “Yeah but still it’s saaaaaad!!!!!”

-You had been whining since you left school grounds for the last volleyball match of the year. 

-Both the male and the female teams were to compete in the same gymnasium so you decided to walk with you boys rather than your team. 

-You were the team’s libero mainly due to your energy and the fact that you were the smallest person in the team. 

- “I know Y/N-chan i’m gonna miss it tooo!!!”

-Ushijima couldn’t always understand what you two were going on about. 

-He guessed it was a twins thing. 

-Weird twin communication or something. 

-But as much as he wanted to make himself shut your whines out, he couldn’t.

-Lifting his hand he placed it on your head and ruffled your hair. 

- “Just imagine the high school dorms. I think the female dorms our closer to ours now.” 

-After the mini heart attack from his previous action, a smile started to form on your face.

-So big and bright that you could compete with Hinata for the title of sunshine. 

-Tendou started laughing and you thought he was laughing at your smile. 

-But no.

-satori was laughing at Ushijima’s blush that grew darker as you giggled at your brother’s antics.

-High school was a blast. 

-You and Satori would always drag Ushijima into your shenanigans and he would always let you. 

-The man is weak for your puppy dog eyes.

-It was now your last year in Shiritorizawa and you were sad again. 

-So sad that you weren’t focused enough during practice. 

-You were called to practice your receives and you were in position.

-You looked so in the moment so ready. 

-But you were far from that. 

-Your mind was again on him.

-Ushijima. 

-You knew that the one thing you would miss most from your school was your best friend. 

-You didn’t really care about your brother because well he was your brother but Ushijima....he was a painful subject. 

-Head in the clouds you didn’t receive the ball correctly and because of the force of the spike you lost your balance spraining your ankle in the process. 

-The coach rushed to you, calling out to the rest of the team to get an ice pack and a bottle of water. 

-She tried to pull you to your feet but your ankle prevented you. 

- “It doesn’t look broken but its a nasty sprain. We need to get you to the nurse’s office.”

-Ushijima and Tendou were making their way to their own gym for practice when they saw the girls running around in a semi panicked state. 

-One of them spotted the two boys and called out to the, telling them what happened *mainly because Tendou was your brother and they felt like he needed to know*.

-Instead of Tendou, Ushijima was the one who reached the gym first and was met with you on the floor a pained expression on your face. 

-Your coach motioned him over and your face lit up for a split second. 

- “Could you take her to the nurse? None of the girls can carry her and she can’t really walk.”

-Without uttering a word he knelt down and picked you up bride style and just left the gym. 

-He told Tendou to wait for him in the gym and that he would be right back. 

-Tendou being cupid himself who had seen one too many romance films, let his best friend take his crush to the nurse thanking the universe for making you so dumb. 

- “I’m sorry for this Ushi-kun I wasn’t paying attention.”

- “I’ve seen that during school hours as well. What’s wrong?”

-You hesitated at that. 

-Should you tell him?

-Should you tell him that you are afraid of missing him?

-That you are afraid of losing him?

-Ushijima’s own thoughts were running wild mainly due to the fact of your close proximity and how he could just dip his head and kiss you.

- “High school is over and and ...”

-Tears ran down your cheeks taking Ushijima by surprise. 

-He didn’t expect you to be this sad about it and before he knew it he was whipping  away your tears.

-He looked at you waiting for the rest of the sentence. 

-Mustering all of your courage you went for it. 

- “I don’t want to lose you...”

- “You’re not going to lose me we will keep in touch, you mean to much to me after all. I can’t just forget you.”

-He smiled at you as more tears  ran down your cheeks and you wrapped your arms around his neck. 

-He tightened his grip around you and buried his face in your hair. 

-There was one thing in both of your brains. 

- “I want to be more than friends.”

-You sealed that with a kiss. 

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Hot Melted Chocolate

Haikyuu - Toru Oikawa, Atsumu Miya, Tetsuro Kuroo and Koutarou Bokuto.

Genre ~ NSFW kinda!

Word Count - 2.1k

This was a legit question I was asked at the weekend from my best friends boyfriend and she wouldn’t answer him so he asked me. I felt it would be funny to make it that the Haikyuu boys ask there S/O.

Posted 22/07/20

~ Toru Oikawa ~

The practice had been cancelled last minute, by last-minute, literally, the whole team was stood in the gym staring where the coach had just flown out the door yelling an apology and something about his daughter and a grandchild over his shoulder. 

(Y/N) started to giggle, being the captain's girlfriend she went to most of his practices, and they always seemed to turn up with his arm wrapped around her shoulder, and her's was around his waist. "Animal Crossing anyone?" 

This had become a common habit for the Seijoh team, ever since Animal Crossing New Horizon came out, (Y/N) had got it and then talked Oikawa into getting it, which didn't take long one flutter of her eyelashes and he was putty in her hands. Which in turn cause Oikawa, to convince Iwaizumi and the rest of the team to get it now, Mad dog straight out refused to get it.

Now everyone was lounging around the gym, playing Animal Crossing, everyone visiting each other islands, going fishing or doing some decorating. Oikawa had his head resting in (Y/N) lap as she leant against the wall. The room was silent apart from the odd, quiet cheering - Yes! 

"Baby girl?"

"Yea pretty boy?" 

"What does it feel like to get cummed in?" Everyone's heads flicked up from the switches to stare at Oikawa, their faces held the look of you did not just ask your girlfriend that. The fact that (Y/N) didn't even bat an eyelid at her boyfriend comment, they just guess that she was used to the shit he spews. Iwaizumi was furious at his best friend, looking like he was about to hit or launch his own switch at Oikawa in response to the question he just asked.

"Remember that time we had those shot of hot melted chocolate?" She was actually giving him a response. Not once had the couples eye's moved from their screen as they spoke.

"Yea,"

"Just like that and it's the same for when you swallow it too."

"Thanks, babe." 

"Anytime" Leaning down she planted a kiss on his forehead before returning to running along the beach looking for sharks. 

Everyone's jaw dropped, they thought that (Y/N) was a sweet and innocent girl they were not expecting that to come out of her mouth. 

"Oh god, there's two of them?" Iwaizumi gaped as he stared at them, he had never heard the girl even make a dirty joke. "I didn't realise that they were as bad as each other."

"They are really perfect for each other." Maki and Matsun mumbled at the same time. The poor first years were still staring in shock at the pair of them. 

 ~ Atsumu Miya ~

It was one of those lazy days that Atsumu and (Y/N) just enjoying relaxing in the park, both of them sprawled out on the picnic blanket, Atsumu was led on, his back with his eyes closed enjoying the feeling of the sun on his face with (Y/N) snuggled into his side, her head on his chest, legs tangled with his with a book in hand. They had were joined by Osamu, Ginjima and Kosaku, those three were having a bit of kick about.

"Hey, gorgeous?" humming in response, her eyes never leaving the page, she felt him start to play with a strand of her hair, twirling it around his fingers. 

"What does it feel like to be cummed in?" 

"You seriously did not just ask her that! You are such a pig." Atsumu's eye's flickered open behind his sunglass at the sound of his twin brother voice who was hovering over the couple with their two friends. "I honestly do not see what you see in him (Y/N)." 

"Don't feel like you have to answer him (Y/N)." Ginjima told her, with a worried look on his face, he was shocked at the fact she hadn't made a move to hit her boyfriend with her book, typically when he made inappropriate comments, she would either glare at him or slap him on the upside of his head." It's kinda like taking a shot of melted chocolate, while it's still warm. And yes before you ask it is also like that when I swallow it too, but yours is salty." She replied nonchalantly, her eyesight still not breaking away from the book. 

"Never mind, I now see why you're together," Osamu said as he walked away with the other two boys shaking their heads, that was more information than they need to know about their setter and his girlfriend's sex life. (Y/N) and Atsumu laughed as they watched their friends walk away with grossed out faces. 

"Can you grab us a drink too, please!" Atsumu called after as he noticed there were walking towards small boat shed looking cafe.

"No, if you two disgusting freaks want one, you can get your own," Kosaku yelled back. 

"Their reaction was priceless. Thank's baby." Atsumu planned a kiss on her head, before laying back down again and closing his eyes.

 ~ Tetsuro Kuroo ~

The rain was pouring down, while Kuroo, (Y/N) and Kenma, were all in the library finishing off their homework for the week. Well more like Kuroo and (Y/N) were Kenma was sat playing one of his many video games. It was dead silent apart from the tapping of buttons coming from Kenma and the odd exchanging of comparing answers or questions between the couple with the sound of ones scratching against paper.

Grabbing her carton of orange juice, (Y/N) stabbing the straw in through the foil before, placing it in a convenient place so she could sip it without the need for much movement or distraction from her homework. Going back to the math problem in front of her. Kuroo, on the other hand, had decided he was dying to cause some mischief and to get a reaction out of his best friend who was far too engrossed in his game and he decided that while he was at it, he would throw his girlfriend into the mix as well. 

"Kitten?" 

"yea?" Leaning forward to take a sip of orange juice.

"What does it feel like when I cum in you?" Which of course instantly caused (Y/N) to chock on the liquid, patting her chest as she coughed and sputtered while Kuroo helped while rubbing her back and Kenma eyes to flick in the direction of best friend with an eyebrow raised that read really?

"I'm sorry, what did you just say?" (Y/N) asked double checking she had heard him right as a blush forming over her cheeks, as she turned to look at Kuroo.

"What does it feel like when I cum in you? And while we are at how does, it tastes and feels when you swallow my cum too?" He had the most serious look on his face, but she could see the mischief swirling around in his eyes. 

She was going to kill him, it's not like she wasn't used to these question, he often asked them as random times catching her off guard, and it was usually when it was just the two of them, and she was more than happy to answer his questions. 

"So?" 

"You seriously want me to answer that with your best friend sat in front of us?" Kenma's eyes were flicking between the couple, watching them, he knew Kuroo did this on purpose, and the glare in (Y/N) eyes made him chuckle. 

"Dead serious kitten." Kuroo leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest, the prominent smug smirk on his face.

"Fine." (Y/N) grumbled, leaning back in her own chair picking up her carton of orange juice.

"You know, it is like when you have hot melted chocolate? In both sense of you cumming in me and when I sallow it. Taste-wise it's kinda a mix between salty and sweet since you've started eating more pineapple." She replied sipping her orange juice to attempt to hide her embarrassment.

Kenma's jaw drop he was not expecting (Y/N) to actually answer the question. Kuroo had caught the look on Kenma's face causing him to be smugger than before while his girlfriend's blush spread across her cheeks and down her neck she could not believe that she had just said that in front of Kenma. 

"I love you." Kuroo chuckles as he placed a kiss on her lips. 

~ Koutarou Bokuto ~

It was the summer training camp and (Y/N) being one of the managers for the Fukurodani team, was watching her owl-like boyfriend train with Hinata from Karsuno, teaching him how to do feints, she thought it was cute how much Hinata admires her boyfriend, and it was giving the boy an ego boost not that he really needed one. Akaashi had been setting up set's for the boys, and they were also joined by Kuroo, Lev and Tsukishima as the practised blocks. (Y/N) didn't catch the look Kuroo and Bokuto had shared then glanced her way. 

Kuroo had mentioned to his other best friend what he had asked his girlfriend in the library last week and was dying to see the reaction that Bokuto would get out of his girlfriend. 

"Hey! Hey! Hey! Little bird?" 

"What's up Kou?" She grinned at the nickname he had to bestow upon her when they first started dating. 

"I have a question for you," She smiled brightly at him and nodded at him really not expecting what comes next. "Sooooo, you know when we have sex-" her smile drop and her eyes changing warning him to stop "- what does it feel like when I cum in you?" 

He didn't even have time to react at the ball flying his direction, hitting him square in the chest, his girlfriend was an ex-volleyball player, and she still had one powerful and quick-serve with damn good aim. Kuroo was in absolute stitches bending over holding his stomach, akaashi, had a slight smile on knowing damn well his captain deserved that, Tsukkishima covered his mouth to stop the laughter coming out of his mouth and pour little Hinata and, well not so little, Lev, were confused. 

"To answer your question, like hot melted chocolate and before you ask, I know what you are going to ask next. Yes, it feels the same that way, and it's salty." 

She glared at her boyfriend, (Y/N) also knew if she didn't answer him now, he would keep nagging her till she did. Everyone looked impressed with the fact that the girl actually answered but pour Hinata looked even more lost, you could see the cogs turn in his head as he tried to work out what she meant by hot melted chocolate and salty. (Y/N) walked out the gym, calling behind her she expects Bokuto to clear up by himself after that little stunt and if anyone helped him, she would have them running drills.

~ EXTRA ~

Back in Karasuno, the team was training after the week at the summer camp in Tokyo. Suga's girlfriend, Kyoko and Yachi had come up to the school to bring them some lunch and snacks as the boys had been training hard all day. 

"Hey, guys! Lunch is here! There are rice boxes for everyone, then for pudding, there is some mix of fruits and melted chocolate!" (Y/N) waved the sealed container around containing the melted chocolate.

There were two screams from the other side of the room. Everyone's heads flicked at lighting fast speed, shocked that they didn't get whiplash at the speed, over by the net was Kageyama and Hinata hugging each other with fear on their faces. Tsukki put two and two together for why there are reacting like that causing him to crack up laughing. 

"What the hell is wrong with you two? Kyoko, Yachi and (Y/N) have been kind enough to bring us food, and you guys are acting like it's poisoned." Daichi glared at the two boys.

"Unclean!" Hinata yelled again, still look petrified as he pointed at the box of melted chocolate in (Y/N) hands. 

"What is he on about?" Noya asked, confused before looking at Tsukki who was still laughing. "Tsukishima do you know what's going on?" 

Nodding, Tsukki wiped the tears away from his eyes. "Last week when we were playing with Bokuto, Kuroo, Akaashi and Lev. Bokuto asked his girlfriend what it felt like when he came in her, and she explained to have the feel of hot melted chocolate. Kuroo then proceeds to explain to Hinata after she had left and Hinata must have told the king." causing Tsukki to start laughing all over again. 

"I'm going to kill Bokuto and Kuroo," Daichi complained rubbing his temples while he watched Tanaka and Noya join in with the laughter, the others clearly trying to keep it contained, Kyoko was attempting to help Yachi get over the shock and Suga appeared next to his own girlfriend and sending a cheeky look at (Y/N). 

"Don't you dare. Don't you even think about it, Koshi Sugawara." 

©️ All content  belongs to lilmissbeanie, do not copy, edit, repost or translate. 

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#JUSTINDESERVEDBETTER talk & 13 Reasons Why S4E10 thoughts

So ... I’ve already watched the series finale, did it right after episode 9 but it was hard for me to watch and write my thoughts simultaneously because I was ugly crying the whole freakin time. Thus, I’m posting this now. Haven’t cried this much in a LONG while. My heart is fucking broken. I’m gonna start by talking about my favorite character whom the show did SO. FUCKING. DIRTY. JUSTIN FOLEY DESERVED BETTER. (obviously, OBVIOUSLY, it was gonna be MY favorite character who gets screwed over and dies a horrible death, just my luck, why did I expect a happy ending, I don’t even know).

Justin was the most tragic figure of the show. Raised by a junkie mother who never gave a damn about him, sexually molested as a little kid by one of her many drug addict & violent boyfriends, he often went to school dirty and hungry because of the neglect. He never had a positive influence in his life. He only managed to do better with Bryce’s help (Bryce was a bastard but he did care about Justin in his own way, that’s for sure). 

After the events of S1 with Hannah’s suicide and the tapes and everything that happened with Jessica and Bryce, he left his abusive home and lived in the streets where he barely ever found food and what money he got from charity or the men who paid (and hurt him) to use his body, he gave to drugs. 

In S2, Clay and Toni, found him and saved his life, helped him get back on his feet and he tried his best to set things straight with everyone. He even saved Clay’s life who came so close to killing Bryce and even worse himself. He didn’t hesistate to face the legal consequences if it meant helping the girl he loved. And Clay eventually became his brother as his parents decided to adopt him. 

In S3, he started going to school and doing well, got a job, tried to start his life over, this time in a safe environment with a real family and friends who supported him. He was doing exceptionally well, he looked much happier, he finally felt what it’s like to be loved by a mother and father and a brother and he got some sense of normalcy in his life. He was there for Clay when things got bad, believed in him and he had his back ALWAYS. (still emo about their scenes together where they told each other “I love you” & “I’d do ANYTHING for you”), Plus, he was one of Tyler’s biggest supporters stating Tyler deserved a second chance to be better.

Come S4 ... he’s fresh out of rehab, looking better than ever. His friends welcome him when he gets back but everything is different. EVERYTHING. And everyone has changed. THE ENTIRE SEASON, NOBODY, NOT A SINGLE PERSON gave a fuck about him except for the coach and to a point his adoptive parents. He had done so much progress, he wanted to make his new family proud so bad, he was clean, he was doing great at school, he even got accepted into college!!! And what did he get in return???? NOT ONE OF HIS FRIENDS HUNG OUT WITH HIM ONCE, NOT EVEN ONCE. Every time he tried to approach someone or help THEM deal with their problems, he was turned away and even insulted. They would tell him he shouldn’t be giving advice and that he would never change who he used to be. He confessed to the coach that he felt like nobody believed in him and frankly?? NOBODY SHOWED THEY DID!!!!!!!! Jessica brushed him off all the time because she was MAD he broke up with her so he could FOCUS ON HIS HEALTH!!!!!!!!!! WHAT??????!!!!!!!!! She kept parading everywhere with Diego when she knew this was hurting him deeply. Clay was so fucking MEAN to him and I didn’t understand WHY after their great bonding their previous two seasons. Sure, he had his own problems, but there was NO reason for this, absolutely none. He was jealous of the moments Justin shared with his parents and how he was doing well at school and sports and got accepted in college. He even told in his FACE that Matt and Lainie are his parents ALONE, not Justin’s when he knew Justin’s biggest need was to feel the love and warmth of a family. Justin wanted to go to a free college so that Clay could have the money go to the BEST one and so the Jensens didn’t have to spend any on him. And I’m 100% sure he never told them how sick he was until it was too late because he didn’t want to be a burden so he decided to die quietly and slowly without upsetting them. Clay had the NERVE to pin the positive drug test on Justin when Justin was fucking CLEAN and then went on to smoke POT at that party. It broke my heart in 1000000 pieces when Justin asked him why he hated him so much. Zack wasn’t better either, basically telling Justin that he’d be a junkie his entire life and he could never change. The others mostly didn’t give a flying fuck, focused on nobody else but themselves and stayed far away from him the entire season. His mom died of OD and he didn’t tell anyone but the Jensens and Jess and he had to deal with everything all on his own again. He only had the coach to listen and there was a limit to what help he could give. So, he finally broke. He stopped caring since nobody was giving him a chance, he started using again, he lost his job, he didn’t care about anything. Jess and Clay knew he was using again and did NOTHING to help except tell him “Hey, I thought you quit! I thought you were getting better!”. Wow, BIG HELP, ASSHOLES. They all left him alone on prom night, and Clay SAW how sick he looked but he preferred to go to prom rather than stay with his brother who needed him.

Justin, with what little strength he had left, got dressed and went to the prom towards its end, he looked so beautiful in his suit, like Prince Charming. He lived one last carefree moment with the girl he loved and then he collapsed. And THAT’S when everyone said “OH, NO! Let’s go see our sick friend!”. Well done, now he IS DYING, YOU IGNORANT IDIOTS. Now that he’s at death’s door, you want to be there for him but WHERE WERE YOU WHEN HE WAS SO DESPERATELY TRYING TO LIVE?????????? Yes, it was proven that he had HIV, probably from the time he lived on the streets and without the proper care it went on to become fully AIDS and he had numerous other issues with his health as a result of that and the drugs to the point that he could no longer breathe on his own. BUT. Had he shared his problems and told the Jensens how sick he was feeling for so long, his death could have been prevented. I know someone in real life who got HIV in his 30s and he’s now in his 60s and his life is perfectly fine. He has friends, he has family (didn’t get married), he travels, he does what he wants. Justin could have been saved if someone had NOTICED. Like HANNAH could have been saved if someone, ANYONE was paying attention. Needless to say, I fucking died during his scenes in the hospital, it was so hard to watch him waste away in that hospital bed. When they took the tube out so he could say his goodbyes to Clay, Jess and his adoptive parents ... I LEGIT haven’t cried so hard in SO long ... I still have a headache from all the crying. My poor CHILD, he was scared but he told them all how much he loved them and eventually died in his sleep, holding his brother’s, Clay’s hand. The episode was meaningless after that for me. I only watched to see how everyone’s stories would end, even though I didn’t care and knew that they’d get their happy (mostly) endings. The one character who TRULY deserved the best and happiest ending, got royally fucked and buried six feet under while everyone went about their lives like nothing had happened.

I really don’t have much to comment on the rest of the story. Clay did one final extreme act by walking in the police department, saying he had a gun. Not convinved he didn’t really want to die too after Justin but perhaps his psychologist was right and he was just trying to make people notice he was hurting. I’m happy for Toni for doing what’s best for him and deciding to accept the scholarship and go to college, same goes for Tyler, he deserved to be happy and I’m glad he ended up with Estella. Relieved that Jess and Diego tested negative for HIV but disappointed they were ready to get back together so soon after Justin. Winston decided to not use what he found out about Bryce’s death against Alex and the others and that made me respect him a little bit. (Winston and Ryan btw? hehe, I kinda saw it coming ever since I saw Ryan and Courtney at the graduation-did anyone also notice Bryce and Monty in the crowd too??lol). Liked the graduation and Hannah’s little cameo (although it was archived footage) but it left me with a sour taste because Justin wasn’t there among the rest, only as a ghost in Clay’s mind. Also that Heidi girl talking to Clay, uh, SO cheesy and unnecessary. Clay reading Justin’s college essay with Justin’s ghost in their bedroom and seeing how it was all about him and Justin calling him his brother ... IT DESTROYED ME. UTTERLY AND COMLETELY. WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS TO ME. WHY WOULD YOU KILL THE MOST BEAUTIFUL CHARACTER OF THE SHOW. THE MOST COMPLEX AND DAMAGED ONE. WHY COULDN’T HE HAVE A HAPPY ENDING LIKE THE REST OF THEM. IT’S FUCKING UNFAIR.

I’m glad the final scene was just Clay and Toni driving away, always enjoyed their friendship. Having no word exchange between them was pretty powerful because you only needed to read their expessions to feel the emotions.

All in all, a powerful season who dealt with so many important issues, well directed and full of action but disappointing for me where it mattered the most ... Right now, I don’t want to even touch another show for a long time, I need a break to recover from this, it was too much. I wish I didn’t get so attached to certain characters, but I do and it hurts me deeply when shit like that happens to them. Anyway ... Goodbye, show ... it was (mostly) good while this journey lasted ... I sure hope I see all these HUGELY talented actors and actresses in other projects in the future, especially Brandon Flynn (Justin), Dylan Minnette (Clay), Katherine Langford (Hannah) & Justin Prentice (Bryce). I also hope Brandon & Dylan get ALL the awards for their performances in S4. THEY DESERVE EVERYTHING. I’d love to hear other people’s thoughts on all this, it was such an intense experience.

[chaos-and-sparkles]

Percabeth Wedding Headcanons

They considered not getting married as a fuck you to Hera, but decided a better fuck you would be to not let her rule their lives. 

Annabeth wore a white suit with a blue tie and Percy wore a black suit with a grey tie. 

There was a huge fight over who got to be whose bride's/groom's bitches. Eventually Tyson was Percy's best man, with Jason, Frank, Hazel, Nico and Leo in his crew. 

Annabeth's maid of honour was Thalia, with Reyna, Piper, Magnus, Clarisse, Rachel and the Stoll brothers in hers. 

Chiron officiated. Estelle was flower girl. Grover was ring bearer, and he began chewing the cushion halfway through the ceremony, while sobbing the most.

 Coach Hedge held his club up threateningly, but his eyes were suspiciously moist too.

 Calypso was the next big crier, sitting with her arms crossed stubbornly in a white vintage T-shirt and faded jeans, tears seeping out through the corners of her eyes.

Almost all the gods came. 

Aphrodite was jumping up and down and cooing over them, giving Percy looks that made him turn bright red. She looked exactly like Annabeth to him now. 

Apollo was sprawled in a front seat that he was not supposed to be in, and had dragged Will and Meg with him, Will smiling awkwardly while Meg chatted with Artemis about how annoying Apollo was.

 Hermes appeared to Percy in the dressing room ("Do you gods have NO respect for privacy?") because he 'had a message for him.’ A message from him, George and Martha, for once, wishing him good luck. They chatted, and then Percy asked if he'd met Annabeth too, but Hermes stiffened and left. 

Afterwards tho he and Annabeth came face to face during the reception, and it was awkward and silent. It ended with both of them in tears about Luke, but it was healing for them both. Hermes gave her her dagger back, and Annabeth was surprised and asked how he got it back from Tartarus. Hermes said Bob had found it and sent it up, and was on the lookout for her laptop too -

But he didn't get to finish, because Annabeth hugged him hard, and after initial shock he hugged her back.

The tension between Athena and Poseidon was palpable, and they were seated as far apart as possible. 

Poseidon thumped Annabeth on the back so hard she almost toppled into the lake, booming "I should have known! My son and I seem to have yet another thing in common - a love for queens among women." And Percy turned red again. Poseidon gave Percy a huge hug, and went on to meet Sally Jackson. Poseidon took his son marrying a daughter of his rival better than Athena did, though. 

When Annabeth and Athena met, there was some tension. It was difficult for Athena to admit she was harsh and unfair with what she said to Annabeth in HOO, and to apologize, but Percy put his hand on Annabeth's shoulder and stood behind her, even when Athena turned her piercing gaze on him and asked that she talk to Annabeth alone. He only went when Annabeth asked him to. 

Athena told Annabeth she was proud of her, and added that there was a chance she might be as great, and even greater, than Daedalus. Annabeth knew this was her best attempt at showing affection, and appreciated it. 

Athena then accosted Percy, on his way back with drinks, and gave him a once over and humphed. Percy didn't flinch or show any signs of being intimidated, and she raised and eyebrow and finally said, "I will admit, Perseus Jackson, that I did not think you a good choice for my daughter. I still have my doubts... However you have proved yourself more than worthy, and so I gave you permission to marry her. But make no mistake - if you hurt her, I will crack your skull open and extract every brain cell you have left, until you are a drooling, gibbering mess." Percy replied, "If I hurt Annabeth, she'll break every bone in my body before you even get to me. So I don't think you have to worry about that." They parted on fair terms. 

Artemis met Percy and Annabeth together, and they had a short conversation about the merits of being turned into a Jackalope, vs the merits of being married. "Life as a Jackalope is more enjoyable than it would seem. However, you have chosen your bane, and against all odds, I hold hope for you both." she concluded. 

Hestia was tending the flames when Percy and Annabeth went to meet her, both respecting her as the most helpful goddess of legit all time. She smiled and simply said, "Hope is stronger than ever now, Percy Jackson, for you now build a new and loving home - a rarer place than you would expect."

Mr. D insisted on making a speech, and making it out to Perry Jorganesson and Annie Bell.

The only god not present was Zeus. In fact, he'd banned the gods from going when it became clear that everyone wanted to go, but the gods' respect for him after the way he handled the HOO fiasco was in negative numbers so every single one of them sneaked out of Olympus. Even those who normally wouldn’t have gone went to spite him.

Hades and Persephone went as a couple. Hades sniffed and smirked, saying only that he was glad Percy was 'not my son's type, or I'd have to deal with you' (but he low key ships Percabeth). Persephone though, smiled radiantly and was one coo away from fangirl squealing. Before they left, Hades gave them a note from Bob.

"Bob saw two stars already. They were next to him in Tartarus. Bob says hello." Percy and Annebth sobbed for fiat that, holding each other tightly. They made a point of mapping every single constellation that night. They almost cried again when they saw the Huntress above them.

Hephaestus's eyes twinkled, and he said, "I see that trap in Waterland worked after all - even if not in the way I'd intended."

 Ares just grunted that Annabeth had a better weapon (the dragon fang sword) than the last time he saw her, and took his sunglasses off to glare at Percy. "Now there are TWO goddesses who'll kill me if I snuff you out."

The highlight though was Hera waltzing in, smiling smugly like she'd set up the whole thing, and eating a slice of cake, turning a seashell-and-flower arrangement into a cow because it 'looked better, and brought back memories'. She left soon enough, but not before the cow had left a warm gift.  

Grover gave his blessing as Lord of the Wild, Rachel gave hers as the Oracle, and the gods fully expected Percabeth to ask for one of their blessings next, but instead the two turned to Sally Jackson and asked for her blessing as the 'supreme goddess'.

The ceremony was in the pavilion, and the reception was around the canoe lake at twilight. The trees around the canoe lake were hung with fairy lights, and Juniper and the dryads had ensured that the sweetest, most fragrant flowers grew. Seashells decorated the venue. Calypso had brought moonlace that began to glow and smell even more beautiful as night began to fall. The Hecate cabin had enchanted sparkling butterflies to flutter around them both after it got dark. The naiads sang in voices nearly as beautiful as the sirens, although lighter and airier. The pegasi flew in formation.

Bessie the Ophiotaurus as well as the Hippocampi were in attendance.

Percy and Annabeth did their first dance underwater, and kissed before resurfacing. Everyone looked around for the dance floor, but couldn't see a thing, when they realized - the lake was the dance floor. Percy had managed to magic the lake, with favours from the naiads and Poseidon, into a liquid dance floor that rippled different colours with each step.

Their wedding day had been on the last day of camp, with the whole camp invited, so with nightfall came the camp traditions, but even better. 

There was the fireworks display of course, but with Leo's help it was doubly glorious and even began to tell Percabeth's story. Annabeth looked like she'd die when it began showing the Thrill Ride of Love part of the story, because "It doesn't matter if we're married Percy! It's still embarrassing!"

Camp fire was even more cheerful, what with the gods and mortals allowed in for the first time, and of course Piper+Leo and the Stoll brothers played pranks - it was funnier than it would have been because their pranks overlapped and backfired on each other instead.

Instead of wedding bands, Percabeth were married with camp beads - an owl and a trident artistically intertwined in a silver thread carved heart, designed by Rachel. Hazel summoned the silver and some jewels to embellish them - and this time, she knew, somehow, that they weren’t cursed.

Of course the cake and all food and drink was blue, as well as the flowers, the wedding party's outfits, and (on Annabeth's request as a surprise for Percy) the guests’ clothes. Aphrodite went super overboard with that, and even Artemis succumbed to a small blue flower and fang accessory in her hair.

As soon as the dancing and music ended (as soon as they could get the mic away from Apollo), the activity underway was Capture the Flag with Percy and Annabeth leading opposite teams composed of their bridal parties+friends. Coach Hedge and the Hermes, Ares, Aphrodite and part of the Apollo cabins along with a bunch of minor god cabins went on Annabeth's team, and Will, Meg, and the rest in Percy's. The gods sat it out (some had to be physically restrained) as did Grover, the nature spirits, animals and mortals (Rachel had to be dissuaded from entering armed with plastic hairbrushes and improv lighter-and-spray flamethrowers).

Nobody won. Instead of crossing over the boundary line when they met with each other's flags in hand, Percy and Annabeth started making out. Clarisse could be heard grumbling about it later.

Grover and Thalia stayed back long after everyone had left, and the four of them spent time together until four in the morning.

BTW Annabeth proposed to Percy right before he was about to propose to her. They both looked at each other in surprise for a solid minute, and then burst out laughing. It was impossible to tell who said yes, or if any of them did, but they didn't need to. 

They’d both gone to Tyson for the engagement rings. Tyson was confused at first, but promised to keep their secret from each other.

Grover on the other end of the link just stopped mid conversation with the Council of Cloven Elders and Dionysus, and bleated loudly in relief, "FREAKING FINALLY." out of nowhere, and while everyone looked bewildered, Dionysus though just took a sip of diet coke and rolled his eyes, sighing, "Took them long enough."

They proposed to each other on Percy's birthday. Annabeth had baked another blue cupcake ("I'm getting better at it, too!") and they were cuddling/play fighting/sprawling on the sofa late at night in Sally's apartment, talking. They sat with their legs crossed together, devouring the cupcake with their fingers, talking about their plans.

 Annabeth mentioned that she'd designed this new building for New Rome that she was SO excited to build (Reyna had contracted her as New Rome's architect), and asked if Percy wanted to see the design. Percy agreed, and she retrieved a roll of paper. Annabeth began to explain enthusiastically, and, pointing at the center of the design, said, "And this is my favourite part." Percy leaned in further to see what she was pointing at - at the heart of the temple, where the altar should be, was a blue-silver ring with a wave design over the words "will you marry me?"

Annabeth looked almost anxiously at Percy, but he looked blank. Finally, Percy uncapped Riptide, which she hadn't noticed was poised in his hand as if he was going to point or correct something on the sheet, and instead of expanding into a sword, it remained a ball pen - with a simple silver ring etched with the words "Wise Girl" around its tip.

They stared at each other, stumped, before exploding in laughter. 

Sally and Paul came running from the next room, Estelle copying them and giggling in Paul's arms, worried that it was a monster attack. When instead they saw Percy and Annabeth laughing and hugging, each wearing a ring on fingers covered in blue frosting and looking as if they couldn't quite believe it, Sally burst into tears right there and had to explain to her concerned kids, laughing, that these were happy tears because secretly she still couldn't believe that they had all found their happiness and it was something she'd only dared to dream of because it was everything she ever wanted for her son and she was happy to and oh how long had she waited and worked and hoped for a happy ending for all of them but never really expected it and this was too much - 

[miyagiri]

ATSUMU'S LONG DISTANCE GIRLFRIEND HEADCANONS!

𝒂/𝒏: this is kinda long tho,, and i have LOADS of ideas on inarizaki and the twins so ;) part two is when you finally became their manager, and their impressions on you, aka atsumu’s new girlfriend!

𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓 𝐎𝐍𝐄. || 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓 𝐓𝐖𝐎 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐈𝐍 𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐑

➼ okay okay,, here me out. you and atsumu had been in a long distance relationship for awhile now and its still going on sTRONGG

➼ yall met at a café when you visited hyogō to have a break your home which was in tokyo

➼ and you were kinda shocked that a very handsome blonde came up to you stuttering and flustered

“hey.. uh, i’m miya atsumu. if ya don’t mind, can i get to.. know you?” he rubbed his nape as he looked down on your sitting figure.

he cleared his throat when he saw your surprised face, and looked away, faintly blushing. “y-ya seem lonely with yer coffee and i can’t let a woman unattended!”

➼ you were sceptical at first,,

➼ but because he was a fine ass man you decided to let it slide and just give him your number ;)

➼ JUST ADMIT IT YALL WOULD BOW DOWN TO HIS FEET SO NO PLAYING HARD TO GET HERE GIRLIES

➼ you two started talking after the encounter and clicked almost immediately

➼ mostly your conversations were about experiences, expectations and volleyball

➼ you loved the way his eyes glimmers when he's excited about something

➼ because you had about a week there, he was constantly bringing you out on dates and slipping in flirts here and there

➼ SO. MANY. PET NAMES.

➼ sweets, babygirl, baby, babes, babe, honey, love, and the list just goes ON

➼ not that you mind because you were exchanging it too KDHAKJSKA

➼ you always call him atsu

➼ he liked the nickname

➼ he told you A LOT about his teammates, which made you intrigued because duh,, they ARE the top 2 strongest in the country ;)

➼ you adored his passion for volleyball, unlike his past girlfriends,,

➼ and when he told you that, you were so proud of yourself but kinda embarrassed that he pointed it out

➼ why? because you thought it wasn’t THAT obvious and now it’s really obvious that you were staring at him DREAMILY LIKE HE’S A DISNEY PRINCE

➼ maybe because he is

➼ n e ways,, your favourite date with him was the time he took you to the park at night with a cute maroon blanket to stargaze

he groaned. “suna was a prick yesterday. the dude was dissin’ me with ‘samu the whole damn practice!”

you chuckled and shifted your body so you could face him, “just what the hell did you do again, atsu?”

he laid beside you on the blanket and stretched like a cat. “well, i may or may not ate his chuupet at lunch-”

“you know what? you deserve that.” you deadpanned and rolled away from him.

“HEY! YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE ON MY SIDE HERE, SWEETS!”

➼ after he was done talking about his team, you talked about kuroo and kenma, which was your closest friends at nekoma

➼ he was alright at first but then, until you started talking about the oh so great and handsome one, KUROO TETSUROU.

➼ you even showed him your gallery of kuroo’s meme faces that he recreated

➼ its canon LDJAKSNKAJA

➼ BOY BECAME POUTY IN AN INSTANT. HE WAS CROSSING HIS ARMS AND PUFFING HIS CHEEKS, TURNING AWAY FROM YOU

you laughed hysterically. “and that was when tetsu knocked the whole lamp post down! you should have seen his face!”

“and then-” you took a breather and held your stomach, trying to regain composure, but giving in to laugh again.

atsumu squints his brown orbs, trying not to show that he was obviously jealous on how kuroo was making you laugh until you had literal tears coming out your eyes.

“tell me more then, vixen~”

you took a deep breath and stared at him, face now red, “you’re jealous, aren’t you?”

he widened his eyes and shook his head vigorously. “N-NO I’M NOT!”

“yes you are.” you narrowed your eyes.

“am not!”

“am too!”

“am not!”

➼ and that was when you liked to see him having a tiny jealous breakdown~

➼ when your week in hyogō was finally over, he was SULKING the whole damn time

“doll.. do you have to go?? just stay here with me or somethin’!”

you sighed and gently stroke his hair, a gesture you tend to do on hime because he absolutely LOVED it.

“atsu.. i have school tomorrow and you do too. now, get off me, man-child!”

➼ you had to pry him off your arm to get into the train LMAOO

➼ after that, yall facetime each other every day and became cLOOOSER

➼ HE DIDN’T WANT HIS TEAMMATES TO KNOW BECAUSE HE WANTS YOU!! ALL BY HIMSELF!! GREEDY BASTARD

➼ his teammates was kinda suspicious because atsumu didn’t flirt with his fangirls anymore,,

➼ and even left his side chicks hanging

➼ osamu was kinda suspecting something though. TWIN INSTINCTS

➼ BACK TO ATSUMU!!

➼ after two months of talking, he confessed through face time and he was legit stuttering like the first time yall met

➼ which is ADORABLEEEE

“hey um.. angel, can i ask ya somethin’? it’s kinda urgent..” he gulped and glanced down on his macbook.

you started getting worried. why was he quiet all of the sudden? it was unusual for THE miya atsumu to be this silent.

“atsumu? you okay there?”

he looked up towards the laptop with the same look of determination when he’s on court, catching you off guard. “PLEASE GO OUT WITH ME!”

you widened your eyes and paused for a solid 10 seconds, before smirking slightly. an idea came across your mind.

“i thought we were already going out?”

➼ and then after a month or so, THE FATE IS ON YOUR SIDE, your parents decided to move to hyogō because tokyo was too hectic!!

➼ which was really sudden

➼ you were happy you would get to see your boyfriend more often, but you were also depressed over the fact that you’ll be far from your crazy ass best friends in nekoma high

➼ kuroo and kenma was sad as fuck

➼ but yall promise to face time each other every night to talk about your days ;(

the bedhead grinned and ruffled your hair as you all sat on the bench of the playground of your neighbourhood. “come on now kitten! don’t be like that. we can always see each other at nationals, right?”

“b-but you’re a third year, tetsu..”

“no, kuroo’s right. we’re second years. he’s just a year older than us, doesn’t mean you and him would be gone forever, (f/n).”

kenma shook his head and patted your shoulder with a small smile. he had always had a soft spot for you, to the point that he’ll only let YOU touch his games.

you sighed and smiled at them with your brightest smile, them giving you the same gesture. “alright. you guys better update me on every stupid shit lev does.”

➼ CARRYING ON!! ITS STARTING TO GET SAD WITH THE NEKOMA DUO

➼ ANYWAYS, atsumu was ECSTATIC when he heard you were transferring to his school rather than your former one, nekoma high.

“babe guess what?!”

he raised an eyebrow and smiled at his phone. “did yah choked on onigiris again because kuroo was competin’ with ya, babydoll?”

“WHAT? NO! I’M TRANSFERRING TO YOUR SCHOOL NEXT WEEK!”

“good for y- WAIT, STOP THE MOTHERFUCKIN’ MUSIC.”

➼ HE WAS SO EXCITED THAT HE CAME EARLY TO SCHOOL THE VERY NEXT DAY AND HAD THE CUTEST SMILE ON HIS FACE

➼ thats so cute wtf

➼ osamu had a very obvious shocked expression on his stoic face for once

➼ it became suspicious to the team, because atsumu had always been moody in the mornings, ESPECIALLY on weekdays

“what the fuck is that crackhead doing in the middle of the morning?” suna grumbled after yawning beside kita.

kita eyed him for his profanities. “he’s awfully jolly on today’s morning. i wonder what’s in his mind..?” the white-haired captain trailed off, slightly tilting his head.

“I CAN SHOW YOU THE WORLD!~”

atsumu was now skipping and gliding around the gym, with a broom in his hands, spouting random disney songs.

“SHINING, SHIMMERING, SPLENDID!”

the middle blocker made a face as kita tried registering atsumu’s actions. he stared at him before saying, “wow, you really do act like a robot, kita-san,”

“TELL ME, PRINCESS, NOW WHEN DID YOU LAST LET YOUR HEART DECIDE?”

“let’s just let him be.” aran shook his head with a small smile.

osamu suddenly came up to him and yanked the broom out of his twin’s hands, making atsumu whine out. “HEY! THE HELL WAS THAT FOR SAMU?!”

the grey-haired twin squinted his eyes and pointed at him with the broom.

“you sang the lyrics wrong, yOU UNCULTURED SWINE-”

➼ OOPS CUT THE CAMERAS DEADASS

➼ the inarizaki team didn’t really give a fuck at first, and assumed he probably ate his favourite fatty tuna early in the morning

➼ and finally not getting a stomach ache as an aftermath

➼ that would be a dream for atsumu

➼ buT tHEN, osamu smh damn you beautiful snitch said something about his blonde twin going out a week straight and was literally NEVER at home.

➼ they started to question what in the world was their setter doing

➼ the team even purposely invited the most prettiest girl in their school to their practice on thursday evening, just to see

➼ the girl was interested but atsumu wasn’t

➼ HE HAD A STRONG URGE TO YELL “I HAVE A GIRLFRIEND!” TO HER FACE

➼ the girl literally CANNOT stop pestering him and its getting quite annoying jdhajsja

“come on, tsumu baby~” she teased, while atsumu furrowed his eyebrows, serving the ball right next to her face.

it landed on the floor, the girl had a shocked expression on her face. the team stared at them, blinking twice.

atsumu stood up straight and glared at her, pointing at her with his index finger. “don’t call me that anymore, i don’t like it.”

“what?! but i called you that before-”

he clicked his tongue and walked past her, grabbing the volleyball. “i said what i said. now shut yer filthy mouth.”

➼ THE TEAM WAS SHOOKETH DJAJSJ

➼ WHY WAS ATSUMU LIKE THIS? HE JUST STRAIGHT UP REJECTED HER??

➼ they cleared their throats and resumed their practice as usual, leaving the girl surprised and embarrassed in the bleachers LOOL

➼ every break, he would go on his phone and start smiling and chuckling to himself

➼ whenever the team bring up about girls, he would shake it off with a “nah,”

➼ then the team started placing the puzzles together on their own finally and took their time to ask him the next week

➼ because HE was anticipating your arrival

➼ he talked to his coach personally about you getting the manager spot

➼ which coach kurosu and coach tarou didn’t mind at all

➼ usually they do because most of the people who wanted that spot was always a fan of the twins or the volleyball team

➼ and not someone who actually KNOWS volleyball by heart, apparently it’s you

➼ i learned a lot more in haikyuu than in pe THATS JUST STRAIGHT UP FACTS

➼ but because of atsumu wasn’t the one to choose somebody that isn’t worth the place, they let it slide without a second thought

➼ AND THEN YOUR FIRST DAY STARTED!!

➼ you were abit nervous, i mean who wouldn’t? you had been with kuroo and kenma for 10 years, you had never even thought on changing schools. YET HERE WE ARE

➼ the whole day, your new classmates were hogging you to the point that you literally cannot even SEE where atsumu was

➼ you didn't even know why

➼ but you, being the friendly girl you are, decided to let them do whatever they want

➼ until lunch came by

➼ HOMEBOY LITERALLY SCREAMED OUT YOUR NAME IN THE MIDDLE OF THE BIG ASS CAFETERIA AFTER BUMPING INTO HIM

➼ he was about to glare at the person but once he realised its you, his look immediately softened and grinned widely

“watch where you’re goin- SWEETS! i’ve been lookin’ everywhere for ya!”

you sighed in embarrassment as his team and the whole cafeteria glanced at the both of you. you dusted your skirt off.

you took his hovering hand for you to get up from your butt on the floor.

“atsu-”

he was still grinning at you like a lost puppy, which made your heart melt. “yes?” you sighed, he definitely knew it.

“i’m hungry. i’m going to get some food.” you flicked his forehead, making him whine loudly before walking away.

➼ and that was when the team knew about you, and your first impression for them was GOLD.

- ̗̀➛ ͙۪۪̥˚┊❛ miyagiri ❜┊˚ ͙۪۪̥◌

my first hc fic kinda skek 😳😳

[sunsetcurbed]

you showed me faith is not blind (miracles happen)

Pairing: Alex/Willie  Words: 4,279  Rating: T Chapter Warnings: none  Chapter: 9/11 read on AO3 

Chapter Summary: Alex has the personality of a shut-in, but the mind for bettering the lives of the common people. That's what his country needs.

But… can he?

Princes, kings, rulers… they're born. They're not made. And that's what his grandmother is trying to do. She's trying to make him one. And it's not like she's doing poorly, per se, but… he's Alex. He wasn't born to rule a country.

(*) 

Weeks pass. Time blurs by Alex and he just barely keeps up with it. Julie and the Phantoms plays a large company's winter holiday party, Willie attends more lessons with Alex (this, Alex particularly enjoys as Willie is tied to his chair at dinner for posture like Alex had been at the start of lessons), his dad stops talking to him again once he finds out Alex is dating Willie, and at school they've just finished finals and started on their break today. In the past two weeks Caleb has approached Willie twice more when he's out around Hollywood. They've been brief. Just exchanges of Caleb asking how Willie is, and then asking how Alex is, but Alex knows Willie is put off about it. Alex is too, and becomes even more so when Wednesday the 15th, six days before the Ball, Willie texts him again.

(17:59) Covington just legit sat and had tea with me and started talking with me and flat out asked if you were gonna accept the crown or not

(17:59) "It's killing us all, is he gonna accept or not? Do you know?"

(18:00) So not only does he lack manners and discretion, but also patience lmao

Alex tenses his jaw and clutches his phone tight in his hand. He raises his arm as if he's going to throw it, but then lowers it back down, slowly. He lets out a long breath and texts Willie back quick, telling him to get home safely, and apologizes for Caleb. Then he tosses his phone to the side and looks back to where his band is sitting. He was just about to get up to join them so they could work on some harmonies, but he wanted to check his phone first. Now they are all staring at him and he is frozen to the spot.

"Sorry," he murmurs.

"What's up, buddy?" Reggie asks cautiously.

"You, uh, remember that Covington guy we showed you and warned you to stay away from?"

"Yeah?" Julie asks.

"He's been going after Willie the last few weeks. He had tea with him today."

"What?" Reggie frowns. "Why?"

Alex sighs, not really wanting to get into it but also knowing his friends deserve the explanation. "Caleb is next in line for the throne if I choose to decline. And… he wants it. He's trying to get information out of Willie. About my decision."

There's a minute long pause in the room. No one has anything to say to that. He didn't really expect them to. It's a shitty thing, and it's a shitty thing that can't be changed or stopped. Willie's already being tailed by two security every time he goes out in public for safety, but he's told them not to interfere unless he motions to them. He's yet to feel threatened enough that he's had to. He's been handling it incredibly according to his grandmother and security though—giving enough information to keep Caleb from getting angry, but not enough to give anything away. Still, it makes Alex's blood boil. That Willie is in the situation in the first place to 'handle it incredibly.' God, he fucking hates Caleb Covington.

"You remember what I said last month?" Reggie's voice cuts through Alex's thoughts. Alex looks up. He frowns, shakes his head. Reggie smiles. "Even if you move, become prince of some country, we'll still find a way to make this work. We're a band."

The way Reggie says 'band' doesn't sound like he's saying 'band.' Not even close. No, because the weight behind the way Reggie says 'band' is the weight behind the way many people say 'family.' Alex can hear clear as day in Reggie's tone that Reggie is calling Alex and Luke his brothers and Julie his sister. That Reggie is calling this band his family.

Luke stands up from the couch and swings his guitar onto his back. "Yeah man, look," he says, "I'm sorry for how I reacted that day, but even if you—even if you choose to be prince you're still our drummer, y'know? It might complicate things, but Reg said it. We'll make it work."

Alex blinks the welling tears out of his eyes and clears his throat. "Well—I'm not. I-I can't, you know? That's not… I'm not. It's just not who I am."

"But it kind of is, now," Reggie argues. "I mean aside from the argument that you could redefine their monarchy to fit who you are, you… you've been in those prince lessons for over a month now and you've made serious progress with your social anxiety. You… you don't just have a prince's title anymore. You are a prince."

"He's right," Julie agrees. "You've made so much progress in just over a month, and you'll have so much more time to grow into this role. I think this is your thing, you just haven't accepted it yet. Don't write it off yet. I don't want you to regret it down the line."

"Where is this coming from?" he demands. "I thought you guys knew I wasn't going to accept."

"We knew for like, the first few days," Reggie says, "because you told us. But after that you never mentioned it again, but you talked about Beasiga a lot. So we like, kinda started to doubt it a little."

"I think I know more about Beasiga than the US at this point," Luke grumbles, grabbing at the guitar strap across his chest. "But yeah, dude. You literally just said 'if' not 'when' a minute ago. And if you were serious about giving it up, you could've just told Willie to tell that Caleb guy that you were stepping down and then Caleb would leave him alone."

Oh.

That is a thing Alex could have done.

But Alex really, really isn't sure if he wants to renounce his claim, and now he's even less so.

Alex swallows around the lump in his throat and looks away from his friends. His eyes fall on his hi-hat, and he thinks: they're willing to make it work if he accepts his role as prince. His shoulders feel looser, his head feels clearer, his heart feels lighter. He's not sure how they'll make it work, but he's positive that they can find a way. Which makes his decision a whole lot harder now. In the start, there had been a lot of reasons that he had been ready to reject his role as prince, but over time, more and more of those reasons had fallen away until only a few remained. Today there had been two main reasons remaining: the band and his anxiety. After this talk they're having now, only one of those remains. And even that one has been slowly falling away the better he became at coping.

The further Alex delved into the Beasigan world over the past month and a half, no matter how reluctant he had been at first, the more he loved it. He was fascinated with his country's history, he was eager to theoretically be a part of solutions to problems the country faced, he was in love with their culture. And the more he envisioned being a prince, the closer he stepped towards the role. His etiquette lessons had changed him in small but meaningful ways, he was more confident in himself due to the therapy and coaching both, and, watching his grandmother, he was struck that he could do much, much worse than to aspire to be like her. He is confident that he could be a better ruler than Caleb—policy wise, anyways. Caleb has the personality of a public figure, but the mind of a conqueror. Alex has the personality of a shut-in, but the mind for bettering the lives of the common people. That's what his country needs.

But… can he?

Princes, kings, rulers… they're born. They're not made. And that's what his grandmother is trying to do. She's trying to make him one. And it's not like she's doing poorly, per se, but… he's Alex. He wasn't born to rule a country.

"Do you think I can?" he asks

"Buddy, you definitely can," Reggie says. "You've got this."

"Apart from being cheesy and saying that I think you can do anything," Julie smiles, "I really think you can do this, Alex. I think you think you can do this too; you just don't want to admit it because you're scared."

Alex doesn't know if it's that he's scared, exactly, but he's just… he really doesn't know if he can do this. There's so much to it and Alex wouldn't even know where to begin. No, he wouldn't be all-powerful, so he would be helped along, would be more of a voice than the voice. But even that was daunting. What if he wasn't up to snuff? What if he made a fool of himself? What if he did something that hurt the country? Is he willing to take those risks? Again, he asks himself: can he do this?

"In third grade you were the last of us to make it all the way across the monkey bars," Luke says. He's staring at the notebook that's in front of him but then his eyes flick up to meet Alex's. They're intense and Alex feels himself sitting up straighter under his friend's gaze. "But once you made it across, you could do it faster than me or Reg. And then in fifth grade when we started school band, you got a satisfactory on your report card for drums for the entire first year. Fucking look at you now. When you asked me to teach you guitar, you couldn't get the strumming patterns right for forever. Now there isn't a song you can't play. You got a thirty on the ACT, which was great. And you did it as a sophomore. But you wanted to do better. So you studied, went back, and took it as a junior and got a thirty-four to get your pick of colleges. … And then your grandma shows up. And calls you a prince. And that's the thing you decide you can't do?" he asks. He scoffs and shakes his head. "No. You can. You have been. Dude, you are."

Alex stares at Luke, completely stunned. If he's being completely honest, he didn't expect Luke to support Alex in this—didn't expect Luke to be pushing Alex towards being a prince. Sure, Luke had already agreed with Reggie, had already said that they'd find a way to make Alex being a prince work with him in the band, but Alex wasn't entirely sure if he was serious or not. Apparently he was. Very.

He carries Luke's words home with him that night and thinks on them as his family eats dinner, and as he plays MarioKart with Ava and Austin, and as he gathers up his dirty clothes for his mom to do laundry. As he brings them to her, he draws in a deep breath. When he reaches her, he lets it out.

"Mom?"

"Oh!" She spins around, dropping the laundry basket in the process. "Oh, sweetie, you scared me."

"Sorry," he says.

"It's fine," she shakes her head and leans down to grab the basket. She starts loading the washer back up and twists to look at him. "What's up?"

"I—Beasiga."

She hesitates with her next handful, and then stops loading the washer entirely. "Yeah?"

Alex draws in a deep breath and starts. "I've been—thinking a lot lately. You told me to keep my mind open at the start of this and while I didn't originally, it… I opened it up after a while. And now I've been thinking about… about accepting my role as prince." One of his mom's hands drifts up to her chest and she sucks in a breath. "I haven't made up my mind. I… I really haven't made up my mind. I have no idea how the hell I'm going to make up my mind, and how I'm going to do it in six days. But… but I wanted to ask you. If I do… do you think I can?"

His mom looks off to the side and the hand on her chest presses down and rubs over her heart. She blows out a breath. "Well… that's a heavy question." She looks at him and tilts her head. "I think… I think probably. I… I don't think you could have done it before those lessons your grandma gave you—"

"Oh, not a chance," Alex snorts.

His mom smiles. "Right. But I think now you probably could. I mean, no one really knows if they can until they try. I think you could try."

Alex smiles and thanks her, and turns to go back to his room.

"Alex?"

"Yeah?"

"You don't feel like you… have to do this, do you?" she asks.

"No, Mom. I don't. If I felt like I had to there wouldn't be a chance in hell I would be considering it."

He retreats to his room and opens his laptop to put on Netflix. He barely pays attention to what he puts on, and pays even less attention to the screen while it plays.

Prince lessons the next day start in the morning since there's no school. Alex makes it until lunch before he breaks.

"You… you know I've been considering accepting my role as prince," Alex states. His grandmother nods. "I've not come to a decision. But I wanted to talk to you about it anyways."

"All right," she says, putting her fork down. "We can absolutely do that."

"There are a lot of reasons I am considering taking my place as prince. I'm sure you know most of them. But there are a lot of reasons I'm wary of it as well. My band—they say we'll make it work, but we haven't actually figured out how we'll make it work, and I don't want to give that up. And, well. My anxiety. It's gotten better, I've developed coping mechanisms and I'm sure over time I'll develop more, but as of right now it's… I'm really, well, anxious about it. And… well. The main one, and the thing that has been pestering me all f—freaking night. I-I—" he looks down at his plate, nerves getting the best of him. "I don't know if I can. The band told me I could, and my mom told me I probably could, but… I don't know how I'm supposed to know if I can."

"Alexander," his grandmother says immediately. He looks up at her and finds her smiling at him. "I have… watched you study century old texts, memorize policy after policy, research Beasigan law. I have seen you change the way you hold yourself, develop coping strategies for anxiety, step into who you are in ways that you never thought you could before this last month and a half. And I have seen your ideas for the future of your people, seen your care for your people, seen your heart for your people. I don't think there is anyone who can do this better than you can."

"My people?"

"They've just been waiting for you to arrive," she tells him, and Alex knows that she's speaking of the people of Beasiga.

He bites down on his lip and looks down at his chicken.

His people.

He… really likes the sound of that, actually.

The next few days fly by quickly, too quickly for Alex to really process. It's mainly because he's stressed, like, majorly so. He still hasn't come to a decision by Monday. He's at Willie's at his grandmother's suggestion, trying to decompress and relax, but it's not… it's not really working.

They're lying in Willie's bed watching a movie, but Alex isn't even sure what movie it is. Willie's head is pillowed on Alex's chest and Alex is running his fingers through Willie's hair. Willie's got one hand tucked underneath Alex's shirt, rubbing his side with his thumb, twitching his other fingers every once in a while, brushing against the side of Alex's back. It's nice and quiet and Alex wants to stay here forever but.

But the ball is tomorrow.

The ball is tomorrow and he still hasn't made up his mind.

For days now he's been asking people if they think he can do this. Obviously the band, his grandmother, his mom… but also his limo driver, also Tasha, also Alden and John and the security guards managing the consulate doors and a few of the other staff he'd gotten to know. He'd even emailed Mrs. Harrison and Principal Lessa. He'd texted a few of his friends from school that he mainly talked to in class. The overwhelming majority have been yeses. Alex doesn't know how many of those are genuine yeses, and how many just don't want to hurt his feelings. Not that his feelings would be hurt, because he's the one constantly telling himself that he can't do this. A few people, like his mom, have said 'probably.' They've backed up their reasoning, though. They've said that no one really knows until they do something. They've said that Alex-before-prince lessons wouldn't have been able to but Alex-now probably could. They've said that as long as he keeps his head on straight. There haven't been any nos, but again, people might just not want to hurt his feelings.

He hasn't asked everyone though.

"Willie?" Alex whispers.

"Hm?"

Alex waits for a long moment. He's scared to ask, because he doesn't know what he wants Willie's answer to be. He wants Willie to be honest, but he desperately doesn't want to hear Willie say that Alex can't do this. Also more importantly, he doesn't know what he'll do with Willie's answer. What if Willie thinks he can? Will that influence his choice?

Willie shifts his head on Alex's chest to look up at Alex, and he realizes he's taking too long. He draws in a deep breath, making Willie's head fall with his chest, and asks, "do you think I can do this?"

"The speech at the ball? Yeah, Alex, you'll be fine. You've been doing really great with your anxiety," Willie assures him, squeezing his side.

Alex sighs. "No. I mean, thanks but, I—being a prince. A king. Ruling a country. Do you think I can?"

Willie flips so he's on his stomach, his arm curled around Alex's waist. He shimmies up the bed until he's face to face with Alex and looks him in the eye. "Man, I don't know," he says, and Alex's heart starts to drop. "All I care about is whether or not you're willing. That's the important part. That's the part that's gonna make a difference."

Alex blinks.

So, he has to be willing.

… Well, is he?

The short answer is he doesn't know.

The long answer is that, first, Caleb Covington is next in line for the throne and Alex (and countless others) doesn't want him to take the throne. Alex is the only one who has the opportunity to stop him. By taking his rightful place as prince and eventually king, and then by eventually having a child, Caleb would no longer have his claim. Second, Beasiga is a country with strong ties to many countries around the world. It didn't survive for over three hundred years, over one hundred of those without an army, by being anti-social. Alex would have an opportunity to impact not only Beasiga, but also the world. It wouldn't be anything revolutionary or that would create world peace, but if he can take even a single step towards making even one country a better place for even one group of people… he thinks the entire thing would be worth it. Finally, Beasiga is full of people he cares about, even if he's never met them, and he wants to make their lives better. The people in the country are passionate and full of life and Alex can tell that just from hearing and reading about them, just from news stories, just from social media. He wants to make a difference, wants to leave a mark.

After that though, he has to think of the life he'd be giving up. Even if they managed to make things work, what are the chances he'd ever get to go on tour with the band? Slim to none. Security wouldn't hear of it, and he wouldn't have the time to leave for six months. Willie said he would stick with Alex, but what if things got too hard? What if the pressures of royalty were too much for Willie and he didn't want that anymore? And his future kid—kids? His mom and biological dad had hidden him from the royal world because they wanted him to live a "normal" childhood. What would a royal childhood mean for any children he'd have? One of them would grow up to be ruler of Beasiga one day and would be feeling the same pressure he is right now. They'd also be wondering if they could do it. Or—or maybe not. Maybe he was right when he said that rulers were born. Maybe the fact that he was thrown into this at such a late age is the reason he doubts himself so much.

And then—then he thinks… he can recite many Beasigan policies and when and why they were developed, he can quote multiple Beasigan laws and tell you when and where they were passed, and he can discuss Beasigan history back to before the start of the country. And he's proud that he can do that and he likes that he can do that and he wants to learn even more about Beasiga. Over the last month and a half he's prepared for this. And it's not like he's going to become king next week, just prince. He's still got plenty of time before he becomes king. He'd have time to graduate college before he becomes king, and in that time, he could learn plenty more about Beasiga's policies and laws and history, and even its people and culture and architecture and so much more.

But… he's scared.

There it is, he admits it now. Julie was right again, no one is surprised.

He's absolutely terrified.

Stepping into his role as prince means giving up the life he's known for sixteen years and accepting the life he's known for one month. It means giving up the life he expected and taking on the life he… well, that he couldn't have even dreamt up. And it means accepting something about himself that he really, really didn't want to accept.

That he is, in fact, a prince.

Being a prince, later king, makes him separate from everyone else. It makes him somehow more untouchable to a certain group of people—actually, to most people. It takes away his normalcy. Beyond that, it puts him on a pedestal and in a spotlight and illuminates all of his flaws, all of his mistakes, all of his missteps and setbacks and failures.

A prince. Could he be that?

He technically is, whether he likes it or not, but… if he accepts it, well… There'd be no going back. Is he willing to give up this life for that?

In economics, they learned about opportunity cost. It's the concept of what you miss gaining by opting for a different choice. For example, by going to school, a person is gaining knowledge, but the opportunity cost is that they're giving up a few extra hours of sleep. If they choose to go out with friends rather than study, they gain time with friends, but the opportunity cost is the hours they could have spent studying and the potential grade they could have gotten had they spent those hours studying instead. As Alex thinks on it, he wants to laugh. Those examples are accurate but they seem so insignificant compared to his situation. What's the opportunity cost if he decides to become a prince? What is it if he doesn't? All he knows is that there are two things that Alex can't sacrifice in his choice. There are two things that he will not allow to be his opportunity cost. His band and…

Alex blinks up at Willie, who's suddenly even closer than before, and it doesn't take much at all for Alex to lean up and close the gap between them. Willie kisses him back, opening his mouth under Alex's lips and sighing. Alex presses back into the kiss, and slips a hand into Willie's hair and guides him deeper until they're both lost in each other. Alex feels his heart fluttering, hears their shaky breaths between kisses, and tastes traces of Willie's toothpaste on his breath. Willie has been with him through this all, and has pushed him not to do what he thinks he should do, but what he wants to do. Alex wants Willie, yes, but what he really wants… he wants Willie to be beside him in Beasiga.

He pulls back.

"I'm going to be Prince," he whispers.

Willie smiles. "Yeah?"

"Yeah."

There's a long pause in the room, the only noise being the sound of whatever movie is playing in the background. Willie is staring at Alex, flicking his eyes over parts of Alex's face, searching for any sign of hesitation. He settles on Alex's eyes and gives Alex a weighted look.

"Love you, Prince Alex," Willie says, and then they're back to kissing, and Alex feels like these are the two best decisions he's ever made.

[stonecoldjerseyfox]

Jersey on my mind (part 19)

Mila’s feet dangle in the air as she sits on the edge of the guard post, while looking out over the surroundings. Next to her on the floor lies a bottle of vodka, in case she gets bored. She turns her eyes to the flickering flame of the oil lantern, the only source of light. Besides the lantern its pitch black. The darkness is wrapped around the surroundings like a heavy blanket. No lights are on in the houses. 

Before she put on her jacket, hid the vodka bottle in the inner pocket and went out to the guard tower Mila tucked Juri in for the night. She helped him choose a cassette tape to fall asleep to, made sure he had all of his ‘friends’ also tucked in; the brown dog named Jeff (Mila had no idea why), his soft bunny named Bruce after Bruce Springsteen and the teddy bear that goes by the name Eddie, after Eddie Vedder. But Mila hasn’t been able to figure out Jeff. Who’s Jeff? Instead of asking him about it, she kissed Juri on the forehead and left for guard duty. Daryl wasn’t at the guard tower when she arrived, so Mila made herself comfortable. 

She taps her fingers towards the floor and hums the tune to “Hungry heart”, starts to sing faintly. Springsteen makes her think of the summers in New Jersey. Driving around on hot summer days, the long days at the beach in Point Pleasant, eating tons of ice cream and drinking Pepsi Cola, riding around Atlantic City with Darya and Laura in Darya’s dad’s convertible-    

“You sing well.”

Mila looks up. Daryl has joined her, finally. In one hand he holds the crossbow and in the other two bottles of water. 

“You’re late.” 

”You’re easy prey, sitting like this.” Daryl sits down besides her, lets his legs swing over the edge next to hers and gives her one of the bottles.

”Wolves are gone. Walkers don’t jump.” Mila removes the lid and takes a sip of water. “I think I’m fine.” 

”You’re really good.” Daryl looks down at his knees. “I mean, singing. Your accent disappears when you sing.” 

”Yeah. I’ve heard that.” Mila laughs and puts the water bottle down, next to the vodka bottle. ”It would sound even better if I had a guitar and a cowboy hat.” With a smile she grabs the Vodka bottle from the floor, unscrews it and takes a bountiful sip, before offering it to Daryl. ”I’ve heard you should drink at least one liter a day.”

”Thought that applied to water?” Daryl lifts an eyebrow and brings the bottle to the mouth and drinks, lets out a cough as he lowers it. ”Gotta get you a guitar then, Jersey.”

“Yeah I wouldn’t worry too much about that.” She replies. “It sorta’ feels pretty pointless now. I haven't played in forever.” she meets Daryl’s gaze. “I was engaged to this guy, before- It’s because of him I play the guitar, and sing in ‘American’.”

Daryl stiffens up at her words. It’s barely noticeable, but Mila notices. 

“He’s dead anyway, so it doesn’t matter.” Mila takes a sip of vodka. “My father hated him for encouraging my interest in music. Said it was a waste of time. He didn’t understand the phenomenon ‘hobbies’.” Mila tries to remember what her dear papa yelled at her through the glass. It was hard to hear exactly what he yelled, since he banged at the window, but she could make out some of it. ”Eto chepukha, Milena, chepukha!” she repeats. “Nonsense.”

“Seems like a charmer.” Daryl replies. “Ain’t a waste though. I like it.”

Mila glances at the broad archer next to her. Somehow he reminds her of Jim; tall, broad shoulders and muscles. Jim had brown hair and beard, a bit more groomed than the Southern archer, but still- 

The first time Mila laid her eyes on Jim was during a gig at a bar in Brooklyn. She was there with her friend Laura. Jim played guitar in the band and halfway through he pulled his shirt off. Milas eyes were glued to his bare chest during the rest of the performance. Even a blind person would have noticed such an intense stare down; as did Jim on stage. Afterward he asked her over to their table, and she fell like a paw for the big Oklahoma native, with the pretty eyes and the kind smile. Jim was big as a bear and kind as a puppy. He was warm, had a boisterous but contagious laugh, he was friendly and charismatic. Everybody around Mila adored Jim, everybody except papa, which made sense. Papa hated everyone, except himself.

Physically, Daryl reminds her of Jim somewhat, but their personalities are like night and day. Jim was able to entertain an entire room full of people, and happily did so by telling stories or playing the guitar. Daryl would probably never even think of entering such a room. He’s encased in armor, a hard shell no one seems to be able to break. She hasn’t heard an ounce of bursting laughter from him and he barely talks. And yet she likes his company. When she saw him walk down the street into the Safe-Zone last night it felt like a ton of brick was dropped from her chest. Of course she was still angry with him for some unimportant reason she can’t really remember now, but she was happy for having him back.

“Where’s he by the way?” Daryl asks. “Your old man. Ya’ said ya’ came here together.”

“In prison.”

The statement doesn’t seem to surprise Daryl significantly.

“What for?” 

Mila hands him the vodka bottle again. Daryl looks puzzled at it. 

“If you want to hear about it, you might need it.” Mila explains and doesn’t take her eyes away from his. “There’s a legit reason why I have alcohol problems.”

“Haven’t noticed.” the archer winks at her over the bottle and drinks. “Why’s he locked up?”

“Murder. And for kidnapping me.” 

It might be so easy to say it because she feels some kind of connection to the man sitting next to her, or maybe it’s because the whole world went to hell and papa, Mila’s perdition, her Achilles heel, probably is dead by now. 

Mila was the only child. Her father, her papa, wanted to have a son. Instead he got Mila. Her mother, who loved her more than life itself, couldn’t bear more children and Mila was punished for that her entire life by her father. Papa was stern on her from the start. Sergey Yuruchenko’s offspring wouldn’t be a weakling. Her sole purpose in life would be to make him proud. Like a show dog. He hardened Mila like steel; dragged her out on the frozen river Volga during the winters for an ice bath, a procedure to ‘man her up’. If Mila hesitated or began to cry she had to stay longer in the water. Eventually she stopped crying. He taught her to fight, games that often resulted in cracked lips and black eyes. Sometimes Mila began to cry because it hurt and she felt scared, but he assured her it was a fun game, and she believed him. He coached her in sports, to make sure she would win. Second place was never enough. Mila could’ve easily become an olympic marathon athlete, if she would have had the choice. But he had already set out her entire future. 

”My mama loved me with all of her heart and papa made sure that I never forgot how he grieved the son he never had. It was my burden and my responsibility to prove that I was worthy of his affection. I was a wreck emotionally. Thrown between boundless love and emotional abuse.” Mila pauses and takes another mouthful of vodka. “I got respect from him for the first time when I was fifteen. He firmly argued that if a man couldn’t hit a soup can fifty yards away with a gun after drinking a whole bottle of vodka, he was a wimp. He didn’t count on me, a fifteen year old girl to even dream about trying.” She raises her eyebrows at Daryl. ”But I passed the test and he eased the leash.”

After that summer, Mila had a great year. She was ‘allowed’ to be an ordinary teenager in all its meaning. She went to parties with her friends, dreamed of Leonardo Dicaprio when she kissed her first boyfriend Dima for the first time and she was convinced that life would continue like that.

“Then one day he asked me to come with him on a trip abroad, for work. It was just the two of us at home that day and he was so different. Friendly even. It felt odd, but he was so convincing. He asked me to be ready in an hour with a bag. I felt so excited. Not until we walked through the gate at the airport I understood where we were going. I couldn’t believe it. We were going to America! He made the whole trip sound so exciting. It felt like we were friends for the first time. That I finally had a father.”

Mila pauses. She’d thought about that moment many times since that plane ride. How it all was just an act. How he used Mila’s cluelessness to save his own ass. In reality he didn’t feel like that at all. He didn’t care about her. 

”We were arrested as soon as we got through the passport control at Newark. We were separated, put in different rooms. I panicked the entire time, fought and cried. An interpreter and two policemen came and told me that he was arrested. I tried to convince them that it must have been a misunderstanding. But it wasn’t. I was kidnapped and papa was internationally wanted for murder in Russia by Interpol. Or serial murders, I think it’s called, in the case of more than three victims.”

“How many?” he asks. 

Their eyes meet through the darkness. The only sound that’s heard is the chirping cicadas, the wind rattling in the trees and the thudding sound of the walkers crashing into each other on the other side of the wall. Well, he hasn’t run away yet, Mila thinks.

“Including the policeman he killed at the station the day after we arrived; ten.”

Daryl doesn't even try to hide his astonishment. 

”A woman disappeared in Moscow in- gosh, I don’t even remember the year. Anyway, she was found under a bridge, two days later. Then another woman was found a few weeks later, under a viaduct. Seven women and two men around Moscow. One woman was completely beheaded. I was fourteen when they found her, and my father told me to ’be safe’ when I walked home from gymnastics practice.”

Mila remembers almost all of them by name. They were read out during the trial in New York, while images of them were displayed on a projector. Mila saw their bruised faces, the dead eyes in the pale, straight faces. No matter how awful it was, she couldn’t look away, like passing a car accident. Mila had to watch, to understand that it was her papa, who worried when she would go home alone from gymnastics, he who always urged her to beware of boys in a group (or boys in general), that had done these horrible actions. The youngest victim was eighteen and was found in a shallow part of Volga. They had to identify it through dental cards. In court, sitting on that hard bench in between Ellie and Joe Galka, Mila desperately tried to meet her father’s gaze, wanted him to turn around where he sat, with his back against her. When he finally did, Mila didn’t see a trace of regret or empathy in them.

”He kidnapped ya’ to- what, to save himself?” 

“It didn’t seem suspicious if he traveled with his daughter. I was his ticket out of it. If he did get caught, he could use me as-” Mila fiddles on a thread in her jeans. “-Yeah, I haven’t figured out that part yet. He really knew how to inflict maximum damage to his advantages. Because of his position, working for the state, which is... corrupted beyond imagination, he could change my documents without anyone asking, making himself my sole guardian. On paper, I no longer had a mother. It was- He was so split. On one hand, a well regarded worker for the state, modest and punctual. And on the other hand, emotionally disturbed, a psychopath. A monster.” She sighs. “The same day we were arrested he overpowered a police officer. He killed him, granting him life in prison here, not risking being extradited to Russia. Social services took care of me and I ended up at the Galka’s. The first six months I visited papa in prison weekly. It really fucks you up in the head, being pulled back to the root of evil, to one's perpetrator. In my case, it was the same person. Perpetrator and father. Evil impersonated and the only person I felt I had some connection to here. And yet, I never got an explanation to why he did what he did. Eventually, thanks to the Galka’s, I stopped visiting. He didn’t like that, being out of control.”

Mila had never revolted, but when she had to acclimatize to a new culture and language all on her own, that changed. She could just as well have ended up dead behind a dumpster from drugs, but instead she went on to study at Columbia University. When papa found out that she studied to become a dental nurse, instead of a ‘real dentist’, or ‘the president of all dentists in the entire world’, or anything equally grandiose, he went all mad and had to be dragged out of the visitors room by the guards. A few days later he made a phone call and yelled at Mila for three straight minutes, until the call broke. When Mila paid him a much involuntary visit a few weeks later he’d calmed down a bit; he’d been in solitary confinement since that lash out. 

”Of all professions...” Papa snarled into the handset. ”Dental nurse? A servant! Milaya, why are you causing me this pain?”

Mila pulls herself away from the memory of Southport Correctional facility’s visiting room, back to the present, to the cool, calm night, where she shares a bottle of vodka with the archer.

“As far as I’m concerned I don’t have a father.” Mila meets Daryl’s gaze through the faint, warm light from the lantern. “I moved on. I made it. I got pregnant while in uni and tried to commit suicide. That was a nightmare. Once again I had to... switch on survival mode. I felt so defective. How could someone with a father like mine, someone who’s been hurled between motherly love and fatherly abuse, possibly be a good parent.” Mila takes a sip of vodka. The bottle is almost completely empty by now. “I haven’t had much space for making my own choices in life. Until recently.” she says. “I did some stupid choices on the way here. But at least I turned out... fairly good in the end.”

They look at each other in silence. Nothing is heard but the walkers collected hissing breaths, like a choir of rotten asthmatics, gasping for air, while pushing up against the wall. Sometimes a thud, like flesh against metal, is heard when the ones in the back push the ones in the front extra hard into the wall.

”Ya’ think he’s alive? Or they?” Daryl asks, husky. ”Your parents?”

Mila shrugs her shoulders; she doesn't know. After a while in the weeks following the outbreak, the phone calls to her mother in Russia stopped working. Her father can’t be alive. It would be impossible, just as impossible as it is to escape a high security prison like Southport. 

”What about ya’ foster parents?” 

”I don’t know.” Mila bites her lower lip. ”When the two of us came back to Jersey the Galka’s were gone. So we left, me and Juri.”

”Ain’t too bad, though.” Daryl says, in what Mila thinks is an attempt to cheer her up. “He’s a great kid.”

”He is.” she smiles. ”I never thought I’d make it, being on my own with him like this. He’s my everything, the better person of the two of us; wakes me in the morning, cheers me up and is always happy. I don’t know how he does it. He’s three!”

”And a half.” Daryl smirks. 

“Touché.” Mila looks at him. “Gosh. I’m surprised you haven’t ran away.”

”Why would I? Ma’ old man was a boozer, an ass.” Daryl replies, and his eyes suddenly shift from almost warm, to dark.  “I hadn’t much of a mother. Smoked herself to death, burnt the entire fuckin’ house down at the same time. Ma’ brother went in and out of juvenile. Died, as everyone else.” Daryl hesitates, but then he continues. ”I’m a nobody. Always been. I don’t have anything to run from.”

Mila lays her hand on top of Daryl’s, that rests against the floorboards. He twitches by her sudden move, like a stray dog that has never felt a friendly touch. 

“You’re not a nobody.” Mila says, emphasising every word. “You saved my life. Heck, I think you saved more lives than my sorry ass. Do you always push those who care about you away?”

Daryl becomes silent.

”Sorry.”

”Don’t be.” Mila says. “Honestly, It’s like you don’t think you deserve anything; people being kind to you, that people care. That’s not healthy. No wonder you’re so peevish. Just let the guard down once in a while. You do so much for everybody here, who are so thankful for it and want to show that to you. Let them. You need it. Let people in. Have you never done that?” 

”Never had a chance.” he answers. ”It’s always been bloody knuckles and shards of glass.”

”But does that mean that the whole world is dark and evil? I’ve had a bumpy ride too and I’m not all stiff and irritated with everything.”

”Well ye’ ain’t me.”

”And thank god for that.” Mila smiles a little. ”No matter what your life was like before it doesn’t have to continue being like that.” she gets silent, before she meets his eyes again. ”Have you ever just sat down and thought about what you want? Not what everybody else needs, or what they tell you to do, no matter what you think. Have you?”

”Never gotten that chance either.” Daryl grunts, and continues to look at his shoes.

“Well, do that.” Mila holds up the bottle of vodka in front of her. It’s empty. “Crap...”

“Ya’ haven’t had enough of that?”

Mila puts her head to the side and smiles dazzling.

“I told you I have problems.” Mila smirks and puts the bottle down. “But I’m workin’ on fixing that. Not tonight though.”

The corners of Daryl’s mouth curves slightly upward and he chuckles faintly. They sit quietly for a moment before he once again turns to her. 

“Ya’ really a dentist?” 

“Dental nurse.” Mila corrects. “What, are you surprised?” 

“Not at all.” Daryl replies. “How’s that like?” 

“We'll take that one another time.” Mila adjusts herself on the floor. “I have to save some cock-and-bull stories about tartar and teeth extractions for later.” 

“Can’t wait.” Daryl smirks. “If ye’ want to sing something, I don’t mind.”

Mila smiles. They sit next to each other, watching the night turn into early dawn. Mila sings faintly, to avoid unnecessary attention from the walkers, dangling her legs in the air, while Daryl’s eyes rest on the horizon, wearing a pleasant smile upon his lips.

[honey-bri-books]

Sophia Anne Caruso Rant

While Sophia's not the only person who was with ‘Beetlejuice the Musical’ since it's beginning stages, she was one of the youngest members of the cast and given a huge role with lots of new lyrics to work with all the time, new costumes and wigs to get used to, new casts to bond or not bond with (People have noted she wasn't tight with the cast - She did participate in at least one of Presley's TikToks and gave Rob a huge hug his last night, during/after bows. And also -for ALL jobs, you shouldn't be in trouble for NOT becoming super-close friends with your co-workers and being fake and insincere. Be polite and decent, but if you don't want to hang out or go out to eat with the cast after a show or whatever, it doesn't mean you're the bad one or mean.), lots of appearances and performances and interviews aside from the actual run of shows, and lots more I don't know about. 

That's a huge part of her life, if not most of her teenage years, during the time she was with the show.  I'll admit her exit from the show raised questions. And I’ve been nervous about sometimes wondering if she pushed a little when going for angsty rasp, while singing (not a technical term?), but I’m not a voice teacher, or vocal coach, so I don’t actually know shit. I imagine that just because your voice goes out live at Broadway in Bryant Park (which could happen due to being so into the role and the song, it just happens you tense or accidentally “push” or cave into your nerves a bit or whatever), that doesn’t mean your voice is legit unhealthy? Again, I don’t know shit. If she was/is training with professional teachers, they’ll give her their two-cents, I’m guessing. 

But yeah, I was suspicious and worried and curious about the gossip behind her exit. I heard she didn’t get along with Alex, it was a her or him situation, she vaped backstage, wasn’t cool with the cast -Again, it should not be a requirement that you become best friends with your co-workers, just because it’s a nice idea, or something. I feel bad for being so anxious to find out she did something “bad” and got punished for it, or made an un-wise ”Rachel Berry” type of choice with pursuing television. If you’ve seen the clip of her for that episode of ‘Evil’, then you know she isn’t unsuited to working as a television actress (I keep trying to transition to just using the term “actor.” the “less” I mean “ess” in actress bugs me sometimes).

She’s done way more than I ever will, and just released a new song and this is my apology for being so eager and hopeful that I would search and find confirmation over the drama with her leaving ‘Beetlejuice the Musical’. I just listened to/viewed the clip of her running offstage (it’s a still image with recording, etc) and crying in the middle of singing ‘Home’, and it put me in my place. Also, kudos to the way they handled that moment. Announcements about pauses and stuff happen and it’s nothing new, but usually because of a physical injury or technical difficulties, or even more likely because someone in the audience is having serious medical issues or needs to have an ambulance called to the theater (Opinion only, and from only working a couple of pro shows and some community theater). Thanks to the team of Beetlejuice and House Management and the Crew or whoever’s involved, for handling Sophia’s “breakdown” with the same level of class and professionalism (aka recognizing she’s a human being, and needs a moment to check in with stage management or whatever) as they would for the more traditional “hold”.

Anyway, yeah. I’m a jerk sometimes, especially from the safety of my “office” behind the veil of my computer monitor, and I’m sorry...

[hargrcaves]

–– ◤ (  manny jacinto, cismale, he/him  ) — a member of the  [  HARGREAVES  ]  family claims membership to the society !  [  ANTONY  ]  is a  [ 32 ]  year old   [  EQUESTRIAN  ]  who hails from  [  ENGLAND  ]  ,  who call them  [  THE FACADE  ]  .  although their peers know them for being  [  OUTSPOKEN  ]  and  [  ENIGMATIC  ]  ,  their reputation for being  [  ADDICTIVE  ]  and  [  CARELESS  ]  might prove intimidating for new initiates. while the  [  HARGREAVES  ]  family is known for  [  THEIR EXTRAVAGANT HOTELS  ]  ,  the society’s own  [  BACCHUS  ]  is better remembered by  [  A QUIET PRAYER MOUTHED AGAINST A STRANGER’S NECK ; THE UPTURN OF WINE STAINED LIPS FROM ACROSS THE ROOM ; A VELVET SHIRT UNBUTTONED TO THE NAVEL ; NEON LIGHTS AND BLEEDING HEARTS AND THE DRUM OF LIFE IN HIS EARS  ]  .  having been a member for  [  FIVE YEARS ]  now,  [  ANTONY  ]  has managed to attain  [  FOUR OLYMPIC MEDALS  ]  —  no doubt through the help of the society, wouldn’t you think ? ◢ 

▌  face  ●  pinterest ● musings   ▌

hello, hello!!! this is bella from the gmt zone, full time lawyer and part time trash bag. ( jk jk im a full time trash bag !!! ) anw this is my disaster boy who’s 40% rose water, 30% bad boy charm, 20% just a cocky smile and 10% deep seated insecurities he won’t ever address. i cannot wait to plot with all of you legit legit legit ///

–– recap. 

biography to come but ; tldr –– hotel empire heir is basically a horse girl + ur typical bad boy party demon + loves kissing everyone + needs to grow up and get into the fam business but he’s too busy being the fam disappointment 

tw alcohol mention ; tw sex mention ; tw burning out ; 

antony was born to a family of overachievers ; the only son of an only son, he was raised by nannies and hotel concierges and strangers he would see for but a moment in the hotel lobby. correction: his hotel lobby. wherever he was in the world. the amadeus wasn’t just any empire of hotels –– it was the empire. so while his parents were busy propping it up and making sure it dominated the market, their son was off at an english boarding school at eton college ; an afterthought in his own dynasty. 

the one thing they did make sure he had were riding lessons, because from the age of two, it was clear what antony was made for. so his parents –– longtime members of the society –– ensured their only son had everything he could possibly need to excel. he had the best coaches, the best stables, the best equipment and the best horses. so of course he was the best. it had been clear that the equestrian was destined for the olympics, even as he took his first gallop around the paddock. 

but in between the rigorous prep for competition events, the undergrad degree in business administration he Struggled to complete ( he’s still not 100% sure if he did ) and learning the hotel business, antony was also..........................a fuck boy

now, the thing is, he kept everything under control for a long time. he was busy training for the rio olympics –– he went, he won, he dedicated it to his parents who definitely weren’t watching –– and then everything stalled. he’d been so busy being good for so long, it just didn’t seem all that worth it anymore. 

and then he spiralled. so he had a minor drinking problem, so he slept with anyone who smiled at him the wrong way, so he stayed out too late too much –– who didn’t? trouble hit when an ex of his leaked stories of him to the press ; stories that damaged the hargreaves name and left the hotel with a crisis on its hands. with a fake fiance, a storm of paparazzi circling him like vultures, and a secret society to boot? he’s just asking for more trouble.

–– wanted conn. 

RIDE OR DIE : this is his ( 1 ) person ; the person he’d call if he fucked up ; the person he does call when he fucks up. antony doesn’t believe in people, he doesn’t even like them most of the time let alone waste any other emotion on them. but this person is someone they wholeheartedly love. as of late, they haven’t been the closest, but that’s totally on him. // can be more or less drama

FAKE FIANCE : after a post on social media went viral exposing four-time olympic medalist antony hargreaves’ partying ways, a post spread by his ex because of course when they said no hard feelings? there were absolutely hard feelings. but to combat all the bad press he and his family’s business were getting, antony was set up with another society member by his parents –– just until their new deal goes through. so for the newspapers media and for everyone at large, he and this person ( preferably male, can discuss ) are pretending to be engaged. // doesn’t have to be endgame, just a fun plot!

FAMILY / FAMILY FRIENDS : he doesn’t have siblings of his own, but distant cousins of a sort of anyone he really grew up with would be great???

THE RIVAL : the barbed insults, the scathing looks, the thinly veiled loathing? yeah, totally fun. this could be someone else in sports / could be someone in the media / on the party scene / from boarding school / from his childhood !! anything goes. 

PARTY FRIENDS : self explanatory but they go out on the town together, take private jets off to berlin at the last minute together, and maybe they’re not the best influence on each other ( def aren’t ), but they’re having so much fun, who’s gonna stop to spoil the mood?

ONE NIGHT STANDS : ex-one night stands but yk !! any gender, anyone from anywhere would def work 

MENTEES :  initiates who want the worst but also the most chill mentor.

THE PARENTAL FIGURE : it’s no surprise that antony was left to his own devices a lot of the time. his parents just didn’t have time for him ; leaving him with a retinue of nannies and then sending him off to boarding school before he could pronounce his own last name. so he turned to this person ; it can be someone giving him a lesson in tough love, or even someone who’s just seen him sort of unravel over the years? probably the person antony goes to for advice! 

EXES / ACQUAINTANCES / ETC ; anything you can think of. 

[80s-roger]

EX ~ Roger Taylor {PT 3}

I really want to thank you all for the love you show towards this imagine!

Part 4 will be posted soon!

catch up: part one, part two

masterlist

The studio session was almost over. Knowing that Derek was around the studio, had you sitting at the same room for ten hours. It was exhausting for you but as long as the band was happily working you didn't bother. You played with Freddie's scrabble, solved crosswords and listened to their demos.

You really wanted to use the toilet but you had to walk through Derek's office which was at the entrance hall. You wished he wasn't at his office but after walking through that place you were wrong. You just ignored his presence and got inside the wc with fast moves. You locked the door in case he would invade.

He used to do things such as in the past. He'd even force you having sex with him when you didn't want to. You didn't date for more than a year. But that sex tape is still on his hands and it would ruin you in any moment. But not only you. It would also ruin Queen's success and Roger's mental health. You were scared to death if Derek would leak it and say to the press: Queen's Roger Taylor's girlfriend, caught cheating on him after sex tape leaked.

You would die. You loved Roger so much, it would hurt you knowing that he was devastated after the leak. But you were so drunk when it happened. Derek showed it to you the other day and you made him promise he would never publish it. But you were random people then. Now? It would be a scandal now.  You're Queen's drummer's girlfriend and he's the promo manager. You're ruined.

You washed your hands after your need and the door was knocked.

"W-who is this?" You were scared. "Roger?" You hoped it was your man.

"If you think it's over, it's not." It was Derek.

"What do you want?" You stood behind the door, refusing to unlock until you hear Roger.

"Having that really good movie of yours, can make me really rich you know." Oh god, you said inside your head. You knew where he was taking it.

"How can you be rich with my body on it?" I asked him terrified. The thought of your body being published at the public eye, sickens you.

"Because either you give me 20 million pounds, or it's out." You knew he was smiling. He always played with your insecurities. You were afraid of breaking up with him, until he had to leave for the US and you were finally free.

"Why are you doing this? You'll get in real trouble." You defended yourself.

"So will your boyfriend's career with the rest of the boys. You don't want to ruin them, do you?" He evily said.

"I won't let you do it. You'll be fired after it." You said.

"Which means, I'll get money with or without you. That's why I got hired here. I knew you were dating him, that's why I decided to work for them." He laughed.

"You're so..." You couldn't talk. You were hurt.

"Evil? I know. Thank me later." You felt him leaving from the door and now you were safe to leave.

"Where's Y/N?" You heard Roger's gentle voice from the outside. But it wasn't gentle enough towards Derek.

"I saw her entering the wc." What an ass he is? He literally threatened you before. Again.

"Babe you're alright?" Roger came to the door, knocking it softly.

You opened the door and hugged him. His hug was the safest place in the world. He thought something happened. That hug wasn't any hug. It was a help me kind of hug.

"Please tell me you finished." You whispered in his ear without being noticed by Derek.

"Just finished. Let's go." He grabbed your hand and you greeted the rest of the guys before leaving the studio.

"You want us to join you?" You heard Freddie asking in the background and Roger answered  for you. "We are fine! We need a rest." He said and both of you left the studio.

"Baby, you wanna grab something to eat? You must be hungry." He gently told you.

"Yeah, sure..." You quietly said and both got inside the jeep, in which Roger would take you at the nearest fast food restaurant.

"Y/N, you look upset." He checked on you while the traffic light was red.

"Roger, he threatened me." You said and his expression got legit serious. Roger isn't a man with a steady temper. He can lose control in no time.

"He what?" He looked at you seriously. "What? When?" He asked concerned.

"I really wanted to use the toilet and I locked, making sure he wouldn't open the door. He was standing behind the door telling me things." You could barely speak out of your teeth. Rog, had to drive. The light turned green.

"Please, let me focus on the road or I'll kill somebody if you tell me now what he said. Just wait a little babe and you'll continue." He reassured you and waited for him to find any discreet place to eat.

There, you finally found a fast food restaurant with not so many people inside. Roger grabbed your hand and walked inside, towards the cashier. The cashier was shocked after noticing which rock star was in front of her. She could barely speak.

"Babe what do you want?" He asked you, ignoring her shook face.

"What you take, I don't mind." You smiled at him.

He made the order and waited for around ten minutes to grab your dinner. You sat at one of the red coaches, the restaurant has, isolated from the rest. You both ate before starting talking. Roger was really hungry and it was obvious. He vanished an entire dish in less than ten minutes. You were still eating, enjoying your dinner, trying to forget the threat. Roger was in front of you, playing with your free hand. You could feel some paps taking pics of you two.

"Rog they spotted us." You awkwardly said.

"It's fine. They won't come inside. Just place your hand at your cheek, covering your mouth." He advised you and did what you were told to. "Can you tell me now?" His face was serious, he could be a really good listener, drunk or not. But he was sober, he knew you were upset and wanted you to feel relaxed around him.

"He wants money or the video is published." You tried to hold back your tears but you couldn't help.

"How much?" He asked seriously, changing his position, sitting next to you.

"Twenty million pounds. I'm fucking cancelled. You're cancelled too. You better break up with me." You cried, leaning your body against Roger's side. He protected you by not being seen by the paps. They shouldn't see you crying.

"We will go through this together. I'll talk with the band and Beach." He hugged you tight and kissed your head.

"He admitted he got the promo manager job just to threaten me. He knew we were dating before." You looked at him and he cleaned your eyes from the tears. He was in shock. His career was at stake. "He was toxic with me all this time. I was drunk when he recorded me, I swear!" You said, trying to apologise.

"Babe, I believe you. I know you keep this perfect body off-cam." He joked, trying to make you feel better. " You hide it too well, for me..." He winked at you and you finally laughed. "That's my girl... It will pass. I'm not leaving you." You nodded and felt so special to him. "Shall we go?" He asked you and followed him when you both stood up.

He was holding your hand when you walked through all the paps out of the restaurant. You both kept your heads low, not to be seen in that condition by these people who love invading your private lives.

"Roger, will we expect a baby soon?" You heard a pap shouting at your boyfriend. His hand at you got tighter.

"Is your girlfriend hiding something?" That question almost hit you in the stomach. You tried not to raise your head or suspicions would get started.

"She looked upset inside! Tell us!" A woman shouted and Roger was too close on beating their asses.

Thankfully, you both made it to your car, without saying any word. He drove fast, getting away by the paps.

"Babe, they know nothing. You know they do questions like these." He reassured you, touching your thigh.

"Yeah..." You quietly said. "Can we go to my home please?" You asked him.

"Of course." His voice was so soft to you. He calmed you down.

•♡•♡•♡•♡•♡•♡•♡•♡•♡•♡•♡•

You both got to your home, without any talk. You both removed your coats and went inside your bedroom. You took off all your clothes, staying at your underwear and your bra. Roger couldn't stop staring at you, despite the sad vibe that took over you.

"Y/N, it's going to be fine. He won't harm any of us." He wrapped his hands around your belly.

"I'm going to take a shower. I'm tired." You dodged his previous words and went inside the bathroom.

Roger meanwhile, went into your living room, dialling Freddie. He wished he would pick it up. It was an emergency. Thankfully, Freddie was home.

"Hello?"  Freddie asked.

"It's Roger. I'm at Y/N's..."  His voice was calm and that concerned Freddie.

"Hey how's she? She was shocked when she saw Derek. Something's wrong between these two." Freddie got suspicious after the look exchange between Derek and you.

"They know each other Freddie." Roger's voice was shaking, afraid if you would be published everywhere.

"H-how? He got hired after his return from the US." Freddie was confused.

"They used to date for a year in the past. Listen, the girl is in the bathroom. Do what you have to do discreetly. Tell the boys if necessary." He started.

"Okay, darling, I'm all ears." Freddie was afraid of his friend's situation. "Is s-she fine?"

"No, this asshole has a sex tape of her. She was drunk when he recorded her. I'm afraid he gave her drugs. Drinks can't make you too much unconscious." Roger lost his temper.

"Oh my God, my poor girl. Now what? Is he threatening her or something?" He asked in literal shock.

"He wants money or it's fucking out. She'll die of embarrassment. She's afraid of our careers too. He knew we were dating, that's why he applied for the promo manager job." Roger explained at Freddie.

"Alright, alright. I'll come up with something. I'll talk to Miami." Freddie tried to remain calm.

"Good. I really have to be careful with her now. If that dick leaks it, she's lost. If necessary, I'll take the blame." Roger bravely said.

"How can you take the blame?" He asked.

"That dick will probably announce it as Y/N cheating on me. I'll make sure to save it. I believe he's just showing his dick on this vid." Roger would do anything to save it. Even at the lowest.

"Oh my God, Roger, will you ask her about the tape? And we have a press conference soon. Do you want me to say that was me in the tape? I don't mind. You know they always try to find something in order to throw me shade." Freddie was also capable of saving your ass.

"No Fred, thanks though. I'm serious with her now. I will go through it with her." He silently said because your shower was over.

"I am by your side on this, Rog. If you both need anything just tell me." He said.

"Thanks Fred, I'll owe you." The band's drummer whispered.

"You'll owe me a party attendance with your future wife." Freddie threw a hint towards Roger about you two getting married in the future.

"Sure... Goodnight and thank you..." He hangs up and went back to her bedroom.

He took off all his clothes and went inside your bathroom, where you covered yourself with the towel, leaving almost nothing to his imagination.

"You look amazing." He smiled at you and couldn't help but hug him.

"Thank you..." You told him. "Hey Roger?" You asked concerned. He made a sweet grimace, accepting your question. "You surely won't leave me deal with all this crap? He's dangerous." You asked again.

"I love you and never doubt that. Even if he publishes it, he won't get away with that so easy." He kissed you, taking away your worries.

"But I don't want the world to see me having sex, Roger!" you defended yourself.

"Would you mind telling me how it's like?" He asked and you look at him confused. "I mean the tape." he clarified.

"He's in first person. Oh my God, that's so embarrassing." You covered your face in awkwardness.

"Hey babe, don't be embarrassed to me. You're so wild in bed. Don't be shy now." He mocked you.

"God, fine! It's me on the cam, saying naughty words-"

"That's not something new." He interrupted you.

"Just let me finish!" you slightly yelled at him and he stopped talking. "I'm naked in front of the cam! What else do you want to know?" You asked embarrassed.

"What are you doing to him?" He asked and you felt him getting jealous.

"He was doing to me, actually. I was too drunk knowing what I did." You answered.

"Alright, do you remember? Was his face on the cam?" He asked.

"No it wasn't. Let's not get into details, please. It makes me uncomfortable." You stopped right there the talk about your sex tape.

His face wasn't on the screen and that was beneficial for Roger to put the blame on him. He literally thought he could just say that was him on the tape. He could make it even spicier. He could turn Derek into dust.

You laid on your bed, while Roger was taking a shower. He was concerned about you and there was no doubt about it. His love was enough for you to get the support you needed. But your body on the public eye didn't make you open enough to talk about. Even at your boyfriend, who was currently staring at you from your room's door, with just a towel, around his lower body. You smiled at him and he came closer to you, sitting at the edge of the bed.

"Roger you smell nice." You stood next to him, caressing his chest.

"Y/N, I know you had a hard day, but would you mind if I got a little of you.. You know? It's okay if you don't. I understand." He was desperately asking for sex. He was too kind asking you for it. You didn't want to say no. Derek would never do that. He'd just tie you so you wouldn't move, to satisfy his bitch ass.

"Yes sure, baby..." You smiled at him and he stared at you in surprise. He didn't expect that from you.

He took the control tonight, like most of the times. He's the type of guy who wants to rule between you two. He's such a Leo, you can't doubt that. He made passionate love to you, wishing to forget how terrible your day was. He knew how bad you were feeling, so all he wanted for you was receiving great pleasure waves. He was so protective over you tonight, afraid if he'd hurt you like you hurt yourself or something else. But he was just your loving boyfriend, taking care of you.

[wetwellie]

Back to the Future AU (Ye be warned this is a pretty long one):

The Samwell Hockey team has become used to finding their eccentric alumnus, Dr. Justin Oluransi, hiding out in their attic quite often. He is an 84 year old man, you can’t really scold him for busting out of the nearby retirement home to tinker with experiments and inventions that never work. He never bothered anyone, and no one bothered him. Then Shitty moved in and was freakin stoked for their guest.

“Hey pops, what did they call you on the team?” “…Ransom” “Awesome. Hey. You’re super good at science right? Could you help me brew up something in the tub?”

Dr Ransom was then initiated as the grandpa of the team. He helped with the recipe for tub juice, and they dragged out a bed for him to sleep on when he’s running from the Home. 

Dr Ransom also helped with homework from time to time in exchange for said person becoming Ransom’s personal assistant for half an hour or so. 

(“Bro why do you have 17 hickeys all over your back?” “Doc put a lot of suction cup things on me last night in exchange for his graphing calculator.”)

Of course, there was a man who never indulged in speaking with the man who even thought about spending time with their Attic friend, and that was Jack Zimmermann. They were sort of pushed into each other’s acquaintance during an epikegster in Jack’s second year. Jack had locked himself upstairs for the night. He hadn’t had the best game performance and kept thinking about everything he could have done better--should have done better. It was overwhelming him and every noise, every movement, every thought had been pretty daunting. He had been curled up on his bed when he noticed that the tapping he’d heard wasn’t from the party. It was from an elderly old man in a labcoat knocking on his window. 

It was nearly 10 below (Celsius), so he couldn’t just let him out. Jack unlocked his window and helped Ransom in. 

“Sorry about that, pal.” Ransom had said as he plopped himself onto Jack’s bed “Two cats were already...pretty ocupado in the attic when I went to work for tonight. Remind me to wash those sheets thoroughly.” “Is there anything I can do to help you out?” 

“Unless you’re comfortable with kicking those people out of my attic. I’m afraid I can only ask for company.”

“I don’t think I would be very good company” Jack said, trying his best to politely refuse. 

“I’m sure you’ll do just fine, once you’re comfortable. What’s your name again?” “Jack” “Nice to meet you man! I’ve seen you around, but you always seemed to be focused on one thing or another. I haven’t made it out to any of your games, but I’ve heard from the others that you are very dedicated to hockey” “Well...isn’t everyone on the team?” “I suppose you’re right. But everyone on the team isn’t a hardass captain.” “They called me a hardass?” 

“Only during the preseason” Ransom chirped. Jack didn’t laugh. 

“I suppose I could’ve been more of a hardass when I was captain of the team.” “You were captain?” Jack asked, trying his hardest to sound like he was interested.

“Co-captain, actually.” Ransom said, with an expression that was unreadable. 

“Wait!” Jack threw up his hand and pulled open his laptop. In the google search bar he googled “Google” and THEN started typing a phrase he knew familiar, clicked on a purple link to a bare bones site with barely any bells and whistles. There were only links to years.  “What year did you graduate?” “Undergrad?” “Of course.” “1955″

Jack scrolled down to that number and hit click. The page that loaded was filled with scanned articles, and paragraphs of stats and commentary. Ransom only looked at him. 

“The coaches wanted someone to go through all of the old stuff and digitize it. The manager who had been working on it before graduated last year, and I volunteered in their place” He then made a noise and clicked at the screen a couple more times. He turned it to face Ransom and pointed at an old photograph from the newspaper. The clipping had removed all of the article below it. In the photo was two young men in their hockey uniforms on the ice. They were holding each other close and raising a large jug in the air that had the words “SIN BIN” written in big red letters. 

Jack pointed to one of them “Is this you?” 

Ransom didn’t answer. His attention was fully on the photograph being projected on that blue-white screen. If Jack had been paying more attention, he might have seen Ransom’s throat hitch as he gulped, or tears starting to form and just barely being held back. But sadly, his attention wasn’t so focused. He did, however, notice when the doctor let out a howling laugh and pointed at the jug. 

“The sin bin! God that takes me back. Do you still have one of those?” “No” “Get one! Every captain needs one.” Ransom explained. “We used that money to buy cheap booze and pricey butter.” “Butter?” “It’s a long story.” Ransom said “But that’s not the point. You put money in the sin bin, and the whole team benefits from it. Your hardassery will have some sort of benefit.”

The two then melt into a conversation about hockey, captaining,the past, and even science for a bit. Albeit, Jack only wanted to know how legit “Breaking Bad” was.  “I’ve never made any drugs, believe it or not. But I’m sure the science checks out”

Every once in a while, when talking about the past, Ransom would quickly change the subject. Jack would do the same. They danced around the things they didn’t want to speak of, and usually fell back on chirping each other about their technological ineptness. 

It was 4am when Jack heard the party start to die down. Jack was discussing the merits of having the Internet as a research tool as a student. Ransom shook his head.  “I know from this side that it is helpful, but it would have been awful during my studies. There would have been so many outlets and so many distractions. I had enough panic attacks as it is, that would have surely worsened it.” 

There was a rather pregnant pause before Jack tentatively said “Panic Attacks?” “Yeah. There was a lot of stuff to panic about back then.” he said. He looked at Jack, fiddlling with the loose strings on his shirt, and added “I guess there’s a lot to panic about right now, too. Life can be a bitch.” Jack let out a hollow laugh. The silence never really ended, however. Instead, Ransom took that as his cue. “I should check to see if the lovebirds are post-coital by now. But remembering college, I doubt it.” Jack stared at Ransom dubiously. “And I shouldn’t have said that. Don’t want to scar you with any mental images! Anyways. I should get going”

He ended up walking to the door before being compelled to add “And if you ever need to talk, you can always see me when I’m in the attic. I’ve got a lot of life experience and surprisingly good ears for my age.”

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

Jack should have been more surprised at how often he found himself with Ransom for the rest of the semester. Whenever he wasn’t practicing or studying or keeping up with Shitty, he was in the attic. Mostly he helped lift heavy things that Ransom needed to tinker with, while the Doctor chattered on and on about “Important Shit!” that he’s learned in his life that will help Jack.

“Is there anything that has stayed more or less consistent over the past 60 years?” Jack asked one day.

“Hockey Butts are still as toned as ever.” He replied without missing a beat. “And they take years to erode. They are truly God’s gift”

Jack actually laughed at that and said “Amen”. 

In the months that came to pass, Jack would grow to call Ransom a friend as well as mentor. However, he couldn’t help the feeling that he never truly knew him. Jack had confessed many things to him: about his pressure to always be better, about the overdose, about Parse. And while Ransom didn’t have the magical words to make those hurts all better, he listened without judgement. That was all he needed. 

Winter turned to Spring without much of a struggle that year. Ransom spent most of his time searching online for the best places to purchase rare ores that he simply has to have, while he mumbles something about a gigawatt. Jack usually spent his time talking about Hockey or the new thing he had seen on this documentary a couple nights before, or Shitty being Shitty. He found himself a lot more empty-handed in the attic in the months before. Jack heard a lot less  “fill this cylinder up with exactly 5.74 ml of hydrochloric acid” and a lot more “carry this new clock and hang it up in the attic. Mamrie Cartwright is having an estate sale and this was 2 dollars”. 

Soon he found himself packing up his room for the summer, and popping up to check on Ransom before seeing him off. A few days before, the graduating members of the team had given him a “World’s best Grandpa” T-Shirt, with a “dr” scribbled in between the lines in sloppy marker. Ransom had given them all a bottle of Tub Juice to remember the Haus by.

Jack was surprised to open the door to the attic to see Ransom packing a suitcase.

“Headed somewhere?” “You think I don’t deserve a vacation too?” “I never said you didn’t. Where are you headed?” “I’ve met an old friend up at Niagra falls every summer for 60 years, so I’m gonna do that. And then I have to visit a science convention or two” “Sounds like a busy summer. You take care of yourself.” “I should say the same! If I come back and any of you cats have flat asses, I swear I’ll die on you. So eat some protein for my sake.”

“Will do”

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

It’s July 4th when Jack recieved a call from an unknown number. “Allo?” he answered.

“Jack! You brilliant bastard! It’s me.” “Ransom?” “The one and only. Listen. I don’t have a lot of time. Do you know where the mall called “Le Boulevard” is?”

“I don’t know, it sounds kind of familiar?”

“That’s good enough. Would you be kind enough to meet up with me on the 7th at precisely 3:15am?”

“What? Why?” “I can’t tell you right now, but it’s a matter of great importance. And I know that you will understand when I explain, but I can’t explain now.” “I don’t know how I’ll get there” “Please, Jack! I can’t lone this one.” Jack paused for a long while before saying “I’ll think about it” and hanging up the phone. 

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

Jack’s mother came into the room the moment that the call ended. She asked who it was, and Jack answered. Explaining the whole deal about the man who had been hiding in their attic for the better part of two years. She seemed very worried until he mentioned how he was the captain back in the fifties.

“In the fifties? Do you think he knows about the fire?” “Fire?”

“Yeah. When I was going there, one of my English professors mentioned it. The old hockey house, before yours and that sorority. It burned to the ground. 2 people died.”

“Ransom never mentioned a fire”  “It might have been after his time then” said Alicia. “It still seems like such a shame”

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

It’s 2:45am and Jack has gotten no sleep whatsoever. His group text is blowing up with pictures and videos of ongoing celebrations in the states. It’s times like these that he truly wished he knew how to turn off notifications. He scrolled through the chat and stopped at canadian teammates responses. It’s a picture of him wearing the flag as a cape and eating what seemed to be really old timbits. It’s captioned “Happy 3 days after Canada day”. Jack laughed, so he responded “haha”.  Immideately after the response, Jack’s phone starts vibrating like crazy. Ransom is calling him. 

“Jackie my man! Are you ready???” “Ready for what?”

[imaginesnkdorks]

Thank Goodness for Crazy

| 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 |

Part VIII: Bruised Cinderella

Pairing: Erwin/Reader

Summary: That time Erwin and the others attended a fancy party.

           “Today’s the day!” I said to myself the moment my eyes open. It’s the day that Nanaba would humiliate me in front of everyone. Or it’s the day I’ll beat her senseless. I trained so hard this past week.

           Racing to the grounds where we’ll battle it out, I saw a number of people gathering. Damn, it was those bets. Hange was noisily calling out to people to place their bets. They really made a game out of this. My coach was already here, and finding him was quite easy. He was standing beside the betting board.

           “What the hell?” I don’t know what I expected but there are obviously more people expecting Nanaba to win. Those who bet on me would expect a huge payout as I could count them off of my hands.

           “I’m betting on you.” Erwin tried to encourage me.

           “Of course you are.”

           Now that it’s here, I’m finally here, I feel chills. Nanaba is a legit soldier. She’s killed titans, and the only thing I’ve ever killed is a teeny tiny spider and I was screaming my head off the whole time.

           Soon enough, we were called to the middle. Hange is also the referee. As soon as she gave the go signal, Nanaba went in to attack! The bitch tried to punch me! But my training paid off – my reflexes improved a lot I feel like a ninja.

           I successfully dodged, but she immediately followed up with another punch. Raising both my arms, I shielded my face. “Ugh!” Her punch is really something! But it’s nothing compared to Erwin’s.

           Erwin never went easy on me during our sparring sessions, I almost hate him for it. But I can see that it might just be the thing that’ll help me live.

           Since I’ve gone defensive for a good five minutes, Nanaba’s guard isn’t that up. I grabbed the chance and kicked her on the stomach. She caught my foot and won’t let go. With a smug smile, “got you.” She taunted.

           This would’ve have been bad for me, except this is my favorite move. Using her grip on my foot for balance and foundation, I raised my self almost over her head going for another kick. And I hit her hard with my other foot, she flew backward and fell hard on the ground.

           All around me were surprised faces. Everyone was so quiet for a full second before they started cheering.

           “Wow. Looks like you’ve really been training hard.” Nanaba said before she runs off to attack me. I suddenly regret being an asshole who kicked her in the face.

           To sum it up, I took a beating. But she received her fair share of bruises. We’ve been going at this for more than half an hour, and I am really tired. I can feel my lips are swollen now. I need to finish this.

           We began running towards each other and she went in for a punch, which I dodged easily, then I used my ultimate move. I punched her on the throat. I know, dick move. That’s why I love it. She fell flat on the ground, gasping for air, and Hange went in for the countdown.

             “ …. 3 …. 2 …. 1 …. Andi wins!” Hange announced whilst raising my bruised arm. Despite most of these assholes losing their bets, they still cheered for me. Looking at the crowd, I saw Erwin practically glowing with pride. I can’t help but smile.

           Walking towards Nanaba, I fought all temptation to gloat and instead gave her my hand. Good thing she was a good sport. We spent the rest of the day in the hospital wing, wrapped in bandages and smelling like antiseptic.

           Erwin and the rest came to visit. Judging by Mike’s face, Erwin had rubbed my triumph in his creepy face. And probably also because he lost the bet.

           “Andi! Where did all that came from? That throat punch was so awesome!” Hange yelled excitedly. But she wasn’t satisfied with that, she ran towards me and tackled me.

           “Really? Hange I’m injured here!” My screams were muffled as I was unsuccessful in pushing her off of me. Good thing Erwin helped and dragged her off.

            We got out of the hospital wing that same day and went back to training right away. I still follow the strict training routine Erwin prepared, but since an expedition is coming up he’s quite busy. Meaning our private sessions are over.

           I’m scheduled to practice using the 3DM gear today, and I am seriously excited. My teachers for the day are my closest buddies, Hange and Nanaba.

           Turns out, balancing is not so easy. I flipped over a few times and gave my friends another round of a laughing fit, but by sunset, I got the hang of it. I can’t help but love the feel of the wind as I zip past trees and dummy titans.

           I can’t help but imagine being Spider-Man. So geeky, I know.

 It’s been three days since the duel, and I’m looking less bruised now. Also, it’s the day we started our journey to the inner wall. Apparently, traveling between walls could take days if we travel on land. Taking the boat will cut our travel time shorter.

The boat ride was uneventful and painfully boring – I spent the whole time sleeping, eating and reading. My ideal situation, really but since everything’s so new, I would’ve loved to see how different people from these parts are. Too bad I couldn’t.

Also, everyone who came along was shut in the conference room because most of them were Squad and Team leaders. Can you believe that Hange is a team leader? Too bad Nanaba is apparently “not important enough” to come along.

After the long boat ride, we finally arrived at our destination. It took us almost three days so the ball is tomorrow. The moment we land, a few people greeted uncle Keith. I have no idea who they are, but I would say that they’re someone rich, because I can definitely smell money off of them.

We were then escorted to a fancy looking house. Well, to be honest almost every house here is fancy. It’s the habitat of the rich people.

The house that we’re staying at is a regular house, I’d say. It’s almost similar to houses back home, really. Only zero electric appliances. I can see how different the lifestyle of people here compares to those from wall Maria – it’s like the Capitol from Panem!

After touring the plain-but-big house, I have nothing else to do but sleep. So I did just that. Good thing time went by so fast and it was finally Sunday – the day of the Ball.

           Erwin knocked on my door and patiently waited for me to answer. He obviously learned from his past blunder.

           “Here.” He said with no preamble whatsoever, as he handed me a blue gown. It’s a really frilly kind of gown.

           “This? This is what I’m going to wear?”

           “Yes. It is the craze among the ladies in the inner city. You’ll fit in nicely wearing that.”

           “Uhuh.” I said, and he promptly left me so that I could fix myself up.

           I found out that they have a decent amount of makeup, albeit seemingly ancient they do the job. I mean, the brow liners are like charcoal for goodness’ sake. I feel like I’m in that memoirs of a geisha makeover scene, except less graceful.

           The gown was a nice shade of ice blue; it was off-shoulder with frills just about everywhere. Oh, and big ass ribbons.

           Looking at the mirror, I can see that my hair is a mess, and my face is covered with rouge on my cheeks and lips. Despite my best efforts, I just can’t seem to tame my hair, so I just put it up in a messy bun. I know, it doesn’t go well with everything else but I really suck at fixing myself up.

           Leaving my room, I found that Erwin was waiting for me. He looked so good in his black coat, black pants, and blue shirt. Whoa, we’re matching? He offered me his arm, which I took, and we walked side by side to the carriage.

           Only then did I start feeling jittery. What if I slip up? Boy, uncle Keith is such a girl. We’re already in the carriage and he’s still not around. Man, what if I get asked about my life?

           “Where are the others?” I asked, trying to get my mind off of thinking that I’ll mess up.

           “Some went ahead; the others went to the market for supplies. We might as well get two things done during this trip.” Erwin answered calmly. Seriously, is he that used to these balls that he’s not nervous at all?

           “Don’t worry. You’ll do fine.” Erwin said as he covered my hand with his. That’s only when I noticed I was shaking a little. I felt like my voice might crack, so I just nodded.

           Someone is finally getting in the carriage, but the one behind the door was not uncle Keith. It was Hange!

           “Something came up; the commander will be riding with Lord Gregory so it’s just the three of us. Ahh!” Hange was wearing her uniform. Does she even have other clothes? I waited for her to get inside but she just stared at us, then at our hands.

           Crap!

           I pulled my hand back, Erwin did the same. Hange then entered with a suspiciously sly smile. Good thing though she just stayed quiet the whole way. But she kept giving us meaningful looks.

           We soon arrived at a big house – no, a mansion! – and it was brightly lit, you’d think it’s Christmas. Music was playing and you can already hear it from outside, and its only classical music which I assume is being played live. Well, duh? Like they could play Uptown Funk.

           The introductions went smoothly. Erwin introduced me to so many nobles, I didn’t even bother to remember their names. Some creepy old geezers would just be, well, creepy. Offering me all kinds of stuff and asking me to leave the military to be with them. It’s more annoying than creepy, actually.

           “Erwin, Lord Lawrence is over there. He’d love to hear about your formation proposal.” Uncle Keith popped up of nowhere, said this piece and dragged off Erwin to where ever this Lawrence is.

           “I’ll be back, Hange stay with her.” He said before disappearing with the commander. Hange is too absorbed with the buffet that she hardly pays any attention to me. “I’ll just sit over there,” I informed her before running off to sit in a corner. I think I heard her say ok, but her mouth is so full so I really can’t tell.

             Watching the party from where I am made me feel like I’m back home. No matter where you are, there really are people who can be vain. These rich assholes here are just partying and eating till they can’t breathe, while there are people who live on bread and soup in wall Maria. FYI, people like me.

           “Is the party a little too much for you, my lady?” A voice asked. Looking at the source, I found a man sitting beside me. It wasn’t just any man – he is drop dead gorgeous! I guess he could read my thoughts as I think I’m almost drooling, and he gave me a small laugh of amusement. Even though I know he’s laughing at me, I can’t help but smile. He’s that hot.

           He’s got this soft, brown, curls for hair, and he’s not too skinny nor buffed. He’s got green eyes, thick-ish brows, and perfect teeth. He’s just my type of guy, damn!

           “I’m Theodore.”

           “Andi. Uhm, I mean I’m Andi.”

           “Lovely name for a lovely lady.” He said as he scooped up my hand for a kiss. Honestly, I would’ve rolled my eyes at this but he’s just so cute. Turns out, he’s not just all looks. We spent quite some time talking about literature. Good thing that I’m well read on their books. We also talked about random things.

           We enjoyed our chat a little too much because we didn’t notice the crowd was silent until uncle Keith called me and some other man called Theo. Yes, I call him Theo now.

           Looking at uncle Keith, I now noticed that every eye in the room was on us, and most people had amused faces but Erwin’s not one of them. He’s standing right beside the commander, his face serious and his lip a tight line.

           Theo just laughed at the situation and stood up, giving me his hand so I’m standing beside him. The man who called Theo then spoke, “thank you, everyone, for coming to our humble party. My family appreciates your presence in a most wonderful celebration …” yadda yadda yadda.

           I tuned out the speech partly because I couldn’t care less, mostly because Theo wouldn’t stop talking and whispering to me. The crowd started clapping, signaling the end of the man’s speech.

           Looking around, I saw that uncle Keith was approaching with his little entourage, including the man whose speech I ignored.

           “Andi, this is Lord Thomas Van Rumpade. Lord Thomas, this is my niece Andi Frost.”

           “My my, who would’ve thought you would have a niece like her? I see you met my son Theodore.”

           In my shock, I couldn’t stop myself that I turned to Theo and asked him, “this is your party?” Good thing they just laughed. Well, I don’t really know if that’s a good thing.

           “No. It’s more like a party for me.” Theo answered me. A party for him? Shit. Is this like the party in Cinderella were the Prince can just pick whomever he wants for a wife?

           Good thing it wasn’t It was a coming of age party. Apparently, rich people are used to buying military titles, and this is the day he’ll decide to be a Military Police, or a Garrison Soldier or if he’s feeling hardcore, a Survey Corps Soldier.

           Since his family is going to buy the title, the Military branch he chooses will obviously receive the money. That’s where we come in.

           Dragging Erwin to the side, I asked him in the faintest whisper I could manage, “this is why I’m here, isn’t it? He’s almost my age.”

           “I’m afraid so.” He said. Looking at him, I really can’t tell what he’s thinking. It’s like the Erwin I know is on break, and this one is soldier Erwin. But maybe it’s just in my head.

           At the end of the party, Theo and his family ended up choosing the Survey Corps. Uncle Keith was so happy, I think he would actually jump. Theo’s father said they chose us because “this wee little lass is doing her best to protect us. What better way to thank her and her comrades than giving them funds?”

           It was a little too straight to the point, but I don’t care. It’s money and if it will help, then all is well. And since it’s just a title, Theo is free to stay behind, though he wouldn’t have it that way. He ended up tagging along on our way home. Well, not tagging. He’s one of us now.

Copyright © 2019 by imaginesnkdorks. All rights reserved

[bts5sosempire]

BTS Reaction: first love is them

A/n: so my lonely ass just raises some standards for me lmao.

. . . . .

Kim Seokjin:

When you first told Jin that you'd never been in love before, he was in disbelief. How could a pretty woman like you never dated? Not that he would mind, but he imagines you getting hit on all the time due to your attractive nature. But he is still asking you anyway.

“So if I'm your first, have you ever set your eyes in someone before?” The answer he receives from you was a grimace face of disgust. “Yah, I ask you nicely and you happened to give me an ugly look.”

Then you give him a teasing smile, “I never had my eyes on someone before. But most men at my campus are a little bit bland for my taste. The good ones are hiding or just preserving themselves for the right one.”

“You're so harsh.”

“It's not like you love me because of my bluntness, and my bluntness happened to be a part of it too for your information.”

Jin let out a tut from his lips. “You say you know why I fall in love with you?”

“You love me for many reasons you old man.”

“Yah! Who are you calling old?!” Jin stood up from his seat and chase after you who was running away from him.

Min Yoongi:

On a date, you never had held hand with Yoongi before. All you do was walk beside him and look at anywhere but him. Yoongi thought that when he asked you out, you only say ‘yes’ out of pity for him.

But he decides to make the first step. Yoongi went to swoop your hand into his grasp and you were startled and look up at him with big eyes before looking at your hand. He saw color rise into your cheeks. Are you perhaps embarrass?

He feels your hand grasp him with a tight little squeeze before loosen it up. “S-Sorry this is a first for me, holding hand with a boyfriend.” You stutter out cutely and Yoongi little disheartened vanish instantly. Your first time?

“I thought you dated before?”

“Dating never crosses my mind, I mean I'm always busy and such so this wasn't on my bucket list.”

“You're planning to stay single for the rest of your life then?”

“Who knows? Maybe?” Your vague answer made him chuckle.

“So why are you dating now?”

“A friend create a dating file for me without consent and start sending invitations to other singles. She forces me to dress up and that's how I met you on a blind date.”

“Well glad I have accepted it.” Yoongi pulls you close and kisses the top of your head.

Jung Hoseok:

Telling him that you'd never dated before left a priceless reaction on his face. “How come I never know? I thought that you had dated other people before you met me.”

You just shrugged. “Well, you never asked me before Hoseok.”

“I've been dating you for so long, for almost three years. Have I've been living in a lie?” There a dramatic look of shock and disbelief from his face, as he places both hands over his heart.

“Surely not,” you took a bite out of your spaghetti and sprinkle more cheese on it.

“But on the dates, we went on in the past, you act as you know. Especially the first.”

You let out an unattractive snort but it was still beautiful to him. “Hoseok when I first went on our date I assure I was having a multiple mental breakdowns, like I switch about eight outfits before meeting you.”

“Well, your first impression did keep me with you this long.” He answered so smooth that you had to hold in your spaghetti in your mouth as you try not to laugh at him.

“I love you,” you suddenly say chewing your mouthful spaghetti, while using one hand to block your mouth.

“I love you too.”

Kim Namjoon:

It was one of that confession night where you and Namjoon bared both your skeleton and soul to each other in the bedroom. You were laying on the bed with your legs slung over his stomach while reading a book and he was busy looking at the recently painted ceiling that you did. It was a dark blue night sky that had all the planets and all the stars of the zodiacs to warrior stars.

“(Name),” he called your name and you out down the book, “have you ever dated anyone before?”

“Why?”

“It's because you never talk to me about your ex before.”

With a short snorted laugh, you mark your page and close the book. “I've never dated before, you're my first.” Namjoon turns his head from the pillow and looks at you. “I may have like some guys before but they're short-lived.”

“Oh, why?” He was curious as to why you never dated before.

“Not just interested enough, I mean they do have some aspects that I adore about them but they do something stupid to ruin what I had for them. Which is their little immature attitude.” You told him and Namjoon can see you roll your eyes.

“What about me?”

“You? Well, umm…you're a special person. Even though you're not that perfect there is something about you that is beautiful. How should I put this? You're like a jagged edge that is soft in colors but sharp in corners.”

“Then I'm glad to be your first.”

Park Jimin:

Jimin was quite insecure that you can do better than him. He wasn't the ten out of ten guys, he was probably a six at that, but you seem so happy with him. That made him feel please somehow.

When you first dated him, you look so close off. He was sure you didn't like him, but you assure him he is the one. But as the progress of the relationship further on, he likes the attention he had from you since he is rather clingy and needy. He loves being needed.

But Jimin was sure you had done this with someone else before. How else would you be this good in the relationship? So he decides to be brave and ask to take a peek into your past.

“Did you date anyone before me? Or how long did you last dated?”

You set down the paintbrush in your hand and put it in the jar. You spin yourself to face him in front of the tall stool chair.

“I've never dated anyone besides you. And the longest time I ever waited to be dating is probably ever since I was born.” You laugh at the end and hop off the stool. Walking over to him, you grab his somehow round cheeks and squish it. “Why are you asking me now?”

“I doubt that you never dated before.”

“Well, you never dated before either. So it's a first for us both.”

Jimin took both your hands from your face and interlace it. “I'm so lucky.”

Kim Taehyung:

Taehyung kept glancing over at you as he sees you stare off into space. He is very pressed on asking you about your past relationships. The way you are with your guyfriend's suddenly made dawn upon him.

“Have you ever dated anyone before me?”

With a quick turn of your head, you just shook your head. “Dating for me back then was boring and unnecessary for my social life.” Popping a chip into your mouth, you went over to him and sit. You offer him a piece and he took it with his mouth.

“But have you ever thought about dating?”

“Maybe a few times overall the year, but my standards aren't cheap either.” You raise him an obvious brow, “They are rather high.”

“Then did I meet those standards?”

You put on a fake thinking face, “Hmm…You did exceed my expectations, if not, you're greater.”

This puts on a smile on Taehyung's face as he let out giggles and nuzzle his head into your neck as his box smile appears with his nose scrunch. “Stop flattering me.” He jokingly says in a high-pitch voice.

You just laugh at his playfulness.

Jeon Jungkook:

You and Jungkook had successfully gone on a date without his work interrupting him for once. Both of you came home quite exhausted and was dead on the couch.

Jungkook had to pick a physical date where the both you of have to legit runaround and do some workout. You were tired within just five minutes and Jungkook had the energy of a child that took some caffeine to keep him going.

Out of the blue, he asked you something, “Is the guy at the arcade your ex?”

You burst out a snort and raise a leg and gently slammed it down on his thighs with your heel. He took it as a no.

“That was my sister's ex-boyfriend,” telling him he made an ‘oh’ sound. “I never dated before though.”

“You never did?” He asks quicker than you ever imagine.

“Because coaches don't play Kookie.”

“Yeah, Yeah, and here you are.”

“I've retired for your precious information.”

Jungkook laughs at your witty response.

“What other things should we do since it's your first time dating?” He asks with suggestive brows and you loudly say ‘ew’ before slightly kicking his arms and slide off the couch to the kitchen.

“You're nasty, I ought to tell Jin and let Namjoon educate you.” You entered the kitchen but come back out and point an accusing finger at him, “Nevermind about Namjoon, we're going straight to Jin.”