#oh NO. it's like watching a disaster unfold right before your eyes i am so fascinated but i just feel bad for him

[speedycoffeedelight]

An Animalistic Disaster

Summery:Where you meet your new neighbour and a new friend

CH-9: A new neighbour and a explosive friend

The man's full body slowly came into your sight. He was wearing a hunting outfit containing breeches, high boots and a white shirt with black harnesses on top. With the rifle in hand, the black haired man stared up at you in confusion.

He thought that there wasn't anyone living nearby. At least that's what he heard. But now to see a young girl with the deer that escaped him behind her...that isn't something he expected. Did the deer not fear that girl? And what's with all these animals surrounding her?

"Hey there girlie! Fancy meeting someone like you here!" He shouted out while slowly walking closer to you. You flinched a bit hearing his shout suddenly but quickly composed yourself.

"Are you a hunter? Did you shoot this deer?" You asked still in defensive mode.

"Wow,no hi or hello? Haha, yes I am...if you couldn't tell by all of these" he gestured at himself. You now felt dumb for asking that question.

"And to answer your second question, yes I did shoot this deer. I never expected him to dodge it though... I usually never miss my targets" he said looking at the deer with an unusual glint in his eyes. But it quickly faded away as soon as it came.

"Though what's the deal with you girlie?

What's with all these animals around you? If I didn't know any better, I would think I'm facing a modern day Disney princess right now" he said teasingly while eyeing each and every animals around you. The snake surprised him the most. How could a sweet looking girl like you walk around with a venomous snake on her neck.

"They uh..they all live with me!" You didn't know exactly what to say about them. "And you hurt the deer" you said with anger in your voice. You now had to sew that poor deer's cuts again. You were grateful at least that it wasn't deep.

"Oh so they are your pets huh? I see.. Anyways, names Jake, William Jake. It's a pleasure to meet you..?" Jake said extending his hand. Both Husk and Alastor were furious with that statement. They refused to be anyone's pet.

"It's (Y/n). (Y/n) (l/n). " You said slowly shaking his hand. "And they aren't my pets. They are my... friends! Animal friends!" You quickly chimed in. Friends seemed like a better word than pets with this group.

"Say do you live there missy?" He said pointing to the cabin behind you. "I thought people didn't really live around here"

"Yes, I do. I actually bought this cabin a few days ago" you said sheepishly. "Well, I'll be! looks like you're my neighbour then. I live just a few minutes away from here!" He said while laughing.

"You're my neighbour..?" You didn't really know how to feel about this. You came here for peace and quiet. And now having this hunter as your new neighbour might mean destruction of that. You didn't want to hear random gunshots throughout the day.

"Looks like it! And I'm sorry for hurting your precious deer. I didn't know that thing had any friends. Maybe you should put a collar on your 'friends' so people know-"

Before Jake could finish his sentence, you saw the deer move up behind him. You quickly pushed him out of the way as you grabbed the antlers that was meant to swing up.

"No. I'm not letting you hurt a person on my watch" you said while gritting your teeth as you pushed to keep the deer's head lower. You could feel it's raw strength overpowering you. But you still held your ground and clenched your muscles. Your hand was hurting from how strongly you were holding the antlers. Without a doubt it was bruised by now.

Jake inwardly whistled in his mind as he watched the scene unfold in front of him. He made a wrong calculation. This sweet looking girl was actually strong as hell. Just looking at her pushing the ground with her clenched legs as she held onto that deer's antlers told a lot. With her dress's skirt swaying in the air, he could get a view of her thigh's muscles too.

"Now go to the cabin and rest. I'll come to sew you up soon, got it?" You chewed out last bits of your words. You and the deer stared at each others eyes for a few more moments. Then suddenly the deer pulled his head up overpowering you, causing you fall on your back with a thud.

Or you would fall on your back if it wasn't for a pair of muscular arms that caught you. "You alright there girlie?" Jake's blue eyes bore into yours as his hands gripped your back tighter. Embarrassment flowed through your veins as you quickly pulled yourself up.

"Y-yes, I'm alright, I'm sorry for that" you said while dusting your dress. "Guess that deer has it out for me huh? Can't blame him though. Thanks for saving me back there" he said glancing at your form. "Ah don't worry about it. I didn't think it would take it this far..." You said meekly.

"I think I should go patch up the deer right now. It's probably angry cause of it's wound" you wanted to end this conversation as quickly as possible. For some reason he gave you the heebie-jeebies. Though you couldn't explain why.

"Ah yes of course. Mind if I get your number neighbour? So we can keep in contact?" He said with a smile.

You quickly told him your number so you could get out of this. "Well then, I'll stop by soon with some treats next time, okay girlie? Stay safe now!" He said waving at you while going back in the forest.

"Yeah...you too.." you said while waving back. "God that was a mess..." You said as he went back to the forest. Meanwhile the whole thing happened so fast, the other animals could hardly comprehend it. It felt like they slowly came to their senses.

'That fucker...' Husk mumbled under his breath. He was glad you didn't call them your pets or put a collar on them. He already has enough of that from a certain someone.

"C'mon, let's go home.." you said shakily as you started to walk back. You looked at your hand to see it was bruised with black spots and some dried blood on it. You grimerced at the sight. That's gonna cause some problems.

When you got close to your cabin, Suddenly something fell and burst on your head. "Ouch! What the hell-" you couldn't even finish your sentence as more of these fell on your body. "Ouch, hey stop it!" You yelled out trying to get away.

The snake hissed from your neck as the moth flew over to the tree which you were being attacked from. Crouching down, you picked up the thing you were attacked with. It was a nut. A freaking nut. It was broken just enough on the outside so it'll brust when it hits something.

Vaggie flew up to find the culprit. It was a squirrel. 'let angel go bitch!!' It yelled as it prepared a another nut to throw at you.

'Hey hey stop! Are you a demon too?' Vaggie yelled at it. The squirrel looked up at her. 'Yeah! Name's cherri! I heard some fucker shooting when I was in the forest. I came as soon as I could. Now I see my best bud stuck with this girl!' she said pointing at you and Angel who was on top of Charlie.

'Don't worry I'll rescue ya..' Cherri mumbled as she prepared another nut to throw after chewing. 'Don't! She's actually helping us!" Vaggie started to explain the situation to her as briefly as possible.

Meanwhile you were quickly walking back to the cabin, not wanting to be hit again. As you opened the door to go inside the moth came back and sat on your hair. And then suddenly a squirrel ran past you.

You let out a sequel in surprise as it headed straight to the ewe which had the spider on it.

'Angel!'

'Cherri??'

Cherri ran straight at Angel who was trying to climb down from Charlie. 'Cherri? What're you doin here?' Angel asked as he immediately got tackled by her.

'I was trying to find you bitch! I went to that shitty hotel but it was in pieces! And when I went inside I got sent here!'

You walked to the pair and rubbed your temple in frustration.

"Not a another one..."

But first you went to the deer that was resting. With needle and thread, you sat down next to Alastor.

"You shouldn't have done that you know..?" You said softly while sewing him. You didn't get any response from it.

The deer didn't look at your face during the whole thing. After you finished sewing, you tried picking up the first aid box. You winced in pain slightly due to the bruises on you palm and let it fall again.

Alastor's ears perked up at the sound of your pained noise. He finally looked at you and your palm. Blood was trickling down. You washed your hand before sewing but now blood was coming out again.

Suddenly you heard rustling and saw the deer was standing beside you staring at your face. Then it looked down at your hand. Then before you could do anything, the deer leaned into you bloodied hand and licked it.

Your eyes widened in surprise as you watched it lick the blood off gently. You didn't understand if it was trying to say sorry or it was just enjoying your blood.

But you guessed the second from how his ears were moving and his tail was wagging in behind. You mentally sweatdropped.

Husk entered the room alongside Pentious just then. Both of them being surprised as well seeing the sight of you two.

'I'm too sober for this shit' Husk grumbled before walking away from the room. Pentious began to blush seeing you guys. He quickly slithered on top of you and started to hiss as Alastor from your neck.

'Get away from her you perverted beassst!' Alastor's eyes twitched in anger in having his fun ruined by this snake. He stopped and looked up at the snake. He desperately wanted to the bite the snake from you and throw it away. But he has caused enough trouble for you today so he held back. Besides he already got a taste.

You took back your hands that was clean of blood now. You weren't sure on how to feel about about all this. But you decided to just put some ointment on your hands first.

After bandaging your hands properly, you went to your bed to rest for a bit. Charlie joined you by jumping on your lap. Vaggie took her usual place on your head. And Niffty went to rest beside you. You smiled at the lot. Then you saw husk come as well and lay on the end of the bed turning his head away.

It pleasently surprised you since the cat didn't usually hang around you unless it was time for eating. He was probably warming up to you finally. You smiled as you held the ewe close.

'Hey Vaggie..? I have something to tell you..'Charlie said with uneasiness in her voice.

'Yes Hun? What do you want to say?'

Charlie took a deep breath. Then she started to tell the thing that was bothering her for a while. 'I..I may have feelings for (Y/N).. It's not like my love for you is gone! I still love you lots but I just feel like I have a crush on her and I-'

'Shush, I know what you're talking about. I feel the same way' Vaggie said with a smile.

'You do? You feel the same way? You're not mad at me??' Charlie said with anticipation. 'No, I get where you're coming from and I would have brought it up if you didn't. I'm not mad at you Charlie. '

'Oh thank Lucifer! So we both like her right?' Charlie said excitedly. 'Mm-hmm' Vaggie nodded.

Suddenly both your ewe and moth began to grow in bright golden colour, startling you. Niffty who was already asleep. She jumped off from the bed in shock and Husk's fur stood up as he started hissing.

All the other animals noticed the bright light and rushed to your room. The light went out just in a second and your ewe and moth were gone with something or someone replacing them.

Embarrassingly enough, the first thing that went through your mind was,

'Why am I stuck between two hot girls?'

Master list

A.N:NGL, I didn't like how the beginning turned out so I stretched out this chapter to leave some good stuff.

So we got our first humans!! How're you all feeling?? Also Jake looks like a mix between rei from buddy daddies and aizawa from bnha in case any of guys wanted to picture him visually<(￣︶￣)>

[ateez-ana]

lie detector recap

-now you are watching lie detector recap by @atinylatsub on youtube-

#intro/

hi guys welcome to a new video today I will present "matz line being a disaster for 3 minutes"With nothing more to say let's start with the video

#clip1

The three oldest members of Ateez are sitting at a table with the lie detector, the first to answer the questions is Seonghwa

 'Seonghwa, is it true that the eldest are actually awkward around each other?' ana ask the boy, Seonghwa, not wanting to admit the truth, replied, 'No, of course not. We're as comfortable as can be.'

The machine started beeping, indicating that Seonghwa was indeed lying,Hongjoong's eyes widened in shock, and he burst out laughing.

'Seonghwa, you liar! You totally are awkward around us!' Ana joined in on the laughter, doubling over as she clutched her stomach. 'I can't believe you tried to deny it! You're always so serious and formal around us, it's hilarious!' Seonghwa, looking embarrassed, tried to defend himself. 'I am not! I'm just being respectful.'

Ana, meanwhile, had dissolved into a fit of giggles. 'Oh, Seonghwa, you're so transparent!'

'Transparent?!' Seonghwa spluttered. 'It's just... I’m not used to the… the... enthusiasm.'

'Enthusiasm?' Hongjoong scoffed, throwing his hands up in mock despair. 'Is that what you call Ana's contagious energy and my… my… *passion* for life?'

'Passion,' Ana deadpanned, her laughter echoing through the room.

The three of them started to argue, with Seonghwa insisting that he wasn't awkward and Hongjoong and Ana playfully teasing him. The crew, who was filming the exchange, couldn't help but laugh at the scene unfolding before him.

#clip2

 'Alright, let's move on to our next question. Hongjoong, do you love your fellow eldest members?' Seonghwa ask the boy next to him

Hongjoong, with a dramatic sigh, looked directly at the camera. 'Of course, I love them. They're my family.'

'BEEEEP!'

The lie detector, once again, betrayed him. Ana and Seonghwa, simultaneously, gasped.

'You… you don't love us?' Ana choked out, her eyes wide and hurt playfully ask the boy. Seonghwa, who had been trying to stifle a laugh, now burst into full-fledged hysterics. 'You're telling me you don't love us Hongjoong, who's been trying to eat our food ever since we debuted?'

'It's not like that!' Hongjoong protested, his face turning a deep shade of crimson. 'I just… I just…something its wrong with the machine You didn’t do anything to the detector, right?' He trailed off, unable to formulate a coherent lie.

'See?' Ana chimed in, her voice dripping with mock indignation. 'He doesn't love us! I've known it all along!'

'Well, clearly,' Seonghwa said, still chuckling. 'He's just trying to hide his true feelings of…terror.' 'Terror?' Hongjoong sputtered, his face turning even redder. 'Why would I be terrified of you two?' Ana, however, was done with the charade. 'Okay, guys, enough. The truth is, Hongjoong and Seonghwa, you two… you don't love me!'

#clip3

For the final question, the hongjoong asked Ana if she loved Seonghwa and Him. Ana answered with a genuine 'yes' and the lie detector didn't beep.

The other two members were stunned, and Ana took the opportunity to point out that they never showed her any love in return.

Yes!' Ana declared, her eyes gleaming with mock defiance. 'From now on, I'm going to focus my love on the other members. They appreciate me more!'

leaving the two eldest members to stare at each other in stunned silence.The crew, meanwhile, was wiping tears of laughter from his eyes.

#clip4 (ana questions)

Hongjoong: Alright, Ana, first question: 'I'm confident of winning No. 1 with Wonderland as we did with Wave.' Truth or lie?

Ana, looking straight into the camera, her face a canvas of confidence, 'Of course! I mean, have you seen the choreography, the song, the whole package? We're gonna smash it!'

The lie detector beeped, a steady rhythm indicating...well, a lie. The camera crew exchanged a delighted glance, a wave of anticipation hitting them like a tidal wave.

Seonghwa, eyebrow arched, “Ana, the truth hurts, but it hurts less than the hat you’re going to wear.'

"I have a backup plan. I'll wear this ridiculous hat and sing 'Wonderland' in front of the entire fandom"

Hongjoong:Not bad!

Seonghwa: I can't wait to see that. What color hat would you wear for your 'Wonderland' performance?

Ana:Neon pink, complete with matching glitter glasses.

#clip5

Seonghwa: Right, next questionbI have a dream brand I want to be the ambassador for?

Ana's Answer: I want to be the face of... *drumroll*... Lovecraft Couture!

Hongjoong: Lovecraft Couture? Isn't that horror-themed?

Ana: I'm a creature of the night.

Seonghwa: We should get you some fangs and a cape.

Result: Truth

What kind of outfit would you wear for a Lovecraft Couture shoot?

Ana: A flowing black gown, with tentacles creeping up my arms. I'll channel my inner Cthulhu.

#clip6

Hongjoong: If I were to be born again, I would still choose to be ATEEZ, you're going to be in trouble if you lie on this one

Ana's Answer:100% without a doubt! ATEEZ is my family, my brothers, my everything. I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.

Hongjoong: Aww, that's so sweet.

Seonghwa: We love you too, Ana.

Ana looks at the boy with amused disbelief in her eyes "We literally realized that it's not true in this test, maybe the others do but you two nah"

[saff-rons]

oh god. he was actually in p19

WAIT what do you mean I missed a ferrari disaster class yesterday

[ser3nityst4r]

Seventh Dethroning

The books in the library was thick with tales and stories, the only sound the rustling of pages and the occasional sigh. Ace, his face flushed with anger, was on the verge of exploding. 'So it's all your fault, Riddle's like this!' he accused, his voice shaking with barely-contained fury. 'Riddle didn't get to choose his parents, but you knew what they did to him, and you knew it was wrong, right?'

Trey, his shoulders hunched under the weight of guilt, could only nod. 'I... I tried. I tried to show him there was another way, but...'

'But now Riddle's making the exact same mistake his parents did!' Ace interrupted, his voice rising. 'You're going easy on him because he had it rough as a kid? Don't you see where that's leading? You're letting him make a pariah out of himself!'

'This is a library, shush!' a stern voice boomed, silencing Ace abruptly. Principal Crowley, his face a mask of annoyance, appeared before them.

Yuu, watching the scene unfold with growing unease, couldn't help but wonder what had prompted Ace's outburst. He looked to Crowley, who, despite the reprimand, seemed oddly amused. 'Mr. Crowley, what are you doing here?' Yuu asked, knowing Crowley's aversion to anything remotely resembling work.

Crowley beamed, his eyes twinkling with mischief. 'Well, I'm glad you asked! I'm researching methods to send you back home. Precisely as I promised I would. Oh, but I AM gracious! And the library, of course, is an ideal place for serious research. It's not as if I came here just to secure the newest book in that popular series of novels. No, certainly not. *Ahem* Incidentally, what are you all discussing with such grim faces?'

Ace grimaced at the mention of Riddle, his anger momentarily forgotten. With a sigh, he explained the situation, detailing Riddle's tyrannical rule and the impossible task of apologizing to the Housewarden. 

'So to my understanding,' Ace continued, 'you're against apologizing, but you can't find any other way to remove that collar. Well, there's two other methods, such as transferring dorms or challenging them to a Housewarden battle.' He paused, an idea sparking in his eyes. 'I don't like the thought of running away with my tail between my legs by transferring dorms, so... Wait! What did you say?!' Ace shrieked, his voice filled with bewilderment, before being shushed, once again, by the exasperated principal.

'You mean I can duel Riddle for the Housewarden position without breaking the rules, like fighting with magic?' Ace's eyes sparkled with excitement. 'I'll give it a shot!'

Crowley slumped back, his enthusiasm draining away and regretting his previous suggestion. The thought of more paperwork, more responsibility, and more headaches was enough to make him groan in agony.

Yuu's unease deepened. Ace's plan was ludicrous, a desperate gamble that could easily backfire. 'Housewarden Riddle is quite powerful,' Yuu pointed out. 'Didn't he learn his signature spell at the age of ten? How do you plan on beating him?'

Ace smirked, his confidence unshaken. 'I'll find a way somehow to put that tyrant in his place.'

Yuu sighed, his concern growing. Ace's stubborn determination, fueled by anger and a misguided sense of justice, was a recipe for disaster. Yuu’s feeling of unease slowly crept up again, seemingly only getting worse within time. Drip Drip

[drarrily-we-row-along]

Day 112: Intimacy

"Come on," Pansy said as she sipped her pink cosmo, "Sure, pulling fit blokes and having anonymous sex has it's appeal."

"Merlin, Pans," he grumbled, raising a hand to the bartender for another gin and tonic, "I am not nearly drunk enough for this conversation."

"I'm just saying," she said, spreading her hands and giving him a cheeky little grin, "sex with random strangers is good but there's something to be said for the intimacy that comes from knowing and loving the person you're sleeping with."

He groaned and resisted the urge to cover his ears, but only just. There was only one person Draco might consider monogamy with and he'd been in love with him since he was eleven. To distract from his own thoughts he said, "Gross. Your love affair with Ginerva is repulsive."

"It's not some sordid affair, you arse. We're married!"

"Don't remind me," he groused. "We're always surrounded by bloody Gryffindors now."

And as if his words had summoned them, the door opened and Ginny, Ron, Hermione, Neville, and Harry came pouring in.

"They're awful."

"Oh come now," she said, leaning toward him, "Surely there's a certain handsome wizard who also happens to be the vanquisher of the forces of evil for whom you might make an exception."

"Shut it," he said.

A wicked grin tugged on the corner of her mouth, "Rumor has it that he's quite a lover," she said. "And don't pretend those bulging quidditch player thighs don't do it for you," she added, "And that arse-"

"Shut up," he hissed as the rowdy Gryffindors approached the table.

(Read more below the cut)

She held up her hands in surrender before turning her attention to Ginerva.

Potter slid into the seat next to Draco as he did almost every time he was out at the same time as they were. "Hey stranger," he said, all smiles and dimples and sparkling green eyes that Draco could have very easily lost himself in.

"Good evening," he replied, attempting to keep his voice calm and disinterested.

"How are you?" Potter asked, angling toward Draco's and raking his eyes over his body.

People believed that Harry Potter was oblivious but that couldn't have been further from the truth. The other man was perceptive and observant as anything when he wanted to be. "I'm well, thank you."

Potter sighed, "Come on," he said, bumping Draco's foot under the table. "How are you really? I haven't seen you in-"

"Five days," Draco replied.

Potter laughed, "But who's counting?"

He was saved having to answer when Ginny and Ron got into a fight and distracted the whole table. Draco breathed a silent sigh of relief and allowed himself to watch the drama unfolding before him.

-------

At a perfectly respectable hour, Draco stood up from the table, "Well, as lovely as this has been, I'm off," he said.

Everyone, save Potter who'd left for the loo a few minutes prior, waved him off and wished him a good night, and he set out, trying to decide which club he was going to go to. The last time he'd been at Pulse he'd found a very handsome bloke to take home, dark hair, dark skin, strong, and handsome; it was just his eyes that were wrong. And Merlin, he'd been delightful in bed. He'd almost let him stay over, in fact.

"Draco!" someone called behind him, "Draco!"

Before he'd really let himself think it through he turned around and saw that Potter was chasing him down the sidewalk. His heart beat a little faster and his mouth went a little dry.

"Hey," the other man said.

"Hi," Draco replied like an utter idiot.

The corner of Potter's mouth tilted up and that infernal dimple appeared. "Listen," he said, licking his bottom lip, "I keep trying to ask you but then I get too nervous-"

"You get nervous?" Draco asked incredulously.

Potter rubbed the back of his neck, "Not often but I can't seem to keep my head when I'm around you."

Draco huffed a laugh.

"I'm serious," Potter said emphatically. "I have all these great plans, all these clever things to say, and then once you're standing there in front of me I'm just this scared, stupid teenage kid all over again."

His heart might as well have turned into a puddle for all the good it was doing in his chest.

"So I'm just going to say it," he said, nodding once. "Draco Malfoy, I really like you. You are clever, and kind, and funny, and you are bloody gorgeous. I really want to get to know you better."

He blinked at him, "Well, I was thinking about going to find someone to take home with me-" he started to offer.

But Potter was shaking his head, "No. Well," he amended, "It's not that I don't want to," he broke off and cleared his throat, "It's just that I don't want to be a one night stand that you take home and kick out of bed in the morning."

"I don't let my one night stands stay over night," he replied.

"Right," Potter said, "Of course. It's just," he halted again. "One night isn't enough. I'm pretty sure that one night would just make everything worse."

"What are you proposing, then?"

"A date?" Potter offered.

"And if it ends with sex?" he asked curiously because Merlin he hoped that it would end with sex.

"I would very much like to have sex with you but I want more than one night."

He looked at him for a long moment, heart beating hard against his rib cage, "I would be amenable to that. As long as you aren't a complete disaster."

"Yeah?" Harry asked hopefully.

"Yes," Draco replied with a little smile.

And this was the first night of the rest of their lives together.

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

Day 111: Smile | Day 113: Cooking

[the-scandalorian]

Tempered Glass: Chapter 6

Pairing: Din Djarin x Female Reader Rating: M (will become explicit) Word Count: 4k Warnings: slow burn, sad feels/angst, canon-typical violence, cursing, sexy thoughts, pining Summary: When Fennec Shand reveals your true identity to the Mandalorian, you do your best to pick up the pieces. Notes: I’m sorry this took me so long!! I rewrote it like six times because I couldn’t get it to feel right. Next chapter should be much faster. Taglist: @bbdoyouloveme​​ @beskarhearts​​ @dincrypt​ @dunderr​ @honey-hi​ @just-me-and-my-obsessions00​ @mbpokemonrulez​  @oloreaa​ @red-leaders​ @speakerforthedead0​ @spideysimpossiblegirl​​ @theflightytemptressadventure​ @ubri812​ @zoemariefit​​

Previous Chapter | Masterlist | Next Chapter

Image from The Art of Star Wars: The Mandalorian

Fuck. Panic coursed through your veins and paralyzed you. Your brain moved infuriatingly slowly as you tried to think of a way to stop the disaster that was unfolding before your eyes.

And yet...despite your fear and despite the fact that this terrifying, high-level bounty hunter had once tracked you, hearing Fennec call you sweetheart made your stomach drop—in a pleasant way, not at all like when Toro had done the same. She was beautiful, strong, mysterious, intimidating. What little you saw of her fighting style confirmed that she was lithe and exacting—catlike in her grace and prowess. A sexy armored bounty hunter.

I have a type.

You shunted that wildly unhelpful train of thought out of your head to refocus on the crisis at hand.

You looked at Mando. “I—”

“What’s she talking about?” he prompted. You couldn’t tell if you were projecting because you felt guilty or if he really did sound a little hurt.

You opened your mouth again to respond, but Fennec beat you to it.

“Oh, you don’t know?” Even in the dark, you could see Fennec’s eyes sparkle in delight as she addressed Mando. “I don’t know how this one stayed off your radar,” she explained. “She was wanted by the Empire for years. Huge bounty... She looks a little different now—check her chest for a scar to make sure, but I’d bet her bounty it’s there.”

Mando had already seen the scar. He knew Fennec was right.

You caught the hungry look on Toro’s face as he drank in everything Fennec was saying. His eyes trailed down your face and landed shamelessly on your chest. You could practically hear the wheels turning in his head as he tried to think up a way to confirm your identity and claim the reward for both you and Fennec. This little fucker.

Fennec looked at you, and you took a step back involuntarily. “You’ve gotten sloppy, baby. There’s been chatter for weeks that you resurfaced on Nevarro. If I hadn’t been pinned down here, I’d have come for you myself.”

Her words felt like ice sliding down your throat and settling in your stomach. You’d figured that news of your sighting would probably get out, but you had hoped against hope that the blue-haired bounty hunter had been taken out before she’d been able to spread the word.

Mando was silent, fists clenched tightly at his sides, visor glued on Fennec. Pulling yourself together, you grabbed his arm and dragged him a safe distance away.

“I was going to tell you. I’m sorry,” you blurted, once you were out of earshot.

“It’s fine,” he replied stiffly, his gaze trained decidedly to your right.

Somewhere in the back of your mind you registered that even though it was just the two of you, his voice retained its icy, detached quality, all the tender familiarity gone.

“No, it’s not. I should have told you sooner. I-I wanted to—believe me—but I didn’t know if I could trust you. You were—you’ve been worried that I might turn you or the kid in, haven’t you? I was worried that you’d do the same to me if you found out. The longer I spent with you, the more I felt like you wouldn’t, but I had to be completely, totally sure. I couldn’t take the risk. You can understand that, right?”

He said nothing.

“Look—I really want to be able to trust you. I want you to be able to trust me. I just didn’t know where to start. It’s not easy for people like us to trust blindly, you know?” You hated that your voice sounded almost pleading.

Still, he said nothing, a blank beskar wall. The comfortable warmth that had developed—slowly, painstakingly—between you two over the past weeks had dissolved in an instant.

“Mando. Talk to me, please.” You reached out for his arm, but he stepped back. He still wouldn’t meet your gaze.

“Not now. Not here.”

“But—”

Your heart sank when he turned abruptly and walked back to the others.

You watched as he grabbed Fennec’s arm roughly, hauling her to her feet, and you trailed behind as he lead your party back down to the foot of the cliff. When you reached the bottom, Mando threw Fennec to the ground.

“Uh oh, looks like two of us have to walk,” Fennec taunted, eyeing the lone bike.

Mando jerked his head, motioning you and Toro to follow him.

“Alright, so what is the plan?” Toro asked Mando.

Reluctantly, you refrained from asking him if he could contribute for once instead of letting Mando do literally all the work; instead, you turned to Mando and supplied, “That dewback isn’t far.”

Mando didn’t look at you. To Toro, he said, “I need you to go find it.”

“And leave you here with my bounty and my ride?” Toro asked incredulously. “Yeah, I don’t think so, Mando. I’ll only go if she comes with me, so I have a guarantee that you won’t leave.” Toro gestured toward you.

You and Mando spoke at the same time: “No.”

“Either she comes, or I don’t go.” Toro was obviously pleased with himself for thinking of this plan, a smirk painted on his face. 

You shot him a scathing look before turning to Mando to offer, “I’ll go get it alone.”

You’d love to put some distance between you and Toro, between you and Fennec, and honestly even between you and Mando at the moment.

“Suit yourself,” shrugged Toro. “Less work for me.”

You ignored Toro. “I remember vaguely where it was.” You pointed.

Mando pressed a button on the side of his helmet and scanned the horizon, stopping vaguely where you’d pointed. Finally, he trained his visor on you. He looked from you to Toro to where Fennec was seated and to you again, deliberating. You could tell he didn’t want you to go alone, but he also didn’t want to leave you here with Toro and Fennec. “We’ll go together.”

You nodded, knowing you were in no position to complain. Now that your secret was out, it was evident that both Toro and Fennec would capitalize on your value at the first chance. And, even now, when your dishonesty had been revealed to him, Mando still felt compelled to protect you, his generous heart winning out over whatever malice he felt toward you.

A small part of you resented him for that; it didn’t rub you the right way that he didn’t think you could take care of yourself. A larger part of you knew it was exactly why you liked him so much.

It would be convenient if he were a selfish ass. You could convince yourself you didn’t owe him anything, that you’d done nothing wrong. But no. 

This is why it’s easier to be alone.

You felt both angry and guilty, an awful combination that manifested in the urge to hit something—a deep yearning to break Toro’s nose flashed through your mind when you caught the smug expression on his face as he looked from you to Mando. He was enjoying the palpable tension that had materialized between you a little too much.

“Watch her,” Mando reminded Toro, gesturing to Fennec. “And don’t let her get near the bike. She’s no good to us dead.”

Without a look or a word to you, he turned and started toward the dewback. 

***

You walked in awkward silence, knowing you’d have to be the one to break it, but you delayed the inevitable, admiring the array of stars spread out above you. Mando stomped up and down the swells of sand, staying several paces ahead.

You meandered your way through a storm conflicting emotions: anger at yourself for getting into this situation (rightful), anger at Mando for being infuriatingly honorable (misplaced), guilt that you’d hurt Mando (well-founded), fear about your safety (appropriate), fear that Mando was about to break your heart a little bit (honest), irritation that you were trekking through a damn desert and there was an aggressive amount of sand in your boots (fair but trivial)... and a myriad of others that were too nuanced to unpack.

After deliberating for a long time, you decided to take an offensive position and offer to leave preemptively to save Mando the trouble (and to save yourself from having to hear that from him). You steeled yourself with a deep breath and interrupted the oppressive quietude of the night, jogging for a moment to catch up with him.

“We can go our separate ways when we get back to Mos Eisley. I know I’m too much of a liability to keep around, especially with the kid.”

He turned his head to look at you, the night sky reflected in his visor.

“I have enough credits to get off world some other way.”

“If that’s what you want.”

It killed you a little just how much it wasn’t what you wanted. You were supposed to be totally independent—you’d chosen this life when you joined the Rebel Alliance, knowing that if by some miracle you managed to survive, you’d be hunted for years. The call for your blood wouldn’t—and didn’t—end with the Battle of Endor, especially when Imperial remnants remained strong. And years ago, condemning yourself to this life for a just cause had seemed brave and romantic. Now, here you were, desperate to build a connection with someone else, despite the risk. And you were starting to think that truly being brave would mean accepting that risk.

At what point is it worth giving up ease for happiness, for something more?

You gathered up what nerve you could muster and took a leap.

“It’s not what I want, but I know you feel betrayed. I really am sorry I didn’t tell you—I was planning to, but I was scared. Scared that you’d take advantage of that... scared that you’d take back your offer to stick together. And the longer I waited, the harder it got to come clean.”

“I understand.”

The frostiness of his voice had given way to something a shade softer, but it still hadn’t returned to its former warmth.

You nodded.  

As it became clear that he wasn’t going to say anything else, the disappointment started to settle in, trickling into the hollow of your chest. He understood, but it evidently didn’t change the fact that the fragile trust that had evolved between you was shattered.

Well, fuck.

You suppressed the wave of emotions that threatened to overtake you, focusing instead on making a new plan for yourself. There would be time to work through the feelings later, alone. Your thoughts wandered to where you might go next, running through a mental list of options. Nothing sounded appealing. 

None of the places that came to mind would be stocked with a shiny, withholding Mandalorian and an ancient green toddler.

You walked for another twenty minutes before Mando spoke again.

“I want to trust you too.”

You stopped. “What?”

He halted too, turning to face you. The dark sky painted his beskar deep shades of liquid indigo, speckled with pinpricks of starlight, that moved as he shifted his weight from one leg to the other. “I wish you... uh... had felt safe enough to tell me that, but I understand why you didn’t.”

You knitted your eyebrows together. “Wait. You’re not mad?”

“I haven’t given you any reason to be open with me. And I guessed you were running from something.”

“Oh.”

“The Empire part caught me off guard—but I knew there was something.”

Of course he’d figured it out...that seemed so obvious now. He’d be able to spot that from a mile away. Plus, he knew you. You spent the last month or so learning his tells and quirks, but you hadn’t stopped to think that he was doing the same with you.

He continued: “But the kid and I are also wanted by the Empire. We’d have the same problem even if you weren’t here.”

“True...” You were struggling to recover from the whiplash.

“What are you wanted for?”

“I was an Intelligence Officer in the Alliance.” It had been years since you’d shared this information with anyone, but the words fell from your lips as naturally as if you said them every day, like you’d been ready to tell him all along and your mouth had finally caught up with your heart.

“Yeah, that makes more sense,” he said. “Explains a lot of your skills.”

You scoffed. “Fair.”

Mando cleared his throat and hooked his thumbs in his belt. “But... it’s...uh, nice to not always be alone.” He punctuated the end of his sentence with a shrug, a little embarrassed.

Relief washed over you.

You smiled. “For me too.”

“Good,” he agreed, nodding decisively.

“Shit, you really let me think you were furious,” you laughed, feeling infinitely lighter but still trying to wrap your mind around this abrupt turn.

“Sorry,” he apologized, “I was... trying to figure some things out.”

You shook your head in exasperation and started walking again, but you froze when he said your real name. You’d known your name would sound good in his voice—everything did—but the way it rumbled and rasped through the modulator was borderline sinful, agonizingly personal.

File that away for later.

You looked back at him, and he cocked his head: “So you’ll stay?” 

“Yeah, I’ll stay,” you agreed, a broad grin on your face.

You both started walking again, and suddenly, trudging through the sandy desert in the middle of the night didn’t seem so bad. The dewback came back into view as you crested another sand dune.

Mando looked over at you. “Din,” he offered. “My name is Din.”

You glanced up at him, surprised. “Din,” you repeated back to him, feeling it out.

Despite the contradictory definition of the word, it suited him. He was the opposite of a cacophony, a man of few words—though to be fair, he did often cause a commotion. But as a name... Din was short, to the point. It evoked a lot of feeling for just three letters, and that felt right.

“I know your real name now. I thought it was only fair that you know mine too, but only use it when it’s just me and you and the kid,” he explained.

Your throat was unexpectedly tight.

You reached over to squeeze his arm at the elbow, where there was a gap in the beskar. He didn’t pull away.

“Thanks,” you answered, looking up into his visor. 

You hoped he understood that you were thanking him for more than just his name—for his understanding, for his trust, for his protection, for his vulnerability. You couldn’t say that all out loud at the moment, but you hoped he knew.

He dipped his helmet in acknowledgement, and you dropped your hand. 

When you finally reached the dewback, Din approached slowly, speaking to it in a calm, lilting voice. It warmed to him slowly, and he grabbed the reins.

He hauled himself up onto its back and then extended a hand down to you. You took it, and he pulled you up easily to sit behind him. You wrapped your arms around his middle.

“Is this okay?” You weren’t really sure why you asked this time. Things had shifted between the two of you, so you were compelled to check that the casual contact was still welcome.

He cleared his throat: “Yeah, fine,” he confirmed.

It had been a long time since you’d been physically affectionate with anyone, besides the occasional casual, short-lived tryst. It was nice to wrap your arms around someone familiar and comfortable, someone who knew you.

The dewback started forward. Din directed it back toward the cliffs with the reins in his fist. It wasn’t a huge distance, but the dewback was a slow means of transportation.

You had little idea what all this meant for your daily reality with Din. You had both shared that you wanted companionship, but that didn’t necessarily mean he was interested in anything more than that. However, for you at least, this was undeniably no longer a superficial interest that you harbored; you had real affection for him. And it seemed like he maybe was starting to feel same way about you? Or maybe he was just getting comfortable with having companionship? The man was starved for human interaction, so it was hard to know if he was warming up to you or warming up to companionship in general.

One step at a time.

Time slipped by as the dewback lumbered on. You rested your cheek against the scratchy fabric of his cape and closed your eyes. The rhythmic movement, the darkness, and comfort of the position lulled you into a light sleep.

You weren’t sure how long you’d been asleep when Din woke you, squeezing your now limp arm that was resting on his thigh above his beskar plate.

“Alive back there?” he asked in a low voice.

Leaned against him, still groggy with sleep, you felt the question rumble through his chest.

You sat up straight, pulling your arms back to your sides. “Shit, sorry. I didn’t mean to fall asleep.”

He chuckled. “It’s fine. We’re close.”

The two suns had risen, bathing the landscape in the golden glow of early morning. You looked around and saw that you were a short distance from where you’d left Toro and Fennec. You couldn’t see them yet, but you figured they were hidden behind one of the many large boulders strewn across the landscape.

As you drew nearer, though, you could tell something was wrong. Only one figure came into view—and it was crumpled on the ground. Din registered this as well: his shoulders stiffened, and he pulled the reins tight to halt the dewback’s slow advance.

It was Fennec’s body on the ground. Toro was nowhere to be seen.

“Fuck,” you breathed.

“You were right about him,” said Din. “Stay here.”

Din dismounted and approached Fennec’s body. She looked dead, but he crouched to check. He tried to find a pulse, and after a moment, he stood back up and shook his head.

As Din walked back toward you, the realization dawned on you both at the same time.

“He didn’t—”

“The kid—”

“She must have—”

“We have to—”

Din hurried back onto the dewback and directed it toward Mos Eisley, doing his best to make the lumbering creature pick up its pace. It didn’t help much.

The ride back was interminable. You definitely didn’t fall asleep this time, adrenaline keeping you on edge as the hours passed. Both you and Din were incredibly tense, speaking very little, thinking only of the child.

***

Night had fallen again by the time you reached Mos Eisley. The speeder bike that Toro had been riding was parked outside Peli’s. Fury and fear spidered through your veins at the thought of him with the kid.

Din jumped off the side of the dewback and looked up at you expectantly, his arms outstretched. You maneuvered your leg over the side and slid down a bit until his hands gripped your hips, and he lowered you until your feet hit the sand. You could have easily jumped down on your own. He knew that. You knew that. You’d let him help you anyways.

You paused outside the bay to draw your blasters.

“Here,” Din offered you the flash charge.

You slipped it into your jacket sleeve, where it stayed tight against your wrist. Together, you crept through the door and down the stairway that opened up to where the Razor Crest was parked. It was eerily quiet.

You scanned the space, jumping slightly when one of Peli’s pit droids scurried past.

“Took you guys long enough.”

Toro walked slowly down the open ramp of the Crest, the barrel of the blaster in his hand pressed to Peli’s back. The child was held in his other arm.

“Looks like I’m calling the shots now. Huh?” he sneered.

The urge to hit him flared up so acutely that you clenched your fists. You hissed at him: “Don’t you da—”

“Drop your blasters and raise ‘em,” he ordered, cutting you off.

You and Din exchanged a look before throwing your blasters to the ground. In a subtle movement, you shifted the charge from your sleeve to your fist as you placed your hands behind your head.

“Cuff ‘em,” commanded Toro, nudging Peli forward and throwing two sets of cuffs to the ground.

She moved toward Din.

“No, start with her,” Toro drawled, jutting his chin toward you. “To think I almost cut Mando out of this deal,” he laughed. “I would have gotten you and Fennec, but this is so much better. I get to collect the bounty on you and this target here that Mando helped escape,” he pointed his gun at the baby and all your muscles tensed in protective rage, “...and I get to turn in the legendary Mandalorian himself—a Guild traitor.”

Peli walked behind you. You grasped the charge in your fist so that she would be able to see the top of it. You heard her quiet, sharp intake of breath.

“Fennec was right,” Toro continued smugly. “Bringing you three in won’t just make me a member of the Guild—it’ll make me legendary. Three high-value targets on my first try. Wow, I should really thank you guys.”

Peli was fumbling with the cuffs behind you, taking longer than necessary on purpose.

You hoped she was ready to duck because you’d heard enough of Toro’s self-congratulatory monologue. You released the charge.

In the split second of blinding light, you, Din, and Peli sprinted in opposite directions, taking cover. Toro groaned and attempted to cover his eyes, shooting blindly at the empty space where you had been standing.

Din took Toro out in one shot.

You were closest to where he fell, so you charged forward with your blaster trained on his body. The baby wiggled out of Toro’s arms and ran toward you. His big eyes were watery and his arms stretched toward you, his fingers making little grabby motions. He chittered nervously as you scooped him up with your free arm, and he buried his head in your shoulder.

You kicked Toro’s blaster away from his body as Din approached to make sure he was dead. After he checked his pulse, Din tugged the pouch of credits from Toro’s belt and tossed it to Peli. “Here,” he said.

With a gasp, she caught it and emptied the pouch in her hands. Credits tumbled out, a few falling to the ground.

“That cover us?” Din asked.

Peli looked shocked, scrambling to pick them all up. “Yeah... uh, yes. This is gonna cover you.” It was clearly far more than she was expecting.

You passed the child over to Din, and he looked down at the baby, tilting his helmet in...what? Affection? Relief? This was a head tilt you hadn’t defined yet.

Peli approached him and looked down at the child. “You take care of him, you hear?”

Din nodded.

“Thank you for watching him,” you said to Peli, genuinely grateful that she had turned out to be trustworthy.

“Besides getting held at gunpoint... I guess it wasn’t too bad,” she replied, smiling down at the baby. She’d clearly grown fond of him, and you couldn’t blame her. After a moment, Peli mumbled a goodbye and walked away, eagerly counting the credits in her hands, her pit droids skittering after her.

You stood there, finger caught between three tiny green ones, as the kid babbled and cooed up at you. When you looked up, Din’s helmet was trained on your face.

He tipped his head toward the open ramp of the Crest in a wordless invitation.

You smiled at him, a comforting warmth settling in your chest, and he followed you into the hull.

***

Chapter 7

[takenyoomies]

Bonten Abbey: (mis)Aventures to the Arcade

Summary:

Sanzu Haruchiyo was known for many things...pill-popping, being late, and most importantly, wrecking the flow of the weekly Wednesday board meeting. What would this week hold? None of the other members of Bonten wanted to find out when he was once again late to the meeting which only spelled one thing for them. Disaster. Word Count: 8.7k Read on AO3

It was a Wednesday, and a Wednesday meant one thing for the Bonten gang. The weekly board meeting that nearly every single member in the top brass gang seemed to dread, loathe, and despise. It was often typical for each member to discuss their part for the designated five minutes. However,  going over time would cause extreme tension in the sardine-can-sized conference room that would rival being trapped in a room with a rabid badger. In addition, there were times when other off-topic conversations occurred that in Akashi Takeomi’s quoted words were “an absolute fucking mess.” All in all, the meetings tended to go through without a hitch. However, today was not one of those days as Sanzu Haruchiyo strolled into the conference room with a shit-eating grin that rivaled no one else,  fashionably late, of course.

“Hey, Sanzu!” An annoyed Mochi shouted at the man who entered, whipping his head around at the sound of the door closing, teeth barred and fists clenched in anger.

“Yo, Mochi.” Sanzu waved, trouncing over and sliding down into the uncomfortable and hard leather seat.

“We have a set meeting time, jackass.” Kokonoi hissed.

“Like he’d  ever  listen to that Koko….” Ran laughed, shaking his head.

“Important business called me.” The pink-haired man sighed blissfully, shrugging almost sarcastically to the platinum blond accountant’s dismay.

“I doubt that highly.” Rindou breathed.

“Oh, and what would that be?” Takeomi chimed in, a brow raised as he put out his cigarette.

“I’m  so  glad you asked!”

Reaching into his pocket with excited fingers, the pink-haired mullet sporting man pulled out a folded piece of paper. One would think this was some grandiose plan, some information regarding their competition, something important. But, no, Haruchiyo Sanzu unfolded the piece of colorful paper and slammed it onto the mahogany conference table, looking up at the group of men with a smirk.

“...Please tell me it’s actually important this time.” One of them said with a sigh. It didn’t matter which one.

“Oh, trust me, it’s of the utmost importance.” Sanzu assured, holding up his right hand, “Swear on Mucho’s grave.”

“The last time you used that, we ended up deserted at some movie theater that was showing a crappy porno...so that’s out the window, and you’re about to be too if this is something-” Mochi ranted, taking a glance at the piece of paper, “Are you fucking serious?” He asked in disbelief.

“What is it this time?” Kakucho finally spoke with an exasperated sigh, standing up from his seat and walking over to take a look at the piece of paper, “An arcade?” He asked with a raised brow as he looked over to the pink-haired man.

“Yeah, they’re running a deal where if eight people come as a group, you get 50% off.” He leaned back in the chair, putting his feet onto the table with a thud, “Therefore, I think we should take advantage of it and get off our depressed asses for a change.” Sanzu concluded with a nod.

There was a click in the background as Takeomi lit another cigarette. “I’m fine without having to babysit for the day.” Takeomi stated, then taking a heavy hit off of the cigarette, exhaling upward, “Interrupting a meeting for this is rather pointless, Haruchiyo Sanzu….”

“I think it sounds like a good time. Reminds me of when we were back in Tenjiku, right Rindou?” Ran turned to his brother, who sighed and shook his head.

“Yeah, I guess there’s some nostalgia there.” The younger Haitani agreed.

“2-1.” Sanzu stated, pointing to the others in the room, “Mochi, Kakucho, Koko….” He said to each as he pointed to each of them with his index finger, pausing as he hovered over the sleeping Mikey, not daring to wake him up.

“It’s a waste of our funds, and judging from the fact we recently recovered from the great  Bonten Has To Eat Instant Noodles For Two Months issue...It’s a no from me as well.” Kokonoi explained as he slid his hands together, “I’m sadly not in the mood for instant noodles again.”

Sanzu rolled his eyes, “Stop being a drama queen, and it wasn’t  that  bad.”

“It was fucking awful. What the fuck are you talking about?” Mochi argued, “Just for that, it’s a no from me too.”

“Bullshit, you’re voting based on emotions.” Sanzu cried out, swinging his feet off the table and slamming his fists onto it with a loud thud.

“What if I am?!” Mochi screamed, holding his fists up, dropping the flyer onto the floor for Kakucho to pick up.

“Oh god, here we go again…” The younger Haitani laughed, laying onto the surface in front of him as he watched the fight unfold.

“Zero days without incident at a Bonten Board Meeting….” Takeomi sighed, shaking his head in dismay.

“Did we ever have a positive count…” Kokonoi asked in confusion.

“Nope.” Ran snorted as he shook his head.

“I think it’d be interesting.” The normally quiet Kakucho spoke up, placing the flyer onto the table near the sleeping blond.

“See? I knew Kakucho was my favorite for a reason.” Sanzu pointed towards Kakucho, who blinked and pointed towards himself to ask ‘who, me?’.

“Didn’t you say Rindou was your favorite last week?” Ran questioned, an index finger on his cheek in sarcastic thought, “Oh right, it was for  ‘agreeing with you about how strawberry shortcake is better than strawberry cheesecake’  …” Pointing at Sanzu.

Rindou jabbed his brother in the stomach with an elbow, causing the taller of the two to emit a dull ‘ ow,’  “Don’t bring me into this.”

“That was an important conversation. Mochi was trying to say cheesecake was better than real cake,” Sanzu clarified, “I’m not going to rehash old beef, though.” He held up two hands as if to say he didn’t care. However, it only seemed to anger Mochi more as he drew back a fist. Kakucho began to get ready to hold the brawny man back for the umpteenth time.

However, a small yawn from the front of the table, causing every person to freeze. Mochi and Kakucho returned to their seats quickly as the blond who had once been asleep opened his dark, inky eyes.

“...All of you are unnaturally quiet,” He finally spoke, looking around at each of the men seated at the table. He then glanced down at the sheet of paper that was settled in front of him, “What’s this?”

Sanzu gulped. This was officially a make-or-break moment for his plan, “Ah, Mikey...it’s for an arcade that’s running a deal….” He trailed off nervously.

The blond’s obsidian eyes glanced over the information listed on the paper before pausing at the section relating to food and looking back up at the group of men, “We’re going.”

Sanzu smirked and looked directly at Takeomi, who looked as though he wanted to crawl into a ditch and die, “Sanzu - 1 Takeomi - 0.” He jousted.

“If we were keeping track history-wise, you’d be so far in the red you’d be begging for someone to come save you,” Takeomi shot back, shrugging his shoulders and standing from his seat. He walked towards the door of the conference room, turning his head to Sanzu, “but you do that enough already, huh?” Finishing with a dry laugh as he exited the conference room.

“What the fuck? I’m not Koko.”

“I’m right here…?” Kokonoi shook his head in disbelief, standing from his seat at the table with a huff and kicking the chair back into place, “If I have to eat instant noodles for two months again, I will  never  forgive any of you assholes….” Pointing a finger around the room, stopping before Mikey, turning on his designer heels, and walking out of the room. You could hear the faint echo of his heels trailing down the concrete hallway.

“And then there were….” Sanzu counted himself and the heads in the room, holding up one hand to count only to realize he didn’t have enough fingers, “Anyways, when are we going?”

“The flyer said the deal is only good until Sunday; therefore, we need to go before then.” Kakucho informed the group, “Since it’s Wednesday, and we each have jobs to do until early Saturday morning...I’d suggest Saturday afternoon.”

“Overall, that sounds like it would work with our current plans, Kakucho.” Mikey agreed, his obsidian gaze staring holes into the heterochromatic man’s soul.

Kakucho nodded his head, “I’ll be taking my leave now. I have some things I need to tie up.” Then, standing up from his chair, pushing the chair in, and silently walking out the door to the conference room.

“We’ll get going as well, then.” Ran suddenly spoke as he stood up lazily, a scuffling noise coming from the chair.

“You act as though we’re going to the same place….” The younger Haitani breathed, shaking his head and rolling his lavender eyes at his brother’s statement.

“I thought you said we’re going out for lunch?” Ran pouted, hands on his hips.

“I said I was going to get lunch, and you invited yourself again.”

“I don’t see what the problem is with that?”

“Everything, everything is the problem with that.” Rindou turned to his brother as he finally stood from his place at the table with a huff.

“Can I come wi-” Mochi started to ask, only to be interrupted.

“NO!” Both Ran and Rindou yelled simultaneously to Mochi.

“Tough crowd…” Sanzu snorted to Mochi.

“Listen-” Mochi started, cracking his knuckles, only to be shot a look by Mikey.

“I’d be careful Sanzu, Kakucho already left, and that makes the chances of your face getting smashed in about 8-2.” Ran pointed with some underlying amusement, almost hoping that there would be another fight.

“Wow! Is everyone Koko today?!” He asked incredulously, putting his head in his palm and looking at the older Haitani, “If I didn’t know better...you did our taxes, Ran!”

“...But, I do help with those?” He questioned in a confused tone, blinking.

“Leave him. He’s hopeless.” Rindou sighed, “Mochi, come with us to lunch before you get put on punishment duty by Mikey.”

“I wasn’t gonna do shit.” Mochi huffed, glaring at the pink-haired man, “What are you lookin’ at?”

“Nothing, nothing...it’s just-” Sanzu paused, leaning forward in his seat to get a closer look at Mochi.

“It’s just what?” Mochi spat.

“Your beard...you shaved it crooked this morning, and it’s the funniest fucking shit I’ve  ever  seen.”

Yes, it was at this moment that Mikey indeed questioned if he formed the deadliest gang in all of Tokyo...or if he formed the most immature band of toddlers in all the land of Japan.

---x---

“So, who's driving?” Sanzu asked lazily on that faithful Saturday afternoon.

“The last time Rindou drove, he floored it past an old lady because she was driving the speed limit and nearly crashed us into a gasoline tanker, so...I vote not Rind-OW what was that for?!” Kokonoi yelped, getting elbowed in the side by Rindou.

“She was going eight under the speed limit, number one, and number two. I drive fine compared to somebody!” The long-haired man glaring over to Mochi.

“Eat shit.” Mochi replied, flipping Rindou the bird, “Let Kakucho drive; he’s safe.”

Sanzu groaned loudly, “But Kakucho drives like a grandma.”

“And how is that a bad thing?” Kakucho sighed, shaking his head.

“We’re gonna get there at sundown if you drive.” Sanzu pointed out.

“Oh, true.” Ran chimed in with a thoughtful nod.

“I don’t drive  that  slow.”

“Yes, you do,” Sanzu breathed, “Next.” Kakucho held out his hand, only to put it down in defeat.

“Alright, since Sanzu is an absolute fuckwit about this, I’ll drive. One catch, though,” Takeomi spoke up as he threw his cigarette onto the pavement, crushing it under his shoe.

“Ooooh, Takeomi enters the chat.” Sanzu mooned.

“Shut up,” He shook his head, “I get full control of the radio.”

Everyone went silent, staring at one another in horror.

“Sanzu, let someone else drive,” Kokonoi spoke up finally.

“Yeah, please, let someone else drive.” Rindou shook.

“I don’t want to deal with this for 45 minutes.” Mochi looked over at Takeomi, lighting another cigarette, who had a sinister look in his eyes.

Mikey finally strolled down into the parking garage, noticing no one was in the bus, “Who’s driving.”

“Takeomi is,” Sanzu replied, a collective sigh from the group as Takeomi chuckled to himself.

As everyone began boarding the bus, Mikey clung behind with Kakucho, only to ask a singular question, “Does this mean he has control of the radio again?”

“We’re sadly going to be listening to Russian death metal for 45 minutes….”

Mikey stared ahead before reaching into his pocket and fishing out two pairs of earplugs and handing Kakucho a couple, “Tell no one.”

The dark-haired man blinked as the other walked onto the bus, Sanzu slamming on the horn while screaming at Kakucho to “get his ass on the bus,” much to Takeomi’s annoyance as he tried to shove the pink-haired idiot away. Inwardly, he wondered about the kindness as he embarked on the self-proclaimed Bonten prison bus, holding the earplugs in his fist.

The route navigation guidance will start…

“Yeah, yeah, shut the fuck up.” Mochi chided the navigation system.

“Don’t insult her. You’d get lost getting out of a paper bag.” Rindou snorted.

Takeomi turned his head around and glared, “I hear any more arguing, and all of you will wake up in a walk-in freezer.” He said with a sweet smile, putting the bus into gear and starting to drive out of their base.

“You’ll never take me alive!” Sanzu retorted after a moment, snickering to himself as Takeomi visibly winced in anger.

“Yeah, that’s the point, dumbass,” Kokonoi replied, slapping the back of Sanzu’s head with an open palm.

“Takeomiiii Koko hit meeee-”

Takeomi gripped the steering wheel with one hand, his knuckles on that hand turning white as his other hand skillfully reached for the pack of cigarettes and a lighter that laid on the center console. He plucked a stick out with his lips, throwing the pack back down and flicking the lighter to light the cigarette. He inhaled deeply, holding the smoke in for a long while as if to contemplate his current life choices, such as why in the world he ever agreed to play babysitter to a group of overgrown idiots and be their chauffeur for the day. Finally, his eyes looked into the rear-view mirror, meeting Sanzu’s mischievous cerulean ones, “Good, you deserved it.”

“Fuck off, Takeomi.” Sanzu puffed, Takeomi only turning up the music louder in a petty act of revenge.

“Look what you made him do!” The blond man shrieked in horror, everyone else on the bus, minus Kakucho and Mikey, glaring at the pink-haired offender.

“I didn’t do anything! He turned it up himself!” Sanzu defended.

“I’m rating Takeomi 1 star on Uber,” The older of the Haitani brothers joked, “Worst music choices, worst attitude, smokes in the car-”

“You can walk if you want,” Takeomi called out, “But remember, I had to carry you home after that mission because you twisted your ankle because you decided to wear those new Gucci shoes...I think you’d be too far up shit creek to stand on your own.”

Ran blushed furiously, “You said you wouldn’t tell anyone!”

Rindou snorting and holding his sides, “Bro, that’s why you were limping that week? You said you slipped on the ice...It was your shoes?!” He wheezed.

“Oh my god, you’re absolutely hopeless, Ran….” Kokonoi facepalmed, chuckling.

“I am not. I’m reporting you to HR!” The short-haired man pouted, crossing his arms.

Sanzu snorted, “Did you mean Kakucho?” Looking over to the dark-haired man who was staring out the window, “Oh shit, he’s brooding.”

Mochi sighed, “Someone get the tissues ready.”

“Earth to Kakucho, come in to Kakucho...Return to planet earth!!” Sanzu yelled, causing Takeomi to glare at him in the rear-view mirror.

“Sanzu, that walk-in freezer has your name on it...I know a place relatively close by.” Takeomi threatened.

Turn left at the next intersection, then turn right.

“Bullshit, that’s the long way.” Takeomi hissed, throwing his cigarette out the window angrily, “Who designed this.”

“Please do not take us on another scenic route again…” Sanzu whined painfully, “It’s on the GPS for a reason. We do not need to relive the Black Dragons glory days.”

Takeomi rolled his eyes, “For your information, my glory days have nothing to do with getting us there faster.”

“Mhm...keep telling yourself that.” Sanzu replied snarkily, “Are we there yet?”

“Mikey, do you still have the duct tape in the bus?” Kokonoi perked up suddenly, clapping his hands together, “I suddenly thought of a great project for us!”

“I don’t like the sound of this project.” Sanzu objected.

“Oh, I’m sure you’ll just  love  it.” The light-haired man reassured Sanzu, brushing his hand against his arm gently, the other retreating with disgust. Kokonoi snorted with laughter, “What, scared?”

“No, I don’t want to catch your reverse sister complex.”

Kokonoi stared at the other with his mouth wide open, Sanzu rolling his eyes in return, “I was at the Kanto Incident, don’t act like people don’t have ears when you and what’s his face were out there screaming about it….”

“Yeah, you were screaming about it, Koko.” Mochi agreed, Sanzu blinking that the man had agreed with him.

“Oh yeah, I remember that!” Ran exclaimed.

“Survey says Tenjiku remembers it Koko.” Sanzu shrugged.

“Go to hell, and stay there.” Kokonoi huffed, blowing his bangs off his face.

Sanzu crossed his arms, smirking smugly, “You’re just mad because I won.”

“Oh god, he’s crying.” Mochi whispered, nodding his head toward Kakucho, “Sanzu, you just fucking  had  to bring up Tenjiku, didn’t you?”

“Nice going Sanzu, that’s the 3rd time this month you did it, too.” Rindou pointed out, “I don’t think we have tissues in the fucking bus anymore.”

“Why the fuck not?!” Mochi hissed, “Oh wait….” His eyes trailing over to the elder Haitani, who was looking to the side inconspicuously.

Rindou’s eyes narrowed as he looked at his brother, “Yeah, hm, perhaps because someone decided to hop in with a fresh bullet wound….”

“Listen, it was a bad night...week...month….” He attempted in defense, each increment of time making Rindou raise his brow higher and higher, “ Year?” Finally, causing the younger brother to nod in agreement.

“Wow, Ran...it’s almost as though you’re more useless than Sanzu,” Takeomi muttered sarcastically, offended gasps resonating from both Sanzu and Ran.

“At least I know how to cook without setting the fire alarms off,” Ran spoke incredulously.

“You forgot the sprinklers too.” Rindou chimed in.

“Hey,” Sanzu spoke, turning his head to them.

“Please, let us all not forget about the time he came to a meeting to discuss the fine intricacies of how orange juice makes you taste weird after you brush your teeth,” Mochi added, shaking his head in disproval.

“I’m right here!” Sanzu yelled in a huff.

You have arrived at your destination.

“Thank fucking god,” Takeomi sighed, putting the bus in park, “Someone wake Mikey up.”

---x---

Surprisingly, the arcade was located in a relatively remote part of town compared to where Bonten typically walked their regular routes. However, this did not stop several people from staring as the rag-tag crew disembarked the converted prison bus.

“Hey, hey...who are those people…”

“They look kinda scary.….”

“Alright, so game plan time.” Sanzu began as they walked towards the doors of the arcade.

“I’ll go in, so you get the deal. However, I’ll be standing outside to smoke otherwise.” Takeomi concluded.

“What?!” Sanzu shrieked in disbelief, “No, you have to participate.”

“No, I don’t.” The scar-faced man replied coldly.

“Let it go Sanzu, Takeomi can keep watch.” Kakuchou offered, “And he needs a break too. He just drove for almost an hour.”

Takeomi nodded his head in agreement, “Couldn’t have said it better.”

Sanzu clicked his tongue in annoyance, looking over to the blond for help, “Mikey….” He pleaded in a petulant manner.

“Let him rest.” Mikey stated, “He’s been pulling overnights, too.”

Takeomi smirked towards Sanzu, who only seemed to get more aggravated as he aggressively pulled open the doors to the arcade with a loud, “Fine!”

The arcade was anything you would expect, loud, smelled a bit musty, and was vibrant beyond compare. However, there was a slight scent of cheese for some strange reason. Heading towards the counter, the eight members of Bonten cashed in for several game cards that were quickly handed to none of than Hajime Kokonoi himself.

“Wait, why me?” He asked incredulously.

“Weren’t you the one who said,  oh, I don’t wanna eat instant noodles for a month ?” Sanzu mocked, shaking his head.

“Yeah, but we’re all adults here and can manage fine….” The platinum blond trailed off, looking around in a confused manner.

“Yeah, Koko, don’t be a hypocrite.”The older Haitani agreed, hands on his hips.

“Are you seriously agreeing with him?!” Koko cried in astonishment.

“Well, I think that settles it,” Sanzu said with a smirk, “You can go play like, one game or something like that.”

“Sanzu, is the word ‘nice’ in your dictionary, or did that get removed when you started your drug usage?” Kakucho asked, blinking.

Sanzu turned and looked at the other man, “I could say something right now, but it would amount to the fourth time this month.”

“Alright, let’s just get on with this shit.” Mochi finally said, shaking his head.

“Yeah, Yeah...I’m going….” Sanzu waved his hand as he walked in the other direction, likely off to find something that piqued his interest.

Ran turned to Rindou, “I wonder if they have DDR here….” He wondered aloud, his lavender eyes glancing around the area only to light up in amusement, “I see it!”

“Oh, it’s on.” Rindou smirked, “Ready for a revenge match, bro?”

“Like I’d ever miss it for the world.” Ran laughed as they both made a bee-line for the machine.

“What are you gonna, do Kakucho?” Mochi asked, turning to the jet-black-haired man.

“I’m not sure; I haven’t been to an arcade since….” He trailed off and looked to the floor.

“Get out of your head for once.” Mochi punched the other lightly in the shoulder with a grin, “Can’t stay in there forever, huh?”

Kakucho looked towards the other man and nodded, “You’re right.”

The two began walking around, attempting to find something to do in the vast array of games and activities, stopping now and then for Mochi to try something and only failing at it miserably, only to have Kakucho show Mochi how to do it properly. Eventually, both came upon a motorcycle racing game, their eyes lighting up as they used to long ago.

“Mochi?” Kakucho asked quietly, though loud enough to hear over the several kids screaming in the background.

“Yeah?” He asked.

“We’re playing this.” He declared.

“I mean, I figured when you stopped right there and were staring at it like it was some sexy chick at the strip club.” Mochi snorted, Kakucho staring at him as though he had two heads.

“Your disrespect for women is unimaginable.” He huffed as he hopped onto the motorcycle.

Mochi let out a hearty chuckle as he climbed onto the adjacent motorcycle, “Preaching respect women while in a gang that deals with prostitution,” He slid the card into the reader twice, “That’s some funny shit.”

“Oh screw, you.” Kakucho pouted as he swerved the motorcycles to select the rider, pausing over a white-haired rider and selecting them.

Mochi stared a moment, blinking at the fact Kakucho had chosen a character that looked like Izana. He shook his head and chose a random character, not exactly caring.

3...2...1...START!

“Oh fuck me, this ain’t nothin’ like the real shit.” Mochi cursed as he attempted to steer, crashing out several times with a string of curses.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about; this is pretty easy?” Kakucho replied, already in 1st place.

“How the fuck!” Mochi swore in anger, attempting to climb back into a semi-reputable position, only to realize he was in 9th place, closing in on 10th.

Kakucho tilted his body through a turn and smiled; he was having fun with this. He truly missed being able to go to the arcade with friends, with Izana. He wondered if they could do this more often...if Bonten could. He was drawn from his thoughts as Mochi swore loudly again, making him laugh, “Mochi, do you need help?”

“How the fuck are you gonna help me from there?!” The bulky man swore, now in 12th place—dead last.

“I...don’t know,” Kakucho admitted, crossing the finish line and setting a course record for the game.

“This is some ungodly level bullshit right here,” Mochi complained, trying to back himself out of an in-game ditch.

Kakucho continued watching for several minutes until Mochi finally crossed the finish line, “Well done.” He congratulated.

“Oh fuck off, enter your damn name.” The bearded man hissed in envy.

Kakucho entered his initials into the game, listed under 2nd place. He wondered who had set the 1st place record for the machine, though it was likely impossible to figure out.

His head turned when he heard a cry of frustration nearby, one that he knew...Koko?

---x---

When the group had split up earlier, Haruchiyo Sanzu had given him one rule. That was he was only allowed to play one game. Several ideas ran through his head, virtual poker, which allowed him to recoup the money they were blowing here, the weird slot machine game that looked rather promising, and then, of course, the game where you had a coin and slid it down a slot to push more coins off a ledge… All of those were lovely ideas, Kokonoi thought, that was until he landed upon a red stool in front of a screen that read Deal or No Deal. He’d heard of this reality television series before, and he knew the premise.

The blond pursed his lips as he sat down, assessing the machine. There were 16 buttons on the front labeled 1 through 16 in the shape of what looked to be briefcases. Kokonoi assumed they were to represent the motifs from the show. He sighed, figuring that, if anything, this was going to be the game for him. He slid the game card through the reader, slumping onto the stool.

Get ready to play: Deal or No Deal.

“Fuck me…” Kokonoi sighed in annoyance, watching as the said sixteen cases appeared on the screen with various ticket amounts ranging from one to five hundred. Large letters appearing stating to ‘follow the cases,’ which essentially signified you were supposed to pick the largest amount.

“Oh lovely, some RNG?” He muttered sarcastically, “It’s not like we don’t get enough of that in those gacha games kids play these days….” The cases shuffled around the screen, stopping and showing designated numbers that corresponded to the buttoned below. He thought a moment before pressing the nine button.

Choose your case...this will be your personal case.

“Yeah, I already did that-” Kokonoi hissed in annoyance, spamming one of the buttons to no avail.

You chose case number nine.

“Oh.”

Now pick five cases.

“I feel like I’m playing some fucked up lottery.” He sighed, noticing the clock and swearing under his breath as he scrambled to choose a number, “Let’s continue with the ongoing theme of my name.” He pressed the 1 button.

One.

One of the virtual women on the screen opened the case to reveal a low ticket amount, Kokonoi nodding his head in approval. He pressed the 13 button, the game echoing his choice once again to show yet another low ticket amount.

“And I thought poker was a rush.” He mused to himself, pressing the 8 button. This time, a larger amount was revealed.

“And all good things come to an end.” The light-haired man sighed as he then pressed the 15, another low.

“Back in black,” He joked, leaning back as he assessed the board for the final number, “Alright, let’s try 6.” It was a high number.

There was a ring from a telephone, causing Kokonoi to look around in confusion, only to realize it was the game, “This is such a weird game….”

That’s the bank.

“Oh good, am I getting paid?”

Here is the offer...Deal or No Deal...

A ticket amount appeared on the screen, Kokonoi’s inky eyes narrowing, “That’s it?!” He cried in frustration, hitting the NO DEAL button quickly, “I think that one gang we took out last week had a better offer for us than that.” He huffed.

Now open four cases.

“Again?” He asked incredulously, shaking his head, “Fine.” He pressed the 2 button, revealing a large amount, “Goddammit.” He thought a moment as the clock ticked down.

Hurry up.

“Oh, this game did  not  just tell me to hurry up.” The fair-haired man stated saltily, pressing the 16 button, low. He smirked, “See, can’t rush perfection.” He pushed the 10 button, low again.

“One more until the bank comes crawling back to me….” Kokonoi thought aloud to himself, hovering over the 14 button and then pressing it gently. Another low amount. The phone began ringing again in the game, music to Kokonoi’s ears, in all honesty.

There’s the bank again.

“Who else would it be?” Kokonoi mocked as he waited for the offer to appear on the screen.

Here’s the offer...Deal or No Deal…

Kokonoi thought a moment as the in-game clock ticked down. While this was a remarkably better offer than the last, he knew that there was still a significant chance he would be able to win big, and after all, it was an arcade. And not to mention, the bragging rights over Sanzu would give him mental clarity for the next month. With that thought, he pressed the NO DEAL button.

Now pick three cases.

Kokonoi sucked in a breath, his heart pumping, and he rubbed his hands together, “This is starting to feel like poker.” He pressed the 3 key. High. Swearing under his breath as he then pushed the 12 key high again. He stared up at the ceiling, his grand plan starting to fall apart as he looked down and pressed the 7 key, hoping for some luck. Low. Kokonoi sighed to himself as the phone rang, knowing the offer would look like garbage compared to the last, and laughing hysterically when it was less than half of what it originally was, quickly pressing the NO DEAL button as if he had never seen it.

Now open two cases.

“I don’t know if it’s good or bad, that the highest amount is still there, or that the offer they just made was so bad I wanted to leave here and never return..” Kokonoi chuckled to himself, questioning his life choices up until this point, pressing the 5 key. High. He then pressed the 4 key, also high.

“Wait...doesn’t that mean…” He stared and blinked, “I have either the 1 ticket or 500…”

The phone ringing again to make another offer, Kokonoi spamming the NO DEAL button as he came to the realization.

Now, let’s open your case.

As the in-game woman opened the case, Kokonoi leaned forward, only for the case to reveal...One ticket. Hajime Kokonoi had won, one ticket. He screamed, slamming his hands onto the machine before holding his head in his hands, staring at the floor in anguish. By now, Kakucho and Mochi had made their way over to him.

“Koko, what happened?” Kakucho asked, leaning down to attempt to make eye contact.

“I took a calculated risk...and for what.” The blond sobbed, his hand nearly tearing his hair out in frustration.

“Uh...Koko, it’s just a game.” Mochi laughed, amused by the entire situation.

“Do you think we can put a hit on Howie?” Kokonoi asked after a moment, looking up at the two of them.

“Who the fuck is Howie?” Mochi asked.

“Isn’t that the Deal or No Deal guy?” Kakucho asked, and then noticing where they were standing, “The answer is no, we are not killing someone for your petty revenge.”

Kokonoi huffed and crossed his arms, “Fine.” He looked around, “Where’s Ran and Rindou?”

“Oh, they’re with their fan club.” Mochi snorted, “Go see for yourself.”

---x---

“They really do have it, bro!” Rindou said with a huge grin, pointing towards the bright and colorful Dance Dance Revolution machine in front of them.

“Why wouldn’t they? They had it when we were growing up in Roppongi?”

“Okay, but who the fuck knows about a weird arcade Sanzu chose.”

“You speak only the truth…” Ran laughed, stepping onto the pad and sliding the card through the reader, “Oh nice, we get three songs?”

“Remember before we’d have to keep a cup of quarters on the floor, and we’d always spill it?” Rindou asked, tying his hair into a bun and joining his brother on the game’s vibrant pad.

“Yeah, and you’d always blame me for it even though you were always the one who did it!” Ran pouted, flipping through the songs and pausing on one, the music filtering through speakers as he turned to Rindou with a sinister smirk, “What was that about a revenge match?”

Rindou grinned, crossing his arms triumphantly, “I’ll gladly bust your ass at Kimagure Mercy any day.”

“Do you still remember how we do it?” Ran questioned as he selected it, sliding off his suit jacket and slinging it over the back of the railing.

“How couldn’t I.” The bun-sporting man rolled his lavender eyes, “Aren’t you the older one, gRANdpa?”

Ran’s eyebrow twitched, “I’m not above sibling punishment Rindou.”

“Oh, I’m shaking.”

The was applause from the game, signifying the song was about to start. The two brothers faced forwards, the intro starting and patterns beginning to fall down the screen. The two started to move in unison, swaying back and forth to the beat. It wasn’t until the first verse hit that what Ran mentioned began.

The Haitani brothers had begun to dance while playing Dance Dance Revolution.

Rindou glanced over to his brother, “Oh my god can you stop being such a show-off for once?” He huffed through a laugh, clapping hands with his brother to the beat.

“Please, it’s on my wiki article!” Ran cried out, “Just like you’re a big brute.” He bopped his head.

“I am not!” The younger retorted, squinting at the screen.

“Don’t mess up, Rindou!” Ran teased and purposefully pushed the other a bit in one of their claps.

“Fuck off!”

A crowd began to grow, mainly teenage girls enamored by these two men playing the game in such a spectacular way. All of them were excitedly watching as the two played, starting to ask each other questions such as “Does anyone know their names?” “Who are they?” “Do they have an Instagram?”... Eventually, when Rindou’s name was mentioned, people began to cheer for him. Naturally, this caused a significant issue for Ran Haitani.

“Hi ladies, I’m Ran~” He sang, causing them to squeal, a smirk plastered on his face, and an annoyed groan from Rindou echoing in response.

“In another life, I wonder if you were destined to be a host.” He sighed, accidentally missing the tile on the floor, “Shit!” he swore loudly.

“You see what you get, Rindou; respect your elders.” Ran snorted, the other man glaring at him from the corner of his eyes.

“When this song is over, you better run…” He whispered, “It’s over in 23...22...21…”

“I’m so old, my hearing…” He joked, Rindou nearly grabbing his hand during one of the claps and breaking it.

The song wrapped up, Ran turning around and waving to the group of girls and Rindou slouching forwards, primarily due to rage, though also due to an insatiable desire to beat his brother to a pulp in Dance Dance Revolution.

“Again.”

“Oh, you want more?” Ran asked with a lazy smirk as he waved to the “fans”.

“We have 2 more songs.” Rindou huffed, rolling his eyes, “It’s a waste of money.”

“True,” Ran nodded his head, “Let’s pick an easier song then!” He reached for the buttons only to have his hand slapped away by the younger, a dull ‘ow’ leaving his lips.

“No, we’re playing this song until I beat you. It’s that simple.” Rindou explained, hands on his hips.

“Fine, fine.” The older relented, “Don’t blame me if you can’t beat me.”

By the time Kakucho, Mochi, and Kokonoi made it over to the Haitani brothers. The crowd was sizeable. The arcade staff attempted to get the crowd to disperse, as it was becoming a fire hazard to the facility.

“Hey Ran, Rindou, what happened here?” Mochi asked as he finally made it to the front.

The two stepped off the machine and walked over to the group, Rindou grinning as the elder brother shook his head, “I reminded him who the rightful heir to the DDR throne is.”

“Please, you only beat me once.” Ran sighed in exasperation and exhaustion.

“And that still means I beat you.” The long-haired man spoke smugly.

“Wait, so that crowd...was all for you two playing a rhythm game?” Kokonoi questioned, “That’s insane.”

“I hope they don’t follow us home, or Mikey is going to have our heads,” Kakucho pondering the probability, “Then again, they might see Takeomi and get a bit scared.”

“Is he still out smoking?” Kokonoi pondered, tilting his head to see if he could see him, “I can’t see him.”

“I thought I saw him come in with Sanzu earlier?” Ran spoke up, the entire group staring at him.

“That can’t be right. Takeomi would never go with Sanzu…” The blond-haired man stated, slightly bewildered by the information.

“Oh, there he is.” The younger Haitani pointed, Takeomi wearing a shit-eating grin as he walked back outside, the entire group then spotting a pissed-off Sanzu.

---x---

Sanzu was officially bored. He thought that coming to the arcade would be an excellent way to spend some time away from things, though it only seemed to create more issues. What was worse was everyone else seemed to be doing their own thing, so there was no one left to mess with or bother. After an hour of wandering around and playing several games that held his attention for a few minutes or less, he set his sights on a bigger and better prize: Akashi Takeomi.

Yes, in actuality Akashi Takeomi was dangerous. He likely could kidnap Sanzu as he slept, lock him in a freezer, and then feed him to the fish...Though where was the fun in not messing with someone like that? He smirked to himself as he walked outside to see the scar-faced man unsurprisingly smoking.

“Ew, how many have you smoked today?” Sanzu spoke, holding his nose in mock disgust.

Takeomi didn’t even look at him, “Half a pack, give or take.”

“Smoking’s bad for you, y’know.”

“Drugs are too, but you don’t see me trying to give you a 12-step lecture.” Takeomi retorted dryly, Sanzu cackling in response.

“I gotta hand it to ya. That one was funny.” The pink-haired man pointing to the other.

“What exactly do you want?”

Sanzu clasped his hands together, “Dearest Takeomi, you’ve been out here for over an hour...I think it’s about time you came inside and actually enjoyed what we came here for.”

“No.” He replied with a laugh, “Nice try though, really love the theatrics...maybe we can get you a job with the prostitutes.”

Sanzu groaned, “Can you stop being a stick in the mud for once and be fun?”

Takeomi felt something inside him snap. Honestly, he just wanted to sit outside and smoke. He wanted not to have to deal with a specific pink-haired buffoon who continued to ruin his Saturdays over and over each week. Instead, however, he turned to the other man with a sickly sweet smile, throwing his cigarette onto the ground and crushing it under his shoe, “Sure, Sanzu, I’ll play one game...let’s go.”

“Really!” Sanzu’s face lit up with excitement, “Okay, let’s go!”

As they entered the arcade, Sanzu and Takeomi walked around a moment, regret beginning to wash over the older as his head began to pound from the noise and light.

“So, what do you want to play.” The pink-haired man asked, tipping his head to meet the other’s gaze.

“I don’t know, and I haven’t been to an arcade in fuck all knows.” Takeomi hissed, rubbing his temples, “Can you make it quick?”

“Jeez, I didn’t know they made you when the dinosaurs still walked the planet.” Sanzu grumbled, “Let’s go for a shooter then.” The two of them walking towards a Western-style shooting game that had plastic guns.

“Why am I not surprised.” The dark-haired man breathed, shaking his head.

“What? Sorry, I’m good at what I’m good at?” Sanzu mocked, shrugging his shoulders, “Anyways, it’s pretty self-explanatory...aim, pull the trigger, boom.”

Takeomi smirked. What Sanzu didn’t know was, he knew how to play this game. He knew far too well how to play this game because, during his days as a Brahma captain, Senju and himself would often sit in arcades and play. Sanzu Haruchiyo had sentenced himself to an early grave with this one, no matter how good a shot he was.

“Well, what are you waiting for?” The pink-haired man nodding his head towards the machine.

“I’m broke; you pay for it.”

“How the fuck are you broke if you- Nevermind.” Sanzu started, shaking his head and sliding his game card through the reader, “Let’s settle this.”

The older stepped up to the gallery, picking up the model gun and testing the weight in his hands before settling on a position.

Ready...Start!

Enemies started popping onto the screen, Sanzu quickly shooting the targets that were his color. He thought to himself it would be easy to best the older man until he realized he was keeping pace, and his score was already twice his based on the accuracy bonus.

“Hey, hey, hey…” Sanzu started, beginning to get ruffled by the sudden turn of events.

“What is it Sanzu, maybe you should aim a bit better, or is that too difficult?” Takeomi replied cooly as he blasted the head off of a zombie, “Oh, that was a good one.”

“Are you  shitting  me?” He cried out in response, “You actually know how to play this?” Sanzu was aiming for one of the enemy bonuses. However, he missed miserably. He swore under his breath, much to Takeomi’s delight.

“It’s been a good oh, what did you call it...era.” He mused as they made it to the boss level, “But for someone as young as you, this must be easy, right?” His voice dripping with poison.

“There’s still the boss level. I can-” He looked at the scores, feeling the color drain out of his face.

“What was that, Sanzu? My old deaf ears can’t hear you over the sound of your absolute thrashing.” He chuckled, “But don’t worry, I’m sure they’ll recover in time to hear you cry.”

“Do we just need to get you a nicotine drip? I don’t think the patch is gonna cut it with you.” Sanzu groaned, “Or, do you want one of my pills? Those might take your edge off too.”

“Take the joke, Sanzu,” He sighed, the game finishing out and Takeomi writing his initials in the records list, “Have a good time trying to beat that, though.” The older smirking, patting the other on the back as he walked towards the entrance, shit-eating grin plastered across his face as he pulled out another cigarette from his ever-dwindling pack.

Sanzu stared at the score in disbelief. He couldn’t beat that score today. He would have to come back another day to beat it, but he would beat it, no matter what. He stomped his foot in frustration, only to notice the entire Bonten group was looking, sans Mikey. He blinked and did what any person with an IQ between 85 and 115 would do...make a break for the food court before he could be harassed.

---x---

Was this the main reason Mikey agreed to this excursion? He didn’t want to admit to it. However, when the flyer said they had six different types of taiyaki in the featured food court, Mikey was sold instantly on the idea, as embarrassing as it was. He quietly walked towards the counter, scanning the menu with his pitch-black eyes only to discover there were, in fact, now eight taiyaki options. He smiled softly to himself as the person operating the counter looked on in confusion at the strange man in front of them, “Can I help you?” The food court employee asked him, tilting their head to the side slightly.

“Taiyaki, all of them,” Mikey said, sliding a large bill onto the counter.

“Do you mean all of the kinds or...all of them, all of them.” The employee clarified, thinking to themselves.

His eyes lit up, “I can have all of them?” He asked.

“As long as you pay for them, I don’t see why not...It might take a bit, though, because we warm them in an oven, so they get kinda crispy.” The employee explained, noticing the glimmer in his eyes.

“All of them, then.” Mikey clarified, adding another bill on the counter.

“Do I know you from somewhere, though?” They asked as they handed him his change, causing Mikey to pause for a brief moment.

“I haven’t ever met you before.” He replied, walking to one of the tables and sitting in the uncomfortably hard seating. It was nearly impossible to take a nap here due to how loud and bright it was, as well as how unbearable some of the smells were...Who honestly authorized it to smell like nacho cheese? Though, he also realized he was in a food court. Slouching down into the chair, he wondered what the rest of his gang had decided to put their minds to that day. He assumed Sanzu had found something involving guns and roped Takeomi into it as well, smirking because he knew that Takeomi had played before. Kokonoi had likely found something involving money, and The Haitani brothers honestly were talking up a storm about Dance Dance Revolution before they even arrived. Mochi and Kakucho were the two members of the group he wasn’t quite too sure about. He made a mental note to ask Kakucho when they boarded the bus again later that day.

“Alright, here are the first few, careful though, because they’re extremely hot.” The employee warned, setting a tray in front of the light-haired man, “I’ll keep them coming.”

Mikey reached forward and grabbed one of them, mentally noting that his hand was burning, though not exactly caring as the gratification of the taiyaki was going to be worth it in half a second. He bit in and leaned back in bliss. He was elated as he continued to eat through the pile of confections, completely losing track of time. He inwardly began to feel that the Russian death metal car ride from hell was worth it, and so was having to deal with Sanzu complaining about everything. And so was-

“Mikey, are you okay?”

He wanted to snap his neck.

Sanzu stared at the fair-haired man, who looked as though he had passed out in his chair, only for him to lean back up with a menacing stare slowly, “I’m fine.” He said coldly, taking another angry bite of the taiyaki.

“O...Oh…” The pink-haired man replied, nodding his head nervously as he backed away, “That’s a lot of taiyaki there.” He pointed towards the ever-growing pile of confections.

“I know. They’re mine.” Mikey responded as he finished the first, licking his lips and picking up another, “Where is everyone else?” He questioned as he bit into the sweet and bitter flavor of matcha.

“I saw them a couple of minutes ago; they’ll probably be here in a minute...Takeomi is smoking.” He informed the other, omitting the absolute ass-kicking he had received.

As if on cue, the group walked into the food court; however, the mood quickly changed as Kokonoi held up his phone, “We need to go, one of Ran’s fangirls posted them on their Instagram; and we need to get out of here,  now .” His eyes narrowing.

“Why are we blaming my fangirl for this? They’re just as much of Rindou’s as mi-OW” Ran once again getting elbowed in the side by his brother.

“We wouldn’t be in this mess if you didn’t name drop both me and yourself, so now you’re  really  more useless than Sanzu!” Rindou scolded him, “And you’re supposed to be older than me!”

“I’m RIGHT here!” Sanzu replied, raising his hands in exasperation.

“Cry me a river Sanzu, oh wait-” Mochi snorted, laughing at his own joke.

Kakucho grinned, “Mochi, that was surprisingly good coming from you.”

“I know, right. I surprise even myself sometimes.” The brawny man beamed.

“I hate all of you.” Sanzu huffed, crossing his arms.

“We hate you too; now let’s get going before we have to shoot our way out of a fucking arcade?” The long-haired blond replied in a haughty tone, motioning for the exit.

“Mikey, get a to-go box,” Kakucho suggested to the blond sitting at the table, eyeing the remaining taiyaki sadly.

“I’ll leave them.”

“Shotgun!” Sanzu yelled as they exited the arcade, Takeomi making eye contact with him and shaking his head.

“There isn’t even a passenger seat. What are the drugs hitting you that hard?” Kokonoi questioned him with a laugh.

“I’m assuming the cops are coming then?” Takeomi asked as he fished the keys to the bus out of his pocket, starting to walk with the group.

“ Oh yeah, Ran and Rindou are Instagram famous; Koko show him.” Mochi snorted, shaking his head in disbelief.

“Why is it always...fine.” He attempted to argue as he pulled up the post on his phone, revealing a video with nearly 500 likes and 130 comments.

“Wait, I didn’t see it yet!” Ran yelled as he ran over to Kokonoi, smushing his head in to see, “Wow, I look good… Rindou does, too, of course.”

“Shut the fuck up, you cretaceous period cretin.” Rindou hissed, flipping him off from afar only to have Ran run after him.

“Stop running in the parking lot!” Kakucho yelled, shaking his head, “I swear to god…”

“You have to admit, though, it was a good time.” Mochi stated with a smile, “We should do this again.”

“Alright, everyone, get on the fucking bus, or I’m leaving without you,” Takeomi yelled, hopping into the driver’s seat.

“And who died and made you king?!” Sanzu yelled only to smack his head on the roof while boarding the bus, causing Mikey to snort from a laugh uncharacteristically.

“Wait, did Mikey just laugh?” Kokonoi asked, genuinely amazed.

“I made Mikey laugh!” Sanzu cheered, patting himself on the back.

“Wow, if only we could hurt you more...then maybe we could restore all of his emotions…” Takeomi whispered to himself.

“What was that?” Sanzu questioned, leaning forward.

“No, nope, nothing.” Takeomi lied badly.

“That’s what I thought,” Sanzu replied with a smile, sitting back in his seat, Takeomi groaning and reaching for his pack of cigarettes only to realize there weren’t any left. He sighed heavily, leaning back into the cushion of the driver’s seat and staring up at the tattered ceiling. It was going to be a long drive home, huh.

---x---

In Toyko, the conflict with a group named “Bonten” intensifies...However, they seem to have a soft side too…

It was once again a Wednesday, except this week Sanzu Haruchiyo was on time, and there were no off-topic discussions. Instead, all that was discussed was saving Bonten from the PR nightmare the Haitani brothers had created for the gang. And, of course, the now planned hit on Howie Mandel. However, the damage was done, and the gang’s reputation seemed to go from “dangerous and deadly” to “upcoming idol group.” However, Mikey didn’t seem too troubled by it, though it wasn’t exactly possible to tell what he thought until it was too late.

Takeomi sighed as he once again lit a cigarette, staring off into the distance, “Here’s to another fucking Wednesday.”

[babybluebex]

the proposal [tom holland x reader]

➽ pairing: ceo!tom holland x fem!reader (y/n) ➽ word count: 3.9k ➽ summary:your pushy boss forces you, his assitant, to marry him in order to keep his visa status and avoid deportation.  ➽ warnings: forced marriage?? except not really?? ➽ a/n: this is loosely based off the sandra bullock movie of the same name which i recommend you watch bc it’s good classic rom com, but i just see tom being a dickhead and bodying this

I gasped as hot coffee spilled down my front, and I looked at the mail cart that had run into me. “Sorry,” the person steering the cart shrugged, and he continued on his way, totally unaware that he had just ruined my day. I gritted my teeth and looked down at my black-coffee stained shirt, knowing that my boss would be out of his morning coffee, had I not ordered a second. I always ordered a second coffee in case a disaster like this occurred. Mr. Holland could be just awful sometimes, and I only made the mistake of forgetting his coffee once. 

The door to the office opened, and I looked to see my boss striding in. Mr. Thomas Holland was one of the foremost editor-in-chiefs in the world, and he was deserving of it. While he was a great editor-in-chief, he was the meanest man I had ever met. He expected everything to be just his way and, if they weren’t, he would work to make it that way. Past assistants had been fired for less than forgetting a coffee. 

I followed him into his office for his morning briefing, and a single sculpted eyebrow lifted at the stain on my shirt. “Rough morning, Y/N?” he asked with a laugh. I kept my comments to myself and handed him his coffee, and he sat down at his desk.

“You could say that, sir,” I mumbled. “You have a meeting at eleven, and Penguin needs that manuscript by tomorrow--” 

“Who is Jake?” Mr. Holland asked suddenly. “And why does he want me to call him?”

I stopped talking and noticed my boss staring at the coffee that was at first mine, and my face went pale. Written on my cup was the name of the barista that made my coffee every morning, along with his phone number. Mr. Holland looked at me, expecting an answer, and the look in his blue eyes made me want to puke. “Oh,” I stuttered. “That is-- He’s--”

“Do I want to know?” Tom asked. 

“No, it’s better if you don’t,” I replied. “Um, also, you got a call from Immigration Services last night. They need you to come in and do some paperwork.” 

“I sent it in last week,” Tom said cooly, taking a sip of coffee. 

“Not according to them,” I said. “Umm… Can I ask a question, sir?”

“You just did,” Tom said. His dark eyes stared deep into me, and I held down my shiver. 

I sighed. “You know what I mean,” I said. “I thought you were a citizen?”

“Nope,” Tom replied, popping his lips. “I’m in America on a work visa. What time do they want me to come in?” 

“They said ‘at your earliest convenience’,” I told him. 

Tom sighed. “Let’s go get this over with,” he mumbled. “Umm… You might want a change of clothes.” 

I looked down at my stained shirt and huffed out a frustrated grunt, and Tom scoffed. “Alright, then,” he chuckled plaintively, his London accent rolling off of his tongue. I wasn’t blind, I knew that my boss was attractive— a strong jaw that was always clean shaven, brown eyes that shifted golden in the right light, and dark hair, usually styled down with just the ends showing their true curly nature. He was tall and built like a Greek god, and his wonderful accented voice would have been appealing if the words he said with it didn’t cut right through me. Some would say Mr. Thomas Holland was mean; others would say he was blunt. I would say he’s just a dick. “Don’t have to get so worked up.” 

“I—“ I began and sighed. “I don’t have a change of clothes.” 

Tom cocked his head thoughtfully. “Have you ever seen The Bodyguard?” he asked. When I didn’t respond, he said, “It’s a show on the BBC, I should have known you wouldn’t have seen it.” With that, he pulled off his jacket and draped it against his desk chair, and he loosened his tie around his neck. 

“Mr. Holland, what are you doing?” I asked quickly, jerking forward to stop him. 

He looked at me with those honey eyes as he set his tie on his desk. “I am giving you the shirt off of my back,” he said. “Like the kind soul I am.”

I nearly protested, but I knew that he had a spare; I had brought it from the dry cleaners two days ago. I searched for something to say to him as he disrobed, and the sight of his bare chest made me say “Thank you. It is very kind.” 

“Most would say uncharacteristic,” Tom said, handing his shirt. The hand clutching his shirt had a shining watch on the wrist, and, while the sight was enticing, it only served to remind me of how late we were going to be. The shirt was still warm from him having worn it, and he crossed the room to retrieve his spare from the storage closet. 

“Most would,” I agreed. I pulled my blazer off and began to undo my shirt, but I felt as if Tom was staring at me. I looked over my shoulder to him, already doing up the buttons on his shirt, and his eyes lifted to mine. 

“Do you need help, Y/N?” Tom asked, a snide bite to his words. 

I furrowed my eyebrows. “Can you…” I started. “Ya know, turn around?” 

Tom scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Americans are so prudish,” he said. “I undressed in front of you, didn’t I?” 

“Yes, but it’s different,” I said. “Just close your eyes, something, please.” 

Tom laughed lightly, and he made a show of covering his eyes with his hands. “Is that better?” 

I rolled my eyes. It would have to be good enough. I pulled my shirt off and exchanged it for his and, once I was fully dressed again, I said, “Alright. Thank you.” 

“Great,” Tom said and uncovered his eyes. “Are you ready to go now?”

I rolled my eyes at him. “Sure.”

Once we arrived at the Immigration office, Tom was brought in almost immediately, and he had me come in to take notes. A secretary’s job is never done, I guess. I stood by the door as he sat before the officer, and I watched the scene unfold before me. 

“Mr. Holland, you’re here on a work visa,” the officer began. “Which means you’re not allowed to leave the country.”

“Yes,” Tom said, and he raised an eyebrow. “And?”

“And you went to an international book fair…” the officer began as he shuffled some papers around. “In Germany, last month.”

Tom scoffed and flipped his tie in annoyance. “It was for my job,” he said. “Can’t I go to work functions?” 

“Not when it violates the rules of your visa,” the officer said. “Because you violated those rules, you have to leave the country and go back to your home country for one year.”

Tom straightened in his seat suddenly and gave a laugh. “I can’t do that,” he said seriously. “I can’t work from a different country for a full year. I’d lose my job.”

“I’m sorry, Mr. Holland, but it’s federal law,” the officer said. “The only way you can stay in the country is if you get married by the end of this month, and--”

I had worked for Thomas Holland for a long time. I knew him well. I knew what shampoo he used, what pants size he wore, and, most importantly, I knew what he looked like when he got an idea. His chin went up, his shoulders went back, and he smiled. He rarely smiled, at least where I was concerned. “Um, yeah, w-what if I am getting married?” Tom asked. “What-What then?”

“Well, it would have to be filed appropriately and the service would need to be witnessed,” the officer said. “But, if everything was legal, you would be allowed to stay in the country.”

Tom turned around to look at me and he gestured for me to step closer. “C’mere, darling,” he said, and his honey eyes widened at me. “Don’t be shy, c’mon.” He turned back to the officer and gave a smile to him. “She’s so shy, it’s adorable.”

I stepped closer to him, and Tom stood up and wrapped his arm around my waist. I was confused as hell about what he was doing, but it clicked when he captured my chin between his forefinger and thumb and planted a quick kiss to my mouth. Oh fuck. If he was fired, I would be out of a job too. I needed Tom to stay in the country, which meant that he had to get married. And who better to marry than somebody who already knows everything about you? Fuck. That’s me. “You two?” the immigration officer asked. “Is she not your secretary?”

“She is, yes,” Tom said, and he laughed nervously. “But it wouldn’t be the first time that someone fell for their secretary, would it?” He then gave a deep laugh, and I quickly giggled to ease the tension. “Yes, no, but… Y/N and I are getting married. We were planning on a spring wedding-- you know how girls and spring weddings are-- but we could fast-track it, if it keeps me here… With her.” 

The immigration officer raised an eyebrow. “Really?” he said. “Where is your ring?”

I looked down at my hands, certainly missing an engagement ring. “Oh, umm…” I began. “Well, you see, we don’t want our coworkers to know yet. Seeing as I’m being promoted to editor, we thought it would be inappropriate for our relationship to be… Known to the office. I have a ring, but I don’t wear it.”

“Yes, editor…” Tom began and looked at me, a flash of annoyance crossing his face for just a moment. “Sure, yeah. Yeah, of course.”

“Alright, Ms. Y/L/N,” the immigration officer began. “You do understand that, if you are caught in a lie, it’s five years in a federal prison?”

I nodded and gave a tight smile. “Good thing we’re not lying.”

I watched Tom as we left the building and, once we were outside, I stopped walking. “Wanna explain that?” I called. 

Tom stopped and turned on his heel, his phone already pressed to his ear. “What is it?” He asked. “I’m on a call.”

I huffed and pulled his phone away. “Mr. Holland has business to attend to,” I said. “He’ll call back.” I hung up and shoved the phone into my pocket, and I crossed my arms. “What was that?”

“What was what?” Tom asked, and I gestured back to the building with a huff. “Oh. It’s the only way for me to stay in the country and keep my job. We’ll get a legal marriage by the end of the month, then, when the appropriate amount of time passes, I’ll set up a quickie divorce and you can forget that this funny little thing ever happened.”

“What if I don’t want to get married?” I asked. “What about my boyfriend?”

Tom scoffed. “As if you have a boyfriend.” 

“Hey!” I cried. “You don’t know that!”

“You wake up at four in the morning, every morning, in order to get ready and get my breakfast,” Tom rattled off. “You work from eight to four every day, most times until five. You are on call at all times; your phone never rings twice before you answer it, especially if I am calling you. You bring me food at one in the morning if I need it. No boyfriend would be okay with a work schedule like that. So, Y/N, unless you have any other unfounded issues with this, I suggest we start to learn things about each other that an engaged couple would know.” 

“No.” 

“No?” Tom repeated. 

I smiled sweetly. “Ask me nicely.”

“Ask you what?” Tom asked with a grimace. 

“Ask me nicely to marry you,” I said. 

Tom gave me a look of boredom, and he rolled his eyes before he took my hand. “Will you please marry me?” He asked, his voice full of sarcasm. 

“No, no,” I said. “Down on one knee. You’re an Englishman, Mr. Holland, have some manners, for God’s sake.” 

“Y/N--” Tom began. 

“I wonder what airfare is like to London,” I began. “And moving all your stuff over there, it’ll take forever.” 

Tom sighed heavily, and he looked around us at the busy New York street corner. “Damn it, Y/N,” he mumbled, and he worked himself down to kneel on one knee. “Y/N, my love, my sun, my moon, my stars, my darling girl. Provider of late-night sushi and witty comebacks. Will you please marry me, with cherries on top?” 

I chuckled lightly. “I don’t appreciate the sarcasm, but yes,” I said. “I will marry you… Tom.” 

“Well, thank God you’re on time.” 

“I know, it’s shocking,” I chirped. “It’s almost as if I haven’t been reminding you of appointments for the past few years.”

Tom gave a shallow laugh and welcomed me into his apartment. I had been a few times-- he didn’t call me ‘provider of late-night sushi’ in his proposal for nothing-- but never long enough to take in the place. It was nice, a lot nicer than the apartment I lived in. In my apartment, I could extend my arms all the way and touch either side of my living space. 

“We have a lot of work to do,” Tom said. He wore mostly the same outfit from the day, sans the jacket and tie and the first two buttons on his shirt. It yawned open to expose his chest, dusted with thin, light hair, and, under normal circumstances, I would have liked the sight. Absolutely nothing about this was normal, though. “We have to learn enough about each other to pass the questionnaire that the immigration department is giving us.”

“Won’t be hard for me to do,” I said. “It might be difficult for you, Tom.”

“Nothing is difficult for me, Y/N,” Tom laughed. “Right, we can start right there: what’s my legal name?”

“Thomas Stanley Holland,” I replied. “Son of Dominic and Nicola.”

Tom blinked in surprise a few times, and nodded slowly. “How did you know that?” He asked.

“I had to fill out paperwork for you to make an appearance at a book signing about three years ago,” I said. “One of the forms asked for a middle name, so I asked you, and you told me that exactly.”

Tom nodded. “Umm… My birthday?”

“June 1,” I said. “You’re a Gemini, even though you think astrology is fake.”

“How do you--”

“For the past couple of years, you always sneer at the horoscope section of any magazine,” I told him. “It’s not hard to figure out what you think of it.” 

“You’re right,” Tom said slowly. He looked over to a pad of paper with his scribbled writing on it, and he picked it up and scanned the list. “I found this list online… A list of questions similar to what they’ll ask us. Alright, there’s no way you know this: my childhood nickname?”

“Which one, Dutchy or Billy?” 

“How in the fuck do you--”

“On your last birthday, you got a letter in the mail from your mom,” I began. “It was addressed to Dutchy. That was easy; Holland, Dutch, Dutchy. Kinda cute, actually.”

“And Billy?” Tom winced. “How did you find out about that?”

“One of your old uni friends works for a publishing company in Glasgow,” I said. “You sent him a letter to catch up-- but really to get him to do something for you-- and you signed it Billy.”

“Do you know why I was called that?” Tom asked. His honey eyes were unwavering as he watched me, and he seemed to deflate when I shook my head. 

“I have no idea,” I said. “If it’s anything like my college nickname, it came from a night of drinking and something unfortunate happened.” 

“What was your college nickname?” Tom asked, suddenly amused. 

“Oh, right, you don’t know everything about me,” I laughed. “Well… It was DongNose. My senior year, me and some friends decided to go to a-a… Ha, a male strip club. Things happened and… I ended up getting hit, on the nose, with… Yeah. It fractured my nose and my face bruised up really bad.” 

“Oh, shit,” Tom chuckled. The corner of his mouth twitched, and I rolled my eyes.

“It’s alright, you can laugh,” I said. “It’s a funny story.”

“No, I’m not laughing at you,” Tom said. “Just… Thinking about you in uni. Would we have been friends, do you think?”

“I doubt it,” I said, wrinkling my nose. “You would have been playing rugby or whatever Brits do at uni. I was a TA for a long time, so I hardly left my office at all.”

“Oh, that’s a question,” Tom said, looking at the list. “Where did I go to uni? Or, I guess, college, as you Yanks call it.” 

“Umm, your first semester was at the BRIT School,” I began. “You still get mail from them, asking for donations. But you transferred to Cambridge and graduated from there.”

“Well, Y/N, you’re wrong,” Tom said. “I went to Oxford, not Cambridge. My little brother goes to Cambridge. I don’t usually like to tell people that, it feels too uppity to me.” 

“You say as we sit in your New York City apartment,” I scoffed. 

“See, that’s different,” Tom began pointedly. “I didn’t grow up with much. Me and my mum and dad and brothers lived in this little town outside of London. It was a sort-of poverty area, so we only had what we could get by with. I was young when I told myself that I was going to work to get myself out of that. And…” He gestured to the apartment. “I did. And I was able to get my parents out of that as well.” 

“Oh,” I said softly. “What was the name Billy all about? You never said.”

For the first time since I knew him, I watched color rise in Tom’s cheeks. Was he embarrassed? Ashamed? “Umm…” He began. He looked to the coffee table and to the shelf underneath it, and he quickly pulled out a leather-bound scrapbook. “Mum made this for me before I moved to the States. Just some pictures of home and all. But…” He opened the book and spread it out next to us on the couch, forcing me just a few inches closer to him. There were pictures of him and his family in the gray background of London, most of them stamped with the date and time. A picture from when he was in secondary school appeared on a page, taken beautifully and professionally. A black blazer and striped tie adorned his frame, an insignia for his school on the right breast of his jacket. His hair was short and done in the spiked look that was oh-so popular with young boys several years back, and he gave the camera a closed-mouth smile, probably to hide a set of braces. 

“I was about twelve here,” Tom began. “This was around the time the nickname came around. I did dance all growing up-- Mum said I was too energetic and chucked me there to tire me out, but I ended up loving it. I ended up auditioning for Billy Elliot, and I got the part. I was on the fuckin’ West End when I was twelve, doing ballet every single day. It was great, but… I went to a Catholic school then, and the other boys in my class didn’t think it was all that cool.” Tom chuckled, but I could see the hurt in his eyes. “But then the nickname came around. People at school called me Billy, even after the show closed. I was tormented with it for years. It carried into college, and then uni. And, even though I’ve long since quit dancing, I still have people from uni that call me Billy.”

“Why did you quit?” I asked. 

“I just lost interest.” Tom mumbled with a shrug. “I was being bullied so much that I quit enjoying it. I sometimes wish I never stopped, but what’s done is done.”

The silence was tense between us, and I lightly cleared my throat to diffuse the tension. “Billy Elliot,” I said softly. “Really?”

Tom’s flush came back, but a smile came with it. “C’mon, I was twelve! And I looked like that! What d’ya want from me, Swan Lake?” 

“No, I didn’t mean it like that!” I exclaimed. “Besides, it isn’t any worse than what I did in high school.”

“What did you do?” Tom asked.

“You’re deflecting my question, Tommy,” I pointed out. 

“Answer my question, Y/N,” Tom rebutted instantly. 

“Alright, alright!” I grinned. “When I was fifteen, I played Juliet in my school’s production of Romeo and Juliet. Which would have been great, but my director was so inspired by Baz Luhrmann’s movie that he made it set in the 1950s, but had us keep the dialogue. It was… Not good.”

“Say a line, won’t you?” Tom asked. “Just a few words of Juliet.” 

I sighed, and tried in vain to recall even a single line from the play. “O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name; or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, and I'll no longer be a Capulet.”

“Shall I hear more?” Tom mused, looking down at his lap. “Or shall I speak at this? I take thee at thy word: call me but love, and I'll be new baptized; henceforth I never will be Romeo.”

A smile slowly filled my lips. “You know Shakespeare?” I asked. 

“My darling, I’m British,” Tom laughed. “I would have my citizenship revoked if I didn’t.”

I nearly didn’t catch how he called me that name. My darling. A slip of the tongue, a thought from Romeo’s mind? Or more? “I guess we’re more alike than we first thought, huh?” I chuckled. “Anyway, I don’t think Billy Elliot is anything to be ashamed of. It’s a beautiful story.”

Tom sighed. “I hope this works,” he mumbled. “I need this job. I’m sure you do too. We both get something out of it. Which, I was meaning to talk to you about that. Editor?”

“Tommy, if I get caught doing this, I could go to jail,” I said firmly. “I’m not going to commit a federal offense if I’m not going to get some benefits afterwards. You get me?”

Tom nodded slowly. “You are a lovely girl,” he said softly. “Any man would be thrilled to call you his.” 

“You do,” I said. “At least, for the next few months, you do.” 

Tom looked at me with those warm honey eyes. “Have you ever been kissed, Y/N?” he asked suddenly. 

“Um, yeah,” I sputtered out. “Of course.”

“Who was your first kiss?” Tom asked. 

“Who was yours?” I said quickly. 

“Zendaya Coleman, one of my best mates from college,” Tom said quickly. “Answer my question. What was his name?” 

I hesitated as I tried to come up with the name of any boy I went to high school with for me to lie about, but my hesitation was answer enough. A slow smile crept up on Tom’s pink lips, and he bit his bottom lip in amusement. “You’ve never been kissed, have you?” he chuckled. “Earlier today, when I kissed you at the office, that was your first, wasn’t it?”

“Jesus, you say that like it’s a bad thing,” I scoffed. 

“It’s not,” Tom said. “It’s just hard to believe. You are smart and witty, beautiful, with a sense of humor… I can’t imagine that boys weren’t falling over themselves to catch you.” 

“Well, nobody’s caught me yet,” I laughed softly. 

“Thank God,” Tom said with a smile. “Or our plan wouldn’t work.”

[midnightsnace]

A Thousand Worlds

Summary: Fix it fic of sorts after the trauma that was episode 6 of the Loki series. Loki is in pain after discovering Mobius doesn’t remember him. He’s been living in apocalypses to avoid capture by this new TVA until he formulates a plan to get his Mobius back.

Rating: T for later chapters

Emotional angst.

Chapter One.

Chapter Two.

“And so that’s where I grew up, the ends of a thousand worlds.”

The ends of a thousand worlds. The words of his accomplice echoed through the god’s mind as he fiddled with the straps of his worn and tattered holster. The fluorescent above him flickered with every gust of wind that battled against the sides of the building that Loki was crouched down in. He slid his long legs out against the tiled floor in front of him and sat with his head propped against the wall. He sighed. Loki tapped his foot on the door of the space he was hiding in to close it, drowning out the cries of fear from the people outside in their final hours of life. There he sat waiting for the tempad to charge. Alone. Living in another world where every person he met would be dead by the end of the day. Another world where Mobius didn’t exist. His Mobius.

Was this what it was like? For her? To never be able to stay in one place for more than a day? To always see the same faces riddled with fear as they awaited their painful fate? To only know destruction, screaming, fires, earthquakes, the literal gates of hel? To be utterly alone with your only desire to live in the hope that one day your glorious purpose would be fulfilled?

Glorious purpose.

Loki scoffed. The god didn’t know what his purpose was anymore. Taking down the TVA was a complete failure. The chances for fixing the mess they started seemed impossible now as branches grew and new timelines erupted, with endless TVAs to monitor every universe. At least, that’s what Loki assumed. He knew next to nothing about what they had unleashed. It wasn’t the same TVA. Different hunters, different analysts, different ruler. Many he recognized, but they were still different people. They weren’t the same. She wasn’t the real B. He wasn’t his Mobius. And Loki was at a complete loss on how to find them again.

The first tempad he stole only brought him back to the place he snatched it from. The same Time Variance Authority where Mobius didn’t remember him and not a single file existed for Loki Laufeyson, God of Mischief, God of Outcasts, God of Lies. Even when he dragged the analyst through the timedoor into the roxxcart parking lot to access his memories, nothing existed of him. No laughter over silly metaphors, mischief at pompeii, not even the memory of their first encounter in the elevator. It was like they never met. This led to Loki wasting away their days hopping from one disaster to the next until his brain racked up a solution. The TVA never once did follow him. Why would they? No one remembered his brilliant discovery about the apocalypses. He could run free. But as the days whittled by, the hope Loki had began to fade into nothingness.

For awhile he kept track of the places he went and the time that had passed.

Day 1 - I finally stole a tempad and left that dreadful place. I came here first. Hoping I’d see you. But I guess that’s not how time travel works in apocalypses. No trace we were ever here. The storm reminded me of my brother. I hope to see him again one day. Now that I know we could have been friends. Everything was eventually going to be okay.

Day 24 - I’ve been sitting in a coffee shop awaiting the earthquake of 2098. Met a lovely redhead with the most peculiar of tattoos. But alas! Little does she know this friendship could never blossom in the wake of death!

Day 37 - I miss him. My brother. The pain that solitude brings makes me think of home more often. How ironic that the very place that caused me the most pain I miss. But anything is better than this. So today I visited home right before its destruction. I saw my brother. I saw Thor from afar. Oh how I wish I could have talked to him somehow and tell him i’m sorry for being such an ass.

Being there brought back memories of the silly metaphor he made using Mobius’ lunch. The corners of Loki’s mouth crept into a smile at the thought. But that smile faded away in the next second and was replaced with tears.

Day 56 - I went to Pompeii again. I stood in the shadows. I tried to picture your expressions of skepticism at my insane ideas. I tried to picture how your face lit up with pride and joy when you realized I was right. I wish I could have stayed longer but I never can anywhere I go.

He whistled like a bird before he exited through the time door.

By day 125 he had lost his will to live again. It was their fourth visit to Lamentis-1. Perhaps it was a mistake on his part to journey here once more and feel both the pains of betrayal and heartache at the prospect of never seeing Mobius again. The second time they had visited Lamentis, the god decided to stay until the very last second with the false hope that maybe him facing death would create a nexus event. His mobius would come find him and save him at the last second. But the time door never came. Maybe it was because he knew there was a chance to escape and he could take it. Or maybe it was because there were so many time branches no one would care to fix a world that was about to end.

“You were always meant to be alone.”

And so this time Loki threw the tempad to the ground and waited. He watched as the lethal disaster unfolded before his eyes once more, ready to die. Alone. Alone with no one to assure him everything will be alright in the face of death. Not a single soul would know he was gone. No one would care.

But at the last second they saw something on the tempad that made them change their mind. A glimmer of hope.

Any hope Loki had, a glorious purpose he had left to fulfill, it was in finding Mobius. It was the only desire left that fueled him to keep existing. He was all that mattered. His only friend. The only person left among the universes who trusted him and saw beyond his flaws. The only person left who hadn’t betrayed the fragile levels of trust the god could give. He was his hope that one day, he wouldn’t have to be alone.

And so he found himself walking the streets of New York in the summer of 2197, on the brink of some disaster he knew nothing about. Not a single idea when it would happen, where it would occur, and what he was doomed to witness. He saw something that could potentially lead him to his destination. The tempad had given him an alert for an aura match - two of the same people in one place. An oddity. Something that wasn’t supposed to exist.

They weren’t just any entity either. They were registered hunters in the TVA database. Which meant one had to be from another universe.

And he knew the TVA would be coming for them.

He had to get there first.

Loki speed walked down the sidewalk frantically scanning his surroundings for any clue as to what was happening. He couldn’t read any signs of fear or confusion on the faces of those who passed him. He didn’t know how much time he had.

Upon hearing shouts of anger, Loki broke out into a run across the street towards the source, dodging every dystopian vehicle that nearly collided with him in the process. It was coming from the roof of the parking tower. With a snap of his magic, Loki teleported himself to the top, hiding behind a parked vehicle to assess what he was working with.

There were two agents standing about 10 feet away who looked nearly identical, one waving her arms frantically while the other looked on stoically, possibly from shock, with a pruning stick in hand. Loki locked eyes on the tempad fastened to the belt of the frantic one. Then he glanced at the one in the other hunter’s hand.

Well shit.

Now he had to figure out which agent had jumped from the other timeline. He quickly flashed himself closer to the two, but not before one caught on that someone was there.

“I was given orders by a man to…what was that?” one of the hunters asked.

Loki crouched down farther on the other side of the wall. He reached for a dagger, ready to pounce once their suspicions subsided. They listened intently to the words from the first hunter for the first clue on who to attack.

“He sent me here to grab this,” the hunter pulled up someone on her tempad, “entity and leave. Those were the orders given to me. So if you’ll excuse me.”

The other hunter planted herself in front of her clone. “I can’t let you do that. Not until you’ve told me everything I want to know. How are you me? How is this possible?”

The first hunter was from an alternate timeline. Loki took that as his cue. But before he could sneak behind the hunter, he was shot backwards by a blast of energy from a ring of light.

Out from the ring stepped a peculiar man with graying hair who was wearing blue robes and an assymetrical cloak that sparked the curiosity of the confused hunter. Within a split second, the portal closed behind him. Loki laid very still on the concrete and held his breath in the hopes that the man would believe him to be dead.

“You know I can tell when someone is playing dead.”

Loki grimaced and winced as he heaved himself off the ground. He came face to face with the strange man, his hand lingering in the air where he placed the pocket for his dagger.

“You.” was all the man said.

“Am I supposed to know you?” the god questioned.

“You always manage to show up in New York again at the most in-opportune times.” The man raised his hands and Loki mimicked his movements, summoning his daggers in place.

“I’m gonna assume we’ve met before sir, perhaps in the future? I don’t know! And i’m terribly sorry about New York! Look let me explain…” they lowered their hands in their attempt to make peace with the angry man in front of him.

“Dr. Strange.” He kept his fist in the air, golden sparks flying from whatever spell he had in mind to attack the prince with. “And until you prove otherwise Im going to assume you are here for hostile reasons.”

Loki blinked. Well he’s kind of not wrong, they thought.

“Well I’m afraid I can’t prove anything else.” and with that the god blasted the sorcerer into the nearest column with their magic and teleported across the space.

Loki noticed that one of the hunters had disappeared. He assumed she had returned to the TVA. The other was charging towards him fast. He whipped out his daggers to face his attacker, but suddenly his feet were dragged out from under him and he hit the concrete hard. He was being dragged backwards, body scrapping against the concrete. So fast, that the god could barely think about what was happening to him.

When he came to his senses he cut the magic ropes with his powers and rolled across the ground. So he was dealing with another magic user, this “Dr. Strange.” Loki teleported again before he was up on his feet to where he was standing directly behind the hunter.

“D-11…” Dr. Strange said with a hint of caution in his tone.

So this was the man Hunter D-11 was working for. Before the hunter could turn around to face them, Loki snatched the tempad off her belt and snapped himself to the furthest side of the building. Dr. Strange reacted quickly and stood his ground in front of Loki, prepared to attack again.

“Loki, perhaps we can work out some type of deal. What is it that you want? Maybe I can help you. Maybe we can reach a compromise.”

Offer him a deal? Nah.

“I’m done trusting people I’ve just met. All they ever do is stab me in the back.” he conjured the time door behind him.

Strange titled his head. “You do realize we can follow you right straight back to the TVA?”

Loki turned to face him and D-11. “You’ll never find me. You won’t know the first place to look.” The time door closed with Loki inside of it, before the two even had a chance to reach their hands out to follow the god.

…….

And that’s how Loki had ended up here. At Roxxcart again, waiting for the new tempad to charge up before hopping through timelines again.

He breathed in deeply as he felt the bubble of excitement, relief, and happiness build in his chest for the first time in months at the prospect of achieving his goal. Being reunited with the only one who mattered: Mobius. His Mobius.

But as he released his breath in a sigh, his chest tightened again and worry clouded his mind. What if this didn’t work? What if this was just another dead end? What if this was just another one of the countless TVAs that might exist in the vast multiverse?

At first, all Loki felt was sadness and regret in the days following Sylvie’s betrayal. But now all he felt was anger boiling deep inside him. That same unwelcome feeling he experienced after discovering his father lied to him. The feeling that harbored in the abyss of Thanos’ chambers. The feeling that never left his soul until Mobius looked him in the eyes and assured him that he didn’t have to be the villain in his story.

She had taken everything from him and he was afraid he couldn’t wash away the resentment this time. He wanted desperately to feel anything besides the pain he had known for the past year.

He needed to feel love again.

“He cares about you.”

Loki couldn’t wait any longer. He picked up the tempad and tapped the time door request for the TVA home base. He drew in a shaky breath as he paused in front of the portal.

This was it.

He was either about to be reunited with his greatest source of happiness, or find himself hiding in apocalypses again for months as he searched for another plan.

And he would do it. He would search through a thousand worlds to find him.

[curlyy-hair-dont-care]

Dance with me

“The Valentine’s Ball is this weekend, and while it is about having a good time with your friends and beaus, I’m glad to see so many of you interested in learning ballroom dancing,” Professor Malfoy stated in his posh accent.

“Please also welcome Professor Potter, who has kindly agreed to help me with this class.” He gestured towards Harry who mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like ‘more like forced’. “Alright students, let's begin, shall we?”

Once everybody had paired up with whoever they wanted, Draco began. “Face your partners. Professor Potter, will you place your right hand on my waist?"

"Where..?!" Harry spluttered.

“Come on Harry, you know how this works; you’ve been to the champions dance and all,” Draco teased, and Harry blushed beet red.

After the demonstration where Harry stumbled a few times, Draco went around the room, correcting postures, giving tips and encouragement to the students.

“Good job, Nim, that was a very graceful twirl,” Draco praised the Hufflepuff.

“Um, not quite, Peony, may I show you the step?” he asked the Ravenclaw student and then proceeded to guide them.

Harry stood in a corner, watching the scene unfold. He couldn't take his eyes off the man in front of him. So different from the teen he knew. Draco had grown and evolved now that he wasn’t being squashed under the weight of the pureblood nonsense his father spouted. He even had a muggle coffee maker in his room!

Various students kept coming up to Draco and he graciously helped them out.

An hour of rigorous dancing later, the class came to an end and the last of the students left. Draco was flushed and a bit sweaty from all the movement but he looked happy and bright. The evening sunlight glinted off his face, softening his features. Harry thought he looked like a graceful angel.

“I’d say that went well,” Draco smiled.

“Very. Much better than our Yule Ball practice with McGonagall,” Harry guffawed. “Say, did Snape teach the Slytherins how to dance, then?”

Draco snorted. “No, most purebloods are already trained in the art of ballroom dancing. He just ensured we practised, so we didn’t bring shame to the name of Salazar Slytherin with our bad dance moves.”

“I can imagine the scene. ‘Mr. Goyle, put your hand… on… my waist.’” Harry mimicked Snape and they both dissolved into peals of laughter.

“Thank you for helping me, Potter.”

Harry smiled. “I doubt I was of much use, but I can speak for everyone when I say it was fun.”

“You think so?”

Harry nodded.

“I’m glad; dancing should be fun. I used to take ballet when I was younger.” Draco said, grabbing a towel to wipe his face.

“Why’d you stop?” Harry asked softly, as he imagined little Draco in his ballet outfit diligently working on his pirouettes and pliés.

Draco simply sighed with a sad smile.

“Well, you were amazing today. I think half of the kids here were excited for a chance to dance with the handsome instructor,” Harry teased, his green eyes twinkling.

Draco laughed and threw the towel at Harry, who yelped.

“Oh, I like this song,” Draco said wistfully as a new melody started playing on the gramophone.

“Dance with me?” Harry asked.

Draco’s eyes widened for a second before he smiled and accepted.

Harry wasn’t so bad when no one was watching. They glided across the room in tune with the beats. Their bodies fit perfectly against each other. Draco placed his head in the crook of Harry’s neck and Harry rested his chin on Draco’s head.

One song turned into three, until they were simply swaying on the spot.

Harry let out a contented sigh, and Draco stirred, looking up at him with wide eyes and a soft smile.

“I think we missed dinner. Why don’t you join me in my quarters? I’ll ask the elves to send us some food,” Draco asked with a hopeful glimmer in his eyes.

“Sure,” Harry said, and Draco turned to leave. “Uh, wait!” He blurted out, and Draco halted, puzzled.

“I wanted to ask you something… Would you like to go to the ball with me?”

Draco was stunned but quickly recovered.

“I mean, if you’re not going with anyone,” Harry rambled.

“Yes, I’d love to go with you.”

“Oh who am I kidding, I’m sure-”

“Hush Potter! Merlin, you’re such a disaster,” Draco laughed. “Yes, I said yes.”

“Oh,” Harry smiled sheepishly and ran a hand through his hair.

“Mmm-hmm, it's a date,” Draco smirked and placed a kiss on Harry's cheek before exiting the classroom.

This is my humble offering for the Wheel of Drarry Exchange for the lovely @drarrymybeloved. Also an early birthday gift for your 18th birthday! I hope you enjoy this and your special day! A big thank you to my lovely beta @orange-peony

[kalimagik]

Eyes for Her

James Potter x Reader

Marauders Era 

Word Count: ~2.5k

A/N: This is my submission for Millie’s ( @iliveiloveiwrite​ ) writing challenge! It took me some time to actually figure out the direction I wanted to take, but I think I found it and I hope you guys like it! I’m a sucker for a girl that can throw James Potter off his game ;) Feel free to like, comment, reblog, give me a follow! Even send an ask! (My next works will be the requests sitting in my inbox). Feedback always welcome! Happy Reading <3<3

Prompts: (bolded in text)

5. “Are you hitting on me?” “Only for the last year or so but thanks for noticing.”

8. “This is the part where you ask me out and I say yes.”

*Not my GIF! Credits to the owner 

They were friends. They were friends, right? Y/N knew that James existed, she was close with Sirius, so she was around all the Marauders a lot. James wouldn’t say that they were close - exactly. See, James Potter was always charming and smooth talking, especially with the girls in his year, but when it came to Y/N Y/L/N, he was tongue tied. Every. Single. Time.

There was just something about her that shut him down when she was around. He could barely get a coherent sentence out. She was just so beautiful and smart and had the ear of everyone the moment she opened her mouth to speak. Honestly, she could give James a run for his money. She could honestly take his spot in the Marauders and they wouldn’t even notice. Well, he did beat her in one area. He was a notorious ladies man. He’d flirt with them, charm them, but never actually date them because he only had eyes for her. James, recently, had been flirting with other girls more and more as a sort of practice for talking to Y/N. It hadn’t worked up to this point as it was already 6th year.

The other Marauders had noticed James struggle with this over the years and he was not living it down.

“Y/N’s helping me study tonight,” Sirius looked up at James in the Common Room. “You want to try and hang around tonight orrrr?” he smirked as the messy haired boy’s head shot up.

“You really hit a chord there,” Remus snickered, watching the scene unfold.

“Stuff it,” James spat. “I can do this. Tonight is the night I talk to her.”

“Talking is one thing. Will you get full sentences out is the real question.” Sirius pointed out.

James threw a pillow in Sirius’ direction to show the frustration he felt. The boys continued to tease him, but James stuck his nose in a book, pretending to read. In reality, he was planning what he could say to her in his head.

James was in the bathroom. He may or may not have been attempting to comb his hair before Y/N arrived. He looked into the mirror, mentally preparing himself.

“Hello, love. Good to see you. How did you do on that Charms exam? Mhmmm…maybe more aloof? Cheers! Good to see you helping Sirius, he could use all the help he can get –”

“I take personal offense to that one,” Sirius piped up, leaning against the door of the bathroom. “I think you should lead with a joke. That’s your best stuff, Prongs,” he chuckled, rubbing his neck nonchalantly.

“Snub off.” James acted coolly even though he felt wildly embarrassed to be caught in this situation. He was not supposed to be one of those guys that got nervous around a girl and practiced what to say in the mirror.

“Chill out,” Sirius shook his head. “I’m just telling you that she’s walking up here in like 5 minutes, so pull yourself together.”

James followed Sirius out of the bathroom, his hair as if he hadn’t ever combed it to begin with. He just sat on his bed when a knock sounded from the door.

“Ready there, Prongs? Can you act natural?” Lupin baited the short tempered boy.

James could only shoot him a look before Sirius opened the door for Y/N. James felt his voice caught in his throat the second she walked in. She just did everything so effortlessly. She seemed like she didn’t have a care in the world. He was usually like that, but why did she pull the cowardly lion out of him?

“Evening, lads,” she grinned that Cheshire smile. “What have we been up to in here?” she asked as she closed the door.

“James did some primping,” Peter giggled. James made a mental note to hex him later as he sent him a glare.

“For me, Jamesy?” Y/N chuckled before sitting at the foot of Sirius’ bed and opening a book.

“I- uhhh…ummmm, not necessarily…”

“So are you going to help me or not?” Sirius interjected. Despite all his teasing, he could be useful when James felt like he was drowning in front of this girl.

“Right. History of Magic. Why do you always need help for the most boring subject? Couldn’t Remus help you? He’s smart!”

“Moony has refused to help me study History of Magic. He says I make too much of a joke out of it.”

“You do!” Remus called from his four-poster.  

Once all the bantering settled down, the room did fall into a quiet, steady easiness. James pretended to be doing homework of his own while Y/N and Sirius went over Warlock Conventions and Goblin Revolutions. The dates and years too much for even James to follow. But, he wasn’t really paying attention to what they were studying. He was listening to the soft laughter that broke the silence every time Sirius made a joke. He was itching to say something, but what?

“Pads, you ever figure out the logistics of that prank?” Why had he said that? They didn’t even have a prank in the works. Sirius gave him a quizzical look that said he was thinking the same thing.

“Uhhh…” Sirius started.

“You guys are planning a prank? Can I help?” Y/N was fully interested.

This was not where he saw this going. He just wanted something to talk about, something so that she could hear that he could speak.

“Sirius, why didn’t you tell me? You said I could help with the next one!” Y/N playfully slapped Sirius’ arm as she turned back to James. “Tell me about it!”

“Uhhh…well, we were – uhhh…See, Remus concocted this charm and we were going too –” He was stumped there was no plan. He got all twisted up again. He shifted his glance from her focused face to Sirius’, only flashing a hint of ‘HELP ME!’ in his eyes.

James finally let out a sigh of relief as Sirius seamlessly took over. He was pulling bullshit out of thin air. James could usually do that. When Y/N left their room before curfew, James was breathing normally again.

“Hello, earth to James. Can you speak again?” Remus asked tentatively as James fell backwards onto his bed.

“That. Was. A. Disaster.” He spoke slowly, rubbing his hands over his eyes and under his glasses.

“You spoke a full sentence even if it wasn’t directly to her,” Peter offered.

“Shush!” James retaliated. “You literally told her I was primping earlier! I am in my right mind to hex you!” James tossed and turned as he went over the tragedy that turned into in front of Y/N. Maybe tomorrow would be better?

It was a new day and James successfully glided through his morning classes. He’d made a decision the previous night as he listened to Peter’s snores. He was going to ask her out today.

James peered around the corner to look at Y/N, trying to assess his plan of attack. She was surrounded by friends, but they all had been charmed by James before, they would be no issue. Maybe he should complement her or offer to carry her books? No, that would be weird. Or would it be sweet? Ughhh! Nothing seemed to be right!

“What are you doing, Prongs?” Sirius whispered in his ear. James jumped, not expecting anyone to talk to him. “Merlin, Padfoot! What did you do that for?”

“We’ve been standing here for 2 minutes!” James stood up to see that Peter and Remus were also standing behind him.

“You were doing that thing again where you watch Y/L/N.” Moony followed Sirius’s lead.

“Yeah, that’s getting pretty creepy, Prongs.” Sirius chuckled. James instinctively rubbed his hand across the back of his neck. He didn’t realize how embarrassing this actually was until they caught him. At least the other Marauders were the ones who caught him and not Snivellus.

“I’m trying to figure her out, okay?” James tried to defend himself. Now that he thought about it, maybe he had been staring at Y/N a little more than usual lately, but that was only because he was figuring out how to approach her on his own.

Around the corner, he could hear the echo of her laugh. Oh, that laugh. The first time he heard it, it sounded like Christmas bells ringing and it just floated across the air. There was something so genuine and happy about the sound. James was hypnotized from that moment on and he knew that he had to take her out or get close to her. He wanted to be the one causing that laugh.

“Prongs? Prongs! JAMES!” Sirius finally got his attention again. “Where did you go there?”

“Did you see the look in his eyes?” Peter teased. “He was obviously thinking about Y/N!!” Peter sang her name and for some reason, that pissed James off.

“It isn’t like that, okay?” James felt his temper starting to flare. They’d all had crushes before, so why was this one the end of the world?

“Why don’t you just breath and talk to her?” Moony asked, actually trying to give some advice or provide his friend with some guidance.

“Of course I have, you prat. The moment I start speaking, my voice just doesn’t work and I forget what I was going to say.”

“You dunce!” Sirius cut James off. “Are we even sure she knows who you are? We know she knows me, but are we sure that you aren’t just the boy that hangs around with us?” Sirius knew he was poking the bear.

“Of course she knows who he is! Everyone knows who James Potter is,” Peter beamed, looking towards James for approval.

“That means nothing. She messes with him occasionally, so we know that,” Remus shook his head.

“Remus is right,” Sirius agreed. “You need to woo her. Do something romantic. That’ll definitely get her attention!”

The other two boys nodded in agreement, but James just stared at them, trying to figure out where they were headed with this.

“What if he does something big in the Great Hall during dinner. If he says her name, then that would definitely get her attention.” Sirius seemed to be calculating what would happen in this big plan.

“Uhhh, guys?” James said.

“I don’t know if big would be the way to go,” Remus replied to Sirius. “Y/N definitely doesn’t WANT everyone looking at her all the time. What if he did something in the library? He could bring her something while she studies? Say she looked like she needed it?”

Peter’s eyes grew wide at the idea as James tried to interject again. “Hello? Mates?”

“Madam Pince would not like that at all.” Peter’s eyes showed fear as he thought about the librarian. “I had a cookie in there once and I still don’t think I can ever unhear her screams…” Peter’s face glazed over as he thought back.

“Wormtail might be right, Moony. There’s no way to scare away a girl like getting her in trouble with Madam Pince. What could he do?”

“You guys do know that I am still here, right?” James was practically waving his hands over his heads to get the other marauders to look at him.

“We know that,” Sirius rolled his eyes. “But you don’t get to be a part of planning this time, Prongs. You’ve messed it up too many times. So, we have decided to take matters into our own hands.”

The boys all stood around whispering while James listened, understanding that he was getting no input. Minutes went by and the ideas seemed to be getting more and more out of hand. If it wasn’t for Remus interjecting, Sirius would have James spelling her name in the sky on his broom. Why was he ridiculously romantic? The whole bad boy thing definitely was used to cover that up. The ideas seemed to be getting better until they were interrupted.

“What are you all doing?” Y/N’s voice spoke a little louder than Peter’s, who was giving his idea. “Are you planning that prank that James mentioned last night?”

“Uhhhh…” All boys were speechless. How did they explain this? They were caught in the act.

He didn’t know what it was, but James felt a surge of confidence and not embarrassment. “My mates were actually trying to help me figure out how to talk to you.”

Peter, Remus, and Sirius’ mouths all fell open, eyes widened to double their usual sizes.

“Talk to me?” Y/N raised an eyebrow.

“Yes, you, love.”

“Love, huh? You’ve never called me that before. All my friends, maybe, but not me.” Oh, how sassy she could be. “James, are you hitting on me?” Y/N asked, head cocked, eyes focused on the boy with glasses.

“Only been trying to for the last year or so, but thanks for noticing.”

“That can be hard to do when you only have so many words to work with.” 

James glanced up to see the smile on Y/N’s face growing, bottom lip between her teeth. The rest of the boys were still in awe that this was happening right now. “So, yeah they were trying to figure out how to make talking to you easier for me. Sirius was being all romantic with these crazy ideas, but Remus wasn’t sure if that would be your style. Peter had –”

“Woah! Woah! Potter!” James quit his nervous rambling the moment her sweet laughter filled his ears. “So if I got this straight, then this is the part where you ask me out and I say yes.” That Cheshire smile was back. The same one that made his heart flutter the night before.

James coughed to clear his throat, planning the words in his head. She looked at him expectantly. She literally just said that she would say yes, so why was he freezing now? “Uhh, right, okay, so Y/N, would you like to go out with me sometime?”

“Of course, James Potter. I thought you’d never ask! Pick me up for Hogsmeade on Saturday? 10 AM before everyone else leaves? We can grab lunch. See you later, lads,” Y/N waved to the other three before kissing James on the cheek and rejoining her friends.

“Did she-” Peter started.

“Just ask-” Remus followed.

“You out and plan the date?” Sirius followed, completely baffled. “I didn’t even know she liked you, mate!” Sirius slapped James on the back. The boy was still speechless. Did that really just happen? His heart was beating hard in his chest. It must’ve been doing that the whole time and he didn’t even know it.

“Well fellas, I guess I have a date to get ready for,” James grinned, watching Y/N walk away.

[imnotusedtobeingloved]

THE COOLER

(PLEASE DON’T REPOST/REBLOG)

Warnings: heartbreak, betrayal.

Pairing: Zuko x Reader

Characters: Zuko, Sokka, Suki, Hakoda, Chit Sang.

Requested: I guess?

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, nor the gif. Credit to the owners.

Summary: Part eight of “destiny is a funny thing”.

previous part

A/N: Hey guys! It’s part eight already! Please tell me your opinion in the comments.

“I need backup over here!” The voices were muffled by the thick metal door of your cell. The walls were covered in ice, as was the floor and the ceiling. You had no idea how much time exactly passed, since you’d been thrown in here. A day? Maybe two? No idea. The only apparent thing was that it seemed to get colder by the second. The temperature was picking and biting at your skin, leaving goosebumps in it’s wake. Protected by your inner fire and a mere pair of linen clothes, there wasn’t much you could do to escape. Only hope was left, praying that either Zuko or Sokka would find you.

“No firebending! Into the cooler!” You heard from the halls. The guards had managed it once again. Riling an inmate up to the point where they were forced to use fire, only for the pleasure to stuff them into a cooler seconds later. It was sick. “But... but there are no free coolers left!” You breathed deeply, rearranging your naked feet on the hard ice. “Just stick them together in a cell!” The man from outside barked, before the door of your cooler was opened and a familiar figure was thrown in, before it got closed again.

“Zu... Zuko?” You stuttered, worn out from hours of fighting the cold. His eyes widened as he took you in, limbs barely held warm by your inner flame. “Y/N...,” He grabbed your arm. “There you are. You’re getting cold,” You gave him a short nod, almost whining as he took his warm hand away. “I tried to keep warm as long as possible, but I’m so exhausted,” You rambled, until he softly shushed you. “Come here,” He moved to put an arm around you, but you pushed back slightly. “What are you doing?”

“Warming you up. What’s it look like?” You were still reluctant to let him close, but to be honest, you’d been shivering for forever and it was better to take a little warmth than to freeze. So the next time he tried to draw you in, you didn’t resist. Your body burned where it touched his, as if Zuko’s hands left hot fingerprints on your skin.

“Sokka has a plan to get us out of here,” By now you were halfway on his lap, not willing to let go of the newfound source of heat. It was strange to be so close to him again. But the good kind of strange. “What did he come up with?” Your body relaxed in his grasp, while he explained the plan the group had agreed on, as well as who would be taking part. You were glad to hear that Suki had showed up, knowing how much Sokka had missed her. He’d told you about her countless times. Once you were warmed up enough to move your limbs again, the both of you worked together to loosen the cooler from it’s frame, getting back into sitting position once you’d removed all bolts and screws.

Silence followed the quest, but to your surprise, it didn’t feel uncomfortable. “How did you even end up in here?” Your skin tingled where your arms and tighs touched as you sat next to each other. “That’s a long story,” You answered, as you leaned your head against his shoulder. Your mind was running with different thoughts, fighting a battle on it’s own and contemplating if what you were doing right now really was a good idea.

But Zuko put his arm around you once more. Lost in your own head before, you hadn’t even realized how close you were. “Y/N?” You hummed, nose almost touching his as you stared into his amber eyes. “You know that i love you, right?” His voice had dropped to a soft murmur, almost sounding hoarse. Your breath got caught in your throat, as you could see your own reflection in his orbs. They were burning into your own, hot with affection and full of emotions. There was no denying that Zuko had a raw, natural beauty to him, that could not be undone. Not even by the scar, framing his eye. “I know...” You whispered, sight briefly dropping to his lips, mere inches from your own, before shooting up again. His mouth parted slightly, as he leaned closer. So close that you could already feel his hot breath on your own, eager to taste his lips on yours again.

And then the door of the cooler opened, leading the two of you to drift apart in a flash. Tough Sokka didn’t seem to sense the tension in the atmosphere when he stepped in. “I can take the two of you back to your cell if you’ve learned your lesson,” He said, winking at you, relieved that Zuko and you had landed in the same cell. Zuko shot you a look that you avoided with ease, before he caught himself, releasing a firey breath and revealing all the bolts and screws. “Yes, I have ... completely.” He answered with a smirk. The prince came off completely unbothered by what had almost happened just seconds before. Unlike you. But luckily the non-bender was far too occupied by the escape plan to notice. He lifted his visor, whispering quitely. “I got Suki and Chit Sang out of their cells a few minutes ago. They’ll be waiting for us at the shore,”

Suddenly you sensed a sound from the hall, reacting quickly and pulling Sokka inside. “Someone’s coming!” You explained, closing the door behind him. The voices remained a mumble, until they turned into your passage. “Yeah, new arrivals coming in at dawn,” A male tone reached your ears first, before a female one followed. “Anybody interesting?” She asked. “Nah, just the usual. Some robbers, a couple traitors, some war prisoners, though I did hear there might be a pirate,” You could see Sokka’s worried glance out of the corner of your eye, as you conrinued to listen in on the conversation. “No fooling!” The female guard exclaimed, before their voices faded into nothing once more. “War prisoners. It could be your father,”

“I know,” Sokka said, trailing off. “Well, what should we do? Are we going ahead with the plan or are we waiting another night?” The prince asked the right question, but the Water Tribe boy was clearly in over his head at this point. “I don’t know! Is it right for me to risk Suki’s freedom, all of our freedom on the slim chance that my dad is gonna show up?” You and Zuko shared a brief look. “It’s your call, Sokka,” You inclined softly.

And by night the descision was made. Suki and Chit Sang were already waiting outside the prison, as you, Zuko and Sokka rolled the detached cooler down the hill. The both of them moved to help, before the man spoke up. “Took you guys long enough. This here’s my girl and my best buddy, they’re coming too,” You sighed as he pointed to a male sitting on a rock, as well as a waving woman. Now there were even more people you had to transport, which meant there was an even higher risk to get caught. “Fine. Everybody in the cooler. Let’s go,” Sokka decided. The group proceeded to move the cooler into the water, as he lifted a rock to hide his Water Tribe outfit.

“Are you sure you wanna go? You’re the one who said you wanted to redeem yourself. Redeem your honor. Rescuing your dad is your chance,” Zuko questioned, leaving the boy a last chance to go back. “Your dad” Suki asked, approaching the three of you. You tried to explain the situation to her, while Sokka and Zuko had another discussion about the possibility of his father coming in. “Hey, if you four are done cuddling, can we get a move on” Chit Sang eventually interrupted, earning a glare from you. You could understand how difficult this descision was for your friend. His failure layed heavy on his shoulders, and it was something that had come up multiple times. You remembered all the quiet moments at night when he couldn’t sleep, needing to be reassured again and again.

“No. I’m staying. You guys go,” His gaze wandered to Suki. “You’ve been here long enough,” But the girl shook her head. “I’m not leaving without you, Sokka,” Zuko agreed. “I’m staying, too,” And so did you. “So am i,”

“Not me, I’m out. Let’s roll, baby,” Chit Sang exclaimed, pushing the cooler into the lake and jumping in. You could see Sokka’s hope weavering as he watched them leave. “We gave up our only chance of escaping. I hope we haven’t just made a huge mistake,” You put a hand on his shoulder, squeezing softly. “Come on, Sokka. Let’s go back,” Morning was arriving by now and the four of you begann climbing back up at the outside of the prison wall as the screams of the guards alerted everyone.

“The plan failed! They’re caught!” Sokka said, eyes widening. “This is a lockdown! We have new prisoners arriving! Everything must be completely secure!” You heard from above, watching the disaster unfold. A male guard fired a large ballista bolt, catching hold of the cooler and dragging it back towardsthe shore. “The gondola’s moving,” Sokka pointed towards the approaching gondola. “This is it. If my dad’s not there, we’ve risked everything for nothing,” You’d made it to the yard when it arrived, staring for it’s door to open. “We had to,” Suki assured him, holding his hand. “Come on, come on ...,” You could feel Zuko moving closer to you, as he watched the people coming out. “Is that him?” He asked, as a large man with a tattoo and a nose ring stepped forward. “My dad doesn’t have a nose ring. Where is he?” A ton of men left the gondola, but the right one didn’t seem to be there. “That’s it? That can’t be it,”

“I’m sorry, Sokka,” Suki spoke softly, trying to give him some comfort. “Oh, no,” Sokka mumbled, afraid he’d made the wrong choice once more. “Hey, you! Get off the gondola!” But then, Hakoda stepped out. “Dad...,” You heard Sokka whisper in front of you and a smile spread out on your face. He’d made the right call after all.

tags:  @zvkonation​ @viva-la-millennia​ @randomness501​ @drheinzd​ @kaylove12​ @duh-dobrik​ @yeetscreetiwannaeat​ @ashnkamfeun    @hailkyoshi​ @shortmexicangirl​ @animexholic​ @sorrythatspussynal​  @mochminnie​ @ninadewitt​

[voidofwords]

hopelessly devoted

here’s a short wlw story i wrote! ngl i came up with everything, including the characters, as i went, but i ended up pretty happy with it!

Her grin is so bright when she looks at me. “Syd,” she says, beaming. “You won’t believe it!”

He said yes. I smile at her and tell the sinking feeling in my stomach to fuck off. “What?” I ask, with as much excitement as I can muster. 

Jasmine turns her phone screen towards me so I can see the messages between her and Brandon, but she’s waving the phone around excitedly and it’s impossible to even get a glimpse of what the messages say. Fortunately for me, and I would like my sarcasm here to be noted, she is kind enough to also tell me the news herself:

“He said yes!” She squeals, grabbing me by the arm and shaking my whole body. “Brandon said yes to go on a date with me! I’m going on a date with Brandon.”

For a moment, my brain is so fixated on the fact that Jasmine is touching my arm, it forgets how to do anything else. But I manage to kick it back into action and plaster on my most convincing I’m-so-happy-for-you-and-not-at-all-screaming-inside smile. “Jas, that’s great! That’s amazing!”

She nods eagerly, her deep brown eyes looking into mine. “You have to help me prepare for the date. I don’t even know what to wear!”

That actually makes me grin for real. “Come on, Jas, we both know you have way better style than me.”

She giggles and shakes her head. “Shut up, I love your whole, like, tomboy thing. Your style is amazing. But I just meant I want you there for emotional support.”

“Oh. Right.” Did Jasmine just tell me she loves my style? I am fighting so fucking hard to keep my brain from going into overdrive. I try to smile, but I think it’s more of a grimace. “Of course I’ll be there,” I tell her. “That’s what friends are for.” 

-

I don’t want to move. I don't want to get up. The alarm on my phone went off five minutes ago to let me know it was time to go to Jasmine’s house, but I think I might just lie here forever. What’s the point? She probably won’t even care if I come. She’ll be too fixated on her date with Brandon later to even notice if I’m there or not. 

Brandon is popular and has abs and is apparently super hot and charming - I don’t get it, but sure - and I’m just Syd, the tragic gay idiot, in love with my best friend. If this was a movie, Jasmine would be the main character. Of course she would. And I’d be the edgy queer-coded friend who’s mostly there for comic relief and emotional support. My life is a fucking joke. 

Because I might as well give the merciless gods watching my tragedy unfold something to laugh about, and because I’d be an asshole if I stood up my best friend right before her big date, I get up. There’s no point wallowing in my self-pity any more than necessary. 

Jasmine’s arms are around me the second she opens the door. It’s a signature Jasmine hug, tight and squeezy and enthusiastic, the kind that leaves me out of breath for more than one reason. 

“Syd! I was starting to worry you wouldn’t come.” She takes a step back and looks at me with her puppy-like eyes and I ask myself how the hell I’m going to get through today.

I shoot her what I hope looks like an apologetic smile. “Sorry. But I’m here!” I take in her worn-in sweatpants and oversized Mickey Mouse t-shirt. She still looks fucking amazing - this girl could literally wear anything and still look like a goddess - but I highly doubt this is what she’s planning on wearing for her date with Brandon. 

“I take it you haven’t found out what to wear yet,” I say. “Or is the date more of a Disney-themed pyjama party?” 

That makes her laugh. “No you silly goose! Brandon is taking me to dinner, and then to see a movie.” She takes my hand, and I freeze up as she pulls me inside the house and toward her room. “I need your input on what to wear.”

“You’d probably be better off without it, you know.” I smile as I imagine Brandon’s face if Jasmine showed up to their date in my battered jeans and too-big flannel. But I quickly chase the image away, because the thought of Jasmine wearing my clothes is too much to handle right now. 

Jasmine picks up two dresses from her bed and holds them both out to me. “Which one do you like the best?”

I have seen her in both of them before, but they’re usually what she wears around her older conservative family members, not when she is out having fun. Both of them are very modest, while still being pretty. 

“What happened to the other ones?” I ask, because I know her favourite dress is either the sleeveless floral one or the cute flowy one. 

Jasmine shrugs and smiles a smile that doesn’t quite reach her eyes. “Brandon texted me saying he doesn’t want me wearing anything too revealing, since we’ll be out in public.” 

What the fuck. “Brandon is telling you what to wear?” 

“No. He’s just giving me some pointers on what not to wear!”

I stare at Jasmine, who is still smiling like she actually thinks this is fine. “Jasmine, that’s still shitty behavior. He doesn’t have the right to do that!” 

She shrugs again. “It’s fine. I don’t mind! It narrows down my choices, and you know it’s hard for me to decide what to wear. Besides, I like these dresses too!” 

“Jas.” I sigh. “Are you sure you wanna go out with this guy?”

Jasmine laughs, as if in disbelief. “What? Of course I do! It’s Brandon.” 

“I just…” I’m definitely overstepping here, but I can’t stop myself. “I don’t get what you see in him.” 

“Oh, well, you know. He’s handsome and funny and… popular and…” She trails off for a second before looking up at me. For once she isn’t smiling. “I just like him, okay? I’m sorry your standards are so impossibly high. I’ve never even seen you express interest in a guy!” 

Is she kidding me right now? “I don’t…” Now it’s my turn to be speechless. 

Jasmine sighs, like she is giving up on me, and picks up one of the dresses again. “I’ll just go with this one.”

I’m worried she will change in front of me like we did when we were younger, but she goes to the bathroom to change. Thank fuck; there’s only so much I can handle in one day. 

When she comes back out, her brilliant smile is back. Her eyes look a little red, but it’s impossible to tell if it’s because she has been crying. I open my mouth to say something but before I can, she spins around to show off her dress. 

“What do you think?”

“It’s nice.” It is nice, of course it is, that’s not the problem. The problem is, it isn’t the kind of thing I know Jasmine likes to wear. But this time, I don’t say anything.

She grabs a box of her nicest makeup stuff and sits on the bed. “Will you help me with my makeup?”

“You want my help with your makeup?” I let out a laugh. “Jas.” I know how to do makeup decently, but I never wear it, so I don’t have anything close to the kind of practice she has. 

“Syd.” She laughs too. “It’ll be fun! Just like old times!”

That is true. When we were kids, Jasmine used to “borrow” her mom’s makeup, and we would take turns making each other look “beautiful”. It was a disaster, but the best kind. 

“Alright,” I say. “But I hope Brandon won’t be upset when you show up to the date with lipstick smeared across your face like a clown.” 

I sit down on the bed with her and help her pick out what I think would look good with her dress. 

It goes smoothly, until I have to do her eyeliner.

“This is a bit tricky,” I say, moving closer. “Please don’t be mad if I do a bad job.”

“I’m sure you’re doing a great job, Syd.” She smiles with her eyes still closed. 

“Stop talking, I’m trying to concentrate.” 

By some miracle, I manage to make it look good and symmetrical. I’m actually kind of proud of myself. “Okay, you can open your eyes now.”

But I’m not prepared for when she actually does, and I realize how little space there suddenly is between us. 

Our faces are so close I can smell her minty breath. Her eyes are locked with mine, and I have officially forgotten how to breathe. I think time might have stopped, just for us. And then, she fucking looks at my lips. There’s no mistaking it. She is looking right at my lips, with her own slightly parted. 

And that’s when I make the stupid, idiotic, wonderful mistake of kissing her. Fucking hell, it may be a mistake but it’s the best one I’ve ever made. Her lips are so, so soft. Holy shit. Is this how I die? Am I actually going to die kissing Jasmine? I think I’m okay with that. I think that is how I want to go. 

But before I even have time to register what a bad idea this is, she breaks the kiss and moves away from me on the bed. She is staring at me with a mix of shock and betrayal. Well, shit. She reaches up to touch her lips, like she can’t quite believe they were actually touching mine just a moment before. “Why would you do that?” she whispers, her brown eyes as puppy-like as ever. Though this time, it’s more like a puppy that has been kicked by its owner. 

“I… I don’t know,” I choke out. “Fuck. Jasmine-”

She shakes her head and stands up abruptly. “I have to go.” Her voice is shaky. “My date is waiting.” 

-

Fuck this shit. Fuck the universe and fuck Brandon and most of all, fuck me and my lack of impulse control.

I have successfully ruined everything. Yay. Not only have i completely screwed up my relationship with my only real friend, I have also probably ruined her date with the guy she likes.

At this point, all I can do about it is go outside and touch some grass. There is an old park in our neighborhood that no one visits anymore, and it’s the perfect place if you want to be alone with your misery and self-loathing. I guess you could say I come here often. 

I sit down against the trunk of a tree and look up at the sky. It’s cloudy, but the kind of cloudy where the clouds look like bunnies and hearts and shit. I guess looking at clouds is a better use of my time than replaying the events of today over and over and hating myself more with every passing second. 

I don’t even know how much time passes but suddenly, I feel another person close to me. I start, convinced I’m about to be murdered or kidnapped, but when I turn, I see Jasmine. 

She sits down next to me and offers me a shaky smile. This time she definitely has been crying. She kinda still is. 

I don’t know whether I should say something, so I just sit there and look at her. She looks down at her own hands, and doesn’t speak for a long time. I’m about to open my own cursed mouth, when she finally speaks. 

“I’m so sorry, Syd.”

I stare at her, my brain not computing. “You’re sorry? What the hell do you have to be sorry for?”

“I was a total… a total dingus earlier!” If I didn’t feel so fucked right now, I would have smiled at Jasmine’s adorable inability to swear, maybe even gently teased her about it. But I don’t. I sit quietly as she continues: “I have been for years, haven’t I? Completely clueless.”

“What?” I don’t know what she is on about, but if she means clueless about my embarrassing crush on her, then yes, she has been. I can’t blame her, though. I mean, I did try to hide it, and for good reason. 

“I left the date with Brandon early.”

I feel like an ass for it, but I’m happy to hear that. Not because I’m naive enough to think it means anything for me, but because Brandon is such a punchable fucking idiot, and definitely not good enough for Jasmine. “Oh,” is what I say. “Did you not have a good time?”

She finally looks at me. “I left because of you, Syd.” 

Fuck. “Jasmine, I’m so fucking sorry. I never should’ve-”

“Stop,” she says, and I do. “I left because I realized you were right. I don’t like Brandon.” She lets out a shaky laugh. Her eyes are brimming with tears. “It probably shouldn’t have taken you kissing me to realize it, but… Yeah, well, I’m an idiot.”

My heart and brain seem to have made a collective decision to stop functioning. I stare at her, not sure if any of this is really happening. Maybe I’m misinterpreting what she is saying. Yeah, that seems like the only logical-

My half-panicked thoughts are cut off by Jasmine leaning forward and pressing a soft kiss to my lips. She is still teary-eyed, but she is also smiling softly as she moves close enough that our shoulders are touching. “I don’t think I even like guys at all,” she whispers. “And… well. I’m pretty sure I like you. A lot.”

She is looking at me expectantly, but I am stunned into silence. My brain short-circuited long ago and left me useless and unable to do anything other than stare at her in disbelief. 

“Syd.” She nudges me with her shoulder. “Please say something, I am freaking out over here!”

“Shit. Yeah. Sorry.” I shake my head, slowly kicking myself back into action. “I like you a lot too. But I probably made that pretty obvious earlier, didn’t I?” I chuckle nervously, meeting her eyes. My heart is still going haywire, has been since she fucking kissed me. I don’t think I’ve fully processed that yet. “Sorry, this is… a lot.”

Jasmine grins. “Yeah, tell me about it. Twelve hours ago I thought I was the straightest person ever and that I liked Brandon? And now it turns out I’ve been a lesbian the whole time! God, that feels weird to say, but… Also like such a relief? Like part of me has known for way longer.” 

I almost don’t have the courage to do it, but I reach out and take her hand. Our fingers interlock. When she puts her head on my shoulder, I almost start to tense up, out of habit I guess, but I tell myself to relax. 

The moment feels so precious, so uniquely ours, that I’m afraid I’ll ruin it if I speak. So I close my eyes and savour the way Jasmine’s soft body is pressed against mine, and I pray that this moment never ends. 

[obxsummer]

With You // John B. Routledge

word count: 2.6k

pairing: john b routledge x reader

warnings: near death experiences, yelling, cursing, topper being an ass

summary: you didn’t think breaking up with topper would end with broken bones and a concussion but then again, you never expected to fall in love with a pogue either.

requested: can you do a john b imagine where instead of him being pushed off the hawks nest it’s her?

a/n: reader takes sarah’s place in this scene. a few things are twisted around for this to flow so I hope that’s okay! thank you for 100 followers!! I’m so excited to see where this blog goes :)

masterlist

ask me stuff :)

--

Midsummers had easily turned into a disaster quickly. Your dress flowed in the wind as you danced around with friends, sneaking in some alcohol whenever you had the chance. You hated the fact that you were here with Topper, especially when your mind was on John B the whole time.

Someone grabbed your shoulder and spun you around mid-dance. “JJ?” You asked as you recognized the blond in front of you. He was wearing a white button down with black slacks, looking quite dressed up for how he usually would.

“Yep,” He responded as he twirled you around. He held a folded piece of paper in front of you. “I got a, uh, note from Vlad.”

“From-”

JJ cut you off by sushing you and pressing a finger to his lips. “Yeah.”

“From Vlad?” You asked as you continued to make it look like you were dancing with each other. “Okay?”

“Read the note,” JJ directed as he winked before he stepped away.

You smiled and turned to hide the note from the crowd as you unfolded the paper to read what it said.

Meet me at bag drop; Vlad

With a quick glance around you to see if your parents, or Topper was watching, you took off out of the crowd to walk up on the porch. Thankfully, the amount of people lessened as you approached the bag drop. John B was standing there in all of his glory, backpack on with a buttoned down shirt as usual.

“Vlad,” You whispered as you snuck up behind him.

He turned around at your voice, a smile forming on his lips as he saw you. “Wow. Um… you look beautiful.”

You laughed at the awkward nature before jumping forward to hug him tightly. “Hi,” You whispered as you buried your head into his neck while your fingers played with his hair.

“Hi,” He said back as he held you close. He was so grateful you were here, even in the midst of one of the biggest Kook parties of the year.

“Oh, my God. You would not believe what happened. As soon as I got home, I had to sneak past-”

John B held up his finger to pause you. “I-I I’m sure that’s great, but I-I gotta tell you something.”

You stopped your story and took a step back. “Okay.”

“I found… the gold.”

You swore you could’ve dropped to the floor right then. “You found it?” You asked in shock as you grabbed his forearms.

“Yeah, and you’re not going to believe where it is. It’s at Tannyhill,” He explained.

You shook your head slightly. “Wait, what?”

“Sh!” He hissed as he covered your mouth with his hand. You mumbled an apology as you looked to make sure nobody heard. “Look, I got the letter translated. Okay? There was this coded message, and I-I need the plat map. Know what a plat map is?”

“Yes, I know what a plat map is!” You defended.

“Okay, it’s like a blueprint of Tannyhill and it’s in your dad’s office, okay? If I get in, I can find the gold, and we can, that’s fine!”

You leaned forward to shut him up with a kiss. Nothing felt better than just holding him in your arms, even if everyone else thought it was wrong.

“Hey, Y/N, is that you?”

At the sound of Topper’s voice, you shoved John B to the ground with a curse. “Shit! We’ve gotta get out of here.”

John B crawled along the wood of the desk to get out of view. “Meet at the Hawk’s Nest at midnight. Bring the map.”

You saluted him before adjusting your dress and hair to go deal with Topper. With a deep breath, you turned on your heel to walk over where he was standing. “Hey!” You greeted as you rounded the corner to stop in front of him.

“Y/N, what are you doing out here?” He asked sternly. He continued glancing over to where you had been with John B as if the Pogue was going to pop around the corner.

“Oh, um, Scarlet told me she had hidden some vodka or something. I couldn’t find it though,” You lied as you fixed the flower crown on your head.

Topper nodded but you could tell he didn’t believe anything you were saying. “Is that who you were talking to over there?”

Your stomach dropped as you knew he had seen you. Maybe not necessarily who you were talking to, but he knew there was someone else involved. “I wasn’t talking to anyone.”

“Was I just seeing things? I thought, like, I don’t know, I was watching you have a conversation over there.”

You shook your head. “I was talking to people from the party.”

“Hey, what’s-” Topper reached out to stop you from leaving. “What’s going on? I just feel like… I feel like you’ve been a little off tonight.”

“No, I’m fine,” You defended as you tried to get around him again, “I’m fine, Topper.”

He grabbed your arm again and pulled you back roughly as you gasped. “Seriously, seriously. I don’t want to make a scene. Just tell me what the hell is going on. Just tell me the truth.”

“I am telling you the truth!” You argued as you stepped back from him.

“No, cut the shit. Just tell me the truth.”

“Okay, fine!” You ripped your arm out of his grip. “I can’t handle the constant interrogation, okay?” You walked away without another word back towards the party. You made eye contact with Kiara as JJ was being dragged out of the building. He continued to make comments the entire way out, grabbing Kiara and Pope as he went. You could see John B at the edge of the chaos, waiting for his friends to follow along. You watched with a smile, wanting nothing more than to kick off your shoes and run after them, but it would have to wait until later. You had a map to steal.

--

After a brief lie to your dad to get the maps and promise that you were going to be spending the night at a friend’s, you snuck out of the house to head to Hawk’s Nest to meet John B. Your heart was pounding as you waited amongst the wind and the sound of a storm in the distance. You held the map tightly in your hand as lightning lit up the sky amongst the clouds.

You looked over as you saw something cross your vision to see John B climbing up the stairs. “Hi,” You greeted him as he walked closer. “I got the map. Do you wanna see?” You opened the folded piece of paper slightly.

“Oh, shit,” He laughed as the wind threatened to take the paper out of his hand. “Holy hell.”

You glanced up at him. “Did you tell your crew you were here with me?”

“Did you?” He retaliated.

You shook your head as you pulled your hair up to keep it out of your face. “No, I will, though. I don’t care. And.. I’m breaking up with Topper.”

He stared at you in shock, the lightning reflecting off of his face. “Really?”

You nodded. “Yeah. What, you don’t think that’s a good idea?”

John B was quick to shake his head. “No, no, no. Um, it’s.. it’s uh. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.”

A huge clap of thunder exploded over your head, causing you to practically jump into John B’s arms out of shock. “Oh, my God!” You laughed as you continued to hug him. “What are we doing up here?

John B held you closer as the wind whipped around you while he looked down at you with a smile. “I have no idea. You wanna go down?”

You rested your head on his shoulder as your fingers sorted through his hair. You pressed your lips to his neck gently. John B’s hands were warm on your back and you wished you could just stay here with him forever. “No,” You mumbled. You leaned back to look at him.

“Neither do I.” His hands pulled you closer as he kissed you roughly. Rain started to sprinkle on your face as you cupped his cheek.

“I knew it, Y/N.” You broke away in shock to see Topper standing in front of you, looking drunk off his ass. John B pushed you behind him, the two of you backing up slowly. “I knew you were lying to me.”

You felt no remorse for your actions and instead, this kind of solidified your decision to leave him. “Topper?”

“You’re a stupid, lying whore. You know that?” He shouted at you.

You shook your head, your anger getting the best of you. “Oh, so first I’m a prude and now I’m a whore?” The decision to not have sex with Topper always weighed you down, but now you wished you would’ve slapped him in the face instead.

“Topper, stop, man,” John B interfered as the blond attempted to hit him. “Hey, hey!”

You moved in front of John B to push Topper back but he continued to scream at you guys, “Tell him to back off, because I’m about to beat your fucking ass! I’m gonna drown him like your old man.”

“Topper, go home!” You shouted as he continued to fight against you. “Get out!”

Topper glared at you, “Shut the hell up, you bitch!” He moved to lunge for John B but you intercepted, stopping him short. The force of Topper’s arms sent you backwards as you fought to regain your balance.

There’s this saying that you don’t really have a fear of heights, but rather a fear of falling. You weren’t sure which it was, the only thing you could tell was that falling from a three story tower was absolutely terrifying.

You didn’t feel the impact of the ground, but you could feel the dirt under your fingers. Your whole body had gone numb. You groaned as you shifted slightly, feeling water pour over your face as it started to pour.

“Oh, my God.” John B’s face appeared above yours as he slid on the ground. You continued to blink, trying to clear the black spots from your vision, but you were so tired it hurt. He tapped your cheek gently as he pulled you in his lap. “Hey, hey. Come on, can you open your eyes, please? Come on babe.”

You groaned again, feeling the pain spread as he shifted you. “J, stop,” You mumbled as you grabbed his hand to hold.

“Hey, no, no, no. You’re gonna be fine,” He promised as he leaned down to kiss your forehead. “JJ! Somebody help! Pope! Kie!”

You let out a laugh at the name of your ex-best friend. “Kie’s gonna hate me for this.”

“Kie doesn’t hate you,” He reassured as he wiped rain drops off your cheeks. “I promise. You’re gonna be okay. You just gotta stay with me. I’m right here.”

The rushed sounds of his friends’ footsteps followed after a moment and suddenly, JJ’s face was looming over yours. “Dude, what happened?”

John B stood up with the help of Pope to make sure you stayed in his arms. “I-I don’t know what to do, we have to help her. Topper was trying to fight with me and-and she got in the middle and he pushed her and…”

“Where the hell is he?” JJ’s tone was angry as he looked around for the Kook.

“I don’t know, look it doesn’t matter!” John B snapped as he watched you. “Someone go get help, now!”

He couldn’t lose you, not when everything was just starting to come together, not when he was truly becoming happy with you by his side. You meant more to him than he would ever tell and if you didn’t recover from this, he would never forgive himself.

--

There were a few things you noticed when you woke up. One, was the annoying beeping noise next to your head that drove you crazy. Two, was the tightness on your left wrist that was itching nonstop. And third, there was someone’s thumb running across the back of your hand soothingly. You took a deep breath as you shifted slightly, forcing your eyes to open.

“Hey,” John B’s voice was quiet as he sat next to you, his hand in yours as he stayed at your side. He lifted your hand to kiss the back of it before standing up.

“Hey,” You returned as you tried to blink the sleep out of your eyes. “Where am I?”

He sighed, “St. Olive’s. You fell from the Hawk’s Nest. You have a concussion and a broken wrist.”

You looked over to see the black cast on your arm, already covered with John B’s scribble alongside a smiley face in silver marker. Despite the pain, you lifted your arm slightly to see his signature closer. “Did my dad find out?”

John B winced, “Kinda. He was here earlier but he said he wanted to hear the full story from you.”

You groaned, not wanting to explain any bit of what happened to your dad. He probably wouldn’t even believe you anyway, especially because of Topper’s influence in the whole event. You attempted to sit up, wincing at the effort.

“Whoa, whoa. Hang on,” He paused your actions. “Be careful.”

“John B,” Your dad interrupted the conversation as he entered the room. “Do you mind if I talk to her?”

John B shook his head and stood from his chair. “No, not at all, sir. I’ll see you later.”

As much as you didn’t want him to leave, you knew the conversation ahead wasn’t going to be fun. Despite the need for recovery, all you wanted was to be back in John B’s arms, loving the comfort and security he provided. Glancing down at the bandana tied around your wrist, you knew you’d be able to be with him again sometime soon.

--

You walked on the screened-in porch as quiet as possible. You were able to leave the hospital a couple hours after John B left you with your dad. You would’ve gone to him right away, but you were mandated bed rest at least for 24 hours, courtesy of your dad.

Walking through the door, you noticed the teen sleeping on the couch, completely oblivious to the fact that you were hovering over him. You held his bandana over his nose, just above his face. “Missing something?”

He startled away, his face smacking the piece of fabric in your hand. “Shit,” He mumbled as he realized it was you. “What are you doing here?”

You stepped around the couch to sit by his feet as you shrugged. “I missed you.”

“You missed me?” He repeated as if he didn’t believe you. You nodded. A smile formed on his lips as he reached forward to pull you with him, the two of you taking up every inch of the couch as you practically laid on top of him. You rested your head against his chest as he kissed your hair. “God, I missed you so much.”

“Yeah?” You asked as you looked up at him, kissing him softly. The warmth he provided melted away all of your aches and worries. You were just happy to be here with him.

He shook his head at you as you continued to kiss. He hoped this wasn’t a dream. He had waited so long to have someone like you in his life, and even though he never envisioned it to be you, he was so glad it was. Having you in his arms felt like home, and even if he was dreaming, he never wanted to wake up.

[gucciwins]

Confessions ll

Harry messed up and Y/N doesn’t know how to move forward

A/N: The long awaited part two. Confessions was written over a year ago and I’d like to think my writing has grown since then. I honestly debated a part two for forever but here it is. I hope you love it as much as you loved part one. 

read part one of confessions here

* * * * *

“Tell me once again what you did for the past week?" 

"Sarah, I told you I watched all seven seasons of Gilmore Girls. Ate food I cooked, not reheated. Well, it was mainly soup and simple pasta. I did take showers and change clothes. Although I have not washed any." You share as you pick up your laundry basket and begin to fill it with a few lose clothes around your room. The room was always kept nice with a bed made and no scattered garments, but that couldn't be said now. You had clothes all over, pillows on the floor, and an unfolded comforter which Ginger was taking advantage of and sleeping on top of. Not mentioning how the living room looked, you started with the laundry. 

"You're telling me you spent roughly 154 hours in front of your television watching a show on Netflix." Sarah pauses. "That means you've either slept fourteen hours straight or slept two hours each night." 

"Your math skills are great still." You laugh, not answering her. “It wasn’t even a good show. But oh well now.”

"Y/N," Sarah pesters. 

"Fine. I slept roughly two hours after I finished a season." 

"What about work?" 

"I am working from home on this project. It's due in three weeks, and I'm ahead, need to edit a few things, then I'm all good." 

You put Sarah on speaker and place your phone on top of the basket as you walk to the washer. You know she's frustrated with you, but this is the best way to heal heartache. Well, your best approach. 

"Are you feeling better, hun" Sarah sighs. "I know it's hard, but I'm here for you. As is Mitch." 

You drop the basket in your basement and begin to load your clothing. "Look, Sarah, I know you both care. I just need to solve this on my own. Ha-" You cut yourself off before saying his name. "He's a great guy, but I don't need a jealous boyfriend in my life. He knows how I act, how cuddly I am, but if he saw me as someone unfaithful, then what's the point of trying. No trust. No love." 

"He's not a bad guy." Sarah starts.

"No, I know that. Trust me, the time we got to spend together, I saw how kind and generous Harry is. He's more than just another famous guy, but second chances. I'm not known for that." You know second chances are good, but it is also a way to lead to being hurt once again. "I know he's your friend, but he was mine as well."

"You're not going to give him the chance to apologize?" 

"Of course, I will. I forgive him, but what else is there to do, it's not li-like he was my boyfriend." 

"Y/N, you confessed your love to him." 

Sarah is trying her best to be neutral, but you know she was rooting for the two of you to make it. To defeat the odds thrown your way. No one expected it to end before it started.

"Yeah, well, come-what-may." 

"What does that mean?" 

"Well, if a bus is heading right at you, let it come." You say quoting Liz from the series you just watched. Not the brightest philosophy, but it's all you have right now. 

"That sounds like a disaster."

"Yeah, it does. You'd save me from the bus, right?" 

Sarah laughs. "Of course, I would. Who else cooks for me expecting nothing in return?" 

You laugh for the first time in what feels like months. Sarah is always able to break you out of your deep dark times. 

"Dinner at my place on Wednesday." You tell her, wanting to get together without having to leave your house. 

"We'll be there." 

You go to hang up, but remember an essential thing for dinner. "Mitch needs to make his brownies, always taste so heavenly." You let out a low moan just thinking about the melting chocolate. 

"I'll tell him, I will also leave out the part where you get wet for brownies." Sarah laughs, and you can't help but join her. Those brownies are just too sinful. 

She hangs up, leaving you in the quiet of your basement. It would be good to see Sarah and Mitch even if Harry blew up at you the last time you saw them. You shake your thoughts away and finish loading the wash. Picking up the previous item, it's a blue Mickey Mouse shirt. Except, it's not yours, it's his. He had come over for dinner and decided he wanted to do the cooking. He brought the spoon to his mouth to taste and ended up spilling. You were quick to strip it off him and rinse it, not wanting it to stain. But did not wash it in a load right away. He was in no hurry to put a shirt back on. To his displeasure, you handed him a Washington State sweater that belonged to your brother. He had looked good in it. That night you didn't sleep until four am not noticing the time and lost in pleasant conversations.

It's crazy how fast the night changes. 

* * * * *

"Mitch, I made chicken tinga with you in mind. I remember you saying how much you were dying to try some three weeks ago." You say as you set a plate of shredded lettuce on the table. "I have it in good authority that I make one of the best. My grandma said I mastered it, so if you don't like it take it up with her." 

Mitch laughs, remembering saying that when you all went out for drinks. "It smells amazing, I'm sure it's great." 

"Anything you touch tastes amazing." Sarah comments.

The conversation flowed calmly over dinner, not one mention of Harry. It feels off being without him, but you can't change what happened, only move on. Sarah and Mitch were your friends before you even knew Harry, but the same goes for Harry. One moment they were strangers and the next they were best friends, now you had no idea where you stood. 

Mitch got up and went for the brownies and set a plate of two in front of you and Sarah but only one for himself. You were about to bite into the delicious treat when there was a knock on your door. 

You all froze, not knowing who it could be. Not your brother, seeing as you drove him to the airport on Sunday. You briefly talked about Harry, but he knew it was your decision to make. Thomas was a good man, but all too forgiving something you never understood. You look at Sarah and shrug as if to say you don't know who's behind the door. You miss the nervous look Mitch gives Sarah as you stand up and make your way to the door. 

You live in a safe community, preceding checking the peephole. The door opens and in front of you is Harry. He looks nervous, cheeks red, and smile small. He takes a step back, and all you want to do is close the door. Not caring for a word that comes out of his mouth. 

Harry sees the look in your eyes and is quick to react. "I'm not here to stay, but I do want to talk.  

You narrow your eyes at him. "Not tonight." 

"It has to be tonight." He pleads. 

You refuse to do this on his terms, let alone without warning. "No."

"Please," Harry takes a step closer, and you catch his eyes glistening. 

"I need you to leave." It's hard telling him to go, but it's what you need.

"Will you hear me out, if I leave?" Harry's stubborn, you learned that the hard way during one of your first arguments where you needed to go home after a late night of drinking, but he wouldn't hear it practically pushing you to his guest room.

"Of course." 

Harry grins, and it almost makes you forget your anger. 

"But not tonight."

His smile falters. You've caught him off guard. 

"Then, when?" He whispers, all confidence gone. 

You think for a moment, "Friday, I'll meet you at Carol's Diner."

"Okay, 12," Harry says, knowing that was your usual time to have lunch there together. 

"Eight" You're embarrassed to correct. "If that's okay, I've got meetings all day." 

Harry nods. "No problem at all." 

He walks down the steps and to his car. You can't help but stand there as he walks away. He would always drag his feet playfully joking how he didn't like being kicked out. He didn't stay the night unless he had some alcohol. You told him one drop, and you'd have the couch ready for him. Which always ended with him in your bed because he said your living room was haunted. 

You miss him, but you don't know how to move forward. 

* * * * *

Late. You're late, and Harry knows he deserves it, hell you might not even show up. 

Harry ordered a black coffee, not knowing if they'd eat or not. The waiter had just served him his refill when you walked in the diner. You spot him right away, and he can't help but begin to sweat. 

"Harry, I'm sorry. My last meeting ran a little longer." You shrug your coat off before sliding into the booth across from him. "I hope you didn't think I was setting you up."

"'Course not. You hungry? Didn't know if you wanted to order." 

"Starving, I've been craving french toast and a milkshake." You laugh, looking at Harry. "That sounds like a lot of sugar. I'm sorry." 

"It's fine, lo-Y/n." He clears his throat. 

You both place your orders, and then the silence takes over. Harry sits there staring at you while you look out the window staring at the park entrance. You count three couples walking in and four families coming out. You also spotted two dogs, frowning when no more showed up.

You're surprised at how fast the food comes and dig right in. Harry and you eat in silence. The chatter of the diner is the only noise around you. Harry steals glances at you, but you never meet his gaze. Too nervous for that. You finish most of your food, but stop once you see Harry set his fork down. Your hands are quick to go in your lap, slowly tracing patterns up and down your palm to keep calm. 

"We've got to talk." 

You sit there patiently, allowing Harry to be the first one to speak. Harry wanted this so bad he has the floor.

Harry stares at you, and he's afraid he's going to lose you after this moment. 

"I'm sorry, let me start with that." He reaches his hand out but pulls back when he sees them in your lap. "There's no excuse for what I did. I was awful, and you deserve better. You deserve trust, and I didn't give it to you." He takes a deep breath. "Looking back, you let me in, really in, but I always kept you at arm's length, waiting for you to mess up. An excuse to hurt you instead of being the one who gets hurt, but in the end, that didn't work out."

"Harry," You try to cut in.

"No, let me finish." You give the nod, and he continues. 

"Those words I said were not true at all. You never used me for nothing. We always did things in private. I'd always force you to go to the bar with us. That dinner was the first time you initiated a public outing, and even then, the place was small and quiet."

"I don't like crowds, and you don't like paparazzi." You say because it's just that simple.

"See, Y/N. You look to put others before you, but I don't want you to do that now. I acknowledge what I did was awful. I told my mum about it because the guilt was eating at me, and she was so disappointed in me. I'm disappointed in me." 

Harry frowns, looking down at his bare hands. The rings at home, no comfort. He holds himself bare in front of you. 

"I want you to put yourself first even if that means not being in my life anymore." 

You focused your eyes on him. This is Harry, honest and nervous Harry. The guy who recites love actually as it plays. Who laughs out loud to all of Mitch's jokes. The one who always rushes to open your doors. 

"Thank you. This is still a lot." Your eyes begin to burn as you remember his confession. "You said-"Your voice cracks. "You said you were falling in love with me." 

Harry's green eyes begin to fill with tears. He nods in acknowledgment of your words.

"My brother is my best friend but Harry, so were you. Those two months felt like ten years, I felt like you've been in my life forever. That hurt Harry, all because what I was sleeping on was someone's arm like I didn't do it before you, and I won't do it after you." You pause to get your emotions under control. "My brother vouched for you. Said you apologized and cried. That you were quick to see your mistake. My brother approves of few people and to have his approval even after what happened means he sees the good in you." 

"Thomas was amazing. I'm glad you have each other." Harry inputs wanting you to know the feeling is mutual. 

"Harry," you take a drink of water. "We were never together. never went on a date, never asked to be boyfriend or girlfriend, we never kissed." 

"It felt like we were," Harry tells you.

"You're right," You set your hands on the table. "That's why it hurt so much when you said all that to me." 

He doesn't deserve you, he knows that, which is why your next words surprise him. 

"I forgive you."

"Thank you," Harry moves to hold your hand, but you don't let him. 

He doesn't hide his shock. 

"I just can't be with you, at least not now." He nods. "You have to understand, I think we'd burn together."

"You don't mean that." It comes out in a whisper. 

"I'm doing what's best for us now. I care too much about you to go into a relationship only for us to break each other's hearts." 

Harry's heart is breaking, and there's no one else to blame but himself. 

"We're bound to run into each other again, Sarah's my best friend and Mitch is her sidekick. I'm not asking you to wait for me, that'd be wrong. But if we ever find yourself in the same place and the feelings are there, and we both feel the timing is right, then I'll be open to asking you on a date or you asking me."

Harry smiles in understanding, no matter how much it hurts him.  

There's not much left to say. Harry knows this is goodbye. "You'll always be my friend, I hope you know I'll always be a phone call away."

You nod and stand up. "Thank you, Harry. I'm here for you as well." 

Harry stands and wraps his arms around you, giving you a tight squeeze. 

"I'm sorry for hurting you. I really am, but thank you for giving me the chance to grow and learn." He steps back. 

"You're a good man, Harry." 

"And you have the purest most beautiful soul." Harry's staring into your eyes, and you can't help but tear up. 

You reach forward and squeeze his hand three times. 

"Take care, H."

 Harry watches as you walk out of the diner. 

He's lost you once again, but he knows your paths will cross once more. 

* * * * *

I love you so much! Thank you for reading! 

Please let me know what you thought about Confession ll 

[a-simple-imagine]

Day 6 - Down at The Lake

Synopsis: You’re staying at the burrow over Christmas break and Ginny decided to take you ice skating

Pairing: Ginny Weasley x fem!reader

Words: 2k+

A/N- Haven’t written for Ginny before but this was suggested to me so I combined it with an idea i already had. 

As rigorous shaking drags you kicking and screaming from your dreams, you open your eyes to see a freckled face staring back mere inches from your face. Ginger hair circling you, you push her back abruptly. When you agreed to come home with her for Christmas, this was definitely not what you were picturing. A little personal space would be nice. "Merlin's beard, Ginny!" You exclaim, dropping your hand from her chest. "are you trying to give a girl a heart attack?"

"Get up!" There's a certain degree of her eagerness behind her words as she stands upright. The room was shrouded in dim light, casting the youngest Weasley in a warm mid-morning glow. It was way too early for her to be so perky.

"What time is it?" You mumble into the pillow, rubbing your eye with the palm of your hand. Judging by the lighting, it was still pretty early.

"Like six," Six A.M? What could possibly justify waking you up at six am during the holidays. Why was she even up so early normally you're the one trying to get her out of bed. "So get up."

"No, it's too early," Rolling onto your side, you nuzzle against the pillow and close your eyes. To your surprise, you feel a weight slam ontop of you. Was she for real?

"I won't leave you alone," Her voice is but a whisper in your ear sending a chill down your spine.

"Fine," Shoving her off, you hear her fall off the bed. An amused smile as you turn the other way. "Just give me a minute." Snuggling into the duvet, you shuffle about trying to get comfortable again but then she pulls, pulls, pulls until you're basically fighting over a duvet.

"Stop being lazy," Releasing the covers, they zoom off you as the other girl stumbles backwards. You can't help but chuckle a little as you sit up, slapping both cheeks gently to try and wake yourself up. Jumping to her feet, Ginny displays a triumphant grin. "Mum is making breakfast," she announces before turning sharply and heading for the door. "Don't go back to sleep."

You did debate just going back to sleep but you decided it wasn't worth facing the wrath of Ginny Weasley. So you force yourself out of bed and get ready for the day. Descend the long staircase of the burrow as quietly as physically possible, you join Ginny who sat at the dinning table telling Mrs Weasley all about some quidditch game. The air smells like sizzling bacon and dewy morning air. Mr. Weasley is present too, reading a paper.

"Took you long enough," Ginny announces when she notices you.

"It's way too early,"

"Good morning," Mr. Weasley states a little too brightly for this early in the morning.

"Breakfast will be done in a jiffy, would you like a cup of tea, dear?" Molly offers, you nod a little as you take a seat opposite Ginny. Watching as Molly grabs the metal kettle and pours the hot water into a cup. "Ginny, go get your brothers up."

"Why do I have to do it?" She groans loudly. Molly hands you the cup that has little pictures  of dragons around the rim before shooting the ginger girl a look. You guessed the mug belonged to her brother Charlie. "Fine."

Pushing out the chair with a brash screech, Ginny charges up the stairs. The sound of her yelling her brother's names echo off the walls before she reappears again. You take a sip of your tea, burning your tongue in the process and quickly putting it back down.

"Since when were you here?" The youngest weasley son trudges over, taking up the seat next to you. He gives an almighty yawn before slumping down against the table.

"I invited her so shut up."

"It was just a question, shesh"

"I arrived yesterday," You explain politely, offering him a tiny smile to which he just shrugs. As plates are placed on the table, the rest of the family starts appearing one by one; each taking up a spot around the table. You hate to admit it because it wasn't like they were intentionally making you feel that way but it feels a little weird being sat among so many family members. You feel like an outcast, invading their breakfast.

"So what are everyone's plans today?" Mr Weasley questions and the boys all talk over each other so eager to tell their story.

"I'm going down to the lake," Ginny announces plainly, drawing the attention to her.

"The lake? Why?" Ron wonders

"Fancy a skate do you?" George inquires with a bit of a giggle.

"Skate?" Were you missing something here?

"In December the lake freezes over so you can ice skate on it,"

"Oh..." That was unexpected. You didn't have a clue how to ice skate nor did you bring any skates? This seemed like a very bad idea. "I don't know how to skate,"

"You'll be fine," Ginny asserts. "I'll teach you."

After being dragged through the frosty woods for what felt like forever, you arrive at a tremendous lake that was covered in shades of icy white and blue. You swallow hard, a pit beginning to form in your stomach as you watch ginny attach these wooden skates to her shoes.

"Don't look so scared, it's just ice," Her hand slaps against your back. "No shame in falling over."

"Are you sure this is safe?" Peering down at the edge of the ice, it's almost like you can picture the disaster waiting to happen.

"Don't be such a baby," Harmless teasing but enough for you to commit to attaching the skates to your own shows. With a deep breath to calm your nerves, you take a leap of faith and step very cautiously onto the ice with one foot. When you were assured it wasn't about to break, you bring the other foot over. Perhaps this would be fun after all. However, you still had no clue how to skate and frankly were too scared to move. Ginny on the other hand looked like she'd been doing this for years. Gliding across the ice in a way that looked both clumsy and graceful. Noticing you, she urges you over but you just shake your head rapidly. "Can't teach you if you won't even move," Making her way over to you, she takes you gloved hands in hers. The most gentle of smiles as she pulls you along just a little, helping you steady yourself. "Just put one foot in front of the other and glide."

"Easier said than done," The bit grew deeper as you shuffled along as best you could, following the other girl's lead.

"Just have a little faith in me," She gently squeezes your hand. "I won't let anything bad happen to you," Still easier said than done but you nod. "Watch my feet." Dropping your hands, Ginny propels forward starting with her right foot then her left in a steady rhythm before circling back. "See easy. You try,"  

"I'm not sure about this," Almost falling on the first step, you hold your arms out wide for balance before pushing forward on your right leg followed perhaps a little too quickly with left but still, you move forward across the ice.

"You got it, just keep doing that and take longer strides so you really slide." You try to follow her advice and it's all fun and games until you slip and fall smack against the ice.

"Are you okay?" The girl rushes over to you, reaching down to help you up. Nothing was really hurt except your pride and bottom for that matter. "Steady?"

"Yeah. I'm okay."

"Good," Her grin brightens as she takes one of your hands and pulls you along behind her. "Do you regret giving it a chance?"

"No it's fun,"

"Are you lying to me?" Ginny glancing back at you briefly. You were genuinely enjoying being out here; playing on the ice. Just the two of you. But it was also rather hard and every moment felt like you were gonna fall.

"I would never,"

"Liar," she chuckles. "Do you wanna race?"

"You'll obviously win," Wouldn't be much a race considering how much better she is.

"I'll go easy on you," You end up agreeing but only because she flashed her best puppy dog eyes. Lining up beside you, Ginny flashes a wicked grin. "Ready?"

You nod.

"Three... two... one... go,"

There was no point in trying because Ginny's idea of going easy on you was speeding off ahead. So you leisurely stroll a little faster than you previously had until you hear it and panic sets in.

Crack.

You come to an abrupt stop but the sound of crackling just triples and you suddenly plunge into the lake water's icy embrace. Struggling to the surface you call out her name but it's hard to stay afloat when your skin burns from the cold. Perching on the edge of the ice, it just crumbles away creating an even bigger hole. Every time you fall back under, you wonder if you'll be able to keep returning to the surface. Taking a deep breath each time as you yell out. You can make out Ginny's appearance behind the water's surface "Wait here," Where did she think you could go? Moments later that felt like hours, The ginger haired girl returns with a tree branch, "Grab on," she yells out as she lays down on the ice. "Push up with your elbows, okay? Ginny pulls with all her might yanks on the wood until you're finally on solid ground; the cold air setting in quickly. You spit out some water and your body begins to shake. Her voice drowned out but the heaving of your chest and the rest was a blur.

The next morning you wake up feeling rough to say the least. You swim in the icy water has definitely left you with some kind of cold or flu. Your head feels fuzzy, your eyes tired and there was a low but ever present burning in your throat. The sound of distant voices hit's your ears and it takes a minute to realise you're in the burrow.

"Good morning, sleepyhead. How you feeling?" Ginny enters the room with a blanket tucked under her arm and a bright smile on her lips.

"Shitty," Sinking further under the covers, you chase the warmth and comfort that they provide.

"Mum says you should stay in bed so I brought you an extra blanket in case you're cold."

"Thanks," Unfolding the blanket, she tosses it over the bed before taking a seat on the edge. Slapping her hand against your forehead; she immediately draws away.

"ew you're hot and sweaty," She wipes her hand on the blanket

"I don't feel it," You murmur softly and then nothing. Ginny just stares down at her hands as she fiddles with her fingers. "Something wrong?"

"I'm just sorry,"

"What for?" Your brows furrow in confusion.

"For you almost drowning,"

"That's not your fault," Well, not entirely. She was the one to encourage you to get on the ice but you don't blame her for the ice breaking.

"I should have warned you about the ice, it can be kinda thin in place."

"It's not a big deal, I only almost died," You tease, raising your shoulders in a playful shrug. .

"I don't know what I would have done if you died," Her voice is uncharacteristically quiet so you're not entirely sure, you're supposed to hear her.

"Well I'm not dead so you have nothing to worry about,"

"Do you want some soup?"

"soup?" That was abrupt.

"Mum made soup."

"Feels a little early for soup,"

"Never too early." She emphasises vividly before softening. "I really am sorry about what happened,"

Reaching up, you grab her arm and pull her towards you; wrapping her up in your arms as she giggles against your neck. "Stop apologising you dumbass, I'm fine."

"Get off me- you're all sweaty." Both palms against you she pushed back and you really don't have the strength to fight her. "I'm gonna get you some soup you need to eat."