#oops… and now I can never take the bus outside my house again

[brittaforthewin]

was just practicing some dance moves for my upcoming show while waiting for the bus and some guy clocked it through his window and was like 👍 and it was like ugh lol

[in-tua-deep]

tua s1 rewatch with my roommate

episode one (I forgot for the first episode oops):

I have been treated to pictures of a lovely cosplay of Klaus who won a cosplay contest my roommate was in !!

Klaus putting his arm in front of Five during the funeral fight is good shit

“I have heard like nothing about Vanya” “yeah that’s pretty much how she’s treated in show as well”

“I can see why he’s the fandom favorite” - about Klaus

“Istanbul is in the firST EPISODE?”

I forGOT about the “rapists can climb” line when he breaks into Vanya’s apartment omg but also like,, his dumb arm wound

Episode two:

HERR CARLSON

Aww baby fives first time travel his little smile. Baby. Baby boy. And the dawning horror in the apocalypse baby nO

Five: you got anything stronger

Also five: takes one sip and then fills up more, takes another sip, and then immediately puts it down ?????

The motel dude for hazel and cha cha just looks at them like “yeah these are serial killers” and just rolls with it

Also actually why tf doesn’t the commission spring for better stuff?? Why would they cut costs?? They time travel? They could game the stock market so hard ?????? Give the assassins their own rooms omg

Also why didn’t five like. Crush his tracker. Why did he just leave it whole and intact outside of the Griddys.

Forgot how much I love Agnes

(Oh man it is storming bad here it just BOOMED)

Also idk if Diego actually deserved that taser hmmmmm but also like,, communication lads five was literally right there killing people and Diego is like “hmm something is up here” like. Yeah Diego ur big brother “I can get my sibling in trouble for something” senses are tingling

Wow I really did repress all these Allison and Luther scenes huh. Also it’s still super cute that Allison read Claire moon books

Allison: dads heart gave out, which wasn’t how I was expecting to find out dad had a heart but it tracks

“SHUT YOUR PIEHOLE BEN... said with love 😘”

Did five actually sleep at Vanyas?? The sofa looks undisturbed but he had to wait for work hours to interrogate the meritech people,, five,, please sleep. The whole “IF YOU CALL ME YOUNG MAN ONE MORE TIME” interaction makes more sense with five on. Zero sleep.

I didn’t remember that Patch straight up knows about the umbrella academy oops. Like she clocks Diego as overcompensating for his childhood. Queen

Is that an umbrella adademy Diego cross stitch on Diego’s wall?? Did he buy that? Make it?? Did grace make it?

Vanya, walking into the academy: five??? five? pspspspspsps

Also like. Who was Vanyas therapist??? Clearly they did not help her

Aww the tow truck driver :(

I know the show wants me to dislike Patrick I KNOW,, and I think her fathers funeral is extenuating circumstance?? But still Patrick is valid for not giving an inch regarding his ex who mind controlled his child. Vanya didn’t really deserve Allison snapping at her but like. She had some good points. Allison arguably would have had to deal with vanyas book more than anyone else

Five smiling proudly at Klaus’s drama at meritech bless but also KLAUS DONT BREAK GLASS ON YOURSELF

Me, spotting Leonard: BASTARD

Love how everyone greets Diego in the gym and don’t question all his knives or anything like “yeah that’s Diego he lives here and loves knives :)”

Why could Leonard have not been like. A normal ass guy. Vanya needs friends who sympathize with her holy shit get this person some socialization

Pogo really did have to lead these kids by hand to the recording rooms because literally no one was super invested in reginalds ~murder mystery~

ahafahJAGSJWGAI MY ROOMMATE JUST SAID POGO IS THE BEST CHARACTER SO FAR,,,, I will probably never include pogo in my fics because I do Not Care About Him lmaoooo

Aww five does to see Dolores and being like “it’s been a rough couple of days :(“,,,,, baby,,,, but also tag yourself I’m hazel going “elastic wrist splint yesssssss”

Five I am begging you PLEASE get some sleep

OH FIVE SHAKING DIEGO IN THE APOCALYPSE TO TRY AND WAKE HIM UP OHHHHH OH :(

Episode 3:

my roommate is super faceblind which is an issue bc she identifies people mainly by hairstyle so seeing the s2 stuff on tumblr is tripping her over bc she keeps seeing diego and going ??? who is that again? bc she’s seen his longer hair

okay there is no way that the eggs that grace put in that pan are the ones that ended up on the smiley face breakfast plate,,, but also grace that whole scene was a mood honestly i would be like “okay maybe mom killed dad BUT he deserved it sooooo”

“what the FUCK” - my roommate about cha-cha’s shitty wound care where she holds a curling iron against her arm

i didn’t remember that five got shOT AT THE DEPARTMENT STORE did i just erase that from my memory?? i mean yeah it’s a graze but he stitches it up and then slaps a bandaid on it so he has a wound that needed stitches on his shoulder for the entire show ??????? is he okay???? that would make moving your arm,,, painful,,,,,

a bandaid just slapped over it i’m actively yelling

“Sometimes when I see a million gifs of a show before I watch I get really surprised when they talk but he is exactly what I expected” - my roommate, about five

“I noticed they’ve only really showed diego in really badly lit scenes so far” - my roommate defending her lack of ability to recognize diego

i’m still laughing about pogo literally having to point out the murder tapes and now allison and luther are investigating and just. allison is lowkey defending grace and i’m laughing

“why is he saying woodwork is embarrassing that’s like one of the most middle of the wood hobbies to have. you’re respectable to grandpas who used to carve wooden ducks AND twenty-year-olds who can’t make anything to save their lives” - my roommate on leonard peabody

“i think he’s already crossing some lines he’s met this lady ONCE” - roommate on leonard/vanya

five having flashbacks in the car :(

did allison and luther draw straws for who went to fetch which sibling?? allison was like “dibs on vanya” and luther was just like “aww :(”

five luther and klaus in the van - BOYS NIGHT BOYS NIGHT let’s go pick up diego

“the coat he’s wearing does have a nice swish to it” - roommate about klaus’s coat

luther being like “you’re just as messed up as the rest of us and we’re all you have” like luther,,, baby,,,,, you literally ARE all he has,,,,,, his family is the only thing he’s really cared about since he was thirteen and maybe before then :(

“I can’t tell if those are supposed to be cake or yeast donuts... i think extruded donuts are cake donuts but she said she lets them rise so maybe they’re yeast?” - my roommate focusing on all the things that i do not

sometimes i forget that hazel and cha-cha pretended to be private detectives trying to find a lost child in a potentially dangerous situation,,, five would be disgusted

“she shouldn’t get a vote” “i was gonna say i agree with you” “she should get a vote!!” this is peak sibling energy honestly i think i’ve had that exact interaction with my siblings voting for a movie or something

“hashtag android rights” 

“I want to be the tailor who gets a call one day that says ‘i want you to make clothes for a chimpanzee”

is it telling that only luther in the flashback didn’t really talk to grace at all,, i mean five didn’t either but i think he was gone by that point in the flashback ???? 

wait diego tells grace that she worked for him for thirty years,,, the kids are 29 and later it’s implied she was built bc vanya kept killing nannies when they were like four but maybe s2 clarifies that some more?? or diego just is rounding up

“that’s an interesting fabric to her skirt” - my roommate about grace’s outfit

forgot that hazel and cha cha broke the door to the manor busting in,, do they ever fix that?? we’re only at episode three do they spend the rest of the season with their door open to anyone on the streets

okay that bathtub is WAY too small to allow for klaus to be moving his elbows about like that underwater smh

“how is HE useful on mission??” my roommate about klaus

where is the SECURITY SYSTEM??? luther LITERALLY said that reggie was more paranoid and yet some assassin can just bust down the door and have unrestricted access????? he built a whole ROBOT but no security system????????

“maybe it was like,, practice for the kids? someone breaks in and they take care of it? wait no that doesn’t explain the thirteen years they’ve been gone?”

“why WAS he on the moon?” - about luther

“I want to see what she’s embroidering!!” about grace during the gunfight in the living room she’s absolutely ignoring diego getting shot at

what is a rope-a-dope,,,, diego yells “EVER HEARD OF A ROPE-A-DOPE???” at luther but like. no i haven’t. what does that MEAN diego

aww i forgot they played sinnerman, love that song

“what are you doing dude, rumor has it you’re not shooting at me that’s all you need to do” i mean. the roommate is not wrong. allison could just end the fight with a yell. i understand she’s pissed off and has rumor trauma but like cha cha is actively trying to murder them

how is luther not winning he literally has super strength. does hazel have super strength? just punch the man and knock him out jesus y’all suck at this smh

why is there such intense music we all been knew about luther’s strength - oH HIS BODY

forgot about that

is it allison’s fault that klaus got kidnapped because she didn’t literally just rumor them to give up?? like she literally has that power. she could have been like “i heard a rumor you left and forgot about us” it didn’t even need to be violent?? i understand she has rumor trauma but this i feel is allowable circumstances

diego showing his worry about vanya by getting angry which honestly i think all the siblings do that rip none of these idiots have even heard of healthy communication in their LIVES

you know,, i don’t think vanya can drive. she takes the bus. she took a taxi to leonard’s house. we see her walking a lot. does she know how to drive?? i imagine that the umbrella academy were taught bc of mission related stuff but,,, vanya wasn’t?? that’s just depressing tbh

[jisungsmochi]

loved you first - park jisung

based off the song by one direction (kings) - word count: 3.3k 

idk y’all my heart kinda hurt writing this oops 

//

she was always going to be his first love. and he was always going to be hers. but sometimes, your first love doesn’t always end up being your last.

//

Girl it should be me,

Driving to your house,

Knocking your door,

Kissing you on the mouth

“jisung! you suck at this game” you teased the boy from across the room as you were both in a competitive game of mario kart. jisung just rolls his eyes, trying to come up with a witty comment. but he was interrupted by your doorbell echoing through the house. you immediately paused the game to answer the door, jisung’s eyes following your movements. as you swung the door open, you squealed loudly, scaring jisung.

“jenoooo” you cooed at your boyfriend, embracing him by wrapping your legs around his tall figure. jeno kissed you in return, tightening the hug. jisung sat there before coughing, trying to gain your attention.

“hey jisung” jeno greeted, walking into the living room and plopping himself on the couch. jisung couldn’t help but glare, he tried to stop himself before you noticed.

“hi jeno, i’m uh i’m gonna go home now, my mum needs something. see you guys later” jisung hurriedly makes his way out of your house, causing you to give him a concerned look as he hopped on his bike and made his way home.

‘you’re an idiot, jisung’ he mumbled to himself.

holding on your hand,

dancing in the dark,

cause i was the only one who loved you from the start

you planned a small celebration for jeno’s birthday, at this local bar and karaoke place. jisung knew you only invited him for the sake of it, not because he and jeno were even remotely friends. but jisung would have done anything for you. even if it meant, helping blow up balloons for your boyfriend who he really couldn’t care less about.

“jisung, don’t waste your breath! you could pass out!” you chuckle, pulling the balloons away from him. every time you smiled at him; he swore time stopped.

“whatever you say!” jisung raises his arms in defeat,

“guys! he’s coming soon!” donghyuck announced, causing everyone to scramble to their hiding places. jisung crouched next to you, behind one of the plush sofas. he was so close to you; he could feel your breath fanning his cheek. you were nervously awaiting jeno’s entrance, jisung senses your nerves and held onto your hand, giving it a small squeeze.

“you did a good job, he is gonna love it” your best friend assured you, making you nod in affirmation, giving his hand a small squeeze back. a simple gesture such as that, had jisung in the palm of your hand.

you both heard jaemin and jeno’s laughter, sensing it was time for the surprise. as the lights switched on, everyone jumped from their positions, except for jisung.

“SURPRISE” they all yelled in unison. you ran to your boyfriend, pulling him in for another embrace, as jisung watched on again. it never got easier for him. for the rest of the night, he watched as you and jeno danced in the dark, lights strobing around the both of you, as if no one was around. the way he held you close to him, like you were the only one he saw. jisung’s heart stung at the sight in front of him, for he was the one who loved you first.

But now when I see you with him it

Tears my world apart

jisung was sitting at his usual lunch table when chenle approaches him.

“what’s up with you?” his friend questions, taking a bite of his sandwich.

“what do you mean?” jisung fires back, glaring over at you and jeno seated under a large tree.

“i mean, why have you been such a downer lately?” chenle speaks up, eyes flickering to what the younger boy was previously looking at, “ah never mind”

“how can she be with someone like him? i mean he- he’s just- “

“perfect?” chenle finished, causing jisung to whip his head to face him.

“admit it jisung, he treats her so well. he’s never been rude or mean to you, ever. and he does care about her” chenle tried his best to make jisung understand how illogical he was being. as much as jisung hated to admit it, everything he said was true. jeno wasn’t a terrible person, not like how jisung wanted him to be. jeno was kind, gentle and caring towards you. which made jisung even more frustrated.

“chenle it hurts” jisung quietly mutters, not sure if the other boy would hear him. chenle sighs, giving him a small pat on the back before speaking,

“i know it does. but she’s happy, isn’t she? try to be happy for her okay? she loves you. maybe not in the way you want, but sometimes we can’t be so selfish” jisung holds back his sobs, nodding at his words.

jisung couldn’t bear to see you two together, but he knew he’d rather have you in his life as just a friend, than not have you in it at all.

Because,

I've been waiting

All this time to finally say it

But now I see your heart's been taken

And nothing could be worse

Baby, I loved you first.

“mum, i don’t need you to walk to me into school! i’m in the seventh grade now!” you grumble as your mother accompanied you on your first day.

“oh, don’t be silly! you’re not that grown yet” she joked, pulling you along with her into the assembly hall. as you stumbled into the huge hall, you noticed a boy, whose mother was also attached to his hip, guiding him through the crowd. you chuckled to yourself at how awkward he looked. his socks up to his knees and his hair parted in the middle. by chance, your mothers decided to sit near to each other, having you and jisung fill the two spaces between them. you sat down, awkwardly looking around at the other students. jisung sat, hands folded in his lap, staring at the ground.

“hi there, i’m y/n” you spoke up, causing him to face you. your mothers were too caught up on the hustle and bustle of the assembly.

“i’m jisung” he answered back. you nodded, unsure of what to say.

“do you want to go to the basketball court? i saw some other students there, i don’t think we are even meant to pay attention to this assembly” you mumble, watching as the boy nodded, turning to ask his mum if he could leave, in which she agreed. your mother shooed you, too invested in listening to the dance program coordinator speak. you and jisung giggle as you run outside.

you could say that was the moment you fell in love with park jisung. but you were quite too young to know what love was just yet.

it wasn’t until the following year, when jisung received multiple roses form different girls for valentine’s day, that you wanted to express how you felt. you held your rose for him, in your hand, watching as jisung walked around with an entire bouquet. you sighed, shoving the rose into your backpack. you had attached a note with a cheesy pick up line,

“you rock my world” with a picture of dwayne the rock johnson pasted on it.

park jisung was always going to be too good for you.

jisung anxiously waited outside of your last period classroom that day, holding a small bear keychain he made the night before, along with his own written note. he was disappointed to see that you had practically ran right past him, in order to catch the bus home. jisung never ended up giving you that gift, which he would regret in the years to come.

the thing with you and jisung, was that feelings between you both were never a taboo topic. you often talked about failing in love, having an epic love story that would be magical. but you were kids, having never experienced love firsthand. all this time spent waiting for the other to make a move, ultimately ended up with you both never confessing your feelings.

this continued on another year later. you were truly well and done, with the idea of falling for your best friend. you convinced yourself it was just another cliché trope you desperately yearned for in your life.

so, as you made the decision to move past your feelings for park jisung, he was not such a fan of the idea.

he noticed how you would let your hair down more often, spray perfume throughout the day and constantly check your makeup on your phone camera. it wasn’t his position to comment on your newfound interest in your appearance, he couldn’t help but notice how more guys started talking to you. he felt left out at times, when you’d go to another party without him, or go have lunch with another group. but jisung saw how happy you were, who was he to prevent you from that?

Had my chances

Could've been where he is standing

That's what hurts the most,

Girl, I came so close

But now you'll never know

Baby, I loved you first

jisung knew he already had chances to confess to you. he could have chosen to chase you down on valentine’s day to give you the keychain. he could have showed up to your house and outright said it. he could have done it at your 15th birthday party, after he gave you your first kiss.  

“let’s play truth or dare!” your friend jisoo suggested, as everyone gathered in a circle. you sat next to jisung, with jisoo on your other side. she ended up using a random generator online since you were all innocent children, with no concept of how to use the game to your advantage.

it was jisung’s turn, he chose dare.

“kiss the person beside you” jisoo read aloud, causing jisung to whip his head between you and chenle. chenle’s eyes were practically screaming for jisung to not get any closer to him. luckily jisung took the hint, turning to face you.

“jisung you don’t have to! you can choose another dare inst-“

jisung’s lips met yours, taking you by surprise. everyone’s mouths widened, not expecting him to go through with it. jisung pulled away slowly, watching as your cheeks flushed bright pink. the game continued on, but your heart was beating so fast. god dammit park jisung.

prior to that night, you asked jisung to sleepover, not knowing what would have gone down between you both.

“hey, uh if it’s gonna be awkward, i can just sleep in the living room instead. i should have asked you if i could kiss you, i’m sorry” jisung apologised, holding his pillow and blanket in his arms. you shook your head,

“n-no you can sleep with me as usual. but yeah, it was just a surprise, that’s all” you assured him, watching as he placed his pillow next to yours and folded the blanket to place on your bedroom floor.

“i don’t want things to be weird between us. it was just a kiss” jisung mumbled as you both tucked yourselves in bed.

“it was my first kiss, jisung” you looked at him, his face directly in front of yours. you couldn’t help but stare into his glistening eyes.

“i know” he whispered, almost afraid to admit that he had just been your first kiss.

jisung didn’t know why he couldn’t have just confessed at that very moment. but he knew he had used up all his chances.

Girl, it should be me

Calling on your phone

Saying you're the one, and that I'll never let you go

I never understood, what love was really like,

But I felt it for the first time looking in your eyes

“jisung, you don’t mind leaving now, do you? jeno wants to facetime me soon! we can finish studying tomorrow” you sorrowfully explained to your best friend. jisung just nodded, giving you a side hug before leaving your house. he hopped on his bike before starting to pedal, remembering the days where you and he would ride your bikes together to some random park. he enjoyed hearing your laughter every time you both were going down a hill, he liked watching your hair fly all sorts of places from the wind. he fully believed that his heart was content with having you by his side for as long as you lived. until, you met lee jeno.

it was valentine’s day, once again, you and jisung now were seventeen years old. ever since jisung kissed you, you debated your feelings for him. jisung was very reserved, and never the one to express how he felt. it often made you frustrated at times, especially when all you wanted from him was an indication of how he felt towards you.

you stumbled upon a rose taped to your locker. you brushed it off, thinking that jisung or chenle has put it there to make you smile. you carefully took the rose down, noticing there was a small piece of paper wrapped around the stem. surely, the boys weren’t fully capable of something with so much effort. you opened the note, reading to yourself,

‘happy valentine’s day! i hope this made you smile! - j’

your heart was rapidly beating. you noticed the initial, ‘j’. could it have been jisung? you needed to find out, so you walked up to him during your lunch break. you made sure to hold the rose right in front of you, hoping he would take the hint to just confess to your face.

‘hey y/n, oh you got a rose?’ jisung questioned, nibbling on his chicken wing.

“yeah i did, not sure who it’s from though” you tried to lead him on, watching as he was still focused on eating. you sighed, sitting down next to him.

“is there something you wanna tell me, jisung?” you tried to get any sort of response from him,

“not really, hey can you pass me your wings if you’re not gonna have them?” the boy continued chewing. you huffed in defeat, handing him your chicken wings. you stared at the note intently,

“ooo who’s the secret admirer?” chenle’s voice perked you up.

“not sure, someone with the initial, J” you shrugged, chenle looked over at jisung,

“jisungie, how sweet of you to confess to y/n!!” chenle chuckled, stopping jisung in his tracks. he nervously coughed before replying,

“it wasn’t me. i didn’t send it” jisung admitted, watching as your face fell. screw park jisung for getting your hopes up.

the rest of the day consisted of you and chenle, investigating the possible admirer.

“you reckon it’s someone in the grade above us?” chenle questions as you both stroll through the halls.

“highly doubt it! i mean, why would an upperclassman go for me?” you shrug, chenle pouts,

“don’t be like that! you’re pretty” you look over at him, raising your eyebrows

“yeah okay that was weird, i meant that, you can get a guy to like you!” he finished. you nodded slowly as you both approached your locker where you saw lee jeno, a well-known basketball player, standing in front of your locker. he had his head down, fiddling with his fingers. chenle’s eyes widened at the possible situation,

“y/n, i swear to god if it was lee jeno, you are one lucky girl” he whispers before rushing off to spy on you from afar. you freeze as you reach your locker, jeno taking notice and faced you.

“h-hi jeno?” it came out more of like a question than a greeting.

“hi, i um i wanted to know if you got my rose” he continued fiddling with his fingers. you had never seen the school’s basketball star so nervous before.

“i did, it was a sweet gesture. i appreciate it a lot” you kindly smile, peering over at chenle who was now joined by jisung. they were both spying, watching every move,

“i’m really glad. i probably should explain more. i think you’re really pretty. and i know we don’t know each other that well but i was hoping i could take you to eat sometime?” jeno looked into your eyes, and you could swear that time froze. he was so gorgeous, his kind eyes that creased into crescent moons, his contagious smile that could never not cheer you up. you looked over at your friends once again, seeing how solemn jisung looked. you tried to shake the image of his face from your mind, focusing on jeno’s confession.

“sure, I’d like to go out with you. we can get to know each other well” you smile, as jeno returns the same expression, only brighter. chenle was practically cheering from the side-lines,

“jisung! can you believe it? she scored a date with lee jeno!” jisung just stood, unable to move. perhaps he was too late.

The first touch

The first kiss

First girl to make me feel like this

Heartbreak

It's killing me

I loved you first, why can't you see?

you and jeno has been dating for around three months now. it didn’t get any easier for jisung, to see you both walk around, holding hands and kissing each other. he was happy for you, what kind of friend would he be if he wasn’t? jeno was the perfect guy for you. he was what you wanted all along. but jisung couldn’t help but imagine what life would be like, if you had chosen him. if he had prevailed his love for you sooner.

jisung often wrote his thoughts down, dedicating a few pages of his journal, for entries about you. he wrote about your first kiss, the first time you hugged him, the first time you had a sleepover. every milestone in your relationship was most likely written in his journal. jisung never wanted to forget the moments he had with you. whether it was in the form of photos and randomly cut videos you two made, or simple notes you passed in class. jisung kept them all. you were the first girl, who made his heart beat out of his chest. you were the first girl who made him feel nervous, worried, angry at times and most of all, the happiest he had been during his youth. although he is not the one for you, at this moment in time, didn’t mean he lost you forever.

no matter the circumstances, how you had wished that you and jisung could have experimented a proper relationship, having him as your best friend was your priority. he was always a sense of stability in your life, someone who would never let you down. he was loyal, kind, overly caring and extremely witty. if you and jeno ever got into an argument, jisung would help out the pieces back together to ensure your relationship didn’t end. he couldn’t bear seeing you hurt, even though he was dying inside. he wanted to wrap you up and kiss your forehead while he tells you everything will be okay. but jisung was never the one to overstep his boundaries. you weren’t his to cuddle and hold for dear life. his heart broke every time he saw you embraced in jeno’s arms. it pained him to see what could have been. he didn’t know how long he would keep his feelings bottled up. but maybe one day, you would hear the words from his mouth, describing how much he adored you. maybe sometime in the future, the universe has a plan for you both. but jisung knew, that one day he would have to move on, no matter how long it took or how much it would hurt. he will always think to himself, if only you had known how much he loved you first, maybe everything would be different.

[taztaas]

My Boy Builds Coffins

Inspired by: My Boy Builds Coffins by Florence + The Machine Sunlight by Hozier 

Relationships: Kravitz & RQ, Taakitz

It starts like this:

A wagon rolls into town one afternoon. All colors, shameless shanties and swaying lanterns - gently glowing. 

With it, a group of three. One man, and - this is crucial - two elves, twins to be exact.

And most importantly, an elf twin named Taako.

*

The funeral home smells like dust. Dust, always dust no matter how much they clean. Dust, sometimes flowers, and that certain smell most enterers can’t identify but both remaining members of the MacAllister family know is death, death.

*

Her son stands at the window in the front in his black suit, his white-gloved hands clasped neatly behind his back, like usual. Like every day since his father died.

“Brooding,” she says.

“Thinking,” he says, or “I’m just people-watching, Mother.”

“You think too much,” she says and it makes him smile a little, but all it does is remind her of the days when he was young and happier and hopeful. And how all that joy withered to nothing, slowly but surely.

*

Kravitz used to play with the litter of kittens behind their neighbor's barn, until one day, they were just gone. Something was wrong, she knew immediately when he came home with a slow opening of the door and his footsteps barely audible on the hardwood floor. She was washing the dishes when it happened.

“They're dead, aren't they,” he asked, just a boy still, his hair curling just barely below his ears and she had said yes because they both knew it was the truth. He looked thoughtful but wouldn't look at her, his mother, in the eye.

“I hope they didn't suffer,” he said absently as he climbed up the stairs to his room. She was left alone in the kitchen with her hands covered in dishwater, and with a lump in her throat she fought hard to swallow.

*

Put in a burlap sack and thrown into the lake they were. She tried not to think about it. She hoped her son didn’t know.

*

Working at the funeral home is not what Raven wanted for her son but it’s what they both ended up with. Kravitz grew from a somber boy into a somber man and it saddens her to see him so serious.

“A damn shame,” his father, her husband, would say if he was still alive. But he lived his life building coffins, he left this life in a coffin and all he left them was coffins.

Now Kravitz builds them, for better or worse, in sunshine and rain.

*

She joins him by the window just in time to see one of the elves blow Kravitz a kiss. The shock on her son's face, his feathers ruffled, makes her hide a smile in her palm.

*

The elves are a wild kind. They talk too loud, they laugh too loud. They wear too little or too much, they dress so strangely.

“They stay out too long after sundown, and their windows are lit until close midnight,” Susan tells her in a stage-whisper, a basketful of fresh-baked, elven-made goods hanging on her arm, the hypocrite.

Raven looks at the bakery window, sees the elves laughing and tossing flour at each other. She sees people leaving the establishment with their hands full and their mouth smiling.

“They sing such terrible songs,” Susan continues, hissing, like it’s all some kind of devious conspiracy.

Raven realizes she never liked her, truly.

*

“He’s busy, probably,” Kravitz says under his breath, wringing his gloved hands. “Most- most likely.”

“More the reason why you should go offer a helping hand, Kravitz,” she says without looking up from the flowers she’s arranging. It’s been a week already, and Raven has heard all the rumors, while Kravitz has just been looking. He feels safe behind the glass, she figures, though the window is a poor cover to hide behind.

Raven prefers to leave her son to his own devices most of the time, but she has seen. She can’t help but notice the way Kravitz’s eyes have been glued to one of the elves in particular. The brother, Raven knows by now. The sister is married to the human they arrived with.

“I don’t think-”

“You think too much,” she says again and leaves the flowers in favor of grabbing her son’s arm and dragging him towards the door. “Just go , Kravitz.”

“Mother!”

“Go, and don’t let Susan catch you, or we’ll never hear the end of it,” she says and ushers him, pushes him , out of the door and towards the bakery on the opposite side of the street. The building smells like cinnamon, fresh bread and has an atmosphere that livens up the whole village.

*

The next morning, Kravitz comes down the stairs looking like he always does but somehow, he’s different.

She’s his mother, she can tell.

She smiles at him.

He smiles back.

She feels her heart jump with joy.

*

Kravitz is quiet and gentle. A soul born in cold and rain.

She remembers that night well.

It’s a boy!

Her baby cradled in her shaking arms, her husband’s hand was heavy and proud on her shoulder. Just like his mother , the midwife had said. Dark skin, hair black as winter night but unlike her, his eyes like pieces of coal ready to spark with flame.

Congratulations, Mr. MacAllister, they said to him, ignoring her.

She hummed a tune and held her son while outside, white November turned into a grey December.

The night was long but in the morning there was sunlight, sunlight.

*

They’re in the back room having tea when front door bangs open and makes them both jump. Raven manages to hold onto her cup - and avoid an incident - but Kravitz spills his and he peels his soaked gloves off with a hiss and a grimace.

They both know who it is, even without the carelessly spoken oops that follows. There’s only one person who would enter a funeral home in such a way.

They move to the front to greet their guest, Raven still cradling her cup in both her hands. She smiles to herself as she observes the tension in her son’s shoulders melt away. Taako’s very presence seems to help lessen the gloomy atmosphere of the room.

“Goddamn it’s grim around here, would it kill you two to have some music on or something?” Taako complains as he invites himself in with a basket full of something sweet-smelling hanging on the crook of his arm.

“Would it kill you not to torture us with your baking Taako?” Raven asks good-naturedly averting her eyes from the scene. The way Kravitz’s face lits up with a smile is enough for her. She knows her son is in love, she doesn’t feel the need to spy on the pair’s reunion. though their separation has been brief, they saw each other yesterday, last.

Taako scoffs, “It's not torturing if I'm bringing you some.” He drops his basket on the very expensive, wooden desk and out of the corner of her eye, Raven notices the crumbs now littering the surface. Kravitz does not. He’s too busy staring into Taako’s eyes.

She hums in answer and lifts the cloth over the basket, grabbing one of the scones she finds underneath to enjoy with her tea.

Taako grabs Kravitz by the forearms and pulls him into a gentle sway, humming a melody.

She leaves the room with her delicious prize, knowing her son is in good hands. Kravitz’s voice is warm and Taako’s laugh is high and tinkling.

*

They reach the summer solstice. Their little town is much changed from before the brightly-colored wagon arrived. The midsummer festival with its flower crowns, birch saplings, and the huge bonfire remains constant, however.

Raven skips the festivities, just like every year. But this year she enjoys the look on her son’s face when he’s dragged out of the house by Taako.

She has an uneasy feeling but she tries to ignore it, as she often presumes the worst. 

But also, she’s never wrong.

*

Come dawn, the bakery burns.

*

“They’re dead, all three”, they say, when the sun has revealed the destruction in its entirety. Raven can see her son’s world crumbling into pieces as their eyes meet.

Good riddance, some of them say.

Some say, they knew the three newcomers were somehow wicked.

They’re all dead, the human man and the elves both.

In her mind’s eye, she sees Kravitz’s hands making a coffin.

A coffin for his lover.

White like a dove, the bird, and the loving nickname he gave his beloved.

She hates the world for being so cruel.

*

She doesn’t see Kravitz cry but she knows better than to assume he doesn’t.

His gloves are gone now. Replaced by bandages covering his burned hands, wounded when he and disappointingly few others dug through the still-smoldering rubble of the bakery. They all knew they would find no survivors. But Kravitz had wanted to confirm, to see the dreadful truth with his own eyes.

*

By the time it’s obvious that the fire was no accident, they’ve found no bodies. Raven doesn’t know what to think of it, but she dares to hope. Kravitz paces the hardwood floors, his eyes empty and dead.

*

It’s a cool and quiet night, a week after the fire when they hear a gentle rapping at their window.

Kravitz only has eyes for his untouched bowl on soup. His spoon is idly stirring, but Raven looks up and gasps, loud, as she spots a wayward flash of golden hair in the darkness behind the glass.

Kravitz stirs and raises his eyes to her but she’s already hurrying to the window, pulling at the latches and pushing it open.

She hears Kravitz’s chair fall to the floor as he rushes to his feet because it’s Taako, leaning against the frame like he isn’t supposed to be dead. He doesn't look good, doesn't look well but he isn't dead

“Looking grim as usual, MacAllisters,” he quips with a grin that softens first into a smile and then turns into a frown as he takes in Kravitz’s rumpled suit and messy hair. “You look tired hon, wait, what happened to your han-?”

Taako cuts off as Kravitz surges violently forward with a choked gasp of the elf’s name and then they are both tumbling out of the window and down onto the dewy grass below.

*

“Taako, he- I mean, they’re leaving and he wants- no he, he needs me to go with him.”

“I know, Kravitz,” she says gently and reaches for his hands, holds them between hers.

“Mother,” he says, his eyes sorry and pleading. “Mother, I’m-”

“I know , Kravitz.” She smiles. “I loved, once. Truly loved. But it was a different time,” she says and thinks of golden eyes and long silver hair even though she shouldn't. Her husband was a good man.

“You must go, Kravitz.”

She brushes the hair out of his eyes and cradles his cheek.

“You must live.”  

He sobs and surges forward to embrace her. To her shame, it catches her off guard. She squeezes her eyes shut against the tears, hides her face in her son’s hair.

“I promise I’ll write,” he chokes out.

“And I will treasure every letter,” she replies, her voice shaking but she is smiling - of course she is. She can’t recall a time when she last felt this happy.

*

In the morning, Raven takes her tea out to the back porch, eats a leftover scone, and basks in sunlight, sunlight.

[ghostsray]

kin assigned fenton pt. 3

(compared to the two previous 8k-word chapters, this one is really short...also i kind of made myself sad while writing this so oops)

(pt 1/pt 2) (ao3)

summary: danny remembers a fond memory uwu

.

Danny wished he could starve.

That was a sentence most people didn't say. But even as he ate the cereal bar he had stolen, he knew he didn't need to eat it. It didn't give him any energy or quench any hole in his stomach. It just went...who knows where, because it wasn't the other end. He hadn't needed to use the toilet in days. Worst of all, the food didn't even taste the same--everything he ate tasted like ectoplasm.

Not that that stopped him from eating it.

"Dude, what's wrong with your skin?" a man said. Danny looked up and found the person...the human...standing in the bus stop next to him, squinting at his face.

Right--he had lowered his scarf to free his mouth to eat. Danny covered his face again and mumbled, "Skin condition."

The man didn't question him. Most likely, a blue-skinned, slightly glowing teenager wasn't the strangest thing he'd seen.

Okay, so Danny was pretending to still be a human. The hoodie he wore did a good job of covering his white hair and most of his jumpsuit. The sunglasses he wore hid his glowing eyes. The scarf covered the rest of his unusually-colored face.

So what?

Dying was what Jazz would have called a traumatic experience. Danny was desperate to cling onto any semblance of his old life as a human, or he would have lost it. So, he walked and rode buses instead of flying. He breathed even though he couldn't suffocate. He ate and drank even though he didn't starve or become thirsty. At night, he lay down and closed his eyes in an attempt to sleep but always failed because he didn't need to.

He didn't need to do any of those things that kept him alive because he was dead.

He missed being a human. He missed being able to starve.

There was the rumbling of an engine as a bus rolled into view. The doors slid open. The man climbed aboard, and Danny followed.

He picked a seat toward the back of the bus and sat down. Logically, he knew he would have reached his destination days ago if he had simply chosen to fly, but he couldn't help it. As exhilarating as flying was, it was foreign...inhuman. So, he had spent his days walking and stopping to rest even though he didn't need to because he never felt exhausted.

He leaned his head against the window, making sure not to accidentally phase it through, as the bus began to drive. The road outside was dark, the stars hidden behind clouds. The landscape passed by in a blur.

His destination was, of course, in Wisconsin.

His parents were not the only ghost experts in the human world. He remembered visiting their old college friend when he and Jazz were little. Uncle Vlad was as knowledgable as Mom and Dad were in ghost matters, but he was less trigger-happy.

There was one time years ago when their family came to Wisconsin for a ghost expo, and Uncle Vlad offered to let them stay over. Danny must have been four or five years old. He considered himself a big boy, and for that, he insisted on sleeping in his own guest bedroom in spite of his parents' reluctance. He regretted that decision when he woke up in the middle of a night from a frightful nightmare.

Shivering from the image of a ghost trying to eat him, he left his room and attempted to search for his parents. Unfortunately, the mansion was so big that he quickly became lost. After turning another corner and being greeted by a wall of Packers merch but no bedroom door, his bottom lip trembled. Somehow, a deep part of his five-year-old soul was certain that a ghost was out to get him.

"What are you doing here, little badger?" Vlad's voice spoke, and he looked up to find the man standing before him.

Danny didn't want Vlad to think he was a scaredy cat like his classmates in kindergarten did, so he didn't tell him he was scared. Instead, he stood as straight as his little body could allow and said truthfully, "I want Mommy and Daddy."

"Mommy and Daddy? Sure, I was just on my way back from the potty. I can bring you there." Vlad pouted and added, "But tell me, why do you want them? I thought you were a big boy now. That's what you said."

"I'm not scared! I..." he fidgeted and said, "Mommy and Daddy always protect me from ghosts."

"You're worried a ghost might hurt you?" Vlad said, eyebrows raised. Danny nodded.

"Ghosts are bad."

Vlad smiled. He crouched until he was at eye level with the young boy. "Did Mommy and Daddy tell you that?"

"Yes. They know a lot about ghosts! And they hunt them down so they don't hurt us!"

"I'm sure they do," Vlad said. "But you know, I also know a lot about ghosts."

"Are you a ghost hunter, too?" Danny asked, tilting his head. He never saw Vlad carry any weapons like his parents did. And he didn't wear a jumpsuit either, which his parents insisted was an important part of their job.

"No, I'm not. And do you want to know why?" He leaned forward and whispered, "I know of a way to stop ghosts without weapons."

Danny widened his eyes. "How?" he asked curiously.

"It's easy..." He suddenly thrust his hands out in a scary gesture and said with an exaggerated growl, "You scare them before they scare you!"

Danny jumped at Vlad's scare--then laughed. "That can't be right!"

"Oh, it is," Vlad said with a very serious expression. "Do you want to know how I'm sure? Because no ghost ever got the best of me."

"Really?" Danny said, still not quite believing him.

"Of course. Ghosts are only scary if you let them scare you. But if you scare them instead--well, they'll leave you alone!"

He grinned, and Danny couldn't help but grin back. Vlad then stood up and asked, "Do you still want me to take you to your parents?"

Danny thought about it for a second, then puffed out his chest and said, "No. I'm not scared!"

"That's the spirit," Vlad said and ruffled his hair.

That single conversation was not enough to end his fear of ghosts, of course. But for that night, at least, he didn't have any nightmares when he went back to bed.

Later that week, when they had to return to Amity Park, he asked his parents why they didn't visit Uncle Vlad more often. His mother smiled and explained that Wisconsin was very far away.

"Then why don't we move?" he asked.

He vividly remembered a brief moment where Mom looked uncomfortable, though he didn't understand why. However, Dad quickly answered for her by saying, "I, for one, like our house in Amity Park. Don't you?"

Danny grumbled and let it slide. But as they went to pack their things, and Jazz caught him without their parents, she said in her stuck-up big sister tone, "It's obvious why Mom and Dad don't want us to spend time with Uncle Vlad. He's crazy."

Danny frowned. "No he's not."

Jazz rolled her eyes. "He is. You're just too dumb to notice."

Danny didn't understand why she said those things. He thought she was being mean. After all, Vlad was a perfectly rational man!

It was not until years later that he thought back on their encounters and realized Jazz told the truth. Danny always focused on the nice memories he had with Vlad, but there were times when Vlad went from calm and collected to agitated and paranoid in the blink of an eye. Sometimes Vlad changed personalities so violently that it was almost as if two souls lived inside him. Those memories always scared Danny, so he kept them in the back of his memory.

Still, despite how crazy Vlad might have been, Danny still thought of him fondly. Recalling their encounters brought a smile to his face--such as now.

He was sure there must be a way to reverse the switch between him and Phantom. His parents, the leading ghost experts he knew, were too biased against ghosts to listen to him. But maybe Vlad could help him. He had all of their expertise and none of their irrational hatred toward ghosts.

So, here he was, on his way through Wisconsin.

There was a kid in the seat in front of him, watching him over the seatback curiously, probably wondering why he was dressed in a way that covered his glowing face. Danny ignored him and continued gazing out the dark window.

All of a sudden, a chill gripped at him and caused him to shiver. He knew temperature did not affect him as a--you know. He widened his eyes just in time to see his breath turn to mist.

He turned his head away from the window and stared to the front of the bus. the inside of the vehicle was nearly empty, carrying only a few passenger beside himself. The bus driver was a regular, unimpressive dude. Outside the bus, through the front windshield...

Danny saw the glowing figure approach before the bus's headlights did.

It moved too quickly to observe clearly, but it looked like a person riding a motorcycle--and they were headed right at the bus. The bus driver jolted and turned the wheel hurriedly to avoid the crazy biker. The bus lurched violently to the side. The kid in front of Danny screamed and gripped his seat.

Whether they avoided the biker or not was unclear (though Danny doubted it mattered), but now they faced a bigger danger. The bus drove off the road and into the uneven terrain. Soon, everyone was screaming as the vehicle toppled down the hills and into trees, threatening to land in a wrecked heap.

The only one who wasn't affected by the movements of the bus was Danny. he was untouched by gravity and inertia. As he watched the scene play out before him, he knew he had to do something--anything--to help these people.

He stood. He placed a hand against the shuddering window and focused, sending his energy across the bus's frame and through the passengers inside. A few of them gasped at the sudden sensation that overtook them. The bus stopped--right in the middle of a tree.

Danny ignored his self-placed no-flying rule and, still keeping his hand to the wall, moved up until he pressed against the roof. He grunted and pushed upward. The bus was actually pretty easy to lift since Danny kept it intangible from gravity, but he did feel his energy drain as he maintained the ghostly power (hey, turns out he can grow tired).

He carried the bus back to the road and set it down. As soon as he removed his hands, it returned to normal, and he landed on his seat, feeling tired for the first time since he left home.

Everybody stared. Many of them backed away from him. The kid in front of him gawked until his mother pulled him away from Danny and hugged him to her. Even the bus driver gaped.

"What are you?" the kid's mother demanded.

Danny couldn't blame them. Even if he didn't just show an obvious display of ghost powers, his hood and sunglasses had fallen off in the action. Everyone saw how glowy, how unusual, how ghostly he was.

They stared at him with fear.

"I'm..." He wanted to say he was a normal human, but that wasn't true, was it? He was a ghost--a monster. Everyone looked at him like one, and everyone was right.

He trembled. His bottom lip quivered. Suddenly, he felt like he was a lost five-year-old again, looking for his parents.

He wished he could disappear.

Several gasps sounded, and he looked down and realized he literally did disappear. Great. He didn't even think about turning invisible; his ghost powers simply worked according to his emotions.

Well, since he was already gone from view....he ran across the bus to the doors and phased through them. He didn't look back until he made it to the woods on the side of the road. Finally, he dropped his invisibility and collapsed on his knees.

There were many things he hated about being a ghost, but in that moment, he realized the cruelest thing was that he couldn't even cry. He had no tear ducts to make his eyes water. The most he could do was whimper and whine while the emotions boiled inside him.

He wasn't sure how much time he passed that way, but eventually, he stopped whining long enough to hear two voices speaking nearby. His breath misted over. He gulped, then gingerly picked himself up and crept around a tree to see two people--two glowing people--arguing next to a motorcycle.

"Ancients, I said I was sorry, okay?" one of them, a guy ghost with gray skin and blonde hair, said. "I thought we were invisible!"

"You could have killed them," said the other, a girl ghost with wild green hair and blue skin. Her red leather jacket stood out beside the guy's dark gray one.

"Why do you care if they live or die?"

"Excuse me for not wanting a bus load of vengeful spirits after us!"

The guy held up his hands placatingly and said, "Fine, fine! I'll be more careful next time! In my defense, we haven't been to the human world in ages."

The girl rolled her eyes. They landed on Danny, and she paused. "Hey, who're you?" she asked.

The guy followed her vision and saw Danny. Danny squirmed under his glowing eyes. He almost considered turning invisible again, but he didn't know if that would hide him from them.

The guy grinned and said, "Another ghost, eh? Did you come through the portal, too?"

"How did you get past the ghost hunters?" the girl asked. "Those were awful to sneak past."

The guy smirked. He wrapped an arm around the girl's shoulders and said, "Good thing you have a boyfriend who's excellent at sneaking, right?"

"Sure, one who forgot to turn invisible while driving head on toward a bus full of humans," the girl grumbled and rolled her eyes, though she didn't make a move to remove his arm from her.

Danny stayed silent, watching them with wary eyes. The last time he'd encountered a ghost, it didn't go so well. But these two didn't seem to have any malicious intent toward him.

When Danny gave no response, the guy smirked and said, "What? Worried we might attack?" He turned up his palms in a peaceful gesture and said, "Don't worry, no territorial disputes in the human realm. We're all tourists here."

"I'm not a tourist," Danny said before he could stop himself.

"No? What are you here for, then? Hoping to fulfill some unfinished business?"

Danny clenched his jaw. He wasn't sure what made him decided to talk to these ghosts. Maybe he was tired of keeping everything to himself. Maybe he didn't want them to act like he was one of them. But he held his head up and said, "I won't stay a ghost for long."

"So you are moving on?"

"No," Danny said. "I'm going to be human."

For a moment, the ghost couple was speechless. Then the girl gave him a pitiful look while the guy barked with laughter. "Yeah, right. Let me guess--you read about some elixir of life in Ghostwriter's library, and now you're going to find it and revive yourself? If that stuff were real, someone would have found it ages ago. Just give up and accept that you're dead like the rest of us."

Danny clenched his fists. "What if my body is still alive?"

The guy raised his eyebrows. "Well, now you're just delusional."

"He must be a new ghost," the girl said, still eyeing him sadly. "The poor guy's in denial."

"I'm not in denial," Danny argued. "And I'm not delusional! My body really is still alive."

"Oh yeah, wise guy?" the guy taunted. "Then how the hell are you a ghost?"

"It's...it's complicated," Danny told him. "Someone else is in my body. It was an accident with the portal. We switched places."

"Yep, definitely delusional," the guy said, shaking his head slowly. He steered the girl to their motorcycle and said, "Come on, we don't need to waste time with someone in denial like him."

"I'm not in denial!" Danny said. But the ghost couple had already ridden on the bike. He caught the girl giving him one last sorry look before the vehicle revved into action, driving down the road without any smoke.

Danny was alone. He swallowed down a lump in his throat and ignored the tremble in his chin. "I'm not in denial," he whispered to himself.

Because a person in denial would not pretend to be alive when he's not.

Danny bit down his emotions and turned to the road. The bus had recovered from its shock and driven off without him (or maybe they wanted to get away from him). The road was empty.

He took in a deep breath and let it go. He wished that did anything, though. Not needing oxygen meant breathing exercises did little to assuage his nerves.

Still, he sighed and faced the long road. And he walked.

[vinaity]

😈 just thought of a good request🙃 Okay i would like to request a scenario with Chronostasis where the Yakuza breaks out of jail and ends up coming across Aizawa’s wife at a store and they end up talking he asks her out to dinner not thinking anything of it because Aizawa never has time for her and boom one think leads to another 😏 and they sleep together.

A/N: Finally had some inspiration to write this after this has been sitting in my ask box for a while because i didn’t know how to write it until a discord server helped me out with ideas- thank god. I’m so fucking sorry this took so long hnghh i hate writers block. I didn’t really want to write a full out smut where the fic was 6 pages already so I adjusted it a little in the end.

Also I lowkey want a part 2.. Oh god this is my first time writing for Hari, I hope i done him justice.

Song Inspiration: Talk Dirty by Doja Cat and Boyfriend by Ariana Grande

Details / Warnings: Fem! Reader, oOp suggestive themes at the end, cursing.

“Wait? You’re the guy who tried to kill my husband.” You raised an eyebrow as you looked over to the male next to you. 

You were at a small grocery store near your apartment when you were stuck on what brand of ice cream to get when you saw a figure next to you. Curious, you had turned around to see grey arrow hairs poking out of the white hoodie the male was wearing. 

Your husband had told you about the time he had gotten stabbed by a guy with arrow hair before he had gotten arrested- grey arrow hair- like the hair of the person next to you. So out of curiosity, you had asked him that question.

The male turned his head to you, cocking his eyebrow. He looks at you weirdly, as if he’s trying to recognise you.

“Who is your husband?” He asks, “And if I were to kill him, why would I?”

“I-I uh.” You tried to gather words because of his snappy attitude towards you and his handsome face, “My husband is a pro hero, he didn’t tell me why you wanted to kill him though.”

“What did he tell you?”

“That a guy with arrow hair blindfolded him and stabbed him before getting arrested.”

The male turns back around for a second as if he were pondering, then turned back to you.

“Did he tell you where he got stabbed?”

“At a base or something across those lines.”

 His eyes widen, before looking around and leaning into your ear.

“I know who your husband is. Don’t tell anyone I’m here or I’ll do terrible things to you.” He leans back and starts to walk away from you.

“Wait!” You turn, catching up to him and grabbing his arm, “Let’s talk.”

-

Both you and the male sat on the bench at the bus stop outside of the store, looking out to the busy street ahead. People were walking down the footpaths on each side of the road, on their way to work. At first glance, people would think the two of you were a couple waiting for the bus, but that wasn’t the case.

“What’s your name?” You asked, looking over to the male next to you.“Kurono, Hari Kurono. Yours?” He responds, looking down at you.

“Y/N Aizawa, nice to meet you.” You smile at him before looking at the street.

“So.. Your husband is a pro hero huh?” Hari breaks the silence between you two, “Must be hard for him to be away all the time.”

“Yeah, it gets really lonely at times.” You remark sadly, “Sometimes he won’t come home for days because he’s just too busy.”

“Why did you marry him then?”

“I ask myself the same question, but yet I had hope for the relationship- also I was young and in love.”

“I get what you mean, being young can make you do some reckless decisions. Some of which you’ll regret in the future.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s a long story- a very long one.” 

“Ah. But I get what you mean, stupid decisions can destroy your future. I mean look at me- I’m stuck in a relationship where I feel like I’m not loved or even needed in some places.” You sigh, looking down at the ground.

“Why don’t you rebel?” Hari suggests making you look up at him in confusion, “Make your life fun for once in a while.”

“What do you mean?” 

Before he could answer, Hari’s phone rang which he picked up and answered. After talking into it for a while, he put the phone back away in his pocket.

“I’ve got to go, but we can exchange numbers and have dinner sometime if you’d like.” He suggests.

“Sure, it would be nice to get out of my house more often for once.” You hand your phone (which you unlocked) to him, which he wrote his phone number in your contacts before handing it back to you.

“I’ll see you some time then.” He says as the both of you stand up.

“Yeah, it was nice talking to you.” You respond, smiling at him.

“See ya.” He says before turning and walking away from you.

You sat back down on the bench for a second, trying to calm your racing heart as you watch him walk further in the distance.

Something about Hari made you feel a feeling you hadn’t felt with Shota in a long time. 

His presence made you feel warm, it made your heart race and it made you feel giddy. But now, you were starting to miss him.

Even if this was the first time you ever met him, you were somehow open to the idea of seeing him more and more and distancing yourself from Shota as he’s been doing that to you for the whole marriage.

Wait. Were you considering cheating on your husband? Why was your heart beginning to betray you?

You had only just met Hari, yet your heart was trying to tell you something.

Maybe Shota wasn’t the right guy for you?

-

About a couple of months after meeting Hari, your phone pinged one morning which you picked up to see a message on the home screen.

Hari:

Hey, it’s that guy you met in the store. 

Wanna go out for dinner tonight? I’m free.

As you unlocked your phone, you thought about your plans for tonight- which was basically nothing because yet again, Shota was busy.

He was always working, he was never really around to spend time with you… maybe you did need to rebel a bit in your boring life.

You grinned to yourself as you texted back.

Y/N: 

Sure, is 6 okay?

-

“Y/N? Y/N?” A voice called out to you as it snapped you out of your thoughts.

Damn it, thinking about Shota again. No, relax Y/N- he’s working again.

You looked at Hari, who had his hand on your shoulder and was looking at you concerned. He sat across from you, as the two of you were at a two-seater table in the middle of a diner.

“Are you alright? You look concerned.” He asked as he quickly looked where you were looking earlier.

“O-Oh no,” Damn Shota getting in my mind again, “It’s just that it’s getting darker outside. I’m just worried for other villains you know- like the ones who are creeps.” 

“I get you, how far is your place from here?” 

“It’s about a two-hour train ride from here, but I’ll probably just try and find a motel for the night.” You replied, grabbing your phone from your handbag.

“Don’t worry about it, you could stay the night at my place, it’s fine.” Hari reassured as he left some yen on the table and stood, “You coming?”

-

Something about Hari had changed once you had entered his apartment, he had gotten more quiet. You couldn’t put your finger on what it was, as he seemed like a man of few words so you just assumed that he must’ve been thinking about what to say to you after a while.

“This is going to be awkward to say.” Hari said as he walked into the living room from taking a shower, “But this apartment only has one bedroom. You can sleep in the bed while I sleep on the couch if you wanna.”

“I’ll feel bad if you did sleep on the couch.” You replied hurriedly, “I-I mean it’s fine if we sleep in the same bed. I’m used to it.” 

“Are you sure? You have a husband don’t you?”

“Yeah, but it’s fine anyways. He is always working at night so he never came to bed with me.”

-

After you had showered (which Hari had let you borrow a sweatshirt to wear for the night, bless his soul) and had watched a movie or two with Hari, you both decided it would be time to go to bed.

That’s when that feeling you felt came back into your mind again. That lovesick thought that plagued your mind for months, the thought that you tried to suppress. 

You were supposed to love Shota, you were supposed to be loyal to him, not get feelings for Hari. But yet here you are, sharing a bed with the man who you had secretly gushed over.

As you sat on one side of the bed as Hari slept on the other side, everything came down upon you. Your walls came crashing down as you looked straight ahead, staring outside the small window to see the city which was dark and lit by retail and takeaway stores. 

You hadn’t noticed you were crying until you felt Hari shift towards you and place a hand lazily on your thigh. Turning around, you saw Hari leaning on his other arm facing his body towards you. 

His grey, arrow hair was disheveled around his face as his grey eyes were squinting slightly due to waking up. His look of concern didn’t go unnoticed as well, as it made you think that did this man really care for you this much?

“You okay?” He asked, adjusting his eyes so they could get used to his surroundings, “I heard you cry…”

“I-I just had some… thoughts.” You sniffled. 

“Come here, you wanna talk about them?” Hari pulled his hand away from your thigh and instead to pat the space near him, “Talking to someone can help sometimes, ya know that?”

You giggled before moving toward him. Your head was resting in the crook between Hari’s neck and shoulder while your body was against his chest as you felt one of his arms wrap around your waist while the other one rested on his side, leaning on the mattress. 

You froze for a second, which made you think of how Shota used to cuddle with you like this.

“So, what were these thoughts keeping you up?” Hari whispered, looking down at you.

“My husband and you.” You replied back, “How mine and his relationship is different now compared to you. I feel he doesn’t really care for me, or make some time to spend time with me.. Then there’s you, who I literally met a couple of months ago, and it looks like you care for me more than Shota has for the 5 years of marriage. I guess, I feel less lonely around you.”

“Keep on going…” Hari was curious, he wanted to know more about what you thought about him.

“But I’ve been having this feeling around you. I can see a future with you in it, and I mean more than friends. I mean.. Way different.”

“Romantically?” Hari was catching on now, you had feelings for him the whole time? And you could see a future with him in it? That made him even more happy.

“Yeah..”

“What if I told you…” Hari leaned against the headrest, using his arm on your waist to roll you over onto him. “That I felt the same way?”

Your legs straddled around his waist and you leaned against him so your and his lips were only millimeters apart.

“I would love that.” You whispered as your lips met his as his arms slipped under the hoddie you were wearing.

Little did you know what you did that night was going to be both the worst and best mistake of your life.

[guildedlily6]

You Plus Me Equals Soulmates Part 5 (Peter Parker x Reader Soulmate!AU)

Summary: Y/N notices Peter acting weird and possibly keeping secrets.  Now, when the National Decathlon rolls around, Peter continues to disappear at odd times.  Will Peter’s sudden disappearances get Y/N and Peter’s best friend Ned into trouble?  Has Liz finally changed her attitude towards Y/N?

Author’s Note: Oops.  Sorry, this took longer to write than I had wanted.  I was experiencing some major writers block, so this was a little bit more difficult to write.  This part also doesn’t have too much Peter and Y/N in it, so I also apologize for that.  As always, you might be lost if you haven’t read the parts before this, so click on the links below.

Part 1 || Part 2 || Part 3 || Part 4

Word Count: 2,357

Warnings: swearing

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

I used to not believe in soulmates.  Even now, the concept of soulmates, destined to be together forever, seems slightly extreme.  But now that I’ve found mine, I guess I could understand where all of the hype comes from.

After the revealing of matching wrist tattoos between Peter and I, we’ve grown close.  I found myself opening up to him, which I subconsciously told myself I wouldn’t do again after being afraid of what Liz would do with my secrets.  He also told me his secrets.  Most of his secrets, anyway, except one.

What he’s keeping from me is still a complete mystery to me.  All I know is it’s big and it has something to do with why he left Liz’s party that one night and why he isn’t coming to Washington.

Well, he wasn’t until now.

“Mr.Harrington!  Mr.Harrington!  I’m coming and I want to join the team again,” says Peter, surprisingly not out of breath from running all the way down the sidewalk to meet up with the Decathlon team.

“Mr.Parker, I don’t think you sent me an email,” Mr.Harrington says, peering at Peter from over his glasses.

“Well, yeah… But I’m here now.”

What changed his mind?

“Hey!  He can’t join the team.  He said he quit and we’re literally about to leave, Mr.Harrington.”  Flash peeks his head outside of the bus window, bestowing his opinion on us all, as per usual.

“We haven’t left yet.  Mr.Parker… You’re always welcome to join us, but did you really have to run in on the last moment?”  Mr.Harrington glances down at his watch, checking the time.

“If he’s welcome that means he can come, right?”  I can’t help but cut in.  I have to admit I knew I was going to miss Peter if he didn’t come along to Washington. “I um… Yes, Mr.Parker can join us,” declares Mr.Harrington, grabbing Peter’s suitcase and loading it into the bus.

I beam at Peter and he grins back at me.

He climbs into the bus and takes a seat next to me.

“So what changed your mind?” I ask.

“Aunt May told me I should go and not miss the opportunity.’’

Is that the real reason?

“Oh,” I reply simply.  Peter takes my hand and interlocks our fingers.

It hasn’t exactly been established, but since Peter and I discovered we’re soulmates. Over the past few weeks, we’ve been ‘together’.  By that, I mean the whole boyfriend and girlfriend thing, but those words seem too childish for big things like soulmates for life.

The rest of the bus ride is quiet except for the occasional banter between Flash and Mr.Harrington.  I put in earbuds and Peter leans his chocolate brown head on my shoulder, falling asleep.

Once we finally arrive at the hotel, Mr.Harrington realizes he only booked 5 rooms, which would force two of us to join separate two person rooms since he needed his own room.

I gladly volunteer Liz and I split up.  It would’ve been an unnecessary mess if we were forced to share a room together, like we had planned before everything happened.

“Alright so Liz Allen… You can share a room with-”

“Peter and Ned?  Y/N told me earlier she wants to share a room with girls,” Liz interrupts, smirking devilishly at me.

“I thought Y/N might want to share a room with Peter and Ned, considering…” Mr.Harrington looks at Peter and I’s connected hands.

“Isn’t that against school guidelines?  That wouldn’t be very professional for a school trip.” Liz maintains the annoyingly innocent look on her face while talking.

“I never asked to share a room with two girls.  Mr.Harrington, you know I wouldn’t do anything on a school trip when sharing a room with Peter and Ned-” I start.

“I think it would be best if you shared a room with Betty and MJ,” Mr.Harrington states.

This is not happening.  When will Liz stop trying to hijack anything?  I know Peter wouldn’t do anything with her, but what will Liz do?

I glare at Liz.  Beside me, Peter tenses up and looks at me.  I give him a look that says ‘we’ll be fine’.  He nods and lets go of my hand, grabbing his suitcase and walking to his room with Ned, Liz not far behind.

I turn around to face Betty and MJ, who’s got her arms crossed.  “Sorry you have to stay with us,” MJ says.

“I’m not angry that I’m staying with you guys, I’m pissed that Liz is staying with Peter and Ned,” I explain, irritated.  MJ and Betty are pretty chill for the most part and I don’t need them thinking I hate them or something.

Mr.Harrington hands us three room key cards.  I grab my suitcase and take the elevator with Betty and MJ to our room.

Liz obviously has some sort of plan to act out since she jumped so hastily on the opportunity to stay with Peter.  I thought we were done with this.  How could I have never realized my best friend was so cold and decisive?

I set my suitcase down against the wall.

“So whose bed is whose?”  I look between Betty and MJ, silently deciding I would rather sleep in the same bed as MJ.

“I require a good sleep and my body refuses to sleep well if there is someone else in the bed.  You and MJ can sleep in the same bed,” declares Betty.

“No thanks.  I’ll take the small couch,” MJ says, setting down her bag on the desk.

I shrug.  “Fine by me.”

I change in the bathroom and then climb into bed, falling into a restless sleep after thinking about what Liz and Peter are doing.

________Peter’s POV________ I’m wary about Liz sleeping in our room.  If worst comes to worst, I’ll just take the couch to sleep on.  No way I’m sleeping in the same bed as her.

“So Peter, who’s going to sleep in what bed?” Liz looks at me, winking suggestively.

“I’ll just take the couch.  You and Ned can have a bed each,” I say while grabbing my pajamas out of my suitcase and heading to the bathroom.

“Are you sure?  You and I could-” but Liz doesn’t get to finish her sentence before I’ve closed the bathroom door, blocking her out.

I get changed and then walk back out to the main area.  Liz is laying in her bed, reading a book.  Ned is already asleep.

I set up blankets on the couch and place down my pillow before Liz says something.

“So you and Y/N are together now, huh?  How did that happen?  What’d she say to make you get with her-”

“Y/N and I are soulmates, Liz.  There’s nothing you can do about that.  We’re quite happy, actually.”  I get under the blankets and face away from her.

“Oh.”

_________Liz’s POV________ They’re soulmates?  Honestly?

My insides feel empty and useless all of the sudden and I get a creeping, horrifying realization of what a complete fucking idiot I am.

I went through everything for this to happen?  I dumped a cup of party punch down the front of my best friend’s dress over this?  I ended our entire six years of friendship over this?  The entire time I didn’t have a clue that Peter and Y/N were soulmates.

To say I feel awful is an understatement.  I was such a bitch for nothing.  I really thought…

I really thought Peter was the one for me.

When I think about it in this moment, I guess the feeling wasn’t exactly as scientists describe soulmate connections.  It was more of an obsession rather than attraction to Peter.  I had liked him because he seemed so genuinely nice to me, opposed to how I felt everyone around me was acting like they enjoyed my company.

You have to find a way to make it up to Y/N, is the last thing I think before I fall asleep.

_________Y/N’s POV_________ The first couple days of the Washington trip were actually quite enjoyable.  Peter and I took a shit ton of pictures with Ned photo-bombing in each and every one, and we even got to see the White House, which wasn’t as exciting as I had imagined.  I’ve also noticed that Liz has been more quiet recently and not as obnoxious and pushy.

But today’s the day.  The National Decathlon.

Peter’s been disappearing at random times, which makes me anxious and further curious as to what his secret is.  Last night, everyone had snuck down to the pool and I saw Peter leaving his room, but fully dressed in a hoodie and carrying a backpack.  I had invited him to go down to the pool with me, but all he responded with was “I really wish I could, but I can’t,” before he left, walking the other direction.

It’s weird and really starting to actually hurt.  Why won’t he just tell me what his secret is?

“Everyone get on the bus.  One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine… Nine?” Mr.Harrington looks around, confused.  “Where’s Peter Parker?”

I scan the room. 

Where the hell is Peter?

“Wow.  Turns out he was just in it for the cool trip.  What a shithead,” says Flash, who’s just in it for the cool trip.

“I’m sure he’s just taking a bit longer to get dressed…” I try to cover for Peter, but I don’t know why.  I don’t even have a clue as to where he could be right now.  I didn’t see him this morning…

I make eye contact with Liz.  She has a questionable glint in her eyes.  

Does she have something to do with this?

Liz makes her way over to me and whispers, “Do you know where he is?”

“Oh, so you’re talking to me now?”  I get the urge to be a brat.  It’s only fair, isn’t it?

Liz rolls her eyes.  “Seriously.  Peter’s, like, the best one on the team.”

Something tells me she’s not trying to trick me.  “No, I don’t know where Peter is.  I saw him leaving the hotel last night, but-”

“Miss Y/L/N, you saw Parker leaving last night?  Do you know what he was doing?  What were you doing last night?” probes Mr.Harrington, having apparently overheard us. 

“I don’t know what Peter was doing… I had gone down to get more towels… because I uh- I knocked over a glass of water during the night,” I lie to cover up for everyone else.  My teammates around me collectively let out a breath of relief.

“Alright, well… We’ll have to go on without Mr.Parker.”  Mr.Harrington continues herding us into the bus.

What?  After all of this and Peter isn’t going to compete at the National Decathlon?  What the fuck is he doing?

I grudgingly get on the bus and sit down next to Ned.

“Do you know where Peter went?”  I glance sideways at Ned, half-expecting him to burst out and tell me Peter’s secret.

“I uh...Nope.  I have no idea where Peter is.  Yep.  Asleep last night.  Wasn’t there this morning.  Totally have no idea.” Ned’s tone of voice and expression is suspicious, outright displaying the lie in his answer, but I don’t ask again.

The ride to the event center for the National Decathlon is short and we arrive within a few minutes.

The actual Decathlon goes by quickly.  The whole time, however, I’m distracted by worrying about the trouble Peter could be in right now.  Still, our team answers every question correctly and we actually win.

Everyone jumps up, Mr.Harrington is crying, MJ looks mildly pleased, and Flash looks surprised.

“There’s only one way to celebrate,” says Mr.Harrington through tears.  “We’re going to the Washington Monument.

Everyone cheers.  “Now THAT'S what I signed up for,” exclaims Flash.

I can’t help but feel even more uneasy.  

Will Peter miss out?  Why is no one else concerned about Peter?

I follow along with my team anyway.  

Everyone is going through the checking area.  I get a call from Peter.

Finally.  I immediately pick up.

“Is Ned with you, Y/N?  Tell Ned he needs to take the purple glowy thing out of his backpack!”  Peter’s voice sounds panicked from the other end of the phone.

While scanning our group for Ned, I answer back.  “Yeah, Ned’s with me.  Where are you Peter?  Where have you been?  What the hell is ‘the purple glowy thing’?”

“I’ll answer all of your questions later, trust me.  Did Ned take the thing out of his backpack?

I find Ned and hold the phone slightly away from my ear so I can talk to him.  “Ned, Peter says to take the ‘purple glowy thing’ out of your backpack, whatever that is.”  

Ned looks worried.  “Why?  Did he say?  Why didn’t he just call me?”

“Ned asks why you didn’t call him.  I think his backpack has already gone through the scanner so he can’t take anything out.”  The lady in the personal scanning area gives me a look that says ‘put your phone away now, stupid teenager’.

“I tried to call Ned but he wouldn’t pick up!  The scanner?  Where are you guys?”  Peter’s voice goes up a few pitches, meaning he’s extremely on edge.

“We’re about to get in the elevator for the Washington Monument.  You should be here.  Are you okay, Peter?”

“The Washington Monument?!  Shit.”  After Peter finishes his sentence, the guard lady comes up to me and tells me to put my phone away.

Peter never curses.

“Peter I have to go, I’m sorry.”

“Wait, no,Y/N, if anything happens, know I lo-”  His voice gets cut off when I hang up and shove my phone into my backpack.

We all cram into the elevator and the tour guide instantly starts reciting history. It’s nice for a while up until I notice a purple glow coming from Ned’s backpack. I nudge Ned and point to his backpack, sending him a look that says ‘What the fuck?’.

Then, an explosion goes off.

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

Hey, so guess you’ll have to come back to see if you (Y/N) die or not.  Thanks for reading!

@disfunctionalcellmembrane @marvel4geeks @ilovesupersoldiers @sovereignparker @averyfosterthoughts

Part 6

[just-my-fandom]

Branch Out (Billy Hargrove x Shy! Henderson! Reader)

This was asked but I accidentally deleted it oops, and I already wrote this but it didn’t save smh; Reader is a nerd and shy, completely different than her younger brother Dustin, and Billy gets to know her and branch her out from her bubble

Takes place in Season 2 so no spoilers :)

______________________________________________

“Who are you staring at?”

Billy jerks his head to the side, eyes catching Maxine leaning against the passenger side of the Camaro,

“No one,” Billy grunts, eyes slowly looking back to the girl standing with two girls, silently smiling as the other two laughed at a joke one made,

Max follows his gaze, gasping and patting her hands on the roof of her stepbrothers car, “You like her,”

“Whatever asshat,” Billy turns, opening his car door, “Get in the car,”

“You need to go ask her if she needs a ride home,” Max leans into the window, Billy glaring at his younger stepsister,

“And sound like a stalker? Yeah, no thanks, now get your ass in the car before I leave you,”

Max flicks her eyebrows, climbing into the back seat and keeping her brows raised when Billy looks at her in confusion,

He sighs audibly, pulling up next to where you had waved to your friends, turning and jumping at his car suddenly appearing,

“Need a ride home sweetheart?” Billy leans down to look at you out the window, noticing you bite your lip out of fear, “Don’t worry, I’m not here to kidnap you,”

Your eyes look around the schools parking lot, noticing how all students have left to go home,

“I really should be waiting for my little brother,” You remind yourself, but remember Dustin had brought his bike while you took the bus, and, sighing, you step off the curve, climbing into the front seat,

You place your bag in your lap, fingers fiddling with the zipper on the side,

“Which way?” Billys voice has you jumping, looking up and to the side,

“Um, left,”

Billy nods, pulling to said direction and speeding off from the hell hole you could all call school,

“Hi!” You gasp, turning to look at Max moving between the two front seats, “I’m Max,”

“Nice to meet you,” You smile forcefully, not noticing Billys glare to Max in the mirror,

“I know you,” Max gasps, “You’re Dustin’s older sister, you don’t look or act like him at all,”

“You know Dustin?” Your shoulders visibly relax,

“Of course I do, he stalked me when I first came to Hawkins,” Max shivers, and your lips slightly tip up,

You look forward, “First house on the right,”

When the Camaro comes to a complete stop, you have to stop yourself from getting out too quickly,

“Hey,” Billy calls, your body halting to turn back to the window, “Can I have your number?”

Your eyes close, before you nod, pulling out a notecard from your bag, “U-um, sure,”

You hand him the card, sending a sharp wave before turning, disappearing into your house,

“You owe me,” Max climbs into the front seat, crossing her arms,

“Yeah, whatever shithead,” Billy pulls the car back, “I’ll thank you when the first date goes well,”

“How do you know she’ll say yes to a date?” Max presses, Billy pulling his head to the red haired girl next to him,

“Because no one says no to Billy Hargrove,”

. . .

“Please call me if you need a ride home, it’s supposed to rain and I dont want you ruining your new shoes!”

You look up at Claudia’s panicked voice, carefully placing your purse over your shoulder and smiling at your mother,

“Yes mom,” You allow her to kiss your cheek, hands at your shoulders,

“Aw my baby is finally going on her first date! I never thought you’d get a boyfriend,” Claudia shakes her head, your smile dropping,

“Thanks mom,” You sigh, and wave to Dustin quickly before prying from Claudia’s grip, exiting the house to avoid her ‘proud of my first baby’ tears

. . .

“Didn’t think you’d actually show up,”

You look up from the water you were sipping, Billy sliding his hands from his pockets and sitting across from you at the small table of the cafe,

“Why?” You ask confusingly, Billy chuckling and scanning the outfit you had worn- a baggy tan sweater with black jeans and white flats- cute

“You don’t seem to be a people person,”

“I’m not,” You sigh, gesturing to the second cup of water, “But I gotta make friends sometime before I graduate in a couple months,”

“You had friends,” Billy raises an eyebrow, reminding you of the two girls from yesterday at school,

“Yes well,” You shrug, “They’re family friends. My mom is a huge people person, my brother too,”

“I lived in California,” Billy states, “But my father remarried,”

“My mom never wanted to get remarried after my dad left, so now it’s just me, my mom and Dustin,” You press your lips together,

“Guess we some things in common,” Billy leans forward, teeth dragging his bottom lip,

“There wouldn’t be a way you could drive me home, would there?” You glance at the dark clouds outside the window next to you, Billy following your gaze,

“Of course,” He stands up, watching you hesitate on taking his hand so he could help you stand,

You kind of wished the car ride was longer than it had been. It had begun pouring the second you left the parking lot, and now you sat in your driveway, debating on risking getting your white shoes muddy,

“I’ll see you at school?” Billys voice has you looking away from your lap, gazing over at him and slightly smiling,

“Yeah, sure,” You breathe, freezing when Billys hand comes to your jaw, slightly moving across the middle console,

“Is this okay?” He asks lowly, watching your eyes search his before nodding slowly, eyes shutting when he leans forward completely, drawing his lips over yours,

Hand sliding to the side of your face, Billy moves you closer against him, your mouth deepening against his,

You pull away for air, staring at the teenager in surprise of what you had done,

You move up, hand coming to his hair so his lips met yours again, his teeth pulling at your lip threateningly as you hum,

His mouth leaves yours to latch at your neck, your mind becoming terrifyingly fuzzy as you exhale, head falling back,

“Y/N?!” The shout from your mother is heard over the rain, forcing yourself off of Billy to look over in a haze, Claudia standing at the doorway of your home, “Is that you?”

You slightly open the door, shouting out a cracked, “Yeah, mom!” Before grabbing your purse and looking at Billy, “I gotta go,”

You slam the door shut and move across the yard, pulling off your white flats along the way, glancing back twice before following Claudia into the house and out of the rain,

Billy taps his hands on the steering wheel, licking his lips as he backs out, slamming on the gas down the road,

“How was it?” Claudia asks excitedly, your face flushed before you laugh quietly,

“It was good,” You set your shoes and purse down, “We went to the cafe in town, and he drove me home since it rained,”

“He as in Billy Hargrove,” Dustin crosses his arms, eyes on you,

“Yeah?” You raise an eyebrow,

“That’s the guy that attacked Lucas!” Dustin shouts, causing you to jump and Claudia to scold him,

“Dusty!”

“Mom, I’m sorry, but please tell your daughter not to see that guy ever again. He’s bad news,” Dustin demands, Claudia shaking her head and rolling her eyes,

“It seems the date went well?” Claudia links her arms through yours, pulling you into the kitchen for hot chocolate,

Dustin shakes his head, subconsciously glaring out to the driveway where Billys car once was

[stonerbughead]

Maria watches friday night lights (#34)

And we continue with 5x11, the stage is set for quite a playoff episode, and i am HERE FOR IT.

my reactions / recap / flailing under the cut

Omg there are “welcome home Tim” signs up?? Poor Luke is jealous of Becky and Tim talking.

Damn, Tim definitely seems fucked up from prison from just that convo with Becky about the Landing Strip alone. Tortured boy.

Aw, we love to see excited Eric with a bunch of excited East Dillon Lions in the locker room after a winning playoff game!

Anddddd here come the budget cuts to burst the bubble. “Anyone need a donut? Some of you won’t have a job next semester.” Damn worst he’s seen it in 27 years? “Anyway, uh...pray.” Damn.

“Where’s the union in all of this, you know?” damn, they have a union at this Texas school? That’s good, but it seems like a weak one, which i’m not surprised about because, again...Texas.

OOOOH Tami’s getting recruited to a Philly college and they’ll fly her out to interview her?

LOL the dudes are yelling “state, state, state!” jumping up and down in their front yard? “Get out of my front yard, you’re making me look bad!” this is so wholesome.

Oh jesus poor Vince, his dad is trying to bring alcohol home when his mom is a recovering addict? What a selfish fuck! “I just don’t know.” OK BYE.

Ahhh Smash Williams is on the TV, playing football in a professional game while Tim Riggins works at Buddy’s bar...this show is just *chef’s kiss*

Oh he sounds so sad and “meh” as Buddy tries to make small talk about Smash’s success. Oh my poor Tim.

OH Jess noooo you taped another team in the division? The fear and drive in her eyes as she nervously tells a very stressed Eric she wants to be a coach herself...I love that.

REALLY? One of the coaches had to do the laughing and “you’ll never be a football coach.” “What, because I’m a girl?” “I didn’t say that.” “Yeah, you did.”

OMG I’m dying, the subtitles while Luke and Becky make out on the coach say SMOOCHING. Adorable!

“Don’t stop for me.” Wow, growth for Becky that Tim is the one walking in on her relationship now. “Use protection this time.” MUST YOU TIM?

Oh shit, football is “revenue neutral.” Truly wild that Tami, Eric, and Levi are having a convo about the whole program possibly being cut while the team loudly celebrates making it to the quarter finals all around them! The visuals in this show are superb.

The sound of “all the way to state, all the way to state, all the way to state!” in the background as the camera focuses on Tami and Eric, watching over everything with sighs on their faces. They carry so much for this town and this team.

Oh shit it’s Bryn Mawr she wants to interview at? And omg they want to interview on the Friday of the semi-final. It’s all happening!

Oh yes some high-stress practice in the pouring rain while Eric has budget cuts and Tami’s interview on his mind!

Okay i get you’re stressed Eric, but calling Jess a “pest” for showing you an article of a female football coach is not it! Although it is WILD Jess took a physical newspaper clipping out to show Eric in the pouring rain. I love her.

Yes, Billy, you are def on the chopping block with these budget cuts. But LOL at him making fun of that dude who repeats everything everyone else said

Tim is so much quieter and more stoic. It tracks. Billy, are you really surprised he doesn’t want to relive his former glory days rn? (Although i have a lil feeling Tim will show up at this game at the last minute!)

Oh shit they’re on Billy’s front lawn now? This is so cute, the parallel moments of “wait a minute, I hear something” and coming outside to find this team with so much heart!

Oh wow they are getting BOOED at this away game. You know they’re good now!

“You never saw so many people so quiet.” I love Vince and his mom’s relationship so much, my heart.

Oh god is daddy all drunk kissing up on his wife who is SOBER? Sir, what do you not understand about sobriety?

Oop and he’s got “gifts.” What shit is he back into?

Wow, hands on the mom and he’s clearly dropped the drugs he’s flipping. There it is.

Yes to the BBQ people asking if the MOM is alright and kicking the dad’s sorry ass out. That’s how we do it.

I really love the way they’re transitioning through this period of playoffs—the locker room updates to their progress with the radio in the background, the chants after each win — then making way for Eric dropping Tami off at the airport. Semifinals are here.

“The time when I need you the most?” “You really gonna bring this up now, on the way to the airport?” Tami’s right, she’s been nothing but straightforward all along! Tami supports you, Eric, let her have her fucking moment.

“Well, you’re kicking my ass.” “Yes, that’s right. Your ass needs some kicking.” “Who’s going to cook dinner for me?” “Oh, poor baby. Gracie.” LMAOOOO yes Tami! Get him! I’m dying.

Okay, Eric, you are forgiven—he looked up the female football coach to talk to Jess about but got the last name wrong!

“14,000 high school football coaches in the country, and that’s one. One out of 14,000. You like those odds?” “No, I think they kind of stink.” “So do I.” Awwww.

“I’m not asking to play.” YES JESS! I love the growth she’s shown over her two seasons. Now she knows what she wants! And her persistence is paying off—Eric’s gonna let her shadow him?! My heart!

Damn Tim is VERY bothered by Becky working at the family business (The Landing Strip.)

Oh God what i feel like Tim sees in “one of Becky’s regular customers” is someone he has an excuse to let out his aggression on. He’s clearly just so fucked up by his life not being what he wanted it to be—and by even the life of those he loved and left behind on the outside not being what he wants for them.

“She’s 17 years old!!!! A high school junior!” I mean, FAIR. Fair fucking point.

Oh fuck this emotional scene between Tim and Billy in the parking lot...DAMN that was a hard punch in the face Tim just gave Billy.

WOW Tim is gonna hold onto taking the fall for Billy for a long time. Fuck. “For the rest of my life, if that’s how I feel it needs to be.”

Billy looks so fucking sad on his knees in the parking lot.

Regina changed the locks! Yes gurl, do not let that man back into your home!

He’s trying to break down the door...oh honey, no. “You’re blowing it, Pop!” I’m so proud of Regina for standing up for herself and Vince.

The visual of Luke riding up next to Tim’s car, and then driving past Becky and Tim fighting, as they pause to watch him go...ART. Also, why is Tim so resolutely like “I got to go. I got to go.” Intrigued.

“There’s only gonna be one football team in Dillon next year.” “Well, which program are they cutting?” “That’s next week’s fight.” DAMN. So much is happening in one night!

Yep, Eric just summed it up to that reporter: “One of those teams is going to state. And i don’t think you’re gonna eliminate a team that goes to state.” They’re fighting for the very existence of their team AND the state championship in one! This show!

Oh wow Luke does NOT want to hear Becky’s apology. Oh nooo!

Aw Regina and Vince communicating about how she needs to “take a meeting” so she can’t come to the game and him saying that’s more important...again, the growth! My heart!

OH they made up Braemore? Really sounded like Bryn Mawr LOL. Go Tami!!!

(These white dudes do not want to hear a woman saying they should rethink their approach. STOP YELLING AT HER, SHE’S RIGHT.)

Oh Mindy, crying at Tim not to go, about how much Billy cries at night, how much they both love Tim. IM EMOTIONAL

“You’re different, you know that?” “Yeah. I am.” ABOLISH PRISONS.

DAMN this semi final game is a NAILBITER

They did it at the last minute, YES!!! Nothing beats the excitement on the team’s faces as they embrace!

Damn Tim returning to his old trailer? Drinking beers alone and doing very not well as he listens to the radio static. Sigh, poor angsty boy.

Aw the woman who interviewed Tami is so kind. Telling her she did well at dinner.

I literally gasped then went AHHH! when the college dude came to dinner and Tami’s all politely like “thanks for the opportunity!” And the guy’s like, “yeah yeah i have two kids to put to bed, anyway we’re offering you that old asshole’s job.” “Dean of Admissions???” YES QUEEN

Damn Eric and Tami are BOTH killing the game, what a fucking power couple.

Eric has the whiteboard on the bus to accompany this “we’re going to state” chant. Amazing.

“We missed the field house.” “We’re not going to the field house.” OMG all their fans are waiting outside to cheer for them as they return?? How beautiful!

Oh my poor babe Vince, all he wants is to know his mom is safe.

YES he found his mom! My heart dropped when Vince’s face betrayed some fear he couldn’t find her. I’m so glad they can celebrate together, oh my heart.

And then you see Eric looking around for Tami, lost because she’s across the country contemplating a life-changing job offer...WOW. Two episodes left and the deck is truly STACKED. This show is art.

[revisitingstoneybrook]

#15 Little Miss Stoneybrook...and Dawn: Chapter 14

No spoilers for who wins the pageant but the foreshadowing is so obvious you can probably figure it out. And there’s bruised egos all around in the BSC.

The pageant officially starts! The host says this is the first annual (and probably the only, since we never hear of this pageant again) Little Miss Stoneybrook pageant and it's sponsored by Dewdrop Hair Care, “hair products for today's youth!” Kristy makes a stupid joke, wondering about next week's youth. Say what you will about Abby being a Kristy clone, at least her jokes aren't as dumb as that one.

The judges are introduced: the owner of Bellair's, the head of the Stoneybrook Dancing School (thankfully not Mme Noelle or else we'd be subjected to zee french ak-zent), Mrs. Peabody (I assume from the charm school Karen goes to at one point. Continuity!) and some doctor, according to Dawn. I wonder what it feels like to be a doctor and have “judging kiddie beauty pageants” as your side hustle. The host says he'd like to “send heartfelt good wishes to each and every little miss who is backstage right now” and Kristy says “Gag me!” Actually keeping with the times and using some 80s slang, good on you, Ann Martin.

“Marching music” is blasted through the auditorium and the girls trek across the stage for the opening procession. Sadly, no opening musical number:

You know Karen would have shoved her way to the front with some lyrics she wrote herself like she did in her class Thanksgiving play.

Claire starts killing her odds of winning right away by tacking onto the end of her introduction, “Oh hi Mommy! Hi Daddy! Hi Mallory!” before she gets moved away and misses shaking Mrs. Peabody's hand. Oops. Maybe it's a good thing they cut her off or else the pageant would have taken much longer for her to name her whole family. And I'm surprised Mallory's there and isn't staging a protest with Jessi outside, complete with a bonfire of lipstick, hair curlers, and false eyelashes.

Margo does well, no one notices because she's overshadowed by the professional-ness of Sabrina Bouvier the Younger. I'm surprised she didn't say, “I'm Sabrina Bouvier, I'm seven years old and when I grow up, I want to be a sweetie pie! *bats eyelash implants*” Dawn tries to reassure herself that grace and charm really won't help in a beauty pageant. Maybe Sabrina isn't that talented, maybe her intelligence is hovering in the same area as Claudia's. 

Now it's the part we've all been waiting for...the talent. The first contestant sings the national anthem while dressed in a red, white and blue sequined leotard. Claudia and Dawn share a laugh at how crappy she sounds and Claudia makes a mental note to ask the girl where she got the leotard from and whether they carry it in teen sizes. The second contestant sings a song she wrote called “I Love My Dog” but nothing is said about her because the true talent is taking the stage as she leaves. Myriah Perkins, in a pink leotard and tutu and black tap shoes, carrying a big lollipop, brings the house down with her rendition of “On the Good Ship Lollipop,” with a dance routine I'm guessing she choreographed herself. I'm surprised she isn't blindfolded and flawlessly juggling three hoops of fire too. She's met with tons of applause, and even cheering and whistling.

How do you follow that up? With Claire Pike! She says she doesn't want to do it but goes out anyway. For a moment she just stands there, doing nothing. Dawn eggs her on from offstage and Claire sings her Popeye song, does the hornpipe (and looks bored doing it), then sings again with the hand gestures. The audience, much to Dawn's relief, loves it. Claire hams it up even more and the audience laughs and gives her lots of applause. And, in a more shocking move, Kristy gives Dawn a thumbs-up for bringing Claire the Comedienne into the fray.

Claire's followed by a mediocre pianist and a failed baton twirler. Karen's up next and she goes onstage wearing her yellow flower girl dress. Dawn wonders if she's going to sing a love song. Oh no, Dawn. Instead of belting out “You Light Up My Life” or “Endless Love,” she sings the wonderful romantic ballad “The Wheels on the Bus.” FIFTEEN VERSES OF IT. Omitted from the text are the people in the audience screaming in agony as she makes up more verses on the spot, including “The people on the bus are tired and hot.” After the judges start looking at their watches, Karen takes a hint and finishes up. Surprisingly, Kristy doesn't act confident and smug and she and Dawn just shrug at each other.

A ballerina performs, Dawn remarks she's good (hold that thought, we'll return to it later) and then Sabrina the Younger comes onstage in a long black gown and white evening gloves with her hair piled up on her head. So like this?

It sounds like she’s going for a different look, because the song she sings is “Moon River.” Dawn says she's never heard of it but you'd think since the whole BSC is obsessed with old movies and Mary Anne loves Roman Holiday, which stars Audrey Hepburn, they'd know it’s the song from Breakfast at Tiffany's!

Needless to say, Sabrina butchers it, but she smiles a lot and the judges like her. Next, Margo takes the stage with her banana. The triplets snicker at her when she peels the banana with her feet but she ignores them and recites the poem without any mistakes and gets lots of applause. Phew. And Dawn gets another thumbs-up from Kristy. Again, what alternate universe are we in if Kristy is acting nice to Dawn?

And, just as expected, Claudia's plan of having her own pageant contestant blows up in her face when Charlotte freaks out, completely forgets the passage she's going to read, and runs offstage in tears. Charlotte's crying so hard backstage Claudia goes and gets the Johanssens to take her home and she stays at the pageant to see what happens, looking crushed. Charlotte never should have been a contestant in the first place, Claudia, you suck for humiliating her for your own personal gain!

The beauty parade is next, and it's every girl for herself. Dawn hears Margo tell Claire to break a leg, and Claire tells Margo, “I hope you fall off the stage!” Mee-yow!

Question time! Dawn tells Mary Anne she's worried and Mary Anne says she is too. I mean, she really has no reason to be, since she's coaching Myriah Perkins. Anyway, the first question a little girl gets is “What do you like best about Stoneybrook?” She says the ice cream store and everyone laughs in an “awww cute!” way.

The next girl doesn't fare well either and then we get to Myriah Perkins. She's asked what she would change about the world. Channeling John Lennon, Myriah says (and I have to quote it in its entirety): “It would be wars. I would stop them. I would say to the people who were making the wars, 'Now you stop that. You settle this problem yourselves like grown-ups. Our children want peace.' That's what I'd change.” The crowd applauds as the little peace activist exits the stage and Claire comes on.

Claire's asked what she hopes for most of all. She says, “Santa Claus. I hope he's real,” in a terrified tone. The audience laughs in the same way they did for the first girl and Dawn groans as if she's just been asked to babysit for Jenny Prezzioso. Mary Anne reassures her and says Claire probably got nervous. Karen's next and she gets the infamous “If your house was on fire, what 3 things would you rescue?” question. Kristy makes a point to say out loud that she prepared her for this.

But guess what, Kristy? You aren't the Queen of Babysitting because Karen manages to kiss the crown goodbye too. She says she'd rescue Moosie her stuffed cat (so I guess the Little House is the one burning down...nice. Save the MANSION), Tickly her blanket, and “as many toys as I could carry.” She asks if she could rescue a fourth thing and says it would either be Andrew, or her pen that writes in three colors. Lovely that she thinks of toys before she thinks of her brother. And I guess she's letting Lisa and Seth burn. I'm surprised she didn't say something like, “My parents are divorced and I live in two houses. Can I rescue six things since I'm Karen Two-Two?”

Unfortunately, Sabrina the Younger uses up the “global peace” answer before Margo can get to it. Or maybe it's a blessing in disguise, since she didn't know what it is. Either way, Margo's asked what she would most wish to happen in the year 2010 and she freezes. I guess she was nervous but terrified too because 2010? This book was written in 1988. And even then, in BSC land, that's ages away! She'd be 29 by the time the BSC got to 2010! And Claudia would probably still be wearing neon green hair scrunchies and bright purple leggings at age 35. Margo obviously doesn't want to recycle the global peace answer and her mind goes blank, so she's ushered off the stage after 30 seconds of dead air. 

Dawn freaks out backstage and openly admits she wanted one of her girls to win so she could show what a good babysitter she is! We're back to this shit again?! The others admit to this too and in one of the most ironic statements ever written in a BSC book, Kristy says, “Maybe we learned something, though. Even the best babysitter can't change a kid.” Now how many times can we all name before and after this where the BSC attempted to change a “problem child” or help out a kid with a problem because their horrible parents didn't know about it? So they all agree with Kristy, don't apologize for being bitches to each other and crowd around Mary Anne because they're confident Myriah has this in the bag.

The girls all line up onstage for the announcement of the winners, which is so obvious right now, even Claudia can predict it. Third place goes to Lisa Shermer, the ballerina from earlier. She wins $50 and fades into BSC obscurity. Second place is Myriah! She shrieks with delight because she just won a shopping spree at Toy City (which I would gladly take over the grand prize). Dawn even admitted she'd like it because she could buy Kid-Kit supplies. First thought ALWAYS to the BSC, just like a good cult club member. Well, Myriah's thrilled but Mary Anne screams in agony and wails, “Why isn't she the grand winner?!?!?” and we cut away from offstage before we can all drown in the deluge of Mary Anne's tears.

First prize, no surprise here, goes to Amber Dempsey Sabrina the Younger. Time for the song! “L the losers in her wake, I the income she will make...”

She wins $100, gets a little tiara and bouquet of roses, her mom's weeping, Dawn calls the whole thing disgusting. Little does Sabrina the Younger know that's a magical tiara that will age her 6 years so by the time book #60 rolls around, she'll be 13!

[toledoendo]

Resetting the Bone- Part Four

Trigger warnings: self-harm, anxiety, shame

The outing happened just like it was planned. The lemon grove was quiet and fragrant. Peter climbed into the tree and tossed down lemon after lemon for Morgan. She was in bliss. Seeing her laugh made him feel lighter. With a quick look back toward the grove’s entrance, Peter webbed two sides of a large basket sitting by the trunk of the tree he had climbed.

Morgan instantly recognized this game. She giggled and scrunched up her nose in glee. He had made her web swings everywhere— the trees at home, the porch, and her room on rainy days. “Happy, push me!” She scrambled in the basket.

Happy tossed up a fretful glower at Peter. His eyebrows seemed to demand, Are you serious? What if someone sees? But, he moved toward the basket where Morgan was asking him to hurry.

Peter’s grin answered back, You worry too much. He pulled the basket up until it was a couple feet from the ground. The strain on his left arm’s muscles caused it to burn. He felt one of the plasters pop slightly. Peter ignored it. He hitched the two web ropes to the branch.

Happy began to push the basket. Morgan smiled. “Push me so I can touch the leaves!”

“How about just a normal height?” Happy tried to reason.

Peter used this moment to breathe. He dropped from the branch, on the other side of the trunk from Morgan and Happy then sat down on his ankles. A sting to the top of his thigh reminded him that he had brought a blade; it was in his pocket.

It was a refill razor for a multi-purpose tool. In a panic, after he handed over his knife to Tony, Peter had snuck into Tony’s workshop. He took the tool apart and pocketed the blade. He just wanted to have it with him; he wouldn’t use it, he told himself.

They ate lunch in the grass, Happy grumbling about his knees. Their heaping baskets were beside them. Happy suggested only taking one enormous basket home for lemonade but Morgan had definitely inherited Tony’s extravagance. She had a plan for a lemonade empire, apparently. The trunk on the way home was weighed down by 50 lbs of lemons.

Back at the lakehouse, Tony managed to steer the kids away from the kitchen. “You’re never going to believe what’s outside in our yard.” He hooked Morgan instantly. Peter followed as Tony led them around the side of the house. He revealed the lemonade stand he’d built. It was gorgeous and just needed a paint job. Morgan eagerly set to work. Peter assumed that Pepper was cutting the lemons while they were occupied.

“What colors are you thinking, boss?” Tony asked Morgan.

“Mommy Blue,” Morgan began to list colors by the names she’d had for them since she was younger. “Daddy Gold, and Peter Red.”

Peter smiled. He didn’t know she still called them that. Morgan had associated colors with the people in her life when she was learning them as a toddler. Somehow, years later, when Peter entered her life, she revived those names and gave him the color red. He had a place with her; she wanted him to belong.

Heading the old name, Peter again felt dear to his little sister.

Eventually, colors had dropped the assignments she’d given them. For example, “Uncle Rhodey Purple” had become just “purple” (much to Uncle Rhodey’s disappointment, despite that he’d always encouraged silver as an alternative.) “Uncle Bruce Green” became just “green” (much to Uncle Bruce’s relief.) But blue, red, and gold still belonged to her mommy, daddy, and to him.

“Order received,” Tony said, turning toward the garage. He murmured to Peter as he left, “Gonna be a hell of a lemonade stand.”

“Where do you think she gets it?” Peter grinned.

It was truly a hell of a lemonade stand. Tony had to return to the garage after Morgan schooled him on the difference between gold and yellow. Morgan asked Peter a million questions as they painted. “Does Ned still build LEGO models? Would he come with you next time and could you help me with my Minecraft world? I got the Ocean Hideout. Daddy said if he stepped on another LEGO brick he wouldn’t build them anymore… Is Aunt May’s new magazine about architecture or technology or business or… fashion? Does she have all the same writers or new ones each time? Who draws the pictures for her magazine? In college, do you have music class? I have music class. It’s my favorite other than Math and recess.”

Peter realized this was the most uninterrupted time he had given her in two months. He worked to answer all of her questions without exasperation. He didn’t want her to give up on him.

When the first coat was done, Pepper called from the porch. It was time to start squeezing the lemons. Morgan quickly abandoned the paintbrush.

“Come on, Pete!” She said.

Honestly, Peter was ready for a break. Her energy could be tiring as well as infectious, he’d long since discovered. “I’ll finish painting the stand and be right in,” he said.

Pepper swept Morgan inside before sending him an encouraging look. She was saying he should take his time. Then they were gone.

The breeze picked up, and though it wasn’t as present as it had been in the grove with the well-trimmed lines of lemon trees, Peter welcomed every touch. It faintly reminded him of coursing through currents of air, a living physics puzzle in his head, as he threw his entire body into surviving each swing or dive through Queens. He missed being Spider-Man in that moment.

Then he remembered the faces of people who had clung to him, reached for him, relied on him. Faces in the dark, faces in the smoke of burning buildings, faces hiding behind abusers. He was ignoring them. His lungs seemed to shrink. I’m not helping anybody, he remembered.

The faces were with him when he was fifteen. More and more walled him in every night. He didn’t want to scare May with them. Mr. Stark, although he had begun to check in more often after The Vulture, would only think less of him if he talked about all this… fear.

At first he tried to push away the faces; the pressure of their states as too much. He was burgeoning with it. It tested and stretched the boundaries of his skin until he had to let it escape. He sure the hell couldn’t escape it. So, he hid and let his secrets out in little punishments across his body.

Here he was with his teenage fear again. I should be able to handle this shit by now. Peter agonized. The faces found him again and he didn’t have anything for them. He tried to hide, cowering deeper into himself. He couldn’t imagine getting back to the place where he could face the responsibility again.

Out in the yard, a little farther away, Peter heard Tony humming. Peter scoffed and smiled. Tony didn’t hum. May hummed, sang — he loved catching her singing “Here Comes the Sun” which was her favorite. But, Tony didn’t hum. This was an invitation. Peter surprised himself a little when he stood and walked to Tony.

Tony was bent double, collecting discarded branches from the maples. He straightened when he heard Peter approach. Peter noticed the pained expression on Tony’s face and the muted cracks as his back hoisted his weight. Peter had a feeling reminiscent of seeing Tony‘s grey hair for the first time.

Tony gestured to the lemonade stand. “The stand is coming along. Makes me want to take a hundred pictures and post them on Pinterest. Get the InstaMoms talking.” He tossed the dead branches in the wheelbarrow.

“Why don’t you let me do that for you?” Peter said as if the argument had already started.

Tony snorted. “Oh-ho! Back for round two?”

Every time Peter offered to help Tony with anything around the lakehouse, Tony turned it into a competition. Peter pleaded. “Just let me do something for you. For once!”

Deaf to the plea, Tony marked off some perimeters with the finger of his right hand. “That’s your side, this side is mine.” He challenged Peter. “If you take any sticks from my side, we’re going to have words.”

“Would any of those words be: ‘Thank you for helping while I visit my chiropractor’?”

“Almost definitely not.”

They talked as they worked. Soon the wheelbarrow was full of sticks and the yard was clear. “I accidentally used Morgan’s strawberry toothpaste last night,” Peter said. He shook his head. “I’m never going back to cool mint.”

A few times the flat blade in his pocket poked his thigh and Peter’s thoughts sank. He wished he could dispose of it, lose it on the ground, but he bit back the thought. Tony spoke to him and he laughed; how could this feel so natural?

“Pepper cut me off of the bubble gum mouthwash.” Tony said. “The older you get, the more people expect you to suffer.”

Morgan bounded out of the back door. Immediately, she squealed. “Are we going to have a campfire tonight?”

“Oops.” Tony said from one side of his mouth. Then he caught her as she leapt at him. “I don’t know… You’ve already done one fun thing today. We have a one-fun-thing a day limit, you know.”

Morgan dismissed this instantly. “Pete, do you want to have a campfire?”

Peter shrugged. “I have to catch my bus at 5:00, Mo. Sorry!”

Morgan stared at him, clearly not seeing the problem. “The bus can wait.” She smiled at her problem-solving skills.

“That’s not how busses work, Mo,” Peter said. To divert any more disappointment, he added: “Is it time to make the lemonade?”

Morgan smiled again. “Yep! We squeezed lemon juice from 50 lemons! Now we need sugar and water and mint and ice cubes…”

Peter let Morgan lead him inside. As they went, Tony caught his eye. He mouthed: “Fifty lemons?”

Peter returned his own mimed words: “She is your daughter!” before the back porch door closed.

[askthetotallynotcampcamp]

field trip to didney

Ava: as yes of course

-----------

Max: *sleeping* (him, david and jasper live in a house-)

Jasper: *vibing* M A X

Max: ugh whatttt *rolls over on his bed*

David: *humming a surprisingly happier tune than normal, how is this even possible??* Big day today!!

Max: if you take us on a nature walk one more time dad-

Jasper: It’s going to be way more fun than that!! If that’s even possible, that is-

David: mhm! as much as I love nature walks, this is probably going to be even better!!

Max: and we need....suitcases? *gets out of bed*

Jasper: We need to be out of the house by, uh, what time is it right now? 6? We need to leave by 6:30-! So hurry up and get ready!!

David: dont worry, we'll make it! it could get could outside, so bring a sweatshirt!! I'll go start the bus *goes off to find the keys to the bus and trail mix*

Max: *super tired* ugh okayyyy

-after he packs stuff-

Max: *gets on the bus with mr honeynuts*

Jasper: *lmao sits on the bus or smth* Woo this is so EXCITING

David: Okay, we just gotta pick up everyone else and well be on our way!! Is everyone buckled in?

Max: *is just chilling on the window seat* dad, this bus doesnt have any since it's like a house but I'll just say yes- WAIT THE WHOLE GOD DAMN CAMP?

Jasper: We can’t leave anyone out!

David: Exactly, what your dad said!! first we're gonna pick up Neil, of course, and we'll go from there! *starts the bus* Anyone want some trail mix?

Max: dang I havent seen any of them since summer- and no dad *eats fruit snacks*

Jasper: Don’t eat too many fruit snacks, that’s unhealthy for you

David: we're here!

Max: time to do my job, I'll knock *runs off the bus and onto Neil's porch and knocks*

Carl: *opens door* Hello?

Max: oh uh- hey Carl, is Neil ready? Hes the first to be picked up-

Carl: Ah yes, got it. Neil!

Neil: *approaches* Hello?

Max: wassup dude! Are you all ready- my dads are in the car *puts his arms around his buddy pal Neil*

Neil: Oh yeah! Let me get my stuff, hold on

Max: okay, not like I care!- *pretend angy and walks to the bus*

Neil: *grasps stuff and goes to bus time*

Max: *plops on one of the beds in the back and waits for his buddy pal*

Neil: *plops next to max*

Jasper: Hello Neil!

Neil: uh, hi

David: Goooooood morning neil! Are you ready to go on the adventure of your life!

Max: dad please-

Neil: *awkward silence oop*

Jasper: Alright let’s go get the others!!

Max: sorry about David, I guess where hes taking us is "exciting" but takes over 24 hours to get there-

Neil: Huh? Oh, I know where we’re going

Max: they told you? Ugh why cant I know

Jasper: Neil don’t spoil the surprise for Max!!!

Neil: Oh I won’t

David: max will be happy for once! Oh I'm so excited!!

Max: this is shit! I should be able to know *crosses his arms*

Jasper: Language! You’ll know when we get there!

Neil: Yeah MAX

Max: in 24 hourssssssssss *lies across thy Neil in the most dramatic way possible*

Bus: *beep beep gather children*

Nerris: *walks on the bus* awe I knew they would end up together! He fell asleep on you Neil, how cute

Preston: ah! Best Romeo and juliet ever!

Jasper: Children do not wake up Max if he is sleeping! We had to wake him up very early for this

Neil: *is mr honeynuts*

Max: *wraps his arms around thy neil bc sleep*

Nerris: aweeeeeee

Preston: oh my goodness so cute!

Neil: *mr honeyNUTS*

David: kids just leave them alone and let them have their little snuggle fest, awe so cute- anyways! *parks the car at a rest stop* anyone hungry or need to use the bathroom?

Nurf: i needs to peepee

David: ooooookay then! I'm going to go get some McDonald's so, let's go Nurf!

Max: *still sleeping bc his weird dads woke him up at 6 am*

Jasper: Get chicken tendies or I am divorcing

Neil: well, this is uh, g gay

Max: *awakenand realizes what's going on* what the hell? *sits up and is embarrassed bc hes max* that's gay, AND IM N O T GAY

David: okay honey!

Neil: Oh- hi max

Max: why didnt you move me or something?

Literally all the campers: *looking*

Neil: well your dad told me not to wake you up-

Max: *gets up and walks over to his papa* dad, what did I do to neil? Was it that embarrassing you couldn't wake me up?

Jasper: Hey, calm down kiddo- you fell asleep and you needed sleep and Neil was just- there

Nerris: it was really cute-

Max: SHUT UP NERRIS

Jasper: Language!

Neil: It really was-

Max: that's not bad language!- wait what Neil-

Neil: Oh, uh, nothing

Max: *red boy* you agreed with Nerris-

Nerris: see harrison, I'm a match maker! That's better than your magic!

David: I'm back! Here are you chicken tenders sweetie *gives them to the jasp* let's get this show on the road! *turns on the heater and starts the bus*

Neil: *not vibing*

Jasper: *is vibing with chicken tendies*

Max: *smirks* you like me, dontcha Neil

Neil: What? No, ew, never

Nikki: pft please I know love when I see it!

Max: *crosses his arms and smirks at neil*

Neil: What? Shut up!

Nikki: aweeeee

Max: jesus christ Neil you look like a god damn tomato

David: language!

Neil: Just shut up!

Max: okay no need to be so feisty

Jasper: we’re getting closer wOOO

Max: sits on the couch and takes out his Nintendo switch and plays animal crossing*

Nikki: *goes up to Neil* so, when ya gonna make your move?

Neil: Make what? I’m not going to do anything!

Nikki: awe c'mon Neil look at him! Go sit with him! Make your move!

Neil: What? Why? What’s the point?

Nikki: he probably likes you too!

Max: likes who?

Neil: Nononono! Nobody! I like nobody leave me alone! *neils away*

David: leave Neil alone guys

Max: *genuinely concerned* sorry neil-

Neil: Just go away! I wanna be alone right now *angree neil*

Max: um okay *sits on the couch again*

Jasper: *approaches max lmao* What’s happening? Is something wrong?

Max: well I guess Neil likes someone and I was annoying him and hes pissed

Jasper: Watch your language- also, did you consider that he maybe likes you and he’s being defensive because he likes you?

Max: what! He doesnt! Hes like, my best friend!

Jasper: Okay but he started getting defensive when you fell asleep on him so I’m just saying

Max: *red boy* I uh- no he didnt! *crosses his arms*

Jasper: Oh really? I saw the whole thing and it seems like I’m right homie

Max: looks over at neil then back at his papa* HOLY SHIT YOURE RIGHT

Jasper: Don’t say bad words!

Max: *whispers* dad I think I like boys too

Jasper: oh wow i wonder who you got that trait from

Max: literally both of you!

Jasper: Yeah I know dumdum

Max: yall are g a y

Jasper: Why don’t you go try to like, calm him down or something instead of talking about who in this bus is gay

Max: *knocks on Neil's curtain that covers his room cot thing??* Hey dude, can we uh- talk?

Neil: About what?

Max: about what happened dingus

Neil: Fine.

Max: *sits on his bed* I'm sorry dude. I didnt mean for you to get pissed off or anything-

Neil: It’s fine, Nikki made me frustrated I guess

Max: *kisses his cheek* that never happened!

Neil: *oraneg* *red* I- WHAT??

Max: jesus christ you're so difficult neil *kisses thy neil*

Neil: *crimson*

-when they all have to s leep-

Max: DAVID WE'RE GOING TO FKING DISNEYWORLD?!

Time: it is now 6 pm when they get there

Jasper: WE ARRIVED

Max: YAY! *grabs his stuff and gets off the bus*

The rest of the campers: *get off the bus*

-when they get to their room-

Max: *throws his stuff on to his bed*

Jasper: *bursts in* We’re all going swimming woooo *throws floaties*

Max: ugh fineeeee *changes into swim shorts and walks down to the pool* sup losers

Jasper: Max! Don’t call others losers that hurts their feelings

Harrison: *loses pants cutely*

Max: pft whatever

David: max! You dont have your floaties on!

Nerris: you suck Harrison!

Jasper: Max! You might drown!!

Harrison: *pees*

David: gosh dang Harrison how many times!

Harrison: I COULDNT HOLD IT IN

Nerris: *literally laughing way too hard* HARRISON HOW ARE YOU SO STUPID

David: *walks over to harrison and gives him a towel and whispers to him* put you pants back on-

Harrison: I don’t know where they went!!

Jasper: hooey *>:(*

David: Nerris, since Harrison is your dearest most bestest friend, help him look for his shorts-

Nerris: what the hell! Why me!! I dont want to see his small thing!

Jasper: Nerris don’t talk back to David!

Harrison: twerking is fun

[talkingismylifewrites]

What are some Fleetwood Mac songs that you would recommend? I want to start listening to some of their stuff but I don’t know where to start lol

don’t worry, i gotchu. strap in, it’s long, sorry, i tried limiting it to just my top faves but that got uhhhh hard ahha: 

1. landslide: this is just...this is just the greatest song ever written. it’s so poignant yet hopeful yet melancholic?? like i can still, to this day, remember the first time i heard it. it was at my friend sasha’s house, and i was six, and it was the cover by the dixie chicks?? and i heard it and i just laid on her bedroom floor and she had all these little gold painted stars on her ceiling and i felt like i was looking into the whole of space listening to it. then i heard the real version and it was even more magical. it’s a song i never skip, it’s just too beautiful. 

fave lyric: “i’ve been afraid of changing cuz i’ve built my life around you/ well time makes you bolder, children get older/ i’m getting older too” 

2. the chain: this fucking banger. this goddamned banger of a song!! it’s my favorite song ever, i could listen to it all day, every day. it’s a fucking powerhouse, and i’ve talked about it before, hell, i named my fic after it!! it was written for the album rumours which is infamous in that it was written while the whole band hated each other: stevie nicks and lindsey buckingham were breaking up, stevie had had an affair with mick fleetwood, john and christine mcvie were mid-divorce, and it was the shit show to end all shit shows. this is the one song that they all collaborated on together and it is fucking powerful. the whole song is about being betrayed and kinda accepting that things are ending as they are, and allowing yourself to be angry as shit over it. every single member shines on it: the rawness of the vocals from nicks and mcvie,  buckingham’s guitar solo or fleetwood’s drums, to the dirty bass by mcvie. from start to finish it is, in my mind, a PERFECT song.

fave lyrics: if you don’t love me now you will never love me again/ i can still hear you sayin’ you would never break the chain

3. tusk: where do i even begin with tusk. easily one of the best drum beats? again, brilliant lyrics, stellar performance, and overall overwhelming. my dad used to play it in the car with all the windows down and we’d be driving down the highway with it blasting belting it out and it was just...amazing. i genuinely think?? that the chain and tusk compliment each other so fucking well. like the chain is about the aftermath of the break up, the initial betrayal and the heartbreak, the fucking aftermath of the destruction?? while tusk is the slow crawl of a breakdown. and like a breakup, it creeps up on you in intensity: it starts out soft and kinda suspicious? “why don’t you tell me what’s going on?” and the initially suspicions of a lover cheating, or hiding from you, and then explodes into this sick drum beat that builds and builds and builds while the horns blast and wow. it echoes in your chest, matching the intensity. it just slaps

fave lyrics: “don’t say that you love me/ just tell me that you want me” 

3. silver springs: stevie nicks wrote this for rumours and apparently the decided not to include it due to ‘tensions’ in the band (lindsey buckingham cough cough). it’s so poignant?? and simple?? yet so complex?? and haunting?? that’s what i think sets stevie nicks apart from other songwriters is that her lyrics haunt you when they’re finished. like they stay with you and just loop and loop around in your mind. absolutely fucking fantastic. i cannot even imagine being lindsey buckingham and having to stand on stage and listen to the woman who i considered to be the love of my life stare into my soul while telling me that “you will never get away from the sound/ of the woman that loved you” like DAMN STEVIE!!!

fave lyrics: “time cast a spell on you but you won’t forget me/ i know i could have loved you but you would not let me” 

4. rhiannon: where do i even begin with this one?? the guitar is just insane, almost as amazing as the bass, and stevie nicks just shines on vocals. she wrote the song about a welsh witch and she managed to solidify that aesthetic in the lyrics and the vocals. originally, fleetwood mac only wanted lindsey buckingham to join the band, and he had to demand that stevie nicks (girlfriend and musical partner) join. they relented, she got to join the band, and she wrote their two biggest hits off the next album; landslide and rhiannon. so suck on that. 

fave lyrics: “dreams unwind/love’s a state of mind”

5. dreams: this song in itself is just an experience. it’s beautiful and haunting and so fucking melancholic and yet i listen to it no matter what my mood. apparently stevie nicks wrote it in ten minutes. TEN MINUTES.  i love her. i will fully fucking admit i listen to it on the bus to work while i stare out the window to see the rain falling down outside. it is a magical experience, i firmly believe it changes you. it will cleanse you

fave lyrics: “thunder only happens when it’s raining/ players only love you when they’re playing/ say women, they will come and they will go/ when the rain washes you clean you’ll know” 

6. little lies: christine mcvie and stevie nicks sound like sirens as they croon out the chorus. it’s so fucking good?? so fucking good. it’s catchy and it’ll stay in your head for forever after you listen to it once. like, damn. 

fave lyrics: “no more broken hearts/we’re better off apart/ let’s give it a try/ tell me, tell me, tell me lies” 

7. go your own way: if silver springs is stevie nicks calling lindsey buckingham out and cursing him to always be haunted by her, go your own way is lindsey buckingham offering her his heart on a silver platter with a little side of fuck you. he’s basically like fine you wanna break up?? then fuck you i tried my best and you still wanna go? i can’t make you want to stay if you don’t want to. but at the same time its kinda like a farewell to their relationship like i can’t make you stay if you don’t want to. the two of them end up screaming this at each other throughout their ‘82 tour? just eyes locked as they kinda let the other know ‘fuck you’. fantastic

fave lyric: “if i could, baby i’d give your my world/ how can i when you won’t take it from me?” 

8. everywhere: what a perfect goddamned love song that just encapsulates the feeling of being in love and wanting to be near someone at all hours of the day. its so pure and simple yet so powerful because it’s just that fucking good. christine mcvie does NOT get as much recognition as she deserves. its so fucking good and lovely and sentimental

fave lyrics: “can you hear me calling out your name/you know i’m falling and i don’t know what to say” 

9. songbird: this will be the song that i sing to my children when i put them to bed. enough said.

fave lyrics: “and the songbirds keep singing like they know the score/and i love you i love you i love you/like never before

10. gypsy: so there’s a radio station that plays on sirius xm and only in the summer called yacht rock radio. it’s 100% dad music or songs that you would listen to while sipping a margarita wearing a hawaiian shirt while cruising around the sound with your douche friends ironically wearing a captain’s hat and it is my FAVORITE station ever. this song plays at least ten times a day and now whenever i hear it i think of california sunshine rolling over the hills as i drive down the highway or watching the sunset in the horizon as we all sing along. it’s very nostalgic in the best possible way. it makes me feel both old and young. 

fave lyrics: “back to the floor that i love/ to a room with some lace and paper flowers/ back to the gypsy that i was” 

honorable mentions: beautiful child, you make loving fun, gold dust woman, don’t stop, secondhand news, never forget, sara, big love, the entire album of rumours (even thought i’ve basically listed them all here...oops), and stevie nicks entire 1981 album bella donna

let me know what you think!!

[lesbellaswan]

So I uh....

I saw these all in the same very short span and uh

I got carried away again oops

So this is technically two of them? In the first one I did Bella meeting the Cullens from Esme’s POV and in the second one I did like a random summer day after Twilight where Bella and Esme bond over gardening.

“I can’t believe it,” I breathed to Carlisle as I heard a very loud engine stumbling up the path to the house. “We actually get to meet her!”

He chuckled a laugh that made my heart swell, even after all these years.

“She’s a lovely girl, Esme,” he assured me, his golden eyes glimmering in the open light.

“Of course she must be,” I whispered as I heard Edward open the door for her. A perfect gentleman. I couldn’t hold back the smile of pride. Though Edward was not my son, it was hard to picture him as anything but. “If he loves her she must be absolutely perfect. I’m just so glad he finally has someone.” Not that plenty of women haven’t tried. I almost chuckled at the thought, but didn’t want Edward to be any bit uncomfortable, and he was already getting close enough to hear my nervousness.

Carlisle put his arms around my shoulders and squeezed them briefly, already sensing my emotions without the gifts of one of my other sons. We stiffened and smiled in synchronization as the door opened.

I registered the shock on Bella’s face as she took in our home. I didn’t think I was capable of smiling wider until I did. Pride was a virtue, of course, but I put so much work into this house, and to see it appreciated by someone outside of its inhabitants still made me feel joy.

“Carlisle, Esme,” Edward started, speaking carefully, “this is Bella.”

Oh! Even the way he said her name! They might as well be mated already.

Carlisle stepped forward at a rate that was slow even at a human pace. This was likely for the best, no need to scare the poor girl any further. He had already met her too, so that may have made things easier.

I mean, I have seen her at the grocery store a few times, of course. What kind of protective vampire mother would I be if I hadn’t taken a peek? She bought a lot of things that complemented fish.

“You’re very welcome Bella.” Carlisle took the words right out of my mouth as he raised his hand and she stepped forward to take it. No hesitation at the temperature! Or, rather, the lack thereof. She was astounding.

“It’s nice to see you again, Dr. Cullen.”

And such good manners!

“Please, call me Carlisle.”

“Carlisle,” she confirmed with a smile.

She’s lovely, Edward I threw in for his benefit, smiling. I already approved, of course. I trusted his judgement, and if she was what he wanted, then we as a family would support that decision. But it was nice to see how wonderful she truly was for myself, without the word of my husband or my children, so to speak. Especially since the latter had such conflicting opinions.

I stepped forward at the same pace Carlisle had, and reached for her hand as well.

“It’s very nice to know you,” I informed her, hoping to sound as sincere as I truly felt.

“Thank you, I’m glad to meet you too.”

Oh, how sweet! I felt honored, despite being the last person in the family she had the chance to meet.

“Where are Alice and Jasper?” Edward asked concurrent to the sound of footsteps upstairs. I almost wanted to laugh at the lack of subtlety that Edward and his adoptive sister Alice shared in their efforts to outdo each other, until I realized it might also be for the benefit of the human.

“Hey Edward!” Alice called, running down the stairs at full speed. I sent her a chastising look. Granted this was no ordinary human, but it was still more than she was likely expecting.

She stopped in front of Bella and Bella actually smiled! I should likely stop being so surprised but I’ve never seen a human seem so calm and at peace when we ourselves were acting naturally for us.

“Hi, Bella!” Alice said, kissing her cheek

Alice! Always pushing boundaries! I didn’t necessarily disapprove, but from what I gathered I wouldn’t expect them to be that close yet!

Bella herself did look shocked, but also pleased. Was there anything she couldn’t accept? I watched as Edward stiffened and instantly felt concerned.

“You do smell nice, I never noticed before,” Alice chimed. Ah, so that was it. While it was true, I wouldn’t have pointed it out myself for this exact reason. I could see a blush creep onto Bella’s cheeks and it made me smile again despite my small desire to swallow.

I felt a wave of ease go across the room and glanced at my oldest son. Actually, in Jasper’s case, son was likely the least appropriate word, considering the fact that he was literal centuries older than I was. But with all the struggles he faced over those years, I still felt a motherly protection over him despite this difference.

“Hello, Bella,” he said quietly but clearly. He seemed awkward and held back. Likely Edward’s fault – he would need to learn to trust his brother a little easier. He certainly had lasted this long and I’m sure he’s been closer to other humans among our various years.

“Hello, Jasper,” she smiled, almost shy again. She extended the lovely smile to the rest of us, adding “It’s nice to meet you all—you have a very beautiful home.”

Just when I thought I couldn’t get any more ecstatic!

“Thank you,” I said, which would have to suffice for now. She was here for Edward, of course, not to hear how I renovated this home. The stories I added, knocking down the walls myself, trying to maintain a modern and classic look to it to incorporate each of our family members. Adding rooms as we expanded. This was likely my favorite of our homes. I could always inform her of all of this later, it looked like she was sticking around. “We’re so glad that you came.”

I wanted her to grasp how sincerely I meant that without saying out loud how brave I found it to walk into a house full of vampires days into a relationship, something that I hoped was a very unique experience for her.

I felt Carlisle move to look at Edward seriously and watched as Edward gave a subtle nod. I only assumed this had to do with the nomads passing through and glanced at Bella quickly, hoping she wasn’t catching on. That would be just what she needed, to hear about even more vampires with a . . . less considerate lifestyle than the one we led.

Fortunately, her gaze turned to the grand piano behind Carlisle and I. Her face turned soft as she looked at it, and I glanced at Edward quickly, though he only had eyes for Bella. Oh just imagine how lovely that would be—if they both played piano. This house would be full of the most beautiful ballads!

“Do you play?” I asked, leaning my head in the direction of her gaze.

She shook her head and it took all I could to not let my face fall. “Not at all. But it’s so beautiful. Is it yours?”

Now that I had to laugh at. “No,” I assured her. Though I had studied enough to know how to play, I preferred to listen, especially when Edward sat at the bench. “Edward didn’t tell you he was musical?”

I was surprised by that. It seemed such a big part of his life when he was at home—it was easy to tell his moods based on what he played, so long as the house was willing to listen. I made the room with the piano in it so open for that reason—so that the sound could resonate.

“No,” she said with an edge, sending Edward a glare. I smiled at his all-too-innocent face. “I should have known, I guess.”

Should have known?

“Edward can do everything, right?” she explained.

As Jasper snickered I turned to give Edward a disapproving look.

“I hope you haven’t been showing off—it’s rude.” It’s not her fault she hasn’t had 100 years to perfect it.

“Just a bit,” he laughed in a light and freeing way. I had to soften—I couldn’t stay mad at him. Of course he would show off a little, he loved her and wanted to be his true self. He gave me an expression that I could tell meant embarrassment and I had to smile in a smug way—embarrassed as he may be I knew I was right.

“He’s been too modest, actually,” she tried to clarify, picking him back up from the bus she’d thrown him under. In all fairness, if he didn’t show off his musical talent, he really was being modest.

And we could not have that at all.

“Well, play for her,” I urged.

“You just said showing off was rude.”

“There are exceptions to every rule,” I replied, raising a finger. She deserved to hear the beautiful songs he’d written, especially the one I could tell was inspired by her.

“I’d like to hear you play,” Bella threw in, and I was happy to have the backup.

“It’s settled then.” I went behind him and pushed him towards the piano, Carlisle stepping aside to give me space to push as Alice and Jasper backed away slowly and quietly. Edward grabbed Bella’s hand, pulling her along as he settled down on the bench.

He looked to her, exaggerating a sigh. As if we were forcing this on him! Please.

He played my favorite piece of his and I beamed at the honor. I had to laugh as Bella’s chin dropped in astonishment at Edward’s prowess, and was glad I wasn’t the only one.

“Do you like it?” I heard Edward ask Bella, catching the slight worry and doubt in his voice.

I walked back to where Carlisle stood to the side and grabbed his hand in mine. With my other hand I touched his cheek, rubbing my thumb along his cheekbone. He smiled, bringing our hands to his mouth so he could kiss mine.

“You wrote this?” Bella gasped in answer. I turned to the stairway and pulled Carlisle along with me, moving quietly so as not to disturb the moment. I turned to Alice and gestured that she and Jasper follow my lead.

“It’s Esme’s favorite.” He stated simply.

“Thank you for that,” I whispered quietly as we retreated, at a volume I knew he could hear but that she could not.

I tried to tune their conversation out, give them some privacy, but I was very happy when I heard the music transition into the lullaby he’d been perfecting the past few nights.

“She’s brought him to life,” I said, turning to Carlisle as we hovered outside his office.

“He’s been alone too long,” he agreed. But a saw a hint of hesitation. “How could it end well?”

“Alice has been wrong before,” I assured him, assuming where he was going.

“Not often,” he whispered.

“Carlisle.” I grabbed him. “Bella is what he wants.” I pushed him playfully against the wall. “It will work out, somehow.” I had to have faith in that.

He cradled my face in his hand and smiled. “You’re a hopeless romantic,” he said, shaking his head and then kissing me.

--

I carried the plants I had just bought outside, setting them against the house as I surveyed my garden. It was just overcast enough for me to go in an out of the garden center without too much worry, but as I felt the sun peeking out from the clouds, I was grateful at the house’s distance from town. I had just enough space for these new buds, but it was a matter of arrangement.

I was so lost in thought I didn’t notice Bella until the sliding glass door opened.

“Hey Esme,” she greeted me, stepping outside and closing the door behind her.

“Hello Bella,” I smiled, opening my arms for the hug she was reaching to give.

“Planting in the garden again today?” she asked, taking in the trees and flowers I had set aside.

“How could you tell?” I asked, smiling. “Can I steal you from Alice long enough to get an opinion?”

I knew they had a girl’s day in planned while Edward, Jasper, and Emmett all went hunting. But knowing that for Alice, that meant makeup and hairstyling, I wanted to give Bella an easy way out with my own slightly selfish gain.

“Of course!” she smiled, grabbing my spare set of gardening gloves from the shelf by the door. “What can I help you with?”

“So I’m thinking about putting the freesia here, and the marigold here,” I pointed, “but I wasn’t sure if switching the two would complement the sunflowers or the lilies more.”

She placed her hands on her hip. I knew gardening wasn’t a strong suit of hers, but she insisted on helping me with my vegetable garden in May, so I was hoping she’d enjoy this as well.

“No I think you’re absolutely right. The marigolds will really pop next to those orchids.”

I smiled. “Would you like to help me plant them then?”

“Of course, Esme, I’d love to.”

As I reached to start grabbing the fresh buds, Bella went over to grab some trowels and my favorite watering can.

“I figured we would start with the marigolds,” I began as Bella started digging exactly where I’d indicated.

She muttered something in approval and we got to work.

I knew how comfortable she was with silence, so I gave her a few minutes to think, but I was also really hoping to bond better with her.

Fortunately, she did it for me.

“Renee always wanted to start a garden back home,” Bella started, putting down her trowel and reaching for another bud. “Despite the desert heat, every year she’d have a new idea. Tomatoes, flowers, jalapenos . . .” she trailed off. “After about the fifth season she finally realized that cacti and succulents would just have to do.”

I had to laugh at that.

“I’ve always wanted to live in a desert community,” I offered. “When I was human anyway. At least that was the thought that crossed my mind every winter. Nowadays it’s exactly as possible as it is impossible.”

“Not a lot of ways to stay out of the sun when the sun is exactly the point,” she agreed.

“It seems like it would be so easy,” I continued. “Maybe we could actually feel a little warm. But blinding the locals on a sunny day wouldn’t exactly help.”

“That is something I think I would really miss,” she added.

And there’s the line that made me almost grateful Edward was out. He hated the way she talked about her mortality and especially the way she craved the afterlife. Everyone has, of course, discussed on their own times that, realistically, her staying human isn’t exactly the most reasonable idea if he truly does plan on loving her forever. But no one dares talk about it with him after the last time Emmett made a similar joke. I winced at the broken antique end table I would have to find a replacement for, its damage beyond repair.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” she muttered sheepishly. “I forgot I shouldn’t . . . talk about that . . .”

“No, you’re okay,” I reassured her, likely too quickly. “I mean, it would likely anger him, but . . . in my eyes, you are a part of this family. It isn’t my decision to make, of course.”

As we finished with the marigolds, I moved to the spot the freesia would have to be planted.

“And I can’t exactly avoid allowing him to know my opinion. But I don’t wish to further the argument,” I winced again. I wasn’t sure how to phrase it eloquently but I didn’t want to encourage nor discourage her.

“That’s fair,” she sighed. “I will say I really appreciated when Renee finally embraced what could and what couldn’t grow in Phoenix. We certainly had the nicest cactus garden on the block.”

I had to laugh at that.

“Your mother seems to have so many interests. It’s nice, hearing you talk about her.”

She laughed then.

“Renee has so many interests because she loses them just as quickly as she gains them,” she explained. “Fortunately the cacti don’t exactly require a lot of upkeep. I brought a small one to Forks with me, from Phoenix. That upkeep is a little more of a struggle, of course, but he’s been doing pretty well.”

I smiled then. “I’m glad to hear that.”

She laughed to herself, and I sent her a confused look.

“Oh, it just always strikes me as odd when I think about it. So I name each of the cacti and succulents, usually after my favorite characters from different novels,” she was smiling as she spoke, seemingly on the verge of laughter but trying to get through her little anecdote. “I was on Sense and Sensibility. The one I took home from me was a piece of the cactus I had named after Edward.”

Ah. Now I saw the humor. Even I had to chuckle at that.

“Every time I look over at that little cactus on my desk I think of home and Edward at the same time. It’s like the perfect bridge between Forks and Phoenix, and I didn’t even see it coming.”

Just as she finished, we were done planting all the flowers. All that was left were the fruit trees, and I knew I would have to do those by myself.

“That actually does look really pretty,” Bella said as she wiped her forehead with her arm, taking a step back to survey our hard work.

I placed my arm around her waist, hoping my skin would help cool her off a little quicker. She seemed very grateful for it.

I gave her a soft squeeze. “I can’t wait for those buds to bloom. I think it’ll look magnificent. I’m sure Rosalie will love to take some pictures of it all.”

We stood there like that for a minute before Alice came outside, with a tray in hand.

“I made lemon squares!” she called in a sing-song voice. “And made some fresh lemonade.

“Alice you have got to stop making things that only one person in this house can enjoy,” Bella chastised, but I could tell by her tone she felt nothing but love.

I gave her another quick hug.

“Thank you again for helping me. Go enjoy your refreshments.” I opened my arms and turned to survey the rest of the yard, trying to find the best spot for my new orchard.

pls like comment and subscribe

[superlepato]

With Love from Memory Lane

I forgot to post it here. OOPS. Also, there other blackouts so yeah. 

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 AO3

Chapter 5

The class was called one by one to the director’s office, the new Chief Jim Hopper was on the case.

“Billy, isn’t it? you must know that Steve Harrington is missing, right? ” Billy nods

“ Well, his parents are very worried, that’s why I’m going to ask you some questions to see if we can find some clue of his whereabouts ”

The questions were easy, when and where was the last time he saw Steve, if he noticed something wrong or different that day, how close he was to him. Standard questions. He answered everything and returned to class. Things continue with some sort of normality, the rumors by this point weren’t something new by now, you could even pick what kind of gossip you want it to hear.

If you go and asked Mary Petterson she would tell you about an old urban legend of a woman that liked to take kids that wandered alone, something that’s been happening a long time ago through several generations, her mom told her the same way her mother did with her.

In old times when Hawkings didn’t have many houses, streets and paths of dirt were still a thing, in those times kids were missing with frequency, to the authorities there were only three options: a case of bad parenting, a kidnapper or an accident. To the people, it was something different, an entity whose name has been time along forgotten but was still ingrained hunting the town.

He has to grant it to Mary, she knew how to tell a story but it was only that, a story. Is been a long time since the last case of a missing person or witness of that ghost in this town.

Jane Morris or “Brace Face” had another theory, she would say that Steve left Hawkings on bus, how easy that could be since he had a big allowance and it wasn’t a secret that Steve hadn’t bought anything for several days, so it wouldn’t be crazy to think that Steve could take all that money and scape to another state and live a new life. This rumor was more credible since it had some truth in it, and after the meltdown that Steve had in the classroom it almost seems logical that he would try to leave the place he was so fed up with, but the more probable that shit could sound, Billy knew it wasn’t true.

He knew that the reason why Steve didn’t spend his money was more related to his dad and his out of the blue decision to cut off his allowance, and even if Steve had found money, someone in the bus station should have seen him and be news by now not a rumor.

Jason, on the other hand, had a more down to earth explanation and just for that, it was the cruelest. He has heard stories from his big brother or his father and uncle when they drank beer outside on the porch, sometimes sitting around the table of the kitchen when the only source of light was a single light bulb whose light was limited to the area they were both sitting.

How Jason stayed so late without his parent’s complain? he didn’t have idea, but it seemed that nobody else cares, focus to hear what he had to say.

“ Omegas go missing all the time in the city, bigger the city bigger the number of lost people. My dad says that a few return alive and that’s why the city isn’t a place for an unmated omega.

My uncle lives in Chicago, he knows the city, he works towing cars so he hears all kind of stuff, there is word on the street that says that the omegas that go missing are sold in a market, a whole word under us were shady guys do stuff ”

It sounded like the plot of a movie and yet the idea of some creep taking Steve when he was in a vulnerable state was something that could happen, even in a remote place like Hawkings, and that was the most terrifying thing, that out there was this danger living alongside them and Steve had the bad luck of being his victim and he wouldn’t be able to see him again.

That night Billy wasn’t able to sleep, the guilt was eating him alive if the police weren’t able to find Steve the possibility of maybe being his fault for not saying all the truth that evening would turn to be the biggest regret of his life.

He doesn’t know why he did it, but he didn’t answer the questions Chief Hopper asked him the way he should, he didn’t lie but...he omitted stuff. Afraid to admit how close he actually was with Steve, afraid of his father finding out, afraid of the police going to his house.

“ Billy, right? ” the chief asks, he is sitting in one of the chairs that are usually reserved for the parents when they come to the director’s office, Billy was sitting in the other chair in front of the chief.

“ Yes, sir”

“ Ok, I’m going to ask some questions and I need you to be honest with me, that could help to find the  Harrington’s boy “ the questions were standard. “When was the last time you saw him? “ “How you see him that day? ” “ Was he behaving differently? ” “ That day were you able to see someone suspicious or anyone that you have never seen before? ”

The struggle started when after Hopper asked if Steve and Billy were friends.

“ We hang out but not anymore ”

“ How so? ”

“ We fought ”

“ Why? ”

“ He was fighting during class because a group in class was saying stuff about him, I intervene before he got hurt and for some reason, he got mad at me and stopped talking to me, so I did the same ”

“ Fights like this were frequent? "

“ No, they didn’t get that big, it was mostly teasing "

“ What about Monday between 1:00 - 1:30 pm? many say that Steve Harrington was perturbed and attacked the teacher "

“ I don’t know why he did that, he just snapped "

“ And you don’t know what could make him do that? "

“ No, I already told you, we don’t talk anymore "

“ And before that? "

“ Before that? "

“ Did you talk? "

“ Yes "

“ How close were you? "

“ We hang out after class to ride our bikes ”

“ What places did you go? ”

“ He showed me what kids do here, the court where played, Melvald’s, the shortcuts between houses…”

He didn’t say how he practically lived in Steve’s house or the clubhouse they made in the forest that is behind the backyard, he didn’t say how much he actually knew about Steve or the Harrington’s either, with Steve missing nobody would know.

Taking out the trash, doing his homework, sweep the house, eat dinner and leave some to his father, wash the dishes, take a bath, his daily routine continued as always, Steve absence didn’t make waves big enough to alter anything of importance. The sun rose the same, the school wasn’t closed, homework was handed over and chores were done, life keeps going, time didn’t stop not even for Steve, the only thing that stopped was his dreams.

Billy couldn’t sleep that night, tossing around, changing positions, counting sheeps, nothing worked, sleep was being elusive that night. His mind kept returning to Steve, he imagined that he watched Steve walking alone through the abandoned railroad with a backpack, maybe in a bus station not knowing where to go and sleep on the streets, those scenarios were out of his reach but there was one place that he could go.

[emoboijk]

KSJ | Photo Booth

You’re the twerpy best friend of his little brother. Or maybe more. —fluff

5,638 words

p.cred

Park Jimin. The perfect boyfriend. Handsome, cute, great body, good listener, funny. A catch, by anyone’s standards. And when you’d asked him out, and he’d said yes, you thought yourself the luckiest girl in the world. It had been nearly three months of bliss. Bliss which came crashing down around you at the words, “I’m gay.”

“What?” You coughed, snorting grape soda out of your nose and staining your t-shirt so that it looked like you’d spit up on yourself. You pushed that aside to be worried about later. “You’re what?”

Jimin sighed and ran a hand through his hair so that he looked like a model on the set of a photo shoot, “I wasn’t sure…when you asked me out, I wasn’t sure. But,” his cheeks tinted pink, “I made out with this guy at a party the other night.”

“Well,” you sputtered, feeling the ray of light that Jimin was in your life flickering out, and you reached for it like a child, desperate for it to stay, “You were drunk so…”

“But then,” he looked away from you and when you followed his gaze Jung Hoseok was leaning against his beat up, red Camaro with a happy smile on his face, his eyes locked on Jimin. Jimin sighed again, “We…um…we…well, let’s just say I know for sure now. I’m gay. I’m sorry I can’t date you anymore.”

You tried to hide your disappointment. This was big for him—he’d come out, found someone to be with. For all intents and purposes, his life was great. Who were you to ruin it for him? You were looking at the ground as you said, “It’s okay Jimin, I understand. Thanks for being honest with me.”

Jimin patted your shoulder and said, with a sad smile, “You were a great girlfriend, really, I’d keep going out with you if…”

You patted his hand on your shoulder, “It’s okay Jimin. You don’t have to apologize.”

“Okay,” he sighed, an awkward tension filling the space between you as he rocked back on his heels, “I’ll talk to you later?”

“Yeah,” you sighed, “Later.”  

Taehyung came up two minutes later with his backpack slung over his shoulder and a happy-go-lucky grin on his face. He plopped into the seat next to you and waited a moment before stating the obvious, “So what’s wrong with you today?”

You sighed, “Jimin’s gay.”

Taehyung snorted, falling forward as laughter racked his chest. “No, he’s not! Really?” he gasped, hitting his chest to help him breathe. “Oh my god!”

You sighed and buried your face into your hands, feeling humiliated—your boyfriend was gay, you had a purple stain on your shirt, and you had forgotten to do your math homework for fifth period. Your day couldn’t get any worse.

“Call me!” This voice was shrill and high pitched and typically used to support football players on game nights. And when you looked up from your humiliation, Joy Park was bouncing up and down in her form-fitting cheerleading attire, waving enthusiastically at Taehyung’s older brother, the swim star (and the bane of your existence from 9-5, Monday through Friday): Kim Seokjin.

He shrugged at her entreaty and climbed into his Jeep Cherokee with more grace than a prima ballerina performing swan lake. He revved the engine and peeled out of the high school parking lot, waving to Tae as he did so. Taehyung just rolled his eyes.

And you had been wrong. That scene had made your day worse. Kim Seokjin always made it worse.

Kim Seokjin was a gorgeous, swimming, genius, who was a notorious flirt and who had known you since you were a baby. He knew everything about you in the same way that Taehyung did, except he didn’t care about you nearly as much as Taehyung. To Kim Seokjin you were nothing but the snot-nosed best friend of his kid brother. And to you, he was the super annoying, super gorgeous boy that you’d had a crush on since the second grade.

And second grade crushes are hard to let go of. Ask anybody.

“Okay, okay,” Taehyung said, rubbing soothing circles into your back, “It’s not the end of the world. Homework, movies, and pizza. My place?”

You sat up and leaned against his shoulder, smiling happily, “Yes please.”

The Kim Palace was a modern, two-story mansion that had an entire side of the house made of windows. Which had never seemed very practical to you, but you’d learned to let it go. Taehyung and Seokjin’s father was an extremely successful CEO of a company whose business you didn’t understand. You tried to think of it as little as possible.

“Hi, sweetie,” Taehyung’s mom said, pecking his cheek as he passed her in the kitchen. She smiled at you too, squeezing your shoulder, “Hi, pumpkin.”

“Hi, Mrs. Kim,” you smiled, following Taehyung through the maze of his house and out onto the deck. There was a massive pool outside, surrounded by lawn chairs and a wood deck with tables. That’s where you and Tae preferred to do homework when the weather was agreeable. As for Seokjin, that’s where he preferred to do laps.

You were thirty minutes into a biology assignment when the doorbell resounded through the house, and Taehyung leaped from his seat, “Pizza!” He grabbed his wallet and made for the door, which gave you plenty of time to admire the view...

Seokjin was doing broad strokes up and down the length of the pool, his muscular arms slicing through the water at a rhythmic pace. You sighed and leaned your cheek against your hand, watching as his never-ending shoulders appeared out of the water, his hair slicked back and skin bronzing from his efforts.

“See something you like?” he smirked at you, rising from the pool in one smooth motion so that he trailed water around the edge.

“Um, no,” you said, blushing anyway, “Ew.”

Seokjin chuckled and climbed the porch steps, picking up a towel and towering over you at the table so that he blocked your light. You bit the inside of your cheek, “You’re dripping on my bio homework,” you scowled.

Seokjin bent down and shook out his hair, splattering you and your homework in the process. You gasped, your mouth open and wide in shock, “Jin!”

“Oops,” he smirked, shrugging.

“Pizza!” Taehyung said, cutting off when he saw your expression. He rolled his eyes and put the pizza on the table, directing his words at Seokjin, “Can you not torment her today? She just broke up with Jimin.”

“Oh, the gay one?” Seokjin asked, opening the box and helping himself to a slice.

You groaned, “Has word already spread?”

Seokjin chuckled, “No. But I’ve known that he was gay since like the second he asked you out.”

“What!” you gasped, enraged, “You knew!”

Seokjin shrugged, “He’d stare sometimes,” he said around a mouth full of pizza.

“Why didn’t you say something!” You were practically screeching.

Seokjin smiled at you, taking another piece of pizza and walking away without another word. You slumped back into your seat, hiding your face in your folded arms, Taehyung chuckling in front of you. “I hate your brother,” you whined.

Taehyung leaned across the table and patted your hand, “You might be the only one.”

Three hours later you were standing in the doorway of the Kim Palace, saying an extended goodbye to Taehyung. You held your books to your chest and ignored Tan-ie, his little dog, as you whined, “Don’t go, Taehyung-ah!”

“I have to go,” he chuckled, “I play the lead character.”

You frowned, “I don’t see why that matters.”

Taehyung chuckled and patted your head affectionately (if not a bit condescendingly) before saying, “I think you’ll survive a week without me.”

“I would’ve thought so,” you said, “but my boyfriend turned out to be gay,” you pouted. And despite the humor you were trying to evoke, and Taehyung’s subsequent laugh, he saw the sadness that tinged your expression.

He pulled you in for a tight hug, squeezing you warmly, “You’ll be fine.”

“Okay,” you sighed, “Text me when you leave?”

He chuckled, “As if I’m not going to text you a play-by-play of my packing adventures.”

“I’m counting on it,” you sniffled, turning to walk back down his drive and around the corner, where your house was. Taehyung sighed as he watched you go, feeling as if he was abandoning you. He ground his teeth together, Jimin couldn’t have waited just one more week to break the news?

The door shut with a definitive click and Taehyung turned around abruptly, “Seokjin-hyung!” he bellowed, the sound practically echoing through the large house.

Seokjin had a hand pressed to one of his ears, the other around a sandwich when he appeared out of the kitchen. “What?” he whined, taking a bite of the sandwich, the irritation fading almost as quickly as it had appeared.

“Do me a favor?” Taehyung said, walking past him and into the kitchen. The sandwich makings were still laid out on the counter, and he busied his hands by making himself one.

Seokjin snorted, “No.”

“Come on,” Taehyung said, not phased by his brother’s immediate reaction, “She’s going to be all alone.”

“A girl alone?” Seokjin smirked, his eyebrows raising at the possibilities, “Why didn’t you just say so?”

Taehyung rolled his eyes, “Look her boyfriend just broke up with her, she’s going through some rough times. Will you just look out for her for me?”

Seokjin groaned and with his mouth full said, “Your twerpy best friend?”

Taehyung sighed and shook his head, “Dude, I know you like her.”

“Well, yeah, but she’s…my baby sister,” Seokjin said, nearly stuttering but saving himself as he paused to bite his sandwich. Taehyung looked at him skeptically but decided that this was probably not the best time to push the matter.

“Whatever,” Taehyung said, “I’ll give you fifty bucks.”

“Well, when you put it that way,” Seokjin smirked.

Kim Seokjin dropped his kid brother Taehyung off in the high school parking lot at 7 AM Monday morning, accepting his fifty-dollar bribe before watching him climb onto the bus with the rest of the theatre nerds, with every intention to not do as his brother asked. And Taehyung, waving to him from one of the bus windows, knew this; but he also knew that his brother would end up hanging out with you, because of his super-secret feelings for you.

Seokjin stuffed the money into his jacket pocket before walking into the school with his backpack slung on his shoulder. Might as well get in a few laps before school started. But he paused outside the double doors into the school, a doubt creeping into his mind that annoyed him to no end.

Did you have a ride to school?

Taehyung usually picked you up in his rickety sedan before school. Seokjin turned and looked in the direction of your house—you lived twenty blocks from the school. You wouldn’t…walk, would you?

He remembered the fifty dollars burning a hole in his pocket and his annoying good-natured brother, and his even more annoying best friend. Seokjin groaned, “Dammit,” before heading back to his car.

You were just locking the front door when Seokjin pulled up in front of your place. You raised your eyebrows in surprise, your mother backing out of the driveway in a hurry as she shouted out the window, “Hurry, I’m already late!”

Seokjin rolled his eyes at you and motioned to his car and you bit back your smile, yelling at your mother, “I’ll get a ride with Seokjin!” She was out of the driveway in nearly thirty seconds flat.

“So,” you said, stepping up into the jeep and buckling yourself in, “you’re a good Samaritan now?”

“Nope,” he said, smiling despite himself.

“Thanks,” you said, scrolling through your phone to avoid looking at him, your heart racing, “I think my mom was going to have a coronary.”

Your day was…ordinary. If not exceptionally boring. You shared five of your six periods with Taehyung, and without him life was dreadful. In Chemistry class Taehyung was your usual partner, but because of his and another theatre kid’s absence, you had to pair up with Tzuyu who, while being a very lovely person, was a bit of an airhead when it came to chemistry. And then there was literature, where you were reading The Scarlet Letter and all of the insufferable jokes suffocated you. And then there was lunch, where your group of friends was found to be missing the glue that kept it together—Kim Taehyung. And so on and so on.

Until you were left, after your final period, sitting on a bench in the front of the school with your head in your hands and your mood in the dumps. And, as if to rub it in, Jimin was with Hoseok all but fucking on the hood of his car. You groaned, feeling…defeated.

Seokjin’s hair was still wet from swim practice, and the leftover water droplets made the neck of his shirt damp. He slung his duffle bag, stuffed with old sportswear that would have his mother cursing, over his shoulder as he trekked across the parking lot. Joy Park’s clammy fingers touched his bicep and she said something in a voice that didn’t really register in his mind, the words tumbling in one ear and out the other, before his eyes fell on you—disheveled and disheartened, alone on a bench.

“Pathetic,” he said, shaking his head but smiling fondly.

“W-What?” Joy Park said, her voice offended and edgy with tears.

“Oh, not you,” Seokjin said, waving his hands innocently. Joy followed his gaze to you and she snorted.

“She looks like one of those pigeon ladies at the park,” she laughed, the sound nasally and grating.

Seokjin rolled his eyes, “Now you are pathetic.”

Joy’s face was hurt, her bottom lip puckering out and her eyes welling up. Seokjin sighed and added, “You don’t have to be rude just because she doesn’t run in your circle. She’s a friend of the family’s, okay? She’s important to them, so she’s important to me.”

Joy’s pout remained the same, but her previously tear-filled eyes were now steely with determination. She flicked her hair off her shoulder and strutted away with her friends, “Whatever.”

It was a good thing Seokjin was overflowing with social capital at this school.

He changed direction and headed toward you, forgetting about his dead-set intentions to pocket Taehyung’s fifty without doing any of the promised work. Seokjin fell against the bench heavily, dropping his bag easily and resting his arms against the back of the bench comfortably. “Sup?”

You snorted, not looking up from the ground, from your tattered converse beside Seokjin’s flip-flops. Then you sighed, your breath shaky with emotion, and Seokjin’s chest suddenly filled with pity. “My boyfriend is gay, my best friend is gone, and I…” you sighed again, “I’m being dramatic. I’m sorry. Tae is only gone for a week, and Jimin…”

“Is an idiot,” Seokjin filled in, shrugging.

You laughed, wiping your cheek of the few shed tears, “No he’s not.”

Seokjin smiled, “No, he’s not. But it still sucks. Being dumped.”

“How would you know?” you joked, sticking your tongue out at him.

He shrugged again, “You know, movies and stuff.”

“Wow,” you said, slapping his chest absently. You stood up and stretched, picking up your bag from the ground and turning to him with a shiny new smile that was only half-convincing, “Okay, I’m all good. Go away now.”

Seokjin watched you for a moment before sighing, seeing through your happy facade easily. “Want to get some ice cream?” he said, standing and picking up his own bag.

“What?”

“Ice cream,” he said, “I’m craving some. And it’s a cheat day. Do you want to come?”

You narrowed your eyes at him, “Is that code for something?”

“Oh my god,” he groaned, “No, it really fucking isn’t. Do you want to go out for ice cream or what?”

You stared at him for a moment, in shock, “Yes?”

“Okay,” he sighed, still sounding irritated but his heart racing as his hand clasped around your wrist, “Come on.”

The ice cream shop was called I-SCREAM, which you found to be entirely creepy and led you to suspect that this was some kind of Sweeny-Todd-esque front for murder, but was otherwise completely normal. Seokjin assured you that he’d never come across any body parts or ice cream that tasted like blood or brain matter or anything.

“Although, they have a killer Halloween party here every year,” he shrugged, adjusting the strap of his duffle bag across his body as he waited in line behind a little girl and her father. She turned around to stare at him with big eyes and he wagged his fingers at her, making a funny face so that she laughed and turned away giggling.

You poked him when the woman behind the counter started tapping her fingers impatiently. Seokjin stood up straight and scanned the tubs of ice cream behind the class, sucking on the inside of his cheek. “Raspberry sorbet,” he said, poking the glass to point it out and leaving a fingerprint mark so that the woman narrowed her eyes in annoyance. You snorted and he turned to look at you questioningly.

“That’s kind of a sissy flavor,” you commented, peering through the glass before saying, “Fudge brownie, please.”

Seokjin snorted this time, “At least I’m not a chocolate whore.”

You gasped, “Did you just call me a whore?”

The woman behind the counter rolled her eyes and slid the ice cream over the top of the glass to you both. You followed Seokjin up to the register, ready to pull out your wallet when he paid in one swift motion. He walked over to a table with his spoon in his mouth, “Whore? That’s all you took from that?”

You finished off a bite of fudge brownie ice cream and waved your spoon with a flourish, “Isn’t ‘whore’ the most important part of what you said?”

Seokjin squinted. His thinking face. He’d made it many times over the years, but your particular favorite was at the end of his junior year when he was preparing to take the SATs. It was like a constant thinking face for three months. You thought he might never go back to normal.

“So,” you said, savoring the remaining ice cream on your tongue before continuing, “how much did Tae pay you to babysit me?”

Seokjin snorted, “He didn’t pay me.”

You rolled your eyes and pushed your ice cream around with the spoon. “You wouldn’t be here with me if Tae hadn’t made you.”

Seokjin’s brow furrowed and he looked at you seriously, “Yes, I would’ve.” You searched his expression for a moment, finding no deception there. But you still weren’t tempted to believe him. He shrugged, “But, also, fifty bucks.”

You left the shop twenty minutes later, trading snarky sarcastic comments back and forth with him as you did so, ignoring the fluttery, happy feeling in your chest. Seokjin, too, was trying to ignore the tugging he felt in his chest as he watched you grin and laugh and joke. Part of him wanted to get out, leave, run away, hide in his bedroom until this feeling went away. Maybe even call Joy Park to have her fuck the feeling away.

But when you passed the arcade at the end of the strip mall on the way back to the car, tugging on his hand excitedly, exclaiming, “I haven’t gone to an arcade in ages!” the other part of him, that wanted nothing more than to spend time with you and to hold your hand, the mushy part of him, won out.

You and Seokjin spent more money in the arcade, in three hours, than either of you would have ever thought possible. You played every game—air hockey, skee ball, racing games, shooting games—until you stood in the center of the room, amazed that you had done it all.

“I’m exhausted,” Seokjin whined.

You smiled over at him and exhilaration took the place of his exhaustion. There was a slight sheen of sweat on your forehead (from that second bout of intense air hockey) and your hair had fallen from its ponytail so that errant strands hung in a beautiful, inconceivable pattern. Your lips were parted and your eyes shone with enthusiasm.

He was struck, not really for the first time, by how beautiful you had become. In the early years, when you and Taehyung were just the two kids that hung out at his house, he’d never thought much of you. But by the time you were fourteen, and he was fifteen, he’d started to…notice. And then puberty hit you like a high-speed train and, despite his many attempts to feel otherwise, he was hooked.

You had your hands on your hips, saying something to him that he hadn’t heard in the midst of his trance. “Huh?”

“I said,” you pouted, crossing your arms, “You’re basically a pro-swimmer and a little arcade action tires you out?”

Seokjin chuckled, “If this were in the water, I’d be fine,” he poked your nose, making your face scrunch up cutely. “And whatever, you’re tired, too.”

You were about to argue, lips open to say something sarcastic, when you spotted it: a dinky little box with an opening on the side, veiled by a thick red curtain. You smiled and looked back to him, “One more thing and then we can leave.”

“What?” he whined, petulantly, like a child.

Your fingers wrapped around his wrist and tugged him forward, spinning him to face you as you stood triumphantly in front of the box. “Photobooth!”

Seokjin sighed, “Those things cost like ten bucks!”

“Come on,” you pleaded, “This is the first time we’ve ever hung out where,” you paused, fumbling over the words in your sudden rush, “where I haven’t irritated the crap out of you and, and you weren’t the bane of my existence.”

Seokjin was about to dispute your statement, say something completely false like, “You don’t irritate me.” But he knew that wasn’t the point of your statement. You weren’t trying to pick a fight, you were just…happy. That you were getting along.

And he was, too.

So he shelled out the ten bucks for the photos and squeezed into the booth with you. He didn’t react when the quarters were so small that you had to squish into his side. He let you lift his arm and wrap it around your shoulders until you were resting against him comfortably. He hoped you couldn’t feel his heart skip a beat when you put your hand on his chest. And, during the third of the five flashes, when he’d decided that the only he wanted right at that moment was to kiss you…he didn’t fight that feeling.

He turned to look at you, tilting up your chin so that you were looking directly at him. The camera flashed capturing your confused look as the arm wrapped around your shoulders pulled your body into his until it was tucked perfectly against him, and he leaned down to kiss you.

The camera flashed moments after his lips touched yours, feeling so much better than the times you’d practiced on the back of your hand. He tilted his head so that you were like puzzle pieces, clicking into place, a sense of belonging washing over you that could only come from finding your place.

He pulled away just as the pictures printed, depositing into the slot. He opened his eyes, feeling breathless and, suddenly, terrified. You still had your eyes closed, leaning into him, lips open, stunned. It would have made him smile if the whole thing hadn’t stricken him with fear.

“What have I done?” he whispered, touching his lips like he’d been burned.

“Huh?” you whispered, blinking a couple times like you were waking from a dream.

“I have to go,” he said, “I…I have to go.” He pushed past you roughly, running from the photo booth, out of the arcade and into his car, driving away feeling guilty. And leaving you with the photos and the necessity to call your mom.

You didn’t see him for the rest of the week, which wasn’t hard to do, you guessed. You didn’t share any classes, you didn’t live close by, you didn’t do similar extracurricular activities. It seemed that Taehyung was the only thing you had in common. Which is why it took Taehyung getting back for you to see him again.

You were sitting on the floor, Taehyung on the couch, one of his legs dangling over the edge so that his smelly feet were in your face; he was trying to distract you from the round of Mario Kart you were winning.

Seokjin walked in on the scene, immediately tensing and sucking in a breath so suddenly that it sounded like a hiss. He was in the middle of backing out, ready to go out the garage and around the front of the house to get into the kitchen, when Taehyung said, “Hey hyung.”

“Uh,” Seokjin paused, eyes watching you, your eyes never leaving the TV screen, “hey.” He nearly tiptoed across the living room and into the kitchen, struggling to keep his eyes forward instead of watching for your reaction.

As soon as he was gone the game paused and Taehyung kicked you in the shoulder. You whined, putting your controller down and taking a sip of your soda.

“What was that all about?” he said.

“What?” you asked, turning to squint at him in a perfect imitation of nonchalance.

Taehyung rolled his eyes, swallowing the water he’d been drinking before saying, “That. With Jin?”

“What do you mean?” you shrugged, leaning against the couch, “He didn’t even say anything.”

“Exactly!” Taehyung was exclaiming, “He’s Kim Seokjin! He always has some kind of pun or joke, and he said nothing. The room was ice. What happened while I was gone?”

“Nothing,” you emphasized, already feeling your resistance fade in the face of his persistence.

“Oh,” Taehyung sighed, “Is this about the money I gave him? Because I just—”

You chuckled, “No, no,” you shook your head, “But, really, Tae? I’m only worth fifty bucks?”

He shrugged, “It’s all I had on me.”

You shoved his knee playfully and paused, the confession you’d been gathering in your chest since that day in the photobooth like strands of fog you couldn’t hold onto. Taehyung sunk off the couch so that he was sitting next to you, his arm pushing lightly against yours. “Hey,” he said, softly, “What’s up?”

Your eyes moved to meet his, suddenly watery with tears, “He kissed me.”

“So?” Taehyung said, his voice just as soft as before. He was not surprised. It didn’t take an idiot to see his brother liked you. And you’d accidentally confessed about your crush on him drunk at a party one night.

“I think he thinks it was a mistake,” you whispered, clenching your jaw to stop the tears.

Seokjin leaned against the kitchen door, the soda he’d grabbed now warm in his hand, his heart breaking at your words.

After about a week and a half of playing the “date” and the kiss over and over in your head, and of absolutely no contact between you and Seokjin (except when Taehyung dragged him into it like a scientist putting a spider and scorpion in the same room to see who would flinch first), you had let go of the poor-school-girl tears you’d sobbed to Taehyung over Mario Kart and felt only irritation.

Well, rage, now. Rage because you’d been pining over him. Pining because, although you had not known it was a date, it was the perfect date and his lips had tasted like strawberry chapstick and frozen yogurt. So you’d been pining and wallowing and eating a pint of ice cream a night because it was the only thing that could sustain your soul.

And he was with Joy Park, perched on the hood of his Jeep with her claws on his chest and her hair brushing his arm and his smile trained on her. His smile that could have been mistaken for a flinch if your eyes weren’t red with anger.

“Dude, can you believe what Yoongi-hyung said to Professor Bang today because—” Taehyung didn’t finish his statement because when he looked up from digging through his backpack (for what he wasn’t sure anymore) he saw the red-rage expression on your face. A look he’d only seen twice before—first when you were six and the new girl Yeri stepped on and broke all of your crayons, and second when you were fourteen and someone had punched him in the jaw. Both times you had resorted to physical violence, something you weren’t particularly talented at.

“I’ll be right back,” you said without looking at him, the photo strip that you’d taken to keeping in your pocket crumpling in your newly formed fist.

Seokjin saw you approaching immediately because he’d developed this sixth sense when it came to you, which really meant that he was hyper-observant of you at all times. Even when he wasn’t looking at you, he was looking at you.

“You dick!” you shouted, waving your fist toward him, the photo strip sticking out almost angrily.

Joy Park turned around so that her long dark hair slapped him in the face, making him blink. How did she not get whiplash when she did that?

“Excuse me?” she gasped, putting her hand on her chest in shock.

“I’m not talking to you,” you growled, your eyes darting in her direction momentarily before going back to Seokjin. You shoved your fist into his chest in a mock-punch that hurt you more than it hurt him, his eyes wide in shock. “Look,” you said, tears welling in your eyes as you started to lose steam, but speaking the truth anyway, “I know you find me repulsive or whatever, but you should at least tell me to my face,” you looked up at him, eyes fierce and angry with tears. You looked down to the photographs, smiling softly at them before saying, “So I don’t hold on to hope.” You took a deep breath and ripped the long strip in half, and then again and again until the pieces floated onto the sidewalk in front of his feet.

You didn’t look at him again before you walked away. And Seokjin felt as if he were dying.

A small part of you had hoped that this public display of heartbreak would inspire him, prompt some sort of confession, something to contradict the things you had said. But as the days past after the incident, and no word from him, you knew that it was over.

Something that had not even begun, was…over. And it shattered your world in a way that you would’ve thought was impossible.

Taehyung was sitting on the ground next to you, leaning against the edge of your bed, watching as you scooped raw chocolate icing into your mouth without a care in the world. He put his arm around your shoulder and squeezed.

“I just don’t get it,” you whispered, licking the spoon clean before diving it back into the slowly emptying container, “It was one…afternoon. One kiss. Why do I care so much?”

Taehyung sighed and shrugged, “You really liked him. I don’t think ‘for how long’ matters.”

You leaned your head against his shoulder, “I guess you’re right.”

“I’m always right,” Taehyung smiled, his expression changing when there was a loud knock on the door, “I’ll go get it.” You nodded and shoveled more icing into your mouth.

Taehyung reappeared in your doorway two minutes later with his face contorted in a look of displeasure, “Look,” he said, raising his hands defensively even though all you had done was look up at him, “You can tell him to fuck off.”

You raised your eyebrows, “Don’t tell me…”

“He’s my brother,” Taehyung smiled, “I have to help him out.”

“Tae,” you sighed, putting down your icing. But he merely stepped out of the way to reveal Kim Seokjin in his best pair of jeans, toting a bouquet of flowers and a picture frame.

“Hey,” he said awkwardly, hovering in the doorway.

You sighed, “What do you want?” You stood up and crossed your arms.

You could almost hear him gulp, but he pushed on anyway, “To apologize.”

You scoffed, “Really?”

“Yes,” he said. He offered the flowers to you hesitantly, and with just as much hesitance, you took them. He licked his lips before continuing, “I’m sorry. I didn’t…react very well.

You snorted, “No kidding.”

He smiled despite himself and continued, “I know I didn’t react well. I freaked out and avoided you and was…”

“A dick,” you supplied, hugging the flowers closer to your chest as hope-filled your rib cage.

“A dick,” he confirmed, smiling so that his eyes lit up when they locked with yours, “But, you have to know, that…that night with you, the kiss…it was the best night of my life,” he whispered the last part, offering the frame to you. Inside were the torn up pieces of the photobooth pictures that you’d thrown at his feet, sloppily taped together but carefully centered in the frame.

You looked from the frame to his face, eyes searching his hopefully. He smiled softly, “I’m sorry I was an idiot.”

“You didn’t have to do this,” you smiled, holding the flowers delicately in your hands as you inspected the beautiful frame holding the pictures of your first date, “A confession would’ve been enough,” you smirked.

“Well,” he chuckled, “I used the fifty bucks Taehyung gave me, so…”

“Oh, fuck off,” Taehyung whined.

author’s note— what’s my specialty in writing, you ask? tropes and clichés, thank you very much (inspired by the kissing booth, netflix)

requested by anonmous— jin, fic, ice cream dates, fluuuuffffyyyyy

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