#or people saying stupid shit like ‘oh he should’ve checked she was really dead’ as if that makes sense

[crazyw3irdo]

if you made a hamlet uquiz i would owe you my soul

honestly i’d have to think way harder about that one lol r&j comes naturally to me cause i’ve read it dozens of times whereas hamlet i’ve read like. twice maybe. not fully writing off the idea but i’d just have to think of something more…. besides i couldn’t top rosencrantz and guildenstern are dead so doing the same free will type stuff would just be boring-

[mikhailwrites]

Waiting for Connection 6 / Ghost x Soap NerdAU

Ghost is retired and plays milsim videogame. Soap is still in the force and sometimes plays that same videogame...

Previous chapter | AO3

The London Underground during the rush hour is a particular kind of hell. Strangers squeeze together, trying their best not to step on each other’s feet or even look someone in the eye. Usually, they would stare at their cell phones, even if they had nothing to check or read, really. Ghost closes his eyes and tries to breathe through the discomfort and anxiety. It’s just a few stops, but it takes forever. Especially as more people pour in, a message repeated the thousandth time is broadcasted about minding the gap, followed by a “See something, say something” announcement. If he hears it one more time, Ghost swears, he will smash the speakers.

Should’ve taken the cab. If only it weren’t so bloody expensive. Just because Ghost has the money doesn’t mean he’s willing to pay stupid sums. He hates London. Absolutely and categorically. Too much noise, too much traffic, too costly, too many people.

The Blackfriars finally comes up, and Ghost squeezes through the people. The crowd carries him all the way to the surface, where he takes a lungful of fresh air. Or, well, air. Damp and smelling of exhaust fumes.

Thankfully, the pub’s not far, and Ghost is in no hurry. He strolls at a leisurely pace, avoiding main streets flooded by tourists and natives alike like the plague, using back alleys and narrow, dirty passages reeking of piss and stale lager, reminding him of home.

The pub he goes to is in one such back alley. It looks dirty and cheap, but once Ghost steps inside, it’s actually clean and nice. The furniture and design are dated in the right way to call it cosy. There are a lot of people, but it’s curiously quiet and as far as Ghost can tell, no tourists.

Ghost comes up to the bar. “I’ve got a reservation. Name’s Garrick,” he tells the woman, who checks something he cannot see before she nods and points to a small table in the corner. There’s already someone sitting there. The baseball cap is a dead giveaway.

“Fancy meeting you here, Lieutenant Garrick,” Ghost claps Gaz’s shoulder when he walks up to him as if they met by chance. Gaz jerks and turns around quickly. Gaz always had impeccable impulse control. Better than Ghost, for sure. If their places were switched, Simon would probably try to flip Gaz over the shoulder and onto the table. As it is, Ghost smiles as he removes the medical mask he wears in public and sits down. “So, how are you?”

 Kyle rolls his eyes but smirks. “Oh, cut the crap, Ghost, we both know you wouldn’t come to London to catch up with me.” Ghost takes a breath to object, but Kyle continues before he can speak up. “Or… not just to catch up with me. So, what is it? Need help getting rid of a body?”

Ghost snorts, and Gaz grins, catching a waiter’s eye and gesturing for two pints.

“No. But you’re right, I have a favour to ask,” Ghost admits. He was never one for beating around the bush. “Got a callsign, let’s see what can you tell me about it?”

“Bloody hell, Ghost, I don’t know every soldie…,”

Ghost doesn’t even let him finish. “Soap.”

Gaz promptly shuts up and stays silent for half a minute, precisely when their beers arrive. Ghost hands the waiter a ten-pound note. Gaz waits until the waiter retreats before he speaks up. “Right, I guess I do know about this one. How do you know him?”

“Coincidence, met him online,” Ghost answers truthfully.

“Online? Like a dating app or assassins for hire?” Gaz feigns shock but can barely keep it up.

“A video game, Gaz, Christ,” Ghost shakes his head as he takes the glass and downs half of it in one go.

“Alright, alright. Just taking the piss, mate. Seriously, though, there’s not much I can tell you.”

That’s a peculiar choice of words on Gaz’s side. He didn’t say he doesn’t know the lad; he said he can’t tell Ghost much. Meaning he knows a shit load but can’t speak about it. “I understand. I have some tips, so… just nod if I’m right?”

“Alright.”

“Sergeant?”

Gaz nods.

“Fits. I know he’s good, but is he more than good?”

Another nod.

“Marines?”

That gets a first shake.

“Not the Marines? Then that means he’s pretty daring, isn’t he?” he looks at Gaz expectantly. Gaz nods.

“Really? Interesting. One of yours?”

“Ghost,” Gaz warns.

“I know, had to try,” Ghost smiles.

Gaz sighs and shakes his head before his lips also curl in a smile. “What I can tell you is that he’s not only good at his job but a good man, too. I can see why you’d like him.”

“It’s not… we’re not…,” Ghost says hastily, panic clear in his voice.

“Relax, Simon,” Gaz says, taking a swing from his glass, “you’ve changed, you know...” When he sees the disagreement written all over Ghost’s face, he continues. “I think it’s good. You’re… you seem fine. Content.”

Ghost jerks a little at the sound of his name coming from Gaz. It took him months to get used to being called Simon, but for Gaz, he’s always been Ghost. Not anymore, apparently. It doesn’t hurt as much as he thought it would. Maybe Gaz is right. Simon has changed, and it’s not a bad thing.

“Guess I am,” Simon muses, looking around at all those civilians. Technically, he’s one, too, but in reality, there will always be the matter of his past etched into his very existence. He’s been a soldier for so long, but that’s not all he’s been.

Maybe it’s time he remembered.

[semisgroupie]

Third Time's The Charm

Club Member!Taichi x Fem. Reader

Word Count: 3.3k

Warnings: fingering (f!receiving), exhibitionism (Oikawa watches), condom usage (i know, crazy right?), praise, many many check ins, safe word mention, characters are college aged (both seniors in college so 21/22)

A/N: this is my submission for the @hqintheclub Haikyuu University Sex Club collab! Read the rest of the works here! I am so thankful for this network and to contribute to the collab, I hope this does a good job in conveying safe sex practices. Also a huge huge thank you to @meiansmistress for beta-reading!!! Yes the safe word is a little tribute to what Taichi does in the timeskip.

Once Shinsuke called the end of the meeting, Kawanishi stood up and made his way to the front of the room with his clipboard in hand.

“Alright my fellow club members, I’m just going to go over the statistics before the end of the month, who need to go for their STD tests and the notes I took from this meeting.” He adjusted his glasses and flipped through the papers. “Okay, so some recommendations from this meeting are, ‘buy scented toilet paper’ by Tooru. Yeah, not happening.”

A whine came from the back of the meeting room.

“Dude, why not? You know how girls have to pee after sex? They could have something that smells good while they do it!” Tooru’s eyes lit up offering his proposal, just like every other month, only to have it shut down again.

“Buy scented candles or something for your smelly bathroom.” Chuckles and snickers erupted in the room while Tooru sat back and pouted like a child. Kawanishi went through the rest of the recommendations and other areas of concern before moving onto the last topic.

“Okay, so for the fun part. Time to see who has had the most and least sex this month.” The room went dead silent as Kawanishi went over the log book. He did a onceover of the totals before looking at the group.

“So the lucky guy with the most amount of happy customers is… Osamu with eighteen.”

“Huh? ‘Samu? He isn’t even here! Not even a member.” Atsumu huffed and kept on ranting and raving about his brother until Kawanishi interrupted him.

“Actually, he’s an unofficial/official member who does not need to really attend meetings since we haven’t properly officiated his membership. But we definitely need to do that since he’s definitely bringing popularity to the club. Next is Mr. Chairperson Tooru and Mr. President Shinsuke both tying in with twelve happy ladies. Congratulations to the both of you. So, now the two least are—well you guys shouldn’t be surprised as these results have been consistent for a while now. But in good spirit, it’s me with two and Keiji with one.”

A shrug came from Keiji as the results were read. Kawanishi felt the same way, it got annoying every single time he had to read the results. They both knew they had to get laid but Kawanishi had his eye on a special someone.

The meeting was called to an end and Kawanishi made his way to his room to get ready for his chemistry lab. There was only one thing circling in his brain—he had to raise his number, but how? There was that one person he wanted but he wasn’t even sure if she even had plans to use the services the club provided, let alone choose him.

You were Kawanishi’s cute little lab partner. Always looking at him with bright doe eyes and always greeting him with a huge smile. You were too cute, too innocent to use the sex club. Kawanishi was sure of that. You probably even had a boyfriend so any hope he had for you was gone.

That was until he overheard you talking to your friends.

You were huffing and complaining about your sex life as you stood in front of the lab room—well, lack of sex in your life. You had a cute pout on your face as you rambled on, completely unaware of Kawanishi eavesdropping on such a private conversation.

“My toys aren’t even as enjoyable anymore! I just give up halfway through because it's the same thing over and over, I’m tired of it! And there’s absolutely no way I’m going to find a random guy on Tinder because he could be a creep or just horrible at sex.”

You sighed and started scrolling through your phone while your friend started thinking about what you said. Kawanishi recognized her, he knew her name started with a J and she was with Osamu last week. He remembered her moaning—well, screams—of Osamu’s name. As Kawanishi shook the thought from his head, “J” spoke.

“Remember that hook up I told you about last week?” She waited for you to nod before she continued speaking, “Well, there’s a website I met him off of. I’ll give it to you now and check it out. I think I saw a picture of your lab partner on the site. But check it out and let me know who you pick. Enjoy your class!”

You gave her a quick thanks before walking into the lab room, getting your goggles and supplies as Kawanishi soon followed. You made small conversation but every time you snuck a glance at him, you couldn’t see him as the type to be a part of the university’s sex club. Jay probably got him confused with someone else but for some reason you couldn’t wait until you got back to your apartment.

You just had to make sure. It was just curiosity. Well, that was what you kept telling yourself when you opened up your laptop and typed the web address in. You were met with the website, seeing the names of all the members and things that they specialized in. While you were scrolling through, your eyes widened and your heart dropped to your stomach.

Secretary: Taichi Kawanishi Specialty: Fingering

“Holy shit. It’s him.”

You read the name over and over again. Maybe it was just the lack of sleep finally getting to you or maybe it was because you unknowingly inhaled some drug that caused you to hallucinate and see his name. No matter how many times you refreshed the screen and rubbed your eyes, nothing changed. His name was still there and so was his specialty.

“Fingering? Well, he does have nice fingers. They are very long.”

You started thinking about his slim fingers, wondering how they would feel on your skin, grazing your most sensitive parts, but before you got too deep in thought you snapped yourself out of it. This was your lab partner! Not some pornstar or prostitute. Not some rando you met on a dating site. You would see him again if you decided to go through with it. How would that change how you two interacted with each other? Would it bring unnecessary tension?

You had this back and forth with yourself all night. You finally made your decision when you couldn’t get yourself off, the toy on your clit no longer bringing the same satisfaction it used to. With a huff you grabbed your laptop and went back to the website. Once the page loaded, you looked through all the guys and their specialties.

“Corsetry? What is that?”

You looked through the rest of the other specialties and you were equally intrigued and confused. You went back to Kawanishi and stared at his name. You didn’t want to ruin anything but you couldn’t stand this any longer—you needed a good fuck and you needed it badly.

“Fuck it.”

You scheduled an appointment with him, Saturday evening, a time where the site said he would be free. You put your laptop away and went to sleep.

The next morning Kawanishi woke up to frantic knocking on his door. He rolled out of bed and opened the door to be welcomed by Tooru.

“Dude, what the fuck? Did someone die?”

“No but check your phone, someone has been scheduled for tomorrow evening.”

Kawanishi rolled his eyes and checked his phone, the notification woke him up.

“Y/N scheduled me for tomorrow evening?”

“Don’t worry my friend. I will get you condoms. But aren’t you glad I sent you for STD testing on Monday? You can thank me later.”

The rest of the day went by normally, then Kawanishi remembered one of the main rules.

“New members and members who fuck the least need to fuck in front of an official club member.”

Kawanishi went to some of the other guys first, but Keiji and Koutarou both said they couldn’t. Shinsuke had to visit his grandmother and some of the other club members were occupied. That left  only one person.

“Tooru, are you busy tomorrow evening?”

Tooru thought for a few seconds then shook his head. He furrowed his eyebrows in a silent question as to why he would be needed tomorrow evening.

“You forgot the rule, didn’t you?” Tooru kept a confused look and shrugged his shoulders.

Kawanishi pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed before continuing. Only if anyone else was free. He would take anyone at this moment over Tooru.

“People who fuck the least in the club need to fuck in front of an official member, and everyone one else is busy so I’m asking you.”

A smile grew on Tooru’s face as he got up and wrapped his arm around Kawanishi’s shoulder.

“Oh my friend, don’t make me seem like I’m the last choice—“

“—you are.”

“Ouch, anyways I’ll be glad to watch. Do you need any tips? All the girls have left with a smile on their face after a night with me. You know I would’ve never thought I’d say this but you should’ve gone to Seijoh or maybe I should’ve gone to Shiratorizawa… I would have gotten you laid all the time, or at least done a better job than stupid Ushiwaka, you wouldn’t have had this little dry spout you’re having now—hey!”

Kawanishi removed Tooru’s arm and walked out of his room.

“Thanks for doing it, I don’t need your help though. If you try coaching me, I don’t care what I’m doing, I will throw you out of the room myself.”

Kawanishi spent the rest of the night and most of the day Saturday organizing his room, making it neat and stuffing his mini fridge with drinks and snacks. When it was time for you to come over, he waited for you in front of the club house.

As he waited, his nerves were getting the best of him. He hadn’t felt this nervous since he lost his virginity. Before he could really start worrying, he saw you approaching, giving him a small wave before you could greet him with a hug.

“Hey, well first off, thank you for choosing me for this. I should explain that we will have someone watch us, so if that makes you uncomfortable I completely understand. It’s just a rule we have for the club and I can show you the rule book if you need me to once we get to my room.”

“It’s okay. If you don’t mind me asking, who will it be?”

Before Kawanishi could answer your question the man in question wrapped his arms around the both of you.

“Hello you two! I shouldn’t need to introduce myself but I’m Tooru and—oh! I recognize you, Y/N right? I think we had biology together last year. You saved my ass so many times with your notes. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure Kawanishi here treats you right—ow!”

Kawanishi pinched Tooru’s side and gave him a mean side eye.

“Tooru, remember what I told you yesterday.”

Tooru raised his hands in surrender at Kawanishi’s warning and you couldn’t help but laugh at the interaction. The sound of your laughter helped calm Kawanishi down a bit. He just had to get it through his mind that you were just a regular person with needs just like him, and he was going to help you satisfy those needs.

Light conversation was shared between the three of you as you all walked to his room. Once you crossed the threshold of his bedroom, Kawanishi took your hand as he led you to the bed and sat next to you. You rested your hand on top of his and offered him a shy smile, leaning in slowly.

“C-can I kiss you Kawanishi?”

He cupped your cheek and closed the distance between the both of you. Your lips felt so soft against his and he couldn’t stop himself from deepening the kiss. His hand moved to squeeze the fat of your thigh that was exposed by the skirt you were wearing. He broke away from the kiss to sit against his headboard, patting his thighs.

“Come on, come sit on my lap, pretty girl and we can get started. If you feel uncomfortable, your safe word is mojito. Once you say it, I will stop whatever I’m doing and we can just cuddle or do whatever you want, okay?”

You settled yourself on his lap with a meek “yes” before leaning back in to kiss him. Tooru was sitting on the spare chair in the room, scrolling on his phone. It was adorable to see you get so shy. You were always so confident and so outspoken, but once Kawanishi got you inside his room you crawled into a little shell.

He pulled you down to kiss you this time as his hands wandered over your body. His hands moved over your clothed breasts, squeezing them softly, making whimpers leave your lips. He moved his hands lower to your ass, squishing the flesh, and when you bucked your hips into his he gave it a light smack, swallowing the moan that left you. He pulled away to look at you.

“Can I touch you some more? I just want you to feel really good for me.”

“P-please touch me, w-want more.”

He smirked at your stuttering—it made this even more enjoyable. He leaned in and trailed kisses from your lips to your jaw and neck, your hips bucking more. You were so sensitive he couldn’t wait to see how you would react to his fingers. His hand trailed up your thigh and his thumb grazed against your panties. You bit down on your lip, trying to hide your moans.

It was embarrassing to you how quickly you were falling apart; he hadn’t even touched your skin for more than a few seconds and you already felt like once his fingers touched your bare pussy, you would cum.

Kawanishi licked your neck as he slid your panties to the side.

“Are you ready? I’ll go nice and slow for you.” He spoke into the skin of your neck as his fingers rubbed your slick folds.

“Yes, please.”

Your head dropped to his shoulder once he slid his middle finger inside you, moving slowly. He hissed at the way your cunt swallowed his finger, thinking about how it would feel once his cock was buried inside you. He sped up his thrusts, your muffled moans and whimpers encouraging his actions further. He slipped another finger in, leaning back to see your expressions as you quickly lifted your head from his shoulder.

Your jaw went slack as moans kept falling from your mouth, your hips bucking into his hand as you got lost in the pleasure, chasing your orgasm. His fingers were so long and hit so deep. They felt so good, better than any toy you had used in the past month or so. You were embarrassingly close to your orgasm after only a short time.

“Ka-Kawanishi, ‘m close!”

“I know, just cum for me, okay? Cum all over my fingers, let me know how good I’m making you feel.”

He thrusted his fingers faster, using his thumb to rub your clit. He rubbed your back with his free hand while watching all your expressions. Your hands made their way to his shirt, balling the fabric in your fists as you came undone on his fingers with a moan of his name. He slowed his fingers down to help you relax, making sure he wasn’t overstimulating you.

“You did such a good job for me. You look so beautiful when you cum. So good for me. Are you okay?”

“Yes I’m fine,” you reply breathlessly.

“We can stop here. All I care about is you cumming. I could continue fingering you until my fingers turn pruney if you want or I could get you some snacks and water and just talk.”

You shook your head; you couldn’t leave him hard. You wanted to fuck him, and the snacks and drinks could always come later.

“I-I want to fuck you. I want you to feel good too.”

“Don’t worry about me, this is all about you and your pleasure. I’m here for you, okay?”

You nodded as he reached over for a condom on his nightstand. You lifted yourself off his lap slightly to remove your panties and skirt as he pulled off his sweatpants and boxers, revealing how hard he was.

“Okay, so how do you want to do this? I want you to be comfortable and enjoy yourself.”

“I want to ride you.”

You sat yourself on his thigh as he opened the foil package and rolled the condom onto his cock, pinching the tip of it. Once it was on, he placed his hands on your hips to help you guide you down on his cock. His grip tightened, feeling your warmth envelop his cock and fighting the urge to just thrust up into you. He moved you down slowly until you bottomed out.

“You did amazing, now take your time. I’ll help guide your hips so you don’t go too fast.”

You placed your hands on his shoulders as you slowly bounced yourself on his cock, the tip brushing against your g-spot over and over again. Praises kept falling from Kawanishi’s lips as moans kept coming out from yours. Tooru couldn’t help but start palming himself over his sweatpants at the sight of you and Kawanishi, your sweet moans and cries filling the room. Your hands went under your shirt, freeing your breasts from the confines of your bra. You played with and teased your nipples, adding extra stimulation to the pleasure you were already feeling.

The closer you got to your orgasm, the more your legs shook, making him take more control. He bounced you up and down on his cock, thrusting his hips up to meet yours. You felt so good around him and the sight of you playing with your nipples turned him on even more. If he thought you looked beautiful when you were fucking yourself on his fingers, you looked like a goddess now. Your pussy clenched his cock tighter and tighter with each thrust, signalling to him that your orgasm was approaching.

“Cum for me Y/N, cum for me. I know you’re close, I feel you clenching me so tightly. Come on and cum for me.”

Once the soft commands were spoken, you came around his cock, your eyes clenched shut as your jaw went slack letting out a silent moan. As you were riding out your orgasm Kawanishi couldn’t keep his eyes off of you. Small beads of sweat rolled down your neck and you finally opened your eyes to make eye contact with him. You leaned down and connected your lips with his once more.

Kawanishi kept thrusting until he filled up the condom with his cum. Once he felt you relax around him, he lifted you up slowly and laid you down on the bed, covering you with a blanket. He pulled the condom off, tying a knot and throwing it out in the trash can in his room. He nodded at Tooru, giving him the signal to leave, and so he did with a wink and a wave.

Kawanishi reached out for your hand and helped you get up as he walked you to the bathroom.

“I just need you to go to the bathroom and then we could watch something.”

You did your business and left the bathroom with a small smile on your face.

“Is there any way we could have this happen again? I don’t know if you guys can have regulars or if it's against the rules.”

Kawanishi chuckled and walked you back to his bed.

“We have no rules about regulars and I’d love to do this with you again.”

He kissed you on the forehead and handed you a water bottle to drink from before laying down next to you.

As he laid down next to you, talking about a random topic you brought up, he finally understood when people said the third time's the charm. He couldn’t have asked for a better person to raise his total to three.

[study-coffee-chicago]

Seasons of PD: Season 2: Will’s Back...and There’s a Bomb (A Halstead Brothers + Halstead Sister! Imagine)

Your age: 14

Jay's age: 28

Will's age: 30

"Spoke to Dad," Will said to Jay as the two brothers were sat in Jay's apartment sipping their respective beers. "Said you two barely talk. Said if it wasn't for Y/N, you probably wouldn't see him at all."

"I mean, he's not wrong." Jay shrugged.

"Care to elaborate on that?"

"Not really, but you should've been here. You should've been home. Mom was dyin'. You were off partyin'."

"You left," Will said as he set his beer down and leaned forward on the couch.

"I left to fight a war. I came home. And you know why that was?" he asked rhetorically. "It was because my humvee hit an IED and me and Mouse were the only two who survived! And because Mom was sick! I came back for Mom and I came back traumatized! Nothing bad even happened to you in New York and you left two fucking days after her funeral, man!"

Luckily Will hadn't been holding his beer or he would've dropped it right then and there. "Jay, I- I never knew it was so hard for you to come Stateside again."

"Forget it. You weren't there then, what makes me think you're gonna be here now? You're probably taking off in another few days anyway, am I right? Not even gonna go see Y/N? Even though she always wants help on her math homework from you and you don't even have the decency to answer her phone calls!"

"I'm sorry that I don't have my phone on me when I'm performing surgeries, Jay!"

Jay's phone rang, stopping the argument in its tracks. "Speak of the devil," Jay mumbled and then answered the call. "Hey, Y/N, what's up?"

"I don't understand this stupid homework," you groaned from your desk in your bedroom at home. "Why do I even need to know the equation of a line, anyway? It's not like I'm even gonna use it in life anyway."

"Y/N, like I've told you numerous times, I can help you if it's a single variable problem, but anything more than that, I forgot how to do it. Not really helping your teacher's case for actually using this in life, am I?"

"Yeah, not at all. I guess I'll just try and call Will...he's not gonna answer anyway, but I guess it's worth a shot."

"Wait, how about you FaceTime me?" Jay suggested.

"Why? You already admitted that you can't help me."

"Just do it."

"Okay, gimme a few minutes. I gotta switch devices."

"Oh yeah. You don't have an iPhone yet, only an iPod and a slide phone. Sucks to be you."

"Well, I'm sorry that I don't have a grown-up job and can buy my own stuff, Jay."

"And with buying your own stuff and having a grown-up job comes bills. So, be glad you can't legally work yet."

You rolled your eyes. "I'll call you back in a few minutes. And, whatever this is, better be able to help me with this homework since math is my first class tomorrow."

"It'll help. I promise."

"Hmmm, sure." Then, you hung up and switched to your iPod, and hit the FaceTime icon.

"You look like- you look tired," Jay said when he accepted the FaceTime call. He almost said that you looked like hell, but he figured he shouldn't say that.

"Thanks," you replied sarcastically. "You would be, too, if you've been staring at the same problem on your homework for the past hour."

"What's the equation you have to work with?" Jay asked.

"Y=mx+b," you answered.

"Yeah, vaguely remember that. Don't know what it means, just remember hearing it a bunch. Will, you know what that equation is and how to do it?"

"Will's at your house? I thought he wasn't getting back for another week."

"I thought so, too. And then I got called to a bar today because he was being stupid--"

"Hey, I was not stupid!" Will protested.

"Fine. He was being dumb and tried to break up a fight. And, now I think he's got a job at Chicago Med because he got fired in New York--"

"Y/N," Will butted in, "you said you needed help with your homework?"

"Yeah."

"Jay, can you please give me the phone so I can help our little sister with her homework please?"

"Uh, fine. She'll know why you left New York eventually," Jay said as he passed his phone to his older brother.

"Eventually. But not tonight." He turned to Jay. "Can you get me a piece of paper? I'd grab it but I have no idea where you keep stuff in this little bachelor pad of yours."

"Like you didn't snoop through my stuff when I was at work," Jay joked and stood up to get Will a piece of paper.

"Y/N, for Christmas I'm getting you a subscription to Chegg so you don't need to call me for this."

"I'm holding you to that one."

***

God, I hate running on the track. It's literally just running in circles and seeing the same things over and over, no variety in the scenery whatsoever. I wish I could run with Emma, but she's way faster than me, so she's ahead of me by like one or two laps. Uh, this song sucks! I gotta skip--

"Run lockdown! Run lockdown!"

What? Run lockdown? What is the high school cross country coach talking about? Maybe it's just something that the high schoolers have to do for their drills because I sure have never heard of that one.

But then, you saw Emma jogging toward the bathrooms a few yards away from the track.

What the hell?

You ran towards the bathrooms a few yards away from the track and didn't stop until you'd caught up with Emma. "What's going on?"

"No idea. Something about a lockdown."

Once all of you and your coach, Mrs. Rivers, were safely in the bathroom with the door locked, did you get any closure about what was going on.

"There's been a bomb threat."

"What? A bomb threat?"

"What?!"

"So we can't leave?"

"Girls, I need you to be quiet, okay? The police are looking into it, but for now, the campus is on lockdown and we can't leave here until I get the all-clear. The school's already notified parents, so if someone else is picking you up today other than your parents, you need to call them. Just ask and you can use my phone. Everything's going to be okay, though. We have nothing to worry about. We just need to sit tight until I'm told we can leave." Her phone buzzed and you all held your breath. "Looks like Miss G got stuck in the boys' bathroom with all the stinky football boys."

"What if we walk home?" you asked quietly.

"If you walk home, a parent or someone else will have to pick you up since they don't want anybody walking home because, as of right now, they have no idea who did this."

***

"How's your brother doing?" Erin asked as she and Jay were standing around the coffee pot in the break room.

"Pretty sure he's going to quit the new job he just got at Med even though it's his first day," Jay answered.

"What? He got a job at Med?"

"Yeah. Apparently, they were looking for ER docs and he got the job. But, for some reason, now he wants to quit. And, he was late today. Decided to bitch to me about only having almond milk and not having any regular milk in my fridge. Like, dude, you're staying with me. You can deal with a bit of almond milk."

"I don't blame him," Erin laughed. "Almond milk is disgusting."

"But it's better for you...and cheaper."

"Of course that's your reason for getting it."

"Halstead!" Antonio yelled. "Your phone's been ringing off the hook for the last minute. I think it's important."

"Be right there!" Jay quickly poured himself a cup of coffee and then rushed over to his desk.

"Shit," he muttered.

"Who was it?" Erin asked as she emerged from the breakroom, holding her own cup of coffee.

"Y/N," he answered as he fiddled with his phone. "Called me three times in the past minute."

"Any idea what it's about?"

"No, but I'm about to find out."

"Jay!" you whisper-yelled from the other end of the line.

"Y/N, what's wrong? Why are you calling me so much? Are you sick? Do you need me to--"

"There's a bomb."

Jay almost dropped his phone. "A bomb? Are you sure?"

At the mention of a bomb, everyone's heads snapped towards him.

"Yeah, we're hiding out in the bathrooms near the football field right now until they get the all-clear," you told him. "But, they can't let people walk home from school today and Dad's not answering and it's Will's first day, so I was wondering if you could pick me up?"

"Yeah, yeah, I can do that. Do you mind if I put you on speaker for a quick second?"

"Why? I'm fine Jay, really. Just needed to know if you can pick me up."

Innocent fourteen-year-olds, Jay thought to himself. Of course, she just called to pick to see if you'd pick her up. She hasn't grasped the gravity of the situation, and she's probably thinking that this is just another story to tell. Not that if there's actually a bomb at her school that she could be dead any second if it goes off.

"You're sure you don't want me to stay on the phone with you?"

"You can go."

"Okay. Just, listen to the adult that's in there with you, okay?"

"Okay, okay. Bye."

"Bye I love--" He was cut off by the beep which signaled that you had hung up. "--you."

"What's going on? A bomb?" Erin asked, but Jay was already making his way down the stairs.

"Sarge!" Jay yelled as he made his way to the front desk.

"Well, hello to you too, Chuckles. If you're looking for Voight, he's just meeting with a CI and should back soon," Platt told him.

"Sargeant, all due respect, I don't give a damn about Voight right now. I just need to know if you have any idea about the bomb threat at Central Chicago's high school and middle school campuses?"

"I know that they sent someone from bomb squad and some patrolmen over there to see if there's anyone who seems suspicious--"

"Why wasn't Intelligence notified?"

Platt's jaw dropped and she stared at Jay for a second before speaking. "Because last I checked, detective, those schools weren't in our district--"

Jay slammed his hand down on the desk. "Jay," Erin said and grabbed her partner's arm. "I need you to calm down for a second, okay?"

"I don't need to calm down, Erin," Jay spat. "I have every reason--"

"I understand, but being pissed at Platt here isn't going to fix anything. Go back upstairs and I'll be there in a second."

Jay ripped his arm from Erin's grip and stalked upstairs, not without slamming the gate when he was safely inside the Intelligence Unit's area of the 21st District.

"What's his deal?" Platt asked. "I have half a mind to write him up for insubordination for that little scene he just caused."

"Sarge," Erin started, "the school that called in the bomb threat, that's the school Y/N goes to, Jay's little sister."

"What? I thought that only elementary school kids were at school right now?"

"That's true unless there are sports practices."

"And Y/N's in a sport, so she's at school right now." Platt put the pieces together.

"Yeah. And, I know that family isn't supposed to work cases, but could you maybe make an--"

"Erin, go grab Halstead and Dawson, get down to the school. I'll send the information upstairs to Atwater and Ruzek and they can see what they can get. I'll also call Voight and tell him to meet you there."

"Thank you, Sargeant!"

Erin jogged upstairs and into the bullpen. "Jay, Antonio, we're heading to the school! Kev and Adam, Platt said that you're working the case from up here. Voight will meet us there."

"Copy that," Kevin answered.

Jay holstered his gun and was halfway down the stairs before Kevin even finished his sentence.

***

"Kev, what do we know?" Jay asked as they were driving over to your school.

"Uh, I pulled footage from the high school's office and apparently an unknown dude walked in, asked a question, and then walked out all in the span of less than a minute," he answered.

"Can you run facial rec?"

"Nah, not a good enough angle."

"Description?"

"Dude looks Indian or Middle-Eastern to me. He's got short, black hair. Some stubble, not a ton, but it's enough that you can see it even with the bad angle I got. He's kinda chubby, too. Wearing a tan jacket. That's all I got."

"Thanks, man. That helps. Anything from bomb squad?"

"They haven't located a bomb yet, so I guess that's a good sign, right?"

"It is if there's no bomb," Jay replied. "But, just because they haven't found it, doesn't mean there's not a bomb. Whoever the hell did this could've just hid it really well or do whatever a psycho does when they want to blow up a school full of kids."

Jay relayed the information to Erin and Antonio who were also in the car and then hung up his phone. "Any word from Voight or anyone else when I was on the phone?"

"No, you want me to go to the middle school or the high school?" Erin asked.

"Wherever you can get in."

"Jay, we have badges, we can get in anywhere."

"Middle school then. I'm assuming that's where Y/N is."

"Okay."

"Wait!" Jay exclaimed, almost causing Erin to slam on the brakes. "When I was talking to Y/N earlier, she said that she was in the bathrooms near the football field so we need to go to the high school."

"You're sure it's that field? Isn't there a football field at the middle school, too?"

"That's just a shitty practice field," he answered. "Anyway, the high school football field is the only one that has bathrooms near it so that spectators can go to the bathroom when they go to the football games."

"I shouldn't have to tell you this, Jay," Antonio started, "But you can't just burst into the locker rooms and try to get Y/N out of there. No parents are allowed in or out to pick up their kids. And, you're no different. You have to wait for the all-clear to get her out of there."

Jay hated it, but Antonio was right. No matter how much he wanted to get you as far away from this campus as possible, he couldn't until the bomb squad made sure that there wasn't a bomb anywhere near here. If his time in the Rangers had taught him anything, it was that one misstep, and the whole place could get blown up in a nanosecond.

Erin started to pull into the parking lot of the high school near all the cop cars, when one turned on their sirens and pulled in front of them, effectively stopping them from getting any further.

"I know you're worried about your kids," the patrolman said once Erin rolled down her window, "But we can't let anyone in or out until this is all sorted."

"We're not parents." Erin pulled out her badge. "Detectives Lindsay, Dawson, and Halstead from the 21st District's Intelligence Unit."

He looked at the officer next to him. "Desk Sergeant from the 21st said that there'd be some detectives coming." He pushed the button on his radio before anybody could tell him otherwise. "I got the detectives from the 21st here right now."

"Copy," the person on the other end said.

Jay wanted to jump out of the vehicle and strangle that patrolman with his bare hands. "Are you fucking insane?" he yelled.

The one who keyed his radio stepped out of the patrol car, and Jay did the same. "Are you Dawson or Halstead?"

"Halstead. But you, you must be new here because if there is one thing you absolutely do not do when there's even the mention of a bomb is key your radios."

"No offense, detective," the patrolman in the driver's seat started, "but everyone here has been using their radios since we stepped onto this campus."

"There's no bomb," Erin muttered.

They all knew what the patrolman's statement meant: if they had been using their radios the entire time they were here and a bomb hadn't gone off, then there was no bomb to begin with.

Antonio and Erin both stepped out of the car now.

"Who's your sergeant?" Antonio yelled.

"Why? Why do you care?"

"Because of what he just said! You can't key your radios when there might be a bomb, so I think your whole district might need to go back in for a mandatory re-training!"

"I'll call Voight," Erin said.

"Fucking idiots," Jay muttered as he pulled out his phone.

As soon as he was about to dial your number, a call came in from Kevin. "There's no bomb," Jay said as soon as he answered, not even giving Kevin time to tell him anything.

"I mean, yeah, I was callin' to tell you that the bomb squad just declared an all-clear."

"Thanks."

"How'd you know before we even got the call here at the district?"

"They were keying their radios the entire time and nothing happened."

"Yeah, that'll do it."

"We should be back at the district soon."

Jay hung up and made his way to the bathrooms.

You were sitting in silence with Emma next to you when a banging was heard coming from outside causing you to jump.

What if that's the bomber and he's got a gun and wants to kill us before the bomb can get to us? It was irrational, yes, but it was still possible.

"Chicago PD! This is the all-clear."

It was as if everyone in the bathroom let out a collective breath at hearing that there was no bomb or that the bomb had been dismantled.

"Alright girls, you heard the man, we are good to go," Mrs. Rivers said. "Let's head back to the middle school so you can grab your stuff and start getting back to your parents. Was everyone able to get ahold of someone to pick them up? Because I can bring people home if necessary."

All of you filed out of the bathrooms and into the crisp fall air. You were barely onto the sidewalk when you got pulled into a bone-crushing hug.

"Who the--" You looked up. "Hi, Jay."

"Oh my God, you're okay. You don't know how worried I was--"

"Jay, I'm fine," you squeaked out. "But please let go. You're crushing me."

"Sorry, sorry," he apologized and then let go, not without looking you over for injuries even though you promised him that you were in fact fine.

"50-21 George, 50-21 Lincoln, 50-21 Frank, and 50-21 Squad, assistance is requested at Chicago Med for a 10-34. Are you able to assist?"

Jay's eyes went wide and his breath caught in his throat.

"Jay? Jay?" you asked. "You gonna answer that?"

"This is 50-21 Lincoln, hold us down on that 10-34 at Chicago Med," Erin's voice said through the radio.

"Halstead! We gotta go now!" Antonio yelled.

"Jay, what's going on? Will's at Med. What's happening?"

"Come with me," Jay said and then started ushering you towards the car.

"Shit," Erin said when she saw you. "Antonio, you wanna go with Voight, and then me and Jay will drop her off at home? We can't exactly bring her with us."

"Yeah, good idea." Antonio turned to you. "Glad you're safe, kid."

You nodded as he jogged off to find Voight. Then, you turned back to Jay. "Why are you going to Med? Whatever it is, I wanna go with you because what if Will's hurt? I wanna go!"

Jay got in the passenger seat without answering you and you got in the backseat. Erin started driving to the middle school so that you could go get your backpack from your locker.

Once inside school and connected to the wifi, you took out your iPod and pulled up google.

What does 10-34 mean?

The answer almost caused you to drop your iPod on the tiled floor.

10-34 is a police radio signal that means that a bomb threat has been called in.

You ran to your locker and with shaking hands, put in the combination. How was Jay so calm? How was he so calm when you were silently freaking out? And, to make matters worse, he got to work the case while you were going to be stuck going home and just waiting to see if Will (and Jay for the matter since he would no doubt be in the vicinity of the blast zone) was safe, just waiting to see if your oldest brother, who you just got back, would make it out of his new workplace alive.

You hustled out of school and then got into the backseat of Erin and Jay's car. "There's a bomb threat at Med?"

"Who told you that?" Erin asked, turning around in her seat.

"I googled what 10-34 meant. Jay, please, I wanna go with you. I don't wanna go home!"

"No! I know you wanna make sure that Will's safe, and I do too, but you gotta understand that it's not safe for you there, Y/N," he pleaded.

"It's not safe for you to be there, either!" you argued.

"Y/N, I know you're scared, but I'm trained for this kind of stuff. You are not."

"Please," you begged as your lip began to tremble. "I-It'd be faster for you to just go to Med from-from here instead of dropping me off at home."

"She's got a point, Jay," Erin said.

"What? No way, Er! There is no way in hell she is going in there with us!"

"She doesn't have to go past the tape with us. Just somewhere close by." Erin turned back to you. "Would that make you feel better, Y/N? Being somewhere close by?"

You nodded as you wiped away a tear.

Jay sighed. "Fine," he relented. "We'll drop you off at Mama Garcia's to get your homework done since it's a half-block away from the hospital."

"Will's okay, right? You checked in with him?" you asked.

"I haven't yet, but I promise you when I do, I will text you. I just need you to stay calm and focus on yourself right now. It's no use worrying about Will when you can't do anything about it."

"That's what Mom used to tell me when I was worried about you when you were in Afghanistan. She always told me that it's no use worrying about it since none of us were there with you."

"See, you gotta trust what Mom always told you, kiddo. She was a smart lady after all."

***

"Tell me you're not in there," Jay spoke into his phone as he and Erin walked into the police tent-like structure equipped with fancy tech gear outside of Chicago Med's emergency department.

"I am," Will answered, causing Jay's stomach to drop. "Listen, the guy who blew himself up in here, said he had something worse than Ebola."

"What, like he's spreading it since he blew himself up?"

"Yeah, so essentially, every single one of us in here has been in contact with him."

"Who was he?"

"No idea. But do us all a favor and find out."

"Son of a bitch," Jay muttered as he pocketed his phone and entered the tent-like structure where a bunch of people, including the FBI, were sitting at computers.

"Talk to Will?" Erin asked.

"Uh, yeah," Jay answered, "he says he's in there. Apparently whoever the hell blew himself up in there was infected with something that he said was worse than Ebola."

"So if these people get out before we figure out what it is and if it's treatable, we could have an epidemic on our hands?"

"Exactly. Damn, Er. With that mind of yours, you should've gone to med school."

"Very funny, Halstead. You're looking at someone who barely graduated high school and didn't even go to the academy because being in the back of cop cars on the eastside for half my childhood was more than enough experience to qualify me for this job right here."

"I'm gonna start making some calls." Jay turned his attention back to the situation at hand. "Apparently traffic was a mess earlier and Voight and Antonio got called to headquarters to brief some higher-ups about this."

"Fat chance of them knowing anything right now. They've gotta just be trying to keep all the info away from the press." Erin's phone rang. "Speak of the devil."

"I'll call HQ and try to get some more back up to control the situation," Jay said to no one in particular.

***

You kept fiddling with your slide phone, just opening and closing it as you tried--and failed--to focus on your homework as you sat in one of the far back booths at Mama Gracia's. The news was of course playing on the tv in front of you and all the headlines were about what was happening at Med.

"Again we have word of an event at Chicago Med," the news anchor read from her script. "The CFD was able to contain the victims to the ER, but Ebola was mentioned."

Ebola? That was the disease that wreaked havoc on Africa last year.

You knew Will was a doctor and that he was smart, but if he became infected and it was in fact Ebola, what if he died? What if, since Jay was close to Med that he somehow became infected and he died, too? What if you lost both your big brothers in the same amount of time because of some psychopath who decided it was a good idea to blow himself up and put innocent people--innocent first responders--in danger.

"Ay, cariña. ¿A dónde vayas?" Mama Garcia asked as you stood up and made your way to the door, intent on exiting the small restaurant.

"¿Qúe? No entiendo," you answered. You had started taking Spanish this year, so you only understood one word of what she had said to you.

"Sorry, honey. Where are you going? Your brother said to make sure you stayed here."

You and Jay were both pretty close with Mama Garcia. Seeing as it was very close to Med, when your mom had been hospitalized for cancer years ago, you'd always come in here to get dinner. It was here that Mama Garcia had taught you all the words of the toppings that one could put on their tamales, tacos, or burritos, shocking your Spanish teacher when you told her you could tell her in Spanish exactly what you would put on your tamale when you learned about food in class.

"I'm just going for a walk," you answered. "I need some fresh air."

"Okay, don't go far," she warned.

Once out the door, you breathed a sigh of relief and started to walk towards Chicago Med.

When you got close enough, you saw a big white tent and a bunch of fire trucks. You crept to the side and started walking around the side of the building, where there were barely any people and only one cop to keep people at bay. You smiled at him and watched the scene in front of you.

You had seen of those firefighters before on a rare day that you were at the district waiting for Jay and one of them had to walk the firehouse dog, Pouch. He was super cute and all the firefighters were really nice and let you pet him!

"What is it Casey?" a deep voice bellowed.

You knew Casey! Well, you knew of him at least. He was the one that Hermann always said would write him up if he was gone too long with Pouch, so that was always the excuse he gave you when he had to leave the district to go back to the firehouse.

You couldn't hear what Casey said on the other end, but you could hear whoever this guy was talking to Casey. "Okay, we're gonna need to get some CO2 extinguishers inside."

"You mean you're out of fire extinguishers?" a woman next to the firefighters asked.

"Afraid so."

You turned on your heels and sprinted back towards Mama Garcia's. You were a girl on a mission.

"Mama Garcia! Mama Garcia!" you shouted as soon as you were inside.

"Y/N, ¿Qúe pasa?" she asked as she stuck her head out of the kitchen where she was preparing a bunch of batches of tamales.

"They're out of fire extinguishers at the hospital, do you have any that I can bring over there?"

"You are just like your brother," she said, "super sneaky."

"When you live with older brothers and have to steal their Halloween candy, you learn how to be sneaky, Mama Garcia," you joked.

"I'm not even gonna ask how you know this. There's one fire extinguisher back by the bathrooms and I've got two back here I can give you. Esperes un minuto."

You went and grabbed the fire extinguisher from the spot where it was stored in the back by the bathrooms and waited for Mama Garcia to come out with the other two.

"Thank you!" you exclaimed as you took the big bag from her which contained the two other ones. She had put them in a bag for you since they were super heavy.

You slung the bag over your shoulder and carried the other one in your hand. You knew you couldn't run because these were really heavy, but you knew you had to get to Med to help them. Both your brothers were there! And you'd get there, even if it was a lot slower than you had originally planned when you formulated this plan when you were sprinting back to the restaurant five minutes ago.

***

"Is there a detective Halstead here?" a patrolman walked into the tent-like structure and asked.

"That'd be me," Jay answered as he raised his hand and turned away from the computer screen he had been looking at.

"There's a girl outside, Y/N I think she said her name was. Said you're her brother and that she's looking for you. Said she might be able to help."

Jay turned to Erin. "Go," she urged him.

Jay followed the patrol officer to where you were standing and to say he didn't look happy would be an understatement.

"I thought I told you to stay at Mama Garcia's!" he yelled over the crowd of people and the firefighters shouting out orders to each other. "It's dangerous for you here!"

"I know and I'm sorry! But, I came here to see if Will was outside, and I heard that one firefighter talking into his radio thingy, and then the lady next to him said that they were out of fire extinguishers."

Jay crossed his arms in front of his chest. He was not impressed.

"So I ran back to Mama Garcia's and I grabbed these." You held up the fire extinguisher that you had set on the ground next to you because you had been carrying it for a while now and you thought it was going to rip your arm off because of how heavy it was.

"Let her in," Jay declared.

He grabbed the extinguisher from you and then made his way over to the firefighters.

"Chief!" he yelled. "I've got some fire extinguishers here!"

Chief Boden cocked his head to the side. "How?"

"Apparently my little sister was here and she heard Ms. Goodwin say that you were out of extinguishers. So, she ran to Mama Garcia's and these are from her restaurant."

You set down the bag that contained the two fire extinguishers. "Geez, those things are heavy!"

"That they are. Thank you for these..." Chief Boden trailed off, not knowing your name.

"Y/N," you answered.

"Well, thank you Y/N."

"You're welcome, Chief. Please get my brother out of there safely."

"We're doing our best. And, call me Wallace."

He nodded at Jay and Jay placed a hand on your shoulder to lead you back to where he had been working alongside everyone else who wanted to figure out what the hell had gone on in there. Behind you, you heard the other firefighters volunteering to go inside the hospital.

"You're not making me go back to Mama Garcia's?" you asked Jay as you walked.

"No," he answered. "It's gonna get dark soon and I don't need you sneaking off from there again."

"So, I'm staying here so you can keep an eye on me?"

"Precisely."

***

You were sitting in a metal folding chair, scrolling through your iPod--wifi courtesy of Jay's hotspot--when three people entered the tent-like structure.

"Detective," Sharon Goodwin said as she entered the area where everyone was working. Jay looked up from the computer he was working at. "The parents of..." she trailed off, allowing you to assume that these were the parents of the man who had blown himself up.

"Alright," Jay said as he walked over to them. "Please, have a seat."

His voice was monotonous, not soft like when he was talking to child victims and not angry like when he was trying to get a hardened criminal to break. His voice, it was just...there.

"Is there anything you can tell us?" he asked once the parents had sat down.

"He was a smart boy," the man started, "always nice...and helpful. This country has given us so much. How could this have happened?"

"He claimed to be infected with something similar to Ebola."

You felt like you couldn't breathe. So, what the woman on the news had said was true. Your brother--and everyone else in the hospital for that matter--could be infected with something similar--or god forbid, worse--than Ebola.

You couldn't take another funeral. You couldn't take losing another family member before you even learned how to drive, hell before you even got to high school.

Your mind flashed back to when you were four years old. Will was in college and Jay was in his senior year of high school. It was springtime and the weather was just starting to get nice out.

You woke up from sleeping and realized you were thirsty. Seeing as you didn't think it was super late yet, you hoped that maybe Jay or Will would still be up and they'd give you a cup of juice. They were on babysitting duty tonight because your parents had gone out for a date night and knew they wouldn't be back until the early hours of the morning.

With Beary gripped tightly in your hand, you walked down the hallway and towards the kitchen. You saw the living room light on, and then it was quickly turned off.

"Mommy? Daddy?" you asked.

The only light now was from the hallway and you were starting to get scared. Monsters would come out if it was too dark!

Suddenly, the light was flicked back on.

"Y/N, what are you doing up?" Jay asked as he walked towards you.

"I want juice," you told him. But, then you looked at what he was wearing. He was wearing one of those shirts that he had to wear when you and your mom went to his soccer games at other schools. Jay always said that if he didn't wear this type of nice shirt, that he and his team would have to run suicides. You didn't know what those were, but they didn't sound nice. "Why you not in your 'jamas?" you asked. "You have a game? In the dark?"

"Uh," Jay blanched. He couldn't exactly tell his little, very talkative sister, that he was sneaking out to go to a party. "Let's get you some juice."

"Okay!"

Jay got you some juice and started to take your hand to walk you back to your room and tuck you back in when you turned to look at him. "So you going to play soccer? Or you going to see Allie?" He always wore those kinds of shirts when she came over in one of her really fancy dresses. And, Jay would give Allie a flower bracelet, too!

Jay crouched down so he was eye-level with you. "Y/N, you know what a secret is?"

"Yeah! It's when you can't tell somethin' to somebody. Mommy said secrets are bad," you told him, while you swung Beary back and forth in your little hand.

"Well, they're not all bad," he told you. "So, if I told you a secret, you'd be able to keep it?"

"And not tell Mommy or Daddy?" He nodded. "I dunno. I don't wanna get in trouble and have to go in time-out, Jay Jay."

"You won't get in trouble, I promise. And, if you promise not to tell Mommy and Daddy and Will, I'll get you a big pack of Oreos."

"I get Oreos for not telling Mommy and Daddy and Will?"

"Yes, you get Oreos if you don't tell them."

You'd do just about anything for Oreos!

"Okay, I keep it a secret. Where you going?"

"I am going to a friend's house to hang out."

"Okay." You didn't know what was so bad about that, but you wanted to get your Oreos, so you'd keep your mouth shut.

"Alrighty then, let's get you back to bed. Because, if I'm not mistaken, princesses need their beauty sleep."

He tucked you back into bed and got out of the house safely. Now all Jay had to do was to entrust you with the secret that he had snuck and went to a "friend's house", which was code for going to a party.

You had almost fallen back asleep when your door creaked open.

"Y/N," Will whispered.

"Will?"

"Yeah, it's Will," he answered and flicked on your bedside lamp.

"Were you talking to Jay a few minutes ago?"

"No," you lied. You wanted your Oreos!

"Are you sure about that? Because I could've sworn I heard you say Jay Jay."

"You wrong," you told him defiantly.

"Oh yeah? Because I heard him mention Oreos."

"No, no Oreos. He only got me juice."

"So you did talk to him."

"No, I didn't."

"Then who got you the juice?" Will knew you couldn't pour yourself a glass of juice without spilling it everywhere. He also knew that the glasses were up high enough in the cupboard that you needed someone else to reach them for you.

"Uh, uh, the-the juice fairy!"

"The juice fairy, huh? I've never heard of her. Because I could've sworn I heard you ask him if he was going to play soccer and he told you that he was going to a friend's house."

"No, he didn't!" you protested.

"Tell you what, kiddo, if you tell me where Jay went, I will give you Oreos, too."

You furrowed your eyebrows. Will was gonna give you the same thing and Jay might be mad at you. You needed something more. "Oreos and Sour Patch."

"Deal. Sour Patch Kids or watermelons?"

"Kids," you answered.

"Okay, it's a deal. Now, where is Jay going?"

"He went to a friend's house. But he was wearing one of those shirts he wears when he has to go to other schools for soccer," you answered.

"He's going to a party," Will muttered.

"A party? Like my tea parties?"

"Something like that." Where the tea is beer, Will thought to himself. "But, now you have to wait for Jay to give you your Oreos, and then I'll give you your Sour Patch Kids and Oreos."

"Then I have two Oreos?"

"Exactly. Now, time to go back to sleep."

The next day, Jay gave you a family sized-pack of Oreos that you hid in your room. The day after that, Will came home from studying at the library with a family-sized pack of Oreos and a big bag of Sour Patch Kids for you that you also ended up hiding in your room. And, that night at dinner, Will told your parents that Jay had gone to a party. He was grounded until the end of soccer season. But, Will had successfully taught you how to blackmail someone.

"Y/N." Erin's voice broke through your memories of being a little kid and being taught blackmail by your oldest brother. "I need you to breathe for me. Can you do that?"

"W-What if Will-- What if he gets the--"

"Y/N, match my breathing."

She took a deep breath in and you tried to follow. It took a few tries, but your breathing eventually evened out and returned to normal.

"Will," you heard Jay say.

Before you could even think, you had jumped off your chair and were barrelling towards Jay. "Will? You're talking to Will? Is he okay? Is he gonna come out soon?"

"Y/N," Jay spoke calmly, "we just need to ask him some medical questions. Go back to where you were."

"Is he okay?"

"Y/N's here?" Will asked from his spot in the ED. "Why? How?"

"It's a long story. But, I'm gonna put you on speaker so that you can tell her that you're okay and then I need you to answer some questions."

Jay put the phone on speaker.

"I'm fine, kiddo. Really. You wouldn't want to see me right now anyway. You wouldn't want to come in here either because it smells really bad."

"You promise you're fine?"

"I promise. Now, I think I need to answer some questions?"

"Yeah, yeah," you heard Jay say as you walked back towards Erin. It was quiet in there now, as everyone was listening intently to what Will was saying.

Apparently, Antonio and Voight had looked up where this psycho worked and had figured out that he was the same guy who had walked into the high school's office earlier that day, which he probably did for a distraction. Now, they just had Will on the other end telling the infectious disease specialist in the ED all the chemicals that he had been working with so that she could test for them.

***

"Jay! Why'd you turn off your hotspot?" you whined as you pulled up google.

"Because you heard the bacteria and the strain and I know you. I am not letting you go down a google rabbit hole to look this up and try and figure out if Will's gonna die."

You sighed and put your head in your hands. Jay was right, of course, he was right, he's a detective for crying out loud!

"But what if Will's gonna die?"

"Y/N." Jay walked up to you. "He's not gonna die. He's gonna be just fine."

"But you don't know that!"

Jay's phone rang. "It's Will."

"Put it on speaker."

"It's not contagious," Will said.

If you weren't sitting down, you would've fallen to the ground in pure relief.

"So, you're good?"

"Yeah, I'm good. Everyone's good. Whatever he had, it died with him. I've got some patients that need work, but I'll be out soon."

***

Everyone from the hospital, the police, and the firefighters were all currently packed into Mama Garcia's. You, Will, and Jay had snagged a booth because your backpack and homework were still there from earlier.

"That's one good thing about being the middle child I guess," Jay stated after he had taken a bite of a tamale. "Not having to be the victim in one of these bomb situations."

You knew he meant, here, today, in Chicago and not overseas. And, you weren't about to wreck his joke by mentioning that.

"Yeah, but you had to work it," Will pointed out.

"Technically, you did, too, man. I think Y/N was the only one who got out of this without a payday."

Jay's phone rang. "Why's Dad calling me?" His eyes went wide. "Oh shit! I didn't tell him that I picked you up from practice." He threw his phone to Will, who narrowly caught it. "You talk to him!"

"Me? Why me?"

"Because he likes you better!"

"But he's calling you!"

You swiped the phone from Will's hand and answered it. "Jay? Do you know where Y/N is? I came home from work and--"

"Dad, it's Y/N. I'm fine. Jay picked me up from practice and I'm assuming you got a phone call about what happened at school and then he had to go to Med to work that case."

"Med? As in Chicago Med? Where Will just started working?"

"Yes, Dad, Chicago Med. And, we're fine. We're just a Mama Garcia's getting dinner."

"It's ten o'clock at night!"

"I know, and we should be home soon. I promise I won't complain about getting up in the morning."

"Okay, well, I'm glad you three are safe. Just next time, tell Jay to call me."

"Okay, Dad. Bye, love you."

"Love you, too."

You hung up the phone and passed it back to Jay. "He didn't disown me, did he?"

You laughed. "No, no he did not."

"Y/N, right?"

You looked up at the sound of your name to be met with a firefighter.

"Yes, and you are...?"

"Matt Casey." He stuck out his hand for you to shake and you did so. Despite hearing about him, you'd never actually met the lieutenant. "Chief Boden mentioned that you were the one who ran down to Med with all those extinguishers."

"Oh, it was no big deal," you told him shyly. "They're actually Mama Garcia's. I just heard you needed them, so I asked if I could run them over to you guys. It's her you should be thanking."

"Well, you played a big part in that. So, if you want a dessert, on behalf of me and all the guys at 51, it's on me tonight."

He handed you a ten-dollar bill. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it. You made up for your brother almost black-tagging Severide."

"You did what?" Jay practically yelled.

As for you, you had no idea what they were talking about. "What? What's black-tagging?"

"You know what? Never mind," Casey said. "Thanks for all your help today, you guys."

"You were the ones who got them extra fire extinguishers?" Will asked, flabbergasted after Casey walked away.

"Yeah. Jay here wasn't too happy about seeing me over there, but when I told him why he calmed down a bit."

Erin slid into the booth next to Jay and he gave her a kiss.

"Ew, guys! Child in the room!"

Jay stuck his tongue out at you.

"I think he's the child in the room, Y/N," Erin said as she thumbed at Jay.

"So, Y/N, anything else interesting happen today? How'd you do on that math homework I helped you with last night?" Will asked.

"I did really well on it, but that's not even the craziest thing that happened at school today."

"Oh, yeah? Then what was?"

Oh man," you sighed. "Where do I begin? I think to tell you that story I'm gonna need to go get me some Flan."

You picked up the ten-dollar bill Casey had given you and slid out of the booth. If someone would've told you that you'd be buying Flan at Mama Garcia's at ten o'clock at night on a school night, you wouldn't believe them, but it would be plausible at least. The rest of the day? Well, you weren't sure that anyone would believe that you and Jay had been at the location of not one, but two bomb threats in the span of a few hours.

Once you got your Flan, you settled back into the booth. "So, it started out like any normal practice except we had to go to the high school to use the track..."

A/N: Guess who cranked out more than 5k words to get this finished today? That's right, me! Anyway, thank you for almost 8k reads! I know this technically wasn't a PD episode (It was Chicago Fire Season 3 Ep 19), but it had both Will and Jay, and the timeline made it so that it was season 2 of PD, so I thought it was fitting. Finally, please reblog/like and comment and tell me what you think about this one!

If you’re in the taglist, please tell me if it worked, I’m new at this!

taglist:  @theambracer88 @virtualreader @kelelas-life @celyndavies @brookerz122493 @musicismyescape27 @anotherfan07 @thexplosivegirl @dreamingwithlens @xoxmariaxox

[fallen-gravity]

Intellectual Adequacy

Stan hates to start any unnecessary conflict, especially when there’s a very real chance that Ford will be moving to California next year, but he knows deep down that if they don’t talk about this now then he’ll never have the courage to bring it up again.

“Wait,” Stan shouts to Ford, and he stops dead in his tracks.

~~

Notes: In which one little plot bunny that was preventing me from getting any work done becomes its own rabbit hole.

I genuinely cannot believe that in the six-seven years I've been in this fandom, I've never tried my hand at the fix-it-fic where Stan and Ford just talk it out as teenagers, just like they should've in canon. I've seen a lot of different approaches, but I feel like I've yet to see one that tackles it from the perspective of Stan's own battle with his self-worth, rather than the actions he or Ford have already taken.

AO3

Stan hates the principal’s office more than anywhere else in the world.

He swears, he’s called down every other week for something that’s not even his fault. He punched Crampelter in the nose for harassing some poor freshman? Principal’s office. He talks back to a teacher calling his classmate stupid for forgetting an “obvious” geometry equation? Principal’s office. He accidentally drops his pencil during an exam and bends over to pick it up? He must be cheating. Principal’s office.

If you asked him, the whole idea of sending kids to the principal’s office is pointless to begin with. Oh, you did something bad, and now we’re gonna make the big man in charge tell your mommy and daddy? How old do these people think they are?

Stan wishes he could say that this time is okay because they’re not even talking to him. They’re talking up a storm to Ford in there about another college scholarship and all the reasons why he and he alone would be the perfect candidate for some random school all the way out in California

But it’s not okay, because the longer Stan sits in the dumb waiting room the more he’s starting to feel like chopped liver. They’ve been in there for at least five minutes with no sign of stopping anytime soon, but every time Stan asks the secretary if he can just go back to class already she dismisses him with a wave of her hand and it’ll be your turn soon, sit back down.

He’s thinking of just sneaking out the next time the secretary buries her nose back into her magazine. It’s simple: just wait for her to pull it out from her desk, sneak by as quick as he can, and slip out the door and back to class before she can even notice he’s gone.

He stands from his chair, pretending to stretch and preparing to execute, but freezes solid when he hears his name being spoken from within the principal’s office.

“…What about our little free spirit Stanley?”

It’s Ma, and whatever it is they’re talking about in there, she isn’t happy about it. Frowning, Stan glances over at the secretary to make sure that she isn’t staring at him, and presses his ear to the office door to listen to their conversation more carefully.

The principal laughs in response. “That clown? At this rate he’ll be lucky if he graduates high school”

Stan’s taken aback by the harsh choice of words, but if he knows Ford, then he won’t just sit there and let the principal talk about him like that. He presses his ear further into the door, waiting for Ford to interrupt the principal’s rambling about how he’s never going to amount to anything with you just don’t know him like I do, or something along those lines, but it never comes.

Not a single interjection that…anything he’s saying is wrong. Not from Pa, not from Ford….and not even from Ma.

They don’t…all really believe that, right?

There has to be something else he’s missing. He bets they’re defending his honor right now, and the reason they’re not making a big scene about it is because they’re in public.

Yeah.

He’s got nothing to worry about.

He peeks into the window, expecting to see Ma glaring daggers into the principal, or Ford silently cursing him out behind his back, but what he’s met with is so much worse. Ma and Pa are exchanging warm smiles, and Ford is frantically shaking hands with the principal, beaming brighter than Stan’s ever seen in his entire life.

Matter of fact, Stan’s not sure he’s ever seen any of them look so happy in his entire life.

He’s worthless, he’ll never go anywhere, and they’re all smiling about it.

Stan’s heart drops to his stomach, and he slides to the floor to join it.

Is this some kind of cruel joke? Were they expecting him to listen in on their conversation? Is this their cruel workaround of telling him he’ll never amount to shit?

He sighs.

He stays there on the cold tiled floor for what feels like hours, contemplating all the times he’s been called dumb, or stupid, or a terrible influence on his brother. All of those times when he could brush it off just because it was coming from someone he didn’t care about.

But worthless?

Behind his back, spoken directly to people he loves, and they won’t even bother to defend him?

That one’s new, and if Stan is going to be completely honest with himself, it’s much harder to brush off his shoulders than all those other times.

Stan doesn’t even notice the office door opening until it nearly smacks him in the back of his head. He quickly jumps to his feet and brushes himself off, pretending the best that he can that he wasn’t just eavesdropping on them for the past ten minutes.

“Stanley!” Ford comes bursting out of the room, his grin threatening to split his face in two. “I just received the most incredible news! The admissions team at West Coast Tech heard about my science fair project, and-”

The beam suddenly slips from his face, replaced with some sort of mix of confusion and concern. “Is...Something wrong?”

Stan rubs at his eyes to make sure he hadn’t started tearing up without realizing it, but no, his eyes are bone dry.

Curse Ford’s stupid ability to read his mind.

Stan covers up the gesture of rubbing at his eyes with a yawn, and stretches his arms in the air. “Nothing except you taking forever in there” he flashes a fake smile easily. “Talk about a blabbermouth, am I right?” Stan gestures towards the principal with his thumb.

Ford laughs, and returns his gaze to the pamphlet in his hands. “I don’t know,” he says. “I don’t think he’s so bad”

Stan opens his mouth to quip back, but Ford doesn’t seem to be paying much attention anymore. He’s just staring at that dumb pamphlet, his grin slowly but surely returning to his face again.

Instead, Stan shoves his hands in his pockets and shrugs, turning his gaze to the floor. “Yeah, I guess you’re right”

~~~

Stan feels like he’s in a haze for the rest of the day. Even when he tries to focus on class to take his mind off of things and redirect it on anything else, he can’t get his mind to stick.  Not even final period gym class can save him, which is really saying something, because the gymnasium is usually the one place where he thrives.

Worthless.

The word won’t stop bouncing around in his skull, hitting him where he’s most sensitive.

It doesn’t help a thing that Ford is dead silent on their walk home from school. He’s usually chatting up a storm to Stan about stuff he doesn’t really understand, and under normal circumstances Stan can’t wait to get home so he can bury his head in his pillow and drown out the sound of Ford’s babbling.

But today he’s not even looking in Stan’s direction, just burying his nose in the West Coast Tech brochure with stars in his eyes, and now Stan wants nothing more than to hear Ford babbling on about his advanced physics classes.

It’s almost insulting.

Stan sighs, and lightly taps on Ford’s shoulder to catch his attention. “Can we talk?”

“Hmm?” Ford blinks, like he needs a few moments to readjust to reality. “Oh! Of course. I was actually planning on asking you the same thing” he places the brochure in his pocket. “Same place as always?”

Stan nods. “Same place as always”.

It’s a quick change of direction and a shortcut to the beach before they find themselves on their old swing set. By now they’re both too heavy to use it properly without a risk of snapping it, but they still find it’s a good place to go when they just need to get away and talk.

“You’re not really thinking of going to that stuffy old school, are you?” Stan asks as soon as Ford sits on the swing beside him. “They’ve gotta be crazy if they think four more years of essays and exams are better lookin’ than tanned babes and gold chains. We’re so close to finishing up the Stan-O-War. Soon as graduation rolls around we’re outta here, just like we always promised”.

Ford chuckles. “That is a nice thought, but…” he pulls the brochure out of his pocket again, and unfolds it for Stan to see. “You have to understand that I can’t just pass up an opportunity like this. Maybe I don’t need a degree from any old state school, but this is West Coast Tech we’re talking about!” he beams, the stars returning to his eyes. “They’ve got cutting edge technology and multidimensional paradigm theory”

Stan rolls his eyes, but he can’t help but admit to himself it’s nice to have his brother back again after an entire day of radio silence.

“Beep boop, giant nerd robot oncoming” Stan punches Ford in the arm.

Ford’s grin only widens. “I figured you’d say that, but it’s too late to change my mind. The head of admissions already flew in this morning, and with my go-ahead they’re going to check out my science fair project later tonight and let me know then and there if they want me at their school”

“Well that seems kind of harsh” Stan quips. “What if they say no?”

Ford shrugs. “Well, then it’s like you said. If they don’t want me, you and I sail off on the Stan-O War and never look back”.

Stan frowns at the strong emphasis on if. He really thinks he’s going to get this, doesn’t he? Stan can’t exactly blame him when he’s been the reigning valedictorian of their class every year since they were kids.

“And if they say yes?”

Ford grins. “Well, then you better visit me on the other side of the country” he punches Stan in the shoulder, and stands to his feet without saying another word.

Stan can’t bring himself to join him. He knows that Ford didn’t mean anything by it, but he can’t help feel wounded by his brother’s implication that while he’s off in California having the time of his life, Stan’s still gonna be stuck living with their parents in New Jersey.

It’s just like their principal said. He’ll never amount to anything anyway, so why wouldn’t he stay in New Jersey? Where else would a worthless piece of shit like him end up?

Stan shifts on his swing and watches as Ford walks away, and he can’t help but wonder just how much of the principal’s tangent that Ford believed.

All of it?

Some of it?

Had Ford even been listening to what he said at all?

As he continues to watch his brother walk away, he can’t help the feeling in his gut that he has to know. He hates to start any unnecessary conflict, especially when there’s a very real chance that Ford will be moving to California next year, but Stan knows deep down that if they don’t talk about this now then he’ll never have the courage to bring it up again.

“Wait,” Stan shouts to Ford, and he stops dead in his tracks.

“Yeah?” Ford says, turning around to face him. Stan suddenly finds himself very aware of his heart loudly pounding against his chest, but he forces himself to squash that down. He’s never felt shy or anxious about asking his brother anything, and he sure as hell isn’t letting that start now.

“You don’t…uh,” he swallows. “You don’t think I’m…worthless, do you?”

Ford looks appalled. He neatly folds the brochure back into his pocket and starts walking- no, jogging, almost sprinting back to the swing set. He pauses in front of the empty swing beside Stan for a moment, like he’s debating whether he should sit down or not, but eventually he shakes his head and sits down anyway.

“What on earth makes you say that?”  There’s a hint of anger to his tone, but Stan’s not entirely convinced it’s directed at him. “Why would I think you’re worthless? You’re my twin brother! What could’ve possibly put the idea in your head that I thought that?”

There’s a tiny voice in the back of his head screaming at him to back out, brush it off with a joke and have this conversation later, but there’s an even louder voice shouting at him that it needs to be had now.

Stan sighs. “I…overheard everything in the principal’s office today”

Ford blinks, like he doesn’t understand a word that Stan just said. “About…West Coast Tech? Is this because you’re afraid that I’ll get in, but you know you won’t because you’re not even interested in applying anyway, but you know you’re going to miss me, and you’re not sure if you can handle-”

“About me, Sixer!” Stan shouts, and tries his damn hardest to ignore the waver in his voice. “He practically called me a useless piece of shit directly to Ma and Pa and neither of them said a word about it!” He scrubs his hands down his face because he’s not choking up, not over something so pointless and stupid. “You’re going to travel the world and become the smartest person the scientific community has ever seen, or whatever, but me? Apparently I’ll always be stuck here in New Jersey to pick up after everyone else’s messes, because that’s all I’m ever good for”

Stan buries his face in his hands. He hadn’t meant to blow up, and he certainly hadn’t meant to direct his anger at Ford, but he just feels so hopeless, and he’s the only one around who’s willing to listen. He wouldn’t be surprised if Ford returned with anger of his own, or told him off for being selfish, or even if he just decided to stand up and walk away from him for being such an embarrassment.

The silence that follows is thick and heavy. Stan is so convinced that he must’ve driven Ford away that when he feels a hand on his shoulder he nearly jumps a mile out of his skin. When he finally pulls his hands out of his face to meet Ford’s eyes, his face is flushed pink and he looks…embarrassed.

“Stan, I had no idea, I…” he awkwardly pulls his hand away and grips tightly to the chain of his swing. Stan can see Ford’s face shifting through about a dozen different emotions at once. “I…must’ve been too focused on everything else to realize he was saying those things about you.” He shakes his head. “I know it’s not an excuse, but…” he sighs. “I’m sorry”

There’s another bout of silence between them. Stan’s half-expecting that to be the end of it, and for Ford to walk away without another word.  

But Ford breaks the silence with a sigh, and when Stan glances over at him he’s staring down at the ground.

“If it’s any consolation...you’re much smarter than me in a lot more places than you realize”

Okay, now Stan has to laugh. “Okay, now you’re being too nice to me. You don’t need to lie to make me feel better”

“I’m serious!” Ford’s cheeks flush pink again, and he adjusts his glasses before returning his gaze towards Stan. “There’s actually been a fascinating number of studies about intelligence lately, and, well…” Ford’s face is turning redder by the minute, Stan swears. “It turns out that…there’s more than one type”

Stan raises an eyebrow. “You’re losing me here, Sixer”

“Well, you see, I thrive in academic intelligence. Math, science, history, you know, school stuff. That’s the most commonly known type of intelligence because a lot of our formative years are based on it”

Stan doesn’t say anything, just raises his eyebrow even further.

“But,” Ford continues quickly, “They’ve also made discoveries about the existence of social intelligence”

“Social?” Stan blinks, suddenly finding himself significantly more interested. “You mean like talking to people and stuff?”

Ford nods. “Precisely. They say people with high social intelligence are much better at picking up on social cues, and can make friends with others much easier than those with lower social intelligence.” Ford kicks at the sand. “The reason social intelligence hasn’t been recognized is because it’s often mistaken for having a friendly personality”.  His face flushes pink again, like he’s afraid he said the wrong thing. “Not that a person can’t have both, but…”

Stan smirks, nudging at Ford with his elbow. “Stanford Pines, are you calling your good-for-nothing brother intelligent?” He teases, but can’t help the genuine smile creeping to his face.

“Think about it!” Ford throws an arm into the air, the other one tightly gripped on the swing to prevent himself from falling off. “Every time Ma and Pa leave us in charge of the shop so they can go to Atlantic City for the weekend, who’s the one bringing in all the customers? Who’s the one selling out our daily stock less than two hours after we’re open? You are, Stan, just by being yourself. You know how to persuade people into buying our stock at ten times the listed price.”

“You can’t learn that from twelve years of public school. They can try to teach you, but at the end of the day it’s all about your ability to connect with people” Ford rubs at his arm. “I’ve tried teaching myself those kinds of tricks for years, but at the end of the day…” he shakes his head. “I’ve never been able to catch up.” He smiles. “I raise my white flag to you, Stan. You’ve outsmarted the smartest brother in the world”

Stan chuckles. “Try telling that to Principal Comb-over. He hears you saying the so-called dumbest clown in the entire school system is smarter than you and he’s going to cart you away to the loony bin”

Ford laughs. “You know, now that I think about it, there may actually be a way to tell him off for what he said about you and get away with it scott-free”

Stan raises an eyebrow. “Yeah? How so?”

Ford smirks. “I think you should try to graduate out of spite”

Stan’s not sure he follows. “Whaddya mean?”

“I mean, think about it” Ford stands from his swing and begins to pace back and forth. “The principal called both of us down even though he only wanted to speak to me, and then he talked shit about you even though he knew you were sitting right outside his door?” he pauses in his pacing. “Stan, he knew that you could hear him. Maybe he didn’t intend for you to listen in when he was talking to Ma and Pa about my scholarship opportunity, but he knew you’d be listening the moment you were brought up in the conversation”

That’s…true. Stan was just about to sneak out before he heard them say his name.

“He’s expecting you to fail, and he wants to put it in everyone else’s head too. He thinks it’s the easy way out, because if you choose to fail out on your own than he doesn’t have to take responsibility for being such a shitty educator. It gives him the chance to say look how he didn’t even try instead of look at how we failed him.”

“But if you proved him wrong? Imagine the look on his face when he has to be the one to place that diploma in your hand. Imagine him having to look you dead in the eyes and tell you he’s proud of you. You’ll know he’s speaking bullshit, but he knows he can’t talk shit about you anymore without making himself look bad.” Ford smirks. “Matter of fact, imagine the looks on the faces of everyone who’s ever doubted you walking across that stage. Pa alone is gonna have a heart attack”

Ford’s smile softens. “I already know that you’re much smarter than you’re given credit for, and I think it’s about time that everyone else recognizes that too”.

Stan’s cheeks burn red, and he shyly kicks at the sand. “Heh, thanks. I appreciate it.” He says. “But even if I did manage to graduate, what am I supposed to do with a high school diploma? Every job application I’ve been skinning through recently says college, college, college”

“Well…” Ford taps at his chin. “Then why not go out for college?”

Okay, now he’s taking things too far.

“Pardon?” Stan mocks, because if Ford thinks that Stan’s going to willingly take four more years of classes than maybe he should be carted away to a loony bin.

“I’m serious!” Ford blushes. “Maybe not a high intensity school like West Coast Tech, but college is so much more freeing than high school, Stanley. It’s not class after class on subjects that other people tell you to take. It’s personalized. If you hate science class so much, you never have to take another science class again”

Ford’s blush darkens. “I know that school is a big drag and all, but if you asked me?” he averts his gaze. “I think you’d really benefit from business school. Charisma and social intelligence is the number one thing that big name businesses are looking for, and I know you’re filled to the brim with both. Ultimately it is your decision, but…” Ford fiddles with his thumbs. “Just…just consider it, okay?”

For a brief moment, Stan just wants to burst out into hysterical laughter. Ford’s been offered the opportunity of a lifetime at one of the best schools in the country, and he’s still taking the time to help out his good-for-nothing brother who’s been cheating off of his exams for the past ten years.

Instead he settles for a roll of his eyes. “Alright, Professor Poindexter, I’ll consider it”

Ford giggles at that, and for a few moments neither of them says anything, watching the waves gently lapping on the beach in the short distance. It’s a comfortable silence, a reassuring sort of feeling that Stan hasn’t felt in a long time.

The frantic beeping of Pa’s wristwatch interrupts them, and both boys flinch at the sound in unison. For a moment Stan is worried that Pa’s standing behind them having heard every word, but when he glances over at Ford, he sees him rolling up his shirt sleeve to reveal that he’s the one wearing the watch, and clicks the alarm off.

“Pa made me borrow it so I wouldn’t be late for the presentation with the school board” he rubs awkwardly at the back of his head. “I’ll probably give it back as soon as I get home tonight”

Stan smirks. “You still hate the sound of that thing too, huh?”

“I can still hear it in my nightmares,” Ford exaggerates, his eyes going wide, and the twins burst into laughter as they both stand from the swings and stretch their arms and legs to wake them up from sitting for so long.

Ford wipes at his eye as he fidgets with the wristwatch. “So…do you think you’re going to be okay?”

That in itself is a pretty loaded question that could take him all night to answer, but all things considering…

“Yeah,” Stan smiles. “I think I’ll be okay”

Ford smiles back, and gestures with his thumb towards the direction of the pawn shop. “Then I’m going to head home and get ready for my presentation. You coming?”

Stan shakes his head. “I think I’ll stay out here and just…watch the ocean for a little while longer”

Ford’s smile softens, but he doesn’t say anything else. He turns heel and walks back towards the house, and it feels as though a giant weight has just been lifted off of Stan’s chest. He glances back to watch Ford go, but finds comfort in the feeling that he feels nothing at all.

~~~

Nearly five hours later, Stan sits at home, watching television on the couch to pass the time. Just out of the corner of his eye he sees Ford slip into the kitchen and gently click the door closed. Stan shuts the TV off, and spins around on the couch to face his brother.

“Well?” Stan asks, though he knows he doesn’t even need to bother asking, given that Ford looks like he’s about to burst. With a shaking hand, Ford reaches into his pocket and pulls out a glinting white envelope.

If he’s trying to keep an air of mystery about it, he’s doing a really bad job, because all at once his composure breaks and the smile that spreads across his face looks as though it could burn out the sun.

“They loved me!” He shouts, excitedly pacing the floor. “They told me they’ve never seen anyone else like me!”

His smile is so contagious that it hurts.

Perhaps another day, in another timeline, Stan would take offense to Ford’s excitement to bounce off to the other end of the country without him. Perhaps he’d even lash out, or do something he would’ve immediately regretted.

But here and now, Stan couldn’t be happier for his brother if he tried.

[candreloup]

Hello! So, here's the surprise! I'm doing a collab with@villain-enthusiast! We decided to split an ask into two parts- I'm doing part one, and they'll do part 2. The ask is from an anon- but whoever you are, here's your ask! Also- to the people reading this, make sure to go check out part 2 on @villain-enthusiast's 's blog! I'll add the link when it's up. Anyways, on to the story!

(Also this ask is addressed to@villain-enthusiast, NOT me)

hi! i really love your writing, and i was wondering if you could write a snippet where an assassin is given a lucrative sum of money to kill a prince, but when she tries to, it turns out that the prince is like, /five/, and his parents really suck (like, really, really suck), so she ends up faking the prince's death and adopting (read: kidnapping)

"I need you to kill someone."

The bag thumped onto the table, clanking with the distinct sound of coins.

Assassin raised an eyebrow. "That little?"

The man at the end of the table scoffed. "There's more."

"How much more?"

"Enough."

Assassin snorted and spun in her chair, turning and getting up.

"50,000."

Assassin started walking.

"100,000."

She kept walking, strolling lazily along the plush carpet. The man behind her huffed in exasperation. "What more do you want?" Assassin laughed.

"You know the price- you tell me."

"...500,000."

Her back still turned, Assassin paused, calculating. 500,000. It was a ridiculous sum for an assassination- even she knew that. Half a million was enough to live off of for... well, for a while. On one hand- it was almost too good to be true. On the other hand, she knew full well it was going to be risky. No one in their right minds would give half a million for an easy kill. But money was money, and she'd done hard kills for less money. After a moment of hesitation, Assassin spun on her heel.

"Now that's what I'm talking about."

Assassin crouched on the roof, staring into the glowing windows of the castle. A prince. It had been a while since Assassin had killed a royal- the heavy defenses and high risk made it a task she'd only once accepted. The knowledge had made Assassin hesitate- but that hesitation vanished when the man raised the prices to 700,000 without blinking an eye. Jesus. How important was this prince, anyways? He was in line to inherit a small kingdom- beneath most others' notice and unlikely to pose any threat. Oh well. In this business, Assassin had learned not to pry. It never went well. The last time she'd gotten involved... well, it hadn't gone the best. For her or the target. Better to keep out of it and just do the job.

The curtain moved, focusing Assassin's attention on it. She was perched on one of the castle's roofs- one that was relatively far away from the guard but close enough for her to use binoculars to see what she assumed was the prince's room. It was a strangely childlike room, with a regal look and a huge vaulted ceiling-but with decorations that seemed more fit for a toddler than an adult. The curtain was pulled aside by a woman- the queen, a tall middle aged woman with crease lines on her forehead- and pinned to the walls. The door slid open and the queen stood there, breathing in the night air. She turned suddenly, something pulling on her dress. A child's hand. Whose- As the queen turned, it hit her. The prince is a child.

Shit. In the years she'd been killing, Assassin had never touched children. She had lines, boundaries she didn't cross. Killing the bedridden, senile, children- that she didn't do. Her morality wasn't shattered enough to stoop that low. She could make money other ways.

Shit. Assassin silently cursed her stupidity. Why hadn't she asked for more details? The man had been cagey, nervous- but it wasn't unusual for new clients to be more reserved. The thing that should have tipped her off was when he'd refused to give her more information than the prince's hair color and eye color. She'd assumed- god, she should've known- that the prince was a young adult- at least past his teenage years and soon to inherit the throne. But not a child. His parents were unusually old for the prince's age, too; they must have had a child early.

It was a good thing this was a reconnaissance mission. She'd just have to go back and-

A sudden burst of movement from the window caught Assassin's attention. The woman was upset, waving her arms and moving around the room agitatedly. The prince just sat on the bed, head hung and feet dangling. What the hell? Assassin decided not to get involved. That was the best thing to do.

Don't get involved. Ignore it.

And then the queen slapped the child. Hard. Across the face.

From what Assassin could see, the child wasn't crying- only sitting, still dangling his legs over the edge of the bed like a doll. The queen was clearly screaming, pointing to something with her mouth moving. She slammed her hand on a table, still screaming about something, and grabbed the boy's legs, stopping their dangling motion. He didn't seem to be saying anything- but the woman was getting angrier and angrier by the second. She was throwing things now, hurling papers and books off of desks and smashing objects on the floor. The prince did nothing. Finally, the woman stormed off, a trail of destruction following her. The door slammed, and the little boy sat on the bed, crying.

Assassin was pissed. She didn't know what the argument was about, or why the queen thought she could slap her child. The boy looked young- what, five? Too young to be hit like that. And the fact that he hadn't started crying until his mother left the room made Assassin very doubtful of their relationship.

It's not my business. Assassin could feel the anger building up, boiling white-hot. Not my business. She remembered screams from a different time, bruises and cuts in places that couldn't be seen.

Just keep out of it. Yelling and the crashing sounds of things shattering echoing down the hallway. Sobbing, and the sound of skin thrown violently against skin. The metallic smell of blood.

No.

Assassin stood up carefully and started to climb down the roof.

It's my business now.

The next few days were a blur of preparation. What to do, how to handle the parents, where to go- and how to safely take the prince. How to remove the bounty on his head. How to get away without the retaliation of the man who'd paid her to kill this child. She'd have to plant a fake body, make a possible story- preferably one that pinned the parents. They deserved the worst.

The first step was sneaking into the castle and observing the situation more carefully. Their private lives were a cesspool of violence and rage. From father to mother, mother to son and father to son. Throwing things, hitting things, hitting people- everything was a target. Close servants, mistresses, even the unfortunate people who happened to find the king in his drunken rages. Everything was, of course, kept under wraps. It wouldn't do to have the royal family exposed for domestic violence and abuse. No, instead they always appeared as a perfect family. Even when the king was drunk, he was always sober enough to leave marks where no one else could see them. The queen wore long sleeves. So did the prince.

Assassin couldn't stand to watch their family for more than an hour. Except for the prince. She was extremely interested in him. He was seven, but looked a lot smaller than he should have. Probably because... well, Assassin didn't want to think about that. He studied constantly. Partly because of his parents and partly because of his own volition- his parents left him alone when he was studying.

It only took a day or so for Assassin to figure out the best plan to get the prince out after she'd figured out their schedules. She had to plant a fake dead body in the prince's room, bring him out through the window. Night was the best time- everyone was sleeping and the guard's visibility was much lower. But she had to act fast. The rotation was tight, with barely any breaks in their watches. She'd only been able to observe them from a fairly far away tower using her best gear, and only because the palace had such large windows. But the guards were also only human, and she'd slipped past castle defenses before.

That night was dark, a kind of pitch blackness that covered even the stars' piercing lights. The perfect night for Assassin, with even the moon only a sliver in the sky. Tonight was the night. She'd known the minute the sun went down and she could barely see past the end of her street. It was perfect.

She slipped past the guards fairly easily- only a few close calls that set her heart racing. Everything else was a breeze past that, the climbing not difficult as long as she stayed low. The prince's room was near another roof, the window and balcony protruding from it easily accessible. It was going too well.

Assassin finally made it onto the balcony, silently sliding through the open window. The queen had left it slightly open after she left the room, slamming the door as usual. The window was a tall one, a typical French Window leading onto a huge balcony. She stood in the prince's room for a moment, looking around to make sure she was alone before she walked quietly to the boy's bed. He was sleeping soundly, chest rising and falling steadily.

Assassin reached out a hand to his head.

Something grabbed her wrist suddenly. Assassin jolted in shock, twisting her wrist away instinctively.

The prince was sitting up in bed, staring at her.

"What are you doing?"

[grasshopperjay]

silent sleepers

evermore series | track 2: champagne problems

your moms ring in your pocket, my picture in your wallet, your heart was glass i dropped it.

pairing: jay halstead x reader

word count: 1.3k

warnings: angst, swearing, alcohol, sadness, insecurity

Everyone’s eyes are on you, the whole room anticipating an answer, an answer that shouldn’t take you nearly this long. 

The room is sleeping, everyone is quiet, not a sound to be heard. God you wish someone would just break the silence, but it’s actually you that’s supposed to do that. Answer with a yes, a cheer or a smile, or some happy tears, but you can’t do any of those things.

Jay is down on one knee in front of you, his once hopeful face looking more dire as the seconds pass. 

You take a glance around the room at all the faces as they realize what’s happening. Your eyes catch on Jay’s brother, Will, as he rubs his jaw uncomfortably. 

It’s only when Jay quietly says your name that you remember exactly what’s happening. You’re being proposed to. 

And you have to say no. 

But you don’t know how. 

The beautiful diamond ring is practically calling your name, and you recognize it as Jay’s mothers, and she’s not here, but god you feel like you’re letting her down too. 

You’ve never felt worse in your life. All these people and Jay’s stupidly handsome face make you want to say yes. But you can’t. 

Which is why you don’t look back when you run out the door. 

You only stop when you’re out of the building and down the street, your lungs ache and when you try to take a deep breath in, all that comes out are sobs.

The tears are nearly freezing on your cheeks, the crisp air only starting to sting your skin now. You’re not exactly dressed for the weather. The only thing blocking you from the elements is the thin strapped emerald green dress Jay bought you.

And of course your exit wasn’t exactly planned so you never grabbed your coat or purse, or phone for that matter. You’re completely stranded.

But even as terrible as you’re feeling, alone and cold in an unfamiliar part of the city, it’s probably nothing compared to how crushed Jay is.

You saw it on his face. A look so rare and so unfamiliar to you. He was scared.

And you hate that you did that to him.

You have no idea what to do anymore, but you know you can’t go back, so you walk a little further until you find a tiny dive bar. One of the only open signs still lit up on the street.

There’s only a few people scattered around the bar, and they look at you like you have three heads as you walk in.

You perch yourself on one of the barstools. And almost immediately there’s a glass shoved in front of you, a small shot of tequila, you’re assuming by the smell.

“Oh I can’t-,” You start to say, and the bartender cuts you off.

“You look like you need it,” He explains with a pitiful smile.

“I don’t have any money.” You admit, and he just chuckles.

“It’s on the house, runaway.”

“You can tell?” You murmur, embarrassment flooding your cheeks.

“You’d be surprised how many fancy looking boys and girls I get in here, all alone. I’ve heard enough proposal gone wrong stories to know when one of ‘em walks into my bar.” And then he grabs himself a glass, raising it to you with a sad glance before he downs the liquid, and you do the same.

He leaves to tend to some others and apparently you’re alone with your thoughts for too long, cause the tears start spilling from your eyes, and their pace is too quick to wipe them away and pretend nothing is wrong anymore. You’re crying and everyone here knows it.

Then there’s a panicked face storming into the bar, and you’re on your feet within seconds. Kim sighs, “Oh thank god,” She wraps her arms around you, holding tight while you try to pretend you’re not a total mess.

“How’d you find me?” You whisper.

“I went right, Sylvie went left. I checked every damn building on this street.” Kim chuckles. “Jay was gonna try to ping your phone, but that was a dead end.”

You feel a pang in your chest when she says his name, “Where is he?”

“Will took him home.”

“Is he okay?”

“I think you know the answer to that question.” She sighs, and you wipe harshly at the damn tears that won’t stop falling.

“I don’t know why I couldn’t say yes.” You shrug, and Kim places her hand over yours.

“I think you’re scared,” She says, and you open your mouth to respond but she keeps going. “And that’s okay. It’s okay to be scared. But he deserves an answer, whether it’s the one he wants or not.”

“She’s right,” A voice chimes in. It’s the bartender, he’s setting two more tequilas in front of you and Kim. “Shot for confidence.” He says.

Kim laughs, and you find it in you to crack a little smile, even though it hardly feels genuine. “Shot for confidence, and then I’ll take you to him.”

•••••

You’ve been staring at the door for at least ten minutes, and you still haven’t thought of the right thing to say.

And it’s stupid cause there is no right thing to say, not after everything you’ve put him through tonight, but making him wait longer is only gonna make it worse so finally you open the door.

After you shut it, you take a deep breath and then turn into the living room.

He’s sitting on the couch, looking completely lost and tears gather in your eyes almost immediately.

“Jay...” You whisper, but he doesn’t even lift his head. “I’m so sorry.” 

That stupid word isn’t even going to begin to slice into the pain you caused him tonight, and you’re terrified because you really don’t know if your relationship will recover from this. 

You stand there for a few minutes, the silence deafening while you wait for him to say something. “Jay-,”

Finally he does, and the hurt in his voice is enough to bring back the wave of tears you tried so hard to fight off. 

“Why couldn’t you say yes? What did I do wrong?”

The fact that he thinks it’s his fault is heartbreaking and so, so untrue, you can’t help the way you rush forward, kneeling down in front of him. You grab his forearms to pull his hands away from his face, but his red puffy eyes refuse to look back at you. 

“It’s not you. You did nothing wrong you have to know that, Jay.” 

“Then why?” He asks again.

And the most terrifying part of all? You can’t answer his question. You don’t have a reason. 

“I don’t-,” He finally meets your eyes and your words clog in your throat. You’re left looking into his devistated eyes, unable to say or do anything that will bring any relief to them.

His eyes gloss over, it’s like a kick to the stomach so you just say it, even though you’re not sure if it’s true. “I do want to marry you, Jay.”

He remains silent but you know he’s asking, then why’d you say no?

“Just not yet...” You recover. “I’m not ready, I’m sorry.”

And finally, there’s a small glimmer in his eyes. He’s hopeful and relived and selfishly, you feel better too. Like you can breathe again.

“Shit,” He whispers, swiping under his eyes to make sure there’s no emotion shown. “I should’ve asked, or hinted or something. Shit.”

“Jay-,” You start, because he’s about to take this all on himself, just like he usually does but you can’t let him. You’re fucked in the head, that’s why you said no, not because of him. “You did nothing wrong.”

“I shouldn’t have sprung it on you like that, I’m sorry.”

“Please don’t apologize. You’ve done nothing wrong, Jay.” You repeat.

He finally nods, acknowledging what you’ve told him so many times, and you sigh, hoping you’ve taken some weight off him.

Then he grabs your hands and pulls you onto the couch with him, and you could cry. You thought you ruined everything, but maybe things can be okay again.

The two of you lay there, pressed together, your head on his chest, his arms holding you tight. Eventually his breathing evens out and he relaxes, and you lift your head gently to watch him as he sleeps.

He looks so angelic. So perfect. You really can’t believe that somehow you managed to get him to love you. It’s unfathomable, and it scares you. What if he comes to his senses? What if he realizes you’re not good enough?

But laying here you feel warm and safe and above all... Loved. Even after everything you put him through tonight, he’s still here, holding you and loving you despite it all.

And finally you get it.

It’s just like you telling him this whole night wasn’t his fault. You had to repeat it for him to realize it. Jay’s been doing the same thing to you for years, you will always be good enough. You were never not good enough.

For the first moment since he got down on one knee, you think, maybe you can do this.

Next time he asks, you have your answer.

....

taglist: @lorenakaspersen @jayxuptons @toomuchtv95 @halstudandruz @halsteadsway @hart-kinsella @astrosmayhem @life-treatments @dreamingmanip @jayhlstead @sofferderynnp @caromichaela @samantha-chicago

[petalsonmoon]

purple

pairing: jj x fem!reader

summary: the three times you save and defend jj from a fight and the one time he fights for you.

warnings: VIOLENCE. and swearing. 

a/n: i have this thing that i think that everything i write is bad and it sucks. anyways, i really don’t like writing rafe being this aggressive. it’s long but is good, you won’t regret it. i’m doing my best i promise!

gif by @anakin-skywalker​

hating the kooks was just a natural thing. if you stayed locked in a room with one in 10 minutes tops you’d already want to kill him. they are mean and ignorant, just a bunch of assholes really. everything they do or say is annoying, like they live to make the life of the people from the cut miserable. and you know that for a fact because you were one.

yes, you were annoying and stubborn but not in a kook way. at least you think so.

the kooks knew you hated them and the pogues didn’t like kooks so your only friend was sarah cameron. the one who gets the best of both worlds.

when she started dating john fucking b you panicked. you where sure she was going to forget you and actually think you were a terrible person.

“y/n don’t be dramatic, they’re going to like you.” sarah says parking the car in front of the famous chateau. 

“how do you know that, huh? you’re dating one of them. i have nothing to offer them besides my cooking skills.”

“you’re overreacting. they’re good people. just be yourself! be nice!” 

“pick one sarah i can’t do both.” you mumble. 

“jeez y/n” sarah says laughing and leaving the car. 

she was right. they were surprisingly nice to you.

mostly because of what sarah told them but since that day you started to hang out with them more. from long trips on the boat to spend the day doing nothing on the chateau. you weren’t there as much as sarah but you knew they were there for you and you for them. you felt belonged.

the first time...

kook parties were the worse. it was comical how you and jj were feeling like outsiders and pope and john b were drinking and laughing looking genuinely happy.

“we could be sleeping right now.” jj leans on your ear from your left side. you both were just watching people having fun leaning on a wall.

“and miss all this fun?” you point at the drunk teenagers unable to walk on a straight line. “never.” you say and he chuckles.

“ten bucks the party ends in a fight in two hours.”

“fifteen that rafe ruins everything after coming from the basement stoned in a hour.” you reply and he snorts. “dammit that’s a good argument.”

“yeah, and your argument involves fighting and fighting usually involves you.” you say turning your body to face him.

“are you worried about me?” he smirks. you just roll your eyes. “don’t worry princess you know i can throw a punch.”

“and so can they. it’s like you always have a purple bruise on your face.” 

“it's my charm.” the boy is impossible.

“this is charming. girls don’t like that, you know?” you say and he shrugs.

“it never stopped me before.” he winks at me. “and it’s not like i care about their opinion.” 

you furrow your eyebrows but don’t get the chance to respond because you hear a voice behind you. 

“y/n! pogue! i don’t remember inviting you guys.” you and jj share a look and you notice his jaw clenches. 

“rafe! what a bad surprise!” you say turning to him and smiling. “please don’t be so happy to see us. your other guests will feel bad.”

he looked like a mess. you felt bad for him.

“oh but i am.” he comes closer to you. “why don’t we go upstairs and i’ll show you how much.”

“the only way i’m going to bed with you is if i’m drugged. like you right now... or anytime am i right?” you say and in a blink of an eye he grabs your arm. “you listen to me you little-”

“you let go of her right now or i’ll swear i’ll kill you with my bare hands.” you hear jj’s steady voice behind you. 

rafe pushes you aside getting face to face to jj. “i’d like to see you try, maybank.” that’s it.

“rafe you touch him and i tell your father you’re using drugs under his roof.” you say and all his anger is now directed to you. you two have a silent eye-fight until he whispers “get out of my house.” you hold his gaze a little more showing that you’re not afraid of him, grab jj’s arm and leave.

finally some fresh air.

“really, i could be sleeping right now.” jj complains once you’re out. 

the second time...

you could feel the sweat on your back even though the night was cold. you already felt a little dizzy but the boneyard was only getting more crowded. the music was loud and everybody was slighly drunk by now.

“i’m gonna get more beer!” you shout and sarah nods. you walk towards the keg leaving sarah dacing behind you. 

it was like a sixth sense warning you that something was going to happen. as soon as the keg is visible you see jj and topper bodies close to each other’s and both with a furious look on their faces.

there wasn’t many people around them and you only spot john b trying to stop them, you looked around again not knowing where pope and kie were. well damn, peace was never an opition.

“here we go again.” you mumble to yourself and run to them.

“you dirty pogues think you own everything here!” topper says and laughs coldly. “face it maybank, you don’t own shit nor will. just look at your dad, he’s your future.” that was low.

and just when jj took a step to murder topper you get in front of him. “jj.” he locks his eyes with yours. he was raging. 

he looks back at topper and intends to take another step. “don’t.” you put your hand on his chest. you were brave enough to put yourself in front of him when he was about to punch someone so he knew you wouldn’t leave without him. even with a gaze that could open someone’s head open you felt his body relax a little. 

you look behind you to see that john b was pulling topper away from you two and that the people around you went back to the party, upset they didn’t have a show to enjoy.

“you should’ve let me kill him” he says. 

“and let topper has the privilege of getting hit by jj maybank’s hands? no way.” you say and turn back to look at him. he was shaking his head and looking down. 

you knew exactly what he was thinking.

“you know he was wrong.” you say.

jj laughs still not looking at you. “was he though?”

“yes.” you answer with a steady voice. “look at me maybank.”

he doesn’t. yeah sometimes he’s like a 8 year old boy.

“maybank.”

he looks up with a certain anger in his eyes. not at topper. not at you. at himself.

“you already are better than he’ll ever be. he’s a shitty person and money can’t change that. but you... you’re- indescribably wonderful. no one on this island has a heart as good as yours jj.” you really meant these words.

it took a few seconds but the anger vanished. his eyes were now shining and you could see a little smile forming on his face making one appears on yours as well.

“you worry about me.” he pokes your belly with his finger. you roll your eyes. “don’t flatter yourself.”

he pulls you into a hug and whispers a ‘thank you’ on your ear. you just hug him tight. for someone who entitle himself as non hugger his hug was pretty nice.

the third time...

you enter the chateau seeing red.

“i can not believe you sank rafe’s boat.” you say looking directly at jj who was laying relaxed on the couch smoking a pot next to pope.

“yeah pope, how could you man!?” jj says taking a hit of his blunt. pope looks at him in disbelif.

“i told him not to do it y/n.” pope says standing up. “he never listens to me.”

“he never listens to anyone. goddammit jj!”

“now you’re here y/n i’m leaving. john b is at sarah’s so the house is yours to end him and throw his body on the water without any witnesses.” pope says giving you a tap on the shoulder.

once the door is closed you raise your eyebrows at the boy. “so??? why???” 

he just sighs. he just fucking sighs. “he deserved it.” why is he like this? so stubborn.

“maybank you shouldn’t have done this. he knows it was you, you know? you can go to jail!!” 

“i’m not going to jail.” he stands up and walk towards the bathroom.

“tell that to the cops that are in front of his house right fucking now. if he mentions you jj-“

“y/n he can’t prove it was me. it’s very simple.” then he closes the door. what was he? 12? “and don’t leave! i’m gonna take a shower and then we can hang out.” he screams.

you don’t even know why you worry about that boy so much. 

you complain but you wait for him, it’s not like you had any other friend to hang out with.

you always liked the chateau. looking around you notice how there’s things from everybody thrown by the house. the boys and kie make this place feel like home.

suddendly you hear a car door being closed from outside and check from the window who it is.

fuck fuck fuck

you run outside before he gets close.

“where is he?” rafe tries to pass through you but you doesn’t let him. “he’s not here, i’m looking for him too.” 

“then you tell that son of a bitch that he’s dead. my father is going to fucking kill me because of what he did.” you try not to look scared by his estate. 

“you don’t even know if it was him.”

“IT WAS.” he yells and you flinch. “of course you’re defending him, he turned you into a stupid pogue.” 

“you say that like we didn’t grow up together!” you raise your voice. “i didn’t change! you’re the one who started to have this obsession of being a replica of your father! well, guess what rafe he’s not a good person-” you didn’t finish because he punches you. 

you couldn’t belive that this was happening. it was like time had stopped. the same feeling of waking up of a nightmare and not being able to forget about it.

you look back at him to see his shocked expression. he looks like he’s trying to formulate a phrase but you don’t let him. you knee him on the stomatch. 

he squirms in pain. you put your head next to his ear. “get out of my house.” you say and go back inside of the chateau without looking back. 

your mind was racing. your emotions were all over the place.

you thought rafe was capable of a lot of things but not hitting a girl. you didn’t want to see your kinder garden friend as a villian so you always avoited the fights or even talking to him. well, that’s too late now.

you don’t even think about putting an ice on the bruise. you grab the blunt jj was previously smoking light it up and bring it to your mouth. leaning on the kitchen counter you breathe. you needed to slow your accelerated heart.

your right cheek bone stings and you don’t even know what are you going to tell jj.

and as if he was hearing your thoughts he opens the bathroom door. walking to the living room you notice he was only wearing a shorts and looking at something on his hands.

“hey i just found 10 bucks on my pockets! i didn’t even-” then he sees you. “what the fuck y/n!?? what happened???? who did this???” he comes to you and grabs your face with such a delicacy, like you were made of porcelain.

“you should see the other guy.” you smile but he doesn’t. you’ve never seen him this serious actually.

“who?”

“who do you think?” you answer and he eyes darkens. even his posture changes.

“i’ll kill him.”

he takes his hand of your face and starts searching for a shirt. “jj-”

“no y/n he crossed the line now. who hits a girl??? how could he even think of lay a finger on you!???” he puts his sleeveless shirt on.

“if you go he will be sure it was you. let’s just stay here and watch a movie, it’s not worthy.” he just looks at you.

“y/n you can’t be serious-”

“c’mon... stay.” you just look at him in the eye and his face softens. he walks to you and pulls you into a hug.

“you have a really nice hug.” you say and he just kisses your forehead.

“i’ll let you pick the movie.”

...and the last time.

there’s nothing more boring than midsummers party. it was everything you hated together: kooks, rich food and heels. your night was only tolerable because kie, sarah and pope were there.

“i need to get drunk fast.” you say when you ended another glass of champagne.

“don’t we all?” kie says.

“are we going to be like that when we grow up? i mean i don’t want to spend the night in an annoying party talking about business and golf.” sarah complains and you and kie chuckle.

you were about to answer when you see jj maybank on the other side of the room entering the mansion. he wasn’t supposed to work tonight.

you should be payed for being his life savior all the time.

“i need to go to the toilet, i’ll be right back.” you tell the girls and walks fast to where jj entered.

as you entered the place you hear some inaudible noises coming from the toilet.

you walk in there in time to see jj and rafe looking at each other like they were animals about to attack their prey. jj was way too angry and rafe was alone which it was very unusual.

“it’s sad you don’t have timon and pumbaa today but at least now we can have a fair fight.”

rafe’s next phrase surprised you. “maybank, i don’t wanna fight today.”

“i don’t care. should’ve thought about that before hitting a girl.”

rafe’s expression turned to pure sadness. you almost felt bad for him. he just needed to go to a phychologist or get some serious help.

“it was an accident. it’s never going to happen again.”

“i know it won’t.”

suddenly jj punches rafe on the face. rafe even stumbles from the force of it. he was going to attack jj when you got in front of him.

“one move and i scream.”

you analyzed him. rafe looked tired. and he couldn’t look at you in eyes. he seemed ashamed, probably because of what he did to you.

“i’m so sorry y/n.” he whispers then just leaves the room with a hand on his face.

“what is it that you’re always in the right place at the right time?”

you turn to jj. “it’s a gift.”

exchanging looks you add “and i appreciate you defending my honor but no fighting for me anymore maybank. or i will fight you.”

“i’m gonna be honest i’m not sure i can promise you that.” he replies and your face is serious. “and you’re one of the few people i’d let fight me.”

then he looks at you up and down with a sweet smile on his face. “your dress is purple.”

you look down at it and blush not even knowing why. “yeah- my mom picked up for me i don’t really like purple-”

“you look perfect.” he says and you look back at him to find him still smiling. his gaze was intense and sweet at the same time. “at least the color is not on our face today.” he completes and you laugh finally understanding his smile.

“yeah... you’re a bad influence on me maybank.” you take a step towards him.

“maybe... but maybe you’re suppose to bring light to my life like that yin yang thing you know” he says and you make a face. he laughs and takes a step as well. you were inches from each other now.

grabbing you’re hand he whispers “can i kiss you?” you nod way too fast.

the kiss was slow and filled with emotion, like the both of you needed that for too long and didn’t know. unlike romantic books your heart wasn’t racing, you were calm and peaceful. if you could put into words you would say you felt home.

pulling away from each other to breath you hide your face on his neck. “are you embarrassed right now?” he asks and you could feel the smirk on his face.

“yes.”

“why?”

“i don’t know...” you say. “i don’t wanna be a one time thing.”

he moves his shoulder and you understood that it was for you to look at him. he grabs both of your hands. “you’re not. i can promise you that.”

“how?” you ask.

his eyes were shining. exactly like when the sun reflects on the sea. “i’ll never get a purple bruise on my face ever again. for you.” he says and you smile.

you kiss him gently on the cheek and hug him. you really liked his hug.

[pirate-kwazii]

Watching Ring Of Fire now so here’s more of my thoughts

Is that a fence in the water

Is everyone groaning about the sea urchin and crab or yawning? I can’t tell

Okay I’ve had the Vegimals song stuck in my head for awhile now

Kwazii’s alarm clock shoots tennis balls at him- same

And Dashi starts the day with yoga

Tweaks fell asleep playing video games mood

Shellington what the fUCK

Tf is that- is that lava?!?

Oh ring of fire like the volcanoes- I feel stupid now

They’re doing their role call out of order

What the fuck Kwazii why did you eat 17 kelp cakes

Is the only thing you eat is seaweed

VIDEO TRAINING VIDEO TRAINING

*terrible accordion playing* *everyone winces*

How many cousins do you have peso?!?!

Kwazii: I’m going out and FAST!!!!

Captain: *eyebrow raise*

Kwazii: I mean I’m checking the engine

MORE GUPS?!?!

“Don’t push the Z button” Kwazii is definitely going to press it I bet all 3 of my dollars

Wait why did Peso and Barnacles need a Gup if they were taking the octopod?!

How much time does Tweak have to keep making all these gups?!

Aw Kwazii loves that Gup so much

WHAT IS BARNACLES WEARING WHAT THE HELL NO

Kwazii’s copying it omg-

Shellington and Dashi are such nerd friends it’s actually adorable

Tremors those are probably important

Ring-shape? Like the ring of fire-

Oh no comms are down

A TSUNAMI?!?!

Mateys you should’ve stayed at the Octopod

Kwazii saved Tweak’s life and now it’s flooding

Why don’t they know about the Ring of Fire if they LIVE in the ocean

Oh no the comms are down they can’t reach them!!!!

Damn at least no one is alone...

Of course the Chinstrap Penguins live on a volcano

Well at least Shellington and Dashi are alright and above water so there’s a lower chance of drowning

“How does he know I’m an octonaut?” Maybe it’s because you’re wearing the octonauts colors and the logo all over it

Wow itd be faster to push the stupid thing

Last time you guys followed the screaming sound there was a tsunami

Well at least you found the whales you wanted to find

“I’ve always wanted to see a whale but not like this!” I’d sure hope so Shellington

Of course the volcano erupts

Tweak Kwazii are ya okay?!

THEY DONT HAVE AIR TANKS ON THEM OH NO

TWEAK!!!

Now is not the time to copy Barnacles- holy shit it worked

She just noticed that?!

Shit you guys are stuck

Kwazii beggars can’t be choosers

Why is that the only way to get across Tweak

No Tweak pay attention

ITS ON FIRE

I really hope you guys can hold your breath

She’s pulling a Ladybug and the things she looks at glow now

Improvised fire extinguisher

WHY IS EVERYTHING ON FIRE ARENT YOU UNDERWATER

Eww they landed in seaweed and a banana peel

Why does everyone end in the garbage disposal- sorry compost

Oh he almost fell in-

*opens door and floods room* Guess we’re swimming after all

Tunip leave him it’s natural selection

Grouber just sits and eats during a panic- same

“Lesson Nine- dealing with disasters” what

Why is the background of those videos so bad

I mean it’s rad but also bad

Tunip: *hands the Vegimals a bunch of shovels* good luck

Mateys how did that dirt pile work-

*quickly unplants all the seaweed*

*vacuums the animals*

LEAVE THE SEAWEED YOU HAVE ENOUGH

“You gotta save us!” Why didn’t you get their attention sooner?

Why do none of them notice the volcanoes that they live on/near

We’ve seen the rafts it won’t work

How the hell did you think of that

Is that even possible

They only leave Inkling in charge when legit no one else is there

Kwazii and Tweak: *mimic pirates, rabbits and Barnacles*

Peso and Barnacles: *mimic penguins*

How was the lava that aLMOST COOKED YOUR EGGS NOT A WARNING SIGN

Wow Inkling is not good at this I see why he’s never in charge

Even Kwazii and the Vegimals have managed the octopod better than that

Why is there is Disco Ball

Why does it always switch to the training videos

“Dashi’s so good at this” yeah it’s almost like it’s her JOB

There was a BUTTON FOR THAT EXACT REASON AND YOU DIDNT THINK TO PRESS IT FIRST?!?!?!

Took you long enough jeez

What is they fall off of the “slide”

“Mothers and babies first” anyone else can perish

Well that egg is dead

Oh never mind he got it

WHY DIDNT YOU TWO GET ON THE SIDE TOO TWEAK WOULD UNDERSTAND

I mean she and Kwazii are trying not to be set on fire so I’m sure she’d get it

“I just hope everyone else is okay” well shellington and Dashi are stuck on a volcano that’s exploding trying to get a beached whale out on a very slow Gup, the Vegimals are trying to evacuate the garden, and Tweak and Kwazii are trying to get out of the burning and flooding repair area so no I don’t think anyone else is okay

“This isn’t working” no really Dashi

Oh the crabs know Kwazii that explains so much

Another Training Video?!

The crew all look so nervous when they appear in a training videos

Oh now Dashi and Shellington are mimicking Tweak

Poor Shellington he’s clumsy

“I have to say I.. really like that plan” yea cuz it’s the one that doesn’t involve you burning in the lava

Shellingtons getting a workout in oof

He’s about to fall into the lava

Now the crabs about to fall into the water

Oh god he’s screwed

Crab jump on the whale- now he’s flying

Shellington get out of the lava!!!

Alright some people are safe

Oh never mind the other volcanoes are erupting too

That water level is dangerously high are they gonna be okay

Kwazii don’t phrase it like that it sounds like you’ll die

KWAZII!!!!!

Oh god oh no his tail

Mimicking Barnacles saved the day

TWEAK!!! KWAZII!!!

Oh they are alright thank god

They’re gonna be traumatized from this- *angst time*

“And how will we get up there” Kwazii making good points again

Kwazii with a grappling hook is a terrifying idea please get one

And now they find out the comms are down

Kwazii trying to be helpful

WHY DOES SHE HAVE AN EMERGENCY CARROT STASH

KWAZII GOT ONE TOO

Another video but this ones useless-

TWEAK YOU TURNED OFF THE POWER

They sounded the octo alert together!!!

Babies

EVERYONES OKAY!!!!

OF COURSE THERES ANOTHER ONE

Kwazii and Tweak: ya we’re good

Also them: *trying to not to drown or burn*

They are all gonna connect to each other like Voltron aren’t they

KWAZII DID PRESS IT IM NOT LOSING MY $3 TODAY!!!

Tweak: I got a plan

*crashes through the hatch*

Kwazii: *excited cat sounds*

Yeah they’re going together naturally

“Mega Gup Z” epic naming skills Tweak

“Seat swap” “wait a minute- WHOA”

“It’s completely covered in sea creatures” there’s no way you get all of them

Oh good some are swimming away

“Sit tight” they can’t really do anything else Captain

Do we know where they go after being S U C C E D into the mega Gup z?

And now rocks are everywhere

Kwazii’s excited cat noises are giving me life

Couldn’t the crabs walk away?

Oh no they’re getting stuck in the volcano-

Oh they’re good thank Neptune

Dashi: yea it’s bout to erupt we gotta go

Peso: I saw something inside there we gotta go look

Does Peso want them to die

Of course the animals sound snobby

“Why ever would we do that” CUZ ITS ERUPTING i swear all the creatures have the IQ of a walnut

“I didn’t even make a button for it” bruh

Yeah just like Voltron

Kwazii: *even more excited cat noises cuz he gets to destroy things*

Why do you all name the moves with the word “mantis” in front of them?

They all share one braincell and Barnacles and Peso have it 90% of the time

Tweak gets the other 10%

Everyone else runs on pure chaotic energy

“Tweak Status Report!” Tweak: WE ARE FUCKED

Let Tweak say “Fuck” 2k21

Kwazii: *e x c i t e d c a t n o i s e s*

*throws sea creatures at whale*

*blows up into five gups in massive explosion in front of erupting volcano*

Is all that sea urchin thinks about is food

“You know what I’d like? Dinner” “you know what pal, that sounds great”

“Have the eruptions stopped” “yea but that’s not what I called about”

Is Inkling trying to be more than that guy who sits in his library all day?

Yea it’s not hatching because of the bandage all around it

Please say the egg doesn’t die

Oh it’s alive good

Octonauts: remember that island that got destroyed by a volcano? Would you like to live on an island that volcano created?

Penguins: not really

Octonauts: too bad

Vegitoa? Wow

ITS THAT STUPID SONG AGAIN LAST TIME IT WAS IT MY HEAD FOR TWO WEEKS

“It still felt like we were working as a team” maybe cuz you were all copying each other the whole time

“You really, really need to update those training videos” yeah fair enough

Of course the Vegimals still remember the dance

I see what the hype was about that was a fantastic movie mateys... though everyone’s probably gonna have some problems after that

[haikyuucute]

Don’t Call It A Crush (Ushijima Wakatoshi) [Part 2]

Summary: Ushijima Wakatoshi is convinced he doesn’t have a crush on you

Warnings: Implied smut, angst, smut in future parts

Word Count: 2.5k

[A/N]: Okay so Tendou acts a little bit as the villain but I needed him to further the plot, so unfortunately he doesn’t seem like the best friend to have in this. Also kinda messy but I’m just gonna chalk it up to my lingering writers block

Part 1

—————

��Waka-kun!” You sighed out dramatically as soon as you approached his seated form in the cafeteria. You draped yourself against his back but he made no move to push you off.

“(F/N),” he said, before continuing to eat his lunch while Tendou greeted you from across him.

You sighed again, a pout on your lips as you sat down beside the ace, “I think I left my jacket in your dorm last night.”

He hummed, “I’ll check after practice—“

”You came over!?” Tendou exclaimed.

”Yeah!” You nodded, “Where were you—“

”The gym— you should’ve texted me.”

”Well, I didn’t know!”

He frowned, sprawling his arms out on the lunch table, when he realized something. He looked at Ushijima, “Is that why you were working on homework at one in the morning?”

”Yes,” he simply answered, making you gasp.

”You had homework!? Why’d you let me interrupt you!”

”You wanted to come over.”

You pouted again, ignoring the way your heart fluttered at the fact he dropped everything just so you could hang out, “Idiot, you could’ve said no.”

You huffed to yourself. Every once in a while Ushijima would pull stupid shit like that. There had even been one time a couple months ago now where he had even taken the fall for you when you were caught skipping out on class duties. He told the teacher he convinced you to come to his volleyball practice, and what was worse was that you didn’t even find out until he was missing from practice due to detention.

And there was another time about a month ago now where a stray volleyball had hit you hard in the leg and he insisted he leave practice to help you to the infirmary even though there were plenty of other capable players to take you— the captain left practice. Sure it was only for a short while but the coach still didn’t appreciate it (Tendou even told you he made him run laps after practice).

He didn’t do stuff like that too often but every time he did it made you feel really guilty and you hated to admit that it was why it made it that much more difficult to get over him. Every incident gave you some hope that there was a slight chance he really did feel something for you, but that hope was easily crushed when he never made any move to return the affection you’d give him.

Tendou’s eyes were narrowed on Ushijima as he tried to figure him out.

”What were you two doing?” He asked.

”We watched a crappy horror movie cause I thought it was funny,” you frowned deeper, “It was definitely not worth staying up til one in the morning to finish homework.”

”I enjoyed it,” Ushijima said, taking another bite of his lunch.

You raised an eyebrow, “You didn’t even understand half of what was happening.” You said, to which he simply shrugged.

”You watched a bad horror movie without me!?” Tendou shouted, clearly offended.

”I thought you’d be there!” You shouted back.

”Well I wasn’t—!”

”Then we’ll watch it this weekend, so shut up—“

”You two are yelling already?” A new voice interjected.

You looked up to find Semi and Reon, Semi taking his seat next to you while Reon walked around the table to sit next to Tendou.

”Yeah, well, Satori’s being a baby,” you muttered, answering Semi who asked the question.

”About what?” Reon added.

”Nothing, he’s just upset because Ushijima and I watched a movie without him.”

Semi hummed, before grabbing an article of clothing out of his bag and dropping it on your head.

With furrowed brows, you pulled it off to find that it was the jacket you thought you left at Ushijima’s.

”Is that your jacket?” Tendou suddenly asked, eyebrow raised.

It was as if your heart stopped in that moment as you turned to look at Tendou. There was always just something about his face when he was thinking, that made you anxious.

”Yeah,” you nodded, brushing it off as you tucked it away in your own bag.

”You were at Semi’s last night?”

There. You pinpointed exactly why your anxiety was justified when it came to Tendou.

”Uh— yeah, I went over to study,” you answered coolly.

You snuck a glance at Semi, whose eyes were now widened in surprise, looking like a dead give away.

You quickly stomped on his foot, making him hiss, but he quickly got the gist, and nodded, “Yeah, we were studying...” he trailed off, glaring at you.

Reon frowned, “You were? You should’ve called, I could use the extra studying.”

”Sorry,” you answered bashfully, “We’ll do that next time— Tendou stop looking at me like that,” you snapped at the red-head, his piercing gaze sending chills down your spine.

He glanced back and forth between you and Semi, before his eyes landed on Ushijima, who looked the same as always, but a smile curled at the corners of Tendou’s lips anyway.

”Sorry, sorry~” he practically sang, “Tell me more about that movie now.”

You eyed him warily, but if it took the focus off of you and Semi then you’d take it.

The rest of lunch felt off from that moment on, and you knew whatever Tendou was thinking wasn’t good.

If only you truly knew what he was planning.

The thing about Tendou was that just because he was a strange guy, it didn’t make him stupid. After all, he was able to keep his grades high enough in a school like Shiratorizawa in order to continue playing volleyball.

He also hated being wrong.

Unfortunately, it happened a lot more often outside of volleyball but he still had unmatchable observational skills.

So when he first had the hunch back in second year that you had a crush on Ushijima, he did everything he could to figure out if he was right.

And he was. Making him and Semi to be the only two people that knew about your crush on Ushijima.

At the time you forced him to promise not to tell Ushijima and as much of a little shit he could be, he did cherish your friendship, so he kept his mouth shut.

But almost a year later he had noticed little things here and there that Ushijima would do for you, subtle enough for pretty much everyone to miss, including you, but not for Tendou.

So he was hell-bent on figuring out if those gestures Ushijima did meant something more.

But the male was as dense as ever and prying any information about his love life was useless.

However, a new factor had entered the equation that made Tendou’s brain start working overtime.

Your jacket.

It wasn’t hard to figure out what was going on between you and Semi, and Tendou was more than intrigued.

After the jacket mix up in lunch he started paying closer attention to both of you. Noting every time one of you left and the other followed only ten minutes later, watching the way you both interacted in each other’s presences, and the terrible cover up’s when one was asked where they were.

After about two weeks of watching and observing silently he was originally going to confront you about it, but a much more entertaining option had come up one afternoon.

Unfortunately, it started a bit of a shit storm.

Ushijima, Tendou, you, Semi, and Reon all decided to meet up and study in the library on one of those rare days that practice ended a bit earlier than usual.

It wasn’t unusual for the five of you to study together whenever you had the chance, especially for Ushijima’s sake who wasn’t exactly the smartest ​​​​​​​person outside of volleyball.

The plan was to head to your dorms and grab your books and meet up in the library, but Ushijima and Tendou had made it down first.

With no sign of you and the others yet as the two got settled down at a table, Tendou decided that now would be the best time to try and figure out again if Ushijima liked you.

“So, (F/N) and Semi...” Tendou started, gauging if the two names together sparked any kind of reaction from the ace.

It didn’t.

Ushijima looked up at Tendou, waiting for him to finish, but when he didn’t he asked, “What about (F/N) and Semi?”

”Oh nothing~” he sing songed, leaning back in his seat, balancing the chair on its back legs, “Do you think they like each other?”

Ushijima looked mildly confused at this, “Isn’t that why they’re friends?”

Tendou laughed, “I meant more than friends Wakatoshi.”

”Why are you asking?”

”They just seen closer than usual, don’t you think. I’ve seen the two sneaking around together a lot~”

Ushijima didn’t understand what Tendou was getting at and it showed. But he supposed that the two of you had grown closer, however it didn’t really make him think anything of it. You still snuck into his and Tendou’s dorm on a regular basis and hung out with the two as usual so he couldn’t specifically say he thought there was something going on between you and Semi.

But there were two words that Tendou had said that stuck out to him.

”Sneaking around?”

His smile widened upon seeing more of a reaction from his friend, “I’m pretty sure (F/N) and Semi are sleeping with each other,” he bluntly stated.

Ushijima didn’t know what to make of the accusation, but he did know he felt....offended.

“(F/N) isn’t like that. If she was in a relationship with Semi she would’ve told us.”

”Unless it’s just sex,” he suggested, leaning forward and resting his chin upon his crossed arms on the table. He looked up at Ushijima who looked even more offended now, “Think about it, she was at his dorm the night she thought she left her jacket at ours.”

”She said they were studying.”

”They seemed very panicked for two friends just studying.”

Ushijima narrowed his eyes at Tendou, “(F/N)‘s not sleeping with Semi.”

Tendou hummed, “What makes you think that?”

”Because (F/N)‘s not like that,” he reiterated.

”But what if she was? Maybe you don’t want to believe it because of your little crush on her~”

His eyes narrowed further, “I’ve told you before Tendou, I don’t have feelings for (F/N).”

”Are you sure?”

“Enough Tendou,” Ushijima said, getting annoyed now, “I told you before, I would never date (F/N).”

Tendou sighed, it seemed that he wouldn’t be getting anything out of him today, and besides, he also spotted Reon making his way to their table, “Fine, fine. I’ll drop it.”

“Hey,” Reon greeted, taking a seat beside Ushijima.

”Where’s Semi?” Tendou asked him upon noticing he hadn’t come down with him.

”He’ll be down soon, he misplaced one of his assignments so he’s looking for it right now. He said we can start without him. What about (F/N)? Is she here yet.”

”She was helping Shirabu stretch before going to her dorm,” Ushijima answered, “She should be down soon.”

”Will she mind if we start without her?”

”No, she won’t care,” Tendou said, pulling out his study guides as he reluctantly started studying.

Though unknown to the three of them, and especially Tendou and Ushijima... you actually were there.

Your back was pressed against one of the book shelves, out of sight but definitely not out of ear shot.

Your heart was pounding out of your chest.

Tendou knew about you and Semi.

He told Ushijima.

Ushijima admitted he’d never date you.

It was one thing when you just assumed he didn’t feel the same but hearing it was completely different.

You were mortified, embarrassed, and heart broken.

Tears blurred your vision and you quickly made your way out of the library, using the farthest exit so they wouldn’t spot you.

Only one thing replayed in your head: Semi was still in his dorm.

Your legs moved on their own accord as you made your way to the boys dormitory. At this point you had been a pro at evading the hall monitors and you easily snuck in. The next thing you knew, you were standing in front of Semi’s dorm and knocking.

He swung the door open, his neutral face turning into one of worry when he saw your tear-stained face.

”(F/—“

He couldn’t get your name out before you were pulling him towards you, lips crashing against his. You then pushed him back into his room, shutting the door behind the two of you.

You broke the kiss briefly to pull your shirt over your head, and Semi decided to take this as his opportunity to figure out what was wrong.

”(F/N), why are you crying—“

His mouth fell shut at the glare you sent him once you had your shirt off— he had never seen you like this before.

”Ushijima doesn’t and will never like me and Tendou figured out we’re fucking, so right now I need you to make me forget everything.”

His eyes widened, “Wha— how—?”

”It doesn’t matter,” you muttered, going to close the distance between you two again, but he gripped your jaw, holding you back.

”We’re supposed to be going to the library, they’re gonna notice we’re both gone.”

”Does it even matter?” You snapped, “Tendou told Ushijima anyway.”

Semi looked conflicted but you could see he was going to give in.

”Fine,” he relented, “But Reon might come in to check on me if I’m not down there soon, so we’re doing this quick.”

”Whatever— just fuck me already Eita.”

His jaw clenched as he shook his head, “You’re fucking ridiculous.”

With that he was pulling you towards his bed.

—

What happened then was a series of unfortunate coincidences that played out back to back.

First it was when Tendou had been too loud down in the library.

The second was when the librarian kicked the three of them out because of the noise.

The third was Reon suggesting that they go back to his dorm to study, since Semi was already there and they agreed to just send you a text.

And then you didn’t acknowledge when your phone vibrated with a text from Ushijima.

The last was when the three boys walked in on the middle of Semi fucking you.

Their reactions all differed at the scene in front of them. Reon turned away wide eyed, Tendou grinned widely because he was right, and Ushijima stood frozen.

There were a few moments before you and Semi realized you had an audience and scrambled to cover yourselves up.

And Ushijima was sure those few moments were going to be engrained in his head for a very long time.

He was also sure the way his stomach turned and heart sank would accompany the memory every time he thought of it.

Because the sight of your legs tossed over Semi’s shoulders while he fucked you, the way your face screwed up in pleasure, eyes shut, eyebrows furrowed and mouth slack as a high pitched moan of Semi’s name left your lips. Well— it was not going to be easy to forget.

Hours later when everyone was back in their own dorms and Ushijima finally had enough time to figure out why the image of you with another man rattled him so deeply, he finally admitted it.

“I like (F/N).”

And Tendou grinned.

~~~~

Taglist:

@ushisama @ro-ro-noa

[nekasu]

SnapCube’s Until Dawn Real-Time Fandub Sentence Starters (Part 1)

"I didn't bring my phone. It was in my other pants!" "This is a really long high five." "...I won't tell anyone about this." "Ya see, that's a joke thinger." "Can you see me? Don't answer that." "Who talks to screens? Maybe you can." "We're here in a strange time at a strange place." "Hopefully you enjoyed whatever the hell THIS video was." "When those girls died? That was funny." "My phone still has battery? Holy shit, I gotta keep that warm." "I'm trying to get like 100% on Animal Crossing." "Check it out, I have this gun. It's really really cool." "Are you McCree from Overwatch, hit video game?" "Make sure you don't shoot any guys with that." "Never mind, I do have the key. I just found it in my pocket." "We're all just really good beans at the end of the day." "Why did you hit me? That hurt so much!" "Sorry, I've been in jail a while." "My arm really hurts. Do you have any first aid?" "I just got off the big train in the sky." "This is my Smash invitation and frankly, I deserve it." "It was gonna be a surprise for your birthday, motherfucker!" "Jesus, everyone is so rude. What is this, Rude Mountain?" "This mountain fucking sucks." "I'm here to be rude to people." "I think this is sus. He's definitely the impostor." "As a gamer, I know all about Among Us." "Is this...Tamriel?" "Well, that's a cliff." "No, you got arms!" "I don't speak corn." "Grab my stinky hand!" "I will live on in the vibes!" "No, that's too fast! Oh, god!" "2x4? You're not even a 1x1." "You look so stupid right now." "Hehe, I'm under the bed now!" "It was for a prank video. Come on!" "It's fine, honestly. She has a blanket." "Women never listen to me when I talk..." "Everything's a big deal when you make it." "Oh my god she has pants! What the fuck?!" "No one told me I was wearing pants today!" "It's pretty cold because it's DEAD of winter!" "Hey, tree! Look at me, I'm looming right now!" "Not a blanket, but maybe I can keep you warm." "This fuckin' candle doesn't keep me warm at all.” "At least you're not calling it 'arm pants' this time." "Oh, wow! SHE'S looming! Oh, she can teach me!" "I don't want to play any of your Among Us games." "I have this weird feeling someone's looming around here." "Answer a question for me: how are you feeling today? YEAH!" "Well now, wise guy. Let's see who among us really is the funniest." "Helloooo there! I am Doctor Rabbit. The world's only rabbit rabbit." "Whoa, that guy was straight up looming! I wish I could loom like that.” "Was that that Anus Unnus guy?" "Hey, babe, you wanna go and record a blog with me?" "So are my pranks as good as Markiplier?" "Wait, when did they get the hugging perk?!" "See, that's what I think of your problems, is that they're just some sort of joke." "Got in real trouble with the locals, I did. They don't let me back there." "Maybe you're just trying to be woke or something." "Your insurance isn't covering these sessions, by the way." "We can send, like, aura to each other. You know like, uh, vibes." "I don't guess, I know. I never guess, I know everything. I do the math." "Two plus two equals you're my friend. Just kidding, it's four." "I just hurt all of my bones." "High five? No, you're too far away. My bad." "Did you solve my wolverine puzzle?" "Did you know doors hurt?" "Everyone has a raccoon!" "Why don't you keep it to yourself, tough guy?" "Save the fight until I have the camera ready, okay?" "That's not a view, that's a snow." "I think you're in the corridor of the monkey." "If you throw that me, I'm gonna fuckin' flip my goddamn lid." "You want some snow, bitch?!" "Lady? Girl? ...I should really learn her name." "Water's looking a little green, that's just the way I like it." "Did the ghosts take my friends again?" "I'm actually half ghost." "Is that a lightsaber? Like from Star Trek?" "I'm gonna level with you, I hate being in the same room as you." "BOOOOOOOOOOOK!" "You like the new office? I fuckin' don't." "You didn't read through the contract, did you kiddo?" "I can get fucked? Finally!" "Even the ghost agrees." "I should have fucking known. This ghost is such a libro." "That's great and all, but I'm gonna look like a jackass!" "This is what happens when you pull mean pranks. God punishes an elk." "THAT was a HEALING spell?! Oh god!" "Door key? You're pretty dorky!" "I can imagine a lot of dipshits, in fact." "Get un-naked! Get un-naked! Get un-naked! Get un-naked!" "I'm casting a hex on you now. Have fun getting hexed, idiot." "See? The Kinect causes psychic powers." "I can't believe Blue's freakin' clue is on here." "Ugh...I freaking hate doors." "Blue save me..." "Telling them the vibes made you do it won't hold up in a court of law." "Oh, would you look at the time. It's time for me to rip you a new one again!" "I cannot wait, but I suppose I'll have to." "The hex worked great. Now let's see if I can go shoot what remains of her." "I love running through the forest like a fucking weirdo." "You look like an idiot on the ground there." "If I have anything to say about it, you won't make it back." "I wanna see you, whatever you are, you funny-looking fellow." "Why do I have so much trouble with doors?" "Hey, funny voice! Fuck off, please!" "It's a saw trap, you dumb piece of shit!"

"Seems mysterious, but I won't shoot him this time. Gotta weaken him with the hex." "You're gonna get fucked if you can't say goodbye to a ghost. Trust me on that one." "Hey, uh, do you wanna stop having trouble with doors, now'd be a phantasmical time!" "Unless you want to work with me here, well...we're gonna be stuck here until dawn." "Not like you've ever done anything on purpose in your entire life, you fucking hack." "What, not even a goddamn laugh? Oh, it's gonna be a rough fuckin' couple weeks." "I can't believe I made it up to Rude Mountain only to be discovered by rude people." "I've got all my gamerscore on my phone, so I'm hoping that nobody really touched it.” "That's pretty cringe of you, buddy. I'm gonna put you in my Cringe Tuesday compilation." "If I wanted to talk about beans, I'd hang around with the fuckin' Among Us crew down there." "You know what? I have two arms, so I guess I CAN carry both of them at the same time." "I just got my lips unstuck. Aw, geez. I've been trying to talk to you guys this whole time."  "I left some beans in my backpack. They might be a few years old, but they don't really expire." "I should've known that coming to Rude Mountain would have made you worse as a person." "I've just been playing a lot of Among Us recently and I've just been trying to really get good at lying. "Oh, so NOW you're a funny guy, huh? You think you got your own jokes?! Ya think this is stand up?!" "I have blankets in the back, but I'm gonna go to the front just to see if I can spice things up a little." "I'm here to help you, and whaddya do? You spit in my goddamn face! ...Metaphorically, of course.” "What do you take me for, some kind of clown?! Some kind of Boo Boo the Fool that ain't done this rodeo before?!" "Here at therapy we're here to answer the one big burning question everyone's got: what the FUCK is wrong with you?" "I noticed you don't have much of a sense of humor. That might explain all the shit you've gotten into recently, wouldn't it?" "Well with my ten step plan I'll be happy to go plumb the depths of your sad, scared little mind and see what makes you...tick, as it were."

[glitxhwayventeen]

We Might Be Dead By Tomorrow

Minghao: Chapter 3 (Beautifully Unfinished)

Characters: Minghao x female reader

Genre/Warnings: multi-member au (different scenarios), werewolf au, fantasy, angst, blood mentions, runaways, domestic violence (I mean not really because she doesn’t really want to hurt him she’s just sad and lashing out), sleep seducing (If that’s a thing?), sleep/entranced fucking, blood mentions, death mentions, suggestive/slight smutty content, violence. Any others will be put as warnings when future chapters are thought up/written.

Author’s Note: Have any of y’all seen American Horror Story Roanoke? Well, that’s where I got the inspiration for this chapter. You didn’t ACTUALLY think I’d have a story with a fully happy couple with no tragedies or drama did you? But, if you want a song to listen to, I recommend Beautifully Unfinished by Ella Henderson and I recommend listening to it started at the point where they go to sleep. It’s perfect for the mood the Main Character’s feeling

Please remember that all of these chapters and the content within them are a work of fiction! They’re just for fun/entertainment!

Bold= Dialogue Italics= Thoughts

🥀

We Might Be Dead By Tomorrow Master List

Chapter 3: Beautifully Unfinished

It had been a few days since the Siren incident. You hadn’t heard anything since. So, of course like the fucking dumbasses you all were, you all began to forget about it and let your guards down. You all carried on like everything was normal, but everything was far from it.

You had all a long day of shopping at the market. You really just wanted to go back home and fall asleep to recover some of your energy. But when you got back, you had bigger things to worry about.

See, both Junhui and Minghao were in rut. Typically, before you came along, their ruts were always at the same time so they both… helped each other out a bit until it passed. But now that you were in the picture, Minghao had you to help him get through it. It left Jun a mess, he wasn’t upset that he didn’t have anyone to help him out or anything, he was glad Hao had finally found you. But he was struggling to… keep himself in check. And while the other wolves just kept their respective mates away from him during his rut, Minghao didn’t really see the point of trying to keep you away from him. You were just as strong as him after all, you could handle yourself and he knew you’d never do anything with him, some part of him always knew that.

But Hao was acting… off. Like even more so than he usually did. Typically, your mate was very reserved and mostly just kept to himself when the others were around and he’d be personable with you behind closed doors. Lately though, he’d been more distant, even with you. Which everyone found odd. Especially during his rut. He should only want you around him during it, but he hadn’t touched you since that day. It confused you a great deal. It was like he was a different person, half the time when you woke up now, he was already gone from bed.

Part of you attributed it to his mating season, but you were still worried about him. He was much more aggressive than usual. Again, that could’ve just been attributed to his sudden hormone change. But when Jun had got a little too close to you, he snapped.

You were in the kitchen with Jun just cleaning up after dinner, everyone took turns and it was now the both of yours. You didn’t mind, you actually liked cleaning and helping out. It made you feel like you were contributing to the pack. Jun however, was getting very bored and very distracted by you.

He couldn’t help it, you were a very attractive girl and he was going through mating season. He was trying his best to maintain his control. He’d NEVER actually act on his need to mate with you of all people, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t still suggestively flirt with you. It was just in his nature at the moment. You both knew that, so you didn’t particularly care.

While scrubbing the dishes, he blew some soapy bubbles at you playfully, so you of course blew some right back at him. It soon turned into an all out bubble fight and ended up with the both of your shirts soaked. You had been wearing a pretty thin T-Shirt and the water had made it start to stick to your bra. Junhui realized this and at first, he tried not to stare. He really did try not to. But, eventually his hormones took over and he caught a glimpse and made a stupid joke about how much better you’d probably look with your shirt off. Again, you just brushed it off and snorted a laugh, because you knew he didn’t mean any harm in it.

But Minghao, who had been sitting on the couch in the living room that was visible from the kitchen, had seen and heard the whole thing and darted to the kitchen. He quickly shoved the older wolf away from you and you watched as his yellow eyes turned red.

“Dont ever fucking speak to her like that again.” He snarled at his brother, leaving you both momentarily stunned.

“Hao, look I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that. I’m going through rut and you know how I get and the dumb shit I say-” Junhui tried to defend himself calmly, thinking that Minghao would forgive him if he apologized for his words. Boy, was he wrong.

“I don’t give a shit. Don’t fucking say shit like that to MY mate ever again!” Minghao’s breathing was becoming unstable due to his anger.

“She’s MINE. Don’t try it again.” He growled, grabbing his brother by the collar of his shirt.

“God would you calm down. I’d never try anything with your mate Hao. It was a joke. Besides, she could use some action…” Jun trailed, implying that the older wolf hadn’t slept with you in some time.

“Even if it’s just a dumb joke, seems like it’s the closest thing she’s getting to sex anytime soon.” He chuckled darkly, his testosterone started to soar from the annoyance that was bubbling inside of him at his brother’s possessiveness.

“I’ll fucking kill you.” Minghao all but screamed, shifting right there in the kitchen and pouncing on Jun.

The rest of the pack heard the whole commotion from upstairs and knew that it wasn’t gonna end well. So, by the time Minghao had phased, five boys were already down the stairs pushing him off of Jun and shoving him outside before he could do any long term damage. You just stood there in complete shock. He was always so good at controlling his emotions, even during rut according to the other boys. What the actual FUCK was his problem?

-

“Hao, what the hell was that?” You shouted at your mate, who seemed completely blindsided by the situation.

“What was what (Y/N)?” He sighed, running his hand through his hair while pushing the sheets and comforter of your bed over so he could get on the mattress.

“You know what Hao. What the hell did you attack Jun for? He’s one of your best friends and you went and wolfed out on him over a dumbass joke?” You screeched while throwing your hands on your hips and tipping your head to the side to show your frustration.

“You’re my mate. He shouldn’t say shit like that to you. That’s my job. Plus I’m going through rut, he should’ve know better.” Minghao just shrugged before he laid down with his hands behind his head on the pillow underneath him.

“Oh rut huh? Is that what you’re gonna blame it on? Could’ve fucking fooled me” you scoffed, laying down on your side of the bed, turned away from him.

“What’s THAT supposed to mean?” He questioned, pulling you to lay flat on your back so he could see your face.

“It means you hardly act like you’re going through rut right now. You’re supposed to be a sex monster and all needy and whiney and shit. But the only reason I’d believe you were in rut right now would be your anger. You haven’t touched me in almost a week but this is your first time going through rut with a mate. You should be completely insatiable right now but you aren’t. So using that as an excuse really doesn’t fucking cut it Hao.” You declared, rolling your eyes at him.

“So you’re pissed because I haven’t fucked you?” He laughed dryly as he threw his head back in the process.

“No. I’m not mad you haven’t had sex with me Hao. I’m upset because you’re acting weird and you won’t tell me what’s wrong or what I’ve done.” You say softly while looking down to avoid his sharp gaze.

Minghao felt a twitch in his heart. He had made you sad and he wasn’t even sure why himself. He never wanted you to be upset with him or yourself. He let out a loud sigh.

“I’m- I’m sorry baby. It’s not you. Or anyone for that matter. I’ve just been struggling. I don’t even know why. I just wake up and feel completely exhausted, then I get up and get angry because I don’t want anyone around you, but Then again I also don’t feel the need to be pounding you into the mattress right now. I’m just… I’m just a mess and I’m not sure what’s happening with me. I’ll work on it.” He stroked your cheek causing you to look into his eyes with your watery ones.

“Do you promise?” You whispered aloud, blinking back any tears that ha began to form and looking up at him sweetly.

“I promise, I’ll try to get my shit together.” He assured you, pecking the tip of your nose to seal the deal.

“And that you’ll actually be here when I wake up tomorrow?” You whimpered while bringing your own hand up to hold the one he had resting on your face.

“Yes baby, I promise.” He rested his forehead against yours before connecting your lips to his for a tender kiss.

“Good,” you say, breaking the kiss after a few seconds to regain some air, “now cuddle me so I can sleep.” You giggled and began situating yourself in his arms.

“With pleasure my love” He smiled, holding you to him like his life depended on it.

-

-

You awoke in the middle of the night to an angelic humming sound. You fluttered your eyes a bit before you turned in your spot. You reached for you mate and quickly realized he wasn’t next to you anymore. You darted up in bed immediately. You had a sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach. You had to find him.

So you got out of bed, throwing one of his large sweaters over your head before you went to sniff him out. His scent lead you outside into the dark forest, the sound had also been coming from the same way. Wolves could see almost just as good at night as they could during the daytime thankfully, otherwise you surely would’ve ended up breaking something as you made your way through the woods. His scent was getting stronger, so was the humming. You went deeper and deeper into the woods before you saw some smog floating just above the ground.

Your mate’s scent lead you further into the smog and closer to the song. You soon came upon a small clearing, a dull light had begun to rise from within the tree branches. You knew he was there. And you knew he wasn’t alone. Your heart was now pounding out of your chest. Fuck.

You pushed past the last of the trees and bushes before you found yourself in the middle of the clearing. What you saw made you sick to your stomach.

It was Minghao, he had his sleep pants pulled down slightly and had a woman’s legs wrapped around his waist. From the angle you had, you could see that the beautiful blonde woman he was with was laying on a tree stump as he plowed into her, her melodious song still drifting through the air. Tears sprung to your eyes and you fell to your knees.

“Minghao?” You sobbed loud enough for the both of them to hear as you began all but hyperventilating on the ground.

It all made sense now: Why he didn’t want to be with you during rut, he had her. Why he was so tired, he was up all night with her. Why he was always gone when you woke up, he was with her. He was fucking a siren behind your back and you were too stupid to even realize it.

Hearing his mate sound so broken while crying out his name helped shake him out of his trance. It was his instinct to always comfort you, even if he was in a dead sleep, he’d wake up to make sure you were alright. His movements halted and he blinked his eyes continuously, trying to force himself awake so that he could get a better gist of his surroundings.

He could see the trees and brush all around him, he could see the moonlight glistening in the sky above him. But why was he outside? And why were you crying for him?

That’s when he found himself deep inside another woman, who was staring back at him fondly and singing, raising her hand up to his face to try and lure him back to her. He knew what he was doing with the woman was wrong, but her song was so enchanting, he almost kept going with his actions.

But he could hear you bawling your eyes out not too far away from him. It brought him to his senses and he quickly withdrew from the woman, pushing her away and growling at her, warning her to stay away from him. She just sat up and looked at him with a smirk on her face.

“What the fuck??” Was all he could muster out, pulling you out of sobbing into your hands to look up at him.

You sniffled, catching his attention and making him attempt to come over to your aid, it was his instinct as your mate to put you first after all. Which only made you back up with a scowl on your face. He hadn’t even… pulled up his pants yet. How DARE he come near you with himself still exposed after he had been inside another woman?

Once he realized why you were inching away from him after a small gust of air hit him, he turned around quickly and positioned himself back into his sweats.

The Siren looked over at both your torn expressions with her blood red eyes and laughed, amused by the predicament that she had purposely created.

“Well, I guess the cat’s out of the bag now huh?” She seductively said, finally sitting all the way up and standing on her two heeled feet.

She started getting closer to Minghao, who snarled at her to stay away from him. She just darkly chuckled.

“Oh relax baby. We had quite a bit of fun these last few days. I already got what I wanted from you so I guess it doesn’t really matter anymore…” she tsked while rubbing over her stomach tenderly, indicating that she already had fertilized eggs she would be laying soon.

“I just kept coming back for more. You were the best I’ve ever had and expecting just makes me so… horny sometimes, I’m not really sure why, so I kept going with it and kept coming back to you.”

You wanted to throw up. You wanted to rip her to shreds. You wanted to beat Minghao to death. You wanted to run away as fast as you could. But you were frozen, too traumatized by the whole situation to even move. You just went back to crying silently.

“I wouldn’t do that. I couldn’t! I have a mate!” He yelled at her, in complete disbelief of the entire situation.

He loved you, more than life itself. Why would he risk what he had with you to be with her? She was lying. She HAD to have been lying… right?

“Yes, you would. Yes, you could. Yes, you did. Mates don’t really matter when it comes to sex. Me and you- We’re both just primal beings, we want to reproduce. You know, I almost moved on to the next town, but then I saw you. I could sense your need to procreate. And now, thanks to you and your willingness, I’m going to.” She devilishly smiled as she came up and began running her hand through his hair.

He jerked his head away and gritted his teeth, eyes already spotting red in anger at the woman.

“Dont fucking touch me!” He lowly let out, his fingers curling into fists and his knuckles turning white from the pressure of how tight his hand was closing.

He was yours. How dare she fucking touch him? Especially when you were right there? Who the fuck did she think she was?

“Why not baby? You’ve already touched me. And now, your mate knows it too.” The Siren fake pouted, swaying her hips from side to side.

“Fuck you! Don’t call me that! I didn’t know what I was doing!” He declared as his claws started to elongate due to the woman’s lack of respect for the both of you.

“Of course you did. My song has you follow me sure. But It doesn’t MAKE you want to fuck me. Sure you may have thought it was a dream, but you still kept coming back. Pun intended.” She taunted in your direction, clearly trying to get under your skin. Of course, it was working.

“You didn’t tell her about the ‘dreams’ you were having either. You wanted it to be a secret. You wanted THIS to be kept a secret. You didn’t want to get caught so we could keep going because you loved it so much. She must not be taking care of your needs too well…” She smirked at you while running her finger up and down his chest, making you cry even harder at her words.

Was it true? Did he really know what he was doing? Did he… want her? More than he wanted you? Did he get with a siren because his instincts told him it was time to mate and he knew you weren’t ready to have a child? Were you really not enough for your own fucking mate?

“Stop fucking talking!” He shouted at the woman as he pushed her back after hearing your sobs worsen at her continuous talking.

“Now Now Minghao. Is that any way to speak to the mother of your children?” She tilted her head and looked at him as if she won, waltzing her way backwards so he could get a better view of her.

She was pregnant. Pregnant with his offspring. The thought made some part of you break, a part that you had already thought broken after having caught them. The part of you that craved him was now… damaged? It felt like there was a hole in the part of you that could sense him, you weren’t sure how to explain it. You just knew that it hurt like hell and you wanted it to stop.

You thought he would care, hell, even he thought he probably should’ve cared a little, but honestly, He didn’t give a shit. She wasn’t really human. THEY wouldn’t be human. She was soulless. THEY would be soulless too. They were evil and he couldn’t care less about what happened to manipulative dark creatures. Those THINGS wouldn’t really be his. They would be hers. They would be sirens that preyed on innocent people the same way she did. She just used him to create more demons.

He had a mate. A mate he loved more than anything. He had you, at least he was still hoping he did. He wanted you to have his children. He wanted to watch your belly grow and wanted to hold your hand while you had his babies. He wanted to raise them to be loving happy good people just like you were.

But here you were, crying over something this evil… thing had started. He refused to allow her to speak anymore, you didn’t deserve to have to sit here and listen to her lies and torments. You didn’t deserve and of this.

“You’re talking about them like they’d be real children, like they’d be real people. They wouldn’t be. They would be pure evil. Just like you. None of you are human.” Minghao sneered, shoving her to the ground in anger and allowing his claws to fully come out. You watched as he got closer to her and you could hear his heart rate excel in furry.

“You hurt my mate. You’ve ruined everything. I’ll fucking kill you for what you’ve done!” He said, tears burning at his eyes as he knew full well things would probably never be the same with you ever again.

She just chuckled at his threat. She figured he wouldn’t let her live when they got caught, but she was glad it all happened. Sirens weren’t afraid of death, their lack of souls made it impossible for them to really be remotely remorseful or human. But at least now, she made you hate him. At least she caused the havoc she craved so deeply on yet another unsuspecting couple. She had no regrets.

-

You had passed out from exhaustion. Shedding so many tears really took a lot out of you. You thought that you had dreamed it all for a second. God, you hoped it was all just a dream. But, when you awoke to a very tired and worn out looking Minghao sitting next to you holding your hand, you knew it wasn’t. He had blood on his cheeks and on his sweats, he must’ve made good on his promise to kill the sadistic creature that ruined your lives.

Tears started streaming down your cheeks again at the remembrance of the woman, you pulled you hand away from his in disgust. It made his heart ache to think about everything that had happened. That he was now trying to touch you with the hands he touched her with. You couldn’t believe him. You didn’t want to even look at him.

“(Y/N), please. Let me explain.” He pleaded, pulling your hand back to his and placing a chaste kiss to it.

“FUCK YOU!”

You started to roar from the hurt he caused you. He wanted to help you, he couldn’t just have you sit there crying and not at least try to comfort you. He brought your weakened form into his chest and shushed you. You began hitting him with what little energy and strength you had. He just let you, knowing full well you couldn’t really harm him, even if you wanted to hurt him the way you were hurting. You still loved him. And you fucking hated yourself for it.

“HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME?!?”

You smacking his body again and again while he just rubbed your back in response, tears threatening to spill from his own eyes. You were so mad. You wanted to kill him. He could see it written all over your face. The absolute devastation and betrayal had turned all your love for him into bitterness. How could it not? You trusted him and he turned around and slapped you in the face with the faith and trust you had given him.

“HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO US?!?”

You held your eyes shut as you continued pounding at his chest, trying to hit as much of his skin as you could so you could express the pain you felt inside. Feeling all the heartache hit you like a bullet straight through your heart. Angry tears had started falling from your eyes at a gut wrenching pace.

“I HATE YOU!”

You sobbed as you finally stopped hitting him and just went back to burying you head in his torso to vent out all your frustration and anger. Why did this have to happen?

“I fucking hate you.”

You blubbered, bringing your hands to your eyes in an attempt to muffle your howls of agony. You were sure by this point you had woken up the rest of the pack with your screams, but you didn’t care. All you could think about was the stinging feeling in your chest. How could he do this to you? How could he be so disloyal when all you had ever done was love him with your whole soul?

“I know.” He stated, kissing the top of your head as tears began to fall from his eyes and onto you.

You hated how you wanted nothing more than to cry all your pain away into his chest. You hated that you still craved his skin touching yours. You hated that his voice brought you so much comfort and security. You wanted to hate him, but you couldn’t. Even if he did what he did, he was still your mate.

Another Author’s Note: Before anyone comes for me and says shit about me having him “kill a pregnant woman” please actually READ the siren description. You’ll see that they aren’t people. They’re literally demons. She would’ve hatched ACTUAL DEMONS, even if they looked human, they wouldn’t ACTUALLY be. So he didn’t really kill anything but evil creatures which happens all the time in these aus. Also, I made this where, while he doesn’t necessarily know what he’s doing while he’s… well you know, doing her, he does have to be okay with it deep down for the sirens song to work. Meaning some part of him was actually complicit with it. It’s complicated. I’ll explain better during his next chapter. It just felt like a “every bitch and their mother’s gonna cheat” kinda day you know? But yeah, hope you guys enjoyed the third chapter of the day!

(Updated 9/24)

[collecting-stories]

Sadie Hawkins - JJ Maybank

Request: could you do a jj fic based on prom where the reader asks him to prom instead?  

A/N: I’ve never been to a prom. 

Outer Banks Masterlist

///

‘Sadie Hawkins Dance, in my khaki pants, there’s nothing better...’

“I hate prom season,” you were leaning against your locker, watching someone down the hall get prom-posed to as Pope stood beside you swapping books for after lunch.  

“You’re only saying that because school rules say you can’t bring JJ.”  

“Cause my stupid boyfriend decided to drop out before the year ended.” You groaned turning your attention to Pope, “he could have just held out like...another four months.”  

“And done what? He wasn’t graduating anyway.” Pope pointed out.  

“Who bags it four months shy of the end of the year?” You asked, walking with Pope toward the lunch room.  

With JJ out of school, Kiara and Sarah at the kook academy, and John B’s dismal attendance the only person you really had was Pope. When they had announced tickets for prom Pope had immediately bought two for himself and Kiara, talking about double prom and how Sarah was already planning for their inevitable double date to look prom but what did you think this prom would be like. With everyone. Except when you asked to buy tickets the office secretary had taken a good amount of joy in telling you that JJ wouldn’t be allowed to go.  

“Your boyfriend.”

“I don’t even care about this stupid stuff but ever since Sarah started talking about prom night stuff I just thought like, I don’t know...might be nice to go. You guys are all going-“

“John B can’t get in either.” Pope cut in. John B’s Grades had dropped so severely since Big John’s disappearance and death that any extracurriculars were off the table.  

“Yeah but he can still go to her prom. I don’t go to a magical other school.” You replied.  

“We could have our own prom?”  

“Why cause we’re Kevin Bacon? No one’s banned dancing in the great county of Kildare. I’m buying tickets and he’s coming to prom with me.”

“Why? You just said you didn’t care about it?” Pope said, getting behind you in line for lunch.  

You grabbed a tray and turned toward, lowering your voice so only he would hear you, “because Sarah was talking about how she’s going to get a room for her and John B at the hotel on the eight for after prom and JJ and I haven’t, ya know, yet and I wanna like...make it special.”  

“You want him to go to prom with you so you can have sex with him in a hotel room because that’s what Sarah is doing with John B?”  

“When you say it like that it sounds stupid.”  

“It sounded stupid when you said it.” Pope replied, “and I really don’t wanna talk about you guys having sex.”

“We haven’t.”  

“Well I don’t wanna talk about that either.”  

“Pope,” you whined, “I just wanna go to prom with him and there’s the after-prom too. They’re doing an ‘In Love with the 80’s theme’ according to my mom.”  

“He can still do after-prom.”  

“It’s not the same.” You made it to the end of the line and paid for lunch, walking to your usual table with Pope.  

“What did JJ say about it?”

“About prom?”

“Yeah.”

“Um, that he wouldn’t be caught dead in a suit.” You replied. “Also that prom is a waste of money that we could be putting towards our road trip.”

“He has a-“

“Don’t even finish that sentence.” You threatened.  

-

“I know he can’t come but the least he could’ve done was be here,” you griped, checking your phone for the millionth time while Mrs. Carerra took a picture of Kiara and Pope separate from the group.  

John B had managed to Jedi mind trick the principal into letting him go to prom, meaning everyone in your friend group was dressed and ready to leave, except JJ, who wasn’t allowed to go and still hadn’t shown up to see you off. You had bought the dress before you knew he couldn’t go and the least he could do was see you in it since nothing else had gone to plan.  

“I’m sure he’ll be here,” Kiara attempted time reassure you when she caught sight of you checking your phone for the umpteenth time.  

“I know I just-“

The sound of a car, and someone wailing on the horn, caught your attention. You turned, as did Pope, Sarah, and John B, to see the Twinkie pull up with JJ behind the wheel. He parked right in front of you, opening the door and leaning in the gap between the frame and the door. “Need a ride?”

“I thought you weren’t gonna show up!” You exclaimed, rounding the driver’s side to see your boyfriend.  

“Yeah I know; I got your fifty million messages.” He teased, stepped down out of the bus, allowing you to finally get a good look at him.  

JJ stood before you in a fitted pastel pink tuxedo that looked far better than you ever suspected anything would on him. He even had nice shoes and not his usual work boots. His hair was tamed and his abundance of bracelets had been contained to just a few.  

“Oh my god, what are you wearing?” Sarah asked before anyone else could say anything.  

“As per this contract,” JJ replied, pulling a worn piece of paper from his pocket, “I’m wearing my tux for prom.”  

Sarah took the paper from him to read it as you moved closer, wrapping your arms around his waist and hugging him. “You look really fucking good in that.”  

“Glad you think so, the rental was ridiculous.” He whispered back as Sarah passed the paper to John B who laughed.  

“Can I get a picture of you two before you try to leave?” Your mom piped up.  

“Hold on!” You demanded, turning away from your friends for a split second to meet her gaze.  

“Boyfriend contract?” John B asked, “when is this from?”

“No way,” you almost tripped over your dress to grab the paper from John B, looking down at the ‘boyfriend contract’ that you had made JJ sign in second grade when you decided he was going to be your boyfriend. You had sealed the deal with a kiss at recess behind the tree and the first thing on the list was that he was to wear a pink tux to prom. “Where did you find this?”

“Top drawer of my dresser, where it’s always been.” He replied.  

“You kept it?”  

“Yeah, of course.” JJ said it so nonchalantly that it almost seemed like no big deal that he would have kept a silly old piece of paper from when you were kids.  

“So, are we all going to prom?” Pope asked, looking between his friends.  

You looked back at JJ, you knew what the secretary had said and the principal would be there tonight, there was a very slim chance you’d be able to sneak your boyfriend into prom.  

“Yeah, get in, what are we waiting for?” JJ replied, tapping the driver’s seat. The other four climbed in the back while you stayed outside the bus, still staring at JJ.  

“They won’t let you in,” you stressed.  

“I already talked to the principal...as long as I start the summer GED program he’ll let me go.”  

“Seriously?”  

“Hey, normally I wouldn’t give two shits about it but I’ve been promised a pretty wild after prom experience,” JJ replied, attempting and failing to wink at you.  

“Shut up.” You whispered, “my mom is right there.”  

She was hovering, waiting for the two of you to be done talking and snapping enough candid pictures that you could make a stop motion out of them. She’d surprisingly always been a fan of JJ and was thrilled that he’d shown up for prom.  

“Hey mom!” JJ waved, suddenly aware of the parents who were standing there waiting for them to leave.

“Are we going?” Kiara asked, leaning out of the bus.

“Hold on Kie, I gotta get a picture.” JJ insisted, pulling you away so the bus wasn’t the backdrop for a photo of the two of you.  

“You should’ve shown up on time!”  

“I was on the eight, had to get a room for-“  

“JJ, shut up.” You groaned.  

“Can I take a picture of you guys now or what?” Your mom said, holding her phone up, “I’ve got to get to the school to help set up.”

“Sorry mom, we’re ready.” JJ replied, wrapping his arm around you and pulling you into his side.  

“You really got a room?” You whispered as your mom took another picture, “What about saving for the road trip?”

“Haven’t you heard, apparently I’m getting my GED first.” JJ replied.  

“Well you look amazing, so the GED is worth it.”

“Going to prom with you is worth it.” He said. You smiled, tilting your head to kiss him just as Pope leaned out the door again.  

“Let’s go people, can we wait to get there to mack on each other.” Pope called.  

“Fine man but you owe me a dance first, I’m not some cheap date.” JJ replied as he climbed in the Twinkie with you.  

“Not me! I didn’t mean me!” Pope shouted.

‘...my favorite band will always be tears for fears and I’m gonna wear a pink tux to the prom’

-

taglist: @maplelattes22 @poguesrforlife  @freckled-and-daydreaming  @chasefreakinstokes @millie-753 @fangirlwithme @alex12948 @howdyherron @katherine097 @tangledinsparkles @tragicmisfits @carbonated-beverage @mariofgreengables @damonsalvawhore27 @ssprayberrythings @dopedoodes @dolanfivsosxox @belledutchess @poguelifeeee @jjsthumbring @faded-blue @parkerpetertingle @thebookwormlife @summer-clouds-and-long-days @jellyfishbeansontoast @minigranger @louisolos @hoewkeye @love-someone-special @finecelle @vitaminekabc @tiredfeels @g4bster @strangerthanfanfiction713 @the-only-nana @tomzfrog @mozz-are-lla @vindictive-hearts @poguestyleskye @ssprayberrythings @pensysto @jenahbell @beautyandthebleh @lavenderxraindrops @gothackedalready @teenwaywardasgardian @thelonewolfdies @jolomez @timotaychalabae @babycakes00 

[psycho-slytherin]

Strangers ch. 46

The truth begins to be untold, from multiple perspectives.

Pairing: Idol!Yoongi x Actress!Reader

Word count: 3.2k

Genre: fluff, angst, slow burn, strangers to friends to ??? I honestly don’t know what this counts as anymore

Warnings: Strong language

|mlist|

<–– Prev  Next ––>

You can’t breathe for several seconds. You feel yourself begin to tremble, and Wonho must feel it too, because he places a protective hand on your shoulder. “Y/n?”

For a moment, the club swims before you. No. No. You’re not letting her win, not again. With enormous effort, you summon that numbness once more, letting it settle over you. In a single moment, you adjust your posture and expression, and although your throat feels like it’s about to close up, you don’t allow your voice to change. You’re an actress, after all. “Good to see you’re having fun,” you tell Yoongi cooly, ignoring Seoyeon. The redhead’s eyes narrow at your obvious disinterest. Yoongi’s gaze sweeps between you and Wonho, who’s glistening with sweat from dancing. Wonho’s mesh top is sticking to his defined abs.

“Looks like you are too,” Yoongi replies quietly. His brows knit together and his eyes search yours, almost pleading –

He can’t do this to me. It’s not fair. And you can’t keep your voice steady much longer. You take a long pull of your drink.

“Suga-bear~” Seoyeon whines.

“Hyung!” Out of nowhere, Hoseok breaks through the crowd, looking wildly between you and Yoongi. “Ha… I-I didn’t know you’d be here!” He says through a too-wide smile. 

Still looking at you, Yoongi jerks his head toward Seoyeon, who continues clinging to him. You notice Hoseok twitch. 

Without breaking eye contact with Yoongi, you reach up and rest your hand on Wonho’s, who’s still holding your shoulder. “Wonho, I’m going to BTS’s private room. Hoseok, is it okay if Wonho comes with?”

“Of course.” 

Wonho seems confused, but – bless him – he goes along with you as you turn your back on Seoyeon… and Yoongi. 

“So! Tell me about your mixtape, how’s that going?” You hear Hoseok shout over the music as you lead Wonho away. By the time you finally shut the door, closing yourself off from the club, you feel like the night has lasted for far longer than a few songs. 

The other members have disappeared, surely out on the dance floor or by the bar. Coats are strewn on the couch and chairs, and you can spot several empty bottles of soju on the counter.

‘Hey… you okay?” Wonho asks, his voice soft.

“Yeah,” you answer too quickly. 

“Want to talk about it?”

For a moment, just a moment, you consider telling him everything: about Lisa, missing and possibly dead. About Xiumin, who proved that you really couldn’t trust anyone. About Yoongi, whose betrayal hurt you more than any real boyfriend could. About Seoyeon, how she and her cronies followed you out of the hospital. About that night, the shove, the blood, the walk, the cold. About the photo, and how it ruined your lamppost meetings with Yoongi forever. You could tell him about how you found Seoyeon’s picture on Lisa’s laptop, making you fear the worst. 

Or the relentless cyberbullying. Would Wonho understand? You reach up, rubbing your thumb against the Starry Night pendant. Your situation is comically unique – would anyone understand? You’re stronger now, yes, but what does your strength mean if Lisa is gone forever and Yoongi is dating your attacker?

Your phone buzzes. Finally, is it the contract from FYP Entertainment? 

@mrsminnie<3: Guys! I made a poll, vote who u think Yoongi is better with- @seoyeonnielovesbts vs @yourname!

@jjksaysfuck: WHY does @yourname still think she’s relevant? Suga BROKE UP WITH HER lollll her career is #deadinthewater

@captainkookie21: @jjksaysfuck kinda like @yourname soon ;) #SUGA belongs to ARMYs! You’ll see ^-^

@streamDIEnamite03: Ok but like,,,, did anyone see that commercial with @WONHO and @yourname??? That was spicy 0_0

“Y/n?”

“Oh, sorry!” You realize you’ve been silent for several seconds too long. “Yeah. I’m fine. I should’ve known this would happen eventually, just…” You tuck your phone away. Not so soon.

“Dunno what he thinks he’s doing, showing up like this after that PR fiasco,” Wonho says, eyeing the door as though Yoongi is right behind it. “I mean, it looks like the girl wanted to come, Yoongi’s never been one for clubs. But seriously, dating a fan? You’d think he’d know better.”

You freeze. “Right.” You forgot that to the public, you and Yoongi met on the set of Possible. You forgot that you were never an ARMY – Yoongi wouldn’t date a fan.

“She gives me weird vibes, I dunno. Are you sure you’re okay?”

You nod. “I just want a few minutes without having to worry.” You’re both still standing awkwardly by the door, and you nod at the couch. “Wanna sit down? We can go back to the dance floor once we’ve caught our breath.”

“Sure. Hey, I never mentioned it earlier and I hope you don’t take this the wrong way, but that outfit looks really great on you.”

You laugh. Maybe the night doesn’t have to be a waste after all. 

~~~

“Suga-bear~” Seoyeon coos. “Buy me a drink?” “Get your own,” Yoongi growls, tugging his arm out of her grasp. He forgot the group had a VIP room at Club Xyon; what were they doing in it?

Spread around the dancefloor, he sees Jungkook and Jimin having one of their famous dance battles; Taehyung is dancing in the front, vibing with the smitten DJ. Jin and Namjoon are sitting in a booth, surrounded by gorgeous idols.

And Hoseok is with him. Y/n and Wonho are alone.

Seoyeon is still whining. “But Suga, I want you to get it for me!”

Ugh. “Fine, what do you want?”

“Anything. Make it strong.”

Yoongi locks eyes with Hoseok, making sure he knows to keep an eye on Seoyeon, before heading to the bar.

“Suga!” The pretty mixologist grins broadly at his approach. “I’m a big fan! What can I get for you?”

Yoongi nods. “Thanks. Can I get some sparkling water with vodka on the rim and – I don’t know, something strong? Whatever you want to make, but with an extra shot.”

She nods, and sets about making the drinks. As he’s waiting, Yoongi’s phone buzzes with a text:

D-man: eyo Gloss [11:13]

D-man: got some shit for u [11:14]

Yoongi: Please tell me it’s good [11:14]

D-man: u don’t pay me for good u pay me for results [11:15]

D-man: anyway idk about good, but it’s something? [11:15]

D-man: seems weird tho [11:16]

Yoongi: What do you mean? [11:17]

D-man: hang on there’s more [11:17]

D-man: lemme call u soon [11:17]

Yoongi: ???? [11:18]

“Here are your drinks – oh, no charge!” The mixologist says with a wink. “I’m never taking a cent from BTS.”

Yoongi laughs, shoving his phone into his pocket. “Call it a tip, then. I insist.”

Hoseok’s smile is strained as Seoyeon dotes on him. Yoongi wishes he could laugh at his discomfort, but Hoseok is the only one besides him and Y/n that actually knows what the girl is capable of. 

“Here.” He hands Seoyeon the drink and sips from his own sparkling water. He refuses to lose his inhibitions around her.

Wonho and Y/n are alone. What if he hurts her?

Seoyeon takes a big swig. She was already drinking in the car on the way to the club, and Yoongi doesn’t understand why, with so much at stake, she can have fun. 

She hurt Y/n. She has Lisa. She hurt Y/n. She has Lisa. She hurt Y/n.

What he can’t understand is why Detective Kang and the rest of the police department aren’t investigating Seoyeon. Y/n did turn Lisa’s laptop over, right? Seoyeon’s photo was there, open on her desktop. Maybe they knew each other for unrelated reasons? But D would have told him.

Argh. This night wasn’t supposed to be such a mess. And what is Y/n doing?

~~~ 

“You’re kidding!” You snort into your glass of soju, almost spilling the drink down your front. “He said that?”

“Oh yeah. So I was like, dude, I’m not gonna fight you. Right? He was a head shorter than me. He didn’t like that, so he started swinging, but he ended up hitting my buddy–” 

Already buzzed and determined to forget about Yoongi, you laugh harder than you need to. “That’s crazy.”

Your phone buzzes once, twice, three times. Argh. You glance at Wonho, hoping he didn’t notice the notification, but… 

“Go ahead and take it,” Wonho says, ruffling his hair. “You’re hoping it’s the contract, right?”

“Ah – yeah, sorry.” You scroll through your notifications, past more hate messages. There’ve been fewer lately. You suppose you’re becoming old news. Still, some accounts have been more persistent. A text notification catches your eye:

Hi, L/n Y/n. I’m messaging you on behalf of Mr. Park of FYP entertainment. We expect a response to the contract offer by 5:00pm Tuesday.

“What?”

Wonho looks up from his screen. “What’s up?”

“This…” you furrow your brow. “This says I’ve already received the contract. But I’m certain I haven’t!” You reload your email inbox desperately, but nothing changes. Wonho leans closer, until you can feel the heat radiating off his body. “Check your trash folder?” he suggests.

“But I haven’t deleted anything!”

“Just check.”

You sigh and click to view your recently deleted emails. There, staring at you, is an email with the subject line L/n Y/n FYP Ent. Contract of Employment 20xx.

“Oh my gosh, there it is!” You squeal, quickly moving it back to your inbox before tossing your phone aside and throwing your arms around Wonho. “Thank you so much!”

Wonho is quick to hug you back, laughing. “Of course. Glad I could help solve the mystery.”

As you gaze at Wonho, you’re filled with elation. Wonho’s easy. Unproblematic. Kind. “Wanna go back and dance?”

“Your wish, my command,” he replies with a wink. As you stand from the couch, Wonho steals a last glance at his phone- and does a double take. “Yo, what?”

“Wassup?”

“Ah, nothing. Just some stupid gossip about, er, Yoongi’s new girlfriend.”

Something burns in your throat. “Anything interesting?”

“Nah. Some people are saying that ‘cause her dad’s a cop, Yoongi must’ve committed a crime and her dad is letting him off if he dates Seoyeon.” Wonho chuckles. “The things people invent when they’ve got too much time on their hands.”

“What do you mean, her dad is a cop?”

He shrugs. “Detective, I guess. Same difference, and somehow I doubt Yoongi’s a felon. So! Are we gonna go dance?”

Kang Seoyeon.

“Yeah,” you reply, suddenly breathless. “Let’s dance.”

~~~

“I love this song!” Seoyeon squeals, waving her arms in the air. Yoongi, sipping his sparkling water, is doing his best to ignore her, while Hoseok is amusing himself with Seoyeon’s antics.

Yoongi wishes he could relax and enjoy himself, but with Y/n’s would-be killer and most certainly Lisa’s kidnapper now throwing it back to HyunA, and with D having something for him, Yoongi can’t do anything but stare around tensely. Suddenly, he notices Y/n and Wonho rejoining everyone on the dance floor. They’re laughing shoulder-to-shoulder. He feels a bolt of jealousy strike him like lightning, so fierce that he can barely breathe.

“Suga bear!” Seoyeon shouts, slurring her words slightly. She’s already finished her drink and is halfway through another. “You love me, right?”

Fucking hell. “No,” Yoongi replies, his voice flat. Behind Seoyeon, Yoongi can see Hoseok slap a hand to his mouth to stifle his laughter.

Seoyeon’s eyes fill with tears. “B-but you have to love me! I worked so hard, Suga! I did it all for you! You have to love me!”

Worked so hard? She had stalked him, tried to kill Y/n, and kidnapped Lisa. “Did all what for me?” Yoongi snarls. “You little –”

Bzzt. Bzzt. D is calling him.

Yoongi stares from his phone to Seoyeon to Y/n and Wonho across the dance floor. Shit. “Hoseok, keep an eye on her, okay?”

Hoseok salutes dramatically. “Yessir!”

With that, Yoongi snakes away from the crowd, eventually finding a less populated corner that gives him a perfect view of Y/n and Wonho having a great time. Wait…  is it his imagination, or does Y/n look-

“Gloss! Yo, my guy!”

Yoongi tapped his foot impatiently. “C’mon, what’ve you got?”

“Jeez, gimme a sec! Okay, so. Remember how that photo of you and Y/n was going around?”

“Yeah.”

“Right, so it came from, like, one of the red-haired chick’s backup accounts.”

“D, you fuckin’ told me this shit already, man.”

“I’m getting there! Stardom’s making you annoying, come back to Daegu.”

Yoongi snorts. “Keep talking.”

“So, you asked if Lisa had any side socials that weren’t under her name, right?”

“Uh-huh…”

“Well, I did a bit of digging – I charge extra for all the thirst tweets I had to look at, by the way – and I found that the fan account Seoyeon posted on has a very interesting username… one that corresponds pretty damn well to one her mutuals.” D took a deep breath. “Seoyeon’s account was called ‘@capkookies_btsbff’, and her mutual’s account is @captainkookie21. Remember how she kept talking about someone named Cap? Sooo I looked at that account, poking around, yknow? First thing: This was a total BTS fan account till, like, a few months ago. But after that? Gloss, this is some of the worst hate I’ve seen in a hot sec.”

“Whaddya mean, hate?”

“Hate towards your girl, bro! All sorts of bullshit, creepy stuff. Now, the IP address – which I took the liberty of finding, you’re welcome – tells me they’re in Seoul. The more interesting thing is that the address changed, and only a little over a month ago.”

“How can that change? I thought IPs were tied to devices.”

“They totally are! But socials aren’t. So this person was using one device, up until a month ago, and then switched.”

“They got a new phone?”

“Maybe. Or maybe they were trying to hide their location and were forced to use a new device.”

Yoongi’s forehead wrinkled. “Wha…”

He could hear D sigh over the phone. “Dude! Don’t you get it? Before they switched devices, this account was linked to Lisa’s phone!”

Yoongi’s jaw goes slack. That night at Seoyeon’s house… “Cap said you’d come to me. We’re meant to be.” 

~~~

“W-Where’s Suuuu-ga?” Seoyeon whines, clutching at Hoseok’s arm. She finished the rest of her glass and is now clearly well on her way to drunk.

“He’ll be back soon,” Hoseok replies, trying to blend his movement in with the heavy bass so that he and Seoyeon don’t stand out too much.

“All I did was love him,” Seoyeon says now, her eyes wide and doe-like. 

Hoseok makes a face. “You stalked him.”

Shaking her head vehemently, Seoyeon takes another pull of her drink. “Nuh-uh. I never did.”

Hoseok purses his lips. She’s clearly willing to let slip information, but he doesn’t want to take advantage of her vulnerability. “You followed him to that hospital, and that lamppost. That’s called stalking.”

“Nooooooo I di-hic-didn’t,” Seoyeon warbles, swaying. Hoseok catches her and props her up, brows knit. Is she okay? Of course, Hoseok was the last to claim a title for holding one’s liquor, but Seoyeon seems insistent on getting wasted.

“I was just –” Seoyeon hiccups and giggles to herself. “Captain’s orders!”

“Orders?” 

“Oops!” Seoyeon claps a hand over her mouth, stumbling backwards and bumping into an actress Heoseok recognizes from his favorite drama. “Nothingggg.”

This could be interesting. Hoseok plucks the glass from her hand, holding it away as she reaches for it. “Ah-ah-ah. I’ll give it back once you tell me what you meant.”

Seoyeon laughs, the sound going from a cute drunk giggle to something more intense, more concerning. “C-caaan’t~ Cap said I had to keep quiet.”

“Just tell me why you said you weren’t stalking Yoongi. You were following him, right? How else could you have found him at the hospital? And that lamppost?”

Seyeon sticks her tongue out. “Not telling!”

Is this really the same girl who shoved Y/n into a river and kidnapped Lisa under everyone’s noses?

Hoseok pauses and thinks. “Yoongi hasn’t kissed you, has he?”

Almost immediately, Seoyeon’s eyes well up with tears once more. “No! He never even touches me!”

“You know, I bet if you told me everything, he’d be really grateful.” Hoseok leans forward conspiratorially, barely able to hear himself over the music and shouts on the dance floor. “I’m sure he’d love you then.”

Seoyeon lets out a squeal that sounds practically inhuman. “Really?”

“Mhm.” Hoseok swallows down his guilt with the reassurance that he’s doing this for Y/n and Yoongi’s sakes. “So what were you doing at the hospital?”

Seoyeon stops and thinks hard, her face serious for the first time all night. “You really think he’ll love me? He won’t be mad?”

“Of course.”

Suddenly, Seoyeon shoots forward and snatches her glass away from Hoseok, downing the rest of the drink before he can blink. “I just wanted to be with him,” she says, wiping a droplet from her lips. “But I wasn’t following him. Cap said that she was at the hospital.” Seoyeon’s eyes turn dark, furious, the change so severe that Hoseok flinches. “Cap said she wanted to take Suga away from me. So I waited outside the hospital with my friends. Suga doesn’t belong to her!” Placing her glass on a nearby table, Seoyeon tugs at Hoseok’s sleeve desperately. “He belongs to me! To us, to ARMYs!”

 Goosebumps erupt along Hoseok’s arms. Fans like this have always terrified him. To claim ownership of a person just because they were an idol… “And the lamppost? You didn’t follow Y/n, did you?”

Seoyeon blinks heavily. “I didn’t seeeee her after she fell into the river. Cap just told me where to go, and when I saw them hugging, I wanted to kill Y/n.” She smiles sweetly as though her words were nothing but innocent. 

Hoseok can feel his stomach roil. “Why did you do all this?”

“Duh!” Seoyeon sweeps her arm around, gesturing at the club. “Cap’s friends with BTS! I was promised that Cap could set me up with Suga. And – hic – it worked.”

“We’re not friends. What?” Is this person someone the group knows? But Hoseok can’t think of many people the members of Bangtan are all friends with, except Y/n. No, surely…? She wouldn’t do that to herself.

It’s getting her a lot of publicity, a tiny voice in Hoseok’s head reminds him.

“W-What do you mean?” Seoyeon asks, a pout forming on her lips. “‘Course you are. After all, she has a video of Jimin saying her name.”

Hoseok’s heart is hammering in his chest. Y/n does love to tease Jimin. “At a fansign?” It would make sense, at least.

“Noooo~” Seoyeon says in a slurred singsong voice. “In your apartment.” She giggles, covering her mouth. “I recognized it from your lives!”

Hoseok’s own mouth goes dry. Had Y/n been manipulating his friend this whole time? “Oh.”

[ramblinganthropologist]

MER Week 5 - We are Family

Summary: Visiting family can be tough sometimes, especially when your job involves being the only fucking hope for humanity. Alistair’s never sure what to tell his sister when he sees her, but at least he’s got Bo to remind him he’s an idiot when he gets back. Don’t you just love family?

(ME 2 setting)

---

“So… uh… how are things going?”

Ah, the question he had been dreading for the last hour had finally shown itself. Maybe this was a bad idea after all. Worst of all, his exit was cut off. No way out but through it…

Fuck.

Normally, Alistair Shepard didn’t mind going to see his sister Anora. After all, they had a lot of catching up to do what with 11 years of separation and all between them. However, they usually had his niece as a buffer. Kelly was great for that sort of thing, especially if she wanted to hear parent-approved stories. Unfortunately, her father had custody that weekend. So, it was just the two of them, sitting on the couch and making awkward small talk.

Did he mention it was awkward? Because it was so fucking awkward. Fuck, maybe he should’ve taken a preventative anxiety dose…

The Spectre took a tentative sip of his tea just to have something to do – gross. His sister liked this variety of tea bag that he just couldn’t stand, but she was trying. That was enough to make a good try of things as she watched him over her own cup. What she was thinking, he had no clue.

It was hard to read his sister. Maybe it was because he was so used to military types?

“I mean… it’s going?” He put the cup down. “We were on Illium before we got back to the Citadel.”

Yeah, he had been hunting down an assassin and a justiciar to add to his crew in order to survive killing a shit ton of Collectors. Thane was great – he lived in Life Support so he didn’t die before the Collectors killed them. He hadn’t even mentioned Samara and her centuries of baggage, that was the best part. Reflecting on that, he knew it wasn’t exactly something you told your older sister over really shitty tea. So, he kept mum on the details.

Most of his stories wound up like that. Was that bad?

“Illium… well, at least you’d be easy to spot among the asari with your hair and all.” Anora took a cautious sip. “Did you… need armor for that one?”

Need armor – that was their codeword they’d come up when he hadn’t been sure what to call what he did. Anora had a weak stomach, and he didn’t exactly want to drag up the gory details of his job. Though, was it technically a job at that point? They had literally brought him back from the dead for it – that was nearly a calling. More than that, he wasn’t really getting paid. Cerberus was in a weird gray area…

Either way, it was a useful code.

“Yeah. It got heated at points, but nobody died.” Well… nobody on his side anyway. There were plenty of dead mercs thanks to both his crew and his own two hands. This was something else he wouldn’t tell Anora, mostly to keep her mind at ease. Apparently, hearing your younger brother was really good at killing people tended to put people off.

Civilians, couldn’t live with them…  kind of turned into a war crime if you accidentally shot them.

“Oh… that’s good. I know it…” she paused, frowning. “I know you’ve had it rough lately.  I saw you on the news with your friend Garrus and it looked like half of his face was missing.”

Alistair took another sip of his nasty tea to give him time to think of how to best phrase his possible boyfriend taking a rocket to the fucking face after a goddamn siege. It wasn’t exactly polite dinner conversation as he made the mental edits.

“Yeah… kind of. The implants are healing, though. At least the mandible is still attached and all.”

Judging by the look his sister gave, that probably wasn’t the right answer.

“Omega is not a fun place.” Was his only justification as he took another sip. “I definitely don’t recommend the Terminus system for Kelly’s spring break.”

Another wince – he was just knocking it out of the park with today’s visit. Maybe he should just close his stupid mouth and drink his tea before he gave her a coronary…

Anora at least didn’t drop her cup. Concern was written all over her face though as she rolled it between her palms. There were probably a thousand thoughts running through her mind, and he just had to wait on the final decision. Lucky for him, he was good at waiting.

“I’ll keep that in mind.” A judicious answer. She sipped from her mug, face unreadable. “So… where are you going next?”

To hell in a fucking hand basket, or a least close enough when they managed to get through Omega-4. However, it wasn’t exactly something you shared over tea, especially with your older sister.

When he glanced away, Anora sighed. ��Right… top secret Spectre business, then?”

“Something like that.” He frowned. What little good feeling between them was starting to wear down. Soon there would be nothing left but awkward questions and long pauses full of questions neither of them could answer. No doubt it would be time for him to go soon.

Lucky for him, his omni-tool started to beep. Someone was trying to communicate with him. Without thinking, he hit the button and his sister’s living room was soon filled with the sound of the Normandy’s cockpit. If he strained, he could hear EDI softly beeping in the background.

“Commander, you there? Sorry to break up the family visit, but we’re getting a message from Admiral Hackett. I think you’re going to want to hear this.”

Alistair could already feel his forehead throbbing at the thought. “I swear, he just bothered us…”

“Yeah, tried to mute him but you know how he does that thing to get it through anyway.” Joker was priming the Normandy for takeoff in the background. “You should probably get back to the Normandy in case we need to head out.”

Sweet relief.

“Yeah, I’ll be there in twenty. Knowing the admiral, we’re going to be in the ass end of nowhere, so start checking the relays.” He paused, sighing. “Thanks, Joker. See you soon.”

The call ended not long after. He finished his tea in one long swallow. Anora was watching him, impossible to read. She had long since abandoned her tea – it was growing cool on the table. Talk about a bad sign.

“Admiral Hackett contacts you directly?”

Alistair sighed a ran a hand through his hair. “Yeah, I’m kind of his go-to for confidential stuff he doesn’t want to do. Call it first human Spectre privilege I guess.”

Anora didn’t exactly look impressed. “I’m guessing armor is going to be needed then.”

“Probably.” He sighed again. “I should go. They can’t exactly leave the Citadel without a CO on deck, can they?”

His cup clinked softly as he placed it back down on the table and stood. Anora stood as well and walked him to the front door. There they hovered, neither really saying anything, eyes not really meeting.

It always ended like that. It was why he preferred Kelly there to help soften things between them.

Her hand reached out – maybe to squeeze his shoulder – but it didn’t make contact. Instead, it fell back to her side, limp. It was hard to read the emotion in her face then, but then again it always was. When it came down to it, Anora was a bit of a brick wall he wound up hitting his head against.

“Well… be safe. I’ll see you when you’re back on the Citadel?”

He nodded, already planning his route back to the ship. “Yeah. Thanks for the tea. Tell Kelly I said hi.”

She nodded, and that was it. No hug goodbye, nothing more than an awkward wave as he walked down the path. Then the door shut, and it was back to work. Maybe he felt bad about the relief that he felt as he turned to leave, like a weight had just been lifted off his shoulders. The more he walked, the easier it was to forget.

He had to anyway – he had work to do.

“Wonder what the fuck Hackett wants this time…” Alistair grumbled to himself as he aimed for the port that would get him back to the docking bay he had left earlier that day. By the time he got there, the Normandy would be ready to leave. Within the hour, he’d be shooting towards the relay. Then – who knew. With Hackett, anything was possible.

“Seriously? He wants something AGAIN? Didn’t we risk our collective asses for him last week?”

Probably because he’d be lost in his thoughts, but Alistair realized he was standing in shadow. He glanced up, unsurprised to find red eyes and a bored expression. Without much thought, he shifted his pace. He needed to – otherwise he couldn’t keep up.

Bo had a bag of snacks in her arms that jingled as she walked. From the looks of things, Joker had paged her during a grocery run. Hopefully she had managed to get the citric acid he had asked for – he was starting to run low, and without it he’d just be eating sugar. That was a line even he wouldn’t cross.

It wasn’t a big line, but every man needed one.

“Yeah, I have no idea what. Joker couldn’t tell me; I was still with Anora.”

His adopted sister winced. “So, which one would you rather have faced: her or first contact?”

“I’d say I’d rather see a turian’s face pointing a gun at me.” He winced at his own bluntness. “Sorry… have to watch my tongue around her. You know she worries.”

Bo rolled her eyes at this as she handed him a smaller bag to carry. From the looks of things, there was a massive container of citric acid inside, buried next to a candy bar he was definitely going to destroy within a few hours of achieving FTL flight. It was nice to have someone who thought of him.

“You’re a fucking N7 level marine, I think she can figure out you’re winding up in some pretty fucked up shit.”

That was another wince on his part. “Yeah, but… I don’t exactly have to tell her how I stood in the line of sight for Garrus’ rifle, now do I?”

His answer got him quite the shove forward – it was a miracle he didn’t hit the ground face first as Bo continued on ahead, bag still jingling. “I’m pretty sure she knows you’re a dumbass with a martyr complex, don’t worry.”

Ah, someone was still sore about that. Well, excuse him for using his head…

Still, attempted face plant aside, Alistair had to admit he felt a lot more at ease as he and Bo continued their walk back towards the Normandy and their continuing fight against Admiral Hackett’s to-do list. Maybe he should have felt bad about that, but he had enough actual bad things to worry about. Something like this, he’d be happy to let slide for the moment. It could get him later, when he was in bed and couldn’t sleep.

“Gee, thanks. Love you too.”

Bo flipped him the bird as he caught up to her. “Can’t help I have a dumbass for a commanding officer brother, now can I?”

“He didn’t shoot…”

“You still got in the fucking way of a sniper rifle, you moron. The ghost of Alec Ryder is going to chew your ass out when you go to bed tonight, and I’m pretty sure that bastard’s still alive.”

The last thing he wanted was Alec Ryder, corporal or otherwise, near his ass. No thanks. That was enough to give him a lifetime of nightmares…

His adopted sister nudged him again as they got closer. “Next time just… don’t be a fucking hero. I don’t even know why I’m saying it, I know you will, and it’ll piss me off and then we start all over again.”

Despite the lecture, he chuckled. “I’ll do my best.”

“No, you won’t. You’re a fucking boy scout and it’s the worst.”

At least they had at last reached the Normandy. The yellow still needed painting over, but it was a sight for sore eyes nonetheless. Alistair was happy to hop aboard as decontamination hissed around him. It was humming to life beneath his feet, almost as if it was welcoming him back.

He loved this part.

“Commander Shepard and Commander Shepard have returned. Agent Miranda stands relieved.”

EDI’s robotic voice echoed as they stepped out of decontamination. Off to the side, Joker swiveled around in his chair to greet them. His grin only got wider as he spotted the bag hanging from Bo’s arm, almost reminding Alistair of a kid in a candy store.

“Did you get it?”

Bo snorted as he pulled out a smaller bag and handed it over. “You’re worse than Saren when it comes to snacks.”

“Hey, leave my hamster out of it. Saren is a gentleman.” Alistair still chuckled as he looked out at the Citadel dock from the Normandy’s front window. Soon, it would all be the blackness of space rushing out to meet them.

“Well, can’t be too bad if I’m getting compared to that.” Joker swiveled back around, already starting the procedure for takeoff. “Hackett’s message is ready when you are, Commander.”

Right… ugh. Just thinking about it gave Alistair a headache as he watched Bo head off to distribute her snacks. Still, it was a headache he could tolerate as he felt his mind shifting back to mission mode. At least here, he was in his element.

“Go ahead and play it. Might as well find out what ass end of nowhere we’re heading to…”

And just like that, it was business as usual. Admiral Hackett needed help, and the Normandy was the only ship he could get to do it. Soon, Alistair would be back in armor and ready to face whatever hell awaited them.

In a weird way, it was good to be home. But how fucked up is it that home was a fucking bootleg Alliance frigate hotwired by Cerberus?

[kerosene-insomniac]

To Be So Lonely

Pairing: Katsuki Bakugou x Midoriya Izuku

Warnings: Heavy flirting, kinda aggressive tbh, wing-woman ochako

Word Count for Chapter: 3,270 words

A/N: The song is Bang Bang by Green Day

{0.7} Lemons

“When life gives you lemons, make sure you know whose eyes you need to squeeze them in.”

― Colleen Hoover

K A T S U K I

At this point, Katsuki should be able to tell the difference between a nightmare and a memory. Sadly, though, they often overlapped for him.

Katsuki doesn’t recognize this dream, though.

He’s sitting in a small room that’s barren, aside from a bed with a desk and dresser. Two black garbage bags were placed next to the toddler bed, where a smaller and much younger version of himself sat.

The small boy was no older than five or six, sniffling to himself as he messed with an action figure in his hands.

I don’t remember this.

Katsuki’s eyebrows furrowed slightly as he sat on the floor in front of the boy. The brat didn’t know he was there, so the tears started to flow.

“Katsuki? Where are you?”

Younger-Katsuki froze and immediately started to wipe away his tears. His red eyes were still puffy, but it would go away after a few minutes.

The door to the bedroom opened and an orange light brightened the room. A man, a strong beta, stood in the doorway. His hair was curly and brown, sticking up in odd places as if it was hard to maintain.

His eyes matched his hair, but looked exceedingly kind.

“I see.” The beta mumbled, his eyes flickering to the trash bags. “You still haven’t unpacked?”

Younger-Katsuki hid his previous emotion and huffed, crossing his arms. “Cause I don’t wanna! I don’t have to listen to you, stupid beta!”

I was a dick of a kid.

Instead of of getting angry, the kind beta chuckled and turned the bedroom light on. “Fair enough. Don’t you want to meet the baby?”

Baby?

Younger-Katsuki immediately brightened and shot off the bed. His action-figure was clenched tightly in his hand. “Auntie’s back?! With the baby!”

The beta grinned. “They just came home.”

The small pup screeched and bolted for the doorway, obviously trying to dart past the older man. Before he could, though, the older man stopped him with a gentle hand.

“Hold on, Katsuki.”

Younger-Katsuki stopped immediately, flinching away from the man’s touch as if it had been red-hot. He didn’t look excited anymore, but scared and obviously confused about the warning.

The beta sighed, pulling his hand away from Katsuki’s shoulder. “You’re not in trouble, Katsuki. I was just going to say that you need to wash your hands before you meet Izuku.”

Wait what the fuck.

Dream, then.

Definitely a dream.

“Oh.” Younger-Katsuki mumbled quietly, nodding to himself. “I’ll go wash my hands, then!”

Older-Katsuki, who had been watching the interaction with bated breath, relaxed as the bedroom door closed. Ever so faintly, the older alpha could hear the familiar trill of his morning alarm.

It was morning.

~

Katsuki’s eyes opened slowly.

His morning alarm pinged next to him on his night-stand, sounding more and more annoying as it bounced around the inside of his skull. The dream, which should have been fading by now, simply played over and over in his head.

Dammit.

Katsuki sat up and turned off his alarm before getting to his feet. He needed to go for a run, which should definitely help him him stop thinking about the green-eyed omega.

Deku.

Something about Deku was stupidly adorable and enticing to Katsuki. The small omega felt familiar and safe, despite the sole fact that they were strangers. Hell, the stupid Deku made it clear that weren’t even friends.

Which hurt way more than it should have.

Katsuki changed into his running clothes, making a mental note to take a shower when he returned. His own scent and pheromones always seemed more potent when he sweat, so it was his duty as an alpha to make sure his pheromones weren’t overwhelming to people around him.

Most wolves hated Katsuki’s scent.

Except Deku.

Even though Deku’s mumbling was incredibly annoying, it was becoming a useful tool to figure out what the shitty nerd was thinking. So when he mumbled about liking Katsuki’s strong scent, the ruby-eyed alpha was more than proud.

He’s fucking delighted.

Katsuki slipped his phone in the pocket of his jacket as Green Day started to blast in his ears. Crisp morning air nipped at his skin as he stepped outside, matching the pastel pinks and blues of the early-morning sky.

It was moments like these that made Katsuki feel calm.

I get my kicks and I wanna start a rager

I wanna dance like I'm on the video

I've got a fever for the violent behavior

I'm sweating bullets like a modern Romeo

Katsuki’s heart pounded as he ran his usual route, stopping every once in a while to allow cars to pass. He always liked running down-town for the simple sights he saw. He always saw something different each morning.

In the corner of his eye, Katsuki noticed the bar that he met a certain omega at. It was crazy that he had spent his whole life so close to Deku, but never actually meeting him.

Bang bang, give me fame

Shoot me up to entertain

I am a semi-automatic lonely boy

You're dead, I'm well fed

Give me death or give me head

Daddy's little psycho and mommy's little soldier

I testify like a lullaby of memories

Broadcasting live and it's on my radio

I've got my photobomb, I've got my Vietnam

I love a lie just like anybody else

Bang bang, give me fame

Shoot me up to entertain

I am a semi-automatic lonely boy

You're dead, I'm well fed

Give me death or give me head

Broadcasting from my room and playing with my toys

I wanna be a celebrity martyr

The leading man in my own private drama

Hoorah, bang, bang, hoorah, bang, bang, the hero of the hour

Daddy's little psycho and mommy's little soldier

Katsuki felt sweat along his hair-line, but the alpha focused on lining his breathing with the heavy bass of his music. He has more than enough stamina to handle a simple run, but he probably should’ve eaten first.

There’s a cafe close by, though.

Shitty Hair mentioned that they had good natto…

Katsuki huffed and slowed his run to a light jog. He was hungry and shit, so he might as well check out Shitty Hair’s claim.

It’s probably shitty as fuck.

The ruby-eyed alpha came to a stop in front of the cafe, narrowing his eyes as he studied the aesthetic. It looked soft and strangely comforting with a subtle nod to traditional Japanese culture. It smell of tea and food, accompanied the sound of subtle chatter.

A good sign, to Katsuki’s chagrin.

Katsuki swallowed his pride and stepped inside, immediately freezing as an all-too-familiar omegan scent washed over his senses.

You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.

Dark chocolate and seductive cherries hung in the air, full of happy pheromones. This scent could only belong to one person and one person only.

Izuku Midoriya was chatting affectionately with an older couple, dressed in a soft grey apron the tied perfectly around his small waist. He still had a few bruises and his lip was still bandaged, but he looked relatively okay.

But what the fuck was he doing here?!

Doesn’t he have a fucking concussion?

The small omega was completely oblivious to Katsuki’s presence.

Izuku was scribbling on a light blue notepad, laughing softly at whatever the old man said. His skin was a delicate pink that accented his freckles in a stupidly adorable way, making Katsuki’s heart thud in his chest.

Even his hair looked fluffier than normal, if possible.

“Welcome to Ame Hana!”

Katsuki’s attention was forced away from the green-eyed omega to focus on the short female in front of him. She was small and obviously an omega, with a chubby face and rosy cheeks. She was also wearing a gray apron, showing exactly why she was speaking to him.

She looked familiar, though.

“Hah?” Katsuki huffed, narrowing his eyes at the omega in front of him.

The small omega cocked her head to the side, cautiously sizing him up. “You’re here to eat, right? This is a cafe.”

Katsuki  blinked multiple times, his mouth settling into a firm scowl. “I guess. What the fuck are you talking to me for?”

“It’s my job.” The small omega snapped, her voice sharp.

The older alpha huffed, clenching his jaw and resisting the urge to fight the small omega in front of him. “Fine. Are you gonna get me a seat or make me stand here, Round Face?”

The omega frowned. “My name is Uraraka Ochako, Bakugou.”

Katsuki froze. “Excuse me?!”

Round Face (Uraraka?) huffed and crossed her arms, obviously trying to looked intimidating to the taller alpha. “I’m friends with Deku. I was at the fight and we literally met in the locker-room last night. Remember?”

Not really...

All Katsuki could focus on after his fight was trying to see Deku. When he burst into the locker-room, Katsuki was stressed to see the small omega still unconscious. Honestly, he barely remembered meeting Aizawa.

“Are you here to see Deku?”

Katsuki snapped out of his daze and growled. “Why would I be here to see that dumb nerd? I’m here to eat, Pink Cheeks.”

Uraraka raised an eyebrow at him, obviously amused. “Oh really? You were looking at him like a lovesick puppy before I came over here.”

“I was not!”

The small omega waved him off, laughing softly as she grasped a menu in her hands. “I’ll put you in his section. We’re unusually busy, so we’ve had to shut down the actual place to order. Deku will help you in a second.”

Katsuki’s head spun as she spoke.

This is happening way too fucking fast.

Instead of arguing, Katsuki followed the small omega to a small table. Deku’s sweet scent was all over it, making the strong urge to scent it himself become almost overbearing for the large alpha.

“Why the fuck are you doing this?”

Uraraka hummed, watching Katsuki as he sat down. “What do you mean, Bakugou? I’m obviously doing my job.”

Katsuki scoffed, rolling his ruby eyes at her vague response. “Don’t bullshit me. Why are you and the other extras so intent on me and Deku? Why the fuck are you doing this at all?”

“I just want him to be happy.”

The alpha blinked in surprise, his scowl vanishing as his mouth opened. Uraraka smiled warmly at him, handing him a hastily put together menu. “And what makes you think that I can do something like that? He fucking hates me.”

Uraraka shrugged. “He called me when he got home last night.

Katsuki’s senses heightened. “He did?”

“Yup!” Uraraka grinned, noticing the alpha’s change in demeanor. “He was very flustered and unsure about what he should do. I think that you’re his favorite.”

The ruby-eyed alpha narrowed his gaze, obviously suspicious. “His favorite? What the fuck does that mean, Round Face?”

The small omega studied him, here doe-eyes full of clear amusement at his behavior. “Most alphas treat him like he’s about to break. You think that he shouldn’t be fighting, but that doesn’t change how you interact with him.”

“Your fucking point?” Katsuki’s voice was rough.

Uraraka smiled softly. “You’re the first alpha he’s met that hasn’t immediately tried to get in his pants. You also clearly challenged him to a sparring match last night, so you’re willing to treat him like an actual opponent.”

She turned to walk away, but she glanced back at Katsuki. “He doesn’t want protection. He wants someone who offers support and challenges. You’ve gotten closer to him than most alphas, Bakugou. Good luck.”

****

I Z U K U

“Tell Inko I said hello, will you?”

Izuku smiled widely at the mated pair, respectfully bowing his head. “Of course! I’m sure that Mom will be ecstatic when she hears that you’re in town again!”

The small omega offered a silent goodbye and walked away from the table. 

His whole body felt sore and tired, and Izuku knows that he definitely looks worse for wear. If he didn’t have bills to pay, the small omega would definitely be at home with his mother. They haven't spent any time together recently.

Izuku walked towards the counter and dropped the two menus off, gingerly squeezing hand sanitizer onto his hands afterward. 

“Deku!”

The small omega hummed as Uraraka squealed into his ear, already used to her loud and bubbly behavior. “What is it now? I’m not taking over your tables so you can go on a date with Iida, Uraraka.”

Uraraka laughed, placing her batch of menus next to Izuku’s. “I was going to say that you have a special customer at table five.”

“Special?” Izuku repeated, glancing at his friend.

The bubbly omega next to him grinned, her eyes full of mischievous glee. “I think he came here by accident, but you’ll be so excited when you see him!”

Izuku narrowed his eyes at her before glancing at table five.

Dammit.

Katsuki Bakugou was staring intently at him from table five. He was in running clothes and covered in a slight sheen of sweat, but there was no mistaking those crimson eyes. The alpha wasn’t even scowling at Izuku, which was more than odd.

Izuku scoffed, shooting a glare in Uraraka’s direction. “I hate you. Why do you and Hitoshi try so hard to embarrass me?”

“Because it’s fun!”

The emerald-eyed omega sighed and grabbed his blue notepad. “You owe me lunch for the next three days.”

Izuku left Uraraka’s side without bothering to hear her response. His skin felt warm and slightly pink as he approached Kacchan’s table, anxiety churning in his stomach like a tidal ocean wave. 

Don’t.

Panic.

It was easier said than done, though.

Izuku smiled warmly as he came to a stop at the table. “Welcome to Ame Hana! My name is Midoriya and I’ll be your server today!”

Kacchan raised an eyebrow at him, obviously amused by the omega’s stiff professionalism. He smirked lightly, almost like he was resisting the urge to laugh. “Cut the bullshit, Deku. Why the fuck are you working with a concussion?”

Straight to the point, then.

I should’ve seen this coming.

“Not everyone is a multi-millionaire, Kacchan.” Izuku snapped, trying to calm his expression. 

Kacchan narrowed his eyes, completely unbothered by the omega’s hostile tone. “But you won a professional fight last night. I’m sure you’re okay to take a day off.”

Izuku felt his eye twitch slightly as his annoyance level steadily increased. 

The alpha narrowed his crimson eyes as Izuku glared at him, carefully studying the small omega. “If you have something to say, then say it. I’m sure that Pink Cheeks won’t give a shit if you sit down with me for a few minutes.”

“And if I don’t want to?”

Kacchan grinned devilishly. “Then you don’t get the lovely satisfaction of telling how independent and strong you are without my input.”

When you put it that way...

Izuku sighed and pocketed his notepad. After placing his ballpoint pen behind his ear (where it was adorably peeking out of his curls) the small omega pulled out a chair and sat across from the smug alpha.

He’s definitely not doing this because Katsuki is stupidly attractive when he’s smug.

Not at all.

Kacchan smirked wider, his dominant pheromones sharpening as he leaned forward. “Should’ve known that you’d stay for that, Deku. That’s cute.”

Izuku flushed a bright red, his stomach churning with butterflies as he took a few shallow breaths. “Don’t ch-change the subject, Kacchan. I’m only answering your questions before I go back to work.”

“Why the fuck are you at work with a concussion?”

The small omega swallowed thickly, his face incredibly hot under Katsuki’s stare. “I have bills to pay. A friend of mine is a medical student and said that my concussion isn’t bad enough to be on bed-rest.”

Actually, Iida was strongly against Izuku coming to work.

Katsuki narrowed his eyes. “Bullshit. You were unconscious for five hours, Deku. I bet that you ignored his advice to stay home.”

“That’s hardly your concern.” Izuku countered, tracing patterns into the table with his fingertips. 

The red-eyed alpha huffed, studying Izuku’s scarred and bandaged hands. “Someone has to worry. What kind of fucking bills do you have that make you so willing to put your well-being on the line?”

Izuku raised an eyebrow. “I don’t have to answer that, Kacchan. I’m not a weak omega in need of saving, you know.”

“I fucking know that!”

The small omega laughed, biting his lip as Katsuki flushed pink. “Then I’m not sure why you’re so invested. I’m not any different than most unmated omegas my age.”

Katsuki huffed crossing his arms. His biceps flexed, almost distracting Izuku for a second. “No, you’re different. I’ve watched you kick the shit out of an alpha thrice your size, and you have no sense of fucking self preservation.”

“Why does that bother you so much?”

The alpha fell silent for a split second, obviously studying Izuku before he spoke again. “It bothers me because it looks like you prefer putting others before yourself. It’s fucking idiotic, shitty Deku.”

Izuku’s heart thudded in his ears as butterflies churned in his stomach. Being so physically close with an alpha that made him weak at the knees was probably a bad idea. Katsuki probably only saw him as a helpless omega, which meant that his kindness was likely coming straight from his knot.

However, this doesn’t stop Izuku from feeling flustered.

Katsuki leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table. “You’re coming to the gym today, right? Be fucking honest, nerd.”

Izuku snapped out of his daze, furrowing his eyebrows. “Shota doesn’t want me to overwork myself, so I’m just touring with sensei today. Why?”

“What time do you get off work?”

The small omega did a double-take at Katsuki’s boldness. “Excuse me? I, um, I’m not sure I’m following…”

Katsuki smirked, leaning closer to Izuku and pushing a stray curl out of the omega’s face. “Do I need to spell it out for you, nerd? I’ll be escorting you to the gym, but we need to stop by my place first.”

“I-I don’t think-” Izuku’s face felt hot.

He’s so close.

The alpha’s crimson red orbs sharpened as he scanned Izuku’s face. “You’re pale and it looks like you haven’t been eating well. I can’t kick your shitty ass if you pass out in the ring, shitty deku.”

“I-I was running late today…”

Katsuki’s eyes narrowed. “You fucking idiot.”

Izuku pouted, his freckled cheeks a rosy pink. “I don’t usually skip breakfast Kacchan. Stop being mean…”

“What time does your shift end, nerd?”

The small omega squeaked as Katsuki ran his thumb across his bruised cheek. “In thirty minutes. Uraraka is working my shift so I could go tour the gym…”

Katsuki pulled away after a few seconds, his light touch and narrowed gaze lingering on Izuku’s bruised face. “Then you’re coming with me, Deku. We’ll stop by your place and grab your workout clothes, but I’m making sure that your scrawny ass eats something.”

Izuku squeaked. “You can’t just-”

“I’m sure that Round Face won’t mind, right?”

The confident pheromones came off of Katsuki in waves. Even though he was wearing pheromone patches, Izuku could clearly smell his caramel scent. It was rich and intoxicating, leaving the small omega addicted.

Izuku shivered slightly, almost breathless. “Okay. But I’m only agreeing because you’re a stubborn prick, Kacchan.”

Katsuki smirked wickedly. “Don’t act like you don’t like it, Deku.”