#same person who made a huge fuss over picking her class last so she could fill and critiquing other peoples builds

[arlathen]

my new Saturday game had our session zero and one of the people in it is coming across as super high strung and argumentative and while the dm was laying out the homebrew rules we're using she argued against using it and he basically said "I want to try it for a few sessions and if it sucks we won't use it" and she just KEPT ARGUING so i kind of sharply shut her down and she muted herself for the rest of session 0 and then when everyone was doing 1x1 character stuff with the dm she complained about me to him and threatened to quit and when he brought it up to me I was like. yeah look I'm not good at hiding how I feel about things and if she's going to be like that for the rest of the campaign we will not get along and since im the "aggressor" here. like. if one of us has to leave im okay if it's me. and the dm didn't want to make a decision right there.

but I was chatting with the rest of the group later and they all agreed that she was annoying, I wasn't out of line, and im more fun and cool so even if i do get asked to leave, I still won.

[likeahorribledream]

The One That Got Away

Chapter 2: James Buchanan Barnes

Summary: Bucky and Charlie spend some time alone, getting to know each other. All goes well until Bucky gets some news that he hoped never to get.

Word count: 3.6k

TW: Fluff, angst, mentions of: war, fights, blood, injuries, wounds.

Summary | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 |

The idea of dancing had long been forgotten, Charlie, Steve and Bucky spent the rest of the night sitting in their booth talking about everything that they could think of. They couldn’t stop smiling or laughing, their cheeks and stomachs hurt from the muscles being overused but none of them cared. They were having such a great time.

Still smiling from a joke Steve had just told, Charlie turned to Bucky while pointing at the blonde sitting next to her.

‘’Has he always picked fight with every guy he met, or is it new?’’

Bucky snorted, shaking his head with a smile on his face.

‘’If you only knew.’’ He said, looking at Steve. ‘’He’s been doing this for as long as I can remember. That’s how we became friends actually. The school year had just started, some kid made fun of him and Steve just raised his tiny fists and challenged him to a fight. Literally challenged him. Like he was in a Western or somethin’. We were 7 at the time, andthe other kid was HUGE compared to Steve. I couldn’t just do nothing so I stepped in and we’ve been best friends ever since.’’

‘’He wasn’t that big’’ Steve mumbled while frowning, which made Bucky laugh.

‘’Sure, pal. Whatever helps you sleep at night.’’ Steve rolled his eyes at his friend’s answer.

‘’Bucky always steps in before I can do anything. I would have kicked that kid’s ass, I just know it.’’

Charlie and Bucky exchanged a look before bursting into laughter. She patted Steve on the shoulder and smiled at him.

‘’Oh, Stevie. Even Iknow that’s not true, and I’ve only known you for a few months.’’ Which only made Steve frown more. He crossed his arms over his chest, almost pouting.

Charlie shook her head slightly, smiling fondly at her new friend’s child-like attitude. She kissed his cheek quickly and whispered a quick apology, telling him she was sure he would have won against that other kid to make him feel better.

The blonde blushed at the kiss and smiled.

Bucky looked at their exchange and felt a little bit of jealously creeping up when he saw her kiss his best friend’s cheek. He quickly pushed down the feeling, clearing his throat and going back to telling other stories about his and Steve’s friendship throughout the years.

It was around midnight when they decided to call it a night and left the pub.

The breeze that hit them as soon as they stepped outside felt nice.

The pub was so packed with people that it had gotten beyond hot.

Charlie was about to say goodnight and start walking back to her place when Bucky motioned his head in the general direction of where she was headed.

‘’Come on, we’ll walk you home.’’

Steve nodded to what Bucky said and the three of them started walking.

They stopped once they were at Charlie’s front door.

She hugged her friend goodnight and then turned to James. She smiled at him, kissed his cheek and wished him a happy birthday once again before making her way to the door.

She unlocked it, stepped inside and wave them goodbye before closing the door.

Steve smirked when he saw Bucky blush slightly at the kiss, but didn’t say anything.

Before the men went their separate ways to go home, Steve gave his friend the gift he had gotten him and waved him good night.

That night both Charlie and Bucky went to sleep with a small smile on their lips, thinking about one another and hoping they would get to see each other again, soon.

Charlie was back working behind her desk, answering calls, on Monday.

Her week of shadowing nurse Jones was over, sadly. She had loved it so much and was looking into taking nursing classes and Jones was more than happy to help her take the next step.

On Tuesday, Charlie had just gotten back from her lunch when the front door of the clinic opened. At the sound of the door, Charlie looked up and wasn’t surprised in the slightest when she saw Steve walking in.

What she wasn’t expecting was Bucky following right behind him.

‘’If it isn’t our favorite patient.’’ Jones said, looking at the blonde. ‘’What is it today?’’

Charlie got up and approached Steve, looking him over. She frowned slightly and raised an eyebrow.

‘’Are you ok? Because you don’t look hurt.’’ She kept looking him over, all she saw were the bruises that were already there last week.

There were no fresh bruises or wounds. Steve just shrugged.

‘’I got into a tiny fight, Bucky was right behind me so the other guy didn’t really get any good punches in before Buck chased him away. I’m totally fine, but Bucky wanted to make sure I was ok.’’He rolled his eyes at how dramatic his best friendwas being.

Steve hadn’t put up much of a fight when James had pushed for him to go to the clinic telling Steve they had to make sure he was ok. He knew that going to the clinic had nothing to do with his possible injuries and everything to do with the girl working the front desk.

Another girl took over the phones for Charlie while she went into nurse Jones’ office with the boys.

Steve went directly to take a seat on the small table in the middle of the office. His table as nurse Jones liked to call it, teasing him because of all the times he had came in over the last few months.

He rarely got seriously hurt but after the sprained ankle, Steve liked going to the clinic and getting checked out. It was a way for him to see his new friend and he really loved Jones. She reminded him of his mother and liked to be around her. Usually Jones would have told Steve to stop coming in unless he was really injured but everyone at the clinic was very fond of him and didn’t mind whenever he came in.

Charlie had been put on ‘’Steve Duty’’ as they called it, meaning that whenever he came in she would be the one to assess his injuries and if she saw something serious she had to go get a nurse or a doctor.

She pointed to the chair in the corner while closing the door behind Bucky.

‘’You can sit over there if you want.’’ She smiled at him before walking to Steve.

‘’I’m telling you, I’m fine.’’ Steve fussed while Charlie was examining him, turning his head slowly side to side, patting him down gently, limb by limb, to see if anything hurt and making sure that every bone was where it was supposed to be.

She hadn’t found a single thing wrong with him and sighed in relief. She took a few steps backwards and looked at Steve who was getting down from the table.

‘’Told ya I was fine’’ he said at the same time his feet touched the ground.

‘’You know, one of these days you’re gonna have to fight me.’’ She pointed a finger at him. ‘’Cuz if you don’t stop getting into trouble I’m the one who’s going to kick your ass.’’

She tried to keep a straight face and really tried to look menacing. It could have worked, but Charlie was such a sweet girl that it was impossible to take her threat seriously.

Both Steve and Bucky started laughing. Charlie looked at them and started laughing too, knowing very well how non-threatening she was.

Bucky stood up from the chair he had sat on and walked towards Steve and Charlie.

‘’It’s alright Doll, I’ll kick his ass for you.’’ losing his smile, throwing a death stare at his friend.

He looked a lot more menacing than she did.

‘’Thank you.’’ She laughed, sticking out her tongue at Steve.

‘’If I had known you two were going to team up against me, I wouldn’t have introduced the two of you.’’ Steve said, sticking out his tongue back at Charlie.

They laughed and then Charlie clapped her hands together, making both men jumped.

‘’Are you both free this weekend? I want to bring you somewhere!’’ She said, excited.

They hadn’t made any plans, and agreed to go with her and decided to meet Saturday in front of Charlie’s house and from there they would walk together.

The rest of the week went by painfully slow. Steve hadn’t come back, which was extremely surprising but comforting to know he hadn’t gotten hurt again.

On Saturday morning Charlie got up and ready, ate her breakfast and went outside to wait for the boys.

They finally came around the corner, Steve looking like his usual chipper self while Bucky looked a little... grumpy. He clearly wasn’t a morning person.

‘’Good morning!’’ She greeted them once they had reached her.

‘’ ‘morning.’’ Bucky mumbled.

Charlie couldn’t help herself and laughed.

‘’It’s 10 am, how are you so tired still?’’

Bucky only shrugged as an answer and they started walking. Letting him wake up slowly, Charlie and Steve talked among themselves looking at their friend once in a while to make sure he was still following/awake.

‘’So, where are we going?’’

‘’You’ll see Stevie. Patience.’’ She grinned.

They walked for all of 10 minutes when they finally stopped in front of a tiny store. It was hidden between two bigger stores, so hidden that if you didn’t know it was there you could easily miss it. There was no sign, no name just books in the tiny window.

‘’Welcome to my little piece of heaven.’’ Charlie said while opening the door all excited.

The moment you stepped into the bookstore, you were hit by a strong smell of new and old books. It was one of the things that Charlie loved about this store.

She waved at the woman behind the register and brought the boys to the back of the store, where the shelves were.

Bucky seemed to have perked up at the sight of all the books.

The trio started walking around, looking at different books and reading a few pages here and there. Even though it wasn’t a library, they whispered the whole time they were there.

They spent an hour walking around, picking up books and putting them on the counter near the register.

‘’Let’s remember that we have to carry those books back, on foot’’ Steve reminded them while laughing.

Charlie pouted a little before putting a couple books back on the shelves, making a mental note to come back in a few days to buy them.

Once their choices were made, they paid for all their new books. The owner giving them a generous discount, joking that Charlie was the only reason they were able to keep the lights on, making her blush in the process.

This was the first of many outings. After that morning at the bookstore, they started making plans and seeing each other a few days a week. The 3 of them got along very well and had the best time when they were together.

Two weeks had gone by and they had once again made plans together. They were going to meet Charlie during her lunch break and go eat at the diner across the street from the clinic.

It was almost time for Charlie’s break and right before Bucky was about to leave his house, Steve called to tell him something had come up and he wouldn’t be able to join them.

He thought it was odd because Steve never canceled last minute but still decided to go, he didn’t want Charlie to eat alone.

Of course, this was all a part of Steve’s matchmaking plan. When they decided on eating lunch together, he had no intention on showing up.

He never felt like the third wheel when they were together but he could see that his two best friends wanted to spend some time alone, and it was totally fine with him since it was his plan from the moment he introduced them.

It was finally time for lunch, Charlie was starving and she couldn’t wait to see her friends.

She got up from her chair and told the nurse in charge that she was leaving to go to lunch and that she’ll be back in an hour.

When she stepped out of the clinic, she noticed Bucky was alone. She thought it was strange because Steve was never late.

‘’Is Steve running late?’’Charlie asked while hugging Bucky to say hello.

‘’No. He called right before I left to say something came up and he couldn’t make it.’’

Charlie raised an eyebrow, surprised. Bucky shrugged giving her a look that said I know, it’s weird.

They crossed the street to the diner and once they were inside a waitress walked them to a table in the back corner. They sat and picked up the menus.

‘’I’m so hungry.’’ Charlie almost whined, looking over all the options and it made Bucky chuckle.

The waitress came back to take their order a few minutes later. She spent most of her time at their table openly flirting with Bucky, batting her eyelashes at him and laughing every time he said something, even if it wasn’t funny.

He smiled at her, politely, but never flirted back.

Charlie had to admit she was a little bit surprised. Before meeting him, she had heard all types of rumours about Bucky and how he was always with a different girl. Those rumours were clearly wrong, otherwise he would have jumped at the chance.

She was glad he didn’t flirt back, her mood had shifted when she saw how the waitress acted. She didn’t know why and convinced herself it was because it was rude of her to flirt so shamelessly when Charlie was sitting right there, for all she knew she could have been his girlfriend and she didn’t even seem to care. It definitely wasn’t jealousy. Definitely not.

The waitress finally walked away after writing down their order.

Charlie had gotten a bit worried when Bucky told her Steve couldn’t make it, she was scared it was going to be awkward and filled with uncomfortable silences but it was the opposite.

They had no trouble finding topics of conversation, the only time it was silent between them is when they were chewing their food.

It didn’t take long for them to finish eating, they had been so hungry that the minute their plates touched the table they started eating, barely stopping.

Once they were done, the waitress came over to clean up and tried getting Bucky’s attention once again and failed, again. He was too busy chatting with his friend to even notice her looks.

There was still 40 minutes left to Charlie’s lunch break so they decided to stay at the dinner.

‘’How come everybody calls you Bucky?’’

She had been wondering about his nickname since the first time she heard Steve call him that.

‘’Steve gave me that nickname when we were kids. It just stuck and now everybody calls me that. I find it almost weird when people call me by my first name.’’ He laughs. ‘’Now he only calls me Buck though. He said he didn’t like that everybody used his nickname so he had to find another one.’’

Charlie laughed, that wasn’t surprising of Steve.

‘’My full name is James Buchanan Barnes. That’s where he got the Bucky from.’’

Charlie nodded and smiled.

‘’He loves giving people nickname, doesn’t he?’’ She laughed. ‘’After we met he started calling me Char. I absolutely hate it so he’s the only one who’s allowed to use it.’’

Bucky chuckled and raised an eyebrow, curiously.

‘’What do people usually call you then?’’

She shrugged. ‘’Just Charlie.’’

‘’Well we need to fix that. You deserve to have a nickname that isn’t Char.’’ He teased and started to think.

Bucky racked his brain, trying to come up with something cute. He wasn’t really good at coming up with names. He thought of everything he knew about her.

He thought about the day they had met and finally found something. He remembered that the dress she had on the night of his birthday had flowers on it.

‘’Lily.’’ He simply said. ‘’I’m going to call you Lily now.’’

Charlie smiled, loving the nickname. It was cute.

‘’No one else can use it but me.’’ Bucky added.

Charlie laughed.

‘’Why?’’

‘’I’m the one who came up with it, other people can come up with something else. Lily is mine.’’ He smiled, proud of his idea.

Charlie tried to hide the pink that crept to her cheek when he said that Lily was his, bringing the attention back to him.

‘’Then I have to find something for you.’’ She started to think, looking at him for ideas. ‘’James Buchanan Barnes.’’ She repeated a few times out loud, hoping it would trigger something.

‘’Just call me James. You’ll be the only one.’’ He offered, he just loved hearing his first name coming out of her mouth.

It sounded different from when other people said it and he was embarrassed of how much of an effect her saying his name had on him. Charlie smiled brightly at him.

‘’Sold?’’

‘’Sold.’’ He grinned.

Charlie extended her hand towards Bucky and stuck out her pinky finger. He looked at her, confused as what she was doing.

‘’We just made a deal, we have to pinky promise now.’’

He laughed softly, thinking she was adorable. He stuck out his pinky finger, amused, and wrapped it around hers, sealing the ‘’deal’’ witha promise.

Letting go of each other’s hand, Charlie was about to change topics when she noticed Bucky wasn’t paying attention to her anymore, instead he was focused on the conversation the people sitting at the table behind him were having.

She hadn’t noticed them before now, but as soon as she laid eyes on them she quickly understood why Bucky started listening. They were in full uniforms.

Soldiers.

The two of them were talking about how the war overseas was getting worse and not enough men were enlisting. In a few months, they would have to draft any man over 18 that was healthy enough to go fight.

Charlie looked at Bucky, he looked like he had seen a ghost and looked a lot paler than usual.

Steve had told her once how both their fathers had been in the army, fightingf or their country. Both had died.

Steve wanted to be like his dad, he tried to enlist every chance he got but because of his health issues he kept being denied. He had also told her how Bucky felt about about it all.

He wanted to honor his dad, make him proud but he was scared to die. Rightfully so.

Charlie saw the panic in his eyes and brought his attention back to her.

‘’Hey.’’She said softly, ‘’Let’s get out of here, yeah?’’

He simply nodded and they got up.

They paid and left, crossing the street back to the clinic.

Bucky hadn’t said a single word since he had heard the soldiers talking.

Charlie started to worry, not because he wasn’t talking but because it seemed like his thoughts were going a mile a minute.

‘’Bucky.’’

Nothing.

‘’James.’’

Finally, he looked at her. He tried to smile to reassure her, seeing how worried she looked but she saw right through it.

She reached out and took his hand gently.

‘’It’s going to be ok, James.’’

She gave his hand a squeeze and he squeezed back. Hearing her say his name brought a genuine smile to his face.

Charlie had to go back to work, even though she didn’t want to.

It didn’t feel right to leave him like this but she really had no choice if she wanted to keep her job.

Bucky stepped towards her, bringing her to his chest and hugging her tightly, as if he was scared of what would happen if he let go.

She wasn’t used to this.

They had hugged before but never like this. It was always a bit hesitant, the both of them being shy, it only lasted a few seconds but not this time.

She wrapped her arms around his torso and hugged him back, just as tightly.

She hated seeing him like this and the way he hugged her broke her heart.

She hold on to him, only letting go when he did, not a second before.

She promised she would call him as soon as she got home that night.

‘’Thank you.’’ He finally spoke.

Thanking her for making him feel better, not pressing him with a bunch of questions.

He knew Steve had probably told her about his dad but they didn’t need to talk about it for her to know what was wrong. She was just there when he needed her and it made him feel less alone.

He was thankful he didn’t need to talk for her to understand how he was feeling. He wasn’t sure he could find the words, anyway.

He smiled one more time at her, but it wasn’t his usual, brighter-than-the-sun smile. He looked sad.

She smiled back at him, trying to look as reassuring as she possibly could, not really sure if she was succeeding.

He started walking home and she waited until she couldn’t see him anymore before going inside.

The whole afternoon she thought of the emotions in Bucky’s eyes, her heart heavy in her chest.

As soon as her shift was over, she rushed home. Keeping her promise, she called Bucky the second she got home.

Feedback is always appreciated ❤️

[honeypirate]

my sun and stars

Izuku Midoirya x Reader 

In my head theyre in their last year of school and end up fighting a bad villian, deku saves reader and ends up getting hurt, leading to a kind of confession.  

flufffyyyyy best friends to more

Heavily unedited so I apologize for the mistakes I know are there somewhere.

The girls of class 1A, Aoyama, and you, sat cross legged on the floor of Deku’s room. A book on the floor between you all that explains the chemical makeup of what you needed “thank you so much for this Yao-Momo. It really is a help since it’s so late and I don’t know where to even get these.” she smiles “no problem, this is an amazing idea” the little plastic pieces start to fall from her skin, onto the floor around her. You squeal in excitement and start to pick up the pieces, grabbing the sticky tack that she made first, and begin hanging the plastic pieces all over the room. You didn’t finish until early in the morning, around 3am. You were happy even though you knew you had to get up early to go to the hospital

Your neck ached but you didn’t care, you kept your hand in his and your forehead against your hand as you rested in the hospital. Your best friend, Izuku Midoriya, has been in a coma for the past few days, you made a huge fuss and now they let you stay with him however long you wanted if you just went home at night to shower and sleep. School has been out for the past few days because of rebuilding from the attack, Midoriya only got hurt because he was protecting you and you felt guilty because of it. You wanted to be with him as long as possible until he woke up, and the teachers knew that, Aizawa was there as long as you were but he gave you space, sitting outside of the door. He walked you back to school at the end of the night, and was there in the morning when you left the dorm, the travel to and fro was always silent but you were grateful for the company. 

“y/n, what are you doing here?” your head snaps up from the bed “you’re awake!” you say and smile, but your smile falls away when you see the disgusted look on his face and the way he whips his hand away from yours “oh..” you whisper, your heart beginning to race. “What are YOU doing here?” he asks again, his eyes turning dark, “I uhh, i wanted to be here when you woke up, i was worried..” you withdraw into the chair you were sitting in, feeling smaller than a pinhead, “don't tell me you’re IN LOVE with me?! Don't make me laugh” and he does, long and loud, hard enough to bring tears to his eyes. You feel tears burn your eyes and quickly scoot your chair back, popping to your feet and trying to run out the door, but the door won't open when you push it. You try to force it open and it doesn’t budge, your hand freezes when his laughter stops and he speaks again “i never should have hurt myself for you. You’re not worth it. It should be you in this hospital bed” you gasp and tears start to flow down your cheeks, the door immediately flies open and all of your friends are outside the door, laughing and shoving their way inside while chanting “it should have been you” you take a step back and trip, falling on your butt and choking on a sob. You scoot farther back until youre up against the wall, your friends walking slowing towards you and Midoriya standing from his hospital bed, walking over to you with a smirk before crouching down in front of you“D..deku. Why?”  you sob as you look into his dark green eyes you loved, he chuckles “because I could never love a person like you” 

You woke up with a gasp in a cold sweat, panting and your heart racing, the dream you were just in still fresh in your mind. You throw your covers off and go to open the window in your room, the cool night air cooling off your body as you took deep breaths to calm yourself down. “That was so rude of you, brain” you whisper to nobody and then get back in bed, reaching over and checking your phone, 4:04am. Your alarm would go off in three hours but you doubt that you would get any more sleep tonight. 

The walk to the hospital was the same as all the others, only thing heard was your footsteps on the pavement, when you get to his hospital room you stop, hand on the door, and frown. “Is something wrong?” Mr. Aizawa asks and you shake your head. “Just a bad dream.” you whisper and then turn your face towards him “thank you for always walking with me. I really appreciate it” he nods and you finally enter the room. 

You tell his unconscious form about your dream, “and yeah” you yawn “i didn't sleep after that.” you pull your chair across the room to be by the bed, sitting down and pulling a blanket out from your bag and a book you had to read for your class, pulling your knees up and settling in. “i really hope you wake up soon, Deku. I miss you.” 

A chorus of beeping is what woke him up, his eyes slowly fluttering open, the groan in his throat dying before it can come out when he catches sight of your unconscious form sleeping curled up in the chair next to his bed, your peaceful sleeping face giving him butterflies. “She’s here every day, all day, leaving only to go home and sleep before coming back in the morning” his eyes moved over to the doorway where the voice was “mr Aizawa!” he says in a whisper. Aizawa comes in quietly, looking at you and your book that fell to the ground, “you should have seen the fuss that they made on the first day when we tried to send them home. They really care about you” he covers his mouth as he yawns and then shoves his hands in his pocket. Izuku’s eyes go back over to you as he sits up quietly, stifling the groan of his soar muscles, he doesn’t know what to say, the fact that you care so much about him makes his heart sore, he's been in love with you for so long but felt convinced you saw him as only a friend. This makes him hope you see him as more.

A hand on your shoulder makes you up, you open your eyes and see the dark green eyes from your dream. You gasp, your eyes widening and your heart beat spiking as you sit up straight in the chair, trying to back away from him but the back of the chair stopping you. “Hey hey it’s just me it’s okay” his eyes, you realized, weren’t dark at all. But filled with sweetness and a kindness that you were so familiar with. The beautiful green eyes you loved, nothing like the ones from your dream. You relax and then laugh awkwardly “sorry. Bad dreams recently” you shove the blanket off your lap as excitement finally makes its way throughout your body. You throw your arms around the boy's neck and hug him gently but quickly. “Are you okay? Why are you out of bed?!” one of his arms, the one without the IV, wraps around your back “i’m okay. I wanted to wake you, I’m sorry i couldn’t wait any longer” you pull back and smile as you look into his eyes, your hands staying on his neck “how long have you been up? You should have woken me at the exact moment. Izuku I missed you so much you have no idea how worried i’ve been” you from and he chuckles, reaching up to push your frown into a smile “you looked so peaceful and lovely i couldn't bring myself to. Mr. Aizawa has told me a little about how worried you’ve been.” you help him stand and help him back to his bed, your face flushed knowing that Aizawa talked about you. 

 “Has the doctor come in?” he nods “she told me everything and answered all my questions, and the nurses too. They all love you, you know. Raved about how sweet you were and how moved they are that you’ve been so dedicated to me. Half of them think we’re dating” you laugh uncomfortably, turning away to pull the chair closer before you sat down again “is that so?” you say.

“What was your bad dream about? Will you tell me?” his voice was soft and you sighed, your eyes moving up from the stain on the chair to meet his green eyes again, “it wasn’t nice and it is really dumb, are you sure you want to hear it?” he nods and you nod as well, looking down at your hands in your lap, turning them to look at your palms as you relay the dream to him, leaving out the part where he told you he could never love you, though, didn't want to confess just yet. “Please look at me” his voice was quiet, you looked slowly up into his eyes, he’s smiling softly and his eyes are gentle “it isn’t dumb. and I want to protect you. I hate seeing you get hurt. I would never ever think like that. Okay?” you nod and smile, a load felt like it was taken from your shoulders, you didn’t even feel like it bothered you this much. “Thank you, Izuku” you clear your throat and begin to fold your blanket in your lap “do you know when you can go home?” he sighs “not till tomorrow morning, have to keep me overnight for observations” you smile and take his hand on the bed “i am so glad you’re awake and okay” his heart is racing as hard ad yours was and his cheeks begin to flush so he looks away from you and changes the topic. 

You spent the rest of the day with him, catching up on what he missed and playing some card games. You were so relieved he was okay and coming home. The rest of the class showed up as well his Mom (who stayed the rest of the day with you both) and the class brought so many watermelons you didn't know what to do with half of them. You ended up giving them to some of the hospital staff. 

The next morning you met Izuku at the hospital to go home with him, smiling and bouncing on your toes, excited to show him what you did in his room. When you get there you ask him to close his eyes as you enter, he laughs but still follows your orders when your hand goes up to cover his eyes. 

“I hope you like it Izuku” you whisper before you drop your hand, you left the light on all night and brought in your blackout curtains to make sure the whole room was pitch black. When he opened his eyes he was greeted with the most beautiful display of glow in the dark stars and planets, exact constellations spread out around his ceiling and walls, all of the ones you guys found together one night after a big fight with a villain when you both couldn’t sleep and you snuck out to the roof.

 His hand finds yours in the dark and he laces your fingers together “y/n I…” you swallow hard, your stomach filled with knots of excitement and butterflies “do you like it?” you whisper and he chuckles “I love it. It’s so amazing” you feel relieved “i’m so glad” he pulls you into his arms into a hug that feels like it reached your very core. 

Something about the darkness made you feel bolder, maybe because you couldn’t see his face, you grab fistfuls of his shirt across his back, burying your face into his neck whispering “you are my sun and stars, Izuku” his heart stopped and he froze, did you really say that or is this a dream? It takes him a good second to restart his heart and pull you tighter against his chest. “And you are mine” he says and pulls back, reaching up to cup your cheek in the dark, his thumb tracing your bottom lip before he leans down, pressing his lips gently to yours.

[moonstruckholland]

"everyone keeps on trying to set us up, but we've already been dating for years/months" kinda thing 😘

I swear you always come up with the best prompts 💕 A huge thanks to @fangirlwithasweettooth for helping me out with this 💛

☆ ☆ ☆

"Y/n, c'mon, you have to meet up with this guy from my theatre class. He's perfect for you," Lena begged, giving you her puppy dog eyes.

"Nope, no thank you."

"Let me at least tell you his name and what he looks like!"

You shook your head refraining from rolling your eyes, "Babe, I told you, I'm seeing someone already."

"That's what you've been saying since January, but you never bring him around, you barely talk about him. Honestly, I can't help feeling like you're either ashamed of me or you're making him up."

"You're my best friend, I could never be ashamed of you. Plus, why would I go through the trouble of pretending to date someone?"

"To stop me from trying to set you up."

She made a good point. After many bad set ups, you always made a big fuss whenever she tried bringing some new person around. You knew she meant well, but she had horrible taste.

"Can you blame you after what happened with the last guy?"

She pouted, her dark curls bouncing as she dramatically crossed her arms, "He seemed like such a nice guy! I didn't think he would leave you with the check after ordering the whole menu!"

You wrapped an arm around her shoulders, comfortingly, "I know, honey, it's not your fault. I promise you'll meet him soon. He's just new to the whole relationship thing and I don't want to overwhelm him."

"Okay," She sighed, her shoulders slumped with disappointment.

She seemed to let the subject go and you hoped this would be the last time she would bring it up.

You weren't lying when you said you were in a relationship. You met Tom in your horror literature class last semester, but you didn't start talking until he begged you to help him study for the final.

He hadn't exactly had the best reputation in terms of girls, but the two of you hit it off, starting to date sometime during your winter break.

It had been your idea to keep things private for a little while, knowing how intense your friends could be sometimes, especially Lena, even though their hearts were in the right place. You were worried he might be scared off, since he wasn't used to being the boyfriend kind of guy.

But with Lena attempting to set you up with someone new seemingly every week, you were starting to reconsider the decision. Maybe it was time to finally introduce them.

You brought it up that night when you were on the phone with Tom, butterflies filling your tummy as you awaited his answer.

"I'd love to meet your friends, darling," he said, surprising you.

"Yeah? Are you sure?"

"Absolutely, and if I'm being honest, I wouldn't mind showing my princess off around Haz and the other guys."

You couldn't help smiling at him calling you his princess, a flush on your cheeks.

"So, do you think you could come by tomorrow?"

"I can't tomorrow, baby. I promised Haz, I'd run lines with him. What about Saturday?"

"That's perfect."

After hanging up, you went to bed feeling giddy. You couldn't believe Tom wanted to meet your friends, wanted you to meet his.

You decided not to tell Lena, wanting to surprise her, instead just telling her you had something planned for Saturday night.

It was a decision you ended up regretting when she approached the picnic table you were sitting at in the courtyard the next day, a guilty expression on her face.

"Okay, before I say anything, promise me you won't get mad," she pleaded as she took a seat beside you.

"Lena, what did you do?"

"Remember the cute theatre guy? Well, he has a cute friend, Harrison, who asked me to run lines with them, but I told him I was meeting you and I might've invited them to run lines here," She refused to meet your eyes, using her curls to hide her face as she explained.

"Lena!" You yelled, completely mortified, earning you a dirty look from a girl studying at the table behind you.

"I'm sorry! I didn't want to ditch you! Please, just be nice to them, that's all I'm asking."

You glared at her, "Fine, I'll be nice, but that's it."

She pulled you in for a tight hug, "Thank you, angel, I love you! I promise I'll buy you lunch the second they leave."

You listened to her talk about this cute guy, the name sounding so familiar the more and more she talked about him. You found yourself zoning out a bit, trying to figure out where you'd heard it from.

Lena pulled you out of your thoughts as she started freaking out, lightly nudging you to tell you the boys were approaching.

You looked up, your heart stopping as you saw Tom and who you assumed to be Haz or in Lena's case, Harrison.

"That's the guy you were trying to set me up with?"

"He's cute, right?"

'He's my boyfriend,' is what you wanted to say, but you just tried not to look panicked instead.

Your eyes met Tom's for a brief moment and he looked just as shocked as you did when they finally got to your table.

Lena didn't seem to notice, her eyes bright and she greeted them.

"Y/n, this is Harrison," she gave him a flirty smile before looking at Tom, "And this is Tom, the guy I was telling you about the other day."

She winked at you when they weren't looking, putting their stuff down and sitting on the other side of the picnic table, Tom right in front of you.

Lena and Harrison fell right into an easy conversation, which you tried to keep up with, but you couldn't stop looking at Tom, having your own wordless conversation. Not that they noticed, clearly Lena and Harrison wanted to do more than run lines together.

Tom looked down at your phone, before grabbing his own, sending you a text.

Tommy 💖: So, what did Elena say about me?

You: Just that you were cute and perfect for me

Tommy 💖: Well, she wasn't wrong 😉

You could see he was smirking down at his phone, knowing Lena approved of him before even figuring out the two of you were dating.

You: Totally not the point right now, babe! They think we're strangers

Tommy 💖: Should we tell them?

You looked up to see if Lena or Harrison had even noticed both of you texting. They hadn't, too caught up in each other to even look at you.

You: We kinda have to? Or else Lena is in for a surprise tomorrow night

Tommy 💖: We'll tell them in a minute, there's something else on my mind

You: What?

Tommy 💖: How beautiful you look right now

You could feel the heat rushing towards your face at the compliment. Even over text, Tom had an effect over you, turning you in a blushing, giggly mess.

You were about to respond, when you felt Lena gently nudge your shoulder.

"The guys are offering to take us to lunch, but we don't have to go if you don't want to."

"I-" you looked at Tom for a moment, contemplating what you should say. You sighed, "There's something I have to tell you."

"What's up?"

"Well, um, Tom and I are seeing each other."

She looked between the two of you surprised before asking in a quieter tone, "What about your guy?"

"Lena, Tom is my guy. He's the one I've been seeing for the past couple of months."

The total shock and confusion on her face was absolutely priceless, Harrison's expression matching hers as Tom explained to him what was going on.

"I'll explain later," you promised, "But you and Harrison go have lunch. Now that I know you totally approve of Tom, I think the two of us should go on a date of our own.

You didn't give her time to protest, getting up and picking up your things. You motioned for Tom to do the same.

Both of you waved to your friends before intertwining hands and quickly walking away in a fit of giggles.

[switchbrainedholylime]

Like Petroleum & Water - Chapter 1

Based on the prompt/AU idea by @skygemspeaks: https://skygemspeaks.tumblr.com/post/189686838998/you-know-what-dr-stone-modern-au-where-all-the

Summary: Senkuu’s new stepmother Lillian comes a family...a large, Southern one. And while Senkuu may have dreamed of going to space to explore another planet, he didn’t think that alien planet would be West Virginia.

Sure he and Byakuya were still going to live in Japan full-time, he didn’t have to move there; they just had to visit for one month every year during the summer after they got married. Lillian wanted a low-key family wedding without all the fuss of the media, so she was secretive about any details in interviews. 

Of course, Lillian had told Byakuya who blabbed excitably about all the details to Senku, but luckily for the newly-engaged couple, the teen prodigy didn’t care about leaking any of the info to the media.�� 

“I just dan’t wanna get my loved ones involved in all that drama, y’know? I just wanna have a nice time with the folks that made me who I am. I might have a big celebration afterward, but really deep down I guess I’m still a hometown girl. Sure, I could hire a big city caterer, have big names come to it, have a big giant cake the size of the moon, have everything big-big-big. But...that’s just ain’t who I am. It just wouldn’t feel right. I made a promise before my first major concert at 14 in Morgantown, home to my home state’s biggest university music program, to my aunt that she’d be the one that’d make my wedding cake, and I wanna keep that. She was my first official voice coach once she heard about how much all the kids on the street loved my singing. I owe it to her.”    

When pop idol Lillian Weinberg posted her engagement photos with her and Byakuya in the ISS on her Instagram. The video of the engagement ring fluttering in zero-gravity until it moved towards Lillian, who slipped it on and embraced the Japanese astronaut got billions of views. 

By the time the ISS returned, Bakuya was an international sensation and people were flocked to his university office. The school security had to actually train to themselves to deal with pesky paparazzi. 

The world Senkuu inhabited was shattered like someone had taken their bare hands to a statue and crushed it like an egg. The other astronauts were clapping in the videos. Everyone in his class went ballistic. 

Literally ballistic, too; one of Yuzuriha’s friends named Nikki threw her eraser so fast across the classroom in utter shock that it matched the trajectory of an arrow at about 27.3 mph. “Oh my God! Senku, this is your dad, isn’t it?”

Senkuu shifted his head over. “Yeah, that’s him, alright.”  

“I can’t say that I blame Lillian, he’s a lot hotter than you, Senkuu.” Nikki smiled, “Of course, I’m always a sucker for a five-o-clock shadow.” 

“He’s also gotten pretty buff from all that astronaut training, too. Some of the gym photos show ‘em getting pretty jacked.” 

“He has a rustic spice about him, but he’s also smart. He raised Senkuu on his own, so you know he’s family-orientated and doesn’t have issues with commitment. He has a steady job, too.” Another schoolmate gushed.  

“Wait, weren’t you working on a bodysuit for him back in elementary school. You don’t happen to still have a model of that around, do you?” 

“I’d prefer it if you don’t talk about my dad in front of me like he’s some top 10 movie star. Sweet Issac Newton, my old man is in his mid-forties! None of you thought he was hot before he hooked up with Lillian!” Senkuu’s face was beet red and sweat as he grasped his piece of chalk for dear life. “Alright, can we please go back to the parabola formula. It’s going to be on the final exam.” 

After a frustrating pre-finals review, Senkuu left the school grounds on his own as he thought to himself. His arms were firmly planted in his lab coat. He pouted and scowled to himself, “Had I known that the main result of my old man getting into JAXA would be that he got to bang his favorite celebrity instead of getting some serious science work done, I wouldn’t have made that swimming suit-” 

His monologuing was interrupted by Taiju and Yuzuriha. “Senku! Hey, congrats to your old man. Yuzu said that she’d make a custom tuxedo, so I kinda gave her your measurements. Sorry I didn’t ask you first-”

“Great, now even my two best friends wanna bang my future step-mom and by next school year, I’ll have to submit paperwork to change my name to ‘Senku Weinberg’. What a joke,” Senku groaned. “I even heard people are starting to fantasize about me, comparing my eyes to rubies! No one even cared about us before this!” 

“Senku! You know I only love Yuzuriha. Also...you know I’ve always cared about you. Famous or not,” Taiju insisted.  

“Then why haven’t you told Yuzuriha yet that you love her?” 

“I...plan on it! I promise! After finals, and definitely by the time you get back from the wedding!”

“You better.” Senkuu gazed up at the sunset. He then high-fived his friend, “Don’t forget your summer homework assignment, big oaf.” 

“I won’t!” 

----

Getting to travel first-class was surreal, to say the least. Senkuu gazed out his window and calculated the seconds it’d take to get there or how high they were above ground by the centimeter. They transferred from Tokyo to New York to Huntington. From there it was an hour drive through the windy mountains that made Senkuu AND Baykuya nearly vomit from motion sickness until they finally arrived at Lillian’s hometown: Pickens, West Virginia. Population 40.  

“Alright, y’all! We’re here.” Lillian turned to her fiancee and soon-to-be stepson. 

“Here I thought the JAXA training was rough...,” Byakuya groaned.  

“I figured I was going straight to Hell, but I didn’t think it’d be this soon,” Senkuu muttered to himself. 

“GET UP!” Lillian kicked the car and shook them out of it. “Good grief, y’all need to build up some grit!”

“Darling!” A dark-brown haired middle-aged woman and embraced the pop singer. “Oh, I’ve missed you so much. I prayed for you constantly that you’d come back home.” 

“Thanks, Auntie Turquoise!” Lillian jumped towards her aunt. “How’re Cousins Kohaku and Ruri? The trio o’ Ruby, Sapphire ‘n Garnet ain’t causin’ the sheriff too much trouble, are they?”

“Thankfully they’re not. Though boy is that Magma a whole wreck to deal with; he broke his DUI parole again yet he still drives through the town on his truck like it’s a NASCAR ring. He’s a headache.”  

“Turquoise...? Lapis Lazuli?” Senkuu sat up. 

“There’s not a lot of people ‘round ‘ere so we don’t really bother with last names. We just go by our favorite stone. Lillian Weinberg’s actually my stage name. I actually officially changed it in order to enroll in the ISS program, though. I’m the only person in this ‘ol town with a first and last name or to have left in more than 50 years.” 

“The only person!?” Senkuu nearly choked. “And not only that, you made it to SPACE!? What even is this!?”   

“Why did you choose ‘Weinberg’?” Byakuya asked.  

“There’s a town just a few miles north ‘o ‘ere called Helvetia that’s a huge tourist trap since it’s all about Dutch and German heritage. Auntie Turquoise used to get me presents from there craftsmen there all the time. I’ll always treasure that wooden music box y’all got me when I started my first period.” 

“Well, I couldn’t help myself for my favorite niece.” Aunt Turquoise smiled.   

“We can swing by there sometime on our way back to the airport. I get the feelin’ y’all have had enough twirling for today.” 

“Yeah,"

“What happens if more than one person has the same favorite stone?” 

“Oh, Pastor Jasper keeps a record on that. If that happens, they pick the same name of the stone but in a different language. That’s why Kohaku and Ruri aren’t called ‘Amber’ and ‘Lapis Lazuli’."

“I-I guess.” Byakuya blinked. 

“Well, what’re waitin’ in the car for? C’mon in!” Lillian picked both grown men up and carried them into the house. 

[halothenthehorns]

THE MIRROR OF ERISED

    THE MIRROR OF ERISED

Lily nodded as she took the book, checked her spot, then closed it and eyed her son briefly before saying, "I'm keeping my promise son. You wanted to know about Snape," she sucked in a huge breath and said, "so here it goes."

She was the only one who spoke for almost a solid half hour. The three boys didn't trust

themselves to speak on the matter without cursing something in the process. When she was finally done, ending with the last bit of information they knew about Snape's current whereabouts, or thought they knew since they were rumors, she looked pleading at her son, begging him to understand what these other three just couldn't. There was too much bad blood between the lot, but Harry didn't have to inherit his father's grudge, simply based on this books facts about him.

When she was done, Harry nodded slowly to himself, rubbing his temple again. Everything his mother had just told him came as a surprise, but he also got that feeling again. The one he had when they had told him Remus' story. He felt right again, whole, like another part of his life was explained. Then he met his mother's eyes, and said to the room at large, "alright. I'm not going to say anything then. I'll wait until these books are over before making a final judgement call."

Lily beamed and threw her arms around her son, thanking Merlin she had such an understanding boy.

Then when she leaned back from the hug, she stood up, marched over to James in the chair, and practically dragged him into the kitchen.

Once in there and hopefully out of earshot of the others, she said, "I'm sorry."

James blinked, he hadn't been expecting that. Before he could say anything though, she kept going, "It's just that, I have to believe Sev wouldn't do this. You know counter curses are done in the same manner, and-" her voice caught on a catch in her throat.

Taking this moment, James cut in with, "Lily I'm not mad at you for defending him. Lord knows if I was, I'd never not be mad at you." She made a face at him, but he pressed on, "I was just hurt when you made it seem like you were going to stand there and do nothing when it said he was going to kill our son."

Lily shook her head hard from side to side, her hair whipping into her face as she spluttered, "No, I would never!" Then, when she saw the look in those hazel eyes, he still looked beyond hurt and unbelieving she rushed on, "I was just trying to get you to see that, you have been wrong about him before. At least try to do what Harry is, give him these seven years at school to prove that he's not the man you think he is."

James' face scrunched up. He would never like Snape. How could he, when James still had a lurking fear that one of these days he was going to come and try to take Lily away from him, for good this time. He had never shared this fear with anyone, but it still lurked in the back of his mind every night like a growing fungus. He thought his friends would tell him he was ridiculous, and Lily would probably slap him for suggesting she couldn't handle herself and take care of her own life. Still, to appease an obviously upset love of his life, he did promise her this.

They made their way back into the living room to find a rousing debate between these three boys, Sirius and Remus were trying to convince Harry that it was a great idea for him to go and pull a prank or two at school. Despite the fact that Harry was out of school and could do no such thing, or already had with no influence from them.

Harry was laughing along and trying to explain that he really thought this was a bad idea, but without any real force in it. He seemed to be enjoying just sitting and talking to them at all.

When the two parents reentered the room, Harry went quiet and looked at the two as if fearing they would start arguing again, while Remus and Sirius took one look at them and began gagging at once.

"Please," Sirius choked, clutching at his throat, "please at least leave the room if you two are going to start making out again."

"We're begging, save poor Harry's eyes from such a sight," Remus agreed in disgust.

Harry was laughing again at once, while the married couple took their spots on either side of him.

James and his two friends began bickering at once, the two of them arguing that this was how they made up all the time in seventh year, while Lily looked about for her place.

Once she found it, she began reading.

Christmas was on the way.

And immediately frowned with concern. Fragile as she felt right now, she might just burst into tears all over again if Harry, A) went back to the Dursley's house and was ignored or B) stayed at an empty castle for the holidays.

The other three looked just as concerned about this, so Harry was quick to say, "I have a great feeling about this Christmas."

At their astounded looks he said, "Really. I think I get a wonderful gift, several actually."

When they all beamed at him with pure joy, Harry decided to decline mentioning that there was something else that happened on Christmas that had been bothering him since he'd laid eyes on his parents. This was not the first time he'd seen their faces, of that he was sure, but like the book had said the Dursley's had no pictures of them. Then why was he so sure on this day that he might just get his eleven year old wish?

Brushing it off, he let his mother go on without a fuss.

Days in December were usually seen snow covered. The lake was frozen over, and the Weasley twins got into trouble for enchanting snowballs to follow around and bounce off of Quirrell's turban.

"An old favorite gag of Peter's," James laughed.

Owls that managed to get through the storm had to be nursed back to health.

"Poor dears," Lily muttered.

Potions classes were the worst, as students were forced to huddle around their cauldrons for their only source of warmth.

"Yeesh, at least Slughorn put warming charms in there," Sirius grumbled, shivering a bit himself at the sound of that.

Malfoy was his usual self, loudly making the comment how he pitied students who had to stay at school for Holidays because they weren't wanted at home.

"You really shouldn't talk about yourself like that," Remus snapped, anger bubbling up in him again at once.

Harry wouldn't let himself feel dejected at Malfoy's snip, instead beamed over at a man he really was starting to think of as his Uncle, not that he had anything real to compare the feeling to, but it felt right all the same.

Malfoy had been furious Slytherin had lost its match,

"A real pleasure I'm sure," Sirius grumbled.

and had tried to run the joke that Harry would soon be replaced with a frog on his team.

"I'm sure it wasn't any funnier to them then it is to us," Lily said, rolling her eyes at these childish antics.

Nobody else ever laughed along though, to impressed with Harry having stayed on his broom the way he had, so Malfoy had resorted back to picking on Harry for not having a proper family.

James grit his teeth so much that it was starting to hurt. He was really beginning to hate this Malfoy brat almost as much as he hated Snivellus. He would always take jabs at all four of them, he and Sirius for being rather spoiled and rich, and Remus for his lack thereof. Still, he kept himself quite, for now, no sense in fighting with the book at least.

Harry was just wondering why Malfoy had made that leap. It was true, but as Harry had never even really spoken to anyone outside of his two friends, Malfoy had made quite the pompous jump that Harry wasn't spending his first Christmas back with anyone, made him unwanted at home. He wasn't wrong, but the oddness was there all the same.

Harry didn't deny the fact that he was staying at school for the Christmas break,

"Can't decide if that's a relief we won't have to hear about them, or depressing he's going to be in an empty castle," Sirius sighed. He and Remus had always stayed at school together, while James and Peter had nearly always gone home during the holidays.

"Go with the first one," Remus sighed, running his hand threw his hair sadly.

and Harry was looking forward to the holiday for once. That had a lot to do with the fact that the Weasley's were all staying as well, since Ron's parents were going to visit Charlie in Romania.

"Oh, that's wonderful," Lily beamed, while all of the boys perked up at once as well.

"This really is going to be fun then," Remus and Sirius both said, remembering back to all the times they'd had in an almost deserted castle, with tons of victims that weren't expecting a holiday prank.

Nobody bothered to ask why Charlie's siblings hadn't come along, they were sure the parents just wanted to spend some time with just one of their children on a holiday.

That day as they exited the dungeons they came into the entrance to find Hagrid hauling in some huge fir trees. Ron offered help, but Hagrid told him he had it handled, as Malfoy walked by and mocked Ron for that probably being a nicer tree then his family could ever afford.

"That boy has no boundaries," Lily said in disgust, while all four boys looked like they dearly wanted to punch Malfoy in his face.

Ron made a dive at Malfoy just as Snape came up the stairs.

"Gah, can you say timing," Sirius snarled, really he hoped someone had a chance to shove it to that kid soon.

Snape tried to tell Ron off, but Hagrid stepped in and said that Malfoy had been insulting Ron's family.

"Thank you Hagrid," Remus said to the ceiling in relief. If he had to deal with another instance that Harry got in trouble because no one was there for his side, he might have lost his temper again.

"I meant what I said before," James said, "Hagrid is my favorite person in Harry's life right now."

"He certainly seems to be keeping an eye on him," Lily agreed fondly.

Sirius was still disgruntled Ron hadn't had the chance to punch Malfoy.

Snape clearly didn't care, still docking points from Gryffindor before shooing them all away.

"Merry Bloody Christmas to you to," James hissed in disgust.

Ron was grinding his teeth in frustration as Malfoy walked away, wishing he could get back at him,

"And I can't wait to hear all about it," Sirius said brightly.

Harry corrected saying he hated both of them, Malfoy and Snape.

"And I don't blame you one bit," Remus agreed.

Hagrid tried to cheer them up, reminding them it was the holidays after all, and invited them into the Great Hall to see the decorations. Professors McGonagall and Flitwick were inside, hanging golden streamers and bobbers everywhere, and Hagrid was dragging in the twelfth tree that towered around with magical decorations.

"The castle always did seem even more magical when they decorated it," Lily agreed fondly.

They admire the decorations for a few moments before Hermione reminds them they need to run off to the library. Harry and Ron agree, and Hagrid reminds how close it is to the holiday for them to be doing homework.

"Nah," James said, "we always tried to get as much homework as we could done, so we could enjoy the actual break."

"I'm rather impressed," Lily admitted.

"Sure, we needed all the time we could get to plan out some of our ideas," Sirius agreed.

Lily then chose to roll her eyes at the ceiling.

Harry tells him they weren't doing school stuff, but trying to find information about Nicolas Flamel.

"Oh," all four of them said.

"Yeah," Harry said sheepishly, "I didn't have Dad to tell me who he was, so we had no idea what we were doing."

James momentary pride and thrill at hearing his son refer to him like that for the first time in his life didn't quite cover the fact that all four adults grimaced at the comment, so to change the subject Harry asked, "You said he was an alchemist? What's that, what do they do?"

James gave himself a little shake before answering, "err, I think mainly there goal is to turn metal into gold. It's a really shrouded branch of magic, which is why Flamel's card is so bloody rare. Had to nearly pay my weight in gold for the thing. His card didn't say much about it, just talked about his interests and his wife."

Harry nodded along and then asked, "So, you don't know what Flamel has to do with this then?"

"No," he admitted, shaking his head, he hadn't had much time to think on it really, but now that he was, all he could come up with was, "I know a lot of papers mentioned he and Dumbledore were working on something together, but I've no idea what. This was years ago to, I don't even think my parents were born, but really I've no idea."

Harry nodded in disappointment, as did the others. None of them had even heard of Flamel, so they had no idea what was going on.

Hagrid was shocked, demanding to know why they'd do such a thing. Hermione says they were just curious is all.

"Oh I'm so sure," Remus snickered, no person in their right mind would believe that.

Harry agrees, then admits his frustration that he was sure he'd read that name somewhere else before.

"Oh Harry," James said laughing, "now you see the importance of reading your Chocolate Frog Cards?"

Harry nodded, hoping his younger self would remember this as well soon. He already had a slight headache from remembering all the books they had sorted through.

Hagrid refuses to say anything else about it, and Ron just shrugs and says they'd have to find out for themselves then.

Lily couldn't help but smile indulgently at this. She knew better than to berate about their curiosity, she would have to admit even she would have done exactly what they were doing now.

They had been looking in the library for that name ever since Hagrid had let it slip, but the problem was they had no idea what he may have been famous for to get into a book.

"There's a new saying," Sirius laughed, "looking for a wizard in the library."

"I can't even imagine that," Remus said in disbelief, "stumbling through books and hoping to come across his name."

"We didn't have a better idea," Harry defended.

The library was huge, tens of thousands of books on every subject imaginable, so they had no idea how to start.

"You could look until your seventh year and still not get through half of them," James agreed.

Harry balked at him, had they done this? "Maybe, but I really think I find out about him over

Christmas." Yet he wasn't so sure. Perhaps he was wrong, and they really never did find out the mystery of the tiny package.

Lily simply decided to keep going, Harry was now looking quite discouraged, and she really was feeling bad for him.

Hermione tried to do it by sorting through subjects, while Ron wandered around and grabbed books randomly.

Remus laughed, saying, "good a system as any I suppose."

Harry on the other hand wandered back towards the Restricted Section. These were books for the higher levels of learning, filled with all manner of Dark Magic for advanced Defense Against the Dark Art's classes. Harry wasn't allowed to just search through these though, as you needed sign permission to get back there.

All four adults were now frowning, hoping dearly this object had nothing to do with that section. If it did, it would only heighten there worry about what was being kept in a school full of children.

Harry was interrupted from his mental speculation by the librarian, Madam Irma Pince, asking from behind him what Harry was doing. Harry said 'nothing,' and she snapped that he could get out.

James huffed at that, muttering, "she never did like students. Why she works with them is beyond me."

"Can you believe an adult would actually yell at someone to get out of a Library," Sirius laughed, "that's as backwards as it gets."

Harry wished he'd come up with some better excuse, but left the library anyways. He and his friends had already decided not to ask her for help,

"But I bet she'd know in a second," Lily sighed.

They were sure she'd know where to find Nicolas Flamel, but they didn't want the news getting around to Snape that they were asking.

"Now you're just being paranoid," Remus laughed, "since I doubt Snape would even think to look in on you lot looking up some old name."

"We were being cautious," Harry defended, feeling stupider by the minute.

"Don't worry love," Lily said, patting him on the cheek, "they're only messing with you. I'd be more worried if they didn't."

Harry relaxed at once, smiling around at them all again.

Harry waited outside the library without any hope that Ron and Hermione would come out with any better luck. They'd been looking for two weeks now to find this guy, but it was hard going when all they really had were odd times in between classes and Madam Pince breathing down their necks. Harry knew what they really needed was a long, unsupervised period of time.

"So you plan on spinning the whole of your break in there?" James asked in disgust, "really Harry, someone in that school needs to teach you how to live."

"Oh I doubt they will," Sirius replied for Harry, "have you ever known any eleven year old that can focus during the Holidays?"

"I seem to recall us getting some of our best work done then," Remus argued, glimmers of

mischief appearing in his eyes.

"Yeah, but that was something we actually wanted to do," Sirius finalized.

Harry's guess was right, Ron and Hermione came out a few minutes later with dejected looks on their faces. Hermione prompted the two boys to keep looking while she went home for the break, and to send her an owl if they find anything. Ron suggest Hermione could ask her parents if they've heard the name, but Hermione tells them they wouldn't know because they're dentists.

"She could still ask them," Lily said, thinking it over, "Muggles do actually know some famous wizards, like Merlin for example."

"Still, if we haven't heard of him, I doubt a couple of Muggles would have," James said with a shrug.

Lily couldn't argue with that.

Once the holidays had started, Ron and Harry were having too good a time to think much about Flamel.

"Saw that coming," Sirius chuckled.

Since practically the rest of the school was gone, they had the run of the common room and spent days next to the fire toasting anything you can spear, and plotting ways to get Malfoy expelled which weren't always plausible but always fun.

"Brings back all the good memories," Remus chuckled.

"You stayed behind during break?" Harry asked curiously.

"Oh yeah," Sirius nodded along with his friend, "Moony and I always did."

Harry bit his lip, wanting to ask why, but feeling it was a bit rude, but then Remus answered for him anyways, "my parents loved me dearly, but it was very hard for them to ah, take care of me during the holidays. The school was much better equipped, so I chose to stay there."

"I hated my house," Sirius said in bright tones, "so I always kept around to keep him company."

"I went home most years," James added on without being asked, "my parents pinned for me if I was gone too long."

"You would think they'd be glad to be rid of your big head," Lily muttered.

James kept going, pretending he hadn't heard that, "and Peter always went home as well. His mother doted on him like no other."

"Poor thing, she's been sick for a month now," Remus said sadly, "which is why we haven't

blamed him for not being around too much."

Harry nodded along sadly, and then let his mother continue reading when she realized how depressed the other boys were getting.

Ron also started teaching Harry how to play wizards chess which was just like Muggle chess, except the pieces moved on voice command.

"I've never been any good at that game," Sirius rolled his eyes.

"You were always too impatient to learn," Remus chuckled.

Ron had been using his for so long they responded on command, while Harry played with a set Seamus Finnigan had let him borrow, and they didn't listen to him at all.

"See, it's not just me," Sirius cried.

"You can't blame it all on the pieces," James laughed, "just admit you never could remember which way the pieces went."

Sirius huffed and crossed his arms, mumbling something about ganging up on him.

Harry was having such a good time that on Christmas Eve he went to bed looking forward to another fun day, though not actually expecting any presents.

Lily pursed her lips but quickly read on, keeping Harry's words in mind.

As much to Harry's surprise as anyone, he was awoken by Ron the next day to find a small pile of wrapped gifts on his bed. Harry exclaims his surprise and Ron just laughs, asking what did Harry expect, turnips?

Not one of them could think of a thing to say to this. They were all too pleased that Harry had a proper Christmas at all to mock Ron's comment.

The first parcel contained a whittled flute, with a note from Hagrid.

"You have a musical talent we don't know about?" Remus chuckled.

"Doubt it," Harry laughed himself, feeling warm all over at these feelings.

Hagrid had obviously made it himself. When Harry blew it, it sounded a bit like an owl.

"Maybe you could use it to call your bird to you," Sirius chuckled.

The second wasn't as well received. It contained a fifty-pence piece from the Dursley's.

"Friendly," Harry said, thinking privately that was the nicest thing they'd probably ever given him.

All four adults gritted their teeth in frustration, but Harry was clearly in too good a mood, and they refused to let their moods be sunk as well.

Ron was fascinated with the muggle money, having never seen currency shaped like that.

"I'm guessing he's never seen muggle money then," Lily smiled.

Harry lets him keep it, then turns back and wonders who the other present could be from. Ron points out one package that he suspects could be from his mother, as Ron may have made the comment Harry wasn't expecting any gifts.

"It's official," Lily beamed, feeling close to tears at the way the Weasley's had taken Harry in, "we are taking Harry over to the Weasley's as soon as we're done here."

"Might be a bit odd," Remus said, trying not to laugh, "we've never been formally introduced. You just want to show up on the doorstep?"

"I'll think of something," Lily said with confidence, and James chuckled to himself, not

begrudging her this at all. In fact they were all thinking to themselves that they really needed to come up with a way to thank both Hagrid and the Weasley family.

Harry did indeed get a sweater knitted by Mrs. Weasley. He also got a box of Chocolate Frogs from Hermione.

"Best kind of gifts you can get," Sirius chuckled.

Harry unwrapped his last present to have something silvery grey fall to the floor.

"No way," all three boys breathed. It was impossible, that was locked up in the house, right now.

Puzzled, Lily gave them an odd look, but she couldn't deny she was thinking the same thing.

Harry groaned slightly, pressing his fist to his head in pain, but quickly shook it off at their

concerned looks, saying, "I, I think I know what that is. I don't-" pursing his lips, Lily decided to quickly read on before Harry pressured himself too much.

Harry tries it on and finds it to be an invisibility cloak.

"It can't be mine," James said, praying that he was wrong, that his son really had been able to inherit his birthright, "my cloak is here in this house."

"How many invisibility cloaks can there really be though?" Sirius breathed, leaning forward

eagerly.

"Perhaps Hagrid found it when he took Harry," Remus offered.

"It's possible," Lily murmured, "we might have tried to hide Harry under it, but of course he

would have been crying..."

All four of them were getting exceptionally pale the longer they thought about this, but James still managed to say, "yes, but then why wouldn't Hagrid have given it to him with the flute?"

They were all stumped, and Harry was fighting back the urge to be sick, the building tension in his head from knowing the answer, yet not being able to grasp it...

Lily decided to read on, hoping they would get an answer.

Harry eagerly put it on and then looked into the mirror to find he had vanished.

"Quite a shocker at first," Sirius agreed, wanting to laugh as he thought back on all the times he'd snuck up on people in that.

A note had fallen out of the folds,

"Explaining everything to him I hope," James muttered, shifting his weight around in agitation.

and Harry read it to find that his father had left this cloak in someone's possession before he'd passed away,

"I did what?" James balked.

"No one even knows it exists except for the people here," Sirius spluttered.

"And Peter," Remus added on quietly.

Everyone got very quiet as they all thought of something at once. Peter hadn't been hanging around them much lately, Peter had asked to borrow James cloak for a few missions for the Order, what if, James sucked in a deep breath and said, "what if Peter's still alive? He could have borrowed my cloak, but there are a million reasons why he wouldn't be here, or even heard about us dying for ages."

The others all exchanged looks, then Remus asked, "but then why wouldn't he have come looking for Harry?"

James swallowed thickly, but he had no answer for that. None of them did.

Lily reached around Harry to give James shoulder a soft squeeze, saying, "I guess we won't know until we find out, yeah?"

Nodding numbly, he didn't protest as Lily kept going. All three boys had a mix of feelings they were sorting through. Honestly, it may not have been Peter, but even Remus or Sirius in the same circumstance, but it still didn't answer the question of where they would have been for the past eleven years of Harry's life?

and that the person was now passing it along to Harry. There was no signature, and Harry couldn't help but wonder who'd sent the cloak.

"We'd all like to know that," Sirius grumbled.

Wondering if it really had once belonged to his father?

"Oh, I've no doubt about that," James murmured.

But before he could do much else the twins made an appearance, and Harry stowed it away, not wanting anyone else to know about it quite yet.

"Can't blame you on that one," Remus agreed, "James didn't show me that thing for almost six months."

The twins were wearing sweaters as well, one with the letter F, the other had a G stitched into it.

"They switched those," James said at once.

"Unless they didn't, because they knew one would assume they would switch those," Sirius laughed.

"Unless they thought you would think they hadn't switched them, because they knew people would think they had, so they did switch them," Remus joined in, smiling at the inept sentence.

"Please," Lily begged, "don't do this to me? We'll be here for an hour, and I doubt we ever really find out."

"Oh fine," James huffed.

Fred comes over to investigate Harry's sweater and claims it was better than theirs,

"Oh, I doubt that's true," Lily said at once.

while George turns his attention on Ron and demands to know why he wasn't wearing his. Ron groans that he hates the color maroon,

"I'm sure it clashes with his hair marvelously," Sirius laughed.

while Fred points out that Ron doesn't have a letter on his. Obviously that was because Ron didn't forget his name, unlike the twins who knew their names where Gred and Forge.

"I'm sure that's exactly what your mum intended to name you," Remus cackled.

Percy stuck his head in then, claiming they were making too much noise.

"It's Christmas," James frowned, "really, does this boy ever have fun?"

The twins notice at once he isn't wearing his sweater either, and demand he put it on despite Percy's protests.

"Well you should wear it anyways," Lily huffed, she thought it was a lovely and sweet idea.

They then insist Percy will be sitting with them at dinner and march him back out of the room in between them.

"I'm sure he loved every moment of that," Sirius laughed.

That night at dinner the school went all out on the holiday feast, including sets of wizard crackers. When you pulled one the whole thing exploded, releasing prizes inside. One set released some mice that ran every which way.

"Ew," Lily crinkled up her nose, picturing all those mice running over the food.

"I'm sure they made Mrs. Norris happy though," Remus chuckled.

At the High Table, Dumbledore had swapped out his hat for a bonnet,

"Lovely mental image," James laughed.

and Harry could see McGonagall talking happily with Hagrid, both of whom had clearly been heavily drinking. At one point Hagrid leaned over and gave her a kiss on the cheek, causing her to giggle.

"Ugh, take it back," Sirius cried, pressing his fists to his eyes.

"All the teachers have clearly indulged too much," Lily said, crinkling up her nose again.

Harry had got his own set of rewards from the crackers, including his own wizard chess set, and a grow your own warts kit.

"We always used to get great prank ideas from those things," Remus laughed.

Those mice had disappeared, and Harry had a feeling they would turn into Mrs. Norris' dinner.

"See, even the evil cat's happy on this merry day," James chuckled.

Then all of the Gryffindor boys went outside and had a wild snowball fight until it got to cold and dark, then went upstairs where he and Ron played a game of chess. Percy tried to help, which ended up doing more harm than good.

"Poor Harry," Remus agreed, "I can't stand when people try to backseat play me."

"Well, you can't blame that one on me," James and Sirius both said.

That evening Fred and George somehow got a hold of Percy's prefect badge, and he chased his twin brothers around the common room trying to get it back.

"Wow, why didn't we ever think of that?" James whistled.

"Because I would have killed you both," Remus said pleasantly.

It had been the best Christmas of Harry's life, but something had been nagging in the back of his head all day. Who had sent that invisibility cloak?

"I really hope you figure that one out, soon," James pleaded, eyeing his son for any trace of remembrance.

Harry was shaking his head sadly from side to side, as mystified as they were.

That night after everyone went to bed, Harry creeped out of his own and tried the cloak on again.

"You have more restraint than any of us," Sirius told him, "I would have run around the castle first thing when I found it."

Standing there, invisible in the darkness and the folds of his new cloak, an idea came to Harry. He could go anywhere in the castle, and no one would ever know.

"Well that's going a bit far," Remus said lightly, "it makes you invisible, not impervious."

"I just hope Harry doesn't use it to sneak into classrooms, and set up a trap so that when a certain student sat down-" Lily began hotly.

"That was never proven," James declared, pointing wildly at her.

Lily just rolled her eyes at all of them.

He considered waking Ron and taking him, but then decided he'd use it alone this very first time.

James shrugged, saying, "Nah, I used it at home by myself all the time, I took Sirius along with me our first night there."

"Which is how we got caught," Sirius chuckled, "I'd never used the thing before, and we weren't used to sharing yet."

"You two still don't know how to share," Remus rolled his eyes.

He pondered for a moment on where to go, before settling on the Library.

"Really?" All three boys demanded in disgust.

"The whole of Hogwarts, and you choose to go in there?" James demanded, looking faint.

"That's a waist of the cloak," Sirius agreed.

"Leave him be," Lily said before Remus could jump in, "the Library has been on his mind for weeks now, I don't blame him for that being his first thought."

All three boys muttered a bit more, but Lily wouldn't hear it and just moved on.

The Restricted Section was at the back of the library.

"Well that's not so bad," James said, picking himself back up slightly, "at least he's doing

something he couldn't do during normal school hours."

Lily rolled her eyes, honestly why these boys wanted Harry to be a rule breaker was still beyond her, but she couldn't fault Harry for his curiosity driving him to this place.

Harry stepped over the bit of rope separating this spot from the rest of the books and began inspecting the titles. Then he heard some whispering, and it seemed to be coming from the books.

"Might be," Remus said curiously, "I doubt Pince used more than a bit of rope to make sure no one snuck back there."

"Good point," Sirius said slowly, "there really might be a spell on those books."

Now very curious, Lily read on.

Harry chose one thick tomb from the shelves and let it fall open in his lap, only for the book to start screaming in his face.

"Oh my gosh," James gasped, before laughing his ass off.

"Of all the rotten luck," Sirius cackled.

"It's not funny," Harry mumbled, rubbing his ears in remembrance, "that thing gave me a heart attack."

All three boys were still laughing at this spot of misfortune, even Lily wanted to bite her lip to stop from laughing for a moment, before she remembered, "you know this most likely summoned Madam Pince."

That dried up all of their laughter pretty quickly, James noting, "well, look at it this way, can you really imagine Harry getting into much trouble for sneaking into the Library?"

"McGonagall might reward him again," Remus agreed, his voice still trembling slightly with

laughter.

Harry put the book back and made a break for the door, only to find Filch blocking the entrance.

"Really, I swear that man doesn't sleep," Sirius said in disbelief.

Harry had to sneak very carefully past him, the books scream still ringing his ears.

"What a first use," James chuckled.

"I'll give you credit, we never thought of that," Remus agreed.

Harry stopped in front of a suit of armor. He'd been so busy getting away from the library, he hadn't been paying attention to where he was going.

"That's like, the third time you've made that mistake," Sirius said in disappointment.

"Well he's gotta learn somehow," James said sadly, wishing that Harry would find another of his treasured objects.

Harry knew there was a suit of armor near the kitchens, but he knew he was several floors above that.

"There are suits of armor all over the castle," Lily said in confusion.

"Yeah, but this one was posed a certain way," Harry tried to explain.

"Okay, that makes sense," Remus agreed.

Before Harry could think long on it, he heard voices coming from behind him, and

recognized Filch telling someone that there had been an intruder in the restricted section.

"Where did you inherit all this bad karma from?" Remus demanded.

"I think it's retribution for you lot," Lily said primly, "that karma's getting back at Harry for all the stunts you pulled at school."

"Don't say that Lily," James said, clutching his chest in pain, "I'd never forgive myself for that."

"I think it's just Harry's ignorance," Sirius said bracingly, "things should get better the longer he's at school."

He saw that Filch was talking to Snape as the pair came around the corner, and Harry realized that though they couldn't see him, the cloak didn't stop him from being solid.

"Well I'm glad you figured that out beforehand," James snickered, "I remember when Peter first got the cloak on his own, he ran straight into a wall."

"He still claims it was an accident and he tripped, but come on," Remus agreed.

Harry quickly backed into a partially open door, managing to do so without moving it.

"See," Sirius said brightly, "he's learning already."

He waited several moments to make sure the pair of them were gone before glancing curiously around the room he'd been hiding in, to find it only housed a mirror.

"Well that is odd," James agreed, "who stashed a mirror in a classroom?"

None of them had any idea, so Lily read on, expecting Harry to shrug it off and ghost out of there. They'd probably never get an answer, and with any luck Harry would go back to the common room without another incident.

There was an inscription carved around the top: Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi.

"Could you try saying that in English," Remus said, going a bit cross eyed.

Lily was frowning at the words, saying, "No, that's how it's spelled."

"You think maybe it's a different language?" James asked, leaning around Harry to look.

"None that I recognize," Remus said.

They all passed the book around, taking a look at the odd inscription, but none of them had a clue what it could be, until Sirius said slowly, "Hang on, this first word is backwards."

"What?" Remus asked, leaning over to see what he meant.

"See here," he pointed out, "Erised is Desire spelled backwards, that's the only word though, dang it," he muttered scanning through the rest of it.

"Well maybe," Remus said, taking the book from Sirius, then getting up and going into the

kitchen, when he came back, he had a quill and fresh parchment, and he then scribbled down the sentence in the same manner.

At first, they still couldn't make any sense of the words, but then Remus said slowly, "I think I've got it. The words aren't spaced right, but if you fix it like this, it reads 'I show not your face but your heart's desire' unless you can find another combination that works?"

James took the paper and looked at it, then at the original and then nodded saying, "No, it makes sense."

Lily and Harry had been sitting there, watching them all with fascination. Lily spoke up, "That was brilliant. I can't believe you three worked that out."

"What, did you think we got through school on our good looks alone?" Sirius quipped.

Smiling around at them, Lily decided not to press the issue, and so she took the book back, rereading that line, and still shaking her head in disbelief, she kept reading.

Curiosity winning out, he walked closer, only to freeze up and clap his hand to his mouth to stop himself from screaming.

"What, why?" They all said, in a panic at once, they really didn't want to deal with yet another deadly situation already.

"Because I wasn't alone," Harry whispered, so quietly to himself none of the others even heard him.

He was looking into his reflection, which still should have showed an empty room, only to find it full of people.

"Now what on earth?" James demanded, blinking in shock.

"That's impossible," Sirius said, "nothing has ever been able to see through the cloak."

"That's what you caught on," Remus stated, looking stunned, "how about the crowd of people in the room?"

Lily was looking expectantly from Harry to the book, but Harry was clearly not listening to any of them. He was rubbing his temple furiously, whispering, "It's them, I knew I'd seen them."

Pressing on loudly over the still bickering boys, she knew by now the best way to settle her son was to just complete the memory.

Harry glanced around himself again to confirm the room was still empty before taking a look back at the object. Perhaps its trick was that it showed people, invisible or not?

"Possible," James said slowly.

"But wouldn't you have bumped into one of them?" asked Sirius.

Harry reached behind himself, and if she'd really been there he would have been able to touch a woman standing right behind himself. There was nothing but air there, which meant these people must only exist in the mirror.

"Don't touch it," Remus said at once, going pale as a sheet, "it could be some trick, and you fall through and get stuck in there."

Now they were all looking very concerned, wanting to egg Harry out of that room, knowing it was pointless, so they instead comforted themselves with leaning in very close to their Harry.

The woman was very pretty. She had dark red hair and green eyes; eyes just like Harry's.

Lily stuttered a bit, glancing up at her son with shock etched into her face.

"Oh," James whispered, looking from Harry, to Lily, to the book and back again like one of them was going to scream 'got ya.'

"Well, that was unexpected," Sirius murmured.

"I stand by what I said," Remus gasped, coming out of his shock, "It could still be a trick,

personalizing it to a particular wizard."

She was crying as she gazed down at Harry with his eyes in her face. Smiling, but crying.

Lily looked like she was about to start crying herself, but her voice remained steady as she kept going.

The man beside her was taller, with black hair that stood on end, just like Harry's.

"I don't like this," Sirius moaned, his head dropping into hands as he shook it back and forth, "I really don't like this."

"My poor boy," James whispered, giving Harry a quick hug. This was, by all accounts, the first time Harry was laying eyes on his parents, and it was through a mirror. A possibly dangerous, dark object, that could suck his soul out or something equally as awful.

Both Sirius and Remus and Harry looked like they were going to burst into tears right along with Lily, but Harry was the saving grace as he said, "Remember. I'm here, and I know you guys now. I-I'm sorry you have to hear about this-"

"Don't," Lily interrupted, bucking up her own strength when she saw her son's face, "this is what we wanted. To hear about your life, the good and the bad."

"This just happens to be an awful mix of both," Remus muttered.

Harry had been edging closer to the mirror this whole time in fascination, his nose nearly touching the glass now.

All four of them shivered in disgust at this, they still didn't want Harry touching that thing.

Aloud he whispered for the first time, Mom? Dad?

Then they all shivered again, as they realized this was probably the first time in his life he had been able to utter those words. Sucking in a deep breath, Lily forced herself to go on.

They did not respond, but just continued to stand there smiling at him. Around them were other people with physical features Harry recognized in himself, Harry's family that he was seeing for the first time in his life.

Both James and Lily fought back fresh waves of pain when they realized that this was most likely their parents, others that Harry obviously had never seen.

Now Harry had his face pressed right up to the mirror, like he was hoping to fall right through and be with this image.

Lily's breath hitched slightly as she read that, this being her worst fear since this had started, and she didn't give the others a chance to panic as she blasted on.

Harry stood there for an indeterminable amount of time before a distant noise reminded him where he was. He glanced around with worry that he may be caught and decided it was time to leave, but whispered he'd be back to the mirror before he left.

"Oh thank Merlin," they all breathed in relief.

"Okay," Remus reassessed, "you're clearly drawn to it, but any person in your situation would be..." he trailed off, still trying to figure out the magical property of this object.

"I show not your face, but your heart's desire," Sirius repeated.

"So that's all it will do," James said slowly, "It will just show you what you want most in the

world."

"I still don't want you going back," Lily said quietly, "I'm afraid you'll waste away your life

staring at that."

"Can't do anything about it now," Sirius muttered.

Lily decided to agree with him, so pushing back the rest of her rising emotions, she kept reading.

The next morning Harry was telling Ron about what he'd found, and Ron was expressing his desire to see Harry's parents.

"I don't think it will work like that," Remus said at once, shaking his head.

"Well, we didn't know that then," Harry said, shrugging, trying to remember what Ron did see, and as always, coming up blank.

Harry agreed he'd like to see Ron's family to, and Ron waved him off saying he could see them whenever he came around. Then he wondered if the mirror only showed dead people.

Sirius made an awful noise, somewhere between a snort of mirth and a scathing rebuke.

James interpreted that noise pretty well, and said for the others, "That was the most tactless thing he could have possibly said, and yet Sirius may have said the same thing."

"It did pop into my mind," he admitted.

Then Ron voiced that it was a shame Harry hadn't found anything out about Flamel. Harry hardly noticed, thinking so what if Snape got the Stone. Who cared about Flamel, he was going to see his family again that night.

All four adults exchanged uneasy looks, Remus saying, "may have spoken to soon. What if this thing has a compulsion about it, and you'll eventually just waste your life away in front of it."

"I know I don't do that." Harry said at once, he felt he wouldn't have the same feelings about that mirror if he had. Right now, he mostly just felt a sense of loss, he'd have like to keep that mirror back in his life, so that he could see his parents whenever he wanted, but he was also thinking there was something else. Something important about this mirror, but it didn't involve him, or Ron.

Nodding and feeling reassured, Lily kept going.

Harry's biggest fear is that he may not be able to find the mirror room again.

"That reminds me," James said, "what on earth is that mirror doing there?"

"Could a teacher have left it there, and they're going to use it in there next class?" Remus offered, "Quirrell for example, could be teaching his seventh years about dangerous objects."

"Well, since we've still no idea," Sirius rolled his eyes, "how about we just see if Harry can find it again first."

That night he and Ron spent hours wandering around the castle on the hunt for it, and just as Ron wanted to give up, Harry spotted the suit of armor and led Ron inside the room.

None of them could really decide how they felt about this. They were happy beyond belief that Harry really did know what his parents looked like, before now anyways, but they still feared what this mirror's true power was. Nothing for it now though.

The reflection still proudly showed all of Harry's family, beaming at the sight of him.

"Well at least it's accurate," James beamed down at his son as well, trying to play that off as a joke.

Ron however couldn't see anything, so Harry moved out of the way, effectively erasing the image he saw, and putting Ron in the center.

"That sort of makes sense," Remus agreed, nodding along, "it will only show the person standing directly in front of it."

"Now, let's see what Ron sees," Sirius said a bit eagerly.

Ron however didn't see his family, but himself standing alone wearing a head boy badge.

"That's his heart's desire," James snorted, "he's hardly shown any ambition, the opposite in fact if his attitude towards his Perfect brother is to go by."

"Let me keep going," Lily scolded, she had a bit of an idea where this was going.

He also had a Quidditch Captain badge, and was holding both the Quidditch cup and the House cup.

All eyes cleared from confusion now.

"Oh," Sirius said sadly.

"Yeah, I can see why Ron would want to be the best of all his siblings," Remus agreed with a small frown.

James let out a low, throaty whistle, saying, "damn though, I was Head Boy and Quidditch

Captain, and the responsibility of all that nearly made me go bald."

"It made you easier to be around though," Lily chuckled.

"Moving on," Sirius said quickly, not wanting the couple to start making googly eyes at each other.

Ron eagerly asked if the mirror was showing the future,

"We can only hope," James said sadly.

and Harry pointed out that as his family was dead, it wasn't likely. Then he told Ron to move, because he wanted to see his parents again. Ron wanted to stay put though, and they began arguing loudly.

"Comparing the two, yeah I've got to give you your do Harry," Sirius chuckled.

"Leave Ron be," Remus defended, "I'm sure anyone would want to stand around and look at that thing forever if they had the chance."

None of them mentioned what they were thinking now, what would they see?

Then they heard a noise outside the room, and quickly ducked back under the cloak just as Mrs. Norris came into the room. Both Harry and Ron wondered at the same time, did the cloak work on cats?

"Yep," all three said at once, while James elaborated, "but they can still smell you, and hear you. You've got to be very careful around her, cause if you don't fool her, she'll still run off for Filch."

"Or just bark at her," Sirius snickered.

It seemed to, as she turned and left.

"Good," all four of them said, they really didn't want Harry getting caught again, even Lily

couldn't deny her son this reason for being out of bed.

Ron convinced Harry to go back to bed then, and he did so reluctantly. The next day Harry lay around, clearly not interested in doing anything, and Ron guesses correctly what's on his mind and tells him not to go back to that mirror.

"Well that's surprising," Lily said, "I'm surprised Ron isn't demanding he can go with you."

"Yes well, Ron can simply conjure up that image in his head whenever he wants," James pointed out, "whereas Harry wants to be able to memorize his a bit more."

Harry grumbles that Ron was starting to sound like Hermione.

"Because he's being cautious," Remus rolled his eyes.

Ron insisted he was serious, Harry shouldn't go.

Sirius opened his mouth like he was going to say something, but Remus quickly picked up a pillow and smothered him before he had the chance.

Harry ignored his advice though, and that night he put his cloak back on and went in search of the mirror again, this time not running into anyone along the way.

"Lucky," Sirius said, finally shoving Remus off of him.

He finds the mirror easily enough and throws his cloak away, eagerly running forward to look into it for hours, when a voice behind him pointedly asks that Harry's back again.

"Who on earth?" James yelped in shock.

"I've no idea," Sirius and Remus both said.

"It couldn't be a teacher," Lily muttered, "he said 'again' so, whoever, knows he's been there before..."

Harry cleared his throat a bit, and then pointed at the book, smiling slightly. All four jumped

guiltily, then James eyed Harry a bit. He had a look on his face, like he might actually remember what was coming this time.

He didn't, but he had a good feeling about this meeting, which is why he was so unconcerned.

Harry turned on the spot to find Dumbledore.

"Dumbledore?" they all said in shock.

"I didn't even know he left his office," Sirius said in surprise.

"Don't be daft," James rolled his eyes, "he's got to use the loo at some point."

"Really you two," Remus shook his head in disbelief at them, while Lily ignored them

completely.

Harry felt nervous as he blurted out he hadn't seen him, but Dumbledore didn't seem mad though, but was instead smiling as he told Harry how narrow sighted people could be while invisible.

"Well you don't seem to be getting in trouble," Sirius said brightly.

"Remember that time he caught us rigging up one of the statues, and he actually believed Peter when he said we were just admiring it," James laughed.

"I thought he had lost his marbles," Remus agreed.

"So you lot are saying Dumbledore, the headmaster of this school, let's his students get away with breaking the rules?" Lily demanded.

"Yeah, seems like it," all four boys said.

Then he points how Harry found the Mirror of Erised.

James snorted, saying, "well that's a clever name."

Harry admits he didn't know it was called that, and Dumbledore prompts that he does know what it does, yes. Harry starts to say that it showed him his family, and Dumbledore interrupts to point out that it shows Ron as head boy. Harry starts to ask how he knew that,

"How long has Dumbledore been coming there?" Remus demanded.

"And how did Harry never spot him?" James demanded.

"Search me," Lily said, shrugging.

and Dumbledore tells him he doesn't need a cloak to become invisible.

"Well that's true," Sirius agreed, "there are plenty of ways to pull it off."

"But mine is still the best," James jumped in at once.

Then he goes into detail of explaining that the mirror only shows what you truly want to see. Harry never knew his family, and so he saw them, while Ron wanted recognition without being overshadowed by his brothers.

"Well that was kind of depressing," Sirius said, frowning a bit.

"Dumbledore has this way of saying things that sound really smart, but tend to be barmy," James agreed.

Then he tells Harry that the mirror will be moved, and that Harry shouldn't go looking for it again, but if he ran across it now, he'd at least know how it worked.

"How many mirrors do they have hanging around that school?" Remus asked, that had felt a little ominous to him.

"I think he was just in teacher mode then," Lily suggested, "preparing Harry for the future and all that."

Harry was feeling very frustrated all of a sudden, for some reason knowing quite well that he would come across that mirror again. Why though, he still had no clue.

Then he tells Harry to go off to bed. Harry asks if he can ask one more question, and Dumbledore points out he just did, before granting him one more.

"I hate it when people do that," James grumbled, "it's like they're mocking you for using your manners."

"That's why I just blurt out whatever I want," Sirius said happily.

Harry asks what Dumbledore sees in the mirror, and Dumbledore tells him socks.

"Err," Remus said, looking at Lily oddly, "want to run that by me again?"

When she did, all five of them exchanged looks and said as one, "Liar."

Harry felt frustrated, shaking his head from side to side. Would this feeling ever go away? Why did he know that answer, but couldn't actually seem to answer it himself?

The other four adults just felt a little frustrated, Lily even saying, "Well that hardly seemed fair. He knew Harry's."

"It is a personal question," Remus disagreed, "I can hardly blame him."

"Of course we would tell you Harry," James told him, "If any of us actually knew of course."

Lily shrugged, slightly agreeing with Remus, and completely behind James on that.

Harry just stares, and Dumbledore says that another Christmas had come and gone and he didn't receive a pair.

"Well you can expect five lovely pairs this year," Sirius said brightly.

Harry chuckled at his antics, then pondered for a moment why on earth there was an importance to socks in his life? Not relating to Dumbledore, but someone else... it was gone as soon as the idea had come.

It was only as he crawled into bed later did Harry reflect that Dumbledore may have been lying, but then again, it was a personal question.

"At least you acknowledge it," Lily approved.

"My turn," James said brightly.

Remus rolled his eyes but held his tongue.

[milliadoc-brandybuck-fanfiction]

(SPN FIC) The Five Points of the Pentagram: Episode 1 | New Kids on the Block | Act 1

MATURE. FEATURES MILD HORROR AND EXTREME GORE. 

The silence of the main courtyard of the large college campus was only occasionally interrupted by a dog barking, trees rustling or the wishing of the winds. Not a person was in sight on the quiet night in early August, only the sounds of nature and the distant orange glow of the nearby town present, which was noticed and appreciated by janitor Jimmy Michaels, who moved as quietly across the campus as the breeze itself. Tired and feeling low, he had finished his 10-hour shift and was ready to leave for the night, though took his time so as to appreciate the peaceful atmosphere that he knew would be lost once the kids moved back in. He felt his mood lower deeper, however, as he realised that this was the only time when he felt truly at peace.

But amongst the apparent calm, shadows crept along the sides of buildings and through the whispering bushes. Slowly and steadily, they stalked the janitor, who was unaware of any break in the status quo. They waited, biding their time until he was cornered without even knowing it. Sliding along tiles, over walls and across the concrete of the path he was on now… slowly approaching and ready to pounce on this unsuspecting prey…

Jimmy stopped. He felt an odd chill brush past him, and suddenly felt quite a sickening feeling, as though he was being watched…

He turned around.

Nothing.

Taking a breath and turning his head back around, he tried to look past it, tried to convince himself it was just the wind and he was being paranoid. He continued on.

Immediately he was met with a searing fire of pain, staring in his chest and spreading fast through his torso, arms, legs, hands and feet, before creeping up his neck and infecting his mind, forcing him to emit a scream of anguish that struck terror in him like he had never felt. He pushed against the pain and pressed his hands onto his head with great difficulty, feeling like there was a great force of red hot ropes holding his wrists back. He continued to shriek in horror, hoping amongst his nightmarish thoughts that someone, anyone, would hear him and come to help him out of this hell that was killing him in the most hideous and cruel way possible.

But alone on the large campus so late at night, no one heard his screams in time.

***

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP-

Lory’s alarm screeched at her repeatedly on the bedside table. This would have been really annoying, had she not already been awake for at least two hours. Her hand finally reached out and switched it off, and she rolled onto her back to continue staring at the ceiling for a few more minutes.

Today was college move-in day for the freshman crowd. As a sophomore she had moved back into her dorm a week early, and had been spending almost every waking moment dreading the mass of new faces and difficult new classes and teachers she’d be up against. She knew all week, all summer even, she’d have to face it, especially the socialising. There was no way she could have avoided all human contact for four years. Make no mistake, she’d thought about how she might be able to enough times, but there was no way around it.

After a further five minutes of ceiling-staring, Lory closed her eyes, took one last breath, and rose up from her bed. She glanced over at the window where she could hear the noise of some new students bustling around with their parents and moving boxes. Lory let out a loud sigh and swung her legs out of bed, beginning the first few phases in facing the day.

***

On the farthest end of campus, a ‘67 Chevy Impala was slowly driving through the dorm house roads. Inside were two brothers, one looking around curiously, the other looking around sceptically. The sceptic-looking one let out a grunt, which caused his brother to roll his eyes.

“What now, Dean?”

Dean bit his tongue and made a face before answering. “Just don’t feel right here. Like I really don’t belong here.”

His brother let out an ironic chuckle. “Yeah, well, unless you’re about to tell me that you also put in an application to come here nine months ago then you’re not far off on that.”

“Oh, thanks.”

“I didn’t mean it like that, I’m just- I’m sorry, okay? I just meant that you’re not the one who has to stay on campus all the time, only temporarily. You’ve got nothing to worry about.”

Dean snorted. “Yeah, I wish that was true. I wouldn’t exactly call this job worry-free, Sammy.”

Sam didn’t reply, knowing full well that Dean was right and reminding him why they were really here, something that Sam had done his best to forget for the duration of the journey. Turning back to the various scenes of parents helping their kids unpack and move into their dorms, the sight suddenly struck a chord in Sam’s heart. Dean apparently felt the same.

“What dad would say if he saw us now…” Dean noted.

“Yeah, well, dad’s not here. We are.” Sam replied softly. Dean took it more as a comment of comfort than rudeness, and relaxed a little.

Suddenly hearing some more aggressive tones, Sam’s gaze fell upon a girl staring straight ahead with her arms crossed, standing at the bottom of her dorm house steps, facing who he assumed was her father, who was the source of the aggression and standing several feet away by his car. The interaction didn’t look dangerous, just like strict parenting, but even so that same chord was struck again and Sam felt sorry for the girl. He felt selfishly grateful when they were out of view; he and Dean didn’t need more reminders of their special family life.

***

Surely coming to college meant that she could escape her parents’ grasp? Did moving out not mean that she was her own person, and didn’t need to be told what and what not to do? Apparently her father had other ideas. He was standing on the farthest edge of the sidewalk from her, one hand already on the open car door, whilst she was stood by her dorm house steps. Both of them were so close to freedom, to not having to care about each other for a good few months, and yet he insisted on staying and giving her the talk of what he expected from her whilst other students and their families awkwardly walked past.

“-and we expect you to make the most of this… opportunity, you’ve given yourself. We won’t support you if you slip up, in any way, got it?”

“Yes dad, I understand.” She said flatly, trying not to sound too annoyed so as to avoid another lecture.

Her father didn’t even say anything to that. He just lowered the hand he had been pointing at her with and nodded, like he’d won. Always trying to make it a competition, she thought.

“Come on, Mike, let’s get going.”

Her father briefly looked away to the inside if the car where her mother couldn’t wait to leave. He turned back to her.

“Stay out of trouble.”

Unlike the other kids around her, it was more of a command than an affectionate little parental joke. She didn’t even respond, vocal or physical. She just watched him get in the car, and as soon as she heard the engine start, she turned around and walked up the steps into the house at last.

Breathing out a huge sigh of relief through her mouth, she was greeted by one of her three housemates, who didn’t even notice her entrance at first. She was clicking away on her flip phone, texting one of the thousand people she had already got the number of and added to her little group. She looked up at the sound of Gwen picking up one of her boxes, but immediately looked back down at her phone and continued typing before she even said a word.

“Oh, hey. We were gonna head down to the Courtyard if you wanted to come too, I guess.”

The lack of energy in her voice was outstanding. Gwen looked past it, however, and politely smiled.

“I think I’m just gonna stay here and unpack, actually, get used to my new room-”

“Yeah, they said you probably wouldn’t wanna come anyways, it’s cool.”

Taken aback by this bluntness, Gwen blinked and began busying herself by walking over to the stairs. As she started heading upstairs, another of her housemates bounded in and showed the first something so absolutely scandalous that they both burst into a fit of high-pitched giggles. Out of sight, and knowing they wouldn’t notice her anyway, Gwen rolled her eyes, leaving them to giggle away downstairs.

The room Gwen was staying in - the last in the house to be filled- was right at the end of the corridor, the sounds of hectic families (whomst, for once, she did not envy in their stress) filtering in through the open window at the end. Gwen couldn’t wait to step away from all the fussing around her, all the gossip and glamour of her new housemates, and her room offered her a wonderful excuse to be anti-social for at least a few hours.

Opening the door to her room was something that Gwen hadn’t expected to be so important to her until it actually happened. Her breath hitched for a second as this fresh start was displayed right in front of her eyes; blank walls, empty shelves and window sills, and barren notice boards for her to stick random reminders and study notes onto. Her college identity was a clean slate waiting to be shaped, and the room, stupid as it may sound, seemed to make her realise that for the first time.

She placed the box down on the floor and walked over to the window, taking in the room as she did so. She peeked outside to the ground below briefly,somehow even more crowded with move-ins than when she’d been down there, before looking back upwards and resting her elbows on the window sill. She placed her head on her arms as she took in the clear blue sky above her, barely a wisp of a cloud about.

Honestly, this might be really good. This might be my chance to take some control again, she thought hopefully. I think I can start to be myself again.

***

Lory came downstairs to see one of her new housemates, a girl called Meredith, amongst an abundance of cardboard boxes and plastic bags, looking lost.

“Need a hand?” Lory asked kindly.

Meredith turned to her and her face lit up. “Yeah, thanks.”

Lory picked up a few plastic bags.

“Ooh, those are for the kitchen!” Meredith said.

“Got it.” Lory replied walking over to place the bags on the kitchen counter. “You sure have a lot of stuff. Your grandma in there somewhere too?”

Meredith laughed, and Lory instantly felt happier hearing it. “I’m just terrible at getting rid of stuff. And my family are terrible at resisting giving me even more stuff. Pretty sure my mom gave me half the kitchen supplies from home, and my little sisters drew me about fifty thousand pictures of them in case I forgot what they look like whilst I’m here. Plus my dad gave me a bunch of his old clothes from when he was in college, y’know, ‘just in case’.”

Emerging from the kitchen, Lory grinned. “That’s cute. Sounds like they really care about you.”

Meredith smiled fondly, as if revisiting happy memories. “Yeah, we are pretty close, I suppose.” She said almost to herself.

It was sweet to see such love emitting from one person. Still smiling and feeling happy, Lory picked up one of the heavy boxes.

“Where to, chief?”

“Up to my room, first door on the left, thanks.”

Nodding, Lory walked over to the staircase. Catching onto a thought, Meredith turned around suddenly.

“You wanna check out the Eastern Courtyard?” suggested Meredith. “Apparently they’ve got it all: singers, performers, club sign-ups, free giveaways...”

“And have to socialise with random people before they have any alcohol in them? Yeah, no, I’m good thank you.” replied Lory, but with a playful smile.

“Oh, come on,” grinned Meredith. “It might surprise you!”

Lory laughed, continuing to talk as she disappeared upstairs. “The only thing that surprises me about this college is the free parking.”

As Lory disappeared from sight, Meredith shook her head, both amused and concerned. She rifled through one of her own boxes, feeling an oddly-shaped object that she didn’t recognise. She pulled it out, revealing a small item wrapped up in blue-grey tissue paper. Unwrapping it carefully, Meredith let out a soft gasp when she recognised the sharp curves and dents of her family crest, sized down and with a thin chain around it. She didn’t remember packing it… Her grandfather must have slipped it in when she wasn’t looking.

Meredith was only vaguely aware of her family’s heritage and bloodline. She had only really been told about it in the last few months before her leaving for college, a little by her mother, briefly by her sister, but mostly by her grandpa, who loved to go into great detail when exploring the family history. But this time he did seem different about it, like he was warning her. All this talk about ‘protect yourself’ and ‘watch out for trouble’. Meredith had assumed he only meant to say this because she was moving out, and that he was just looking out for her as she moved into adulthood.

She set the tissue paper down and took the crest in her finger tips, moving them along the small gems and edges that ran through it. It felt… strange to her touch; she expected the metal to feel cold, but it felt warm as soon as she held it, her finger tips barely grazing it before she felt the heat radiating from it. It was almost welcoming, familiar.

But it was no less unnerving. In fact, it was probably more so.

She blinked and shook herself out of it, breaking her trance. She wrapped it back up in the tissue paper. Not yet. Not in freshman week. There are enough things to deal with right now without this too.

Turning away from the bag with the necklace in it, Meredith picked up a box containing her notebooks and began the trek up the stairs after Lory. She was determined to make this week count for her, and wanted to begin in a happy state of mind, as ever.

***

The door sharply shut behind Gwen as she stepped back out into the fresh air. For once she didn’t care how loud it was, she knew her housemates wouldn’t notice the noise being too engrossed in themselves and random Facebook profiles (“Oh my God, her hair is unreal!”) to have any awareness. Initially she hadn’t wanted to go outside, but her housemates had chosen to stay inside being loud and generally disruptive (much to her annoyance), forcing her to go outside anyway to get away from their constant laughing and shrieking.

Wrapping her oversized dark patterned cardigan around her and folding her arms into it, Gwen began walking along the sidewalk and away from the house, in desperate need of a semi-peaceful walk, which she could have now that the streets had cleared up and most students had properly moved in. There was only a distant cluster of voices coming from one of the nearby ‘freshman zones’, of which Gwen had no intention of going to. A walk around the quiet campus seemed much more inviting. Besides, she wasn’t alone, not really; there was a cool autumn breeze that danced around her feet and made her feel safe.

***

After an hour of seemingly endless nagging, Meredith had finally managed to convince Lory to leave their shared dorm house and come out into the world. Despite this small victory, it proved to be short-lived as they headed down to the Eastern Courtyard and Lory’s moaning and excuses filled the air.

“Seriously, I don’t have time for this.”

“Yes you do.”

“I really don’t, I have somewhere to be.”

“I’m sure your bed is very comfy but that’s not where we’re headed.”

“I didn’t mean that.”

Meredith, being fairly patient, said nothing, though had to refrain from rolling her eyes at Lory’s constant whining. As they rounded a corner, a figure coming from the opposite direction rounded it too. When they came into view, Meredith saw that it was a girl walking alone in a large patterned cardigan. She perked up; here was an opportunity. As the girl approached, Meredith broke into a warm and friendly smile.

“Hi!” She said brightly.

The girl’s head snapped up, as did Lory’s, and Lory thought she saw panic flash in the girl’s eyes for a moment. When she saw that Meredith and Lory really meant no harm, she averted her gaze and smiled awkwardly.

“Oh- uh, h-hey.” And with that she continued walking, possibly quicker than she had been before. The girls watched her go for a moment before Meredith sighed.

“Oh well. Worth a shot, I guess not everyone wants to be friends.” She continued on, Lory following behind, still begrudging.

“I’ll bet everyone’s just like her, not wanting to talk, just wanting to get on with things. A smart move if you ask me.”

“Aw c’mon, it’s gonna be great!” Meredith replied, ever the optimist, it seemed. “You might meet some new friends whilst we’re there!”

Lory huffed. “Why would I need any more friends when you’re already soooo perfect?” She mocked with a fake smile.

“Ha ha,” Meredith grinned. “Flattery, fake or otherwise, won’t get you out of this, hun.”

Lory groaned, knowing, sadly, that she was right.

***

The harsh white lamplight hit the desk as Sam sat down and dumped his notebook onto the table, opening it up on a new page and immediately beginning to scribble out notes and to-dos. Dean stood behind him, admiring the room.

“Gotta say, not a bad place to crash for a few months.” He remarked. Sam ignored him, engrossed in his writing. Dean leaned against one of the walls and continued regardless, “Actually looks better than most of the motel rooms we stay in. Maybe I should try out this college thing, might get a decent night’s sleep out of it at least…”

He looked over at Sam’s reaction to the joke, but was met with his brother’s back leant over his desk. Dean sighed loudly.

“All right, something’s gotta be interesting if me saying I’m thinkin’ about signing up for college doesn’t get your attention. What’re you writing?”

“Class times for tomorrow,” Sam replied shortly.

Dean stared at him. “That’s it?” He looked disbelieving of this underwhelming answer. “God, you are such a geek.”

“I’m the one actually trying to get a degree here, Dean.” Sam replied without looking up again. “Some of us aren’t here just for the job.”

Dean rolled his eyes. “Yeah, well, I’m gonna go find somewhere to stay for the night. I’ll call you when I’ve got a place.”

“‘Kay.”

Shaking his head and smiling slightly, Dean pushed himself off of the wall and left Sam to his constant scribbling.

***

In the Courtyard, Meredith was walking around, talking to people, introducing herself, and generally lighting up the atmosphere. Behind her, Lory was dragging her feet, looking as bored and disinterested in the activities and sign-ups as she felt. Meredith tried to pretend not to notice, but she was starting to feel guilty for bringing Lory to a place where she clearly felt so uncomfortable.

“Hey, look!” She exclaimed, beckoning Lory over in an attempt to spark some enthusiasm. “They’re having a two for one deal at the local pizza house for all freshman!”

“Wow, better call the twelve-year-olds, they’d go wild for a deal like that!” Lory replied, voice dripping with sarcasm.

Meredith drooped slightly, lowering the flyer and placing it back on the table. Lory instantly felt guilt wash over her.

“Look, Meredith, I’m sorry, it’s just… this isn’t really my kind of thing. Especially since I’m not a freshman anymore. And please don’t take this the wrong way, but, you know I’m a mature student, and I just kind of feel like I’ve… outgrown this sort of deal. But don’t think that means that you shouldn’t do it yourself, or that I’m not happy, okay?”

Not being able to lift Lory’s social spirits made her feel like she’d failed somewhat, but Meredith gave a small smile all the same. “Okay. You go do your own thing.” She said encouragingly, tapping Lory’s arm briefly.

Grinning, Lory raised her eyebrows as if remembering something. “Speaking of my own thing,” she said. “I’ve gotta get to work. Have fun.”

She swished past a confused Meredith, who turned around and called after her, “You have a job?”

Lory looked back, still walking. “Yeah, I work at one of the bars in town.”

It was not possible for Meredith to look more taken aback than she did in that moment. She gaped at Lory as she continued to walk away, and when she finally opened her mouth she had to shout after her.

“You work in a bar?! One of the most social environments on the whole planet?”

“I said I didn’t like to socialise with people who didn’t have alcohol in them! Byee!” She called, the smirk in her voice very evident.

Meredith was left in the middle of the crowded courtyard, shaking her head in disbelief and holding back a smile.

***

Despite having not encountered anyone else for nearly half an hour, Gwen was still cringing at how awkward she had been with those two girls. They hadn’t looked threatening, they hadn’t seemed to be too giggly or gossipy like her delightful housemates had been; the one with silver hair had some pagan tattoos, so at least there was someone else she could relate to in that, and had looked really cool; the one with the bouncy, long curly brown hair was actually incredibly pretty. Perhaps that was what threw her off, they were both too cool and too attractive for her to not act like an awkward mess around them. Sometimes, Gwen really hated her stupid social ineptity to the point where she wondered if it was possible to burn it out of her soul. Permanently. Please.

As she walked along the empty streets, she finally noticed how the temperature had gone down and the light had begun to fade from the day. She also noticed how she was in a part of campus she didn’t know, which made her realise that she didn’t know where anything on campus was because the campus was huge and she’d never been able to remember where anything was on those silly little tours. So she was lost. And it was getting dark. Awesome.

Taking a deep breath and closing her eyes, she thought rationally. She came from the North side, so all she had to do was walk back the way she… thought she came. That was her best option right now. Gwen placed her hands on her head and ran them through her hair, resting them on the back of her neck as she looked out over the dorm houses. Then she replaced her hands into her pockets, turned around and began to walk away.

Something suddenly didn’t feel quite right. Gwen could feel an odd change in the air that had nothing to do with the growing night. She looked around her, brows furrowed, and noticed that the trees seemed oddly still, even though she could feel a sharp breeze travelling over her skin. She sped up slightly, wrapping her cardigan tighter around herself and firmly crossing her arms.

From a silent hideout, the shadows watched her. The temptation to follow was strong… but they could not strike. Not yet.

But soon.

***

Perhaps Lory had been right. Meredith was starting to become tired of the number of people who had approached her as a prank or with dumb joke questions, or asking if classes started tomorrow - on a Saturday. She decided to head back to her dorm house and muster up something at least edible. Thanking the person who handed her the umpteenth flyer of the afternoon, she turned and began walking back in the direction of the dorm.

As she approached the centre, a scream broke out and echoed throughout the campus. Disturbed but concerned, Meredith began running towards the source of the scream, which sounded like it came from the Eastern Courtyard. Other students were running through the arch ways leading to it already, having clearly heard the horrible sound as well. She reached the arch way and rushed to where a crowd had gathered. Pushing through slightly, she made it to the inner edge, and almost fell backwards in shock.

On the stone ground was a young girl’s body, blood pouring out of her ears, eyes and nose, white as a sheet and veins popping on her neck and face. Several staff members were attempting to block her from view and contacting the emergency services. Students surrounding the scene were whispering, some even screeching themselves in shock, some crying. Meredith could only watch in terror. She couldn’t look away. But she felt sick and empty at the sight.

Someone suddenly came up behind her, calling her name.

“Meredith! Meredith, are you okay, what’s going-”

Lory stopped as soon as she saw the body too. She let out a deep, terrified breath.

“Oh God…” She whispered in a low voice.

***

She had managed to get lost and ended up in the one place she never wanted to be in the first place; the Eastern Courtyard. But as Gwen approached, that awful feeling crept up on her again, and almost instantly after she heard a horrid scream. Fearing the worst, but praying like mad that it wasn’t anything to do with the changing winds, she ran to the source. The sight she met was awful, even worse than she could have possibly imagined. She couldn’t bring herself to look away from the girl’s face, covered in bold blue and purple veins and completely sheet-white. And all the blood… The blood was deep crimson and in a giant circle around the body, spread out so far that it was a shock that the human body could hold so much of it. Gwen felt a pang of fear at the thought that this feeling and this event… was there a connection…?

Glancing over the rest of the crowd, Gwen spotted the two girls from before opposite her. The girl with the curly hair was in a state of pure shock, whilst the silver girl, who still looked horrified, put an arm around her for comfort. A sudden burst of energy emitted from the two of them that made Gwen blink suddenly and take a sharp breath. She stared at them, stunned and confused, before the silver-haired one put an arm around the other and led her away from the crowd and out of sight. Then, to her right, Gwen sensed an even stronger energy, and her head whipped in its direction. Her sight set on a tall guy with brown hair, who did not look as shocked as the other students but more… panicked. He quickly glanced around the gathering circle of students and backed out of the crowd, as two security guards stepped up to move the students back and away from the scene. A couple of them pushed on Gwen’s side too, forcing her to break her gaze on the guy, but she quickly turned and pushed herself through the crowd to get a look at the guy.

But when she emerged, he had vanished. She looked around, circling on the spot whilst students brushed past her, but he had gone. His energy was lost, and Gwen breathed. She was left confused and almost breathless at the events that had unfolded.

Who the hell were all these people?

***

Hiding around a dark corner out of sight, Sam had already pulled out his cell phone and had typed Dean’s number before he could even think about anything else. He waited impatiently, and when Dean picked up on the fifth ring, he went straight into it.

“It got someone. Someone else. It’s started moving again.”

[thefaceofroyalty]

Loki x reader// The Night of the Ball

Pairings: this chapter has a little bit of Thor x reader but it isn’t much. Trust me, we will get to Loki a little later!!

A/N: Here is chapter one of my new fic! I guess 25 notes was enough for me to decide to actually write this. As always any likes, comments and reblogs are appreciated! If you haven’t read the prologue yet you can read that here

Chapter one:

“Come on! I know you can hit harder than that. In fact, anyone can hit harder than that.” You taunted as you circled your opponent in the ring with a smile on your face. This was too easy, this was supposed to be the advanced sparring class and yet you were faced with this. Your opponent tried taking another swipe at you with his sword and you easily dodged it. Contorting your back so the sword swung above you. With a fast motion you were suddenly on the ground and sweeping your sword under his feet, forcing him to fall down and yield to you.

“I think you’ve just about beat everyone Y/N” a voice said from behind you.

You turned around only to see Thor standing there with a proud grin on his face. You stepped out of the ring and gave him a hug, welcoming him back from a diplomatic mission.

“So, how was the mission my prince?” You asked, panting and taking the water that Thor had offered you.

“It was fine. Father thinks if I go along with him on diplomatic missions it will help me to become a more well rounded king someday.” Thor said as the two of you walked over to the benches along the perimeter of the training ground and sat down.

“The Allfather isn’t wrong,” you said as you glanced at Thor, “if all you know how to do is fight, that won’t help anyone.”

“But Lady Y/N all you know how to do is fight.” Thor countered.

“True, but I’m training to be a Valkyrie, so I don’t really need diplomacy. I’m the last line of defence. When words are done and all there’s left to do is pick up a sword and fight.” You said, basically reciting what had been drilled into your head for as long as you can remember. The Valkyries were an elite force and were not to be used lightly. We were only there if all else failed, a hail mary.

Thor chuckled at this as he stood up and offered you his hand. You willingly took it and stood up as well. “Come, my father’s celebration feast is in two hours time and we both look like we need to freshen up some.” Thor said as he eyed you up and down. You shook your head and gave him a playful shove as you two walked into the palace together. After he left to go to his chambers and wished you farewell you were left to walk to your chambers alone with your thoughts.

Thor had always been a close friend of yours. It all started the moment he saw the new valkyries-in-training. His eyes lit up for he too had dreams of being a Valkyrie when he was older. You smiled fondly at the memory. You remember telling him that boys couldn’t be Valkyries and that he just had to pick something else to be. He didn’t believe you and so off he went with a little clap of thunder behind him. He came back the next day and sought you out to inform you that you were correct and he could not become a Valkyrie. The two of you had been inseparable ever since.

However, you wondered if that atmosphere between you two had changed over the past couple of months. He started staring at you for longer periods of time, on and off the training grounds. His light hearted banter would turn into subtle flirting. You weren’t sure how you felt about it however. Sure, he was attractive but you and him had no foreseeable future together. He was destined to be king and you a valkyrie. You brushed off your thoughts as you entered your chambers.

Being a senior member of valkyrie recruits meant perks. For starters, you now had your own room and bathroom. You were also given a wardrobe for when you weren’t required to be in training clothes. You were also given a servant to attend to your every desire. As you opened the door to your chambers you noticed that your servant Ragna had set out something new for you.

“Ragna, what is that you’re fussing with?” You asked puzzled.

Ragna turned around with a huge smile on her face before responding, “It’s your armor My Lady.”

You let out a squeal as you ran over and immediately let your eyes wander over the famed Valkyrie outfit. It looked immaculate laying on your bed and your eyes soared with childlike wonder as you thought about what this meant for you. When a Valkyrie in training was given her armor this meant that she was ready for battle.

“Congratulations my lady.” Ragna said as she led you towards the bathroom, “you have to get ready for the feast tonight. I’ve already drawn a bath for you, so get in and when you’re nice and clean you can put the armor on”

You nodded and thanked her as you headed for the bathroom and shut the door behind you. You sank into the warm water and sighed as the days troubles left your body. Your mind was racing as you soaked in the sweet lavender scented water. You couldn’t believe that you had finally received your armor. What you had dreamed and prayed for as a child was finally happening. The next time the throne required it, you would be ready and willing to fight.

Once you were out of the bath you put on the armor. It fit you like a second skin, nothing felt out of place and the fabric moved with you. The breastplate shone beautifully in the light of your room. The cape was just the right length. You couldn't stop smiling you probably looked like an idiot. Ragna convinced you to let her do your hair in a simple but elegant braid, “so as not to distract from your pretty face.” Ragna noted as she put the finishing touches on your hair.

You leapt up and pulled the other woman into a fierce hug, “Thank you so much Ragna, I don’t know if I could’ve managed these last few years without you.” you said as tears began to well in your eyes. It’s true that your first mission probably wouldn’t be for a while, however this still felt like the end of an era.

“It’s been an honor to help you along your way my lady.” Ragna replied, seemingly taken aback with emotions as well.

You smiled as you made your way out of your room and towards the banquet hall. The jovial voices of those inside could be heard as you made your way closer. The warmth, sounds, and smells of the hall were inviting and you felt like a new person about to walk through those doors.

“Well, well, well, looks like someone graduated and is ready to fight the so called terrors of the nine realms,” a voice chimed behind you. You didn’t have to turn around to know who it was. The only person who made your blood boil and sent shivers up your spine at the same time, Loki.

[englishvisualnovels]

The Story of Two Overbearing Sakuras and Their Lighthearted Love Triangle — Sakura Sakura Launches on Steam

Developer: Hiqosoft Publisher: Sol Press Release Date: November 19, 2018 Platform: Windows Age Rating: All-Ages & 18+ Price: $34.99

Note: This post contains links that lead to NSFW content.

Earlier this week, Sol Press released Sakura Sakura on Steam. A free demo for the game is available on Steam and the Sakura Sakura promotional website.

The Steam version of Sakura Sakura is all-ages, but Sol Press released a free patch which adds adult content to the game.

Relevant Links:

Where to Buy (Digital): Steam (18+ Patch)

Official Site (Demo available)

Features, via Sol Press:

Step into the shoes of two different protagonists each with their own love triangles.

A romantic visual novel featuring a Japanese voice cast.

Relive touching and hilarious CG scenes with the CG Gallery feature.

Listen to your favorite tunes from the game in the Music Gallery.

Synopsis:

The Dorm Guardian vs. The School Guardian

Tohru Inaba has always dreamed of living a co-ed life. That’s why, when he finally managed to transfer into the renowned Rintoku Academy, he immediately fell head over heels for two Sakuras!

Nanako Sakura’s classes are strict, but at home, she turns into an overbearing mother.

Sakura Kirishima may seem cold and unfriendly, but she is always ready to lend a helping hand as the class representative.

These two girls are outwardly indifferent to Tohru, but put the three of them together and sparks begin to fly.

In the sakura-colored season of spring, two fussy Sakuras have been caught in a light-hearted love triangle.

The Internet Friend vs. The Childhood Friend

"You know how romance games always give the main character that best friend who tells him about the girls? I want to be that guy."

Naoki Fuse, the self-proclaimed best friend, is always ready to tease Tohru about his situation with the two Sakuras.

But, unbeknownst to him, he is one side of yet another light-hearted love triangle.

Akira Nitta has been Naoki's friend since before they could read and write, and is now finally living under the same (dorm) roof as him.

Kurumi Tachibana used to be Naoki's MMO raiding partner, but they were separated before she ever got a chance to meet him in real life or tell him how she felt.

"I understand him better than anyone else."

Akira and Kurumi have Naoki stumped for the first time in his life. And so, Tohru finally gets a chance to see things from the other side.

The curtains rise on this desolate showdown for love.

Cast:

Nanako Sakura Voiced by: Izumi Maki

(Known roles: Chihiro Shindou from ef - a fairy tale of the two., Chizuru Tachibana from the Grisaia series, Komaru Kamikita from Little Busters!, etc.)

The kind dorm mother of the Tsukimi Athletics Dorm who wakes the students up every morning. She cheerfully makes breakfast every morning just for Tohru Inaba, but not out of special consideration for him. Rather, it’s because the other two residents, Naoki and Akira, usually skip breakfast. Coincidentally, one of her concerns is that those two have been skipping their practices as well.

She acts as a parent to Tohru, supporting, encouraging, and scolding him as he works to become an official member of the Fine Arts Club. At school, Nanako transforms into a strict and imposing homeroom teacher, with a firm line drawn between the two roles.

However, since witnessing Tohru being fussed over by Sakura, the vice president of the Fine Arts Club, her mood at the dorm has been noticeably worse.

Nanako specializes in general housework, honed from her time living alone, and cooking simmered dishes such as nikujaga, curry, and hot pot. Her hobby is gardening, and she devotes her spare time to protecting her garden by weeding the dorm's backyard. She goes on walks in the middle of the night to count the stars whenever she is upset, something she has been doing ever since she was a little girl. Because of her youthful appearance, she is often treated like a child, unbecoming of her status as a teacher. Lately, she has been spending more and more time looking up at the sky from the dorm's backyard.

Sakura Kirishima Voiced by: Yukari Aoyama

(Known roles: Bunwa Kaku from the Shin Koihime † Musou series, Kazuki Kazami from the Grisaia series, Orgel Seira from Chaos;Head, etc.)

The class representative and cool beauty in the next seat over. When the other Fine Arts Club members protested Tohru's entry into the club, all it took was for Sakura to say, “I will take responsibility,” to convert them into unanimously approving.

At Rintoku Academy, which is already renowned for its art programs, the Fine Arts Club stands above the rest. And Sakura is the only person capable of wrangling the prideful members of the Fine Arts Club into working, to the point that 3 club advisors have lost confidence and quit in the past year. Despite only being the vice president of the club, her words’ influence rival that of the teachers, and she is not taken lightly by anyone.

That is the reason why, when Tohru naturally lines his up desk with Sakura’s to share textbooks or when he invites her to eat lunch together, their classmates get restless. However, as Sakura is the only person who can get the problem children of the Tsukimi dorm to fall into line, she is also the only one capable of being their class representative. Her natural leadership dwarfs Nanako’s, who is still a novice teacher, causing the latter to often feel discouraged.

Sakura dislikes people who are spineless, waste words, or can't keep promises, those of whom greatly outnumber the people she likes. Despite Tohru being all of these, she becomes his guardian when it comes to club activities, looking out for him. But what her clubmates understand least of all is why she gets so fired up when it comes to the Tsukimi Dorm Mother, Nanako. The two often collide in a rivalry over teaching Tohru about the academy's customs.

Akira Nitta Voiced by: Yuka Kanematsu

(Known roles: Hiyori Oofusa from Dracu-riot!, Moukaku from the Shin Koihime † Musou series, Shamsiel Shaharl from the Funbag Fantasy series, etc.)

The real-life childhood friend who finds the idea of an Internet childhood friend ridiculous. Akira dreamed about marrying Naoki when she was a little girl, earnestly devoting herself to him and spoiling him... and then doing a complete 180 when she realized he had turned into a sloth because of her. Her current number 1 wish is to erase those years of puppy-love devotion from her memory.

Just as Naoki managed to enroll in Rintoku through the kendo program, Akira enrolled through its gymnastics program and thus also lives in Tsukimi dorm. For reasons unknown, she no longer attends practice and instead skips to play baseball and table tennis with Naoki. Whenever he asks her why she keeps skipping with him, she simply replies, "Why don’t you ask the leotard?"

To Akira, Kurumi does not even register as a rival. However, when Kurumi drags Naoki into conversations about Internet games and dating sims, she becomes determined to steer him away, beginning another hopeless battle for his affection.

Akira follows a strict day-to-day diet and is afraid of body weight scales. She often says, "I wish my stomach would stay closer to my back." She is also obsessed with household appliances and has spent the last six months steadily saving to buy a ‘cute refrigerator’. Her favorite food is popsicles and her dream is to have a refrigerator stocked year-round with perfect rows of sparkling popsicles.

Kurumi Tachibana Voiced by: Yui Sakakibara

(Known roles: Ayase Kishimoto from Chaos;Head, Hamaji Yakumo from H20: Footprints in the Sand, Navi from Dragonar Academy, etc.)

The Internet childhood friend who refuses to lose to a real-life childhood friend. Six years ago, hallo made huge waves among hardcore gamers as one of the first big MMORPGs. Kurumi and Naoki met there and formed a party, shedding blood, sweat, and tears together for more than two years. However, right before they could clear the final dungeon, the game ceased operations and the two were suddenly forced apart. Kurumi had planned to confess to him and ask for his contact information once they cleared it, but it seemed her first love was not to be.

All she knew was that Naoki lived in the same region as her. Kurumi was a shut-in at the time, but she took that day as an opportunity to change. She learned how to be fashionable, took up more club activities, started studying, and became an outgoing person. She had no intention of letting her first love end the way it did.

Two years Naoki's junior, Kurumi was recognized as a genius for the sensitivity portrayed in her art and rose to the top of the Rintoku Academy affiliate school she attended, allowing her to take part in the Rintoku Academy Fine Arts Club’s activities. Through Tohru, she recognized Naoki as the person she had been looking for and, consequently, has started picking fights with Naoki's real-life childhood friend, Akira. However, she gets nervous and loses her ability to speak in front of Naoki, resorting to extremely formal language. When she played hallo with him, she lacked the courage to confess outright and instead kept wandering around the entrance to the final dungeon.

[pixelcassette]

If there’s anything Keith hates more than Mondays, it’s the thought of his daughter leaving his side for good when she enters her first day of school. And, of course, that day has finally arrived. The day that Keith Kogane had been dreading the day he locked eyes with the little girl. The dreaded day of little Halley leaving the safety of her father’s arms to start her first day of preschool. The day had come, and Keith was worried sick.

“Are you sure you have everything?” Keith asked during the car ride. Halley giggled from the backseat. “Yep! Everything’s in my backpack!” the girl said, smiling away. Keith sighed, knowing that Halley had no idea what awaited her in school. Horrible thoughts raced through keith’s mind. What if she were to get bullied? Or she’d make no friends? “No, no…” Keith thought. Halley was a nice girl, she’d make lots of friends in no time. He looked into the mirror to see his daughter, who looked so excited and happy, Keith could feel his heart melting. He smiled as he drove forward, making his way to the school. Secretly, he wished that his daughter didn’t have to go to school so she could stay home with him. He wished that they never had to be in this car driving to school, but rather at home, watching cartoons with her on the couch.

Alas, the car ride didn’t last forever. They had eventually reached the small schoolhouse, which caused Halley to get even more excited. Keith heard the small girl squeal with delight as they approached the school. The young one was practically jumping up and down in her carseat, so enthusiastic to finally begin school, just like all the other kids in her neighborhood. Keith smiled sadly as he pulled up into the parking lot, knowing in just a matter of minutes, his daughter would leave him. It saddened him at the thought, but he knew just how thrilled she was to be here. He looked back at the 4-year old girl bouncing in her seat. He let out a small chuckle seeing his daughter so happy. For a moment, he almost forgot about all the worries built up inside him.

Those worries, however, quickly returned once the two reached the classroom. It was absolute havoc in there. Children were crying, parents looked so tired, and the room was filled with the sounds of unhappiness. Keith felt Halley clutch onto her father’s hand, not wanting to go into the mess.

“Papa?”

The young girl spoke, worry spread out all across her face. Keith felt a pang deep inside him, seeing her face was just enough to make his heart shatter. Keith kneeled down, smiling at Halley calmly. “Yes, Hal?” Keith asked. Halley looked down at her shoes, unwilling to meet her father’s eyes. “I don’t like it here...Can we go home?” she asked quietly, tears forming in her eyes. Keith laughed quietly as he ruffled his daughter’s hair. He knew the right thing to say was no, but deep down, he kinda wanted to go home too. He looked away from Halley and began to look around the small classroom.

“Maybe it would be a better option to stay home…” Keith thought. He shook away those thoughts and placed a hand on Halley’s shoulder. “Halley,” Keith began. “You know we can’t go home yet. You haven’t even started school!” Halley’s face crumpled, tears slowly falling down her face. “But…” Keith cut her off and kissed her head. “You’ll be fine, I know it.” He took his daughter’s hand as he began to rise up. He scanned the room once more, looking for perhaps a parent or even the teacher. Keith’s brows knitted together in confusion as his eyes darted across the room. Where was the teacher anyway?

And it was as if Keith had suddenly spawned in the devil himself, the teacher walked into the classroom. At first, Keith wanted to release all his anger for making them all wait and deal with all the fussing children. But upon seeing him, however, all his rage seemed to vanish ever so quickly. Now, there was only one emotion swelling up inside, and it wasn’t anger this time. No, this time was very different. He had only felt like this once before and it just so happened to end his relationship.

This time, he felt warm.

His heart felt warm, his chest felt warm. He felt as if his whole body had been set aflame and he was enjoying every second of it. Why?

Because Keith was crushing over Halley’s teacher. That’s why.

Keith couldn’t help but admire the teacher as he walked into the room. His staring didn’t go unnoticed, since the two were only standing a few feet apart when he walked it. The teacher smiled at the staring man and Keith could feel his face grow warm. “I’m too gay for this,” Keith thought as he looked away in embarrassment. The teacher, however, didn’t notice this. Instead, he clapped his hands together, grabbing the attention of everyone in the room.

“Good morning parents and students!” The teacher said warmly. “I’m Mr. McClain, or Lance to you adults.” A few parents chuckled at his “joke” as the man went on. “I apologize for being so late. There was just a lot of traffic getting here and I’m so sorry to cause you any trouble!” Mr. McClain laughed nervously as he scratched the back of his neck. With every word the man spoke, every time he moved, Keith would just feel his heart pounding faster and faster. “Anyway, I’d like to meet all of you personally, both parents and students!” Mr. McClain said, still smiling. Once Keith heard those words, his heart was pounding a mile a minute. “Wait…” Keith thought, his heart seemingly pounding faster. “If he was going to meet everyone personally, would that mean that I’m firs-”

“Hi there!”

Keith jumped at the surprised interaction, his thoughts being shut down abruptly. He didn’t expect for Mr. McClain to go up to him so quickly. He began mentally swearing to himself, realizing just how stupid he looked to jump at the slightest sound. He then looked at the teacher’s open hand, ready to be shaken. “Holy quiznack, you idiot respond!” Keith thought, his face burning with embarrassment. “H-hi! I’m Keith. Keith Kogane.” Keith said, shaking Mr. McClain’s hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you Mr. McClain.

The Cuban man smiled. “No need for those fancy names,” the teacher said. “Just call me Lance!” Keith smiled, he could feel his chest soar. He felt so warm and peaceful just talking to him, he wondered if he’d ever get to meet up with Lance in their own personal time. Suddenly, Lance’s eyes lit up. Keith turned to see what he was looking at, only to find his very own daughter clutching onto his leg in fear.

“And you must be Halley, right?”

This seemed to catch the young girl’s attention, for she looked up from her hiding spot and began to stare up at the teacher. “I’m Mr. McClain, your teacher! We’re going to have so much fun together, I just know it!” Lance said, a huge grin spread out wide across his face. Halley began to smile with him, and although it was just a small one, it was enough for Lance. “See?” The teacher exclaimed. “That’s the kind of smile I want from you in this class! Could you do that for me?” Halley was quiet for a few moments, then slowly came out from behind her dad’s leg and giggled. “Mhmm!” The young girl said, nodding her head as she did so. Lance’s grin grew wider at the exchange. “That’s the spirit!” And with that, Lance smiled at the two and left to talk to another parent and child.

Halley looked up at her starstruck father. “I don’t think we hafta go home just yet, Papa.” She said, her grasp around Keith’s leg loosening. “Oh?” Keith asked, tilting his head to the side. “How come?” Halley smiled brightly, the same kind of smile that made Keith feel calm. “‘Cause I like it here!” She exclaimed, hugging her father’s waist. Keith laughed as he picked up the 4-year old and hugged her. As they embraced, he looked over at Lance, who was already talking to the third parent.

Keith felt as if he were walking on air every time he looked at Lance. But, of course, he eventually fell through. He knew it was wrong to be crushing on his daughter’s teacher, it was wrong and not to mention probably illegal, but he simply couldn’t help himself. He looked back at his laughing daughter, still hugging her tight.

“I think I’ll like it here too…” Keith thought to himself. And suddenly, Monday’s didn’t seem so bad.

Not at all.

AN: AHHHH IT’S FINALLY DONE! ＜(“0”)＞ I’m so sorry for such the long wait! I hope it lived up to your expectations lol Thanks @my-wings-will-heal for the ask about it!!!

Note: I don’t think anyone noticed, but Keith’s daughter’s name is Halley, named after Halley’s Comet. I wanted the daughter’s name to have at least SOMETHING to do with space and~ here she is! I hope you enjoyed it!!!

[17cafe]

Parallel

↠ Asked: ❝Hey!! I really really love your blog, and I loved the last scenario you wrote with Hoshi-so my request is if I could get the kinda same thing with Dino? Thank youu~❞

↠ Members: Dino x reader

↠ Genre: fluff, soulmate au

★ a soulmate au in which things you see that relate to them cause you to see them

↠ Word count: 2000

It was the day of your 18th birthday, the one of which many people refer to as a special one. Whether it’s because you’re now “legal,” or because now you have the chance to know when you will meet your soulmate. People find them in all different ways, but one thing everyone has in common is that they know when their soulmate is close. And now that you’re of age to experience it yourself, you were excited, to say the least.

Your friends had previously made plans to take you to the amusement park early in the morning, so lines were shorter, and then if you felt up to it, go out and eat, maybe hit a few karaoke places too. They never said it aloud, but you knew they wanted to take you many places to increase the chance of you meeting your soulmate on the first day you were eighteen. 

As soon as the park gates were opened, you and your friends rushed inside. They bought admissions for themselves and you in advance, and everyone got to skip ahead in front of the small line and just head straight in. There were about 10 of you, and you all made a plan to split into pairs and just run around to whichever rides you wanted to go on; there wouldn’t be any fuss if someone hated one of the rides that someone else wanted to go on that way. 

“Where do you want to go first?” asked the friend that paired up with you. You look around, unsure, and just decide to leave it up to them. 

“You pick!” She shakes her head.

“It’s your birthday, you get to pick what we do all day~” she says in a kind of sing-song voice. You smile and nod, thinking, before pointing at the biggest roller coaster in the park. Her eyes follow your gesture before they widen. 

“Ohh-kay..” she begins, but grabs your arm and changes the direction you point. Your finger ends up pointing towards a ride called “Musical Express,” a ride where you sit in a “car” that goes in circles, going faster the louder people scream over the blaring music that is played. Besides the small bump the cars go up and down on, it wasn’t a very thrilling ride. But, you agree. 

After rushing over to join the few other people getting on, you and your friend get into a car, locking it too. The staff at the ride make sure all of them are locked before one of them flicks a switch on the microphone in the control booth. He taps it before speaking in an excited voice.

“Are you all ready for the Musical Express?” The question earns screams from everyone, and the ride starts up, already gaining a ton of speed. The chorus of Michael Jackson’s “Bad” is blasted over the speakers, and you and your friend start shouting the words out.

To your surprise, you feel something odd, something you’re feeling for the first time. There’s a near shiver that runs through your body as your mouth stops moving, and the sight of the things around you being a blur changes to something completely different.

It’s almost like you’re dreaming. The image feels so vivid, like you’re actually there, sitting on the floor as your look ahead in the mirror, watching an unknown boy dramatically dancing to the exact same song. And he’s pretty good, too, as if he knows the song inside and out, never missing a tap or beat. 

“Y/N! Get up already!” Your friend says with a giggle. “You know we need to line up again, we can’t just stay on the ride,” she says and extends her arm to help pull you up. You look a little dazed as you get up, but she doesn’t notice. 

“Hey, I think I just-”  you get cut off as she pulls you urgently, wanting to rush to get on another ride. You just smile and try to forget about what you wanted to say for the time being.

“Now that we’ve warmed up with that ride, we should go to the roller coaster you wanted!” she suggests, but you just shake your head. 

“I was kidding, let’s just go on one of the smaller ones?” you suggest instead. She nods eagerly and keeps pulling you along - you’re almost stumbling over your own feet.

She pulls you a bit away from the main park, over to this huge grassy area you had no idea was there. She claimed that this would be a short cut to the smaller roller coaster, and you trusted her, following along. 

“Oh, look!” 

You saw a pond in the distance, this time pulling her to it. She slowed down and followed you along instead. When you both were standing just by the edge of the pond, you saw small, shiny fish underneath the water’s surface. Intrigued, you sat down on the ground, wanting to see them closer. As you were admiring the colours and their sharp movements, your friend spoke up. 

“Ducks!” She giggled. 

“Hey, look how that one’s tail turns up! It’s like how those guys do their hair at school~” You giggle and look, laughing out louder when you see the resemblance. Your friend tries pushing her hair up in the front to be like the style she means. You look down at the water again, seeing her reflection before everything in your sight changes, again.

Now, the image in front of you is the same boy as before. Except, in a stylist’s chair, getting a duck tail hairstyle. It’s completely different from what people usually mean by that name. When people say “duck tail” their first thought is usually Elvis or someone similar - definitely not something like this. 

Without your knowing you giggled aloud, covering your mouth. He looked completely serious, which you couldn’t help but see as adding on to the humor. 

“What is it?” you hear, the image fuzzing out. The boy looks over at your eyes when the question is repeated. Just then, he’s gone.

“Hello? Earth to Y/N?” Your friend bends down to sit beside you. “What happened? Did-” she pauses, her eyes widening. 

“Is- is it already happening? Did you see your soulmate?” 

She jumps up, excited. 

“Then they’re probably here! At the park! Come on, we have to find them!” 

You two skipped going to the rides and were walking around, covering as much ground as possible. And then over again. Your friend would not rest until your soulmate was found, and you were the only one who knew their face, so it wasn’t like you could just sit and rest while your friends go look.

Besides, this added a bit more excitement too.

Your friend had her arm linked tightly with yours, asking questions about your soulmate. You had informed her it was a boy who dances, maybe even professionally, that likes Michael Jackson and had a bad haircut at one time. With only that being said, it still raised many possibilities. These aren’t things you can tell by a glace at someone.

But, now, you two were passing through a near hallway of games. Those rigged ones that nobody ever wins. Except maybe the darts. And like usual, you hear a lot of people screaming - maybe due to their losses, or shouts to encourage their friends. 

You were looking at the games, when you see a weight lifting one closeby. It seemed more like a gym class test though. There was a harness someone would put around their waist, and staff attach weights to it to see how much someone can lift with their legs. The more weight lifted, the better the prize. 

“Come on!” “Yeah!” You hear people supporting anyone that went up to try. There was one comment that caused something to happen to you again. When someone finished, winning one of the biggest prizes - a huge stuffed dinosaur - one person commented; “wow, you have strong thighs.” 

Those exact words rang through your ears, and you heard them in many different voices. One was particularly deep, but the rest were so well blended together that you were unable to tell any other differences. There was no image this time, but you knew this had to do with your soulmate. 

“Dino! You should go up!” 

When those words replaced the others, it was like time froze. You whispered the nickname over, looking through the people moving in slow motion, to see a boy smiling wider than you have ever seen anyone smile. He was shaking his head and hands in denial though. 

Before even thinking, you let go of your friend. You were scooting your way through people, slowly, but as if you were being pulled to him. Suddenly, everything was a normal speed again. A few taller boys who seemed like they were his friends had cut in front of you to get a better spot to see. They were shouting his name and cheering him on, and you joined too. All you did was shout his name once, and hearing the unfamiliar voice, he looked up.

Before he passed through the small gate to enter the game, he saw you too. 

Initially, he lurched towards you, grabbing onto your shoulders. At any other time this would have frightened you, but this was your soulmate. He looked at you with a frantic expression before both yours and his minds were filled with abrupt memories from both your pasts apart from each other, and from your future, together. 

Not many people around had noticed what happened. Those who know the feeling and had found their soulmate in the same way though, were watching as if it was a public proposal. 

The images faded in the blink of an eye, and you two were left looking at each other. His face spread in a small grin, and so did yours. No words were shared and none needed to be - until his friends came up. They were very confused. 

“Who is this?” 

“Are they from your school?” 

He shook his head, his eyes never leaving yours. You had assumed your own friend was just standing back and watching, and you know Dino wished his friends did the same rather than come talk to him. He replied with a simple statement. 

“This is my soulmate.” 

Those simple words earned gasps and coos from his friends, one of them even finding it so dramatic that they hit him lightly. 

“Why did you never tell us they were close?” Dino finally breaks the eye contact, keeping a hand on you as he turns.

“I did, maybe if you guys would just listen-” he was cut off by the boys cooing again, coming over to hug you, wanting to let you know his friends were your friends too. The moment was very short due to Dino pulling you away. 

“Hey!” Your back is met with his chest, and his arms wrap around you protectively. 

“You guys go get your own soulmates! Shoo!” He waves them off, earning a laugh from you. They put their arms up in surrender and slowly back off, leaving the both of you alone. He tilts his head to be able to talk into your ear.

“Why did it take so long to find you?” You turn to get out of his grip, wondering how old he may be. You stutter before saying it only took you a day, and he laughs at your surprise. 

“That’s cool, we have the same birthday~” You laugh and hit his shoulder like his friend did. 

“Don’t play around with me like that!” 

You both laugh as he slings his arm around you again. You start walking and he does too, leading you nowhere in particular to just spend some time together. He starts asking you a bunch of questions about the images he saw, and you comment on his in return.

“I like your hair by the way. It’s different now.”

[yesyunniechan]

Detective Conan File 1002 [Japanese to English Translation]

The criminal is... Tengu?

[Te... Tengu?!]

Se: The tengu appeared in Agata-san's room?!

S: Yeah...

S: It was like in the movie with SFX!

Se: And then? What happened to the Tengu?

S: It burned up and vanished after Agata-san threw an ashtray at it!

Se: B-burned up and vanished?! So it really must be SFX?!

S: Agata-san said that he wanted to return to his room after Nishiki-san was killed in order to get some rest, but he couldn't catch any sleep...

S: He tried to drink himself to sleep in the bar, but drank too much and got dead drunk...

S: When he came back to his senses, he'd returned to his room... He wanted to have a smoke, but felt a strange presence when he was lighting his cigarette, so he looked up at the ceiling and...

[A tengu appeared at the hotel’s ceiling...!! Shinichi and Sera’s deduction..?!]

S: Saw a gigantic tengu glaring down at him from the ceiling...

S: So he fell from his chair and screamed...

S: Keiko-san, who was in the next room over, heard this and contacted me, and we managed to catch a glimpse of the Tengu after I rushed over here.

Se: He returned to his room without noticing it...

S: Yeah... He said he had a feeling someone helped him along on his way back to his room... 

Se: Which means that someone might have had a chance to set something up in Agata-san's room...

S: But there was nothing that looked like a film projector and could have been used to project something, right?

Se: What about the cipher? Was there another cipher? 

S: No...

S: Although, just as with Nishiki-san...

S: He got two lumps on his forehead...

Se: Speaking about lumps...

Se: Kurachi Keiko-san, the actress, also said that she got a lump when she fell during that one shoot, didn't she?

S: Yeah... They'd finished the film, but she asked the director to redo the last scene... and she fell during the retake they filmed a couple of days ago...

S: Now that I think of it, she did say that somebody might've pushed her from behind... She didn't have her hat on the last time I saw her, but her forehead did still look a bit swollen, so I think she really must have fallen...

S: Well, she was smiling as she was falling, like 'Kobutori Jiisan' from that one folk tale...

Se: Didn't Kobutori Jiisan have his lump on his cheek?

S: There are various versions that all differ based on their region, right?

S: More importantly, did the blood on the ceiling at the scene of Nishiki-san's murder really end up being his?

Se: No... the police examined it after you left...

Se: Only the center part with the splattered blood, so basically the blood that dripped on your shoulder, was actually Nishiki-san's blood....

Se: The rest was just paint that must've been put there beforehand...

S: Just as I thought!

Se: Also... we thought that the murder weapon that was used to stab Nishiki-san was buried underneath all those scattered script pages... but we couldn't find it...

S: Meaning that the criminal should still have said murder wea...

S: R-Ran? What's up?

R: Oh, nothing at all!! Just, you know, the fact that you and me french kissed in London, what's all that about?!

S: Haah?!

So: Nakamichi-kun keeps blabbering on about it in the weirdest kansaiben! "Those two had already shared a big smooch!" <3

S: A-a, n-no, see, that was my voice, but it wasn't me...

[Flashback]

R: "My voice, but wasn't me"?!

So: Why are you using kansaiben?

N: Shinichi-kun said so, right? 'When in Rome, do as Romans do'...

Se: By the way, why are your sleeves folded up like this? 

S: Heh?

Se: If your sleeves are pestering you, you'd usually roll them up like this, no?

S: A-a, w-well...

Se: That looks like...

Se: A little child had to wear it...

S: B-Ba-ro, that's impossible...

R: A...

R: The poster of that movie Keiko-san stars in...

So: But I suppose it won't premier after what happened to Nishiki-san, the scriptwriter...

R: Yeah...

Se: What was it about?

S: The edo period... There was an officer by the name of Kuranosuke at the Kyoto magistrate...

S: He was troubled that he had no rare valuables to present to the Shogun-sama... Upon hearing this, his wife, Mana, gave her husband Aralia leaves that were giving off a golden glow and said... 

S: "This is the Aralia I found while I was picking out wild plants! They're divine, so I'd always pray with them between my hands, but I brought it for you, dear"... 

S: "This will make the Shogun-sama happy" Kuranosuke was thankful for Mana's help, but...

S: After that, a mysterious demon appeared in the city of Kyoto and started eating people night after night...

S: That happened because that Aralia served as a seal for the Tengu that sealed away said demon long ago...

S: So then a Tengu appeared by Kuranosuke's bed...

S: "The demon fears that the one who set him free might try to seal him away yet again...

S: And is thus trying to find that person and kill her..."

S: "And if your wife lets that demon eat her while hiding the Aralia leaf in her pocket, it will seal the demon away again..."

S: "My body has already rotted away, and I exist only in the form of a thought, so this is the only way we can do it..."

S: Kuranosuke refused, saying "I'd rather die than sacrifice her!", so the Tengu laughed and replied... 

S: "Hoo... you're willing to give your own life? Then hold these Aralia leaves in your hand and jump from the Kiyomizu temple's stage... that should open up a path...'

S: Kuranosuke believed the tengu, jumped from the Kiyomizu temple's stage, and became a tengu himself, giving off a golden glow...

S: He saved Mana, who was about to be eaten by the demon, and elliminated it with his tremendous magical powers, but...

S: Because he'd become a tengu, Mana couldn't see him...

S: The weeping Mana, whose husband had suddenly disappeared from her sight, heard an echoing voice...

S: "If you want to meet me, bring Tengu flowers to the Kiyomizu temple's stage, on an evening that the autumn leaves are brightest"...

S: Mana heeded these words, and she arrived at the Kiyomizu temple's stage grasping the flowers known as Tengu Kuwagata...

S: Kuranosuke, who'd become a tengu, appeared, and she asked...

S: "But why did we have to meet at sunset? If we'd met while the sun was at it's zenith, I would have been able to stay with you longer"...

S: And Kuranosuke answered... "My face has turned red out of the anger for that demon, and my body is covered with its red blood... Yet when everything around me is just as red, I can at least hide it a bit, don't you think?'

S: Then, after they'd shared a goodbye kiss, Kuranosuke disappeared into the darkness of the night... 

S: Sad story...

So: Awesome!!

R: How come you know that so well? 

Se: It hasn't premiered yet, right?

S: Yeah... actually, this movie...

S: Is an adaptation of an art project they did while they were at the Gion University of Arts...

S: And this story's out there on the internet!

S: Well, looks like all five of them ended up becoming famous because that art project was really popular... So it's difficult to imagine that the criminal might be one of them...

R: By the way, when I met Keiko-san at the Kiyomizu temple's stage...

R: She flew the pressed flower to the wind! Maybe it was the tengu flower from that story... 

S: R-really?

R: And she whispered 'Wait, Dekuri-kun... Soon..."...

S: Why Dekuri-kun? That guy isn't part of the staff...

R: Mana and Kuranosuke exchanged a kiss... Kiyomizu temple's stage...

R: I wonder... Maybe Shinichi wants to share a kiss as well?

[So, class...]

[Starting this afternoon, every group will be allowed to do as they wish...]

[After finishing the course... you should all return to the hotel by 6 PM!] 

N: Oi, heard that, Kudo? You can use a selfie stick at the hotel's public bath to spy on the girls half!

S: Really?

TN: Ffs Shinichi 

N: Well Sera... Has no breasts, but...

N: Spying on Mouri would make for a great snap, don't you think?

S: W-well...

N: "Well"... You... didn't bathe with Mouri after that kiss, did you?!

S: T-there's no way I could do that, right?!

S: I did as Conan though... 

S: Hm? A call from Hattori?

S: Oi... did something else happen?

H: It’s a mess...

H: The media is rushin' to the hotel and makin' a huge fuss! 

H: Since the one who was killed yesterday was Nishiki Tarou, who'd won the Naoki award...

H: It caused a major media circus, how're thing on yer side?

H: Did yer sensei tell ya to cancel the field trip and return to Tokyo?

S: It's fine for now!

S: Looks like the teachers are keeping what happened a secret from the students... The room Nishiki-san was killed in and the rooms where the students are staying are far away from one another after all...

H: Can ya escape them for a bit?

S: Eh?

H: Those four said they want to talk about the Dekuri guy that created the  cipher, but the media is makin' too much noise in the hotel, so... 

They're thinkin' of sneakin' to the restaurant they'd made a reservation at for lunch...

H: I'll head there with the police, but what 'bout ya? Ya wanna listen to 'em yerself too, right?

S: Which restaurant is it?

H: A Ryotei called Isogiyama of Ponto-cho!

R: Where should we eat?

Se: Those fruit sandwiches yesterday were delicious!

So: Then today...

S: How about... Isogiyama at Ponto-cho?

R: That's our Sonoko!

R: Although at first we were originally turned away because there were too many reservations...

N: Suzuki-zaibatsu's great!

So: Well, yeah~

Se: Hm?

Se: What? 

Se: What's this round fence made out of bamboo?

Se: Other restaurants have stuff just like this...

N: It's a trend  here in Kyoto, isn't it?

M: This is...

M: Inuyarai...

M: They say that it's meant to ward off thieves by renderin' them visible at from the road... But it really just keeps dogs from markin' their territory...

R: Momiji-san!!

So: Do you know her?

R: Yes! We met when me and dad travelled to Kyoto before...

TN: EAT IT MOVIE 21

Se: Huge boobs...

M: Friends of Ran-san? Yer all wearin' the same uniform...

R: We're here visiting from Tokyo for a field trip...

M: Heeh... Tokyo?  

M: Thank ya for comin' out from yer countryside to our place! <3

So: C-countryside...

S: We're from Tokyo, the capital...

Se: What should I eat so that mine will grow that big?

M: After school, I had some free time after school this afternoon, so I was thinkin' about havin' lunch at this restaurant... Wanna go together?

R: Momiji-san is a student of Kyoto Senshin High, right?

R: Then maybe do you know Okita Soushi-kun?

M: Ah, yeah... That kendo boy is in the same class as me...

R: Really?

M: How 'bout comin' inside and continue our talk there?

[Tengu!!]

R: Eh?

Sc: A tengu appeared on Kiyamachi street!!

S: A t-tengu?!

P: Ayanokoji-keibu... There's word that a tengu has appeared on Kiyamachi street...

H: That's nearby...

A: We gotta do somethin' 'bout that dimwit...

P: But looks like there are a number of them!

H: What?!

N: O-oi... You'll protect us, right?

A: Yes! We'll have to leave for a bit, so please don't go anywhere!

M: O-okay...

K: That's kind of scary...

A: Y-you won't let them run away, right?

H: Yeah! Have no worries!

S: Oi-oi-oi... 

Se: How many of them are there?!

S: Nakamichi! Let's catch everyone!!

N: Ok!

Se: Ran-kun, back us up!!

R: O-okay!

So: Wai... Wait..

.

So: Don't leave me here~!!

T: Hihhihihi...

I: Young Miss... How are you?

M: Fine...

So: Who...

T: Shit... ya caught me....

H: What the hell are ya plannin'?!

M: Heiji-kun!

T: I was recruited through the internet! If y'all put on a tengu mask and run along Kiyamachi street, ya will get 1,00,000 yen in advance! And if ya don't get caught by anyone in 30 minutes, ya will get 1,000,000 yen.... 

H: Is this true?

S: Oi, Hattori! Are those 4 alone in the restaurant right now?

H: Damn! We have to get back!!

S: This time it's the actor Ihaya-san...

H: His carotid artery was cut...

Se: And he's got two lumps again, all the while lying upside down...

H: What a weird criminal though... They spent their time prior to the murder leavin' those footprints...

H: And then they musta called this man out and killed him...

S: No... 10 minutes ago, when we left this place...

S: There were no footprints here, right?

[A serial killing is happening in the ancient city... What is the meaning of ‘Tengu’ here?!] 

[xiaosungs]

Kim Namjoon - College!AU

Lemme just say that I love you guys for the attention you’re giving my other scenarios!

Word Count: 2162

Just a note: I imagined all of them as Run era, those hair styles and clothes etc.

and thanks to the porn blogs, hope you’re enjoying these too!

You were a freshman in college majoring in dance and modern literature

Your best friends since middle school Jungkook managed to get into the same college as you so you were both hyped to get started there

He was also majoring in dance but minored in music production

While you didn’t really have an interest in fraternities and all the Greek Life™, Jungkook was set on joining one of the best

Beta Tau Sigma

Being a people-person, he knew a few people in there already

A.k.a some of the most popular boys on campus

These connections got the guy in before pledges started

Even before the year started for that matter

Before your classes started full-time you wanted to go out for a last breath of freedom

Jungkook insisted that you should get to know some of the guys from the frat, and you (somewhat reluctantly) agreed

There ended up being 8 of you all out there just randomly walking the streets and going around parks for the whole day

You met each of them and discovered that they’re all great guys and not complete fuck-boys like movies put them out to be

There was Kim Taehyung a 2nd Year theatre major minoring in art

2nd Year Park Jimin who’d be sharing your dance classes

Jung Hoseok, 3rd Year, another dance major minoring in music production with Jungkook

Min Yoongi, also a 3rd Year, in music production and classical literature

Kim Namjoon, 3rd Year, in music production and theoretical physics 

and finally Kim Seokjin, 4th Year, from theatre and biochemistry

When you all felt hungry, Seokjin lead the way to his favourite restaurant

It was a fairly small diner on side street not 20 minutes away from the college and had a 50′s theme

There were jukeboxes on every table, tall red bar stools, leather booths and waitresses dressed in classic periodic dresses

Since they boys had been eating at the place for so long, they knew the staff like family and introduced yourself and Jungkook

All of you managed to fit into a booth in the corner (somehow) but it was tight

You were squashed sat between Namjoon and Taehyung, their heights surrounding you making you feel rather small in comparison

It’s not exactly a bad feeling, you’re just not used to it with it usually being just you and Jungkook eating together

Taehyung recommended some of the meals to the two of you, mainly burgers

When the food comes, it smells greasy, delicious and in no way good for you

Perfect

After a long time of walking around, everyone’s appetites were huge, meaning that the food was practically absorbed by all the guys

After eating, you all started talking about anything that came to mind

You found out that Jin is a semi-successful youtuber by the name “EatJin”

Taehyung was a part-time model for a small chain store in Seoul

Yoongi was trying to save up for a personal studio

Jimin had been dancing for 9 years and met Hoseok at his dance school

And Namjoon was notorious for breaking everything he touched, including people.

“One time in his 2nd year, we were playing beer pong and he picked up a cup that he was about to drink. The cup just literally split in half and got the alcohol all over him”

The boys re-told stories of how Namjoon almost hurt himself or others by destroying something, each one making you and Jungkook laugh harder than the last

By the time they’d finished, Namjoon looked ready to drown in all his shame and you’d finally reached the dorms

Jungkook headed off to the Beta Tau Sigma dorm and you went back to your own that you shared with a couple of other first year girls

They all had the idea of coming here a week early to meet everyone and get used to the area

There was Lisa from Thailand who was the first one you’d met

Dahyun from Seongnam who was kind of shy at first but was warming up to you

And lastly Yoojung, a short, bubbly girl from Guri

They all seemed fun and sweet so hopefully you wouldn’t feel too out of place

All four of shared a small apartment in the largest dorm building

There were four small bedrooms, a living room, kitchen and (thank god) two bathrooms

There wasn’t any food in the kitchen since everyone arrived today so everyone decided on take-out

It was nice to get to know the girls for the night and you all knew that you’d be good friends

Lisa wanted to join a sorority, as did Yoojung: Beta Phi and Iota Omega Iota, respectively

After finishing the take-out everyone headed to bed, there was still some unpacking to do, but that could wait

The week leading up to college starting was fairly uneventful

You hung around with the guys from the frat and the girls but nothing too interesting happened 

Unless you count witnessing some of Namjoon’s destructive abilities on an innocent fake cactus

But obviously, a classic welcome to college isn’t complete without a party before the year starts

It was going to be held at the Beta Tau Sigma house, and everybody would be going

No other frats were holding parties that night, not even Epsilon Xi Omega, the second biggest frat and Beta Tau Sigma’s best friends

So in true college fashion, you and your dorm-mates get ready together and prepare for a night of alcohol, dancing and more alcohol related things

You all gather in Lisa’s room since she has the biggest, bringing your makeup and top 3 outfits to possibly wear

after half an hour of deciding you go for a red top exposing your shoulders and collarbones and high-waisted skin-tight black jeans, with some black strappy high heels

Yoojung was almost matching you, but she had a light pink version of a similar top

Lisa opted for a leather and fishnet look, completely covering herself in the stuff, and black combat boots, making her ginger hair stand out

Dahyun had a checked skirt and a white top, showing her, despite being fairly small, long legs

After a group effort of doing make-up, you headed over to the frat house

You were greeted at the door by Seokjin, already with a red solo cup in hand

He lead the way in and you found Jungkook while the other 3 went their own ways

Jungkook was stood with Jimin and Hoseok who both shouted and whistled as you arrived

“Ayy, y/n, looking fiiiiinneee”

Yeah, they’re hella drunk

Jungkook, not so much, thankfully

Yoongi, Namjoon, Taehyung and Seokjin came over to see what the fuss was about and when thy realised it was just you they seemed.... disappointed?

Well just sad that it wasn’t someone to get with

You caught Hoseok winking at Namjoon out of the corner of your eye but thought nothing of it

Just boys being boys 

Yoongi poured you a strangely coloured drink into the obnoxiously bright cup and handed it you 

“What is this?”

“Does it really matter?”

“Not at all”

“Good because I have no idea”

Before you began to drink, Taehyung stopped you

“Wait! I know something we can do... I learnt it from my British friend: Weeee like to drink with y/n, ‘cause y/n is our mate, and when we drink with y/n they get it down in 8!”

As all of them counted down from eight you poured the alcohol down your throat, not prepared for the strong and sour taste

You got it down by 2, and nearly choked in the process, but the round of applause from everyone around you was worth it

You slapped Taehyung on the shoulder for springing the challenge on you like that but laughed along with them

After you all had a few more drinks, a new song started up and Hoseok basically dragged the boys onto the floor

“Dollar, Dollar, Squandering it all in one day~

Run, Run, I make and waste my own money”

The lyrics didn’t seem all that dance-able, but they made it work

They’re all in sync, the crowd making a gap for them to dance and cheering them on

The chorus kicks in and in true Frat Style™ they throw in a classic: The backpack kid dance

Starting off slow then going again faster with some added moves in between

Even Jungkook knows the dance

He’s only known everyone for a week and here he is, dancing like he’s been doing it for years with them

When the song finished you end with a final round of applause and meet the boys with a group hug

You gushed over how good the performance was as they all reclaimed their drinks

“That was actually amazing, i didn’t expect it to be that good!”

“I could have done better, I’m not a good dancer”

“Namjoon shut up, you’re a great dancer”

Namjoon blushed and turned away at your words, not wanting you to see how that got to him

A song you liked came on after a while so, being a little bit tipsy, you grabbed the guys and started dancing with them on the dancefloor

You didn’t have a choreographed dance like theirs so you relied on your freestyle moves to work some magic

It seemed to work as the guys started cheering as you started dancing with Jimin, both of you rather into it

So into it that you didn’t see Namjoon slink off into a corner with his drink

Your song finished and Jimin pulled you into a hug before letting you go, high on the adrenaline of the dance

After another hour, you’re feeling probably a little too tipsy for your own good, so you head upstairs to a quieter area to sober up a little

You knock on one of the doors to see if anyone was in there

You hear a soft “Come in” from the other side in a barely recognisable voice

“Namjoon?”

He was lying down face first on the bed but sat up as you opened the door

“Oh hey y/n, what are you doing up here?”

Just wanting some fresher air and something a little quieter... you?”

“Yeah same, i’m not feeling the best”

“Oh, sorry to hear that”

You closed the door as you walked in and sat next to him on the bed

“What happened?”

“Nothing too much, just remembered that my destructive powers get incredibly high when i’m drunk and i saw a few things i didn’t want to”

“What did you break?”

“A vase and the taps”

“What? How did you break the taps?”

“I honestly don’t know, I wanted to use them but the head just... came right off...”

You couldn’t help the loud laughter that came out of you but you did nothing to try and stop it

“Hey it’s not that funny!” He said before bursting into a fit of giggles himself

Oh shit that’s very cute, you thought

You lay down across the bed and Namjoon followed suit

His tinted glasses fell at an awkward angle so he threw them off the bed and onto the floor

Surprisingly they didn’t break

You both lay there for a few minutes, relaxing in the quiet hum of the music from downstairs

“Hey, y/n”

“Yeah?”

“Do pigeons have feelings?”

“Namjoon what the fuck?”

“No I’m being serious, they’re animals but they’re also like, the dumbest animals, so would they?”

“Honestly I don’t know, I guess so, but they’d probably only be the basic emotions of fear, happiness, anger & sadness...”

The two of you continued to talk about odd and somewhat philosophical stuff until you realised how close you’d gotten while talking

You and Namjoon were barely inches apart

He saw the close proximity and looked you dead in the eye with a little smirk

“Lookin’ a little warm there y/n”

“Shut up”

Namjoon closed the gap between you two and kissed you

He tasted of cheap beer and jelly shots, but he made it work

You stayed like that, just kissing and enjoying each other’s presence for another half an hour before a slightly drunk Jungkook came looking for you

He dragged the two of you downstairs and you saw that almost everybody had left, just a few people on the sofas and one passed out in the kitchen

Namjoon grabbed your hands before you left and kissed your knuckles, making you promise to see him again before the term starts

Shaking your head at his cheesiness, you accepted his promise and left the frat house, but not before Namjoon slyly winked at you while leaning on the door frame

Hoseok grabbed him by the collar and pulled him inside, waving exaggeratedly at you as you left, making you laugh and wave back

As you headed home you couldn’t help but think about your time spent with Namjoon and his promise...

You had a lot to tell the girls

Hope you enjoyed!!

[misspandalily]

because Team Gai is so extra

Last entry for Nejiten Month! Prompts used: it isn’t my fault you’re perfect, gifts

AO3 | FFN

"Your new hurdle assessment piece: in pairs, you will be assigned an egg to care for over the next month. Now, please come up to the front to draw your partner's name."

.

.

Because she has no surname, Tenten is the first to draw a name from the weird, sparkly blue top hat that Mr Hatake insists on displaying year-round, even though it's a little frayed at the edges and losing the rich sapphire colour it used to have. She remembers Temari the Senior telling her that it's because he actually stores his porn books in it, though no one's ever come close enough to the hat to find one. He also wears a mask, for some reason, and she's pretty sure that it's against Departmental Regulations but Mr Hatake is also the coolest health teacher on campus so she isn't about to cross that line. Yet.

She dips her hand into the hat, swirls it around a bit, prays that she'll have a partner who'll help her pass and not shatter the egg, then picks up a piece of paper that's folded so precisely it's an exact square. Opening it up, Tenten is awarded by the most shocking revelation of her life. Who in the blazes is 'Neji Hyuga'?

.

.

Neji Hyuga, apparently, is that guy who sits right at the front with his hair immaculately tied into a ponytail and snaps out lines that border between poetry and insults. She honestly has never paid much attention to him, only now knowing that he's been topping the academic board for so long that no one - not even the teachers - bother acting surprised when he scores highest every year. Also, he's the cousin of Konoha High's wallflower, Hinata Hyuga, a sweet sophomore who's so quiet and kind that no one in the school wants to pick on her, ever. Which is why their relation comes as another shock to Tenten because Neji (who actually talks a lot in class, to her surprise) is probably the worst person she's ever met.

"Hi, I'm Tenten," she holds out a hand for him to shake. Their seats are being reassigned to whoever their new partners are, and amongst all of the shuffling and shouting that's going on, Tenten is one to always remember etiquette because she's a good girl who was raised right by the orphanage caretaker. The same doesn't seem to go for him, because he leaves her hanging and replies with a stiff nod. "Okay," she slumps into her new, disgustingly warm, seat, "nice to meet you too."

"Let's just get this over and done with," he says with an air of finality. Tenten sputters, her eyes darting between the egg sitting before them and his stoic face. He returns her incredulous gaze with one of impetuousness. "We only need to talk whenever the assignment entails it."

"Wow," she mutters to herself, then side-eyes him, and decides to completely skip over the part where she wants to retain her etiquette, "You are such a loser."

That gets his attention. Neji swivels in his seat, abhorred. "I don't think I recall you topping the school's academic board."

"I came first in PE, doucheface," she hisses back when Mr Hatake's powerpoint slides pop up - a sign for total silence that no one has ever listened to in the years he's been teaching here (so, five).

"Ah, a subject for men."

"Yeah, well," her brain is rifling through the vast database of insults she stores in her mind whenever she's in the shower and arguing with an imaginary person, "If you look at that list, you don't even qualify as one."

Neji stares. Mr Hatake finally manages to quiet down the class with a horn he keeps stowed away in his top drawer. Neji continues to stare, to her satisfaction. "I don't like you."

"Neji," Mr Hatake calls out, having caught him for breaking the Sacred Rule of Silence, "Kindly refrain from defying authority for today, thank you."

From her slumped posture, elbows on the table, fingers holding her pens and paper in place, Tenten tilts her head back and lets out a silent laugh.

.

.

"Look," Tenten sighs for the fiftieth time since entering the Hyuga Compound. It's a large mansion with marble floors, columns and staircases; she's slipped once or twice, because that's how polished it is. They're in Neji's room, deciding on a name for their egg (which apparently takes more than the six allotted hours of a school day when it comes to Neji Hyuga's 'List of Adequate Baby Egg Names, Condensed and Revised for Tenten's Stupidity') and timetabling their shifts. "Could you please stop thermoregulating the egg? Literally nothing has changed in the past two hours. Give it a rest."

He almost gasps in astonishment, but she counts it as a success when he finally removes his thermometer from the mini marble egg bathtub. Don't ask, because she'll tell you anyway, but Neji claims that his little cousin Hanabi has a Thing for collecting elaborate, custom-made egg-holders. Tenten doesn't buy it. At all. "Excuse you. My child will be cared for in the way I deem fit."

"Wow," she watches him fuss over his - their - egg like a mother hen and massages her forehead delicately. "I think I just understood something."

"Meaning?"

"Nothing flattering for you, that's what."

"I don't need flattery from you when I have Eggbert to care for."

"Hold up," Tenten places her palms in the air, affronted, "Eggbert? I thought we agreed on Eggs Benedict?"

Neji scoffs with his nose high up in the air. "No child of mine will be named Eggs Benedict. How barbaric."

"I'm sorry," she starts sarcastically, "It's not my fault you're so perfect. After we inaugurate the egg into your clan, shall we decide on Eggbert von Hyugastein's bedroom decor?"

"The best suggestion you've made since...well, ever."

Tenten groans. This is going to be a long month.

.

.

.

.

Despite the looming threat of mid-year exams catching on, Neji sticks to their shift timetables like a slavedriver and insists on getting the compulsory 'joint parenting outing' out of the way so that he 'never has to see her face again'. Like he can even help that. They literally have every class together.

Because he's the one forcing her out of her procrastinatory slumber, though, she gets to choose where they go - egg-racing in the park with Lee, since he refused to pay for a huge dinner at Konoha's most expensive restaurant (The Golden Flower) for their family.

Reputedly the most active person in all of Konoha, tying only with Mr Gai, Rock Lee wears spandex-green jumpsuits on a constant basis and emulates his idol Bruce by spending almost every waking second in the gym and dojo, if not on his extremely sleek bob. He's overwhelming, but he's also Tenten's best friend, as well as someone Neji once described to her as 'pitiful' and 'annoying', so that's why they're meeting up with him.

Predictably, Lee's egg is painted forest green, complete with orange leg-warmers and a mini-bob, and is called the 'Springtime of Youth'. Tenten takes utter delight in the cringe that spreads across Neji's face when he realises that they have to spend the next ten hours with Lee unless he agrees to spread out 'joint parenting outing' over a month instead of a day.

Anyway, the race is amazing. Lee puts all of his energy into everything he does, so it's a complete obstacle course of sloping slides and mazes for the waxed eggs to roll through. She places all of her savings (so, fifty cents - she likes to buy things, okay? Shut up, Neji.) on Eggbert von Hyugastein and is shockingly backed up by Neji's big, fat, fifty-dollar bill. The gesture catches her off-guard, because he's actually smiling at her, but then Lee declares the betting pool closed and starts the race.

Here's a snippet of how it goes:

"Lee's winning. LEE'S EGG IS WINNING. SPRINGTIME OF YOUTH IS WINNING. NEJI."

Neji calmly squints at their egg, dressed to the nines in tailored Hyuga robes, to move faster down the padded obstacle course. It works; Springtime of Youth suddenly comes to a halt, giving Eggbert the precious few seconds it needs to gain ground. Tenten whoops and tackles Neji into a headlock.

"YOU'RE AMAZING. NEJ, WE'RE WINNING!"

Neji manages to claw his way out and straighten his robes with enough dignity to make the Queen feel ashamed. "I told you," Tenten's seconds away from crying tears of happiness when she looks at him, "Eggbert is telepathic."

"My baby's growing up," Tenten wipes a tear away from the corner of her eye as she leans her head onto Neji's stiffened shoulder. "Our baby's growing up."

.

.

.

.

.

"Honey, I'm home!"

Neji opens the door to his room and greets her. "I prefer being called Neji."

"I was talking to Eggbert, loser."

"Oh," Neji replies, trying not to look too disappointed.

Tenten places her bag on the ground and coos at the egg perched in its diorama-room, in between the mini-marble columns and Picasso paintings on the walls. "How's my widdle baby doing? Mummy's home now and she has a gift!"

Tenten extracts a decorative egg cup with 'SPELL-BINDEGG' printed in bold over the surface and situates it in the corner of Eggbert's room.

Neji joins her and smiles down at his child. "They grow up so fast. An hour ago Eggbert rolled over."

She gasps in delight before letting her face fall. "I've been meaning to ask," Neji turns around and quirks up an eyebrow. "Don't you think I should get some home-time with Eggbert now? You've already had your two weeks and I am the mother of our child."

Neji gawks at once. "But-what will I do in my spare time? This is just cruel."

"You'll still get to see Eggbert every second day and on weekends - it's not like I'm taking it from you forever."

Neji gives Eggbert a pained look and says, "I'm sorry this is the way things have turned out, son. But understand that your mother and I love you very much. It's just best for you to know what it's like to have a mother before you come back and live with me forever."

Tenten turns to him, aghast. "Forever? What happened to equal coparenting? I'm family too! I deserve to be with my baby and if you won't accept that then I demand full custody. In fact," she grabs Eggbert and the cup and seizes her bag from the ground. "Good luck seeing my baby again."

.

.

It's a little dramatic, even for her tastes, but it's her baby. She can't help it if eggs bring out the drama queen inside of her.

.

.

"Are you going to keep ignoring me?"

Tenten sniffs, like Neji sitting next to her like he always does in class these days is the beginning of the apocalyse. Eggbert is sitting on her side of the table for the in-class examination of egg-health.

"We have to make up someday. Eggbert needs both his parents. I'm sorry I tried to take you out of the picture, but I've thought about it and I think we can come to a compromise."

She turns to him with a slight smile. "You mean it? You don't think I'm a horrible parent anymore?"

"No," Neji shakes his head encouragingly, "I think we both have our strengths and weaknesses. It's up to us to give Eggbert the family it deserves."

Mr Hatake walks in twenty minutes late with his briefcase, and Tenten sniffles and slides Eggbert to the middle of their table. "Okay."

.

.

.

.

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"I don't want to see Eggbert go," Neji whines when the alotted month is up. Tenten's sniffing beside him as they walk up the steps into their classroom. "You think you know a person but they're really just an inhumane teacher trying to steal our babies away from us."

They reach the door to the classroom, where they're greeted by Lee's strange green egg, Naruto and Sasuke's predictably smashed egg yolk and Sakura and Ino's bowtied egg, and Neji makes a strange hissing sound.

"My precious," he clutches Eggbert to his chest and glares at Mr Hatake, who's not late for once and rolling his eyes at them humourlessly. "You will not take my baby from me."

"It was never yours to begin with," their teacher calls out flatly, because yes, chickens lay eggs.

Churlishly, Tenten stomps to her desk and shouts, "You're never yours to begin with," Neji in tow with Eggbert still held tight against his chest. They take their designated seats at the front and glare up at the teacher in silent protest.

Mr Hatake ignores their passive aggressive intervention and drawls out the names of partnered groups to walk up to the front for presentations. Predictably, as Kakashi always calls people at the top of the roll, she and Neji are called up first. They make a show of whipping out her custom made shuriken USB drives when they go up, terror-inducing glares still glued onto their faces and aimed at Naruto, who's suddenly confused as Hell.

"It is time," Neji starts when their very detailed slides finally pop up on the screen, "to ask yourselves a question. Who are you?"

There's a groan at the back of the classroom that Tenten silences with Kakashi's blue whiteboard marker. Neji continues. "I am Neji Hyuga."

"And I am Tenten."

"Today we bring to you not a presentation, but an expression of our souls. Our time together with Eggbert von Hyugastein has taught us many valuable lessons." There's a slight cough when Eggbert's name is brought up.

"Humility," Tenten quips, slamming her closed fist into an open palm as each new word is accompanied by a different picture of Eggbert wearing different costumes, "Patience. Creativity. Respect. Cooperation. Bonding. Compromise." She shoots a megawatt smile at Neji that he doesn't have enough time to properly absorb but responds to with gusto nevertheless.

"We found ourselves struggling to juggle work with family, fun with stress, and sternness with flexibility - but in the end, we pulled through and learned the true meaning of parentage. And that is, responsibility."

Neji retakes the helm and places Eggbert on the front desk. Their PowerPoint presentation lands on the final picture - one of Neji and a Tenten smiling down at their baby. "After a month with Eggbert, I can safely say that if anything happens to my baby I will make everyone's lives a living Hell." She beams proudly at how he maintains his classic straight-faced, no-nonsense face. The classroom remains deafeningly silent. "Many times, I have considered electrocution, but apparently that's illegal when performed deliberately."

"Apparently," Tenten reinforces with a dagger-like glare at the audience.

"And now I ask you all - who are we? We are parents," the slides move alongside Neji's words. "Parents who love, hate and sacrifice for their children. I think I can vouch for everyone here that they would devote their lives to their children. Except you, Lee. You'll chase them away with green spandex."

"Hear hear!" Lee cheers from the back, causing several others to join in with the standing ovation. Neji and Tenten bow at the front with ear-splitting grins on their faces before walking back to their desks triumphantly. The whooping does down as Mr Hatake heads to the front of the classroom, mildly dazed.

"Thank you, Neji and Tenten, for that shining pearl of wisdom. You truly...outdid yourselves," he allows a brief silence to commemorate his words, "Now, who would like to go next?"

The classroom immediately shrinks back, leaving Lee to stand up from his desk exuberantly and march to the front with lines of determination on his face. "Me! Me!"

.

.

.

"You know, we don't have to hang out after school anymore." Tenten swings her backpack around her shoulder and smiles at Neji, who's standing beside her expectantly. They'd received an A, of course, though Neji's been whining about the lack of a '+' and Mr Hatake's lack of a spine, apparently, for not being able to stomach empty threats. She's just glad that they scored so high, really, and that they got to keep their egg.

"True, but I've been meaning to say something."

He waits for her to finish rifling through the rest of her papers and look up at him before continuing. "I think you're great."

"Oh. Thanks!" She replies brightly, pretending that Neji Hyuga overtly displaying his thoughts isn't throwing her off a ledge at all.

"I mean," he seems to retract a few mental steps, a little deflated at her reaction, "If you ever need anything, like lunch at The Golden Flower, or a movie partner, or perhaps-"

"Hold up," she stops him, her palm pressed directly over his sternum. He flushes a little at the contact but clamps his jaws together regardless. "What are you trying to say?"

"Date," he blurts out, face reddening, "Would you like to go on a date some time?"

"Sure. How about this Friday?" Grinning, Tenten lets go of her hold over his chest and skips a little when they exit the classroom. Neji positively beams.

"That sounds perfect."

[watch-the-whole-world-disap-blog]

Marshmallows (Alana x Reader)

Summary: Alana’s parents are away for a weekend and she invited you to stay at her house. You’ve been dating for a few months so of course you accepted, with the idea that it would be nice to get some alone time together (and have some fun *wink wink*). However, things didn’t go exactly as planned...

Warnings: Fluff (a lot), cussing, anxiety (ish), slight angst 

Word Count: 1179 

A/N: This is for my good pal (I hope it’s okay to call you that) @fly-like-a-grayson plus this world just needs more Alana fluff so here we go!

Alana invited you to come over to her house for this weekend since her parents would be off on a business trip, and since you were such an amazing significant other of course you told her you would. 

You’d been looking forward to it all week. It was hard spending time with Alana since she was always so busy but she promised this weekend it was just the two of you and nothing else. Plus, you were guessing you’d get up to some fun too since you’d have the house all to yourselves, and that thought made you even more excited. 

When Friday finally rolled around you found yourself sitting next to Alana at her desk after school had ended. You were scrolling through pictures you guys had taken together at your last date, which was to an amusement park, when Alana randomly suggested you two go out to eat. Since she rarely made spontaneous suggestions you accepted and immediately began to get ready so she wouldn’t change her mind. 

She refused to tell you where you were going, which was also weird for her, but you didn’t mind at all as you were super happy that Alana was finally doing something that didn’t involve hours of planning. 

After about a nearly silent fifteen minute drive you arrived at a tiny Italian place who’s name you couldn’t pronounce that in a strip mall. It had adorable checkered decorations in red and blue colors and fake plants and the tables were covered in a thick red cloth with a real candle in the middle. It looked like something out of an Italian romance novel. 

“I love this place already Alana! I’m so glad you suggested this!” You said once you sat down in a booth facing Alana. 

She blushed at the praise and informed you that it was nothing and she was glad you liked it before turning all her attention to the menu in front of her. 

“I don’t even know how to pronounce half this stuff!” You laughed, browsing through the many dishes with Italian names. “I think I’m just gonna get good old fashioned spaghetti and meatballs. Want to spilt it? We could be like the Lady and the Tramp!” 

“You mean the two dogs?” She giggled. 

“Yeah. I’ll be tramp if it makes you feel better.” You said. 

“If you insist.” She smiled at you and you could feel your heart melt inside your chest. You were so lucky to have her. 

She ordered for the both of you and noticed you staring at her with a far off gaze. “Everything okay?” She asked.

“Everything’s perfect.”

Dinner passed without much event, Alana just talked about how things were going in her various clubs and what you missed in Model UN this week and how easy she thought that Spanish test was which was weird because that teacher usually gave hard tests. You had just smiled and nodded the whole time because you loved just hearing her talk about it all. 

On the way back to her house, she had driven you to a grocery store saying that she was out of ice cream at her house, and she thought ice cream and a movie would be a perfect way to end the night. However, while you were there your eye had spotted a bag of marshmallows and you managed to convince Alana to grab those, some graham crackers, and milk chocolate to make s’mores. 

Now you were back at her house, cuddling next to her on the couch, watching some science fiction movie you had let Alana pick out. You spent more time watching her than the movie anyways. 

Alana had made a huge fuss about how eating the s’mores would make a huge mess on the couch and then we’d have to clean it up and it’d kill the mood, so instead she promised to help you make them after in the small fire pit she had outside. 

However, when the movie ended, that wasn’t exactly what you two decided to do. Instead, you found yourself kissing her on her couch and forgetting all about the planned dessert. 

“Alana I love you so much.” You breathed against her lips. 

“I love you too.” She muttered, as you moved your mouth to her jaw and began kissing down it to her neck. 

“I missed this, I miss just being here with you.” She whispered in between slightly shaky breaths.

“All those clubs, extracurriculars, everything. They can all go fuck off, as long as I just get to be with you, like this, all the time.” You murmured. 

Suddenly, just like that, Alana pushed away and moved about a foot away from you, turning her face away. 

“Alana?” You questioned, reaching for her hand which darted away. “What’s wrong. Was it something I did?”

Her eyes met yours and there were tears in them. “No, god no. It’s just- I’m sorry Y/N.” 

“What? What could you possibly have to apologize for?” 

“Everything. I’m a terrible girlfriend, I know. I put my activities and classes above you and I give them more attention than I give you. I know we don’t spend as much time together as we should, I know you want to be together more, I know. I’m just too afraid to let go of all of those things. I’m sorry.” 

Alana was visibly sobbing and your heart broke at the sight. You reached out again and she let you grab her hand. 

“Alana that’s not what I meant at all. I love you for you, for your clubs and studying and planning and all your business because it makes our time together even more special.” You said. 

“That’s not it. I want to, I would give all those things up for you. But they make me who I am. Without the title of club president or star student, what am I? What if I give up everything, and you find out the person left isn’t the person you want to be with.” Alana refused to look at you, so you gently pulled her face towards yours so you could look into her tear-filled eyes. 

“If you take away everything, you’d still be you. Alana. The smartest, kindest, sweetest, most caring and amazing person I’ve ever met. I would never ever leave you, especially not because you’re not good enough. You’re everything I’ve ever wanted Alana and everything I will ever want. I love you.” 

At this you saw Alana break, dissolving into a mess of sobs and shaking. You pulled her into a hug and whispered into her ear the same phrase, “I love you,” again and again until she slowed her breathing and the flow of tears stopped.  

“I love you Alana.” You repeated, smiling at her. 

“I love you too.” She whispered, holding you tighter until everything felt alright again. 

“Let’s make those s’mores.” Alana muttered after what felt like centuries passed. 

“You know how much I love marshmallows.” You stated, linking hands with your beautiful, strong, incredible girlfriend with a small smile. 

[imgoldielikehawn]

Just a Dancer Pt 2

Here Is part two my loves! @jaihardy​ @kenzieam​

Songs:

But I am a good girl- Christina Aguilera

EXPRESS- Christina Aguilera

Outfit Inspo:

CORAS POV

I stretched backstage warming up before I headed in to rehearsal. We rehearsed almost every day but this time it was different. We were about to embark on a worldwide tour! I really did need to tell my mother before Lisa did. My mother always said that the spotlight robbed her of being a good mother to me. So when she found out that id spent my college education on dance, she was less than pleased. I managed to quell her outbursts when I told her that the company I was with would only be traveling to small venues. This time there would be no lying to her, we’d be traveling across the globe. I wanted her to be proud of me because she was my mother, but I also wanted her to respect my craft. I didn’t know what to do.  “Alright ladies let’s take center stage and run through the routine!” our quirky manage and Coach Leon said.  He was tall and bald, but he was muscular and gentle all at the same time. He took care of us. Each of us had our own dance along with several sets where we danced together. When I wasn’t dancing here, I danced and taught class at a small studio downtown. I taught all ages, it’s always been my dream to own a studio when I retire from Burlesque, well... IF I ever retired.  We called it quits at five; there was a show tonight that started at ten so we had the next few hours off. I decided to drop by the studio. It had been a few days since I had a class or even spent some time freestyling; this practice schedule for the tour had me swamped every day.

The studio is a decent sized room with the longest wall covered in floor length mirrors. The floor is just like a basketball court but without all of the markings. There was a booth on a raised platform in the back of the room where you could plug in your phone or music player. When I first found this place I was here every day. I used the little money I had to rent out the room for an hour each day so that I had somewhere to practice. I sat down in the middle of the floor and decided to bite the bullet and call my mom. She answered on the first ring.  “Hey Leiani” she always called me that and no one else could without earning a harsh look from me, the nickname made me feel like a little girl. “Hi mom, there’s something I need to tell you” I paused. “Alright, go ahead” she said calmly. My mother and Lisa were a lot alike, Firm but fare. “I’m going out of the country starting the day after tomorrow, we’ve picked up a world tour.” I waited for her response while biting my lip. “I know. Lisa told me, I was just waiting to hear it from you. Are you nervous?” she asked and I could hear the smile in her voice. “Yes, I try not to be but I can’t help it” I looked at the ground in shame as though she could see me.  “Good. That means this is important to you. Just remember who you are and where you’re trying to go, but most important of all where you came from. You do that and you’ll be just fine” her voice rang with certainty.  “You always know just what to say, I wish you were here” I could feel the small pang of jealousy in my chest. When I found out about her I learned that she had gotten married and had two more children. I was twenty-eight years old and the fact that those two children would know my mother better than me still broke my heart.  “I know dear, but I am always with you and you have Lisa and her family. Now I’m sure you have practice and packing to do. Be sure to call your father, I love you Leiani, speak to you soon” she said. “Bye mom, love you too” I hung up the phone and released a huge sigh that id been holding in. the conversation had went really well….

  JAIS POV

Another long night for the books, I was only in LA for the time being. After all the press finished up for the release of “Suicide Squad” I’d be packing and heading back to Cherrybrook to see my parents. After everything went south with Mecki the only thing I wanted to do was get away from LA; but that was before I met Cora. I just wanted to see her one more time before she went out of the country. Beautiful is what she was, caught me completely off guard last night at Jason’s. Her brown skin and big amber eyes took me to another place. The way she crossed her arms made me want to know more about her. I was sure Jason would come around and come with me to see her show tonight. I’d look like an idiot if I went by myself or some sort of stalker. I shook my head and looked at the time, it was almost eight and I was supposed to meet Jason and Lisa for dinner. I grabbed my helmet and jacket, closing the door behind me I headed out…..

LISAS POV

The restaurant was quiet but full of life. It was mine and Jason’s favorite jazz club to come to when we needed a night to unwind. The Kids were at home with Zoe. We grabbed our usual table in the back under low red lights and waited for Jai.  “This place is great!” Jai smiled. We’d been here for about thirty minutes and were waiting on our food to arrive.  “We love coming here” I smiled. Jai was always charming and very outspoken; he didn’t have an unkind bone in his body. I’d always liked him and the kids did too. “So, I hear that you’ve bullied Jason into taking you to “The Shadow Lounge” tonight” I smirked.  Jai grinned and Jason laughed. “I don’t know if bully is the right word. Who wouldn’t want to see beautiful women dance around on stage?” he wiggled his eyebrows “Ey man my queen dances in my bedroom” Jason grinned and then shielded himself as I playfully swatted him.  “Yeah well, I don’t have that. I’m trying to get it” he smiled but he seemed sad. I knew he and Mecki had a falling out, I’ve never really cared for the woman but still I respected their relationship. “Speaking of, how is Mecki?” Jai sighed at my question. “I don’t know. She’s living with a friend until I go back home to see my parents. I don’t want anything to do with her but I won’t treat her like shit, know what I mean?” he seemed calm about it and I suppose that was a sign he’d moved on. I didn’t want him anywhere near Coraleiani if he was still involved with Mecki.  “Well you two had better go, its nine thirty and the show his twenty minutes away” I said aloud. “We’ll see you after the show” Jason had gotten up from the booth and was leaning over to give me a kiss. “Alright baby, Give her my love and don’t cause a fuss. Your presence could take away from her show so ask to be seated in the back where you can see the show but no one can see you” I said. Jason nodded and I watched as he and Jai punched each other like the boys they were. I picked up my class and sighed “men”…

  CORAS POV

The club was packed  tonight , we had publicly announced that tonight and tomorrow would be out last show before the tour so everyone was trying to get in to see it.  Our first dance was to “Express" by Christina Aguilera.

“It's a cold and crazy world that's ragin' outside Well baby me and all my girls are bringin' on the fire Show a little leg, gotta shimmy your chest It's a life, it's a style, it's a need, it's Burlesque

E-X-P-R-E-S-S, love, sex Ladies no regrets E-X-P-R-E-S-S, love, sex Ladies no regrets”

When I dance on stage, I come alive. Before I step on stage it’s like I’m asleep but when the music starts and the lights bounce off my lashes I become another person.  I was standing behind Sweetie and Carla. When they parted I came between them, arms raised and every step forward exaggerated.  We got to the end of the stage the three of us dropped into a low position with our legs closed. We spread our thighs apart and turned to the side and slapped our legs on beat with the music.

  “Fasten up Can you imagine what would happen if I let you close enough to touch? Step into the fantasy You'll never want to leave, baby it's guaranteed Why?It's a passion, and emotion, it's a fashion, Burlesque It'll move you, goin' through you, so do what I do, Burlesque All ladies, confident, flaunt it, boys throw it up if you want it Can you feel me, can you feel it? It's Burlesque"

   The show went on in a blur as always. I was backstage changing with the help of other dancers when Leon walked up. “Blondie you’re on in five darling” he fritted away to check costumes. In this business we all had stage names and you almost always get your name from your fellow dancers. The reason my name was Blondie was because when I first auditioned I had platinum blonde hair and I did my audition to “Call Me” by Blondie.  Tonight we were trying out my new song for the tour and I was nervous. I really liked the song and the dance but I had never performed live it before. I said a silent prayer and went to stand on the stage behind the velvet curtain. My Music started and as always I felt my nerves melt away.

  “The dress is Chanel The shoes YSL The bag is Dior Agent Provocateur My address today, LA by the way Above Sunset Strip, the hills all the way My rings are by Webster It makes the heads twirl They all say, "Darling, what did you do for those pearls?" "What"?! I am a good girl”

I was prancing around the stage in my pink tutu corset.  I walked down the isle in the middle of the lounge and leaned over some guys chair and then straddled him.  I pretended to swat his hand away and walked to the bar area. I slowly stretched  my arms up and wiggled my fingers at  the male bar hands until they  pulled me up.  When I leaned over to plant a kiss on one the other pretended to grab my ass and I acted shocked.  Pushing them both off the bar i went back to shaking my hips and lip-synching the song.

    "The age I adore, the day oh no more Breakfast Polo Launch and pools at the shore The Chateau for cocktails The Courtyard at night Downtown is for dinner The hell is divine You know I have found the words goin' round They all say my feet never do touch the ground "What"?! I am a good girl I am a good girl..."

    I started running my hands up my body while the male bartenders felt up my legs. Grabbing the edge of the bar I kicked up my leg then dropped  down to a squat, thighs wide open and slowly back up, snatched the bartenders hat from his head and hid behind it as I pulled his tie hiding him behind the hat with me. The song ended and the lights went out. The crowd cheered and Leon came on stage to say his closing remarks as I used the secret passage to sneak away.  When I got to my vanity I saw Jason standing there. “Hey!” I said excited that he’d finally gotten to come out and see the show.  He pulled me in a bear hug as usual. “You were fantastic Cora! I had no idea how good you were” He smiled; Lisa really was a lucky woman. The girls backstage started to stare at him but Jason hardly noticed.  “Did you come alone?” I asked wondering if Lisa and Zoe were here too.  “Not exactly…” he smirked and I raise my eyebrow. The girls all started whispering and giggling. I looked around behind Jason to see what the fuss was about but there was no one there. Someone cleared their throat behind me and then the room went silent.

  JAIS POV

  Cora turned around in her sexy outfit and blond bob wig and her eyes lit up. I was carrying a bouquet of light pink coral roses. I wanted to get a color that matched her outfit so I had run to the rose shop down the street. “These are for you” I held them out to her and she took them using both arms.  I could feel myself grinning like a jackass again.  “Wow” she looked at the roses “They’re beautiful Jai. Thank you so much” she smile and her gorgeous eyes were framed by long and dark lashes. “I really enjoyed watching you” I said. Jason snickered beside me. “Watching you dance. Not like watching you while you aren’t dancing. Fucks sake” I said cursing my rambling mouth. She didn’t laugh at me “Well I’m glad you enjoyed the show” I felt like her eyes were staring into my soul but I wasn’t uncomfortable. I was lost, fuck I didn’t know if I ever wanted to found again. I walked forward to give her hug but she realized that her bouquet would get crushed so she moved her roses to one hand and placed her free hand on my chest. Then she shocked me by planting a light and single kiss on my cheek “I should change but I really appreciate you coming out and thanks again for the roses Jai” she turned to give Jason a side  hug and then walked away.  “I wan’ her.” I said my eyes trained on sequined ass as she walked away.

JASONS POV

  “I know you do. Its written all over your ugly mug” I laughed as we walked back outside to the car. “When does she leave?” he asked.  “Day after tomorrow, Why?” I frowned as he got into the driver seat. “I’m up to something” he grinned. “I was afraid of that” I laughed…..