#sent my sister a message saying 'we gotta make pizza together some time'

[ajarofpickledtears]

why does ?! feel so... rude? aggressive? idk

maybe hormones are making me more sensitive

[samanthadalton]

Star crossed lovers (au) part 2

pairings: poppy x mc (bea)

warnings: throughout this fic there will be mentions of substance abuse, homophobia, sexual abuse, violence, NSFW, mentions of abandonment, depression and death including suicide

reader discretion is advised

(i apologise for any spelling/grammatical mistakes, i’ll fix them later) 

taglist: @somewillwin @save-me-the-last-dance @baexpoppy @cloud9in @stanzoeywade @ognenniyvolk @thepotatobleh @crazzyplays @rxssians (i’m pretty sure this is my taglist, if you wanna be tagged in future posts just reply or message me 😊) 

word count: 6.2k

read part 1 here: 

Part 2: First day jitters

BEEP BEEP BEEP 

Bea groans and puts her alarm on snooze momentarily silencing the deafening noise. After finding difficulty in falling asleep on time, the brunette found herself feeling zombified this morning. With great difficulty she forces herself to sit up and reaches over to her dresser to check her phone.

A snapchat from Poppy, 

a miss call from AJ

And 5 unread texts from Zoey

She opens the snapchat from Poppy who had sent a selfie of her with an adorable bedhead, lips slightly puckered, captioning the picture, ‘good morning babe 💋I love you’. Bea decided to send a selfie back, hands raised in a peace sign captioning her post, ‘I love you too, see you at school ❤️’. She decides to give AJ a quick text since he called her at 4:34am and Bea is worried he might’ve gotten into some trouble overnight.  

AJ Baxter, one of the few friends Bea has at Belvoire. He’s younger, a sophomore now, but has a heart of gold. His family is more middle class but his father is good friends with the superintendent which means his place in Belvoire is secured, he could practically get away with anything without risk of suspension. He hangs out with Bea and her friends who live in the south, but recently he’s gotten caught up in a bad crowd, a gang called ‘Southside nation’ who causes nothing but trouble. Bea’s taken it upon herself to look out for him and make sure he doesn’t do anything illegal because he’s a good kid, just a little lost. 

She then decided to check her texts from Zoey who just wants to wish her luck at her fancy school and to let her know if any preppy rich kid tries to bully her to call Zoey who would beat their ass. Zoey was one of Bea’s best friends, they had met when Bea moved into her neighbourhood after leaving the northside of Greensburg, and she practically taught Bea how to survive in the south. She often discloses her opinion about Bea and Poppy’s relationship, warning Bea that it will only end up with her getting her heart broken. Bea tends to ignore Zoey’s criticisms, and anyone else’s really, no one could understand their relationship, Bea and Poppy were soulmates, or at least that’s how they saw each other. Bea usually retorts to Zoey’s criticisms arguing that no matter what life threw at them she and Poppy were destined to be together and no one could ever ruin that. 

After a few more moments of scrolling through her phone, she forces herself to get up and moves over to the other side of the room to wake up her little sister. 

“Hey sleepy head, you gotta get up” Bea gently shakes the younger girl who in response groans loudly and pulls the covers over her head. 

“Go awayyyyy” her voice rasps, as she’s evidently still in sleepy mode. 

Bea grins and decides to jump on her sister’s bed and shake her awake, earning a hard shove from her Aria who sits up on her bed rubbing her red eyes, “Bea whatthehell, what’s wrong with you”, for a 11 year old she sure as hell had a lot of attitude, a trait she definitely acquired from her mother. 

“Sorry kiddo” she leaps off the bed and turns back to look at her sister, “I want you ready for school in 40 minutes, that means you’ve brushed your teeth, brushed your hair, wearing your school clothes and eaten breakfast, all in that order okay?” 

Aria just drags her hands down her face and moans, “okayyyy, relax Bea, let me at least fully wake up”. 

Bea smiles and stalks towards the bathroom and turns on the tap blasting the cold water. She cups her hand and splashes the water all over her face, gasping as if she had been holding her breath for hours. Well, that definitely woke her up. 

After brushing her teeth and going through the steps of her basic skincare routine Poppy practically forced upon her, she advances to the living room and sees that her mother is still in the same place she left her last night. She takes a minute to analyse her mother’s facial features, a few grey hairs peaks out of her hair, threatening to showcase her ageing, her slightly creased forehead, and the small wrinkles which edged on the corners of her eyes. Her nose was similar to Aria’s, a petite buttoned up nose, except she had a silver nose ring. Her lips were thin and wide, red lipstick smeared on her chin a little and all Bea could do was frown. Her mother used to be so beautiful, she remembers the time she stumbled across a photo album in which Bea’s mother had documented almost everything in her life, she used to be so full of life, so happy but now, she was different. She hated her life, ever since her husband left her she resorted to alcohol and drugs, the only way she knew how to numb the pain. It killed Bea to see her mother destroy herself piece by piece, she often questioned to herself why she or Aria were never enough for her to want to live. But Bea would never say anything out loud, not wanting to upset her mother or sister or the more likely answer, she was afraid of the truth. 

Bea shakes herself out of her thoughts and moves towards the kitchen which is connected to the living room. She decides to make scrambled eggs for breakfast as she definitely needs the protein and it was pretty easy to cook. A few minutes later, Aria emerges from her bedroom, dressed in her school clothes, Bea begins to assess the girls outfit from head to toe, disproving the slightly cropped t-shirt Aria decided to wear and forcing her to change into something more appropriate for school. 

“No, turn around and change your top now,” her tone commanding with a hint of discontent. 

“It’s just a t-shirt, why are you making a big deal out of it, god” she retorted as she walks back to the room and moments later she walks into the room wearing an oversized hoodie. “There, happy?” 

“I’m practically jumping for joy, A, now hurry up and eat, the bus will be here soon” Bea moves towards the stools while Aria pours herself a bowl of cereal. Behind them they hear a series of moans and groans, guess their mother is finally awake. 

“Could you girls make any more noise, goddamn” she clutches her head in agony and begins rubbing the temples of her forehead with her fingertips. 

“We’re eating breakfast, maybe if you managed to make it to your bedroom we wouldn’t have woken you up,” Bea quips, turning back to focus on eating her breakfast while her mother just glares at the back of her head and rolls her eyes. 

“I’m your mother, don’t be a bitch with me especially when I’ve just woken up” she reaches over to the table and takes a huge swig of the vodka on the table while Bea silently berates herself for forgetting to throw the drink away. “Anyways where were you yesterday, you didn’t leave any money for dinner so I had to pay for a pizza” 

“I saw” Bea says unaffected, she’s used to her mom’s bitchiness and attitude. 

“Don’t tell me you were with richie rich’, she downs the rest of the drink and slams the empty bottle on the table. 

That agitates Bea and grabs her attention, she shifts in her seat to glower at her mother, “Don’t call her that”

“Looks like I hit a sore spot” her mother waves her hands dismissing Bea’s anger, “next time be here for dinner or leave some money because I don’t have enough money to be worrying about feeding that one”, she nods her head towards Aria. 

Bea clenches her fist and takes a deep breath, ‘Aria go get your school bag”, Aria’s about to respond when Bea just glares at her expecting her to follow through, Aria reluctantly gets up from her seat leaving her almost empty bowl of cereal on the counter. Bea quickly gets up and stomps towards Isabella, her voice is low and sharp, “Do you have to speak about your daughter like that when she’s around? I don’t give a shit about a $13 pizza, she’s your kid, she comes first no matter how much you despise her, she’s not to blame for your own mistakes”. Without waiting for a response she goes towards the bedroom and finds Aria lurking in the hallway looking dejected. 

“She hates me doesn’t she?”

Bea sighs, the relationship between her mother and Aria has always been so strained, her mother viewing Aria more as a burden and a physical embodiment of her biggest mistake in life. One of Bea’s biggest worries was what would happen once she moved to New York for college, she’s the only thing that is keeping the peace in the house but once she leaves she’s apprehensive about how her sister would fare around their mother. 

“She could never hate you, you’re her daughter, mom’s just….” she struggles to find the words, “mom’s just sad, she just doesn’t know how to properly control her emotions, but don’t worry you always have me here”, she feels guilty as she says the words because her mind drifts to college and New York but she musters a smile and hugs her sister, “now come on I’ll walk you to the bus stop just let me grab my bag”. 

After grabbing her bag, she quickly goes to the kitchen to put the dirty dishes in the sink, making a mental note of remembering to wash them when she gets home from work, since she knew her mother nor Aria would. She looks over to the living room to find the sofa empty and the door of her mother’s room, which was connected to the living room, slightly ajar, guess she’s gone back to doing nothing productive..again. 

After walking her sister to the bus stop, Bea insists on waiting with her to make sure she gets to school on time because she cannot afford having the principal call home about Aria being late, not if she wanted to piss her mom off more. Bea leaves Aria as soon as the  bus arrives, running back home to get her motorbike after looking at the clock on her phone and realising school begins in 30 minutes, “crap”. As soon as she makes it to her bike, she practically throws on her helmet and drives as rapidly as she can. The motorbike was a present from Poppy who had bought it from one of Bea’s co-workers at the diner at the beginning of the summer. Bea, at first, was apprehensive about the gift, she usually disdained Poppy for spending a lot of money on her but once she got on her new bike it was her second favourite thing in the world, the first being Poppy of course. Poppy secretly loved riding on her bike because it gave her the excuse to feel Bea’s abs (not that she needed one) but also because of the ephemeral ecstasy she would feel at every ride. It was a little taste of the freedom she so badly craved. 

The brunette is almost sweating at every red light because it means that she has to drive even faster and she did not want to be late on the first day back. Bea’s plan for senior year is to draw the least amount of attention to herself as she can, and coming late to homeroom is just basically like putting a huge kick me sign on her back. 

As soon as she parks her bike in the school’s parking lot she looks down at her phone, ‘7 minutes to spare that must be some new record’ she thinks to herself. She looks around at Belvoire, the school’s pristine building hasn’t gotten any less intimidating over the summer. She hears a bunch of shrill voices booming behind her and one of them in particular was almost like a banshee, the high pitched voice ringing in her ears which could only mean one person, Chloe St James. 

Chloe was one of Poppy’s best friends and one of Bea’s worst enemies. She was captain of the volleyball team which meant that she practically owned Bea on the court during practice but she was also incredibly irritating and very stupid. Once in class, her maths teacher asked Chloe what pi is, and she replied with “I don’t eat foods with a high fat content”. Everyone laughed at her until she cut them all off with a silent but deadly look. No one really messes with Chloe because she is secretly a very aggressive person which is exemplified by her plays on the volleyball court, Bea hated to admit it but Chloe was their best player. However, Chloe is the epitome of a classic dumb blonde rich girl who has to depend on her money and looks to get her somewhere in life, she practically has half of the football team worshipping her at her feet. Bea could never really understand why but Chloe has had it out for her since she’s come to Belvoire, maybe it was a classist thing but in the last year especially, Chloe’s antics became an everyday chore for Bea, who was getting sick of the constant harassment. It’s almost as if she swore to make Bea’s life a living hell. 

“Omg look who it is”,Bea rolls her eyes so hard they could get stuck in the back of her head, she turns to face the dumb blonde, “hey strip tease, how was your summer in the slums?” 

Bea balls her hands into a tight fist, ‘god this bitch is annoying’ she thought. “Is it true you whored yourself out so you could get that bike of yours?... Like mother like daughter I guess?” She giggles a little, triggering the girls around her, whose names Bea could never remember, to start laughing along with her. 

“Do you know what Chloe?” Bea takes a step forward a scowl etching on her face, “You’re all talk, I guarantee I’ll be able to take you”, Bea lowers her voice so only the blonde can hear what she’s saying, “You know I grew up in the South which means I was taught how to fight, so unless you want me to mess up that pretty face of yours back off.” Bea thought she was threatening enough for the dumb blonde to recede but her threats only aggravated Chloe more. 

“Listen up here you little tramp,” Chloe’s eyes were shooting daggers at Bea, even though she felt a tiny bit daunted by Chloe’s cold demeanor, Bea stood her ground when suddenly she could see Poppy in her peripheral vision sauntering up to the group and decided not to engage with Chloe since she promised Poppy she would be good. Before Chloe could obliterate Bea using her words, Bea holds up her middle finger at the blonde and counters, “go fuck yourself Chloe”. 

Chloe’s eyes flash with anger and just as she’s about to retort Poppy lays a hand on her shoulder and greets the girl with a squeal and Chloe delivers a bone crushing hug. Poppy doesn’t bother to spare a glance at Bea which means they’re back in the real world. 

After having the entire summer to themselves, riding around Greensburg, going to parties in the south, stealing moments in each other's rooms and going on secret weekend long trips to New York, being two teenagers completely in love, it was now a closed chapter. Now, the girls were in two different worlds, Bea took a quick second to appreciate Poppy’s outfit, she wore the cute pink bomber jacket Bea loved so much and her legs looked so long in her jeans, Poppy wore that specific outfit to catch Bea’s attention, but it was doing a lot more than that. Bea just wanted to reach out and kiss her so bad, the gloss on Poppy’s lips were shining so bright, almost as if she wanted to tease Bea, knowing she could only stare and not touch. 

“Come on Chlo, we’re gonna be late,” she drags the blonde away and as she breezes past Bea she spares a quick glance, their eyes locked for a brief moment, Poppy’s gaze softens for a second, her big brown eyes bore into Bea’s in the most tender way. If only the students at Belvoire, were less self absorbent and paid attention to the girls instead of themselves, they would’ve already felt the sexual tension just through the intense stares. After all the eyes are the windows to the soul. 

Bea takes a second to breathe, leaning on her bike, she knew today was going to be a long day. After hearing the warning bells she grabs her bag and practically runs the last 50 feet to homeroom and is grateful to see an empty seat at the back of the classroom. She slips in as their homeroom teacher, Mr Jennings quietens the class for the morning announcements, and as all the students direct their attention to the tv in the corner of the room, Poppy’s angelic face brightens up the screen with her adorable smile while she stacks the papers in her hands and turns to look at her co-anchor Carter Jackson. 

Carter Jackson, he’s devilishly handsome and the school’s golden boy. Captain of the football team, on track to being the school’s valedictorian, prevailing against the stereotypes of jocks all being dimwits, his resume is impeccable, any college would be lucky to have him. Bea always felt a pang of jealousy whenever she saw Carter within the same breathing space as Poppy since it was obvious he had the biggest crush on her. The whole school is already expecting for them to date since traditionally in movies and books the football captain and head cheerleader always get together. There were already existing rumours that they were secretly dating or they’ve had sex and many others which made Bea envious.  Bea was never the jealous type but subconsciously the thoughts of her not being good enough for Poppy would regularly infiltrate her mind. Poppy usually had to subside Bea’s fears whenever she felt like Bea was worried about Carter, promising her that she would never actually be into him but Carter is a gentleman and is practically harmless. 

‘Look at this stupid goofy smile and his stupid awesome hair’ Bea clenched her fists so hard her nails were digging into her palms which are definitely going to leave some marks. The announcements went on about the new school year and something about the sports teams and school spirit but Bea’s blood begins to boil when Carter makes a dumb joke earning playful slap on his arm from Poppy. She knows she can trust Poppy around him, it’s just Carter she couldn’t trust. He would always openly flirt with Poppy who would just give a little laugh or change the subject or sometimes indulge in his flirtations, just enough to throw him and the rest of her friends off from the truth. 

After the morning announcements Mr Jennings begins talking about the importance of senior year and how the students would have to start thinking about college and their futures. Bea has her whole future planned out with Poppy, get into Columbia, live off campus with her and eventually Poppy would tell her father about them and he will have no other choice but to accept them and if not then Poppy could take out some loans and eventually use the Min Sinclair name to build herself a brand. Bea wants to go into law, first into corporate, so her and Poppy can work together, so when Poppy takes over her father’s duties as the official CEO of the Min Sinclair industries, Bea would work the legal angle until she’s made a name for herself. If Poppy’s father wouldn’t pass the companies down to Poppy then she’ll go straight to being a general practice lawyer. Then she’ll open her own law firm to help those in need, money won’t be an issue for clients as she just wants to help people who are suffering from legal trouble but have no sufficient funds, because if we are being honest, the public defence system in America is a joke. 

Once the bell went off Bea checked her timetable to see AP science class first thing in the morning. ‘Kill me now’, she heeded she loved science but on a monday morning? It was a different kind of torture. She walks into the class to see all the students glaring at the projected screen and sees that a seating plan has been put into place for them. Miss Acker, is one of the strictest teachers at Belvoire, she’s a straight to the point no BS kind of teacher who would never let students walk all over her so the students in the AP class knew better than to challenge the seating plan. Bea looked for her name to see her being placed at the back corner of the class and her seating buddy is, no way… It’s Poppy. Bea felt a sliver of enlightenment fill her chest, an entire year of sitting next to Poppy and no one would say anything because they had no choice but to be next to each other. 

As Bea makes her way to the back she sees Poppy stride into the class, she gives Bea a quick wink, so quick that you would’ve missed it within a blink of an eye as she promptly took a seat in a random seat near the front of the class, her focus is on taking out her books from her bags until a stern tone catches her attention. 

“Miss Min Sinclair, if you bothered to look at the screen you would see there’s a seating plan, you’re supposed to sit with Miss Hughes at the back”, Miss Acker raises an eyebrow waiting for Poppy to oblige. 

“I-”, Poppy’s face flushes red, either from the embarrassment of being called out or the thought of sitting next to Bea all year, it wasn’t clear. She picks up her notebook and bag and as she’s walking to the back of the class a hand reaches out to touch her elbow. 

“Good luck sitting next to the freak all year” Carter’s voice smooth and his tone jesting at Poppy. 

“Uh, thanks,” Poppy lets out an awkward laugh and sits at the back daring not to look at Bea as the lesson begins. 

“So, looks like we’re science buddies,” Bea leans over and whispers as Miss Ackers goes over the rules of the lab. 

“Not here Bea, please,” Poppy almost pleads as her attention is fixated at the front of the classroom. 

Bea huffs a little, “well we do have to work together Pops, you can’t exactly avoid me since we go to the same school and everything”. 

Poppy doesn’t answer Bea, as the class continues. As Miss Acker addresses the class, Poppy’s attention shifts to the notebook in front of her, doodling across the blank page. She draws a little bumblebee and a heart around it and nudges Bea slightly with her elbow, directing her focus to her drawing. A small smile graces Bea’s face as she runs a finger around the heart and the bee on Poppy’s notebook. 

Bees were part of an inside joke between the two girls, Poppy used to call Bea her ‘little bumblebee’ when they were 14 and although Bea pretended to hate the nickname she found it a little sweet and gave Poppy the nickname ‘Popsicle’. 

The lesson carries on in full silence between the girls as they begin to concentrate at the lesson at hand, and when the lesson ended Poppy quickly packs up her things, grabs her bag and leaves the class with Carter and a few other girls in tow. Bea sighs and places her hands in her jacket pocket suddenly hearing the rustling of a piece of paper. She brings it out and sees a little folded note, and when she unfolds it, she sees a cartoon drawing of two girls kissing and the words ‘I love you’ written underneath it. She has no idea when Poppy even put the note in her pocket but she’s grateful she did. It was the little things like that that made Bea smile, and reminds her why she loves Poppy so much. To the rest of the school, it seems like the girls don’t even care about each other but Poppy’s a secret romantic at heart and usually leaves little tidbits around Bea as a reminder of her love. 

She pockets the note and goes to her next class with a little more pep in her steps. Lunchtime soon rolls over and Bea sits on one of the tables alone enjoying her sandwich. A few tables over, Poppy and her friends are laughing and sharing stories about their summer. One of the girls who’s sitting next to Poppy, catches Bea staring their way and gives a little wave. 

“Veronica who are you waving at?” Chloe’s voice blares and she turns her head looking around the lunch hall to see who’s gotten her attention now. 

Veronica Lombardi, Poppy’s other best friend and one of the very few people who actually treats Bea like a decent human being. She is one of the prettiest girls in school, excluding Poppy, and last year she made the decision to dye her hair a really cool greyish ombre which makes her look ever hotter. She’s also on the cheer team, and is also a vlogger and has over 30k subscribers on her growing youtube channel. Veronica’s family moved to Greensburg when she was 12, and she became quick friends with Poppy after being introduced at a work dinner since Veronica’s dad is one of the COOs for one of Poppy dad’s companies. Veronica also grew up with a lot of money and privilege but it never once deterred her from making friends from all sorts of places. She’s also the only one of Poppy’s friends who knows the truth about her and Bea’s relationship after accidentally walking into one of their make out sessions in the locker room last year during cheer and volleyball practice. She was super understanding and completely supportive of the relationship and often joins the girls when they would go to parties in the southside, arguing that they were tons more fun than the regular highschool parties her peers hosted. She loves to tease Poppy about Bea and insinuate that Poppy may or may not be in a secret relationship which would make their friendship group ask Poppy all kinds of questions about her ‘secret boyfriend’. 

“I’m just waving at Bea” that earns a hard eye roll from Chloe who just shifts her focus on her salad. “Is it me or has she gotten hotter over the summer?” she nudges Poppy with her elbow giving her a playful smile. Poppy’s jaw tightens as she stealthily kicks Veronica’s shin under the table. 

The rest of the people on the table have disgusted looks on their faces at the mention of Bea until Ford, one of the boys on the football team and a perfect example of classic dumb jock says, “I heard she got chylamidia or something because her mom pimps her out to get money or drugs”. 

Poppy takes a stab at her salad and gulps uneasily, “Can we talk about something less disgusting you’re making me lose my appetite.” 

Another girl, Tasha, who surprise surprise is also a cheerleader chimes in, “Like you ever have an appetite Poppy” the table bursts in laughter while Chloe sits in silence lost in thought. 

“What the hell are you plotting Chlo? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you think so much” Veronica laughs. 

A devilish smile appears on Chloe’s face, “I have a little surprise for that little tramp at the end of lunch, I’m just thinking about how hilarious it’s going to be”, the rest of the table reciprocate a similar smile on their faces except for Poppy and Veronica who just lock eyes confused at Chloe’s revelation. 

Poppy clears her throat, “so, uh, what are you planning?” Her tone is steady attempting to keep it as monotone as she can so no one suspects she cares. 

“Lets just say she’s gonna get the stripper treatment real soon” and with that the conversation swiftly changes. 

All the while an unsuspecting Bea sits at her table, after acknowledging Veronica’s wave with a swift nod of her head, Bea silently eats her lunch until she’s interrupted by two scrawny hands clamping onto her shoulders. 

“Dammit AJ you’re gonna give me a heart attack”, Bea sputters while her mouth is full of food. The young boy breaks into a wide grin and sits opposite Bea and swipes the cookie off Bea’s tray, “Hey no!” Bea grabs the cookie before he can shove it into his mouth, “not my cookie, I need my sugar”. 

AJ sulks a little, giving Bea a strong puppy dog look until she gives in and breaks her cookie in half giving him the larger piece. “Thanks Bea, I’m starving and all the good food has already run out, they’re just handing out apples for dessert” he sticks out his tongue making a ‘blergh’ sound and shudders. 

Bea doesn’t laugh, instead she stares intensely at the sophomore with a small frown outlined on her lips’, she leans in her voice low and serious, ‘AJ I want you to tell me the truth, where were you yesterday and why did you call me so late?” 

AJ gulps and places one of his hands on the back of his head and rubs it sheepishly, “I wasn’t doing anything bad I swear, it’s just that dad came home late last night and started fighting with my mom, it woke me up and I guess I just needed someone to talk to. I’m sorry i should’ve texted you back or something.” 

“Yeah you should’ve, AJ I was worried sick, you can’t pull that kinda crap on me okay? If you can’t reach me at least text me or leave a voice message or something.”

The boy nods but Bea isn’t entirely convinced he’s telling the truth but she decides to let it go since AJ is usually not someone who likes to dwell on the bad stuff. The conversation moves to a lighter one as the two reminisce about the summer and the parties they went to and how they were looking forward to the party on saturday. 

“I heard Razor’s getting a bunch of fireworks for the party, it’s gonna be so lit”, AJ is almost jumping out of his seat while Bea looks stunned. 

“Fireworks, really? Poppy would love that, I gotta remember to invite her.” 

AJ rolls his eyes slightly not that he had anything against Poppy, he adores her, he just hates the lovey dovey crap, “yes, yes she’ll love it,” he looks down at his phone and abruptly stands from his seat, and tells Bea he needs to fill up his water bottle but before Bea can even open her mouth, AJ moves out of her line of sight and sprints out of the dining hall. ‘Well he’s most definitely lying’ she thinks but she doesn’t want to press the matter in case AJ closes off on her, she trusts that he wouldn’t do anything too stupid. She begins to clean up after herself and throws her rubbish into the trash can and walks towards the courtyard. Just as she’s leaving, Chloe, Carter, Ford, Tasha and a few of the others on the table share a conspiratorial look before standing up and going after Bea. 

Poppy pulls Veronica to the side, her face filled with worry, “What the hell are they planning?” 

Veronica simply shrugs in response, her face looking exasperated, “I don’t know P but it’s not gonna be good”, she grabs Poppy’s elbow and pulls her towards the doors, “let’s catch up before something bad happens”. 

Bea peacefully walks in the courtyard, one of her hands inside her jacket pocket fiddling with the note Poppy left for her, a small smile gracing her features. Behind her, she hears a loud cough and stops in her tracks, she automatically knew it was Chloe, she softly sighs and turns to see a group of Poppy’s friends encircling her. Her face twitches into a scorn as she uneasily looks around to see the preppy kids staring back at her, all greeting her with a smile which unsettled her. 

“What the hell do you and your stupid cult want Chloe?” She tries to look unbothered but her fingers deceive her, as they fiddle with the straps of her backpack. Behind the group she sees Poppy and Veronica almost running and stopping in their tracks when they see the group surrounding Bea. 

“We all want a show,” Chloe spreads out her arms smiling, god her smug face is so punchable. She walks towards Bea until she’s standing directly in front of her, “well strip tease? I got a paying audience here, why don’t you show us what you mom taught you?” 

Bea shoves Chloe back, and Tasha steps forward and suddenly moves her hands so quick Bea for sure thinks she’s going to be punched. Instead she brings out a bunch of one dollar bills? ‘Oh shit’ is all Bea could think before the group began throwing one dollar bills at the brunette, drawing the attention of all the students in the courtyard. Some took out their phones to record the ordeal while some started cheering and whistling. 

“Come onnnn, don’t be such a tease Bea, show us something” Tasha forces Bea back into the middle of the circle as Bea struggles to leave. 

All the colour drains from Bea’s face as she takes in the faces of the laughing students all publicly humiliating her, it makes her so mad, especially at her mother, who’s at fault for the nickname ‘strip tease’. Bea looks over at Poppy who is frozen in her spot, her face falls when suddenly Veronica pushes herself into the circle and grabs Chloe by the arm, “End this now Chloe, it’s not funny,” Veronica’s eyes are filled with fury, Bea’s heart slightly drops because she secretly hoped that it was Poppy standing up for her. 

“Chillax V, Bea’s used to people throwing their money at her,” she laughs and bends down to pick up some fallen one dollar bills from the floor and throws it in the air. Carter moves towards Bea and places a folder one dollar bill in the loop of her jeans and winks at her and just when Bea pulls her hand back to deliver a blow, a sharp whistle sound infiltrates the ears of all the students who begin clasping at their ears. 

“What the hell is going on here!” the voice bellows over the entire courtyard. 

“Principal Steinhelm, I-” Chloe struggles to speak. 

Principal Steinhelm quickly assesses the situation, seeing Bea’s hands balled into fists and on the verge of tears, with one dollar bills thrown all around her while the rest of the students are surrounding her, some still holding money in their hands. She raises a hand and points at the crowd encircling all the guilty students and simply says, “All of you detention, if any of you do not show up today, there will be consequences. Get to class. Now”. All the students begin to disperse, Veronica places a hand on Bea’s arm and comfortingly rubs it for a few seconds before she walks towards Poppy who is still staring at Bea, her eyes filled with sadness, she looks away and trudges off with Veronica and the rest of her friends who are laughing cruelly in tow. Principle Steinhelm advances towards Bea, eyes filled with concern, “Miss Hughes would you like me to call your mother?”

Bea shakes her head no, her voice dissipated, scared that if she tries to speak, she’ll just burst into tears. Principle Steinhelm gives Bea an awkward pat on her shoulder before telling her to make her way to class as the bell rings. For the rest of the day, students around Bea were staring at her, sharing whispers and covertly laughing at the brunette, so much for not wanting to draw any attention today. Her phone buzzes with texts from Poppy but Bea puts her phone on silent not wanting to think about everything that just happened at school. 

Once the school day is over, Bea runs over to the parking lot and speeds off to work, not waiting to give Chloe a third chance to annoy her today. Poppy sees the girl rushing to leave and feels a pang in her chest. It kills her to see her girlfriend being mistreated but she couldn’t do anything to help her. Right? 

read part 3 here: 

[northcarolinanative]

𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐊𝐢𝐝

Requested by Anon from this prompt list: OMG I love your "Lighthouse" imagine so much!! Can you do #30 and #31 with JJ?

#30 “It’s your turn to make dinner.”/ #31 “They’re not your kids, back the f*ck off.”

A/N: Hi Idk if this is exactly what you wanted, I also changed the wording of the prompt a Lil bit because it fit better and was more natural. This was so hard because I have ZERO ideas on how to write JJ as any form of a da, so coming up with a scenario to fit these in was hard. (JJ needs a lot of work before he’s ready to be a dad tbh) ALSO isn’t REALLY edited so sorry for that… I kina don’t like it but I REALLY hope you all enjoy it As always my Asks/requests/messages are open! So let me know what you think :) 

It was a typical day for me, babysitting my sister’s kid. It was a small price to pay for letting me stay, rent-free in her home. I was new to Kildare Island, a fresh start was incredibly necessary after some less than pleasant rumors of me had spread around my previous high school. My parents thought that it might be best that I give myself a change of scenery. What better to help my mental health than distance and salty air right? Her daughter had grown comfortable around me, which made watching them much simpler. 

I did get some free time on Fridays or the weekend when my brother-in-law or my sister were off work. It allowed me to make friends with a group of surfers that I met on the beach one afternoon. They called themselves ‘the pogues’, telling me all about the rivalry that controlled the island, to which I rolled my eyes laughing. JJ scolded me, “It’s very serious y/n.” The beach meetups turned into us hanging out by a fire in John B’s backyard, boneyard parties, and long Saturdays stretched on the HMS Pogue with a cold beer. 

I loved all the pogues, but the relationship between JJ and I always seem to be different. We shared a few knowing glances that turned into lingering touches or two of us almost always engaging in sexually charged jokes when we were on the boat. We spent the most time together outside of the group, meeting up for ‘private surf lessons’ or a bite of food at the Wreck to surprise Kie. I had yet to tell any of them why I was in the Outer Banks other than shrugging and vaguely replying with “Something different.” Pope always joked saying that I was a mystery girl with a troubled past. While he was partially right, I feel like in all their minds it was much more theatrical than the truth. 

I was bouncing Luna, my sister’s daughter, on my hip as I waited for her food to be heated up. My phone rang on the counter, making me jump at the noise. I glanced at the goofy picture if JJ smiling. He had taken it himself at a boneyard party after a few too many tequila shots. I swiped my finger over the answer button and held it to my ear. 

“Hello Maybank, what’s up?” I said, the smile evident in my voice. 

“I was thinking we could have dinner together tonight?” He asked over the phone. “John B and Pope have some college things to work on and Kie is working with her dad.” He stated, letting me know that it was just going to be us. 

“Well, it is your turn to cook dinner.” I joked. We went back and forth, one of us getting or making the food for our time spent together, mostly it was when my family went out of town or were having their own beach days. “And I am rather exhausted” I laughed, hearing JJ sigh on the other end of the phone.

“How about I just grab a pizza and head over to your place?” He posed the question. It wasn’t that I didn’t want JJ to come over. I missed my friends since I had last seen them. My sister had always said as long as I was watching the kids she didn’t mind that I had a few visitors during the day, but I felt like it would be taking advantage of her generosity. 

“You wanna come here, to my house?” I finally responded, my voice higher than normal. 

JJ’s tone shifted immediately. “I mean I thought so, You aren’t embarrassed by me are you?” He was trying to play his question off as a joke with the awkward laugh he let out following it, but I could hear the slight hurt behind it. 

“No. No.” I said quickly trying to do damage control. “I just gotta clean up a little is all,” I spoke, but mentally facepalmed at my choice of excuse. 

“Be there in 20?” JJ asked 

“Sounds good to me, I’ll leave the door unlocked.” With that our phone conversation was over. I set Luna down in her high chair letting her play with her toys as I did clean up the day’s mess around the kitchen and living room. I also sent a quick text to my sister letting her know that we were having a visitor. 

I was wiping down the kitchen as JJ made his entrance known. “So I’m thinking we down this pizza while we watch-” He boomed, stopping when his eyes landed on Luna. He froze and his eyes went wide as he looked between me and the young child in the high chair. It took everything in me not to burst out laughing at the scene unfolding in front of me.

JJ took a stutter step back. “Is she-” He started but quickly changed his statement. “I- I didn’t know you had a kid.” He let out a deep breath.

It was at that point that I began laughing. JJ laughed a little too but it was obviously an awkward and confused laugh. “That’s because I don’t.”  I saw the look of relief wash over his face and his normal bright smile settle onto his face. “This,” I walked over to Luna, rubbing the top of her head comfortingly, “is Luna, she’s my niece. I watch her during the week while her parents are at work.” 

“That makes so much sense.” He said walking over to the table and setting down the box of pizza. I followed JJ and getting out plates and napkins. 

“It’s good to know where you stand with kids though.” I laughed. 

“It was a surprise.” He joked back. “Look it’s not your kid, so lay off okay. I feel terrible about my freak out, I was just surprised.” He said voice getting serious with his remorse. 

I almost felt bad, for continuing joking with him, but not enough to stop. We began divvying up pizza slices. I place mine to the side and began cutting Lunas into small bite-sized pieces. “Surprised?” I asked JJ, “You don’t think I’m mother material?” My tone still light as I did and awkward motion referencing to myself, causing JJ to laugh. Seeing his smile made me feel better about the awkward situation. 

“I mean you are the ‘mystery girl’” He referenced using air quotes. “So I didn’t know if that might have been why you were running from home. I was gonna hand it to you though, I was gonna say you hid it awfully well.” He said, bringing his hand up to scratch the back of his neck. “I was also going to tell you that you didn’t have to hide things from me because you can trust me.” 

I snapped my head up toward JJ as he finished his sentence. The stupid smile on my face probably said it all. I let an “Awe JJ” fall from my mouth as I took in his words and pulled him into a  crushing hug. He let his arms wrap around me as one hand rested on the back of my head comfortingly. My head was laid on his chest throughout the hug, meaning could hear his still racing heartbeat and smiled to myself, knowing that I had that effect on JJ.

Check out the rest of my work?

[joyful-soul-collector]

Questions about me

Thank you to @nazezdha321 for “tagging” me (more of a “if you see this and wanna play you should situation but shshshssssshhhhh it looked fun ok)

1. what is the color of your hairbrush?

Blue, like my hair

2. name a food you never eat

Brussel sprouts and tomatoes. Just, no. 

3. are you typical too warm or too cold?

Too cold, always and all the time, I need like 3 blankts on me at all times to make it through winter and two the rest of the year. All of this is while wearing pants and a sweater.

4. what were you doing 45 minutes ago?

Talking to a friend online, still doing that haha

5. what’s your favorite candy bar?

I love chocolate tbh, probably something like kit kats? Plain chocolate is great too though

6. have you ever been to professional sports event?

Nope

7. what is the last thing you said out loud?

“Ok I’m gonna head to my room, have fun guys!” My sister’s boyfriend is here, they’re watching a movie together in the livingroom. 

8. what is your favorite ice cream?

Hmmm, I really love chocolate. There’s a place in my town that has a kind with brownie bits and fudge swirled in, it’s amazing, I love that one

9. what was the last thing you had to drink?

Some water, it’s in a cup next to me haha

10. do you like your wallet?

Eh it’s alright, I mean it works. It’s a bit too big, I gotta get a smaller one, but it’s alright!

11. what is the last thing you ate?

Some tortilla soup for dinner

12. did you buy any new clothes last weekend?

Nope, I haven’t bought new clothes since summer, and even then it was like two shirts. 

13. what’s the last sporting event you watched?

I don’t even remember, I haven’t watched sports in years. I don’t care for them and neither does my family, so we don’t watch them

14. what is your favorite flavor of popcorn?

I love super buttery popcorn. And this isn’t really a flavor, but I love it with chocolate drizzled on top

15. who is the last person you send text message to?

Uhhh I sent a message to @baloobird on discord? But I haven’t texted using like, my phone number in a looong time

16. ever been camping?

Nope, unless you count out in the backyard

17. do you take vitamins?

No, I haven’t for a while, we haven’t bought any since like YEARS ago

18. do you regularly attend a place of worship?

Nope

19. do you have a tan?

Not anymore, haven’t been outside very often at all. 

20. do you prefer chinese or pizza?

Pizzaaaaaaa

21. do you drink your soda through a straw?

Yeah but just because we only buy it when we go out to eat, and they always give you soda in a cup with a straw. I haven’t drank from a can in forever, we never buy them. 

22. what color socks you usually wear?

Black. I have some fluffy socks that are red and white, but I only wear them in Christmas time

23. do you ever drive above the speed limit?

Yeah but only by a few miles at most

24. what terrifies you?

The idea of old bullies coming back somehow, the idea of my family being hurt somehow, and never being able to make and keep good friends for longer than a couple years. Those are a few that I know off the top of my head. 

25. look to your left, what do you see?

My teddy bear I keep on my bed for my bad anxiety days. He’s very huggable

26. what chore do you hate the most?

Hmm. I don’t like doing the dishes for sure, I have to do that every day, or sometimes every other day if there’s not many to do. Don’t like laundry or shoveling the driveway when it snows either

27. what do you think when you hear australian accent?

The movie Rescuers Down Under

28. what’s your favorite soda?

Sprite. I don’t drink soda very much, i can’t remember the last time I had something OTHER than Sprite

29. do you go in a fast food place or just hit drive through?

Usually drive thru, we don’t like eating in places, even before the pandemic haha

30. what’s your favorite number?

24. No idea why, I’ve just been attached ever since I was little. When I was like 3-4 I would answer all math questions, mainly grown-ups asking me “what’s 2+2?” with 24. No clue why. 

31. who’s the last person you talked to?

Online would be @baloobird, irl would be my family at dinner a little while ago

32. favorite meal?

Fettucine Alfredo... god my stomach’s rumbling just thinking about it haha, I haven’t eaten in a couple hours

33. last song you listed to?

Crumbs by Belaganas. It’s the only song by them I have on my playlist because @tracle0 recommended it to me. It reminds us of my OC Tatum. 

34. last book you read?

Reread a bit of my favorite comic called Saga

35. favorite day of the week?

Saturdays, i usually get some time to myself then. I didn’t get that this Saturday though, too much work it spilled out into the weekend, but I did get a little today. 

36. can you say alphabet backwards?

Nope haha

37. how do you like your coffee?

So sweet it barely even tastes like coffee. 

38. favorite pair of shoes?

My mismatching red and blue converse with black laces. 

39. time you normally get up?

7:30am

40. what do you prefer, sunrise or sunset?

Sunrise. Everything is quiet and you’re still a little sleepy and it’s probably a bit cold if you’re on the beach, and that’s perfect. 

41. how many blankets on your bed?

Three because I’m a touch-starved bag of twigs that’s constantly cold.

42. describe your kitchen plates.

Some are blue and are made of plastic, some are white and made of ceramic or glass or whatever cheap plates are made of. 

43. describe your kitchen at the moment.

Lots of cabinets, an old toaster oven and a stand up mixer in the corner, window over a deep sink, next to that a dishwasher. Counters are a brown marbley kind that make it impossible to tell if it’s dirty or not. 

44. do you have a favorite alcoholic drink?

Not old enough to drink, nope

45. do you play cards?

Eh? My family likes 3-13 and Egyptian war, but board games are our favorite. 

46. what color is your car?

We have two, both every very old. One is a red little one, the other is a tan minivan. 

47. can you change a tire?

Nope, should probably learn to do that at some point

48. your favorite state or province?

I... don’t know. I’ve moved around quite a bit, live in different parts of CA, lived up in WA, now I live in PA. I’d say WA because it feels like I can relate to a lot of people there, like WA people are my kinda people ya know? And it’s so beautiful and has just so many things I love in it... But that’s also where most of my bullies were. So every time I think about it it always has that shadow because I was miserable half the time. But PA isn’t my favorite because the people here are so different from me, and CA isn’t my favorite because my extended family lives there and they’re Very Not Cool. I’ve had bullies in both those places as well too, but not as bad as WA. So uh... I don’t know, I suppose. 

49. favorite job you’ve had?

Never had a job unfortunately, my parents said I couldn’t get one till after High School cuz they wanted me to focus on school, and then, halfway through my senior year, a pandemic happened. Yay Class Of 2020! Anyway, I haven’t gotten a job because if I don’t need it, I don’t want to get one and potentially but myself, my family, and other people at risk, even though having the extra money would be nice. 

Tagging: @tracle0 @baloobird @jelly-pies @silver-bubbles @mysterycheerio @shadedrose01 and everyone else who wants to do it! Feel free to tag me and say I tagged you haha

[captaincartervalues]

When I was a child my planet Krypton was dying. I was sent to Earth to protect my cousin, but my pod got knocked off course, and by the time I got here, my cousin had already grown up to become Superman. And so, I hid my powers until recently when an accident forced me to reveal myself to the world.

To most people, I’m the CEO of L-Corp but in secret I work with my adoptive brother for the DEO to protect my city from alien life and anyone else that means to cause it harm. I am Supergirl.

“Lena?”

“She said with surprise in her voice, for some reason…”

“Oh my G- Kombucha. We were supposed to try that new fermentation place today!” Kara exclaims as realization dawns on her. “I totally forgot. I’m so sorry. I got caught up helping Nia with a story.”

“It’s okay, no need to explain. Kombucha can wait. I’m cool occasionally sharing my best friend with her prized protégé.” Lena teasingly assures her with a playful smile.

Kara laughs as she adjusts her glasses bashfully. “Well, I’m sure Nia is thankful for your boundless generosity.”

“I AM!” The women laugh as Nia yells the affirmative across the bullpen. Lena turned to give her a two-finger salute in acknowledgment before catching the kiss Nia blew their way.

“Supergirl, there’s an alien brawl on 5th and Kingston. The cops need your help.” Lena could hear Brainy report over her intercoms.

“Well, we can still go! I just need 2 minutes.” Kara offers.

“Uh – you know what, actually, I forgot that I have a meeting with the board I had to reschedule. So how about a raincheck?” Lena lies.

“Oh yeah okay. Well, let me validate your parking at least for coming all the way down to CatCo!”

“No, no. It’s fine. I flew here…” Lena slips. “…on my bike.”

Kara’s face scrunches in confusion. “You have a bike?”

“Yeah, I have a bike. That I drove here today. Lex talked me into it when I was drunk recently.” Lena scrambles.

“Hmm.” Kara pauses. “Lena Luthor, motorcyclist. Sexy.” She says it with an eyebrow wiggle and a goofy smile.

“Shut up.” Lena laughs.

“Are you gonna take me for a ride sometime?”

“Maybe...if you ask nicely.”  Lena teases with a wink before she saunters toward the elevators.

Kara is still staring at her appraisingly when she gets into the elevator. If it wasn’t for her super-hearing, Lena wouldn’t have heard Kara mutter “Lena Luthor, always an enigma” with a smile and shake of her head.

As the elevator doors close, Lena rips open her buttoned blouse exposing the House of El symbol underneath. “You have no idea.” She whispers solemnly.

-----

“Well that was fun, boys!” Lena says as she puts the rough-and-tumblers in the back of an unmarked DEO van.

Lena turns and finds the person she’s looking for before sauntering over. “Nothing like a little afternoon quickie to get the blood pumping, am I right?” she says as she lightly punches her brother’s arm.

“I think we have very different definitions of ‘afternoon quickie.’” Lex retorts, rubbing his shoulder as Lena rolls her eyes. “And it would have been quicker if you had responded to our call right away. What took you so long anyway?”

“I was with Kara” Lena starts “ –actually, I was lying to Kara, again. Cancelling another – “

“Date?” Lex interjects.

Lena glares at her brother pointedly. “Lunch. I just hate always bailing on her and lying about why.” Lena admits dejectedly.

“You know, you could just tell her.” Lex says quietly.

Lena shakes her head and sighs “You know it’s not that simple.”

“I know Kara isn’t like her family.”

“I know that!” Lena says defensively. “And I’m the one who had to convince you of that initially!”

“Hey,” Lex softens and puts his hand on his sister’s shoulder to comfort her. “I know you’re the president of the ‘Kara Danvers is innocent’ fan club; you don’t have to convince me.”

“It’s just – I’m protecting her. It’s safer for her if she doesn’t know.”

“Safer? We’re still talking about Kara Danvers, right? The same one that brags how getting kidnapped means she’s on the right track? And the one that shrugs off “quarterly assassination attempts” as some kind of journalistic metric for when her stories are big? That Kara Danvers? Because that Kara Danvers is never ‘safe,’ hun.” Lex counters half-jokingly, half-seriously.

Lena’s prepared to argue some more when she hears a familiar “Supergirl!”

“Speak of the devil.” Lex smirks as they both turn to see Kara, pen in hand, always at the ready to report. They watch as she slips under the barricade and makes her way toward the pair.

“Spare a moment and a quote?” Kara proffers.

“For National City’s best reporter? Always.” Lena smiles.

Kara pauses ever so slightly at her words as a sense of familiarity encompasses her. Lena can almost see a hint of recognition flit across Kara’s eyes before the reporter blushes. Lena doesn’t even have time to regret her choice of words before her best friend presses on.

“Do you know who’s behind the resurgence of Cadmus operations and reported attacks against innocent alien civilians that are being attributed to them?”

“We are still working on confirming if Cadmus is even involved, but we are following some leads to identify the individuals behind these attacks, yes.” Lena says with a certain air of authority that almost only comes when she is suited up.

“How did you even know about those attacks? We’ve kept them confidential from the public.” Lex questions.

“The DEO isn’t as secretive as you like to think, Lex. And, it’s literally my job to find things out that people don’t want the public to know…” Kara quips.

Lena snickers and exchanges a smile with Kara as Lex narrows his eyes at her.

“Well do you know what I’m bringing to game night tonight, smarty pants?” Lex taunts.

“Pizza and drunk Jenga like always.” Kara states without hesitation.

Lex stammers silently until Lena can see the light flicker in his head. “Well what if I brought Supergirl too? Not so predictable then, am I?” Lex’s eyes glint with a mischievous triumph.

Lena’s jaw clenches as she fights the urge to yeet her brother into space.

Kara looks at her expectantly, almost daring her to come.

“I’d love to, but I have a date with the fortress tonight.” Lena lies.

“Probably for the best since you’d be no match for me and Lena. We run game night and take no prisoners, not even super ones.” Kara boasts goofily.

“Oh, is that so?” Lena challenges playfully.

“Yeah, it’s actually sickening how annoyingly good they are together.” Lex pouts knowingly at them both.

“You’re just jealous you don’t have your perfect partner for game night yet, Luthor.” Kara beams smugly at Lex while Lena tries to hide her own smile.

“See what I mean?” Lex shakes his head. “Nauseating.”

Lena hears Kara’s phone buzz before she pulls it out to check her messages. “Looks like I’ve got places to be and other stories to report.” Kara announces. “But don’t let that fool you into thinking I’m done questioning you about Cadmus, Supergirl."

“Wouldn’t dream of it, Ms. Danvers.”

Kara smiles before turning her attention to Lex. “I’ll see you tonight, where you can tell me how exactly you convinced Lena, of all people, to buy a motorcycle!”

“Shit.” Lena mumbles as she watches Kara walk away.

“What was that about?” Lex asks.

“Nothing. On an unrelated note, I’m going to need you to give me a refresher’s course on riding a motorcycle.” Lena says while preoccupied with digging her phone out of her boot. “I gotta get back to the office. See you tonight, big bro.” Lena rushes her goodbye before launching into the air and leaving Lex confused and alone.

“Hey, Jess. I need you to buy me the most badass, sexiest motorcycle you can find in 3 hours.” Lena instructs as she dodges a pigeon midair.

---

Kara is hugging Sam and Kelly goodnight as Lena collects empty glasses from the coffee table. Kara closes the door and meets Lena in the kitchen to help load her dishwasher.

“Ya know, I’m starting to regret introducing those two. They are giving us a run for our money.”

“Oh come on, you know no one can beat us when we’re together. Not even Brainy when he counts cards.” Lena playfully bumps her best friend’s shoulder.

“You’re always right.” Kara laughs. “Plus, it’s nice to have a little competition. Makes the win that much more satisfying.”

“You’re such a competitive dork.” Lena teases.

“And you love me because of it.” Kara grins.

“Yes, I do.” Lena says unabashedly. And she wonders if Kara even knows just how much she loves her and for how long she’s loved her.

There’s a brief moment between them where Kara wants to say more and Lena wants her to, but as always with them, the moment passes and neither one says what’s on their mind nor what’s in their hearts. For two women who are fearless when facing the world, they sure are terrified to face their own feelings for each other.

“So, I got a chance to talk to Supergirl today…” Kara says.

And just like that Lena is knocked down by her reality in which her closest friend doesn’t know her biggest secret. Lena hates when Kara talks about Supergirl with her, because it’s just another reminder of her own web of lies she spins around them both. At this point, she’s not sure who’s more trapped in the web, her or Kara.

“And what did she say?” Lena plays along.

“That they haven’t confirmed Cadmus is back yet, which is bullshit. It’s them.”

“Kara, we don’t know it’s them.” Lena tries.

“Lena, it’s them. You know it. I know it. Lex knows it. And Supergirl knows it. Acting like it’s not and keeping it a secret from the public only endangers the city and its alien citizens even more. I’m not gonna help Cadmus by doing the same. I just need a little bit more proof to publish.”

“You’ll find it. If anyone can, it’s National City’s best reporter.” Lena says matter-of-factly as she places her hand over Kara’s where it rests on the counter and gives it an encouraging squeeze.

“Have I told you you’re my favorite, Lena Luthor?” Kara asks with a soft smile.

“Many times, but I love to hear it.” Lena laughs.

Kara turns to face her more directly as her tone shifts back to a serious note. “Have you heard anything on the L-Corp science front? Any attempted break-ins at L-Corp lately or underground inquiries about new inventions that could be used as weapons?” Kara asks with a hint of desperation in her voice.

Lena takes her hand away as she moves to busy them with collecting empty wine bottles from the counter and turning away from Kara. Sometimes it’s easier to lie to her best friend when she’s not facing her. “Umm, no. Nothing yet.”

“You know, you’re terrible at hiding things from me.” Kara presses lightly with a sultry smile.

“I wouldn’t be so sure of that.” Lena mumbles to herself as she tosses the bottles in the recycling bin.

Lena sighs and relents rather easily as she turns around to face her best friend. One secret is more than she can bear keeping from a persistent Kara Danvers.

“An old key-card was reconfigured and used to access the lab a few nights ago. They tried to get into the vault too, but my personal security measures prevented it. Jess already did an inventory catalog, and nothing was taken. IT fixed the card issue and new cards were immediately distributed to our scientists.”

Kara looks down in disappointment. Lena knows it has less to do with her and more to do with what this means for Kara, but Lena regrets her secrecy nonetheless.

“I didn’t want to tell you, because I didn’t want to worry you.”

Kara looks up at Lena with a deceivingly expressionless face. “Who did the key-card belong to?”

“It doesn’t necessarily mean anything, Kara.”

“Who did the key-card belong to?” Kara repeats firmly without hesitation, a hint of anger setting in her jaw.

Lena lets out a heavy breath and cements Kara’s suspicion without saying a word. Her silent confirmation causes Kara’s stoicism to crack and concern floods her face as her shoulders sag.

“I knew it.” Kara chokes out.

Lena grabs her face with both hands and wipes a tear from her cheek with her thumb. “Hey,” Lena comforts, “we’ll stop them. We won’t let them get away this time.”

“Promise?” Kara says as she blinks through a well of tears.

“Promise.” Lena insists as she wraps Kara in a reassuring hug.

Kara sinks into the embrace as Lena rubs her back to soothe her best friend. They stay like that for a while until Kara whispers in her ear, “Did I tell you, you’re my favorite?”

“Maybe once or twice.” Lena chuckles as Kara leans back and lets go to wipe the rest of her tears away. Lena doesn’t understand how Kara can look so beautiful even after crying.

“Golly, I didn’t realize how late it was” Kara says as her eyes shift to the clock behind Lena.

Lena is about to offer to stay the night with Kara, but Lex cuts her off before she can form the words. “Fire at the Broadway Apartment Buildings, Supergirl. Firefighters are struggling to contain. Need you there ASAP."

“Yeah, I better get going.” Lena excuses herself as she grabs her jacket.

“You know, you could stay...if you want.” Kara counters, a small plea in her eyes.

“I wish I could, but I have an early morning meeting about the break-in with Security.” Lena lies.

“Right. Okay. Well, drive safe.”

Lena smiles solemnly before leaving.

“On my way, Lex.” Lena reports once she’s in the hallway. She rips her shirt, sets aside her thoughts of Kara, and flies out the window into the night sky.

------

Kara’s about to get ready for bed when she hears a knock at her door. She glances at the shiny red motorcycle helmet by her coat rack, smiles, and grabs it before opening the door without a second thought.

“I was wondering when you’d realize you forgot th- .” Kara freezes as she opens the door, and her smile quickly dissipates.

“What’s wrong? Not excited to see your big sis?”

“Alex.”

...

Read the rest on AO3

[everlarkbirthdaygifts]

Happy Birthday smartalexy!

We are sorry to be posting this late, but we wish @smartalexy a happy birthday on the 7th of September. To help celebrate, the lovely @booksrockmyface has written a special Everlark fic just for you! We hope you enjoy it :)

Title: The Whole World Could Change in a Minute

Gift for: smartalexy        

Rating: M (alcohol use, mild language, and talk of a sexual nature)

Trigger warning: There’s some vodka drinking involved.

Author’s note: I hope this friends to lovers fic finds you well on your birthday! Happy happy day! Title comes from the Sugarland song Want To.

_____

Peeta let out a frustrated groan as he followed Katniss into the next store. She didn’t like shopping much either, but Prim had made some very specific requests about the dress code for her wedding party. Being the supportive best friend he was, Peeta had agreed to accompany Katniss on her search for possible dresses. This was the fifth store.

“Is this periwinkle?” Katniss asked as she picked up a dress from the nearest rack.

“That’s more of an indigo.” Peeta picked up a dress that was a shade lighter. “This is periwinkle.”

She took the dress from him and checked the price tag. “It’s also fifty bucks over my budget.” She tried to hang it back up.

He stopped her. “Try it on and send a picture to Prim. If it’s the right one, I’ll chip in the last fifty.”

She chewed her lip a moment and then nodded. She picked up the indigo one anyway and another in the right shade and the right price point. It was a little long, but Prim could fix that.

Katniss stepped out of the dressing room wearing the too-long dress.

Peeta looked her over and then gave a thumbs down. “Makes your boobs look weird.”

She looked in the mirror and made a face. “You’re right.” She went into the dressing room.

He let out a relieved breath. She had looked pretty good in the dress, but it wasn’t right. It was hard for Peeta to be objective sometimes, though. He’d started to develop feelings for his friend and it was really difficult to keep them to himself. Katniss proved several times that having him as her best friend was her favorite thing.

Not to mention her on again/off again with Gale had been going on since middle school. There was no competing. Even Madge couldn’t keep Gale’s attention long.

Katniss stepped out in the other periwinkle dress. It had a sweetheart neckline—a term Peeta had learned when all this business started—and cap sleeves. The natural waistline flared out and the skirt ended just below the knee. Katniss had great legs. She had great boobs. She had great everything.

“You gotta get that one!” Peeta took out his phone and snapped a picture to send to Prim. “You look hot.”

“I can’t look hotter than the bride.” She commented, taking his phone to look at the picture. “I guess I look okay.”

A message came in from Prim. Tell Katniss to buy that dress! It’s perfect!

“Go get changed.” Peeta sent Prim a reply, one that he would have to delete before Katniss snagged his phone again. She’s so pretty, I can’t stand it!

Prim: You should talk to her or something. You know, like I’ve been telling you to do for a million years.

Peeta sighed and watched Katniss step out of the dressing room, the chosen dress in hand. He sent Prim, I do know. I’m just a giant chicken. He deleted the last few texts and then followed Katniss to the register. “I’ll pay for the dress.” He offered.

“I can get it.” She grumbled. “I’ll just move some things around.” She took her debit card out and handed it over. “I have the money, I was just planning on using it for some repairs around my house.”

Peeta watched as she finished the transaction and then picked up the dress. “Well, I do know a thing or two about home repair. I could help.”

Katniss led him out the door. “I’d like that.” Her phone went off and she paused to read. She scowled. “Gale’s blowing me off for Madge. Again.” She started walking again, a much quicker pace this time.

“Are they together for real this time?” He fell into step beside her.

“I guess.” She groaned. “It would have been nice to know that. I set up the house for sexy time. I set up myself for sexy time.”

Peeta cleared his throat. “Well, if you want company, I could hang out. No sexy time required.”

With a heavy sigh, Katniss said, “I guess spending time with you is just as good. I mean, I know all Gale’s moves by now and it’s starting to get boring.”

He gave himself a mental high five. “Okay, I’ll get the beer if you get the movie and we can go halfsies on pizza?”

“Sounds good.” She opened the passenger door to his car. “I’ll order pizza while you drive.”

A half hour later, they were back at Katniss’s place with two large pepperoni pizzas, a bottle of vodka, a couple two liters of soda, and a sappy romantic comedy from the 90s. They finished one pizza and almost half the vodka between them by the time the movie was over. They were in the giggly stages of drunk and it was Peeta’s favorite version of Katniss. She didn’t let go often, though she did it more around him.

Katniss poured another drink, a little more vodka this time around, and took a large gulp. “Want to play two truths and a lie?” She asked, her words slurring just a little.

Peeta giggled. “You and I know each other’s truths already.”

She leaned in and said conspiratorially, “Maybe I’ll surprise you.”

There was a tightening in his pants. He let out a calming breath. “Then you go first.”

Sitting back, she counted off with her fingers, “I’m thinking about going back to school, I actually kind of like Prim’s damn cat, and I am so stressed about my sister’s wedding.”

“Too easy!” Peeta exclaimed. “You hate Buttercup with a passion.”

Katniss let out a little snicker. “That fucking cat.” She took another sip of her drink, made a face, and poured a bit more soda on top. “Your turn.”

He sighed. “I don’t know, Katniss. You know everything.”

“Try me.” She encouraged.

He thought a moment and then said, “I sometimes wish I’d gone to school for business instead of art, I am looking forward to being an uncle, and… um…” He took a long drink from his glass. “I’m hopelessly in love with my best friend.”

Katniss stared at him a moment. “The third one’s the lie.” She said hopefully. “I mean, I never heard you wish for anything other than your art degree, but you have talked about being frustrated that you didn’t know the business-y parts of the bakery…” She swallowed. “But it’s the lie, isn’t it?”

Peeta sighed and finished off his drink. “Maybe I’m too drunk.” He sat the glass down. “I should just go crash in the guest room.” He stood, but she grabbed his hand.

“Gale was always just a placeholder.” She cursed under her breath. “That’s how I meant to say that.”

“Don’t worry about it.” He pulled his hand from hers.

She stood and grabbed his face. “I’ve had a massive crush on you since grade school, Peeta.”

His heart skipped a beat. “What?”

“I didn’t want to hurt our friendship, so I kept it to myself.”

“But Gale…”

She shrugged. “Available. And he thought he was in love with me, so I just went along with it. That was before Madge came along. And you were always with someone else when Gale and I were on one of our breaks. The timing was never right.”

“Katniss…”

She smiled and pressed a soft kiss to his lips. “Want to go make out in my bed?”

“If you’re sure.” Peeta said with a shaky voice.

Katniss grinned and dragged him out of the room, turning off the lights as she went. She stepped away and shoved her jeans off her hips before climbing into bed.

His heart was now beating out of his chest as he mirrored her movements. He knew how strong her arms were. They’d shared many embraces over the years, most recently after his father’s death. But her lips were something he had only imagined. They were soft and warm. Her mouth tasted like pizza and soda.

She giggled just before she pushed him onto his back and straddled his hips. Her mouth returned to his, but her hands roamed.

Taking it as encouragement, Peeta slipped his hands up Katniss’s back and down again. He caressed her thighs and trailed his hands up just under the hem of her shirt. He was sure his world was about to explode, that he was dreaming, this was something that would end any moment.

But it didn’t end. In fact, she sat back and pulled off her shirt a moment later and slid her hands up under his. “Do you remember that night we played strip poker with Finnick and Annie and everyone?”

He laughed and nodded. “Finnick planned it all so he’d get naked quicker.”

“You put on more clothes.” She leaned over him, bracing her hands on either side of his head. “But we’d all gotten a pretty good look from those wrestling singlets.”

“I don’t like to be naked in front of people.” Peeta spread a hand up over her flat stomach and slipped it around her back, pulling her closer. “I mean, I make exceptions, but not for large crowds.”

Katniss grinned. “Am I an exception?”

“You most definitely are.” He pulled her down and kissed her deeply, rolling her underneath him.

In between kisses, Peeta confessed that he’d tried and failed several times to tell Katniss his true feelings. She admitted the same.

Somewhere in the early hours of the morning, they finally decided that kisses were only making them tired. They fell into a tangle of limbs and were asleep in just a few breaths. Peeta had never slept better in his life.

[ylla]

Friday Night Gurus - Chapter 5

Series: JJBA Ships: josuyasu, koichi/yukako (others will eventually happen too, but im tagging as i go) Tags: celebrity au, modern au, pining, recreational drug use (smoking that wacky tabaccy), meeting some of the fam, dirty talk, dicc succing, josuke and okuyasu go on a learning journey together Rating: E (YEAHHHH TIME FOR SOME SEXY STUFF)

AO3 link

LONG TIME, NO SEE. Sorry for taking 10000 years to update. I’ve got a 20 hour unpaid internship, 20 hour work week, and a full class load on top of it all. I’m slowly losing my mind! :’D But, I’ve been plugging along at this for awhile, and now it is bearing fruit, so I hope that you all will enjoy the new chapter. I can’t give a time frame of when I’ll have the next one up, as I absolutely have to update TMBTP and also finish a commission, but hopefully it will be sooner than later!

Also, fair warning, this chapter is where the fic earns it’s explicit rating :’) I hope the smut isn’t awfully written, and if it is, it’s due to me hooting like a 12 year old the entire time I wrote it.

A FEW THINGS OF NOTE:

- manxom has given me the good content, and helped me flesh out FNG so much, that i gave them co-author status! They’re real, and strong, and my friend, and has really helped me shape the AU!

- puffle-tuff who is a friend and boi drew Oku and Josuke watching RHoA together! FOLLOW THEIR ART BLOG, THEY’RE SO GOOD! 

- emberandcelica made a spotify playlist for FNG, and it’s really good! So go check it out when you get the chance! 

As always, remember to comment on the fic, kudos the fic, and bookmark the fic to see more of the same fic content.

The worst part of being a world-famous musician, in Josuke’s opinion, was the tedious amount of boring business shit you ended up sitting through. Contracts, scheduling interviews, planning photoshoots; it felt endless at times. Really, being in the business of being yourself could be so dreadful, and Josuke avoided as much as he could. He was a busy man, with a 3 week young relationship with an amazing guy and a load of other horseshit to take care of. The only way Koichi could get him to stay in one place long enough to go over everything was to corner him while they ate at a restaurant, which was exactly what was happening at that moment as they waited for their significant others to appear. “Morioh Records wants you to come by sometime in October to talk about your contract with the new CEO,” Koichi passed Josuke the email he printed out. Josuke made a face while reading it before sliding it back across the table. Morioh Records was his label, and while they had always been good to him, Josuke hadn’t heard anything great about the new guy in charge. He scowled, “I’m good through the next year, why does he wanna talk to me about it already?” Koichi shrugged, “He wants to get all of his ducks in a row, I guess.” “What’s his name again?” “Kira Yoshikage.” “Never heard of him,” Josuke sniffed. “He was some anonymous board member that somehow got appointed as CEO when the other guy retired.” Koichi pulled out another piece of paper, “Last thing, I swear,” he quickly added when Josuke rolled his eyes so hard, they looked like they were about to pop out of his head, “Calvin Klein called, they wanna do another underwear ad campaign with you.” Josuke perked up at that, “Really? Hell yeah, I’m down.” “Thought you would be. I’ll email them and say you’re up for it,” Koichi looked at his phone with a slight frown, “I figured Yukako and Okuyasu would be here by now. Wonder where they are…” As if summoned by magic, Okuyasu and Yukako blew into the private room they were in. Oku had a strange look on his face as he plopped down in the chair beside Josuke, “Keicho has a girlfriend he didn’t tell me about,” he said in lieu of a greeting. Yukako pressed a kiss on Koichi’s forehead before sitting in the chair beside him, “He doesn’t have a girlfriend.” Okuyasu pointed a finger at her, “They go on dates. And you should’ve told me.” “They aren’t official, and it’s none of my business,” she replied, inspecting her nails. Josuke furrowed his eyebrows, “Wait, what?” Instead of responding, Okuyasu fished his phone out of his pocket, and opened up a text message before handing it off to Josuke, “It’s easier to just read it.” Clearly, it was something that was bothering his boyfriend; Josuke turned his eyes to a group chat titled DICKHEAD. Okuyasu: yooooo who wants to get wings with me tonight????? Okuyasu: keicho u gotta come with Big Bro💣: No. Okuyasu: well y the fuck not??? Big Bro💣: I’m busy. Okuyasu: too busy for ur little brother??? breakin my heart over here ;)n(; ☠Fungi☠: oku what the fuck is that face Okuyasu: ITS ME!!! IM SAD!!!! Okuyasu: bro what r u doin thats more important than eatin food ☠Fungi☠: yeah keicho, way to be transparent with your bros Big Bro💣: It’s none of your concern. Go eat gross shit with your boyfriend and don’t annoy me with it. :| A bunch of text messages were Okuyasu and Yuuya needling Keicho, with him responding with various ways of saying ‘shut the fuck up’, until Yukako spoke. YuYu Kakosho👊💥: He’s probably seeing that girl I caught him with back in March. Okuyasu: WHAT ☠Fungi☠: oh shit Toilet Hazmat🚽☣: kek Okuyasu: U DIDNT TELL ME??? Big Bro💣: Goddamn you, Yukako. You said you wouldn’t say anything.  YuYu Kakosho👊💥: I’m tired of having my phone blow up. Get it out of your systems now. ☠Fungi☠: you got a girlfriend, keicho?? Someone strike up the band Okuyasu: Y DIDNT U TELL US Big Bro💣: 1) She’s not my girlfriend, and 2) You two screaming is exactly why I didn’t. The rest of the messages were just Yuuya sending suggestive emojis and Keicho threatening to inflict violence upon his person. “Sooo, he’s seeing someone?” Josuke asked. Okuyasu scowled, “Yeah, that blonde-haired fuck. He didn’t tell me.” He sunk down in his chair, face sullen, “Why would he hide that from me?” “Because Keicho never tells anyone anything about his personal life,” Yukako interjected, face neutral. “I’m his brother—” She raised an eyebrow, “I’ve only known you people for three years, and I can see why Keicho Nijimura keeps everything close to the chest.” Koichi had busied himself with his phone, “Don’t take it to heart, he most likely has his reasons.” “Still, we’re all the only family we got left. I don’t wanna hear about things in his life from other people.” Yukako sighed exasperatedly, “If it makes you feel better, the only reason I know this is because I happened to see him with her at that coffee shop.” “What were they doing? What does she look like?” Josuke leaned in. He didn’t care about Keicho or his love life, but he sure did love hot gossip. “Talking. He had his hand on her arm, she was blushing and giggling. Typical flirting.” Yukako took a sip of Koichi’s tea, “She’s not like any of the other girls I’ve ever seen him with; no tattoos or piercings. Has long, curly brown hair, blue eyes, petite. I’d put her at about 5'2 or 5'3. Very pretty."  "Damn girl, you really have an eye for that kind of thing,” Josuke said thoughtfully, “How did he find out you knew and how did he buy your silence.” “Took a picture of them together, sent it to him later that night. Got a promise that he’d do me favors in exchange for me not repeating what I saw.” Josuke whistled, “Cold-blooded.” Yukako merely shrugged, “That’s the nature of the beast.” Okuyasu sighed, but said nothing. Josuke frowned a little at him, “Since you don’t really have plans, do you wanna get pizza with me and some of my family tonight?” Oku waved a hand, “Don’t need ya to take pity on me.” At that, Josuke rolled his eyes, “I’m not, I want you to come out with us. You gotta meet them anyways.” “Hmm…who’s gonna be there?” “Polnareff, his boyfriend, my nephew, his husband, and their daughter. Pol’s sister may be there too.” “…Does this place have wings?” “All you can eat.” Okuyasu smacked his hand on the table, grin replacing his scowl, “I’m sold.” “Good shit, I’ll let them know,” Josuke brushed his hand over the one Oku smacked down onto the table, “You’ll like 'em, they’re good people.” “Josuke,” Koichi interrupted, “I emailed the Calvin Klein people. They’re going to get in touch with us to schedule the shoot.” “C-Calvin Klein?” Okuyasu stuttered. “Yeah, doing another underwear ad campaign for them.” “O-oh. That’s…good…” Okuyasu’s face was blood red.  Before Josuke could ask what was up, a waiter sprang up to take their orders. Questions for another time.

Meeting at Pineapple Larry’s Pizzeria for dinner, followed by a couple hours at the arcade was a tradition that dated back ten years. Originally it had just been Polnareff, his boyfriend, Josuke’s nephew, and his now husband, but then grew to include Pol’s little sister, Josuke’s niece, and Josuke himself.  When he and Okuyasu breezed in, Josuke was in the process of warning him that his nephew was taciturn, his niece would bully him into playing Street Fighter II, and that everyone was great, save for the fact that they liked to put pineapple on their pizza. Josuke couldn’t give anymore heads up when his 5 year old niece went flying into his boyfriend’s arms. “Oku!!!"  "Hey, it’s my favorite bunhead!” Okuyasu caught her in a hug, “How you been, Jolyne Cuisine?” “Good!” “Uh, what?” Josuke asked, perplexed.  Jolyne waved at her uncle, “Hi, uncle Josuke!” Okuyasu did a double take, “Uncle?” She looked between the two of them, “Uncle Josuke, do you know Oku too??” “Yeah, he’s my boyfriend–” Jolyne gasped and hugged Okuyasu harder, “Really?? Wowie, that’s awesome!” She grinned, her front left tooth missing, “Now I’m gonna have two cool uncles.” Josuke felt his face go crimson, and was only mildly relieved when he saw the same color mirrored on Oku’s face. A man with flaming red hair, cherry earrings, and tattoos strolled up to them, “Jo, don’t choke him.” “'Kay, daddy! I’m gonna tell pops that Oku’s here!!” She hopped down, and took off towards the back of the restaurant.  “Sorry, Okuyasu,” Noriaki Kujo smiled, “You know how she can get.” “S'fine, I uh, didn’t know you guys were related?” Noriaki laughed, “Yeah, Josuke’s technically my uncle.” “What the fuck, dude, why didn’t you tell me you knew Oku??” Josuke asked incredulously. “Where would the fun be in that?” Noriaki responded with a toss of his singular hair curl. Josuke learned as they walked to the table that Okuyasu had been patronizing Hierophant Green, Noriaki’s tattoo parlor, for a long time. “He did me and Keicho’s memorial tattoos for our mom,” Okuyasu explained as they followed Jolyne to the back. “Not to mention all those cover-ups,” Noriaki shook his head, “Whoever allowed you two to get those monstrosities should be hanged.” Jotaro, Jolyne, and Polnareff were already at the table; Jotaro was reading through a thick stack of papers, but threw up a hand in acknowledgement that he was aware of their presence. “Bonsoir,” Polnareff greeted them, “Mo is running late, but he’ll be here soon,” his face turned into a grimace, “And my precious little sister will not be joining us today, as she has a date with some man she has yet to introduce me to.” Noriaki took his place beside Jotaro, “Is it the same one she’s been seeing all this time?” “Yes!” Polnareff groused, hands up in the air. “They aren’t even dating! She says it’s 'casual’ and 'non-exclusive’,” he used air quotes while talking. Josuke and Okuyasu sat down. “Not to change the subject or anything,” Josuke started, “But the fact that all of you have met Okuyasu before really took the wind out of my sails.” “He hasn’t met Av yet.” Jotaro pointed out, eyes not leaving his paper. “That is true,” Okuyasu said helpfully, “I ain’t met him yet.” He rubbed Josuke’s shoulder, “It’s all gravy.” Their orders were taken and well on their way on coming out before Avdol showed up. “Apologies,” he said, while kissing the top of Jolyne’s head, then Polnareff’s cheek, “Had a student with a crisis, but it’s all resolved now.” He turned his attention to Okuyasu, “And this must be the boyfriend I’ve heard so much about,” Avdol stuck a hand out, eyes twinkling, “Mohammed Avdol, pleased to make your acquaintance. Everyone calls me Mo or Avdol, so feel free to address me as either.” “Uh, likewise,” Okuyasu shook his hand nervously, “Polnareff talks about you alot.” Josuke snorted. That was the understatement of the century. Avdol elbowed Polnareff as he settled down beside him, “Hopefully you’ve heard nothing, but good things.” Polnareff was affronted, “Excusez-moi? I’ve done nothing, but sing your praises to everyone. Perhaps I should start revealing the truth.” “And what truths do you have to reveal, Jean?” “That you are mean to me, you insult me, you don’t appreciate anything I–” Jotaro rolled up his substantial pile of papers and started smacking Polnareff in the head, much to Jolyne’s amusement, “Shut up, no one cares.” The Frenchman would not be silenced, “Betrayed by my own flesh and blood!” “We aren’t related, jackass.” Thankfully, the pizzas and Oku’s wings picked the right time to come out.  Josuke made a face at the Pineapple Larry’s Pineapple Larry Special, which was a Hawaiian pizza. Which Josuke hated with an almost irrational passion, so he scarfed down his little margherita pizza (Oku tried the pineapple. Final verdict: pretty damn good). “Hey Oku, when’s ya birthday?” Jolyne asked between shoveling huge bites of pizza in her mouth. Okuyasu was on what was probably his 27th wing, “October 10th.” Josuke spat his drink all over Polnareff, who immediately started shrieking and ran off to the bathroom, “That’s literally two weeks away! Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” “It never came up.” “We gotta throw ya a party,” Josuke whipped his phone out. “Nah nah, don’t worry about it,” Okuyasu put his hands up, “S'fine, dude.” Josuke rubbed his arm with one hand while texting with his other, “Don’t worry about it, we’ll get you and a bunch of other people shitfaced.” Okuyasu was about to protest, but Noriaki waved him down, “Might as well accept it, Okuyasu.” He stood up and stretched, “You guys ready to head to the arcade?” Jolyne hopped up and posed, “I’m ready!” Avdol followed suit, “I’ll go coax Jean out of the bathroom.” As Avdol walked away, Okuyasu leaned over to whisper in Josuke’s ear, “Hey, let’s go back to my place after we get done here.” “Sounds good, sunshine."  "Come on guys, I gotta beat you in Street Fighter!!” She started tugging on their shirt sleeves, “Losers have to buy ice cream!!” “You’re on, kid.” Josuke challanged.

“How the fuck did she get so good at Street Fighter?” Oku asked as he finished their shared joint, blowing the smoke into Josuke’s mouth. Josuke held it, then blew it out before answering, “Noriaki is a big nerd. He’s rubbed off on her.” “She’s five.” Josuke shrugged, “I beat Super Mario World when I was five.” They were sitting on a bench underneath a large open window facing out towards the back of Okuyasu’s apartment complex. The arcade trip had been a lot of fun, if you didn’t mind getting schooled at Street Fighter II by a 5 year old playing Blanka. This was the first time Josuke had been to Oku’s apartment in the entire time they’d know each other. It was nice, but didn’t feel like anyone lived in it. 'I hate being alone, so I go sleep in one of Keicho’s spare rooms, Yuuya’s couch, or with you. This place don’t really feel like home, ya know,’ had been Okuyasu’s explanation. The major upside to this place was that the Official Head Roadie and Weedman of Arrowhead, Hazamada, lived directly below Okuyasu. The two of them collaborated on a sick beat while pounding on the door to Hazamada’s apartment, inadvertently pummeling him in the face when he poked his head out to see who was knocking. Josuke almost pissed his pants from laughter; they got a shitty little joint, two middle fingers, and door slammed in their faces for their trouble.

When they lit up, Josuke straddled Oku’s lap and taught him how to shotgun smoke. It took a couple of tries, but eventually he got the hang of it. What followed was intense grinding and sloppy kisses. Josuke was very away of the problem poking at him, but was content with letting Oku twist in the wind for a bit. Then they fell into comfortable conversation, interrupted by the occasional tongue action. “Speaking of games,” Okuyasu stood up and stretched, his shoulders popping in a way that sounded painful, “let’s play something.” “What you got in mind?” “Hmm…” Okuyasu tapped his chin, “How about Metroid Prime 2? I never finished it.” He walked over to his entertainment stand, “I’ll get the Wii hooked up, could you go get my strategy guide for it?” “Why not just look up a FAQ for it?” Okuyasu kept his back turned to Josuke as he sat down to fiddle with the cords, “That guide’s got pictures. Sometimes reading a lot makes my head hurt, so they help.” Josuke nodded, but spoke when he remembered Okuyasu couldn’t see him, “That’s fair. Where is it?” “There’s a big box with "Books stuff” written on the side, filled with old magazines and shit in my spare room. It’s probably in there.“ Okuyasu’s spare room was were odds and ends went to die. The room was full of boxes and clutter that needed sifted through. At first, Josuke thought locating the box Okuyasu had indicated would be an impossible task, but miraculously, he was able to find it lickity-split. The box in question was filled with well-worn magazines and tattered strategy guides. It took a minute, but Josuke was able to find what he was looking for quickly. However, curiosity got the better of him, and he couldn’t help but sit on the floor, and peruse a few of the magazines. Guitar World, Kerrang!, Alternative Press, Rolling Stones; Okuyasu had quite the catalogue. There was a Rolling Stone in particular that, for whatever reason, drew him in. He picked it up and made to flip through it, but noticed that there were some pages stuck together. With care, Josuke peeled the pages apart to find his very first Calvin Klein underwear ad. The ad spanned two pages: one page featured him in nothing but briefs, biting his lip while staring into the camera, arms behind his head. The opposite page was more or less the same, except he had one hand on his chest, the other on a lollipop stick; his tongue peaked out of his open mouth, curled around the lollipop. The pages were covered in some residue. What the fuck did Oku spill on— he thought to himself, until a voice in his head interrupted. It’s semen. He masturbated to your undie ad. This was his spank bank. Josuke became very aware of how sweaty and red-faced he had become. Gently, he rose from the floor, guide and magazine in hand, and returned to the living room. "About time,” Okuyasu said, tongue slightly poking out of his mouth as he struggled to kill an Ing Warrior, “Was gonna go send a search and rescue party to find ya.” Josuke said nothing in response. Instead, he held up the spunk-covered pages, “I see you were a fan of my ad work.” Okuyasu’s face went on a journey from confusion to terrified. “Uhm…” he fidgeted nervously, already starting to sweat, “I can explain…” If he was about to explain it away, Josuke didn’t even give him a chance. He all but leapt onto Oku, shoving his tongue down his throat. A sloppy, heated makeout session ensued, with both of them groping at each other like a pack of horny teenagers. “You know,” Josuke panted, pulling away long enough to catch his breath, “We never cashed in that raincheck.” Before Okuyasu could respond, Josuke slid out of his lap, down in-between his knees. “I wanna make good on it,” Josuke rubbed the pronounced bulge in Okuyasu’s pants, “Can I suck you off, babe?” It seemed that Oku had been rendered completely speechless by that question. After a few seconds of processing what Josuke said, he could only manage to nod dumbly at his boyfriend. Josuke flashed him a wicked grin before pulling Oku’s basketball shorts and boxer briefs down in one go. A slight moan fell out of his mouth when he saw what awaited him. Okuyasu had a huge dick, and Josuke was delighted. It was long, thick, and throbbing; he couldn’t tear his eyes away from it. “Oh fuck, baby,” Josuke bit his lower lip. “Wh-what?” Oku found his voice again. Josuke glanced up at him, and found that his face was puce and covered in sweat. “You look tasty.” With that, Josuke swiped his tongue all the way down Oku’s shaft, pleased at the whimper it elicited from him. He wrapped his hand around Okuyasu’s cock, pumping it roughly, “Is this what you thought about when you jerked it to me? What my mouth would feel like? How I’d sound when I’d beg for your cock?”

“God, yes,” Okuyasu gasped, covering his ruddy face with his hands.

“No baby, look at me when I fuck you with my mouth.”

Okuyasu didn’t remove his hands, but he peaked at Josuke through his spread fingers, eyes wide. Good enough, Josuke thought to himself as he took Oku’s dick into his mouth. Unfortunately, Josuke wasn’t blessed enough to not have a gag reflex, but he made up for it by harshly jerking the inches of Okuyasu he couldn’t fit into his mouth.

Not that his boyfriend seemed to mind. He was too busy moaning and cursing as Josuke prayed at the altar that was his dong.

Either his succ game was too strong, Okuyasu hadn’t known the touch of another person upon his penis in a long time, or the fact it was just Josuke Higashi-goddamn-kata giving Oku’s dick the business, Okuyasu panted out, “I’m close,” after a few minutes.

Josuke pulled back off his dick, still working the shaft, “Where do you want to cum, beautiful?”

“Your mouth,” Okuyasu grunted, voice rough.

Josuke pressed his tongue against the head of Oku’s cock, “Be a good boy and fill my mouth up. Coat my tongue.”

The dirty talk sent Okuyasu over the edge; he let out a single “Fuck!” as he spent himself in Josuke’s mouth.

Hot cum glazed Josuke’s tongue. He waited patiently until Oku was done spurting before showing him the load, and then making a big show of swallowing it. Unable to help himself, Josuke licked the head of his cock clean, revealing in the shudders that he felt pass through Okuyasu and the winded expression on his face.

Josuke stood up, feeling triumphant, “I’m gonna get a soda. You want some water?” He didn’t bother to wait for a response, as he walked into the kitchen.

As he pulled out a can of soda, he was acutely aware of his own boner. It was a problem that needed to be taken care of, but he just sucked the soul out of Okuyasu through his dick, so Josuke felt that it might be poor form to demand a blowjob. Perhaps later—

He was brought out of his thoughts when he felt Okuyasu press up against him from behind, palming Josuke’s dick through his sweats, teeth on his neck. Unconsciously, Josuke hissed, arching his back into his boyfriend. “I’m not the kinda guy to leave someone hanging,” Okuyasu spoke into his ear, voice like sandpaper, “I’m gonna suck you off, angel. Turn around.”

Josuke didn’t need to be told twice. He spun around, pulling his dick out; Oku backed him up against the counter, before kneeling in front of him. As if hypnotized, Okuyasu gently wrapped his callused fingers around Josuke’s cock, slightly stroking. Josuke’s breath hitched at every stroke. After a couple of minutes he groaned, “You’re killing me, dude.”

“S-sorry,” Okuyasu whispered sheepishly, “Jus’ appreciating the view.” As if he was ravenous, he dove down onto Josuke’s cock, taking it all the way to the back of his throat in one go. “Jesus H. Christ, do you not have a gag reflex,” Josuke stuttered out, completely taken aback. He didn’t get a response, only a devilish look from his boyfriend.

Curling his fingers into Okuyasu’s unmade hair, Josuke just tried to enjoy the ride. He was unable to keep his hips still; the longer he felt Oku’s hot tongue or throat clamp around his cock, Josuke thrusted more and more into his mouth.

Okuyasu pulled his dick out of his mouth for a moment, “You can facefuck me if you want.”

“You sure?”

Yet again, he received a response in the form of a look and the feeling of Oku’s throat against the head of his dick.

Not one to deny such a polite request, Josuke snapped his hips, fucking Oku’s mouth. His eyes rolled up into the back of his head; he wondered if this is how he’d fuck Okuyasu’s ass eventually. The thought of it made Josuke’s inside clench, and he couldn’t stop himself from groaning out Okuyasu’s name over and over again while he shot jets of cum down his throat. If he wasn’t so spent, he would feel embarrassed how quickly he came, but goddamn did that feel good.

Okuyasu waited like a good boy until Josuke pulled out of his mouth before he swallowed and stood up. Both of them eyed each other with worn out expressions. Josuke was the first to break the silence, leaning over and softly kissing Okuyasu, who returned it, “Metroid?”

“Metroid.”

“You know, if I went back in time and told myself a year ago that Josuke Higashikata would suck my soul out through my dick, I’d whoop my own ass for being a liar.”

Josuke snorted, eyes trained on his phone’s screen as he organized Okuyasu’s birthday party, “I ain’t a succubus, Oku.”

“Whatever helps you sleep at night, demon.” Oku was brows were furrowed, trying to not die while fighting Quadraxis.

“So, you jerked it to that ad of me, like, pretty frequently?”

Okuyasu sighed, cheeks going pink, “Yeah. I bought that issue when I saw those pictures in there. It gave me a lot of inspiration.”

“Man, that really feeds my ego.”

“Don’t be getting a big head, Higashikata. It’s already massive.”

“Fuck you, there’s nothing wrong with my head!!”

Okuyasu cackled, which quickly turned into a groan of frustration as he was squished to death by Quadraxis, “Fuck this robotic piece of shit. I’m gonna go to his house and burn it down.”

“He lives in the game, you can’t do that.”

“I know, I know,” he rubbed his face, “Still wanna though.” He looked over at Josuke, “You know, you don’t gotta throw me a party.”

“I want to,” Josuke replied, “It’ll be a good time. I’m inviting cool people.” At the apprehensive look on Oku’s face, he continued, “All of them know about us, so no worries there. You’ve already met most of them, and my family will be there.”

“Okay, then that’s fine. I think. Jus’ make sure to invite Keicho and all them too.”

“Don’t worry, I will,” Josuke said soothingly, “This will be a lot of fun, I promise. Nothing bad will happen.”

He hoped that his promise would ring true.

[lovemenowmr]

Chapter eight

"I'm Nico" the little boy said looking up to me "Do you want some breakfast? It's almost finished" he said rushing back to the kitchen island.

I got up and sent Marco a questioning look.

"He's my nephew" he said "My sister called this morning because she couldn't take him to kindergarten, I was supossed to do it but I rather spend the morning with him, I hope you don't mind"

"It's okay" I said "I have to leave anyway, I have class"

"It's ten in the mornign already" he said "Won't you be late? Stay with us, we're finishing breakfast"

I debated with myself wether to stay or not for a moment and decided to stay since it would take me twenty minutes to get to my flat and then I needed to change so I wouldn't be able to attend most of my lessons.

"What are we having?" I asked moving to the other side of the kitchen island, in front of them.

"Bread with sausages and butter and orange juice" Nico said cheerful while Marco kept cooking "Uncle Marco, is it ready yet?"

"Almost"

Marco finished cooking soon after that and the three of us sat at the countertop eating in silence. Once we were finished, Marco tidied up while Nico and I sat at the couch to watch some TV – cartoons. We spent the moornign watching movies, Nico over my lap and my legs over Marco's. At noon Nico started to get bored and asked us to play with him. Marco sent him to find his toys and he disappeared from the corridor.

"Thanks for staying" he said.

"It's allright. You're nephew is adorable"

"He takes after his nephew" he said cockily.

I shoved him playfully just as Nico came running into the living room carrying a huge amount of toys.

"Adi come" he said taking my hand into his little one " I can't bring them all"

I followed down to the corridor and entered throguh the left door at the hall. The room itself was a formal living room but it didn't seemed used, there was a cabinet placed in front of the door which was full of toys for Nico. He picked some of them and I picked the rest, his uncle definitely spoiled little Nico.

As Nico and I entered the living room we saw Marco talking on the phone "I know Yvone... Sorry... He's three Yvone they don't learn anything... Okay... Will do, see you in a bit"

We dropped the toys at the floor and Nico ran to Marco, grabbing his leg.

"Is it mommy?" he asked "Can I talk to her?"

Marco nooded and hand him the phone, the little one cheerfully telling his mother how much fun he had at "Uncle Marco"'s house. Marco smiled down at him and walked over to me, his arm going round my waist as he pressed his lips down to mine.

"I hadn't properly kissed you today" he said as he pulled away "I gotta take Nico to my sister's house, I'll call you a taxi so you can go home"

Nico finished talking with his mother and we went up to Marco's bedroom where my clothes were so Marco could take a shower. There was another staircase closer to the bedroom and the living room so we didn't have to go to the foyer again. I quickly got changed as Marco showered and Nico stayed at Marco's bedrrom with me playing with a little train at the end of the bed.

"Are you Uncle Marco's girl?" he asked as I sat next to him.

"Why do you ask?" I answered not knowing what to tell him

"Uncle Marco said we were making his girl breakfast and you had breakfast with us" he said shrugging his little shoulders making my heart go crazy and heat rose to my cheeks.

"Umm... yeah I am. Are you okay with that?" I asked gently, intrigued as to why would he asked that.

"Yeah..." he said while playing with his train "You're fun"

I picked the other train and started playing with him, our conversation forgotten. We played for a while chasing each other's trains over the floor. Marco came back after a while, dressed with a pair of jeans and a grey sweater, a black cap placed over his wet hair.

"Are we ready to go?" he asked handing me a jacket "I figured you would need this"

"Thanks" I said as I put it on, the bottom reaching at my thights.

The three of ours made our way to the front of the hose, two taxis waiting for us. I said goodbye to both of them, Nico, who gave me a tight hug putting his little arms around me as I gave him a kiss on the cheek, fist and then Marco, who gave me a sweet kiss and promised me to "call me later". I got into my taxi and give him my direction, after twelve minutes the taxi was slowing down in front of my door. Marco had already payed for the ride so once it stopped I said goodbye to my driver and headed out, the cold air hitting my bare legs.

As I stepped outside of my flat I grabbed my charger and plugged my phone. I ran myself a quick shower and put some comfortable clothes on. As it was already late I switched my phone up to call some take away, the screen lighted and my phone went crazy. When it stopped ringing it showed I had 50 unread messages and 15 missed calls, scared something had happened to my family. I entered the app and  I saw I had one from my mother wishing me a good day, another one from my brother, ten from my friend's group chat and 38 from Elise, the missed calls were also hers. I didn't bother to read the 38 long messages, calling her instead.

"Finally!" she said when she picked the phone up.

"Hello to you too" I said amused "What did you send me so many texts? You scared me"

"I scared you?" she asked not showing any shame "Oh I'm sorry but my face isn't all over the news after I went out last night with the most famous footballer in town and disappeared the whole night"

"Okay I'm sorry I didn't call but my phone must have died las night and this morning Nico was at... wait my face is where?" I asked as I realized what she had said.

"Don't you know?" she asked "You got papped yesterday while leaving with Marco, everybody at school were looking at me today, probably expecting to see you as well, I thought that was why you didn't show up today"

"Shit" I said remembering what had happened last night, smiling as I remembered what had happened at the taxi right after that "Okay but I'm sure is not that bad?"

"Adi" Elise said with a dramatic pause "Marco has not been seen with a girl for so long, there has been a lot of rumors but no actual proofs, and with last night it's already twice you had been seen together, it is a big deal. But don't worry you still don't know a lot of people and I'm sure people from class won't say a thing about you, the press still don't know your name"

"Honey are you there?" he said after I stood silent for a while.

"Yeah, I'm all right" I said.

"So, where were you this morning?" she asked.

"With Marco" I said earning a scream from Elise "Her nephew was there as well and we looked after him. He told the little boy I was his girl"

"Omg, that's so cute" Elise said "We can't talk about it over the phone. Are you home now? I'll bring food and today's notes"

She hang up and got to my flat twenty minutes later with two pizzas, we sat at my couch and ate as I told her all about last night earning "awws" and "that's so cute"s time from time, obviusly keeping some parts to myself. I was now writing today's notes, Elise sitting next to me while watching TV.

“Yesterday night Marco Reus was seen leaving the Iroom with a hot date by his side” a woman said at a gossip program making me lift my head up, photos of me and Marco behind her “we can now confirm she's the same girl he was with at Westfallenpark last Tuesday. An unknown source has confirmed the girl's name is Adela and she's an Spanish student here at Dortmund University. The 21 year-old is currently studing Fashion and Interior Design...”