#so close that in grade 5-6 i considered him my best friend

[restlessmaknae]

tag game - describe your most interesting love story as if you were making a fic

Tagged by: @tranquilpetrichor​ (thank you!)

Tagging anyone who feels like doing this! *-*

Truth to be told, my love life is practically non-existent, but since I was oh so kindly tagged and it seemed fun, I’ve decided to go with the could-be love story of mine.

genre: childhood sweethearts to strangers, middle school & high school au, real-life bittersweet

wc: a decent 10k to sum up all the years that we’ve known each other

warnings: life happens and we don’t end up together, also throw in some insecurities and uncomfortable my-sister-flirts-with-this-guy scenes and there you have the story

[maraschinomerry]

You and Me

Pairings: George Karim x gn!reader

Summary: five times George didn't know he had a crush on you, and one time he did

Content: fluff, first kiss, canon-typical danger

A/N: I've been working on this for ages and am so relieved it's finally done! A lot less angsty than most of my stuff, just tooth-rottingly sweet for a change 💕

Word count: 3.2k

Taglist: @neewtmas @marinalor @ettadear

5.

George hovered in your doorway. You'd left it ajar, your secret signal to each other that you were up for company, but it was almost 2am and he'd never visited this late.

"Hey Georgie," your voice whispered from the dim lamplight within. "Couldn't sleep?"

He shook his head before realising he couldn't actually see you and there was a chance you couldn't see him either. "No, I, uh… no."

Suddenly your head popped up from behind your bed, blinking groggily, and you waved him over. He pulled the door shut behind him.

"How did you know I was there?"

"Because I know you, silly," you elbowed him playfully as he sank to the ground beside you, your backs resting against the bed. You tried to ignore how scratchy the sheets were against your neck.

You'd both joined Fittes about the same time, and as the two newbies and joint youngest you quickly became inseparable. Everyone else was alright, you were a team after all, but between the elitist mindset and regulation living quarters the place never really felt like home. It had quickly become apparent that 'home' for both of you was each other, and now nearly 6 months in you spent most of your free time in one of your rooms or tucked away in a corner of the British Archives. Much like tonight, shoulder to shoulder in the soft orange glow.

You sat in companionable silence for a while, occasionally being pulled from your thoughts when your fingers would brush his and it felt like a spark ran up the whole length of your arm.

Eventually, George spoke. "Do you ever think about leaving?"

You turned to him with a frown. "Leaving Fittes? Duh."

"Fittes, London, agents' work, all of it!" His voice held a hint of the animation it did when he was telling you about a particularly exciting artifact, but there was something sombre about it tonight too.

"I mean, yeah," you considered, "but it's not that simple. Wherever we go, the Problem will follow. And we had a plan, Georgie."

A month after you'd joined, the first time George had been in your room, the two of you had made a contract. Pass your Grade Four, leave Fittes, establish your own agency, become the best in London (in England, even) and have your weaselly team leader Brookes begging you to come back or better yet hire him. But you wouldn't, because you wouldn't need him. It would be you and your rapier, George and his research, against the world. You and him.

"You and me," George murmured. You smiled warmly at him, draping and arm around his shoulder and pulling him close.

Something shifted deep in his chest.

Oh.

4.

It had been the worst year of your life.

Your best and perhaps only friend in the whole world had been fired, sent packing in the middle of the night with no chance to leave you a contact number or tell you where he was going. When you found out the next morning, Brookes had had to give you the rest of the day off because you couldn't stop crying long enough to achieve anything. How could you focus on training when a piece of your soul had been torn from you?

It only got worse from there. You were sidelined for countless opportunities, used as bait like you were nothing, and to top it all off you were reassigned to the team of one Quill Kipps, who you thought made Brookes look like a saint.

One day, in late summer, you reached your limit.

You quit.

"Where will you go?" Kipps had asked. You wanted to think he was mocking you, telling you that nowhere would accept some Fittes reject, but truth be told he was genuinely concerned.

You didn't know the answer to his question, but you refused to stay for a day longer. Measly bag of belongings and rapier in tow, you made your way round London to every agency you could think of. No luck. This was such a bad idea. George would be horrified by your lack of planning.

Not for the first time, you wondered where your friend had ended up. Maybe he'd gone north. Maybe he'd opened his own agency. Maybe he'd given it all up like he said. Surely he wasn't still in London. He'd have looked for you, right? Right?

You flopped dejectedly onto a bench in Hyde Park. It was close to nightfall, and you'd need to find somewhere to stay. A newspaper lay abandoned beside you, half falling through the gap in the wood. You thumbed through it to the ads section, hoping to find a boarding house or even a late-night pub.

Your eyes lit up.

"A.J. Lockwood & Co. Prestigious agency hiring junior agent. 35 Portland Row."

With trembling hands you tore the advert from the paper and tossed the rest aside, sprinting for the nearest taxi rank.

The door to 35 Portland Row was opened by a tall boy with dark hair and equally dark circles under his eyes.

"Hello, I'm looking for Mr Lockwood."

He offered you a smile. "That would be me. How can I help?"

You hesitated. He barely looked older than you, let alone old enough to be the head of a prestigious agency. Then again, you had no other prospects and nowhere to go. You inhaled, preparing yourself.

"I'm here about the job." You held up the newspaper cutting with a slightly trembling hand.

"Splendid!" His smile widened. With a flourish, he gestured for you to step inside and guided you through the door on the right into an eclectic living room. "Have a seat, my colleague has just gone to brew a fresh pot of tea if you're interested?" You nodded. It had been such a busy day you hadn't even realised you'd skipped lunch and your mouth was dry as a bone.

While you waited, you dug out your hastily constructed CV and handed it to Lockwood, who skimmed over it with interest. As he turned the page, a door behind you creaked open and he lowered the paper as he looked up.

"Ah, perfect timing. Another candidate, thought I'd wait until you got back," Lockwood explained to the mystery figure as they moved around the edge of the sofa, before he turned to you. "Allow me to introduce my colleague-"

You barely registered what he was saying. Your focus was entirely taken up by the curly haired, bespectacled boy holding the tea tray.

"Georgie."

The tray clattered unceremoniously onto the coffee table, and before Lockwood could register what was happening you were on your feet, being tackled into a bear hug that almost knocked George's glasses straight off his nose. Your arms wrapped around his waist as you buried your head into his shoulder, tears already formed and soaking into his orange plaid shirt. Lockwood watched in fascination as his friend, who had well established in his year with the company that he did not enjoy physical contact, scrunched his eyes shut and brought his free hand (the one that wasn't gripping your shoulder like a lifeline) up to tangle in your hair.

"Hey, you," he murmured into the top of your head, blinking back tears of his own.

"You two know each other." It was more of a statement than a question from Lockwood, who you had quite forgotten was still in the room. Blushing, you extricated yourself from George's embrace, and felt your pulse skip when the hand that loosened from your shoulder trailed down to link with yours.

"We were together at Fittes," George stated. He must have told Lockwood about your time together, because the other boy just smirked knowingly.

"Very well then, I suppose we can dispense with the tests, if George will vouch for you?" He looked to George, who nodded so hard he thought his head might fall off. "Welcome to Lockwood and Co. Do please have a biscuit."

3.

"George?! George!" you yelled, voice hoarse with dust and nerves.

You'd been fleeing the basement of a decrepit haunted house when, with a sickening crack, the bottom half of the rickety wooden staircase collapsed right behind you. George had pushed you to leave first. He'd been right behind you. On those steps.

You crouched at the edge of the shaft, terrified of what you were about to see. Your mind filled with visions of your best friend, laying prone or ghost-touched on the cold concrete below. Relief and adrenaline flooded your veins when you saw him, from the chest up, clinging to the remaining steps and legs dangling above the debris. Lockwood and Lucy, the newest member of the agency, were nowhere to be seen, but the ripple of a reforming Type Two behind George was all too noticeable. Bracing yourself as best you could, you reached down and gripped him by the forearms. You weren't sure you could lift him alone, but as soon as his knees cleared the now-bottom step he was able to scrabble his way onto his feet. He scampered up the remaining steps and slammed the hatch closed with an echoing finality.

Your hands were on him immediately - brushing hair from his eyes, turning his head side to side, adjusting his glasses, running down his arms and across his torso, anywhere you could think of to check for injuries.

George was perfectly unharmed, he knew. Nothing more than a couple of splinters embedded in his T-shirt and a slight lack of breath from where his chest had slammed into the step. But he said nothing, more than content to let the accident disguise the real reason for the quickening of his breath as you worked your fingers across almost every inch of him. As they came to rest on his chest, he prayed you would think his racing heartbeat was just from the narrow escape, his flushed face just from exertion. This really wasn't professional, any other agency would have him on a disciplinary, but he was too far gone to care. Still, probably best if Lockwood didn't find out. He wouldn't be mad, of course, but he would be so smug.

2.

You woke up in a cold sweat, barely even aware of where you were. Weeks had passed since the Bone Glass was destroyed, but you were still plagued with nightmares. Sometimes it was Lucy, hanging unconscious from the Skull. Sometimes it was Lockwood, bleeding out on the catafalque. Mostly it was George, in any number of horrifying scenarios. Tonight, you'd watched rigidly, unable to move to help no matter how much you yelled at your dream self to save him, as Joplin pressed her knife closer and closer to his throat. His echoing cry as the blade dug into his skin had flung you awake with a jolt.

A gentle tap at your door pulled you back to reality.

"Yeah?" you called, voice catching.

The sight of a familiar mop of curls, attached to a very much alive George, began to soothe your speeding heartbeat.

"Hey, is everything okay? I thought I heard you scream." Oh my god. How were you supposed to explain that away? Lockwood and Lucy were away on a case, you two were the only ones in the house and it definitely hadn't been him imagining things.

"I'm fine," you said with a smile that didn't reach your eyes.

Falteringly, George stepped further into your room as though there was an invisible barrier he wasn't sure whether to cross. "Are you sure? You don't seem fine. You're shaking." You'd dropped your gaze lest he scrutinise it, so you hadn't seen how close he'd come until he was on his knees in front of you, reaching for your trembling hands. When you didn't pull away, he took them ever so gently, grounding you. You bit back a sob. "Hey, hey," his voice softened further, "I've got you." He moved to sit next to you on the bed, bringing the hand nearest to you up to rub circles into your back.

"I'm sorry," you mumbled between sobs, "I didn't mean to wake you. It was just a stupid nightmare."

The hand left your back, then it was on your cheek, turning you to him. His thumb brushed away your tears.

"Listen to me, (name). You have nothing to be sorry for, you understand? I know what it's like, I get nightmares too sometimes and they feel so real, so don't dismiss it as stupid. And I hate the thought of you suffering in silence. You're the most important person to me, I'd do anything for you, so please let me?" He had no idea where the words came from, but he meant every single one. You nodded, still teary-eyed, and he opened his arm out to allow you to curl into his side.

It was impossible to tell how long you sat like that, but eventually your eyelids began to droop. George noticed and gently manoeuvred you to lie down, drawing the sheets up over you. You gave little protest, too exhausted to mind, until he made to move away, when he felt his hand tugged back.

"Wait." You looked up at him, a blush painting your cheeks. "Will you stay? Please?"

He gave you one of those laughs he only seemed to do around you, more of a sharp exhale through his nose accompanied by fond eyes and a soft smile. "What did I just say? I'd do anything for you." You felt the mattress shift as he settled onto the other side, keeping a respectful distance but making sure you could still feel his presence. At last, you drifted off, knowing he was there.

1.

"You look rough," Lockwood commented when George slouched into the kitchen the next morning. George wanted to bite back that he didn't look much better, hair a mess and eye bags deeper than ever, but he'd only just got back from the case with Lucy so he had a reason to be tired.

"Didn't get much sleep," George muttered, shoving a couple of slices of bread into the toast and clicking the kettle on. Normally he'd start the day with tea or juice, but this time only coffee was going to be strong enough.

Lucy appeared from the basement, looking more dishevelled than Lockwood. A huge smear of dirt coated her cheek and her shirt was torn. She'd heard the conversation. "Are you okay?" She knew George had barely slept for the first few days after the Bone Glass, and his words made her worry he was slipping back into that bad place again.

He realised what she was implying. "Oh, I'm fine. It was (name) who had the nightmare, I just stayed up to make sure they slept okay after it."

Lockwood and Lucy exchanged a glance, fighting to suppress the grins that were beginning to form. George squinted at them.

"That's very chivalrous of you," Lucy said with twitching lips.

"Oh absolutely, you're such a good friend," Lockwood continued. Lucy snorted.

"Well yeah," George frowned, "why are you saying it so weirdly?"

They stared at him like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Because you don't seem to realise how much of a crush you've got on them."

Heat rose in George's cheeks. That was ridiculous; you were his best friend.

"Look," Lucy said gently as she settled at the table, "would you come and check on me if you heard I was having a nightmare?"

"Of course. I've done it for Lockwood before too." He'd visited the other boy's room so many times during his first few months in Portland Row.

"But did you stay up all night with me? And I'm guessing you weren't on their desk chair." Lockwood raised an eyebrow.

George opened his mouth and closed it again. They were mad, they had to be. Sure, he wanted to keep you in his life forever now he'd found you again, but the same could be said of the other members of the agency. As for the need for physical contact, the butterflies it created in his stomach, the way a single smile from you could fix even the worst days, that was just… oh hell.

0.

George felt like he was in shock. All this time, all those funny little feelings he had around you, it was a crush. He could have been with you all this time if only he'd realised. Wait. That was assuming you liked him back, and surely you'd have said something, right? So there was no way you felt the same. But Lockwood and Lucy knew him so well, they would never have brought it up if they didn't think there was more to it. If they didn't know. God, this was complicated.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

Your voice in the doorway made George jump. How long had you been standing there? How long had he been lost in thoughts of you, of finally telling you how he felt now he had the words?

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," you apologised sweetly as you moved to join him on his bed. "It just looked like you were thinking about something very serious, is it anything I can help with?" Yes, it absolutely was. You had no idea how much it was.

"I'm an idiot," he blurted.

You frowned, placing a hand on his knee and unwittingly sending a burst of electricity through his entire body. "You're not an idiot, Georgie. You're the smartest person I know and I love that about you, don't ever downplay it."

"No, (name)," he turned to you, gaze intense and bursting with emotion, "I am. I've been in love with you from the very beginning and it took Lockwood and Lucy intervening for me to realise." He could barely look at you now, terrified of what he might see - confusion, disgust, pity, disappointment. It wasn't how he'd planned on telling you, either. It was supposed to be so much more romantic, but he'd wasted this much time figuring it out that he couldn't bare to waste a second longer waiting for the right moment to come along. "I don't expect you to reciprocate, and it doesn't have to change things, I just wanted you to know."

Whatever reaction he was expecting, a laugh was not it. The sound was light and pure, like wind chimes in a summer breeze. "You are an idiot… for thinking there was any chance I wouldn't feel the same."

The spark from your hand on his knee reached his chest, igniting the fireworks he'd been storing safely in his heart. Colours, beautiful colours, burst before him: the rich centre of your irises, the highlights of the sun on your hair, the flush of your cheeks, the rose of your lips. Your lips.

"Can I kiss you?" he asked quietly.

"I'd be an idiot if I said no," you laughed again as you wound an arm around his waist, pulling him closer and bringing your lips to his. The lingering scent of lavender and old books blended with the taste of tea and biscuits to create a sensation that you knew was completely unique. 'You and me', you'd agreed. And here you were, you and him. You kissed him deeper, relishing in the taste. George tasted just like you'd always imagined he would. Like home.

[lgbtqmanga]

New Releases June 18, 2024

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[m--a-r-i--a]

Questions for myself during my free time.

1. Do you prefer writing with black or blue pen?

-In my opinion, it doesn't really matter to me on what pen I'd use as long as I can write. But most of the time I use a black pen.

2. Would you prefer to live in the country or the city?

-To be honest, I prefer to live in a city than a country lol.

3. If you could learn a new skill, what would it be?

-I want to learn how to dance, be good in Mathematics, and be artistic. Wouldn't it be nice to know how to dance and know how to draw and paint? I suck at those, especially with Math. Smh.

4. Do you drink your tea or coffee with sugar?

-It doesn't really matter to me whether I drink coffee with sugar or not. I love any types of coffee as someone who drinks coffee a lot. But most of the time I drink coffee with sugar.

5. What was your favorite book as a child?

-I don't really like to read unless a book is connected to what I'm interested in. Perhaps books intertwined with Filipino subject or English subject? Lol.

6. Do you prefer baths or showers?

-Doesn't really matter as long as I'm clean. Maybe showers? Because I'm so tired of using my hands to take a bath by using the TABO.

7. If you could be a mythical creature, which would you choose?

-Manananggal or aswang? Hahahah. It'd be nice to fly lol.

8. Do you prefer reading paper or electronic books?

-My back aches just reading e-books on my computer, so I prefer reading paper in the library I suppose?

9. What is your favorite item of clothing?

-Skirts?

10. Do you like your name? Would you ever change it?

-I'm fine with my name, I just cringe everytime I'm the one who says it. If I were to change it, I would want it to be Raven.

11. Who is a mentor to you?

-My family, maybe?

12. Would you ever want to be famous? If so, what for?

-I do want to be famous. Maybe a famous writer, singer, or a video editor? But of course there are problems that I would be facing if I were to become famous.

13. Are you a restless sleeper?

-I don't have an idea, honestly. I sleep comfortably naman. But these days I find it hard to sleep because I think about a lot lately.

14. Do you consider yourself a romantic?

-Probably not. I do flirt with my friends as a joke but if it were to be a real flirting thing, I'd cringe.

15. Which element best represents you?

Element in the periodic table ba? Maybe Oxygen kasi hangin utak ko minsan sa kalutangan.

16. Who do you want to be closer to?

-God, hahah. Hindi kasi ako masyadong maka-Diyos kagaya ng iba that's why I want to try and build a close relationship with him. I want to know what it feels like being connected to God.

17. Do you miss someone at the moment?

-Oo, 'yung mga close kong 'di ko na close ngayon. Bond din namin ng mga friends kong malayo na kami sa isa't isa dahil magkaiba ng section at may different circle of friends na rin sila.

18. Tell us about an early childhood memory.

-Nilagyan ko ng ipis pagkain ng kaklase ko noong Nursery.

19. What is the strangest thing you have eaten?

-Balut? It has a chick inside eh, sometimes it still even has feathers. It looks disgusting but it's delicious in my opinion.

20. What can you see outside your bedroom window?

-Wala akong bedroom eh. Outside of the window na lang ng bahay namin. Hahhaha, ang nakikita ko lang naman kapag sumilip sa bintana is bahay ng kapitbahay namin. Does that even make sense?

21. What are you most thankful for?

-Sa family ko? Sa friends ko? Hahaha. Sa sarili ko na rin kasi nagpapakatatag ako at hindi pa rin sinasabit leeg ko sa kung saan para matigok.

22. Do you like spicy food?

-Yes, of course! :))

23. Have you ever met someone famous?

-Si Jhong Hilario? He's a brother of my ninong e. Ex-B and other famous na artista singer na pumupunta sa Makati kapag may Fiesta. 'Yung stage sa Evangelista minsan doon sila o kaya minsan sa Lucban nilalagyan ng stage.

24. Do you keep a diary or journal?

-May diary ako noong 5th grade. It was a must sa Filipino subject, laging tsinetsek ng teacher namin. 'Di ko na 'yon sinusulatan ngayon. May isa pa akong diary noong 7th grade, 'di ko na rin sinusulatan. May e-diary din ako, sinusulat ko ang nangyayari sa buhay ko sa Notes app sa cellphone ko, na ngayon ay sira na. Hahaha, sayang mga memories ko roon sa cellphone na 'yon. Katamad na rin magsulat ng diary ngayon kaya kahit sa notebook or notes app sa cellphone ko ngayon eh hindi ko na ginagawa.

25. Do you prefer to use pen or pencil?

-Pen, malabo kapag lapis e. But sometimes pencil, if there's something that I'll do and using a pencil is necessary.

26. What is your star sign?

-Aries

27. Do you like your cereal crunchy or soggy?

-Soggy. It gives a feeling I can't explain through words.

28. What would you want your legacy to be?

-Maipaglaban ko ang Pilipinas sa makabagong panahon kahit sa simpleng pagsusulat lang kagaya ni Jose Rizal. Lalo na ngayon dahil sa isyu patungkol sa WPS.

29. Do you like reading? What was the last thing you read?

-Never liked reading unless the book peeked my interest. Huli kong binasa is ang libro kong may pamagat na "Korespondensiya sa Filipino". Naglalaman siya ng kung paano magsulat ng iba't ibang mga liham.

30. How do you show someone you love them?

-I give gifts and my time. Ganoon ako mag-express. Hindi ko kaya sa salita at sa physical touch eh. hahahah.

31. Do you like ice in your drinks?

-Yeah, who doesn't? I just avoid ice or cold drinks when there's an occassion I have to go to and kakanta ako. I don't want to sing with a hoarse voice and may phlegm na nakadikit sa lalamunan ko. Uubo-ubo ako niyan habang kumakanta which is annoying lol.

32. What are you afraid of?

-Death? I'm sensitive with that topic. It triggers my panic attacks.

33. What is your favorite scent?

-Vanilla all the waaayyyy!

34. Do you address older people by their first or last name?

-It doesn't matter to me. I address older people the way they want me to call them. First or Last name doesn't matter.

35. If money was not a factor, how would you live your life?

-Happily, doing the things I love without worrying about money (how to spend and kumita ng money to fulfill the expenses needed to live in everyday life). Ang hirap kasi sa pera, minsan kukuha ka ng propesyong ayaw mo para lang mataas kitain mong pera, dahil ang talagang propesyong magpapasaya sa'yo at ang mga gusto mong gawin sa buhay eh kakarampot lang ang salaping kikititain mo.

36. Do you prefer swimming in pools or in the ocean?

-None of the above, I don't know how to swim sadly.

37. What would you do if you found $50 on the ground?

-50$ 2,500 pesos 'yon sa Pinas. Ise-save ko siyempre kung walang nagmamay-ari pero kung mayroon e 'di isauli. Hahaha, biyaya na 'yan sa'kin! Mukhang pera eh, charot.

38. Have you ever seen a shooting star? Did you make a wish?

-I saw a shooting star noong nasa Baguio ako, inabangan ko talaga 'yon since binalitang may shooting star e. Nag-wish ako, that's normally what people would do right?

39. What is one thing you would want to teach your children?

-Proper decision making, para hindi sila matulad sa'kin na poor decisions ang kadalasang nagagawa sa buhay.

41. What can you hear right now?

-Electricfan namin na umaandar.

40. If you had to have a tattoo, what would it be and where would you get it?

-I want a Treble clef ang ganda eh lalo na mahilig ako sa music. Maybe sa wrist ko.

42. Where do you feel the safest?

-Sa bahay, tapos mag-isa lang ako at tahimik ang paligid. Tamang kinig lang ng music at minsan sasabayan ko by singing.

43. What is one thing you want to overcome/conquer?

-Fear ko sa death, anxiety ko and depression? Hirap mabuhay ng may ganiyan. Dagdag ko na rin pagiging mahiyain ko.

44. If you could travel back to any era, which would you choose?

-Era ng may mga kings and queens? Idk bobo ako sa history.

45. What is your most used emoji?

-crying emoji HAHAHAHHAH 😭 I use it as a laughing emoji.

46. What is your favorite season? Why?

-Rainyyyy, ang kalmado lang.

47. How would you spend your ideal day?

-Sa bahay lang. Tulog-kain-music-piano-kanta-kain.

48. Describe yourself using one word.

-Mahiyain

49. What do you regret the most?

-Desisyon kong hindi pinag-isipan nang mabuti.

50. Invent your own word. What does it mean?

-Shanxioussion. Shy and anxious🥲 Someone na hindi kayang makihalubilo sa iba? Ang hirap ipaliwanag basta similar diyan.

[happy-tori-friends]

a collection of reposts from twotter including the long ago promised oc ramblings

1. The OC Ramblings

i had an oc named emily that i shipped with splendid actually. she ended up becoming a non htf oc i used for some lil booklets i wrote in the 3rd grade. i was also under 13 and on 13+ sites bc i was stupid and im 99% sure emily's best friend in that series had the same name and a similar design to a friends htf oc.

i ended up reusing them for a kids book project in a sociology class back in hs. im sad i didn't get to keep it rip

i also apparently had two others named smokey the cat and alex the dog according to an old youtube account? but idr ever making them.

i also submitted a lilac cat named felicity i drew in ms paint to the voting competition lmao.

all of them - except felicity had hair. but tbf i also gave my sonic ocs hair (in the vain of honey the cat, i think her name was) bc i felt weird with them being 'bald'

and smurb (i used some htf oc maker to make him, he was gonna be the masot of a happy tree friends oc rating tumblr blog which since turned into a blog i reblog things to so i can save them for later)

2. the tomodachi life in my brain (ft. my ocs and shizuo and izaya from durarara)

the tomodachi life-esque apartment in my mind has somehow gotten even funnier. ray and tsubasa invite shizuo and izaya to meet the new ppl who moved into the building. they knock on the door. the door opens and there stand lifty and shifty from happy tree friends. there is a long silent pause. someone shuts the door. there is more silence.

finally tsubasa says 'were those fucking two anthropromorphic green raccoons'

everyone goes back to their apartments, confused as all hell.

3. if i tiktok'd

if i used tiktok id probably make a video of my 3ds closed on my bed and my lifty and shifty plushes sitting in front of it and me going 'okay boys its time for you to get an education :) lets learn about Pokemon War' and i open the 3ds and its pokemon conquest

it just cuts to them looking at each other with 'wtf' and '???' overlayed.

so far they've just stayed on my bedside shelf but i want to be silly with them

the alternative is me tucking them in and going 'goodnight i love you' and then just jump cut to a poorly eduted sequence of them beating the shit out of my self portrait while the pmd outlaw theme plays

im completely and totally unaware that i am not funny at all. ever.

4. cub

human cub htf is just the babysitting mama baby and in this essay i-

5. graphic design is my passion

it would be really easy to snatch cub's hat and put it on the cooking mama baby but how easy do you think it would be to remove cuddles's hair and replace his feet with ones without slippers and recolor him pink to make bunny maloney

i considered drawing him myself but a. the shitty recolor is arguably funnier and b. the last time i attempted to draw in the htf style was my first attempt at magical warrior au mascot and i just accidentally made an actual htf

if this had eyelashes and an actual more human hairstyle + clothes it would be emily (she had green hair 4 a while according to old doink to youtube uploads but i swear she originally had blue hair + i think the cat club version had blue hair and the version of her i used for my childrens book project in sociology class in hs was based on the cat club version of her and therefor had blue hair)

6. ultima weapon

htf ffxiv au where shifty lifty and splendont just pull out cards and start playing go fish in the ultima weapon fight l during the cutscenes (

[kwockxpressions]

Lemar Deguzman

1. Name, Year, Major & Hometown

Lemar Deguzman; 4th Year (Cinema & Digital Media; Communications); Daly City, CA

2. What are you most proud of?

I'm most proud of the effort I put into the things I care a lot about. Whether it be my relationships with people, my career, organizations, or anime. I always believe that I go above and beyond the average person would to make everything the best it could be!

3. If you could choose a Sanrio character as a pet, which one would it be and why?

 I'm not huge on Sanrio but probably Guritama lol

4. What is the biggest green flag in someone?

I really appreciate when people remember small acts of kindness or little things from the past, and can keep engaging conversations going. Also if I could sense effort in a relationship too, that's a pretty big green flag I have.

5. What’s your biggest ick?

Ick: probably feet lol.

6. If you were Kirby, who/what would you swallow and become?

If I was Kirby I'd probably want to see what it's like a wealthy korean boi in seoul who has no worries in life.

7. What’s the most embarrassing moment in your life?

The most embarrassing moment of my life was in 7th grade. I got detention for talking too much and then cried in front of the whole class. Looking back, idk why i cried so much it was so cringy.

8. When’s the last time you cried?

I don't remember the last time I cried but I usually cry to every anime I watch.

9. What’s your most used emoji?

My most used emoji is the sideways laughing emoji

10. What do you value in friendship and tell me about your best friend? 

In friendship, I value when people can empathize and reach out, and if the relationship feels meaningful to continue. A lot of people are friends out of proximity, and those are super fun to have too. But if I know a friendship can last beyond that and can outlast years - that friendship would stay with me. I have a couple people I could consider "best friends" throughout my schooling experiences. The one I'll share a bit about is my friend, Darren. We met last year at Involvement Fair and I remembered him because we talked about joining all the same clubs back then - Aggie Studios, JASS, MK. He's a lot quieter, but we share the same passion for creating video edits regarding our lives. I sometimes would come over at midnight and blab at him until the sun rose. He's always down to do things with me, which helped my spontaneous nature last year, and his calm presence balanced my chaotic one. We went to Colorado on a whim together last summer, and he's letting me stay over at his new mansion this summer as well. One thing that made me realize how close we were, was when I was talking about how sad I was to lose touch with everyone when I graduate, and he told me not to worry, because he tends to lose touch with everyone, but that he won't lose touch with me.

[morethanwords0475]

April TC Challenge

Day 1: Happy April Fool’s! Have you ever pranked your TC; if so, how did they react?

No, and I probably never would because I’m too scared that it might go wrong. Though, out of almost all of my past and present TCs, I would most likely choose him to prank if I had to. He would sometimes trick a girl in our class into believing that he is bringing forward an assessment or raising grade boundaries, which is always fun.

Day 2: What is the earliest thing you can remember about your TC?

The first thing I remember is seeing his photo in our school’s list of new teachers a few months before he arrived. The photo was beautiful, he looked so young (giving off biker vibes even), so I thought he was good looking more than two years before developing feelings for him. 

Day 3: Do you like your TC’s subject? Do you consider yourself to be good at it?

I love Biology and was good at it even before he taught me. It’s one of the few subjects that I grew to like without needing a good teacher to incite that passion somewhere along the way. I am still top of the class now.

Day 4: How do you feel about your age gap?

Our age gap is slightly smaller than what it was with T, which I guess makes it easier, but I don’t think about it much. It’s an age gap I am quite used to among my range of past TCs.

Day 5: Have you ever said anything to your TC that showed you favoured them? Have they said anything like that to you?

When we were bantering with Incas Lily in lessons, I have tried to drop compliments and pretend like they’re just clever comments, and he takes them well (things like complaining about past Science teachers and saying he’s so much better, or saying he’s the exception when he said something bad about biologists in general). He doesn’t necessarily favour me, but he has said things like my report was the best he had ever read or that I am the most likely to get top marks.

Day 6: Have you ever noticed any small habits that they have? If so, what comes to mind first?

He would sometimes do exaggeratedly-childish little claps when something goes well or he hears good news, which is super adorable, and he always brings a mug with him wherever he goes around the school lol.

Day 7: What gift would you really like to be able to give them, regardless of if it’s realistic or not?

Since the flower Incas lily is significant to our story – hence this codename – I want to try to preserve a flower and give it to him in a jar as decoration to always remember me. It would be so meaningful (at least to me), I really hope it works!

Day 8: Does your TC ever talk about what it was like when they were still a student?

He has told us about the subjects he took at school and that he never liked having to take subjects he doesn’t like. I don’t know how well he did at school though and am very curious!

Day 9: Does your TC have a significant other? If so, what do you know about them and how do you feel about them?

Okay this is a bit loaded – Incas Lily is definitely not married, and he is very close with a female teacher in our school, but I suspect that he might be dating another male teacher. I don’t know anything about his sexuality, though he and the male teacher both very openly support the LGBTQ+ community. In our school, it’s not uncommon for teacher friends to live together (which they do), but they are moving away together at the end of this year as well, which is much less common. I’m quite interested in that teacher too but don’t know much about him.

Day 10: What is the longest time you have gone without seeing them?

If online learning doesn’t count as "seeing them", it would be the last online learning period at the start of 2022. It wasn’t painful back then because I didn’t feel much about him at that point, and he was so good to us when we were online. It actually brought our class closer.

Day 11: What do other people usually think about them?

People who have been in his class mostly adore him. I rarely hear anything bad about him. He’s quite close to his students and very easy-going but also great at teaching, so people all love him. Not as much as we loved T when he was still here, though, but I think Incas Lily is more widely liked.

Day 12: Do you often make up excuses to speak to them? What kinds of excuses do you like to use?

All the time, and a part of me thinks it’s what ruined the special dynamic we had before Christmas. It would be things like asking questions about my experiment, asking for help on my university application and interview, or just how his weekend was. I still ask about his weekends and holidays and stuff now, but I’ve been trying to tone it down. Once we go on exam leave, I will have to find a lot more excuses to maintain our connection.

Day 13: Other than the subject they teach, what are they really passionate about?

He’s really passionate about science in general, but I guess also working out. It’s surprising how fitness seems to be a through line across all my TCs within the past four years – S and C as PE teachers, T and L as sport coaches, K as a yoga enthusiast...

Day 14: What is a skill you really wish your TC had?

I would also really like it if he knew how to play the guitar, he seems the type as well. 

Day 15: Which MBTI personality do you think they are? (If you don't do MBTI, which Hogwarts House do you think they would be in?)

Incas Lily told us he’s an INTJ, which really surprised me. He’s so sociable, and he himself said he would probably be an extrovert, but he is also really smart and reflective and likes to argue. As for Houses, I think he would be a Ravenclaw/Hufflepuff mix.

Day 16: If you could go back in time and choose, would you still choose to develop feelings for your TC?

I most likely would. It sounds bad, but he was what saved me from endlessly drowning in the grief of losing T. If I had to go through this school year only with the memories of T (and occasional messages), I might actually lose my mind. Incas Lily gave me something to look forward to, someone to love, someone who loved me, even just a little bit. I couldn’t lose that drive and excitement from having a TC. Plus, he gave me so much strength through the treacherous first term of our last high school year, and his compassion and character have really touched me.

Day 17: If it was the last time you would ever be able to see your TC, what is one thing you would never leave without saying to them?

I think similar to what I wrote for T last year, I would really emphasise how profound of an impact he has had on me (admittedly less so than T had). I would tell him how much I enjoyed his lessons, how much I was moved by his care for our class, how much I admire him as a person, and how much I appreciate all the emotional support he has given me.

Day 18: When was the first time you cried because of them?

This is surprising, but it was about a month after I first started having some feelings for him, when I was thinking about how he’s also leaving the school this year. Realistically, it doesn’t matter since we’re graduating, and it would probably be easier for us to potentially keep in touch if we both left, but I think having lost so many TCs in the past, I am already wired to grieve leaving TCs more than any other.

Day 19: How well do you think you know them?

Incas Lily has always been quite candid and real with us, not too opposed to sharing personal details, and I have paid attention to his behavioural details enough that I would say I do know him reasonably well. However he does seem slightly different with his teacher friends, which is to be expected.

Day 20: Do you ever lie to them? About what?

I don’t think I’ve ever had to. I guess whenever I asked to stay in his lab after our lesson times (or when I had to justify staying when we were allowed to leave the class), I never give the real reason – that I want to be with him.

Day 21: What is the longest time you have spent together with them?

Two months ago when he went on a small school trip with us, we were together for nearly five hours 😭 It was wonderful to have so much time, to see him outside of a school setting, to have little casual conversations, and just to be slightly closer to him.

Day 22: If you have had other TCs in the past (or right now), how are they similar to or different from your current (or primary) TC?

Incas Lily is much more casual with his classes and doesn't give off a scary vibe to students who don't know him like T did. He is also more sociable with teachers in school than T was and generally gives off more extrovert vibes. They are both great at teaching, passionate and knowledgable in their fields, and can be very humorous.

Day 23: Have you ever seen your TC in clothes they don’t usually wear? Casual clothes if they usually wear formal attire or the other way around?

Incas Lily usually wears a shirt and tie to school, but I have seen him wear a full suit sometimes (plus a vest) and it was beautiful. I've also seen him in a hoodie or sweater which was really cute as well.

Day 24: When was the last time they made your heart thump?

When I went to tell him I got rejected by a university and he was so sweet comforting me and called my nickname 😭

Day 25: How do you think your TC would react if you confided in them when you felt sad or stressed or anxious?

I did this once back in October when the workload got pretty high and I became obsessed with this test we did in Biology that I was convinced I absolutely flunked on. He was incredibly compassionate and praised my abilities so much. I treasure that conversation to the day even though I have had many more with C.

Day 26: What is the best dream you have had of them?

I treasure all of the dreams in which he is casual and close to me, especially since Christmas when it's become harder and harder to have that with him in real life.

Day 27: What is the saddest/scariest dream you have had of them?

Either a dream in which he told us he had been married for two years, or the few dreams I had of him not being in school (it was after he got sick and didn't come for nearly a week).

Day 28: Does your TC ever bring you up to other students/teachers that you know of?

I know he told the other Science teachers about my incredibly high marks for the Mocks 🥰

Day 29: Do you see them as being a romantic person? Are you?

I definitely am, and I would say he probably is a little bit as well. Him keeping the lab clean and smelling nice, him liking the flowers I was growing for my experiment, and his gentleness all give me the vibes.

Day 30: How have they changed since you two first met? How have you changed?

I don't know if this is just my distorted perception from being too in love and obsessive, but I sometimes feel like he's getting a little more detached in recent months. Not just to our class, but to his own year group as well. For me, I've gotten even more paranoid about whether all I do is burden people like him, and I have experienced some academic crises during this year. Whereas being able to fight for a subject like Biology, something that is much more straight-forward to fight for than English, gives me pride in my hard work.

[jessekushner]

Jesse Kushner 4/2/23

Professor Guerra

Writing About Literature

FOLLOW UP on our in-class exercise

1. I want to be an NBA player. I want to make my beautiful girlfriend my beloved wife and I want to have a family.

2. I can’t imagine not succeeding in something related to basketball. I’ve played it my whole life; sharing tears of joy and sorrow in admiration of the sport and its history. I want to eventually want to create a life with my soon to be wife and spoil the heck out of that kid.

3. I can’t image playing basketball at such a high level. I’m not that good at it no matter how hard I try or how much work I put into the sport. I don’t see my self getting married to be honest. I got commitment issues. I quite frankly don���t like kids either so having a family would not work out to be honest.

4. I am pretty average.. not in the major leagues nor in the minor leagues. My relationships with people can be put into a nutshell that I don’t fully trust them, but, I don’t want to let them go because they’re all I got. Hopefully I will reach a point of nirvana but I don’t that’ll occur anytime soon.

5. If I work tirelessly everyday. Putting blood, sweat, and tears into my work. The tallest of mountains might not be the only thing I climb over. I will treat my girlfriend the best I can and strive to be the best person I can be everyday so, that we can have a life that best suits both of our needs.

6. I would bring my grades up and research schools I can train and advance my skill level. I will make sure that I am taking the most optimal route to eventually achieve this dream that the majority can not even begin to fathom. I will manage a schedule as-well so that I may have time to hang out with my loved ones and stay level headed.

7. I’m gonna workout twice a day. Harder than I’ve ever had before, make connections, and do very good in school (with the goal to eventually transfer to a more prestigious school). Keeping a Small friend group is essential to keep all distractions out of my way. My only competition is myself, I’m gonna show this world what being a Kushner really means…

8. I remember this story like it was yesterday. I was an 8th grade kid who was mildly athletic and never took basketball seriously. I loved basketball but if wasn’t my main sport really and I wanted an excuse to start playing. My friend Rosario at the time who I considered to be really good at basketball played me in a 1v1. I put up a good fight you know, but in the end he beat me. He didn’t just beat me no he destroyed me and had me lost on almost every possession. He had won by a whopping close margin of 16-1. I asked him how he got so good. Rosario said that he simply just played every day for as long as he could cause he just loved the sport, sometimes up to 8 hours a day. I was like woah this kid is going somewhere and I started to do my best attempt at Micheal Jordan and began to work hard. I would play everyday: training, working out, dribbling drills, shooting drills up until the next time I would face him which would be the end of 8th grade. This time it was different. I didn’t miss one shot and the score was eventually in my favor at 16-0. I was amazed at where hard work actually got me because Rosario wasn’t nearly as good as I thought he’d be.

9. Relating step 1-8 there is definitely a lot of similarities between the two in the sense that if one continues down this path to work hard, he will eventually achieve is goals. But, since then I haves struggled with a lot of confidence issues from constant bullying and mental torment of just wanting to succeed and failing. I will achieve my goal one day and I want everyone around me to succeed with me because it’s lonely at the top and I genuinely believe that it is set in stone and even if it ain’t writing in stone, ima carve my name in that bitch because I will play in the NBA.

[serialfirstdater]

After the Sun: Round-Up #4-6 for 2022

I was told some people are still reading this blog, and considering that I have re-entered the dating scene for 2023 after a three-month break from the apps (gasp, what happened there? I will get there soon), I will update this blog with the rest of my 2022 dates. I am going to try to give snippets on everyone versus giving them full blog posts. Since frankly, not all of them deserve a whole post and I don’t have the time anymore lmao. But I want to at least document it before I start a fresh batch of dating stories for 2023 (if I can keep up).

#4: The Letter Grade Guy

I went on a date with an engineer who took me to a really nice restaurant in Toronto. I was quite impressed with his restaurant choice (Marked) and we had a really good conversation.

During the date I told him about my dating experiences and how I gauged my dates compatibility with me. He joked how even though I am not a fan of the sciences in school, I dated like a scientist because I analyzed and took data on everything (like how I’m recording my dates on this blog LOL).

Anyway, I thought it was a good first date. After the date, he texted me and asked what his “letter grade” was. He asked because he knew from the questions he asked me, I would rate a guy and the dates I go on (I personally would not volunteer the info myself!). I said something along the lines of “No letter grade perse. Thought we had a good conversation and got along. The restaurant choice was great!” I never heard from him again, LOL. I guess he didn’t like the fact I wasn’t heavily praising him, even though my comment was not negative.

#5: The No-Marriage Dentist

I matched with a guy that I thought was sorta cute from the photos. Until I saw him irl and realized, he wasn’t really my type physically (minus him being a bit taller than me and the fact that he was a dentist). When I agreed to meet up with him, we have barely spoken at that point via the apps. But I was free and down so I said yes when he asked me out.

I soon realized how incompatible we were, especially when he told me he didn’t believe in the institution of marriage. People like that, no offence but, makes me roll my eyes. If they are afraid of marriage because their parents didn’t work out, that’s more understandable. But once it gets very political, I’m out.

Either way, I knew that it wasn’t going to go anywhere. I wasn’t sure where his interests in me lied during the date but he at least knew I was looking for something different. His personality also truly irked me, a mix of condescending (or narcissistic) and socially awkward. AND he lied about his name. He claimed his name was Adrian on the apps and he even said it when he texted me. But he revealed to me his real name in person and I was immediately turned off. Apparently it was for privacy because he didn’t want to be recognized by clients or something as a dentist? Anyway, I thought that was dumb. 

He took me to a couple of nice bars though, so I will say I appreciated that at least. We never spoke again afterwards.

#6: The New Realtor

Ahhh, I feel really bad for the New Realtor (who only got licensed very recently when we have met, hence the nickname obvs). When I first met him, I was completely taken by him. I was so into him, like Cupid’s arrow. I thought he was so cute. He had a tattoo too, so I thought it just made him hotter. He also seemed like a husky fit guy too. So on our first date, I thought it went very well and I expressed my interest.

However after talking about him with my friends, I obviously showed his photo to them. The moment my best friend saw his picture, she couldn’t control her reaction and immediately went, “Ew.” My other friends were like, “Don’t say thatttttttt.”

But it was too late, it was like a seed that was planted in my head. I was convinced by my other close friend to tell him to take me to CNE (a huge fair that happens in Toronto at the end of summer every year). As a romantic, I always wanted to go on a CNE date or some sort of fair date. So I told him I was interested in checking out the CNE and he agreed.

When I saw him in person for our second date, something in my brain started turning and my interest started to gradually decline before it went full speed ahead as the date progressed. He was nice enough to also drop off another friend I was with at the CNE since she was going to see a mutual friend there. 

For the date, he decided to get us the unlimited rides, which I thought was excessive and when I later realized how I lost complete interest in him, I felt AWFUL. But I thought I should at least make the best of it, right? Wrong, I got sick after the third ride.

Maybe it’s because I was about to hit 30 but the third ride spun so much and did too many turns that I had some sort of vertigo. The New Realtor tried to be as gentlemanly as possible. Offered his arm for me to hold onto when I was dizzy, offered to get me food, still got me food when I said no and a bottle of water to hydrate with. Basically, he did everything I would want on a cute date.

However, I knew it was completely over when he tried to put his arm around my seat at a simple ride we did later and all I could do was to sit as far away from his arm as possible. When I am physically repulsed, I literally cannot change my mind. The ick was too strong and everything he did bothered me. I felt terrible.

Towards the end he kept offering to get me food but because I knew I had to reject him later, I didn’t want to take anymore of his generosity. When his car stopped in front of my place to drop me off, I immediately turned to him and went,

“I want to thank you very much for this date. You were a great guy and this date was very lovely. Unfortunately this would have to be the last date for us.”

Instead of asking why or being upset, he said, “That’s okay. Feel free to hit me up whenever you want.” He took it so well that I felt even worse for not liking him anymore!

In the end, I realized that I lost all attraction in him physically and also realized he was not as fit as I thought he was... Alas, I hope he finds a really nice girl that likes him because he would treat her like a princess. Unfortunately I was not his princess.

[1-randomized]

Hey, I'm gonna do this, cuz it seems fun.

1. What's you MC's name

His name is Eris Ombrelouis

2. Are they human?

Well, he's half human and half fae, so I guess that it counts.

3. What do they look like

I'll put pictures of him in my next post, but their all drawn on paper, since I'm to broke for digital.

4. When's their birthday + zodiac sign?

He's birn on the 2nd of December, so he's sharing a birthday with me and Rook, and he's a Sagittarius as well.

5. What's their background?

They're family moved to the shaftlands, from the Twst equivalent to Greece, and he's also from a fairly well off family. His mother's side is fae, and his father's side is human.

6. Were they originally from Twisted Wonderland, or did they come from a different world?

Yes, he is originally from Twisted Wonderland, the Shaftlands/Lands of Pyroxene to be specific.

7. How did they end up in twst?

So you see, when a boy loves a girl very much... And boom, there's a baby.

8. Do they speak more than one language?

Yes, the are fluent in Greek and Fae, still so and so about English though.

9. Are they a student?

Yes, they are indeed a student.

10. How are they as a student?

They're pretty well behaved, but will slack off any chance that he can get, as he's still lazy. Yet, somehow, they still get good grades in almost every thing {Cough, P.E. ,Cough}. He also gey's bored very easily, leading to them doodling and sketching during classes. During P.E. he will bring a book to read, while he stuggles to breathe, as well as having paper and pen/cil on him at all times.

11. What subject/s are they good at?

Their best subject would be alchemy.

12. What part/s of the school do they like hanging out at?

They like the botanical gardens, the Mostro lounge, and their doorm room.

13. What dorm do they belong too?

Eris, belongs to Pomefiore.

14. Do they use magic?

Yes, they do use magic, they are also highly proficient in it as well.

15. What's their unique magic?

Their unique magic is called "Τα τραπέζια έχουν γυρίσει", which translated from Greek says, "The tables have turned". This spell can turn anything into the oppsite of what it is then back, and once mastered, can give the user the choice to only switch out specific properties of the thing. Example: Eris has a marshmello, if it hasn't been mastered, he can only turn it into a black and hard block. But if it has been mastered, he can choose what he would like to alter, like only change the colour or to just make it tough.

16. Are they related to anyone at the school?

No, he is not.

17. Who are they close friends with?

His closest friends are the Octotrio, with Floyd being his best friend.

18. Do they have any special talents?

Eris is good at art in general, specializing in drawing and dancing, he's working on his singing.

19. Any unique body features? (Tatoos, scars, peircings, ect...)

Some of his biological features, could be considered to be unique. He has sharp and pointed teeth, similar to Jade's in shape with larger canines, not lacking in the shaprness department either. His natural ombre features, such as his hair, eyes, lips, and tounge, could also be considered unique because they are all natural.

20. What teacher are they close too?

He is the closest to Crewel.

21. How strong are they?

They are surprisingly very strong, as his strength is on par on more than Floyd's in physical terms. Magic wise, he is on par with Azul, as he also discovered his unique magic earlier in life.

22. Are there any characters in Twst that they don't like?

He doesn't like Rollo, nor Crowley, and Neige. Rollo is to holy for him, he isn't a bird person and believes that Crowley 100% has a praise kink and is disgusted that he does that stuff in public, while Neige is just purely annoying to him.

23. Do they have a love intrest/s?

That has been undecided.

24. What types of clothes do they like to wear?

The clothes will be shown in my next post.

25, Any fun facts about them?

None at this moment.

26. Anything else you want to share about them?

Also, none at this moment.

TELL ME ABOUT YOUR TWST MCs IM SO CURIOUS

(Here are some questions for ur MCs)

What’s your MCs name?

Are they human?

What do they look like?

When’s their birthday + zodiac sign?

What’s their background?

Were they originally from Twisted wonderland or did they come from a different world?

How did they end up in twst?

Do they speak more than 1 language?

Are they a student?

(If not a student) what’s their involvement at the school? (Staff, worker, etc)

(If not a student) How are they with the students and Teachers/staff?

How are they as a student? (Hard working, lazy, in between, etc)

What subject are they good at?

What part of the school do they like to hang out?

What dorm do they belong to?

Do they use magic?

What’s their unique magic?

Are they related to anyone at the school?

Who are they close friends with?

Do they have a special talents?

Any unique body features? (Tattoos, scars, piercings, etc)

What teacher are they close to?

How strong are they?

Are there any twst characters they don’t like?

Do they have a love interest?

What type of clothes do they like to wear?

Any fun facts about them?

Anything else you want to say about them?

If you have any art of your MCs please share! I’m so curious to see everyone’s MCs 😭💜

[lalal-99]

When in College: Falling in Love Pt. 1

This is chapter 5 of 6 for "Play with Fire" {skz h.h.}. Word Count: 5.8k Click here for chapter overview. Click here for the Masterlist. Minors dni!

Notes: I honestly didn't know I'd be splitting the last chapter into two parts until 10 minutes ago, but here I am. I hope you enjoy anyways. I'll get to writing the second part straight away, but I just needed to upload something today.

Taglist: @putmetogetheragain13 @jihoonis @97lovestay @apersonwithvoid

Tumblr works on a reblog system. Please consider reblogging my post so that it can reach more people!

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After what had happened in the woods that cold afternoon, you had expected your relationship with Hyunjin to inevitably change. For the lack of a better word, you had always referred to the two of you as frenemies. Now you knew it was as inadequate as any other term.

When you had given yourself to him, you knew that there would be a break between the two of you, a tearing of whatever had been holding you two together – or apart. You had never deemed yourself to be that close to him, but that you could barely look at the man, let alone he at you, had not been in your prediction.

Thankfully, the events from that cold night had stayed between the two of you, though you barely thought that made a difference. Even if everybody had found out about the two of you keeping each other warm by more than just cuddling under a blanket, there would still be that gap, that tear. But your friends possibly finding out was just one of the problems coming with the changing dynamics.

Throughout the three weeks of Winter break, you had gotten away with not talking to Hyunjin. Everyone was back at home, enjoying the time they got with their family and hometown friends. So did you. Though you couldn't help the image of Hyunjin below you – shivering as you were touching his cold skin, his abs and chest – creeping its way back into your brain every night.

Now that classes had started off again, there was no way you could have avoided running into Hyunjin in the halls or whenever the group was hanging out. Apart from that, you still had that damn group project, which was turning out to be the biggest problem of them all. For the most part, you could avoid talking to the man, though, in the practice room, when it was just the two of you, you had to speak to him. If not to make necessary changes in the choreography or give each other advice, at least to break the awkward silence. After all, this project was 50 per cent of your grade.

"That wasn't too bad, was it?" you asked as soon as the last note of Lauv's Who had played. Hyunjin turned around, unable to keep his final position any longer than he already had. Something about being this close to you, your bodies touching as his hands were wrapped around your body, seemed to make him uncomfortable.

"Sure," he agreed as he made his way over to his bag, pulling a bottle out and taking a sip from it. You knew you wouldn't get anything else out of him, so you quickly looked over at Minho, who had fortunately volunteered to help you with constructive criticism.

"It was good, technically. The movements are clean, the choreography is great. But with Mr Park, that won't be enough," the man who had been in this course about a year earlier explained to you. "You see, the dancing in itself is as much important to him as the chemistry between the dancers. Without that emotion or at least eye contact, this will be a C at best."

Your eyes wandered over to where Hyunjin was sitting, his back against the wall as he tried his best not to look at you. His eyes were on Minho, entirely ignoring your presence. As much as you disliked being in a room with him, this just wouldn't do.

"I'm not a C person. You know my situation. C just isn't good enough," you explained as you looked back over at Hyunjin.

"I don't know what else to tell you. As I said, there's not much else to improve. Your dancing is good, from a technical point of view," Minho repeated his previous statement. You appreciated his honesty, though it wasn't what you had wanted to hear. "I know the two of you never really got along, but if you want a good grade in this course, you'll need to get over that. At least for the remainder of this project. It's only a couple more days, anyway."

With those words, Minho got up from the bench. He dusted off his jeans before picking up his bag and folder from beside him and making his way over to the door.

"Whatever is going on between the two of you, just get it out of the way." With that, Minho left, leaving an awkward tension behind.

The room remained silent for a while as you didn't know what to say. You knew that you had to somehow get over that cut between the two of you, at least for the sake of your grade. Maybe it was also that you missed Hyunjin – in the sense of talking and bickering, of course.

It had been weeks since the two of you had had a normal conversation. Even if that was just you fighting about who was the better person, or the greater daredevil, or whatever it was, you still missed it. It had become as much a part of your social life as everyone else had, and you wanted it back. A month ago, you would have never thought that you could, in fact, miss Hyunjin in any way.

"He's right, you know," you finally broke the quiet, looking up at Hyunjin. He was still silently seated on one of the benches at the side while you had made yourself comfortable in the middle of the room. Just where your choreography had ended. "We can't just do the choreography and hope for the best. We need to interact while doing it. It's literally the first thing we learned in this class."

Hyunjin didn't react to your words his eyes trained on the water bottle in his hands. You had never really seen him this unresponsive before your trip to the cabin, and it was still so odd to you, even after a month. Why he was being so reserved around you when you knew his usual reaction to sleeping with a girl was smugness, you didn't know. It just felt really off.

Was it that you two had been somewhat friends before sleeping with each other that threw him off? Over the past year of knowing Hyunjin, every hookup story he had told had been about strangers. None of them was about girls he had known for more than a few hours, tops. So maybe he felt just as weird about this as you did.

Sleeping with a friend – frenemy, whatever you wanted to call it – was weird for you, too. You had never done that before either. Sure, you had been in relationships with boys who you had been friends with before. It had always been rather serious relationships, though, never just one time things.

"Listen," you didn't know why you spoke up all of a sudden.

Maybe it was the guilt of having blown Hyunjin off as harshly ass you had, ultimately leading to where you were now. Maybe, it was the frustration of not having him respond to your words. You just knew you had to say something. You needed something to work with.

"I know what happened in the woods was weird-"

"Weird?" Hyunjin interrupted you, making you look up at him. You hadn't expected him to talk so soon, but at least it was a start. Apparently, the topic had been on his mind as well. Or else he wouldn't have reacted this early on in your confrontation. "You think what happened was weird?"

"Okay, fine," you gave in, fidgeting with your fingers in your lap as you finally decided to call it by its name. "It was good. Really good, actually."

The huff coming from Hyunjin was followed by him shaking his head. His still damp hair swayed from side to side as you noticed a tiny smile on his lips. It appeared for the split of a second before being taken over by the previous frown.

"Isn't that what you wanted to hear?" you questioned, a little embarrassed about your previous confession.

"Sure," Hyunjin agreed, the sarcasm in his voice thick. His reaction confused you even more, seeing you had been sure that was what he had wanted you to say. Admit that sleeping with him had been the best decision you had ever made. "Cause, that's what I'm all about, right? Sleeping my way through campus and getting a sex god reputation."

"Okay, wait. This isn't what I was trying to say at all," you told Hyunjin as you got up from your seat on the cold ground.

"But it's what you said after we had sex, isn't it?" Hyunjin asked as he crossed his arms in front of his chest, leaning back against the wooden wall. "That I should put you in my little black book and forget about it? That I'm keeping all my hookups in an Excel Spread Sheet? Isn't that what you said?"

"I mean, yes, but-"

"You wanna know what my problem is?" Hyunjin interrupted you yet again. By now, he was angry, furious even, and you couldn't deny that you felt a little intimidated by this side of him. Sure, you had seen him angry before, but never at you and never this bad. "It's not whether you think it was weird or good. It's that you think I slept with you to be able to brag about it. Actually, it's what you think about all my conquests, isn't it?"

"I-" Honestly, you didn't know how to respond to that. You would have obviously never said those words out loud, but they were somewhat correct. After sleeping with Hyunjin, you had expected to be just another notch in his belt. His reaction – so sensitive to your thoughts about him – made you feel even more guilty than before.

"See, you can't even deny it," Hyunjin pointed out as he put his water bottle into his bag. "I know you don't like to be wrong, but you are in this case. Yes, I've slept with a few girls over the past months, and yes, it never went beyond a night. But all of that was consensual. I told every one of them that all there would be, was one night."

With those words, Hyunjin got up from his seat, picking up his bag in the process. As he made his way over to the door, you felt cold inside. There was this expression on his face, one so hurt and sad, it made your heart break. You had done this to him, after all.

"I know, it must be hard for you to believe, but I'm not a playboy. I don't just use women for my pleasure and then let them rot on the side. I would never do something like that, especially not to you. That you would think something like this of me – It really hurts."

Unable to move, you just watched as Hyunjin opened the door and left. There was no other word spoken, merely the sound of the door closing behind him as he left a sea of tension. You felt some tears gathering in the corner of your eyes, and before you could do anything to prevent them from falling, they started running down your cheeks.

As his last words repeated themselves over and over in your head, you just stood there, watching the door as if Hyunjin would come back any moment. 'I would never do something like that, especially not to you.' Those words stuck to you like glue as you tried to figure out the meaning behind them.

Obviously, you had hurt Hyunjin by assuming that he had used not only you, but all the girls before you. That was worse enough on its own, and you now understood why he had been acting so weird towards you. It would have been no surprise to you, if Hyunjin had hated you after this – for real this time. Still, for some reason, he had felt the need to mention you specifically. As if you were special. In some way above every other girl, he had been with. Especially not to you. That was what that implied, right?

Heartbroken and with even more questions than before, you wiped the tears from your face. When you made your way over to your bag, you turned off the light in the practice room, taking a look at the mirror beside you. Your eyes were bloodshot, your cheeks reddened from all the tears that had escaped.

You hardly recognised the person looking back at you, though you didn't really want to know her at that moment anyway. That woman in the mirror had hurt someone close to her for the sake of herself. So that she could feel better about herself for doing something she swore she'd never do. So that her friends wouldn't find out that she had given herself to an urge.

A self-absorbed person, as you would have stayed away from, hadn't it been you.

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The days before the due date of your group project were dreadful. Every single day, you had booked the practice room so that you and Hyunjin could do just that. Practice. Every single day, you had waited ten minutes, twenty, thirty, but Hyunjin didn't appear once. Honestly, you could understand him a little, but you were still mad that he'd bail on his responsibility. It wasn't just his grade but yours suffering from this.

You tried practising on your own, and for the most part, that worked. You could do most of the choreography on your own, and that's what you did. Perfecting your solos. Though, whenever Hyunjin should have been there to catch you or hold you as you made pirouettes, you felt a little bit of your heart crack. There was only so much you could do on your own.

As the day of the performance came closer, you felt yourself get nervous. What if he didn't show up for it? What if Mr Park called your name and all you could do was give up and tell your teacher that you would take the F? You'd have to retake the course the following semester. Your mom would probably disown or behead you. Even worse was that you'd have to stand in front of your friends and explain why Hyunjin hadn't shown up. You'd have to tell them that you had hurt him so much he couldn't face you.

The performance was set for 4.15 p.m – the last performance of the day. For the three hours before the deadline, you tried reaching Hyunjin any way there was. You tried calling, texting and even going to his dorm room, but not even his roommate had been able to tell you where the man was. So, after finally realising that there was nothing you could do other than wait, you simply went along with your planned routine.

At precisely 3.45 p.m., you walked into the backstage area of the auditorium. The couple performing right before you were just as nervous as everyone else, holding hands as they waited for their names to be called. All you could wish for at that moment was for someone to hold your hand. Preferably a 1,80 meter, dark-haired beauty named Hyunjin.

As the two girls exited the backstage area at 4.00 p.m., you started warming up, just in case. The minutes couldn't have gone by any slower, and with every passing second, the hope within you got smaller. By 4.10 p.m., you were sure Hyunjin wouldn't make it. As you mentally prepared yourself to step out in front of your teacher to tell him that you wouldn't be able to do the performance, the door suddenly opened.

The second Hyunjin spotted you, pacing around the room anxiously, you noticed his jaw tensing. Silently, he put his bag onto a chair, opening it and taking out what appeared to be a shirt. You were watching him as he took off his sweater and replaced it with the thin fabric.

Bare from his waist up, only wearing a pair of grey, loose sweat-pants, you couldn't stop your eyes from running over all the visible muscles on his back. You felt your heart speed up a little at that sight, but that was just until he had pulled the white cloth over his head. Had you looked closer, you'd have noticed that the muscles were visible even through the fabric.

As soon as his bare skin wasn't clouding your mind anymore, you felt the build-up feelings inside of you release.

"Where the heck were you? I've been trying to reach you for days!" you yelled a little louder than intended. Sure, you were thankful that Hyunjin had come at all, but that didn't change that he could have at least told you before. There would have been a lot less to worry about had he informed you that he'd show up eventually.

"I'm here now, so just leave it, okay?" The neutral tone in his voice, somewhat unemotional, made you look at him with a shocked expression. You couldn't believe his utter disregard for your feelings, even if you had unintentionally hurt him earlier.

"No, not okay," you exclaimed, marching closer to Hyunjin, trying to get him to look at you. He still avoided looking at you, and something within you just snapped. "I know I hurt you, I know that, and I'm sorry. But that doesn't excuse your behaviour. You had a responsibility. This isn't just your grade you're putting on the line, but also mine. You know how important this is to me."

Hyunjin's eyes were trained on a spot on the floor, still steering clear of yours. You noticed him biting the inside of his cheeks as he apparently struggled with staying quiet. Why he wasn't opening up when few could have made things worse, you couldn't pinpoint.

"Would you please, for the love of God, look at me?" He visibly fought with himself for a few seconds before his eyes finally met yours. "Why didn't you show up for practice? I had sessions scheduled every day, but you never came."

"Do we have to do this now?"

"We could have done this early, but, as I said, you didn't show up for practice. Who knows where you'll be heading off to after this? So, yes. We have to do this now," you told Hyunjin as your hand came to your hair, running through it. "What can I do to make you stop hating me?"

"I don't hate you," Hyunjin claimed, a sigh leaving his full lips.

"Yes, you do. Why else would you not be able to look at me or talk to me?"

It wasn't a rhetorical question, and Hyunjin knew that. Still, he stayed quiet. When your eyes didn't leave his, searching so intently for an answer, he couldn't take it anymore. Quickly, he turned around, walking a few steps to further the distance between the two of you.

"See, you can't even look at me for more than a few seconds. You're avoiding eye contact. You think I don't see that?" you asked him, your hands gesturing for emphasis. "You've been avoiding me ever since we had sex. Why, if not because you hate me and regret it?"

"I don't-" Hyunjin stopped himself again as he took a few seconds. He seemed to be holding himself back, trying desperately to keep control over the words coming out of his mouth. "I don't hate you. I told you before that I never could. And I definitely don't regret what happened."

"Then what is it? Why are you so acting so strange around me?"

Your head was spinning like crazy. Since Hyunjin didn't want to tell you what was going on with him, you frantically tried to figure it out yourself.

You couldn't go on like this, not knowing what made him act out like this. Not simply because of the performance, but because you were friends. Or at least in the same friend group. You didn't want either of you to have to stay away to avoid the whole group suffering from whatever was going on. For some weird reason, you also didn't want to lose him.

"Performance 8: Hyunjin and y/n. To the stage."

Your eyes kept focused on Hyunjin as he looked towards the door. You knew he was trying to get out of this, but you wouldn't have that. Not now that you finally got him to talk to you. So what if you'd get yelled at for being late.

"We have to-"

"No! Not until you tell me what's going on with you," you explained, determined to get something out of the man.

If Hyunjin wasn't avoiding you because he hated you, nor because he regretted what happened between the two of you, what else could it be? Your mind went through every different scenario you could picture as it gathered information from the past few weeks.

You were reminded of how Hyunjin had pulled you off the train tracks, even though there had been enough time for you to leave by yourself. You were reminded of how he had told you that you were the only one who could truly understand him. And you were reminded of how Hyunjin had kissed you once you had revealed that you had wanted him to earlier.

But most importantly, you were reminded of how Hyunjin had watched you moving on top of him. It had seemed as if he wanted to capture every image of the two of you together, so raw. And even when everything was over, he had taken in every last moment of togetherness. As if he didn't want to let go of the intimacy between the two of you.

And then those words a couple of days ago. 'I would never do something like that, especially not to you.'

The reason came to you slowly as you realised that, had he slept with you simply to brag about it, he would have. Even though you had asked him to keep it to himself, nothing had actually been stopping him from telling everyone. Yet, he didn't.

"y/n, please," Hyunjin was practically begging as he saw the gears in your head turning. Something must have told him that if you kept searching, you'd inevitably find the truth. But he came too late.

It took you a few more seconds until, finally, something in your brain clicked. You took a careful step back as your hand came to your mouth in shock. There was only one reason Hyunjin had acted this strange around you. And it wasn't that he hated you or regretted sleeping with you.

"Do you-" your eyes widened as you realised that this must be it. This was what was going on with Hyunjin. His eyes told you, even before you could speak the following words. "You like me!"

"Hyunjin and y/n, to the stage, please!"

You couldn't believe that this was happening. There you were, finally figuring out what had been going on with Hyunjin, and the second you did, the moment was over. If it were up to you, you would have taken the F. At that moment, you didn't want anything else than to let the new information sink in. Thankfully – or maybe, unfortunately, you couldn't decide – Hyunjin had a reason to end this.

As you were still processing the new information, he quickly grabbed your hand, pulling you out of the room and towards the stage. Hyunjin knew how crucial grades were for you, and he also knew that you wouldn't have left on your own. So he made you. Because he cared for you. Because he liked you.

What followed were the three longest minutes of your life. Childbirth couldn't have possibly felt as long as you dancing with Hyunjin after just having found out about his feelings. Even if he hadn't actually confirmed your suspicions yet, you just knew that they were true. The way his eyes met yours with every movement, not avoiding you as he had done earlier, told you everything you needed to know.

You were doing all the right movements, but you weren't doing them yourself. Your body was moving on its own, the choreography engraved in your memory enough to be an automatism.

As you were dancing, it was as though it was just the two of you. Never once you noticed the intense eyes of Mr Park, watching your every move to determine whether or not you had understood the assignment. When your eyes had caught Hyunjin, his body so strong but his face so fragile, you couldn't take them off of him again.

Whenever your eyes met, you felt a shiver run down your back. The expression on Hyunjin's face reminded you of that cold evening a month back when he had been at his most vulnerable. Below you, shivering as you were moving on top of him. Every time Hyunjin touched you – caught you when you had finished a jump or held you as you did pirouettes – you felt your heart skip a beat. Your skin had been covered with goosebumps from the second he first touched you.

One particular move in the choreography had felt so weird back when you didn't know what was going on with Hyunjin. As the music turned down for just a second, you had your back pressed against his front, his hand wrapping around your frame. Every other time you had done this, you had had the feeling that he wanted to get out of this particular pose asap.

With your face turned to the side, your lips were so close to his. At times, this had made you uncomfortable. Though, this time, the moment lasted noticeably longer, and was very much less awkward. More as if he wanted it to keep going instead.

The moment he let go of you, continuing into the next movement, you felt cold. As if him letting go was sucking all the warmth out of your body. You wondered whether or not he felt the same as you kept moving until the last note had been played.

Sitting on the floor in your final pose, you finally came out of your trance. As you were watching Hyunjin, it was as though a veil was lifted from your eyes. For the first time, you could see everything so clearly.

There was a standing ovation somewhere close to the back of the auditorium, and without looking, you knew it was your friends. They had told you they'd come, though you hadn't believed them. This wasn't an open performance for anyone to watch – this was a private stage with no audience allowed.

When you got up from the ground, you noticed Mr Park looking towards the back, his eyes as fierce as ever. At that time, the people had already left – the only sound that could be heard was the door falling shut.

As you came to Hyunjin's side, you felt a tear threatening to roll down your cheek, so you quickly turned around, wiping it away with your sleeve. When you turned back, you were met with Mr Park's intense gaze, looking the two of you up and down. Out of the corner of your eyes, you could tell Hyunjin was looking at you for a second before turning his head back to the front.

"Thank you. The results will be posted at the end of next week," Mr Park told you, and after bowing towards him, you started leaving the stage.

Your eyes followed Hyunjin, who was quickly making his way back to the backstage area in front of you. Why it took you so long to realise that he was trying to get away, you didn't know. Maybe it was that you still felt like you were dreaming. This trance hanging over you only subsided once you saw him entering the changing room.

"Where are you going?" you asked as soon as you had reached the room, Hyunjin's back facing you as he packed up his things.

"I need some distance," he told you honestly as he pulled his shirt over his head, replacing it with the tight sweater he had worn previously.

"But we need to talk about this," you explained in confusion. There was no way you could just ignore what you had found out mere five minutes earlier. "You like me."

"See, this is why I didn't want to tell you," Hyunjin sighed as he turned around, for the first time searching for eye contact voluntarily. "You feel obligated to say something now to let me down easy. But I don't need to hear your excuses. I saw you crying back there, and I don't think that needs any explanation. I know that this is not happening as much as you do." With those words, he picked his bag up from the chair, pushing past you. "Neither of us wants the group to break up, so I need some time. Just give me a few weeks to get over you."

As the words left his mouth, he exited the room, leaving you behind. For a few seconds, you were stuck. You couldn't move – this whole scene felt like it was straight out of a movie. When you finally got a hold of reality, you ran out of the room, following behind him. Hyunjin had only gotten to the end of the hallway, though, had he gone any further, you knew he would have been gone for good.

Which was why, against everything in you, you yelled to grab his attention. You didn't even notice the group of people you and Hyunjin had just passed, as they were looking after the two of you in confusion.

"Stop! We need to talk about this!" you yelled, only slowing him down a little.

"No, we don't. Please, y/n, just give me some space," Hyunjin begged, turning around for a second before speeding up again to get out of this situation. As much as you wanted to give him the space he needed, you just couldn't. Subconsciously, you grabbed him by the sleeve, forcing him to stop and turn around again.

"But.. You like me."

"Wait! What?" The exclamation came from behind you as your friends couldn't believe what was coming out of your mouth. As did Hyunjin. With an expression you had never seen on his face, he turned around, looking at you before looking at the group of people beside you.

"Great! This is fucking great!" Hyunjin sarcastically yelled as he took a step closer to you. "You just had to tell them, didn't you? You just had to win this and not only embarrass me in front of you but in front of everyone we know. Are you happy now? Are you happy now that everybody knows that I like you and you can dump me in front of all our friends?"

"I don't care that they know."

"But I care, dammit! Why don't you just go ahead and tell them we had sex at the cabin as well?"

"You did what?"

"My parent's cabin? That's disgusting!"

"That's why the windows of your car were so foggy!"

Everybody seemed to go crazy over the newly revealed information, but you didn't care. You couldn't care at the moment because Hyunjin liked you.

"Just let me go, y/n."

"I can't do that."

Frankly, you hadn't thought about what to say. There simply hadn't been enough time to fully process Hyunjin's confession, so you had no chance of thinking about possible outcomes. All you knew was that for some strange reason, for some leap of fate, you couldn't let him go. Because he liked you. And somehow, that made you feel warm.

"What? You want to embarrass me some more?" Hyunjin questioned eagerly, trying to get away. It was only then that you noticed the firm grip you held around his sleeve. And physically as well as mentally, you couldn't let go. "Sure, go ahead. Maybe tell them that I got a boner during Truth or Dare when you told me to fuck you in the next room while you're at it."

"This is so much information!"

"Honestly, better than reality TV."

The voices of your friends still standing behind you faded out quickly as they apparently started to catch up with everything that had happened over the past few months. You couldn't really think about explaining some of the information cause you were still trying to process all the memories flooding your brain.

Like how you had felt attracted to Hyunjin from the first day on. Even though he had acted like a cocky jerk, you couldn't deny that you had been curious about him. And how you had actually wanted him to take you to the next room at that first party of your second year. The whole scene had just been so steamy, exciting even. And, obviously, how amazing it had felt being with Hyunjin in the backseat of your car. And not only because the man clearly knew what he was doing. No. Because it was Hyunjin. Because he liked you. And because you liked him.

"I like you, too."

Before you could think twice about it, you had said out loud what you had just now realised. And without that second thought that must have gone through Hyunjin's head multiple times over the past months, you knew there was nothing more to it. He liked you, and you liked him. What else did you need to know?

"Oh, this just got interesting- Ow!" Someone had apparently given Jisung a smack seeing the inappropriate comments stopped after that.

"Don't, y/n," Hyunjin warned you, his eyes showing a hint of pain. "Don't say things you don't mean and can't take back. There is no place for your games right now."

"I'm not," you honestly replied, a hopeful smile creeping onto your face. "I know I've been trying to one-up you for over a year, and it probably really looks like I am right now, but I'm not playing a game. I'm serious. I like you, Hyunjin."

How long did the silence last after that? Well, it felt like eternity, like hours, as Hyunjin simply stared at you in disbelief. And you couldn't really blame him. You were just as surprised by your confession as he was, and it took you a few seconds to realise that it was actually the truth.

Once you had said those words – once you had finally admitted your true feelings for Hyunjin – everything started to make sense. Every action, every word you had said over the past year finally came together. One thing that had never made sense to you was how you hadn't been able to just let things go with him. How you had always wanted – nay, needed – to make things right between the two of you. All of this was, simply, because you liked him.

[superhero--imagines]

Part 1 Here! / Part 2 Here! / Part 3 Here! / Part 4 Here! / Part 5 Here! / Part 6 Here!

A/N: If I had to give this part a title, I would title it “(Y/N) and their human friends” Also I lied. This part was too long so it might be another part (or two) before we get to the Bella Arc.

* “You know you would be pretty good looking without the glasses.” Lauren says twirling a strand of hair and ignoring the algebra worksheet in front of her.

* Yeah that’s kind of the whole point

* “Contacts kind of freak me out.”

* You’re expecting a snarky response but instead she nods.

* “It’s the whole sticking your finger in your eye thing right, I totally get that.” She’s watching you with such inquisitive eyes, it almost you uncomfortable.

* It’s been a few months since you started school, you’re almost at thanksgiving break. So far you feel like you’ve assimilated well, and you have a good balance between school and caring for your animals, but it’s situations like this that totally throw you off.

* “Hey (Y/N/N), what did you get for number 5?” Jessica asks, you’re thankful for the distraction.

* “I got X = 8” Jessica confirms she got that too, and moves onto the next one

* You three are in the worlds most unlikely group. You didn’t even know Lauren was in this class you usually just pair up with Jessica.

* “Hey, me and a some people from the volleyball team are going to Port Angeles, you should come with, we could give you a makeover.”

*You wonder what the other angle here is

* It didn’t take long for you to realise that somehow, even with the ugly-duckling routine, the Cullen’s were at the top of the social hierarchy.

* Part of their popularity was probably because they didn’t really seem to interact with anyone outside of their own social circle. Which just made them all the more desirable.

* “I don’t know Lauren, I would have to ask Esme if it’s okay.” Though you can already bet Rosalie isn’t going to like this.

* “Oh cool, just let me know!” Lauren smiles, it turns out the act of considering her invitation was enough to placate her.

* For once you’re actually glad Edward’s waiting for you outside of your class when the bell rings.

* “Edward read that girls mind.”

* “It’s always straight to business isn’t it. No, ‘hi Edward how’s it going?’ Or ‘How was your class, how has your morning been treating you?’ It wouldn’t hurt you to make some small talk” You give him a look, and he returns it with an expectant expression. You sigh.

* “Hi, Edward how was your class?” You plaster on a smile, and he returns with a smile of his own.

* “It was fine. A little repetitive, we’re reading “to kill a mocking bird” in English.” You nod, offering a consoling pat on the shoulder

* “That sounds super boring,” the books great and all, but you’re guessing he’s already read it like 30 times by now. “Hey Edward,”

* “Yes (Y/N),” He nods, hiding his grin behind his hand.

* “Would you mind doing me a favor?”

* “Of course, anything for you.” He grins openly now.

* “Would you mind telling me what that girl Lauren Mallory is thinking so I can know why she invited me,” and not Jessica her good friend. “to hang out?”

* Edward loses his smile.

* “The varsity members on the volleyball team suggested it, they think it’s a shame they couldn’t have got you on the team since you just moved here.”

* Unexpected but not the worst. You’ve really been half assing it in PE so you’re surprised they even want you.

* “Lauren-she thinks you could be-“ a lopsided smirk twitches onto his face. “in her words- ‘two super good looking best friends’ “

*oh. So she just wants a pretty b*tch squad?

* “Maybe I’ll go with them then” you were scared they were going to force you to show them the Cullen’s house and introduce you to everyone, or leave you stranded in port A as some kind of prank or something.

* Edward stops you

*“you can’t be serious” he has his eyebrows scrunched together

* “Why not?” Nothing more natural to fitting in then hanging out with your classmates. Unless- “if you’re worried about any accidents don’t, I know they all look healthy but they eat a lot of carbs. Way too starchy for my palette.”

* “It’s not that-“ he gets that brooding-existence is suffering look. “You shouldn’t trust humans too much, they’ll let you down.”

* Well what’s that supposed to mean, but before you can ask he’s already walking to his class.

* Well whatever, at least Emmett will tell you a good joke to take your mind off of Mr. Eternal Damnations ominous words.

* Too bad when you get inside he’s not here, instead Mike Newton perks up when you walk into the room.

* “Hey Eleazar, how’s it going?” You still have a hard time adjusting to use Eleazar’s name as your own. Apparently they came from a time when last names were only for nobles, so he offered you his first name instead.

* “Hey Newton, any plans for this weekend?” You take Edward’s advice and start with small talk. Mike Newton smiles, you guess he’s kinda cute, all soft cheeks and baby blue eyes

* “No I’m completely free!” Weird how he’s so enthusiastic about being alone, he must be one of those “relish time alone” types. Good for him.

* “Everyone needs some time alone sometimes.” He deflates, oh man you guess that’s the wrong thing to say.

* He looks like he wants to say something to you, but then Emmett sits beside you.

* “Can I have a swig from your water bottle?” You hand it over

* “Making out with Rosalie make you thirsty?” Emmett cracks a grin

* “It’s that whole bookworm-soccer mom get up, it gets to me yknow?” That’s actually pretty funny

* “So what she’s the Velma to your Freddy?” When the reference doesn’t sink in you rephrase “the nerd to your jock.” He grins again.

* “I think I might join the swim team just so I can see her wear my letterman” that’s actually pretty cute

* “You should do that, I’ll cheer you on at your swim meets” Emmett grins.

*”I’ll hold you to that”

* School life goes on like it always has.

* Weeks pass, marked by tests, homework assignments and projects.

* You actually kind of become friends with Angela, Lauren, Jessica, Connor and Mike.

* “So like, are you and Cullen close?” Mike asks. You and the group are over at Tyler’s house using his fire pit to roast marshmallows. The others are invested in another conversation but you can tell by Lauren’s subtle head tilt that she’s eavesdropping.

* “Which one?” Mike gets flustered at that

* “The one in our grade.”

* “Hmm, well I’d say Alice and I are kinda close, but-“

* “N-no not her,” he clears his throat. “The other one-Edward”

* “Oh, Edward’s my best friend.” The answer slips out automatically.

* “I-Is that why you’re staying with the Cullen’s?” Jessica asks. Everyone’s blatantly listening now, the only one who seems uncomfortable is Angela.

* You sigh. You know everyone at school is probably wondering about the weird relationship. Jessica’s just the only one brave enough to ask you.

* “I mean, it might be.” You’re sure, Edward’s friendship with you is the reason everyone was so quick to accept the living arrangement. “But I actually met Car-I mean Dr. Cullen before I met the others.”

* “How does that work?” It’s Connor who pipes in this time.

* “Well-“ you sigh you really don’t want to do this but at least your sob story will make you seem less suspicious. “So Eleazer and Carmen, they’re my parents, but they’re not my birth parents.”

* You tell them how your parents passed away in an accident many years ago, and how Carlisle had been your Doctor at the time while you recovered. He worked with you for a long time, and you’re pretty sure he wanted to adopt you, but the agency liked Carmen and Eleazer better, probably because Carlisle already had so many adopted kids.

* “Still, Carlisle stayed in my life as my doctor and a family friend. Then I met Edward and the rest of the Cullen’s and... the rest is history...I guess.” You’ve found it’s best to mix a little bit of truth into the lie, though really all of that was mostly what happened.

* Everyone looks testy eyed, Angela is holding back tears, and Lauren hastily wipes her away so no one can see. You wonder if maybe your powers leaked out a bit while you were telling your story.

* “Dude... you’re so strong.” Tyler claps a hand on your shoulder and pulls you into a hug.

* “Ah, it all happened a long time ago, I’m mostly over it now” You tell them all about your Coven in Denali, and how you have two families now, how you don’t regret anything. Well, the only thing you regret, is not staying human, but you can’t mention that so you fake a smile instead.

* Connor breaks out a bottle of vodka he stole from his mom, and pours a shot for everyone

* “To (Y/N)” everyone raises their glass, and not for the first time you feel the urge to cry but no tears escape you.

* You’re a lot closer to everyone after that. You even start sitting at their lunch table every so often.

* In fact the others follow your lead and assimilate with their classmates with ease. Rosalie joins the school book club, and very loudly debates Jane Austen’s to whoever will listen.

* Emmett follows through and joins the swim team. Jasper starts hanging out with some wood shop kids, you’ve caught him arguing about the superior wood in between classes with his new friends. Even Alice joins the art club.

* You try out for the dance/cheer team, it’s the only thing you don’t have to hold back in. Also you’re a great base, you could hold everyone on the team up single handedly during stunts. But you won’t know if you made it until summer vacation

* Everyone seems to be assimilating well, everyone except for Edward

* “You can’t expect me to trust these people (Y/N), not when I know everything they’re really thinking.” You roll your eyes

* “I’m not saying you have to be their best friend Eddie, I’m just saying it looks super suspicious that all the Cullen’s only hang out with each other and refuse to get to know anyone else.” You shove a text book into his chest, and he scoffs

* “It wouldn’t hurt to make some small talk.”

* And so Edward joins your group of human friends, much to the joy of your female companions and dismay of your male ones.

* Life is still strange. But it’s good.

* When you’re surrounded by your new friends, it makes you feel - almost like you’re human again

* And then everything falls apart.

* It’s almost summer vacation. You’re excited, maybe you can go to the beach again soon, and you wonder if it will be alright to take a trip to Denali to see your Coven. You’re pretty confident you made the spirit squad so you’ll have to pencil in camp somewhere. You held back, but just enough by your own parameters to make the bottom end of Varsity.

* You’re at your locker, when Rosalie, and Edward show up. Quickly followed by Emmett, Jasper and Alice.

* “Oh hey guys, you wanna go on a hike tomorrow it’s supposed-“

* “You have to leave.” You’re surprised when it’s Emmett that says this. Kind, jovial Emmett holds a grave expression.

* “What, why-“ for a second you wonder if the Volturi has finally come to get you. It’s been at least seven years since your transformation, it’s about time they started thinking about you.

* But then you notice everyone staring, the quiet buzz of phones vibrating only detected by your super hearing. People are always staring, especially when you’re all together. but this time you notice they’re not staring at the six super models gathered in front of the lockers.

* They’re staring at you.

* “There’s a video of you going around,” Jasper says, and Rosalie placed a comforting hand on your shoulder. “I think it’s better if you see for yourself.”

* He hands you his blackberry, and the grainy image of you come into focus.

* It’s a YouTube video

* You’re in the locker room, your (Your Color Skin) in full view under the fluorescent lights. You’re wearing your underwear, and your abs are on full display. You’re Grey PE uniform shirt is limp in your hands, you remember this, you got extra laps as a penalty and as a result, you were running late for class, you were alone in the locker room

*well you thought you were alone.

* Your body is literally perfect, the way you’ve always dreamed, but you feel white hot shame rise in your throat like acid.

* Your hands shake as you scroll down to see the comments

* ‘Damn who knew they had a body like that under those dorky sweaters’

* ‘(Y/N) Eleazar: Best body Forks HS 10/10 would f*ck’

* ‘Hot body, if only they ditched the glasses, and started wearing some tighter shirts’

* And the comments go on, there’s at least a hundred. You hold your cardigan a little closer to your body. You don’t have the courage to turn around. You can already imagine them staring at you, picturing what they saw in the video transposed onto your body

* “I’m sorry, I didn’t see this coming until it was already happening-“ Alice touches your shoulder and continues her apology but you don’t hear anything.

* You want to cry, you want to be angry. But all you feel is shame. And the worst part is, you didn’t even do anything wrong. So why do you feel so ashamed?

* “Hey, look at me.” Edward grabs your face in his hands, your amber eyes meet his.

*”Snap out of it.”

* Oh, your powers are leaking through.

*Your gaze turns to your foster family, all of whom sport equally uncomfortable expressions.

* You take a deep breath, and imagine reeling in your emotions, imagining them receding back into a locked box, just like Eleazer taught you.

* You need a calm mind right now.

* “Are you fine now?” Edward asks, his hands still on your face. You nod, resting your hand on top of his

* “I’m good.”

* “Good, because we have to get you out of here.” He’s moved his hand to your arm, about to tug you back home when you pull back and shake your head.

* “We can’t do that.”

* “What do you mean?” Rosalie hisses, her hand curls around your wrist “we have to leave NOW.”

* “No think about it, they’re right.” Jasper says, his eyes meeting yours. At least someone’s on the same oage

* “Think about it Rose, if I leave now with all of you it’s going to look weird.” Normal 15-17 year olds wouldn’t think to handle the situation on their own, especially not entitled rich kids like the Cullen’s.

*She seems to have gotten it because her hand retreats to her side.

* “Well what should we do then, I’m not letting you walk around here with everyone-“ she cuts herself off, a deep frown creasing onto her face as her teeth dig into her bottoms lip.

* “We need to call Carlisle or Esme, they’ll pretend they saw the video from someone else and file a complaint with the school.” You take a deep breath, and imagine the locked box in your mind. Your emotions held carefully within.

* “Until then we all need to pretend like it’s not a big deal.”

* “No way in hell am I doing that!” Emmett growls. “I’m going to rip that fucking peeping Tom piece by piece.”

* “Not all of us need to pretend,” Alice says, her gaze somewhere far away, flicking between futures. “Only Edward, Rosalie and I do.” Her gaze lands on you.

* “You need to go to your class like normal,” a hint of a smile curls onto her mouth. “Everything’s going to work out fine.” Edward’s focusing on Alice, reliving her vision.

* “Do you think you can manage being alone?” Edward asks, you don’t have the next class with any of the Cullen’s. You’ll be on your own.

* You catch Jasper and Alice whispering to each other, but pay it no mind. Flirting even in the middle of your entire world crumbling down.

* You take a deep breath, picturing the locked box over and over, making it a visual mantra.

* “I can get through a period.” Everyone disperses, and Jasper walks you to your next class. Edward wanted to, but Jasper insisted.

*”You’re always hogging them, give someone else a few minutes Edward.”

* You’re almost near your class when Jasper talks to you.

* “Hey, I don’t know if I should tell you this”

*You wonder if he’s going to offer to beat up the person who took the video, or if he’s going to offer you a comforting word.

* “Alice told me you’re going to raise some hell on a misogynist in there” he gives you a wicked grin, his incisors sparkling.

* How is it that every vampire seems to say what you least expect to hear and yet, it’s exactly what you need in the moment.

* He holds out his fist, and you bump it with your own. A grin curling onto your face.

* “Hell yeah I am.”

* You take your usual seat in Spanish like normal. You sit in the front row in this class, diagonally from Jessica. Mike and Angela sit somewhere in the back.

* You just need to focus and keep your emotions in check for 45 minutes. You visualize the box, calming yourself separating the mind and body.

* How did the saying go... a calm soul resides in a calm body?

* “-Zar, Miss. Eleazar!” Your eyes pop up to the teacher, the locked box falling out of grasp.

* “Yes, sorry?” The teacher sighs, you look to the white board to see you’re going over the answers to the worksheet. You’re about to provide the answer for the number you’re on when the teacher cuts you off.

* “I know you might be focused on body building, but in my class you need to focus on the material.” There’s a scattered laugh that fills the room, but your blood runs cold

* “Excuse me?”

* And that’s when your teacher knew he fucked up. He stutters over himself, the sentences overlapping

* “-really you should take it as a compliment-“

* “Oh you think I should take it as a compliment that someone recorded me without my consent while I was changing?”

* The rooms pin drop silent. Your teacher is sweating.

* “Hold on now- I think you’re being a little dramatic don’t you think” A smirk curls onto his lips. “You were in your underwear, it was really no different than wearing a swimsuit” he’s got this smug smile, like he’s right.

*Honestly you were ready to put everything behind you and move on if he just apologized. It’s gross that a teacher is watching videos of a student changing, but what would you have done in his situation if a co-worker showed you.

* “It’s all about perspective, a positive per-“

* But not anymore, you’re not in a forgiving mood, especially not for an idiot like this.

* “No it’s all about consent.” All the anger and despair you’ve been holding back comes flooding out. “When someone wears a swimsuit they’re consenting to show skin and be seen, but I wasn’t contesting to being seen when I was changing in the privacy of the locker room.” You don’t stop for air, your voice trembling

* “And another thing, I wonder how the school administration will feel knowing the same faculty that’s supposed to make students feel safe and enrich their lives is watching creepy videos-“ you stop when you meet your teachers eyes, tears streaming down his face.

* Oh f*ck

* You look to your right, finding your classmates in a similar state, holding back tears.

*So this is what happens to humans when they come in contact with your power.

* You try to visualize the box, but it’s too far now. And all the crying people around you don’t help.

*You need to get out of here.

* “Pathetic, not even an apology for your gas lighting.” She shake your head as confidently as you can, grabbing your bag with trembling hands.

* You walk quickly, maybe there’s a mountain you can climb and wait it out on. You’ll text Carlisle and let him now what happened. It shouldn’t be too-

*” Hey wait!”

* You’re already in the hallway when someone call out to you. You turn, expecting it to be Angela or Mike. Never in a million years would you expect her to be standing there in the middle of the hall, her hand hastily wiping away a stray tear.

* “Mr. Peterson’s a f*cking jerk.” Jessica sniffles, walking quickly to catch up with you. You don’t miss the fact that her bags not slung across her back.

* She must have left a minute after you did. You haven’t thought about her as a friend. Not a real one at least. She’s kind of like hot sauce, it’s fun when it’s around, but if it’s not then that’s not a big deal.

* So to see her here, the first to follow you out, rambling about wether you want to get frozen yogurt or pizza, it warms your unbeating heart.

* “Hey Jessica?” She stops mid-sentence, her eyes swinging up to you.

* You haven’t been fair to her. But you’re going to change that.

* “Thanks for being my friend.” And she smiles at you, her arms wrapped around her tight. It’s not the fake ones you see often the ones she throws to Lauren when she’s asking for Jessica’s opinion on an outfit, or when Connor tries to copy her homework’s. it’s a genuine smile.

* Before she can open her mouth, you hear two more shouts from the hallway.

*Angela and Mike are jogging down the hallway to catch up with you. The latter carrying a bright pink backpack in his hand.

* “Geez Jess, the least you could do is take your bag before you go bolting out of there” Mike’s panting as he holds out her bag. You don’t miss the blush ghosting her face.

*Looks like she still has a crush on him.

* “Hey, are you okay?” Angela asks, and you wish you could cry as you nod.

* “Is it weird that I’m kind of happy right now?” And the three of them smile, before wrapping you into a group hug.

*They all smell terrible. Jessica smells like boiled broccoli, Mike is like the overwhelming stench of fat mixed with sugar, and Angela.. Angela’s probably the worst. She’s sickeningly sweet mixed with a healthy dose of starch.

*it’s disgusting. You have a hard time believing any of the Cullen’s would lose their minds when they’re this close to any of them.

*still, even with the repulsive stench, it’s nice. You haven’t felt the body gets of another human in a long time, or heard the quiet thump of their beating heart. Even the odor is nice, it reminds you that they’re human.

*And for a second it’s easier to pretend you’re human too, just like them.

* “Dude why are you so cold?” Jessica groans, breaking the moment. She taps your arm but doesn’t pull away.

* “While we’re asking questions, Mike how much axe do you use?” Angela’s eyes are watering as you both laugh.

* “Like you’re one to talk, I can smell your strawberry shampoo two hallways over!”

* You watch the three of them untangle and start walking to the back exit from the gym.

* “So where do we go now? We can’t stay here.” Angela says

* “I was thinking maybe a coffee shop, if we take out books we might pass for having a free period” Jessica pipes in

* “Oh, how about the Arcade? A buddy of mine works there since he’s already on break from college, I don’t think he’ll minds us hanging out there.”

* So this is what Alice meant when she said everything was going to be okay.

*Your Human Friends were going to save you

*You haven’t forgotten Edward’s warning, someone did break your trust and let you down.

* But that’s what it means to build friendships, you open yourself to being hurt, and so do they.

* “Hey (Y/N/N), what do you think?” Mike asks, and they all turn around to notice you’re not walking with them.

*You try not to smile to wide. You don’t want to scare them off now.

* “I think there’s something fun about an arcade during the day, no lines.” You say, walking a little bit faster to catch up with your friends.

Tag list: @moonlights27 @thebluetint @the100thtwilight @awesomebooklover17 @oneofthepotterheads @smileygirl08 @imdoingathingmom @iconicgguk @yrawn @alyciaswhore @little-horror-show

[kasienda]

The Five Minute Adventures of Snake Noir: Ch 7 - Five Minute Adventures of Ananta

Chapter 1: I Want It To Be You

Chapter 2: Best Friends

Chapter 3: Best Laid Plans

Chapter 4: A Thank You

Chapter 5: Unwanted Revelations

Chapter 6: Miraculous Abuse

Chapter 7: Five Minute Adventures of Ananta

Adrien’s room felt more like a prison than it ever had before, and he had always felt like the walls were closing in on him a bit, and so that afternoon he had snuck out to Nino’s the second he had managed to chase Nathalie out of his room. 

Nino’s room - despite being small and cramped - never made Adrien feel claustrophobic. Adrien suspected it had something to do with the company. 

“What should my snake name be?” Nino asked out of nowhere.

“You’re not going to use it!” Adrien objected. “You don’t need a name.”

“Come on, dude! Just for fun!” 

Adrien sighed. “Basilisk.” 

Nino tapped his lips in consideration. “It’s okay. I don’t feel much like the king of anything.” 

“Python.” 

“Boring.”

“Diamondback.” 

Nino’s eyebrows furrowed together. “What does Diamondback have to do with anything?”

“It’s a type of snake,” Adrien explained, and then turned to Nino with a smirk. “But it’s also a type of turtle.” 

Nino just shook his head. “That’s a better reason not to use it. No associations with turtles! We gotta keep my identity super secret!”

“The best way to keep it secret is to not use the snake at all!” 

“What about something to do with time?” Nino asked, ignoring Adrien’s objection. 

“Cronos.” 

“Also boring! Dude! Why are you so bad at this?”

“I don’t see you coming up with anything.”

“Because you’re definitely the cooler of the two of us,” Nino said.  

Adrien shook his head. “Nino, I named myself Black Cat. I’m not super original when it comes to names.” 

Nino laughed. “Fair point.”

“And you are just as cool as me,” he insisted, though he whipped out his phone anyway and typed out a search for ‘names related to time’ and started scrolling through various sites with baby and pet names. 

“What do you think of Baqi?” Adrien asked. “It means eternal.” 

Nino frowned. “That’s an arabic name. Do you think me taking on an arabic name is potentially identity revealing?”

“Okay, here’s one in sanskrit. Ananta.”

Nino nodded. “A bit of a mouthful, but I like it.” 

Adrien’s eyebrows rose. “A mouthful compared to Carapace?”

Nino laughed. “What’s it mean?” 

“Infinite.” 

“Dude! Perfect. Let’s go with Ananta. I wonder what I look like with the snake.”

Adrien groaned, seriously regretting in that moment giving Nino the Snake instead of Ladybug.

“Do you not want me to?” Nino asked seriously.

Adrien waved his hand in encouragement. “Just do it. I’d be curious too.” He was curious, too. 

Nino grinned and scrambled to his feet. “Sass! Scales slither.”

Adrien found himself mirroring Nino’s excitement. These silly stupid moments with Nino were the ones that were keeping him sane at the moment. 

The rest of the time he was a bit of a mess. 

Keep reading on Ao3

Adrien found himself a lot more resentful of his homework than normal when it stole away most of his time to spend on his friends and on himself now that he was used to being able to finish at least half of it in the space of five minutes as far as the rest of the world was concerned. 

And it didn’t help that it was suddenly so much harder to pay attention in class since he was hyper aware of Marinette sitting right behind him every single day. 

Seeing her in general was really hard because he knew how she felt. He knew that if he asked her out she would likely say yes, and he had to hold himself back. Before he had given up the snake, he had been able to scratch that itch by visiting her in the evenings in a time loop. 

Now? Now, he had to survive off of her garbled greetings and flustered blushes. 

He lived for her blushes. The blush that had always been there since he had apologized to her in the rain the day they met. He had thought she was just shy and self-conscious. But now, it was easy to recognize that she didn’t do it around anyone else - not even Chat Noir. That blush was reserved for Adrien Agreste and Adrien Agreste alone. 

It meant that she loved him. 

It was a good thing that it didn’t take much to trigger. Just a simple greeting often did the trick. 

“Good morning, Marinette.” 

And the pink would bloom across her cheeks like flowers in spring every time. 

That blush kept him from going out of his mind. It reminded him that she still loved him even if she wasn’t able to say it. 

A god, he hoped that she didn’t say anything because right now, he wasn’t ever going to be able to say no. 

“G-good morning, Adrien.”

He smiled. Her stutter was less reliable. She was getting better at talking to him, which he figured was a good sign, but he also loved that he could still fluster her on occasion. “How are you?” he asked. 

“I’m fine,” she said.

He didn’t like that answer. He knew that it wasn’t real. He turned to her as she sat down, and leaned into her space. “Marinette, how are you, really?” 

She looked at him in surprise. “I’m… things were rough for awhile, but I think I’m starting to get a handle on the new order of things.” 

“I’m glad.” And he meant it. Telling Alya had clearly changed things for her for the better. He was so glad she didn’t have to hold the weight of the world alone anymore. 

“How are you?” she asked. 

He shrugged. “I’m still figuring out my new order of things, but I like to think that things are actually trending in the right direction.” It might even be true. He wasn’t sure, to be honest. He was definitely getting better at coping with the absolute insanity his life had become if nothing else. 

“Will you let me know if you need anything?” she asked.

He smiled. “Of course.” 

It wasn’t everything he wanted. It wasn’t everything he knew the moment could be. 

But… it was enough.

At least most of the time. 

When it wasn’t, he called Nino and screamed about the injustice of it all, whines about how unfair and unreasonable his father was,  cursed Shadowmoth’s existence to all nine levels of hell, ranted about how much he just wanted to be able to be done with it all so that he and Ladybug didn’t have to worry about akumas or the end of the world. They could just be teenagers.

They could just be happy. 

But Shadowmoth clearly had other plans. After a lull, the akumas exploded both in frequency and awfulness. The encounters were taking longer to handle - especially without the benefit of the snake - and Adrien was having a much harder time explaining his disappearances and his father was suddenly breathing down his neck even more than usual. 

“Your marks have not been up to your usual standard, Adrien.” 

“I’m sorry, father.”

“Need I remind you that you promised you would continue to excel if you started at public school? If you cannot maintain the usual standards of excellence, I will not hesitate to return you to lessons with private tutors.”

Adrien hung his head. “Yes, father.” 

“In the meantime, you will spend less time with your friends until your grades improve.” 

Adrien sighed, and trudged back to his room. The punishment meant almost nothing because as far as his father was concerned, he only was allotted an hour a week with his friends, and usually a photoshoot got scheduled on top of his scheduled “friend time”. And of course, Adrien was actually hanging out with Nino almost every day without his father’s knowledge. 

But he felt exhausted anyway. He was tired of shoots, he was tired of homework, he was tired of Akumas, and he was most definitely tired of pretending. Tired of pretending for the sake of his father’s company image, tired of pretending he wasn’t worn down to nothing from all the responsibilities of both his personas, tired of pretending Marinette was just a friend. 

He flopped onto his bed only for the akuma alert to go off two minutes later. Adrien groaned. It was the second one that day and the fifth one that week.

But Adrien dragged himself to his feet anyway. At least he would get to see Marinette again.

But it wasn’t Ladybug he ran into on the scene.

It was Ananta. 

“What the hell are you doing here?!” Chat Noir demanded. 

Ananta was hiding hunched over in an alleyway with the whole akuma scene in clear view. “Just offering a little insurance. I haven’t actually engaged in any of the battles, but they’ve seemed a little rough lately.”

“Battles?” Chat Noir repeated. “As in plural, as in more than one?”

Ananta winced. “Yeah, I’ve been doing this for the last four or five akumas because things have seemed super dicey for you. But I haven’t actually engaged with the akuma or anything.”

“How many loops?” Adrien asked harshly.

“So far, none. You’re that awesome, dude!” Ananta raved, clapping Chat Noir on the back.  “You would have known if I had been through a loop because I’d have to intervene to give you the info on the last loop, right?”

Adrien relaxed. “Right.” 

....

But the akuma after that, Nino did intervene. 

But at least Ananta had managed to stay out of Ladybug’s sight and out of any pictures. 

And after the fact, Nino had insisted he had only needed three loops to defeat that akuma. 

“I don’t like it,” Adrien had insisted anyway. “Please, don’t use it anymore.” 

“Dude! I’m not doing this for some adrenaline rush. I’m not like Alya who goes looking for trouble, or like you who insists on throwing yourself in front of the blasts. I’m doing this only because it’s clear that Hawkmoth has stepped up his game, and you need support.” 

Adrien started to object. 

“Ladybug needs support, too,” Nino added. 

Which was such a low blow. Because Adrien was never going to be able to argue with that. 

“Unless you want to take it back?” Nino offered.

Adrien considered it. He didn’t want Nino to get stuck in a battle loop. He didn’t want Nino to experience anything like Desperada. At least in his own case, he was already damaged and traumatized by what he had experienced.

But even the idea of taking it scared the crap out of him. Because there was no way he wouldn’t use it to visit Marinette. 

He missed her with every fiber of his being. It had only been three weeks. Three weeks where he hadn’t been able to have a conversation with her without filters, three weeks since he had been able to kiss her. He hadn’t been able to kiss her for like three weeks. Three excruciating long weeks where he hadn’t been able to tell her that Adrien and Chat Noir were one in the same. Where he had been truly seen for all that he was and truly loved because of it. 

And the more time that went by the less convinced he was that he’d be able to come out of that loop.

“No, you should still hang onto it,” he whispered. 

“Or if you wanted, we could give it back to Ladybug,” Nino suggested. “She could hand it out to whoever Viperion is.” 

Which was reasonable. Though Adrien wasn’t sure he wanted Luka to experience a bad battlefield loop either. 

Then the akuma alert rang simultaneously from both their phones. Adrien covered his hands in his face. 

“Gah! Does he never sleep?!” 

“Come on, mec. Let’s go.” 

“I’m coming! I’m coming!” 

During the battle, Nino had intervened, but he hadn’t intervened with Chat Noir; he had spoken to Ladybug in the final loop. The battle had gone amazingly smoothly after that, but Ananta slipped away before the traditional fist bump and Ladybug was not pleased. 

She was pissed. 

“You lost the snake?!” Ladybug demanded, her blue eyes flashing in anger.

“I didn’t lose it!” he said defensively. “I know exactly where it is.”

“You gave it away? Why?”

His claws tore through his own hair as he took a deep breath. “Because… it wasn’t safe with me anymore,” he admitted softly.

Some of her anger faded, replaced with concern. “What does that mean?”

“I can’t explain without telling you things you’ve told me not to tell you.” Which was mostly true. 

She fidgeted on the spot, considering. “Can you tell me who he is?” she asked. 

He laughed. “Definitely not.” 

“What?! Why not?”

“I gave it to my best friend, Ladybug. If you know who he is, you’ll know who I am. And that apparently might lead to the end of the world,” he bit out sarcastically. 

She frowned. “Are you okay?” 

“No,” he admitted. 

“What can I do?” she asked. 

“You can’t do anything,” he told her gently. “I’m handling it.” 

“I… I don’t like not knowing what’s going on with you,” she admitted. 

He laughed darkly. “Welcome to my world.”

She blushed. She actually blushed! He had made her blush as Chat Noir! Sure, it was probably more out of embarrassment than love, but he would take it!

“I guess I deserved that one,” she said. 

He took her hand and squeezed it. He wished he could sweep her into his arms and kiss her senseless, but he couldn’t risk that. “I know exactly how frustrating it is to be left in the dark.”

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. 

He shook his head, squeezing her hand through their gloves once again. What would it feel like to hold her hand when neither of them was transformed? He wanted to find out. He wanted it so bad.  

“I’m not trying to make you feel guilty,” he said. “I just want you to know that I understand. And I will tell you everything when it’s safe. In the meantime, can you please just trust me?”

She nodded. “Absolutely. You know that I do!”

And he did, now, didn’t he? 

He smiled. 

“I’m just…  I’m scared that if something happens to you, the snake will be lost,” she said.

“The person I gave it to knows how to get it back to you in that case,” he said.

“And how would he get it back to me?” she asked.

“He’d give it to you or to Rena Rouge during a patrol.”

She seemed startled at his inclusion of Rena Rouge, but she nodded. “You trust him?”

“I trust him more than I trust myself. And as much as I trust you.” 

“And they can handle the side effects of the snake?” 

Adrien sighed again. That was the million dollar question, wasn’t it? Could anyone handle the effects of the snake? “He’s done really well so far. This wasn’t the first battle where he’s been here, offering us a bit of insurance.”

She winced. “Yeah, the akumas have sucked lately.”

“Tell me about it.”

She sighed. “I’m sorry that I questioned you. I do trust you and your judgement. Your friend can keep the snake as long as you think it’s best.” 

“Thank you, LB,” he said softly. 

She nodded and smiled. He returned the expression and offered her a friendly salute. 

Then he vaulted straight for Nino’s family home. 

“How many loops?” Adrien asked without preamble. 

Nino rolled his eyes. “It was nineteen this time. But it wasn’t bad at all, dude. Kinda weird and trippy, but not so bad.”

But Adrien didn’t like it. He feared the number would keep growing. How many loops was too many? 

Adrien didn’t know.

…

His father had missed eight dinners in a row, and Adrien couldn’t decide if he felt relieved or disappointed.

On one hand, his father’s absence meant Adrien could ask to eat in his room, which meant he could escape the mansion that much sooner. And Nino actually wanted to spend time with Adrien.

It also meant he’d avoid his father’s censure about everything from his last photoshoot to the way he held his fork. Adrien simply did not have the energy to be on his best behavior.

But his father’s continued absence also felt like it reaffirmed Adrien’s fears - that his father didn’t care. And the longer his father’s absence the more desperate Adrien was for any sign, no matter how small, that his father had thought about him at all. 

When his father’s scowling face did join him at the dining room table on evening number nine, Adrien regretted ever wishing for his father to make an appearance. 

“Your grades have dropped unacceptably low,” were the first words out of his father’s mouth.

Adrien fought off his eye roll. He literally had two B’s and the rest of his classes were A’s. Admittedly one of them was borderline, but he didn’t think anyone else’s parents in his class would have found his performance subpar even if this was the lowest his own grades had ever been in his life.

“You also didn’t behave professionally at the last photoshoot. You arrived late and your hair and make-up had to be redone.”

Adrien sighed. That had been four Akumas ago. Or was it five? Honestly, Adrien was losing track. 

“We didn’t get all the shots we needed. It has been rescheduled for Monday morning. You have two weeks to turn around both your attitude and your grades,” he father said without an ounce of warmth or concern, “or you will return to home schooling.”

Adrien sighed. “I’m sorry I have disappointed you father. I have been… having a hard time maintaining my motivation lately.”

Gabriel’s expression did not change at all. “Why?” he asked. 

Adrien froze at the question. He didn’t know what to say because he knew there wasn’t a correct answer. And not answering at all wasn’t acceptable either. He was going to lose here no matter what. 

He shouldn’t have said anything other than he would try harder.

Well, if he was screwed no matter what, might as well go with the truth.

“I think I’ve been depressed lately,” he admitted. 

“You’re not qualified to make that assessment.”

“I suppose not,” Adrien conceded. But would his father offer to send him to someone who was? 

Most likely not.

“What do you have to be depressed about?” Gabriel asked coldly. 

And something within Adrien just snapped. Whether it was his sleep deprivation, being beyond overworked both physically and mentally, or his longing to drop all the masks, or some combination of all of it, Adrien didn’t know. 

“Are you kidding me right now?” Adrien demanded. “Every second of every day of my life is planned without my input or consideration. I have no control. But I do all of it anyway. I train for national fencing competitions, get perfect scores, work I-don’t-know-how-many hours a week modeling for you. I have no space to breathe, let alone enjoy anything. I feel like a programmed robot going through a routine!”

The room fell into silence as Adrien’s tirade ended abruptly. Every muscle was locked and tense, waiting for punishment and condemnation. And despite that, Adrien couldn’t bring himself to regret it because, well, he was screwed either way at this point, so he might as well go down with a bang.

“Are you finished?” his father asked. He didn’t raise his voice, but Adrien flinched anyway. 

“Yes, father,” he said meekly. 

Gabriel removed his glasses and began cleaning them. “Clearly, I have expected too much of you.”

Adrien knew better than to find any relief in that conclusion. 

“I will arrange with Nathalie to have your schedule adjusted. She will add additional recreational activities suitable to a boy of your age, and reduce your current obligations significantly.” 

Which translated to they would remove him from school and schedule his so called free time with activities that Adrien had no interest in or with other teenagers he didn’t know.

“Father, I appreciate your concern,” he said formally. “That will not be necessary. I was having a weak moment. I will work harder,” he promised, though Adrien knew he wouldn’t be able to manage much more at the moment. 

His father nodded. “I look forward to seeing notes of your improved performance this Friday.” 

And now he had five days instead of two full weeks. 

Adrien wanted to scream. And he did scream later that night when he had escaped to Nino’s bedroom for the tenth time that week. He ranted and complained about the unfairness of it all, and Nino just listened with rapt attention.

“Can I at least deck him, dude? Please?” Nino asked when Adrien had finally run out of steam. “Just once? He won’t even remember!” 

Adrien laughed. “It won’t help anything.”

“I might feel better,” Nino disagreed. “You might, too.” 

And then an akuma alert sounded from both of their phones. 

They both groaned, but a second later, they had both transformed and were leaping out of Nino’s bedroom window.

The akuma was a porcupine the size of a bus. It’s spines did not look remotely friendly. That first impression solidified tenfold when the akuma started hurling the spines off its back like javelins in a jousting tournament. 

But despite his initial misgivings, the fight could not have gone more smoothly. 

Ananta had barreled both he and Ladybug out of the way, and helped them identify the akumatized item pretty much instantly. The whole encounter lasted about three minutes. 

But when he turned to Ladybug and Ananta for their traditional fist bump, Ananta had pushed past the offered fist and tackled him in a hug. Adrien returned the embrace with a surprised grunt. A second later he felt Nino’s quaking form in his arms. 

Apparently, the fight hadn’t been all that smooth afterall. 

“How many loops?” Adrien asked softly. 

“You don’t want to know,” Nino sobbed into his shoulder. 

“Ananta,” Adrien growled.

“1,674,” Nino admitted.

Ladybug tried to reassure them both with small hands on their shoulders. Nino just pulled her into the hug, too, and didn’t let go. 

“I’m really glad you’re both okay,” he cried and then he dissolved into wracking sobs again. Chat Noir and Ladybug both held him tightly.

But Ladybug couldn’t stay, as she was about to time out. She pulled away from their group hug with a concerned frown. 

“Are you going to be okay with him?” 

“Don’t worry,” Adrien assured her. “I’ll take him home and make sure he’s okay.” 

“I’m sorry I have to run,” she said.

“Don’t worry about it,” Adrien said again, before wrapping one of Nino’s arms over his shoulder and vaulting them both up to the nearest rooftop. 

He then ducked them both into a secluded alleyway that Chat Noir had used to transform before. Nino hadn’t stopped crying the entire time. 

“Nino, can you hear me?” 

Nino nodded.

“You need to lose the transformation, so we can feed Sass. Can you do that?” 

Nino managed to follow the instructions through hysterical sobs. Adrien followed suit and both kwami’s ate a slice of Plagg’s cheese. It was a sign of how serious everything was that neither kwami complained. Adrien transformed again.

“Okay Nino. You need to transform again, and then start a loop. Stay in that loop until you’re able to stop crying, you got it? It doesn’t matter how long it takes. I will be here with you the whole time.”

Nino was still shaking and crying, but he managed to choke out the transformation phrase and called for his second chance. 

Instantly, Ananta stood before him, infinitely calmer than he had been just a second prior. 

“Woah,” Adrien said. “That’s weird. How long?” 

“Just a few hours,” Nino said, his voice was quiet, but it was steady. Adrien wrapped him into a hug. 

“Thank you,” Nino whispered. 

“As you have told me many many times, as many times as you need, whenever you need.”

“I don’t know how you have dealt with it so well,” Nino said. 

“I mean, you don’t remember all the times I was as much of mess as you were just a few seconds ago.” 

“I remember you freaking out about learning Ladybug’s identity,” Nino countered. “I… I didn’t understand why you didn’t want me to use it for battles. I… get it now.” 

“I’m sorry,” Adrien whispered. 

Nino shook his head. “The alternative would have been so much worse, dude. You would have lost this one.” 

“Thank you for saving our lives then. I’m sorry for what it has cost you.” 

Nino shrugged. “I think I’ll be okay. Can I keep it for a few more days? Abuse it a bit?” 

Adrien nodded. “Yeah of course. Abuse it like crazy and it will put space between you and what happened.”

Nino nodded, and actually smiled. And for the first time, Adrien was positive things would be okay. 

“I already have some ideas,” Nino said.  

“Do I want to know?” Adrien asked. 

Nino’s grin was wolffish. That was a no.

“Have fun, dude.”

… 

Nino still felt shaky the next morning. It was too easy to close his eyes and see his best friend impaled through the chest, his green eyes wide in shock. But it almost worked out in his favor because it hadn’t taken any convincing for his parents to agree he should stay home from school. They thought he was coming down with something - that he had chills. 

He didn’t correct them. 

He just rocked himself back and forth, nursing the tea his mother had brought up to him, and waited for both of them to leave for work. The second the door had closed behind them, he had bolted out his window as Ananta. 

The freerunning helped, but it wasn’t enough. He had just gotten too good at it - he could leap across rooftops almost without thinking now, and certainly without any fear. What could seem terrifying after everything he had seen the day before? 

And that was how Nino found himself on top of the Eiffel Tower staring down at the ground below - the ground that according to his best friend was 324 meters below him. Adrien had said at one point long before Nino had ever known of his friend’s superhero identity that it would take just over eight seconds to fall to the ground, probably a little longer because of air resistance. 

Nino had never thought anything of why Adrien had taken the time to calculate that. He had just assumed Adrien was a nerd who liked physics and had too much time on his hands. Now, he found himself wondering if Adrien had calculated that for an entirely different reason. 

Nino activated the second chance and leapt off the tower backwards with an ecstatic whoop. He slid his fingers across the bracelet five seconds into his fall, and rematerialized at the top of the tower giggling. 

Now, that was base jumping. He performed the trick dozens of times diving off the tower in different angles and positions. 

He knew Sass did not approve. The kwami had said as much when he mentioned the idea this morning. Adrien likely wouldn’t either, but Nino would only tell him well after the fact. 

But the adrenaline rush was exactly what he needed to wipe away the memories from the day before. 

Next, he had broken through his homeroom’s window, and swept Alya up in his arms. He definitely noticed Marinette’s disapproving glare, and Adrien burying his face in his hands, but he didn’t have to care about this. In four and a half minutes, this would have never happened. 

“Ask me to tell you that I love you,” he said. 

She arched her eyebrows. “Am I going to regret this?” 

“Nope! No repercussions today.” 

“Tell me that you love me,” she said, her face alight in a grin. 

“I love you,” he said. 

“How much?” 

“More than a superhero,” he said. 

She smiled, and her fingers locked around his neck. Then he kissed her hard. The whole class was catcalling behind them, and Ms. Bustier was trying to restore order. 

Alya was giggling against his lips. “I can’t believe you.” 

“I’m just getting started,” he promised. 

He went through hundreds more loops abducting Alya from parts of her day. It was different every time, and he was insanely grateful that she played along as soon as she realized it was him each time without even knowing that he was having a tough time. 

Or maybe, she did know. Like, she had covered Ananta’s exploits the day before on the Ladyblog. He hadn’t been able to bring himself to read the post, but someone had no doubt had caught the tearful group hug at the end of the battle, and Alya would have had a better guess than most what that likely meant. 

And so when he showed up as Ananta and revealed himself to be her boyfriend she would know that had been him. 

She didn’t ask questions or demand explanations. She just laughed and kissed him over and over. She let him abduct her from their dreary classes over and over and bury his face in her curls and wrap himself in her protective embrace until his senses were overwhelmed with all things Alya.

God, he loved her so much. 

The tricky part was then trying to escape from each of their teachers. Surprisingly Mendeliev had been the easiest to slip around, but Bustier had given him quite the run around. 

Once the school day was over he had followed Adrien’s limo home. He had intended to spend a few loops just being stupid with Adrien, but once there… well, he had been wanting to give Gabriel a piece of his mind since Nino had befriended his son. He had only held back because Adrien wanted him to, and Gabriel was terrifying. If only one of those things had been true, Nino thinks he would have pushed it ages ago. 

Ananta set the timer from the rooftop of the mansion and then broke through the front doors. 

Nathalie jumped to her feet, but he ignored her and stormed straight for Gabriel’s office. 

Gabriel rose to his feet more slowly than Nathalie had to face his intruder. 

“Gabriel Agreste, I’m here to tell you that you are the absolute worst parent.”

The older man gestured Nathalie away from the door. She stepped back, but she did not close the door. 

“You are trespassing on private property. I demand that you leave,” the stoic man said, barely raising his voice, which Nino found infuriating. 

“No! Not until I’ve said my piece.”

Gabriel took a visibly annoyed breath. “You’re clearly a teenager.” 

“Your point?”

“You’re hardly qualified to judge my parenting approaches.” 

Nino wanted to pull his hair out.

“Except that I am because I’m the one who picks Adrien back up everytime you tear him down!”

Gabriel considered him stoically for a moment, his hands hidden behind his back. 

“Mr. Lahiffe, I have already banned you from the premises. Your adopting an anonymous persona does not negate those rules.” 

“Your rules are stupid and unfair! Adrien is amazing! He gets the highest grades! He has an insane work ethic, and is always kind and respectful to everyone! He does everything you ask of him! And then he does more! He’s an Olympic level fencer and is fluent in three languages!

“And somehow, you still find him wanting. You never give him the time of day. You never tell him you’re proud of him or that you love him! At best, you ignore him, and at worst you take the time to point out every tiny fault!” 

“He internalizes everything you say, everything you ask for. He tears himself to pieces trying to meet your impossible expectations, he buries his struggles and doubts, and you don’t even acknowledge his effort or his love for you.” 

Nino was shaking in rage at this point. Gabriel still seemed unaffected. 

“Are you finished?” The man asked indifferently. 

“No! I’m not! I don’t know if you know how much you’ve harmed him! How many times I’ve been legit worried that he was going to hurt himself or give up! 

“Somehow, he’s been able to survive it. But not because of any of the crap  you’ve taught him about being strong and exceptional. He’s just that resilient!” 

“Which is a good thing because he’s also Chat Noir!”

Gabriel’s lips tightened and his eyes narrowed, and Nino wanted to run a victory lap for finally getting a reaction from the asshole. 

Nino barreled forward. “He manages being a superhero in between all the hoops and circus you run him through! And if he’s been struggling more than normal lately, it’s only because Hawkmoth has been putting him through the wringer.” 

“Nathalie!” He called. 

Nathalie marched into the room so fast, Nino was convinced she had been waiting right outside the open door the entire time listening in. 

“Didn’t we eliminate the possibility of Adrien being Chat Noir during Gorizilla?” 

Nathalie typed something into her tablet and handed it to him. 

“It looks like we did not get facial confirmation, sir. The person we presumed to be Adrien was wearing a helmet.” 

Gabriel removed his glasses and began cleaning them. “My own son, this entire time.” 

Nino felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise at Gabriel’s emotionless words that felt like a prison sentence.

Nino’s miraculous beeped. 

Gabriel’s stormy grey eyes shot toward the sound, and Nino took an involuntary step back.

And then Adrien’s father did something Nino never would have predicted. He lunged forward and struck Nino in the knee, and grabbed for the snake miraculous.

Nino dropped to the ground in agony, and jerked his arm just out of reach behind his back. 

“Second chance!” Nino screamed, sliding his other hand over the switch, grateful that he had so much practice in the last few days that the motion was automatic. 

He was back on the roof of the Agreste Mansion. His knee cap was fine, but his heart was roaring in his ears. 

That had not gone as he had been expecting. Not at all. 

Gabriel had actually attacked him and tried to take his miraculous. 

Nino wasn’t sure what it all meant. But he knew it couldn’t be good. 

...

[harringtontmaa]

  HE ISN’T EXPECTING IT when robin drops their interlocked little fingers  &  scoots over to pat the empty spot beside her on her bed.  but he doesn’t mind it either.  on the contrary — as steve crawls up to lie down atop the blankets, he's grateful to have someone he trusts close enough to sling an arm around.  he is all too familiar with being plagued by nightmares, horrible visions of people he loved being hurt or in need of help replaying in his head often when he’s home alone at night.  but being able to feel that robin is safe beside him helped keep those kinds of dreams mostly away.  & even if they still couldn’t fall asleep, at least they both had someone to talk to as they lie awake through the night.

           ❝ oh yeah. by then we’ll both definitely be smooth enough to land a hot french girl. ❞  he jokes, laughing softly enough not to break the middle-of-the-night hush that lingers through in the dark house.  ❝ plus, they love americans over there in europe.  we’re like, exotic to them, right ?  it'll be a piece of cake. or... whatever the french equivalent is. ❞

      but her next question makes him pause, thinking hard.  he doesn’t know nearly as much about the world as robin does, hasn’t studied geography at all beyond when they made everyone memorize all 50 states in sixth grade  &  it took steve a week longer than all the other kids to remember the full list.  but when he considers it, there are some ideas that come to mind.  he’s never told anyone this before, but who better to be the first one than his best friend ? if he & robin can share the bad dreams, then she can be trusted with the good ones, too.

         ❝ i think i’d start on the west coast  —  i’ve never seen the ocean, so that would be pretty cool.  you know, i kinda always thought that one day i’d have a really big family  &  we’d get an rv  &  spend our summers travelling all around the country.  me  &  my wife  &  our 5 or 6 kids,  all piled into a winnebago  &  just driving until we found a nice beach way out in california somewhere. ❞  steve tilts his head to the side, catching her eyes  ( & checking that she's not laughing too hard at him ).  ❝ but it would be fun to see it with you.  check out some surfer babes.  we could drive up the coast  &  go to san francisco or something.  see the golden gate  &  the redwoods & watch the sun go down over the pacific. what do you think ? ❞

         Perhaps the worst part of all of this, worse than the Russians plotting against her country underneath the very embodiment of American capitalism, worse than the fleshy monster she had watched chase them across town and then attack them in that very mall, was that Robin had only discovered in recent weeks that she’d scarcely seen the half of it. Will’s disappearance, Barb, the alternate dimension that said fleshy monster called its home… these were all things that she hadn’t experienced ( yet ), but that Steve had. There was so much more to be scared of in this town than the human monsters, than the lingering nightmares of waking up alone in an underground Russian base with no help coming — and that was yet another thought to keep her awake at night as she was now. Robin wrapped her arms around herself, a self-hug that brought her little comfort.

        Steve’s voice pulled her back to the present, and she rolled onto her stomach on the bed so that she could face him a little better. “ Yeah? ” Linking her pinky with his at once, a bright smile lit up her face even in the dark. But Steve still felt too far away, even just sat on the floor, so Robin shuffled over, before patting the bed to invite him to join her. “ All these European ladies out there are not gonna know what hit them. ” And yet despite the tease, she felt warmth flood her chest at what this meant. Ever since the sophomore experience of her crush on Tammy, Robin’s top choice of companion for leaving Hawkins behind had been herself ( she needed to know herself before she could truly know anyone else, or so the wisest of authors and lyricists had told her ). That didn’t have to be the case anymore: she had a friend to dream with, a partner in crime to escape town with, a companion to create a new life alongside.

         That it was Steve Harrington didn’t even matter anymore. He was the best friend that she’d ever had, and she couldn’t imagine facing the big wide unknown world out there without him.

        “ Where would you go first? ” Robin was lying on her side now, facing him. She’d shared her dream, now it was time for Steve to share his. “ Just assume for a moment that we’re not restricted by money, or which out of state colleges I’ve applied to. If you could go anywhere in the whole world, Steve, where would you start? ”

[iwhishtomeetinournextlife]

An anonymous love (Part 1)

Summary : Y/N sees Sirius Black running away after a particulary rough letter from his mother. She wants to cheer him up and decide to send him a letter, anymously, she knows how much he hates her house.

Warnings : Slytherin!Reader, female!reader, reader is worried about Sirius, not proof read

Word count : 1.8k

English is not my first language, sorry if there is any mistakes

You're here - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6 - Part 7

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Y/N loved receiving letters but even more sending them, she loved including all sorts of little gifts in hers; flowers, drawings, photographs, candies sometimes, she loved it even more now she was a witch,  she started doing experiments with her magic. She learned how to make the drawings moves, charms the flowers so they would reopen as fresh as new, she even found a way for the letter to be read out loud if desire, in a way were it doesn’t fold and destroy itself the ways howlers do, so it could be listen to over and over again, her family especially loved that one.

She wanted to see now if could even include kisses, or even hugs, the feeling of arm wrapping around you to squeeze you tight was one of the best feeling to her and she wanted to be able to send it to anyone, so they could feel it whenever they wanted.

She was able to put the hugs and the kisses on little cards who had to be unfold, it took many mistake, accidents and retry but she was able to do it after some times. It wasn’t as reusable has she had hoped, only three uses who doesn’t last more than five seconds, but she was confident enough to know she will do better in the future.

She had send her last version to her parents a few days ago, one she was the proudest of, and was now waiting for their respond. Making sure everything was perfect was important as the first time she tried to do it the message felt like a dagger stabbing her chest. Thankfully she had no injuries, Mrs Pomfrey assured her there were nothing, the pain stayed a few hours though and she could have kissed the nurse for excusing her from the morning class that day, she would have not been able to work anyway.

Y/N was now waiting at the slytherin table next to the few friends she was able to make among her own house, quietly eating while listening to the crazy story of the friend on her right, laughing joyfully. She turned her head when she saw the owls starting to enter the room, eager to find if she will receives the respond of her parents, she watch as the other student opened their own mail, including the raven-haired boy at the gryffindor table, Sirius Black.

He had catch the eye of Y/N like many others, girls and boys, but she never dared to make a move, she was a slytherin and she knew how much he hated them. She had thought many times to send him an anonymous later but what for ? It would be a lost cost and she rather let the feeling die rather than being hurt. Well, at least she thought her feelings would disappear as time went by but she was incredibly wrong, it only got more intense.

Being in most of his classes was of no help, his cocky behavior, his stunning looks and charming smile. What bugged her the most was how brilliant he was, she never saw him study or even really paid good attention in class but was somehow able to earn good marks. She was a bit jealous of him for that if she was honest with herself, she wasn’t a bad student per say but did have to be focused and study to have good grades. They talked a few times before, mostly him helping her out with classes but he was nothing but nice and patient with her despote the green of her tie.

She fell for him even more when she saw him helping first years travelling the corridors and defending a third year against her bully, the punch was perfectly aimed for Merlin’s sake ! She loved every story he told her, all the pranks, the aventures, the quidditch match. The more she learned about him, the more difficult it was for her to keep her eye away from him.

“You’re drooling again”, Jacob snapped her out of her mind “ ‘m not !” swipping her lips just to be sure, making her friends laugh, she was red of embarassment, so out she hadn’t notice the owl giving her her parent’s letter. She gratefully took it before giving a bit of food to the owl who then flied away. Y/N got interrupt has she was opening the enveloppe.

“C’mon, you cant’ keep looking at him from afar for the rest of school ! Talk to him for once and save us the lover eyes !” said Olivia, “I can’t, you know he hates slytherins” her friend opened her mouth to protest before being cut. “Plus, he is way out of my league, he is like-" Y/N hesited a bit on her words, waving her hand around “- a sun giving life around him and I’m just somekind of, I don’t know, insect in the dirt”. Her friends around all gave a chorus of long sighs, they heard that a million times before, she rolled her eyes “My point is, I will never have the courage to ask him out”.

Before anyone could talk, a loud sound was heard comming from the gryffindor table, followed by the sound of turn up paper. When Y/N looked, she frowned, seeing Sirius almost running out of the room. “Wait mate !” James Potter, his best friend, tried to follow him but Remus Lupin stopped him. Y/N didn’t quite catch what they were saying, something about him needing to be alone.

And alone he stayed, she didn’t see him for the rest of the day, and she learned during the dinner that night it was because of the letter he received from home, it was quite known by most of the people who cared enough to be aware of the disastrous relationship of Sirius and his family, as it wasn’t unusual to see the boy upset because of his mother. Y/N’s blood boiled every time it would happened, how could someone treat their child that way ? Taking their time to write every horrid words just to cause pain ? Using something she loved so much to cause trouble instead as it should be : for the one you loved.

The scene earlier that day worked her up so much, she put her parent’s latter away without reading it, and it is only now in her bed she remembered even having it. She smiled at the curved letters, it was her mother’s handwritting, she very enthousiatly explain how her and her dad loved the hug, that coupled with the speaking spell “It was like you were right here with us !”, well not quite as she precised right after, but it felt nice to feel and hear their daughter after so many weeks apparts. She laughted when her father this time wrote she should find a way to commercial it, as she will become the richest witch of the wizard world. “Sure thing dad” she thought to herself. She carefully fold the paper before putting it in her “letter box”.

Then when she laid down, she couldn’t stop feeling sad for Sirius, he had such terrible parents but deserved so much more. She turned and turned and turned around in her bed, searching for a way to cheer him up and then she stopped, thinking of the letter of her parents and the success of the hug in the message, perhaps, she could send him something ..? She blushed at the idea, what could she says ? “Hey, your parents suck but your butty could send me in outter space”, sure, yeah, what a great idea Y/N.

She sighed, fine, maybe not that harsh but she could try to remind him how much is he loved here and how much of a great person he is. So she sat down in her bed, took a piece of parchment, her ink and her quill, careful to not wake up her roomates as she closed her curtains. She blow air through her mouth for a minute, gathering some courage, and then she start to write, hoping he would like it.

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The next day when she woke up, or more like when it was time to get ready since she didn’t close her eye all night, wanting the message to be perfect : the drawing, an illustration of a dog, a stag, a rat and the moon, remembering the nickname and the jokes the marauders gave and made to eachothers, she charmed it for the little animals to run around the paper, leaving paws or hooves print behind –which disappear after a few step of course-, the curves of the words, the ink, she had opt for her favorite dark purple, the flowers had she picked, some wind-flower and cyclamen, that she carefully stuck to the parchment.

And of course the final touch : a kiss on the forhead. She had thought of a hug but decided it was too much, it could be scary to suddenly feels arms around you. A smol kiss was more appropriate, a bit bold yeah, but more fleeting, less intimidating and still a tender gesture.

When she was happy with the result and check any error in her words she put the message in an envelopt, decorated with stars, showing the cannis constellation, because of Sirius name obviously. And then put it in her bag, careful so her friend would not see it.

Once she was ready and out of her room with her friends, she realised she had no idea on how to give it to him. Surely not by hand, she didn’t put her name anywhere for a reason, maybe slide it into his bag during class ? But she was to scared to be caught.

She didn’t have to worry about it to much, since Sirius wasn’t at the class she shared with him, his friends looked troubled and worried, calmer than usual. Y/N felt a weight setting in her stomach, was the letter that bad he didn’t want to show up today either ? When he wasn’t at lunch either, she decided to send him by owl.

She excused herself from her friend, saying she had to send a letter, it wasn’t unusual for her to do so, so they didn’t even flinch. Once at the owl aviary and once she gave it to an owl and walked away, trying not to think to much, she stop. What if the letter only made him more upset ? Of course nothing she wrote was mean, but what if he didn’t like at all the idea of some unknown person looking in his private life ? Feeling arrogant enough to think they could cheer him up when his friends, those whom he consider family, weren’t able to do it ? Y/N turned around to take the letter back but it was too late, the bird had fly away, and since he was at hogwarts, he will have it in a few minutes only.

She felt the weight in her stomach get heavier, she hoped so much it will not make things worse.

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Hoped you liked my first fic ! I don't know when the second part will be posted but I'll do my best for it to be soon.

Have a nice day ! Love you <3

[cool-island-songs]

The List for the episode ask game from amporella​!

★ Do I like this episode? Why or why not?

Uh, I love it??? The Pleases and Sparkles committee??? GIRLS????? More Wendy, Bebe, and the girls actually doin’ stuff, please.

I like SP eps that tackle self-image issues because even though the show is about boys and told from their perspective (which is particularly evident in the way the girls have some sort of political thriller going on in the background here), the way they discuss looks feels fairly universal imo. Bebe’s concerns in “Bebe’s Boobs Destroy Society” (S06E10) are pretty similar to the message Abraham Lincoln is trying to impart; she’s worried about being treated differently because of something beyond her control.

★ Favorite moment?

Abraham Lincoln’s right tbh. Plenty of people are ugly, Kyle! Get over yourself! I really do love how melodramatic Kyle is about the whole thing, calling himself a “deformed monstrosity”. It’s hard to have perspective about these things when you’re a kid and don’t have a good sense of how your peers view you.

★ Least favorite moment?

Honestly, it kinda sucks that we never see those ugly kids again, do we? I love how the message is basically ‘Looks don’t matter, but it turns out Kyle was reasonably attractive all along, and we’re putting these ugly kids in the dumpster when this episode is over.’ That’s chill.

★ Do I have an unpopular opinion about this episode? What is it?

I love the episode itself, but ever since fans worked out that Craig was number one on the “real” list, it’s been responsible for some of the worst excesses of hot Craig within the fandom. Just for ease of reference, the real list has been determined as follows: Craig, Token, Stan, Bradley, Kyle, Jason, Leroy, Kenny, Jimmy, Tweek, Kevin, Butters, Clyde, Timmy, Francis, Cartman. My interpretation of the list’s order is that the boys who topped it are seen as most attractive in a conventionally masculine way, but also behave in a way that’s considered traditionally masculine. Craig and Stan certainly fit that bill, even if they only behave thusly due to autism and an emotionally repressed conservative father, and bottled-up feelings in response to a parent with zero boundaries, respectively.

My reasoning is that we know Kenny is a lil cutie from the sketch of them in “Free Willzyx” (S09E13):

But he’s always wearing that hood over his face and he’s a weird little pervert who likes setting things on fire (according to Cartman in “Best Friends Forever”, S09E04), and I imagine there was similar rationale for putting kids like Tweek and Kevin and Jimmy so low (there better have been!). Anyway, they’re fourth grade girls, and they’re entitled to their wrong opinions. Remember “Something You Can Do With Your Finger” (S04E08) when they all have crushes on Matt Lauer?

It also seems significant to me, in light of the way Craig is often written as quite desirable to girls in fics, that the girls in charge of manipulating the list chose Craig to swap with Clyde. This suggests that they don’t care to date him, which checks out, because he’s an asshole who hates girls (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wneIRrvoDlg). Obviously, they’re all in 4th grade and girl/boy animosity is pretty standard and these things may well change, but I really do think Craig is just Like That.

★ Something I would change?

I tell ya hwhat, if it were up to me, Leroy wouldn’t be gatdamn number 6. This is Leroy Jenkins btw (aka Peter Mullen, the kid with the damn frog):

Poor man’s Scott Malkinson over here. Cuter than Kenny? The girls thought THIS was cuter than Kenny?

★ Rating out of 5?

5/5! Someone send me some trash ass eps plz, these are all pretty good lol

★ Anything else I want to say about this episode?

Poor Clyde, tbh. He’s actually considered uggy, but will still grow up to be a total douche because he thinks he’s hot. I’m gonna go fart on him in TFBW.

Anyway, in closing, please enjoy this IMDB review: