#so hopefully there’s more of the nice guests today than the mean ones

[jocelynships]

Lowkey I do not want to work today bc I got screamed at really badly by a guest yesterday during the last hour of my shift and I’m very worried he might be back again today :’)

[seongclb]

LIKE A MAGNET ! sim jaeyun

“you’ve called me a lot of things, sim jaeyun, but never have you called me a magnet.”

“not like that! i just meant, we’re not as alike as we think. kinda like a magnet..”

SYNOPSIS. whereby your academic rival, jake sim, returns after spending a year in australia to come back and restore his place: as top physics student but also your (hopefully) boyfriend.

PAIRING. academic rivals to lovers, slight enemies to lovers, flirty!jake x fmr

GENRE. fluff, light angst.

WARNINGS. cursing, jake being flirty, kissing but not making out.

WORD COUNT. 7512 words

N. finally out yelp i think this is not as good as i wanted it to be but i have to post as promised so pls make sure to give feedback and stuff !! special thanks to mari for beta reading :) i love u pooks

TAGLIST. @sjyuns <3… @dollkis @taejaysmain @dear-hoon @oldjws @jjakey02 @luvistqrzzz @yizhoutv @mrchweeee @darly6n @hoonieluv @ghostiiess @jaeyunsonlyone @en-happiness @loumin908 @tasnim10 @rikisly @samyu01 @ashrocker123 @enhastolemyheart @enhaz1 @viagumi @articxari @vnsux @mersmoon @jungwonderz

Kicking your shoes off, you step into your house as your mother frantically scours the house for her expensive china plates.

“Mum, what’s going on?” You wonder, looking around at the house and noticing how all your awards and family photos are out. You groaned, this only meant one thing - guests were coming today.

Great, you thought. After a tiring day with your best friends driving you mentally and physically insane, you now had to entertain guests in your own house when all you wanted to do was lay in the comforts of your bed.

“The Sims are back from Australia,” your Mum announces while pushing you up the stairs.

You pause as your heart plummets down your stomach, “What do you mean?”

Your mum chuckles, “The Sims! Don’t tell me you forgot about them already. It’s only been a year.”

“Mother, this has been the best year of my life. Why are they back? Wasn’t Mr Sim, like, settled in his new job? Why are they coming here of all places, too?”

Your mum narrows her eyes at you as your father steps into the room, struggling with his tie, “Ah, Y/n you’re home! You’d better go up and get dressed. The Sims are arriving soon.”

“So, I’ve heard,” you huff. “I know we’re family friends but shouldn’t they settle in their house first? Why are they coming here already?”

“Because,” your dad sighs. “Mr Sim and I have secured a business deal. We’re going to be partners in the firm soon, which is why they’re back. Of course, we have to welcome them with a nice meal.”

You groan and cross your arms, “Isn’t this something you discuss with your daughter first?”

Laughing, your dad pinches your cheek sweetly, “Now, why would this concern you? Go upstairs and get dressed, you must be hungry after practice today.”

It takes every fibre in your being to not stomp up the stairs in defiance. Sim Jaeyun, the cause of your distress throughout your entire school whole life was returning after a blissful year of peace. The mere thought of it made you want to rip every strand of hair out of your head.

Stepping into your room, your eyes immediately set on the expensive dress sitting on your bed that your mum laid out for you. Just as your parents requested, you hopped into the shower to prepare for the dreadful evening ahead. It’s not like you weren’t used to this; your parents worked in especially high fields and earned decent salaries. It was more than normal for them to have these important, yet over the top, dinners every few months meaning you had to dress up like this often. The only issue was him.

You could already hear his irritating giggles from your bedroom. Amazingly, they were the same as you had remembered.

Before you could even take a deep breath, there were soft knocks at your door, “Mum, I’m coming. Thirty seconds.”

There were the knocks again. Rolling your eyes, you swung your door open, ready to ask your mother why she couldn’t wait for thirty seconds, when you saw him leaning on the archway of the door. His lips were curled into that familiar smirk of his, yet Jake looked so different. His hair was much shorter, slicked back slightly but a strand of it falling onto his forehead.

It had only been a year, yet you were more than surprised to see Sim Jaeyun actually looking semi decent.

His eyes are playful as they rake over your figure, checking you out head to toe. The feeling of Jake’s eyes boring into you evoked a sense of insecurity to wash over. Since when did you care about him looking at you?

“Hurry up,” he ruffles your hair as he runs down the stairs. Forgetting about the annoying action he had just done, you pause for a moment; his words replaying in your mind. It seemed that Jake’s looks weren’t the only thing that was different but he had developed a strong Australian accent, too. It wasn’t attractive, though.

No, of course, not. That was impossible, being Jake Sim.

You fix your hair before following him into the living room where his parents are sitting on the couch in your living room.

Mrs Sim smiles at you as you greet her, “Y/n! You’ve grown so much.”

She engulfs you in a tight hug as you giggle, “No, I look the same. You look better than ever, of course.”

She shakes her head as she makes room for you on the couch, “Nonsense, you’ve gotten even prettier just like Jaeyun. He’s gotten so handsome now, right?”

You nod, sending an obvious fake smile towards his direction.

Jake clears his throat as he brings his glass of water to his lips, “Y/n, have you grown any taller since last year?”

You force a polite chuckle, despite wanting to throw your glass at the smile on his lips, “Maybe a few inches.”

Jake nods, pursing his lips to prevent a wider smile from breaking out, “I see.”

He sits opposite you at the dinner table, sending you winks every so often just to get a sneaky middle finger or a dirty look in return when no one was looking.

“Y/n, you’ll have to show Jaeyun around tomorrow,” Your dad says to you.

“I’m sure he knows where everythings been. It’s only been a year,” You smile.

Jake leans over, “I heard there were some changes. I’m afraid I might get late to some of my classes.”

You turn to Jake, “Oh, really? Who said that?”

“Sunghoon,” Jake smirks back at you.

You nod, of course he did. Sunghoon was the little provoker in your feud with Jake; always meddling to give Jake new ideas on how to annoy you. That was clearly one of his duties as Jake’s best friend since he had just given Jake another reason to irk you and follow you around tomorrow.

“So, why can’t he show you around?” You narrow your eyes.

Before Jake can answer, your dad interjects, “It’ll be better for you to do it, Y/n. I’m sure Sunghoon will have practice and other things tomorrow.”

The little shit was smiling way too hard, again. He just gets lucky too often.

The talk quickly turns into business amongst your parents, boring you completely so you use it as a perfect opportunity to excuse yourself to your room until your Mum says, “Why don’t you take Jaeyun to your room?”

Jake’s eyes grow as he smiles mischievously, “Yeah, you can show me what topics you have been covering in Physics. I don’t want to be behind.”

You take another deep breath, it got to the point where every breath now was slow and used to calm you down in order to stop you from lunging at the boy in front of you. He used every opportunity to get you to agree to yet another thing to help him with while your parents were around.

Jake followed you up to your room, standing at the doorway for a moment to look around your room at a different angle before stepping in and tracing his finger over all your trophies and pictures.

“Hey!” He calls, pointing at a particular picture of you with a trophy after winning the Science Fair competition. “We did this together, I’m in this photo. Did you crop me out?”

That day was quite fun, one of the only times that you and Jake had worked together rather than against one another, which was the usual dynamic. That occasion, your father had suggested for you two to work together. Even back then, it had created such dismay for you but you couldn’t deny that he was the reason why you two had won. You didn’t work well under pressured environments, so Jake had picked up the slack and presented most of it but you doubted that he did it for the sake of you. He definitely did it for the mere reason that he wanted to win.

You scoff at the pout on his lips as he picks up the frame, “Obviously. I’d get nightmares with a picture of you in my room.”

Jake touches the picture, a sigh of relief leaving his lips, “You didn’t cut it. You folded it.”

He dismantles the frame, unfolding the picture to reveal a younger version of him, “I was handsome back then, too. Keep it unfolded, you can use it for motivation.”

Fake gagging, you snatch the frame back from him and set it down, “I don’t need motivation. “So, how was Australia?”

Jake shrugs, playing with the Miffy plush that you cuddle to bed every night, “It was fun. Different from here. Better girls.”

You roll your eyes and respond sarcastically, “Sounds wonderful.”

“Jealous? Don’t worry, they didn’t compare to you,” Jake flirts.

“Ew!” Your face contorts in disgust. “Don’t make me throw you out of here, Jaeyun.”

He giggles and goes back to nosily touching all your things. You watch him in silence for a few more minutes, not minding Jake exploring your room. Jake’s parents call him from downstairs, initiating that it was time for him to finally leave.

“This new business deal means I’ll be seeing you more often than you’d like, angel.”

Your eyes flicker up to meet his briefly upon hearing the pet name before he leaves the room. He’s staring at you, searching for a response in your facial expressions but all you can focus on is the luring brown specks in his eyes. The Australian air must have done a number on him; this was not the SIm Jaeyun you knew. Of course, he still used to go out of his way to annoy you before, but the excessive winking and flirting was so unlike him. It was only until you heard him call you ‘angel’ that you realised how different Jake was, now.

You returned down the stairs to bid them goodbye.

“Y/n,” Jake’s father calls. “Jake and I will be here tomorrow morning to pick you up for school. We must repay the favour.”

“What favour?” You question.

Jake’s mother strokes your arm lovingly, and you wonder how a woman so kind can produce that devil staring at you by the door, “We’re so thankful that you’re tutoring Jake every weekend!”

You raise an eyebrow and look at your parents, who suspiciously are avoiding your eyes, “It’s no problem. Is this why Mr Sim is picking me up tomorrow?”

They nod and hug you goodbye, constantly reminding you of their appreciation.

With one last annoyed look towards your parents, you turn on your feet and head up to your room for the night to scream into your pillow about the return of Sim Jaeyun.

୨ৎ

The next morning, at the table while you wait for Jake and his father, you see your own come down the stairs to get ready for his own job.

“Y/n, you and Jake have to go to school alone. Mr Sim sends his apologies, he has a meeting,” Your dad informs you.

You groan softly at the light knocks on the door, knowing it was Sim Jaeyun. “That must be him,” your dad smiles as he opens the door. “Hi, Jaeyun.”

“Good morning, Mr Lee. Is Y/n ready?” Jake asks as he steps into the house and meets your annoyed eyes. Slinging your bag over your shoulder and walking towards Jake, you say bye to your father and leave the house with him.

“Why did your dad want us to go to school so early?” You huff. Jake smiles down at you, “So we could go get breakfast.”

He flicks his dads bank card in between his fingers, “Wanted me to thank you for that tutor thing. Did you know about that, by the way?”

You shake your head, “Mum and Dad probably knew I would refuse. Did you?”

You look up at him and see he shakes his head, with a proud grin on his face, “Mum and Dad probably knew I would refuse, too.”

You stop and cross your arms at him, “Why would you refuse? I’m the top of the class, you should be honoured.”

Jake snickers, “You’re top of the class because I was in Australia for a year.”

He ruffles your hair before walking off, leaving you to curse at him under your breath.

With a croissant and a coffee in each of your hands, you walk through the school gates with Jake. As expected, all eyes are on him. Everyone knew him; you remembered the way everyone was heartbroken when he announced that he was leaving last year. Apart from you. You were busy bouncing off the walls to celebrate his departure as now, there was no debate about who the top physics student was. You knew it sounded condescending and extremely nerdy, but you worked hard for your grades; the title was deserved.

“I have to go to the principal's office,” Jake tells you.

“Go then,” You shrug. Jake tuts and drags you to the principal's office with him.

You fight off his grip on you, “I thought you didn’t know where anything was.”

Jake rolls his eyes, “Shut up and wait here. We have class together next, anyway.”

Just as you’re about to argue back, you realise that you do in fact have Physics next. Of course, he was in your class.

You sit and eat the breakfast that he bought you while you wait. Not long after, he exits the principal's office with a few books in his fingers.

“What are those?” You ask as you try to reach over and read them, only to have them held over your head and out of your reach.

“Don’t be so nosy,” Jake tuts. “Let’s go, we’re going to be late.”

You frown and follow him swiftly.

Jake opens the class door, and all eyes are set on him once again. Your Physics teacher calls him to the front while you rush to your seat at the back, away from all the gazes fixed on him.

Thanking God that your first lesson after the dreadful weekend was Physics was a waste since Jake was momentarily ordered to sit beside you.

“Is there a problem, Y/n?” Your teacher asks following your noises of protest.

You shake your head, not that it mattered to Jake who was already sitting in the seat beside you.

“Thankfully, I got placed next to my tutor. What would I do without you?” Jake drawls with a soft smile on his lips.

“Shut it, Sim,” you groan, snatching your things to your side of the table. “My side. Your side.”

Jake watches you pull out a thin ribbon and place it in the middle of the table.

Towards the end of the lesson, you’re assigned individual worksheet tasks that Jake gets done with smoothly. Unlike you, who is struggling slightly.

It’s not that the work is difficult to understand, but you’ve never been that close to Jake to see his hands. Despite your many attempts to focus on your work, your gaze is teared away from the Physics equations on your sheet and replaced with the sight of Jake’s hands only inches away from your own. In order to control your impulsive thoughts, you have to focus your full attention towards not touching his hands which is driving you absolutely insane.

Jake looks over his shoulder at your sheet, eyes widening slightly, “How are you still on the first question?”

Jolting slightly, you scramble to pick up your pen and mumble sometimes about getting distracted.

Jake bites his lip to prevent a giggle from escaping, “If you need help, you can ask me.”

“I don’t need your help,” You respond and commence with the work.

The bells to announce the end of the lesson go off soon after and you sigh in relief, packing your things instantly in order to get away from that nightmare sitting beside you.

Jake watches you pack up as if he was waiting to say something until Park Sunghoon and Jay Park run into the classroom.

“Jake!” Sunghoon smiles widely, Jay following shortly.

Jake grins, “I didn’t see you two this morning.”

“We had to meet up with the football (soccer) team before school. Join us after school today?” Jay asks.

Jake shakes his head, “Can’t. I have to study with my tutor.”

You dart your eyes over to him, “Not today.”

Sunghoon and Jay break out into fits of laughter.“No way, Y/n has to tutor you. That’s so unfortunate, Y/n,” Jay says to you, and you nod with a frown.

Jake furrows his eyebrows, “What’s so bad about tutoring me?”

“Dude, you don’t even need a tutor. Y/n, I’ve been asking you to tutor me for months now,” Sunghoon follows you around your desk.

“I didn’t have a choice!” You remark. “Our parents arranged it behind our backs.”

Sunghoon smiles, “What? Like an arranged marriage?”

“Ew!” You both said in unison.

Clearing your throat, you look at Jake again, “I’m not tutoring you today. They said weekends. “

You grab your bag and leave the room, rushing to find your best friends. Minji and Jieun are sitting at the usual bench near the football field, snacks laid in their laps as they discuss the precious lesson when you rush towards them.

Their attention immediately turns to you and Minji asks, “Y/n, is it true that Jake’s back?”

You huff and nod, “You’ll never believe it.” And, with that, you start filling them in on all the events that have occurred in far little time that you’d like.

They listen intently as you tell them every single detail since yesterday.

Jieun gasps, “How has this all happened in less than 24 hours?”

You shrug and steal a biscuit from her lap, “Honestly, I’m wondering the same thing. I didn’t even know he would be back 24 hours ago.”

Minji leans forward, “Shit, don’t look. Shit, shit, shit.”

Despite Minji’s request, Jieun turns her head with a car and gasps, too.

“What?” You ask, impatiently, wanting nothing more than to see what they were so intrigued about.

“Jake’s in a football shirt,” Jieun claps her hands together and you roll your eyes, although you turn your head ever so slightly to get a look. You don’t see Jake anywhere.

“Where?” You ask, now looking more closely.

Jieun and Minji giggle beside you and you close your eyes in anger after sudden realisation, “He’s not there, is he?”

“Nope,” Minji chuckles. You lightly shove her with your arm as she continues, “So, Y/n. A crush on Jake, huh?”

“Impossible!” you argue. “I was just looking because you guys were so shocked.”

You cross your arms and stuff your mouth with snacks as your friends stare at you in disbelief, “I do not like Sim Jaeyun.”

୨ৎ

Taking tests were usually anxiety inducing, but with your rival back, it was even worse than usual. Jake helped you separate the table into individual seats for the test, watching the way your fingers drummed on the table; a habit to get rid of the nerves.

“Don’t worry, I’ll take it easy on you, angel,” He whispers, leaning so close to your ear that you can feel his breath fanning onto your cheek.

“Ugh,” You shove him away. “Are you trying to make me vomit before the test so I can miss it and fail?”

Jake sneers, “As if I need to do something like that. I’ll get higher than you regardless.

“We’ll see about that Aussie boy.”

Jake's eyebrows raise upon the new nickname, his eyes gleaming as he watches you take the test paper into your hand and write your name before starting it. Jake leans back in his chair, twirling his pencil in his fingers before he too starts the test.

The school bells go off, signalling both the end of the school day and the test.

Jake stands behind you as you hand in your paper and exit the classroom.

He taps your shoulder, “Did you finish all the questions?”

You nod, “Yeah, did you?”

“Yeah, but I don't think I did that well. I guess it's good that I’ve got myself a tutor, huh?” Jake giggles beside you.

You almost laugh, instead concealing it with a roll of your eyes, “Lucky you.”

“Be ready for one, tomorrow,” Jake ruffles your hair, earning a smack on the arm from you, which he fake winces at. “You coming to the football game next Monday?”

“No,” You guffaw and watch Jake slip his hands into his pockets.

“Hm, I thought you were. A little birdie told me you were,” Jake shoves his phone into your face, revealing messages from your mother telling him that you would go.

Angrily, you twist Jake’s ear and he yelps, “Ow??? What was that for?”

“Many reasons,” You cross your arms. “You messaged my mum to get me to go to your stupid football game! Why do you even have my mothers number?”

Jake rubs his now pink ear, “She told me to take it for the tutoring sessions since you said no to giving yours. Plus, is it so bad that you’re coming? Your friends are there every day.”

“Yeah, to see the boys they like,” You shrug.

“There’s no one you want to watch play?” Jake asks, slipping his hands back into his pockets.

“I have no interest in watching anyone play.”

Jake hums again, turning his face to the side before clearing his throat, “That’s because no one wants you to watch them.”

You glare at him, “Then, why did you ask my mother to force me to go?”

Scorning, Jake responds, “I didn’t force her. I just mentioned it and she said to make sure you go. Why would I want you there?”

At his words, you feel your heart gain a few bruises but you play it off, “I’m not going.”

“Shut up, Lee. I’ll pick you up at 5 on Monday. Games at 6,” With that, Jake walks off to join his friends. You grab your phone and message your group chat with your friends.

You: It looks like I'm attending my first school football game next week.

Minji: You wanna tell me this isn't because of the Sim boy?

Jieun: LMFAO FR.

You: Dude messaged my mother to get me to go.

Jieun: No fucking way

Minji: Yeah, so when's the wedding?

You: shut up, we don’t like each other.

Minji: 🙄

Jieun: keep telling yourself that. Want us to pick you up?

You: no… he’s picking me up

Minji: act surprised!

Jieun: Suit yourself, I am surprised!

Usually, the weekends are more than enjoyable; being that you can sleep in bed for a few hours longer than usual without feeling like you're rotting away as you’re still up before noon which automatically means you're being productive. This weekend was different; just like every day has been since Jake has arrived back.

This was now yet another time that he’s randomly been in your house as if he lives there, and waiting for you to join him.

“You’re late,” He says, taking a bite of an apple.

“I forgot,” You respond and sit down at the table with your textbooks.

Jake sits beside you, smiling at your pyjamas, “Why are all of them so childish?”

You frown, “They’re not childish. Anyway, focus!”

Tutoring Jake reveals to be harder than you thought. He either gets distracted every few minutes with an odd would you rather question that he needs to hear your response to or he’s bragging about how he doesn’t need these tutoring sessions, and could easily beat you in the upcoming exam.

Two hours fly by ever so slowly, and you’re silently thanking God that it’s over when the time comes.

Slamming your books shut, you spring to your feet with a wide smile plastered over your lips “Well, it’s been lovely but, that’s me done. Goodbye!”

Jake snickers as he watches you disappear up the stairs in a hurry, “See you on Monday!”

Monday flies by faster than you realise, you think as you sit in Physics next to Jake with your head resting in your palm. Monday was always such a mission to get through, but it didn’t help that you had a particularly late night.

“Tired?” Jake asks, sliding over your favourite bottled coffee. Your eyes light up upon seeing it as you accept it with a slightly enthusiastic nod.

“Extremely, staying up watching ‘Criminal Minds' is not a good idea,” You advise before taking a happy swig of the coffee.

Jake laughs, “Thanks for the warning. You’re coming to the game, by the way.”

You roll your eyes, “Is that why you got me a drink?”

Jake hums, “Why else would I do something nice for you?”

You scowl and hand him the coffee back, only for it to be slided back towards you with a disgusted expression on his, “I don’t want it! You already put your mouth on it.”

You sigh, and put it back in your bag, “Asshole.”

“Idiot,” He remarks.

You flick your eyes up and notice the teacher handing out the test papers from the last lesson, “We’ll see who the idiot is.”

The teacher places both yours and Jake's papers down with a smile.

You read the 97 on your paper, tilting it nervously to reveal to him as you wait for his mark.

“96,” He huffs, setting the paper down with a disappointed frown.

You clap your hands together with a wide grin, “I knew it! Sim Jaeyun, you fell off!”

You tease him consistently, singing celebrations in his ear as he places the paper in his bag, smiling at the 98 written on his sheet that he would much rather keep hidden for the sake of you singing gleefully beside him.

Jake swears he’s never seen you so happy; it's almost impossible to keep his smile under control as he watches you in slight fear that the adoration he has for you is emanating more than he would like.

୨ৎ

Your exciting plans to nap immediately after school were destroyed when you heard knocks on the door at exactly four minutes to five pm.

You answer softly, “Come in.”

Expecting one of your parents to walk in, you don’t bother to try and fix your hair or anything so when Jake walks in, you hurry to cover your snoopy pyjamas with your blanket, but judging by the way he snickers, you can tell he’s already seen it.

Jake stands in front of your wardrobe, “Say, Michael B Jordan came into your room and opened your wardrobe. Would there be anything you’d be too shy to show him?”

“No,” You reply, confused. Jake swinging your wardrobe doors open and grabbing a sweater before throwing it at you and walking out of the room was the last thing you had expected. Not to mention that he compared himself to Michael B Jordan, as if you’d care if he had seen your undergarments. Jake, however…

“Ten minutes!” He calls out before closing the door.

You sit in disbelief for a few moments before complying with his demands.

A few moments later, you walk out of the room and hear Jake and your father watching the football game.

“You’re here watching the game when you’re about to play anyway…” You stare at the two, dumfounded.

Jake tilts his head up at you as he gets up, “The game’s too good. Let’s go!”

He says goodbye to your parents and walks you to his car, “We’re kind of early, so you wanna eat something or eat after the game?”

“After the game?” You repeat slowly.

“Don’t tell me you’re planning to run home as soon as the game begins,” Jake runs a hand through his hair.

You stifle a laugh, “I doubt I'd make it before half time.”

Jake laughs, “Alright, let's get going.”

Along the way, Jake plays some songs and you can't help but enjoy the atmosphere. Jake glances her eyes towards you from time to time, fighting the smile that creeps his way onto his face in response to yours.

He can't help but think of how beautiful you look, when you’re not even doing anything remotely significant.

“We’re here,” You say.

“Thanks, Sherlock,” Jake rolls his eyes and gets out of the car. As soon as you open the car door, he pushes you back inside and shuts it. You furrow your eyebrows at him standing by the passenger door.

Jake swiftly opens the car door for you, looking around as you leave the car although it's a struggle to move after a zoo of butterflies started swarming in your stomach from his actions.

“Thanks,” You rub at the nape of your neck as he mutters an ‘its alright’ to you.

The pair of you make your way across the football pitch, Jake greets people as he walks past them while you dodge dirty stares from jealous students. It almost makes you want to laugh; if only they knew how it really was.

To be quite honest, you weren’t sure if you knew either now that you thought about it.

Brushing your thoughts away, you sat down on one of the benches, “I’ll watch from here.”

Jake nods and slings his bag to put next to you, “You’ll watch this, right?”

“Yes,” You huff. “Anything else, kind sir?”

Jake throws his head back as he laughs, “No, madam.”

Before you can look away, Jake removes his top and replaces it with a football jersey. You know you shouldn't, but you can't help it - his abs were literally staring at you in plain sight, so you had to look back at them.

Of course, he notices you staring and tuts, “Didn’t strike me as a pervert, Y/n.”

You gasp, stammering, “You.. You didn't even warn me!”

“Relax, angel. I don’t mind,” He jogs backwards, sending you a few winks before printing off to the rest of his football members.

Just before the game starts, Minji and Jieun run over and join you, already screaming the names of whichever boy they were infatuated with at that current time.

The game proves to be far more interesting as expected and you end up not regretting letting yourself be dragged out of bed by Jake.

You watch intently as Jake dribbles the ball and shoots it directly in the goal. Your adrenaline must have taken over you, since the next thing you know, you’re jumping up and cheering. In the midst of Jake’s celebration around the pitch, he looks over at you with the widest smile he’s ever fathomed. Jieun and Minji share smirks from the side.

By half time, he separates from the rest of his team and runs directly to you.

You hand him a water bottle as he sits beside you, sweat droplets making his skin glow an extra bit.

“I didn’t expect you to cheer for me,” Jake says, smugly.

“I didn’t cheer for you. I cheered for the team,” You correct.

“I didn’t see you get up and cheer like that when Sunghoon scored,” Jake mutters under his breath.

You dart your eyes at him, “You’re lucky I didn’t hear that.”

Jake sits beside you, regaining his strength in the fifteen minute break while you look around at the other members, eyes fixated on one familiar member.

“Oh shit,” You turn around to Jieun and Minji, whose eyes follow your previous gaze and soon replicate your own shocked expression. Jake turns to the three of you, attempting to eavesdrop.

“Is that-”

“Don’t say the name,” You gesture to Jake sitting beside you.

“Woah, woah,” Jake stands up. “Whose name?”

“None of your business,” You snap. “Shouldn’t you go and, like, discuss team plays?”

Jake shakes his head, “Nah, this isn’t a serious game. It’s just a friendly. Who’s the guy?”

Jake nods his head at the guy you were looking at, fury slowly bubbling in his insides.

“He's a relative,” You lie.

“Bullshit,” Jake huffs. “I’ll find out after the game, anyway.”

The guy was Lee Minseok, and he was your first kiss at a party several months earlier. Being a kiss at a party, you don’t even remember it but your friends had informed you of it. He, too, had wanted to reconnect by messaging you on each and every one of your social media accounts for weeks after despite you saying you weren't looking for anything. You’d felt bad, but it was better to leave it as a drunken mistake than leading him on completely. It had also been a shame that he was your first ever kiss, but you were glad you didn’t remember it.

You look at Jieun and Minji again before sitting back down next to Jake, who doesn’t say another word. After a few minutes, he walks off to his members without saying anything. You feel slightly disappointed that he didn’t say one of his flirty remarks, but you don’t pay too much mind.

You continue watching the game, silently cheering whenever Jake scores or does anything remotely notable and you notice how his eyes always turn to you upon doing something well, but again, you don’t think much of it.

It’s only when you notice Minseok slytackling Jake, leading to Jake falling on his back. Soft gasps erupt from the crowd, a way of everyone agreeing that it was far too harsh of a movement. Minseok holds his hand out to apologise, only to be rejected by Jake smacking his hand away and pushing him by the shoulders. It becomes a small brawl, Jay and Sunghoon having to pull Jake away and to the changing rooms. You watch Jake strut over to the changing rooms, a look of rage crossed over his face.

The next thirty minutes of the game go by painfully slow; all you wanted was to know if Jake was alright.

Despite Jieun and Minji’s attempts at trying to get you to go home with them, you wait for Jake, just to find out if he's okay.

It gets dark when you spot Jake walking on the other side of the football field and you call him over, “Jake!”

He turns around and looks at you with a slightly bewildered expression, but waits for you nonetheless.

“Are you okay?” You ask.

“I’m fine,” He mumbles. “Did you ask Minseok if he was, too?”

It was your turn to look at him bewilderedly, “No, I couldn’t care less if he was injured.”

Jake’s lips almost curl into a smile. Almost, if he didn’t hear Sunghoons words replaying in his head. Minseok was your first kiss - he stole your first kiss. The feeling of rage bubbled in Jake’s insides again.

“Anyway, I waited because you promised to get me food,” You grin.

Jake looks away, “I can’t. Dad needs help at home.”

“Oh,” You whisper. “Okay, but you owe me another day.”

Jake nods in agreement, and you wait for that familiar smile to return on his face, but it doesn’t.

“I’m going to get going,” You say.

Again, you wait for him to say something, like offer to drop you off home. But, nothing.

You feel like a fool as you walk away from him, his figure growing smaller and smaller behind you with every step.

The next few days are all similar, there are times where you expect Jake to say something to you around the halls or in Physics, but he doesn’t. You don’t even see him around the house anymore, despite his family being there and them saying that he was busy catching up with schoolwork. That was definitely a lie, you knew him.

Mr Sim calls you to sit with them, smiling at you politely.

“Thank you for tutoring Jaeyun. His grades slipped a bit in Australia but, thanks to you, they’re back to normal,” He grins. “I hope there’s no hard feelings, though.”

“Of course, not. Why would there be?” You return his politeness.

Mr Sim sighs in ease, “Oh, I thought you would be since Jaeyun got 98 on the recent test. Although, it was only a marks difference. You’re seriously wonderful-”

The rest of his words tune out, the only thing you hear is that Jake got higher than you in the test but he lied. Why did he lie?

୨ৎ

Deciding to head over to his house with the lie that you needed to give him some school work was merely impulsive, it was far too late when you realised at his doorstep. You’d spent the last few days laying in the darkness of your room, wondering why he has suddenly switched off his typically playful manner to a foreign, nonchalant version of himself. You even cried to Jieun and Minji about it, who cursed him repeatedly.

Jake opens the door in Spongebob pyjamas to which you cock an eyebrow at, “And you called mine childish.”

“What are you doing here?” Jake asks, helping you into his house. “Do you want something to drink or eat?”

You shake your head and he leans on the wall in front of you as you take a seat.

“So,” Jake stares at you. “What are you doing here?”

You take a long and slow breath, “Why did you lie about your mark in the recent exam?”

Jake steps forward slightly, “How did you-”

You shake your head, “It doesn’t matter. Why did you lie?”

Jake exhales, “I knew it would make you happy.”

You scoff, getting to your feet, “Why on earth do you care if I’m happy?”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Jake grits his teeth.

“You hate me. You’ve been avoiding me for days, now,” You breathe out.

Jake stares at you blankly, before breaking out into a fit of laughter, “Hate you?”

He inches closer to you until hes standing directly in front of you, “Y/n, I came back here for you.”

“What are you talking about?” You chuckle. “You came back because our parents-”

“No,” Jake interjects. “You think I didn’t beg my father to take that deal? You think my dad doesn’t know how in love with you I am? Y/n, everyone knows but you!”

You shake your head, “This isn’t true.”

“Look, if you don’t like me back, just say so. But, don’t come here and start spewing nonsense. I’ve liked you since that day that we won the Science Fair together. I’ve been in love with you since I left for Australia.”

You look up at him, “No way.”

Jake rolls his eyes and takes your hand, pulling you to his bedroom. He sits you down in his bed while he reaches into a drawer and pulls out a large box.

Jake removes the lid and brings out multiple items that you recognise and some that you don’t.

“This is my Y/n box,” he places it onto your lap. “Have a look.”

Jake holds a few items in his hand, “This is the bracelet I won at a Physics competition in Australia at the beginning. I planned to give it to you. This is a teddy I won at some amusement park. And, this is a letter I wrote on the plane when I realised that I was in love with you. Well, am in love with you.”

Jake continues, “Even my grades, Y/n. They were nothing without you. It’s like you were my only source of motivation, my grades were average towards the end of the year in Australia. My parents and my teachers all blamed it on the move, but I knew. I knew it was because you weren’t there.”

You’re speechless, he kept everything remotely linked to you since you were thirteen. He thought of you in every little thing he did.

“You love me?” You question.

“Yes, Y/n. I’ve been in love with you.”

“But,” You breathe out. “I’m hard to love.”

Your voice is strained, and isn’t far from a whisper. There’s so many things you want to say yet so little words to conform them to the perfect boy sitting in front of you.

He almost guffaws at your words - Jake might have if he didn’t realise just how serious you were. He didn’t understand; what on earth was so hard about loving you? There was nothing.

If only you could see just how effortless it had been, straight from the beginning. The minute he laid eyes on you standing by a handmade rocket, scribbling ideas down on a piece of paper, it was as if the atoms in the universe had created an inseparable bond that tied you two together. It was as if the poles in the universe had drawn together, creating a magnetic field of attraction.

Jake’s eyes twinkle as he leans closer to you, “There is nothing hard about loving you. Loving you is like breathing out oxygen, so if loving you is hard then breathing is, too.”

You flick your eyes up at him again, now only centimetres away from those pink plush lips of his until you close the gap, pulling him into a soft kiss.

“I love you, too, “ You breathe out.

“Really?” Jake gasps. “You’re not just saying that?”

You shake your head, intertwining your fingers, “No, seriously. I do, I didn’t know I did but now.. Now, I know. I came here because you were avoiding me the whole week and I couldn’t bear it.”

Jake giggles, “That’s because I didn’t think you liked me back after that whole situation with Minseok at the football game. I thought it would be better to just leave you alone.”

Jake gently intertwines his fingers with you, a casual action albeit causing your heart to race a million miles per hour.

“So,” he beams, “if you get higher than me in the next Physics exam, I’ll take you out on a date.”

You cock an eyebrow at him, a grin paired on your lips, “And, what if I don’t?”

Jake looks away, thinking for a moment, “Then, you take me on a date.”

“Well, can I give you a kiss first?” You ask, raising an eyebrow at him as if he’s ever going to decline that offer

“You don’t need to ask twice,” Jake breathes out, before meeting your lips with a wide grin plastered on his face.

୨ৎ

Seeing Jake knock on your window from outside your house was quite a shock for you, being it was a Sunday evening and you were sorting out your school bag for the next day.

You open your window to let him in with a befuddled expression worn on your face, “What are you doing here? It’s almost 6:30.”

A soft smile is on his lips as he looks at you, and climbs through your window, “I had to see you. Its been so long.”

Rolling your eyes playfully, “I saw you on Friday.”

“That’s far too long, angel.”

You smile as he wraps an arm around your waist to pull you in for a warm embrace, he hums as he closes his eyes and rocks your body with his from side to side.

“Why didn’t you use the front door?” You ask him.

Jake nervously rubs the back of his neck, “I’m scared of your father.”

You laugh at his words, “You’ve known the man for years! What’s there to be afraid of?”

He sits down on your bed, playing with your teddy bears, “Well, he’s different with me now that I’m.. dating his daughter.”

“He’s a bit shocked but he’ll get used to it. You can’t expect him to like you if he finds out you’ve been sneaking in through my window, though,” You pinch Jake’s cheek softly.

Jake nods, “I know.” Jake sighs and leans into your touch against his cheek.

“Why don’t you try going back through the front door? You can ask my parents for permission to grab dinner outside, today,” You suggest, pulling his hands up.

You watch Jake’s eyes glint in excitement as he heads back out of the window. Yet, he doesn’t forget to turn around to press a quick kiss on your cheek before he leaves, only to return to be in your house in less than a minute.

Hearing the doorbell ring, you make your way downstairs while fighting the urge to grin upon knowing exactly who was at your door.

You watch your father open the door, seeing Jake, “Hi Jake, what brings you here?”

Jake stammers, “Hello, sir. I mean, Mr Lee… I came to see Y/n.”

You stand beside your father, “Dad, you haven’t even let him in.”

Pulling Jake inside, you frown at your Dad as your Mum joins the three of you.

“Honey, why are you so awkward around Jaeyun now? Weren’t you the one who always wanted him as a son?” Your mum chuckles.

“I didn’t think he would become a son like.. this,” Your dad darts his eyes towards you and Jake. “So, is the relationship going well?”

You struggle to not break out into a fit of laughter, “Yes, Dad. Thanks for your concern. Jake and I are going to get some ice cream.”

Your Mum nods happily while your father sighs and sits back. Jake bows his head politely and leaves with you.

“I hate the awkwardness,” Jake whines and you laugh, intertwining your fingers with his.

“He’ll get used to it!” You boop Jake’s nose sweetly.

Walking alongside Jake with your fingers wrapped tightly in his own, the crisp autumn air hitting against your cheeks and the streetlights illuminating the sky; you can’t help but feel a sense of longing towards the moment. It just felt right.

“I’ve been thinking,” Jake breaks the silence, tilting his head towards you. “Actually.. No, no. You’re going to make fun of me.”

Jake hides his face in his hoodie, but you can still see the redness in his cheeks.

“What?” You laugh, prying his face out of his hoodie. “Tell me!”

Jake sighs, “I used to think we were alike but I don’t think we are. So, I guess we’re kinda like magnets.”

“You’ve called me a lot of things, Sim Jaeyun, but never have you called me a magnet.”

Jake sighs with a smile on his face, “Not like that! I just meant, we’re not as alike as we think. Kinda like a magnet, but they work out fine. If anything, there’s literal forces of attraction pulling them together. Isn’t that so cool?”

You chortle, “Yes, Jake. That’s very cool. I love being your magnet.”

Jake presses a kiss to your lips, “Stop making fun of me.”

“Stop being a nerd,” You retort.

“Says the one who got 100% in the last quiz!”“Don’t be jealous, Sim. You’ll get on my level someday.”

[changingplumbob]

Glenn worried Silver would get bored listening to him talking but the werewolf gave no signs of being put out. Glenn liked that. Often he talked so much that people tended to get bored before he'd finished what he was trying to say.

Glenn: And then I went looking for frogs and you appeared out of the rain looking gorgeous

Oh shoot, he hadn't meant to say that. Why did his mouth run away from him? Silver looked at him almost hungrily and Glenn knew he better head to bed before his pixel parts did the thinking for him.

Glenn: So I sent your sleeping bag to my room

Silver: I know, I was in there before

Glenn: Right, well, I'm going to shower before I sleep. It can take a while so you may want to go bunk down, or not. Don't let me tell you what to do. Ah, goodnight

Silver watched Glenn send the dishes to the sink and scurry upstairs amused. He had seemed sure of himself on the TV but in person... in person he seemed less experienced, more vulnerable. Maybe that was just his werewolf senses in overdrive though? Or maybe he made Glenn nervous? Glenn did say he had grown his bravado as a defense.

Heading upstairs himself he took off his sweater so he could fit in the sleeping bag. He didn't mind sleeping in the rain but it was nice to be here. Silver hadn't exactly spent a lot of time indoors in the past few decades but rather than the space seeming small and confining, it felt cozy and comforting. Or maybe that was just Glenn. Silver fell asleep before he could figure it out.

Glenn did take longer in the shower than normal, which was saying something. He did have his normal elongated routine but he wanted to look nice for Silver, just in case. Just in case what? Just in case nothing.

He walked softly back into his room and heard soft breathing from the sleeping bag, seeing it rise and fall as Silver slept. If someone had told Glenn that Grayson had a brother, he would not have imagined Silver. He was direct, forthright. Glenn didn't think he would have liked that but he couldn't deny talking to Silver came easily.

He changed into his sleepwear and climbed in bed, taking a final peek at his guest before closing his eyes. Maybe he was overthinking it. If Silver really had no problem with Glenn having loved Grayson, then why should he see it as a barrier? He was past Grayson now, and he was back to feeling like he deserved love. Could he find it with Silver? The sound of the werewolf breathing calmed him and before he knew it he was asleep.

Glenn woke nice and early like normal. Pulling himself up to sit in bed he took a moment to watch Silver. Glenn knew his own parents were dead, but he hadn't seen their bodies since his grandfather and he had fled. What hell it must have been to see the ones you love in pieces. Glenn didn't think he could keep going if anything like that happened to him.

He was glad Silver had consented to come in from the rain. Glenn was surprised that there hadn't been any angry spellcasters knocking on his door, but he supposed they were all busy with their studies. Looking out the window he could see the sun was out. Silver might want to leave.

Getting up he tiptoed past the sleeping werewolf and headed for the bathroom. He did his normal morning routine. Shave, skin care, teeth. When he was done he looked in the mirror. He did look good today, hopefully Silver would agree. Trying to fight the blush he said his morning affirmations. Normally he said them as loud as he could but with Silver being so close he decided to just whisper them. He really didn't want him knowing how much his confidence had tanked after the show.

Now for clothes... or not? Maybe he should see how serious Silver was in his advances.

Glenn walked back into his room still shirtless and was greeted with a whistle from Silver who was leaning against the window. It was the reaction he was hoping for but he still felt flustered.

Glenn: Ah, I was thinking I should make breakfast so I'm going to go do that

Silver: Without a shirt

Glenn: I mean... I can put a shirt on if you want

Silver: *chuckles* Why would I want that. I'll clean up and meet you down there

Glenn tried to hide his smile as he headed out the door. Silver didn't see it, he was too busy thinking about how nice Glenn's backside looked in those pants.

Glenn got downstairs and congratulated himself on another successful chat with Silver. As he mixed ingredients together he watched the normal sims jog by the park. Maybe he should stretch his legs today, but would he be doing it alone?

Silver: They really can't see us

Glenn almost knocked the bowl over in shock.

Glenn: Watcher! You move quietly

Silver: *shrugs* Decades of practice

Glenn: It does feel weird seeing them and knowing they can't see us but it's for the best. It's dangerous for so many spellcasters to gather still. Any occult really

Glenn continued making the pancakes, feeling Silver's eyes on his back.

Glenn: Got any plans for today

Silver: I mean... I've been in Willow Creek a while, it's probably best I move on

Glenn: *shocked* Move on? Like die?

Silver: The hell would I want to die for? I just keep moving, I only really stay places for three weeks at most. I was going to leave the day before yesterday but the rain stopped me

Glenn: Well could you stay a day? For me?

Silver: *smiles* Sure, if you want me to, I can do a day

Glenn: So you travel a lot then

Silver: I do

Glenn: Why

Silver: I don't have a pack anymore, nothing tying me anywhere. It means I can go where I please, although I'm still adjusting to these new cities. Packing so many people in one place, it's so odd to me

Glenn: Well maybe sometime we should check out a city together. I can hold your hand if you get nervous

Silver: You have a thing about holding my hand don't you

Glenn: *flustered* It was to get through the spell barrier

Silver: Relax Glenn. I hadn't held someones hand for decades, it was nice, like your abs

Glenn: *chuckling* How are you so direct? When I flirt I have to hide it behind fifteen layers of innuendo

Silver: *shrugs* Why not tell people how I feel. Far better than lying. I've done too much of that in my past

Previous ... Next

[bluepeachstudios]

Little Scraps of Wisdom Anniversary!

Hi everybody! @spectralsleuth's fic Little Scraps of Wisdom was first posted a year ago today and me and @alicat54c got together with some other people to make an anniversary gift <3

If you haven't read it, it's REALLY good, it's a series of stories about Yoshi/Lou escaping Draxum with the kids without being mutated, and him integrating them into human society. Audio's writing is so lovely! <3

Premise of this gift is that the tots from Little Scraps of Empathy (LSoW / Empathy is Learned crossover; also very cute) found Ghost in the sewers and decided to bring him home with them while their family is out.

---------

“You’ll love our big brothers, Mr. Ghost!” the little spotted turtle, Touma, chattered. “Mikey makes the best food, and teaches me how to make the best food too!”

“You guys must eat really well, then,” Ghost murmured, casting apprehensive looks around the home.

“Hm!” Touma squeaked. “Mikey made a whole salmon for Raph yesterday! I got to help!”

“You should sit!” Aoi, the little slider, patted Ghost’s knees. “Dad says it’s polite to sit nice guests on the couch, not stand in the hallway.”

“Oh.” Ghost shuffled further inside, eyes scanning as he let the four little ones guide him into the other room, where he perched on the edge of the couch.

He could see an old magazine on the coffee table, depicting a grinning human in yellow tinted glasses. There were more beneath that, but Shima, the little soft shell, climbed onto the couch next to him, peering into his face intently.

Ghost hesitated before reaching out and petting over his head slowly.

Shima’s glowing red eyes scrunched shut as he leaned into the touch, tiny churr in his throat, before settling back against the opposite arm of the couch. 

“What were you guys doing out in the sewers?” Ghost asked, eyes softening at Shima. “You’ve got a nice house to live in here.”

“Dad never said we couldn’t go outside,” Aoi argued, fiddling with something under the table. “Just that we shouldn’t touch Donnie’s plants, in case, um, something.”

“Eaten,” the snapper, Kouji, signed, flopping onto the floor, where a pile of blankets and cushions had been stacked,

“Thanks for helping us find home!” Touma chirped, struggling to climb onto the couch cushions without digging his claws into the fabric.

Ghost scooped him up, placing him on the couch. His eyes kept drifting over the magazines on the table, then back up to sweep all the entrances.

Touma cuddled against him immediately, little yellow spots creasing like freckles as he smiled. “Thank you Mr. Ghost!”

“Yeah…” Ghost petted over Touma’s shell. “How did you all end up here…?”

“We used to live in the storm drain, before Dad found us,” Aoi chattered. They seemed to be setting up a game of chess on the coffee table. “We wanted to see what the storm drains here were like. We didn’t mean to get lost! But it’s okay, we found you! Dad likes turtles, so Dad’s gonna like you too!”

Ghost hunched his shoulders slightly, taking note of the exits once more.

Touma chirped, cuddling against his plastron. His grip was strong for a turtle of his size. “It’s okay, Dad’s nice! He makes sure no one screams at us! You don’t have to be scared!”

“Oh, no, it’s not–” Ghost paused, taking a breath and curling an arm around Touma. “That’s… good to know.”

“Do you want to play with me?” Aoi’s red eyes peered up at Ghost hopefully.

Ghost surveyed the board game, nodding. “You play?”

“Hm!” Aoi nodded. “Leo, my big brother, is teaching me how to play better, and lots’a other fun games too! He’s the best! Do you know any fun games?”

“Some…” Ghost sat forward on the couch to peer at the board. “You can go first.”

“Okay!” Aoi moved a knight. 

As they played, and whichever hand was free went to petting either Touma or Shima, Ghost wondered why a famous actor would adopt not four, but supposedly eight entire mutant turtles. He couldn’t see anything to gain from it, except perhaps more fame, but it came with more problems than it was worth. There were easier ways to get famous.

Ghost wondered why they were living aboveground, in a normal house, on a normal block, like they were humans. Was it possible?

Casually, he moved some of the magazines to look at the covers. If not Lou Jitsu, then it was Hamato Leonardo, posed and dressed like a model, bright red crescents always prominent. Ghost could feel his own Leonardo cringing at the thought of being seen, let alone modeling for a magazine on purpose. 

How did everyone know about them and nothing happened? Was it possible to live like this?

“Checkmate!” Aoi chirped, drawing his attention forward again.

Ghost blinked. He hadn’t been paying that much attention to the game and it had cost him. “Mm. You’re very good.”

Aoi beamed, tail wiggling. “Leo’s teaching me! He’s really fun to play with! Um, I like playing with you too!”

Ghost’s eyes softened. “Yeah. Me too.” He started to reset the board. “Another game?” He would pay attention this time. Give the kid a run for his money, as it were.

“Yeah!” Aoi chirped, already resetting the board.

“Shelldon says Dad and everyone’s gonna be home soon,” Shima hummed, playing with a tiny spider between their claws. It glinted metallically. 

“I should…” Ghost stood, stiff. “I should go.”

“You can’t go!”Touma cried, latching onto his arm like a vice.

“You gotta stay!” Aoi latched onto his leg just as tightly. He was trapped. 

“I can’t,” Ghost insisted, desperately. “I have to go, I can’t– I’m not supposed to–”

“Nooo!” Aoi whined, as Kouji wriggled out of his nest to capture Ghost’s other leg. “We want you to meet Dad and our brothers!”

“I can’t, I don’t belong here!” Ghost tried plucking them off carefully but they were like barnacles. If he wasn’t terrified of hurting them, he could have run.

If he really wanted to, he could have gotten away.

There was a rattle of keys in the lock, frantic worried voices on the doorstep. 

“Daddy!” The little turtles cheered, voices eerily in sync. 

The door opened.

Ghost swallowed.

Looks like he was stuck here for a while. 

[maccreadysbaby]

A Hundred Ways to Become a Wayne

batfamily + oc insert

tw: none

wanna read more? here’s the table of contents!

want to read the first fic in the hundred days series so you understand what’s going on here? here it is!

THIS IS THE LAST CHAPTER THIS IS THE LAST CHAPTER THIS IS THE LAST CHAPTER. Get ready for a bittersweet ending my friends 🥹 THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR LOVE AND SUPPORT ON THIS PROJECT. It means so much to me🥹

part forty-six

❝ EVERYTHING IS OKAY? ❞

SUNDAY — SEPTEMBER 20 — 3:04PM

LIFE WENT LARGELY BACK TO NORMAL (IN IT'S TYPICAL STRANGE WAY).

The Secret Keeper was dead. The metahumans were released from mind control. Gotham was cleaning up, getting ready to rebuild. Everyone was okay.

For a while, Bentley was nothing more than a whole lot of sore. Everything hurt, like his internal organs and all. He was practically living off of ibuprofen and other painkillers. He wasn’t allowed to eat anything super hard to digest, so he’d been inhaling soup and jello and tea in favor of being in the least amount of pain possible.

Nico’s parents came to get him a few days after Bentley’s surgery. It was a dramatic reunion, as expected, and Bentley was glad about it. Nico seemed glad about it, too. They thanked Bruce for his help and took Nico home without a moment, to maybe, hopefully, talk things over.

Asten was staying at the Wayne Manor until further notice. Bruce had been talking to the right people and already had some kind of court date or something set up. Bentley wasn’t sure what that was all about (maybe something about sending Asten back to Brazil? Which would suck), but he did know that Asten was doing pretty good for a kid who’d been dead. He was more closed off and quiet than normal, and had refused a guest room in favor of sleeping on the other side of Bentley’s bed, but it was okay. Nico made sure to call them nearly every single day and talk about everything and nothing, which Asten seemed to enjoy. He’d be okay.

The Wayne family was there in full force to make sure Asten and Bentley were okay and taken care of and happy. Not a single Wayne stayed hidden, not a single one left — they all made sure to come to dinner every night and tell stupid stories, to have their nightly time in the den watching movies they’d all seen too many times already, to coax Alfred into playing games around the table with them, to hang out in the backyard with the dogs, to have huge spontaneous sleepovers downstairs when their movie marathon got a little out of hand. The Wayne’s were back to how they’d been when Bentley first got there. They were the real Wayne’s again.

And for the first time in a long time, everything was okay.

Until it wasn’t.

Until Nico showed up on the doorstep of Wayne Manor a week and one day after Bentley’s surgery with bad, bad news.

“You’re what?” Asten growled.

Nico looked down at the concrete beneath his shoes. His parents were behind him in their car, doors closed but windows rolled down, talking to Bruce, who was standing out next to the vehicle. Nico’s eyes and nose were red. The sun was shining and the birds were chirping — it was a nice, not freezing Monday afternoon. But that didn’t matter.

Nico scraped the toe of his tennis shoe across the concrete, not bringing his red-rimmed blue eyes up. “We’re moving.”

Bentley (decked out unabashedly in his sailboat pajamas) and Asten (also unashamedly wearing the same pjs he’d had on for at least two days) stared blankly; one shocked, the other on the edge of livid.

Nico was… leaving? Like really leaving and never coming back?

Bentley muttered: “Where?” At the same time Asten spat: “When?”

Nico still didn’t look up, but instead, stared at the bottoms of his black sweatpants. “Missouri. A week from today. My… parents don’t think it’s safe here anymore. They have friends there.”

Bentley glanced over at Asten, who was staring, calculatively. His green eyes flicked back to Nico’s parents’ car with the same fire in it that he had the day he knocked out Jesse Todryk. “Your parents' friends can piss right off.”

“Asten,” Bruce warned from the car (he really does have Batman ears). “Don’t make this harder than it already is for him.”

(Oh yeah, did Bentley mention that Bruce had already eased into dad-mode with Asten? Because he had. No one in the Manor expected much less, really.)

Nico kept staring dutifully at the ground. 

“I’m sorry.” He whispered, hardly audible, voice wavering slightly. He brought the sleeve of his blue hoodie up to rub at his eyes. “I… I don’t have a choice.”

As it became prominent he was crying, Bentley stepped up and hugged him. Nico didn’t bother putting his arms around him, choosing to instead keep covering his face, but Bentley didn’t mind.

One of Bentley’s only two friends was really leaving? For real?

Don’t. Freaking. Cry. That would make it so much worse for him. Bentley blinked back a dull sting behind his eyes and forced it away.

They were all quiet for a minute.

“I told them everything. It’s my fault we’re leaving,” Nico muttered, bringing his arms up and around Bentley after a moment. “They-they said there’s someone in Central City that will train me. The same guy that saved my life when I was a baby.”

Bentley hummed. Didn’t the super fast guy who was on the Justice League with Bruce live in Central City?

There was no way Nico was going to train with The Flash, was there?

(Was the Barry from the adoption letter The Flash?)

Bentley rubbed his back lightly. “That’ll be good for you.”

He and Asten shared brief eye contact, during which Bentley made his best please just be supportive face, and after a moment, Asten walked away, disappearing back into the manor without a single word. 

Bentley sighed lightly.

“Asten’s pissed,” Nico muttered, and he felt Nico grab onto the back of his shirt. “I knew he would be.”

“He’s just sad,” Bentley tried, rubbing his back a little again. “He is your best friend.”

“And so are you. It’s like they don’t even care that I’m having to leave you guys behind. That this affects more than just me,” Nico groaned in annoyance.

Bentley breathed in, glancing at Nico’s parents’ car. They were smiling, chatting with Bruce. “If it’s going to be better and safer for you, then… I’d rather you go.”

Nico pulled away from him, giving him a deadpan look. “No offense, Bentley, but if you were told it would be better for someone if you cut off your own legs with a handsaw, you’d do it.”

“I would not,” Bentley argued, and Nico wiped at his watery eyes. A moment of silence passed. 

“This isn’t really something we can change, so we should make the best of it, right?” Bentley questioned. “Maybe you can come over one more time before you leave.”

“Maybe… I’ll ask,” Nico replied, sighing lightly, running a hand through his hair. “I hate this.”

“It’ll be okay,” Bentley reassured. (But would it really be okay?) “We can talk to you on the phone every day.”

“But Asten-“

“Trust me, we’ll take care of Asten,” Bentley replied, attempting the patented Bruce Wayne reassuring smile. “You’re going to a new place to train with someone who has superpowers, away from creepy Gotham and Jesse Todryk and supervillains. I think it’ll be great. And you can call us whenever you want to.”

 Nico sniffled, then stared at the ground. “But, Asten’s whole family got killed and now his best friend is leaving. What if this, like, pushes him over an edge? Again?”

Bentley shrugged lightly. “We have a Jason for that.”

“Bentley, I’m serious,”

“So am I,” He replied, glancing back at the car momentarily. “Everything will be okay here.”

“What if I don’t want it to be okay?” Nico questioned, catching Bentley off-guard. Their eyes met and there was some level of hurt in his blue irises. “What if I want you guys to need me here?”

Bentley sighed lightly, blinking a few times, looking around. “You’re our friend. We’ll always need you.”

“You can say that now, but we’re all just going to forget about each other in a few years. That’s what happens every time I move,” Nico muttered, crossing his arms. 

“We broke into our teacher’s cabin, got kidnapped and turned into metahumans, and went into a war zone together. I don’t think there’s much of a risk of us forgetting each other,” Bentley stated, snickering lightly. “It’ll-“

“Yeah, but one day you’re going to have a bunch of new friends and just say something like oh yeah once me and this blonde kid played superhero. That’s always what happens when someone moves. And I’m just going to be stuck at home being homeschooled and doing nothing forever.”

“Nico, we’ve gotta go, bud!” His father called from the driver's side window.

Bentley sighed lightly, glancing back at Nico, whose eyes were watering again. “Nico, I promise I will not forget about you, okay? None of us will. We’ll talk all the time.”

Nico nodded in response, but didn’t say anything else. Instead, he turned and silently made for the car, passing Bruce on the way, who patted his shoulder reassuringly.

Bentley watched Nico climb in the car, and Bruce made his way back to the manor, settling with him in the doorway.

The car pulled off.

One of Bentley’s first ever friends was leaving.

Bruce’s hand landed between his shoulder blades and rubbed his back there. “You okay, chum?”

“I don’t think so,”

(He didn’t cry until Nico’s car was long gone.)

—

SUNDAY — SEPTEMBER 27 — 2:23PM

Asten was pissed for the whole week. Whatever small progress had been made to pull him out of his shell and help open him up after his uncle’s death disappeared completely. He was back to hardly talking to anyone, like he had been right after he’d started staying there. (Bentley pretended to be asleep when he heard Asten crying the night after Nico told them.)

He still came to dinner and the den and everything, but he just wasn’t talking. Not when Bentley tried, not when Jason tried, not when Bruce or Dick tried.

But, even with Asten in silence, time went on too fast. Days passed where Nico called just to cry and Asten never said anything, so Bentley took up the comforting role as best he could. Astern didn’t talk again until Nico came over on Sunday afternoon, to spend some time with them before he left on Monday morning.

Bruce was in town for the court time he had set up. Dick had gone back to Bludhaven for the day and would be back for dinner. Damian was very obviously hiding and avoiding the emotional mess. Jason and Tim had gone somewhere (Together? Which was weird. And suspicious. Bentley was pretty sure they were trying to avoid an explosion, too.) which meant that, besides the dogs and Alfred, who appeared occasionally, there was no mediator. So the time Nico was over was mostly spent in the front courtyard in silence. The dogs were playing with each other in the sunny grass in front of Wayne Manor, running the driveway and having the time of their little lives, but Bentley, Nico, and Asten were sitting quietly on the stairs. Saying nothing. Doing nothing.

Nico was obviously not taking the move well. As soon as he’d arrived, it was obvious by the flushing on his face that he’d been crying again. Bentley would be lying if he said it didn’t hurt a little. After all, Nico was literally one of his first friends ever. They’d been through a lot of crazy crap together, and he was being dragged away because of it. (Did that mean it was technically Bentley’s fault he was moving?) Not to mention how much Asten had been through with him.

It didn’t matter anymore anyways, they couldn’t change his parents' minds. 

For now, they settled for sitting on the steps. In silence.

For a while.

Until Nico exhaled shakily, on the verge of crying again. “This is torture.”

Bentley, completely clueless as to what he should say, scooted closer to him and squeezed his shoulder instead. 

“It’ll be okay,” Was what he settled on whispering.

“No it won’t,” Was Nico’s quick response. “It’ll be a nightmare. How am I supposed to just leave? Asten’s practically lived with me for two entire years. We’ve gone through so much crap in these past few months and they just want to take me away? Without asking? Most of my life has been in Gotham and now they want to change that?”

Bentley hummed. “Have you told them that?”

“Yeah. They’re all like we understand honey but it’s not safe here anymore,” Nico mocked. “They don’t even-“

At that very moment, Nico’s parents drove through the gate of Wayne Manor.

It suddenly hit Bentley that he might never see him again. 

As soon as Nico saw the car, he started full-on crying, hard.

The three of them stood up as Nico’s parents approached like they were about to get sentenced to prison. Nico turned on a dime and hugged Bentley, hard, and Bentley hugged him back.

“I’m so sorry,” Nico muttered. Bentley blinked a few times, trying to be strong and subdue the faint burn that was surfacing behind his eyes.

“It’s okay,” He replied, in a whisper, just in case his voice were to break.

After a minute, the car pulled up to the house, and Nico pulled away, glancing over at Asten. “I… I’m so sor-“

Before he could finish, Asten grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him into a tight embrace.

“You’re going to be the most epic superhero ever,” He said, though his face was mostly hidden, and Bentley assumed it was because his voice was a little thick. “I’m... gonna miss you.”

As if Nico wasn’t crying hard enough already. He pulled an arm out of the embrace and extended it toward Bentley, offering him one last hug.

Bentley accepted, engaging in the very first group hug of his life. (He liked it. He would’ve liked it more if they weren’t all almost crying, though.)

“Nico, bud, it’s time to go,” Came his father’s voice.

They all separated, looking around with slight horror on their features. Asten was crying, too — only a little, but he did have real, actual tears on his face. Nico was sobbing and kept hiding his face away in his hands. Whatever will to be strong in front of them that Bentley had kept up cracked, and he started crying, too.

Nico didn’t say anything else on the way to the car.

Bruce pulled into the driveway.

There was a long time where no one said anything. Bruce parked and went to Nico’s parents’ window to bid them goodbye, and Asten and Bentley stood on the steps, silently.

The car left.

Bruce approached the manor with that same sympathetic look on his face that he always had when something like this happened. He was in a nicely pressed suit from his time at court, his hair sleek and perfected. He climbed the stairs and settled between Bentley and Asten, watching Nico’s car go down the driveway and disappear down the road with them.

Now their trio was down to two.

Bentley hiccuped lightly, and he felt Bruce’s hand land on the back of his head. 

What were they going to do now?

—

Dinner was only a little quieter that night. Everybody was aware and considerate of Bentley and Asten, that they might not be up for much talking, which was nice, because everybody was still talking to each other. Sometimes it made Bentley feel better just to listen.

He and Asten had been at a loss pretty much all day, settling down for the most part in the den to sit and halfway watch movies. It was weird, knowing that they wouldn’t see Nico anymore. And it kind of really sucked?

At the dinner table, Bentley was sitting between Asten and Damian, directly across from Dick, who was between Jason and Tim. Duke, Steph, and Cass were on the end of the table, Steph at the head opposite from Bruce. Of course, it was Dick who was doing most of the storytelling and joke making. Alfred had made spaghetti for dinner again (given that it was both Bentley and Asten’s favorites.) and it was really good.

It would be okay. It would — his family was alive and fine and happy. It would be okay.

“I have an announcement to make,” Bruce said suddenly, and the table quieted, everyone’s eyes drifting over to him. His icy irises flicked around the table warily. “As you all know, I went to court today to address the issue of sending Asten back to Brazil, to be put in the foster care system there. There were Gotham and São Paulo officials there who were… mostly inclined to send him back to his home country.”

Bentley deflated like a balloon.

The trio couldn’t turn to one already.

He saw Asten deflate, too, immediately hanging his head.

“…And I won,”

The table suddenly burst into excited chatter, and both Bentley and Asten’s heads came up with a snap. Bruce was looking straight at Asten now, that Bruce Wayne smile on his face.

“I won emergency custody of you, Asten,”

Asten cried at the dinner table.

(Everything was okay.)

—

dedicated to @sassenashsworld 💚

—

tag list! (If you want me to remove or add you, ask in comments!)

@fleur-alise @sarcopterygiian @flyrobinflyy @skylathescholar @gayboss-too-close-to-the-sun @xiaonothere @beatyoutothatusernameloser

thank you all SO MUCH for supporting me and my boys🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹 I could never ask for better readers and friends🥰

[miowritings]

Saori with a girlfriend s/o who is shy also but her girlfriend has cat who she talks a lot to when she is home

Feline friend(^. .^) !

Saori Hidaka x F! Reader

✮a/n: hihi my second d4dj request lets goo🗣️🔥🔥 i dont know much about Saoris character in general so i had to read like.. 2 of her character stories.. hopefully i didnt mischaracterize her, i hope you enjoy anon ;)) also.. has anyone here played wuwa? I played it too and I may or may not be planning on writing it? If my writing moots here write for wuwa, then maybe i'll also write for it?? I still havent done much though..

✮synopsis: it was your 2nd monthsary with your gf Saori! As she visits your place, she notices you talking to you.. other.. companion..

✮contains: not much, other than second hand embarrassment🤷‍♀️

As you were doing your daily routine of talking to your feline friend, you were unaware of Saori who was standing by the door, watching, listening as you talked, once you acknowledge her existence you freaked out, so how did this happen excactly?

Saori knew you were that shy kid at school, everyone does, from child to young adult you were always shy, Saori would have to accompany you in every social gatherings, not that she hated it ofcourse.. Saori also knew that she was your safe space, meaning, you trusted Saori more than others, with Saori, you could be clingy, whiney, affectionate, touchy, etc. thats what made Saori think if herself as much special than others.

Today was your 2nd monthsary, Saori typically comes over to your place, now that she's free, she told her friends that she would be busy and cant attend practice.. thats okay though! They understand and let Saori go! Once Saori arrived to your place, she heard sounds of whispering, mumbling, sounds of someone talking.. did you have guests? That was.. unexpected.. whenever you invited someone, Saori would receive a text, saying how theres a guest on your place, Saori quietly opens the door, only to see you, and your cat... Talking?

"I.. just dont think a plushie will do justice.. she always buys me this.. amazing and nice gifts yet.. i buy her this.. do you think she'll like it..?" You ask your feline friend, who sleeps lazily like a potato on the sofa. "Meooow...!" You cat yawns, not understanding one bit. "I'll take that as a maybe.." you chuckle, turning your head back, only to see Saori standing there with a gift box.

"Eek! S-saori..! Since when did you get here..?!" You ask out of embarrassment, she could be here anytime she wants.. now was not a good timing. "A while ago.. listen.. (y/n) your gifts do matter.. even if its homemade, store brought or re-used item.. im still gonna love it" she assures you, walking over you to pat your shoulder. "I-i know.. the plushie was supposed to be a surprise when you get here.." you pouted, Saori only smiles reassuringly at you "thats okay, infact, im more eager to see your gift.." she sat down beside you and handed you your gift "happy monthsary love.!"

Bonus:

"L-love..?! Where did you learn that..? Thats.. unusual coming from you.." you mumbled under your breath, Saori chuckles awkwardly" hehe, Rika taught me.. also.. do you talk to your cat everyday?" She asks, you simply nodded "yeah.. whenever im lost or confused, she somehow helped me.."you mutter as you pet your cat, your cat purring in satisfaction, Saori only smiles and pets your cat aswell

[zeldahime]

Highway to Pail Bonus #2

[Day 1] [Prev] [Next] @do-it-with-style-events

Bonus prompt 2: You had me at Merlot.

Keanu Hawke Harrison-Montoya, known to his friends as Halcón or Hal and to his coworkers and customers as Harry, hadn't exactly dreamed of giving wine tours in Sonoma Valley when he was a kid, but it paid okay and you met interesting people. Once some actor from like Ireland or something had been on one of his tours with his wife and oldest kid, and his sister had called him a couple days later to ask if he'd seen them, because the kid was her favorite character on the new Game of Thrones. Not exactly Johnny Depp levels of fame, but they'd been pretty nice and Brit was impressed.

Unfortunately, interesting does not always mean nice. Two of the customers on today's tour were both interesting and irritating as hell. He could tell already that by the time he got home to Pancho, he just was not going to have it in him to do date night, Wednesday or not. Maybe he'd be cool with just cuddling on the couch and watching some dumb reality TV.

The two guys were both middle-age and English and obviously loaded, but otherwise they physically were the opposite of each other in every way, like they'd been designed to be The Odd Couple in a kid's show. One looked like if the Easter Bunny was a gay professor, and the other like the former frontman in a broken-up Clash cover band who hadn't gotten a new personality yet. They argued with each other at the back of the pack like they were either: a) about to get divorced, or b) had never believed in marriage philosophically but nevertheless intended to be in one another's pockets for the next fifty years and die within five minutes of each other so they could continue arguing at the pearly gates. He would not have been surprised if one of them was an anarchist, although based on the boyfriends and girlfriends Pancho's cousins usually brought home, he figured it'd be Easter Bunny rather than Rocker. Every tight-laced looking one talked about the fine points of German philosophy and schemes they had to redistribute wealth to third-world countries and every punk-looking one introduced him to a new "Viking" rune he'd google later and find out was a Nazi symbol. (Desirée was not very good at picking boyfriends.)

It had been more than half an hour since Hal had begun this tour, and despite Easter Bunny saying several times "do be quiet, Crowley" and Rocker saying "shut up and listen, angel" just as often, neither of them had actually stopped talking that entire time. They were quiet, was the worst part, clearly trying to be polite to the other guests by keeping their conversation down, but the whispers were much more distracting than if they'd just talked at a normal conversational level and harder for Hal to call them out on.

His smile was starting to become plastic as they finally hit the first wine break and, hopefully, a break from the English couple's half-heard conversation. He poured the wine for his dozen guests and explained how wine-tasting worked for any newbies. Like he always did, he asked for the guests to first sniff the wine, see if it reminded them of anything. All but one obediently copied him, and most had the look of people who didn't smell anything in particular but didn't want to say so and look stupid; totally normal. Rocker, however, stuck his tongue into the glass, prompting Easter Bunny to nudge him and whisper "do try to act like a human, my dear," and Rocker, at a normal conversational volume, said "Merlot with notes of tea, angel, you'll like it for sure."

"Notes of tea! Very keen nose! That'll be the tannins," Hal said cheerfully, hoping to remind them that there were ten other guests plus him on this tour. "Anyone else smell anything?"

Easter Bunny at least had the grace to look a bit embarrassed. "Thank you, er," he squinted at his nametag, "Harry," presumably on behalf of Rocker, who just smirked and whispered something in what Hal thought was French. Hal assumed it was a Harry Potter joke, because it always was. He ignored them and smiled at the rest of the group.

A round of silent, politely confused faces stared back at him. "Time to taste!" he announced, modeling taking just one sip from his glass. The Englishmen, he noticed, drank their whole sample.

Christ alive. If these two were this annoying sober, he was not going to have fun dealing with them drunk.

Author's note:

I don't know a damn thing about wine, but I do know a bit about being an underpaid tour guide, and Air Conditioning would be the absolute worst. At least they'd tip well. All knowledge of wine comes from the Wikipedia article about Merlot.

Shout out to David, Georgia, and Ty Tennant in paragraph 1. Johnny Depp is mentioned because I read once that the studio had wanted to cast him as Crowley in the never-made movie, and also because he's the most famous person I didn't quite meet while living in a tourist town.

Hal is named after Keanu Reeves and Tony Hawke, and I figured he's probably about my age. Halcón is just Spanish for Hawk. I did Google to make sure it's not accidentally offensive or funny in some dialect like how Concha* can be, and some Mexican reality TV star is being called that because he's got an aquiline nose, so I think we're solid for California at the very least. If it is accidentally funny please let me know! I also liked how you could arguably get Hal from Harrison, via Harrison -> Harry -> misattribution of Harry to Henry -> Hal. Why does Hal come from Henry? Because English is weird.

*Concha means seashell and is a regular woman's name in Spain, a pastry in Mexico, and slang for vagina in Argentina.

[wonderlandsakura]

Wonder's Tale, Day 27: Foundation, part 1

So it's Day 27 of writing my Tale (actual name pending) and today we're going to jump into the next section.

If you read the 26th's update, you will know that this section will have a lot of short bits, so I've decided I'm going to string them all together as reblogs of this post.

Anyway the required cut:

Charles was overwhelmed.

The lady, Alice, he'd met after being thrown out of his job (literally) seemed to be some sort of big shot??

He followed her around as the town liaison (the town liaison!!) showed her around town, talking about tax returns and productivity on a town-wide scale. It mostly flew over his head honestly.

At least the lady's attendants (attendants??!!?) we're nice. Or at least Marcus was, he was quick to explain things when Charles didn't know what to do. As for Martha, well he didn't know if she found his situation hilarious or if she just thought everything was hilarious, it was probably both though.

And now the house, no Mansion they had returned to??

Charles was going to trip over his shoes and never be seen again wasn't he? He hadn't made a deal with the devil had he? Yes, Alice was kind, but why would an Angel come to help him of all people? Also wasn't there something about devils disguising themselves as angels??

What had Charles gotten himself into???

Charles was very calmly looking around for a nice little corner to have a quick little freak out session, where he hopefully would not to be found and made a commotion of, cause that sounded like a sure-fire way to be disappeared, when he was very sadly interrupted from his searching by Martha, clearly very amused, relaying a summons from the lady.

Right it seemed his misery would end sooner than he thought! Wonderful!

Only it didn't and now he has a much too big, much too extravagant set of rooms, as well as a way too well equipped personal (Personal!1!1!) workshop and smithy and equipment and materials that are way too expensive for someone like him that he's honestly afraid to exist in the same room with. Everything was going great!

Charles was just about to take the opportunity to spiral in a nice room for probably the one and only time in his sorry existence when he sadly prevented once again.

This time it was a rumpled, bespectacled boy with messy dark bangs covering his eyes. He was confusing, too casual to be a servant, but too messy to be one of the guests the lady mentioned, surely? Unless this was a test. Yes that was probably it, it was a test and no doubt Charles was already fail-

A loud sigh interrupted his thoughts. Ah he'd been spiralling again hadn't he. Perfect. He was going to die.

"You're not going to die. Unless you continue hyperventilating," says the boy at the door of the room that surely can't be his. Could he read minds? Fuck.

The boy's eyes are searching as they stare at his face for a moment. Looking for something. There is a test isn't there? The boy sighs again. Charles is failing it isn't he??

"Don't worry, there isn't any test that'll determine whether you get to stay. At least not one that judges you on whether you 'stay in your place' or whatever," the boy says, cutting quickly to the quick of the matter, "If there was, all of us other guests probably wouldn't be here anymore."

Seeing the confusion on Charles's face, he continues, scuffing his foot on the carpeted floor as he began to rub the back of his neck, "Alice is just... Philanthropic. She sees someone in need and just helps. She doesn't really think too much about being repaid... I mean she probably said something about you being useful, but it's probably more to keep face and let her get away with it than anything," he ends in a rush.

"So I'm just saying..." He glances back at Charles face and sighs, looking away, "Don't worry to much ok? Alice means well, she won't kick you out for stepping out of line or something..."

He finally looks up and shrugs, saying, "She's nice."

Charles is. Not sure how to feel about the confession. But he does feel a bit lighter. Maybe. So he thanks the boy, who leaves, introducing himself as Arnold.

Charles watches him go before closing the door and flopping on the much too comfy bed. Well maybe it won't be so bad after all. If it's inevitable that he's going to be thrown out (he's not quite sure he believes the other boy, guest or not) he might as well make the most of it while he's here.

[engbergsinfinland]

Happy Valentine's Day!

Greetings to everyone! I fully meant to post yesterday but this week got away from me totally! In Finland, today is Ystävänpäivä-- or Friends Day! Isn't that nice! All week at the kids' school there were theme days: twins day, pajama day, pink/red/purple day, and -ER day (farmER, footballER, etc.). Cece dresses as a farmer!

This week was incredibly busy for me work-wise. I worked most of the time at home and was seriously sitting at my desk for hours and hours on end each day, which felt like I was really wasting some clear blue sky days without even getting out for a dog walk. I learned that one of the projects I have underway requires ethical review from UNM (I thought complying with Finnish ethical mandates was enough; live and learn!) and in order to complete that I have to do my once-every-5-years CITI training. I won't go into what all of this means, but suffice to say, it's a huge time commitment that I didn't know I was going to have to outlay this week. Otherwise, I prepped for teaching, taught my class and my students once again knocked it out of the park (to use a US baseball metaphor; did you know Finland had its own baseball? Pesäpallo), and lead a remote workshop for English department graduate students at UNM, and guest-taught a class for my Biology department TA, which was fun and went well. I also had a million meetings and even went to a department meeting for my university department here, which was mostly in Finnish, so that was an adventure for my Google Translate and me.

Otherwise, the kids had their usual activities and I even got to go to ballet two nights this week! Tonight, Friday, I went to the advanced class taught by Sari, who is the teacher who is on medical leave from the actual ballet school, but teaches an independent advanced class once a week, now that she is mostly convalesced. She was on leave for hip replacement. She will go back to teaching Rowan's class in April. The advances class is so hard and I am so old 😆 The floor in the small studio is hard as can be, too, so that doesn't help these old joints. But I loved being in class, especially adagio.

Ok, we have a new Finnish hot-take we'd like to share. It is a speaking phenomenon in which people breathe in while saying "Joo" (yes, pronounced "yo," with the "o" extended for a while) or "Niin"--which is basically "yeah" or "uh-huh." I can't even explain it. Can you say any words while you're breathing in? Give it a try!

In other news, we got our dishwasher replaced this week. The Electrolux dishwasher that had been in here, from the looks of it, for quite some time, just totally pooped out. So, rather than coming to try to repair it, the landlords decided to just bring a brand new dishwasher. It is by a brand called UPO, which we've never seen, but appears to be a finish brand. It's not the quietest dishwasher in the world, but it it's doing the trick.

Tomorrow night, we are going over to the house of the kids' two classmates Hertta and Joaquim, for dinner. And I'm going to use some of the apples from the €5 apple and orange bucket that I mentioned in a recent post to make three apple cakes tomorrow, and I will take one with us to dinner. The other two cakes will be for us, since they're such a hit with my family. If you're looking for a tried and true apple cake recipe then I've got just the right one for you 🍎

Eric did a lot of cross-country skiing this week and has been studying the art of cross-country skiing through ample YouTube research.

Hopefully in my next post I will be back on usual form. I seriously spent so much time working this week that I can't even remember what happened other than that and thus I don't have any good stories to tell or tidbits to share beyond the little tiny ones I already wrote above. More soon. Happy Valentine's Day to all!! 💜

[maaenyo]

PSA/rant I guess

I just had the slight displeasure of reading some ig comments on a witchy reel completely disregarding the effects of karma, or blow backs, even going as far as claiming that was just made up by the patriarchy to keep y'all from from hexing freely or something. I'm writing this to take it out of my system, simply take what works and leave what doesn't.

Nature is only neutral in the sense that it doesn't have a personality of its own with whims and desires and a will to act upon them. But everything in Nature has a certain balance that when disrupted does have consequences on various degrees, and that does command some respect. Same goes for the otherworldly specially, planes with rules of their own we as mere mortals are not entirely privy too.

I don't do harm or curses because I'm under a much stricter rule than the three one (it's like the rule of three on fucking steroids), it's not in my nature to even bother with that lol, but even if I did I'd have to do more than just put up wards. The economy of magic can be terribly complex, you have to have as many of your eyes open as possible and see where the threads go and what they might pull or wrap around not only in the immediate future but also beyond, as beyond as possible. Karma is offensively misunderstood *coughnewagebscough* in the West, it doesn't work like "do bad thing now, get hit by a bus tomorrow", it has effects over all of time and space, do evil today and you might find out tomorrow, sure, but also in 5 years, or your next life when shit will hit your proverbial fan and you won't even remember where it's coming from.

Patriarchy was accusing witches of being the devil's bride simply for being crossed-eyed or having red hair, they were sending people to the pyre for having a mole anywhere in their body, can anyone really believe that they pushed the idea that actions have consequences??? To scare us off from doing harm to others??? Give me a fucking break!

You wanna mess with the crossroads because you think the cautionary tales are a Vatican scare tactic? Be my guest but as a liminal creature myself I wouldn't recommend it. The beyond and supernatural is not there for us to exploit, in life it's all a give and take, if all you do is take they will force you to give back and you most likely won't like what they demand. Also there are degrees and hierarchies, you can't demand a transaction from everyone and everything, some entities are so far away from the very concept they might take it as a great offense that you even dared to utter a word in their direction. Respect is key, and a complete disregard for accountability is not a sign that you know what respect is. Entitlement is generally not perceived as a nice or acceptable trait.

Yes, there's much more to witchcraft than putting lavender, rosemary and salt inside a jar to make a wish, but to paraphrase one of the wisest sentences from the past century, just because you can do something doesn't mean you should.

You don't have to work with all the pantheons, ascribe to all the believes, do all the offerings, try all the spells and watch all the calendar dates because then what are you really doing? What are you doing it for? And why? My mother always said el que mucho abarca poco apreta (kinda translates to carry too much and you won't be holding it all strong enough) . It's fine on an explorative initial phase I guess but it's a phase you'd do well to move on from, when you hopefully find a path. You simply can't walk all the paths at once.

Focus and intention are such key aspects of witchcraft I'm surprised, for lack of a better word, when I read people lack both entirely trying to hoard more than they can or should. I'm not gonna go around individually telling people what they should do or how to walk their path but I do find it concerning when it's not really taken seriously because the ego and entitlement are taking the wheel. Makes me wonder how many entities they're crossing at the same time and it reminds me of an account I read not long ago about someone speaking against paganism because the goddess they were worshipping and making offerings too was too harsh in her punishments until lo&behold Capital G saved her because in her understanding (as things weren't going her way) that goddess was a demon tricking her. That comes entirely from messing with things you don't understand well enough, the divine and supernatural (much like women) are not vending machines where you put in offerings and blessings come out, no matter how much they're advertised that way. Even the ones that handle purely transactional relationships, there's more to it. Contracts have conditions, you shouldn't sign without understanding them fully.

Anyway tl;dr be careful, mindful of what you get yourself into, there's a balance to everything that must be respected, gods don't do favors, actions have consequences no matter how strong your wards, please don't summon Cthulhu to make your neighbor miss the train or something

[dragonfly92]

OLD FAMILY FRIENDS CHAPTER SEVEN

The gang had been at Disneyland for the past few days non stop moving exploring the park going on different rides but right now they had decided to just have a chill out day at the hotel's pool well some decided to go off and explore some more the people that stayed behind was Sarah, Andy, Rose, Jinxx, Joe and Harper everyone else wanted to go on more rides and take pictures with disney characters, later on everyone would meet up at a restaurant for some dinner it was Sarah's decision after all she had already made her choice and it happened to be beauty and the beast restaurant called BE OUR GUEST, as she was a big fan of beauty and the beast.

Rose went off in a different part of the pool with Jinxx whilst the other four decided to hangout with each other, Joe and Harper decided to go for a little swim whilst both Sarah and Andy was in the pool leaning against the edge talking amongst themselves the gang had noticed how much closer the two of them had become over these past few days of course they was so happy for them, Andy speaks up asking her "So you enjoying yourself so far?" She smiles speaking up saying, "Yeah I actually am thanks to you and the others this has been one of my best birthdays ever getting to be with people that mean alot to me, I also forgot to say thank you for sticking up for me last year with the whole you know thing it meant alot to me."

SARAH'S BIKINI

HARPER'S BIKINI

ROSE'S BIKINI

He smiles at her speaking up saying, "Well you are more than welcome just happy that you're enjoying yourself so what plans have you got for today obviously we've got the big dinner for tonight wanna just relax here by the pool for a while?" She speaks up saying, "I honestly haven't thought about it I am looking forward to dinner tonight but right now I am just happy being here with you in the pool." He smiles and was about to say something but before he could say anything someone else spoke which causes the both of them to turn around standing there was two guys that Sarah knew who they was straight away and gets out of the pool, running over to the guys which of course confuses Andy.

She notices and speaks up saying, "Oh sorry Andy these are my older brothers Nick and Jacob, Jake for short guys this is Andy." He gets out of the pool and stands in front of her brothers Nick speaks up saying, "Hey nice to meet you hopefully you are looking after our baby sister unlike a certain person who will not be mention." Sarah laughs a little saying, "Seriously Nick so what are you guys doing here thought you both couldn't come because of work issues?" Jake speaks up saying, "Yeah well we managed to get some time off work and so we decided to come to surprise our little sister speaking of where's Mel thought she was here as well?" 

Sarah speaks up saying, "Oh she's around her somewhere with the guys she probably won't be back until later on wait you guys coming to the dinner then?" Nick speaks up saying, "Well yeah of course we are wouldn't miss that for anything in the world will stop either of us from coming to the dinner also let us guess knowing you, you had picked a Disney themed restaurant?" Sarah speaks up saying, "Wow you know me so well yeah it's a beauty and the beast restaurant called BE OUR GUEST, yes before you ask I will be dressing up as a certain character from the movie because I know that is what you're gonna ask me."

Jake speaks up saying, "Well alright that answers our question so is there thing new going on with you sis, which I mean a new boyfriend in your life?" Sarah blushes a little saying, "Actually there's no relationship as of right now but who knows in the future but right now I want to focus on myself after the whole thing that happened last year but I do have some amazing people in my life that are very supportive and understanding which I very much appreciate right now yes of course it includes you guys as well also Mel and before you say anything Andy you as well." He laughs finally speaking up saying, "Yeah to be fair I wasn't gonna say anything because I knew the answer anyways."

After a little while of chilling out by the pool and the others had come back there was even more people that had joined them which Sarah was surprised about seeing as it was Harps five older brothers who Sarah was pretty close too she smiled when she saw them and speaks up saying, "Hey wasn't expecting you guys here is there anymore people that are coming that I don't know about or is that it?" Mel speaks up saying, "That is everyone thought you would love the surprise also we booked out the whole restaurant considering it's your late birthday party and of course there is alot of us, speaking of which us girls should probably go and get ready because obviously we are all gonna be different characters and not just from Beauty and the Beast plus Sarah we've got your outfit all picked out so you wouldn't have to worry."

A little while later the girls had all changed into their outfits understandable Harper didn't want to dress up but she had shoes that had Alice in Wonderland on them which was pretty cool Sarah was dressed up as Belle of course, Hannah was dressed up as Aurora, Melissa was dressed up as Ariel, Rose was dressed up as Snow White and Jessica was dressed up as Rapunzel, once they was done showed off their outfits and all the girls looked amazing even Harper they decided to style their own hairs in different styles once they was ready, their made sure they had everything their needed before leaving for dinner the guys had decided to meet them there making sure everything was already plus Sarah was in for one last surprise when she got there hence why they had paid for the whole restaurant.

SARAH'S OUTFIT - BELLA

HARPER'S OUTFIT AND SHOES - ALICE IN WONDERLAND

HANNAH'S OUTFIT - AURORA 

MELISSA'S OUTFIT - ARIEL

JESSICA OUTFIT - RAPUNZEL

ROSE'S OUTFIT - SNOW WHITE

[kashi-prompts]

Rating: T

Pairing: Kakashi x Reader

Genre: Fluff. Teeth rotting fluff.

"It's stifling in here," the silver-haired Hokage managed, slipping a finger under his mask to let the air hit his face. He took a deep breath, trying to relax the gnawing feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"Kakashi," Gai stood from the wooden chairs before the Hokage's desk, "relax, my friend. I've never seen you so tense."

"I'm not tense," Kakashi brushed off Gai's hard reassuring pat on the back.

"The crease between your eyes has never been so prominent," Gai poked his friend's forehead, stopping him. Kakashi sighed heavily, meeting Gai's gaze.

"I'm fine," he reassured his friend.

"Having second thoughts?" Gai nudged him.

Kakashi looked at his friend and pushed past him to walk to his desk, "no, never. Are my robes here yet?"

"Then what is it?" Guy followed him, watching him as he shuffled papers around on his desk, "We're so young; how could anything bother you on your wedding day?"

"I'm not bothered," Kakashi turned, looking at his oldest friend, giving him a reassuring promise. "Just a little nervous."

The silver-haired shinobi turned Hokage had never felt this way before. His chest swirled with tightness, and his mind raced from thought to thought. The whole village had its eyes on him and [y/n] today. Every gaze would be turned to their marriage, the Hokage and his new wife.

Gai slapped Kakashi on the back again, smiling broadly, "I'm happy for you, my old friend. You're a lucky one."

Kakashi laughed nervously, his fingers pushing the hair at the nape of his neck down. He still hadn't gotten used to the missing thicker locks that had been cut off earlier in the week. His mind traveled to his bride, dreamily manifesting the image of what she would look like walking towards him. He felt his chest tighten more, exhaling shakily.

"Your haori is ready," Yamato came through the office door, towing the Hokage's formal attire behind him carefully. Kakashi nodded, realizing the ceremony would be beginning shortly. He turned to the window behind his desk, looking down at the ceremony space designated for his wedding behind the Hokage's manor. Guests were trickling in one by one, all being greeted by Iruka, whom he had appointed.

"Perfect!" Gai exclaimed, grabbing the attire from Yamato's grasp, "let's get this party ROLLING!"

The sunlight was overbearing on his back as he made his way down the steps towards the ceremony space. His haori fit nicely, but the black, heavy material felt like two weights on his shoulders. He smiled at the guests, greeting the other Kage's respectively. Each congratulated him and encouraged him to not worry about hosting duties on his big day.

Kakashi looked around, taking in the surroundings for a moment as he adjusted his sleeves. Then, he thought of the day he asked y/n to marry him. Sitting quietly under a tree, her head had leaned against his shoulder, dozing off after their rather long walk to their favorite quiet spot on the outskirts of Konoha.

The wisteria blossoms had been in full bloom, dangling above them to create a sea of lavender-colored petals. He had taken her hand as she rested, silently and covertly slipping a ring on her finger with his shaking, cold hands. She hadn't budged at his movements, her breath shallow against the side of his neck.

"I love you," he had whispered against the shell of her ear, "and I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

Her eyes had fluttered open in surprise, dazed by his words. His fingers had grasped her hand gently and pulled them to his lips, kissing the tip of her ring finger with a tender, fervent gaze. When the realization had hit her, her arms had flown around him, pulling him close to her with a shower of kisses and affectionate affirmations following.

Looking back, the thought enveloped him in a warmth that wasn't from the sun casting down.

"Kakashi," Iruka called out, a smile stretched across his lips as he checked his watch, "all the guests have arrived."

"Good," Kakashi nodded, "I guess that means we're almost ready."

"Yes," Iruka smiled again eagerly. He hesitated for a moment and then leaned in, his voice just above a whisper. "It's time to go get your bride."

Kakashi looked over quickly at Iruka, his eyes glistening with excitement and nervousness. Iruka raised his eyebrows, urging the Hokage to go meet his future wife.

*****

You stood in your kimono, flattening the white fabric out nervously at your waist. Your hands felt clammy, and your heart thumped uncomfortably in your chest. Glancing at the clock, you couldn't help but think of the moments that ticked by that brought you closer to being Kakashi's wife.

Reaching up, you traced your eyelashes with the back of your finger, feeling the moisture from your eyes lying modestly between them. The emotions in your chest were overwhelming you, threatening to burst at any second. The joy consumed you as you inhaled heavily, feeling your lungs expand before letting out a shaky breath.

At one last glance, you looked at yourself in the mirror. Your eyes fluttered from the ornate flower in your hair, the rouge on your cheeks down to the bouquet you held at your waist. So this was really happening, you thought.

The sound of a gentle knock on the door caused your heart to skip into your throat. You turned, watching the handle turn quietly before opening a crack.

"[y/n]?" you heard Kakashi's hesitant yet soft voice from behind the opening.

"Yes?" you asked, unsure as to why. You had been waiting for him - for this moment when he would open the door and see you for the first time in your wedding dress. Your heart quivered in your ribcage.

"Can I come in?" he asked quietly, the smile evident in his voice.

"Yes," you replied, your voice exuding like a content sigh.

He didn't swing the door open like some men would, eager to see their bride and get down the aisle. Some men would never even think to knock, knowing full well that what was behind that door was theirs. But the Hokage was different, gentle in more ways than one, yet fiercely protective of what was his.

You hadn't realized you had been holding your breath as you watched him open the door. The sight of his slender fingers tenderly gripping the knob was all you could focus on for a moment, the overwhelming excitement and nervousness engrossing every cell in your body.

But when you finally looked up at him, your eyes catching his, everything felt peaceful. Nothing else mattered except for the gentle upturn of his eyebrows and the soft slope of his lips that curled into a smile. The recognition of his uncovered expression that you only saw intimately sent an electric shock through your body.

The distance between you both disappeared almost immediately. You felt the dance of his fingertips curve around your waist, pulling you close to him as you stifled a giggle of excitement that quickly turned into tears of delight. Tears brimmed at your eyes as you hugged him close, feeling his steady body against your chest and his fingertips spread between the skin of your shoulder blades. Nothing mattered at that moment.

"You look so beautiful," you felt his lips brush against your ear. You smiled against his jaw, feeling the soft prickle of his skin and the scent of his aftershave fill your senses.

"I wasn't expecting you to not wear your mask," you whisper into his neck as your hands hung lazily around his body. But, instead, you felt his hands gently grasp your shoulders, pulling you away to look at you. Your eyes scanned his face, the small mole on his chin resurrecting the smile you couldn't quite tame.

"I figured you'll be my wife shortly, so you should certainly get used to it," he lifted his finger and traced the curve of your own jaw, the feeling of his rough index finger traveling across your skin sent an electric shock through you. You felt heat erupt within you, and by the firm look he gave you, he had felt it too.

"Will you not be wearing it during the ceremony?" You asked hopefully.

He chuckled, pulling you back into his chest. You felt the echo of his laugh reverberate against you.

That was a no.

*****

The surreal environment you walked into with your fiance on your arm felt like you had been transported into a far-off dream you had had many months ago. The realization that all of your planning and praying for things to singularly come together to this moment overwhelmed your senses.

You looked down the aisle at Kakashi, his mask returned to cover his sharp features. Yet, a part of you didn't mind. It was the familiar face you had fallen in love with. You could see the shadow of a grin under the fabric of his face as you walked towards him. Sakura blossoms bobbed all around you, whispering in the breeze that swept his short hair to the side even more.

Once you reached him, you could see the outline of red around his eyes. The man who never showed his emotions in public unless absolutely necessary couldn't help but be overcome with passion at the sight of his bride. You reached for his hand, feeling the clamminess of his skin as you threaded your fingers through his. You smiled at him, and he leaned over to plant a soft kiss on your temple.

****

"You may kiss your bride," was all you heard as the ceremony ended. You looked up at him, delirious with joy as he smiled down at you, his wife. You narrowed your eyebrows when he didn't immediately press his lips to yours at the reader's consent. He waved your maid of honor over, pointing to your bouquet that she held for you.

"This?" your maid of honor asked, holding up the floral arrangement. He nodded, taking it from her as your attendees continued to cheer. You took it from her and looked back at him, puzzled by his strange request.

But when he pulled your wrist up to cover both of your faces with the bouquet, it all made sense. Shielding the two of you from the audience, you felt the pleasing satisfaction of his bare lips to yours, the sensation enough to send an electric shock through every cell in your body as he pulled your waist closer to his hips. Your whole body blushed at the thrill of kissing your husband without his mask in front of a hundred or so people.

Pulling away breathlessly, he looked down at you, relishing the look of awestruck satisfaction on your face as he pulled his mask back over his nose. Setting the bouquet back at your waist, you gave a dazed smile to the cheering attendees.

As you turned back to the ever louder cheering guests, you felt his lips touch the shell of your ear while you walked back down the aisle.

"Was that good enough for you?" He quipped, smiling behind his mask. You giggled at his remark, waving to your guests.

As you reached a private place behind the crowd, you let out a long sigh, waving your hand to fan yourself. You smiled, joy filling every nerve ending in your body.

Looking out at the crowd that dispersed to a cocktail hour, you felt the warm embrace of the Hokage's arms around your waist. You sighed again, inhaling his scent as he buried his lips in your neck. You felt his grip tighten on your hips.

"I love you," you murmured to him, caressing the hand on your hips. Quickly, he turned you around to face him, searching your face as if to emanate with his eyes how he was feeling.

"I don't think you understand," he whispered to you, his hand on your jaw. You reached up, your fingers brushing over his knuckles and the warm wedding band on his fingers.

"Understand what?" You giggled.

His face remained serious, his gaze overwhelming.

"Understand what?" You repeated quietly.

"You're the best thing that has ever happened to me."

[strawberry-jammers]

A Child to Protect (pt 5)

tommy x child!reader || Confronting an old friend

tommy comes home to tubbo and ranboo waiting in the living room for...something. 

pt1 pt 2 pt3 pt4

masterlist

sorry this took awhile, i was having some struggles lmao. its not the best but the next few parts will hopefully be good lol

word count: 3215

ask if you wanna be tagged for this seires lmao

~~~~~~~~~

Techno sat in the main part of the room with ranboo and tubbo. They stared at each other awkwardly. Honestly tubbo didn't expect to be in the piglins home today, especially after what had happened. Ranboo shuffled in his seat, uncomfortable with the tension in the air. They saw techno almost glare at tubbo, while the goat in turn decided to glare back.

“Um, are you two okay?” ranboo asked the two of them. Techno nodded, not saying a word, as usual. He was just waiting for Tommy to get there to change the focus or something. Tubbo didn't do anything to acknowledge the question, just glaring at the piglin. “Okay, this is awkward." The enderman whispers to themself. "Techno, hows living in the tundra?” techno looks at ranboo with a blank face, tired of having these two here. “cold.” ranboo nodded. ‘Cold’ not being the answer they were looking for. “Oookay. Tubbo, do you like the tundra at all?'' Tubbo shook his head, having a stare down with the piglin, who had gone back to glaring at the hybrid. “No.”

Ranboo sighed, slinking down into the chair. “You guys are helpless…” ranboo says, sighing tiredly. Just then, there was a knock on the door. Techno jumped up from his seat and looked out the window to see who it was. He smiled, opening the door to the mystery guest. “Finally you're here. Now they can focus their attention on you instead. Good luck with that.” techno says. He moved to reveal Tommy, carrying his kid with him.

Tubbo and ranboo stood up, shocked to see their supposed deceased friend, standing in the doorway holding a child. Ranboo walked over cautiously. “Tommy?” he asked. Tommy looked up at the tall enderman. He nodded, holding the young kid tightly. He really didn't wanna be there, but he knew his kid needed to be back here.

 (y/n) looked up at the enderman hybrid, smiling brightly. “Endy endy!!” they said. Ranboo looked down at them, confused a bit. “Whos this?” they asked the young boy. The kid continued to say ‘endy’ while the two of them talked.

Tommy sighed. “This is my kid..(y/n)” he says, looking at the young child. Ranboo looks at the small child, who smiled at them happily. “Endy!!” they said once more. “No no (y/n), this is ranboo. The good man i told you about.” (y/n) smiled even wider. “Ran ran!!!! Papa told me about you!!!! Good man, good man!!” they said. 

The child's presence lifted the awkward atmosphere that once resided in the room. (y/n) smiled at the enderman, who was nearly in tears from the fact tommy was alive and well, raising a child at that. Ranboo immediately hugged two of them, scarring tommy. “Aye aye get off!” tommy said, not knowing how else to respond. “Sorry sorry, i'm just really happy your alive.” tommy looked at ranboo, gapping his mouth. “Dead!? Why would you think that???” tommy asked. Ranboo smiled awkwardly. “Well…” “tommy?” the two of them turned their head to see their part goat friend, who had finally spoken up. 

“Tubbo..” tommy says, stepping around ranboo to see his old friend. “Ranboo take (y/n).” tommy instructs. Ranboo nodes, taking the small child, who wasn't too happy to leave their father. 

Tommy walks closer to his old friend, who was shocked to see him, barely able to say anything. “Y-your alive!! I thought you died-``Tubbo couldn't continue his sentence. He missed his old friend, and was really happy to see him! He just felt terrible for sending him to his near death…even if it was the only option he had. 

Techno and ranboo went outside, leaving the two of them alone (though techno tried to leave several times). (y/n) was sad they couldn't play with their father, but they did have a new friend, who was really nice.

“Is papa okay?” the young one asked. “Yeah I think he's gonna be fine..wanna play in the snow?” ranboo asked the kid. They nodded, being set down and running into the snow. The enderman chuckled, watching them pick themselves back up and falling again. The enderman did notice, however, the many snowmen that littered the lawn. Some looked like people they knew, one even looked like them. they smiled, seeing the young child show off the one they made of their father.

Back in the house, Tommy and tubbo stood in the middle of the home, staring at each other intensely. 

"So...you're alive? Living with techno?" Tubbo asks, breaking the heavy silence. "Why would you think I'd be dead??" Tubbo looked down a bit. "Well, everything was destroyed and...there was a tower I- I thought you…." Tubbo trails off before finishing. “Oh, that..” Tommy looked down a bit, frowning. “Why'd you do it? Why'd you send me away to isolation? `` Tubbo frowns, tilting his head. “It wasn't supposed to be isolation. I-i thought you just chose to live there..” 

Tommy went over and sat down, sighing. “I really dont wanna talk about this. Can you just tell ranboo to bring (y/n) in here..” tubbo shook his head. “I feel like we need to talk about this, I mean you've been gone for months! You have a kid! What happened?” tommy glared at tubbo. “I told you i dont wanna talk about it, just drop it.” he says, getting up again and heading to the front door. “No! We’re talking about this.” Tubbo goes over and grabs Tommy's arm. He yanks it away from him. “I told you I'm not talking about it! Fucking drop it already!” tubbo let go, stepping back slightly.

“Why won't you talk to me? We’re best friends-”

“We haven't been friends since the exile, since one of your men came here and nearly killed my child! The only reason i wasn't here was cause that lunatic tried to attack me!” tubbo shook his head. “I'm not the one that sent him here-”

“Then explain to me why you're here!”

 the yelling started to get louder, leaving the young child to be concerned. They looked up at ranboo, who was silently screaming cause of the snow. “Ran ran are you sure papas okay? There's a lot of yelling..” ranboo looked over to the house, noticing the yelling as well. “I-im not sure, but we shouldn't interrupt them…” (y/n) looked over to the house, really wanting to see their father. They gasped, remembering a way they could get inside.

“Ran ran!! Follow follow!!” they say, pulling on the endermans pant leg. Ranboo sighed, following the small child to wherever they were gonna bring him. “I'll just stay here!” techno says, laying in the snow.

They, basically waddled, to the back of the house. Ranboo looked around, not really seeing anything. “What did you wanna show me?” they asked. (y/n) looked up at ranboo, pointing to the wall. “Break.” they stood, a bit confused. “You want me to take some of the wall?” the kid nodded, pointing to the wall. “Enderman do the same! Just break.” they nodded, kinda understanding what they were asking. They didnt know if the other two would notice, but they normally break blocks pretty silently anyways.

Ranboo looked at the wall, seeing where the chests would be and where the fireplace was, and broke one of the blocks. They looked in between the chests to see that the others were still arguing and hadn't noticed them. (y/n) pulled on the hybrids pant leg, signaling for them to pick them up to see. Ranboo does so, gesturing for them to be quiet.

Back with the other two, they were having a heated argument. Discussing quackity and his actions, discussing Tommy and his exile, along with bringing up the past such as wilbur and old lmanburg. 

“Well I'm sorry we decided to even form the country! Y'know, we all wanted to find independence!” tubbo says, snapping at tommy.

“It's not that! Its new lmanburg, its lost all meaning!! One of your men, whent and tried to kill techno and I! You said you didn't even send him here!! “

“Why do you keep saying ‘your men’, you know this is also your country right?” 

Tommy glares at Tubbo, stepping away from him. “It hasn't been my country, for a long time. Not sense schlatt took over.'' Tommy looks over, avoiding tubbos' gaze. “Technos gonna destroy the country, and I won't stop him. I know how he is, he's gonna want it gone. Maybe once it is gone, we can start over, not with a country but with a place we could just...live. Together, all of us..'' Tommy says, looking back at tubbo. “You want lmanburg gone? After all we've done!? After what we lost to gain independence!!??'' Tommy nodded. “Lmanburg is more the people than the land. If we’re all together, it'll be the same. The same old lmanburg.”

Tubbo sighs, still angry at the blond before him. “You gave dream the discs for this place, you gave him the one thing we had! Now you wanna get rid of the country we traded it for?” 

“Well, who said we werent gonna get them back?” tommy steps forward again. “You have one of them right?” tubbo nodded, staring at the enderchest in the room. “We already have half of what we need, all we need to do is get the last one. You prepared to lose lmanburg to get them back?” tommy asked. Tubbo contemplated for a second. “No, I'm not. But…"

The two of them talked, no longer upset at the other. They were best friends for years, it's hard to stay mad at each other. Ranboo and (y/n) looked at each other, confused as to how they had just calmed down after such a heated argument. (y/n) ran back over to the front of the house, ranboo running after them. “No no, (y/n) come back please!” (y/n) didn't listen, instead running to the front of the house and trying to open the door. It was left ajar, so it was easy to do so. 

“Dad!!” the young kid said, rushing over towards their father. Tommy looked over to see his kid run over towards him. He smiled as they ran into his legs. He picks them up. "Hey kiddo, whatcha doing back here? Weren't you playing outside playing with ranboo?" They nodded. "Yeah but I was worried!! There was yelling…" Tommy sighs, ruffling the young kids' hair. "I'm okay lil (n/n), everythings alright. Big man Tommy was just talking to tubbo." They looked over to the boy in question, who awkwardly stood there. 

"I think I should get going. Don't wanna make things worse.” (y/n) looked at the goat hybrid and frowned. They pushed their way out of tommys arms, landing on the floor with a huff. Everyone just stared at the young kid as they picked themself up and ran into the goats legs. “Tub don't go! You just got here…” tubbo smiled a bit, leaning down to be eye to eye as (y/n). “I don't think I should stick around. Maybe I'll see you again..” they hugged tubbo, repeating for him not to leave. 

Ranboo picked up the small child, who did not wanna be picked up. “He needs to leave (n/n). Don't worry, you'll see him again.” they huff, nodding. Ranboo chuckled at this. 

Tubbo stood back up looking at tommy once more. “Goodbye tommy. I hope your happy.” with that, tubbo left, leaving ranboo and tommy behind. Tubbo passed by techno as he left, noticing how he was just sitting in front of the door. “Why are you sitting out here?” techno looked up at the male. “Idk mr.government, maybe because i got kicked out of my own home. Again.” tubbo sighed, opting to just ignore the piglin and continue on his way to lmanburg.

Ranboo looked over at Tommy, who seemed to be processing a lot of emotions. Tommy looked over and ranboo and (y/n), smiling a bit before sitting down in one of the few chairs in the room. 

“I really don't like that kid. I don't know why he bothered to come here.” technoblade says, closing the front door that had started to let snow in. He went over to brew some potions, as he needed to go to lmanburg the next day. Ranboo sighed, letting (y/n) out of their arms. They shifted slightly. (y/n) went over to sit with Tommy, who held them tightly. “Um, i think i should leave as well, don't wanna overstay my welcome.” technoblade chuckled a bit. “You don't have to leave, kid. I think you should stay for at least dinner. If you want.” tommy nodded, not really wanting the enderman to leave.

“Oh, well thank you techno, tommy.'' Just then, the door swung open, letting in even more cold air than there already was. They all turned to see philza, who looked like he had just ran here. “What the FUCK happend in lmanburg??” techno looked at Phil a bit confused. “Oh the quackity thing?”

Philza walked in, closing the door. “Yeah but also, why the hell is fundy and quackity dead and WHY IS THE PLACE ON FIRE?? Techno i told you not to do this high level of terrorism yet.” techno looked confused, stopping his potion brewing. “I didn't set the place on fire? I did kill those two tho, they did not fight back. Well, quackity did but he sucks at it.” 

“Wait then who set the place on fire?” phil asked, no longer upset. “Oh i did.” they turned to ranboo, who raised their hand up slightly. “What?” 

“All i did was set the place on fire as a diversion..” 

“Mate the place is basically gone now..” philza said, sitting next to tommy. Ranboo chuckled. “Yeaaahh that wasn't the plan. I just wanted to create a diversion to get out of there..” techno chuckled. “Didn't notice that was you. Good job kid.” techno went back to his brewing, making a bunch of invis potions. “Dadza!” (y/n) said, now noticing the winged man who had sat next to them. They were too focused on tommys scarf. Phil chuckled, picking up the small child. “Hey kiddo. How has things been while i was gone?” tommy chuckled seeing the two of them talk. (y/n) talked about all the things they did in the time he was gone. Ranboo went over to help techno make potions, grabbing things he needed and such. 

It was peaceful like this. Tommy phil and (y/n) all chatted amongst themselves, (y/n) on occasion playing with some random item in the house. When techno and ranboo were done with the potions, they joined the others in their conversation, all of them talking and cracking jokes amongst themselves. It was peaceful, there were no countries or wars, no dream, no trauma, none of that. It was just a couple of friends or family, talking and having fun.

Somewhere down the line, phil and techno whent to make dinner, sense it was awhile sense (y/n) or anyone had eaten any food. The 3 kids decided to play around with some swords tommy and techno had made. (y/n) chased the other two around, playfully trying to hit them whenever they got close. Ranboo dramatically died when (y/n) had stabbed them, while Tommy vowed revenge on the small child. He poked them with the sword, saying he had defeated the evil. (y/n) went into a fit of giggles, saying they could never die cause their immortal, and in turn stabbed tommy. He wanted to stubbornly try to beat them, but he thought it was more fun to go with it. Tommy dramatically dropped his sword and fell to the floor, pretending to be ‘dead’. 

“Stop playing around, foods done.” techno said, entering the main part of the room. (y/n) jumped up, running into the kitchen, excited for food. Ranboo and Tommy got up from their laying positions, wanting to get some food as well.

So they ate, continuing to talk to each other as they did before. Ranboo felt a bit awkward being there, but overtime he felt more comfortable. Tommy talked to phil and techno, occasionally having to tell (y/n) to actually eat their food. 

Once supper was over, phil has suggested that ranboo stays with tommy and (y/n) for the night, since it had already gotten dark out. Techno and ranboo both protested, granted for different reasons, though no one can fight philza. (y/n) was really giddy about this, running around their bedroom, knocking into the prime log a few times. Ranboo climbed down the latter, seeing this. Tommy was making sure they didn't run into the log again, not noticing the enderman.

“(y/n) you know it's time for bed.” Tommy says, grabbing his kid as they try to run away. “No! No sleep!” they tried to wrestle out of tommys arms, it obviously didn't work. “Yes, sleep. Your gonna get too tired to run soon anyways.`` He places them in their bed, trying to make them stay. Ranboo walks over, crouching down to see the kid better, they smiled when they saw the tall enderman. “Ran!!” they said, making the grabby hands at the tall enderman. They smiled, ruffling the kids hair. “(y/n) you need to sleep.” is all ranboo says, making (y/n) frown. “How bout this, i'll give you a cookie tomorrow if you sleep. Deal?” tommy asked. They nodded, laying down on their bed. They both laughed, tommy tucking them in for the night while ranboo stood up, not sure on what to do. 

Tommy got up soon after, looking over at ranboo had just stood there. “You can sleep on my bed big man, I'll either make another one or just sleep on the floor.” Tommy says, going over to his chest in the corner, seeing if he had any left over wool. Ranboo shook their head. “No no, I can sleep on the floor, it's fine. This is your home after all.” tommy looked over at ranboo, glaring at him. “You will listen, bitch.” ranboo sighed. “Fine fine, I'm just saying..” ranboo walked over to the bed, sitting down on it, watching Tommy mess around with some wood and wool. 

When Tommy was done, he put the bed in a random spot in the room. Tommy turned off the only light in the room, signalling that they were going to bed. Ranboo laid down, followed by tommy. They laid like that for a while, not really being able to sleep.

Ranboo looked over, sighing quietly to themself. “I'm sorry about the whole tubbo thing..it wasn't our plan to come here after what happened..” 

“Its fine, it was bound to happen eventually. Thanks for staying with my kid for a bit,you didn't have to…” ranboo nodded. “It was no trouble, they seem to like me.” ranboo says, looking over to see the sleeping child next to them. “Well, still. Thank you ranboo. Your a good man.” 

“So are you tommy..” 

They sleep after that, finally being able to rest for the night.

[toomanystoriessolittletime]

Fake dating Drabble No. 5

Today with Dave York and 2k (🤡) of being undercover married to him (F) because the neighbors are leaders of a terrorist organization. The leader get a little too handsy at the dinner you had been invited to and Dave does sell the jealous husband very, very well.  Steph’s fake dating Drabble week

Warnings: cursing, inappropriate touching, masturbation, implied sexual content

It wasn’t like you had a choice when the CIA decided that you had to go undercover. It wasn’t the first time and it most likely wouldn’t be the last. But three months in, without having anyone to talk to except your partner, or the neighbors who most likely were the most dangerous people you had ever encountered, it was starting to frustrate you that there was no new information you could provide. But tonight the neighbors had invited you and your partner over for dinner.

Oh yes. You also had to pretend to be married to Dave York, who was your partner for this mission. It didn’t help that you were spending all your time with a man that always seemed to be plotting murder whenever you caught him starring looking at you. These last months were hard. You weren’t used to living with someone, let alone pretending to be in love as soon as you left the walls of the CIA proofed house you were living in with him.

Dave York was a mystery not only to you, but to everyone at the CIA. You always felt a little uncomfortable every time he looked at you and you couldn’t place why. He was nothing but polite towards everyone, but there was something dark surrounding him. Like he knew more than everyone around him. Like he knew all the dirty secrets. Your dirty secrets.

But it also had it’s advantages living with someone. It was nice waking up to the smell of coffee, a mug waiting for you on the counter just as you liked it, while Dave was checking his mails on his laptop. Part of your undercover identity was being the devoted housewife while Dave played the role of the husband who worked as an accountant from home.

You knew he had been married before, but somehow you never felt comfortable to ask him any personal questions. He never asked you either. Every other day you found yourself sitting next to him on the sofa after dinner, his arm on the couch behind you, without touching you, while you watched some netflix together. So people who walked by your house could see that you were a perfectly normal married couple.

He always let you decide what to watch.

“What do you want to watch?” you had asked one evening.

“I don’t really care. I don’t watch a lot of TV.”

“Really? And here I thought you were a couch potato,” you had a glass of wine on that evening and you could have sworn you saw him hide a smile before you started a new episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

“You ready?” he asked through your closed bedroom door. You were occupying the master bedroom, while he slept in the guest room. You decided on a yellow summer dress for the dinner at your neighbors. You felt a little naked with your exposed shoulders and legs, but it was a hot day and it would make zero sense to be wearing something you could sneak your gun in. You knew Dave would be carrying a gun, he always did. And you had no choice but to trust him. Not that he had given you any indication as to not trust him.

You took one last look in the mirror before you walked towards the door and opened it. Dave looked at you, his eyes taking you in for a second before there was this twitch at his lips again. A small smile and this time you were sure of it and you had no idea how to feel about it.

“Come on, we gonna be late,” he said quietly.

He took your hand as soon as he locked the front door, a bottle of wine in his arm.

“If we’re lucky we are finally going to get some intel tonight. These fuckers are a suspicious bunch,” he said as he leaned closer to whisper. You nodded.

“I would be suspicious too if I was running a terrorist organisation from a suburban neighborhood.”

“True,” he chuckled, “You make sure to stay in sight. We don’t know what kind of people these are and I want you to be safe.”

“Aww are you worried about me, hubby?” you teased.

“No. I’m worried about them. I have no doubt that you could take them out if you want to.”

“Wow. That almost sounded like a compliment, Dave,”

“It was, just… Don’t try to be the hero. We knew this would be a longer mission and if we’re lucky tonight might finally be the start of getting things going.”

“I know,” you squeezed his hand and breathed in deep.

“Ready?” he asked. You nodded, plastering a fake smile on your lips as he knocked on the door.

Dave really could play the perfect husband. He even remembered what you were allergic to, making sure that no trace of parsley could be found on your plate. At one point he excused himself to the bathroom, giving your leg a squeeze. His hand had been placed on your knee as soon as you had sat down at the dinner table and it almost seemed like he needed some kind of connection to ground himself. You spend enough time with him to know that he was on edge ever since he came back from smoking with the man you knew to be the leader of this whole organisation you were here to get more information from.

His hand went up to your shoulder when he got up and to your surprise he leaned down to kiss your temple before he left the room. You were so surprised by this gesture you almost jumped when you felt someone sit down next to you.

“So… How long have you been married?” he asked. You looked at him, Bill, the man who was responsible for thousands of deaths. You smiled, remembering the story the CIA had manufactured for you.

“Second anniversary is coming up.”

“How did the two of you meet?” he asked and you felt his eyes growing cold. You were now being interrogated.

“That’s a silly story,” you laughed, shaking your head in played embarrassment. Bill only looked at you, waiting for your answer.

“Well we went to College together. We never really had much in common. He’s into numbers, I’m more creative. After college we went our separate ways but years after I needed an accountant for my business and his name popped up.”

“What kind of business?” he asked.

“I used to own a flower shop back in DC. I sold it once Dave got the job offer here.”

“That must have been hard.”

“Not really. Where he goes, I go. And I’m actually looking into opening a new one. Just looked at some properties last week.”

“That’s nice. If you need any help just say the word. I have connections in this city,” Bill nodded, getting closer. It took everything in you not to flinch as his hand came down on your thigh. Much higher than it was appropriate. You gulped.

“I mean it, if you need anything, just say the word,” he was so close now you could feel his nose on your cheek. Closing your eyes you thought about all the ways you could break his wrists within the next 15 minutes when you heard Dave call for you as he walked back into the room.

“Everything okay?” he asked. Bill only looked up at him, giving him a smirk, before he squeezed your leg and let go of you.

“Everything’s fine. We’re just getting to know each other, isn’t that right?” he asked. You nodded with a smile that hopefully didn’t look too pained.

“Great. Well I hate to cut this short, but we got an early morning,” Dave’s hand was on your shoulder and you turned your head to look up at him, your hand coming down on top of his.

“Oh, well. It was nice getting to know you,” Bill said. You got up from your seat and Dave’s arm sneaked around your waist immediately, bringing you closer to him and you let your head fall against his shoulder.

“Likewise,” Dave said, following Bill to the door.

“You’re a beautiful couple. Let’s do this again,” Bill said, his eyes lingering on you. You only nodded, thanking him before you let Dave lead you down the Driveway.

“Are you okay?” he whispered. You only nodded.

“If you would have come into the room 10 seconds later I would have blown our cover. Fuck he’s a creep.”

“He also is involved in way more shit than we originally thought,” he reached into the pocket of his pants, showing you a USB Flash Drive.

“What did you find?” you asked. He shook his head, looking over his shoulder.

“Not here,” he whispered. His arm around you tightened.

“He’s still watching?” you asked. He nodded. “Kiss me,” you whispered. Dave stopped walking and looked at you.

“You just saw someone touching your wife… I think we need to sell this better, I could feel him watching us all night.”

He breathed in deep, closing his eyes before they opened and he pushed you against the tree you just passed.

You couldn’t even take a breath before his lips crashed down on yours, his hand on the back of your hand, so he didn’t hurt you. He towered over you, his body pressed against your and you tried to suppress the moan at the feeling of his lips against yours but failed miserably. He used your surprise to dive his tongue into your mouth and your arms flew up to hold on to him.

“Dave…” you sighed.

“I’m right now playing a very, very fucking jealous husband sweetheart…” he groaned.

“Fuck…” you let your head fall back as his lip wandered down your neck. You felt his thigh between your legs.

“Is he still looking?” he asked, rubbing his thigh over your core.  You looked over his shoulder, seeing no one standing outside.

“No…” you gasped, rolling your hips. Fuck you were wet. He kissed you again, before he whispered against your lips.

“Good, then let’s go home.”

You were more than confused. As soon as you were back in the house, Dave let go of you and went to his room with a mumbled “Good night.”

You on the other hand were still trying to get your brain to slow the fuck down. You were undercover. This was all just an act. Right? Dave York was the best agent around and he knew what he was doing. You had to get your libido under control just because he kissed you once. Groaning to yourself you stripped off your clothes to take a shower. Which should only have taken a couple of minutes, but you just couldn’t stop thinking about Dave. How his lips felt, how his hands felt, how it would feel if he would push you against the wall and fuck you senseless.

“Fuuuck…” you moaned quietly, touching yourself, growing frustrated when you just couldn’t make yourself cum, knowing he was just down the hallway. Shaking your head you got out of the shower, drying yourself off, not bothering to change into your pajamas. You needed to cum. Getting out your vibrator your sighed, wondering how big Dave was when you opened the door and found the man in question sitting on your bed, looking at you with hungry eyes, asking:

“Need any help with that?”

[snowywrites]

Yuri x popular Fem!reader

summary: fluffy fic in which the reader sees Yuri while working at a coffee shop and intends to be closer friends with her.

word count: 2.1k

"Y/N!"

You stop in your tracks, turning to scan the tables around you for the source of the voice; it was kind of familiar, and your eyes fall on a customer that's a regular here at the coffee shop. A young man around your age, usually here with his friends but alone today.

You had been about to go make another coffee for a different customer, but you force a service smile onto your face and hurry over to his table. "Hello!" You wrack your brain for a second to bring a name to this man- it wasn't easy keeping track of so many different people, and not just at your job! You also tried to keep tabs on the majority of your peers from school, too. Fortunately, it clicks a moment later. "Hatsumi, was everything alright?" You ask, noting he's already finished his pastry and drink.

Hatsumi grins, clearly pleased you had remembered him. Customers tended to get really happy over little things like that... if only they knew you did this with all of them. It was no secret you were one of the favorites here at the little shop, consistently getting better tips than many of your coworkers. "It was great!" He answers you brightly.

You nod and inquire politely, "Would you like me to go ahead and bring the bill out now?"

A moment of hesitation, and then, "Oh- uh, yes, thanks." He seems a bit disappointed, but you don't have time to dwell on it right now, not with how busy today's rush hour is. The only good thing is you're hopefully going to be getting off in about a half hour.

You assure him you'll be right back and then flit off to the counter to ring up the items he'd ordered and print the bill. As you're doing so, you feel a tap on your shoulder.

Glancing up, you see your favorite coworker, a girl several years older than you. "Y/N," she begins, a bit of a pleading look in her eyes that means she's about to ask you for a favor.

Biting back a sigh, you push down whatever annoyance you have at being interrupted to look expectantly at her. "What's up?"

"Can we please switch tables really quickly?" She practically begs you.

Switching tables wasn't too terribly uncommon- sometimes when guests came in, the baristas would know them outside of work and might ask a coworker to deal with the order and anything else.

"Sure," you giggle, ever the people-pleaser. You had a reputation to keep, after all! You don't like to brag, but you do enjoy the fact that you have many different friends and are well-liked by just about everyone you know. "Who?"

She gives a hop of delight. "Can I take the bill to Hatsumi?"

You can't help but smirk mischievously. "Ohhhhh, I see."

She lightly smacks you on the arm, instantly blushing. "Nono, I just-"

You cut her off before she can defend herself, knowing the two of you don't really have the time to waste playing around. "It's no worries. And who's that order for?" You question as you point at the circular silver tray in her hands which is holding a cute polka-dotted cup of tea.

"Ah, this goes to table three, the girl with the purple hair."

You nod, exchanging the bill for the tray. You want to watch and see what will happen between your friend and Hatsumi, if anything, but when you look towards the designated table, already heading for it, you realize you recognize the girl sitting there.

You have no trouble recalling her name. One of the members of your Literature Club, Yuri...

You haven't actually been in the club all that long at all, maybe a week-ish, and you feel like you haven't had any time at all to get properly acquainted with Yuri. Part of you feels that it's a shame, because you get the sense she's a very interesting and sweet person beneath her quiet and distant shell. It's just hard when she's always reading, and even in the rare moments she's not, she doubts herself so much during conversations with you that it just ends up being a bit weird.

But not today! No, you're suddenly filled with a sense of determination to get closer to Yuri.

You consider playfully scaring her when you walk up, but ultimately decide against it; aside from being naturally timid anyway, she's also, as usual, reading, and doesn't seem aware of anything going on in the shop around her. So, yeah, best to use a more gentle approach.

"Hey, you," you say, putting all the friendliness in your voice as possible, stopping beside the table to greet her.

In spite of everything, Yuri still jumps a bit in her seat, violet gaze flashing up to you in alarm.

'So much for trying not to scare her,' you think unhappily. Pushing that thought away, you give her a reassuring smile. "Sorry, it's just me! Y/N. We're in the Literature Club together," you try to remind her, wondering with a pang of horror if she's actually forgotten who you are. That would be a first for you.

A second of silence, but at last Yuri's tense grip on her book loosens, and she glances down at it, avoiding making eye contact. "O-Oh, I'm sorry."

Another awkward beat of silence. This was what you meant!! It always went like this with Yuri, and you wished more than anything that you knew how to make her more comfortable around you. Hoping to carry the burden of saving this interaction, you laugh nervously, "It's no worries! But, you didn't forget me, did you?" As much as you're just trying to joke around, there really is a slight feeling of hurt that that may very well have been the case.

Yuri stiffens, quickly answering, "No, I- I didn't!" It's a rushed response, louder than you've ever heard her speak and yet still quieter than most people's normal speaking voice. As if embarrassed by her small outburst, she ducks her head to add quietly, "Uhm, that is- I just meant that... I wouldn't ever forget you, Y/N."

Oh. Talk about giving someone butterflies. You never knew what to expect with Yuri- sometimes she could never get her words out, but then other times she'd say something with such a deep meaning that it would catch you entirely off guard. What's odd though is you know for a fact how truly sincere she is; Yuri is the type of person that's much deeper than most people, and she wouldn't say something if she didn't really think or believe it.

"Thank you, Yuri," you say warmly, setting her tea down near her on the table. "Here you go! I like this kind, too." Truthfully, since you hadn't taken the order yourself or even made the drink, you weren't 100% sure what kind of tea this was, but you were willing to try anything to make Yuri more at ease. It also wasn't unheard of for you to make conversation with customers, even if it was busier than usual right now- for once though, you weren't aiming to make a good tip or secure a regular customer. You genuinely wanted to talk with her. "Hey, is that the same book you're reading at the club?" You question after catching a glimpse of the cover art.

She shakes her head, causing some of her bangs to fall into her face. Brushing them out of the way, she frowns and then nods. "W-Well, kind of. I finished that one yesterday... this is the sequel," she explains.

"It must be pretty good if you want to read the next part already," you comment. "What's it about?"

As predicted, Yuri noticeably perks up. "Oh, I think you would really enjoy it, Y/N. It's about-"

"Y/N!"

You flinch at the stern voice of your shift supervisor, who apparently hadn't realized Yuri was speaking when he cut her off.

You glance back to see him gesturing at you in clear annoyance, motioning to the line of guests waiting for their drinks to be made. You nod, signaling you'll be right over.

Focusing back on Yuri, you're unable to mask your disappointment. "I'm sorry, I've gotta get back to work. I'm supposed to be off in a little bit though."

Yuri seems to also be discouraged, apologizing for keeping you, even though you're the one who had intentionally kept the talk going. She bites her lip, and then, probably overtaken by a brief moment of courage, suggests, "When you get off, maybe then I could tell you about the books?"

You're stunned, but at the same time, this was precisely what you'd been hoping for! "Yes, sure! That sounds great. I'll see you then!" You chirp, hurrying away.

The last of your shift passes by rather quickly, and when it comes time to clock out, you actually have to tell your supervisor no, you can't stay another extra hour even if they are busy, because you have plans! Normally you would have, but not today.

You meet Yuri at the door and the two of you leave the coffee shop together. The sun is close to setting, but not quite there yet. "Thank you again, Yuri! I like spending time with you, I've just been a little busy lately," you say.

Yuri mumbles something you can't quite hear, but then adds more clearly, "I-I'm glad..."

"So," you begin, clasping your hands behind you and beaming at her. "About those books!"

That's all it takes for Yuri to dive into an explanation of the main plot points as the two of you walk side by side towards your home.

You're more than a bit tired from work and standing on your feet for so long, but it's nice to have company on the walk back, especially someone like Yuri. You hum and comment every so often, honestly thinking that they did sound like the sort of books you would enjoy. Full of fantasy and mystery and thrills... and of course, romance.

"So, the main character ditches his friend, who's been with him the whole time, for the new girl? And she's from the enemy's group?" You surmise.

Yuri hesitates. "I don't want to spoil anything for you if you're wanting to read them for yourself..."

"Such a tease," you sigh, pretending to be betrayed. "Oh, we're here- this is my house."

The two of you stop at the gate leading to the front yard of your home, and you're positive you aren't imagining the plaintive expression on Yuri's face. You didn't really want your time together to end either, but alas, you both have classes tomorrow.

"If- If you really would like, you can borrow the first book from me," offers Yuri. "And then... you'll see for yourself how it all goes."

You nod enthusiastically. "Yes, please! Thank you, that's really sweet of you! We can discuss it too after I'm finished reading it. I think I already know who my favorite character is going to be, though."

Yuri tilts her head curiously. "Who would that be?"

"Nope! It's a secret, for now." You pause, glancing up at the darkening sky. "Will you be okay walking home by yourself?"

Her violet eyes soften at your concern. "Yes, I don't live very far from here."

You find yourself unsure of how to say goodbye to Yuri, an uncertain quiet settling over the two of you, but she doesn't seem to find it awkward. "Okay, if you're sure. Do you mind giving me your phone number, though?"

She starts in surprise, a dusting of pink covering her cheeks. "U-Uhm- I- you-?"

"So you can text me when you get home," you quickly defend your reasoning, feeling a bit shy yourself at Yuri's reaction. She really was unique- most people tried to play it cool when asking for or giving numbers.

"R-Right," she stammers, reciting it off for you, and her phone buzzes at the quick text message you sent her so she would have your number.

"I'll see you tomorrow then, at the Literature Club," you finally say, already looking forward to it. "And don't forget to bring the book, please!"

Yuri steps back, her gaze on the ground but you still see her smile to herself. "Yes, I will. Bye, Y/N." She seems like she has something else she wants to say, but then she gives herself a shake and quickly turns away, her long hair twirling to follow her.

You watch her go until you can't see her anymore, partly due to wanting to make sure she was safe.

You couldn't help but admire her for her intelligence and beauty, even if she seemed to admire your social skills in return. Hopefully this was the start of a very deep relationship with Yuri.

[damn-stark]

The Trouble ch.8

A/N- tell me how you liked it!! The ending is coming soon.

Warning- ANGST, talks of loss and grief, ptsd, violence, blood, light fluff, SPOILIERS if you haven’t played the game.

Pairing- Jesse x fem!reader

(Let me know if you want to be tagged)

——

Here. Finally.

It took a long time, but you arrived.

Maybe you regretted it a little, feeling the sun burn your skin as it scorched down, but there was no turning back now. You’ve made it this far. Santa Barbara, and hopefully one step closer to reaching Ellie.

Albeit you knew you weren’t going to find anything on the abandoned boat that you came to. Everything here seemed to be untouched for a couple months, if this was Abby, she was long gone now.

“Has Ellie passed by here?” You couldn't help but wonder out loud whilst you stepped out of the cabin and walked off to jump off the boat—Is she even here?—you think to yourself.

Nevertheless You couldn’t stay out here in this damn blazing sun for too long, nor could you stay so below, you needed to get to higher ground. You could possibly find something there—your eyes lift to the house that overlooked the ocean behind you and getting there, or just getting higher was your goal. And it wasn’t a tough thing to do, the terrain was easy to get through, you just expected the neighborhood you ran into, Messa Bluff, to be tough. All neighborhoods were. Those not used anyway.

You pulled out your gun expecting to hear, or see any sort of infected roaming mindlessly in the streets, but as you walked towards the first house you saw, there was dead infected on the ground. And it could be an old body, but as your eyes roamed it’s ugly figure, you noticed the fresh blood that spilled from the wound on its head. Some of it was still pouring out of its corpse, so it was just killed.

“Hmm,” you sigh before you lift your eyes from its body and continue towards the house, noticing not just a few feet ahead another freshly killed infected—someone’s here.

Your eyes flicker up to the house and you just hoped it was Ellie.

*A FEW YEARS AGO*

“We actually have a girl around the same age as you,” Tommy directs to Ellie who sat by herself on the reading chair. “She should be coming from her classes soon.”

“Classes?” Joel questions. “You guys have a school?”

Maria nods her head. “For the younger kids we do, but y/n is learning to become a doctor.”

Ellie heard them talk but she could hardly care, sure she might want friends if staying here was for the long haul, she didn’t want to be alone cooped up in her room, but she hardly cared to meet someone at the moment. She was bored, hungry and frustrated, but perhaps that was the hunger. All she wanted to do was go to her room and see what she could decorate it with.

Yet Joel stayed in his brother's house talking about random things that came up, but Ellie knew that he was waiting for you, the girl Tommy and Maria had mentioned, so she could meet you. But you surely took your time to get to your house, and once you did, you rushed in unaware of the guests in your living room. Albeit Ellie had noticed you first, she caught your muddy shoes in your hand that you tried to hide behind you, she noticed the urgency and panic in your face that she had seen on other people many times. She couldn’t help but wonder what you had done in your nursing classes to have ended with your shoes caked in mud, and for your first instinct once you got to your house was to dart to your room without as much as a glance at the obvious chatter in your living room.

And luckily for you, you got stopped before you could reach the stairs. “Hey, Y/N, wait up.” Maria called out after your fleeting figure.

“Yes?” You ask as you poke your head past the wall, noticing in that instant an older man with hair a deep grey color, and visible scars on his face that only made him appear intimidating and rugged; he also looked familiar, but you’ve never seen him in your life—“oh.” You mouth before your eyes flicker over to a red-headed girl slouched on the reading chair, her green eyes brightened by the sunlight kissing her face while she obviously studied your face. She also looked intimidating, but not as much as the man, and one thing you couldn’t help but notice was that she looked young. Which, you didn’t know if it was a good or bad thing, yet.

“Come over here and introduce yourself,” Tommy waved you over.

You sigh, but don’t argue as to not look suspicious, instead you throw your backpack on the stairs and regretfully put your shoes on top of it, making sure to cover them with your coat before you walk towards the living room.

“Hello,” you greet the man and the girl still on the couch with a faint smile. “I’m y/n.”

“Y/N, this is my brother Joel.” Tommy introduced him as he fell by your side, the new information letting you realIze that, that’s why the man looked familiar, he looked like Tommy.

“Hello.” He simply said in a husky voice that was much deeper than Tommy’s. “Tommy,” he continued as he looked up at his brother beside you. “You didn’t tell me you had a daughter.”

“No,” Tommy chuckled, “she’s not my biological daughter. She’s my adopted daughter.”

Joel nods and then looks back to the girl, motioning her to get up with his hand. She seemed hesitant, but she picked herself up and stood behind him, making Joel step back so he could push her forward and introduce her. “Ah, this is Ellie, and she’s just around your age.”

“Really?” You question as you blink and meet her gaze. “That’s cool.” There's an awkward silence after, with neither of you knowing what to say or do, but Maria seemed to have a good suggestion that only made things more awkward.

“Why don’t you take her up to your room.”

You weren’t children to show each other your toys, but you did need to hide your shoes before either of them saw—“okay,” you say in a feigned calm tone before you walk back and point your head towards the direction of the stairs. “Come on, it’s upstairs.”

Ellie steps forward and you miss the glare she shot Joel before she slowly followed after you, managing to catch you snatch your shoes and other things from the stairs before you ran up and waited for her at the top. Once Ellie reached the top you guided her to your room at the end of the hall and made sure to swiftly throw your shoes in the bathroom, and shut that door.

“So,” you decide to break the tension. “How old are you?”

“Uh, fifteen.” Ellie answers whilst her eyes wander around your nicely decorated room. “You? I mean they say you're the same age as me, but I don’t believe them. I think they’ll say that just to force you to befriend me.”

You scoff lightheartedly and turn to face her once you’re stopped by your bed. “I’m sixteen. I just turned sixteen like a day ago.” You sit on the edge of your bed and catch Ellie focused on the vinyl records all neatly tucked in the shelves, she walks towards the shelf and her lips tugged to a small smile.

“Are these all yours?” She asked excitedly as she looked at you.

“Yeah,” you nod, “I’ve collected some along the years, and my grandpa gave me the rest.”

Ellie’s eyes return to the vinyls to brush her thin fingers over the backs, stopping as she catches sight of a certain album that caught her attention. “Do you have anywhere to play them? Or I mean do they work?”

You drag yourself off the bed to walk to your desk and open the wooden record player. “You can put one on.” You smile as you step back to make room. “To try it out.”

“Are you being fucking for real?” She queried as her eyes met your eyes and you caught a gentle sparkle in them.

“Yeah,” you nod. “Go.”

Ellie doesn’t hesitate to bring an album by “The Clash” with her as she walks to stand by your side, pulling out the vinyl from its sleeve and carefully placing the record where it went. She then set it up and you both waited, hearing silence for a brief second before the sound of an electric guitar began to play, and seconds later a voice began to sing and you recognized the song “Should I Stay or Should I go’ was playing. One of your favorite songs. And it seemed to be hers too because she soon turned up the volume and began to bop her head to the beat, as well as tap her foot as her hands went into her coat pocket and her smile turned to a grin.

You then followed by doing the same head movements as the song played and completely broke the tension between you both. And perhaps it was such a small moment, a small change, but the hostility was gone, neither of you were strangers anymore, but Instead immediate friends.

“Can I ask you,” Ellie spoke up while the song played. “What happened in your medical classes that got your shoes dirty?”

Your eyes widen and you blink to meet her curious gaze, but you don’t hide the truth from her. You smirk instead and reveal the truth. “Yeah, there was no class today. I snuck out with my friends. Just don’t tell Tommy, or Maria.”

Ellie scoffs, and her lips tug to a smirk. “Your secret is safe with me.”

You grin and step back to walk towards your shelf. “Wanna listen to more music?”

“Hell yeah,” Ellie grins.

——

The trail of dead infected bodies led down a small hill that you cautiously followed, even if you weren’t sure who had just killed these infected. For all you knew it could be those people called the Rattlers, that you read about on some letter in one of the empty houses, even if you hoped it wasn’t, the possibility was that it was them. And you could still run, turn back and return home, but you needed to check if it was Ellie first. You couldn’t leave her behind.

So you needed to continue following the path. And as you did. you ended up finding thick green shrubbery blocking the path forward, with the trail of bodies ending a few steps back, so whoever had left it went forward. But when you let your eyes scan the area, you see that an RV and a truck were also blocking the path.

“Hmm.” You slowly walk forward and see a large enough gap between both trucks where you could squeeze through. You were hesitant and anxious in doing so because your peripheral view was limited since you couldn't see much past the truck's gap, but, it was the only way through—fuck—you hold your breath and have your hand tightened around your gun as you slowly walk through.

Once you’re miraculously through and don’t get tackled or suddenly bit, you exhale deeply and feel a wave of relief wash over you, but before the feelings could set in your bones you instantly jump back at the sight of a clicker hanging upside down from its leg. “What the fuck,” you gasp as you clutch onto your chest with your unoccupied hand. The clicker begins to click it’s jaw and manages to push its body forward in attempts to try and get any piece of flesh it could sink its teeth into, but you only stepped back from its reaching hands and then felt yourself bump into something else.

There was no noise, or movement that you could hear behind you, but you still swiftly turned around, only to see the girl you had been looking for. “What the shit…Ellie?!” You gasp again as you feel your whole body grow stiff. You narrow your eyes on her, and besides noticing that she was upside down, you couldn’t help but notice fresh blood dripping down her red, sunburnt face, half of her shirt drenched in the same thick liquid, and her cheeks looked more sunk in than before.

The first thing that should’ve run through your mind was to help her, but your mind kept fixating on wanting to know if she was real, or just some weird hallucination. She looked real, but was she? You snapped from your stupor and stepped forward, reaching out your hand to feel the warmth of her cheeks under our fingertips; she felt real. Next you proceeded to lean in and press your ear close to her lips to hear her slow breaths taken because she was passed out due to the blood that ran to her head because she was upside down. So the answer was that she was actually here, hanging upside down from a tree.

There was an answer as to why she ended up as she was, thus leaving you finally to act out on your plan to help her off the tree. However, when you reached the rope that was tied around a large rock, you caught the sound of footsteps behind you. Thinking it was infected you turn around to get ready to shoot them, but then you see that it was something much worse.

“Drop your weapon and put your hands up, and this might just go easy for you.” A man much shorter than his ponytail wearing companion spoke to you with a certain, annoying cockiness expressed on his face.

You quickly glance at the rope just inches beside you, and then your eyes fall on the switchblade just under Ellie. You think of dropping your gun and then running to get it, but they’d shoot you, or hurt you some other way before you could do damage, so instead you stayed put and did as he said whilst you tried to talk them out of whatever sick plan was on their mind. “Please, just let us go, we'll be on our way out. We just got lost and my friend got caught in this trap.”

The short man approaches you with a smirk and his gun points at you while his companion stood behind him with his weapon on the ready. “We can help you find a way out.” The short man assured you even if it was a lie that you weren’t aware of. “But you have to follow our rules since you’re in our city.” He reaches for your arm, yet as he tries to grab it you kick him back and pull out your gun hidden behind you. You shoot at him, but end up missing after the older looking man he was with shoves you to the floor and steps on your hand until you let the gun go.

“Take her.” The older man instructed, “I’ll take this live one tied up.”

You quickly flip over and reach for a dagger hidden in your waistline, but the guy pulls you up and in a harsh movement twists your arms to your back, and pulls you closer to his chest. “Don’t try anything,” he sneered in the ear. “Or I’ll shoot your friend and then you.”

“Fuck—”

“Abby….” Ellie unknowingly interrupts you, “I found….”

“This bitch is fucked.” The guy holding you remarks about Ellie.

You scoff and squirm in his hold, but he only presses a gun to the back of your head and turns you so you could watch his friend drop Ellie to the ground from where she was hanging, causing her to groan out in pain as she landed on her wounded side. “Ellie!” You bellow, seeing her open her eyes to see the person who had called her name.

It took her a moment to recognize you, to figure out that you were real, but once she did, she could only continue to groan out in the blinding pain she felt shoot out from her bleeding wound.

“We’ll be lucky if she even lasts us a month.” The same guy kept talking, this time however, his comment made your eyes widen out of fear. “Can we please just please just say we’re done for the day?” He continued to ask as he watched the other man untie Ellie.

“Yeah,” the guy agreed whilst he kicked Ellie forward. “I’m going to get that thing down, and let me reset the traps.”

Right! The clicker hanging from the tree—the corner of your lips tug to a smirk and using all the strength you could muster after a long day, you use your legs to throw yourself back, causing the man that had you captive to stumble back towards the clicker who quickly lunged forward in means to bite him.

Nonetheless he managed to get out of the way before the clicker could bite any part of him.

“It get you?!” The friend asked in a panicked voice and with his gun pointing at the guy behind you, who still surprisingly had you in his hold.

The man shakes his head, “No, I’m good.” He then digs his nails in your skin and grimaces after what happened. “You bitch,” He proceeds to also finally tie your hands with some zip tie. “You’re gonna pay for that.”

You snort and just as you’re going to snap back, Ellie beats you to it and begins to laugh. You can’t lie it creeped you out that she did laugh since she was badly wounded, but you let it be, and well it annoyed the guy.

“Something funny?”

“Looks like you shit your pants,” Ellie counters while she struggles to push herself off the ground.

The guy shakes his head and whispers in an annoyed tone. “What you say?”

“What a little bitch.” Ellie continues smugly.

“Oh, you like funny huh?” The guy snaps before he grabs your arm again, cuts off the zip tie and drags you towards the clicker. “Watch this.” He shoves you forward and the clicker begins to reach for you, clicking its teeth as the sound makes it go crazy. You struggle in his hold, and dig your heels into the ground to make it difficult for him to continue pushing you forward, but he’s stronger than you and manages to tear your arm from where it was stiffened to your side to push it towards the clicker's mouth.

“You fucking,” you strain to say whilst you squirm and try to throw your elbow, or foot back. “Asshole. Let me go. Stop!”

“Come on,” the other man protests, “we don’t need this.”

“No, man,” the young man responded amusingly. “They’re fucked up anyway.” He continues pushing your arm towards the clickers teeth until the point you could feel the heat of its mouth on your skin. It was terrifying and heart clenching, your breath became heavy and quick and Ellie wanted to stop him, but she was struggling to get up. You kept trying to fall back, or really just do anything, and miraculously you did manage to get the upper hand after an instant of throbbing pain shot throughout your arm.

You didn’t pay much mind to the pain and passed it off as the man digging his nails in your skin and pressing his rough fingers on your arm, before you ducked and used your strength and weight to swing him to the side and throw the man towards the clicker's arms and jaw. After that he let you go and his friend tried to shoot you, but Ellie quickly grabbed the gun you dropped and shot him first, causing him to fall down on his ass.

“Fuck,” you breathe out as you move away from the clicker and catch your breath on the ground, catching Ellie snatch the guys rifle off the floor and storm towards the other man in means to shoot him.

“Wait! Wait! You said Abby! You’re looking for an Abby right?” The man bellowed as he threw his hands out, managing to make Ellie stop before him. “We picked one up a couple months ago.”

“Yeah sure.” Ellie said, stepping forward.

“Big girl!” The man pants, “blonde. Arms like mine.” He motions, “she had a scrawny kid with cuts by his mouth.”

Your attention focuses on the man and your eyes narrow as your mind pulls out flashing memories of who he was talking about. For a brief second you see and hear the memory of Abby killing…Jesse play out in your head and it hurts far worse than your arm does.

“Yeah, that’s her.” The man says once he notices the realization on yours and Ellie’s faces. “You let me go. I’ll tell you where she is.”

“Talk.” Ellie deadpanned.

“She’s in a holding cell in our camp,” the man obliged.

“Where is that?” Ellie interrogated him further.

The man points past her and continues. “Head up that way til you hit the railroad track. That’ll lead you to a resort. We keep em in the tall, round building.” He groans and Ellie looks back to where he pointed to for a second before looking back at him—“I swear.” Before he could add more Ellie lifts her gun and shoots him once before he goes limp like his friend.

Finally leaving Ellie and you alone.

However the reunion wasn’t a happy one. After Ellie could tear her eyes from the man laying on the floor, she turned to you with a serious expression that expressed no warmth. “What are you doing here, y/n?” She asked bluntly.

You push yourself up to your feet and can’t help but glance at her wound on her side as you answer her. “I came after you.”

Ellie walks past you to collect her switchblade off the ground, but stops as she’s crouched down, turning her head to look at you over her shoulder. “Why? Who told you I left?”

“Dina, told me. After I went for a visit.” You say as you walk and grab a rifle from the man Ellie had killed.

There's a short silence while Ellie stands up, but she’s quick to fill it with the same question. This time in a more demanding tone. “Why are you here?”

“Because.” You stand up and turn to face her, ignoring the pain your arm was under. It felt as if someone was pressing a hot iron on it. “My friends' problems are my problems.”

Ellie’s green eyes quickly snap up to meet your own eyes, and you notice a sadness flicker within them while her lips twitch to almost express a frown, but she holds back and instead focuses on her wound at her side. “Did you come to take me home? Convince me not to kill Abby?” She lifts her shirt and a soft hiss leaves her lips. “Well then let me tell you that you’ve come in vain. She killed Joel, I’m only finishing what she started.”

You scoff. “What she started?!” You storm towards her but she keeps her eyes on her wound. “Ellie, you went after her already. You killed all the people that were with her and it almost took Dina, Tommy and you out with them. The only reason,” you pause when you don’t notice her looking up at you. You crouch down to be at her level. “Look at me.”

Said girl blinks a few times to fight the tears that welled in her eyes before slowly dragging her eyes up to meet your gaze.

“The only reason,” you continue, “neither of you died was because she spared your life. She wasn’t going to bother you anymore, and you came after her. You left your family to come after someone who most likely has not thought of you since she left Seattle.”

Ellie shakes her head. “It’s not that easy to forget what she did!” She stands to her feet and stands just a few inches away. “I can’t sleep, I see him all the time. I see that day, I see her.” She cries. “I need to do this. It’s the only way I will be able to live in peace. I need to do this for….him.” She can’t even muster the strength to say his name, or mention her pain without her voice breaking. Tears wanted to slip past her eyes, but she was strong enough to hold them back for now.

“And what?” You counter with tears of your own while you step forward. “Don’t you think I see Jesse? Don’t you think Jesse’s death hurts me too?” You sniffle and swipe tears off your cheeks. “I see him all time. And not with good memories, but his body after he was shot. It haunts me, even when I’m awake. And I want it to stop.” Your voice quivers. “But even I know this is wrong. Stop this and come home before something happens to you. You know Joel wouldn’t have wanted you to come if it meant risking your life. So come home Ellie, please.”

Ellie steps back and her gaze holds yours for a moment whilst tears roll down the curve of her cheeks this time. She parts her lips to argue, to try and convince you to follow her plan, but she knew you more than anyone, no matter the pain you were enduring after losing the man you loved, you’d never fall as low as she thought she had fallen. She couldn't ask you to stay.

“Just leave, y/n.” Ellie mumbled as she shoved past you.

You turn sharply on your heels and stay put with determination in your own plan. “No. Not if you’re not coming with me.” Your lips twitch.” Wherever you go, I go.”

A sigh leaves Ellie’s lip and with some hesitation she turns with a comment ready to be shot out, but before she could speak, her eyes fall on your arm and they go wide with horror. “Y/N.” She mutters before she rushes towards you and grabs your arm, twisting it a bit and gasping sharply. “You’re….” She pauses and you follow her line of vision down to your arm, instantly feeling your heart sink to your stomach, and feeling all sound cease to exist as you catch the bite mark on your arm. “…bit.”

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Tagged- @protect-lev, @expecto-nox @vintage-and-hypnotic , @kokomaesadie @0j-b0 @itsyellow @minheoly @traceylader