#spent like two whole hours writing this instead of working on midterms please read and reblog it ToT

[seri-tonin]

BSD Chapter 119 Analysis

Bookmarks, dimensions, minkowski spaces... what the fuck does it all mean?? This chapter dumped a whole lot of information on us without really answering any of our questions, so this is my attempt to hopefully break some of it down for you and explain my theories on it.

Everything under the cut cause I wrote a whole ass essay

The Tiger is a Bookmark?

This chapter started off strong by giving us what's probably one of the more confusing concepts in the series (which is saying a lot...). Fyodor finally gave some hints as to the true nature of the tiger, but he did it in the most cryptic way possible.

I have a few theories in mind for what he could've meant by this. My immediate thought ties back to the fact that the tiger is considered to be a "guide" to the book. It's something we've known for awhile, but from the beginning we've assumed that that means it's a guide to finding the book itself. However, comparing the tiger to a bookmark - something that helps you know where you are in a book - makes me think that the tiger might be a guide in the sense that it can navigate between the different worlds that we know exist within the book, such as the Beast universe.

The second theory that I came up with is that maybe the tiger functions as some sort of anchor. A bookmark holds your place in a book, so the tiger "holds" the world and keeps it where it's at. (This is honestly the weakest theory of the three but I figured I'd include it anyways)

And my friend (shout-out to @musical-ghostie) came up with the third theory, that Fyodor's breaking the fourth wall right now. When he refers to the tiger as the bookmark, he could be talking about the fact that he's the protagonist, the one we experience the story through, or (similar to my first theory) the audience's guide to this world. This would also explain why Fyodor was so disgusted by the fact that it's Atsushi who has the tiger ability. Atsushi, who's selfish and pathetic and nothing like how you'd imagine a typical protagonist to be (this is not a diss at all on Atsushi's character by the way, I love the fact that he's written like this). I'm particularly attached to this interpretation, because it would fit so well with my "Asagiri is a character and god and the creator of the book" theory, but I'm not gonna get into that here (maybe it'll get it's own post sometime).

This theory is also backed up by this panel where Fyodor describes the tiger as the "emotional hearth" of the world, which would make sense if he was referring to the fact that Atsushi, as the protagonist, is the main aspect of the story that keeps the audience emotionally invested - because we're the most connected to his emotions specifically.

Ame-no-gozen and Minkowski Space

Shout-out to Bungou Stray Dogs for being the only series that I love enough that I'm willing to research an advanced physics concept just to be able to understand the story a bit better.

In this chapter, Fyodor gives us this explanation on how the divine being functions the way it does:

That's... pretty confusing, isn't it? So, I did a little bit of research into what a Minkowski space is, and here's my understanding: it's essentially a theoretical plane where time functions the same as space. Basically, the divine being is able to go wherever it wants in time, forward and backwards, instead of being stuck only ever going forward in time at the same consistent rate like the rest of us. (Disclaimer: I have never taken a physics class in my life, so my interpretation of what a Minkowski space is could be way off. Feel free to tell me in the notes if you know!!)

That said, I don't think the extent of ame-no-gozen's power is just being able to freely move through space and time, but I think it's also able to manipulate the (metaphorical) shape that space and time take. Fyodor even specifically refers to it as manipulating space in this panel:

He only refers to space in this panel, but I think it's safe to assume that the being has the same power over time, since it's able to interact with time in the same way that it interacts with space.

Parallels to Chapter 4

I'm sure we all recognized the reference to Akutagawa's iconic "Fear death. Fear slaughter" speech he gives when he's first introduced. This of course made me go back and reread chapter four, where he gives the original speech, and I noticed another parallel that I hadn't thought of immediately.

In chapter four, Akutagawa tells Atsushi in no uncertain terms that it is his fault that his colleagues, Junichiro and Naomi, are presumably dead. He explains to him that they were targeted because of the fact that Atsushi possesses the power of the tiger, and therefore he was the one who brought suffering to them.

Now some of what Fyodor said in the newest chapter is starting to sound really familiar... In this chapter, Fyodor tells Atsushi almost the exact same thing. That his friends are presumably dead and it's his fault, because he has the power of the tiger and could've prevented it.

I would be willing to chalk this up to just both being villains targeting Atsushi's insecurities and not really a parallel, if it weren't for the fact that chapter four gets much more explicitly referenced later in this chapter with the whole "fear death, fear slaughter" thing. Chapter four being referenced multiple times makes me believe it's intentional. I have a feeling that either Atsushi or Akutagawa (or both) will soon have a moment that really displays how much they've grown since their first meeting in chapter four, which is why it's being referenced now.

Other Thoughts + Conclusion

I'm sure if you're reading this, you were probably hoping I'd have something to say about Akutagawa's appearance, but honestly I can't say I have anything that hasn't been said by someone else already. Currently I'm leaning towards the theory that he's still under Bram's influence to some extent. Although, I also like the possibility that's been pointed out that maybe he does actually recognize Atsushi, but is just being dramatic and metaphorical and trying to tell him that he's not acting like the Atsushi he's come to know. I don't think this one is super likely, but it would be in-character for Akutagawa for sure.

Uhh but yeah, I think that's all the thoughts I have right now, but I'd love it if anyone wants to discuss some of this with me! Thank you so much for reading all this if you got this far, I hope it makes enough sense...

[dollslayer]

Charity Case

Bucky Barnes x Reader, College AU, enemies to lovers

Summary: You loathe Bucky Barnes and his cocky attitude but you find yourself doing him a favor. Is he really as insufferable as he seems?

W/C: 3,830

Warnings: Swearing, alcohol consumption, uhhh kissing, that's it!

A/N: Here it is! My entry for @sweeterthanthis Quote Me On It 6k challenge!! My quote was "Fuck me gently with a chainsaw. Do I look like Mother Theresa?" (in bold). I love the Heathers so I'm excited!! Hopefully I did this prompt justice. As always, if you liked it please reblog/comment! Cheers! I do not consent to my work being reposted/translated on any platform.

Main Masterlist

____

Steve was running late again. You try not to chew your nails off in frustration but he’s definitely testing you. This is the third time in the last two weeks that he’s late to meet you. When he hasn’t been late he’s cancelled all together. Always with a half-ass apology of ‘Bucky needs me’. As if.

You’ve been friends with Steve since your freshman year creative writing class when the only open seat was next to him. Ever since that first day you two had been close. But not as close as him and Bucky. Childhood friends attending university together, thicker than thieves.

You always felt like Bucky was maybe a little jealous of the friendship you and Steve have. Maybe you’re a little jealous too but you’re almost positive Bucky is more jealous of you than you are of him but that’s beside the point. On top of his jealousy Bucky was just annoying. He had a girlfriend but he was always flirting with every girl he met, yourself included. Not to mention he was cocky as all hell.

Steve vouches for his character, swears that it’s all an act and he’s actually very sensitive underneath but you don’t buy it for a second. If you were his girlfriend you’d have dumped him a long time ago.

You don’t have time to dwell on your annoyance too much because Steve is rushing through the doors of the coffee shop. He looks around for you and when he finally finds you the look on his face is relieved. As he gets closer it’s clear that he’d been running to get to you in time. He’s sweaty and a little out of breath and if you weren’t so annoyed with him you’d have found it endearing that he ran here.

“There you are,” he huffs out, “I’m so sorry, I was with Bucky and I lost track of time.”

You purse your lips and hand him a napkin which he takes with a gracious nod before wiping the sweat from his brow. You hand him the iced coffee you’d ordered for him too. The ice is slightly melted from sitting there but he looks so refreshed to be drinking it.

“Figures” is all you say with a huff. If he hadn’t been doing it so often you would’ve been a little kinder about it but you were just irked.

“Seriously, I’m sorry. Nat just dumped him, he's been having a hard time” Steve explained.

“Is it because he flirts with anything that moves?” You scoff.

Steve scoffs in return “He does not! He’s just… outgoing. But no, they had their own problems.” You raise one eyebrow at him. “Okay the flirting had something to do with it but there’s a lot going on there.”

“Whatever, let’s just study for this exam while we can”.

____

You and Steve spent the next two hours cramming for your midterm together. Things were going well and you’d nearly forgotten that you were mad at Steve in the first place. Nearly.

You were so deep into your notecards that you didn’t hear the door open behind you. A voice that could grate on only your nerves. A voice that if it didn’t belong to such a bastard, might even be kinda sexy. The voice breaks your focus completely when it calls out.

“Hey, Steve, are you done already or what? Oh hey, what’s up, beautiful?”

You set your notecards down on the table maybe a little harder than you should. You shoot Steve a glare because you thought it would just be the two of you. Really? You cut in before Steve can answer his friend.

“No, Bucky, he’s not. Can we help you?”

He smirks, giving you his full attention. He knows he has you now, knows you took the bait and he’s goaded you to the point of backtalk. He pulls up a chair to the table and wedges himself tightly between you and Steve. The sound of the chair legs scraping the floor as he scoots closer to you rings in your ears and makes you cringe. You look at Steve again only to find him avoiding your gaze.

“Well, sweetheart, me and Stevie boy here have plans later. Gonna do some gaming and order a pizza, really embracing the bachelor lifestyle.” He raised his eyebrows at this and you just rolled your eyes.

“Yeah, I heard Nat dumped your ass, actually, is that true?” You asked with a fake sweetness.

“Why, you interested?” He rebuffed.

You bristled at his quick response and muttered your annoyance under your breath. You chose not to respond. Instead you decided to address Steve.

“Steve, I didn’t realize that you had plans”

“Oh… yeah, loose plans…” He answered distractedly while pretending to be reading a text on his phone.

You decide to call it a day. You were getting seriously fed up with Steve’s passive behavior in all of this. Thankfully you didn’t have much to pack up, so once you slung your backpack over your shoulder you looked up at the pair to bid them goodnight.

“Well, Steve, this was… enlightening. Bucky, eat it. Goodnight fellas, have fun with your ‘bachelor lifestyle’” You said with air quotes. Turning on your heel you left before either could respond.

____

You had left the coffee shop that evening pretty upset with Steve. Of course it’s fine for him to have other friends but lately it was like he only cared about Bucky and all of your plans took a backseat to theirs. You decided you weren’t going to be the one to text Steve first, since he was being a bad friend. He could be the one to initiate plans.

He did just that when he caught you in the hallway after your midterm a week later. He jogged up to you once again and tugged on your sleeve to get you to stop.

“Hey, how do you think you did? Bet those notecards paid off, right?” He half-joked. He looked sheepish. Nervous almost. You figured it was because of what happened last time you met.

“Yeah, Jesus Christ! I’ve never been so grateful for little pieces of paper.” You scoffed. You decided to keep it light between you. You were still upset with him but his tone leads you to believe he was gonna apologize.

“Right?” He laughs nervously, “So listen, I know I’ve been kind of a jerk lately… Maybe we could get something to eat at Nick’s?”

Nick’s was the local greasy spoon on campus and they had the best breakfast food you’d ever had. You eyed him suspiciously but accepted.

“Alright, but you’re buying. And there better not be any visitors!” You add as you bound down the hall ahead of him. He knows you mean Bucky and he’s not worried because Bucky won’t be showing up today. He’s more nervous about what he has to ask you.

____

You’re sipping on pop as you play with your straw wrapper. You look up at Steve and notice he’s fidgeting a lot more than usual.

“What’s up? Why are you so twitchy?” You question him.

“Me? I’m not twitchy! I was just thinking that’s all” He quickly defends himself.

“Well that was the last midterm of the semester for both of us, I think it’s safe to say you can relax.”

“Yeah, guess you’re right.” Steve concedes quietly.

You and Steve eat in near silence, neither of you mind though because it’s comfortable. You worked on your hashbrowns when you looked up and noticed that Steve had barely touched his food. He was still fidgety, he looked nervous.

“Hey, you’ve hardly eaten anything, what’s the matter?”

He looks a little embarrassed, like he’s been caught. Or like he’s about to come clean about something.

“Look, I wanted to say sorry I know I haven’t been the best friend lately with everything going on with Bucky. He really is having a hard time since the breakup y’know… he’s lonely”

“Right” You laughed, “I’m sure he’s soo lonely.” You rolled your eyes and picked up your fork.

“No really, he just needed a friend to be there. I think he does need to get back out there though.”

“With how smooth he thinks he is, I'm sure he’ll have a date by the end of the night. I wouldn’t worry about it, Stevie.” You responded.

“I’m serious! As much of a player as he comes off he needs to be with someone he already knows. He’s actually really sensitive.” You interrupted with another laugh. There were many choice words you’d use to describe Bucky Barnes but ‘sensitive’ is not one of them.

“But anyway, I was...kinda hoping you’d do me a favor…” Steve trails off.

Based on the conversation you just had you’re cautious. You eye him warily but motion for him to continue.

“Well, like I said Buck’s having a hard time and he needs to get back out there but he doesn’t feel comfortable hooking up with a stranger. I was thinking maybe.. You guys should hang out?”

Steve refused to look at you as he finished the question. The look on your face was a look of confusion and shock.

“Fuck me gently with a chainsaw. Do I look like Mother Theresa?” you asked in disbelief. “I mean seriously, I’m nice but not that nice.”

“Look-”

“No!” You cut him off, “You know I can’t stand that prick. Also why would I want to put myself on the long list of women he’s probably tried to fuck? I don’t buy this whole ‘sensitive’ thing for a minute.”

“I’m serious, Nat kinda crushed his heart when she left. He acts cocky but it’s a front. I just think he needs to see someone to get it out of his system. You’ve got more in common than you think. Just hang out with him once. Don’t think of it like a date, just a really really big favor. Please?” Steve begged.

You pinched the bridge of your nose and sighed. “You. Owe. Me. So. Much”

“Really?” He asked hopefully.

“Really. But I’m not gonna bang him. Hard no on that” you said.

“Yeah, yeah of course! No problem! I’ll give Bucky your number!” He reached across the table and grabbed your hand. His hands were kidna clammy but you let him.

“Seriously, thank you. I know you think he’s some jerk but I promise he’s a good guy.” Steve adds, “A-and don’t think of it as like a date, even, y'know? I think honestly he could just use another friend. Think of how good it could be if we could all hang together some time?”

You shook your head and chuckled at his optimism while you stabbed another bite of your meal.

____

‘What’s up, sweetface?’ Gross.

‘Okay, sorry. Hi, how are you?’ Better.

‘I’m alright, you?’

‘Good. Steve tells me you’re a huge trivia nerd. Wanna go to Sally’s tn?’

‘It’s a date’ Shit. Didn’t mean to say that. Fuck. Quick- say something that will deflect before he responds!

‘And since it’s a date you’re paying’ That’ll have to do.

‘Ugh fine. Here’s hoping you’re a cheap date at least. I’ll meet you there at 9’

____

What do you wear for a date with someone that you despise? It’s just bar trivia so it’s nothing special but somehow the jeans and flannel you’ve been wearing all day don’t feel like they make the cut. You rip your closet apart trying to find something before you settle on black skinny jeans and your favorite sweater with some boots. Casual but not too casual.

You spend the whole walk there dreading the night ahead of you. Knowing that you wouldn’t even have Steve as a buffer between you made the whole evening seem daunting. At least you had trivia to distract you. You decide to give Bucky the benefit of the doubt tonight for Steve’s sake. You try to remember Steve’s insistence that Bucky’s a good guy and you have a lot in common. We’ll see about that.

When you arrive at the bar you find Bucky already waiting for you at a high-top table with two PBRs and a shot of brown liquid. Please don’t let that be whiskey. He sees you coming and smiles that damn-his-good-looks smile at you while patting the open chair next to him. The closer you get you even see that he got the whiteboard already for trivia.

“Please tell me that’s not Jameson or Fireball” you greet him.

He laughs a little and shakes his head. “Better - it’s Jack. Sorry, doll, but I already opened the tab. This is what we’re drinking” He nudges one of the shots closer to you and motions for you to pick it up. “Come on, we gotta start the night off right, bottoms up!”

Before you can gag at the thought of drinking whiskey you grab the glass and face him. You both knock your shots on the table before clinking them together and swallowing them in one go. You grimace at the taste and feel the warmth flow all the way down your throat. You quickly take a sip of your beer to rid yourself of the taste.

“Aww, you’re cute when you’re grossed out.” Bucky coos at you.

You’re embarrassed and annoyed but it goes away quickly.

“Shut up, Barnes”

You give him a light shove and he pretends like he’s about to fall off his stool, making you laugh. For someone that’s only ever annoyed you he’s doing a pretty bang-up job of being likeable when it’s just the two of you.

“You ready for me to carry you through some trivia?” You joked.

“Hey, now! I know...stuff” he concluded.

“Mmhmmm, I’m sure you do. Don’t worry, I’ll answer the questions and you just sit there and look pretty” you reach over to pat his face lightly with a wink.

Bucky grumbles before taking another sip of his beer.

You settle in for a long night when the host announces the first round is starting.

____

You managed to steal the first round without breaking a sweat, second round was a little rocky until it came down to you and one other couple. You knew the third round would be tricky but the way Bucky was cheering you on you were determined. To no one’s surprise Bucky had been completely useless so far but to his credit he was trying. At least he was a supportive teammate.

Things were going well until the third round was announced: Old School Videogames. You didn’t know shit about old school videogames. Or regular videogames. The extent of your video game knowledge started and ended with Mario Kart.

When the third round was announced though Bucky hit the table in excitement and cheered.

“Woo! Fuck yeah!” He pats you on the shoulder, “I got this, don’t worry. I so fuckin’ got this!”

He was a few drinks deep but he was so confident and he was your only hope so you went with it. He looked like a little kid the way he was practically giddy.

“You had better! There’s some serious prize money riding on this round.” You said in warning.

“No, no. You don’t understand that I’ve GOT this. Your turn to look pretty, not that it’s gonna be all that hard for you, sweetface” Bucky grinned at you over his beer as he took another sip.

Your cheeks felt heated and you tried your best to hide it by taking another drink yourself. Bucky’s flirting has never worked until now. Must be the alcohol.

“Shut up, Barnes” you mumble.

“Y’keep saying that but what I really think you mean is ‘I love you, Bucky you’re so strong and handsome~’” He imitated in a high pitched feminine voice.

You shoved him for real and before you could say anything else the third round was starting.

____

Bucky wasn’t kidding when he said he had this. He had won the round in a clean sweep and you’d be lying if you said you weren’t impressed. Who knew this man harbored so much videogame trivia? When the host handed you the prize money he just waggled his eyebrows as if to say See?

“I gotta hand it to you, Barnes, I had no idea you had that much videgame wisdom rolling around up there. The only videogame I ever play is Mariokart so I’d be toast without you.”

“Mariokart? That’s it?? No problem, doll. It was nice to contribute.” He chuckles at that.

You divvied the money up and handed him his half.

“Guess I’m not such a cheap date afterall, huh?”

He chuckled as he took his half from you.

“I’m gonna go pay the tab with our winnings, I’ll be back”

You picked up your phone while you waited for him to find some missed texts from Steve.

‘How’s it going?’ ‘Are you guys doing okay?’ ‘I haven’t heard anything so I’m assuming you haven’t killed each other. Have fun, text if you need a ride home.’

You almost rolled your eyes at Steve’s insistence but found yourself smiling instead. You’d text him back when you got home.

Bucky was walking up to you once more and you smiled at him slightly.

“You said you’re good at Mariokart?”

“I didn’t say I was good at Mariokart, I said that I played it. Why?”

“Well I was thinkin’ maybe we could go back to mine and I could whoop your butt”

You weren’t going to say yes but now he was goading you and you took the bait without hesitation.

“Oh, you’re on, Barnes. You’re so, so on.”

His smile grew wider when he heard your response. With that he placed his hand on your lower back and ushered you out of the bar.

____

You played two tournament cups worth of Mariokart and Bucky had indeed whooped your butt. You don’t know why you were surprised, with how much gaming he and Steve do it’s no surprise he’s a natural. You still had fun though. Just when you were about to propose a third round Bucky got up and headed to the kitchen without a word.

He came back with two glasses of water and handed you one. He sat down on the floor next to you and you set down your controller.

“Here, drink up.”

You were taken aback a bit by the kind gesture but accepted the glass just the same.

“Thank you, I might regret saying this but, you’re not so bad when you’re not being insufferable, Barnes”. You told him

He smiled and shook his head as he drank his water.

“Thanks, I guess”

“How come you can’t be like this all the time? When it’s just the two of us you’re so kind and you’re even… I don’t know, funny maybe. Why do you get all cocky whenever else I see you?”

He looked down into his glass at your comment and you watched his brows crease in thought.

“I don’t know, it just sort of… happens, whenever I’m around other people I don’t know that well. I don’t mean to be a dick or anything but it’s like I can’t help myself. People expect me to be a certain way and I can’t help but fall into it sometimes. Nat hated that about me, it’s part of the reason why she dumped me, actually”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know that. And I’m sorry about the breakup, too. I know you guys were together for a while.” Bucky only shrugged at this and downed the rest of his water.

“It is what it is. I’m ready to be over it, I’m getting there slowly but surely. I gotta say, you’re not so bad either when you’re not getting all defensive and in my face. You’re actually pretty funny”

Your turn to become flustered at a personal analysis.

“Thanks, I guess I don’t mean to be so defensive either, it's just my response to most other people. I feel myself slip into it and it can’t be helped.” You explained.

Bucky nods at you, not knowing entirely what to say in response.

“I like spending time with you” He says leaning closer to you.

You swallow thickly, not sure what to make of what you feel knowing his face is so close to yours.

“I… like spending time with you too. You’re not what I thought.”

“Me neither,” he shakes his head, “You’re something else.”

With that he leans his head closer to yours and you feel yourself close your eyes and move your lips to slant perfectly into his. You’re kissing Bucky Barnes. The Bucky Barnes you can’t stand. That Bucky Barnes. You’ve decided that his tongue feels too good in your mouth to care now.

His hands come to frame your face and bring you in closer. His hands are warm and calloused but they feel like comfort. You can’t help but to melt. You moan into his mouth and it seems to spur him on. He pulls you into his lap and you let out a noise of surprise that’s muffled by his mouth on yours.

Your hands come to caress his sides and you take your time feeling every muscle and ridge. Your hands idly make their way under the hem of his shirt and his skin is just as smooth as you’d expect. He sighs into your mouth and it takes all of your strength not to fall apart right there. You feel yourself getting lightheaded and have to pull away for air. When you do you rest your forehead against his and the only sound is both of your breathing.

You finally brave a look at him and he has the softest smile on his lips.

“Sorry, doll, didn’t mean to get so carried away but I’ve been waiting for a long time to do that.”

This catches you off guard.

“You have? Wait, did you like me? But you flirt with everyone!” You explain.

“With you, I flirt with you. You just can’t stand me” he laughs out, “Nat dumped me for a couple reasons but that’s one of them she told me I needed to get my priorities straight and I gotta say, I’m thankin’ her for sayin’ it ‘cause she was right.”

You don’t know what to say or what to make of any of this. All you know is that you want to kiss him again, so you do. You grab him by the collar and pull him into you again. He lets out a startled noise but kisses you back all the same.

You don’t care what you used to think of Bucky Barnes and you don’t care about what’ll happen after today. Right now all you care about is feeling him in sync with you for the first time. You could live in this moment forever but right now will have to do.

[steve-rogers-ruined-men-for-me]

Teach Me

Summary: Bucky’s worried about you overworking yourself at your teaching job. 

Warnings: some swearing, cute couple shit

Words: 2014k

A/N: this is my first full fic! I’ve really missed writing just for fun and I have a few more fic ideas and hc ideas in the works! please please please comment and let me know what you think! 

No matter what, you always came to bed when Bucky did. Sometimes you stayed up on your phone or reading but you always at least sat on the bed with him. He knew that you had a big week coming up, with your principal coming to observe you, midterms drawing closer, and your students struggling with the new curriculum the district was imposing. 

You were a high school English teacher and Bucky had met you when your school had put on an assembly about the history of the Avengers. He had noticed you in the back of the auditorium, wearing a soft blue dress and encouraging your students to ask him questions about his prosthetic. He shyly asked Tony to see if he could contact the school later and get your number. He had rolled his eyes at him and had walked up to you and asked in plain English, “The Manchurian Candidate over there wants to take you to dinner. If I set up the reservation and promise to make him show up, will you go?” Your jaw had dropped and you had numbly agreed. James Buchanan Barnes wanted to go on a date with you? Despite your doubts regarding the reality of the situation, you showed up outside the quiet Italian restaurant and the rest was history.

Bucky smiled at the memory of you dressed in a red silk jumpsuit with your hair braided back. You looked like a modern version of the girls he flirted with during the forties. Only, back then, he had been wondering how to get up their skirts but now he was more concerned with taking his time getting the jumpsuit off your gorgeous body. He felt a twitch between his legs and, smirking, shook the feeling off. He padded down to the kitchen, thinking you had gotten hungry. When that search yielded no you, he wandered through the rest of the downstairs. He noted that your car hadn’t left the driveway and checked the calendar on the fridge to see if he had the opening shift at the mechanic’s tomorrow (he mercifully did not). But he took note of how small your writing was on your to-do list for Monday. 

Feeling a pang in his chest, he remembered how he had begged you to let him have your full attention on Friday and Saturday.  While you’d reveled in your domestic bliss, by noon on Sunday, you had been buried in your office with your laptop, surrounded by books, papers, and highlighters. Smiling to himself, he realized where you were. He headed up to the attic loft, converted into your office. The walls were a soft gray and the couch the two of you had bought for your tiny first apartment was squeezed against one wall. 

Bucky’s heart tightened as he saw you sprawled on the couch, wrapped in one of his massive flannels. Your desk light was on and the desk was messier than he’d ever seen it. Your blinking phone alerted him to the fact that you’d set an alarm for midnight, but had been so tired you’d slept through it, a given considering you were working yourself to the bone and it was two a.m. Afraid to ruin your organizational system on your desk, he returned the pens and highlighters to the little decorative cups you kept them in, saved every file you had open on your laptop before closing it, and pushed the papers in imminent danger of falling onto the floor farther back on the desk. 

Content that he had lessened the burden of cleaning you’d have to do tomorrow, he crouched next to the couch. Gently smoothing a stray hair out of your face, he whispered, “baby...come on, get up, let’s go to bed.” You opened your eyes slowly and then jerked upright, sending your phone flying and Bucky scrambling backwards. 

“What time is it!” you cried, frantic. You ran towards your desk, frantically pinging your phone from your Apple Watch. Your clock on your desk blinked back 2:05 a.m. at you. Bucky picked up your incessantly beeping phone and handed it to you as you slumped in your desk chair, head in your hands. 

“I just wanted to get this stupid assessment plan done,” you whispered. You hugged his flannel tight around you as tears started to fall. Bucky turned your swivel chair so you were facing him as he knelt in between your legs. You dropped your upper body and rested your forehead on his shoulder as you sobbed. The weight of turning in grades, making assignments, checking in with your students to make sure they were doing okay, it was weighing on you. Bucky had noticed you sleeping less and drinking more coffee but hadn’t truly realized the toll it was taking on you. Kicking himself for making you spend time with him instead of alleviating your burdens at work, he pulled you out of the chair to sit between his legs, curling you into him and rocking gently. After a few minutes, you tilted your chin up and scooched back. Sitting criss cross between his legs, you cupped your chin and closed your eyes.

“I don’t know what to do, Buck,” you said sadly. You tugged on a loose button on your sleeve, looking like a lost puppy. Bucky knew how much you adored teaching and how much you loved your students. You were always baking treats for them when they did well on exams, buying bagels so that they could eat breakfast, and extending deadlines for the kids who worked. He knew that the American school system had changed since the 1940s and when you had shown him what you had to teach in a week and just how much time and energy went into lesson planning, he almost formed his own teachers union to advocate for you. 

When he found out your dismal salary, he had to take a walk. He spent an hour with Tony railing against your pay and the administrators who punished you for the test scores of students that you had no control over. Tony sat him down after an hour of not being able to get a word in edgewise and finally pledged to harass the local school boards (and the Board of Education if they would call him back) about raising teacher salaries. Bucky had walked home to you pouring over birthday cards your sixth period juniors had given you because they’d gotten a tip that it was your birthday. (Peter helped Bucky hack your Google Classroom). He felt a wave of pride come over him as he looked at you, his selfless girl, thrilled that she was having an impact on the kids she loved the most. You getting so down on yourself broke his heart. 

“What’s wrong with your assessment plan?” he asked, intertwining your hands with his. You looked up angrily. “What ISN’T wrong with it is a better question!” you cried. “The district made the test up and it’s on a fucking scantron because what fucking isn’t these days and it’s not taking into account the fact that school is not the main focus for so many of these kids that have to fucking work and help support their siblings and all they are is numbers on a fucking piece of paper that tells you nothing about the effectiveness of my teaching or the district’s ability to educate them as a whole!” Bucky blinked rapidly as you huffed. You didn’t get angry very often, but when you did and you started to monologue, he understood why you received a distinction with your English degree. 

“Baby,” he started gently, “can I ask you something you may not like?” He knew that you were a planner and that the odds were you were beating yourself up about a task that had taken your coworkers thirty minutes to do. You always wanted to do right by your kids but if you didn’t start sleeping and taking care of yourself, you were useless to everyone, including yourself. You looked up at Bucky through teary eyes.

“Are you going to ask me if the plan’s done and I’m just being picky?” you asked in a small voice. Bucky stood up, taking you with him. He pressed your frame against him, putting your arms over his shoulders and resting his hands on your waist. He stayed to sway slightly, trying to lull you back to sleep and to try to help quiet your mind. “I wouldn’t say picky I just...look. I’m being selfish. I want you to come to bed with me. I want you to play with my hair and whisper that you love me when you think I’m out cold asleep,” he gushed, noting the slight blush that crept up your cheeks. “You are incredible. Your admin are literally fucking stupid, doll. Nothing you do will change that. You are trying your best and if you think that your kids won’t benefit from the 12 different plans you’ve cooked up, then you’re crazy. Your kids don’t need a version 13, baby. They need you whole, in one piece, and ready to fight for them if they need.” He kissed your forehead, trying to ease your creased brow. Giving in to his ministrations, you sighed. You thought about how this plan should’ve probably only taken an hour. But then you rewrote the plan for the week based off of if your kids took a lot of time on the test, a little time, got anxious during it, caught on fire during it, committed larceny during the test and you had to contact the police. You knew it was overkill but you also knew that budget cuts were coming, contracts were up at the end of this year, and you and Bucky were saving to buy a house instead of living in a condo forever. 

“Buck?” you whispered. He lifted his chin off your head and looked down.

“Yeah, doll?” 

You felt the exhaustion settle into you all at once. “Can we go to bed?” 

Picking you up and putting you in a fireman’s carry, Bucky held you the whole way down to your bedroom. He pulled out a shirt of his for you to sleep in while you brushed your teeth and rinsed off in the shower. He walked in right as you were towelling off and he slipped it over your head with ease. He offered to blow dry your hair but you declined, favoring slipping into a warm sleep with him. He cuddled you close, forgoing asking you to play with his hair in favor of trying to hug all the pride he felt about you into your body via osmosis. Your head was resting soft on his chest, one arm curled protectively around his torso. His metal arm was tucked up and around your shoulders, keeping you comfortable. His flesh hand caressed your arm around him to remind you that he would always be there for you. He loved you more than anything. As your breathing evened and his hand on your side rose in gentle time with your breath, he decided that he was going to call Tony tomorrow. He knew a few people who owed him from his time as the Winter Soldier and if they didn’t want their dirty laundry exposed, dammit he was going to make someone in the district fix the stupid test until it worked how you wanted it to work. He hugged you closer to him, giving you one final squeeze before he started drifting off to sleep. He slipped into a dream where he was a professor and you a naughty schoolgirl and he had just convinced you to bend over to pick something up behind his desk when...a loud snore from you jolted him back to the reality of his exhausted teacher girlfriend wearing his baggy shirt, with hair going every which way. There was no plaid skirt here. Only love and admiration. Bucky kissed your temple and willed sleep to come again. 

[bukojuiice]

ʚ  Midoriya, Bakugo, and Todoroki cramming school works with their S/O  ɞ *‧.₊˚*੭*ˊᵕˋ੭.*

izuku, katsuki, and shoto x gn! reader  ♡ 

｡⋆ʚ♡⃛ɞ These are some extremely self-indulgent hcs LMAO i’m currently consumed by a lot of school works and extracurricular activities, so i decided to take the time and write some of these up! this the first batch of hcs i’ve ever made so i hope you bear with some errors! i hope you enjoy!

hopefully i get to write more about the other bnha bois/girls soon so please also stay tuned for that!

if you like to see more from me, i have an ongoing bakugo x fem reader! smau called cuddle buddy! read it here!  ( ु•⌄• )  

✧ Izuku is very smart and hardworking so you’ve barely seen him cram any school work or tasks since the two of you started going out.

✧ Soft bby boi knows how to balance his workload from school whilst still being able to spend time with you.

✧ Now here were the two of you, partners for a huge science project that would serve as your midterms for the subject.

✧  Both of you were tasked to take care of two chicken eggs and treat them as your children. Draw faces on them, make them wear clothes, give them names and describe their personalities... literally treating them like actual babies.

✧ You were whining about it at first because it felt like an elementary project instead of something first year high school students (and those in the hero program for that matter) would do.

✧ Izuku remained positive however and reassured you that it was going to be a lot of fun.

✧ You were still salty and unimpressed by the project, but you couldn’t help but melt because of how cute Izuku was and how excited he was for this task. He really wanted to spend a lot of time with you and he was so so happy that you two were partnered for this project.

✧ Because it was midterms week, you were swarmed with tons and tons of stuff to do, so the two of you decided to finish everything else first then deal with the science project at the end of the week because it was the “easiest”. Boy.. were the both of you so so wrong.

✧ Izuku goes up to your room in the dorm so that the both of you can work on the project quietly, yet as he enters, he sees you panicking and running around the room, your camera hanging around your neck, holding two half-cracked eggs with weirdly sewn clothes and faces that looked like they were scribbled from sharpies.

✧ “Izu-kun... can you help me take pictures of our kids for the baby photobook? 

✧ He was about to faint on the spot from fantasizing about his future with you. 

✧ “Of course! hand me All Might Jr. first so you can take a picture of his cute little sister!” 

✧  Yes, your first born eggo is named after All Might. It was Izuku’s decision and you wanted to support him.

✧ You spent all day taking pictures, printing them, designing them and pasting them on the photo album. It was finally nighttime and the both of you are terribly exhausted and mentally drained.

✧ You and Izuku had creative minds so you were able to create the perfect photo album.

✧ Several hours have passed and Izuku still can’t stop thinking of the future he was going to have with you. What a cutie.

✧  After submitting and passing the photobook to the drop box Ilda left in the living room, Izuku goes up again to your room and is surprised by the sight of you sleeping soundly on your bed.

✧ He comes up to you, kisses your forehead and whispers these soft words to you:

✧ “I can’t wait to tell our future kids how I met you.” 

✧ Bakugo Katsuki has never crammed a school work or project in his entire life.

✧ You on the other hand, procrastinated a lot, yet could still pass tasks on time. Although, Katsuki still reprimands you for it. Calling you “dumb butt” instead of the usual name callings he uses whenever talking to your classmates which is “dumb ass” 

✧ He is your boyfriend so it’s not that much of a surprise, it’s just that you’re a bit shocked that he would be really really soft on you. It’s such a sweet gesture though.

✧ After binging a entire series on Netflix the other day, and because he couldn’t resist your pleas of begging him to watch this show with you, it completely slipped from the both of your minds that you had a dance project to work on for your Physical Education class.

✧  You immediately panicked, and Bakugo began to show his usual hot-headed side of him and scolded you for it. Despite him forgetting about it too.

✧ The two of you were going to film yourselves dancing to the Cha Cha dance style and you had a day to create the raw video without edits.

✧  You suggested that the two of you practice by uploading your videos to Tiktok and ask for advice from the professionals who posted their videos there too

✧ “Katsuki-kun do you think we should upload our videos to Tiktok?”

✧  “Absolutely fucking not.”  

✧ After watching a few beginner dance practice videos on Youtube, Katsuki immediately got the hang of it.

✧ Your man had the moves. He really was good at everything.

✧ You couldn’t help but stare at him as he continues to sway and follow the steps without missing a beat.

✧ Bakugo smirks at you, “Like what you see?”

✧ “Get your mind out of the gutter.” You threw a pillow at him as his tease came out of nowhere. 

✧  Since you were quite a slow-learner, it took a few hours before you got the hang of the first routine.

✧ In those few hours, you probably have stepped on Bakugo’s toes a few hundred times and a few hundred fucks were cursed out of his mouth every time it happened.

✧  He was still patient with you though in his own little way. Constantly scolding you every time you made a mistake, but never made you feel guilty for it. 

✧ You were able to finish recording the raw video by evening. A few hours to spare before the deadline. Either way,  the both of you were exhausted when the adrenaline finally died down. 

✧ “I can’t wait to dance with you again like this. Maybe Waltz or Ballroom next time?”

✧ “You’re a shitty dancer so don’t expect it to happen anytime soon.”

✧ “Then again, I’m dancing with you. So it doesn’t matter if you’re bad. The important thing is, it’s going to be special since I’m with you.”

✧ And at that moment, you could feel your heart explode from all these soft emotions.

✧ Shoto was naturally smart. He could finish a lot of tasks in a few hours without getting distracted. That was his strategy ever since he was in Elementary. Getting things done right away and getting flawless remarks and grades on them.

✧ But ever since the two of you got together, he insisted that the two of you would do your school works together. So, every night, whenever there was homework, you would immediately yeet over to Shoto’s room to answer the tasks with him.

✧ It’s really cute. Not only do the two of you get to bond together but, you were helping each other too. It was the ideal relationship.

✧ Shoto is very particular with a lot of fancy things, so he even has this humidifier in his room with your favorite scent so that the both of you can calmly continue your work.  He even has a comforter sprawled upon the floor so that you could sit comfortably. How sweet of him ;w; 

✧ This time around though, the two of you were partnered up for  to answer a elaborate math problem that you were going to present the next day. 

✧ You exceled in your subjects with Math being your weakest point, sometimes even getting unfavorable grades on the subject. Shoto was the exact opposite though. Which wasn’t surprising because he needed to be good for his quirk. How far his fire can go, the trajectory of his ice and all that jazz. 

✧  He wasn’t disappointed that he was partnered with you for this though, despite it being your weakness. In fact he couldn’t be happier. As long as he was spending time with you. 

✧ After reading through the problem and finding the formula, you were already stressed out. Todoroki took notice of this immediately and decided that the two of you should take a break first. He brings you to the convenience store near the dorm. Your hand holding his as he tells you that you could buy any snack you want.

✧ Using his father’s credit card of course.

✧ After coming back from the store, the two of you decided to head straight back to the math problem. It was very very complicated,  especially since the two of you had to divide the work because it was required for the project for the two of you to evenly contribute to it. It was a math problem your braincells couldn’t take anymore.

✧ “Shoto-kun, I can’t take this anymoreee.” You whined, resting your head on his shoulder.

✧ “Come on (Y/N), just a little bit more. We’re almost finished.”

✧  Shoto was finished with his part of the solution, while you were still struggling. It took the whole night to do so but you were able to answer it eventually.

✧  The next day, it was finally time for the presentation. Shoto was able to present his solution perfectly, while you had some slip-ups and mistakes here and there. The both of you didn’t get a good grade because of that... but to him, it didn’t matter.

✧ “I’m sorry for dragging you into this. It’s my fault we got a bad grade.”

✧ “It’s alright (Y/N). It doesn’t matter. As long as I get to experience something different with you and spend time with you every single day, I’m happy and contented. 

✧ You were so blessed to have someone like Todoroki Shoto in your life. What did you to deserve such a precious and kind boyfriend?

-End.  ♡‧₊˚

[nsheetee]

mocha | jeno

pairing: basketball player!jeno x barista!reader genre: coffee shop au | fluff, slight angst summary: you tutor star basketball player jeno when you realize he’s spending late nights studying in the cafe you work at.

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this is a part of the moonlight cafe series — please read the preface before continuing reading

he walks as if he’s in a hurry, not minding the jingling bell on the door above him and sits down at a booth in the corner of the cafe

he has a baseball cap on, and a hoodie over that; you can’t recognize who he is at all

waiting a few moments, you glance over at his table again

he has several textbooks and his laptop out, promptly putting his airpods in his ears and beginning his homework

you just write him off as any other student that comes in here at night, the only difference with him is that he doesn’t order a coffee with an unhealthy amount of espresso shots in it

you don’t mind him, but it is a bit worrying when he spends the whole night switching between laying his head down on the table and softly thumping it against the wood, and staring blankly between his laptop and textbook

when he leaves that night at 3am, you send a silent wish after him that whatever he was studying for goes in his favor 

but surprisingly, he shows up the next night as well

it’s saturday night, the evening rush ended a while ago, and the mysterious guy is once again sitting in his spot at the back corner of the cafe

he looks even more frazzled than the night before, yet he doesn’t order anything and continues to diligently work throughout the whole night

this goes on for weeks, and you begin to worry for this poor boy’s sleep schedule

but even more so, you’re curious about who he is, since he never orders anything and always has a hood or a hat on

one night, your curiosity is quenched

“who’s that?” taeil asks you; he’s normally not at the store this late, but forgot to complete taking inventory this morning and came back tonight to finish it up

he nods his head towards your mystery guy, who has slumped over his textbooks and looks to be peacefully sleeping on the table

“not sure. he always comes in and studies for almost the whole night, never orders anything, though.” you shrug at your boss and he frowns

“go give him a mocha, or something. on the house- he looks like he needs to wake up.” taeil turns back to his clipboard and you nod

carrying over a hot mocha to the intriguing character in the corner of the cafe, your heart thumps in suspense

you’ll finally be able to learn who the mystery man is, something you’ve been wondering since day one

you set the mocha down on the table carefully and sit across from him, shaking his arm to wake him up

the guy jerks out of his sleep, a flashcard sticking to his face as he looks around the cafe with lidded eyes

“sorry!” you grimace, holding out your hands in front of you “I didn’t mean to scare you, I just wanted to wake you up. my boss told me to give you this mocha on the house, and to make sure you’re okay.” the guy unsticks the flashcard from his face, and your mouth drops when you realize who the mystery man is

“lee jeno?” you ask, and his sleepy eyes widen when you recognize him

“...no? I think you have me mistaken for someone else...” he clears his throat, looking around the cafe to see if anyone has their attention turned to you two

you would believe him, if he isn’t the most well known face on campus

he’s not only the college’s basketball star who has his face plastered on every basketball-related event at the school and is dating the head cheerleader, but also the guy who sits a few rows in front of you in your calculus class

“I'm 90% sure you’re lee jeno.” you state, and he seems too tired to argue with you about his identity

“okay, yes, that’s me. can you please not tell anyone that I'm here.”

“tell what? that you, a college student, studies?” you tilt your head and cross your arms as you wait for his response

“yeah,” he becomes shy, playing with his airpods that fell out of his ears during his nap, “to be honest, I'm in a calculus class this semester and I don’t understand one bit of it. that’s why I'm here every weekend night.” he explains, not meeting your gaze yet

all of a sudden, it hits you-

he doesn’t know who you are

although your calculus class has almost 100 people in it, you would think he would’ve at least seen you walking past him every monday, wednesday, and friday to your seat behind him

but you’re not surprised that he’s struggling or that he hasn’t noticed you, since you always see him talking with his basketball friends instead of paying attention 

“I can tutor you.” you shrug, and he raises his eyebrows, finally making eye contact, “I work every weekend night, and I took that class last semester.”

you don’t feel guilty about lying

if jeno doesn’t recognize you, then maybe it should stay that way

what he doesn't know won’t hurt thim

“wouldn’t that keep you away from your job...” 

“it calms down after midnight around here, and I usually get bored during that time. what do you say?”

he agrees, and pretty soon you’re tutoring basketball star lee jeno

you thought that keeping your identity secret when you walk into class would be difficult, but jeno is always too busy fooling around with his friends before class starts that it’s easy to sneak past him

jeno comes in after midnight on weekends, you tutor him for about an hour (or until he understands the homework) and then he leaves to get some precious sleep 

jeno might be forever thankful for you

the way you explain things makes sense to him, much more sense than any office hours or ta hours that he has been to

it’s a win-win situation for you both: you can count these hours every night as “volunteer work” and jeno soon comes back to the cafe with his midterm exam, a solid B+ labeled across the top

“good job,” you chime when you see his grade from his phone

a text message notification pops up, and although you don’t read it, you definitely saw the word “party”

“maybe we can skip the study session tonight? you’ve been doing much better lately, and it’s friday night. I bet you want to get out and go to a party, or something.” you suggest, giving jeno a perfect excuse to leave you for the night and join his friends

“nah,” jeno shrugs as he takes back his phone, “I'd much rather hang out with you.”

your heart thuds at his words and you try your hardest to control your facial expression- to somehow bite back the heat threatening to rise to your cheeks

it’s been like this for the past few weeks, ever since you saw this new side to jeno

before tutoring him, he was only the basketball player who loudly fooled around with his friends before class and seemed like he didn’t care about anything else other than basketball

but since you started to get to know him, it’s safe to say you severely misjudged him

he’s probably the most boyish guy you’ve ever met, who cracks jokes that most would cringe at but have you clutching your stomach and wheezing with laughter 

the more time he spent around you, the more comfortable he became, and the more he could tell you his feelings

like how nervous he was for the exam or how scared he was for last week’s game

or how he’s determined to drink the mocha you make him every time he comes to the cafe, as an apology for all the nights he hogged a table and didn’t buy anything

he snuck into your heart, through the spaces between your ribs and planted himself there, unwilling to leave

but you know your feelings aren’t acceptable

he has a girlfriend, a very pretty and popular one that you’re almost sure he won’t leave for little old you

“seriously,” jeno notices your change in tone, “you can go out. you don’t have to stay here.”

“I'm being serious, too. let’s start on the next chapter, since you took this class last semester you’ll know how to do the equations for the next part, right?” jeno is already pulling out his textbook and his papers, determined to start working

your heart races, now for a different reason

although you’re good at calculus, you’re not that good to understand the next chapter yet

“uh...” you trail off, trying to find an excuse, “why do you even want to do math homework right now?” you ask, and jeno suddenly gets quiet

“it’s not really about math anymore, it’s about the person who’s teaching it to me...” he mumbles, but you hear him clearly

your heart is in your throat and your hands clam up from nerves

this is wrong

he has a girlfriend

his life is very different and separate from yours

this is so wrong

“we can’t.” you shake your head, and jeno’s nervous glances at you turns into a heartsick and longing look, “I- I actually haven’t taken this class. I'm taking it... right now.” you admit, the weight on your shoulders being lifted

“what?” he frowns

he doesn’t look good with a frown, his round glasses move with his face

he looks more like a confused puppy than the killer basketball player everyone knows and loves

“I'm in your class, jeno. I sit three rows behind you. I walk past you everyday to my seat.” you roll your eyes lightly

jeno just keeps getting more and more confused with every sentence

“how? how did I not notice you-”

“because you’re too busy messing around with your bros.” you roll your eyes harder this time, but when your gaze lands back on jeno, you immediately start to regret the forcefulness of your words

he looks hurt, and now angry

“so, you lied to me?” jeno looks as if the gears in his brain are running at full capacity, “what did you want from me then? some tickets to the game, maybe my phone number to sell online?” he spits out, embarrassment from you not returning his feelings fueling his harsh words

“do I look like I would do that? you know I'm not that kind of person.”

“forget it. maybe I will go to that party...” he trails off as he packs up his bag

“you act different with your friends than you do with me. you’re just trying to fit into a mold. I called you out on it and you’re mad about it.”

“no. I act different with you because I like you. liked.” he corrects himself, standing up out of the booth

your heart pinches with hurt at his words

there’s nothing like the bitterness of being so close to what you wanted, and then taking 10 steps back because you weren’t aware of how close you were to getting it

“you forgot your drink.” you say bitterly, intent on having the last word

he tucks his airpods into his ears and fixes his hood, “I hate mochas.”

the next night, the basketball team loses their first game of the season

it’s hard not to hear about it, considering the basketball team (and lee jeno) are the pride of the college

but a few more nights pass, and the team loses another game

and then they lose again, keeping them from going to regionals 

even taeyong and taeil talk about it, and you couldn’t look away when they showed you the viral video of jeno’s cheerleader girlfriend breaking up with him in the middle of the court after the last game

although you haven’t talked to him since the fight, you still felt sorry for him

you felt bad, and a bit guilty

jeno hasn’t shown up to calculus since the loss, and his seat is eventually taken by one of his ex-friends 

within a month, jeno turned from the campus’ golden boy to a nobody

and it didn’t matter to you

you haven’t physically seen him since the fight, making you worried about him

is he okay? physically and mentally? is he eating or sleeping? 

part of you hates that you still have feelings for him, and the other part doesn’t care 

you just want to know if he’s okay

and then one very early saturday morning, he walks into the cafe for the very first time since you fought 

the jingle of the bells above him comfort him, they chime a good luck to him as he steps up to the counter where you’re ducked down into the pastry display case 

“I'll be with you in one moment.” you say, tired dripping from your tone, and jeno realizes you’re in the last hour of your shift

“it’s no problem.” your rustling stops at the familiar voice, and your head pops up from behind the counter

lee jeno stands in front of you, his hoodie and baseball hat on, round glasses perched on his nose and his fringe tickling his eyes

“jeno.” you say, as if making sure it’s actually him and that he’s really here

“no, I think you might’ve mistaken me for someone else.” you and jeno both can’t help but let out a small laugh as you unexpectedly reenact the first time you met

“what are you doing here?” you ask, fully standing up and meeting him at the cash register

“well, I was hoping to get a mocha.” 

“I thought you hate mochas.” jeno stares at you and you stare back, unwilling to move until he says something first

jeno reaches out over the cash register, his strong but gentle fingers grazing over your forehead to fix some hair that was out of place due to your movements during restocking

you subconsciously lean into his touch, and jeno brings his hand down into yours, pulling you away from the cash register and sitting down in a chair at the counter

his hands hold yours over the counter, and the fact that you haven’t pulled away gives him hope that he’s not too late

“I grew to love them because of you. I've been craving them for the past month,” he laughs sourly, “but no one makes them the way you do.”

your heart trembles at his words, and it takes everything in you to not forgive him in an instant

“I'll make you one.” you say, untangling your hands from his and moving to the espresso machine 

jeno watches as you make his new favorite drink, and then place it before him as you sit down in a chair next to him

“I’m sorry.” is the first thing he says after you face him once again, “you were right. I was trying to fit into the mold of what the people around me wanted. the only time I could actually be myself is when I'm around you.” 

“I'm sorry, too. this isn’t all your fault, I shouldn’t have lied to you.” jeno scoots closer, tiredness tying you together and the moonlight from outside allowing you to enjoy the company of each other

“my calculus grade is low again. I might need your big brain to help me.”

“okay, but I'll need payment this time.”

“how much?”

“one kiss.”

“one kiss for every correct problem on the final exam?”

“deal.”

jeno smiles softly, his eyes scrunching as smile lines crease his face like tangled bedsheets in the early morning

he leans in, and you kiss with only the moonlight as a witness

jeno loves the way your mouth tastes like the bitter espresso that keeps him awake, but your lips are as sweet as the mocha that he has grown to love

[13-reasons-ideas]

Can’t Go Back Part 17

A/N: This chapter is pretty fluffy. We get a glimpse at how they are moving forward in their relationship since their fight. I’m planning on uploading a part from Monty’s perspective about what he’s doing Friday after school tomorrow or sometime this weekend. I hope you enjoy. Feedback is appreciated as always and much love. -Em 

I spent the next week actively not checking my emails. I was too afraid to even consider if I would get emails about schools yet.  It had only been a week. But you never know. In an attempt to keep my mind off of the fact that my entire future was now completely and totally out of my control, I tried to fill my time with normalcy. Things I normally did. Things that Monty and I normally did. That normalcy now included carving out an hour and a half for Monty’s physio three days a week, but we made it work.

I tried to get back into my routine. For the most part, I went to bed at the same time every night. Some days Monty went with me, other days he stayed up and did stuff for a while. But he came to bed every night. I went to the game Friday night. Scott and Charlie came over for brunch on Saturday. Justin came over to see his new best friend, I mean me, on Sunday because he picked up a shift Saturday morning. Monty and I did our own things together in the evenings during the week. I pretended to read while he played video games one night. Secretly, I was just watching him. For some reason watching people play video games was highly entertaining. We just did normal things.

We also went grocery shopping Saturday. “Are you sure you want to come with me?” I asked again.

“Yes, I’m sure Addison. Besides, we are over halfway to the store. It’s a little late to change my mind now.”

“Okay. Remember the list please.”

“I know. There’s a list and we get what’s on the list.”

“Exactly.”

At the store, I grabbed a cart and dug through my purse for the list and my pen. Monty took the cart from me without asking. I feigned an affronted look. He smirked back. Cocky bastard. I can already tell this is going to be so fun. I opened my mouth to speak when we got inside. “List, I know. And yes. I remember you’re going to make us get vegetables.”

“And you have to get at least one that you like.” He pouted. “You like carrots.” I offered.

“Fine.” He muttered. We are in a dramatic mood today. It was so peaceful when I went by myself. But I missed this. Monty went and put exactly five bulk carrots in a bag. Not wanting to fight him on carrots, I didn’t say anything. As usual, I was in charge of the rest of our vegetables.

The aisles were an easier task. There were no evil scary vegetable that I would have to force him to eat. I quickly scanned down the list as we entered each aisle. Carefully, everything was placed in the cart just so. “We need this.” Monty said, grabbing a box of cheese its.

“Is it on the list?” In response, he plucked the list and pen from my hand, and scribbled it on.

“It is now.” I rolled my eyes and grinned as he handed it back to me. His cheeky grin made me blush. I turned my back and pretended to look at something when we got to the fruit snack aisle and ignored the telltale thud of a box, make that two boxes, of fruit snacks being chucked in the cart. He didn’t write them on the list.

We both cringed at the price of meat, as usual. But we needed it so there wasn’t a whole lot we could do. I crossed things off that had been missed as we were filling the cart. Thankfully, it didn’t seem like the store was out of anything. “Oh, we need butter.” I muttered.

“Is it on the list?” Monty smirked. Like he had done earlier with the crackers, I quickly wrote it down.

“Yes.” I grinned. He grinned and stopped to kiss me on the cheek.

“I love you.”

“I love you too. Now let’s get this done so we can go home and do nothing.”

“Your wish is my command.” There was even a dramatic wave of his arm to accompany his attempt to woo.

“You are so fucking cheesy. I’m telling the guys about that one.”

“Ah, come on Addison. You love it.”

I went to grab a couple of pounds of butter and decided I could trust my adult husband to get some bread and jam on his own. When I found him in the bakery with our cart, I remembered that I married an overgrown child. There was bread. And there was jam. And also, cookies. Four different kinds of cookies. And a thing of strudel. Which, to be honest, I wasn’t that upset about because it’s like the best pastry. But the point is that it was there.

“I asked you to get bread and jam. Not half of the baked goods in the store.”

“But cookies are delicious Addison. And you like their chocolate chip cookies. And for some reason I still don’t understand, plain oatmeal cookies. Don’t even lie and say the strudel was a bad idea.”

“So, the sugar cookies and M&M ones are just to look pretty on the counter?”

“No. Those ones are for me.”

“I married a fuckin’ child.” I muttered softly. We turned when we heard a quiet chuckle behind us. A cute little old couple was watching our interaction with giant smiles.

“Mine still does the same thing dearie.” The woman said to me.

“Remember, we don’t grow up. We just get bigger.” The man smiled.

“I’m beginning to realize.” I laughed.

“See. I told you.” Monty smirked. As if to prove the point they were making, we watched as the man grabbed a container of lemon rolls and placed them in his cart. The woman gave him an exaggerated, exasperated look.

“Wait, how long have the two of you been married?” I asked when they passed us.

“Sixty-five years.” They said together, smiling fondly at each other. Wow. That’s amazing. I was still smiling when we got to the till and checked out.

Our normal routines continued for the rest of the week. School, physio, make dinner, sports, spend time together. The normalcy of it was refreshing.

“You’re scratching.” Monty said offhandedly, without looking up from his notes.

“Am not.”

“You stopped typing five minutes ago Addison.”

“I’m thinking.”

“And scratching.” I rolled my eyes and didn’t respond. I started typing aggressively loud to try and get a rise out of him instead. He didn’t respond at all. Not even an annoyed muscle twitch. We aren’t there yet. Okay. Monty’s phone buzzed on the coffee table beside me. I ignored it. It buzzed again. And then again. Before I could reach for it, he had hobble run over and snatched it out of my reach. I looked at him quizzically. He was trying to think of a reason to be hiding his phone from me. What is going on?

“It’s guy stuff. Jamie is having… girl troubles.”

“Girl troubles.”

“Yeah. His girlfriend but not girlfriend or something is doing stuff.”

“Something and stuff.”

“Yes. So, uh. I’ll be over… over there.” He motioned back to the kitchen table. “You know, dealing with girl troubles.”

“Right.” That was weird. Also, he’s going to pay for the movement in the morning. I went back to my writing and not scratching quietly. Occasionally I would look up over my laptop at Monty. He seemed to be very engrossed in his notes.

“Hey Addison?”

“Hmm?”

“Since the game got cancelled some of us are going over to Jamie’s place tomorrow after school.”

“’Kay.”

“Because girl troubles.”

“Yeah.”

“And stop scratching. You’ll only make the rash worse.”

The next morning, I skipped a shower. Cuddles were too enticing. It was a Friday so I didn’t feel like I had to look all cute. While Monty made himself a smoothie, I grabbed one of his shirts to wear because it was loose enough that it wouldn’t irritate the rash. It finally started to clear up. But now it itches. As though he could hear my thoughts, he called from the kitchen, “stop scratching.”

“Bite me.” I called back.

“If you don’t stop scratching, I will.”

“Is that a threat or a promise?” He looked up when he heard me come in the room.

“I was going to wear that today.”

“You have like… fifty more in your half of the closet.”

“I know mum is a history professor, but dad is a businessman. I know he taught you fractions. What I have is not half of the closet.” I merely shrugged. He waved towards the bowl beside the blender. “Chunky monkey with smooth peanut butter.” I sat and took a bite.

“Yum. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

“Don’t worry about washing the blender. I’ll do it after school.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah.”

School was pretty boring. It was the middle of November, so we were in the awkward not quite midterms but not quite ready for a new unit time. I met Monty at my locker after the last bell. He was waiting for me with Justin and Jamie. “Hey baby.”

“Hey babe. You guys have fun tonight, okay?”

“Yes Ma’am.” Jamie saluted. I shuddered. Monty tried to stifle a laugh.

“Jamie. Do me a favour and never do that again.” I placed a couple of textbooks in my locker. “I’ll see you at home. Can you stop and grab baking powder on your way home tonight?”

“Sure.”

“Why can’t you stop? You’re going straight there.” Justin asked.

“I have a date with a bubble bath.”

“Ooh la la.” Jamie laughed.

“I guess. Didn’t shower this morning and a bath is better for my itching.”

“Oh?” Justin asked.

“I’ll explain later.” I muttered. He furrowed his brow and looked at Monty. I kissed Monty goodbye.

At home, I went to wash my face so I could do the expensive face mask I had been saving for a night alone. I did an exfoliating treatment first and ran my bath. A few scented candles were set on our master bathroom counter and I poured myself a glass of raspberry juice. The book I had been meaning to get around to reading was sitting on the toilet for easy access. Okay fine. One of the books I had been meaning to read. It was very relaxing. I had to dig in the cabinet for my body scrub but found it behind a backup pack of deodorant from Costco. Luckily, the bubble bath was also right there. I poured some in to give it time to foam.

With my face mask done and washed off, I undressed and settled in the tub. The water was boiling hot, just the way I liked it. I sighed and sipped my juice, enjoying a night alone. When the husband is away, wife will pamper. The hot water helped to calm my itching skin. The scrub made my legs nice and smooth before I shaved them and exfoliated a second time. Once the necessaries were taken care of, I could start to relax. Picking up my book, I settled in for the foreseeable future. My book was so interesting and immersive, I completely lost track of time. I was still in the tub when Monty got home. “Addison?” He called when he didn’t find me in the kitchen.

“I’m in the bath.” I called back.

“Okay.” He was opening and closing drawers in our room. He poked his head in the bathroom. “Do you want a glass of water or anything? How long have you been in there?” I paused for a moment to consider. How long had it been?

“What time is it?”

“Almost seven.” My eyes widened.

“Really? Then yeah, I’ll take a glass of water. I’m going to get out right away.” He shut the door behind him and I threw my book across to the door so it didn’t get wet when I got out of the tub.

Once dry and moisturized, I left the bathroom in search of my husband. I found him on the couch scrolling aimlessly through his phone. “I missed you.” I bent behind the back of the couch to kiss his cheek.

“I missed you too. You look very cozy in your fuzzy pyjamas.”

“Why thank you.” I curtsied. He laughed happily. Settling next to him, I laid my head in his lap.

“How was your bath?”

“Amazing. Very relaxing. Oh! And I exfoliated and shaved my legs.” I grinned and lifted my pants leg. “Feel!”

Again, Monty laughed and shook his head. He still reached out and rubbed my leg though. “Very soft and smooth.”

“How was girl problems?”

“I think they’re resolved. It wasn’t as major or as difficult as we thought.”

“That’s good.” I peeked at his phone. He was watching football injury videos. Oh Sweetie. “Hey, how’s your knee?”

“It’s okay. Physio has been helping.”

“I’m glad.” He seemed to realize then that I wasn’t just asking for an update on his progress.

“Oh. I’m just watching this because some of them are funny.”

“Funny?”

“Yeah.” He restarted the video and adjusted his position so I could see too. He was right. Some of them were pretty funny.

It was family brunch Saturday the next day. Scott, Charlie, and Justin all came over. As usual, the four young men were more than happy to eat relatively work free. Monty did have to help me reach a few things and our guests helped set the table. But for the most part, I did the work. It was relaxing for me. Monty still felt a little uncomfortable having me do most of the work in the kitchen, but I didn’t mind. It was my choice to do it. I enjoyed it. And it made things much smoother when I was working solo.

Since it was just a casual pancake breakfast this week and just the five of us, I didn’t really feel a need to shower before they came over.  As such, I was still in my pyjamas most of the morning. They didn’t mind. We hung out for a while after brunch together. By the time everyone was getting ready to leave around two, I decided it was time to shower and make myself feel like a human again. “I’m running Scott’s place for a bit. We have a couple of things to go over with Charlie for next week’s game.” Monty explained when I was going to shower.

“No problem. I’ll just be here writing or reading or something.” From the bathroom I could hear him putzing around our room. I didn’t think too much of it. He was probably looking for a playbook or something.

After my shower, I wrapped my towels around me, fully prepared to throw on a pair of leggings and an oversized sweater for the rest of the day. Instead, I was puzzled to find a large white box in the centre of the bed. There was a bow and a single pink Post it note stuck to the lid. It simply said wear me on it in blue ink. I frowned in confusion but opened it anyway. Nestled inside was a classic, Hepburn-esque little black dress. I gasped and covered my mouth in shock. Gently lifting the dress out of the box I held it out at arm’s length to examine it. It was beautiful. This man is full of surprises. Not wanting to wrinkle the dress, I carefully set it on the bed while I grabbed a hanger.

Once it was hung up, I put on a pair of sweats and an old pyjama shirt. In the kitchen, I found another note next to the coffee machine. This one was on a yellow Post it, also in blue ink. No coffee. Look up. I frowned again. Why no coffee? Looking up on the underside of the cabinet, I found another yellow Post it. This one had an arrow pointing towards the living room. There, yet another Post it. This one was blue. There was another arrow pointing at the coat closet. A green Post it was stuck to the closet door. Be ready at 5:00. Wear your matching black pointy shoes. Now I was even more confused. Well, it says be ready. I shrugged and checked my watch. It was just past two. I rolled my eyes at the coffee note and made myself a cup anyway. I wouldn’t need to be up all night, but note be damned. I wanted coffee. I savoured it while I let my thoughts run wild of what could be in store for my night. At home fancy dress dinner? Going out for dinner? A walk in the financial district in the city? Hmmm. By two forty-five, I had finished my coffee and started getting ready.

I carefully put on the dress after I had washed my face again. I decided to curl my hair in tight ringlets so that when I brushed them out, they wouldn’t fall flat immediately. I let them set while I did my makeup. So, I didn’t get makeup all over my dress, I draped a towel around my neck to cover it. The simple black cat eye and blue red lipstick paired wonderfully with the classic, timeless style of the dress. A neutral blush and light bronzer added colour and balance to complete the look. I carefully brushed out the curls into nice waves framing my face. Using a decorative bobby pin, I pulled my bangs away from my face. Exiting our room after putting on my tennis bracelet-a birthday gift from my Gran a couple of years ago- I looked at the clock on the stove. It was four fifty. I had ten minutes to spare. Slipping on my heels, I went through my wallet and took out my ID and credit card. I had assumed that we would be going out and Monty usually kept my cards in his wallet.

The sound of a car pulling into our driveway pulled me from my thoughts. I opened the door when the car door shut. Monty was walking up to the house in a very familiar white dress shirt and black slacks. Damn, he cleans up good. I thought it every time he dressed up, no matter how often I saw it. His eyes widened slightly, and he stopped to take in my look. I stopped him in his tracks. I blushed and did a little twirl. He whistled through his teeth. “You look. Absolutely amazing.”

“You look incredible. Have I ever told you, you clean up really well?”

“Once or twice.” He shrugged. I smiled widely. He finished his walk up to the house and took my hands in his, really taking the time to take me in. “You really do look beautiful Addison.”

“Thank you.” I blushed again. My engagement ring sparkled in the setting sun. Monty’s black tungsten ring felt cool in my hand. Together, we walked to the car. We took my car, but I let him drive. It’s our insurance. “Are you going to tell me where we are going?”

“Nope.” He said as he pulled out of the driveway.

“Okay.” We chatted quietly on the way to our mystery location. Given the time, I assumed we were going to a restaurant. When we got closer to the county limits, I realized we were going into the city for dinner. I watched the cars speeding past us on the highway in the other direction. People were eager to be getting home from spending their days shopping or running errands.

I tried to figure out where we were going once we got to the city based on the turns Monty made. I was familiar with most of the downtown and financial districts due to visiting my dad at work when I was younger. I was a little surprised when he pulled in the parking lot for the new Italian place that opened last month. I wasn’t surprised because I was concerned about cost or anything like that. We just weren’t really fancy restaurant people very often. It was a pleasant surprise.

When he parked, we walked hand in hand to the door. He was a perfect gentleman and held the door not only for me but for the couple behind us. I smiled at him while we waited to be seated. He squeezed my hand. We were seated at a more secluded table, closer to the back of the restaurant. The table was lit by candlelight and dim recessed lighting in the aisle. It’s beautiful. Our waiter came by and introduced himself as Anthony. I ordered a cranberry juice with ice and Monty got a Coke. Anthony gave us a few minutes with the menus. As soon as I saw traditional carbonara on the menu, I had made a firm decision. Monty and I sat in comfortable silence while we perused the menu. Even though I knew what I wanted, it never hurt to look at the other options.

After we ordered-carbonara for me and lobster ravioli for Monty-Anthony left us to our evening. “This is really nice.” I said, after a sip of my juice.

“I figured we deserved nice. Or rather, you deserved nice. After everything… and I know you’ve been stressed about school. So, I figured you could use a night off.” He left the obvious tension between us and the cause for it unsaid. We both knew the reason.

“It’s still nice. And we do deserve it. This dress is beautiful by the way.”

“I thought you would like it.”

“When exactly did you acquire it?” I asked, with a sly raise of my brow.

“About yesterday…” Montgomery began, “Jamie wasn’t having girl troubles.”

“I kind of figured. Have they even decided if they have anything to have troubles over?”

“No. They’re still not together. But they go places together and buy each other things. And have sex. Apparently, there is a lot of sex.”

“But they aren’t dating.”

“No.”

“Maybe he is having girl troubles.”

“Maybe.” He chuckled. Anthony came by with our orders. Unsurprisingly, the food was delicious. Mouth wateringly delicious. My eyes widened in ecstasy. So did Monty’s after he took a bite of his own food. We each shared a bite with each other and smiled. So good. So so good.

We spent the rest of our evening talking and enjoying being with each other. It was very nice. We hadn’t gotten to do the whole going out and just being together thing in a while. I pushed the last of my carbonara around on my plate. I wasn’t bored exactly. I was having a wonderful time. “Hey. Where’d you go?” Monty reached across the table to take my hand.

“Oh. Nowhere. I was just thinking.”

“Penny for your thoughts?”

“This is really nice.” I paused.

“But…?”

“I would honestly much rather be at home in sweatpants watching the new episodes of Law & Order from the other night.”

“Me too.” He giggled. I couldn’t help but giggle along with him. He motioned to our waiter for the bill. The black holder was placed in between us. Monty placed some cash inside and set it down without so much as a glance at me. He helped me with my coat and took my hand after he put on his own. As soon as we got out of the restaurant, I stopped and turned to him.

“Race you to the car.” I grinned before taking off like a bat out of hell. I heard him bark out a laugh behind me. I didn’t look back. Nor did I turn when I heard his footsteps. He wasn’t running because of his knee. They were getting closer though. Even without running, he was able to gain on me because of his gait.  Running in heels was not the easiest thing in the world but I managed to beat him to the car. When he arrived with the keys, I was grinning at him, triumphantly from the passenger’s side. “I won.”

“Yes you did.” He was grinning back at me.

When we got home, the two of us changed into our comfiest sweatpants and t-shirts. I threw on my old Tigers hoodie and popped a bag of popcorn in the microwave after taking off my makeup. Monty pulled up the recorded episodes. I couldn’t tell if he wore his grey sweats on purpose or not. We got comfortable on the couch and hit play. From the get-go this episode of SVU had both of us on the edge of our seats. The popcorn was mostly untouched. I teared up multiple times. When it was over, I ripped the remote from the coffee table and scrolled up to the new episode of Organized Crime. I couldn’t stand to wait any longer than strictly necessary. Our eyes were glued to the screen for the whole hour, minus the fast forwarding through commercials. By the end, we turned to each other in shock. “Wow.” Was all I could say about it.

“The new theme song is pretty great.”

“Yes. I don’t know how to process any other thoughts about it though.”

“Me either.”

“Very worth the wait.” Monty only nodded in response. I yawned and stretched. It was getting pretty late. The afternoon coffee I had wore off a while ago.

“Tired Bookworm?” I yawned again and nodded. Monty carried me to bed and tucked me in. I cuddled up beside him.

Before falling asleep I mumbled, “thank you for tonight. Was really nice. Ni’ night.”

[jaskiersvalley]

just read thru ur whole blog instead of finishing my midterm that i forgot about that was actually due on march 17 and can i just say thank u i don't think i've ever enjoyed hours of procrastination this much 💕💕 (also rip in absolute pieces to the fact i actually have to work on my midterm now)

*Looks at calendar* Well, it only took me a month and a half to get to your ask. I do hope your midterm went okay and you managed to get it finished! While I’m super flattered that your procrastination involved my writing, I’m also feeling a little guilty for distracting you. In honour of the time lost and as thanks for your lovely ask, please have some time related angsty shenanigans.

CW for injury and character death (which is rectified through implication and screwing with time).

Time had a funny way of working. The war was in full swing, Jaskier traipsed after Eskel, writing songs about witchers and their deeds. But Nilfgaard had been gaining ground, there were whispers of a witcher with a child surprise that was taken from him. When winter came again, Jaskier couldn’t go to Oxenfurt, he’d been outed as a spy for the resistance and had a considerable bounty on his head. With nowhere else to go, Eskel offered him sanctuary at Kaer Morhen. He’d been there once or twice before, was familiar with Lambert and Vesemir. They often spoke of another, Geralt of Rivia. Sometimes they were fond, other times they cursed him.

This winter was different. A portal opened up one afternoon and a haggard looking witcher staggered through with a sorceress in tow. They snapped and snarled at each other, obviously tied by destiny against their will.

“Geralt,” Vesemir rose from his seat and looked over the two new arrivals. “What is the meaning of this?”

“Cirilla wants revenge.” Geralt coughed. “She thinks witchers stole her childhood. She wants to obliterate us all.”

There were murmurs from the others and they were all clamouring to get more information. In the end, they settled with some drinks so Geralt and Yennefer could explain. Jaskier listened raptly, sat next to Eskel and looking to him from time to time.

“Cirilla is hellbent on destroying and conquering. Nilfgaard had taken her from us.” Geralt looked utterly world weary. More so than a witcher usually did. Jaskier would know, he’d spent enough time with Eskel to pull him out from a mindset of exhausted self-loathing. It looked like Geralt could do with someone too.

“Yennefer and I were too busy arguing, at odds over where Cirilla would serve best. She wanted Aretuza, I thought Kaer Morhen. Anywhere but Nilfgaard would have been okay. But Cirilla had enough. After one too many arguments, she slipped away one night and went to Nilfgaard, probably to spite us. She now rules with an iron fist and has a thirst for vengeance.”

When Geralt broke off, Yennefer picked up, “There is no winning. She’s collected all manner of allies from rock trolls to dragons. The resistance is dying if not dead already.”

“So you came here to die?” Lambert spat, angry.

“We came here for help,” Geralt corrected sharply. “Yennefer and I weren’t enough. But we found a way that might change the future.”

“What could another witcher do that the White Wolf couldn’t?” Eskel asked.

“Nothing.” It was Yennefer who cut in. “But your bard might be what we need. At every key moment in time that Aretuza had been able to discern before it was obliterated, he was doing something significant. Not enough to change the tide of the war. We think that in a different timeline, where he is the court bard of Cintra, he will be able to influence Cirilla. I can create a time stone, he can pick a moment in time to jump back to and try and change this whole mess. The key objective is to ensure Cirilla likes witchers and sorceresses.”

If anybody had asked Jaskier, he would have called bullshit on the whole thing.

“We’ve seen how he worked wonders with witchers in the public, his songs about the Scarred Wolf and his deeds are sung across the Continent.” Yennefer finished. “I will make the stone and have it ready for tomorrow afternoon. So I will ask that we have a decent meal this evening as it shall be my last.”

Silence filled the room before Vesemir nodded. There was no other choice. Contracts were thin on the ground, people were turning against witchers once again and it seemed that Nilfgaard was coming to Kaer Morhen. That night, they ate and drank as much as they could, knowing that it would be their last.

Yennefer retired to a room. There was no fond farewell between her and Geralt but a slight grudging respect. That night, the witchers stayed up late, staring silently into the dying fire, making peace with their lot.

By morning, Nilfgaard was advancing on the keep, humans and monsters alike bore down the path.

“We’ll need to get Jaskier to the eastern clearing,” Geralt said. “Nothing else matters. Lambert, Eskel, you’ll take flank, Vesemir, you’re rear and I’ll take point. No matter what, we get the bard to the clearing with the stone.”

Everything was left behind in the keep, nothing to weigh them down, not like they were going to have anywhere to go from the clearing anyway. It was a dead end and no escape. In a way, it was brave of them to assume they would make it as far.

When Geralt left to retrieve the stone, he looked grim. It was in a bag, glowing red through the material.

“It’s all of Yennefer’s chaos and time granted to her. Don’t waste it.” Geralt shoved it at Jaskier. “We need to move out. Now.”

There was nothing left to do but go. As agreed, Jaskier was in the middle, hemmed in by four witchers. They started off at a light run, determined to get as much distance covered as possible before Nilfgaard caught up.

It started with small attacks. Forktails and dragons trying to pick them off. At least their swords and signs could fend against the worst, even if Lambert cursed at the burns that ended up covering his arms when caught by surprise from the side.

The creatures were gaining on them, while the witchers could pick up speed, Jaskier was a human and had much more severe limits. He panted and gasped even as Eskel tried to urge him on.

“Keep going we’re almo-” His words were cut off with a grunt as a leshen stepped out from the trees, caught him in his midriff and sent him crashing through the woods. Jaskier turned in time to watch a pack of werewolves jump at him, tearing him apart without mercy.

It was a lot harder to run when tears were blurring his eyes. Almost thirty years by Eskel’s side and this was the unfitting end. Jaskier wanted to stop and cry but Geralt was moving on while Lambert and Vesemir took posts just behind and to the side, completing a triangle.

The clearing wasn’t too far now, it couldn’t be. To Jaskier it had felt like they’d been running for hours. From ahead, there was the whistle of arrows and he ran harder. A thump from behind and Jaskier turned, letting out a strangled gasp.

“Don’t turn around. Keep going.” Lambert snarled as he took rear post, Vesemir lost behind them with arrows riddling his body.

Up ahead, Jaskier could see the clearing and he pushed harder, knowing that some kind of rune circle would help him with the time stone. Someone grabbed him from behind and all but threw him into the clearing. He landed with a pained cry and watched just in time for a dragon to snatch Lambert while another attacked Geralt.

“Jaskier!” Geralt yelled. He was on the ground, blood coating half his face, matting his hair. “The stone. You have to!”

With trembling hands, Jaskier pulled the stone out. He could see Lambert’s broken body not far from Geralt and he sobbed. All he had to do was think of Cintra and then he’d be pulled back in time to the point where he could fix things. Because this wasn’t the end he’d hoped for, neither for himself, nor his witchers. The whole continent was a ghastly, tyrannical place. Soon there wouldn’t be anywhere that was free of Nilfgaardian brutality and oppression.

“Please,” Geralt begged and Jaskier looked him in the eyes, watched as he lay there, not even trying to evade the soldier who raised his sword. Squeezing his eyes shut, Jaskier still heard the sound the blow made. He didn’t want this. Clutching at the time stone, he wished and wished hard.

The world shifted around him, years fell away, aches and pains along with old injuries disappeared. Jaskier opened his eyes mid song, in a tavern. He was eighteen again, a whole life ahead of him. It wasn’t Cintra, that was for sure. Some backwater settlement on the edge of the continent. Looking around while singing, he tried to figure out what he was doing in such a shithole. As he spun, he spotted a figure in the corner, alone and brooding. White hair, armour, nobody going near him. He’d recognise Geralt anywhere. Finishing his song and being pelted by bread, Jaskier took a breath. If this was his mission, he’d accept it. Eskel had been a wonderful travel companion but time obviously thought he was the wrong witcher if they wanted to survive Nilfgaard’s attempts. Jaskier took a deep breath, thinking “well then”, it was time to make things right.

[flipomatic]

A New World Chapter 14: Blending

First Chapter Previous Chapter 

________________________________________________

Sayo was working in her room on a new composition, as she often did these days. What had changed was the purpose of her creation.

Unlike her usual compositions, Sayo wasn’t writing this one for homework. Instead, it was for a more personal reason.

It started when she wanted to branch out from what they were working on for school. While she had improved at conveying emotion through her compositions, she wondered if she could do even better. The pieces she composed for school were good, but in the end the motivation behind them had just been for a grade.

They weren’t genuine and there was still something missing. At least, Sayo felt like there was. So, she sat down to try and compose, to create from her heart.

As expected, it was proving to be quite difficult.

At first Sayo strummed aimlessly on her guitar, seeking a melody or strong chord progression. That wasn’t really working; nothing she played felt right. She felt aimless, like she wasn’t making any progress.

Perhaps she needed some inspiration, something to base her music on. Most of Roselia’s music was composed that way. Yukina created lyrics to represent the band and Rinko built melodies around them.

Thinking of the band sent a wave of irritation through Sayo, causing her to frown. She’d been trying and failing to put their behavior out of her mind. Her bandmates, particularly Yukina and Lisa, had been insufferable lately.

They had been dancing around their feelings since before Sayo met them, but recently it started to impact practice. Just recently Yukina had been too distracted to sing properly, so Sayo decided to help her out.

Of course, Yukina blew off her advice. Sayo wasn’t sure why she bothered.

Lisa too had been acting strangely. Sayo had never known her to date or do anything other than what was best for the band. It was clearly hurting Yukina; Sayo didn’t understand how Lisa couldn’t see it.

The two of them really needed to talk through their feelings.

The notes from Sayo’s guitar had strayed low, creating a darker sound. She stopped playing and shook her head, this wasn’t the kind of song she wanted to compose.

Sayo refocused and searched for a new train of thought, something happier. Her hands shifted to a lighter sound as she thought about her other friends, Tsugumi in particular.

She had visited the Hazawa café last week and spent some time talking to Tsugumi. After some light banter about how they rarely saw each other these days, Sayo had promised to hang out sometime. She wasn’t sure when that would be, but she would make sure it happened.

Sometimes there was music playing in the café, loud enough to be heard but soft enough to not disturb the guests. Typically it was songs from the 80’s or 90’s, ones Sayo wasn’t familiar with. She didn’t usually listen to it, but she still noticed it.

It suited the café well, but perhaps other music could work too.

Sayo wondered, if the café was a location in a video game, what kind of music would play there? Perhaps that would be something worth composing.

Her hands played a light melodic line, already way ahead of her thought process. The café would have a peaceful song, something that lifted the heart. That’s how Sayo felt when she went there.

She continued to play, molding the melody to match that image. It took a while, but slowly she developed a tune. The more she played it, the surer she was in the melodic line.

Sayo played it through a few times and tweaked the notes, smiling as she pictured the café in her mind.

She went to her computer, which was already open at her desk, to write down the melody in the composition software. Once all the notes were in, she stepped away to keep playing.

Sayo kept working on the song for the next couple hours, adding a lead in chord progression and refining the tune. This topic proved to be strong inspiration for her.

After putting the final touches on the composition, Sayo decided to record it so she could listen to it. She set up her phone on her desk, turned the amp up, and hit record.

As Sayo played, glancing at the sheet music for reference, she imbued the performance with as much light as she could. She played it enthusiastically and with certainty.

When she finished, Sayo immediately clicked the recording to listen. She closed her eyes as the music played from the phone speaker. The café appeared in her mind as she listened, with Tsugumi in the center of it. She smiled brightly in the image, matching the mood of the music.

The composition still wasn’t perfect, of course, but it accomplished what Sayo set out to do.

As the song finished, Sayo couldn’t help but smile. She emailed a copy of the video to herself so she could save it with the sheet music.

As she dragged the file into the folder, she wondered if she should do more with it. Sayo hadn’t wanted to share her previous compositions with anyone, but this one was different. Should she send it to Tsugumi?

Immediately, that thought warmed Sayo’s cheeks. That would be far too embarrassing, she could never do it. What if Tsugumi didn’t like it, or thought Sayo was overstepping by making it. Even if she did like it, the thought of letting her hear it sent butterflies fluttering in Sayo’s stomach. She wasn’t sure why, since she was happy with how the song turned out.

It didn’t really make sense, but her hesitation was firm and off-putting.

No, she shouldn’t share it.

Despite that thought, Sayo opened the video in an editing program. She exported the video as an MP3 and emailed it back to her phone.

Just in case.

_______________________________________________________

With two whole hours available until band practice, Sayo had no doubts about what she wanted to do with her time.

She hadn’t been to the Hazawa café in two weeks now, as she’d been bogged down with even more schoolwork than the first half of the semester. Sayo still spent some time texting Tsugumi, mostly catching up and chatting casually, but it wasn’t the same as seeing her.

The guitar recording on Sayo’s phone lived in the back of her mind since she recorded it. She almost texted it to Tsugumi during the week, almost hit the button to send it to her. She stopped herself. In the end she deleted it from the message, still not sure if she really wanted to share it.

It hung over her as she entered the café. Tsugumi greeted her with an enthusiastic wave, but she didn’t have time to chat. It was busy today, with most of the tables occupied. Tsugumi was moving from table to table, completely composed despite how many customers there were.

Sayo took a seat at one of the few empty tables. She leaned her guitar on the table and took out one of her composition theory books while she waited; she wasn’t in a hurry. Sayo read slowly, half watching Tsugumi move in her peripheral vision.

“Hi Sayo-san!” Tsugumi stopped by her table, wearing her usual apron and bright smile. “What would you like today?”

“Good afternoon.” Sayo closed her book as she replied. “Just a cup of black tea, please.” It would be a good choice for drinking slowly.

“You got it!”

Tsugumi vanished back to the kitchen, returning a moment later with a cup, pot of hot water, and selection of tea bags on a tray. She set it down on the table, before Sayo selected one and started to make her tea.

“It’s busy here today.” Sayo commented as she poured the hot water.

Tsugumi nodded, leaving the tray on the table for a minute. “It’s been like this all week.” She was still smiling, beaming at the bustling café. “I’ve been trying different types of advertising.”

Oh, Sayo did remember seeing an advertisement for the café online recently. She hadn’t realized that Tsugumi was the one creating them. “It’s definitely working. You’re doing a great job.”

Sayo hardly believed it possible, but Tsugumi’s smile somehow grew larger. “Thank you!” Perhaps Sayo’s point of view was biased, but Tsugumi almost seemed to glow. Her eyes practically sparkled. Sayo’s heart didn’t usually beat this fast, or if did she didn’t notice it. She felt an impulse to do something, say something, but she wasn’t sure what.

Then, as quickly as the moment came, it passed. Tsugumi’s attention was snagged by another patron, pulling her to the other side of the café.

Sayo took a deep breath to center herself, going back to her book. She finished steeping her tea as she read, then drank it slowly.

For a while, Sayo stayed at the café. She exchanged words occasionally with Tsugumi when the teen had a few moments free. Tsugumi shared that she’d been working on advertising for the last couple months, starting with local newspapers. It wasn’t until she went with targeted ads online that she saw these levels of success.

It was a good idea; Sayo wondered if they could sell Roselia cd’s that way too. She’d run it by Yukina later.

After an hour had passed, the crowd in the café started to thin out. It was getting later in the afternoon, farther away from the typical teatime and closer to dinner. Sayo had about half an hour until she needed to leave, so she could be early to practice.

“How’s Roselia been doing?” Tsugumi had more time to talk with less patrons in the café. She was standing near Sayo’s table, turned so that she could keep an eye on the other tables.

Sayo decided to focus on the whole band in her answer, instead of her frustrations with her bandmates. “Not bad. We’ve been trying to practice more often; it’s been hard since midterms.” It was hard before then too, but Sayo didn’t mention that.

“I can imagine.” Tsugumi was frowning slightly. Sayo wondered what she was thinking about.

“I’m headed there next.” Sayo replied, gesturing to where her guitar still leaned on the table.

Tsugumi glanced at it, then back at Sayo. The corner of her lips lifted as she spoke. “Do you have any performances coming up? I’d love to come watch!”

Now Sayo was the one frowning. The band hadn’t performed all semester, with all of their classes and schedule conflicts it hadn’t worked out. It left an uneasy feeling in her gut. “There’s nothing planned right now, but I’ll let you know.”

“I’ll look forward to it!”

The bell on the door signaled the entrance of another customer, drawing Tsugumi away. Sayo watched her go, shaking off her feelings from the prior conversation.

She had to leave soon, to be early enough to band practice. There was one section she needed to practice ahead of time. Sayo probably had time to share a few more words with Tsugumi before she left.

Sayo remembered the composition, that she had loaded onto her phone. As she watched Tsugumi interact with the new customer, she again wondered if she should share it with her.

Hadn’t it been written for the café? Didn’t she write it with Tsugumi in mind? If she was going to get better at compositions, she needed to be more comfortable with sharing her creations.

With Tsugumi here, less than ten meters away, it was easier for Sayo to make a decision.

When Tsugumi returned, after bringing a pastry and drink to the other customer, Sayo pulled her phone out. “I’ve been working on a new composition; would you like to hear it?” She asked, giving Tsugumi the chance to say no.

Sayo knew that Tsugumi wasn’t the kind of person who would do that. “Of course.”

Sayo opened her texts with Tsugumi and selected the song to send it. “I wrote it with the café in mind.” She said as she hit the send button, letting the composition leave her sole control.

“That’s great, I’ll listen to it after my shift.” Tsugumi tapped her pocket, where her phone had just buzzed.

“Thank you.” Sayo wasn’t sure why she was thanking her, to settle her nerves perhaps. She put her phone away and took out her wallet. It was time to get going.

After paying, Sayo exchanged a goodbye with Tsugumi and left the café. She went to practice, trying not to worry about what Tsugumi thought of her composition.

It wasn’t until later, in the middle of practice, that she found out.

Right in the middle of Neo Aspect, Sayo’s phone buzzed multiple times in a row. Her heart rate spiked as it did, but she stayed composed and finished the song before checking it. She ignored the way Yukina’s eyes narrowed as she pulled her phone out. As expected, the texts were from Tsugumi.

“The song is amazing!” A few heart emojis followed the message. “Sayo-san I love it!” Another text had immediately followed. “It matches the café perfectly!” There was a minute long gap before the fourth message. “Sorry about sending multiple messages, I got way too excited. I really like it, thank you for sharing it with me!” Sayo felt warm as she read through the messages, trying not to let it show on her face.

Sayo typed back quickly, before Yukina could murder her with her eyes. “I appreciate you listening to it. Thank you for your feedback.” Not a great text, but it was the best she could manage at the moment.

In the end, Sayo was glad she decided to share it.

___________________________________________________________

One week later, Sayo found herself back at the Hazawa café. She wanted to come more often, so she did. She still needed to plan hangout time with Tsugumi.

It was busy again today, even busier than last time. Tsugumi still found time to talk with Sayo though, even if they were just short exchanges.

When there was a lull in how busy it was, they had a longer time to talk.

“About your composition from last week.” Tsugumi’s cheeks carried a pink tint as she made eye contact with Sayo. “I couldn’t stop listening to it.”

“Oh.” Sayo blinked a few times, struggling to process that information.

“The more I listened to it, the more I thought, well…” Tsugumi seemed to be struggling to find the right words. She pulled out her phone, tapping on it a few times. Sayo’s phone buzzed in her pocket.

Sayo furrowed her eyebrows as she pulled out her phone, seeing that Tsugumi had sent her a message. When she opened it, she saw that there was an audio file attached. She glanced back up at Tsugumi, asking a question with just her eyes.

“I thought, it would just be perfect with the piano.” Tsugumi said, her cheeks shifting from pink to red. She looked cute like this, though honestly Sayo thought she always did. Sayo didn’t really understand what she meant by what she just said. “Please listen.”

That would be the easiest way to find out. Sayo pulled her earbuds out of her pocket and plugged them into her phone, placing them in her ears.

Then she hit play.

The start of the song was the same as Sayo remembered it. The guitar played a familiar chord progression, the start of Sayo’s most recent composition.

After a few seconds, a piano joined in. It started low, playing beneath the chords, before coming up and blending with the melody. Sayo’s eyes widened as she listened, hardly breathing as the music washed over her. It had still needed work before, but now it felt perfect.

In the corner of her eye she could see that Tsugumi had her hands together, watching with worried eyes as Sayo listened.

The song was short, and before Sayo could so much as think it was over. She looked up from her phone at Tsugumi, who seemed to be holding her breath.

“I love it.” Sayo said without hesitation. Tsugumi exhaled in relief, a smile returning to her lips. “You wrote this?” It had only been a week, and Tsugumi had somehow composed the piano part and added it to the recording. Sayo couldn’t help but be impressed.

Tsugumi nodded, finally allowing her hands to fall apart. “I couldn’t get it out of my mind.”

Sayo hit the button to play it again, listening even more closely to the way the piano part complimented the guitar. “It’s wonderful.” She wished she had better words to describe the way it made her feel, receiving the song like this, Tsugumi adding to her creation like this. Her heart was pounding again.

Even though that hadn’t been what Sayo intended, they made this together.

“I was wondering,” Tsugumi sounded nervous again. “Do you think I could use it in my advertisements?” She still looked right at Sayo, determination evident in her gaze.

Oh, that was a good idea. A good piece of music made a big difference in advertisements, and it would help bring more patrons to the café. This song would work especially well, since it represented the image of the café. It represented Tsugumi, her strength, her warmth, and her kindness.

As Sayo’s eyes were locked with Tsugumi’s, that feeling she had before, that she wanted to do or say something, was back again. Perhaps Sayo was starting to understand it.

“Please do.”

Next Chapter

[kookiesjhope]

Our Song I (kth)

Pairing: Kim Taehyung/Reader

Genre/au: songwriter!au, college!au, y/n has lil bit of anger issues, cutie tae, cheeky tae, songwriter!taehyung, professor!yoongi, bandmate!jin and bandmate!jungkook, roommate!jimin and roommate!jungkook, some namjin, also some sope

Tags: fluff, angst, e2l ig

Words: 3.7K

a/n: i wrote this years ago on wattpad and thought about ‘re-touching’ it in a different way and changing the characters ig haha. idk if i should continue it tho

Summary: You were a music major college student and part of an infamous local band. You were running late to a class when someone bumps into you and knocks all your stuff down. Little did you know that that encounter would change your life forever.

I look at my watch, five minutes, that's all I have. I start running up the stairs, my jacket still on, my backpack hanging from one of my shoulders. I start to regret my decision to wear combat boots today, they're heavy as hell and don't help me go any faster. When I make it to the fourth floor, I have to stop to catch my breath. Fuck, I'm so outta shape. I take a mental note to start working out more often. I glance at my watch, three minutes, damn it.

I run down the hall and turn to the right... "Watch ou-" I start to say but it's too late, he slams straight into me sending all my music sheets flying across the floor.

"I'm sorry, I didn't-" he starts to apologize, looking up from his phone.

"You dumbass!" I yell at him as I drop my backpack to the floor and get down to gather my sheets. "I don't know why people have to text and walk at the same time."

"Look, I said I was sorry," he says as he bends down to help me. I get up and sigh. Great, now I'm really late.

"Here." He hands me two more sheets. I yank them angrily from him. I begin to organize my sheets as I start walking away.

"Miss, you might want this too!" I turn around and notice he's holding my backpack. He comes closer and I look up at his face for the first time finding a deep brown hue staring down at me. I stop for a second, feeling a shiver go down my spine as they remind me of... nevermind.

"Thanks." I try to say as kindly as possible as I grab my bag and place it on my shoulder, rolling my eyes at his stupid cheeky smile. I turn on my heels and start running down the hall, those brown eyes still fresh at the back of my mind.

++++

As I enter the room I see the professor sitting next to the piano looking at some music sheets. His messy black hair peeking above the papers. He puts the sheets down and looks at me as I step closer. He's wearing his usual black sweater, hiding all skin up until his fingers. He's young, much younger than any other professor I've had here. Apparently he's some sort of musical writing genius and got admitted to the Korea School of Arts when he was only 16 years old. Rumor has it, that he has already written and produced numerous songs for various famous artists. He looks as if he's just another college student and I think that's why he's so strict and serious, otherwise no one will take him seriously.

"Miss Y/L/N," he says taking a look at his watch then looking at me with his eyebrows raised, "You're late."

"I know, but I can explain." I look at him with pleading eyes. I'm already screwed, but I have to at least try.

"I've been very clear about my rules." He crosses his arms in front of his chest, I can't help but stare at his long fingers. "You should know by now that tardiness is unacceptable with me."

"But, it wasn't my fault! I was running down the hall and this guy-" "If you were running down the hall, that means you were already late." He arches one of his eyebrows.

"I was going to make it on time, I swear, but this... stupid guy... he was texting and he didn't see me and my sheets went flying everywhere and..." I act the whole thing out but he just sits there staring at me with a blank face and I sigh defeated.

"Your story is quite amusing, but rules are rules. I don't make any exceptions."

"Professor Min..."

I stare at him in silence, this is it, I'm going to lose my scholarship. I might as well say goodby to my degree right now. There's absolutely no way I can afford this on my own. I already have my share of student loans and my mom, well, she already helps me enough. I feel my eyes sting and I look up, holding back the tears. I've worked so hard for this, it's not fair. He can't do this to me.

"This is so unfair." My voice cracks. For fucks sake, do not cry in front of him.

"Life isn't fair, y/n." He grabs back the music sheets he had been reading before.

I hate him. I swear I hate him as much as I hate the guy on the hall with the haunting brown eyes.

"Yeah, believe me, I know..." I turn around and walk towards the door. What does he know about life not being fair? He's 24 and he's a college professor with a successful songwriting career and he's telling me that life isn't fair? Who the hell does he think he is?! I was raised in a shitty neighborhood by a single mother who had to work her ass off to support me, I know very well how unfair life can be.

I step out of the room and lean against the wall. I let the tears fall down as I slide down and sit on the floor. This is my third year here and I've worked so fucking hard to keep my grades up so I won't lose my scholarship. I spent long hours on this songwriting assignment and it was the midterm grade. There's no way I'll pass this class now. I have to figure something out. I refuse to give up just because some professor won't give me a chance.

I'm walking down the hall when I hear someone talking in the distance.

"No, mom, I'm alright. Everything's fine, I just miss you."

I immediately recognize the deep voice. I feel anger starting to boil inside me. I want to run up to him and punch him or kick him in the balls or something. I hear his voice getting louder as I continue walking. He's sitting on the floor, talking on the phone smiling; his long legs bent in front of him. I notice he's wearing some weird leather slip-on shoes, who the fuck wears that?! I'm in front of him, tapping my foot angrily, arms crossed, nose flaring, eyebrows arched. He slowly looks up at me and his eyes widen.

"Mom, I'll call you right back. I love you." He stands up and my eyes follow suit, craning my neck upwards. He opens his mouth, but I just shove my music sheets at him angrily.

"Thanks for nothing." He looks at me confused and I just turn around and keep walking towards the stairs. I can hear the sound of his light footsteps behind me. I walk faster.

"Hey! Wait!"

I stop at the top of the staircase and hold up my hand.

"Please stop!" I say angrily without even turning to face him. I can hear him slightly gasp, but the sound of his footsteps stop.

"Don't you want your sheets?"

I sigh and look up to the ceiling. "Keep them... I don't think I'll be needing them anymore." I walk down the stairs without looking back.

++++

I close the door behind me as I enter the apartment. I take off my jacket, my backpack, and leave my boots at the door. I sit on the sofa next to my roommate who's sitting there watching TV.

"Hey, how did it go?" he turns to look at me. I don't answer, instead I just stare at the TV in front of me and sigh heavily. "Damn, okay... Do you want a beer?" He offers getting up. I nod as he walks towards the kitchen.

Park Jimin is my best friend. He knows me better than anyone, probably better than my own mother. He and I grew up together and we're basically like family. When we both go accepted into college, our families helped us look for an apartment off campus so we could live together and wouldn't feel so homesick. We have another roommate whom we went to school with back home, Jeon Jungkook. Between a little help from our three families, our scholarships, student loans, and part-time jobs, we manage to pay the rent and all the other expenses. The three of us and our friend, Kim Seokjin, have a band that we started back in high school and we do small gigs every Friday at a local bar near campus. Sometimes we get an extra gig on Saturdays. We don't get paid much, but it helps.

I hear Jimin humming some tune while getting the beers, unlike me, he's always in a good mood. I place my feet up on the sofa to get comfortable.

"Two beers coming up!" Jimin comes into the living room, two beer bottles in one hand, a bag of chips, salsa on the other hand, and a big smiles plastered on his face. “Thought you might be hungry too.” He winks at me and puts the bag and the salsa jar down on the coffee table.

“Thanks babe.” He sits down beside be and I rest my legs on his lap.

“So... do you want to tell me what happened?” He says softly without looking at me. His hands slowly picking at my toes.

He listens intently as I tell him about my collision in the hall and what happened with the professor. His eyes never stop looking at my face and my every movement. Always so attentive, looking at me with those soft eyes.

“Well I don’t know, but that professor sounds like an asshole to me.” He shrugs his shoulder and takes a bite on another chip, his brows furrowed. “I mean... you weren’t even that late and it wasn’t your fault.”

“I know, but he said there’s no exceptions.” I try to imitate Professor Mins voice and Jimin starts laughing at my failed attempt so I punch him in the arm.

“Ow! That hurt.” He rubs his arm up and down. I know he’s just messing around with me so I roll my eyes at his stupidity.

“So when I came out of the class room, I ran into that dorky guy again.” I grab some chips from the bag.

“Did you punch him?” He opens his eyes wide as he takes a huge gulp from his beer. He’s always such a gossip.

“No,” I laugh. “I felt like it thought.” I admit with a smirk. “I did throw my music sheets at him and walked away.”

“You what?!” He runs a hand through his hair and looks at me. Shit, I can tell he’s mad at me. “Y/N are you insane? That’s your music. Please tell me he gave it back.” He says very seriously, that’s when I know he’s really mad at me. His soft gaze no longer in sight.

"I-" I look down avoiding his gaze and scratch the back of my neck nervously. Now I really regret what I did.

"No... He tried to give them back, didn't he?" I nod. "But you were so pissed that you didn't accept them." He's clearly annoyed. I just look at him and he knows the answer, he knows me too damn well.

"I know, Jimin, I'm an idiot. You know I don't think straight when I'm mad. Now this guy I don't even know has my music and I have no fucking grade on a midterm assignment which means I'm going to lose my scholarship." I feel the frustration building up again, tears threatening to come out any second now.

"Hey..." Jimin moves closer to me and grabs my hands. My gaze immediately goes to the touch. "Don't say that. You're not an idiot." He cups my face with his left hand and strokes my cheek with his thumb.

"I sure feel like it though." I close my eyes and sigh.

"No, you're a fighter, y/n. Don't give up this easily." He grabs my face between his hands, his soft gaze focused on mine. I nod and try to calm down, but the tears just keep coming down."Listen to me, you're going to talk to the Dean tomorrow. I'm sure they'll give you a chance." He wipes away some of my tears and lowers his head to mine. "For God's sake y/n, you're one of the best students in your department.”

He's right. I should talk to the Dean tomorrow, I'm sure he'll be on my side. Why didn't I think of that? This is why I love Jimin so much. He always knows what to do. I don't know what I would do without him...I nod and wipe away my tears. I move to sit on his lap and give him a tight hug. "You're the best, Jimin..." I kiss him on the cheek before I get up to go to my bedroom. I'm in a much better mood now.

++++

"Jimin! Come read this!" I scream from my bedroom and I hear his light footsteps get louder as he enters my room. He sits next to me, resting his head on the headboard. He takes my laptop and stares at me with his eyes wide. "Well... read it, dummy." I shove him slightly.

"Dear Miss Y/L/N, I hope this email finds you well. After some consideration, I've decided to give you a second opportunity to present your assignment. Please be at my classroom tomorrow at 10:00 AM SHARP. This will be your last chance, so please don't be late again. Regards, Prof. Min." Jimin looks at me, his eyes beaming with excitement.

"I know, I still can't believe it. I wonder what made him change his mind." I shrug.

"Maybe he's not an asshole after all? Or maybe he thought you were hot." He moves his eyebrows up and down.

"Seriously?" I arch one of my eyebrows.

"Why not? I mean, you're hot I guess." He puts his arm around my shoulder and kisses my cheek.

"I guess?" I lean away from him. He's looking at me some sort of way, I don't know how to describe it. I've never seen Jimin as more than just a friend, but the way he was looking at me made my stomach jump a little. I shake my thoughts out of my head and roll my eyes. "Go back to your room, Jimin."

++++

"Miss Y/L/N, nice to see you on time." I try not to roll my eyes at this. Professor Min is wearing his usual black attire, but his hair seems messier, almost as if he just woke up. He's not the kind of guy I would find attractive, but shit he looks really good today.

"Yeah, well, thanks for giving me this opportunity. I really, really appreciate it..."

"Well, you should probably thank Kim Taehyung, he's the one that convinced me to do this." Professor Min shyly smiles at me.

"Kim Taehyung?" Who the hell is that?

"Yeah, the guy you gave this to." He hands me some music sheets. My eyes immediately widen, they're my music sheets, mine. But how did this person know who to give my sheets to? This is all kind of odd.

"H-How-" I start to ask, but I get cut off.

"Taehyung's an old friend of mine, I helped him get an exchange. Anyway, he told me the whole story, which, of course, I had already heard from you." He points at me and I just nod. He shakes his head. "I have to say, the poor guy felt really bad for you. Then he showed me those and I just couldn't say no."

"Thanks I guess..." I slightly blush at his subtle compliment about my song. I guess this Taehyung person is not such a dumbass after all.

"Tell me, what was the inspiration for this song?" He rubs his chin.

"A friend," I say plainly.

"A friend? Interesting. Must be a very special friend then as you clearly have strong feelings for this person."

"Yeah, he's my best friend." I start to feel a little uncomfortable. I don't like talking about my personal life, especially with a professor.

"Fair enough." He starts scanning my music sheets again. "You seem to be very passionate when you play, and that's good, but you must be very careful with that. You don't want to rewrite your song each time you play it." I nod. "Overall it's a good song. Now, the lyrics on the other hand..." He gestures with his hand as if to say they were so-so. "They're not too bad, but I know you could do a lot better." He looks at me and offers a sweet smile, I smile back. "I'll be posting the grades on Monday." He gets up and opens the door for me to walk out."Oh, and another thing." I turn around to face him. "Never lose that passion." He smiles at me.

"I won't." I smile back.

++++

“Ok, guys, let’s do this shit!” We break free from our group hug and walk towards the stage. We are playing a gig tonight and the place is packed with students celebrating that midterms are over. I’m a little bit nervous to have such a big crowd.

We get on stage. Jimin, Seokjin and I plug in our instruments while Jungkook warms up with the drums. I turn around to face the crowd. I see a lot of new faces mixed within the regular crowd. I know this is going to be fucking awesome.

We play our usual set and when I’m doing a piano solo I notice a tall figure standing close to the stage. I look at him and find his haunting brown eyes staring straight at me. I quickly look away but I can feel his intense stare still fixed on me. I can feel my heart start beating faster. Those eyes give me the chills.

When the song is over, the boys are already on the stage. Jimin hands me a beer and furrows his brow.

“You alright?” He pulls the strap of his guitar over his head.

I gulp down half of the beer while I nod. I grab my guitar and Jimin just stares down at me, worried as I gulped down the other half of the beer.

“I’m fine, JImin...”

We play for the next half hour. I try to avoid looking at him, but he’s there every time I look at the audience. Not only is he tall enough to stand out, the clothes he’s wearing make him stand out even more. He even smiles at me a few times. I can’t bring myself to smile back; I’m too disturbed by his damn eyes.

Once we were done, we all head for the bar. Jimin tries to get the bartender’s attention while Jungkook goes to grab a table for us. Seokjin goes directly to his boyfriend and I’m left standing alone waiting for Jimin. I feel someone tap my shoulder, so I turn around.

“Hi.” He gives me a big boxy smile.

“Hey.“ I force myself to smile back. I try not to look him in the eyes, which is not that difficult because he’s probably like 7 inches taller than me. Instead I focus on his chest, which grabs my attention. His shirt is unbuttoned almost half way and I can see his chiseled chest, his necklace mixing perfectly with his lightly tanned skin. My mouth waters a bit, but I stop my thoughts as I finally look up at him, those dark brown eyes slightly more beautiful than last time I looked at him.

“Sorry about yesterday. I talked to Yoongi and-”

“You don’t need to apologize... Thanks, by the way, that was really nice of you. I’m the one who should be apologizing for being a bitch about it.” I quickly say and he smiles again. Damn it, he smiles a lot.

“You’re welcome...” He looks like he’s going to say something else, but he’s interrupted.

“Finally! I got the alcohol, y/n!” Jimin screams. He’s holding a bucket full of beers. He looks down at me then at Taehyung, and then looks at me again arching one of his eyebrows.

“I’m Kim Taehyung.” He extends his hand politely.

“I’m Park Jimin, nice to meet you.” Jimin shakes Taehyung’s hand, he then puts his arm around my shoulder and pulls me closer to him. “Hey, thanks for helping y/n out with that ass-” I nudge him on the ribs, “...assignment.” Jimin looks at me and mouths ‘What?’ and I just roll my eyes.

“No problem.” Taehyung laughs. “Your band is awesome by the way.” He smiles, again. “Do you only do covers?” He looks at me now.

“Yeah... We’re a cover band,” I say dryly and look down at my feet.

There’s a slight awkward pause until Jimin giggles. “Hey man, you’re welcome to join us for some beers. We’re sitting right over there.” Jimin points to the table where Seokjin and his boyfriend, Namjoon, are sitting. I look at Jimin and open my eyes wide. What the hell is he doing? I swear I’m going to kill him.

“It’s okay. I’m with some friends, but thanks anyway.” I let out and internal sigh of relief. Taehyung looks at me with a smirk on his face. He steps closer to me, placing his hand on my lower back. I can feel his hot breath on my neck as he closes in on me. “Nice to see you again, y/n.” He whispers on my ear and pulls away. I have never felt this kind of adrenaline. I just nod and he walks away.

Jimin looks at me with eyes wide as we sit down on the table. “What?! He looks nice and he’s got a cool smile.” Jimin imitates Taehyung’s smile, his eyes disappearing. I roll my eyes at him and grab a beer.

“Well, I don’t like him.” Jimin looks at me furrowing his brow.

“I don’t know.” I shrug my shoulders. As I think about it, the only thing that slightly creeps me out about Taehyung are his eyes. “I just don’t.” I look across the tabke just to find the familiar pair of brown eyes staring back at me from a table nearby. He’s sitting with Prof. Min, a very happy skinny guy with extremely black hair, and a girl. I quickly look away and focus on Jungkook who’s saying something about our number of followers on twitter, but Taehyung’s brown gaze keeps haunting me from a distance.

[tango-uniformed]

Attica! Attica!

This sucks but I like Attica as a neurotic republican politician. Idk how to write Leon being mute or whatever I just gave him a stutter bc...communication. Also I dearly wanted Serena to have a solid place in the cast so I was like, what the hell, she can be on Attica’s staff. Idk if she should have an important position like campaign manager or something but rn she’s just an assistant. Also since this is Attica’s POV Serena is less funny and Leon is idk more caring than he actually is bc she perceives them that way (Serena is actually funny and Leon is actually a dick)

Its funny because I’m pretty sure Attica is going to be the “good guy” on the protagonists side and help them and Milo is going to end up being a terrifying source of trouble for everyone. Also I was like ok and rolled the ethnicity dice and was like the Kings can be Chinese and the surname King was changed by their grandfather from Qing when their family really started grabbing power, and then was like ok Serena’s adopted but she’s of Iranian origin (guess that means Danny is too)

$$$$$

Attica King averaged 4 hours of sleep a night. And that was if she was lucky.

Looking at twitter was giving her heart palpitations, but what was she supposed to do, 5 weeks before the Midterm elections? Her numbers guy said that her district would re-elect her by a large margin-- it was red. It had always been red. It wasn’t like that hippie freak who was running against her had a chance in hell. People in Indiana loved her. People in DC though, where she spent considerably more of her time, hated her guts. The vitriol and fake news that journalists were spewing about her online proved that much.

“I’m gonna kill somebody,” Attica said. It was 7 am. She had already been to the gym, showered, sensibly done her hair and make-up, and put on the kind of suit that said ‘listen to me you dummy’. She brandished her phone at her Chief of Staff. “Do you see what they’re saying about me, Leon? They act like I’m some kind of younger, smarter, Chinese female version of Stalin all because they can’t bully me into voting for their stupid gun regulations. People are out there blowing each other up with their minds! What the fuck am I supposed to do, help get rid of guns and leave every sucker who can’t do magic defenseless?”

Leonard, Attica’s Chief of Staff and younger brother, shrugged helplessly. She liked to think of him as the RFK to her JFK. Without the whole getting shot in the head thing. “G-get off twitter,” he said. He was not partaking in the breakfast that Attica’s assistant picked up for the team. Something about the breakfast pastries and espresso made him bitch about how unhealthy it all was. Leon opted to bring a protein shake instead, which worked out for him. At 6 feet tall and weighing over 200 pounds of muscle, he was often mistaken for her bodyguard if he wasn’t dressed up. He kept his black hair shorn close to his head, which didn’t help either. It made him look like he was the type to rip people apart with his bare hands. “You’re obsessing.”

“Where the fuck is Myers?” she asked. “He’s my communications director. Shouldn’t he be out here, I don’t know, directing? Putting an end to all this fake bullshit.” Attica looked at her phone again, pulling up a particularly offensive tweet. “‘ King is unhinged and desperate, putting the needs of lobbyists in front of the needs of her constituents.’--and this is posted with that terrible picture of me, that unflattering close-up where I had pollen in my eyes so they looked red.” She was gripping her phone so tightly that her knuckles went white. “Now whose fault was that? I didn’t have my eye-drops.”

The only other staff member present, Attica’s personal assistant of 3 years, went bug eyed. This was magnified by her thick lensed glasses. She put up her hands defensively and almost dropped the armful of manila folders she was holding. “That’s not my fault, that picture was from when I took some personal time off.”

“That was when you were vacationing in the mental hospital again and I had to rely on a temp for two weeks and was completely up shit creek without you, Serena, so yes it was completely your fault.”

Serena was in her mid 20’s and pretty in a frazzled, underfed, nerdy way. She had only been hired because she was Iranian or something and Attica had been afraid she looked racist after making some allegedly offensive comments while supporting the President’s drone strikes in the Middle East. As it turned out, Serena was brilliant and had graduated from Notre Dame with a degree in Political Science, an inexplicable Chemistry minor, and a desire to work on the Hill. The only reason Attica hadn’t appointed her to a more important position at this point was due to her unfortunate tendency to eat handfuls of pills whenever life got too stressful.

Attica quickly cycled back to the matter at hand. She poured some coffee, which she knew would only make her keep vibrating. It was her 3rd cup of the day. She felt like a hummingbird. “What am I going to do about these people degrading me online?”

From where he sat on the couch, Leon leaned over to out his face in his hands. Dramatic bitch. “For the last time, remember the first amendment.”

“R-r-remember the f-f-first amendment,” Attica repeated in a high pitched child’s voice, mocking him. She chugged the rest of her coffee and caught Serena staring at her like she had lost her mind. At this rate she was going to going to have a heart attack before she turned 40. “Grandfather would have sent someone after those motherfuckers with a crowbar.”

“G-Grandfather was a monster.”

He was right. But being monstrous was just more effective. Who was that old dead guy who said it was better to be feared than loved? Napoleon?

Attica kept looking at her phone. Too bad people didn’t seem to fear her yet. She could feel the blood pounding in her face. When she was angry, her skin turned very red, blotchy and unattractive. It couldn’t be helped. And what she was reading made her angry. Half of what she was mentioned in was negative. And half of those were violent, threats against her. “Here,” she said, landing on an egregious one. “‘King’s giant tits once again distracting everyone from her cloven hooves lol’. I want this person dragged into the street and shot.”

“Jesus C-Christ, c-c-calm down.” The muscles in Leon’s face tightened. He was gritting his teeth.

“Ma’am, maybe you should put your phone away,” said Serena.

Attica kept reading. “‘The NRA owns King but how would she like it if she got used as target practice’. ‘If I saw (pretend this is an at sign)AtticaKingIN in real life I would punch that bitch in the face.’” She began to breathe faster. Were these people from Indiana? Would they vote? Did they actually hate her? Who were these people? “‘King is part of the GOP gestapo’. ‘(at)AtticaKingIN doesn’t care about gun violence in her own state, vote her out!’ ‘I hate that dumb cunt (at)AtticaKingIN she needs to shut her mouth or suck my dick’. ‘I--”

Leon stood up, snatched Attica’s phone out of her hands, then held it above her head where she couldn’t reach it. Attica punched him in the chest but her brother was a wall of muscle and didn’t seem to feel it.

“Seriously, A, you need to c-calm down,” he told her. Attica punched him again. “I don’t want to know about the threats anyone’s making towards you, it’s upsetting. At 9, that lobbyist who works for Madeline C-Caligaris--”

“Do you want some xanax?” Serena interrupted.

Attica spun around to glare at her. She was aware of how flushed she must look. It was just...she cared so much about what people thought about her. “No,” she said coldly, but breathing heavily. She brushed a strand of hair away from her face. Imagine if Grandfather could see her now. After all, he had wanted Leon to head the family business. Hell, before he died, the old man had even expressed regret for treating their youngest..brother, Milo, like a stray dog. But never her. And Attica had tried so hard for all those years and slaved away just to get his validation… “Do you need a xanax, Serena?”

“I do now,” muttered Serena.

Attica tried to grab her phone one more time, then gave up and sat down.

It wasn’t even 7:15.

She took a deep breath to clear her head. “Ok. Tell me about this lobbyist. Calligaris-- that’s the Proverge exec, right?”

Leon nodded curtly. He put his sister’s phone in his breast pocket and sat down next to her. With a sudden rush of urgency, Attica realized that all he had wanted to do was protect her. How had their roles switched like that? When they were little she constantly made herself torment the kids who picked on him for the way he talked. After 30 years he barely even stuttered anymore. “C-can I get those files from Foster v Proverge, please?” Serena leafed through her armful of papers and presented him with the relevant ones. “Thanks. You read this, A?”

“Let’s work under the assumption that I didn’t.” She had been too busy talking to her numbers guy about the polls the previous night to actually look into anything that would affect her policies.

“Proverge wants to build a factory in your district. Magic distillation for use in their products. 200 new jobs. They c-can’t get approval in Indiana anymore-- they c-can’t get approval from most places these days because of all the lawsuits. People protest.”

Attica rolled her eyes. Liberals. “What lawsuits?”

“From the early 2000’s. Proverge distillation factories in Georgia, Tennessee, and Michigan all attempted to c-cover up widespread negative variant medical symptoms that affected workers who were exposed to thauma-slurry being distilled unsafely.” Leon flipped a few pages of the file. “Mostly c-cosmetic. But there were c-claims that the exposure to the slurry also lead to violent psychological problems and some c-clearly unsafe environmental effects.”

People were so whiny. Attica shrugged. “200 new jobs is more important than a couple honest mistakes the company made. I want to make this happen-- an announcement about job creation could really push my numbers in the polls. If protests become a problem, I’ll just send in the cops to clean them up.” She paused. “Or, I’ll send in Milo.”

Leon looked at her like he was trying to peerinto her soul or something. His broad, honest face was genuinely concerned. What did he see in her face? Did he see the will to do whatever she had to? “He’s g-g-getting worse. You c-can’t keep doing that.”

“The fuck I can.”

“He’s not listening to me anymore.” Leon’s face twisted up. Out of the whole family, he was the only one who treated Milo as more than he was. He allowed their deviant half brother to terrorize everyone as he pleased, just because he felt sorry for the bastard. “He’s go-g-going to screw up.”

The thing about Milo, was that someone had to be holding his leash.

“He’s fine,” Attica said with finality. “Maybe if he fucks up bad enough, he’ll actually learn his lesson.”

Leon stood up, handed her phone back, and walked out of the room without saying another word.

“Are you talking about your creepy little brother again?” asked Serena. She was scurrying around, straightening up the breakfast pastries and exuding her nervous energy. “He makes me uncomfortable.”

Attica massaged her forehead. “Me too,” she said. “Can you get in touch with the Proverge people and make sure they’re on their way?”

“On it.”

She could feel a headache coming on. But getting the credit for creating 200 new jobs... it was worth it. It was even worth dealing with Milo. It was worth it. She could be proud of herself. It was worth it. It would all be worth it.

Wouldn’t it?

[captainsbabysitter-blog]

Ill Fated Attempts

Or: 5 Times Jim Tried to Ask Bones for a Date +1 Time He Actually Did

Fandom: Star Trek: AOS

Pairing: Jim/Bones

Word Count: 5088

Warnings: None

Summary: Jim wants to date Bones. Life at the academy doesn’t exactly leave a lot of leisure time for two students on accelerated tracks, and Jim is cursed with terrible timing.

I wrote this as a birthday fic for @t-hy-lla, and I finished a quick run through edit this morning. Not really beta’d beyond him gleeing over our shared love of McKirk.

I.

           Jim had it bad. He watched Bones type up his notes during their few joint classes, wondering what his lips might taste like until the muted vibration of his PADD drew his attention.

           If you’re going to keep staring off into space, at least stare somewhere else. It’s weird.

           He grinned a bit at the screen and tapped out a quick response. Why would I stare anywhere else, Bones? Best view was right there.

           Grow up.

           My room after class to study?

           Bones chewed his lip in thought; a habit Jim found all too distracting. He knew Bones was running through the mental schedule he somehow kept straight before the answer came. I got clinicals. Unless you don’t mind me showing up sometime around midnight?

           Sure. Greg’s been at his girlfriend’s the last couple weeks so you can crash on his bed. You show up, I’ll be the handsome one holding the coffee.

           Be still, my beating heart.

           Sounds like a medical issue, doc. You should get that checked out.

           He didn’t need to see the eyeroll to know it happened.

~*~*~*~

           It was almost 2am when Bones finally punched in the access code to Jim’s room. He stumbled in half awake and flopped onto Jim’s bed, sending several PADDs flying. Jim huffed out a little laugh before handing over a pair of pajama bottoms.

           “That kinda night, huh?”

           “Would’ve messaged you, but we were swamped. Some kind of overnight drill went sideways and sent half the engineering students to the ER.” The mattress muffled his voice, but couldn’t hide the agitated tone. “Why couldn’t they do daytime experiments like normal people.”

           “Because engineers aren’t normal people, Bones,” Jim murmured, running his fingers through Leonard’s hair absently as he went back to studying his notes. “You gonna change, or just lay there?”

           Bones grumbled, but managed to work up the energy to get back up. He rummaged through Jim’s closet until he found a sweatshirt to steal before settling back on the bed and pulling out his own PADD. Jim glanced at him with a frown. He knew Bones would stay up all night if he let him, but handed over the thermos of coffee he made earlier anyway. The look of relieved appreciation Bones gave him sent bubbles of warmth through Jim’s chest.

           “Thanks, Jim.”

           “No problem.” He tangled his legs up with Leonard’s and once again got lost in studying. Well, he looked like he was wrapped up in studying. His mind kept wandering back to what would happen if he just told Bones how he felt. They spent most nights exactly like this; draped over each other either reading silently or quizzing each other for their classes. If he said something and Bones didn’t feel the same, it could mean this whole thing would end. Jim didn’t want it to end. On the other hand, if he said something, maybe they’d give it a shot.

After maybe half an hour of silently debating with himself, Jim kept his eyes trained on his PADD and spoke up again, “Hey Bones? What would you say if I said I wanted to date you?”

The ensuing silence set his teeth on edge. Jim waited a minute before chancing a look toward the other end of the bed to find Bones slumped against the wall, PADD resting on the bed beside him while he slept soundly. He tried to feel annoyed by the thwarted attempt, but couldn’t muster it. Instead, he carefully detangled their legs and got Bones tucked in. Jim pressed a gentle kiss against his forehead before he settled into his roommate’s bed.

           Jim woke up to his alarm blaring and a note from Bones left on his PADD thanking him for making sure he didn’t sleep sitting up.

 II.

           Hey kid, meet me at the gym?

           Sure thing, Bones.

The entire next week was spent trying to build the courage up again, and he finally found it during one of their workouts. Jim watched Bones work through his weight training, eyes drawn instantly to the strain in his arms and legs as he lifted and pressed on the machines. The flex of his muscles was hypnotizing. After looking around, Jim cursed his luck to find the entire gym too packed to say anything.

Bones appeared to be completely oblivious. He glanced Jim’s way when he was stretching afterward and raised an eyebrow. “You okay, kid? You look redder than usual.”

“Oh, uh… Yeah. Fine. Just warm, I guess.”

“Ready to hit the showers?”

He prayed Bones didn’t notice the gulp that sounded deafening to his own ears. Flashes of Bones naked in the showers assaulted his vivid imagination. “Uh… Yeah. Showers. Right.”

Jim had to remind himself not to stare as Bones’ ass as he trailed along behind his friend.

The locker room was silent; a stark contrast to the clanking and panting on the other side of the walls. No one was showering or changing, and Jim scolded himself for being tempted to watch.

“Hey Bones?”

Bones glanced over his shoulder as he stripped down, the muscles in his shoulders rippling under skin shining with sweat as he tugged his shirt up over his head. “Yeah, Jim?”

Shit. How was that fair? He stared in silence for just a few moments too long before realizing Bones had turned to watch him with a raised brow. Focus, Jim.

“Um… So I wanted to ask you…”

The door opened then. Jim sighed and waved Bones off toward the showers with a mumbled ‘later’ and got ready for his own. There was a second where it looked like Bones was going to press the issue, but Jim knew the stickiness of drying sweat was probably starting to make his skin crawl.

He caught Jim by the arm on their way out of the building. “So what’d you wanna ask me?”

“Nothing important, I guess. I already forgot.” Jim let an easy shrug roll off his shoulders while internally cursing anyone and everyone that had just interrupted his moment. “If it comes back to me, I’ll let you know.”

 III.

           As far as Jim was concerned, midterms were a blight upon his plans. Any spare moment he might have had with Bones was immediately eaten up by study groups or writing papers. The doctor hadn’t spent more than a few minutes alone in his presence for the better part of the last week. Jim wasn’t sure whether to be thankful that he was too busy to ponder the failures in his personal life or irritated that he hadn’t had the opportunity to try again. He chose to go with irritated and ended up snapping at nearly everyone he came in contact with.

           He almost ignored the pinging alert that sang out from his PADD in favor of catching a quick nap between study sessions, but it was followed by several rapid-fire alerts that could only mean one thing. After reaching across the bed and grabbing it, Jim read through the messages.

           Jim I need you in the library.

           Now. This guy isn’t getting the hint and won’t let me study in peace.

           I fucking mean it, kid.

           My usual charm is just encouraging him.

           Come pretend to be my boyfriend or something.

           Seriously, don’t tell me you’re asleep right now.

           Jim?

           C’mon please?

           Jim couldn’t help but laugh. He tapped out a quick answer as he pulled his cadet jacket back on. I’ll be there in a second, sweetheart ❤

           Don’t fucking play with me just get here.

           Honestly, he had to give this guy some credit. With all the rumors Jim knew were floating around about Bones and him (with just a little help from himself, of course), he was surprised there was anyone with enough spine to hit on either of them anymore. Yet here this guy was. He was practically draped over the back of Bones’ chair, offering charming smiles in the face of Len’s scowling.

           “You know, we should get outta here. Maybe go grab a drink?”

           “There you are, Bones!” Jim bounced over and nudged his way between Leonard and his unwanted suitor. He decided to take advantage of the moment and pressed a kiss into Bones’ forehead. The flush that sprang to the Georgian’s cheeks was worth missing out on his nap. “You about ready to go, babe? We had plans for dinner.”

           Bones graced him with one of his rare smiles, definitely more in relief than anything else. He stood up to kiss Jim’s cheek. “Sure thing, darlin’. Just lemme pack up.”

           Jim took a moment to glance at the guy still standing there. “Something I can help you with?”

           “Oh, uh… No. Sorry. I was, uh… Sorry.”

           He found a wicked sense of glee in watching the guy turn tail and nearly run. Once he was out of sight, Jim let out a huffed laugh. He turned his gaze back to Bones, a little smirk tugging at his lips.

           “You feel safe now that I’ve defended your honor, oh damsel in distress?”

           “Just shut it, Jim,” Bones grumbled as he shoved his PADD into his bag. “So you really wanna grab dinner? My treat. We should probably take a break before we explode anyway.”

           “Yeah sure. Sounds good to me,” Jim agreed. He ran his eyes over Bones’ form, and frowned when he noticed how much weight the doctor appeared to have lost in the last few weeks of studying. “When was the last time you ate something other than coffee, Bones?”

           “I eat just fine, thank you.”

           Ah, the standard defensive response when he knew Jim was right. He snagged Len’s hand and took off toward their favorite dive. The more calories he could pump into the man, the better.

           The good mood that came with spending some non-study time with Bones crashed almost as quickly as it had inflated. Any time he opened his mouth to try and bring up his feelings, something would happen. Their waiter would pop by to ask about drink refills. Or take their order. Or some drunken jackass would bump into their table. Jim’s grimace rivaled Len’s at that last one.

           By the time Jim had wolfed down his own burger and he had managed to shovel a chicken sandwich and a plate of fries into Bones, he had given up. Maybe getting to pretend to be his boyfriend earlier was as far as his luck was willing to go that day. He paid the tab and headed out, fingers laced behind his head as he looked out at stars.

           “You gonna go out there with me when we leave here, Bones?”

           A derisive snort came before the response, “I’d rather take a long fall on a short rope, but I bet you’ll find a way to wheedle me onto one of those tin cans. So it would be stupid of me to say no.”

           “So you’ll come with me anyway?”

           “Sure, Jim.”

           Jim figured that would probably be good enough.

 IV.

           That sentiment didn’t last long. The second he knew Len’s last midterm was over, Jim found himself sprinting through the halls toward Bones’ room. He was determined to drag the grumpy doctor out for drink where Jim could hopefully find his courage at the bottom of a whiskey glass. A few quick taps on the keypad outside preceded the door sliding open and allowing him in.

           “Hey Bones! Get dressed in something sexy! We’re going to the bar!”

           Len glanced up from the holochat he was in the middle of and raised an eyebrow. Jim immediately snapped his mouth shut, but the voice of a child piped up to fill the awkward silence.

           “Who’s that, daddy?”

           “That’s Jim, baby peach. I told you about him, right?” the smile he gave the screen could have melted the ice on Pluto. Jim watched him interact with his daughter from the doorway, not really sure if he should leave or not until Bones motioned him over.

           The mop of brown curls and a nearly perfect match for Bones’ eyes was almost exactly how he imagined Joanna would look. She gave him a bright smile and a wave when he came into view and he waved back just as enthusiastically. He figured she must be around six now, but he was always awful at guessing ages.

           “Hey there, munchkin! Your dad here’s told me a lot about you.” Jim leaned in like it was sharing a secret, voice dropping into a mock whisper, “You know… He probably loves you more than anyone or anything in the whole universe.”

           She giggled and whispered back to him, “I think daddy likes you a lot cuz he talks about you, too!”

           “Hey now, no secrets!” Bones piped in with another easy smile. “So how’s first grade, baby? You like your teacher?”

           “Uh-huh! Miss Zhang’s my teacher and Rosie’s in my class this year. And Darnel and Rochelle! They’re twins, but they don’t look alike.”

           The rest of her rambling became background noise to Jim as he watched how Bones stared at the screen with open adoration. It was a good look on him. Maybe it was Jim’s imagination, but he thought Bones might be leaning into him just a bit as he spoke. Jim traced every inch of Len’s face with his eyes. It was the raising of an eyebrow brought Jim back into the conversation.

           “Is that so? Well what’s his name?”

           “Uh… Eric I think? I haven’t met him yet, but mama seems to like him.”

           “Well if your mama likes him, then you need to be nice. I don’t wanna hear about you pulling that monkey business with his shoes, ya hear?”

           “Well if he doesn’t want his shavin’ cream in his shoes, he shouldn’t yell at mama.”

           There was the slightest twitch at the corner of Bones’ mouth that said he was trying his best to maintain the stern demeaner, but failing horribly. Joanna must have noticed because she attempted to mimic the look and ended up breaking into another fit of giggles. Even Bones cracked a laugh. Joanna turned from the screen for a minute.

           “But mama!” There was a muffled response before Joanna turned back to the PADD. “Mama says it’s time for bed, but can you read me a bedtime story?”

           “Of course, baby. What one do you wanna hear?”

           “Baby Peach and Papa Peach!”

           “Alright, darlin’. Go brush your teeth and get ready for bed. Lemme talk to your mama for a bit and then I’ll tell you a story.” He turned to Jim. “I’ll meet you at our usual spot, alright? This shouldn’t take long, so just order me a bourbon.”

           “Sure thing, Bones.”

           Jim settled into their usual spot at the bar and ordered their drinks while he waited. He made some small talk with the bartender, a lovely young Orion woman who under normal circumstances Jim would have went for, until Bones walked in. She gave him a knowing smile when he turned attention to the doctor. The warm smiles and eyes full of adoration and devotion had been replaced by a look of defeat. He snagged the glass of bourbon without a word and downed it with a slight grimace before motioning for another.

           “That bad?”

           “I was hopin’ to bring her up here for a bit during our little vacation comin’ up, but Joss told me about some birthday slumber party for one’ve Jo’s friends.” The second drink was nursed a little more than the first, but before Jim had even ordered his own second, he was calling for a third. “Should’ve planned it sooner, but I only just got to go-ahead from the higher ups.”

           “I’m sorry, Bones… I know you miss her.”

           “Yeah…”

           They drank in silence, Jim once again agitated about the circumstances preventing him from opening his mouth. He watched as Bones worked his way through sobriety and almost skipped over tipsy on his race to drunken stupor. When Len’s drink count nearly tripled Jim’s, Jim waved a hand at the bartender.

           “Hey Saiph! No more for this guy I gotta get him back home.”

           She gave a quick nod and cleared out the glasses while Jim paid the tab using Bones’ chip (it was his turn to pay after all) and carefully led Bones back to his room. The man mumbled nonsense gripes the whole way back.

           They had barely made it back inside before Bones rushed to the bathroom, half the bourbon he had consumed coming back up in a rush. Jim sighed and followed him in so he could rub at Len’s back and make sure he didn’t pass out in the toilet. Between the waves of nausea overtaking his friend, Jim managed to work Bones out of his cadet jacket and pants so he wouldn’t ruin them.

           Once it seemed like the vomiting was done, Jim hoisted Bones up and got him to rinse out his mouth and let Jim wipe down his face with a cloth. He got a bit of water into him and made sure to grab the aspirin bottle before he helped Bones back toward his bed.

           “C’mon, Bones… Time to get you to bed.”

           “Bed sounds good. You gonna be there, too kid?” The slurred words shouldn’t be having the effect on him that they were. “You should be there.”

           “Dammit, Bones don’t offer me that cuz you know I’ll do it.”

           “Betchu won’t.”

           “Yeah, sure. Seriously, I know your legs can still work when you’re drunk so help me out here. Walk toward the bed.”

           He ended up having to half-drag Bones to bed. When they got there, Bones flopped down and wrapped his arms around Jim’s waist and pulled him down with him. Jim groaned as he found Bones quickly tangling their limbs together.

           “Shit… Fine, I guess I’m staying here.” He nuzzled into Len’s hair. “Night, Bones…”

 V.

           Morning came with Jim waking long before Bones did. He couldn’t move without attempting to detangle Bones’ legs from his, so he resigned himself to the fate of waiting for the doctor to come to on his own. No classes meant no alarm, and as far as Jim knew Bones didn’t have to be at the hospital that day so he was stuck.

           It wasn’t until mid-morning, coming up on noon that Bones finally started moving. He cracked his eyes open with a groan, a hand flying right to his head as the hangover hit him. Jim grabbed the water glass he had left on the bedside table the night before and wiggled it by Len’s face.

           “I would’ve made coffee, but you kinda turned into an octopus when I put you to bed.”

           Another grumble before Bones grabbed for the glass. He carefully sat upright, going slow to avoid potential dizziness and nausea, and took a few small sips. Jim helped him stay up while he drank.

           “Dammit… My head is killing me. Thanks for getting me back last night.”

           “No problem, Bones. You wanna let me up? I’ll make us some breakfast and get you some coffee.”

           Coffee was the magic word. Jim found himself freed and made his way into the kitchenette. When poking around the fridge only yielded the coffee creamer Bones kept on hand for Jim and a six pack of the beer Jim liked, he sighed and turned to the replicator. Knowing Bones, he probably only had baking sheets if he had anything for cooking at all. He’d have to see about making Bones eat something real and not replicated before they were both launched into space.

           “Bacon and eggs sound good?” He called toward the other room and smile at the almost whine. “C’mon, Bones. You need something greasy once in a while and a hangover is the perfect occasion. I’ll even bring you some wheat bread how about that?”

           “Ugh fine.” Jim could hardly hear the mumbled voice through the doorway. He smiled as he punched in the codes for the food and wandered back in with a couple plates.

           “Up and at ‘em, sunshine!” The glare he got from under a pillow was worth it. “Seriously, sit back up grumpy turtle. Outta your shell.”

           With only a little more prodding, Bones finally propped himself up against the wall and reached for the plate. After giving it several dubious looks, he took a couple bites. As the food settled in his stomach, he began to look a bit better and eventually relaxed a bit. He nudged at Jim’s leg with his foot with a smile. “Thanks, Jim.”

           “You’ve hauled my drunk ass back home plenty of times, Bones. You doing okay now?”

           Bones swallowed a swig of coffee before he responded, “Yeah. Just got a little overstressed, I guess.”

           “Sorry you won’t be able to see Jo.”

           “Yeah.”

           The two sat in comfortable silence while they finished up their breakfast. At some point, Bones got up to get more coffee and to toss the plates in the recycler while Jim geared himself up for a new approach. They were alone. They didn’t have classes, neither of them had to be anywhere specific that day, they weren’t about to fall asleep after a long day, and Bones was getting to his second cup of coffee which meant he’d be more human than tired cave troll. The only thing that could make now the best time would be if the rest of Bones’ hangover were to magically disappear.

           That wish was granted when Bones came back holding an empty hypospray and looking relieved. He dropped it into the medical waste bin by the bed and flopped back down. “That’s much better. Remind me of today if I ever try to withhold a hangover cure from you ever again.”

           A slow smirk crept to his lips. “Oh you can bet I will, Bones. So, um… I had a question for you.” He took the raised eyebrow he got in response as a prompt to continue, “Well I wanted to see if you’d be up to dinner with me later. Say tomorrow night? To celebrate being done with midterms without any of the barfights, y’know?”

           He hoped he wasn’t fidgeting as much as he thought he was while he waited for an answer. “Well where were you thinking about taking me, kid? I didn’t realize you went anywhere that didn’t sell cheese fries.”

           “I dunno. I was planning to find someplace if you said yes.”

           “Well start looking for a place then.”

           “So… Yes?”

           “Why do you sound so surprised? It’s dinner. We’ve had dinner together before.”

           Jim tried to scramble for a reason, “We’ve, uh… We’ve just been too busy to hang out much the last couple weeks, so I just got used to you saying you couldn’t make it.”

           “True enough. Alright, I need to get up and moving around now. Want to hit the gym or did you have plans to get into a bar fight tonight to make up for tomorrow?”

           “Gym sounds good. I’ll go change and meet you there?”

           Bones was already searching for his own clothes and waved him off. “Sure, kid. Catch you in 10.”

           As he left, Jim tried not to do a victory dance. Victory would only come if dinner was a success.

 +1

           The next night came too quickly for Jim. Sure, he found the right restaurant (a place a lot nicer than their usual pub, but not nice enough to require dress uniforms), and he had spent the last half hour getting ready, but he was nearly vibrating with anxiety over the upcoming meal. He hoped to ask Bones about dating while they were eating. Actually, he hoped he could get the cantankerous man out to dance before Jim asked him, but he’d take what he could get.

           He bounced on the balls of his feet as he waited at the door of Len’s room. For probably the hundredth time, he straightened the collar on his cadet reds and smoothed out the front. It was almost impossible to resist just barging in and Jim had to remind himself that it wouldn’t be appropriate date behavior. And c’mon… He knew how to date.

           When the door finally opened, it revealed a freshly shaven Bones. Jim missed the scruff that came with two weeks of not having time to keep up with it, but the clean face looked good. He offered Bones a bright smile and his arm.

           “Shall we go?”

           “Oh how chivalrous of you.” The sarcasm dripped from his voice. Bones stuffed his hands in his pockets instead of taking the arm. “So where are we going that requires we wear our reds?”

           “You’ll see just c’mon.”

           Jim brought him to a place just outside the edge of barracks. The lights were soft, and there was music playing from some unseen source. A lot fancier than Jim intended, but not a black-tie affair; there were other cadets there on dates in their reds. He glanced to his side and found Bones with a thoroughly confused look.

           “Seems a bit lavish for you, doesn’t it?”

           “It’s a bit more than I thought it’d be, but I like it.” He offered the hostess a winning smile. “Hey there. Table for Kirk.”

           “Of course, right this way sirs.” She turned on her heel, menus in hand, and led them toward the back of the restaurant. Their table was just off the dance floor.

           “Your server this evening will be Nime. She should be with you shortly.”

           “Thank you,” Jim and Bones responded in unison before turning to the menus.

           “I bet they have the good bourbon,” Jim added. “Geez, I don’t even know what some of this is.”

           “Most of it looks familiar to me, so just ask if you’re curious.”

           Nime appeared at their table with a 100-watt smile. “Hello! I’m Nime and I’ll be your server this evening. Shall we start with your drink orders?”

           “Bourbon neat, thanks.”

           “Whiskey on the rocks for me.”

           “Excellent. I’ll be right back with those.”

           Bones leveled Jim with a look across the table that he couldn’t identify. There were a few moments of awkward silence before Len finally broke it, “So what the hell is up with all this Jim? You’ve never wanted to go anywhere nicer than the bar even after finals.”

           “I just… Wanted to do something nice.”

           “Bullshit. Spill it, Kirk.”

           Dammit. He should’ve known Bones would notice something was off. Hands down the worst part about wanting to date your best friend. Jim rubbed at his face a bit before giving in.

           “I think we should date.”

           The strangled sound that came from the doctor across the table made the inevitable rejection almost worth it. Jim covered a small smile with his hand and waited for Bones to recover and respond.

           “What?”

           “I think we should date. You know, like hold hands, kiss, go on dates like this one. Date.”

           “Since when do you date? Or see someone more than once for that matter?” He seemed to immediately backtrack in his head when Jim frowned. “I just mean that… That isn’t usually your thing. It’s nothing against you and how you do things, but I can’t do the hookup thing, Jim.”

           “I’m not talking anything casual, Bones. I’ve never really wanted to do anything serious before, but with you I just… Do. So… Let’s eat and have a good time and you think it over, alr-“

           “Yes.”

           It was Jim’s turn to sputter. “What?”

           “I said yes.” Bones accepted his drink with a grateful nod toward Nime. He took a sip and watched Jim over the rim of his glass.

           “Did you need more time to order, or are you ready now?”

           “I think he needs a bit more time,” Bones chuckled. “Should only take another couple minutes.” When she left, he tapped at the menu. “You should actually look at that before she comes back. We can talk more when she won’t be popping in every few minutes.”

           Instead of answering, Jim buried himself in the menu and read through the options. It was hard now that he could only think about Bones agreeing to date him. When he finally picked, he uncovered his face to find Bones watching him with an appealing sparkle in his eyes. He made a couple false starts before Jim finally managed to start talking again.

           “So you said yes.”

           “Pretty sure I did, yeah.”

           “To dating me.”

           “Yes, Jim. I said yes to dating you.”

           “Oh.”

           “Isn’t that what you wanted to happen?”

           “I mean… Yeah.”

           Nime came back, ordering PADD in hand. “Are we ready to order now?”

           “Yeah, I’ll have the filet mignon with the balsamic glaze.” Jim kept his finger on the dish so he wouldn’t lose it on the page. Bones apparently found this amusing.

           When Nime turned to Len, he glanced back at the menu before adding, “And I’ll have the mushroom risotto and another bourbon, please.”

           “I’ll put these orders in and be back with your drink, sir.”

           Once she was gone, Jim stood and offered a hand out to Bones. When he receives a confused look, he gestures out to the dance floor. “Dance with me while we wait for dinner?”

           “Aw hell, you know I haven’t danced in years…”

           “Yeah, but I’d like to. I bet you’ll do great.”

           Bones finally took his hand and allowed himself to be led out onto the floor. A look of pure surprise sprang to his face when Jim took the lead. Jim took one of his hands and placed the other on Bones’ waist and pressed in close. He was close enough to see a flush creeping to the doctor’s cheeks as Jim started leading him through a waltz.

           “When did you learn to dance?”

           “My last midterm was a few days ago, you were studying for some medical exam, so I had a lot of free time.”

           “Jesus, kid… Remind me never to leave you bored.”

           “You’ll just have to keep a close eye on me, huh?”

           “Guess I will.”

           Jim decided to test his luck and before they finally returned to their seats for dinner, he pulled Bones in for a short, chaste kiss that was returned eagerly. He almost wished they hadn’t bothered with dinner, but he could live with the warm looks Bone sent his way as they chatted through eating.

           It wasn’t until Bones tugged him into his dorm afterward that he truly considered the night a success.

[hamiltimedaadadada]

You Ain't Slick (Part 1)

Alexander x Reader Word Count: 2,257 A/N: Hey lil guys; I wrote this a while back, and then I just kept writing, and now there are 6 parts to it. If you want the other parts, let a sister know, and I’ll give them to you… I just don’t want to be posting things that you don’t actually want to be reading. I hope you like it!!

“I hate everything about him,” Emma sighed, resting her face in the palm of her hand. You bit your lip, and nodded you head. Just two days ago she loved everything about him; there was no way that you were going to bring that up, though.

“He doesn’t deserve you, Em,” Angelica said with her usual confidence, “No boy deserves you—no boy deserves any of us!” She declared dramatically, making you cock your head in curiosity. You kept quiet, though, eager to see where she was going with this.

“Let’s become nuns—it’s not too late to convert is it? We’re only in college, we’ve still got our whole life to redeem ourselves!” She continued, earning herself a blank stare from Emma, and a stifled laugh from John.

Last week, Emma’s year-long boyfriend, George, cheated on her. Well, he didn’t do the cheating last week, she figured it out last week. He did the cheating multiple times, multiple weeks ago. As a consequence, Angelica and yourself had spent the past few days trying to comfort her. The two of you managed to talk her into going out to lunch today, which was a step ahead of her refusing to leaver her bedroom, which is where she was at yesterday.

“Maybe I should take this one, Angie,” you said gently, rubbing Angelica’s shoulder.

John chuckled, “Yeah,” he grinned, “Or even me, if you want. I think even I could top that.”

You rolled your eyes and kicked John warningly from underneath the table, shooting him a death glare; “Ignore him,” you said with a sigh, turning your attention back to the heartbroken girl sitting beside you, “He’s an idiot.”

Emma’s shoulders slumped noticeably, but Angie began to speak before anybody else; “Yeah,” she agreed quickly, “Who invited you, anyway? How did you know we’d be here?”

John took a drink of his milkshake, cockily; “It was only a matter of time,” he said, a smug grin gracing his freckled face, “A heartbroken girl, seeking comfort from her two best friends? The trio was bound to hit up the diner, eventually, and when they did—I would be ready to accept the free milkshake,” he grinned, taking a drink.

You rolled your eyes; “How did you know I’d offer to buy you a milkshake?” You asked, thoroughly annoyed, but also thoroughly confused. Although he played dumb a lot, John was surprisingly cunning.

He shrugged his shoulders; “Because you always do?” He said, taking another drink, “Thank you by the way.”

You sighed and returned your attention back to Emma; “How are you feeling?” You asked, raising your eyebrows the tiniest bit, “Any better?”

She shrugged her small shoulders as she fiddled with her straw; “Maybe we shouldn’t talk about it anymore?” She asked, moving her hands to the hem of her shirt, fiddling with the ends. You saw her bottom lip pout out, and heard her sigh, and you immediately needed to fix it.

“Great idea!” John exclaimed, “Instead, let’s talk about—oh hey, guys,” he said, grinning as he looked past you, Angelica and Emma to the group of boys standing in the diner’s entrance.

“Bonjour,” Lafayette grinned, taking a seat across from Angelica, beside John. “John texted—said you guys finally got Emma out of the house, we came as soon as we heard.”

You pursed your lips, “Lafayette,” you said, raising your eyebrows, “Please stop,” you said with a yawn.

“Asshat,” Alexander muttered, hitting him upside the head as he passed him by, taking a seat across from Emma, on the other side of John.

Angelica sighed gently, “Where’s Herc?” She asked before taking a drink of her milkshake, looking at the boys across from her expectantly.

“Busy at work; he said he’ll catch up with us later,” Alexander answered, as he reached over to grab your milkshake; “You don’t mind, right?” He asked, eyeing you for permission before he took a sip.

You looked at him, unamused, “Well, you already have it,” you said, raising your eyebrows.

“Thanks,” he said, taking a drink, “I’ll buy you another sometime,” he promised, though you knew that it was an empty promise.

“So,” John began, “Any other plans today?” He asked, looking at you and Angelica expectantly.

“None yet; are you up for anything, Em?” Angelica asked, peering over you so she could see Emma.

Emma looked up, her eyes watering, but none of you knew quite why. “I-I don’t want to stop you guys from doing anything,” Emma answered hurriedly, making her way out of the booth, “I think I’ll just go; thanks for the milkshake, Y/N,” she mumbled, avoiding all eye contact.

You shot John a look before quickly following her out of the booth.

“Way to go, John,” Angelica muttered bitterly; from his shriek, you assumed he had earned himself another kick to the shin.

“What did I do?!” You heard him exclaim before you left the diner, running after Em.

“Emma!” You called as you caught up to her, “Hey, just wait,” you said, nearly out of breath. This was embarrassing, you needed to work on your stamina; you were panting as you approached her.

She turned around, wiping away the stray tears that made their way down her face; “Hey,” you said softly, furrowing your eyebrows, “Emma it’s alright,” you pulled her into a hug, “You’re not stopping us from doing anything… Don’t listen to John, you know he doesn’t have a filter…”

“I know,” she sniffled, “It’s just… I know you guys are just trying to help me, but I—I’m just hurt, and if I go out anywhere, I’m going to be a huge downer, and I don’t want that… You guys should go out and have fun, I’ll be okay,” her voice soft.

You shook your head; “Em,” you sighed, “We don’t mind staying in for a couple of days; we just want to make sure you’re okay. You were with him for over a year, and he hurt you… And you’re our best friend, we’ll always be here for you.”

Emma sniffled, pulling away from the hug, “Thanks,” she mumbled, wiping her eyes.

“Anytime,” you replied; “Are you up for anything tonight? The new movies will be in the theatre, I think there was one that the boys wanted to see. We can guilt John into buying us popcorn,” you sang, shaking your hips with a giggle.

She laughed too, making you feel very accomplished; “Okay,” she answered, “A movie sounds nice… You guys will text me the time?”

You nodded your head, “Of course,” you grinned, “We’ll see you later?”

“Definitely.”

***

“She agreed to the movie,” you said later that afternoon, “But she seemed skeptical.”

You and Angelica were making some cupcakes in your kitchen, with Alexander and Lafayette keeping you company. John went to pick up Hercules, and in an hour, the six of you were heading over to get Em.

“So you guys are making her cupcakes?” Alexander asked, cocking his head to the side. “It’s midterm week next week, don’t you have tests to study for?”

Angelica nodded her head, “Yes,” she answered, peeking in at the oven, “But we’ve also got to keep Emma’s happiness-momentum going.”

Lafayette shrugged his shoulders, “Makes sense—your idea Angelica?” He teased, looking directly at you to gauge your reaction.

Your jaw dropped as you picked up some flour and flicked it at him; “It was my idea actually, Lafayette,” you spat, “And we’re having a sleepover tonight—you guys aren’t invited. Also my idea,” you stated proudly.

Lafayette grinned, dusting the powder off of his clothes, “I was only teasing,” he said, smiling, “You are very sensible, mon amie,” he assured you. He knew that you loved listening to him speak French. He could’ve stolen every single thing that you own, but if he apologized for it in his native tongue, he’d be forgiven in an instant.

“I forgive you,” you muttered, going over to the over pulling on the oven mitts before pulling out the tray of cupcakes. “Perfect,” you grinned proudly. “Now it’s just the icing.”

“Hey, Y/N,” Alexander piped up, standing from his seat, “Can I talk to you for a minute?”

You looked at him, then back to your cupcakes. Quickly, you dumped them onto the cooling tray before placing it in the sink, softly. “Yeah,” you answered, following him as he lead you into your bedroom.

“What’s up?” You asked, cocking your head to the side, “Everything okay?”

He nodded his head, “Yeah… Is everything okay with you?” He asked, looking down at you expectantly.

You furrowed your brows, “Yeah… Of course, I’m fine.”

Alex nodded his head; “You sure? Because you’ve kind of been acting a lot like me recently… And don’t think I don’t notice the darker under eyes-“

“Okay, that is just rude, Alexander,” you said, crossing your arms.

“It’s true!” He countered, “You’ve barely been sleeping lately—what’s up?”

You shrugged your shoulders, “Nothing; nothing is ‘up,’ I’m fine,” you assured him. Sure, you’ve been staying up later at night to get your schoolwork done—but that was only because your days were filled with trying to cure Emma of her heartbreak.

Alexander raised his eyebrows, seeming to know something that you didn’t. “Y/N,” he said, using his serious voice.

You looked around your room in order to avoid all eye contact with him.

“Y/N.”

“What?” You exclaimed, “Alex, I’m fine. I promise.”

“Then why haven’t you been sleeping— you usually take a nap every day, this is so unlike you,” he said, his eyes wide; your lack of naps was very concerning to him.

You sighed; “I’ve just been busy. Emma’s really beaten up about George; Angelica and I have been consoling her during the day, and I have to make room for all the essays and exams next week, so I’ve been staying up later and waking up earlier. That’s it,” you explained, “But I’ll be fine.”

Alexander raised his eyebrows; “I’m just saying,” he sighed, “You seem like you’re working yourself into the ground. You’ve been making her tiny cakes for the past hour and aren’t even done yet—you spent all day consoling her, the past week trying to bribe her into coming out, and now you’re having her sleep over? Y/N, I know she’s your best friend, but she’s a grown up, she’s an adult. She can take care of herself a little bit, you know? You’re her friend, not her mother,” he sighed, shrugging his shoulders gently, “And you’re prioritizing her over your schoolwork? I know how much your grades mean to you, why would you throw that away?” He asked, his brows furrowed.

You sighed; “I’m not throwing anything away—I’ve been getting everything done, it just takes me a while longer,” you replied, “She’s not going to be heartbroken forever, and the faster I can fix her, the faster I can get back to fixing my grades—“

“She’s not yours to fix!” Alexander argued, “You’re always trying to fix everybody’s problems, and always ignoring your own. Y/N, I know this is weird coming from me… But you need to take a break.”

“You never listen to me when I tell you to take a break, Alexander, why would I listen to you?” You challenged him, crossing your arms, the oven mitts making it a bit of a challenge. You kept them on, though, in case the opportunity arose in which you could fling them off dramatically. You had never fought with Alexander before— you had seen him fight, though, and he was scarily good at it. Based on his arguments with Jefferson, you would eventually get frustrated enough to throw them off.

“Because I’m just trying to look out for you— I know it’s exam week next week, and I know you have three essays due,” he explained, “And also, whenever you tell me to take a break, I’m NEVER putting off my own needs; in fact, it’s usually the exact opposite!”

“Oh go on,” you groaned, rolling your eyes, “What does that even mean? Alexander, you’ve gone days without sleep, days with only eating granola bars and coffee, you can’t possibly believe—“

“Well, I’ve gotten use to it, now— my body is totally used to only eating granola bars for a couple of days. You’re body, oh no, that body needs some proper meals, it needs it’s full eight glasses of water,” he argued, looking you up and down, “Sometimes even nine.”

You gasped, putting your mitt-clad hands on your hips, “How dare you, Alexander?” You asked in annoyance, “You’re not even making any sense. Are you running purely off of caffeine right now?”

Alex narrowed his eyes; “I’m actually making perfect sense, Y/N, you just can’t see it because YOU are running on little to no sleep.” You hated that he didn’t even stutter.

You narrowed your eyes, “This isn’t over, Hamilton,” you muttered bitterly as you stormed out of your room, throwing off your oven mitts as you left.

He chuckled sarcastically, “I know you were planning that from the beginning, Y/L/N,” he said as he followed you, “You ain’t slick.”

You sighed and slapped on a smile as you approached Angelica and Lafayette in the kitchen once again.

“What was that all about?” Angie asked in a whisper as she mixed the icing all together.

You rolled your eyes, “Nothing,” you replied, “Don’t worry about it.”