#sweet love between boy and his kitkat | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

yurtletheturtlehenderson · 4 years ago

Text

COSMIC - S3:E1; Chapter One, Suzie, Do You Copy? - [Pt. 2]

A Will Byers x Reader Series

Summer brings new jobs and budding romance. But the mood shifts when Dustin’s radio picks up a Russian broadcast, and Will senses something is wrong.

A/n: okay, so real quick I love mileven, its a cute ship and I think they're real sweet. But I think s3 did the right thing pointing out how codependent they got and it good for them to learn how to be their own person in order to be together. So this chapter kinda highlights the before and doesn't tiptoe lol. Also this chapter has a quick Will Pov cause a lot of you have responded positively to that but pfft god sorry if its cringey 😂 Then again, there's gonna be a point later on where im gonna need to use it so i guess this is practice lol

F/c = favorite candy F/s = favorite snack

||𝟑𝐫𝐝 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨�� 𝐏𝐎𝐕||

Y/n glances over Will's shoulders, the pair of them clumped in with Max and Lucas behind their lookout. The boy's sharp nose peeks out from the exit door that blended so well with the scarlet walls, his eyes darting carefully down the corridor assuring they wouldn't be seen. Finally, Mike nods, pushing the door open and striding through at a brisk pace his friends quickly match.

"All clear,"

As they had oh so many times before, they fell into line as they slipped down the hallway with a confidence they adapted in their summer ritual. As the first of them rounded the corner and into the theater, a bright display of colors from one of several light boxes caught Y/n's eye. She grinned knowingly when she saw the movie poster, recalling the trailer that had piqued her interest a few visits back.

At the subliminal reminder, she turned to her boyfriend. She captured his attention quickly as she hooked his arm in hers and gestured to the Back to the Future poster they were now passing.

"We still need to see that, you know," she remarked.

He smiled despite the slight quirk in his brow that betrayed his surprise.

"Really?" He asked, voice quieting as they entered the theater.

She quickly matched his look of surprise, and his hushed tone.

"Yeah! You don't want to?" Y/n whispered.

Quickly, he shook his head defensively as he bunched in with the others who now found themselves crowding the stairs. Mike was quickly scanning for an open seat, which left the four of them waiting behind him anxiously as he crept down the stairs. It was then Max and Lucas spotted two seats several rows down, and swiftly made their way to claim them before anyone else.

"No, no, I will. I mean, it looks pretty cool," Will quickly explained in a whisper, easily pulling his attention back from the other couple and towards Y/n with a shrug. "I just... Well, I heard that it was gonna bomb, is all."

Y/n's face scrunched up immediately in a confused frown Will always found adorable, creating a smile on his face as she looked taken aback.

"Really?" She asked, a little too loudly.

"Shh!" Came the venomous hisses of an older couple beside them, who looked to be in their forties.

Y/n looked at them, eyes flickering to the screen as it displayed nothing but another advertisement, before returning her attention back to them. She slipped them the weakest of fake smiles and shrugged her shoulders. Quickly, Y/n retreated down the stairs when she realized Mike and Will had started moving again.

Will was just ahead of her, throwing an amused glance over his shoulder as she quickly jogged the stairs to catch up with him.

"Shut up," she mumbled through a grin she fought to suppress.

Within moments she found herself packed in between Will and a young woman several years older than herself. Just in time, Y/n realized, as she looked to the gigantic screen that now displayed the words, OUR FEATURE PRESENTATION. Y/n found herself rolling her eyes when Mike strained to throw his whisper down to herself and Lucas - who luckily enough, was sitting just one row before them.

"See guys? We still made it,"

Max was directly in front of Y/n, leaving Lucas easy access over his shoulder to retaliate. "We missed the previews," A comment only one of his friends in the back row seemed to have caught. He briefly met her equally perturbed gaze and shared a quick eyeroll.

Max grinned back at Lucas, mischief written on her lightly freckled face.

"Still made it," she whispered, her smirk growing sly. "And before you died, too, good thing."

Lucas rolls his eyes once more, the words of his girlfriend painting a defeated smile on his lips as he shakes his head.

Y/n pulled her attention away from the screen briefly when she noticed Will had begun distributing the snacks he had smuggled in for everyone. Y/n helped slip Lucas his soda and Max her pack of Skittles, Mike all the while grabbing his KitKat bar. Y/n's eyes, for the most part, remained trained on the screen in fear of missing anything but they broke away briefly when Will retrieved her f/c.

Her eyes widened, glinting happily as she made grabby hands at the snack. "Ooh, gimme, gimme," she whispered, pulling a light chuckle from Will.

Y/n sent him a thankful look, and returned to the screen just as Will had retrieved the last of the snacks and zipped up his backpack. Y/n waited rather impatiently for a loud enough moment when she could open her candy without being heard and ultimately stared at.

The entire theater was suddenly bathed in white light, and the scene of a woman - Lori Cardille's character - was sat up against a white brick wall, head drooping between her knees. An eerie tune blasted through the speakers that brought a small chill down Y/n's spine.

Something about how the woman - trapped in this room - steadily rose to her feet and crept across the tiled floor. Already she was hooked, her unopened candy was no longer the only thing she was focused on. Slowly, the woman made her way to the opposite wall, captivating Y/n's attention as to how or why this woman was here in this room.

She didn't want to admit it to herself, but since her coming into possession of the Missing Experiment files, she had a learned a great deal. And given the information about her birth mother, and how she had been tested and studied it wasn't hard to put together how cruel life as a subject was in that lab. Or what her life would of looked like had it not been for her birth mother's efforts. It wasn't common, nor was it rare, but every so often Y/n found herself in a nightmare she felt she would never wake from. All of which included her in her life that almost was, as Number 009.

Locked away in a cold, blank room with no doors. Nothing to keep her company but the cold metal bed she was supplied, the searing pain of the 009 tattoo on her left inner wrist that never went away, and the reminder she would be here all her life. Being poked and prodded and twisted into something she could never come undone from.

And it chilled Y/n to the very bone how much this room on the screen reminded her of the prison from her nightmares. And yet, she finds herself groaning with the rest of the audience as the screen freezes on the woman's entranced gaze before sliding out to black along with the rest of Starcourt.

"Come on!" Came several voices, many of whom belonged to her friends.

All across the mall, section by section, the neon disappeared, leaving Hawkins residents in disgruntled confusion and darkness.

Erica, who still sat amongst her friends in the main lounge, wore a perplexed expression, her voice laced with annoyance. "The hell?"

Scoops Ahoy Ice Cream parlor was among the last cluster to fall victim to the power outage, the confusion spreading to the two young employees behind the counter.

"That's weird," Steve remarked, stepping away from the counter.

Robin broke from her small daze brought on by the sudden blackout that had clearly overtaken the mall to see her coworker heading for the light switch. Steve put on an expression of befuddlement while Robin wore one that screamed, 'please don't do what I think you're about to do'. And yet, she watched in depressed defeat as he began flipping the light switch on and off despite her silent pleas. Her gaze was flat and unimpressed, his childish attempt was yet another blow to her already lacking morale.

"That isn't gonna work, dingus," she says flatly.

He paused, glancing up at the ceiling and back to her with a challenging look in his eye.

"Oh, really?"

Steve mercilessly attacks the light switch, flipping it on and off as fast as he can while staring Robin dead in the eye. And yet, nothing came of it but the rhythmic click of the switch flipping on and off.

Unbeknownst to the bewildered mall-goers, they were but the first of Hawkins to be shrouded in darkness. A willful, and unrelenting force swept over Hawkins. A force all too familiar with the small town, and unknowingly, a very force engraved in the town itself. Pumping through its veins and slowly but surely staining the town like a virus unseen. A force that was the town, and in a way, always had been.

And on this night, the 28th of June 1985, the force finally broke free from the shadows and begun to take a familiar shape.

As if bending to It's own wishes of discretion; Starcourt - the first of many - could feel Hawkins breathing it back to life as it also did for the dark force at work deep in the bowels of Brimborn Steelworks.

Light by light, room by room, Starcourt came back alive as if nothing had happened. The children's merry-go-round continued, the Indiana Flyer finished its jolly tune as did the joyous child riding its back and a certain employee in a tacky sailor's costume found his chest had filled with pride.

A triumphant look overtook Steve and he gestured grandly. "Let there be light."

Robin watched as he returned to the counter, trying her best to suppress an eye roll. And a smile.

The blackened screen flickered to life, resuming the woman's troubled gaze on the calendar that taunted her. The audience erupted in cheers, thankful their money hadn't been wasted and that their experience could continue. Y/n released a relieved chuckle, the picture before her quickly overturning the lurking thoughts of her nightmares and any coincidence of the blackout had with them. Eagerly, she dug her fingers into the pack of candy she had just opened, her eyes flickering to Will.

Her relief was short-lived when she she saw the expression on his face. He was there, but he wasn't at all happy, nor content, and he was but the farthest thing from relieved. What she couldn't see—what she didn't realize—was in these few crucial moments he sat with a glazed over stare, and a hand reaching for the back of his neck was the deep and profound feeling of foreboding that rooted deep inside him.

And not unlike only months short of a year prior, when he felt himself ensnared in the terror and icy grip of the monster that lurked in shadows only he could see, Will Byers could feel his skin tightening painfully as goosebumps gripped his neck. It was a chill he hoped he'd never feel again, a chill that had nearly destroyed him and his family and friends. And Y/n. The passionate, fiery, hatred for the girl was the only thing about this icy monster that burned brighter than the horrifying memories it left with him.

《•••》

Will was panting heavily, but he slowly turned around coming face to face with the monster. It towered over the school, looking directly at Will.

It got closer. It was swooping in like vulture but Will didn't give in.

The monster bellowed, and one large tentacle began twirling down onto the ground, the size of a small tornado. The swirling gust of black fog engulfed Will.

He stood frozen, now trapped in the swirling fog. Several black tendrils spawned from the mass and invaded Will and he could feel the evil presence as it possessed his body and settled in his very soul.

He felt every essence of warmth cease to be, and all that existed was icy darkness.

•••

"You're... gonna lose... him!" The words are spit from Will's mouth, a struggle through the growing pain.

Another painful scream erupted as the fire beneath Hawkins spread, but he fights it as much as he can. He was almost free. But most importantly, he couldn't let them win. Not with her on their side.

His screams vibrate with his body before his small frame shrinks in on itself like a dead spider. He straightens in seconds, his head, hands, and feet now glued to the bed as he bends in one final arc, his chest rising to the heavens. Will's mouth opens in another scream and a billowing cloud of inky black smoke escapes. It twists and unravels out from between his lips like a pitch-black tornado.

《•••》

"Will?"

Much like that night, a soothing and infectious warmth replaces the cold and unforgiving ice in his veins as Y/n lays a gentle hand Will. Startled, his head is ripped to her direction, arm already slipping away from his neck as she stares at him in worry. She recognized the look in his eyes all too well, and immediately she knew something was amiss.

"Will, what is it?"

Will's hand finally fell to the arm rest he shared with Y/n, and he gently took her hand as if to reassure her. Though deep down, they both knew he needed the comfort far more in this moment. He put everything into her touch, allowing her natural warmth to subdue the chill in his bones as he mentally packed away the crazy thought that he didn't want to be true into the farthest corners of his mind.

And as he met her gaze, her worried eyes now boring into his as she held his hand with a firm grip that said she was never letting go, he found a smile on his face. All too easily the words came to him, the words spoken to her in hushed whispers that he clung to tighter than her. Words he desperately needed to believe were true, words that were already lying to the demanding feeling in his gut that screamed for his attention.

"Nothing," he says, already succumbing to the temptation of a sugar-coated lie that was far more palatable than the bitter truth. "Everything's fine,"

⊹ ⊹ ⊹

Soft sunlight spilled through the open blinds in the Henderson house, illuminating the golden wallpaper and shag carpet that lined its insides. Muted footsteps rushed through the house and towards the front door, a second pair following closely on its heels.

"Mom, remember, he HAS to think-"

"-HAS to think everyone forgot, I know, Pumpkin, I know."

Claudia Henderson turns to face her daughter when she reaches the door, a worn smile playing her lips as she begins plucking away stray cat hairs off her daughter's shoulder as she talks.

"I think it's very sweet you want to surprise your brother," she beams, breaking away to fish in her purse for her keys. "But please don't forget, your brother is easily scared these days, heaven knows why, so just he careful alright? Nothing too big?"

Y/n bit her tongue, knowing exactly why Dustin had grown more jumpy—as had she, and her friends—but she neglected to share that information with her mother. When she finally retrieves her keys, she pauses, sending another sweet and prideful smile at her only daughter. With her free hand she gives Y/n a small stroke of the cheek, and an almost pinch making Y/n frown and pull away.

"Mom!"

"Sorry, sorry!" She answers, pulling away and opening the door. "I'm just so proud of my honey bear!"

Y/n rolled her eyes.

"Mom." She pleads.

"I'll be back soon, I love you, and don't forget to feed Tews, okay?"

"I won't, don't worry," Y/n sighed again, ready to close the door. "I love you too,"

Claudia was more than halfway out of the door, her head poking in as she backed out. A habit she often had when departing from her children. She had nearly closed the door, when her head popped back in as if she had forgotten the most important thing.

"Oh, and say hi to Will for me, honey!"

Y/n's head was thrown back in an embarrassed groan as Claudia shut the door.

⊹ ⊹ ⊹

Shockingly enough, Mike was one of the first of her friends to arrive. Clinging tightly to his side, one of Y/n's favorite people; El Hopper.

"Hey guys, you made it!"

But the two seemed partially oblivious to her welcome, the pair were lost in each other and laughing at something Y/n was completely lost on. Her face fell a bit, though she didn't know why, this wasn't exactly new behavior for them.

"Guys?"

El was the first to break away from their shared gaze, a light giggle still leaving her throat when she locked eyes with Y/n. Her smile brightened and she stepped forward letting go of Mike and enveloped her friend in a hug.

Y/n graciously accepted after recovering from the initial shock. Y/n warmed at the gesture, holding her best friend tight against her chest and she could feel El's hair tickling her nose. El broke apart, her expression similar to Y/n's as she met her eyes. El's cheeks where dusted pink, her now shoulder length hair frizzy from the summer heat as she wore a toothy grin for Y/n.

"I'm glad you could make it, El." She said, opening the door for her friends.

El nodded, casting a brief glance over her shoulder to grab Mike's hand. "Me too," she grinned, stepping inside.

"I was worried Hopper might not want you over," Y/n finished.

El shook her head again as her and Mike now stood in the entrance, Y/n closing the door after them. Immediately, the pair began discarding their shoes and Y/n seemed to miss the perturbed look flicker across Mike's face at what El said next.

"No, he likes it when I see you,"

Y/n nodded with relief and led her friends into the kitchen.

She opened the fridge, giving the shelf a quick glance before grabbing a blue pitcher of filtered water.

"Do you guys want anything to eat or drink?"

Mike looked down at El who shook her head and then back to Y/n. "Nah, we're good. We ate before we came."

'Oh' Y/n mouthed, closing the fridge and grabbing a glass from the cupboard. She tried to busy herself with the uneven stream of water diving into her glass from the pitcher and off of the giggly bubble Mike and El were being reabsorbed into as they whispered between one another. Y/n wished more than anything someone else would ring the doorbell and show up already, anybody. Just to get her out of the awkward tension Mike and El left her in as their third wheel.

No such luck was granted to her, no matter how many times she glanced at the door and willing a knock as she drank from her glass.

A soft meow answered her silent plea and while it wasn't Max, Lucas or even Will that had came to her rescue, she supposed the feline was just as good. Eagerly, Y/n set aside her water and slipped into the living room to see her mother's Siamese cat trotting along the carpet.

"Hey Toonces," Y/n greeted, using her own special nickname for the cat.

Y/n stopped in her tracks, nearly forgetting the bag of cat food on the counter. She quickly side steps the oblivious couple as she grabs the small cup and scoops a small portion of cat food, intentionally grabbing Mike and El's attention over her shoulder.

"So, I got a banner we could all decorate. We can get started on that?"

As expected, the two did not break from their spell as quickly as Y/n would have hoped. It took the obnoxious avalanche of cat foot pouring into the metal food dish to break their attention and look to their friend. She stood across the room with a now empty cup in her hand, a cat running to her feet as she looked at them through slightly squinted eyes and a tight lipped smile. They smiled sheepishly at her, and she asked again trying to stifle her growing irritation.

"Can you guys help me with the Welcome Home banner? It'll be lame if it comes from just me. It's supposed to be a surprise from all of us, anyway,"

Mike shrugs to showcase his complete indifference, looking down at El again who nods. She smiles back at Y/n, happy with the idea and resting her head back on Mike's arm as Y/n nods.

"Great, thanks." She breathes, laxing her shoulders.

Y/n returns the cup to the counter and disappears briefly down the hallway before reappearing with a large seemingly empty banner.

"I already outlined everything, so all we need to do is color it in, brighten it up a bit," she explains quickly, maneuvering through the living room as she retrieves a cup of markers from a shelf nearby. "I left a lot of space for each of us to add something, if you-"

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK-

"Lucas-" came a muffled hiss on the other side of the front door.

KNOCK KNOCK

"Lucas," the voice was now trying to smother a laugh.

'Oh, thank god' Y/n thinks.

||𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐥'𝐬 𝐏𝐎𝐕||

I don't remember the ride to Y/n's taking this long. Maybe it feels this way cause I'm anxious to see her.

It's probably nothing, but whatever I felt last night before the black out...

I'm getting nauseous just thinking about it, and it feels like something is holding on to my lungs and not letting me breathe.

Y/n, I remind myself. You're gonna be with Y/n and all your friends. Today's going to be fun.

The thought alone made me feel loads better, and it reminded me that I had a new idea for Y/C/N last night when I got home. Defeating the Juju Zombies would level up her character and I can give her a spell I think she'd love...

Storm of Vengeance. It's a higher level druid spell that would allow her to create small storm clouds around her. I think she'll like it considering how much she enjoys her earth spells. And, well, in a way it reminded me of her and what she did last year. I mean, she caused an earthquake all over Hawkins and the news even reported an unusual spike in temperature that they worried might cause a storm. It never did, but it was still the coolest thing I've ever seen in my life.

She doesn't love to go into detail about that night. The night she saved me. And I don't blame her at all, I don't either. My chest actually hurts every time I think about how I attacked Y/n. I know it wasn't me, but I still haven't forgiven myself for not being able to stop him.

Regardless, what she did was beyond incredible and what she's been working at all summer has been paying off. I'm really proud of her. I'm grinning like an idiot, I realize cause my cheeks are hurting but I can't seem to care.

I can see Y/n and Dustin's house creep into view at the end of the long stretch of street and I grow more excited by the minute. Mom's words from earlier pop into my head and I can feel my ears burning all over again.

"They're in love, Will," she said, referring to Jonathan and Nancy who had been sneaking around, to which I scoffed. She took a seat beside me as she continued. "I'm surprised at you."

I look up from my stack of pancakes that was nearly gone, and I sent her a funny look. She smiled from ear to ear and looked briefly to her breakfast before looking back at me.

"Speaking of,"

Oh no.

"Mom-"

She took a sip of her coffee, raising her eyebrows in a way that suggested she knew exactly what she was doing.

"Aren't you going to Y/n's?"

"MoM!" I groaned, standing up from the table.

I marched over to the sink, not wanting to give her the satisfaction of seeing me flustered.

"What?"

She did know exactly what she was doing, and she was relentless. I soaked my plate and headed for the door, hardly giving her a glance.

"Bye, Mom," I grumbled.

I can hear her evil smirk in her voice just before I shut the door.

"Bye, sweetie~!"

I scoff when I realize how she is still able to get to me, and I quickly shake it off. My bike glides into their driveway and I quickly dismount and make sure to park it somewhere out of the way of Mrs. Henderson's car before it got back. I quickly rethink it, and bring it around back where Dustin won't be able to spot it. The others had the same idea, it would seem as I quickly found where they had stashed their bikes.

I rushed to the front door, and I could already hear several muffled voices and footsteps inside. Right as I raise my right hand to knock, the door swings open.

There standing in the doorway, completely breathless and grinning widely is Y/n. I'm grinning again, and just before I can even manage a "hello" she grabs my wrist and pulls me inside, and into a quick kiss. I feel her smiling and when I broke apart she said quietly enough for me to hear.

"I'm glad you're here."

"Clearly," Lucas said, popping a piece of gum into his mouth as he passed behind her without a single glance and into the living room.

Y/n whirled around to send a playful glare over her shoulder. I watched, laughing as she stuck her tongue out at him, and he did the same. She turned back to me, visibly relaxing a great deal and I stepped further inside. I felt her let go of my wrist and she closed the door behind me before gesturing to the coffee table everyone was gathered around. The large banner was at the center of the coffee table taking up most of its surface; the one Y/n mentioned to me the other night in Castle Byers. By the looks of it, it was nearly finished and I felt a pang of guilt I couldn't get here earlier to help.

El was the first to look up at us, and sent a polite smile to me and Y/n before returning to her coloring beside Mike. Mike and Max where quietly bickering over a marker by the looks of it and Lucas was retuning to his seat on the edge of the couch just beside Max.

"Want something to drink, or maybe nibble on?" Y/n asked me.

I look to her, ready to decline her usual offer when I noticed the look in her eye that was pulling me towards the kitchen. I nodded, suddenly deciding a refreshment didn't sound so terrible.

I followed her into the kitchen and out of earshot of the others. She quickly got her hands on some f/c and I helped myself to some Slice Soda from the fridge. The can opened with a hiss just as she hoisted herself up on the counter and took a bite of her food.

Through a mouthful of the snack, her left cheek all puffed up in a way that made me smile and she spoke in a voice low enough she wouldn't be overheard.

"I'm so glad you made it here when you did." Y/n said to me, examining her snack, legs dangling of the counter and swinging lightly back and forth. "They were starting to drive me crazy."

I took a sip of the soda, swallowing the cloud of fizz that buzzed on my tongue. "They couldn't have been that bad,"

I looked back up from my drink to be met with the trademark Y/n Henderson deadpan glare and I laughed again.

Y/n's always making me laugh, and I realize I don't ever want that to stop.

Soon, she's smiling with me as she takes another bite, her eyes wandering to our group of friends gathered in her living room. Y/n looked back at me and sighed.

"I love them all, I really do," she shook her head and let out a small laugh that stopped my heart a little. "But, Jesus, they're so much sometimes."

I let out a small laugh through my nose, nodding as I take another swig of my drink and she continues.

"Max and Mike won't stop arguing about anything that's two feet in front of them," she frowned with a small smile. "Lucas and El are actually spending some more time together, its pretty nice. But other than that, I'm lucky to get a word in edgewise with anyone. You know the group, everyone's got their own ideas, and no one really knows how to listen,"

It's quiet for a moment as we reflect—aside from Lucas whose voice stood out among the others as he cursed at something he messed up on on the banner.

"You excited to see Dustin, again?" I ask finally.

Y/n nodded, popping another piece of food into her mouth before swallowing it. "Yeah, definitely. Mom's been missing him a lot. I can tell. She's been mothering me a whole lot more lately."

A small picture of Mrs. Henderson smothering her kids was not hard to conjure, and it made me chuckle.

"Mm! Just the other day," She hummed, yet again with small mouthful and a spot of food she was oblivious to on the corner of her mouth. "When I went to Max's—"

I nodded showing I was listening, though I tried very heard to stifle the grin creeping up at how cute she looked and I stepped forward to wipe the bit of food off of her mouth.

"a place she knows I go all the time—" she stops her rant abruptly as I wipe her chin and mouth with the corner of my wrist and palm, blinking back in surprise before breathing a small laugh. "oh, thanks. Anyways, she knows I go there all the time, hell, how much time do we even spend here anyway? And suddenly it's twenty questions; where I'm going, when I'll be back, do Max's parents know I'm coming?"

"And now, on top of it all, she won't stop asking me stuff I don't even know how to answer. Like 'how did you and El meet, you two seem really really connected? It's so sweet!'"

She asked, imitating her mother.

"and, 'Y/n, how your sheets keep getting burned in the dryer, I have no idea!' Like, I don't know how I'm supposed to tell her about the friends I made during the almost apocalypse or the fact that I keep burning my sheets every time I have a bad dream. I mean, I can't keep lying to her, but I can't tell her the truth either."

I leaned back against the counter again, growing thoughtful. My heart goes out to her, and I feel horrible I can't really do anything. But I know how much having Max and El around has helped her, she's never really said it out loud but I can tell she's been feeling more and more alienated the older we all get. Not completely, but things are changing. Regardless, I'm glad she has them.

"I'm sorry," I say, and she shrugs, discarding the remnants of her snack on the counter before leaning back on her propped up arms. "Well, hopefully Dustin being back will restore the natural balance of things."

Y/n nodded, a confident smile on her face. "I'm thinking it will, it's what usually happens. She always gets pretty antsy when one us is away for a long time and this isn't Dustin's first time at camp either, don't forget."

Suddenly, her face lights up and she looks to me growing excited. "Oh! I almost forgot. Max had a great idea for when he gets here."

"Oh yeah?" I ask, her infectious smile spreading to my face.

Y/n nods, and I can see the excitement growing in her eyes.

"Yeah, so, we'll all hide, like we originally planned. But," she jumps of the counter, quickly opening the fridge and grabbing a small piece of lettuce before leading me through the living room. "El will draw him out, probably out into the back living room cause we'll have plenty of space to hide in here."

We pass through the living room, and down into the hall all the way into Dustin's room.

Y/n walks over to Yurtle's tank, and slides the top hatch open. She stops talking briefly, like a reflex a small grin lighting up her face and scrunching up her nose as she feeds the turtle the bit of lettuce. Again, I find myself smiling widely out of habit, my chest growing warm just from being around her.

Y/n quickly pulls herself back to reality and closes the top back up, and crosses the room where a variety of Dustin's old toys stand in a clutter in his closet.

With a proud and elated grin, she gestures to them waiting for my reaction.

"What?" I laugh.

"The plan! These are all the toys of Dustin's that can move, I had to dig through some closets but I found enough. El's gonna make them come to life—assuming we're lucky enough to get him to sulk in his room, but I'm not too worried about that. If I know him at all, he will. He'll follow them out to the lounge, and that's when we'll surprise him. I was also thinking I could mess with him if I can, make the room shake a little or something, I'm not sure yet,"

I can't help but picture the look on Dustin's face when stuff around the room begins to shake. I suddenly couldn't wait for him to get back, which is a bit surprising considering how much grief he gives me and Y/n.

She quirks her brow, a mischievous look spreading across her face. "Well, what do you think?"

"It's perfect, I-"

"Code red! Code Red!" Came a strained shout from across the hall.

Thunderous and forceful footsteps pound into the carpet as they make their way down the hall, stopping the words in my throat. We both rip our heads to the open door to see Lucas leaning into the doorway panting and wide eyed as he looks between the both of us.

"He's here!"

· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

"SARS (Special Anti Robbery Squad) is a branch of the Nigeria Police Force. SARS officers carry guns but do not wear Nigerian police uniforms or badges Since the creation of SARS, they have been known for engaging in illegal acts and torturing the citizens of Nigeria. They ask for bribes, harass citizens and even kill them. Nigerians are currently protesting on the streets against the blatant disregard for their rights."

Please help and do what you can, educate yourselves, spread information and bring awareness to this issue.

BELOW IS A LINK IN THE COMMENTS TO A MASTERLIST OF LINKS TO HELP #endSARS

[link]

Therapy Resources and Tips for People of Color

[link]

A Thread of Small Black Businesses That Were Destroyed That You Can Donate To To Help Rebuild

[link]

· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

Tag List: @dickkwad @aimee-lucass @iblesstherainsdown-in-africa @miscellaneoustoasts @happyandlonely-blog @missmulti @youpi-chan @peeperparkour @ba-responds @bibliophilesquared @blogforhoes @witch-of-all-things-soft @shawkneecaps @whothefuckstolemykeds @mirdall @fishswimbetterunderwater @daughter-of-the-stars11 @stranger-things4 @kpopanimegirl @nightbu-g @lozzybowe

❥ Let me know if you would like to be added to the taglist! ❥

89 notes · View notes

a-storm-of-roses · 3 years ago

Text

October Fic Day 14: Candy

Pairing: Ronon Dex/Aiden Ford

Rating: T

Words: 1039

Summary: Aiden shares an Earth tradition, and Ronon develops his sweet tooth.

A/N: This follows on from Pegasus Miracles, but you don't need to have read it to get the story. All you need to know is Aiden returns to Atlantis post-canon, and as he recovers, he and Ronon get together. I just couldn't get these boys out of my head!

Read on AO3 or below!

Ronon eyed the table skeptically, the collection of shiny wrappers and little, brightly colored boxes.

“I thought these were for Halloween. Isn’t Keller running that costume contest?”

Aiden continued to arrange the candy in front of him, splitting it into piles and organizing them in some deliberate order that Ronon couldn’t decipher.

“Yeah, but I bribed Sgt. Nieves to let me grab at least a few of each. Got to make sure you have the full experience.”

Ronon huffed, but the amused and indulgent grin on his lips belied his annoyance. Aiden was excited, thrumming with that energy that seemed to come to him more and more often these days. It made him look younger, lighter. He dumped another bag on the table, and began sorting the pile, moving what Ronon recognized as the chocolate to one end, placing the lollipops in the middle.

“We’re never gonna eat all of this.”

Aiden gave him a pointed look.

“I didn’t say we couldn’t,” Ronon shrugged, “just that we won’t. It’s too sweet for me. And you always think you can eat more than you can.”

Aiden laughed.

“Ok, you might have a point. But we can give the rest to Teyla, make sure Torren gets a good variety when he goes trick or treating.”

“You know she’s trying to cut down on his sugar. One of the doctors gave her a book about sugar and how bad it is for kids and now he only gets fruit for dessert.”

Aiden shuddered. “Poor kid. Well, maybe she’ll make an exception for Halloween. He can have like one piece a day. This stuff lasts forever.”

“Don’t think that’s a selling point.” Ronon laughed, and picked up a bright orange package. “It’s a pumpkin flavored Reese’s?”

“Nah,” Aiden plucked the candy from his hands. “It’s a Reese’s shaped like a pumpkin.”

Ronon tried to give his best Earth is weird look, but it never seemed to have the desired effect. Aiden grinned and leaned down to press a kiss to his cheeks. Well maybe it had a somewhat desired effect.

“Alright,” Aiden clapped his hands, moving to sit across from Ronon. “On the left we have the ones I know you’ve tried before. Then, this pile is the candy I think you’ll really like, and these are the ones I’m not so sure about. Mostly, they have coconut in them. And finally, this last pile is some of my favorites, and stuff that we don’t usually get in normal shipments.”

“And you want me to try all of them?”

“Come on, they’re bite sized! And I made you skip breakfast for a reason.”

Ronon chuckled, giving in to Aiden’s obvious enthusiasm. They started with the ones Aiden was sure he’d like, and for the most part, Aiden had been spot on. He’d enjoyed the Reese’s pumpkin (but then again, Ronon loved anything containing peanut butter) and he’d been surprised to find how much he liked the Junior Mint. The KitKat had been pretty decent too, although Aiden had been scandalized when he’d bitten straight into it.

“You have to break them in half! That’s the whole point!”

It was fun. In between forcing Ronon to review each piece of candy, Aiden told him stories about his Halloweens growing up - trick or treating with Lara, the year he’d insisted on dressing up as a truck, the time when he threw toilet paper all over a teacher’s house and got caught by his Pops. It was still hard for Aiden to talk about Earth sometimes, maybe always would be, but he laughed the whole way through, and smiled bright and easy.

Ronon leaned over to steal a kiss. When he pulled away, Aiden beamed back at him.

“Ok, now, I don’t think you’ll like this, but you got to try it anyways. It’s, like, a Halloween tradition.” Aiden pushed a small, plastic packet towards him. Inside were small orange, yellow, and white cones.

“What’s this?” Ronon asked, ripping open the packet and giving the candies a squeeze. They were a bit more solid than he’d been expecting.

“Candy corn.” Ronon raised his eyebrows. “It’s not anything to do with real corn. Well, unless you count the corn syrup. Even I think they’re too sweet, but they’re like a Halloween staple. My grandma loves them.”

Ronon took a bite and made a face. There was some hint of flavor, underneath all the sugar, but he couldn’t identify it. Mostly, it tasted too sweet and left his teeth feeling gross.

“Exactly,” Aiden laughed.

“You call this corn? No wonder your country has an obesity problem,” Ronon chuckled.

“Oh ha, ha.”

Next, Aiden selected two small, bright boxes. He handed the pink one to Ronon and opened the purple one himself. He shook it straight into his mouth, grinning as he chewed. Ronon eyed the box with a bemused grin.

“Nerds?”

Aiden shrugged. “Stupid name, but they taste great.”

Ronon opened the box and shook a few into his own mouth.

“What do you think?” Aiden leaned across the table. “Good, right?”

“Not bad. Bit sweet.” Ronon shook a few more into his mouth, just to prove to Aiden he was giving them a fair chance. A couple missed, bouncing off his chin and onto the table. Aiden picked them up, and popped them into his mouth.

“They taste better when you mix the flavors,” he grinned.

“Yeah?” Ronon reached over to grab the purple box from Aiden, but the other man pulled it out of reach.

“Yeah.” He poured the rest of the purple nerds into his mouth, and stood, leaning down and bracing both hands against the table. He grinned down at Ronon for a second, before leaning in and pressing a gentle, soft kiss, to Ronon’s lips.

Ronon smiled against Aiden’s lips and and reached up to twine a hand through his soft hair, pulling him down for another kiss, open mouthed, wet, and a little messy, the way he liked it. Aiden groaned as Ronon’s tongue slid against his own, probing and tasting.

Ronon pulled back, and licked his lips, laughing as Aiden leaned forward to try to chase him, nearly toppling over the table.

“You’re right,” Ronon smiled. “They do taste better together.”

#Just some Halloween candy sampling #Aiden has a sweet tooth #Ronon thinks he's sweet enough already #And Torren can't have sugar #fashion #Ronon Dex/Aiden Ford #carson beckett #Aiden Ford #I just love this pairing so much #Soft and sweet

3 notes · View notes

odd-birds-and-booksellers · 4 years ago

Text

Anything Like Christmas Wishes

It’s a very late and final “Tis the Damn Season for Two Dumb Bitches” from me and I’d like to once again express my hate for anything @doc-pickles talks me into and promise to never partake again. I hope you all had lovely Christmas and enjoy a little more of the Kit Kat universe, I never planned to write more than one oneshot for him and here we are so let me know what you think.

This is part of the Anything like series so if you haven’t already go check it out.

“Dad!”

Alex caught sight of Kit as he exited his friend's house, apparently, one of the kids in his class was born on Christmas Day which meant his parents always went overboard on the Christmas eve party.

Alex had been pretty bummed to lose half a day with Kit on their first Christmas together but he couldn’t let him down, especially when Kit had been so excited telling him all about this famous party. He had to admit the smile on his face had been well worth it. He’d only been in his life for a little over six months but Alex already felt like he’d known him forever, he’d made a point of knowing everything about him, what he liked, what he disliked, allergies, shoe size, favourite ice cream flavour, teachers names, anything and everything he could think of, he even quizzed Jo on her pregnancy when she let him. He was so desperate to not feel like the outsider looking in and the family he could've had.

“How was the party Kit Kat?” Alex asked as he buckled the young boy into his car seat, ruffling his hair affectionately before he shut the door.

“It was awesome...Jamie’s dad set himself on fire.”

Alex chuckles peering up to see Kits grinning face that was covered in chocolate cake still in the mirror. “Oh well, that sounds safe…”

“It was really funny…”

“I’m glad you had fun, are you excited for Christmas tomorrow?”

“Yeah, I’m so excited.” Kits eyes light up at the mention of Christmas as Alex pulls out onto the street. “Momma and I are gonna watch the Grinch and make lunch together, momma always burns something.”

Alex chuckles, catching Kit's eye in the mirror as he pulls up at red light, the miniature Alex falling into a fit of laughter as Alex shudders at the thought of Jo’s cooking. “Oh don’t I know it.”

“What are you doing dad?”

“I’m probably gonna go into work and check on my patients…”

Alex hears Kit gaps dramatically at his answer, making him furrow his eyebrows as he looks back at him. “You’re not...you’re not gonna see bista and El?”

Bista and El, Kit had accidentally called Alexis his bista instead of sister the first time they’d met and they’d found it so funny it had ended up sticking. It had been a great relief to Alex to see them all get along, Kit was so excited to have even more family and well for the twins Alex assumed they were getting used to surprise family members appearing every five years, plus they really enjoyed having a younger brother, someone to teach all the cool stuff they knew to and boss around.

“No, they're with their mom this year. We take it in turns. I saw them last year, so this year it’s their turn with her so I’ll see them the day after and then we’ll come to pick you up in the afternoon.” Alex forces a huge smile on to his face, hoping Kit doesn't pick up on the fact that it doesn't quite meet Alex’s eyes, he really hated spending Christmas without his kids, he hated more that he’d gone from the guy all alone on Christmas to the family man cutting the turkey and then back to being alone again.

“Oh…” Kits face dropped as they pulled up to Alex’s, looking down at his hands as he waited for Alex to open the car door for him. “So you’re all alone?”

“No no I’m okay buddy, I’ve got a lot of kids at the hospital that need my help.” It wasn’t a complete lie, he could go to the hospital, sure he wasn’t due to work but he’d definitely have something to do, he'd never wished a kid sick but he sure could use the distraction.

“You can come to my house.” Kit exclaims, throwing his hands up in excitement, sending sweets flying as they both kick their shoes off by the door, Kit tugging at Alex’s sleeve and he excitedly tells him his new idea. “Momma won’t mind at all, you can share my presents.”

“Thanks, Kit Kat, but you don’t have to worry about me, you and momma have your own plans.” He watches as Kit deflates once again, his little lip jutting out the same way Jo’s does. Alex hated this, he hated hurting his kids however inadvertent it was. It's clear a change in topic is in need if Alex is gonna rescue this KitKat and Daddy day. “Now...who wants to play Mario kart?”

The spend the rest of the afternoon playing as many games as they can, Alex may have gone overboard with the sweet treats, he was kind of a sucker when it came to spoiling his kids, it wasn't until Kit had begun running purposefully in the wall only to fall into a fit of giggles and go again that he realised he'd made a mistake one that he'd have to somehow explain to Jo.

“HI MOMMA,” Kit screamed the minute Jo opened her front door, his eyes wide as he raced past Jo, spinning around in circles in the hallway.

“Hi Kit Kat” Jo laughed bemused as she looked back at him before turning towards Alex who was sheepishly making his way up the drive with Kits bags in hand.

“He’s kinda sugar high” Alex mutters rubbing the back of his neck as Jo steps aside to let him, they’d agreed he’d have Christmas Eve with the Kit this year but Alex didn’t wanna lose any time with him so they’d decided he’d spend the evening with him at Jo’s so he could do the bedtime routine and Kit could still wake up with Jo. Jo had promised to make herself scarce already feeling bad Alex wouldn’t be with Kit on Christmas, much to Alex’s dismay who really wouldn’t mind spending time with her and Kit together, but Jo was pretty against the idea of giving Kit the wrong idea.

She’d insisted she’d be attending her hospital Christmas Eve party which is why she was standing there now, shaking her head as she crossed her arms over her chest, the deep red satin dress clinging to her body making Alex avert his eyes up to her face which wasn’t helping much because the red lipstick she’d chosen to wear really had his mind spinning as he stepped into her house.

“I can see that...Thanks for bringing him here, I don’t wanna ruin your time together I just thought it would be easier to put him to bed here.”

“Jo I get it you don’t have to explain it to me, I’m happy to do whatever makes you happy” Alex mutters carefully choosing his words as she closes the door leaving little space between them, making Alex shift uncomfortably.

“So you keep saying…”

“Well, I mean it, Jo.” Alex’s voice changes, sounding a life more serious as he peers his head around the living room door checking that Kit was alright, watching as their son every toy he could out of the toy chest in there. “So you're going to that Christmas party?” He asks looking back to Jo gesturing to her dress.

“Yeah...I wouldn’t usually, I mean if I’m off on Christmas I’ve always usually been with Kit but I...it’s only fair you have time with him but I can’t sit here on my own so the party’s a good distraction.”

“Well, you could’ve hung out with me and Kit.”

“No no, it’s your time I don’t wanna encroach.”

“Jo really it’s-“

Alex is cut off by another male voice.

“Jo...Hi” There standing in the doorway to the kitchen is a man Alex doesn't recognise dressed in a smart suit navy blue, that screams more expensive than one-months paycheck. “You must be Alex...Kit’s dad right?” The mystery man moves towards Alex, offering his hand out for him.

“Right.” Alex nods, his hand tightly clasping around the mystery man as he sized him up. He hadn’t seen Jo with another guy yet, he knew she’d been on a few dates the last six months but he hadn’t actually seen a guy with her, seen a goy put his hands on her. He’d assumed he’d be okay, so much time had passed since they’d been together but seeing this guy here now, in the house his son lived in, Jo dressed up to the nines to go out with him...it all made him feel sick.

That should be him, this man is in his place, in a life that should’ve been his but he’d ruined his chance a long time ago and he couldn’t really blame any guy for wanting to be with Jo.

“Sorry this is erm Dr Walker he’s the trauma chief at work.”

Dr Walker pulls his phone from his pocket as it pings, tutting at something before he begins to type away furiously. “We should get going.”

Alex withheld a growl that rumbled low in his chest as he watched Walker walk straight past Jo looking down at his phone as he grabbed his coat from by the door.

Jo looks a little uneasy as she checks her watch, glancing between the two men in her hallway before letting out a shaky breath. “Alex…”

“It’s fine Jo...go, have fun, you deserve it.” Alex shakes his head smiling at her, watching as she calls Kit to say goodbye before following the doctor out, glancing back at Alex as she heads down towards what he assumes must be Walkers car.

When Jo returns home later that night she’s pretty sure she’d never been happier to see her little yellow front door, waving goodbye to Dr Walker she heads up her drive, as she slips into the door she can hear the TV still on in the living room, poking her head around the door she spots Alex sprawled out across the sofa, one hand clutched on the remote, the other behind his head as he snores softly. His face is covered in Kits face paint in a pattern Jo could only describe as a drunken tiger, it made her chuckle softly as she stared at him. The relationship he’d been building with Kit made her heart soar, they were best buds and she was glad Kit seemed to adjust to his presence so quickly. It wasn't much of a surprise to her though, Kit had pretty much been a carbon copy of Alex since birth, even though Alex insisted he saw a lot of her in him.

A crash from behind her makes Jo jump as she whips around spotting those mischievous Karev eyes staring back at her. There Kit was standing on the staircase, dressed in his dinosaur Christmas PJs, his green teddy Link had bought him when he was born tucked under his arm, the Batman torch he’d dropped down the stairs lying on the floor by Jo’s feet.

“Hi Monkey...what are you still doing up?” She asks narrowing her eyes on him as she slips out of her feels making her way halfway up the staircase to meet him.

“Checking to see if Santa had been.”

Jo smiles, stroking her hand as across his cheeks as she sits on the steps, patting the space beside her for him to sit. “Well you know he only comes if you’re asleep, so you better run back up to bed.”

Kit squirms in her arms, protesting immediately making Jo frown. “But I need him to know I’ve changed my Christmas wish.”

“You have?”

“Yeah…”

“What about that remote control truck you wanted?”

“I don’t want it...I want dad to come for Christmas.” Jo opens her mouth, words failing her as her heart breaks a little, she hadn’t expected Kit to ask that she had never wanted to give Kit the wrong idea about doing things as a family it was the whole reason she'd not invited him, even though she'd questioned her decision every time she saw her boys together, having to remind herself each and every time that they both weren't hers, only Kit was. “He’s gonna be alone, I don’t want him to be alone.” Kit mumbles pulling at Jo’s hair as his eyes downcast to the living room doorway.

“That’s a really nice wish Kit Kat.” Jo smiles softly brushing back his hair, pressing a kiss to his forehead. “You know the good thing about Santa?...he always knows what your Christmas wish is, now back up to bed please.” She whispers, holding her hand out for Kit as she guides him back up to his bedroom.

Half an hour later when Jo managed to slip out of Kits room, happily convinced he’d finally gone back to sleep, she wonders if Alex had woken up at all.

She finds him exactly where she’d left him, sleeping soundly on the sofa, he looked so peaceful and she had to fight the urge to curl up beside him. “Alex…”

She tried to gently shake him awake as she kneels down on the floor beside him. “Alex.”

“Huh, what’s the time?” He croaks abruptly sitting up as he looks around the room frantically trying to get his surroundings.

“Just gone midnight.”

“Oh sorry,” he sighs, rubbing a hand down his face as he meets her eyes, making Jo’s heartbeat speed up as she realises how close his face is. “How was your night?”

There’s something that flashes through his eyes as he asks about her night and she knows he’s testing the waters, wanting to ask about the man he’d met earlier.

“It was okay,” Jo shrugs, smirking as he looks her up and down.

“Just okay?”

“Eh pretty stuffy, I hate these parties, don't even know why I bothered.”

“And that Dr Worker?”

“Walker.” Jo corrects, she has to bite her lip to stop herself from laughing as she watched the lines form across Alex’s forehead scowling after the thought of the man. “What about him?”

“How was he?”

“Fine...so was his wife, who I’m good friends with,” Jo mutters waiting for Alex to react as she fiddled with her empty ring finger. She hadn’t even worn her ring that long but she’d never got used to the empty space it left.

“Huh?”

Jo rolls her eyes he really was dum sometimes. “She got called into surgery last minute but I’d already agreed to go with them so I didn’t have to walk in alone and he wouldn’t take no for an answer, anyway she joined us there.”

“Oh I thought-“

“Oh, I know what you thought.”

“I’m sorry Jo, I know I have no right…”

“No, you really don’t.”

Alex sighs, for a second there had been a wave of relief flood through his body when she’d told him it wasn’t in fact a date she’d been on, but that was soon replaced with the reminder that she wasn’t his, and that he’d still be going home tonight alone. Slowly he rises off the sofa, grabbing the throw banker he’d laid out and haphazardly folding it up never meetings Jo’s eye as she rises from the floor in front of him, “I should get going. “

“Alex?” He’s just made it the doorway when he feels her slender hand wrap around his arm pulling him back towards her before he even has a chance to question it.

Suddenly she’s all he can see, her red lipstick a little faded from her evening out, her eyes a little tired but they still had the same beautiful sparkle they always had when they’d look at him, he honestly thought he’d never not see pain reflecting in her eyes when he’d bumped into her at the hospital six months ago but he was relieved to see that wasn't true.

He watched as her eyes flick up, pursing her lips as she tries to fight the smile on her face as Alex stares back at her dumbfounded still, his whole body set on fire from her simple touch.

Mistletoe.

Mistletoe hanging neatly with a gold bow from the doorway, Alex hadn’t even noticed it earlier this evening.

Jo raised her eyebrows at him in a silent question, her hand still wrapped around his arm as she leaned in closer her breath fanning across his face making Alex’s heart thump harder in his chest.

He wasn’t a shy guy, he didn’t get nervous kissing women he was attracted to but this wasn’t just any women this was Jo, Jo who knew him better than most people, Jo who he loved with everything in him...still even now. Jo who happened to be standing before him in a red satin dress that set his pulse racing with one glance and suddenly he was a teenage boy who’d never kissed a girl sitting in the nurse's office.

He’s hesitant as he leans forward, pressing his lips against her soft cheek. It’s a simple and sweet and over way too soon but it’s closest he’s been to her since they’d reunited and with every movement, Alex was scared she’d back off, turn around and tell him she hated him and she’d be well within her right to.

“That’s pathetic,” Jo whispers stepping closer to Alex, both hands tracing up his arms coming to rest against his shoulders. “How the hell am I meant to know if we still have something with a kiss like that?”,

Alex shakes his head confused for a moment, surprised as his hands wind around her waist as if they’d never stopped doing so, “You don’t know if we’ve still got something?” He asks in disbelief at how she could ever question their connection as he feels h er fingers tangle in the hair at the nape of his neck and he lifts his lips in a small smile as she leans further into him.

“Well it wouldn’t be bad to confirm it…” she teases, her lips brushing over his.

Alex cuts her off, his lips pressing against hers, making Jo yelp as he pushed her against the wall tightening his grip around her waist.

“How’s that for you?” He mumbles nipping at her bottom lip gently. Smirking at the way her red lipstick is now smudged, his cocky boy self proud he’d been the one to smudge it.

“Good…but erm maybe we should check again?" Jo mutters little breathlessly, her thumb wiping her own lipstick from Alex’s lips as she leans back in pulling Alex’s head down so she could reach him as her lips find his again. “And again,” She whispers in between kisses. Now she’s started she can’t remember why they haven’t been doing this the whole time, maybe the pain she felt had been covering over the memories of him because right now she’s pretty sure nothing ever felt as good as this. “And again.”

The tiny groan Alex lets out, lets Jo know he's thinking the same thing as his hands slide higher up her waist.

When they break part in need of oxygen, Jo finds herself holding back a laugh at the absurdity of the situation, leaning back against the wall with Alex’s arms still around her. When she finally catches her breath she pushes off the wall untangling herself from his arms and for a moment he thinks she’s leaving but she surprises him as she reaches the bottom step when she turns around holding out her hand for him.

“Come on…”

Her words seem to act as cold water shaking Alex from his daze as he stops dead letting her hand fall between them. For a moment the fear they'd both read this all wrong creeps in.

“Jo I don’t wanna rush this, and it’s late and Kits asleep and I have no idea what this means or if I’m dreaming and then this means nothing at all but I know we should slow down…”

Jo wants to laugh because she’s never seen Alex Karev wanna slow down anything, he’d told her he loved her before they’d even kissed, he’d asked her to marry her before they’d been together a year. He had never taken things slow, not with her. She got it, he was scared, god knows she was but all she knows is that she spent most of her evening stood alone at that party tonight wondering why she wasn’t at home eating Chinese takeout with her two favourite boys in her pyjamas. And then she remembered she was too scared to, scared of being hurt again. Maybe this won’t work, maybe they aren’t destined for forever or maybe they are. Maybe if they just keep trying one day it will all work out, all she knew was that she didn’t wanna look back and think of how happy she could’ve been if she’d just been a little less scared.

“I think we’re a bit past the taking it things slow stage Alex...now come on there’s a little boy who’s Christmas wish for his dad to be here when he wakes up...you wanna make his wish come true? Maybe make my wish come true too?”

She grabs hold of his hand dragging him upstairs without a response, keeping her firm mom voice on so Alex couldn’t argue with her. They had plenty of time to sort it all out, right now she’d really just like to fall asleep in his arms again.

“Mom...mom he’s been, he’s been, he came...Santa came.” It’s Kits voice that wakes Jo up the next morning the little boy bursting into the room, stocking in hand as he clambers over Jo’s bed completely obvious to sleeping Alex he’d kicked in the stomach.

“He did…” Jo grins just about catching Kit before he falls headfirst off the bed, her whole face lighting up at her sons' excitement.

She watched as his little face twists up when he’d notices the usually empty side of his mom's bed is currently occupied, frowning as he peers over recognising the sleeping figure. Of course, Alex could sleep through all that noise.

“DAD” He screams leaping over Jo as he jumps onto Alex’s back making him groan as he shook him awake. “YOU'RE HERE” Kit squeals, hugging Alex's back tightly, as a sleepy Alex winces twisting carefully as Kit sits on top of him.

“Oh hey Kit Kat, good morning bud…” Alex smiles sleepily, rubbing a hand over his face as he looked towards Jo who was smiling beside him, her eyes watering slightly as she met his.

“Mom, dads here.” Kit whispers his little arms wrapping tightly around Alex’s neck as he hugged him close.

“Yeah, he is baby.” Jo’s voice cracks a little as she watched the two, turning away slightly as she wiped her own tears on Alex’s T-shirt sleeve that she’d thrown on at some point early this morning.

Alex tries to ignore the way his heart breaks knowing the reason for Jo’s tears as he watches Kit begin to rip open his stocking, he’d missed this, he’d missed their family he missed her. All this time wasted.

“Don’t…” she whispers from beside him softly as she snuggled into his side watching as Kit begins to line up some of his gifts. “It’s okay we have time now.” She mumbles against his neck as if she knows exactly what’s he thinking her hand tenderly reaching up to wipe the tears he hadn’t even known he was crying before he felt her wipe them away.

“This is the best Christmas ever.” Kit exclaims looking up at his parents completely unaware of their quiet moment as both their faces smile brightly back at him.

Alex nods wrapping an arm around Jo as he tugs her closer to him, pressing a kiss to the top of her head as Kit begs them to follow him downstairs to the rest of his presents.

“Yeah, it’s a pretty amazing Christmas...” Jo agrees as Kit crashes down between them, the little boy's laughter ringing out as Alex hoists him up ticking his side as Jo begins to smother him in kisses.

#jolex #alex karev #jo wilson #jo karev #greys anatomy #greys abc #greysanatony #justin chambers #greys #camilla luddington #jolex fanfic #jolex fanfiction

26 notes · View notes

gmos · 4 years ago

Text

monthly faves: april 🌷🌱🌤

ok so @antigojos was posting about this and i love sharing my opinions so im participating <3 (below cut bc its long)

📺🎞💻media

💫kamen rider ooo. its 10 years old and frustratingly good and its changed me as a person forever. im a kazari apologist except for when im an uva apologist.

💫overwatch archives event. its over now but i came back to play it a bunch bc im unfortunately still invested in the lore and i like pve story games

💫jerma stream highlights. -v- you all really made me watch this insane man thinking he was some kind of clown and not a local freak psychologically terrorizing me forever.

💫kamen rider saber. i keep going back and forth on whether i love it or hate it but in the second most recent episode two main characters had gay sex so im willing to forgive some crimes.

💫ASLRochelle. this woman is an angel she has taught me language better than i have been taught anything before and her videos are in the perfect length to learn per day.

🔊🎶🎧music

💫SAWAYAMA by Rina Sawayama (album). GOD what a good album its so fun to listen to. its definitely got songs id love to dance to when partying is an option again. fave track: XS

💫 That Kid (artist). one of the artists that really got me into hyperpop and adjacent genres. he's a pop star for sure and all his songs are so fun to listen to. fave tracks: kiss & tell, mind your business, boost mobile

💫Misc. songs ive had on repeat: Confess to Me by Disclosure, Hot Pink by Let's Eat Grandma, Rotten Tomatoes by Dubloadz, Slap on the Face by Alice Gas, Plug Me In by Lil Soda Boi

🥧🥤🍓food & drink

💫kitkat duo mint/dark chocolate. i hate to shill for any nestle owned product but i fucking love these green kitkats i grab em by the handful at cvs. its good balance between sweet/rich chocolate and light mint that i can eat the whole thing but still feel like im eating candy

💫homemade iced matcha latte. yes another green food. i make it with cinnamon sugar, perfect drink to overcaffeinate on 😌

💫chobani vanilla yogurt with honey. self explanatory. yogurt with honey is one of the foods that makes me feel like any time in history. i know thats not historically accurate but maybe you should try some with me and understand.

🧥👗👢fashion

💫mismatched earrings from hot topic. ok before you judge me, i didnt pay for them. i have a rose gold hello kitty set for my right ear and a green/gunmetal cybergoth-inspired set for my left ear. my brand.

💫pink athletic shorts from walmart. idk the brand or anything but theyre very comfortable and they could work as swim shorts if i ever get the chance to swim again lol

💫velvet scrunchies. my sister got a big pack of them from target and gave me some, my favorite are pink, neon green, dark teal, and royal blue.

#cro zone #monthly faves #im gonna be real with you guys i wrote most of this while high so if its incomprehensible im sorry

4 notes · View notes

sprnklersplashes · 4 years ago

Text

heart of stone (14/?)

AO3

It’s a little after 10 when Damian comes home, his face paint starting to rub off and his puffed shirt untucked from his pants. While the bus is almost deserted at this hour, tonight it was half full, mostly consisting of drunk college students (and some high schoolers) on their way to or back from some party and reeking of alcohol. Damian had sat at the front the whole journey, his bag held between his legs and his eyes down. Maybe he should reconsider his stance on getting his licence.

When he opens the door, it’s to the sight of his mom standing in the hallway with their trick or treat bowl in her hand, her eyes shooting upwards when she sees her son on the doorstep rather than some neighbourhood kids. She looks a little disappointed too. She does love handing out candy, and fawning over every single costume, no matter how scrappy it looks. It’s her little Halloween tradition.

“Damian,” she greets. “You’re back.”

“Yep,” he replies, pulling off his coat and running his fingers through his hair. His mom nods, slightly speechless, but smiling, nonetheless. Damian peers into the bowl of treats in her hands. “Did we have much success tonight?”

“Oh, loads,” he says, holding the bowl out to her. He picks up a funsize KitKat and a lollipop, slipping the former into his pocket and the latter into his mouth. It’s one of those dark ones that’ll turn his tongue blue. “Sometimes I thought it would have been easier to just hang out at the door and wait for people. I had barely sat down before another one showed up.”

“Well, that may be because everyone knew you were making your famous death by chocolate this year,” he reminds her, poking their finger at his chest. His mom has a bit of a reputation in all circles for being a master baker. School fundraisers, boy scout meetings, weddings, funerals, she bakes for all of them and she bakes to perfection. Damian and his sisters have all insisted she go on some big baking competition and win them all a big juicy cheque. “Speaking of which…”

“Yes, your slice is in the fridge,” she tells him, caressing his cheek. She can barely ask if he has room for it before he speeds off to the kitchen, leaving her chuckling behind him. Cara and Maisie are sitting at the kitchen table, Maisie with a tutu attached to her skeleton outfit, Cara with a pirate’s hat beside her and a mountain of candy sits between them.

“Oh, someone had a good night,” he comments, giving Maisie a fright. “You two little terrors raid the neighbourhood?”

“Yep,” Maisie chirps. “Everyone gave us so much stuff! Mrs Jenkins at number 17 even gave us a whole packet of gummy worms each!”

“And where’s mine?” he asks.

“Mom says you got food at your school thing,” Cara reminds him, her eyebrow raised. She has far too much attitude for a 10 year old. He doesn’t mean to sound like a boomer, but he thinks kids these days grow up far too quickly. He knows that Cara may be on her last years of trick-or-treating and that she’s desperate to go out to parties with the big kids. “So she said you didn’t need to save you any.”

“I did indeed get food at my school thing,” he tells her, closing the fridge door with his cake in hand. “Thank you very much, little miss.” She rolls her eyes, but he catches her smile as he sits down beside them. “So, spill, I want to hear everything.”

“It was fun,” Maisie says. “We went all around this block and then we went to the next block. Just a little bit though, because we were worried about getting lost.”

“I wasn’t,” Cara says, an edge in her voice. “Damian and I used to trick or treat on that block all the time.”

“Yeah but we had Janis too,” he reminds her, watching her sink back in her chair. “And even then we didn’t do every house.” He loves Cara with every bone in his body, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t willing to put her in her place. That no matter how big she gets; attitude doesn’t fly in this house. He dreads to think what will happen when he leaves and his mom is left with her. Hopefully, she’ll have mellowed out by then.

“Did you see Janis at your school thing?” Maisie asks, pushing her candy around the table. It’s an innocent question, a sweet one even, born out of genuine curiosity and his sister’s ever-growing love for Janis. And it’s an easy answer too. But none of that means he’s not uncomfortable with it.

“Yeah I did,” he replies.

“So she’s finished with hospital now?” she asks again and Cara visibly stiffens beside her. After telling his mom, they both agreed to give the girls slightly different versions, based on what they can handle. All Maisie knows is that Janis had to go to hospital for a while and that she lost her hair. Cara is the only one of them who knows about ‘the C word’.

“Not quite yet,” he tells her. “She will be soon though. But her doctor let her come out for a few hours to hang with us.”

“Oh,” she says. She tosses a candy bar between her hands, her expression thoughtful. “Well, that’s good. Could you give her this when you see her?” She pushes the bar across the table. It’s big, probably the biggest one she has, packed with caramel, according to the wrapper. And Maisie loves caramel. His breath catches as emotion stirs in him, pride swelling in his chest. “Just in case she needs to be cheered up.”

“Thanks, Maise,” he tells her. “Next time I see her, I’ll give it to her.” His sister smiles at his assurance and goes back to sorting through her own loot. Cara avoids his gaze, her chest rising and falling heavily and her fists clenched on the table.

“And… how is she?” she finally asks. “Janis, I mean.” He doesn’t miss the way her voice cracks when she asks, the anxiety seeping into her words, and he places his hand over hers.

“She’s good.” He doesn’t get why they words feel so clumsy in his mouth, because they’re the truth. He saw it with his own eyes, felt it when she jumped on him and wrapped him in one of those tighter than tight hugs. He could feel the strength in her body. She’s good. She looked good, not just costume wise (although he did like her minimal approach). She looked healthy. Ish. Not like she used to, but that’s normal. Even if her skin was a little paler than he remembered it, or the fact that she’s far thinner than she used to be. And she had to zip up her jacket as much as she could, and even then she was still shivering, but that’s fine. And as the night went on, she did spend more and more time leaning either him or Cady, but that’s normal. They’re all side effects, and they all mean that the treatment’s working. And once they get out on the other side of it, they’ll be fine.

He blinks, pulling himself out of whatever wormhole he just fell down. There’s a slight ringing in his head from it and he tries to shake it off, Cara and Maisie both eyeing him with concern.

“Janis is great,” he tells them firmly. He takes Cara back a little. He takes a deep breath in, his surroundings settling and grounding around him. “Uh, hey, you guys have a lot of candy here. How about we see if we can wrestle the remote from Mom and watch Halloweentown?”

“For real?” Cara asks, her face breaking out into a smile. “Okay, cool! I think Mom’s nearly done with her thing anyway. I’ll go check.”

“Meanwhile I’ll go change into something more comfy and movie-watchy,” he says, stretching as she stands. She nods, excitement sparking in her eyes, before she sets off down the hallway. Damian laughs and helps Maisie pile everything into two big bowls, planning to fit them on either side of him so that the girls can snack as they wish. Before he goes, he picks up the candy bar from the table and taps her nose with it, a soft giggle escaping her mouth as he does.

“And don’t you worry,” he tells her. “I’ll get this to Janis as soon as I can.”

“Can she come trick or treating with us next year?” she asks. “It’s no fun without her.”

He blinks at her and suddenly, the smile on his face feels fake somehow. Hollow. Like it’s hiding something, even though he doesn’t know what.

“She’d love that,” he tells her. “Now come on, this movie isn’t going to watch itself.” He runs upstairs to change, pulling on a pair of pyjama pants and his Halloween sweater, the comfort a treat after a day of walking around in character shoes. The photo sits in their message log, not changing no matter how long he looks at it. He makes an effort to be okay with it, really, knowing that right now there are any number of reasons she might not be looking at her phone, and that none of them have to be bad. She always does answer, nine times out of ten with a perfectly reasonable explanation like she was asleep, so why should this be any different? The day probably tired her out, that’s all.

It’s only when he realises five minutes have passed that he shoves his phone in his pocket, shaking his head like that will straighten everything going on inside.

“You’re losing it Hubbard,” he mutters to himself. And for the one who normally has it, that’s bad. He takes a deep breath in, and then another one, until he feels more like himself again, and heads downstairs.

Much as he appreciates how important what Janis is doing is, he also can’t help wishing they could just skip past all of it to the part where she’s better and they’re normal again.

It’s the day after Halloween when Janis makes a realisation. She’s sitting in her bed, shaking off the last of what she likes to call a “chemo hangover” when she notices something in the reflection of her phone. She doesn’t know how she hasn’t noticed it before, nor does she know how long it’s been there for, but now that she’s seen it, she can’t unsee it, especially not when she gets up and looks in the mirror to take a better look.

Her eyebrows are gone. Mostly. One’s half-gone, one’s about three quarters. Like a plucking job gone terribly wrong. And she managed to not notice until right now.

It makes sense. Her hair fell out, so the logical thing should be that her eyebrows disappear. Her eyelashes are gone too, most of them anyway. It’s normal, it’s obvious, and she should have worked out that this would happen back when she shaved her head. Maybe she should have went for the eyebrows too and plucked at her eyelashes. Just got it over with in one fell swoop.

She looks weird. Again, that’s news to no-one, but she does. She’d just started getting used to the being bald thing and the fact she looks like a skeleton now. But this is just something else on top of that and it feels like she’s taken a thousand steps back with it. All the way back to square one. And somehow it feels weirder. People notice losing weight and the beanie in place of her hair. People don’t notice her now having eyebrows until they get close enough and maybe even then it might escape their notice.

So maybe with that logic, she shouldn’t worry so much about it?

Nice try, she tells herself, flopping back down on the bed again. That turns out to be a mistake, as black spots dance before her eyes or a few seconds and the room seems to tilt and slide down to one side. It’s only after she squeezes her eyes closed and shakes her head for a bit that it subsides. Clearly, she’s not quite shaken off that last round yet.

When she opens her eyes, she nearly jumps right off the bed. Cassie, that woman from the Cancer Fund, is standing in the doorway, her mouth hanging in a miniature ‘oh’ and her hand half extended towards her. Relief floods her face as she power walks towards her bed, apparently oblivious to the heart attack that she just gave her.

“Oh are you okay, hon?” she asks her.

“Yeah I’m okay,” she sighs, shifting just enough to be out of her reach. Something about her means Janis want those peach-painted nails nowhere near her. Cassie either manages to pick up on that or hangs back of her own accord, since she simply sits down beside her, her hands folded in her lap.

“You left the door open, and I was going to knock, but then I saw you-”

“I’m fine,” she says firmly, pressing her hands into the mattress. She takes a deep breath and manages to not scowl at her, which is an achievement by her standards given how awkward she feels and her overall discomfort around her. Never mind that she was kind of dealing with something before she walked in. “Um… what’s up?”

“I just wanted to check you’re all ready for this Saturday?” she asks. “For the photography project.”

“Yeah I know that’s Saturday.” In the very, very back of Janis’ mind she does think that maybe, a little bit, she’s being slightly too gruff here. Especially since the woman’s only trying to help out here. “Yeah, I’m all set. My friends are coming. Well, my friend and my girlfriend.”

“Oh that’s great,” she says. “So it starts at 12:30, but you might want to get your friends around a bit before that just to make sure everything’s going to be set up in time. And the photographer’s said that you can have a little play around with the camera first, just so you can see how it all works. Although something tells me you’d be a natural with one of those anyway.”

“Well I wouldn’t say a natural,” she says with a shrug. “Although I did do the photos for my school paper in freshman year.”

“See. I knew this would be right up your alley with all your artsy stuff,” she says and Janis actually laughs. Maybe this lady isn’t so bad. She’s kind of like Karen in some ways with all that perpetual sunshine and optimism, just a little smarter. Maybe that’s what Karen could do after school. Work with people like her. Cassie taps her leg with the folder she’s carrying, giving her a smile that scrunches up her face. “See you Saturday, bright eyed and bushy tailed.”

“Aren’t I always, Cass?” she asks her.

“And your mom told me about all the fun you had at your school,” she adds on her way out. “I’m so glad you had such a nice time.” Janis nods at that, giving her a small wave as she leaves. She lets out a long breath and cranes her neck to look at the mirror again, sad to see that her eyebrows haven’t done a miraculous regrow since two minutes ago. They must have fallen before yesterday, she thinks. She has to wonder if anyone else noticed them. If Damian did after she tackle hugged him or if Cady did when she kissed them. Janis rubs the back of her neck as another unwelcome question creeps into her mind; did they simply not notice, or did they notice and just decide not to tell her?

It seems that today she’s the popular one, because Cassie isn’t the only one to call into her room. Because that night, when her last round is due, Doctor Wiley accompanies the nurse on duty that day. Her dad is over too, making her already small room feel even tighter.

“Good evening Janis,” Doctor Wiley agrees. “And Mr Sarkisian, nice to see you.”

“He’s here for the burgers and the burgers only,” Janis says dryly, smirking over in her dad’s direction. True enough, there is a plate on his lap with a half-eaten burger and the remainder of fries.

“Sometimes I just don’t want to cook for myself,” he replies, giving an over-exaggerated shrug. Janis chuckles; as does Wiley as the nurse hooks up her IV. Her eyes move anxiously towards her dad. She’s never been given the impression that this bothers him, but nine times out of then he comes over when she’s already been hooked up or is here way before it’s due. He rarely sees her getting hooked up and since it’s not a great experience for her, it’s not something she wants many people to see.

“So, Janis,” Wiley asks. “How are we feeling tonight?”

“Fantabulous,” she replies, throwing up a little reflexive peace sign. She always delights in the look of happy confusion on Wiley’s face when she pulls stuff like this. “How are you doing?”

“Oh, well I’m doing well,” he says. He goes to ask something else, but the nurse interrupts him.

“Okay, I’m going to put this in now, okay?” she asks.

“Just make sure you actually hit my vein, Lucy,” she says. Her dad laughs at that, but he’s the only one who does. She makes a mental note to tell him about every time she’s been made to feel like a human pin cushion. Luckily, Lucy is an old hand at this and she only has to bite her cheek and curl her toes in once.

You’d think that, over two months into this, she’d be used to stuff like this.

“Okay, that’s you for the next two hours, hon,” Lucy tells her. “You comfy enough?”

“Like a queen,” she says. Lucy nods and bids goodbye to her parents before heading off, surprisingly without Doctor Wiley. Something shifts in Janis, and she reaches out and pulls Purrlock towards her. Just in case.

“Would you mind I closed this door?” he asks. Janis holds Purrlock even closer.

“Um, no, of course not,” her mom says. “Is there something wrong?”

“I wouldn’t say so,” Wiley says. He sits down on the opposite side of Janis’ bed. “Just that I’ve been talking with some of my colleagues, and we think now would be a good time for a bone marrow aspiration to monitor Janis’ progress.”

“Bone marrow aspiration?” Janis asks. “What’s that?”

“Just a small procedure to monitor how well this is going,” he explains. “We’d just be taking a sample of your bone marrow to check how well the treatment is going. At this stage, we’d like to think you’re well on your way to being finished, but we just want to make sure. And if the results are good, we can carry on as normal and finish up as planned?”

“Alternatively, they could be super, super good and I could be let out early,” she says.

“Well, we’ve never seen that happen,” he says. “But we do like to hope for miracles around here. So what do you say?”

Janis looks over at her parents, but it’s a no-brainer really.

“Sounds good,” she says. “When do we start?”

“Well, any point next week really,” he says. “We’d obviously like to get it done as quickly as possible so we can give you your results as soon as we can.” Janis nods, chewing the inside of her cheek as her stomach twists uneasily. This test thing is important, she can’t deny that. And if it’s good news, then she’ll know for sure she’s on her way out of here. Maybe she can start packing everything else up and taking it back home, so she can move out as fast as possible.

But the last time she got a test like this done, it didn’t work out so well. That’s the reason she’s here to begin with. A little black cloud had followed her around throughout that day, dominating everything. Like she knew what was going to happen. And while it may just be her brain playing tricks on her, she feels an unpleasant kind of déjà vu. If there’s one day she’d never want to live again, it’s that one.

“You okay kid?” her dad asks. Janis blinks, back in reality, finding her parents both looking at her expectantly and Doctor Wiley having already left while she was zoned out. She probably missed something there and he just assumed she was listening.

“I’m fine,” she says. Her hand rests on her arm, just over where the needle breaks through her skin. There’s a collection of little bruises on that arm now, alarmingly dark against her pale skin. She looks like a dalmatian there. “Hey Mom, can you get me a yogurt from downstairs? I’d go myself, but…” She gestures at her IV and the conversation ends there.

“Yeah, sure, no problem,” she says, shooting up. “Be back in a second.” Her dad nods, squeezing her hand gently before she goes and Janis feels the need to avert her eyes. Not for the first time, she’s reminded she isn’t the only person affected by this.

“Hey dad?” she asks quietly. Her hand curls into the blanket, the question catching in her throat. “What do you do all week when we’re not home?”

It catches him off guard, it caught her off guard too. She may love her parents, and they may have been through more with them than other families have, but this kind of blunt and open earnestness is unusual for her. She gives him a shrug and picks at the blanket as he tries to find an answer.

“Well… I go to work,” he says. “I watch TV. I make dinner. I walk the puppy. I play with the puppy. I feed the puppy. I call people. I keep busy.” He hesitates for a moment before moving over to her bed, his dinner sitting abandoned on the chair. He pokes her side, the corner of his mouth turning up into a smile. “I’m okay, Janis. I keep myself entertained.”

“Do you… do you get lonely?” She doesn’t miss how her voice shakes as she asks the question and she suddenly feel so much younger than she is. “Y’know, without me and mom?”

There’s a long pause, and then he answers “Sometimes. A lot of the time, yeah.” His hand is on her shoulder now, where he would have run her fingers through her hair. “And that’s why I keep so busy. So time goes faster until I can see you again.”

She nods. She imagines him all alone in their big house, eating breakfast by himself, the kitchen being the only light on in the house. Maxie barking at him because there’s no-one else to bark at until she comes home. Watching TV and working and checking the clock. Eating dinner for one. She tries not to get too emotional when her dad is around, but the way the guilt comes is almost too much, rolling in waves over her. Even for someone as experienced in hiding as she is, it’s hard to suppress fully. It’s only because Damian has already chastised her for it that she doesn’t apologise for it, instead opting to squeeze his hand tightly.

“Oh, don’t tell Maxie I told you I get lonely,” he tells her, a serious edge to his voice. “I don’t want him to think I don’t appreciate him.”

She lets out a laugh at that, like a little patch of blue in her grey mood.

“I won’t,” she tells him, equally as severe. “Besides, I think Max knows you love him really.”

******

The first thing Janis does on Saturday morning is down a cup of coffee. No exaggeration, the first word out of her mouth when she wakes up is ‘coffee’. She normally doesn’t like eating or drinking anything in the mornings, having learned from experience that the nausea means she’ll only puke it up later, but she’s decided to make an exception this once. She did the calculations the night before; if she gets a coffee and drinks the whole thing before her first round is due, then her body will absorb all the caffeine before she can vomit it back. And then she gets another one about an hour before Cady and Damian arrive, just to make sure she’s at her peak performance today. It’s a fool proof plan if she does say so herself, even if Cady had been a little sceptical of it when she told them. Still, they had said that if Janis was sure, they weren’t going to fight her on it.

“Besides, I’m sure your doctor would tell you if this was a bad plan,” they had said. “Right?”

“Right,” Janis had agreed, silently crossing her fingers behind her back. It wasn’t technically a lie, since Cady had never asked if she’d run her plan by a medical professional, but it still felt like one.

But it seems to be working, since she’s walking into her room with her second coffee in hand, stirring the five sugars she had dumped in it. It’s not her usual order, but since she can barely taste anything, she figured she may as well go crazy. And more sugar plus more caffeine just means more energy, right?

In addition to planning out her coffee equation last night, she also planned out her outfit. She had sent her dad a list via text of what to bring over on Wednesday so she could pick it out; meaning he had walked in with a confused look on his face and a grocery bag full of her old stuff that she hadn’t seen in months. At some point she had started leaving her nicer things at home and started investing in comfort over style. It felt a little odd, taking out all her old stuff. Like she was looking through old photos of herself.

She spent more time than she cares to admit deciding between outfits, swapping out garments and swapping them back again, mixing and matching until she found a combination that she deemed cute enough. Still comfortable, but something she would have worn normally before all this started. That’s what she’s after. Something normal.

She locks the door, just in case, and takes her pyjama top off, picking up the grey sweater she had chosen for today, decorated with a white thread skeleton on the front. Just as she pulls it on however, she comes to a depressing realisation. It’s too big on her. She doesn’t-won’t-look in the mirror, but she can tell from how lost she feels inside it, the fabric swamping her. The sleeves envelope her hands, her fingers poking out like icicles on a roof. She pulls off her leggings and grabs her tights, hoping that it looks better when it’s all together. She can’t believe she didn’t think of this. She’s said to her mom that a lot of her stuff doesn’t fit her anymore and she’s even been grown up enough to order sweats and t-shirts and pyjamas in smaller sizes. She and her mom have even had arguments over who’s paying for it. So far, winning has been split 50/50. So how did this slip her mind?

The tights don’t pose a problem, and neither do the shorts up until she has to close them. They hold up, for now, but barely hang onto her hips. And that’s when she’s standing still. She looks through the bag until she finds a belt for them, glad she at least had the foresight to ask for one. She threads it through and pulls it to the last hole, relieved to find it at least does something. They don’t exactly feel like they used to, but they’re at least secure enough for her not to worry about them.

She never thought she’d be glad for that.

She completes the look with a little shimmering black beanie, gifted from Gretchen (“I just saw it in the mall and thought ‘wow it’s so Janis’,” she had said), before checking herself in the mirror. She doesn’t know what she was expecting really. The outfit looks good-she looks good, if she may be permitted to say so. She can’t complain about the outfit, really. She chose well. It just doesn’t look like she thought it would. Where the sweater would have hugged her body before it hangs limply off her frame. Tucking it into the shorts is only a slight improvement. She hadn’t thought about how wearing the shorts shows off how thin her legs are now, nor how much room she has inn. She looks like a kid playing dress-up. They don’t look like her clothes. Nor do they look like they belong on her body.

She pulls her eyes away from the mirror, swallows past the lump in her throat and picks up her phone. According to Cady’s text, she and Damian are five minutes away, her point proven by a picture she sends of the two of them cheesing at the camera while riding the bus. That brings a smile to Janis’ face despite her little wobble, and she slips the phone into her pocket and grabs her bag before heading out into the foyer, following the sound of echoing voices and the occasional flash of light following a camera shutter.

She isn’t the only one who got dressed up for this occasion, she sees. The pyjamas are all put away for today, her friends putting on what she assumes is their finest. They didn’t even plan this, but for some things they all go into a hivemind here. The place is packed and not just with patients; friends and family have come around for this. She recognises a few moms and dads and waves accordingly, but the friends are all foreign to her. Melissa throws her head back and laughs, talking to a dark haired boy Janis guesses is from her school. Janis waves and while she doesn’t get one back, she’s okay with it.

She finds Maddie in the crowd too, a camera around her neck and surrounded by what she can only describe as a group of ‘mini-Maddies’. They all look different, but all have the same toothy grin and wide eyes, all dimples in cheeks and limbs a little too long for their bodies. When Maddie tries to wave them over to a wall, they all move as one big flock of teenage girls, and Janis has to laugh. They’re adorable at that age, so she’s heard.

“Oh, hello!” A voice to her right grabs her attention and admittedly makes her jump a little bit. When she turns around there’s a young-ish guy in a leather jacket, holding a professional looking camera in his hand, and there’s no prizes for guessing where he’s from. “You’re one of the kids right?”

“Nah I just really like hanging out here,” she says flatly, only one corner of her mouth turned up. He gets the sarcasm, thankfully, and even laughs at it, extending his hand.

“I’m Sebastian.”

“Janis,” she tells him, shaking his hand.

“Okay, well I see you haven’t been given a camera,” he tells her. “So here.” The camera he had is deposited into her hands and despite her own experience with photography, she’s surprised at the weight.

“Oh, okay,” is her response, her body suddenly a lot less stable with such an expensive piece of equipment. “Uh, I’m still waiting on my friends to show up…” Her phone buzzes in her pocket, making her heart almost drop to the floor. She can’t take any shocks, not when she’s holding something that, again, looks like it costs her college tuition. “And that’s probably them now.”

“Okay, fantastic!” Sebastian says. “So here, I’ll just put your name on this here, and then you and your friends can go and take all the pictures you like. Did you bring any props?”

“All in here,” she says. She goes to pat the bag before thinking better of it and nods at it instead. “I wouldn’t call them props really. Just bits and pieces of stuff from my room. My paintbrushes, a flag, my stuffed animals.” She gives a shrug. “I’m only sad I couldn’t bring my dog with me too.”

“Trust me, you are not alone,” he says. “Anyway I’ll leave you to it… and I assume these are your friends?”

Janis blinks and turns around, finding Cady rushing up to her side, Damian just behind.

“Hey,” Cady greets, about to go for a hug.

“Woah, woah, I am holding possibly the most expensive piece of equipment in this hospital right now,” Janis says. She goes for a little half-hug instead, and it works just as well.

“Sorry,” Cady says. “Just excited. This actually seems really cool.”

“Really, really cool,” Damian chimes in. “They’ve got a proper modelling shoot going on over there.” Another flash goes off just as he tells them, and Janis can vaguely make out a girl standing pouting against a wall.

“Well you know what we’re like in here,” Janis says. “Any chance we have to get dolled up and pretty, we jump for it.”

“There’s a Zodiac joke in there but I’m not sure if it’s offensive or not to make it.”

“Okay, you joke about that,” Janis jokes. “But I’ve met three people in this ward alone who are actually Cancers! Crazy right?”

“Sure sounds it,” Cady says before clasping their hands together, looking around the room expectantly. “So… do you have a plan of action here?”

“I do indeed, Caddy.” She fiddles with the camera for a second before finding the strap and throwing it around her neck, leaving her other hand free to hold out to Cady. She takes it with a grin. “Let’s go my little poppets.”

She pulls them into a corner, away from the bigger action, and kneels down on the floor, the other two following suit.

“Okay so I kind of have this thing planned out,” she explains. “This whole thing is about showing the ‘person behind the cancer’, right? Like you know, show how we’re still… people. Individuals, right?”

“Noble cause,” Damian says as Janis opens her bag. Realisation dawns on his face as she does so.

“So I just brought a bunch of stuff that’s important to me,” she finishes.

“Do we count as stuff that’s important to you?” Cady teases, already knowing the answer.

“You two are my most important stuff,” she says, dropping a kiss onto Cady’s nose. She looks between the two of them, awkwardness slowly building up in her. “So I kind of wanted some photos of me like… drawing and stuff. You know, what I’d normally do.” She shrugs, a timid grin tugging on her lips. “And you two can play photographer for this part.”

“Oh fuck yeah,” Damian says.

“I also want photos with you two,” she adds. “A lot of pictures with you two. They said… like I’m not sure exactly but they said that they’d put up some of everyone’s work on the walls but we’d also get to keep all our own ones in this little book thing they’ll make for us. I don’t know, I’ve probably explained this to you before.”

“You did, sort of,” Cady says, tucking her hair behind her ears and straightening her shoulders. “Okay, so why don’t we start with some shots of you drawing? It’s sort of you in your natural habitat after all.” She looks over at Damian, excitement sparking in her eyes. “Uh… Damian? Do you mind if I use the camera first?”

“Oh, does someone like the big shiny toy?” Janis teases.

“Do I mind?” Damian says at the exact same time. “Young child, you take as many photos as you want.” Janis hands the camera off to Cady, her heart admittedly picking up a little as she does so. “Meanwhile, I want to play director.”

“Director?” Janis echoes, looking over at an equally confused Cady.

“Yes, director,” he says. “Well you can’t expect to model yourself do you?”

“Jerk,” she says, grinning even so. She sits up and shakes her head, tossing imaginary hair over her shoulders. “Okay genius. Sculpt me.”

That’s all the incentive Damian needs. He climbs over to her as she gets her sketchbook and pencils out of her bag. She tries not to let him see how much emptier her book is compared to last year’s. If he does notice he doesn’t show it even as she opens on a half-finished drawing. He pokes at her and turns her head as she fights off her laughter, her shoulders shaking with the effort.

“This lighting is terrible,” he declares.

“What lighting?” she asks, gesturing to the window. “The sun?”

“Yes. The sun is terrible. Fuck the sun.”

“I remember the myth of Icarus slightly differently to you it seems,” Janis says.

“Okay, okay, now just move that pretty little head of yours down by a millimetre,” he says. “And… perfection. All yours Cady.”

Cady mumbles something that sounds like ‘finally’ before the flash goes off in Janis’ vision.

“You know your way around that thing,” Janis comments when she’s sure they’ve finished. Cady shrugs, a proud grin on her face.

“Back in Kenya I took some photos of the animals,” she explains. “Research purposes, you know?”

“Indeed. So do I look good here?” she asks.

“See for yourself.” Cady fiddles with it for a bit and turns it towards her. Janis’ breath hitches when she sees it. She picked a good one, and Damian did a good job too; she sits with her book balanced between her knees, her fingers fiddling with the pencil. The light that Damian hated so badly drapes across her, chasing away the pale complexion she’s become used to. She has this faraway look about her, lost in her artwork, just the way she loves to be.

“Oh I do look good,” she says.

“Do you want a moment alone with the camera?” Damian asks, an eyebrow raised. She gives him a tiny flip off before pulling herself up, her muscles groaning just slightly. At least everything is sitting still for her today. That coffee she took must have been better than she thought. They take a couple more of her posing, looking wistfully out the window, Purrlock sitting on her lap, throwing peace signs up at the camera.

“Okay, I know what I want to shoot next.” There’s a little bit of a buzz about her as she pulls her next thing out of her bag; her pride flag. She still remembers the day she got it; she was 14 and practically shoved it across the counter of the little store in New York, the unplanned purchase that turned into her most cherished possession. She wraps it around herself now, the flimsy, thin fabric wrapping around her like a trusted blanket and grins at them.

“I love it,” Damian says as Cady snaps a picture of her again and again, her trying out a million different poses, being silly, being serious, trying and failing to be sexy, hoisting it in the air like a flag. When she asked about it, Cassie had told her to bring props that meant something to her, that showed who she really is inside. Of course her flag was one of the first things that came to mind.

“Hey, Caddy,” she says when the flashing subsides for a moment. “You brought yours too, right?”

“Yeah,” they reply. “I just brought the little one, though I don’t really get it…. Oh.” Realisation dawns on Cady’s face, lighting it up from the inside out. Janis opens her arms to her, laughing as she struggles to pull her own flag out of her backpack. After a bit of deliberating, she hangs the bag and the camera to Damian, who swings the former up on his shoulder, and rushes over to Janis, the colours of her bi flag meshing into a blur. When she crashes into Janis’ body, her head smacking into her chin and her waist, that’s when Damian decides to take the picture.

“Hey!” she snaps. “No fair, we weren’t ready!”

“But you looked so cute!” he squeaks, rolling his eyes when Janis gives him a pointed look. “Okay, okay, fine. Get into poses you little lovebirds.”

Cady’s head settles on her shoulder, her flag circling the both of them as she puts her arm around them, her cheek coming to rest against her hair. Cady’s free hand circles around her waist and slides into her pocket, her touch warm against her skin. Despite Damian’s wording, it doesn’t feel like a pose. It feels so, so natural, just like breathing.

She presses her lips to Cady’s head and feels her smiling against her just as the camera goes off again.

“God you two are so cute,” Damian sighs. She swears she sees his eyes misting over, overly sentimental monster that he is. Even if he tries to shake it off and pretend to be the tough guy. “It reminds me that I’m single and lonely.”

“And ready to mingle!” Janis reminds him. Cady’s hand trails off her waist and takes her hand, fingers laced together, and Janis swings their hands between them. “Okay I have one more idea… and I need the two of you in it.”

“Okay, then who’s taking the picture?” Damian asks, his eyes scanning the room for someone, as if they’ll come rushing over to help them. And around here that is often the case, but not today, what with all the nurses enjoying their momentary break. Janis shakes her head instead, a gleam in her eye.

“We are,” she says simply before grabbing Damian’s hand and pulling him closer. “Old school style.”

Getting into position for this isn’t easy, especially not with the two of them being so much taller than Cady and Janis feeling extra cautious around the camera. Bubbly lover of life that she is, Cady initially tires jumping on Damian, and he actually does manage hold her up, even if they do wobble a little. The two laugh at themselves and then each other, the sound so light and musical that it makes Janis’ heart swell. She snaps a quick photo of them, remembering to turn the flash off. It might not have been planned, but when she looks at it, a moment frozen just for her, she’s so glad she caught it.

“Hey Janis come over here!” Damian calls, Cady’s legs wrapped around his waist. “Or are you just going to sit there and look at yourself all day?”

“I’m coming, jerk,” she sighs, running over and kneeling beside him. Cady’s hand comes and rests on the back of her neck; she guesses it’s equal parts affection and trying to keep herself steady. Janis stretches her arm out as far as she can, the screen turned so they can see their themselves, laughing and helpless, fighting for a spot in the frame. Their backs slowly start to hurt, their cheeks aching from so much smiling.

“Have you got this?” Cady asks. “It’s fine if you don’t, I’m comfortable up here.”

“Speak for yourself you little twerp,” a red-faced Damian gasps.

“Okay, okay, okay there we are!” Janis says, tapping the floor in excitement when she sees all three of their faces in the frame. “Okay we only have this for a millisecond so say cheese you two! Three, two, one!”

After the shutter goes off they collapse on the floor, the sound of their laughter echoing off the polished walls. Nurses run over to help them, no doubt on alert seeing one of theirs on the floor seemingly suffocating, and the worst part is none of them can catch their breath long enough to tell them that they’re okay. All it takes is one to look at another and their progress in fixing themselves is gone; they’re one again reduced to cackling messes on the foyer floor.

God, Janis thinks as she sits up, pulling Cady into a sitting position beside her and hugging her close. What would she do without these two?

Later that evening, Damian is draped across her bed, flicking through her mom’s magazine. The three of them had hung out as much as they could when they had finished up, but Cady had been pulled out of it by her phone reminding her of another tutoring session.

“I’m sorry,” she had sighed. “It’s not normally on today, but they were sick so we had to reschedule. I should have moved it earlier, I didn’t think-”

“Nuh-uh, Heron,” Janis told her, tapping her nose. “Don’t you go apologising for your magnificent service to the North Shore community.” Cady scrunches up her face at that. “Besides, you’re probably bringing the average of the entire school up and I don’t want Mrs Norbury coming for me when her classes start failing again.”

“She never would,” she said. They paused for a moment, stuck in a half-embrace, until Damian took the hint and turned his attention to the outside of Janis window. Satisfied, Cady stood up on her tiptoes and pressed their lips to Janis’ in a sweet kiss. “I had a lot of fun today.”

“I had hoped so,” she murmured against her, sneaking another peck. She rubbed her nose against Cady’s, debating whether or not she should convince her to stay. Eventually she let her go, squeezing her hand one more time and promising to text her tomorrow before she left.

And now she’s here, munching on a cereal bar and scribbling in the corner of her sketchbook. All day, but especially since Cady left, her new development had hung around her mind, never really leaving and letting her have peace. The mere idea of not telling Damian just doesn’t sit right with her at all. Not just because he’d know if she kept something from him anyway. He’s given up so much because of this, all for her.

The question is how does she tell him? It’s not like it’s a ‘sit down and take a deep breath’ kind of moment, but it’s not something she wants to brush off either. It’s important, and she’d be stupid not to recognise that. After pondering on it, she finds just being blunt seems to be the best approach, so she taps his shoulder, opens her mouth and-

“So I have a thing next week.”

Wow she thinks. That went well. She guesses she put way too much faith in her communication abilities there.

“A thing?” he asks, turning to look at her. “What kind of thing?”

“It’s…” She clears her throat. “It’s a bone marrow aspiration.”

“Oh.” He turns around to face her then, his eyes wide with concern as he nods seriously. She lets out a snort in response, her demeanour the opposite of his.

“You have no clue what that is, do you?”

“I know what bone marrow is,” he replies. He picks at his nails, his jaw setting. “And I guess it’s about you. Your cancer, I mean.”

“It’s to see how well I’ve progressed since getting in here,” she tells him, her voice more quiet than she thought it would be. She shrugs weakly as he takes it in, growing only slightly worried at how quiet he is. “Just to check everything’s working like it should.”

“And are you…” He waves his hand in the air. “Confident about it?”

The question takes her by surprise. She had never really thought about it as a question of confidence. Confidence is for her the things she has control over; her friendships, her art, her future. Not for this.

“It’s not really up to me, is it?” she says with a shrug. “I mean I’ve been doing everything I should be doing. Guess all we can do right now is hope.” Damian nods again, his hands clasped in his lap almost like he’s praying. Silence stretches out between them, marked only by the ticking of the clock, and it’s unsettling. They’ve had their fair share of heart-to-hearts, but they’ve always ended with jokes and smiles, holding hands and resting on each other, one holding the other up. Now he’s sitting away from her, his eyes unreadable. “Damian?” asks after a long while.

“You’ll be fine.” He looks up then with a fierce determination in his eyes, his voice stronger than she’s ever heard it. Not even onstage has she ever seen him like this. “You will be.”

She takes a deep breath. That’s what everyone tells her; her doctors, her parents. It’s what she tells herself, really. That she’s been doing everything right, and with the way this medicine is kicking her ass, it has to be working. And she wants to believe that she’ll be fine, that everything will be as it should be. But that’s what she thought the first time around too. If there’s one thing she’s learned by now, it’s to not take things for granted.

And it hurts seeing him like this. It hurts seeing him believe something so much when she can’t guarantee it. She remembers clear as day the first time she told him, the two of them alone in her bedroom, how it tore at her heart to tell him. How much it had crushed him. How does she stop that from happening again?

She shuffles towards him, her heart crawling up her mouth, and takes his hand, finding it as cold and clammy as her own is.

“Damian,” she whispers. “I need you to promise me something.”

“Anything.”

It’s only when she sniffles she realises she’s started crying.

“I think this will be okay,” she tells him. “I think when I go in and I do that test, I think those results will say I’m doing good. That’s what the doctor thinks.” She swallows past the lump in her throat. “But if it’s not-”

“Janis-”

“Can you just listen to me?” she asks. When he closes his mouth, lips pressed into a thin line, she continues. “But if it isn’t, I need you to promise me you’ll be okay with it. That you aren’t going to worry about me every day. That you’re going to go ahead and live.” She wipes at her face. “Just be okay for me. Promise me that.”

“You know I can’t promise you that.” He shakes his head. “I’ll be okay when you’re okay.”

“No.” She shifts onto her knees, looking him right in the eye. ��Listen to me, Damian. You need to promise that whatever happens to me, you aren’t going to fall apart.” His hand comes up and he laces their fingers together. “I don’t know what I’d do if I knew you weren’t okay and it was because of me.” She pokes his cheek and wipes his tears off his face. “So just promise me that… in the unlikely event that it’s not what we want to hear… you won’t fall apart.”

It feels like a lifetime before he nods too, his own eyes wet and glistening under the lights. He then pulls her into a wordless hug, her fragile body held in his strong arms, his hand running up and down her back. She lets out a shuddering breath and it feels like weeks’ worth of frustration and loneliness and downright misery is let out as well, all as she melts into his arms.

“God you really know how to kill a mood, don’t you, Sarkisian?” he whispers and she finally laughs. “Here, I got you something.”

She pulls away from him just enough for him to reach into his pocket and produce a candy bar packed in a silver wrapper, one she vaguely recognises but can’t place.

“Courtesy of Maisie,” he says. She lifts it carefully, treating it with the utmost care. “From her Halloween haul. You should be real grateful; she doesn’t give that up lightly.”

“I am,” she says, a slight laugh in her voice. “Tell her that for me, okay?” He nods as she pulls it out of the wrapper and breaks it in half, holding one out to him. She raises an eyebrow when he shakes his head. “Come on, you deserve it too.” She looks up at his head, hidden under a rainbow coloured beanie. “You said I wasn’t going through this alone. And that includes the good parts too.”

He rolls his eyes but takes it all the same, a smile on his face that’s as soft as his soul is. She turns so that they sit hip to hip and her head can rest on his shoulder, their hands clasped between them, eating in companionable silence, sharing the occasional smile.

It’s not that she isn’t worried, she is. That foreboding feeling won’t leave her alone and she’s given up on trying. It’s just that when she’s sitting here with him holding his hand, the black cloud doesn’t seem as close as it was.

#mean girls musical #mean girls fanfic #mean girls #janis sarkisian #damian hubbard #cadnis #cadnis ff #fic: heart of stone

7 notes · View notes

klauscotic · 6 years ago

Text

nathan young x reader smut

a/n: as i have been wanting to write about nathan for ages (especially a smut fic *wink face*), i have decided to take this request and write it. thank you to whoever sent it in!

warnings: NSFW, oral sex, swearing

prompt: 22 - “you taste so good”

usually i wouldn’t let anyone stay round my flat. in particular, someone like nathan young. but, ever since we both started our community service, i have drawn a strong liking to the curly haired boy. and my god was it bad…

“see ya later guys!” i yelled after the three that left the community centre.

“see ya!” they all chimed back. i watched them walk through the doors and leave. i then turned to nathan. “so? what are you doing now?” i asked him, wrapping my arms around his waist, pulling him closer to me. nathan looked down at me and flashed me his signature smirk.

“oh nothing much ya know.” he said. “gonna have dinner, which is made up from doritos, a kitkat and a can of pepsi from the vending machine.” he pointed at the machine behind me. i looked at him in a serious way.

“nathan, you can’t keep eating shit like that, you’re gonna end up either obese or with type 2 diabetes.” i replied. i brought my hands up to his face and cupped his cheeks. he held onto my hands and kissed my fingertips.

“well, if only my mum excepted me back home and feeded me, then i wouldn’t need to eat this ‘shit’” he laughed.

“well, you should have thought that through before you punched her boyfriend in the nose. as well as the other times where you said that her ex-boyfriend sexually assaulted you” i giggled at that last bit. although it was wrong of him to do so, i still found it a bit funny that that was how he had planned to get rid of the man.

“well he was fucking around naked in the streets, what else was i supposed to do? let him date my mum?” he raised his voice slightly.

“hey - i was just joking you knob” i laughed. “anyways, it sweet that you care about your mum enough that you would punch a fully-grown man for her. even if she was in love with him and you were slightly taller than him”

“yeah..” he said. he scratched the back of his head, his other hand still on my wrist.

“all honesty though, what are you doing now then?” i asked him. his serious face was switched on. and nathan’s serious face is never on, ever.

“i dunno, probably eat and then fall asleep in the usual spot.” he responded, stroking my hair with the hand that was on my wrist. he rarely showed this ‘loving side’ around the others or even his own family, but with me he was different. he was himself with me.

“you can’t surely be sleeping here again?” i asked him, worried.

“y/n, babe, i am perfectly fine sleeping here.” he said, letting me go and walking up the stairs to the small ledge where he sleeps. nathan then laid down on the ‘bed’ and made himself look comfy. “see, comfy as fuck!” he called down to me, as i was stood underneath the ledge, looking up at him. i walked up the metal stairs and sat next to him.

“you don’t look comfy” i said.

“i am y/n, stop fucking worrying. i’m fine” he replied. i peered at him and said nothing. he laid back on the ‘bed’ and looked at me.

“what?” he said.

“nathan?” i tilted my head to the side.

“mmhmm” he hummed.

“would you perhaps like to stay with me tonight and have dinner? i would rather you sleep on my sofa than some metal floor in the community centre” i asked him. he frowned at me for a second and then answered.

“okay then - only if you cook though, if not, i am walking back here” he replied, grinning.

“shut up you dick, or you definitely aren’t staying.” i punched him on the shoulder. a look of mock hurt was painted on his face.

“that hurt” he whined, holding onto his arm.

“oh shut up you goon” i giggled. “it wasn’t that hard”

we both laughed and then i stood up. i held me hand out for nathan.

“come on then, lets go” he took hold of my hand and hopped up from the floor. we then walked back to my flat.

we got to my front door. my fingers fumbled with the door keys, the metal jingling. when i had finally grasped the correct key, i put it in the key hole and opened the bottle green door.

“welcome to my humble abode!” i gestured to the flat. “it’s not much, but it’s cosey and keeps me warm” i walked into the kitchen.

“nice place” nathan remarked. he was stood in the living room.

“thanks” i said, as i peered my head around the corner to look at him. i then opened the fridge and saw only a carton of orange juice and some left over chinese from the other night.

“fuck” i breathed out. i then opened the freezer and saw a frosted meat feast pizza. “ha - bingo” i pulled the pizza from out of the freezer and placed it on the side. picking up the pizza, i turned it over and read the instructions for how to cook it. *take out of box and remove plastic film and cardboard placing mat, put on metal pizza tray and set the oven to preheat,when done preheating, place the pizza in oven and cook for 45 minutes*. i did just that. when i had finished preparing the pizza, i walked back into the living room to find nathan.

“we’re hav-” he wasn’t in the living room. i frowned. i walked to the bathroom, the door wasn’t locked. i opened the door. he wasn’t there. i then walked to my bedroom. the door was ajar and yellow light was spilling from the gap between the door and the door frame. i walked in and saw nathan sat on my bed looking around.

“nathan - we’ve got meat feast pizza for dinner, is that okay?” i asked. i walked to my bed and sat behind nathan. sitting with my legs either side of his waist. i pulled his head back slightly, so i could see his face, and rested it on my shoulder.

“yeah - that’s great babe, better than some shit from the vending machine” he laughed. i giggled at his crude humour.

“that’s good, ‘cause that’s all i have” i said.

i kissed his neck gently. leaving small kisses up and down his ear and his collarbone.

“mmm, babe, if you don’t stop that, you’re gonna regret it” nathan groaned, his head still resting on my shoulder.

“hmm, imma keep going then” i replied, shrugging.

i continued to leave kisses on his neck, that is, before he snapped.

“right - that’s it” nathan pushed himself off the bed and turned around to face me, before he crashed his lips onto mine. it was hard, but slow. but i didn’t really care, after all. the pizza was going to take 45 minutes to cook. nathan placed his hands on either side of my waste as he kissed me. i raised my hands up and wrapped them around his neck as i played with the soft hair at the nape of his neck. he pulled away from my lips, leaving me in anguish, i wanted more. but i soon stopped thinking about it when he had began to harshly kiss the smooth skin of my neck. my mind was so jumpy and overwhelmed, that as i played with his hair, my fingers were dependant on muscle memory to weave them through his dark locks. his lips lingered on one spot under my jaw, i was sure he has already left a numerous amount of plum-coloured marks on me already. but that wasn’t going to stop us.

“oh - fuck!” i breathed in sharply. i felt nathan’s lips curl into a smile as he began to creep his lustful kisses down to the top of my breasts. he lifted himself off from on top of me and took the hem of my black t-shirt in his hands, before pulling it up and discarding the shirt from my body completely. he began to kiss my stomach, nipping at the skin leaving small bite marks and love bites, that would stand out like a bitch in the morning. i was growing impatient over the fact we hadn’t got anywhere yet.

“nathan -” i mumbled out.

“yes babygirl?” he asked, smiling.

“i need you now, please stop with the teasing!” i whined, mimicking his tone from earlier.

“and what do you want me to do babygirl?” he said slyly. i felt my face flush a deep red.

“i want you down there” i said pointing between my legs. i had never really done anything like this, so i was fairly new to the whole thing. but i wanted it to happen. and i wanted it to happen with nathan more than anyone else.

“sorry - i didn’t get that?” he smirked. if only he could stop with the teasing the little bastard.

“nathan, stop being a prick and eat me out for fuck sake!” i exclaimed. nathan laughed at my outburst and traced his slender fingers to the waist band of my black jeans.

“you only had to say” he laughed as he pulled a face, making me laugh.

nathan unzipped my jeans and rolled them down my legs. as he did so, he kissed my thighs, leaving goosebumps to rise. when my jeans had got to my ankles, he yanked them off and threw them to the otherside of the room, leaving me in just my panties.

“god you’re fucking sexy” nathan said under his breathe.

he hooked his finger around the lace of my panties and dragged them down my legs. he bit my left thigh as he dragged them down towards my ankles. i yelped at the contact of my skin and his teeth. nathan then kneeled at the bottom of the bed, i could just about see the top of his head. he wrapped his hands around my thighs and pulled me to the edge of the bed, with my thighs on either side of his head. he was so close to me, that i could feel his coarse breathing on my pussy. which had me on edge already.

“so fucking beautiful” he said. i was unaware that he had began to purposefully blow gentle puffs of air onto my clit, making me squirm on the bed. my heart was pumping rapidly over such a small gesture. i could feel the heat between my legs grow at the gestures nathan was making.

“nathan - please” i moaned out.

“please what y/n?” he said, poking his head up from the edge of the bed so i could see him.

“for fuck sake not this shit again!” i puffed out.

“alright - alright! i’m on it!” he laughed.

nathan stroked my pussy with his index finger at first, rubbing my clit with circular motions. my body wreaked with pleasure and we hadn’t even got to the good part yet.

“god y/n, i haven’t even started and you’re soaked.” he said. i lifted my head from the mattress, ready to give him an earful.

“nathan -” i was about to tell him to get a move on, before i felt his lips attach themself to my throbbing clit and his index finger thrust into me.

i threw my head back on the bed. my hands instinctively, reached out to grab his hair. i took his brown curls in between my fingers and massaged his scalp as his fingers moved in and out of my pussy and his tongue working wonders on my, now swollen, clit. as i did so, i brought my legs up and rested them over his shoulders. i could feel his soft hair brush against my thighs. i then bucked my hips forward against his mouth and arched my back, bringing him closer to me. as i did so, he let out a moan against my pussy, sending vibrations to enclose my clit. nathan’s action caused my legs to tremble ever so slightly.

“fuck nathan - don’t stop” i moaned out. i grinded my hips against his mouth more. making the trembling in my legs increase.

the pressure in my stomach began to grow more and more as i reached the peak of my climax. nathan’s tongue moved harshly against my clit once more, that’s when i couldn’t hold it anymore and let it all go. my juices shoot out onto nathan’s face as he lapped up every bit of come i had managed to throw out.

my stomach moved up and down quickly and my legs dropped from beside nathan’s head and off his shoulders. landing on the mattress. my breathing was deep and sweat had dripped down my forehead and down my neck.

nathan lifted himself from off the floor and wiped his mouth on his t-shirt.

“fucking hell y/n, you taste so good” he said smiling. he leant down and kissed my on the lips. his lips tasted a tad salty, but i didn’t care.

“fuck me, that felt amazing.” i sighed.

“i’m glad you enjoyed it” nathan replied, he kissed my forehead.

i then heard the oven timer go off, the pizza was ready. i had forgotten about the pizza. i pushed myself up off of the bed and was ready to get up.

“no - you go have a shower and clean up, i will sort the pizza” nathan stood up from the bed and put his hands on his hips, posing like a super hero. i giggled.

“okay superman, make sure to not burn the house down!” i called as he ran out the room.

“i won’t!” he shouted back.

i smiled to myself as i reminisced about what had happened. and i can safely say, that i enjoyed every last bit of it…

#nathan young #nathan young imagines #nathan young smut #nathan young x reader #nathan young misfits

585 notes · View notes

shoeshineyboy · 4 years ago

Note

I need ur immediate thoughts on popular candies, like skittles and twix

skittles bang I love them so much. fuckin stellar. much better than their evil poisonous cousins, peanut m&ms

love a good twix, I do. my mum used to eat them when I was little so it feels like grown up chocolate to me even though it’s like all sugar

don’t talk to me about reese’s. my friend Connor used to share his reese’s pieces in class and every time I ate them my throat would itch but I thought that was just a coincidence. I’m very allergic to peanuts

kitkats are weird like I used to have them in my lunchbox. they straddle an uncomfortable line between lunchtime snack and chocolate bar. they slap though

smarties were good back in my day when the blue ones were pumped full of e-numbers and eating them meant you went fucking feral for hours. kids these days are cowards

I nearly choked on a malteser when I was 7 and it was worth it. they’re fantastic best chocolates

bountys aren’t popular but I don’t hate coconut so I’ll eat them

that one marvellous creations chocolate bar is brilliant because they actually made jelly sweets without gelatine so I can eat them guilt-free

yorkies are delicious. I used to love going ham on them because they’re not for girls and BOY did I prove that chocolate bar wrong until I realised I’m not a girl. oops. chocolate bar 1: zara 0

2 notes · View notes

imagine-lovebug · 6 years ago

Text

Period Pains (Peter Parker x Reader)

(A/N) - Hey Lovebugs! Thank you so much for baring with me over the past few months without any posts. I’m back now! I’ve applied to all my universities, I’ve been accepted to a couple, still awaiting results from the rest. Anyway, you don’t need to hear about that. Hope you all had a great Christmas and New Years. xx

Could I request some Peter Parker fluff where he's really helpful on reader's period. Braids her hair, (cause Peter totally knows how to do that, right!?) and like changes the sheets for her and stuff. Thank you so much!!! My periods totally kicking my butt right now, and I really want a Peter to cuddle! (Btw, my hair is super long)

You wake to cold air hitting your neck and back, a stabbing feeling in your gut, and a gross stickiness between your legs. A groan leaves your lips as you twist in the bedsheets, trying your best to cover yourself enough to stop feeling the cold chill that runs down your spine. The faint sound of the bath running and a rumble from the washing room below soothes you, but the aching pain in your stomach forces you to roll over to get out of bed. You spy a mug of tea, still quite warm to the touch, on the bedside table and you take a sip. A few seconds later, as you place your lips on the rim of the mug for the second time, your boyfriend walks into your bedroom holding your laptop.

“Hey sweetheart,” Peter says softly. You hold the mug gently, resting it on your knees. He walked over to you and runs his fingers through your hair before leaning down to kiss the top of your head. “How are you feeling?” Initially, you groan in response before mustering up the word, “gross.” A light chuckle shakes his body and you rest your forehead against his abs as he stands in front of you. “Come here,” he whispers. Peter reaches his arms out and pulls you up from the bed, holding you close in a hug the moment you stand up.

He walks you into the bathroom and turns off the bath. Almost full, the porcelain bath was filled with shimmery, purple water coated with bubbles highlighted with a lavender hue. A light floral scent filled the room due to Peter lighting your vanilla rose aromatherapy candle. You sigh in delight, “you’re the bestest boyfriend ever, you know that?”. He wraps his arms around your waist from behind you and kisses the back of your head, “I know. You tell me all the time.”

Peter’s arms leave your waist and he goes on his phone to pick out the Spotify playlist he made of songs that remind him of you before leaving the room. After he’s gone you undress all the way and sink into the warm, bubbly bath he ran for you. A soft, indie song plays throughout the room, echoing off the walls. Your cramps lessen from the soothing warm water and you relax completely into the tub, your face level with the bubbles that surround you. You exhale dramatically out of your mouth to blow bubbles in front of you, and they lift up into the air and float delicately before popping. You continue doing this, occasionally splashing about to move them around some more.

Twenty minutes pass, the water is room temperature and you feel like a prune, all shriveled up. Peter knocks on the door. “Enter,” you announce dramatically, before laughing to yourself. He walks in holding a towel and chuckles at the mess you have made - water and bubbles surrounding the tub. “Come on, bub,” he coos. You stand up from the tub slowly, gripping the side for balance, before stepping out to be embraced by Peter and a fresh, warm towel. “I put it in the dryer so it was warm for when you got out,” he points out. You snuggle into the warmth of the soft material as he holds you against his chest. “Alright, don’t catch a cold. I’ll be in there, you sort yourself out. I put some pyjamas in the dryer too and those are by the sink. I’ll be in your room.” He kisses your forehead and gently guides you in the direction of the sink before exiting the room.

The soft music still plays from his phone as you put a tampon in and dress in the heated pyjamas Peter provided. You brush your hair and dry it slightly with the towel before putting it into a loose ponytail to keep it out of your face. You pick up his phone to give it back to him and see a message from Ned, his best friend.

Aww sucks we can’t hang today. Maybe when (Y/N) is feeling a bit better.

You smile and hold his phone close to your heart, overwhelmed with loving joy. You leave the bathroom and see Peter lying on your bed. He had changed the bloody covers to fresh ones, the sweet boy, as well as turning off the main ceiling light in turn for the fairy lights you have hanging around the edges of the room. You smile at him, heart filled with love for that boy, and put your used pyjamas in the dirty clothes hamper. You place his phone on the bedside table next to two fresh cups of tea and he lifts the comforter with his arms wide to let you crawl into the bed and his embrace. He holds you there for a few minutes, cuddled by him and your new bed sheets.

“Hey sweetheart,” he whispers. You hum in response.

“I got some pringles and kitkats from your stash. Wanna watch netflix? Have a cozy day in?” You look up at him from between his arms and place a soft kiss on his lips. “I love you,” you announce softly. “And I love you,” he replies.

#spiderman #spiderman x reader #spiderman imagine #spiderman imagines #peter parker #peter parker x reader #peter parker imagine #peter parker imagines #tom holland #tom holland x reader #tom holland imagine #tom holland imagines #tom #spider #fanfiction #fanfic #imagine-lovebug

798 notes · View notes

gabriel-gabdiel · 4 years ago

Text

Keit-AI! Tomoyuki x Seiko Chapter 20: Hook, Line, and Sinker

The secret behind the issue between Tomoyuki Yamamoto and Aya Fubuki.

The rest of the chapters of my original story based on a plot from 4chan are available here. Enjoy.

First | Previous | Next

For what it was worth, Tomoyuki "Cherry Boy" Yamamoto found a way to return the favor to (Alternate Universe) Seiko "Amazon Queen" Okamoto for her thoughtful birthday gift to him.

The best birthday gift he ever got. A trailer for a film that didn't exist in his universe. Seen only by him within his reality.

The trailer for Akira Kurosawa's "Ran". The legendary director's (unintentional) version of William Shakespeare's "King Lear".

What he was about to send to Seiko was in a sense his "White Day" gift for her "Valentine's Day" chocolate.

A return gift of gratitude. A downloaded video from YouTube Japan.

"Hey, Cherry Boy. What's this?" she texted him back.

"Just open the file," he texted in return.

She then texted, "Boo. I thought it's a round or two from Pacquiao- Mayweather, but it's just another one of your Kurosawa film trailers!"

Huh. Maybe he should've sent her a Pac-May clip. Maybe later. "I'll just send you video highlights of it or even their future rematch when it happens. Maybe even on your birthday."

"There's gonna a rematch?! Sweet!" she cheered, only to ask, "So what did you send me?"

"Send it to him. To me. The other me," he answered. "I swear to you, Tomoyuki will love it. I know I do."

She watched the whole thing. All one minute and thirteen seconds of it.

"Cherry Boy, you're a genius! This is the best birthday gift for Tomoyuki since, you know, he canceled on our proposed movie date and all."

Ah. Of course.

AU Miku ended up giving AU Tomoyuki the cold shoulder because he liked AU Seiko's present more than hers, so to make it up to the Class Rep, his other self nixed his date with the Amazon Queen.

Another love triangle had formed in another dimension.

At least the other Okamoto had a love triangle to speak of. He was definitely still in the "Friend Zone" (sorry, Miku) with the Amazon Queen in his universe, her proposal for a pity date aside.

The Amazon Queen that didn't love him as much as this other" her did.

"Sorry," he texted back, pushing his disturbing thoughts at the back of his mind. "But you know what they say about love and war."

"Fair enough, but what do I tell Cherry Boy when I send this video to him? He'll have questions for sure!"

Nodding to no one in particular, Yamamoto replied, "Tell him it's the long-lost and extremely rare alternate trailer for Kagemusha starring Katsu Shintaro instead of Nakadai Tatsuya."

***

Keit-AI! Tomoyuki x Seiko

An Anime-Inspired Original Story from 4chan's /a/ Board by Abdiel

Original Idea by Hataki.

The mystery behind Aya will finally be revealed.

Disclaimer: This work may reference copyrighted material, the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. It is believed that this constitutes a fair use of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. All copyrighted material referred to in this work belongs to their respective owners. All rights reserved.

***

Chapter 20: Hook, Line, and Sinker

***

Meanwhile, the Miku Machida in Tomoyuki's universe gave him the opposite of the cold shoulder (A "hot" shoulder? Rubbing shoulders?).

Just like good ol' times, they were again together like white on rice. Talking about Sci-Fi things mixed with cool science facts while walking to class. Again fueling rumors of them being together.

"...Oh, oh, oh! Here's another evidence of the Mandela Effect. Most people remember the Monopoly Man as having no monocle, right? But when you take a look at the box of the board game, he definitely does have a monocle! Spooky, right?" she told him.

Ah, so they were talking about the Mandela Effect again. Misquotes and popular misconceptions mistaken for evidence of parallel worlds and traveling through them.

Except in Tomoyuki's case, the Mandela Effect was all too real.

He patted her head like she was a little kid and smiled at her. "It's very spooky," he said, which made her pout cutely, cross her arms, and turn away from him.

"Don't patronize me!" she said with a harrumph.

Damn, she was so cute when she was annoyed.

Jokingly bullying her was almost worth a taste of the cold shoulder that the (probably jealous) AU Miku was currently giving AU Tomoyuki.

Or maybe he felt like tempting fate for once.

Thankfully, Miku forgot his transgression the next minute, bringing up, "Do you remember how the candy 'KitKat' doesn't have a dash between Kit and Kat? Well, it does! It's actually spelled Kit-Kat"

"Hey, you're right," he said, checking out the nearby snack bar and seeing the Kit-Kat logo having the dash when he remembered otherwise.

She grins. "Amazing, isn't it? I'm telling you, parallel universes exist!"

'You don't have to tell me twice,' he inwardly quipped, taking note that in AU Seiko's universe, it was probably the other way around.

In her universe, KitKat bars probably didn't have dashes and the Monopoly Man most likely didn't have a monocle. Along with other weird things like Michael Jackson, who was brown-skinned, bleaching his skin Caucasian white and having legal issues regarding pedophilia (allegedly).

The old Yamamoto would've been over the moon to have Miku as a best friend, even to the point of fantasizing that they'd somehow end up being more than just friends in the future.

But something changed between them from first year to second year.

That tall, beautiful, athletic, and tomboyish something... or someone... barreled over between them, slinging each of her long arms over their nearest shoulders.

"Hey, Nerds. Still talking about that egghead stuff with the black president guy that's not Obama?"

"It's the Mandela Effect and he's not a president in our universe," reminded Machida. "Here, Mandela died in prison, serving as a symbol of the South African revolution. But so many people wanted him to be president, they all swore he became one. Or maybe it's a memory we had from a different timeline!"

"U-huh. And maybe in a different dimension, Mayweather is a knockout puncher with exciting fights under his belt," the Amazon Queen said, saying the most Seiko thing possible. "I appreciate the man's talent, but boy howdy, am I not looking forward to Mayweather-Pacquiao II."

Tomoyuki then made a mental note to not reveal the actual results of May-Pac to AU Seiko, neglecting to tell her earlier of how initially exciting but ultimately boring the actual fight ended up to be.

The Cherry Boy then averted his gaze from Seiko, the... former object of his affection. The sight of her made his heart ache and long for someone else who was like her but wasn't, making him feel guilty for doing so.

Maybe it was for the best that Okamoto wasn't all that into him after all.

So should he abandon his harebrained scheme to get Seiko and Kazuhito "Yankee" Sugata together, like Megumi Minagata suggested?

Not necessarily.

He'd still do it, but this time expecting a more realistic outcome of either heartbreak or a long-delayed hookup between the childhood sweethearts.

Without unrealistic expectations of the Amazon Queen going for the unlikely third option.

It was the least he could do for the alternate universe counterpart of the girl he loved.

***

Things also went back to normal in Class 2B. Somewhat.

"Hey, New-Half (Trans Woman)," called out Kazuhito (who finally decided to not skip classes) to Seiko.

Okamoto shouted, "WHO ARE YOU CALLING A NEW-HALF!?" followed by a smack on his face. "Stupid Furyou-kun!"

Then the rest of the class began hooting and hollering at them for "acting like a married couple" who could help Japan with its population slump.

All talk of a potential pair-up or even love triangle between the Cherry Boy and the Amazon Queen faded once the heartthrob Sugata finally came back with his usual "married couple" shenanigans with Okamoto.

"As if Cherry Boy ever had a chance with the Amazon Queen while the Yankee is around!" was probably their shared sentiment of the situation.

They all just presumed Yamamoto was friendzoned (as usual), although they were hedging their bets that he'd score a pity date or two with their Iincho (Class Rep) at least.

"Please, you two! Stop fighting! Math Class is about to start," pleaded the mousy Class Rep in her usual adorable, bespectacled way that made Tomoyuki fall for her back in first year.

However, rather than scheme on how to get Machida and Sugata closer together to make Okamoto jealous enough to cross her Rubicon and confront her childhood friend about her long dormant feelings with him, the Cherry Boy started doodling and writing something else at the back of a dog-eared, beat-up notebook.

He couldn't stop thinking about Akira Kurosawa's Ran.

He wanted to write more about it. Research about its connection with King Lear even though, according to AU Seiko, it was a coincidental comparison made by western (foreign) media at best.

For the first time in a long while, he felt inspired to go after his passion and hobbies rather than try to appeal to the interests of others in a bid to "belong" in a clique or a long-term relationship with a girl.

For the longest time, he had been trying too hard to fit in with his peers. Only the closest people in his life know about his passion for writing and movies.

Like the glasses-wearing neighborhood girl he ended up being best friends with. Or, lately, both versions of Seiko Okamoto.

When he was under the mistaken belief that the only way he could improve on himself was to get a girlfriend rather than the other way around, he tended to ingratiate himself to whomsoever he attempted to woo.

In the case of his first crush Yukari Goto, he started taking the late train and gave her a hand whenever her klutziness or ditziness got her into trouble.

In the case of Aya Fubuki, he went to dates with her in all sorts of restaurants even to the point of maxing out his allowance and trying to find a job to supplement his dates, only for her to deny the dates ever took place.

In the case of Mana Otonashi, he really should've figured out he was just her plaything all along when she made her own mother tell him to stop calling her. How embarrassing.

In the case of Miku Machida, he got told hard regarding his clinginess and unrealistic expectations as a "Nice Guy". Even after that, their friendship persisted mostly because he absorbed her otaku knowledge like a sponge until he was able to decipher the "foreign language" she spoke whenever they were around each other.

Finally, in the case of his universe's Seiko Okamoto, he tried using AU Seiko's sports knowledge to better relate with her, only for it to backfire since this was info from a parallel world and not their world.

No one wonder people treated him like a doormat with no true friends to speak of. He really was a try-hard poser, wasn't he?

He made up for his lack of personality by attempting to incorporate the interests and quirks of others so that they'd like him better. Whether he was making friends or wooing girlfriends.

It was only with AU Seiko that he felt he could be himself and showcase the cinemaphile nut and wannabe writer he really was. No other woman made him feel comfortable in his skin like she did.

***

As the Cherry Boy put in the finishing touches to the outline of his new personal passion project (researching about what happened to his universe's Ran and writing his own version of the unfinished work with what little info he'd gotten from AU Seiko so far), he found a letter in his bag.

Curious. Who even gave out letters in this day and age of cellphones, email, and chatrooms?

Although it would've been charming if he and AU Okamoto were communicating through transdimensional mailboxes rather than transdimensional keitai (mobile phones). Just like in the South Korean film "Il Mare" (also known as "Siworae") or its Hollywood remake, "The Lake House".

He opened the envelope and then was greeted with the smell of a long-forgotten flowery scent.

He read its contents. The more he read, the more his heart sank to the pit of his stomach. Probably drowning in stomach acid to boot.

Oh shit. Not this again.

Tomoyuki hastily stuffed the letter in his bag, unwilling to humiliate himself in front of Class 2B by cluelessly reading the letter in front of them.

His traumatic experience with Yukari Goto and her mistaken love text to him that was meant for Kazuhito Sugata was still fresh in his mind. Even after all this time.

Speaking of which, Goto's best friend Aya Fubuki was the one who sent him the letter.

The same type of letters she used to slip into his bag or shoe locker when they were freshmen.

The letters she denied giving to him when he confronted her about the dates she swore they never had.

Yeah, he was still kind of sore about that.

What was going on? What was she trying to do?

Miku noticed him and the letter he hid. She was about to ask him about it, but he gave her a begging look to keep things to herself.

Thankfully, his best friend took the hint and turned her attention back to her notebook full of her own doujinshi (self-published fan comics) ideas.

Had she called attention to the letter so that the likes of Matsuda were to read it to the class, the Cherry Boy would've gotten a repeat of the embarrassment he suffered with Yukari that led to him getting his infamous moniker.

He could just imagine the jaw-jacking his classmates would give him right now.

'Oooh! Is that a love letter? Did Cherry Boy get a love letter from the Class 2C Iincho? MASAKA (IMPOSSIBLE)!'

'Hey, hey! Is our own cute li'l Cherry Boy forming his own harem just like his idol, Sugata?'

'Don't be absurd. That's Fubuki from Class 2C. The same girl who publicly called him out on spreading false rumors of them dating. There's no way she'd date that liar's ass now!'

'What is with him and all the class reps he keeps going after? Does he have an iincho fetish or something? He even tried stalking our dear Seito Kaicho (Student Body President) through harassing phone calls!'

'He's such a desperate loser I bet the letter is telling him to leave Fubuki alone!'

Naturally, the last one to speak would've been Matsuda. Still the asshole as always, but he was an asshole with a point.

He sighed. He should let sleeping dogs lie. Leave the mercurial (and probably bipolar) Aya to her own devices. However, maybe she sent him the "love" letter to apologize for her forgetting about the dates they had.

...Yeah right. As if that would ever happen. She at best tolerated him and as little as a few days ago, she hated his guts.

Still, he was curious as to why Fubuki would send him such a letter. Knowing what he knew about her now (as if it was the first time he'd ever met her), it seemed... out of character for her to do this.

Wouldn't she confront him rather than send him a letter? Then again, she couldn't even muster the courage to send Kazuhito himself a love letter, so how much less him?

But Tomoyuki wasn't Sugata though. She'd have no reason to be embarrassed about him. She made it abundantly clear she never had any feelings for him.

'Oh, and I'm supposed to believe that some desperate jerk I barely interacted with who spread rumors that I'm dating him is telling me that Sugata-kun is dating Miku-chan, his latest girlfriend prospect, out of the kindness of his heart? Reeeally now?' was the sentiment she had when Tomoyuki first told him about the Yankee and the Class 2B Rep.

She trusted him as far as she could throw him. They made up eventually when he took a bullet for her, but they at best had a tenuous "acquaintanceship" that could break at the slightest hint of betrayal.

She didn't trust him. She acted like she barely knew him, despite all their dates that she would not acknowledge ever existed.

In fact, Yamamoto was starting to believe that Aya really didn't date him, making him doubt that the dates he had with her were real.

It almost reminded him of his initial situation with AU Seiko, with her calling and confessing her love for him while the real Seiko (correctly) claimed she herself never called him.

What if they—Tomoyuki and Fubuki—were both right? What if he had dates with an alternate universe version of the Class 2C Iincho while the in-universe Aya got the blowback from their rumored budding relationship?

What if he was dating the AU version of Aya all along?

Hell, he should be writing about this plot twist instead of making a script treatment of Ran, to be honest.

Inwardly, he waved the suggestion off, rationalizing that the parallel worlds thing didn't work that way. His heart skipped a beat at the prospect of dating AU Okamoto in the flesh, though.

He'd love it if he could actually figure out how the AU thing really worked.

Nevertheless, his curiosity got the better of him as he decided to meet up on the indicated time and place on the letter after school.

Appearances aside, this was obviously no love letter situation like with Sugata. It wasn't as if Aya was off to confess her love to him or anything.

***

After class, in a meeting place only Tomoyuki and Aya knew about (the Peninsula Bar where they once had Mongolian Barbecue)...

"...I apologize for lying about our dates to our classmates. I was so embarrassed that they found out that I threw you under the bus. If you would be so kind, would you go out with me again?"

That was just about the last thing Yamamoto expected Fubuki to tell him.

But she really did it. She really told him that. The absolute madwoman.

While bowing in apology, no less.

What was going on? Was she high? Was this what Miku meant by tsundere? An insane girl who had the most extreme mood swings possible? 'Bitches be crazy!'

"Wait, wait, wait. Let me get things straight. You intentionally lied to everyone about our dates and now you're asking for another date? And aren't you after Sugata instead of me?" he asked.

"Sugata already rejected me. That ship has sailed." Aya brushed her hair to the side and looked away from Tomoyuki's gaze before bowing her head and looking up at his face with doe eyes. "A-Are you mad at me?"

Unbelievable. It was like he was talking to another person altogether.

Didn't she cheer him on when it came to wooing Seiko and whatnot? What happened to that Aya? Did she forget or was she testing his resolve somehow?

Maybe that AU Aya theory of his wasn't so far off after all. Or maybe it was more of a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde kind of scenario.

Was this really the same Aya that AU Seiko described as "earnest"?

Tomoyuki paced around, took a deep breath, and exhaled. He'd handle this like an adult.

"Yeah, I'm upset. But I also realize if you're ashamed to even admit that we dated, then maybe you're not all that into me after all. You did me a favor. You helped me stop acting so desperate for love all this time."

Aya tilted her head and furrowed her eyebrows. "W-What do you mean, Yamamoto-kun? Won't you forgive me at all? Can't we make things work out?" she asked, batting her eyelashes at him.

It was his turn to bow back to Fubuki, remembering how she cheered him on, telling him to go big or go home with wooing Seiko Okamoto.

To no longer be so clingy and halfhearted with his pursuit of girl crushes like in the cases of Yukari, herself, Mana, and Miku. To no longer serve as any girl's doormat.

If she were testing him and his resolve, then this was his answer.

"I accept your apology, Fubuki. But I have to apologize myself. I'm in love with someone else."

He had to be completely honest. Like AU Seiko said, Aya was an earnest kind of girl who responded to actions instead of words and empty promises.

***

He didn't know what to expect after "rejecting" Aya's proposal to date again.

A shrug and a pat on the back on the back would be nice.

He didn't really think she'd take it so badly. After all, she survived Sugata's rejection fine.

Also, he knew she didn't really love him all that much and she had a bigger crush on the Yankee than she ever did him.

So why the heck was she crying?

"H-Hey, calm down!" Tomoyuki said, only to flinch when Aya looked at him with fire from her red eyes. Ah, now this was more like the Class 2C Iincho he knew and "loved" (or rather, tolerated).

She didn't heed his request though, covering her face with her hands and sobbing from behind them.

Well, this was definitely a first for Yamamoto.

Usually, he was the one who felt like crying, being dumped repeatedly by all his pretty not-girlfriends (because according to Matsuda, his standards were unrealistically high for a nondescript guy).

"...W-Was it Seiko? Your class rep? The one that you confessed your love to and I recorded?" she sobbed.

That was weird phrasing. "My class rep Miku friendzoned me a long time ago. Also, didn't you play that recording on Seiko's behalf?"

"Oh right. The recording. That's what I meant. Seiko. The Amazon Queen."

She blinked her tears back and did an inquisitive head-tilt on the Cherry Boy.

"You're in love with the Amazon Queen? You don't have a chance. She's joined to the hip with your Yankee classmate!"

"Sh-Shut up," he said, crossing his arms and turning away. His heart not as indignant as he let on.

Speak of the (she-)devil, Tomoyuki turned his head in time to meet the eyes of Seiko, drinking water across the table away from them.

Eh?

She had the "clever disguise" of wearing shades and a baseball cap indoors. She looked more suspicious than if she didn't have the disguise.

The Amazon Queen then choked on her glass of water and turned away, hiding her face with the menu.

...Wait. What?

***

To stop Aya from crying any further, Tomoyuki appeased her by buying her a late lunch (or was it an early dinner?) that afternoon at the restaurant with what extra cash he made from his part-time job at a convenience store.

He then excused himself to go to the bathroom, eyeing Seiko all the while from behind Aya's back.

To his relief, the Amazon Queen took the hint and soon followed after him rather than wait for him to confront her at her table.

She was quick on the uptake.

"...What are you doing here?" he asked at the hallway leading to the doors to the restrooms.

"I should ask you the same question!" she ping-ponged his question back at him.

"...Aya gave me a letter in my bag, telling me to come here and stuff," he said, his eyes darting away at the taller girl. "What about you?"

"Miku-chin gave me a letter addressed to me, telling me to come here."

"Machida told you about this... meeting?" he asked before wincing at the look Seiko gave him over his own weird phrasing.

"No, the letter is from... Aya, apparently. But Miku got it from her."

"That's... weird. Did Machida read it too?"

"I dunno, Cherry Boy. She just gave it to me because it had my name on it."

"What's the letter doing with her?" Tomoyuki asked. "Did Fubuki want Machida to know about the meeting too? What did the letter say?"

"The letter told me to meet y'all here. I couldn't understand the directions, so I just moseyed along and followed you all the way to this restaurant instead."

"So you stalked me?" Tomoyuki teased Seiko, forgetting for a minute who he was talking to. Her voice reminding him of... someone else from another world.

"'AS IF', YOU IDIOT! Don't flatter yourself!"

Forgetting for a minute who she was talking to as well, the Amazon Queen gut-punched the Cherry Boy as though he were Kazuhito Sugata instead.

"Whoops. Sorry. My hand slipped."

The two stared at each other for a minute then laughed.

Afterwards, Tomoyuki ended up with a coughing fit and Seiko had to slap his back several times to help him recover.

"T-Thanks."

"S'alright. But seriously though, why are you on a date with Aya-chin?"

"Wait, when did this turn into a date? She asked me to come here to tell me something!"

"But you're feeding her right now and she just asked you out." She pointed to her ear. "I overheard."

Yamamoto crossed his arms and smirked. "Ha! Finally, I got a witness. Told'ya we dated! See what I have put up with last year? It was her word against mine that we dated!"

"You really dated?" Seiko couldn't help but repeat. "Oh yeah. That's right. You got a horrible rep because Aya-chin told everyone you were spreading bad rumors about her."

"RIGHT? You just saw Fubuki confess to me and you still don't believe it!" he ranted.

Biting her lip, Okamoto looked at him then at Aya from across the table, eating by herself.

"I dunno, Cherry Boy. She must've had a reason for doing this. Otherwise, this is quite unlike her." She appended, "B-But don't misunderstand! I didn't believe you were spreading lies about her either! Why else would I be friends with you? I just think this is all a big misunderstanding."

He'd normally storm off at this point, having people believe Fubuki over him, but this time around he was inclined to agree.

Unless her tsundere inclinations bordered on being clinically bipolar, the Aya who played his confession to Seiko via cellphone voice recorder was not the same Fubuki whom he suspected gave Okamoto and Machida the heads up on their non-date to ruin their perception of him.

Then, to Tomoyuki's surprise, the Amazon Queen suggested, "Y'know what? Why don't you go on a date with her today anyway?"

"WHAT? Are you crazy? I told her I already have my eyes for someone else!"

Yamamoto looked Seiko in the eyes as he said this, which made both of them look away from each other, blushing afterwards.

Seiko cleared her throat. "No, no. It's not a date-date. Just a fake date to see what Aya-chin is up to."

"A-Are you serious?" asked Tomoyuki. He didn't like where this was going.

***

By the time he returned to their table, Aya had the strangest, hugest (smuggest) grin on her face.

Did she know that Seiko was there, watching them? 'What are you planning, Fubuki?' thought Tomoyuki.

He didn't want to keep up a facade just to ruin Seiko's positive impression of one of Machida's friends, but Fubuki ended up cutting him off the pass.

"Hey, hey! After we're done eating, let's go to the arcades like we used to," she told him, and his plan of coming clean ended then and there, the words of protest dying in his throat.

And long story short, they ended up at a nearby arcade, with Okamoto following them close behind.

What was even going on anymore?

'...Eeeeh.'

Under the watchful gaze of Seiko, Tomoyuki ended up doing what he always did in arcades: Play a fighting game and die at the third stage.

"Dammit," Yamamoto said after the CPU King hit another 10-hit combo on his Eddie Gordo from Tekken insert-sequel-number-here.

So much for Eddie working against even experienced players with just button mashing. The computer A.I. couldn't care less.

Same thing happened with an old Street Fighter III: Third Strike arcade cabinet at the back. Got knocked out fighting Sean with Akuma. He then popped a blister on his left middle finger from jiggling the joystick while mashing buttons all the while.

The only fighting game he could probably beat was Karate Do on the Famicom, and that game sucked. Or Yie Ar Kung Fu. Which also sucked.

By the way, those were games in old cartridges that he got as hand- me-downs from his cousins along with an old Family Computer.

He expected Aya to fare worse than him, only for his ego to take an even worse beating than the characters he played in Tekken and Street Fighter.

Aya had a crowd form behind her as she crushed every challenger she faced off against in Tekken with just one quarter.

Well damn. Who knew that the studious Class Rep of Class 2C was an avid gamer?

Meanwhile, on her part, Seiko decided to bide her time with Dance Dance Revolution. Followed by foozball against a grade schooler. Followed by attempting to wreck the mechanical punch pad on the Sonic Blast Man (a game that measured punching power) cabinet.

Huh. He could've sworn he heard that Taito recalled all cabinets of the punching game due to the injuries it caused or something. Or maybe that was just him misremembering/getting false memories care of the Mandela Effect.

Or maybe it was even possible that in AU Seiko's universe, the game was recalled even though in his own universe, it wasn't. 'Who knows?'

A bead of sweat dripped on Tomoyuki's forehead as Okamoto wandered to a nearby billiards hall just beside the arcade, seemingly forgetting herself and why she went to the arcade in the first place.

'S-Seiko-chan...'

Speaking of people forgetting themselves, Aya stopped her winning streak short, handed her character off to some kid in the crowd to let him play, and grabbed hold of Yamamoto's arm.

Tomoyuki gulped, distracted by the smoothness of the 2C Iincho's skin and the softness of her... chest. "Um, welcome back?"

"Hey, hey! Cherry... I mean, Yamamoto-kun!" she corrected herself, her finger circling around the Cherry Boy's chest. "Can you win me a prize at the claw machine? Pretty please?"

"Er... I-I'll try," Yamamoto said, knowing that he'd fail. Still wondering what Aya's "deal" was.

As he predicted, he was terrible at the claw machine game. Unable to pick up one stuffed bunny or even a Doraemon. It'd be cheaper to buy the doll at a gift shop rather than pick it up through crane.

In the background, Aya cheered him on.

He had doubts in regards to the sincerity of her cheering in light of her betrayal of him, but it sure harkened back to their own dates where she'd do the same thing.

So he kept buying quarters. And trying. And failing. But he had a girl cheering him on, so he didn't mind losing so much.

"You can do it, Yamamoto-kun! Just like ol' times!" Aya told him.

'Ol' times...?' he thought.

From there, the Cherry Boy blinked and remembered how one of their first dates had played out like this.

With him attempting and never getting a doll and Aya (currently the Student Council VP but was once the Student Council Treasurer) laughing at him all the while.

"Oh, for the love of Kami-sama! LET ME, CHERRY BOY!" huffed a reddened, cap-wearing, and shades-sporting Seiko before taking the crane controls and picking up the Doraemon doll herself.

"...." Tomoyuki exclaimed. Silently.

The Amazon Queen handed the doll to Aya, only to realize too late what she'd done. "Er..."

Fubuki bowed at Seiko and said, "Thanks for the help, but I want my date to get me a dolly. Not you, Mister."

"...M-Mister!?" said the tall Amazon Queen with a sneer, her hand cocked back as if to slap the Class 2C Iincho.

"Uh, of course! Coming right up, Fubuki!" said Tomoyuki, who inserted another token only to waste it again by losing immediately. "Dammit."

Unable to help herself, the "disguised" Seiko got a hold of Yamamoto's hands and instructed him how to play the crane game.

"Now listen carefully, Cherry Boy. First, pick your target carefully. You've already played enough to get a feel of the claw, right?"

She then touched his hand, the softness of which surprised him, as she told him, "Try maneuvering the prize into a better position. This machine gives you enough time to position the claw, so take your time."

Tomoyuki gulped as the taller girl got too close to him. The smell of shampoo on her hair and the softness of her hands distracting him. Electrifying him.

Making him long for the softness of another her. A more "untouchable" version of her. From more than just far away.

Aya, on her part, put her hands on her waist and tapped her foot at the pair, sighing and clearing her throat loudly.

But they couldn't hear her. At all. As though they were trapped in another world. Their own universe. With no parallel universe versions of themselves to worry about.

"THERE! Right there, Cherry Boy!" said the Amazon Queen with her heaving chest cushioning Yamamoto's back like a chair's backrest. "Take it! Take it now! It's all yours, baby! Take 'em all!"

They soon formed a crowd of their own, with the guys and the girls blushing at the whole exchange.

Thanks to Seiko's teachings, Tomoyuki got to snag a whole bunch of plush toys in one go. He was about to deliver them en masse unto the slot when he noticed all the eyes on him and how suggestive the Amazon Queen looked with the way she helped wriggle his... joystick.

"AAAH!"

"Hey! Watch out! EEEEK! WATCH IT! KEEP YOUR HANDS TO YOURSELF!"

There was a crisp slap followed by profuse apologies.

Yamamoto's hand slipped right into Seiko's chest in true harem protagonist fashion, which led to a reflexive, "BAKA FURYOU-KUN (STUPID YANKEE)!" and predictable violence from the Amazon Queen.

"I'm sorry! It's an accident! AN ACCIDENT! OWIE!"

"Ah! Cherry Boy! Sorry! Did I hit you too hard?"

From there, the whole bunch of the stuff toys fell back into the bin rather than out the claw machine's slot.

All except one: An ugly-cute cartoon snail doll that had its tag snagged by the tip of the claw at the last second.

Tomoyuki's reddened face (due to Seiko's handprint on his cheek) turned pale blue in realization. He screwed up in the middle of showing off!

'...Eh? Wait a minute, why was I showing off anyway? And in front of Fubuki, of all people!'

Speaking of Fubuki, she took the snail doll he'd gotten for her, frowning in a way that made it look like she'd just tasted something sour. Or maybe bittersweet.

"...Thank you," she told him.

"Uh, no problem," he answered, scratching his cheek.

He then caught Aya giving the flustered Amazon Queen a quick glance before she gave him a quick peck on the same cheek he just scratched.

Not knowing what else to do, Tomoyuki turned and faced Seiko, who had a slack-jawed expression on her face.

And in the Cherry Boy's heart of hearts, he found himself hoping that it was jealousy that was written all over Okamoto's face.

Even though earlier, her fit of violence was something she did while remembering her real crush and childhood friend, Kazuhito Sugata.

With the cherubic smile of a fallen angel, Aya then whispered to Tomoyuki, "Come with me. I have one last thing I want to do before we end our date," before holding his hand and leading him out of the arcade... to a chorus of cheers by everyone who witnessed the exchange there.

Stupidly, his mind in a haze like the Cherry Boy that he was after being kissed by a girl, he followed right after Fubuki like a lost dog.

He couldn't stop glancing back at the Amazon Queen though, who had slumped down on the floor with the Doraemon doll in her hand, her cap dropping, revealing her (sexy) disheveled hair.

***

Before Tomoyuki realized what was happening, he found himself in front of a hotel.

A love hotel.

From there, his memory became a blur. A whooshing motion blur from a high-speed roller coaster ride.

He could barely make out any details of what was going on, his body going on autopilot.

This wasn't really happening, wasn't it?

Then they were at the front desk of a hotel.

He then found himself paying for a room on that hotel.

With a girl beside him. A cute girl. A beautiful vision of... beauty with hair as long as the day and black as the night. And legs that went on forever.

Granted, she was a girl with an obnoxious personality (or set of personalities), but she was still pretty. And a girl.

What was he talking about again?

Soon, they ended up on an elevator. Then they went to their room with the number indicated on the room keys.

Was this some sort of elaborate prank by Matsuda again? Damn, that bigheaded jock just wouldn't leave him alone, would he?

Wow, the room looked nice. He'd been in hotel rooms before, but only when he and his parents ended up vacationing on some beach resort or had to take short flights to Hokkaido.

Besides, those were airport or resort hotels. Not love hotels.

Did he mention he was staying in a hotel room with a pretty girl? That was a big "first" for him.

After being turned down flat by several girls, he was now about to... Oh baby.

He gulped, his throat suddenly feeling quite dry.

Realizing the implications of the situation, he sat down on the bed and thought things through.

Could it be? Was he finally about to graduate from being a Cherry Boy to a real man?

Wait, why was he with a pretty girl in a hotel room anyway? That was quite unlike him, the Virgin King of Class 2B.

Tomoyuki Yamamoto ending up in a love hotel sounded like a setup to a joke just short of a punch line.

Oh right, he was on a date with Aya. But why though? Why would any girl date him?

Hey, he wasn't that bad with girls. Sure, in his first year alone, he got rejected by not one, not two, not three, but four girls. All of whom belonged in the so-called Sugata Harem in one way or another.

He was a beggar who was a chooser, after all.

But he improved in the end, didn't he? He made friends with Miku Machida, made amends with both Aya Fubuki and Yukari Goto, and even Student Body President Mana Otonashi had started talking to him again.

He wasn't as awkward around women as he was last year. He graduated from the "Nice Guy" mode of thinking with the help of his best friend Miku.

So it was perfectly fine for him to end up in bed with a girl who originally rejected him, right?

He regrouped. He improved. He evolved. So he... deserved this. Right?

Hell, he even had the audacity to try and woo Sugata's childhood friend and the girl whom he was closest with in his harem, Seiko Okamoto.

He wanted the Amazon Queen so bad that, by fate, serendipity, or coincidence, he ended up with the phone number of her AU self.

That was how he was able to learn all about her. Warts and all. From another her from another universe.

Wait.

What the hell was he doing with Aya Fubuki if he was in love with Seiko Okamoto?

"...."

Oh no. Oh nooo. Oh nononono. Oh Kami-sama, what did he just do? Stupid, stupid, stupid!

His hands gripping his hair almost to the point of pulling them out by their roots, Tomoyuki paced around the nice hotel room. That he paid for.

What kind of a thirsty pervert was he?!

He then remembered the last thing Aya told him before he had his epiphany.

"You stay right there. I'm just going to take a shower."

'AAAAAAHHHHH!' he screamed internally, finally noticing the sound of the running water inside the hotel bathroom.

He could've stopped this at any time. He could've said no. But he didn't, and he'd gone past the threshold of refusal.

The point of no return, perhaps?

Wait, he could leave a note and say he had something to do. Uh, like his part-time job or something.

Maybe flaking out on her wasn't the best-laid plans (of mice and men), but... but... he had no other choice!

Also, why was she suddenly enamored over him after all these months she hated him enough to lie about them dating? Was this how tsundere acted? Seemed kind of psychotic to him!

The worst part was that, even if nothing happened to them in the hotel, the fact that he went in a hotel in the first place with her would probably be enough to ruin his chances with Seiko forever!

He was just about to write his note when he heard knocking on the door. Did Aya order room service? He had no money left for that!

Anyway, fingers crossed, he hoped against hope that Okamoto would believe him when he said that he followed Aya by accident into a love hotel and he had no intention of sleeping with her. Kinda.

And so understandably, he fell to the floor butt-first in surprise when he saw that it was Seiko who was on the other side of the door. Like an actor from Vaudeville doing a slapstick standup (or sit-down) routine.

"I-It's not what it looks like. I can explain..." he started, feeling like an unfaithful husband caught red-handed in a hotel room with his mistress by his wife. Even though he had no reason to think that way.

To his surprise, an unusually quiet Okamoto asked him, "So did you two do it already? Did she pop your cherry, Cherry Boy?"

Well now. Nice to see she was blunt like usual.

She then slapped her forehead and mumbled what sounded like curses to herself before apologizing and saying, "Look, it's none of my business. I don't even know what I'm doing here. I'm sorry for bothering you two lovebirds. I'm also sorry for doubting you when you said that you and Aya-chin used to date. Goes to show what I know, right?"

The contrite Amazon Queen bowed at Tomoyuki and started to leave when, by instinct, the Cherry Boy grabbed hold of her arm and said, "Wait. Don't leave. I'm... I'm actually glad you came."

To his surprise, that actually worked. Seiko stayed.

She walked back to the doorway as he noticed for the first time her cap that hid her head full of hair that was usually tied in a ponytail.

She looked positively tomboyish. Heart-achingly so.

"I... I just happened to follow Fubuki back to this hotel," was the explanation he came up with in short notice.

Goddamn, that sounded so stupid. Even though it was true.

He also wanted to say he thought it was a prank, but that sounded even more like a lie than what he just said, even though it was also true.

Why was he being so stupid anyway? It was because he was thinking with his dick! That was why! He followed a girl to a hotel room without question like the naive virgin that he was.

"U-huh. Completely by accident, huh?" Seiko couldn't help but smirk.

"I don't know what I was thinking!" Or so he said, although he knew exactly what he was thinking, and so did Okamoto. "But I haven't slept with Fubuki. At all. Nor do I have any intention to do so."

"Well, why not? This is your big chance, Cherry Boy," Seiko brought up his nickname for emphasis.

"B-Because, like I told her, I'm already in love with someone," he said, his eyes never leaving hers. Unafraid of the implications behind his words.

"So you went to a hotel room with her and paid for it?" was the retort that he waited for Seiko to shoot back at him, but she never said it.

Instead, she stared back him and nodded. "You'd break Miku-chin's heart if you went through with this."

Ugh. Not this again. "No, I'm not in love with Machida! I'm in love with...!"

He then slammed the door in front of the Amazon Queen's face by reflex when he heard the bathroom door open.

AHHH! Stupid, stupid, stupid!

And out came Aya, her skin glowing, her long hair sopping wet, her naked body wrapped in nothing but a towel. A rather short towel, at that.

He ended up with his back against the door, his eyes staring at everything else but Fubuki.

He had never seen a cleaner hotel full of fresh sheets, nicely decorated walls, a flat-screen television set, a refrigerator full of overpriced drinks, and a nice view of the city.

The bed cushion was soft, the pillows were pure stuffing as well, and even the nearby lamp was nice. It... tied up the whole room.

Nothing too fancy, but not bad. It was worth whatever it was that he paid for it. Maybe.

"I'm done with my shower," Fubuki stated the obvious, cat-smiling and batting her half-lidded eyes at the Cherry Boy, her normal personality pretty much doing a one-eighty.

"W-We shouldn't do this," Tomoyuki said, pulling at his collar.

"Do what?" teased the coy Aya, which seemed rather unbecoming of the normally straight-laced Class Rep of Class 2C. "Don't get cold feet on me right now, Yamamoto-kun."

"I-I told you, I'm already in love with someone else!"

"Which is why you followed me all the way to a love hotel and paid for it?" came the retort Yamamoto was waiting for all this time. Fubuki then started playing with her towel. "Maybe I can change your mind...?"

"NOOOOO!"

Not only Yamamoto, but Okamoto screamed that word.

As Aya was about to take off her towel, Tomoyuki attempted to grab it with the intention of putting it back on her.

The door behind him opened, and out (or rather, in) stumbled the Amazon Queen. Right onto the Cherry Boy. Who ended up stumbling himself and accidentally ripping the towel off of Aya's body.

Then, to the chagrin of the pair, they ended up falling on the edge of the bed, making a mess of it, the pillows and bed sheet flying and ending up on the floor along with them.

"EEEEK!" screeched Seiko, grabbing hold of the damp towel in order to cover Tomoyuki's eyes with it. "Don't look, you pervert!" was what the tomboy said even though Aya was the one volunteering to take it off.

"...L-Look, I'm sorry if I led you on! I'm sorry if I came here without thinking! But I mean it when I say I'm in love with someone else!" cried Yamamoto while Okamoto kept pulling the towel over his face and cranking his neck at an odd angle. "OW! Stop that, Amazon Queen!"

However, Seiko suddenly stopped moving, which resulted in the towel slipping from the Cherry Boy's eyes. He squeezed his eyes shut, but his curiosity got the better of him, leading him to take a peek.

There stood Aya in all her naked glory. Or she would've had she not been wearing spats (spandex shorts) to cover up her nether regions. She was still topless though.

And yet something seemed missing from this picture. Fubuki's chest was as flat as a board.

Well, that wasn't unusual. Many Japanese girls were flat as boards themselves. Maybe Fubuki wore padded bras?

But then Tomoyuki's eyes went south of the border and saw something else of note.

A noticeable bulge on Aya's spandex shorts.

What?

No. No way.

Maybe her... (ahem) hair down there was unusually thick. Like an untrimmed hedge. Or even a forest. So that would explain the bump or bulge. Right?

'I mean, it can't possibly be... Nah. Of course not.'

Yamamoto then realized that Seiko was looking at the same thing as he was when he glanced back at her.

He saw eyes of wonder, confusion, and terror. She then asked the Cherry Boy, "Is that a bulge in her...?"

And then Aya began laughing. Or rather, cackling. Like an evil overlord about to go on a monologue.

"I would've preferred that you end up in a compromising position with me, but I guess this will have to do, Yamamoto-kun."

"...W-What?" stuttered Yamamoto, not knowing what was going on.

Thusly the two remained stock-still on the bed as the topless, flat- chested, and... spandex-bulging Fubuki retrieved her cellphone from her purse.

That proved to be a mistake.

And so Aya ended up with a digital photo of a disheveled Seiko sitting atop a damp-faced Tomoyuki beside a messy hotel bed that she took with her cellphone camera.

"A-Aya-chin, w-what's going on?" asked the Amazon Queen in a shaky voice.

"Oh, you haven't figured it out yet?" Aya took off her damp wig, revealing the short dry hair underneath it. "I'm not Aya. I'm her brother, Fubuki Akira."

***

Both Seiko and Tomoyuki stayed in the hotel lobby for a bit, staring blankly into the distance, before they both bid their farewells to each other.

Seiko was the first to leave. Tomoyuki told her to go ahead because needed another minute. Or hour.

He called in sick at his part-time work. He knew he couldn't make it there on time. Nor did he feel like working.

After buying a drink and snack from a vending machine, he went back to the empty hotel room (since it was already paid for) to gather his thoughts. Aya... no, Akira... was long gone by then.

Damn. Wasn't that something?

That was the last thing he expected her... him... to say. It seemed like something out of a movie.

Like Dustin Hoffman's character in "Tootsie". Or Ming-Na Wen's character in "Mulan". Or Jaye Davidson's character in "The Crying Game". Or Hillary Swank's character in "Boys Don't Cry".

Hell, that revelation in the end was very Tootsie-ish in its execution.

On that note, he really felt like crying right then and there.

Akira Fubuki, the younger brother of Aya that, Yamamoto realized, was about the same height and build as her, had admitted to "catfishing" the Cherry Boy when he was in first year high school.

Akira didn't like how, as he put it, Tomoyuki was "stalking" and "bothering" his big sister, so he pulled a prank on him to teach him a lesson.

Which, in retrospect, made a lot of sense.

The rumors. The anger Aya had when Yamamoto kept insisting that they had dated and she was lying about them not dating. The way Aya's personality was completely different from the "Aya" he dated.

Even the fact that Miku received the letter addressed to Seiko could also be explained away by Akira mistaking Seiko for Miku after overhearing the name from his sister.

Everything now had a... not-so-simple explanation. But an explanation nonetheless.

To reiterate, Akira Fubuki pretended to be his sister Aya in order to "catfish" Tomoyuki Yamamoto.

Tomoyuki kept repeating that statement inwardly but he still couldn't wrap his mind around it. Seriously, what the hell?

The funny thing was that both the girl Fubuki and Tomoyuki ended up telling the truth after all.

'So let me get things straight,' thought the Cherry Boy while staring at the TV but not really watching the game show that was on.

Akira specifically put on his sister's clothes to impersonate her and go onto dates with Tomoyuki in her stead. This led to the misunderstanding later on that led to a falling out between Yamamoto and the Elder Fubuki.

Or maybe it wasn't a falling out, because technically, Tomoyuki never really met the real Aya until later on. He'd been dating her brother instead under false pretenses.

Akira also took a photo of him and the Amazon Queen in a rather compromising position in order to... what? Make them, or rather make Tomoyuki, suffer further by having blackmail material on him and the Seiko?

Man, Akira really must hate him go through all that trouble to catfish Yamamoto.

...Right?

Granted, his dedication to pranks aside, it was still embarrassing for Akira to go into drag and pretend to be a girl just to embarrass the Cherry Boy with his big reveal in the hotel.

They must've gone through so many dates. They were so many, in fact, that Yamamoto lost count. He had enough dates with Aya (actually Akira) to presume that they were now boyfriend and girlfriend.

But why did he do it? What the hell did the Cherry Boy do to deserve Akira's wrath and his methodical revenge plot in the first place?

Now that was the million-yen question.

The Friend Zone King couldn't quite buy Akira's excuse that his crossdressing was all for the sake of protecting his sister from him.

Why didn't Akira just allow Aya to reject Tomoyuki outright? Why go through all this trouble?

Come to think of it, didn't Akira already get what he wanted out of Yamamoto last year? The crossdresser ended up making his sister hate the Cherry Boy's guts by impersonating her and going on false dates with him.

What prompted the male Fubuki to bother Tomoyuki again after all this time?

And then it hit the Yamamoto. Of course.

Tomoyuki recently made up with Aya (sort of) when he prevented her from making that ill-timed love confession to Kazuhito Sugata.

Her jealous li'l brother with a siscon (Sister Complex) must've arranged this little revelation at the hotel to destroy the mended fences between Yamamoto and the female Fubuki.

But that backfired and Akira ended up taking the blackmail photograph of Yamamoto and Okamoto as a consolation prize.

Regardless, the twerp got him. He got him hook, line, and sinker.

***

Although Tomoyuki didn't feel like going back to school that Friday, he still went.

Might as well. He wasn't going to solve this mystery staring slack- jawed at his room's ceiling, feeling sorry for himself.

Seiko herself couldn't even look him in the eye that morning, but he didn't let the fact hurt his feelings or anything. He completely understood.

That night they had at the hotel was awkward for everyone involved.

The long weekend that would've let him sort his thoughts and feelings out aside, he had several important things to do that day.

Like apologize to Akira's sister, Aya.

'First thing's first.' He went straight to the entrance of Class-2C, waited for (the real) Aya Fubuki (and her "sidekick" Yukari Goto) to arrive, and bowed down to Aya in apology.

Oh boy, did he get the wrong impression of her. She really wasn't at fault at all for the dating rumors spread about him and her.

Neither was Tomoyuki, but at least now he knew the truth. They were both right about the situation in certain points of view.

The ever-cynical Aya pulled Tomoyuki aside and asked, "Did something happen? What's up with you?"

"I just wanted to apologize," Tomoyuki said, shrugging and avoiding her gaze. "I know I've been doing that a lot lately so it might sound shallow coming from me, but... I really am sorry."

Fubuki then crossed her arms and prodded, "...And?"

Yamamoto cleared his throat. "I was wondering if you know the classroom number of your brother, Akira."

The Class 2C Rep held herself, her arms folded tightly around her chest and wrinkled her nose at the Cherry Boy. "Why?"

"I just want to talk to him, okay?" he said, not knowing (or willing) to broach the subject of catfishing and crossdressing with Akira's big sister.

"But you've never even met..." Aya's eyes widened. "Oh no."

Shit. Did she realize the truth? Did Yamamoto let the cat out of the bag? Would Akira in turn send that compromising photo of him and Seiko to the whole school? Or to Sugata?

Fubuki then unfolded her arms, sighed, and said, "Look, I'll talk to my li'l bro. If he threatened you in any way after seeing that we've mended fences, then I have to apologize on his behalf. He's very protective of me. Please understand."

"I-It's nothing like that, I just want to talk to him!" Tomoyuki protested with a sigh (of relief) of his own before a little birdie in the form of Yukari blabbed, "Well, if that's the case, then Akira-kun belongs to Section 1A."

"...YUKARI-CHAN!" screeched Aya before pulling at the ditzy blonde's twin tails hard.

"OWIE! I'm sowie, Aya-chan!" cried the ditz, reasoning, "But Cherry-kun only wanted to talk to your bro! What's the harm in that?"

"Class 1A, huh?" said the Cherry Boy, scratching his chin. "Right. I guess I'll go talk to him then. Thanks, Goto!"

"Waaait, what for? What did he say to you?" insisted Aya, who began to look more like the Aya of old with her frown and glare.

Tomoyuki raised his arms in surrender and backpedaled. "Nothing bad! I promise! I just want to clear the air with Fubuki Akira! It's not like we're going to end up in a fist fight or something...!'

Serendipitously, Yamamoto ended up literally bumping into his classmate, the Judo Club President and one of the Four Kings of Class 2B, Kanemoto.

Yep. Matsuda's friend Kanemoto. Or Matsuda #2. Or the bishonen (pretty boy) version of Matsuda. That Kanemoto.

"...Fubuki Akira? You're looking for Fubuki Akira? Hahaha! Cherry Boy, are you off to have a rematch with him?" Kanemoto asked, overhearing their conversation.

Yamamoto would've just cowered away from one of his regular bullies had he not taken a double-take at what the Judo Club President said. "Uh, rematch? W-What are you talking about Kanemoto?"

The sneering jock nudged Yamamoto's side. "Aw, come on. Don't be coy. You two got in a slap fight over me back in junior high. You wanted first dibs over yours truly and Fubuki Akira was your love rival."

Tomoyuki stuttered, "W-What the heck are you...?" before he felt a chill in his spine.

"Yamamoto-kun! You're going to have a fist fight over my li'l brother!?"

"AH! Aya-chan! I mean, Fubuki! Of course, I'm not! Don't believe Kanemoto's lies...!" so he said, but a feeling of déjà vu hit him.

And so the puzzle pieces in his mind began to fit. He remembered who Akira was.

This wasn't the first time they met, and he wasn't referring to their fake dates.

***

By some miracle, Tomoyuki Yamamoto got away from Akira Fubuki's protective sister in one piece.

Yamamoto guessed that his wimpy demeanor in the face of Kanemoto's "outlandish" accusations let him off the hook.

For the first time, Aya gave Tomoyuki the benefit of the doubt. She probably reasoned, "Why would the bullied Cherry Boy ever start a fist fight with my li'l bro?"

Ironically, the one time she trusted him was the one time she shouldn't have.

Kanemoto was right. Yamamoto did fight the younger Fubuki brother. And it was over the infamous jock.

No, not because they wanted to win Kanemoto's heart (or at least, as far as Yamamoto was concerned, that wasn't the case).

This stain in Tomoyuki's past was part of the reason why he believed that he completely deserved most of the bullying done to him all this time.

***

To Be Continued...

It's a trap! The trap arc is almost over with. What else is in store for Yamamoto and his Non-Harem? Stay "tuned"!

Farewell, Abdiel

#catfishing #trap #it's a trap #finds a way #keit-ai #keit愛 #tomoyuki x seiko

0 notes

astraphcbia · 7 years ago

Text

Overprotective | A Peter Parker Imagine

Peter Parker x Reader requested by: @signethatsmelol (thanks for my first request!! hope you like it!) Words: 2,306 words TW: Knife tw Spoiler Free.

You handed the cashier 14 dollars and 37 cents and thanked them as they handed you your paper bag filled with sour gummy worms and KitKats. It was movie night with Peter, and you were on sweets duty. He, of course, provided refreshments. You loved the way his soda would always explode on him because he swung the cans a little too much on his way home. He'd have to change his shirt and you, you know, just so happened to be standing in the hallway to see. A regular peeping tom. He never minded it.

As you walked outside you looked to your right to see a man that looked to be in poor shape health wise rushing toward you as you went to put your wallet in your pocket. He shoved you back into the door, the rail to push it open slamming into your spine. You winced from the pain, but let your overall disappointment in the situation take over as you kicked him right in the genitals.

"Now back off!" You yelled in his face, but when he stood back up from getting over the pain, there was a crazed look in his eyes that insisted he was going nowhere. He grabbed your pocket and shoved his hand in so hard it shifted your jeans on your hip. He then took off running.

That's when the regular hero of Queens swooped in and webbed the guys hand that was holding the wallet, taking it from him. Peter assumed the interaction was over. The desperate man's other hand, though, reached into his pocket and pulled out a pocket knife which he then used to start swinging at Peter with. You rushed forward toward the escalating scene, but Peter webbed your feet to the ground. You started seething with anger. With desperation.

"Spider-Man!" You yelled, wishing you could scream his name. "Get me out of this! Now!"

But he didn't listen, he just continued dodging the attacks of the stranger until finally Peter dropped the wallet and pushed the man back to fall on the ground so he could web him up fully.

"Spider-Man, if you don't get me out of this web right now, so help me..." he grabbed you by the waist and pulled you out of the webbing and into the air.

"Peter," you huffed, "I can't believe you did that."

"He stole your wallet, (y/n). I couldn't let him get away with that." He spoke to you without looking at you. Focused on the cars in the street and where he would land his next swinging web.

"It had a few coins and a gift card with 30 cents on it. I could've lived without it." You spoke through clenched teeth, wanted to wrestle away from his grip, but knew if you did you'd plummet to your death. "That man wasn't right. You put yourself in danger."

"What I can't believe is how no one else on the street tried to help you." He spoke like he hadn't even listened to you talk. He was so worried, so overcome with this primal protection that seemed hard wired into his brain. He couldn't think any other way. Peter had to protect you so much that when it was you or others, he subconsciously chose you. He loved you, but this wasn't the right way to do it.

After a moment of silence and listening to him grunt, the two of you landed on the roof of some business sky scraper.

Once the two of you were settled on the rooftop you shoved him away rather forcefully. "What were you thinking?"

He furrowed his eyebrows, tried to decipher this flair of anger that burned red beneath your cheeks. Usually that was reserved for when he caressed your skin, but this time he knew that he had done a big wrong. He pulled off his mask to properly look you in the eyes.

"Peter Parker. Answer me." You clenched your hands into fists at your side.

"You sound like Aunt May did when she found out my secret." He confessed, looking just below your eyes, like at your lips possibly, or your beet red neck. "She was so angry at me."

"She had a right to be, Parker, and so do I! Just because you're Spider-Man and we're dating, doesn't mean you have to interfere with everything. For gods sake Peter... I can't even walk down the street without you swooping in to yank me up and out of my life. I'm not helpless, there are hundreds of other people in Queens that need your help, hell. New York City needs you, Peter I can handle myself."

He swallowed so loudly that you heard his gulp, watched his fingers wring his mask. You were so angry that you hadn't even stopped to realize that what you were saying could be hurting his feelings, could be making him feel small. You had a right to let out those feelings, but maybe not as harshly as you did.

"Is that how you feel- how... how you've felt this whole time?" He steps forward toward you and you turn away, crossing your arms, looking ahead at the skyline of your town.

"Not the whole time. Just when you started stalking me. Just when you put others in danger to make sure no one tried to steal my wallet. You could've been cut with that knife, who knows how clean it was..."

"I want to keep you safe. If anything ever happened to you, because of me? I could never-" he took a deep breath, his words jumbled together. "I would never forgive myself. I thought I was doing right by you."

"Peter, I'm sure you thought you were doing what was right, you always do what you think is right and I adore you for that, but you put other people in danger. Don't you understand? You constantly try to save me, but I'm not some damsel in need of defending. You say you're worried that you'll be devastated if I'm hurt and it's your fault? Don't you think that by Spider-Man paying some random citizen extra attention that it's putting a giant target on my head?"

He was absolutely silent. Motionless. The color drained from his face and the only thing you wanted was for him to take that suit off and take you out for dinner. He didn't have to apologize, you had gotten everything out and made your point. "I didn't. No. I didn't know... (y/n)." He sputtered his words.

Watching him made the anger inside you very nearly boil over and slowly melt into something softer. You wanted to protect him from his own anxiety, his own guilt. You wanted to swoop him up out of this life carved for him by an arachnid and give him back his glasses you so loved. His lips parted like he was going to speak, but only a quiet sob was let out as gentle tears rolled over his pale cheeks. He never saw the sun, you'd never seen him cry.

"Oh, Peter..." You opened your arms and pulled him in close to you even though he was using his hands to cover his face. You brought him in and let him lean on you until you two were on your knees. You brushed back his hair and closed your eyes, his gentle sobs rocking you with him.

"I didn't know it was too much." He admitted, wiping away his tears. "I didn't see how I could be hurting you, or others by neglecting them. By deciding if you could handle things or not."

"I'm sorry I never told you." You whispered into the hair by his ear. He nodded and tilted his head to lean on your shoulder. He needed you, that was obvious. He needed you more than you needed Spider-Man and he knew it. He needed you safe, and alive or else who would be left in Queens to pour his deepest love into?

He thought you were spectacular. Peter was realistic about loving you, though. He didn't think you out the stars in the sky, but was pretty sure you had something to do with deciding how brilliantly they would shine. He loved doing the dishes with you, and Aunt May invited you over for dinner all of the time. Peter would go over chemistry notes with you and try to tell you corny jokes to make you blush while you were studying. He asked you out after four months of leaving runoff sentences in the hallway when you met between classes. When he asked, you kissed his cheek and told him you were tallying up the days until he got the nerve. He blushed so hard it made your heart rate rise.

When you told him jokes it was almost too much. He would show all of his teeth and close his eyes shut real tight so he looked like the sun itself. When you kissed his lips after he'd fallen asleep watching Stranger Things, and he only pulled you down to be the little spoon on the tiny sofa did you realize you were in love. This boy, this amazing boy was all yours, and you knew you loved Peter for everything he was. Spider-Man, a high schooler. Peter Benjamin Parker. Love of your young life. You couldn't stay mad forever.

The two of you stayed there without speaking. He listed to your heartbeat, you focused on his breaths. It made you start drifting to sleep until there was a loud crashing sound on the side of the building behind you. You yanked his mask out of his hand and forced it over his curly head of hair. It was the crazy-eyed man, but in a clunky metal suit. It had giant clawed arms to it that explained how he got to the rooftop. How had you not heard him?

Peter stood up and started shooting webs at the machined man to force it back, force him down, but with the machine's propelling motion, it broke the webs easily. Peter ran forward and slung a web to latch onto the chest area of the suit, jumping over him to force him back and off of the metal legs that's worked the new villain forward.

"What's your deal, man?" Peter sounded angry. Like really angry.

"Nothing much. Just looking for a little revenge for my old pal Doc Oc. That man gave me all the drugs I could ever need, and they made me brilliant. And you? Well you made sure his medical license was revoked." He explained, not like you guys really cared. He's interrupted a tender moment and that made you furious.

"Revenge? That's pointless!" You yelled. "Do you know who he is?"

"Oh yes," Metal Man cooed. "This is your boyfriend, little lady. That much is very clear."

"How did you know?" Peter asked, trying to web him down to the rooftop to no avail. Metal Man just tightened the tension on the legs of the suit and jolted the two of them upwards toward the sky. You screamed for Spider-Man but was pretty sure you said the wrong name.

"Spider-Man has a little preference toward which lady he saves on the regular. From what I've seen you've saved her from rats on the street. A little dirt never hurt a girl."

"How did you find us?" You yelled at him as he landed with Peter in his metal clasp, crushing him onto the rooftop. You were sure that someone below had to have heard. Had to have called someone to help. You were screaming profanities and threats that would've gotten you grounded for weeks by your grandma.

"Well when I stole that wallet I knew the amazing Spider-Man would soon be after me to return it to his little girlfriend. He always has to save you, doesn't he?"

"Yeah! He does!" You yell over the clanking of metal. "And he's not about to stop now!"

When you said this Peter lifted the metal mans arms off of him, dove beneath the base of where the crazy eyed man sat and lifted the entire hunk of junk into the hair.

"What? You're just a kid!" The man yelled, panic riddling his voice as it became very clear that this man was suddenly out strengthened by Peter.

"No, I'm Spider-Man." Peter said triumphantly before slamming the contraption down into the roof so the legs were contained. Then he used a web to yank the criminal out of his seat to properly web him to the roof completely. No way he was escaping this time, and besides, there was a police helicopter approaching from the eastern side of the building right then and there.

"Shall we?" He said in a dashing voice. You laughed wholeheartedly before nodding and wrapping your arms around his shoulders.

When he hoisted the two of you into the air you lifted his mask to reveal his lips and gave him a gentle kiss. When you pulled away you saw a good sort of blush flood his cheeks. The color happily returning to this boy who shined like the sun.

"My hero..." you rolled your eyes and let yourself laugh with him as you two made your way home. "But if you ever web my feet to the ground again and I don't ask you to, I'll tell Aunt May that I stayed the night last week... and she'll know what I mean."

"Okay, (y/n). Anything you say." He said in a tone that was nothing but dreamy love.

"Another thing, I need some Advil. My back is messed up." You confessed with a wry smile.

"What!" Peter exclaimed.

"Don't worry. I can handle it." You smiled.

"I know you can."

268 notes · View notes