#there's a guy in class who's super into cologne and he will make fun of me if i have a ariana grande perfume so imma just tell him that-

[lilylovelle]

girll my dad just brought home an 80 dollar perfume 💀

we're not rich why u be spending money like that. and he just bought himself 500 dollars worth of cologne for himself two weeks ago soooo....

and he said it's a christmas present but it's literally the 23rd like pooks u could wait idkkk

it's also ariana grande cloud

does anyone have it and tell me if it's good lol

[sleepy-wyvern]

Billy Hargrove x Female!Reader (SMUT)

Chapter: 1/? (smut in later chapter) part 2 here

Summary: Billy pursues an uninterested reader trying to gain her adoration. When reader finds her crush kissing someone else that's when she realizes her feelings are towards the wrong guy.

TW/CW: persistent flirting, cigarettes, marijuana, violent threat (not towards reader)

This fic only contains characters that are 18+ and will contain smut, as such 18+ readers only, minors absolutely DNI

For the lovely @strangelysupernatural ! Thanks for challenging me to write a difficult character! It was super fun and I'm sorry part one took so long 😂 go check out her page for her part of the challenge to write for my baby Steve Harrington! And more AMAZING billy & eddie fics sure to make you melt! 🥰

The moment Billy laid eyes on you he had one thing in mind: the need to corrupt your shy, goody two-shoes attitude. The fact that you weren’t interested in him seemed to drive his instinct to chase even more.

You were 18 but unfortunately had to move to a new town known as Hawkins before graduation. It was absolutely the worst time to make friends as cliques had already been long since established and most people were parting ways in a month or so.

Still, you were the shiny new toy amongst the high school so people stared curiously. You ignored them all except one that you couldn’t seem to avoid.

The moment you saw him across the cafeteria your heart leapt in your throat. You looked away but still felt his hungry eyes on your body. You couldn’t help but feel drawn to him, part of you was urging you to go to him like a magnet you fought to ignore.

He had large soft eyes, a curly mullet that seemed to grow on you, a faint hint of facial hair and of course a muscular frame. The man was built like a truck; seemingly out of place amongst the other students.

“Whose that?” You asked, clutching your dull blue cafeteria tray as you sat at the lunch table. 

Your first friend in this foreign world had sat next to you, graciously giving you company and the run down of the place. She had always worn a heavy metal or rock themed outfit, perhaps at first coming off as scary but she was the sweetest person at this wretched place. You were thankful you had been placed at the empty desk next to hers in English class.

“That’s Billy Hargrove,” she answered with a loving sigh. “Don’t waste your time though he’s a fuck boy that only cares about one night stands.”

You look down at your lunch trying to avoid eye contact but you could feel his gaze over you. 

“Thanks Bunny,” you smiled to her genuinely appreciating the warning. 

She tucked a strand of wild brown hair behind her ear as she smiled to you softly before noticing him walking towards you in the corner of her eye. “Uh-oh,” she sighed.

His steps approached and your breath seemed to catch in your throat. You held your hands in front of you nervously as your mind buzzed. He’s definitely not coming this way, right? Even if he was, he wouldn't speak to you because you're sitting with someone right?

When he neared your table your heart stopped as he did.

“Well, well, well. Who do we have here?” His voice seemed to purr as he put his hands on the table “fresh meat?” 

“Leave her alone, Billy, she’s not interested.” Bunny groaned at him with a glare that would’ve scared you had it been directed your way. Her beautiful blue eyes seemed equally terrifying under the cafeteria fluorescent lights.

He wasn't yet deterred as he leaned forward with his fists on the cafeteria table. You could smell a hint of expensive cologne as he loomed over you.

“How about she tell me that herself?” His pink tongue rolled over his chapped lips as he spoke, soft eyes watching you intently with his head tilted. You wondered for a moment how his expression was so soft when the rest of him was covered in sharp edges.

You stood holding your tray with half eaten food “Not interested.”

You make your way to the trash can, throwing the scraps out before returning your tray. When you turned around though, he was still standing there. 

You couldn’t look him in the eyes, gaze caught on his firm chest which didn’t seem like a great alternative choice for your mental resolve.

“Can I help you?” You asked as polite and calm as you could muster. 

“Yeah, actually.” He folded his arms clearly flexing his muscles as he did “How about a date?”

It took all of your willpower to ignore the tone of muscle in his arms.

You squint your eyes at him finding the courage to look up to his face “did you not hear me? I’m not interested.”

You walk past him catching the scent of his cologne once again, this time it seemed to fill your entire body, swirling through your veins like addictive poison. A sweet, delicious toxin.

“We’ll see about that,” he called from behind you and you were glad he couldn’t see your expression. 

“Careful, y/n,” Bunny warned with a sly smile “that’s a spicy one. You get caught in that trap you’ll never get out.”

Thankfully that was the last of his advances for that day. The next day however, you found he was still not deterred. 

He found you once more, this time at the library as you looked for a new book to read. 

“Huh, and she reads?” He asked rolling a cherry red lollipop over his tongue as he leaned against the door frame.

His voice startled you at first but quickly you rolled your eyes “I’m surprised you’re here. You don’t seem like the type.”

“The type to read?” He asked, hovering his lollipop over his lips.

“The type to be literate,” you muttered, “since you clearly ignored what I said yesterday.”

Instead of being offended he chuckled low seeming to enjoy your remark “Feisty. I like it.”

You sighed.

“Listen Billy, I know exactly about boys like you. You dote on girls, say whatever they want to hear to get them to spread their legs for you and then you don’t call them in the morning. I’m not falling for that crap.” You looked at him seriously but his soft brown eyes didn’t change expression as they darted between yours. They were soft and seemed to be filled with almost an innocent adoration you figured to be a ploy.

“Are you listening? Did you even hear a word I said?” You asked. 

He took the lollipop out of his mouth with two fingers “honestly? No. I was too busy looking at how gorgeous you are.”

Despite the flutter of butterflies it awoke inside you you weren’t interested. Guys like him were bad news, good for nothing and definitely not boyfriend material. You weren’t exactly looking for a one night stand either, not with this fuckboy. 

You rolled your eyes turning to leave, feeling his eyes watch your curves as you stride away.

The next part of your plan was to ignore him until he lost interest. It worked well even in the shared class together. You sat towards the front of the class while he sat in the back, leaning against the uncomfortable plastic chair.

Bunny was in that class with you too, and she leaned over to whisper to you while the teacher was occupied. 

“The man is consuming you with his eyes back there, y/n. What did you say to him?” Bunny looked both confused and intrigued. 

You sigh with a slight eye roll, not daring to look back at him “I told him I’m not interested.”

There was one guy you were a little interested in though since moving here. 

Steve Harrington he was known as, or Steve “The Hair” Harrington Bunny called him. Total jock as well, which wasn't exactly your type but the man was gorgeous and sweet like golden honey.

When he actually paid attention to you it was a surreal feeling. How could a guy like that have any interest in someone like me?

You were hooked since the day he introduced himself to you and since then you looked forward to every chance you got to see him.

“Hey I was thinking,” Steve asked, his hazel eyes glowing as he leaned against the brick wall of the school. You were outside with the sun beaming down giving him an almost angelic appearance. “I was going to have a party at my place since my parents are gone anyways. You wanna come? You could take Bunny and her boyfriend, Eddie was it?”

“Yeah,” although it wasn’t Eddie’s scene you knew Bunny would likely drag him along if she was interested. You run your lips together before smiling “I’d like that.”

“Steve Harrington!” The loud voice booms and you close your eyes keeping back a groan.

God damnit Billy Hargrove I swear if you mess this up for me. 

Steve turned his head to look at Billy, body tensing “yeah it’s me. Don’t get your panties in a twist.”

“King Steve! I’ve heard so much about you,” Billy smiled but his tone was anything but friendly as he slapped his arm against Steve’s back. 

You roll your eyes “take it to the locker room why don’t you and leave me the hell alone Billy.”

“Is it that bad to just want to talk?” He asked innocently. 

“You heard the girl,” Steve said with a glare that could kill a man.

You looked at Steve and sighed “you go on, I’ll call you later.”

Steve glared at Billy as he walked by “call me when you get back to your house.” It was a sweet gesture but you knew it was a threat to Billy that he ignored.

“Y/n,” his silky voice spoke, making you groan when Steve was out of earshot “have you been avoiding me?”

“Awww look he’s smart, putting two and two together finally?” You turned to him clearly not interested in his bullshit. 

He smiled wildly when you noticed he held a cigarette between his lips “oh but it’s hard to forget about you, the absence of beauty is heavy on my heart.”

“Listen,” you turn to him and he raises his eyebrows surprised. “I know you think you’re hot shit or whatever but not every girl likes you and you’re just going to have to accept it. I'm not playing hard to get, I’m just not interested and I want you to leave me alone.”

He put his hands up defensively “alright, you’re right, I’m sorry. I’ll leave you alone.”

From the treatment of guys past you were genuinely surprised at how easily he had accepted your words. He actually did seem sorry and he took his vow seriously. The next few days you hadn’t heard from him at all. 

Instead you enjoyed your uninterrupted time after classes talking to Steve. You hated to admit it but you had a crush.

As you were leaving class on Thursday, you walked down the hall when a sight made your heart drop to your stomach. Steve was up against Nancy's locker with his lips pressed into hers. His ex you knew, as Bunny had filled you in.

Angry tears burned in your eyes as you walked past. Was it that you had misinterpreted his advances and he just wanted to be friends? You cursed at yourself for letting your guard down, brushing the back of your hand against your cheeks to wipe away the tears

As you stuff your books into your locker you grab your bag, throwing it over your shoulder. When you shut your locker you look down the hall seeing them locked in an embrace again. You thought you did your best to hide your reaction but as you glance further down the line of lockers you notice Billy looking at you, eyes melting from interest to concern. 

You blink back any anger or upset feelings brewing inside you, turning and walking quickly down the hall. 

“Hey, y/n,” Billy called out as you pushed past the crowd headed the opposite direction.

“Y/n!” He shouted. 

You reached for the metal handle on the side door, pulling it back but his strong hand slammed it shut again. 

“Listen,” Billy said and you turned to look at him. 

“What do you want, Billy? I’m really not in the fucking mood,” your eyes flashed anger at him. 

“It’s not fair that he did that to you,” he ran his fingers through his curls “in fact if you hadn’t ran off I probably would’ve punched him then and there.”

You let out a scoff you didn’t mean to, you didn’t want to admit it but his words did make you feel better. 

“And about the other day, you’re right. I need to give you space and I was a douche bag to you for not respecting that.” He paused looking outside for a moment before back at you. “I was planning on leaving you alone without saying anything but then I saw that in the hall and-“

Your sudden strange reaction caught him off guard mid-sentence as he stopped speaking. You look over your shoulder and up the school stairwell ensuring no one was watching.

“What?” He asked and as you watched his pink lips move you knew what you needed to do; to test something.

You pushed him against the old school wall with your hand to his chest. Wrapping your arms around his neck you stood on your tiptoes, losing your fingers in his hair as you pulled him down into a kiss. 

As the shock wore off he took over, pulling you close to him by your waist. His soft tongue brushed against your lips requesting an entrance as you parted them for him. His taste was addicting as it swirled a tinge of sweet tobacco. His hands explored his way ever so slightly beneath the fabric of your top.

“Hey!” A teacher yelled as your body jolted in shock, pulling away from him “save it for off school property please.”

Bright red painted your cheeks but the teacher just sounded annoyed. 

“Sure thing Ms. O'Donnell,” Billy’s lips were curved in a smirk as he ran his tongue over his lips. 

You rolled your eyes pushing open the side door and stepping out into the cool air. You could hear his footsteps trailing behind you as you walked but you didn’t turn around. 

“Would you stop running from me, please?” He seemed to growl low in his throat as you turned to look at him. “I think we should talk,” words you didn’t expect him to say.

You tucked a loose strand of hair behind your ear before turning to look at him. He stood behind you, hands in his pockets and you weren’t sure if you trusted the compassionate look in his eyes. 

“What, Billy?” You sighed looking around “Look, I’ve heard the stories about you. It’s not exactly a secret that you have one night stands with whatever pretty little thing you lay your eyes on. Frankly, I’m not interested.”

“I was like that. You’re right. And normally I’d be down for that kind of thing. Since I met you though, you’re different.” He hesitated looking into the distance “ever since I saw you in that cafeteria I can’t stop thinking about you. Every day, every night. You’re always on my mind.”

The cool breeze seemed to suck the air out of your lungs as your lips parted in a gasp.

Part 2

====

💙💙💙💙

Hope you enjoyed! Reminder my requests are OPEN!

Have a great day my lovely reader 💙

-Wyv

[sophie-looks-at-stuff]

Some Modern Aegon ii Headcanons:

Hey y'all! Finally got internet in my new place! So I'll be able to post the rest of my headcanons in the next few days. I've done Aemond, so I'll continue with the 'A' name theme, and do Aegon ii next! He was pretty fun to write for honestly. Hope y'all enjoy! :)

Business major, for sure. Maybe Finance major? Partly because it fits the frat boy stereotype, but also because Viserys and Alicent want him to take over the family business one day. And he really doesn’t even know where to start with all that. Tries to convince them many times that Aemond would be the better fit. (Aemond agrees)

Has seriously considered starting an only fans... He's pretty much got a username, and plan made out, he just hasn't committed to making it.

When Aemond gets his own apartment, Aegon decides to just move into the frat house he’s a part of, it’s easy, and he’d still get his own room. Plus he’ll probably be the president at some point so really he’s just prepping for that. But he'll probably get his own place at some point again fairly soon after.

As I mentioned in my hotd headcanons post, Aegon would take the party themes very seriously, and that extends to the planning as well. He has a very specific drink list. With certain brands and flavors. He briefs the pledges that man the door, and let people in. Basically, he tells them all girls get in, most guys too, as long as no one is being a problem. Aegon just likes to have a good time, he doesn't really care too much about the guest list.

Has a shelf/container in his bathroom of different designer colognes. He picks a different one depending on the mood he’s in, and what he’s doing for the day.

I think he'd be into pretty much anyone. We all know Aegon likes a good sneaky link, but I think he does long for something more sometimes. Sure he has fun, and it's a stress relief for him maybe. But as he gets older, he gets lonelier.

In certain scenarios I see him going for someone who would be very opposite him. Someone more serious, and studious. Maybe fits into that "nerdy girl" stereotype. He'd find it fun to make them flustered. When he "accidentally" runs into them at the library he tries to play it off as a coincidence, but really he just wanted to see them.

Maybe they meet through Aemond, or they had a class together. If they did have a class together, he would at first be sitting several seats away, but every class he moves a couple chairs closer. Until he's eventually right next to you, which would be when his flirting begins.

Aegon would be so clueless in the romantic/boyfriend category. He's a professional at flirting, and getting people in his bed. But he gets super nervous to ask you on a first date. He worries you won't think he's serious. And when he finally does, he spends several days planning the date, to make it perfect. He's very excited.

He seems like a guy who would fall hard, and fall fast. Maybe a little clingy, especially at first. But he learns overtime, and becomes more secure in himself as a boyfriend. He might just need some reassurance every once in a while.

Like Aemond, I think one of his love languages would be gift giving. Maybe it's cause they both have money to spare? But I think Aegon preferes words of affirmation most of all. He compliments you all the time, and loves it when you do the same to him. "Is that a new top? Cause damn babe, you look good".

He knows he's not the golden child (that title probably belongs to Aemond or Helaena), but he wants to still make Alicent proud of him. He might just not know how to do that yet. He might joke about how his family is annoying but deep down he really loves them.

Sometimes he wishes he was closer to his siblings. As the eldest he feels like he needs to be better about being around, and making an effort. Like going to get a coffee with Aemond, or lunch with Helaena. Maybe even drive Daeron to his fencing lessons.

This man loves a sugary drink or snack. If you go to Starbucks, he's going to get some hella sweet frappuccino with whipped cream and toppings. And if y'all walk by a bakery or candy store he might just drag you in there.

He's oddly good at English? Like in high school, and your teacher would ask something like "and what does the blue door represent to the protagonist?" Maybe it's just cause he's good at bullshitting things? But he's oddly very perceptive/good with literary questions like that.

He likes to wear his hair longer. He likes the look, and I've got to say, I agree. Alicent likes his hair shorter, she tries to convince him it's easier to manage. Plus that's how she'd do it when he was a kid. But Aegon won't budge. "No, no Mom, it's sexy". She rolls her eyes to this.

All in all, it might take him a little longer to find his way and to be more secure in himself. But ultimately he's a sweetheart, a romantic, and a sympathetic guy. He just wants his mom to be as proud of him as she is his siblings, and he wants to be a good older brother. But he loves his family, and he loves his s/o too. He just needs some extra love in return sometimes.

[quills-of-freedom]

Porco Galliard Relationship

Aesthetic, Vibe & Various

♏

🐺

🥪

🏈

🥋

🥊

👟

At the core, Porco is a pretty relaxed and fun loving guy. He just doesn’t really have the privilege to relax with everything going on. Including how hard he pushes himself on missions and in training.

But when he does have the time to chill, you’d better believe the first person on his list to see, is you.

Usually walks through your door without knocking, always with a small gift for you.

“Hey Babe–?! I’m home!” He’ll call in the hallway, even if you’re not yet living together.

A huge toothy grin will spread across his face. His chest will puff out in pride at the sight of you as he hands you the flowers or whatever other gift he’s picked up for you.

Ideal dates:

Porco doesn’t mind for the most part where the two of you go. As long as he’s with you.

He mostly has two moods - if you’re looking especially fine that day he will absolutely go somewhere busy and show you off on his arm. But if he catches eyes lingering on you, expect him to get a little territorial.

His other mood is he just wants to hide away with you, tuckering you both into a quiet bistro or bar on a side street or a walk in the park within the thick treeline.

Always has to touch you. Wether it be a brush of you hair or holding your hand, he just loves the feel of you against him.

Always makes sure he smells extra good before he sees you. Aftershave and cologne galore, but not too overpowering. More of a fresh, clean smell with a bit of spice.

Modern AU

Loves the competitiveness of sports. Rugby, soccer, hockey, basketball .. you name it he plays and watches it.

Man loves his food.

Always wears one of those chunky watches.

Gets a lot of attention from the ladies. But he doesn’t even give them a second glance when he has you. You’re the only one for him.

Too much attention from women actually makes him uncomfortable and he’ll be making a swift move for the exit.

Is popular with the men too.

Hightop sneakers and baseball shoes with letterman’s and bomber jackets and jeans.

Sleeps in soft jogger bottoms with no shirt. The outline of his cock is devine.

Loves to push himself and is always learning about something or going to sporting classes/events.

Nsfw:

Porco is actually pretty shy when it comes to romance. At first at least.

When you first have sex, he’s more than willing, but is a nervous wreck.

Will be super soft with you the first few times until he finds his footing and is more comfortable with you.

That’s when he’ll fuck you against walls, randomly bend you over sofas, throw you around and mark you up.

Loves the dirty talk.

Sit on his face and he’s wrapped around your little finger.

Kinks

Depending on his mood he has a service kink, where pleasuring you gets him off more than anything could ever possibly.

Loves to praise you but with a spice of dirty talk.

“Look how beautiful you are, squirming around on my cock.”

“That face is so pretty when it’s sucking my dick.”

“It’s the best being inside of you, lemme hear those pretty moans call out my name…”

When he reaches the point of no return - that being desperately in love with you, will develop a slight breeding kink. Not as strong as Reiners, but it’s still certainly present.

Loves to finger you and lock his digits clean. He can’t get enough of your taste.

PANTIES. Anything to do with them. Stealing yours, sniffing, stuffing and wrapping them around his cock as he jerks off. He thought of your bare pussy on the material sends him feral.

Aftercare

He gets pretty tired after sex and rolls off you, pulling you into an embrace. He’ll pepper you with kisses and have sweet pillow talk - but don’t expect him to carry you to the shower or make you food or anything.

Of course if you asked him, he still would, just not with as much enthusiasm as some others would.

Will make sure you stay hydrated, though.

Dates 9/10

Thoughtfulness 8/10

Affection 10/10

Sex 10/10

Aftercare 8/10

All in all, Porco is someone who would be amazing to be with.

I just wish he were real

[little-corritrice]

All Harry Potter Char. ~ Take A Hint

{Yes, it's that song. Characters include; Harry, Ron, Hermione, Oliver[Wood], Fred & George, Neville, Draco, Seamus, Dean, Adrian[Pucey], Ginny, & Victor[Krum]. Have fun reading!}

It was a couple days before the Yule Ball, and every girl was gawking at Victor Krum. I, however, wasn't. I didn't pay attention, but according to Fred & George, he was always staring at me. I always hushed their jealousy with the fact I was going to the Yule Ball with one of them. But that didn't seem to stop Victor from trying everyway possible to flirt with me every single minute he spotted me. It's like trying to play hide and seek, but if your found, it's a punishment of endless annoyance and flirting. I looked out of the class, trying to spot him. I didn't see him, so I sprinted out of the classroom, going to the Great Hall. I was able to get in, but as soon as I was near my table, the devil himself showed up. "y/n! Hey!" He said, getting super close. I held back the urge to gag at his over-use of cologne. I gave a shaky smile, nodding at him.

He smiled, grabbing my hands. I looked down, then back up at him, trying to cover up that I flinched. However, everyone staring saw it. "y/n, ever since I came here, you're the only girl who has caught my eye." He said, and I didn't know what to say. "What about the train of girls always following you?" I said awkwardly, trying to pry my hands from his. However, as soon as my hands were out of his grip, he grabbed my hips, and I stared at him. "y/n, what I'm trying to say is that I love you." He said, and I remained silent. I looked to everyone, and they were about to get up. "I'm not really interested." I said, but he persisted. "But, I love you. We can have a fam-" He was rambling, but everyone stood up.

I felt a hand on my shoulder, and a lot of presences near me. "It's about time that your leaving." Hermione said from the table. "I'm gonna count to three and..." Harry said. "Open my eyes and..." Adrian said from the walkway too. "You'll..." Ron said darkly. "be..." Oliver added. "gone." George said from behind me. "One..." Fred counted. "Get your hands off her hips!" Seamus glared. "Two..." Neville continued. "Or I'll punch you in the lips." Dean threatened, making him instantly let go. "three...Stop your staring at her!" Ginny called out. "Hey, take a hint. Take a hint." Draco said from beside Adrian, making me smirk. Everyone was glaring at him, and he turned away, walking off like nothing. I let out a breath, holding my knees. "Thank you so much, guys." I said, turning to them all. I went to Draco, giving him a hug, then Adrian. They left to their table, and I hugged the rest of the people who helped me. After that, it was safe to say Victor was scared to come near me now that I had someone with me all the time. Funny really.

[shokobuns]

“𝐰𝐡𝐚�� 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐩𝐛𝐫𝐨?”

your irritating step brother likes to come in your room during your zoom classes.

PAIRING: stepbro!gojo satoru x f!reader

GENRE(S): smut, quarantine!au (au? LMAO), college!au, taboo

WORD COUNT: 2.7k

WARNING(S): darkish, smut, drug use (weed), high sex, stepcest, taboo, slight dubcon, slight manipulation, exhibitionism (if you squint), sensory deprivation (blindfold), degradation, size kink, unprotected sex, creampie, oral (f receiving), squirting, dacryphilia (if you squint)

(A/N): this rly do be my first time using proper capitalization huh, anyways all characters, SORRY I FORGOT TO ADD THE READ MORE I FIXED IT 

More.

One thing you easily learned about Satoru was the fact he wasn’t easy to satisfy. He’s demanding, cocky, all the while being nonchalant. He rarely exerts effort, but gets the desired results. He’s arrogant, but it’s nearly impossible to point out a flaw to counter it at all.

It makes your head hurt. It makes your teeth clench.

When you make eye contact, you make sure to stare back daggers. When you’re forced to talk to him, your voice stays monotone and expressionless. When you’re in a room with him for more than five minutes, your earbuds are already out, drowning out the sound of his voice. But it’s all difficult when you’re under the same roof.

Knock. Knock.

You roll your eyes at the sound of your step brother knocking your door, wondering what the hell he wants now. At this point, he’s probably just trying to annoy you, poke at your sides until he gets attention, any kind of attention, all just to satisfy his boredom.

Your calm demeanor and sharp tongue has always contrasted with Satoru’s teasing attitude. He’s always seemingly trying to provoke you, trying to pry apart the walls you’ve barricaded yourself in. His personality never rubbed you in the right way from the day your dad surprised you with a dinner with your new brother and your new mom. It didn’t matter anyways, you thought. You’d be going off to university soon enough.

The pandemic ran over all of your plans like a truck.

Better yet, your parents still had work without the option of staying home, leaving you and Satoru home alone for a little over eight hours a day. When he wasn’t in class or tutoring his juniors, he was knocking at your door, most likely red-eyed, though you can’t see it, and relaxed. Despite his persistence, you rarely let him in no matter how insistent he is in “getting to know his new lil sister.”

“Go away, Satoru.”

Behind the door, he pouts while you scribble down notes from the screenshared presentation. He comes in anyways, reeking of marijuana and cologne, half of his shirt buttons undone. You steal a small glance before once again glueing your eyes to your computer screen. The voice of your professor bores you, but you’re hyper aware of Satoru’s presence as he makes himself comfortable on your bed. “Get the fuck off! You stink!” You yell, turning off your camera before throwing a pencil right at him.

He catches it mid air with ease, relaxing his head on your pillows while fiddling with one of your many Sanrio plushies. “Can I have this?” he asks, holding one up as you contemplate its value in your head.

“If it gets you out of my room, then sure.” you reply in a monotone voice, turning back to your notes.

“You’re no fun,” he mumbles, rolling over to lay on his side with the plushie in his arms, “Is that organic chem?”

“Yeah, can you go now?”

“I’ll be quiet, princess. Don’t worry about me, just wanna know what my lil sis is up to.” He waits for a response, but is only rewarded with a huff.

It stays like that for the next ten minutes, him watching your professor’s lecture, you scrambling to write all of the information on the slides as he continues the fast paced lesson. You’re hyper focused on your class, putting in your effort to absorb the entirety of the content. In your mind, the only people in your room are your and your computer. “You know, you don’t have to understand everything all at once,”  a voice speaks up from behind you, causing you to purse your lips in annoyance, “It’s easier to learn when you’re actually paying attention to the lecture instead of focusing on trying to get everything down.

“We get it, Satoru. You have straight A’s and you’re naturally good at everything.”

“Hey, you’re getting advice from an aspiring teacher. Don’t need to use that tone with me, Princess.” He mumbles, rolling to his back on the bed, “Just tryna help you out in my free time.”

“I don’t need your help.”

He stays silent while you go back to drawing some of your basic compounds. Ethanol, methanol, propane, all of it. Your scribbles are messy and they progressively fill out the page in your notebook. You hear a tsk behind you, rolling your eyes as you prepare for another criticism from Satoru. Sure, he was probably right, but you refuse to feed into his ego. “Does he not link the slides to you guys or something?” he asks, this time with a friendlier tone.

“He does.” you reply, swiveling your chair until you’re facing him. He’s laying on his side again, his shirt spilling off his shoulder as your breath hitches at the sight. The blindfold is snug against his face, his hair pushed up. You’re sure that the stink of marijuana has rubbed onto your sheets and you make a mental note to wash them after class. “Then get high with me.”

“I’m in the middle of class, dumbass.”

“But you can always look at the slides later.” he suggests, “Plus, you’ve looked super stressed lately. Wonder why.”

Because of you, you want to say, but you stop yourself, opting to stay silent while pondering the offer. “Sure.”

He excitedly walks back to his room, returning to your bed seconds later with a joint between his fingertips. “This your first time?”

“Nah.”

“Ooooo,” he hums like a child, “That’s what you’re up to when we’re not around, huh?” he teases and you shake your head with a smile forming on your face.

“I guess.”

He shrugs, holding the joint up to your lips and lighting up the tip. You suck in the smoke into your lungs, holding it in, before exhaling out the screen door of your window. He takes a hit, opening his mouth and inhaling through his nose then passing it back to you. Your professor’s lecture fades into background noise as you fixate on Satoru, finally giving him the attention he’s been craving for weeks. He makes a mental note to offer you weed the next time he’s overcome by boredom.

The high hits you almost immediately. You’ve never had anything this strong and it’s liberating. You feel weightless, but your eyelids feel heavy. Your face is awfully warm and lifted and your vision gets more and more blurry by the second. The intoxication is pleasant, the present worries in your head being cut off as you focus on what’s right in front of you.

Satoru.

Satoru, your dear, irritating step brother who was kind enough to share the weed he stashes in his drawer. It’s getting harder and harder to hate him and you can’t reason why you felt so many negative emotions that you projected onto him at all. Sure, your room reeks and it’s all because of him, but the sight of him laying on your bed in a shirt that barely covers up his upper body makes your underwear feel uncomfortable. You don't know where it’s coming from, but shutting it out was easy when you’re sober. Key word: sober.

You stand from your desk, making your way to your bed and laying next to him. Both of you face each other, easily getting comfortable, warmth radiating off his body. It feels oddly intimate and your thighs press together in order to suppress the lustful feeling that takes over your body. Your arm comes around to the back of his head, tugging on the fabric that covers his eyes. “Can I take it off?”

“Sure.”

He lifts his head, allowing you to pull on the knot until it becomes undone. You don’t know what you were expecting, maybe a scar or something, but you’re in awe of the blue orbs that make you feel like you were staring into infinity. They’re bloodshot and half lidded and it’s when one fact you really didn’t want to accept hits you.

Satoru Gojo is one of the prettiest men you’ve ever seen.

And he’s your step brother.

Uneasiness stirs in your lower tummy and you curse at whatever higher power that decided to give you this type of luck, but a hand on your hip trails to your back, pulling your closer and closer until your faces are at a dangerous distance. You can feel your cheeks becoming alarmingly hot and you hate that you can’t blame it on the weed. His hand comes up to your cheeks, his thumb stroking the soft skin. “Thought you wanted me to go away?”

“Changed my mind.” you whisper, eyes slowly closing, lips parting open as you wait for him to lean in and close the gap.

“Hmm? What’s this?” he sneers, causing your eyes to shoot open and your body to jolt up from your bed. The hazy feeling on your head still remains, making it hard to stand completely straight. “Get out.” you sternly demand, leaning back on your desk chair and pointing towards your door.

“Why should I? I don’t think you really want me to leave, babe.” He props his head on his hand, leaning his elbow onto your mattress.

“It’s wrong.”

“What’s wrong? We’re just two people hanging out on a bed. Unless you were trying to do something else, dirty girl.”

“I- I wasn’t! You’re my step brother!”

“Step brother.” He repeats, justifying your actions.

You’re shaking, guilt occupying your mind keeping you distracted. It’s the perfect time for Satoru to get comfortable in the space between your legs, pulling down your loose shorts and taking you by surprise. Before you have a chance to protest, his nose brushes against your sensitive core, making you let out a squeak. “W-We can’t do this!”

“Didn’t you want this?” he questions, looking up at you with wide eyes, “Wanted me to take care of this pretty little pussy, right?”

You know you should be refusing. You know you should be pushing him out your door. But it’s so hard when his pupils are dilated and the grip on the sides of your thighs feels so right. At this point, you’re not thinking, only nodding along to whatever he’s saying, anticipating his next actions.

“So wet.” He mumbles, pulling down the flimsy fabric and throwing it off somewhere in the room. He licks a thick stripe from your entrance to your clit, sucking softly on the pearl while holding you down as the pleasure causes you to jolt upwards. He sucks and slurps like it’s his last meal, making your empty walls pulsate and little whines along with to leave your lips. Looking down, your eyes meet his, the lower half of his face immersed in your cunt.

The wet muscle fucks into you, curling and pressing against your walls, while his thumb rubs against your little clit. He hits all the right spots that make you squirm, pushing your legs wide open to see more of your ruined pussy. The wetness collects on his mouth, his chin, and his cheeks, filling him with a sick sense of satisfaction. “Such a whore, aren’t ya?” he pulls away to comment, but your fingers thread through his hair, pushing his head back where you need him most.

The action is assertive, something he usually hates dealing with. Though this time, he’s filled with a sick sense of pride at the fact that he was able to turn you, someone who seemed to hate him with a burning passion, into a moaning mess with just his mouth. He hums satisfactorily, sending vibrations into your sensitive core that make your thighs shaky.

You’re already cumming in an embarrassingly short time, gushing all over his face while he laps up all the juices you have to offer.

Before you can process anything else, his lips capture yours, lifting your body and dropping you onto your bed. You look at him with half lidded eyes, still sensitive from your last orgasm, while he pulls off his own clothes. His length rests on the inside of your thigh and he’s huge, so huge that it feels heavy against your skin and it scares you. “Satoru, I don’t think I can take you-”

“Shhh, princess,” he reassures you, “You started this. You have to take it.”

He doesn’t give you a chance to speak, taking the fabric of his blindfold and covering your eyes, tying a tight knot on the back of your head. This isn’t right, a voice in your head tells you, but you ignore it because Satoru treats you so well. He keeps you company, gives you some of his weed, eats your pussy without you having to ask him.

The only thing you can see is black and you whine. You so badly want to see Satoru’s pretty face, his chiseled body, his thick cock, but your thoughts are interrupted by the fat tip prodding at your tiny hole. “Too big..” your voice trails off as your mind is lifted, only the feeling of him splitting you in half remaining. You’ve never felt so full and it feels so dirty, yet your slick says otherwise, betraying any rational part that still resides in your body.

“I got you, Princess, don’t worry.” He slurs, drunk on the sensation of your snug walls. The stretch strings, whimpers spilling from your lips, but his cock hits every spot like no other. By the time he’s fully inside of you, it feels like he’s actually in your guts and it’s all intensified by the isolated feeling, not being able to see him at all. Every bite on your shoulder, every kiss on your open mouth, every delicious drag on your gummy walls is amplified.

You’re already cumming around him, a ring of cream forming on his cock as he gazes down at your bare body, wrapping his lips around a sensitive nipple. You squeal, your breath hitching at the same time you clamp down around his throbbing length. “Already? Such a sensitive little princess, aren’t you?” He mutters in your ear, your nails digging into his shoulders, piercing the pale skin. Tears spill from your eyes, flowing down the sides of your face.

His teeth sink into your shoulder and you want to tell him to stop, but the words don’t quite leave your lips. Only babbling noises accompanied by the wet sounds of your cunt and skin slapping against skin. He’s still pounding into your cervix at a relentless pace, in awe of how your slick drips down his balls and onto the white sheets. 

Every time he hits that sweet spot, there’s an odd feeling that forms, like you’re about to make a mess. And when your next orgasm washes over you in intense waves of euphoria, a clear liquid spurts from your cunny, coating his lower stomach and your inner thighs. “Who knew my little princess was such a messy girl?” he taunts, making your cheeks flush in embarrassment.

“S-shut up-”

“Don’t worry about it,” he leans in close, his lips dangerously close to your ear, “I’ll clean it all up.”

His smooth voice causes you to squeeze around him, almost like you don’t want him to ever leave your cunt, and it gets harder and harder for him to move. “Fuck, baby you’re so tight, need you to loosen up,” he mumbles, his own orgasm finally approaching, your little cunny milking him for all he’s worth. 

He’s rambling little praises, hot pleasure elevated by the high, his hips stuttering and his cock stuffing you to the brim with his warm seed. You both lay there, still intertwined and his body resting on top of yours.

“Ms. (L/N)! Did you have any questions about my lesson today?”

Your face drops in horror, your hand immediately pulling off the blindfold, as you push Satoru away from you and press the leave button on Zoom. A mix of your juices drop onto the floor and he chuckles, pulling you back to bed. “This isn’t over.”

He pins you back onto the mattress, his cock twitching at the sight of your leaking cunt, pulling your thighs until you’re close and pinning them to your chest. In one swift movement, his entire cock is shoved into your cunt, his balls slapping against the flesh of your ass with every thrust, fucking his cum back into your womb.

Gojo Satoru would never be satisfied.

[ptergwen]

only you and me

w/c: 6.7k

warnings: angst, mentions of weed, and some swearing

summary: whenever peter tries to tell you how he feels, harry gets in the way

a/n: ahhhh hi my loves! my mini writing break is over :,) life has been just a mess for me and i’ve been way more critical than usual about my work but i’m doing a little better and ready to get back into everything! this helped me a lot so i’m excited to share it with y’all <3 it’s also my first time writing harry osborn so lmk how i did lmaooofwfjj but yeah pls enjoy

-

“dude, she’s right there! just tell her!” ned whisper yells to peter, elbowing him for emphasis. they’re hidden behind a wall to watch you at your locker. you’re grabbing books while betty rants to you and mj rolls her eyes. “not now. she looks... busy,” peter gulps, gaze trailing down your body. he always finds excuses to put off telling you how he feels.

or rather, excuses find him. something comes up every time he gets the courage to do it. he has no idea why he’s so scared because he’s pretty sure you like him back. pretty sure. there are a few reasons why you might not. also, plenty why you might. you stay up late texting most nights, and you’ve even flirted a couple of times. it never fails to make peter blush. he trips over his words whenever he tries to flirt back.

he’s had feelings for you since the first time you two hung out alone. none of your other friends could make it, but you happily took him up on his offer to come over. you grinned through his whole apartment tour, asked about may and what she does. when peter showed you his room, you even complimented his movie posters, much to his surprise.

“really? you don’t think they’re, like, dorky?”

“no, peter. your interests aren’t dorky. everyone likes what they like.”

and, he liked you. he knew it from that point on. you’d know it too if the universe wouldn’t keep stopping him from saying that.

“she’s so...” peter pauses for a second. him and ned watch you pull betty in by her shoulders as if you’re going to kiss her. she dodges you, mj pushing her back, all three of you giggling about it before you grab betty’s hands and give her words of encouragement. “cool,” peter finishes, turning back to ned. “i mean, how she puts herself out there like that.”

“what’s stopping you from doing the same thing?” ned points out with a knowing smile that peter returns. you make it look so easy. whenever you’re comfortable around people, you can let go of any doubts you have. you stop worrying about what they might think and instead do what you want. it’s inspiring to peter, and heart warming getting to be one of the people you’re fully you with.

he wishes he could apply your wisdom himself.

peter shakes his head, staring down at the floor. “oh, you know. anxiety, fear of rejection. that fun stuff.” “so, yourself,” ned concludes, clapping peter’s backpack so hard it makes him stumble forward. betty and mj wave goodbye to you before heading to their first class. you’re still getting your things together at your locker. this is peter’s moment.

“come on, dude! y/n’s not busy anymore. you got this.” ned keeps his hand on peter’s back, adding on, “it’s been a year already.” “half a year,” peter corrects him in a mumble. he’s liked you for a really long time. “ok, i’m going. wish me luck.” he takes a deep breath and focuses in on you. “aw, dude. you don’t need it.” ned gives him one last pat on the back. “good luck, though.” “thanks, man. see you in trig.”

right as peter starts heading over, harry comes up behind you and covers your eyes. you squeal, jumping up and turning to him, laughing as you playfully hit at his chest. he brings you into a hug where your face is buried in his sweater and probably inhaling his super strong, super expensive cologne.

that’s what’s stopping peter, harry freaking osborn. his own friend.

peter quickly loses the tiny bit of confidence ned gave him. he figures it might be better to hold off on his confession and get an early start to class. unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like that’s going to happen. harry has already spotted him and calls him over.

“hey, pete! come give us some love, eh?” harry beams, an arm slung around your shoulders and you smiling up at him. you direct your smile to peter when he slumps his way to your locker. his lips pull into a barely noticeable frown. you notice. “there’s my guy. why so down, sunshine?” harry offers his fist for a fist bump. peter gives it to him, eyes staying on you.

harry osborn. where to begin with such a specimen? he’s the perfect combination of everything you’d want in a guy. he gets good grades, he’s a star player on on the basketball team, nice to everyone and makes you laugh, popular yet fits right into your small group.

he was friends with you before the popular thing. what kicked it off was him making varsity basketball while only being a sophomore. yep, he’s unreal. since then, he’s been balancing his cool life and also hanging with “the nerds,” as he likes to call you. he got his own feelings for you along the way. peter can tell.

he’ll give you rides home, compliment how you look, basically act like your boyfriend without really being it. it absolutely infuriates peter because he doesn’t compare to harry in the slightest. if he were you and had the choice between himself or harry, he would pick harry.

it’s been a factor in why he hasn’t come clean about how he feels yet. he’s not trying to create a love triangle that he doesn’t stand a chance surviving in.

“for real, peter. you good?” you ask him, eyebrows knitted together in concern. “fine,” peter lies and musters up a smile. “i’m just tired. didn’t sleep too good last night.” you’re only more concerned now. this has been happening to him a lot lately. you search for his eyes. “again?”

“aw, man. you need something for it?” harry punches peter’s shoulder and lowers his voice. “i know this kid who-“ “harry, stop.” your words are serious, tone lighthearted. you throw your head back on his arm. “do you really know a kid?” “i’m not telling you,” he says in an overly happy voice, you humming the same way. peter feels like he’s third wheeling.

“i was telling pete.” harry looks at him expectantly, peter’s mouth dropping open while he thinks of what to say. harry likes to mess around. this is a different level, though. “no thanks. i- i shouldn’t. i’m-“ “relax, i don’t know a kid,” harry chuckles and points at peter. “your face right now.” it’s completely flushed. you knock into harry’s side.

“ok, well literally no one laughed. you’re scaring him,” you tell harry sternly. peter tugs tight on one of his backpack straps. he doesn’t feel like he’s third wheeling you two now. he feels like your kid. he’ll never let ned mettle in his love life ever again if this is where it gets him. “he knows i’m kidding, y/n/n. right?” harry checks with peter. you make a face at him that says you aren’t convinced.

he switches his arm from you to peter, drawing him into his side. “look, pete. i’m sorry. the only kid i know who’s selling is chocolates for his band trip.” you’re satisfied with that, grinning at both of them. peter forces a laugh and nods. “no worries, man. i gotta get to class.” “good boy,” harry lets him go. “bye, pete. we’ll see you at lunch,” you remind him. he gives you a tight lipped smile. “see you, y/n/n.”

you and harry continue practically spooning each other as soon as peter is out of sight.

what the hell is going on?

peter is back to being grumpy, plopping down in his seat next to ned. their teacher has the lesson plan pulled up on the smart board. ned looks from it to peter, almost jumping in his seat. “oh, you’re back already? how’d it go?” “it didn’t go,” peter huffs, copying down the aim. he’s only doing it so he doesn’t have to look ned in the eyes while telling him he bailed. again.

“you didn’t do it?” ned repeats, peter writing something about pi and a unit circle in his notebook. he bites the inside of his cheek. “you have to do it at some point,” ned sighs out and picks up his pencil. even he’s getting tired of this, and ned never gets tired of a good friends to lovers moment. “i think she likes harry,” peter says under his breath. “huh?” ned gasps.

peter doesn’t feel like explaining the extremely awkward moment he just finished living. although, it wouldn’t hurt to get a second opinion. “y/n. he came over, and they kept hugging and whatever.” “they always do that,” ned almost scoffs, their trigonometry teacher moving to stand in front of the class. “yeah, but he had his arm around her the whole time we-“

the bell rings and cuts their conversation short. peter struggles to label the unit circle they learn about when his mind is filled to its capacity with images of you and harry all over each other. it’s not daydreaming. this is a nightmare. maybe, he actually will be having sleep problems.

peter’s morning is relatively decent after that. he gets to do an experiment with mj in chemistry, and she lets him take the lead for once. spanish is easy, health is okay, then he has a free period, then it’s lunch. things can only go downhill from here.

he thinks about hiding in the library until it’s over, but it’s the thought of harry eating your face that gets him to drag himself to the cafeteria.

flash is at the head of your table talking to harry when peter gets there. great, now he can’t eat his soggy chicken fingers in peace. “sounds dope. let’s go on the-“ flash stops saying what he was saying and nods at peter. “penis parker, you’re late.” peter takes his seat on your left, harry on your right. you glance over at him to make sure he’s okay. he acts like he doesn’t care, peeling open his milk carton.

“just text me later, man. get outta here,” harry dismisses flash, the two of them doing a bro handshake before he leaves. he’s well aware of his and peter’s history. he keeps them separate for the obvious reasons. peter appreciates it because saying no to flash is nearly impossible. he shouldn’t be so mad at harry, should he? he’s a good friend.

harry’s arm snakes around your waist and brings you closer to him. never mind.

“who’s up for sushi later?” he asks the table, everyone agreeing and saying how awesome that sounds. everyone except peter. you tap his shoulder with a small smile. “what about you, peter? you coming?” he realizes you’re all waiting for him to respond and puts down his milk. “uh, i can’t. homework,” he lamely answers.

“dude, we have homework, too. just do it a little later,” ned suggests, betty laying her head on his shoulder. you share a look with her, your eyes wide and a grin on your lips. that must have been what you were talking about this morning. she asked for boy advice. ned advice. why can’t this crap work out for peter?

“i really can’t. sorry, guys,” peter half heartedly apologizes.

he misses the disappointment that crosses your features because he’s pouting at his lunch again.

“homework, huh?” mj tests him, squinting as she takes a sip of apple juice. harry nudges peter’s side with two fingers. “you still mad about the sleeping thing?” “sleeping thing? what sleeping thing?” betty wonders while ned rests his head against hers. a quiet laugh slips out of you as you lean in to tell her.

“peter said he couldn’t sleep last night, so harry offered him...” you mime rolling a joint. “i said no,” peter clarifies, rolling his eyes at the inevitable teasing he’s about to get. none of you have even smoked besides harry. you’re being annoying about it. “of course you did,” mj sighs and kicks her feet up on the table. “unrelated to what y/n just said... harry, i have insomnia.”

everyone bursts into laughter at that, betty shoving her side and you pulling harry by his torso as he pretends to go into his backpack. peter wants nothing to do with any of this. he usually enjoys joking around with the group, even if it’s at his expense because it’s from a place of love.

today feels like you’re straight up making fun of him. harry might as well invite flash to join in.

“alright, alright, alright. enough of the weed talk,” harry decides, you removing your arms from him and grabbing your coffee. “you’re such a bad influence.” your voice drips with sarcasm. you bend the straw and take a sip while scooting closer to peter. “you really can’t come later? i feel like i’ve barely seen you today.” that’s on harry. “i wish i could, y/n/n,” peter exhales. “i’ll text you later, okay?”

you don’t get to answer because mj tugs on your arm, distracting you from peter. she explains how she has to do an art project on what it means to be a woman and needs help brainstorming ideas. you’re full of them, offering up an interesting perspective for her to use. peter smiles to himself as he listens in. you find a new way to impress him every day.

he should tell you that.

“hey, y/n?” “listen to her! you’re seriously my idol,” betty gushes, so loudly you don’t hear peter. not a single thing has gone in his favor at this table. he gives up.

peter locks himself in his room when he gets home from his overall terrible day. he does homework like he said he would, only taking a break for dinner, giving one word replies to may’s questions about school. he’d much rather be having sushi with you. he would’ve gone if the others didn’t.

after dinner, it’s back to grumbling and scribbling down answers. there’s a knock at peter’s door around ten o’clock, which he assumes is may saying goodnight. “i’ll be done in a few minutes, may! love you.” “it’s y/n,” you reply, the smile clear in your voice. his eyes go comically wide. that’s the last thing he expected to hear. “oh. uh, come in.”

you’re holding a small takeout bag, shutting the door behind you and walking over to his desk. you meet his twinkling eyes in the dim light that hits off his walls. from his open window, you faintly hear cars as they rush by and honk their horns in the distance, accompanied by a fresh breeze. it’s cozy, safe. it’s peter.

“hey. what’re you doing here?” peter questions, leaving his pencil in his binder and shutting it. you shake around the plastic bag. “i saved you a roll.” he bites back a smile, getting up from his chair. “may let me in. she was really chill about it,” you continue and hold out the sushi for him. “it’s a california roll. i wasn’t sure what you wanted, and everyone likes those.”

peter lets his smile spread out and takes the bag from you. “thanks, y/n/n. i was honestly hoping one of you would have leftovers.” you laugh softly, peter setting the bag down on his desk. he scratches the back of his neck. “did you guys have fun?” “yeah. i missed you, though.” you clasp your hands behind your back. “everyone did.”

“i feel bad i didn’t go. just... things felt off today,” peter admits the real reason he stayed home, you letting out a breath. “it was harry, wasn’t it? god, he was being so weird.” your arms drop back to your sides. “there’s a difference between playing around and actually upsetting people.” by people, you mean peter. no one else seemed too bothered by him. “i’m sorry, peter. i tried to make him stop.”

“no, you don’t have to apologize,” peter assures you sweetly, grabbing one of your hands. “it’s not your fault, okay? he probably didn’t realize what he was doing. the jokes landed.” he’s referring to ned, mj, and betty finding harry’s comments hilarious. you lace your fingers with peter’s and frown. “this isn’t like him. maybe he’s stressed about a game.” your gaze drifts off to the side, what you see getting you to perk up.

“is that new?” you ask peter, leading him by his hand over to a poster he put up recently. it’s for 13 going on 30. you showed it to him a couple of weeks ago, and he clearly liked it a lot. any movie that makes it to peter’s wall is a special one. “mhm. i got it literally right after you went home the night we watched,” he chuckles and looks over at you while you study the poster.

you turn to face peter again, keeping your hand tight in his. “were you gonna tell me something earlier? at lunch?” he’s confused for a second, then he remembers your ideas for mj’s art project. the fact that you cared enough to bring it up after all these hours makes his stomach do summersaults in the best way. he shrugs and gives you a smile.

“the stuff you were saying about femininity and how there are so many ways to define it,” peter starts, you grinning back at him, at how he took an interest in what you were saying. “you’re so smart, y/n. you make me wanna be better.” a light pink dusts his cheeks. “peter, you’re a feminist?” you coo, joking but genuinely wondering at the same time. he squeezes your hand. “duh.”

“i thought so,” you nod, taking in the rest of what he said. “you think i’m smart? i trust you because you’re way smarter.” peter pffts in response. “i’m only good at, like, physics. you’re good at things that really matter. smart in that way.” you’re feeling your own face get hot. you swing yours and peter’s hands back and forth. “why are you the nicest person ever?”

the answer to that, may, peeks her head into the room. “hey, kids. it’s getting late.” she notices your intertwined hands and shoots peter a smirk. “i thought you were a cool aunt,” he teases, you sadly letting go of him. “she is. thanks for having me over so late,” you tell may on your way to the door. “oh, stop it. you can come over any time.” she puts a hand on your arm. “thank you so much,” you murmur back.

you walk backwards to the doorway, may leaving you two to say your goodbyes. “wanna hang out only you and me? on friday maybe?” that should make up for everything earlier. “yeah, of course. friday is perfect,” peter agrees and bounces on his feet as excitement takes over him. “thanks again for the sushi.”

“no problem. goodnight.” it’s taking every last bit of power in you to not freak out. “night. text me when you get home.” he presses his tongue into his cheek. you slowly pull the door shut. “ok, i will. bye!” it closes, leaving peter skipping across his room to his bed on one side and you doing a little happy dance on the other.

the next day at school, everything is back to normal. honestly, better than normal. your hangout with peter is tomorrow, and he’s planning on telling he likes you then. he already talked it over with ned. he’s relieved it’s finally happening, especially since him and betty have their own thing. she’ll be taking up most of his free time from here.

your group is spending lunch outside today, lounging across a picnic table, surrounded by trees and the shining sun in a bright blue sky. mj sits on the table and has her feet on the bench, which would usually bug peter to no end. he doesn’t mind this time because it takes up enough room that harry has to sit with ned and betty instead of you. you lean into peter’s side and stab a piece of lettuce from your salad.

“it’s so nice out,” betty sighs, ripping off half her cookie and giving it to ned. “we should ditch.” “oh my god, you sound like harry,” you groan between bites of salad. peter lets out a breathy laugh, you looping your arm through his. he grins down at where you’re linked. harry crosses his own arms over his chest. “she wishes.” betty only nods because her mouth is full of m&m’s.

“nah, seriously. i’d take us out somewhere, but i have practice after school.” he speaks quieter than he normally does, less confident. your theory about him having basketball drama was right. “what did we tell you? talk about the sports shit with your sports friends,” mj complains, sitting back on her hands. she glances at harry over her shoulder and catches ned mouthing you can’t say that.

sitting criss cross, she spins around to face harry, unenthusiastically saying, “what i meant was, you sound upset. what’s wrong?” harry gets into it right away, like he’s been waiting for someone to ask. “coach says there might be a scout at the next game. it’s a really good opportunity even though i don’t have to worry about... college yet.” the word makes him cringe.

“oh, damn. that’s a big deal. scary,” mj snorts, turning back to you and peter. her behavior makes ned internally face palm. “that’s awesome, dude. you’re gonna play amazing like always.” he gives harry a high five, who smiles nervously in response. he’s never nervous. “thanks, bro. you guys wanna come and watch?” he’s never invited you to one of his games before either.

this isn’t a group of friends that likes to spend their weekends in bleachers while angry teens shout around them.

“definitely. we’ll be there to support you, harry,” betty answers for everyone, ned pecking her cheek in satisfaction. mj cusses to herself before replying. “if i absolutely must, sure.” only you and peter haven’t said anything yet. he’s been chewing his lower lip, and you your salad. harry looks between you two hopefully. it’s more so at you, which peter doesn’t like.

“y/n? pete? it would help a lot, i’m serious.” he taps his fingers on the table until one of you speaks up. you’re the one who does. “i’ll go. this is pretty huge, right? congrats.” you reach across the table and squeeze his shoulder while simultaneously tightening your arm around peter’s. he takes that as a cue. “i’ll go, too. happy for you, man.”

though peter isn’t currently in the best place with harry, he should show his support by showing up. it can’t be too bad since the rest of you will be there.

a loud, long chuckle leaves harry as he hops up from his bench and comes to yours and peter’s. he bends over and wraps both of you in a hug from behind at the same time. his arms are around each of your shoulders, holding you so close his cheeks are squished against either of your heads. you giggle at that, peter finding himself laughing along and reaching back to ruffle harry’s hair.

staying mad at him is one of the world’s greatest challenges.

“you’re saints, both of you. my angels.” he kisses the back of your head, then lays one right on peter’s cheek, leaving him blushing red and grinning. “what about the rest of us? i never go to shit like this,” mj huffs and seems genuinely offended. harry wiggles his eyebrows. “you want a kiss?” his offer gets her flustered, which she can’t manage to hide. that’s a first.

“shut up. i’m just saying... never mind.” mj glares at you and peter, ned and betty making kissing noises behind her. “someone change the subject.” peter steps in. “when’s the game, harry?” he asks, harry snapping and waving his finger. “tomorrow! cancel your plans, kiddos.” “like we had any,” betty retorts.

some of you did. that was going to be peter’s hangout with you.

ned smiles sympathetically at peter before betty is getting his attention. you‘re unfazed and rambling to harry how proud you are of him.

did last night mean nothing? was it an empty gesture? were you only doing it out of guilt? peter must have read your visit wrong. he’s been wrong the whole time he’s liked you. you don’t like him back, you pity him. harry is who you’re really interested in.

may always says he should trust his instincts.

peter pulls his arm from yours suddenly, swinging his backpack onto his shoulders. you’re taken back because it’s so out of no where. you stop talking to harry so you can figure out his deal. “where are you going?” “bell’s gonna ring,” peter mumbles and picks up his lunch tray. he heads to the garbage can without another word or goodbye to anyone.

“i’m gonna go check on him,” you tell harry, already getting up from the bench. “you do that,” he acknowledges and calls mj’s name again.

peter tosses his mostly untouched food in the trash, seeing you make your way over from the corner of his eye. he tries to speed walk inside so he doesn’t have to talk to you. you’re too quick, cornering him between the door and brick wall.

“we still have ten minutes,” you state, worry flashing across your face. he’s avoiding you. well, attempting to. “what’s wrong?” peter gulps before saying anything. “my next class is on the other side of the-“ “no,” you cut him off. “what’s really wrong?”

he doesn’t feel like having this discussion. it’s bad enough he came to the realization his feelings are one sided. must he break that down for you so soon?

you toy with your sleeve while you speak because peter doesn’t. “i thought you and harry were fine again. i mean, he kissed you.” peter clenches his jaw so hard he can imagine the sound of it cracking. “it’s not about harry.” “what, then? what the fuck happened?” your sleeves are now balled in your fists. you hate it when peter does this angsty routine.

he keeps his voice low and calm so he doesn’t come off as jealous or hurt. he’s both of those things. “the game is tomorrow. friday. when we were supposed to hang out.” you meet peter’s eyes with nothing but remorse in yours. “i... i forgot,” is all you have to say.

you feel awful. he’s had a tough couple of days, and you fell through on your promise to cheer him up.

“clearly,” peter remarks, voice sharp. the way you’re looking at him makes him think he won’t like what’s coming. “peter, we have to go,” you almost whine. “i’m really sorry, i am, but this is a big night for harry. he needs us there.” peter stays silent. you’re twisting the knife deeper into him with every word. “i wouldn’t be cancelling if this wasn’t important.”

now you’re cancelling?

you reach for peter’s hand, but he shoves it into his pocket. that stings for you and him. “please, peter. we’ll hang out at the game, i swear.” this is the last chance you’ve got, so you pile it on. “harry won’t even be there, technically. he’ll... he’ll be on the court.” peter hadn’t thought about that. he lets himself unclench, starting to see the appeal. you add one more thing to lighten the mood and persuade him.

“i’ll buy you popcorn, all you can eat.” it’s that easy. cracking a smile, peter accepts. he’ll deal with his unresolved, unreciprocated feelings after he stuffs his face, courtesy of you. “you better. i’m gonna need it for this long ass game.” your face lights up, grabbing his wrist in both hands.

“so, you’ll come?” “i’ll be there,” he confirms. you throw your arms around his neck. he laughs into the hug and holds you by your middle. “i promise this’ll be the first and last game we ever go to,” you say and mean it. harry is lucky you’re even suffering through this a first time. “thank god,” peter exhales, resting his chin on your head.

that interaction leaves peter confused as hell. you’re crushing his mind and soul one minute, then hugging him the next. you were making him feel so special lasts night, and treating harry the same way today. it’s so jumbled that he isn’t sure if he’s in the friend zone or something more zone.

there are a ton of mixed signals coming his way, and he sucks at reading people as is.

he can’t take another second of this. he’d rather you come out and say you like harry already because it’s torture. knowing you don’t want him in that way would at least eliminate the possibility of anything happening between you two, and allow him to stop driving himself insane.

he’d be able to stop taking it out on harry, too.

the hold you have on peter, that you’re oblivious to, rules his every thought and decision. he’s constantly analyzing what you say to him, debating whether or not your affection is simply platonic. it’s been half a year of this madness, the night of harry’s game blurring every line so much more.

your group arrives a bit early to find seats and hype harry up before he plays. peter gets there after all of you because he’s not exactly in a rush to watch sweaty guys be aggressive. there’s only one upside, which is spending the night with you... and everyone else.

he steps into the gym that’s filling up fast with family members, friends, and the college scout harry was talking about. midtown has a different feeling to it at night. the smell of pencils is oddly stronger, and it’s a lot less intimidating.

cheerleaders are huddled in a circle while the team supervisor has them run their chants. the “leading official,” who peter thought was called a referee, takes his place off to the side. coaches give their players last minute instructions, players fool around with each other, a lot is going on.

peter scans the room for you, and grins a toothy grin when you catch his eyes. you’re sitting by yourself in one of the middle bleachers, only a bag of skinny pop in your lap. you return the smile once you spot him and wave him over.

“i don’t know why, but i thought they’d have an actual concession stand,” you explain the lack of fresh, buttery popcorn as peter takes a seat next to you. he catches the prepackaged bag you toss him. “it’s just a snack table.” “works either way,” peter hums and pokes the bag. “i’m not sure skinny pop is all i can eat, though.” “it’s good!” you defend the snack you chose for him.

“i’m kidding! you’re right, it’s kind of addicting.” he puts it by his feet for now and gives you a half smile. “you’re welcome,” you deadpan in a playful tone. “thanks.” he narrows his eyes. “where’s everyone else?” “right,” you twist around and gesture to the bleacher above you. mj is gloomily seated near the back. ned and betty are a few behind you.

“i told them to find their own seats so we can sit together, alone.” you look over at peter and move ever so slightly closer. “welcome to our friday hangout. just the two of us.” “aw, you didn’t have to do that,” peter laughs out, his knee bumping yours. “but, i’m happy you did.” he goes to put an arm around you, then harry comes racing up the stairs.

just the two of you didn’t last so long.

“y/n, i’m freaking out,” harry announces, zooming through your row to get over to you. he stops once he’s standing in front of peter and shakes him by his shoulder. “hey, pete. you made it.” “yup,” peter replies, pressing his lips together. you wince at his reaction, then quirk an eyebrow at harry. “you’re freaking out? why?”

harry sits down between you and peter, blissfully unaware of the moment he interrupted.

“i found the scout. he’s fucking terrifying as fuck. this super ripped guy, looks like he’d rather be anywhere else,” he talks quietly, like the man will hear him. “he’s not the only one,” peter says to himself, kicking around his bag of popcorn to pass time. you ignore him and grimace.

“shit. wait, how do you know it’s him? did they tell you?” you’re not sure how these things go. harry casually shrugs a shoulder. “dude has a clipboard. seems legit to me.” he gives you a cocky smile. “he’s also in the row before mj. that’s how i noticed. um...” his back now facing peter, he whispers something in your ear that makes you giggle.

peter’s face scrunches up as the spark of anger the past few days have lit reignites itself.

when harry pulls away, you motion for him to come closer with your index finger, cupping your hand around his ear and speaking into it.

nope, no more. peter is entirely about to explode. you cancelled your plans so you can force him to watch basketball, you sweet talk him so he’ll let it go, and you’re running right back to harry after all of that? what the hell does that mean?

peter stands up from his seat. “y/n, we need to talk,” he demands, you moving away from harry to respond. “ok, gimme a minute. we’re-“ “no, we need to talk now.” you don’t have time to refute because he’s taking your arm and dragging you away. harry squints at you in utter confusion.

“um, have a good game! we’ll talk later,” you call back to him, walking with peter even though you have no idea what his issue is and aren’t a fan of how he’s acting.

he releases you once you’re in the hallway. you make a point of harshly yanking your arm back, a scowl painting your lips. “jesus, peter. i was having a conversation.” “do you like harry?” peter blurts out. you’re so shocked at his abruptness that you don’t give him much to work with, only, “what?” “do you like harry?” he asks you again, this time less accusing and more curious.

“do i like...” you’re too aware of the seemingly hundreds of people surrounding you to answer comfortably. “can we talk about this somewhere else?” “sure,” peter nods, letting you lead the way since he did to get out here. you two go down the hall and choose the first room you see, which happens to be the custodian’s closet. it’s thankfully unlocked.

things were tense between you and peter on the way over, and it’s physically mirrored when you step into the room, air thick and smelling of lemon cleaning supplies. you tug on the string hanging down to turn on the light. it casts a faded glow, leaving you in mostly darkness. you sort of like it. this feels more intimate, which is fitting for what you’re both about to say.

neither one of you knows where to begin. peter’s question is ringing in the back of your mind, and you could touch on that, but there’s more to it than a simple yes or no. you don’t have to worry about it because peter gets his words out first.

“i think harry likes you, and i think you like him back,” peter restarts, already sounding deflated by what he came up with. “he doesn’t, and i don’t.” you take a step towards him. “he likes mj.” it’s peter’s turn to be shocked. the hint of a smile sets on your lips. “that’s what we were talking about. harry asked if he should take her to dinner after the game, and i said yes.”

this is going better than he expected.

“mj is the one who likes him, not me,” you reiterate and watch some life enter peter again, a tiny bit. he’s coming around, and he wants to believe you. his trust issues don’t. “but, you’re so... touchy with each other. the hugging the other day?” he mentions. you tilt your head to the side in amusement. “friends can’t hug?”

to be fair, you hugged peter yesterday. that’s a point rightfully shut down.

“he calls you pretty,” peter tries, raising both eyebrows. you have to laugh at this one. “you call may pretty.”

obviously, peter’s analysis skills could use some serious improvements. it sounds like he had the right idea, wrong person. your relationship with harry is platonic. hell, he’s crushing on a whole different person. this actually opens up the possibility of you liking peter in the romantic way, of him being in the something more zone. he had it backwards.

in case peter isn’t convinced yet, and because you really want to, you use one more trick to prove to him you don’t like harry.

“do me and harry do this?” your lips speak for you, colliding with peter’s unexpectedly yet easily. he feels like he’s floating, like he’s in some sort of magical wonderland until it hits him that this is real, and he should probably kiss you back. he does so softly and tangles his fingers in your locks. his hand supports the back of your head as the kiss goes on.

you push forward so your bodies are almost fused together, the closest you can be while you hold his jaw. peter breaks the kiss for a short breather, going back in without more than a moment passing. this one is feverish, his free arm looping around your lower back, hand resting on the small of it. you let out a giggle against his swollen lips and stroke your thumb over his jawline.

he’s been waiting to do this for the longest time, but he doesn’t have to tell you that. it shows in how eager he was to reciprocate, his shyness blossoming into passion. you feel yourself melting under his touch, the kiss eventually becoming a series of short pecks. peter gives you the final one. his pink lips form a grin when you pull apart. your hands stay on each other, not in a rush to go anywhere.

“woah, i like you so much,” peter laughs out. the words roll off his tongue naturally. “you know i like you,” you drawl, smiling at him, a full body smile while you caress his skin. he winds both arms around you and dips his head down to steal another kiss. you’re loving what’s happening. however, you don’t feel like making out while dirty brooms stare at you. you should take this back home.

“wanna get out of here? i do,” you suggest, voice muffled from his lips. they detach from yours and brush your cheek gently. peter makes a funny face. “hm, i thought we had to come. harry needs us,” he says what you did yesterday, earning a groan back. “you’re joking.” “i’m not. what kind of friends would we be, ditching him like that?”

he’s going to end you one day.

“yeah, no. i have no idea how basketball works, and i’d like to keep it that way,” peter drops the act, pressing his fingers into your sides. “i’ve been so mean to harry. i was...” “a dick?” you finish for him. it’s more of a statement than a question. to soften the blow, you rub his cheek with the tips of your fingers. “yup. he’s gonna think i hate him or something if we don’t stay.” his formerly smiley face is frowning.

“harry of all people will understand after we tell him our reasons,” you reassure him, nudging under his chin with your nose. “besides, he has other things to worry about. mj, the scout. it’s fine.” peter considers it, ultimately giving in to you like he always does, resting his forehead on yours. “i guess so. less distractions for him, yeah.” “exactly. that’s what i wanna hear.”

having his approval, you unwind yourself from him and head to the door. his fingers wrap around your wrist gently. “what about my popcorn?” a giggle escapes your lips. “you’re still on that?” “you said all i can eat!” his voice comes out high pitched, adorably high pitched.

“fine. i might have those bags you put in the microwave.” you smile when his fingers lock with yours, peter kissing the side of your head.

“even better. let’s go home.”

[an-obsessed-writer]

Mind Over Matter

Summary: Everyone knew the Baron Helmut Zemo, you’d have to be living under a rock to not recognize the name of the ridiculously wealthy royal attending your university. He was the school’s top bachelor, a sophisticated and confident man who obviously was wealthy. That was enough to make any woman at the university swoon, but he was always known to never keep a girl for long. What happens when (Y/N) finds herself meeting him at one of his parties?

(A/N): i think i’ll turn this into a series, but not sure yet! im a whore for zemo rn as everyone is, let me know if you’re interested in reading more <3

Word Count: 2.2k

“(Y/N)!” Wanda plops onto your bed after she runs into the dorm, and smiles sweetly up at you. “Wanna go to a party tonight? Word has it that Zemo is throwing a major bash for the new school year.”

Everyone knew the Baron Helmut Zemo, you’d have to be living under a rock to not recognize the name of the ridiculously wealthy royal attending your university. He was the school’s top bachelor, a sophisticated and confident man who obviously was wealthy. That was enough to make any woman at the university swoon, but he was always known to never keep a girl for long. Fortunately, you didn’t live under a rock, just too immersed in your studies to care much about him. You’ve seen him walking on campus before, with his fur coat and maroon mock turtleneck, and you could see why he was such a popular man. It’s known that Europeans always have the best sense of style.

“I’ve already got a major essay to finish for my philosophy class next week, maybe next time?” You frown at your roommate, feigning sadness that you wouldn’t be able to make it, but by the look of her face, she wasn’t going to let you get out of this one.

“You promised you’d attend a party this year! We’re juniors and you’ve been to only a handful. Besides, his parties are super classy, everyone gets all dressed up. It’ll be fun, I swear.” Wanda looks up at you with pleading eyes, and you couldn’t help but think about the opportunity presented.

It was true, you hadn’t been to many parties since college started. Your grades were stellar, your reputation even more so. Studying as a pre-med was no joke, resulting in your non-existent social life, but you honestly didn’t mind it much. You kept your head down because college was expensive enough as it is, you couldn’t afford to get distracted. Closing the laptop on your lap, a sigh escapes your mouth, and Wanda took it as a silent submission for what she had planned.

“Perfect! It’s tonight at his mansion. Who knows? Maybe you’ll be able to get him wrapped around your finger by the end of the night,” she winked and immediately began rummaging through her closet for the perfect outfit. “I heard the theme was the 20’s, I’ve always loved the flapper girl outfits.” A laugh escaped from Wanda’s lips, and a mischievous smile was displayed on her face. 

If there was anyone you trusted at this place, it’d be Wanda Maximoff. Her brother Pietro came as a close second, but she’d been your rock throughout your educational journey. Everyone loved her, everyone wanted her at their parties, but she chose to stay in with you to watch movies and talk about guys on more than one occasion. Coming from Sokovia, Wanda and Zemo talked often because of their love for the Sokovian language, but nothing romantic ever stemmed from their interactions with each other.

Truth be told, you were a pretty girl. This never went unnoticed by the guys around you, leading to a few regretful hookups. Your confidence oozed from your cheeky smile and subtly flirtatious comments when appropriate, but you were adamant on not entering a relationship until school was over. However, you were the realist out of this duo, and you knew for a fact you’d never be able to pull a guy like Helmut Zemo. With his looks and amount of money, he could get the most sought after movie star (which everyone was fairly sure he hooked up with Megan Fox at one point, but that was just a rumor).

“Do you still have your flapper girl costume from Halloween a while ago? I’ve got mine, and I don’t think we have enough time to shop before the party,” Wanda inquired.

“Of course I do, it’s my go to Halloween costume now if I ever go out again.” You smiled, reminiscing over the memories from last Halloween, and stumbled off your bed to find the outfit. 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The music was blasting, and you couldn’t help but look in awe of your surroundings. A double curved staircase with red carpeting was in front of you and Wanda, with grand railings connected to the marble floor below. The home was obnoxiously large, you could talk and an echo would rumble through the room. 

Wanda gives you an encouraging look, and grabs your hand to lead you towards the party room upstairs. The silver tassels from your mini dress rubbed against your dress with every step you took, and you knew there was no turning back now. Besides, there was no way you could leave this beautiful home anytime soon, you simply wanted to drink in it’s beauty forever.

Once upstairs, a man in a suit smiled at the two of you, and asked for your invitations, which Wanda gladly handed over. With a nod, he opened the doors that were taller than any of you, and the sight immediately took your breath away.

White, translucent balloons hung from the ceiling. Art deco inspired tables with feathers and gold tassels lining over them containing copious amounts of alcohol were in the middle of the room. Intricate white and golden wallpaper covered the walls, which helped bring everything together, but the flashing disco lights allowed a modern feel to this 1920’s inspired party.

Not too long after entering the room, Vision strutted over to the two of you after catching sight of his girlfriend. “Hello (Y/N),” he flashed a quick smile to you and placed a kiss on Wanda’s cheek, “Care if I steal my girlfriend away for a dance?”

“No problem at all,” you waved your hand to dismiss the two of them, and Wanda went off to the dance floor with her love. 

This was normal, Wanda would be whisked away by Vision, and you typically found a guy to bring you attention for the night, but something felt different. Right now, all you wanted was a drink, and you found yourself making a beeline towards the tables full of alcohol. 

The bartender was dressed in one of the finest suits, and you couldn’t help but wonder “If his employees are dressed like this, what was the Baron wearing?”

“What would you like?” Your mind blanked trying to think of alcohol that you liked, it’s been too long.

“Surprise me, it’s been a while.” You smiled sheepishly, but your attention was caught by the feeling of another person behind you.

“That won’t do, you look like you need something strong.” A thick, European accent filled your ears, and you couldn’t help the way that your body tensed up. With a turn of your head, your eyesight took hold of the one and only, Helmut Zemo.

He looked even more delicious standing so close to you. As expected, Zemo didn’t mess around with his looks. A burgundy, pinstripe suit hugged his figure, and you couldn’t help but take note of the way his arms looked under the tight sleeves.

“Something strong would be nice,” you say holding your chin up, not wanting to embarrass yourself in front of the most well known man in the school. With a wave of his finger and a command in a language you didn’t know, two shots of clear liquid were slammed on the table, and Zemo picked one up with a cheeky smile.

You narrowed your eyes at him and nervously picked up the shot glass with shaky hands. Lifting it up to your nose, your face contorted into an expression of disgust at the smell of acetone. “What is this?”

With a rumbling chuckle from Zemo, your cheeks blushed slightly, silently scolding yourself for losing your composure. He raised his glass and with a tilt of his head, he responded “Rakija, essentially European moonshine. I’ll take a shot with you, it can be too strong for some Americans.”

Silently, you nodded and raised the shot glass, mimicking his actions. Once he swiftly threw back the liquid into his mouth, you followed, and immediately wanted to gag. It burned as it went down your throat, the taste of pure chemicals became overwhelming, and you managed to keep a straight face through it all. Zemo slammed his glass back onto the table and took a step towards you in order to be able to communicate over the loud music.

“I apologize for being such a rude host, but I don’t recognize you.” The smell of rich cologne flooded your nostrils, and you could’ve melted right there. His eyes peered down onto you, being that you were significantly shorter than the man towering over your body, and you licked your lips.

“I usually stay in my dorm, I’m pre-med.” You held your hand out politely, “(Y/N).”

Zemo’s rough hands took hold of your own, lowering his head to leave a kiss on the indents of your knuckles. Without standing up straight, he raises his eyes to look at you through his eyebrows, “It’s a pleasure to meet you (Y/N), I hope you’re enjoying the party.”

His voice was like smooth caramel and melted chocolate, just the right mix of salty and sweet. His thick accent burned into your head with the way he said your name, and your hand was tingling from where his lips met your knuckles. After hearing the stories of his charming ways, you wanted to call bullshit, but experiencing this first hand was completely different. There was some truth to the rumors of the mysterious Baron, and you couldn’t help but feel drawn to find out more. The man simply oozed sex appeal.

“I actually just got here with Wanda. She’s off somewhere with Vision.” You were proud of how you managed to keep your voice at a steady level, knowing that your mind was going crazy with how close the two of you were.

Zemo’s eyebrow perked up at the mention of Wanda’s name and held out his hand with the corners of his mouth turning up ever so slightly, “Any friend of Wanda’s is a friend of mine, care to dance (Y/N)?”

Every fiber of your being wanted you to run, knowing that if you went to dance with him, there was no turning back. Still, you couldn’t stop your hand from being placed into his, and he swiftly pulled you along towards the dance floor. 

Sweaty bodies surrounded the two of you, but you could only focus on his eyes engulfing the way the dress hugged your body in all the right spots. He placed his hand on the small of your back where the dress was open, the touch sending shivers down your spine. The Baron’s hands were warm, completely contrasting the iciness of your skin. 

With another hand on your waist and a smirk, he began moving his hips, which you soon followed. As the song went on, the distance between you got smaller and smaller, until your chest was practically smushed against his. You lifted your left hand to run through his chestnut brown hair, and it was as soft as you expected it to be.

“Of course it is,” you thought to yourself. “A Baron deserves only the most expensive products.”

“You’d think I would know everyone on campus, but your beauty caught me by surprise.” His breath felt hot against your ear, and you swallowed thickly.

“Not many people know me,” you countered.

“What a shame, isn’t it darling?” The use of pet names was enough to make your knees buckle, especially when paired with the Sokovian drawl, but you shook your head in defiance.

“He probably says that to all the girls.” Even so, you wished your mind would be quiet so you could appreciate this moment for what it is. The chance to dance with the bachelor everyone was pining for, but he was only paying attention to you.

You didn’t respond, only picking up the pace of your swaying hips, grinding against his thigh. Zemo exhaled a quick breath, and wasted no time to smash his lips onto yours. This action sent electricity through your body, the taste of the alcohol on his breath only made him more alluring, and your mouth copied his movements. Teeth clacked against one another, but neither of you cared. The only thing you could think about was the feeling of his fingers trailing down your back, and the way you fit with him like a lost puzzle piece.

Zemo grabbed at the nape of your neck, signaling to deepen the kiss with a tightening grip and a nip at your bottom lip, but you pulled away before you did something you regret.

With a confused look, Zemo licked his lips. “Care to go upstairs to my room?”

“Actually,” you say breathlessly, “I think it’s better if I head out.” Regretfully, you untangle your bodies and take a step back from the powerful man standing in front of you.

Without taking a second to think about what you’ve just done, you turn and make your way to the exit, but not without glancing at the Baron one last time. 

His eyes never left you, and he stood still as you walked through the doors.

[vemuabhi]

Wish Over a Fountain

Hello this was inspired by @daonepiece art. I am linking it here (click) I had so much fun writing this. I hope you like it.

Crocodile X Reader

Word count : 3K

Warning: none. Its fluff

Likes/Votes, comments are really appreciated.

"I really want a boyfriend", you thought as you looked at the annoying couple walking on the street. Actually they weren't annoying but... you were just feeling grumpy at that moment.

You were sitting on the bench which was beside the fountain, in the park.

Remembering the myth that your friend told you about, you placed your hand in your pocket and took out a coin. Gripping the coin in your hand you walked towards the well. You closed your eyes tightly and wished.

'I want a responsible and a nice guy to be my boyfriend please', you thought before throwing the coin in the fountain.

A month passed by with absolutely nothing happening and you forgot about that fountain wish. But there was an arrival of a new boss, who apparently bought your company.

You sat down and opened your laptop. "Sir Crocodile", you typed and started to research who your boss was. As soon as you saw his pictures, your eyes opened wide. He was absolutely stunning. Very handsome.

You read about him and saw that he was a millionaire. 'I was living under a rock I guess', you thought as you read about him more.

On the day of arrival, everyone held bouquets and champagne. But you on the other hand, held the brown wooden box, which looked neat and classy.

The boss entered and everyone gave presents to him and he took them with a small smile, while he gave them to his secretary.

Hurriedly he went to his room as his secretary followed him with all the gifts in his hand.

Along with everyone you started to resume your work. Then unexpectedly, the phone on your desk rang. It was none other than the secretary who called you to come into the boss's cabin.

Nervously fiddling with your sleeves you entered the cabin of Sir Crocodile.

He had a the huge pile of gifts, yours included, beside his desk as he kept checking the paperwork. 'Already in work mode huh... must be a workaholic', you thought.

"I believe you are Y/N", he spoke and you took your attention position. He didn't even glance at you.

"Yes sir. Its me"

"Okay. I've already read most of the employees works and now Im thinking of speaking to you", he said as he looked into his drawer.

"Okay sir. So what can I do for you", you didn't know what the hell was going on or why he called you. Your palms started to sweat like crazy.

"I looked at yours and I found that...", he stopped and looked in another drawer. Trying to find something. The tension was going to roof level for you. But you maintain your calm.

"Sir, are you looking for something?", you asked as he looked at you for the first time.

"Ah, its nothing... I was just checking for my Cigar", he said running his hand through his hair.

"Oh. Pardon me sir. I think, you would like this", you said as you walked towards the gifts and took the brown wooden box in your hands, while his gaze stayed on you.

You turned towards him and gave him the box. He placed the paper in his hand down and took the box. He careful analysed it and opened it. It had cigars, which he liked.

He smiled as he looked at it. He took one cigar and thanked you. Placing the cigar in between his lips, he lit it using his golden coloured lighter. You didn't know if it was actual gold or not.

He looked at you again and said, "Like I was saying, I really liked your work" Giving you a peace of mind.

"Thankyou sir", you said with a smile.

"I want to ask you something", he took a puff and continued, "I want to know if there are any problematic clients. I wanna get rid of them as soon as possible", he ended.

"Oh. If you are asking about clients like that, we do have so many sir. Each group has some of them"

"Is that so... I want to you to, collect the list and get it to me", he ordered.

"Sure sir. I'll get you the list. So when do you want me to get it for you", you asked for which he replied with a simple tomorrow.

A few days passed and the new boss was actually wonderful. He got rid of the problematic clients and got new clients in their place. For which everyone was very grateful.

You slowly developed a crush on your handsome boss and tried to work harder taking him as the inspiration.

One night everyone left except for you. You wanted to finish the presentation and then leave. So you stayed back and made it. Little did you knew that the boss was also there.

"Y/N", you almost jumped up because of the sudden appearance of your boss beside you. He wasn't wearing his coat like usual, instead he had it over his shoulder as his fingers neatly held it from falling down. His hair which was usually set back, was now a bit messy. He was looking younger with his hair on his forehead. 'Damn. He is looking fine'

"Oh my! Sir you are here, I didn't know that", you said as you tried to calm your fast beating of your heart.

"Yeah. So... why are you still here? Its already 12", he said looking a bit worried as his fingers ran through his hair to set them back again like usual.

"What the hell?", you stopped admiring your boss. Looking at the time it was indeed 12. This means you missed your last train. The prices of cab are so high and you really hated to take a cab. Now as it was 12, the prices would make your wallet cry.

"Oh no... god", you sighed and slumped back in your chair.

"Why were you here?", he gained your attention once again.

"I was making this Presentation for tomorrow's meeting. So I kinda stayed back and worked on it", you showed him the file you were working on.

"You could have made it tomorrow", he said but he curiously leaned in to get a clear view of it. Looking at it carefully he placed his hand on the mouse to scroll calmly.

But you were freaking out. There was three reasons for that. One being what he'd say about your work, two that you had to sleep in the office and three him being close to you.

He was not touching you, had appropriate space, but still you could notice his cologne mixed with a slight sent of cigar. It felt... comforting and soothing for some reason.

"Y/N", his voice made you to come back to reality.

You looked at the screen. He pointed some mistakes which needed to be solved before presenting. You quickly realised what was wrong and began to correct it. He pulled a chair from the side and sat on it while you worked. He guided you on how to change some points.

Soon you two didn't even realise, but its already been an hour. After it was done he ruffled your hair and said, "Well done. I really like it".

"Thankyou for helping me sir", you blushed at his compliment. He got up from the chair and placed his coat on his hand.

"How are you going home?"

"I actually am thinking of staying in the office or else", you sighed and continued, "take a cab".

Both the options are horrible but the second was even more terrible.

He exhaled and said, "follow me", with that he started walking. You hurriedly got up and walked behind him.

"What happened sir. If you don't like it I'll not stay in the office", he suddenly stopped in his tracks and turned around to look at you.

"Its not because I don't like it. Its because its really uncomfortable to sleep here", he said and walked again.

"Then, I'll take a ca-"

"Just come with me", he interrupted you and you just followed him.

He walked towards his car and said, "come with me. You can stay at my house"

"Oh no. I don't want to be a burden"

"Your house if far. Thats why you are having second opinions about going in a cab. And its... really late. Its not that safe. So you are coming with me", he didn't even look at you and walked towards his car.

Yes he was right. You didn't want to take a cab home. And you didn't want to stay in office either.

You remember the last time you stayed there. The eerie silence made you half scared to death. But you still fell asleep. And saved money for cab.

You shook off those thoughts and went ahead and sat in the car. The car was well maintained. It looked like it was brand new. The jet black colour made it even more elegant while the golden coloured handles gave it a royal elegance. The seats were super comfy and the car was really cool.

There was absolutely no traffic and the ride was super smooth. The night lights seemed so beautiful. The ride was silent but it wasn't awkward. You looked out the window to see the beauty of the city. It was calm and seemed really pretty.

In 15 minutes, the car reached a high class building. The car was parked and you both got down. Crocodile lead you to a apartment door. He typed a number on the number lock and opened the door.

Entering the room you were met with a very elegant and beautiful house. The house was absolutely lovely. The tiles were cream colored and the walls were grey in color.

"Get in", he commanded and you obliged. As soon as you both got near the couch suddenly a big dog jumped on Crocodile. Crocodile chuckled as he started to pet the dog. That was beautiful. You thought it was a sight to see but then another dog came and then another... and another... and... in total there were 6 dogs.

6 dogs of totally different breeds just snuggled with crocodile. He patted every dog and then turned to look at you.

"Sorry to intrude sir but, I never knew you liked dogs", you said with a smile. His cheeks turned pink as he cleared his throat.

""You can use the 3rd room to sleep for the night", he said and you bowed.

'Was he flustered just now?', you thought as you went to the room assigned as crocodile kept the dogs busy, but a pug started to follow you.

You opened the door and saw that it was a huge room. It had the same grey Aesthetic to it but it was beautiful. The bed was neat and had white covers on it.

You removed your coat and hanged it on the coat hanger. You walked towards the curtain and opened it, only to see a stunning night view of the city.

The big door which was also a way to enter the balcony was very clean as if no one never touched it. Or someone cleaned it spot less. There was no way you could afford a place as beautiful and classy like this.

Then a bark made you to come back to reality. You turned and saw a small pug with big bright eyes staring at you. It was so adorable. You said hi to it and closed the curtains. You patted its head and then the dog left the room. You began to remove your belt and placed it on the desk beside the bed and plopped on the soft bed. It was so fluffy and amazing.

As soon as you closed your eyes, you fell asleep. The next morning, you woke up to something which felt like water on your cheeks. You opened your eyes to the same pug giving you morning kisses. Apparently you forgot to close the door and it came back. You chuckled and took him your arms. You looked at the time and it said it was 7am.

With the dog in your arms you left the room, only to find Crocodile on the couch with some dogs sleeping on him and other just roaming around the couch. He still was wearing the same clothes as yesterday as you.

You noticed how long and slender his legs were. The pug in your hands jumped and ran towards the couch and jumped onto Crocodile and slept on him.

You almost stopped a nosebleed because that was freaking adorable. Another dog started to lick crocodiles face and he woke up.

He woke up and patted its head lovingly. He turned his head to the side which faced you. His eyes opened wide with his cheeks turning 10X times red.

"Wha- What are you looking at? Go and get ready. We need to leave", he said which made you to run and do what he ordered.

You knew he said it because he was embarrassed as you saw him like that.

You quickly took a bath and again wore the same clothes before getting out.

You found Mr. Crocodile wearing a new suit and coat. With the dogs still playing around the house. You approached him and he looked at you and didn't say anything for few seconds. He actually thought you'd wear his clothes in the closet like the other people who come over. But you didn't.

But then instructed you to follow him. He took his keys and walked. Then suddenly the pug tugged on your jeans and you noticed it. You patted his head and waved bye to him. But as you were walking again it suddenly walked before you in a dangerous position. You managed yourself from stepping on the pug but you you couldn't help but to fall as now you lost your balence. You had your boss before you. He turned to look at you but it was too late.

You fell on top of him. You immediately got up and stuttered an apology.

He got up and dusted his suit but didn't scold you. "Its fine. Just be careful", he said as he walked towards the door and opened it. With a slight blush on his cheeks. You walked with him and towards the car and got into it.

"Not a word about what happened with the dogs", he said with his cheeks still pink.

"My lips are sealed", you said earning a sigh in return.

After reaching the office, your team gave the presentation of the project to your superiors and Sir Crocodile. Who already saw this already. But still listened to you.

The project was approved which really made your team very happy.

That evening your team went for celebrating the success of the project. You all drank, ate food and went home in a cab.

The next day, you woke up, with feeling the kisses of a dog on your cheek. You smiled and patted its head.

Looking at the room, it was the spacious and big bedroom in which you slept yesterday. Was yesterday repeating again? You didn't knew but you went to the living room to see if your boss was on the couch. He wasn't. So it wasn't yesterday.

"Maybe a dream", you thought and pinched your cheek very harshly. But the pain you felt was real and this was real. Why the hell did you again end up in your boss's apartment?

"Its not a dream you idiot", you heard a horse voice say to you.

Turning around you saw your boss in the coming to the living room with a coffee.

"Sir why am I in your house again?", you asked him as he approached you. The pug jumped from your hands and walked towards the couch.

Handing the cup to you, he sighed, "So you don't remember. Just like I thought", he said and walked towards the couch. You followed him.

"You were so drunk that, you called me, your boss instead of a cab and told me to pick you up from that bar", he ended.

'Should I dig a hole and die already?', you thought as you mentally slapped yourself.

"As your house was quite far away and I thought it would be best to bring you to here", he said sipping his coffee.

"Im really sorry for bothering you sir. Im so embarrassed", you said as you covered your face with your free hand.

"Just make sure that you won't drink till you lose your senses"

"Okay sir"

"Now drink the coffee before it gets cold"

"Thankyou", you said as you sipped the coffee.

You looked at the time and it was already 11 am. "OMG! Its already 11", you said but he calmly said, "Its Saturday"

You managed to embarrass yourself, Again...

But still, you received a smile from sir crocodile. It was enough for you.

Crocodile thought about the previous night when he carried you to his car as you spoke gibberish.

"You idiot. Don't ever drink like this. You are lucky because Im a good person", he said to you even though you didn't listen.

He was about to start the car then you said, "Hey man, I need to tell you something about my boss", you leaned closer to him.

He curiously listen to you on what you were about to say. "My boss he is so inspiring and is supportive of his employees. He is a good person", he smiled at what you said and you continued, "I have a crush on him and he has sexy legs. I don't know why I didn't notice them", you said and dosed off, leaving Crocodile blushing a red shade of crocodile. He leaned back in his seat and covered his face with one of his hands while the other stayed on the steering wheel.

"No one made me get flustered like you did", he said because he knew you were also sleeping.

Little did you know that the same day you wished for a boyfriend, he witnessed you wishing it.

XOXOXOXO

i hope you liked this. Crocodile fluff was so fun to write. I absolutely enjoyed writing for it.

Like/Vote, comment, Share/reblog if you like it.

Follow for more.

[myrulia]

Hello!! Could I please have 5? I love your writing so much and it’s just like so super good!

.｡.:*✧Prompt 5 (4): "Just stay here and take my mind."

｡.:*✧Warnings: Modern!AU, mentions of alcohol, light teasing, suggestive tones

╰╴⇢｡.:*✧A/N: I had WAY too much fun writing this... Michikatsu in college as the sexy smart guy in your classes with rings...<3

The loud blaring of music running through speakers was the only thing registered through your brain, as well as the smell of alcohol invading your nostrils but you could care less. Your body moved fluidly surrounded by the multiple other bodies that were also dancing along with the catchy songs that you were enjoying. Your hips swayed side to side, being lost in your own head swelled with exuberance that you came to ignore everyone else and simply let go.

It had been a rather stressful last few days dealing with your job and your studies that took up most of your time, but with the loud music and the sound of others also giving into exhilaration, you were finally able to have a peace of mind despite your noisy surroundings. 

You were so long gone in your own precious head that not even the feeling of large hands snaking around your pretty waist was a bother, you just wanted a nice distraction and this person was doing a good job at that.

Your hips rocked side to side periodically with theirs, your ass being pressed upon the male's crotch and maneuvering your hips in a circular and sensual motion. No words were shared but sheer pleasure in the moment was shown as your skin grew close and their chest was practically molded with your back, raven locks falling on the sides of your face that were not your own. 

The moment then turned into minutes and even they dragged out for so long that it felt as though you were the only two beings in the room. The smell of cologne and strong hands that kept you locked in place took over your mind as a whole, not wanting to leave, even for a second. 

The hand that was covered with various rings slid into your much smaller ones until it was in the male's grasp, spinning you around thrice until you found yourself finally facing him whilst sitting on a couch far in a corner for just a little privacy, although you happened to land on his lap in the process. Your hand was placed on his chest and your eyes immediately locked together, his lavender ones with your [E/C] irises that seemed to shine so iridescently with the neon lights that adorned the large area the party took place. 

” Well hello there beautiful woman that stole my attention. ”

You cocked an eyebrow up, moving your hand from his chest to cross your arms.

” Oh? How did I manage to steal your attention, hm? ”

Your eyes had such a sharpness and intimidation behind them that the raven haired male, who cleared his throat, was enticed by your alluring eyes and how they seemed to peer into his soul almost with how angel-like they looked, as if you were a figment of his imagination. He simply laughed off these somewhat meaningless thoughts, his hands still on your waist and not daring to move.

” With the way you were swaying those cute hips side to side I felt hypnotized, besides you are one gorgeous lady. ”

Your shock slowly rose at the confident choice of words that spewed from his mouth, but there was simply no lie. In that very spot, The well known boy watched and sipped at his drink, his eyes practically drinking you in and eyeing your every move whether it be you flailing your arms above your head or the way you simply did not care and enjoyed yourself. Not only that, but your rather sexy outfit definitely stood out with the way it was a bright lavender, as well as how it hugged your body so perfectly.

” Well I'll take that compliment gladly from someone who looks just as attractive. ”

” You should, ” the tall being before you started, undressing you with his eyes as his gaze took in every bit of you at a much closer angle. ” You can move pretty well. I wonder what else you're capable of. ”

You let out a miniscule giggle, glancing at your surroundings and then back at him who never looked away from you this entire time. To be honest with yourself, you could not resist how his bangs shaped his already defined face to make him look even more scarily attractive. His sharp eyes half-lidded but absorbing you in like you would be the last thing he saw, and to be quite frank you did not mind how your little party was going.

” Why don't you find out for yourself since you approached me first? ”

” Feisty are we?, ” the male replied, followed by a deep and gravelly chuckle that sent shivers right to your clothed clit that you had to mentally tell yourself to calm down. Everything he was doing was so damn attractive for no reason at all whatsoever, and you drank it up each time.

” Feisty? I'm simply enjoying my time at a party but a handsome guy grabbed my attention, ” You spoke in a flirtatious manner, a hand of yours moving up to his chin, the pad of your thumb stroking it lightly since your other hand was already on his chest once more. 

” Oh so it's like that? ”

” It is like that… or it could be another way. ”

” Why don't you just stay here and take my mind then? ”

The both of you leaned in until you felt a wet muscle already probing at your lips and spreading them apart, invading your mouth instantaneously and exploring every crevice until it was marked with his essence. Your tongues danced together, tasting each other for all you were worth, while your hands were already exploring each other's body like you had been starving for days and this is the first real meal you've gotten.

Your hands unbuttoned his shirt all the way down to his toned abs, fingertips ghosting over his warm skin until you pulled at the fabric of his shirt, retracting from the already heated kiss to regain oxygen. His lavender irises stared at yours while you returned the gaze, catching your breaths. His hands managed to slip under your dress, gripping your thigh lightly and teasing his fingers against the lace strap of your panties. 

” Can I get your name, pretty lady? ”

Another soft giggle emitted from your partially swollen lips before you replied, a smile etched onto your face. 

” [Y/N], but what about you huh? ”

” Michikatsu, but why don't we take this upstairs so you can say it yourself? ”

His lips brushed against yours with each word he spoke in a low, sexy whisper that had your core aching to hear more of it and how it already had you aroused in meer seconds.

” I like the sound of that. ”

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[flannels-and-fannypacks]

Will They Won’t They | Part 1/4 [Reggie Peters]

Pairing: Reggie Peters x fem!reader

Words: 7000

Summary: Reggie and reader were the best of friends up until middle school where they drifted apart and decided never to speak to each other again. What happens when a shared algebra class and a resulting detention force them to spend and increasing amount of time together. Will it be enough to overcome the mutual hate? Or was the relationship doomed from the start.

WARNINGS: swears, spicy dancing, ANGST

A/N: Okay this is the first of hopefully many collabs between Drea and I! We’re both so excited to share out very long baby with you and hope you guys enjoy reading it as much as we enjoyed writing it! - mimi <3

A/N (2): hi babes it’s drea taking over HAHAHA to repeat what mimi said, we are SO EXCITED to collab and work together to create this SUPER ANGSTY but also SUPER FLUFFY AND FUN fic! your feedback is highly appreciated! and if you like our writing, please like, comment, and reblog! we’d love to hear what you have to say! sending my love! - drea :)

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The night was young in your eyes. All the lights in the (L/N) household were off, aside from the nightlight in your bedroom. Despite it being nearly eleven at night, you and your best friend, Reggie Peters, were far from tired.

The soft humming from the radio was all that could be heard from your room, along with the occasional giggle from you or joke cracked by Reggie. You laid on your bed next to him, your legs tangled in the bedsheets. As much as you loved sleepovers with your best friend, you had to admit that Reggie’s growth spurt did not help your cramped situation.

“Your elbow is jabbing my ribs,” you grumbled, kicking Reggie towards the edge of your bed.

The boy only shoved you back, a playful smirk on his face. “You’re just jealous I’m taller than you now, Cookie,” he said triumphantly.

“I’m jealous you’re taking up all the space on my bed, dork,” you shot back, kicking hard enough to push him over the edge. Reggie let out a yelp before hitting the ground, groaning upon the impact. You fell into a fit of giggles as you peeked over the edge of your bed to see a pair of narrowed blue-green eyes and a scowl. “Sorry, Flicka,” you squeaked.

Reggie glared at you jokingly, rubbing his elbow in pain. “No you’re not,” he whispered back.

“Yeah, I’m not.”

You swung your legs over the edge of your bed, standing up to reach -well almost- Reggie’s height. You frowned at his arm, gingerly taking it into your hands. The boy winced upon first touch, but relaxed in your grasp. “Does it hurt a lot?” you asked in a concerned voice.

Reggie shrugged his shoulders. “It’s whatever,” he responded nonchalantly, but the pain in his voice was visible.

You raised an eyebrow at your best friend. “You don’t have to pretend to be all strong and tough,” you reminded him.

The taller boy sighed, a pout adorning his lips. “I know,” he murmured. “But we’re starting middle school soon. I should be ‘all strong and tough.’”

Snorting, you shook your head. “Who cares about that nonsense?” you exclaimed in a hushed voice. “We all feel pain, that’s not a bad thing. Besides, it’s just me, Flicka. You don’t need to put up an act.”

Reggie’s lips turned upwards as he looked into your eyes. Everything just felt right at the moment. The smile on your face. The redness in his cheeks. The moonlight reached the window and illuminated the room. It was perfect.

The radio, forgotten by the two of you, started to play a new song. Your song.

“You got a fast car

I want a ticket to anywhere”

Glancing up at Reggie, you could both tell you were thinking the exact same thing.

“Dance with me, Flicka?” you asked, giving his hands a squeeze.

Reggie’s face burned in embarrassment as you moved his hand to your waist. “I’m not any good at this, you know that, Cookie,” he muttered, resting his chin on top of your head.

You scoffed, starting to sway along to the music. “Just follow my lead, Reggie. I promise I won’t leave you hanging.”

There, the two of you swayed silently to the music. The moon shined bright from your window, making the blue and green in his eyes shine brighter than usual. Reggie watched as you moved your head so that it laid against his chest. You could hear his heart practically beating out of his chest, making you giggle softly.

“Flicka? you spoke up in a hushed tone. Reggie only hummed in reply. You took a deep breath. “Promise me you’ll never leave me?”

Reggie looked out the window, seeing a glimpse of both of your reflections through the glass. “I’d never leave you, Cookie.”

“You promise?” you whispered.

“I promise.”

That was your first broken promise. The first broken promise upon millions. Reggie told you he’d never leave you, that he’d always be your friend.

Funny how fragile promises can be.

That was nearly seven years ago. The late nights spent doing who knows what, listening to the radio seemed like a distant memory from a past life.

Now your days were spent alone in the library, bent over textbooks determined to ace your classes to get a scholarship and go to a good college. You wouldn’t make your parents pay for that. That was asking too much of them.

You weren’t sure where Reggie was, or what he was doing. Once you both were in middle school, he found himself new friends, and apparently a band, too. Even though you weren’t on speaking terms, you had listened to his music every once in a while. You knew he was destined for big things. Those big things just didn’t include you.

But that was fine. Your entire life wasn’t centred around some boy from your childhood. You had school and your family. So, for you, that meant signing up for all the most challenging classes and studying your ass off for all of them.

You didn’t want to admit it but this class was killing you. Your pride always got in the way. Most of the time, you believed you were capable of passing every class with flying colours. But, there was no denying this class was more difficult than the others. How were you supposed to know what effects the Great Depression had on farmers of that era? You weren’t them and they were all dead.

Your tired eyes drifted over to the clock and you sighed as you realized what time it was. Packing your things, you left the library and dragged your feet to your algebra class.

Sitting patiently in the front row while your teacher explained the lesson plan you barely even registered the faint knock on the door frame, but when you turned your head up your expression changed from one neutral to a scowl.

He hadn’t changed a bit. Aside from the whole outfit -he definitely switched his old sports sweatshirts for leather jackets sometime in freshman year- he was the same old Reggie Peters. The same dark hair, piercing blue-green eyes, and rosy red cheeks.

“Um, sorry I’m supposed to be in algebra with Mr. Milenika, I just got transferred.” the dark hair teen said, running a hand through his hair and shoving his hands in his pockets.

“Yes, Mr. Peters correct?”

Reggie nodded wordlessly. Your heart was beating out of your chest. Not from nerves, but is pure hatred for the boy. He couldn’t be in this class. He just couldn’t. Why would the universe do that to you?

“Very well, take a seat.”

Reggie walked into the class, eyeing where to take a seat when he noticed the only open spot was next to you.

His features hardened and he threw his bag down next to the empty desk, pulling out the chair and sitting in it with a loud thump.

“Flicka,” you spat.

“Cookie,” he nodded with a hiss in return.

“Great, I take it you two know each other?” Mr. Milenika asked, unaware of the drama that was associated with whatever relationship you and Reggie had. It was a stretch to say you even had one.

You and Reggie gave him a bitter “Yes.”

Mr. Milenika, never one who was ever good at differentiating bitterness and normal answers, beamed at the two.

“Good, because even though this is a math class, I will make you work with your partner quite often. So I suggest you get to know whoever is sitting next to you.” Your body stiffened. As if it couldn’t get any worse, Mr. Milenka never failed to disappoint.

Mr. Milenika continued on, explaining the rest of the plan for the class, but you seemed unable to concentrate, entirely focused on the boy who was now sitting next to you. With his stupid face and stupidly strong cologne, you couldn’t focus at all on whatever was on the board. It was as though you were in a haze, and all you could think about was him.

It had been years since you’d last spoken, not to mention you barely saw him in the halls anymore. He was notorious for skipping class to go rehearse with his so-called band while you were quite the opposite. Never missing a day, no matter what it took.

“Never thought you were one for staring,” he whispered under his breath and you scoffed.

“Oh so we don’t talk for seven years and you think now’s a good time to start?”

“Yeah, I do, cause then I could tell you how stupid those shoes look,”

“I’m literally just wearing converse, you are too Reginald,” you spat.

“Shut up!” he said, raising his voice slightly.

“You first!” you said, voice becoming louder. Was it a childish comeback? Perhaps, but you weren’t one to back down, no matter how stupid your comebacks were.

Now the whole class was listening, even Mr. Milenika had stopped teaching to observe what was going on with his students and just as he was about to intervene it seemed the debate had gotten worse.

“Me? shut up? You’re the one who was always bossing me around and telling me what to do! I could never get in a word with you!” Reggie snapped back.

“That’s because you were too thick-skulled to listen to anything I had to say!” you hissed, not realizing the audience you had. “Who knows Flicka maybe if you had you wouldn’t have failed this class last term!”

“That was uncalled for!” Reggie exclaimed, now standing from his chair. “And it’s not my fault the tutor bailed on me because it was a conflict of interest. This isn’t Judge Judy (Y/N)! If anything it’s your fault!”

“You manipulative little asshole!”

“Suck up!”

“Motherf-,”

“That’s enough!” Mr. Milenika yelled over both of you, causing you to shrink and turn to look at the very angry teacher. “Never in my years of teaching have I seen such barbaric behaviour! That’s two months' detention. Both of you! Now go to Mrs. Hillside’s office, immediately.”

Reggie angrily grabbed his bag and slung it over his shoulder, kicking a stray chair on his way out while you followed close behind in a much quieter fashion.

You had no words as you entered the principal’s office, sitting across from her desk while Reggie took the seat next to yours.

It was your first day back from the holiday. Your first day back and you finally had a conversation with your childhood best friend in seven years and got two months of detention with said childhood best friend. Your heart ached at the thought of the big flaw printed on your record. You only had Reggie to blame.

Purposefully, you shuffled away from him and he rolled his eyes as Mrs. Hillside finished her phone conversation with Mr. Milenika.

“Disrupting a class?” The woman exclaimed. “Foul language? Damaging school property?” Your face burned at each accusation.

Mrs. Hillside glared at you. “Ms.(L/N),” she addressed with a frown. “I did not expect such reckless and irresponsible behaviour from a promising student like you. I’m greatly disappointed.”

Tears threatened to fall from your eyes. “Please don’t make it go on my record,” you whimpered, your voice cracking.

The woman pressed her lips together. “You’re lucky this is your first detention, Ms.(L/N).” You released the breath you had no idea you were holding.

“Kiss ass,” Reggie muttered.

You narrowed your eyes at the boy, prepared to shoot back another comeback when your principal had something far better.

“I find that rich from you, Mr. Peters,” she laughed humorlessly. “Remind me, how many detentions did you have last term?” The boy’s cheek flushed, instantly shutting his mouth. You held back a laugh as to not get a snapback of your own from the teacher. “Now as much as this is infuriating, you both do have a class that I believe would be in your best interest not to miss. So we’ll draw up a schedule for these two months of detention and then you can return to your class in an orderly fashion. You understand?”

“Yes ma’am,” you nodded and Reggie just shrugged, if he blew this for you, well let’s just say there wouldn’t be any evidence of the crime.

“So let’s make this three days a week for two months. Thursday, Friday and Saturday and the hours will vary from time to time depending on the tasks you need to complete.”

“Three times a week?” Reggie exclaimed. “Mrs. Hillside, I have band practice-”

“And I’m losing my patience,” she cut him off. “Now go back to class before I make it four detentions a week.”

You squeaked a quiet “Thank you” before picking up your things and leaving the principal’s office. Speeding down the hallways, you didn’t hear Reggie catching up close behind you. When you saw a blur of black and red in the corner of your eye, you fought the urge to turn your head.

“Stupid Reggie Peters,” you muttered under your breath. “Stupid algebra class. Stupid Mr. Milenka and his stupid detention. Stupid-”

“Are you talking to me, Cookie?” Reggie spoke up, making you jump in surprise. By that time, you were already at the door of your algebra class.

You pressed your binder close to your chest, shooting the boy a pointed glare. “I hate you,” you said, opening the door just enough for you to slip through and slam in Reggie’s face.

You didn’t dare speak when you returned back to class, not wanting to try your luck and possibly extend your already long detention.

Reggie seemed to be thinking the same thing, possibly except he didn’t have his record on the line it was that stupid band practice of his. If he had spent as much time studying as he did practicing maybe you wouldn’t be in this situation because he would have passed the class in the first place.

You knew that you’d need to spend time catching up tonight so you didn’t even bother paying attention to the lesson. Anger bubbled in your chest as you mindlessly wrote notes for the class, not processing anything at all. Occasionally, you would notice a pair of blue-green eyes staring at you, only for them to turn back to the board each time you would look back.

You couldn’t even look each other in the eye. How were you supposed to last two months of detention with him?

Finally, the bell rang and allowed you to escape the confinement that was the loud stares of your classmates as you headed to your first assigned detention. Cleaning up the backroom of the library.

Reaching the library, you were met with the librarian, Mr. Mallard. The old man was hunched over a box filled with books, his glasses sliding down the bridge of his nose. It seemed as though he didn’t realize you were right behind him, so you awkwardly cleared your throat.

Mr. Mallard jumped, turned around to see you nervously waving at him. “Oh, Ms. (L/N), I didn’t see you there.” You waved his comment off.

“Not a problem,” you said with a kind smile. You mentally let out a sigh of relief. Good thing Mr. Mallard was nicer than the rest of the teachers here.

“I was just listening to music,” he explained, nodding at the radio playing soft music. He looked back at you. “You know I used to be a dancer back in my day? Now, I got this bad back, so I’m stuck here with you rascals.” You laughed at the man as he tried to snap his fingers and sway his hips to the music. “Ah, I got too carried away, sorry, dear. Now I must be getting old because I could have sworn there were supposed to be two of you here with me.”

You nodded, looking around for the boy in a leather jacket and red flannel, but came up empty. “He must be running late,” you told him.

Mr. Mallard frowned. “Well, I guess we can wait for him,” he settled, sitting down on his desk chair. “Feel free to take a seat over there until he comes in.”

Reggie came in a few minutes later, tossing his bag onto one of the chairs and placing his bass guitar on the table.

“The usual Mr. Mallard?” Reggie asked and the older man gave him a nod. It seemed Reggie had become familiar with the library as you had, just in a different way. “Well what are you waiting for?” he looked at you unimpressed. “The faster we start the faster we leave.”

You didn’t say a word, only followed him into the back room where you’d be organizing some old books, boxes and trophies

You stepped into the room, squinting at the shadows of assorted boxes. It was completely dark.

“Well, come on, Cookie,” Reggie said, giving you a shove. “We don’t have all day.”

You took in a shaky breath. “It’s dark,” you pointed out.

Reggie rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I think we’ve established that,” he said. “Let’s just find the light switch and start cleaning.”

You nodded, blindly searching along the walls for that damn switch. Not noticing the small box on the floor, you kicked it aside, spilling all sorts of books onto the floor. You squeaked in fear, grabbing the first thing in sight. Of course, that had to be Reggie’s hand.

You whipped your head around, face red in embarrassment. Lucky for you the darkness of the room prevented him from seeing that. “Sorry,” you muttered.

Reggie scoffed at you. “Still scared of the dark?” he asked in a teasing voice.

“Still sleep with that horse plushie of yours?” you shot back.

Reggie glared at you but didn’t say anything else. Without letting go of your hand he flicked on the switch and the room filled with a dim orange hue.

“You can let go now,” you said, trying to shimmy your hand away from his, only prompting him to grip harder.

“What are you scared of me now?” he asked with a smirk and you scowled, ripping your hand away from his.

“Let’s just clean, like you said, the faster we get this done the faster we can go home.”

The room was silent aside from the noises of books falling against the floor, making a quiet thud. You made a small area of your own in the back of the room, a stack of boxes hiding your view of Reggie. But from the lack of noises made in his part of the room, you could tell he wasn’t doing anything productive.

You poked your head out of your small space, frowning at the boy. He was sitting on the floor, slouching as he scribbled on a dusty piece of paper.

“Hey!” you called out, throwing an old yearbook in his direction.

Reggie barely ducked in time, sitting up and turning in your area. “What the hell?” he yelled.

“We’re supposed to be working on cleaning this room!” you snapped. “You aren’t doing shit, Flicka.”

“I did clean,” he muttered. “I just had an idea for the band-”

“That stupid band! Why can’t you just stop for once in your life and focus on what’s in front of you,” you scowled, frustrated that even now you were the one stuck doing all the work. Seemed like maybe things hadn’t changed much from seven years ago.

“Maybe if you loosened a screw or two we wouldn’t need to have this conversation,”

“Just shut up Reginald, you have no idea what it means to take responsibility for something. You haven’t changed and you never will.”

Reggie was about to come back with a retort when the door to the backroom swung open and Mr. Mallard came in with a smile on his face.

“Could I get you kids some snacks?” he asked kindly.

“Always, you’re the man Mr. M.” Reggie grinned, completely ignoring you and giving the librarian a high five from where he sat on the ground.

“I’m good Mr. Mallard,” you shook your head and he left you both with a nod of his head and promised to be back with some assortment of fruits and such.

After your first detention, it was safe to say that all hope of fixing your friendship with Reggie went down the drain. It seemed as though every hour you spent with him gave you all the more reasons to throttle him and be glad he stopped talking to you back in middle school.

—

Detentions became just another regular part of your week, integrated with your studying and your part-time job at the cafe. So you were more than happy to take a minute and walk back home where you could take a minute to rest.

Unfortunately, the universe had other plans.

“Reggie!” a voice yelled. You took a deep breath as you tried to make yourself invisible. It was his friends, Luke, Alex, and Bobby. The friends he left you for.

Reggie’s face lit up as he walked past you, running over to his friends. “Hey guys!” he said with a toothy grin. “What are you doing here?”

Luke shrugged his shoulders. “We thought we might as well give you a ride to practice since we were already around here for lunch,” he explained nonchalantly.

Bobby sent his friend a glare. “You mean I gave you a ride,” he corrected, gesturing to the keys in his hand.”

Luke waved his comment off. “Details. Oh, who’s that?” Luke asked pointing over to you and you tried to pick up your pace before he eventually made his way to you.

“That’s just (Y/N),” Reggie shrugged. “We have detention together.” Luke approached you with an overexcited pep in his step. You tried to back away as subtly as possible, but you were stopped by a wall.

“You’re adorable!” he grinned, throwing an arm around your shoulder while you looked at him in a sort of odd confusion. “Your face is so cute and pink, kind of like a bunny! You know, growing up I had this bunny for a pet named Carrot. We’re adopting you, right boys?”

You ducked under his arm, trying to stay as polite as possible. “Oh, I’d love to be your friend and all,” you began nervously. “But um...I just have things to do and-”

“We’re. Adopting. You,” Luke said in a sickly sweet but firm voice. “Right boys?”

As you tried to slip out of his grasp and walk away, Alex, who was also coincidentally your lab partner, called out from the van.

“Hey (N/N), you need a ride?”

“No thanks! I’m fine walking,” you called back, but Luke didn’t want to take no for an answer. He ran up in front of you and scooped you in his arms, throwing you over his shoulder causing you to shriek in surprise.

“We’re taking you with us! Who knows what kind of dangerous types are wandering around LA.”

“At the moment I would think you’re one of them!” you exclaimed, squirming to have him put you down, before finally giving up when he tossed you in the van. “Could this constitute a kidnapping? I feel like it’s a kidnapping. Can I call the police?”

Reggie followed close behind the two of you, clearly not liking this at all. He had already spent enough time with you in detention. Now you’re with his friends? He took the backseat, right behind you. “Dude, come on,” Reggie said as Luke fastened your seatbelt before patting the top of your head. You shot the guitarist a glare. “I really don’t want to be arrested for kidnapping. Especially since it’s her. Lord knows she’ll manage to pin the charges on me.”

Luke rolled his eyes. “Nonsense,” he said. “We’re not kidnapping her. We’re making friends!”

“That’s not how making friends works, Patterson!” you yelled as he slid the van door closed.

While they were making their way to your house Luke seemed to glance at the time on the dash and gasped.

“Shit! Guys turn around we’re gonna be late for practice!”

“Practice, you said you were taking me home!” you exclaimed. “This is actually a kidnapping now! Flicka your friends suck!”

“Sorry Lady Bunny,” Luke shrugged and you whined.

Reggie groaned and banged his head on the seat in front of him while Bobby took a definitely illegal u-turn to go where they normally had their rehearsals.

The car stopped in front of a fairly nice house with a big studio. The boys filed out, leaving you grumbling in the back seat. Luke opened the door, bowing dramatically.

“Lady Bunny,” Luke said, reaching his hand out to you.

You scowled at the boy, crossing your arms on your chest. “I want to go home,” you muttered.

“No can do, Lady Bunny,” Luke said with a shrug of his shoulders. “We have practice to do.”

“Then I’ll walk home,” you whined.

Luke laughed at your frustrated face. “Can’t let you do that either,” he told you. “Besides, you’re too little and innocent to brave the world on your own.” Luke reached for your cheek, patting it softly until you turned your head and bit his finger. “Ouch!”

“Yeah, bunnies bite, dick head. This is holding an innocent party against their will and you will do jail time,”

“(N/N), just stick around this once, I’ll make sure you get home later,” Alex offered and you slouched in your seat and mumbled a “Fine,”

Alex patted your back and led you into the large studio where there was a girl with frizzy brown curly hair, sitting on a couch.

“Finally! What took you guys so long!” she sighed and stood up.

“We adopted a bunny, Rose!” Luke grinned and hugged you from behind tucking your chin in his shoulder. You rolled your eyes and mouthed help me, to the girl and she scrunched her nose as if to say, ‘sorry honey there isn’t anything I can do.’

Luke pulled you to the couch and sat you down. “Now you stay there while we practice, okay bunny?” he said, patting your head.

“If you’re good we might give you snacks,” Bobby added from behind Luke, snickering under his breath.

Rose shot both boys a pointed look. “Cut that out, you two,” she ordered. Rose sat next to you, patting your knee. “Can I get you anything? Water? A snack? You don’t have to do a flip for treats or whatever.”

You laughed in response, nervously playing with the hem of your sweater. “I’m fine, thank you,” you responded politely. “If anything I just want a ride home.”

Rose frowned, leaning against the pillow cushions. “I’d give you a ride but my sister took the car for today,” she explained apologetically. Rose could sense the awkward tension, and wanted to break the ice. “So which one of them is your boyfriend?”

You choked on air, not expecting her question. For once, you were thankful the band was blasting music. “I’m sorry?” you coughed, causing Rose to reach over to grab a water bottle from the table and offer it to you. You took a big gulp, sighing. “What made you think that?”

Rose hummed as she thought of her answer. “Well, you’re way too nervous around me,” she began. “And the boys all keep on looking at you. Alex is not your boyfriend because he’s currently talking to this guy in my English class. Bobby...definitely isn’t your type, now that I look at you. I considered Luke for a moment but he’s way too dedicated to music to date anyone but his six-string, you also just seemed way too annoyed by him, but what’s new. And now that leaves Reggie.” she looked over at the boy playing the bass. Reggie, who apparently was watching the two of you talk, quickly ducked his head, his cheeks visibly red. “You two have history, don’t you?”

You froze, eyes widening. “How did you-”

“I think you forgot we were in the same homeroom since fourth grade,” she laughed. “You and Reggie, you guys were glued at the hip. Don’t you have nicknames for each other or something?”

“I-I guess,” you shrugged, it wasn’t really something you used as a term of endearment anymore, but it was still there. “He was Flicka and I was Cookie,”

“Did you date?” she asked curiously, leaning in closer.

“No,” you shook your head. “Just friends. Used to be.” you corrected and Rose frowned, but before she could ask another question you stopped her. “If I have to sit here and wait for Alex to take me home you think we could talk about something else?”

“Sure,” Rose nodded, “Well in that case I think you should come around here more often,”

“What do you mean?” you nervously chuckled.

“I don’t know, I just think we’d be pretty good friends,” she said with a shrug of her shoulders.

You leaned your head on her shoulder, smiling at the warm feeling bubbling inside you. “Yeah,” you agreed in a quiet voice. “I’m starting to think so, too.”

—

“And then he told me I was annoying!” you hissed, angrily scribbling the data of your experiment onto your notebook. “Can you believe that? Him!”

Alex anxiously watched you as you reached for a pipette, squeezing the poor thing like it stole your money. “Really?” Alex only said in a shaky voice.

You nodded furiously, taking the indicator, not even caring to count out your drops and just pouring the purple liquid haphazardly into the Erlenmeyer flask.

“He’s-He’s just a… argh! I can’t stand him!” you waved your hands almost knocking over the whole buret and ring stand with a very strong molarity composition of hydrochloric acid in it causing Alex to let out a strangled yelp from the back of his throat.

“C-can you please at least stay ten feet away from the table?” he requested. “You’re going to either break something or send me to the hospital with an acid burn and I really would prefer if that didn’t happen.”

You placed your materials down, glaring at the blond boy. “What are you talking about?” you snapped, not meaning to take your anger out on your friend (and chemistry experiment, at that).

Alex placed his hands up in the air in defence. “Just-” he swallowed loudly, trying to think of the right words. “Maybe take a deep breath? I know Reggie gets you all angry and stuff, but please don’t put our lives and chemistry grade on the line.”

“Makes me mad is a fucking understatement,” you grumbled.

“Okay, we can start there,” Alex began, slowly moving the materials far away from you. “I think it’s reasonable and incredibly understandable that you dislike him. But do you really hate him?”

You scowled. “Yes, Alexander,” you said in a scarily calm voice. “As a matter of fact, I do. He’s a fucking pain in my ass and can go fuck himself for all I care. He’s rude, inconsiderate, and selfish beyond belief.”

“And why do you think that?”

“Alex, you’re not my therapist, stop acting like you have every right to be in my business when you don’t know a single thing about me!”

Alex didn’t respond to that comment, fearing what you might say next. You paused, noticing Alex’s uneasiness. “I’m sorry,” you only mumbled.

He nodded wordlessly, gently placing his hand over yours. “Don’t worry about it, (N/N),” he reassured you.

Silence followed, aside from the quiet mumbling of instructions for the experiment. Minutes in, you finally decided to break the silence.

“Because he left me,” you whispered in a broken voice.

Alex raised an eyebrow. “I’m sorry?” he said, genuinely not hearing you.

You sighed, placing your pencil and notebook down. “He left me for your stupid band. He got friends and I got nothing,” you explained further. You removed your glasses, wiping away a stray tear. “I probably shouldn’t even be mad at him, at this point. He’s moved on...and got popular and actually has something going on for himself. And me?” You laughed humorlessly at yourself. “I work a job to help mom and dad pay the bills and work my ass off so I can go to school and make a life for myself. No one told me trying for success would be so lonely.”

“(Y/N),” Alex said, frowning slightly.

You shook your head. “But he’s happy, isn’t he?” you asked. “Reggie. He’s smiling wider than I’ve ever seen before. Singing and playing the bass, dancing his heart out on stage. He never used to do those things with me.” You looked away from Alex, unable to take his pitiful gaze. “He’s changed while I’ve stayed the same. I’m stuck here, still moping about my past. Maybe he’s right. Maybe he is better off without me.”

“He’s not,” Alex said without even thinking.

“How could you say that? He’s clearly happier. It’s not like you can pretend you don’t see that,”

“But he’s not. He just replaced what he had, his friendship with you, with music. I might not know him as well as you, but it’s his coping mechanism. It hides all the bad things in life that he chooses not to deal with,”

“Reggie’s not like that,” you shook your head, refusing to believe what Alex was saying.

Alex, starting to get frustrated, slammed his hands on the edge of the table. “Dammit, (Y/N) can you just realize for one second that you don’t hate Reggie and that Reggie doesn’t hate you?” Your mouth remained closed, so Alex took it as an opportunity to push further. “You two talk my ears off about each other more than you realize. It’s always “Reggie did this” or “(Y/N) did that” can’t you two get your heads out of your asses and see that?”

“C-Can you take care of this, I’m just going to run to the washroom,” you murmured, not waiting for a response. You took off your goggles, gloves and lab coat, making your way to the courtyard, contrary to where you said you were going. Pulling your MP3 player out of your pocket you threw on a pair of battered headphones and turned the volume all the way up clicking on the familiar track of Fast Car maybe you couldn’t run away physically, but right now, your heart sure needed a break.

—

“You two will be with Mrs. Leona today in the dance room,”

“What does she need?” you asked with much confusion. Normally Saturdays were used for either sitting in silence or cleaning up some area of the school.

“She needs help choreographing the dance she’s going to use for the sophomore class next semester,” Mrs. Hillside explained. “Now go on, get dressed and meet her in the dance room.”

You and Reggie walked away to the locker rooms. A scowl was plastered on the boy’s face. “These detentions are getting more and more ridiculous each day,” he muttered.

Scoffing, you crossed your arms on your chest. “Well, that’s something we both can agree on.”

You parted ways for a short time to get changed before meeting back up again in the dance room where Mrs. Leona was already setting up and waiting for you both.

“Perfect! So glad you guys could make it,” she grinned.

“We have detention,” Reggie noted. “Not really much of a choice,” You shot the boy a glare, elbowing him roughly in the ribs.

“Right,” she chuckled. “Well, I’m working on a routine for my sophomores. Apparently, they think we’re doing the same thing over and over again so I’m going to give them something new for a change. I was thinking a partner assignment would work best.”

You and Reggie nodded as Mrs. Leona walked over to the stereo, popping in a CD and playing All That She Wants in the background on repeat while she would lead the stretches.

“Isn’t this song a little inappropriate to have sophomores dancing to? Or like even just to play in school?” you asked as you followed along.

Reggie rolled his eyes. “Of course that’s what you ask,” he muttered.

Mrs. Leona waved off your comment. “It’s fine,” she insisted. “It’s an upbeat song, and it’s “in,” so might as well give the kids a fun assignment.”

“Mrs. Leona, what kind of dance moves are you thinking?” Reggie asked curiously. “Because I’m not that good of a dancer and (Y/N) is practically so old she could break her hip by breathing.”

“I’m not old,” you snapped, crossing your arms on your chest.

“You sure act like it,” he shot back.

“You bit-”

“Enough talking!” Mrs. Leona cut you both off. “More dancing. Now I have a couple of ideas for you two, so make sure you’re really stretched out so you don’t pull something.”

You groaned, looking up at the ceiling. “What did I get myself into?”

—

“It’s a simple concept!” Mrs. Leona insisted after the millionth attempt. “You two are just so awkward with each other.”

You fought the urge to roll your eyes. “Can you just explain it again, please?” you requested.

Mrs. Leona sighed, standing up to show you the dance sequence. “Reggie, take her hand and bring it to your lips. Step away, and (Y/N) you pull him back. Then Reggie turn so that you and (Y/N) are facing each other. At that point, you grab him by the shirt while he takes your waist, then he twirls you and goes in to dip you. Simple enough!”

Simple to maybe a Rockette, but not to a bassist and an awkward bookworm.

“Let’s take it from there, okay guys?”

You grumbled to yourself, positioning yourself in front of the boy. “This is way too much,” you muttered, mostly to yourself.

“Just shut up and do what she says,” Reggie hissed. “I don’t want to be any closer to you than I have to.”

When the music started playing, you felt Reggie’s fingertips trace down your arm to your hand, unknowingly creating a trail of goosebumps. Weaving his fingers with yours, he brought your intertwined hands up to his face, his lips ever so gently grazing your hand.

On beat, Reggie started to walk away from you, only for you to pull him back. His eyes met yours as you brought your other hand to his chest, balling the fabric of his shirt in your fist. You watched as he dropped his hand to your waist before pulling away to twirl you. The moment he pulled you back into his chest, you saw his cheeks redden. You were so close, close enough to smell that stupidly distracting cologne of his. You knew Reggie was just as flustered. His hand was getting clammy in yours. Before you could even process it, he dipped you down, making you gasp in surprise.

You didn’t even notice the music had stopped. All that was on your mind at that moment was Reggie. His eyes flicked down to yours, and you could have sworn you saw a hint of a smile on his lips.

The loud clapping coming from Mrs. Leona had snapped you out of your trance. Immediately regaining his composure, Reggie loosened his grip on you. You fell to the ground, hitting your elbow upon impact.

“Ass,” you muttered, rubbing your elbow in pain.

“If you’re saying I’ve got a good one then I agree,” he smirked and you scoffed loudly.

Mrs. Leona walked up to the two of you. “That was probably the best dancing I’ve seen from the two of you all morning,” she applauded. “And for that, you can take a five-minute break,”

“Oh thank God,” you whispered and flopped onto the ground, trying to relax your muscles. You tried to pull one leg over the other, stretching it out, but unable to turn properly in order to pull the tension out of your muscle.

Your eyes were closed so you didn’t notice Reggie coming closer and kneeling toward you, placing a hand on your thigh and pushing it down for you, causing you to open your eyes and see him practically leaning over top of you.

“Ow! Fuck! Too much,” you hissed and he loosened his grip. “What the hell are you doing?”

“Helping you stretch, you’re ancient so I thought I might be able to lend a hand,”

“Get your hand off me,” you said seriously.

“What,” he grinned, lifting his hand higher and causing your breath to hitch and slap his hand away and sit up, scooching back.

“Fuck off Flicka,” you said, the words barely able to leave your mouth, throat turning dry.

“Only trying to help, Cookie,” he said, shrugging his shoulders. He looked over at your arm, seeing as you winced with every movement. “Does it hurt a lot?”

You cradled your elbow. “It’s whatever,” you mumbled in response, unconsciously mimicking his answer.

Reggie scoffed, leaning back on his hands. “Say what you want, Cookie, but I know when you’re lying. You can’t pretend around me.” You paused, vaguely remembering that night with the radio.

“I said I’m fine, Reggie,” you insisted firmly.

“Just let me see it,” he asked, crawling over to you, prompting you to scoot all the way back until you hit the mirror. “I’m not going to hurt you,” he frowned.

“That’s what you said seven years ago but I’ve learnt the hard way to take promises from you with a grain of salt,” you said venomously.

Reggie paused, moving back to his spot, far away from you. “Fine,” he simply said. “But don’t act like you were the only victim. I got hurt, too.”

You opened your mouth to respond when Mrs. Leona walked back into the room with three water bottles. “Well, I’m back. Are you two rested enough to continue?”

You shook your head. “Mrs. Leona, um I think it’s probably time we head back to Mrs. Hillside’s office,” you suggested. “It’s erm, late and I hurt my elbow, so…”

Mrs. Leona nodded understandingly. “Yes, of course, I forgot how much time had passed. You two work so well together, I might as well keep you guys in my class!” You laughed nervously before grabbing your things and waving goodbye. You didn’t bother looking back at Reggie. There was nothing left to say.

[bbmyungho]

wager- joshua

member/group: joshua/seventeen

genre: fluff, hogwarts!au, hufflepuff!reader, slytherin!joshua, other members of svt thrown in for good measure :))

a/n: i saw @luvshuas posting about wanting to read hogwarts aus and i thought i’d write them one 🥺 i hope you like it, i love your blog!! (also, super sorry it took me so long to write and post 👉👈)

“Come on, we’re almost there!” Seungkwan ushered me through the halls, panting as I tried to fasten my tie properly around my neck while we rushed to get to potions in time. We practically drifted around the final corner, right in time to stumble into Snape on his way to close the classroom door.

“Oh, how nice of you to join us, Mr. Boo. You too, l/n.” He sneered at us as we entered the class, shuffling down under his outreached arm and seeing all of the seats next to each other filled. I looked at my friend like I’d just been issued a death sentence, his sympathetic gaze already meeting mine. “Oh, what a pity; you two decided to muck about while the rest of us actually bothered to show up on time so there are no seats left next to each other. Hmm.” Snape hummed in bemusement at our misfortune, beady eyes peering around the room before settling back on us.

“Seungkwan, you can join Mr. Yoon in the back, and y/n... you can join Mr. Hong over to your left there.”

I shuffled meekly over to my seat, barely able to look at the admittedly extremely attractive Slytherin boy smiling at me as I approached.

“Hi, I’m Josh.”

“y/n.” I smiled shyly, picking out my potions supplies and waiting for Snape to give us the go ahead to begin our brewing.

“Nice to meet you, y/n. Do you play quidditch?” Josh was laying his head down on his arms now, staring up at me with big doe eyes while I fought the urge to run away back to my comfortable Seungkwan.

“Uh, no. Do- you?”

“Yes, I’m the keeper.” He smiled up at me. “What do you do? Anything outside of classes?” He asked.

“I volunteer in the library sometimes. Keeping track of records and whatnot.” He nodded, presumably satisfied with my answer at last as he turned his attention to the professor now droning on about procedure. I took solace in these few moments of comfortable silence, exchanging a look with Seungkwan at the end of the mini lecture before Josh recalled my attention to him.

“I’ll go get the ingredients we need from the cabinet if you’ll start up with what we have here.” He suggested, reaching over to take the beakers from my side of the table. I caught a whiff of his cologne, fresh and sweet, like honeysuckle, making my cheeks heat up involuntarily at the close proximity to a boy I barely even knew.

“Yeah, sure.” I nodded, watching his back retreat before getting to work.

~

“Y/n!” I was pulled harshly back into reality from whatever daydream I’d been indulged in upon hearing my name, my heart clenching at the sight of some of the first year Hufflepuffs cornered by a Gryffindor boy: Marcus... something. I’d heard he was a bit of a troublemaker.

“Hey, what’s going on, guys?” I approached the group cautiously, the Gryffindor looking rather annoyed at my intrusion on his fun with my house’s first years. They looked like they were having anything but, one of the girls named Hannah bent over with her hands on her knees catching her breath. She looked like she’d just run a marathon, pretty much all of them did.

“We’re just playing a game.” He smiled, an unusual sneer more than anything; either way, it quickly disappeared as his eyes followed the Hufflepuff students away from the two of us. “Reckon you want in?”

Before I could react at all, he turned his wand on me, rushing something out before a loud pop sounded below me and I felt a sting in my leg. I hopped up on one foot, trying to dodge the firecrackers he’d manifested around my feet as I debated whether or not it was worth it to whip out my own wand and maybe turn him into a toad.

I didn’t have a chance before I heard a loud “D’Angelo!” shouted behind me, both of our heads whipping around to see Joshua and the Gryffindor prefect, Seungcheol, approaching; Seungcheol, usually quite smiley and known for being pretty “chill,” actually looked cross. “What exactly do you think you’re doing here?” He scolded. Marcus shoved his wand back into his robes, giving me a death glare before marching off with Seungcheol scolding him the whole way out of sight.

“Hey, you okay? What happened?” Josh’s gaze and tone were both gentle now, his bangs blowing close to his pretty brown eyes in the breeze.

“Yeah, I’m fine. He was picking on some of our first years, but I didn’t want to draw my wand on him or anything so... Uh, thanks for bringing Seungcheol over.” I said, dusting the embers of Marcus’s enchantment off of my legs.

“Oh no problem, we were just walking to the Great Hall. How are your kids?” He asked.

“They’re fine, I’m sure. I don’t know how long he’d been picking on them like that, but they probably just ran back to the common room or something.” I smiled at him, running a hand through my hair as I straightened. “I’m sorry I interrupted your trip to the Great Hall.”

“Don’t worry about it, we can always reconvene later,” he hesitated before adding, “would you maybe like to join me since I lost Cheol?”

I flushed scarlet at his words, quite caught off guard: sure, he was nice and all, but we weren’t really friends. The most I’d heard out of him until potions the other day was a little bit of conversation here and there between him and his friends in passing.

“Uh, actually, I think I’ll go check on the first years, make sure they’re okay. Thank you though.”

“Oh, isn’t the Hufflepuff common room in the kitchens? How about we just walk together til then; we’d be going the same direction, right?” He cocked his head and god if I didn’t think he was pretty before, now I thought he was adorable.

“Oh yeah. Right. Uh, in that case, sure.” I blushed deeper if possible, Josh holding out his hand to beckon me forward ahead of him.

~

“Who was that?” My friend, Momo, didn’t miss a beat in questioning me once the door to the common room closed behind us; we’d arrived at around the same time, and Joshua had bid us a quick farewell when he was sure I was back safe.

“Oh, his name’s Josh. We were paired up in potions the other day and I guess we’re sort of friends now?” I said, greeting Seungkwan with a simple pat to the head before making my way up to my dorm.

“Friends? That’s it? What was he doing here then?!”

“Relax, he just walked me back.” I began to fiddle with my hands as I tried to brush off Momo’s (loud) words, which were earning us a fair amount of attention from the quieter patrons of the common room. Although, I couldn’t quite settle the flutter of butterflies in my stomach or the comfortable heat rushing to my cheeks. 

“Aww, you’re blushing! You’re definitely in to him!” She squealed, wrapping her arms around my torso and jumping happily. 

“No I’m not! I- we barely know each other! We’ve talked like twice, and he’s a Slytherin! We’d never work!” 

“He’s sweet, though, right?” She teased, poking my cheek as I flushed further. “He’s obviously cute! Come on, what’s holding you back?”

“I- just- ugh, can you just leave it alone?” I whined, covering my now very red cheeks with my hands as she smiled. She just shrugged and finally walked off, leaving me to walk into my dorm alone and flop down onto the bed with a frustrated sigh. 

I didn’t like Joshua. Sure, he was handsome and charming and helpful and just about everything I’d find attractive in just about anyone, but we barely knew each other, and we were from polar opposite houses! I was burdened by Momo’s words for the rest of the night, not speaking much at dinner as my eyes searched the dining hall for a certain dark haired Slytherin. 

~

“Alright everyone! For this project, I’ll need you to form groups of two; choose wisely! I’ll give you all a moment to form your groups and find a spot to settle in.” Professor Sprout smiled brightly over the sea of students currently present in our joint herbology class with the Slytherins, everyone now scampering to find their friends and pair up as quickly as possible. 

I turned excitedly to see Seungkwan already giving me a knowing look, smiling and patting the space next to him as I strode over happily. My heart dropped, however, when none other than Momo sat herself down in the seat previously meant for me, whispering something to Seungkwan before they both looked at me, their eyes flitting over teasingly to a group of boys that had yet to settle in. God no, please no-

“Hey y/n, do you have a partner yet?” I turned to see Josh smiling at me expectantly, my heart fluttering as I took in his hair and his lips and damn it maybe I was starting to come to terms with my crush on Joshua- “Uh, y/n?”

I realized I hadn’t replied to him yet in all of this time I’d been ogling him, his eyebrows furrowed in a hint of concern as my mouth fell open and closed quickly. “Oh, uh, yeah- I mean, no, no I don’t have a partner yet.” I smiled sheepishly, Josh’s own smile widening. “Would you, maybe, wanna work together?”

“I was gonna ask you, actually.” He said, motioning me towards the first open station we saw. I smiled and nodded, tossing a glare over my shoulder at Momo and Seungkwan silently cheering me on in the background before we sat down and Joshua’s presence fully stole my attention.

~ 

“y/n!” I startled at the sudden calling of my name in the previously perfect silence of the library, looking up from my records work to see Joshua emerging from the shelves.

“Hi, Josh. Do you need anything?” I asked, taking note of the books he had stacked in his arms.

“Just wanted to check these two out, please.” He said, placing them gently next to the records book in front of me. I smiled and took down the serial numbers and his name quickly, handing the books back to him as quickly as possible so I could finish up my work for the day. It hit me like a lightning bolt when his hand brushed mine as he accepted each of the books back, a glimmer in his eye when I looked at him inquisitively. “Have you read them?”

“Oh, no, not those. Uh, interesting choice of books.” I squirmed awkwardly under the weight of the mundane conversation, mentally facepalming at my inability to think of literally anything else to say.

“They’re for a charms report,” he smiled, “are you coming to the Hufflepuff vs. Slytherin match on Saturday by any chance?”

“Oh, I don’t know, I might just stay in and do some homework, maybe take care of some of my chores that I’ve been putting off-“

“Oh, come on, live a little. Or have you already come to terms with your house’s loss?” He taunted. I rolled my eyes.

“Badgers eat snakes, dear, I think we’ll be just fine.” I teased back. He laughed, a sound I wouldn’t have minded hearing more often, of course, and leaned forward onto the desk.

“How about we make a wager: if Slytherin wins, I get to take you on a date.” My breath hitched in my throat, causing me to choke and my chest to explode into a quiet coughing fit that probably only fanned the flame under Joshua.

“Where did that come from?” I asked frantically.

“Where did your confidence go?” He asked. “What do you say?”

“What if we win?”

“Hmmm, unlikely, but... I’ll wear Hufflepuff robes the whole day Monday. I’ll even see if I can talk the whole team into it.” He said. I mulled over his words quietly, scanning over the pages of records I was taking down while I thought. 

“Okay, then. It’s a deal. I’ll see you Saturday.” I said, offering a shy glance up at him as I tried to keep the raging blush on my cheeks to a minimum. 

“Can’t wait. We’ll set a time and place after the match.” He said, strutting off happily with his books in hand. I bit my lip, fighting to repress the smile that threatened to turn up my lips when I heard a quiet “yes!” echo through the halls outside of the doors before they closed. 

~

“I’m glad you came with us, y/n! It’s been a while since we got you to come to a game!” Jihyo smiled brightly, Momo bouncing along next to her happily as she nodded along.

“Yeah, well, I just thought I’d get out instead of spending my weekend in the dorms. Honestly, it’s nice, getting all excited about watching a match again.” I said, rubbing the back of my neck and looking away towards the towering hoops.

“Yeah, they’ve picked up a new appreciation for the game just recently, actually.” Momo teased, nudging Jihyo and, subsequently, me. I glared at her while Jihyo just looked at us in confusion, leading us to a few empty seats where we’d get a good view of the game.

We sat down right in time to watch the players fly out in procession, Jihyo cheering as her boyfriend Daniel, one of the chasers for the Slytherin team, flew by. I couldn’t help but smile a little at the thought of me getting to cheer Joshua on when he flew out for a game. I did, actually, my breath catching a little in my chest when I saw him fly by with his dark green robes flapping around him, his hair blowing beautifully in the wind and skin gleaming in the sun. I felt my heart quicken when I observed him, now floating in front of the hoop, scanning the crowd for confirmation of my attendance.

It really was nice getting excited for a game, participating in the festivities... having a player searching for you in the crowd, listening specifically for your cheers over the rest. I waved at Josh when his eyes fell in my general direction, his lips quirking up into a lopsided grin when (I’m assuming) he saw me before his attention returned to the match just about to start.

I didn’t know much about the rules anymore, but I did remember enough to know that Joshua was very good and he was trying very hard to win. Whenever he made a good play, he’d look down at me and smile, once even mouthing something to me that I assumed was about taking me out. I felt bad, but I couldn’t help but feel a little downtrodden when my own house made a good play. Was that blasphemous?

Whatever it was, it was what I felt, and I could tell that Joshua was feeling it, too, whenever he’d look down on me with a little pout on his face and make me laugh. As the match got more intense, I leaned forward, the sounds of cheering fans and Momo’s occasional teasing drowning out as I zoned in fully, hoping and praying that Joshua could keep it up, that Jeonghan would catch the snitch.

The buzzer sounded. It was announced that Slytherin had just obtained the snitch. I was completely deaf to the crowd as I sprang from my seat, whooping and cheering while Momo gazed on happily and Jihyo clapped half heartedly along with me in confusion. Joshua’s smile in that moment could’ve made flowers grow, his eyes falling upon my smiling face as he joined the rest of the team for a victory lap around the arena.

[accioprozac]

hi there! Can i get a ship? Either era works! I’m a Sagittarius, an introverted Gryffindor (she/her/straight) , i am 5’2”, with tanned skin, freckles, amber eyes, and full, plushy lips (they’re my favorite feature on myself), i have ash brown hair that naturally curls loosely. my favorite color is grey, daises are my favorite flower, cinnamon is my favorite smell, and baking is my #1 hobby. i can be too honest sometimes, but it’s only because i care deeply about the people around me. i love making sweets for friends and family! i try very hard not to judge people at first glance, but i have trouble putting my foot down when someone has wronged me multiple times, i hate losing people, even if it wasn’t my fault, thanks love!

Hi love!

Thanks so much for requesting!

I ship you with

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Cedric Diggory

Cedric’s eyes are canonically grey. Your favourite color is grey. Is this a coincidence? I think not... it’s fate.

Cedric and you would be a super wholesome, cute couple

Suprisingly, you kind of owed your relationship to Snape, who unwittingly set you two up. Snape assigns Potions partners because he’s no fun and likes to plot students against each other.

You ended up being lab partners with Cedric in Potions and you had to brew armortenia together. He asked what it smelled like for you and you told him that you smelled daisies and cinnamon, leaving out the last smell, which was his cologne. But it was probably just because he was sitting close to you.

You asked him what he smelled and he started blushing like crazy. Let’s face it, even though Cedric is popular, he’s an absolute dork when it comes to girls.

You guys actually get pretty close. He’s very hardworking and diligent in class, and he always makes you laugh.

One time, he sees you leaving the kitchens(because the Hufflepuff common room is right by the kitchens). You’re literally covered in flour and he thinks you look adorable.

He asks you what you’re doing and you jump, almost dropping the tray you were holding.

You shyly explain to him that you like to visit the kitchens and help the house elves bake. You usually end up taking leftovers back to your common room and sharing them with your dorm mates.

You offer him a treacle tart and he accepts. He’s lowkey surprised because it tastes super good(because you made it🥰)

From then on, you liked to send him desserts. Every morning in the Great Hall, your owl drops a small parcel in front of him. It contains a treat and a handwritten note.

Whenever he opens it, he’s blushing super hard because he knows you’re probably watching him read the note. His friends also make fun of him a lottttt, “Ooo Ced, is that from you girlfriend?”

But honestly, he’s feels touched that you take the time to send him sweets every day and he wants to return the favour. (He definitely asked Cho for advicr)

The next day while you’re eating breakfast, Cedric’s owl flies over to your table and drops a gorgeous bouquet of daisies in your lap. Attached is a note that says “hogsmead?”

He has a ton of nicknames for you. “Freckles,” “Sweetheart,” “Princess,” and occasionally, “Shorty.” (much to your annoyance. It wasn’t your fault he was freakishly tall)

Mafloy probably bullies you because he’s a prick you’re quiet and he thinks you won’t speak up for yourself. One time he made the mistake of saying something rude while Cedric was in hearing range. Cedric isn’t violent, but he was fuming internally. He took like 30 house points from Malfoy because ✨Prefect privileges✨

When he enters his name in the Goblet of Fire, you straight up tell him he’s being stupid. “It’s not worth risking your life Ced.”

He gets kind of defensive, “So you think I can’t do it??” and storms away.

Don’t worry, y’all make up and he takes you to the Yule Ball. (and he finally tells you what he smelled in the Amortenia)

Ah this was super fun to write! I hope you like it!!!

[canonismybitch]

Little Ducklings

By @canonismybitch​ for @just-the-daydreamer​

@friendly-neighborhood-exchange​

Rating: Not rated

Relationships: Peter Parker & Tony Stark, Michelle Jones & Ned Leeds & Peter Parker, Peter Parker & Academic Decathlon Team, Bruce Banner & Roger Harrington

Characters: Peter Parker, Tony Stark, Michelle Jones, Ned Leeds, FRIDAY, Academic Decathlon Team

Summary: Peter Parker was sick, and he would not let that keep him from going to his Field Trip. It also gave Tony a reason to take over the tour.

Hey Beca! Surprise!!!! I’m your off-holidays secret santa! I really hope you enjoy the fic!

Peter Parker-Stark was not having a good day.

But that wasn’t unusual, was it?

No, his luck had never been the best to begin with, so bad days were something he had grown used to (as sad as that was).

But his bad days were usually because of the villain of the week, or a study session for Decathlon he had forgotten about (but MJ hadn’t, because she never forgot stuff like that). Sometimes it was gym class and having to pretend that he was weak and couldn’t do the exercises like his classmates; some others because he had to leave Ned and MJ staying up for him to watch a movie that would have to wait because people apparently forgot that kidnapping was illegal.

All in all, bad days were even more common than good days, so it wasn’t at all surprising.

What was surprising was that Peter woke up sick.

Sure, he had been a very sickly kid all his childhood (and part of teenagehood, even if the word sounded weird), but after his run-in with a certain radioactive spider, Peter had had nothing else but perfect health. Ever since that horrible night when we spent an uncountable amount of time puking his guts out and fever-dreaming, he had not been sick. Nothing. Nada.

For four years.

So why the hell did he feel like dying?

Peter hadn’t felt more nauseous in his life. Well… except for that time when the spider bit him and his stomach had felt as if it was fighting a war with food (and losing), but that time he had actually thrown up.

Today he had woken up feeling as if all his dinner (and midnight snack) would be coming back up, except they hadn’t, and Peter had felt miserable all morning, especially when he had to bend over to pick his clothes even though his dad always told him to leave your clothes somewhere where I can’t step on them, Pete.

[He’d listen to his dad from now on. Maybe.]

His dad had left him a note on the kitchen next to a plate of pancakes that, if it were any other day, would’ve smelled heavenly. As it was, Peter just grabbed the note and ran (power walked, really) out of the kitchen so he could read it in peace.

Hey kiddo! See you in a few hours ;) Pls eat breakfast. It’s chilly out so grab something comfy, I don’t want a repeat of last Xmas. Love you! Dad

Peter sighed, if it were for him, he’d have stayed in bed all day, but nooooooo. Today had to be his Decathlon team’s field trip to the Tower and he knew that he wouldn’t be able to miss it. He didn’t even want to miss it. Sure, most of his class didn’t believe him, but he really wanted to show his home to Ned and MJ, since they could never visit because your dad is Iron Man! Danger! Authorized personnel only!

Besides, he would even get to show the team that the internship was real, maybe that way they’d stop calling him a liar behind his back; as if their whispers were subtle. Peter bet that he would be able to hear them even without his super hearing.

“Peter, Mr. Hogan is waiting for you in the garage. I would advise you to eat your breakfast while it’s still hot.”

Peter hurriedly grabbed a hoodie that someone (probably him) had left draped over the sofa and ran to the elevator. An unhappy Happy was not someone anyone ever wanted to encounter.

(Sometimes he wondered if the Happy from Snow White could ever be unhappy like his Happy. Not that he ever told anyone.)

::

People at school were staring at him for longer than usual. Peter thought it had something to do with the fact that his skin was most definitely green and that it looked as if he would make a dash for the bathroom at any second. Belatedly, he thought about the bus ride to the Tower and prayed to Loki (because Uncle Thor never really answered) that he wouldn’t have to ride at the back.

“Well, someone's feeling bold today. What gives, eight legs?”

Peter jumped a little when he heard MJ appear behind him and grab the sleeves of his hoodie. Ned wasn’t far behind her.

“What do you mean, MJ?” Peter turned around to look at her, “Bold?”

MJ let his sleeve go, an are you serious, Parker? look in her eyes that he knew too well.

“Dude! That is so cool! Tony lets you use his clothes? I thought they’d fit better but that hoodie is super baggy, where did you get it? Did you raid a cardboard box with other cool stuff? Did you find any science trophies-?”

Peter was pretty sure his face was the epitome of confusion, and MJ was merciful enough to put him out of his misery.

“The hoodie, loser. It says ‘Stark’ on the back.”

Oh.

Oh.

Peter must’ve grabbed his father’s hoodie from his MIT days. Tony had a habit of leaving it in the living room for Peter to use when they had a movie night. Clint had called it proof of the Dadvengers being an actual thing, but his dad had thrown the bowl of popcorn to the archer’s face and that had been that.

[That had not been that, and Tony was now the (questionably) proud owner of a pair of Crocs that had big plastic letters with the word DADVENGER on the front. Not that Peter knew that.]

It made sense though, Peter always went to that hoodie for comfort, and today had been especially shitty.

MJ threw an eraser to his forehead, counting on Peter to catch it and snap out of whatever it was that he was thinking.

“It looks good on you, nerd. Now hurry up, because I am not sitting at the back of the bus and I’m dragging you two dorks with me.”

And with that, MJ turned around and started walking towards their bus, expecting Ned and Peter to follow.

Of course they followed. They were best friends with the scary lady, they knew that nothing good would happen if they didn’t. It wasn’t until they had already taken their seats that Peter remembered MJ liked to ride on the back and sketch people’s faces.

Awwww, so she did love him.

::

Flash made sure to kick his leg as he made his way towards the back of the bus.

“Good thing I’m not going to be anywhere near you, Penis. You look like you’re gonna toss your cookies at any moment-” Wait, was Flash worried about him? Did he really look that sick? “-I’ll make sure to film it though, maybe show it to every single employee we find, what do you think? They’ll see how pathetic the guy posing as an intern actually is.”

Or, Peter thought, maybe he’s just making fun of me.

::

When the bus rumbled to life, and Peter felt the engine and its little tremors on his whole body, he had to hug his stomach and bend until his head was practically hidden between his legs. Because of that, he didn’t get to see Ned and MJ exchange looks that practically screamed this idiot is actually going to toss his cookies, isn’t he?

Knowing Peter as well as they did, they figured out pretty quickly that he probably had decided to come on the trip just for them. And, yeah, they loved the adorable dork, but the second he was feeling better MJ wouldn’t hesitate to punch him for being an idiot.

Though, judging by the way Peter groaned and buried himself in his hoodie, they guessed the nausea (and the migraine that the spiderling felt coming) was enough punishment for now.

Ned shuffled on his seat until he managed to get his jacket off and proceeded to drape it like a blanket on top of Peter, who hadn’t even noticed that he was shivering until he felt the very warm and very comfy fabric on top of him. It smelled like Ned and his lavender cologne, strong enough to comfort him but light enough to not make him puke.

Peter still groaned when he felt the bus do a particularly nasty jump that left his stomach rolling and his head bouncing, which did not help his headache at all. The sound of a pencil over paper told him that MJ was having way too much fun with his misery. Flash’s snickering wasn’t really welcome either.

Mr. Harrington? Well, at this point he and Ned were the only people he would tolerate, so he wasn’t too angry when his science teacher knelt beside him.

“Peter? Are you feeling okay? I brought some Benadryl you can take if you’re feeling bus sick, maybe even some gum?”

He knew that his teacher meant well, but the thought of the peppermint gum his teacher was sure to be carrying made his nausea worse. Shaking his head was also out of the question when he felt his headache spiking into there’s a hammer on my skull levels.

Thankfully, he had the best friend in the whole world, and he spoke sick Peter (though he was a bit rusty in the language, the spiderling hadn’t been sick for a long time, though you didn’t hear Ned complaining about that).

“Uh, Mr. Harrington? Peter’s fine. Just, don’t mention the bus sickness? Or the gum?”

Their teacher –bless him– just gave them a look before going back to his place at the front of the bus.

When Peter’s head bounced again after their driver decided that he wanted to play a game of how to drive through the lanes with the most bumps, MJ sighed and threw her sweater at the vigilante. The smell of her fabric softener and the soft wool made for the perfect pillow, and he was out like a light for the rest of the ride.

::

You know how sometimes you feel sick, and you take a nap to make yourself feel better? But it actually does the opposite and you wake up feeling like shit?

Yeah.

If it weren’t for Ned, Peter thought he might not have been able to sit up from the (very uncomfortable) bus seat. As it was, he faithfully followed his best friends like a baby duckling until they were standing with the whole team in front of Stark Tower.

The oohs and aahs weren’t helping his headache any. Even though everyone from the Decathlon team lived in New York, they stared at the Tower as if it was a view they didn’t see every day.

Even Mr. Harrington looked excited, and he never looked like that unless he was explaining a particularly interesting chemical reaction. Peter wondered if that’s the face he would make when the class gave him the set of new beakers everyone had gotten him for Teacher’s Day.

Memo to me, he thought, remind me to ask MJ to sketch his face that day.

Before he knew anything, they were going inside the Tower.

Right into his home.

::

Peter’s head felt like it was made of cotton.

His nausea had returned tenfold, and now his muscles felt heavy, stiff. As if he had been gone out on patrol for far too long and his super healing had yet to kick in. Every movement costed him as if there were weights strapped to his limbs.

He knew that he wasn't the only one that noticed.

Still, he took a deep breath, straightened up as much as his rolling stomach let him, and let the glare of the sun right on his eyes and into what was becoming the worst headache of his life.

If anyone at the Tower figured out that he was sick, his dad would worry. Peter didn’t want that.

::

Surprisingly, Mr. Harrington managed to herd them into a line of students that could have been called straight, except for the fact that Ned and MJ had decided to be his personal bodyguards (how they were going to guard him from the worst case of flu he had ever experienced, Peter didn’t know) and stand at his sides in case he decided to take a little tumble. Still, since they were at the end of the line no one really seemed to mind.

They got Eloise as their tour guide. Peter liked to give tours of the Tower masquerading as an intern, and Eloise almost always ended up with him as her shadow. They had bonded over their sixth (seventh for Peter) sense that warned them of people trying to touch stuff they specifically told them not to touch. As much as Peter was relieved that their guide was someone he knew (not that he didn’t know everyone in the Tower), the second Eloise laid her eyes on him she’d know that he was sick. And if she knew, it wouldn’t be long before Tony did.

Sure enough, her eyes lingered a bit longer on his form before she clapped her hands animatedly and addressed his team.

“Well hello, Midtown! It’s a pleasure to have the winners of the National Academic Decathlon competition here at Stark Industries! I’m sure your teacher has gone over the rules with you, but you’ll have to bear with me,” his classmates were too busy being excited to really care about having to wait a few seconds longer to go inside, even MJ seemed especially attentive. “Our most important rule here at Stark Industries is that we do not condone harassment. If we see you harassing any of your classmates or any of our employees you will all be required to step out of the building. I know that it’s not fair for those of you that are sweet and innocent angels, but you have to be accompanied by your teacher at all times, and if one person has to step out, all of you have to follow. There are no warnings, no third strike, you’re out. You harass anyone, you’re out.”

Unsurprisingly, everyone subtly (and not so subtly) looked at Flash, promising him hell with their glares if he got them kicked out of the coolest building in the world. And –as if they had rehearsed it– all the team nodded at the same time.

Eloise smiled at them.

“Great! Now, rule number two is very simple: you do not touch anything unless you have permission. You will not believe how many times this rule is broken in our tours, but I’m counting on you to be a good group and keep your grabby hands to yourselves.”

That said, she clapped her hands together and motioned for the team to follow her through the metal scanner that doubled as an entrance to the public. Everyone followed Eloise through it without a second thought, probably ignoring the fact that their faces were being scanned as they walked right through. It wasn’t until Peter made his way to his teammates that FRIDAY spoke up, effectively scaring everyone into jumping a couple of feet in the air (even MJ, and that gave him bragging rights for months).

“Hello, Peter. It’s odd to see you back so soon, is everything alright?”

By force of habit, Peter answered the AI before he even realized that said AI had no right to be familiar with him.

“Hey, FRI! I’m on a field trip, not that you didn’t know that.”

“Your sassiness has been noted, Peter.”

He smiled at the ceiling as he often did when talking to FRIDAY, but someone clearing their throat brought him back to the very real fact that his Decathlon team was staring at him as if he had grown a second head, or those extra arms Ned liked to talk about.

“Stop stealing the attention of my tour group, puppy eyes. We have a schedule to follow.”

Eloise winked at him, purposefully using the nickname Clint and Nat had made for Peter. The vigilante mock-glared at their guide, but dutifully acted like a duckling and following her to the elevator.

His team kept staring at him.

Maybe he had grown an extra set of arms after all.

::

“Boss, Peter is in the building and he is looking remarkably under the weather.”

Tony looked up from his cup of coffee, half a cookie in his mouth.

“Run that by me again, FRI?”

“Peter appears to be exhibiting symptoms consistent with the flu, sir. Very noticeable nausea, very slow walking, and possible headache.”

Tony rubbed at his forehead, exasperated. His kid was going to be the death of him, and it wasn’t even 10 AM.

“Did he even eat breakfast, FRI? Like I told him to?”

“Negative, Boss. His pancakes are on a lunch box in his backpack. By my calculations, they are already cold and possibly unappetizing.”

This time, Tony let his head drop to the kitchen counter with a quiet thud. His teeth catching on the uneaten remains of the cookie.

“This kid…”

::

Riding on the elevator had been a Bad Idea. With capital letters and everything.

The moment they had started moving upwards to what Peter could see was floor 47, his nausea started up again, worse than ever. Dizziness had also decided to make an appearance, and for a good 12 floors, he had to lean on Ned to avoid dropping like a sack of potatoes on top of Cyndi and Charles.

MJ made sure to take a picture of his face so she could draw it later.

She also kept one of her hands hovering behind his back in case he decided to topple over Mr. Harrington instead.

When the elevator doors opened after what seemed like an eternity, Peter was one of the first people out, vowing to himself to never go inside an elevator again.

(He knew he’d have to break his vow the minute the team had to go to lunch, but he ignored that for now.)

“Well, Midtown, we’re on floor 47. This is one of the more advanced sections of the Tower, and tour groups aren’t usually allowed up here, but Mr. Stark made an exception for you guys. You can thank puppy eyes over there, Peter’s his personal intern and probably the reason you’ll get to meet some Avengers today–” everyone erupted into squeals of excitement, most of the team looking at Peter as if they were seeing him for the first time in their lives.

“Wait, so you do have an internship here, man?”

“And you’re Tony Stark’s personal intern?”

“Think you can give us a tour of the super-secret stuff, Parker?”

Oh, Thor. His team was staring at him as if they wanted to eat him alive.

“I’m afraid Peter can’t show you any classified stuff, or he’d risk being fired. However, we can continue on with the tour and I’ll show you to the super cool lab that’s right behind you.”

And with that, everyone turned to look at the glass walls that separated them from what Peter knew to be the prosthetics lab. From what he could see, Bruce was working down here today.

Apparently, his classmates made the same discovery promptly after Peter did and had started to whisper animatedly about Bruce Banner being right in front of them oh God they should have brought a picture of him so he could sign it.

If his team had been a bunch of puppies, they would have all been wagging their tails.

It was kind of cute, actually.

::

“Boss, Peter and his team are down on the prosthetic lab on floor 47. Dr. Banner is also working there at the moment.”

Tony grinned, grabbing his third cup of coffee and making his way to the elevator.

He had a kid to take care of, and two best friends he needed to meet.

::

The moment they stepped inside the lab, one of the interns –Mark?– grabbed Peter by the arm and dragged him to one of the tables at the center of the room. (And– yep, there was the headache again.)

“Uh, excuse me– I can’t allow you to take a student from the group–”

“Roger? Roger Harrington?”

Every single person in the room simultaneously turned to look at Dr. Banner and Mr. Harrington in what would have been a very comic reenactment of a tennis match if it wasn’t for the fact that Bruce Banner apparently knew Mr. Harrington and he hadn’t thought to tell them.

“Dr. Banner, ah… I didn’t think you’d remember me.”

Bruce came up to their teacher and hugged him.

Honest to Thor hugged him.

“Of course I would! Peter likes to talk about his science classes and your name comes up once in a while. He’s one of our best engineers, by the way, you’ll have to excuse us for trying to steal your student; we don’t usually get him to come down and help with this lab, even if it was his idea in the first place.”

The tour group had turned to look back at Peter, who by that time had made use of one of the stools in the lab and had sat down to examine what looked to be a prosthetic hand.

(Well, the tour group minus Mr. Harrington, who looked ecstatic about one of his students telling Dr. Banner about his science class, that he enjoyed.)

Queens’ vigilante was valiantly ignoring the looks his classmates were giving him, opting to test the mobility on the prosthetic arm he was working on. That didn’t stop him from listening to Flash’s sputtering, and Peter cracked a smile at the finger his bully was pointing at him.

“I did tell you I had an internship…”

“But you didn’t tell me that you had a Field Trip today, kiddo. Shouldn’t I have signed something?”

::

So this is how Peter died. The flu wouldn’t kill him, oh no. The flu was there to make him feel even more miserable while he watched his dad making his way to his table, Spider-Man mug in hand and sunglasses on, walking in like he owned the place (which, he did…).

“Uh… I had my Aunt sign it, sir?”

His dad set the mug down next to Peter’s tools on the table, before making grabby hands at his handiwork and examining, turning it every which way.

The room was eerily quiet.

And then–

“You’re Tony Stark!”

Tony turned to look at the tour group before him.

“And you all have elbows,” at the sight of the kids’ stunned faces, the billionaire shrugged, “What? I thought we were pointing out the obvious.”

He turned to look at back at his son and took note of the hoodie under a large jacket that could’ve only belonged to Ned. He smirked.

“Isn’t that my hoodie?”

Peter grinned back at his father, taking the prosthetic from his dad and carefully placing it back in its case.

“Hoodie? What hoodie?”

Tony just laughed, ruffling his kid’s curls and taking note of the way he winced when his head moved a little too much for his liking.

“Just for that, I’m stealing your hoodie next time I see it laying around in the lab.”

The mechanic’s eyes scanned the gaggle of stunned teenagers and one starry-eyed teacher before he spotted the two people he had been looking for. They were unmistakable, even if he had never met them personally –the walls in his son’s room were filled to the brim with pictures of these two. He pointed at them.

“Ted and Melissa, right?”

Peter hid his head on his hands. Of course Tony was picking today of all days to be a dad.

Ned didn’t look nearly as affected as Peter.

“Yes, sir! Well, kinda…”

His father huh-ed, and then looked at their tour guide.

“Eloise, was it? You’re free to go back to your project. I’ve got the little ducklings.”

She nodded quickly, saying goodbye to the team while Dr. Banner and Mr. Harrington swapped numbers.

Then, Tony led them to the elevator.

Ned and MJ were right there for him to lean on while they made their way to the training rooms. So was his dad, but by this point, he was pretty sure that FRIDAY had told him something was definitely not fine, and he wasn’t about to worry him even more. That didn’t make the elevator ride any less hellish, especially when Flash kept glaring daggers at him.

This time, the elevator stopped at the Avengers’ personal gym.

His class stayed inside the elevator, Tony the only one to actually step out and greet his team. Even though they had known that they’d see their heroes, everyone appeared to be too excited to move.

It wasn’t until FRIDAY had started closing the elevator doors that they all stepped out as fast as they could and gathered around Tony like the ducklings the billionaire liked to compare them to.

“Well! I’m pretty sure you know who they are, you’re free to pester them with questions! And don’t worry, they don’t bite,” he dramatically scratched his chin, “wait, Natasha does bite, but you’re safe with the others!”

His classmates made their way to the Avengers, slowly at first. Then, Clint made a joke and that was all it took before the heroes found themselves answering questions left and right.

Peter stayed by his dad.

Tony hugged him with one arm, both for affection and to ensure that he wouldn’t go say hi to the floor.

“FRIDAY said you were sick, buddy. Why didn’t you stay in bed?”

The spiderling shook his head, before wincing as his headache just got worse.

“I wanted to come. They didn’t believe in my internship, and I really wanted to show Ned and MJ around. Besides, I felt fine yesterday…”

“You should have at least eaten breakfast. You know your spidey metabolism needs fuel.”

Peter made a face.

“I… couldn’t really stomach anything. I mean, I haven’t thrown up yet, but that’s turning out to be a very real possibility.”

His dad frowned.

“When your team goes home I’m taking you down to the medbay, you haven’t been sick since the spider bite and a little stomach bug should’ve been nothing for your healing.”

Peter opened his mouth to answer, but someone yelling his name took his attention elsewhere.

“Pete! We’re gonna do a quick demonstration. Wanna spar?”

Uh, no thanks. He would definitely pass out if he did that.

Thankfully, his dad knew that too.

“Not today, Legolas! Gotta take the ducklings to lunch. Be a responsible tour guide and all that.  Midtown! Follow me to the cafeteria, please!”

His classmates waved at the Avengers, taking some last-minute selfies and shaking their hands.

Peter resigned himself to another ride in the elevator.

::

Peter loved the cafeteria. Almost every day, he’d come down here for a quick snack on his way to help in whatever lab crossed him first, and Martha –the nice lady that sold ice cream– always saved him a scoop or four for when he got out of training. The vendors were really nice, and it was a common floor for all the scientists to have a good time (and a good meal).

But today? Today the mix of different smells and the chatter that could be heard through the whole floor made him want to run to his room and hide under the covers.

“Well, I’ll be checking some stuff on the upper floors while you get something in your stomachs. I trust your teacher to take care of you, but there’s still an AI watching over you at all times. Something happens, you tell her or someone from the staff, capiche?”

Everyone nodded, eagerly looking around the cafeteria and planning their meal.

“Good! Then I’ll leave you be, see you in 45 minutes, kiddies!”

And with that, he was gone, swallowed by the elevator.

The team pushed some tables together and decided that they’d be eating together. It wasn’t different from their breakfasts at the hotel they stayed at for the duration of the Nationals. In fact, it was oddly familiar.

But Peter wasn’t paying much attention.

He was definitely feeling worse after a day of running around in the Tower. The dizziness had definitely gotten worse, as had his nausea. It was horrible.

His headache was no better. The lights hanging from the ceiling were blinding to his sight, and fireworks danced behind his eyelids whenever he blinked. It had extended from the back of his head to his temples, and now even his ears hurt.

So Peter took to leaning on Ned while MJ let him borrow her sweater again, using it as a pillow (again) and draping one of the sleeves over his eyes in hopes of drowning out the light.

Mr. Harrington was definitely worried by now, as was the rest of his team. Not even Flash had made a comment. A quick peek under the sweater’s sleeve told him it was because his bully was not at the table.

It wasn’t until they all started to bring out their lunches that hell broke loose. Someone (probably Jason) had brought hard-boiled eggs, and the second the smell hit Peter’s nose, he jumped out of his chair and made a run to the bathroom, just in time to toss his cookies in one of the vacant stalls.

His stomach rolled and Peter felt oddly reminiscent of the time he had been stabbed on the abdomen last month. The pain certainly was familiar.

It felt as if an eternity passed before he was finally done, even though he hadn’t even had breakfast to begin with.

Someone knocked on his stall.

“Hey, Parker! You okay in there?”

Peter kicked the door open as best as he could when he recognized Flash’s voice. It wasn’t ideal, but he didn’t think that he’d be able to stand up on his own.

His bully grasped him by the shoulders, flushing the toilet as an afterthought, and helped him off the floor slowly.

“Answer the question, Penis. You okay?”

Awww, would you look at that? He did care.

“Just peachy.” He said, before a wave of dizziness made itself known and he promptly passed out.

“Parker? Hey, Parker! Who gave you the right to pass out?!”

Flash was freaking out, but he knew that Peter needed help, even if he was the worst when it came to actually doing something for Penis Parker.

He carefully adjusted his grip on the smaller boy, and prepared to lift him princess-style so that they could get out of that bathroom as soon as possible. He was expecting his classmate to be a little heavy, what with the muscle he had suddenly grown over the summer four years ago.

He wasn’t expecting him to be as light as a feather.

“Mr. Harrington! Mr. Harrington!” Flash yelled as he came out of the bathroom holding onto Peter.

“Flash what did you do?” Ned asked, as he hovered over his best friend, who was slowly waking up.

“He didn’ do nothin’. Hel’ed me…”

Mr. Harrington took Peter from Flash and helped him sit in one of the benches where they had been having lunch.

“Peter? What happened? Can you hear me? How many fingers am I holding up?”

Just as Peter was about to answer (and he was seeing 7 fingers in only one hand, so that probably wasn’t good), his father stepped out of the elevator and ran to where the team was.

“Pete! What happened?!”

Peter groaned, making grabby hands at MJ’s sweater to block out the light and the sound of people talking all at once.

“M’fineee. Just lost a battle with some eggs…”

Tony laughed, if only to reign in his panic.

“Nope, that’s it. We’re making a trip to the medbay. C’mon Midtown, you’re getting to know where all the Avengers get patched up when they do something stupid.”

He went to pick his son up, and frowned.

Peter made it a habit to fall asleep on movie night, and Tony often had to carry him back to bed. So yeah, he knew that Peter was pretty heavy with all the muscle he packed.

He wasn’t used to carrying his son as easily as he had done when Peter was a kid.

::

Peter had been four years old when he first came to live with Tony.

The inventor had learned pretty quickly that his son was not what most physicians would call “healthy”.  His little boy carried an inhaler around as if it was a necklace, and he knew exactly what medicine Tony should give him when he had a cough.

Peter would frown at the food Tony would give him if it had any kind of seafood or citrus until his dad learned all his food allergies.

His chubby hands would play with LEGOs in the living room, and the baseball and the glove Tony had bought were left forgotten in the back of a closet.

Still, the mechanic had learned to play with Peter and his LEGOs, with his coloring books and with his chemistry set. He learned that Peter didn’t like airplanes, and preferred his food to come to his mouth via a choo choo train.

He also learned that when Peter was sick, reading him stories about Tesla and Einstein would put him right to sleep. That the glow in the dark stars on his ceiling had to be blue and not green, because green gave his kid headaches. That Peter’s Captain America onesie was his favorite and he only wore it after a particularly rough night when his coughing fits wouldn’t let him sleep.

He learned never to watch Bambi or the Lion King when they had a movie night, and that Mulan would put his kid right to sleep.

Still, none of those had worked the night Peter turned five years old.

He remembered it clearly. That night, Rhodey had come to visit his nephew for his birthday, and they had had chocolate cake and a strawberry milkshake for dinner. His kid hadn’t been feeling well that week, so Tony and Rhodes had thought it was for the best to distract him with cake and toy trains and a Disney movie. They had even let him wear his Captain America onesie and have dinner on the couch.

But that night, Peter had woken up his daddy, asking JARVIS to bring him to his room because he wasn’t feeling well. Tony had run to his baby’s room and there he was, tears staining his face and a sweaty forehead that could only mean a fever.

He had gotten Peter out of his onesie, and let him hug the platypus plushie Rhodey had given him for his birthday while he went looking in the medicine cabinet for anything that would help with his fever.

Peter had ended up going back to sleep clutching his plushie in one hand and his dad’s shirt on the other.

It hadn’t lasted through the night, and he had woken up again crying about how his head hurt, and to make it stop, daddy! Hurt bad!

His fever wasn’t going down, and Peter wasn’t keeping down any medicine. His coughs had gotten worse and at one point he had needed to use his inhaler.

That night, Tony panicked.

He couldn’t take his kid to urgent care, or he’d risk paparazzi knowing that he had a son the minute they stepped inside a hospital.

But his baby was crying, and no amount of stories about the theory of relativity were making him feel better.

So Tony held his baby in his arms (and he was so so light) and sat down on the rocking chair Rhodey had given him as a joke. And he sang to his son. He sang every single lullaby in Italian he could remember from when he was a kid himself; and when he ran out of lullabies, he sang Disney songs until Peter finally went to sleep.

“You’re going to be fine, tesoro, you’re going to be just fine. Daddy’s here.”

::

Peter was not happy at being carried princess-style, and he frowned at his father all the way to the medbay. But Tony didn’t seem to notice, too far gone inside his mind.

Bruce was waiting for them when they got to the medbay, and helped Peter sit down on the table Dr. Cho used to examine him whenever he did something dumb on patrol.

Ned and MJ (and surprisingly, Flash) were right by his side while Bruce went through a routine examination on his nephew. MJ was showing him the sketches she had made of him during the day, and even Peter had to laugh at some of the faces he made when he was sick.

“With all due respect, Mr. Stark-” Mr. Harrington said, wringing his hands nervously, “-I’m required to send Peter to the hospital, or at the very least back home where a guardian can be informed…”

Tony waved him off, though not unkindly.

“It’s fine, teach. Peter’s home, and I’m his dad. You don’t have to worry about school policies.”

You could have heard a pin drop in the room.

Then, Peter groaned, shaking his head.

“I can’t believe you actually told them.”

::

At Tony’s request, the Avengers had come down to the medbay to –according to Tony– entertain their guests until it was time to go home. He bet that the fact that their new tour guides were the Avengers would give those teenagers and their teacher bragging rights for years to come.

Bruce and Tony stayed with Peter while they ran some tests, and Tony had been right in his assumptions. This was no stomach bug.

Someone had actually tried to poison his son.

And he still wasn’t out of the woods.

That evening, after his team had left the Tower and had made him promise that he’d keep them updated in the group chat, Tony went to lay down next to his kid.

Peter had been on and off, waking up from his naps feeling worse and worse until he eventually had to toss his cookies again, before going right back to sleep.

He didn’t wake up until the next morning.

And when he opened his eyes, he saw his dad right beside him, playing with his curls and watching Mulan on his phone.

Peter smiled at him, too out of it to really worry about the fact that he was still sick and that his very scary aunt and uncles were hunting down the guy that had poisoned him two days ago on patrol.

He was, however, very preoccupied by the sight of a familiar hoodie folded neatly at his feet. It smelled like fabric softener and soap, very different from the cologne and motor oil that Peter associated with his dad.

It occurred to him that they had probably needed to wash his hoodie.

So he nudged his dad’s shoulder with his head, and adjusted himself so he could watch Mulan for as long as he could stay awake (which wasn’t very long seeing that his dad was still playing with his hair).

Finally, seconds before he went into dreamland, he murmured into his father’s neck.

“Hey, dad? ‘m sorry ‘bout your hoodie…”

He fell asleep to captain Lee Shang singing I’ll Make a Man Out of You; his dad’s laughter echoing on his ears.

[alias-b]

sins of my youth. 001

Billy Hargrove x OC! Evie Fenny~ Also posted to my AO3

Summary: It was common knowledge that Billy Hargrove hated Hawkins. Hated Cherry Lane. Even loathed the strange girl next door. Evie Fenny wasn’t too fond of the chaotic Cali transfer either. An awful high school tradition sparks a chain of events that changes everything, ultimately bringing two frayed souls together. 

A/N: Hey!!! I'm definitely not giving up on LFTM, I've had this story whirling around my brain and it's been pulling at me for a while. Hoping I can slow down, care for myself, and juggle both fics at my own pace. Thank you guys for reading and for being so supportive. I hope everyone who enjoyed WTL also enjoys this fic, it's a totally different direction. I'm excited to share it! I'll tag warning in each chp like I always too. TW: Light bullying, hints at an inappropriate relationship between a teacher/student, and teenage jerks.

Chapter 1: Fast Times

   A blaring bell trilled. Lunch time. So close and yet so far. Scrambling high schoolers like zoo animals clamored into the cafeteria. Knocking shoulders and bouncing around. No one really cared about knowledge today, the last day of school before winter break began. 

   1984. Coming to a close.

   “Evie!” A hand rose to wave. One pink scrunchie around the elegant wrist. Heather Holloway. Cute as a button smiling there. Hands pulled headphones down to acknowledge her. Evangeline Fenny. Best friends since the sandbox and now seniors. “This stupid day is dragging.”

   “It’s killing me.” Evie whined to herself, settling her beat up lunchbox on the table. Red and blue pattern, scribbled all over with song lyrics in black marker. “Mrs. Stockard fell asleep at her desk, I wanted to die.”

   “She snores so loudly.” Heather sparkled when she laughed, sweeping her hair back into a high ponytail with her scrunchie. Evie held a mirror up for her to see out of habit. “Thanks.” It was particularly louder than usual. Teens pregaming the parties to come over the two week vacation.

   “Going skiing with the folks this year?”

   “No, they’re going up to the cabin and I’m staying home after Christmas.” Heather unpacked her lunch, carefully organizing it. Evie pulled a regular PB and J out, amused.

   “Sushi?”

   “My mom’s going through a phase.” Heather poured herself a bit of soy sauce and plucked up chopsticks.

   “Your rich is showing, Heath.” Evie giggled when a foot kicked at her under the table.

   “Trade you a piece for half the pear.”

   “Deal.” They switched. Evie tucked some unruly dark curls aside, sitting back.

   “So...there is a party tonight. Loch Nora. Bunch of schools.”

   “Which ones?” Evie’s brow rose.

   “Ridgemont will probably crash, but who cares. It’s winter break, we’ll go and have some fun then crash at my place. Eat chips, make fun of them, and pass out like we always do.” Heather bounced a little. “C’mon, Evie. I’ll pick you up and we can walk from my house.”

   “I’ll think about it.” That meant yes to Heather. She grinned, reaching across to pat her friend’s arm playfully.

   “It’ll be fun.”

   Evie just whined and crunched on her pear, brows scrunching. Parties weren’t the same since the incident. But, she picked the popular, social butterfly for her closest friend. 

   The two couldn’t have been any more different.

   Heather Holloway. Rich girl from Loch Nora befriending Evangeline Fenny, a Cherry Lane girl, in preschool. They switched beaded hair ties and the rest was history. Bonded over music and fashion. Heather was classically stunning as if she jumped off a magazine. 

   Students used to make snide comments. That Heather kept Evie around because she made her look prettier. Sweet Heather shut that down. Loudly. Whenever the subject came up. Evie Fenny was a bigger girl. Plush. Fat. It wasn’t a dirty word. She was a strange and pretty teen who carried herself too high to be bothered with comments.

   Water off a duck’s back was the saying.

   Used to be she hid herself under big sweaters, tunics, and flared jeans. But, that was before the incident. Afterward, she came to school with a new haircut. Louder makeup. Even louder, fitted clothing. Flaunted the hourglass and caught eyes on her hips swaying. Sat next to Heather at lunch as if nothing had changed. Red glossed lips only smiled and the student body took to her. Those who stayed angry burned alone.

   Thick skin, no pun intended.

   “If that asshole Tannen shows up, I’m dipping.” Evie decided with one breath. 

   “I’d say that I’ll protect you, but you made your point last year.” 

   Ah, the incident.

   “I’m never going to live that down.”

   “It was legendary.” Heather beamed, crushing her fist into her opposite palm. “Bam. Prick went down. My friend is Wonder Woman. Super Bitch.”

   Evie broke to laugh, eyes rolling.

   “Truthfully, I don’t recall it all.”

   That was a lie, she remembered every second of it. Sometimes her knuckles warmed at the thought.

   “I just...didn’t think you had moves like that. Your mom is basically Dolly Parton. You don’t even like violence. You squirm during horror flicks. You love your cat, your guitar, and all plant life...and you beat the hell out of Ridgemont’s golden boy asshole quarterback.”

   It did earn Evie some Hawkins’ fame. Ridgemont was their main rival. The Bulldogs. Football players found a soft spot for the teen.

   “Don’t tell my mom she’s Dolly Parton, that’ll go straight to her head.” Evie joked, popping her water bottle open to drink. Heather’s big eyes lifted behind her.

   A flood of cologne wafted before two fingers tugged a curl. Little harder than they should have. Water choked to spill onto Evie’s chest.

   “Whoops, you got all wet, Fenny.” A tongue clicked. Billy Hargrove slid around the table. All his glory. Heather plucked up a napkin to offer it.

   “Watch it, Hargrove.” She huffed down at herself. The yellow tee tucked into her jeans was soaked through.

   “Girls can’t help it around me, I guess.” He had one hand in his pockets and another cradling his silver lighter. Flicking it open and closed. Eyes narrowed. “Polka dots, huh. I had you figured for florals.”

   “You’re an asshole.” She covered her damp shirt and bra with her striped cardigan. Thick fall colors warmed her skin. Noted the fact that he'd thought about it.

   “Whatever you say, Ivy.” 

   Billy knew her name. They were neighbors. Unfortunately. Right down to sharing the same space between their bedroom windows. She’d had dinner at their house. Susan Hargrove was new and eager to make some friends and Ms. Fenny was eager to be friends with everyone. Perfect match.

   Evie glared up at him. Fucking Adonis.

   “Heather, you going tonight?” He ignored his neighbor and leaned over with one palm on the table, back to Evie as he sat down to flash that darling smile.

   “Maybe.” Heather gestured with her chopsticks.

   “I can work with maybe.” He acted like the girl behind him wasn’t there. Frankly, Evie was used to being invisible. It was better than being bullied. Most days. “Maybe I’ll see you there.”

   “Maybe you apologize to my friend and say her name right.” Heather winked at him.

   “Who?” Billy stood and turned, mocked some surprise. “Oh. Evangeline. So quiet, I forgot you, chica.”

   She wasn’t sure if that was a jab at her mixed heritage or him just being a smartass. Billy rolled her name off his tongue like it was a joke. Like it wasn’t a real word. Blue eyes alight at her stony expression. Sly and alert. 

   The California transfer vibrated after leaving the basketball team before the season ended. Word was that he was persuaded to leave after some fight with Steve Harrington. Billy was a strange one too.

   Often, he seemed lax when he was alone like the world didn’t matter. Other days, he was rocking and quick on his feet. Hungry and itching for something. Anything. It was a scary look on such a pretty boy. You could never gauge where his mind was. Where it would go next.

   “Evangeline.” He sounded out again even slower. “Your mom lose a bet?”

   “It’s a poem.” She replied flatly, sitting back to cock her head at him. Billy snapped his fingers to point.

   “Sounds like the name of some chick whose man died in her arms.”

   She huffed at him, leaning in.

   “...That would be what the poem is about.”

   “Fucking depressing.” Billy tapped his chin. “I got it. I’m going to call you, Angel. I won’t forget that.”

   “You are not calling me-”

   “Trying to compromise with you, Fenny. You cast the first stone.” Billy flicked his eyes to Heather. “Bring your friend with you to the party, Heather. Some guys like angel cake.” He winked and slunk off to his band of merry assholes. This school worshiped him. Kissed the ground he walked on since he started in fall.

   “What a fucking slimeball.” Evie grumbled to herself, stuffing trash aside to ball it up. Thought about tossing it at Billy's big head. Heather gave this conflicted look as if to say, but he’s cute, right?

   “Ignore him.”

   “Bad enough his family moved in next to me.” They packed up their lunches. “God, I want a smoke so bad.”

   She didn’t keep the habit up just to save her singing voice. Her mom picked up cigarettes only after the divorce last year. Smoked out her window and hid it, but Evie knew. No judgment there. Better than other habits moms pick up after divorces.

   “I’ll pick you up at seven tonight?” Heather walked out with her after the bell rang.

   “Yeah, I’ll see you in fifth.” Evie turned to go to her locker and stuffed the lunchbox away. Grabbed a book to hurry to class. History. Three more periods left. Students fidgeted around her.

   “Hey, Evie.” Steve Harrington batted his eyes at her. Friendly enough these days after he left the popular cliche and broke up with Nancy Wheeler. Sometimes having your heart stopped on made you nicer. Not always. “You, ah, do the paper?”

   “All six pages.” Evie set it on her desk. “You?”

   “I made an attempt.” It was strange because Steve never gave her the time of day before this year. Maybe the guy was lonely. He tapped his pencil and the chatter quieted when their teacher walked in. Late as always.

   “Class, pass your papers to the front.”

   “Hopefully they don’t come back with red wine stains.” Robin mumbled behind her, one leg crossed up so she could draw on the rubber side of her sneakers. Evie caught a snort, taking the papers to pass them along. “I like the jacket.”

   “Thanks. New haircut?”

   “My own dad didn’t notice.” Robin beamed.

   “Psst, Evie.” A note flicked on her desk. Tammy Thompson. Pretty girl, kind of shy. “To Steve.”

   Evie considered herself a professional middle man for lovesick note passing. Discreetly, she gave it to Steve, head cocking. He furrowed his brow upon seeing it, but wrote back.

   Whatever the reply, it made Tammy’s shoulders fall.

   AP Biology was next. Teacher treated it like his kingdom and didn’t pose much of a challenge because he was disorganized as hell. Evie was relieved to share the class with Heather. 

   Billy, Tommy, and Carol also had it too. Hargrove bitched for a week about how the other science classes had no openings. Strange because he wasn’t an idiot. Still got his work in and maintained a B average. Probably due to his dad. Neil Hargrove seemed like a real hardass. And all of Cherry Lane had heard him and Billy arguing at some point.

   Evie might have also witnessed some more physical spats through the windows.

   She figured it was why Billy hated her. She knew something about him. Something he hid because it made him feel smaller. He caught her eyes once and barked nastily before taking off in his Camaro. A gust of smoke.

   She never brought it up. 

   Dads could be real assholes.

   “Watch the movie. Fill out the worksheet.” Their teacher was as ready for this day to be over as the students were. Lights went down. Yawns followed. Evie propped her elbow up on the high lab table she shared with Heather, doodling new lyrics between answering questions.

   A crumpled paper hit her hair. Stuck into brown curls. Heather turned back to glare at Tommy shrugging with a sleazy grin.

   He was no artist. Evie smoothed it for a wide, big lipped and breasted caricature of herself. She drew on it and scribbled a note back. Smiling sweeter when she flicked it at his chest. Carol and Billy leaned in on either side to see Tommy’s expression sour because Evie gave him nothing.

   “You got my hair all wrong.” She’d written. Fixing it for him.

   Billy snorted and turned back to defacing his textbook.

   “Bitch.” Tommy muttered to himself, tossing it away. Evie finished her sheet, dug for her compact to reapply a lip color. Caught Billy behind her. Intent on whatever vulgar drawing his mind was concocting. Blue eyes flicked like he’d been aware of her this entire time.

   The mirror snapped shut.

** ** **

   Study hall. Last period of the day. Most kids who had it were skipping out early during the hour. Slipping away one by one through the library. Evie was one of those kids. 

   “Leaving so soon, Miss Fenny?” The smooth as silk voice lowered, startled her enough to drop her notebooks and folders. 

   “Fr...Mr. Bowers.” Evie dropped before her English teacher standing so close to her. Second period. Been in Hawkins three years teaching the junior and senior classes. Fredrick Bowers. Dream of a man to all the teen girls. “Sorry.” She bit her bottom lip, eyes lifting to see him and his shadow blocking the light from touching her. 

   “No, I’m sorry, Evie. I figured you’d heard me coming.” Sky blue eyes centered on Evie there before he came to one knee. Helped her gather lose papers strewn about.    

   Mr. Bowers had a name and face all the teen girls drew little hearts around in pink gel pen.

   Evie thought she saw those same cartoon hearts bubbling up behind his back. Popping like gum. Styled toffee blond locks, trimmed mustache, and groomed side burns. A simple patterned shirt tucked into fitted slacks with the sleeves rolled up. Never a tie. Something groovy about him that stuck from the seventies. Mid thirties and hell of a smile.

   Evie tucked hair aside, displayed her blush in full view obscenely when he flashed those sparkly whites at her. Eyes crinkling.

   “I’ll warn you next time.” 

   Her heart plucked like a song when their fingers brushed. Dashing and broad. A Jane Austen character come to life. Enough to make any young girl melt. And how quickly she did.

   “Next time.” Evie gave this scoff. Pulling her notes close as they both came to their feet with hard intent eyes.

   "I wanted to give you something. A book to read over the break." He pulled it from his leather messenger bag and peered around.

   "An assignment?" Evie sparkled at him so he was lighter.

   "No, it's just because I believe you're so clever and mature. I think you'll read it with an open mind and we can talk about it like we talked about all the others. It's complicated material. I, ah, really shouldn't be giving you this book." He offered it. "But, there were quite a few I wasn't allowed to give you. After that chat we had over The Crucible. I'm just so fascinated by what you think."

   "Lolita. I know what happens in this one." Evie peered at the battered title. Rough paper between her fingers, it was clearly an old copy. She peered at his chest instead of his eyes. "We-"

   "Don't you miss talking? You know. Last year. Someone who knows what you're going through. I want all my students to be comfortable around me."

   "I am comfortable, we..." Evie glanced as someone passed far down the hallway.

   Bowers helped her after her dad left. A shoulder. A confidant. A crush that... She felt her heart close in on itself.

   "I thought you said we couldn't anymore."

   "I miss you." He whispered that. Lush and blunt. She barely heard it. Eyes snapped up.

   Someone missed her. Someone wanted to listen. Someone who saw her depth.

   His wife left him before he came to Hawkins. Evie learned a great deal about her too.

   "I won't tell, I never do." She hid it away into her bag, matched his tone. "We can...talk. Not here."

   "Good." He swallowed. "I just think you blossom under guidance and support. I always knew you were one of those girls."

   Evie blushed again. Eyes on her shoes. 

   “I wanted to say I was impressed with your paper as well. As always.” Fredrick gave her arm a pat and left his hand there. Fingers pressed into the knit fabric of her cardigan. His lip twitched. 

   “Good. That’s…I’m glad.” Evie’s eyes flickered over stormy blue ones, swaying. Lashes gave a dreamy bat. “I was thinking, ah, about you when I wrote it.”

   “Really, you should speak up in class more.” Fredrick gave her one subtle squeeze and dropped his hand. “All those funny poems you shared last year.”

   “My songs.” Evie corrected softer and he only smiled to nod.

   “Right.” An idle step backwards before he leaned over her. A great deal taller. The shadow crept over her eyes this time. “You have a Merry Christmas, dear. And speak up again in class, Evie. You know I love to hear from you.”

   A sensation like a fizzling sparkler glowed in her belly. Out her spine. Spread over skin.

   “I know.” She giggled at him, peering around. “Merry Christmas, Mr. B. We'll talk.”

   “Small town, I’m sure I’ll see you out and about.” A wink and he was gliding off. Shoulders back and chest perched high.

   “You might.” Evie swooned against her locker. Watched him go. Gasped a breath into her lungs. Swept all the clouds aside to fill her backpack with work. He made her feel so special, like no one ever could. 

   “Anyone...” She sang to herself, “who knows what love is...” Fingers plucked up a final book. Evie hummed and thought of small cartoon blue birds spinning around her head as she went into the restroom. Washed her hands and lingered to see her reflection.

   Evie was in a strange place. In and out of her skin. Torn between love and hate for her body.

   Usually, it just took a brave face. Her dad always used to tilt her chin and tell her to put on her bravest face before leaving home.

   She hoped the one she chose was convincing. 

   Her mom would always spin her favorite Bible or Dolly Parton quotes. Which helped on occasion even if she wasn’t sure which source the words came from half the time.

   A sigh. This was her flesh. She’d live in it as best she could. Dreamed herself into something better.

   Footsteps hurried down the hallway until the door shoved open. Humming cut.

   “Hargrove!” She gasped, dropping her messenger bag. “Billy, you can’t be in here!”

   “God damn it, Fenny. You again?” Billy skidded to hush her. Pressed them back into the wall. The heat of his body engulfed her frame, standing a good few inches taller. “Do me a fucking solid. Hide this for me.”

   Billy had no sense of boundaries because he was stuffing a baggie into her front jean pocket. 

   “What are you doing?” She seethed at him, smacking his arms off her to put some distance. “Get off me!”

   “Don’t say a word. Got it?” Billy lifted a finger with an intent look. Smelled of leather and his heavy cologne. Hairspray too. It all overshadowed the cigarette scent. He smoothed his tee out and turned to see the door. Scrambling like a spider, Billy jumped up on the toilet, threw his messenger bag outside, and pulled himself up. Wiggled his way out.

   Evie heard a thud and groan.

   “What the fuck?” She whispered, more so to herself as he disappeared. Hands pulled what was clearly concealed weed bundled up several times and bagged from her pocket. “Shit.” More footsteps before the door burst as she shoved it away.

   “You see that Hard-grove kid?” A thick accent asked. Security guy. Useless.

   “Uh!” Evie pulled her bag up. “Who?...This is the ladies room! Can’t a girl have a moment here?” 

   “Sorry!” He cringed away before she jumped into mushy period talk. It always worked. 

   Evie rolled her eyes and marched out to find Billy. Casual as can be, he tossed his bag into the trunk of his car and stilled to light a cigarette. Grumbling, steps hurried up the hill.

   “Asshole!” She tossed the weed at his chest, made him catch it awkwardly and stuff it into the trunk with a hiss.

   “Keep a lid on it, will you?” He slammed it shut. No one was around to see them.

   “Don’t do that shit again.” She pushed into him to go, Billy’s big hand wrapped around her wrist. Tugged her square into his chest. An unkind grin swept.

   “I had you figured, didn’t I? You didn’t say anything.” Billy blew smoke into the air, plucked the cigarette out to flick it with his free hand.

   “Let go.” Evie huffed. “I would have been in deep shit too for that.” She wiggled and pushed at his chest. 

   Billy flicked his bright eyes over hers. So brown they looked black in winter. He never noticed that she had a dusting of freckles across her nose and cheeks like he did. Pale for a girl with darker features. Indiana falls and winters must have taken the color right out of her. Looked like a lot of the mixed gals he knew back home. 

   Big curls. Soft and curvy. 

   Angry at him over something he did.

   There's no place like home, he figured.

   “You’re so weak.” Billy laughed at her. Took another drag. “They told me you freaked out on a guy last year.”

   “You want to be next?” She twisted away from him and turned. It wasn’t a real threat. He’s seen her tend to plants like they were humans. Feed neighborhood cats and nurse her own. Old black cat with not long left. Little fucker was always creeping him out from her bedroom window. Constantly staring with huge green eyes like it knew something Billy didn’t.

   “Babysit your own weed.”

   “You walking home?” Billy was relentless, voice lifting.

   Evie huffed and turned.

   “What, are you going to say I probably need the exercise? My bike chain broke.”

   “Christ, I was gonna offer a ride. Figured I owed you for saving my damn weed and my break. Not like it's out of the way.” Billy turned to open the passenger door. “Quit being a drag and get in. I don’t bite hard...unless asked.”

   “You’re such a creep.” She eyed him there. Wondered how he stayed warm in a tee, jeans, and leather jacket. “Not waiting for Max?” He gave this annoyed look.

   “She’s going out with her stupid friends, not my problem today.” Billy got in, gesturing. “At least close the door if you’re not coming. I went through the effort to open it for you.”

   “What a gentleman.” Sarcasm.

   Evie came back toward his car and debated it. Smelled like it might rain with the sky turning grey. And she really didn’t want to walk in these shoes. Rationalizing it, she slipped inside and shut the door. Settled her bag in her lap. Even buckled up. Billy revved the engine and skidded to speed out without a second glance.

   “You going to the party with Heather?”

   Evie peered at him watching the road with this hard look on his face. Ghosted a smile. Bingo.

   “You’re being nice to me to get to Heather, huh. You know you’re not the first guy to pull this. Could have just asked me about her.”

   Crystalline eyes flared up at her face.

   “What? Dorky chicks like you turn me on, too.” He replied rougher, not bothering to watch the road.

   “Wow. Spread it on thick, Hargrove.” She turned from him.

   “I always do.” He hit a hard corner. Christ, he drives fast. “I got a shot?”

   “She thinks you’re cute.” Evie shrugged. Far too used to this. Eyes slid to his profile. Wild curls still golden on grey days. The boy glowed. It was absolutely insufferable. Leaves whirled by, brown and dead. A smile crossed her face. “Listen. Since you’re saving me a walk. I’ll help you.”

   “Help me? I don’t need your help, I just wondered if she was gonna show.” He scoffed, turning on Cherry Lane.

   “You want to know what Heather likes. It’ll help you.” She crossed her arms, nearly flying forward when he screeched to a stop in front of his house. Billy shot her a look, filled with pride. “You got a pen and paper, bud?”

   He snatched her bag, tore a page from her notebook and dug into his glove box for a pen.

   Ass. She hugged it back to her chest.

   "Talk."

   “Okay.” A breath. “The thing about Heather is she’s a romantic. Jane Austin girl. Pride and Prejudice. If you can quote that just once like Mr. Darcy, she’s yours... Well? Are you writing?”

   Billy did a double take and huffed, grumbling. He actually marked it down.

   “Mr. Who?”

   “Your life amazes me.” She chuckled. “Darcy.”

   “Got it. Darcy. I’ll ask Susan about that shit, she’s a reader.” He muttered, tongue sweeping out before he scribbled. 

   “And she loves museums. First date ideas. Milkshakes. Cheese fries with jalapenos. Cheeseburger gal. Chinese from that corner joint. Always spicy. Easy picks.”

   “A girl after my own burning heart.” Billy felt her peer at him again. Lips lifting with this expression he couldn’t read. Blinked her big eyes and went on.

   “Definitely loves to snuggle in with something scary even though they freak her out. Must be a curiosity thing.”

   “Any excuse to get close to someone, I like it. This is gold, Angel, go on.”

   “You know, I think that’s all I got for you.” Evie turned to get out, sighing. That was just a little evil. “Billy.”

   “What?” He shut his door and turned from her.

   “Thanks for the ride.” She moved to go toward her house. “Knock ‘em dead.”

   Billy didn’t reply. Just watched her go into her house before he dug for another smoke.

   “Mom?” Evie called. “I’m home.”

   “I’m in my room, sweetheart!”

   Ramona Fenny was a spirited woman, went by Mona to the neighborhood. A girl of the 60s. Built like Dolly Parton with a pumped hairstyle to match in sleek dark brown, almost black. She worshiped the woman. Looked like she could have modeled atop a cake. 

   A church going girl who used prayer to get her through the divorce. Never pushed it on others, not even Evie. Too busy pushing other things. Like the free days she lost having her daughter young. She liked what worked in life and this worked for her. Liked the pretty side to things. 

   Mona was a sunny side up sort of mother.

   Best friends with Claudia Henderson as they both went through divorces which was not in God’s plan. Evie liked Dustin, she babysat him on occasion and he was a good kid. Bullied like her. 

   Mona owned the favored hair salon in town. Worked long hours with a team of women and ran a tight ship. Did hair for all the social elites so she knew everyone and all the hot gossip. And did she love that detail the most. Evie helped out with reception during vacation time. Liked the extra cash.

   “I was going to go to Heather’s later, there’s a party.”

   “Oh, have fun, baby.” She pushed her kid to go out. To live. To be smart. Never asked her to call. Not out of trust for Evie, she couldn’t be bothered. Never imagined her daughter would be up to mischief.

   If only she knew.

   Sometimes, Mona keyed in when it suited her. Understood when Evie’s likes and dislikes changed. When she asked to not go to church anymore because it didn’t help her after her dad walked out. Ramona was understanding as long as you didn’t bring up things like depression and anger. There always had to be a way out. Turn the other cheek.

   Evie knew her mother always thought the best.

   “Great.” Evie crossed to steal the hair brush, helped her mother out with the teasing. Dyed rich and dark locks that used to be a mousy brown. Dark eyes like her daughter. Evie didn’t look like her father with his brighter features. Her lush hair and russet eyes. Thick brows. “You going out? All dressed up...”

   “Just into town, couple of errands.”

   That was something that changed a week after her dad moved out. Mona’s style revamp. She was a woman of the sixties and seventies and that came back full force. Styled and pumped up like she was walking out of a Nancy Sinatra music video. Men around town noticed it and the woman certainly speculated. 

   But, her daughter had a style change too after the incident so it must have run in the family.

   “Better?” Evie eyed the glittery rings sitting in a ceramic dish. They looked like gumballs there.

   “Touch of hairspray and I’ll be right as rain.” Pink manicured nails came up with the can. “Take cover, baby.”

   “Got it.” Evie disappeared in a waft of spray. Stole an ice cube from the freezer to crunch it out of this habit she picked up when dad was gone. Cool and melty between her fingers before she swallowed it down. Felt the bulge tense all down her throat. Another followed. Teeth straining to crack it like glass. The chunks went down a little less smooth as she looked for real food and shut the fridge instead.

   Evie went into the bedroom to see her old cat on the pillow. His head lifted. Skinny and balding. Blind in one eye.

   “How’re we doing, my handsome boy?” Evie dropped her bag and crossed to pet him. Purrs erupted, whiskers twitching. “Bourbon, my darling.”

   A scratch of a meow rasped.

   “Yes, I love you too. I’d kiss you if my lips weren’t done up.” She smacked her lips and stood. “Outfit.” Clothing pushed around. Her room was a small, intimate space. Few pictures and purple curtains. Desks covered in song lyrics, trinkets, and needle felting projects.

   Evie held up garments to the cat, but he was no help. Just purred there like a motor boat. Settled on a black top with some sparkle and a magenta wash denim jacket. Jewelry was a must, she preferred earrings that were huge acrylic hearts. Bourbon had gotten into the window to watch the window across the way. 

   Billy wandering shirtless and damp. Muscles red and bulging like he’d done a quick work out

   “Yeah, not today, my sweet.” Evie plucked the cat from the window and reached to close the blinds. Billy caught her. Winked and licked his lips slower. She made a face at him. Utterly loathing and not impressed at his peacock way of navigation. “Ew." 

   The blinds snapped down, leaving Billy to laugh there. Evie carried her purring cat out, chiding. 

   "Don’t make his head any bigger than it already is.”

~~~~

TAGLIST OPEN! Hope you enjoyed! Thanks!

[renaxwrites]

Eleven

.02  -  Ready to Run

synopsis: the number Eleven had always appeared in milestones of your life. it was a constant, and you didn’t know why. but you would soon find out when you study abroad in japan and meet Him.

pairing: tsukishima kei x fem!reader

warnings: none!

masterlist: here :)

a/n: hey y’all! I decided to give tsukishima’s mom a name, just to give her more familiarity for the story. I stuck with the ‘moon’ name theme, so her name is mizuki, meaning ‘beautiful moon’ or ‘water moon’. also, English will be in bold. btw, see if you can spot the lil meme ;) I hope you guys enjoy <3

     previous || next

There’s a lightning in your eyes I can’t deny. Then there’s me inside a sinking boat, running out of time. 

“We have now landed at our final destination, Japan. Please make sure to gather all of your belongings. Thank you for choosing to fly with us, we hope you have a wonderful rest of your day.”

Antsy, you jump up impatiently, cursing yourself for choosing the window seat, having to now wait a god-awful two more minutes to leave the plane.

Eventually, crisp, non-artificial and suffocating air blows your through hair as you rush outside to flag down a taxi to take you up north. The drive wasn’t too long, which was too bad. The journey to Miyagi prefecture was breathtaking, with mountains, scenery and all. Soon you stand outside a gorgeous residence with a quaint cherry blossom tree in the front.

You let out a quick sigh, and play with your locket, hoping to not let your nerves get the best of you as you walk up to the door. For some reason, knocking on doors and ringing doorbells and such made you nervous, so the second you step up to the door, you say a quick prayer, muster up all the courage you could, and are about to knock, when a pretty, blonde-ish woman greets you with a flourish.

“Welcome! We’re so excited to meet you! Here, let me help with your things, you’ve probably had a long trip…”

“Thank you,” you bow quickly before the two of you start hauling in your luggage.

“My name is Tsukishima Mizuki, but please, call me Mizuki, if you’re comfortable enough. I hope you don’t mind, it’s just me in here for the time being. I actually took time off of work so I can be here when you arrived! I have two sons, so I’ll admit it’ll be a nice change to have a girl in our company,” she laughs. Her warm, light-hearted laugh was enough to put you at ease and let down your guard.

“Thank you,” you say again. “My name is (y/l/n)(y/n), but call me (y/n).” You offer a small smile.

“Well, (y/n), I’m so glad you’re able to stay with us.” She leads you over to the dining area so the two of you can sit. “I can’t say I’ve ever met anyone from the U.S... I’ve always wondered what it was like over there...so I apologize in advance if I pester you with questions, haha! Sorry, sometimes I’m super curious about other cultures, so please let me know if I’m ever invading your space, then I’ll zip my lips!” Mizuki makes a motion of zipping her lips shut, then puts her imaginary key in her pocket.

You chuckle. “I don’t mind at all. I’m actually curious about culture over here as well. That’s part of why I chose to study over here!”

Mizuki ‘unzips’ her lips and forms a small ‘o’ in surprise. “Ohhh! How exciting! So, if you don’t mind me asking, did you study the language before you arrived? You speak Japanese very well! And that reminds me, you’re from the US, so you can speak English also, right?” she clearly is excited to get to know you, and the longer you converse with her, the more you feel comfortable.

“Well, my mother is Japanese, so she taught me the language. My dad was born and raised in America, so yeah, I am fluent in both English and Japanese. By the way, you have a very beautiful home, or, in translation, you have a very beautiful home.”

Mizuki laughs again. “You are one interesting girl, (y/n). I can already sense you will bring some joy to this home. On a different note, my boys will be home soon. My oldest, Akiteru, isn’t home that often due to work, but he promised to stop by so he can meet you. So you might see him around once in a while. My youngest, Kei, is actually your age. He goes to Karasuno High School not too far from here. You’ll see each other a lot, so if he's ever disrespectful, make sure to report to me,” she playfully demands.

You fake salute with a hearty “Yes ma’am!”

You both chuckle, then Mizuki checks the time. “They’ll actually be home soon, so I should start making dinner. Is there anything you prefer to eat? I can try to look up some American recipes, but I’m afraid it won’t taste the same…”

Waving your hands frantically, you fuss, “There’s no need to go through all that trouble! I’ve eaten plenty of the same meals you’ve had, so honestly, anything you make is fine. I might add I’m not a picky eater either, so hopefully that makes things easier!”

Mizuki hums and nods her head. “I’ll make some ramen tonight then. That sound alright to you?”

“As long as you let me help!”

                                  ─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

The past couple of hours had been the best you’ve had in a while. You can already tell that the stay in this particular household was going to be pleasant and serene.

Or so you thought.

Dinner was finished and the table was set. All that was left was the arrival of the boys. According to Mizuki, each boy came home at a certain time every day. If that was true, then Akiteru would be here in three minutes, and Kei would be here in Eleven.  

You didn’t want to read too much into that.

As expected, Akiteru arrives exactly three minutes later, where he swings open the door with a grin. “Where’s this mysterious creature that my mom’s been babbling about for months?”

Laughing, you get up and raise your hands in the air. “Most likely me!! And for months? My file can’t have been that interesting, was it?”

Akiteru chuckles, “Seemed like any old generic file to me. Probably the fact that you’re from America is the one thing that did it.”

The two of you turn to Mizuki who giggles and shrugs, “Can’t blame me can you?”

“Seems fair. My name is Tsukishima Akiteru, but Akiteru is just fine honestly. We only see each other sometimes, but feel free to ask me any anything! I’ll write down my phone number for you later. I would do it now but I’m starving! Long day at work...Ah, look at me babbling and being rude. What’s your name by the way?”

“(y/l/n) (y/n), but just call me (y/n), I don’t mind.”

“First name basis in only five minutes! Who woulda thought...ha, not me! Anyhow, I hope you’ll enjoy being here, we’ll be like a little family. Big brother Akiteru will take care of you whenever you need help or advice. Okay?”

You nod excitedly. “I’ve never had a brother. Or any siblings. This should be fun then…”

Akiteru laughs. “Well I’m glad to be the first closest thing to a sibling you’ll have. Speaking of which, where’s Kei? I’m so ready to eat!” As if on cue, his stomach rumbles.

Mizuki checks the time. “Any minute now.”

Just then, the door creaks open, and the room goes silent as you hear a shuffling of shoes being taken off. As his footsteps move closer, you can already tell this first meeting wouldn’t be as smooth as Mizuki’s or Akiteru’s.

Kei walks in with multiple bags on. You swear you can catch slight whiff of his scent from where you’re sitting.

A light mix of sweat and cologne? Mint?

You can’t put your finger on what it is, but it smells good…

And just as quick as the scent came, it was gone. Kei was gone.

You wondered what you missed in the split second you zoned out, but it must’ve been nothing due to the fact that Kei’s face showed surprise as he walked back in the room. You tried not to notice how attractive he was, despite only wearing a plain crescent sweatshirt and gray sweats. Nor the fact that even though his pj’s were plain they still clung to the evident muscles he had. Not the way those sweatpants hung loose on his hips and fit in just a certain place either…

Or definitely not the fact that he was now staring at you.

You felt yourself blush, and seemed to forget how to talk.

He beat you to the punch though.

“Who’s she?”

Mizuki shook her head. “This is (y/l/n) (y/n). She’s from the United States and is going to be staying with us for a while. Be nice and introduce yourself.”

Kei huffs. “I’m Tsukishima.”

Akiteru catches on to the lack of interest. “Tsukishima? No first name either lil’ bro?”

“Kei. Tsukishima Kei. But we’re not on first name terms yet, so I didn’t think it mattered. Haven't seen you in a minute Akiteru, is she why you’re home today?”

His big brother, still trying to spark some interest, pipes up, “Yeah! I mean, it’s not every day you get someone from a whole different country moving in. Plus you’ll be school buddies! Come on lil’ bro get excited about that at least!”

Kei, or Tsukishima apparently, slowly sits down as he took that fact in. “Is she really going to the same school as me?”

His mother sensed the displeasure in his voice, but she wasn’t going to take that attitude toward you, the new guest. “Yes, Kei, and you show her around the campus tomorrow when she starts.”

Tsukishima huffed again, “Do I really, I doubt we’ll have the same class, plus I have practice and a whole lot of other things to do.”

You try to ease the tension. Speaking for the first time, you announce, “It’s okay, I actually have to meet the vice principal for my schedule, then I’ll see what happens from there. So don’t worry about it!”

Tsukishima turns to you. He smirks. “So she does speak.”

You blush again, but are quick to retort, “Yup, in both Japanese and English, whichever you prefer.”

There’s a falter in his smirk, showing that he didn’t expect you to have a comeback.

“This will be interesting,” he simply states.

He says nothing else for the rest of the night. Just silently listens as Mizuki and Akiteru ask endless questions about you and your home country.

Though he remained silent, his presence seemed to affect you the most, even as you all retire to your separate rooms. Even as you lay in bed and stare at the ceiling, knowing he was in the next room. Even as you closed your eyes and drifted off to sleep.

For the first time since your parents’ accident, you had no nightmares.

There's a devil in your smile that's chasing me. And every time I turn around it's only gaining speed.