#they are having a pause now form the me x dude fanfiction they are writing together (12+ authors kinda hard to work out)

[catchmewjsn]

I have to iron 🫡

[ecrivant]

tendresse | reiner braun

(reiner braun x reader)

a.n. –  dude!  you just posted tender, slice-of-life aot cringe!

in the woods, away from the world, you and reiner take a moment to yourselves to just exist; a tender respite in the eye of the storm. emotional catharsis, a consideration of what could have been.  

takes place during the marley arc, right after reiner’s confession at the campfire, but there are no spoilers.  reader is gender neutral.

word count: 1.4k

He sat alone, away from their temporary settlement, swallowed by trees and the oppressive nocturne which had long since appropriated the respite of the campfire in which the group dined.  Yards away, Warriors and the Paradisians together in repose—both groups, two-sided coins, unaware that their flipside lay in each other’s own counterpart.  He listened to their stirring bodies—their restlessness, indistinguishable.  The wind’s steady respiration rustled the trees, and his eyes, sensitive from the prolonged darkness, made out moving branches against the moonlit sky.   The relentless ether, pitch-dark but not void, hung precariously above the canopy, threatening to crush anything beneath it if its suspension happened to fail.  Perhaps he wished for such a swift end, one where everyone was stripped of their agency and had no choice but to submit and relinquish their will.  Only if it were that simple.

“Reiner?”

The sounds of footfalls against the detritus.  Each step, a tightening of the vise.  You extended a hand to touch his shoulder, trembling digits meeting tense muscles. His name, again, left your lips in a whisper.  He wouldn’t turn to look at you.  Or couldn’t.

His eyes stayed on the ground as you collapsed beside him, legs giving into exhaustion.  Despite everything, your auras still emitted a warmth the two of you could quietly share.  Neither spoke.  

An image materialized: one of you and Reiner, blithely inebriated after sneaking into the superiors’ liqueur stash, seated atop a once-virescent knoll, now bathed in the pitch of night.  Another moment shared in silence from years before. You frowned at your memory’s disquieting betrayal.  

“I don’t know how much more I can apologize.”

“Please, don’t.”  He finally turned to look at you.  The contours of your profile, tenebrous and barely there, the same he impressed upon himself years ago and returned to during all the sleepless nights in Marley, were still intoxicating.  Your brow, furrowed in frustrated thought.

You continued, eyes facing forward, “I’m tired of hating you.  I just want a moment without brooding.”

Reiner nodded.  He, more than anyone, wished for a moment free of the merciless despondency.

The groundcover rustled as you moved to sit in front of him.  Your eyes, pupils blown wide, bore into his.  He felt read by you, self-conscious under your gaze, but refused to look away. Your hand came to rest against his cheek, a touch that held all your unvoiced tenderness and compassion and betrayed your ocular intensity.  He severed your eye contact to close his eyes and feel—feel the warmth of your palm burning onto his frigid skin, feel the memories of your timid touch.  A quivering whisper, cracked:

“It’ll all be over soon, Reiner.  Then we can rest.”

Your words hung in the air, but you allowed the moment to move around you, through you, eventually taking your words with it.  

Different circumstances, and he would have married you.  He regretted the thought.  

“Why do you care so much about me?” he asked quietly, moving beneath your touch.  

 Your sternum imploded, winding you.  The prickle of tears bloomed in your sinuses, spilling over before you could compose yourself.  

His eyes opened, half-lidded, as your hand pulled away from his face.  He saw your lips parted in shock, quivering.

“Why do I care?”  A ragged query, laced with tears.  

Reiner looked at you with clouded eyes, and you pulled him into your arms, desperate.  You sobbed into his shoulder, and you cried for him. He sat unmoving before he eventually held you back, wrapping his arms around your form.  He felt grateful you couldn’t see his tears but then wondered why—in cathartic surrender, he allowed a sob to reverberate through his body, and then another, and soon his form gave way to violent palpitations that caused you to grip onto him tighter.  He wished, consumed by a twisted machoism, for this to last forever—to be held by you, flayed open and made raw, basking in your shared heartache and effusions.  This was pain he could endure eternally.

He was pulled back to the present as you murmured something, quiet ululations swallowed by your gasping breaths and tears: I love you, said over and over again like an ephemeral mantra rather than a confession.  Words that Reiner had unrelentingly fought against, suppressed; words that threatened to self-articulate and spill forth in the quiet interstices you shared, late at night, tucked away from the soldiers’ barracks; in the moments walking to and from the dining room at HQ; in the moments where you would laugh and his chest would swell and his face would flush and he would want nothing more than to take you into his arms and hold you; in the moments of silence pervaded by things unsaid.  

Now, in this moment, he loathed himself for not saying anything, for not being the first to say it.  To have exacerbated the torment of his betrayal in exchange for a few blissful moments of ignorance where you loved blindly and unabashedly—would it have been worth it?  Cruelly, selfishly, he wished he had done it.  He would have taken those moments to the grave.  

Your lips, still engaged in a distraught glossolalia, ghosted along his neck, voltaic, jolting him out of his ruminative daze.  He pulled away from you.

“Can I kiss you?”

His shaky whisper, boyish and innocent, silenced you.  You were faced with a younger Reiner—the subtly shy cadet who once carefully asked to hold your hand as he snuck you away from the grounds—and felt your heart seize.  Why couldn’t it always have been this way?

Your noses bumped as you leaned in.  The kiss was callow, both of you unsure of how to move against the other.  Reiner’s hands still rested on your shoulders and yours remained in your lap.  Awkwardly immobile.  He pulled away, and you were both smiling, flushed, teenage.  Even in the dark, his worry lines seemingly dissipated; you wish you had appreciated his youthful features years ago.  

He closed his eyes again, surrendering to bliss as your soft fingers traced the contours of his face. Up and down the bridge of his nose, along his lips, over his eyelashes; your lips shadowed your touch, softly kissing the tip of his nose, the side of his mouth, his eyes, one by one.  Delicacy that would never see the waking hours, instead confined to private moments in the obscurity of night—you both silently and implicitly acknowledged there was no room for tenderness in a world so inhospitable.  

“We would be married,” he began.  Realizing what he was doing, your heart clenched, eyes begging him to stop—but Reiner wanted to indulge.  Emotional machoism.  

“And we would have a home by the sea.”  His resolve fractured—his voice began to shake.  

“Reiner, please—"

“We could grow old together, and,” he paused, swallowing the tremor in his words, “we could even have a kid or two, if you wanted.”

You couldn’t look at him. To speak of dreams was linguistic torture, mental contamination: the vocalization and deception of an aching beauty, a deceptive chimera.  

“I would love you until there was nothing left.”

He grasped your digits, begging you to imagine it with him.  Your eyes shut.  The rhythm of undulating tides and the crash of waves, the scent of saline breeze.  Reiner on the beach, his fair hair full of sand and bright against the unbroken azure of the sky and the sea.  The warmth of the sun against your complexion, caressed.

The cruelty of reverie.

You sat together, awake, until the dim morning light edged over the horizon.  The blue dawn, cool and encroaching, enveloped the woods in an ethereal glow.  Fog hung low, and as the blue gave way to golden light, rays cut through the haze and the trees, collecting around you.  Reiner’s creased features returned, but his gaze remained soft.  You looked at him, intense as always, and saw him plead.  You respired slowly, focused on your beating heart, and apologized.  Neither of you knew exactly why.  

The others began to rise.  The coals of last night’s fire were grey ash, crushed and scattered underfoot.  You and Reiner blinked tears out of your eyes, sharing one last look, before joining the rest of the group.

—

wow!  reiner simps rise up!  thank you so much for reading this piece!  i legitimately think reiner has some of the most compelling character development ever + he’s hot, so who better to write something for?  

i haven’t written anything, much less fanfiction, in a very long while, so things are probably real rusty.  feedback and constructive criticism are always welcome but also… please be nice to me.  i have a very weak emotional constitution.  also, i honestly think i fell back into writing because aot s4 is getting to me and i need a place to process shit.  hope you enjoy a live view of my mental degradation.  feel free to shoot me a request for a piece here!

[rainydaymiddleearthimagines]

Hi! I sent the earlier ask about the rules! (Yea there's no ruuules!) I was gonna ask for a female human reader x thorin or fili smut fic? Where he is like jealous or self conscious so reader has to set him straight... in bed 😏 (Also who is barrell dude?)

HA. Okay so the barrel fanfiction was literally between a man... And a beer barrel. He died with it, it was very tragic but one of my personal friends sent me a gag request to let me know she found my blogs lmao. But as requested...

"I burn for you." Thorin x human female reader

Obvious NSFW warning here (SHIELD YOUR EYES FOR THE TERRIBLE SMUT WRITINGS)

Note: I listened to Abigale Barlowe's "Burn for you" while writing this so... Haha

And yes. Due to the question about the God forsaken barrel fic I include a picture of a dwarf in a barrel.

You would think for such a commanding man, he'd have more confidence. He had a ton of faith in his leadership skills but when it came to love? The man became an absolute chicken, terrified to make a single advancement. He was MADLY in love with you but not once was the bastard the first to make a move. For the most part, you didn't mind it. Though, right now you felt this routine getting old.

He was always so afraid to even touch you. Dinner was always surrounded by his family (you had no objections to this, his family was kind anyway as well as a hearty bunch), walks would be spent in silence and bed was spent with him working in the wee hours until you were already asleep. Today you had enough. You felt as if you were spending your time in this relationship on your own. You were putting in the work, making moves he was just there.

You put on your boots, picking up your bag when the door opened. Thorin looked up from the papers he was holding. "... It's in the middle of the night, where are you off to dear?" He asked. "Leaving actually. There's a letter on your fucking desk." You said, pushing past him. Lucky for him, there was time for him to read it. You still had to collect your swords. He read it's contents, looking up, before running after you. "Y/N!" he called as you walked. You ignored it. "WAIT!" He called. Again, you ignored him before he ran in front of you. "Go back to your room Thorin." You huffed, pushing past him. "Y/n wait! Please." He said. You stopped. "Tell me why I should stay Thorin!? Why!? Because right now I feel like shit, all the time. I work for us all the fucking time and I am hitting a dead end! I met your family, I live with you, I even met that strange Hobbit friend of yours who INSISTS on having tea! Still that's not enough for you to SEE ME." You said. "Y/n..." You dropped your bag. "A person shouldn't feel invisible in a relationship Thorin. They should feel loved. You don't even touch me anymore, you barely talk to me, don't actually spend time with me and you won't. Tell. Me. Why!" You said. He swallowed, looking at you. "I.." he stuttered.

You shook your head before lifting your bag. "Goodbye Thorin, give your family my regards." You said before walking. "I burn for you." He finally said. You paused, this finally halting your step. "What?" You asked, not turning around. He shuffled, running a nervous hand over his face. "I burn for you Y/n. I can't get your touch out of my mind and quite frankly I'm worried it'd break me if I felt it again. I understand if you leave but I... I distance myself because if I didn't..." He sighed. "You what Thorin? What?" You asked, on the edge of your metaphorical seat.

"I'd absolutely ravage you." He said. You blinked. Now this... This was a side you had never seen. You looked at him. "So do it." You said. He blinked. "What?" He asked. "SO. DO. IT." You repeated, dropping your bag sticking out your arms. "I'm standing in front of you as a woman who is in love with you. I am here. So do it." You said. He looked at his door at the end of the hall, saying nothing as he picked up your bag, walking back to his room.

Great. You got one phrase out of him before he took your bag. Perfect. Just bloody perfect. You followed him and sighed, walking into the bedchambers. He stood by the door as you entered. "I'm going to need my bag back--" was the last words you got out before Thorin pulled you down to his level and kissed you. You were shocked by this notion.

Would you believe that was the first time he actually did that on his own?

He shoved off his cloak that he usually wore and looked into your eyes. "I want this. the question is do you?" He asked. You looked in his eyes. A valid question considering you planned on leaving about fifteen minutes ago, in fact your bag was next to the door. You could leave now. But instead you looked into his eyes. "I burn for you." You breathed.

With the force of a man he pushed you back, you looking in his eyes before he kissed you, kissing your collar bone making your breaths go deeper. You felt him practically tear into your shirt, which was fine. It was old and more of a battle garb anyway, being worn out. He held you close his body, you keeping your arms wrapped around him.

He pressed a kiss to your scars that you earned in battle, you untying the front of his shirt and removing it. He tugged off your pants, looking at you. "If you need more consent than earlier, I think I need to hand you guide Thor- Ah!" You felt him suddenly. It shocked you, your body freezing to his touch. He didn't move, looking at you. "Are you alright my love?" He asked in your ear, sending this form of what you could call a shiver down your spine. "Please Thorin... Move." You breathed. He nodded, moving. You let out these little breaths, tangling your fingers in his wild hair you'd often refer to as a "lion's mane".

"Let me hear my name Y/n." He said, in your ear. He found when asking you do something in this form you'd do it. Truth be told his voice in a commanding tone had a way of enticing you. "Th-Thorin" you breathed. He pushed harder. "Thorin!" You breathed. He buried his face in your shoulder still thrusting into you. "I-I am yours Thorin." You said, barely able to catch a breath. He felt himself release in you, you gasping.

You panted, looking at the man as he laid next to you. "Well shit, if you had done that a week ago that bag wouldn't be packed." You said looking at him. He chuckled, lifting your hands. They were small, gentle but still calloused and he loved them more than anything. He looked into your eyes as he pressed a kiss to your knuckles. "I am truly sorry I made you feel invisible... You're absolutely right, you deserve to be loved." He said. "...Does this mean this will be a regular thing between us-" "Y/n I am trying to be romantic here." He sighed. You chuckled.

"What I am trying to say is... I love you. Truly. Deeply. Love you." He said. You smiled. "I love you to you oaf." You said with a smile.

[anyarally]

Logan Meets a Mer

Sanders Sides Fanfiction Virgil X Logan (Analogical) 3,133 Words   Ao3 Link

Logan was out on the sea yet again, dragged along with Roman and his self-proclaimed ‘merry crew’. He usually stuck to the lower decks, at his desk trying to study and write about any new findings he procured on these trips, but Roman called him and Remus, his co-captain and twin brother, up to the upper deck for a ‘bffs meeting’ as Remus called them. Or, you know, a top-secret meeting for the higher ranks, but tomato tomato. Little did he know he'd see something unbelievable that day.

Logan was out on the sea yet again, dragged along with Roman and his self-proclaimed ‘merry crew’. He usually stuck to the lower decks, at his desk trying to study and write about any new findings he procured on these trips, but Roman called him and Remus, his co-captain and twin brother, up to the upper deck for a ‘bffs meeting’ as Remus called them. Or, you know, a top-secret meeting for the higher ranks, but tomato tomato.

Logan sighed, putting a ribbon in his journal and his quill in his ink jar and going upstairs to where Roman and Remus were.

“Sir, this really isn’t a great time, I was about to-“

“Specs! How many times do I have to tell you now to call us sir! We think of you as an equal.”

“Yeah Logie-bear! Just because we’re captains and you’re not and we’re cool and you’re lame doesn’t mean we’re better than you!”

“Well, sirs,” Logan adjusted his glasses, “maybe if either of you simply called me my name, I wouldn’t be so inclined to not call you yours either.”

Roman loudly clapped his hands together, “Anyway! I have some very important and top-secret news for you all!”

“We have some top-secret news for you all! Jesus, Roman!”

Logan cleared his throat, “First of all, if both of you knew it shouldn’t be ‘you all’. Secondly, could you two please just tell me?”

“God, Logan, you’re no fun! Whatever,” Remus led the way to the back of the upper deck, pulling back a curtain to something Logan had never seen before. And that was saying something.

Logan looked up, mouth agape, at a merman. He always assumed they were just legend, he could barely believe his eyes. He slowly walked up to him, but when the merman started hissing he stopped advancing. The merman had short shoddily cut hair, giant pointy teeth, beautiful dark scales that shined purple in the light, left eye purple, right eye green, and scales on his face, specifically under his eyes.

“I, erm, you’re… magnificent.” Logan gaped, looking up at the mer.

The mer only hissed again, but if Logan hadn’t been so flustered himself he would’ve noticed the red forming on the fleshy parts of his face. Then, suddenly, the beautiful creature screamed .

A demonic double voice emanates from the beautiful beast, causing Logan, Roman, and Remus to hurriedly cover their ears. Eventually, it got high enough to break a glass mug, and then the mer took a break to breathe some.

Once he was done, Remus took down the net and looked at the two agape men, “Let’s get him downstairs. We don’t want the rest of the crew to see him.”

Logan and Roman nodded, finally broken from the trance, and helped Remus carry the now exhausted mer.

They laid him down in the tub for now, and Roman and Remus left, leaving Logan to watch him.

Logan scanned over the beautiful creature with his eyes, noticing his chest moving up and down. He has lungs. Good. He gently brushed his fingers against his tail, noticing the scales don’t feel… healthy. If he had been with the brothers when they caught the merman, he would’ve thrown him right back overboard. It’s dangerous and harmful to keep native sea life for too long, even though Logan wanted to study it far more than the crew presumably wanted to sell his scales.

Logan sighed, went to his room, got his journal and quill, and came into the bathroom to sit on the floor and write until the mer wakes up.

Sure enough, after about an hour and a half, the beautiful merman woke up. He slowly blinks his eyes open, but when he sees Logan, immediately starts hissing.

“Shh! You don’t want the boys to come!”

The mer turned his head in a questioning manner but ultimately quieted down.

Logan let out a relieved breath, “Thank you. Now, can you understand me?”

In response, he got a garbled mess of what sounded like dolphin noises? But then the mer coughed and replied, “Sorry, haven’t talked above water in awhile.”

“Fascinating! Do you have a name? Have you been above water before? Are your scales supposed to feel like that? Why do you have hair? Is heterochromia rare for merfolk too? Do baby mers nurse? How-”

“Hold up, you need to calm down like holy shit humans can talk. My name is Virgil. That’s all you really need to know right now.”

Logan sighs, “I suppose. Nice to meet you, Virgil, I’m Logan.” he held out his hand for Virgil to shake, and he just looked at it. “Very well, I understand your lack of trust towards me. If it means anything to you, if I were on the upper deck when you were caught, I wouldn’t have let them bring you on the ship.”

“Them?”

“Roman and Remus, the co-captains of this ship.”

“Co-captains?” Virgil said skeptically.

“I know, it’s idiotic, but their father only had one ship to give and they kept arguing about who could own it, eventually coming to the consensus that they could both be captain.”

They talked back and forth for about half an hour when Virgil started scratching at his scales. Logan grabbed his hand, and Virgil yanked it back aggressively, gently cradling it close to his chest.

“Apologies, I’m aware you’re not fond of… touch from me. I was simply trying to stop you from scratching, it can’t be good for you.”

“It gets this way when it hasn’t been in saltwater for too long.” Virgil snapped, anger clear in his tone.

Logan looked away, mumbling something.

“L? What was that?”

“Could I, erm, would you like me to let you go?”

“Dude that’s literally all I’ve wanted this whole time.”

“Oh. Ah, I see, you never said so.”

“I never thought you would say yes, and I thought my tone gave it away!”

“Apologies, again, I have trouble with emotions and tone and such,” there’s a long stretch of awkward silence, which Logan interrupts with, “anyway, escaping?”

“Oh, uh, yeah man I’d love that.”

“Very well. It’s almost sundown, after then the twins will go to the lower decks for supper and likely a party with the crew, then bed. It will not be suspicious for me to miss this, I rarely come anyway. If we stay quiet, they should not suspect a thing, and even if they hear my footsteps they will assume I’m coming out to look at and chart the stars like I do most nights. As long as we can hide the sound of your tail, we should be set.”

“That’s too many ‘should’s for me to be comfortable with. But, it’s the best plan we’ve got I guess.”

“Indeed.”

That night, everything surprisingly went off without a hitch. Logan managed to get Virgil off the side of the boat unharmed and undetected, but the next morning is where things get a little rough.

Logan looked out at the sea, sighed, and went back to his room. No going to sleep at this point, Logan decided to sit at his desk and write.

‘Sea Log #9.18 (CONT.)

Today, I met a rare creature I previously believed was simply a myth. I suppose the best name for him would be a merman.*

His scales were dark with a purple shine to him, and he thankfully was willing to answer some of my questions eventually,** but on this page, I have chosen to focus on this particular merman’s personality.

Once he trusted me enough to start speaking (English, surprisingly), he told me his name was Virgil. I learned that he doesn’t have many friends under the sea, just one best friend and a brother. His best friend’s name is Janus, he’s half eel as opposed to the more fish-like features Virgil has. His brother’s name is Patton, he’s very similar to Virgil, just with a blue shine to him and different scale placement on his face. He mentioned Patton’s vision is very bad, perhaps I could find a way to get a prescription and make waterproof glasses of some kind.

What am I saying, I likely will not see Virgil again, much less his family. I helped him escape, and I do not regret it.

Apologies, that was a falsehood. I do regret it, but not for the reasons I normally would. I feel something for this merman. I do not entirely know what, but it is something. I do know that I miss him. I miss him in a different way than I miss my work on land, closer to the way I miss my mother and Sparky, but still not quite.

I have made sure to leave space at the bottom of this page, so I will add more later. I believe Roman and Remus may be able to help me with this, but I will have to wait to ask. I didn’t bring any books on psychology along on this trip, and I suspect the twins will be less than pleased at me letting the merman go.

*double-check and correct if needed at a later date

**diagram and explanations on next two-page spread (pages 19-20)

Satisfied with his journal entry, Logan put his quill away and closed his journal, putting it away on the shelf above his desk.

He stretched his arms and glanced into his bathroom, seeing the light coming out and realizing he unintentionally pulled yet another all-nighter.

Sighing, he changes his clothes anyway to make it seem like he had slept, fixed his hair in the mirror, and started heading to the upper deck.

“Lo-lo! You’re finally up!”

“Sir, the sunrise just happened.”

“Ugh, you’re such a downer! Hey, where’d that mer get off to? I haven’t seen it since yesterday.” Roman asked whilst cleaning his sword.

“Sir, he is gone.”

“Gone?! Gone where?!” Remus screamed, Roman paused in his cleaning.

“I, ahem, I let him go.”

“You. WHAT.” Roman loudly stated in the most intimidating voice Logan had ever heard.

“Sir, it was inhumane to keep him here, you must know that.”

“It wasn’t human, Logan! Remus, throw him in a holding cell, we can’t trust him anymore.”

“Wait, sir-” muffled pleas continued to come from Logan as Remus muffled his mouth with his hand.

“Okie-dokie bro-bro!”

Remus quickly threw Logan into a cell, easily ignoring Logan’s cries as he did so. Logan wasn’t particularly known for his brawn, it wasn’t very hard to overpower him.

Remus waltzed on out, whistling as he went.

“Remus, didn’t Logan take the merman to his quarters?”

“Yeah, I think so, should we go check them out?”

Check them out, they did. In his quarters, the co-captains found his journal and Remus of course had no problem invading the sailing master’s privacy, so he opened it up immediately, flipping to the most recent page. On it, Remus saw a two-page spread of the merman, and when he went to the page before, his eyes widened.

“Roman, come here for a second.”

“What is it, Ree? You never use my whole name,” Roman looks over Remus’s shoulder, “holy shit. Remus, I think I’ve got a plan.”

They smirked at each other, taking the journal and going to the cell Logan was being held in.

“Hey, specs!” Roman yelled, causing Logan to quickly look up.

“Look what we found!” Remus holds the journal above his head mockingly.

Roman yanks the book out of Remus’s hand, “‘ I miss him in a different way than I miss my work on land, closer to the way I miss my mother and Sparky, but still not quite.’ You’re clearly in love with him, nerd! He must at least trust you, with all the personal info he gave you, so I think you’d make for perfect bait!”

“Wait, no! You can’t hurt him! It’s not our place, he belongs in the ocean!”

“Ooh, and maybe this Janus and Patton will come too, they sound pretty!”

“No! You can’t!”

The two twins just laughed. Remus opened the door to the cell and grabbed him, holding him while Roman put handcuffs on him, and then bringing him back to the upper decks. Once they get up there, Remus pushes Logan, making him stumble forwards, stepping on a net trap and effectively trapping him.

“Stop this at once! It’s not ethical! It’s not humane!”

“You can just say ‘right’ you know! Ugh, even when you’re dying you’re the biggest nerd in the seven seas,” Roman laughs while Remus just looks to the side.

Roman pulls a lever, pulling the net holding Logan up above their heads and putting him above the ocean.

“No!” Logan grunts, chained wrists grabbing the ropes.

“Yeah, keep that mouth talking, specs! The louder you yell, the faster that thing will come for you!”

Out of spite, the sailing master stays completely silent, not even moving enough to rustle the ropes.

He stays quiet for almost two hours, the co-captains trying everything they could think of without moving him from above the water to make the poor man yell, only making the ropes make some noise.

Eventually, Roman realizes he could look in Logan’s ship log for info on mers, and sees that they have an incredible sense of smell, especially when it comes to prey. They can apparently smell the blood of their prey and their friends, easily differentiating between them.

Roman smirked as he showed the line to Remus, but he just looked away again, “Ro, are you sure about this? I mean… I don’t wanna hurt him.”

“What are you talking about Ree, we need those scales!”

Remus raised his voice, alerting Logan of the argument, “No, you need those scales! I don’t care, Roman!”

“Oh fuck you, Remus. I’ll do it myself.”

Roman uses the lever to bring Logan close. He grabs his foot, yanking it through one of the squares in the net. Grabbing the boot and throwing it into the ocean, Roman uses his dagger and quickly slices the back of the struggling man’s ankle, hitting an artery before he levers him back over the water.

Logan tries to pull his foot back in the net but just ends up making the blood come out quicker.

Off in the distance, they hear a scream. Logan looks out to see a giant splash of water and what looks like but a black spec in the distance. He gulps.

The almost demonic screeching gets louder and louder until they see a giant splash right beside Logan’s net.

Virgil jumped up like a dolphin, doing a flip and diving back in, screeching the whole time. When he resurfaces to the right of Logan’s net, he hovers with the water just under his eyes for a second, and as he rises so his mouth is above water, two mers pop up behind him.

The one on the right of him has green and yellow scales covering the left half of his head, an eel eye on that side and a human eye on the other. The creature has long dark green hair growing out of the human half of his head which floats around him at the top of the water.

The other looks a lot like Virgil, with similar skin and hair tones, but instead of black scales with a purple shine, he has a grey tail with a blue shine to them. His scales also didn’t accumulate in certain spots like Virgil’s, they were speckled all over his face, like freckles.

“Virgil! You have to leave! It’s a trap!”

Virgil looked up towards the yell, eyes widening at the state Logan’s in. His bloody foot, broken glasses, his bruised cheek, and his reddened handcuffed wrists anger Virgil to the core. He sternly but lovingly says, “It’s okay Lo, we’ll get you out of there.” Virgil turns back to the co-captains, “Let him go, or we’ll sink your ship and take him ourselves!”

“Or,” Roman pulls out a pistol, mahogany with gold accents, and aims it at Logan, “We could shoot him now, and no one wins! Or I suppose you could give yourself and your little buddies over and he lives, whichever you prefer.” Roman smirks.

Remus gasped as he pulled out the gun and aimed it at Logan. “Ro, aren’t we taking this too far? We can’t kill Logan, right?”

“We’ll be fine without a sailing master for a couple days, Ree, we’ll kidnap a new one soon enough.”

“Roman, that’s not why and you know it!”

“Jesus Christ, Remus, we’re not gonna just give up mer scales for your stupid crush!”

“Why you-“ Remus growled, tackling Roman, making his finger slip and shoot the gun.

Time seemed to slow down for Logan as he did his best to get out of the way, the bullet hitting his shoulder. He yelled out, and Virgil screeched.

Virgil looked to the co-captains, eyes turning black, but was surprised to see Roman unconscious on the ground.

When everyone was shocked by the gunshot, Remus had hit Roman in the head with the butt of his dagger, effectively knocking him unconscious.

Remus and Virgil made eye contact, Remus sighing, “If I get the net into the water, can you help him? We don’t have a doctor.”

Virgil almost couldn’t hear Remus’s uncharacteristically quiet voice, but responded with a nod, “My brother knows healing magic.”

“Good.” Remus cut the rope to the net, making it fall into the water with a giant splash.

Virgil and the other mers immediately dove under, Virgil getting to the net first and cutting Logan free with his sharp teeth.

“Janus, cast the spell.”

“Got it,” the eel mer closed his eyes and brought his webbed hands to his temples, opening his now glowing eyes and saying, “KFIV VMVITB MLG HPRM ZMW YLMV IRHRMT ORPV GSV HSVKZIW GLMV.”

Logan opened his eyes and gasped, breathing water, and looked around confusedly. When he reached out for his glasses, he put more strain on his bullet wound, making more blood to float out of it and disappear into the water.

Virgil grabbed Logan’s glasses and handed them to him, continuing to scoop him up in his arms. “Shh, you’re okay now. I’ll explain everything as soon as we’re somewhere safe. Patton?” he held Logan out to the mer with a blue shine.

Patton nodded, gently touching Logan’s uninjured arm. Logan watched in amazement as the injuries on his arm and ankle went through an accelerated healing process, the bullet floating out of his arm and both wounds closing up until they were simply scars.

Virgil thanked the now panting Patton and closed his eyes as giant shadows enveloped the three merfolk and one human, transporting them away from Roman and Remus’s ship.

Don't freak out, there will be a sequel! It'll probably be in a bit though. I've already picked a prompt for it and a basic story outline though, so it's happening! Sorry this last chapter is so short, I just really felt that's where it ends. Oh and just an fyi Logan is (or was lol) Roman and Remus's sailing master, but he was not kidnapped! Pirates often kidnap sailing masters but Logan was there willingly. :) Everyone who read this story, you get a cookie! Anyone who solves the cipher gets a second cookie! Prompt: Trapped in a net

[roachspraee]

Heroes Can’t Fall In Love

Into the Spiderverse: Miles Morales X Reader Fanfiction

Welcome to my first tumblr post EVER. I can’t guarantee that it’ll be any good, but I can guarantee that I did in fact, had a lot of fun writing this! I hope ya’ll enjoy~(｡◕‿‿���｡)

-

"I think…I think I love them."

"Don't be demented Miles, you're a hero. Heroes can't fall in love."

-

A long, frustrated sigh escaped your lips while you looked at the concrete floor, walking passed buildings and people. It was a cloudy night, pretty chilly too. You hugged yourself tighter in attempts to heat yourself up, you didn't think the cold would phase you too much.

But the cold didn't really bother you. It didn't bother you because you were deep in thought, and a certain someone was on your mind. You blinked your eyes rapidly, trying to make the coldness in your eyes fade away, only for it to fail.

Miles, a good friend of yours has been rather distant for the past few months, and you had no idea why. Not the slightest clue. And if you were going to be honest with yourself, it concerned you.

And it hurt.

Because every time you tried to talk or approach him, he'd respond with short answers or avoid you. And it hurt you. Because you didn't know what you did wrong. And you have had about enough.

You were going to get through to him once and for all.

You missed him. You missed spending time with him. You missed his smile, his laughter and the conversations you'd have. Whatever you did, you want to make it up to him. You weren't too sure where you went wrong, though.

But that didn’t matter, you just wanted your friend back.

You checked your phone with a shaky hand, it was 9 o' clock. You knew you weren't supposed to leave your dorms passed 6 PM, but you had to get your mind off school…and Miles.

Quickly, you ran back to campus, almost flying over the steps leading up to where the boy's dorms were. It was late, but this was the perfect time to confront Miles, at least...that's what you thought.

You made it to the front of his door with your heart thrumming violently against your ribcage. You raised your fist, about to knock on his door but you stopped. What if he just brushes you off like he does every day? You would've wasted your time.

You shook your head. No. You must talk to him. He's your friend. Your heart longs to see him, so just give it what it wants.

A loud series of knocks filled the halls, the wood against your knuckles were cold. You stopped, waiting for a response.

Nothing.

You sighed, looking at your feet in disappointment, "I know you're in there Miles. Please answer the door."

Slight shuffling was audible on the other side of the wooden door. Yup, he was definitely in there.

But he refused to answer.

"C'mon Miles! Talk to me. I miss you. Can we just talk this out?" Your voice was shaky, was this even a good idea?

Then you heard mumbling. You pressed your ear against the door and concentrated on the conversation. He was talking with his roommate, but you could barely understand what they were saying.

"I think you should talk to them dude."

That was the only clear thing you could pick up with your ears. After a few split seconds, you heard a loud sigh with footsteps following soon after. A gasp escaped your lips as you jumped back just in time for the door to open, revealing a very pissed off Miles. But you could see the nervousness in his eyes.

"What do you want." It was more of a statement rather than a question. You were taken aback by the sudden rude tone of his usual kind, soft voice. Sweat started to form under your brows. You swallowed a thick ball of saliva before speaking,

"W-why have you been avoiding me Miles? Is something the matter?" There was a pause, and you saw Miles break the eye contact with you, looking away only to meet your gaze again. He shrugged, "Nope."

Nope? Was that all he had to say? You were beginning to get frustrated with his short replies.

"Then why haven’t you been talking to me? Did I do something wrong?" Miles let out a breath to your response.

"It's late, you should head back to your dorm y/n." He turned back, grabbing the door to close it behind him, but your hand stopped him. He turned back to you with a look of annoyance planted onto his, quite handsome, face, "Can't you take a damn hint? I don't wanna talk to you."

Those words made you flinch. You knew that, you knew that for a while now. But it hurt hearing him say it out loud. You wanted an explanation.

"Why!? What did I do to make you so angry with me? Stop avoiding me and tell me what I did wrong dammit!" You yelled angrily. His eyes suddenly widened and he stopped.

"Fuck." He growled, then unexpectedly ran passed you and sprinted down the hall, leaving his door swinging open. You were puzzled and concerned, why did he just run off?

You found yourself running after him, hearing Miles' roommate yell 'Follow him' from across the hall. You decided not to yell back, worried that you'd disturb the other kids sleeping in their dorms, but you took his words to heart.

The feeling of your legs and feet throbbing was overwhelming you, you hadn't ran this fast in a while. But Miles was getting further and further away, you could barely see him through all the darkness. Not even the street lights were enough to see where you properly placing your steps.

You saw Miles make a sharp turn into an alleyway. Something told you proceeding wasn't a good idea, but you ignored the smart part of your brain. The sound of your blood pumping into your ears was all you could hear. You were sprinting so fast you could barely feel the ground beneath your feet.

You suddenly tripped over something, and before you knew it, your face came in contact with the ground. The impact itself hurt like hell, but the sheer pain that came after was almost unbearable.

"Shit," You hissed, feeling warm liquid drip down your face. You brought you fingers up against your forehead, bringing them back into your field of vision only to see blood cover them. You ignored your injury, slowly got up, and continued your way down the alleyway.

You came into an open area, only to have your eyes widen at the sight of Spiderman fighting a large looking man with a weapon you've never seen before. He had pale skin, and odd symbols tattooed onto his skin. He chuckled, firing a strange substance from his weapon, aiming at Spiderman.

"I've been wanting to fight you for a while now, kid." The villain said lowly, watching Spiderman's every move. His eyes were like daggers, and his grin had nothing but pure insanity behind it.

"Really? Cause I've never heard of you buddy." Spiderman said, swinging from wall to wall, grabbing objects and throwing them at the man. He shot them all down with his weapon, "Must be a fan, huh?"

"You have some nerve defeating King Pin like that. I'm just here to pay him a favor." He picked up a large piece of broken wall, and chucked it at the hero. Spiderman moved out of the way and shrugged casually, "I was just doin' my job. Someone's gotta protect the people of Brooklyn."

His voice sounded familiar. Almost like you've heard it before. You were surprised the two men haven't notice you, after all, you're standing in the open. You watched in awe as the hero and the villain fought. You've only ever seen this in movies and comics. But you never expected to see Spiderman this up close before.

Your mind went blank when you realized the man looked over at you. Complete and utter fear took over, and you froze, unable to move a single muscle.

"What have we got here?" Sweat started to drip down your back, despite the cold. The look of his piercing eyes paralyzed you, like a deer caught in headlights.

"Looks like someone wanted to join the party." He aimed his weapon towards you and the next second an unknown substance surrounded your form. Your body felt tight and numb, you could barely breathe. Sharp stabs of pain shot all throughout your body and you screamed. The pain was nothing like you felt before. You were going to die if you didn’t escape.

Your mind became blurry, spots of black filled your vision. You were slipping in and out of consciousness.

You looked over to Spiderman, and he was yelling out your name. Confusion laced your heart, and pain was all you could feel. How did he know your name?

Then his mask was off, and then you saw it.

Miles.

You were in Spiderman's arms when you opened your eyes, he was flying. You were flying. And another second you were on the ground in another dimly lit alleyway, the only thing lighting it up was the apartments above.

"y/n??" Your mind became clear, and you met with the eyes of Miles Morales. You felt his hands grip onto your shoulders tightly, "Are you okay?" Your eyes widened in shock, the sudden realization that Spiderman was in fact, Miles this whole time made you shiver in his presence.

You pushed him away with widened eyes, "M-Miles? You're Spiderman!?" Miles' eyes narrowed into a glare with anger in his eyes. His brows lowered and his lips turned into a scowl, "Why the hell did you follow me y/n!? You could have DIED!"

"Why would you care if I died huh?!" You yelled back, your hands clenched into fists.

"Because I do! You're my friend y/n-"

"Bullshit! You don't give a fuck about me!" You spat, your eyes became blurry as you screamed, "You never did! So stop wasting your meaningless words on me!" Miles' eyes widened, his fake glare vanishing into a look of hurt.

But you didn't stop. You were going to make him feel the pain you've been feeling for months.

"I knew you didn’t like me the moment we made eye contact! I knew you have been using me! What am I to you, huh? Just a tool? A toy!? A little friend you can use when you're bored, than toss aside when you're done!?" Tears rolled down your face. Your heart began to ache, begging for you to stop.

Pain and sadness swirled within his beautiful brown orbs, and it hurt you. You were hurting him.

"You're an idiot! I hate you Miles! I-mmph!"

Miles slammed his lips against yours, in a needy, greedy kiss. His soft lips molded perfectly with yours, and you made no attempts to pull away. Your hands traveled up his face and into his fluffy hair. His hand cupped your cheek while the other griped your waist, pulling you closer to him. His body was hot against yours, your chest was pressed against his and his hands was sweet and gentle to the touch.

You knew you wanted this. You've wanted to kiss his lips, and to feel him for so long. Is this real?

You pulled away when your lungs threatened for air. Yup, this is real alright. Miles pressed his forehead against yours, his hot breath against your face as he smiled sweetly at you. The look of pure love and warmth replaced the sad, hurt in his eyes.

Guilt suddenly overcame you, and you looked away, ashamed that you had said such horrible things to someone you cared deeply for.

"I'm sorry." You said honestly, sorrow and regret filling your heart. Miles lifted your chin so you could meet his eyes, "Don't be. I deserved it. All of it. I was being a dick and I shouldn't have." He frowned.

"But why? Did I do something?" You asked, begging to know why he acted so distant and cold to you.

"I-" He stopped himself and looked away, "No, it wasn't you. Of course it wasn't you. It was me. I avoided you because…" He sighed and looked back at you with a look of shame and embarrassment, "I started to grow feelings towards you y/n. But I was scared. I was scared that if you dated a hero, you'd be put in a lot more danger." Tears started to form in his eyes, "Like t-today…you got so hurt." He looked at the cut in your forehead, gently caressing it with his finger.

"But it wasn't your fault Miles. It was mine. I decided to follow you. I decided to take the risk, not you." You said, wiping away his tears with your thumbs. You held his face in your hands, but despite the freezing cold of winter in Brooklyn, his cheeks were warm.

He shook his head, "You still got hurt because of me. I…" You leaned in to kiss him, but he gently pressed his hands against your chest and pushed you away, "I can't." He said, his voice cracked, it sounded so broken.

"I can't be with you." He said. Hurt, once again, was all you could feel. Your heart throbbed in pain, you gave him a look of pure disbelieve, "What?" Shock layered your voice.

You took a step towards him, "Yes you can Miles. We can be together. You said you had feelings for me…I don't understand." He didn’t look you in the eyes. More tears fell down his face, a shaky breath escaped his soft lips before he spoke,

"Heroes can't fall in love y/n. I can't be distracted with love when I have a whole city to protect."

"Who ever said heroes can't fall in love? Miles, Peter had Mary Jane-"

"And where's Peter?" Miles interrupted, his voice suddenly went dark. You went silent, your eyes widened with your mouth slightly agape.

Miles sighed, "That's what I thought." He turned to leave, but you wrapped your arms around his torso and hugged him from behind. You buried your face into his back, tears falling like waterfalls from your eyes.

"Please Miles! Don't do this. I know you want me! You know I want you too." You sobbed, hugging him close to you.

You felt Miles' body become stiff, then you heard him quietly gasp, like he was trying so desperately to hold back his tears from falling anymore.

"I lost my uncle. I can't lose you too," His voice was hoarse, like a cry from the brokenhearted just yearning to heal.

"Heroes can't fall in love." He repeats. Your body shakes with sadness and frustration, "You're wrong! Who told you that Miles? Who's keeping you from being mine!?" You cried into his Spiderman suit, not intending to let go anytime soon.

Silence filled the air, and the only thing you could hear was Miles' quiet sobs. It hurt you beyond what words can explain. You loved Miles. You knew you loved him.

"When the other Spider heroes from the other dimensions came into this universe, I had a one on one conversation with Noir…"

~Mini flashback~

"Ey kid," Noir greeted Miles with a small punch to the shoulder, "What'cha doin'?" The teen looked over to him with a small smile, "Hey Noir. Nothing much, just thinking."

"Thinking about what son?" Noir sat down beside Miles on the edge of a building, looking over the yellow sunset. Miles paused before quietly mumbling, "someone…"

Noir chuckled, shaking Miles by his shoulder, "Who?" Miles could hear the smug smirk on Noir's lips, his face began to heat up.

"What's their name?" Noir asked lightly, removing his hand from the boy's shoulder and leaned back, watching a bird fly past them.

"y/n."

Noir looked over to his young male counterpart. He could see the look on the young boy's face when he thought about the person he loved.

The older, wiser man sighed, placing his hand on Miles' shoulder again. Morales turned to look at Noir, a look of curiosity in his eyes.

"What do you feel about them?" Miles' was taken aback by the sudden question. He switched his gaze from his friend to his hands, "Well…they’re beautiful. They’re kind, and funny, and they’re always there for me when I need them the most. They help me when I'm struggling, and they never fail to make me smile."

“I love it when they ramble about what they wanna do in the future. How they wanna travel the world, how they wanna see the wonders of this planet. How they want to fall in love and start a family...” Miles had a look of adoration in his eyes, his lips turned upwards into a happy smile.

Noir waited for what Miles' was going to say next. He knew. He knew the exact words that were going to slip past his lips.

"I think…I think I love them." Miles said hesitantly. But Noir knew he meant it. The poor boy was helplessly in love.

"Don't be demented Miles, you're a hero. Heroes can't fall in love."

That was his harsh reality. And the look of pure confusion and heartbreak in Miles' eyes said it all.

He's helpless.

~End of flashback~

You stood in front of Miles', your eyes burning from the amount of tears that escaped your lids. Miles' was crying, and the things he was saying was incoherent. You held him in your arms, letting his tears soak your shirt.

"Noir gave you the wrong advice Miles.” You said, gently grabbing his face so he could look into your eyes, "You worry too much about what could happen, but you're not focusing on what you want to happen. I won't get hurt, and I won't die. Not if you're here to protect me." You said softly, kissing his tears away.

Miles' stuttered, "H-how do I know that? How do I know you won't get hurt because of me?" He wept. You gave him a warm smile, rubbing his back with one hand and stroking his cheek with the other, "You're gonna need to trust me Miles'. Peter died for the sake of Brooklyn, he died for his wife. He loved her, and he still does." You pressed your forehead against his, closing your eyes.

"And now you're here, taking his place. You can't let danger come in-between our love Miles. We're too strong for that." You brushed your lips against his, slowly bringing him into another warm passionate kiss.

"I love you y/n." Miles grinned, pressing kisses along your jawline,

You giggled, "I love you too Miles."

[gb-fics]

Peshimizumu

Fanfiction:

Kiryuuin Shou x Kyan Yutaka (Golden Bomber)

Note: Not surprisingly, this fic is for the song “Peshimizumu” XD I wrote a lot of gloomy, brooding Shou lately, so now you get a happy, fluffy one.

„Then …“, Shou said and raised his index finger into the air as if asking for attention. He had long, slender fingers that did not match with the rest of his short, stocky body. The contrast made his hands look even sexier somehow.

“I leaned out of the window and waved back”, Shou added and paused, seemingly for dramatic effect.

He stared at Yutaka in an obviously tipsy fashion. Yutaka did not mind. He was tipsy himself.

Shou spread his arms widely in a grant gesture.

Luckily, they were sitting in a separated section, where he couldn’t hit anyone by accident. Large gatherings were still prohibited, but this bar close to Yutaka’s apartment had come up with a nice solution. Yutaka found himself enjoying the privacy of their own booth more than sharing a large room with strangers.

“And that”, Shou concluded. “Was the most social interaction I had for an entire week.”

Yutaka burst out laughing.

Shou broke into a wide smile that looked happy and proud, as if he was glad that his story had made Yutaka laugh. His mouth looked big and wide when he smiled like that. The gaps between his teeth were such a natural part of his smile after all those years, that Yutaka hardly noticed them. He just noticed that Shou looked adorable when he smiled like this.

“So, you are telling me, the most social interaction you had for an entire week”, Yutaka repeated, still trying to catch his breath. “Was waving at a … dog?!”

Shou burst into a full laugh now as well. He was very pale, but red dots were showing on his cheeks. He wasn’t blushing where most people blushed, but rather close to his nose. It looked very cute. Yutaka thought that it was cute, that Shou laughed at his own story, if you told it back at him, too.

“I waved back!”, he clarified. “The dog raised its pawn and it was really fucking adorable.”

Still grinning Shou shook his head and took up his glass again. He drank in large gulps.

Yutaka had always noticed that Shou had a very manly way of drinking. He couldn’t explain it any better. Shou took large, soundly gulps, holding on to the glass as if it was a stone, he wanted to use to bash someone’s head in. Usually, his way of drinking would not have sparked Yutaka’s interest at all. But it did not match up with Shou’s hunched over way of sitting and the awkward way he moved as if not knowing where to leave his arms and his way of touching things, which was normally quite gentle. Shou drank like a man much more confident than himself.

Shou sat his glass back down soundly.

“Those were some dark weeks”, he said.

Shou could be pretty closed off and quiet and at those times, it was impossible to figure out what he was thinking at all. Alcohol did not change that. If Shou was in a bad mood, he was unable to hide it. The alcohol only caused him to turn more obviously sulky.

But if Shou was happy, it was nearly impossible to shut him up. He would babble on for hours and he would be all smiles and embarrassed laughter and his cheeks would flush and there wasn’t a thing Yutaka wouldn’t do to protect him when he was like that.

Tonight, Shou was clearly a happy drunk.

“I was so fed up with the inside of my own apartment, I’m happy to go out again”, Shou said. “Into the sun! I usually hate the sun! It’s so hot in the sun and I always get sunburned. But dude, I missed the sun. I also missed people!”

Shou paused again and leaned in, holding Yutaka’s gaze conspiratorial for a moment. Without colour contacts, Shou’s eyes were small and incredible dark. Yutaka could not make out his pupil from where he was sitting. Shou’s eyes looked black, but not in a menacing way. The black always looked warm, even on the days when he was sulking.

“And you know how I usually feel about people”, Shou added.

Yutaka burst out laughing again. That was another thing he liked about happy Shou – he was good humoured and very charming.

“I would have thought the lockdown was just the right thing for you. You don’t like going out to spend money or to socialize with people anyway”, Yutaka observed.

Shou leaned back again and snorted quietly.

“Right?”, he asked. “I’m such a negative person. I don’t like anything on the outside. But if I have to stay inside, I don’t like that either. I guess it’s just my personality.”

Yutaka chuckled, but brushed it off with a movement of his arm.

“Not at all”, he protested. “You are the most positive person I know. Look at you. Even if you hate those things, you manage to get all excited about them. Like sunlight. Only a very positive person would get excited about finally getting a sunburn again.”

Shou laughed quietly. His laughter was beautiful, when he didn’t hide his smile. It made his lips look gorgeous. Yutaka was happy that Shou had agreed to go out with him tonight.

“It’s not like that at all”, Shou said and pulled a plate of grilled pork towards himself. They had ordered a variety of snacks with their drinks, but most of them were gone by now. Shou eyed the meat curiously, but did not pick up his chopsticks.

“I’m all gloomy. Did you even listen to one of my songs before?”

Yutaka snorted.

“Yes, and that’s what I mean”, he insisted. He wondered, if Shou could really not see it. To Yutaka, Shou was nothing but a ball of joy and positive energy. “You write about all those painful emotions of yours. But you do it in a funny way. You allow people to laugh at you and to relate to you. So many people find solace in your songs. Because when you feel sad, you don’t just give in to it. You are productive and funny and kind. Also, stop staring at that meat already and just eat it.”

Shou turned his head and looked at Yutaka quietly. For a moment, Yutaka wondered, if he had given himself away. If he had spoken a little too enthusiastically about Shou’s good qualities and let on how strongly he cared for him.

But then Shou threw back his head and burst out laughing, as if the last words had just needed a moment longer to get through to him. He didn’t seem to laugh, because Yutaka had said something especially funny, but just because he was drunk and happy. Yutaka found himself smiling widely for no specific reason, either. He just smiled, because Shou was drunk and happy, too.

“I shouldn’t be eating more”, Shou said. “I will grow fat and no one will love me. See, that’s the kind of person I am. Always with those negative thoughts.”

“You seem happy alright tonight”, Yutaka observed.

Shou grinned. He did look a little embarrassed now.

“That proves how desperate I am”, he said. “Craving human interaction so much, I’m even happy to spend time with an idiot like you.”

Shou picked up his chopsticks.

Yutaka watched him for a moment, as he picked up a piece of grilled pork. He did it in an unnecessarily complicated way, as if he needed to inspect the meat throughout from different angles before eating it.

He wondered if Shou was right and the lack of human interaction during the last weeks showed. Yutaka felt Shou’s presence too strongly tonight. He seemed overly aware of his body next to himself. The air all around seemed to grow hotter when Shou leaned in and Yutaka had to follow the movement of his hands while he spoke and he had to stare at Shou’s lips when they formed a smile. Yutaka wanted to get closer to him in a very vague, undefined way. He just thought it would be nice to hold Shou’s body and sense him close. He had missed him a lot.

Only after staring at him for a good while, did Yutaka realize what Shou was doing.

“Oi, what happened to growing fat and lonely?!”, he inquired sternly.

Shou shrugged awkwardly, staring at his chopsticks in great concentration.

“I’ll just work out tomorrow. It won’t show for sure.”

Shou shoved the meat into his mouth. It was a pretty big piece and he opened his eyes widely while chewing. He looked overjoyed while eating.

Amused Yutaka shook his head.

“See”, he said. “You will be hungover tomorrow for sure. It’s very optimistic of you to think you are going to work out. But still, you are willing to stay hopeful. You have a very optimistic personality.”

Shou swallowed soundly.

“No, I don’t!”, he protested as if Yutaka had offended him. “I’m very pessi … pessi …”

He paused and then stared at Yutaka with an empty expression. Yutaka tried not to laugh, because he looked too adorable, trying to drunkenly recall a word that had more than three syllables.

“What’s the word again? Pessimi … pessimizumu? Is that what you call it?”

He made a confused face, that created wrinkles at the root of his nose.

Yutaka thought that he would really love to kiss Shou right now. Not seeing him for so long had made him forget how soft and full Shou’s lips were. They looked very kissable.

Yutaka licked his own lips, trying to buy time to remember what their conversation had been about.

“No, that’s not the term”, he said. “But that makes sense, since you are not pessimistic at all. You try again and again, because you are so full of hope.”

“No”, Shou said and put on an adorable pout. “It’s not optimistic to do something again and again, although you know you will fail. It’s stupid and pathetic.”

“It’s strength”, Yutaka said.

In his opinion, Shou was the strongest man, he had ever met. Yutaka himself was often too scared to try. Or he gave up easily. He had given up on bass and he had more or less given up on guitar. He didn’t have Shou’s optimism that one day he would get better. One throwback and Yutaka gave up. Shou probably did not like men and Yutaka would never kiss him, because he wasn’t brave enough to hope that maybe he did.

“No, it’s sad. Let me tell you about how I fall into the trap of hope again and again … with women.” Shou paused again and raised his hands. He surely turned dramatic when he drank. “Or should I call them … demons?!”

Yutaka tried to wince, but had to laugh anyway.

“Please, not the ex-girlfriend stories!”, he inquired. It was pretty much Shou’s favourite topic when he drank.

“Let me tell you about my ex-girlfriends”, Shou carried on, as if Yutaka hadn’t said anything at all.

Yutaka looked at him affectionately. Although the hairdressers were open again, Shou hadn’t went out to have his hair fixed yet. Dark roots were showing visibly and at the tips, his blonde hair looked dry and frayed. With the light blonde hair and his pale skin, Shou resembled a ghost. Without contouring his face looked slimmer.

“Here are some facts. My average relationship so far has lasted for about one month. All of my exes have dumped me. Since my thirty’s birthday, I have been dumped eight times, out of which three women just ghosted me.”

Shou shook his head slowly.

“My heart has been torn out of my chest, stomped upon and eaten while it was still beating.”

Yutaka burst into snorting laughter.

“You are exaggerating, Shou”, he pointed out.

“Every single woman has made it very clear, that they did not want to be with an ugly and brooding person such as myself.” Shou sighed heavily. “I’ve been hurt so often, that I started to believe that I deserved it, because no one could possibly want to date me.”

The last sentence he had spoken more quietly, staring at his glass thoughtfully. Yutaka could tell that the alcohol was about to make him drift off into melancholy. It often happened to Shou, once he brought up his exes.

Yutaka watched him from the side for a moment. Shou’s nose was very cute, looking small in his large face.

Sometimes, Yutaka wished he had realized how he felt about Shou, before all of this had happened to him. Tonight, Shou had seemed so happy, but Yutaka knew, that there was another side to him, too. A side that was sad and always too hard on himself and never pleased with his looks and his personality. Yutaka thought, that if he had been the first one to love Shou, he would have gotten it right. He wouldn’t have hurt him like those women had, and maybe Shou would be happy a little more often nowadays and sad a little less. Yutaka wished he could erase those past experiences from Shou’s memory. Not because he was jealous of those women, but because he felt like he would have done better than them.

But it was too late and the Shou sitting next to him now was already damaged and he already wore his scars. But then, Yutaka liked the brooding parts of Shou’s personality as well. He liked how they never got the better of Shou, but made it into songs instead and how his experiences had made him warm and gentle with others. He loved Shou for the person he was today and there was nothing to be done about any of it.

“It’s not like all of those relationships ended soon”, Yutaka scolded Shou, to get him out of his self-pity. “You make it sound like no one stayed with you longer than a month! That’s not true.”

Shou sucked on his lower lip for a moment. Yutaka wondered if he was even aware of doing so.

“True. But my personal record is about five months. Five months is as close as I ever got to my happily ever after.” Shou sighed again.

Yutaka furrowed his brow sternly.

“I guess I’m hard to be around for too long”, Shou added quietly.

“Oi!”, Yutaka interrupted him. “I’ve been hanging out with you for twenty years now. If I put up with you for so long, it should prove it’s possible.”

Shou chuckled.

“It’s doesn’t count”, he said.

Yutaka wanted to ask, why it didn’t count, but then he was scared that Shou would point out that Yutaka was nothing but a friend. Hearing that would hurt. It was better to not risk it.

“The problem seems to be with the women”, Yutaka observed and then decided, that it was worth a try. The alcohol made him braver than usual and it was nothing but a joke anyway. “Maybe you should try men instead.”

Shou turned his head slightly and cast Yutaka a sly look out of the corner of his eyes. The red dots on his cheeks were clearly visible again, but Yutaka couldn’t tell if it was because of his words, or if it was just caused by the alcohol.

“Actually”, Shou said and grinned without directly looking at Yutaka. His smile was a weird mixture of cheeky, proud and embarrassed. “I dated a guy once.”

Yutaka’s stomach jolted.

He told himself to stay calm. Surely, Shou just meant like in a high school phase kind of way. Yutaka shouldn’t get his hopes up.

“When?”, Yutaka asked, angry at himself because his voice sounded so flat with anticipation. “In middle school or what?”

Shou made an awkward hand movement and laughed. He was clearly blushing now.

“No, not that long ago. About three years ago, I think.”

Yutaka stared at him in confusion. He wondered why Shou had never mentioned it before, but then Yutaka had never told him about his own preferences either.

And probably, it had just been one or two dates for a try-out anyway. Shou had probably been curious. He was a curious, open-minded person, even if he claimed otherwise.

“What happened?”, Yutaka asked.

Shou turned more serious and shrugged, now looking at Yutaka again. He did no longer seem embarrassed. Yutaka was surprised about how much he seemed to be at terms with himself about this.

“Six weeks and he figured that the problem was me, not him”, Shou stated dryly.

Yutaka couldn’t help laughing. Shou had a way of mocking himself that made it nearly impossible not to laugh at him and almost impossible not to relate to him, too.

“Sounds like he was a douchebag”, Yutaka concluded. “So, the problem is not women. You just have shit taste.”

Shou laughed out loud. He looked so beautiful, that Yutaka wanted to kiss him again. For a brief second, he wondered if he was allowed to do so. Six weeks was a surprisingly long time. Shou had surely kissed that guy as well.

“Honestly”, Shou said and lowered his voice, leaning forward. Yutaka grew hot again, because he got so close. “The sex was amazing, though.”

Yutaka stared at him wide-eyed. Somehow, he had not expected that.

“Really?”, he assured incredulous.

Shou nodded hectically. He was still leaning in, with that hunched over posture of his.

“Yeah, I was a little hesitant about it, because you know. I thought it would feel uncomfortable or something. But then I thought – what if it feels really good instead and I’m missing out on that? So, I tried. And boy, did it feel good.”

Yutaka stared right into Shou’s dark eyes.

“So, you let him fuck you?”, he assured bluntly.

Shou laughed. He had the habit of not always tilting back his head when he laughed, but rather bending forward and pulling up his shoulders. It made him look giddy, when he laughed.

“Yeah, and that’s the only thing I do not regret about that relationship.”

Yutaka chuckled. He couldn’t quite believe that Shou had just went out there and had had sex with another man.

“See”, he said. “Always optimistic. Even with gay sex, you were more hopeful than you were scared.”

Shou smirked and turned his head.

He looked lost in thought now, but not directly unhappy.

“But it’s not a very positive attitude, is it? To date someone with the constant feeling that it will fail anyway, I mean. I’ve always felt like I was just waiting for the relationship to end. Everyone could sense that. That’s why my partners never stay long. Dating me always feels like an interim situation, I guess.”

“You are giving too much credit to yourself”, Yutaka said. “I’m sure the girls who ghosted you after the first date, just didn’t like you.”

Shou burst out laughing and turned his head towards Yutaka again. His lips looked so wide and full and his smile was so beautiful and his eyes seemed even warmer when he laughed.

Yutaka leaned in and kissed him.

He hadn’t thought it through at all and wasn’t sure which reaction he had expected from Shou. But Shou did not flinch and did not pull back. He just held very still and his lips felt soft.

Yutaka pulled back again, eyeing Shou closely.

Shou broke into a smile again, that looked nervous and happy. He looked very flushed now, too. His reaction was precious somehow.

Still smiling, as if he just couldn’t help it, Shou turned away again and took up his glass.

“I really miss our fans, you know”, he said, completely out of context and emptied his glass with a few, loud gulps.

Yutaka stared at Shou’s lips, that he had kissed only now. He couldn’t help smiling, either.

“We can still stay in touch”, Yutaka pointed out. “Through social media and all. They’ve been very encouraging.”

Shou exhaled soundly.

“I miss seeing their faces, though. I miss seeing that they are having a good time at our shows. How am I supposed to tell how they feel, if it’s just a text message?”

Yutaka shook his head. He wondered, if he should put his hand onto Shou’s back to comfort him. He wondered, if he was allowed to kiss Shou again.

Somehow, the interruption did not feel weird, though. It made the kiss feel casual in the best kind of way. Like Yutaka hadn’t done something big and scandalizing and like it wouldn’t change the way they talked to each other in the future and like maybe he might kiss Shou again without ruining their friendship forever.

“Their wellbeing is not your duty alone”, Yutaka reminded him. “You need to take care of yourself first of all.”

“Aah”, Shou said and turned his head, making a face where he squinted only one of his eyes shut. It caused his face to wrinkle up weirdly. “Sounds like something an irresponsible douchebag would say.”

“Douchebags, what was it about douchebags again?”, Yutaka asked and tilted his head. “Oh, right. Aren’t those your type?”

Shou snorted and pulled up his shoulders a little. He looked like he was trying to curl up in himself and Yutaka wondered, if he was acting defensive.

“I thought of doing a conference call”, Shou said. “Doesn’t the screen split into little honeycombs or something, if there are a lot of people on the call? I think I read something like that.”

He looked at Yutaka as if he was really expecting an answer.

“How would I know?!”, Yutaka huffed.

He wondered why Shou was talking about honeycombs instead of flirting with him. He didn’t seem desperate to change the topic, though. He just seemed nervous.

“Well, but then I thought many fans would not feel comfortable showing their face, right?”, Shou carried on. “They would just use pictures probably. And they would be too small anyway, I guess. It wouldn’t work with so many people.”

“Why wouldn’t they show their faces?”, Yutaka asked confused.

Shou shrugged.

“Embarrassment? Privacy?”

“They wouldn’t have to feel embarrassed in front of you. Just do it without makeup and you’ll be the weirdest looking guy on the call automatically!”

“Oi!”, Shou huffed, then he turned his head. He was hunching over so much, he had to look up to Yutaka. “That kiss just now …”, he started.

Yutaka’s mouth went dry all of a sudden. Shou had changed the topic again quite abruptly.

“Yeah?”, he asked warily.

“Would you care to do that again?”, Shou asked shyly.

He was smiling kind of helplessly again. When Shou smiled like that, Yutaka cared for nothing else but kissing him.

He looked around to assure no one was able to watch them in their private booth. A waiter might walk in on them, but chances for that weren’t really high.

Yutaka nodded shortly, then he leaned in and kissed Shou once more. This time, Shou reached up with one hand and placed it against Yutaka’s neck. He was kissing him back now. Shou’s kiss felt hesitant rather than demanding, but he was parting his lips and his mouth was warm and soft. Their kiss lasted longer this time.

Finally, Shou pulled back his hand and Yutaka took the hint and broke the kiss, leaning back.

Shou was beaming and his cheeks looked very red. Yutaka hadn’t believed Shou could get any cuter than when he was happy. But when he was happy and embarrassed, he was completely adorable.

For a moment, Yutaka had to fight the urge to just wrestle him down on the padded bench they were sitting on. The ironic part was that he did not want to do anything sexual to Shou right now. He just wanted to climb on top of him and wrap his arms around him and he wanted to kiss him. He wanted to kiss him on the lips and on the nose and on his forehead and on his neck and his arms and hands and shoulders and he wanted Shou to giggle and always look this happy and adorable. He wanted to hold Shou and make him forget about all the people who had hurt him before and feel him close and let him know just what Yutaka saw when he looked at him. He wanted to make Shou feel like he was the most precious man in the world.

Shou turned towards the table and pushed his forefinger against his empty glass. Yutaka noticed again how beautiful Shou’s hands looked.

“You want to order another round?”, Yutaka suggested.

Shou shook his head.

“You can have my drink, if you are thirsty”, Yutaka offered.

Shou looked over at Yutaka’s glass hesitantly for a second, then he made a face.

“No thanks”, he said, but it was pretty obvious that what he really meant was that in his opinion Yutaka’s choice of drink tasted disgusting.

Yutaka smirked.

“You are my type”, Shou suddenly said. “But I’m done with dating.”

“Really?”, Yutaka asked mockingly.

He took hold of Shou’s hand resting on the table plate. Shou did not pull back. His skin felt dry and a little cold. His hands were slim and strong and bony.

“Really”, Shou confirmed and looked right at Yutaka. His expression was serious. His dark eyes looked sad. “I’m done with love. No more relationships, no more hook-ups, no more anything for me. I’m tired of getting disappointed. I’m pessimistic. I know it won’t work out this time, either.”

Yutaka used his thumb to stroke the back of Shou’s hand. He knew, why Shou was not pulling back from the touch. Because no matter what he said – deep down, Shou was the most hopeful person Yutaka had ever met.

“Okay”, Yutaka said quietly and gave Shou’s hand a little squeeze. “Now, want to go back to my place and have sex?”

Shou’s whole face lit up. His eyes became even smaller, his mouth turned wide and big and his gorgeous teeth were showing.

Because no matter how many times he got disappointed and hurt, he never gave up. Shou was dumb and brave enough to always take the risk again, hoping that maybe – this time – it might work.

“Yes”, Shou said.

And Yutaka thought, that he really sounded quite optimistic about it.

[shreyamistry]

XXV. Best Friends

Kaitlyn x MC

Summary: Celeste needs help with her fanfiction, Vasquez told her to channel her creative energies further than her internship and she decides fanfiction is her best bet. However, she’s having trouble putting into words how Val and Kenna should confess their love, luckily Kaitlyn is around to help (and tease her).

A/N: Check out my masterlist here! See my specific Choices September Creates masterlist here! Requests are open, find my rules here! Only accepting Halloween prompts currently. Thanks for understanding! Happy Spoopy Spooks y’all!

Tagging: @kennaxval (i think you might like this fic!)

Thanks for reading! Hope you like it!

Kaitlyn holds the book version of The Crown and The Flame in her hands, holding it above her head as she scans over the words. Her mind barely registering the contents of the book as she yawns loudly her eyes squeezing shut with a happy sigh. Sadly, her relaxation is quickly ended at the sound of her door opening and closing and the feeling of a person sinking into the spot beside her.

“I’m sleeping.” She whispers, half opening her eye to see Celeste staring down at her with a soft smile. “Well, maybe not anymore now that it’s you.” Kaitlyn smiles, letting her eyes fall closed again, shifting as the book on her chest falls off.

“Why are you reading this? I thought you weren’t a reader?” Celeste asks, picking up the book as she flips through a handful of pages her eyes following the shifting pages before stopping on a page. “Kenna, I’m Dom and I love you, but you love Val! However, will I go on?”

“That’s not actually written is it?” Kaitlyn asks, arching an eyebrow at her.

“No, this seems to be the page where Whitlock cries.” Celeste laughs, closing the book before setting it onto Kaitlyn’s stomach, resting her hand on the opposite side of Kaitlyn’s body half leaning over her as she looks down. Her hair cascading down her shoulders onto Kaitlyn. “I came to ask for a favor.”

“You always come crawling back to me, huh?” Kaitlyn smirks, “Whatever can I do for you, Lady Celeste?”

“Have I told you I hated you lately? Because that’s how I’m feeling.” Celeste smiles as she moves away from Kaitlyn, laying down on her back with her feet hanging off the bed. She pulls Kaitlyn’s duvet around her body holding onto the fleece material as she burritos herself into it.

“I’m too perfect to hate.” Kaitlyn giggles rolling over to face Celeste. “What do you need help with?”

Celeste shimmies her phone out of her pocket quickly unlocking her device, pulling up her writing page. Her eyes skim a few lines before coming to her last place as she looks back at Kaitlyn nervously and back at her phone before taking a fortifying breath. “So, I may have told you I was writing The Crown and The Flame fanfic in my spare time, right?”

“No, but now that I know I’m telling Abbie immediately.” Kaitlyn teases moving so she can see over Celeste’s shoulder, looking at the words on the screen. Before glancing back towards Celeste her face extremely close to her own, her cheeks flushing red before quickly diverting her attention away from the closeness between them. “So, Val’s in love with Kenna?”

“And Kenna is in love with Val.” Celeste nods, “I’m having trouble putting their feelings into form. Does that make sense? I know how to write Kenna, I can relate to her, but I don’t know how to write Val’s.” She frowns softly, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. “If Vasquez didn’t tell me to channel my creative energies past his book, I wouldn’t even be doing this, it’s stupid.”

“It’s not stupid Celeste.” Kaitlyn nods, moving to brush a hand through her hair curling up beside her. “You clearly enjoy this, what chapter is this? That says 43? How long have you been writing this?”

“I don’t know, a week...or two?” Celeste blushes.

“You’ve managed to go 43 chapters without them getting together!?” Kaitlyn’s mouth falling open in surprise taking the phone from Celeste’s hand, scrolling back up to the top of the document. Her eyes running back and forth as she reads over the beginning of the work. Smiling to herself as she reads through the written words, a chuckle leaving her lips as she gets to the part leading to Val and Kenna’s confessions of love.

“It’s terrible? You’re making that face because it’s terrible?” Celeste frowns reaching for her phone. “Sorry, I made you read this terrible chapter, I should have-”

“Celeste it was beautiful.” Kaitlyn grins, “Dude look how amazingly talented you are? I don’t use this word often, but my parents would say it’s left me gobsmacked.” She grins leaning further against Celeste, getting a laugh from the shorter girl as she closes her phone turning to reach Kaitlyn’s gaze.

“So what should Val say next?”

Kaitlyn studies Celeste’s face, the soft smile present on her lips as she thinks over the words for a few moments in her head. Kaitlyn’s mind racing thinking back to the fic she just read, the feelings and emotions she put behind her characters felt so real? Hell reading it reminded her so much of the way she writes about… her. She swallows harshly her throat feeling like it might collapse as her heart beats faster in her chest.

“Val should say…” Kaitlyn pauses again, “Kenna I know you care about me, in the same way, I care about you. You’re beautiful, intelligent, and a leader, everything I sometimes wish I could be in my own cool badass way.”

Celeste laughs, moving to take Kaitlyn’s hands in her own. “Val I care immensely about you. Your courage amazes me and your heart alone is enough to make me fall further in love with you. Your badass side is just a plus.”

“Damn straight. Kiss me, Kenna.” Kaitlyn whispers, her hands shaking softly in Celeste’s grasp before they’re both leaning in to meet in a gentle kiss, her lips lingering against Celeste’s as she drops her hand moving it to rest in Celeste’s hair pulling her deeper into the kiss. Celeste’s hand easily cupping her best friend’s cheeks, letting herself fall into the kiss. All too soon Celeste pulls away a blush spreading across her cheeks.

“Thanks, Kaitlyn.” She smiles, tucking some hair behind her ear. “This helped.”

“Yeah, no problem. I’m a genius writer.” Kaitlyn answers quickly, suddenly feeling self-conscious as she sits up in the bed stretching her arms above her head with a satisfying pop as she pushes her hands together.

“Yeah… the fic.” Celeste nods, untangling herself from Kaitlyn’s blankets. “Well, I should go, talk to you later?” Kaitlyn simply nods, as Celeste retreats out of her room. Kaitlyn watches the corner of her lips turn down in a frown glancing back at Kaitlyn before shaking her head closing the door behind her. Kaitlyn pulls her blanket around herself pressing a finger to her lip, holy shit I am so gay.

[milleniumhan]

Never coming home. // Peter Parker Fanfiction. // Part I.

Summary: Enemies to friends to lovers, that is all I have to say.

Pairing: Reader x Peter Parker.

Warnings: It gets more emotional than I expected. I might have cried a little bit while I wrote this. 

A smol-lil note: Hi guys! I haven’t written in sooo long! I’m so happy to finally be feeling inspired again! I thought I would post this before I start working full-time and have less time to write for you :( <3 This is the first part of many, please let me know if you would like to be part of the tag-list! I really hope you like it and please let me know if you do. ABIG thank you to all the people who reblog and give feedback, it helps a ton! More than you know! Alright, I’ll let you be now. <3 -K

Part one: Your ghosts. 

[7:30 am: Sunny borough of Queens, NY.]

You looked out the window to inspect the weather. There were some clouds, but the sky was a particular shade of blue that was noticeable enough to make it feel like Summer was finally invading. Looking up at it almost made you feel...infinite. You took a deep breath which filled every corner of your soul with the fresh, bittersweet scent that the lemon trees surrounding your building emanated, making you smile. It was yet another small reminder that everything was okay.

You had gotten up early for school, for once, making you able to have a real, hearty breakfast. The first one in a long time. You even managed to walk to school, instead of taking the bus, grabbing a cup of coffee at your favorite café on the way.

This, however, was not the case for Mr. Peter Parker.

[8:00 am: In another-not so distant-building in Queens, NY.]

Peter rolled around in his bed, running a sloppy hand through his hair. He stretched his limbs out as far as he could as he gently rubbed the slumber out of his eyes. A yawn or two were in place as well. He sat on the edge of the bed, trying hard to make the sensation of lethargy go away from his body. His bones ached and his muscles burned. Being a part-time vigilante had proven to take a toll on him, even if he had the ability to recover quickly. When he finally started to make sense of what was going on he turned to the alarm clock: Late, again.

“wHAT-OH, COME ON!” He raced out of bed and quickly put on his pants, not taking any mind of the red and blue suit that still covered his body. He rushed to the bathroom and put his hair in place, or at least attempted to. As he brushed his teeth, he examined himself on the mirror out of the corner of his eye and notices a small scratch across his right cheek. A battle wound to remember last night by. “I don’t have time for this, it’ll go away soon anyway” he thought to himself as he spit on the sink and continued to dash through the small apartment.

Peter ran through his usual route without any sign of stopping, he was determined to get to school no matter what.  trying to get to the spot where he usually met with Ned as fast as he could and praying to the god he was still there. Peter felt relieve come out of his body in the form of a desperate exhale when he turned the corner and found his best friend, the guy in the chair, standing there, waiting patiently. Ned turned around at the heavy sound of steps.

“Dude!” he half-shouted

“I know, I know late, I’m sorry Ned.” Peter started, already thinking about a million excuses for his tardiness.

“Dudeee!” Ned said again, this time louder and with wide eyes.

Peter stared back at him, confused as ever.

“Cover yourself up before someone sees you!” the alarm in Ned’s voice growing more and more by the second.

Peter looked down at himself, trying to figure out what he meant. The suit was showing underneath his hoodie. He had forgotten to put on a shirt. “Fuck” he whispered as he zipped the outerwear all the way up, hoping that would work.

“Ned” Peter started as he made his way next to his companion “What the hell would I do without you?”

“You would die, probably” Ned responded, only half-joking.

-

[8:30 am: Midtown School of Science and Technology. Oh boy, high school.]

You waited patiently for MJ on the steps just outside the school. You sighed, unsettled, as you looked around and didn’t see her. She was never late. “I guess there’s always a first time for everything” you reasoned. You waited a little bit longer before looking around once more, this time your eyes stumbled upon Peter’s, both of you turning away as fast as possible. You rolled your eyes at yourself. “Peter-freaking-Parker” you huffed. Just as you exhaled those words, MJ appeared behind you, letting her presence be known by the chuckle she immediately let out.

“What’s the deal with you and Parker?” she said in a nonchalant, almost sneering manner. Her sudden appearance making you jump.

“Hey, MJ. Nice of you to show up.”

MJ rolled her eyes before signaling the entrance. You both started walking into school and to your lockers.

“Don’t try to change the subject. There’s always this unspoken tension between you and Peter and it’s driving me nuts. You are so competitive with each other too, and I know that also annoys everyone in the team, even Flash, and he’s an asshole.” You paused for a second, trying to find a dumb excuse, a way to get out of this by revealing as little information as possible.

“I just don’t like him” you finally blurted out with a small shrug and continued walking over the shiny hallway tiles. MJ gave you a skeptical look to which you replied with another shrug.

“Really? That’s the best you got?” you raised your eyebrows in compliance with your own lie. “Fine. Don’t tell me. I’ll find out eventually”  MJ finished with a wink and an evil smirk before turning around and leaving you standing there, dumbfounded and afraid of what she was up to.  

-

The bell rang: Finally, lunch break. You sighed with relief as you left for the cafeteria, you only had two more classes left and nothing had happened yet. You had been on edge the whole day, especially whenever MJ and Peter would interact, which was pretty much all the time since you all had the same classes. You kept trying to control your raging thoughts, hoping MJ didn’t really mean anything by what she had said earlier.

After waiting in line for your food, you made your way to the same table you always sat at next to MJ. Usually, at this time of day, MJ and you would have lunch in silence as you both read whichever book you were on that week, but not this time. The first thing you noticed was how MJ didn’t have a book by her side. The second, more alarming thing, was that she was seated next to Peter.

“What’s going on?” you said in a stronger tone than you had hoped, glancing towards Peter and then back at MJ.

“Well, as official captain of the decathlon team, I thought we needed to have a bit of a meeting.”

“What, right now?”

“Mm-hm” MJ simply replied, derisive as ever. “We won’t be able to do it after class since they are closing the library early today, so we might as well do it now.”

You stared at her intently, trying to figure out what she was doing. “Well, what about the rest of the team?” you said as you carefully placed down your tray on the table.

“Oh, they are the reason I am here.” Even though MJ sounded serious, the stupid grin on her face told you otherwise. “The team came to me, telling me that they are having a lot of trouble studying with you guys.”

“I-I don’t understand” Peter finally spoke for the first time since you had arrived “What’s that supposed to mean?” You glanced over at MJ, the same question in mind.

“Well, they are a bit concerned with how you treat each other and how it’s been affecting the team, and frankly, I can’t blame them. You are always coming at each other, interrupting lessons just to say something snarky about one another and constantly competing to see who knows the most, which is not what teams are about.” You could tell MJ was really being serious now.

A scoff left both Peter’s mouth and yours as you both crossed your arms and pouted like children being scolded.

“So, what are you saying?” You said, still with your arms crossed.

“Well, the team and I came thought of a way you could make it up to us.” The smirk creeping back to MJ’s face. “You will both get together, study the material and come up with the questions for the next team meeting. The team depends on the questions to perform well on the actual competition, so, no pressure.”

“WHAT? ARE YOU CRAZY?!” Peter couldn’t contain his shock, but before any of you could keep on protesting, MJ got up and left for class as the bell started to ring. You both sat there until it stopped ringing, looking at each other in what seemed to be a mixture of awe and hate.

-

After school you started to head home, still mad at MJ and not being able to grasp the concept of spending time with Peter, more than you already did anyway. You felt a bit foolish, you knew you shouldn’t hate Peter, what happened between you was a long time ago and you didn’t like to hold grudges, but he was clearly mad at you as well and you just couldn’t help it. After a while of swimming in your own thoughts, you decided to turn around and head for Peter’s apartment, maybe you could finally resolve this...plus, you really needed to start studying for decathlon. You walked through the streets of Queens, your feet knowing the way to his place by heart, you used to go there so often before after all. Right before you entered his building, you decided to take a detour to the store next to it and buy him some gummies, take it as a gift of reconciliation if you will. When you finally got to his door, you took a deep breath as you got the courage to knock on the door. Before your knuckles could so much as brush the piece of wood in front of you, you were met with a breathless Peter Parker. You exchanged glances before you looked down and noticed his hoodie was unzipped, revealing the red and blue vigilante suit underneath it. Your eyes opened wide with awe, a gasp leaving your mouth before your mind could even process what you were looking at.

Tag-list babes, PLEASE READ: If you are part of my permanent tag-list, first of all, thank you so much from the bottom of my heart <3, and second of all, please, PLEASE let me know if you only want to be exclusively tagged on ST content/fics. I will be posting from various fandoms, so I really need to know. If you don’t message me/comment/let me know, I will just assume you are okay with me tagging you in other non-ST related things. Thank you very much. <3

@ambeazyyy @ditchthesticks @javapeach @justrunawayoftheshit @missnena2194 @steveharringtonofficial @tobarblog @theroyalbrownbarbie @lilo-1398 @ayatimascd