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shipsgaysfordays · 2 years ago

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Queen

I gave myself the challenge of trying to write all of this week’s prompts, and I even found a spot to fit one of next week’s prompts because I’m an overachiever. It should have (not in this order) piece, forbid, slap, obstacle, queen, bond, soil, and sketch.

This is the fic that I have been making posts about that took me a lot longer than expected. It is based on an idea that I had because of a tiktok.

CW: I do reference sex as a joke at one point, also like Remus having anxieties about the possibility of people not liking him due to his queerness, lycanthropy, and emotional issues.

I may make a sequel to this fic at some point since I got a bit too invested and since it’s mainly just wolfstar pining and miscommunication (my bread and butter) It’s kinda fake dating, but as a joke that mainly drives some miscommunication, jealousy, and emotional issues

As usual prompts from @wolfstarmicrofic

Is this a microfic anymore, that’s debatable.

Remus had been reading in the library, his favorite comfort and passtime, his way of getting away from all the noise of the marauders—just for a little bit. He was just getting to the best part of their book, the fellowship of the ring had finally formed, when Lily interrupted, tapping him on the shoulder. At first he simply tried to ignore her, but she continued manically tapping and tapping and tapping.

“Remus,” she muttered, annoyed, “I need to tell you something.”

“We’re in the library, there’s like 1 rule in here and it’s to be quiet.”

“You and I both know that there’s many more rules because of you and your group of marauders.”

Remus looked up, smiling “innocently”, “I have no idea what you’re talking about, the marauders are an anonymous group of lunatic pranksters, could only imagine what the school would be like if they were caught.”

“Uh-huh, sure. That doesn’t negate that I need to talk to you about something,” she stopped to think for a minute, “alone.”

His face shifted as he listened to the concern in her voice. “Okay, okay, let’s go to the lake,” Remus said as he put his books into a bag and began leading Lily out of the library, the librarian staring bullets at them due to all of their “noise” (they were whispering).

“But it’s raining,” Lily said, tilting her head back, exacerbated.

“Sometimes you have to make a sacrifice if you want to be all alone.”

“If I get a cold I’m blaming you.”

Remus shrugged, they walked down the moving steps, Remus’ eyes kept glancing at the red head next to him, why would she want to talk to him alone? Did she change her mind on werewolves? Or queer people? Or maybe he’s just being too bothersome and depressed and angry and emotional.

His boots stomped into the muddy brown soil, sinking into the dirt just a bit with every step he took, until getting to an area deemed secluded enough. Their eyes met each other, Remus looking at Lily expectantly, “So, what’s this important information I need to hear?”

For a moment Lily was reluctant, eyes looking around the grounds, “I…I don’t know if I should tell you, Sirius said it was a secret, but….well I know how you feel about them.”

“Lily, you can’t just leave me with that, if it’s about Sirius then I need you to tell me, please Lily, put me out of my misery,” Remus tried to say it playfully, dramatically like the person they were discussing, but there was a tinge of sadness to the tone of his voice. A sense of anxiety.

Lily cleared her throat for a second, “Okay, okay,” she looked up at Remus, “Sirius told me that they’re dating James, but that it’s a secret. I didn’t know if you would know already or if you were someone they didn’t want me telling, they forbid me saying—”

Lily continued to rattle on but Remus couldn’t listen anymore, it was a joke, right? But why would Lily ask him to talk with her alone for some stupid prank, and she wouldn’t take it this far, she knows how Remus feels about Sirius, she’s the only person who knows.

It hit Remus like a slap in the face. It was senseless and stupid yet somehow made all the sense in the world. James and Sirius had always had a closer bond between each other in comparison to the rest of the marauders.They always spent more time together, chatting late into the night about who knows what, their energies matched each other the best. Padfoot and Prongs had always seemed to mesh, like soulmates, Remus had always just hoped it was platonic soulmates.

Lily’s hands were waving in front of his face, “Reeeeemusssss, Remus, Reeeeeee-”

Remus put his hand over her mouth, putting on a fake smile, “I’m listening, I’m listening…but seriously, thank you for letting me know Lily.”

After pulling his hand off her face, Lily held it, “I’m sorry about–”

“There’s nothing to be sorry for, my best friend who happens to be my crush is in love with my other best friend who had seemed to have a crush on you, and now they’re dating and hopefully they’re happy and they decided to keep that a secret from me.”

Remus tried to detach himself from the words, from the situation, trying to speak like it was a to-do list and not all the woes he would be worrying over all night. Still his voice broke.

“Let’s get inside,” Lily shivered.

Quick on their feet, Remus and Lily ran, holding hands and hoping they hadn’t caught a cold from being outside in the pouring rain for at least a few minutes.

As Remus performed the cleaning charms he thought about all the times they would have been useful to know at home, so his dad wouldn’t complain about mud tracking into the house. He blinked, looking back at the floor and walking mechanically through the hallways and eventually into the common room. Trying not to think about everything, the moon would be soon, just one more week–that was not a better topic to think on, Remus decided.

Marching past the common room, past James with his messy beautiful hair and his eyebrows shot up in confusion and perfect brown eyes peering at Remus.

Finally in the empty safehaven of their dorm Remus grabbed Sirius’ record player, his favorite Queen album, and began breaking his eardrums by turning the volume to the highest possible level and listening to “I Want To Break Free.”

Saying James was troubled by this behavior as he sauntered into the room would be a massive understatement when describing the mom friend of the marauders. On a normal day Remus would try his best to talk through a small part of his problems that he would let James know about, but today was not that day, Remus was fucking angry.

“Moony…”

“Leave me alone Potter.”

“Surnames, now this has to be important, of consequence, significant, momentous, pressing, other synonyms so I don’t speak of the devil.”

“You can say serious, it’s not like it will summon them,” Remus rolled his eyes.

But of course the universe just needed to prove Remus wrong, that’s what today seemed to be all about, just fucking with Remus. That’s all Remus could think of as those boots, leather jacket, and confident strut came into the room.

Immediately Remus decided that now would be a good time to return to the library and continue his books. Wordlessly and with the blankest face he could manage, he tried to leave the room.

Sirius stepped back, blocking the door, “Where you goin’ Moony?”

“Library,” Remus spit out.

Their hands shot up by their head as they backed away from the door, “Okay, just don’t fry your brain studying, you make it hard for some of us to keep up.”

Remus was already out the door, still he heard as someone (presumably James) turned the music down and Sirius asked, “What the hell’s going on with Moony?”

….

Sirius had been planning on telling James about the prank they played on Evans earlier, when they first heard the Queen music down the hall they were overjoyed that Remus would also get to hear this piece of information, however seeing that Moony basically had a raincloud of emotions over his head, Sirius wondered what could have happened. Has Snivellus been fucking with him again? Is the moon closer than I thought it was? Did I fuck up something again and forget about it? He left right when I came in, is he irritated with me?

Of course after Remus had left, they had to ask, “What the hell’s going on with Moony?”

“No clue,” James responded sitting on his bed, “he seemed fine earlier, if anything pretty happy.”

“Maybe his hip is hurting again?” Sirius sat next to James.

“Maybe,” James pondered, “but that wouldn’t explain him wanting to leave the room right when you got here.”

“I need to talk to him,” Sirius sighed.

“It might be good to give him space for a bit, Moony always needs his alone time.”

“True…” Sirius thought for a bit, until remembering why they were coming up to talk to James in the first place, “Oh! I need to tell you about this absolutely rad prank I played on Evans earlier today.”

James’ eyes widened, “What crimes did you commit this time to ensure I never become friends with Lily?”

“Nothing too sirius, nothing too serious,” they spoke with their hand on their chin, a finger brushing on their devilish grin. “Told Evans that we’re dating and that she needs to stay away from my man.” Sirius looked up innocently.

“Why?!? Merlin why!” James spoke dramatically.

“Thought it was funny,” Sirius shrugged.

“Why have I been cursed with this friendship?”

“No refunds, no take backs, you’re stuck with me Prongs.”

“Funny part is I don’t even have that big of a crush on Lily anymore.”

“Sure…” Sirius rolled their eyes.

“What?!? I don’t!”

Sirius cackled, “Like I’d believe that in a million years.”

“Well I don’t, and now this is just another heart shaped obstacle in the way of us becoming friends…though maybe if she thinks I’m dating someone else then she would be more willing to talk with me…..”

“Think she’d want a thresome.”

James shoved Sirius, “Ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, EWWWWWWWW. Listen to me closely Sirius, NOT. WITH. YOU. NOT IN A MILLION YEARS, YOU ARE LIKE A BROTHER TO ME, JUST, NO.”

“And I already had the wedding invitations written, pre ordered the dress and everything.”

“You could always try to marry Mo-oo-ooony,” James teased.

Sirius shoved James back, “Like he’d ever say yes to…all this.”

“You never know until you ask…though it would be a better idea to ask him on a date before trying to marry him. Doesn’t seem like the one to rush into things, our Moony.”

“Yeah…don’t think I’d want to rush into things either,” Sirius spoke more, for lack of a better term, seriously.

“Do you think Lily told anyone?”

“Lily told anyone what?”

“About the whole us dating prank.”

“I don’t think so, told her it was a secret since you’re not out.”

James tilted his head, “I probably should come out…oh shit!”

“What! What’s going on, have you finally had your first thought after all these years?” Sirius put a hand over their chest, “I’m so proud, little boy’s all grown up.” They ruffled his hair.

James swatted Sirius’ hand a way, “Firstly, just realized that I don’t think I ever told you I’m bi.”

“Well that was pretty obvious given how much you talk about the boys in quidditch.”

James gave an exacerbated sigh, “Anyways, secondly, Lily and Moony are close, right?”

“Yeah, they do all that studying together since,” giving air quotes, “‘academics is important’ and all that.”

“Think she would have told Remus?”

“About you being bi, I think Remus already knows.”

“He should we’ve kissed.”

“WHAT?”

“Anyways, back to the point,” James tried to continue on as Sirius crossed their arms and shook their legs, “do you think Evans told Moony about us dating?”

“Okay, we need to get back to you kissing Moony at some point, but I don’t think she would have said anything.”

“Could have though.”

“Why would Moony be pissed about that?”

“‘Cause he likes you?”

Sirius narrowed their eyes.

“Or he’s pissed that we supposedly kept this from him and he had to hear it from Evans.”

They bit their lip, thinking for a moment, until shooting up like a rocket, “I need to talk with Remus.”

Sirius ran down the stairs and through the halls, until finally stopping to catch their breath, right in front of the library. Walking straight to the librarian’s desk and proceeding to ask the old bat with her scrunched up snooty nose for a piece of paper, thankfully she obliged.

They spotted Moony, grabbed a random book from the shelf so they would be able to blend in with their surroundings, like a secret agent, Sirius thought.

Padfoot starred as they sat at the table next to Moony’s but not Moony’s so he could have a bit of space. For a moment Remus looked up, their eyes locked together in some sort of exchange, like a call to battle, though quickly Remus’ eyes moved back to the book. Sirius sighed, Remus’ sneakily flipped them off for just a moment.

Using a pencil, Sirius began to write a note with a few stars sketched around it.

….

“Are you angry at me?”

Remus examined the note that was passed to him, of course, he wanted to say, you and James lied to me…I like you and you don’t like me. Instead he simply shrugged, deciding that a gesture would be better than any worded response he could think of. He handed the unchanged note back to Sirius.

Sirius added more to the note as Remus tried all his might to focus on the book again. What is it with people trying to interrupt my reading today? Does everyone here just hate Tolkein? His train of thought was interrupted YET AGAIN by a paper being dropped on top of his book page.

“Did you talk with Evans?” No stars, hearts, or other annoying bullshit around the words this time.

Remus considered just ignoring the words, but he knew Sirius would be fucking persistent, he held his hand out for Sirius pencil and began writing just after Sirius dropped it into his hand. Simply saying, “Yes.”

“About?”

Part of Remus wanted to say that they had talked about the rain, about getting a cold, about the anonymous group known as the marauders, but he wanted to get this hellish conversation over with.

“Congrats to the happy couple,” for a moment he wanted to leave it there, but he decided to add, “kind of wish you or James would have told me.”

“Didn’t tell you because James and I aren’t actually dating.”

“?”

“It was a prank on James and Lily.”

“Ok,” Remus ran a hand through his hair.

“Can we talk?”

Remus looked up at them, he packed his things back into his bag, Sirius got up preparing to leave as well. Once out of the quiet land of books, Remus whispered, “Not right now.” Turning the opposite way of Sirius, in hopes of finding one of his good hiding spots so he could finally return to his reading.

….

Sirius stood still, blinking back strange water that started infecting their eyes for absolutely no reason whatsoever as they watched Remus walk away.

I fucked everything up…all for a stupid joke.

Later on they were laying in bed, staring at the blurry ceiling and blaming it on some random fake illness.

#wolfstar #marauders #marauders era #the marauders era #remus lupin #sirius black #sirius and remus #wolfstar fic

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prince-rowan-of-the-forest · 2 years ago

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Across Land And Water, Now and Forever

1: The River Runs Dry

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This is my @sanderssidesgiftxchange gift for @nandysparadox !! I used the prompt "LAMP as an adventuring party in a fantasy AU ' and I kinda took it and ran. I know you asked for a fic, but I hope you dont mind a lot of reading, I went overboard.

A big thank you also to @sandersarefamily for beta reading this, you are amazing and I really appreciate your help (if you want to see that art I did, it's mixed up with the chapters :) )

I'm going to post the first three chapters now, threw more tomorrow and then three more on the 25th.

I know you didn't ask for it, but I've also done a fair bit of art, I got so obsessed with this au that I couldn't help myself, so the first five (at least) chapters also come with illustrations :)

I really hope you (and anyone else who reads this) enjoy!

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| Ao3 |

| Next Chapter -> |

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Summary:

After Patton and Logan are selected to attend the annual meeting between merkingdoms, they expect an easy enough swim up the river to their destination. Unfortunately, for reasons unknown, the river no longer flows as strongly as it did and because of it they can't make the journey in the traditional way.

Together, along with two other magic folk who they… may have accidentally roped into their journey… must now find their way overland to complete their journey instead, little did they know that this particular adventure would change their lives in ways they could never expect.

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Warnings: Discrimination (against magic-folk). A character gets drunk, Remus being remus for like three lines throughout the entire fic.

Pairings: LAMP, very background Dukeceit.

Word count:

This chapter: 2919

The Whole Fic: 23,452

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"Patton please hurry or we will lose the tide before we make it anywhere near land," Logan said, after doubling back to pull his best friend and travelling partner for the migration away from yet another school of fish.

"Oh but they were just telling me about -" Patton said, waving goodbye to the fish enthusiastically, before turning to Logan with a sigh, "Cmon Lo, we're on this adventure together! We should enjoy it!"

"We won't be enjoying anything if we don't arrive to the freshwater before the tide starts pulling in," Logan said, his smooth tail flicking through the water with annoyance, though he let none of that show on his face. Patton didn't respond well to anger, Logan had learnt this well over the years.

"Fineee," Patton said, rolling his eyes so dramatically his head moved and Logan couldn't help a chuckle, "but if we're going fast I'm holding your hand, those are my terms."

"Perfectly reasonable terms, I am objectively faster than you are, considering my dolphin ancestry," Logan said, nodding, “it would not be beneficial for me to accidentally leave you behind.”

"Well… yeah," Patton said, before smiling, "But it's mainly because I like holding your hand."

Logan sighed, fondly shaking his head before offering Patton his hand with a small smile.

The rest of the night was spent speeding across the ocean floor, Logan guided them, with superior knowledge of the currents- which to follow, which were dangerous, which went the wrong direction- and his ability to avoid things he knew would distract his travelling partner that made him the more apt member of the pair to lead.

—-

"Something seems… off," Logan said, looking around. They were nearing the estuary now, but the flow of water wasn't as strong as it should be.

"What's that?" Patton asked, looking around, "I don't think I sea what you're talking about."

Logan glared at the intonation in Patton's voice, he had been suffering at the mercy of Patton's puns all the way here. Patton just giggled, smiling innocently as though Logan hadn't just caught him punning.

"Anyway, something feels strange, the tide should be going out at this time, tell me Patton, do you feel the tide?" Logan said. Patton looked confused for a moment, but he closed his eyes and let himself float in the water a little, tail barely swaying with the ambient movement of the water. When he opened them again he looked much more concerned.

"You're right… aren't the tides supposed to be stronger here? Just before they go into the river?" Patton asked, swimming back and forth, "Do you think something is wrong with the river?"

“I… don't know," Logan said. He hated to admit that he didn't have an answer to anything, but in this case it was the only answer he could give, "I suppose we shall find out, let's go more slowly from here."

"Good call," Patton smiled, shoulders drooping with relief.

—--

When they arrived at the river itself, they found the stream of water to be much shallower and weaker than they had expected, as though it had been blocked off further up. Whatever blockage there could be stopping the water from flowing as it should.

"We can't swim here," Patton said slowly after they had floated, staring into the oncoming barely-current, for much longer than Logan would have liked.

"No, we cannot," Logan nodded, "it's much too shallow, we would run too high a risk of being seen by landfolk, and besides we can't swim upriver without the boost from the tide regardless."

"What now, then?" Patton asked quietly, turning to Logan with a strange expression on his face.

"I suppose we will turn back?" Logan suggested, "Go home, tell the kingdom that we couldn't make the journey."

"We can't!" Patton gasped, “They're all counting on us to get to the meeting in the oversea! If we don't go… Logan we have to go!"

"There could be war between the merkingdoms if representatives don't attend the council meeting," Logan sighed with a nod, "You are correct, unfortunately, we must find a way."

"Is there another way around?"

"It would take us months, by the time we arrived it would be time for the next journey to begin."

"What if we got legs?" Patton asked, Logan stared at him as though he had grown a second head, "It would work! We could just travel over the land like the landfolk do, we could follow the river the whole way!”

"And how do you propose we 'get legs', Patton?" Logan asked, "Neither of us have human heritage, we cannot just grow legs."

"We could find a witch!" Patton grinned, "I'm sure a witch would be able to whip us up something perfect to turn us into land folk so that we can get across the land."

"And do you know where we might hope to find this theoretical witch?” Logan asked, raising an eyebrow. The idea of finding a Witch seemed silly to him, where on earth would they find someone willing to help them in the short timeframe that they had? It couldn’t be that easy, right? Though Patton seemed to know something he didn’t, because he grinned.

“I heard rumours,” Patton smiled, “From the fish, there's a witch who only lives along the coast, they say the witch is friendly to non-human folk.”

“And you learned all that… from the fish?” Logan asked, staring at Patton, who smiled.

“Yeah! They’re really talkative you know,” Patton grinned, “And- well you know I can speak with animals.”

“I am aware, thank you Patton,” Logan nodded, “Did the fish tell you where we could find this witch by any chance?”

Patton nodded, before pausing, though he remained smiling, “Kinda? I mean- fish are good at rumours, but not so much at directions, they just said along the shore near here… somewhere… I think in that direction- ish?”

“‘That direction- ish?’” Logan repeated, sounding skeptical as Patton gestured, “That sounds very decisive.”

“Quit it with your sarcasm, mister!” Patton said, elbowing his arm, “We just need to look for a tower on a cliff, ok?”

“Got it,” Logan nodded, “Let's begin our search now, I don’t want to waste any more time.”

—-

It was nearing sundown by the time the pair actually spotted the tower on the cliff. Being above the sea in general was strange, even if it was only to search. The pair was glad that this area was secluded enough that no people were around to see them, but breaking the waves was daunting- especially to a merperson who’s never done it before.

“You’ve really never come up here Logan?” Patton asked, voice thick with disbelief as they swam together into the shallower waters near the beach, “Really? You’re not kidding me?”

“Of course not, why would I?” Logan asked, genuinely confused as to why this was such a big deal.

“I just thought you would have, with your infinite curiosity and everything, there’s a whole new world up here! Did you never even think about it?” Patton asked, turning to Logan as the waters became too shallow to swim properly.

“I suppose it simply didn’t occur to me,” Logan said, “Just as it didn’t occur to you that we would not be able to get to the witch’s tower to ask them for help.”

“Well I guess we could just- wait? There’s a path up the cliff, look! So maybe they come down here?” Patton suggested, tilting his head. Logan sighed, before ducking down instinctively as he saw someone race across the beach. Patton had no such qualms. Raising his hand, Patton called out as loud as he could, hoping to catch their attention. It seemed to work as his direction changed, now he was running towards them.

"JAN" The figure yelled to someone over his shoulder as he ran over, hearing Patton’s shouts, "I found a fish person!"

The land dweller ran straight into the waves, kicking up water, Patton faltered a little when he kept running, seeming to lunge towards them. His arms shot into the water and suddenly Patton found himself being hoisted from the surf by the stranger, he cried out in surprise as the stranger grinned, his teeth were sharp, "Can I eat this one! He looks so pretty!"

Patton cried out again, this time even more panicked as Logan attempted to pull him back, though he wasn't able to get a firm grip without hurting Patton. He tried to struggle from the stranger’s grasp, smacking at his legs with his tail, but the stranger held firm- until, that is, another voice joined the fray.

"Remus!" the other voice yelled from further away, "Put the merman down and apologise! Now!"

The now named Remus sighed dramatically, mumbled a sorry that was barely even intelligible and put Patton back down in the water. Immediately he swam to hide behind Logan as the new stranger approached.

"What did we talk about threatening to eat people?" the stranger said firmly, Remus seemed to wilt.

"Not to- do that?" Remus asked sadly.

"Exactly, go inside now, I'm sure you can find something else to do?" they said. Remus lit up, before immediately darting off back up the cliffside path towards the tower on the cliff. The stranger turned to the pair of merfolk still shifting awkwardly in the shallows.

The stranger wore a large witch’s hat that by all accounts should have been too large for their head, though somehow they made the drooping brim look like the peak of elegance, the black hat was accentuated by the thick yellow ribbon tied around the base. They wore a black capelet with yellow lining that only reached their elbows but matched the hat perfectly and a dark blue tunic, accented with yellow and tied with a golden length of shimmering rope around the waist. From the rope hung charms of all shapes and colours, tied on with string, that clinked together as they moved.

"My sincerest apologies for my companion's ill manners," the stranger said, voice smooth, "I hope he didn't startle you too much,"

“He just- he just threatened to eat me,” Patton whispered.

“It’s how he shows affection,” the witch brushed him off, “Think nothing of it, now, what brings you both to my humble shore?”

Logan took a deep breath, pulling his shoulders back and curling his tail beneath him so that he could sit back, “You are a witch, correct?”

“That depends, who’s asking?” They said, leaning down, Logan huffed.

“Um, us, we’re asking,” Logan said, confused, “Is that not- clear from the fact I just asked?”

“I suppose I should have been more literal, I wish to know your intentions,” the witch told them

Logan huffed. “We need help,” he told them, “We have a situation and we’d like some assistance, are you able to help us?”

“Well that really depends on the situation, honey, but let’s not stand here in the surf, hm? You may be comfortable, but my boots are getting wet,” they said. Logan looked down to find that their statement was true, their… boots… were covered in water. Though Logan was puzzled for a moment, how were he and Patton supposed to go elsewhere?

“How are we supposed to be somewhere else?” Patton asked, from behind Logan’s shoulder.

“You’re able to sit on rocks, are you not? It can be used as a common ground between land and sea,” the witch said, pointing towards the smooth rocks that lined the beach, jutting out into the sea, Logan nodded slowly, “Meet me there in a moment, if you will allow me to retrieve a few items.”

“That seems agreeable,” Logan nodded. The stranger smiled- though it looked almost sly- and turned away. As they turned, Logan noticed the setting sun glint off of scales unlike his own that had been hidden under their hat.

—-

Hours later, after the sun had set, Patton and Logan had searched the coastline for a cave in which they could sleep. The witch- who had identified themself as Janus during their earlier conversations- had given them both a vial of potion to drink when morning came that they had been told would give them the legs they needed to make their way across the land.

“Logan?” Patton asked into the darkness, Logan sighed- he had just been dozing off, “Are you asleep?”

“Not anymore,” Logan huffed, turning around to face the other.

“Sorry… I just… are we sure we can trust Janus?” Patton asked, “I know we don’t exactly have much of a choice in the matter, but I just- I’m worried we’re getting into something we don’t want to…”

“I’m sure it will be alright,” Logan said, “Janus wouldn’t risk the business for a faulty potion.”

“And their, um… friend?” Patton asked, voice small. They had only seen Remus again once after he’d rushed away the first time and that was to deliver Janus a tray of food that looked absolutely horrific, and that was being nice. For some reason the witch had still been happy to eat it, they said it tasted better than it looked and smelled.

“Patton, please just try to sleep, we shall deal with whatever troubles come our way after we take the potion in the morning, alright?” Logan asked.

For a moment there was silence, but eventually Patton gave in, “Alright, ok, this’ll be fine, we can worry about everything later.”

“Exactly, there is a time and place for worrying about things, but this is neither,” Logan said firmly, before sighing and letting his shoulders relax, “Goodnight, Patton.”

“Goodnight, Lo,” Patton mumbled back, though he was already half asleep before he even finished speaking.

—-

In the morning the pair found themselves back on the beach, this time having pulled themselves up onto the sand, tails facing the water. Janus had met them there and sat down on a nearby rock. Finally, after they had been sitting in silence for a fair while, the witch spoke.

“When you drink the potions, the transformation will take roughly half an hour.” Janus told them, “During that time you may not want to move.”

“Why not?” Patton asked, tilting his head.

“It may hurt a little,” he warned.

“O-oh-! …Ok then…” Patton looked back down at the vial.

“I would also like to give you both a few things,” Janus told them, “You can consider it a free bonus.”

“What kind of things?” Logan asked, leaning forward and watching Janus closely as he pulled something that definitely hadn’t been there before from his cloak.

“First of all, clothes,” Janus told them, throwing the first bundle to Logan before pulling out the other and tossing it to Patton. “I tried to match your colour schemes and sizes as best I could, not doing so would be a crime to fashion, after all.”

Logan tried to inspect the items Janus had thrown to him, but the witch started speaking again and he guessed it would be beneficial to listen, he could figure out the clothes later.

“Second,” Janus said before stepping forward and dropping a small pile of silver and copper disks into his waiting hand, “This is the equivalent of the extra I charged you, whilst I will accept your currency, the human kingdom will not be so lenient, if you attempt to use your own money in the kingdom you’ll likely be arrested.”

“Speaking of,” Janus continued, “Try to blend in as you move through the kingdom, they do not welcome magic folk like you both.”

"Understood," Logan said with a firm nod, before turning his attention to the potion.

"Thank you so much for this, Janus…" Patton said, and Logan could already hear him getting teary eyed.

"Just my duty to help fellow magic folk," Janus said with an awkward but still elegant half bow. "Take the potions now, but don't forget, contact with water will turn you back to your true selves, be careful."

—-

It turned out that using human legs was much more difficult than Logan had first anticipated. It was an odd feeling, first of all, to have all of your weight pressing downwards and both of them had buckled and fallen numerous times for this very reason.

Grasping the ability to move two legs instead of one tail had been another issue, and the coordination was horrendous to understand. After a long while of trying, they had agreed together that they weren't going to be perfect any time soon. Besides, it was afternoon already and they couldn't waste much more time dawdling if they wanted to arrive in good time.

So together they clamberd up the path on the hill and looked back in the direction they had swan the day before just to see spires piercing the sky in the distance, buildings dotting the vast green landscape in small clusters that got closer together the further away they were. They could see the stream that had once been river in the distance, glittering in the sunlight. It wound up and around straight through the heart of the city.

So finally, with well-wishes from Janus and Remus, Patton and Logan started down the other side of the hill hand in hand.

And as they moved through the green world they had never known before, as they got further and further away from the familiarity and safety of the sea, as they looked towards the unknown–

Logan could only think that this was where the real adventure began.

| Next Chapter -> |

#sanders sides #sanders sides fanfiction #sanders sides gift exchange #LAMP #sanders sides ships #fanfic #fanfiction #sanders sides fanart

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panoramic-perception · 1 year ago

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October 3 - New York City to Pittsburgh

10:53am

I have just boarded the 43 Pennsylvanian Amtrak train en route to Pittsburgh. The seats are modern, I found a window-one that faces backwards. Fine by me. I’m on here for the next ten hours. Better get comfy.

Looking forward to seeing eerie Pennsylvanian landscapes. And imagining that I am John Schmidt, my great great grandfather who arrived in New York City and traveled to Pittsburgh as an immigrant. He bought a tomato mistaking it for an apple.

I feel a mixture of emotions. Excitement to see new places. Embarrassment for doing something random. Anxious that I have no job lined up and am winging the next part of my life. Anxious that the tofu polenta garbage I cooked for dinner is leaking in my Trader Joe’s bag.

But I’m moving. I’m out of bed, I’m trying something. I feel joy riding new transit and the Pennsylvanian is no exception. This week has been weird. Toms uncle died, his whole family came in and I saw them each day. It was nice seeing the whole family together. I’m glad I decided to see mine this upcoming weekend. It’s worth it to spend time with the whole group.

The doors have closed. Any second now I will begin rolling backwards. Gliding on the track, replaced in pieces, that my ancestor experienced when he arrived with his future unknown. It could be a lot scarier. I am grateful for this railroad reminder.

What do I expect for the next two and half weeks? More than anything I am sure I’ll be ready for home afterward. Ready for Tom, ready for Mary, ready for a kitchen, ready for bed. Hopefully ready for a job with a bucket of self esteem in hand.

Someone has a bag of pencils behind me. It’s a comfortably distinct sound—the track sounds smooth here too—and I pray that I can relax on my trip. I wonder if moving each day will complicate or enrich the journey. The conductor says “you’re supposed to be a tourist, act like one” to the mom who claims her daughter is embarrassed. I also wonder how many times I will listen to the new Mitski album, the Land is Inhospitable and So Are We. We just emerged from the Hudson and the sun is bright and strong. So far so good.

2:30pm

We are the midway point, Harrisburg, headed west. Amish country did not disappoint. I saw school children in the yard, cows, and stone barns. At Philadelphia I ran upstairs to the station to buy a juice. Waiting in line to come back down, an older man gave me a hug when realizing we were both going to Pittsburgh. This is his first time on Amtrak, and he is now seated in front of me. He has offered me all his snacks–Doritos, Oreos, Peanut Butter Crackers–and I am hesitant to engage too much with him because overly friendly people on transit make me nervous. I wish that weren't the case, but I feel safer with unfriendly non-talkers.

Bill, the best engineer I know, just called me because he received my auto-email explaining that I am no longer at the Job. He just wanted to wish me Good Luck. Believe it or not there are kind people.

The train backed into Philadelphia and then received its diesel engine on the other end, so I am actually facing forward. I have a coffee in hand and we just took a smoke break at Elizabethtown. Rolling forward now.

5:50pm

Thoughts. This is ground I have never covered. What you realize, rolling along the the Pennsylvania Railroad, is why there are no high speed trains to Chicago. It is curvy. It goes slowly. It makes me wonder what improvements to this corridor would look like. It might mean grade separation at places where the train goes 25 mph. Fences. Bridges. That’s what I’d do. If there were more frequent reliable service that would help.

These towns are ones that I know. Covington and Clifton Forge along the Juniata River. Invisible cities repeat at different altitudes throughout the Appalachians. Now we’re picking up speed. Picking up red, too. When we started the foliage was mainly green. Then mainly yellow. Now it’s sprinkled with red.

I’m working to appreciate Fall. Historically it’s made me nervous, sad, cold. But I have to say that on this route it has been extremely gorgeous. I think my phone's battery is on its last leg. I’m charging but it dies very quickly. I suppose I may need to order a new one. We’re just north of Cumberland.

10:42pm

I'm in bed in Pittsburgh at Kristen and Luke's. It's a comfortable old house, reminds me of home. I keep thinking about whether I would like life more in a place like this. Where I could own space. Tomorrow I go walking through the city. Should be nice weather. Curious how my impression of Pittsburgh will change on foot.

I ended up talking to the old man who sat in front of me. He really wanted to be friends. He had just gotten out of prison and only had a trash bag of his belongings. I bought him a beer and chatted for the last hour of the trip. His name was Michael, from Pittsburgh, his house had burned down and he was going to stay with his Mom.

I promised Kristen I wouldn't chat with strangers unless I really wanted to. I didn't want to chat with Michael, but I'm glad I did. It helps to have people pull you out of you head.

Kristen and Luke have a black bunny and a sweet dog. The bunny's fur reminds me of Mary's and the dog looks like a deer. Luke's family is from Pittsburgh and I can hear a train in the distance. The Amtrak station here was really unfortunate. Something of an Amshack under a highway with no proper entrance.

Tomorrow the plan is to walk to North Side, get coffee, go to Mattress Factory, then bus to the Strip, bus to Oakland for Carnegie Museum of Art in the afternoon. Dinner at Noodlehead.

I'll keep you posted.

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4beomy · 2 years ago

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chapter 1

SUMMARY - a week after bravely calling off an on and off relationship, you're back to square one trying to win your ex back - but this time with the help of your failed blind date.

pairing: choi soobin x f!reader

word count: 6.3k

genre: angst? idk if you can even call it angst lol. but mostly comedy ?? this is just an introduction chapter i honestly dk

warnings for chapter one: mature language, mentions of shitty ex (there's no detail), y/n's kind of a bitch but not too bitchy yet (she gets worse chapter 2 but better beyond that!!), soobin's not a fan

AN: this is ridiculously long for an introduction chapter and i think i ramble a lot instead of getting to the point but thats mainly my writing style so T-T!! also, idk if this even is going to be read by anyone at all so i'm just left with hoping one person finds this. i'll only post chapter 2 if i can at least get 20 notes on this one idk is that too much of an expectation T-T??

start | next

It’s been a week since you broke up with Yeonjun for good. Like you were so over him. Goodbye to a cycle that only drains you of any sort of happiness and hello to independent woman, single and ready to… Who were you fucking kidding? You’ve never been any more miserable than you were, body aching from being stuck to your bed for the majority of the weekend, dark circles never in your life being more prominent than they were now, hair that hasn’t been washed since you walked out on him which left you feeling dirty and even MORE miserable. God, how could a man be able to do this to you? You can’t believe how dependent you were on Yeonjun and how much of a comfort the constant of him being a part of your life had been.

Before Yeonjun, you swear you were that girl that wouldn’t fall at the charms of a man. You used to know how to get around with men and how to speak to get your way (granted that was just manipulation) but at some point you had decided to settle for longer than you intended. The constant nagging from your parents of being introduced to a new guy every few months was starting to get to you anyway.

Junior year of high school, Yeonjun, had caught your eye. And you let him string you along, a mistake that had been. Because not for long, the roles had switched and he had more power over you than you did him…weirdly you didn’t mind (or more so you didn’t notice).

Well, fuck that, and fuck you for letting yourself go..and even as you say that you can feel your mind drifting to how he was doing, how he was taking the break up, god did he even care?

Your pathetic desperate thoughts are interrupted by a ring of your phone (thankfully). You groan, knowing who it was going to be but hoping it was someone else (preferably, and desperately your ex but you weren’t going to admit that).

“Took you long enough to finally answer! Anyways–Oh my god. Remember that cafe that was rumored to open a few months ago?” The yelling (plus the obvious female voice) was enough to tell you it wasn’t who you hoped it’d be calling. You let out a groan, you knew exactly who it was. But your brain couldn’t scramble together whatever the hell your best friend was saying.

“Huh?”, your voice obviously still hoarse like you just woke up (even though you haven’t slept a wink).

“The cat caf- Oh my god. Are you still not over him?”

You roll your eyes. You knew exactly what was incoming, nagging upon nagging about how Yeonjun was an absolute dick and you shouldn’t be crying over someone like him ..blah blah blah.

This happened every time you and your ex had a fallout and each time you’d soak in the support but right now…not so much. Especially since there isn’t the usual comfort in your heart that you’ll get back together.

“Y/N? Seriously? There’s like no way you’re still hung up on him!”

“Yes, there is a way," you say as a matter of fact, "It’s seriously only been a week, let me be depressed and sad.”

“You know a week’s too much for you…don’t tell me..”, she takes a moment to mockingly gasp, “You were in love with him?”

“Oh my god. I swear you always bring this up every two business days. And I tell you everytime, that NO I wasn’t in love with him.”, you seriously weren’t. One hundred percent.

“Whateverrr. Listen, just come to the address I’m about to send you right now. Me and Seulgi are hanging there and I swear it’ll so make you over Yeonjun in seconds when you actually shower and interact with human beings!!”

You hear the hanging up tone and lay your phone down on your stand—used to the non phone mannerisms Karina had.

To be honest with yourself, you were waiting for someone to invite you out. You just didn’t want to ask out loud because how embarrassing was it to tell people you needed to go out because you just couldn’t stop thinking about your ex?

When you hear a notification pop up on your phone and see an address to something that seemed like a cafe, you sighed and finally rolled off your bed.

But it wasn’t dreadful. Actually getting up to take care of yourself. You missed it. Even before the break up last week, your girlfriends had noticed how shit your skin looked and how often it’d break out. Maybe this was for the better, maybe everything will be more stress-free.

Yeah, wrong. It was too late when you sat down, feeling strange symptoms of allergy pop up. Your eyes trailed around the cafe to pinpoint why you were feeling your breathing tighten…so suddenly.

”Uh helloooo to Y/N!!”, Karina waved obnoxiously at your face, with the obnoxious pretty smile that she had.

“Aww, wittle kitty kitty”, your other friend cooed. And that’s when you made eye contact with the species in front of you. Well, fuck. You look on the table and see the cat fur just there.

Your eyes immediately start tearing up, and suddenly you can feel your throat closing up…you were having an extreme allergic reaction. You let out an almost choked out sentence, “A fucking cat cafe?” your face already turning red.

Karina’s mouth was wide open and Seulgi’s face was shocked. Pure shock. Your allergic reactions have never been this bad, they were usually pretty tame. You swear to god it was the prolonged exposure you had to Yeonjun’s cat that made you break out worse than ever before. Has your immune system given up on you too?

“Oh my god!”, Seulgi yells trying to get the cat away from the table they were at. Karina immediately runs to the staff asking for any sort of medications they had that could help with the allergies.

And finally, when the short moment of panic washes over and you had taken the quick shot to calm your allergies down, your friends eyes were still looking over you worriedly. They hoped to relieve you of any stress, to make you a little more happy in the miserable situation you were in…but, they probably made it worse.

You really didn’t want to but the streams of tears couldn’t be held back anymore. So there, your composure finally breaks. At a fucking cat cafe.

Quick to your side was Karina as Seulgi’s hand massages yours. “What if he’s out there having fun when I’m over here almost dying from a fucking allergic reaction?”, you said sniffling.

Karina puts her arm over your shoulder. “Trust me girl, you were far from death.” Her way of comforting was rather strange—but nevertheless made you let out a half forced chuckle.

“Did you check his insta? For all we know, he’s probably as miserable if not even more depressed than you are…”, Seulgi’s words were always wise..it even made you feel some sort of sick comfort—because if he was just as miserable you were sure your own would disappear and you’d finally move on. But the issue was clear.

“I blocked his instagram.”

Karina rolls her eyes. “It’s not like the unblock button doesn’t exist.”

You turn to face her, dead in the eyes. “You know exactly what would happen if I unblock any of his socials.” Karina only pouts at that and nods agreeing to what exactly would happen. All anyone would need to know is that your mental health would crash to the earth’s core.

Seulgi, who was still a fairly new addition to your friends list, looked between the two of you awkwardly. She had a grasp of what would happen but not really the way Karina would. Nevertheless she suggests, “I can look up his account on my phone.”

“You didn’t block him?”, you ask. Seulgi shrugs.

”Not like I got the memo.” you let out a dry laugh. It was a bit ridiculous for you to expect people to do things without you directly telling them. You thought you had mastered the arts of body language and indirect sayings but maybe that was truly the fallout of you and Yeonjun.

“Oh—Uh..”, Seulgi’s voice interrupts your thoughts and her face wasn’t pleasant..or at least it wasn’t one that’d tell you Yeonjun was miserable.

Before you could grab her phone, Karina snatched it first. She makes sure to turn away from your eyes and you’re left there trying to study her reaction as she squints.

You could tell by how the light wasn’t reflected on her face anymore that she closed it. “Y/n, you can’t believe how sad and depressed he is—” fucking bullshit.

“What the hell did you guys see.”

They both look at each other, exchanging knowing glances. “Do you actually want to know?”, Seulgi starts off.

“Yeah, duh. That’s why you searched up the username I told you to search.”, you let out an impatient annoyed scoff. The knot that was created in the speed of light right in your throat went unnoticeable for a while. You were terrified. Because you think you know exactly what’s coming. Maybe you just know and maybe, despite the demands to know what they saw— you secretly wanted to stay longer in a moment of ignorant bliss.

“Promise you won’t cry.”, Seulgi shoots Karina a glare. “What? I don’t want to see my best friend cry..”, she defends.

“Can you guys just tell me? I’m not in the mood to beat around the bush anymore”, your voice lost its usual loudness and was laced with insecurity. Only happening when anything involved Yeonjun, fucking great.

Seulgi hesitantly types in her passcode and slides her phone across the table. Even before you grab it, you can see a familiar background. And when you finally are able to digest the picture you’re looking at—you don’t know exactly how to respond.

The familiar background was an abandoned rooftop Yeonjun had taken you often when you wanted to go on a date. He had completely revamped it, in the cheesiest most revamped a college boy could manage to do. Candles, blankets, pillows. The usually picnic romantic fort looking place. You’ve never thought that there you’d see that background again, that he had built for you, being occupied by another girl. Her arms comfortably on his waist and her face buried on his chest. As you swipe, you can tell they were candid photos. The type of photos you and yeonjun took.

The breaking point wasn’t even the caption that said “you make everything look brighter” but the date. For a brief moment you wondered if it would’ve been worse if the date was a day after you broke up—the 1 week ago being more of a comfort than 2 hours ago. But that wondering—the curiosity went away. Because as you dropped the phone and buried your face on the folded arms you put on the table he was out there with a new girl right under his arms, looking happier than ever.

All of it was like a quick comedy skit, you wailing like a little baby to the point the staff had to come and ask you guys to leave for disturbing customers. Then Karina flipping them off, threatening they’d never see a dime of hers in their register (ignoring the fact that they didn’t really pay for anything during their stay here). It became more hostile when the staff started threatening scarier things—like calling the police. That was enough to silence Karina and pull you out of the cafe along with Seulgi.

“I swear I’m never coming here again.”, Karina cursed under her breath as she looked back at the cafe.

“Shut up, you so are”, you say with your strained voice trying to lighten the mood. Your dignity was at the floor by this point because at both of your sides, your girls were holding tight on your arm like you were fragile and would fall apart any second they lose grip of you.

“Okay but like obviously two months from now. But not today or tomorrow. Like fuck that cat cafe, I’m boycotting.” To her comment you let out a light chuckle. You were tired though—but you knew, and so did everyone else that there were more of your tears coming soon enough.

As you reached what seemed to be your older friend’s car you suggested sitting alone in the backseat. At first, both were hesitant on leaving you alone. Because who would stop you if you recklessly decided to open the car door and jump out? But they reached to the conclusion that you hadn’t reached that stage of insanity yet.

The car ride was silent for the most part as Seulgi kept getting stuck in traffic and turning the wrong turns. The collective groans from both you and Karina made things feel just a little lighter. But seriously, she was a terrible driver for someone who claimed to have been driving for four years.

“Sugar pooks, I just got an idea. Like its brilliant—omg.”, Karina squealed turning her head to the back seat. You were laying your head on the window, being all depressed.

You were about to open your mouth to call her off for calling you “sugar pooks'' but you ultimately decided you have no energy to go back and forth with Karina. “No, hear me out. It’s perfect.”

You give her a glance to assure you were listening. “Basically, I have this guy friend—”

“Not interested in any of your greasy guy friends.” you quickly interrupt.

And to that, Seulgi let out a chuckle while Karina’s face fell. “I’d never set you up with them oh my god. How low do you think of me? I’m talking about a guy friend that has a friend—”

“Not interested Karina. Seriously, you think I'd be mentally okay with a relationship right now?”, you say, finally looking at her.

“It doesn’t have to be long term. I’m hinting at a rebound. Not everyone’s fit for a rebound, but rebounds were made for you. You should be the one out and about hooking up with every person you see, not that manwhore.” she spit out. You let out a quick chuckle at the nickname she gave Yeonjun, it had a nice ring to it.

But again, for the twentieth time in your life, you give one of Karina’s disastrous suggestions a thought. You can tell Seulgi was agreeing with the way the reflection in the rearview mirror had shown her eyebrows raised, basically telling you “Maybe you should give it a shot?”

By now, Karina’s prolonged stare waiting for a response made you let out a sigh. You had no choice but to agree. “Do you have a picture?”

Karina shakes her head. “Then how the fuck—how the fuck am I gonna—What if he’s ugly?” you finally give up at your attempt to not sound shallow.

“Wouldn’t necessarily be un-plausible. My friend said he never dated outside of years old middle school relationships.”

“That doesn’t help. Like at all.” Karina shrugs at that.

Seulgi only speaks when she has wisdom to share and in this case, she obviously did. “You can always run away.”

You kept reminding yourself what your friend had told you as you dressed up in a simple black dress. You can always run away, no problem. You’ve done it before, its not that hard. Excuse yourself to the bathroom then run out the back door! Simple.

God, this was ridiculous. Even you can admit that. You’ve never felt even more childish than you are now. Dressing up for a date when a few hours ago you were crying your eyes out about your ex. Karina texted you his number saying the date was “tonight”..which you were NOT informed of prior to agreeing.

So now here you were, patting your hands on your black dress removing anything that might’ve gotten stuck on it—it was an old dress from sophomore year of high school. The lucky dress you'd wear on every first date. Hopefully, they were lucky enough for this date to not go into ruins (though you were more than skeptical).

You only crossed your fingers in hopes the man you were having a rebound blind date with wouldn’t be the ugliest man you’ve come across. Or else you’d never be able to hold back your tears right in the restaurant. Which would embarrass both you and him (hey, you weren’t a heartless monster! Of course you had empathy).

The fact that he was already late made you lose any hope of you really getting a rebound tonight.

And to that thought, you hear your phone buzzing.

Unknown number: Are you on your way? (7:35pm)

That’s a text message you’d get if you were expected to be on your way. That’s a text message you wouldn't get if he was going to pick you up…like you were waiting for him to do. Well shit.

You can feel your eyes twitch – was the 7:30 referring to the time you should be there and not the time he was going to come and pick you up from your apartment? Yeah, it was.

But you sent him an address. He should’ve gotten the hint? Or maybe chivalry’s just dead. At the same time, you do remember getting an address…probably to the restaurant you were supposed to be at. Maybe, you should’ve gotten the hint. Ugh, you really want to call this off.

Like some demon was reading your thoughts and notified someone about them, your phone buzzed again.

Karina (dont respond!): don’t even think about ditching.

Great.

No car. No bus station near you (another day of realizing how bad of a location your apartment complex was in). Your best bet was walking an hour with your 6 inch stiletto heels – oh the things you would do to get Yeonjun off your mind.

You: I’ll be a bit late, something came up, sorry.

Its been what seems like thirty minutes of endless aching of your heels, you really feel like crying by now. You’re used to walking long distances to your college almost every day, but in heels? You’d rather eat a raw dick.

Okay, well not quite that but the point is there. It was horrendous walking this long distance. And god, the constant impatient texts from your date wasn’t making anything any better. Can he just shut up for a second?

One more text and you’d block the number, ideally doing what you wanted to do all along. Cry about Yeonjun!! But it's like your blind date got the memo and finally stopped texting.

And now you’ve reached the dreaded place. You take a deep breath before walking inside, preparing yourself to not lose your already short sticked temper.

Red sweater he said. Red sweater. Your eyes wander around the small but packed restaurant to spot him – it wasn’t hard. The red was literally a neon color, it’d be hard not to spot.

“Karina’s friend?”, you said (noticing you haven’t exchanged names through text).

He doesn’t turn around at first but after a few seconds, the name registers and rings a bell. He immediately turns around and after a minute of just staring at you (it was awkward and it was getting harder to keep a smile on) he finally remembers to respond, “Oh, hi. Yes.”

Okay. First, he isn’t bad looking, you take note. But he’s not your type at all. Shouldn’t your best friend of nine years know what you like by now? He was the complete definition of a flower boy, barf.

“What took you so long?”

Straight to confrontation huh? It was getting difficult to maintain the practiced fake smile you’ve been keeping for the past three minutes.

“Silly me thought you’d pick me up, haha!”, you respond over-enthusiastically. The faux laugh coupled with the hints of condescending words made your date shift a bit uncomfortably. Good, feel guilty.

Instead of the apology you expected he simply nods. Just nods. You take note about something else, he has zero manners. You were going to reach that conclusion much earlier, but you gave him the benefit of the doubt. Now you truly know that men don’t deserve such considerations. First impressions are always right.

By now, the silence was unbearable. All he did was sit there, noticeably tapping a foot pretentiously over and over again. Did he want to leave? What the hell was he doing that for? You decide to not mind it any business and finally get over the basics.

“What’s your name by the way?”, wow. You should seriously become an actress with the way you just feigned your niceness. Especially when you wanted to do nothing but roll your eyes at every little action the man does.

“Soobin.”, then you patiently wait for him to ask the same. Just exchanging basic pleasantries, its a bare social skill. Right? Right???

A few seconds too long, you realized he wasn’t going to ask. And you also realized you wanted nothing but to leave.

“My name’s Y/N.”, you didn’t even try holding up a smile anymore. You’re just trying to find a way to excuse yourself to the bathroom because this wasn’t going to work out..at all.

“Oh, I know.” And you couldn’t hide how your eyes widened. What the fuck? Was this guy a stalker or something? How would he know???

“What?”, you try your best to sound calm.

“We had a project last semester together. In Mr. Kim’s chemistry class.”, he said as a matter of fact – kind of surprised you don’t seem to remember him. “You don’t…remember?”

You put a hand over your mouth laughing, “Oh my god, of course I remember you! We were such great partners wow how could I forget!”

“I don’t know if we were..we got barely over a passing grade for the project.”, he said, scratching the back of his head.

Well shit.

You definitely forgot Soobin thought to himself, which made him a bit annoyed. Okay, not a bit. A lot. You ruined his grade in the class and now all of a sudden you don’t remember? God, he was trying his best but you were more than pretentious. He regrets not pressing Beomgyu more for the name of his blind date before coming.

“I’m sorry, can I excuse myself to the bathroom?”, you all of a sudden say. He nods, trying to put up a polite smile.

Okay, no you weren’t going to ditch him yet. You were actually going to the bathroom. You needed to sort yourself out. And dig, really deep (okay, not that deep. It was last semester for goodness sakes) in your brain and actually confirm what the guy has been spewing.

Soobin? Project? Soobin and project. Soobin…and a failed chemistry project.

Oh god.

He was that awkward kid? The one who refused to send notes to you? You vaguely remember for a few weeks him being in the background while you would smooch with Yeonjun in the library. Yikes. Should you just leave then and there? Because it just got even more awkward with this context now in your head.

Oh but then you remember even more, the more you go down memory lane (again, this was just a semester ago). You remember something very unpleasant – you yelling at him for making you fail the course. Oh god no. That was the time you had a fight with Yeonjun, you remember being at the edge every minute of the day…then you finally snapped when getting the grade you received for your semester end project.

You also remember him yelling back at you, seemingly confused at your outburst talking about how you were never focused. And you weren’t, you were all over Yeonjun. Jesus, how could you forget this?

Can you really just leave now? Guilt was eating you up (embarrassment even more).

Ultimately you decided you couldn’t just ditch— and instead of just outwardly apologizing you’d be the bigger person in a different way.

“Your name is really pretty by the way. Like it totally fits your face.” You hope he doesn’t notice the sudden change in your tone and way of speaking, but even if he does it doesn’t matter too much anyway.

“Uh.. thanks..?”

Could he at least appreciate your efforts? There wasn’t much to compliment him on, god. Even his outfit was stale, lazy and boring. Okay–stop, you were a bitch to him before you need to be nice now.

“No problem!”, you say chirply clasping your hands together. Okay, maybe you were overdoing it a bit.

“W-we should order though.”, he felt like a complete loser for letting out a random stutter but you thankfully didn’t seem to notice and just nod in agreement.

After ordering from the very limited menu, you both decided to order pho and a cup of water. Not the most romantic but at this point, none of you were seeking that anymore.

And the wait begins. You look around the restaurant trying to think of a conversation starter – Soobin doesn’t seem like he’s making that much of an effort. But does that even surprise you anymore? Not really, even with the extremely short time you’ve spent on this date (and the bits you could remember from working on the project)..you could tell he wasn’t one to talk much.

“What type of music do you listen to?”, your sudden question you could tell, caught him a bit off guard. It’s a classic, boring conversation starter. You could almost predict exactly what he would s–

“A little bit of everything.”

Expected.

“Oooh! Interesting!”, faking your reactions is becoming second nature throughout this date so you decide to trip him up a bit, “What are your favorite artists?” He’d have to think about this one and not give a bland, generic answer. You got him now!

“I don’t have one.”

Ha.

Just great.

“Wow, interesting. Okay. What’s your favorite color?”, you decide to change topics and jump right into another boring “conversation starter” if you could even call it that.

You’re begging he’d just give you some random color instead of–

“I don’t have one.”

“What do you think is the purpose of life?” At this point, you’re just badgering him with generic questions like you were in some investigation room. You can’t help that that’s how the atmosphere turned to, he just wouldn’t ask questions back. Can’t he help you out one bit? Should you even stay here any longer? Because you think you paid your due for acting like a bitch a few months ago.

“What?”, the sudden topic change was extreme this time, philosophical questions can’t be answered with generic stale answers…(well they can but Soobin thinks otherwise, he's a geek).

Thankfully for Soobin, the waiter came with two glasses of water on a tray. He mouthed a thank you, and took a hold of the water to slowly sip it. Avoiding any more conversation with you.

For someone he’d hear was confident and outspoken, you really seemed to be struggling to keep a conversation going. Or even starting in the first place. It’s not like you even communicated with him that much during the five weeks you worked on the project – this was not any less than that.

It seemed like you were dried out from questions so you kept quiet, something he’s grateful for.

He did, however, want to ask questions. Like, what happened to your boyfriend? That one seems to be the one that his brain is most curious about. Because how could he forget you rambling on and on literally a day before the presentation about how perfect he was. You were supposed to go over the entire presentation together but you just couldn’t shut up about him – Soobin almost thought your personality might’ve just revolved around your boyfriend. Maybe that was why you were struggling with talking? Or maybe it was his attempt at being difficult (and the subconscious grudge he had against you).

“Why’re you staring at me?”

Your voice caught him off guard and he realized he mindlessly was looking at you while thinking. God, he wants to punch himself right in the face right now.

“Sorry. I was just thinking.”, he said, managing to put up a smile.

“About?”

Okay. He didn’t expect that follow up question. What was he supposed to say? Quick. Because he couldn’t reveal how he was judging you a few seconds ago.

“About my pet!”, you raise up a questioning brow, “I left him home with my friend so I’m just wondering how he’s doing.” his voice goes significantly lower than the panicked answer he gave at first. He hopes whatever he just said was convincing.

“You have a pet?” and now all of a sudden, your interest has peaked. It was the most interesting thing you’ve ever heard him say throughout this date.

“Yeah, I do.”

Before you could ask what pet he has, the familiar waiter comes with a tray of two bowls of pho. “Enjoy eating! You look like a…couple!”

God. Even the waiter can tell you guys don’t match at all. The hesitance that came with couple was kind of comical though, so you bite away a laugh.

Silence filled the room, figuratively because all around you were conversations upon conversations, it was really loud. But jeez, another round of silence had visited you and Soobin. The initial question you wanted to ask was also long forgotten as you dug into the food.

When Soobin decides to take a quick glance at you just for the sake of it, he really was about to let out a gasp. On top of your head was...a fucking spider. A spider. How the heck does a spider find its way into your hair let alone a five star restaurant?

“Um…Y/N..”, he contemplates for a second, then reaches the final conclusion to not tell you. But you already turned your attention from your half finished bowl to him.

Nope, he can’t tell you. At all. Especially when he remembers you crying and wailing about…a baby cockroach in his dorm room.

He gets up to muster up the courage and take it off your head quickly. Your eyes follow his figure as he gets up from his seat.

“There’s something on your head.”, he whispers. He swings his hand right above your head to get the spider off, but as all everyone knows. This date was horrible to begin with, what wouldn’t give for it to go even more horrible?

Yup. He accidentally hits your head — and knowing how big his hands are, he’s sure he’d get an assault charge against him right now.

“What the FUCK OW.”, your hand immediately goes to your head.

Surprisingly, the restaurant was loud enough to drown out your small outburst.

Did this man just slap your head? You were done. You were leaving.

“I swear I was just trying to get off the spid-”, he tries to explain but it was too late. He made a mistake of pointing at the little creature while speaking and your eyes caught the spider on your shoulder. The moment of panic that he saw flash in your eyes made him think this was going to go worse than it already was.

Before it does, he tries to take action and actually get the spider off of you. By now, some people were looking over at you guys' table. God. How embarrassing could this get?

You were frozen, which he thought would help him aim at the spider more accurately…but somehow as he attempts to swing at the spider again, his hand accidentally hits the bowl in front of you and he can hear gasps spread throughout the restaurant. The warm pho splashing onto your lap and staining your dress.

Oh, how Soobin wishes he could just perish and die.

You wish the same. For both you and him, but mostly him.

You almost felt like laughing bitterly — but you didn’t want to look like a maniac. So, you kept it to yourself. Several staff immediately ran over to you and asked to assist you with cleaning yourself up but you kindly declined. After a few persistent offers, they finally give it up and tell you they’d refill your pho. You couldn’t refuse because they just left without you getting a word in response. Guess another bowl of food will go to waste – the humanist part of you suffers in silence.

“I’m going to the bathroom.” Soobin was still kind of frozen on whatever just happened but he still nods slowly. You get a hold of your bag.

Yep, time to ditch. Now you wouldn’t even feel bad for doing it, guess this worked out well.

But first, you actually do need to go to the bathroom. You had to dry out the liquid on your dress and clean up your legs.

It doesn’t take long before you finally give up on trying to clean up your dress, it was dry, that was good enough. You pull out your phone from your bag to text Karina snippets of what just happened (like you usually do)..but then your eyes widen at a notification you thought you’d never receive.

Loml <3 : taehyun’s throwing a party next week, you should come (5:39pm)

Yeonjun?

God, why the fuck have you blocked every single one of his socials (including his gmail) except for his phone number?

And why the hell is he texting you so casually? Like you guys didn’t just break up a week ago ? And inviting you to a party at that?

It frustrates you so much, mind boggles you at that, to the point you go and unblock his instagram account. It didn’t take much for you to keep him blocked, huh?

You see the purple-ish circle surrounding his profile picture, you take a quick breath, then click on it. And of course, you just had to see the same girl under his arms in the selfie he posted. All you saw was red. Just plain red. Did he really move on? This fast? You couldn’t even bring yourself to let out tears. Because all you were thinking were pathetic pathetic thoughts.

You wanted nothing but to be the girl under his arms. Those were the thoughts you were having. Not “he betrayed me” and not “he's a dick” and definitely not “I hate him”. The moment that realization finally sinks in, you turn around from the door you were about to walk out from and back to the table you were eating dinner on.

Okay. So. You were definitely not expecting an empty table. And a yellow sticky note attached to it.

Got food poisoning so gotta go. Paid for the food, sorry about ruining your dress.

You scoff. Did he just ditch you? With a sticky note? And a stupid lie? Okay, granted you were about to do the same thing with less formalities but still.

He couldn’t have gotten that far. And so you ran out the door— you were right. He was literally right there. It was easy to spot his red neon hoodie.

“Soobin!”, you call out. And he doesn’t turn around — actually, he starts walking faster away from you. Fucking bitch.

“Soobin! Stop!”

What started off as fast walking became running. And now you’re practically chasing after him, with your heels. “Soobin! You fucking BITCH!”

“I’m sorry!”, he yells anxiously, almost running out of breath. He wasn’t fit for running. But why weren’t you giving up??? Were you going to kill him? The passion of anger scares him.

Nowhere in his head was he planning to stop running though..or at least not until he hears a thud. You fell.

He has conscious and humanity in him, for god sakes he wasn’t just going to keep running and leave you on the dirty floor so he immediately turns. Curse his kindness. He finds that you weren’t that far from him so it doesn’t take long to go to you and bend down to hold out a hand.

“God, why would you run in heels? Are you okay?”

Seeing that you weren’t responding nor were there any signs of you taking his hand, he searches his pocket for any spare bandaids he has. And thank god he does.

One of your knees was scrapped, it wasn’t bleeding too much but he knows it probably hurts like hell. He gets on his knees to put it on, and thankfully, it manages to cover the scrapped area pretty well.

Then he feels drops get on his hand. It wasn’t raining, no—you were crying.

“What? So you just have a random sticky note pad on you and bandaids?”

“Yeah…I shove things in this hoodie’s pockets all the time. It's a useful habit.”, he decides to focus on putting on the bandaid instead of asking questions.

“Huh. Then what about your food poisoning. All good now?”

He gulps sharply, “sorry.” was all he managed to say.

“That’s it?”

He finished putting on the bandaid, so now he's just on the ground of a dirty street with you. People were definitely giving you guys weird looks — so he eventually gets up.

“Why did you run after me?”, he finally decides to ask, holding out a hand again. If you were going to ask questions, so would he.

This time, you don’t ignore his hand. It was cold, but soft. A starking contrast to your warm callused hands. “I need you to be my pretend boyfriend.”, you casually say, secretly appreciating him helping you up.

That is, until he just lets you go halfway you were up. Now you were back on your ass, the back of your head almost hitting the ground. And fuck, it hurt like hell.

#soobin fanfic #soobin x reader #soobin fic #soobin oneshot #soobin #soobin x y/n #soobin x you #soobin fluff #txt series #txt x you #txt oneshots #soobin drabbles #soobin angst

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illegal-spiegel · 3 years ago

Text

Firsts w/ Kaoru

Pairing: Kaoru Hitachiin x gn!reader Genre: fluff Warnings: none

first meeting:

y’all met through, you guessed it, The Host Club

it wasn’t your idea to go

but Haruhi, poor, sweet, innocent Haruhi, was about to lose her marbles

she practically got onto her knees to beg you to keep her company

and what kind of friend would you be if you declined?

(you mainly just went because she bribed you with free tea and desserts)

when you showed up to Music Room #3, it was all that you were expecting and not at all what you were expecting at the same time

you eventually spotted Haruhi through all the people and eventually made your way over to her

the look on her face was almost comical

she bid her guests she was entertaining farewell and they left with watery eyes

you covered your mouth to hide your giggles as you took a seat on the soft couch across from her

“Thank god you showed up,” she groaned as she slumped back into her seat

you let your giggles out freely, studying her tired form

“Awe, is Haruhi tired of flirting?” you teased

she only grunted in response, closing her eyes and letting out a content sigh

you hummed in return, picking up a cookie that was on the table and started to munch on it

you two had a few minutes of silent peace before it was rudely interrupted

“Oh, Haruhi!” you hear two voices shout from behind you in unison

you swear you saw an irk mark appear on her forehead

you raise your brow and go to turn around to see who was causing her so much trouble just by saying two words when two people were suddenly leaning over the back of the couch you were sitting on

you looked to your left and saw a boy your and Haruhi’s age

you turned to the right and had to do a double-take when you saw the same face

‘these must be the infamous twins,’ you thought as you studied them

“What?” Haruhi groaned with dead eyes

you could see the smirks come onto the two boys’ faces

“What are you doing slacking off-” the one on the right started off

“-when you have a guest?” the left one finished you raised a brow at them as you pursed your lips

“She could ask you two the same thing? Why aren’t you tending to your guests?” you defended

the twins’ eyes widened as they turned to look at you, both silently studying you for a moment

“We got bored-”

“-so we came to see what Haruhi was doing.”

your brows furrowed as you look to the one on your left

“You just left your guests?”

Haruhi was the one to respond

“Kaoru probably ran out of fake tears,” she said with a smirk

the twins’ attention went back to her, the one on the right’s eyes widening

“Fake tears? My tears are real!” he defended

you took a mental note that the one on your right was Kaoru. Haruhi may have told you about them before but you were terrible with names

Haruhi only grunted in response before closing her eyes again

you saw their mouths open, ready to bother her some more

so, being the good friend you are, you quickly said something before they could

“Just leave her alone, okay? How about you entertain me?” you offered

from what Haruhi has told you, the twins liked to mess around with people. Whether it is playing pranks and tricks or just annoying them

so, you figured they’d happily take you up on the offer to ‘entertain’ you

as soon as you finished your sentence, a smirk was curling up on their lips

“Entertain you?”

“Why, we’d be honored!”

they ended up trying to actually do so at first, using their little brotherly love act

you quickly shut that down

once they realized you knew all their secrets, including Haruhi being a girl, there was a sudden shift in the way they acted towards you

they were more open suddenly

hanging out:

after meeting, he instantly took a liking to you

he and his brother wanted to become friends with you, mainly to annoy Haruhi

they hung out with you as much as you allowed them to, which was often so you could give Haruhi a break

it took a couple weeks for Kaoru to work up the nerve to ask you to hangout with him without his brother there as well

you were surprised when he asked you, to say the least

“Hey, would you wanna go to this museum with me? I somehow won free tickets in class and Hikaru doesn’t want to go. I, uh, know it sounds boring but—”

“I’d love to go with you, Kaoru,” you reassure with a big, warm smile

it was the first time he felt his heart do something weird in his chest

that weekend, you two went to the museum and honestly had a really good time

you two pretty much just wandered around and talked the entire time, which was several hours

he found it surprising and like a fresh breath of air at how easy it was to talk to you

he liked studying you when you would stare at something before you, your figure glowing under the big lights

he knew by the time you two left that he had feelings for you

first hug:

you two hugged for the first when he took you home from the museum, actually

his palms were sweating just from thinking of doing it

he tried to tell himself that it wasn’t a big deal but he was just so nervous

he opened the car door for you when you reached your house and even walked you to the door

“Thanks for today, Kaoru,” you say softly, giving him that radiant smile that he loves so much

“It was nothing. I’m just glad you agreed to go,” he admits with a small chuckle

you giggle in return and then you both go into silence

“Well, I’ll see you at school on Monday,” you say to break the silence

without another word, he quickly pulls you into the hug then

he hears and feels you gasp, your arms staying by your side for a moment before slowly wrapping back around him

“Yeah, see you on Monday,” he whispers, still holding onto you

you two hug each other a little longer than necessary but neither of you cared

when you finally did let go of each other, both of your faces were warm

“Goodnight, Kaoru,” you whisper a little breathlessly

“Goodnight, (Y/n),” he whispers back, finally stepping back to let you go inside

he walks back to his car and watches you unlock your door to make sure you get inside okay

he then finally leaves with a racing heart and a red face

first time holding hands:

after going to the museum together, you two slowly started to get closer

you texted more often, always called, hung out without Hikaru more, and so on

it didn’t take long for you to fall for him but you were unsure if he liked you back

well, that is until October came around

the boys decided they wanted to do a haunted house type thing for their monthly event

after Kyoya talked it over with the principal, the club got permission to do it and to have it held inside the entire school

Kyoya went all out too. He hired professional actors and businesses to scare in the school

the club held it during Halloween weekend, that way they could clean up all the props before Monday

the club made a killer with the amount of people that wanted to participate and walk through the ‘haunted’ school

on Sunday, after the ‘maze’ closed, the host club decided that they should be able to walk through it as well

that’s how you ended up partnered up with Kaoru to walk through together

you two went last out of all of the groups, both of your hearts racing as you two walked into your dark school

after the first jump scare, you two clung together before relaxing until the next scare

after a few scares, you two just ended up holding hands the whole way through

you honestly didn’t even really notice since you were too focused on what’s around the corner, what’s in that room, or what that sound was

but Kaoru’s entire focused was on your hand in his, the way your skin looked, the way it felt

when you came out the back main exit of the school though, you instantly noticed

you both shyly smiled as you let go, trying to ignore everyone’s teasing as you all started cleaning up

first date:

it wasn’t until mid-November that Kaoru asked you out on a date

you both were blushing like crazy as he stuttered out his date proposal and it was the most enduring thing you’ve ever seen

he asked you out, to which you instantly said yes to, but when you asked where you two would be going, he refused to tell you

he ended up taking you to a festival that was in town after you said that you didn’t want him wasting a lot of money on you

plus, he’s really competitive, so it’s fun to play games with him

you two tease each other back and forth the whole night, both of you winning a lot of games

he even won you a stuffed animal to which you playfully named it Hikaru

he ended up getting too much cotton candy and begged you to help him finish it

you two spent the entire day there and when the sun started to set, he dragged you onto the ferris wheel

it was very cliché but he kisses you at the top and you loved every second of it

when he drove you home, neither of you were ready for the night to end

so, you just ended up sitting in the car for hours just talking up a storm

when your first yawn is released, he does his best to ignore it but after the second time, he sighs and gives you a soft smile

“You should head inside. I’ll text you when I get home, okay?” he says quietly, secretly wishing he didn’t say anything when you start to pout

you rub at your eye though as you yawn again, slowly nodding your head

“Okay. Goodnight, Kaoru,” you whisper sweetly before hugging him

just before you get out of the car, you quickly peck his cheek before practically flying out of the vehicle

he chuckles at how flustered you are as you walk to the door of your home

he makes sure you get inside okay before driving back home

he sticks to his word and texts you when he arrives at home to which you both stayed up late texting each other because you didn’t want the mystical night to come to an end

first time giving a gift:

(we ain’t counting the stuffed animal (Hikaru) he gave you on your first date)

you two had been together for 3 months when Kaoru decided to get you something to celebrate

he asked all your friends along with all the people in the Host Club what they think you’d like

he got many ideas ranging from clothes to food

he wasn’t quite sure what he wanted to get you but he’d figure it should be something nice but ‘simple’

on the day of your 3 months together, he picks you up from your house and takes you on a date

you tried telling him that you two didn’t have to celebrate the 3 month mark, but he wasn’t having it

“You’re special to me and being together this long means a lot to me,” he said softly to you before kissing the back of your hand

he ends up taking you to a hill that looks over most of the town, a smile coming to your face when you see the view

“It’s beautiful,” you reply when he asks what you think

“Not as beautiful as you,” he teases, shooting you a wink before hauling the picnic basket over to the blanket he set down for you both

after setting everything up and getting comfy, you two dig into the food that he made

once you two have had your fill, you curl up together and watch the sunset

just before the sun completely sinks below the horizon, he pulls away from you a bit to reach into the basket

“Here,” is all he says as he offers you a rectangular box covered in velvet

you raise your brow up at him but gently take it from him and open it up

you jaw drops open a bit when you see what rests inside, your heart skipping a beat as your tummy fills with butterflies

“Oh, Kaoru...” you whisper breathlessly, staring down at the intricate necklace

“Do you like it?” he whispers, worriedly staring at your shocked face

“I, um, got it to represent our first date at the festival...” he continues when you don’t reply. “Sorry, I know it’s ugl—”

“No! No, I love it, Kaoru,” you quickly interrupt when he starts to backpedal. “Sorry, I just was thinking that it looks kind of expensive...”

“Well, ha, you see—”

“Kaoru, how much did you spend on this?”

he stays quiet for a moment, knowing how you’d react when he tells you

he finally pipes up when you give him the look™️

“It was, um, ¥43,687...”

“Kaoru Hitachiin!” you screech, fully turning to face him with a horrified expression

“What? It’s not that bad!” he shouts, his cheeks starting to warm for some reason

“Not that bad? Not that bad? You’re right. ¥43,687 is way worse than bad!”

he groans and rolls his eyes, taking the box from you and taking the necklace out

“Turn around.”

“No way! What if I break it? What if I lose it? What if—”

“What if zombies raised from the ground right now and killed me? Bam! Dead! Wouldn’t you want something to remember me by?” he teases with a smirk

it’s your turn to huff and roll your eyes now

“That would never happen.”

“Well, yours would never happen either,” he argues

“Yes it could!”

“We can go back and forth all day, sweetheart. We can never know the future and it’s best to just live in the present.”

When you don’t reply, he smiles at you and holds up the necklace

“You like it, right?”

“Well yes, but—“

“And you like me, right?”

“Kaoru—”

“Do you?”

“Yes! But, Kaoru—”

“Then put it on!”

you two have a stare off before you give in, letting out a hefty sigh and turning to put your back to him

he slips the necklace onto you and your hand instantly goes to the ferris wheel pendant resting between your collar bones

“There. Ya see? That wasn’t so bad and you look even more beautiful than usual.”

your cheeks warm with the compliment as you spin around to face him again

“Shut up and kiss me,” you snap with a pout

he chuckles and leans forward to do just that

first “I love you”:

you both actually wanted to say this on your picnic date but both ended up chickening out since you both thought it was too soon

ever since then, you both have tried and failed to say it

when is the right time to say it? How long do you have to be dating for it to be okay? What if the other person wasn’t ready to say it back yet?

yeah, a lot of unnecessary worries and insecurities

it isn’t until it’s almost your sixth month anniversary that Kaoru finally works up the nerve to say it

he was planning a little get away vacation for you two during the summer

when you came over to his house one day to hangout, he first plays it cool

you two do the normal stuff whenever you two hangout, watch your show, makeout a little, make food, the works

after you two are done eating and go to continue watching your show, he stops you

“Hey, there’s something I want to show you.”

you raise your brow at this, wondering what he could want to show you

maybe a new show he wants to watch?

“Yeah?” you ask, watching him pull something out from between the couch cushions

he hands over an envelope to you with a smirk, making your brows furrow

a letter?

“Go on. Open it,” he says with a chuckle

you let out a short hum in reply and begin to open it up

you pull out two tickets to something, turning them around to look at the front

“Are these first class tickets to Italy?” you ask, your voice trembling a bit

“Yeah! I figured it was about time we went somewhere together!”

you shake your head and offer the tickets back to him, feeling as if you’re going to be sick

“Kaoru, no. This is too much. I don’t need to go somewhere far or fancy or expensive to have fun with you,” you force out with wide eyes

he frowns at your words, refusing to take the tickets out of your shaky hands

“What? (Y/n), this is an amazing opportunity! Besides, these tickets were for me and Hikaru to go with our mom to one of her fashion shows in Italy. Hikaru is grounded now though for that stunt he pulled in class and she asked if I’d like to take you instead,” he explains with a soft smile, bringing his hand to your free one to give it a squeeze

you relax a bit at this news, now knowing he didn’t waste thousands of yen on you

“Your mom offered?” He nods his head. “You’re sure she doesn’t mind me coming?”

“Of course not, baby. You haven’t been around her much since she works so often, but she really does like you. She wouldn’t have asked you to come if she didn’t want you there. Plus, she has to punish Hikaru somehow.”

you chuckle at that last part with a nod of your head

“Okay, fine. I’ll ask my parents about it and see if they’ll be okay with me going,” you agree

he lets out an excited squeal and surges towards you for a hug

“Yes! You’re the best! I love you!”

at the three words, you both freeze and stare at each other, both of your faces heating up to a dangerous degree

“Sorry, I, um, I d—”

“I love you too, Kaoru,” you rush out before he can take it back

his grin comes right back to his face before he kisses you passionately

first trip together:

turns out your parents were okay with you going since Kaoru’s mom will be there

when you three were on the plane, you and Kaoru leaned against each other the entire time

to keep you busy, you two watched your show and movies, played card games, played games with each other on your phones, and so on

when you all finally reach your destination, you’re exhausted but you instantly perk up when you reach your ride to your hotel

you climb into the limo and both you and your boyfriend ‘ooh’ and ‘aah’ at the beautiful scenery

when you get to the hotel, his mother announces that Hikaru will share a bed with her while you get the other one. You don’t really mind since she’s paying for all this and you’re in Italy for crying out loud, but Kaoru whines and pouts for at least fifteen minutes

once you’re all in your jammies, you all practically pass out as soon as your heads hit the pillows

you three were there for two weeks and you and Kaoru had so many cute dates

you went hiking, rode on gondolas, went on tours, took cooking classes, saw a musical, visited ancient buildings, went to the beach and did lots of swimming (where Kaoru got burned), and lots more!

his mom even let you participate in her fashion show

she dressed you up in expensive clothing and pushed you to walk on the runway

you were nervous at first but eventually got into it the more claps and cheers (from Kaoru) you got

it was honestly some of the best days of your entire life

when it was the last day of being in Italy, Kaoru took you on your last date in the beautiful country

you both shared lots of ‘I love you’s followed by several kisses

⊱ ────── {⋅. ♪ .⋅} ────── ⊰

MASTERLIST

More with Kaoru

Tag List: @pointlesslygay, @katsuhera ✦ if you would like to be added or removed, comment or send an ask. Also, remember to tell me if you ever change your username so I can continue to tag you :)

⊱ ────── {⋅. ♪ .⋅} ────── ⊰

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pyroclastic727 · 4 years ago

Text

Is Amity autistic?

In the Owl House fandom, we hear a lot about how Luz is written to be ADHD. Now I would like to present the flipside: Amity is coded as autistic.

Here’s the breakdown.

Amity is touch-averse. “BuT aMiTy ToUcHeS LuZ aLL tHe TiMe” nice try. The key to autistic touch-aversion is only being okay with touch when she initiates it. And that totally matches up with Amity. See, Amity is really happy when she initiates touch with Luz. She’s also cool with it when Luz holds her hand after standing near her for enough time that Amity can predict an incoming touch. That’s because Amity consents to that touch and expects it.

But when other people touch her? She doesn’t take kindly to that. When Luz initially bumped into her at Covention, she snapped at her and degraded her. Even when she bumped into Luz in Enchanting Grom Fright, her initial instinct was to snap at Luz, since she didn’t expect to be touched. When Hooty touched Amity’s face without consent, she flipped out and beat him up. Not even Lilith beat Hooty up when he wrapped her up in his mucus-filled tube, but Amity gave Hooty the injuries we all wanted to see him with, because he breached her boundaries without her consent. Even as late as the last episode, Amity fell over when her face got close to Luz’s on the bleachers, because she didn’t expect it.

Amity stims. Okay, this one took me a while to catch, since most of the time, Amity is very controlled with her actions. This symptom isn’t very intense; her senses aren’t understimulated too often, and she really only does it when she’s really excited.

Mainly, when Luz offered to carry her. While she adorably scrambled for words, she also flapped her hands against her legs. At first I thought it was just a cute thing she did, but there’s more to it. She was so excited to be held by Luz that it showed up in her hands flapping...a common stim. With Amity feeling more comfortable around her new friends than the old ones, I wouldn’t be surprised to see more stimming in the future.

Amity always has The Mask as her expression. You know, the one with her eyes half-lidded, eyebrows raised, mouth slightly downturned. I also call it the Resting Blight Face, for...reasons.

At first I thought it was just a way to hide her true emotions, since her parents are assholes. But even though Luz makes her feel accepted, she keeps doing it. It’s more like...you know that feeling when you’re thinking really hard, or uncomfortable, or ashamed, or even just relaxed, and you can’t think of which expression to wear quickly enough, so you put on an unreadable one to tide people over? Apparently most people don’t do that, since allistic people tend to have expressions for those feelings, ones that arise naturally.

Another symptom of autism is having hard-to-read expressions, or being less expressive. In Amity’s case, it’s the fact that she doesn’t see a need to have an expression in calmer moments, so she just uses her usual expression.

Amity hyperfixates. This has several facets, so I’ll break this down.

She initially hyperfixated on school. And that’s how she became top student. Amity Blight is who you would mistake for a “gifted student.” But make no mistake...she is not gifted, and gifted is a bullshit label used to overexert people and force them to keep school as their special interest for their entire lives (and I may have a bit of a vendetta against it). Anyways, we already know she’s a perfectionist. My theory is that Amity originally was hyperfocused on school--the Abominations track, to be exact--and that’s part of how she got so good. Then, her focus shifted, but the school expected her to keep being top student. Cue the perfectionism; she was no longer able to focus on school like she wanted to, but everyone expected her to, so she got insecure about it.

She hyperfixates on Azura, just like Luz did. Yeah, she keeps it secret from the world, for most of the time. But she definitely likes Azura a lot. I mean, she started to reconsider her opinion on Luz when Luz offered her an Azura book. She destroyed her jock career because she tried to use an Azura move in real-life Grudgby. Her interest in Azura is long-lived, starting about the time that her interest in school would have expired (which would explain why she stayed closeted). And we can’t ignore the fact that she sees Azura in Luz and is definitely enjoying the parallels between herself and her fictional counterpart. (Which might not be a coincidence, but that’s an entirely different theory).

She hyperfixates on Luz. Yes, part of this is a crush. But a lot of us have watched Amity’s personality go from alpha bitch to cutest little bean in the Boiling Isles, all thanks to Luz’s influence. Lumity is not a rivals-to-lovers speedrun due to bad writing, it’s due to Amity hyperfixating. She’s already extremely introspective, going so far as to keep a diary where she analyzes and makes sense of herself. It’s not a stretch to say that she identified the faults that kept her from Luz and worked hard to change those off-screen.

Amity keeps a journal. To me, this seems like masking. You see, Amity is what people would consider to be high-functioning, since she can pass for allistic. But in order to do this, she has to put in significant effort on her part. See, when she does something that makes it so she doesn’t pass, she just sees it as a problem (since she probably doesn’t know about autism, and she passes well enough that she would totally be undiagnosed). Then she tries to fix the problem, in order to keep being perfect.

Amity has awkward body language. Thanks to the journal and other ways of masking, you don’t see this early on. But once she feels comfortable enough around Luz to let her guard down...she completely forgets boundaries. To review: in episodes 15-17, she throws herself at Luz, holds her formal rival’s hand for 24.71 seconds, blushes every time she sees Luz, and loudly declares her thirsty thoughts about Luz in uniform before literally running away. While some of this can be seen as normal gal pal things or crush things...you’d think a repressed wlw like Amity would try very hard not to touch Luz, so as to avoid being outed. Or at least she would do less of that stuff, so as to respect Luz’s boundaries the way she wants her boundaries to be respected. But that’s not the case, since she straight-up misses a lot of social cues. And since she feels comfortable around Luz, she doesn’t feel the pressure to be so paranoid about the cues, and can be her awkward self. From her point of view, she probably sees it as being freed from her parents’ judgment.

Amity takes things literally, sometimes. Now, this doesn’t happen all the time, since she isn’t heavily affected by this autistic trait. But when Luz says “I’m picking up what you’re putting down” and Amity says “I’m not putting down anything” and looks down...she not only missed the conclusion Luz drew from her words, but also assumed a literal meaning from her words. I can’t come up with many other instances of this, mostly because this doesn’t happen often. I would assume that Amity missed these a lot early on, and learned how to mask/identify them.

Amity is easily upset when things don’t go as planned. Let’s review these. In the library, she gets really mad at Luz when they end up stitched to a book, and it takes Luz’s sweet personality to get Amity to loosen up and laugh over it. When she goes to practice magic, and Luz steals her wand and uses it to get her siblings kidnapped, Amity locks Luz in a cage and assumes that she will get badly injured if she tries to fix the problems she caused. When Luz comes to her school, she panics and focus on how that doesn’t change anything. When she burns Willow’s mind, she appears absolutely terrified of being punished, flinching and bracing for impact when Luz finds her near the memories, constantly trying to distract Luz as they work together to save Willow, and hiding behind Luz when she confronts the Inner Willow. When Luz asks her to join her in Grudgby, Amity doesn’t initially agree, instead taking much more of the episode to come to terms with her involvement in it.

Amity likes predictability. She’s not attached to routines, but she does like being able to expect things. If she makes a plan for the day, she expects that day to adhere to that plan, and she doesn’t respond well when it changes. When Luz comes to her school, she focus on how that doesn’t change anything...not how that would ruin things or complicate things. Whenever she gets involved in Luz’s shenanigans, she either gets angry, scared, or takes a while to accept it. In a broader sense, she takes a while to accept that Luz and her shenanigans are a permanent fixture in her life--sixteen episodes, to be exact.

Finally, it would make for some excellent representation. An ADHD Dominican-American bisexual protagonist is pretty groundbreaking. But an ADHD Dominican-American bisexual protagonist girl who dates an autistic wlw witch girl from another dimension is exactly the kind of intersectional representation you’d expect to see from an unrestricted Owl House crew.

...Now, this might just be me hardcore projecting. I’m a little scared to post this because I don’t know how much of this is me reading into imaginary things, or trying to convince myself that Amity is like me. Feel free to debate/disprove me or support me in the comments.

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sugalaritae · 3 years ago

Text

starstruck pt. 4 (kth & myg)

pairing: taehyung x yoongi, taehyung x plus-sized-reader (f), yoongi x plus-sized reader (f)

genre(s): angst, a bit of fluff

au(s): non-idol, university au, f2l

word count: 9.6k

rating: 18+

chapter summary: it's a few months before you and taehyung meet at the gym when taehyung had confidence in himself. taehyung didn't want to go to the party but when his best friend and roommate, jungkook, insisted and gave him two shots to start off his night, he goes. the night is spent a little too drunk until he finally starts to sober up and sees someone he wants to kiss. in the present you are spending your afternoon texting the cute barista, flirting and getting to know each other, when yoongi invites you over you're expecting a fun and relaxed evening until a confession.

warnings: a lot of drinking, taehyung is VERY drunk, peer pressure, talk about miscommunication with consent, mentions of drunk sex/making out, yoongi is an asshole, LOTS of insecurities, parties, drugs (weed), taehyung gets angry with jungkook, tae feels humiliated, lots of time jumps, kissing, making out, someone has a hard time avoiding looking at breasts

author’s note: hellooooo!! i'm so excited for this chapter to be released. it took longer than i wanted mainly because i thought i had lost steam for it but then everything came rushing back and i couldn't stop writing. thank you for all the support for this. it means a lot to me. everything is about to get more complicated, more angsty, fluffy, and smutty!! so, welcome to the chaos! thank you so much to the incredible @taetaesbaebaepsae who is an AMAZING beta!! and thank you to @introlxv for the banner!!!

tag list: @halesandy @kookthief © sugalaritae, 2022. you do not have any permission to repost or translate my work even if you give credit. all of this is mine.

TAEHYUNG - A few months earlier

The music could be heard as soon as he got out of the car. His head was already swimming with the alcohol that Jungkook had poured down him to loosen him up for the party. It wasn’t that he didn’t like parties, he loved being around people, it was this night. Something in him wasn’t in the mood to be around so many people he didn’t know. He wanted to stay at home and talk with all his friends, but instead Jungkook insisted that he come with him so that he wasn’t alone on a Friday night. Tae didn’t know what was so special about a Friday night that made everyone think they needed to celebrate the work week ending. Most people he knew worked through the weekend, especially since they went to school during the week. There wasn’t anything special about any Friday night and especially not this Friday night.

Jungkook had poured him two shots and insisted that he down them fast.

“Dude, the party started over an hour ago and when we get there everyone is going to already be drunk, so we need to catch up.”

Taehyung hated how easily he gave into peer pressure, especially when Jungkook was involved. That was the downside of their friendship, not to mention the fact that Tae was horrible at saying no to anything when kook gave him an arched eyebrow and that stupid lopsided grin that was filled with mischief and a child’s curiosity. It was a look that Tae had never seen in anyone except Jungkook, and he hoped to keep it that way because if there were any more of them then he would be royally fucked.

The car ride had been dizzying as the alcohol settled in his system and seemed to take over his brain. He didn’t like returning to the university that he had been forced to drop out of. All that money he had saved up, the scholarships that he had worked so hard for gone to waste; but nowhere else in town that had parties like this and so, he often found himself accompanying his friend to campus parties.

His mind snapped awake as he felt Jungkook’s hands slap his shoulders as he pressed his body against Taehyung for a moment before he moved beside him and kept one hand on his shoulder. Taehyung looked at the hand pressed into his shirt, the black ink that decorated Jungkook’s hand made him dizzy and he shook his head to bring himself back.

“Are you ready?” Jungkook asked and Tae laughed with a little shake of his head. “Oh bro! It’s going to be so much fun! We’re going to find incredibly sexy people to make out with, maybe even go home with, and if we don’t find either then we’re just going to have a blast dancing and socializing!” His friend’s voice was full of excitement with an edge to it that Tae guessed was the alcohol.

“And if I don’t like it?” He asked.

Jungkook shook his head, “not going to happen.”

Small groups decorated the front lawn like giant lawn ornaments, he watched all of them talking amongst each other, laughing, and having fun and a realization swept over him. He needed to just relax and have fun. His friend was right, he hadn’t been to a party in a few weeks, and he couldn’t remember the last time that he had been kissed by someone, so this needed to happen. As usual Jungkook was right, and he was glad that he came.

______

Taehyung [14:05]: How was class?

You [14:06]: Boring. Review class that the prof likes to have before each exam. It’s always just the same people asking questions that have been discussed already.

Taehyung [14:06]: Perhaps they didn’t understand it the first time it was discussed or weren’t there that day.

You [14:06]: You make a very good point.

Taehyung [14:08]: I really hope you don’t get used to those happening

You [14:08]: I seem like the kind of guy that would amazing points all the time

Teahyung [14:09]: I should keep making you think amazing points then. So, you agree to a second date

You [14:10]: We haven’t gone on a first date yet

Teahyung [14:10]: I’m being proactive

Taehyung [14:10]: Either that or I am just leading you to disappointment when you realize that I rarely have good points let alone “amazing” points

You [14:11]: I really doubt that is true. You’re being hard on yourself.

You [14:11]: And I don’t need amazing points all the time. Once in a while is enough for me. Especially when they make me reconsider how judgmental i can be.

Taehyung [14:12]: I don’t think you were being judgmental. It’s easy to be annoyed in those kinds of classes when certain people dominate.

Taehyung [14:12]: i’ve been the person who couldn’t attend all the classes and had to ask the questions in the review classes.

You [14:12]: I’m sorry, I really didn’t mean to be so inconsiderate

Taehyung [14:13]: You really don’t have to worry about it, and you don’t have to apologize.

______

The room was thick with sweat and smoke that lingered with the lack of air movement. Taehyung felt like he was swimming through the bodies and energy, or perhaps that was just his head. The shots taken at the apartment had settled somewhere in the back of his brain and that was before the two red cups full of cheap beer were swallowed in a quick hurry to catch up to Jungkook, who was nowhere to be found.

He should have suspected something like this would happen. He loved his friend but whenever Jungkook dragged him out under the promise to get him laid, it was always Jungkook that took a woman home. There had been times when he had woken up with someone in his bed, but those moments were few and far between.

It wasn’t that he was shy or nervous, he could pull just as much as his friends could, he just preferred to have something more than a one-night stand with someone where the only connection was that they both thought they were hot.

That is, unless he had enough booze in him and he was reaching that limit.

He spotted Jungkook talking to a friend. The two men sat close together. The booze was making it difficult to remember the friend’s name. Or maybe it was the pink hair that was throwing him, he couldn’t remember the last time that he had seen him, but it had to have been recently.

He racked his brain for where they had met and then it had clicked in as the older man laughed. That laugh would shock anyone no matter how much booze or drugs they had consumed - Hobi. He looked more relaxed than he had been when taehyung had first met him. The night of a dance recital if he could remember correctly, or perhaps it was the yoga class that Jungkook had dragged him to.

God! He had drunk too much.

He collapsed on the sofa next to Jungkook, the room spun. His eyes slammed shut to stop the world from moving faster than it needed to and let his head fall against his friend’s shoulder.

He heard Jungkook laugh.

“Fuck dude, you okay?”

______

Yoongi [14:45]: I haven’t seen you in a few days and I miss your face

You [14:46]: Just my face?

Yoongi [14:46]: Yup. No need to bring any other part of you.

You [14:47]: Creepy

Yoongi [14:50]: How do we remedy my missing you?

You [14:51]: You only miss my face and I really don’t think I want to part with it. I could make you a mask, so like can you keep missing my face for another week or two?

Yoongi [14:53]: If I have to…

Yoongi [14:53]: I miss all of you.

Yoongi [14:54]: Have you been avoiding me?

You [14:55]: No!! I miss you too. I’ve just been so busy with school and work!!

Yoongi [14:55]: I thought I had done something wrong

You [14:56]: What could you have done that would make me stop talking to you?

Yoongi [14:57]: i’ve been trying to think of a reason!

You [14:57]: You’re ridiculous.

Yoongi [14:57]: This is not the first time that someone has said this to me. So, when do I get to see you? Dinner? Lunch? Study time? I don’t care when or why, I just want to see you

You [14:57]: Wow! Desperate? 😉

Yoongi [14:57]: Maybe a little

You [14:58]: I have a date on Friday so before then?

Yoongi [14:58]: Oh! Guy from the cafe/gym?

You [14:59]: Yeah! He slid into my dms ️

Yoongi [15:00]: Smooth. Available tonight? It’s Jin and i’s night to cook together. You can just sit there, look pretty and study if you need to or you are more than welcome to tell us stories and distract us from cooking.

You [15:00]: Yes!!! What time?

Yoongi [15:04]: Come over anytime! Like I said, I miss all of you and I was going to write today but I’d rather see you

You [15:06]: I’m on my way with drinks

Yoongi [15:06]: Can’t wait

______

“I want to kiss someone,” he heard himself say. Though he still wasn’t entirely sure the words came from him.

He was sitting outside on one of the plastic chairs, a bottle of water in his hands sending a chill through his palms and into his wrists where it suddenly stopped. His head hung like a weight he had been carrying for too long.

“When you sober up a little, we’ll find you someone to kiss,” Jungkook said with a little laugh and a pat on his back that Taehyung was sure was the hardest that he had ever been touched by the other man.

It was a little embarrassing to be in this state. Taehyung didn’t like getting drunk. He hated the way that his body took alcohol. His friends could all drink double what he could without getting as blasted as he usually ended up feeling.

As he sat there, occasionally taking sips of the water and almost always struggling with the cap, he went through the exploration of feelings.

Embarrassed that he was currently surrounded by a group of people that all shared a commonality that he no longer shared, how much of an outsider he felt as the conversations of classes and professors swam in his ears.

Next was self-pity and how pathetic he felt and must have looked as Jungkook patted his back with that beautifully inked hand of his. Then anger shot through the earth and up his spine.

Fuck Jungkook for insisting he take shots before they got to the party. He could have been kissing someone now if he wasn’t hunched over in the backyard like an incredibly pathetic dying animal. No one else was in the state he was in, and he hated it. He felt like his skin was itching and he needed to move and get sober.

He needed to get sober or else he was going to cry.

“Why did you make me take those shots?” He groaned.

Jungkook pushed the bottle as a sign to get him to drink and another groan slipped out of him as if the button to his groans were the bottle in his hand.

“I’m never drinking when you tell me to drink again. Jesus fuck.”

His friend stayed silent, feelings of regret and sadness pushed their way onto Jungkook’s ego and penetrated like a virus. Jungkook just wanted Taehyung to have fun and loosen up a little. He never meant for him to get this bad, but he knows not all the guilt can rest on his shoulders. He’ll take the responsibility for the first two shots but anything that happened after that is Taehyung’s.

Or maybe Jungkook has that wrong. Maybe because he pressed those shots into his friend’s hands, all the embarrassment and anger that Taehyung was feeling now should rest solely on his shoulders.

“Sorry, bro.” Jungkook muttered and sighed. He didn’t like the feeling of disappointing his friends, especially Taehyung. The two of them only really had each other. The problem was that Jungkook didn’t know how to really voice his feelings about that. Sure, he had friends outside of Taehyung and vice versa but no one came close to the relationship that they had, and he wouldn’t have it any other way.

So, knowing he had disappointed and embarrassed Taehyung crushed him just a little.

“We can leave, if you want.”

“What?” Taehyung breathed out, his head shot up too fast and the whoosh of air that tunneled around his ears made his stomach flip.

“I said we can leave, if you want to. I don’t know too many people here anyway, and since you’re not feeling great, we can go back home and rest until you’re feeling better.”

Taehyung shook his head. “Nah, man. I’ll be okay. I just need to throw up or something and then drink a shit ton of water.”

Jungkook nodded. “k.”

______

Taehyung [15:10]: What’s one thing you want to do before the year is out?

You [15:11]: Such a random question!

Taehyung [15:11]: Get used to it. Anyway, these kinds of questions say a lot about a person, and I always feel like it eases the first date a bit when you have a few conversations between the two of you, even if they are just over text.

You [15:12]: It’s been a while since I’ve been on a first date

Taehyung [15:12]: Really?!

You [15:13]: Ya. Surprised?

Taehyung [15:13]: Ya I am

You [15:14]: I hope that’s a good surprised.

Taehyung [15:15]: It is. Just would have thought you’d date a lot

You [15:16]: Thanks?

Taehyung [15:16]: oh! Shit! No like, you’re gorgeous and i just kind of thought there would be a lot of people asking you out

You [15:17]: Thank you 😊 I haven’t really been wanting to date after my last relationship

Taehyung [15:19]: Shitty end or shitty relationship?

You [15:20]: A bit of both

Taehyung [15:21]: Sorry

Taehyung [15:25]: You never answered my question. What’s one thing you would like to do before the year is out?

You [15:27]: I have to think about this!

Taehyung [15:28]: You have two hours. I’ll check in later 😊

______

The world was slowly starting to make sense again. It had stopped spinning and he was feeling a little more like himself again. Enough, at least, to notice the slight frown that his friend was wearing as he sat on the bathroom counter, his legs dangling with small little kicks.

“What’s wrong?” he asked as he shifted on the floor and leaned against the wall.

“I just feel bad for making you drink like this, I know you don’t like to drink, and I basically forced those shots down your throat,” his friend answered.

“It’s all good.”

Jungkook arched an eyebrow as if to ask him really? And Taehyung chuckled a little.

“Yeah man, I’m fine. There’s no beef between us, promise.”

He watched as his friend visibly relaxed. Taehyung’s mouth pinched upward in a half smile as he watched his friend. There really was no one else in this world that understood him quite like Jungkook and while he had been angry with him, everything had disappeared in a swirl down the pipes along with his sick.

“I’m still in the mood to kiss someone,” he said with a laugh hiding under his tone.

He tried not to grin as he watched Jungkook arch an eyebrow and look at him.

“There’s no fucking way I’m kissing you.”

Taehyung’s mouth pulled into a full smile at the earnestness behind Jungkook’s words.

While many thought that the two were a couple with the way that they looked and touched each other, they always disappointed the people who asked. His friend was the straightest person he knew.

“I don’t feel that guilty,” Jungkook shook his head at him as soon as he saw the look on Taehyung’s face and made a happy surprised laugh echo through the small room.

“Any mouthwash?” Taehyung asked and nodded toward the mirrored cabinets that were behind Jungkook’s head.

Jungkook swirled around on the counter, opened one of the doors, and bent at the hip as he tried to peer in for a moment before he closed the cabinet and opened the second one, this time he leaned forward.

“Yup!”

Taehyung pushed himself up off the ground and groaned at the sudden shift. His long fingers gripped the towel wrack and Jungkook put a hand out ready to steady his friend despite the distance between the two.

“You good?”

He nodded and stepped to the counter, opened the mouthwash, and poured a bit into the lid before he shot the liquid back, careful not to touch the plastic to his lips. The mint hit the back of his throat and he gagged a little before he swished the gross (and hot?!) liquid around for a moment. He spat it out and Jungkook shifted away from the sink just in time as some of the bright green mouthwash hit the side of the sink and sprayed onto the counter.

“Sorry.” Taehyung muttered and Jungkook shook his head.

It wasn’t until he looked in the mirror did he realize just how horrible he looked.

“Fuck, man. I look rough.”

Jungkook chuckled and nodded.

He turned on the water and let it run cold before he dipped his hands under it, a sudden shock of sobriety radiated through his palms that quickly disappeared as it battled the alcohol already in his system. He stood like that, the water cooling his system as he listened to Jungkook talk.

“Hobi and I were talking downstairs and I think I’m going to go to one of his dance classes…”

The rest became static as Taehyung paid attention to the sound of the water and then the feel of it against his face as he splashed his hands up to his cheeks. Letting his cold palms stay on his warm cheeks for a moment before he pushed the water down onto his neck and back around until he could feel his hair at the back of his neck.

He shivered as a drop of the cold water slid down his back. He could feel the alcohol lose the battle. Thank god, he would be back to his normal self soon. Or at least his tipsy self.

He was never going to drink again.

______

Yoongi [15:28]: Where you at? If you don’t hurry up I’m going to have to write things

You [15:29]: Would that be so bad?

Yoongi [15:29]: Yes.

You [15:30]: For someone who wants to be a writer full time, you sure don’t like writing…

Yoongi [15:31]: That’s the best thing about being a writer. The absolute torture of it.

You [15:31]: You’re a masochist

Yoongi [15:32]: There are a lot of women and men who would disagree with that statement

You [15:32]: I don’t want to know!

Yoongi [15:33]: You sure?

You [15:33]: 🙄

Yoongi [15:34]: Are you coming over?

You [15:34]: Yes! I thought I had beer at my place but I didn’t, so I had to go and get more. I’m stuck in traffic

Yoongi [15:35]: Good. I mean I could have done without the drinks, we have some here but good!!

You [15:35]: you’re making me food. I’m going to give you drinks

Yoongi [15:35]: I’m not complaining, babe!!

You [15:36]: You better not

______

The guy with dark hair and a bright red bomber jacket hadn’t been at the party before, Taehyung was sure of that. The way that he commanded the room was admirable and Taehyung wished that he could hold the attention of the people around him like that.

He always got lost in the way that people spoke, preferring to watch them than interact unless there were people he knew and then he slipped into the conversation easily.

Fuck. This was why Jungkook had given him the shots. He stayed quiet instead of making conversation with strangers. It wasn’t like he didn’t like making conversation, it was just what he did every day for his job. He met hundreds of new people a day and that, after a while, was exhausting. When you were at a party with friends you only really wanted to talk to the people you knew instead of continuing the torture that was small talk.

Still, this guy, whether he knew the people he was talking to or not, seemed like he would dominate small talk. Either that or he would be quiet, and you would constantly want the attention of him. That was the kind of personality that Taehyung had always wanted but he didn’t know if he came off as confident or shy. He hoped it was the former.

“Who’s the guy Hobi is talking to?” Taehyung asked as Jungkook stepped onto the stair that Taehyung was still standing on, a few steps up from the hardwood floor.

“I have no idea. Seems cool though. I mean Hobi only really knows cool people.” Jungkook nodded proud of himself for that self-compliment. “Why don’t you go and talk to him?” Jungkook asked.

“What?”

“Yeah, I mean you have an in. He’s talking to Hobi and you know Hobi.”

Taehyung shook his head and pushed his hand into the back of his hair and shook it until finally his hand fell against his leg with a small little slap.

“Go. You wanted to kiss someone and maybe he could be that someone.” Jungkook said and pushed his friend off the step only to watch Taehyung trip just a little before he caught himself on the last step and turned to him with a glare.

“Go.” Jungkook urged with a whisper.

Taehyung took a deep breath and stuffed his hands into his pockets as he stepped off the stair. He wondered if he was sober enough for this. Consent was always a thing he worried about in situations like this. Parties were always a mess of confused consent and he never wanted to do anything or put someone in a situation that they would later regret or worse, wouldn’t remember.

He straightened and stepped beside Hobi who looked at him and gave him a wide grin.

“Feeling better?” He asked and Taehyung’s eyes shot open wide, his cheeks burned a little and his gaze shot to the floor for a moment before he looked back up at Hobi and then at the other man.

“Oh yeah, totally. Just needed some water,” he replied with a little laugh.

“good!” Hobi said with a slap on his shoulder and then pointed at the other man, “this is Min Yoongi. Yoongi, Kim Taehyung.”

He held out his hand and smiled as the other man, Yoongi, took it and shook swiftly. He thought he was doing a good job at acting cool, but the other guy didn’t seem super interested, and so he wondered if perhaps it was the booze that was making him think he was being cool when really, he was just a desperate mess trying to drunkenly get into someone’s pants.

“Nice to meet you,” he said as Yoongi let go of his hand and took a sip of his beer.

“Hobi!” Jungkook’s voice called and everyone in the small little group turned.

He was thankful for his friend, knowing just what to do, and acting the perfect wingman when he needed to be.

Hobi turned and was quickly escorted away, Jungkook’s arm slung over his shoulders as he began a conversation about something, Taehyung didn’t quite care what it was about, all his energy went to trying to think of a conversation topic to make Yoongi stay.

It was so easy to think about what to do. The conversations that you could come up with after you met someone new.

He would think of more conversation topics as he lay in bed later that night. He would agonize over what he could have done differently. What he should have done differently. He wouldn’t remember much of the next hour, but what he did remember would stick with him and make him worry that he had been the problem even when Jungkook would tell him that he had done everything right.

Now, he watched as Yoongi downed the drink in his solo cup and looked at him. The look shot shivers through his chest, and he wanted to take a deep breath as if the other looking at him could see through everything.

“I need another drink,” the shorter man said and took a few steps leaving Taehyung to think that he had lost it all. It was all stupid anyway, to be this attracted to someone.

“Are you coming?” The voice shot through the noise of the party and straight into Taehyung’s legs as he nodded more with surprise than in actual agreement.

“I haven’t seen you around before,” Taehyung heard himself say as he caught up to the other man. It was a stupid segue.

Taehyung didn’t really spend much time with the people that Jungkook spent his time with and when he did have free time, he certainly didn’t spend it on a campus that he felt was no longer welcoming to him.

“I could say the same,” Yoongi said as if he could read his mind. Taehyung wondered if the other man was a big partier or if he was like him and was only interested in the parties that his friends were at. The way that he carried himself it could be both.

“I used to spend more time on campus than I do now and I’m not really a party person,” he explained as he ruffled the back of his head again, a nervous habit that was birthed more out of the insecurity that his hair never looked quite the way he wanted it to than out of an urge to keep his hands occupied, though that was a factor.

“Hmm” was all he got back, and Tae wanted to hear more, to know more about this other man.

There was something about him that was both unnerving and exciting. He had thought he had gotten good at reading people after nearly four years of working in the service industry, but there were always the people who surprised him and that was what he loved about meeting new people. It was the small talk that always killed that curiosity. He would rather not get to know a new person than to sit through a few hours of awkward and horribly annoying small talk until both parties were comfortable with the other enough to let some of their walls down.

The booze was helping as the two made their way to the kitchen and he wondered where all the people were. Wasn’t the kitchen usually a hot location at a party like this?

He was okay with it though. It meant that he could have more time with the other man who was currently looking over the collection of bottles on the counter. It was chaos. Bottles without caps, some had cups over the top in replace of a cork or screw top; others were pushed over on the side small amounts of liquid incredibly still in corners of the bottle, others laying in a puddle of their own contents.

He watched as Yoongi chose a bottle of whiskey with a few ounces still left in it. He flicked the top off expertly and nearly emptied the whole contents into the cup he was still carrying around.

“Do you want some?” He asked, holding the bottle up in an offer.

“I think I should stick to water,” he answered, which earned him a little smirk.

“Is that what Hobi meant?”

“What?”

“If you were feeling better? Drink too much?”

Tae nodded with a little laugh. “I would love to blame my friend as he basically poured two shots down my throat before we got here but I can’t. I just can’t hold my liquor.”

Yoongi nodded. “I think that’s better than what the rest of us do.” He said before he took a long sip and leaned against the counter.

“And what is that?” Tae asked as he stepped beside the other man and rested his hand just beside Yoongi’s hip.

“Pretend like we can hold our liquor,” Yoongi answered before taking another sip. Taehyung wondered if he was catching onto a bit of sadness that was sitting on the other man’s forehead like pressure pushing down on his brow.

Maybe that was just the booze talking, he still wasn’t completely sober after all.

“Oh?” He asked as he looked at the cup that Yoongi was drinking from.

He watched, delighted, as the other man followed his gaze and laughed. It was such a good laugh too. Taehyung felt his heartbeat catch in his chest and, this time he allowed himself to take a deep breath.

“But now i can’t tell you that i actually can handle my booze.”

Taehyung shook his head, “no. You royally fucked yourself. No matter how much you tell me that you can, I won’t believe you.”

He watched Yoongi look at him with just one side of his mouth caught up in a smile.

“Too bad.” Yoongi mumbled and Tae watched as the other man’s gaze drifted to his lips for a moment, nerves, and heartbeat loud in his ears. If he needed any confirmation that the other man was interested in this, was it.

Or maybe that was the booze talking again.

______

Taehyung [16:00]: I’ve changed my mind. I want an answer now

You [16:05]: That was only half an hour! I haven’t even thought about an answer yet.

Taehyung [16:06]: I think I’m a little hurt you haven’t.

You [16:06]: Noooo

Taehyung [16:07]: First answer on the top of your head! And then I’ll tell you mine

You [16:08]: Go on a road trip somewhere. I don’t care if it’s only a few hours away, i would just really love to get away

You [16:08]: And go on a date with you

Taehyung [16:09]: You know how to make a man’s heart skip a few extra beats

You [16:09]: You have no idea

Taehyung [16:11]: 😳

You [16:14]: 😌

You [16:14]: What was your answer going to be?

Taehyung [16:20]: There are a few things that I want to do. A road trip sounds really nice so I’m stealing that and adding it to my list

You [16:20]: You’re welcome to

Taehyung [16:23]: The others mostly have to do with school

Taehyung [16:24]: And the incredibly obvious one - take you on more than one date

You [16:25]: You really know how to make a woman’s heart skip a few beats

Taehyung [16:25]: Oh, YOU have no idea.

______

The touch shot through his long fingers, and he was certain that if you looked closely enough the veins would show the movement of the touch as it pushed its way through to his chest until finally, he felt the incredible tightening that always came with first touches.

He didn’t know how he had ended up in a bedroom on the top floor, alone with Yoongi, but there they were. Tae had grabbed the doorknob first and felt the touch on his hand before he felt Yoongi’s body press against his back.

God, he wanted this more than anything else right now. The closeness of another body. He wanted to feel the touch of Yoongi’s lips on his own. He wanted to slip his hands into the jet-black hair of the other man and feel his skin pressed against his own. He felt desperate and needy. His confidence had seesawed with each step they took to climb to the top floor.

His breath caught in his throat and choked him with need as Yoongi turned the handle and pushed him into the room. He didn’t have time to look around, not that he cared that much.

He tripped a little and turned to look at the other man as he shut the door and closed the space between the two of them.

Yoongi’s lips pressed into his and he immediately felt weak in the knees. He had missed this kind of connection!! He wanted more.

He needily tugged at Yoongi’s shirt and slipped the tips of his long fingers through belt loops. He needed him closer.

His heart was in his mouth as Yoongi’s tongue joined his own. The taste of whiskey filled his senses and he felt drunk again.

Then as quickly as it had begun, it ended. Yoongi pulled away.

No, he pushed him away.

Taehyung stumbled back a few steps, his eyes wide as he took the older man in; his chest rose and fell quickly. He expected the man to pull him back again or throw him on the bed. Fuck! He hoped it was the latter.

Instead, he watched Yoongi as he shook his head and chuckled. The cruelty behind the chuckle shocked him and he wanted to close his eyes and disappear from the room.

He watched with a pinched brow as Yoongi raised a single hand and shook his head again.

“No.”

Then he was alone.

Everything moved in a blur. The drunk uncomfortable feeling was back. He wanted out of his skin, and he needed out of his head, and this damned fucking house.

He pushed past people on the stairs as he made his way to the front door, every step agonizing and cruel, tightening his chest with their vicious fingers. Finally, finally he saw the light and pushed past one more person as he opened the door and stumbled out.

“Tae!” He heard Jungkook’s voice call to him, but he couldn’t stop. If he stopped, he would cry and there was no fucking way he was crying in front of all these people. His ego was being humiliated each time Jungkook called after him.

“Dude!” Jungkook pulled his shoulder back. “What the fuck happened?”

“Nothing. I’m going home, are you coming?” He stared at his friend who was looking at him with the widest eyes filled with concern and fear.

“Yeah.”

YOU - present day

“This is what I get when I invite her over for food,” Yoongi teases as he looks at Jin and points to you as you type out a response to Taehyung.

“You’re incredibly boring.” Jin responds before he goes back to cutting the beef in thick slices for grilling.

“I had to answer a text. It’s rude not to answer text messages from potential boyfriends.” You answer and watch as Jin’s lips pinch together as he holds back a smile.

“Potential boyfriend?” Jin asks as he looks at you before he shoots a quick glance to Yoongi.

“She has a date,” Yoongi answers for you with a smirk followed by a wink. A wink that slaps something in your cheeks. You ignore it and shoot him a glare in response.

"I need details.” Jin says without looking up from what he is doing, almost as if he isn’t really interested in the subject matter but was humoring both you and Yoongi.

Or just you?

“Don’t you dare answer for me!” You shoot at Yoongi as you point at him, and he looks down at the cutting board as his mouth moves trying to decide whether to smile or not.

“There isn’t much to tell just yet. We met at the gym and then Yoongi and I ended up at the cafe he works at.” Your phone vibrates, and your gaze shoots to it as you read Taehyung’s text and your cheeks burn with happiness.

“Kismet.” You hear Jin’s voice full of mockery.

“Shut up!” You respond and this time he grins at you.

It was always like this with the three of you.

While you and Yoongi were closer than you and Jin, the relationship was that of slightly estranged siblings. As if you two had always been close but spent years apart and were getting to know each other all over again.

Yoongi had been the one to first point out how quick his roommate and you had instant chemistry. You loved to marvel at the different energies the two men gave off and yet how similar they were.

“I hope it goes well,” Jin says after a while, his tone serious, catching you off guard and you look at him with a little frown.

This was what he always did, and after two years you still weren’t used to the sudden change from goof and annoying big brother to serious and sincere adult.

“I’m serious, you deserve it after everything that Jimin put you through.” The kindness makes your face soften and your smile matches his sincerity.

“Thank you,” you say as you pick at the corner of your phone case suddenly feeling vulnerable.

You didn’t know how much he knew about what had happened between you and your ex-boyfriend, but you assumed that Yoongi had told him the bones of it.

He doesn’t say you’re welcome, instead he gives a little nod and turns his back on you and Yoongi as he carries the meat to the pan to sear.

______

Dinner is slow and relaxed. You are giddy from exchanging text messages with Taehyung, his answers making you smile, and a happy warm feeling builds in your chest as the conversation with Yoongi and Jin mix and mingle with the feeling of the text messages. It is moments like this that make you happy and content.

Slowly, the messages from Taehyung stop and your phone lays abandoned on the wooden coffee table in front of Jin and Yoongi’s sofa.

Occasionally you look at the dark screen that glares and tugs at your brain. You want to keep flirting. You want the attention from the beautiful man with the hands that stay in your mind long after you’ve watched the videos of him pouring lattes.

Eventually Jin says goodnight leaving you and Yoongi alone.

Finally, you pick up your phone and open the text chain with the man that occupies your mind. Your thumbs linger above the keyboard as you think about what you can say. You could tell him about the road trip you had been planning in your head for the last few months or would that be too boring? He seems interested in you and your plans; it was why he had asked what you wanted to accomplish before the year’s end. You could tell him that you still thought about his hands on your shoulders when he caught you at the gym.

You [22:06]: I would like to find out

“It’s weird,” Yoongi’s voice brings you back out of your phone, and you look at him hunched over the coffee table. He is barely sitting on the sofa, just connected with it enough to still be sitting.

Your gaze moves down his arms, the sleeve of his plain white tshirt bunched up around his shoulder and as his hands move you watch the muscles in his bicep flex and relax.

“What is that?” You ask desperate to loosen the tightness in your chest and the heat in your face.

He looks at you. You always liked him like this - relaxed, his face soft, his hair falling in his eyes. His gaze fell from you for a moment and onto the grinder in his hands as he closes the lid and he stares at it as he begins to twist, the soft crunching sound as the green buds are chewed up inside the round canister.

“What?” You ask again, your tone light and a laugh hinted in it. You push your foot against his thigh, and he lets out a breath of air as you notice a very small smile pull at his lips.

“I think I’m a little jealous.” He confesses, his voice low and tired.

“Of what??” You ask, shocked by this confession.

There isn’t really anything in your life that could elicit jealousy from your best friend. Perhaps he means he is jealous of something else, or someone else. Maybe he is talking about her. He tends to do that when it’s just the two of you or late at night, which now was a combination of both.

You want to laugh at the irony as jealousy wells in you at the thought of him being jealous of her. He hasn’t told you much about what had happened when he had run into her outside of their study group. You had pressed him for information, but he had just shrugged and told you that it was okay and that he had done it once and now it was going to be okay.

“You’re fucking impossible,” you groan annoyed that he is taking his time with the rest of his confession.

You want to know. Want to know if it was something about her, maybe she has a new boyfriend. If he is going to talk about her then you want to get it over with because you hate the feeling that always accompanies him pining over her.

“Him.”

You frown trying to think of who he was talking about.

“Jin?” You ask desperate to lighten the mood in case he is talking about her and a new boyfriend. God, you wish he told you more about his life.

He lets out another short and clipped laugh as he shakes his head.

“Then who? You’re really fucking annoying when you do this.” You complain as you open up your phone again desperate to try and distract yourself from this incredibly uncomfortable feeling that is growing in you.

You’ve been having such a good evening too and he has to go and ruin it. Couldn’t he just move on from her so that you both could go on with your lives? You hate seeing him constantly stuck on her. He deserves someone who loves him for who he is.

The women he has fallen in love with since you have known him have only ever cared about the outside. They like the jewelry and clothes he wears, how he carries himself, and how mysterious he is (one of them had even called him that once and it had made you irrationally angry). They never care to get to know him properly. They never care to read the poetry he writes, or even to care enough to know that he writes poetry. They never listen to him when he speaks about a piece of information about some obscure thing that always catches you off guard and makes you wonder what else he is keeping tucked away in that brain of his.

“The kid from the cafe.”

You stop, letting the words settle over you before you slowly move your gaze from your phone to him, only to find him staring at you.

“What?” You ask. The way he is looking at you makes your head swim, and you feel like you need to move but you aren’t sure if you should move away from or toward him.

“Like I said, it’s weird,” he answers.

“But why would you be jealous of him?” Your heart has quickened, and you feel like you can only breathe shallow breaths.

He shrugs and moves his gaze back to what he is busying himself with. He pulls out a thin piece of rolling paper and carefully sprinkles the now ground up herb in the middle. You watch his hands. You have touched those hands before, have held his hands, he has touched you with those hands, cupped your face and wiped away tears with those fingers, but you hadn’t ever really noticed how beautiful they are.

“I think because the last time you had a boyfriend I rarely saw you and I’ve really been enjoying the time that we’ve been spending together.” His voice is low; heavy, and it covers your body like a warm blanket.

“The last time I had a boyfriend you also had a girlfriend, and you spent a lot of time with her.” You shoot back quickly, your own jealousy evident and you wonder if he can pick up on that.

Your words seem to have no effect on him until finally he nods.

“Just don’t want to lose you, Trin.” He says softly and looks at you with that gaze again.

Has he ever looked at you like that? You shiver.

“You mean a lot to me and I think you deserve the world, and this little barista boy doesn’t seem like he could give you what you need.”

“And what is it that I need?” You ask as you pull your arms to your chest and cross them. The confusion and anger at his presumption making you feel like you need to protect yourself.

“You’re amazing, Trin. Like fucking incredible and you deserve to have someone who sees that. Who loves you for everything that you have to offer. This kid sees you in a gym a couple of times and asks you out? That seems sus to me, like -”

“Like what? Some guy can’t be attracted to me when I’m at the gym?” You cut him off.

He scoffs and you watch as his jaw tenses. “You know that isn’t what I meant.”

It must have been the look you give him that told him he needs to explain further or else you are leaving, because he does just that but not before his mouth opens and closes three times as if he is deciding just exactly what to say to start off his explanation.

“You’ve told me about the guys at the gym, that’s all,” he pauses and takes a deep breath before he continues. “You deserve someone who sees you for everything. You’re fucking beautiful so don’t give me that look. You know I think you’re gorgeous. I just…” he pauses again, and for a moment you think that he’s just going to stop, but instead he sighs. “I want you to have someone who sees you for all the beauty you have. You’re breathtaking when you enter a room and then when you talk about something you’re passionate about or fuck, just when you’re talking about something stupid, you’re perfect and it’s wonderful… you’re wonderful,” he finishes with a little shrug. “I don’t know.”

You sit there and take a deep breath. You run through possible sentences to say back to him but as you try to think of more your mind slowly allows all words to slowly slip away from you and instead the two of you sit in silence.

He rolls the joint and you watch as he licks the paper to seal it. Your gaze is locked on his lips and mouth before he hands you the joint without looking at you.

“Here.”

“Thanks.”

You take the joint and then lighter. The paper begins to feel wet between your lips as you hold the join there for a moment and then slowly you take it out and look at him.

“I love you,” you say softly as you held the joint between your index and middle finger. You slowly let your gaze fall on his face. He is beautiful in this low light, and you move to sit beside him, your thighs touching as you rest your head on his shoulder.

“I love you too,” he whispers, giving you the rare gift, as he wraps his arm around you and pulls you tighter to him.

YOONGI - present day

He sits against the back of the sofa, sinking into it as he rests, legs stretched out and feet on the coffee table. Your head rests in his lap, a position you have fallen asleep in countless times, and nothing should feel different or be different now.

And yet it is.

He is having a hard time concentrating on what is on the screen and you in his lap. This isn’t supposed to be how he is feeling toward you. He wants desperately to look down at you and to admire your sleeping beauty. His arm rests along the back of the sofa but as he slowly tears his gaze from the moving figures of your favorite actors and to you, his arm falls slightly, and he lifts the small, knitted blanket you bought him and pulls it up your arm.

His face softens as he looks at you. Your body moving with each soft breath that slips in and out of your body. Your face relaxed, your lips slightly parted, and without thinking he moves his hand to your hair and slowly begins to, gently, move your hair out of your face. The tips of his fingers grazing your soft and red cheek.

A moan slips out of you and plunges deep into his chest.

Fuck.

What the hell were you doing to him?

His hand stills as your eyes slowly open and you shift in his lap to look up at him, he smiles at you.

“Want to sleep over?” He asks.

“Can I?” You ask in return, and he nods.

“I’ll take the couch, you can have my bed.” He says as he moves his fingers into your hair again and then let his hand drop away from you as you sit up and rub at your eyes.

“Do you have some clothes i can sleep in?” The question takes him by surprise, but he nods.

It isn’t a strange request, you have slept in his clothes before, but everything is feeling strange and new to him tonight.

He pushes himself up off the sofa, picks up the remote and switches off the tv, and begins the walk down the hall to his bedroom. He can hear Jin’s light snoring from behind his friend’s closed door and he lets out a little chuckle as he pushes his hand into his hair and moves to his room.

His brain feels heavy, and he knows that it is probably the weed that you and he had smoked only an hour earlier but still there is something else there, something that is making him want to shake out.

He knows you are in the doorway when he pulls out a tshirt and a pair of clean boxers from his dresser.

“these, okay?” He asks as he holds them out to you.

You nod and take them silently.

He sits on the edge of the bed as you disappear into the washroom, his head falls into his hands as he rests his elbows against his thighs and sighs. What was making everything feel so different? Was it only because you were going on a date with someone after all these months of it just being the two of you? But it hadn’t just been the two of you, he has filled his time that isn’t spent with you or classes with different women and you have never expressed jealousy when he tells you that he was going out. Sure, you have threatened when you had found out that he had led a few of them on, and oh! Maybe that is when it all started. The thought of not having you in his life scares him.

“You don’t have to sleep on the couch,” your voice breaks his thoughts, and he looks up at you standing in the darkened doorway. The way his shirt clings to parts of your body has his head swimming. He needs to pull himself together, so he doesn’t lose himself and look at your chest, but fuck! Your breasts look amazing in his shirt.

“No?” He asks and you shake your head.

“I’ll go and change.”

He pulls another shirt and a pair of pajama pants from his dresser before leaving you alone in his room. You haven’t been in his room like this before. When you have slept over, which you have done so many times before, he has always taken the couch, so what makes tonight different?

A terrible thought breaks him as he thinks maybe you are just humoring him, making him feel better about confessing his jealousy.

He stares at his reflection as he pulls his sweater off and turns on the water and leans down. The cold water he splashes on his face is refreshing and just exactly what he needs to pull himself out of this.

He throws his clothes on the floor of his bedroom as he closes the door and smiles at you settled in his bed. You have turned off the lights and have turned on the light on his bedside table. The room feels gentle, soft, like you, as you lay in his bed. He wonders if you are feeling the energy or if it’s just him. Maybe it is just the weed. It has to be because this is all ridiculous.

You watch him as he moves around to the other side of the bed and slips in. He clears his throat and shoots you a smile. Your face looks so beautiful with the soft light from his bedside lamp.

“What?” You ask, your voice soft and peaceful.

“Nothing.” He feels his voice catch in his throat and he hopes you haven’t noticed. He pulls himself up to turn off the light and he takes a deep breath trying to catch himself and as he settles back into the now dark bed. You roll onto your side and move in the bed against him. He freezes as he grabs his arm and wrap it around your body, tugging him onto his side.

“I like to be the little spoon,” you mumble, and he takes a deep breath.

“I usually like to be the little spoon but I’ll give this to you this one time,” he jokes, giving you a half truth, and you laugh softly.

Your breathing changes and he can feel your heartbeat against his arm, each beat pumps against his veins and slowly your bodies are in sync. The two of you lay there in silence. He feels content. You still in his arms and he thinks you have fallen asleep before his chest tightens as you shift and roll over to look at him.

He doesn’t know where to look. How is it that you look so beautiful in the dark?

His gaze settles on your eyes just in time to watch your gaze shift to his lips and without thinking he closes the space between the two of you. His lips finding yours in the dark swiftly and easily.

It is soft. Your lips feel perfect against his, but you aren’t kissing him back, and so he slowly pulls back only for you to push against him. His chest pounds as he slips his hand against your cheek and shifts, deepening the kiss.

He feels like his lungs are already screaming for air and then all thoughts fall from him as you part your lips and slowly, so fucking painfully slow, drag the tip of your tongue along his bottom lip. You are giving him access he never thought he had.

He pushes his hand into your hair as your tongues dance together and he smiles into the kiss. He wants more. The feel of your body pressed against him as you kiss him makes his brain switch off and his body take over.

Have you always been this perfect?

Then, as quickly as it started, it is over. Both of you part at the same time. He rolls onto his back and stares up at the ceiling. He opens his mouth to apologize but your movement cuts him off and he lets out a breath he’s held as you settle your head against his chest and say nothing.

The two of you fall asleep like this, your breathing in sync.

______

He wakes the next morning without you beside him or in his arms. His bed has never felt so empty, and he brings both his hands to his face. What the fuck has he done?

His phone vibrates on the table beside his bed, and he throws a hand on it. He has to blink several times before his eyes adjust to the light from the screen.

You [08:14]: Thank you for letting me sleep over.

He thinks about what to type. Should he apologize? Tell you it was the weed or that he hadn’t been thinking? Another vibration hits his palm and his breath hitches.

You [08:16]: Should I cancel my date?

The question makes his ears ring and his chest tighten. It was too early for this. He doesn’t know what the hell to think or say to you. He had kissed you and then you had kissed him back. Right?

Or maybe he had imagined that.

Yoongi [08:23]: No problem. You’re a good cuddler.

He can’t ask you to cancel your date even if he wants you to. There are still things he isn’t ready for, and what would happen to your relationship if he did tell you to cancel? He can’t lose you, there is no way he is taking that chance. He sighs, knowing exactly what he needs to write and so he let his thumbs do the talking he can’t.

Yoongi [08:24]: We’ll see each other soon. Have fun on your date.

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previous || next

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a/n: i really hope that you enjoyed this chapter!! these two are absolutely fucking killing me and i hate all of them!

reblog!! like!! do all the things!! i want to know what you think 😍

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wintermelonbear · 3 years ago

Text

Artistry

Pairing: Damian Al-Ghul Wayne/Marinette Dupain-Cheng

Trope/s: Childhood Friends, No Powers AU

Summary: A story in which two seemingly dissimilar eight-year-olds build bonds through their love for martial arts. Written for the MGI Trope Tussle 2021.

Words: 4808

Damian and Marinette first met when they were 8 at his mother’s Wushu studio. At first glance they were an unlikely duo, before meeting in martial arts class their social circles ran entirely parallel with one another with Damian attending a private school that was a feeder for Gotham academy and Marinette attending a public elementary local to her, but they truly brought out the best in each other.

Damian had grown up inside his mother’s studio, working day in and day out from the tender age of 3 to improve his weaponry and martial arts skill. His mother and father, divorced but trying their best to co-parent for his sake, each preached to him about the importance of self-discipline and concentration. When his mother and her father, Ras himself a master martial artist, had competed in Wushu they were national champions. As a third-generation practitioner of Wushu, Damian had a lot riding on his shoulders.

Marinette’s mother had practiced Wushu as a child in China. When she first arrived in France she found herself disappointed that there were no local Chinese martial arts centers, let alone Wushu training centers. Sabine always thought it would be a passion she could pass down to her future child, but there was only so much she could teach on her own. However, as fate would have it, after a falling out with Tom’s father Roland the Dupain-Chengs found themselves in a city not too far from Gotham, New Jersey. Sabine was pleasantly surprised to find that the martial arts scene was much more alive there than it had been in Paris. However, between the bakery and her young daughter Sabine had little time to spend practicing martial arts. It wasn’t until Marinette’s kindergarten teacher suggested that Marinette be enrolled in a sport to better her hand-eye coordination that Sabine finally put her daughter into formal martial arts courses.

At first, everything was fine until it became apparent that Marinette was progressing much faster than her peers, despite her typical clumsiness she was surprisingly adept at martial arts. Sabine wasn’t entirely surprised as while Wushu was difficult to teach within the confined space they had at home, she still took the time to practice Tai Chi with her daughter on the weekends, providing Marinette with martial arts fundamentals and self-discipline. With Marinette’s slight inclination for martial arts paired with her hard work she was outperforming her classmates and even some of the older kids at the studio she went to. Eventually, Marinette found herself ostracized by her peers, but her teachers at the studio refused to advance her because they had an in-house rule where children could not be advanced more than two years past their age group. Tom and Sabine knew that pulling Marinette out of the sport entirely was off the table, the pure joy that spread across her face every time she mastered a new trick was proof enough that she was in love with the sport. So they set off to find a new studio to train at, where Marinette’s needs as a budding martial artist would be met. After looking around for a while, they decided to give Talia’s Wushu academy a try despite it being a little over a 30-minute drive from their house.

In regards to the first year of their friendship, Marinette would describe it as very professional, and almost nothing more. It took a while for Damian to become more cordial with her. When asked, Marinette would say “Damian didn’t like me, but he tolerated me enough as a partner because there was only so much practice he could have done alone.”

At first, Damian did not like Marinette at all, in fact, maybe he even hated her. When he first met her, Damian thought she was like every other “talented” kid that came into his mother’s studio, only to realize talent alone would get you nowhere in the sport of Wushu. On her first day, she immediately took up the spot next to him at the front and center of the class and offered him a warm smile, “Hello my name is Marinette, I’m new here.” Damian returned her greeting with a harsh tut of his tongue and the turn of his head, he was there to train, not to make friends. Marinette’s expression was aghast, but she quickly recovered and mumbled a soft “okay not talkative then…this is going great….” Damian suppressed an eye roll, simply because he knew his mother would not tolerate that in her classroom.

Against every one of Damian’s expectations, Marinette proved herself to be a hard-working individual. Eventually, after seeing her work on her technique and tricks after class during open gym hours, seeing that she wasn’t relying purely on natural ability and truly was putting in the effort to become a better martial artist, he began to tolerate her. The first time he returned her daily “Hello” with the nod of his head Marinette’s facial expression went from neutral to shocked to absolutely beaming. Damian simply raised his eyebrow and continued with his pre-class warmup.

Over time Marinette had grown a deep respect for Damian; she wished he was a bit friendlier, but despite their rough start Marinette realized early on that, while gruff and unfriendly, Damian was kind in his own way. He always pointed out when someone’s technique was wrong so that they wouldn’t hurt themselves, he always helped bandage someone up when they were hurt, and he always stayed after class to help his mom clean up. Most people would think he did it out of obligation or his mother’s demands, but Marinette loves people watching, and even after just a few months Marinette has observed that Talia would rather Damian use the time to better himself and will insist that she, or one of their workers, handle the menial tasks.

It was not until Damian saw Marinette work through her struggles that he gained respect for her. While Wushu is a largely performative sport where everyone’s moves are choreographed, Talia wanted to ensure everyone was also learning basic self-defense resulting in regularly held sparring sessions at the end of class. Marinette was a great performer, she was highly expressive and could easily recall choreography, but she had minimal exposure to actual sparring and her reflexes were not as sharp and trained like the others. She managed to win against her opponents in the first few classes by utilizing her creativity, but eventually, her lack of experience caught up with her and in her third month at the studio, she began her losing streak. Looking at her lose to her opponents time and time again he couldn’t help but wonder to himself, “will you still be here tomorrow?” Growing up in the studio, Damian knew that most of the people who were considered to be “gifted” had a tendency to drop out the moment things no longer came naturally to them, they grew frustrated with themselves and then with the sport. At this point, he figured he was just waiting for the other shoe to drop. Instead, the stage was set for her to become the most prevalent figure in his life.

Despite being in the same classes for over 3 months Damian and Marinette had never sparred. It was actually quite odd that they hadn’t yet sparred, the pairings for the most part were random. Talia reasoned that with the right circumstances even someone who seems weak could win; it was important to never underestimate an opponent and lower your guard. After bowing to one another their eyes met. If you asked them as adults they would unabashedly say that they love the other’s eyes, it was like staring at the calm before a storm. Their eyes were clear, fierce, and piercing. Despite being clearly disadvantaged Marinette showed no fear. She met his first few strikes blow for blow and even managed to evade a few of his strikes with a few unique tumbling passes – something Damian noted that she excelled in. He could tell she has been studying him, observing his strike patterns from his previous matches. Rather than reacting to his strikes, she was anticipating them – a smart move considering her reflexes were lacking. Unfortunately for Marinette, this meant that one unanticipated fake was all it took to defeat her.

That night during open gym hours Marinette approached Damian on her own for the first time. “There is only so much I can practice on my own, please train with me.”

“Why would I do that?” Damian held his face firm, his mouth in a thin line and his eyebrow slightly quirked.

Marinette’s eyes steeled over with conviction. “Did you know that every time you get up from xie bu you duck your chin down in your struggle to regain balance? It’s obvious you’re trying to shift your center of gravity. Instead, try leaning on your front leg from the beginning. The first few times you try this method, you should put a ball between your chin and neck to keep your head held up until you get used to it.”

“How did you–?”

“Notice? I love observing others, I can help you. There’s only so much we can practice on our own. I need help with my reflexes and you need someone who can review your performances. We can’t do this alone. You don’t have to like me, you just have to work with me. What do you say? Deal?”

“Tch. Deal.”

At first, their conversations mainly consisted of Marinette’s one-sided chatter during their warm-up, breaks, and cool-down stretches. It took a while for Marinette to get Damian to open up, but once she found the right topics she found that he was strongly opinionated about almost everything and shared quite a few hobbies with her. While Wushu was the common interest that brought them together, they were much more alike than they thought. They both enjoyed art, video games, and superhero shows to name a few common interests. Damian would say he would want to be a hero without any powers, someone who relies on their own skill to punish evil-doers. Marinette on the other hand would love to be a magical girl who could save others without causing too much damage. After hotly debating the topic of normal heroes and powered heroes, Damian and Marinette came to an agreement that both sides had their own set of struggles and perks.

Damian and Marinette found themselves spending more time with each other both inside and outside of the studio. After arguing over which type of paint was superior, Marinette was team watercolor because of its varied use, relative cheapness to oil paints, and blendability where Damian was a more traditional artist who believed that the blending capabilities of oil paint were just as good, if not better, and their longevity was worth the cost, the two decided to settle it with a paint off. Art sessions quickly became a biweekly tradition between the two, whenever the Gotham botanical garden would have a new exhibit Marinette would insist they go to sketch the flora. Damian quickly found that Marinette was almost as passionate about plants as he was about animals, with the way she flitted about the garden he couldn’t help but wonder if she had been something like a ladybug in her past life. There were also plenty of weekends spent sketching Damian’s pets, though Marinette would note that no drawings could capture what good boys Titus, Alfred the Cat, Jerry the Turkey, and Bat Cow were.

Together they found new ways to integrate Wushu into their hobbies, Marinette had plenty of friends at school who loved art and plenty of friends who did Wushu at the same center, but Damian was the only one she shared nearly all her passions with.

With their art, they began making flyers and posters for the studio, and banners to cheer on their classmates at competitions – Damian would argue he only did this because it would increase morale, which in turn would produce better results for the studio. Marinette struggled with the posters at first as a lot of proposed designs incorporated traditional Chinese characters, she couldn’t even write in Pinyin! Tom and Sabine had prioritized teaching Marinette about her French roots, in the event that one day they decided to move back to France, and neglected teaching her much about Chinese heritage. Marinette still learned basic conversational phrases: yes, no, please, thank you, and familial titles, but she was nowhere near conversational or fluent. After realizing Marinette did not know how to speak Mandarin Damian made it his personal goal to make her at least conversational before they would begin to travel internationally for competitions. Many of the major Wushu competitions took place in China and if Marinette was going to be his partner in the couples division he was going to make sure she was able to converse with any interviewers they may meet, and that if she were to end up lost – he swears Marinette was born without a sense of direction – that she could find her way back to him or their hotel. He hoped that while working on the banners he could work in a few lessons on traditional Chinese characters and simplified Chinese characters so that Marinette could at least read signs. Apart from art, reenacting scenes from video game cutscenes and superhero movies became one of their favorite activities, it became a way to train while still having plenty of fun. Sometimes after mastering a new move-in Ultimate Mecha Strike, they would break out the crash mats to test if the moves in the game were actually physically possible.

Even the hobbies Damian didn’t share with Marinette he was willing to partake in, and the fact that he was trying meant the world to Marinette. Damian was rarely physically affectionate in the first few years of their friendship, and it was even rarer for him to vocalize his emotions, and so Marinette quickly learned that Damian had a tendency to express himself through his actions. A lot of people failed to see how warm and loving Damian truly was, but Marinette saw it in how he interacted with everyone. For example, when Damian’s eldest brother opened up an acrobatics and gymnastics center Damian immediately volunteered to design and paint a mural on the outside that would more easily catch attention, Marinette watched him alter the design day and night and sort through hundreds of color palettes to ensure the pairing was just right. She saw his kindness through his interactions with his family and hers, the painting of her mom and dad baking, a gift from Damian for their 20th anniversary, hung up in the living room was more physical proof of it. When Marinette began sewing he proudly wore her designs and when she began to take commissions, he always kept her business card on his body in the event someone asked about his apparel.

One of Marinette’s fondest memories with Damian was when they decided to host a bake sale to offset the cost of international travel for the competition team. It was near the Mid-Autumn festival so Marinette and her parents decided to make mooncakes. Damian had some experience in the kitchen helping his mother make baozi and baklava, but he definitely wasn’t as experienced as Marinette who grew up in a bakery, yet he still came over to help them with the first few test batches and to help design packaging. Watching him carefully weigh out the ingredients her parents listed and chat about his favorite flavors with her parents in French filled her with so much warmth. The kitchen was filled with banter as a discourse between traditional baked mooncakes and skin mooncakes arose. Marinette and Sabine preferred snow skin mooncakes, the chewiness pairs well with pastes like red bean and taro, where Damian and Tom were strongly on the side of the more traditionally baked mooncake, arguing that the crumble of the pastry paired with fillings like salted egg and lotus paste was clearly superior. Marinette was unsurprised that Damian was strongly advocating for traditional flavors, but her father? The same man who made mustard macarons? It wasn’t until Marinette suggested thousand-layer mooncakes were simply croissants with a pasty filling that everyone else was willing to set aside their different preferences to unite against her. While the thousand layer mooncakes and traditional mooncakes baked, and the snow skin mooncakes steamed Marinette and Damian got to work on the packaging. In order to reduce cost, they had ordered plain packaging and planned to carve potato stamps with Mid-Autumn festival motifs: the moon, rabbits, flowers, fans, and lanterns. Despite having seen how proficient Damian was with a blade in training, Marinette was pleasantly surprised, if not downright awed, by Damian’s precision with a knife. By the time Marinette had finished carving out one flower Damian had finished three lantern carvings. After finishing stamping the final package Marinette daringly pressed the still paint-laden potato stamp onto Damian’s cheek which quickly devolved into a paint fight. The picture of Damian and Marinette covered head to two in paint was proudly pinned at the top of her corkboard, Marinette would never forget the sound of the kitchen filled with laughter that day.

Damian’s parents were extremely supportive of this arrangement. Talia thought it was a great opportunity, open gym hours were busy and she couldn’t give all her attention to Damian, having a training partner could really help him grow. If they got along well they could even enter paired events together! Bruce was enthralled that his son found someone to spend time with other than his friend Clark’s son, Jon. Jon and Damian were great friends, but Jon lived in Metropolis and so the boys rarely saw each other outside of business galas and Skype calls. It was nice knowing his son had someone he could spend time with in person, Bruce was concerned that Damian’s interpersonal growth would be stunted by his lack of interaction with his classmates at school. To see his son being a kid, laughing freely, filled him with great joy, he knew that being the son of a billionaire and a top-notch martial artist had put a lot of pressure on Damian’s shoulders, but he never knew what he could do to help his son. Seeing the walls in Damian’s room at the manor fill up with pictures of him and Marinette smiling, Damian smiling, made Bruce figure that everything was going to be okay.

Sabine and Tom grew to love Damian like their own son with the more time he spent at each other’s houses. At first, they were a bit skeptical, they didn’t quite understand what their daughter saw in the boy, but they trusted her judgment and boy are they glad they did. Damian was like a missing piece of their family, despite his hard exterior, the boy was extremely loyal and caring, they could always count on him to have Marinette’s back. Sabine especially had a soft spot for him after watching him correct Marinette’s brush strokes on the banners, teaching her the differences between what she wrote and what he was writing. The two watched their daughter give herself wholly to this boy, and in return, he gave himself back to her and that was all they could’ve ever wanted for Marinette, to love and be loved.

As they grew older they shared more than just common interests: their dreams, their fears, and the pressure they faced from their families. Marinette knew what she wanted for herself – something Damian was envious of. When they were 11 to offset the competition costs, Marinette’s mother began designing and sewing their competition outfits. Once Marinette saw what her mother was doing she wanted to help, and she ended up falling in love with fashion design. From the age of 13 and onward Marinette designed all of her own stage wear, as well as Damian’s. Sabine would joke that with such a talented daughter it’s a shame they didn’t stay in Paris. Damian wouldn’t admit it – Marinette would – but the thought of possibly never meeting Marinette made him feel uncomfortably empty; he wonders how he bore with that feeling before becoming close with Marinette. Damian wasn’t sure what he wanted for himself, he would love to take over his mother’s Wushu studio, maybe even expand it, but he was always raised with the expectation that one day he would inherit his father’s corporation. Despite loving both options, loving both his parents, there was also a part of him that wanted something that was completely Damian, he had already spent so much of his life living in the shadow of his parents. It wasn’t until high school that Damian opened up to Marinette about this, as the time to make decisions grew closer Damian naturally grew more anxious about his future. Marinette rarely gets the chance to comfort Damian, oftentimes he bottles his emotions up until they’re ready to burst, and even then Marinette has to slowly coax him into talking about them, even if it is with his brothers and not her, she just wants him to feel safe with his own emotions. The first time Damian opened up to her about the pressure he felt as his parent’s only biological son she immediately swept him into her arms, stroking his hair she began to tell him about how loved he was. She told him “Damian I love you, your family loves you, my family loves you. I just want you to know how loved you are. I speak not only for myself, but for everyone who loves you when I say this, do what makes you happy. Your parents will be happy as long as you are, they trust that they raised you to make good decisions for yourself. Even if you don’t know what it is that makes you happy yet, don’t be afraid to explore your options; I’ll be right here by your side and I’m going to support you no matter what. You’ve told me before that even if you inherit the studio Maya would co-own it with you, or even if you inherit your father’s business you would be working alongside your brothers. You are not alone, the world is not riding on solely your shoulders.” Damian was completely silent, if not for the wetness on her shoulder and his grip tightening around her, Marinette would figure he was unphased. Marinette has known that she loves this boy, far past the platonic love she just expressed, but for Damian, it was at this moment that he realized that not only was he loved, but he was in love with Marinette.

“WELCOME TO THE WORLD WUSHU CHAMPIONSHIPS 2019 LIVE FROM GOTHAM, NEW JERSEY” roared overhead on the speakers.

Damian and Marinette were standing in a hall away from the main room where other contestants were preparing themselves both appearance-wise and physically. Marinette herself was fixing the crown braid in her hair. The women’s event would take place in the morning to late afternoon, where the men’s event in the evening giving Damian ample time before he needs to warm up to support Marinette. He gave Marinette’s ensemble a once over and with his cheeks tinged red he muttered “I like your costume, you look really cute”, quickly averting his gaze.

Marinette immediately flushed, almost as red as the silken top that adorned her torso, and brought the hands that were adjusting her braids down to her hips and leaned forward, exclaiming in a hushed shout as to not disturb the other competitors warming up, “Damian Al-Ghul Wayne, are you making fun of me? I just want to make sure that any pictures taken do not make me look like a hot mess. Could you imagine what could happen if Audrey Bourgeois sees pictures of me completely frumpled looking and cancels my apprenticeship?? Oh my God and then Parson’s will find out and rescind me and then I won’t be able to visit you at NYU!” Marinette’s hands now rested on her cheeks smearing away her perfectly placed blush. How Marinette managed to go from disgruntled to spiraling in less than a minute is still a mystery that still eludes Damian after years of friendship, but it was his duty to calm her down. He understands her nerves, they had spent the last few years dominating the juniors division and as they entered the senior division there was a lot of pressure for them to win there too. Unfortunately, for every person who wanted them to win, another five were praying for them to slip up, but now is not the time to be overcome by nerves, her turn would come soon and she cannot afford to be overwhelmed by nerves.

Damian fully grasped her wrists pulling her hands away from her face, “Marinette, genuinely you look stunning”. After that comment, Damian noted to himself that it seems like there was no more need for the blush she applied anyways. With the soft tut of his tongue, he smoothed out the harsh lines of her smeared blush using the pad of his thumb. He whispered, just loud enough for her to hear, “Don’t worry too much about your hair and makeup, the most important thing is your form”. Marinette leaned into his touch and gave a small nod, calming down from her spiraling thoughts, he always knew how to ground her.

“Contestant number 54 you’re up next!”

“That’s you; you might want to fix up your makeup real quick, but everything is going to be fine.” He handed her a bag with her cosmetics and a wipe and quickly clapped his hands around her shoulders to guide her to the main stage so she could focus on herself.

Fixing her makeup Marinette shot him a cheeky grin, “wish me luck?”

“You don’t need luck. Marinette you have the skill, you know that.”

“Next up is Marinette Dupain-Cheng from New Jersey, USA! She is definitely a fan favorite to win today on the Women’s Taolu floor. She is internationally known for competing not only in the women’s division but also in the couples’ scene. She’s been training for the individual event from the age of six and for the partner event from the age of nine with her studio mate Damian Al-Ghul Wayne, who is predicted to win the Men’s Taolu event. While we do not have a couples’ Wushu competition here, since turning 18 they have been dominating the senior international couples’ Wushu scene and have gone undefeated.”

Taking off her team jacket, with a quick nod to her parents, Talia, and of course, Damian Marinette strode to the center stage. Damian would never grow sick of watching her transform on stage, it was strikingly similar to the magical girl shows she had been obsessed with as a child. The moment Marinette stepped onto the mat her whole demeanor changed. Her back straightened up, her head would be held high, and most of all, the look in her eyes was filled with inextinguishable fire.

By the end of the event after getting changed Marinette and Damian were making their way to his car. Once Damian turned 16 and got his license, it became a tradition for them to go out for a celebratory meal together without their parents. “Marinette!” Damian heard a voice call out, Agreste he noted in his head. Marinette had met Agreste and Tsurugi while vacationing in Paris. While they weren’t the worst, in fact, Tsurugi was typically pleasant company, Damian was in no mood to socialize after the several rounds of interviews he had to endure after winning first place in Men’s Taolu. Many of the interviewers failed to understand that while yes, he had more opportunities to train as he is a third-generation Wushu champion, it was his hard work that got him to where he was, not his genetics.

Seeing Damian continue on to his car, not wanting to keep him waiting, Marinette quickly bid them farewell with a promise to see them tomorrow. “Hey wait for me!” Marinette called out, running after Damian. Despite his pride usually preventing him from heeding to his peers’ commands, Damian stopped in his tracks, his breath shallow and wondering why Marinette’s voice still makes his heartthrob despite having heard it call out to him for over 10 years. Feeling her hands latch around his arm gave him a sense of comfort. Her grip was strong and steady, yet still gentle. He couldn’t help but envision his hand in hers instead of his arm. The bouquet and hand-painted card in his car were waiting to see if she felt the same.

#Maribat #MGI Trope Tussle 2021 #Daminette #Damian x Marinette #please send help idk how to write #if by any chance Issa is reading this ILY #Team Childhood Friends

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kujakumai · 3 years ago

Text

cleaned up old WIP, 2800 words, AU where Yami Bakura succeeds in switching hosts in DK and Mokuba makes friends with an evil ghost. Not going to be continued but it literally would not leave my brain alone until I finished it.

Things were not going according to plan.

The plan was to take control of a soulless puppet, an easy vessel incapable of interfering with his ends. He had the vessel, had accomplished that much, but he was not expecting the pharaoh and his little friends to succeed and convince Pegasus to give everyone their souls back. So now not only was there a second person in this body he had to keep suppressed, but now he was stuck impersonating a child, smiling through an awkward reunion and then placed onto a helicopter next to a gangly high school student who was watching him like a hawk.

The spirit-that-was-no-longer-Yami-Bakura knew that he was supposed to be Mokuba, but he did not remember the tall one's name. K-something. He had a stupid jacket and hardly took his eyes off him the entire ride, as if he thought his little brother was going to disappear in a puff of smoke when he wasn't looking. Annoying. Infuriating. Luckily it did not seem he wanted to talk, or at least accepted silence. No one expects recent kidnapping victims to say much, which was a boon. A little dazed, a little quiet, a little off, and no one really found it unusual.

They dropped off the pharaoh and his friends, and finally landed at a gaudy and ostentatious house so large it took him a second to realize it was a home at all, an absurd monument to decadence with grounds full of ugly topiaries. Wealth, then. Perhaps this wouldn't be so bad. He could work with this. The rich kid in the stupid coat quietly held his hand the entire walk up the driveway, until they entered a foyer just as gilded and obscene as the outside had been.

No, things were not going to plan, and playing grade-schooler was awkward and an insult to his dignity, and he was farther away from the other millennium items as he ever had been. He would have to grit his teeth through it until he could figure out the next step. In the meantime, perhaps, enjoy some amenities.

Richie rich sighed, relaxed his shoulders the moment they got inside. He looked at who he thought was his little brother and gave him a small, exhausted but genuine smile. He struggled with what to say next.

"Mokuba," he said, "I have to check on a few things in my office. See what kind of damage they did. Do you want to come with me?"

"No." Finally, a chance to be out of this idiot's sight.

This answer seemed to surprise him, a twitch of skepticism. "Will you be okay by yourself?"

He nodded. Keep answers short, when you're impersonating.

His face betrayed more skepticism, concern, and the tiniest hint of disappointment. As if rich kid himself was the one who was scared to be alone in his own house. He accepted the answer, though, to the spirit's relief.

Rich kid bent down and pulled him into a tight hug and ruffled his hair. "We'll get something special for dinner, okay? And ice cream."

"I do like ice cream." This was true. Ryou Bakura almost never bought ice cream, and when he did it was the stupid healthy kind that everyone knew shouldn't even really qualify as ice cream, which was another reason he was a terrible host. That and the fact that he was startlingly pale and had the upper body strength of a limp noodle and the personality of skim milk. This would be better, even if he had to deal with the abrupt drop in height.

Rich kid headed off towards the staircase with another tired but trying-to-be-reassuring smile, and it was then that the spirit of the ring felt an annoyance in the back of his brain. A presence. A scratching, biting, flailing presence, screeching mad, which he had been suppressing for a while now but finally broke through.

get out get out get out get out give it back its MINE get out

The host, awake. What a bother. More rambunctious than Bakura, then? No matter. He could handle a child.

that was MY hug and MY headpat and MY big brother and you can't have them he's been gone for ages and they're mine not yours get out get out get out

The spirit pushed back, ignored him. Shush. He had planned to hold this body alone, and he did not intend to go back to sharing. If you're good, I might let you have it back for a little while later.

shut up go away go away go away go AWAY

And then Mokuba Kaiba did something, something the spirit was not accustomed to or expecting at all, something which Ryou Bakura had never been willing or able to do. He shoved, violently, and the spirit of the ring was ripped out of control with some amount of panic.

"SETOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

Why you insolent little--

Seto Kaiba was not aware of the mental turf war happening over his little brothers body. What he did see was his brother scream his name and fall down, and the whole room echoed with a metal clatter as his briefcase fell on the floor and he ran towards him.

The ring had been discarded unceremoniously to a side table, and not-Bakura-and-not-Mokuba-either had no choice but to wait and observe, as a pediatrician on a sudden housecall shined lights in the boy's eyes and rich kid, who the spirit had since gleaned was named Seto Kaiba, looked on in worry.

"You said you heard a voice?" The doctor asked.

"Uh-huh. I think it lives in the necklace."

"You got that thing at Pegasus's house?" Kaiba asked, in disbelief.

"I don't remember. I was just wearing it when I woke up."

"What did the voice say?" the doctor continued, professionally ignoring any talk about magic necklaces.

"Not a lot. It was kind of mean."

"I see." She turned to Kaiba. "He's fine, physically. You might want a psychologist." and Seto Kaiba made what could politely be referred to as A Face. This was not what he wanted to hear, this was news that worried and annoyed him in equal measure, and to some degree was news he had half-expected.

"He's had a rough few months. I'll look into it." and she was dismissed, and Mokuba hopped down from the counter.

"Can we order pizza?" he asked, with big pleading eyes.

Kaiba watched him with dry amusement. "Mokuba, you can have anything you want from any restaurant in a forty mile radius."

"And I want pizza. Real pizza, from somewhere that doesn't also serve caviar."

"Cheap pizza?"

He nodded very seriously. "The grossest greasiest cheapest."

"I can do that. Anything else you want?"

Mokuba's eyes lit up, and soon he was dragging Kaiba by the hand towards somewhere else in the house. "I got to this really hard level in my game I can't get past and I wanted to see if you could beat it, and I found this really cool video I wanted to show you, and I got a really good report card you never saw, and--" and months worth of pent up requests were tumbling out rapid fire, and Kaiba was smiling with affection and some amount of relief.

Loud and clingy, then, was the normal and expected behavior. The spirit of the ring made note of this, as he lie abandoned.

The ring was still sitting on a side table, in Mokuba's bedroom, apparently because no one knew what to with it or thought it mattered much. This was a problem. The spirit couldn't do anything without a host, and now everyone was suspicious, these stupid rich people worried too much and paid too much attention.

He was forced to sit there all night, pondering about how he was going to get out of this mess, when at one or two in the morning he observed Mokuba wake up, and rub his eyes, and hop out of bed. He did not turn the light on, but he did check the time, and reach under his bed to retrieve what appeared to be a small backpack. He took it with him as he moved quietly towards the door, and the spirit saw his chance.

Hey, kid. He was near enough to speak into his head. Maybe this wasn't a dead end.

"You!" Mokuba stopped in his tracks and looked right at the ring.

Yes, me. This could be salvaged, he thought, concocting a plan. This was a child. Play friendly ghost and imaginary friend. Surely it would not be hard to weasel himself into the good graces of a sixth grader.

Mokuba glared at the ring with suspicion. "I don't think Seto believed me when I said you could talk, but I knew it." He picked it up delicately by the string to examine.

Where on earth are you going at this time of night?

Mokuba was the current host, technically, so there was a connection, and 11 year olds are not particularly used to or adept at hiding their own thoughts, especially inside their own heads. The answer, if not in words but in abstract concept, was provided instantly as it bubbled to mind. He was going to the kitchen, as he did once or twice a week, not their personal kitchen but the house staff kitchen, where he would move a chair to stand on the counter to reach the very back of the highest shelf of the third cupboard to the left, which was where one of the cleaning staff kept a pile of chocolate so he could cheat on his diet without his wife knowing, a fact Mokuba knew through surreptitious eavesdropping. Mokuba's end was to steal just enough of it that he wouldn't be noticed, and add it to a stash of snacks and other shiny trinkets currently hidden in the bottom of a pile of legos in his closet.

...You steal food to hide in your closet? Why would a child who lived in a three-story mansion need to steal?

Mokuba was only mildly perturbed by the fact that someone had just read his mind. He was mainly curious, now. "Our dad didn't like junk food, so I always took stuff to keep around." he explained, "I guess I don't really have to anymore, 'cuz Seto will let me have whatever I want, but--" he faltered, unable to finish or give a reason.

There wasn't a reason, and Mokuba knew that. There was no need to sneak or stash or steal anymore, but he kept doing it, irrationally, for reasons that confused him, a complicated swirl of things a child could not name or understand but were very easy for the spirit to read. Fear; compulsion; habit; the illusion of safety; the sense that your life was precarious, unstable; a need to exert control over your surroundings. It was not the food or the stealing that mattered, but of the hiding, of having something they could not take away from him.

Mokuba didn't understand any of that, because he was 11 and 11 year olds don't understand why they do anything. He just knew he liked sweets and hated people telling him what to do and that having bags of chips and other people’s lost jewelry at the bottom of an old toybox made him feel better.

Can I come with you?

"No! You tried to take control of me!"

Yes, but you kicked me out, and you'd probably be able to do it again, so I would be stupid to try. I also like chocolate, you see, and it's very boring to be stuck here on your desk.

"Can you even eat? You're a necklace."

I can when I borrow a body.

"You tried to take over me so you could eat chocolate? I'm not stupid enough to believe that."

That and other things. I can't do very much at all, while stuck in the ring. No food, no sunshine, no running around. It's no fun to be without a body, which is why I am occasionally driven to steal one. Terribly sorry about that. he added, in his most pathetic-sounding tone, Please? I don't have anyone else to talk to.

Mokuba was hesitant, but clearly found the fact of his existence too interesting to ignore. "Fine." He picked up the ring and dropped it unceremoniously into his backpack, which had a dragon on it.

Not trust yet, but tolerance and curiosity. One step at a time.

You shouldn't go barefoot, you know. Socks will be quieter if you're trying not to get caught.

"I didn't ask you."

So Mokuba descended down the stairwell, in the dead quiet and dark of the Kaiba Mansion, with no flashlight because he knew it well enough to navigate blindfolded. The place was decadent in the ugly way rich people's houses were, luxury but without taste, soft carpets and gilded banisters.

Mokuba had not quite realized yet how to think at the ring, so he spoke in a low whisper. "What are you, anyway?"

A ghost. So much more complicated than that, but simple words were suitable for children.

"How'd you end up a ghost in a necklace?"

I died, and then someone put me in a necklace.

"That's not an answer." he followed up, "Do all dead people become ghosts?"

No. Just sometimes, maybe, if the way they died was especially violent or gruesome or terrible.

Mokuba frowned. He had caught on remarkably quickly to guarding his own head, but the spirit could tell he didn't like this answer.

This was delicate, but he risked a push. Was there someone you had in mind?

Mokuba said nothing. He reached the staff kitchen on the lowest floor, and opened the door, slow and careful. He was deciding whether to say anything, as he climbed up as quietly as he could and reached far into the back of the cupboard, scrabbling.

"Our dad killed himself last year. Jumped out a window." He finally said, hopping down with his spoils. He said this the same way one might dolefully report the milk had gone bad. Unfortunate but boring.

You don't sound very sad.

"Nah, he sucked. And he never liked me." he said, "Seto was really really upset though. He was pretending not to be, but I could tell." Now there were feelings there, big and weird and sad and clinging ones. For reasons the spirit could not discern, the simple phrase ‘Seto was upset’ carried with it more weight, a thousand million times more weight, than news of a father's tragic death by defenestration. "I hope he's not a ghost. I don't wanna see him again."

Probably not.

Mokuba sat down cross-legged on the kitchen floor, unwrapped candy in silver foil. "You really can't do anything from in the necklace? Like, ghost stuff? Make things float or anything?"

No. It is a bit like being trapped in a very small box.

Mokuba mulled this over for a little while. "If you wanted to borrow a body to do fun stuff, you could have just asked."

Really?

He nodded. "Not being able to eat chocolate sounds lame. It'd be mean to just leave you like that." He put one chocolate into his mouth and dumped the rest in the backpack, where they covered the ring unceremoniously. More indignities. "Not in front of my brother, though. And you have to give it back whenever I say so."

...I could agree to such a compromise. Your candy haul is impressive, by the way.

"Thanks!" He grinned, emanating genuine pride. No one had ever complimented him for stealing before.

Tragic, the work of great thieves. How the very best of it can never be bragged about, the most impressive of skills gone unnoticed by nature, how the very success of a perfect crime relies on keeping your mouth shut about it. An unappreciated art, where even mastery gains you no respect.

You don't care that this poor man has to go out and buy twice as much food to make up for what you steal?

"No, he's a jerk. One time when I was six they confiscated my gameboy, so I went to steal it back and he caught me and told my dad and I got in huge trouble. So every day for a week I snuck down here and moved his keys to a different place so he couldn't find them. They were all so mad at him for losing them all the time, and he thought he was crazy."

Why was your gameboy confiscated?

"Don't remember. I think I bit someone at school." he shrugged, "They probably deserved it, though."

Mokuba Kaiba. he said, I think you and I are going to be excellent friends.

"Okay. Do ghosts watch cartoons?"

#unsure if this is good enough to post to AO3 #but it was fun!

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