#transfer back to my shitty old school just because it was 'normal'

[clamorybus]

idk what it was but teenaged me wanted The Normal American High School Experience™ so fucking bad, it was insane

[n30nwrites]

I've Died, Many Years Ago (Jason Todd)

So people liked the first one, now heres this.

Back Next

You've found that you didn't really age. You also didn't bleed anymore and your heart was only 6 beats per minute.

Then their was the cravings.

After your first day of resurrecting, you found a mans dead body, he had a joker smile painted on his lips and you could already taste him. You took a large stray brick and pounded his head in. Over, and over again for the tiniest taste of brain.

Tasting it was seeing the truth, it was Eve's apple dangling from the tree as the serpent whispers how God wasn't here now.

God wasn't here, you wouldn't be this if they were.

You didn't know what to do, you had been dead for years, well three years. You were 19 now, with nowhere to go. You couldn't just resume your life, could you? Your mother was gone, you had no idea where she lived now, and Jason was dead, he had to be.

So what could you do now?

---

It took a year for you to start living. You left Gotham and went to Detroit after fudging your papers, you went by a different last name, and hacked into your old school and Hospital you worked at to submit your documents to the Detroit Police Department.

It's easy to get brains from the dead.

Your boss is Alec Mobek, the head Medical Examiner. He's a decent man, you never attempted to get close to him with small talk but he enjoyed talking for the both of you. He liked some geeky video games and loved his job even more. He was so painfully normal, and you were jealous of that.

He reminds you of everything you could've been.

You used to be ambitious. You used to be passionate. Inspired. Alive. Now, your mostly just hungry.

At least you still had your intuition.

Sometimes you thought about confiding in him. He was older than you, in his 30s, he seemed more like a father-figure than anything. He offered you food, rides to and from work, and had even gotten you more clothes when he noticed how you wore the same outfit to work everyday.

But your burden is of the 'bare it alone' variety. You would know if there were others, there would be an outbreak if there were. Being alone was for the best. You didn't touch anyone, in fear of spreading it. You kept gloves on, your nails trimmed, and never had sex.

It was like a bad STD. But you couldn't die.

In the shitty apartment that you lived in, there were multiple containers of brain just sitting. You liked to finish them off one by one, but sometimes the personalities and flash backs got so overwhelming that you had to switch.

The brain you were last on was a lackey of the Jokers, some man who had lost it long ago. You didn't feel a single thing on his brain, and had constant images of killing people.

You might've been made into a monster, but you wouldn't act upon it.

"Alright, what do you got for me?" Dick Grayson is handsome, if you were human (and older) you probably would've tried to pursue him at one point. He transferred just a few months ago, and unlike other Detectives, he didn't stray from the ME's office because of the bodies.

"An unidentified Jane Doe, found in the back of a garbage truck. The garbage truck was using a crusher so that complicates finding the cause of death. Could be suicide, could be murder." You know Alec cares, it's just that he sees so much death that at one point, if he kept focusing on it, it would ruin him. "My assistant is going to sew her back up, bag her and box her." He walks over to the side where the detective is. Dick has a small frown on his face.

"In your personal opinion, what do you think happened?" Dick questions as he and Alec walk up the stairs. They continue to talk and get quieter, and it was your time to strike.

The autopsy saw sat in your hand, it was plugged in already and when the coast was clear, you cut through the mans skull. You were a professional, this was something you had done to every body since you had gotten there. There were multiple brains in your fridge, having Missing bites, you didn't have to eat everyday, thankfully. A brain usually wore off after three days, and the abilities with them would as well.

You would have flashes of their past, you could gain certain personality traits or habits they had.

You once ate the brain of a man who was considered the right hand man to Joker, he was a looney. You dumped that brain down the disposal after you found yourself buying items for a bomb. You then switched to an older woman.

This Jane Doe would be your meal for the day. You took it out as carefully as you could, ignoring any guilt you could feel as you cut up pieces of her brain and tossed her in with some spicy Beef ramen. Heating what used to be a person up for 3 minutes and scarfing it all down in your mouth. The rest of her brain you kept hidden in the back of the fridge, something that Alec rarely opened.

When Alec comes down, you're filling out some paperwork that just need his signature. He talks about how they have a suspect, someone who was seen on camera arguing with her. Alec only heard that because Dick didn't know how to be quiet.

"I'm heading out for the day, Jane Doe is taken care of. Paperwork as well, you just need to sign off on it."

"Thank you so much..." He looks to where her body is, bagged and tagged as the body is in the cooler. "Detective Grayson, Do you like Him?"

He was your boss, you reminded yourself. You had to answer. "He seems fine."

"You know he's Bruce Wayne's son?"

As was Jason.

"So?" You didn't care, he wasn't Jason. He would never be Jason. He was Dick Grayson, AKA Nightwing, Detective by day and vigilante by night. It sounded like a shitty comic.

Detroit had it's issues, you can't tell how many times you had been shot at or people had tried to rob you. Many villains have stopped by, many underlings trying to be villains had also stop by.

"Most people are on their knees for him."

"Sexually or metaphorically?" You question.

"Both I guess." Alec huffs as he reads over the paperwork, "Susanna likes him, but I guess that with money comes attraction." He seems jealous.

"That and he's considered attractive." You nod your head as you turn to walk away, Alec mutters something about the unknown victim. You grab your backpack and as you go to open the back door, you are suddenly transported.

"I told you to stay away." The voice coming from your body is feminine, she's panting, sweating. You can feel it all. She's exiting out the door, not looking at the man who you assume is following her, he has heavy footprints. "I want nothing to do with you, you're fucking insane-"

"Don't run away from me Stephanie." The man grabs her hand and turns her around and he's decent looking. Nothing compared to your soulmate, but he was easily identifiable.

"My name is Valeria. Valeria Prinsky. Get it through your thick fucking skull." She yanks her hand back and as he lifts his arm, it is quickly stopped by a man in a red helmet.

You come back to Alec saying your name, Dick Grayson was in the room with him, and they were both staring at you. While it didn't feel long, time seems to lose all sense of purpose during your visions. You blink your eyes. "Do we need to call someone?" Dick asks as Alec puts his hand on your shoulder, you quickly pull away.

"No, no I'm fine." You tell them, rolling your neck slightly as you pop it. "I just forgot something." You turn back in, going into the other office away from them and quickly grabbing the brain and stuffing it into your backpack. When you turn away from the fridge, you see Jane Doe's file.

Valeria Prinsky. She has a name, she has a life, and you were living off of her. The least you can do is give her a name. You cross out Jane Doe on the file and write her name, and when you leave, Dick and Alec are talking in hushed whispers.

You can't find it in yourself to care.

[therealgchu]

generation trauma

i've been thinking a lot about how different genX was raised as compared to the generations after. this came up in a discussion on r/buffy where someone mentioned that they thought joyce was a terrible parent. my comment was that she didn't beat buffy or tell her constantly that she ruins everything, so already miles ahead of mine. and, there were so many other genX voices that echoed similar sentiments. we were the latch-key generation, the feral generation. we were raised to be independent before we were even out of grade school.

on r/genx, the topic of parents forgetting to pick you up from school came up. so many stories about this. here's some samples:

My parents decided to move 3 days ahead of schedule while I was at school and my after-school job and forgot to tell me. I got home from work at 10 p.m. to a dark house with nothing in it.....so forgetting to pick me up after school would be par for the course with them In 1984, I had a friend in highschool, her mom did the same thing, moved, and didn't bring her along. She was 16, got on assistance, found a shitty basement apartment to live, and kept going to school. My parents decided to buy a new house 30 minutes away. They just left my 14 year brother in the original family home by himself. Left him a credit card for food, they paid all the bills, and my mom would come by and stay in her old room once in a while. When he was 16, they bought him a car. They basically gave up being parents when they moved. More than a few times my parents forgot to pick me up after wrestling practice. It was only a 2 mile walk home, but on roads with no sidewalks or street lights (and I was normally pretty exhausted after practice). The worst part was repeatedly trying to call home from the payphone and getting only busy signals. Yes. Forgotten after Girl Scouts. Missed bus transfer first day of 7th grade, called my mom and she was like: tough shit. Both times walked 4 miles home. The best was when my siblings and I flew to my dad’s and he wasn’t at the airport to greet us. He was at the bar, naturally, and had lost track of time.

in so many ways, we were told we weren't wanted, were frequently only accessories trotted out, then shoved back into a corner. so many of my friends are childless because their childhoods were fucking nightmares.

but despite all of that, we still had demands to succeed, to excel. because if we didn't excel, the punishment would be even worse. what we felt, how we were all drowning, well, if you want to cry, i'll give you something to cry about. and the belt/switch/wiffle bat/metal spoon came out.

and, as anyone that's suffered this sort of abuse, while the physical abuse was awful, the above stories were far worse than any beating. at least when they were beating you, in a sick, perverted way, they were at least acknowledging that you mattered.

i think genX should be called generation trauma.

[sunaswife]

Summary: It’s been five years since you’ve seen your ex, Rin. He’s still not over you and you’re not over him. When he finds out you have children he thought he didn’t have a chance. Then he finds out they’re his? All of a sudden you’re teaching Suna how to be a single dad.

🔪: sorry this chapter is so shitty

Warnings: Fluff, angst I guess, drama, and cuteness twin overload

⚠️: smut included in this chapter

Previously Up Next Masterlist

Chapter Fourteen

“How much money did you give to Kita?” You asked, he looked at you for a brief moment before looking back at the road. “Enough for the food he gave us. Kita works hard to harvest and plant rice. He deserves to get paid at least something.” He replied and you slowly nodded your head in understanding. Chewy’s head popped up between you two and you rubbed under his chin with your free hand. Chewy’s tail wagged and he turned back around to join the kids.

The rest of the week was slightly better, Karin was still hesitant around you but you tried acting civilized the best you could. There was no more comments and she was grateful you changed the oil of her car and fixed her brakes. She also smacked Rin for being useless and not knowing how to do that but you waved it off and said that your older cousin showed you how to do it since you were alone at the time.

Now your little trip has ended and you have a a few more hours to go. You’ve allowed the kids to pick their songs during the journey but you desperately wanted to vibe with blink-182 and other classics. After a pit stop for a potty break for chewy and the kids you began your journey again. Once the beginning of I Miss You came on your kids whined, “But we wanted the moana soundtrack.” Akira whined. “You’ve chosen long enough, let us pick a few songs and then you can pick again.” You turned and they nodded with a small pout.

“Hello there the angel from my nightmare—“ you started off and Rin smiled softly. You’ve sang this song many times before when you both would go on dates, but your voice was always light so he could barely hear. But now you were more confident in your voice that you didn’t have a need to sing lightly. That’s another he loves about the new you. “I miss you, I miss you—sing Rin. This was one of your favorite songs!” You encouraged.

“I’m not gonna sing.” He immediately shook his head, “Come on don’t be a party pooper.” You shook his shoulder and asked again. “No I’m not gonna sing with yo—where are you, and I’m so sorry—“ he began to sing and you giggled.

“DONT WASTE YOUR TIME ON ME YOURE ALREADY THE VOICE INSIDE MY HEAD!” You and Rintarou belted out and Rini was bopping his head. Chewy was napping and Akira sighed and patted her tiny hands on her thighs to the beat. She didn’t wanna give in and vibe with the rest of the family.

Rini smiled softly as the next classic rock song came on and you and Rin bopped your heads to the beat. He was glad to know that Rin likes listening to old rock songs like how you do. This was exactly what he wanted.

Everything was going to plan.

“Home sweet home!” Rin took a dramatic deep breath as Chewy began sniffing everything. You immediately began taking out the clothes from the luggage to wash the dirty ones. Rin made his way to his designated room and remembered that you offered up your old bedroom and used your office as your new bedroom. He objected and agreed to sleep on the couch and he even offered to share the bedroom (cheeky little shit) but you declined. When he made it to the room, the sheets were unmade and your clothes were tossed lazily in the hamper.

“Hey yn—“ he called, “Yeah?!” You replied from the living room, “We’re you using my room?” He asked and you wanted to slap yourself. You immediately stood up and made your way down the hall and almost slipped. “Yeah I’m sorry, I was just so tired so I just layed here since this bed is more comfortable then the couch and I was too lazy to pull out my couch bed—“ you began to ramble but was interrupted “yn, calm down it’s fine. I was just curious.” Rin chuckled and flicked your forehead. You rubbed your forehead with a small pout. “Out of curiosity what cologne do you use?” You asked and he turned with a smirk, “Why? Do you like the way I smell?” He asked and you squinted your eyes. “Obviously I like the smell of the cologne or else I wouldn’t be asking. The scent of the cologne lingered onto your pillows so I was able to sleep more at ease—” You bit back but stopped when you admitted your secret.

“Why didn’t you just say so? Ya know if we share a bed you can smell me all the time.” He said smoothly and you facepalmed, “Now you make it sound like I have a smell kink. I’m fine I just liked the cologne.” You said and turned around to continue washing the clothes. Rin frowned as he saw you leave, “Seriously Rin? You can smell me all the time? Your flirt game is way better then that.” Rin immediately scolded himself. After five years of not flirting with anyone, he’s lost his touch.

You made sure the uniforms for the kids were cleaned and you began making preparations for dinner. You were tired of all the traveling and you just wanted to rest, but mom duties never stop. “Hey don’t worry about dinner, I ordered takeout.” Rin leaned against the door frame. “You did?” You asked and he nodded. “From where?”

“Osamu’s.” “I knew it.” You chuckled and stretched your arms over your head. “Yeah, we definitely need to see a chiropractor.” You mumbled. “Next Tuesday when the kids are in school?” He asked, “Is this a weird way of asking me out on a date?”

“If I said date you’d say no, but it’s a...a parent hangout..day..?” He tilted his head and you patted his back. “Okay. We can go.” You nodded and he smiled. Little by little you’ll start to open up again.

Rin did a peace sign and the kids followed suit while they were in the bus. Suna nudged you and you rolled your eyes and did a peace sign too as you saw the bus drive away. You and Rin both returned home after seeing them off and you both lazily sat on the couch. “Just an FYI, I’m finally going to start training with the team. Games will be coming up soon.” Rin said and you nodded. “What division?” You asked, “Division one.”

Your eyebrows widened and you smiled, “Wow look at you rockstar, you always used to slack off and now you’re in a division one team?” You said with a light punch and he smiled. “Yeah I took it more seriously my third year and I was scouted. Before I transferred I was in division one as well.” He explained. “Oh okay. That’s sick. Which team?” You asked, “EJP.” He replied and your mouth opened with a gasp. “With Komori Motoya? He’s one of my all time favorite players!” You exclaimed and his eyes squinted. Is motoya a threat?

“Don’t even give that look, I only appreciate him as a player. Even in highschool, I wished I could have saw him in person during nationals.” You admitted. “Whatever.” He sighed and layed back with his eyes closed. “I can’t get my hopes up that we’ll ever be together. I just hope you tell me soon because I don’t wanna hold on to us if you don’t even want me.” He mumbled. You frowned slightly, yeah you kinda seem like you’re leading him on. “It’s not that I don’t ever want us to be together. I mean I’ve been waiting this whole time. Deep inside I still love you after everything that happened but I’m scared Rin.” Your voice cracked and he immediately sat up and opened his eyes to see your figure. You were hugging your knees and your eyes were watery.

He scooted a bit closer, “What are you so afraid of?” He asked as he put some hair behind your ear. “I’m scared that the past will happen again. We’ll get into a fight and I leave, I don’t want the kids to go through that. They deserve loving parents and I like this system we have, we’re friends and cool co parents. If we add romance it’ll probably ruin everything.” You began to cry, Rin stayed quiet for a bit as you let it out. “But how will we know if we don’t try? I obviously love you—“ “And I obviously love you too but—“

You were silenced when you felt warm and slightly chapped lips against your own, just like back then. Your arms reached for his face and you deepened the kiss purely on emotion. Tears still streamed down your face and you missed this, you truly did. He may have seemed so bored and deadpanned back then but in privacy and in each others company he was a perfect Prince Charming, so gentle and soft when needed. His right hand was holding the back of your head and he felt your soft hair tangle between his calloused fingers.

He missed this just as much or if not even more. Eventually you both pulled away to breath but you initiated the next kiss, and the next one and next one. It’s been so long since you’ve kissed another person let alone made out, same with Rin. He’s just as touch starved. Your cardigan slid off your shoulders and soon enough Rin’s shirt disappeared but you stopped. You rubbed your eyes slightly and looked into his eyes, “Are you sure you want to try again?” You asked and he nodded. “Of course I do.” He said as he hand rested on your cheek. You leaned into his touch and he smiled softly. “You?” He asked, you bit your bottom lip and nodded.

“Yes.”

He pulled you to him, you sat on his thighs and your arms rested on his shoulders, his lips moved to your jaw down your neck to your collarbone. His large hands reached to your waist and under your shirt but you grabbed his hands and he stopped before he could even ask for permission. “Is something wrong?” He asked, “I’m just a bit insecure..I’m not that skinny girl from back then, I have stretch marks and my boobs are a bit saggy, I have a bit of fat and I don’t want you to be disgusted.” You said lowly. “Why are you ashamed? It’s normal. Don’t you see this?” He asked and pointed to his upper arm near his arm pit. “I get stretch marks too. You’re not the only one. And who cares if you gained a little bit fat? You’re still beautiful. Your boobs are beautiful. Everything about you is beautiful. I didn’t fall for you because you were hot or athletic or anything. I began falling for you because of who you are. Not because of your appearance. Also you’re still fucking hot, my own little milf.” He smirked and kissed your lips once more. “I hate you.” You mumbled against his lips.

“You won’t hate me after this.” He replied back and grinded you over his crotch, you moaned and he sighed. Your hands moved from his shoulders to his abs and you felt all his muscle. Compared to back then he was more of a noodle but now he’s really buff.

You slid your hand down past the waist band of his gym shorts, following his happy trail. It didn’t take long for you to find his cock and Rin leaned back with his eyes closed. “You certainly feel bigger, then the last time I remembered.” You said out loud and he released a small chuckle. You finally looked down and yeah, you could definitely tell the difference. His swollen red tip was already releasing precum and your thumb grazed over, earning a whimper from Rintarou. “Someone seems a little sensitive..” you hummed. “S-shut up.” He moaned as you pumped his cock. You looked up to see his face and you couldn’t help but giggle. “Wow what a switch from back then. Remember when I was a poor little virgin and so inexperienced? You took control and look at us now. You’re so sensitive when I’ve barley done anything.” You told him. “I haven’t had sex in five years.” He defended and finally opened his eyes, his brows were scrunched and you tilted your head to the side. “I haven’t had sex either but I’ve had my fair share of mommy time when I release my stress with the help of toys.” You replied and his hips arched slightly.

He could feel himself getting close with the thought of you touching yourself and saving yourself for him and only him. Nobody else has ever touched you. You’re perfect. “S-stop I’m close.” He warned but you continued and pressed your lips behind his ear. His grip tightened on your waist and he quickly pulled your hand away. Before you knew it you fell on the floor with Rin towering over you. Your hands were trapped over your head and you pouted. “No fun, you never let me be on top.” “I suggest you shut your mouth and let me fuck you stupid.” Your eyes widened at his choice of words and his hand slowly made their way under your camisole. He pulled the shirt up and saw your delicious breasts trapped inside your bra cups. Your face flushed as you saw his eyes darken. “R-Rin..” you mumbled and he looked up. “Take off my shirt.” He obeyed and pulled you up, the camisole came off with one swift motion and he pulled you close to unclip your bra. His lips kissed your shoulder, down your collarbone and between your breasts. “Lay down.” So you did. He pulled your tights off along with your underwear and finally you were completely bare beneath him in the middle of the living room. At least Chewy was outside. “Protection?” Rin asks as he slides off his shorts. “Birth control.” You replied and he breathed a sigh a relief. “Okay cool I don’t have condoms.” He said and you chuckled. Rin slowly opened your legs and drooled at the sight of you. “So fucking pretty I swear. How do you do it? You popped out two kids and you still take my breath away.” He said and kissed you before you could answer or process what he said.

His tip slowly moved up and down your slit, you weren’t wet enough and he’d rather die then hurt you so he slowly inserted two fingers causing you to gasp against his lips. His thumb rubbed your clit while his large and very long fingers pistoned in and out of your wet cunt. The pleasure you felt and loved he poured in made your eyes watery. You just love Rintarou so much. “Don’t cry love, am I hurting you?” He slowly stopped. “N-no, I just love you so much. Fuck I love you with my whole heart.” You said and he chuckled and increased his pace with his fingers, he saw your eyes clench and how your covered your mouth. He immediately pulled your hand away and you couldn’t help but cum when he told you to cum. “I love you so much that porn doesn’t work for me anymore. I always imagined you in order to get off.” He replied. “Always thinking with your cock.” “You love this cock.” “Hmm those toys I have are pretty nic—fuck .”

He bottomed out without going in slowly causing you to grip his upper arms. “Jerk—just cause you’re salty doesn’t give you a reason to treat me like a rag doll.” You looked down between your bodies where you both connected. “But you’ve been teasing me and need a punishment. Handle it like a good girl yeah?” He asked as he pulled out and slammed back in earning a loud moan from you. In all honesty he felt better then any toy you’ve used. People say missionary is overrated but they’re probably not doing it right. He left bruises down your neck and with each thrust his grip tightened on your waist. The rug beneath was hurting your back and you managed to flip Rin over, leaving him speechless. You slowly sat on his cock and he stayed silent watching you on top. You raised your hips and went back down, you leaned your head back as you slowly found a rythem and began bouncing on Rin’s cock.

Rin loved the view of you holding your breasts and squeezing them together while you bounced. Your little moans and whimpers will always be his favorite sound and it didn’t take long for him to grip your upper thighs and thrust himself up leaving you speechless (literally). Soon enough you both came and chewy was crying and scratching the outside of the sliding door so he can come inside. Rin held your limp body in his arms and helped you in the tub. Warm water surrounded you and Rin left to do something and after a good five minutes he came back. He slid in the tub behind you and immediately wrapped his arms around you. “I’m happy I can do this with you.” He spoke softly, “Me too...I’m sure the kids will be happy.” You leaned your head back on his shoulder and looked up. “Yeah, it’s pretty obvious what they were doing.” Rin said and you both chuckled. “They’re our little matchmakers.” You hummed and Rin nodded. You both heard Chewy barking and assumed it was just the mailman outside but all of a sudden the door of the bathroom flung open and there Hana and Jamie were looking at you both with such shocked expressions. You eyes widened when they gasped and Rin covered yourself with his arms. “I-I can explain—“ “FINALLY!” Jamie yelled but Hana rubbed her temples. “Is this just casual or a serious thing?” She asked, “Serious thing.” Rin spoke up and she nodded. “Um....I’ll go make some snacks since the kids should be coming home soon and we need to talk.” Hana said awkwardly and reached to close the door. You could both hear Jamie rant about how happy she was that you both were together. “Well that was awkward..” Rin said and you laughed, “Yeah they’re like that..” you said as you both began to properly wash yourselves. When both you and Rin changed and did an awkward walk of shame to the living room. The couple was waiting for you. You both sat on the couch and waited for what Jamie was about to say. Chewy jumped on the couch and rested his head on your thighs, “First off, I apologize for the intrusion. You weren’t answering your calls or texts so we immediately got worried and came over. And second, Rintarou if you break her heart I will break your face. Try to hurt her and I’ll get the best lawyers of Japan to go against you, okay?” She said. Rin gulped and nodded, “Yeah I get that..” he spoke up, “And third, I’m going to the US for about a month.” Hana said and you tilted your head confused, “But Jamie’s due date is soon.. you won’t be here when she goes into labor.” You said, “I know but...my next client is picky and important. I wanted to stay but even Jamie is pushing me to go.” “I just want an autograph. Our baby can wait till you come back.” Jamie said and you tried not to laugh. It was an obvious Jamie thing to say. “That being said, I don’t want her being left alone. We have midwives but they can’t be with her 24/7.” She said. “She’s more then welcomed to stay here, I’ll help her with whatever I can.” You said and then turned, “Sorry I forget it’s not just my home anymore. What do you think Rin?”

“It shouldn’t even be a question. I’m sure this is a scary thing and I’ll help too. Plus it’ll be good practice for when yn gets pregnant .” Rin sighed and wrapped his arm over your shoulder but you elbowed his stomach. He winced and the girls couldn’t help but laugh. “So it’s settled?” Hana asked, “Of course!” You smiled.

“I leave tomorrow.”

@therealwalmartjesus @differentballooncollection @aaesuki @atsunflower @dope-squish @prettysetterboiss @june-phantom @tomo-uwu @austriasmariazelle @xrnia @katsulia @aprettyfruit @shut-your-eyes-kiss-me-goodbye @tvbiio @sun-daddy-yoriichi @kamenoyaki @ppangiiroo @loeyprivvv @kmskj92 @lovinnoya @sarahvvictoria @tris-does-stuff @mokkeguts @sunaluvr6969 @bara-rose-would @sempiternal-amour @volleybloop @leykyuu @bokutoichigo @stfucanunot @iloveanime691 @atsumusdomain @ohrintarou @shoutosimp @mqrinqcele @bokutosdivineass @anngelllla @toworuu @hidden-otaku-stuff @seijohiselite @caxsthetic @aquariarose @hhwanggu @bakuhoetoedoroki @yoozuku @osamus-onigiri @akaashi-todorki @donica95 @kakaokenma @airheadpillar

[plounce]

what if gay CATS........... were gay PERSONS

(info on this au under the cut)

theyre all shitty young adults just kind of. getting through their early 20s as best they can. or as much as they can. maybe things will get better someday, but right now they’re kind of spinning their wheels

magic exists but like eh it’s not a big thing don’t worry about it. it’s around but like whatever. not many people have it and it’s mostly just like. a curiosity or a party trick

demeter and bombularina are together, tugger and mistoffelees are together, bombularina and tugger occasionally fwb, it’s cool and aboveboard and it’s all fine

demeter:

bisexual with a preference for women. 24 years old

semi-psychic (not as powerful as tantomile or coricopat). tends to have vague and confusing prophetic dreams

dropped out of grad school for sociology due to trauma and ensuing intensified mental illness. kind of bitter about it, but tries to get through every day. general anxiety disorder even before all that

very nervous around most men she doesn’t know & trust

currently working at a barnes & noble starbucks, which sucks. she recently became the assistant manager, which turbo sucks because now she has more work for only like a buck raise, but at least she’s getting reliable shifts

her go-to therapy is cutting her hair with scissors. her hair is fried to all hell from regular bleaching

she’s learning how to crochet because she’s decided she needs to do something physically productively creative with her hands to distract herself from Stuff

bombalurina:

bisexual. 24 years old

got her bachelor’s in english two years ago and hasn’t found a job in her field and has kind of given up on it for now

she’s been bartending for like four years, does freelance editing work on the side. will occasionally write listicles for clickbait sites if she needs extra cash

literally any extra money she can save goes to tattoos. her right sleeve’s almost done

has natural red hair but dyes it cherry red

a hedonist to cope but is also just a natural hedonist. likes a good bath

i know that like the typical thing fandoms say about female characters is “doesn’t take shit” for the girlboss points but she truly does not take shit anymore. she used to take people’s shit sometimes but at this point in her life she’s tired and she has a girlfriend to be protective of. she has a couple people whose shit she will take (mostly just tugger) but besides them (and having to practice basic customer service to keep her job) she’s tired of other people’s shit! enough!

my personal take on bombalurina is a mix between the riot grrrls of the 90s and 80s punk girls, and then a dash of the greaser chicks from grease. i saw that spiked collar and my brain went OH okay i can run with this somewhere fun. same for demeter, but less so - she just has the piercings.

demelurina:

bombalurina met demeter in college at a women’s activism club, noticed her because of her dimple piercings and was like “oh someone else with a lot of metal in her face, i’ll sit next to her”

they were each other’s first off-campus roommates and were close friends. made out a couple times, but it was mostly a lot of sexual tension. there was a lot of bombalurina staring at demeter while she or demeter made out with someone else

demeter was on and off with her high school boyfriend munkustrap and bombalurina was like “oh he’s so much more stable/calm than me and she needs that, i party a bit too much for her, i shouldn’t try anything” so she just sort of. lets their almost-there peter off

(this is all bombalurina’s internal thoughts - demeter always was interested in her, but thought she was too boring for bombalurina. so neither of them thought they could pursue it)

bombalurina graduated and moved somewhere cheaper further away from campus. they kind of drift apart

munkustrap and demeter peter off and he moves away for a job (they’re still good friends, it was a very amicable breakup) and then demeter gets with macavity, which is a deeply toxic situation for her and sucks hugely and throws her whole life really off track. won’t go into further details

she finally manages to break up with him and calls bombalurina at like 2 am asking if she can pick her up, and also if she can sleep on her couch, it’s okay if that’s not okay, she just. really needs a place she feels safe, and her gut is telling her to. and of course bombalurina says yes

bombalurina also knew macavity and had also made out a couple times with him at like parties and stuff (see: staring at demeter as she makes out with people). something about transference of feelings - bombalurina was into him for a couple moments because he and demeter had a thing.

this is due to me interpreting the song “macavity” as actually about bombalurina wanting to fuck demeter and her singing as a half-repressed expression of that. i use my really good wlw brain to reach that conclusion. it’s kind of a non-competitive version of eve sedgwick’s take on the love triangle. (<-- normal thing to say)

but anyway demeter stays on bombalurina’s couch and she tries so hard to stay on track but eventually she just has to drop out. bombalurina helps her with that too. she’s just really supportive even as demeter’s life is at its lowest point. when she gets home from bartending she gets demeter to go to sleep

she just Stays with her and makes her smile and reminds her that her life isn’t over, there’s still things in her day to enjoy, to keep her trudging forward

bombalurina is roommates with tugger at this point - he also recently dropped out and demeter knows him because he’s munkustrap’s brother, so he’s Trusted and also is like “hey it’s okay that you dropped out, im here and im chilling and you like me and respect me at least a little, and you have a bachelor’s degree at least!” (more on him later)

demeter is like “oh god ive been crashing at their place for so long not paying rent, theyre gonna ask me to leave, im such a freeloader, they wont take my attempts at paying rent” but then bombalurina and tugger are like “hey! the lease is almost up! we found a pretty good 3 bedroom, do you wanna have your own room for real?” and she nearly cries because 1. the RELIEF 2. oh my god you want me around???

cut to bombalurina helping demeter put together an ikea dresser (tugger got banished to the kitchen to make crystal light lemonade for them because he’s useless with a screwdriver) and demeter has two epiphanies:

1. i thought i was ready to d*e four months ago and here i am making a dresser to put clothes into in my new apartment where i live and feel safe and loved. im still not happy but im still alive and im making a dresser

2. holy fuck im back in love with my best friend, and ten times more than i was back then.

so she like kind of freaks out because she’s already imposed so much on bombalurina, how could she impose her FEELINGS on her like this, oh no oh no oh no

meanwhile bombalurina’s back in love with her even MORE and she’s also like no... she’s already dealing with so much... i don’t want to make her uncomfortable or feel unsafe in her own home especially after her recent relationship trauma... i just want her to feel safe around me...

you might think tugger as their roommate would be like “JUST KISS” but he is in fact pretty oblivious because he is self-absorbed. mistoffelees on the other hand..

eventually they do have a big confession of feelings after demeter has a bad day and it’s very dramatic and they make out in the rain. and it’s like. well this is a movie scene. but also im cold and damp. let’s head inside our home and get warm and dry :)

and then they go inside and and talk through everything, all their feelings (not just their romantic feelings but like ALL their feelings) and their shared histories and bombalurina is like “do you think you’re... ready for a relationship right now? like that would be a good thing for you?”

and demeter considers it. she does stop and think. and then she says, “with anyone else... probably not. but it’s you. and i feel so safe around you, and we’re already so close. you make the future feel more worth it. you make more days alive feel not just tolerable, but something to look forward to. and knowing you’ve loved me all this time... it’s nice. it’s good. i’m - i’m understating it so much, it’s more than nice, it’s just - it’s a lot. i wish i had noticed back then.” “hey, hey, don’t blame yourself. i’m the one who never said anything.”

anyway. everything works out, and they start dating for real :)

tugger:

bisexual. 22 years old

dishwasher at the same bar bombalurina works at. she got him the job. he keeps bugging her to teach him bartending tricks and on slow nights she will agree to

he dropped out of their four year, but he managed to secure an associate’s in communications before he dipped

trying to be an ig influencer hotboy and hopefully get modeling jobs from that but his phone’s camera sucks shit so his account isn’t really going anywhere. but he continues to post his low resolution shirtless selfies

trying to cope with being the failure son who does not have a fancy nonprofit job with a salary and healthcare by being self-absorbed and self-aggrandizing

it works about 60% of the time and 60% of the times that it doesn’t he’s able to hide it

he dropped out right around when bombalurina graduated and he was like HEY! ARE YOU LOOKING FOR A ROOMMATE WHO DOESN’T CARE IF WE LIVE TEN MILES AWAY FROM CAMPUS? WELL HAVE I GOT A SOLUTION FOR YOU: ME!

to which bombalurina (who has fooled around with him here and there and thinks he is funny little man and genuinely goodhearted, and also he has rockin abs as a plus) says munkustrap already asked me if i need a roommate and if i do to consider you, because you don’t want to move back home. in other words: yes, you little idiot

they do fool around with each other but they are both very understanding that it is strictly platonic and for fun, especially once they become roommates. they both do not desire each other for anything serious

he did have a bit of a crush on each other when they met (hot punk older girl who’s friends with his brother) but 1. it dissipated pretty quick after they fooled around for the first time because it was not a very serious crush 2. she was in the middle of being in love with demeter so she was focused on that, emotionally

he got his ears pierced a couple times in high school but bombalurina inspired him to get a couple more. she went with him when he got his nose pierced

demeter has always understood that him and bombalurina are strictly fwb, has never been an issue.

she and him like to bleach their hair together when their hair schedules line up (he bleaches his way less often then she does), but she refuses to use his fancy conditioner that keeps his hair unfried because it’s expensive, even though he tells her to go ahead and use it, please, the health of her hair is giving HIM anxiety, demeter please. please demeter

mistoffelees:

gay. 20 years old

has magic. it’s pretty good magic but again: magic is not a big deal in this concept

a bit spooky. skulks around. a bit of a bitch but also very very nice. chooses when to speak

he has postings on craigslist and fiverr about finding lost objects and people with magic. like a gig economy private detective

side job is a waiter at a fancy restaurant

sometimes he gets paid VERY well from the private detecting, depending on the client. he does ask his psychic friends (tantomile & coricopat) to give a quick glance over on some of the more suspicious clients just to make sure he isn’t finding someone who should not be found by that person.

doesn’t go to college. is roommates with his sister victoria, who’s a freshman and studying dance. moved into town with her so she wouldn’t have to live in the dorms by having a guaranteed roommate.

tuggoffelees:

the general vibe i want for these two is mistoffelees walking around town or driving around in his shitty toyota camry while tugger tags along because he’s bored and thinks this is cool as shit

the general tone of the au is “magic isn’t a big deal” except for tugger, who thinks mistoffelees’ magic and his magic freelancing is the coolest shit ever. this is mostly because he just likes mistoffelees. “there are people who can do cooler shit than me, tug” “yeah but i don’t KNOW them also theyre not as COOL as you” “you had to explain to me how instagram reels work”

idk how they met i just think tugger shows up at his and bombalurina’s apartment one day (this is when demeter has moved in but they havent moved to the 3br yet) with this dude to dash in and pick something up and bombalurina is like “uh. who’s this” “oh this is mistoffelees he’s SO GOOD AT MAGIC” [mistoffelees nods hello] “okay bye bombalurina see you at work!!!” “uh. later”

after that he just shows up a lot. sort of ambiguous if theyre dating or what for a while before bombalurina straight up asks like “hey does the dude you’re dating know we fool around” “the dude im - what?” “... the little magic guy who keeps using our hot cocoa mix. misty.” “oh. uh. we aren’t dating.” “... do you want to? because you’re kind of all over him constantly” “um. well! haha, if i wanted to, i could! haha!” “yeah get back to me on that”

tugger trying to use his ig clout to get mistoffelees more work even though 1. he has no clout 2. mistoffelees has a very stable client base. but mistoffelees appreciates the effort. the self-promo guy promoing someone other than himself... the highest expression of love...

mistoffelees is A Nonthreatening Man plus he’s pretty obviously gay so demeter is chill around him pretty quickly. when mistoffelees is over they’ll sit on the couch where demeter sleeps and watch documentaries quietly while she crochets

they both occasionally say spooky shit at the same time because magic stuff. bombalurina and tugger are both torn between “that was cool as fuck” and “god that’s unnerving”

just a lot of tugger following mistoffelees around on his jobs and mistoffelees letting him because he’s fond of him and them occasionally getting into minor peril and interesting shenanigans, but it is 90% fetch quests

i think the first time they met tugger was taking selfies in front of a hydrangea in a public park and he saw mistoffelees walk up with a shovel and start digging in one of the flower beds and he thought he was hot so he went over and offered to take over on the shoveling to look strong and masculine and he ended up digging up a skull, which mistoffelees picked up and said “thanks” and then walked away

mildly terrifying but also very interesting and tugger’s days are kind of boring and dishwashing kind of sucks as a job to do like every night and he is a person who thrives on novelty so. moth to a porchlight

i think they do start making out for fun here and there and then a while later theyre out on one of mistoffelees’ jobs and someone asks “who’s the guy with you” and mistoffelees replies “oh that’s my boyfriend, don’t worry about him” and then it’s like. “HUH? I’M YOUR BOYFRIEND?” “uh. yeah? i assumed. is that okay?” “i mean yeah of course i think you’re great! how long have we–” “oh like a while.” “oh. uh. cool!!”

they just hang out a lot. mistoffelees enjoys teasing him and enjoys his warmth and bombasticity and tugger likes watching and helping him solve little mysteries around the county because it’s always something new. they’re kind of a comedy duo. they just enjoy spending their time together and following mistoffelee’s internal magic gps to find lost dogs and lost necklaces

yeah right now this au is just vibes and just sort of. continuing forward with your days and your weeks and your months. just young adults hanging out

[the-ace-with-spades]

(2/6) the best is yet to be

five times someone realized Ronan and Adam were basically married and one time they actually were

Part 1 │Part 3 │Part 4 │Part 5 │Part 6

Read on ao3

Gansey tried to forget about that weird experience of a study session and he mostly succeeded — they rarely even registered as a couple in Gansey's mind, still.

And then they went to Nino's.

Adam was, as always, bone-tired and still using the time to revise the Latin verbs for the next test. Blue, when they entered Nino's, said it was in itself adorable — that Ronan Lynch, high school dropout, was helping his boyfriend with his homework. She probably said it to tease them, but Gansey couldn't help and feel that it was very true. After all, Ronan hated everything school-related, and Adam hated everything help related.

Gansey decided to concentrate his attention mainly on Henry the minute Ronan sat next to him, correcting Adam's ugly handwriting and throwing sarcastic comments against Henry's rant here or there. His arm was lying on the backrest behind Adam and it might have looked casual, but Gansey was still remembering that awkward night when he saw just how quickly something casual could get intimate.

He decided to look only at Henry and the way his eyes would light up whenever he would get to the most exciting part of his monologue, and the way he would smile when Gansey asked questions.

They were still waiting for Blue's break.

Ronan and Adam's conversation quieted down, Ronan's voice became more of a whisper the closer he leaned over Adam's shoulder. With the corner of his eyes, he could see Adam scratching the dry skin off his knuckles — it was a habit Gansey, and probably anyone else, noticed.

Adam's hands were always in a quite poor state, with his different manual jobs and lack of proper hydration. He always had little scratches on the sides of his hands, rough knuckles and calluses on the inside of his palms, to the point that it became just another characteristic.

This was another thing Gansey was not allowed to help with. He had seen Adam, before, carrying hand lotion in his bag but he must have used it up — things were better between them but he still wouldn't dare to buy Adam something like that, small as it was.

Gasnsey pretended he didn't see the way Ronan's body curled around Adam's like a heavy afghan blanket. Maybe he would get used to it with time, but time meant months, if not years.

He looked at his watch. Blue's break should have already begun.

Adam rubbed off a tiny scab on his left hand. Gansey ignored Ronan's gaze.

Blue's hip bumped his when she sat down in the booth. Gansey glanced at her, smiling, and let her steal some of his fries.

"Hey, nerds," she said, as another greeting. "What are you nerding about?"

Blue was already there when they entered Nino's — she was their waitress — but he still gripped her hand in his, caressing over her handmade rings. It was the best thing he could focus on to avoid everything around him, even though Henry's smile was radiant and distracting in itself, Blue's warmth always kept him from anything else.

He looked at their joined hands and Henry's response fell deaf on his ears.

Blue's hand tensed up and her arm bumped his ribcage.

He looked up.

Henry's face stilled mid-word, wide-eyed. He could hear dishes in the backroom, banging in the sink, and the air in the room suddenly felt too warm, especially around his cheeks.

Ronan's hand held Adam's palm, close to his mouth and Adam's head leaned back, chin up enough that he could easily look into Ronan's eyes when he kissed the dry skin on his knuckles.

He, Blue and Henry were watching it like a train wreck — frozen and expecting an explosion, from either of them. It didn't happen.

In the relatively quiet Nino's, and with their whole table dumbstruck, Ganey could hear their next words clearly.

"Forgot your hand cream again?"

The words were unbelievably soft-spoken, even for a normal person, not to mention Ronan.

"I didn't," Adam said. "Left it at home on purpose."

Ronan leaned over closer to Adam's ear, having on his face a smirk but the kind of a smirk Gansey had never seen on him — he looked flirtatious and so unlike himself. "That's a shitty excuse to visit."

It takes him a second, realizing that Adam meant the Barns when he said home, and it made Gansey's insides soften into a gooey puddle of fondness. He wonders when exactly it happened and how he missed the bluntness of it, the implications it came with.

Ronan brought Adam's hand to his mouth to kiss it again and Adam smiled in a way Gansey had never seen before — in a way that made his heart still in his chest.

"Wow," Henry whispered to himself, sounding more confused than ever.

"What?" Adam said, uncharacteristically low and a little red in the face.

To be honest, Gansey was surprised that Ronan wasn't even a little bit red. He remembered from the Before Days, that fifteen-year-old Ronan, just as fair-skinned, would turn beetroot red at the smallest embarrassment. This Ronan didn't appear to have even a slight amount of shame because he did lower Adam's hand to the tabletop but he didn't let go, instead, his thumb lied over Adam's shoulder, rubbing small circles onto it, smooth and unhesitating, as if he had done it a million times. The shame might have transferred onto Gansey in a form of secondhand embarrassment as his own face felt feverous.

No one said anything out loud, but Gansey could hear Blue's hashed words close to his ear, "Has this really happened?" enflaming his cheeks even more due to proximity.

Gansey had wondered whether Adam was as affectionate and open when he dated her. Her shock was probably an answer in itself.

Henry, on his other side, moved closer, effectively sandwiching Gansey between the two of them. "I think so."

He felt even warmer like that, squeezed by them and observing this out of body experience that was Ronan and Adam acting as if they had been together for the past twenty years, unabashed and insolent in public.

Ronan rolled his eyes and let go of Adam's hand but didn't move all that far away, his arm still lying an inch or two behind his shoulders.

"What?" Adam asked again, this time much more put together.

Blue cleared her throat, snapping out of the wide-eyed state that took over their table — she had always been the least moved by things out of the ordinary. She nudged him in the ribs.

"I'm going to finish in half an hour," Blue said. "You are staying until then?"

Ronan pointedly looked at the window outside the booth. It meant that this sentence was based in a longer argument.

"I have work tonight," Adam answered. "I should leave in a couple of minutes."

Gansey could see how this could have blown up between the two of them — and probably did — Adam was working plenty, and was already tired plenty. He was sure there was a reason behind it, like college fees or gas money but it also set a darker mood over the table. No one liked the way Adam looked after a school day and another eight hours of work, with graying skin and reddened eyes and a hunch in his back.

Despite that, Ronan still got up with Adam, walking him to Hondoyota.

"Well," Blue said, when they were outside the door, coming up to their table with a fresh jug of lemonade. "That was something."

Henry bit on the — metal — straw and hummed in a way that implied he was still confused.

"Yes," he said. "They—They do that—"

This felt awkward.

"By that, you mean lovingly gazing into each others' eyes next to Parrish's hideous car?" Henry asked.

He was looking out the window, eyebrows raised. And sure enough, just under the street lamp light, Ronan and Adam were standing — Adam leaned on the passenger door, his hand holding his nape.

"This is really weird," Blue said. "Weirder than seeing my mom with Dean even. I'd have never thought that Adam could—"

"Adam?" Henry asked. "Have you met Lynch? You know, tall, angry face, at least one swear a sentence?"

"Is it just me or this happened really fast?" she continued.

Gansey could understand it.

Looking at the window again, he could see Ronan leaning close to Adam's face, in a familiar goodbye,  kissing under his cheekbone.

Maybe they should get used to it. It didn't seem like it would change.

[trillian-anders]

first blood

pairing: ransom drysdale x reader

warnings:  angst, general asshole-ness.

word count: 4.6k  

description: part 3 of 5. how did you become ransom’s glorified babysitter? and why the fuck are you keeping this job? who knows. you hate it, you hate him, but... the money. 

note: tumblr is being super shitty rn so I can only post on mobile, but I really wanted to get this off my desk! will add a read more and properly link later 💕

prequel to the assistant && four christmases, spoiler free loves. 

You have to do this.

You have to do this.

You have to do this.

You don’t think your eyes will ever feel normal again. They were dry and scratchy. There were no more tears to shed. You’d buried your Mom two months ago, but you didn’t know how it would ever feel okay. She did everything for you and Julia. Everything. She worked hard, made pretty good money, allowed you to have a part time job and just focus on school. Julia was in this really nice private school, she played the cello now for fucks sake. She had friends and was talking about maybe starting soccer soon, but after funeral costs and your sister’s tuition the life insurance money was running out.

You had to sell the house.

You’d moved the two of you into a small apartment right outside of Chinatown. Not the safest area, but not the most unsafe either. You’d be fine. You had each other, and she needed you to do this. You had to do this.

For her.

You sat uncomfortably in the cheap office chair, sitting across from a woman with too many papers on her desk, everything sloppily arranged around a couple of potted succulents and a framed picture of her and her three kids, no spouse.

“So your last job was in tutoring?” She asked you. You shifted nervously in your seat, nodding your head,

“Yeah, I tutored a high school student in English and Math.” You needed some water. The cheap pencil skirt and blouse you were wearing made your skin itch. She types into her computer some more.

“So why are you here?” She asked, “Why not continue tutoring?” A few more clicks and then more typing.

“The family I worked for paid me pretty well,” You admitted, “But she’s graduating this year and they didn’t need me anymore, I don’t really,” You cleared your throat, “I don’t really have much job experience outside of that and I need to start making money now… I’ve put out job applications but haven’t really gotten any luck.” Not with the income you needed anyway. The woman nodded. The plaque on her desk said her name is Stacy Chandler.

“Alright, here you are.” A printed page, address, date, and time. A job. Clerical work. Data entry. You have to do this...

-

“How was your last day of school?” Julia sat heavily at the kitchen table, backpack slumped on the floor next to her. She buried her face in her arms.

“I’m never going again.” Came muffled from her mouth. She lifted her head to look at you. The beginnings of puberty. You’d recently gone bra shopping for the first time. Real ones, no more training bras. You’d recently taken her to the dermatologist for her acne, but she’s not good at remembering to put on the expensive creams you bought. What a hard time. You don’t envy her.

“Luckily for you,” You smiled, placing a fudgy brownie in front of her, “You don’t have to go back for three whole months!” She rolled her eyes heavily, taking the brownie and disappearing into her room presumably to sit on her computer until dinner.

She was feeling the absence of your Mother just as you were. You weren’t sure what to do here. You loved your sister and you know she loves you too, but in the last few months it’s just been closed doors and a few parting sentences. Only because you had to work so much. Only because she spent a lot of time at friend’s houses where you’d think she would feel normal for a while. It would help ease the burden of being in your mid-twenties and suddenly feeling like a single mother. Of course you can sleep over at Mila’s house, her family is going to their cabin for the weekend of course you can go!

You didn’t know what to do other than keeping her in school and alive. You weren’t ready for this. But the only other option was your estranged aunt who reeked of mothballs and was constantly asking you if you were married, or dating, or ‘You’re Mother wouldn’t have wanted this’. No. It was very clear that your Mom wanted the two of you to stay together, and that’s how it’s going to be.

This summer she was going to spend with her friend Mila at their family’s lake house. Mila’s mother was a stay at home mom with six kids under the age of 12 and would be planning to spend the summer pintresting activities and projects with them while simultaneously getting out of her stuffy-old 10 bedroom, 8 bathroom mansion. Lucky her. Lucky Julia.

The apartment would be empty without the 12-year-old pre-teen for three months, but Julia has really been looking forward to it. Her bags were packed and ready by the door.

You hugged her tightly in front of Mila’s house, burying your face in her hair, partially not wanting her to go, but otherwise knowing that she’s going to have a better time than you could ever provide her. “Okay, you can let me go now.” She shifted in your arms, trying to pull away.

“Just another minute.” You mumbled, pulling her in tighter. “I’m gonna miss you.” She laughed,

“I’m gonna miss you too.” The two of you pulled apart and you tucked her hair behind her ears, cupping her sweet face.

“I love you,” You said very seriously, “If you ever want to come home just-”

“I’ll let you know.” She was getting impatient, the car Mila’s mom was taking to the lake house, a beautifully large black Range Rover sat packed next to you, they were waiting. “I love you too.” She slowly backed away towards the car.

“If she gets homesick, my husband still comes back every week for work so he can bring her home if need be,” Andrea was her name, Mila’s Mom. “She’ll be fine.” Andy was really nice. She made a lot of the food the two of you had eaten in the early days after your Mom’s death. Her gentle reassurance soothed you slightly. It made driving away a little easier, but it didn’t stop the tears that fell as you entered your apartment, alone. For the first time in a while. You didn’t have to hold it in anymore.

You sunk down against your front door, staring out into your living room, tears rolling down your cheeks in the silence of the home. Dirty shoes lined up against the wall, throw blanket hanging halfway off the couch, dirty dishes from breakfast still in the sink, and somewhere you’re sure under all of it was the will to pick yourself back up.

You just didn’t know if you were ready for that quite yet.

But you did it anyway.

More clerical work. More data entry. More bills going half paid and others being ignored all together. Student loans you didn’t even want to think about from a school where you hadn’t even graduated. Medical bills you didn’t even know where to begin paying back, itchy stockings, and uncomfortable shoes. With every day that passed you reexamined your life. How did you get here?

A new job, a new office. Temp assigned, but you knew who worked here. The building that housed it stood tall against the Boston skyline. Contemporary. You sat comfortably in a cushy office chair. The plaque on the desk read Linda Drysdale, CEO. And you waited.

You hadn’t seen the Thrombey’s, let alone the Drysdale branch of the family, for five months. Zero contact. Joni had talked to you last, thanking you for helping Meg, but also trying to sell you eye cream. “You really should invest in taking better care of yourself.” Which was her kind way of trying to tell you that you look old. Thanks.

You couldn’t imagine what Linda would want you for. You’d been doing some filing, they were transferring all of their documents to digital and hired extra help to do so, you were one of three hired from your particular temp agency, but yesterday she had called you personally and asked you to come in for an appointment today at 3 pm. And here you are.

Waiting.

There was a portrait of her family on the wall. Linda herself sitting in a high backed intricate chair, her husband Richard standing to her right, and to her left was her son, Hugh. He went by his middle name Ransom. They were stone faced, serious looking. This painting seemed ridiculous. If you didn’t know the Thrombey’s you’d think it was there to be ironic, as a joke, a play on what rich families were like.

But they were a rich family, and this is what they were like.

Linda was self-serving. She only ever talked to you when it suited her own interests and as soon as she was satisfied she would quickly direct her attention somewhere else, to someone more important. She used you to get what she wanted and when you served her purpose you were gone. She had no time for anyone, only her father. Anything for Harlan.

Richard was a predator. He was always making an uncomfortable comment about either your body or your face. He stood uncomfortably close at times and liked to settle a hand on the small of your back. He was a well kept man, throwing his wife’s money around like it was his own. He kept a money clip of hundreds in his pocket.

Ransom was a piece of shit. He was a self-centered egotistical asshole who was sure to make your life a living hell every time he saw you. There was always a comment, a jab at your clothes, your hair, the fact that you are poor. He once ‘accidentally’ threw your cardigan away because, “I thought it was one of those fucking rags you dust with, I didn’t want it touching my burberry.” He, like his father, felt predatory. Something about being a rich white man just really got them going, and the money clip with the hundreds… a learned habit.

“Alright,” Linda’s voice came from the doorway, you turned slightly in your seat. She was on the phone, “Well we will send Michael out to show them the properties instead, I’m sure we’ll find something they like.” She gave you a finger, hold on, even though you’d been sitting here patiently waiting for her for close to twenty minutes now. “Okay,” She continued, “Sounds good.” Sitting down in her chair, tapping a few keys to illuminate her computer screen. “Alright now, bye-bye.” She took her phone from her ear, looking down at the screen before placing it face down on the desk and smiling at you.

You knew that smile. She wanted something.

“So, Y/N right?” You nodded, “I see you’re looking for work.”

“Well, I’m with a temp agency right now but-”

“Would you like something a little more permanent?” A permanent job? The Thrombey’s had paid you very well to tutor Meg, better than you were making now. Granted you had only worked 15 hours a week when you were tutoring her, so $20 an hour didn’t seem like that big of a deal, but if they were looking for something, anything full time…

“Absolutely,” You smiled, shifting in your seat, “I’ve had trouble being hired because my-”

“Okay so you’re going to need Ransom’s number, and you’ll start tomorrow.” Your smile dropped.

“Ransom needs a tutor?” You asked skeptically. She laughed.

“No, he needs an assistant.” She gestured towards herself, “I can’t keep telling him when or where to be for family events and he has a fairly active social life so I’m gifting him an assistant for his birthday.” Oh.

“I uhm,” You really didn’t want to work for Ransom. You REALLY didn’t want to work for Ransom. “How much would it…?” You trailed off nervously.

“My father paid you $20 an hour to tutor Meg, yes?” She asked, typing something into her computer, no longer looking at you.

“Yes, he did.” You moved trying to see what she was typing without bringing too much attention to it. She was drafting an email.

“So I’ll pay you the same. Ransom will set hours for you and decide what days of the week he’ll need you and what else he wants you to do,” She waved her hand dismissively, “Cleaning, cooking, whatever.” She scribbled on a post-it before peeling and handing it to you. “Here’s his number and address, you can go over the particulars of your job tomorrow morning.” You opened your mouth to speak again, ask her the million and one questions you have but before you could say anything she dismissed you, “That is all.” She said. And she was done with you.

She got what she wanted. And now she wanted you to leave.

So you did.

“Well,” He grinned, “Linda really scooped you up from the bottom of the barrel, huh?” You stood on Ransom’s front porch. The only texts you sent and received last night were ‘What time do you need me to be there?’ and an hour later the reply of ‘11’. The scumbag was standing in the doorway, leant against the frame, looking down on you. In more than one way.

“Can I come in?” You asked. You really didn’t want to do this. But a $12 an hour temp job versus $20 hour stability… hard to beat. He smirked, pushing off the frame before looking you up and down, turning to disappear into the house.

“Take off your shoes.” What a fucking joke. His house was a mess. Clothes thrown haphazardly around, a pile of dishes not in the sink, but on the counter. Abandoned cups, tv was rolling on in the background, some political documentary. The house, while contemporary and clean, well kept on the outside. The inside looked like a frat house during rush week. You didn’t want to take off your shoes in fear that you’d step in vomit or something worse.

He grinned off to the side, “Had some people over last night.” He explained, drinking what looked like orange juice from a coffee mug. The vodka bottle that was capless on the counter led you to believe that orange juice wasn’t the only thing in the cup. “You can start by cleaning up.” He gestured around, sinking back down into the sofa. “I’m sure I’ll think of something else you can do when you’re done.” The fucking prick.

You shut the door a little heavier than intended, slipping your sneakers off and placing them by the door. “You’ve got a laundry room?” You asked, he didn’t look away from the television,

“Basement.” And he was done with you too. The tone was very, don’t talk to me. Which honestly you were grateful for.

You cleaned up his messes, the red solo cups that littered almost every surface in every room, laundry was running in the basement, dishwasher working hard to sanitize the first round of plates and cups that could fit, the others waiting patiently in the sink as you wipe counters and dusted picture frames, the thick film of unappreciation. He didn’t care about his house, his furniture, the art that cost more than your apartment that lined his walls. His clothes, while having an extensive closet, some were threadbare and with holes.

He didn’t care.

And it made you angry.

You thought of the furniture you were able to keep from your Mother’s house, well oiled and kept. No scratches. The fabrics of the couches and chairs carefully cleaned and maintained.

His sheets were stained and you were unsure when the last time he had washed them actually was. The dampness made you gag. It wasn’t long before you were cleaning under his feet. His ankles crossed and feet resting on the coffee table as you straightened the area around him. You felt his eyes on you, briefly, but ignored it.

“Do you have any real clothes?” He asked suddenly. He stood from the sofa, rounding it to pull the vodka bottle back out from the cabinet you’d placed it in, pouring heavily into the coffee mug before leaving the bottle and the orange juice carton he followed with next to it.

“These are real clothes.” You stated, coming behind him to put the items away. He scoffed,

“I’m important,” He claimed, “I go to parties, events.” He took a large mouthful of the screwdriver he’d just made, “You can’t wear clothes like that if you’re gonna be babysitting me the whole time.” You rolled your eyes,

“I don’t have to go. You set my hours, I don’t-”

“As much as I love the whole, ‘I’m poor and don’t care what I look like’, thing you have going on,” Ransom laughed, “You’re gonna be around me, and as a reflection of me, you need to look presentable.” He gestured to the demin shorts a t-shirt you were currently wearing, mismatched socks on your feet. You felt your face flush. “And slap a little makeup on.” You rolled your eyes at that. Fucking dick. He smirked when you didn’t reply, turning back around to leave you and disappeared upstairs.

He didn’t come down for a while. In that time you’d finished cleaning the living area, the house looking a complete 180 from where it had been when you’d originally entered, it was nearing dinner time. Your stomach was growling and you’d realized you had been cleaning for five hours without stopping.

You didn’t get to enjoy the sense of accomplishment because Ransom came down the stairs not a moment later, dressed for his evening. If you didn’t hate him so much you’d drool. He looked good. Patterned slacks, chelsea boots, a lightweight white button down, blazer over one arm. “Let’s go.” He said, not stopping on his way towards the front door.

“Where are we going?” You felt gross, covered in grime from cleaning, sweat dried on your skin you knew you probably didn’t smell amazing, hair frizzed up in a bun. He didn’t answer you, continuing outside. You sighed heavily, throwing the pair of socks you’d just matched back into the laundry basket before slipping your shoes on and following him outside.

“C’mon!” He yelled from the front seat of his beamer, sunglasses on his nose, he was annoyed with you. Whatever. You sat heavily in his passenger seat, the dickwad not even giving you time to close the door before he was speeding down the driveway.

“Where are we going?” You asked again. One hand on the wheel, the other’s fingertips brushing against his lower lip he looked at you from behind his sunglasses.

“To dinner.” He smirked, looking back towards the road as you merged onto the interstate.

He was a fucking asshole. If you hadn’t thought he was before you definitely knew now. You were surprised the hostess even let you into this place. It was expensive, and you were very, very underdressed. Point taken Ransom. Thank you. Fucking prick.

He took glances at you ever so often, seated a few feet away from him at the long banquet style table that housed all of his ‘friends.’ Gorgeous women and equally as gorgeous men who had money to burn. You weren’t sure any of these people have ever worked a day in their life, much like Ransom himself. You’d met a few of them before, briefly, when Ransom would show up and ask Harlan for money before disappearing for a week, one or two of them would be in tow bragging about going on some guy’s yacht or flying out to some private island.

Regardless, they weren’t talking to you. You were a strange interloper, easily ignored, but only after a few poked fun at the stray dog at Ransom’s heels. It only stung a little bit when he laughed with them. You were wildly uncomfortable. You poked at your deconstructed salad, the little bits lined neatly up on the plate, a smear of salad dressing beside it. This menu was ridiculous. Why were you here again? You were so hungry and this was not your speed at all. Ransom’s booming laugh met your ears and you could feel the anger rising in your chest.

Fucking asshole. You hoped he would choke on one of the olives in his martini. His eyes met yours momentarily and he smirked. He fucking smirked, cheersing you with his martini before it met his lips again. You could kill him right now.

The money.

The money.

Technically you were still working. As the sun set behind the horizon. You’d been at work, technically, for about 10 hours. That’s $200. Okay, you can do this. You can do this.

You know he did this to embarass you. He made it clear when you’d pull up to the restaurant to give you a taunting look. Whether the dinner was already planned or he had planned it after the conversation about clothes and makeup earlier was anyone’s guess. You had the feeling it was the latter.

He’d paid the bill after all.

The entirety of it.

You’d wished you’d ordered more.

Afterward a giggling girl took your place in the front seat, you glared at the back of her head from the back seat,

“Ransom.” She whined, leaning over in her seat to press her lips to his neck, “I want you to fuck me.” Lips around his ear, sucking the lobe into her mouth. You shifted your gaze to the window, the city landscape passing your eyes as you’d pulled into another valet parking, a bar this time. A nice one.

Ransom and the bubbly girl from the car ride over slipped hastily into the bathroom, he’d sent you a dark look before leaving you to your own devices. Looking over the cocktail list while sitting uncomfortably on a bar stool while your boss was fucking a girl who’d laughed at you for being a ‘dog’ earlier in the bathroom of a bar that had a $20 old fashioned and their most expensive wine came with a thousand dollar price tag.

“You lost?” Another smirking asshole, sidled up next to you at the bar as you took a sip from the beautifully balanced old fashioned you’d tacked onto Ransom’s tab. He was handsome, the guy bothering you, almost everyone in this room was handsome. The lights low and romantic, candles on every table and across the bar, soft music played from the piano across the room where a man sat gently stroking the melodies to create the ambiance of the room. Close, cozy, romantic, and dark enough to forget yourself in.

“Oh c’mon honey.” The man slipped onto the barstool, thighs spread wide around you as you face away from him, his hand meeting your back. “I can help you find what you’re looking for.” His breath reeked of alcohol. You glanced over at him,

“I’m fine thank you.” Another sip, damn this drink was good. He chuckled, moving in closer, drifting a hand down to your thigh.

“Don’t be like that.” He laughed, “You obviously don’t belong here honey.” His hand traced your bare thigh, “You’ve gotta be wanting some company.”

Ransom had returned face flushed and you could almost see a tiny bit of white on his nose, but it was quickly rubbed away. He sat on the opposite end of the bar, the girl from earlier taking his lap. He looked down at you briefly, he had to have seen how uncomfortable you were, how this guy was breathing down your neck. He ignored it, ordering a drink from the bartender.

“I don’t want any company,” You shoved the man’s hand away, “Have a great night.” He leaned back in his seat, downing his drink before leaning back over to put his face in yours.

“Fucking ugly bitch.” He spat, standing from the stool, “Tryna give you a little charity here, you could've at least been grateful.” You wanted to leave. He shoved your shoulder slightly as he walked away from you, no doubt going to bother some other unsuspecting woman in his radius.

You needed some air, taking the last sip of your drink you’d scooted back from the bar, walking by Ransom to take your exit, walking out into the summer night. It was early summer. It was still only 60 at night. A chill went through you. You hadn’t expected to be out so late, the comfortable denim shorts and old ratty t shirt you’d chosen to wear had obviously been a mistake for this day. Ransom made sure to make you see that.

The bar was on the harbor, and it brought in a breeze that caused goosebumps to rise on your skin. You checked your phone, the battery almost dead. Julia had been texting you periodically, but not as much as you would have liked. You scrolled through the most recent messages, you asking how her trip was going and what she was up to and her stilted replies. She was busy you supposed. She didn’t need you, but right now you really needed her.

This night has been a massive blow to your self-esteem. You’d never felt more ugly and unwanted in your life. You just wanted to go home, but Ransom wasn’t done yet. You looked at him from the window, his fingers were gone between that girl’s thighs, they were both drinking expensive cocktails, completely oblivious to you.

He’d watched you exit, not giving it much thought it seemed, because he hadn’t made any motion to bring the night to a close, but you weren’t really expecting him to. It was Ransom’s world and you were just living in it. You worked for him. And you wondered if this is how every day is going to be from here on out. You really don’t know if you could do this forever, but you knew you didn’t want to go back inside.

So you didn’t.

Thankfully Ransom stumbled out about thirty minutes later, girl from earlier on his arm. “Let’s go.” He said. Valet pulling the beamer around he threw you the keys, “Take me home.”

He sunk down in the back seat, high and drunk. His words almost incoherent. Her’s were no better. They sloppily attacked each other in the back seat, indecently. And you were pointedly looking anywhere but in the rearview. Soft grunts and moans made you uncomfortable for the fourth time that night. Your skin crawling in unease as the girl’s giggles turned into breathy moans. Your foot sunk against the gas pedal in hopes you’d get back to his home faster, tears welling up in your eyes. The cry on the way home was going to be so good. So cathartic.

The gravel crunching against the wheels of the car was a sweet relief, so was the haste in which you left the keys in the car, running and skipped to your own car. His eyes met yours through the darkness as he was leant up against his car door, slacks loose around his hips, the girl’s lips attached to his neck as her hand worked quickly between his thighs. He smirked, waving a sarcastic ‘good-bye’. You turned your eyes to the road, cranking up the radio as you began to cry.

You didn’t want to do this anymore.

A text came through right as you finally laid down in your own bed, snuggling into the covers, ready to forget the night.

See you at 9.

.

.

.

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[kingofkate]

Welp. Here I go Ranting again.

This is a rant about an old Manga series called Akuma No Hanayome (Bride of Deimos/Devil). I was super into this a few years ago, looked back on it, picked it up again, ordered the new books, finished what I know to be available. Let it sit for like a year. NOW I have some freaking thoughts about this.

Let me warn you. This is not going to be pretty.

Let’s get into it.

I HATE this series. SO. MUCH.

Don’t know what it is? Let me sum it up for you.

Basically it is roughly 17 volumes and a few more recently published of one guy (a shit head) trying to figure out if he wants to fuck his sister, or a girl who looks just like her but is actually a good person. Still reading? Why?

Anyway, it all starts in ancient Greece or something where Venus and her twin brother are all Gody or whatever. Except get this, they really wanna bone. So they just straight up kiss one day and Jupiter or something is like NO INCEST IN MY HOUSE KIDS!!!! And curses them.

Venus get’s sent to Hades to slowly rot away (a real blow because her beauty is everything) and her brother get’s turned in Deimos, the king of Hades who is ugly because he has horns, wings, and weird ass feet. Not going to talk about how this guy was the closest thing I (an asexual) had to a sexual awakening. He gave me a heart boner. Imma just say it.

Anyway, Venus is all like “ow this sucks. But like... I still wanna bone, you know? So get down there (or up there I guess) and find my reincarnation... or whatever it is, kill her, then I can take over her body and we can totes get it on.”

Deimos thinks this sounds completely reasonable. So he... uh... dicks around for a loooooong time (even though it is shown in issues that she has been reborn like a bunch of times and he’s even met her before!) until we get to where the manga picks up.

We meet Minako. Basically a child (I think she’s in middle school??? Whatever, max age is highschool age). Deimos appears in her dream all cool and normal looking to try to seduce her, which goes south INSTANTLY when she gets a good look at him and he just goes straight into demon mode.

The first few volumes have somewhat of a stable storyline. Somewhat. The basic story is that Minako knows that Deimos wants to marry her and also wants to kill her, that he is a demon, and that he keeps literally murdering all of her friends (or people she meets and likes). Why did he think murder was the best way to win a girls heart? uh...

Yeah, he never really thought this through.

At some point Venus finds a way to turn into a butterfly for some reason and spends the rest of the volumes swapping back and forth between trying to kill Minako and trying to kill Deimos because she rightly assumes he has feelings for Minako.

Deimos on the other hand spends literally 17 full volumes trying to figure out who he loves more. And anyone reading can clearly tell that he likes Minako more even though that’s not how love works at all. Basically, Venus has turned into a vengeful bitch and Minako is still a actually nice person despite how many people in her life have died. It all comes down to one tiny thing: guilt.

Over and over Deimos goes over (usually justifying it to SOMEONE) that he loves Minako (they aren’t dating and any time he spends with her she it telling him to get lost and begging him to not kill her friends) BUT it was his love for his sister that put her in Hades where she is suffering so he feels he owes it to her to kill Minako and give her another chance at life.

Does that sound needlessly complicated? Don’t worry. You have plenty of time to get used to it because this is repeated over in every single issue from Volume 2 onward. 

I’m not kidding about that. Every issue starts with Minako doing something different, not referring to the events of the last issue, Deimos shows up, torments Minako about how unfair the world is, kills her friend, then gets all mad she doesn’t want to marry/die with him. Sometimes Venus is in the story. Sometimes it focuses on Deimos where he laments about his sister problems. But for 16 volumes there. is. no. story.

It’s so vague that when reading it online depending where you read it the stories are all mixed up so it’s hard to read it all in one place. 

Even when it seems like things are FINALLY going to happen, it doesn’t change. One issue has Deimos finally decides, fuck it, this has gone on long enough, I’m just going to kill Minako and get this over with. Only for a vampire lady to try to kill Manko first, leading to Deimos saving her and deciding not to kill her because the sword he was making to do got burned up in the fight. 

In another one Minako gets possessed by the ghost of a dead sister who wants to marry her brother (oh boy) so she wants to transfer her soul into her brother’s wife’s body (OH BOY) and Deimos is like do it, let’s see how this works out. And it seems like he finally has his answer until the brother is like “I love my wife for her soul, not her body” and Deimos is like “YOU CAN DO THAT?!” and the issue concludes with him saying he wants Minako’s soul and body. So no Venus right? WHO FUCKING KNOWS!

The series was dropped for like 20 years or something with no hint of a conclusion until the author picked it up again and a few more volumes were released. I went out of my way to order these from Japan (I do not speak Japanese) so I could see the conclusion but guess what? It was just 4 more volumes of the SAME. DAMN. THING!!!!

Like dammit man/woman just pick one! I don’t even care which one! I’d be satisfied if every single one of them died at this point. I don’t care! JUST END!

I don’t need 3 more stories about Minako actually finding someone who is kind and respects her only for Deimos to make a big deal about “this must be what jealousy is!” until he just pulls some demon crap and kill them in some horrible way. (ex. cured one of cancer so he could be hanged by the state for a murder Deimos tricked him into committing, caused one guy to commit suicide after making him accidentally kill his sister, and I’m sure there is more but I don’t feel like reading the 49 translated issues again to find it)

There is also the point that Minako keeps falling in love with guys who are the complete opposite of him. They are nice, treat her well, respect her, normally blonde I think?, and oh, did I mention they don’t kill everyone around her on a daily basis? No? Well the didn’t. You know.. before they died...

This is just a crazy unending story about a guy unsure just how much he still wants to fuck his sister and a poor innocent girl getting dragged into it. I hate it. I hate how hot Deimos is. I hate how cute and sweet Minako is. And I hate Venus in general. There are no other characters that manage to last more than an issue. (except maybe death but he only shows up a few times and no one likes him)

What is the conclusion to take from this? I was an emotionally horny tween/teen and overlooked incest for a hot guy. Now I’m older and realize that the incest should have been a huge red flag for an already shitty story that wasn’t a story because the author had no idea where they wanted to take it. They just wanted a hot guy doing bad things to a pretty girl for weird sexy reasons.

Rant over.

Hopefully I won’t think back on any OTHER Manga and end up ranting again. None of you deserve this.

[assembledherethevolunteers]

College Friends

A/N: Hi everybody! And SURPRISE  @rhapsodyrecs  ! I’m your secret author for @yourlocalmusicalprostitute Possessed By Love Event! I hope you (and everybody else) enjoys it!

 Pairing: Joe Mazzello x fem!reader

Warnings: Implied smut (nothing explicit, but just in case), references to drinking, cursing? (I honestly don’t remember if I put any in there or not,but better safe than sorry), bed-sharing 

You threw a bag of chips into the cart and then looked around for more snacks.

“I think we’re good on snacks,” Kodi chuckled.

“Not if Marcus is coming,” you replied, another bag of chips making its way into the cart.

“Alright, good point, but we can make a trip to the store once we get there.”

You and a group of friends from college were going on an extended weekend trip to the beach, staying at an AirBnB. You were leaving in the morning and you were so excited. You needed time away from work.

“Alright, when we get back to my place, we’ll pack it the van,” Kodi told you after you got everything in your car from the store. You’d rented a van so you could all fit in one car.

“Sounds good to me. What time are we going to leave in the morning?”

“I think around 8, but I told Sahara 9 so that she might actually be on time.”

You laughed.  

The two of you talked about how much fun the five you would be having at the beach.

“I’m ready to just goooo,” Kodi whined as you puled into the parking lot of her building. “Work has been so shitty lately.”

“I know,” you told her as you parked next to the van. “You deserved that promotion.”

“Tell me about it. Whatever. I just want to go to the beach and get drunk.”

“Two things I can help with, don’t you worry.”

“And maybe get laid.”

“Well, let’s see how drunk we get.”

You and Kodi laughed as you got out of the car. The two of you transferred your groceries from your car to the van when somebody came up and grabbed your hips.

You jumped and spun around with a scream, ready to attack the person.

“Hey! Hey, calm down!” The voice was laughing as you swung your arms, making minimal contact.

You met eyes with your ‘attacker’ and gasped for a moment at that familiar hazel. “Joe?”

He held his arms out for a hug, but you didn’t go into them. Kodi did though, hugging him tight.

“Joe! What are you doing back in town?!”

“I just wrapped on a movie and thought I’d come see you guys!” Joe pulled away from Kodi and looked at you with a big grin.

“So Mister Hollywood is gracing us with his presence once again, huh?” You replied with an eye roll.

“Ah, Y/N, great to see you, too.”

Joe Mazzello. The unaccounted for sixth member of your college friend group.

The six of you had met and made a study group for your Psych 101 class freshmen year. After that, you were inseparable. The six of you had stayed friends since you all had left school, which was actually a surprise to all of you, but somehow it had worked.

“How long are you in town?” Kodi asked.

“Just this week, so I wanted to see if you guys were doing anything this weekend and…”

“Aw shucks, Joey, we’re actually going to be out of town this weekend,” you clicked your tongue. Joe’s face fell and Kodi elbowed you in the side.

“Oh, well, that’s okay, maybe I can hang out with Marcus and…” Joe stopped talking at the look on Kodi’s face.

“We’re actually going with them too, we sort of threw this together last minute long weekend to the beach,” Kodi gave Joe a half smile. “We didn’t know you’d be home otherwise we would’ve asked you!” Kodi started spewing out excuses but Joe held his hand up.

“Kodi, it’s alright I can…”

“Well,” Kodi looked at you and then back to Joe. “Give us one sec,” she grabbed your arm and then pulled you out of ear shot of Joe.

“No,”you told her, already knowing where the conversation was going.

“Come ON, Y/N. Joe’s one of our friends too.”

You scoffed, not looking at her.

“There’s room for Joe at the Air BnB and he’ll make it fun! You guys used to be so close. What happened?”

You sighed.

Yes, you and Joe had been close. Until he slept with your roommate at the end of freshman year even though the two of you had spent the entire semester flirting and you had thought you’d made it clear that you liked him. You hadn’t wanted to mess up the group dynamic so you’d never said anything, but you had stopped hanging with Joe just the two of you.

“I just want to have fun, alright? And if Joe comes people will probably stop us and want pictures and…”

“Stop. When was the last time any of that happened?”

You paused to honestly try and think of a time, but couldn’t think of one.

"Come on, we haven’t seen him in like a year. Please?”

You thought about it and looked back at Joe, who had started grabbing bags of groceries out the car. For the most part, yes, he was a good guy. Maybe you’d been too hard on him.

“Fine, let’s invite him.”

“Yes!” Kodi hugged you and gave you a kiss on the cheek. She turned back to Joe and almost ran to him. You followed slowly behind her.

“So, Joe, if you’re not doing anything this weekend, would you want to come with us?”

Joe’s face lit up. “Really?” He looked to you.

You nodded reluctantly.

“Yeah! I’d uh…I would love to come. Only if everybody’s okay with it,” he replied, still looking at you.

“Yeah, I’m fine. We should probably get this stuff inside.” You grabbed the 24 pack of water and headed inside.

You went home and ran over your packing list one more time. You were pretty sure you had everything. You opened your suitcase and saw your old swim suit that you had grabbed. You took it out and grabbed your favorite two piece instead. If Joe was coming, you were going to let him know what he was missing out on.

“I’m here!” Sahara came running into the kitchen the next morning. “I’m sorry I’m late but I have a good reason!” She practically skidded to a stop. She was the last to arrive, so everybody was sitting at the kitchen table or leaning against the counter.

“You’re not actually,” Kodi smiled at you, knowing she’d done the right thing by telling Sahara an hour earlier than you should have.

“What do you…?” Sahara looked around when she noticed Joe leaning against the counter drinking coffee. Sahara squealed and threw herself in Joe’s arms.

“Oof!” Joe laughed as he hugged her back. “Well hi.”

“When did you get here?! How was filming? Are you coming with us? Is…?”

“Sa, sh…it’s waaaay too early for that,” Marcus grumbled.

“I don’t even care! I’m so excited that you’re here!”

Everybody (except you) laughed and Joe let her go.

“We should get everybody’s bags in the car,” Dylan clapped his hands together. Everybody grabbed their bags and headed out to the van. Except you and Joe because your bags were already in the car.

You could feel the tension in the kitchen grow once you realized that the two of you were alone.

Joe cleared his throat. “Y/N, I um…thanks for inviting me.”

“Well, it was Kodi’s idea,” you told him as you set your coffee cup in the sink.

“Yeah, but you also agreed to it. I know we’ve had…” Joe gestured as if he were going to catch what he was trying to say. “A falling out. And I’m not sure what exactly happened but, I’m hoping that maybe we can…mend things?”

You stared at him, trying to come up with a response. What the hell did he mean he didn’t know what he did?

“How can you…?”

“Hey! Are you two ready?!” Kodi yelled in to the two of you.

“Let’s get going,” you blew past Joe to join your friends. This was going to be a long weekend.

The trip to the Air BnB was about a four hour drive. Kodi drove the whole way and you were in the passenger seat. Everybody else was piled into the back of the van.

The ride wasn’t horrible. Actually, it was pretty fun. Joe always had a way of making everybody laugh, even when you tried not to.

Once you got there, you all split up and took rooms. The only problem was there were only 5 beds.

“Where’s Joe going to sleep?” Kodi asked as she and Sahara sat on your bed, watching you unpack some things after.

“Not here,” you told her.

“I know that, but Dylan and Marcus’ room only have single beds.”

“Then he can sleep on the floor.”

“Oh stop it. We’ll figure it out. So, Y/N,” Sahara exchanged a look with Kodi before looking at you. “Are you ever going to tell us what happened to you and Joe?”

You grabbed your swimsuit out of your suitcase. “Nothing, we just don’t click anymore. Now, can we go the beach and get drunk?”

The three men had already gone out and they were in the water when you and the other women came out with your beach towels and your tumblers full of drinks.

As you started laying your towel down, you noticed Joe was staring at you.

“Can I help you, Mazzello?” You called out to him.

The rest of the day was relaxing, but that night, you were all going to go out to dinner. You put on the dress that you had packed. It was tight and hugged your curves the way that you loved. You smiled to yourself as you finished your makeup in the mirror.

“Y/N,” there was a knock at the door and then it opened to reveal Joe, in a button down and khaki shorts. “Whoa.”

“What?” You looked down at yourself to make sure that your dress hadn’t bunched up or anything.

“Nothing, you just,” Joe cleared his throat. “You just look nice is all.”

You narrowed your eyes, thinking that maybe he was messing with you. “As opposed to how I normally look?”

Joe’s eyes widened comically before he back tracked. “No! No that’s not what I meant. You always…I…” Joe breathed deeply through his nose.

“Whatever, let’s just go, alright?” You pushed past him and into the living room where the rest of your friends were waiting.

Dinner was fine, nothing extreme happened, but you kept catching Joe’s eye. He would give you shy little smile and then you’d look away. But that damn little smile gave you little butterflies in your stomach. You were a little annoyed with yourself. Yes, your crush on him never actually went away. And sure he was cute. And when you forgot about him messing with you all of freshman year, you could admire how funny and nice and sweet he was. He…

“Y/N?” Kodi waved a hand in front of your face.

“Hm?” You blinked at her.

“I asked if you were ready to go.”

“Oh! Yeah, sure.”

The six of you walked back to house.

“So, where is Joe going to sleep?” Dylan asked after another hour or so of everybody drinking in the living room.

“I mean, Y/N is kinda the only one that has room,” Sahara said sheepishly.

You frowned. “I am?”

“Yeah, Marcus and Dylan only have 2 single beds, me and Sahara are sharing the other double.”

“It’s fine, you guys, I can sleep on the couch,” Joe offered.

Everybody looked at you, silently asking if you were actually going to make him sleep on the couch. You hated yourself for what you were about to offer.

“No, Joe, you…shouldn’t have to sleep on the couch,” you grumbled. “We can share the bed.”

“Y/N, you don’t have have to do that. Seriously, I’m fine with…”

“No, it’s fine just…give me a minute to get ready for bed,” you stood up and walked up the stairs to get ready to sleep. That’s all that was going to happen. Sleep.

You were in bed, scrolling through your phone fifteen minutes later when Joe walked in with his bag. He was wearing a plain blue t-shirt and a pair of boxers. You swallowed. It all seemed so…domestic. And you hated that you still wanted that with him.

“Hey, I uh…just wanted to thank you, again.”

“Not a big deal.”

Joe yawned. He then got into bed on the other side of the bed than you. “We can make a wall of pillows or something.”

“It’s fine, let’s just get some sleep,” you told him as you watched him plug his phone in. Then you turned the light off, ready to pretend that you weren’t (still) attracted to the guy you were in bed with.

“Good night, Y/N.”

“Night, Joe.”

You listened as Joe’s breathing evened out and it didn’t take long for you to fall asleep after that.

The next morning, your alarm went off. You turned it off and you woke up warm and happy. You hummed and moved closer to the source of warmth. You felt the arms around your waist tighten.

“Good morning to to you too, sweetheart,” you heard in you ear. His voice was husky with sleep.

You giggled. And then you realized who that was. You rolled over and looked at Joe. His eyes were still closed and the sun was peeking through a small gap in the window curtains, hitting his hair so it was a copper color. It was beautiful. God, why did have to sleep with Shari? You could’ve been waking up to this for years. Who knows if you’d still be together or not, but damn your time together probably would’ve been great.

“Are you staring at me?”

“I usually don’t wake up with movie stars in my bed, so I’m enjoying it while I can.”

Joe laughed and opened his eyes. You watched him blink a couple time before his eyes adjusted. Once they did, he lifted on corner of his mouth. “Morning.”

“Morning. Want to tell me why you’ve got your arms around me?”

“Want to tell me why you haven’t moved from out of my arms since you’ve been awake for like ten minutes?”

You tired to come up with a response, but nothing came. “Touche,” you said, but still made no effort to move.

“So, are you going to tell me why you stopped liking me the summer after freshman year or am I supposed to guess?”

“I didn’t stop liking you. You just…hurt me.” You decided to be honest since Joe was asking you point blank. You figured it was time for the two of you to talk about it since it was just the two of you.

“I did?” The look on Joe’s face was hurt, like he really didn’t know what you meant. “What did I do?”

“You slept with Shari.”

Joe’s brow furrowed. “Who?”

You rolled your eyes. He didn’t even remember sleeping with her? “Shari? My roommate freshman year?”

Joe frowned and shook his head, still not understanding what you were saying.

“Come on, Joe. Shari? She looked like she got choked out the morning after you slept with her.”

“Whoa! I never slept with your roommate.”

“Yes you did. We were all at Peter’s party and you left to get us refills and…”

“I came back and you were gone.”

“I went to the bathroom! I tried to find you for like twenty minutes. Then I saw Kodi, and she was drunk, so I took her back to her room.”

“I went back to my room after I couldn’t find you, I swear.”

You shook your head with a bitter chuckle. Why was he lying about it?

“Joe, it’s fine, I mean, I thought that we’d kinda had something over the semester but shit happens and…”

“Y/N,” Joe squeezed your hip. “I thought that we had something, too. And then, by the time I got the courage to ask you out, you…started acting weird. Like you didn’t want to be around me anymore. I thought that I had done something.”

“You did! You slept with Shari!”

“But I didn’t!”

“Yes you did! I spent the night with Kodi and when I went back to my room the next morning, Shari had hickies ALL over her neck and when I asked her she said it was ‘Joe from her film class’,” you used air quotes. “You guys had ‘American History in Film’ together.”

Joe stared at you for a long moment, his face screwed up in confusion. “I honestly don’t…” then you could see the realization hit Joe like a truck.

But it wasn’t the realization that you thought.

“There were two Joes in that film class.”

You blinked at him a couple times. “What?”

“There were two Joes! There was me and there was another guy named Joe that eyed Shari all the time!”

“I…you…what?” You repeated.

Joe watched you and then started laughing. Full on laughing. “So this whole time you’ve been mad at me because another guy got laid?”

Now you felt like an idiot. You’d been holding onto this stupid grudge for years and it was for nothing?!

“Well, I…I thought that…” you mumbled, trailing off because you couldn’t really think of what to say. You felt Joe was still laughing at you, but you rested your forehead on his chest so that you didn’t have to look at him.

“I’m so sorry,” you told him. “I can’t believe I was so bitter about something that didn’t even happen. And I didn’t even ask you! God, I’m sorry!”

Joe was still chuckling to himself and he slid one hand up and rubbed your back.

“So, if I’d asked you back then on a date, would you have said yes?”

You bit the inside of your cheek to keep from beaming. Then you looked up at him.

“Yeah, I would have.”

Joe’s face lit up and you decided that you really like that look on him. “What if I asked you for a kiss?”

“Now or then?”

Joe glanced down to your lips and then back up to your eyes. “Now.”

“I’d say yes,” you breathed out. You responded without even thinking about it.

Joe put his hand on your cheek and rubbed under your eye for a moment before he leaned in and your lips met.

You closed your eyes as a heat spread through you that you hadn’t felt for a while. Joe’s lips slid against yours and you wrapped your fingers in his hair, pulling him closer and deepening the kiss.

Joe groaned and then licked his way into your mouth. The two of you moving against each other made the bed squeak a couple times.  

You pulled a way for a moment to catch your breath. You kept your eyes closed, but still smiled.

“We should’ve done that a long time ago.”

“I think we’ve got some lost time to make up for,” Joe lifted your chin and you opened your eyes to look at him. “But only if you’re up for it.”

“THESE WALLS ARE REALLY THIN YOU GUYS!” Sahara’s voice came through the wall.

You looked at each other with wide eyes before Joe snorted and the two of you started giggling to each other.

“Maybe once we get home, before Mr. Hollywood needs to get back to work.”

“I’m going to hold you to that,” Joe pecked your lips one more time. “But until then, can I see you that two piece again?” He waggled his eyes brows.

You scoffed and pushed his chest. “Don’t press your luck, Mazzello.”

Joe grabbed your hand and brought it up to his lips. “I wouldn’t dream of it. Now that I’ve got you, I won’t be letting go anytime soon.”

You liked the sound of that.

[universe-in-the-void-in-the-cube]

I think I figured out my core problem in life.

Drama! 

And before you get up on me for it, just take a breather and listen to me while I’ll explain myself.

For as long as I can remember all I have known is negativity, stress and drama in my life. Basic timeline of my life.

Age 2 to 3 - As my first memories I lived in cockroach infested apartment complex, inhaled lead based paint fumes and I broken my wrist from climbing up a slide backwards. 

Age 3 to 4 -  Moved into a shitty 70s build trailer house in tornado prone Oklahoma experience in tornadoes for the first time and getting lost in the mall. 

Age of 4 to 5 - Moved from Oklahoma to Washington. Lived with grandparents before my dad got a job and found us a home.

Age 5 to 8 - Moved to a new apartment complex, get bulled and beat up by the kids at school, get lost walking home from a friends house, get on the wrong public bus on the first day of kindergarten. Having to become a big sister to a new baby girl and experiencing my first major volcanic eruption. Yes I lived in Tacoma when the 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens happened. 

Age 8 to 9 - Get beat up and bullied at school so badly that CPS was called and I was taken away from my parents and placed in a foster home with abusive foster parents the refused to let me drink ANY liquids and made me sleep on the floor with cockroaches, mice and rats for a week. Before being move to my grandparents for the summer then to a new foster home with a foster mother that had dementia before being returned to my parents January 1st of the following year. And transforming schools as well and forced to go to therapy that seemed a bit off.

Age 9 to 11 - Move back in with parents, mother blames me for being taken away by CPS, tells me that I am to old to play with toys of any kind and force to go to therapy that somehow didn’t feel quite right. Mom goes through her first religious zealot stage. And I broke my left leg, underneath the kneecap on Valentine’s day of all days, and the doctors office didn’t think I broke it and had me on a damn splint for a week till my parents took me to the major children’s hospital where they did tons more x-rays than my normal doctors office did and found out I did brake my leg. And when they took off the cast the first time they realized they set my leg wrong and had to rebreak it and reset it so I have knee problems till this day.

Age 11 to 12 - Forced to move again because new apartment complex owners kicked every one out, and had to live with my dad’s brother, his brother’s wife and 4 cousins in a one bedroom house with the basement converted to 4 bedrooms that had a bad problem of getting flooded when there was to much rain. Get transferred to a new school that was so backwards that my education and grades nosed dived and badly, and moving to two homes in less than a year. As well as starting my period for the first time.

Age 12 to 14 - Go to middle school for the first time, get bullied again and sexually harassed and totally confused about things and mom goes through religious zealot stage 2 and start getting emotionally and mentally abused by my mother. My grades drop even more. Wasn’t allowed to have a boyfriend.

Age 14 to 18 - Go high school, grades improved, mother becomes more controlling to the point I wasn’t allowed to go to school games, participate in sports or any other extra curricular activities, or any school dances. (I missed out on both my Jr. Prom and Sr. Ball), finally allowed to have a boyfriend who cheated on me with 4 other girls, 3 of which were my friends all at the same time. Mom ended up having throat cancer and a month after she had surgery my parents had to stay in an apartment in Seattle for chemo, my sister had to stay with my grandparents in another town and I lived at home alone as a latch key kid. Then my dad has a heart attack and I was the first one to be called and I had to call the entire family and I was by myself with no one to comfort me.

Age 18 to 19 - Graduate high school, my grandpa dies, get caught shop lifting, go to jail for a month, forced to go to Job Corps, met my husband, get kicked out of Job Corp and move back home, mom kicks me out to move is my future husband’s alcoholic step dad for a week, almost get raped by the prick, come home a week later get married. New husband’s mother visits me and my mom kicks me out of the house again and forces me to live with my mother-in-law who was a nasty alcoholic at the time while husband was still at Job Corp.

Age 19 to 25 - Live with mother-in-law, get in to fights, go to jail for domestic violence, get extremely sick with the stomach flu and almost die with an 105 temp and extremely dehydrated, and end up hurting my back by falling down the stairs hitting the area between my tail bone and lower back twice causing me to have back problems till this day. Go to collage as my husband goes to jail for writing bad checks and end up going through the first hints of emotional brake down.

Age 25 to 27 - Move into my first apartment with my husband alone. Have a slum lord as a landlord, first major blizzard and ice storm, get on SSI, doing good till one day I was cutting up meat and suddenly had the urge to cut myself. AKA my first psychological brake. Go to mental health after that. 

Age 27 to 32 - Move to my second apartment, having unintentional roommates put on me and my husband, then 911 happens, then get a series of earthquakes in the city I live in, get the room makes moved out, get a new one for a while that meets the cunt that ruined my life, get the dick head on again off again roommate and having to constantly deal with his shit, my dad dies, then my grandmother dies, get an inheritance, the cunt my second roommate knows gets jealous and accused my husband of being a pedo and arranges the situation by bribing the cops that interviewed my husband (since the detective on my husband’s case was friend with the cunt’s mother) and the judges with her mother’s money, husband goes to prison for 5 and a half years.

Age 32 to 40 - Living without my husband, on again off again roommate gets so drunk that he threatens to kill me so get a restraining order on him. Get coned by an asshole which causes me to loose money, computer and laptop brake, car gets stolen, have to sell the car or get it towed when I get the car back, have the asshole roommate move back in. Having to deal with his bullshit with his family and girlfriend to the point they are all living with me and my property gets stolen.

Age 40 to 45 - Husband gets out of jail, he is forced to not live with me or I will end up losing my housing. He ends up getting a job and everything is good. I get thyroid problem, sex drive plummets and he ends up cheating on me and getting the girl he was fucking pregnant, deal with my asshole roommate with is asshole girlfriend who are both addicted to meth and badly and do drugs in my home, more stuff get stolen. Find out that I am infertile and can never have kids when my husband told me what he did, get new management in the apartment complex that I live at for almost 20 years, they give me hell and force me to find a home in less than 30 days and do tons of illegal stuff to me and other tenants in the complex to the point one had their cancer (which was under remission) come back and kill the poor man causing him to die of cancer. 

Age 45 to 47 - Find a new apartment thanks to the old realtor company, still have the asshole roommate move in with me, losing about half of all my clothes and being in debt for a few months thanks to husband and the new realtors of the old apartment. Go to the hospital under suicide watch because of all the stress. then Covid 19 happens, drives my roommate to controlling situation and abusing me mentally and emotionally till I am nothing but an empty shell of a human being. Finally had enough, get a new restraining order on him, deal with a bed bug problem and feel like I am not going to make it then heater goes out then the lights and I have a nasty mental brake down and end up getting psychological help.

Age 47 to current - Get the bed bug problem fixed, get he heater fixed, roommate no longer lives with me, I am going to therapy and improving every day. All my bills are paid in full, I have food in my kitchen and enjoying life finally. The first time in my life I have never experienced stress and that negative aura of doom and gloom around me. But... it scares me since I am waiting for the other boot to drop since my life has NEVER been this peaceful and good EVER!!!

So because of this revelation. I believe that negativity, drama and stress is normal for me because that is all I have known in my life. To have a peaceful and content life is so abnormal and strange to me that it feels wrong and bad and I should feel guilty. Hell I do feel a strange sense of guilt to. But I shouldn’t feel that way. I should feel happy. So I need to be reprogramed so I can convinced that my current situation is what life should be and can be for me. Not doom and glove negative aura cloud surrounding me like a thick fog.

[cantcomeupwithacreativename]

The Experiment Chapter 5

"Let go of me asshole!" I screamed at the dark haired teacher. A purple mist surrounded me. I felt my body going limp as my head slumped into the scarf.

I woke up on a bed in a pale green room with white sheets isolating me.

"Oh, hi dear, how do you feel?"

"Uh, I'm fine…"

As it turns out there were security cameras with audio, so my account wasn't needed. The 2 second years that I fought with got expelled because this was the 4rth account of bullying they've been caught on, and the 2nd fight. Apparently, one of them was in my class, and this is their 1st strike, so they're thinking about transferring my classes so that I'm not with them. They haven't decided.

Back at my alley with Kei, she won't stop asking me questions.

"How was your first day of school? Were the people nice? Did you like it? Did you meet any famous heroes? Who's your favorite? Did you make any friends? Did you? Did you? Did you?"

"Um, yeah, I think so." There's no reason to tell her about the fight, is there? Or the possible transferring of classes.

Nothing interesting happened on my walk to school. When I walked through the door to 1 B, one of the boys ran over to me.

"I heard you fought a bully! That's so manly!" His sharp teeth glistened as he spoke.

"Uh, thanks dude…" I flashed him a grin.

"Hey, while we're talking, how did you get those scars?"

"A shark." I looked him dead in the eyes

"Really?!??!" He shouted

"No." I said as I walked away.

Later that day, during lunch, an alarm went off, making everybody scatter and stampede. I saw that nice ponytail girl from yesterday getting squished in the crowd. I pushed my way over and pulled her up.

Thank you F/l/n-san."

"Oh no prob."

A tall, bulky teenager flew to the top of a sign and shouted at everybody. He said it was the media, and people needed to chill.

Anyway, the rest of the day was just english, math, grammar, and normal classes.

When I got back to the alley, Kei wasn't there. I didn't think anything of it. Later, she came back with a couple burns on her. Before I could ask her what happened, she coughs blood at my feet.

"I stole a wallet," She later confesses, "from Endeavour."

I- she wHAT????

"Why him?!? The most aggressive of all pro heroes is who you choose to steal from???"

"He's the one it would affect the least," she said with a shrug, "and plus, the moron was stupid enough to have it hanging out of his pocket."

Well, I can't argue with that.

"Anyway, I've gotten enough to rent an apartment for a couple months, and I've worked enough to get a couple more." She keeps her voice down while saying this, to keep thieves or muggers away. I knew by 'worked', she meant whoring around some rich old man's place. That made me sick. She shouldn’t have to do that. She isn't even an adult yet. She's legal, but that doesn't make it right. They were pedophiles. Gross. But yay for the apartment!

"I've already sent the money to the landlord, so in a few weeks we can move in!" She was so happy. I didn't want to ask about taxes or bills or up front payments.

The next day, about the middle of the day, a strange announcement is made.

"All teachers go to the front door immediately. This is an emergency. Students, get into lockdown. This is not a drill. I repeat, this is not a drill." That message was repeated about three times and chaos ensued.

"Oh my god! Do you think it's real??"

"Is there a shooter?"

"Is that why they called the pros? To get him out?"

"Hey, turning the lights off is my job, you're assigned to barricade the door!"

"Is everybody in the classroom?"

"I DON'T WANT TO DIE!"

"Be quiet!"

Get out of my space, too close!"

"Everybody shut up."

A large boom and the shattering of glass shut everybody up.

"Do you think the pros got it?" A tiny voice whispered.

"Shut it." I whispered back. Briefly glancing at the guy, I see Monoma, with tears in his eyes. He must be really scared...

"Hey, I'm sure it'll be fine," I say, pulling him closer to me and tucking my wing around him, shrouding him in darkness.

We sat there, crouched under the counters for hours, too scared to get out. Eventually, the cops came in and told us there was nothing to be afraid of anymore, and that the heroes handled it and everybody was safe. The one thing they refused to tell us was what the hell happened. Rumors spread about one of the classes being attacked, that Allmight was in critical condition, dying in a hospital, that all of 1 A was dead, etc.

I only found out what really happened from the news in store windows. Apparently, class 1 A was attacked by villains while training. Allmight saved the day.

The next few days, school was closed, so I got extra money from a few random things. It wasn't much, and it sure as hell wasn't going to pay any bills, but it's better than nothing. Nothing real, just a girl who had pity and gives me a dollar to take out the trash for them.

At school, people are starting to notice my smell, and dirtiness. Regardless of that, Monoma has been hanging around me. On my way back to class, I hear a general studies group gossiping about how 1 A is so amazing, and how they defeated so many villains. Then, people started to talk about how 1 A was so much cooler than class 1 B, and they never once mentioned us. Monoma started to get more and more irritated with them.

"I'm sure they're perfectly nice people," I say to Monoma, "Hey, we can go see them later today and meet them."

“Everybody up and to the field, we’ll be doing an endurance training test today.”

(Choice 1: sexy) We got to put our hero costumes on today. I designed mine after Midnight, because 1, she’s my favorite hero, and 2, I like wearing sexy things. It makes me feel powerful and confident. Like, you want to touch but you can’t. My scars really don’t bother me. People don’t usually ask, and I don’t really care, or have a way to hide them even if I wanted to.

(Choice 2:baggy) We got to wear our hero costumes today. Kei had helped me design mine. Something light, easy to move around in, and NO CAPES. They were stupid. Why have one you no? It’s just a piece of fabric flapping around on your back. Plus, my wings. I would prefer something not tight, so I didn’t need to worry about villains looking at me weird. I didn't need to look sexy to save people. I had cargo pants, with pockets, and a hoodie, also pockets, with holes in the bag for wings. Other than that, I gave them creative freedom.

Holy…. crap…. they looked… AMAZING. It was so cool, I looked like a real hero

We did our running, and our pushups, and stretches.

At the end of the day, almost all the students in the whole school crowd the 1 A doorway. Looks like all the other students had the same plan as us. I was pushing my way up front, when a guy slammed the door open.

“What’s going on, why are all these people here.” One kid in the class said.

“Scouting out the enemy shitty hair,” one guy said, “we’re the class that survived a real villain attack.”

(Yes I know mineta says this but I kicked him out. He’s the one who decided not to be a hero. It was too scary for him.)

"Out of the way extras." He glares at all of us. Woah this guy's a real ass. Monoma was right, they are stupid overconfident jerks. Monoma and a lot of kids from my class looked like they had just been slapped.

"Stop calling other people extras just because you don't know them!" A guy with glasses says, looking indignant.

"It's not my fault you all are just stepping stones to my victory." He says as he shoves everyone aside, pushing me back into some really tall guy with lavender hair. He looked tired. Someone bumped into me after Bakugo shoved them, and I tip the poor kid, and we both fall, leaving my face a few inches away from his and my wings fly out catching someone else. Luckily, he doesn't fall. Still on the tired guy, I untangle my wings from his neck, and get off him.

"Sorry." I say as I help him up. He nods and walks over to the door.

"I came to see what the famous class A was like. I heard you guys were impressive, but you just sound like an ass. Are all the students in the hero course like this or just you?" The people in the back shake their heads but he carries on. "How sad to come here and find a bunch of ego maniacs. I wanted to be in the hero course, but like many others I was forced to choose a different track. Such is life. I didn't cut it the first time around, but I have another chance. If any of us do well in the sports festival, the teachers can decide to transfer us to the hero course, and they'll have to transfer people out to make room. Scouting the competition? Well, maybe some of my peers are, but I'm to let you know that if you don't do your very best I'll steal your spot right from under you. Consider this a declaration of war." He stares at the guy, and the guy stares right back.

"HEY YOU! I'M FROM CLASS 1 B NEXT DOOR TO YOU!" It’s Tetsutetsu, yelling at class 1 A. "WE HEARD YOU FOUGHT SOME VILLAINS AND I CAME TO SEE IF THAT WAS TRUE! BUT YOU'RE JUST A BUNCH OF BRATS WHO THINK YOU'RE BETTER THAN US! TALK ALL YOU WANT, IT'LL JUST BE MORE EMBARRASSING WHEN YOU'RE KO'D. DON'T YOU IGNORE ME!!!" He yells as the mean one starts walking away in the middle of his speech.

"Hey, aren't you gonna say something?" Someone in class 1A shouts at him.

"These people don't matter." My mouth drops in shock. Before it was rude, but that's just cruel. Saying that nobody but him matters? Wow. What a dick, glad I don't have class with him. "The only thing that matters is that I beat them."

On our way out of school, Tetsutetsu grumbled about that class the whole way. I could tell Monoma was hurt. Maybe he had more of a past than I thought.

[youremeimyou]

Old Friends

pairing: Jung Hoseok x reader genre: fluff, comedy, slight drama high school crush au and there’s a Hoseok vs y/n rap battle in there, somewhere word count: 6k warnings: just some passionate kissing, oh and shirtless Hoseok;)

Description: Hoseok is your high school friend that you had a different kind of relationship with. You run into him, after many years and rekindle your friendship. Then he takes you to your high school reunion and claims you as his girlfriend. But it’s only an act. Right?

A/N: EGO IS OUT!! I can’t get enough of it, or enough of J-hope. Hence, this oneshot. I gave this my all and had fun reading it back so I’m hoping it’s not shitty. Pls let me know what you think of it. Also I changed the way I write and reffered to the reader as ‘you’ for this one- idk i wanted to try it. If you guys have prefferences you can let me know. I hope you like it. Enjoy!

It's official, you hate summer. Sure.. school's out, no more chasing after professors or migraines lasting for weeks. But goddamn it it's hot and humid. It's like trying to breathe in a sauna, which you hate. Plus, the sun is like a deadly laser. Normally you love strolling through this street. Glancing at cute little stores and admiring street artists as you walk by. Not today, though. Not while feeling like all the water in your body is gonna evaporate any second.

You notice a little crowd up ahead, a half circle. And the sound of a groovy beat captures your attention. You might've stopped and joined the crowd just for the captivating music, if it wasn't for the torturous heat. In this instance you'll settle for only a glance at whatever show is going on inside that half circle.

That's until you see the street dancer there and you stop dead in your tracks. Someone is crazy enough to dance in this heat. Someone manages to look like the greatest performer alive despite the sweat covering his body and the fact that he's probably about to pass out. That someone is Jung Hoseok.

Before you can do anything else, you realize just how much better he’s become. And he was already an amazing dancer the last time you saw him. Back in high school, that is. Hobi the bubbly, cheerful dancer that dominated talent shows every year. Hobi who you occasionally helped pass chemistry. Hobi who could actually also sing, a fact only you knew about him of all the kids at your school. Because you’d spend most of your time in the music room, usually all by yourself. But one time, you caught him sitting alone and singing in there and after that, he’d visit you every so often. In return, he was the only one that knew you composed songs.

It’s been three years since graduation and your last conversation with him. But right now, he’s standing right in front of you. No, he’s dancing. The music ends in time with his final move and the mini crowd goes wild. As he catches his breath, most people leave money in his hat on the floor. You hope they’re being generous. Rightfully so, that was one hell of a performance.

You contemplate on whether you should say hi or not. The introvert in you decides you shouldn’t but before you can turn around to leave, you make eye contact with Hoseok.

“Y/N?” he asks.

“Hey, Hoseok.”

And he smiles. Despite how exhausted he must be, he gives you a whole cheekbones lifted, classic Hobi smile.

“You were amazing. But how did you not faint dancing in a weather like this?” you ask, smiling back.

“Come to think of it, I do feel like blacking out.” he says in between his panting.

You panic and go closer to him quickly. “I can take you to the hospital-”

“I’m kidding, Y/N.”

Did you maybe miss his mischevous ass? You both giggle.

“How about taking me to an icecream shop to catch up, instead? It’s been so freaking long. If you don’t have any plans, I mean.”

Your plan is going home, opening the refrigerator door and standing in front of it. So they’re skippable for an old friend.

“Let’s go before you deteriorate.”

You take him to the closest icecream shop you know and the shop has great air conditioning, thank god. Hoseok sits down and you feel as though he won’t be able to get up and order. Despite the smiley and bright facade of his, his body seems to be worn out. So, you take the liberty to order for both of you.

As you wait in line, order and wait for them to prepare it, you think about what you wanna say to Hoseok. Regardless of how much time has passed, you notice how you still get a little nervous with him around. It used to be like that in high school, too. You could never really look him in the eyes while he was speaking with you. You wouldn’t be intimidated. You’d just be kinda.. overwhelmed.

You take the cups and make your way to the table. Hoseok’s eyes light up, he seems content with your choice. He also looks better now, the cool air of the shop must’ve helped.

“What’re the odds of us meeting like this? Just on the street?” he initiates conversation.

“Well, I’m not exactly surprised to find Hope on the streets.”

“You remember my stage name?” He looks geniunely surprised.

“How can I possibly forget crowds of people going crazy, cheering J-hooope?”

That makes him shy, you think. With him averting his eyes to the ground. You’d hear those cheers often, back then. Hoseok was known as ‘J-hope’ and his act ‘Hope on the street’ was very popular. Everyone in Gwangju High would come to watch him perform, including you. It really is a bit strange how you ran into each other randomly on a street in Seoul, you think. You both had dreams of moving to Seoul as teenagers and had told each other about it. But neither of you knew if the other actually made it there. Until now.

"Did you move here right after graduation? I remember you talking about wanting to persue music here at University of Seoul." he says with his eyes on his icecream. He remembers your dream.

"Yeah, I had to get out of there. I moved here even before knowing if the university had accepted me. Thankfully, I got in. What about you? When did you come here?"

After he takes a spoon of the good stuff, he takes his eyes off from his cup and connects them with yours. It happens so suddenly that you almost blush. You're able to hold it in, though. Barely.

"I kinda wanted to wait until my work at the dance academy was done. So, after two more years at Gwangju, I finally transferred here, to National University of Arts just at the beginning of this semester."

You're glad to see him not giving up on dancing because he's so talented for it that it isn't like anything you've seen before or after you've known him. When he dances, it's like whatever music he's moving to actually finds form in him. And when he's not dancing, the way he moves around, walks, talks still somehow appears artistic.

But then, you realize you've been staring at him, lost in your train of thoughts. And he must've noticed because one corner of his mouth curves upwards a little, forming an almost smirk. This time, you can't stop your cheeks from turning red. Fuck.. What's wrong with you? It's been years since you've even seen his face. Why the hell did you just turn into a teenager, all over again?

"How's music school? Did you drop any albums I'm missing out on?" He asks and his eyes go back to his icecream. You can breathe normally again.

"I think school is always a pain in the ass. Even if it's about music." is your reply. You both laugh.

"I couldn't agree more."

Normally you have a hard time talking about yourself with others. But when it comes to Hoseok, it's different. Because that kinda used to be your relationship back in the days. Talking to each other about stuff you wouldn't with others.

"I've been working in a studio a friend of mine opened and we're working on some stuff but.. I can't seem to finish anything I start so, no. I haven't really been productive." you add with a frown. There're lots of things you don't like about yourself and being a procrastinator is one of them.

Then, a hand is placed lightly on yours that was resting on the table. It's Hoseok, holding your hand and looking at you warmly. "Nah, I'm still pretty sure we're gonna hear your stuff on the radio, soon." He looks like he geniunely believes that. All you can do is smile back in appreciation.

Time goes by as you talk about all kinds of stuff. You learn he lives at the student dorm but he's not exactly happy about it and wants to find a new place to stay. Also that he's giving dance lessons to earn some extra cash. You tell him about Yoongi, that friend of yours who owns a studio and how he's looking for someone to move in, after his flatmate moved away. You promise to have the two meet each other and see if they can become roomates.

Hoseok suggests to exchange numbers but it turns out both of you haven't changed them since high school, so you both have the other in your contacts. And you say goodbye shortly after, agreeing on hanging out again, soon.

By the time you get home, it's already evening and you're a little hesitant to open up the door and greet your roommate, Namjoon. Because you promised him that you'd watch that philosophical movie you can't remember the name of together. But you were supposed to do that about two hours ago. You decide to just go in and explain how you ran into an old friend and got held up. Namjoon'll understand, right? You go inside but see that nobody's home, so you call him.

"What's up ditcher?" is how he answers the phone and you can't blame him, really.

"I'm so sorry Joon. I wanna make it up to you but.. where are you, exactly?"

"Yoongi's."

"Okay, don't move." You hang up the phone and go straight into the apartment across the hall from yours. Yoongi has already opened the door before you can knock. You make for the living room and spot your roommate there. Just as you're about to explain, you also spot credits rolling on the tv screen and finished popcorn bowls.

"Wow, you watched Waking Day without me?" you complain. And Namjoon is quick to respond.

"It's Waking Life and yes, since you were a no-show."

"But you didn't even leave me popcorn."

"What're you saying? There's some left right here." Yoongi is the one who hands you one of the bowls.

"There are literally only three kernels here."

"Well, that's what ditchers get." Yoongi is just as merciless as Namjoon.

"But what if something happened to me on my way back-" you try the approach of pulling on their heartstrings but both of them whip their necks back and look at you in extreme worry, so you decide not to mess around. "Okay, okay. I encountered an old friend and lost track of time catching up. But maybe we can watch another movie and I'll make the popcorn, huh?" You wear a guilty grin on your face.

"Nope. You should take a seat and tell me about this friend that made you ditch me."

You sit down in between the guys on the couch, but you're facing Namjoon and telling him about Hoseok. Yoongi only sees your back and he's just so done with you, as always.

"You guys have a house exactly symmetrical to mine across the hall. Why the hell are you always here? I know it's not to see me, you're not even looking at me." It's a mix between ranting and whining. Both you and Namjoon know he's doing it to get attention.

"Because your couch is comfier." says Namjoon.

"And you have a piano." you add.

"You have a keyboard!"

"My keyboard is no upright piano."

Yoongi gives up with a huff. But you attack him with tickles until he gives in and giggles, all the while trying to get rid of your hands.

"By the way Yoongs, you're still looking for a roommate, right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"The friend of mine from Gwangju I was catching up with, Hoseok, is looking for a new place. I want to introduce you guys."

"Sure. What can you tell me about him?"

You pause because there're lots of things you can say about him. But those are all about the high school Hoseok. You wonder how many of them changed and how many stayed the same. You're sure of some things, though.

"I can tell you that he's a great guy and a dedicated artist, a dancer. Also he's funny and a mood maker."

"Alright. You should bring him over."

"Great! I will."

You wake up to your phone buzzing repeatedly. First thing you do is check the time and your clock on the wall is striking 11:30 in the morning. You overslept, great. It makes sense after you convinced Namjoon to binge watch Death Note before going to bed. But you ended up sleeping on the couch. The fact that you're in your bed right now means Namjoon carried you there.

3 unread messages from Hoseok.

-Morning, Y/N.

-Are you free today?

-I wanna treat you to some coffee.

It's been three to four days since the time you ran into Hoseok and you've been meaning to reach out to him to hang out but he just beat you to it. You thank the god for his extrovertedness.

-I'm taking care of some stuff in the studio today.

-But you can visit me there and if I'm finished quickly we can even hang out later, too.

-If you'd like, of course.

You press send and for some stupid reason your heart races a little fast. Were you being too forward? He just said coffee, maybe he meant a quick get together. You just asked him to wait for you in a studio, possibly for a couple of hours.

Two more buzzing.

-Sure! I'll make sure to help out so you can finish faster.

-Text me the time and the adress when you can.

You sigh in relief. But now it's time to be nervous about how you'll be alone with him there for a long while. Not that it makes you uncomfortable. You just feel that overwhelming feeling of him being around returning. You hope to at least not act like an idiot.

You make your way to the studio and text Hoseok the location, saying he could drop by whenever he'd like. Yoongi told you to listen to some demos for him but you leave that for last. For now, you're setting up some instruments and tuning them up for the band arranged to record tomorrow. But the bell rings and you sprint to answer the door.

"Hi!" you greet him.

"Hey." Hoseok says with a bright smile. He holds up the bags in his hands. "I brought food and icelattes."

"Which makes you a hero. Come in."

You eat and drink your coffees as you talk about stuff. Then, you play a recording of a guy who did an awful cover of Smelly Cat a few days ago. It makes Hoseok laugh so hard that he tumbles out of his seat and falls towards you. You knew it was a habit of his but you had never been the person he falls over to, before.

He helps you get the rest of the things done after that and surely him giving you a hand speeds up the process. For the last thing, you call him over to listen to the demos.

"Wow, some of these are really good. Especially this one, I like the beat a lot."

"Yeap, me too. I'm showing this one to Yoongi, later."

Finished up with the things, you're getting ready to leave but you hear him beatboxing the beat he liked a while ago.

"You can beatbox?"

"Yeah, I picked it up not so long ago."

An idea pops into your mind. You take him by the arm, practically drag him back to the recording booth and hand him a mic.

"Get a beat going."

"Wha-"

"Just do it." And you run back to record him doing it. After that, you throw in some other instruments quickly. When you play the outcome, he smiles so hard.

"How did you just do that in such a short time, coming up with practically a song."

"You did it, too. You came up with a beat off the top of your head. That's the basis of songs, mostly."

He listens to it over and over. "Hey can I use this for when I do freestyle battles?"

"To dance over to? Sure! I'll work on it some more, though and perfect it."

He shys away a little. "Well, this would make a great dance track but.. I meant freestyle rap battles."

"You rap, too? Geez, is there any street art you're not talented in?" You're not that surprised, though. He always stroke you as swag in living form.

"I'm trying to get into it. I should improve if I wanna make a name for myself out on the streets of Seoul." he says half jokingly but it's true that the rap scene has become a major part of street competition, recently. You know from Yoongi and Namjoon who are also rappers.

You play the beat from the top. "C'mon, then. Let me hear a snippet."

"No, no I'm not really-"

"C'mon~ let's battle." you say to get him worked up a bit. Also, you picked up a few things from Yoongi and Namjoon over the last couple of years.

"Oh battle? Okay then, why don't you go first?"

Both of you try to control your laughter and you come up with some very stupid and childlike rhymes that make Hoseok laugh even harder.

"It's your turn, J-hope."

"Ooo~" he gets more fired up with the mention of his stage name. You're going back and forth rapping about the most random and funny stuff. But then you get bolder and want to go at him a bit, to get him more serious about this. Trying to remember embarrassing things he's done in high school, you throw in lines about the time he had to dance in his underpants in front of the whole school after losing a bet.

Also, there's this face you pull whenever you try to diss someone, something you picked up from Yoongi. But it looks funny on you and the boys always make fun of you about it. You're sure you're doing it right now, too out of habit. And you're not wrong because as soon as you're done, Hoseok starts and he mentions it.

Except, he says something along the lines of despite of you having that expression, he still doesn't feel like you're dissing him because of how beautiful you look even while pulling a funny face.

What? Did he just call you beautiful? In a rap battle?

You're in shock and aren't able to speak for a while. Which Hoseok takes advantage of. "You failed to come up with something in time, Y/N. I win." Then he boops your nose. He fucking boops your nose. What did you get yourself into?

It's the day you finally bring Hoseok to meet with Yoongi. It's been a couple of weeks since you guys started hanging out kinda on a regular basis and Yoongi finally had some free time. The three of you are sitting in Yoongi's living room and you're watcing them get to know each other. Everything seems to go well. The door opens and Namjoon walks in.

"Yo. Sorry I'm late."

"It's okay since you live far away. Oh wait, you live across the hall." Yoongi is quick to welcome him.

"At least I brought dessert."

The two boys go into the kitchen to get dessert ready to be served.

"That's my roomate Namjoon. He wanted to meet you, too." you inform Hoseok.

"Roommate? Wait- you live just next door?"

"Yeah."

"Why didn't you tell me sooner? I'd beg to Yoongi or something to get him to accept me!" he says with a smile. You're glad he's happy about the fact you might live next to each other.

"I think he already likes you. I'm pretty sure you got the room."

And you turn out to be right. Hoseok and Yoongi hit it off quickly and he moves in a couple of days later. You start spending even more time together since then. Both with the other boys around and just you two, alone.

This one time Yoongi gives you the day off, Namjoon is off to do a job interview and you've got absolutely nothing to do. So you go over to see Hoseok. You knock and ring the bell but loud music is coming from inside and he doesn't hear you. The door isn't locked, though and you just go in. When you get to the living room you see Hoseok practising, going really hard at it. There're sweatdrops on his face and his white shirt-now practically see through shirt-is stuck to his body, revealing the delicate structure of it.

Blood rushes to your cheeks and your heart is thumping but you can't look away. He's art, you think. Art that you can't get enough of. He finally notices you, which almost gives you a heart attack but thankfully he isn't uncomfortable with you being there.

"Hey- uh- phew." he tries to talk but needs a moment to catch his breath, first. "Y/N. Please tell me you've been standing there long enough that you saw my new moves."

You nod, still not completely out of your daze. "They were.." you trail off because he just casually takes his shirt off in front of you. "Can you pass me that?" he asks you to hand him over the towel on the chair next to you. You're on autopilot as you do so.

"So, what do you think?"

"Oh yeah- Umm.. it was awesome. Very captivating.."

"Thanks." he smiles brightly while walking closer to you. "I'm gonna take a quick shower. You wanna hang out, after?"

Right. That's why you came over, you remember. "Yeah, I'll be here."

Hoseok and you just hang inside all day. Not doing much but still managing to have fun. Yoongi comes home for a while but has to go back out again, so it's mostly just you two. In the middle of the night, you guys start watching a movie, planning to stay awake till morning but Hoseok's tired from practising earlier and dozes off, eventually. And you're famous for sleeping in front of the tv, so you quickly follow. Then, you two somehow get in a cuddly position in your sleep.

The next morning- or more like afternoon, you wake up to Yoongi slurping his coffee, seated right across from you. Hoseok's nowhere to be seen.

"Hey Yoongs, why am I still here?"

"Well, you obviously fell asleep in front of the tv again and Namjoon's strong arms weren't here to carry you to bed."

"Where is he?"

"Joon said he was staying at a friend last night, not wanting to get all soaked up in the rain. And Hobi woke up just moments ago and went out, saying he has to get ready for a gig."

You nod at him and get up. You're about to go back to your place to wash up but realize something suddenly.

"Since when do you call him Hobi?"

"Since when do you have a crush on him?"

Your eyes go wide with panic. "Wha- No way what're you say-"

"Do you think I'm blind? I can perfectly see it when two people are cuddling on my couch."

"We just fell asleep that's all-"

"I saw you two over at the piano, too. And in the kitchen a few days ago doing the dishes. And while dancing here in the living room for no reason. You can't look him in the eyes without going red and he can't take his eyes off of you."

There isn't much you can say to convince him otherwise because you realize that he's right. At first when you guys started hanging out again, you thought you felt butterflies because you kinda had a thing for him in high school. You paid it no mind thinking it'd fade away with time but it didn't. Your feelings only grew stronger and now you know it was visible to others.

What has you tensed up, however is the way Yoongi talks about the situation like it's both-sided. That's where you can't be sure. Because yes, Hoseok randomly calls you beautiful, takes you out for meals and spends entire days with you. But you don't know if he likes you like that or if he's just being friendly. Just like back in high school.

"Okay, yeah. He makes me feel a certain way. But there's nothing going on, we haven't even talked about it. I don't think he's into me like that."

Yoongi's brows furrow in confusion. "He was just asking me if anything was going on between you and Joon the other day, though."

He asked what?

"What?"

"Dude, he was obviously jealous and suspicious of the fact that you were roommates. And very close ones."

You did have a very close bond with Namjoon, just as you did with Yoongi. Yoongi's just involved less skinship and more serious talk. But Namjoon was the first person who friended you in Seoul and over the years he became your self proclaimed guardian angel. That was all.

"You didn't correct him?!"

"I tried but he seemed overwhelmed with confusion, I'm not sure if he fully believed me. Or fully listened? I dunno- I was kinda enjoying his little emotional crisis."

"Yoongs!"

"Fine! So yeah, maybe you should to talk to him."

How do you talk to someone about this? you wonder. And can Yoongi really be right about the possibility of him reciprocating your feelings?

You're reading a book on your couch. It's been a couple of days since your cuddly interaction with Hoseok and you haven't really hung out after that, either. You're not avoiding him, though. More like testing the waters. Namjoon's little squeal and sprint to the living room gets you out of your thoughts.

"Y/N! Oh my god!"

"Joonie what happened?"

"I got in." His smile is from ear to ear but you're not surprised he got the job he was going after for a while now. He happens to be intelligent beyond your understanding. But also a goofball. Because he -who usually treats books like his children- throws the one you were reading away and gets you up on his back. Now you're both singing victory songs as he gives you a piggy back ride.

Just then, Hoseok makes an entrance to your apartment, sees you two and his face visibly drops.

"Oh- sorry guys. I should've knocked-"

"Dude, it's okay. Think about our two apartments as one big house. You don't have to worry about knocking everytime. Come in!" Namjoon is being his friendly self as he puts you down. "I gotta go call my parents. Thanks for always believing in me, Y/N." He places a soft peck on the top of your head and goes back to his room. Uh-oh. You hope Hoseok doesn't misunderstand.

"How are you doing, Hobi?"

"I'm-" he hesitates for a while. "I didn't know you and Namjoon were.. are you? Y'know like together?"

"No!" you regret yelling but it just comes out before you can stop. "I mean, it's not like that. We're friends. In fact he kinda decleared himself my older brother."

The total grimace that had took over Hoseok's face starts to slowly dissappear. "Oh, okay. I'm sorry for making you uncomfortable like that-"

"No, no. Let's just change the subject." You want to move on from this before it gets awkward.

"Okay. Oh right! I came over to show you something."

He holds out his phone for you to see. It's an invite to an event. Gwangju High's high school reunion, to be exact. You also got one, too but immediately deleted.

"The reunion? You're going?" you ask.

"We should go."

You're about to protest but he cuts in.

"I know most of our year were jerks. But it's Gwangju. I know you miss it there. And high school wasn't all evil."

"It was the people who were evil, Hobi."

"That's why we have to show them their evil ways weren't enough to break us down."

"What do you mean, we? Everyone loved you!"

"The jocks hated me for being popular despite not playing football."

That was true. They sometimes gave him a hard time for grabbing the attention of girls more than them.

"Besides, we're grown ups. If they weren't able to mature, that's their problem. We'll just breathe in some hometown air and have fun."

You did miss home. And the fact Hoseok'll be with you eases your stress so you say yes.

Hoseok and you roam the streets of Gwangju, firstly. You tell him the places you missed most and you visit those. When the reunion evening closes in, both of you go to your homes to get ready. Your parents are sort of shocked you're attending the event but they won't complain because they missed you a lot and you haven't realized how much you missed them back till you finally came back after a long while.

Hoseok comes to pick you up and oh boy. He immediately recongnizes the dress you're wearing as the exact one you wore to prom. The light blue piece fits your body even more perfectly now, he thinks.

"This is your prom dress." It's not a question because he's certain.

You panic because well you wore it thinking nobody would remember since not a lot of people were paying attention to you during prom and you didn't have anything else decent enough in your old closet. How the hell does he remember?

"It looks even more beautiful." And with that, your panic is no more.

You get to the school finally and almost everyone is there. All trying very hard to look fancy, so Hoseok and you make fun of some of them before entering.

"It's J-hope!", "Hope's back!" and "Who is that with Hoseok?" are the comments you hear as you walk by. A few speeches are given, while you stuff your face with cupcakes. Then music's on and people start dancing.

Hoseok is approached by many and he kindly converses with them all. He forces you to speak from time to time, too. One of the boys who you used to tutor a lot, Hansung, tries to make a couple of moves on you. Probably under the influence of alcohol. You politely dismiss him but some other guys that came alone also are eyeing you from different places of the room. Hoseok is well aware and not okay with it, at all.

He slides a hand down your arm and links your fingers. When you turn to him in surprise, he pulls you closer. "Let's act like a couple."

"What-"

"I'm sick of people trying to see if you're available for them, aren't you?"

It is a bit disturbing. You bet most of them didn't even recognize you and are just looking for a prey for the night. "I am." you reply.

"Then just go with it."

So you do that but this time the girls start to get uncomfortable since most of them were eyeing Hoseok. And like clockwork, Gaeun appears with her gang of plastic girls. Gaeun used to be Hoseok's biggest fan. But all she actually wanted was to get into his pants just cause of how popular he was. Knowing this, you tense up. Her eyes hold such a suggestive look that you almost want to protect Hoseok from her.

As far as you know Hoseok has never indulged her like that back in school days. And he doesn't seem to be effected by the way she looks right now, either which can be described in two words: model legs.

"Hobi~" her irritating voice muses. "There're lots of girls wanting to dance with you tonight."

He takes his hand away from yours to claimingly grab you waist. "Sorry, ladies. My dances are all booked by this one, right here." He turns his head and places a kiss on your temple.

"I'm sure your date for the night won't mind if-"

"She's not just my date for the night. Y/N is my girlfriend." he cuts her off. Shock is evident not only on their faces but yours as well. The girls have to walk away awkwardly but what they think they're speaking among themselves is quite audible to you.

"There's no way. Y/N could never be enough for him. Just wait until the end of the night and see how he gets bored."

Hoseok didn't hear them. But you and some other people did. And you don't care what Gaeun says but her words get around fast and people are looking at you even more weirdly than before. Hoseok realizes your body tensing up.

"What's the matter?"

"I don't think people are buying that we're together. Especially after Gaeun started speaking to them."

He looks around to find that people really were looking at you suspiciously.

"Let's make it more believable, then."

He pulls you to the dancefloor and starts moving you to the rhythm. You've danced with him before but they were all silly ones, meant for fun. This one was serious. And your bodies were seriously close. But you just let him lead you, knowing that he knows what he's doing. After a while he figures that the music's ending so he twirls you around and finishes with a sudden dip.

You're back is resting againt his hand as you're leant back and Hoseok's face is so very close to yours. Some people clap and some don't but neither of you really care about the people watching anymore. Then he kisses you. He downright kisses you at the center of the dancefloor. It's passionate but gentle. He doesn't let go for a while but you've no clue how long it's been cause you're lost in the taste of him. Which is a thousand times sharper than the whiskey and a thousand times sweeter than the cupcakes.

He pulls you back up, finally parting your lips. "I think we got about enough attention. Wanna get out of here? We can go to the music room." he suggests. All you can do is nod cause you still can't form words.

You get there and it's the only place in this school that you've missed. You sit down on the piano seat and Hoseok pulls a chair next to you, it's like deja vu.

"You know the song you used to play, the one I liked a lot. River-"

"River flows in you." of course you remember.

"Yeah. I kinda tried learning that on the piano a while back."

"Show me."

He tries to play it and messes up some bits so you help him out. Then, your hands touch accidentally and you both freeze.

"Y/N-"

"Hoseok-"

You both try to speak at the same time and cut each other off, so you laugh. Hoseok goes for it again.

"Y/N. I wanted to ask you out so many times right here, as you'd play songs to me. Did you know that?"

You most certainly did not.

"I wanted to ask you to a dance at the prom, so bad. But you left before I could muster up the courage."

He turns to face you completely.

"I couldn't believe it when I found you again, like that. Everything I felt came back to me as we spent more and more time with each other. And when I got that invite.. I thought- Maybe I've been given a second chance, to do it right this time."

Your heart is racing so fast that you can hear it. Every word he said are things that you've been thinking. So you have to do it properly this time, too.

"So.. so, will you go out with-"

You crash your lips with his immediately and he responds in a flash. This time the kiss is much more deep and demanding. His hands travel down to your waist as you get up from your seat and move to his lap. He hums into your mouth and you try to take in every bit of the vibration from it before both of you pull apart, out of breath.

But he still looks at you with questioning eyes, as if you haven't just given him an answer clear as day. But he looks so cute that you entertain him.

"Yes, high school crush. I will go out with you."

He can finally smile again. Though, it turns into a smirk a while later.

"But will you go out with me?" you joke around, still sitting on his lap.

"I will go out with you so bad that it'll swipe you right off your feet."

As if he already doesn't..

....

A/N: Wowzers, my first Hoseok fic is finished.. I know this was long and thanks sooo much if you bared with me and read it. It would mean a great deal to me to know what you thought of this so, I’d love to have your feedback. Thanks again for reading and have a lobely daayyy :)

PS: How beautiful is Hoseok btw..

[shutupandshipit]

Little Life - Ch.12

Summary:  A baby could ruin his career before it had even started. If anyone found out, he would be kicked out of the Hero Course at the very least and UA at the very worst. Even then, how was he supposed to care for a baby once it arrived? He was a fucking seventeen-year-old boy, not a twenty-nine-year-old omega with their shit at least somewhat together.

…..

Or where Katsuki get pregnant, but is determined to make it to graduation. No matter what it takes.

Pairing: Bakudeku

Rating: T (just for language mostly)

Chapter: 12/16

Previous <- Chapter 11

Chapter 13 -> Next

Master Post

Chapter 12: Birth

"Please, someone help!"

Katsuki was shot back into consciousness with a scream.

A frazzled nurse ran forward, eyes wide as she took them in. "Sir, what-"

Izuku didn't let her finish. "He got hit, but I don't know where! Please, help him! Please, he's pregnant-" A sob exploded from him as his whole body shook. "Please help my mate. Save our baby."

There was a flurry of activity around Katsuki that he could barely understand through his haze of pain. More shouting, a gurney beneath him as they ran through the halls. They passed in a blur of white walls. He kept a vice-like grip around Izuku's fingers and another around his stomach. The pain was starting to numb him, clear his brain as it did when there was too much.

Izuku talked rapidly to the personnel around them, explaining everything to the nurses as he was wheeled into a room. The door slammed shut.

'Save our baby. Save our baby. Save our baby. Please, save our baby.' The mantra continued on a reel in his head. He was barely mentally present, all his energy focused on breathing and willing their baby to be okay. He only came to when Izuku was ripped from him.

Izuku fought desperately to get back to his side as Katsuki reached for him again. "What are you doing? Bring him back!"

"Sir, please calm down. We need to get him stable before we can assess the fetus-"

"He's nine months pregnant!"

The nurse's face was red, and she tersely tried again, "Sir-"

"He needs me!"

The movement around Katsuki never slowed even as another nurse, taller and burlier than the first, stepped up to hold Izuku back. Katsuki was stripped of his suit. An IV was pressed into his arm, monitors pressed to his skin. The rapid rhythm of his heart filled the room, speaking to his panic. A hand was pressed to his chest, holding him still. Under Izuku's desperate snarls, he still heard the doctor speaking, and against his will, he began to calm.

"The baby has a strong heartbeat. No signs of distress, but he's in labor. We need to get him transferred to a birthing room before the alpha goes feral. He has broken ribs-"

"Don't worry about me!" Katsuki forced out a vicious snarl, making the activity halt. He'd never been a normal omega -far from it- and he was sure they'd never heard an omega sound like an alpha. Especially an omega in labor. "Our baby comes first!"

"Sir-"

"If someone tells us to calm down one more time, I will rip their fucking throat out! Help my baby!" he gasped.

The doctor, a beta smelling overwhelmingly of clean laundry, calmly observed him. "Your baby is going to be fine, Ground Zero, but if I don't heal you first, you're not going to be able to give birth, and unfortunately, C-section isn't an option for male omegas. This is a really dangerous time for you and your baby. They're fine right now, but if I don't heal you, they won't be. Do you want to endanger your baby?"

"Are you fucking-"

"Do you?"

Katsuki found the breath to scream, "No!" pushed along by another rolling contraction.

"Then let me work, and we'll get you into a birthing room as soon as possible." She looked up at Izuku, voice stern as she directed him. "Alpha, get over here. He needs skin-to-skin contact. Keep him calm while I work. He's going to need you to keep him conscious if the injuries are as bad as I think. He's got a punctured lung, at the very least, and if there's also internal bleeding, this is going to take a lot out of him. Undress to your comfort level, and get on the bed with him."

Izuku stared at them, shock and fear still on his face. He didn't move.

"Dammit, Deku!" Katsuki snapped before another contraction hit him. This time, he had the presence of mind to grit his teeth against the rising scream. "Fuck, get over here! Why does this fucking hurt so much? I thought contractions weren't supposed to be bad at first!"

Izuku stripped to his boxers and climbed into the bed with him, leaving his hero uniform in a crumpled heap on the floor. He pressed into Katsuki's side and his tear-stained face into his hair.

"Yes, well, this is just the beginning, Ground Zero," the doctor said as her hands grew almost uncomfortably warm on his skin. She started at his throat and moved down. "But it's only so bad because of your injuries. It won't be as bad for awhile after I'm done. Now, take as deep a breath as you can."

Katsuki inhaled shakily, just a shallow inhale, and gripped Izuku's hand tightly. He could feel something in his right lung knitting back together, and it immediately became easier to breath. As she reached his ribs though, there was an audible 'crack'. He grunted, biting into his lip. Copper and salt burst across his tongue. Compared to the contractions though, it was barely a mosquito bite.

"You're a tough one. Any other person would have passed out." The warmth grew more comfortable, and the heart monitor slowed to a more normal rhythm.

"Don't look down on me," Katsuki snarled passed his teeth.

Izuku carded his fingers through his hair, chest rumbling gently.

The doctor's smile never wavered. Several minutes later, she pulled back. "Well, looks like you didn't have any internal bleeding, luckily. Okay, let's get you into a birthing room." She nodded towards the nurses that had stepped back, and they swarmed the bed.

.....

Several hours later, they were still in the birthing room. Katsuki's thoughts were pleasantly fuzzy thanks to the epidural they'd shot him up with as soon as they'd gotten into the birthing room. Izuku was passed out at his side, mouth wide and drooling, and he took the chance to unashamedly start scenting the idiot.

There was a moment before Izuku sleepily started to blink, and then he was crying again. "Oh god, Kacchan, I'm so thankful you're okay. I don't- I wouldn't have- Without you- I should have made you stay out of the battle. I'm a terrible alpha!"

Katsuki smiled through the drugs, too fucked up to get angry. He gripped Izuku's jaw until his cheeks squished. He laughed at the absolutely ridiculous expression. "Let's be real, you wouldn't have been able to keep me back anyway. And no one was expecting there to be a battle, dumby. I'm stubborn, remember, and so it this little monster in me. They're the strongest of the three of us."

"But what if-" Izuku squeaked out through his squashed mouth.

Katsuki's grip tightened minimally. "No. Stop. I'm fine. They're fine. Stop thinking about the 'what ifs' and be fucking grateful. Neither of us thought I'd get hit in a fight that wasn't supposed to happen, so just shut up and kiss me."

Izuku pressed forward enthusiastically, and they made out for several blissful moments before the door cracked out.

Izuku was out of the bed and on his feet immediately, crouching low and defensively in front of the bed as Katsuki's own growl joined his.

Aizawa stepped in looking unimpressed. "Chill out, you two, I'm not the enemy," he said with a roll of his eyes, "We have a lot to talk about, and there's some idiots behind me who are very eager to check on you."

Katsuki's ears pricked as he picked out the tell-tale hiccups of his best friend. Before he could stop his drug addled brain, he said, "Let him in."

Aizawa poked his head outside, and said, "Let me do the talking. If you two get too excited, I'll send you back to the school."

As soon as he stepped back from the door, Kirishima burst through. He was a full on mess of tears as he rushed forward with All Might on his heels, but stopped a couple of steps into the room at the sight of Izuku's defensive stance and flickering lightning. He dropped onto all fours, crawling forward to Izuku's feet, and bared his neck in pure submission. He was still sobbing messily.

"How are you even hydrated enough to still cry, Shitty Hair?" Katsuki quipped, and only then did Izuku relax and return to his side.

"Can I..." Kirishima sniffled, staring up at them.

Katsuki nodded, and Kirishima had his arms wrapped around his neck in the next moment, scenting him aggressively. "I'm so glad you're all right! I was so worried! It took forever to find you, and then they wouldn't let me in, and then-"

"Fucking breath, Eiji, holy shit. You're getting snot on me, you gross fuck."

Kirishima calmed marginally, but didn't let go.

Katsuki threaded a hand into his hair, holding him close as Izuku climbed back into the bed the other side. He should have felt confined with so many bodies pressed in around him, but he and his omega were just basking in the warmth and comfort.

"Young Bakugou, Young Midoriya, I'm happy to see you two are both alright. How was the... birth?" All Might asked from his spot beside Aizawa.

"Well, the baby is as stubborn as Kacchan, so... It hasn't happened yet," Izuku explained wearily, eyes trained on their teachers, "Um, Mr. Aizawa-"

"Stop. I'm going to assume the two of your have known this whole time?"

A deep blush darkened Izuku's cheeks, and Katsuki wanted to go back to kissing him. Wow, he really was high.

"N-no. I found out last month," Izuku whispered.

Kirishima pulled away, wiping at his eyes. "I've known for, uh, s-s-six months."

Aizawa pinched the bridge of his nose. "I have no idea how you hid this for nine months. You know how much trouble you're all in?"

"A heaping pile?" Katsuki asked, grinning. The epidural seemed to make it impossible for him to feel anything other than happy.

"More." Aizawa was silent for a moment before sighing. "Luckily, the hospital staff has agreed to keep this quiet. The only thing anyone knows is that you were hurt during the battle, and Midoriya brought you here. You're also incredibly lucky that the armor you were wearing kept the child safe. If the villain had hit you any lower, that might not be the case. So, thank whatever god you believe in for that."

"I only believe in myself and Izuku," Katsuki interrupted.

"Whatever. So, let's talk about what's going to happen." Aizawa pulled a chair from the bedside to sit in front of them, crossing his legs and leveling a glare at them. "Principal Nezu already knows the situation. If this had been discovered earlier, you would have been dropped immediately, but seeing as you're already about to give birth and there are only three months until graduation, it's been decided to allow you to stay."

Izuku and Kirishima whopped even as tears started to track down their faces again.

Aizawa's face seemed to soften minutely, his scent filling the room in a comfortable, calming haze. "There are some conditions. You'll be moved into a room with Midoriya due to the nature of the situation. I assume you've basically been sharing a room as is?" They nodded silently. "Right. You'll be allowed to keep the child with you since there is literally no other option."

"But?" Katsuki prompted, his irritability slowly, slowly, slowly growing. The epidural must have been wearing off. That, or there was another wave of contractions beginning to crest.

"But if any of you can't keep your grades up -yes, Kirishima, this includes you as well and any others I find out were in on this- or your performance drops, you will be immediately dropped. If anyone asks why you have a newborn with you, your cover for the time is that you saved them during battle. Their quirk makes it impossible for you to be separated, and you have to take care of them until their parents are located. After graduation, you are free to disclose any information you wish. Understand?"

Katsuki laughed. "Like I would let a baby keep me from becoming a hero. Don't look down on me."

"Wouldn't dream of it, trouble kid."

All Might was ringing his hands at Aizawa's side, but remained silent.

Katsuki opened his mouth to say something else, but stiffened when pain rippled through him. He stared to pant, and everyone but Aizawa looked at him in concern. "Get out. I'm about to start screaming again." When Kirishima stood to follow their teachers, he latched onto his shoulder. "Stay."

A look of surprise passed over his face before he smiled and sat back down on the edge of the bed. "Sure thing, man, I'd love to."

Katsuki laughed. "You won't be saying that soon."

"We'll be back in a few hours to check on you," All Might said, lingering in the doorway before letting it close.

.....

They were in that birthing room for twenty-seven straight hours before the doctor started to urge Katsuki to push.

"Fuck you, Deku, you useless piece of shit! I'm going fucking skin you and make your insides your outsides, bastard!" Katsuki screamed at the top of his lungs as he crushed both Izuku's and Kirishima's fingers until their bones creaked in his grip. "You're never going to touch me again, do you hear me! Never! You fucking did this to me, asshole! Garbage alpha! I'm going to make Shitty Hair my alpha after this since you're such a useless bag of dicks! You're just a fucking deku, Deku!"

Between his knees, the doctor's shoulders were trembling with laughter.

Izuku and Kirishima sobbed at his sides, gripping each others shoulders for support over his head.

His omega thrilled in his chest despite the pain. His alpha, his pack, and soon, a baby. It was everything his shitty omega had ever yearned for.

"You're doing great, Bakugou," the doctor said when she finally got her laughter under control, "You're crowning, so just another really good push or two, and then it'll be all over, alright?"

Grinding his teeth, Katsuki ignored the feeling of being ripped out at the seams. He gripped the hands in his tighter, and pushed. "I fucking hate you so much!" A scream ripped from his throat, and then relief washed through him.

He fell back onto the bed, panting harshly as tears streaked hot down his cheeks from closed eyes.

Izuku swooped in, pressing kisses across his sweaty face, laughter on his lips even as his hand started to purple. "You were so amazing, Kacchan! You did so great. I love you so much!"

"Love you too, idiot," Katsuki whispered. There was a breath, and then he stiffened as a loud cry split the air.

Struggling to open his eyes, Katsuki pushed himself up on trembling arms until two arms wrapped around his back to help him. The three stared at the doctor's white clothed back in anticipation. The cries grew in volume, angry and fussy.

"That was the most manly think I've ever seen," Kirishima whispered, trembling more than Katsuki was as the doctor turned with a giant smile and a pink bundle in her arms.

"She's a little small. Only a teeny tiny 4 pounds even, sixteen inches long. One of the main reasons you didn't show. She's healthy though, very hungry and very angry," she said, scooting in between Kirishima and the bed to lay her in Katsuki's arms, "She's beautiful. You did really great. Now, I'll send someone in about an hour, alright?" She stepped back, looking at Kirishima. "You should get back to school, Red Riot. The new parents need to rest."

Katsuki snarled, "He stays. You're not going anywhere, Shitty Hair."

"Bakugou-"

"No."

The doctor sighed, but nodded. "Well, if you insist. I really don't need a new omega mother on a rampage. Someone will be by to heal your hands. I heard breaking bones with that last push. But you should at least eat and rest. It's been a long day." She was gone in the next moment.

Katsuki ignored everything in favor of staring down at the little bundle that was nuzzling insistently against his clothed chest. "Greedy little shit, aren't you?" he asked fondly, and glanced up at Izuku, "Help me get this stupid fucking gown open. I can't move my arms."

Carefully, Izuku and Kirishima lowered him back to the bed before extracting their arms. Smiling down at the pair, Izuku reached over to start untying the front of the gown.

Red stained Kirishima's cheeks, and he stuttered, "I'm going to go find some food for us while you do that."

"Don't get embarrassed now, Shitty Hair. You just watched me give birth. There's nothing worse than that," Katsuki quipped tiredly, but Kirishima just grinned back as he headed for the door.

"Okay," Izuku said, glancing up with an enamored, dopey smile before he could leave, "Thanks, Kiri."

Katsuki hissed as hard gums latched onto his nipple.

.....

Katsuki was out before Kirishima returned, and he woke up hours later from a deep and dreamless sleep. He was clean, the sheets beneath him crisp and devoid of blood and other bodily fluids. Blinking sleepily, he turned his head to find Izuku completely knocked out, snoring in his oblivion. Their baby girl had been fashioned with a tiny diaper and lay splayed bare against Izuku's equally bare chest.

His heart fluttered in his chest at the sight. Reaching over, he gently ran a finger over the soft green fuzz covering her head. She mewled at his touch, shuffling and nuzzling along Izuku's chest.

"Come here, little monster, you're not gonna get anything out of him," he whispered softly, lifting her slowly from Izuku's chest and cradling her against his own. She latched onto his offered nipple without fuss, sucking greedily. Katsuki stroked her pudgy cheek, smiling. He'd done this. He'd made this little gift. He'd never upstage this achievement for as long as he lived. "You look just like your dumb dad."

"Katsuki?" Kirishima asked sleepily from a chair on his other side, scrubbing at his eyes as he sat up. "How are you feeling?"

"Like shit, but the endorphins have pretty much dulled the brunt of it," Katsuki explained, looking over as he scooted the chair closer.

His eyes were wide, mouth parted in astonishment as he stared down at her. He reached out, but stopped. "Can I... Does that hurt?" There were deep purple bags beneath his eyes.

"No." After a heartbeat, Katsuki said, "You can hold her after she's done if you want."

Kirishima's eyes widened even further, sparking brighter than ever. Any traces of exhaustion were scoured from his face. "Really? I can? What about Deku?"

Katsuki rolled his eyes. "That's a dumbass question. He just let you stay while I pushed this little shit out. I think he'll be fine." He paused, considering his next words. "You're pack. He wouldn't dare."

"Awesome," Kirishima whispered before glancing over at Izuku, "He was kind of freaked out when I got back. Guess you just passed out after I left. It took me awhile to calm him down. He was literally in tears while the doctors fixed the bones in our hands. After I got him to eat though, he passed out just as quickly. You two have been through a hell of a lot today. He really loves you, you know?"

"I know."

Kirishima was quiet, and then he smiled brightly. "Are you hungry? There's food waiting for you. Don't know how good it'll be at room temp, but..."

"I'm about to eat my own fucking hand, but I'll wait until she's done so I can have my hands free. I don't really want to get crumbs all over her."

"Sure thing." Kirishima's attentiveness as he watched the baby eat was almost uncomfortable, but Katsuki knew he was just curious, so he let it slide. It wasn't every day that he got to see a baby breast feed, especially from his friend.

It was another ten minutes before the baby's mouth went slack. At Katsuki's nod, Kirishima got up to set the wrapped sandwich, a banana, and a bag of chips in his lap.

"Bring the chair as close as you can," Katsuki instructed, and Kirishima sat so close that his chest was pressed to the railing. "Okay, be careful. Hands where my hands are. Support her head and butt. Yeah, like that. Okay. I'm going to pull my hands away, don't freak out. She's really light. Don't hold her too tight. Yeah, like that." He watched Kirishima like a hawk as he ever so carefully sat back.

"She's so small, oh wow. She's beautiful, Katsuki. She looks just like Deku." Kirishima's face was the definition of 'in love' as he stared down at her. He was clearly as enamored as Izuku. "What are you going to name her?"

Doing up the ties of his gown, Katsuki grabbed for the food. Through a massive bite of bread and meat, he mumbled, "Izuku wants to name her 'Katsumi'."

Kirishima nodded. "Yeah, that's perfect for her. I can already tell she's gonna do amazing things. Who's last name are you using?"

"Both of ours. Bakugou-Midoriya."

Kirshima nodded again. They fell into silence while Kirishima nuzzled her and Katsuki wolfed down every crumb of food he'd been brought.

He sighed when he was done, still a little hungry, but not as much as before. He watched Kirishima and Katsumi, an unconscious smile curling up his lips. Before he could think better, he said, "Izuku and I only talked about it briefly, but we wanted to ask if you wanted to be her godfather. Only if you want."

Kirishima's head jerked up in surprise, and Katsuki groaned as tears spilled over onto his cheeks.

"Oh my god, stop crying already, Shitty Hair. It's fucking irritating, and my hormones are all fucked up right now. I'm not okay with crying because of you."

Kirishima only started to cry harder.

.....

They were stuck there for another day before Aizawa dispatched Mina and Ochako to come collect them with a change of clothes.

They cooed annoyingly over Katsumi while the three men changed, and Katsuki had to fight back the urge to rip them to pieces when he came back to collect her form their clutches. "Back off, vultures. Stop touching her," he snarled as he pulled her from their arms.

They whined in tandem, "But Kiri gets to hold her. Why can't we?"

"Because I don't want your scents on her. Back the fuck off before I hurt one of you. Don't touch my baby again."

They whined further, still crowding his face until Izuku none-to-gently got between them with a tight smile. They quickly backed away at the quiet growl he let out. It had been a long three days for Katsuki, Izuku and Kirishima, and it had worn even Izuku's nerves thin. Kirishima had been there the entire time, but even though the two heroes were pack, they hadn't been around. They were pack, but it was different.

Katsuki smirked, flashing a vicious smile at them.

The women stuck out their tongues in reply.

They left quickly after that, and when they arrived at the dorm, Kirishima, Mina and Ochako ran interference as Katsuki and Izuku bolted upstairs to Katsuki's room. They barricaded the door.

Dropping onto the bed, they settled into the comfort of familiar surroundings. It was more of a relief than either of them had realized, especially to have a proper nest.

After a shallow breath, laughter spilled from them.

"We're fucking parents," Katsuki gasped, hand pressed over his warming face, "Holy shit. We did it."

"You did it." Izuku pressed his face into Katsuki's neck, smiling like the fool he was. "Yeah, we're parents."

They continued to laugh, tears in their eyes, until they heard a tiny giggle from between them. When they pulled apart in shock to stare down, a slit of red eyes and toothless gums stared up at them. Katsumi giggled again.

Izuku let out a happy cry as the tears in his eyes fell, and pulled the pair into his chest. "Oh, I love you two so much! I didn't even know babies could laugh at two days old. Her laugh is beautiful!"

Katsuki smiled against his neck. "Yeah, yeah it is," he laughed.

[ijustreallylovezebras]

Broken and Frayed

Pairing: 40s!Bucky Barnes x Reader

Summary: She’s in the Hydra lab when Steve comes to rescue Bucky

Warnings: Swearing, mentions of rape and abuse - PLEASE READ AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION, PLESE DO NOT READ IF YOU ARE TRIGGERED BY ANY OF THESE THINGS

Requested: No

A/N: Lol so this was only meant to be a one shot but I got too excited and I’m going to write it in two instead because it got quite long haha - I’m actually really proud of how this turned out so please remember to let me know what you think - like, reblog, comment, send asks to tell me what you think! I love hearing from you guys and it really inspires me to write more!!

I REPEAT AGAIN PLEASE DO NOT READ IF YOU’RE UNCOMFORTABLE WITH MENTIONS OF RAPE OR ABUSE DO NOT CLICK READ MORE

The first thing Bucky knew about her were her screams.

The whole reason he knew of her existence were because of them.

The first time he heard them was his first night after being transferred into Zola’s lab. He was close to tears, worn out from the day of being experimented on and in such an extreme amount of pain that he wasn’t sure how he was even still alive.

But then he heard her screams.

Pain.

Upset.

He couldn’t tell what they were for.

Help, he supposed.

“Who’s there?” He called once they had quietened down. He had heard the tell-tale signs of a zipper and he hated to think of what had just happened to the poor girl in the room next over.

His voice was hoarse and scratchy, having received barely any sustenance all day.

But it was as though he could feel her loneliness, her pain seeping through the wall to reach him.

If he could make her feel even a little bit better in the personal hell that they were sharing then he was going to try.

“W-Who are you?” The words were stuttered back, barely audible if it weren’t for the thin walls.

“My name’s Bucky - Sergeant Bucky Barnes of the 107th Division,” he recited. It was a comfort, somehow to hear his title fall from his lips. It helped to ground him, to stop him from dissociating. 

“Y-You’re American,” the female voice whispered and Bucky could have sworn he heard it closer this time.

He couldn’t help himself as a wave of jealousy crashed over him - she wasn’t tied up. She was free in her cage.

“I am,” he agreed. 

“Does that - are we saved?” Bucky hated hearing the hope in her voice as he knew that he was just about to crush it.

And the more times you crush hope, the harder it is to grow back.

“Not by us, I’m afraid,” he sighed. 

“I - I’m Y/N,” she whispered after a moment of silence that hung heavily between them, each of them lost in their thoughts.

///

With each night that passed, another torturous day followed and Bucky’s voice was hoarse from his own screams.

And yet, what he had discovered, was that it was more painful to ensure hearing those of Y/N rather than his own.

The two of them had become close.

As close as two people can get when they’re being held captive by Nazi’s and being experimented on.

And more, in Y/N’s case.

As it turned out, being what seemed to be the only woman in the whole of HYDRA’s base was far from being a positive.

Bucky hated that he had begun to tell the time through knowing it was evening by the volume of her screams.

They were louder in the evenings, when the men would pay her an unwanted visit. She would cry and sob for help and Bucky would want to help her so badly. He’d struggle at his restraints, desperate to break out to go and save her.

He wished he could save her.

But he could feel his own strength fading with every day he spent strapped to the table in Zola’s lab.

The only form of solace either of them could find was talking to each other. 

Bucky learnt of her family, her best friends, her hometown. He was desperate for any information he could get on her. He wanted to know her better. He wanted to know everything about her, to understand the only person who could ever possibly even imagine what he was going through.

In turn, he told her of his sister, Rebecca, how he used to plait her hair before she went to school. He told her of Steve, listening to her laugh for the very first time when he listed off the places he had been beaten up. It had been a quiet laugh, barely there, but it was a laugh nonetheless and it made him smile for the first time in what felt like years. 

“Do you think anyone’s going to come and save us?” Y/N sniffled one night, after a particularly long session with the shitty men who insisting upon ‘keeping her company’ every evening. Bucky could tell she was curled up against the wall.

She had told him previously that the sound of his voice calmed her and she liked to get as close to it as she could.

“We’ve gotta believe so, Doll.”

“Bucky?” 

“Yeah?”

“Would you leave without me?” Her voice was small and flooded with vulnerability. 

In that moment Bucky couldn’t imagine anything worse than leaving her behind.

“Never.”

///

“Steve?” Bucky couldn’t believe his eyes.

He wondered if this was just a cruel trick played by Zola on him.

There was no way this big guy in front of him was his little friend Steve.

But then the blond guy smiled and Bucky knew he’d recognise that smile anywhere.

There was no way anyone could ever replicate that warm grin.

“Steve!” Bucky repeated.

“I thought you were dead,” Steve whispered in awe to him. Bucky looked him up and down, eyes wide.

“I thought you were smaller,” he could have sworn he heard Steve laugh a little before pulling him up by the arm.

“We gotta get out of here.” Steve insisted, pulling him towards the door.

“Wait!” Bucky almost shouted as Steve tried to take him down the hallway.

Take him the wrong way.

“Bucky what’re you...” Steve watched Bucky wrench himself from his grasp. “Bucky!”

“I made a promise,” Bucky insisted, stumbling over to the door where he knew Y/N was being kept.

Bucky’s hands scrabbled at the heavy door, feeling tears of frustration build in his eyes when he couldn’t get it to open.

Steve placed a hand on it, the other going on Bucky’s arm to stop his movements.

“I got it, Buck,” he said gently, opening the door for him. Bucky fell into the room.

“Y/N?” He asked desperately, his eyes not quite focusing enough on anything in the room.

If it weren’t for her quiet cries Bucky probably would have had to allow Steve to drag him out of there.

“Y/N!” He exclaimed, allowing his legs to follow the sound of her tears to the corner of the room where she was huddled up in a ball.

“Oh my - Bucky, who is she?” Steve asked and when Bucky turned to look at him he saw that Steve’s back was turned to them.

Bucky looked back over to Y/N and it was only then that he registered she was completely naked.

“Oh, Doll,” he whispered.

“There were some sheets in a room a few doors back,” Steve told Bucky, jogging out of the room.

“It’s me, Doll, it’s Bucky,” he said, reaching out a hand and cringing when Y/N flinched away from his touch.

“Who - Who was that?” She asked, shaking like a leaf.

“That was Steve - you remember me telling you about Steve?” He asked gently.

“You said he was - he was small?” 

“Yeah, I don’t really know what’s going on there either, Doll. But we gotta go - we’re getting out of here!” Bucky couldn’t help but laugh a little at the absurdity of it. 

He never would have thought that possible, for them to actually leave.

“You - you came for me?” She whimpered, her eyes wide with wonder as she looked up at him. Bucky gave her as much of a smile as he could manage.

“I promised I would, didn’t I?”

///

Y/N was terrified, that much was clear.

Bucky didn’t blame her. 

He understood why.

If he’d been through what she had then he wouldn’t want to be marching with hundreds of men either.

Y/N stuck close to him. She was wearing his old uniform. The uniform he had been wearing while in the HYDRA base. Once they had escaped into the clearing it had been determined that Y/N couldn’t just walk around in the sheets that Steve had found, especially not while she was surrounded by men.

One other man had offered her his shirt and another had a spare pair of trousers but Y/N had shrunk back, too afraid to even look at them, never mind wear their clothes.

As a result, Bucky had taken the spare clothes and given Y/N his uniform to wear, seeing as though he was the only one she trusted.

He hated to admit he thought she looked adorable in his uniform, it was all to big for her and hung down way past her ankles and wrists. He hated thinking that because he didn’t want her to think he was just like the other men.

She clung close to him all through the hike back to camp. He knew if it had been anyone else then he would have been annoyed with the clinginess but he could never get annoyed with her, not after what they had been through together.

Through spending so much time around him it had also meant that she had been spending more time with Steve, who had also glued himself to Bucky’s side, though he was much less obvious about it.

Bucky knew Steve was scared of loosing him again, the same way he was scared of loosing Steve again.

And Bucky was glad to see Y/N beginning to form a bond of trust with Steve, who was nothing but polite and kind to her.

“Bucky? Hey, Bucky,” fingers lightly prodded into his stomach and Bucky groaned, rolling over to face the source of the noise as he woke up.

“Doll?” 

“Hey,” she whispered. Y/N normally slept away from the rest of the group as she suffered badly from nightmares and she also didn’t like sleeping in close proximity with all the other men.

“What’s going on? Is something wrong?” He asked, sitting up, worried that one of the men had snuck off to ‘visit’ her.

“Can I... can I sleep here? With you?” She asked, biting her lip shyly.

Bucky fell back on his back, smiling at her, holding out one arm as a silent invitation for her to curl up into him, once which she took happily, cuddling up into his side almost immediately.

“Sorry,” she whispered.

“You don’t need to apologise to me for anything,” Bucky promised her.

“You just make me feel safe.”

///

“They suit you,” Bucky said as Y/N turned to face him. He lent on the doorway of her room and she gave him a shy smile.

“Thanks, Buck,” she whispered.

“You okay, Doll?” He asked, his brow furrowing in worry for her and he stepped into the room, closing the distance between them ever so slightly.

“Yeah, I just... I’m not used to wearing dresses,” she admitted. Bucky reached out his hands to cup her face, his movements slow as they always were around her, not wanting to scare her.

Since they had reached safety Y/N had spent three days curled up in her room, still dressed in Bucky’s uniform, refusing to talk to anyone who came in who wasn’t Bucky or Steve or Peggy, who she had quickly become friends with. 

Probably on account of their genders.

“You look gorgeous, Doll,” he promised her, brushing some hair out of her face and refusing to look down, to see the cuts and bruises and hickeys that littered her skin all over from her time in Zola’s labs.

“Thanks,” she said.

“You’re sure you want to do this?” He asked, desperately trying to ensure that she wasn’t overwhelmed.

“As long as you’re with me,” she agreed and Bucky trailed his hands down to reach her arms, grabbing onto them and squeezing.

“Always, Doll, I’m not going to let anyone hurt you again, alright?” Y/N swallowed thickly and gave a hesitant nod.

“Alright,” Bucky smiled and turned, still holding onto one of her hands, ready to lead her into the conference room where Steve, Peggy, Howard and the other leaders were waiting to hear what information Y/N had to offer. “Bucky?” She suddenly burst out.

“Yeah?” He asked, going to look back at her but her body collided with his too fast for him to think, her arms looping around him as she crushed herself to him in a tight hug.

He slowly lowered his arms to hug her back, nestling his face into the crook of her neck.

Yeah. He’d keep her safe.

///

“You feel better now?” Bucky asked as the bartender placed two drinks on the wooden counter in front of them.

“Much,” she agreed with a small smile.

Bucky shot a glare over her shoulder at the group of soldiers who were watching her in lusty interest. Their looks trailed off upon seeing Bucky’s murderous expression.

He wasn’t about to let anyone get near her unless she was okay with it.

“Thank you for being there for me,” she added after a moment.

“Always, Doll - I’m sorry I wasn’t allowed into the room. Steve took care of you, though?” Y/N nodded, quickly putting any worries in the man’s head to rest.

“Of course he did,” she confirmed. “I... I wanted to ask you something?”

“What’s that?” His smile was soft and encouraging.

“Steve... Steve said he was thinking about putting his team together himself,” Y/N swallowed, looking down. “Is... are you going to... will you be on his team?” 

Bucky reached over and took her hand, squeezing it.

“If he asks me to go with him, Doll - I’ve gotta go with him,” he said, trying to keep his voice as reassuring as possible. “He’s my best friend,” he whispered and Y/N nodded in understanding, sniffing a slight bit.

“You’ll be safe, though, right?” 

“I’ll always come back to you, Y/N, I promised I’d look after you, remember?” He asked. Y/N looked over at him with tears shining in her eyes.

Silence fell between them for the briefest of moments before Y/N licked her lips and lent towards him. Bucky paused before doing the same, slowly so as to give her time to back out. His heart thundered in her chest and he was painfully aware of the loudness of the bar and the sweatiness of his palms.

But then their lips touched and it was as though the world breathed a sigh of relief as everything else faded away.

And they were just too kids, their youths stolen from them by the horrors of war. Their spirits broken and being slowly glued back together. And Bucky felt he could see the threads of their future, frayed at parts, equally broken, equally hurt, but twined together. 

Strengthening one another.

And he knew that they would be okay.

[turtle-steverogers]

Code: WTF (1/3)

hey, so here’s a little three part fun fic involving fbi agents and russian spies! (with just a little angst) enjoy!

warnings: a small depiction of death, but it’s not super bad

ship: platonic ralbert, platonic spalbert, soon to be sprace

word count: 1927

editing: ofc not

-

Making decisions, Albert has come to realize, is not his forte.  Granted, he’s generally good at helping others make decisions- he’s got that sort of innate way of looking at the whole picture, which is good when you’re trying to help someone sort through different situations.  But he can never seem to apply this strong suit to himself.  

Like when he was thinking of career paths and he’d spend hours at night staring at his ceiling and wondering whether or not he wanted to commit himself to a world of chance and danger and join the FBI.  Because, wow, had that been a dream of his ever since he watched his first James Bond movie at nine years old.  There was something thrilling about watching that action- seeing how he could use his sharp problem solving skills for something bigger than himself.  He wasn’t sure if he was ready to pledge himself to something that seemed almost like a life sentence, but he also was never one to run from a challenge.  So...after a couple years of college and a bachelor’s degree in engineering, he started studying for his Phase I assessment.  

It was grueling.  The entrance exam was no easy task and it only got harder from there with the ‘Meet and Greet’ and Phase II written assessment.  Not surprisingly, though, he had made it through and soon he was off to Quantico, where he was tested against his own willpower for upwards of 21 weeks.  It was tough, but he made it through with flying colors.  

Shortly after his 28th birthday, on a sunny and almost too hot July morning, he’d been trying not to let a giddy smile spread across his face embarrassingly as Director Larkin swore in his class- awarding them with their badges and credentials.  The smile did break through however when Larkin had looked directly at him while speaking of “Those most fit and impressively accomplished” and winked.  But he was proud of himself.  Sue him.

After the ceremony, Race- his roommate during Quantico whom he’d grown particularly close to- had handed over some suspicious looking store brand lemonade in a shitty, plastic cup and bumped their shoulders together, smiling as he raised his glass.  Albert mirrored his grin and clinked their glasses together.

“To the dream.” Race had said, taking a sip.

Albert drank too, and echoed, “To the dream.” 

Now, three years later, he’s finding that his bad decision making skills are still very present as he stares at the shelves of brightly colored cereal boxes, trying to decide what he wants this week’s breakfast to be.

As a Senior Special Agent, it’s very serious reconnaissance work.

Just as he’s reaching for a box of Dark Chocolate Crunch Cheerios, Race materializes next to him, looking a little tight around the eyes as he places a couple cans of Progresso soup into their basket.  

His movements are calculatedly casual, but Albert knows him well enough to know his stress tells.  The way his shoulders are just slightly raised, ready to launch into motion at the first sign of trouble.  The tense of his jaw and the slight scrunch of his nose- as if he’s smelling something off.  Bad.

“Hey, Al,” Race says, straightening.  Even his voice is that sort of forced casual it gets when he’s inwardly freaking out about something, “Do you remember our trip to Morocco?”

A shiver runs down Albert’s spine and he gives himself credit for only hesitating for a moment before recovering.  Morocco is their personal code for ‘hey, someone is definitely following us, so we either need to dip or do something about it.’

“The first or second trip?” Albert asks, his words just as rehearsed.  

And that’s their follow up code.  The first trip means it’s an unknown party; the second trip means it’s someone affiliated with whatever operation they’re currently assigned to.

Really, it’s counterintuitive to even ask, because they haven’t been on any major assignments in nearly a month now.  Director Larkin had given them both time off from the big stuff after their last operation had gone decidedly south when they lost a couple of the DEA guys they’d been teamed up with in a surprise shoot-out against the drug corporation they were tasked with bringing down.  

It was jarring to say the least, and neither him nor Race complained too much when Larkin had suggested laying low for a while.  It was the first time they’d ever lost their own men on a mission and in such a gruesome way.  Some arterial blood had sprayed Albert in the face, getting on his tongue and clogging up his nose.  He doesn’t remember much after that.  Race says he dissociated big time.  Albert doesn’t really care.  He just knows that he still can’t eat tomato sauce on his pasta, because the red of it still looks too much like--

Yeah, no.  Alfredo sauce is a new favorite in the Dasilva-Higgins apartment.

“First trip.” Race says, watching as Albert carefully puts the Cheerios box in the basket.

The sudden feeling of being watched pricks at Albert’s neck and he resists the urge to look behind him.  

“When’d you first notice?” Albert asks, dropping his voice lower and motioning for Race to follow him as he moves down the aisle, still trying to look nonchalant as he grabs a random box of Fruity Pebbles.  The gun that’s tucked into the waistband of his jeans becomes a noticeable weight against his lower back.  It’s a comforting weight, if not a little disconcerting.  But that’s basically in their job description.

“On the way here,” Race says, following Albert’s lead and plucking a box of shitty granola bars off a shelf behind them.  As long as they look busy, they look normal, “Noticed him walking behind us around the time we passed Suffolk.  Was wary, but didn’t think too much of it until I saw him lurking by the bananas while I was getting some apples.”

“Didya get a look at him?  Any discernible features?”

Race shrugs, eyes darting over Albert’s shoulder, then to the side, “Not really.  Short, I’d stick him around 5’4”?  Dark hair and eyes.  He’s wearing jeans and a leather jacket, kept his hood up.”

Albert hums, “And you last saw him by produce?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay,” Albert says, “Come on.”

They forgo the rest of their shopping list and hurry to check out, trying to maintain a sort of ostensibly relaxed appearance.  Just as they’re leaving the market, turning the opposite way from which they came, Albert’s neck prickles harder.  His stomach swoops a little and he hesitates, waiting for the right moment to turn around and grab the collar of the offending party, pulling him into a nearby alley and pushing him against the bricks.

He hears Race curse, but doesn’t look at his field partner as the guy against the wall’s hood falls away.  For a moment, Albert’s stunned, instinct falling short as his gaze sweeps over the guys face.  

And as shocking as it is, it’s comforting in a way.  Because even after eleven years, Albert would know those brown eyes and sharp features anywhere.  

His grip on the guy’s collar slackens and he feels his shoulders slump a little, “Spot?”

Spot grins, “Heya, Al.”

XXX

“Wait, so you know our stalker?”

It’s probably the millionth time Race has asked that since they’d dragged Spot back to their apartment on 14th street, taking a few cautionary side roads just in case.  Now, they’re gathered in the kitchen, each of them settled in with a beer even though it’s arguably too early to drink.  

Whatever, Albert thinks, It’s five o’clock somewhere, right?

Besides, what else are you supposed to do when the guy you’d been best friends with until he allegedly fell off the face of the earth, shows up in your life again by stalking you while you’re grocery shopping.

Yeah, Albert deserves a drink.  And he’s technically not on the job right now-- ok, he and Race are always ‘on the job’, but he’ll digress.

“Yup,” Spot answers for Albert, taking a swig of his beer, “best buds since Lindsay Hartman splashed punch on him during ninth grade homecoming, then pushed him into the refreshments table where I was getting a sandwich.”

Race shoots Albert a bewildered look and Albert shrugs, “I was kind of a dick back then and I was going through a gay panic, so I brought her to the dance and then accidentally blurted out that I thought her brother was hotter than her during the slow song and...well, ninth grade wasn’t the best year for me.”

“Clearly,” Race sounds amused, but he’s obviously still too shook up by Spot’s existence to jab Albert too hard.  

Albert can’t blame him, either.  It’s inherently bizarre to have your current and past best friends standing in the same room after thinking you’d never see one of them again.  

“Albert never mentioned you,” Race says, looking at Spot.  He’s got his ‘agent face’ on- studiously taking in all of Spot’s mannerisms, while not wavering his gaze from his eyes.

“Wouldn’t expect him to,” Spot says, unbothered, “We lost touch after high school.”

“More like you disappeared unexpectedly and never answered my phone calls or texts and I thought you died, but I couldn’t find anything on you since you were off the fucking grid.” And yeah, maybe Albert’s a little bitter, because he and Spot had been closer than close, but during their second year of college, Spot transferred to some school somewhere in Europe and never spoke to him again. 

Spot looks a little guilty now, but he still manages to be the dick Albert always knew him to be and says, “Tomato, tomahto.”

Albert rolls his eyes, “What even happened to you, man?”

“That’s actually what I’m here about,” Spot says.  A shadow passes over his face and he suddenly looks sharper- rougher, “I- uh, there’s, uh, some...trouble regarding...things...”

Race and Albert exchange a look and Albert can see the words, well, that’s vague, bouncing around in Race’s head.

“What kind of trouble?” Race asks.

“So,” Spot starts, then stops, shaking his head, “This is a bit of a crazy story, but anyway.  I moved right?  Overseas?  And I ended up, um, getting into a bit of a...situation.”

Wary now, Albert places down his beer and crosses his arms, “What kind of situation?”

“I kind of got recruited by the FSB?”

The shocked silence is almost palpable.

Race recovers first, “The Russian intelligence agency?”

A pause, “Yeah, that’s the one.”

Albert can’t handle this.  This is too much.  Too weird. 

He scrubs a hand over his face, “You do know what I, what we-” he gestures between himself and Race, “-do, right?”

He knows Spot knows.  He needs to ask, anyway.

“Yeah.”

“So, you’re telling a couple of FBI guys that you’re part of the FSB?” It sounds weird to Albert’s own ears.  He laughs a little, because really, he has to.

“Well...yes.”

“This is fucking weird,” Race states, pointing out the obvious, “Anyway, is there more to your so-called ‘trouble’? Or are you just now realizing the moral wrongness of being an American in the Russian spy network and want some sort of atonement?”

Spot seems to have an internal battle with himself before he mutters something that sounds like ‘fuck it’, “Albert, you’re my next mission.  I’m supposed to kill you.”

“Oh,” Albert says, frowning down at his crossed arms.  Then, Spot’s words process, “Wait, what!?”

-

hehehe we love an russian fbi drama

thanks for reading, chiefs

hmu to be added to my tag

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[knightowl725]

Healing in a Graveyard

Fandom: Critical Role

For Fjorclay Week 2020′s Modern AU Prompt - a day early because I wrote something very short for today’s actual prompt and got super excited about this one. More chapters to follow.

Read on ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23828932/chapters/57258880

Chapter One: Just For A Few Days

Fjord had never expected to agree when Beau and Jester first dragged him to see the place. The Blooming Grove.

“It’s a big house near campus,” Jester told him. “They’re very friendly to students, and the prices are very reasonable. Molly said there were lots of empty rooms they want to rent out.”

“Yeah, but it’s in a graveyard,” Fjord reminded her. She ignored him.

"We'll all have rooms near each other and share meals and hang out.”

"If our rooms are next to each other, we can learn morse code and tap messages!" Beau exclaimed, and that one got to him. So he went along to take a look at the place. Yasha and Molly were already living there, and it was Molly that showed them around in the absent landlord’s stead.

Fjord said no at first. He was with Avantika and her crew. He'd gotten in with Avantika early on, when it all first became overwhelming. Classes and a part time job, topped with the social pressures of a smaller school, it was all too much. Avantika had found him then, drawn him in and all but fed him to that…

If he was honest he'd just call it a cult. Like Jester's Traveler but instead of lighthearted mischief it was promising your eternal devotion and doing some mildly illegal shit. They found him at his lowest and made him feel wanted, welcome. Like he was family.

An entire year and some had gone by. And Fjord was getting thinner, more tired, more drawn out every day.

Beau burst into his room one day after class. He was living in a house with the rest of Avantika’s group, The Champions, in a room he shared with three other people. It was a cramped house, and it ate up all the money he made at his part-time job. But that was the price you paid to be family. A Champion.

No one else was home right now, off under Avantika’s guidance to do something in their snake god’s honor. Fjord still felt shivers every time they said its name. 

A rap on his window jolted him upright, books strewn around him on the bed. He went to the window to find Beau crouched outside it, perched on a part of the roof that met the house under his window.

He unlocked the window and flung it open. “Beau! What are you--”

She slid into the room past him. “Intervention!”

“Inter--”

“The semester is nearly over,” she said, starting to wander around the room, piling up his books and school supplies. “There’s only a few weeks left, tons of tests and shit. You said yourself that these...freaks or whatever...are distracting you, and you’re this close to losing your scholarship.”

“Yeah, bu--”

“They take all your money, force you to work with them, act super controlling all the time, and now you can’t even study.”

“They let me miss out today to stud--”

Beau found his duffel bag and began shoving books into it. “You’re staying with me for a few days. Just a few days! Swear. You need to get out of this creepy house--”

“And into the graveyard?’

She gave him a pointed look. “Isn’t it saying something that the graveyard isn’t half as creepy?”

He rolled his eyes, and she went on, “You’re getting a break, dude. You need it. Everyone agrees. We’re intervening and forcing it.”

“Beau--”

“Just a few days,” she insisted, a little softer. “Hang out with your friends, focus on school, then you’ll be back in this shithole selling your soul to whatever like you always dreamed.”

She shoved the open bag, stuffed with books, into his arms like it weighed nothing. He nearly buckled at the sudden weight. “Pack up your laptop and some clothes and shit.”

Fjord tried to argue further, but she was right. He was exhausted. And loud as their friend group was, they knew how to respect someone trying to keep a scholarship. They wouldn’t follow him to the library to drag him to a ‘mandatory meeting’ no one told him about, or burst into class in the middle of a test because he had a ‘personal emergency’ that was just another meeting. Or remind him at least twice a week that he could always drop out and just work full time with them.

With a deep, tired sigh, Fjord relented.

~~~~

It had been raining, a hot summer rain. Sticky and gross.

"C’mon!" Beau ordered, literally dragging him by the arm through the graveyard with her insane strength. "Just stay for, like, three days. Get your head on right."

"There's no way your landlord will let me stay."

"You haven't met the guy," she said with a strange expression. Like bewilderment met respect. It was always the look his friends who lived there wore when talking about their landlord and neighbor. "His family has owned this place since like forever. He acts like a major stoner though I rarely see him smoke, and all he wants is tenants that keep the place lively but not destroyed. And to feed us sometimes. But it's dope vegan shit."

"Sounds like the weirdest hippie ever."

"Oh, he is," she assured him.

And Fjord gave in and followed her up the last steps up to the building they called the “Xhorhas”. 

The building itself was old, but sturdy. A stone and brick structure that had stood longer than some of the Grove’s vibrant trees. It was almost mid-Spring then, and the garden-graveyard was bursting with color and flowers and bugs.

“Don’t be a baby,” Beau snapped when he jolted away from a fat little bumblebee. 

“There aren’t bugs in the house, are there?” he asked.

She rolled her eyes, which he hoped to mean ‘of course not’.

The front porch was a wooden structure, painted white then further painted in mis-matched designs and colors. Various plants covered the railings and hung from the room, and there was a little table, a white wooden bench - also painted - and a single, oversized rocking chair. 

“We painted those,” Beau said. “Caduceus had to tear down the old porch and rebuild, and Jester convinced him to let us paint all over it. Check this out!”

She led him to the bench and dragged him down to sit, then to look under it upside-down. There, painted neatly and lovingly under the bench’s seat, was a series of stylized dicks.

Fjord sighed as Beau cackled. Normally it might get a chuckle out of him, but he was too tired to be amused these days.

“Oh, c’mon you old man,” she said, leading him to the actual door. She pulled it open without a key.

“Is it always unlocked? Won’t people try to break in?”

“To a graveyard house?” she asked. “Honestly I’d like to see them try. You haven’t even seen--”

“Ah, Beauregard?” called a low, gentle voice from inside. “Welcome home.”

“Hey Caduceus,” she replied, wiping her feet on the entry mat - covered in a floral design - before stepping further inside. Fjord mimicked her movements.

The front entryway was probably larger than it seemed, with tall ceilings and a rectangular frame. But it was over-crowded with things. Plants everywhere, hanging and on window sills and standing at the edges of the room. There were plush rugs over stone flooring in muted, worn colors more likely due to age and use than style. There was, to the right, a door leading into another room with a curtain hanging down and a collection of plush, mis-matched chairs around a table. Slightly off center to the left were the stairs up to the actual rooms. To the left, a little shelf crammed full of books, endless plants, and was that a shrine?

“Oh, you brought a guest?”

Beau had stepped towards the left, where a tall figure was peering into hanging plants with a watering can dwarfed by his height.

“Yeah, Caduceus, this is Fjord. The friend we’ve mentioned. Fjord, this our landlord, Caduceus.”

Caduceus looked over and smiled, eyes a little droopy in that calm, might-be-a-stoner-but-might-also-just-look-that-way kinda way. He was a firbolg, a rare breed in this area these days, coated in a layer of gray fur, but with pink eyes, hair, and a neatly trimmed pink beard. He wore plain, loose clothing underneath a vibrantly teal, thin coat that stretched nearly to the floor, covered in pink branches and flowers and beetles. Through one ear looped a thick wooden spiral for an earring.

Caduceus made a face. “I don’t like that word, ‘landlord’. I prefer just being another neighbor. Hullo Mister Fjord.”

“Hello. It’s nice to meet you.” Fjord gave an awkward little nod towards the tall man.

“Right, well I wanted to ask if it’s cool if Fjord crashes here for a few days,” Beau said with no warning nor ceremony. Fjord twitched in discomfort. “Maybe a week.”

“I don’t want to impose,” Fjord insisted. “I do have a room--”

“Yeah, in a cultist house with your shitty whatever she is,” Beau snapped.

“Ah, Fjord,” Caduceus said, as if he was suddenly putting the pieces together. “It wouldn’t be any trouble at all.”

“I don’t have any money. I couldn’t pay.”

The firbolg smiled at him. “I didn’t ask for money. You’re a friend of everyone here, and they are my friends. Which, by extension, makes you a friend of mine as well. I wouldn’t turn away a friend who needs a little time away from things.”

Beau gave him a pointed look as if to say, “told you so!”

To Beau, Caduceus said, almost dreamily, “We still have that vacant room.”

“Molly’s old room,” Beau reminded Fjord. Molly, their wild and fabulous tiefling friend, had decided to transfer schools last semester. While it broke the heart of their friend group, he still visited, video chatted, and sent perfumed letters often.

“It’s not much, but there’s a bed and a dresser still. Good enough for a week or so.”

“I couldn’t accept such a generous offer,” Fjord told him. 

“Fjord!” Beau exclaimed. “Let people help you!”

“It’s an entire room, something everyone else is paying for!”

“For like a week, Fjord! And it’s not like people are breaking down the door to live here!”

Fjord glanced at Caduceus, but the man looked unaffected by the comment. Either he was completely vacant, or he was very much in touch with the reality of his home.

“If it’s so important to you,” Caduceus drawled. “I could use some help around the house and the Grove for a few days. I’ve got some projects that have piled up. We could consider that your rent for the week?”

Beau stared holes into Fjord, hands splayed and extended as if to say, “come on!”

“That’s very kind of you, Caduceus,” Fjord said. “I...I suppose it would be a nice break.”

“Finally!” Beau exclaimed. She leapt over to the stairs, thudding up them and shouting, “Jes! We got Fjord for a week!”

“A week!” came a shout from Jester’s familiar voice.

Fjord sighed. Caduceus looked up the stairs smiling. “Such a lively bunch.”

Turning back to Fjord he said, “Let me get you your key.”

~~

Caduceus had been right, the room wasn’t especially noteworthy. But it was clean, with a nice window that overlooked the Grove, including the largest tree there, and simple, sturdy furniture. 

He didn’t have much to his name with him. Avantika and The Champions had taken it poorly when he texted the group chat that he was staying with a friend for the week, but they hadn’t completely flipped out. Still, he wasn’t going to risk going back to that house until he was going back for good. When Beau had grabbed him, they’d focused on taking the things he needed for school so as not to draw attention, and only the bare minimum in anything else.

He had $20 to his name for food for the week, maybe longer. He had two day’s worth of clothes, so he’d be doing laundry every day. Maybe it’d be a good excuse to convince Caleb to let him clean his clothes as well. He somehow always got them covered in dirt and mystery stains. Chem majors.

Caduceus had left him with fresh sheets and linens, as well as a small potted plant. He rattled off instructions and odd musings, then promised it would survive almost anything as long as he watered it every few days and didn’t put it in direct sunlight.

Fjord sat on the edge of the bed, patchwork blankets neatly folded beside him, his duffle bag sitting by the door, and took a breath. There was a large mirror on top of the dresser that looked directly at him. He looked, well. He looked like shit.

His beard, never the full, lush thing he would have preferred, had grown in patchy and speckled with gray. That tiny sliver of gray he’d found at eighteen had expanded into a full-blown chunk at the front of his scalp. His hair was too long, disheveled at this length. His eyes looked sunken and almost bloodshot. He was frowning deeply, his default expression. He sat slumped and tired and worn. Worse than shit, he looked half-dead.

Maybe he could just ask Caduceus to dig him a hole.

~~

He shouldn’t have joked about that, because that was exactly what Caduceus asked him to do pre-dawn the next morning. Luckily, Caduceus was an early riser, which was the only time Fjord had reliably free before classes and work.

“Do I want to know what these holes are for?” Fjord asked gingerly, looking at the shovel handed to him.

“I would think it’s fairly obvious,” Caduceus said, a little perplexed and a little amused in one.

Fjord cleared his throat. “Right. Okay.”

Caduceus worked right alongside him, digging, then breaking from that to stay nearby. He cared for plants, cleaned gravestones, laid out flowers, and prepared these new gravesites. He worked in relative silence, occasionally humming some song or another seemingly without realizing. Sometimes Fjord heard him murmuring to the plants. He’d heard of people talking to plants, and, frankly, it would have been weirder if Caduceus didn’t.

Fjord finished his work as the sun rose, a little worn and sweaty, covered in dirt, but good. He hadn’t been exercising with Beau as much these past few months. Or the past year, really. He was just too damned tired these days. But it felt good to do something physical again.

“Ah, got that done much faster than I expected,” Caduceus said happily. He looked over the grave sites, then nodded in approval. “You did an excellent job. You’re stronger than you seem.”

“I spent a few years working on ships,” Fjord said. The reason he had started college later than most.

“On the ocean?”

“Yeah,” Fjord said.

“That sounds nice,” he said dreamily. “Never been to the ocean.”

“Really?” Fjord asked. “You, uh, you might like it. Not as many plants, at least not that you can easily see. But it’s beautiful. Calming.”

Caduceus leaned on his own shovel like a staff, closing his eyes for a moment as though he were picturing it. “Maybe I’ll go someday.”

They were quiet for a moment, seeing the sun cresting the earth, casting light over the graveyard. 

“Well, that’s enough for today, I think,” Caduceus said. “Let’s get cleaned up.”

Fjord followed him back to the house, bounding up the stairs to shower and change into his only other set of clothes. The biggest downside to the Xhorhas was that it only boasted two bathrooms to share between the residents, two and one more on the third floor for Caduceus. At least each shower was beyond its own door from the sink and toilet, which was something. 

Not many were up at this hour, so he had an entire bathroom to himself. He showered briskly, then took a moment to shave. His hair would have to wait. Maybe Yasha would cut it? She cut Caleb’s hair that one time. Or was that his beard? He couldn’t remember anything besides it involving a sword.

He passed Nott on the way downstairs, who griped at him for ‘taking forever’. Nott was the only non-student in the house, besides maybe Caduceus. She was staying there to save money while she waited for her husband and her son to be able to move to the area, where they hoped to get a proper house for themselves. And maybe Caleb.

When he reached downstairs, noting he still had time for breakfast and maybe some studying before class, he found an odd sight. Carefully arranged in the limited space of the front entry were two yoga mats, on which Caduceus and Beau were finishing up their yoga session.

“Oh, hey Fjord,” Beau said from a twisted stance that was certainly not human. 

Caduceus released a sigh as he unfurled himself. “Mister Fjord, we’re about to do some meditating if you’d like to join us.”

Beau’s eyes lit up. “Oh, yeah. Caduceus does the best guided meditations, man.”

“I’m not really one for meditation,” he said.

Before Beau could complain, Caduceus nodded, closing his eyes calmly and saying, “That’s quite alright. If you ever need to calm your mind or find some peace, you’re welcome to join us.”

“Uh, thank you,” Fjord said. 

He slung his bag over his shoulder and quickly left the house and The Blooming Grove. If he swung by the cafe he worked at, he might be able to get some day-old pastries or breakfast sandwiches for a discount. Of course, only The Champions worked there, so he’d be at a risk. 

He was scheduled for this afternoon, and he had to work. But he wasn’t ready to face any of them.

Might be better just to skip breakfast.