#wait should I make meme Monday a thing? that’s could be fun right?

[bleue-flora]

[starshine583]

New Girl on the Block (7)

(I hope you guys enjoy this new chapter! Feel free to check out the mini series connected to this fic called Journal Entries. I will warn whoever reads it that I’m not sure how long I’m going to keep it up, though.)

Ch.1 / Ch.6 / Ch.8

Chapter 7: That Happy Glow

“This is gonna be so much fun, Tikki!” Marinette exclaimed as she slid on her light pink flats. “I can’t wait to get to the aquarium!”

“Don’t forget your purse!” Tikki reminded, zipping around her chosen’s head. “I want to see some of the fish too!”

Marinette laughed and reached for her coat. The weather had been reported to drop over the weekend, and she didn’t want to take any chances. “Of course! I’ll make sure to pack some cookies for you too.”

When Felix told her last Monday that Adrien came to Rosemary looking for her, She’d been understandably distraught. Dupont had been given strict instructions to keep her new school’s name a secret, yet her old classmates were still coming to talk to her. It left many questions that needed to be answered. For example, how did they find out? Did Bustier tell them? Felix had mentioned that a girl was the one to give Adrien the information, though that hardly narrowed down the suspect list. Was Adrien the only one who knew? If not, were her other classmates going to try to come for her too? She’d asked her mother about it as soon as she got home, and as expected, Sabine flew into a rage. 

“I send my daughter to a new school to get her away from her old classmates, and what do they do? They follow her there!” She’d fumed. “Unbelievable.”

Once Marinette talked her down from calling the police to file for harassment, they called the school, and Mme Bustier insisted that they’d been tight lipped about Marinette’s new school, but Marinette didn't buy it. Who else could have told Adrien? No one knew about her attending Rosemary, not unless Nathalie managed to find the information, and that was highly unlikely.

Although the situation was a mix of frustrating and worrisome, Marinette took comfort in the fact that Adrien seemed to believe she wasn't actually attending Rosemary. At the very least, he hadn’t stopped by again- as far as she knew -and hadn’t visited the bakery again either.

A small sigh passed her lips at the thought of how close she'd come to exposing herself as a Rosemary student. Thank goodness Felix had been out there to greet Adrien instead. His quick thinking had really saved her, and he even offered to give her a ride home afterwards. (For the second time) She never intended on asking Felix for help with things like this- mostly because she didn't want to bother him -but it was good to know she could depend on him when she needed to. Not only did he help her with Adrien, she also noticed him trying to keep others around her during the day after everything blew over. Allegra would order lunch with her more. Claude would join her to go to the lockers more. Allan would walk her to classes that they didn't have together. Things like that. Felix even offered to accompany her himself on a few occasions. It was a sweet gesture, and although the extra attention wasn’t necessary, it was greatly appreciated. Maybe she should make him a little thank you gift. What sort of things does he like again? Books and chess.. and silence.. how could she make a gift out of that?

Either way, Marinette couldn't thank him enough for his kindness, and now that six days of blessed silence has passed, the nervousness from the Adrien encounter was replaced with giddy enthusiasm for the aquarium. She buzzed around her bedroom to finish getting ready, putting on her scarf and earmuffs as quickly as she could. Allegra was supposed to come pick her up, but they were all going to meet up and walk into Aquarium de Paris together. She didn’t want to hold anyone up.

Marinette wrapped her purse around her shoulder, finally finishing her outfit, and bounced over to the trapdoor to go downstairs. Allegra should be arriving in about five minutes. That gave her just enough time to snag a few cookies for Tikki, a croissant for herself (and maybe Claude), and say goodbye to her parents. 

“Goodmorning, sweetheart!” Sabine greeted warmly.

“Morning, Maman!” Marinette smiled, briefly pausing to let her mother kiss her on the forehead.

“Did you have a good sleep?” Tom asked, holding out an arm to her.

Marinette let out a nervous chuckle as she gave him a side hug. “Yes and no. I was kind of too excited to sleep.”

“You and me both.”

Marinette turned to one of the small tables in the bakery to see Allegra sitting with a smile and a cup of coffee. She was bundled up too, which told Marinette that she was probably right to put on her winter clothes.

“You’re already here?” Marinette asked, panic briefly seizing her chest. She looked around for the time. “How long have you been waiting? Am I late again?”

Allegra chuckled and stood up to pull Marinette into a hug. “Not at all! I just happened to get here a few minutes early, and your parents offered me a coffee while we waited for you to come down.”

Marinette relaxed a bit and hugged Allegra back. “You could have come upstairs to get me.”

“I didn’t want to rush you.” Allegra shrugged. “Besides, your parents are fun to talk with!”

Tom and Sabine both smiled and straightened with pride, causing Marinette to giggle.

“Here,” Tom said, taking a brown, paper bag out from under the counter. “We packed some breakfast for you.” 

“And made sure to put plenty of croissants in for Claude and the others.” Sabine added with a smile.

Marinette took the bag with a sincere “thanks”. That saved her time on sneaking around for snacks.

“Oh, Claude is going to love those.” Allegra smirked, touching the bag to feel how warm it was. 

Marinette giggled and nodded in agreement. It’s been almost three weeks since she started at Rosemary, and Claude still asks for croissants every lunch period. “Are we ready to go?”

“Yep! My driver’s waiting out front for us.” Allegra replied, tilting her head in the direction of the door.

“Have fun, you guys!” Sabine cooed.

“Make sure to take plenty of pictures with the fish!” Tom added with a wave.

“We definitely will.” Allegra beamed, looping her arm with Marinette’s.

With a final wave, they stepped outside together, and Marinette sharply inhaled as the chill of the air immediately gnawed at her features. She knew it was going to be cold, but she didn’t think it would be this cold. 

I hope Felix didn’t decide to get there early today. Marinette thought to herself as they scrambled into the backseat of the car. 

“So are you excited?” She asked Allegra while buckling in. Claude had been bouncing around the school walls all week for this trip, but Allegra hadn’t said much about it. Neither had Allan. Of course, they didn’t have to be excited. Marinette was just curious as to whether they were or why they weren’t.

“Absolutely!” Allegra grinned, bringing a smile to Marinette’s lips as well. Guess people show their excitement in different ways.

“Probably not as excited as Claude, though.” The blonde continued, a humorous expression crossing her features. “How many fish did he text on the group chat again?”

Marinette squinted slightly as she thought about it. “I think.. Twenty seven? Maybe twenty eight.”

“Twenty eight sounds about right.” Allegra said with a nod. “I swear Allan was this close to blocking him.” 

Marinette laughed. “That knife meme was hilarious! I still can’t believe that Felix was the one who sent it. I was starting to think he didn’t read the group chat.”

“Yeah, he surprises us every now and then.” Allegra mused, a fond smile coming to her lips. “Like this aquarium trip. I don’t think he’s ever once agreed to go somewhere with us after the first invite.”

Marinette shrugged and settled into her seat as the driver pulled out onto the road. “Well, he did say that you were going to force him either way.”

Allegra’s smile turned devilish. “And he’s absolutely right. If he had said no to coming, I would have dragged him there myself, but that’s never stopped him before.”

Marinette tilted her head in a nod. That was certainly true.

“Maybe he just likes aquariums?”

Allegra hummed, a mischievous glint in her sky blue eyes as she said, “Or maybe he likes someone who’s going to the aquarium.”

Marinette furrowed her eyebrows. Like as in like like? Like a crush? Felix didn’t seem like the type to have a crush on someone, though after hearing him talk about the lovers in his classical playlist, she supposed it was a possibility. 

“Is there someone else you guys know that might be there?”

A short laugh burst from Allegra’s lips, almost like Marinette had missed the point of something, and she shook her head. “No, nevermind. Forget I said anything. Let’s just enjoy our agreeable Felix while we have him.”

Marinette nodded, though her thoughts still lingered on the comment. Felix developing romantic feelings for someone sounded like such a foreign concept to her. Not that he was unlovable, or anything. He was just.. too logical. He didn’t dote on feelings. The only circumstance where she can clearly see him acquiring a spouse would be an arranged marriage. He’d probably be the one to plan it, too, seeing it as the most beneficial choice between both families. What type of wife would he pick, anyway? She’d probably be beautiful and quiet, right? Not to mention smart. Felix wouldn’t be able to stand someone ‘incompetent’. Maybe she’d be a bit of a perfectionist like him?

A soft hum passed her lips. It was definitely a thought.

~~~~~~

Felix grit his teeth as the biting chill of the morning seeped into his clothing. It was times like this that he wished those jokes about the incredible inaccuracy of weathermen were true. He hasn’t even been outside for ten minutes, and his fingers were already numb. If Felix had known that his coat and gloves would be this ineffective, he would have taken the second coat that his mother tried to insist he wear earlier.

A shiver ran up his spine as a particularly cold burst of wind whipped past him, and he pulled his coat tighter around his waist. What time was it? Were the girls going to be arriving soon? 

He flicked his wrist upwards to catch sight of his watch. Allegra said that they would be meeting at Aquarium de Paris at 10am. Being 9:58am., they should be arriving any minute, but that didn’t stop him from heaving a deep sigh towards the wait. Note to self: Don’t arrive early to activities that take place outside during the winter.

A nudge to the arm brought Felix’s attention to Claude. He’d also arrived early- probably out of sheer excitement. He’s been blabbering about this trip all week -but the cold didn’t appear to affect him nearly as much.

“Are you nervous?” The brunette asked, causing Felix to shoot him a flat look.

“Why on earth would I be nervous?”

“Oh, no reason..” Claude said, his tone light and teasing. “I just know that Marinette’s going to be here.”

Felix rose a brow. “And?”

Claude smiled knowingly, but Felix couldn’t imagine what the brunette thought he knew this time. 

“You two have gotten pretty close lately.”

“In what way?” There was the physical way or the mental way. Granted, both ways were incorrect, but it was an important distinction.

“Well, you talk to each other all the time.” Claude answered, as though that should be some monumental fact.

Ah. So it’s the mental way.

“That’s usually what happens when two people are in the same friend group.” Felix responded. “They talk.”

“Yeah, but what about the library?” Claude argued. Why did he feel the need to argue? “You two were practically touching noses, and no one else was there besides me.”

Felix furrowed his eyebrows. “Yesterday? When we were sharing headphones?”

Claude nodded, a Cheshire grin crossing his features. Why did he look triumphant? No one had won anything. “Yep. That’s the one I’m talking about.”

“Do you share headphones differently?”

“Well, no..” Claude half-shrugged. “But you guys are still pretty close, don’t you think?”

Felix paused. The label of being close to Marinette wasn’t a bad one, save for the fact that it was completely untrue. In light of a physical closeness, the only moments that they were close would be times when Marinette fell on top of him or yesterday, when they shared headphones in the library, and the latter scenario is being taken entirely out of context. They don’t walk around holding hands or hugging or sitting shoulder to shoulder next to each other, and in all honesty, Felix wouldn’t want to. He doesn’t enjoy constantly touching people. And as for the mental closeness, Marinette hasn’t told him anything that she hasn’t told anyone else. Felix knows a lot about her, yes, but almost everything he knows has been found out secretly, through silent observations. He would hardly call that “close”.

“No, I don’t think so,” he finally answered, “but I’m still confused as to why that would make me nervous.”

Claude pursed his lips, studying him for a moment, then sighed and crossed his arms. “Oh, nevermind. Either you’re in denial or you’ll figure it out eventually.”

A hint of frustration started to stir in Felix’s mind. Figure out what?

Before he could ask anything else, another voice cut into their conversation. 

“Oh, there you guys are!” 

It was Allan, and when Felix looked up, he noticed that Marinette and Allegra were accompanying him as well. Wonderful. He’d somewhat forgotten about the cold during Claude’s maniac ramblings, but now that his focus had shifted, the weather was hitting him full force again. He needed to escape inside before his feet were frozen to the sidewalk.

Claude perked up and waved to the three as he ran over to them. “Hey guys! What took you so long?”

Felix hobbled over to them as well, catching sight of Marinette’s sheepish smile as she said, “Sorry, Claude. We got here as fast as we could.”

Claude, of course, waved off the apology. “Nah, I’m just kidding. We weren’t waiting that long.”

The brunette scooped Marinette into a hug, coaxing out a laugh from her. She was so bundled up with coats and scarfs and gloves that Claude had to squish her between his arms to hold her, and it vaguely reminded Felix of a marshmallow. 

In weather like this, though, being a marshmallow didn’t sound half bad.

Claude blew out a contented sigh as he nuzzled his face into Marinette’s shoulder. “Man, Mari, you’re so warm! I need to start using you as my personal heater.”

Marinette chuckled and pulled back just enough to hold up a brown, paper bag. “Thanks, but I think it’s just the food Maman sent with me.” 

A gasp flew from Claude, and he immediately set her back on the ground. “Food, you say? As in, croissants food??”

“Yes, Claude.” Marinette giggled. “Croissants food. Maman packed a few extras especially for you.”

Claude literally let out a girlish squeal and made “grabby hands” for the bag. Marinette gladly obliged, letting him dig through it for his favorites.

“Your mom is the absolute best.” Claude said, his voice muffled from the chocolate croissant he bit into. “Please adopt me.”

The group shared a small laugh, but Felix rolled his eyes. Claude was always overdramatic. 

“You better not let Aunt Felicity hear you say that.” Allegra spoke up. She was also bundled to the max- though her coat was light purple -and looked about ten times warmer than Felix felt. “Remember the last time you asked Allan to adopt you?”

Claude scoffed. “That was different! This time I want to be adopted because of Mme Sabine’s cooking, not because of how many games Marinette has.”

“Oh, yeah.” Allan snorted. “That’s completely different.”

“Hey, mom will understand.” Claude insisted, placing his hands on his hips. “She knows she can’t cook anything to save her life. That’s why we have a personal chef.”

“Wait, are you two cousins?” Marinette cut in, confusion flicking across her features.

A slight frown came to Allegra’s lips. “No, why do you ask?”

“You called his mom ‘Aunt Felicity’.”

“Oh!” The blonde’s face lit up with understanding. “Yeah, we do that. Claude’s parents are Aunt Felicity and Uncle Albert, and Allan’s parents are Aunt Meridith and Uncle Theodore.”

Allan nodded in agreement. “I think it started back in middle school when Claude accidentally called M. Chanson ‘Uncle Arthur’ while taking some snacks.”

Allegra snorted. “Oh, yeah, that was definitely the start of it. Dad wouldn’t stop talking about it for days. He thought it was the best.”

Claude sighed, running a hand through his hair with a bashful smile. “That was totally embarrassing, but at least he liked it.”

“Can we all go inside?” Felix interjected. Talking about how they address the adults is nice and all, but his arms and legs have been burning from the cold for the last five minutes. Can’t they continue this conversation when they’re not standing in below-thirty-degree weather?

Claude laughed, throwing Felix a teasing smirk. “Aw, poor Fe. Are you cold?”

Felix scowled at his babying tone. “Of course I’m cold! Frost is slowly growing on our hoods as we speak!”

“Well, I’m not cold.” The brunette replied, swinging his arm around Marinette’s shoulder. “Because I’ve had some of Marinette’s delicious croissants to keep me warm.”

Felix scoffed and tugged his coat tighter around himself. Eating warm croissants certainly didn’t help him.

“They are pretty warm.” Allan said next to him. “You should try one.”

“He doesn’t have to.” Marinette, being the kind person she is, hastily jumped in. “We were planning on going inside, anyway, right?”

“Yeah, but I think Felix needs to taste one.” Allegra remarked. “It’s simply shameful of him to refuse them for this long, in my opinion.”

“I don’t like sweets.” Felix pointed out in annoyance. Just start moving towards the aquarium.

“Well..” Marinette faltered. “Maman did pack a regular croissant and a cheesy croissant..”

He held back a sigh. Though her intentions surely weren’t foul, his only ally had officially condemned him. It’s not that he cared to try one of Marinette’s croissants. After eating supper with Marinette’s parents last week, he had no doubt that anything they made was delicious. No, the problem came with the fact that he was being pushed to eat them. (The group wasn’t quite pushing yet, but he’d learned to pinpoint the signs of oncoming pressure.) If Felix says no, despite how unreasonable it might be, he expects that answers to be respected. The same way he would respect anyone else who told him no about something.

“See, there you go!” Claude smiled. “A nice, warm, non-sweet croissant to make you forget about the January weather.”

“I’d forget it just as easily if we walked inside.” Felix bit back.

“Oh, come on, Felix.” Allegra scolded. “Live a little! You don’t have to eat the whole thing, just one bite!”

“Guys, he really doesn’t have to eat it.” Marinette spoke up again. Felix silently thanked her for her efforts, but her previous comment made any resistance futile now.

“Oh, he’s eating it.” Claude stated. “He needs to know the pure bliss that is Mme Sabine’s croissants.”

“Plus, we’re not going inside until he tries it.” Allegra added.

Allan snorted. “Felix.. I think they want you to try the croissant.”

Felix’s eyes narrowed to a glare. “I’ll walk inside without you.”

“No, you won’t.” Allegra shot back. “You know why you won’t? Because you actually don’t mind trying the croissants. You’re just upset that we told you to try them.”

Felix was thankful for his pockets, because it hid the way his hands clenched into his fists. He absolutely hated when Allegra saw through his intentions. It made him feel transparent, vulnerable. Not to mention embarrassed. Was he that horrible at hiding his emotions or could he simply not match her level of observation? It was probably the former and that ticked him off the most.

“Just give me the dang croissant.” He finally bit off, jutting his hand out to Marinette. If he stared solely at her, he wouldn’t have to see Claude or Allegra’s victorious, blood-boiling grins.

Marinette flinched at the sudden movement and knitted her eyebrows, concerned. “A-Are you sure-”

“Positive.” Felix ground out, hoping she didn’t take it personally. Just give me the food so we can get this over with.

Although wary, Marinette handed over one of the croissants. The specks of yellow around the edges told him it was the cheese-flavored one.

With a deep breath to regain some composure, Felix took a bite of the breaded treat, and..

And it was incredible.

The croissant was piping hot, immediately stealing away the bitter coldness of the air as Claude had claimed. The cheese inside was stringy and practically melted in his mouth, and the softness of the bread allowed you to enjoy every bit of the doughy taste.

It took everything Felix had to keep a neutral expression. If they saw how much he enjoyed the food, they would never let him live it down. He’d be trying everything else under the sun merely because the trio was right one time.

“Well?” Allegra pressed. “How does it taste?”

“.. They are delicious.” He admitted, if only for Marinette’s sake. Downplaying Mme Sabine’s baking skills would only allow him to keep a small bit of his useless pride. He might as well be honest.

A smile slipped onto Marinette’s lips, but Claude’s triumphant laugh took away any satisfaction Felix might have gotten from it.

“I knew you would like them!” The brunette cheered. “Anyway, let’s go inside. It’s freezing out here!”

Felix scoffed, throwing a sharp glare at Claude. If it weren’t for how good this croissant was, he would have thrown it at him.

“Yeah, I think they’re open now.” Allan agreed as he checked his watch.

Curious, Felix checked his watch too. 10:10am.

“Oh! Race you guys there!” Claude abruptly announced, before breaking into a sprint. 

Allan chuckled and humored the brunette by going into a jog, and Allegra picked up the pace as well. Felix, however, elected to keep walking as he munched on the croissant. The heat radiating off of it was enough to stall the looming chill around him anyway.

“So..” Marinette began, drawing Felix’s gaze down to her. She’d apparently decided to walk with him instead of running after Claude.

For some reason, that gave Felix a sense of accomplishment.

“Did you really like the croissants?” She asked, her hands fidgeting with the paper bag.

Felix nodded, taking another bite of the croissant as ‘proof’. “Claude wasn’t joking when he said that she made them fluffier than the clouds. I’ll have to buy them for Mother sometime.”

A small smile graced her lips. “I’m glad you like them.” 

Felix offered a small smile in return. “Yes, me too.”

After Agreste’s visit earlier in the week, Marinette had been rather stressed. He noticed her looking over her shoulder often, checking windows before exiting buildings, spacing out during classes.. It was obvious that the encounter had unnerved her. 

He tried to ease her mind by rallying the trio to help. They recognized her sudden anxiety as well, and although Felix couldn’t tell them the exact reason, he hinted at it possibly being the usual nervousness of their first round of tests that was coming up. This caused them to swarm Marinette for study dates and extra lunches, asking questions about different subjects while they walked her to her locker or to her classes. When this strategy failed- which wasn’t often -Felix would also offer to accompany her. 

If she suspected his involvement in the extra attention, she didn’t show it, but she did relax after a few days of the special treatment. Felix took that as a success.

Marinette and Felix caught up with the rest of the group a few seconds later, and they all entered the aquarium together. Another shiver ran over Felix as they walked inside, the warmth of the building washing over him. He would have smiled with relief had it not been for the amount of people pushing against them. Despite the aquarium opening a little less than twenty minutes ago, people of all ages were already piling inside. Adults, teenagers, kids.. Felix supposed this was the price they paid for visiting on a Sunday.

“Everyone stay together!” Allegra instructed over the noise. She grabbed onto Felix’s wrist and Allan’s hand for emphasis. “We don’t want to get separated before we even pay for our tickets.”

Although it irked him for Allegra to be latching onto his wrist, Felix didn’t argue. Past experiences with the trio have made him well aware of how easy it was to get separated in a rushing crowd like this.

They weaved through the giddy schoolgirls and the tired parents until they found a steady line for the ticket both. There, they talked about which attractions to see first and which ones to save for later.

“I think we should just walk through.” Claude said, unsurprisingly. He was never one for order. “It’ll be easier if we just go.”

“But if we don’t have a plan, we’ll never get through it all.” Allegra pointed out. “It doesn’t have to be strict. We just need a vague goal to work towards.”

“We could start with the jellyfish?” Marinette suggested. “Those are always cool.”

“Yeah, that sounds good.” Allan agreed. “Then we could start working our way around to the shark tank. I say we save it for last since it’s the main reason we came.”

Claude let out a small whine. “Aw, what? Why would we wait till the end to see it if it’s the reason we came?”

“Come on, Claude, you know how the saying goes.” Allegra commented, flicking Claude on the shoulder. “Save the best for last.”

Claude grabbed his shoulder, even though the flick hardly hurt. “I never understood that expression.”

Allegra rolled her eyes with a smile and turned back to the group. “Are we all in agreement then? Start with the jellyfish and move to the sharks?”

“Works for me.” Allan shrugged.

“I don’t have a preference.” Felix stated, not that his opinion would matter much to anyone but Marinette.

With a (somewhat) solid plan, the group purchased their tickets and merged with the flow of the people to get to the main part of the aquarium. The first item on the list, aside from seeing Jellyfish, was to find lockers or another place to put their winter coats and gloves. Felix didn’t fancy the cold, but melting in a packed building also wasn’t preferable.

Allegra still held onto his wrist as they searched, but that didn’t stop the people around them from shoving and prodding to get through first. Felix jostled about, a scowl quickly forming on his lips after getting hit for the fifth time. How can it be so rowdy during the thirty minutes? Goodness knows what’s going to happen when more people start arriving! Why did he even agree to come here?

A gasp cut through the white noise of the crowd, and Claude called out Marinette’s name as she rushed forward. 

She stopped in front of the jellyfish tank they came upon and pressed her gloved hands to the glass, smile bright and eyes sparkling with awe. The jellyfish circled in the water with the current, glowing blue and purple and pink under the aquarium lights. 

A laugh of pure delight escaped Marinette, and she glanced over her shoulder at them. “Do you see how many there are? This is so neat!”

The sheer giddiness of her voice caused another smile to crawl onto Felix’s lips. Ah, yes. He remembered why he quickly relented to the aquarium visit. It was the first time Marinette had personally invited him to something, and he didn’t want to upset her if he fought against the activities as he usually did. After all, what thanks would that be to someone who constantly tries to keep him comfortable and respect his boundaries? 

“Yeah, they look amazing!” Allegra grinned, tugging Felix and Allan forward to follow the ravenette.

Felix followed with a slight glare. He knew that holding onto each other was for the best, but-

Another person slammed into his shoulder, and Felix full on growled at them as they walked off like nothing happened.

-but perhaps the next time he feels the need to repay Marinette’s kindness, he should simply send a ‘thank you’ letter instead.

Tag List:  @artbyknigit @athena452 @nickristus-dreamer @throneoffirebreathingbitchqueen @arsaem @abrx2002 @neakco @pawsitivelymiraculous @too0bsessedformyowngood @nathleigh @lusicing @officiallydarkgeek @all-mights-asscheeks @tbehartoo @woe-is-me0 @raeuberprinzessin @lazuli-11 @miss-chaos27 @trippingovermyfeet @sadpotatoondrugs @ladybug-182 @jaggedheart11 @marinahrasauce @i-need-blog-ideas @thewheezingbubbledragon @crazylittlemunchkin @unabashedbookworm @moonystars14 @sunflowers-and-mooncakes @2confused-2doanything  @magnificentcrapposts  @moonnette @nickristus-dreamer @casual-darkness @vixen-uchiha @luxmorningstarr 

[qianinterprises]

Hold Me Together, Break Me Apart

Pairing | Haechan x gn!Reader

Genre | fluff, angst, roommate au, college au

Warning(s) | bad language, cursing, slamming doors, broken door knobs, broken hearts, reader is mean to Jeno (for a kinda reason)

Synopsis | Your roommate is never far from your mind, especially when you need him to hold you together as you break from the stress of college life. But what happens when you break him by accident.

Author’s Notes | Thank you sweet anon for your request! I had so much fun writing this! I really hope you like it! I may also be posting a part 2, I haven't decided yet. What do you guys think?

Work Count | 2.9K

Tagging | @treasurehobi

°:.   *₊     .   ☆    ° .       *₊    ☆     ✮       ° .    ☆     *₊   ☆°:.   *₊        ° .   ☆     ✮　 °:.   *₊       °:.   *₊     .   ☆    ° .       *₊    ☆     ✮       ° .    ☆     *₊   ☆°:.   *₊        °

Exhaustion swept across your shoulders as you shoved your key in the tattered lock of your apartment door, wincing when the gears crunched as you turned the key. When the lock clicked, you moved the key back to its resting place before pulling back on it, attempting to free it from the snug hug of the gears. However, it seemed far too content buried deep in the edges of the lock.

With a groan, you turned the jiggly handle and pushed the door open, immediately being bombarded by the sounds of four yelling boys sitting on your couch with remote controls in hand. You had forgotten your roommate was inviting his friends over.

“Donghyuck,” you called, closing the door and walking deeper into the apartment.

You kicked your shoes off at the door and slung your bag into a chair.

Your roommate didn’t answer for a long moment, but when he did, he was distracted, not even sparing you a glance.

“Yeah?”

“My key got stuck again.”

Three times your key had managed to get stuck in the lock. All three times, Donghyuck had been the one to free it.

The male in question sighed as his fingers sped over the keys of the metallic control in his hand.

“I’ll get it out in a minute,” he said.

With a nod, you made your way to your room, seeking escape from the loud yelling of the boys in the next room.

As soon as the door was shut, you let yourself succumb to the emotions attempting to swallow you up. Your knees hit the floor, face buried in your hands as tears wet your fingers. Your shoulders shook slightly as silent sobs wracked through your body.

University was hard enough without the added stress of working, gnawing at your body and soul, pulling you apart piece by piece until your tender bits were exposed for the world to abuse.

College was meant to be fun. A time for parties and drinking. A time of self discovery while also learning more about whatever subject interested you the most. These days, your life was limited to taking four classes throughout the morning, taking an hour for lunch, before reporting to the restaurant across the street where you worked as a wait staff, taking orders and receiving too few tips to add onto your already poor paycheck.

The restaurant had been the only job hiring at the time, and you desperately needed the money. Your family had been supporting you, but when your younger brother dropped out of high school, they began spending too much money taking care of the son they’d ruined by spoiling. Your father could no longer afford paying your half of the apartment rent and, while Donghyuck hadn’t outright said anything of his displeasure, covering both halves of rent for two months, you knew the boy also didn’t make enough to pay the full cost and still be able to go out with his friends. You couldn’t do that to him. So you’d taken the first job that landed in your lap, and here you were, crying on your bedroom floor at 11pm, pondering the idea of dropping out of college all together and moving back home.

A knock on your door startled you out of your thoughts.

“(Y/N), can I come in?”

You quickly ran your fingers under your eyes, wiping away the dampness the tears had left, hoping your eyes were puffy enough to be noticeable. You pulled yourself up off the floor and grabbed your door handle, twisting it and opening the door.

“Yes?”

“I have your key- hey what’s wrong?”

He presented your key between his thumb and index finger, but as soon as his eyes caught sight of your face, he paused.

You felt tears prick to your eyes, but you fought to hold them back. You hated when people asked you questions like that when you were upset. It made holding back the dam of tears that much more difficult.

“Nothing.”

That should have been the end of it, but your voice cracked, and Donghyuck was stepping into your room, wrapping his arms around your middle, and pulling you against his chest. As your face connected with the soft material covering his shoulders, you felt the dam finally give way, a loud sob leaving your mouth as your own ars wound around him, nails digging into the fabric of his shirt as you bellowed against him.

His arms tightened around you, almost as though he were a bungee strap wrapped tightly around a crumbling box, there to hold it together.

“I’m so tired!” you sobbed, shoulders shaking hard. “I have three papers due by tomorrow night that I haven’t even started because I’ve had to work and when I get home I’m exhausted and I keep pushing it off and now I’m going to fail three classes and-”

You were cut off by his soothing voice, shushing you softly as his hand stroked your back the way he knew you liked.

“It’s going to be ok baby,” he whispered softly.

Your roommate somehow had a weird effect on you. Just by speaking in a certain tone, he could rile you up, make you sleepy, or completely put all your fears and nerves to rest. As you melted against him, allowing him to take the majority of your weight, you didn’t stop to ponder the nickname.

“What classes are your papers due in?” he asked.

His arms around your waist loosened, but neither of you let go.

“Literature with Dr. Wong, Grammar with Dr. Jeon, and History with Dr. Lee.”

“Come with me.”

With that, he pulled away from your hug, leaving you about to whine when he grabbed your hand and pulled you from the room.

“Does anyone have Dr. Lee, Dr. Jeon, or Dr. Wong?” he asked.

“I’ve got Wong,” the tallest of Donghyuck’s friends, you believed his name was Jeno, said.

“Have you finished your paper for his class?”

Jeno nodded.

“Will you come over tomorrow and help (Y/N) write hers?” Donghyuck asked.

“Sure!” Jeno said, giving you a reassuring smile.

“I have Dr. Jeon, but I’m not finished with my paper yet. I asked for an extension though and she gave me until Monday. Maybe ask for one too and then we can work on them together,” Donghyuck’s friend with dyed blue hair offered.

“Thank you,” you said quietly, nodding.

“Thank you Jaemin,” Donghyuck beamed.

“I have Dr. Lee, but you know he doesn’t read our papers right? As long as you have the buzz words he’s looking for, he’ll give you a good grade. I can email you my paper and you can just rewrite a few sentences so it isn’t total plagiarism,” the other, tiny friend answered.

Renjun actually happened to be in your class with Dr. Lee. You didn’t know why you hadn’t realized before.

“Now see! All you have to do is ask for help when you need it,” Donghyuck said, squeezing your hand softly before letting it go.

“Now, I have to get back to beating these losers’ asses, but there’s pizza in the fridge if you're hungry!”

Donghyuck leapt onto the couch, settling himself between Jeno and Renjun, retrieving his controller. Then they all were gone once again, back in their own world of screaming obscenities at one another as they fought whatever the zombie alien things on the screen were.

With a smile, you felt your body relaxed, muscles now not as tense as you as you made your way into the kitchen to retrieve the pizza he had mentioned.

°:.   *₊     .   ☆    ° .       *₊    ☆     ✮       ° .    ☆     *₊   ☆°:.   *₊        ° .   ☆     ✮　 °:.   *₊       °:.   *₊     .   ☆    ° .       *₊    ☆     ✮       ° .    ☆     *₊   ☆°:.   *₊        °

When the next morning rolled around, you were hauling yourself out of bed to attend your morning classes, but today, you didn’t feel horrible, like you wanted to crawl back under the blankets and sleep your life away. Perhaps it was the fact that you had the day off. Or maybe it was because your roommate had somehow taken all your worries and frustrations and made them easier to handle.

Like he always did.

Donghyuck was nothing if not reliable. He was always there when you needed him, whether it was getting your key out of an old lock or gluing you back together as you fell apart in his arms. He was always there to ground you. Maybe he could be annoying sometimes, especially when it was three in the morning and he was crawling in bed with you after having a nightmare, or when he’d beg you to make him hot chocolate every day in the winter because he always scorched the milk when he tried. Lee Donghyuck was the perfect person to share your home with. You just wished you could share the rest of your life with him too.

As your last class ended, you pulled your phone from your bookbag to find a notification to join a group chat from Donghyuck. Raising your eyebrow, you accepted, seconds later directed to a chatroom full of memes and video game references.

FullSun00: Finally she’s joined!

JenoJams: Cut her some slack, she’s been in class!

Jaemberry: She should just text in class like we do!

You: Texting in class prohibits learning!

ArtJun: I like this girl!

FullSun00: (Y/N)!! Meet us in the cafeteria!! We’re sitting in one of the back booths!!

You: Uh… Ok? I’ll be there in five.

Donghyuck was always adamant about keeping you away from his friends group chats despite the amount of times Jeno and Jaemin had tried to convince him to add you. Being invited now was a little odd, but odd didn’t fight the smile on your face as you shoved your notebooks into your bookbag and took off for the cafeteria.

When you got there, the cafeteria was full, as it usually was, but you managed to wind yourself around the heaps of students waiting in lines or moving toward their tables. You walked toward the back of the cafeteria where the most popular seats were, cushioned booths that were alway crowded.You scanned the area looking for Donghyuck, but in the end, it was Jaemin’s blueberry hair that led you to them.

“How did you guys manage to get a booth?” you asked, taking off your backpack.

The booths had long seats large enough to fit three or four people on either side, tables stretching long enough to encompass everyone's plates with plenty of room to spare. It’s part of what made them so popular.

Jeno took your backpack from you, passing it across the table to Jaemin who slid it under the booth where it joined the pile pressed against the wall.

“We got here an hour ago. We tend to spend a few hours here. Easier to eat our fill that way,” Jaemin said.

Renjun snorted.

“Jeno and Jaemin are like human vacuum cleaners. It takes many servings before they’re satisfied,” he laughed.

You shook your head, eyes scanning over the table before realizing that someone was missing.

“Where’s Donghyuck?”

“Miss me already?” your roommate's annoying voice spoke from behind you.

You whirled around to find the man in question standing there juggling two cups of soda and two plates filled with food from the pasta bar, which happened to be the most popular bar and incidentally, your favorite.

“I figured you’d be hungry and I know you love your pasta,” he said.

He moved around you, placing both plates and drinks on opposite sides of the tables before sliding in next to Jeno. It was only then that you realized the second plate was for you.

“Donghyuck… you didn’t have to-”

“Hush and sit,” the male said, looking down at his plate.

If you hadn’t known any better, you would have thought the man was blushing. But this was Donghyuck you were talking about, and Donghyuck didn’t get embarrassed or blush.

You sat yourself down by Renjun and lifted your soda to your lips. As soon as it hit your taste buds, you sighed happily. Donghyuck knew you so well. He knew exactly what you’d want to eat and drink. He was perfect. He’d make the perfect boyfriend…

“Hey (Y/N), after lunch, you want to head back to your place to work on that paper? I’m done for the day,” Jeno asked.

You swallowed the noodles you’d just shoveled into your mouth.

“Sure! I’m done too! And the apartment will be quiet because Hyuck has class!” you shot a teasing smirk in Donghyuck’s direction, earning yourself a glare.

°:.   *₊     .   ☆    ° .       *₊    ☆     ✮       ° .    ☆     *₊   ☆°:.   *₊        ° .   ☆     ✮　 °:.   *₊       °:.   *₊     .   ☆    ° .       *₊    ☆     ✮       ° .    ☆     *₊   ☆°:.   *₊        °

Lunch seemed to fly by and before you knew it, Jaemin was handing you your bookbag as you all grabbed up your plates, ready to relinquish your booth to someone else.

You bid goodbye to Jaemin, Renjun, and Donghyuck, all who were heading to various classes while you and Jeno made your way across the street to your apartment complex.

Stepping inside, your key thankfully didn’t get stuck this time. You tossed your bookbag onto the couch before flopping beside it. You grabbed your laptop off the side table. Jeno took a seat beside you, opening his own laptop.

As soon as the screen to your laptop turned on, you let out a loud yelp as one of your many images of you and Donghyuck together met your eyes, Donghyuck’s sun-kissed face grinning at you through the screen. You typed your password in hastily, but it was too late. Jeno’s face blossomed into a teasing, shit-eating grin that you wanted to slap away.

“So… Donghyuck huh?”

“I don’t know what you're talking about!”

Embarrassment made your stomach churn.

“How long?”

There was no hiding it. Jeno had seen your computer screen. While most university girls had images of baby animals or their favorite band as their lock screens, you had your favorite person to stare back at you.

“Since I moved in…” you mumbled.

His eyes widened.

“And you haven’t told him yet?!” he gaped.

“I haven’t told anyone.”

“You told me!!”

“No, you found out, there’s a big difference,” you corrected.

“Well are you going to tell him?” Jeno asked.

“Of course not! Why would I tell my roommate that I’ve got a big fat crush on him?!” you exclaimed.

“Maybe because he could like you too?”

“Psh, yeah right. Come on, let’s get to work.”

“(Y/N)-”

“No Jeno. I may practically be in love with the man, but why would he ever like me?! He is everything and I’m nothing. He’s the full package with so much to offer some lucky person who steals his heart. I have nothing to offer him but stress and insecurities. So can we please just get to work on this paper and forget about him?!”

You didn’t realize you had tears rolling down your cheeks until Jeno brought his hand up to cup your face, gently running his thumb under your eyes to wipe away the tears softly.

“You’re not nothing. You’re everything,” he whispered.

There was something in his voice. Something that had you drawing closer to him. His eyes flicked down to your lips and back up to your eyes. Your head buzzed with want, blissfully unaware to the emotions of your heart as Jeno’s lips met yours.

His lips were rough, chapped. They pricked yours almost uncomfortably, but they were warm and moist. It had been so long since you’d had such a moment with anyone. So long since you’d last been kissed that perhaps your judgment was impaired as your lips moved against his.

But all too soon, reality was coming to slap you in the ass. This time, in the form of the apartment door opening and Donghyuck stepping through, a gasp leaving his lips as he caught his best friend and the girl he’d fallen in love with locking lips on his couch.

Your lips quickly separated from Jeno’s at the sound of someone intruding. Your eyes became as wide as saucers when you noticed Donghyuck standing in the threshold of your home.

You shot up from the couch, nearly knocking your computer to the floor.

“Hyuck! I can explain! We-”

“Don’t bother.” His tone was so icy it tore right through your heart.

He slammed the door and stormed off to his room. You jumped as his bedroom door slammed shut with a hard wham that made the walls rattle.

“I-... I…”

More tears pooled in your eyes as your hands began to shake.

“No…” you whispered.

Jeno stood up from the couch and made a move to wrap his arms around you, to comfort you, but you lurched away from him.

“No!” you screamed! “Leave me the fuck alone!”

Your breathing was heavy. Anger ripped through your veins. You knew it wasn’t entirely Jeno’s fault, and it wasn’t fair of you to scream at him like it were, but you couldn’t help it. Standing in the wake of a big mistake, you had no other option but to be angry, because how would your roommate ever like you now if he thought you were dating his best friend.

“(Y/N) please-” Jeno began, but you cut him off.

“Was this your plan?! Get me to fall apart so you could put me back together when he walked in?! Do you realize how fucking messed up that is?! I confided in you! I told you how I felt! And you kiss me?! Then he walks in and you try to hug me?! I don’t like you Jeno! Not like I love him! You are not, nor will you ever be, Lee Donghyuck! So just get out!”

You weren’t typically a rude or mean person, but as Jeno looked down before packing up his laptop and scurrying from the room like a puppy with his tail between his legs, you couldn’t help feeling like you’d just lost two great friends.

Maybe today wasn’t a good day after all.

[illyria-12]

AOT Headcanons

I’ve been thinking of posting some of my headcanons and other shit here a bit more. I’m much more active on other platforms, but figured, why not? 

So have something I threw together at... I dunno, maybe 3am Monday morning? :)

Warnings: None that I am aware of.

Includes: Eren Jaeger, Armin Arlert, Levi Ackerman, Erwin Smith, Hanji Zoe, Reiner Braun (At present, maybe more added at a later date.) 

AOT Characters as Study Buddies:

Eren Jaeger:·        

Do not expect this boy to remember that he agreed to study with you. He could have agreed to study with you just a few hours ago, and would forget. He needs regular reminders.         

Remind him a couple of days before, the day before, on the day, during lunch and definitely make sure you text him after school.          

Is always late.         

He starts off really focused. Pulls out his books and notes and is eager to help.     

But he also gets very easily distracted. 

Will often check his phone. It’s a really bad habit he can’t seem to control. Whether it’s just checking the time or clearing notifications, expect his phone to be in his hand at least 60% of the time. Clearing notifications often leads to him scrolling through social media, sending snaps or replying to texts too.   

Will always involve you, telling you why he is laughing, showing the funny video or meme he has found or explaining a conversation he is having.

It’s entertaining, but not exactly the reason you are here...        

He doesn’t have a preference of where he studies, he is pretty content anywhere, but if you go to his place, he will frequently bring in snacks or order pizza. Also is much more easily distracted when at home.         

His attention span isn’t great, and although he loves the idea of being helpful and studying with you, he gets bored quickly.         

Can also get confused with his own notes.       

Will often try and get you to call an end to the study session rather than do it himself. It makes him feel accomplished that way; like he has done his job and you are the one who has had enough.Will often groan things like: 

“Are we done yet?”        

“My head/back/wrist/eyes hurt.”         

 Occasionally he will suggest ‘taking a break’, but once that has been agreed to, it is pretty much the end of studying for the rest of the night.

Likes to try and make studying as fun as possible. Bright colours, highlighting, bubble diagrams, sticky notes. You best believe his version of pop quiz is to write random answers on a sticky note and stick it to your forehead and then get you to ask questions until you get the answer right. 

Will definitely reward you with a kiss when you finally get it right.

Sometimes leaves sticky notes in your book of ‘motivational quotes' to make you smile when you eventually come across them.

Armin Arlert:-       

By far, the most committed study buddy you could have hoped for.

You have weekly study sessions at the library every Friday after school. 

Armin is always there before you, fully prepared; books laid out neatly on the table. Sometimes he even starts his homework while waiting for you. 

Is very much a fan of making a little itinerary of things you are going to work through on the day.         

Doesn’t mind odd conversation but is an expert at getting you back on the subject at hand. He can often even relate whatever you’ve said back to the topic... although sometimes it doesn’t make sense. But it’s still funny and endearing. 

“You know who else thought Mrs Bratton was a bitch? William Shakespeare.”         

Is incredibly patient.         

Is a great supporter, always encouraging you and praising you when you get things right.         

Would never admit it but he finds it cute when you just can’t wrap your head around something and then out of nowhere, the penny drops.

The faces you pull entertain him. Either when realization finally dawns on you or if you’re thinking very hard.       

“Hey, don’t worry, you got this... let’s just go through it again.” “That’s it! See? Told you you’d get there.”          

Will always make sure he brings you something to drink and snack on during session. Usually a sandwich, crisps or some chocolate to give you a bit of a boost.          

Doesn’t push you too hard, if you say you have had enough, he will generally leave it there, or try to convince you to do just a bit more, but never in a demanding sort of way.         

“Okay, shall we finish this page first?”     

“One more section? Promise.”         

Armin's biggest downside? He is so soft on you.         

Very often gives you the answers as opposed to forcing you to figure it out. 

Absolutely can not be stern. If you are feeling playful, or really not in the mood and start teasing him,he is quick to admit defeat rather than stand his ground and force you to get through the work.         

Absolutely will do 99% of the work on group projects but share the credit with you.

Levi Ackerman:·         

Will make it seem like he doesn’t want to study with you, but will ultimately agree. 

“Why don’t you ask ...... instead? Tch. Fine.”

At first he will always read what it is you have to do, and then proceed to tell you what you have to do, but not necessarily tell you how to do it.

Eventually he realizes you already know what you’re supposed to do... (you can read, Levi.) And then proceeds to actually help.          

Expect a lot of sarcasm and insults. He doesn’t necessarily mean them, but he will say them anyway.         

"Whining about it isn’t going to magically speed this up. Get to it.” 

Very rarely strays away from what it is you’re meant to be doing.

Complaining gets you nowhere with him.         

“No, we’re not taking a break, you should have eaten before.”         

It’s not that he doesn’t care, he does, but he also knows you will do anything to get out of studying when you’re frustrated, and tend to over-exaggerate. You’re not ‘starving’, he saw you eat at lunch... which was only a couple of hours ago.          

Likes to prioritize your subjects. Will take into account when assignments are due in, how difficult they are going to be and how long it will take to get done.         

Strict. Very strict.          

Prefers to study in a quiet and familiar place. Libraries or either of your houses where there are minimal distractions. 

Absolutely will not let you copy his notes. You’re welcome to read them, but he expects you to refer to your own. That doesn’t mean you don’t steal snippets here and there though, much to his annoyance.   

“Do you pay attention in any of your classes?”          

Very good at breaking things down and explaining things. You actually pick things up pretty quickly when studying with him, probably due to his ‘no nonsense’ approach.          

Will occasionally randomly test you to see if you’re actually paying attention and remembering what you are doing. He always smiles a little when you can answer his questions.          

Is not going to do the work for you, and certainly isn’t going to give you answers, you have to really work for them.          

Is patient until you start misbehaving.     

His occasional praises are a treat.

Erwin Smith:·         

Loves to study with you in different places. This man will plan a whole day for it.          

Will always bring a picnic when you study in a park. Happy to share a cocktail if you go to a bar, or a milkshake and burger if you go to a diner. 

If you do happen to study in a library, he will always take you for food afterwards. 

His notes are detailed and beautifully written and he has no problem with you using them.         

Don’t expect him to give you the answers though. Erwin is the sort of person who will ask you what you think. 

“How do you think we figure that out?”   

“What do you think we need to do?”       

“What do you think this means?”         

It’s not that he doesn’t know. But he wants you to try and figure things out yourself. As long as he can see you’re making an effort though, he is happy to guide you and let answers slip here and there, or word things in such a way that you suddenly have an epiphany and get the answer.

Is a great motivator and supporter.          

Doesn’t mind taking breaks every so often and uses this time to have general conversation with you. Nothing work related in the breaks, it’s meant to be a break.         

Is not above bribing you. Whether it be with food, physical affection, surprises... 

Yes, Erwin has in fact brought you gifts and refused to give them to you until you do the work and get it right.         

And he would do it again.        

Erwin knows a decent amount about a lot of different subjects and sometimes shares random facts regarding topics you’re studying about. Sometimes they are not at all relevant. But they are usually always interesting.         

You have this man’s undivided attention throughout the study session. Erwin is usually very busy , so when he does dedicate time to help you, he likes to be fully committed.          

Will ignore his phone completely. Texts, phone calls... everything, until you both take a break.

Hanji Zoe:·         

When the two of you get together to study, it is very hit and miss as to whether you actually get the work done. She is so intelligent, but also, such a ditz at times.          

Hanji can talk.         

Like, a lot.          

She very often will start off talking about a topic and swerve off into other lanes and get completely side-tracked.          

You once started off writing a biology paper and somehow ended up getting a history lesson about Ramses II, after learning all the details of the Black Death and even touching on Jack the Ripper.   

 But she is highly intelligent under her scatterbrain-iness.        

But can become very easily distracted. Especially if you start talking to her about something she is very excited or passionate about.          

Will sometimes forget to bring textbooks you need to use.         

Will hyper focus at times. Sometimes a bit too extensively. It can be very draining.        

Can be known for getting lost in the details.          

Never comes to a study session without a coffee for the both of you.

Absolutely has no problem sharing her notes with you, will often steal yours too.        

“A fresh set of eyes and all that.”        

“Ah, this is good! Who knew you were a certified genius?!”        

Has no problem pulling her weight on group projects, but also has no problem letting you take the lead... or do all the work.         

Tends to be much more productive closer to the end date of an assignment. 

Fidgets a lot. Always tapping a pen, nibbling on the end or twirling it between her fingers. Knee bouncing... almost constantly.          

Likes to take regular breaks to analyse and go over what the two of you have learned and accomplished so far and decide where to go from here.

Procrastinates.

Reiner Braun:·         

Reiner is always happy to study with you. Even though his calendar is pretty full, he will always make an effort to squeeze you in.          

Definitely the kinda guy to put a game night on hold, telling his friends online he will be back in a couple of hours to help you first.          

Always greets you with a kind smile and asking if you’re ready for the session.       

Doesn’t mind where you study, but does prefer to study at his house so he can give you a snack or something to drink.   

Really likes it when you go and study in the garden. It is probably his favourite place to study with you. Just because it is nice, quiet and peaceful.          

Very chilled out; will often make jokes and try his best to keep the mood light. 

Very patient; has no problem going over things multiple times and trying lots of different ways to try and help you understand.          

Likes to be close to you when you work together. Knees occasionally touching, shoulders brushing. Just give this man a reason to touch you in anyway shape or firm. A reassuring hand on your shoulder, a quick one armed hug in the chair, ruffling your hair, squeezing your hand... he is all about that shit.          

Will celebrate your victories and praise you constantly.        

“Hey, well done! See I knew you would get it.”         

“We’ve done a lot today, I’m proud of you.”         

Always down for a cuddle or a movie afterwards, or maybe even a walk through the park to get some air and unwind.          

Will digress sometimes but it’s very fleeting and he picks up exactly where he left off again easily.          

Has no problem with you taking some of his notes, or searching the Internet for answers.          

Will explain how he got the answer and break things down into manageable chunks for you.         

Chocolate is always on the table.        

If you get too stressed he will let you take a break.         

Will offer to give you neck, back or even hand massages if you get too stiff. 

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

[hauntedbythefanficsofmypast]

Daminette Rough Layout AU #1

Warning- This is a Salt AU, it contains Lila salt, Adrien Salt, Alya Salt and Class Salt. Some of the Salt is dramatized, pkease read at your own digression.

Note- Changing things up a bit-they are in high school now-Damian 16 and Marinette 15 and juniors, obviously things are different from canon. Gabriel gave up both miraculous after Adrien dies in one of the akuma fights, he has Nooroo and Duusu bring them to the guardian. Marinette helps heal Duusu so that if he is ever used again the holder will not start to die. Soon after Master Fu takes back Adrien's miraculous and names Marinette the guardian.

He doesnt lose his memories but he does pass away a week later. Marinette also deletes her original website and makes and entire new one under MDC designs after Lila threatens to leave bad reviews.(This happens before she meets Damian, right when they are entering high school.)

They met online after Damian got tired of his brothers making fun of him for talking like an old man. He found Marinette on Twitter, (She has a very popular Twitter blog where she Tweets in English and is considered a meme god.) and after reading her tweets decided that she'd be a good teacher.

After reaching out they agreed on how much she'll be paid and a time that works best for both of them. Every Monday & Wednesday the video chat when Damian has his lunch and study period. For Damian it is 12 to 1 pm, and for Marinette it is 7 to 8 pm. After two months Marinette has successfully made Damian her friend, and he has began opening up to her more. Meanwhile Damian begins to mess with his brothers using memes.

Tim to Jason- I will die if I don't get coffee soon.

Damian passing by the kitchen on his phone- Then perish.

Jason-...Did he just?

Tim- Impossible.

_____________

Dick over the coms while on patrol-I really want candy right now.

Damian drops down next to him and pulls a tidepod of of his belt giving it to Dick before continuing on.

Dick-What the fuck...

Tim having seen from a distance-What did Damian give you candy?

Dick- He gave me a tidepod.

Jason-Your shitting me Goldie.

______________

Jason-What are you eating Damian?

Damian taking a bite of a pop tart- Ravioli...

Jason-Im going fucking crazy.

Alfred-Language Master Jason.

They now text each other durning their free time, Marinette loves receiving pictures of Damian's pets and silly pictures of Damian's friend Jon. Damian loves seeing pictures of her newest designs and Paris at night.

Jon is the only person who knows about Marinette and thats because he crashed one of Damian's classes. He gushes over the fact that Damian is talking to his favorite person on Twitter, then full on fanboys a second later when she follows him back on Twitter. Soon after she becomes friends with Jon too, Lila comes back. After two weeks of fighting her she stops after both Damian and Jon point out that if her classmates were really her friends they wouldnt believe someone they just met over her. Marinette stops doing extra things for the class no more free pastries, banners, clothes or anything. She spends majority of her time on school work, her comissions and talking with Damian and Jon.

Madame Bustier at one point asks her to stay after class. She tells her she is disappointed that Marinette is distancing herself form the class so much. Marinette just tells her that she is done, that if she wants a perfect role model then she should use Lila instead and leaves. The next day she tells Madame Bustier she is stepping down as class president, everyone in the class except for Chloe and Marinette vote for Lila. Marinette has had more free time then she has had in a while and is thriving. She is able to take more and more commissions and even allows Jagged and Clara to give other celebrities access to her website. With a push from Jon she also sets up a Twitter and Instagram account under MDC Designs. With in no time everyone is trying to get an MDC original.

At one point she gets a call from Jon asking her how much it would cost for a MDC original for his mom. Marinette smiles softly telling him to just get his moms measurements for her. When he argues she finally agrees to accept payment but gives him a family discount. Jon agrees with a huff, a month later Jon sends her a video of his mom opening his gift.

Lois-Oh Jon love you know you didnt have to get me anything.

Jon-And let Connor out do me this year? No way.

Connor laughing-Oh shut it Jon!

Jon-cone on open it already mom!

Lois lauging before unwrapping the box- Is this? Jon is this a MDC box?

Connor looking at him with wide eyes.

Jon-open it and see!

Clark-So thats why you asked me for her measurements.

Lois pulls a beautiful knee length navy blue pencil dress. It had a classy V neck and flounce bell sleeves Jon is this and MDC original?

Jon-weeell if you look at the inside of the right sleeve your see her signature marking. Thats not all though mom theres another box!

Lois grabs the other box and unwraps it opening it quickly to find a pair of white lace up Oxford pumps with matching navy laces, MDC hand stitched on the back in navy.

Lois-How did you-how did you get MDC originals?

Jon laughing-I'll never tell!

Marinette saves the video on her phone and tells him he wants a photo of her in it for her website. A week later he send her pictures of his mom in the outfit posing with his dad and the next day he send pictures of her posing with Bruce Wayne on the red carpet. She quickly posts them on Instagram and Twitter tagging Lois, Clark, Bruce and Daily Planet.

'I knew Mrs. Lane would make this one of a kind outfit look beautiful! I was happy to make the dress and shoes as a surprise from her son! Mrs. Lane your son has my number, if you ever want another original talk to him! 💋'

Lois immediately responds to her tweet thank her for the amazing gift, while also asking how her son got in contact with MDC.

Marinette- ' 🤫🤫😘😘💋'

Jon-'You'll never know!!'

Lois, with her bosses approval, writes an article joking about the mystery that is MDC at also an interview where she grills her son on how he knows MDC.

Its a blows up and part of Jon's interview becomes a meme. This part;

Jon-Superman, please come save me from my mom!

Marinette being the meme godess she is decides to quote it on Twitter, but she messes up and posts it on MDC desgins.

MDC-Superman, please come save me from these deadlines!

Half an hour later

MDC-That was meant for my personal Twitter...

Now everyone is also talking about MDC memeing.

After talking with the Kwami Marinette decides to tell Damian and Jon about her time as Ladybug, and how she still goes out and patrols to stop muggers. In return one day Damian and Jon flies him and Damian to paris and they finally meet in person and they tell her their own identities. They leave Gotham at 7 am in Gotham and make it to Paris at 3 pm and wait for her outside of her parents bakery. Marinette flips out and practically tackles the both if them in a hug. She pulls them inside happily introducing her parents to her American friends. After they tell her they decide to spend the rest of the day together. Marinette also takes their measurements telling them its for a surprise. Damian tells her that his brothers are obsessed with MDC and how the wouldnt stop hounding Jon when they found out he had gotten in contact with her.

They go out and Marinette shows them Paris while Jon is slowly pushing them together. He is ecstatic when Marinette wraps one of her fingers around Damien's finger and he respond by grabbing and holding her hand. They are all immensly happy until they are passing by a park and notices her class having a party. At first she doesnt care and just shrugs it off, until the class notices them. Alya accuses Marinette of trying to start drama, she rolls her eyes telling Alya she didnt even know about the party and was just showing her friends around. Damian frowns glaring at the class when he feels Marinette hand start to shake and releases her hand wrapping an arm around her waist in support. Jon is also frowning but simply reminds Marinette that they were going out to eat. Marinette nods and begins telling them about the restaurant they were going to while leaning into Damian's side.

They turn leaving the class behind only for Adrien to hurry after them. Adrien tries to convince Marinette to return and spend time with the class saying he missed his friend. Marinette tells him that they arent friends anymore, that friends dont allow lies to be spread about their friends. She takes the boys and they finally make it to the restaurant.

Damian pays refusing to let Marinette or Jon touch the check. They spend the rest of their time at Marinette's house watching movies until they leave at 9pm wishing Marinette goodnight and making it back to Gotham at 3 pm. When they get back to the manor Bruce confronts Damian asking why he got notified that Damian's card had been used in Paris. Thats how Bruce finds out about Marinette.

Bruce- shes been teaching you memes?

Damian-yes.

Bruce-...well at least your making friends.

Damian-dont tell the others, they'll want to meet her and Id rather not be embarrassed

Bruce-I wont say anything until they catch you then.

Around the end of Marinette's junior year Lila accuses Marinette of theft and she is once again expelled. Only this time Marinette gets the school board involved and she is quickly cleared of charges. once again. However she decides not to return to the school tired of their treatment. Instead with the help of Jagged and her parents permission she enrolls at Gotham Academy and doesnt tell Damian to surprise him. Jon does know that way he could help her.

Within the week Marinette is in Gotham in her new penthouse apartment with her new gaurdian, a maid/nanny that Penny had recommended. Her name is Margaery she is in her 60s. The next day Marinette is dropped of at school by Margaery, Jon is already there early and helps her get his schedule and everything. Then they wait for Damian to arrive hiding until the see him open his locker Jon distracts him while Marinette hides behind the locker door. The school is very surprised whe. Damian smiles brightly at seeing her. Within the day she is known around the school as both Sunshine and Gotham's new Goddess.

Soon enough Damian Marinette and Jon are never seen withiut tge other except in classes. Many teachers see Marinette as a blessing classes have been calmer shes always willing to volunteer and shes even started tutoring some of the students. Even though she entered late in the year she starts to help the student council and things were more organized and running smoother. What everyone is really happy about is how she seems to bring out the teen in Damian and encourage him to act his age. The only reason they havent posted about her and Damian's relationship is because Damian made it clear he didnt want his family to know.

He starts calling her Angel and Red Bird. Marinette starts calling him Dove and Birdie. They slowly start going on dates while also making sure to hang out with Jon so he didnt feel left behind. Its the beginning of summer when Marinette gets invited to a Wayne gala by Bruce himself with a little note.

'Miss Dupain-Cheng, I would like to meet the girl that has stolen my youngest's attention. Please do not inform him I invited you, I think it will be quite the surprise for him. -Bruce Wayne

She tells Damian to wear a seafoam green tie because it will bring out his eyes, in a sly way so that they will be matching. She then makes a seafoam green Asymmetrical A-line off the shoulders dress adding layers of tulle that forms teirs and finishes with horsehair hemlines. The MDC signature is stictched on to the second layer of tulle.

The night of the Gala she is dropped off by Margaery and Jon leaves his parents to meet her. She tells him that Damian didnt know either and Bruce wanted to surprise him. Jon starts laughing causing Marinette to dissolve into giggles. This catches Jon's parents eyes and they walk over. Jon wuickly introduces her as one of his best friends. Lois and Marinette quickly hit it off and enter the gala together with Jon and Clark following behind them. After 5 minutes Damian spots them, and discreetly hurries over to them.

Damian-Angel!

Lois and Clark are surprised at the nickname and that Damian is smiling even more surprised when he hugs her and holds her hand gently. They stare into each others eyes for a moment until Lois coughs catching boths attention. Damian greets them as he lets go of Marinette's hand wrapping an arm around her waist as she does the same. They stand talking with each other until Lois spots someone she wants to interview and hurries off with Clark. The three of them share a look before all saying food at once. Jon walks ahead of them as Marinette and Damian follow talking to themselves.

M-'Your father wanted to meet me so Im afraid I will no longer be a secret.'

D-'Of course he did, I was hoping to keep those embarrassments known as my brothers away.'

This causes Marinette to laugh leaning her head on his shoulder.

M-'I am sure they arent that bad.'

They spend a good half hour talking with Jon and eating before Bruce finds them and introduces himself to Marinette. Five minutes later she notices Damian's brothers starring at them in shock. She starts giggling and points it out to Damian who groans. Soon after the boys rush over to interrogate their brother dragging him away from Marinette Jon and Bruce.

While Damian is dealing with them Jagged and Penny both find Marinette. Eventually the boys force Damian to introduce them to Marinette. She hits it off with all of them promising to visit the mansion. Jon convinces Damian to ask Marinette to be his girlfriend. He asks her to dance with him and asks while they are dancing. That night Marinette Damian and Jon leave together for an impromptu sleepover at Marinette's. Margaery picks them up greeting both parents and assuring them that there kids will be safe, and they will be camping out in the living room.

Marinette surprises the boys with handmade pjs once they get to her house and Margaery surprises them with cookies. The next day she goes to the mansion with Damian and gets to know his brothers more piecing together who is who of the Batfamily. At one point Jason insinuates that Marinette couldnt fight so she challenges his to a spar. Jason being cocky holds back and gets his butt kicked, he asks for a rematch and doesnt hold back this time, still gets his butt kicked.

While Damian and Marinette are saying goodbye she jokes about how long its going to take his siblings to realize shes a hero not a civilian. Damian finds it hilarious. When Marinette gets home she tells Margaery that she was going up to the roof to look at the stars for inspiration. Margaery allows her making her take a blanket, hor chocolate and some cookies with her. That night Nightwing lands on her roof and 'startles' causing her to throw her cup at him hitting him in the gut

Robin chuckling-That bitch empty,

Mari and Robin together-Yeet!

Marinette laughs offering him a cookie as Nightwing gets up

Nightwing-Nice throw.

Marinette laughs harder her eyes twinkling.

Mari-Sorry you startled me I must have lost track of time I should head back home now. Have a safe patrol Birdies!

She says before passing other of them leaving the plate of cookies behind for them. Over the summer Marinette and Damian visit her parents for two weeks before returning to Gotham. The rest of the summer is filled with dates between her and Damian the Gotham Gazette is having a field day with them.

They're referred to as the Goddess and the Prince and every date is talked about the next day. When summer is over Marinette Damian and Jon are back for their senior year. Marinette decides to run for student body president and Jon runs as her vice president, they both tease Damian about being the trophy boyfriend and he responds that he is fine with it as long as hes the trophy boyfriend to Marinette. Marinette and Jon win with an almost unanimous vote. It is half way through their senior year when Damian's brothers realize she knows. Bruce and Babs already know. Jason teasingly jokes about Damian outing them to a civilian and Marinette jist goes

Marinette-Jayby(This is her nickname for him), I have beaten you in spars 9 out of 10 times and you still think Im a civilian.

Tim-What?

Marinette sighs before calling Tiki out and transforming. (She has a different outfit. Period. Her hair is pulled into a high ponytail, held by a red ribbon. It has a completely black mask, her top was sleeveless and was a deep red. She had gloves that stopped at her elbows the same deep red but with black poka-dots. Her pants were completely black with a red belt holding her yoyo. Her outfit was finished with red combat boots with black soles.) Everyone is silent as they taken in her outfit.

Damian-God your so beautiful.

Marinette-Aw Dove

Que a sweet kiss where Jason gags jokingly before Tim flips out about her being Ladybug. Marinette jokingly says that he didnt react that way to her being MDC.

Tim-what?

Dick-This time your oulling my leg.

Marinette-You didnt know? I was always giving you guys family discounts.

Tim-Your MDC...my favorite fashion designer is my future sister-in-law. Thats why your commissions always seemed cheaper than others. Im chalant right now.

This causes Dick to burst out laughing.

Dick-Really becuase Im whelmed!

Bruce smiles slightly remembering when his eldest would use to his 'Unwords' all the time.

That night Marinette patrols with them and Gotham gains a new hero LadyBird. With a little shove from Damian and begging from Tim, Marinette begins to grow MDC even more by partnering with Wayne Enterprises. Marinette and Damian are the power couple of the school, they have majority of their classes together both being in AP and Honors classes. As the school president Marinette is notified that during the last quarter of second semester a French class is doing an exchange program at Gotham Academy.

Her and Jon have to escort them around the school the first week. Marinette argues a bit at first.

Mari-I understand that it is important but Jon and I are still heavily working on Prom, Senior's Last Peprally, Senior Awards, Senior vs Freshman Football, Prom King and Queen vote and The Senior trip.

Jon-Mari is right is there anyway we could pick someone else to show them around. There are a few other people in student council that speak French.

They both convince the Principal to allow the Secretary of the Student Council, Candy St.Cloud, to show them around. Marinette, Jon and Damian avoid them, none of Marinette's old class knows Marinette is there until votes for Prom King and Queen pops up and Marinette's name is on the ballet.

Lila bursts into tears claiming her Dami promised her she'd be on the ballet since he goes to that school. They all try to hunt her down and give her shit for booting Lila off. However majority of Gotham academy has noticed their attitude towards Gotham's Goddess and everyone makes sure Marinette is unreachable.

They pretty much only see glimpses of her until Senior's Last Peprally when she and Damian are announced Prom King and Queen. Their boos are covered up by the school's cheers. Marinette and Damian share a quick kiss which causes more cheers as the teachers roll their eyes calling out Pda. Then both her and Jon announce whats going to be happening at the peprally.

At the end of it all the seniors get together for one last class photo in the front is Jon Marinette and Damian. Damian and Marinette are wearing the sashes and crowns and Marinette is in the middle of them. Bustier's class is upset they cant be a part of the picture because they arent actually seniors at the school. The next night is Senior awards the class doesnt go but the trio does.

Marinette and Damian get best couple.

Damian gets the award for best grades.

Jon gets the award for most likely to secede in life.

That night all three are on the news and trending on Twitter when they go out to celebrate at Bat Burger, videos and pictures are posted off Marinette and Jon dying of laughter as Damian cuts his burger with a knife and fork. At the hotel Lila is crying claiming that Damian is cheating in her with Marinette. The class continuously message Marinette even when they get a response saying that the person is not Marinette amd that they've had the number for two months.

The next day at lunch they confront Marinette, they followed Jon to the room the Student council eat lunch in. Que them berating Marinette infront of everyone including the teachers. Marinette just rolls her eyes not wanting to give them the time of day.

Alya-I cant believe you tricked Lila's boyfriend into dating a bully like you!

This causes Jon to launch to her defense, he steps in front of Marinette glaring at the class.

Jon-Lila's boyfriend?? You mean Damian, so Lila was dating Damian first?

Lila-Yes! And Marinette purposely seduced him!

Jon-Really tell me when did you firat meet Damian?

Lila-oh he was so sweet! It was when we were 6 and we met at a gala here in Gotham! A older women was being incredibly mean to me and he stood up for me telling me that he'd have his dad kick her out. We were always meeting up over the summer and started dating at the beginning of senior year!

Jon-Oh so you know Arabic?

Lila-What?

Jon smirking-Well Damian didnt learn English until he was 8, his first language is English. Also you couldn't possibly have met Damian here when he was 6 because Damian didn't come to Gotham until he was 10. When his dad was informed that he had a son. On top of that Damian spends every summer with his family and closest friends. Actually he usually spends a few weeks on my family's farm, this summer he didnt because he went to Paris with Marinette. Also at the beginning of senior year? St. Cloud, when did Damian ask Marinette out.

St. Cloud- Beginning of the summer at Mr. Wayne's first charity gala of the summer, he asked her while they were dancing. It was really cute and Marinette looked amazing in her MDC dress!

Mari-Thank you St. Cloud, I could give you her number if you'd like a dress

Lila runs away embarrassed the class starring at Jon and Marinette in shock.

Alya-who-who do you think you are?!

Mari-Alya do you really not recognize your idols son?

Marinette is disappointed as she introduces them to Jon Kent, after that the teacher finally forces the French class out, while also telling them how kuch trouble they'll be in.

The class starts trying to get on Marinette's good side for the rest of the year but she ignores them. Prom comes and goes and when its finally time for graduation Damian is valedictorian. He gives a fairly inspirational speech and at the end he smirks finishing it with.

Dami-And lastly I would like to thank my eldest brother, without him Id never be able to give this sappy inspirational speech, he is really good at them.

When they throw their caps in the air Damian finds Marinette and dips her pulling her into a deep kiss.

That night while they are all celebrating at the Wayne Mansion Marinette finally lets go of Paris, she decides that her place is in Gotham with Damian.

Lets do a time skip!

Marinette is the top name in Fashion, Damian is Co-Ceo of Wayne enterprises with Tim. They are both married and living in Marinette's penthouse together with Margaery, I am to emotionally invested to kill off her or Alfred even if it is do to age. They visit the mansion almost every day, and family dinners are common.

Jon started going out with St. Cloud and are engaged, he has also taken up the mantle of Superman.

Damian has taken up the mantle of Batman with his Robin, Johnn'i Thomas Grayson-Wayne, Richard and Koriand'r's second child that did not inherit his mothers powers, and his partner Ladybird. That is until Marinette discovers she is pregnant. She surprises the family while they are getting their family portrait redone, with only Kori and the photographer knowing.

All the girls are in chairs with the boys behind them. Seating goes.

Babs, Kate, Selina, Marinette, Kori, Stephanie, and Cass. For a few of the pictures Marinette holds up a sign saying, "Another Wayne is on the way!" Then they hide the sign so they have a regular family portrait.

A few days later when the entire family is gathered to see the photos they are surprised when Bruce stars at them in shock. Alfred and Margaery merly smile offering congratulations, everyone is confused until Bruce turns the picture around.

Damian is looking at the pictures in shock until he jumps up and picks up Marinette spinning her around. Soon everyone is screaming and cheering offering congratulations. While Damian and Marinette hold each other close crying softly.

Mari-Your gonna be a Daddy Dove.

Damian-I love you so much Marinette. So much.

[kerwritesthings]

Subway Surfing

Summary: When a literal run in changes the course of a day, let alone of a life…

Word Count: little bit over 2.2k

Warning: adorable, fluff and funny

Author Notes: A bit of a birthday surprise for @fallinallincurls​ - Happy, happy birthday Bre! Big birthday deserves nothing more than the start of a new verse for the hockey boy I forced at you last year. Umm sorry not sorry.

Things have been a lot of not ok around here for a good clip, I’ve been really not ok. It’s been hard. Writing hasn’t come, life has just kept throwing me down and down. Trying to fight the way back up, not easy but I’m trying. This was a nice way to try to get back some of that light. I had been poking at this for a beat, the idea gnawing at me with some pieces written, notes scribbled around, but birthday sparkle helped get it over the finish line. Part two already has some bones, as does part three - but please to bear with me if you will.

You hate that it’s a Saturday and you’re trekking your way into the office. It’s finally truly fall in the city and it’s a gorgeous day. The last thing you want is to be stuck at your desk behind a computer screen. You want a hot spiked apple cider, a book, a good playlist and your plaid blanket on the grass in Central Park.

It looks like the rest of the city is awake early on this day for the same reason. The subway, which normally is slightly more bearable at this time on a weekend, is the furthest thing from that. It’s packed with people including the grimy, sweat-ladened guy in the chopped-up joggers and crocs who keeps trying to “accidentally” bump and grab you every chance he gets.

The next stop, you try to move but too many people are coming on and off as the doors only quickly open and shut. You just end up jostling as the car jolts in its start. You can’t fall forward. It would land you right into the situation you’re trying to flee. Instead, you try to lean back but you slip. Fully prepared to wipe out, a hand comes gently to steady your elbow while another holds you at your shoulder.

You hear a mish mosh of “careful there” and “are you ok” crossing together as you get back steady on your feet.

“Thanks for saving me for either face planting or landing in that sweaty creep’s grasp,” you say, sliding your bag back securely on your shoulder before turning.

You know those faces. You’ve seen them on billboards and most definitely on TV. Shit, shit and shit. Of course, the two star, absolutely adorable bestie forwards from the New York Islanders have come to your rescue. This would be your luck. At least you pulled yourself somewhat together for this Saturday jaunt to the office. You keep a straight face, smiling normally and not letting anything on.

“Couldn’t let you risk that. He’s been a bit of an ass since he got into the car. We said if he were still acting a fool at next stop, we would jump in. Plotted a rescue mission and everything,” the one explains, hand running through his hair.

“His mission was to cross his arms and give him the eye,” the other mocks, shoving at his friend’s shoulder. “I mean I guess he can look threatening, like a puppy maybe.”

You couldn’t help but laugh. These two are exactly as they’ve seemed in interviews. Mathew and Anthony really are as thick as thieves.

“That sarcastic asshole is Anthony and I’m Mat. We’ll stay close until he leaves, or you need to,” he remarks.

“You don’t have to do that. It’s the subway. That happening unfortunately is just another day that ends in y, you know?” you explain. “I also don’t want to take up more of your time or ruin any of your plans.”

“You deal with that? Often?” Anthony asks, eyes a little wide.

“Welcome to New York,” you shrug. “Not every day thankfully. But it’s often enough.”

“I hope you know, that wasn’t, and we weren’t...” Mat tries to stumble through.

“No, no, no. Totally. I didn’t get that whatsoever,” you respond. “Not that from either of you guys. Promise. It’s sweet to know there are still gentlemen out in this world.”

They both get a little bashful smile across their pretty faces.

“Glad to help,” they practically say in unison which causes you to bark out a laugh.

Time to shoot your shot, you think to yourself. Worse case, it’s a moment you get to have for a fun bar story.

“I think we need to become friends, boys,” you start. “Or at the very least, I owe you a drink for saving me.”

“Yes,” Anthony jumps in, nodding his head with a wide grin. “You should come to brunch with us.”

“If I didn’t have to get to the office I would,” you reply. “Unfortunately, it’s stuff I need done before a Monday morning meeting.”

“Office work on a Saturday? That’s no fun. Play hooky! We can promise a bottomless brunch,” he teases.

“Maybe after though?” Mat chimes in with a soft smile. “Get what you need to done, give you something to look forward to after?”

“I don’t want to ruin whatever plans you’ve had for the day,” you begin before the boys both shake their heads.

“It’s just brunch and shopping to try to get this one to up his style game,” Mat chides while Anthony rolls his eyes.

You bite your lip fighting back yet another giggle. These two, at the very least, would truly make some good friends. You dig around in your tote, finally snatching your card holder.

“Not sure how long I’ll be stuck. I’m hoping only a couple hours. But. If you’re serious. Text or call me,” you say, handing one off to each of them.

They both nod, each pocketing your card as the subway comes to a halt.

“Oh shit, this stop is mine. Thanks again for the soft hands and clutch assist guys,” you wink, dashing away quickly before the doors close.

“What is my life,” you mutter, the boys waiving as the train pulls away. “I need to get to the office.”

“Ok, I think that’s the first time we’ve ever had someone realize who we are in public, without a whole big scene or making a blatant ass grab type pass. We’re keeping her. Plus, you like her,” Anthony teases, shoving at Mat’s shoulder as they hit the sidewalk coming up from the subway.

“I could say the same thing to you Tito,” he snarks back, shoving in return. “You were batting the eyes. I’m not blind.”

“She seems cool and yeah she’s pretty, but I’m not jaw drop like you were when you saw her,” he chirps back. “I was trying to get a rise out of you dude. And it worked, you actually stepped up the game. And now you have her info. Don’t make me text her too. Cause I will.”

You’re just about to settle into your email with a cup of what your office likes to consider coffee when your phone starts buzzing about in quick succession.

“Looks like this is a thing,” you mumble to yourself, lips quirking up into a half smile as you formulate a reply.

“You knew?” Anthony grins over his beer. “From the start?”

You nod, sipping at your cider. You pushed through your work to be able to meet the two downtown at this tiny spot in NoLiTa that was tucked away from the crazy of the neighborhoods it was snug between. It wasn’t as sleek as you thought they’d choose; it was something much more comfortable and lower key.

“Really?” Mat questions.

“Yep. One of you not with the other? I would have had to do double take. I would have noticed, but probably would have questioned. However, the two peas in a pod together? That was a no brainer,” you explain, fighting back a bit of a giggle.

“You didn’t say anything,” Mat replies.

“How many times does that happen and it turn into a thing or a bit of a scene?” you circle the bottom of the cider bottle around on the tabletop. “There was also no point to, either. You were just trying to enjoy the day and you were being super kind keeping me from wiping out. I get it’s New York, so it’s a less likely thing but it still happens.  So, if I could keep it from another one of those moments...”

“Told you Barzy, we’re keeping her,” Anthony taps his beer against yours. “Welcome to the crazy, Evangeline.”

You can’t help but tinge a little pink.

“Well then. If that’s the case, my friends call me Evie,” you smile.

“Evie,” Mat lets the name roll around his tongue.

A couple rounds later, of both beers and darts, you realize how tight the two are and more so, how easily you could become entangled in friendship with them. And you do. Texts and memes and random photos fly back and forth, you all hang when all your schedules align. You’re also fostering relationships with each of them separately too; sharing recipes of things you want to try to bake and longing about the places you miss in Quebec with Anthony while Mat was trying to teach you more about basketball (with little luck) and in turn you trying to expand what he calls music and what actually is music. You also share some of your favorite places in the city that the two really didn’t know about. It was easy with them, together and individually but you were getting a bit more of a tug, a bit of a warmer burn with Mat.

A Saturday morning a few weeks after the afternoon drinking funtivities, you wake up to a few texts, photos really, from the group chat with the boys. First is a pair of tickets and passes to their game that night. Second is two jerseys: a blue Barzal and a white Beauvillier. The third, a text from Mat.

Choose carefully…

We’re also not taking no for an answer. You’re coming. Game and drinks after.

“Oh shit,” you exhale, quickly jumping to your closet.

“Beth?” you call out from your room, tossing through your clothes looking for two specific items. “Please tell me you don’t have plans tonight.”

“Hot date with a bottle of pinot noir and trash tv, why?” she pokes her head into your room.

“Good. You do now. You’re coming with me to the Islanders game tonight,” you mutter, flipping through more hangars.

“Wait excuse me?” she flops down, cross-legged on the end of your bed.

“So, I may have left a tiny detail out from when I told you about the two cute guys who saved me on the subway,” you explain.

“Ok and?” Beth prompts you to continue.

“They’re Islanders…” you trail off.

“What?” she screams tossing one of your throw pillows at you.

“I’m trying to not make a big deal, cause you know. But, at the same time, well you know,” you reply, finally finding the long sleeve you wanted to wear as well as one of your hockey jerseys.

“You need to give me more than this, Evie,” Beth pries.

You lean back against your closet door.

“It was Anthony Beauvillier and Mat Barzal,” you say.

Beth screams and throws another pillow at you.

“You just casually didn’t tell me that you met the damn Calder winner and his like bromance bestie,” she laments. “Evie, what the fuck?”

“This is exactly why,” you sigh. “Like it started out as ok I could have a moment, a cool story to tell. But honestly, they’re two really great guys.”

“You’re not telling me something, I can see it in that wistful look,” she pokes. “Oh god you’re sweet on one of them, aren’t you?”

You shake your head at Beth, not acknowledging the question. Shoving her over a little, you fold the jersey on the bed next to her, so the logo was perfectly visible, but no giveaway of the name on the back or numbers on the sleeves.  

Fine if you two summon I guess I must go. I’m bringing Beth, my roommate, so you need to behave. She’s already a pretty big hockey fan so I apologize now in advance for any of her crazy. She’s great but gets excited. Also, easy answer: where’s the Ebs jersey? ;) Or I can always wear this one.

You snap a quick shot of your Dallas Stars jersey.

Mat of course chimes in first.

That’s cold Evie, really cold. And that thing? That’s even worse. Who is on there? Do I wanna know?

Then Anthony.

Non. Non. Non. Why do you even have that jersey!?

“You’ve got that look,” Beth pokes at your thigh. “I’ll leave you be for now. Need to be at the arena what 6? We should leave here at 4:30. Worse case we get there early, we can snag a drink nearby. I don’t trust the train or the subway on a Saturday to be on time. Thanks for bringing me, Roomie. I’m excited and I get to meet these boys of yours.”

I have favorites across the league, you both know I liked the sport well before you two came along. I have the appropriate jerseys for my boys. Well, almost. You guys making me choose is mean af. Rock paper scissors it between you both, whoever wins that’s what I’ll wear.

“Just leave her yours, you know you want to no matter who would win at that little challenge of Evie’s,” Anthony smiles as the text comes through, clapping his friend on the shoulder. “And I know you’d pull shit to do it no matter what. She’s really your girl anyway.”

“What…” Mat starts before Anthony jumps in.

“You know it’s never been like that with her for me, dude. She’s awesome and I’m so glad to have her as a friend,” he replies. “You though? Since moment one, she’s been something else for you. You need to make a move. You’ve got game, I’ve seen it.”

“Evie’s. She’s Evie. There’s more there...” he leans back into his locker.

“More reason to then Barzy,” he volleys back. “Come on, get your shit together. We can drop everything to leave for her on the way out.”

[fallingsunflower]

BESTIES I'm so sorry - I hit my post limit waaaay earlier than expected! Some of y'all joined me on my backup account, (which I also hit the limit on lmao), but I'm back now.

I had over 400 asks to go through and I'll give you a warning that not all of them will appear (either because they were old or because they were topics we already answered). But here is a giant list of asks I compiled for you from when I wasn't allowed to post lol they don't really require my response but I found them entertaining to read. Hope you don't mind I've just put them all together in one post. It's also to save me from using up my 250 posts lol

"this is all so embarrassing like my god imagine when the promotion of the movie starts how horrible it will be for other people who made the movie too"

"SELL UR TICKETS TODAY WATCH THE MOVIE ILLEGALLY, next article we’ll be talking about these two assholes filing for bankruptcy. cheap harlots. don’t mess with your meal ticket."

"hate to say it but i defs think they‘ve got a sliver of the gp’s attention for five minutes"

"I am scanning through all these photos looking for just ONE where he looks like he's smiling and enjoying this. It's so crazy."

"I guess those are all the pics we’re getting right now. But I wouldn’t be surprised if they finish the Italy trip off with one more major Backgrid photo shoot."

"Olivia’s trending on Twitter but not Harry. Like it’s obvious who’s getting the PR gains here!"

"If they dont give us a 6 month or more break after this im gonna need them to pay for my therapy bills from now on bc of this damage no joke let me crawl back into my shit hole now 😑"

"The palce they at is referred to as “tuscanys best-kept secret”. Everyone point and laugh."

"she looks like she’s enjoying all of this. he looks like he wants to push her into the water."

"a few people said he’s keeping his shorts pulled up or covered in all the shots because of the Nike branding which they ask to not get photographed. What a setup."

"Man I knew the second those Tomdaya pics came out of them kissing and how they were trending so fast that HO were going to do something to 'top' them. Its pathetic /// FRRR. she probably hoped for the positive reactions that people gave tom & zendaya but unfortunately, miss girl got the opposite. when will they realize that nobody, but his fans, find them cute lmao can they just stop, it’s so embarrassing 😭😭😭"

"He really out here doing this with someone who almost old enough to be his mother, shiiiiiiiit. Sickening. Sick of these 2 for real now, i was fine with the good old blurry back content and whatnot but this? Crossing a line here nobody wanna see that shit and knowing how people feel goooooood damn."

"I aboslutely despise kendall for obvious reason but this one is actually worse than the hendall one bc you couldnt really see as much as now dis gos tang."

"She’s also wearing the cross necklace again. I feel like if that was so meaningful to her she wouldn’t risk loosing it in the ocean 🙄"

"guys have eyes on tmz. I Do not have tw now. they were so aggressive towards them"

"I'm sorry for Harry because you lost your damn mind bro"

"Now why the hendall pics are better ?? NO SHADE BUTT"

"I’m genuine confused like do they actually want dwd to flop or what? I just threw up in my mouth I sure as hell ain’t gonna watch their sorry ass movie. Is it supposed to flop? I’m so confused!"

"The match was not interesting enough so they cooked up something different especially since people were pointing out how they staged the PDA. And the page 6 article is out already!!!"

"Who the fuck thought this was a good idea"

"Is it just me or does harry's face looks really blank for someone out on a Romantic date with his alleged girlfriend.?"

"if thats it, harry hasn’t no game🤣🤣🤣🤣"

"so this is why the tabloids weren’t talking about the match pics! they didn’t have any value on their own. now with the yacht pics? my oh my they’re gonna get the clicks of their lives. her team was prob like “wait a sec we got something for y’all”"

"If they were models hired to act like a couple they wouldn't get the job......"

"Not them starring right at the camera in some of them help make it less obvious will you"

"HENDALL🤣🤣🤣is that uuuu"

"Harry’s ass crack thought it should make an appearance too."

"What a great day for team PR, happy Monday you guys! Let's pop the champagne 🍾🍾🍾🍾 P. S. They both need acting lessons, tbh"

"It’s quite interesting how everything that’s happened before I’ve seen predicted weeks/and in advance on blogs or fan accounts. Like his life has always been so predictable but damn"

"He was hiding the Nike check. That’s why his swim trucks are rolled up to an absurd degree even for him. He knew he was gonna get photographed."

"What I’m noticing is wether people like them together or not, everyone’s saying they’re aren’t a hot couple…there was more chemistry in the Kendall pics by far"

"i also find it weird that he’s not smiling in any of the pictures and it would be one thing if there were five pics from ten minutes of time but there are like 70 from an obvious extended period of time"

"It's interesting everyone involved is being Team Try Hard. Yet the universe says no. The last set of pics, Tom and Zendaya overshadowed. People even paid more attention to Angelina and the Weekend (even if business possibly). Fast forward to today and all this fakery only for Gwen/Blake to tie the knot. His team needs to get a clue. She needs to go. Harry needs to clean this up fast."

"Ok i looked at one hugging pic and one kidding pic and they could not look more stagged. It looks unatural ,strange and weird from all angles. You can clearly see from their body posture they are posing for a photographer from backgrid."

"Like I said in my ask a couple days ago the day we get kissing pics is the day that I believe this is all a stunt and I was right. They took a page out of hendall 2016 and it’s looks so forced and awkward. Hendall did it better cause at prater they had chemistry. They must be scared this movie is going to tank because they are pushing this way too hard"

"Real, PR, or whatever relationship it is, they’re fucking boring. You are on a yacht in Italy, can’t you have a little bit of fun? I can’t believe how boring they are, I just can’t. Even if it is just PR, can’t you make a fucking dumb joke so you can laugh or something? Do they have anything in common like to talk about or discuss or make fun of? I’d literally killed myself if I looked like that in a relationship. They are not communicating in any photos we’ve got. They are just walking, or sitting. Even when they hold hands or kiss or hug, they never communicate."

"okay but did ya’ll see the pic of her diving in?? i can’t stop laughing 😭😭😭😭"

"they look horrifically awkward i cannot believe what harry is doing"

"“HEY PAPS COME GET A PIC OF US KISSING TO MAKE OUR RELATIONSHIP MORE BELIEVABLE!!!!!”"

"his ass is hanging out and her bra is almost off what in the hell"

"Hqs on a yacht like that? Mhmhmhm hmmmmm / I bloody well hope that’s not the extend of their acting. That’s dire! 🤦‍♀️"

"this is literally the most predictable “couple” to exist. first, people talked about them showing up the game, and they did. second, people were just talking about kissing pics... AND THEY JUST CAME OUT LMAOOOOOO"

"annnnnnnnnnnnnd there it is. YOU KNOW THEY KNEW THERE WAS A CAMERA."

"ok but where’s the pda or did that get made up? cause these have to be the most awkward pics i’ve ever seen which makes me feel better 😂 also i can feel the meme’s coming with the one of her diving off the boat"

"I call it how I see it they are both assholes and full of shit. Like do your fake kiss somewhere else I do not want to see it!"

"Can they at least act like they’re having a good time?"

"hahahaha I can't stop laughing with that photo of O it's literally her knowing she's being photographed and diving into a professional swimmer style😭"

"the pics are so organic that Olivia is looking straight at the pap before kissing Harry."

"he looked a lot happier with kendall in their yacht pics compared to today’s. i know that was PR too, but he was very smiley and seemed talkative. with this girl it’s like the complete opposite lmao."

[piratewithvigor]

a couple of the questions in the ask meme you reblogged really resonated with me, would you do 23, 24, 45?

Took me a bit to find the right list and I'm just guessing, but I hope this is the right one. I ended up answering these for two hours, so sorry about the novel

23. Were you happier four months ago than you are now?

Four months ago was March 13, by my calculations. And it's a really tough one to answer. A lot of dirty laundry happened that week, and I'm not sure just how much I want to share. What I do know is that one week before March 13, I was having a really great night. Went out on a mini road trip with a group of friends. We were gonna go have dinner in this little restaurant/convenience store in the middle of nowhere, but we only arrived 10 minutes after they'd closed down the kitchen. We bought snacks and this big tub of peanut butter ice cream. Drove around and ended up getting some KFC, then eating the ice cream in the high school parking lot before burying it in the snow to try and hide it until Monday. We sang Sk8tr Boy until we were hoarse. That kind of jubilant joy is gonna be hard to recreate.

A few days after that was my birthday. I've never really made a fuss about my birthday and it isn't super important to me, so acknowledgement from the people closest to me is pretty much all I look forward to. Making memories of some kind.

I had a boyfriend at the time I really loved. He'd gone on the mini road trip a few days before (also being a part of that friend group) and had mentioned offhand when my birthday was, so I knew he knew. We were never really chatty over text because he's much more vocal, but we always made it a point to wish each other good morning as soon as possible after we woke up. I already knew something was off when he took until 9 or so to wish me good morning (he had classes that started at 8, so I knew he wasn't sleeping in). It was the beginning of a day that was likely one of the worst birthdays I've had. After spending the day listening to those who did remember tell me to leave him, that this was unacceptable, I requested a call with him around 8pm. We hardly ever called, so I think he knew something was up. I told him he'd forgotten my birthday (and called him a dumbass in my rage, which wasn't called for)

I said a lot of things that night to people in my anger. I wish I could take a lot of it back, or explain what I had meant at the time, but none of it can be taken back and I accept that. We didn't break up that night.

The next few weeks were a little uneasy. He was jumpy and had gone into an anxiety/depression spiral over the fear of getting dumped (no matter how often I assured him that I loved him and had no intention of doing so), but as a result, we weren't leaning on each other with the right balance anymore.

A few days before Easter, I had an emotional breakdown that lasted several hours. He wasn't returning my messages and later said he was with two of our mutual friends at a beach about an hour away. I wasn't angry at him, but really disappointed. A lot of my turmoil had come from the solitude of being the only university student in a gang of high schoolers, so there were days I'd see them all having fun together without me, and I snapped a little.

The next day, one of those friends requested an evening hangout and I was obviously elated. I spent the day waiting and passing the time as quickly as possible. When she pulled up to my house at exactly the minute she said she got off work, I was a little suspicious, but suspected I had misread the message. The car was fully parked (also weird), my boyfriend was sitting shotgun (I didn't know he was coming) and the other friend was sitting in the backseat (I didn't know she was coming either). The vibe was all off and my boyfriend turned around in his seat and said that we needed to break up. He explained our relationship was taking a toll on his mental health.

In front of two other people, I didn't have the chance to get my emotions out properly. Nor did I have the chance to really talk things over with him. I learned later that this was because he wanted backup in case I got violent (one of the misunderstandings from the evening of my birthday).

I haven't seen him since then. I've only heard his voice twice during calls with other mutual friends who've remained neutral in the breakup. Overnight, my friend group went from a healthy regular 6 that could be expanded to 10 to only 2 who talk to me (in person friends, I should specify).

In the weeks since, I haven't left the property beyond picking up the mail or my brother from school. I've gotten a new interest that I adore (but my family hates). I've had days that feel magical and days where I feel like I'd be better off dead if I could give my all in a relationship and still be disrespected like that.

I don't know if I'm happier than I was 4 months ago. I have up days and down days just as frequently. They're just about different things. But maybe I am happier; some days, I notice my 'ups' are higher than they used to be.

24. Is there someone you wish you could fix things with?

Yes. In the aforementioned friend group, there were 6 of us who were the core: myself, my boyfriend, two other girls his age, one guy and one girl 4 years younger than me. I was never particularly close with the guy, but I always liked hanging out with him. The two other girls were the most regular hangouts because they were in town a lot, so if they went to hang out with my boyfriend, I was generally there too. They were the two in the car the night of the breakup.

The younger girl, I was probably the closest with. There would be evenings when she wanted help with homework or just someone to talk about nonsense while she listens. There were a good number of occasions where she would want to do homework late into the night and I'd lie in bed and tell her about movies I've watched recently. I considered her a really good friend, but because of our age difference, her parents were a little wary of her hanging out with the group outside of school (completely understandably so. I think the only reason she got to hang out with me was because her mom had been basically the youth pastor at our church since I was 8).

She took my boyfriend's side in the breakup. I know they were significantly closer than she was with me, but I just wish I didn't have to lose that friendship too. I sent her word through her brother to let her know I have no beef with her at all, but I don't think it did any good. It's very likely I won't be able to talk with her anymore, and I've mostly made my peace with it, but the lack of closure I got there is probably gonna mess with me for a while.

45. Do you believe exes can be friends?

I do. I have proof, but I don't know just how allowable it would be in this case. I consider myself to have had 6 relationships. They ranged from 1 month to 2 1/2 years.

My first one was third grade. The entire year, and about as PG as two 8-year-olds get. We broke up when fourth grade started, but were still pretty close friends. We got back together for a few months in seventh grade, but it wasn't working, so we went back to friends. He's now one of the only people I know in person who still talks to me. Definitely still a friend.

My second was 8th grade. A little bit toxic and we were probably better off ending when we did, but he gave me a lot of experience that I banked on for years. Have not spoken to him in close to 4 years.

My third was 9th grade. Definitely toxic. We don't talk about it. Stayed in contact and even friendly for about 2 1/2 years afterwards until I cut him off. It was really for the best in the end.

My fourth was later in 9th grade. My longest. Long-distance and one of my healthier ones. He left me after 2 1/2 years and gave me a whole lotta issues as a result. Our contact wavers on occasion, but we've never gone more than a month without talking.

My fifth was probably a week after my fourth. He was inheriting a basket case of a bitch. Also long distance and have not spoken since the breakup.

My sixth was the one who's breakup you read about above. We were together for almost exactly 18 months. My second-healthiest relationship after my first. He said we could still be friends, but the more time that passes, the less I believe it's a possibility.

[ryqoshay]

Tri-Arame: All Work, No Play

Primary Pairing Trio: YuuAyuSetsu Words: ~3.1k Rating: G Time Frame: The end of their second week of college Story Arc: Setsu’s Ceaseless Study Session Study All Day? Study All Night? A Nap a Day All Work, No Play

----------

Author’s Note: My original outline for this arc stopped at the previous chapter, but as I was was close to finishing, I realized there were still a couple threads I wanted to tie up. So here we are.

Also, this is the first chapter I’ve written that flatly gives the name of the company employing Setsu, instead of my former vague hints. For readers unfamiliar with my other work, How to Handle a Nico, Egao Jōshō is an idol production company founded by Nico and Tsubasa and it is probably my favorite point of connection among my three non-AU fics.

Also also, Heavenly Life is a doujin created by Riko.

----------

Ayumu opened her eyes and reached up to the headboard to grab her phone. The device she touched first happened to be Yuu’s, but that was fine. She unlocked it and checked the time. It was Saturday, so she could sleep in a little longer, but there were things that she wanted to do before the Live that night.

She pushed herself up to her hands and knees and crawled backward to the end of the bed. There, she climbed over the footboard, which she was thankful wasn’t much higher than the mattress. Standing, she took a moment to look at the other two girls still in her bed, as she had every morning this week since Setsuna started joining her and Yuu.

Part of her couldn’t get over how adorable they were, snuggled together like that. Setsuna had pressed herself almost flush against Yuu’s back. Ayumu wondered if she was worried about rolling off the edge or if her bond with Yuu was just that strong that she was comfortable doing that.

And that was the other part. Ayumu couldn’t help feeling a little left out, wondering why neither would do that with her. Would it help if she turned the other way? But she liked facing Yuu, seeing her face before falling asleep and again upon waking. And if the other two ended up swapping, she was certain she would be just as happy seeing Setsuna in the same way.

Maybe Yuu was hesitant? No, with as openly affectionate as Yuu had been with her the entire time they had known each other, that simply could not be the case.

Maybe Yuu was waiting for Ayumu to make the first move? That still didn’t seem likely, but it was probably more possible than the other option. Perhaps then she should make that first move and snuggle against Yuu? Maybe even tonight?

Heat gathered in Ayumu’s cheeks at the thought of doing what Setsuna seemed to have no issue doing. But why? It wasn’t like Ayumu hadn’t initiated physical affection on numerous occasions, from simple hugs, to leaning into Yuu while watching something, to holding hands while walking. Heck she’d done most of that with Setsuna as well. Why did it feel different when it involved a bed or sleeping? Was it because it implied other activities? Activities she had certainly imagined multiple…

Ayumu shook her head in a vain attempt to dissipate the deepening blush, or at least shake loose those thoughts. Turning on her heel, she headed toward her dresser to begin her morning routine.

----------

“Alright, we’re heading out.” Ayumu announced after she had finished putting on her shoes. “Are you sure you don’t want to come with us, Setsuna-chan?”

The girl still sitting at the kotatsu in the middle of the room looked up from her laptop. “I’m sorry.” She declined. “I just don’t want to fall behind.”

“But are you actually behind at this point?” Yuu inquired.

Setsuna blinked as though not expecting the question. “I’m… I’m not sure…”

“You’ve been studying almost non-stop for two weeks, Setsuna-chan” Yuu continued. “And while your determination is admirable, surely they can’t expect everyone to be so diligent, or even be able to dedicate that much time.”

“Hrm…”

“Perhaps you could email your instructor?” Ayumu suggested. “Or your program mentor? Surely one of them would be able to let you know how your progress compared to other students, or just general expectations.”

Setsuna considered the idea for a moment. “I can do that.” She confirmed after a moment. “But I probably won’t hear back from either until Monday. So, while I would love to join you two, for now, to be safe, I’ll stay here today.”

“Alright.” Ayumu relented. “We’ll be back in a few hours.”

“Have fun.” Setsuna replied before turning attention back to her screen.

Yuu closed the door behind them and she and Ayumu began heading down the hall.

“I hope we can at least convince her to come to the event tonight.” Yuu said quietly.

“Yeah…” Ayumu agreed, wondering what they could say or do to convince their stubbornly studious friend.

----------

Setsuna stretched and yawned before checking the time. A quick break should be alright, she decided and pushed herself out from under the table. She then made her way over to the kitchenette area where she filled the electric kettle and turned it on.

As she prepared the coffee grounds, she considered how much she had consumed recently. Ayumu was diligent in keeping a fresh supply despite rarely drinking it herself. Setsuna smiled at the thought of her friend’s kindness and decided she should get the next supply. She considered what places she could stop while on the way to the studio but then wondered if she should just have some delivered.

With a fresh refill of caffeine in hand, Setsuna headed back to the table to resume her studies. But before that, she quickly opened a new browser tab to check where she could order coffee online.

----------

“We’re back.” A voice announced as the dormroom door opened.

Setsuna looked up over her laptop and smiled as her friends entered. “Welcome back.”

“We got something for you, Setsuna-chan!” Yuu said excitedly, yanking off her shoes before moving quickly across the room. “Kope pan!” She pulled the sandwich out of her bag and presented it proudly.

“Thank you.” Setsuna said, accepting gracefully.

“Yuu-chan actually bought it.” Ayumu pointed out as she moved to the cupboards.

“Well, yeah, but Ayumu was the one to pick it out because it reminded her of Yotomi’s favorite. So, it’s from both of us.”

Setsuna chuckled at Yuu’s insistence as she inspected the package. It did indeed look similar to the snack commonly ordered by the protagonists of one of the anime series they had watched last season.

“Anyway, we decided to make a meal out of it all and picked up some other stuff.” Yuu began to pull other food items from her bag.

“And we brought it back here because we thought it would be more fun to eat together.” Ayumu added, arriving with a set of glasses. She distributed them to each place at the table before producing a bottle of one of her favorite brands of tea from her bag.

“Thank you.” Setsuna said again, feeling warmth spread in her chest at her friends’ thoughtfulness.

“And there’s one more thing.” Ayumu pulled another item from her bag and held it out.

Setsuna’s breath hitched as she recognized the latest book in the Heavenly Life doujin series she had been following online since before it had even started being published in physical form.

“I… I didn’t realize the new one was out…” She admitted, accepting the book.

“Mm.” Yuu nodded. “Earlier this week, it seems. I missed it too because I’m used to relying on Setsuna-chan for release schedules.”

“I’m sorry…”

“It’s no biggie.” Yuu dismissed. “I know you were busy studying. Though I will admit I’ve missed our anime nights lately.”

“I’m sorry…”

“Stop apologizing.” Yuu reached out to gently swat Setsuna atop her head. “Anyway, I got a copy for my collection and Ayumu bought this one for you.”

“Yes, but Yuu-chan had the idea to look to see if there was stock left” Ayumu interjected “and was the one to find them, so that’s from both of us as well.”

Setsuna chuckled at her friends’ insistence on sharing credit.

“Thank you, Ayumu-san, Yuu-san.” She turned her head to address each as she said their names before returning her attention to the doujin in her hand. “I’ll pay you back in…”

“Nope.” Yuu interrupted.

“Eh?”

“If you insist on doing something in return, just come with us next time.” Yuu grinned.

“Once your mentor or instructor is able to tell you how far ahead you are.” Ayumu added.

“Mm?” Setsuna questioned.

“I think it’s a safe assumption to make, based on how hard you’ve been working.” Ayumu explained. “But Yuu-chan is right, we do miss hanging out with you, Setsuna-chan.”

“I’m sor…” Setsuna cut herself off as she noticed Yuu’s expression of disapproval. She glanced back down at the doujin in her hand, causing a spike of excitement. “Anyway, I’m really looking forward to reading this.” She said, unable to resist opening the cover for a sneak peek at the first few pages. “And talking about it with… eh?” Upon looking back up, she noticed Yuu’s expression had changed, becoming more wistful. “Yuu-san?”

“Mm…” The green-tipped girl shook her head. “I was just realizing how much I missed seeing that smile.”

“That smile?”

“The one you display when you’re reading manga, or watching anime, or talking about a series or character you like.” Yuu explained. “I haven’t seen that in like two weeks.”

Oh…

Yuu chucked as she thought of something. “<All work and no play takes Setsu’s smile away.>”

“Mm?” Setsuna blinked. She wasn’t unfamiliar with the phrase, but she could have sworn it ended differently. And why did Yuu say it in English? Was it to make the rhyme? Still, she had understood the words and as their meaning processed in her mind, Setsuna felt heat gathering in her cheeks.

Yuu reached out a hand. “<Come and play with us, Setsu, forever and ever and ever.>”

“Yuu-chan, I don’t think Setsuna-chan has seen that movie.” Ayumu said.

“I haven’t either.” Yuu laughed. “I just know the meme. You do to, apparently. I mean everyone does, right?”

“Uhm…”

“Anyway, anime can wait for bit. Tonight, Emma-chan is performing.”

“I know.” Setsuna nodded. “She and I have talked about it several times this week during training.”

“And Ayumu and I are going.”

“I know that as well. I gave you two the admission passes.”

“I think Yuu-chan is trying to ask, without actually asking, if you were coming with us, Setsuna-chan.” Ayumu explained.

“…” Setsuna paused to consider her response. Of course she had figured out Yuu’s intentions, but she retained her reservations.

“I really think you owe yourself a night off every once in a while.” Ayumu continued. “Despite the meme, Yuu-chan does have a point, that you shouldn’t dedicate all your time to work and should leave at least a little time for play.”

Before she could respond, a soft ping sounded from the speakers of Setsuna’s laptop. She glanced down at the notification that popped up on the screen. “Eh?” she uttered.

“What is it?” Yuu inquired.

“It’s a replay from my instructor.” Setsuna scanned the message quickly. “He says I should go to the concert.” She heard Yuu make an excited noise. “He was actually going to contact me on Monday to see if I was alright because I am apparently a lot farther along than any other student he has seen take the course and he wanted to make sure I wasn’t overdoing things. But then he saw my email and he wanted to make sure I didn’t miss an opportunity to see my friend’s performance.”

“Sounds like you have a good instructor” Ayumu spoke up “who cares not only about your success in class, but also about your personal wellbeing.”

“Emma-chan is going to be so happy you’ll be able to make it.” Yuu said.

“Karin, Kanata and Kasumi-chan will also love seeing you again.” Ayumu added.

Setsuna smiled. “They’ll all be happy to see Yuu-san and Ayumu-san as well.”

“Well yeah, but we’ve already established that we’re going.” Yuu pointed out. “Setsuna-chan was the one holding out on her decision.”

“… Sorry… Oh, uhm…”

Yuu laughed again.

“I’m glad you reached out to your instructor.” Ayumu said.

“Well, I did want to go tonight…” Setsuna admitted.

“And we’re happy you decided to come with us.” Yuu grinned. “And since the concert’s not until after dinner, you still have the rest of the afternoon to study if you want.”

Setsuna nodded.

“Or…”

“Or?”

“You can take a short break to watch an episode of anime with us while we eat?”

“I’d like that.”

Yuu’s smile grew as she pushed her meal over to Setsuna’s side of the table. She then crawled over to squeeze in beside the raven-haired girl. On the other side, Ayumu was moving her food as well before fitting herself in with the other two. Setsuna opened a new tab in her browser and brought up her favorite streaming site where she found one of the series they had been watching that season. The three settled in comfortably as the opening song played.

----------

“That was an amazing concert!” Yuu said for the umpteeth time that night as the three girls entered Ayumu’s dormroom. “Emma-chan is a wonderful pro idol! And the event overall really makes me look forward to your first Live, Setsuna-chan.”

“I would have participated this weekend,” Setsuna admitted “but…”

“Yeah, yeah, I know, classes and stuff.”

“I could request a slot next weekend though.”

“I’ll be sure to be there to cheer you on.” Yuu grinned.

“I’ll come too.” Ayumu spoke up. “I also want to support you for your first Live, Setsuna-chan.”

Setsuna smiled. “Thank you. I’ll be sure to practice hard this week so I can shout my love as best I can on stage.”

Yuu yawned. “Anyway, I’m going to go take a quick shower and get ready for bed.” She headed to Ayumu’s dresser to grab a set of pajamas.

“That’s a good idea.” Setsuna said. “I’ll see you two to back here in a bit.” She then headed to her room to prep for the night.

----------

“Perfect timing, Setsuna-chan.” Ayumu said as Yuu got up from her hair drying session.

Setsuna smiled and sat down.

“I’m surprised you’re not pulling your laptop over so you can study.” Yuu teased.

“Oh, I, uhm, was actually just going to go to bed tonight.” Setsuna admitted.

“Oh? Not going to stay up until the wee hours of the morning again?”

“Uhm, not tonight…”

“Setsuna-chan wore herself out cheering at the concert, eh?”

“A little…”

Yuu laughed. “Well, I suppose I can’t blame you though. I did too.” She glanced up. “And I’m pretty sure Ayumu did as well.”

Ayumu felt a bit of heat in her cheeks. “It was just so much fun.” She explained as she ran a hand through Setsuna’s hair. “It’s been so long since I’ve been in the audience, I’d almost forgotten how much energy it can take.”

“Though it is wonderful to be see things from the audience’s perspective.” Setsuna decided.

“That is true.” Ayumu agreed.

“It’s the best.” Yuu stated.

“Hrm…” Setsuna pondered. “I’m not sure I can fully agree with that. I am quite fond of performing on stage.”

“Yeah, that’s true.” Yuu conceded. “Ooo, I’m really looking forward to your first performance as a professional idol, now.”

“As am I.”

“How about you, Ayumu?”

“Me? I thought I already said I wanted to see Setsuna-chan’s performance as well?”

Yuu shook her head. “No, which do you prefer? Being on stage or in the audience?”

Ayumu paused. Granted it had only been a few weeks, but she honestly hadn’t thought about performing since their final Live as school idols. However, “I think I would have to agree with Setsuna-chan; both have their appeal, but there is something special about being on stage.”

“Well, if you ever miss being on stage,” Setsuna mused “Egao regularly invites former school idols as guest performers.”

“Eh? Really?” Ayumu hadn’t considered the possibility.

“That’s true.” Yuu chimed in. “We saw one perform tonight.”

They had? Ayumu realized she probably should have paid more attention to the program. Obviously, she had made sure to watch Emma closely, but otherwise, she had been a bit overwhelmed by the crowd and catching up with her former club members.

“Anytime you want, just let me know.” Setsuna continued. “I’d love to sing with you again, Ayumu-san.”

“I… might have to take you up on that sometime.” Ayumu decided.

“I’ll be sure to be there to cheer you on.” Unsurprisingly, Yuu repeated her offer of support.

“Thanks, Yuu-chan.”

The three continued talking about idol performances, both ones they had enjoyed in the past as well as ones to which they looked forward in the future. And as much as Ayumu wanted to prolong working Setsuna’s hair, it was eventually dried and properly brushed, so the session needed to end.

It felt a little strange as Yuu and Setsuna effectively lined up behind her as Ayumu crawled into her bed, after two weeks of them joining later, or just one week for Setsuna. But by the time Ayumu had settled down, Yuu was already halfway across the bed to her usual position and Setsuna had a knee on the edge as she waited for room to be made.

Was tonight actually the best night to experiment with snuggling? Would Yuu tease her?

“Ayumu?” Yuu apparently noticed the change in her expression.

Ayumu steeled herself for the next move and reached out to place a hand on Yuu’s shoulder.

I want to cuddle too, Yuu-chan. Ayumu pleaded silently. You cuddle with Setsuna-chan and we’re both equally important to you, so you can cuddle with me as well, right? Please don't make me say it out loud though, it's hard enough making the first move! And why do I have to anyway? Geez… Yuu-chan you can be so dense sometimes…

Finally, Yuu smiled, seeming to understand. She slid an arm around Ayumu and pulled the two of them together before nuzzling in under Ayumu’s chin.

Wait, no, I wanted to be the one to… oh well…

“Mm?” Setsuna’s hum sounded confused. Perhaps she hadn’t expected Yuu to move away from her? And did Ayumu detect a bit of disappointment in her tone as well?

Sorry, Setsuna-chan, I didn't mean to make you feel left out. Ayumu thought to herself as she moved her hand off Yuu’s shoulder, reached past her, found Setsuna’s arm and pulled gently. The other girl let herself be guided forward to the position Ayumu commonly observed in the morning. Now, they were even more crowded than before, and yet…

“This is nice…” Yuu murmured as though continuing Ayumu’s thoughts. “Good night, Ayumu, Setsuna-chan.”

Ayumu and Setsuna responded, almost in unison, causing Ayumu to giggle a little.

Yuu didn’t end up teasing her. Strange. But maybe it was because she had wanted the same thing? And if that was the case, Ayumu was still a little confused as to why Yuu hadn’t tried to snuggle with her before. In any case, at least they were now, so she then pushed that concern out to make room for more pleasant thoughts.

Ayumu closed her eyes and enjoyed the comfort of falling asleep nestled together with the two girls she loved.

----------

Author’s Note continued in Followup post

[idkthisisjustforfanfic]

two years too late, chapter t e n

Alyssa’s lips pulled towards the ground--the expression on her face twisted into anger as you waited for her to respond. “This weekend? Of all weekends you have to go this weekend?” Her voice echoed through the small living room, her eyes searching your face for some sign that you were kidding.

“Yeah--he’s got a meeting or something. It’s part of his birthday, too!”

“It’s my company’s big gala, Y/N! You’ve known about this for months and you’re bagging the week before?”

“M’sorry, okay? I wouldn’t just be bagging if it was for someone other than him.”

She let out a groan at that, her hands flopped against her side, she moved towards the kitchen as if starting to cook dinner would be calming. You stepped back from her, feet hitting the hardwood floor as if being in her path was dangerous.

“Fine--whatever. I’ll just go by myself and look pathetic because everyone else will have a date.”

“Alyssa!”

“Don’t!” She turned around quickly, her eyes wide and hands on her hips. “You’re bailing. Call it what it is and don’t try to make an excuse.”

“I’m bailing for a good reason, though!”

“Because your popstar friend asked you to go away with him?”

Silence for a second. The afternoon was baked in winter sun, dipping beneath the buildings that created a skyline above. You wanted to correct her--more than a friend at this point--but you didn’t.

“What happened to the Y/N who thought this was all a good joke? The one who thought he’d head back out on tour and forget about you again?”

You bit at your lip. Her words were salt on a wound, but you didn’t tell her that. 

You could ask yourself the same question. Where had she gone? How had the logical, realistic voice in your head who’d been convinced that all of this was too little too late suddenly be willing to jet off into the sunset with the boy who broke your heart?

“You’re sounding a lot like Jessie,” you observed, a scowl coming over your own face as she stared back at you. “Unsupportive, pessimistic, Jessie Alby.”

She rolled her eyes at this, a shake of her head before she headed for the kitchen again. 

“You’ll be with co-workers!” You reminded her, trailing behind as she opened up the fridge. 

“Pat and Erin are both bringing dates.”

“What about that Lauren girl?”

“Laura,” she corrected.

“She’ll be there!”

“With her husband.”

It was your turn to groan now, you leaned against the counter and watched as she pulled a knife from the drawer to start chopping an onion. The blade met the cutting board she’d set out before you broke the news--you wondered if she imagined it was you she was chopping to bits.

“Well Jesus, Alyssa--it’s not like I’m bailing for the grocery store. This is California! With him! He said it’d be romantic!”

She didn’t say anything. She kept her eyes on the vegetable in front of her and kept her mouth twisted into a grimace. A noise from out in the hallway--neighbors home from a Sunday afternoon trip to Whole Foods. 

It wasn’t that you didn’t understand. After Harry fell asleep the night before, a smile on his face when you agreed to go with him, reality set in. You’d promised back in October to be Alyssa’s date the first weekend in February, her company’s big fundraising gala and she was required to go. 

There’ll be free alcohol and cute investors there, she enticed. You can even tweet about how stuffy it is if you don’t name the company. 

It was shitty--she was counting on your companionship and six days beforehand was a bit short notice to bail. But like you’d said. You weren’t bailing for just anyone or anything.

“I’m really sorry, okay? But this--it feels really different and really good and I just--I really like him. I mean, what was I supposed to do, say no?”

She set the knife down calmly, her hands on the counter when she turned to face you. “No but--you could have least talked to me before deciding.” She wasn’t as angry now, she had a look of disappointment in her eyes when she turned towards the sink. 

There wasn’t much you could say in response. I’m sorry, I suck, I’m a shitty friend. None of it would change the way she felt and none of it held space for the excitement in your chest at the thought of a house in Beverly Hills all to yourselves.

So you gave her space. You packed a bag and headed to Harry’s. An apology text before bed went unanswered, a meme you sent on Monday at work didn’t even get a thumbs up. 

The apartment was empty when you keyed in that night, you figured she was at a spin class or out to drinks with a coworker. You’d showered and shimmied into your sheets before she came in--straight to her room without even saying hi. The only sign she was home was the jiggling of the doorknob and the living room light that flooded under the crack below your door. 

It was the same on Tuesday. She made coffee in silence and left earlier than usual for work, her words sparse and distant when she headed out the door. 

When you sat on the couch at Harry’s apartment that night, his eyebrows pointed towards his nose, his head tilted as he listened to the words spill out of you. 

“I get that she’s mad, y’know? I get that I told her I’d go and that she doesn’t want to be alone there, but come on! It’s you. I’m not bailing to hang out with Carly or some random guy I met on Tinder! I just wish she’d be a bit more understanding.”

He was quiet, clearly unsure if you had more to say. When you took a deep breath, he smiled a bit, a laugh escaped his pink lips in the dim living room.

“Maybe you should stay.”

“What?” You pulled away from him, the leather of the couch letting your leggings slide effortlessly. “Harry, no! I already said I was coming, I want to!”

“I know, lovie, but--I dunno, I feel bad knowing Alyssa will be by herself.”

You felt a thump in your chest, you weren’t used to nicknames aside from Smalls. 

“She’s fine,” you said, waving a hand to truly convince him that your roommate would be alright by herself. Selfish. Fine--you could admit that, own it. You were excited for a weekend with Harry where you wouldn’t have to pretend to be anything but what you were. 

Friends who became more and now somehow lived in the unknown territory that felt remarkably similar to being friends with benefits. Good benefits. Sleeping at his house and toothbrush in his bathroom benefits.

And Los Angeles was full of celebrities, right? Harry wouldn’t stick out like a sore thumb and it gave a perfect excuse to make some type of low key announcement. 

Pictures of you and Harry heading out to dinner? Work. You tagging along to business meetings with Harry? (You imagined them to have coffee and sparkling water and interns who waited on him hand and foot). Work! It was all work.   

There was plenty to do in Los Angeles that could give you the cover of it being a work trip, for both of you. And it was, sort of.

But you got back on track. “Alyssa is one of the most extroverted people I know--she doesn’t need a date.”

He offered a look of disappointment, one that pulled a groan right out of your mouth. 

“I know I suck, alright? But hear me out: we go to LA, people will undoubtedly see us together. I announce that I’m working on the story. All is well in the world.”

He pushed his lips out, deep in thought. His left eyebrow twitched a little, he swallowed. “What about the people who go digging and find old photos of us and realize that--” he trailed off. When you raised your eyebrows, he spit it out. “It’s more than work?”

You let out a soft laugh. “I mean, I deleted every photo of us from all of my social media accounts. Jake and Adam are private on instagram, I think Bryn is too.”

“So what about Jessie?”

“I’ll ask her to take down whatever photos she has of us.” You shrugged as if it was casual. As if asking that of your boisterous and bold friend wouldn’t open up a conversation that you didn’t want to have. It’d been almost a week since you’d spoken and now didn’t feel like a good time to give Jessie more ammunition to tell you what a moron you were. 

“Think she will?”

You rolled your eyes. Jessie was the type of person who’d say no just because she didn’t like being told what to do. 

He leaned forward and pressed a kiss to your forehead, his words quiet when he rose from the couch. “I know you know this, but, I don’t mind if people know.”

His words were simple, they hung in the air when you watched him walk over to the kitchen for a glass of water. Of course he didn’t mind--it didn’t put him at risk. 

Unlike him, at night when you couldn’t sleep, you’d lay away and think of all the things that could happen. You’d count the taxis that honked their horns and list off the terrifying possibilities one by one. 

I could lose my job. I could lose friends in Whitney and Carly. People would think I’m using him for fame. People would hate me because I know him. 

And then what happened when it was all over? When Harry’s schedule got the best of him again and when it whisked him away to prance around on some stage in Switzerland? 

The dust in your life would settle and you’d be left unemployed, labeled a liar by the New York pop journalism scene. You’d go back to take out on the couch with Alyssa (if she didn’t cut you out for good) and watching him from afar on social media. Maybe you’d go back to getting Happy Christmas! group texts.

Jessie would tell you how stupid you were, Adam and Bryn would agree, Jake would pretend to be neutral until he couldn’t stand the tension.

Fractions of scenarios grew into life altering situations. No job. No friends. No Harry. You couldn’t imagine anything worse.

You could be hopeful that it wouldn’t shake out like that. Maybe he wouldn’t just leave you behind again--maybe Whitney wouldn’t hate your guts and fire you on the spot. 

But the same voice that once tried to tell you this was all two years too late now echoed a new mantra. If this was all going to fall apart at the beginning of March, at least you could have fun while it lasts. 

Because it won’t last long.

**

You decided calling out sick on Friday wasn’t the way to do it. You didn’t remember Harry having such a penchant for honesty, but he (along with his assistant) had successfully convinced you to get the okay from Whitney to be out of office for work purposes. Harry would have loved it if you came out with it altogether (what do you want me to do, you asked, tell her how great you are in bed?), but you reminded that patience was a virtue and that Whitney would be more likely to forgive your lies if she’d already read an impressive and exclusive interview. 

So you told her at lunch on Wednesday that you had an update for her--she scheduled a block of time for you to come sit in her office, the tiny people in windows across the street were a reminder that life continued outside of the nerve wracking meetings in her office. 

She was excited--rambling at first about how her bagel rating instagram had reached one hundred thousand followers. Whitney was one of the few people at The Scoop to have more of an internet presence than you. Her love for bagels and her obsession with The Bachelor franchise seemed to gather people into her corner. 

“So,” she set her phone down after showing you the recent message she’d gotten from a bagel company in Michigan (a supply of one hundred bagels if she’d review them at 5 stars). “What’s up? How’s Harry?” A wiggle of her eyebrows let you know that she was just as enchanted by your famous friend as the rest of the world was.

“Well--actually, that’s why I’m here. He, uh, he invited me to go to Los Angeles this weekend. He’s got some meetings about his tour, finalizing some things. Said he thought it might be a good opportunity for the interview.”

Her eyes were wide. “Like, with him? This weekend?”

You nodded. “For the story, obviously.” 

She thought on it for a second, her lips pursed together and she fiddled with a pen on top of her desk. “I like it--it’s like one of those day in the life pieces but you’re getting so much more, obviously, if it’s a few days.”

A sigh of relief. 

She shrugged. “Kind of shocking he asked--he’s a pretty private guy from what I’ve heard, but as long as you’re okay doing that? I know you’d lose a weekend.”

“S’fine, yeah--no, it’d be cool for sure. Anything for a good story, right?”

She laughed, “how many times have you sat with him now?”

“Three,” you lied. 

“And what have you touched on?”

“A lot of stuff about being solo, his take on life after meteoric fame, the things that make him normal,” you shrugged. That was all true--those were the things you talked about. But sometimes it was over a glass of wine on his sofa or when you stared at the ceiling before bed at night.

Her eyes lit up and she dropped the pen on her desk. “It’s going to be so good, Y/N! I can’t wait to read it!”

You nodded, forcing a smile before standing from the chair opposite her desk. 

“So--I’ll talk with Tiffany and get a flight booked for you? I can have her reach out to his manager and get that squared away.”

“No, no--it’s not--he said I can go, like, on a plane with him.”

“With him?” Her eyebrows rose, a smirk on her face when you nodded. “You must be making a pretty good impression.”

“He’s just friendly,” you corrected. “Really down to earth.”

She laughed, leaning back in her chair and checking the text that lit up on her phone. “Probably the whole British thing--makes him feel at home, I bet. Hey--you don’t--did you live anywhere near him before he was famous? Have you bonded over tea or the Union Jack?”

The words tumbled out of your mouth, spilling onto her desk and landing in her lap before you could even process her question. “No, I grew up close to Leeds and I don’t know where he did. But yeah, I’ll be gone just Friday then for this and I’ll uh, I can get you a draft or something?”

“Well, it’s running online March 1st--so I’ll need the final by February 20th or so. Let’s just meet when you’re back and talk about the direction, sound good?”

A nod, a desperate nod to end the conversation in hopes of getting your heart rate somewhere near normal. You hurried out of her office and back towards your desk. A text from Harry waited on your phone. 

Harry S (4:36pm): Can you stop and get cream on your way home from work? 

A blush on your cheeks--you were headed to his, not yours, but he still called it home. As if it was yours, too.

**

If you weren’t convinced the first time, the second time really did you in. Champagne was much better at 30,000 feet. 

The tiny plane was a recipe for motion sickness though, so after the first few sips, you didn’t have anything until dinner that night. A French restaurant in Malibu. One his friend had suggested. 

He had a meeting the first morning, which gave you time to sleep in before he insisted on heading to a tiny beach. Barely ever crowded, he said. He watched you dance around on the sand, much warmer than anything in Britain. The waves were tall and strong, apparently dangerous if you didn’t know what you were doing. 

He showed you how to get past them, dunking under the current when they rolled by or floating over them, face up towards the sky and belly in the sun. He kissed you in the car afterwards, signing at the top of his lungs when his own song came on the radio. 

Always been a cocky boy, you chided. 

On the second day he wanted to show you some of his favorite places. A diner on the Pacific Coast Highway, the house where he’d stayed with the band when they came for the first time. A smile stretched across his cheeks when he listed off the memories at each one, pulling you into a world of his that had existed without you for the last five years. 

You tagged along to a casual meeting with his tour manager in the afternoon, lunch was an outdoor cafe with ivy growing up the egg-shell white walls. You’d felt the nervous energy in your chest--it wasn’t new. 

But being in LA was. It was warm and sunny and Harry seemed to know the city like the back of his hand--he had a confidence here that he certainly lacked in New York. 

It was also new to be sitting across the table from him, sunglasses over both of your faces while you sipped mimosas, almost free of worry about being recognized or photographed. 

You’d talked it all out the night before, too. He reiterated the words he’d said in his living room a few days back. Don’t worry about it, s’gonna be fine. You can announce the story and people will believe it. 

So when you came through the doors of the house hidden down a winding street off the coast, you didn’t expect to feel so frantic when you saw a picture of his hand on the small of your back. He’d disappeared into the kitchen, placing leftovers in the fridge that you’d insisted on taking home.

When he found you in the bedroom upstairs, knees to your chest as you zoomed in closer, his voice startled you.

“Whatcha lookin’ at?”

You looked up quickly, pulse rising as he came over to the bed to wrap his arms around your shoulders. He pressed a kiss to the top of your head, a noise tumbling out of his mouth when his eyes landed on the picture--still pulled up on your phone. 

“Oh.”

You bit your lip, keeping your eyes on it when he pulled away. “S’a little close, huh?”

Anyone who looked at the photo would undoubtedly notice the way you both seemed so comfortable, his fingers grazing the hem of your shirt as you rounded the corner of the restaurant, heading for his parked car on the street. 

“S’fine,” you said quickly, catching on to the nervousness in his voice. You wiggled your toes when you set the phone face down on the duvet. “S’alright--we knew they’d get one.”

“Yeah,” he nodded, his hands now on his hips. He’d taken off the sweater he’d worn to dinner--he was now clad in a simple t-shirt. “Have you looked at Twitter? S’there anything happening?”

Your lips inadvertently pushed out, avoiding his eyes for a few seconds before he shifted on his feet. He raised his eyebrows and nudged his chin towards you, a silent direction to open the app. 

You pulled it up, tapping over to search your name. He stepped forward, chin over your shoulder while you scrolled. 

“Honestly not terrible--they’re not really attacking you.”

“Yet,” the word slipped out between your lips, eyes peering up when he frowned at your insinuation. He stepped forward and laid down on the bed, chin in his hands as he looked up at you.

“Have you thought about what you’ll say?”

A shrug of your shoulders as he adjusted on the white duvet. A telly was mounted on the opposite wall--he promised you could watch a good movie before bed tonight. 

“Just something casual. Might say that the story will be out in March. Dunno.”

He nodded, looking over his shoulder quickly to the attached en suite bathroom. A sigh escaped his lips, he turned back to look at you, eyes as wide as silver dollars when a smirk pulled at his lips. “Want dessert?”

“What?”

“I could go for fro-yo.”

“Fro-yo?”

“Yeah,” his brows furrowed together. “You’ve had it, haven’t you?”

“Yeah, Harry, I know what fro-yo is. You’re just extremely off topic.”

“Just don’t want you to stress. Let’s take a bath.”

You pulled your head back, amused by the wiggling of his eyebrows as he hoisted himself up from the bed. 

“A bath?”

He was already barefoot on the tile floor, reaching over the empty tub to tug on the faucet. It took him a minute, but when he pressed the right button and twisted the right knob, water gushed down towards the drain, the sound immediately steadying your heartbeat. 

He turned around, a cocky grin on his face as he waited for praise. 

You repeated your question. “A bath?”

“Yeah,” his voice was so nonchalant. “I promised a romantic weekend and m’going to deliver, Smalls.” As if his not doing so would be tragic. 

You shook your head, amused as he turned back around to check the temperature. He put his hand beneath the faucet, nodding proudly when he looked back to see you. “S’good.” 

He reached his hands down to his waist, his fingers tugging at the fabric of his shirt to pull it up and over his shoulders. He let it drop to the floor, his gaze meeting yours when your eyes trailed up from the ink on his tummy. He shoved his hands between the skin of his hips and the waistband of his trousers, pushing them down to his knees before shimmying out of them altogether. 

“Going to join?” The smirk on his face welcomed the dimples in his cheeks, his eyes playful as he removed the pair of boxer briefs around his hips. You felt a blush tint your cheeks. Even though it wasn’t a new sight, the clumsiness of sleeping with one of your best friends suddenly flooded the bathtub alongside the water Harry climbed into. 

He watched with greedy eyes when you followed the same pattern of undressing, far more modest than he was when your skin was exposed to the air around you. He smiled up at you, the water just passing his hips. 

“M’going to have to wait until there’s more water--you’re hogging all of it.”

He looked down, a mocked expression of panic crossed his face. His hands moved through the bath with smoothness, a confused look on his face when his eyes met yours. “Uh oh--looks like you’re going to have to be near me.”

“Piss off,” you quipped, a quick roll of the eyes as you lifted a knee to place one foot in the water. It was warm, goosebumps traveled up your thighs when he took your hands to offer support, your other foot followed suit until you stood between his legs. 

You lowered yourself down to sit, the water settled below your belly button in the big tub, a warm sensation spread over your cheeks when he smiled at you. “What?”

“Nothin’--you’re just,” he shrugged, “pretty.”

You let your eyebrows raise quickly, falling back down when a small laugh escaped your lips--muffled by the still running water. “My eyeliner is probably smudged,” you told him, letting the pads of your fingers reach up to wipe beneath your eyes. 

He reached for your wrist, pulling your hand to his mouth before pressing a kiss to the backside. “Thanks for coming with me,” he paused. “I’ve never taken a bath with someone who’s interviewed me before.”

“Okay,” you narrowed your eyes. “You ruined a perfectly sweet moment.”

He splashed a bit of water in your direction, giggling when you pulled another face. 

“Alright,” he relented, clearing his throat when you watched him expectantly. “I, uh, I really like you, Smalls.”

The right corner of your mouth twitched up, the vulnerability in his voice was evident. His eyes seemed to search your face for emotion, something he desperately hoped to find. 

The water still ran, the steady sound from the faucet kept time, seconds ticking by as you sat, naked, in front of him. 

“Are you going to say it back?”

He looked fearful, like the silence between you was a threat to his sanity. 

You waited, a bit out of fear and a bit out of a desire to make him squirm. “I like you too,” you said, a small nod. It was true, four words that would go down in history as a factual statement, but they didn’t even begin to capture the complexity of your relationship. 

It wasn’t as simple as saying you liked him or saying you had fun with him. It wasn’t as easy as saying the sex was good and it was fun to sleep in his king sized bed and get driven around by Roger. 

It was more than the lounging on his couch or the sneaking in and out of each other’s apartments. 

Because what those words didn’t convey was the tightness in your chest when you thought about the weeks ahead. The interview, the tour, the rest of life as you knew it and the way it would cease to exist.

Saying you liked him didn’t explain that you were nervous he’d leave you again for the excitement of fame of fortune. It didn’t even begin to demonstrate the anxiety that coursed through your veins when you thought about the power he had over you now. 

If he broke your heart back then, what could he do now?

You brought your eyes up to meet his, a deep green against the various shades of bathroom beige. He reached to turn the water off, “What is it?”

You licked at your lips, a drip from the faucet broke the silence, you forced a smile. Shrugged your shoulders. You didn’t have the words to begin.

“Y/N,” he said your name seriously, sat up more straight like his posture would pull it out of you.

Dipped eyebrows, a pout on his lips.

“Yeah?”

“What’s wrong?” 

He reached for your hand underwater, his thumb rubbing a circle on top of your skin. You twisted your lips, bit at the inside of your cheek as you contemplated all the possible answers. 

But that was when it hit you. 

Maybe it wasn’t all his fault that things seemed to be two years too late. Maybe the real issue was your own inability to speak up--to tell him how you felt and wait for a response before running and hiding and cursing him out. 

So, you took a breath.

“M’afraid.”

“Of what?”

A sigh. “Of you, I guess.”

He didn’t say anything, he watched you shrug again and laugh as if this was all silly. As if sitting between his legs in a bathtub in Beverly Hills was silly. As if flying to California and writing a story about him was silly. As if pretending you hadn’t always loved him would somehow change the narrative.

When he still didn’t speak, you knew he wanted more.

“Of what could happen.” You decided to edit that. “Of how this could ruin our friendship.”

Still quiet. He took a breath and let it out, blinked a few times before he let his eyes drop to the water, bending a knee to rest his elbow on top. “I know, Smalls--and that’s kind of why I didn’t want to rush to label anything, I guess.”

“What do you mean?”

He ran a wet hand through his hair to keep pieces from falling in front of his eyes. “S’why I said a while ago that I wasn’t seeing anyone else. I didn’t want you thinking that this,” a pause, he twisted a palm towards the vaulted ceiling, “means nothing. It means a lot.”

You nodded--it wasn’t necessarily that you believed him or knew what he meant, but you wanted him to keep talking. When you were silent, he took it as his cue. 

“I don’t want it to ruin our friendship. But so far it feels like it’s just made our friendship better. Enhanced it, even. I kind of think that’s how relationships should be, yeah? A best friend that you’re attracted to, one who’s good in bed. I mean, that’s the whole package.” A smirk tugged at his lips and he tried to regain composure. “I’d rather you be my girlfriend than my friend, anyway.”

He shifted in the water, eyes on yours.

“Yeah?”

He nodded. “Yeah.”

He reached forward and pulled you close to him, your legs tangled beneath the water, fingers likely getting pruney. He kissed you, his lips all over your cheeks and your nose and your chin before he landed on your mouth, you could feel the way his lips curved into a smile.

“Only took you about a decade.” 

He rolled his eyes, playful and exaggerated before reaching up to brush hair behind your ear. “Now you’re the one who just ruined a perfectly sweet moment.”

**

There was breakfast at a cute cafe, another meeting on Sunday morning before you met a few friends of his for lunch. A baseball cap offered privacy from the sun and the photographers that seemed to linger around every street corner--it took everything inside of you not to reach for his hand. 

The hum of the airplane cabin on Sunday afternoon threatened to lull you to sleep, but you decided to use the time to brainstorm possible starts and middles and endings of the story. Words and sentences were jumbled on the screen of your laptop, Harry’s eyes were closed in the seat across from you. 

There’d been photographers at the airport--there always are, he said. They called his name and somehow knew yours too. You wondered how much this would blow up on the other end of things, but luckily you had six hours in the sky to calm your nerves.

And writing usually helped. Hearing the sound of your fingers on the keyboard typically gave your heart something to beat along to. But this time, Harry’s hooded eyes closed after take off, a cup of tea was your only company as you tried, desperately, to draft up what felt a lot more like a confession than an interview. 

A car waited at JFK--blacked out windows and a smiling driver that you didn’t recognize. You were dropped curbside at your apartment, insisting that you didn’t need any help up to your apartment. After all, there were likely enough suspicious photos from the weekend--evidence of Harry helping you into your flat was really just fuel for the fire at this point. 

So you climbed the stairs alone after a kiss in the backseat, promising to text him later and probably even see him tomorrow. 

He was happy--he seemed it, at least--when he referred to you as his girlfriend that morning on the phone with whoever was arranging your ride to the airport. 

But you weren’t about to bust into the apartment and tell all that to Alyssa. Despite a few text messages that had been exchanged during the trip--including your guilt-ridden inquiry about her work event--you knew you had to tread carefully. You were still working your way back to baseline. 

She was on the couch when you keyed in, pulling the hat from your head and hanging your keys on the hook beside you. She muted the telly, asking the normal pleasantries you ask someone after a trip, her curiosity seemed genuine, her excitement sincere. 

Eventually, you handed her the small canvas tote bag you’d seen inside a store in Thousand Oaks. 

She turned the fabric over in her hands, eyes inspecting the colorful display of landmarks. The Hollywood sign was painted on the front, the Capitol Records building and the Venice Beach sign adorned the lower corners. 

“Figured you needed a new one since the one you use has a hole in the bottom.”

She laughed, eyes flickering over to the canvas tote that hung on a hook beneath the counter. You’d watched her stuff it to the brim multiple times. Spices, vegetables, baguettes and desserts alike. She’d gotten it when she first moved here--a few months before you. It was a tote from the Student Activities office of her former university. 

“Thanks,” she said, still admiring it. “S’nice of you to think of me.”

“Alyssa,” you rolled your eyes, a bit dramatic to get a laugh out of her. “Just because you were mad at me for being a dick doesn’t mean I’d forget about you.”

She let out a sigh, standing from the couch as she tried to mask the smile on her face. “I, uh, have something to tell you.”

“Yeah?” You folded your legs beneath you, leaning forward on the cushions in excitement. You’d been home for less than an hour and things felt relatively normal--at least, as normal as they could. 

“I met someone this weekend.”

“You did? Who is he?” 

She shrugged her shoulders, eyes fluttering--a sure sign she was trying to play it cool. “His name is Owen.”

“Owen?!” You bounced in place, the smile on your cheeks stretched from ear to ear. 

Alyssa rarely went on dates and she rarely talked about them afterwards. “It was fun and he was nice--asked me to see him again and I’m going to.”

And she never went on second dates.

“Bloody fuck are you mad?!”

“I just like him,” she laughed, lifting the empty tote bag over her shoulder, eyeing it in the mirror between your bedroom doors. “Looks good,” she said casually. 

“Don’t change the subject,” you stood from the couch. “When are you seeing him again?”

“I dunno--later in the week maybe. Friday or something. Be cool about this, okay?”

“Okay, yeah,” you smoothed out your hair and cleared your throat. “I can be cool about it.”

“If you get freaked out about it I’m going to get freaked out about it.”

“M’not freaked out,” you lied. “Not at all.”

“Me neither,” she said, shedding the bag and letting it fall to the coffee table. “So it was good, the trip?”

You took a pause, settling back onto the sofa. You wanted to be honest with her without rubbing it in her face that you’d ditched her to fly off to LA for the weekend. You settled for a happy medium. “It was fun--we uh, had a good conversation about us.”

“About the two of you?”

You nodded. Pulled a piece of hair over your shoulder to braid it mindlessly while you spoke. “Yeah--he said he isn’t seeing other people and I’m not either so he said it kind of just makes sense to label it.”

The corner of her mouth curved up. “Yeah? Did he propose while he was at it?”

“Oh sod off,” you shot back quickly, thankful that the banter had returned to it’s typical state. 

“Sounds pretty serious,” she padded over to the kitchen, the bottom of her sweatpants dragged on the floor when she walked. 

You watched her reach for a bottle of wine, she raided the utensils drawer for an opener. “It was a good amount of seriousness,” you concluded.

She twisted the screw in, placed the bottle under her arm but looked up at you with wide eyes before she yanked the cork out. “That’s all you’re going to divulge?”

You pulled your legs up to your chest. “S’all there really is. He only said the ‘g’ word once.”

“The ‘g’ word?” Her ‘r’ was sharp when the cork popped out. “‘Girlfriend?’”

“Yes ‘girlfriend.’”

She giggled to herself, pulling two glasses from the cabinet before pouring them. She brought them back over to the couch after wiping them off, handed one to you, and sat. 

“How’s that feel?”

You bit at your lip. Thoughts about it all had swirled in your head the entire flight home--especially when he pressed a kiss to your lips in front of the driver.

“I mean, we’ll see. I kind of addressed the whole distance thing over breakfast today and he said we can make it work. FaceTime and texting and trips out to see each other.”

“Phone sex,” she twisted a palm to the sky, her face serious before bursting into laughter. 

“Alright--you’re unbelievable.”

“I’m kidding!” She pleaded, an eye roll in your direction when you reached for your phone on the table. 

“I should probably tweet something about the interview anyway. There was a fair amount of photographers who saw us at the airport.”

You fell into a comfortable silence, thumb stretching along the screen to catch up with whatever had happened on Twitter over the last few hours. Alyssa hummed mindlessly and sipped at her wine, you almost scrolled right past it.

She was in a tan coat--one that dipped below her knees--a scarf that was green and gold. His arm was extended around her waist, the photo was hidden inside another tweet. You tapped your thumb to expand it, lips parting when your stomach sank.

Her lips were on his. His were on hers. Another photo--in a series of four--that showed their entire farewell embrace, outside of Harry’s apartment. 

Nina Winters was a model--you knew her name and you knew her face, but that was about it. Long black hair that skimmed her dainty shoulders. 

“He’s kissing Nina Winters,” you whispered, voice barely audible over the car that passed by your building on the street below.

“Hmm?” Alyssa looked up, her lips pursed together as she waited for you to repeat yourself. 

You turned the phone around, shoving it in her direction without words--you didn’t want to speak them out loud again. 

“Whoa--what the fuck is that?” She leaned forward and took it in her hands. “When is this from?” 

You could see her scroll down, her fingers pinched the screen to close the photo out. “It’s from December,” she answered her own question. “The eighteenth. S’not now, at least, right? I mean,” she looked up at you again, face hesitant. 

“No, s’not better! That was before he kissed me but it was when we were going home for Christmas and it was--I dunno, I thought there was already something there at that point.”

“Okay--so, we don’t know when they stopped seeing each other,” she said, her voice steady as she relocated to the cushion beside you. “Maybe that was the last time they spoke.”

She exited out of the Twitter app, her thumb pulling up a Google search. You watched her type it in. Harry Styles Nina Winters. 

“Three million results?!” You pulled her hands toward you, eyes desperate for a closer look. “Great, fucking shit!” 

You didn’t know if it was anger or sadness that swirled between your lungs. Both, maybe, with a bit of jealousy mixed in.

She selected a new photo--this time they were heading out of a restaurant, more space between them, a jacket over her shoulders in the cold New York night. “January,” she said, her voice more quiet than before. “This one is January 9th.”

You took it from her hands, a throbbing in your head as you looked over the picture. You knew the coat he was wearing, knew where it hung in his flat. “So--after we came back. After he kissed me and fed me all the rubbish about having feelings for me since 2010 or whatever the fuck he said.”

“What are you gonna do?”

You looked around the room, the swipe card to his flat catching your eye. It hung beside Alyssa’s keys near the door, you’d left it here while you were in LA.

“M’gonna go tell him to fuck off.”

Her eyes went a bit wide at that, she watched you push yourself off the couch as you scrambled for boots and a coat. “Are you sure? Do you want to like--wait a day or something?”

“No--I don’t owe him anything.”

“I’m not saying you do!” She corrected herself quickly, voice frantic as she stood from the couch.

“I’ll be back,” you grabbed the ring of keys from the hook, offering a sadistic smile over your shoulder. You shut the door, headed for the cold streets, and that’s when the tears hit. 

You counted the blocks as you went--filling your mind with the arbitrary numbers kept you from trying to retrace every step. He’d fallen off the grid when you’d gotten home--didn’t text for a few days. His communication was shit when he was in California the week before last. 

The time in his flat when you asked him about things he said to all the other girls. 

But everything this weekend seemed perfect--a mere eight hours you ago you were floating on cloud nine as fifteen-year-old dreams had finally come true.

You didn’t even wave to the man at the front desk--Mark, you’d learned, was his name--before you hit the button and swiped the card Harry had given you two weeks back. Your heart worked harder than the lyft, thumping in your ears before the doors split open, pouring you into the living room, tear stained cheeks as a greeting. 

He wasn’t anywhere to be seen. The living room was empty--a blanket on the couch, a suitcase in the middle of the floor, half unpacked.

Humming drifted down the hall, when he rounded the corner, surprise crossed his face and he stopped in his tracks. 

“Wh--what’s wrong? Are you okay?”

You didn’t know how to say it. There was no sweet way to soften the blow or sugarcoat it. He’d never bothered to do the same, so at this point, you figured you didn’t need to offer kindness. 

“I know about Nina.”

His face was straight, his body still. He blinked twice and a noise escaped his lips, but it didn’t form a word. Instead, his eyes locked on yours and a wave of anger spewed out a more coherent thought.

“I know you were making out with her inside of some restaurant in Chelsea right before you paid for my ticket home for Christmas.”

A pause--trying to collect his thoughts. You imagined his heart beat climbing, rising in to his chest and trying to settle in his lungs when he cleared his throat.

“Y/N it wasn’t like that,” his words were hollow--deflated and desperate when he took two steps closer. 

“Fuck you,” you said quickly, the emotion bubbling in your chest. “I don’t care what it wasn’t. I doubt the pictures were doctored--were they? Is that was you expect me to believe?”

“No--I just--it was stupid and--”

“Shut up!” You screamed, more tears spilling onto your cheeks as your clenched hands shook by your side. There was a rage inside of you--one that wanted to break things or punch walls or type furious messages to this girl who had a hold on his heart before you did. 

He didn’t say anything--he watched you carefully and seemed to be waiting for you to offer something more, as if you hadn’t given enough. Your boots were glued to the floor beneath you, the rubber soles that had carried you on slushy sidewalks to his flat had grown roots and planted themselves in the center of his living room. 

He watched as you caught your breath, you counted in threes like your mother used to when you were a child. One, two, three. One, two, three. 

“Smalls--I ended things with her--”

“Before or after you kissed me?”

“Well, after--”

“Did you see her after we came back from Christmas? After we slept together?”

A sigh--an answer in and of itself, one that didn’t need letters or vowels. 

“Great--great, Harry! This is why I tried to stop all of this,” you motioned around his flat as if the couch held the memories of late night movies or the miso soup he’d spilled all over the carpet. “Because why would this ever work for us, Harry? We had plenty of time back then!”

He brushed over your admissions, voice louder when he rubbed at the back of his neck. “You don’t even know what happened, Y/N! You don’t even know what I said to her or why I saw her.”

“What I do know is that there is plenty of proof that there was something going on between the two of you while there was something going on between us.”

“I met her in August--we went on a few dates, I barely know her!”

“You snogged her in December!” The words flew out of your mouth and landed before his feet. He looked down, watching them puddle on the floor in front of him. 

“If you don’t want to hear what I have to say, then why did you come here?”

The churning of a washing machine hummed in the distance, the suddenly mundane noises of kitchen appliances seemed suffocating. 

“To tell you it’s over--whatever this was. This was stupid, it was all stupid!”

His lips parted, another squeak that didn’t amount to a word, one that floated over to you and hovered overhead. 

“I’ll see you around,” you told him, wiping the tears on your cheeks and the snot from your nose. He didn’t try to stop you.

read the other parts here

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AN: don’t hate me....but you know where to send the hate mail ^^

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[purplesurveys]

1123

survey by zqrwrgnani

What do you typically have for breakfast? I skip breakfast Monday to Friday. On weekends either of my parents will usually make fried rice served with 3–4 of the following: eggs, hotdogs, corned beef, dried fish, ham, longganisa, and luncheon meat.

Where do you purchase most of your clothes? There’s a tiangge at the local mall where they will change up the collection of clothes being sold every couple of weeks. They have trendy choices at really low prices so that’s where I liked getting clothes back when I went out more.

Do you have any opinions on Anna Delvey? Literally have never heard of her. Should I know who this is...?

What are you currently streaming? I have an episode of (surprise!) 2D1N turned on, but it’s paused.

What do you typically order when you go for coffee? Iced caramel macchiato. I actually switched it up today and went for a basic iced mocha, though. Just wanted to try something new, I guess.

Anything you’re looking out for at the thrift? No, and I don’t usually make trips to thrift stores either.

Who are your favorite YouTubers? Louise Pentland is a recent favorite. There’s also Good Mythical Morning, Grace Helbig, and The Try Guys. I also like a ton of BuzzFeed people but I don’t think they count as YouTubers. I like a good number of local vloggers as well but they’re no one you would recognize.

Describe your skincare routine. I just splash some water onto my face first thing in the morning, every day.

What’s your typical morning routine look like? Work has conditioned me to automatically wake up at 6:30, and by then I have the choice to either go back to sleep or try to properly wake up by watching YouTube videos. Either way, I have to be up by 8 so I can start working. And like I said, I briefly wash my face, then I immediately head to my laptop. That’s it, really; it’s super uneventful and I'm sorry I can’t make it any more interesting lol.

Are you still playing Animal Crossing? I never bought the game, actually. I asked Nina if I should buy it and she said it probably won’t be suitable for me since the game requires a lot of creativity, which as y’all know by now I lack entirely hahaha. I have my eyes set on other games.

How has the pandemic specifically affected you? It kept me from having a memorable final year in university, and it kept me from having a graduation ceremony. We also had to sell one of our cars, which I really loved driving when we still had it, so that bummed me out. I believe the pandemic had also been a slight factor in the crumbling of my former relationship as well.

Where’s your favorite place to go for brunch? I never go out for brunch.

What’s on your nightstand? Right now there is a bunch of books on it and a paper envelope from work.

What do you think about before falling asleep? Anything except my already pending deliverables work for the following day.

What is your main source of anxiety? Continued from the previous evening. I don’t know if there’s a main catalyst...a lot of things have the ability to make me feel anxious.

Any bands or artists you’ve recently discovered? I’m going further down the K-pop rabbit hole as I know it, lmao. It’s starting, you guys. This week I discovered GOT7; I’ve only heard one song so far but I’m extremely hooked. Ravi’s also very talented and has catchy songs.

What are your goals for today? Have a great rest of the evening and enjoy the start of my weekend.

What kind of games do you play on your phone? I haven’t been playing a lot of games on it, actually. I mainly use it to keep track of my Viber notifications (because my laptop sometimes won’t, and I end up replying to some work threads late) and to watch on Viu. But the last game I downloaded was a logo quiz game for old times’ sake.

Are there any packages you’re waiting to come in through the mail? Nah, haven’t ordered anything recently. I think I’m over my online shopping phase hahaha. I was just really excited about it when I got my first couple of paychecks, but now that the initial thrill has passed, I mainly look forward to spending on food – exactly like how I predicted it would be for me.

Describe your favorite t-shirt? I’d neverrrrr throw out my CM Punk Best in the World shirt for the world, no matter how more tattered and stained it gets. It’s one of my prized possessions and it reminds me of a really happy and carefree time in my life.

Do you have a specific aesthetic? I don’t know if I fit into a certain one; I certainly don’t consciously try to. You’d have to ask my friends if I do have a specific kind.

Skinny jeans or mom jeans? Mom jeans, a thousand times over. I dread wearing skinny jeans.

What’s your favorite 90s cartoon? The Wild Thornberrys.

Describe the moment you realized you were falling in love with someone. I felt scared more than anything else. I’ve never felt such a heavy sensation before, so I didn’t know what was going on. I also felt the need to be around them as much as I can, as I was starting to love and enjoy their presence, and be the one to attend to their needs.

Have you tried the feta and tomato recipe? No but sounds delicious.

What’s your favorite sparkling water brand/flavor? I don’t drink that. Sounds nasty.

What’s your favorite makeup brand/brands? Don’t wear makeup, either.

What’s your all time favorite movie? Two for the Road.

What are some female names you would name a baby? Olivia, Mia, and Amelia are some of my favorites.

What about male? Erm, probably names like Mason, Elliott, Matteo, Liam...I don’t want a son, so I don’t think about boy names too often lmao.

Do you have any subscription boxes? No. I’ve always wanted to subscribe to one with a quirky concept, like a Korean-themed one, or international snacks or condiments, or curated alcoholic drinks, etc. but at the end I feel it’s a luxury I could do without.

What did you purchase the last time you bought groceries? The last time I got groceries was for work, and for that instance I got several of the following: coffee packs, soju, various canned goods, spaghetti set, Nutella, and toiletries.

What fictional creature would you like as a pet? Wouldn’t keep him as a pet but I feel like Maximus from Tangled would be such a fun dude to be around.

Describe your favorite piece of jewelry. I don’t have one. I love borrwing my mom’s Tiffany’s jewelry, though.

Have any local businesses closed that you’re sad about? So fucking many of them, especially the ones I frequented back in college. I went back to Katip last week and the place felt like a damn ghost town.

How do you feel about the BLM movement? I support it, of course. And I feel infuriated by those who try to counter by saying aLl LiVeS mAtTeR or worse, bLuE lIvEs MaTtEr.

What’s the worst advice you’ve ever taken? I don’t think I ever took an advice I knew was bad or would be useless or irrelevant to me. But this reminds me of my mom’s favorite piece of advice for every bad situation, which is to pray lmao.

How do you feel about your neighbors? I feel like I answer this a lot on this surveys, but I don’t think anything of them. We mostly keep to our own business.

What kind of dwelling do you live in? A house.

Have you been watching this season of The Bachelor? I’ve never tried watching it and have no desire to.

What’s typically kept in your purse/wallet? Paper bills, receipts I have the tendency to stuff and keep there even though I’ll never have to use them again, my Paramore ticket, TIN ID, copies of 1x1 and 2x2 photos of myself just in case I have to whip one out, driver’s license, my debit cards, and my vape.

How do you feel about TikTok? I gravitate towards the tutorials and unique prompts (like people showing their parents of different nationalities, the then-vs-now of their pets, etc) more so than the dance-y/meme-y ones. I’ve never felt the need to get the actual app, though. I get my TikTok fix on Facebook, which makes me feel old saying so LOL

What’s the hardest thing you’ve done/been through? Dealing through a breakup was surprisingly harder and more excruciating than deaths I’ve had to go through.

Did you/do you still have a Neopets account? I never had an account but I did have a Neopets game on my flip phone.

What do you look like on a day where you don’t leave the house? Haggard.

Do you have any opinions on Amberlynn Reid? Have literally never heard of that name.

Any current trends you dislike? Most streetwear.

[melyaliz]

The Yellow Umbrella pt.5

Masterlist 

Fandom: Marvel 

Summary: Eating cookies and whip cream -NOT- off each other 

Pairing: Demon Lord! Loki x Reader

Notes: I’ve been struggling with this story. Like I have the outline and everything but… I feel just a little lost with where I am going. So I may take a small break. Idk.  I think it’s more I want it to be funnier but I don’t think it is. Then again I’m reading it over several times. 

Or it’s just me 

All Masterlists @melyalizarchive

Connect with me! AO3 / Instagram / Pinterest

DONATE or REQUEST

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

Loki sat up looking around the bedroom, curled up in a soft blanket and cuddled up with a stuffed pig. His new friend. His pig was getting more action with him than his secretaries at the moment. He had been here more in the past few days than his own bedroom really. 

Maybe he was acquiring a taste for cotton over silk. 

Getting up he noticed the fluffy pink robe laying on the floor. Picking it up he gracefully wrapped it over his body. Sadly there were no slippers. It did, much to his delight, have a hood with bunny ears.

“Well don’t you look adorable” the lady of cotton said looking up as Loki walked into the living room. She was scrolling on her phone as the tv played. A plate of cookies and can of whipped cream on the table in front of her. Loki just nodded, pulling the hood over making the bunny ears flop in front of his face. 

“I felt like I needed some sugar this morning,” she said, noticing him looking at her place of sugar. “If you want some you will have to risk Mr Mewoly”

“For those cookies, I will take the risk.” Loki’s pink ears bounced as he made his way to the kitchen. A pot of coffee sat on the counter as well. Opening the cabinet where he remembered seeing Yue pull out a mug he was greeted by a line of cream cups all etched with dark lettering  “Coffee, Hot chocolate, Tea” as well as some bowls that said soup pasta, and cereal. 

Pulling out an appropriate Coffee mug and helping himself to come coffee before risking his life grabbing a few cookies from the demonic cat’s body. Was it just him or did it’s eyes look even eviler than he remembered? Maybe he should get one of those, to guard his office when he isn't around. 

“I like your informinate dishware” Loki said, flopping onto the couch next to Yue who smiled at him. 

“It’s so I don’t forget.” she said as Loki grabbed her feet draping them over his lap before,“By the way, these cookies are amazing. Totally worth the risk.”

Loki nodded as he added a healthy amount of whip cream to his cookie before taking a bite, “Jeff, my assistant, got them for me.” 

“Oh fancy you have an assistant.”

“That I do.” Loki said, taking another bite of his cookie. His free hand gently stroked her ankle as he studied the TV. The two twins were battling some crazy puppets or something. He wasn’t totally paying attention, still waking up.  

“So your assistant’s name is Jeff huh. Do you also have a name?” Yue asked. Loki paused licking sweet cream from his lips as she flashed him a cheeky grin, “See what I did there, smooth.” 

He couldn’t help but chuckle, She was as cute as her choice of robes and dishware, “Very” taking the last bite of his cookie he savored the taste for a moment before speaking again,  “Loki… and you?”

“Loki?” she let out a light laugh “what are you some norweedic god or something? Did you parents hate you? Like Thor I could see but… Loki? Wasn’t he like… the bad guy”

“Not bad necessarily… more like... smarter than everyone else.” 

“Still, Loki? Why not just say Hades, at least that bitch was loyal.”   

“Laugh it up, what’s your name?” 

“Yue”

He tried, but really he didn’t have much to say to that, “it fits you.” he said nodding. It did. It fit her like everything else in this apartment. It was just so… her. 

“So…” she said settling back into her couch of comfort, “Please don’t take this the wrong way but, I like this…. thing we have going.”

“Speaking of loyalty.” Loki said, raising an eyebrow, “I don’t really do relationships… I mean this has been fun, don’t get me wrong but, I’m not about to feed you some pomegranate seeds or whatever.”

“No, that’s what I mean. I like THIS” she motioned between the two of them, “No strings attached. Feeling like we don’t own anything to the other person.” 

“Well in that case I’m all for this thing we have.” 

“So you’ll keep stopping by?”

“I’m only a text away.” 

Nodding Yue pulled out her phone handing it to him, “I’m here for texting. I like to do things with my friends.” 

“Never want to get in the middle of that.” Loki said taking the phone entering his number, “I can always meet after if you're down.” 

“Deal” 

Her hand was still out so Loki took it and shook. Making it officially official. His slender fingers wrapping around her own. 

It felt like the beginning of something. But the fact was it kind of was.

The beginning of nothing. 

-----

“So you guys basically shook on being hook up buddies?” Sammie asked as she took a cookie from the plate that was on the table. 

“I think it’s cute” Riley said, “did you get him some snacks or are we special?”

“Well he actually got us those cookies,” Yue nodded down the now demolished plate of cookies. She had brought over to Sammie’s apartment for movie time, she would say night but it was more early evening. They were watching clueless with a bowl of carrots. And cookies because Yue refused to spend the whole night eating only healthy food even if it was for the memes. 

“He’s hot AND he gets your amazing sweets!?!” Riley moaned, “Are we sure this guy isn’t fake?” 

“Like what?” Sammie shickred, “Is he a cardboard cutout?” 

“Yes, he’s just got a cutout of Brendon Urie and I have been carrying him around pretending it’s my side piece.”

“I like how this cardboard cutout isn’t even your boyfriend. He’s a side piece which means you can sleep with other cardboard cutouts.” Sammie picked at the hole in her sock that had been slowly growing since the movie started. 

“I have Paul Rudd bringing me cake for lunch and Frank Sinatra delivering pizza for dinner.” 

“Living the dream” Riley chuckled, “Oh I have an idea! After this movie  let’s find you something to help him eat your cookie” holding up the image of a local sex shop on her google maps. “They close late like a good sex shop too.” 

“Really Riley?” Sammie said looking up at the shop skeptically. “We have like 6 other movies planned.” 

“We could always watch them after. Go on a quick adventure.” 

“Adventure!” Yue giggled, “Come on Sammie maybe we can find you something tasteful for your presentation on Monday.” 

“Yes I’m sure the Magic Cherry will have JUST what I need to help me pitch my website design on Monday.”  

“Something Leather maybe? I’m sure the party planning company will be super into it.” 

“Yue’s right, after all they ARE all about partying.” 

Sammie fought back a smile as she tossed Yue a hoodie. “Let’s just get there before they close. I don’t want to be those jerks who are there when the workers want to leave.” 

Yue nodded following her friends out bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet. Feeling giddy with excitement. “This is the craziest thing I have ever done.” 

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

“It was the craziest thing I have ever done” 

“That’s where you have been? Doing the craziest thing ever?” Jeff asked as he came up behind Loki holding his black umbrella. Loki surveyed the dark road as they both slowly walked under the large red bridge. 

“Yep we watched this show called Gravity Falls.” 

“What?” 

“It’s a popular children’s cartoon.” 

“A children’s show?” 

“We ate cookies with whip cream.” 

“Off each other?” 

“Out of bowls,” Loki pulled out a pair of white rubber gloves from his pocket, putting them on. 

“Oh, did you… was she young?” 

“For human standards no, you know I don’t mess with anyone who is not within reason.” 

“Cookies for breakfast is the craziest thing you have ever done? Really?” Jeff sighed, closing the umbrella shaking it. Most of the rain had slowed at this point and from where they were standing it wasn’t really doing much good anyway. 

Loki chuckled slowly crouching down. Holding out his hand he waited for Jeff to hand him his cane. Which he did. “I wore a fluffy pink robe with bunny ears.”

“I guess it’s important to have new experiences.” his assistant sniffed looking around tugging his coat closer to himself. 

Loki nodded using the sharp end of his cane to poke at something. 

A dead body. Half its face already decaying in the muddy ground, eyes missing. Around it several others. All their eyes missing bits of their body decaying.

“You sent these vampires out only two days ago.” Jeff, “You think it’s the faceless?” 

“No” Loki sighed standing up, “This is something else. Something worse.” 

“What should I tell the others?” 

“Stay in packs and if anyone knows anything to come to me right away.” Loki turned surveying the site that lay before them. He had sent for the vampires from Seattle to go down to LA to check on Brandon after the LA demon hadn’t shown up for their meeting. While not unusual it hadn’t sat right with Loki. 

Now with almost ten vampires laying here dead and the rest missing he was starting to worry. If someone had overthrown Brandon they would normally approach Loki. New terf lords would want to make a truce with the most powerful Demon Lord on this continent. 

No news, in this case, meant nothing good. 

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

“They have butt plugs that have tails,” Riley said holding a pretty pink and glitter one, “And a unicorn horn, I could fulfill all my little kid dreams and become a unicorn.” 

“Please don't refer to yourself as a little girl in here” Sammie frowned, “It’s weird.”

“Ok, sorry sorry.” Riley said looking over the other items on the wall. “I have been wanting to try these,” she said, pulling a pair of nipple clamps. Sammie, already feeling VERY out of place just looked down at her phone nodding.

“Get whatever you want, I just don’t want to picture you and Sam… doing stuff.” 

“Ok fine,” Riley said, grabbing ones she thought she would like before walking over to Yue who was looking over a rack of panties.

“Find anything fun?” 

“Yeah a few things, What do you think?” she asked, holding up a lacy lingerie. A pretty green color.  

“Love the color” Riley nodded before grabbing a pair of fluffy black cuffs, “Get these too,” 

“Ok but I want the pink ones,” Yue giggled thinking about the morning where Loki had dressed up in her bunny robe. He looked good in it. Under all that eyeliner and studds he was just a big dork. She found it hilarious and would do everything to keep messing with that side for her own amusement. 

“So are you guys meeting up tonight?” Sammie asked, coming up nodding toward the set Yue was holding approving. 

“No he hasn’t texted me.” 

“So what about late dinner? Gary was saying we should go out to this speakeasy place.”

“Oh let me text Sam,” Riley said, “He’s been wanting to go there. Yue you can just find your Paul Rudd while we are out.”

“Or just enjoy the company I’m with.” Yue snickered, “I don’t have to spend every night hooking up.” 

“What’s the fun in that?” The cashier chuckled as she took Yue’s things. 

“A girl needs at least one night to herself.” 

“Well you got the wrong stuff for a night by yourself.” the cashier said as she wrapped everything up, “But I do have some dildos on sale if you want some you time.” 

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

Sam had responded almost immediately that he would pick the girls up. Something about a long week and just wanting to be with his lady. So rushing back to their apartment the girls quickly changed out of their jeans and hoodies into more slutty hipster attire. (A girl’s gotta dress the occasion after all) 

Once she was more speakeasy and less “I am cuddling with my two best friends watching movies” Yue grabbed her bag and walked outside her apartment. After locking her door she turned almost running into a tall dark haired man. Dressed in a red leather jacket he was smoking a cigarette. Yue’s eyes instantly went up to the man’s bold white streak that ran across the front of his black hair. Blue eyes looking down at her amused. 

“Oh, excuse me.” 

The large man shrugged holding out his cigarette pack “Want one?” 

Yue shook her head, thrusting her keys back into her purse, “I’m good thanks.” 

He nodded putting the pack away, “You’re all dressed up, going somewhere fun?” 

“Yeah just dinner with friends.” 

“Nice, I’m visiting a friend, know any good places to go?” 

“Uh well we are going to Idain Basian but if you want something more happening, maybe like Valencia street?” 

“Oh sounds good, I’m not big on waterfronts.” 

“Well I hate to break it to you but San Francisco is basically an island.” 

This earned her another chuckle. “True, well have a good night and be careful there’s a full moon out tonight, never know what crazy you'll run into.” 

Yue nodded walking toward the gate of the complex where her friends were waiting, turning back she got one last look at the man, for a moment she could have sworn it looked like his eyes glowed. 

Maybe she was watching too many cartoons. 

Or maybe he was just a bunch of gnomes in a trench coat. 

No, she was definitely watching too many cartoons. 

-GET TAGGED!- 

Masterlist 

Forever tag:  @the-shadow-of-atlantis @coffee-randomness @0hmydeku @xx3fsxx @daisyboobear  @jason-redhood @hello-i-lovespiderman-blr  @pinkwitch21 @tomhncharliep  @cdwmtjb8

Story:  @irwin-hood @hit-th3r0ck @cruel-kitten @boofrarti @i-miukimiuki @mmimagine-40 @mynameofuser @pia-1000 @angelgl16 @the-fifth-marauder03 @plutos-deamonchild @frenchfrostpudding @carydorse @neverleturheartshow2​ @sebhiddleston​ @probsjosh @dracaryspowpow @andrea20967​ @saiyanprincessswanie​ @olive-tini @albinotigerpython @wonderlandfandomkingdom​ @alessia--winchester 

[doitwritenow]

Hey, you still up for the fandom meme thing xD? How about A, P, and Z? P.S. I love your stories and works 👏👏👏

Ssksjsks thank you! I am so glad you like

---

A: Oh-ho current OTPs... well there’s my Ironstrange boys, of course. I love the dynamic between them, the way their proclivities match each other’s vulnerabilities. I love the situations canon presents for them (the fourteen million futures; meetings around and through canon stories; the scientist drawn to magic and the scientist who makes his own--and the fact that that phrase can mean both of them interchangeably!) and I love to ignore those situations, on occasion. I enjoy the way insult and attitude expose the nuance of emotion between them, ranging from adoration to desolation. I just really love them okay.

I also Ship-with-a-capital-S Castiel and Dean (Spn). There’s a reason that pairing’s so popular! The intense power of Castiel’s inhumanness gives him strength, but also sort of innocence when it comes to the ways of Earth and emotion. I really like how that matches up with Dean’s raw humanity--even as the show (somewhat awkwardly, but we all know you can’t trust canon) explores questions of what it means to be human and what it takes to be good. 

Last one I promise--I adore Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian from their representations in MDZS and the Untamed. This was the first international fandom I really got into, and the pairing comes from a canon love story in the book the story comes from. Of course, it’s undermined on screen because of China’s censorship laws, but that almost makes it more appealing--because there’s so much subtext! I love the pairing of the lonely, broken prince drawn to a true, deep love for the wild hero of war and morality, the hero who turns to darkness, away from his world and the prince. Until the two are drawn back together for a new quest--and a second chance they didn’t know they’d get. It’s great. 

---

P: INVENT A RANDOM AU! ALRIGHTY THEN. How about an AU where the magic of a society is sort of worked into glass. And the people who use magic weave it into blown-glass figures called golems, which can then move around. To make any old figure into a golem you have to connect it to one of your five senses, and that connects you with it as well. Eg. a golem you're connected to via sight allows you to see through its eyes (if you create it with a pair). 

But, if the golem is destroyed, you lose the corresponding sense. It stops working. So there's strategy involved; if you create a golem to simply be a soldier or defender, you may want to connect it to your sense of smell or taste instead of hearing or sight. But there's more! Because it's never enough with me apparently! The different properties of glass determine different characteristics of a golem.

 > Reflective-ness gives the golem soul and self-awareness almost, making it more alive. However, the more reflective, the harder it is for you to get it to do what you want. 

> Color gives the golem more energy and keeps it active longer, but much more easily controlled by other glassblowers/people who create golems. More on control later.

> Transparency gives a longer reach between glassblower and golem that the golem will still respond to changing orders. But transparency is incompatible with reflectivity, and the two cancel each other out if you try to build them into one figure. 

So! When you create a golem you give it one of your senses and you give it a Purpose or an Order, which is then its sole point in life. When it completes that order, it dissolves with no affect to its creator. If you locate a golem using the sense it is connected to, you can control it and "use" its creator’s sense. So like, if you SAW a SIGHT golem, you would be able to SEE through its creator’s eyes. 

SO YEAH, AU where the magic’s super weird and aesthetic because that’s how I roll. 

---

Z: Uhm... idk what to do for this one so I’ll just drabble something Ironstrangey. 

“How did you know?”

Stephen jerked his head up, spinning in his chair toward the source of the voice. One Tony Stark glared back at him, aura sparking with furious ruby colors, though Stephen didn’t think they were directed at him, this time. 

Monday morning had come early, and Stephen had been drifting towards slumber all day: at breakfast, on the subway, against his internship’s doorway, and again now. But the anxious anger of Tony’s aura left no room for drowsiness. 

The young man looked tired, too, at least physically, which was likely Stephen’s fault. His aura was duller, and he sported drifting shadows beneath his eyes and what looked like a bruise along his jawbone. Had he started Saturday night hacking into the hospital’s records, or had he waited until Sunday? 

“Did you find them?” Stephen asked, pivoting to fully face Stark.

“Find what?” Tony demanded. “That there was another car? Which killed my parents and left the scene before it could be identified, leaving unknown or accidental motive? You mean that? That you somehow know?” His hands gesticulated wildly, his eyes wide with somewhat desperate confusion. 

“I wasn’t driving the other car or anything, if that’s what you mean,” Stephen said, forcibly staring Tony down.

The other man didn’t budge. “Why should I believe you? How did you know? Why would you tell me?” he snarled, leaning closer, his hands braced against the blacktop table. The proximity of his aura prickled against Stephen’s skin, bringing involuntary unease up his throat, but Stephen refused to shrink away. 

“Because I want to help you find who was in that car,” he snarled back. 

Wait.

Tony pulled back. 

What?

“What?” demanded Stark, his face a mix between suspicious and perplexed. It was all Stephen could do not to mimic the expression. 

Tony’s face dropped to flatness after a flash, however, and so did his voice; “no you don’t.”

You’re right. No I don’t!

But going back on the story now would only make the man more suspicious. “I do. And I think you need help, too.”

Although going along with the story would tie him into something long and intricate and not at all what he could afford to be doing—

“How can you help me?” Tony demanded, his aura flashing with what could have been disbelief.

Well, at least he hadn’t dismissed Stephen outright. 

No, wrong; damn, he hadn’t dismissed Stephen outright. 

Desperately trying to decide if that was a good or bad thing, Stephen vaguely recalled that Tony had asked him a question. “You’d be surprised,” he said. He forced himself to focus on Tony’s face and not his shifting cobalt aura. 

And to his utter shock, the face crumpled. Just slightly, but it was accentuated by the sudden pang of sepia—which Stephen took to mean brokenness in this instance—in the colors around the man. “I’ve had enough surprises,” Tony murmured, slumping into his seat and turning his gaze away. His spine curved enough that Stephen could see the sharp edges of his vertebrae. 

Stephen swallowed and spun towards the desk himself. Unconsciously, he matched Tony’s posture, still watching him out of the corner of his eye. The man likely wouldn’t pursue conversation again.

Say something.

Good; maybe he’d forget Stephen’s instinctual offer. Maybe he wouldn’t realize that Stephen had never answered the ‘how do you know?’

Say something. 

Maybe now Stephen could finally be left alone. Perhaps his little slip hadn’t been as catastrophic as he’d thought. 

“Does Peter know?”

What the hell, Stephen Strange. 

Tony glanced at him sharply. “You fucking told the kid—yeah, real great move there, just drop that on the nine-year-old and haul ass. Very brave.”

Stephen didn’t flinch. “I didn’t tell him what happened. I thought it was better that way.”

A sigh. “Whatever.”

---

There we go! Hope that was fun--it was fun for me. Thanks for asking!!!

[spideremojiwastaken]

Coffee VS Tea

also on ao3 hey wanna read it here? hey kiddo wanna read it h-

summary:  when adrien walks into a local coffee shop to de-stress, he doesn't expect himself to be wrapped up in an argument between two girls about the disgustingness of coffee, and the superiority of tea. 

It was a Monday afternoon, and Adrien was tired. He was only seventeen, but already did he feel like those stressed-out workaholics in their thirties who were stuck in some dead-end office job he would always see in TV shows or books. Exams were just a few days away, and he didn't feel nearly as prepared as he should. Alongside his piano and fencing lessons, he hardly found any time for himself these past few weeks.

He was slowly losing it, and apparently it showed.

With the complaints of the photographer fresh in his mind - did he mention he's been overworked with photoshoots, too? - all Adrien wanted to do now was to take a small coffee break.

Which is how he found himself here, in a small coffee shop that was tucked in the corner of the street, almost hiding behind the fabrics shop that was just next door. The smell of coffee and pastries greeted Adrien's nose, and he welcomed the scent with a small sigh.

Walking towards the counter and placing an order for a cup of coffee, he took a moment to let the calm atmosphere wash away his worries for the time being. When his drink was ready, he happily took the cup and took up a seat near the windows. Taking out his phone, he scrolled through his Instagram and was delighted at the new batch of cat memes his feed was giving him.

It wasn't until he felt someone take up a seat behind him that he realized he was zoning out and was just staring at his phone for the past few minutes.

Adrien blinked out of his stupor, taking a sip of his coffee and wondering how early Nathalie would allow him to go to bed. He could already hear her now, "I'm afraid you have a late-night photoshoot scheduled for tonight," as she walked away, her heels clicking against the floor being the only noise in the house.

He sighed through his nose, suppressing the thoughts of home and letting the sounds of the coffee shop fill his mind instead. The chit-chattering of the nearby customers, the sounds of coffee brewing...

The girl and her friend that was sitting right behind him.

Adrien couldn't help but eavesdrop on their conversation a little bit, but hey! They're the ones who were talking so loudly.

"Girl, you should really try some of the coffee here. It'd wake you right up! It's really good, too!" Adrien heard the girl take a loud sip, followed by a dramatized "ahh!" to prove her point.

"Alya, please... You know I don't like that stuff," The other girl groaned.

"Yeah, and I don't get it! You're like, the only one in our class that prefers tea over coffee." Alya huffed.

"It's not my fault I prefer tea over... dirt-water." The girl mumbled, making Alya make a sound of offense.

Adrien couldn't help but chuckle a little at the two girls' antics.

"And do you have anything to say, blonde?" Alya spoke much louder than before, making Adrien pause. Did they hear him?

Sparing a small glance over his shoulder found himself staring into the fierce eyes of a red-headed girl. Turning his upper body around, he gave a sheepish smile.

"I'm sorry, I just found your argument to be a little funny to hear, I guess." Adrien shrugged, scratching the back of his head.

"Uh-huh. Well, what do you have to say about it?" Although Adrien thought Alya was genuinely offended at first, taking a second look at her made him realize that she was just being playful.

Adrien's smile turned more genuine and relaxed.

"I think I can understand why your friend prefers tea, but I personally can't go without coffee. It energizes me after a long day," He looked over to the red-headed girl's friend, who had her arms crossed on the table and her head resting on top of them.

"Ha! See, girl? Even pretty boy there thinks coffee is better!" Alya smirked, tilting her head to the side and placing it on the table to try to reach her friend's eyes.

The raven-haired girl only let out another groan in response.

"Is she okay?" Adrien frowned.

Alya leaned back in her chair and took another sip of her coffee, giving a small chuckle. "Yeah, she's fine, just overworked with school and stuff is all."

The two paused when they heard soft mumbling.

"Hmm? Did you say something, Mar?" Alya blinked.

"Coffee tastes like mud. You only like it because it's basically a drug," The girl mumbled, much louder this time.

"I wouldn't think of it like that! You can use creamers, and milk, and sugar and all sorts of things to help with the flavor." Adrien countered, making Alya nod and provide her support.

"Sunshine there is right, you can make it into whatever you want, and there are so many varieties of it, I'm sure you'll find something you'd like!"

"But is it actually coffee if you hide it behind milk and sugars?" The girl raised her head up then, but didn't turn to face Adrien.

"Hmm..." Adrien looked off to the side.

"If it tastes like mud for you, then you haven't had real good coffee." Alya held up her cup to her friend.

"Go on Marinette, try it!"

Marinette only whined and tipped her head up from the cup. "I'm surrounded by coffee nerds!"

"What's so great about tea in comparison?" Adrien asked innocently.

That was proven to be a mistake, as the black-haired girl whipped her head around and all Adrien could see was blue.

"It's much better than just... drinking beans! Tea is calming and relaxes the mind, while coffee just makes you go hyper. I don't see people scrambling or getting cranky for their tea in the morning, but I see people get all crouchy if they haven't had their morning coffee!" The girl threw her hands up in the air, and Adrien thinks he's never seen such a small thing contain so much vengeance before.

Before Adrien could say anything, Marinette turned her attention to her now-buzzing phone, and the blonde could make out the words "MATHS CLASS" before she shut it off.

Letting out a huff, the girl shot up out of her seat and grabbed a pen from her purse. Writing down something on the napkin, she handed it to Adrien and collected the rest of her things from the table.

"I need to get to class. Here's my number, I'll just kick your ass later." Marinette mumbled, making the blonde's eyes widen in surprise.

"Uh, y-yeah sure, that sounds great! Wait, no, the- the number part, not the kicking my ass p-" Adrien sighed as Alya shot him a smirk.

He was a dead man.

At the very least, it seemed Marinette paid him no mind, as she only let out a grunt and stormed out of the shop.

"Have fun with that ass-kicking, blonde!" Alya chuckled, picking up her belongings and following her friend out of the shop, leaving Adrien to look at the napkin with a set of digits on it.

Inputting it into his phone, he simply texted her an emoji of a cup of coffee before shutting off his phone and taking his cup of coffee with him as he left the shop as well.

On his way back home, he wondered what kind of teas Marinette enjoys the most.

He would have to ask her that later, he decided with a smile.

[pandawritespoorly]

With Time: Chapter 7 - The Best Group Chat

Author’s Note: A short chapter - just a quick catch-up. Next update will be Saturday, and oh boy we've got another akuma. If I'm so insistent on writing them I should probably figure how to actually write fights.

Chapter Summary: Some text interactions of the Quantics and Felix and what they've thought of Marinette up to this point.

First | Previous | Next

Kid Mime: So!!!! Wat do you all think of our new frend that weve had 4 a weeekkkk!!! Because I love herrr!!! We r going to keep her right!!!????

  Melodie: Oh you bet we are. I’m a little worried about her though, I mean did you see that bruise? 

Melodie: Also she is precious and very sweet. If she doesn’t seem uncomfortable with the arrangement, we should keep hanging out with her. 

  Felix: Are you referring to the bruise on her face? It did seem unlikely to have been caused on accident.

  Melodie: WHAT BRUISE ON HER FACE?!

  Kid Mime: SHE HAS A BRUISE ON HER FACEEEEE?! MOMMM SOME1 HURT UR NEWEST CHILD!!!

  The Mom Friend: Wait wat? When did you see that Felix? r you sure?

  Felix: On Thursday, when she seemed overly tired. She was falling asleep in class and her palm wiped some make-up off of her face. She excused herself to the bathroom when she realized, but I did see a rather concerning bruise on her face, and there seemed to be scratch above it. I assume you were referring to another bruise?

  Kid Mime: HOW MANY BRUSES DOES THS PRECIOUS ANGLE GIRL HAVE!!!?

  The Mom Friend: enuf that im concerned

  Melodie: The make-up means that she’s hiding it, and come to think of it, she is dressed rather warmly for the current weather.

Melodie: I meant the bruise on her arm, it was pretty big.

  The Mom Friend: yea long sleeves an pants in early spetember is kinda wierd

  Felix: While I find this to be disconcerting, we would do best to avoid jumping to conclusions. It would also be for the best to avoid mentions of her past school - when it was mentioned on Monday, she seemed rather uncomfortable.

  The Mom Friend: yea we don’t want to make assuptions and i don’t want to upset her

  Melodie: She’d better have just fallen…

  Kid Mime: Al’ no murder

  Melodie: … 

    Kid Mime: DOES ANY1 NO HOW 2 GET OUR AMAZING MARI TO HANG OUT W/ US??? I ONLY GET 2 SEE HER AT ACHOOL AND IT SADDENS MEEEEEE

  Felix: She may just be shy, it would be best to give her time to adjust to her new environment.

  Melodie: I do hope she decides to join us soon though. I think she seems like a pretty cool person, especially if she could get out of her shell.

  The Mom Friend: allegra, give er time dont want to force her it might make her uncomforable

  Melodie: I know, that’s not what I meant, I just worry about her. 

  Kid Mime: Im with u there. i wory about her sometimes something just… i dunno

  Felix: It is understandable to be concerned. It seems likely that she may have rather low self-esteem, and lacks confidence in herself. That, as well as the fact that we still do not know where she got so many bruises.

  Melodie: I think we were right about why she was wearing longer clothes, did you guys notice she’s wearing short sleeves now.

  The Mom Friend: poor thing at least she heeled now

    The Mom Friend: does anyone no y mari was so tired today

  Lovable Grump: I noticed, but she did not mention any reason in particular.

Lovable Grump: …

Lovable Grump: Claude, I’m changing my password again.

  Kid Mime: NOOOO pls we all have fun nicknamesssss

  Felix: Your nicknames have a tendency to be longer than my actual name, which makes them unnecessary.

  Melodie: Accept your fate Felix. Claude can not and will not be stopped. Also Allan, I don’t know know about Marinette. She did seem pretty tired today though….

  The Mom Friend: hmm…

  Kid Mime: FEEEELLLIXXXXXXX NOOOOO UR NAME IS SOO BORING NOWWWW!!!

  Felix: That is unfortunate for you.

Felix: It is not the first time that Marinette has seemed overly fatigued. She does commissions does she not? Perhaps one of her projects kept her up.

  The Mom Friend: maybe she should take on les if shes being overworked

  Kid Mime: *mom instincts activated*

  The Mom Friend: im just concerned about her health

  Melodie: He’s got you there, Allan.

    Kid Mime: I CANT WAIT IS SCOOL OVER YET

  The Mom Friend: only a little longer

The Mom Friend: then to mari’s

  Kid Mime: I KNOOOOOOOOO

Kid Mime: I CANT WAIIIIIITTTTTTTT

Kid Mime: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

  Felix: Claude, you should calm down. You do not want to overwhelm her.

  Melodie: I’m excited too! She actually wants to hang out with us after school and she invited us over to her house!

  Kid Mime: do u think i can finally get her number

  Felix: I doubt she’s interested in your memes Claude.

  Kid Mime: but i cant even send her cute baby animal oictures

Kid Mime: or texxt her good moring

  Melodie: You mean texting her good morning like five minutes before first hour? After you’ve already seen each of us in person anyways?

  Kid Mime: YES!

  The Mom Friend: all of u guys need to pay attention in class

  Kid Mime: :(((((( fine

    Melodie: Why did she give us a bunch of pastries and thank us?

  Felix: Perhaps she thought we were rather nice guests. Though I will admit I thought it rather odd as well.

  Kid Mime: as much as i like baked goods i don’t get it??? I feel like were missing something? It seemed liek she was thanking us for soemthing else????? all we did was come over

  The Mom Friend: did anyone notice that there was a school right across the street?

  Melodie: Hmmm.

  Felix: As much as I wish to get satisfactory answers, it is not our place if she does not wish to share.

  Melodie: Fine, switching topics: Thoughts on Adrien?

  The Mom Friend: u mean the boy you accused of bullying her

  Melodie: >:(  I just thought he seemed suspicious

  The Mom Friend: u meant well

  Kid Mime: PERSONALY I DONT NO Y SHE HID SOME1 SO GREAT FROM US

  Felix: Marinette was correct. The two of you should never have been introduced.

  Melodie: He seemed nice. (Besides the puns) I liked him

Melodie: He’s got my approval

  The Mom Friend: thats good i dont think it wood be good if two of her friends didnt get along. He seems to understand when shes upset so thats cool very good

  Kid Mime: does our mom have another child now?!

The Mom Friend: …

The Mom Friend: …maybe

  Kid Mime: :)

  Felix: Moving on, I’m impressed with the connections she has at such a young age.

  Melodie: RIGHT?! WHAT KIND OF BEAUTIFUL TALENTED STAR HAS BEEN GIFTED TO US?!

  The Mom Friend: allegra stop snooping on the internet we just agreed not to do that sort of thing

  Melodie: …

Melodie: Fine…

  Kid Mime: i still didnt get her number :(

  Felix: Perhaps you could ask her at school.

  Kid Mime: BUT THATS SO FAR AWAY

  Felix: It really is not.

  The Mom Friend: let him be dramatic

The Mom Friend: its his middle name

  Kid Mime: it is

Kid Mime: as my unofficial official mom, he wood no

---

Author’s Note: So basically, they're worried, but want to respect her privacy. I could have just said that, but I love their interactions.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯  They're all just such sweethearts.

One thing I forgot to put in the note at the end of chapter 6 was my reasoning for Marinette getting to that point. I forgot one big reason (I'm sorry. This is why i need to write things down.) But for the most part it's that Marinette often takes the blame/apologizes for things that aren't her fault, so I feel she is quick to blame herself. That, combined with how she sees the good in people, I think she could have trouble identifying that she isn't at fault for how things turned out at her old school.

Okay, so this past weekend I was struck with the ability to write - don't ask I don't understand either - so basically now I'm writing chapter 11. Yeah, I managed to write the next 4+ chapters in a day. As much as I'd love to post them all now, I need to keep a regular schedule for the sake of my sanity and still need to edit them a bit. But hey, at least there's no chance of waiting too long now.

I really love seeing your comments so don't be scared to write one! I can assure you that it's one of my favorite parts of this.

Thanks for reading, and constructive criticism is welcomed! See (well, not 'see') you guys Saturday, with an akuma that doesn't like being lied to.

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[musicprincess655]

Like a dam crumbling away, once Itsuki gives Mei a piece of his life, it all starts coming out. After the first few days of stumbling around each other, unsure how to fit together, the few bits Itsuki gives Mei must mesh with all the pieces Mei has given Itsuki for months in his emails.

They start to click again.

It’s little things at first, Itsuki telling Mei of his plans for their days off. Usually, all he plans to do is run by the grocery store and try to meal prep, or maybe play a video game until his brain goes numb and his muscles stop aching, but sometimes, it’s a plan for something a little more fun, and sometimes, if Mei’s lucky, he even gets to tag along.

At first it’s only with the rest of the team, a round of drinks for everyone at an izakaya after a particularly rough week of practice, but Mei thrills in Itsuki sitting next to him, leaning in to be heard over the noise. And if they’re still there when almost everyone else has filtered out, talking about the dog video Mei showed Itsuki on Twitter, there’s no one there to judge them.

Then Itsuki gives Mei his LINE contact information, and Mei uses it to take shameless advantage of the new ability to send Itsuki stupid memes. A lot of them are from the English feeds Mei still follows, which means Itsuki hasn’t seen most of them, and Mei can still get a laugh out of him for older ones. On a bus trip to a practice match, they can cut out the middle man of LINE and Mei can plop down next to Itsuki for the whole ride, showing him anything and everything on his Twitter feed to distract Itsuki from the restlessness that lives in his bones, keeping him from ever really enjoying a long trip.

Mei wonders idly how a road trip would go over with Itsuki, if that restlessness could be appropriately distracted by a careful combination of new scenery and engaging conversation, if Itsuki could settle the way he can’t stop moving for long enough to get somewhere new. Mei grew an appreciation for the art of the road trip while in America, and he wonders and wishes at the possibility of sharing it with Itsuki. He used to be restless, too, unable to drive for more than an hour without stopping to run the stiffness out of his muscles, but he grew past it, and the autumn before the Olympics, he took himself on a long road trip across the northernmost part of America, around lakes and across prairies and through mountains, just because he could, just to see what was there. The freedom was exhilarating.

Then, on their next free day, Mei offers to buy Itsuki dinner once again, and this time, when they’re asked to leave for closing time, Itsuki follows Mei past the train station and all the way home. Mei doesn’t question it once, afraid that if he points it out, Itsuki will change his mind. All he does is offer Itsuki a glass of cold tea and let the conversation continue until Itsuki decides it’s time to go home.

While they’re still not ready to talk about what happened between them back in high school, Itsuki starts to slowly share pieces of what his life has been like since. He went to college, played there for four years, and has a degree to show for his efforts. It’s just a basic sociology degree, nothing special, but it’s more than Mei has, and considering how much more emphasis Itsuki always put on education, it doesn’t surprise Mei that Itsuki went for a degree even while he kept pursuing baseball. Even if Mei refused to see university as an option, he recognizes that having a backup plan is the smarter choice.

Itsuki is both more serious and more relaxed than he was as a teenager. He has more focus and more confidence in himself, and that seems to have given him the stability to relax, to release that drive he used to have to always perform. Even when Itsuki used to argue with Mei, when he blustered and shouted and made terrible puns, it was always bravado, and Mei could recognize it because some of it was a trick he used too. But now, Itsuki stands securely in his own skin, and he doesn’t bother to put on a show.

He doesn’t have to.

“Hey, are you busy Monday?” Itsuki asks.

He’s sprawled on Mei’s floor, head resting against the couch as he sits up. He put some anime he’s been watching on the TV, but neither of them are really watching, just using it as background noise as they both scroll through their phones, exhausted after a particularly rough week of practice matches. Their schedule has gone weird, and Monday happens to be a day off for them. Mei had been planning on sleeping.

“No,” Mei says. “Did you have something in mind?”

“Inashiro is gearing up for the summer,” Itsuki says. “I usually like to make an appearance. The players love seeing pro alumni, and Coach appreciates the help.”

Mei expects to have mixed feelings about going back to that school. After all, he has a lot of bad memories mixed up in the good. To even his own surprise, there’s no pain in his desire to go back. There’s a bitter sweetness, a nostalgia that Mei can already tell will fill his chest with something like happiness and something like loss, but not with pain. That’s something everyone gets when they return to treasured memories.

“When do you want to leave?” Mei asks. Itsuki taps at his phone, looking at train times, and holds a few up for Mei’s inspection until they find one they can agree on.

When Mei shows up at the station, it’s with an extra coffee for Itsuki, the order with just a bit of cream and a bit more sugar remembered from the last time they swung through a café. Itsuki accepts the cup gratefully, taking a swig.

“You know how I take my coffee?” he asks, eyebrows raised in surprise.

“We’ve gotten coffee together before,” Mei shrugs.

“But you remembered?”

“Of course.” Even if they’ve settled into a true friendship over the course of a few months, Mei still doesn’t know nearly as much about Itsuki as he’d like. He holds tightly to the pieces he’s allowed, waiting patiently for Itsuki to give him more.

Itsuki lapses into silence, probably allowing the coffee to wake his system up as they board the train. It doesn’t take long for Itsuki to wake enough that his leg starts bouncing at being stuck on a train, but it’s not a long ride, and Mei allows the outlet of energy without a trace of annoyance. The gentle shifting sound fades into the background noise of the train, just another color in the tapestry of sound around them, and Mei hardly notices it.

As soon as Mei gets out of the station, he’s assaulted with memories. This is where he spent three of the best years of his life, this is where he fought with his teammates, his friends, this is where he started on a path that has led him across the world and back.

The nostalgia is here. And it hurts, but only in that nearly comforting way, like poking a bruise earned from hard, rewarding work. Mei doesn’t want to run from it, only chase it further.

He and Itsuki don’t pick up a conversation as they walk. Mei is too wrapped up in memories, and while Itsuki has admitted to coming back more often, he might not be any more immune than Mei is.

Maybe nine years is enough time that Mei should have forgotten his way, but he hasn’t. He knows the way to the field, and it feels like coming home.

“Look who finally decided to show their faces!” The feeling of nostalgia grows in Mei’s chest. Carlos is there, waving at them. Yamaoka and Fukui both look up, a smile growing on Fukui’s face when he seems them both.

“It’s good to see you two,” he says. “Glad we managed to steal you back from the Americans, Mei-san.”

“Good to be back,” Mei says. “Nice to see you too, Fuku-chan.”

“Tadano-senpai.” Mei turns to see Akamatsu approaching Itsuki. Akamatsu is even taller now, and even more eye-catching. “It’s been a while.”

“Nice to see you, Shinji,” Itsuki says, easy smile falling into place.

“And Narumiya-san.” If Mei had been unsure whether Akamatsu liked him in high school, he doesn’t have to wonder now. The way Akamatsu’s voice goes cold is enough to tell for sure.

“Hello,” Mei says. He knows exactly why Akamatsu doesn’t like him now. His preference for Itsuki was never a secret.

“I don’t remember organizing a team reunion.” A familiar voice cuts off their various conversations.

Coach Kunitomo looks a little older than the last time Mei saw him, but no less stern. Mei once joked that Kunitomo would be coaching baseball until he couldn’t get to the field anymore, and he doesn’t think he was entirely off, but Kunitomo looks years from forced retirement.

“Hello, Coach,” Mei says. He already feels seventeen again, already feels the need to drag his feet and be childish again, because he’s back in a place where it’s safe to do so.

“If you’re all visiting, you can all make yourselves useful,” Kunitomo says. “We’re splitting into groups by position to work. We have a new team to build, and almost no time to do it. Find someone you can help, and give them something that will help us win this summer.”

“Yes Coach!” they all chorus.

Mei walks next to Yamaoka, catching up, and lets Itsuki talk with Akamatsu alone. He should feel jealous, but he really doesn’t. Itsuki is allowed to have other friends, and Mei gets the feeling Akamatsu hates him now because he was the one that had to pick up the pieces of Itsuki that Mei left behind.

Okay, so he might be a little jealous. But he doesn’t have much right to feel that way, and anyway, that feeling is his problem to deal with, not Itsuki’s, not when Itsuki’s done nothing wrong, so Mei largely tries to ignore him.

There are plenty of pitchers and catchers to draw Mei’s attention when they get to the bullpen. Kunitomo might still believe in the idea of an absolute ace, but only an idiot would put all their hopes in one pitcher. Mei might have the stamina to pitch a full game, might have had it back in high school too, but that was only possible with the safety net of another pitcher to either start and save his energy or to take over if he went too far. When they had no one to sub in for him, they lost.

Mei settles himself in to watch a first year pitcher trying out a changeup. It’s a little sloppy, a little telegraphed. If a batter was up, they’d see it coming. But the fastball is good, if rough, and Mei stops him after a few tries to offer advice for the changeup. It only works if it looks like a fastball right up until it isn’t, and it hasn’t been Mei’s signature pitch for years for nothing. He doesn’t immediately fix everything, but the first year looks grateful and a little awestruck, and maybe there is a slight improvement.

It won’t be an overnight success, but the kid has potential. Inashiro is still rebuilding, though a lot of that work will have already been done. The third years of last year may have just graduated for good, but they’ll have retired after the summer, and the first years and second years coming behind them already had to build a new team. Now, all that’s left is to fit the first years into the spots they left behind when they moved up.

They only do position work until lunch, before they move on to team drills, sprints and resistance training and all manner of hellish workouts. Being a pro is no walk in the park, but Mei still remembers being fifteen and convinced his legs were going to fall off because his body just wasn’t ready for the long days of hard work. Those days had seemed so long, but Mei kept pushing forward for his dream.

The alumni stand by the sideline, watching the drills with a fondness of remembered pain. It had hurt, fuck had it hurt, but it had made them strong, and turned them into the players they are today.

“Really brings you back, huh?” Mei sighs. Itsuki doesn’t answer. “Sometimes I miss it. Being an adult is fun, but even when they’re working hard, they’re so carefree.”

“Mei-san.” Itsuki’s voice is a warning, but a gentle one.

“Can I say one thing?” Mei asks. He waits until Itsuki nods before he continues. “I don’t regret any of it. Any of the time I spent here. Any of the time I spent with you. The only thing I regret is how it ended.”

There’s a lot more that he could say, should say, but he thinks that’s all he’ll push Itsuki today.

The team runs until the sun starts to go down, and then they disperse for dinner. Mei watches them go. They’ll have to be back in an hour for night practice under the lights, and Mei doesn’t think he’ll stick around to watch that.

The early spring sunlight falls across the field in uneven stripes through the fence, and for the first time, Mei’s nostalgia feels painful. It’s not the death throes of summer, but he still can’t help but remember all the ways he’s screwed up.

“It’s good to have you back in Japan.” Mei whips his head around. He hadn’t noticed Kunitomo joining him. “You were always meant to play Japanese baseball.”

“I think I did pretty well for myself in America,” Mei says.

“You’ll do better here,” Kunitomo says. “It’s what you really trained for. It’s where you belong.”

“Maybe so,” Mei says. He won’t admit that he thinks Kunitomo is right. American baseball is incredible, and Mei learned so much, but he worked for years as a teenager so he could stand at the top of Japan.

“And it’s good to see you and Itsuki in a battery again,” Kunitomo continues. There’s an inflection in his voice that has Mei looking at him twice. Something just a little too serious for baseball…

“You knew about us,” Mei realizes. “Back then, you knew.”

“What you do in your private life isn’t my business,” Kunitomo says. “I just coach baseball. I only care about what you do on the field.”

“And I didn’t ruin things on the field?” Mei asks, partially to be a brat, but also because he knows it’s a question he can’t ask Itsuki.

“Itsuki isn’t nearly as fragile as you think he is,” Kunitomo says. “He had a rough time. He kept moving. He was the player the team needed him to be. You can see his resilience yourself.”

“He’s something else,” Mei agrees. The alumni are starting to leave, Itsuki swept up with them, but he lags to the back of the group, turning to look at Mei, waiting.

“Some unsolicited advice, not that you’ve ever listened to me before,” Kunitomo says, following his gaze. “Second chances aren’t nearly so common as people would have you believe. If you have one, don’t waste it.”

“I won’t,” Mei says. He already knows what it is to ruin things with Itsuki, and he genuinely doesn’t think he’d survive doing it a second time.

“He’s waiting for you,” Kunitomo says. “Stop wasting your time here already. Your place is somewhere else.”

“Someday you’ll have to stop telling me what to do, old man,” Mei complains.

“When you learn how to do things for yourself.”

Mei rolls his eyes, but he can’t help the smile. He used to strain under the weight of Kunitomo’s words, but there are very few things Kunitomo ever said to him that he wasn’t right about.

“Ready to go?” Mei asks Itsuki.

“What were you and Coach talking about?” Itsuki asks as they start to walk.

“Oh, just reminiscing,” Mei says. “I think I’m getting too old.”

Itsuki snorts a laugh, and they walk the rest of the way to the train in companionable silence. Mei walks Itsuki all the way back to his apartment, catching a taxi back to his own.

It feels, just a little bit, like forgiveness.