#wasn’t paying attention and got on the wrong bus leaving campus | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

jishyucks · 4 years ago

Text

And They Were Roommates ‣ ldh

‣ genre: fluff, enemies-to-lovers, slow burn (?)

‣ wc: 10.7k

‣ summary: “It was unbearable living beneath you and now living with you? No thanks.” ; alternatively where Donghyuck needs a place to stay and you’re the only option left

‣ tw: mentions of a fire happening and its aftermath (nothing drastic and super detailed)

requested by anonymous

a/n: I’m not the best at writing slow burn type of fics so pls forgive me if it seems rushed! Enjoy!

You would have never thought you’d be wishing for some expensive sound proof headphones at four in the morning. Not when you remembered the building owner saying that the place was peaceful and perfect for a university student like you. But because of your upstairs neighbour, Lee Donghyuck, it was bluntly known to those who lived around him that this detail no longer exists with him around.

You suddenly remembered the first night after he had moved in. You were ecstatic to have someone your age in the building. It was a good change from the small families and aging elderly. The idea of making a new friend that lived so close to you brought a deep sense of excitement. But all those thoughts were cleared from your head once you had realized that Donghyuck was going to be that type of neighbour.

He seemed to save graveyard hours for his gaming, not being shy to shout out strings of profanities and shouts of victory with his entire chest. The floors were nearly as thin as paper and everything that spewed from his mouth had gone dead straight into your ears. It was if he was sitting in your living room.

Groaning deeply, you push yourself off of your bed and run your fingers roughly through your hair, preparing yourself to face the devil himself. You slammed a fist into one of your many pillows and stood up, sliding your feet into your slippers in the process. All this energy wasted and sleep lost for one irritating boy that didn’t know when to shut the fuck up.

“No,” Donghyuck smirked, “I’m not going to kindly shut the fuck up.” He leaned against the doorframe and scoffed, “Especially since you asked me.” You could barely see his eyes as his bangs covered them like drapes. In his hand he held his headphones, one of those fancy ones that lit up.

“Don’t make me tape your mouth shut,” you threatened and rolled your eyes, “When are you going to learn?”

The smirk on his face deepened as he leaned closer to you, “Oh I did. But I choose not to apply that knowledge.” He returned to his previous pose, tapping his foot impatiently.

Breathing fire, you scowled and let an angry sound erupt from your chest. You knew it wasn’t going to do anything yet you let it out out of pure frustration.

“Are you done now? I need to get back to gaming,” he stuck a lip out as if he were begging you to leave, but it made you cringe so hard that that alone would have had you willingly fleeing from his floor and back to yours without question.

“No, I’m not done,” you retorted through gritted teeth, “Can you do your fucking–”

“Can you two please keep it down?” Donghyuck’s neighbour had poked her head out her own door, eyes unable to keep open. She was wrapped tightly in a robe and was probably half asleep. You felt bad. You knew how she felt. It was unfortunate that she lived next to a human air horn.

“Yeah, keep it down,” Donghyuck sniggered, directing all fault to you, “I’m sorry, Mrs. Seo but Y/N here is being quite an irritating little rat. Goodnight, Mrs. Seo.” Without a second thought nor glance, Donghyuck closed the door in your face, making sure to laugh out loud in the process.

You shot him one last glare at him through the door, hoping he’d somehow unconsciously feel the heat from your eyes and flipped him off all before turning sharply towards the stairs.

ii.

Donghyuck wasn’t one to have his moods change quickly. Often he’d spend an entire day in a good mood and if not, a terrible mood. And today, after meeting up with his friends across town, he could sense that this day could not go wrong.

It was about mid-afternoon when he arrived back at the building. From the bus’ view, he had spotted a fire truck parked along the fire lane in front of the apartment building. Off to the side, he could see familiar faces anxiously waiting to get back into their building.

“Mrs. Seo?” Donghyuck was puzzled at the scene. It was as if he’d walked into a movie theatre in the middle of its showing. There was no context provided and he was desperately curious.

“Donghyuck, it’s your room,” she hadn’t held back any information, “I heard Lisa and the twins arriving home from school and they knocked on my door and pointed at smoke leaking from underneath your door… we called the fire department and–“

“Who is the owner of apartment six-jay?” A firefighter slipped through the crowd, voice with great clarity in order for everyone to hear. Donghyuck has raised his hand. Everyone was soon led back into the building, being directed towards the stairs instead of the elevator as they had been shut off.

The firefighters led Donghyuck to his room once everyone had finally gotten to their own apartments. Donghyuck hadn’t completely processed the fact that his home was almost probably all ash. He needed to see it to believe it.

The door had been kicked to the ground, basically demolished. What used to be his kitchen was nothing but darkened wood and his living room was almost unrecognizable. Donghyuck’s mind runs back to all the previous belongings he had that were probably lost in the fire. He felt his shoulders grow heavy and his posture worsened by the second.

“The fire started from your room and it quickly spread throughout the apartment. It’s a wonder how the fire didn’t spread throughout the entire building, but everyone’s lucky that your neighbour had noticed smoke,” the firefighter explained, “The source of the fire was from all of the wires in your room…”

“Is there anything that wasn’t burned?” Donghyuck had finally processed everything. He felt his heart drop to the pit of his stomach. Everything was gone.

“You can see so for yourself,” the man had handed Donghyuck some safety gear and a box, “In these conditions, please be aware that there might not be anything left but it is still good to make sure.”

After rummaging through what looked like dirt, Donghyuck soon had come to the realization that the fireman was right. Not even his bed was in good condition. The fire had consumed nearly every single thing that belonged to him, aside from some clothes encased in his closet.

Before the firemen needed to leave, the last one out turned to Donghyuck, “Do you have any place to stay in for the meantime?”

He shrugged, “I’m not entirely sure, but I’ll figure it out… thank you.”

Nearly losing his entire ability to think straight, he found himself sitting on the rusting bench right outside the building. He only had his wallet, his phone, his charger, and the box of clothes that was safe from the flames.

He dialed Renjun first. He lived the closest and the hustle wouldn’t be as bad as going to Jeno’s or Jaemin’s.

“Hyuck? What’s up?” By the sound of it, Renjun was chewing on something crunchy, words muffled by the food.

“Hey, my… home burnt down…” Donghyuck wasn’t quite sure how he should break the news. He was still numb from the realization that he was basically homeless right now.

Renjun choked on his snack, “Your apartment? Like it’s all gone?” He was as shocked as he was when he got the news, “Is everything fine?”

“Yeah it is… except for the fact that I have nowhere to go while they fix it,” he sighed through the line, “T-that’s why I called you… I was wondering if I could possibly stay with you?” Donghyuck kicked his foot against the deteriorating pavement, feeling a slight bit embarrassed. Renjun was silent at the other end, probably thinking up ways this could happen. As the silence grew longer, Donghyuck started to wonder whether or not it was a good or bad thing. Maybe he was already getting stuff ready, or maybe he was trying to think of an easy way to let him down.

“Hyuck?” The tone was bad.

“Yeah?”

“I’m not sure I can let you stay here… you know I live with Yangyang and Chenle so it’s a bit crowded?” Renjun explained, “You already know I’d let you if there was free space…I’m really sorry.”

“It’s okay, Jun. I still have one option left so it’s not like you’re my last chance,” trying to brighten the mood, he forced out a small chuckle before he decided that ending the call was the best for him and Renjun, “I’ll see you, tomorrow?”

“I will! Good luck. I hope you find a place to stay.”

“Thanks, Junnie.” And the call ended.

Donghyuck scrolled through his contacts and straight to the J’s. He pressed on ‘Jeno/Jaemin’ as it was the landline and listened to it ring once before Jaemin picked up, “Donghyuckie! What’s up?”

He went through the same process as Renjun, only wishing that their answer was at the opposite of Renjun’s.

“It’s not that we don’t want you to stay with us… but it’s just that we don’t have space and it’ll be embarrassing if we let you stay with us… we’d feel bad for you.”

“You guys are my last chance,” he huffed out, “Where else can I go?”

“Maybe they have extra room on campus?” Jeno rang in, “I heard they have extra rooms in case a random student comes in.”

“I’ll try that… thanks guys.”

“We’re sorry!”

“It’s fine… bye.”

Donghyuck slumped in his seat, straightening his legs underneath him. He would rather not want to pay for an over expensive room at the university… but if that was his only choice, then so be it.

You hopped out of the bus, thanking the driver as you did. It caught Donghyuck’s attention almost immediately, head shooting at your direction. You were completely aware of Donghyuck’s glare and presence, firing back your own well planned glare. The hell was his problem? Quickening your pace, you yanked the door open and practically teleported inside and onto the elevator.

A small grin was soon plastered on Donghyuck’s face. An idea had popped into his head. But he wasn’t quite sure if it was a good one.

A heavy knock at your door had startled you. You were halfway to sleep, a nap calling you helplessly as you stared blankly at the Netflix screen. Whoever stood on the other side of that door didn’t know how to wait. It sounded like this person had a countless number of hands as the knocking didn’t dare stop until you unlocked your door.

You swung the door open to find Donghyuck standing in front of you. The way he held his body didn’t radiate the energy he usually held. It was actually quite depressing to see. It was like for once, Donghyuck wasn’t the vain and rambunctious boy that lived above you. He had his hands deep in his hoodie pockets and he wore a natural pout on his lips.

“What are you doing here?” It was surprisingly natural how the tone in your voice had sounded irritated. You were just used to speaking to him in such a way.

“I’m not here to piss you off,” he mumbled seriously.

You were thrown off at his reply, “Huh?”

“Can I come in?” If you weren’t looking at him as he spoke, you could probably hear his frown, “Please?” The sincerity in his eyes really proved that he was desperate about something and you weren’t quite sure what.

You wearily shuffled behind your door and let him through. Closing the door behind him, you turn around and see him rocking back and forth in place. It was weird seeing him in your home, “Okay… speak.”

“My entire apartment was burned. There’s basically nothing left,” he explained, “They said it was some type of electrical mishap because of my gaming stuff.”

If it was the right moment, you’d make fun of him for it. But you held yourself back as you sensed that the Donghyuck in front of you was not in the mood for pestering. How did you not know that the apartment directly above you had basically vanished from flames? “Oh… I’m sorry to hear that… and why are you telling me this?”

It took awhile for him to reply. He stared down at your feet, unable to string the right words together. It was a weird type of silence.

“I’m telling you this because I have a proposition.”

You sit down on your couch, “A proposition?”

“You know, like a proposal…”

“I know what a fucking proposition is, dumbass. What is it?” Donghyuck has never failed to provoke you.

“You let me stay here until they fix my place… and once I move back, I won’t make a single peep after one o’clock,” a sheepish expression surfaced on his face. He rubbed the back of his neck with his hand.

“Don’t you have friends?” you held back a laugh.

“I do, but none of them can take me in… you’re literally my only hope right now.”

“No. It was unbearable living beneath you and now living with you? No thanks,” you stood up and approached your door. Sure you felt kind of bad for him, but there was no way you were going to let this clown live with you.

He stopped your hand from turning the knob before he fell to his knees. He begged, “Please~ Please, Y/N! I’ll try not to keep you awake, I just need a place to sleep and eat and…” His bottom lip jutted out like a little toddler who was dying to play games on your phone.

You push him lightly out your door and sighed, “Look I’m really not looking for a roommate right now.” And it was true. There was a reason that you were still living alone after months of starting university.

“Please?” He sounded desperate now.

“No, Donghyuck,” you answered, “How about beg one of your friends?”

“I’m going to sit out here until you let me in,” he threatened.

“Do I look like I care? Because I don’t,” you say bluntly. You closed the door and went back to the nap you were ever so craving. If Donghyuck really was going to sit outside of your apartment, then let him. He was going to give up anyway.

The echoing sound of your empty stomach woke you up from your nap. The sunset being framed by your window indicated that it was inching closer to dinner time. A reminder had popped into your head that your kitchen held no groceries for dinner, meaning that you had to eat out and buy groceries. Which was perfectly fine with you.

Opening your apartment door, you feel a somewhat heavy object fall abruptly onto your feet. You shut your eyes tight, afraid that if you looked down you’d see something straight out of a horror film. It took a prolonged moment for you to actually build up the courage to open your eyes and look down.

Once you had reached the minimum amount of courage, you looked to your feet and found Donghyuck holding his head. He continued to curse under his breath, looking up at you, obviously irritated about what had just happened.

“Donghyuck, what the fuck?” You hit him with your purse, mostly because of how frightened you had been, “What the hell are you doing there?”

“I told you. I’m sitting out here until you let me stay with you,” he stood up and dusted off his pants, “I fell asleep.”

You gave him a dead look, not having it with him. This was the most you had conversed with him in one day and you really had to admit that talking to someone like Donghyuck was rather tiresome. Your door locked behind you as you pushed past him, ignoring the way he stood up with the built up energy he had in his body.

“Where are you going?” he followed you willingly. “Dinner. Groceries,” you mumbled. You were praying for the elevator to come faster.

“I’m coming with you,” he stated, standing at your side.

“No you’re not.”

As if the film had cut to the next scene, you found yourself sitting across from Donghyuck at a nearby McDonald’s. He was munching on his nth chicken nugget, cold drink in the other, as he blinked at whatever car drove past the building. The silence was awkward, but you’d rather it be awkward than hear his voice for at least the entirety of your stay at the restaurant. With his backpack sitting next to him, he looked like one of those kids you’d baby sit right after school.

Once you finished, you threw your garbage on the way out and started to walk to the grocery store right across the street. It wasn’t a surprise to you when you hear the nearing footsteps of Donghyuck. He didn’t say anything, he sort of just floated next to you.

Upon entering the store, you were actually relieved to see that Donghyuck had gone his own way. At first you thought about packing your cart with all that you needed and leaving him. But then you realized that there was seriously no use because he knew where you lived. At this realization, you decided that taking time was better on your energy level.

About ten minutes into the shopping trip, you were bent down in the ramen aisle, eyeing down which spice level you should get. Often, you’d get mild, but you found yourself needing more than what the package provided. The only thing holding you back was what if the ultra spicy was too spicy? Then it’d be a waste of ramen.

“Oh there you are,” Donghyuck had slipped into the aisle with his own basket full of goods, “I thought you left me or something.”

You glare at him before giving up and throwing both flavours into your cart, “You better be paying for your own stuff.” You start to roll it down to the front of the store and to self checkout.

“Of course I am,” he dropped his own basket to the checkout next to yours and started doing his own thing.

There was still a bit of hope in you that maybe, hopefully, one of Donghyuck’s friends would offer him a nice place to stay in instead of yours. But when you still felt the boy’s presence behind you as you left your apartment building’s elevator, you knew damn well that he really wasn’t going anywhere.

You groaned and turned around to face him. You noticed that you had startled him by the way his eyes widened and how he jumped back a bit, “You’re really not going to leave me alone, are you?” At this point, your fingers were grazing your door’s handle.

You thought about it on the way up. If you did let Donghyuck stay with you, you could tell him what to do and what not to do. It would be amusing. If he ever refused, you could tell him that he would have to find another place to stay. You could use it to your advantage.

Shaking his head, Donghyuck straightened his back, “Nope. Not at all.” His determination said it all. It was weaved with hints of desperation and you knew how easy it would be to persuade the boy into doing anything.

“Okay then…” you unlocked your door and gently pushed it open, “I’ll let you stay with me.” Before he could rejoice, you stopped him, “But on a few conditions.”

He nodded, “Anything.”

“Keep up your end of the bargain, the one you said earlier,” you started, “You can’t make any noise when I say so. Boundaries are important. No long showers. Remember that you’re a guest under my roof.”

“As long as I have a place to stay, then I’ll follow your rules,” he stated seriously. You weren’t sure if you could trust him or not. After all, it was Donghyuck. Not even 24 hours ago, his noise had woken you up from your sleep.

You motioned for him to enter first since you still needed to take your home key out. As he approached the interior end of your apartment, he beamed brightly at you. Donghyuck, who has lost control of himself due to the wave of relief he was feeling, brought himself to give you a short hug of gratitude. His arms had wrapped tightly over your shoulders. You froze at the contact.

“Shit, sorry,” he muttered. He took a few steps back and smiled sheepishly at you, “W-where should I put my stuff?”

Still in shock from contact with Donghyuck, you couldn’t answer or think straight. You waddled to your kitchen counter and dropped your bags after you had closed and locked the door, “There’s a room down the… hall and to the right. That’s the extra room.”

“Thanks.” He smiled again and you were genuinely taken aback by how this boy, who was usually obnoxious and annoying, was acting. You blinked back at him and watched as he disappeared the deeper he had gone down the hall.

His duality was scary. It was unpredictable. It was the reason why you didn’t know what you were getting yourself into.

iii.

When Donghyuck said he’d follow your rules, you didn’t have any hopes in him actually following them. You knew how Donghyuck was. He’d lie to someone in order to get something he’d want in return. And this is one of those occasions.

Donghyuck gladly followed your ‘boundaries’ rule which at first seemed a bit rude as he didn’t even greet you in the mornings or evenings. You were letting him stay with you and you figured that that was probably better than nothing. After a bit of thinking, avoiding convos with Donghyuck would probably be a lot better than bickering that would probably wear you out over the period of his stay.

The only time these said ‘avoided’ convos would happen would be when Donghyuck couldn’t find the appropriate time to make noise and he would not listen when you told him to shut up. It was like you were practically babysitting a toddler, maybe even six of them, and they all would not listen to you.

It wasn’t often that you would physically go to the guest bedroom to tell him to shut up. Usually, you’d be the bigger person and try to mind your own business, but when you remembered that this was your home and not his, you decided to actually put a stop to it before you lost it.

You knocked twice on the door, hearing Donghyuck’s reply not even a moment after, “Come in!” He goes back to yelling at whoever he was playing with on the phone. When you had actually entered, you found him slumped against the headboard, headphones sitting ungracefully on his head.

“Can you… quiet down?” You put on a customer service-esque voice, “Please.”

Donghyuck didn’t let his eyes leave his screen, fingers going crazy on it’s touchscreen, “Nope.” You scowled at him, brows furrowing at the audacity this boy had.

“It’s almost one in the morning,” you pointed out.

“Didn’t know you were some kind of human clock,” he mumbled. The majority of his attention was still pinned on the screen, eyes darting towards you to see if you had gone and left the room.

You feel the expression on your face intensify. Walking up to the side of the bed, you grabbed his phone.

“What the hell?” He sat up and grabbed his phone back from you, “I’m not even that loud, quit being sensitive.” He quickly finished his game and shut his phone off, focusing on this situation with you.

“How about I kick you out by tomorrow morning?” you say as if you were bargaining. You knew that this was one way to get Donghyuck to shut the fuck up. Judging by how desperate he was before, you knew he had no other choice but to listen to you.

At this mention, he shut his mouth and frowned, “The fuck? Just because this once?”

“Quit being sensitive,” you mocked, “If you wanna stay in this room until your apartment is finished, you really need to watch how loud you’re being.” Seeing how much Donghyuck’s mood changed, you smirked. It worked.

“Fine…” He retorted, “Whatever.”

You huffed and turned to leave, the smirk reappearing on your face.

Y/N: 1

Donghyuck: 0

Leaving the apartment to Donghyuck for a weekend wasn’t something that you were quite in favour of. You, along with Yeji and Lia, had planned an entire weekend trip for the long weekend, and of course you were excited for it, but that was when Donghyuck’s apartment was still intact. Now that you knew we were leaving your beloved haven with Donghyuck, you were hesitant to actually go on said trip. But (no) thanks to Lia, she convinced you to come after hours of persuasion.

Upon returning, your heart dropped at the idea that Donghyuck might’ve burnt down your own apartment as well. But seeing that the door was still standing, you feel a slight wave of relief wash over.

“Thank goodness,” you mumbled.

Slowly, you unlocked your door and nudged it open. That was when you knew you had spoken too soon. What once was your nice and cozy, neat home had turned into some kind of new rat’s hole. It wasn’t too messy, but it just wasn’t something you were used to nor expecting. The coffee was filled with used dishes, the carpet had bits of crumbs everywhere, wrappers scattered on your previous couch, and the kitchen was littered with groceries that weren’t put back in its place. What made everything else worse was that you could hear Donghyuck yelling in the back, playing games instead of cleaning up his mess.

“Son of a bitch.”

You dropped your bags and made a beeline to the guest room, opening it without knocking, “The fucking audacity you have, Lee Donghyuck.”

“There’s something called knocking,” he scoffed.

“Clean my apartment,” you ordered, “I left this place clean.” You were fuming. This was the main reason why you didn’t want to leave, “I’m letting you stay here, as a guest, and you choose to treat it like it’s your own house. At least clean up after yourself.”

“I was, I just thought you were coming back tomorrow, not today,” he shrugged. Donghyuck redirected his focus to his phone, corner of his mouth angling up.

“Lee Donghyuck I swear if you’re starting another game, I’m kicking you out,” you warned. It was the same reason as before, only this time you were dead serious. This time you weren’t treating it as some sort of way to control him.

“If that’s what you want,” he stands up and bows, “Madame.” Donghyuck walks around you, hands in his pockets as he pokes the inside of his cheek with his tongue. He knows he’s pissing you off and he’s enjoying it. What the hell is wrong with him?

You leave his room and grab your bags before dragging yourself into your room. Two strikes… three and he’s out.

You believed that home cooked meals were a lot more healthier than most of the affordable food you could get when you eat out. Which is why you opted to cook your own meals for half or possibly more than half of the week. Though they were often just simple recipes either your mom had taught you or ones you’ve seen on tv or youtube, you still took a lot of pride in those meals.

Trekking into the kitchen, you scrolled through the many possible recipes you could complete on your phone, mentally noting the ingredients. You pulled open the fridge, rummaging through its contents trying to find the specific items, which you clearly remembered you bought not even a week ago. Muttering underneath your breath, your mind wanders over to the other living being in your home. There was no way that those groceries could have magically disappeared, not in this universe at least.

Closing the fridge, you make your way to the pantry, still puzzled on the missing groceries, “I swear I bought a whole pack just last weekend.” But after scavenging the pantry, none of the ingredients you needed were sitting there waiting to be used.

“Lee Donghyuck!” you called.

Said boy appeared in the kitchen moments later, posture reflecting the fact that he did not want to be there, “What do you want now?” It was like you were living with a teenager.

“Did you eat all the food I bought?” usually you wouldn’t just accuse one of something, but knowing you hadn’t touched those groceries, Donghyuck was the only possible culprit for the missing food.

“Yes, and?”

“You do know those groceries were for our meals, right?” You walked past him and crouched down to the snack cabinet, opening it, “This is literally empty! Those were all my snacks! Who said you could eat whatever was in there?”

“I was hungry? I’m a guest, I should be able to do so.”

You wonder why Donghyuck would even be acting like he was if he knew that a place to stay was at stake, “You’re a guest, but not like that…” Again you change locations, “Where the hell are your manners? You sure as hell know that I hesitated letting you live with me and you choose to test me almost every other day! A one year old toddler knows better than you! Dumb shit, why did I even agree to you staying here?”

“One year olds can’t even complete an entire sentence,” he jokingly argued, “Isn’t that a bit too far?”

“Me? Too far? You’re taking it too far! You have no idea when to stop being immature!” The volume in your voice was increasing, “You’re twenty fucking years old, Donghyuck. You should be able to know when it’s good and when it’s bad to mess around.”

Simultaneously, he stands up and gives you an expression of hurt and anger, all in one. You could tell that you’ve actually, for once, offended him just by the look in his eyes. He muttered something underneath his breath before he started walking towards your door. Swiftly, he unlocked it, slipping out and shutting it without another peep.

Stunned, you blinked at the door, confused as to what had just happened. The silence that replaced the prior argument seemed to be louder than the argument itself… and you didn’t like that.

You leaned against the kitchen counter and sighed. Where would he go? He didn’t have another place to stay and he left basically all his stuff in his room. Where would he go?

You dismissed the feelings of worry and guilt, shaking it all off before you locked the door and made your way to your room. You lost your appetite. You’ll just eat later.

In between your songs, the banging at your door caused your heart rate to escalate. You rolled over in your bed, almost falling off and straight onto your face, and ran to the door, not even thinking of looking through the peephole. Right as you threw the door open, Donghyuck pushed past you and straight to the kitchen.

“Donghyuck?” It was then you noticed he was holding bags of groceries, both of his hands white from the weight. He put them down softly beside the kitchen counter, stretching his back from relief.

“Fuck the grocery store and not letting me take the cart home,” he rested his upper body on the counter and took a quick breather, as if he had ran a 12k marathon.

“What is all this?” It was obviously clear to you what it was; bags filled with groceries, most of which were the ones he used up. The question was more specifically directed towards him and his sudden act of kindness.

“Groceries,” he replied. Even when exhausted, Donghyuck’s wit outshone.

“Well no shit…” you say, “I mean why.”

“I… thought about what you said,” he exhaled deeply. Donghyuck was irritated at how he was letting you win, “And you’re right. I’ve been acting like a dumbass. Especially since you’re letting me stay here.” To avoid the awkward eye contact, he decided to start sorting out the groceries, “I’m… really sorry. It didn’t occur to me how I was acting. From now on, I’ll actually act my age to make it up to you. I’ll act like a proper guest.”

You feel a small smile creep up onto your lips, “Donghyuck?” He hummed. “I forgive you.” You paused for a moment, “And I’m sorry for earlier… my emotions took control of me. I couldn’t hold myself back.” He chuckles lightly, turning to you, “It’s okay, it’s understandable…” He hears his own stomach growl. “Y/N?”

“Yeah?”

“Can you make dinner now? I’m starving.”

iv.

You glared at Donghyuck at the corner of your eyes as it sounded like he was purposely turning up the volume of his game. The background music, character voices, weapons slashing, and shooting, they all started to drown out the show you decided to put on the tv. You decided not to point it out at first because of a goal you had made to not seem like such a buzzkill all the time.

“This is the best weapon in the game,” he grinned proudly, “It’s my baby. My pride and joy.” The tv screen in front of you was suddenly blocked by Donghyuck’s phone screen. At the same time, the couch had dipped down slightly as he shifted over to you. He held the device there for longer than you cared, hand shaking as seconds passed. It almost made you laugh.

“Mmhmm,” you hum monotony, trying your best to keep your eyes on the screen, “That’s really cool.”

Donghyuck sat back in his spot, “You know I’m not stupid enough to not hear the sarcasm in your voice.” He tapped a few buttons to join the queue of the game.

“I know… I just don’t care,” you finally turned to face him, “Why don’t you just play that in your room? I’m trying to watch and all I hear are shooting sounds.” And at that you turned the volume up by two.

“It’s… quiet in my room,” he says quietly, “I’ll just turn my volume down.” Staying with you had caused Donghyuck to realize how lonely it actually was just staying in a single room the entire night with his eyes not leaving the screen. He figured that maybe, when you were planted on the couch, he’d hang around you for a nice change.

Keeping your gaze forward. Though it was hopefully not obvious on the outside, you were thrown off by Donghyuck’s compliance. Turning ever-so-slightly, you peered at the boy. His head was bowed in order to look at his phone screen but, even so, you could see the tip of his tongue peek out between his lips. He looked so focused that you almost laughed out loud. Never did you think that a boy as garish as Hyuck would ever reach a state like that. He looked… cute.

You forced your eyes back to the television and knocked the thought out of your head like with a mental baseball bat. There’s no way you just thought that Donghyuck was cute. No way.

It hadn’t occurred to Donghyuck that you weren’t awake to leave in time for the bus until he already turned the front door’s knob halfway and his eyes had fallen on the only pair of shoes you would wear. He let go of the doorknob and kicked his own sneakers off of his feet, letting out a low groan only for him to hear. He knows that you probably worked on school work until late, which he found stupid since you could not, for the life of you, wake up later on to go to school.

Donghyuck knocked twice and waited for a reply, letting himself in when he hadn’t heard one. He snuck his head through the gap he made and set his eyes on your bed. He snorted at the sight of your passed out figure, leg sticking out from underneath the blanket and hanging off of your bed. Your mouth was wide open, freely giving flies a good place to hang out. Your textbooks and notes were scattered at the foot of your bed, your other foot leaving creases in them.

“Y/N, wake up you’re late,” he shook your shoulder, bending down a tad bit closer, “Wake up!”

Groaning, you shifted and grabbed his hand from your shoulder to push it away, “Donghyuck, can you please shut the fuck up?” You were unable to open your eyelids and your throat was still dry. Donghyuck continued to force his hand to your shoulder to shake you again, but you countered it with your own elbow strength.

“Hey the bus comes in a few minutes and you’re barely awake,” Donghyuck noted, “Hey wake up.”

For some reason, you hadn’t processed what he was saying. You genuinely believed he was only in there to irritate you at such an early hour. Refusing to retract his elbow, he applied a bit more pressure down onto you.

“Stop it!” you blindly swung an arm at his inner elbow which caused it to bend at contact. Donghyuck fell forward and onto you, all of it happening so fast that he couldn’t save himself. His face was only inches from yours, though you hadn’t noticed until your eyes had shot open from the sudden realization of the collision. The both of you laid there for a brief moment, staring at each other with wide eyes. It was all purely out of shock, like deer in headlights.

When you had processed it all, you rolled over, “Get out of my room!” It was then that you were suddenly aware of the situation. Classes started in less than an hour, the bus leaves in two minutes, and you were still not dressed. Curse the psychology homework you left until last minute.

Donghyuck pushes himself up, “I’m only here to help you!” He argued, “You know what? Why did I even try? I should’ve just left you here and let you miss your classes.” And at that, Donghyuck turned and exited your room, leaving your door open.

He jogged out of the apartment, slipping his nikes on as if they were crocs, creasing them carelessly. If you were the reason why he could be late, he wouldn’t know how he’d react. He just knew that he wouldn’t want that.

Donghyuck was just in time for the bus, greeting the driver quickly before finding a place to sit on the bus. He placed himself near the back at a window seat, leaning his head against the glass after he finally took the time to tuck his heels properly into his shoes. He let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding in. His heart was beating faster than normal, adrenaline running through his body, only he wasn’t sure if it was from the thought of being late to class or because of what just happened between him and you.

You always set aside Friday nights for self care and movie nights. You’d put on a cheap drugstore face mask, dump a whole bag of your favourite chips into a bowl, pour yourself a cold drink, and pick out whatever movie that looked appealing. It was rather an ordinary routine, but you liked to think of it as something special.

Resting against the couch, you decided to pull up To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, hoping to watch the first and second movie even though you already watched both when they were initially released.

“Hey Y/N, have you– oh hey, it’s that Noah dude that’s in every Netflix movie,” Donghyuck has emerged from his room, the first time since you both arrived from school. He leaned over the back of the couch and took in whatever scene was playing on the screen, “What are you watching?”

You turn around, face covered in an unnatural shade of purple, making Donghyuck jump a bit, “To all the boys I’ve loved before.”

“That sounds really dumb,” he snorted, but nonetheless he sits down on the cushion next to you.

You questioned his actions, glaring at him, “If you think it’s stupid, why does it look like you’re here to watch it.”

“I have nothing better to do. None of my friends are online,” he shrugged. Reaching over, he grabs a can of pop from the coffee table, snapping it open before taking a purposefully loud sip, “So why not?”

“I’ll only let you watch if you shut up,” you turn the volume up by one, “Okay?” He nods understandingly as he mirrors your resting figure on the couch. After what seemed like five minutes, he stretches his arm out to grab a handful of chips before throwing them all into his mouth at once.

“So… he’s only pretending to date her to make the blonde girl jealous?” It was astonishing to you how you actually understood everything he said through his mouth full of chips. He didn’t even try speaking loudly either.

“Basically,” you hummed in response.

“Does it work though?” He questioned after swallowing.

“Shhh, Donghyuck, just watch,” you flick his knee, directing an unamused look at his direction, “You’ll see.”

For a good portion of the movie, Donghyuck chose to keep comments to himself. Every time he would want to say something, he’d hold himself back, silently reacting to the rather dramatic parts of the film. It was admittedly a cute movie. He hadn’t seen anything like it in a while.

“Wait! It’s just a misunderstanding!” Donghyuck gasped. His legs were crossed underneath him, eyes planted semi-permanently on the screen, “She took that scrunched from him! He didn’t give it to her! Just when everything seemed fine.” You snickered at how into the movie he was. You didn’t react like he was when you first watched the movie.

“It’s so obvious that Gen did it,” He muttered, “Who the hell else would do it? She’s jealous as hell. Can she stop please?” From the corner of your eye, you could see that Donghyuck was close to throwing one of your throw pillows.

“I mean, at least Peter’s plan worked,” you responded quietly, sinking back into the couch, “It’s just that now it doesn’t really matter if it worked or not.”

“She’s acting like they’re still a thing,” Donghyuck scoffed, “They’re not.” He was one hundred percent for Lara Jean and Peter and it was actually pretty amusing in a cute way. But you weren’t saying that out loud, you’ll gladly keep it to yourself.

The movie slowly came to the end, wrapping up like it did in the books. “Why does she walk like that though,” he laughed, “Who walks like that normally?” He lays back against the couch and grins, “That was actually a good film…”

He was so immersed in the film that he hadn’t noticed that you had fallen asleep by the end, head falling in a strange way against the armrest of the couch. The way your chest had risen and fallen in such a calm and constant rhythm indicated to Donghyuck that you were having a good slumber. He didn’t want to wake you up. Not when you seemed so peaceful.

His eyes shifted to the thin blanket you already brought with you, clutched in your hand, then back to your face. He couldn’t help but trace your features with his eyes. There was no other time that he would be able to do this. When you were awake, you were too aware about everything he did, or what went on around you, but in this state, you were the complete opposite. He smiled softly at your serene figure, quickly shaking his head at the sudden change in image you had created in his head for that brief moment. As if it was something he’d do often, he easily laid your blanket over you, making sure it covered you chest down. I just need sleep, he thought, “Goodnight, Y/N.”

Mutualistic (symbiotic) relationships in nature worked as so: both organisms in the relationship would both completely benefit from the other. It was funny to think that such relationships were always so dynamic. Who would have thought that an animal as large as a crocodile would benefit from a bird as tiny as the plover. It was interesting how it worked like that.

As weeks had passed with Donghyuck still living in your guest room, the both of you had noticed that having each other as temporary roommates actually wasn’t that bad. A parasitic relationship had slowly evolved into a mutual one and you wondered if something like this could actually happen out in nature.

You noted this shift when Donghyuck had arrived home from a study group with bags filled with groceries. Sure it wasn’t the first time he’d taken the action to do so, knowing how much you struggled with carrying bags home, but this time was different.

It was nothing drastic or overly significant, but it was something that caught your eye immediately and you couldn’t help feel your chest warm up a bit. Donghyuck had bought all of your favourite snacks and candies. Even the ones you couldn’t usually find in the grocery store you’d usually shop at. They were all bunched into one separate bag, indicating that this was in no case a coincidence. And at that thought you smiled and looked up at him, only he didn’t catch you looking. He was far too busy sorting the rest of the groceries into their respective spots.

“Thanks Donghyuck,” you say, quietly. Though it sounded like you were thanking him for doing another round of grocery shopping, this time, it was directed more towards his little deed.

“It’s no problem,” he offered a tight lipped smile before scrunching the bags into messy balls, stuffing them into a small bin with others. He turned back to the counter, realizing that he hadn’t unpacked the bag filled with your favourites, “You can do those right?” It wasn’t like he couldn’t do them himself. It was just that those were all meant for you.

You nodded, “Did you do this on purpose?” You started to take the snacks out of the bag, “These are my favourites.”

Donghyuck’s eyes widened out of panic of being exposed but you weren’t aware of his mood change as he quickly fixed his composure, “No? I mean… they just looked good so I got them.”

He was lying and you knew, “Mmhmm… that grocery store I shop at doesn’t even sell these.” You held up a flavourful bag of gummy bears.

“I passed by a corner store and got them.” Lying again. But this time you just hummed.

“Whatever you say, Hyuck.” The nickname had slipped out of your mouth so naturally that you didn’t catch yourself saying it. Donghyuck was obviously thrown off by the name, feeling his heart skip a beat for the second time in five minutes, “Thank you.”

He scoffed, trying to tap back into his usual self, “For buying food for me? Ah, you’re welcome.” Before you could say anything else, he rushed to his room, making up some lame excuse just to get out of the conversation.

It was funny because that wasn’t the last time he bought your favourites.

Donghyuck noticed this shift himself when he came home one day with his clothes neatly folded on his bed. The last time he’s seen his clothes, they were all piled at the corner of the room, dirty with sweat or generally smelling like it’s been soaking up the sun.

He dropped his bag by the room’s door, curiosity taking hold of him as he walked up to the folded clothes. They were clean. He smiled, sorting them out so they were organized the way he wanted them to be.

He could recall how he had told you he had no time to do laundry. From school and extra shifts at work, he was growing frustrated with everything that’s been piling up, finding no time to take care of himself at home. He had been re-wearing the clothes that seemed clean enough just to get through his day.

Leaving his room with a bit of pep in his step, he enters the kitchen where you had been working on some assignment. You didn’t look up, even with the hint of his presence, too indulged in your work.

“Y/N,” He strayed towards the dishwasher, grabbing a cup as if he was only there to grab water. Glancing at you from the corner of his eyes, waiting for your reply.

“What, Donghyuck?” you muttered. You weren’t trying to come off as rude but you didn’t want to lose the focus you had built up in the last 30 minutes. You typed away, ears perked up in order to hear the nonsense that could be coming out his mouth any second now.

“Thanks for doing my laundry,” he says sincerely. He chugged down the water that he poured into his glass and quickly washed the cup, “It doesn’t seem like a lot but it truly is.”

You finally look up at him, fingers pausing abruptly. Your eyebrows were raised, shocked at the tone in Donghyuck’s voice, “It’s no problem. I know that you’ve been busy. And you still buy groceries even when you’re running low on time.” And it was true. In a way it was your only way of giving back aside from letting him stay at your place.

Donghyuck couldn’t do anything but smile. He bowed his head slightly to reply wordlessly to you before retreating back slowly to his room.

Your thumb switched between the right arrow button and the down arrow button, scrolling through the selection of movies shown on the screen. The past half an hour, you had been trying to settle with a film that suited your mood, but since the movies seem quite uninteresting, time was being wasted.

Mentally, you kept a list of movies that stood out more than others, only not finally deciding because you opted to choose more options. The third Harry Potter film was among those, and honestly, looking at the rest of the movies, you really were leaning towards rewatching it instead of taking a risk and watching a one star film.

Double checking if you had everything you needed, you pressed a button to start it, the warner bros logo appearing after a dark screen. There was a hint of background music playing and a house appears after the logo. Then, you hear a door open and close, followed by light footsteps. You sit unbothered, already knowing what was about to happen.

“Oh, a movie?” Donghyuck’s voice bounced around the room and over the movie’s soundtrack, “I didn’t know you were watching a movie.” His footsteps grew softer indicating that he was on his way to the kitchen just a few feet from the couch. You stifle a laugh and shake your head slightly. Of course. It wasn’t the first time Donghyuck had coincidentally walked in right when you started a movie. It happened last week and the night ended up with him sleeping with the lights on. You knew that he started to like these unspoken movie nights. And you did too.

You keep quiet as you preferred to listen to the film than reply to the curious boy, already knowing he was getting ready to take his usual seat next to you.

“Is this Harry Potter?” And as you predicted, the right side of the couch dips down slightly under Donghyuck’s weight. He sets down his own cup of pop and a movie snack in front of him.

“Yeah, the third one,” you blinked at the screen, “It’s probably my favourite one.”

“I’ve only seen the first one,” he states, “So you have to catch me up a bit.”

You sighed, “It’s okay, it’s easy to understand.”

Donghyuck takes a slight glance in your direction. You were slumped, cross legged, underneath your blanket, bag of chips sitting on your lap and a can of pop in your left hand. You looked cuddly. You didn’t know it. And Donghyuck didn’t know this until he had the sudden urge to scoot over to your side in order to feel completely comfortable.

Subtly, Donghyuck shifts his weight from one side to the other, crossing his legs. His knee sat rather closely to yours. A part of him did it on purpose, leaving the rest stunned at the close interaction. You didn’t move away, mostly because your knee was covered with your blanket. You couldn’t tell the difference between the blanket and Donghyuck’s knee.

Again he took a peek at you unconsciously, brain and muscle control seemingly working separately. He admitted it to himself he liked these movie nights. Even if you both unspokenly only had three. It was different from how he’d usually spend nights alone. It was a good different.

His phone buzzed, Jeno’s name popping up on the screen: Sick again? Feel better :)

Quickly unlocking his phone, he had texted back a ‘thanks Jeno’ before setting it back down in the crack of the couch. He had declined an invite from Jeno to go see a movie in the theatres in an hour, but the idea of spending the night just on the couch seemed much more appealing than having to go out and get ready to do the same thing.

One more time, in the corner of his eye he took in your figure. Whether he stayed home because he was too lazy to get ready or because he secretly wanted to spend time with you… we’ll never know.

vi.

“Thank you so much for the update.”

You had walked in after an energy draining shift to Donghyuck getting off the phone. The way he smiled caused him to embody happiness, radiating sunshine as he beamed at you.

“You look fucking stupid,” you say to break the silence creeping up on both of you. In reality he didn’t look stupid, he looked like a cute little kid being told news he was going on a fun family trip.

“My apartment’s done in a week!” He did a small dance to express what he was feeling, his smile not faltering one bit.

Your heart dropped a bit, the feeling of disappointment overtaking it. You brushed it aside, “That’s great to hear! Now I can kick you out for good.” You let out a small laugh to indicate it was a harmless joke before you make your way to your room, this conversation being something you want to avoid.

You had grown used to Donghyuck. His noise, his presence on the Friday movie nights, the never-empty fridge and pantry due to his constant visits to the grocery store. It was weird thinking that that’d be all gone by next week. You would have never thought you’d want him to stay…?

The hell? I want him to stay?

You flicked your own forehead before shaking it as if water had gone into your ear. You shake it to get rid of those thoughts you were ever so scared of confronting.

You sat down on your bed and sighed. Funny how over a month ago you strongly yearned for Donghyuck to leave. You wanted nothing to do with him, threatening to kick him out everytime he ever so slightly crossed the line. But now, you wouldn’t think twice seeing the boy passed out on the couch. You wouldn’t mind him taking up time in the washroom or yelling at ungodly hours at night. It was clear that he had grown on you. And instead of being thrilled that you’d get your apartment back to yourself, you were secretly hoping that time would move a bit slower just so Donghyuck wouldn’t move back any sooner.

Donghyuck made his way back to the guest room, a bittersweet feeling lingering in his chest. The news he had just gotten was great. It was information he had been waiting for for the past few weeks. But he had such a good time staying with you… he wondered if your guys’ relationship would be the same as it is now when he does move back. It’s not like he was leaving the city. He was literally only moving a floor up. If you both stood directly in the same spot in your apartments, you would be closer to each other than you would be staying in the same apartment and different rooms.

Would it be weird to ask you if you would still be friends? Maybe a little bit. But if Donghyuck had to do it, to ensure the growing worry in himself, then he’d do it.

Symbiotic relationships were easy to understand. It was grade seven level science after all. But something that wasn’t as simple to understand was the fact that you were actually going to miss Lee Donghyuck once he moved back to his apartment.

There was still that little voice inside of you that was telling you to quit it. That he was moving back tomorrow and after he does move, you probably won’t even have the same relationship as now. It was better to cut those arising feelings short before they actually endure.

Donghyuck has been spending a bit less time in your apartment and in his, making sure everything was good to go once he returned to his man hole. You could hear his voice through the ceiling. It honestly sucked because you wanted to spend the last week just spending time with him.

“How’s everything going?” You questioned as he appeared through the front door. You were on your way to your room, notebook and laptop sitting snugly in your arms. The time was drawing close to eleven and you could feel the residence of the apartment building all going to sleep. You figured it was time for you to go to bed too.

“Almost set,” he replied quietly, “I can finish them tomorrow.” A silence hung in the air as you tapped your fingertips against the edge of your laptop.

“That’s good.” Though it wasn’t obvious to Donghyuck, you had tried to force the content tone blanketing over the mixed emotions, “Well goodnight… will I still you tomorrow?”

You remembered Donghyuck saying he was moving back early morning, but knowing him and his habits, it would probably be postponed till midday.

“Maybe,” he laughed softly, “Maybe not.”

You let a laugh similar to his before backing into your room and shutting the door. Sighing heavily, you dragged yourself to your desk and set your things down. Maybe you should wake up early just to say goodbye.

Donghyuck smiles at your door, before calling it a night himself. Tomorrow he was moving back and tomorrow he wanted to tell you something. Maybe.

Surprisingly, Donghyuck had woken up before his alarm which was set to go off at nine in the morning. He sighs and blinks at his door a couple of times before getting up and making the bed, wanting it to look presentable for when you come in to clean it.

After he had followed his usual routine, changing into day clothes, brushing his teeth, washing his face, and fixing his hair, he set his backpack down beside the door beside his shoes. He stood there for a moment, resting his hands on his hips and huffed. Within his chest he could feel that same bittersweet feeling he felt about a week ago when he was told his apartment was finished.

Unconsciously, he turned back towards the hallway and stood in front of your room. Is Y/N sleeping? He questioned himself. Probably, he countered. Though his head was telling him to not bother you, his body had decided that it was a great idea to knock, not once but twice.

“Come in.” Unexpectedly, you had replied, voice sounding like you had been awake for a while. And the truth was, you had been awake since eight, unable to go out and face Donghyuck.

“Can I talk to you?” Donghyuck’s head was barely pushed through the crack he had made, door hiding anything below his eyes.

You were partly laying down in your bed, phone in hand. Sitting up, you nodded, “Yeah of course, what’s up?” You watched Donghyuck swing the door so that his entire body was visible. He had a sheepish smile on his face, eyes unable to sit on you as he glanced around your room.

“I just wanted to say thank you for letting me stay here,” he says seriously, finally bringing himself to look at you, “I really do owe you shit… I owe you so much. So if you need me, then I’ll do anything.”

You couldn’t help but feel the inside of your chest warm up to your temporary roommate. A smile crept up onto your face and you nodded, “I got to be honest, you already know this, but I really didn’t want you staying with me… but I guess it wasn’t that bad at the end. No problem.”

He bows his head gently and turns to leave, only stopping to turn around again, “Oh by the way, I don’t think you’ll hear me causing a ruckus for a bit because I still need to save up for new equipment.”

You laughed and joked, “Sounds good to me.”

“Bye Y/N.” Donghyuck licks his eyes with yours for a prolonged moment, sparkling in yours. Your stomach bursts with butterflies, feeling yourself squeal internally at this type of contact.

“Bye Hyuck.” And at that he leaves.

You were engulfed with a heavy feeling that you weren’t usually familiar with when it came to Donghyuck. Often you’d know if it were hate or annoyance or amusement. But this was different. The flame in your chest was growing stronger and this time you really couldn’t ignore it. You cringe at the butterflies in your stomach that were alive than never before.

Once you heard the door to your apartment close, that was when you finally gave in to that feeling that started to grow slowly and subtly without your knowledge.

You liked Donghyuck… you really liked Donghyuck and there obviously was no running from it now.

Donghyuck enters his apartment and is immediately greeted with silence. Though he’s only stayed at your apartment for about a month, he without a doubt had grown to get used to your presence greeting him at the door. It was just weird now. He should’ve asked you to help him sort his new furniture. Then he could be around you longer for a good reason and that could give him a chance to actually ask you if you guys could still be friends.

He loved your presence. He loved the movie nights you both had and the short yet amusing banters. You two actually complimented each other well despite the fact that at first you two seemed to be polar opposites… but that was it, you guys were opposites but that was why you both went well together. He loved the friendship that you guys had managed to muster up within a month.

Involuntarily, Donghyuck shakes his head at the thought of being just friends. A friendship was far different from what he wanted. And at that conclusion, he made up his mind. He liked you, maybe closer to love than like. He wanted more, and it took him this long to finally admit it.

At that second, someone knocked on his door twice, his head snapping towards that direction. He feels the beat of his heart quicken in pace as he approaches it slowly. Answering it, he remembers when you were there about aa month ago just to tell him off. Donghyuck laughs, “Y/N? Missed me already?”

You rolled your eyes playfully, “Shut up Hyuck… you know how you owe me?” He nods, unable to predict what was coming up next.

“Well how about you take me out to dinner…” You cringed at how you worded that. It sounded like you were demanding it. This mistake caused you to back up a bit sheepishly.

Donghyuck smiles at your cute behaviour, stepping forward to keep the distance the same, “Like a date?” It was your turn to nod.

“Then I would love to.”

777 notes · View notes

idnek83 · 3 years ago

Text

By Your Side - chapter 2/3

Rating: Explicit

Pairing: Soda Kazuichi/Tanaka Gundham

Tags: Alternate Universe - College/University, No Game Spoilers, Coming Out, Hurt/Comfort, Verbal and Physical Abuse, Homophobia, Other Tags To Be Added

Summary: The epilogue of Aid, in which Soda finally comes out to those around him, and accomplishes a goal he’s had ever since that fateful day in the beach house.

Chapter: 1, 2

Read on Ao3

This Chapter: Soda comes out to his father and things go about as poorly as one would expect. But maybe he hasn't lost nearly as much as he thinks.

Please mind the tags. This chapter contains non-graphic depictions of verbal and physical abuse. If you don’t want to read it but would like to know what happened, please read the summary in the ending notes on AO3

_____________________

Coming out to his friends had been so easy that he had almost convinced himself that coming out to his dad could be easy too.

It wasn’t that bad really, he only hit him a few times, he’d been beaten worse for breaking things in the garage.

He was glad he told Gundham not to come though.

“You’re already such a useless fuckin’ disappointment-”

Really, watching how Gundham would react to his father’s abuse would probably have been way harder to take.

“Now you ain’t even gonna have a kid and continue the family? Too busy suckin’ dick like a disgusting-”

At this point his dad was pretty much just repeating himself. Earlier, Soda had tried to appease his father by pointing out that he was actually still interested in women, so technically he might still have a kid someday.

But his father wasn’t listening, so he gave up.

He didn’t really want kids anyways.

He was too scared he’d end up like his dad.

“-outta my house before I throw you out!”

Oh, that was new. He probably should have been listening better. He really was useless.

“What?”

“I said you best get your ass outta my house real quick, or I’m gonna throw ya out, and don’t even think ‘bout coming back unless you’re ready to put this gay shit behind you.”

His father’s entire face was red, a few ugly veins stood out on his forehead, and he looked cartoonishly angry.

Soda couldn’t help but think it was almost funny.

“Can I, um, can I grab some of my stuff first?”

Soda wasn’t really sure how he was acting so calm, it always happened when things with his dad got really bad. Calm didn’t stop his father from hitting him, but it usually stopped him from hitting harder.

His father’s eyes narrowed and his shoulders tensed in a way Soda had learned meant he should start preparing to be hit again, but to his surprise his father just turned and stormed away after mumbling “Ya got 15 fucking minutes,” followed by a string of insults Soda knew were supposed to be hurtful, but hardly affected him anymore.

It’s hard to feel rain drops when you’re already soaked.

He walked to his room an sat on the bed.

He just stared.

What was he supposed to do? Pack? Most his stuff was already in his dorm at Hope’s Peak. Why had he asked to get his stuff when there wasn’t even anything important here?

He looked vacantly around his room.

It was pretty sparse. Just some dirty clothes thrown around on old worn-out furniture. There was a picture of him and his dad on the nightstand.

Maybe he should take that? People always take photos with them in movies and shit, so that’s probably what he’s supposed to do, right?

He threw it out the window instead.

It probably should have made him feel something, but he just felt numb.

He grabbed a pillowcase and stared filling it with his clothes and some of the random junk he had sitting around, not really paying attention to what he was doing.

Was this the last time he would ever be in this room? In this house?

The thought made him freeze.

He was about to lose the only home he’d ever had.

He swallowed a lump in his throat and laid down on his bed, tried to remember the feeling of it and the image of his ceiling.

It was stupid, but he felt like he would miss staring at that ceiling, suddenly every little bump and scratch felt like an important part of who he was. He had stared at it his whole life and now he just… wouldn’t be able to ever again.

He felt like he was upset about the wrong thing, but he couldn’t stop the tears from coming to his eyes anyway.

He was definitely going to miss that ceiling.

There was a knock at the door.

Shit, had it been 15 minutes already?

He stood and grabbed his sack of stuff, wiped his face, and opened the door to his room for what was probably the last time.

No one was there.

He checked his phone to see if his time was actually up, maybe he was just hearing things.

He had 12 missed calls from Gundham and twice as many unanswered texts.

There was another knock at the door.

Not his room door.

The front door.

Oh god, no.

He ran to the front door and pulled it open. He wasn’t the least bit surprised to see Gundham standing there looking both incredibly concerned and incredibly angry.

He was surprised when he didn’t immediately shove both himself and his boyfriend out the door like he had been planning to though.

Something about seeing Gundham just then, seeing the man he felt so safe around right as he was losing his home broke him, and instead of pushing Gundham back and away from the building like he should, he wrapped his arms around him and choked a sob into his chest.

Gundham held him tightly, and for a moment Soda didn’t feel so lost.

And then his dad found them.

“And this is the fucking guy? Really went with the fruitiest fucker you could, huh? Couldn’t pick one that at least looks like a girl could ya, ya little-”

He couldn’t take it if his father and Gundham started fighting. He needed to leave. Now.

He tried to nudge Gundham back, but Gundham just held him tighter.

“Cease your barking, foul beast.”

No.

Gundham shifted, partially shielding Soda from his father. He was definitely getting ready to fight.

No no no.

“I will not allow you to-”

The venom in Gundham’s raised voice sent a chill down Soda’s spine that he wished wasn’t so familiar.

He needed to stop this before it got bad, before he started fearing Gundham’s voice the same way he feared his father’s.

“Gundham, please, don’t.”

It was quiet, pathetic, and mumbled into Gundham’s chest. If his father had heard it he would have laughed and mocked him more, there’s not way it would have stopped him.

But it stopped Gundham.

He felt Gundham tense for a moment, before stroking Soda’s hair and muttering an apology against his temple. It was the exact kind of tender comfort Soda had never dared dream of receiving during one of his father’s episodes.

It made him cling to Gundham harder.

Yeah, his dad really didn’t appreciate that.

Soda was pretty sure Gundham was literally biting his tongue as the two of them walked away from the house, trailed by every insult and threat his father could think to utter. Only once they made it to the sidewalk did Gundham pause and look back. Soda could see him seething, knew Gundham needed to say something, and just pressed his head against Gundham’s shoulder, allowing him to finally speak up.

He didn’t have the energy to stop him anyways.

Gundham locked eyes with Soda’s father and tightened his arm protectively around Soda’s back.

He just hoped Gundham wouldn’t yell again.

“May you one day find enough love to know your actions were wrong.”

It was hardly any louder than Gundham’s usual speaking voice, but the moment of silence that followed it told Soda that his father had indeed heard it.

The renewed vigor of his threats after, however, told him his father didn’t care for the words.

–

Soda wasn’t 100% sure how they got back to campus.

He vaguely remembers being on a bus and hiding his face against Gundham’s neck, doing his best not to cry in public.

He didn’t need more people seeing how pathetic he was.

He remembers the warmth of Gundham’s hand on his back and the soothing sound of his voice, though he can’t really remember anything he said.

He was so useless he couldn’t even pay attention when someone was trying to comfort him.

It wasn’t until they were walking through the doors of their dorm building that he really felt like he was able to focus again. Something about being in a familiar place just made his mind come back from… wherever it had been.

The first thing he noticed was that he didn’t have the pillowcase he had shoved all his shit in.

He didn’t have the pillowcase.

His heartbeat picked up.

He didn’t have his stuff.

He felt like he couldn’t breathe.

He didn’t have a house,

His knees buckled.

He didn’t have a home.

He fell. He felt sick. He felt like he was dying.

Gundham was saying something. He couldn’t hear him. He couldn’t hear anything but his own too loud heartbeat and his brain’s assurance that he had lost everything and that he might as well just die.

Suddenly he was being carried. He wanted to protest but he couldn’t catch his breath, so he just gasped and choked pathetically in Gundham’s arms until he was slowly lowered onto a bed.

His bed.

His bed in his dorm room, covered in his dirty clothes and his unwashed blankets.

Soda gripped the sheets, his sheets, and something about it made the knot in his chest loosen.

He could breathe again.

He opened his eyes, unsure when he had closed them, and looked down at Gundham, who was crouched down before him holding his limp hands in his own.

A small smile graced Gundham’s face when Soda met his eyes.

“Have you returned to me, my love?”

Soda’s mouth felt dry, so he just nodded.

Gundham stood, slowly, the same way Soda knew he would around a frightened animal, and lifted one of Soda’s hands to gently press his lips to his knuckles.

“Do you keep ice in your fridge, dear consort?”

The question felt bizarre. Ice? Was this an overlord thing? He really wasn’t in the mood for that crap…

He managed to choke out a confused “Huh?”

“Ice, my dearest, is there any in your fridge? We must treat your wounds.”

Soda blinked slowly, waiting for his mind to process what was happening.

His wounds?

Oh.

He must have a blackeye.

“Oh, yeah, I’ll get it.”

When he stood Gundham moved as if to stop him, and he felt anger bubble up in his stomach.

“I said I’ll fucking get it! I’m not that fucking useless!”

He regretted it the second he finished speaking. Gundham’s shocked face hurt him more than anything else that night had.

In his mind his raised voice echoed and distorted until he couldn’t tell it from his father’s.

He was on his knees again, sobbing an apology, as gentle arms slowly wrapped around him and a deep voice offered forgiveness he didn’t deserve.

They must have been close enough to his minifridge for Gundham to reach it, as he suddenly felt something cold being lightly pressed into his hands.

It was an icepack he nearly forgot he owned, Mikan had handed them out to everyone in class on a particularly hot day that summer.

He pressed it to his eye, only then did he notice the dull throbbing pain of it.

He let himself fall forward into Gundham’s chest again.

“‘m sorry.” He mumbled again.

“My beloved consort, I can hardly imagine the pain you are feeling at this moment.” A soft kiss to his forehead. “I will remain by your side as you fight the demons which plague you, however unpleasant they may be.”

The words struck fear in Soda’s heart.

“No.”

“My dear?”

“I don’t want that, Gundham.” He took a shaky breath “I don’t want you to be with me if I’m treating you like shit. I don’t care if I’m hurt or whatever, if I treat you like shit you leave, okay?”

“It’s understandable that-”

“No. Gundham, please, I just-” another shaky breath as he pulled far enough away from Gundham that he could meet his eyes “- I don’t want to end up like him, okay? So you can’t… you can’t just let me get away with this shit. E-even when I’m upset.”

Gundham took a moment to consider his words, looking unconvinced.

“Please Gundham. I couldn’t… I couldn’t take it if I hurt you.”

Gundham stroked his cheek and finally nodded.

“Then I will do my best to keep your behavior in check, and in return I will ask only one thing.”

Soda smiled and cocked his head.

“Yeah?”

“You must be kind to yourself as well, dearest.”

It caught him off-guard.

“You have made a habit of speaking of yourself in a depreciating manner. I will not allow you to speak to me in such a way, and I will not allow you to speak to yourself in such a way either.” Gundham smiled and cupped Soda’s chin. “You are the consort of the great Overlord of Ice, my love, all must treat you with respect.”

Soda couldn’t help but laugh a little. It made his face hurt even worse, but it was worth it.

Gundham pulled him close again and quietly chuckled along with him.

Eventually they stood, and Soda looked around his room until he found a mostly clean face cloth to wrap the icepack in, before pressing it back to his swollen eye.

Gundham simply stood in the middle of the room, seemingly uncharacteristically unsure of himself.

“Um, Gundham? What’s, uh, what’s up?” Gundham looking nervous made Soda feel nervous, it was just too unlike him.

“I am… simply unsure if I should stay.”

“Huh?”

Gundham hadn’t once hesitated to spend the night in Soda’s room since they had returned from their vacation.

“I would be happy to stay with you this night, my dear consort, but…you have gone through so much so quickly, I would understand if you wished to have some time alone, or simply some time away from me, as I am .”

Soda was about to protest, of course he wanted Gundham around right now, having the person you love around in a crisis was like the number one thing you were supposed to want, right?

But the more he thought about it the more he realized Gundham had a point. Maybe he felt calm for the moment, but he was sure he’d have another outburst soon, and as much as he appreciated Gundham’s comfort and reassurance, sometimes a guy really just needs to let himself have a good long ugly cry in private, just to get it all out.

“Actually, yeah… I think, um, I think maybe I’ll sleep alone tonight? If that’s alright?”

“Of course it is alright, dearest.”

Gundham smiled for a second before it faltered.

“But please, do not hesitate to contact me if you need anything, my love. Truly anything, big or small, I will do my best to accommodate you.”

Soda smiled a little but could already feel his emotions welling up again at Gundham’s hesitance.

“I will, Gundham. Or? I won’t I guess? Uh, I mean, I’ll text you if I need anything, okay? Just, uh, try not to worry about me to much for now, alright? I’ll… be okay.”

He’d probably be okay, right?

“Of course, I’ll do my best.” Gundham moved to the door as Soda opened it, turning back as he walked through it. “I love you, my dear Soda.”

Soda felt his throat tightening again.

“L-love you too, Gundham.” Maybe it was a little choked, maybe he closed the door a little too fast, but maybe he just didn’t want Gundham to have to deal with any more of his crying that night.

He waited a moment for Gundham’s shadow to disappear from below the door, before once again sliding to his knees.

He expected to sob, the way he had before, but to his surprise he just breathed out a few more shaky breaths.

Maybe he had had enough of his own crying for one night too.

Maybe he just needed another minute.

He decided he might as well get ready for bed. He looked around his room for some cleanish pajamas and found a shirt Gundham had forgotten at some point. It passed the sniff test, smelling only mildly like BO but mostly like Gundham, so he threw it on along with some loose shorts he was mostly certain he had only slept in a few times that week.

He still didn’t feel like crying.

Soda sat on his bed and pulled out his phone, maybe he should just ask Gundham to come back if he wasn’t going to have another breakdown…

He felt guilty when he saw all the still unread messages from Gundham, but he’d deal with those later. For now, he was more interested in some of the other texts he had.

He had told most his friends that he was planning to come out to his father today, so there were a decent number of texts asking how things went.

As he scrolled through his various messages he began to feel guilty, many of his classmates had not only asked how things went but had followed up a while later with concerned messages. Fuyuhiko had even threatened to send some of “his guys” to Soda’s house - to Soda’s Father’s house - if he didn’t respond soon.

Luckily it seemed like Gundham had done some damage control while Soda had been out of it, as there were also a few messages saying things like “Gundham says you’re safe, but I’m here to talk if you need it!” and offering various words of support and love.

So, turns out he wasn’t done crying.

What had he done to deserve such good friends? He was just a stupid fuck-up and yet there were so many people ruining their nights by worrying about him. The worst part was he couldn’t even find the energy to respond to them. These people were making the effort to try to reach out to him and he couldn’t even do them the courtesy of responding.

His dad was right, he was useless.

He opened the rest of his messages without reading them, just to clear the notifications, then fell face first onto his pillow and tried not to sob. His throat was starting to feel sore, and all the crying really wasn’t helping.

His phone vibrated and he ignored it.

It vibrated again.

And again.

He grabbed it to put it on silent, but the most recent message caught his eye.

I swear dude if you don’t respond in the next five minute I’m coming back and kicking your ass.

It was Hajime. He and Nagito had decided to go camping for the weekend, and he had been pretty upset when Soda had told him he was going to talk to his dad while Hajime was out of town. Soda had insisted it would be fine and that Hajime should still go, and Hajime had only agreed on the condition that Soda would keep him updated with how things went.

Something he very much did not do.

He shot off a quick “I’m fine,” and almost immediately after he hit send his phone began ringing.

The bastard had tricked him, he couldn’t say he hadn’t noticed Hajime calling now.

He sighed and answered his phone.

“Yeah?” His voice was kind of scratchy, but he didn’t think he sounded like he was crying at least.

To his surprise, instead of the snarky response he had been expecting, he simply heard a relieved sigh and a slightly distant sounding “He’s okay,” before a louder “You had me really worried man.”

Soda choked back another sob. Hajime sounded so genuinely relieved, he could only imagine how worried he must have been.

And he had been planning on just letting him worry…

God he was an asshole.

“I…” Soda really didn’t know what to say.

“It’s okay, I heard from Gundham so I know I should have just dropped it but… I dunno, man, I just really needed to hear your voice I guess? Like to be sure you’re alive?”

Soda let out a deep, shaky breath. He knew Hajime would be able to hear it over the phone, but he needed to calm himself down.

“S-sorry Haj. I shoulda just texted you. It’s my fault for being such a fuck up.”

“Soda, shut the fuck up right now or I actually am going to come back there and kick your ass. You’re not a fuck up, your dad’s a piece of shit, and you 100% are not allowed to feel shitty about not responding to people while you’re in the middle of a fucking crisis, got it?”

Soda froze before laughing at Hajime’s outburst.

“Weren’t you the one g-getting mad at me for not responding, d-dude?” He did his best to keep his voice light, but he couldn’t quite manage it.

“Yeah I know, I shouldn’t have. I probably just made you feel worse, huh?”

Soda paused for a moment.

“Yes and no?”

“What’s that supposed to mean, dude?”

“L-like… yeah seeing your messages and shit made me feel… really shitty, but… now that we’re talking I feel… I dunno, man, just... less shitty?”

There was a quick burst of static that Soda assumed must have been an amused huff from Hajime.

“Soda?”

“Yeah?”

“I love you, man, okay? Don’t forget that.”

Tears welled up in his eyes and he had to swallow around a lump in his throat before responding.

“I love you too, Haj…”

There was a brief pause, both of them feeling a little awkward about being so open, but enjoying the feeling none the less, then-

“No homo.”

They said it at the same time.

Soda’s body shook with laughter, he could hear Hajime howling on the other end of the call and could just barely make out Nagito asking what was so funny in the background. His face hurt so bad, but he couldn’t really make himself care just then.

When their laughter died down Soda sighed.

“Thanks for this, Haj. I… I think I really needed to hear some of that shit…”

“Anytime, Soda.”

There was a brief pause and Soda knew Hajime was debating whether he should end the call or not.

He didn’t want to cut into Hajime’s camping date for too long, so he made the choice for him.

“Anyways, I’m feeling pretty tired, so I’m gonna head to bed now.”

“Okay, man, just… call me if you need to talk more, okay?”

“And risk catching you while you’re in the bone zone? No thanks, dude.”

“First off, never call it that again, second, I’m serious, Soda, call me.”

“Yeah, yeah, dude.”

“Soda.”

“I will. I promise! If I need to talk I’ll call you, even if I think you’re probably fucking, okay? Happy?”

“Yes. Now get some sleep.”

“Okay, mom. Good night.”

Soda heard Hajime’s faint chuckle as he hung-up, and found himself genuinely smiling for what felt like the first time that night.

Sure, maybe him and Hajime weren’t great at actually talking about heavy shit with each other without making it all into some kind of joke, but maybe jokes were the exact kind of thing he needed right then.

Jokes and something to fucking drink.

All the crying he had done that night had really killed his throat, and while the laughing had felt better, it had still just made him that much more aware of how dry his mouth was.

His phone buzzed as he stood to look for a drink. He picked it up expecting to find some snarky message from Hajime, only to see Sonia’s name on his screen instead.

Hello Soda, I do not mean to bother you, but I have made too much tea, and was wondering if you would like some.

Soda smiled at the message. ‘Made too much tea,’ as if Sonia wasn’t a master when it came to all things tea related.

I can leave some at your door if you are not in the mood to chat! I don’t mind!

Was he in the mood to chat? Talking with Hajime had been great, exactly what he needed probably, but would talking with Sonia be the same?

Their relationship had significantly improved over the past few months, the two of them would even sometimes hangout without Gundham around now, but they had never really talked about serious stuff before, they always just kept things light.

But he could really go for some tea, and maybe letting someone other than Gundham see that he was alive and in one piece would help him stop feeling so guilty about ignoring his friends.

Tea sounds good, thanks. I wouldn’t mind a quick chat either.

Great! I’ll be right over! ヾ(^▽^*)

Less than a minute passed before Soda heard light footsteps coming down the hall. He did his best to throw most of the dirty clothes scattered around into the laundry basket and hide some of the clutter before Sonia made it to his door.

“Soda? It’s me, I’d knock but my hands are full.”

“Be right there.” He lanced around his room and deemed it acceptable before pressing his icepack back against his eye and opening the door.

Sonia smiled brightly at him, and he pretended not to notice the way her smile faltered when she first registered the icepack as he invited her in.

There was a small, low table in the middle of the room and Soda gestured for Sonia to set the tea down there. They both sat in uncomfortable silence for a moment, maybe this had been a bad idea after all, Soda wasn’t really in the mood to stumble through an awkward conversation right now.

Sonia reached for a cup at the same moment Soda did, and the strange mirrored movement caused them both to giggle a little, breaking some of the tension.

“I am sorry for coming over like this, I admit I simply wanted to check that you were okay and didn’t prepare a topic for conversations.”

“It’s alright, Sonia. I mean, I kind of knew, you never mess up tea.” Soda smiled at her as best he could while holding the icepack to his eye.

“I apologize for being deceitful.” She smiled back. “I simply couldn’t think of-”

Soda shifted the icepack in his hand, pulling it back from his face to readjust the cloth wrapped around it, only for Sonia to abruptly stop talking and cover her mouth.

Oh right, his eye probably looked pretty messed up right now.

He covered it back up quickly.

“Sorry Sonia, it’s-”

Sonia stood, and Soda assumed she was about to excuse herself, but instead she stepped around the table, knelt beside him, and pulled him into one of the tightest hugs he had ever experienced.

“I’m so sorry Soda. You d-don’t deserve any of this.” Was she… crying? “Your… the man who did this doesn’t deserve you as a son.” He could hear it for sure now, she was definitely crying. The lump in his throat came back in full force, and he had to fight not to sob along with her.

“S-Sonia, it’s alright, d-don’t cry…” God now he was crying.

“It’s not alright!” She yelled and pulled him further against her. Soda hid his face against her shoulder. “It’s really not alright, Soda…”

Sonia rubbed Soda’s back gently with one hand, while stroking his hair and keeping him close with the other, while he sobbed against her and did his best not to get any snot on her clothes.

She was soft and warm and comforting, and he couldn’t help but remember being held in much the same way by his mother, years ago before she had passed.

It made him sob harder, but Sonia just kept holding him.

They stayed like that for a while, just holding each other and crying together while their tea got cold.

Eventually, after they had both calmed down a little, Sonia released him, shifting her hand from Soda’s head and back to hold his free hand instead.

“Soda, I…” she looked up, into his good eye, “I think you’re very brave.”

He couldn’t help but blush.

“N-not really, I mean I was pretty scared…”

“But you are!” Sonia lifted his hand and clasped it between her own, holding it between her chest and his. “I don’t believe I would ever have been able to speak to my parents of my preferences had I not know before hand that they would be supportive! But you did! I think that makes you extremely brave!”

He didn’t feel brave, but maybe she had a point…

Wait.

“Your preferences?”

Sonia blinked and tilted her head.

“Gundham didn’t tell you?”

“N-no?” Wait, was the girl he had spent so long being creepily obsessed with not even into guys to begin with? “Sonia, are you, uh, not into dudes?”

“Oh, no I am, but I like women as well.” She blushed a little, but smiled. “I believe we are the same in that regard, correct?”

He just nodded.

Damn, first Hajime and now Sonia? He really needed to stop assuming all his friends were straight.

“But, uh, doesn’t that get complicated? Like with you being a princess and all?”

Why the fuck had he said that. That was like the opposite of the right thing to say.

He was definitely 2 for 2 with fucking up when his friends came out to him.

“Oh, a little. I am expected to produce an heir one day, but there are ways to do that even if my partner and I are not able to do so on our own.”

“Ah, right, that makes sense.”

Soda nodded and decided to chug his cold tea to stop himself from saying anything else dumb.

Sonia visibly cringed as he drank but didn’t stop him.

“You know I don’t mind making you some more, Soda.” She spoke as he lowered his now empty cup.

“N-no thanks, it’s good. Even cold it tastes fine.” He did his best to smile convincingly.

Sonia quirked an eyebrow but didn’t say anything, instead smoothing out her skirt and giving her own cold cup of tea a disdainful look.

There was another slightly awkward silence before she stood once more.

“Then I think… If you would not like any more tea, I shall leave and allow you to rest for the night.”

“Ah, yeah. Thank you… for the tea and… thank you.” Soda stood as he spoke, and Sonia reached out to squeeze his hand once more before gathering her things and heading for the door.

“Good night Soda, sleep well!”

“You too, Sonia.”

“Oh, and…” Sonia smiled and paused for a moment, flicking he eyes down to Soda’s chest. “You look very good in that shirt. It’s cute on you.”

With that she left, letting Soda close the door behind her.

His shirt is cute? What shirt was he even wearing?

He looked down.

He felt his whole face heat with embarrassment as he remembered he had thrown on one of Gundham’s shirts earlier.

Oh.

“It looks cute on you.”

So Sonia had definitely recognized it.

He covered his face with both hands and laughed at himself. Why was he even this embarrassed? Sonia had been one of the first people to know him and Gundham were dating. He was just being dumb.

He pulled the shirt up to his nose and inhaled, smiling.

He was pretty sure he knew the exact night the shirt had ended up in his room. They had both been a little drunk and giggly, happy in each other’s arms as they had collapsed onto Soda’s bed.

Soda’s heart throbbed at the memory.

He wanted to see Gundham.

It had gotten pretty late though, maybe sending a text first would be a good idea.

Soda picked up his phone and clicked on Gundham’s name to open the messaging tab, pausing once he did.

Three little dots appeared at the bottom of the conversation, then disappeared, then appeared again.

Soda waited, but a message never came through.

Was Gundham… unsure? Soda watched the dots and imagined his boyfriend typing and erasing messages, unsure what to say or even if he should say anything, and the thought made him smile.

He decided to put Gundham out of his misery.

I’m coming over. Let’s watch a movie

He grabbed a random movie off his shelf, he didn’t really care what they watched. His phone buzzed, then buzzed again.

Dearest, I know you need space right now, but I just wanted to remind you that I love you and that you may call on me for anyt

Ignore that! I did not mean to send it!

I am happy to hear you are coming to my abode, my consort, I will ensure it is ready for you.

So he really had been sitting there trying to come up with the perfect message to send Soda, huh?

God, Gundham was such a dork.

Soda loved him for it.

–

He wasn’t really sure what time it was. Movie credits were scrolling across the little TV screen on the other side of the room, playing gentle music over Gundham’s quiet snores.

Soda rolled himself over, leaving his head on Gundham’s chest but shifting from his side to his back, and stared at the ceiling.

He had spent a good many nights in this room over the past few months, but the ceiling wasn’t familiar the way the one back in his father’s house had been. He didn’t think he’d cry if he never saw this one again.

Gundham grunted in his sleep and wrapped an arm around Soda’s back.

But he’d cry if he never got to see Gundham again. Or Sonia, or Hajime, or any of his friends. Even Nagito.

He’d cry if he lost them, he’d cry if they got hurt, and he’d cry if they cried.

Because he loved them.

Because they loved him.

Because even if he had lost the home he had known all his life, many of his own possessions, and even the man he had called father, he realized he hadn’t lost everything.

His home was with Hajime, while they laughed and made jokes at each other’s expense.

His home was with Sonia, making polite conversation and sipping tea so good he could hardly believe it was store bought.

His home was here, in Gundham’s arms late at night, feeling safe and secure even as his whole world was being turned on its head.

His home was with the people he loved.

All he had lost that night was a house.

#Soudam #Soda kazuichi #kazuichi soda #gundham tanaka #fic #My writing #Fic Aid

36 notes · View notes

yoonieboonie · 3 years ago

Text

The Substitute Lover (3)

word count: 2.2k

genre: fluff, angst hehe

pairing: myg x reader

summary: Finally meeting the college boy you've been eyeing on for months, everything goes wrong when you realise what you're really getting yourself into.

a/n: this is part 3!!! i finally, finally figured out the whole masterlist thing! anyway, is it alright if i ask for feedback? because it honestly keeps me going and i’ve been writing non-stop bc of the hearts and reblogs you’ve given me. thank you from the bottom of my heart!

NEXT | PREVIOUS

You didn’t sleep a wink that night. What has gotten into Yoongi and he decided to take you to that date? It was clear as day that you didn’t win against him. Your score are tied up, all because you forgot who Plato is. You plop your head on a pillow and let out a muffled scream. Who forgets Plato on a Humanities class? Your eyes trail to the bedside table, watching the big hand of the clock tick the minutes away. Not long after, you realise that it is already morning, and you recall how cold Yoongi’s voice was when he reminded you not to be late. You quickly jumped off the bed and prepared for the day. You presumed that Yoongi didn’t have classes today. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have asked you to push through with the “date”. On the other hand, you are going to miss a whole day of class. The wind was cold on your skin as you step out your apartment building. You hugged your coat to your chest, adjusting your backpack, remembering Namjoon’s stare each time you use it. It was no surprise to them that you are not fashionable, despite that, they didn’t push their opinion on your fashion choices any further. Walking to the gate, you noticed that it was almost 9:00am. Five minutes to spare. There he was though, in his mighty glory. Your eyes widened at the thought of him waiting for you. It was bad enough that you forced him on this date, furthermore let him wait for you. You half-jogged to where he was. Panting, you started to speak. “Sorry for being late. Have you been waiting long?” Yoongi stayed silent, only eyeing you up and down. He nodded his head and started to stalk out of the campus. You followed him quietly trying to practice in your head how you’d initiate a conversation with him. With your thoughts drifting, you noticed he skidded to a stop once you got to the waiting shed. You both are going to wait for a bus, you concluded. Once the bus arrived, he still refused to talk to you. This was going horrible so far. You were not having the time of your life and he mirrors that too. You took a seat beside him and tried to shake the thought away. Maybe he would open up soon, you decided to be a little more patient. You decided to try one more time and take out your phone. Carefully, you plugged in your earbuds, looking over Yoongi who kept his gaze straight ahead. You meekly tap his shoulder and offered to share it. He glanced briefly and shook his head. You slump in your seat. This was a really bad idea. “We shouldn’t have done this. I’m sorry for forcing you to go.” You stood up, getting ready to alight on the next bus stop. A wrist shoots up and gently grabs your arm. “Where are you going?” He questioned. His first words to you today. Wow. Sighing, you sat again and faced him. You did want to go on a date with him, but not forcibly. “Let’s just go back to the campus. I’m sure Hoseok and Namjoon might be—“ “They won’t.” “How are you sure?” You ask, genuinely curious. “We have classes today. I just skipped.” He explained nonchalantly. Your mouth formed into an O, trying to suppress the crimson red that’s trying to creep onto your cheeks. You can’t help but think that he might’ve wanted this too as much as you did. It sent a foreign feeling to your heart. Subconsciously, you held a hand to it. Noticing this, Yoongi lifted an eyebrow. “Is something the matter with you?” “No, I’m alright. I’m sorry for making you miss class.” You bowed your head. “Stop,” Yoongi spoke. “I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t want to.”

As soon as you saw the castle that signals the entrance of the theme park, you ran as fast as you can, momentarily forgetting that you had company. You stared at everything with glee, almost jumping at every sight. Yoongi watched you as he walked towards the same direction. “Let’s go.” You hear him mutter behind you as he finally catches up, breaking into your trance. Both of you lined up to get tickets, Yoongi watches as you clumsily swing your backpack in front in attempt to retrieve your wallet. While rummaging through your things, Yoongi contemplated on what he was about to offer. He did agree to go to whatever this was, but mostly because he wanted to prove Hoseok and Namjoon wrong. That he is indeed capable of moving on and if this stupid date was a proof for that then be it. However, he also didn’t want to make you hope. Yoongi also has a heart.

“I’ll pay.” Yoongi was surprised by his own voice. You looked up, your already doe eyes getting magnified more by your glasses, he let out a small “tsk” as he repeated what he said. Were you deaf? The problem wasn’t that you had bad hearing, but it was because you heard him crystal clear. “No, it’s okay.” You softly smiled, making Yoongi look away. He didn’t want to look at you anymore, it was intriguing but he decided that he wanted this day to be over with. You are making it difficult for him, he thought, but sadly, he has no idea why. He reached out to push your wallet back in your bag. Then after, turning to the cashier to buy two tickets. He handed you one and went in first. The theme park was everything that you expected. The enormous rides, different carts of food to munch on, candies, balloons, and colorful gift shops. You felt overwhelmed by everything. You want to try them all, your eyes practically twinkling with delight. Yoongi can tell you’re holding yourself back so he decided to speak first. “Where do you want to go first?” He asked. You pointed to the gift shop to which he nodded. You both made your way inside and your attention was immediately captured by the variety of headbands mounted to the wall. You grab one, pink bunny ears, to be exact. You quickly try it on, looking over to Yoongi who had a blank expression on his face. You shrugged it off; he doesn’t really seem the type to like these kinds of things. On the other side, Yoongi wants to kick himself for his heart was beating so loudly, if it can burst in his chest, he was pretty sure it will. He tried to keep a blank expression on his face as he watch you pay for the headband that you decided to leave on through the day. The next stop was rides, you were skeptical of asking Yoongi to come with you but it dawned on you that you wanted this so the best you may do is make the most out of it. That’s when you grab Yoongi’s jacket sleeve, dragging him to various rides. He let you drag him, not one complaint from him.

After about five rides, you both were exhausted. It was around noon and you were both hungry too. Since Yoongi paid for the tickets, it’s only fair for you to buy the food. So as you both take a seat at an empty table at the park’s food court, you excused yourself to use the restroom when you actually went to but hotdogs and soda instead. Yoongi noticed that you took a while; he tried to ignore the worry building inside him especially when you revealed that you were new in Seoul and was from Daegu all your life. Did you get lost? He checked his watch and when he concluded that you were taking too long, he prepared to stand up and gather his things when he saw you trying to juggle a tray of food in your hands. You walked towards him and placed the food on the table. You placed the hotdog and a can of soda in front of him and beamed. “Eat well, Yoongi. Thank you for taking me here.” Yoongi said nothing but started to eat. You did as well but you wanted to know more about him so you tried to initiate a small talk. “How old are you?” you asked, taking a sip from your soda. He stayed silent so you took that as a cue to speak again. “I’m 23. Taking up Bachelor of Science Major in Business Administration. Born and raised in the farmlands of Daegu.” You chatter away when you noticed him playing with the pendant of the necklace he was wearing. Your eyes watch his slender fingers twirl it around, clearly uncomfortable with the ongoing conversation. “Is that hers?” You boldly asked. His hands halted to a stop, dropping on the table. You notice him tense up and look away. “It’s none of your business, Y/N. Please don’ bring it up again.” He stated icily. You frankly felt bad for imposing on him like that. He wasn’t obligated to tell you anything. You felt absolutely horrible and wanted to disappear from the face of the earth. Instead, you cleared your throat and started to apologise. “I’m sorry for asking such a personal question, Yoongi. It’s just, I want to get to know you more and I overstepped a line. Again, I am sincerely sorry.” He stood up and you did too. He cleared up the wrappers and empty cans of soda and headed to the trash bin. You were staring at his back while he did so, before you ran your big mouth, you already convinced him to ride inside the waterpark. He initially refused since he didn’t bring spare clothes but so did you. “Let’s go, Yoongi.” You nod your head to the exit. He looked at you, a confused look on his face. “I thought you want to enter the waterpark?” He asked. Strapping the both of you in, the park attendant reminded you the basics. It is basically a log that will bring you to a certain height and zoom you down to a puddle of water. You can feel your adrenaline rushing through your veins as you’re nearing the drop. As you sped down the slope, you screamed with glee and grabbed onto Yoongi’s hands that was already in the railings. A flash blinded you for a second and before you knew it, you are drenched in water. You stepped off the ride, looking like a wet duckling. Yoongi looked ten times worse, you cringed. You had forced him on this ride despite him warning you about your lack of extra clothes. You shiver slightly as you try to rub your arms in attempt to get warmth. You are failing big time and Yoongi can hear your teeth chattering. Your nose and cheeks now flushed from the cold, you both decided to enter another gift shop. Inside, you noticed that there was a booth that took pictures of the passengers of the ride. The attendant called out to you and Yoongi and offered to show you a picture. Yoongi, as polite as he can, declined and you pouted. You playfully glared at him and asked the attendant if you could see the picture. You wait patiently as the picture was being printed out, handing out the payment. You quickly put it inside your bag for safe keeping. You the proceed to Yoongi who was looking at sweaters that had big bold letters saying “MY OTHER SHIRT GOT WET SO I GOT THIS” and you noticed him holding two in his hand. The notion that you two might have couples clothing made you smile. You both paid for the shirt and head to the nearest restroom to change. The sweater, though the smallest size, ate you up. You were really small, Yoongi noticed. You eyed him up and down. “You look dashing, Yoongi.” “Thanks, it’s the shirt.” He smirked. You were about to say something back when his phone rang. One look at the screen and panic stretched across his face. He held out a finger to you, signaling you to wait for a while as he answered the call. You nodded, also worried for whoever was calling him. He slowly started walking away but he picked up while he was still in earshot. “Jagi?” he breathed. ---------------------------------------------------------

Fairytales are too good to be true anyways. You tell yourself as you kicked a pebble on your way to the bus stop. Yoongi after picking up the call was frantic, not knowing the right words to say. If you remember it correctly, all he was trying to let you know is that he had to go. You, of course, let him.

Stepping into your apartment, you beeline to the bathroom to wash up and head to bed. You were exhausted to the bone. You were getting ready to shower when you saw your reflection at the mirror. You gave out a bitter smile at the sweater you’re wearing, stripping it off, hoping you could also strip off the heaviness you feel inside your heart.

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

NEXT | PREVIOUS

#myg x reader #yoongi x you #min yoongi x reader #yoongi x reader #yoongi #suga x reader #suga x you #bts #yoongi angst

32 notes · View notes

ladyxxdaydream · 4 years ago

Text

tagged by @stillnotovermylordsixth -- thanks for the tag! I've been feeling really inactive with my writing lately so this was a good way to start paying attention to it again (◠‿◠)

Rules: List the first lines of your last 20 stories (if you have less than 20, just list them all!) See if there are any patterns. Choose your favorite opening lines.

Then tag ten authors!

Fic titles are underlined and linked to the fic on my ao3, just in case any of them grab ya and you want to read it! ;D

1) Akihiko Kaji had sworn off love.

Love was nothing more than a shiny lure; bait on the end of a hook. Swallow it, and you were reeled in, gutted, and devoured.

He should have known better. (metanoia || akigetsu & akiharu fanfic)

2) Light snow fluttered down around them as they entered the winter festival, the first flakes since the season began. Konoha didn’t see much snow, and even if it did, it usually didn’t stick.

“What’s this line for?” Kakashi asked curiously, peering around the throng of people filing in front of a wooden kiosk. The words Kissing Booth were stenciled in red paint across the top. “Or rather who is this line f—” He cut himself off when he saw the prominent scar.

(kissing booth || kakayamairu)

3) Kakashi never showed much interest in anything aside from Icha Icha, but even that was exaggerated and calculated. It served several purposes: one, it provided an escape, building a wall between himself and the rest of the world; two, he simply loved it; and three, it allowed people something to fixate on and gossip about that wasn’t his actual life. (thought you'd never ask || kakairu)

4) A new child was being added to the shelter today. Dalma was standing in the door of the hut, introducing him as Kakashi. Iruka had heard stories about people as pale as the moon, who’d been sent by some god Iruka did not know. (déjà vu || kakairu)

5) “I’ve had one hell of a day,” Gekko said, falling into an open chair. “Can I join you guys?”

“You’re already seated,” Asuma said gruffly, puffing on a cigarette. He blew the smoke towards the ceiling, before snaking an arm around the back of Kurenai’s chair. She poked him in the knee beneath the table, a silent way to say be nice. (love me as you are || kakairu)

6) Kakashi was trying to keep his distance, and Iruka… well, Iruka was not. (full-stop || kakairu)

7) Kakashi slid his hands over Iruka’s shoulders and down his chest, placing a kiss to the nape of his neck. Iruka’s skin smelled strongly like the sun, despite his hair being damp from a shower. (busy || kakairu)

8) Kakashi paced their apartment nervously, his bare feet soundless and swift against the floor.

“I should go there,” he announced.

“Bad idea,” Pakkun replied lazily from the floor, his head resting on top of his front paws. “Iruka specifically told you not to.”

(perks of promotion || kakairu)

9) Iruka drank nearly half the beer Kakashi had sent him in one long swig. He didn’t mind the obvious attention Kakashi was giving him—the man was attractive and powerful to boot—but he did wonder why; he wondered if it was the same reason everyone else in this damn bar decided to notice him tonight. (perks of promotion || kakairu)

10) Iruka was putting on his wetsuit, reaching around to pull the long zipper up to the base of his neck. No matter how many times he’d done this over the past three years, he still felt nervous excitement every time. He threw his hair up into a tight bun, slipped the thin sliver whistle over his head, and closed his locker door.

(night at the aquarium || kakairu)

putting the rest under a cut!

11) Iruka clacked his stack of note cards against the desk’s surface, straightening them into a neat pile. He knew he wouldn’t use them but he made them anyway—it was a comfort thing. (brand new sound || kakairu)

12) Kakashi dropped his head into the pillow, dragging his fingers down Iruka’s back beneath his shirt as his boyfriend sucked his neck in a way that he knew would leave a mark.

“Wha—why,” Kakashi panted, “why are you stopping?” he asked when Iruka’s lips left his neck, clunking his forehead against Kakashi’s collarbone with a huff. (tonight you'll let me be your hands || kakairu)

13) Itachi got into his car, the leather seat cool against his legs through his linen pants. He turned on the radio with no need to change the channel. It’d been set to the same one for years — a mellow station that played classical composers and smooth jazz. When he pulled out of the driveway, he pushed on his bluetooth and spoke out loud:

“Hatake Kakashi.”

(tilt || itadei & kakairu)

14) Iruka buried his nose further into his scarf, his hands shoved deeply into his pockets as he walked briskly towards the bus stop. His car needed to be taken to the shop — something was wrong with the ignition. The engine whined hoarsely when he turned the key, but it never caught. He couldn’t bring himself to spend the money yet; money he definitely did not have. He knew he’d have to shell it out soon regardless, because winter was swiftly approaching.

(language gap || kakairu)

15) Iruka readjusted his messenger bag, positioning it so it no longer whacked against the back of his legs. Campus on a Saturday felt like a different universe. It was deserted, except for the few students who actually went to the library to study. He was usually one of them but that’s not where he was headed today. (i'll fall if you do || kakairu)

16) Iruka heard Kakashi come in, his footfalls uncharacteristically loud—the first indication that he was moping. Coming from Kakashi, that was the equivalent to dragging his feet. (pout || kakairu)

17) “I knew I recognized him,” Deidara squealed, tilting his phone towards Iruka to show him a photo. “It would totally make sense. The eye wrap must be concealing the scar. I’ve read they cover it with make-up for most of his movies.” (use your imagination || kakairu)

18) “Later!” Tomo screeched, making a beeline for the door.

“Tomo,” Iruka called, his stern voice echoing around the bathroom. Although he’d been appointed Headmaster at the Academy almost three years ago, his teacher's voice had refused to die. It usually worked, but his daughter was at the age where sometimes she would purposely misbehave, just to see what he would do in response. Thankfully, this wasn’t one of those times.

(cake substitution no jutsu || kakairu)

19) “Satisfied?” Kakashi chuckled, gently patting Tomo on the back again, despite her letting out a burp a second ago. He rocked from foot to foot in front of the window, bouncing her slightly.

Iruka watched his husband from the kitchen, his heart brimming with affection as he sipped at his tea. It had taken Kakashi the better part of a month to become completely comfortable with holding Tomo. The stiffness was gone from his body now, and his expression had shifted from panicked to serene. He also stopped taking Tomo’s crying as a personal insult, much to Iruka’s relief. Kakashi used to hand her off every time, convinced it was his fault, and that their now five month old daughter simply didn’t like him. (teething || kakairu)

20) Jokes came easily to Kakashi, whether or not people laughed at them was another thing entirely. With Iruka it was usually hit or miss. Sometimes he looked as if he was going to bust a lung, and it left Kakashi feeling victorious. Other times Iruka gave him the side-eye, and continued on with whatever he was doing. His team never really found him funny to begin with, and Yamato, well, he usually only laughed to be polite. (a new chapter || kakairu)

#kakairu #my fic #wow #looks like i mostly start with an action or a piece of dialogue O.o #this was fun and nostalgic #i havent been writing lately #and sometimes i wonder if it even matters ya'no?#idkkkk #love me as you are hit 500 kudso while i wasnt looking #and nata is 2 away from 700 #so tysm for that T-T truly #fic meme #writing meme #have a good day ppl #LOVE YOU #feel free to do the meme if you want #which i know is a lame cop out #but my brain is too fried to even think of one person to tag

21 notes · View notes

ablackfangirlwrites · 4 years ago

Text

A/n First off a very huge shoutout to the super duper amazing @ayocee who's been brainstorming this fic with me ur awesome and tysm💕💕💕

Second this is Daichi a fboy fic cause I love him and I want to be hurt by him so yay...

Part 1

For as long as you could remember you wanted to be special. And after growing up and feeling overlooked in your mind you were determined to be loved. Not just anyone though; you wanted to be special too and loved by The One, But that was easier said than done you learned as you went through your life.

Maybe it was because of your lack of attention in your childhood. That you always found yourself craving attention in all the wrong places. Or maybe because even if they were the wrong person. The idea of them giving you even a little attention made your heart sore.

Maybe that’s why you fell for him?

Daichi Sawamura.

He was harmless, right? The perfect gentleman? A knight in shining armor? Your knight in shining armor when you first met him at least.

He had perfect timing when he came into your life too. You had just declared you were giving up on boys due to a long relationship with a guy that you had finally decided wasn’t going anywhere and constantly left you feeling more empty than fulfilled. You told your close friend that you weren’t going to give any attention to any guy unless he made his intentions clear that he wanted you and only you.

Besides, you were a college student, and you needed to be more serious right? And who really had times for boys?

But all your defensive walls easily came tumbling down when you got your first message from him.

-Are you Y/n L/n?

A name you had never heard of before Daichi Sawamura texted you asking that question.

It wasn’t often that you got miscellaneous messages. And curiously getting the best of you you answered.

-This is her? Do I know you?

-No...you don’t but I found your wallet at the bus stop today and looked up your name from your ID and found your insta and now I’m texting you...do you want it back?

Your eyes went wide you didn’t even realize you lost your wallet. But after scrambling and realizing the stranger was telling the truth you responded

-Omg I didn’t even know I had lost it! Thank you so so much! 😭 I’m so so grateful!

A few minutes passed before he answered you back

-No problem, I was just doing what I can to help a fellow student 😊

After that, the two of you planed out when you would meet up on campus and he’d returned your belongings.

Once you were done you couldn’t help but look up your new savior for yourself to see what he looked like. You were taken back from his profile pictures. You hadn't expected him to be so nice looking. And more something about his face felt familiar. Had you seen him before?

You discovered he didn’t have much info about himself on his profile except for a few pictures most of them, you saw were of him in a group. If anything you could tell he was athletic. All you could truly be sure of was that you were intrigued.

Eventually, the day you set to meet up finally came. The weather was nice that day, it was one of those days that the transition between summer and fall seemed to perfect the leaves were at that marigold orange color that made your soul feel at peace. While also reminding you winter was soon to come. It felt like a perfect day...besides the fact a group of your friends accompanied you.

“He could be a creep for all you know,” Your friend told you once you told them the story. And that was all the reason she needed to be there for when you were to meet up with this Daichi fellow; plus she decided to tell a few of your friends. And being the noise bunch they were they all joined you. So that’s why you were sitting in front of the main campus steps with them waiting nervously.

Because maybe he was a creep? He didn’t have any real info about himself on his social media. So you really didn’t know. But even more so what if he wasn’t? What if he was really cute? You knew he was nice at least, after all, he put in the effort to find you when he didn’t have to. And even better what if he was single?

“Is that him?” Your friend asked you taking you out of your thoughts.

You saw a man approaching. And even from far away, you knew it was him just from his profile picture. It was then you realized you had seen him before. You had a few classes with him in fact. You never had a conversation with him, and you aren’t even sure if he ever noticed you before. But as he got closer you grew more nervous because all your questions were about to be answered.

“Wow, he’s hot.” one of your friends spoke up.

Only for you anxious and knowing how unruly your friends could be taking it upon yourself to leave them and approach him on your own.

“Daichi?” You asked nervously.

He gave you a smile that made your heart beat faster, “Yes, you are…” He trailed off

“Y/n!” You said smiling.

“Ah, Y/n,” He repeated after you, “I wasn’t sure how to pronounce it and didn’t want to butcher it.”

“Yeah…” You said still smiling. His whole personality oozing off that he was charming and kind.

“It’s very pretty too.” He added.

And all you could do was bite back a smile, “Thank you. Umm, Daichi is a nice name too.” You said awkwardly trying to pay him back a compliment.

“Ooo, he’s fine!” One of your friends yelled behind you. And you were sure you could die right there.

You turned to them making a face and mouthing the words, "shut up." At them only causing them to laugh.

“Please ignore them,” You told him in a rush, once you turned around back to him.

But Daichi chuckled, “It’s fine. And thank you.” after a moment of just looking at each other. No doubt you getting lost in his dark brown eyes. It was like you both remembered why you had met in the first place.

“Oh! I have something that belongs to you.” He said reaching into his backpack.

“I believe you do,” You responded.

He passed your wallet. And you sighed with relief, “You really don’t know how much of a lifesaver you are.”

“Ah, it’s nothing,” He smiled. God how is he so cute? You questioned with each word rhat came from his lips “I’m just glad I could help.”

“Me too," you saod dreamily.

His smile never left, “well, it was really nice meeting you Y/n,” He said putting his backpack back on. And you felt yourself starting to feel sad that he was already leaving so soon. You wanted to talk to him, you wanted to get to know him, “But, we should definitely keep in touch,” He added with a wink. giving you a glimmer of hope.

“Definitely,” you answered breathlessly.

And just as quick as he got there he was gone.

You turned back to your friends now no longer having to hold back the dumb smile that was spreading across your face. “He was so cute!”

“Oh my gosh! I wish a hottie like that would find my wallet!” Your friend laughed.

You still couldn’t believe it, “He was so-so..” You were looking for the words but your phone buzzed telling you had a message.

-You’re very cute too btw ;)

“Charming,” You finished your sentence with the smile on your face growing wider, and for the first time, there was real hope in your heart that there could be a relationship brewing

#haikyuu daichi #daichi sawamura #f.boy daichi sawamura #my writing.🖤💕🖤#daichi sawamura x reader #daichi x y/n #daichi sawamura x you #daichi imagine #daichi x reader #daichi x you #haikyuu daichi x reader #haikyuu daichi x you

36 notes · View notes

ubemango · 5 years ago

Text

commission 4: slow burn/best friends/college au w/ jin

(+or: we’re best friends and you’re literally So Great and i suck at knowing what i want but anyway i’m starting to think i like you ??????? au)

note 1: For my very very sweet and understanding friend @yeuj who helped me out when I needed it most .... I hope you enjoy 🥺🥺💕!!!!!! And thank you to Micah + Clove for helping me with my questions—thank you for your thoughtfulness, insight, and love!!!!! 🌷🌷🌷

note 2: I tried to make ramen-making as unboring as possible but it really is just....water and spice. If you’re confused about eating ramen at convenience stores please search that up on Youtube, I’ve exhausted my link resource skills (except for when I want you to listen to songs.) Also, the songs I mention are titanic/the end by cehryl and Subside by Eloise. I actually listened to Sweet Night on repeat while writing this so if u wanna listen to that... ;_;

note 3: everything about this story is in medias res. I realized I had no proper beginning or conclusion and I didn’t wanna change the flow of the story by concretely adding one or the other... so if the story feels incomplete/fragmented then please understand that this was a conscious and intentional decision done on my part :,) It’s slow burn!!!! I Love you ha ha!!

(i)

The library is open twenty four hours. The convenience store in the student centre is not.

“Please use your car,” you assert.

Seokjin huffs. “Then pay for my gas.”

It’s an empty threat. He’s got no business driving hard bargains when he has capital in the form of a rich CEO dad. He ignores your glaring, calmly closing his laptop, shoving it into his bag. Closing up shop after a derivative crisis you’d called him up for because he lives on campus, plus he never sleeps early. You appreciate that he gives into you so easily.

“Fine.”

So you go, searching for a convenience store that has those instant noodles you suddenly came up with a craving for this late at night. Seokjin’s used to it by now. You get things done when you want to, even if it means making a home of the pillowy chairs in the library you’d claimed for studying purposes.

The mathematical theory of chaos. You don’t want to think about it, and you click your seatbelt with a yell, throw your bag in the backseat with as much strength your anger allows for. “I hate school!”

“Please don’t scream in the car.”

“I hate it!”

Seokjin slots the key in. “Can you look up where the convenience store is?”

He tosses you his phone to unlock. You jab at the screen with more grumbling and colourful cursing, pulling up whatever Google Maps says is the nearest store open.

“Plug in the AUX cord,” Seokjin urges next. He merges into traffic, which is really only one car and the late night bus. A quiet night for your suffering.

“Can I play my—“

“Nope.” You sneer. Tapping open his playlists, you pass under orange lamp post after orange lamp post and scroll in silence before Seokjin groans. “I made a new playlist, pick that one.”

“What’s it called?”

You can see that he’s stiffened up. You don’t comment. “The one with the three heart emojis.”

Simple enough. You don’t care to sift through the songs, and the first one plays with one more indulgent tap of the screen.

Why don’t you tell her? I think you should. You know how you’re feeling, you can’t fight the truth…

Google interrupts the soft voice with the indication of the next right. Seokjin eases on the gas pedal. You watch him nod his head to the softness of the stereo. “I can’t pay for your gas.”

“I know you can’t.”

“I can pay for your ramen,” you suggest. Seokjin makes a quiet noise, like he’s amused by your generosity, or maybe he just thinks you’re dumb. You think it’s the latter.

“I don’t want you to pay for my ramen.”

“Then what do you want?”

The lamp post light striking Seokjin’s face gives way to the harsh red of the stoplight. In the stillness, he sends you a hard look. It makes you feel weirdly vulnerable, like he’s stripped you bare.

To make things worse, Seokjin says:

“Nothing you don’t want to give me.”

He doesn’t heed your confusion because he presses on the gas, looks straight ahead. You do too, and you try not to contemplate the cool brevity of his attention you suddenly want back. You push your uncertainty aside.

(He has a handsome face, you think.)

Seokjin interrupts, “So why’d you wait till now to study?”

“You know me.” Procrastination. The complete and utter mistake of underestimating the allotted time needed to get a successful grasp of concepts for your midterm. In not so convoluted terms, this class sucks ass.

“Yeah but that was—a lot of notes.”

It was. You probably pushed five weeks of material in the span of three hours. You can feel the very tips of your nervous system frying up as you pass through gas station-lit intersections. But there’s a real answer to his question, and you have the intense need to curl in on yourself in this leather seat.

“Well I would have started yesterday, but I was busy,” you counter.

“With what?”

“So you know Hyukjae from Psych?”

Seokjin pauses to listen to Google’s instructions, and immediately makes a left onto another main intersection. “Sure.”

“We went out yesterday,” you admit.

He hums a tight sound, tapping on the wheel. “Hm. How’d it go?”

It wasn’t bad. You shared butter tarts and laughed at his anecdotes and Hyukjae-from-Psych paid for your Uber home. He gave you a very weak hug before you slipped into the car. It was in that seat you’d decided you wouldn’t be sending him an I had fun! text that night.

“It was okay. Like, nice to me and stuff. But nothing…”

“…Worth revisiting.”

“Sure,” you mimic, and you wonder why he’s right.

“The guy’s okay,” he says. Almost like it’s with relief. “It’s—not to sound rude, but. Uh. I think it’s, uh—good. That you weren’t… interested.”

You think he’s gripping the steering wheel a little too tight. “Why?”

“Can’t trust guys with bad handshakes.” Seokjin chances a glance at you, and laughs at the confused scrunch of your eyebrows. “I met him during that networking conference in third year. Limp-wristed me. Like a chump.”

“Ew.” You can’t say he’s wrong. That hug Hyukjae gave you really was weak. The dude has noodles for arms. “But yeah, I guess you’re right. Wasn’t really my type.”

“Hm,” is all Seokjin comes up with. You watch him pass right through the turn Google tells him to take. “Oh shit. Sorry. I’m just. Thinking. About… limp… men.”

You snort. “What?”

“Like a man. A limp man. Hyukjae. Not me,” he clarifies fast—proudly— “just. Anyway! Back to you saying what your type was.”

“I wasn’t,” you accuse.

“Yeah well now I’m asking because I don’t wanna think about limp men. Your type, please.”

He sounds weirdly inquisitive. Demanding, almost. You chalk it up to the near-delirium of being awake past 1AM.

“I—don’t know,” you start. Somehow you feel like you’re messing something up. “He was kind, I like… kind. And soft. Sweet. You know Kim Taehyung? From Neuro? Like, almost big shoulders but not really. I like big shoulders. Yeah. Guys like Kim Taehyung-ish.”

Seokjin just hums again. There’s another song playing, and you don’t know how many you’ve rotated through in this playlist. You didn’t think it’d take this long to get to the store.

Google says it’s just two minutes away now. Seokjin says, “Cool,” and then sings along to the stereo.

You got me losing sleep over you… I usually sit still but now I can’t help but move… When I see you, I don’t know what to do…

(ii)

“Spicy or not spicy?”

“Whatever keeps my stomach lining intact,” Seokjin says.

You don’t say anything more and grab two of whatever ramen packaging isn’t scarily red. The convenience store is void of any customers, and the cashier rings you up with a very sour face for interrupting the show he’s got playing on his phone. His face shrivels up even more because all you can pay with is coins. Seokjin laughs behind you when you apologize for clattering the dimes too harshly on the counter.

“Enjoy,” the cashier announces, and he doesn’t mean it one bit.

The hot water machine at the back is a very intimidating thing next to the tiny display of cookies. Too many buttons and knobs you don’t understand, so Seokjin takes on the chivalric role and prepares everything for you. He rips the plastic open with gentle hands. Dumps the powder with too much conviction.

You both watch the water stream hot into the noodles. “Do you like macadamia nuts in your cookies?”

“I guess,” you say.

“Wanna split a cookie?” He hands you chopsticks to stir the ramen with, gestures at the cookie display with a jut of his chin.

“Are you paying?”

“Can you imagine if I made you pay after I asked to split,” Seokjin spits at you. “Yes I’m paying.”

“Then I want chocolate chip.”

He freezes, then jabs smartly at his noodles for a tense ten seconds.

“You make me mad,” he finally answers. “Should we eat in the car?”

“The bowl is too hot to hold.”

The counter at the window it is. You’re sad that you didn’t buy pickled radish, but your coin purse has weeped all its coinage out. Seokjin leaves you as Noodle Guard, going off to pay for that bonus cookie with a crumpled five. In the next second you contemplate the evaporation of ramen soup, the cookie is duly dumped right next to you, and Seokjin takes a huge bite of what still appears to be extremely hot noodles.

He promptly chokes, and makes sputtering noises.

“Holy shit,” Seokjin cries.

You take a much, much slower bite. “You’ll be fine.”

“I thought I could be cool for you,” he cries some more.

“You don’t need to be cool for me. Who eats ramen in a cool way?”

Seokjin nods his approval, that tear of theatrics sliding down his cheekbone. He eats carefully. A noisy car roils on outside, and passes quickly outside your periphery.

“Thank you for bringing me here,” you remember to say.

“I love standing at counters and eating things hot,” Seokjin retorts. He dodges the fist you aim at his abdomen with swift ease. “It’s no problem.”

“I—“ You don’t really know why but you need to talk. “You know—you’re really, um, kind.”

Foolery. Absolute foolery that sentence was, and the cashier probably heard that foolery, and Seokjin definitely heard that absolute foolery, and he’s laughing. Like really laughing, caught with the noodles dangling from in-between his teeth. That’s all you had to say? The guy drove you out to get cup noodles out of his own volition. That’s kindness maxed out, and he deserves better than you fumbling between your teeth. Your nerves have fried up so bad, you guess.

Seokjin’s giggles dwindle down. “Thanks,” he says, smiling small.

You blame the heat of your cheeks from the heat of your soup.

Neither of you are desperate to get to that last quarter of noodles to broth ratio. The knots of your shoulders loosen with the sound of your slurping combined, and silently you are reminded of Seokjin’s warmth, standing so close to you.

The easiest path to a nice ending involves a happy belly and Seokjin driving you home with nothing more than a goodbye and a thank-you as you slam the car door shut. This is not unknown to you, because you and Hyukjae-from-Psych took that easy path yesterday.

You just don’t do this often, contemplating all the routes of romance. When is it appropriate to laugh at a joke, to wipe your mouth on the napkin? To smile and peel at your heart and grant that person access to all your inner workings? You belatedly notice that Seokjin did not bring napkins.

(The moment in the car—nothing you don’t want to give me—you want to laugh at his jokes, and smile, peel and peel and peel at your heart, but slowly. Slowly, you put your chopsticks down.)

How funny it is to come to very sound conclusions within a split second, because all you know is that it feels good, being with him like this.

Seokjin, in your quiet realization, takes it upon himself to decide the cookie-eating rights.

“Want the first bite?” He asks, propping the chopsticks horizontally on his bowl.

You nod. Desperately you try not to look at him because you might make more realizations, and you don’t think you’re ready for any more unleashed and unknown emotions. “Please.”

He gives it to you. The right side decidedly has more chocolate chips, and it’s a very nice explosion on your tongue. So nice you groan into it. “Oh that’s really good.”

He snatches the cookie away before you can take another bite. “I get bigger bites because I paid for it.”

“That—? Uh, that’s not how sharing works.”

“Yes it does,” Seokjin argues. But he just takes as normal a bite as ever. You can’t say you don’t focus on his mouth for too long, though—

—And you immediately seize up at the thought. Horrified, you shriek: “Actually just—have the rest of it!”

He looks alarmed. “O…kay?”

“You’ve got a nice mouth,” you blurt out next.

An absolutely awful feeling settles heavy in your stomach. Because almost immediately you realize that this is a kind and soft boy with nice anecdotes that have yet to be uncovered this night (he likes telling you stories) and he’s got wider shoulders than Kim Taehyung and you’re not sharing butter tarts but you’re sharing a cookie with him.

Another realization: does Seokjin have limp arms?

He puts the cookie down. (His arm looks very strong, doing that.) “I—thanks?”

“I think I’m losing my mind,” you note.

He watches you slump over the counter. Purposefully burying your face in your elbows to muffle your betraying mouth. “It’s late,” is all he says.

“Did that make you uncomfortable?”

“Not at all.” You don’t think you’re breathing. Your lungs have evaporated, like those steamy ramen noodles you just ate. Seokjin probably notices you’ve stopped moving, so he says, “Really.”

“Okay.”

“Did it—did it make you uncomfortable?”

“Not at all,” you say.

“Cool. Do you wanna go—“

You stand up straight, grab all your garbage before he finishes. You don’t look at him. “Yep, yep, please.”

(iii)

He puts the key in the ignition, and doesn’t budge.

“Somehow I feel like you wanna say something else,” Seokjin says.

You curl your hands into fists. “It’s late.”

“I’m aware.”

“I’m—I’m sorry.” You are acutely aware of how garbled you must sound. It’s starting to get on your nerves, how flimsy you’re being. “I’m not… thinking.”

“For what it’s worth, I think you’re being pretty articulate for someone with an empty brain.”

“Are you making fun of me?”

“Don’t put words in my mouth,” Seokjin sighs.

The seat squeaks where you tense up. “I don’t want to think about your mouth.”

“Do you wanna know what I think?” You nod. Jesus. You’ll just let him do the talking from now on because your tongue can’t be trusted this early in delirium, late in the hour. “I—I…”

Seokjin struggles some more, then deflates. He starts laughing.

“I… don’t drive just anyone out to convenience stores at two in the morning for ramen. You have to know that.” He clears his throat. His eyes are shiny with the harsh glare of neon signs. “I guess I just—wanna know… what you’re thinking.”

“I’m thinking…” Your lips part. Searching for words feels like a physical thing—your stomach is swimming with what feels like a billion thoughts but nothing comes up for air. “I’m thinking I—don’t want to say the wrong thing.”

Seokjin turns to look at you. “I won’t make fun,” he whispers.

“I think. I think, you look—um—really… Good. Um. R-Really… good, right now.”

“Thanks.” He looks up like he wants to say something but his eyes harden where he gazes, locking in on the dust motes of the windshield. Your lungs swell small in the quietude. “I think you really look good, too.”

If baser compliments already have you burning then you don’t know what you’d do if he tried anything more romantically complex. Some people are meant for loud love stories and grand gestures and you—all you can do is think too much and you want to say more but Seokjin understands. He understands your silence, your ineptitude.

In a fit of controlled passion, you reach over the console, grasping at his knuckles till he flips his palm right into yours.

“Feels… ”

You wait for something to come to mind. A phrase, a proper thought to give utterance to, all the failures and successes of the night. Faithfully, nothing comes.

It just feels.

And Seokjin seems to agree. He holds tight between the grooves of your fingers.

“You’re very pretty and it hurts,” he says, and he doesn’t try to meet your gaze, and one feeling comes resolute: it feels right.

#bts scenarios #seokjin scenarios #jin scenarios #bts #jin #seokjin #ubemango fic #f: commissions

201 notes · View notes

shillanseva · 5 years ago

Note

(prompt) triple treble with beca having a stutter/selective mutism and their way with communication

@uncomfortable-and-queer I have no idea if this is at all what you had in mind and I definitely when overboard, but here it is. I had to do a little research to make sure I understood what selective mutism entailed but I think I got it so I hope you like this. I really enjoyed writing it. (It hasn’t been edited yet, so there are probably mistakes.)

All she wanted was for him to leave. He stood at her open door expectantly, waiting for her to say something, anything, but nothing would come.

She hadn’t said a word to him since she was eleven, and he’d left her mother alone, broken, and wondering why she wasn’t good enough. Even before then, she’d said little more than a word or two here and there.

Her mother was the only person who could get a real conversation out of Beca since the time she could talk. And when they did talk, it was about everything and nothing all at the same time. Her mother was her best friend.

When she died, Beca lost the one person left in the world that she was comfortable enough to talk to. It had been breast cancer, which normally, is very curable, but they’d caught it too late. And her health went downhill fast. There was little they could, but make the most of the time they had left together. Her mother’s dying words to Beca were a wish that she would live a life full of love and friendship, a wish Beca wasn’t entirely sure was possible.

She never had the ability to really talk to other people. It just came with the territory. Selective muteness wasn’t as selective as the name implied. Her subconscious made the decisions on who she could or couldn’t talk to. The anxiety was a bitch that way. If Beca wasn’t comfortable, she couldn’t talk. And then when she couldn’t talk, she got more anxious because no one could understand her making her speech block grow. It was a vicious cycle. One she’d been working to jump out of for as long as she can remember.

Her therapist had told her that the way to get past selective muteness as an adult was to eliminate as much anxiety and stress from a scenario as possible and eventually the words would flow. Beca got the point, but as with most things, it was easier said than done. So, now she was standing there in her new dorm room on her first day at college, staring at her father who was waiting for her to say something to him, and she just couldn’t.

She watched him cautiously as thoughts flitted through his mind as he decided what to do. Eventually, he seemed to realize that Beca just wasn’t going to say anything to him—not that he wasn’t used to it. It had been almost eight full years since he heard her voice.

“Alright Beca,” he finally sighed. “I guess I’ll be heading out. Shoot me a text if you need anything.”

Beca nodded her head and waved her hand slightly. Her dad hesitated for a moment before he spoke again. “Really, if you need anything, please reach out. You don’t have to be alone here Beca.”

Beca sighed and nodded again. She knew her dad meant well. Now that she was grown, she couldn’t exactly blame him for not making the relationship with her mother work. They fought constantly. That’s not what a relationship should be—at least she assumed it shouldn’t be. She’d never had a functioning relationship to look up to while she grew up.

Her dad left the room without another word, and Beca turned back to the few bags she’d tossed on the floor when she had arrived on campus. The first thing she pulled out was her mixing equipment. It was already set up with her lap top on her desk in the corner of the room. All that was really left was some clothes and small items. She didn’t have a lot.

Her roommate had already been there and left the minute Beca entered the room without so much as a hello, which was fine with Beca because less talking meant Beca was less likely to come off as a freak for not talking. She found that being silent tended to unnerve people. She had at least developed the ability to push body language through the block so as long as no one tried to really talk to her, she would be fine.

Beca hummed softly to herself as she pulled her clothes from a torn-up, frayed duffle bag on her bunk. Mostly plaid button-downs in various dark shades, and a few pairs of jeans made up her wardrobe. Nothing fancy. Beca just wasn’t a fancy person because a; dresses and dress clothes just fucking sucked, and b; the only fancy occasions she’d gone to (forced) were family events which were basically as rare as blizzards in Atlanta, Georgia. Not that she cared, family wasn’t really a thing to her without her mother.

It only took another fifteen minutes for Beca to put the finishing touches on her unpacking. She thought about sitting down to start working on some of her unfinished projects, but decided against it when she felt her stomach rumble violently. She probably should figure out where the dining hall was. No way was she going to live off ramen.

Beca had to (begrudgingly) admit that Barden’s campus was beautiful. She grew up in the Pacific Northwest, not too far from Seattle, and wasn’t used to the amount of sunlight that came from living in the South. It was hot. Way too hot for the skinny jeans she wore, but she’d deal. She didn’t even own a pair of shorts.

According to the campus map she’d downloaded onto her phone (to avoiding looking like a lost freshman,) the dining hall was only supposed to be on the other side of the quad. The quad that was currently busting at the seams with activity fair booths and over-eager student org types. She shook her head knowing she didn’t have much of a choice, she might as well face it head on. It’s not like she actually had to pay attention to anyone. She’d just keep her head down and move quickly.

Or so was the plan—until a hand thrust a flyer in front of her face and Beca nearly fell backwards from the suddenness of it. She looked up to find the brightest pair of blue eyes she had ever seen in her life. If Beca hadn’t been so captivated by them, she probably would have thought they were kind of ridiculous, cause seriously who has eyes that blue? But, as it was, Beca was captivated. It took a second to shake herself out of her stupor in order to take in the rest of the woman who had stopped her. Her red hair was like something straight out of a magazine, falling in generous waves and framing her face.

“Would you like to join our music group?” the redhead said quickly with a voice that almost made Beca shiver with its sweetness. Her eyebrows rose as she looked down to exam the flyer in front of her. The Barden Bellas, huh?

“We’re an all women acapella group. We sing covers of songs, but do it without any instruments. It all comes from our mouths!” Beca smiles at the oversell the woman gives her. She was cute, in a crazy girl-next-door, had-too-much-sugar kind of way, but Beca had no desire to join any on-campus groups. She was only here for a year to appease her father before she went off to LA to try and make it in the music industry. If Daft Punk could make it without speaking more than a dozen words than so can she. “There are four groups on campus—the Bellas, that’s us. We’re the tits. The BU Harmonics, the High Notes, and the Treblemakers.”

The woman’s smile faltered as she looked in their direction. The group in question was standing towards the edge of the quad aggressively singing towards people as they passed by.

“I’m Chloe, by the way. I am one of the co-captains and behind me is Aubrey,” she said returning her dazzling attention to Beca. Beca glanced behind Chloe to see a blonde woman with what seemed to be a perpetual frown on her face. “Are you interested in auditioning?”

Beca quirked a smile at Chloe and laughed softly, not even realizing it. Honestly, she kind of felt bad. Chloe was friendly enough and it felt kind of like kicking a puppy to say no to her, but come on? Acapella? It was pretty lame. Beca feel another pair of eyes on her as she shook her at Chloe and tried to hand back the flier.

“Aca-scuse me?” the other woman, Aubrey, said approaching the pair from behind Chloe. She’d seen Beca laugh and shake her head at Chloe and her protective instincts flared against the tiny brunette.

“What’s wrong with synchronized lady dancing to a Mariah Carey chart topper?” Her voice was incredulous as if Beca had just insulted her god, which based on that little comment was probably Beyonce. Beca just smirked at the older woman and her eyebrows raised in silent amusement.

Sensing a building tension between the two, Chloe stepped lightly in front of Aubrey and spoke again. “We sing all over the world and compete in national championships.”

So? Beca made a face which bordered the lines of pity and amusement.

“We played the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center you bitch,” Aubrey said. The silence of the other woman was irritating her. How could this girl rile her up without even a word? Chloe had reached out and grabbed her hand gently whispering a soft “settle” to the blonde. Beca’s eyes raised slightly at the strangely intimate exchange but didn’t have time to read too much into it before Chloe was speaking to her again.

“What Aubrey means to say is that we’re a close-knit, talented group of ladies whose dream is to return to the national finals at Lincoln Center this year.” Beca could have sworn Chloe’s eyes got bigger as she spoke, like fucking puppy-dog eyes, they were so huge. “Help us turn our dreams into a reality?”

Beca really did feel like she was kicking a puppy now. She smiled sadly at the redhead and avoided Aubrey’s eyes as she shook her head. She set the flier onto their table as she walked away, hoping to find a part-time job in the throng of tables.

Chloe was following Beca’s path curiously as she weaved through the crowds of people. “She didn’t say one word to us, did she?” Chloe suddenly realized and turned to look at Aubrey. Aubrey shook her head.

“No, she didn’t.”

“Weird,” Chloe said softly to herself.

“She’s probably one of those freak loner types,” Aubrey said with a scowl. “Definitely not Bella material.”

“She was cute though,” Chloe said gauging her girlfriend’s reaction as she said the words. “In an alternative kind of way.”

“Cute.” Aubrey scoffed. “With all those ear monstrosities, it’s hard to believe she doesn’t have a prison tattoo to go with them.”

“Aubrey,” Chloe said laughing gently.

***

Beca managed to find a radio station booth later that day and signed up for an internship. The details were pretty vague, but she was given a time and place to show up the next day and she was pretty excited. Excited enough that she completely forgot why she left her dorm room in the first place. It wasn’t until an hour after she got back to her room that she remembered she still needed to eat.

Her first day of classes was also the next day. She was feeling pretty conflicted about them. Since she was only planning on being at Barden for a year, she had only signed up for fluff classes—the 101s. None of them interested her though so she debated if she would even go to them. The only thing professors did on the first day of class was hand out a syllabus and let you leave, and most of her syllabi were posted online anyway.

Eventually she decided, fuck it, and went to class anyway. She would have rather stuck around her dorm and messed around with some of her mixes, but her roommate had been glaring proverbial daggers at her for two hours by the time she finally left, and it felt like a breath of fresh air to get away from Kimmy Jin. Beca didn’t think she would ever get to the point where she could say anything to her roommate anyway so she was content to let Kimmy Jin hate her.

By mid-afternoon, Beca was nearly jumping out of her skin at her proximity to other people. She could handle herself fairly well in smaller groups or large groups for short periods of times, but 101s were huge lecture hall classes spanning an hour or more. And she had multiple of them in one day. She couldn’t wait to get back her dorm so she could escape for a while.

Her excitement for the radio job had waned some in the exhaustion that came with her anxiety. It was still there, don’t misunderstand, but she knew she’d have to deal with people when she got there, and that is exactly what she didn’t want right now. Like yeah, she got that it was a part of the job, but there was only so much she could take in a day.

It hadn’t turned out as bad as she thought it would though. She was able to get across to Luke that she was nonverbal, and he seemed totally down with that—something about it making her less annoying than the other undergrads trying to get time in the booth. And Beca didn’t think the other new guy even noticed or even stopped talking from the minute he got there to the minute he left. He seemed nice enough, and the fact that he could carry on a conversation by himself without needing Beca’s response was definitely a bonus.

Life carried on like that for another week or so. Beca would get up in the morning and skip class until about four in the afternoon when she’d go in for her shift at the station. When she wasn’t at the station, her eyes were glued to her computer screen arranging, mixing, and sometimes even composing new music. She was fine with the routine. It got her through the day with minimal exposure to other people. That is until the second week of class when her father texted her at eight in the morning asking why wasn’t in her philosophy 101 class.

Beca knew she needed to answer. If she didn’t then he was just going to show up at her dorm room again, and then who knows how long it would be before she got him to leave.

How did you even know? Beca shot off the text and started gathering her stuff to go shower.

You don’t need to know. Why aren’t you there?

She snorts and sends back a response knowing it’ll likely piss him off. I’m posing an important philosophical question: If I don’t actually go to class, will that class still suck?

When he didn’t respond for another five minutes, Beca actually started to get worried that he was coming to her dorm—that is, until a massive paragraph popped up on her screen.

Beca.. I know you’re mad at me and I get it. But you need to get an education. The music industry isn’t so forgiving and someday you might need a backup. You’re missing out on so many experiences by staying in your dorm room. It’s supposed to prepare you for real life. And you’re supposed to create memories here. Do you even have any friends yet?

Okay, so that one hurt a little bit. She knew she was a loner, but he couldn’t exactly blame her. Who wants to be friends with the weird mute kid who wears too much eye liner? She’d had this fight with him at least a dozen times before she got to Barden. All she wanted to do was go to LA, and she didn’t get why he couldn’t accept that. Another message popped up on her screen:

Just try something. Anything. Put yourself out there. A job at the radio station with three weirdos doesn’t count. Just do something with real people, and if in a year, you still want to run off to be some big time music producer then I’ll help you move to LA.

Beca had to do a double take at her phone. No way was he saying that? Was he serious? It was that easy?

But you have to pass all your classes.

Beca sighed in defeat. There went her idea to just skip out on her classes until she could leave. She shot off an “okay” message to her dad then grabbed her towel and toiletries to head to the bathroom.

The bathrooms were usually pretty empty at this time of the day as everyone was off to their classes or the dining hall by now. There were the occasional stragglers like Beca who didn’t give a crap about their morning classes—or they’d won the lottery and didn’t have an early AM class. None of them were in the showers that morning though, at least that Beca noticed.

She hummed Titanium quietly to herself as she hung her towel on a peg outside of the shower curtain and tossed her soaps into the shower and set the water on hot before shutting the curtain. As soon as the curtain was closed, it felt like a wall and dropped Beca was free. The words to the song rang out loud and clear through the tiled room as Beca closed her eyes and enjoyed the feeling of the hot water against her chest. She was so absorbed into her own little world that she didn’t notice the jingle of the curtain being opened until a squealed “Oh my god” startled her from her reverie and she flew into the back wall of the shower trying to cover herself up.

“You can sing!” the excited voice shrilled. Beca glanced over her shoulder to see the red head, Chloe, from the activity fair standing behind her—completely nude. Of course, this would happen to Beca. The first time she gets to see a hot girl naked and it’s practically assault. Beca tried to hold her shampoo bottle up to cover her chest as the girl’s eyes started to roam a little bit. She reached out and tried to close the curtain but Chloe just ripped it open again. “How high does your belt go?”

Beca didn’t answer and instead tried too look anywhere but directly at Chloe, which Chloe wasn’t making any easier as she rambled on about the song Beca was singing. Beca was pleasantly surprised to know that Chloe knew who David Ghetta was even though Titanium was playing constantly on the top 40 stations.

Beca snapped out of her thoughts when she heard Chloe say something about her “lady jam” and she scowled at the girl. Said scowl intensified when Chloe asked her to sing it for her and Beca quickly shook her head.

“No, not for that reason,” Chloe said quickly. “Look, I’m not leaving here until you sing so…”

Beca shook her head again, trying to breath deeply and control the anxiety building in her stomach. After waiting for what felt like an hour, only really about thirty seconds, Beca quietly sang the first words of Titanium’s chorus. Her voice getting stronger with each passing beat. She heard Chloe’s voice join in on the harmony and she almost melted a little because it was like really good. And she hadn’t sang with anyone since her mom so it felt kind of special that this random naked girl she’d met once before was able to cause this level of comfort in Beca.

Beca smiled a little as they finished the chorus, and she almost forgot that she was completely naked until Chloe glanced down for just a second. Beca raised her eyes back to the ceiling again and looked away from Chloe.

“Yeah,” Chloe said, laughing at Beca’s shy response. “I’m pretty confident about all this.” She gestured down her body.

“Look,” Chloe said. “I get that you’re this like quiet, mysterious type, but your voice rocks. You should try out for the Bellas. Auditions are Saturday okay?”

Beca nodded, still refusing to look at Chloe even as she handed Beca her towel. This was absolutely crazy. Why in the world would she go to this audition now? Chloe had assaulted her in the shower. Who does that?

And yet, four days later, Beca found herself pushing open the exit door to the backstage of a small auditorium. She felt crazy even being here. She had never been able to sing in front of an audience before, what made her think she could now? She could feel the anxiety pushing adrenalin through her veins and she took a few calming breaths as she approached the stage.

“That was the last audition of the day,” a voice said as Beca peaked her head around the corner to look out at the groups seated in the auditorium. They were fairly easy to tell apart because they all sat separated from each other. Chloe and Aubrey were seated near the front and Aubrey had just begun shuffling a stack of papers together when Chloe caught Beca’s eye and yelled out, “Wait there’s one more.”

Chloe smiled hesitantly at Beca who took another deep breath and walked out onto the stage. She gave small smile and wave to Chloe before sitting down directly in front of the two co-captains. Beca hadn’t known she needed to prepare a song, but she knew one that her mom had taught her that she could easily sing on the fly so long as she could actually get herself to sing. She noticed a cup of pens on the desk in front of her and glanced cautious at Aubrey and reached out of it. After a second Aubrey gave a small, confused nod, and Beca grabbed the cup from the table, gently pouring the pens onto its surface in the process.

Beca sat back down against the stage and sighed heavily. She could do this. She knew she could so long as she just kept herself calm. Her therapist always told her that getting past her block was all about reducing anxiety.

She looked up to see Chloe smiling still at her and she felt her shoulders fall a bit as tension released. There was some impatient shuffling echoing towards the back of the auditorium, but Beca chose to drown it all out in exchange for keeping eye contact with Chloe. Those brilliantly blue eyes kept her focused for so long she didn’t even realize when she’d finished the song—nor did she notice the steel-melting glare Aubrey was directing towards her.

Without a word, Aubrey handed an audition application to Beca to fill out, while Chloe excitedly told Beca that she would hear from them by the end of the day and to be prepared—which Beca found cryptic as fuck.

After Beca had left the auditorium, Chloe turned to her girlfriend happily. “See, I told you we would see her again.”

Aubrey rolled her eyes, unwilling to admit that Chloe was right. Despite her outwardly hostile reaction toward Beca, the girl still intrigued her. After Chloe explained how she’d “stumbled” onto Beca singing in the shower and the girl still wouldn’t talk, Aubrey had pulled out her computer and done two hours worth of research on muteness. Chloe had teased Aubrey that she had a little crush on Beca, but Aubrey had stoically ignored her girlfriend in favor of pouring herself into rehearsal planning for the Bella’s.

“She still doesn’t look the part of a Bella,” Aubrey said not withholding the disdain she felt for Beca’s “alternative” style.

“We can cute her up,” Chloe said smiling. “She’s already tiny so she’s like half way there.”

“Those hideous earrings will have to go,” Aubrey added as she slid a stack of audition forms into her bag.

“Newsflash Aubrey,” Chloe sighed. “Of all the girls we auditioned today, like two of them would have fit the traditional Bella look. We should be looking for good singers. That’s the part that matters.”

Aubrey sighed. Chloe had a point. And at least with Beca, reducing the girl’s eyeliner was most of the battle to make her look like a Bella. But she didn’t like Beca. She didn’t like the way she looked at Chloe and she didn’t like that Beca wore a perpetual smirk like she thought everything around her was just vaguely amusing.

Later that evening found Beca standing in a dark room with a hood over her head, Chloe’s warning echoing through her head. She could hear Aubrey talking about some oath which sounded completely ridiculous to Beca. Who even cared who slept with who, and where was Aubrey going to get these wolves to rip out their vocal cords if they did sleep with a Treble?

When Aubrey’s cult initiation was finished, Beca found herself being ushered back into the van with the other girls and driven to a spot nearby on campus where a party was already violating noise ordinances.

“Welcome to hood night,” Aubrey said as she set the van into park. She glanced back through the review mirror and caught Beca’s eye. Her facial expression was entirely neutral which made Beca uncomfortable. She could already tell the blonde didn’t particularly like her and she had a sinking feeling that it had something to do with the way Beca couldn’t take her eyes off Chloe. It’s not like she meant to do it. Chloe was just the only person in the room that seemed to ground her. Beca knew better than to get attached though so she decided to just avoid Chloe. An idea that Chloe made extremely difficult to follow.

Beca remained off to the side for most of hood night. Acapella people turned out to be a little rowdier than she would have anticipated, and even then, large crowds weren’t Beca’s thing. Chloe had attempted three separate times to get Beca to come down and join the party and each time Beca had shook her head and grimaced. Jesse’s attempts to get her to socialize were just a futile.

He approached her about an hour after she got there, already three shades to the wind, and started talking about their “aca-children.” Beca nearly trip him backwards down the stairs just to get him to shut up, but she smiled to humor him just so that he wouldn’t push the conversation too hard. Of course, he did anyway, and Beca could see Aubrey across the amphitheater glaring at the Treblemaker. Beca found it all highly amusing and decided to play into it a little and smile more at Jesse just to get a rise out of the blonde. She knew she would regret the interaction with Jesse later, but she just didn’t really care right then.

Eventually Jesse got bored of talking and moved back down into the amphitheater to dance with the other aca-people. His retreat was followed quickly by Aubrey’s arrival. The blonde came to stand next to Beca without a word and handed off a red solo cup filled with whatever backwash swill college kids consider beer.

“Parties aren’t your thing,” Aubrey stated after a few moments. Beca shook her head. Never had been and likely never would be.

“Mine either,” Aubrey continued. “But Chloe manages to drag me to a few of them every year.”

Beca watched Aubrey cautiously. She was slightly confused as to why the blonde was even talking to her. Aubrey’s eyes tracked Chloe as she socialized across the party. She never stood in one place to long because there was always someone new to talk to—ever the social butterfly, Chloe couldn’t just leave without meeting everyone.

“You don’t talk much, do you?” Aubrey blurted. Beca smiled and laughed a little. She somehow got the feeling that Aubrey wasn’t the type to blurt so Beca’s silence must have really bothered her. “What’s so funny?”

Beca pulled out her phone and gestured for Aubrey to grab hers as well before snatching it from the blonde’s hand and adding her number. She sent herself and then handed the phone back to Aubrey who took the phone cautiously, like Beca had just rigged it to explode.

Didn’t anyone ever tell you not to ask mutes about their emotional trauma? Beca sent back trying to keep a straight face.

“Th-that’s not what I meant?” Aubrey burst, and her face flushed red. “I’m sorry. That was so rude. It’s none of my business.”

Dude chill. I was joking.

Aubrey looked up and saw that Beca was smiling at her, the teasing glint evident in her eye. Aubrey scowled but then smiled slightly at the younger woman. “That was mean.”

You should have seen your face though.

Aubrey smacked her on the back of the arm lightly. “Is-is that normally how you talk to people? Through texting?” Aubrey asked. Beca could tell Aubrey had a lot of questions which made her hesitant to respond. But there was also a voice. And the voice in Beca’s mind was usually right so texted her back.

Only when they’re worth the effort. Beca winked at Aubrey when she looked back up from her phone. Aubrey’s blush returned, but she just hummed in response to Beca. She felt like she had already pushed the younger woman for information more than she should have. They just met after all. Aubrey couldn’t just dump all her questions and curiosities off on her the first time they talked. Aubrey was so distracted by her curiosity that she forgot that not twelve hours ago she was glaring holes through Beca’s skull for staring at Chloe.

Beca relaxed next to Aubrey. It seemed like the blonde wasn’t so bad after all. Maybe a little intense, but she was kind of cute when she was flustered. She could see why Chloe liked her if this is what Aubrey was like one-on-one. It hadn’t taken a genius to figure out the two were a couple. Beca could just by the way that Aubrey had reacted to her earlier that day.

Hey. I wanna apologize for earlier today. I didn’t know about you and Chloe. I just… I don’t know. I wouldn’t have been able to do that audition with out her.

Aubrey reread the text a couple times. She and Chloe weren’t exactly out on campus so that Beca had figured them out was surprising.

“You’re observant,” Aubrey said quietly. Beca just nodded her head. It was sort of obvious. When you don’t spend your time talking, you spending it listening and watching. Beca had become some what of an expert on body language.

Your secret is safe with me.

Aubrey hummed. “Chloe has a way with people,” she admitted. “She exudes calm while somehow being the most bubbly person in the room. She was able to talk me down from a panic attack less than an hour after we met.”

Beca blinked at the admission. Sure, Aubrey was intense, but Beca had figured that’s just how she was—not that it was side effect of another problem.

I get it. I haven’t sung in front of another person since I was 11… She wasn’t sure why she was telling Aubrey this. Beca didn’t do friends so why was she telling the blonde her tragic backstory. Usually Beca ran before she ever had to become personal. But if Aubrey was surprised at the admission, she didn’t show it.

“You have a beautiful voice,” Aubrey said. Beca wondered briefly if it hurt for her to admit it. “We’re… lucky to have you on our team.”

Flattery will get you everywhere Posen. Aubrey snorted as she read the text, and Beca couldn’t help but think it was cute. They stood together for another fifteen minutes before Aubrey decided to retrieve Chloe who, in the middle of her drunken dancing, had gotten a little too close to some hedges at the edge of the amphitheater and gotten her hair stuck.

Beca felt like she’d made a valiant attempt at “partying” by this time and decided to walk back to her dorm. Other than the nerd party happening behind her, campus was quiet which Beca appreciated immensely.

The following day was the first Bella’s rehearsal. Beca managed to drag her carcass out of bed in time to get to her philosophy class, but by the time she got to rehearsal she felt completely drained. Aubrey didn’t make it any easier on her either. After drop kicking two of the new freshmen, she pushed them into running laps around the rehearsal space. Exercise had never really bothered Beca, but she was so tired that day that when Chloe finally called rehearsal, Beca just dropped to her knees for a few minutes to recover her breath.

Rehearsals continued much the same way for the rest of the week. The other Bellas pushed back some on the cardio, but after exhibiting a glass-shattering high-G that lasted nearly a minute, which she attributed to their excessive cardio, Aubrey was able to hush a majority of the complaints.

Aubrey was a drill sergeant in rehearsals. She was a cold perfectionist with a failure complex, and Beca found herself growing irritated with the blonde each passing day. They learned about Aubrey’s blunder the year previous in their second rehearsal, and Beca couldn’t help but sympathize with Aubrey—they had similar problems that manifested in different ways. But what she couldn’t sympathize with was the grueling four-hour rehearsals that left her hoarse and sore at the end of the night. Beca’s voice wasn’t used to this much exercise and she was really beginning to struggle with the rehearsals.

Aubrey finally realized Beca’s struggle when they got to the second week of rehearsals. She felt bad that she hadn’t noticed it sooner, but Beca had never made any complaints. In fact, of all the girls, Beca was the easiest to work with because she never complained, which, Aubrey conceded, was probably unfair to Beca since she didn’t talk.

“Beca, bring your phone” Aubrey called as she waved Beca over at the end of their sixth rehearsal. Chloe watched them curiously. Beca had not sounded her best that day, and she was worried at what Aubrey was about to do. But instead, what happened left Chloe utterly dumbfounded.

Beca walked over to Aubrey with her head hung slightly, fully expecting to get laid into. Aubrey put two fingers under Beca’s chin to lift her gaze from the floor. “How is your throat?” she asked softly. Beca’s eyebrows shot to her hairline. “What? I care,” Aubrey laughed at the astonishment on Beca’s face.

Beca pulled out her cell phone and tapped out a response that Chloe couldn’t see from across the rehearsal space.

“I figured as much,” Aubrey said, nodding at what she read on her phone. Aubrey turned around and ran to her bag a few feet behind her and pulled out a grocery bag. Chloe had wondered what that was earlier today. Aubrey had left it sitting on their kitchen table and Chloe had looked through it just out of curiosity. It contained some pretty typical sore throat remedies—stuff like honey, tea, and lozenges. Aubrey handed the bag straight to Beca. “These should help some. Do you have a humidifier?”

Beca shook her head while Chloe looked on like Aubrey had just picked Beca up off the ground and piledrove her into the concreate. Beca discretely smirked in Chloe’s direction before returning her attention to Aubrey who was talking about the benefits of sleeping with a humidifier.

“I have one from when Chloe had strep throat last year if you want to borrow it?” Aubrey finished. She watched Beca tap out a response and then read her phone. “Okay, I’ll drop it by later tonight. What’s your dorm number?”

Beca sent Aubrey a quick response which caused the blonde to laugh, “You wish, Mitchell.”

The laugh from Aubrey made Beca smile which made Chloe smile as well. They rarely saw a genuine smile come from Beca. It was beautiful—blindingly so to Aubrey who froze when she felt her heart skip a beat. Chloe didn’t miss that reaction, and she frowned slightly.

“So those were for Beca?” Chloe asked when she’d finally left the gymnasium. Aubrey looked a little like a deer in the headlights at being caught.

“Yes,” Aubrey said. “I realized last night that a four-hour rehearsal was more vocal activity than Beca has had in a month. I wanted to be prepared in the event that it became too much for her. Which it did. You heard how her voice cracked today.”

Chloe’s heart softened at the kindness her girlfriend was showing the younger Bella. “Who would have thought, Aubrey Posen, certified softy,” Chloe tried to joke, though the smile didn’t quite seem real to Aubrey. She could see the fear in Chloe’s eyes, and she immediately felt terrible.

“Chloe,” Aubrey said walking over to where her girlfriend stood ready to leave. She reached hand up and brushed back a few strands of hair that had fallen loose from her ponytail during rehearsals. “You know I love you right?”

Chloe nodded and smiled. Of course, she knew Aubrey loved her. “It never hurts to hear you say it,” she whispered and leaned her cheek into the hand that now rested there. Aubrey pressed a sweet kiss against Chloe’s lips and Chloe said a quiet “I love you too” before they pulled apart and left for the night.

Whatever was happening between Aubrey and Beca weighed heavily in Chloe’s mind though. She didn’t even know they had each other’s phone numbers let alone that Beca had active conversations with her girlfriend. She felt sort of left out actually. Chloe was normally the one who made friends first, not Aubrey.

After a few more days, Aubrey could sense the growing fear in Chloe as she spent more of her attention on Beca. It wasn’t on purpose, but Aubrey couldn’t help the feeling of protectiveness she developed for the small Bella. She felt a kinship with Beca over their issues with anxiety, and it was nothing against Chloe, but Aubrey was sure that Chloe had never felt that level of internal conflict. Or, at least, Chloe had never been debilitated by it. And it felt so good to finally have someone in her life that understood it, even if she and Beca never talked about it.

Aubrey didn’t realize how bad it had gotten until she received a text from Beca about “needing her” and Chloe had nearly collapsed into tears when she read it off the blonde’s home screen. Aubrey had spent the next hour reassuring her distraught girlfriend of how much she loved her and that her and Beca were just friends. Obviously, there was more they needed to talk about, but even Chloe knew that for Beca to have texted Aubrey for help, it must have been important. Important enough that Chloe tagged along out of fear for the younger Bella. While Beca hadn’t necessarily opened up to Chloe the way she had with Aubrey, Chloe had still managed to climb her way past a couple of Beca’s walls. The constant physical affection had worn her down embarrassingly quick. But Beca tried not to read too much into it because Chloe was just like that. She was affectionate with everyone. It didn’t stop the butterflies though.

Chloe and Aubrey arrived at Beca’s dorm about an hour and a half after getting her text. Aubrey felt bad that they didn’t leave sooner, but Chloe had needed that time from Aubrey, and as her girlfriend, Chloe was priority number one.

Aubrey knocked on Beca’s door and called out her name. It opened little more than a second later, and Aubrey’s arms were full of a trembling Beca.

“Beca?” Aubrey asked quietly. “What’s wrong?”

There was no response from Beca. She wasn’t going to release Aubrey even if her life depended on it. Beca had been having an extremely hard day. It was the anniversary of her mother’s death and she was having a hard time dealing. She’d done her best during rehearsal that evening to hold herself together, but the minute she was alone in her dorm room, it had all come crashing down on her. The loneliness, the doubt, the anxiety. It all hit with the force of a semi-truck.

Aubrey, sensing that it would be some time before Beca calmed enough to be responsive, walked the girl backwards until they could close her dorm room door, and then lifted the girl up onto her bed and climbed up beside her. She curled into Aubrey’s side like she was trying to disappear. Chloe was watching it all with pain in her eyes, but she realized it was the pain of jealousy. It was pain caused by seeing someone you care about in pain. The realization caused something to click in Chloe and she understood Aubrey’s concern for the girl. Even if there were feelings involved, being there for Beca was about just that—being there for a girl who didn’t really have anyone else.

Chloe hopped up onto the bed next to Beca and scooted as close as she could get before dropping a kiss onto Beca’s shoulder. They sat like that for half an hour before Beca stopped shaking and her breath evened out. Aubrey thought she must have fallen asleep until Beca sat up and jumped down off the bed to grab her phone. She tapped out a quick message and both Chloe and Aubrey pulled their phones out when they heard separate dings.

I guess I owe you guys an explanation huh? Beca couldn’t even look at them. She was staring at the floor.

“Sweetheart, you don’t owe us anything,” Chloe was the first to talk. “If you’re upset, we’ll be here for you, no strings attached, no explanations required.”

Beca went to respond, but Aubrey leaned forward and put her hand over the screen after sensing the response she was about to get from Beca. “She’s right, Becs,” Aubrey said. “You don’t owe us anything. We are here because we both care about you—so much,” she added. Aubrey linked eyes with Chloe and at that moment all the confusion they had regarding Beca cleared away, and Aubrey knew they had an understanding about the role Beca held in their life. They would need to talk about it soon, but that didn’t matter right now. What mattered right now was making sure that Beca was okay.

“But,” Aubrey continued. “If you want to talk about it, we will listen.”

Beca watched the two girls in front of her. They were having a silent conversation, and something happened between them because Beca watched the clarity that swept across Chloe’s face. It almost felt like the sunshine coming out after rain, and Beca had realized how closed off Chloe had become recently around her. Beca hesitantly reached out and grabbed Chloe’s hand to squeeze it for assurance. Surprised, Chloe met Beca’s eyes then glanced down at their joined hands. Beca had never initiated before. Beca turned her eyes to Aubrey’s and took a deep breath trying to quell the storm in her stomach. It was almost like Chloe was lending her strength, because Beca could feel her voice, ready and pushing to be free. Feeling compelled to speak was a strange feeling for Beca, one she hadn’t felt since her mother was alive.

Beca swallowed heavily. “M-my mom d-died t-today,” she stuttered and pushed her gaze to the floor feeling a blush creep up her neck. Aubrey felt like the wind was knocked out of her at the sound of Beca’s voice. Chloe, still holding Beca’s hand, pulled the girl into a crushing hug and sighed into her shoulder. She didn’t know what to say to the younger woman. She didn’t feel like it really mattered what she would say anyway. It’s not like she knew what Beca was going through. She was so overjoyed at hearing Beca speak that anything she managed to say would probably be inappropriate anyway.

Aubrey made eye contact with Beca over Chloe’s shoulder. “Thank you,” she said. “For telling us. I know how hard it must have been to share with us.”

Beca knew she wasn’t just talking about her mother, but she just nodded. The compulsion she felt to speak had waned after her utterance, and now she was left to speak silently again.

“Chloe,” Aubrey said sternly. When she didn’t get a response, she tapped her girlfriend on her head. “Let go of the poor girl, she probably needs to breathe.”

With a quiet laugh, Chloe released Beca and leaned back. There were tears in her eyes and she wiped at them quickly. “Sorry.” She smiled. “I’m a crier.”

“Somehow, I don’t think she’s surprised,” Aubrey said smiling at Beca who shook her head and tentatively returned the smile.

“Are you okay?” Aubrey asked watching the maelstrom of emotions that was swirling behind Beca’s eyes.

I think so. The response popped up on Aubrey and Chloe’s phones.

“Do you want us to stay?” Chloe asked. She could see the hesitation in Beca’s eyes. “We would like to stay anyway. We would be too worried to go home now…”

The admission seemed to surprise Beca, but she didn’t question it after seeing the sincerity in Chloe’s eyes and the barely-there nod from Aubrey.

Beca grabbed her laptop and shuffled back onto the bed. She tried to sit beside Chloe to avoid being between the couple, but Chloe promptly pulled Beca over her lap and back between her and Aubrey. Beca flushed a little bit, but didn’t argue. She opened the laptop and pulled up her Netflix account before typing into a note on the side of the screen asking what they wanted to watch. They spent the night huddled together on the twin-sized bed watching some reality tv show that Aubrey and Chloe insisted that Beca needed to see. At around midnight, both girls noticed that Beca seemed to have passed out between them, leaning heavily against Chloe, leaving them to stew in their thoughts together.

“What do you think this means?” Chloe was the first to break the silence. Aubrey just looked at her waiting for her to continue. “I mean, she spoke today Bree! That’s got to mean something right?”

“I think she trusts us,” Aubrey said quietly as she examined Beca’s face. The brunette was peaceful right now. There were no worry lines or smirks, she was just relaxed. Chloe nodded, another question on the tip of her tongue.

“What does this mean for us?” Chloe’s eyes avoided Aubrey’s, instead choosing to exam one of Kimmy Jin’s posters on the far wall. When Aubrey didn’t answer, she returned her gaze to the blonde and raised an eyebrow. Aubrey’s face was soft as she looked at Beca. Chloe could clearly see the love in her eyes, but this time she didn’t feel jealous.

“It doesn’t mean anything if you don’t want it to,” Aubrey said locking her gaze onto Chloe’s.

Chloe sighed. That didn’t really help her figure out what was going on. “You’re going to fall in love with her, Bree.”

“I already love you,” she said without missing a beat. “What about you? I’ve seen how you look at her Chlo. You get all gooey, just like you do with me.”

“I don’t know,” Chloe said. She passed a hand through Beca’s hair, and the girl hummed in her sleep causing both women to smile. They met eyes over her head and Chloe nodded. “I guess yeah, I could see myself falling for her. But she doesn’t need me the way she needs you.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Aubrey said gesturing to Beca’s hand which had fisted Chloe’s t-shirt. In fact, Beca was only a limb movement or two away from full on koala hugging Chloe, and it made Aubrey laugh.

“So, what do we do?” Chloe asked as she laid her hand over Beca’s on her stomach. “I love you Aubrey. Nothing, no one, is ever going to change that. I’ve always planned on marrying you and spending the rest of our lives together.”

Aubrey smiled and leaned over Beca to press a kiss to Chloe’s forehead. “Nothing is going to change that,” Aubrey agreed.

“Are we willing to go for it then?” Chloe asked.

“Maybe we should clarify what you mean by go for it first?” Aubrey said, ever the thinker.

“Like, do we tell Beca that we’re sorta falling in love with her?” Chloe clarified.

“I don’t want to hurt you anymore,” Aubrey said. Her eyes were cast down and her shoulders sank as she said it. “Every time you looked at me like I was betraying you for Beca, killed me a little. I never meant to. I just have this feeling,” Aubrey said and paused. “It’s like—”

“You want to protect her,” Chloe finished. “You care about her Aubrey. It’s okay. I care about her too… I think we should just do it.”

Aubrey looked at her, not quite sure if Chloe was serious.

“I don’t want to live my life wondering Bree,” Chloe said. “If this could be something, I want to know it. And then, if it doesn’t work, we will still have each other.”

Aubrey nodded. “Okay..”

“Really?” Chloe’s face broke out into a grin and she had to keep from squealing quietly, afraid of waking the sleeping Bella. Aubrey nodded again with a smile. Chloe’s own was infectious.

The two women did their best to readjust themselves so that they all could sleep laying down on Beca’s single bed. At this point, there was no way they were leaving the younger woman alone—not that Beca would let them. The second Chloe had tried to move, Beca’s other hand caught her shirt in an equally tight grip. It was honestly the cutest thing either of them had ever seen. But it made things a little more difficult for Chloe to lay down. She took it in stride though. Eventually she was able to maneuver herself and Beca around so that she could lay straight back pull Beca onto her chest leaving enough room for Aubrey to sleep beside them. Neither of them even thought to wonder where Beca’s roommate was.

The next morning Beca woke sweating from the amount of heat surrounding her. She tried to sit up only to be caught by an arm pulling her back down. Aubrey it seemed had pulled Beca off of Chloe in her sleep and now the three were spooning with Beca in the middle. Aubrey mumbled something about it being too early and Beca glanced behind her to see that her alarm clock read 9AM.

She groaned. Her dad was going to kill her for missing class again, but the thought was soon forgotten when Aubrey pulled Beca even tighter against her and laid a sleepy kiss on her forehead. Beca blushed brightly and was thankful that neither girl was awake to witness her struggle.

After a couple more minutes of trying to escape Aubrey’s grasp, Beca gave up and settled in to wait until the girls work up. Chloe was the first one to stir about twenty minutes later. She turned in her sleep to see Beca pouting slightly at her and she had to keep from laughing at her.

“Aubrey has a death grip in the morning,” Chloe whispered. Beca rolled her eyes like that was the most obvious thing Chloe had ever said. Aubrey moved slightly in her sleep and Beca’s eyes went wide as she glanced down slightly. This time Chloe really did laugh. Aubrey had managed to slip her hand under Beca’s shirt and was resting against her stomach, just over her belly button.

“Alright Aubrey,” Chloe finally said, full volume. “Time to let poor Beca go. You’re going to give her an aneurism if you keep this up.”

Aubrey’s mouth formed a smile as she opened her eyes. She’d been awake most of the last ten or so minutes having woken during Beca’s last attempt to get away. “Sorry,” she whispered. Beca shot her a glare. Aubrey wasn’t sorry at all and grinned.

Aubrey released Beca, despite wanting to lay there forever, and sat up to run her hands through her hair. Beca jumped around Aubrey and off of the bed. She grabbed her phone before stumbling out of the room. Chloe raised her eyebrows after Beca, but turned her attention to her phone when she heard it ping.

Had to pee.

Chloe laughed. “She’ll be right back.”

“Remind me not to sleep in jeans again,” Aubrey said as she slid off the bed. Lines dented the skin across her stomach and she rubbed them with a frown.

A minute or so later Beca stepped back into the room with a small smile on her face. She scratched the back of her head before looking up at the two women who had spent the night in her bed.

Sorry you guys had to sleep on my tiny bed.

“No problem, Becs,” Chloe said practically bouncing on the mattress. “We wanted to be here.”

“Actually,” Aubrey said, eyeing Chloe on the bed and the way Beca seemed particularly fascinated with the floor. “We kind of want to talk to you.”

Terror flashed across Beca’s face and she started to type a message onto her phone. Aubrey let her finish and glanced at it before facing Beca.

“It’s nothing bad,” Aubrey said and reached out to grab her hand. “I promise. In fact, hopefully, it’ll be something pretty great.”

Beca raised an eyebrow first at Aubrey and then to Chloe, hoping she would explain.

“It’s good,” Chloe said reaching out to grab Beca’s hands from Aubrey’s. Beca nodded slowly, allowing Chloe to pull her up onto the bed. Aubrey grabbed her desk chair and pushed in front of Beca before taking a seat.

Aubrey cleared her throat and clasped her hands in front of herself. “Chloe and I,” she said glancing over to her girlfriend. “Realized something yesterday, or last night rather. We know this may seem like a shock, but you’ve come to mean a lot to us in the last three weeks.”

“Like a lot, a lot,” Chloe added. Aubrey smirked because she knew the redhead was trying so hard to keep herself from bouncing next to Beca. Then she nodded and returned to Beca’s gaze.

“You know we’re together,” Aubrey stated and Beca nodded her head. Her eyes narrowed slightly. “You’re pretty much the only person who does know,” Aubrey added. “And we were wondering how you feel about us?” Each word Aubrey spoke was long and drawn out and Chloe almost felt the need to smack the back of her head to shake the words out.

Beca tilted her head back with a sigh. She hoped they would never bring this up. She was embarrassed. She shouldn’t have feelings for one woman in a relationship, let alone two.

“Becs, just be honest with us,” Chloe said tipping Beca’s head down to meet her eyes. After a second of eye contact with Chloe, Beca reached for her phone and typed out a haste message.

I’m sorry. I never meant to feel anything for either of you. I mean, I barely know you. What kind of crazy person falls for two women in a relationship with each other?

Aubrey quirked her lips as she read the message. This could work. They had a chance. “Beca,” Aubrey said. “We don’t want you to feel guilty about anything. We wanted to know because we genuinely care about you.”

“Like, care, about you,” Chloe tried to clarify, but only succeeded in making Beca more confused.

“What she means to say,” Aubrey said after sending a sharp look Chloe’s way. “Is that we both have feelings for you—romantic feelings.”

Beca let out a heavy breath and her eyes widened as she looked at Aubrey. She wasn’t serious right? Like, that wasn’t a thing—that couldn’t be a thing could it? She breathed deeply trying to calm her over-excited heart. She could hear the blood rushing in her ears and she almost felt a little faint, but then Aubrey was there in front of her holding Beca’s hand to her chest and she felt her breaths slowing down. She gave an apologetic grimace to Aubrey as she pulled away.

“You have nothing to be sorry for,” Aubrey said. “We did kind of just spring this on you with no warning. We’ve had a little time to get used to the idea.”

What does it even mean if you BOTH have feelings for me? Beca typed.

“Well,” Chloe said, taking the lead and speaking a little clearer this time. “We were hoping you might like to try dating us.”

“Both of us,” Aubrey added point between them. “But we would still be dating each other as well.”

Like a three-way.

Chloe smirked and opened her mouth to say what Aubrey anticipated as a lewd comment so jumped in ahead of her.

“Yes,” she explained. “We would all be dating each other. We would make up ground rules and communicate to make sure that no one feels left out or jealous, of course.”

“We don’t want to pressure you,” Aubrey continued. “If you need time to think about it, we understand.”

Beca nodded her head. I don’t think I need time.

“Oh…” Aubrey said. Disappointment marred her facial expression as she assumed the worst.

Ask me again.

“What?” Aubrey said, staring at her phone.

Ask me again. She repeated.

“Beca,” Chloe said hopefully, catching Beca’s blue eyes with her own. “Will you be ours?”

“Okay,” she said.

#pitch perfect #triple treble

90 notes · View notes

shattersstar · 5 years ago

Note

Jason Todd/reader + 🌟

put your lips next to mine, dear // won’t you kiss me once, baby?// just a kiss goodnight, maybe // you and i will fall in love (put your head on my shoulder by paul anka) + clark kent

a/n: ik this was supposed to be Jason request but I got a bunch for him so I thought I’d Switch it up. feedback is appreciated as always

500 follower celebration

***

Your feet were light against the wet pavement, barely paying mind to the puddles that pooled from the hours of rain. You were smiling into the night, fingers fidgeting and stuffed deep into your pockets. A breeze ruffled your jacket and you shuddered. You looked over to see Clark unaffected by the cold, walking next to you with a nervous disposition. He met your gaze and offered a small grin, habitually fixing his glasses that hadn’t shifted on his face. You turned your attention back to the empty sidewalk ahead, you weren’t too far from your dorm now.

Clark had offered to walk you home, despite the fact you were at the campus bar for karaoke night and it wasn’t exactly a long walk back to your annex. Yet he insisted, and when he looked at you with the sea blue eyes and encroaching smile it was hard not to melt. You nearly took his offer as a joke, staring up at him with a raised brow and jacket tossed over your folded arms. And when he made it clear there was no sarcasm or malice in his gesture, you accepted with a nod.

“So Kanas boys do know how to be gentlemen like. Guess your mother raised your right.”

“A lot of them aren’t?” He questioned, holding the door open for you as you ducked under his arm, “Gentleman like I mean.”

“You say it like you’re surprised, like the small town boys who came with you are the kindest of kind.”

“Guess your right there.”

You spun around with a glint in your eyes, taking a few steps backwards while letting out a laugh, “You should get used to it, I usually am.”

And now you two were quiet, sharing glances and hands almost touching and when your complex came into view. You decided it to suddenly be bold and grabbed his hand while you quickened your step in time with his long strides. Clark straightened up at the sudden contact and you almost pulled away, fearing you had read all the signs wrong. It seemed as if Clark knew who he was in a crowded room, that he was the big dopey smile or the silent introvert or whatever the space demanded him to be, but alone he was lost. Like he tried to mould himself to each person he was around, but you were hard to read, as if you were constantly changing and making him change when all you wanted to do was to know the real him. And for the first time in a long time, Clark wanted to be real with someone too. So he squeezed your hand to let you know it was okay and he wished you had grabbed his hand sooner or took some wrong path and ended up lost in each other’s presence.

You let out a long breath, shuffling closer to him as you made your way up the few steps. You thought of inviting him in, of letting this turn into a night of sex and mistakes, but Clark, always the gentleman, pulled away once you reached your door. His hand fell from yours and he sent you a curt smile. Maybe it was for the best, that you didn’t awkwardly have to shuffle him past anyone else still up and explain to your roommate why you locked them out. They had seen you leave the bar with Clark and you assumed they’d connect the supposed dots. Then again they also might come barging in with hopes to catch you in bed with Clark, only to find you staring at the ceiling and swooning over the thought of seeing him again.

And you made sure to ask, with swaying feet and once again, fidgeting hands as Clark shoved his own hands into his jacket. “We should hang out again, just us so I can see how much of a gentleman you really are.” You suggested, gaze flicking everywhere, but his face.

“Yeah, we coul–should, go out for dinner sometime.”

“Off campus though.”

“It’s a longer wall back than.”

“We could bus,” You met his gaze, head tilting and eyes squinting under the street light, “Or fly.”

“Like a plane?”

You snorted, “How else?” Clark’s shoulders dropped with a laugh as he shook his head and fixed his glasses. He shuffled one foot down a step and looked back over to you. “We’ll figure out a day and stuff when I see you between my seminar and English workshop?”

“Oh yeah, yeah of course.”

“Good.” Your hand lingered on the door knob as Clark took another step down, than another. He almost turned around when you breathed the faintest, wait. You weren’t sure if he heard it because you weren’t sure you said it, but when his head picked up and the gravel stopped crunching against his sneakers, you knew. You pushed off the door and Clark turned to face as just as your hands rested on his shoulders and lips met in a warm kiss. Your nose bumped his a little hard and you had to quickly squeeze your eyes shut, but it was easy to ignore the pain when one of his strong hands rested on the back of your arm and his head tilted up to meet your lips. It was probably the only instance where Clark didn’t tower over you.

You pulled away with a breathless hum and smiled down at him before pressing a chaste kiss to the corners of his quirking mouth. A curl of hair fell over his eyes and you had to restrain yourself from pushing it out of his face. “Goodnight.” He muttered, hand falling from your arm as you shifted minimally away.

“It’s one a.m, so good morning.” You corrected, as Clark walked back to the sidewalk.

“You’re right–”

“As always–”

“Good morning Y/n.” And with a small wave and hop to his step Clark made his way towards his dorm, hoping you didn’t see how many looks he cast over his shoulder. All while you damn near collapsed against your door and fell into bed with your heart vaulting up to the arches of a homely cathedral . You still weren’t sure who Clark truly was, but if he was even an ounce of what you had seen, you knew you weren’t doomed to fall harder than the burning spire of Notre Dame.

#clark kent imagine #clark kent x reader #superman imagine #superman x reader #dc x reader #dc imagine #dc #writing #ask

177 notes · View notes

keelywolfe · 5 years ago

Text

FIC: The Elephant in the Room ch.2 (baon)

Summary: Jeff has started working at the Embassy. He’s got a new job, a new car, and a new place to live. Now if only the rest of his life could fall into order, that’d be great. Any time now…any time at all…

Tags: Spicyhoney, Kustard, Established Relationships, Prejudice Against Monsters, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Mentions of Past Suicidal Thoughts, Mental Health Issues, Friendship

Notes: Stretch quitting smoking? Going swell. Jeff quitting the bookstore? Super duper. Red is a creeper? Well, everyone knows that! Except Jeff, it seems, but hey, he can be taught!

Part of the ‘by any other name’ series.

~~*~~

Read it on AO3

Read it here!

~~*~~

There wasn’t much parking downtown at that time of day, the best spots taken by day workers and college students. Jeff was forced to park on the street a couple blocks from the bookstore. It wasn’t much further than they would have gone from the bus stop and Stretch didn’t offer any complaint.

He did hop out of the car the moment it was in park, before Jeff even had a chance to turn it off. Jeff only shrugged mentally and gathered up his keys and bag. At least he didn’t shortcut out, the sound of it could be painfully loud in an enclosed space.

When he got out, he saw that Stretch hadn’t run ahead. Instead, he was lingering on the sidewalk with a vape pen in hand, already exhaling a cloud of vapor. From his scrunched expression, it wasn’t as satisfying as a cigarette.

“Not so good, huh?” Jeff asked with amused sympathy.

Stretch grimaced. “it’s not the same. you’d think i’d like the tasty flavors and you’d be wrong. i wasn’t smoking ciggies because i so enjoy the tanginess of chemicals and tar.” He grinned then and nudged Jeff with a sharp elbow. “but it’s better for the baby, am i right?“

Jeff groaned, but he snickered helplessly, ”I said I was sorry.”

“oh, you did,” Stretch agreed. He started down the sidewalk and Jeff fell into step beside him, “but i’ve still got a little mileage left on that joke before i run it into the ground.”

From the way he was determinedly using the little vape, Jeff got the idea that the whole quitting thing might not be going so well. He didn’t put it away until they got to the store, tucking into his hoodie pocket as he held the door open for Jeff. The bell jangled above the door as they walked in and an unfamiliar face looked up at them from behind the counter. “Good after…noon.”

The faint hiccough in his speech was barely noticeable, as was the way his smile faltered. Stretch certainly didn’t seem to notice on his beeline directly to the recently acquired shelf.

“Hi,” Jeff said, just this side of too loud. The guy jerked and turned back to him. “Is Thomas in?”

Before he could gather himself enough for a reply, a full head of salt and pepper hair poked out from the office, followed by the rest of his former boss. “Jeffery, my boy! And Stretch, schön dich zu sehen! What brings you, you have a new order to place?”

“nah, i’m just here with the troublemaker today,” Stretch grinned and jerked his head in Jeff’s direction. “don’t worry, though, i’m working on a new list. you’ll be sherlock holmsing around for me in no time.”

“Ah, but I also have a new detective!” He stepped around the counter and gave the young man a firm clap on the shoulder. “This is Steven, it is his second day.”

“Hi, again,” Steven said obediently. It sounded friendly enough but Jeff didn’t miss the way he kept glancing away from Stretch, who nodded a greeting before going back to perusing the shelves.

Thomas didn’t notice, only came back around and transferred that firm grip to Jeff, leading him away like a lost sheep. “Come now, Jeffery, we can go over the last orders you were working on in my office.”

“Sure,“ Jeff murmured. But he left the door open and stood in a way he could watch the main room.

Every glance out made him worry a little more. Not about Stretch, he was only poking through the books, setting a few off to the side in a neat pile. He never even glanced at Steven, much less bothered him. But the guy was watching him like a mall security guard, not even pretending to be doing anything else.

There was something about that look, the visible discomfort in it, that had Jeff frowning mentally. Monsters had been aboveground for several years now, long enough that anyone who lived in Ebott should’ve bumped into one at least every few days around town. Considering how young this guy was, he should’ve been on campus a few times or in the local coffee shops. No one should be that freaked about seeing a Monster, no one with manners, anyway.

Especially seeing Stretch, who was easily one of the most recognizable, only below Asgore and the diplomat group when it came to fame. Plus, the skeleton Monsters tended to look more Human than some of the other species out there. They wore clothes and shoes, and when Stretch had his hood up, he could easily be mistaken for human from behind.

Besides, his sweatshirt had a dinosaur with Mickey Mouse ears on it and a speech bubble that said ‘wrong park’, for crying out loud. How was that remotely threatening?

Next to him, Thomas was two finger typing his way through the list of orders that Jeff had been working on, humming beneath his breath. “Thomas,” Jeff said, low. “Yes, my boy?” When Jeff nodded towards the front counter, Thomas stood and leaned over the desk to see. He frowned, his eyes narrowing, as they both watched Stretch walk over to another shelf of books. Steven moved as he did, unsubtly shifting over to the far side of the counter, his eyes never leaving Stretch as he backed away. “Bah,” Thomas muttered irritably. “That one, he’s not going to be staying.”

Jeff nodded. Definitely for the best. Even if someone unfairly thought Stretch was scary, he was hardly the only Monster who came in hankering for books. Moms brought in their kids all the time, elderly Monsters searched for books they remembered from the Underground. The cheery sticker on the front door inviting Monsters in would tell anybody that much, before they took a single step inside much less submitted a resume. Why the hell would someone who was so visibly uncomfortable around Monsters want to work someplace that was blatantly Monster-friendly?

Jeff didn’t really care for any of the reasons his brain was offering him and suddenly, he didn’t really want to leave Stretch out there alone with a guy who was eying him the same way he would a serial killer. “Would you mind if I came back this weekend to go over this?” Jeff asked softly.

“Not at all. Come, let’s go out together. I think maybe I should ring up Stretch’s purchases for him.” Thomas sighed and shook his head. “Such a shame, he had a good resume. A worse shame I will have to pay him for today.”

“Send him home at lunch,” Jeff said sourly, “save some money.”

“A very good idea.”

~~*~~

They were walking back to the car, both of them with bags in hand when Stretch finally asked him, “okay, what’s the matter?”

“Why do you think anything is the matter?” Jeff asked lightly. It wasn’t going to work, he knew that, and Stretch only tutted in exaggerated disappointment.

“because your smile fell so far its sitting on top of your shoes. so before you trip over it, what’s wrong?”

“That guy, the new guy. He seemed…” Jeff hesitated, trying to think of a way to phrase it that was better than, ‘he was a dick,’. “He seemed really Monster unfriendly.” “yeah. i noticed.” Stretch pulled out his vape and used it, exhaling a sweet-smelling cloud. It was a decent distraction but Jeff knew him too well now to miss the fleeting unhappiness that crossed his face before it was hidden beneath easy carelessness. “he didn’t say anything to me, but—“ “No, because he was too busy trying to blend into the furniture,” Jeff gritted out. He should’ve known Stretch noticed, he was weirdly observant like that. Maybe Monsters had to be when their HP was in the single digits. And to have to deal with that in one of his safe places had to be doubly upsetting. “Thomas already said he was getting rid of him, but seriously, what an asshole. He was acting like you were gonna rip his throat out with your teeth.” Stretch made a face, “nasty. i love the old monster movies but man, the creature from the black lagoon sure didn’t do us any publicity favors.” “Good movie, though.”

“yeah.” The faint melancholy that had settled over Stretch faded as he suddenly smirked. “wanna go watch it?”

“Hell, yes.”

The trip back home was a lot shorter when they didn’t have to depend on the bus, and soon enough they were settled on the sofa with snacks. But even the campy black and white classic couldn’t hold his attention, and Jeff found his thoughts picking irritably at the events of the day.

That Steven applied at Classic Books at all was rubbing him in all kinds of wrong ways. There was literally no chance anyone would miss that it was a Monster-friendly business, and even if Thomas was going to fire that prick, well…maybe he should let someone in Security know. Like Red, Jeff had a feeling this was definitely something he’d want to know about. Edge probably would too, but he and Stretch had enough to worry about lately.

Better to have it checked out first before starting any panics or holy wars or anything.

So after the movie, Jeff regretfully turned down an offer to head over to Grillby’s and instead drove down to the Embassy.

Instead of politely greeting the security guard and heading right to the elevator like he usually did, Jeff stopped and asked, “If I needed to talk to Red, where would I find him?”

The guard’s floppy ears perked high as he looked up from his sudoku book, eying Jeff warily. “You actually want to see Red?”

“Um. Yes?” Well, he had before that.

“Huh.” The guard looked at him a moment longer, doubtfully, then shook his head and picked up his pen again. “Just wander around. You don’t really find Red so much as he finds you.”

Well, that wasn’t at all ominous or terrifying. “Thank you.”

Even worse, it wasn’t really helpful. It was close to five and most of the staff was getting ready to go home for the day. The cafeteria was closed, the chairs already atop the tables, and none the departments seemed likely. It wasn’t like there were any signs pointing towards ‘creepy skeletons this way’ like a damn Target store.

Jeff was ready to surrender and almost convinced himself that he was overreacting. And yet, if he didn’t say anything and someone got hurt? Yeah, better to overreact and feel stupid, times a thousand.

An email, then? That’d be something, and Jeff made his way down to the PR sector where his office was. It was about a step above a closet, but he didn’t care, it was his, and he should be able to check the email listings from there.

The main office was already deserted, the lights dimmed. Jeff walked on to his door, trying not to feel like an intruder as he unlocked it and switched on the light. Only to nearly scream at the sight of Red sitting casually in his chair, his boots propped up on the desktop.

That grin of his was so similar to Edge’s and yet not at all, and neither was the way he ran his tongue over the jagged points. His eye lights glowing with crimson ferocity that gave lie to his tone as he said easily, “wellie, well, well, if it isn’t handy andy. heard you were looking for me. what can i do for you, sweets?”

Yeah…he was starting to think the guard had the right idea. Seemed like no sane person went looking for Red. Except now Jeff had him and so he got to deal with him.

Jeff wet his own lips nervously, wondering how the hell he was going to coax this genie back into the bottle. Somehow, he didn’t think flattery was the right option.

~~*~~

TBC

#spicyhoney #papcest #keelywolfe #underfell #underswap #underfell papyrus #underswap papyrus #by any other name

34 notes · View notes

audacity-city · 6 years ago

Text

Unforgettable Memories - Izuku x Reader

Request: (1) hi,,, could i don’t wanna say this is an emergency request but can you write izuku comforting a female reader who’s ptsd got triggered by a family member in a drunken rage,,, thank u in advance!!!!

(2) emergency comfort request please! i'm having a rough night ;-;

A/n: I personally kind of had a hard time trying to write this, I also have a family member like this, so I can understand how hard it can be to handle that. I hope things get better and that you can find a way out of this situation, I love you! I hope this helps you both out a little

Warnings: Fluff, swearing, vague alcoholism, ummm overall negativity? Idk how to tag this i’m sorry~

Everything was loud. So loud. You couldn’t hear anything except for the screaming and bottles shattering against miscellaneous surfaces within your home, all just on the other side of your old bedroom door. You wanted to cry but there were no tears left in you, not for these people at least. You had grown accustomed to this drunken violence as a child, but now you were a proud U.A. student, and you had handled much worse than this.

You finished packing the bag you had brought with you, pulling the zippers together at the top of the bag before flinging one of the straps over your shoulder easily. You took another look around your childhood room, allowing a last bit of nostalgia to hold you in your place a moment longer. You wouldn’t be coming back here, not again. Not after this. You ducked your head through the window, pulling a leg to your chest and over the windowsill. Once you had shifted your weight to the right side of your body, you squeezed the left half through to follow.

Now that you were outside you could feel how cold it truly was, plumes of white dissipating into the night air as you exhaled a sigh. You couldn't have picked a worse time to try to come home, and end up leaving again, as you always did. This time was different though, you vowed to yourself. You wouldn’t come back here again, not if they weren’t going to work to be better people, like you strived to do.

U.A. campus was at least an hour’s walk from your home, but it was so late that there was no way you would be able to find a cab driver or a bus to take you back, so you would have to walk despite the cold. It gave you time to ponder though, so you couldn’t really complain all that much. What were you going to do when you got back? Surely no one would be back from visiting their families for winter break yet, so would you be all alone in the dorms for the next few days? The thought sounded nice, but you also wanted someone to lift your spirits, someone to console you. That would have to wait you supposed, you could probably talk to Aizawa, he never left the school for very long it seemed.

As the dorm building came into view you could feel your mood lighten, especially at the prospect of getting inside where you could warm up, and maybe eat some popcorn! Just the thought of any snacks made your mouth water, the realization that you hadn’t eaten as often as you normally did whilst you had been back to visit your family made your stomach growl ravenously. You quickened your pace, ready to be able to feel your extremities once more once you were no longer trapped outside in the cold weather.

Your numb fingers gripped the handle to the entryway door gingerly, it was somehow colder than you were and the metal nearly burned you on contact. You heaved the door open, quickly shutting it behind you once more when you had made your way through it. A sigh of relief escaped you as the central heating began to warm your frigid body. You made your way to the kitchen, fully anticipating to spend a good amount of time rummaging through what had yet to expire within the fridge and the pantry.

“(Y/n)? What are you doing here?”

A shriek filled the air as you whipped around to face the voice, unaware that there had been other people in the dorm. Why wasn’t this person with their family? Your frantic eyes locked with a dazzling pair of green ones, and you felt your heart stutter in your chest. Midoriya? What the hell was he doing here instead of with his mother?

“Hey, (Y-Y/n), why are you crying?!” Midoriya was moving towards you quickly now, and you were confused by his question, mind not managing to catch up to his hasty words as you lifted your fingers to feel the tears the adorned your cheeks. Did the fright of suddenly being with company scare you into tears?

Midoriya gripped your shoulders firmly, but left enough room in his grip for you to remain comfortable, he likely didn’t want to startle or upset you further. “What’s wrong, did something happen, or did I just really scare you?”

You shook your head at the emerald haired boy, you weren’t sure what to tell him. Of course you had been upset the entirety of the time you had been gone from your friends and classmates, but Midoriya didn’t need to know about all of that, that was too heavy of a subject to bring down upon the energetic boy.

“Yeah...I guess you scared me Midoriya.” Your reply was half hearted, but Midoriya wasn’t going to press you for answers if you didn’t want to be asked, it was none of his business anyway, and if you wanted to tell him you would on your own time. You placed a hand over one of his own, which still sat atop your shoulder, and gave it a gentle squeeze. “But I’ll be fine, as long as it’s just you here and not someone like Bakugo!”

Your laughter lightened the mood exponentially, bringing a smile to Midoriya’s face, which made you feel at ease as well. You released one another, and Midoriya moved around you to take a seat at one of the barstools that sat beneath the counter, watching you pull miscellaneous items out of the refrigerator to eat. A jar of pickles, a package of sliced cheese, a (surprisingly) fresh container of strawberries, before closing the door and bringing your haul over the where he sat, placing the items before him dutifully.

You popped open the small plastic container of strawberries first, holding one out to him. “So why are you even here Midoriya? Shouldn’t you be at home with your mom?” He took the sweet fruit from your hands, twirling it by its stem mindlessly as he answered your question.

“Well, I wanted to get back here and get a head start on training before everyone else returned, since I still have a lot further to go to be at the same pace as you all.” You nodded at his words thoughtfully, taking a bite out of your own strawberry before twisting the lid off of the jar of dill pickles. He watched as you took a bit from the green spear, crunching audibly and making a funny face at the sour taste of it. “Why are you back so early? Did you want to start training too, or did something happen while you were home?”

You paused at his words noticeably, you figured he would have come to some conclusion or another about why you had returned so early as well, but you never would have guessed he could have figured out the exact reason that you had come back, and with such little insight as to what had happened in the first place. You pondered how you would answer him briefly, seeing no reason to lie to the boy about your circumstances, it wasn’t like it really affected you anymore, not now that you had decided to never go back there.

“Yeah, something happened at home. But it’ll be okay, I’m not going to keep putting myself into those situations anymore, I’m not going back there again. My home is here now, with all of you.”

You could feel the boy’s eyes burning holes into the top of your head, but you pretended to busy yourself with opening your package of sliced cheese instead of acknowledging it.

“I promise I’m okay Midoriya, I’m used to the situation as it is. I grew up around it, so I just learned to handle it.”

“Izuku.”

You blinked down at the cheese in your hand. “What?”

“Call me Izuku, please.”

Now you were confused and curious, unable to stop yourself from lifting your head to look at the boy across the counter from you. Tears had welled up in the corners of his eyes, threatening to spill from his lids any second, and a heavy blush covered his nose and cheeks. It felt like the heat from his face had radiated to yours with how quickly a blush covered your own features, unable to help it with how vulnerable he looked now, sitting before you.

“Mid-, I mean Izuku, why are you crying?”

It was your turn to reach out to him, holding his heated cheeks in your hands and rubbing beneath his eyelids, brushing away the tears that escaped them.

“I-I just care about you so much, and it h-hurts to see you looks so apathetic about whatever has been going on! It makes me feel like I haven’t been paying enough attention to you, or that I could have prevented whatever brought you back h-here…” His words were hushed, but they were full of pent up emotion, but you stopped short at what he had said.

“Izuku, you care about me?”

His gaze hardened, not out of anger, but determination it seemed.

“Y-Yes! (Y/n), you’re so strong and so beautiful, how could I not have feeling for you?” He buried his face further into your hands, trying to hide his embarrassed expression within your palms. You couldn’t help but to squeeze his cheeks lightly, smiling back at him.

“I like you too, Izuku...and you’re pretty cute yourself.”

The way you giggled sent his heart fluttering in his chest, and he dropped his face from your hand and straight into the countertop. “I think I could die equally of happiness and of embarrassment right now.”

Izuku joined your laughter, although his sounded strained, but it was still genuine. You approached his side of the counter, finishing off the remainder of your slice of cheese before you rested your head atop of his left shoulder.

“You wanna go play some video games and talk, or read some comic books? I feel like we have a lot to catch up on Izu-Cutie~!”

“Yeah, that would be nice…” He smiled up at you, looking at you from the corner of his eyes. “And what did you call me?”

“I called you Izuku?”

“Sure, (Y/n). Sure.”

#my hero academia #boku no hero academia #mha #bnha #my hero academia x reader #boku no hero academia x reader #my hero academia fanfiction #my hero academia fluff #boku no hero academia fanfiction #boku no hero academia fluff #mha izuku #izuku midoriya #izuku midoriya fluff #deku fluff #midoriya fluff #izuku x reader #izuku midoriya x reader #deku x reader #midoriya izuku x reader

77 notes · View notes

snuggietuan · 6 years ago

Text

BAMBAM GIRLFRIEND SERIES // HOW YOU MEET

Word Count: 1817

Your life was actually so boring. Going through the same routine as always. Wake up, go to school, go to work, sleep. You were getting tired of your boring ass life and you needed something new. Your parents pressured you into going to this specific college and you were so broke. You were barely getting by after paying for rent and taking care of yourself. It was hard to find time for yourself since you were so caught up in school and working for money.

Your alarm went off, stealing you away from the dream world you were in. You had always dreamed to get a stable job, a nice boyfriend, and maybe get married and having kids. But life was looking the complete opposite of that. You found your phone buried under your pillow and hurry and tapped snooze. It wouldn’t hurt to sleep in for at least another 10 minutes right?

10 minutes later, the annoying ringtone went off again and you set yourself up in bed, wiping your eyes and turning the alarm off. You headed to the bathroom and did the normal routine. Brushed them pearly whites, and got in the shower. This was your only time to mentally prepare yourself for the day.

You wrapped a towel around your body and rushed back to your room to get dressed. You just threw on some leggings and a sweater since the weather was starting to cool down a bit. You rarely ever did your makeup in the morning since you could come home and make yourself look presentable for work.

You grabbed your bags and books and headed out the door, walking to the campus that was near your apartment. It was rainy today which meant you had to carry an umbrella and avoid puddles. This was one of the disadvantages of your roommate having earlier classes than you. She took the car and left you to walk.

You arrived at your class, your socks almost completely soaked from accidentally stepping in puddles. Your day was already starting out terrible. You paid close attention to your professor's lectures but you somehow always drifted off into a daydream.

You got your phone out from your bag and texted your roommate, you know, the one with the car?

You: Hey. I hate to be a bother but it’s raining and my feet are already soaked. Would it be too much to ask for a ride home?

You drew your attention back to the monitor your professor was teaching on. A few minutes later your phone vibrated

Cassidy: Sure it’s no problem. I would drive you to work but I have a date to catch. I’ll leave you a bus card.

You hated riding the bus, but it was better than no ride at all.

You: Sounds good. I’ll see you then!

You tucked your phone into your pocket and looked at the time on your laptop. You had barely 10 minutes left and you had to make it through it.

You put your laptop in the case and grabbed all your things and made your way to the entrance. You stood under a shelter for 5 minutes until you saw Cassidy’s car pull up. You hurried to open the door since it was pouring down.

She dropped you off at the apartment and you sprinted to your room to get ready for work. You worked at quite an expensive jewelry store so the employers did not have any time for trashy looking employees. You dried your hair and straightened it and put on some heavy makeup. You threw on some jewelry that your mother let you have from her collection and put on a form-fitting dress.

You snatched the bus card that Cassidy left you from the kitchen table and grabbed your purse and umbrella. You made your way to the bus stop that was near your place in 4-inch heels, and it was an understatement that your feet were already starting to hurt. They were not ready for this 4-hour shift you were about to work.

All was going well at work. You assisted a lovely couple looking for wedding bands. They looked absolutely cute and how you dreamed of having a man be so good to you. But then there was also your co-worker who could not go an entire shift without flirting with you. He probably thought you would never catch on to him, but you saw right through him. And your legs felt like they could give out at any moment.

The doorbell on the entrance rang and you whipped your head around to get a view of the customer. You were destined to assist the guy and beat your co-worker to it. You tried to keep a good posture with your aching feet as you made your way to the man.

“Good evening sir, are you interested in any engagement rings? We have a sale goi-” You began to start the staged introduction until the man cut you off.

“Actually I’m just looking for watches, you know, for myself.” He smiled awkwardly.

God damn it Y/N. Always fucking assuming that every guy that walks into the damn jewelry store is looking for a ring.

“My apologies. Here, I’ll show you our finest watches.”

He smiled and you led him to the other side of the store to show him what he was looking for. You showed him the silver watches and some that were on sale. There was absolutely nothing wrong with treating yourself. Damn you should probably take notes.

“What do you think would look good?” He asked you, pointing to one of the more expensive watches, and then pointing at a silver watch on sale.

You smiled and grabbed for the key attached to your wrist to unlock the glass display. “Why don’t we find out?”

You grabbed for the watches he pointed out to you and he tried them on and you could tell he was very pleased. He put one on his right wrist and one on his left to really tell the difference.

“Which one do you think looks better?” He asked you as he flexed his left arm, and then the right.

You put your index finger up to your lips and thought about it.

“Well, I think the expensive one makes you glow a ton. But if you’re on a budget then I would suggest you buy that one.”

“Would you buy this one for your boyfriend?” He questioned you on the spot. It made you a bit flustered, but it would be pretty rude of you to ignore a customer.

“Definitely, if I had one.” You smiled awkwardly at him, but it was just the truth.

“I’ll get this one then” Damn it must be nice to have money in your wallet to treat yourself.

“Excellent! Will that be all you’re looking for today” You asked him as you put the watches back into the display and locked it up.

“Yup that’s all”

“Okay well meet me at the first register and I’ll be back with your watch” You smiled brightly. You ran to the back of the store to fish for the watch he picked out. You came back and helped him pay for everything.

“I think I’ll just look a while longer, thank you though!” He smiled and carried his shopping bag around the store, admiring all the pieces. You heard the doorbell again and your co-worker was making his way out, pulling out a cigarette box. You sighed and followed him outside where he was leaned up against the building, lighting his cigar.

“Do you mind sharing?” You asked him. It had been a while since you smoked, but it wasn’t like you were gonna get addicted or anything, you just needed a chill pill.

He smirked and pulled out a stick for you, you stuck it in your mouth and lit the end for you. You inhaled and immediately started coughing.

“This is exactly why I don’t smoke” You sneered.

“Lame”

“Don’t be an ass” You punched his shoulder and continued smoking the cigar.

“So Y/N, you still single?” He questioned you.

“Don’t you ask me this every shift we have together?” You rolled your eyes at him.

“Cmon Y/N, why won’t you go out with me? Just one date!”

“That’s not how you get a date, Daniel, you have to be way nicer than that”

“Fine. Will you go out on a date with me please?” He asked again, softening his voice as he popped the question.

“No.”

Suddenly he was all up in your face. You could practically smell the pack of cigars he smoked throughout the day.

“Why are you being so stubborn? I have the looks, the potential to be your boyfriend, you just don’t wanna commit to a rel-”

“Hey, why don’t you get out of her face?” A man yelled from the distance, cutting Daniel off. You turned your head to the side to see the man you assisted earlier. That’s when he backed away and walked over to the guy.

“I was actually just returning to my duty.” He inhaled his cigar and blew it right into the man's face, but he did not move a muscle. Daniel took his cigarette out of his mouth and threw it on the ground, smashing it with his shoe, and walking back into the store.

The man walked to you and his expression told you that he was sincerely worried for you.

“Are you okay? That guy seemed like a dick.” He comforted you.

“I’ll be fine” You brushed your fingers through your hair and pulled the end of your dress down, throwing your nasty cigar onto the ground and stomping on it.

“I apologize. You didn’t need to see that.”

“It’s not your fault, who knows what he would have done if I hadn’t come out.”

You seriously didn’t know what else to say. You knew Daniel was a cocky bastard that would constantly flirt with you on shifts, no matter how many times you rejected him, but you never expected him to get up in your bubble.

“I should probably head back to my job. I hope you enjoy your watch.” You started making your way to the front door until the boy stopped you.

He took a random piece of paper out of his wallet and started writing something down.

“Here take this. You can text me when you get home if you want. It’ll make me feel better if I know you made it home.” He smiled softly and perhaps your heart skipped a beat. A man, actually sincerely showing concern for you. Fuck.

You hesitantly took the paper and nodded.

“What’s your name?” You asked him, needing to know the name of the man that basically saved your ass.

“Kunpimook. But really though, call me BamBam”

158 notes · View notes

nctsolar-remade · 6 years ago

Text

Just A Dream – Episode 1: Dream Lab

Description: “Where is… Here?” “A dream.” “What?” I stopped dead in my tracks. “We’re trapped in a dream.” “You’re crazy…” “Look… Believe me or don’t believe me, I’m telling you the truth. We’re trapped inside someone else’s dream.”

Part: Ep.1 Dream Lab Pairing: None Genre: Horror, Mystery, Dystopian Word Count: 15.056 Warnings: Blood, death, decaying bodies Requested: No Song Recommendation: Control (Instrumental) – Halsey A/N: Ah, so here we are. Literally, 5 months later. This is a weird idea that I had after watching the NCTmentary videos that they put out. Honestly, what shady dudes. To be honest, it didn’t really take 5 months to write but I’m literally an expert at procrastination so… But, I have been really excited about writing this AU. I didn’t really expect it to get this long or detailed, and like not to toot my own horn, but this truly is the best piece of fiction I’ve ever written. I really hope you guys enjoy it, and anticipate (the very slow, I’m sure) updates! Anyway, reblogs and likes are always appreciated! Comments too. If you want to let me know what you thought of it, I’d genuinely be over the moon to hear! I really adore having feedback because it helps me be a better writer and it lets me know what’s good and what’s not. So, yeah, definitely let me know how it was and what you liked/didn’t like! Thank you so much for reading this. I hope you enjoy!

Also, special thanks to: Spence (@whiplashlive)!!! Miss Spence really helped me get through this. As you can see, it’s not a short fic, and like I was really disheartened at certain points and I felt like it wasn’t going anywhere but Spence really helped me push through and finish it. Her constant support is honestly the only reason this dumb ass fic is being posted now, rather than even later. So, like, mad thanks Spence! And also thank you to the other’s who proofed this fic for me! You all helped to motivate me as well, so thank you!

The day before the world ended.

That day is still imprinted in my mind, as clear as ever. It will forever be there, haunting me. I can’t remember how long it’s been since then. So much has happened. Too many hours have passed. I feel like I’ve aged a hundred years over and over again.

Or maybe I’m wrong. Maybe no time has passed at all. Maybe it just happened. The world has just ended, and I am now here, opening my eyes and wondering where in the world I am. Maybe I am here, again, as I have already been so many damn times. Maybe that’s all this is… Maybe it’s just a dream.

A dream.

The word alone causes a grim smile to cross my features. After all, that’s the whole reason that I’m here right now. That word is the main reason that we have been trapped in this world… In this hell…

Regardless of how long we’ve been here, we are here now. And here, is not a good place. I have to find a way to wake up. I have to save them. I have to-

My eyes fluttered open.

Asleep. I’d fallen asleep. I blinked several times, my eyes itching with tiredness. What had I just dreamt…? The harder I tried to remember it, the further away it slipped. Frustration was starting to grip at the edges of my confused and groggy brain. Before I could really get anymore worked up, I realized that my face was pressed against a desk. I lifted my cheek off the cool plastic and rubbed my eyes, trying to reduce the fuzziness of my vision. I heard someone speaking loud and clear, and it brought my attention to the front of the room. I was in a lecture hall filled with maybe three hundred students. Right… I was in class. I looked over at the seat next to me. The boy beside me noticed that I’d woken up and smiled.

He leaned in, and in a soft voice whispered, “You fell asleep Johnny. I felt too guilty to wake you up. Don’t worry about the note though. He didn’t really talk about anything important, but you can still have mine.”

I nodded, looking back at the front of the room. The prof was now talking about participating in research studies for extra credit. Something that all of us were told to do, as it would help improve our grade. Most of the studies were just regular researching experiences; normal experiments and interviews about a variety of things, like stress or your relationships. However, there were the odd research teams that put together extremely interesting and innovative studies. Those always filled up extremely fast and there were only a few spots for each study.

“Please remember, these studies help, not only you, but the university and the graduate students who are running them. Anyway, make sure to read the next chapter from the textbook for next class, and that should be all the work that you are required to do this week. Have a good evening everyone.”

The classroom immediately filled with life; chairs squeaked, people chattered, and there was a scramble to leave the room quickly. I stood up, looking back at the boy beside me.

“What’s wrong, Johnny?” His eyes shone genuine concern.

“Nothing really.” I shrugged, sliding my laptop into my bag.

“Are you sure? You seem off…” He frowned and halted his own packing.

“Yeah, I’m sure Taeyong. I just had a strange dream.” I smiled at him.

“Oh… I see.”

We tugged our coats on and donning our bags, we left the room.

“It’s still snowing.” I pointed out at the glass walls of the science building.

“Damn, let’s hurry back then. Looks cold.” He shivered a little and sighed.

“Yeah, let me just check the bus times.” I nodded, pulling out my phone and scrolling through the upcoming times. “Seems like there’s one in ten minutes. I think we can make it, if we walk fast enough.”

“Sounds like a plan.” He nodded.

Leaving the building was like entering a totally different world. Inside, it was loud, bustling, and hot. Outside, it was like a wasteland. There was nothing but white. The snow covered every inch of the ground, and it seemed to obliterate all signs of life. Not a single sound could be heard. There was nothing. Our breath turned into pearly-white puffs of air that swirled upwards towards the expansive night sky. It felt so dark and lonely… The silence was what really got to me. It felt like the snow was absorbing all the sounds that you’d normally hear on a university campus.

Taeyong and I walked towards the bus stop, silently. It felt wrong… Talking… Disrupting the silence didn’t feel right. To this day, I’m still not sure why it made me uncomfortable, but it did.

“What was your dream about?” He asked, suddenly.

“Oh… I don’t really know… I tried to remember it but, it kinda just… Slipped away?”

“Oh, I see.” He nodded.

“It wasn’t really anything.” I frowned.

“How do you mean?”

“Like, it just seemed like a voice was talking. I think I saw myself talking… But I was alone, and I wasn’t in a room or anything… Just a big, black expanse.”

“That is odd.”

“And what’s even weirder is that it felt so incredibly… Real…”

“Must’ve been one of those dreams.”

“Yeah… And I think I was just talking… About dreams actually.”

“Inception?” He poked me, laughing.

I couldn’t help myself, I laughed along and nodded. Being around Taeyong was easy. He didn’t expect anything from you, which made it easy to be yourself. Uni was a tough place to be… Everyone expected you to act like an adult even though most of us weren’t really ready for it here. And even though I’d already been here for a few years, Taeyong was my only real friend. We’d met back in our first year when we’d been paired up as roommates. He was seemingly quiet and shy at the time. He kept to himself, avoiding any sort of conversation. I tried to befriend him at the time, but he seemed simply focused on his studies, which I respected. Eventually, he opened up when we finally found some common ground: our similar tastes in music. Now, we were best friends and still roommates.

I was brought out of my nostalgic thoughts as my shoulder made painful contact with someone else. I stumbled backward slightly and reached for my shoulder, wincing in pain. I looked towards the source of the crash, making eye-contact with a boy who seemed extremely flustered.

“I am so sorry.” He gasped, eyes flashing apologetically.

Smiling sheepishly, I shook my head, “Nah, I wasn’t looking where I was going. That was my fault, to be honest.”

“I really wasn’t paying attention to where I was going…” He awkwardly bit his lip and smiled.

“We’re both at fault I guess.” I laughed.

“Johnny, we should hurry…” Taeyong said softly. “Crap, right… Sorry, we should get going.” I scratched the back of my neck and the boy nodded.

“Myself as well. Have a good evening, both of you. And again, I’m sorry.”

“You too. And yeah, sorry.”

We continued walking, I glanced back, wondering if he was still there but… He was gone… I wanted to turn fully and see if he’d actually managed to leave that fast, but Taeyong pulling on my sleeve was enough to keep me going.

“Do you know who that was?” I asked expecting a no.

“Yeah… He’s in my academic writing class.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah…” He frowned a little, “I think he goes by Ten?”

“Ten?”

“Yeah… I think that’s what it was.”

Taeyong pointed at the bus stop, which was now in view. I pulled out my phone, double checking the current time. We still had a few minutes.

“We’ll make it-”

“Johnny, look!”

Taeyong was staring upwards at the sky in awe. I followed his gaze, my eyes widening and mind going blank. The sky above was still pitch black, but there were hundreds of shooting stars trailing across our field of view.

“Johnny, let’s go.”

I shook my head, looking around. Taeyong was a few steps in front of me, looking at me. I looked up, confused. The sky was void of shooting stars, or any stars for that matter. The moon was also missing. All of it was hidden by thick, snow-filled clouds that heavily weighed down on the sky. It left the night sky incredibly dark and quiet… But… Where were the stars? I swear I’d just seen shooting stars.

“T-Taeyong… Were there just…” I trailed off, I didn’t want to sound crazy.

“What?”

“Never mind.” I shook my head, trying to rid my thoughts of what I’d just seen, or, imagined.

It must’ve been my overwhelming sleepiness. We walked up to the stop and I leaned against the lamp post, feeling dizzy with confusion. I scrunched my eyes shut and tried to forget what I had just seen. Was I losing it? Or had that really happened? But there was no way… If Taeyong hadn’t seen it… Then…

I looked up and panic gripped at the bottom of my heart as I couldn’t see Taeyong. I immediately straightened up, glancing around the mostly empty bus stop. Where had he gone?

“Taeyo-” I was cut off as I saw him standing in the middle of the road.

What the hell? How did he get there?

From the left, a car was hurtling down the road. I opened my mouth to yell, but he looked at me and I froze. Something about the look in his eyes was dead… That wasn’t Taeyong… I tried to yell out to him, tried to tell him to move, that he was going to get hurt, but nothing seemed to work. His hollow eyes bore into mine and he mouthed one word.

“Sorry.”

“TAEYONG!” I gasped out, standing up straight and bewilderedly looking around.

“W-What!?”

I turned and looked at Taeyong. He was standing where I’d remembered, right beside me. I looked back at the road; cars were travelling along it but there was no one there. My gaze returned to Taeyong and he looked at me, concern laced his eyes and his eyebrows turned down in a frown. I sighed, shakily, and reached out, placing a hand on his shoulder. I half expected my hand to phase right through him, but it pressed against him, solidly and I felt my knees buckle a little. What the hell was happening?

“Johnny… What’s going on? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“Y-Yeah…” I nodded, feeling a wave of nausea pass over me, “I’ll tell you when we get back home.”

“Alright.” He looked at me unsurely.

“I’m fine.” I mumbled, trying to breathe evenly.

I ran a hand through my hair, pushing it back and out of my face which, I realized, was sweaty. It was negative twenty with a negative twenty-five wind chill, and I was sweating. I shook my head, trying to rid myself of everything that was currently happening. I took deep, steadying breaths and focused myself on waiting for the bus, which happened to drive up at that moment.

The doors opened and Taeyong stepped on first, pulling out his I.D. and smiling at the driver, who nodded. I followed suit, pulling out my I.D. and flashing a tired smile at the driver. He nodded at me as well, and I followed Taeyong towards the back doors of the bus, in hopes of collapsing onto a seat and managing to collect my thoughts. Unfortunately, though, there were no seats available. It was usual at this time that the bus would be incredibly crowded as everyone was trying to make it back to their apartments in the evening hours.

I held onto the railing above me, so as not to crash into anyone when the bus made a particularly violent turn and tried my hardest to take deep breaths and ignore the lead tiredness that was starting to take hold of me. There weren’t too many stops from the school to our apartment, but in this moment, it felt like forever. As I looked out the window, I caught a glimpse of my own reflection; I was pale and clammy, and my hair was sticking to my forehead. Again, I brushed my hair back and took a deep breath.

“Our stops next.” Taeyong mumbled to me.

I simply nodded. He pressed the “stop” button, and we both pushed our way towards the door. It was hard to push through a sea of other students, and we were desperately trying to make it before the driver stopped. But, as I was trying to get through the mass, someone grabbed my arm and pulled me backwards.

“What the hell?!” I gasped out, turning, confused and frustrated.

A boy with light brown hair and wide eyes stared at me. His mouth fell open and he shook his head. He seemed confused and alarmed all in one, and I was getting slightly impatient at this point. I frowned at the boy, and he immediately went into apology-mode.

“I am so sorry. I thought you were someone else!” He gasped out.

Seeing as people were staring at us, I just nodded, sighing and offering a smile.

“It’s fine. Happens to all of us.”

“Johnny, let’s go.” Taeyong’s voice caught my attention as the bus slowly came to a halt.

I smiled at the boy again and he nodded, an embarrassed smile on his face, and I turned, following Taeyong off the bus. We stepped back onto the cold streets and looked around the familiar area. Our building loomed in front of us; something seemed daunting about it, but the sleepiness was gnawing so furiously on my mind that I was willing to overlook that.

We crossed the street and went into the building, only to find that the elevator was “out of order.” Of course, on my longest and weirdest possible day, the elevator somehow found a way to be out of order. The coincidence of it all almost made me laugh, but instead, I just rolled my eyes and trailed behind Taeyong, up the stairs.

Finally, after twelve flights of stairs, we walked into our room and were greeted by a familiar and friendly site. I threw my own room door open and tossing my bag to the ground, I collapsed upon the softness of my bed, sinking into it and feeling, finally, at peace. Every odd worry and strange thought was immediately wiped from my mind the moment that my head hit the pillow. I could feel sleep already taking over me, and I wanted to go with it. I wanted to fall into a deep sleep; I needed it at this point. But I heard my door being pushed open again.

“So, you want to talk about what happened when we were walking home?”

“I was just imagining things.” I mumbled quietly.

“Are you sure? You seemed pretty shaken up about it.”

“Y-Yeah… I’m just…. Y’know…” I tried my hardest to form coherent sentences, but I was far beyond the barriers of language and grammar.

“Alright… Obviously, you’re way too sleepy to even put together a sentence so… We should just turn in for the night. You especially. We can talk about it in the morning. Sound good?”

I made an attempt at a thumbs-up but miserably failed. He laughed softly at the failed attempt, and left my room, shutting the door behind him. I rolled over, knowing I’d regret falling asleep in my clothes but… At this point, I was just too tired to care.

***

I woke up suddenly, bolting upright and staring around my dark room. What had caused my sudden alarm and awakening? I didn’t have a second to contemplate it, as a scream rang out from down the hall. I jumped out of bed and left my room, yanking the front door open. People were running towards the door that led to the stairs, with fear plastered on their faces.

Confusion and panic swept through me, and I rushed to Taeyong’s door, banging my hand against it as it flew open. He was standing there, his eyes wide and fear clearly present in them. I tried to ask what was wrong, but the fire alarm went off. We quickly rushed to put our shoes on and I thought my questions were answered, but as we ran outside, I realized that the building was not on fire. Rather, just as I had seen earlier, there were shooting stars trailing overhead in the sky, but this time, they seemed to be falling towards the earth, and the result was-

“Fire…” Taeyong whispered, his normally warm eyes, flushed with fear.

“We should go to campus…” I said, eyes nervously overlooking the flames.

“Yeah… They’ve probably got some system set up…”

Following the mass of students from the buildings, we rushed our way through the crowd. Every now and then I got glances of people I recognized from our building or from our classes. Everyone looked terrified, several people were glancing up every now and then. The fire seemed to have spread, but away from the main campus. A small feeling of relief rushed through me…

Everyone seemed to be heading for the closest entrances and because of that, there was a pileup of students waiting to get inside.

“Why don’t we go through the psych building?” Taeyong whispered, pointing towards another building in the distance. “We can just go through there and get inside a lot quicker.”

“Sounds like a plan.” I nodded, realizing that he and I weren’t wearing jackets, and becoming painfully aware of the cold.

We slipped away from the crowd and rushed off towards the building in the distance. I could hear his teeth chattering and a pang of guilt rushed through me. He was wearing a t-shirt and some PJ bottoms, while I was still in my sweater from earlier, with an extra shirt underneath, and a pair of jeans. I pulled my sweater off, thanking myself for wearing a long-sleeved shirt, and held it at him. He went to protest, but either the look on my face or his overwhelming coldness must’ve convinced him, and he took it- gratefully. Pulling it on, he seemed a lot warmer and smiled at me.

As we reached the door, I pulled it open and let him in, following closely behind.

“Might take us a while to find the opposite side of the building.” He whispered, looking around.

He was right. The psych building was probably one of the oldest ones on this campus and happened to be extremely maze-like, and mildly terrifying.

“Well, better start now, or we’ll be in here forever.” I joked, trying to lighten the mood.

He laughed softly and shaking his head, started walking down one of the paths. A few minutes later we hit a crossroad; one path led to a staircase and the other led down a different hall. He looked at me, frustration knitting his eyebrows.

“What d’you think?”

“Well, if we’re trying to find the connection, and it’s on the upper floors… We should probably head upstairs…?”

“Yeah… Probably safer to go up and then get a view of where we are.”

We walked up the stairs, the odd silence in the building was beginning to feel really unsettling. The stairs led to another door, which we walked through and led to another long hallway filled with dozens of doors. We started walking down the hall but, one set of doors caught my attention. The doors at the far end of the corridor; it was for one of those bigger lecture halls, but it was always locked with a sign on it reading “under construction.” The only difference this time was, it was slightly ajar.

“Taeyong, that door is open.”

“What- Oh… Yeah. So?”

“It’s never been open… It’s always been locked… And there’s always been a sign on it saying under construction.”

“Someone must’ve run out in a panic and forgotten to lock it. It happens.”

“Maybe but…” My curiosity was burning, and I moved towards the door.

“Johnny, if it’s actually under construction then it’s not safe in there.”

“Let me just shut it…” I said, ignoring his strained voice.

“Hurry, then…”

I moved forward, but instead of pulling it shut, I pushed it all the way open. My own gasp was drowned out by the sound of Taeyong swearing. He too seemed shocked at what was on the other side of the door.

“What the hell?” I breathed out, stepping into the room.

As I’d assumed, it was a large lecture hall type room. What was missing were the hundreds of seats and tables that students would sit at. Rather, there were several descending staircases that led towards the head of the room. Instead of a stage or platform where a professor would speak, there was some sort of machine. I turned and looked at Taeyong, who was standing a few steps away, eyes widened in fear.

I looked back, my curiosity was only growing. I walked into the room and started down the stairs. I felt Taeyong grab my hand and pull me to a halt.

“What?”

“Johnny, no… You don’t even know what that thing is. It could be dangerous.”

And he was right, but I just needed to know. I needed to figure it out. I didn’t know what was compelling me to go up to it but, I had to figure it out.

“It’s fine. I’m not going to touch it. I just want to see.”

“Johnny, please… If we’re caught in here, who knows what they’ll do… We should just get going.”

“I won’t take long. I just want to know what it is.”

“O-Okay… But I’m not going to stay here.”

“Scared?” I smirked at him.

“You wish, you dumb, tall giraffe.” He grumbled and stomped ahead of me.

I laughed and followed him down the stairs. As we reached the bottom, the machine loomed closer and ominously in front of us. There were four or five bathtub-like structures at the base of it, and in the middle, a control panel. I walked to the weird bathtub structures and looked more closely at them. They seemed to be filled with water, but it was probably some weird chemical that looked like water…

“Johnny… Come look at this…” Taeyong’s voice wavered.

I turned and walked towards the direction his voice was coming in, but I couldn’t find him. I looked around the empty hall, a slight panic filling me.

“Taeyong? If you’re trying to scare me, it’s not funny-”

I was cut off; the sound of footsteps caught my attention. I whipped around and saw Taeyong standing in front of another person, who was holding a knife to his throat. The man was wearing a mask that covered his entire face, and I could only see his eyes- which were grey and cold. My eyes widened, and I felt myself freeze. I was rooted to the spot, unable to move, speak, or think. Taeyong’s eyes shone in the light, full of fear and confusion.

“Who are you?” The voice was cold and steely.

I opened my mouth to answer, but the lump in my throat wasn’t allowing me to. What if I said the wrong thing? Would I lose my best friend? There was so much to risk, and I was pretty sure that not answering the question wasn’t an option. I stared at Taeyong, who shut his eyes and grit his teeth. My heart was sinking. How was this even real? How was this happening?

“Who are you?” He repeated, tone unwavering.

“W-We’re just students.” I stammered out, my voice meek and soft.

“What are your names?”

“Jo-”

“Hey!”

The three of us whipped around to see-

“Ten?” I questioned my eyebrows knitting.

The smaller boy, who seemed so friendly and meek earlier, stood there holding a gun. It was aimed at the man holding Taeyong at knifepoint. I didn’t think, that after all that had happened today, that anything else could really surprise me but, obviously I stood corrected. I stared at Ten, my head beginning to hurt.

“Let him go.” Ten’s eyes were narrowed in a dangerous way.

“Looks like you showed up.”

“You’re hunting me, not them. Let him, and the other one, go.” His sweet voice was no longer present; it was as if he was a completely different person.

“There are consequences for running.”

“I ran because it was the only logical thing to do…”

“Saving your skin because you’re too scared?”

“I found a way to leave… Of course, I was going to take it.”

“No one can leave. There are laws.”

“I won’t go back. And you can’t take me. Now, let them go. I won’t ask again.”

Taeyong and I exchanged confused glances. I noticed his eyes frantically motion between his captor’s grip on him loosening, and my general direction. I suddenly realized what he was planning, and although it terrified me, it was a better plan than nothing. But just as he went to pull away, the man swiftly moved the knife away from his neck and down to his stomach, plunging it into him, eliciting a loud gasp.

Taeyong’s eyes went wide, as he fell to his knees. My eyes widened, and I couldn’t find the words. He keeled backwards as the man started to run, but the sound of gunfire echoed through the auditorium and the man crumpled forwards, dead. Ten stood there, eyes dead and emotionless as he held the same position and stared at the body of the stranger.

I rushed over to Taeyong. Sinking to my knees, I tried to quell the bleeding, but there seemed to be nothing I could do. I pressed my hands over the wound and he looked at me, eyes hollow as if the stars that were usually present in them were winking out. He tried to grasp onto my hand, but his shaky fingers couldn’t muster the strength. I grabbed his hand and squeezed it tightly.

“W-We’ll get you help. You’re going to be fine!” I gasped out, finally finding my words.

He opened his mouth to speak but he just coughed, wincing and groaning in pain. Tears began to well in my eyes and I couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t die. This couldn’t be happening. How was this happening?!

I turned around helplessly and looked at Ten. His eyes were full of sorrow and he sighed.

“Call someone! Anyone! What are you doing just standing there?!” I yelled.

“It’s too late… He’s not going to make it.” He said, eyes filled with pity.

“That’s not up for you to decide!” Anger flooded through me.

“I’m sorry…”

“P-Please… He’s my friend… My only friend…” I whispered, tears falling freely, “I can’t lose him… He’s all I have.” I gasped out, shaking.

“J-Johnny…” Taeyong’s feeble voice caught my attention and I turned and looked at him.

He smiled, weakly and opened his eyes slightly. I couldn’t help the sob that escaped me. I was going to lose my best friend… I was going to lose the only person who had tried to be a part of my life… And it was my fault. All of this was my fault.

“D-Don’t… Don’t cry…” He gasped out, smiling at me and reaching his hand out to wipe my tears but recoiled instantly as pain rippled across his face.

“D-Don’t move… I’m going to get you help. I promise. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

“N-No… Too late for me… Just… Don’t cry…” He whispered, eyes fluttering shut.

“No. No! NO! Taeyong, no!” I yelled, my heart racing as panic coursed through me.

I turned back to Ten who was fiddling with something in his hands. I couldn’t even muster the anger to yell, to scream, to do anything. I felt defeated… How did this happen?

“Alright, Johnny. When you wake up, remember, you asked for this.”

I looked back at Ten. He looked tired and frustrated.

“W-What?”

“I will help you save your friend. But remember, there are consequences. Every action has a reaction.” He looked at me with serious eyes.

“I-I don’t care… I just want to help him…”

“Alright. Hold on, okay?” His voice was noticeably warm.

My eyes opened suddenly, and I snapped my head up off the desk on which my face was pressed against. My head spun as I'd moved too fast, and I gripped the edge of the desk, feeling an extreme wave of sickness passing over me… I looked around, confused and panicked. As I turned my head to my right, the sight beside me nearly made me pass out from shock, happiness, and confusion.

Taeyong was sitting there, eyes directed forward at the professor. He looked at me and smiled warmly. I felt my legs lose all feeling and tears well up in my eyes. He noticed my expression and immediately looked concerned. I felt an overwhelming sense of relief flood my system. I looked around again, half expecting it all to fade away as if I were in a hallucination of some sort. But nothing happened. Everything stayed the same…

Had I really just dreamed all of that? Was all of what I just witnessed a figment of my imagination? It seemed unrealistic and impossible… But somehow, it felt real. The sounds, the feelings, the scents… Those felt real. Not like something I’d ever experienced in a dream before. I stared at Taeyong, who was confusedly looking at me, pure concern lacing his eyes. I shook my head, running my hands through my hair and taking a deep breath. It was a dream. That’s why I was here, now, with him… That’s why he wasn’t…

I couldn’t even think about it without feeling a sick nausea passing over me again. I shut my eyes and rubbed them, trying to rid myself of the thoughts about what had happened… That had been the most vivid dream I’d ever experienced… I heard the prof speaking up again, and I looked over.

“Please remember, these studies help, not only you but the university and the graduate students who are running them. Anyway, make sure to read the next chapter from the textbook for next class, and that should be all the work that you are required to do this week. Have a good evening everyone.”

The hall came to life, as it always would. People began to pack as if it were any other day. Everyone was chattering away, unaware of how I was feeling. Why did all this feel like such major déjà vu? If that had all just been a dream, why had it been so vivid and real…? Why had it felt like my heart was being ripped out of my chest? Why did the blood on my fingers feel so real?

“Johnny? What’s wrong?” Taeyong asked, eyebrows furrowed.

Standing up, I reached out and rested my hand on his shoulder. He looked at me, even more confused than before. I immediately grabbed him into the tightest embrace and tried my hardest to avoid crying right there. Shaking, I pulled away slowly and looked at him. He had the most confused look on his face, but grinned awkwardly at me anyway.

“T-Thank you?”

“I… I had a bad dream.” I decided that was the safest way to state it.

“Really? ‘Bout what?”

“Well… There was a lot going on but… You… Died.” I looked at him quickly and he immediately started laughing.

“I what?!” He smiled widely at me.

Although I was annoyed that he found the whole situation funny, I couldn’t help but smile too. Although Taeyong was a worrier, he was also light-hearted, and it was easy to forget your worries around him. He began packing up, but continually asked me to relive my dream to him.

“I wanna know how I died! Was it heroic? Was I cool and dramatic?” He asked wiggling his eyebrows and giggling, not unlike a child.

Rolling my eyes, I sighed and pushed him slightly, “You’re an idiot, you know that right?”

“Yes. I do. Now tell me!”

“No! You’re going to make fun of me, and it was a serious dream. I was really worried about you. I really thought you’d died.”

“Don’t worry Johnny, I’m never going to die. I’ll always stick around to annoy you.”

“Oh great. Now I wish I hadn’t woken up.”

“Hey!” He pouted and pushed me slightly.

“I’m kidding.” I laughed, smiling at him, but I was reminded of his face covered in blood, and my heart sank again, “It just felt… So real…”

“Like, you’d already seen it once before kind of real, or like… Where it just feels unnaturally and tangibly real?” “The second one… It felt real. It honestly felt like right now. Everything that happened is literally what’s happening here. I had fallen asleep on the desk and then I woke up at the end of class and we left together. But on the way home, we were stopped by a boy, who I’d never met but you knew him, and anyway, we got home… And then there was this shooting star thing that happened, and they were falling to the earth and there was fire, so they were moving students to the main campus… And, we wanted to take a shortcut into the buildings and so we went through the psych building but then I wanted to explore one of the empty halls, and you were against it but then we saw this giant, strange machine so we went in. And when we were looking at it, you got captured by this guy and he held you at knife-point… And anyway… That guy from before, that you knew, showed up and he tried to bargain for your life, but the guy holding you stabbed you, and then the other dude shot him… And you were dying.”

I looked at Taeyong, who was staring at me with wide eyes. Panic seized me; did he think I was insane? But my qualms were quelled a moment later as he burst into laughter. I sighed, rolled my eyes, and slinging my bag over my shoulder, I started towards the stairs. Still laughing, Taeyong followed suit and chased after me. He caught onto my arm and faked wiping a tear away.

“You’re so annoying.”

“Not that it didn’t sound like the coolest dream in the history of dreams, but it was slightly unrealistic.”

“In what way?” I asked, laughing along now.

“I wouldn’t be the one to die. That would be you.” He said as seriously as he could muster.

“I was actually worried about you, and that’s all you can say.” I feigned hurt.

“Don’t worry Johnny. If it ever came to that sort of situation, I would protect you.” He winked at me.

“Yeah, I’d love to witness the day that you and those scrawny arms could protect anything.” I snorted.

“Wow, here I am trying to protect you and all you can do is insult me?”

“You deserve it. Making fun of me for being genuinely worried about you.”

“I told you, don’t worry. It was just a dream after all.”

Although every rational part of me knew he was right, I couldn’t help but feel an inkling of worry. If the dream hadn’t felt so real, I didn’t think I’d be this fixated on it… But it had. It’d been the most real a dream had ever felt. I wasn’t sure I’d ever experienced something like that in my life. How was I supposed to just put it out of mind? Sure, to him, it might’ve been easy. But he hadn’t been the one to witness his best friend’s death- and real or not, that shit was traumatizing. I shivered slightly, trying my hardest to repress the vivid feeling and colour of the blood that had covered my hands.

Looking around, I realized we’d managed to walk all the way to the bus stop- this time, with no disturbances from anyone. Maybe my subconscious had just made him up. I looked around, and this time, there was no one at the bus stop. There was, however, snow falling even more heavily than in the dream.

“Odd.” Taeyong mumbled, pulling out his phone and checking the times again.

Leaning over his shoulder, I looked at the times, “There should’ve been one just now,” I mumbled.

“Yeah… I wonder what’s up.”

From behind us, we heard someone talking loudly. We both turned to look at the source of the voice. My eyes widened when I realized who I was looking at. He had light brown hair and a wide grin. He was talking animatedly into the microphone on a pair of earbuds, and when he noticed us looking, his cheeks flushed, and he lowered his voice. Taeyong simply turned and looked back at the road, checking both directions to see if the bus was coming. I, however, stood there, rooted to the spot. My eyes focused only on the shorter boy, his conversation flying right over my head. That was the boy that’d stopped me on the bus. There was no mistaking it. He was real.

“Taeyong, do you know who that is?” I leaned over, speaking quietly to him.

He glanced back and shrugged, “No, I’ve never seen him before. Why?”

“No reason…” I shook my head, not wanting to have him laugh at me again.

“You okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” He said, concern lacing his voice.

“Yeah… I just think that dream took a real toll on me.” I said, laughing weakly.

“Well, hopefully, the bus comes soon. Then we can get home, and you can get the rest that you need.”

“Yeah…”

“Hey, guys!” The familiar voice of the boy startled us both.

We turned to look at him, and his cheeks were slightly pink; whether it was the weather or his embarrassment, I couldn’t tell. He stood there, nervousness seemed to fill the air, and he wrung his hands out awkwardly as if he couldn’t find the words to tell us what he wanted to say.

“Hi,” Taeyong said, smiling.

“Sorry, if this is awkward and out of nowhere… But, I was just on the phone with my friend, and he told me the busses have been cancelled due to the snow.”

“Oh shit, really?”

“Yeah, he was also waiting for his bus, but it never showed. And he called the bus station, that’s when they told him that all the lines closed early tonight seeing as the snow started to really come down. I thought I’d just let you guys know… It’s better than just standing here for a few hours.”

“Thanks, we appreciate it.” Taeyong grinned.

“No problem, I’ll see you around then.”

“Yeah, see you.”

He turned to walk away, but Taeyong immediately called out again.

“Where do you live?”

“Oh, East Village housing-”

“We live there too!”

“Oh cool! We could walk together.” The boy immediately blushed again, and frantically stuttering said, “Only if you’d want to do that of course. I understand if you wouldn’t want to.”

“Not at all! It’ll be better than walking alone, right?”

“Definitely. Shall we get going then?”

“Sounds good. I’m Taeyong by the way, and this is Johnny.”

“I’m Mark.” He smiled shyly.

“What year are you in?” I asked, finally speaking up.

“First. And you guys?”

“Third year. Both of us.”

“Yeah, I suspected you were both older. Not that you look old!” He panicked again, eyes widening.

“Don’t worry.” Taeyong said while I laughed awkwardly, “We know we look old.”

“Ah, don’t take it that way.” He meekly smiled.

“Don’t worry, we’re not being serious. We’re actually the epitome of youth. Can’t you see?”

“Totally.” He nodded, feigning seriousness.

We all burst into laughter. All my previous fears melted away; talking and laughing with both Taeyong and Mark made it easy to forget my worries. After all, I’d probably just seen Mark around campus somewhere, and that’s how he’d appeared in my dream so vividly. It was just a dream. Nothing else.

As we were walking back, out of the corner of my vision, I noticed the psych building. I stopped, looking at it, my curiosity burning desperately within me. I bit my lip, wondering if it was worth the risk. Even though it wasn’t real, even though it had just been a dream, part of me was convinced there was something behind that door. I mean, obviously, my subconscious had forced it into my dreams as a way of conveying that I had the desire to know what was behind it… Right? I frowned, still stuck staring at the building, trying to make a decision.

“What’s wrong?” Taeyong asked.

“Would you mind if we took a detour?” I asked, my voice sounding strangely unlike me.

“Why? And to where?”

“I want to go see inside the psych building.”

“Johnny if this is about the dream- I promise there is nothing weird in that building. Other than those experiment chambers, there is nothing else in there.”

“I know, I just… I need to make sure. I need to know that what I saw wasn’t real.”

“What’s going on?” Mark’s voice pierced my ears and I looked at him.

“He had a crazy dream and now he’s convinced it was real.” Taeyong sighed.

“Dreams are parallel universes, or at least… That’s what I believe.” Mark said shrugging.

“C’mon it’ll be quick.” I pleaded, looking back at Taeyong.

“I’m with Johnny. We should check it out!” Mark said, seriously.

“You can’t be buying into this!”

“What are you talking about? Dreams are terrifying. Of course, I want to check it out.”

“Oh my god, I feel like I’m talking to a brick wall.” Taeyong said, throwing his hands up in exasperation.

“Look at it this way, if I’m wrong-”

“Which you are!”

“-then you get to prove it. If I’m right, then we’ll see what I was talking about and then we can leave.”

“But you’re wrong!”

“But you won’t ever know for sure unless you check, right? And once we know for sure that I’m wrong, you can rub it in my face. C’mon… It won’t take me that long. I remember exactly where the room was. Plus, you get to use your favourite phrase: I told you so. You’ve literally got nothing to lose.”

Staring between us for a second, he sighed, “Fine, fine. But don’t think this means I’m on your side.”

I sighed in relief, smiling at Taeyong, who weakly smiled back. Quickly, I set off at a brisk pace towards the psych building. I pulled out my phone, glancing at the time to make sure that this was occurring at a different time, before the last set of events had taken place. Luckily, we had time to spare. Nevertheless, I kept my speedy pace up, as we rushed into the psych building. We walked down a long and narrow hallway, as we’d done in the dream, and eventually came upon the same staircase. Looking back at them, I nodded and took the stairs two at a time. At the top of the stairs was a door which led to another extremely narrow hallway. The end of the hall had a set of double doors, leading towards what I’d always presumed to be a lecture hall under construction.

“That’s it.” I pointed.

“You came all this way to look at a lecture hall door?” Taeyong groaned.

“No, I came to see what was on the other side of it.”

“Wouldn’t it be, oh I don’t know… A lecture hall?”

“No, it was something else. Some kind of machine… I don’t know how to explain it.”

“Okay, fine. Go open it.”

Feverishly, I rushed to the door. Gripping the handle, with a sweaty, shaky hand, I pushed in.

As if being submerged in icy water, I gasped for air. It felt as if all the wind had been knocked out of me. There, in the room, just as it had been before was the same machine, and it was connected to the same five bathtub-like structures, which still appeared to be filled with a substance that bore a great deal of resemblance to water. I stared, unable to figure out how to respond to what I was looking at. And as if it were a perfect repetition of my dream, I heard Taeyong curse loudly. Mark, the only addition to the picture, uttered a soft and awed, “Woah,” all while stepping forward slightly.

How could this be happening? How was any of this real?!

“How is that real?” Taeyong’s trembling voice brought me back to the present.

“I don’t know…”

“What the hell is it?”

“I have no clue.” “Well, you dreamed it! And now it’s here? What is going on?!” He sounded panicked.

“I’m not sure…”

“Can we get closer?” Mark asked, stepping into the lecture hall, all caution thrown to the wind.

“No!” Taeyong gasped, pulling him back. “If your dream was anything like the truth, then there is no way I’m letting either of you near that thing. We don’t even know what it is?”

“I’m going to see what it is.” I said, already walking towards it.

I heard Mark scramble after me, and after a few grumbling sounds, Taeyong gave in and followed as well. I was at the bottom of the stairs before I could even process it; my feet seemed to have gained their own will and control. My mind was a mess of static, confusion, and panic. Nothing and everything seemed real all at the same time. I walked towards what seemed to be the main part of the machine. There was computer built into the base of the machine, and it seemed to be on. I looked at the screen. It was black and there was a blinking cursor. I stared at it, fingers trembling as I reached out for the keyboard.

“Who the hell are you?!” A voice echoed angrily.

The three of us turned, panic flowing through me and my heart starting to madly beat. I already knew what was coming. Was I really going to put myself- and my friends- through this again?

But instead of being the knife-wielding man that had nearly killed my best friend, it was someone else-

“Ten?!” Taeyong said, confusion layering even more into his voice.

“Taeyong…” He said, a look of sadness flitted across his expression briefly, but it was gone in an instant. He looked around and when he saw me, he frowned. “What are you doing here?”

“I-”

“I would’ve thought you’d learned your lesson. I would’ve thought you’d brushed it off, in the least. You weren’t supposed to come back!”

“It just didn’t seem real… I had to know if it was a dream-”

“It wasn’t!” He yelled.

I froze.

“S-So… What does that mean?”

“It means I rewound time… It means I broke every law there is, just to save your friend. And now you’re here. And if anyone catches you here, they will hurt you and your friends again. You can’t be here!”

As he said that, screams started echoing around us.

“The stars are falling… It’s happening earlier.” He whispered, looking at the watch on his wrist.

“What’s going on? Johnny? Ten? Someone answer me!” Taeyong’s voice was slightly raised, matching his anxious expression.

“Taeyong, I’m so sorry… You guys weren’t meant to be dragged into this.” Ten said, looking even more pained.

“Guys, I think someone’s coming.” Mark spoke up finally.

He was right. The sounds of yelling came from behind the doors. And it wasn’t the terrified screams of students on campus. Rather, it was the sound of people yelling orders. I could barely make out what was being said, but their calm tones were a dead giveaway that we were in trouble. I looked at Ten, who had his eyes shut tightly, brow furrowed in concentration. I opened my mouth, to speak but his eyes snapped open first. He looked at the three of us, sadness too clearly present in his eyes, and sighed.

“Alright, we don’t have much of choice at this point.”

“What are you talking about?” Taeyong took a step forward but Ten held up his hand, stopping him.

“Just… Hold on.”

He walked over to the keyboard that was attached to the monitor, and leaning over, began typing furiously. None of us said anything as we were far too confused and taken back by what was happening. I looked at Taeyong, his eyes held nothing but confusion. Mark seemed to be in the same state, except it was much more evident in his face and actions. He was nervously looking at the doors and ringing his hands. I tried not to show how I was feeling, but it was difficult.

“Alright. Get in.” Ten said, straightening and pointing to the bathtub structures.

“What?!” Mark yelped.

“If you want to live, get into the pods.”

“Ten… Please tell us what’s going on.” Taeyong put his hands-on Ten’s shoulders and pleaded.

“Taeyong, I’m trying to save your lives. Please… I’ll explain it when we’re somewhere that’s not here. If we wait any longer, we’ll all end up dead. Please. Just trust me.”

“I do.” I said, without thinking.

Ten looked at me, a sort of gratitude blazed in his eyes. I nodded at him, and he looked back into Taeyong’s eyes. It was the sincerity in his voice that convinced me. I sighed and looked at the pods.

“I’m trying to save you.” Ten said, desperation entering his voice, “We don’t have a lot of time.”

“O-Okay…” Taeyong said, hands shaking slightly as he took a step back.

Mark looked even paler than before, as he robotically walked over to one of the pods. We all watched Ten as he rushed over to the machine and pressed a few more keys.

“I’ve set it on a timer, we need to hurry.” He said and walked over to his own one and got in, lying down and crossing his arms.

We all followed suit. Cautiously, I stepped into the watery substance. I let out a soft gasp, not expecting it to be warm. Removing my bag and setting it near my feet, I sat down. I gave Taeyong one last reassuring look. Although I didn’t know what our future held, I hoped that at least we’d be safe. He smiled, nervously.

We both lay back, submerging ourselves in the liquid. It covered almost my entire body, except my face. I shut my eyes, confused and still waiting to wake up as if this was another dream. But nothing happened. I opened my eyes again, and to my surprise, a lid had appeared over the top of the pod. I reached my hand out to touch it, but suddenly I was falling.

It was like no other experience in my entire life. The feeling of falling without the reassurance of an end. The feeling of my stomach going up as if on a never-ending roller coaster, made my head spin. I felt nauseous and out of breath. The thought of gasping for air entered my mind, but even trying to open my mouth seemed like a dangerous idea, as I was pretty sure at any moment I would throw up.

But it suddenly stopped. Just like that. The falling stopped as I collided with the hard, solid ground. I lay there, confused and gasping for air, my chest heaving. My face was pressed against something that felt like concrete after the rain. The only feelings that I was aware of were that of my hands and knees which were stinging painfully from the collision, as well as the pounding in my head. The sudden pressure drop made my vision foggy and I was having trouble thinking. Slowly and carefully, I pressed my palms against the ground but hissed in pain as I retracted them immediately. Maybe I had damaged them a lot worse than I’d thought. I lay there, listening. The sounds of water dripping and hitting stones, echoed all around me. Water gently tricked somewhere, not far from me. That, coupled with the extremely hollow, empty droning, made my stomach tighten in anxiety. On top of that, the scents were overpowering. It smelled like wet mould, dirt, and decay. I was already feeling nauseous, but the smell only added to it, causing me to retch slightly. I needed to figure out where I was.

Using my forearms and elbows instead, I managed to push myself up off the cold floor. But overwhelming nausea caused me to bend back down. Gasping heavily, my mouth burned with the taste of bile. Finally, managing to push myself up, I turned as I got myself into a seated position, and looked around. It was dark, extremely dark. There was very limited lighting, coming from somewhere, but I couldn’t really tell. It seemed that most of the light was emanating from the vivid, sickeningly, greenish-blue pathway of water. It looked like I was in a sewer. The sudden sound of squeaking and hissing caused me to gasp and look around, but I couldn’t find the source of the sound due to the echoes skewing my perception. I swallowed, hard.

Trembling slightly, I looked at my hands. They were covered in mud and blood. I grimaced and looked around. The floor which I was upon was wet and covered in dirt and grime. My head felt like it would split in two at any moment and I could barely think. Gritting my teeth and shaking immensely, I pushed myself to stand up. My legs shook as I put my weight on them, and I nearly keeled over right there but I managed to grip onto a wall that was to my right. Something was definitely wrong with my left ankle and putting weight upon was not an option. So, gripping the wall, I pushed myself to stand, and tried taking a shaky step. One by one, I limped closer towards the water. When I’d reached the edge of the platform I was on, I kneeled and looked down into the bright water. It seemed to go on forever. Looking left and right, it swirled off into the different paths and kept going far beyond my line of vision. The water cast an eerie, greenish-blue glow on the walls and on me.

I wondered whether it was worth sticking my hands in there and washing them off but decided against it. Standing again, I looked around. There was just enough light for me to be able to make out pathways, one to the left and one to the right. I swallowed again, now quite aware of how dry my mouth and throat were.

It suddenly struck me- Where was Taeyong?! And Mark, and Ten? Much too fast, I looked around again, causing my head to spin as I clutched the wall, feeling the bile rise to my mouth. I spat it out, retching and coughing. My head was pounding even harder if that was possible, and my throat was now burning. I breathed, heavily, and looked up slowly. I had no choice. If they weren’t here, I’d have to find them. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed something lying there. Turning, carefully, I saw my bag. A feeling of relief seemed to flood through me. There was something comforting about having your stuff with you when you were completely alone.

I limped over to it, picking it up and pulled it on. It hung to my right side and with every step I took it swayed, pulling my balance off slightly, but I’d have to get used to managing the extra weight. I looked around again, I had the option to go left or right. I bit my lip, feeling torn; there was no way to know for sure where the others were, or if they were even together. How was I going to find them? Closing my eyes, I listened to the sounds around me, hoping it would help me decide. I heard the same hissing and squeaking coming from somewhere to the right.

“That’ll have to do.” I whispered, my voice echoing off the walls.

Walking slowly, still holding onto the wall, I followed the right path. My eyes were finally adjusting to the dark tunnels, and I was finally able to get used to the scent. Walking too had become slightly easier, although the pain was still there, it had begun to dull. I walked and walked and walked, losing track of how long I’d been doing it. I couldn’t tell what was going on, I had no perception of time. All I could do was keep walking, in hopes that eventually I would come across someone or something.

I’d been following the sounds of, what I could only hope were rats. Their scurrying feet pattering in the water, the sounds of them squeaking loudly in terror and anger as they fought with one another, it all made me feel tightly wound. I sighed, shakily. I was terrified, and I had nothing but my bag to hold onto.

That’s when the scent hit me; it wasn’t strong but even the smallest whiff caused me to feel ill. It was disgusting. Like rotted, decaying trash, something that was so sickening it made your head spin… That’s what it smelled like. I covered my mouth, continuing to walk. But the scent only got stronger, and with it, the sound of rats became louder and louder. I had a chilling feeling I knew what I was going to encounter, but that didn’t make it any easier.

I knew what was coming, even before I rounded the corner. The smell was so overpowering that I had to press my face against my sleeve, yet it still somehow permeated the cloth. I turned the corner, dreading what I was about to see, knowing I’d regret it. But I didn’t have much of a choice. As I rounded the corner, and my eyes landed upon it, I stumbled backwards. Unable to stop myself, I crashed, falling backwards and crawled as far as I could, before vomiting violently. I heard more rats gathering, and I knew I’d have to get away from them before they could come near me, but my head was spinning. Trembling even harder than before, I stood again. I felt drained. I looked back over, my stomach ached, and I stared at it…

A body. A human body… Or what was left of it anyway. From the minimal lighting, you could see the decay… And it wasn’t pretty. Most of the person was missing due to the rats, which were here in great numbers fighting over this source of food. They’d managed to get down to the innards of the person, and from where I was, something that looked suspiciously like intestines were spilling out of them. Yet, mixed in with the blood and guts, I saw several metal parts. I held my breath, feeling sick, and walked around the corpse. My head felt lighter and even more painful than before. What the hell was going on here…?

As I walked away, I turned to look back every now and again, a feeling of ominous dread hanging over me. How had that person died? Had something killed them? My mind was swirling with questions, but I knew I wouldn’t get answers- at least not until I found Ten.

From up ahead, I heard the unmistakable sound of footsteps. My heart leapt into my throat and ignoring all the pain my body was feeling, I broke into a sprint. The pain in my ankle was searing now, but the adrenaline was fueling me to push forward. As I rounded another corner, relief, happiness, and exhaustion all hit me.

“Taeyong.” I gasped, my legs feeling weak and shaking even harder.

The three boys turned around, eyes wide. Taeyong gasped, and even from here I could see the tears filling his eyes. He rushed towards me, embracing me tightly.

“I thought I’d lost you.” He whispered, gasping.

“Never.” I mumbled, pulling away and smiling at him weakly.

He seemed to be in the same banged up condition as me. Dirt, grime, and blood covered his face. I touched his cheek, where a gash was bleeding. He shook his head and smiled at me, reassuring me he was okay, but it hurt to see him like this.

Looking over at Mark and Ten, they too were looking exhausted and dirty. Ten smiled at me and nodded, eyes softening and a seeming relief overtaking him. He looked alright; he had several scratches and bites on him, but nothing too bad. I looked at Mark, who grinned but somehow looked worse than all of us. A cut had appeared above his left eye, which was swollen and bleeding. He had several bite marks on his hands and arms and he seemed to be shaking.

“We should hurry before the rats smell the blood.” Ten mumbled, looking exhausted.

I nodded, and Taeyong and I joined them and continued walking. The silence seemed to become strained now that I was there. I was burning with a thousand questions, but I wasn’t sure how to ask them. I didn’t know if Ten even wanted to talk. I, for one, was exhausted and talking seemed like it would take the last bit of energy I had left, out of me.

“I know you want to ask something so… Ask.” Ten chuckled, wincing slightly, grabbing at his side.

“Are you ok?”

“Are any of us ok?” He asked, smiling coldly.

“Right…” I whispered.

“I’m not mad at you. I was. But I’m not anymore.” He said, glancing sideways at me.

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. I would’ve had to come back here eventually.”

“Ten… Where is… Here?”

“A dream.”

“What?” I stopped dead in my tracks.

“We’re trapped in a dream.”

“You’re crazy…”

“Look… Believe me or don’t believe me, I’m telling you the truth. We’re trapped inside someone else’s dream. It’s more of a nightmare, to be honest with you but… This is someone else’s subconscious.”

“You’re crazy.” I repeated, even more terrified and taking a step backwards.

“Johnny. I don’t know how to convince you of this. 3 years ago, we were brought here. It was a project that a science company created. The company was known as Science Modern.” “Why does that sound familiar?”

“It should be. There was a huge lawsuit filed against them. It was in the news for ages. They went bankrupt.”

“So… What happened?”

“They tried to create a machine that would allow you to enter a test subject’s dreams. They were actually doing really well. They created the machine, that was the easy part.”

“That’s supposed to be the easy part?”

“They needed live subjects. But with something that could go so wrong, the Board of Ethics would never pass them. Experimenting on people is something that can have serious repercussions. You’re in the psych program, you should know that. Anyway… They were desperate. They needed more money, and they needed results. So, they put out ads for young people. People who wouldn’t necessarily be missed. People who could disappear and no one would question it. Anyway, eventually, they gathered enough people. Most of them were just desperate for money…” There was a distinct pause, but he continued, as if nothing had happened, “And then, they eventually started experimenting.”

“What happened?”

“The first subject died. The process was so taxing on his body, that his heart gave out. Science Modern successfully covered it up, saying he was a boy who was working on another project and had a series of heart defects… No one said another word, after all, it was a science company that was making these claims, and they’d never get their information wrong… They continued testing. The second person managed to last for a few hours, but he too eventually had a heart attack. Science Modern realized that technically live patients weren’t going to cut it. They needed to find someone who was… Alive but not really.”

“Comatose patients…” I whispered, horrified.

“Exactly. They managed to convince a family to sign over their comatose son… And it worked. The boy was barely alive but because he wasn’t technically living, nothing bad seemed to be happening. So, they went with it.”

“That’s disgusting…”

“It gets worse… They realized that they needed people who were willing to go into the person’s subconscious. But because they had a limited number of scientists, who weren’t expendable, they needed civilians. At least until the method was perfected.”

“Holy shit…”

“Yup… The remaining people who’d signed up? They sent them into the comatose patient’s subconscious, along with guards who were basically robots, not knowing if they could get the people out or if they would die… And it worked. They managed to put people into the dreams, people were freely able to explore and act on their own volition within someone else’s mind… But the major downside was that they couldn’t leave. These young people, including children, were trapped inside someone’s mind. Anyway… Someone in Science Modern suddenly grew a conscience and decided to rat out the whole operation. Most of the members and scientists fled and changed their identities, but the CEO was sued. The public never found out what he was sued for but… The company ended up going bankrupt.”

“So… You’re…”

“Yeah. I’m one of the people who signed up.” His voice broke slightly as did my heart.

“All of the people here are young. We’ve been trapped for what feels like forever. There’s no concept of time here. Everyone just exists. And it doesn’t help that the mind of this boy is obviously very troubled… I told you, this world isn’t safe. These aren’t dreams of someone who hasn’t suffered a trauma… This boy is very ill… And what’s worse is that those AI guards have evolved their own conscience… They believe they’re doing the right thing, keeping us here. Them, mixed with the monsters that live in this boy’s mind… Well, it’s safe to say that this is about surviving. The remaining victims, we grouped together and formed a sort of resistance. We called ourselves Neo Culture Technology… As an oppose to Science Modern… It feels cheesy to say it now but, it helps us stay close and feel united. It feels like we’re really fighting for something.”

“But, how’d you escape?”

“I found one of the scientist’s workbooks. Must’ve been mistakenly sent in at some point. Well, he had notes on maybe a successful way to evacuate the survivors from here. But nothing was solid yet. I decided I didn’t have much of a choice. I had to see if any of his plans were solid. The method was basically to rework the machine that Science Modern had created and make a gateway out. One of the boys actually managed to build one, but I wasn’t about to send a bunch of terrified and innocent people through it… So, I decided I’d go through. If it worked, I’d find a way to get back and help the others come through.”

“What if it didn’t…?”

“If not, I’d die… But that would be a better fate than what I was living in…”

He looked weary and regretful. I placed a hand on his shoulder and shaking his head, as if trying to rid thoughts from his mind, he smiled at me weakly.

“Anyway, it worked. I found myself in the real world, in the middle of nowhere. I walked for days trying to find someone or a sign of life. I ended up hitching rides with strangers until I found out about your school.”

“The university?”

“I heard rumours that the machine had been moved there, under tight security. So, I made my way there. I blended in, went to classes, tried my best to seem like I was part of the student life. And then I found the machine. But… I didn’t know how to activate it or if I’d even end up in the same world I had started in. I couldn’t be sure of anything… So, I had to test the machine. Unfortunately, on one of these days, Taeyong happened to walk into the room.” He smiled wryly.

I looked at Taeyong who shrugged, “Ten already told us what happened but… I don’t really recall any of this.”

“Of course, you wouldn’t… I had to rewind time…”

“But how-” “The AI guards have capabilities to rewind time. Since they’re artificial intelligence, and because it’s a dream world, there are no set consequences for them- for the living, it was a different case… They would often rewind time when someone died and force them to relive it. It’s their method of torture… And fun…” He shivered involuntarily but continued, “I got into a tight spot with one of them. I killed it and managed to take it apart. I found the component that allowed them to rewind time and removed it. We used a lot of the parts I’d found from it to make the escape pod… Anyway, I hung onto the complex and it came in use… But, in the real world, it had obvious consequences. The falling stars? That’s my fault. When I rewound real time, it became extremely clear that the world wasn’t used to spinning in reverse and that it caused massive shifts in real time… Things that weren’t meant to happen for another hundred years would occur much faster. That’s why I was so hesitant to rewind time when Taeyong died… I knew something else would happen and I was already responsible for one mistake, I wasn’t sure if I could handle two… But you looked so upset.” He sighed, running a hand through his hair.

“Thank you for doing it…” I whispered, looking at my shoes, “I don’t understand… If you could rewind time, couldn’t you go back far enough to before the whole situation happened?”

He chuckled and shook his head, “They only rewind for a few hours, if you’re lucky. Most are only meant for a few minutes… It wouldn’t work. And now the component I had is dead. It was pretty low in power when I first got it and using it to rewind in hours must’ve taken a real toll…”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. I’d rather see Taeyong living too. So, we’re now here again. But, the good thing is, I can send you three through when we get back to our base camp. We’re almost there now.”

“What-”

“You three shouldn’t be here in the first place. So, when we get back to the base camp, I’ll send you through. The rest of us will shortly join you, I promise.”

“What about those people who were chasing you?”

“Those were the AI guards. Almost seemed human, didn’t they? They’re built like humans… Flesh, blood, bone… But they’re made of parts like a machine. They have their own mind and can make connections… They’re smart, but we’re smarter. We’ve managed for as long as we have so…”

I was about to ask him another question when he pointed. We all followed his gaze and hand and looked to see a door. He smiled brightly and sighed.

“This is it. Shield your eyes okay?”

“What?”

He walked towards the door and pushed against it. As it opened, blinding light poured in. All three of us ducked our heads downwards, wincing and gasping. Ten, shielding his eyes, took a step forward and breathed deeply. Fresh air hit my lungs and I gasped. It was overwhelming. I looked up, slowly moving my hand away from in front of my eyes, to see a forest expanding largely in front of us. My mouth fell open, and I glanced at Taeyong and Mark who also seemed perplexed.

“It’s a dream, boys… It’s never what you think.” Ten said, stepping out into the evening glow of the setting sun.

Taeyong and Mark followed, with me closely behind. As I put my foot down on the fresh earth, and the scent of the evening reached my nose, I felt pain and emotion overwhelm me. The sounds of birds twittering in the glow of the sun, a river rushing downstream, and even the small critters squeaking loudly all seemed so foreign. My eyes, still adjusting to the sudden brightness, picked up little dots of colour scurrying around in the golden light. Trees, taller than I’d ever seen in my entire life, reached towards the sky, branched out and created a dappled light texture that fell upon my skin. I breathed in; the smell of rain and dirt and life all consumed me as I stood there. Ten looked at me, a sad smile gracing his lips.

“It seems beautiful, right? The boy whose head we’re in… He was a painter. He used to sit and watch these scenes for hours. Very talented boy.”

“How do you know?”

“He was my friend.” Ten said, blinking suddenly, and looking down, avoiding eye-contact.

“Your friend?”

“Yeah… Best friend actually… He stuck with me through some tough stuff. And uh… He was in an accident and that’s when the coma happened and now… This…” Ten’s eyes glazed over slightly.

I wanted to comfort him, but… I didn’t know what to say.

“Ten, I’m sorry…”

“It sucks, dude, but… You move through it. You learn from it.”

“That’s brave.”

“Maybe.” He sighed, “Anyway, we should hurry. Sun’s setting… That’s when it becomes less beautiful.”

We followed along behind him, looking around in awe at the world around us. It was beautiful. Absolutely every detail seemed real. Ten’s speech still had me reeling. It was difficult to digest it, but I had to. I couldn’t really tell what was real anymore and what wasn’t. But everything here… All of it seemed to be real. It felt so incredibly real.

“There.” Ten’s voice suddenly rang out.

He pointed to a tree. But it wasn’t an ordinary tree. It had three platforms that ran up its trunk. Each platform had cabin-like structures. There were stairs that led to each level, and even from here, you could see people walking along the levels.

Mouth open, I looked at Taeyong and Mark, who also seemed very awestruck. Ten saw our expressions and laughed.

“It looks good right…? This is our current hideout. We have several for any time we have to move suddenly.”

“You built this?” Mark asked.

“No. Fourteen people is not enough to do something like this… The boy in the coma… This is his doing.”

“Fourteen?”

“There’s fourteen of us…” Ten said, smiling sadly, “That’s all that remains.”

“How many did you start with?”

“There used to be fifty subjects. Most of them died from the monsters in here, some of them were caught by the AI guards. Others just went missing. Now it’s the fourteen of us left.”

“That’s horrible.” Taeyong said, in a soft voice.

“That’s life…” Ten sighed and began walking forward.

He waved his hand upward and jumped up and down. Several people noticed and began to wave back, but, I’m assuming, from seeing us, they immediately froze and began talking to each other. Ten simply kept walking forward. I looked at the other two and nervously smiled.

“They don’t look very happy to see us.” I mumbled softly, so Ten wouldn’t hear.

“They’re probably just being cautious. This world seems dangerous.” Taeyong said.

“How did you guys end up getting hurt?” I asked, staring at their injuries.

“When I crashed, I guess,” Mark said softly, “I landed in the middle of a rat nest. There were so many… I ended up running into a wall trying to get away from them and got cut on a rock that was poking out.” He pointed to the cut above his eye. “And well, the swollen part was because I ran into the wall.” He winced.

“And you?” I asked nodding to the cut on Taeyong’s cheek.

“Ten had a blade on him… I ran into it.” He laughed sheepishly.

“Idiot…” I chuckled.

“That’s me.” Taeyong grinned and shook his head, “Where were you?” “Quite far from you guys… I think… I couldn’t really tell how much time had passed.”

“Yeah, it was difficult for us as well. By the time I’d found Taeyong it’d felt like hours had already passed.”

“You guys were also split up?”

“Yeah… But, Ten seemed to find me relatively fast.” Mark said, shrugging.

“He probably knew his way around down there.” I looked at the smaller boy up front.

“Probably-”

“Guys, c’mon!” Ten turned around a bright smile on his face.

We had reached the base of the tree and another boy was standing there waiting. He had a giant smile on his face, dimples showing deeply on cheeks. He seemed to have a gentle air about him like he was patient and kind. He had messy, dark blonde hair, with dark, but kind eyes. When Ten was within arm’s length, he threw himself onto the other boy, hugging him tightly. The boy laughed and hugged him back, and I could see tears welling in his eyes.

“You’re back.” He said in a soft, yet deep voice.

“Did you doubt it?” Ten said smiling brightly.

“Never.”

“Guys, this is Jaehyun.” Ten said, introducing us.

“And you’ve brought… Friends?”

“It’s a long story… They’re from the real world.”

“Why would you bring people back?” He asked, panic suddenly rising in his voice.

“Well, it’s not a big deal. We can send them back. Jaehyun, we can go home now.” Ten said, grabbing hold of his hand excitedly.

“Ten…” Jaehyun’s eyes widened and he sighed.

“Wh-What happened?”

“The AIs… They found it and seized it.”

“N-No… No way…”

“We tried to stop them, but we couldn’t. They almost killed Renjun in the process. I had to make a choice.” Jaehyun’s eyes were begging for forgiveness as his voice broke slightly.

“I understand.” Ten said, smiling, “You did the right thing, Jaehyun. Don’t look so worried.”

“I’m so sorry…” He sighed, looking at us.

Turning, Ten sighed and looked at us, “Looks like you’ll be here a little longer than I expected. I’m sorry but, until I can get that machine back… You’ll have to stay with us.”

I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to say. The entire world had been thrown upside down in a matter of a few hours, and I couldn’t even find the words to express what I was feeling. Exhaustion, confusion, absolute fear? Nothing seemed to capture all that I was feeling. I just nodded, knowing my voice would betray me and show the fear I was feeling.

“As long as you remain with us, nothing will happen to you. I promise.” Ten said, eyes locked with ours.

“I believe you.” Taeyong said softly, smiling sadly.

“Thank you…” Mark nodded.

“I’m sorry this had to happen, but we’ll gladly stay with you if you let us.” Taeyong added.

“Of course.” Ten said, smiling, “Jaehyun, this is Johnny, Taeyong, and Mark.”

“It’s nice to meet you.” He said, nodding.

“Jaehyun is good at keep track of everything.” Ten said.

“Are you the leader?” Mark asked, looking at Jaehyun.

“Oh no. We don’t really have a leader. No one’s stepped up to the job. We just function.”

“A leader would be nice, but no one has the skills.” Ten said, sighing.

We all began to walk up the stairs. With every step we took, my legs began to feel more and more like lead. I had no energy left to ask them where we were going, all I could do was follow.

“We’re taking you to the infirmary.” Jaehyun said, looking back at us.

“Thank god.” Mark laughed, the exhaustion starting to show on his face.

“You’ve been through a lot it seems.” He said, smiling gently at us.

“Not as much as you.” I said without really thinking, but he stopped in his tracks, staring at me.

“That’s very kind of you.” He said, tilting his head and letting out a soft hum.

“Y-You’re welcome.” I said slightly flustered.

We kept walking up the steps, and at the third and final platform, we walked off onto it. I noticed that no one seemed to be around. It was eerily quiet, except for the sound of the surrounding wilderness. The sun had finally set by this point, and the inky blue sky was starting to glow with stars that were showing themselves. I was in awe, staring upwards at the sky- it was beautiful.

“This is it.” Ten said, leading us into a cabin.

It was well furnished- with things you wouldn’t expect to be in a forest. At the end of the room, a monitor screen was hooked up to a boy who lay on a bed, with a ventilator over his mouth. I stared at him, confused. The boy had rounded features and light brown hair, he seemed to be a little younger than me, but there was something about him. His features seemed expressionless.

“Isn’t this the forest?” Mark asked, staring.

“I told you, it’s a dream… Things don’t have to make sense.” Ten said, softly.

“That’s-”

Ten looked at me and nodded before I could finish. He walked towards the bed and I followed. I stared at him and a sort of sadness filled me. I glanced sideways at Ten, wondering how he was. He had a fond look in his eyes and glanced at me. He smiled and sighed.

“Yeah… This is him.”

“How is he here?”

“Don’t ask me… There are some things that even I don’t really understand. All I know is this is really his body.”

“Ten… I have a question.”

“Hm?”

“If he gets hurt-”

“We’ll probably die.”

“Right…”

“If his brain is damaged any more in any way… This world will cease to exist. Brain activity doesn’t occur in coma patients but… Some of them can dream, which scientists still don’t know how to explain. There was once when his ventilator got loose, and he wasn’t getting oxygen… The world literally began crumbling all around us. It was a close call.”

“That’s terrifying.”

“It was… But, that’s not why I take care of him. But it is another incentive to make sure he stays safe, but…” He trailed off, lost in thought.

“Will he ever wake up?”

“Maybe. I really hope so… When we find a way out, he can be brought to a real doctor.” Ten said, looking at me, tears present in his eyes, “They’ll know what to do… And even if they don’t, he’ll get the proper care he deserves.”

“You said he was your best friend.”

“He is my best friend. He’s still there… I know he is.”

“What’s his name?”

“Kun.”

“Guys, you should get some rest.” Jaehyun’s voice brought me back to the present.

I nodded, suddenly extremely aware again of the tiredness and pain I was feeling.

“You should probably wash up first. Get those cuts cleaned as well.” Jaehyun commented.

“Probably.” Taeyong yawned.

Wistfully, I looked at the clean beds and nodded. Cleaning up now would be a good idea. A hot shower to clean all the blood and dirt and grim off me sounded heavenly. Jaehyun led us towards the back of the medical cabin, where there were showers. He opened a cupboard, getting out three towels and handing them to us. He also found some extra clothes: three plain, white shirts and three brown shorts, in sizes as best as he could match to us.

“After you’ve showered, you should definitely get some well-deserved rest.”

“Thank you, for showing us all this kindness.” Taeyong said.

“Thank you for getting Ten back to us safely.” Jaehyun’s eyes softened and he nodded to us, “I hope you sleep well.” He turned and nodded to Ten then left the room.

“Get showered. Then rest. You’ll have plenty of time to explore later.”

“Thank you again, Ten.” I said, sighing.

“Not a problem.”

We all got into the individual showers and began washing ourselves off. The hot water hit my back and I swear I could’ve fallen asleep right there. The cuts on my hands and knees stung but I knew they were being cleaned so I could bear with it. When I finally felt clean, I grabbed the towel and dried myself off, then wrapping it around my waist, walked out of the shower and pulled the fresh clothes on. It felt so good to be clean and washed.

I walked over to the beds and saw Mark and Taeyong already fast asleep. Although I was tired, I wanted to smell the clean air again, so I walked out of the cabin and to the edge of the platform, leaning against the railing that was there. The wind rustled my hair, and I realized that rain was falling gently. I looked at the sky, the stars were faded by a thin veil of clouds that blurred them. The sound of rain pattering against the leaves, while crickets chirped away, and owls hooted every now and then, although foreign and strange to me, was extremely comforting. I felt calm and peaceful for the first time since I’d woken up in the psych classroom…

It was almost laughable. How far away that felt now… How very odd and strange to think that just a few hours ago my biggest concern was my grade…

I let out a short laugh, sadness beginning to overwhelm me. What if I was never able to go home again? What if this is how we had to live forever? What if we’d spend the rest of our lives running? All of it would be my fault. I’d gotten Taeyong and Mark into this mess too… I gripped the railing tighter, ignoring the sharp stings of pain I felt in my hands, frustration and confusion pulsing through me. Was this even real?

I felt a hand on my back, and I turned my head to see Ten.

“Oh… Hey.” I said, quietly.

“Couldn’t sleep?”

“I just wanted to listen…” I nodded outwards.

“Yeah, I get that… It’s beautiful to just listen to the world.”

“Yeah…”

“But, that’s not all, is it? Something’s bothering you.”

“I just… I feel so stupid. If it hadn’t been for me, Mark and Taeyong wouldn’t be here.”

“Trust me, Johnny… Guilt can kill a person. You’re better off accepting their forgiveness. They would never hold this against you.” He rested his forearms against the railing and leaned forward slightly.

“How do I just forgive myself?”

“You won’t… Not for a long time. I think you have to find it in yourself. You have to learn that… It’s okay to make mistakes and that we’re all going to make them. Sometimes, our mistakes make us better people.”

“You sound like you’re speaking from experience.” I said, raising an eyebrow at him.

“You’d be kidding yourself if you thought there wasn’t one person in the world who didn’t have regrets… Or guilt…” His voice heavy.

“You seem to have a lot knowledge, for a kid that is.” I smiled, nudging him gently.

“Just cause you’re an old man, doesn’t mean we all are.” He said, grinning slightly.

A secondary feeling of guilt washed over me, “I’m sorry… For what happened today.”

“I told you. I forgive you. I would’ve had to come back anyway. Truth is Johnny, I was scared to come back. I was scared that more of my friends might’ve died… The people here, this group we’ve formed, they’re like family to me. Without them, I’d be nothing. The thought that any single one of them could’ve died… It terrifies me.”

“That makes you a good friend.”

“Some would say that makes me foolish.”

“Not me.”

“Then that would make you foolish.” He grinned.

“Who said I wasn’t.” I smiled back.

He turned and looked at me, eyes shining in the darkness. He looked like he wanted to say something important, so I faced him as well.

“I want to ask you something.”

“Go ahead.”

“You have all the choice in the world, if you three want to leave tomorrow morning, you’re more than welcome. However, I… I really do think all of us could benefit if you decided to stay. We’d have more people and you’d have a safe place to stay.

“I’m sure the boys feel the same way. I know I do.”

“Then… Don’t just stay… Become part of the group.” As an afterthought, he said, “You’d all make great additions.”

“Become part of Neo… Uh, what was it?”

“Neo Culture Technology.” Ten said, smiling.

“You really sure you want us? What about the rest of your group.”

“It’s a resistance, Johnny. We’re fighting the injustice we’ve experienced. No matter what, we’ll always accept those who are willing to fight. Those willing to try.”

“I can’t speak on behalf of Taeyong and Mark, but… I’ll join.”

“Good.”

Ten stuck his hand out and I stared at him for a second. He smiled, and I smiled back. I gripped his hand tightly and shook it. As we let go, he sighed gently.

“Welcome to Neo Culture Technology, Johnny.”

“Glad to be here…”

“You should get some sleep.” He said, patting my back, “I’m gonna head to my room. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

As Ten walked away, I looked back out at the scene in front of me. If this was what life chose to give me, then I would take it and work with it. There was no saying what Taeyong and Mark would do, although deep down I knew they would stay, I, for sure, was going to stay and fight for as long as I was needed. I shut my eyes and took a deep breath. Opening my eyes again and staring out at the horizon, I smiled slightly.

“NCT, huh?”

#g.docx #g.writing #mine #just a dream.docx #nct #nct au #nct fic #nct fanfic #that's all i'm gonna tag this with hhh #i really hate over tagging #long post

42 notes · View notes

knox-knocks · 6 years ago

Text

Restart ~ Chapter 11

Read on ao3

You are a pawn and nothing more.

Neil fired off two more balls in the direction of the cones, knocking them both down in rapid succession. He picked up another from the bucket resting beside his feet and tossed it in the air, caught it with his racquet, and flung it at the wall for it to rebound and knock down the last cone with a resounding thud.

At any rate, you are useless to me.

He was a robot, a machine, knocking down cones one after the other and then picking them up and doing it all over again. His body was fine-tuned to Exy. This was what he was good at. He would not let his failure to perform force his hand to sign his own death certificate.

Should you fail, you will pay the price of my wasted time.

Neil twirled his racquet in his hand and prepared to start the drill over again. He shifted his feet and had only taken one running step when Kevin stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.

“That’s three times without missing a cone, Neil. Take shots at the goal and then we’ll leave,” Kevin said.

“We haven’t been here long enough. Only –”

“Three hours. Any more and you’ll pull something and then you’ll be benched.” Kevin snapped his fingers as he wheeled Neil around so he faced Andrew in goal. “Thirty minutes.”

Neil bit back a complaint and shook out his arms and prepared to fire at the goal. Andrew stayed still in the goalie box, watching Neil for his first move.

Ichirou’s words had been circling his head ceaselessly since Monday. When he tried to sleep, he heard his deadline. When he closed his eyes, he saw Ichirou’s remorseless face. Ichirou was a shadow following Neil’s every move.

He’d had been working tirelessly, non-stop, relentlessly every practice with the Foxes and every night practice after that. He spent extra time in the gym, long after the rest of the team left and the lacrosse team needed it. He’d even been skipping his classes to spend more time at the Foxhole Court until Dan found out and dragged Neil to Calculus by the collar of his shirt.

The Foxes were playing Binghamton tomorrow and Neil was dreading it for more than one reason. It was the last game before Death Matches started up and the Foxes couldn’t afford to lose. Neil couldn’t afford to lose.

Squaring his shoulders, Neil raised his racquet and feinted right before twisting and swinging to the top left corner of the goal. Andrew saw it coming and rebounded it back to him. Neil caught it and fired just above Andrew’s head, but he deflected that, too. Instead of passing it back to Kevin or Neil, Andrew caught it and dropped it to the ground. He put his foot on it before it could roll away.

“You move your foot to whichever side you mean to shoot at. Your tells are too noticeable,” Andrew said.

If Neil wasn’t seething, he might have been pleased Andrew was showing some form of interest in the game but as it was, his frustration clouded everything and he just motioned for Andrew to serve with an impatient wave of his racquet.

The next time he aimed, he made sure to take two purposeful steps and fire with his toes planted firmly on the ground. He swung, feeling the force of the swing move through his arms and his back until it connected with the ball. The ball slammed into the wall of the goal before Andrew could block it.

A pleased thrill shuddered through Neil, making him clench his racquet in his hands. He stretched his fingers and caught the ball when Andrew rebounded it back to him.

Neil didn’t stop taking shots on Andrew until he scored on him five times, even when Kevin told him to start packing up. After the fifth shot smacked into the middle of the goal and lit up red, Andrew stepped to the side to signal that he was done, and so was Neil.

“You let me have that,” Neil snapped.

Andrew’s face was impassive behind his face guard. “I did not. And we’re leaving.”

“It’s not even midnight yet –”

“We have a game tomorrow, Neil. You need to get some fucking sleep. No –” Kevin pointed a warning finger when Neil tried to interrupt. “Did you think I didn’t notice you not sleeping? Zip it and stop compromising your health. We’re done here.”

Neil clenched his jaw so hard, his vision blurred. He sucked in a quick breath through his nose and then released all the tension from his muscles on the exhale. By the time his entire body was more or less relaxed, Kevin had collected the Exy balls and cones and shut the stadium lights off. Andrew scooped up the ball by his feet with a gloved hand and pushed it against Neil’s chest as he passed.

Neil showered quickly, not caring that Kevin and Andrew were in the locker room showering as well. He felt wired and amped up like he could run three laps around the court and still have the energy for a scrimmage.

Before he could even think about detouring back to the court, Andrew snagged the hood of his jacket and steered him to the Maserati. The farther away Neil got from the court and the closer to Fox Tower, Neil could feel the energy draining out of him and the exhaustion evident in the bags under his eyes nestling in his bones.

Despite his previous anxiety, Neil passed out before Kevin had even turned off the lights in the dorm, barely even changing into sweatpants to sleep in before he crawled into his bed and faceplanted into the pillow.

He stayed asleep and dreamt of nothing all night.

When he woke up, Neil gave himself three minutes to stare at the ceiling and assess everything from the aches in his body to the threats playing through his head.

The only thing he didn’t let himself do was think about how much that car accident had taken from him, how much of a predicament it had put him in. He definitely didn’t wonder what his life would be like if he had never cracked open his head.

Neil, Andrew, and Kevin were the first to arrive in the lobby of the Foxhole Court where Wymack and Abby were waiting for them. Kevin forced Neil to eat three granola bars and some disgusting health-shake made of blended vegetables and protein powder before the rest of the Foxes arrived. Then he stopped Kevin before he made Andrew drink one too and got staked in the ribs for his efforts.

After a short talk, Wymack released them so they could pack their equipment and load up. Andrew pulled Neil into his seat at the back of the bus and put him by the window. Neil wasn’t concerned that Andrew was blocking his exit; he felt safe where he was. Andrew wouldn’t acknowledge the grateful look Neil shot him.

Even though he got plenty of sleep before, Neil was out like a light as soon as the bus was on the Interstate. When he woke three hours later, Wymack was pulling into the Binghamton parking lot and the Foxes were stretching out their legs and arms. Neil rubbed away the remaining sleep from his eyes and smoothed his hand over the indents in his face from where he was pressed against the window.

“Why didn’t you wake me up earlier?” Neil mumbled to Andrew, his words slurred with sleep.

Andrew shrugged. His attention was on the large stadium outside. “You looked tired. Like a raccoon.”

“What?”

Andrew didn’t respond. Wymack had parked the bus and the Foxes were starting to file off so Neil got up and followed Andrew down the aisle. When he hopped off the last step of the bus, he scanned every inch of the stadium to see if it triggered any memories.

He knew where he was. He knew what happened here. A little less than a year ago Neil had been kidnapped off of this campus by his father’s men. In less than forty-eight hours after that, Neil Josten was in the system to be a real person and all the people who wanted to hurt Neil were dead or being hunted down by the FBI.

Except for one.

Neil wished he was lucky enough for Ichirou to be hit by a bus and put an end to all of this. He let himself imagine a life of freedom, no contracts tied to his life, no investments. Just Exy. And the Foxes.

It was unlikely so Neil shooed away the wishful thinking and retrieved his and Andrew’s bags from under the bus. The inside of the stadium was just as unfamiliar, but Neil thought he felt something when they entered the lounge. It was fleeting and when Neil tried to reach for it, it slipped through his fingers and left him feeling uneasy.

When Neil stepped into the men’s locker room, he nearly dropped his duffel bag. He thought he covered up his flinch, smoothed away the expression on his face, but the sound of air catching in his throat caught Andrew’s attention anyway.

Andrew didn’t need to ask what was wrong. He knew. He caught hold of Neil’s sleeve and tugged. “Breathe, Neil,” he said, leaning closer.

Neil wanted to do what Andrew told him, he really did, but how could he breathe when he heard Lola’s voice in his ears? How could he walk through this locker room when a stark black 0 flashed before his eyes every time he blinked? Neil’s chest squeezed and he caught hold of Andrew’s wrist to help ground him. Andrew didn’t seem to mind, his hand tightening in Neil’s sleeve.

“Neil, are you alright?”

Neil turned to Matt, hoping his eyes weren’t stretched as wide with panic like he thought they were. They were going to kill him. If Stuart hadn’t shown up when he did then Neil –

“Do you need me to get Abby?” Nicky asked him, pointing behind his shoulder from where they came in from.

“Are you fucking kidding me? Now? If you screw this up for us, Josten, I hope they kick you off the team –” Jack started. At the sight of Andrew and Kevin’s combined glare, his mouth clamped shut, but his glower wasn’t any less poisonous.

“What do you need, Neil?”

That was the question, wasn’t it? Neil needed to win this game, he needed to remember, he needed his Foxes, he needed to breathe, he needed to breathe, he needed to breathe.

So he breathed.

Neil took one deep breath and released it, then he took another and another. When the fuzziness in his lungs cleared away and Neil could think properly, he said, “I’m fine. I need to play.”

Nicky looked doubtful, but Kevin thumped him on the back and Andrew released him when he decided Neil wasn’t going to hyperventilate and pass out on the tile floor.

The entire time Neil dressed, he couldn’t quite dispel thoughts of Lola and his father out of his head. If he listened closely, he could hear the sounds of the crowd roaring from the stadium. Neil told himself it was different from the sounds of an angry riot. He checked for the blood he knew wasn’t really caked underneath his nails.

He didn’t want to think of the riot or getting kidnapped. Instead, he immersed himself in the Foxes’ friendly banter as they got ready for the game. Matt clapped his hand on Neil’s shoulder and gave him a friendly shake, grinning brightly at him. Past his shoulder, Neil caught sight of Renee and Andrew discussing plays with the freshmen goalkeeper. Andrew caught his eye and held it.

Soon enough it was time to file onto the inner court. Neil felt he was finally getting hold of his bearings; it was easier to think with the Plexiglas walls around him and the rumbling of the crowd in the stands. Wymack gave them a brief pep talk and released them to do their warm-ups.

Neil was starting striker with Kevin, so when the refs locked them on the court with the Binghamton players, he lined up on the starting line and raised his racquet. Neil’s shoulders were set, his face locked in a glare. Around him, he had his Foxes, Kevin at his side and Andrew at his back. When he caught Dan’s eye behind the face guard of her helmet, she gave him a determined look and tossed the ball in the air to serve.

The Foxes lost. Badly.

Neil hooked his fingers in the grill of his helmet and tore it off, but it didn’t change the red numbers on the scoreboard.

10-4, Binghamton’s favor.

The excited screams of triumph and outrage from the crowd faded to a dull buzz until Neil could only hear the blood pulsing through his ears. The world narrowed to that 4 and Neil thought he was going to throw up. This had to be a mistake, this was a nightmare. Neil would wake up on the bus in Binghamton’s campus and then the real game would start –

The Foxes’ loss was from no lack of trying on their part. They played viciously and desperately, every move played like it was their last. It just wasn’t good enough.

The players on both teams lined up and shook hands, but Neil wasn’t paying attention. It wasn’t until he was on his way off the court when someone from behind shoved him hard enough to almost send him sprawling when everything snapped back into place.

“What the fuck was that, Josten?” Jack snarled, getting in his face.

Neil shoved him away but this time, Sheena was there and caught his arm and pushed him forward. Neil was caught between Jack and Sheena, each jostling him back and forth as Jack yelled.

“You know what, I’m getting real sick and tired of this bullshit,” Jack’s voice rose higher and louder with each word. “You think you can just come onto the court and fuck everything up for everyone else? You’re just an amateur who got lucky. You don’t belong on this court, you’re a fucking disgrace, a –”

Robin stepped in between Jack and Neil. “Stop! It’s not his fault!”

“Oh really?” Jack said, wheeling on Robin instead. She jutted out her chin and met his enraged expression head on. “Because from where I’m standing, he fumbled three shots that should have been easy. I could have scored those goals with my eyes closed.”

“But you didn’t, did you, Jack? You’re too busy jacking off to how great you are — how better you are than everyone — to really get a goal,” Neil fired back, just as loud. “You think I’m an amateur? Who was the one who helped the Foxes win a championship title last year? That sure as hell wasn’t you. You’re just a whiny fucking brat with an attitude problem. Because guess what? You didn’t score those goals. You were sitting on the sidelines for most of the game, bitching at everyone else instead of actually contributing.”

“Hey, hey! That’s enough. Jack, Neil –”

Neil ignored Dan. “Remind me why you’re in my face again? You’re just a shitty fanboy with no real promise. That’s never going to get you very far in life, sorry to say.”

Jack sputtered, his face turning a vibrant shade of magenta. “Is that so, Natha–”

Neil’s fist connected with Jack’s face before he could get out the entire word, but the name hung in the air like the blade of a guillotine over Neil’s neck. The refs finally made their way through the knot of Foxes. One of them grabbed Neil by the shoulders and yanked him away from Jack before he could land another punch. Jack leapt up with fists swinging, but Dan shoved him back with one hand on his chest and the other warding off Neil from getting any closer.

“That’s enough! We are a team and you two need to start acting like one or I will bench you both for the rest of the season, you hear me?”

Neil glared at Jack. A red spot was blooming on his cheekbone and Neil very much wanted to add to it.

“I said, you hear me?”

“Yes, Dan,” Neil replied, his voice laced with lingering anger. Jack didn’t say anything; he just shook Dan off of him and stalked towards the locker room.

Neil shrugged the hands from his shoulders and followed after Aaron and Matt. Before he could get very far, though, the press intercepted him. A microphone was shoved into his face as cameras all around him flashed.

“Neil Josten! Is it true you sustained major memory loss after the car accident? How would you say that affected your relationship with your team?”

Neil should keep walking, he really should.

Neil stopped and turned his glare on the reporter, who looked pleased to have his attention. He didn’t know who leaked his amnesia to the press, but he was sick of this. The reporter didn’t seem deterred by his withering glare, but Neil knew he could make it even more venomous.

“Do none of you have anything better to do than pry into people’s lives? Is your life really that shitty? Like, I get it. It must be real fucking boring, sitting around your house all day waiting for a good story, but you vultures need to get some friends and leave me the hell alone.”

Kevin snatched at Neil’s jersey to pull him away but Neil wasn’t done. He shook out of Kevin’s grip. The reporter’s mouth hung wide open as she stared at Neil in shock. “If your career really sucks that bad that you need to ask questions about something that happened weeks ago, you need to get with it because that’s old news by now. Do you seriously get off on other people’s pain? I’m sick of all of you and your damn questions. You bloodsuckers can go fuck yourselves and get these cameras out of my face.”

Neil let Kevin pull him away then, not bothering to turn around and see the damage he caused. When he got to the locker room, Neil went straight to his duffel and dug around for his clothes. He wouldn’t look at anyone. His anger was still radiating off of him in hot waves.

He wanted to hit something, punch Jack again, put a dent in the locker, anything. Neil’s body trembled with the effort to keep his movements in check and non-violent as he yanked the clean clothes and a towel out and zipped his duffel back up.

When he straightened, Andrew was waiting at the end of the bench with his arms folded across his chest and an unimpressed look on his face. Neil ignored it and brushed past him to get to the showers. Jack didn’t say a word; he kept shooting scowls from across the room instead.

Neil didn’t say anything at all while the Foxes loaded up onto the bus. He sat in the row in front of Andrew’s and stared out the darkened window the entire ride home.

#tfc #aftg #the foxhole court #all for the game #tfcfic #yeehaw chapter eleven is posted #i don't have the rest of the chapters on tumblr unfortunately but the link to ao3 has all of them #pause and restart #on going fic #mine

5 notes · View notes