#we’re ignoring that I accidentally forgot ‘a’ in the title of the song

[doctorsiren]

“The hearts are promises I tend to prefer to break”

[pan-fangirl-345]

Scars and Marks

Summary: You know who your soulmate is. Only problem. He has a girlfriend with the same mark as you. The school festival is going to change all that. Not that you know that just yet.

A/N: I have no idea where I was going with this. Let me know if you want a part two to this. I might write it anyway. How do I title? 

TW: Reader is slapped. Narcissistic behavior. Bakugou is a little OOC. Thought of cutting a mark off skin. Implied mental health issues. If I missed something, please let me know.

Here’s a link to the song I used for this. I don’t own the song, the lyrics, or anything about it.

You stared at the mark on your back in the mirror, frowning at it.

The Soul Mark had been black when it had first appeared when you were ten, but now it was almost gray. It was fading, and fast, but that was okay, it meant Bakugou was happier with her.

“Hey! (Y/F/N), we’re gonna play a game of Never Have I Ever, wanna join us?” Denki asked when you walked into the common room, practically vibrating next to Hitoshi.

“Um, sure, why not?” you murmured, sitting next to Eijirou, leaning on him a little.

“Hey! Bakubro! Do you wanna play Never Have I Ever with us?” Eijirou asked, making you jump a little bit. He was so loud!

“Why would I wanna do that?”

“Scared you’re gonna lose?” you teased, making him run red.

“I won’t lose!” he shouted, storming over to the circle, plopping down on your other side.

You continued to lean on Eiji, letting the warmth he radiated keep you from sharing too much.

“Alright, who wants to go first?” Mina asked, devilish grin.

“Guess I will,” you offered. “Never have I ever punched someone in a a public setting.”

Denki, Hitoshi, Eiji, Bakugou, and the other boys all took a shot of sparkling cider, the closest thing they could get to alcohol as second years.

“We’re going clockwise right?” Mina asked.

“That makes the most sense,” Hitoshi muttered.

“I guess Bakugou is next,” Eiji said.

“Never have I ever accidentally used glitter instead of laundry detergent,” he said, glaring at Denki.

“I was high!” he defended, making everyone laugh.

Hitoshi gave his soulmate a small grin, something soft that reminded you of what you didn’t have.

You winced, looking away, burying yourself in Eiji’s side, letting him shield you.

“Never have I ever wanted to drink bleach out of a wine glass,” Uraraka said, glaring at you.

“If this were alcohol, I would think that you would be trying to get me drunk,” you told her, taking a shot.

People gave you some worried looks and you rolled your eyes. “I also wanted to pitch myself in front of a car. Seventh and eighth grade sucked for me. Izuku took a shot too you know!”

“Yeah, but that’s cause Bakugou was an ass when he was younger,” Denki said.

“You say that like he isn’t one now,” you said, wrinkling your nose teasingly.

“What did you say?” Bakugou snarled, turning to you.

“Is she wrong though?” Hitoshi asked, shooting you a look.

“No,” he grumbled, making you chuckle.

“I always knew you liked me Bakugou,” you teased, making him huff.

And so the game went, and it only had to pause once so you could throw Mineta out the window with Hanta’s tape, since he had somehow managed to sneak onto campus.

“I can see why you guys replaced him with me,” Hitoshi muttered when you sat down next to Eiji again.

“Never have I ever gotten rejected by my soulmate,” Kyouka said and you winced, taking a shot. “Oh, (Y/F/N), I’m so sorry! I forgot-”

“Kyouka, it’s fine,” you assured her trying to ignore the stares that you were getting from everyone else.

“Who the fuck would reject you?” Bakugou snapped, breaking the tense silence that had enveloped the group.

You, you thought miserably.

You and Bakugou weren’t friends, but you were friends with the other Bakusquad members. He tolerated you, but you had never spent any one-on-one time with your soulmate in the two years you had been going to school with him.

“(Y/F/N), why didn’t you tell us?” Denki asked, looking hurt.

“For one thing, I wasn’t technically rejected,” you admitted, toying with your hair, leaning further into Eiji. “I have my mark and everything still, even though it’s wicked faded, since they don’t really know what I am to them. It’s a really long story. Point is, I never told them, and they’re happier without me. I’m not what they want, and that’s okay, I like what we have now.”

“They don’t know? Then how do you know they’re happier without you?” Denki asked.

“Because they’re with someone else.”

Everyone fell silent, even the other people in the common room.

“How are you okay with that?” Izuku asked quietly, clutching Shouto’s hand tightly.

“I knew from the moment I met them that I wasn’t going to be it for them, you know? They were confident, and proud, and I just . . . wasn’t.” You glared down at your hands like they held the answers to your issues. 

“At first I thought we had one of those unbalanced bonds, but then we went in for the provisional licensing exams and they met someone with the same mark. I saw them together and then I realized something. We didn’t have an unbalanced bond. We didn’t have a bond at all!”

You smiled softly. 

“It made me happy, actually, not having to worry about it anymore. I mean, sure, I cried my eyes out for three days afterwards, but that kinda just faded away. They were happy, and I finally knew that I was romantically unlovable. I mean, I had always assumed, but it was good to know for sure, you know? I didn’t have to worry about whether it would be a problem or not.

“I saw her mark you know, when they showed her off for the first time,” you murmured. “It was the same as mine, and yet the way he looked at her, like she was the best thing to ever happen to him . . . I knew I had made the right decision to never tell him. I knew the moment I met her that I was never going to be that girl that tried to steal him.

“I wasn’t going to make him miserable by telling him, making him overthink the ‘what ifs?’. I wasn’t going to make him decide between the two of us. One, I knew who he would pick. And two, I knew that even if he didn’t pick me, he would think about what it would’ve been like.

“Besides, I love him, I wasn’t going to make his dream harder by being a part of his life.” You shrugged, then realized how much you had just talked.

Mina, Uraraka, Izuku, Kyouka, and Eiji were crying, Shouto was giving you an undetermined look, and for once, Bakugou was silent.

You also realized how much you had given away with your story.

“Guys, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you sad!” you said, waving your hands. “Why are you guys crying?”

Izuku launched himself at you, wrapping you in a hug. “Yo-You aren’t unlovable (Y/F/N)! Wh-Why would yo-you ever think-think that?” he sobbed.

“I mean, am I wrong? Have you guys seen me? I’m not exactly soulmate material.”

“Shut up!” Bakugou shouted, standing suddenly.

You looked up at him, curling around Izuku on instinct. You knew they didn’t have the best history, and while you trusted Bakugou not to hurt him under normal circumstances, he seemed pretty pissed.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” he yelled, pulling you up by the back of your shirt, making Izuku drop to the ground.

“Bakugou, calm down,” Eiji tried, also standing.

“I don’t get what you’re asking me,” you admitted as he set you down on your feet, smoothing out your shirt.

“Why the fuck are you so hard on yourself you idiot?”

“Because everyone else is too nice to tell me what I’m doing wrong. I have to be hard on myself because if I’m not, then no one will be.”

You stared into his crimson eyes, as they stared back into your own (Y/E/C) eyes. It was a battle of wills.

“I’m fine with who I am, I know who I am, not many people can say that. I know that my soulmate is happy, and I know that no matter what happens, I’m not ending his life.”

Then a question popped into your head.

“Why the fuck do you even care, Bakugou? We’re not even friends.”

“(Y/F/N), who told you that you and Bakugou weren’t friends?” Denki asked, standing up.

“I mean, I thought it was obvious,” you admitted, not breaking eye contact. He had beautiful eyes, they were the first thing you had noticed about him other than his shitty attitude.

He continued to stare you down, almost like he was searching your eyes for something.

“I can feel the sexual tension,” Shouto muttered, and Bakugou flushed.

“What the fuck did you just say you bastard? I have a fucking girlfriend,” Bakugou snarled, breaking the eye contact to turn to Shouto, who looked as stoic as ever.

You rolled your eyes, that small pang of pain deep in your stomach throbbing as you turned away from him.

Soon that would fade too, you told yourself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The festival was coming up again, and you were really looking forward to it. Mina was teaching you how to dance, Kyouka was coming up with new lyrics, and taking song suggestions.

On cleaning day you agreed to do a lot of the work so the others could do their thing.

“Try to tear us apart, but know that we’ll wear our scars,” you sang, throwing the trash outside. “Excuses, excuses that’s all that I hear, all that I see when I look in the mirror, I can’t escape all these thoughts in my head, they’re waiting to haunt me night after night, I feel it in my bones, and everything I know, it’s underneath my skin and it won’t let go-”

You stopped when you saw most of the class standing by the door, staring at you.

“H-How long have you guys been standing there?” you asked, cheeks heating as they stared at you.

“Hey, (Y/F/N), can I ask you something?” Kyouka asked.

“Shoot,” you muttered.

“Do you wanna be lead vocals?” Kyouka inquired.

“I don’t wanna take your spot though!” you told her, waving your hands.

“What’s that song, (Y/F/N)?” she replied.

“Um, Scars, by I Prevail. Why?”

“I love that song!” she cried, taking your hands in yours. “Will you do it? Please?”

“I mean, do you really want me to?” you inquired, watching her face.

“Yes!” the entire class shouted, making you jump back.

“I-I guess it wouldn’t be too much,” you agreed, fidgeting with your fingers. Singing wasn’t something you normally did in front of other people. It was the one small escape that you had been able to hold onto after you all had to move into the dorms.

Not many people even knew you could sing, you did it alone in your room.

“How well do you know that song?” Kyouka asked you as you walked back into the school dorms.

“Like the back of my hand,” you admitted. “I’ve been listening to it since I was twelve.”

“So if we randomly played the song you would be able to sing to it? Even the vocal changes?”

“Without a doubt, I was going to enter a talent show, but I chickened out because I sounded terrible. I’m surprised you guys liked it.”

“I don’t like to agree with Bakugou on much, but I agree with him on the fact that you’re too hard on yourself,” Shouto said, looking at you.

“Yeah (Y/F/N), you sounded amazing! How did you keep that from us?” Izuku asked, making you smile.

“I mean, I never thought I was good, but I hum sometimes,” you said, heading to the kitchen to finish up the dishes.

“Well, feel free to sing around the dorms, you sound really good!” Denki shouted.

“Thanks Denks,” you replied.

And so it went, you sang Scars around the dorms until everyone knew the lyrics, which was good for the backup singers.

You even caught Bakugou humming it to himself on the way to class one day. Though he was one of the back up singers since he could manipulate his voice the right way, so it was expected.

You had known Bakugou was your soulmate during the U.A entrance exams, he’d had his tattoo uncovered for the world to see, and you had known who he was immediately upon seeing it.

But while you had been working up the courage to tell him, you had seen what he was like.

He was everything you weren’t, and you had made your decision then and there that you weren’t going to tell him what you were.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Momo, I have a small request,” you admitted to her. “The straps on this are a little tight, and I think it would look better without them.”

“Oh, you’re right! I’ll have that fixed in a jiffy!” she assured you, taking the dress you were going to wear for the performance.

You didn’t tend to like strapless dresses, you thought that they were a little sketchy, but you wanted to look good, and the straps cut into your skin something fierce.

Momo had it finished the day of the performance, and you barely had time to make sure it fit before it was your turn to perform.

When the lights came on they blinded you, but then the music started and you smiled, stepping out onto stage.

Your voice started out softly as you say the first line, “Try to tear us apart, but know that we'll wear our scars.”

You let the music flow through your body, letting the beat vibrate through your blood as the routine made your body move on instinct.

Bakugou moved with you, and you two fell into a similar routine as you moved around the stage, dodging the people on instruments, just like the practice runs.

“Excuses, excuses are all that I hear All I can see when I look in the mirror I can't escape all these thoughts in my mind They're waiting to haunt me night after night I feel it in my bones, and everything I know It's underneath my skin, and it won't let go They know me all too well, but only time will tell If this is who I am, do I know myself?”

For the first time since the entrance exams, you forgot that Bakugou wasn’t yours. You forgot that were doomed to be alone for the rest of your life.

“Don't forget your life's your own, don't ever let it go.”

You thought of the people in your class that were making their life theirs. Of Shouto, who had never really known his family. Of Izuku, who was doing this because of him mom. Of Uraraka, who was trying to repay her parents. You let the emotions guide your voice through the lyrics.

“In the heat of the moment when fear has you frozen You're crashing and burning when life's at its coldest Don't fall too far from who you are They can cut us, but we'll wear our scars.”

You thought of all the scars you had seen. Izuku’s from saving people and proving himself. Of Shouto, who would never forget how or why he had his. Of the new scars on you from training and pushing yourself. Of the mental scars that Bakugou would carry.

“In the heat of the moment when fear has you frozen You're crashing and burning when life's at its coldest Don't fall too far from who you are Try to tear us apart, but know that we'll wear our scars Try to tear us apart, but know that we'll wear our scars, wear our scars.”

You thought of how people were slowly accepting their scars. How Izuku looked at his and saw the saved lives, the leaps and bounds of progress he had made. Of Shouto, who was proving that he wasn’t his father. Of Bakugou, who was learning that he couldn’t keep being an ass. And what did you think when you looked at your scars?

“Denial, denial is all that I've known Holding me hostage, I'm never alone Fighting for air, I'll fight to survive My soul's not for sale, I won't pay the price I feel it in my bones, and everything I know It's underneath my skin, but I won't let go.”

You had seen a lot of heroes that forgot what it was to be a hero. You had promised yourself that you weren’t going to be one of them. You had promised everyone you had saved that you were going to be a hero they could be proud of.

“Don't forget your life's your own, don't ever let it go.”

You were going to cling to your life, even if your soulmate was in love with someone else. You may not have had a soulmate that wanted you back, but maybe you could be friends. You could be okay with that.

“In the heat of the moment when fear has you frozen You're crashing and burning when life's at its coldest Don't fall too far from who you are They can cut us, but we'll wear our scars.”

You knew who you were. You knew what you were going to be. Now the only thing you had to do was prove that you were serious about it.

“In the heat of the moment when fear has you frozen You're crashing and burning when life's at its coldest Don't fall too far from who you are Try to tear us apart, but know that we'll wear our scars.”

Scars weren’t something to be ashamed of. Stretch marks showed growth, they told the story from childhood to adulthood, of changes made. Pregnancy stretch marks showed growth of a child, the purest thing in the world, untainted by society. Scars showed where you had been, they told your story.

“You can cut us up, but we will survive You had your chance, now it's our time to stand up and rise We will survive Right now, the tables turn We're gonna scream it out loud and let our voices be heard.”

You were part of a new generation of heroes, heroes who knew what it meant to be a hero. They knew how to learn from the mistakes of others. They knew what they were risking. They what they wanted to do.

“In the heat of the moment when fear has you frozen You're crashing and burning when life's at its coldest Don't fall too far from who you are They can cut us, but we'll wear our scars.”

You and Bakugou were synced as the song started to end, only a few verses left. Your time with him was ending, and you let your voice be dictated by the emotions singing through your very being.

“In the heat of the moment when fear has you frozen You're crashing and burning when life's at its coldest Don't fall too far from who you are Try to tear us apart, but know that we'll wear our scars.”

His eyes met yours as the final verse started, and you saw yourself reflected in his eyes, a version of yourself that you had only dreamed of. You saw the sweat formed from moving around each other so much. You saw the glow from the lights, the makeup, the joy of being on stage, of doing something you loved. You wonder if he had always looked at you like that, or if you’re emotions were just high because of what you were doing.

“I feel it in my bones, and everything I know I feel it in my bones, I feel it, I feel it I feel it in my heart when it all turns to dark Try to tear us apart, but know that we'll wear our scars.”

There was a moment of silence as the echo died, when the last note faded, where it was just you and the others, the joy of accomplishment before the crowd erupted into a shout of happiness.

“Thank you all for coming!” you shouted into the mic, over the noise of the crowd, stepping away from Bakugou and the others, bowing.

Someone tossed a rose up to you and you smiled, taking it before backing up to the others, helping them clear the stage so the next act could take over.

“So, (Y/F/N), when were you going to tell us that Bakugou was your soulmate?” Eiji asked.

“What are you talking about?”

“That black mark on your back is a Soul Mark, and it’s the same as Kacchan’s,” Izuku said.

“What? It’s black? You’re sure?” you asked, running to the nearest mirror.

“Of course it’s black,” Denki said. “Why wouldn’t it be?”

“Because the last time I looked at it two weeks ago, it looked like this,” you replied, pulling up a photo of it on your phone. “It shouldn’t look like this.”

The pale gray made everyone wince and flinch towards their respective soulmates.

“It shouldn’t look like this,” you repeated, trying to get a good look at it.

“You didn’t tell me.”

You flinched as you caught a glimpse of Bakugou in the mirror.

“I already told my story,” you told him, turning away from the mirror to look at him.

There was some emotion on his face that you had never seen before.

“Katsuki!” his girlfriend cried, throwing herself into his arms.

You backed away, hoping to be able to get away from the awkward situation, but then he spoke up.

“You didn’t tell me our Soul Marks matched!” he yelled, practically tossing his girlfriend to the side.

“What?” she snapped, looking bewildered.

“It’s nothing,” you assured her, holding your hands up.

“It sounds like you’re trying to steal my soulmate,” she snarled.

“I’m not. If I was I would’ve told him the moment I found out we were soulmates. He’s happy with you,” you told her with a shrug, turning away.

“You aren’t going anywhere until you talk to me,” Bakugou shouted, running to latch onto your wrist.

“Bakugou, let me go. I’m not going to be a homewrecker. I’m not making you miserable.”

“I’m already miserable,” he snapped, then glanced back at his girlfriend.

“Oh shit,” someone muttered.

“You know what?” you snapped. “Fine, fine, if you wanna have this conversation now, whatever. But I’m moving this somewhere private.”

You ripped your wrist out of his grip, storming back to the dorms.

“Will someone explain why this nobody is trying to steal my man?” his girlfriend asked, her eyes blazing.

“I’m not trying to steal your man,” you told her. “He just saw the mark and freaked out about it.”

“I ‘freaked out about it’ because you’re my soulmate and you never told me!” he shouted.

“But Katsuki, I’m the one with the mark,” his girlfriend protested, positioning herself between him and you. “Are you sure hers isn’t a fake? She might be trying to trick you.”

“It’s the real thing, this is what it looked like a few weeks ago,” you said, showing her the photo.

“Pity then.”

“Do you want to touch it? Call in a fucking expert?” you snapped, loosing your patience with her.

“Shut up,” Bakugou snarled to her, then turned to you. “Explain this to me, (Y/F/N), because I can’t figure it out.”

As you re-explained everything, his girlfriend scoffed, rolling her eyes.

She clearly didn’t buy it.

“Likely sob story,” she said, baring her teeth at you. “I’m the only one that’s worthy of Katsuki. And he’s the only one worthy of me. You’re nobody.”

“I know that I’m nobody,” you snapped at her, wincing at your own tone of voice. “That’s why I never planned on telling him!”

“Never?” Bakugou asked, voice quieter than you had ever heard it.

“Never,” you repeated.

The joy from earlier was gone, replaced only by stress, a bone deep tired, and the deep ache in your stomach as you stood there.

“I deserve to have the future number one hero!” his girlfriend yelled, some inner leash she had kept on herself snapping. “I deserve to have him all to myself! The whole reason I stole your mark in the first place was to have the best! If he questions everything this easily then I deserve better!”

You flinched as she took those few steps to slap you, your head rearing back in shock.

“What do you mean you stole my mark?” you asked, hand cupping your cheek.

“I was behind you at the entrance exams,” she snarled, a wild gleam in her eyes. “I could see the mark peeking out of your costume and figured out who Katsuki was to you. So I stole your mark.”

“How? Soul Marks are one of a kind, unique to your soulmate,” you reminded her.

“It’s my quirk,” she snapped, like it should’ve been obvious.

“Her quirk is a lot like Toga’s,” Bakugou explained, moving to step between the two of you. “She can copy an appearance if she touches the original person.”

You stared at the girl in front of you. She had seemed so sincere when you had first met her, so . . . perfect.

“I think it’s time you left,” Hitoshi said, appearing behind her.

“What did you say to me?” she asked.

“I think it’s time you left.”

“Villain,” she hissed.

“Hey, you can’t talk to him like that. He’s more of a hero than you’ll ever be,” you shouted, getting in her face, your cheek still stinging from where she had hit you.

“What did you call me?” Hitoshi asked.

“A vil-” 

Her voice died as she was brought under his control.

“Go to Aizawa, explain in detail what you did to both Bakugou and (Y/F/N), and tell the truth. Don’t touch either of them ever again,” he ordered, sending her away.

“Are you guys okay?” Denki asked, running over with the others.

“I’m sorry,” you whispered, wrapping your arms around yourself. “I’m so sorry.”

Before anyone could get to you, you were inside the building, running for your room.

Tonight was supposed to be fun. It was supposed to be something everyone enjoyed together.

You ignored the calls of your name, ignored the footsteps of the person following you.

You slammed your door, unzipping the dress, throwing as far away from yourself as you could, throwing on a the biggest shirt you had, then the biggest hoodie. You felt the need to cover everything.

For the first time in your life, you wanted to skin the mark off your shoulder blade. You wanted to take a knife and rip the mark off.

“(Y/F/N), can we come in?” Izuku asked, tapping on your door lightly.

“No,” you called, curling up on your bed, tears streaming down your face.

“(Y/F/N), are you okay?” Shouto inquired.

“No.”

You headed for the only mirror in your room, washing the makeup off.

“Go away guys!” you yelled when someone else knocked on your door. “I’m not okay and I just need to be alone.”

“I need to talk to you,” Bakugou said, barely loud enough for you to hear him.

“Why? I’m sorry I pretty much ruined your relationship, but you were the one that wanted to talk to me about it!”

“Please, just let me in,” he begged.

You sighed, not bothering to stop the tears as you opened your door.

“I’m sorry she hit you,” he murmured, touching your face lightly. “I didn’t know she was like that.”

“It’s not your fault. I should’ve made sure the mark was actually gone before I made changes to the dress.”

“You were really never going to tell me?”

He was different. He had changed since your first year, but this was different than even second year Bakugou.

He seemed hurt by the fact that you weren’t going to tell him. He seemed uncomfortable.

“Look, we’re soulmates? So what? You can walk away right now Bakugou and I won’t say anything. I . . . I don’t want to make you miserable. I just . . . if you’re happy, that’s good enough for me.”

“What if you make me happy?” he asked.

“I wouldn’t make-”

“You do make me happy,” he interrupted. “Do you think that . . . do you think it’s possible for me to make you happy?”

“I don’t know,” you admitted. “I spent so long avoiding you that I just assumed I would make you feel frustrated.”

“Frustrated?”

“Does crestfallen work better? Depressed? Malcontent perhaps.”

“I never felt anything with her,” he blurted. “I thought that might change with time but . . . she never made me laugh. My mother hated her from the minute I brought her home. I think my mom would like you.”

This was dangerous ground.

No. This was honesty.

“Your mom is important to you, isn’t she?” you asked, sitting on your bed, scooting back until your back hit the headboard. You gestured for him to sit with you, and he sat at the end of the bed, leaning against the wall.

He nodded, glancing at you.

You sighed, running your fingers through your hair.

“Alright, how about this?” you started. “Next time we get a chance, you take me to meet your parents and if they like me we give this a shot. If not, we walk away, no hard feelings.”

He nodded again, watching you.

“Alright.”

“So you were really never gonna tell me.”

“Bakugou!”

[currentfandomkick]

Selina Steals a Bug from Batman to get her Kitten.

blame this post here for this thing's inspiration, and a friend for encouraging this.

--

             Selina paused when she saw ‘the lost Wayne’ news. She knew Bruce didn’t adopt another kid and forget to tell her—Dick kept her up-to-date on his new siblings and sent her pictures. No, her boyfriend Bruce Wayne would certainly not hide a new Wayne from her.

             He absolutely would forget to introduce her to a new family friend or potential bat. She was still upset about how long it took him to admit that little Stephanie had been working with his son for months and he hadn’t thought to invite the girl over for a meal or two when Selina was over. It wasn’t like she didn’t already know Tim was dating another vigilante… it was that one of her not-technically-my-sons was not introducing her to someone who had saved his life multiple times and who happened to be another Gotham vigilante and another addition to the batfam.

             Selina is their unofficial mother after all, she has rights. Any possible members of their little bat family, and she must assess them. at the very least, teach them more than just Bruce’s habits. The man was horrendous at showing his actual emotions, and the kids would need a counter example to that—herself obviously.

             So imagine Selina’s surprise when she decided to surprise her boyfriend and his children with a visit, only to find a young teen drinking out of Tim’s favorite mug, wearing one of Dick’s more infamous Nightwing hoodie’s, and looking at one of Damian’s katana’s carefully.

             “Who are you?” Selina had a feeling this was the latest “not a Wayne” and she would have to ensure her bats were safe from a fellow thief… again.

             The teen looked up, almost startled by her appearance and nearly dropping the katana.

             Selina raised an eyebrow.

             The teen flushed. “Marinette.”

             “And what,” Selina strolled over to the table and sat on its edge. “Exactly are you doing with all of these?”

             The girl was smart enough to look a bit embarrassed, she'd give her that much. Not without shame. Good.

             “Well, uh, kind of complicated, but, uh, the boys said that I couldn’t manage to grab their favorite things.”

             Selina looked the girl over. She was probably the new one to the group, the spotted French girl Jagged Stone mentioned in a few of his songs. She was young, and clearly good at getting what she wanted.

             “Where’s Jason’s?”

             “Uh, how did you…”

             “Answer the question.”

             “… behind the gardener’s shed. He really needs to stop leaving his keys in easy access pockets.”

             Selina nodded, looking over the girl. She was twisting a familiar looking ring… wasn’t that one of the Wayne family rings!?

             “How did you get that off Bruce?” Selina feigned nonchalance.  

             “… don’t judge me.”

             “Too late. Talk.”

             “Accidentally, I swear, just, he left the safe open and mid-terms stress and then…” the girl gestured helplessly.

             Selina could appreciate the honesty. She could also appreciate that the girl managed to get something off each boy.

             But now came the real test.

             “Kleptomaniac kind?”

             The girl flushed harder. “Yeah… I was going to return it, eventually… I think.”

             Selina looked over the girl once more, suddenly seeing an opportunity she should have taken back when she first saw Tim stalking her bats way back when. She could use her own mini.

             “How do you feel about cats?”

             Marinette shifted gears at that. “Real, memes, or Chat Noir?” Selina could feel there was a story there, one for another time. “If we’re talking real, they’re amazing, the memes are fun and Chat is…” the girl shook her head. “Complicated. And in London apparently, so he can’t judge me for my poor life choices.”

             Oh, Selina likes this one. “I’m guessing you’re Brucie’s latest pet project?”

             Marinette scrunched up her face at that. “I’m here to force a sense of fashion on this family if it kills me.”

             Selina smiled at that. “Oh, I do believe we’re going to get along wonderfully.” She extended her hand. “I go by Catwoman in the field.”

             Marinette paused for a moment before taking the extended hand with a grin of her own. “Ladybug—though we might want to go with something else for this... how do you feel about panjas bracelets?”

             Selina’s grin grew. “Oh, we’re going to get along perfectly.”

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

             In the Batcave there was a meeting being held by a distressed Nightwing, impatiently waiting for the others to finish arriving.

             “Batgirl?”

             “She’s not on tonight,” Red Robin answered, quietly sipping his espresso in one of his lesser mugs. It seems like his bean got to his favorite earlier…

             “Black Bat?” Nightwing asked Batman.

             “She’s running with the Birds of Prey tonight—Oracle’s idea.”

             Nightwing seemed to accept this. “I’ll just forward them the power point.”

             Red Robin groaned. “Another one?”

             Red Hood shook his head. “Blame B. He got it in Dickie’s head that this is how you explain things to people. Bullet points.”

             “No names in the field,” Robin snapped.

             “No names in the field,” Red Hood mocked under his breath.

             Robin glared at him for that.

             “It’s a very effective method.” Batman stated defensively.

             “Yeah, on the League,” Red Robin grumbled into his coffee. The Batfam is full of (not really) professional detectives—they are capable of understanding without the bullet points of doom. Mostly.

             “Then I’ll just get started, Agent A, Lights!”

             The batcave dimmed to show only the projection of a power point title slide ‘Marinette Cannot Meet Selina, Ever.’

             “What the hell is this?” whispered Red Hood.

             “I allowed you to delay patrol, for this?” Batman sighed.

             “Silence! Nightwing is speaking.”

             “Thank you Robin, now, Marinette is under no circumstances to meet Selina.”

             “Why doesn’t he have to use codenames?” Red Hood wondered aloud. Only to be kicked by an aggressive Robin. “Ow! What the hell demon spawn!”

             “Silence,” Robin hissed.

             “As I Was Saying,” Nightwing loudly began. “Marinette is not allowed to meet Selina. It would be a disaster for us all.”

             “Its not she’d adopt her like a certain someone is trying to,” Red Hood stated, pointedly ignoring Robin’s attempts to silence him with threats of violence.

             Nightwing changed the slide with a sigh. “Exhibit A: Marinette enjoys shiny things, and so does Selina.”

             The slide showed two pictures, one of Marinette in various miraculous while holding one of Damian’s daggers, and the other of Selina with a very large gemstone necklace.

“Exhibit B, they are both prone to theft.”

             The next slide showed Catwoman stealing a necklace from a museum, and Marinette in Batman’s cape while using Tim’s phone and wearing one of Jason’s leather jackets, Titus laying at her feet.

             “Marinette does not stop at shiny things, as we can expect of Selina,” Robin explained.

             “You’re just mad Pixie managed to get past your security.”

             Robin glared at Red Hood.

             “That doesn’t explain why bean shouldn’t meet Selina,” Red Robin said. “Hm, maybe I should change the bean blend again? not getting enough of a buzz.”

             Nightwing sighed, changing the slide again. “If the two meet, we lose all we hold dear.”

             This time the slide showed a photoshopped Marinette and Selina sitting on a pile of miscellaneous objects.

             Batman sighed, deciding his eldest was just being overdramatic again.

             “Mari will learn new tricks from Selina.” Nightwing stated slowly. “Tag team with Selina, maybe even be the Robin to her Batman.” That got the room’s attention, albeit not the kind Nightwing wanted. “It would not just be Mari’s minor thefts anymore.”

             Red Robin rolled his eyes while Red Hood snorted a “yeah right.”

             Robin looked nervously as Nightwing finished his powerpoint.

             “Mari would rule Gotham and no one, not even us, would be able to stop her.”

             Batman decided that they wasted enough time on Nightwing’s bout of paranoia. “I highly doubt Selina would corrupt her.”

             At that moment a beaming stripped heroine walked in, wearing a new string of necklaces, with Catwoman at her side with an amused look of her own.

             “How dare you try to hide a kitten from me.”

             Nightwing threw his hands up. “I told you!”

             Batman stared while Robin began checking their systems… no alarms had gone off anywhere and they all knew the pair had stolen the necklaces that Marinette was sporting.

             Nightwing was right.  

             “Holy shit is this really happening?” Red Robin half-whispered, looking back and forth between the pair and a shocked Batman. “Is Catmom pulling a Batdad?”

             Catwoman flashed a smile. “Since someone wouldn’t let me take any birdies, I decided to take a kitten of my own.”

             “Why didn’t you tell me I could have more moms here!” Marinette exclaimed.

             At the groups growing look of horror, Catwoman’s grin grew. “Oh, I forgot to mention, Harley and Ivy are back. They want joint custody. She’s the Marigold Harley’s been tweeting about.”

---

first thing i do after getting real internet back plus have the time to think, and its write and post this. hope you all enjoyed!

[volleychumps]

Melodies. -Yamaguchi Tadashi-

 One of the works I’ve wanted to do of my own accord, I promise I’ll be back to answering requests soon haha! Please enjoy this fic of my favorite freckled server, he needs all the love<3 Turns into kind of a song fic at the end! 

Set in a college AU-  (warnings: mild swearing)

WordCount: 2766

the one in which the shy freckled boy discovers a playlist with his name as the title on his best friend’s phone

The first day of college calculus had started off absolutely horrendous. 

Your anxiety had continued bubbling up immensely as you laid wide awake in your bed the night before, the fearful result being you waking up a good six minutes after you were supposed to be in class, freshly prepared and showered with a caffienated drink in hand. 

Only you weren’t. 

So that’s how you stumbled into class a solid fifteen minutes late, hair thrown up in some sort of messy knot accompanied by a simple outfit of leggings (you slept in those), and a hoodie that was much too massive for your figure. To make matters worse, along with the pointed stare from your professor and the other near a hundred, most of the seats seemed to be filled at full glance. You withold the urge to tug at your hair and kick the wall. Your worst expectations had become a reality. 

“Nice of you to join us, Miss...L/N, is it? You’re the only one I wasn’t able to call out from the roster, and I usually do not take attendance. It’s the first day of the semester, in case you forgot. “ 

You suck air through your teeth before nodding once, ignoring the searing heat on your cheeks as a few chuckles chorused through the large group of students. 

“Take your seat. And don’t bother coming next time at all if you’re going to interrupt my lecture.” 

You nod once again before awkwardly walking up the steps, feeling all eyes on you as you willed yourself to get through the nightmarish situation. So he was one of those.

 The seats were full, to your dismay, and you felt heat rise to your eyes as you wished the professor would continue teaching, to get the attention off of you. 

“When you’re ready, Miss L/N.” 

Every cell in your body urged you to get out of there until by some stroke of luck, you saw movement in the scarily still classroom. A freckled boy had been waving his hand just high enough for you to see it, pointing downwards a bit shyly to signal the seat next to him was free. 

A rush of relief washes over you as you make a beeline over, plopping down in the offered shared desk as the professor finally begins to speak again. You had been saved, your savior moving his bag over some more to give you more room. 

“I promise I don’t usually look like this.” You whisper, getting your notebook and materials out. “But thank you sooo much, you don’t even know how close I was to crying.” 

“D-Don’t mention it.” The freckled boy whispers back, fiddling with his pen as you realized how shy he seemed, knowing that almost everyone on the first day of semester wanted friends, the shy ones being too scared to take the first step. Your eyes brightened at his phone screen, seeing a familiar song light it up before nudging him by the shoulder, your professor’s words of a syllabus becoming background noise as he looks towards you a second time, eyes kind in case you needed anything. 

“A man with taste, I see.” You grin, and the dark haired boy blushes before brushing some of his hair out of his face. 

“You listen to lovelytheband?” 

“Yamaguchi. L/N.” You both straighten immediately, ‘Yamaguchi’ turning a darker shade of red as he stands at attention, bowing immediately as you sat awkwardly next to his aplogetic figure. The professor sends you a scolding look as you shrink down in your seat, hating college already as he resumes class once again, figuring you had been placed on the bottom of his spectrum of students. 

However, you take just one more chance, scribbling on the corner of the now embarrassed boy’s syllabus with a small, secretive smile as the red ink appears on paper. 

Yamaguchi, was it?

Yamaguchi’s lips quirk up the slightest bit at the childish antic of writing notes to each other before blue ink touches below your note, red fading from his cheeks and taking on a pink hue. 

Yes. L/N-san?

All previous embarrassment forgotten, you figure all the awful events leading up to meeting your first friend had been worth it. 

Call me Y/N. 

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

“Tadashi, I don’t want to go! He’s hated me since day one, and you know it.” 

“Y/N, I already bought your coffee, don’t waste it please.” Yamaguchi sighs, shrugging his own bag off before placing it on your bed, taking a seat on the edge of it as you talk to him through your bathroom door. The first year of college seemed to whizz by in a flash, most memories being with the awkward, freckled kid that had soon become your closest friend seeing as you had been each other’s first.

“You’ve made it through the entirety of the semester, right? You’re going to pass this final.” 

“Shut up, you’re smart, you don’t get an opinion!” You pout, emerging from your bathroom in jeans and a bra as Yamaguchi reddens, turning immediately to face the wall respectfully as you withold a giggle, knowing Yamaguchi had seen a lot more than that after helping you back to your dorm after nights of getting wasted at your high school friend’s fraternity house. Bokuto and Kuroo pretty much got shit-faced every weekend. 

“We studied-” 

“You studied, Tadashi. I poked the seeds out of strawberries with a toothpick half the time.” You correct, braiding your hair back when fully dressed. “You can look now, Mr. Purity, I won’t corrupt you.”

Yamaguchi ruffles your hair, bending slightly to match your height as he stands from your bed, a key to your dorm dangling from his bike keys. “You’ve got this, alright? Don’t doubt yourself, you were at least doing math when counting the seeds-” 

You snatch your coffee as Yamaguchi chuckles, following you out of your dorm as you ensure the halls are mostly empty, not needing your RA to scold you for bringing Yamaguchi in here again, even after seeing he was harmless. Yamaguchi takes your phone and keys, your hands full from the beverage and your bag as you meet your other two friends in the morning sun. 

“Oh look. The fuckbuddies who apparently don’t fuck are here.” 

“Well hello to you too, Tsukishima.”

 You blink, unfazed as Yamaguchi blushes at the cynical blonde’s crude language, Sugawara swatting the blonde’s back as Tsukishima simply shrugs in reply. 

“Are we meeting up with Kuroo and the others after finals are over?” You grin excitedly as Suga clicks his tongue, flicking your forehead in a parental like way as you pout, Yamaguchi chuckling from alongside you. 

“How about we take our Calculus final first, and then you can focus on the party.” 

“Yes, mother of mine.” 

You dodge the next flick to the forehead as Yamaguchi puts a single hand on your shoulder, reading something on his phone as his eyes suddenly widen. “Crap! Last minute turn of events, we’re getting put into two separate rooms according to our last names! Y/N, you and Suga’s room is farther out!”

Suga groans, tugging your forearm along as you share in that groan. “So we have what, eight minutes to get somewhere all the way across campus?” 

“If we run, we’ll make it!” You exclaim, beginning to drag Suga with you as you break into a run, offering Yamaguchi a bright smile before doing so and promptly flicking Tsukishima off, who responds in the same fashion without missing a beat. 

“Wait, Y/N your phone-!” 

“Keep it! Get it back to me after I fail this test! Love you Tadashi!” 

“Y-Yeah, l-love you too!” 

“Have fun failing!” 

“I took notes on how to do it from you, Kei, don’t worry!” 

Tsukishima rolls his eyes as yours and Suga’s figures fade into the distance, your coffee splashing within it’s cup as Suga laughed at how easily tired you seemed. Golden brown eyes examine his friend, noting how Yamaguchi had a far off look in his eyes as your laughter died down in volume the further you got, soft smile set on his lips that was almost sad. 

“If you like her, just tell her.” Tsukishima had continued walking casually as Yamaguchi chokes on air at the sudden heavy words hurled in his direction. 

“H-Huh?” 

“Don’t even bother trying to hide it. All of us guessed it, and you just confirmed it with that reaction.” Tsukishima shrugs as Yamaguchi races to his side, heart beating in his ears as his shoulders seemed to sink in defeat, almost as if he had been fighting a losing battle yet still wanted to be on the frontlines. 

“Y/N’s way too good for me.” Yamaguchi finally said as the pair lucky enough to walk the normal distance continued their stroll to class. “I’m happy just...being close to her. I don’t need anything more.” 

“Hm. Oh really?” The blonde yawns, carelessness in his tone. “Even if someone else wants to be even closer?” 

Tsukishima smirks a little at the lack of reply as the exam building comes into view before patting Yamaguchi once on the back, done stirring up the sensitive boy’s emotions.

“Definitely not the right time to get your head stuck with that dumbass. You coming?” 

“Y-Yeah, just let me turn off my phone-” 

“Better hurry up.” 

Tsukishima’s continued steps sounded in Yamaguchi’s ears as he hurriedly turned on and swiped open his phone, heart dropping when realizing he had accidentally grabbed yours. Going to turn it off after seeing it open to your music application, something else catches his eye. 

Playlists: 

Issa Vibe

At least try to study, dumb hoe

Shit Kuroo wants me to listen to (don’t) 

Yamaguchi Tadashi:)

Red spread across freckled cheeks before he finds himself sending the playlist to himself, deleting the message afterwards as if he was in a trance before turning off your phone, wanting nothing more than to sit back and listen to the music inside the playlist named after him. Guilt in his chest, he steps into the building, head spinning with something that was definitely not calculus.

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

“Bokutoooo!!” 

“Y/N!” 

“Wow, well fuck me then I guess.” 

You laugh out loud as you enter the fraternity house Bokuto and Kuroo resided in for the end of semester party, throwing yourself into your high school friend’s arms after not seeing Bokuto for awhile. Kuroo scoffs when you go to hug him next, pretending not to enjoy it as he scolds you for how short your skirt is. 

“Where’s Tsukki and Yama?” You question over the music as Bokuto grins, jutting a thumb backwards where Daichi and Suga were playing an intense game of beer pong against Tsukishima and Akaashi.

“I saw your freckled pet go upstairs earlier.” Kuroo grins as you feel a twinge in your chest. 

“Like with a girl?” 

“Have you met the kid? No way, he said something about wanting to lie down and he’s in Kenma’s room right now.”

You nod your head thanks, suddenly serious as Bokuto whoops childishly, causing you to roll your eyes as Suga sends you a questioning, overprotective stare on why you were going up the stairs of a frat house. You mouth Yamaguchi, before waving back to Daichi with a bright grin. 

“Go get your boy, Y/N!” 

“Akaashi, please scold him-” 

“On it. Kenma’s room is on the left by the way.” 

The many doors were confusing, accidentally opening one to Oikawa Tooru’s (who coaxed you to come in, what a tool), one to Terushima Yuuji’s (same thing, god you hated frat houses), and finally to Kenma’s, one of the few normal ones living in the house mainly because of Kuroo. You had opened the door right as Kenma had been planning to leave, and he nods to you once before glancing behind him to your best friend’s figure laying on his bed on his back, eyes closed with a pair of earbuds in. 

“He asked to borrow a pair of headphones and he’s been like that for awhile. Those are sound-cancelling, so do with that information what you will.” 

You pout, knowing Kuroo probably told Kenma about how much of a crackhead you were sometimes. “Aw, where’s the faith?” 

“Apparently none, with you.” Kenma cracks a small smile in response before leaving the room, turning back once to leave some parting words.  

“If you’re planning on doing anything, do it in Kuroo’s room, not mine.” 

Before you can deny that suggestion, Kenma’s already closing the door behind him as you groan and roll your eyes, wondering why everyone seemed to have the two of you figured out when in reality,

 you were just friends-

nothing more. 

You turn your attention to your best friend, careful not to make any sudden noise before realizing Yamaguchi was intensely concentrated on what he was listening to. Your eyes trace over his features, from the hands that helped you at your call, to the spread of the even freckles that were reddened half the time, and even to the length of his eyelashes, wanting nothing more than to lay next to him. You stop yourself, shaking your head- 

nothing less.

Just like that first day in class, you tap on the screen to see what music would brighten his phone screen and keep him in such a trance.

The lump forms in your throat before you can stop it, wondering how the hell he suddenly developed a taste for mxmtoon’s Falling for U, remembering how when you showed him that artist, he had claimed it wasn’t for him. 

So...? 

Fearfully, you swipe into his phone to see your off-chance suspicions had been correct as you sit on the edge of the bed hastily, startling Yamaguchi to sit up from his laying position, panicked. He relaxes slightly when seeing you, only to panic again when he sees his brightened phone screen. 

“U-Um, Y/N, I-” 

You stand, eyes downcast as you brush your skirt off, walking towards the door as a fake laugh cuts his stuttered explanations off, heart pounding in your ears. 

“H-Haha! Uh, I didn’t mean to wake you, you just looked so peaceful.” 

“Y-Y/N!” 

Your pace quickens.

“I’ll see you downstairs, okay? They have a really cool cereal dispenser and I want some cereal all of a sudden-” 

“Y/N-!” 

You hear the creak of the bed, signalling he was to his feet as you begin to pull open the door.  

“Hey, how was the exam by the-?” 

“Y/N.” 

You take a shaky breath when Yamaguchi’s arm extends, hand closing the door shut once again as you stand there, noticing the slight tremble of Yamaguchi’s arm before turning, pressing your back against the door as one of the freckled boy’s arms trap you in, proximity so close you can feel each other’s breaths. 

Yamaguchi takes one of the earbuds, putting one in your ear as the lyrics sound in your ears, and you look away, hearing the familiar tune as Yamaguchi takes the other one, slowly as to not startle you.

(IT’S CUTER IF YOU LISTEN TO IT: Falling For U- mxmtoon)

But I can't help it I'm falling for you And I can't quit it 'Cause I'm stuck on you

Your eyes brim with unshed tears before you can stop them, feeling Yamaguchi’s hand cup your cheek gently, droplets falling onto his knuckles.

And it might be pathetic and you might be skeptical But I just want to be with you Please tell me, boy

Fear filled your chest, the secret you tried so desperately hard to keep locked away becoming exposed without your knowledge. You were scared of how the boy you loved would react, how would Yamaguchi look at you after knowing you had kept it a secret for the sake of the friendship you cherished so?

Can you get a clue? Or come through 'cause I just want to be with you

“Tadashi.” You whisper, seeing a whole other person from the shy, freckled boy with the blue ink on your first day of class as Yamaguchi smiles softly, nodding once. 

I'm scared... Of telling you how I feel

“I love you.” 

Maybe It's better If I just try to conceal The truth

“Y/N L/N.” 

For me And for you

“I’m pretty sure I loved you first.”

And then from the close proximity, the distance was closed, a hand slipping into yours tightly as the wetness on your cheeks become unnoticeable, Yamaguchi Tadashi kissing you with a gentless so sweet you could melt. 

[shesclearlya3]

i loved you first. p.2

pairing: Xavier Plympton x Reader

word count: 4,391

warnings: au! in present time, language, a big oops coming

not entirely proof-read. 

*title inspired by joan’s song*

part 1 | part 2 |  part 3 | part 4 | epilogue

One Year Later

"NO ONE, NO ONE, NO ONEEEEEEE, CAN GET IN THE WAY OF WHAT I FEEL FOR YOUUU!"

"YOOOU! YOOOOU!"

You covered your ears as Montana and Brooke screamed sang along to Alicia Keys, while in the kitchen finishing up dinner in their shared apartment. You were recently promoted at work, and they wanted to celebrate with you.

Brooke sniffed, "I miss Ray." she said as she poked at her homemade noodles with a fork.

"It's only been four hours!" Montana interjected, meeting your eyes as the song ended. You smiled softly, taking a long sip from your glass of wine. 

"I know," she said, "He's always gone. I miss him."

"It's too bad the others couldn't join us," Montana said as she stirred something in a pot. "We haven't had the group together in a minute."

You silently bobbed your head as 2006-era Rihanna came on, attempting to keep your mind away from Xavier Plympton.

It's already been a year since you first met his girlfriend, Chloe. You couldn't believe how fast 2019 seemed to go. Now, you were counting down the days you had with him before he moved into his new apartment with her.

When you first heard the news, you assumed he was pulling your leg. You were having a slumber party in the living room, a few drinks in when he accidentally blabbed to you that they were looking for a new place. He admitted he wanted to tell you over dinner the next day, which would probably have gone a little better. Instead, you spent the rest of your Twilight marathon holding back tears and wishing Jacob Black would ride out of town with Chloe on his back and disappear forever. 

But after a good night's sleep, you realized it was selfish of you. You congratulated him and decided that maybe it was time for a fresh start for yourself. Before your promotion, you'd barely make enough to pay the rent all on your own. Brooke and Montana had gladly offered you their empty space, which you wanted to accept. But after your salary doubled, you'd be able to renew your lease for another year.

Even after all this time, it seemed you never really got to know Chloe. She was still friendly, but there was always an uncomfortable aura between the two of you. You had a few things in common with her, which helped make conversation whenever Xavier wasn't around, but it never exceeded that. 

You assumed you were being paranoid when she’d seem to always be looking at you, her eyes observing your every move when you were being your normal self with Xavier. Or how her voice always seemed to become sickly sweet when you’d be minding your own business, hardly remembering they were even there.

"Earth to y/n?"

You glanced up to see Brooke place a large bowl of spaghetti in the middle of the table. Montana was already sitting down, a half-eaten piece of garlic bread in her mouth. 

"I'm sorry, what?" you asked, embarrassed. 

Brooke giggled, "I asked if you were alright. You're quiet tonight - more than usual."

You nodded, helping yourself to her spaghetti as the girls gathered food onto their plates. "I'm sorry. I just keep thinking of Xavier moving out."

The girls nodded understandingly, "You know, the offer is still open," Montana said, smiling at you. Her blonde hair was pinned back, and she looked vibrant as her eyes observed you kindly. "You haven't lived alone in years, it's okay if you're not comfortable with the idea."

You nodded appreciatively, "I know, and thank you both, but... I think it will be good for me," you said, picking up your fork to smash at the bits of lettuce on your plate. The girls watched with amused expressions. "Maybe I'll finally stop moping over him and get myself a boyfriend or a girlfriend, who knows?" you said. 

"I think you should tell him how you feel, y/n," Brooke said simply, drinking her wine as if she was commenting about the weather.

You laughed dryly, "You know Xavier, he'll be pissed I kept it from him this long. We tell each other everything."

"I don't pretend to be an expert on love, y/n, but I say that if he is upset about it, fuck him." Montana shrugged, and you heard the sound of Brooke kicking her under the table. "Ouch! Come on, who wouldn't want to date y/n? He's an idiot for not seeing how she clearly feels about him."

"Xavier is our friend. We all know he can be dense and naive, but it's part of his charm." Brooke defended him before turning her eyes to you. "Why is it that you never made a move?"

The room got quiet as Montana's Spotify playlist came to a stop. You took a few bites of food, pleased that your friends gave you a few seconds to get your thoughts together. That was one of the things you loved about them.

"I guess I was just afraid of ruining what we had," you admitted, smiling a little. "We've known each other since elementary school; all of us, and the only ones who ever progressed into the romantic territory were Brooke and Ray."

Brooke's cheeks flushed, and you knew it wasn't from the wine.

Montana chuckled, a light blush coating her cheeks. "About that..." 

You and Brooke gave her a quizzical look.

"Senior prom..." Montana nodded, "Chet and Me."

Your mouth fell open simultaneously with Brooke, who cackled as Montana blushed a deeper red. You joined in on the laughter as Brooke held her stomach, tears threatening to spill over.

"What is so funny!?" Montana yelled over your laughing, now slightly irritated. "I went with Jimmy Darling, remember!? He got drunk and fell asleep near the food table, so Chet and I decided to skip, and..." she laughed now, refusing to look you in the eye. "It was alright."

"Oh, my God! Why didn't you tell us!?" you said after containing your laughter. Brooke was still giggling, complaining her sides were hurting. 

"It didn't even last long, I think I blocked it out of my memory for a while... but he is packing..." Montana finished.

As you finished up dinner, Brooke refused to delve too deeply into her sex life with Ray. You three finished two bottles of wine and were now lounging in the living room in your pajamas, debating on watching a horror movie or a comedy, and you were already thinking about the snacks. 

After deciding on the original Friday the 13th, the movie was about fifteen minutes in when a message from Xavier flashed on your phone. You glanced at it.

Xavier: Hey, did you leave the front door unlocked?

No, I made sure it was locked like always. Why?

Xavier: I think someone has been in here. Your room is a mess!

You straightened up, glancing towards the girls who were cuddled up, munching on popcorn. Xavier sent you a picture of your room you had just cleaned the night before. A few of your dresser drawers were cracked open, and clothes were peeking through, definitely searched through. Your bed was haphazardly made, and your work clothes were strewn on the floor.

"Oh no," you said, causing Brooke and Montana to look at you.

"What's wrong?" Brooke asked, concerned.

"Xavier thinks someone broke into our apartment!" you said, giving them an alarmed look. 

"Oh shit, let's go!" Montana said, and the three of you wasted no time in driving to your home.

- 

"Well?" Montana demanded as you and Xavier entered the apartment after speaking to the police. 

"They said it looks like someone had a key made. There's no damage to the door, and y/n says it was locked, so..."

"It was, I always double-check. Always..." you said, sitting down in the empty seat next to Brooke, who put a comforting arm around you.

"Who in the hell would have a key made?" Montana asked before she paused. Her eyes looked wild, before finally settling on you and Brooke. You gave her a confused look.

"I don't know. It's not like I have any friends other than you guys." Xavier said sarcastically. The one thing about Xavier is that when he was scared, he was more than likely to be agitated, and it always showed. 

"Did you give one to Chloe?" Montana asked.

"No, I never-..." Xavier paused, throwing a glare in her direction. "What are you implying?"

"I'm not implying anything, I'm just eliminating suspects, is all." Montana defended, quirking an eyebrow at Xavier. "y/n, have you given a key to anybody?"

You shook your head, hoping this didn't cause a fight, "No, I have not."

"See?" Montana offered, looking rather smug, "We're just eliminating, that's all."

Xavier glanced at you, and you nodded encouragingly. He seemed to like that, nodding himself and rubbing the back of his neck. "I'm sorry, I'm kind of freaked out..."

"That's understandable, Xavier. You don't have to apologize." Brooke said, shooting a small glare at Montana, who hid a smirk. "Do you guys want us to stay?"

"Yeah, if they come back, it's four against them," Montana offered, looking delighted at having the chance to kick some ass.

"No, you ladies can go home," Xavier said, before smiling at you. You felt your heart flutter. "We'll be alright."

After bidding the girls goodnight, Xavier plopped onto the empty cushion next to you. He glanced at you longingly, before saying, "I'm sorry if I scared you." 

You shook your head, "Please, do not apologize. If it were me, I would have called the SWAT team."

Xavier laughed, "I don't doubt that! Seriously though, I'm glad neither of us was home."

You nodded, "But it doesn't change the fact that they were in my room looking for something..."

Xavier frowned now, thinking, "I know... We checked every room, nothing else looked out of place."

"You're right, nothing has been stolen..." you said.

You sat there for about an hour, talking through your day. Xavier gave you his full attention, even when you'd hear his phone vibrating in his pocket every few minutes. He ignored it, asking you questions until you yawned loudly, falling into the back of the couch.

"y/n?" he asked, his voice sounding tired.

"Yes?" you whispered.

"I'm glad you're safe."

2.

You almost forgot about the home invasion completely. Your landlord changed the locks, issuing you a new key. Xavier's stress eased as the week passed, and soon he was back to his old self. 

You didn't think much of it when Chloe started acting oddly friendly towards you, smiling at you or asking you questions about what you were doing whenever you saw each other. You assumed it was because she was bored when Xavier's attention was elsewhere.

The group was finally getting back together, and you found yourself having to face going to Chloe's place for the first time. You dressed for the hot weather, while Montana silently got ready beside you. You wondered if she was alright. She usually was bubbly before a night out. Brooke was just now getting back from her shift, occupying the shower in the other bathroom.

"Do you think this dress is too short?" Montana suddenly asked, turning around in her leopard print, knee-length dressed.

"Nope," you said honestly, "It's the perfect length for your height."

"Aww, thank you, y/n," she said, though her tone didn't match her words. 

You nodded, running the brush through your hair one last time. 

"Are you okay?" you finally asked, looking at her through the mirror.

Montana seemed uncomfortable, and you regretted asking. Montana never liked to be pushed for answers, especially if it regarded something personal. However, she looked at you as if she wanted to tell you, so you patiently waited.

"You know the guy I've been messing around with, Trevor?" she asked.

You nodded, "Yes, why?"

She shuffled in front of the mirror, taking her makeup bag and digging through it quickly. She often did this when she was nervous. Montana started applying mascara, using it as a ploy to avoid looking at you. "Well, I kind of had him do some digging on Chloe Smith."

Your eyes widened as Montana nonchalantly applied her makeup. "You what?"

"You can't get mad!" Montana said, switching the wand to the other eye. "I kept thinking about it, and it doesn't make sense. Like you said the other night, we've all been friends for years. You and Xavier never gave us keys to your apartment. Chloe has been around for only a year. She probably feels left out, and since you live with Xavier, it looked like a red flag to me." she said before observing her work. Montana continued, "So I had Trevor ask his brother to look into her, he's a real estate agent and has access to background checks. So he looked up her name, and he didn't find much, but..."

You egged her on, "But?"

"Long story short, she's a bit of a stalker," Montana said brightly, turning to look at you. "There's a restraining order against her for obsessive stalking."

Your mouth fell open at this, wondering why Montana looked so damn cheerful about this. 

"I know what you're thinking. I think it's great news if Xavier finds out who she really is, then he'll break up with her and be with you."

As much as you wanted to rejoice and praise the Lord above, you knew this was wrong. "Montana, that's not right!"

"Why not?" she pressed, looking through her makeup once again. 

"We don't know if she was the one in my room. Anyone could have a key made-."

"Exactly! She's been with Xavier for this long. If the neighbors saw, they'd think nothing of it. Trevor's brother agreed, he said people have gotten into unavailable apartments by falsifying keys and claiming they live there. It's not that hard to do, as scary as that sounds."

"I don't understand what she could have been looking for," you said, frowning. Your heart rate increased, wondering if Montana was possibly right. 

"I don't know, pictures, a diary, a vibrator?" Montana joked until she saw the look on your face. "y/n?"

Your face paled as you quickly left the bathroom, going to your bedroom, and promptly digging through your dresser. You heard Montana, and now Brooke calling your name as you threw clothes all over the place. Your worst fear was confirmed when you realized your journal was gone.

"y/n!?" Montana asked, stopping in the doorway. Brooke was behind her, dressed and ready to go. She looked concerned. 

"My journal is gone," you choked. 

Montana gasped, placing a hand over her mouth. Her eyes were excited, though. Brooke looked more lost, looking between the both of you with a crinkled face. "y/n? What is going on!?"

"Montana, I think you might be right," you said, looking at her. 

Brooke looked impatient, and you slowly gathered your clothes with shaky hands as Montana filled her in on the possible scandal. Brooke gasped at the appropriate times and quietly asked if they should tell Xavier or not.

"I don't know!" you moaned, sprawling out on your bed. "He's going to be so pissed at us!"

"Not if we catch the bitch red-handed!" Montana interjected, coming to stand in front of you. "Look, y/n, we're all in this together. If it turns out we were wrong, which is a very low possibility, I will personally take responsibility for it."

"I couldn't ask that of you," you said flatly.

"Too bad, I'll do the same," Brooke piped up from behind Montana, smiling at you. "I always thought something was off about her. She won't get away with this."

Montana turned to her, grinning. "Get it, babe."

Brooke blushed and glowed the entire way to Chloe's place as you thought over a plan. 

- 

As you waited for the boys to arrive, you were getting a headache thinking of all the things you wrote in your journal about Xavier. It's probably been well over two months since you wrote in it last. Still, you gushed about your best friend more than once, praising how much you loved him. 

The atmosphere in Chloe's home was warm, and you hated that. Brooke and Montana were helping her in the kitchen while you lounged on a chair to keep up appearances. Brooke had brought you a hard lemonade, which remained untouched as your head got worse by the minute. 

The television was on low; MTV was playing an 80s rewind, and you attempted to distract yourself, focusing on George Michael. You occasionally heard Chloe's voice chime in, and your friends laughing at whatever she said. As much as you hated to admit it, you felt left out.

It wasn't long before there was a series of knocks on the door. You shot up, calling out that you'd get it. You were almost knocked onto the couch when a tall, redhead breezed past you. Chloe swung open the door, squealing at the sight of Ray, Chet, and Xavier holding bottles of alcohol and a bag of snacks. Xavier was barely in the door when Chloe was all over him, causing Ray to roll his eyes and push through.

Chet met your eyes and smiled, and you couldn't help but smile back.

Montana and Brooke came out after hearing the commotion, and for a few minutes, there was loud laughter and talking as everyone began to settle in. Xavier was dressed like he came straight out of a magazine cover, and you clenched your legs together. 

"I'm starving, is the pizza here yet?" Ray asked as he followed the others into the kitchen. You followed hastily, not wanting to watch nor hear the sounds of Chloe and Xavier making out in entrance.

"We just ordered it fifteen minutes ago!" Brooke said, hugging Ray tightly as he kissed her forehead. You smiled, amazed at how in love they were. Montana nudged you, throwing a protective arm over your shoulders as Chet stuffed the alcohol they brought into the fridge. 

"We'll wait until she gets a few in her," Montana mumbled, "Then we'll give her a taste of her own medicine."

You nodded silently, still feeling like it was a bad idea. As much as you loved your friends, you feared this was going to blow up in your faces. Chloe and Xavier squeezed into the crowded kitchen, going for the alcohol as they managed to hang onto each other. 

You followed the others into the living room, taking your original spot on the couch and opening the lemonade Brooke had given you. You beckoned for them to sit next to you, but was aghast when Chloe and Xavier sat next to you, Xavier in the middle. You felt your cheeks get red as Chloe threw her long legs over his lap, her feet just inches from you. The girls gave you an apologetic glance as everyone found a spot on the remaining furniture or on the floor.

The first few hours were spent eating and laughing at all the outrageous stories Ray had from working on the road. After you ate, you felt your headache slowly melting away. Chloe was definitely lightweight as she quickly became more clingy and loud towards Xavier, who seemed to be more interested in what Chet was talking about than her babbling incoherently. 

Ray convinced Chloe to dig out the Wii, and he was fighting with Montana on who got to be the first player. From the corner of your eye, you could see that Xavier was watching you. You fought the urge to look, smiling as Brooke leaned back against your legs, laughing at her boyfriend and best friend arguing over who the best Mario character is.

"Xavieeee, I have a secrettttt..." you heard Chloe whisper a little too loudly, her wide eyes staring at Xavier, who was still looking at you.

"Not now, babe," he brushed her off, before turning his attention on Chet, who asked him a question you couldn't hear.

"I have to pee!" Montana said suddenly, standing up and meeting your eye. 

"Me too!" you said, catching the hint and throwing Chloe's long legs off you. Brooke nodded in support, scooting closer to Ray, who was loading Mario Kart. 

You did your best to appear nonchalant, but you were still nervous as you followed Montana down the hall. Instead of veering right into the bathroom, you crept down the hallway and walked straight into her bedroom. 

It was an ordinary room, white walls, a large bed, a record player with a bin of records underneath. There was a guitar shoved in the corner, and it felt wrong invading her space like this.

"Don't feel bad, y/n," Montana said quietly, looking at you. "She has no respect for you. But we have to hurry!" 

You nodded and quickly began to dig around. You made sure to put everything back in its place and not make too big of a mess. Montana had the same idea, but her actions were more rushed than calculated. You heard Chloe's laughter, along with the others as someone turned on the sound-bar. You could hear an intense game of Mario Kart going on. 

Montana's loud gasp sent chills up your spine. You turned from your spot looking underneath her bed, seeing her holding a box she got from the closet. "What is it, Montana?" you asked.

"I found your diary," she whispered, looking at you.

You realized you forgot to listen to what was going on in the other room. 

Montana quickly grabbed you, forcing the two of you two squeeze in the little closet as Chloe's voice grew closer. Montana held a hand to your mouth as she shut the door, and it became silent as Chloe entered, giggling to herself as she grabbed a jacket from her bed, stumbling back out.

You waited a few minutes before Montana pushed you out, and the two of you stared at each other in disbelief.

"What do we do now!?" you hissed, pointing to the small box Montana still had clutched in her hand. 

"I didn't think this far!" Montana shot back, before opening the lid. Your heart stopped, seeing your journal, along with a small notepad on top. It was no bigger than the palm of your hand, and underneath, it looked like there was a photo of you and Xavier. 

"We can't cause a scene with everyone here!" you said, and Montana nodded in agreement. "We have to go back out there, or they'll think we're up to something."

"I need you to play sick," Montana said, removing the contents and shoving the box on the shelf. "We'll be in deep shit if we're caught. I'm going to sneak this out, and we'll present it to Xavier later,"

"How is he supposed to believe we found it here?" you asked as Montana shoved it under her shirt. "This isn't going to work!"

"y/n, trust me this once, please," she said, before wrapping her arm around you. "Lean into me like you're sick so we can hide the this between us." 

You went along with it, stumbling out and hiding in the bathroom. Montana flushed the toilet, and you ran the water for a few seconds before coming out, back in your position. 

"Guys, y/n isn't feeling well, I'm going to take her home," Montana said, leading you towards the door.

"What's wrong, y/n?" Chet and Ray asked while Xavier stood up, almost knocking Chloe off his lap. She looked disgruntled, shooting you a glare. You pretended you didn't see, scrunching your face up.

"She got sick, I'll stay with her until Xavier gets home," she pushed, attempting to get away as Xavier walked towards the two of you, clearly concerned.

"Hey babe, are you good?" he asked you, and you hid your smile as Chloe frowned at the name.

"I think the alcohol just isn't agreeing with me," you lied, giving him what you hoped was a weak smile. "You don't have to worry about me, Xavier,"

"I'm always worried about you, y/n," he said, frowning at you.

Chloe stood up, coming over and attempting to put her arms around him. Xavier allowed it but didn't reciprocate as she gave you a dirty stare. Montana returned the glare, squeezing your arm, silently begging you not to move.

"She'll be fine, Xavieee!" Chloe said, "Let M-Montana take her home,"

You desperately wanted to tell her to fuck off but refrained. "I'll wait up for you," you assured Xavier. But before you could say anything else, Montana stumbled, forcing the two of you apart. Your journal, along with the photo and notepad, clattered to the hardwood floor.

Your friends watched them clatter to the ground, and you immediately wished lightning would strike you down. 

Chloe blinked before recognition flashed in her eyes. "WERE YOU IN MY ROOM?"

Montana, bless her soul, bent down and scooped it. "Don't act so fucking surprised, you lying sack of-."

"Montana!" Xavier said before he recognized your journal. Chet squeezed his way towards you as Chloe fumed in her spot, the others watching quietly. 

"You went into y/n's room and stole this!" Montana accused, waving the journal in Chloe's face. "You're fucking psychotic!"

"Chloe, is that true?" Xavier asked, giving her a dumbfounded look. 

"Of course not, baby! They're setting me up!" Chloe hiccuped, tears welling up in her eyes as she pointed at you and Montana. "They're lying."

"If they're lying, what is this?" Chet asked, holding up the notepad that Montana left on the ground. Your face paled as you saw your name continuously written in black ink before scribbled with red ink. "And that's not even the most fucked up thing in here!" Chet glared at Chloe and Xavier, "This is fucked up."

"I need you all to leave," Xavier said, "Now!"

Chet was yelling at Chloe and Xavier as the others hurriedly grabbed their things, almost pushing each other out of the apartment. 

"Xavier-," you said, wanting to plead with him to believe you.

"y/n, go!" he said, his eyes hard as Chet carefully pulled you into the hall. The last thing you saw was Xavier's angry expression before the door was slammed in your face. 

taglist: i’m so sorry if i missed anyone, my list accidentally got deleted :( if i missed anyone, please let me know!

 @the-walking-daryl @trichy-knitts @shydragonrider@thefandomzoneisdangerous @lemonwhiskers @jetblackpayne @langdonsvcrd @okoktrinity22 @uwonman @stefanmikaleson1864 @sevenwonderwitch @rubbrninja @iamnotjesha @leatherduncan @imshakingandcryingrn @bratzblitz @goblackcat69 @brookethompsonownsme @bookoffracturedescapes @zodiyack@bitchchatter@guiltyfiend @psychobitchtess  @aangrana  @thexmancometh @wtfcas​ @pleasforhelp​ 

[shhh-no-ones-home]

fast times def leppard x reader

+++++++++

Title is kind of a spin off of fast times at ridgemont high cause I think pool scenes are funny 😆

this is mostly joe but there are quite a few appearances from the other guys so im just gonna categorize that way

Song: we say summer by all time low

Edit cause I forgot:

Tag list: @cynic-spirit

+++++++++

I sat in the outstretched lounger with my eyes closed, listening to the guys move around me. This tour had been fairly busy so far and we finally had a chill day to do whatever. I wanted to go to the mall... But the guys had other ideas, ideas that included renting the hotels outdoor pool for ourselves for the day. The security guards stood watch at the gate as we lounged, the guys having an outdoor interview about an hour ago and them not leaving after. So far I hadn't gotten in the water but I didn't really want to, the rest of them however were a different story. Then I felt droplets raining down on me. My eyes snapped open under my sunglasses and I shot up, wiping my arms off as i looked up disgusted at Joe.

"Really?"

I asked annoyed. He sent me back a wide grin before shaking like a dog again, getting me more wet.

"Joe!"

I called, covering my face so my sunglasses didn't get water on them. the last pair i had id accidentally gotten chlorine water on and absolutely ruined them.

"What is it darling? Afraid to have a little fun?"

He asked, smirk on his face, earning a high five from sav before he jumped back in. I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms over my chest.

"In case you were wondering this isn't exact what I wanted to do today. but if I could actually relax without you idiots bothering me I'd be living the dream."

He faked hurt, touching his chest gently, water droplets sliding down his torso as he did so.

"Ouch y/n, that really hurts."

He mocked. I sent him a look before getting situated again in my seat.

"You'll live."

He rolled his eyes at me before sitting at the table with Phil and taking a drink of his beer.

"Killjoy."

I heard him mumble under his breath, making the guys laugh quietly along with him. I was starting to get a little angry now, I didn't ask to be here and of course I couldn't go anywhere by myself anymore. I gripped the arms of the chair tightly, my knuckles going white as I wiggled further down into the chair. I chewed my lip haphazardly trying to ignore them and focus on something else. After a bit I fell asleep under the warm summer sun.

°°°°°°°°°

I jolted upright as something heavy fell onto my stomach, waking me up. I looked up to see the guys all laughing, a few of them still in the water.

"Youre gonna burn if you keep exposed like that."

Joe laughed out as I picked his wet towel off of me and dropped it to the ground, scoffing at him.

"I think that's something I'd be willing to live with but I guess now I could at least rotate and tan my back too."

i quipped back. He shook his head at me, water from his hair dripping into his face.

"Why do you even bother?"

I looked at him over my glasses as I swung my legs over the side of the chair, planting my feet flat on the ground.

"Am I not allowed to enjoy myself?"

I asked standing up and stretching.

"Sure but getting sunburn doesn't seem all that enjoyable."

He joked, earning a wide grin from Rick as he sat at the table now instead of phil. I shook my head and walked to them, picking up the glass of water I had set there earlier. The ice was all melted now and there was a condensation puddle under the glass, making a suction noise as I picked it up.

"To you maybe. But I'm wearing enough sun screen for the both of us,  I'm sure I'll be fine."

He raised a brow before sending Rick a knowing glare.

"Unless it got washed off in the pool."

I placed my hands firmly on my hips after putting the cup back down and sent him a disapproving look.

"There's no way that would happen as I'm not going swimming today."

I said matter-of-factly. He smirked at me.

"That's what you think."

He said wickedly.

"Don't you dare."

I said sternly, warning him.

"Come on y/n! Live a little!"

Sav called from the deep end of the pool, Phil laughing and sending me a thumbs up. Before I could even look back to Joe he had his arms around my waist, hoisting me over his shoulder.

"Joey!"

I called, trying to hold onto him as I looked to the concrete.

"Put me down!"

I yelled as the rest of the guys laughed.

"Okay."

He laughed out before walking faster.

"No!"

I barely got out before he jumped in, letting me go as we both hit the water. I squeezed my eyes shut, reaching out for him as I popped out of the water, inhaling deeply.

"Asshole!"

I screamed, shoving water in his direction before swimming to the side of the pool.

"Oh come on y/n, we're just having a little fun. we want you to join in."

Steve said as I lifted myself out of the pool, pushing my hair out of my face. I stood up and looked back down into the pool, joe now at the ledge I had just emerged from. I scowled at him, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Why won't you swim with us? You brought a suit so clearly you were planning on using it eventually."

I shook my head, squinting in the sunlight.

"I just don't want to, what is so hard to understand about that? Now go get my shades mister 'were going in the pool together' before they get ruined like the last pair."

He laughed a little bit before turning and diving into the water. When he re-emerged he had my sunglasses in his hand, holding them out of the pool and shaking the water off of them.

"here you are."

he said holding them in my direction. i went to reach for them and he pulled away.

"come on, you already got me wet. just give me the glasses and no one gets hurt."

i half joked.

"is that a challenge?"

he laughed out and i sent him a wicked grin, kneeling down at the edge of the pool to retrieve my prize.

"in your dreams lover boy."

i said, quickly snatching my shades from him and pushing his head under the water. i fell back as he splashed me with water, laughing hysterically as he popped back up inhaling deeply. he shook his head wildly, running his hands over his face.

"oh thats it!"

he said loudly, grabbing my leg.

"no!"

i called again, dropping my sunglasses to the concrete as he dragged me closer to the edge.

"joe let go!"

i said, the others all laughing as he stood up and grabbed me round the waist, pulling me back into the water. i held onto his shoulders before my head could go back under the water and splashed him.

"okay okay! ill swim with you dorks."

i finally caved, joe still holding me to him.

"good."

he said, letting me go. i rolled my eyes at him before pushing water his way.

"oh is that how its going to be?"

i went to open my mouth when steve interrupted, clearing his throat.

"you two children done bickering yet? lets play a game or something."

he suggested. joe smirked at me before taking off towards steve and sav. i rolled my eyes and did the same.

"fine. if im gonna be in the pool we might as well have more fun."

[writingmyimagines]

Liquid Courage - Pt 2

Billy Hargrove x Reader

Warnings: Cursing, as always

Word Count: 4.2k

A/N: Yeah, so this just kind of came out. I edited it to the best of my abilities, but it was all in one sitting so I apologize for any mistakes. Also, the title doesn’t fit this part as well, but I tried to squeeze it in. Let me know if you have any thoughts, and enjoy!

Shakily, a breath left your chest and you stared at your hands, head throbbing and heart racing. Even moments later, what you had just experienced felt entirely surreal. Your head was swimming and not because of nausea. 

You wrung your hands out, trying to get a hold of yourself and enter reality once more. But it was difficult as your exhaustion was catching up to you.

As quietly as a mouse, you tried to enter the living room, seeing Aaron splayed unceremoniously on the couch and the other two nowhere to be seen. Part of you wanted to say nothing and forget this ever happened, taking a spot on the other couch, but the other part of you wanted to tell Claire and Jessica every single detail before you forgot. A small timid voice in the back of your mind questioned if you they would even believe it, but you tried to shake those doubts out of your head.

Soft steps took you upstairs before you could truly decide what to do. There was no harm in simply seeing if Claire or Jessica was up, right? Shaky hands reached towards Claire’s bedroom door, but you were reassured by the whispers behind the wooden door. You hesitated, for only a second, before coming in, smiling sheepishly at the pair.

Suddenly, you felt a force smack you square in the face and watched in shock as the pillow dropped to the ground. Claire’s high-pitched voice screeched at you, “Where the fuck have you been (Y/N)? We looked everywhere for you before we left!”

You could hear Jessica nudge her, before saying, “I told her that you might’ve been up to some fun us girls can’t give you.” She winked at you before adding, “Though we were kind of worried. Claire said you were both pretty drunk when she last saw you.”

Your teeth dug into your bottom lip as you made your way over to them, joining the pair on Claire’s bed as they scoot over for you. You couldn’t manage to bring your eyes to look at them as you shakily exhaled, gathering your scattered thoughts. “I’m really sorry for worrying you guys like that, I should’ve thought about it.”

Another pause, you began playing with your nails. “But it was for good reason I suppose?” Nervous laughter left your lips, nails starting to scratch at your hand. “I sort of made out with someone?”

Ever so slowly, you glanced up at them and both of their jaws dropped. More nervous laughter escaped you, almost unwilling, as Claire took your hands. She yelled at you, “Well?! You can’t just say you made out with someone and come back at one in the morning. Spill everything before I die of anticipation.”

Laughter, a bit more confident this time, came out of you and Jessica, amused with her antics. You took one more deep breath in, deciding just to tell them everything. They were your best friends after all, they deserved it. 

“Okay, so you guys know how much I love dancing.” They nodded, urging you to continue and in mere moments, the dam holding everything in burst open. You continued, “So yeah, I was dancing to my own beat and accidentally caught some people’s attention and one of them just so happened to be Billy Hargrove. So he came over and we exchanged a few words before we went outside.”

Jessica sat there in absolute shock as Claire shook your shoulders. She screeched, “Holy shit, did you fuck Billy Hargrove? Oh my god, oh my god, he has the best bod in our entire senior class. (Y/N), oh my god!”

You smacked her arm, “Let me continue!” She quieted down, though was still giggling quietly and the rest of the story came out. Everything from your intense make out sessions to you throwing up outside of his car to him not acting like a complete asshole, which was still hard to wrap your head around.

You saved the quiet conversation between you two for your ears only though. What he had said, the way he had said it, it felt so intimate and there was some weird level of trust you had formed with him. You simply left it off at him laughing at your drunken state, but being understanding and dropping you off.

Jessica quietly mumbled, “I cannot believe he wasn’t a jerk to you. I mean, how many guys has he punched at Hawkins? Not to mention the way he treats literally anyone he thinks is in his way. Wow, I’m amazed.”

Claire had long since gone off the deep end. She was staring at the ceiling, processing everything and trying to comprehend how her best friend had made out with Billy Hargrove. She finally commented, “I cannot believe this! There is no way you were bold enough to do that. You looked super hot, but like, it’s Billy Hargrove! Are you sure you didn’t imagine it while you were hunched over the porcelain throne?”

Both you and Jessica turned onto Claire and you had to admit, that hurt. Both of you stared at her, and unfortunately, she kept blabbing, “I mean that’s just a wild story. As we all know, Billy is the resident bad boy. He wouldn’t do something like that, not with you.” She crossed her arms over her chest, huffing out as she glared at you.

You retorted, “I’m sorry? Why would I make that up? Listen, I know it’s really hard to believe, but that’s what happened! And yeah Claire, Billy was super into me, what, do you think I’m not good-looking enough? Or are you just that jealous?” The words tumbled out of your mouth, your headache coming back full force and exhaustion adding to your irritable mood. 

She scoffed, before saying, “I’m just trying to look out for you (Y/N)! On Monday, you’re probably gonna be the talk of the whole school, and not in a good way, remember what happened with Nancy Wheeler?”

Jessica watched on and cleared her throat before saying, “Listen guys, maybe we should all just get some sleep. We’re all coming down and if you guys are anything like me, you can probably feel the hangover starting to set in. Let’s just go to bed, okay?”

You were honestly really wounded, trying to ignore the constricting feeling in your chest. Everything she had said dug deep, scratching at the self-esteem battles you already fought. Did she actually think this little of you?

 You added, “Yeah, you’re right, I’ll go to sleep downstairs.”

You intentionally gave Claire or Jessica no time to protest, wanting to get out of there and not have to deal with Claire’s mood. You just needed sleep, Jessie was right.

Words were exchanged behind you, but you grabbed a spare blanket and took the couch across from the one Aaron was snoring heavily on. While your thoughts were still whirring, your body was getting to the point where it just could not stay awake anymore. Your eyes closed moments after hitting the soft leather and you fell into a dreamless sleep.

~

Soft voices woke you slowly from your rather deep sleep, and regret filled you up as your head felt like somebody was stomping on it with concrete blocks, over and over and over. You groaned, eyes refusing to open as the light would only make it that much worse. 

A deep masculine voice you knew as Aaron’s called out, “Good morning (Y/N), Jessie told me you had quite the night.”

Another groan came out of your chest, and you simply pleaded, “Water.” 

Laughter met your ears and you wanted to join in, but the sorry state of your body stopped you. And so began another beautiful Saturday.

~ 

Without much more excitement, Monday rolled around and you could feel your nerves eating you alive. Claire had apologized the morning after, admitting that she was jealous, but all of her words still swam through your head. What if all of Hawkins heard about your rather embarrassing night and you were labelled as pathetic, or a slut, or maybe Billy had just been leading you on the whole time. The thought itself made you pale and a part of you wanted to throw up as you watched the clock tick, signaling you should head to the high school in question. 

The ride to school was the quickest you had ever experienced and it took all of your effort to stay on course, eventually parking in front of the worn doors of Hawkins High. Hands flew across your steering wheel, dancing to something you couldn’t hear, trying desperately to get these nerves out some way. You tried to steady your breathing when the first bell rang, signaling 5 minutes before classes started.

Your hand grabbed the car handle and you stared blankly, possible insults repeating in your head like some hauntingly terrible song. But the warning bell rang before you knew it, and you grabbed your things, running to class.

Your eyes were peeled, trying to see any suspicious activity or unwanted attention. You were on edge the entire day and you could tell due to the worried glances your friend group shot you whenever they saw you in the hall. But as far as you could tell, they were the only one looking at you that way. And slowly, you relaxed.

The biggest sigh of relief left you as the last bell of the day rang, and you gave Jessica a grateful look. You commented, “Man, I never thought I would be so happy that math was over.”

She chuckled, squeezing your arm and adding, “See? Nothing happened and life is back to normal, though you do have quite the experience under your belt now.”

She winked at you, and the two of you began discussing any plans for the day as you made your way to the parking lot. It felt nice to finally untense after a rather anxiety-inducing weekend. You two met with Claire and Aaron and the four of you chatted for a while, just hanging outside the front steps of Hawkins. You didn’t know how much time had passed before Jessie looked at her watch and yelled, “Oh my god it’s almost 4 PM! I have to go, like now! I’ll see you guys later!”

Her tall lanky form ran off, while Claire and Aaron began mumbling that they should get home too, you all saying your goodbyes. 

You glanced at the front of Hawkins and let out another deep breath, grateful for a rather boring day. Then a rough voice called out, “Hey!”

You looked around, realizing you were the only person left in front of the lot and your heart free fell directly into your stomach. You turned around slowly, seeing Billy Hargrove walking out of the school. You couldn’t breathe again as he walked up to you.

He smirked at you, cheekily greeting, “Hey, I don’t think I ever got your name the other night.”

You watched him, as confused as ever. You thought that he had wanted to forget about everything as much as you wanted to forget that you were seconds away from puking on him on Friday night. You shook your head and replied, “I didn’t think you wanted it.”

He sighed, rolling his eyes before biting his lip. He just stared at you and for a second, you thought you saw the same boy from Friday in the car, rubbing your back and talking sweetly to you. “I figure I should know who’s life I basically saved.” You snorted, beginning to question if Claire was right and you had imagined it. But you held yourself back, remembering the heart-wrenching look in his eyes. “(Y/N), (Y/N) (Y/L/N).”

He chuckled, “Pretty.” And you both just looked at each other for a few moments. He then walked away without another word, revving his Camaro just as loud as before and driving off like a speed demon.

You closed your eyes in a desperate attempt to understand what game he was playing. But you came up with nothing. And so you continued on with your life, although a certain blonde crossed your mind daily, meddling with your simple life.

~

A week passed without another Billy incident and you thought that maybe he had just wanted a name to a face. You don’t know why, but you had hit your head against your bedroom wall enough times trying to figure it out. Even Aaron had no clue, figuring if he had just wanted to get in your pants he would’ve tried something again. 

Today, you four had planned to meet at the diner just off of mainstreet and you were humming quietly to “Billie Jean”, finding it oddly fitting, as you drove there. It was a quiet, but cold afternoon, winter finally turning to spring, which meant you could convince yourself it was warm enough to get a milkshake.

Easily, you slid the car into park, glancing at the neon pink and blue accents that almost hurt your eyes. It was all just a bit much to be honest, but what was life without neon?

You smiled to yourself before scanning the parking lot, not seeing any of your friends’ vehicles. You figured it wouldn’t hurt to snack on some fries before they showed up.

You walked up to the joint, debating on if you should start eating before they got there when you heard a somewhat familiar screech of tires, Bon Jovi screaming out of bass-loaded speakers.

Your gaze whipped to see none other than Billy’s bright blue Camaro skidding to a halt in front of the diner. You watched with interest as a young girl with fire red hair slammed the car door, huffing as she stomped past you into the restaurant. You hung back, just staring inquisitively when Billy’s rough voice called out, “You better be ready when I’m back!”

The kid flipped him off, pushing past you as she entered and a few more dots connected in your head. It seems his family life wasn’t exactly stellar

You turned back to the car and saw him staring at you too, so you waltzed over, legs taking you before your thoughts caught up. You greeted, “Hey Billy, what are you up to?”

He rolled his eyes, clicking his tongue as he motioned to the girl who had long since gone inside. You merely raised one eyebrow and he stared back ahead at the road. 

You grabbed the car door gently, the window still open, waiting, almost asking if you could open it. Seconds later, you heard the car door unlock and you entered the vehicle, not able to stop yourself from glancing at the back seat woefully.

You questioned, “Little sister?” He wouldn’t meet your gaze as his knuckles turned white on the steering wheel. He corrected, “Step-sister.”

You nodded, not wanting to press too much, especially given the precarious relationship between you two. A comfortable silence fell over the two of you and he drove the car into a parking spot as several loud honks came from behind him. 

Carefully, you turned your body towards him and more words tumbled out, “Why? I just can’t wrap my head around why you let me stay in your car and drove me home, and to be completely honest, it’s been driving me crazy.”

Jaw set, you could see him begrudgingly turn towards you, finally looking at you. He retorted, “As I said, nice to talk to someone who isn’t an airhead or dickwad.” You could hear him audibly sigh.

“Well then maybe do you actually want to talk sometime? At least if that’s what you keep telling me.” Last time you could blame it on the alcohol, but right here, right now, you had no clue what on Earth was making you say these things.

The way his adam’s apple bobbed was visible and you briefly wondered if you had taken it too far, crossing the unwritten rules of social hierarchy. He exhaled, before saying, “What’s in it for you exactly?”

Your hand itched to reach for his as you could see his features softening, almost against his will based on the grimace on his face. But you actually had to think this out, “Because Billy, you piqued my interest. I can see there is more than just a rebel without a cause in front of me. I don’t know what it is, but I want to figure it out. Blame it on curiosity, or nosiness, I don’t know, I just want to know.”

For a split second, you could’ve sworn you saw his eyes grow wet, but he quickly shook his head, earring catching the light as it dangled from his ear. He quickly looked back at you and said, “Fine.” He paused then continued, “Why not right now? I’ve got nothing better to do and I don’t see you here with anyone.”

You were about to protest, sure your friends would show up any moment, but something stopped you. So you nodded and opened the door. He followed suit and the two of you walked into the diner, close, but not touching.

The pair of you quickly grabbed a booth and you glanced around for a second, seeing his step-sister staring at you two in shock. He had intentionally sat with his back to her and you giggled a bit at the incredulous look she sent your way.

His lip curled up as he found out what you were staring at, “I thought you wanted to talk to me, not my step-sister.”

You nodded, turning your stare right back to him. You responded, “You’re right. So start off easy, where are you from?”

“California, next.”

You laughed dryly, before saying, “What’s the beach like?”

And he stopped, getting a twinkle in his eyes. At that moment though, the waitress came over and you could not believe the way she was looking at him, a starving fox eyeing fresh meat. He smirked and she purred out, “What can I get you?”

She leaned in towards him and though he still had a cocky aura about him, he didn’t seem to pay much attention. He looked at you, before glancing back at the blonde waitress, “Strawberry milkshake, two straws.” He winked at you and the girl’s shoulders immediately fell, looking between the two of you dejectedly before running back.

You stopped your eyes from rolling to the back of your head as you laughed more. “Gag me with a spoon, what was that?”

Just the corner of his lip turned up and he shrugged, before saying, “Was I right that you like strawberry?”

Your attention refocused, suddenly confused how he knew that. It was a pretty generic flavor, but still. You stuttered out, “Y-yeah, actually, but how did you know that?”

Another shrug, before he glanced at the window. He started talking, not looking at you as he began, “The beach is a different world. There’s nothing like it in Hawkins, or all of this shithole they call Indiana. It’s cool and refreshing and free. The ocean goes on for miles, you can’t see the end of it. It’s big, bigger than you or me, or our high school, or god forsaken town. It’s … it’s what I miss.”

Your breath caught in your throat again as you didn’t know how to respond to that. When he opened up, it was always sudden, and kind of like a flash of lightning. You were afraid of how long it would last, but you couldn’t stop yourself from just staring at him in wonder.

He turned back to you and smiled. You mean really smiled, not smirked, not a sarcastic grin, not that fake crap he normally pulled but a genuine smile. “I think you would like the beach.”

Finally, words came to you, “Why is that? You seem to assume a lot about me for not knowing me very well.”

The smile lessened, but stayed on his face as you said, “You’re a nice girl (Y/N), and you remind me of someone I used to know.”

He left it at that and another soft silence captured the two of you. HIs hand reached out to grab yours at some point and you felt yourself blush. This wasn’t at all how you expected your day to go.

Your meaningful conversation quickly turned into witty banter, the two of you discussing your likes and dislikes, favorite pastimes, fun memories. It was nice.

Then the milkshake came out as you were in the middle of telling him how you had fallen flat on your face at your first recital when you were ten, the whole crowd laughing. She sat it in between you two and didn’t say a word as she stalked back off.

You quickly grabbed for the shake, stealing it to your side and he pulled it to his. Your eyes narrowed, him having thrown down the gauntlet. You both began pulling at the glass shake when his hand grabbed yours instead of the glass. He pulled you towards him, you lifting off your seat and resting somewhat on the table between you two. He didn’t say a word as he moved up too, kissing you rather passionately.

Your lips moved with his right away, the action familiar in a distant sort of way. You grabbed his hair again when a small girl’s voice rang out, “Disgusting, get a room BIlly or I’ll tell mom!”

The two of you broke apart immediately and he growled back, “Shut up Max or I’m never driving you anywhere!” You thanked god the diner was mostly empty as you felt your face grow impossibly hot, an elderly couple grimacing at the two of you for such blatant affection.

He gingerly took a sip of the shake and then passed it to you. You didn’t say anything and sucked down the sweet drink, eyes just watching him as he watched you.

You didn’t know what to say, and without realizing it, drank most of the shake. You started to feel the back of your mouth go cold and then light up with pain as brain freeze overtook you. Billy just laughed at you and your immediate reaction was to stick your tongue out like a child.

His laugh got louder and you joined in before it got quiet and you reminded yourself of what just happened. Your eyes studied the curves and pores of your hands intensely as you could feel his turquoise eyes still on you. 

Gently, a finger lifted your face and he said, “Hey (Y/N).” 

You fought embarrassment to look back at him, afraid this was all a dream. He laughed, before continuing, “Still like talking to me?”

You nodded and spoke up, “Yeah, I really do. You have layers, and I want to see all of them come off.”

You didn’t realize how sexual that sounded when his pupils dilated slightly. You half wondered if the shake had been spiked as you got that same rush of confidence the vodka had given you over a week ago. 

He didn’t say anything but took your hand, slamming a five down on the table, and running out of there with you. You found yourself laughing as the two of you got into his car, you ignorant of Jessica and Claire having just driven up.

He all but pushed you into his car, launching into another make out session. You both grabbed at each other, in a haze of lust, when there was a honk from behind you and you tried to calm down.

You grabbed for his hand, steadying your breathing. He broke the silence, his gaze having grown stormy as he finally replied, “You don’t want to see more than this, it gets dark, rotten, cold.”

His whole demeanor had changed at the drop of a dime and you could feel his hand break from yours. You demanded, “Actually Billy Hargrove, yes I do. I want to get to know you, and all of you. Not just horny you, or silly you, or the jackass facade you have at school. I can see that you’ve been through some shit, I get it, but I quite frankly don’t give a shit. You can’t keep talking to me like we’ve known each other forever and then closing yourself off. Either keep up being the King of Hawkins, lord of the dicks or let me in.” You huffed out, not realizing just how frustrated you were about this until now.

He stared at his hands and it got so silent, you could hear the drop of a pin. He didn’t move, still as a statue, and you watched.

But you could only watch for so long and began getting out of the car when his strong hand pulled you back in. He shut his eyes tightly, before relaxing, saying, “It’s not gonna be easy.” You moved to leave again, not wanting to hear him protest and make up more bullshit, but he pulled you back like the tide. “But okay.”

He grabbed your neck, pulling you into him and kissing you with just as much passion as before, but this was softer. You could almost feel the raw emotion flowing between you two as his hands ran through your hair, greedily soaking up every inch of you. You all but melted.

 He stopped before anything else and you slowly broke into a grin. “Good.”

[new2fivesauce]

Please Don't Regret Me - 4. Lavender Sheets

Please Don't Regret Me - 4. Lavender Sheets

4091 words.

No Warnings... I think.

Sorry for the looooooong wait. I hope this makes up for it. I think the ending sucks but I needed to get this out my head fast before I put it off again. Enjoy.

June 2018.

Nelle's departure from being 5 Seconds of Summer’s assistant had been abrupt, leaving her feel like she had left her job incomplete thus causing her to spiral through a series of emotions and phases she believed she hadn’t felt since she was a raging, hormonal teenager.

The day she had given her news, they all awkwardly arrived at the airport at the same time. In her haze of emotions, she had not changed nor cancelled her flight to Australia and since 5sos was also flying international, they were stuck in the same terminal. Luke and Nelle did not speak again since their elevator meet. Michael noticed their tension, but didn’t say anything. His saddened green eyes only flickered between the two as they both tried their best to ignore one another. It wasn’t how she wanted to leave Luke, but she didn’t want to get his hopes up.

Calum, however, was the first to come up to her and apologize, practically beg her to forgive him for being such a selfish, shitty friend. Ashton and Michael followed suit with their apologies letting bygones be bygones. They agreed to keep in touch; everything returning to somewhat normal although the guys still looked bummed walking towards their flight with their new assistant.

She’d spent a couple weeks in Australia, staying in the house duplex she and Calum had bought together with their first good paychecks, but had hardly used due to constant traveling. She spent time with her parents, visited the guys' families, cleaned their empty homes to not waste money on a cleaning service, and took the duties of taking care of Duke from Mrs. Hood. Nelle also hung out with a few old schoolmates but quickly regretted that choice. They all seemed to “remember” how good friends they were, trying to manipulate Nelle for favors or money only because she knew “certain” people.

Mali-Koa, Calum’s sister, came to visit one week. She’d heard the news of Nelle’s leaving, and insisted that she come back with her to London.

“Girl, you needed a break from those dweebs anyways.”

So she did.

Nelle didn’t last very long in London though. Word had been passed of Nelle’s whereabouts which caused a very weepy, distraught Michael to leave a lengthy voicemail about betraying them for Cal's bitchy sister. She wasn’t really enjoying her time in London anyway, leaving Mali about 3 weeks later. She made a quick visit back to Australia before deciding that perhaps living in her vacant loft in Manhattan wouldn’t be such a bad idea. She’d let Calum know that Duke was coming with her before departing to the Big Apple.

She’d only been in NYC for two days when she’d run into a childhood friend that was not Calum.

Sasha Hendricks had been Nelle’s best friend when their parents were in the Army. They’d lived on the same bases and traveled the world together before Nelle’s parents settled in Australia and Sasha’s in Texas. Every year, before Nelle took on her job with 5sos, the girls alternated spending summers with one another in their country. They hadn’t seen much of each other in more than five years so no doubt it was a huge surprise when they both walked into the same small, cozy café.

Sasha had derailed from her parent’s Army footsteps to become a model. Not in the big leagues with faces like Kendall Jenner and Gigi Hadid, but she was aiming to get there.

With Sasha there, she didn’t feel so alone in the big city. It made her move a lot easier to handle but also there was just something about the city of New York and all of its noise that made Nelle feel at her calmest. She hadn’t been in the city for more than a two weeks now but if she had to be completely honest with herself, this was the best she’d felt in a long time.

<<*>><<*>>

Duke pushed ahead of Nelle, clearly already knowing his way around their block. He sniffed along a passerby's shoe, received a compliment from a passing child, and then decided he has enough the outdoors. He led the way back to the loft.

Nelle had just passed her building lobby’s front desk, when the security officer called her back. She looked down at Duke, where he was already looking up at her as in saying Oh shit, what did we do?

“Padilla, right?” the officer asked her from behind his desk. Nelle nodded slowly. “A package arrived for you while you were gone. Delivery guy didn’t want to leave it outside your door.” He said this as he retrieved a rather large box from the floor next to him. He heaved it over the desk and slid it over to her. She glared at the box hesitantly, not sure if she could carry it up to the 5th floor by herself.

“It’s not as heavy as it looks.” Security said, noticing her expression.

She thanked him for holding her package, grabbed the box awkwardly… he was right. It was not as heavy as it looked, then proceeded, with Duke at her feet, to the elevators.

Nelle barely made it inside her loft with the enormous box. Sure it didn’t weigh a ton, but five floors was a long time to be carrying a box.

Duke ran in, going straight to his water bowl near the kitchen. He didn’t care when Nelle set the cardboard box next to him. She went into one of her kitchen drawers, pulling out a knife to cut through the tape sealing the flaps down.

There were five thin, but square shaped boxes inside with a thousand packing peanuts. She made sure to carefully remove the small boxes without making a mess of the peanuts. She couldn’t risk Duke swallowing one up. The thought of telling Calum if such thing happened nauseated her.

Nelle was in the midst of opening the first thin box, when there was a knock on her door. Duke peeked around the kitchen corner to look at the door suspiciously. He growled a bit as Nelle went up the door.

“Duke… it’s just Sasha.” She clarified after peeping through the door hole and swinging the door open.

Sasha sauntered in, wearing a very see-through top and what looked like plastic pants. Her feet kicked off the six-inch heels with a sigh of relief. One heel slid close to Duke; he growled at it.

“Yeah, pipsqueak. It’s just me.” Sasha stuck her tongue out at the small dog. Nelle thought she imagined Duke rolling his eyes at the model.

Duke was kind to everyone… well almost everyone. Sasha had accidentally stepped on Duke's paw on their first meet. Ever since then, he tolerated her. He let her pet him but for the most part, he just stayed clear of the tall brunette.

Without another word, Sasha found her way to Nelle’s bedroom, emerging ten minutes later in a pair of Nelle’s Halloween pajama pants that were slightly too short since she was taller than Nelle and a Led Zeppelin t-shirt that fit too big.

Nelle hadn’t noticed Sasha wearing the shirt until she came up beside her about to open the first of five packages. Seeing her friend in the shirt made her freeze, her throat closed around a sudden lump that made it almost too hard to speak.

“Hey Sash… where’d you get that shirt from?” Nelle croaked. Sasha shrugged.

“Your suitcase. Why?” the girl looked down at the shirt and suddenly a zesty whiff of it caught her nose. Sasha hardly hung out the boys, only when she been to Australia during the summers, but she knew a guy smell when she smelt it and by the way Nelle’s face had gone temporarily pale, she slowly retreated back to the bedroom because she now realized this was not just some random shirt. Sasha knew all about Luke. She knew it was a bit of a touchy subject. She quickly changed into another shirt that was lying around.

Finally, when Sasha came back into the room, Nelle opened the awaiting first package. The flaps of the skinny box opened fully until they were flat against the kitchen counter surface. Staring up at her were four familiar faces in various shades of yellow, violet, and blue. The word YOUNGBLOOD was written across the middle in a graffiti red font. Nelle carefully lifted the plastic entrapped vinyl record from the cardboard.

Sasha, hovering over her friend’s shoulder, whistled lowly. “Damn, you didn't tell me Cal looked that good now!”

Nelle snickered and threw back a playful hit to Sasha's side. “I've tried to hook y’all up multiple times. You two just hate love so much.” Sasha scoffed as she pulled the new record from Nelle’s grip. She flipped it over to see the back and the track listing.

“Oh, I’ve heard Want You Back just the other day. Was Luke singing about you?” Sasha mused as she put the vinyl down and helped open the other boxes. There were two more of the same record, two CDs, and finally at the very bottom of the original box under the packing peanuts was the band’s clothing merch to go along with the new era.

Nelle ran her hand over the material of one of the shirts that showcased the boys' faces. Her fingers lingering over Luke’s face. “Nah. That song was written before I left.”

Sasha’s eyebrow quirked up, but she shrugged her shoulders. She held up one of the CD albums. “Should we listen?” Nelle nodded. “Good, because we were going to regardless.”

<<*>><<*>>

Nicole: Welcome back everyone. If you’re just tuning in, we have 5 Seconds of Summer in the studio right now! They’ve just released their new album and they were thoughtful enough to stop by today to talk about it. Guys, why don’t y’all say hello again.

Michael: Hey, I’m Michael.

Ashton: I’m Ash.

Calum: Calum, here.

Luke: And I’m Luke. We’re 5 Seconds of Summer.

Ryan: We have a few more questions from our callers. This one is from Mary: Youngblood is obviously the principal track seeing as it’s also the name of the album. Did you know that that was going to be the name of it or was it like a damn, we forgot to name the album, quick, just pick a song to name it after kind of thing?

Michael: HA! Yeah, that last option. Without a doubt.

Ashton: No, really! It was. We had other titles that we were referring the album to during the recording session, but we had to scrap a bunch of songs and basically start over. The album wasn’t fully completed and to our satisfaction until just last month. We had the promo pictures, the whole works, and then they were like ‘Is this going to be named Untitled?’ and Mike was like ‘What’s our next single? Just call it that.’

Nicole: Woow! I guess your fans really know you, huh? So I’ve been listening to it pretty much on repeat and some of these songs are really deep, heart wrenching, very mature. Very different from your previous albums. Can you explain the writing process and how this album was not like the others?

Luke: With Youngblood, they gave us a lot more creative permission, I guess is the right way to put it. Our other albums were done when we were teens so lyrically and musically, they didn’t give us as much freedom as they did with YB. We had to take a break after the release and touring of the second album because we were just so worn down; our physical and mental health were at an all-time low.

Ashton: It just sucked, really. We couldn’t focus or concentrate on what was going to be our new album when we just weren’t feeling like ourselves. Halfway into our break, Want You Back just came to me. When I played it through for the first time to the guys, everything else just came naturally from there. I guess that would be the rawness and deep, wrenching sound you hear so different from our previous work.

Ryan: One of our listeners is asking if any of the songs are about anyone in particular. Girlfriend maybe?

Calum: Umm… no? Ha, I don’t think so. At least none of the songs that I input in aren’t about anyone. I mean… sure, we take from our past experiences and put them into song, but for me, that’s a no.

Michael: Cal is anti-love, everyone. I think, like Cal said, we take from our past experiences; we’ve been up, down, and around the world for a long time. That does it make difficult to be in a relationship with someone and actually make it work. I’ve tried, Ash has tried, we all have. It’s just not in our cards right now.

Ashton: Unless you count our personal assistant…

Nicole: Whoa! Personal assistant? Who’s dating the personal assistant? … … Listeners, everyone is looking at Luke.

Ryan: Aww, he’s blushing.

Calum: He’s not dating our personal assistant. What Ashton means is… our EX-assistant, who had been with us since before the beginning, ya know, quit on us just before we released Youngblood the single. We’ve never been with any other assistant than her. So, it’s been challenging to say the least and Luke, who’s probably the most dependent person EVER, has been having a grueling time adjusting without her here.

Ashton: Yeah, yeah! Nelle was the best! She was like f*cking top-notch. I think like Rihanna, One Direction before their hiatus, uhh, I want to also say Fifth Harmony have tried to hire her when she was still with us. She’s like the fifth member of the band. She’s the fifth Second.

Michael: Dude, that was lame. But so damn true. Funny story, she used to come out in a lot of our paparazzi pictures and the fans would just ugh, be so nasty to her because they thought she was one of our girlfriends or whatever. We had to come out with a statement saying like yo, chill, she’s just our assistant, she means no harm, she’s just walking me to McDonalds… Then the fans were like OMG Nelle has the best style and she’s so beautiful blah blah blah. So, she’s a Yale student now with one of those influencer instas… so make sure to follow @seeyouneller…

<<>><>><<>><<>><<>><<>>

The hotel room was tense. No one dared to make a sound as Luke paced back and forth. His fury running off him, his hands were clenched at his sides, his mouth in a scowl, his light blue eyes were dark as the ocean floor.

Calum nervously looked at his blonde friend, worried that even just glancing at him might cause Luke to erupt. The longest five minutes passed before Luke stopped walking. He turned his body to the cowering three. He inhaled and then signed the heaviest sigh.

“I swear, you have the biggest fucking mouth!” Luke exclaimed towards Ashton.

Ashton shook his head, his red locks bouncing around his head. The newly dyed red hair matched Ashton’s hot head nature and with Luke going off on his, Ashton didn’t know how much longer he could hold it in.

“It was just a statement! I didn’t exactly say Oh Luke is dating our ex-assistant because it’s not fucking true. It was just a quip. You two left off on… whatever the fuck ya’ll left off on, so… It was nothing, Luke.”

Luke glared at the drummer. His breathing was hard, making it look like his whole body was shaking. His fists were clenched at his side, knuckles white to the bone.

“Yeah, dude. I mean, it could have been me who was dating her.” Michael chimed in. “Sorry we looked at you. I don’t know what to really say… It’s just one interview of like a hundred that we’re going to do. No one is going to get anything out of it.”

Calum, who had remained quiet this whole time, suddenly cleared his throat. His friends all turned to him, Luke’s eyebrow raising in a bold way.

“You know we are in New York though.” Calum started. “And we were on satellite radio… You guys remember Sasha… Nelle’s other best friend. Would spend the summer with her every other year? Had braces for like ever then the last summer she visited, she was super hot?”

“Yes, we know you have the hots for her.” Ashton said exasperatedly. “What about her?”

“Anyway, she texted me. She heard the interview. Nelle listen to it. No biggie.” Calum tried to smile, but failed tremendously. Michael darted his eyes to Luke.

“We didn’t say anything bad about her. She’s fine, right? Fuck… I should text her. We should ask her to get dinner with us. She’s back at the loft, right?” Ashton pulled his phone out his pocket as he spoke. He was already tapping rapidly on his phone before anyone could answer.

Luke furrowed his eyebrows, cocking his head to the side. “You’ve been talking to her?”

At this question, Ashton slowly lowered his phone to his lap. He gulped audibly. His words were stuck in his throat. He hadn’t meant to slip up. It had been decided that he with Michael and Calum were not going to tell Luke where Nelle was living at. He had already tried to follow her to Australia once and London.

It had been unpredicted what each member would go through at Nelle’s departure. Calum was sad for a few days; he wasn’t sure what to do with himself without his travel buddy, but quickly adjusted to the new assistant. Michael, too, was upset, but he was adapting well. Ashton wallowed for a bit, maybe more so than Calum and Michael, because like Luke, he still crushed way too hard on Nelle. He knew that there was nothing ever going to happen between the two; he’d realized that Nelle did have feelings for Luke, so he had to get over it, and she was always a text or phone call away, so the adjusting wasn’t too difficult. It was just she was not there anymore, physically.

However, Luke went through a tantrum phase. Anything the new assistant did was absolutely wrong. He blew up at the smallest things. If he asked for room temperature water, but got slightly cool water, he would throw a bitch fit. He distanced himself from the band for a bit. He only spoke with them when they had shows or interviews. He’d stayed locked up in his bus bunk, hotel room, wherever they were staying at. He’d text Nelle and she’d never reply. He had tried to go Home whenever he’d spoken with his mother and she told him that Nelle had just left her house. He tried to go to London when he’d overheard Michael leaving a rather upsetting voicemail about her disowning them for Mali-Koa. The sudden vastness of her being not there threw him for a loop. This crush, intense liking, feeling for her was messing with him severely. If she’d departed the band at any other time, he knew he wouldn’t be reacting this way. She just had to leave when his emotions for her had just blossomed.

Fuck.

Calum suddenly raised up from his spot on the couch. He was nervously spinning his phone in hand, checking the time after every third spin.

Suddenly he stopped, facing Luke. Calum’s head tilted slightly, confused at once.

“I just don’t fucking get it.” He mused. This time it was Luke to look bewildered. “Why? Why are suddenly so strung up on Nelle? You’re acting so clingy and it’s weird. You’ve never shown any interest in her. We go on hiatus, start touring again and all of sudden you’re acting like her boyfriend. Giggling, sleeping in her room, fighting to sit next to her, inside jokes…”

“Ya know… now that you’re saying it like that, it definitely seems like Luke is keeping something from us.” Michael chimed in. Ashton’s head perked up towards the front man. Could Luke been harboring a secret this long, months on end? Luke was never good with keeping quiet.

Luke’s eyes darted around his bandmates. His scowl dropping, being replaced with nervous lip chewing and nervous hand twisting.

He inhaled and exhaled heavily.

“We kissed.” He blurted out after what felt like minutes of awkward silence and three pairs of eyes awaiting eagerly.

Michael clutched his imaginary pearls, his very exaggerated gasps filling the room.

“What? When? Where? HoooOOOOoOW?” he howled. Calum shot him an annoyed glance.

Calum was neither shocked nor upset about the statement. He just wanted to know what happened between his two best friends. He just wanted his band to go back to normal.

“It was when we were on break.” Luke exclaimed. Ashton’s eyebrow raised. He recalled him spending time with Nelle, not anymore than usual, yet she never brought up the fact that she had kissed one of his best friends.

“Well that explains fucking everything.” Michael stated sarcastically. “C’mon, there’s gotta be more.”

Luke sighed, shaking his head.

“I was supposed to be doing my therapy sessions, but every time I'd get in the car, I’d have these intense anxiety attacks that kept me from driving. I told Cal and he suggested he drive me… I said okay and on the next time I went to his house so we could ride together. He wasn’t there but Nelle was.

“She was supposed to be on vacation just like us but I explained to her what had happened and she insisted. She took me to my session and we got lunch afterwards. It was weird. We didn’t say much, just made polite conversation.

“On my next session, same thing happened. Cal forgot, wasn’t home, Nelle took me. It became a routine. She took me to all my sessions even after I objected to wasting her time and I could easily get my mom or one of you to take me.

“The day that Ash came up with Want You Back…” Luke paused, his cerulean blues looking towards Calum wearily. “After the session, I was reading the texts from you, telling me to all meet at Cal's because Ashton called a band meeting so we got there but obviously no one was there yet. Nelle invited me into her house. I’d never been inside but that time we helped her and Cal move in…

“By this time we had kind of become friends but there was this tension and I know she felt it too. Next thing I know we're making out… like full-on making out, with her pulling me towards her room. We get in there and we collapse on her bed. I remember black everything and lavender sheets. It smelled like her pop rocks smelling lotion with a twinge of weed. We're kissing. Intensely.”

Luke stopped talking again. All the boys were staring at him, in awe of the story he had been struggling to keep internal. Calum noticed the way Luke reached up to place a hand on his chest; he clutched the material of his gray shirt, a far off in the distance glassy gaze on his handsome face.

“She heard Calum’s car on the driveway before I did. I’d been so absorbed in her, thinking how the fuck is this happening? Is this really fucking happening right now! She separated from me so fast that I felt literally cold and empty. Then she acted like nothing happened. She didn’t say anything about it. Just went on like… as if it just didn’t occur.

“But I couldn’t forget. I tried to talk to her about it and she just acted like she didn’t know what I was talking about so I did the same. Then we started touring again and working on the new album and it was a distraction. A good one… until I realized that I liked her. That’s why I was getting to know her, bothering her, hanging around her. She couldn’t tell me no knowing that it would look suspicious to you. I think she gave in to me eventually because I know she feels the same. She feels the same way I feel for her.

“And I'm sorry. I’m sorry to all three of you for keeping this secret. For being a fucking asshole. I just… I think it’s beyond the like stage. I think I’m like… at the L-word stage.”

[honeymoonjin]

shark week - jungkook x reader

A/N: requested by the lovely @itishebihime-samaforyou. You just got your period, and with that comes cramps. You just want to grin and bear it, but Jungkook is determined to show off to his members how good of a boyfriend he is. 1.4k.

Jungkook likes to think of himself as peak boyfriend material, and for the most part he does a good job, but you figure dealing with his girlfriend on her period might be a bit much. That’s why you’re currently holed up in a restaurant bathroom, curled in on yourself on the toilet seat and praying for your cramps to go away.

You ran out of painkillers last month and had totally forgot to refill your prescription, and it seemed this time around that nightmarish twisting in your uterus has returned with a vengeance.

A text comes through on your phone. Babe, you alright???

You manage to wince out a smile. Jungkook isn’t clingy but he is certainly the type to worry himself over nothing, and the eight or so minutes you’ve been gone is apparently enough to tip that scale.

Fine, koo, will be out in a min.

He reads your message and chooses to reply with a meme of Yoongi clutching his heart, with a million heart emojis around it. This time you do let out a little giggle; Jungkook’s habit of always responding to your messages with memes of his hyungs he had gotten from ARMY off Twitter always brought a smile to your face. You were pretty sure he did the same on their own group chat much to their chagrin.

You massage your stomach gingerly and get yourself ready before heading back out. Jungkook got up the moment he saw you to let you back into the inside of the booth and immediately wrapped an arm around you, quietly murmuring to check in again.

You force a smile and nod, taking a sip of water, but he doesn’t seem convinced.

“Babe, what’s up? Just tell me. Was something wrong with the food? You look a little pale.”

The other members ignore the two of you for the most part; caught up in several simultaneous streams of conversation, but you don’t want to risk them overhearing, so you lean in and whisper in his ear that it’s your time of the month.

His eyes fly wide open and mouth goes a little slack, but he recovers quickly. “Oh. Do you- do you need a tampon or something?”

“Jungkook,” you hiss in a stage whisper, but Taehyung on Jungkook’s other side and Jin across from the two of you overhear and look at you both weirdly. You whack him on the arm. “No! Just forget about it; I’m fine.” You have to whack him again when his mouth opens, as you know he’s about to rattle off his own song lyrics like he always does when you accidentally say a title in conversation.

He sighs, put out, but starts rubbing his palm over your shoulder soothingly. “What do you need, then, baby? You clearly aren’t feeling well, and I don’t like to see you in pain.”

Your eyes soften. Before you can reply, a waiter approaches the table and asks if you’d like to order desserts. “Oh, I think we’re-”

“Yes, please!” Jungkook interrupts boisterously. “Do you have anything with chocolate in?”

The waiter shifts on his feet and nods. “Uh, yes, sir, we have the rich chocolate cake and a white chocolate and raspberry cheesecake. If it’s easier, I can just bring the menus.”

“We’ll take a chocolate cake, please. Hyungs, you want anything?”

Namjoon orders an apple crumble and Jimin a massive ice cream sundae (the server lets him know it’s meant for two but Jimin doesn’t waver) and the rest just order more drinks. Before natural conversation resumes, Jungkook announces to you a bit too loudly, “I read somewhere that chocolate is good for girls on their periods. It sucks up the blood or something.”

You go bright red and bury your face in Jungkook’s sweater. Yoongi’s dry voice comes to you slightly muffled. “Jungkook, you idiot, that’s definitely not correct. The magnesium just helps with cramps.”

“Oh, yeah?” your boyfriend challenges. “And how do you know that?”

“I know how to take care of my girl,” Yoongi answers simply. “I also make sure not to humiliate her at the dinner table.”

Upon that cue, you straighten up and fix your hair, noticing Yoongi wiggle his eyebrow at you jokingly. He was always the one to give you two the most shit, but you knew he would always have your back.

Across the table, Hoseok puts in his two cents. “It’s nothing to be embarrassed about, it’s only natural. Besides, Jungkook, some girls get super horny on their periods but then they can’t fuck because of the mess. I think that would get me worse than the cramps. Imagine going a week without sex?”

Jungkook just shrugs. “It’s only a problem if you’re scared of a little mess. Like you said, hyung, it’s only natural.”

And back comes the violent blush on your face. Luckily for you, the waiter breaks the awkward silence that falls over the table by bringing in the three desserts. Jimin immediately digs in, reluctantly sharing with Taehyung, and Namjoon karate chops Jin every time his hand wanders a little too close.

Jungkook refuses to give you the fork, and instead makes you let him feed you. He flashes his teeth in a shit-eating grin when you glare at him, lump of cake hovering in front of your mouth.  “Come on, baby,” he teases, “I also read that endorphins help, so I figure some romantic times with your boyfriend might cheer you up.”

You roll your eyes, but not without a small smile as you open your mouth and let him feed you. The cake is perfectly moist, almost gooey, and sinfully rich. You feel your mood pick up immediately, and barely have enough time to swallow before he’s scooped up another mouthful.

This time, instead of shoving it in, he does the airplane motion like you’re a baby, giggling cheekily as you chase it with an open mouth. When it finally goes in, you slide it off the fork and snatch the cutlery out of his hand with a glare.

“But baby, I want some too,” he complains with a lilting voice, making grabby hands towards the fork.

“Too bad,” you respond, stabbing the cake and ripping off a bit, “you’re going to have to eat it off the fork like I did, you big baby.”

He huffs, but obediently opens his mouth and receives the cake, crumbs smeared on the corners of his lips. You grin at the look of bliss on his face as he savors it, and you reach forward and wipe away the chocolate stains with your thumb.

A sudden chorus of groans break out, and you turn around only to be faced with all of the other members watching you two.

“Ya, get a room,” Jin whines, “you’ve made me lose my appetite now.”

Namjoon frowns at him in confusion. “I wasn’t going to give you any anyway.”

Jin looks at him with full cheeks and a mirthful grin. “Oh, twist my arm,” he mock-sighs, and snatches the bowl out of Namjoon’s hands before the younger man can comprehend.

“Hey!” Jin ignores Namjoon and chows down on the last of the dessert happily.

“Hyungs, hyungs, who are we?” Jimin cheers, turning to Taehyung and holding out a spoonful of half-melted ice-cream.

Taehyung leans forward and takes the spoon in his mouth, moaning wantonly and opening his mouth so that a tiny dribble of ice-cream falls out.

“Oh, you!” Jimin coos and wipes it away with his thumb in the same way you had to Jungkook earlier.

The whole table falls apart in raucous laughter, apart from you and Jungkook, who shake your heads disdainfully and try not to crack a smile.

“So, you wanna make fun of us?” Jungkook challenges. “Make fun of this.”

Before you get a chance to take a breath, your boyfriend leans in and begins making out with you, skipping straight to shoving his tongue in your mouth like you’re both fifteen. You pull away and elbow him, scandalized.

Jimin and Taehyung share a look, and Jimin lets the spoon clatter onto the tabletop. “No, thanks, you weirdo. Get a room.”

“Good idea,” Jungkook responds cheerily. “Let’s go, babe. We can have a pajama night and watch Shrek.”

You let him tug you out of the booth and lead you away. You twist your body around to give the members a shrug and a confused wave goodbye, which half of them return. “Wait, Koo, we haven’t paid our share yet-”

“I said let’s go.”

[hellreads]

Chapters: 3/? Fandom: 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Jeon Jungkook/Reader, Kim Taehyung | V/Reader Characters: Jeon Jungkook, Kim Taehyung | V, Jung Hoseok | J-Hope, Kim Namjoon | RM, Min Yoongi | Suga, Kim Jinhwan, Kim Jisoo (BLACKPINK) Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Werewolf Jeon Jungkook, Angst, Fluff, Smut, Cheating, there will be a love triangle whoops, tags will be added as the story progresses, Mutual Pining, Memory Loss

Summary:

In a world of supernatural beings, a normal human like yourself always found attraction and wonder towards these creatures. It was your kind heart that led you to become a doctor to treat such people. And it was your kind heart that led you into the arms of a young Alpha wolf who will accidentally force you down a path you were never meant to follow...

“...I don’t remember him, and I know how I’m supposed to feel but…” “This is what feels right to me.”

after a long battle with my reader’s block this is the first fic that I finished in one go and I found myself falling in love with reading again and I may have fallen for werewolves and warlocks too along the way. anyways, I highly suggest you listen to Walk Through the Fire by Zayde Wolf ft. Ruelle before you start reading to set the mood, also, if you aren’t familiar with Howl’s Moving Castle (well I highly suggest you read/watch this because this is gold!) you could google Howl Jenkins Pendragon to have an idea of Taehyung’s visual inspiration for this fic.

[SPOILERS AHEAD - this is me telling this story to my close friends, this is how i chat them my latest reads, in detail with a lot of inserts in between gasdhjgfakjs also rip this is an essay it’s been awhile since i shared my thoughts~]

I shouldn’t be babbling like this since this is an on-going story but whatever I’m so in love with this so please bear with me, I actually had this fic saved on my reader for weeks, found this one fateful night when I was craving to hurt my heart with an infidelity fic so I browsed and filtered ao3 results and got this and last night I clicked the title because I assumed this is inspired by Zayde Wolf’s song (which I fell for because of a zombie fic that had this on it’s playlist) and I devoured this like a starved woman and I ~

so this actually escalates quickly from Jungkook and MC’s first meeting filled with some bicker and banter,  to meeting Namjoon and Jungkook while she’s with her best friend Jisoo well MC is not afraid of the supernatural so they wanted to test her how she’ll react to Jungkook’s true form and she’s up for it and then everything happened all at once, in that moment Jungkook found comfort in her, she was her mate...

so this is where it’ll start to hurt and I kinda understand and not understand Jungkook’s logic here maybe it’s because he’s a wolf? or his prior experiences with other human’s changed him? the lack of sexual intimacy started all of this mess, If only Jungkook tested the waters and tried talking to MC if she wants to do it and they could take it slow but also he’s a supernatural, a wolf, and he’ll most likely lose control once he gets to have a taste of her and it’s probably one of his concerns that’s why instead of mating with her and marking her he decided to spend the night with wolves from his own pack, srsly my heart dropped when she saw what’s happening in his bedroom, she was ready to seduce him and step up her game BUT no he was fucking cheating on her, I get that he’s in heat and it’ll be wild and he’ll probably hurt MC but whyyyy Jungkook? after reading that scene I knew I would hate him...

hate is a strong word but that’s how I felt and I just wish somebody would find and save her, based on the tags I made up scenarios in my head, I had no clue about Taehyung being a warlock so I was kinda hoping he’s a human that’ll sweep her off her feet BUT the scenario that followed was much better and adds so much *chef’s kiss* flavor to the story, so Taehyung is a warlock, like Howl Jenkins Pendragon (well he’s a wizard dealing with general/good magic while warlocks are associated with black/dark magic yet Tae is vv chill so far~), my favorite studio ghibli character, I was so ecstatic reading his description plus a few elements from the story/movie were also incorporated into the story that’s why i’m so so so happy, so fast forward to MC waking up in Taehyung’s place (I actually forgot to mention I was kinda relieved that Irene and Bo Young didn’t tell Jungkook the whole story [for added drama yasss!] but I guess if he really care about her he would’ve felt it in him that she’s somewhere and he needs to do everything in his power to seek her and not just let his guilt eat him while he fucks his lust, sigh Jungkook you fucked up badly, wait til...) so this is where you’ll start to fall for Taehyung (because that’s what happened to me) everything they did made my heart flutter it was just some flirting here and there and genuine concern from Taehyung wanting to help MC regain her memories, again, I was a little embarrassed and hurt for MC when she told Tae  “What if I want to touch you?” and got a response “You’ll just have to resist,” poor babe she just wants to feel something ~ idk how warlocks are in fics during sex maybe they’re dangerous too that’s why Taehyung is trying his best to resist and ignore her flirting whenever it gets too much he wants to give in.

now that readers like me have fallen for Taehyung and was hoping for a better future for MC ~ hmmm just a random thought wouldn’t it be nice to lose your memories when your partner cheats on you? and they still have every single detail of the horrible things they’ve done while your mind is free of pain, you get to retain the feeling and lessons learned but you have no clue what life experience brought you that wisdom, ahhh beautiful, I love when people suffer and pay for their sins.~ Namjoon suddenly shows up and does everything to take MC back to Jungkook and he fails then tells him everything and now he just wants to find her, still shocked that if she really was her mate and loves her ughhh he’d get the feeling that she’s still alive unless Taehyung had some protective spell cast on her while he helps her get better? idk my mind is filled with so many questions and possibilities and i’m suffering.

Chapter #3 so this is how it goes huh? she reunites with her best friend that helps her reunite with her “boyfriend” ngl I was hoping she’d be able to spend more time with Taehyung, that he will take her and fulfill his words “Then you can continue being my Love.” I want her to be happy with Taehyung, she belongs with him, that’s why things happened and Jungkook failed to mark her because he was busy with marking others ughhh, okay I appreciate Jungkook’s gesture and sincerity to make it up to her but once her memories come rushing back things will never be the same, it’ll only prove her that her feelings were right, being with Taehyung, that’s what’s right. but since we're only 3 chapters in i’m looking forward to having our hearts swayed back in forth into Jungkook then Taehyung and back to Jungkook and rolling and jumping back to Taehyung until we’re perpetually torn and confused. 

I just want to be back in Taehyung’s arms (that’s the immersive me talking) | 🍒🍒🍒🍒🍒 

[solange-lol]

not so typical love song - ch. 2/13

Chapter Title: Never Fall In Love

Words: 4,751

Art by @lizzybizzyo! <3

[ one | two | three | four | five | six | seven | eight (coming soon)]

read on ao3

---

Nico woke the next morning to his dog, Mrs. O’Leary, licking his face. (How she had gotten into his room, Nico didn’t know, but he blamed Hazel.) The Mastiff was nearly crushing him, being just about the same size as he was. He gave her a quick kiss and a pat on the head before pushing her off of him, rolling over with a groan. Curse the education system for making them get up at ungodly hours.

He heard a notification go off on his phone, and immediately the events of the previous night flooded back into his brain. Nico reached for his phone, hoping for a reply from Blue from the night before. Maybe if he was an early sleeper than he was an early riser. Unfortunately for him, there was no such luck. The notification was just a text from Piper reminding him to print his essay for English. The inbox for his email remained empty, besides the previous emails from the night before. 

He clicked on one from Blue, rereading it. Then reading the following email from himself. Nico couldn’t help but smile; the excited tone was evident in his writing. Generally, he wasn’t the biggest fan of change, but this was one he could vouch for. These conversations were something he needed.

Now he was just hoping that Blue would respond again. 

The pondering came to an end when Nico realized that if he didn’t start getting ready for school soon, he was going to be late. Quickly jumping out of bed, he threw on the first things he saw in his dresser (perks of an all black wardrobe), which turned out to be an old black and white checkered t-shirt along with black jeans and converse. He then shoved his laptop in his bag, grabbed his phone, and raced down the stairs.

“Nico, hey!” Hazel called from the kitchen. “I made pancakes!”

Hazel’s cooking was amazing, not that Nico would ever admit it. That wasn’t to say that nobody else could cook in their family. Nico’s father had some recipes that he kept from Maria, Nico’s mom, for authentic Italian food. He then passed those down to Nico whose skills were admittedly still limited, but he was improving. Persephone, Nico’s stepmother, was more of a baker. 

But Hazel? She could do it all. She knew how to make the soul food her own mother used to cook before she died. Along with that, she was obsessed with Food Network and would try out cuisine from any culture. (She once made a lasagna better than Nico’s own family recipe. This opinion was never voiced out loud, but it was clear when everyone had thirds.) 

Unfortunately, if Nico didn’t get in the car in the next two minutes, there was no way his routine would play out as usual.

He leaned over the counter, grabbing a forkful bigger than he probably could fit in his mouth. He shoved it in anyway, though, nodding at the taste and shooting Hazel a thumbs up. Since he couldn’t talk through this giant mouthful of pancake, he settled for miming a steering wheel with his hands and then pointing in the direction of the school as if to ask do you need a ride?

Luckily, Hazel got his little charade and shook her head no. “I’m getting a ride from Frank.”

Nico just raised an eyebrow at her. After a couple of swallows, he managed to say: “I better meet this Frank before you two get serious.”

“He’s in your grade, you probably already know him. Plus, we’ve talked, like, twice. We’re just friends.”

“For the time being,” Nico pointed out. 

That earned him a rare eye roll from his sister. “I swear, the moment you mention a girl, you are never going to hear the end of it from me.” 

He gave her a harmless glare, but inside, Nico could feel his stomach twist. Right. Almost forgot the entire world thought he was straight after spending the night talking (flirting?) to a random person about how gay he was. 

He couldn’t waste anymore time worrying about that, though. Waving to Hazel and calling a goodbye to his dad and stepmom, Nico stepped outside and towards his car.

Before he could step inside it, something caught his eye. Or rather, someone. 

Apparently his neighbors had called someone to come mow their lawn, and the guy who was blowing off all the grass onto the road was hot. He had light hair that was peeking out from under his hat, and dark eyes from was Nico could see. The best part, though, was this tight shorts this guy was wearing. He’s pretty sure he’s seen this guy working before, but maybe it was all the conversation last night that just put everything into a new light.

Nico fiddled with the keys in his hand. He was going to be late if he put this off any longer, but who knows? This could be the start of something.

“Hey!” he called out to him. Either the guy didn’t hear him or he just didn’t care, though, because he completely ignored Nico.

“Hey!” Nico tried again, and this time the guy turned around, a puzzled look already crossing his face. 

Not knowing what to say next, Nico panicked. “I like your boots!”

The guy squinted in confusion, holding his hand up to his ear and turning off his leaf blower. It was clear he didn’t hear Nico.

“I said I- I like your boots!” 

If he wasn’t confused before, the guy was definitely confused now. He just nodded before getting back to work,

Nico sighed, opening his door. What was he thinking anyway? He slumped into the seat, resting his head on the steering wheel, which accidentally caused the horn to beep, and him to jump. Great, now the guy must think he was honking at him. 

Nico sighed again. It was going to be a very long day.

---

Picking up his friends was a routine that was established the moment Nico got his license. He no doubt had the nicest car out of his friends and actually kept it clean. Plus, it was just easiest for them all.

Jason was first, followed by Reyna. They lived across the street from each other; they grew up together and had been friends all their lives. While they drove to their next stop (and Nico’s personal favorite), Jason would usually try to analyze his dream and how it was going to affect his day, usually losing both Reyna and Nico halfway through his retelling. 

They then stopped for a morning coffee at their local coffee shop. Nico preferred his hot with a shit ton of sugar, Reyna liked tea, and both Jason and Piper preferred iced lattes.

 “Oh, can you get Piper’s with almond milk?” Jason said, tapping Nico on the shoulder from his spot in the back seat.

“How do you know so much about Piper’s coffee order?” 

“It’s not hard to remember that someone prefers almond milk to regular.” 

Nico just rolled his eyes before adding Piper’s request. Jason’s crush on Piper was so obvious, but he still refused to act on it. Something about not knowing her for long enough, since she had only moved to their town that summer. 

From there, they went to pick up Piper, who lived on the farther side of town, and then headed for school.

It was a miracle they were still on time considering Nico’s morning tangent. He was so distracted by trying to make the bell that he sort of forgot about Blue.

That was, until third period English when he went to search up a quick fact and noticed a new email notification. There was only one person who knew that email address.

He tried to ignore it, tried to pay attention to the lesson, but his phone felt like it was burning through his pants pocket. 

Blue had responded again.

He quickly snapped back to reality and raised his hand.

“Nico?” the teacher asked, and he quickly realized that she had just asked a question judging by the other hands lowering. “What do you think?”

“Can I go to the bathroom?” 

The teacher sighed, nodding her head in the direction of the door, and Nico rushed out. It felt like he was racing down the hall towards the bathroom, the weight of his phone still heavy in his pocket. 

It felt like time was slowing down as he locked himself in the last stall of this thankfully-empty bathroom, staring at the loading screen of the app. Finally, the email popped up. 

Nico took a deep breath and tapped it.

From: blue0919@gmail.com

To: bettertoburn@gmail.com

Date: Oct 3 at 10:20 AM

Subject: Re: Punchability

I’m so glad I qualify for an exception of punchability. But I’m confused, because I heard there was actually a second punctuality exception for cute guys who don’t know slang (I believe the phrase you are looking for is ‘catch these mittens’) and poor judgement. Re: Nutella, despite being warned. 

And how did you know about my interpretive dance skills? Though I don’t really think of it as an extracurricular activity. It’s more of a calling. 

I know exactly what you mean about it being easier to be open with someone who doesn’t know you. We exchanged, what? Like 5 emails? Already, you know things about me that I’ve never told anyone else. I guess it makes you think about what it really means to know someone

I’m okay with being each other’s Ultimate Therapists, even if we both suck at it.

-Blue

He let out a shaky breath he didn’t realize he was holding before laughing quietly to himself. Of course Blue would respond, and he did it in typical Blue-humor fashion. It was clear last night that emailing Nico was as therapeutic as it was for Nico emailing him. 

Thousands of heat-filled butterflies entered his stomach as he read it over. Was Blue flirting with him? He hardly remembered the conversations last night, but it was clear now that this had gone a little farther than plain old friendly teasing.

He quickly typed a response, already anticipating Blue’s next reply.

From: bettertoburn@gmail.com

To: blue0919@gmail.com

Date: Oct 3 at 10:50 AM

Subject: Catch These Mittens

What about me makes you think I have poor judgement? 5 jars of Nutella sounds like a fantastic idea, if you ask me. If anything, I’m not the one with poor judgement; that’s all on YOU, Blue. You’re the one who ate the Nutella, if I remember correctly. 

I relate to everything you’re saying, though. I already feel like I can tell you things I haven’t told any of my close friends. I do think a big part of it is the anonymity. It’s not just that, though. It’s weird but I feel like you get me in some way. Which is probably why I responded to your post in the first place. Or maybe it’s just something that comes from nobody knowing you’re gay.

It’s like, I’m not lonely. I have great friends, a better-than-average family. But I still feel lonely more often than not. At least I’ve felt a little less lonely in the past day, thanks to you.

-Angel

It was weird, he’s more honest with Blue than he is with himself. Like some sort of alternate-persona situation. All of the jokes and the extra personality he kept inside himself out of fear was just let loose when he talked to Blue.

Nico tapped send without thinking and almost immediately regretted it. What if Blue was in his English class and saw him rush out? If he had email notifications on, it would be obvious that Nico was on the other side. 

Nonetheless, Nico felt his heartbeat speed up with slight excitement and nerves. If Blue found out it was him sending him emails, there was a chance that his undecided maybe-love story could speed up a bit, or at least cure his curiosity about who this other gay kid was. On the other hand, it could also scare Blue away, and Nico really needed him right now. 

Nico switched off his phone and pocketed it. He was out too long already, and he needed to get back to class. He could worry about Blue there.

---

Lunch came, and Nico found himself observing the room more carefully. All the juniors had the same lunch period, which meant any guy in that room could be Blue. He was praying it wasn’t like one of those dramatic teen show situations where the homophobic asshole turned out to be the gay one. 

Turning to his own lunch table, he realized that any of his own friends could be Blue. They were all theatre kids, which meant it was more than likely at least half of them were queer anyway.

Percy Jackson was sitting directly from his left. He was their stage manager as he loved to lead the team and also couldn’t carry a tune to save his life. The looks made up for it though, with the gorgeous sea green eyes and unkempt black hair. He was a lot taller than Nico (though most people were) and while previously assumed straight, he also doubled as a soccer player along with some of the other guys at their table, including Jason. The way he treated, teased, and tackled Jason, there was no way he wasn’t at least bisexual.

On his other side was Jason, and while Nico admitted he was attractive, his heart eyes for Piper were clear.

Next to Jason were Travis and Connor Stoll, some of the other soccer players. Travis was also part of backstage, but Nico ruled him out as he was dating Katie Gardner. And while Connor was in the show and hypothesized as gay due to some apparent flirting between him and Mitchell that Piper overheard, Nico doubted it was him.

Across from him was Will Solace, who he was only recently introduced to. He wasn’t a part of their theatre program, but he was friends with Lou Ellen and Cecil, both of which were in theatre and who had invited him to the table. Nico hadn’t had many conversations with him, but he had an adorable head of golden curls and blue eyes that reminded Nico of an eclipse. He had thousands of freckles splattered across tan skin. So, a contestant along with the other hundred of guys in his grade.

“Nico?” Will asked, waving in front of his face. Nico snapped out of his thoughts. 

“Yeah?”

Will gave him a huge grin, clearly about to ask for something. “Can I have a fry?” he asked, pointing to Nico’s tray.

“Oh, yeah, sure.” He was still halfway in daydream mode, and the words didn’t really register in his brain. 

Jason looked curiously. “Is this the day Nico di Angelo finally finds his soul and is kind to another person?” he teased, still managing to find his fatherly humor within him even when surprised. “Guess not,” he continued when Nico flipped him off, and everyone laughed. 

They went back to their conversation after that. (Jason was proposing that they all shaved their legs for the next soccer game which would supposedly make them run faster, an idea that was immediately turned down by all the other members.) There’s laughing and teasing; it’s the good-natured humor of his lunch table that begged for him to come out right at that moment. He knew his friends would accept him; he knew he was in a safe environment. And yet, did he know that? 

He thought back to what Blue said, about wanting to come out but also being insanely relieved that nobody knew yet. He’s safer when nobody knows. So, he didn’t say a word.

The memory of Blue reminded him that he sent an email earlier in the day, and there’s a chance that Blue may have sent one back during lunch.

Nico pulled out his phone, quickly trying to refresh his email app. Unfortunately, with the amount of kids on their phones in that room, the internet was essentially nonexistent. The screen just kept on loading.

“Why is there no service in this school?” he mumbled to no one in particular as he jumped up from the table. Curious and confused looks from the other members at the table were exchanged, but nobody rushed to follow. 

Nico didn’t bother rushing at this point without the promise of an email waiting for him. However, risking pulling out his phone in the hallway turned out to be a mistake, as he bumped right into the vice principal’s wheelchair.

“Nico,” Mr. Brunner addressed him. He was actually pretty nice most of the time, always going out of his way to see what was up with his students. It was almost like he doubled as a guidance counselor. (Mr. Brunner was better at emotional support than their actual guidance counselor, that was for sure.) He was still sort of stuck in the past, though, and while he never gave out detentions for phone use, he did confiscate them.

“Hey, Mr. Brunner. How are you?” Nico winced slightly at his feeble attempts to get out of punishment. 

Mr. Brunner didn’t even answer his question. Instead, he just held out his hand. “You know the rules, Mr. di Angelo.” 

Nico sighed. If the administrator weren’t so nice and if he was out, he would call this homophobia. Instead, he just bit the bullet and placed his phone in Mr. Brunner’s awaiting palm. “When do I get it back?”

“End of the day, after play rehearsal.” That was another thing, he had somehow memorized everyone’s extracurriculars. “You can come retrieve it in my office.”

Nico nodded. “Got it.” Going the day without knowing if Blue hadn’t responded wasn’t going to be easy, but he didn’t really have a choice. 

---

As it turns out, Nico had some sort of heavy reliance on Blue in the past day. Even if they hadn’t known each other for long, and their conversations were short, they still meant a lot. They were a safe space, and the knowledge that he was now derived of that safe space, even for a few hours, made him uncomfortable.

Even in the theater, which was usually Nico’s comfort zone. They spent countless hours a week here. Just about everybody in the cast were friends, all having shared laughs or tears depending on how the rehearsal was going and what kind of mood their director, Mr. D, was in. Even Octavian, who was a slimy, stuck up kid whose body boiled with drama even outside of the auditorium, seemed human during a long rehearsal.

Without his phone, he also had no way to check the time, which meant he was relying on (i.e., bothering the crap out of) all of his friends.

The show itself was going as well as a public high school musical with limited theatre program funding could go. 

“That was—” Mr. D started, rubbing his forehead from his spot in the audience. He tapped his pen on his clipboard, still not finishing his sentence. “Peter, help me out here?” 

“That was a start?” Percy (Mr. D had a habit of getting his name wrong, even after three years in the program. Probably out of disrespect; they had a weird unspoken feud) supplied. The phrasing was nice, but the message was clear. The show was a complete trainwreck, and they only had until after the holidays to put it together. It was already October.

Mr. D pointed his pen at him. “Yes, that was a start.” He got up from his chair and advanced towards the stage, which meant he was about to change the entire set up. 

“Piper,” he hissed between as Mr. D gave new directions to Jason. “What time is it?”

Piper just glared at him from her spot on the half-finished staircase. “Ten minutes since you last asked me!” 

“And di Angelo! I need your jazz hands to be more dramatic! You just look like you’re trembling! This is a cabaret, not a breakdown in the bathroom!” He heard a snicker behind him, and turned to wear Percy and Cecil were mocking his shaky jazz hands offstage. If it weren’t for Mr. D standing near, he would have cursed them out.

Instead, Nico just sighed. Usually this was one of his favorite parts of the day, but they were barely halfway through rehearsal, and he already wanted out. 

By the time the rehearsal was over, Nico had already packed up all his things and was bolting out of the auditorium. 

He skidded to a stop from his near-sprint right outside of Mr. Brunner’s office, taking a moment to collect his breath and play it off as he strolled into the room. (The last thing he needed to do was look attached to his phone, otherwise Mr. Brunner might decide to keep it a little longer.)

“Nico! How was the unplugged afternoon?” Mr. Brunner smiled from his desk. 

“Great,” Nico said, forcing a smile and giving a thumbs up. Whatever he had to do to make this conversation go faster. 

Mr. Brunner reached into a drawer in his desk to grab Nico’s phone before wheeling around to where he was standing. “You should try it more often, maybe you’ll finally relax a bit.” Nico just laughed and nodded, not really sure how to respond to that. So, Mr. Brunner continued. “I know I’m hard on you, but I’m just looking out for you.” He regarded Nico now with slight concern in his eyes. “You’ve seemed kinda stressed recently, anything you want to talk about?”

Nico just forced another smile. “Nope! I’m good. Just, uh, a lot of homework to do, which means I should probably head home.”

Mr. Brunner nodded, handing Nico’s phone back to him. “Go, do your thing. Just remember, my door is always open.”

The words didn’t register, though, because Nico could see now that he got a notification from Blue. “Right, thanks!” he called, already rushing out of the room and outside.

Nico waited until he was in his car to open up the email. 

From: blue0919@gmail.com

To: bettertoburn@gmail.com

Date: Oct 3 at 2:46 PM

Subject: Re: Catch These Mittens

I’ve felt less lonely in the past day too. It’s nice to finally have somebody who just gets it. It’s funny, my mom even commented that I’ve been in a good mood lately. I told her it was because Taylor Swift had a new song, but I’m not sure she believed me. I think she knows I’m hiding something.

Anyway, I have a question for you: how did you know you were gay? And I know you said you haven’t come out to anyone yet, but do you think anyone suspects?

-Blue

A car honked behind him, snapping him out of his daydream as he quickly backed out of the parking lot. Nico nearly sped home from there, eager to respond. He barely acknowledged his stepmom or Hazel before grabbing a granola bar and racing up the steps to his room, Mrs. O’Leary right by his heels. 

Nico flopped back on his bed, pulling out his laptop from his backpack and typing out a response.

 From: bettertoburn@gmail.com

To: blue0919@gmail.com

Date: Oct 3 at 5:14 PM

Subject: Re: Catch These Mittens

I keep thinking about this whole coming out thing. I have a pretty open group of friends and a good family, I don’t think they would really be that torn apart over it. Still, though, I’m scared.

You know Mitchell, right? He’s been out for years now and as far as I know nobody has given him too much crap for it. Probably because everybody basically knew (which I feel is a really crappy thing to say, but it’s not like he was that subtle.)

I don’t know where I’m going with this. I guess I just feel like with me it’s hard to tell. I think my dad suspects something because I never talk about girls, but my friends like to joke that I don’t like talking about anyone, even if it’s strictly platonic. But besides that, nobody really talks about it. I mean, ‘who do you think is gay’ isn’t really a hot topic at my lunch table. Or a topic at all. (Though part of me wishes it was, or just wishes I was out, because I’ve had so many good joke opportunities.)

Anyway, as for how I knew I was gay, it was a bunch of little things. My older sister tried to get me into Harry Potter with her (instead I just got obsessed with a card game called Mythomagic.) But everytime she would turn on one of the movies, I would always watch with her. Afterwards I kept having this recurring dream of Daniel Radcliff. I also got really into Panic! at the Disco, and it took me a while to realize it wasn’t really about the music. (Brendan Urie is a god, don’t deny it.) And, of course, the pitiful crushes on half of my friend group.

I’ve never had a girlfriend, and I’m honestly not even sure if a girl has ever even liked me. I just never bothered paying attention to that sort of thing the moment I realized I didn’t have to. 

What about you, how did you know?

-Angel

P.S: because I know you’re wondering, I’m a Gryffindor. (Or at least I am according to my sister.) Hope that doesn’t affect this friendship, because I really like emailing you. 

He hit send, then immediately fell backwards with a groan. Since when did he become so mushy? If anyone ever saw these emails, he would probably implode. Even the idea of someone reading them made his stomach twist, although that’s probably more about the being-gay-and-in-the-closet thing more than it was about the being-mushy thing. 

He stayed in that spot for a few moments, hoping that he’d hear the notification sound of a reply from his laptop, but ten minutes passed with no such luck. So, he sat up, closed the tab, and started to work on his calculus homework instead while he waited. After a while he forgot about Blue. 

It’s only when he stepped out of the shower later that night and his phone lit up with a missed notification that he realize he got a response.

From: blue0919@gmail.com

To: bettertoburn@gmail.com

Date: Oct 3 at 6:29 PM

Subject: Re: Catch These Mittens

I know what you mean about the nobody-really-thinking you're gay thing. I mean, I don’t think it’s usually at the top of someone’s mind unless they like you, but you seem to not have much experience with that. Which isn’t a bad thing. Plus, I like you.

And actually, I had my own share of a Brendan Urie crush (who didn’t.) That was actually one of the first things I noticed about your email which, I could be completely wrong here, I believe that’s a P!ATD reference. I hope you don’t expect me to know any other of those alternative-edgy type bands. I’m more of a musical theatre person, which means I have about the same music taste as my Aunt Artemis.

Another one was Game of Thrones. I’m not a huge follower of the show, but every time I watched clips or walked in while my mom was watching it, I was always crushing hard on John Snow.

I’ve never officially had a girlfriend. I had a girl ask me to a seventh grade dance before, but I just really wanted to Cupid Shuffle on my own so I turned her down. She’s actually still one of my close friends to this day, funnily enough, and still showed up at the dance and kicked my butt at Cotton Eyed Joe. So, that turned out to be a better experience.

-Blue

P.S: I think you should actually take the quiz, because you seem more like a Hufflepuff to me. Or maybe I’m just self-projecting my own house onto you (I’m as Hufflepuff as you can get.) But no, even though you claim to be in the fraternity of Hogwarts Houses, I still like emailing you too. 

Nico smiled, and unfamiliar heat pooling in his stomach as he reread that last line over and over again.

[lets-talk-appella]

2018 Fic Roundup

I was tagged by @aliciameade​ and @acabellas​, so thanks for that you two! Okay actually this was loads of fun to do because I’ve only been writing fic since like April/May so here we go:

Total 2018 Word Count: 206,438 - not gonna lie, pretty proud of that

Total 2018 Hits: 33,768 on AO3. No idea on FFN because the website won’t tell me

Other 2018 AO3 Stats: Kudos: 1921 Comment Threads: 177 Bookmarks: 218 Subscriptions: 121

Links & Titles to 2018 Works: There are 30 - literally everything I’ve done has been this year - so I put a break.

Four Sambucas - 987 words, Not rated Beca is the DJ at a popular club and she's just doing her thing when an incredibly drunk Chloe confuses her with the bartender.

Jealousy’s a Bitch... or Maybe it’s Just the German - 15,171 words, G All Beca/Kommissar interactions in PP2 (plus some additional content) as told from Chloe’s POV. Basically, an extremely jealous Chloe Beale. Largely cannon, but I added some things in the middle and at the end. Part of a series, but can stand alone. “PP3 Doesn’t Exist Here” series #1

Just a Joke? - 1,316 words, G When Jesse says something serious to Beca, meaning it as a joke, she freaks out and goes to the one person she can open up to: Chloe. Part of a series, but can stand alone. “PP3 Doesn’t Exist Here” series #2

Chloe’s Secret - 7,364, G Chloe needs to know why Jesse broke up with Beca, so she secretly goes to LA to confront him for hurting her best friend. Takes place about five months after PP2 and is part of a series, but can stand alone. “PP3 Doesn’t Exist Here” series #3

That’s When She Knew - 4,214, G In which Beca finally wakes up to realize that she’s been in love with Chloe this entire time. Much fluff ahead, enter at your own risk. Takes place just under a year after graduation/Worlds/PP2. Part of a series, but can stand alone. “PP3 Doesn’t Exist Here” series #4

Expectations - 7,801, T The immediate follow up to That’s When She Knew (this will make more sense if you read that first), in which Beca and Chloe finally admit their feelings to one another. After leaving Central Park, they go back to their apartment and Beca believes that Chloe seems to have some… expectations of where things should be headed next. Of course, she panics. Part of a series. “PP3 Doesn’t Exist Here” series #5

Spooning Looks Easier in the Movies - 2,716, G Sure, they’d decided to wait before getting really intimate together in their new relationship. That doesn’t keep Beca from being a little awkward about sharing the bed for the first time since they’ve told each other about their feelings. Part of a series. “PP3 Doesn’t Exist Here” series #6

Reality - 23,703 (listen I got excited), M Continuing the series and following the established Bechloe line, this follows Beca and Chloe as they figure out life as a new couple. Specifically, how they prepare for their first time. Smut, but more in a making love way. “PP3 Doesn’t Exist Here” series #7

Accidents Happen - 1,892, G A different take on the Activities Fair from Beca's freshman year. Or, Bechloe Week 2018 day 1 - prompt "accidental kiss."

The Underwear Incident - 3,967, Not Rated Beca Mitchell is one of the most famous music artists in America. She gets a lot of attention from her fans, which occasionally makes Chloe a little jealous... established Bechloe. For Bechloe Week Day 2 - Jealousy.

Don’t Touch Her - 3,504, T Getting drunk texts from Chloe is nothing new for Beca. However, when the messages become alarming, Beca races into action. Part of Bechloe Week Day Three - Drunk Texting.

How to Break Beca Mitchell with Six Words - 473, G Submission for Bechloe Week Day Four - Why. Angst ahead. Read at your own risk.

The Eight Times Aubrey Posen Had to Ask Why - 7,482, T Aubrey prides herself on knowing her best friend, so to suddenly not know what Chloe's thinking is alarming to say the least. Or, the times Aubrey was confused about Bechloe's relationship and had to ask about it. Alternate Bechloe Week Day Four - Why.

Five Minutes - 2,661, G Beca and Jesse have gone on a road trip meant to seal their future together, leaving Chloe devastated. She gives up entirely, hiding away from the world... but then, there's a knock on the door. For Bechloe Week 2018 - Road Trip.

Sealing the Crack - 2,215, G When Chloe's valuable good luck charm breaks in an accident, Beca is there to pick up the pieces. For Bechloe Week Day Six - Good Luck Charm.

Come Home to Me - 10,377, T Chloe dishes herself out some of the pasta, being sure to save a good amount for Beca. She chases it around her plate with her fork, suddenly not feeling particularly hungry. She finds herself glancing out the window at their empty driveway with increasing frequency. Beca really should have been home by now.

Amy’s Limit - 2,461, G This came from Tumblr Prompt - "Stop being so cute," but I decided to add it to the series because I thought it fit well. This follows the events of "Reality," and is established Bechloe. Told from Amy's POV. Pure fluff and horrible pick-up likes ahead, read at your own risk. “PP3 Doesn’t Exist Here” series #8

Fallen Leaves, Fallen Bellas - 35,086, T “It’s not true, though,” Chloe’s voice jarred them from their thoughts. “I mean, it can’t be. Ghosts aren’t real, and they definitely don’t kill people. You made that up to scare us, right?” she asked Aubrey, smiling uncertainly. Aubrey didn’t smile back. Or, a horror-themed twist on the Lodge at Fallen Leaves. Originally for Pitch Perfect Horror Week 2018.

Restless Nights - 5,706, M Prompt: "If you can't sleep... we could have sex?"

I Want to See You be Brave - 3,065, G Prompt: "I'm your lock screen?!" "You weren't supposed to see that." For this one, I did an alternate version of the "Confession Scene" following the fight for the pitch pipe in PP1. Enjoy!

Naked Mole Rats Aren’t Endangered - 4,052, G Based on Tumblr prompt - "That’s my ex-boyfriend/girlfriend.” - “Well, kiss me so they see.” Honestly a little ridiculous.

Black Sabbath - 4,783, T For Tumblr prompt "Don't do that again! You scared the shit out of me!" This is set during Beca's junior year, meaning that Emily isn't here, sadly. Enjoy!

Dangerous - 5,307, M A spin-off on the last motorcycle prompt. This is pure smut, actually no plot whatsoever but with the added motorcycle imagery from the last chapter. So, yeah. If you don't want to taint the motorcycle fic, look away now! I also want to give a shout-out to Redlance's excellent A Moment's Reprieve fic, which inspired part of this. Um, pretty NSFW stuff ahead.

The 12 Times They Said, “Stay Awake” - 10,347, T Based on Tumblr prompt "Stay awake." I low-key forgot about PP3, so ignore that. Also, if you don't want your heart torn out, stop after segment 11. Also, warning for character death. Sorry about that.

Area 51, Now in Barden - 1,555, G For Pitch Perfect Horror Week Day 5 - Alien Abduction Listen. Don't take this too seriously, because I definitely didn't.

Friday the 12th - 5,649, T For Pitch Perfect Horror Week Day 6 - Fears Come to Life. It's set sometime between PP1 and PP2, and is definitely cannon-divergent.

Shine Bright (Like Cubic Zirconia) - 10,015, E Created for Tumblr prompt "The diamond on your engagement ring is fake." Contains a lap dance and smut, so if you're not a fan, I'd skip this one. Also, the French was an idea stolen from Tumblr user isthemusictoblame (who also goes by iPhone on here).

Make Me (Where Dreams Come True) - 15,629, E Beca doesn't want to dress as a Disney princess for Halloween. But it's all Chloe's idea, and Beca will do just about anything for her girlfriend, especially when Chloe bribes her... Smut. For Bechloe Week Day 7 - Disney. So, yes. Disney-related smut. And a second chapter for the strap.

Winter Dreams (Beca’s Song) - 3,441, G "The touch brings memories of the night before, of needy kisses, of soft whimpers and sharp gasps, of lips pressed to bare skin, and of limbs tangled together; memories that make Chloe’s body heat up and heart beat faster in her chest. She stretches out her limbs slowly and takes another deep breath. The touch on her back pauses, and Chloe cracks open her eyes a millimeter to see Beca – propped up on an elbow, like she’d imagined – watching her, deep blue eyes heavy with sleep and a tenderness that makes Chloe’s chest ache. Beca’s hair sticks up in weird places and a small purple mark dots her porcelain skin just below her collarbone, a proud remnant of the night before. She’s absolutely perfect." “PP3 Doesn’t Exist Here” series #9

Real Hot Wings and Fake Hot Dates - 3,566, G “Hey, it’s okay,” Aubrey says with surprising gentility. “I’m a little nervous, too.” That makes Beca turn back to her in shock. “You are?” Aubrey nods and says, “Of course. If they figure us out, we’re not gonna get that discount.” Mitchsen fake dating fluff as a Pitchmas 2018 gift.

Favorite Fic: Yikes, mate, asking the hard questions. Probably Expectations, because that’s the idea that started literally everything else - without it, I wouldn’t be a fic author. Otherwise, Chloe’s Secret, Naked Mole Rats Aren’t Endangered, Friday the 12th, Stay Awake, or Winter Dreams.

Hardest Fic: Honestly, anything with smut. I have such a hard time writing smut. And, currently, planning my Beca Sexuality fic (more on that in 2019!).

Do you plan on taking prompts in 2019? Tentatively yes! I love doing dialogue prompts the most, because they give me room to play. I do still have 12 prompts in my inbox, some of which are from like August, so, yeah... I’m gonna do those first.

What was the best thing about 2018? Honestly, just discovering this fandom and starting to write this much. I’ve always enjoyed writing, but writing fic like this took me to a whole new level. I’ve loved it more than I can say, and I feel like I’ve gradually been becoming a better writer because of it.

What was the worst thing about 2018? As for fics? Maybe... not enough time to write? Or just pressuring myself to churn out fics more quickly than I was really able to with classes/life.

Any last thoughts for 2018? I’m gonna miss the 20gayteen references, tbh, but make room for 20biteen! Also where’s the Bechloe kiss?

Goals for 2019:

Complete and post a fic where Beca struggles with her sexuality. I’ve got a ROUGH outline and all flashbacks written!

Finish my inbox prompts because, like, it’s been months.

Maybe try creating an original work? I have a couple ideas, but we’ll see.

And because I had so much fun with this, I’m going to toss it at @chloes-yellow-cup!

[junkyardlynx]

Ch. 1

Looking back, my life has been pretty normal. I mean, my mom and dad love me, I have a good dog, my childhood friend makes me lunches for school a few times a week. I think she might even like me. We end up playing a lot of games. Everything in my daily life has been a mundane kind of blissful.

I came home from class late, the sun melting and dissolving into the purple ink of the night as I closed the door behind me. A thunderous ringing of steel vibrated in my ears from the basement as I crossed the threshold, followed by a hellish roar that would freeze the blood of any mortal man. Digging around lazily in the fridge I pawed at an apple and tugged it free of the bag. Checking my phone, I tugged the stem off absently and took a bite. Man, I love apples.

"Emirus! The vessel. Surrender it, and this world may survive the Opening of the Gates long enough to become something gran-HURK!“ 

he rumbling voice that was crushed earth and molten rock was cut off mid speech, a wet thud barely audible from far below the earth.

Well, this was troubling.

There was a brown spot on my apple.

Frowning, I narrowed my eyes, and a perfect cube of flesh disappeared from the fruit, excising the rot. Man, I really do love apples. A moment later, a slash and shimmer of purple like a hole cut from twilight appeared next to me. From it, a tall and imposing man stepped out, fixing the accents of his clothing before looking upon me. His hair was a pale, radiant blonde, the waves of which fell to his shoulders and his features were sharp but handsome, almost unnaturally so. They bordered on excessively sharp, really, like his existence held the world in contempt at the end of a blade. The man’s presence seemed to demand respect and fealty. Dressed in a swanky black suit with green accents along the breast pocket, cufflinks and button, his eyes blinked once before the smoldering emerald embers bored into me. Wordlessly, I produced another apple after a moment of groping into the fridge and handed it to him. His spare hand shot out, slicing through the air like a blur. Blood flicked off the pale skin, splashing in the sink before it landed softly on my head, stroking my hair with obvious affection.

“Jeal! Welcome home, son.” 

He took a bite of the apple I’d offered, closing his eyes in satisfaction for a long moment before he launched into a flurry of fatherly conversation. 

“Rather taken with apples, aren’t we? How was class, sweet child of mine? Did Sarisa make you lunch again? You can bring her over any time. Sharp as a tack, that girl. Always liked her. Even when she accidentally teleported you into a tar pit for laughing at her when she forgot her chemistry texts. I might have liked her more for that, now that I think about it. Oh, come on, my boy! I jest.“

As my scowl faded, my eyes wandered over dad’s clothes as he bombarded me with his melodic voice, my brow furrowing in concern at a blossoming red stain just above the green accent of his breast pocket. His white cheeks flushed red momentarily as he held one hand to his chest, just above the wound. My father did not get “hurt”. My father was practically invincible, and it wasn’t the idle boast of a dumb kid. My father could tear the heart out of a chimera with a glance. He had, actually. That’s...why I said it.

"Oh, this? Your old man won’t be put down by an enchanted blade or three. Seriously. They talk of “freeing” the Abaranthia soul-plains but conveniently ignore the fact that production of soul dust has increased and that the number of restless spirits is almost zero. Your lineage practices black magic and necromancy for a few millennia and suddenly you’re villains."

I let my father go on as I finished my apple, dropping the core in the trash. For the last week, he had seemed anxious and rushed, and our lessons dragged into the early morning, leaving me precious little time for sleep before class. Time seemed to stop as I considered my words in my head. I didn't really speak often, as people seemed to infer my mood and reactions from body language alone, but when I did...well, it seemed like the world gave me whatever time I needed to think.

I contemplated a moment more, close to finding my words, but not quite there. I told my dad about it once before and I remember the way his face was covered in an ashen pallor, but he waved one exquisitely manicured hand and postulated that it was my sorcerer’s mind simply kicking into overdrive, making the outside world appear to slow as my thoughts raced. We never talked about it again. With Emirus (who held such titles as Hawk of the Black Castle, Slayer of the Empyrean Sea, Lord of the Dead, Dad, Dr. Culaine and Pops) still warmly gazing at me, he brought the apple to his mouth. Finding my words, I puzzled out my thought.

"Well dad, if we’re villains, we’re villains of circumstance.” 

With an abnormally long canine tooth visible just before sinking into the blushing flesh of the apple, pride swelled on my father’s face, leaving me somewhat bewildered.

“Jeal, my beautiful lad boy! Dipping into your old man's albums again, I see. I think that'd make a wondrous family motto - quite a bit punchier than ‘abyssus abyssum invocat.’ You’re not only surpassing your old man in sorcery - but quotability! I’m so proud.” 

His strong, powerful hands fell on my shoulders. I averted my gaze slightly, embarrassed that he was praising my shitty reference. Well, if we can steal dead language and call it our own, why not a snippet of a song? His kind gaze fell on me again, a thin but warm smile on his sharp face. This was my favorite expression to see on my father’s face, so a natural smile found my own lips.

“Make no mistake, my apple of knowledge. You did not fall far from this magnificent tree. I’ve long thought about what you are - quiet, but kind. Silent, but bursting with expression. I do admit that once I had joked with your sweet mother with regards to whether you were really our son,” his tone took an apologetic turn as his thumbs massage my shoulders. I had thought the same myself, so I can’t find fault with him. My father, Emirus Culaine, was a man of many words. Given to bouts of soliloquy while fighting deadly foes, monologue while cooking dinner, and passionate singing in the shower, he had an exclamation for every event. Meanwhile, Jeal Culaine here said two words a month and kept everything inside that wasn’t words of world-shattering import or saucy quips. As my thoughts went on, I realized he had continued.

“But it could not be more apparent that you are. Beyond your immense talent for sorcery, sciences and warfare, the same beautiful artistic soul burns inside of you. Your power expresses itself in your very body language, and thus you waste no energy on words! At least, that's the explanation we shall go with henceforth. Truth be told, as long as you are happy, your proclivity for silence is unimportant."

Blood rushing to the tips of my ears alerted me to the fact that I was pleased at his compliments, much to my embarrassment. I mean, come on. Every kid wants to be praised by their dad, but when your dad is the kind of guy that gets hunted by "heroes" bent on justice and "righteousness", his praises about magic and warfare are…a little, you know, impressive. The fact that he always wins makes it doubly impressive. The redness of my ears spurred his smile into a passionate grin, and dad shook my shoulders a little.

“The time has been coming for a while now, and I’m sure you’re aware. I’ve lived quite a long time, and I don’t plan to retire from this life. Neither does your mother, so don’t give me that look.. She’s simply out getting stuff for dinner. Mmm, your mother’s biryani is….anyway. Sadly, my talent and powers are waning, and yours are growing by the hour. Right now, with these hands on your shoulders, I can say beyond a doubt that you could defeat me. A villain of circumstance could ask for no greater heir - and that’s not even touching on what a brilliant boy…no, a brilliant man you’ve become to your mother and father.” 

With his eyes shining, my own grew hot and wet. I swallowed hard, but dad’s hands didn’t leave my shoulders. He stroked them slowly with his thumbs. I idly noted how manicured his nails were, even with a bit of dried blood on them.

“I won’t do something so crass as tell my boy not to weep, but do dry those beautiful eyes. You got those wonderfully red and sharp things from your mother, and it’s quite like watching both of the most important people in my life cry at the same time.” 

The vexation in his voice was forced and humorous, so I laughed as the back of my hand cleared the tears from my eyes.

“At least you got my hair. Lucky you. I know it’s quite unrelated, but this,” Emirus shook his hair in his best attempt at a shampoo commercial as he spoke, “is what I got your mother with. I found her fighting off six meddlesome onmyouji in Japan and her first words after we felled them were ‘can I stroke your hair?' Turns out that no matter what, strangers in a strange land will always have their hair fawned over by pretty women.” 

I knew it wasn’t necessarily the time for family stories, but I let him continue. Something gnawed at the pit of my stomach - I was approaching the liminal border between this idyllic life and something altogether different. I felt as though I might never have a chance to hear this story, or any others, if I didn’t let my father continue.

“So of course, we sat there at the roadside for a few hours as she stroked my hair and talked. Their compatriots came, yelled passionately about ‘oni’, ‘yokai’ and ‘bakemono’ and I think there was some business with a Yatagarasu and a Kappa that they had ensnared - all very nasty things, but in the end, I toured the Japanese countryside for fifty years with your mother. Perhaps we’ll go back now.”

My face asked the question that almost left my lips.

“In your training, I detailed why the Culaine line has taken up sorcery and necromancy, no? We’ve taken the darkest arts into our hearts and been scorned for it. We’ve killed kings and common men to pursue our goals. More often than not, our enemies are those that society see as upstanding, righteous people, because we have no choice but to let their names remain pristine to hold this fragile world together. So why have we taken the untread path to prevail in the righteous deeds we need to do?”

I thought for a second before answering. Stupid things had popped into my head without reason, like “for fun?” and “because Jesus said it was cool?” and “free labor outside of government regulations?” but I waved them away. The fact that they seemed like serious choices to be selected from was slightly concerning, though. I was trying to downplay the fear growing in my heart.

"There's no other choice, really. There's things in the dark that don't bow to justice or conventional force. Things that corrupt men at the highest echelons of society. Things that shouldn't be. We do it to save the World."

"That's my boy."

My father’s face darkened as he slid his hand from my shoulders to cradle my face. It felt like a goodbye - like this is the last time I would gaze upon my family for a long time, if not forever. So, responding in kind, I placed my hands on Emirus Culaine’s strong, capable wrists, and held them gently. His eyes misted over, tears rushing out as he smiled bravely. This was tearing him apart, and so, it dug a dagger into my own breast.

“Save the World. Ironic that you say that, dear boy. When you were born, the Seal of the World broke. It was all chance, really. It could have been you, or it could have been someone ten thousand years down the family tree. It's something we've known about for the last five hundred years, but there was no way to...there was no way to know beforehand when someone like you would come into existence. You just…you just have so much potential, so much raw power that the First Layer of the World can’t suppress it’s existence, and so He shattered the Seal. From the Second Layer, demons have been appearing without a summoner for the last eighteen years. They’ve been trying to find you. I have not let them. I was determined to give you a normal childhood while preparing you, and I believe I’ve done it. But I made a mistake.”

My mind drifted back to the fight I had heard take place. Our “basement” was really my father’s magical Sanctum, warded from threats both terrestrial and spiritual. It was where our studies in combat and magic took place, and where I had spent most of my days lately. Then, the mistake…

“I left the wards down when we came back from Shanghai for an hour, as my energy was spent. I could have asked you to put them back up, but you were so focused on learning the Severing Way that I couldn’t bring myself to break your concentration. They found you. I am...sorry, child mine.” 

His words seemed strangely strangled in his throat as he fought to continue on. I'd never seen my father like this. My light. My hero. Consumed by fear and regret in this faltering moment.

"Soritoroth, King of Fire, and apparently the Master of the Second Layer. If he kills you and consumes your power, this world will be bathed in flame in the blink of an eye. If he doesn’t, well…” Dad’s faltering words indicated that the outcomes weren’t favorable if Soritoroth was allowed to roam free either way. The last week came together in my mind. My father’s grimories in various states of disarray. His behaviors. The constant nagging feeling, like something of vast importance being forgotten. His hands left my face and he straightened his verdant green tie, assuming that kingly air that threatened the world at the tip of a blade.

“Take Sarisa and go to the safehouse I showed you last month. Important things will be there. When you leave Sarisa’s, cast Xyrir into the earth. This will be the sign to your mother and I. We’ll finish our biryani and we’ll have a nice chat with the dreadful door-to-door salesmen that are demons of the Second Layer. We can buy the time necessary for you to bury your presence from His sight.” 

I nodded dumbly, even as my hand fished in the cool fridge for another apple. Placing it into his hand, I said what might be the last words to my father. My kind, cruel, brilliant, wicked, scheming, loving, circumstantial villain of a father. For the man who had become a demon to save the world by slaying an Archduke in late June of 1914, he seemed quite small. Human. I loved him more for it.

“I love you, dad. Tell mom I love her. Let’s have enchiladas when we come back. I'll cook this time.” 

This kind of banal exchange is one we had regularly. It was mundane. Painfully normal. I think both of us needed it, though. Emirus Culaine laughed heartily as he opened Wounds in the world, pulling grimories and weapons out and setting them on the kitchen island.

"Hah! I do love your cooking, my prodigal son. I love you too, Jeal. Now go, and slay that damnable Soritoroth for thinking he could lay one misbegotten finger on you! You are the only villain who can save this beautiful world!” 

My father’s laughter was full of mirth as he grasped an ornate flamberge from another dimension, leaning it against the counter. In his left hand was the apple I’d given him, half eaten. I saved this image in my mind, tracing every line of it.

Drawing a line in the air before me, the flesh of reality parted. My lines through this world were like my father’s, but every sorcerer’s magic was just a little different. Where his were like the fabric of night superimposed on reality, mine was significantly more…harsh. Rather than a glittery, glitzy purple stain, mine was a black wound on the skin of the world, edged in dark red. A void. This was the Severing Way - a Master level magic that allowed the caster to cut through the “distance” between themselves and their target. Their target could be anywhere - five feet away, or another dimension. Stepping through the void, I appeared in Sarisa’s room.

She screamed, of course. Well, more of an exclamation than a scream.

Her composure was regained amazingly quick after a mild verbal slap to my face for Severing my way into her room unannounced. Well, it was more for kinda…blowing her off for the last week to study with dad. I smiled, but she felt the anxiety in it, and nodded. She knew things about me, always knew. She knew the secrets I thought I locked away, and accepted them. So of course she’d pieced together that something was happening this week, and this was the culmination - me, showing off a Master level magic by Severing into her locked and warded room. I wouldn’t do that unless I had to, so she also made the logical leap that something was very, very wrong.

Sarisa was also a sorcerer - though her family wasn’t quite into the dark arts and spooky jookie like us. For the moment, Sarisa lived alone, as her family was out of town on what they referred to as “Magister Business.” Always hated that term. Magister. British sorcerers had to be so different. ‘Sorcerer is a term of antiquity,  a magister is someone who commands the proper respect from mastering magica-’ blah blah blah, oh my god, shut up. Also, this is just personal preference, but those that call themselves warlocks can get railed by a manticore. Either they’re actually a warlock and they’re summoning Second Layer beings, or they’re someone who wants to be different without understanding the nuances. Both are equally bad. Smiling again at these thoughts, I followed Sarisa into the walk-in closet.

Grabbing clothes from a set of hangers that dangled lazily, her red hair cascaded down her back in loose curls, ending at the small of her back. It bounced and swayed as she did the “pants shuffle”, rocking her hips side to side to tug the jeans up quickly, and indicated that I should sweep her hair up as she went to throw a crisp black button up over her white tanktop. My hands responded automatically, gathering her hair and sweeping it clean of the incoming shirt. We’d known each other since we were eating dirt, so neither of us had the idiocy to be hung up on things like seeing each other in our underwear or helping each other get dressed real quick. Slipping on her flats, she regarded me with a worried expression, her grey eyes keen and inquisitive.

“We have to go, don’t we?”

I nodded.

“Is it that safehouse you showed me a couple weeks ago? Yeah, guess it would be. Are you…you doing okay, Jeal?”

Another nod.

Sarisa’s soft hand slapped my cheek lightly in reproach. I faked injury, staring at her face with what I imagined was my best “wounded puppy” look. Speaking from a purely objective standpoint, Sarisa was ridiculously pretty. Her skin was fair, decorated with freckles, her grey eyes were stormy and easy to get lost in. Her nose was on the small side, with a gentle curve, and a small scar accented her left nostril. High cheekbones and a somewhat strong jawline gave her a severe profile that made her look regal and unapproachable, but undeniably gorgeous. Objectively. I’m not saying this as an option. I have no personal feelings on the matter. At all.

“Don’t lie to your friends, and especially not your elders. Dickhead.”

The voice was warm and kind despite the words. I wonder which part was directed at my nod and which was directed at the thoughts that came after, since she could always read me like an open book. Favoring her with a shy smile, I went to carve away at reality before stopping suddenly as I remembered the only real restriction of Severing.

You can’t bring another living, sentient being with you. Their body’s own, unique magical field would create oscillating instabilities that destroyed the Wound. A magical item’s magical field could be muted, but not a living being’s. It’s part of why every sorcerer’s “magic” was a little different. Like a fingerprint.

“Did you almost crush us to the size of an atom by forgetting something important?” 

Sarisa’s voice was playful and mocking. She knew the tenants as well as I did and wouldn’t have stepped in, but that didn’t mean she was above laughing at my mistakes. I cleared my throat and nodded at the doorway to her room.

“Come on, downstairs. Looks like we’re walking.” 

I followed Sarisa down the steps and out the front door, watching as she locked the house up. Lost in thought, I helped her apply runes of warding and misdirection. As that was finished, I dropped into a low stance, using my thumbnail to cut a deep gash my palm, freeing a smattering of blood that dripped steadily onto the ground.

With preternatural speed, I drew the rune for Xyrir in the asphalt of the road and slammed a wave of magical energy into it. It glowed in that curious black-ruby-void hue that was my magic for a moment before it crackled into life in an electric red. The asphalt swallowed the rune and a line of red electric fire arced towards my home, some few miles off. Xyrir was a Blood Rune designed by necromancers to expel all Second Layer phenomenon from an intended targeted space. The drawbacks were that the rune had to be absolutely perfect in shape and that the blood must be freshly spilled from the caster, making it nigh-impossible to cast in combat. Though the potency would be severely weakened by the miles separating Sarisa’s house and mine, I was glad to provide just a little help to my dad.

Finding that Sarisa’s hand had come to hold mine some time ago despite the blood, we set off down the road towards the safehouse. Thoughts whirled inside of my head, and went unvoiced as usual. Anxiety rose in my chest, but I pushed it down, attempting to lock it away. It wouldn’t help me now. I think she knew this - she always knew, after all - as she gripped my slippery fingers tightly in her own.

[enixamyram]

I have this headcanon that years in the future Rae and Blessing find an old home video. The footage is of their mothers’ wedding reception. But the audio is just Grandad Killian and Grandpa Rumple arguing somewhere off camera over who should get to dance with Alice first.

Yeah this turned out so much longer than I meant it to! haha! But I really enjoyed writing it too! So thanks for the short idea, Anon!

   “AH!”

   Blessing rolled her eyes, turning to find Rae cringing away from something on the floor. “What?” She asked.

   “A rat! I think I saw a rat!” Rae yelped, ducking a low hanging beam and hurrying away from the corner quickly, her long brown hair bounding behind her as she did.

   “You know, if it’s too much, we could always head back down and just tell mum we couldn’t find it...” Blessing said in an innocent sing-song like voice.

   Immediately Rae’s fear vanished and she turned unamused eyes to her little sister. “Uh, lemme think. No!”

   “Oh come on!” Blessing snapped. “This attic is full of crap! How are we supposed to find anything up here? We might as well just buy new damn decorations and be done with it.”

   They were, of course, talking about the decorations that had been used for their Christening parties. Lucy had come by, looking pretty good for a first time mum, asking if Alice and Robin still had their daughters white dress they had worn that day. It had been enchanted by great aunt Regina to not only stay perfectly presentable and clean, but also to keep the baby wearing it calm during the ceremony. And because they happened to be hanging around, Rae and Blessing had been the ones charged with going into their attic to find the box it was hidden in.

   The only problem was that the attic was a complete mess. They used it more like a large rubbish area than a storage space. Half the things had been thrown inside and so much of it lay broken, while others were just random and neither girl knew why they still had it. Like Blessing’s old doll house. The one she played with for a few months before growing bored, resulting in her painting it a mixture of sickly green and brown colours so it could be an army base instead. What was once a pretty house turned into something unrecognisable.

   “Mum flipped when she saw what I had done,” Blessing smiled, pulling the doll house out from the side and running her hand over the long since dried paint, uneven and lumpy with only some of the actual house peeking out from underneath.

   “I remember,” Rae grinned, kneeling beside her. “And mama just laughed it off and said you were being creative. She spend weeks convincing mum you were going to be an artist and one day the doll house would be worth millions!”

   Blessing snorted, pushing her short blonde hair out of her face. “Yeah, she was way off on that one.”

   “Anyway!” Rae said, before they could get too comfortable. “We’re not here to reminisce!” She slapped her knees and jumped back to her feet. “Come on! Pull all that crap out of the corner. I think I see some untitled boxes hidden in the back.”

   “Pull all that crap out of the corner.” Blessing mimicked quietly, sticking her tongue out and pulling a face. “Do this, Blessing. Do that, Blessing.”

   “You say. And yet you’re still not doing it.” Rae said, crossing her arms and scowling down at her.

   Blessing paused. “I meant for you to hear that.” She said suddenly.

   “Sure you did.” Rae turned and walked over to the room - away from where she was sure she saw the rat - and began digging through some of the piles that had been thrown on top of one another.

   For a moment they fell quiet as they began to search through the many objects in their way. They scrambled through a series of things that seemed to have no rhyme or reason as to why they were stored together - like an old copy of Alice In Wonderland, an faded black top hat, a multicoloured bracelet, a pocket watch that was ticking backwards - and other objects that had clearly been tossed up blindly if even that - like an old glasses case, a jar which seemed to contain actual dirt, an old detective badge that had their grandpa’s name on it from during one of the many curses their family had lived through.

   “This is taking forever,” Blessing moaned, standing up. “Move back.”

   “Blessing! No! Mum said-”

   “Auntie ‘Gina told me to practice.” Blessing shrugged, like that gave her immediate permission.

   “Not in closed spaces!” Rae snapped, jumping up to grab her arm.

   However, before she could, Blessing swept her arms to the side and suddenly everything lifted off the floor. In seconds all the objects they had been digging through began to spin in a cyclone around them, so fast they almost felt like they would be picked up with them. Rae shrieked in surprise and Blessing struggled to control it. In the end, it only lasted a few seconds before something shot out at random and hit Rae on the shoulder, sending her tumbling into Blessing and causing everything to crash loudly to the floor with them.

   A second later... “WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON UP THERE?!”

   “Nothing mum!” Blessing said quickly, pushing Rae off her and crawling towards the trap door, looking down innocently. “Just tripped over something!”

   Robin scowled up at her. “Rae?” She called.

   Rae glared at Blessing as she crawled to her side. But just before looking down at her mother, she forced herself to smile. “Yeah, she tripped over me of all things. Sorry, mum. We’ll keep the noise down.”

   Robin continuing frowning up at them before shaking her head with as sigh, knowing they wouldn’t give each other up like they would have once when they were more naive. “Just... Find the damn box with the dress.”

   After their mother had left, the girls turned away from the trap door and breathed a sigh of relief. Blessing glanced at Rae and smiled shyly. “Thanks.”

   “Thanks nothing.” Rae groaned, standing and rubbing her soon to be bruised shoulder. “You owe me.”

   “Deal.” Blessing nodded, sitting back on her heels. Even if she was bossy, she knew she could count of Rae when she needed her.

   It was then she caught sight of something that had skid across the floor when everything fell back down. It was an old red DVD case, but it had no title or picture on the front and neither did the DVD sitting safely inside.

   “What’s this?” Blessing blinked.

   “A DVD?” Rae frowned.

   Out of all the jumble of objects sitting in the attic, this was probably the thing that stood out most. Why would they throw a DVD up here? They had a bookshelf full of them downstairs, and any they no longer wanted, they just gave away to friends and family who did.

   “Let’s watch it!” Blessing said immediately, her curiosity piqued.

   “Blessing, we have to find the dress before we can go downstairs,” Rae said strictly.

   “Who said we have to go downstairs?” Blessing grinned cheekily.

   “Are you kidding?!” Rae hissed. “After that?!”

   “Oh come on! This is just a small one and it’s easy. I’ve done it a dozen times before.” Blessing said, laying the DVD on the floor, opening the case and sitting cross legged in front of it.

   “Oh my God, Blessing! You are unbelievable!” Rae snapped.

   Ignoring her, Blessing waved her hand at the DVD. A golden yellow light lifted from the reflective material, reaching up in a single thick line before opening into a wide circle, almost like a flat flower. The circle was as big as Blessing’s head and shone brightly for a few seconds before the imagine inside cleared and the DVD began to play.

   Instantly it was clear it wasn’t a normal movie. It was a home video. One of a large crowd that had gathered, all wearing expensive and fancy looking clothing - beautiful dresses for the woman and handsome suits for the men - and there were decorations stretching all over the trees and across the ground. As the camera moved, it showed a shot of a long white table, stuffed with dishes of food and half eaten plates and a tall layered cake that had already been cut into to show a thick layer of chocolate sponge hiding beneath the white icing. And finally, the camera moved again and Blessing caught sight of a pair of familiar faces standing in the middle of it all.

   “Its mama and mum!” She gasped.

   “What?” Rae frowned, finally looking over her shoulder at her.

   “It’s their wedding video!”

   Without hesitating, Rae scrambled over towards her, sitting down by her side and looking at the glowing image. Sure enough, Alice and Robin were stood in a pair of beautiful white dresses, smiling at one another and looking just as in love as they did to this day. They were much younger, probably in their mid to late twenties, and yet somehow they had barely changed at all, except maybe that Robin’s hair was longer than it was now.

   “Oh wow. So this is where this was...” Rae mumbled. Blessing shot her a puzzled expression and she shrugged. “I heard mama asking about it a few weeks back. They must have tossed it up here accidentally.”

   “Make you wonder what else is here by accident.” Blessing mused. There were some things she noticed that genuinely seemed like they were special, yet they were thrown up here to be lost.

   They momentarily forgot their mission and sat back, watching the video in an almost silence. There was a sight buzz of conversation from the DVD but nothing clear as whoever controlled the camera walked slowly through the many people in his way. They got a shot of almost everyone. Great aunt Regina looking beautiful in a purple dress, grandma Zee in an emerald silk, Lucy in a pink frock, Henry in a navy suit with his wife dressed in blue...

   “... Don’t see how this is even up for debate!” Came a sudden sharp voice, not long after the camera man - who turned out to be Naveen - set the camera down on the table and seemingly forgot to stop the recording.

   “Is that...?” Blessing frowned.

   “Grandpa.” Rae nodded. She’d recognise his voice anywhere.

   “Because, whether you like it or not, I’m a part of her life as well.” Came a second familiar voice.

   “Gramps?” Blessing giggled, still frowning.

   “I never said you weren’t. Believe it or not, but I am happy with that. I know how much you looked after her while I couldn’t... But that doesn’t change anything!” Rogers snapped, his voice very clear now, like they were standing directly behind the camera but still out of view.

   “I think it does.” Rumple’s voice said stiffly.

   “Of course you do.”

   “What are they arguing about?” Blessing frowned.

   “No idea...” Rae mumbled. As far as she was aware, Rogers and Rumple were close friends. They always got on when everyone got together and retold stories all the time of their past adventures after they had set aside their differences from a feud neither of them really liked going into.

   “I was there for her, I think that should have some say in things.”

   “You were there because I couldn’t be! Which, I’m grateful for, but still doesn’t change anything!”

   “Well why don’t we ask Alice?”

   “No. And not because I’m worried she wouldn’t pick me but because I’m not leaving this up for debate.”

   “What are they arguing about? Come on! Give us some exposition already!” Rae demanded, leaning towards the glowing image.

   “If this were a movie they would have explained by now,” Blessing grumbled, resting her chin on her fist.

   “Fast forward it.” Rae commanded. “See how long they go at it for.”

   Waving her hand in front of the image, Blessing sped up the story for a few seconds before letting it play.

   “What are you two spitting about over here?” Came Tiana’s voice.

   “It’s nothing.” Rogers said with a heavy sigh.

   “Clearly not. So talk, what’s gotten your bowties in a twist?” Tiana asked.

   “Finally!” Rae said, rolling her eyes and sitting back.

   “Yes! Tell!” Blessing said eagerly, drumming her hands on the wooden floorboard in front of her.

   But before they could heard the answer, the camera jerked and was picked up off the table. “Oh, here it is.” Naveen’s grinning face appeared, smiling down at the lens a she began to walk away. “Woops, left it on... Better save some battery for the dances later.”

   “NO!” Rae and Blessing cried as the cheerful man switched the camera off just before they could hear Rogers fading reply.

   For a moment the girls stared at the blank screen in frustrated silence, waiting as it turned on and they were suddenly greeted with family and friends wishing the brides luck on their future. It was sweet and all, but not what either of the girls wanted to see. Blessing growled and waved her hand, causing the image and the light to disappear back into the DVD, sitting back and sulking.

   “Now we’ll never know what they were arguing about.” Rae grumbled angrily.

   “You know, you could just ask one of us.” Came a raspy voice behind them.

   The girls jumped and spun to see Rumplestiltskin pulling himself up onto the edge and sitting with his legs hanging down on top of the ladder. There was thick a sheen of sweat on his forehead and one of his hands were shaking badly as he rest it beside him, wheezing slightly as he sat back.

   “Gramps!” Blessing gasped, jumping up and running to kneel beside him. “Mama said you shouldn’t be exerting yourself.”

   “You mothers say a lot,” Rumple smirked. “I’m old. Not invalid.” He suddenly coughed hard into his shaking hand, wheezing even worse than before by the time he was done.

   “Look pretty close to invalid to me.” Rae said, shrugging.

   “Desirae!” Blessing snapped.

   “Cheeky brat,” Rumple grinned, causing Rae to giggle before she moved to sit opposite him, letting her own legs swing down the open trap door as well.

   “So what were you and Grandpa arguing about then?” Rae asked.

   Rumple chuckled again. “We were fighting over who got to dance with your mother first. I argued he got to dance with her first during the engagement party so it was my turn. Which I still think was a very valid argument.” He coughed again, groaning at the ache along his back.

   “Guessing you lost the argument?” Rae said.

   “Not quite.” Rumple said, nodding towards the DVD. Blessing took the hint and quickly waved her hand at it. The DVD light appeared, carrying over to shine in front of them and playing where it had left off. After a few directions they fast forward to the first dances and the light showed Alice, holding Rogers’ in one hand and Rumple’s in the other, pulling them both onto the dance floor. “If you had told me three centuries ago I’d be dance with the pirate at a gay wedding... Probably would have turned you into a toad and squished ya.”

   “Oh wow, that is the most awkward dance I have ever seen!” Rae laughed, watching as the two men took turns spinning Alice around and moving together on the dance floor. However Alice was the only one who didn’t look awkward. She just looked happy. Beaming up at the two men and swinging back and forth between them, laughing loudly over the music the whole time.

   “It was a good day.” Rumple said, voice wheezing slightly again before he coughed hard. Blessing put a hand on his shoulder worriedly and even Rae’s smile dimmed slightly.

   “You okay, Gramps?” Blessing asked.

   “I’m fine, girl. Don’t start acting like your mother. Bad enough I can’t even go for a walk now without her clinging to my arm the whole time like I’m gonna fall over.” Rumple said, rolling his eyes.

   “She worries.” Rae mumbled. “We do too. You shouldn’t have climbed up here on your own.”

   “Oh pack it in, the lot of you. I’m not going to be an old man who sits in a chair and whines about life as he slowly decays.” Rumple said, waving her off. “Now, where this dress your mothers sent you for?”

   “No idea.” Rae said, glancing back around them. “This whole place is a mess. There’s so much junk up here!”

   Rumple smiled at her, raising an eyebrow. “Nothing here is junk. It’s all precious to your mothers. Things Alice collected over the years during her travels or gave Robin or Robin gave her.” He coughed hard. “Why do you think they’ve stored so much? You know your ma’s sentimental.” He looked at Blessing. “Anyway, why haven’t you just poofed the damn dress into your hand already?”

   “You didn’t hear the banging from before?” Rae yelped.

   “The whole street heard that bang, dearie.” Rumple chuckled. “This is why you need a proper teacher.” He faced Blessing. “Shut your eyes. Picture the dress. Imagine it as clearly as you can... Now imagine you’re holding it...”

   Blessing jumped when a light material fluttered into her hands. She opened her eyes and looked down to find the dress sitting in her palms. “I did it!” She squealed.

   “You did.” Rumple nodded proudly. “Now, let’s get out of here. The dust is choking me.” He coughed hard enough to shake his body before he moved slowly, lowering himself down the ladder with Rae and Blessing hovering close by in case he fell.

   After he was safely back on the ground, picking up where he had leaned his cane against the wall, Rae hurried down after, copying her mother and standing close by his side, prepared for if he should stumble. He had yet to have a proper fall, but he did often shake in a way that made everyone nervous. Of course, no one had dared yet suggest a wheelchair but Rae had a feeling ma was getting close.

   “Come on, Blessing! Let’s go!” Rae said impatiently, not bothering to look back.

   “Come on, Blessing let’s go. Do as I say, Blessing, blah, blah, blah.” Blessing mimicked, folding the dress neatly in her hand before pausing and waving at the DVD. It disappeared and reappeared in her hand in a cloud of yellow smoke. Smiling she carried that and the dress back down before folding the ladder back up, pushing it into place with the help and watching the trap door automatically shutting after it.

   “Ma! Mum!” Blessing shouted, running passed her sister and Gramps. “Guess what we found!”

[shark-myths]

4. wilson (expensive mistakes)

part 4 of shark-myth’s mania meta series

so even though there are a few posts of preliminary screaming about this song already (here and here), I haven’t done a proper crawl through the lyrics yet! hold onto your butts, kids. here we go.

Wilson is named for the volleyball in Castaway who is Tom Hanks’ best friend and sole companion as he sloooowly sinks into madness. The bond is imaginary, created entirely in Hanks’ head out of his desperation. There is no hope of the relationship ever being reciprocal—Wilson, by definition, cannot participate in it the way Hanks would want him to. Isn’t that an interesting choice of dynamics to frame this particular song with? ISN’T IT. The initial assumption I made on was that Pete was the Castaway (Pete with his endless endless ENDLESS way down south stuff, Pete with his introducing the song as ‘this is about the person you want to run away to a desert island with’). but later, when we get the video, that perspective shifts: it is Patrick holding the volleyball, Patrick from whom Wilson is violently ripped away in the Beyond the Video.

pair that with the soundplay-over-wordplay quality of certain verses of this song and the mentions of being drunk (which as quite rare in the FOB discography, but quite plentiful in the solo Stump discography), and I think Patrick had more of a hand in writing these lyrics than usual. (oh my god I promise that was an ACCIDENTAL youngblood pun.) I think that there is some sharing of voice, here: some of these verses are from Pete’s perspective, and some of them are from Patrick’s. sonically and thematically, as I have argued before, I anchor this song firmly in the 09 era, around the time of I Don’t Care (this song’s twin, I think) and the hiatus.

the song opens immediately with some classic p. steezy lyrical markers: stutter-singing and emphasis/rhyme by repetition.

 I was I was I was I was Gonna say something that would solve all our problems But then I got drunk and I forgot what I was talking about I forgot what I was talking about

If the lyric was got high, I’d think Pete wrote it. But it’s not, and I think this bit is Patrick. It’s the feeling of being the one with the power to say the one thing that would fix it all, but losing your nerve, or fucking up your intention. What could Patrick have said in 2009 that would have fixed every problem faced by the band, by he and Pete in particular? here you are in shark-myth’s creepy museum of queer conspiracy, so I think you know what I’m going to say. I love you. Patrick could have said Pete, I love you too.

and god. wasn’t it a mistake, not to? didn’t it cost them—everything?

Don't you, don't you, don't you know

There's nothing more cruel than to be loved by everybody

There's nothing more cruel than to be loved by everybody but you

Than to be loved by everybody but you, but you

this verse is pure Pete. Pete Wentz, adored and loathed in equal parts, jumping his own fucking shark in 2009, a media mogul and a reality star and our punching bag and our golden son all at once. (aside: even in their February 2018 interview in UPSET magazine, Pete still expressed that he’d rather be hated than ignored. this explains so much about pete wentz.) And all he fucking wants is for Patrick to love him, and he can make the rest of the world hang on his every word, and it doesn’t mean a fucking thing to him. Patrick is what he wants, what he can’t have. and it’s so fucking cruel.

If I could get my shit together I'm gonna run away and never see any of you again Never see any of you again

This is pure way-down-south escapism. I’ve got a whole post about it, linked above, if you want to hear more about that. It’s very consistent with 2009, and fits well as a line of thinking that preluded the hiatus.

I hope the roof flies off and I get blown out into space I always make such expensive mistakes I know it's just a number but you're my 8th wonder I'll stop wearing black when they make a darker color

This verse is definitely Pete’s voice. We’ve got the pop culture Wes Anderson quote, the pop culture Addams Family quote, and the sharp, clever wordplay to prove it. Pete loves Wes Anderson, and very specifically, this quote from Moonrise Kingdom is pulled from a movie about two oddball kids against the rest of the world who decide to run away from their mundane, misunderstood lives in the name of their true love. their love and relationship is very underdeveloped in the film, very adolescent, very becoming; it serves as an echo and an amplifier of each kid’s sense of not fitting in, of isolation. They choose each other as the miracle solution, the cure, to that isolation; an adult looking at their escape plan sees the futility of it: running away with someone else, someone who is totally untested in love, someone you have made into this huge lifechanging idol in your head but you don’t know very well in real life? they’re going to disappoint you. you’re going to get to mexico and you’re going to find yourself, and all your shitty feels, right there. You have to find a way to fit into your own life before you can fit there comfortably with anyone else. The movie is a good one, and it hits every fucking note for me when we layer it in next to pre-hiatus Peterick and the choice of the Wilson/Chuck Noland relationship as the title of this song.

‘I know it’s just a number’ evokes the weird fixation on math and accounting that some of their lyrics have had through the years, which I will write on someday when I sort out my thoughts about it. I like here too the acknowledgment of artifice; we get it again in TLOTRO, with ‘tell me I’m the only one, even if it’s not true.’ Words and symbols, endearments and declarations, we choose those: we wear them. They do not reflect a true quality. They reflect choices. Pete’s saying, listen, this doesn’t have to mean anything to you, but it means a lot to me; you are the most wonderful thing in the world to me. There’s the great pyramid, there’s the hanging garden of Babylon, there’s the temple of Artemis, and there’s you: Patrick fucking Stump of the golden heart and marble thighs. Which. Fucking same.

The Wednesday Addams quote is of course a fucking delight. It says ‘I’m intense, I’m overwrought, I don’t give a fuck. I’m only ever going to double down. I will never back off. I don’t care if you think I’m ridiculous, I am too much, and I always will be.’ I treasure this line. I sing it to my cat like, several times every day (which i understand is the normal amount)

On the wrong side of p-p-paradise And when I say I'm sorry I'm late, I wasn't showing up at all I really mean I didn't plan on showing up at all

The first line here ties well to Y&M—I woke up on the wrong side of reality—and I love the way it highlights the gap between what we say, for the sake of social lubricant, and what we really mean. Pete and Patrick are both self-identified hermits—Patrick has been speaking a lot lately about his horror of interacting with others, and Pete has said that his main goal on any given day is to speak to as few people as possible — so this line could really be either of them.

Don't you, don't you, don't you know I hate all my friends, I miss the days when I pretended I hate all my friends, I miss the days when I pretended with you I miss the days when I pretended with you, with you

OKAY IF THIS ISN’T ABOUT TRYST THEORY I DON’T KNOW WHAT IS

 Uses of Pretend in Fall Out Boy Relevant History:

the whole song The End of Pretend, written by Pete during the hiatus

"Pretend you don’t remember,” written by Patrick during the hiatus

“Don’t pretend you ever forgot about me”

“I’m outside the door, invite me in, so we can go back and play pretend”

“But I can’t just pretend we weren’t lovers first”

‘I hate all my friends’ is a good time-anchor too. We have the friends who only like you for your hotel suites, we have the making a few more fake friends, we have pete’s endless blog posts about fake people who don’t really care about him—this mentality is very, very indicative of pre-hiatus Pete, especially during his disillusionment in the Sell Out Era, when he moves from ‘the world’s not waiting for five tired boys in a broken down van/these friends are golden’ to a much more cynical ‘sham friends/friends just because we move units/we’re only good because you can have almost famous friends/these friends, they don’t love you/I’ve got a lot of friends…who are just black holes/my friends all lie and say they only want the best wishes from me’ perspective.

If we hadn't done this thing I think I'd be a medicine man So I could get high on my own supply whenever I can I became such a strange shape, such a strange shape From trying to fit in

THIS BIT HERE! This is SO GOOD! The song really shifts all of a sudden at the end. Pete has described himself of this era as a drugstore cowboy, and speaks very openly (especially in this amazing interview with playboy that will make you fucking weep, I need to own this magazine, yes for the articles, and in post-divorce articles about his mental state at that time) about his misuse of prescriptions during that time. so this is pretty obvious: if they hadn’t done the band, if they hadn’t somehow made it work, the only kind of future he can see for himself is dealing some kind of artificial high and keeping himself medicated, insulated, high above all the rest. Interesting, the lyrics say my own supply, but the actual track says our own supply. That shifts the content for me, a little: it makes it more about a collaborative magic that he makes with someone else. It brings me squarely right to the drug use peterick metaphors, the way Pete has written about Patrick as a drug and a high for so many years.

Finally, I love more than anything this line: ‘I became such a strange shape from trying to fit in.’ This, here in the strange tone-shift of the last verse, takes a step back. This is present-day Pete looking back at himself, the way he became contorted and wracked from trying to please everyone. He’s looking at the Pete who ran away from Chicago and floundered in the neon emptiness of LA, getting drunk and photographed and letting his body be used as a dramatic set piece in the flashbulb frenzy of up-and-coming starlets. He’s looking at the Pete who sold himself cheaply, because he knew he wasn’t worth much. He’s looking at the weirdo behind the awkward tragedy of Fresh Only Bakery, the Pete who bit off his own tongue so he never again had to hear himself speak. ARE YOU CRYING YET? I AM. But the line isn’t just sadness: because it shows us, now, the solid ground that present-day Pete is standing on. The distance he now has from his former life as a demolition derby heart. It shows us how well he knows himself, and what he needs, and what he is newly capable of giving.

To sum up: PETERICK IS DEFINITELY REAL

Love you guys! more MANIA meta soon, and keep your eyes peeled from some v day peterick on wednesday 💘 💘 💘 part 0

part 1

part 2

part 3

[planettaeil]

Title: I Mean It

Title: I Mean It  Type: Slight-Angst(????), Fluff Characters: Reader X Taeyong (ft. Taeil and Haechan/Donghyuck) Word Count: 2, 287 A/N: Welcome to my first ever Taeyong scenario! Have fun!

Summary: It all started when he accidentally said “I love you”. 

~ “I swear to God, Taeil, if you’re going to burn my kitchen you’ll never see the light again!” You warned as you watched him taking out a pot and ingredients for the chinese food he’s about to make.  He simply rolled his eyes without saying a word and continued working on his masterpiece. “Do you even know how to cut vegetables? Jesus, I don’t trust your cooking skills.” You continued.  He stopped cutting the vegetable to glare at you. “Aren’t you having bad cramps? Why are you even here in the kitchen?” He asked, giving you a look. You pouted and sat on the counter with your right hand massaging your stomach to ease the pain you’re feeling. You continued to watch Taeil cook his special Chinese food that will, according to him, make you forget the pain.  Your cheeks slightly turned red as you felt a bit embarrassed that Taeil knew about your monthly issue. Taeyong probably told him about it, because he was whom you originally called to come over.  “I’m bored and I don’t even know what you’re doing here. I thought Taeyong’s coming over?” You asked. The delicious aroma of the stir-fried noodles and the sautéed ingredients hit your nostrils, making your stomach growl. He ignored your question as he continued to do his usual thing.  “But where’s Taeyong?” You repeated because you felt like Taeil didn’t hear you at first.  “Wow, we felt useless here, noona. Thank you so much for appreciating our presence in your little apartment. Thank you so much,” Donghyuck, who was busy playing with his phone in the living room earlier, suddenly replied as he entered the kitchen and bowed to you in his usual sarcastic self. You almost wanted to smack his head but you couldn’t bring yourself to do it since he’s practically like your own little brother. Plus, you wouldn’t want your already foul mood (due to the period you had) get worse over some stupid sarcastic reply.  “I’m so close to hitting you with a spoon, Donghyuck,” you narrowed your eyes in an attempt to intimidate the younger boy but he just mocked you instead before running out of the kitchen with an orange juice he got from the refrigerator.  “God, Donghyuck will be the death of me,” you commented as you rubbed your temples. Your head slowly looked over to Taeil as he gave you a mischievous smile.  “What are you smiling about?” “You’re getting obvious, (Y/N),” he spoke up while stirring. “What’re you talking about?” He refused to look at you and instead saw the mischievous glint in his eyes as he added more spices to the pot. You knew Taeil too well (since you always spend time with him and the boys) and that look on his face just meant that he’s about to tease you.  “I know you have a crush on Taeyong-hyung but you don’t have to make it obvious. I mean, why do you keep on asking about him when Donghyuck and I are here?"  "Did you eat an expired pancake for breakfast? Where the heck did that come from?” You asked in disbelief, but truly, you tried to cover up the shockness in that moment because you’re afraid Taeil might end up telling Taeyong about you crushing on him.  You never told anyone about the silly crush you had on Taeyong (okay, maybe except for Jaehyun, your second closest friend among all the boys) but it seemed like Taeil noticed everything. There’s definitely nothing wrong with liking Taeyong but then you don’t want to ruin the friendship you two had. You had decided that it’s better to leave things this way than get awkward with the person you’re closest to.  Donghyuck then suddenly appeared out of nowhere, making a heart with his hands as he danced around the kitchen, well, attempted to ballet to be exact. You almost wanted to trip him when he walked past you. “(Y/N) and Taeyong sitting on a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!” “Yah!! Donghyuck, I do not have a crush on Taeyong! What I’m trying to say is that, I called him to come over but you were the one who came. I just wanted to know why he can’t come, not that I’m complaining or anything,” you explained, but mainly to Taeil because you know Donghyuck probably won’t be convinced with it. "It’s not what I meant, oh my God.“  ”Excuses!“ He sang and finally left the kitchen. Thank God.  "Gosh, he’s so childish,” you said.  “I am a child,” he called out from the living room.  You heard Taeil chuckled, “He was about to come over but he forgot to give the demo of his song to PD-nim so he asked me and Hyuck to come here instead and prepare you food." And that made sense.  "Don’t worry, noona. Your crush said he’ll come here as soon as he finishes something at the company,” Donghyuck reappeared again, oh dear Lord, to stand beside Taeil and took a spoonful of the food. You were about to spit a witty reply and teach the youngest a lesson when you heard a soft thud on the living room and felt a warm presence behind you.  “Who is this crush you’re talking about, Donghyuck?” You heard a familiar voice asked as he moved closer to you, wrapping his left arm around your shoulder while you still sat on the chair by the counter. Taeil almost choked on the water he’s drinking while the youngest just took the opportunity to make fun of you. You knew well it was Taeyong and you were worried about what the other two boys would say.  “Oh, hyung, you know him very well,” he replied.  “Really? Hmm, is he from the company?” Taeyong asked and you sent Taeil telepathic messages to tell Donghyuck to stop whatever he’s doing because he wouldn’t look at you. If you weren’t suffering from bad cramps, you would go and beat the hell out of this mischievous maknae.  “Yep! And they just debuted so..” “So he’s from our group, huh?"  Before Donghyuck could open his mouth, you turned around and greeted Taeyong with a sudden hug, completely surprising him who immediately caught you in his arms. Donghyuck, who was now standing behind Taeyong, had a teasing look on his face and you took the opportunity to secretly tell him off.  You heard Taeyong chuckled at your sudden outburst and felt his hand lightly massaging your neck. "Woah, missed me that much, huh?” He asked and you could basically hear the two boys faking a loud cough.  “You wish. I’m just feeling sick,” it wasn’t entirely a lie since the cramps you’re feeling got worse. He hugged you tighter before ruffling your hair. He then looked at the two younger boys and smiled.  “Are you two gonna stay for awhile? We can watch movies or play ga-” “I’d love to! I’m sure (Y/N) noona won’t mind us interrupting your dat’-” Taeil, like the angel that he really is, almost fell from his chair as he immediately covered Donghyuck’s mouth, completely saving you from the possible teasing again.  God bless his soul.  “Actually, we have to go. PD-nim wanted to see Donghyuck and I for a meeting,” he smiled and dragged the maknae out of the kitchen.  “He does? I thought we’re on our break?” “Just shut up, okay,” you heard the older boy said through gritted teeth and mouthed you something like “You owe me.” before exiting the kitchen and your apartment.  “Jesus, I’m getting stressed.” “What’s wrong with Taeil and Donghyuck?” Taeyong asked as he went behind the counter to check the Chow Mien in the pot. He took a plate and put everything there together with hot tea for your cramps. “Anyway, I’m sorry it took me so long to get here.” You took the cup of tea and smiled, “I had the boys with me earlier so it’s okay."  "Eat up. We don’t want you to get sick, now, do we?” He took another spoon and took the spot beside you, and as cheesy as it looked, he took a spoonful of the food and offered it to you.  “My hands are perfectly fine, Tae,” you can’t help but blush at his bold antics and you tried hard not to overthink. He just shook his head and nudged your side to tell you to just eat it. Without much choice, you ate it and he looked so pleased with himself.  Now that it’s just the two of you, you suddenly felt self-conscious and awkward since he was what Donghyuck and Taeil teased you about. Yes, it’s true that you like him a lot but you just don’t want to vocally admit it to yourself (except for Jaehyun) and Taeyong.  “You okay? You look pale,” he touched your forehead and tucked the lose hair from your messy bun behind your ear. “Come on, let’s get you to bed. You shouldn’t be out here.” You stood up from the chair and he gently led you to your room, his warm arms delicately wrapped around your waist. As expected, Taeyong took good care of you.  After assisting you to bed, he immediately went back with a bowl of chow mien, pills, water, a pint of your favourite ice cream, heating pad, and a laptop with a romance movie being played on it. It was everything you’ve secretly asked for and you were surprised how he managed to prepare everything you need.  “How did you know I needed all these things?” You asked as you applied the heating pad.  “I made my own research,” he replied with a smile, taking a spoonful of ice cream and fed it to you. He even used the same spoon to feed himself with your favourite coffee flavoured ice cream.  “I hope it wasn’t that burdensome,” you chuckled.  “I just wanted to make you feel better because I care for you,” he continued as he crawled under the sheets to cuddle with you.  You chuckled at the thought of him going through a lot of articles about periods. But for you, his presence is honestly enough to make you feel better.  He moved closer to you to wrap an arm around you, pulling you closer to him- so close that you could smell the sweet smell of his natural scent and cologne.  It was truly intoxicating and addicting but you tried to stop yourself from burying your face on his neck and smell more of him. No, that would be too weird. And awkward.  “And I’ve read that a good cuddle is the best remedy. And I’m the best at it,” you basically had your face on his chest so when you looked up, his lips where literally inches away from your forehead.   “And also, I’ve read that kisses on the forehead are miracle-maker,” right on cue, he kissed your forehead and oh god, it made you flush and had the sudden urge to bury yourself alive.  “You have to admit that I’m the best at this,” he whispered, his breath tickling your skin. You just looked up at him again and smiled before burying your face on his chest.  He was very confusing, making it very hard for you to decide whether to confess or not. In times like this, you would feel your heart flutter from his sweet gestures and words, but there would also be some instances where he’ll make it obvious that he’s really not into you.  He’ll sometimes talk about this girl that he said he likes so much from the company and that he can’t stop thinking about her. But there are also times when he do something like this.  You two decided to watch the movie, though you secretly preferred to just spend the whole day cuddling and hugging.  “You’re right. Forehead kisses are indeed miracle-maker,” you whispered before drifting off to sleep with Taeyong’s raspy voice singing you a sweet song.

You’ve been sleeping for almost 5 hours when you heard a soft noise in the living room. You went out and saw Taeyong by the door as he put on his shoes.  “Where are you going?” “Jiwoon called me. She said she’s sick so I have to come over and take care of her,” you nodded but you can’t ignore the fact that your heart was beating so fast. Sure, call it jealousy, but hearing your friend’s name made your chest tighten. You don’t know what to feel.  So he’s generally sweet and caring towards anyone sick, huh? Not that you don’t want him to go, but it just made you realised that he’s not taking care of you for some special reason. Maybe he’ll do the same to Jiwoon, yeah? Maybe he’ll feed her, kiss her forehead, and cuddle with her to make her feel better too.  He must’ve felt it was his duty as a friend. Nothing more, nothing less. “I’ve been very worried about Jiwoon these past days so I have to quickly come over.” What the hell, (Y/N). You need to get your head checked. Did he just do that to simply make you feel better? Well, you did hear him say he has to go to Jiwoon’s house to take care of her. After all, the two of them are closer than anyone. Maybe even closer than you two.  “I just made a soup so eat it while it’s still hot. Take care, okay?” You nodded your head as he stood by the door.  “I’ll be back. I love you,” he smiled before kissing your cheeks and went out of the door.  Touching your cheek where his lips just touched, you asked yourself, “What the hell was that?”