#well this upcoming show is just for fun we already did our graded one

[cemeterygore]

wednesday is the day before break and i have a chem test and a soc project due that day yayy. tho i am partially glad for this test as our unit is stoichiometry and its not Terrible or anything i would just like to move on

[letarasstuff]

One kind of intern

(A/N): This was requested by @greenslifestuff :) It took me a week or two because I had to interact with my friends in order to get the inspiration I needed 😅 Summary: The team gets to work with a gen z teenager. Let’s see how that goes.

Warnings: Swearing and gen z humour

Wordcount: 2k

✨Masterlist✨

___________________________________

“Team, this is (Y/N) (L/N). She will be interning for the upcoming three months alongside this team. (Y/N), these are Agents Emily Prentiss, Jennifer Jareau, David Rossi, Derek Morgan and Doctor Spencer Reid and our Technical Analyst Penelope Garcia”, Hotch introduces a teenage girl to his team like this happens every day.

“Wait Hotch, we don’t get interns. What is she going to do, no offense, but getting us coffee or what?” Morgan eyes her suspiciously. She looks like any teenager grabbed from the street. A band t-shirt, a torn pair of jeans and a cup from starbucks in her hands. Nothing you would expect to even enter a federal building.

“No offence taken, Agent Morgan. I know having an ugly pickly bitch working with professionals seems weird. It’s just I have summer break and I thought it would be a good thing on my resumé if I already interned in the FBI, because I just graduated and I wanted to go to the academy this fall. But if you wanna do a vibe check with me first, that’s fine by me. Whatever floats your boat.”

The room falls silent. Then out of all sudden everyone turns to Garcia, who puts her arms up in defense. “I don’t even know half the things she said, ask her yourself.”

That’s how the BAU gets their first contact with Gen Z culture and let me tell you it is a wild ride, so buckle up your seats, drink your tea up because we aren’t going to make any stops.

“(Y/N), I need you to come with me. We are going to the M.E. getting the latest reports from our last case”, Morgan tells her while passing her desk. In the blink of an eye the teenager is ready, putting her denim jacket with various pins and bits of patches on.

“Derek, can we get starbucks on the way back? The pumpkin spiced latte is back on their menu and I am on withdrawal. Pleaaaaaasseeee”, she looks at him with a pouty face. Morgan smiles. “Ok, under one condition: We both get one, take awesome pictures and send them to the group chat and then we act like we didn’t get them anything, but we actually buy them their usual.” He got the hang of it pretty fast. “Deal, Sis.”

While they are in the car on their way to the M.E. the agent groans. “Ugh, road work ahead.” “Uh yeah, I sure hope it does!” Morgan eyes her from the side. His whole demeanor says ‘old and confused’.

“What was that, kid?” But (Y/N) begins to laugh. “Don’t you know vines? Short dumb and funny clips people made?” It’s safe to say that this afternoon he learns to speak in vines, getting on Rossi’s nerves because nothing makes sense anymore.

“Ok, I heard you wanted to become a profiler. So I thought I would show you some old cases and then you try to figure out the profile. I’ll present them to you like I do to the team, alright?” JJ and (Y/N) sit in her office, safe from curious eyes. “As right as the law, Ma’am.” 

“Good, this is a case from several years ago. It happened here in D.C. Three men were murdered execution style in the middle of the night in an alleyway. They were all from different backgrounds. The only connection between them was that they were evicted for some form of sexual harassment or assault. The UnSub also had a signature: A shot into their groin while the men were alive.”

Unfaced by the presented facts (Y/N) pops a piece of gum into her mouth. “It do be like that.”

“What?” “I mean, it’s obviously a woman. She experienced any harassment or assault herself. She also has excess to the files, I assume she works as a paralegal, since most of them are women. Female serial killers are extremely rare, but they are better organized. The only thing left to say is good for her getting revenge.” The blonde looks at the teenager with wide eyes.

“I-I guess but you know you can’t say anything like that to Hotch, do you?” She asks concerned. “JJ, I’m dead inside, not dumb. I know this.” But the agent shrugs. “Good. Though I really want to see his face.” “Mood.”

Penelope Garcia is the closest one to relate to Gen Z culture, since a great part of her time is spent on the internet. She happily learns about all the phrases and their meanings as well as the newest trends and hypes.

“Purp is sus, I tell you”, is heard from the lair into the hallway. Spencer and Derek look at each other with concern on their faces. “Do you think they are alright or do we have to-” “IT’S A SELF REPORT I SWEAR PENNY! YOU WORK WITH PROFILERS IN GANDALF’S NAME!” Spencer’s question is answered by that.

“Baby girl, crazy girl, are you doing good? Do you need help or something?” The older one asks warily. But it’s drowned in another screaming match. “I TOLD YOU PURP WAS THE IMPOSTER BUT YOU HAVE TO TELL THEM I VENTED WHEN I DIDN’T! I WANT ALL TIKTOKS I SENT YOU BACK!” “YOU DON’T DARE TO REVOKE MY TIKTOK PRIVILEGES!” “WATCH ME GARCIA!”

“Whoa girls, what about taking a break?” Morgan tries to diffuse the situation. “Yes, I think JJ got new pictures of Henry and Emily brought cookies this morning”, Spencer adds.

The girls, who mere seconds ago were ready to jump each other's throats, look at the other one. “You get the cookies and I go to JJ, deal?” (Y/N) asks. “Deal!” Without sparing the boys another glance they run out of the lair. Their devices are still lit up. A red figure shines into their faces. ‘AMONG US’ is written underneath it. “I think we get too old for this stuff, don’t we Reid?”

Spencer always thought he was young. Of course, his mind is older, but physically he is not that old. But the intern proves him wrong. And boy is he wrong.

“Spencer, is there anything interesting to know today?” (Y/N) takes a seat on his desk, distracting the genius from his paperwork. It is a common occurrence for her to go to him to ask for a fun fact.

“Do you wanna learn something about sloths?” His knowledge (or the writer’s) on this subject is astonishingly big.

“Spill the tea, sis.” “Did you kn- What? But I don’t have tea to spill. And I don’t wanna spill anything, I-” Reid rambles in confusion.

“It’s just a saying, Spencer. There is no deeper meaning to it then ‘Tell me everything about it’. You know, it’s mostly used for gossiping, but I don’t really like to gossip. That’s why I use it in a different context. You got it?” (Y/N) explains it to him in a soft manner, knowing her generation can be complex.

“Yeah, I think I do. Thank you for telling me. I really like the phrase. It has a nice ring. What about you spill the tea about all the phrases you know and I tell you some things from my knowledge?” “I think you got yourself a teacher, genius. But now tell me about the sloths, I love them.”

A few days later Rossi catches her doing some weird moves. “Are you having a seizure or what is your problem, youngster?” Even though he tries not to show it, David took a great liking to (Y/N), thinking of her like a granddaughter. Still, most of her actions confuse the hell out of him.

“I’m practising a dance for tiktok. My friends and I worked on a choreo we wanted to film later. Come here, I can show you.” And that’s what she does in the conference room. The teenager walks him through every move of the choreo, explaining the meaning to it and how it correlates with the song.

“And then you move your arm like that. Exactly like that! You did a great job, David! Are you sure you don’t want to come with me later? We can make you your own account and name it ‘Grandpa-on-tiktok’. You can promote your books over there and it’s a way to float with the trend!”

Seeing her this excited Rossi can’t do anything but agree to the idea. Also, he secretly liked doing the dance thing. It made him feel young again.

“(Y/N), you said you graduated this summer. But your file said you are 16?” Emily asks her one boring day filled with paperwork and countless cups of coffee. “It is what it is”, she mindlessly answers, too focused on filling out the work in front of her.

“I mean yes but how?”

“Emily, smart people exist. I know, coming from me hits different, but here we are.” Finally (Y/N) puts her pen away looking at the raven haired woman.

“What are you talking about? I can’t really follow you.” The more the intern says the more confused gets Emily.

She sighs. “I don’t want to leave you on read here. I kind of am smart somehow. Apparently I was smart enough to skip a grade or two. But it’s no biggie. Many peeps do this, so I don’t sweat it.”

“Even though I feel like you are selling yourself short here, I know you are an incredibly intelligent person. Someday you will be an awesome profiler and any team will be lucky to have you. I really hope we will be the lucky team. But I’m still not sure if this is what I should say in this context.”

“Emily, you are goals. This fam is squad goals. I really hope to be a part of this someday”, (Y/N) admits. “I’m sure Hotch will do his best to get you on the team, you became a great part of it. I can’t imagine a future without you.”

Sadly Prentiss has to get used to a time without the team’s beloved intern. On her last day (Y/N) knocks at Hotch’s door.

“Hey, I wanted to say thank you. The time with you and all the others was amazing and I learned so many useful things for not only the academy but also for my daily life. I really had a glow-up here”, she says after coming in.

Hotch motions towards the chairs in front of his desk. “Take a seat, (Y/N). I got something for you. See it as a compensation for not getting paid for your internship. You really did great work and a better job than some agents, who are doing theirs for many years already but don’t know half the stuff you do. You are a valuable member to the team.”

“Wait, you speak in presence tense. I leave you all this afternoon, you know that, do you?” But the Unit Chief only gestures to a white envelope on his desk. Quickly the teenager takes it and reads it.

“Are you serious Hotchner? Because I will cry you a river if you joke”, she threatens him.

“I’m dead serious, (Y/N). Even though half of your talks are difficult to understand, the other half is twice as useful and important. Additionally to that, you are like a fresh breath of air that the team needed. That’s why a place here will be available for you as soon as you graduate from the academy. I trust you that you will pass with flying colors, I had to promise that to Strauss.”

“Of course, Hotch. I swear on my Animal Crossing Island that I will do my best and more. Thank you so much”, she leaps into his arms.

The others watch the interaction from the bullpen, pretending to not get teary eyed. Their favorite Gen Z Kid will come back to them after all.

Taglist:

Spencer Reid

@calm-and-doctor

[helloalycia]

teenage dirtbag [one] // wanda maximoff

summary: when you're paired with the most popular girl in your grade for Chemistry class, you definitely don't expect to start liking her like that...

warning/s: none i don't think??

author's note: okay so i have a ton of requests to work through but i got sidetracked and before i knew it, five parts of this imagine were written.

It's based off the song 'Teenage Dirtbag' and idk, i thought it was cute to write! Who doesn't love the popular girl!wanda and loner!reader concept?

Here’s a cover of the song to listen to because i really liked it and a girl sings it so it immediately made the song 10x more gay, just how i like it 🥰

masterlist | wattpad | part two | part three | part four | part five

"Are you all comfortable?"

The class stayed silent, watching our Chemistry teacher, Mr. Hale, as he looked to everyone with a raised brow.

"You all like who you're sat with?" he asked again, as if expecting an actual response from someone.

I exchanged questioning glances with my best friend, Y/BF/N, who was sat beside me. It was the first day back in Chemistry class of our final year of high school and we were just waiting to begin.

"Anyone?" he asked, looking around.

"Yeah," a few students mumbled in response so we could move on.

He clapped his hands together. "Great! Well, don't get too comfortable because I made a seating chart."

A chorus of groans erupted from the class, including from me and Y/BF/N. Every other class had successfully managed to not give us a seating chart. I'd heard that Mr. Hale was an awkward teacher who hated students (ironically), but I didn't think he'd stoop so low as to pair us with students who weren't our friends. These new seats were also our partners for the rest of the year and were non-negotiable, so any projects or work we did would have to be with our seat buddy. Fun.

Students began to shuffle to their newly-assigned seats reluctantly as Mr. Hale read out the chart. When Y/BF/N left my side, I frowned dramatically, waving goodbye to him.

"Wanda Maximoff, you're now partners with Y/N Y/L/N," said Mr. Hale, making me look up at the mention of my name.

I didn't get chance to register what he'd said as the aforementioned girl soon approached me, settling her bag on the table beside me. I looked up and saw Wanda Maximoff smiling my way before taking a seat on the stool.

Huh. Wanda Maximoff. She was one of the most popular girls in our grade. Everybody loved her, either wanting to be friends with her, be with her or be her. I'd personally never crossed paths with her apart from the few classes we shared. She seemed nice enough, but I guess I had preconceived notions of what she was like since she'd made the very poor decision to date the most obnoxious guy ever. Anyone making decisions that terrible definitely had a flaw.

She had a twin brother, Pietro, who was also in our grade and played on the football team alongside her boyfriend. Her parents were good friends with mine, through mutual friends, I think, as I recalled my mum mentioning 'Mrs. Maximoff's boy' or 'Mrs. Maximoff's girl'. And I remembered when her family moved into our town back in second grade.

Admittedly, Wanda was the star of the show back then, too. We were only kids, but child Y/N wasn't blind. She was the first girl I'd crushed on, an innocent child crush – the crush that made me realise I liked girls. Apart from that, and the fact that she had a locker behind me in the hallway, I never really thought about her.

I glanced behind me, catching Y/BF/N's gaze across the room as he sat beside some other kid. He frowned, implying he wished we were partners, and I knew just how he felt.

Once Mr. Hale finished assigning seats, he gave us five minutes to get to know our new partners as he struggled to find the powerpoint for today's class. If there was anything worse than getting assigned seats, it was ice breakers.

"Er, well, hi," Wanda greeted, turning to face me. Green eyes sparkled brightly behind a friendly smile. "I'm Wanda. But, I mean, we already know each other."

"That we do," I said with a nod, returning her smile. "How're you doing? Your summer go well?"

She ran a hand through her hair, adjusting herself so she was comfortable on her stool. And as she did, a waft of her perfume washed over me and I blinked, trying to ignore how nice it smelled. Floral. Subtle. It suited her.

"Good, yeah," she answered with a nod. "Could have gone on longer for all I care."

I chuckled. "I feel that. I'm definitely not ready to be back."

"Right?" she said with raised brows. "It's gonna take a while to get back into routine, that's for sure. But I guess I did miss seeing my friends everyday."

I hummed in agreement, eyes flickering to Mr. Hale as he attempted to tackle the oncoming stream of animations on his powerpoint. I tried not to laugh as I looked back to Wanda, who clearly noticed the same thing as me and stifled a smile.

"Have you had Mr. Hale before?" I asked, nodding his way.

She shook her head. "Nope. You?"

"Never."

"Sucks that he makes seating charts," she said with a sigh, before realising what she said and looking to me with panicked eyes. "Not that I don't like you or anything–!"

"It's fine, I get it," I cut her off with an amused smile. "I wanted to sit with my friend, too."

She breathed out quietly, a hint of relief in her eyes, and scrunched her nose with an apologetic smile. Okay, yeah, maybe that was kind of cute. Older Y/N wasn't blind either. Wanda Maximoff was beautiful, with long brunette locks and matching hazel eyes that seemed to change from blue to green to brown in a kaleidoscope of colour. A winning smile and soothing voice was enough for anyone to fall for her unintentional charm, but it was purely admiration. Everyone pretty much had a mild crush on her, you'd be stupid not to.

"If we're gonna be working together, d'you wanna get the whole awkward number exchange out the way now?" she asked, half joking, half not.

"I– er– sure," I stumbled out rather carelessly, before cringing internally. Where did that come from?

Thankfully, she didn't seem to pick up on it (or just saved me the embarrassment of acknowledging it) and was already writing her number on a slip of paper. Sliding it my way, she capped her pen and gave me her signature smile.

"Thanks," I said with a nod, accepting the paper and pocketing it. "Can't wait to start those lovely science projects we've got coming up!"

She let out a quiet laugh at my sarcasm. "It'll be fine. You're not dumb, right? So, we'll be fine."

"Can't promise you that," I joked, making her roll her eyes playfully.

"Maybe if we–"

But she was cut off when Mr. Hale spoke up loudly, interrupting everyone's conversations.

"Five minutes are up, let's begin!"

I wondered if everyone was thinking the same thing as me – that was not five minutes.

"So it begins...," I mumbled to myself, facing forward.

Wanda breathed out, a stifled laugh, probably having heard my comment, and I couldn't help but crack a smile. Maybe I judged her too harshly. She wasn't actually that bad.

—

Since being paired with Wanda, I was surprised by how much she'd made an effort to befriend me outside of class. We'd always been back to back with our lockers though not quite speaking, but since becoming Chemistry partners, she'd wish me a good morning if she caught me, or greet me briefly as we collected our books.

She didn't have to, but I could see why everybody liked her now. She was just genuinely nice. Due to circumstance, we'd become partners, but rather than leaving it at that, she made a genuine effort to befriend me. And not even just me, but also Y/BF/N, who was at the locker next to mine. He was as surprised as I was, expecting Wanda to mind her own business as we weren't exactly in the same social circles.

This was, I guess you could say, the start of our friendship. And it was a good one at that. I grew to learn how funny she was, how much she loved her brother, the passion she had for art and painting... she was a wonderful person. Which is why I didn't understand why she was with her boyfriend, Nate. He was a grade-A dick and everything Wanda wasn't. How were they a thing?

It sounds like I'm being a bitch and judgemental, but he really is the worst. The few unfortunate times I shared a class with him or caught sight of him around school, he was causing some sort of trouble with the teachers or picking on students in a way that made it seem like a joke but everybody knew it wasn't.

For example, there was a time when Wanda and I were studying for an upcoming Chemistry test we had. We decided to just help each other study since we already worked together in class, so knew we could motivate each other to actually put in the work. It was, maybe, the fourth studying session we had, and I was going over some notes when I felt her eyes watching me.

"You need a hand?" I asked, unable to take the staring any longer. I looked up at her, quirking a brow.

She seemed to fall out of her daydream and straightened up, eyes flickering to mine. "Huh?"

I gave her an awkward smile, unable to maintain her gaze. "You're staring."

She didn't seem fazed as I called her out, instead leaning back in her seat and continuing to study me curiously.

"Did you do something different with your hair?"

Subconsciously reaching for my hair, I straightened up my ponytail and shook my head. "No...?"

She chewed on her lip, saying after a pause, "You tied it up. You usually leave it out."

Did I? I wasn't sure. I just knew that her noticing something like that made me feel self conscious all of a sudden.

"It looks good," she decided, before offering up a small smile. "You should do it like that more often."

Quickly, I felt warm. Was it stuffy in here or was it just me? God, compliments already made me feel stupid. And compliments from pretty girls made me feel ten times that. It didn't help that she was watching me with an endearing expression, making me focus on my book before me.

"Thanks," I got out quickly. "I– yeah."

Her smile widened before she looked back down to her own book. Suddenly, I became acutely aware of the way her leg brushed up against mine under the table.

Thankfully, the strange fuzzy feeling following her compliment faded and we were able to get back to work without her tuning out again. As we were going over each other's practice questions, an annoying voice shouted from across the library.

"Wanda, head's up!"

"Hey, no talking in the library!" a librarian hissed at the voice.

Wanda and I looked up just in time for a football to smack me in the side of the head. I didn't even see it coming until I felt the thing slap my head, giving me an instant urge to strangle whoever threw it.

"Fuck," I cursed, holding my head and closing my eyes to breathe through the pain.

"Oh my God, are you okay?" Wanda's voice made me open my eyes and I saw her leaning forward, hand resting on my shoulder and the other on top of mine that was clutching my head.

"Been better," I admitted, trying to make light of the situation because as angry as I was at the idiot who threw it, I was also embarrassed because it hit me.

Wanda seemed concerned as she gently pulled me hand away, not letting go as she got a better look at the side of my face which I was sure was burning red. At least that's what it felt like.

"Shit, I'm so sorry."

I looked up and saw none other than Nate Green, Wanda's boyfriend, hovering and stifling a laugh as he looked at me. He had his stupid varsity jacket on and I was tempted to strangle him with it.

"I thought Wanda would catch it," he explained stupidly, before moving around the desk to collect his football.

Breathing out through gritted teeth, I pulled away from Wanda and nodded reassuringly. "I'll be fine. Just need an ice pack."

"You're such an idiot, Nate!" Wanda snapped, looking to him with a glare. "You need to watch what you're doing!"

He smiled sheepishly, making me roll my eyes and clench my jaw at the heat on the right side of my face. Fuck, that really hurt.

"What did you want?" Wanda asked him with a quirked brow. She definitely wasn't impressed. I'd hate to ever be on the wrong side of that condescending glare.

"I thought we could go out," he said like it was that simple.

"I'm studying," she quipped with crossed arms.

"I'm happy to wait," he said, toying with the ball in his hands.

Knowing I definitely didn't want that, I closed my books and said, "It's cool. You guys go. I think we're done here anyway."

Nate grinned. "See? S'all good."

Wanda ignored him and looked to me with worried eyes. "Y/N, are you sure?"

"You know your stuff," I said, referring to the work. "You'll be fine in the test. I'm sure."

I offered her a small, forced smile, before standing up to pack my bag. She did the same, beginning to pack her own things, but her eyes kept flittering towards me.

"D'you want me to go to the nurse's office with you?" she asked, shame laced in her voice.

"It's fine, I'll be fine," I said, hurrying up with my actions so I could just get out of here whilst I still had (some of) my dignity left. "See you in class tomorrow."

She nodded, sending a guilty smile my way. "See you tomorrow, Y/N."

Without giving either of them a look, I shouldered my backpack and left the library. Just another reminder of why Nate Green was literally the worst person ever.

—

Liking Wanda as more than a friend wasn't something that happened for a while if I'm being honest. I guess I started to enjoy her presence more and more the longer we spent time together.

I'd come to appreciate it whenever she'd say something completely out of the blue that made no sense whatsoever, or whenever she'd laugh at something I'd said that was arguably not funny but she didn't want to make me feel bad, or even whenever I teased her about something stupid she did, resulting in her doing that cute little nose scrunch she did. But I didn't think of it as liking her, more just a randomly-formed friendship that I was glad to have.

Maybe it was this misinterpretation that didn't make me see how I was acting around her, such as the time I was in the dinner queue at lunch when I realised she was stood behind me.

"Oh, hey, Y/N," she said when she noticed it was me in front of her. Her usual bright, friendly smile was on her lips as she looked to me. "You good?"

I nodded, returning her smile. "Yeah. Just getting some doughnuts for Y/BF/N and I. You?"

"Same," she said, before nudging the guy next to her, who I recognised as her brother. "Pietro and I thought we'd treat ourselves."

At the mention of his name, Pietro looked down to his sister before his gaze fell on me. A mischievous smile appeared on his lips as he put out his hand.

"Pietro Maximoff," he introduced. "You must be the Chemistry partner, Y/N, right?"

I raised my eyebrows with surprise as I shook his hand. "You, er, know who I am?"

He glanced at his sister with a cheeky smile. Wanda was avoiding both of our gazes, her cheeks dusting pink.

Clearly saving face for Wanda, he said, "We've been in the same grade since kids, right? 'Course I do."

Despite the truth to his words, something told me that wasn't how he knew who I was. Especially since I was sure I'd never spoken to him in my life. But, to save Wanda the embarrassment of clearly having spoken of me at home, I nodded to Pietro.

"Right," I agreed with an amused smile. "Duh."

I moved down the queue and grabbed two doughnuts from the display, putting them in two separate paper bags.

"Dibs the last one!" Pietro exclaimed as soon as I returned the clippers to the display. He reached around his sister immaturely and bagged the last doughnut.

Wanda rolled her eyes. "You know I can ask for more, right?"

Pietro grinned, eyes sparkling with mischief. "Go on then."

The two were twins, but they couldn't have been more different. I simply revelled in their interaction, finding it adorable.

Wanda did as she said, asking the dinner lady if there were any more doughnuts in the back. Unfortunately for her, those were the last for the day, making Pietro laugh as Wanda pouted.

"Sucks to be you," he teased her, as I paid for mine and Y/BF/N's doughnuts.

"I hate you," she mumbled playfully, but I saw the disappointment in her eyes as he lovingly but annoyingly waved his bag before her eyes.

Without even thinking much of it, I held out one of the bags in my hand. "Here. You can have mine."

Wanda looked to me with surprise. "Are you sure? I can live without a doughnut, if that's what you're thinking."

I chuckled, grabbing her hand and making her take it. "It's okay. I wasn't in the mood anyway."

Plus, you look better when you're smiling and not pouting, I added in my head.

She accepted the bag reluctantly. "I– thanks. At least let me pay for it–"

"It's just a doughnut, Wanda," I teased, before nodding her way. "See you later."

Leaving her and Pietro to it, I headed back to the table Y/BF/N was sat at and took a seat opposite him before giving him his doughnut.

"Sweet," he said, quickly opening the bag before realising I didn't have one. "Where's yours?"

Over his shoulder, I saw Wanda and Pietro taking a seat at their lunch table, doughnuts in hand and a heartwarming smile on Wanda's lips.

"They ran out," I answered Y/BF/N. "Wasn't in the mood anyway. Enjoy."

He shrugged before digging in. I'd like to say I didn't spare glances in Wanda's direction every now and then for the rest of the lunch hour, but I'd be lying if I did.

—

I'm in the art department. You okay to bring it here?

I read over the text Wanda sent me before shooting her an 'okay' and heading to the Art department. I'd grabbed her notebook in class earlier on, only realising as I was studying with Y/BF/N in the library and pulled out an extra one, so I was going to give it her back.

I guess, when you realise you like someone, it comes randomly, suddenly, without warning. Liking someone isn't instant, it's constant and gradual and subconscious. I guess I'd been falling for Wanda for a while, without even realising, but today was the day I acknowledged that fact.

The Art department wasn't somewhere I frequented regularly – give me a paint and brushes and I'd probably present you with a finger painting – but it was definitely worth the visit. Art pieces from current and past students were hung on the walls, a mural of the school was spray painted on another, and sculptures stood around. The whole department brought a smile to anyone's face with its bright colours and open space – I could see why Art students always hung out here, Wanda included.

Speaking of Wanda, I found her in one of the classrooms sat at a stool in front of a series of canvasses. The room had a few other Art students littered around, working on their own pieces during their lunch period, otherwise it was empty.

"Hey," I called, getting her attention as I approached her.

She followed my voice and straightened up with a cheery smile. "Y/N, hey. Thanks for coming. I'm working on my Art project, so I couldn't pull myself away."

I waved my hand dismissively, joining her side. "It's all good, don't worry." My eyes wandered to the series of canvases on easels she was working on and widened. "Holy shit, these are so good."

Three unfinished hyperrealistic portraits of people were before us, one whom I recognised as Pietro. The paintings were so detailed, despite their medium-size, and I couldn't imagine how long they must have taken.

"You think?" she asked, glancing between them. "I think I messed up the nose here." She pointed with the back end of her paintbrush to the nose of Pietro. "It's a bit bent."

I almost laughed as I looked to her with disbelief. "Are you kidding? Wanda, these are amazing. How did you even do this?"

She looked down bashfully, a nervous smile on her lips. "I don't know. It's for a project. I chose to do family portraits." She pointed to each one as she said, "My mum, my dad and my brother."

I was in awe of her talent, jaw dropped with amazement still. I always knew she was an artist, but I'd never actually seen her work. I was starting to wish I'd come here a lot sooner.

"So, you got my notebook?" she asked, pulling me back into reality.

I looked away from the paintings reluctantly before getting her notebook from my bag and holding it out for her. As she accepted it, she must have forgotten she was holding her paintbrush as the tip brushed my wrist, leaving a swipe of red there.

"Oh, my bad," she said with a laugh, before setting her notebook and brush down and grabbing a paper towel from beside her.

Wetting it with water from her bottle, she pressed it to my wrist and swiped the paint away. It was such a mundane action, but the way her fingers gently held my wrist and emanated a warmth only she seemed to carry sent shivers down my spine.

I glanced up at her, letting her do it, and noticed the swipe of paint she had across her cheek, as if she'd touched her face without realising.

Now that I paid attention, I noticed how cute she looked in her Art getup. An old, oversized shirt covered in paint was being worn to cover her clothes, sleeves loosely rolled up to her elbows. Her long hair was tied back into a ponytail, but her baby hairs framed her forehead adorably.

When her hair wasn't in her face, her eyes only seemed more intense, glistening with excitement and happiness. I almost forgot to breathe when they met mine briefly, a hint of embarrassment there from when cleaning me up. She was in her element here and it made sense to me now.

I knew I'd fallen for her.

—

"You don't get it," I was saying to Y/BF/N as we hung about the school gym, waiting for the teacher to start the lesson. "It's bad. I like her. Like, like like her."

Y/BF/N laughed, clapping me on the back with pity. "You're screwed."

I frowned. "I know."

As he stretched for class, he continued, "I mean, I get it, I do. She's super nice. Pretty. And you guys seem to get on."

I chewed on my lower lip worriedly.

He gave me a knowing look. "There's one problem though."

I groaned, running a hand down my face. "I know, I know. She's got that dick of a boyfriend."

He chuckled. "That's one way to put it."

I sighed, crossing my arms with annoyance. Since realising I liked Wanda as a little more than a friend, things weren't going well for me. Whenever we worked together, I'd forget what I was thinking because I was too busy admiring her side profile or getting lost in her eyes. If she spoke about the work, told a joke or was simply speaking her thoughts aloud, I'd focus on every little thing she was saying, knowing I could listen to her speak all day. It was bad, but thankfully I hadn't stumbled over my words or made a total fool of myself in front of her. I was determined to not let it get that far.

My eyes wandered around the gym as Y/BF/N tried to give me advice, but admittedly, his words flew in one ear and out the other when I caught sight of Wanda.

She was standing with her friends, smiling and laughing to whatever they were saying. Like everyone else in here, she was wearing her gym kit – black athletic shorts and a blue and white tee shirt, the colour of our school. It wasn't anything special, yet she made it seem that way, outdoing anyone in here. Her brown hair was tied back, the ponytail falling down her back, showing her stunning profile and making my mouth go dry.

Another clap on the back from Y/BF/N pulled me from my reverie and I looked to see he was laughing at me.

"Majorly screwed," he corrected his previous comment.

He was definitely right.

[shihalyfie]

Some things to know about the upcoming 02-related movie

As someone who seems to be known for being a 02 metablogger now (and 02 lover in general), and who’s been closely following Kizuna’s development and is generally fond of the movie itself, I figured I’d probably need to address the elephant in the room that is the announcement of the upcoming (unnamed, as of this writing) 02-related movie. This is also especially because I’ve personally been on the record saying that I absolutely did not want a Kizuna sequel. And, well, on top of that, to be a bit blunt about it, a lot of us, especially 02 fans, have a lot of reason to be skeptical of Toei right now given some of the things they’ve done with this series in the past, and 02-related things in particular (trust me, the wound is still extremely fresh), so it says a lot about what it took for me to get even remotely positive about this prospect.

Well, here’s the good news: while I of course still think there’s good reason to be apprehensive, and while I wouldn’t say everyone should be getting their expectations up for it to be guaranteed fantastic (which is something I would say about anything, regardless of whether it even has to do with Digimon or not), I don’t think there’s too much to be panicked about with this movie. Again, it took a lot for the staff to gain my trust in this respect, so it’s not something I say lightly. But if you’re a 02 fan and you’re extremely apprehensive, here are my reasons for feeling this way, and, hopefully, they might make you feel a little better too.

The reason this movie exists to begin with

One of the most striking things about this movie’s reveal was that they’ve literally only just started production on this movie. This was to the point that, at DigiFes, where this was revealed, even the voice actors stated outright that they knew absolutely nothing more than what the audience knew from the trailer. Katayama (Daisuke) only knew anything in the sense that they had him record those few lines for it. So even though it’s been a whole year and a half since Kizuna released to the public, it had only just been decided to make a new movie like this. All of the statements between Kizuna and now stating that there was nothing particularly in the works at the time were completely accurate. Of course, there are obvious hints that they were setting up for this possibility (many, many people noticed the suspiciously favorable position the 02 group was in during Kizuna, and the press releases were carefully worded so that having a movie about “Daisuke and his friends” would allow any statement about Kizuna being “the last adventure of Taichi and his friends” to still be technically truthful), but for all intents and purposes it seems like there had been no actual commitment to making this 02 movie until now, and that they’d at least wanted to gauge the surrounding climate and fanbase reactions for what people were looking for before they decided to go ahead with this.

The obvious reasons as to why this movie exist involve the fact that Daisuke and co. are pretty much the only “out” you can have to continue the Adventure universe without constantly defaulting to Taichi’s group yet again, because at the very least it’d be something that you can’t deny hasn’t exactly had the best representation in recent years. Of course they’re trying to capitalize on this! I’m not going to pretend they aren’t! But producer Kinoshita left a very interesting comment about a particular goal they have with this movie:

This time, the core behind the movie is everyone from 02! Daisuke’s group has their own different kind of charm from Taichi’s, and we want to express that precisely because we’re in the times we’re in right now.

That comment alone has a lot to unpack. (For a frame of reference, Kizuna released in Japan in February 2020; development had already long finished by the time the pandemic first hit, and it was unfortunately one of the first victims of the initial lockdowns because of how bad the timing was.) Acknowledging directly that there’s something different about Daisuke’s group and their dynamic, which makes them especially suited for what we need in “the current times”...hmm, what could that be?

The implied answer is one that many 02 lovers will know very intimately: the 02 group’s particular specialty is in uplifting others and giving each other emotional support. While Adventure had traces of these themes, 02 was the one that went really hard on the themes of dealing with grief and loss, the existential crisis of what to do with oneself in a world placing heavy pressures on you, and how to move on from hardships with the help of others. The fact that the 02 group specializes in this more than anything else is probably one of the most distinguishing factors between them and their seniors, so there’s a very heavy implication here that they understand what distinguishes 02 from Adventure, and what it uniquely would bring to the table in this kind of movie. So this isn’t just “we’re relying on the 02 kids because they’re part of the same universe”; there’s some degree of substantial understanding of what makes 02 as a series unique, and a desire to use this to its fullest extent.

Still don’t believe me? Well, how about this...

This staff really likes 02 a lot

Seki Hiromi, the original producer of Adventure and 02, was involved as a supervisor on Kizuna’s development. Seki was personally involved in the creation of these kids and 02 itself -- she’s the one who noticed the story of the nine-year-old boy skipping grades into Columbia University, the one that formed the basis of 02 itself and eventually came back for Kizuna -- and even personally vetted Kizuna’s script to make sure everyone was in character, gave her thoughts on what the kids would be like in 2010, and was (repeatedly) commented as seeming to love the kids like her own children. As of this writing, it hasn’t been confirmed whether she’s involved on the new movie, but even if she’s not, this means that the staff on Kizuna that is returning all listened closely to those discussions about what the characters are like, straight from the mouth of one of their own creators. The new character song releases had a brief mention in Lounsbery Arthur’s interview that there were apparently extensive discussions with the staff on what the characters should be like at this time, so while Seki’s involvement with that is unknown, at the very least, a lot of conscientious thought seems to be put in at all times into maintaining these characters’ integrity.

Of course, just having an original creator alone on it doesn’t necessarily do it by itself, so here’s another interesting thing: Taguchi Tomohisa, director of both Kizuna and this movie, is also very fond of 02.

I suspect we’ll be hearing more from him as this new movie goes further into development, but Taguchi himself implied that 02 was actually the one he happened to connect with in particular, and when you really think about it, given the circumstances surrounding Kizuna, it’s not actually surprising that a movie trying to be conscientiously aware of 02′s position in the narrative would have someone with a particular fondness for it on its staff. (Reason being: a lot of Adventure fans don’t care much for 02, but you’ll almost never meet a 02 fan who doesn’t also adore Adventure.) The really fun part about this, however, is that Taguchi has repeatedly stated that 02′s first movie, Hurricane Touchdown, is his favorite Digimon movie -- in a climate where everyone else was talking about Adventure. The expected answer for the majority of Adventure fans in terms of “favorite Digimon movie” is almost always Our War Game! by knockout, but no, for Taguchi, it’s Hurricane Touchdown, and not only has he said this, he won’t shut up about it. He’s been saying this since 2019. Even Seki noticed. A whole article got made about this. He brings it up whenever he has a chance to. To top it all off, when a Kizuna event asked everyone present about their favorite characters, and everyone gave Adventure-related answers, Taguchi’s response was instead Terriermon and Daisuke. And I mean, look at Kizuna itself -- its entire plot revolves around having to move on from unhealthy nostalgia, represented by kidnapping people and turning them younger and an antagonist swallowed by their own negative emotions, which, well, is literally the plot of Hurricane Touchdown. (Yeah, that Wallace cameo is very, very likely to be sheer self-indulgence.) And considering that Taguchi said his favorite human character was Daisuke, not Wallace, it means that he understands what Hurricane Touchdown brought out of Daisuke, what his interactions with Wallace meant for both characters, and how Daisuke’s best strengths lie in his ability to support and uplift others.

And, finally, we have Yamatoya, who was responsible for penning both Kizuna’s script (and, thus, being privy to Seki’s corrections) and the bonus drama CD that came with it, on the script, and he personally said that he enjoyed writing for the 02 group because he felt they were important to lightening up the mood of the heavy story Kizuna was becoming. In fact, every comment from this staff about what the 02 group brings to the table in particular has showed a good understanding of what their appeal is -- that they have to be “fun”, that they were “healing in a heavy story”, and Taguchi himself said that he got the impression that the 02 group had more straightforward paths to their epilogue careers (which is interesting, considering that I’ve also personally pointed out that the 02 group seemed to have careers with significantly lower bars than their seniors’ due to their difference in priorities). All of these things are observations you make when you know this group and the importance of the story they came from.

Extend it even further to the rest of the staff members and you’ll find there are a lot of 02 fans on there, including the animation staff, who made some very neat observations about 02 and its finale. Miyahara Takuya is a particularly amusing case, because he seems to love Imperialdramon so much that in the thanks booklet for the deluxe edition for the Blu-ray, he drew a picture of Daisuke and Ken with Imperialdramon Dragon Mode because he didn’t get to be in the movie. (As in, he actually said, point-blank in the caption, that he loves Imperialdramon and wanted to draw him because he wasn’t in the movie.)

Of course, even if you’re trying your best, things may not always work out, so I’m not saying having love for the characters will necessarily guarantee that the product turns out for the best. However, considering that historically a lot of our fears come from the idea of them milking the name value of the characters without really caring about their integrity or understanding what the series was about (especially since a lot of people in the fanbase itself don’t tend to read 02′s nuances very well), I think, at the very least, we don’t need to worry about the staff for this movie not being conscientious, nor the idea that they’re making this movie without understanding or caring about 02.

Furthermore, one thing I appreciate is that they’re actually leading the advertisement with a premise that is distinct from Kizuna’s. Of course, it covers a similar topic of “partnerships”, and it’s very possible it’ll cover the issue of the solution to Kizuna’s problem (especially since the answer was already hinted to have a heavy relationship with 02), but nevertheless, it’s an actual premise that’s not just “Kizuna’s story, but more of it”. It’s an understanding that something 02-related should be allowed to stand on its own rather than just tacking it onto an Adventure-related thing. Beyond that, while I think it’s generally expected that a side story like this should have an original character, I think it’s actually very good this time in particular that there’s a new element/character for the 02 group to interact with; again, as with Hurricane Touchdown and Daisuke, these kids often have the best brought out of them when they’re supporting others, and honestly, because the kids suffered so much in their own narrative, I’m not particularly fond of the idea of seeing them having to go through too much more trauma themselves (it’s a big reason I don’t like the idea of a 02 reboot). So while I’m sure a lot of 02 fans feel a bit antsy that the actual group itself wasn’t advertised first, I actually consider it a positive sign that they have an understanding of what context this group performs best in, and, moreover, well...the last time they unveiled something that was so focused on advertising the return of old characters that it forgot to actually be straightforward about the premise, I don’t think that ended well. So to speak.

In general, the track record is good

It’s easy to just smile and nod at the portrayal of the 02 quartet in Kizuna, because in general everything from them is in-character, but I just want to point out how significant it is that they were portrayed so conscientiously when it is really easy to mess them up. (As I like pointing out very often: even official has not historically been very careful with Daisuke’s character.) There are so many easy pitfalls you could have fallen into and pigeonholed the kids into, but Kizuna absolutely demonstrated the quartet at their best, showing off all the nuances of their character and bringing up all the parts that were most important, especially Daisuke’s best quality being “positivity and cheerfulness” and not all of the other things about him running in circles or having a crush on Hikari-chan. This even goes down to the casting; Katayama Fukujuurou sounds terrifyingly like Kiuchi Reiko in terms of all the little nuances and pitch shifts she had in her performance, and the cast themselves spoke of all the nuances present in their characters as they were studying for their roles. These are things that even fans of the series tend to miss, but the voice actors for the quartet nailed their roles so well that it’s very easy to tell that the direction understood exactly what they were looking for and needed, and casted accordingly. Even those who didn’t care for the movie much had a very hard time disputing the voice casting for the quartet (and this is saying a lot given how much voice actor changes are often a really sore point among Japanese fans).

But while the 02 group had a limited amount of screentime in Kizuna, the staff also had a lot of opportunities to prove themselves with the drama CD and the new character song CDs, and every single aspect of these reflects something that was represented in 02 itself -- again, things that often go over the heads of people who aren’t paying as close attention. The drama CD captures a lot of the essence of the dynamics between the group in only short lines, and all of the statements about the characters in the character song interviews are accurate (and remember: Arthur said directly that there were discussions with the staff about keeping them true to character). On top of that, not only do the lyrics in said songs directly mirror each character’s development from the time of the original Best Partner series, there are also a lot of things in said songs that demonstrate a nuanced understanding of each person’s character and what they got out of the events of 02. Someone with only a surface-level understanding of Ken or Iori’s character might think that Ken should only have a soft song, or that Iori shouldn’t want to do anything ridiculous, but the series goes ahead and gives Ken one of the most passionately emotional rock songs in the batch and Iori outright rap with Armadimon, which are both fitting decisions in light of Ken actually being one of the more emotionally assertive people in this group, and Iori only being stoic because he’s strict with himself and being willing to let loose in certain circumstances (especially after the events of 02).

As of this writing, I don’t know if the new movie is going to be featuring the entire group in a major role, and I’m not sure if I even want it to; as much as I do strongly feel like the group should always work together at all times, one minor personal complaint I had about Kizuna was that it tries to do too much in too little time, and I’m personally fine with this new movie being more Daisuke-centric or something if it means it can just get a nice story on the table (after all, if I wanted something that more evenly represents the entire 02 group, I’d just go back and rewatch a very nice anime series called Digimon Adventure 02). There’s also the very thorny question of what to do about Tokumitsu Yuka, since I don’t personally really like the idea of still dragging her out of retirement like this (but I also wouldn’t want them to awkwardly write around her just for this, and I’m wondering if Sonozaki voicing Tailmon in the reboot would let people accept her as a replacement without much fighting).

Nevertheless, I think Kizuna’s staff has proven more than well enough that they understand the essence of 02 and its characters, so, again, regardless of how it turns out, I at least expect that this can be made with some degree of conscientiousness, and at this point, that’s all I can ask for. I don’t think it’s fair to expect or want this movie to be the second coming of 02, because, again, if we wanted that, I think it’d be better for us to all go back and watch that lovely little 50-episode anime called Digimon Adventure 02. But in terms of being something that can add a little nice thing to the mix, I think, so far, this movie at least has positive signs of turning out that way -- and, remember, think about what I just said about initially being very against this idea; as a diehard 02 fan who has a lot of very picky feelings about how to best represent it, it took a lot for the staff to earn my trust in this sense.

[artxyra]

The Secret Life of MDC | Part 5

Part 5 – Haha, wait you’re serious?

Fun fact: This rewrite was supposed to be five parts, but as I was writing and changing things, I have no idea how long this is going to be.

Parts 01 | 02 | 03 | 04

What a relaxing evening the couples group plus one was having. Everyone but Jon and Damian was wearing a disguise of some sort. Marinette in her usual lace netted veil, Chloe with her hair down and sunglasses on, and Adrien with a dark wig and punk clothes. It was never easy being out and open like this, but it was relaxing.

“I’m telling you, she’s not worth it.” Marinette states before taking a sip of her ice coffee beverage. She doesn’t know how or when their conversation regarding the upcoming gala turned into a revenge plan to reveal the liar that has made her life miserable back in Paris.

“Angel, she is making up stories about me. How can I not make her suffer any more than she had made you?” Damian asks taking her hand into his own. Marinette huffs unsure what to say.

“C’mon buggy, even Luka agrees with him. Let him take over for a moment.” Adrien comments showing the designer his phone with a series of messages from Luka on the screen.

Marinette still doesn’t reply. Instead, she looks up to the sky as of it hoping for a miracle. Nothing was working.

“Kagami even she said she’ll help hide the body. Just give me the okay and she’ll be on the next flight here or I’ll go get her with Kaalki.” Chloe adds in taping away on her phone as if she wasn’t paying attention.

“Absolutely not. Look, guys, we have three weeks left here and I don’t want to spend it worrying about the class despite being the damn TA for this exchange. I already need to finish the touch-ups on our dresses and grade like a shit ton of assignments.” Marinette groans leaning into Damian’s chest. He places a kiss on her forehead before resting his chin on her head.

“Why are you guys even like this?” It’s Jon’s turn to cry out in frustration. Everyone turns to him with an eyebrow raised. The half-Kryptonian should no better by now than to question anything his boyfriend and friends do. “Alright, alright, I fold. What do I need to do?”

“Stay my handsome hero.” Adrien absently adds swooning in Jon’s arms looking upward to the hero. Shaking his head, Adrien turns to Marinette and blinks. “Did I really just say that?”

Marinette tries to hide her giggles, nodding. However, Chloe didn’t even try to hide her laughs causing the model to blush.

“I actually liked it,” Jon says before placing a kiss on the blonde’s cheek furthering his blush to a deeper red.

“Ooh, Gami just replied back to me, she wants to see if we can do a movie night stream?” Chloe asks on behalf of her girlfriend. Planning movie nights are often frequent amongst the group especially when they are missing each other.

“I know my father wouldn’t mind, but depending on who’s staying at the manor tonight it might turn into a family affair,” Damian responds gently pushing Marinette off of him and stand up to stretch.

“She’s fine with that.”

“Good; I’ll message Alfred to set to the theatre room.” Damian pulls out his phone and immediately proceeds to message the family butler.

“You know he’ll probably send a message with an image of the theatre room decked out with pillows and blankets with the caption: already have, young master.” Marinette jokes but little did she know her guess was actually right.

Damian’s phone dings with a message from Alfred. It is indeed a photo of the theatre room with pillows and blanket gently piled together. Underneath the photo is the message “Already done, young master, just be home before dark.”

“How does he do that?” Adrien wonders before adding, “It’s witchcraft?”

“You know as well as my brothers that we still do not know that answer.” Damian murmurs sliding his phone back into his pocket. He then holds out his hand for Marinette to take as she pushes herself off the wooden bench.

“We should head back then…” Marinette is then cut off by her phone along with her blonde sibling’s phones simultaneously buzzing. The three Parisians grab their phones and see the answer.

It’s the Headmistress of Gotham Academy calling her. Confused, Marinette answers the call just as Adrien and Chloe read the variety of messages from the classmates or at least those that still have their numbers.

Damian and Jon look to one another cautiously. It’s not every day that the trio’s phone would go off especially when they are not in a group chat with the others. Damian takes a step closer to Marinette as panic rises her eyes.

When the call ends, Marinette takes a series of deep breaths. “First the Riddler and now this shit. They better be damn glad to stay on this trip once we find them.” Was the only thing that would come out of the designer’s mouth.

Chloe and Adrien stop reading. “Ridiculous, utterly ridiculous.” This really draws two teens to their friends. Adrien stays silent which is unlike him especially when there isn’t a battle or around them.

“Um, care to fill us in?” Jon asks knowing that Damian would not as he tries to get answers from Marinette.

“Apparently Mlle. Bustier and the GA staff are losing their heads.” Chloe starts.

“Nino messaged me that something had happened after we left,” Adrien adds shuffling his feet against the ground.

“Yeah; Alya and Lie-la are missing. The headmistress says that no one has seen since we left and asked if we, more specifically I, knew about their whereabouts.” Marinette shakes her head, “Which I have no clue about. I’m not a sheep’s keeper.” The noirette sighs, face-palming.

“I guess movie night is off then.” Jon ponders.

“No, no, we can still find them before it gets super late. By we, I mean Robin and Superboy along with the Gotham’s miraculous team.” Marinette counters before anyone could get a word in.

“Wait, you’re serious?” Chloe asks in disbelief.

“Yeah, let’s just hope the liar’s big mouth didn’t get her in trouble with the Joker or any other Gotham villain,” Marinette grumbles as if all happiness crash and burned right in front of her.

“And here I have thought that after last week, they would stay on the down-low, but no~ they just had to disappear. This will really put a stick into Mlle. Bustier’s teaching qualifications.” Chloe groans as she starts packing her stuff up with looks ready to kill.

“I’ll see you in a bit, suit and all. I have damage control to handle before we make our next steps.” Marinette and Adrien give their significant others a peck on the lips. As much as Damian hates the veil covering her eyes, he knows the pain the reset inside them.

“I’ll talk things through with the family. Maybe even hack into the security cameras for some leads.” He whispers into her ear holding her arms. Marinette looks up to Damian and nods.

~*~

If those phone calls didn’t give light to the current situation, it would have been like walking into the middle of a war zone. Everywhere you look there were teachers asking questions, normally this would never happen to Gotham Academy, but when the exchange happens it like the school turns on its head.

Chloe, Adrien, and Marinette decided to split up. Adrien went to speak to Nino to see if he had knowledge of his girlfriend. Chloe sneaked into the security room while Marinette takes on her teacher assistant role to speak with Mlle. Bustier and the GA headmistress.

Marinette could tell how heated the conversation is from just a few feet away. The closer she got the more she could tell that Caline was sweating where she was standing.

“Marinette doesn’t belong in conversations like this.” Caline tries to get Marinette removed from the conversation the moment she sees the girl, but the headmistress wasn’t having that.

“Marinette is allowed to be here, Ms. Bustier, she is apparently the only one with the contact information regarding your students.” The headmistress states and it was true. Even though Marinette is technically the class representative despite no longer being a student of the school, she still holds vital information regarding the class.

“Hold on, you didn’t contact our parents?” Realization began to hit. “We were nearly killed last week and today, not even a full week since we have arrived, you have lost two students.”

“Marinette, you guys made it back safely, and I just didn’t have time to call everyone’s parents or guardians.” Caline is really trying to save face here.

“We’re in a whole another country. It is your duty to inform parents and or guardians about any situation, mishap, whatever happens to them.” Marinette nearly screams at the teacher. Anger could not even begin to be Marinette’s main emotion.

“I’m sure they’ll show up, Alya and Lila are very responsible.” Seriously? She cannot be for real.

“Mlle. Bustier,” Marinette takes a deep breath, clasps her hands together. “They can be killed here. I may not like those two but even I know the importance of safety here in Gotham.”

“Marinette, I’ll take it from here. How about you go help the others in finding the two missing girls.” The GA headmistress says placing a hand on the designer’s shoulder. Marinette calms down and nods. It was for the best.

Marching down the halls, everyone avoided Marinette. How could they not, she was a woman on a warpath. The Paris exchange students have never seen Marinette so angry before it was causing them to quake in their shoes.

Adrien was finishing his conversation with Nino when he joins Marinette’s side on the march to glory. Chloe had just finished up with the security room before she joined her crew. Together, the three exits the school grounds knowing exactly where they are heading to.

It was no secret that everyone knows each other identity between the Batfam and the Miraculous crew. So, when Alfred pulled up in a disguised car, with the window rolled down he simply raises an eyebrow. The trio gets in as the school just watches in shock. Nothing was making sense to them.

“So, I found that they did indeed leave minutes after we did. The cameras lost them upon walking across the streets towards this building.” Chloe states pointing to the screen with confidence.

“From what I had gathered from Nino, they had missed their check-in time at least three times before the flags were raised. As you know the class aside from us needs to check-in with the teachers at least once an hour after what happened last week.” Adrien then adds in.

Marinette nods before she turns to Tim, who was surprising on his fourth cup of coffee.

“Tim, what did you find?”  She asks before sliding a coffee flavor “health” bar over to the hacker. Tim takes it and slides the bar into his pocket.

“Let’s just say its not the Joker behind their missing appearance. We got Gordon on the lookout, but you know what they say when it comes close to nighttime here in Gotham.”

“Out of everyone, it had to be the two of them. If my job wasn’t also kind of on the stake, I would have just left them to figure it out and stay out of it.”

“You know that’s not true Mars; you love to save people even those who let deserves it.”

“Who asked you, Kitten, let him bitch about things that we know would never happen.”

If it wasn’t for the growing tension in the room, everyone would have burst out laughing.

“We got movement,” Jason calls out while cleaning one of his guns.

Everyone catches the other’s eyes before simultaneously nodding. It’s going to be a long night ahead of them.

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[masterjedilenawrites]

Blueberries and Cowboys: Chapter 2

A choose-your-own-adventure style fic. First, 2 platonic chapters for set-up/build-up. And then, the story will split into 2 paths depending on your romantic pairing preference: You and Thrawn, or You and Eli.

Chapter Masterlist

Chapter 2: The Plan

Pairing: None...yet...

Chapter Warnings: Mentions of bullying

Length: 2k

AO3 Link (In case you like it better over there, it’s okay, no judgement)

The rest of the week saw the three of you using every bit of free time outside your classes and studies to gather information for Thrawn to build a solid plan.

Eli tailed his pesky classmate Arden everywhere, even skipping a class one day to break into his dorm, trying to learn anything about the guy that could be useful to get him involved in the plot. Thrawn analyzed the simulation software and protocols that would be used to administer the tests, mapping out every possible way Commander Burdick could hijack it. And you were the one spying on the Burdick himself. Since the commander didn't seem too interested in your grades, you were able to shadow him without suspicion, and had been able to slip a bug into his offices to eavesdrop on any potential conversations about his plans for sabotage.

Your classmates and the staff were none the wiser. That was the advantage of being social outcasts. Half of them avoided you all like the plague, and the other half already thought you were weird people doing weird things. So it wasn't long before you'd all gotten enough intel to work with.

It was late in the evening at the end of the week. You found yourself in Thrawn and Eli's shared dorm, which looked identical to your own in the opposite wing, because the Empire couldn't bother with things like individuality or comfort. Eli sat on the edge of his top bunk, his legs swinging casually, and his coat unbuttoned to reveal a wrinkled undershirt you knew he hadn't bothered to wash all week. Thrawn paced about in the middle of the room, his long strides only allowing him about four good steps before he had to turn around. He still had his uniform on, boots and badges and all.

You leaned against the railing of the bed, watching Thrawn as he went back and forth. Sometimes he sat still when he was scheming, with his fingers steepled and his gaze seemingly reaching into some unknown dimension beyond your comprehension. That usually happened when he was running through variables that didn't concern you, at least from his perspective. You and Eli had accepted long ago there would always be parts of his plans he would never share with you. He was kind of a control freak like that.

But tonight, he seemed to be more welcoming of collaboration, hence his steady rhythm of pacing in front of you.

"Only one variable remains, as I see it," he was saying. "We understand how the commander will manipulate the system to cause a redundancy in the simulation, thus rendering the test impossible to finish successfully."

You and Eli shared a glance; the only person who truly understood how that was going to happen was Thrawn. He'd tried explaining numerous times but when it came to codes and tech, the two of you weren't able to fully keep up.

"We also know through your investigating," Thrawn motioned to you with what you thought was an impressed look, causing you to feel a little pride, "that the commander plans to only sabotage my test, believing it will be too suspicious if Eli also fails. He will also manipulate his false code to originate from the computer of his former lover Eva Carroway, who currently works in HR. So if an investigation does ensue, it will be traced to her and not him."

You and Eli chuckled under your breaths. It had been a little amusing when you'd discovered Commander Burdick was using this plan to not only undermine Thrawn, but also get revenge on his ex-girlfriend. But even more hilarious was how awkward Thrawn treated the subject. He had been quite perplexed to learn people could be so vindictive after a break-up. And any time he explained that detail of the plan, like he was doing now, he hesitated over his word choice. You couldn't tell if he only pretended to be confused about romantic relations, or if that was truly an area he found himself lost in.

If Thrawn noticed your snickering, he didn't respond to it, only continued to recap the plan. "We have also determined how we will expose the altered code naturally, so it does not cast suspicion on us... What was the word you used?"

"Backfire," said Eli.

"Yes. It would not due to have anyone suspect that we altered the test ourselves, or to have our concerns disregarded altogether. Thus, arranging for the maintenance crew to get a mild case of food poisoning so their performance checks are postponed to occur right before the tests will take care of that variable. At the least, they will fix the altered code and I will take the test as normal. At the most, they will report it and the commander faces expulsion."

"So..." said Eli through a yawn as he stretched. "What's left to work out, then?"

Now it was time for you and Thrawn to share a look.

"Were you not interested in involving your classmate, Arden Fey?" asked Thrawn in his soft, contemplative voice.

Eli shrugged. "Yeah. But Burdick's already got his scapegoat, his ex. So it'll be easier to keep him out of it. Whatever."

You could tell he was trying to be nonchalant. But just this morning, he had spent the entire walk between classes ranting about some new insults Arden had come up with, and how badly he wanted to show the guy up once and for all. You knew your friend wasn't feeling "whatever" about it.

"It's not a matter of ease or difficulty," Thrawn stated plainly. He had stopped pacing and was standing with hands behind his back, highlighting the broadness of his shoulders and the height of his stance. His presence seemed to fill up the whole room, and not for the first time, you were glad to be his friend and not his enemy.

"Yeah," you added in encouragement. "We just have to get creative. Find a way to make Arden a more appealing scapegoat than Burdick's ex. In fact...."

You trailed off as an idea occurred to you. You darted out of the room, surely leaving your two friends perplexed, but you would only be a second. You sprinted down the corridor toward the lifts, where a bulletin hung against the wall with fliers and pamphlets. One notice was a bit larger than the others, a promotion of an upcoming gala event to celebrate the Academy's anniversary. You ripped it off and went racing back to the boys' dorm room.

Eli had come down from the bunk and held a concerned look, probably prepared to follow you if you hadn't returned so quickly. Thrawn was still standing composed, but there was a curiosity in his eyes that made you smile.

You held up the poster in front of your chest. "What do you think the likelihood is of us playing successful matchmakers this week?"

Thrawn understood your idea almost immediately, looking down on you with a pleased smirk. It made you flush a little, to know the Chiss was impressed. You rarely had a chance to contribute good ideas when his mind worked so much faster than yours.

Eli caught on next, and he started to grin, the happiest you'd seen him in a while. His smile was infectious and you grinned back. Happy looked good on him.

"We know Eva's not shy with younger guys," you explained. "Before Burdick, she was fooling around with some intern in the med bay."

"And Arden's vain enough," added Eli. "If he thinks anyone's interested, he'll go for 'em."

"So we get him to ask her to the gala as his date...." you said.

"Burdick sees the two of them together...." said Eli.

"And realizes he can get back at his lover in another way, by pinning the sabotage on another student...." joined Thrawn.

The three of you stood together, proud and satisfied that yet another plan had finally worked out. It was almost worth the stressful studying and petty bullying and all the other unpleasant things you had to endure at this god-forsaken school, just to have fun moments like this with trusted friends.

"We should attend this gala as well," Thrawn said eventually, holding out a hand for the poster. He inspected it thoughtfully. "It is only a few days before the tests, so I hadn't planned to pay it any mind. But now...."

"Yeah, we should make sure Burdick's as jealous as we want 'im," nodded Eli.

You were secretly pleased. The plan was already a win-win, but now you would be able to go to the event yourself, too. You hadn't mentioned your desire to go to either of them before, figuring they weren't interested and not wanting to sound silly if you suggested it. But you did love dancing, and it was so very rare you got a chance to wear something other than your Imperial uniform.

"It's a dance," you noted, in case they couldn't tell by the details on the poster. "We'll need to go in pairs."

"I suppose it would make the most sense for you and Eli to go together," said Thrawn quietly.

You looked between the two, realizing both of them were flushed slightly. Eli's cheeks were dotted with pink, standing out amongst his dark brown features, while Thrawn had more of a purple tint to his face now, a color you'd never seen there before. You could feel yourself growing warm and uncomfortable as well. It was only a dance... only a way for you to enact a much more important plan... but it was the first time your trio had had to engage in anything other than platonic friendship. The balance of your group seemed to be shifting ever so slightly in this moment, and you had no way of knowing if it was for good or ill.

You cleared your throat, pushing away any feelings that might have been brewing in your chest, and instead calling focus back to the mission at hand.

"Actually, I think I'd better go with Thrawn. Whoever doesn't go with me would have to find their own date, and no offense Thrawn, but I think Eli has the better chance of asking someone else."

You hoped they hadn't noticed how hollow your voice sounded, how hard you were trying to keep yourself emotionless.

Eli was pinker than ever. "Uh, I highly doubt that..."

"You're not completely hated around here, you know," you said quickly. "Definitely not with the girls. You're not bad looking, you can be charming if you try, and you're... you know, human." You glanced at Thrawn and added again quietly, "No offense."

Thrawn shook his head. His color and demeanor had already slipped back into his usual neutral self. "No, I agree. Those are the dynamics of our peers and we must work with it. I will take you to the gala, Eli will find his own date, and all three of us will push Arden and Eva together as well. It's a good plan."

You all nodded in agreement. But there was a knot in your stomach, a nervousness you didn't quite understand. You cared very much for both Thrawn and Eli. They were your best friends, your only friends. As a group, you were bonded by your ostracism, protecting and supporting each other on your journey out of this hell-hole.

And separately, you had something special with each, too. You and Eli came from similar backgrounds, and had the same need to disconnect from your surroundings and just have a bit of fun every once in a while. The two of you had spent many late nights together, either hopping between bars, exploring the city, making each other laugh uncontrollably, or quietly sharing the honest thoughts you both buried far too deeply inside. Some nights you'd done all of the above, and returned to your dorm feeling both exhausted and renewed.

But Eli didn't always appreciate the finer things in life, and that's where you connected with Thrawn. He wasn't necessarily an optimist, but he had this way of noticing the beauty that existed everywhere around you, even in the most simple or mundane of moments. Everything had the potential to be interesting. His calm but strong presence had kept you grounded and sane throughout your studies here so far. Sometimes you would talk, other times you would simply be in the same space. And either way, you felt better about life.

You didn't exactly want your relationship with them to change. But you couldn't help but feel this gala would do just that....

Next Chapter: The Preparation >

Blueberry Path | Thrawn x reader

Cowboy Path | Eli x reader

[authenticcadence18]

Ice Cream and Dances Pt. 2: Electric Boogaloo

Summary:

In an unprecedented turn of events, Isabella finds herself at the annual Night of the Falling Stars Dance with Phineas—JUST Phineas—after he shows up to her house with a tub of ice cream and asks her to go with him.

But it’s not a date! Phineas definitely, totally, 100% invited her as a friend. Nothing will convince Isabella otherwise.

....nothing, that is, except perhaps a conversation with (and subsequent dare from) another bully-turned-friend of hers.

...

This is a continuation of FrsdGirl’s Ice Cream and Dances! PLS go read it before reading this fic!!!!

...

Isabella had what one might call a “love-hate relationship” with Danville’s annual Night of the Falling Stars Girls’ Choice dance.

(Well, it wasn’t really a “Girls’ Choice” dance anymore. The city council dropped that caveat from the title years ago. Now, attendees were encouraged to invite anyone they pleased to the dance, though its former name stuck sometimes.)

On one hand, she loved going every year and sharing at least one dance with Phineas, indulging in sweet butterflies and smiles for a few precious minutes as they stood together and swayed to the rhythm before being jolted back to reality when the music ended and she couldn’t think of a good excuse to stay in his arms without admitting her feelings for him.

But...on the other hand….thinking about the dance reminded her that she’d never actually gotten to attend it with Phineas. Like, yes she always literally went with him….but Ferb always went with them too. They all went together. As friends. Always as friends. Just friends.

This year was no exception, even if it was a bit more exceptional than usual.

As Isabella walked at Phineas’s side in the twilight, she kept reminding herself of that in an attempt to slow her racing heart.

“Isabella. This is a friend thing. Which is fine. Just don’t get your hopes up.”

And yet....it was hard for Isabella to not get her hopes up.

Because she couldn’t forget Phineas showing up at her door with a gallon of ice cream and a sweet note, couldn’t forget him asking her to go to the dance with him (even if it was in a platonic way), couldn’t forget holding his hands and daring to sit fairly close to him for a while before they finally left her house…...

He’d actually asked her to the dance. Just her. That had never happened before.

...but he’d also asked when she wanted to walk over with him and Ferb earlier. And Ferb had removed himself from the situation (for her benefit, no doubt). Phineas had nothing to do with his absence.

So this was still assuredly a friend thing. Isabella had to remember that.

She dared a glance at Phineas. He was staring down at the sidewalk with his eyebrows furrowed, seemingly lost in thought.

He was probably brainstorming a new invention, or perhaps thinking of ways to improve the StarGazer3000.

Isabella couldn’t help but smile at that thought...because that was definitely the Phineas Flynn she’d fallen in love with.

...

Isabella squirmed at the sensation of everyone’s eyes glued on she and Phineas as they crossed beneath the banner announcing the “13th Annual Night of the Falling Stars Dance.” They were a bit late, since they’d spent a good bit of time just sitting together before finally heading off, so their entrance garnered a lot of attention.

Everyone would’ve stared at them regardless, of course, since Isabella’s crush on Phineas (that she swore up and down was a thing of the past, though she knew deep down it wasn’t) was more or less common knowledge among the rest of their friends at this point.

But she pretended they weren’t staring because there was nothing to stare at. She and Phineas were here as friends, plain and simple.

If anyone asked, that’s what she’d say.

...

So far, the night was proceeding as it usually did.

Phineas took a few minutes to examine the Stargazer 3000 and chat with Ferb about how things were going so far, which was normal. Isabella used this time to say hello to Ferb before wandering off to catch up with a few friends (and vehemently insisting she was NOT here with Phineas on a date when they asked).

(If she’d glanced back at Phineas, she might have noticed him vehemently insisting something similar to Ferb.)

Phineas approached her as the music died down and stars began streaking across the sky, leaving trails of light in their wake. After admiring the display for a moment, the two of them closed their eyes to make wishes, as was customary.

(Thankfully, they hadn’t missed this portion of the event.)

Isabella made two wishes each year. (Which might have technically been against the rules, but who was going to know?)

Her first wish always changed. Last year, for example, she’d wished for her soccer team to win an upcoming game, and the year before that, she’d wished for Nosh Ole’s grand opening to go smoothly.

These wishes only ever had one thing in common: they never had anything to do with Phineas.

That’s what her second wish was always reserved for.

After silently hoping that Ms. Lilith would go easy on her and her classmates on next week’s Chemistry midterm, Isabella took a deep breath and wordlessly made her second wish.

“I wish Phineas and I were here as more than friends.”

She knew wishing wouldn’t make said wish any more likely to come true.

But it felt good to wish anyway.

If only she knew how similar Phineas’s wish was to hers....

Isabella opened her eyes and glanced at Phineas as the music started back up....only to find him gazing right at her, eyes soft and lips curved upward in a gentle smile.

A whirl of butterflies tumbled through her stomach, cheeks flushing bright pink.

How long had Phineas been looking at her like that?

...did Phineas often look at her like that when she wasn’t looking at him?

“UH!!!”

Phineas blinked and took a quick step back, startling the question out of Isabella’s mind (though the butterflies were not so easily chased away).

“Uh! I was just wondering, uh...do, uh, do you want to dance now?”

He held a hand out towards her before snapping it back and rubbing his ear.

“Uh, well, we don’t HAVE to dance together, it’s just—we usually do, I guess it’s kind of a tradition at this point, so uh, I thought I’d go ahead and ask…..but there’s no EXPECTATION for you to dance with me or anything, um….we can do whatever you want to do.”

“Phineas.” Isabella chuckled and grinned at him. “Of course I want to dance. I mean. It...it’s tradition, after all! Right?”

Phineas just glanced at her for a moment, eyes wide���..and then he grinned, the same bright, enthusiastic, eager grin Isabella had been pining for since grade school.

(Even if this was just a friend thing, she could appreciate his enthusiasm.)

“Right!” Phineas agreed. “Tradition!!”

And so Isabella and Phineas made their way to the dance floor, found a vacant spot amidst the actual couples, held one another at arm’s length, and commenced swaying platonically.

(It was TOTALLY platonic. 100%.)

...

“Heyyy, Dinnerbell! Mind if I cut in?”

Isabella flinched at the verbal intrusion of her time with Phineas.

They’d been “swaying platonically” and making small talk for a couple of songs now.

It was fun—spending time with Phineas was almost always fun—but also a little awkward. Because Isabella couldn’t forget the way he’d looked at her a bit ago, couldn’t forget her wish….

She glanced over Phineas’s shoulder and made eye contact with the interrupting party.

Said interrupting party, one Buford Van Stomm, waved in response and cracked a grin that resided somewhere between amused and encouraging.

Phineas glanced between the two of them, took a deep breath, and stuttered, “Uhhh of course I don’t mind! I mean, um, it’s up to Isabella anyway.”

He stepped away from her, snapping his arms against his sides.

“Do, uh, do you want to dance with Buford, Isabella? Because I was thinking of grabbing a snack anyway, so, uh…”

That was a great question.

It didn’t take long for Isabella to think of an answer.

“....sure!” she replied. “Why not?”

“Alright then, have fun!”

Phineas gave she and Buford an awkward wave before hurrying over to the snack table.

And, strangely, Isabella was almost relieved to see him go.

“Well then. Shall we dance, girlie?” Buford asked with a grin.

Isabella rolled her eyes and smirked as she placed her hands on his shoulders. “We shall.”

...

Dancing with Phineas was like dancing on eggshells. It was a breath of frigid air in the middle of winter, or the warmth of a scarf around her neck, warmth that could evaporate at any moment in a rogue gust of wind. It didn’t matter if the music they were dancing to was loud or soft, didn’t matter if they were giggling as they bounced in time to an upbeat tune or holding one another and gently rocking back and forth to a slow one: she’d always get butterflies in her stomach when they danced together. Just being near Phineas was exhilarating and terrifying and lovely and exhausting all at once.

Dancing with Buford, on the other hand, was comfortable, friendly, like a warm summer breeze. There were no questions in her heart, no longing facial expressions to mask, no worries about what he’d think of her if she accidentally stepped on his feet (because he seemed to have made a habit of purposefully stepping on her feet), no butterflies. Dancing with Buford wasn’t even really dancing, to be frank. They mostly just stood in place, tapped their feet to the music, and talked.

Though she already missed holding Phineas in relatively close proximity and feeling the warmth of his shoulders under her fingertips, it was nice to have a break from the butterflies and eggshells.

“Sorry if I interrupted anything ‘romancy’,” Buford said with a shrug. “I just couldn’t help noticing that you and Dinnerbell looked a little….awkward. Thought you guys might need a break. Plus, we haven’t hung out in awhile!”

“Heh, awkward is right……” Isabella managed a dry laugh. “You didn’t interrupt anything, not really. And I DID need a break, thanks for noticing! I was about to fall over, I was getting so jittery.”

“Happy to help!!” Buford replied with a grin. “Sooooo….what’s up between you guys, anyway?”

He gestured in the general vicinity of the snack table, where Phineas was hunched over his phone, thumbs flying across the screen, and continued, “I saw you walk into the dance together….are you here, like, you know…. together together??”

Isabella let out a sigh. “No, we’re just here as friends,” she replied quietly. “I mean, I’m happy to be here with Phineas at all, don’t get me wrong! But when he asked me to go with him, I knew he meant it as a friend thing…..”

Buford stumbled a little and gaped at her.

“Waaaait wait wait he actually asked you to the dance? Just you??”

“Well, yeah, he did. But as friends.”

“How do you know he meant as friends?”

“Because I asked him if we were going as friends. To clarify. I had to be sure. And he said yes. Hence, this is a friend thing.”

Buford stared blankly at her for a moment before shutting his eyes and grumbling something unintelligible under his breath. Isabella managed to make out the words “typical” and “so oblivious.”

“.....you know what I think?” he finally whispered.

“What?”

“You should test the waters.”

Isabella narrowed her eyes at him. “...meaning?”

“Get over there and see if this is really a friend thing or not.”

“ Huh?? ” Isabella jerked her arms back and frantically shook her head. “No way. I already know this is a friend thing.”

What was Buford thinking??

At this point, all pretenses of dancing together were apparently out the window. Buford crossed his arms and eyed her incredulously.

“Look. Let’s say you’d asked Phineas to this dance as more than a friend and he asked if you were going as friends,” he mused. “What would you have said in response?”

“Well obviously I would have said we were going as friends, it would’ve been awkward if I didn’t!” Isabella replied frantically. “I wouldn’t want him to figure out I have a crush on him if it seemed like he didn’t feel the same way!”

“So, maybe Phineas did the same thing!” Buford reasoned. “He meant to ask you as more than a friend but panicked and backtracked on that when you asked about it.”

“Nope, there’s no way that’s true.”

Isabella couldn’t entertain that possibility, as lovely as it was.

It would be DANGEROUS to entertain that possibility, to give in to hope.

“Buford...you know Phineas doesn’t like me like that…..” she whispered.

(It took all of Buford’s willpower to keep from revealing he knew Phineas in fact DID like her like that.)

“Well, whether Phineas wanted to ask you to this dance as more than a friend or not, I still say you should see what it would be like to be here with him as more than a friend.”

Buford gestured to the setup around them and continued, “What better place is there to dance between friendship and more-than-friendship than a literal dance??”

Isabella squirmed a little.

“.....you have a good point there.”

“Look.” Buford nodded towards the snack table. “Just go up to Phineas and, I don’t know, ask him something like, ‘What if we were here as more than friends?’ and see how he reacts.”

“WHAT??” Isabella shook her head vehemently. “I can’t do that!!!”

“Yes you can!!!” Buford assured her. “You’re Isabella Garcia-Shapiro! Mountain-mover! Wielder of ominous patch-related threats!! You can do anything!!!”

“Well, you got that right!” Isabella replied, a hint of pride in her voice. “But...but this is different from moving a mountain. I just...I don’t know….”

“Hey…” Buford placed a gentle hand on her shoulder and gave her an encouraging smile. “If he reacts badly, just tell him I dared you to ask about it. Put the blame on me.”

(He knew Phineas wouldn’t react badly, of course. But he also knew he’d never be able to convince Isabella of that.)

“....wait…..”

A competitive spark prickled in Isabella’s gut, momentarily chasing any jitters away.

“...ARE you daring me to ask him?” she whispered

“....you know, now that you mention it...yes, yes I am.”

Buford took a step back and pointed at her with a grin. “I dare ya to ask him. I DOUBLE-dog dare ya to ask him.”

Isabella spent a long moment just looking at Phineas (who was far too engrossed in his text conversation to notice).

She wasn’t one to turn down a double-dog dare.

And...even without the dare…..she had to admit Buford’s plan was pretty foolproof.

She really wanted to be here with Phineas as more than friends, and now she had the opportunity to make that desire a reality. (AND the opportunity to back away from it if her question backfired.)

“....I guess I’m going to ask him, then.”

...

“Hi, Phineas…sorry about that.”

“Huh??” Phineas jumped and hastily shoved his phone into his pocket. “Oh! Isabella, there’s nothing to be sorry about. Buford’s our friend, just like we’re friends! You don’t have to apologize for spending time with another friend.”

“Well, yeah, but….” Isabella took a deep breath and inched a little closer. “....I came here with you… I want to spend time with you, especially you.”

She inched even closer.

“And, uh...speaking of being friends and spending time together, uh…..I was just wondering, uhm….what if we WEREN’T here as friends?”

There. She was off to a good start.

Phineas’s eyebrows shot up.

“What? You don’t want to be here together?? I...I mean, it’s alright if you’d rather part ways, hang out with other people—“

….okay, maybe she wasn’t off to a good start.

“No, Phineas, that’s not what I meant!!” Isabella elaborated quickly. “I’m having tons of fun with you, promise! What I mean is...uh…..”

Her face was practically on fire at this point, but she forced herself to finish her sentence.

“.....what if we were here together as, like…. more than friends?”

Phineas’s face flushed bright red, eyes practically popping out of their sockets.

“....more than friends?” he squeaked.

Isabella clenched her eyes shut and winced, wishing she could go back in time to a minute ago and ask Phineas about what snacks he’d sampled instead of proposing a change to their entire relationship dynamic out of the blue.

Because now he was embarrassed and SHE was more than embarrassed and she’d made everything awkward and she really needed to fix things before they got worse.

“I—I’m not saying we’re here as more than friends!!” she stammered. “I’m just, uh, thinking hypothetically here. I’ve never been to a dance with a...more than a friend…. I was just wondering what it would be like. If this weren’t a friend thing. That’s all.”

“Oh…”

Phineas blinked. He was still blushing, still looked quite flustered, which only made Isabella feel worse.

He was probably trying to think of the easiest way to excuse himself from this situation without hurting her feelings.

So, Isabella opened her mouth to salvage the night by recontextualizing her proposition as a dare from Buford.

But before she could get a word out….Phineas spoke. Quietly. (Which was a little unusual for him.)

“Well….if this wasn’t a friend thing, uh….I guess I’d want to hold your hand.”

It took Isabella a second to process what he’d said.

“.....you would?” she managed to whisper.

Phineas rubbed the back of his neck. “....yup…”

“Oh.”

“But! Uh!!! This is a friend thing, so! We don’t have to hold hands—“

“NO!!!!!!!” Isabella shot back.

She winced.

”Don’t mess this up, Garcia-Shapiro.”

“...I mean, uh! If this weren’t a friend thing, I’d want to hold hands too. So. We can hold hands. If you want.”

“....okay.”

Slowly, ever so slowly, Isabella reached out and grasped Phineas’s hand in her own before tentatively glancing up at him.

Phineas, meanwhile, stared at their entwined fingers for a few moments before finally meeting her gaze with wide eyes.

He looked a little awestruck and more than a little adorable and now he was smiling and ISABELLA NEEDED TO KEEP IT TOGETHER AND STOP WONDERING WHAT WAS GOING THROUGH HIS HEAD AND THINKING ABOUT HOW LOVELY HER HAND FELT HOLDING HIS.

“...this isn’t real….”  she reminded herself.  “No matter how real it feels, it isn’t real. This is hypothetical. It’s hypothetical. It’s wonderful but it’s just hypothetical nonetheless.”

The music in the air shifted, from upbeat and lively to slow and pensive and….maybe a little romantic?

“You know….if this wasn’t a friend thing….I’d say this was the perfect song to dance to...” Phineas pointed out, still smiling at her.

Isabella blinked. “Uh! And, and I’d agree with that assessment. Totally.”

“...uh, well...do you want to dance, then?”

Isabella took a deep breath.

She DID want to dance with Phineas, of course. But could she? Could she really pretend to pretend to dance with him as more than a friend?

(In other words, could she keep from revealing this “hypothetical more-than-friends” thing wasn’t hypothetical for her at all?)

Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Buford flashing her a thumbs up from the dance floor.

Technically, she’d fulfilled the parameters of his dare.

But would she really be “testing the waters” (as he’d put it) if she backed out now?

“...yes...” she whispered, giving Phineas’s hand a squeeze. “Yes I do. Want to dance, that is.”

Because as nervous and uncertain as Isabella was...she was also excited.

And from the way Phineas’s eyes lit up at her reply, it seemed he was excited too.

...

Thanks for reading! I originally intended for this to be a one shot, but then I was like “...you know....I might as well split it up into chapters, why not?”

See you soon for part 2! And THANK YOU AGAIN FRSDGIRL ILY YOU’RE AMAZING!!!!!

[tbzhours]

be my christmassy

kevin x you x eric, high school au, fluff 

[summary] the Christmassy dance is coming up and with both having a crush on you, eric and kevin try to show their love for you. who will you choose? [words] 5.4k  [a/n] are you still feeling christmassy? ♡ i didn’t know who you should end up with so there are two endings for this fic! also, there’s a lot of college talks in here so bare with me; enjoy! 

It’s usually exciting during this time of the school year because of the annual Christmassy dance. you would hear cheers randomly throughout the week of successful proposals for current and new couples. You honestly loved it, except the glittery decorations around the school that tend to stick onto you and your stuff. Other than that, it also meant that a lot of things are going to happen unexpectedly, like the snacks that keep appearing on your desk since the announcement of the dance. 

You and Eric had the same homeroom when another cheer was heard from the door. You were on your way to the class when you got stuck from the crowd. It was probably the fifth time this morning that you took a sigh then you made a detour, taking the longer way. 

“So, have you thought about who you wanted to ask to the dance?” Hyunjae started after their gaming discussions after hearing the cheer. He smiled excitedly at them then Juyeon answered him. 

“I’m asking my girlfriend out today. My teammates are helping on the field.” Juyeon revealed but Hyunjae slapped his shoulder. 

“At the game?” Hyunjae was surprised when he argued. “Dude, you don’t even need to do that. She can already assume you would go with her to the dance.” 

Jacob shook his head, looking at him without an expression, which slowly turned into a sweet smile. “You don’t know love at all, Hyunjae.” 

Eric wasn’t listening when they bickered, whispering a few names of potential dates then Hyunjae called Eric out, who was caught off guard thinking how he should ask you to the dance. All eyes were on him as he had his mouth open, trying to find words to say. 

“I have someone in mind. Not really sure yet.” Eric didn’t sound promising when he looked up and tapped on his chin. His friends shook their heads. 

“Anyway, if you can help out later, the surprise will be during halftime.” Juyeon mentioned then he pointed at them. “Don’t be late.” 

That was when you walked in, face full of annoyance like you went through a lot trying to get through all of the people in the hall from that successful confession. Eric’s eyes widened as if there was a bubble in his mind when he saw you.  

Eric walked away from the group to the empty seat next to you and sat down when he slid into it. It was a smooth move when you noticed him there. 

“Hey (Y/N), you wanna come watch our team play today?” Eric asked, almost whispering. You thought it was odd because obviously the whole school would go see them. He was on the football team like Juyeon so before you could greet him like the usual, you chuckled. 

“Of course I am. Everyone will.” You turned away from him to see the snack on your desk. You smiled and set it away inside your bag with a whisper of “I’m gonna eat that later”. You didn’t realize Eric heard it and it made him blush. His smile got smaller as he wondered if he got caught staring when you looked back at him. “You’re playing tonight?” 

“Yeah! All because of you.” Eric straightened up from his seat and his fingers fiddle in gratitude. “Thanks for helping me with physics.” 

“I’m glad.” You remembered how hard that class was but you did pretty well in it so you didn’t mind helping Eric study all week last week during your lunch time. “It would suck to not see you on that field.” 

“Thanks for always coming to our games too.” He, once again, felt the need to appreciate you for all of the things you’ve done for him even though it was just a favor. 

“Hey, I’m not the only one supporting our school team. The whole school is going to go see the game tonight.” You chuckled. “We have to win.” 

Eric nodded with a smile. His cheeks were burning up when he repeated your words, “We have to win.” 

You showed your fist to him and he was confused. “For good luck.” 

Eric pounded back at you then you got your textbook out to check the reading for one of your classes today. He admired how cool you were as his friends watched the whole scene and knew who he was going to ask to the dance. 

One of your classes after homeroom was a beginners piano class. Kevin was an student assistant for the class since he knew how to play the piano and took all of the advance classes already. 

There was about four minutes left until the bell rings when you came into the class early. Kevin turned to you from the teacher’s piano at the front of the class and he waved a hand at you. 

“Hey (Y/N), you’re early again.” He sneaked a smile, watching you set your things down at your assigned chair then you walked up to him. 

“Yes, I need to be here early so I can practice for a minute.” You sounded like you were out of breath. You sat down beside him and smiled. “The new melody last week.” 

“You want to try it again?” He asked and you nodded. He motioned his head to the keyboard for you to give it a go. “Go ahead.” 

You focused hard as you played the melody, though it was slower than it should be. His head nodded along each note. 

“By the way, do you need practice for the upcoming test?” He asked, his nod still complimenting at how your fingers pressed against each key. 

“I might, depending on how well this melody sounds to you.” You smiled, trying to not laugh because you could feel how long you were stretching the sound. Seconds later, you finally finished playing and you gave Kevin the side look. “Well?” 

“You’re a fast learner.” He started but you covered your laugh with your closed mouth so there were muffling breaths coming through your nose. “What? I think you did great!” He blurted out, almost laughing. 

“How so?” You asked with curiosity. 

“I’m just surprised at how fast you memorized the melody.” He had a cocky look on his face but it was a pleasant one. 

“Of course I am, I can recite all of my essays for the college applications right now.” 

Kevin held his palm at your boldness. “Hold your horses, I don’t want to think about that when we’re gonna have a test on Friday.” 

“Christmassy day!” You cheered with thrill. “Besides, you’re going to ace it anyways.”

“No, it’s going to be hard to grade everyone.” Kevin cried. You forgot he wasn’t taking the course and you giggled quietly to yourself as if you face-palmed yourself. He sighed and complained, “And all of this Christmassy fun is getting in my head. I just want it to be Friday already.”

“Same.” You agreed. “Except for that test.” 

You both laughed together as the room filled up with students and the bell rang. 

Later that night, you went to go watch Eric’s game with your friends. It was a little chilly but you had a warm coat and winter necessities as you followed your friends though the seating bleachers. It was already dark as the floodlights through the field lit up. The cheers were loud and in unison. When you found your seat, you saw Kevin with his friends, who were sitting in front of you. 

“Didn’t know you’d be here.” You said before you sat down. 

“Same?” Kevin had a judging look on his face, still turned back to you. 

“I watch the game every year.” 

“Uh, I knew that.” 

“Sure.” 

You bursted a laugh when he turned to the front and it got quiet after your nonchalant bickering. He was smiling after hearing you then he turned back to you. 

“This is going to be fun.” Kevin gushed, keeping his hands inside his coat pockets.

“Right. We’re playing against our rival school.” You explained. “Interesting how we get to see them play for our last year.” 

“I have a feeling our team will win.” Kevin smiled. “We got a good team this year.” 

He was right. Once the game started, your school team already scored more points than the opponent. You noticed that Eric was a really good runner. He was always near each end to get ready for a catch. Sometimes, you caught him looking at you after the ball touched the ground. You admired how well your team always played every year because you could tell they put their every ounce of sweat from practice into the game. Maybe that’s why you always go watch the winter game. 

Halftime quickly came as both crowds chanted in unison. Then all of a sudden, some of your school’s team members walked onto the running track in front of your school bleachers. They all had balloons and flowers, and you didn’t see Eric until you saw that he was holding onto a big teddy bear. Juyeon suddenly popped out behind them with a big ‘Will you be my sunshine?’ sign and sunflowers in his hands. 

Juyeon shouted his girlfriend’s name and asked, “Will you be my sunshine at Christmassy?!” 

Everyone looked around, asking where she was. Juyeon shouted her name again then when she came down, all of the crowd cheered. Juyeon walked up to her as they hugged and kissed in front of everyone and the cheers got louder.  

“I thought they’re already dating?” Kevin’s eyebrow rosed, smiling when he looked back at you. 

You shrugged. “I guess it makes it a little more special that way.” 

“I want that.” He suddenly confessed then he saw your judging face. “What?” 

“You want someone to ask you to the dance like that?” 

“I have big dreams.” Kevin chuckled. “I wouldn’t mind all of the balloons and cute stuff, except with an audience this big. Gives me chills.” 

Kevin shivered and you did the same. “I agree.” 

You both shared smiles before he asked you, “You want some hot chocolate after this?” 

“That sounds nice.” 

Eric saw you on the bleachers as he headed toward the bench where his team was at. He waved with his whole arm at you with the teddy bear still in his other arm. Your smile bloomed bigger as you waved back. 

“I never knew about this place.” You were amazed after you and Kevin sat down in the cafe. 

“You can almost say, it’s my secret place to go to.” Kevin chuckled, fixing his long strand of hair. He ordered the hot chocolate and turned back to you. You took a last glance at the antique wall behind the barista before you turned to meet his eyes. 

“The music’s nice.” You commented and he watched how your lips curled into a grin. “And it’s really calm in here.” 

“That’s why I love it here.” He smiled then he groaned. “It just sucks that I might not be able to come back here after we graduate.” 

“That’s right. The closest music school is like two hours away.” You recalled as you chuckled. “That really does suck.” 

“Right?” Kevin sighed then he gave a tiny glare at you jokingly. “I’m still mad at you for only taking piano just to fill an elective credit.” 

“Hey, I’m enjoying the class.” You argued back, still grinning. You rested your chin onto your fist as you set your elbow on the table. “Besides, I think I’m getting better at playing than you.”

“Yeah, and that’s stressing me more over all of these applications.” 

“How is that going for you?” You genuinely asked when the hot cocoa was served. You both thanked the barista and you looked back at him with a smile. 

“Applied for a few music schools already. Still have a few left before acceptances come through.” Kevin held onto his hot cocoa and smiled cheekily at you. “You?” 

“I’m on the same boat.” You sighed and took a sip of your drink. Luckily, it wasn’t too hot so you could drink it warmly. 

Kevin remembered about how stressful it was for you already about applying for colleges because it was about choosing your dream of studying out of the country or staying and finding a new dream. He assured you, “Whatever you choose, I’ll support you.” 

He took a sip of his drink and chuckled when he saw the foam on your upper lips. 

“You want to be santa so bad, huh?” Kevin tried not to drip any hot cocoa from his mouth when wiped your lips with a napkin. 

Later that night, you were getting ready to sleep. As you rested on your bed with the lamp on by your desk, you scrolled through your feed before looking at the stories at the top. You watched Juyeon’s story and saw how he proposed with sunflowers for his girlfriend like how you saw at the game. You smiled at how sweet it was before Eric appeared on Juyeon’s next story. Eric was seen practicing his lines to ask someone out for the dance while his team were taking a break from the game. You chuckled and turned to your side. You thought it was kinda cute as you sent the story to Eric. 

You set your phone down and went to sleep. 

The next morning, you drove a little late to school because you didn’t hear your alarm. You were rushing to school, trying to drive fast and luckily, you made it in time but you still ran as if you were late. 

You caught Eric by your locker but when you tried to come through the crowd, he stopped you by the wrist. He was gentle as he came close to your face to whisper. “Sorry you can’t use your locker yet.”

Eric smirked then he pulled you into the crowd to see the whole scene. 

Younghoon, someone you knew from all of your math classes, asked someone from your homeroom out to the dance so you had to wait. He was your math study buddy after you both unexpectedly took the same classes during your first year together. He was always talking smart so it was funny to see him standing by the lockers next to the formula letters of + U = <3, in which he was the letter I at the left. 

You didn’t know he would have such a big crush on one of your classmates. 

Your classmate came by and the two were obviously in love. They didn’t hesitate with their answer and hugged him right away. 

You cheered with the crowd, not realizing how Eric’s been holding your hand ever since he pulled you into it. Once the crowd scattered and Younghoon and his date walked away, you made your way to your locker quickly. You opened it, letting the + sign stay stuck on the door of your locker as you set some things away. 

Eric was watching your every move after leaning onto the locker on his back beside you. He tried not to laugh when he asked. “Why are you in such a rush?”

“I woke up late so I feel like I’m gonna be late to everything.” You confessed, still scrambling your things back and forth. 

“Well, you look fine, except this.” He fixed your hair to the side and smiled. It must have been from running too much. “There.” 

Your eyes met and you found yourself blushing a little. 

Eric’s eyes bloomed before he grabbed something from his pockets and handed it to you. “And here.” 

You gave him a laugh and took the snack from his hand. “So you’re the one who’s been giving me all of these snacks?” 

“Uhh did I get caught?” He tilted his head then you nodded at him. He quickly changed the subject, talking too fast that you couldn’t stop grinning. Eric started to walk backwards as he suggested. “Do you perhaps want some hot cocoa? I heard Younghoon’s homeroom teacher is making it for his class. They have marshmallows too. The big ones. Yes? Okay, I got you. I’ll be right back.” 

You could see his rosy cheeks before he turned and ran through the crowd. You shook your head and focused back onto your locker. You set his snack down on the top shelf and smiled as you shut it. 

During lunch, your friends asked if you were planning to go to the dance. It was already tomorrow and they were shocked that you didn’t have a date yet because it’s your last year already. 

“You should make it the best.” One of them said. 

Then another added, “I thought you were the one who’s always asking first.” 

You didn’t feel like joining in the conversation but if you had to explain, it was because you had one potential date last year. It’s funny because this year, you have two people in mind. You weren’t sure who you wanted to go with since you are pretty close to the two. For a second, you thought this was harder than doing your applications. 

“Well, at least you’ll get a card tomorrow, from I know who.” One of them teased. 

Ah yes, tomorrow was the day where a card and a chocolate rose get sent to people from their secret admirer by the student council. It was going to happen during your class before lunch. That was when you knew how loud the cafeteria was going to get with the guessing game tomorrow. 

You shrugged after getting playful eyes from your friends. 

You were walking alone in the hall after your teacher asked you to do an errand for them since you were done with your in-class assignment. Kevin was there but you didn’t see him because you were lost in your head while the printer was going. 

“(Y/N)?” You heard Kevin by the front desk. 

You looked to your side and almost jumped. “Did you have your head down or something? I forgot you have library duties.” 

You both chuckled softly in the silent room. Kevin stood up as you picked up the papers and walked to him. You set the papers down on the table between you both when you continued. 

“Must be nice to be in here where there’s no chaos.” You joked. Then you looked at the space in front of the computer screen he was sitting in front of. “What are you working on?” 

“Nothing.” Kevin’s lips twisted to the side with his eyes panicking where you were looking at. He shuffled the papers and tried to explain. “Uhh, it’s more like... I’m just making cards for some of the teachers before the break.” 

“I should do that too.” You nodded as you didn’t see the beads and strings under the cards. Your lips bloomed when you continued, “Anyway, aren’t you excited for tomorrow?” 

“I am.” He mused. “I can’t believe it’s going to be our last dance before we go to college.” 

“Same.” You sighed, “Time goes by too fast.” 

Kevin shrugged with a cheeky smile. “Next thing you know, we’re gonna be walking down with our gowns.”

“Noooo~” You groaned with your head down then you quickly got up. “Wait, I mean yes because you owe me a homemade cake.” 

“You still remember that?” Kevin was surprised because he made one for your older brother, who was also his friend. He graduated last year and Kevin dropped by your place to congratulate him with it. 

“Duh,” you pretended to be annoyed but you smiled after. You remember fighting with your brother just to get a taste of it. “I can still remember the taste. It was that good.” 

“Then I won’t forget to do that for you when we graduate.” 

“Thanks. I’ll let my brother know you're still a baker and you’re doing great.” You let him know then it got quiet with just your smiles. A few seconds went by before you picked up the papers and chuckled awkwardly. “I better get going.” 

Kevin grabbed some things on the table and handed them to you before you could make it to the door. “Here take some chocolate, just in case we don’t get any tomorrow.” 

Your eyebrow heightened as you assured him. “I’m sure you’ll have at least one secret admirer.” 

Yeah, you too.” You both exchanged smiles and before you walked out of the door, you turned back just in case. “Good luck tomorrow.” Kevin whispered, “With the test.” 

You could almost see him winking before you walked out. 

Right then, you saw Eric in the hallway quietly, as if he didn’t want to get caught skipping class. 

He didn’t even see you until the door of the library opened. His eyes widened. Good thing you didn’t open two seconds later because he would have hit the door. You shut it as he slowed down. 

“Where are you going, Eric?” You asked. You joined his walk while he tried to avoid your eyes. 

“I-I’m just helping Haknyeon with his date. You know, for the dance.” He chuckled awkwardly. 

“You’re always the wingman.” You laughed along and turned to him. “Will you ever do an event for your own date?” 

Eric blushed nervously and he hummed a weird sound. “O-of course. It just hadn’t happened yet.” 

“Well then, good luck with it.” You smiled at him when you stopped by the door of your class. It was just down the hall from the library. “Have fun being a wingman again.” 

“Thanks.” Eric smiled as you walked into your class. 

When you got home, you were conflicted over who to ask to the dance that you had decided it would be fun to go to the dance with your friends instead. 

You set some things back into your bag when the night got deep. You check one of the side pockets after remembering about the chocolate Kevin gave you, then you realized he gave you a bracelet too, as promised from a while back when he got into making bead bracelets. You remembered him making some for his friends and since your older brother got one, you wanted one too. You quickly sent a text of it after getting ready to sleep and thanked him for remembering. 

When you went back to your feed, you saw that both Eric and Kevin made a post. 

You liked both posts then you set your phone down and closed your eyes to sleep. Your heart was beating so fast that you didn’t know what tomorrow would be like. For sure, it was going to be a busy day. 

It was the day of the dance and the school was festive with all of the cheers and sweet giving and exchanges throughout the hall and classrooms as your heart was still rushed in excitement. 

You briefly saw Eric in homeroom but he left early to be another wingman for a friend’s proposal. He made sure to meet eyes with you with a smile before he left the room. 

As for Kevin, he seemed super nervous during your piano test. You gave him a big pat on the back when you both walked out of the class and complimented how great he did. 

“You still look nervous.” You commented, you peeked at him. 

“I do?” He moved his head back and scoffed with a confident smile. “Well, I’m not.” 

“I believe you.” You smiled, trying not to laugh at how funny he looked. “See you later. Hope you get something.” 

The secret admirer cards. Kevin just remembered. Actually, it’s been on his mind all morning. It’s just that he was one of your secret admirers and you were standing right in front of him where you both needed to part ways in the hall. He nervously smiled. “Right. You too.” 

You both parted, smiling away and when you got to your locker with only a minute left to get to your next class before lunch, Eric came by, shouting your name. A few students looked and some shook their head from being used to him shouting with his friends. 

“What are you doing? Shouldn’t you be in class already?” Your eyes were wide and your lips were opened in surprise. You couldn’t help to chuckle at how nervous he looked.

“I know. I just forgot to um…” He tried to think of something and blurted out, “Say hi to you.”

“Hi~” You played along then you rushed your locker exchanges and closed it quickly. “Better get going. I’m gonna be late to my class too.” 

“Take a run! You’ll get there in no time!” 

You didn’t know why he was encouraging you to run in school because it wasn’t allowed but you played along with a laugh. You took off and waved your hand at him. “You too! Bye!” 

You finally got to class right when the bell rang. Once you sat down, the announcement came on about the secret admirer cards. It was taking a while since the deliverers had to stop by each classroom. You tried to stay focused in class but it was really hard to, and when there was a knock on the door, your teacher walked to it and started to pass the cards to the correct receivers. 

For you, you got two.

card 1 i adore  how your mind speaks how your eyes shine, and especially how passionate your dream beats against your heart. if there’s room for more, will you be my christmassy?

card 2 roses are red violets are blue how about christmassy? at your side i shall be. (meet me at the parking lot at lunch?)

                           who stole your heart? 

                              card 1   /   card 2

[everybodyscupoftea]

hockey!jj: road to the nhl

the ncaa and the stress of being an nhl prospect

@sunnypogue​​ and i are back at it folks - and with this, we’ve finally established all of jj’s backstory

(the next thing we’re working on is the masterlist linking all of our hockey!jj and coho!rafe content - we’re posting on both of our blogs and @sunnypogue​ has a ton of coho!rafe stuff written already for you to catch up on his backstory)

warnings: cursing

Ward knew the Major-Junior leagues were a great opportunity and that they funneled players straight into the NHL - JJ’s end goal

The OHL came knocking as soon as JJ was draft eligible, but the idea of leaving the outer banks during high school to move somewhere way up north to play with even richer kids than he already did was intimidating to him

Then Rafe started looking at college hockey and opened the ncaa option to JJ, which he much preferred

As soon as Ward learned that JJ was considering college hockey, he started contacting coaches from the top hockey schools in the nation

Ward had a whole whiteboard full of schools and corresponding contacts posted up in his office

He sent out JJ’s highlight tape to any D1 school he could get in touch with

(JJ was oblivious - just playin’ hockey & working at the mechanics in his free time)

Actually, outside of playing hockey, JJ had very little to do with the process

Ward would send the emails, field the calls, etc.

Ward even accompanied him on a few recruiting trips, asking all the right questions.

(Did Ward miss one of Rafe’s games to attend the BU recruiting trip? Yes.)

And it paid off - JJ had a lot of college offers from some really good schools

Most of which JJ had no idea existed - Quinnipac? Northeastern? Clarkson?

Of course, there were a few he recognized - Michigan, BU, Denver

(tbh his favorite was Arizona State, but Ward refused because - “what kind of hockey did they play on the West Coast?”)

(JJ imagined it was similar to the hockey they played in North Carolina, but kept his mouth shut - for once.)

After much debate, he decided to attend University of North Dakota

JJ had grown up watching Toews & Oshie college highlights - he couldn’t help but have a soft spot for the school

Plus, the concept of living in North Dakota was hilarious to him

Ward moved JJ in mid-June, sticking around for an additional week to “keep an eye on him”

Despite Ward practically adopting JJ, he still didn’t really trust him

JJ caught Ward hovering at his practices, chatting up the coaching staff, the Athletic Director, his RA - JJ could only imagine what Ward was instructing them to do.

JJ dealt with it the way he dealt with most Ward-related things - he put his head down and played hockey.

JJ’s birthday was mid-September, so he had the luxury of being able to enroll at UND without worrying about the upcoming draft - he wasn’t eligible for another year.

UND was great, the guys were really nice and it was like a fresh start for him - no Ward, no Luke.

No one knew he was just a poor kid from some beach town on the Atlantic Coast with a deadbeat dad - he was “just JJ”

Road trips were his favorite - he’d never really gotten to travel in this region of the US before

He loved the bus rides with his teammates - even the early morning ones.

Plus, his teammates actually LIKED him - unlike his travel team back in NC, who never really embraced him as “one of their own”

(Ward said they were jealous - JJ knew better.)

The team was significantly more laidback than his travel team - despite being one of the best teams in the country

Most of the guys weren’t actively trying for the NHL and were a lot more chill which helped his nerves

Some of the older guys were already drafted, allowed to return back to UND for a year or two before joining their respective clubs

They took JJ under their wing, recognizing his talent immediately

They were always willing to hang around after practice, offering an opportunity for JJ to get a couple more drills in, or hit the gym with him a little extra.

They were full of advice for what to do and what not to do as a prospect

One thing they all advised? Attend the combine

JJ got an invite, late his freshman year, opting to attend despite being pretty unknown.

No one was really talking about him, this scrappy kid from North Carolina, who somehow got a full ride to UND.

He had a pretty impressive combine despite being on the smaller side; the physical testing went well, even though he almost threw up after the Wingate Test

(The kid before him puked twice)

The team interviews were harder, he was unfamiliar with it, unlike the junior hockey boys, his only experience coming from meeting with college coaches

JJ definitely said the Wrong Thing more than once

Ward had always handled the harder questions, the harder conversations - suddenly JJ was getting asked about his attitude issues, what he thought about legalizing marijuana, what he would do if there was a 25 foot python in a room with him - JJ was LOST.

(Also if he got ONE MORE question about his size, he was going to Lose It.)

He felt really alienated because they all seemed to know each other; it was like an exclusive clique.

Thankfully, one of his older teammates from UND was there too - they stuck together despite not really being good friends.

Somehow, he survived the combine (even after he snarked off in an interview when they questioned him about his height - JJ aptly responded with a “well, I’m taller than you, aren’t I?”)

Ward did not like that one.

His prospect status grew. Teams were very interested in him and he got on the media’s radar. Analysts predicted him going late first round, early second even.

Some of his UND teammates got wind of his newfound popularity and googled his name + elite prospects to check out his page

JJ was a little astounded to see how in depth they’d gone on his stats and a little embarrassed by all the teasing, but it was never mean-spirited

Kinda helped him feel like one of the guys which was unfamiliar after being ostracized in his younger years for not having the same economic status

JJ felt a little sick when he entered the draft.

He had been having a recurring dream where he attended the first and second rounds, only to not get picked at all, left sitting in the stands, desperately waiting to hear his name.

Deep down he knew he’d get selected by someone, but there was the inherent fear that teams hated him and would pass on him.

What if he didn’t get picked at all?

Of course, several teams were interested in him - he had a great freshman year, an excellent showing in the Frozen Four (UND lost in the semis, but JJ really put the team on his back), and his name was popping up all over Twitter as a “sleeper first round pick”

He had been in contact with scouts from Philadelphia, Columbus, Nashville and Dallas - he knew they were interested.

Ward regularly kept up with JJ, checking in to make sure his grades were good and he was getting his workouts in to stay in top form for the draft.

“Scouts are going to start attending your games, if they haven’t already.”

“They’ve even popped up at a few of Rafe’s games - they’ll be at yours.”

(That’s how JJ found out Rafe was interested in trying out for the Canes after graduation)

JJ felt stupid, but he was really praying Carolina wasn’t interested in him - he’d rather go undrafted than end up on a team with Rafe again

Hell, he was hoping they wouldn’t be in the same division, much less the same conference - the less he saw of Rafe, the better.

Silly boy thought he’d be in the AHL

JJ didn’t attend the draft because he wasn’t predicted to go super early (also, you know - the nightmares)

He ended up staying in North Dakota to keep practicing and working out with some of his teammates who stuck around

The night of the first round, the group of them ordered food and hung out in one of the boys apartments to watch together. JJ was pretty sure he wouldn’t go in the first round, but his curiosity won out.

He sat in a corner chair, staring blankly at his hands the majority of the evening, too nervous to really even watch

To his surprise, his name was called late in the first round, the Dallas Stars using the 28th pick on him.

(JJ was pretty dejected at this point - Philly and Nashville had passed him up, despite showing a ton of interest earlier in the week)

He was struck still and wordless, barely registering the boys jumping up and down, shaking him, and screaming all around him

“Fuck, dude, you get to play with Seguin and Benn”

Soon after the first round ended, the Stars GM called and he put it on speaker to talk to him

“We love your game, son, we feel you’ll be a good fit for our team. I’m calling to invite you to prospect camp this year, we want the opportunity to see what you can really do. Can’t wait to see you in a Stars uniform.”

Ward called him next, already talking about getting JJ an agent and flight details to get down to Dallas for camp. It was all a blur, and the fluttering in JJ’s stomach got stronger as he realized he’d really made it.

Well, almost made it.

Prospect camp was insane. He felt like he barely slept, it was just eating, media, and hockey. The facilities were amazing and the other guys were so talented.

The competitive atmosphere was nothing like he’d ever felt before, and he thrived, consistently rising to the challenge.

Everyone wanted an invite to training camp, but spots were limited.

The practices were on another level - JJ was bone tired the whole week, body aching from the constant skating & checking.

Scrimmages were fun - JJ loved playing with guys outside the NCAA, enjoying the challenge that came with playing with talented, older prospects.

At the end, he got an invite to training camp

Playing with actual NHLers, some that he’d even grown up watching, was insane.

He was legitimately starstruck when Joe Pavelski checked him into the boards during a practice scrimmage - it took him a couple of seconds to recover.

JJ was the youngest at training camp by far - living out of a suitcase in a random Dallas hotel, trying to figure out whether he needed to re-enroll at UND or not, fielding daily calls from Ward - it was stressful.

(And apparently, his stress was palpable, because the next day, after practice, Tyler Seguin smacked him on the head, demanding that he meet him for dinner that night at Nick & Sam’s)

(JJ did not know what the fuck Nick & Sam’s was, but he figured it out)

Tyler sat JJ down, ordered him a big ol’ steak, & told JJ to tell him what was on his mind because “you’ve been looking constipated for about a week, now.”

JJ just...unloads on him. Tells him everything he’s stressed about - leaving school, moving to Dallas, whether he’s actually good enough to stay on NHL roster - he’s nearly panting by the time he’s done talking.

Tyler, shockingly, is an excellent listener. He offers advice about signing a contract & reassures JJ that he’s talented (“dude, you’re not going down to Austin. They’d be insane.”).

They also discuss the merits of maybe playing an extra season of NCAA before committing fully to the NHL because he was young and it was intimidating

Tyler gave his perspective and mistakes he made as a bit of a warning to starting too young

If anything, the dinner made JJ more confused about his future - would he fuck everything up if he waited another year? What if he got injured at UND, and never actually made the NHL?

He didn’t sleep that night - or the night after.

Ultimately, Ward ended up deciding for him, pushing him into signing an ELC & leaving UND.

“At least you’re guaranteed some money, son. That’s gotta be enough inspiration.”

[pikemoreno]

if you ever wanna be in love

Chapter IV: Plan B and Other Messes

a/n: this is my favorite so far, but it’s only gonna get better from here!

taglist is open if you’d like to be added. sorry if you asked and i missed it or forgot. please just ask again if you aren’t on there and would like to be. :’)

pairing: marcus pike x f!reader

word count: 2k

warnings: none, and i don’t expect there to really be any serious ones in upcoming chapters either. this is just fun.

If this plan was foolproof, you were all worse than fools.

It had started fine. It had been more than a week since the disastrous failure that was Plan A, and you spent the week doing some reconnaissance to keep Wendy’s brief interaction with Adrian on the top of her mind.

On Tuesday, you had asked her again about the elevator incident, stating: “Wow, that must’ve been scary. Did you have someone with you? I don’t think I remember.” She responded that there had been and that he was “nice.” 

On Wednesday, you had asked her if she had caught the name of the “mystery man” in the elevator. Did he work in the building? What department? Was he cute? She had said that she “Didn’t catch his name or his department, but… Yeah, he was alright, I guess.” Not a lot to work from, you lamented, but it was a start. You told her you’d see what you could find out and she groaned, telling you not to get into it, that she was fine. If only she knew how late she was on that sentiment.

On Thursday, you had taken the day off from bothering her about it. After all, you couldn’t make it seem like you found out everything about him in a day. Because that would have just been absurd. 

Today-- Friday-- you spilled all of your “research” to her: name, age, department, and the information that he’d been “asking about her too”-- ignoring the fact that that was only true because Marcus had been giving him the same treatment you were giving Wendy this week. Her eyes lit up a little at hearing she’d been asked about too, and you knew you had her hook, line, and sinker.

You met Marcus outside on your lunch break to debrief and discuss the finale of Plan B, sitting on a wooden-slatted bench with him underneath the slowly changing leaves of the trees in the courtyard. While an uncharacteristically cool breeze blew by, you were starting to decide that if you could just get Wendy and Adrian to this point right here, that would be enough to bring them together. It was a quiet and secluded place, a blessed change from the chaos of work on the other side of those glass double doors in the distance. There was something undeniably romantic about it all. 

With the right person to share it with, of course.

This wasn’t a romantic exchange. It was planning, organizing, talking about another’s romance, and never your own. There was absolutely nothing inherently romantic about this, certainly nothing in the way he smiled at you from the corner of his eye as you talked about how the week had gone with Wendy. There was nothing in the way you admired the light in his eyes when he grinned and how they crinkled when he laughed and nothing in the way you wanted to make sure he laughed every single day.

Oh no. Oh no no no no. 

This whole thing was about Wendy, not you. And certainly not Marcus. 

“So, what’s the plan for this evening?” His question brought you out of your daze.

“Umm,” you cleared your throat, re-gathering yourself as you poked at your lunch with your fork. “We’re gonna text them both separately to meet us at Copper Coin for coffee. We won’t be there when they arrive. We’ll be twenty minutes late and hope that they’ve decided to sit together in that time. If they haven’t, we’ll make sure they do,” you shrugged. 

“Right,” he nodded, and you returned it. Silence overtook the moment, but not in the serene way it had previously. This was decidedly more awkward. You were back in your head, doing the mental calculations of why and how there was nothing at all romantic about your friendship with Art Squad over here. That’s all it was; that’s all he was. You vaguely heard him call your name-- your real name.

“Hm?” you blinked, looking back to him.

“Where’d you go?” he murmured quizzically, his eyes searched your face in a way that undid all of the mental calculation you just went through.

“What? Nowhere. Anyway,” you stood quickly, gathering your stuff, “See you later.” You couldn’t ignore the feeling of his curious eyes still on you as you walked away.

This was not happening.

You’d be lying if you said that lunchtime exchange wasn’t at the forefront of your mind for the rest of the work day... And as you drove to the coffee shop… And now that you were sitting across from Marcus yet again, waiting on Wendy and Adrian, who still had yet to show up after the predetermined twenty minutes you were giving them before sitting inside the mahogany-saturated, hipster’s paradise yourselves. 

Plan B was most certainly not foolproof, and the four of you were the grandest of fools. Where could they be?

“They’re gonna walk in and think we’re the ones on a date,” Marcus quipped as he took a sip of his drink. You almost spit yours out from the surprise of the comment, but couldn’t help the huff of laughter.

“Oh, if Wendy walked in and thought I was on a date with a guy like you, she would probably cry tears of joy.”

“What does that mean?” You missed the warm pink take over the skin of his neck at what he was hoping was a compliment. 

A guy like him? 

How did you see him? 

“My recent track record is not great,” you stated, running a finger around the rim of your drink, “I would go on a couple of dates with someone. Never let it go anywhere. Decline any attempt to make it exclusive. Get the hell out of there. Rinse and repeat.”

“Why do you think that is?” 

You were making him nervous. It was pretty obvious to him now that he was starting to be interested in you beyond just being a work friend helping him with a “project”. But hearing your hesitance to commit in the past made his heart sink. He knew too well the feeling of being the one more invested in the relationship, of scaring someone off by going all in. He couldn’t let himself fall into that again with you. He’d have to force himself away, push down what was threatening to blossom.

“Afraid of getting hurt, I guess. I’ve seen a lot of committed relationships around me fail. People falling out of love. I don’t want that.” You shrugged.

“That’s a very reasonable fear.”

“Exactly. So I’m just… Waiting I guess. Wendy sees it as me just having commitment issues. I don’t have commitment issues per se. I just haven’t really found anyone worth committing to yet.”

“I’m afraid I have the opposite problem.” You tilted your head, questioning, and he continued, “I haven’t found anyone worth committing to, but I don’t realize it until it’s too late.” he sighed, “I was that one teenager who had one steady girlfriend from eighth grade all the way through high school and never looked at anyone else-- probably for the best, I was kind of a dork,” he laughed despite himself and you joined. It fizzled sadly, “But anyway. Everyone thought we were gonna be together forever. And I started to think so too after, you know, five years. I had it all planned out by the time we got to senior year. We wanted to go to the same college. We’d date through college, I’d propose on our graduation day... We didn’t make it past senior prom. She had disappeared for a while, and I found her in a supply closet with another guy.” You couldn’t help but gasp a little. He continued “Then I still got married pretty young, not long out of college,” he shook his head, seemingly to clear out the emotions that reared their ugly heads for what was obviously the first time in a while. You wanted him to know he didn’t have to explain himself to you. 

“Marcus, don’t--” you tried to stop him.

“I was ‘too much’ for her.” You froze at the admission. His mouth contorted into a frown that didn’t suit him at all. “I’m still not sure I know what she meant by that,” he laughed humorlessly, “Guess I cared too much? Who knows. She divorced me, and that was that.” You both looked down to find that you’d put your hand on his. There was a part of you-- maybe more than a part, really-- that decided that what he was saying sounded nice. That he would be a blessed change from relationships that never lasted longer than a month and whose conversations never reached the level of depth that you were already experiencing with Marcus after just the couple of weeks you’d known him. You breathed, letting your hand stay resting on his as you spoke truly.

“What you said was right. Neither of them were worth your commitment. I’ve seen your commitment to someone who’s just a work friend, and I can’t imagine anyone not wanting that in their life. They couldn’t have been worth your time.” His thumb reached up to brush against the side of your hand. “I would--” You stopped yourself mid-sentence upon looking at the cafe door to find Wendy finally walking in.

If only you knew that Marcus was holding his breath waiting for the end of the statement, hoping to hear you say that he might be worth that commitment. 

“There’s Wendy now.” Your hand left his as you got up to meet her, and Marcus found himself immediately missing the contact and entirely unsure of what just happened. 

“An hour late? Where have you been?” you laughed as Wendy met your eyes excitedly. 

“You’ll never guess what just happened,” she practically squealed in response, yet not answering your question.

“Probably not. Go for it.”

“I got my rebound!” You blinked.

“You-- What?”

“So right before you left the office, I received a tip on a case from the Elisabet Ney Museum. They had some priceless jewelry of hers on display. Only supposed to be up for a week. Family heirloom. It’s on display for two days before it turns up stolen. But get this: the bust of hers it was on was also stolen. Meaning this case also falls under the jurisdiction of the Art Squad. I figured ‘Hey, the more, the merrier,’ so I hopped on down to the 6th floor to talk to them about a team-up and guess who I ran into?” Your eyes widened, finally getting the point of the story.

“Adrian.”

“Adrian!” she nearly squealed again, talking a mile a minute. “So anyway, we’re gonna be teamed up on that next week.” You subconsciously shot a glance over to Marcus. Having to work a case with him? After the day you just had? “But the crazy part is that I started talking to Adrian and he’s so great, you know, now that I’m not freaking out in an elevator. Turns out he’s a recent dumpee too, and we’re gonna go out tomorrow night. Oh, and we might’ve made out in the supply closet.” The words of that last part all ran together as she tried to play it off nonchalantly. You let your mouth hang open in the flurry of words and admissions that came far too quickly for you to process fully. 

“Wow. That’ s-- That’s great! I told you he was worth looking into,” you smiled weakly, trying to get over the newest developments in this absolutely ridiculous story. “So, this case? Starting next week?”

“Monday morning, bright and early. Hey, didn’t you say you had a friend on Art Squad? The one who gave you a ride that one day? That’ll be fun, right?”

“Yeah, yeah, for sure.” You caught Marcus’s eye, and your face must have betrayed just how exasperated and confused-- and… relieved?--  you felt because the look he shot back to you was full of concern. Everything was somehow simplified and complicated in one fell swoop. 

Plan B: Success? You guess?

forever taglist: @acomplicatedprofession @hdlynn @makaela27 @space-floozy @catfishingmorales @ithinkhesgaybutwesavedmufasa @princessbatears @synystersilenceinblacknwhite @findhimfives @mistermiraclee

series taglist: @whiskeyslasso​ @ahopelessromanticwritersworld @dindjarindiaries​ @absurdthirst​ @roxypeanut​ @fioccodineveautunnale​ @dirty-dancefl00r5  @starryeyedstories​ @buckysalefty​ @wickedfrsgrl​ @the-feckless-wonder​

[p1harmonyofficial]

[📰] KOCOWA’s Exclusive Interview With P1Harmony

P1Harmony knows how to make a debut. Along with their agency, FNC Entertainment, the sextet thought of a way to make their debut on October 28 stand out from all the other K-pop groups that had already made their mark in 2020. Instead of just releasing a song and music video, the boy band took part in a feature film called “P1H: A New World Begins.” The rookie idols said they had jitters, but they also were excited to showcase their acting abilities alongside established entertainers like “While You Were Sleeping” star Jung Hae In and “Running Man” comedian Yu Jae Seok.

P1Harmony also launched their debut with “Siren” off of their first EP “Disharmony: Stand Out.” Since their debut, the group has been performing on shows such as “SBS Inkigayo” and hosting a number of small fan meetings (with a maximum of 50 people) to comply with South Korea’s Covid-19 mandates. In between their jam-packed schedule, Keeho, Theo, Jiung, Intak, Soul and Jongseob sat down for a group chat with KOCOWA.

Q: Congratulations on your debut! I have never heard of any group making their debut with a film.

Keeho: We decided that a film would be the best way to express our thoughts and view of the world.

Q: Not all idols are trained actors. How challenging was it to tackle your acting roles?

Intak: We did have some acting lessons before the shoot, but not as much as we had hoped. We had acting lessons for about two to three months, but we still felt a lot of pressure and responsibility. As it was the first movie to be filmed for a K-pop debut, it was an important opportunity for us. But as we were filming, our confidence grew and that made it easier for us to act. I also think it helped that I knew exactly what kind of inspiration I wanted to leave to the audience through this movie.

Q: Do you think that acting and singing are similar in terms of conveying emotions through dialogue and songs? Or are they completely different to you?

Jiung: I think it’s almost the same. Expressing my emotions through singing, acting or even drawing is all a form of art. So, in terms of conveying our emotions, it is all quite the same. It’s all a form of art.

Q: Korean dramas are very popular in the U.S. I know you are all very busy with work and rehearsing. When you have time, do you watch K-Dramas?

Theo: I had fun watching “It’s Okay to Not Be Okay.”

Intak: The most recent one I’ve enjoyed is “Itaewon Class.”

Jongseob: I haven’t been able to watch anything recently because we have been busy, but I enjoyed “Hotel del Luna” as well as “Guardian: The Lonely and Great God.”

Q: If you had to pick one or the other to watch, would you choose a K-drama or a Korean variety show?

Soul (who was born and raised in Japan): I definitely would choose a Korean variety show. It’d be easier for me to understand!

Q: What do you snack on when you watch TV?

Theo: I don’t really watch TV. I think the last time I really watched something on TV was when I was in sixth grade. [Laughs] But if or when I do, I don’t really snack on anything. I also do not eat popcorn when I watch a movie at the theater.

Q: Because of this pandemic, no one can go on tour yet. Where are some places that you are hoping you will be able to play live for fans in the future?

Keeho: We would like to go anywhere where we are wanted. We would like to perform for a diverse audience. We always wanted to travel all around the world even before our debut. It’s unfortunate that we are unable to do so due to the current situation, but we hope to gain recognition and hope you guys can look forward to our upcoming activities!

—

It has only been a little more than two months since P1Harmony’s debut. It’s already clear that these FNC rookies have a promising future in K-pop. P1Harmony … fighting!

[mysteira6]

FukaFlower - Holding Your Left Hand

~*~*~*~*~

Summary:

She wasn’t gonna let him feel bad for holding his left hand.

Setting: Fukase and Flower are in the same high school grade and are around 17 - 18 years old. Also, they’re already a couple in this one-shot. Read on for fluff, angst and a little sweet moment at the end. ^3^

~*~*~*~*~

Autumn-coloured lamps decorated the streets, surrounding the many stalls by the pathway in a warm-coloured glow. Young adults in ankle-length yukatas and young children with bags of candy and treats in their hands littered the road before them, the small-talk between groups of teens and squeals of delight amongst children filling their ears. Stall owners left and right were hollering customers over, hoping to catch their attention to play their games or buy their fun-coloured snacks.

The white-haired teen blinked at the sight. “Wow,” She muttered. “I know Miku was warning us when she said this year’s carnival would be ‘packed as sardines’, but I wasn’t expecting it to be this… crowded…”

She heard a light-hearted chuckle from the young man standing beside her. “Welp, I guess that’s a lesson learnt,” He said jokingly.

“What lesson?”

As he turned to her, his scarlet right eye sparkled jovially. “That we should actually listen to the ‘popular diva’ instead of assuming that she only talks about rumours,” He noted, another laugh emerging from his mouth.

The thought of that made her narrow her eyes a little. “I’m not so sure about that, Fukase,” She murmured skeptically, shaking her head. “She talks more about gossip than anything remotely useful-”

“But if we had listened to her, then we wouldn’t be caught in this human traffic jam now, wouldn’t we?” The redhead replied, though soon after, he heaved a sigh and shrugged his shoulders sheepishly. “Oh well, we’re here anyway and the night is young, Flower! Hopefully, the crowd will thin out in a bit,”

Despite her initial disappointment of not having a peaceful stroll with him, the optimistic grin on his face was enough to wash her negativity away. Of course he would try to cheer her up like this. After all, this date was his idea, something that he came up with during their lunch hour when all the other students were talking about the upcoming summer festival and how carnivals were being set up in dozens of neighbourhoods. Given that they had just finished their school term, it seemed like a perfect time to start their summer break with a fun little getaway with just the two of them.

Flower puffed in mild annoyance. When Fukase asked her to go to the carnival in their neighbourhood together, she got giddy with excitement as she always was when it came to their dates. That was one of the strangest things about being with him; somehow, he had managed to break down her curt demeanor and unpack her sweet side that very few people saw. All it took was him being a cheerful jokester who not only tried his best to make everyone smile, but also possessed a kind heart to help anyone he could. Funny then, that he would be interested, and eventually fall in love with, a pessimistic girl who was essentially a stoic emotional wall.

Oh well. Life can be that weird sometimes. In fact, what was more weird was that as he talked to her everyday, cracking a joke here and there, Flower found herself becoming more conscious of how she presented herself in front of him. The little things that she barely cared about before gradually took priority in her appearance as he tried everyday to make her smile a little. Smoothing out her skirt and brushing her hair behind her ears were only two of the dozen things that crossed her mind as soon as she heard him talking to her.

Tonight was no exception to her new routine of fussing over her appearance; as soon as she got home, Flower immediately made a beeline for her preppy younger sister, Xin Hua, who was lounging on the sofa and scrolling through the feed on her phone as usual. However, after Flower explained her situation, the cobalt-haired teen quickly placed her phone aside and partook in the giddy excitement that her older sister was feeling. One trip to Sachiko’s yukata gallery and another to Mizki’s hair accessory treasury was enough for the aspiring fashionista to dress her sister up for her special summer date.

“Flower? Flower!” The sight of his bandaged hand waving front of her was enough to snap the short-haired teen back to reality, her violet eyes blinking a few times to readjust her field of vision. “Hey, are you okay?” Fukase asked her, a worried frown inscribed on his lips as he placed a hand on her shoulder.

“O-oh, sorry, I… I’m okay,” She stuttered in embarrassment, slightly ashamed that she spaced out in the middle of nowhere. Her instinctive reaction of looking down whenever she got awkward got her looking at the yukata that Xin Hua had picked for her. It was of a deep violet shade, accompanied by prints of lavender and white coloured cherry-blossoms and outlines of round lanterns scattered across her sleeves and skirt. She had a grape-purple obi tied around her waist to keep her outfit together and Ms Sachiko even gave her complimentary wooden sandals and a hickory-coloured basket for her necessities to complete the ensemble. ‘Cherish your youth’, she had said with a warm smile after Flower had told her the reason for her purchase.

Meanwhile, Fukase chuckled at her quiet response and quietly slid his right hand under her chin, gently lifting her gaze to look at him. There wasn’t an obvious height difference between them (except for a few centimeters that Flower had but Fukase didn’t) but even then, Flower felt rather small under the gaze of his right eye, his left one being concealed under his white eye patch. Having him stand close to her also allowed her to take in his outfit for the night; a muted red yukata with black lines resembling tree branches drawn on its cloth all held together by a thin bright red obi.

“You sure?” He smirked at her like a cheeky devil would, the jokester side of him showing. “You’re blushing, you know,”

His words rooted her to the spot. “No, I am not!”

“Sharp response. I thought you were a kuudere, not a tsundere,”

“I-Does that really matter right now?!”

Her flustered response was met with a fit of laughter from Fukase, his red curls dancing in the air as he shook his head jokingly. “I kid! I kid!” He sang out as he held his hands up as if surrendering. “Please spare me from your silent treatment, Hana-chan~”

She puffed her cheeks. “You’re only lucky that I decided to dress up for tonight and I don’t want to ruin our date,”

“Oh right, I was gonna say,” His expression lit up as he continued. “You look… as pretty as a flower tonight,”

He half-heartedly expected a startled response and was unsurprised when she only snarkily replied: “A pun-related flirt isn’t going to get to me, Fukase,” Of course she’d say something like that.

“Darnnit, that didn’t work as well as I had hoped,” He pretended to be upset for a moment before raising his right hand towards her, cueing the snow-haired girl to blink at him a few times.

“Well anyway,” He began, tilting his head at her cutely. “Now that we’ve been chatting here for a while, I believe it’s about time for us to head down there, yeah?”

She found herself beaming as she accepted his hand. “Yes, let’s,”

~*~*~*~*~

“Come and catch your own kingyo! Only 200 yen to bring one home!”

“Fresh shaved ice and candied apples for sale! Come and get them before they’re gone!”

As their evening continued, the crowd really did grow thinner as most of the younger children were brought home by their parents and some of the teenagers were heading home as well. Since the both of them were night owls on a daily basis, the moon climbing up the sky did not bother them. Fukase’s enthusiasm for them to visit every stall did not falter even as the night went on. Beside him, Flower held tightly to his right hand, a small smile on her face as she witnessed him bring her all around the carnival. She could tell that he was excited for it.

“Are you hungry? We should get some mochi here,”

“I think those pinwheel headbands would look cute on you,”

“Hey, this fruit tea tastes great! Try some!”

Perhaps it was a little selfish for her to say it, but Flower really liked the attention that he was giving her tonight. It wasn’t odd for Fukase to treat her so kindly (he was literally known for being the kindest person for a lot of people) but hearing him talk to her alone made her feel warm and fuzzy inside, a feeling that only he could generate. However, tonight it felt like Fukase’s gentlemanly nature was much more prominent than usual… Was it because they were wearing such fancy clothes?

Whatever the reason was, she didn’t really care about it. After all, who would turn down a kind, pampering boyfriend like him? Even though Flower was slow to understand social norms as a wallflower, she knew enough to recognise that Fukase was kind of spoiling her (not that she was complaining, mind you).

Her train of thought was interrupted when something at a shelf on her left managed to catch her attention, silently motioning her to get closer to the stall with multi-coloured stacks of cans lined up in pyramidal formation behind its counter. She couldn’t take her eyes off one of the prizes at the game stall; a small lavender rabbit with a translucent maroon ribbon wrapped around its neck and a top hat sewn onto its head. Its subtle resemblance to Fukase’s normal outfit was probably what caught her eye.

“Whatcha looking at?” The very person she was thinking about turned his head in the same direction as she was facing, his eyes scanning the game stall for whatever had caught her attention. “Do you see that little rabbit on the shelf?” Flower whispered to him while leaning close to his ear. “It’s kinda cute. I just thought that it looked like you in your coat, doesn’t it?”

The redhead has his eyes trained on the stuffed toy that had caught his girlfriend’s attention. It didn’t take him long to mutter a ‘let’s head over there’ as he brought them both over to the stall, his hand never letting go of her despite her initial surprise. After he forked out some coins for the stall owner, a basket with brightly coloured plastic balls was placed in front of him, the challenge of knocking over all the cans in three hits now laying before him.

“Fukase, you don’t have to do this for me,” The white-haired girl standing behind him said timidly, a bit uneasy that he decided to play this game just for her.

The redhead smiled at her. “But I want to,” He simply said, picking up the first ball from the basket. “Besides, you like that rabbit doll, right?”

“Well, yeah, but-”

“Then just sit tight and watch me win it for you!” He gleefully replied as he aimed for the base of one of the can pyramids before hurling his ball at them, nailing a hit on the cans at the bottom for his first throw. The coloured cans tumbled onto the table with loud clatters and clangs as the pyramid fell, knocking down all the obstacles quickly. He grinned at his victory.

“Wow, you got them all in one shot!” The stall owner commended, lightly clapping her hands to his success. “Congratulations! You’re welcomed to choose any prize you want for winning,”

“Any prize?” Fukase glanced over to her as the lady nodded, her satin pink hair bouncing up and down. He soon turned his eyes back to the little rabbit that Flower had been eyeing this whole time, the smile on his face widening. “Can I have the little rabbit over there? The one of that shelf, please,”

“Sure thing!” She replied as she gently lifted the rabbit doll off the shelf and handed it over to him. “Thank you for playing!” The store owner sang out as Fukase received the doll from her, turning back to his girlfriend. Holding out the lavender rabbit doll in his two hands, he smiled warmly at her. “Ta-da! Here you go, Flower,”

Her face shone as she held the doll in her hands, now able to marvel its cuteness up close. It really did look similar to Fukase in his fancy outfit. “Thank you,” She unknowingly broke into a wide smile as she petted the rabbit’s head the same way she did to Point, Fukase’s pet doll. “It’s really cute…” She giggled.

He grinned at her, a warm feeling washing over him at the sight of Flower’s smile. It never failed to make him smile back at her, or to make his cheeks feel a little warmer than usual. Deep down, he wished she did that all the time, but he also understood her take on it; it was better to let her slowly get into the habit of smiling instead of forcing it on her.

Instead, he raised his hand towards her again, hoping to continue their stroll through the carnival until he noticed which one he was holding up to her. In a hasty maneuver, Fukase swiftly relocated himself to be standing on her right side as he offered his hand to her again, disregarding the confused expression on her face. “Shall we go back to the path, milady?”

She giggled again at his formal demeanor. “You don’t have to be so formal,” She quickly packed her new rabbit doll into her basket as she accepted his hand again. Although she was already well aware of his odd behaviour from before, Flower knew better to not bring it up and make him embarrassed.

Unfortunately, the more she thought about it, the more it started to bug her. Especially when she started to realise how often such situations would occur multiple times that night. Upon closer inspection, there was one thing that they all had in common; the fact that Fukase had never let her hold his left hand.

As much as she didn’t want to sound like some prissy girl complaining on their date, the urge to ask him about it was stronger than those worries. “Hey, Fukase?” The white-haired teen began, tugging a little on their interlocked hands to get his attention. “Can I… ask you something?”

He eagerly turned to her. “What is it?”

“Can I hold your left hand?”

The question alone was enough to wash his bright smile away, replacing it with an astonished frown on his face and a startled expression in his eye. His footsteps immediately stopped in the middle of the pathway as his grip on her hand tightened a little. For a while, Flower started to regret asking that question; she would’ve not done so if it meant that she was going to be subjected to him staring at her, downright baffled at her words. Now, she felt as if she was riveted to the ground by his gaze, feeling her heart climbing up her throat as she gulped loudly.

Fortunately for her, he broke their staring contest by turning his head away from her for a bit, his left hand covered from top to bottom in bandages rising up to cover his face. In a low, apologetic tone, he muttered: “Uh, sorry about that,”

She was speechless. “Eh?”

“I know you don’t like it when people stare at you, so… sorry that I was doing that just now.” He hastily apologised before continuing. “A-anyway, why do you want to h-hold my left hand? I mean-! Is there a reason? N-not that you have to tell me, wait I mean-!”

As the redhead stumbled over his words, the gears in Flower’s head started turning. A line of stuttering dialogue from Fukase convinced her that her asking him about it was the right thing to do; in a normal everyday conversation, he would never ever trip over his own words. As far as she could remember, his confidence in speaking has never failed him, only faltering a little whenever Flower managed to sneak a sweet, unintentionally affectionate line of dialogue to him. So to hear him uncharacteristically stutter so much while talking to her normally… Flower quickly realised that something was up.

“It’s okay if you don’t want to tell me, Fukase,” She tried to ameliorate the situation, hoping that he wasn’t too embarrassed. “I’m really sorry that I asked it so randomly-”

“It’s not that, it’s just…” He trailed off as his eyebrows furrowed, his gaze shifted to the sight of his left, bandaged, roughly-surfaced hand. A sigh left his lips; he was gonna have to tell her something eventually, so why wait?

“The truth is,” He started, hoping that he didn’t sound too nervous. “No one… has ever held my left hand before…”

“Why?” She blurted out as her curiosity overrode her politeness.

“I never offered it to them,” He explained slowly, gaining a bit more confidence as he confessed to her. “I mean, you know how my hand looks; it’s a mess. And even with these bandages, it’s still really… you know, coarse and rough,”

Flower found herself frowning at the mention of what his left hand really looked like. It called back a past memory of their time together, when Fukase had told her the events that caused him to look as he is now. That day, he even slowly, very gingerly, took off his bandages and eye patch to show her the scars he had hidden from everyone for so long, the damaged side of him that he refused to show in public in the fear that he would be met with disgust and disdain.

But on the contrary to his fear of Flower leaving him, Fukase was embraced by her love and adoration for him, the emotions in her that he managed to call out now being gifted to him instead as some form of mutual bond. In the same way that he helped her break down her emotional barriers, she had helped him overcome his trauma-induced obstacles. It was a relationship between them that nothing in the world could break.

And tonight was just another testament to it, Fukase realised as Flower quickly shook off his hold on her own hand, instead reaching for his left, roughly-surfaced one covered in white straps of cloth. Her fingers brushed across his as she matched them to line up with hers, a small yet ever-so-kind smile on her face encased in her lips. Fukase unknowingly gulped at the sight of his girlfriend looking at him with so much kindness and care, her beauty brought out even more tonight with her neatly combed tomboyish hair and lilac-coloured butterfly pin.

“Fukase,” She broke the silence between them as she whispered softly. “Does it feel any different when I hold your hand like this?”

He averted his eyes at her question. “Well, for me, it feels the same but for you-”

“It’s the same for me too, you know,” She interrupted him gently, shifting her right hand to the side a little as she interlocked their hands together. “I know you’re always worried about how your scars might change how I see you, but… You know that’s never gonna happen, right?”

As soon as she spotted the skepticism in his eyes, she took it as a sign to continue. “Whichever hand I’m holding doesn’t matter to me so long as it’s yours, Fukase. You don’t have to be worried about how you look when you’re with me; I don’t mind any of it at all,”

“ … Are you sure?”

“I’m sure. Besides,” She chuckled as she recalled another memory. “Didn’t I already tell you before that I liked your scars?”

“W-well yeah, but…” After baring out the truth to her, the red-haired boy felt unnaturally vulnerable, the somewhat playful tone in her voice making him blush. He still wasn’t used to her telling him that she liked the permanent markings on his skin. For a long time, he hated them and wished that they would just disappear, especially since they were a reminder of that dark side of him. And yet to listen to her words when she said that she liked them… it felt like letting go of a breath of air that he’d be holding for a long time. ‘Because they’re a part of you too’, Flower had told him back then. ‘That’s why I like them’

Meanwhile, the girl standing before him gently pulled their interlocked hands back down, her left hand holding tightly to her basket as she turned back to the path. “I really don’t mind holding your left hand, Fukase,” She reassured him again with a soft smile. “So… let’s keep this date going, okay?”

Flower hadn’t even taken one step forward before she was tugged back towards the red-haired boy, his uncalloused hand cupping her face as he pulled her closer to him. Just like the beginning of their date when he had commented on her blushing cheeks, the snow-haired teen found herself hypnotized by his armour-piercing gaze, his right red eye staring intently at her for a short while only to soften as he leaned his face close to her, closing his eyes and landing his lips onto hers. As her cheeks heated up like red-hot iron, she knew in absolute certainty that she was blushing now.

It seemed as if time stood still as Fukase kissed her, the action and noises in their surroundings seeming to pause as her eyelids slid shut in conjunction to his daring public display of affection, his head tilting slightly to deepen their kiss as Flower mimicked his actions. It felt like hours had slipped by them as they parted from their kiss, the commotion from the carnival returning to their field of vision and awareness.

Fukase’s face was almost as red as his hair as he chuckled lightly, his iconic bright smile back on his face. “Hana-chan, thank you,” His voice was teeming with gratitude as he thanked her. “You always seem to know exactly what to say,”

Flower was blushing equally as much, her wallflower shyness emerging from her. “I’m just being honest,” She humbly replied.

“How in the world did I get a girlfriend as amazing as you?”

“I could say the same for you, you know,”

“Me? What did I do?”

“I mean, how in the world did I get a boyfriend as sweet and funny as you?”

“Hey! Don’t copy my words!”

“But it’s true!”

The both of them laughed at each other’s antics, their hands interlocked with one another as they continued to stroll down the dirt-trodden path.

~*~*~*~*~

A/N: GAAAAAHHHH these two make me soft~ ;-;

[violet-knox]

Unspeakable Failures

Year 7 - Chapter 55

Summary: After failing your in-class potion, Severus takes it upon himself to help you perfect it after class.

Word count: 3109

Previous Chapter - Chapter 1 

~

Of course, Slughorn had to make a spectacle, praising the success of some of his students. Of course, he had to pick one of the hardest potions to brew today of all days. And of course, your potion had to turn out looking like troll’s dinner. You’d decided the world had it out for you. It was the only reasonable explanation really. After the mishap in Defense, the wanker calling himself your professor setting half the class on fire and sending the Keeper you’d been tirelessly training the last few weeks to the infirmary, the last thing you needed was a failing grade. Madam Pomfrey had naturally pushed you out when you tried to see how bad the damage was, telling you visiting hours were to be set tomorrow after lunch so you couldn’t even determine whether you needed to find a replacement for the upcoming game or not.

You’d once been on top of your studies and yes Slughorn still invited you to his little ‘Slug Club’ gatherings, but it was clear he thought very little of your academic achievements, his comments always focused on Quidditch. I look forward to seeing you on a broom again (Y/N). What a shame you can’t show off your talent this year with Quidditch replaced by the Triwizard Tournament. You must be focusing quite a lot of your time on your duties as Captain this year (Y/N).

Give me a break. 

You were much more valuable a student than he perceived, and he’d be sorry for underestimating you one day. He’d regret not acknowledge Severus’ clear and natural talent in his class and you’d both grow to have tremendously successful careers, one that was far away from this man.

“I talked to Slughorn.” Your eyes shot up as you turned to watch Severus leave the potions classroom. Uncrossing your arms, you shifted your weight to your feet and let out a small gasp when you realized your hip had gone numb from the leaning position you’d put yourself in while waiting for Severus the last ten minutes. “He agreed to let us use the classroom but he wants to supervise. I don’t think he will ever trust us again after we trashed his classroom in our fifth year.”

The memory of the fun you had back then flashed through your mind, bringing a slight smile to your face. Still, your bitterness of today's events tugged your lips back down in protest. “We cleaned it up,” you mumbled, pressing your lips together and bringing your gaze back down to the ground. “Well, most of it.”

Severus leaned his head to the side, examining the grim expression on your face. “What’s wrong?” he asked as he stepped forward, slipping his hands under your robe and around your waist.  

“Nothing,” you said, gently resting your hands over his arms, your eyes determined to keep your hardship from him. “It’s just been a long day.”

Your voice was shriveled. Small and weak like life had beaten you to the brim of intolerance. He couldn’t bear seeing you this way. His heart tugged and ached as the seconds passed, your sadness resonating within him.

“Is this about what happened to Trevor?” he spoke gently, his fingers curling under your chin, bringing your gaze back up. You looked at him, worry and stress swimming in your eyes. He’d fall right into them if it weren’t for his feet keeping him grounded. “He’ll be fine (Y/N). He’s got loads of time to recover before your first game.”

You melted into his touch, like the simple gift of his words had erased your troubles and left you with nothing but love and comfort. And that was all you felt when your eyes met his, your smile slowly growing back, staying steady as he eased your mind with a mere look. 

“I hope you’re right,” you whispered back, not daring to break your gaze and let go of the lifeline he’d thrown you.

“Come on,” he said, releasing his left hand as his right went to grab yours. “This shouldn’t take long, you were pretty close to getting it right in class.”

“Severus, my potion was foggy!” you said as you reached down to grab your bag and throw it over your shoulder. “And clumpy!” you added, disgusted by your own creation. “You’re just trying to be nice because you love me.”

“That’s not true.” 

“Please. If it were anyone else, you’d be making fun of them and you know it!” You pointed your index finger at his chest as if to make a point. 

Severus smirked, gazing at you in admiration before quickly leaning in to peck you on the cheek. It surprised him sometimes how you seemed to know him better than he knew himself. You were right of course, because if Potter had brewed the monstrosity you’d created, he’d be on the floor laughing until the sun rose the next day. But it wasn’t him who’d failed their potion today, it was you, and he’d mentally given you an out to explain why you’d done so poorly, brushing it off as stress. Perhaps it was his love for you that excused your sudden downfall in such a simple subject. One you’d both studied so often together, he never thought it possible to see you fail so spectacularly. 

Opening the door to the classroom, he let go of your hand as you walked in first before he followed behind you. The room still reeked of death; the stench of unwashed cauldrons all seeping together to form quite the unspeakable smell. It was all the more justifying if you were to be forced to brew your make-up potion in such conditions.

“(Y/N). Severus.” Professor Slughorn greeted you both from his desk, his tone as unwelcoming as you’d expected. “You’re welcome to the ingredients in the back, and you can set up your cauldron here,” he pointed at the desk directly in front of him and you looked at Severus with a nervous glance. 

Slughorn had been a lot colder towards you since he found jars of ingredients vanished the last time you’d asked to use his classroom for an impromptu potions tutoring session, and it unnerved you. So, you weren’t exactly surprised to hear his intention to supervise your use of his classroom, nor were you shocked when he’d insisted you brew your potion directly in front of him, not that the extra pressure bothered you or anything. 

Severus set his bag down, encouraging you to do the same as you both took a seat. You followed his lead, taking out your textbook and began searching for the correct page when Severus stopped you.

“Here, use mine,” he said as he slid his open book towards you. You peered down and saw the familiar instructions for Draught of Living Death, only Severus had scribbled all over the pages to the point where it was difficult for you to read what had been printed on the textbook. 

“Severus, I can barely read the instructions,” you whispered.

“Read my notes, they’ll help you understand the potion rather than memorize a set of instructions.”

You did as you were told and began brewing the potion, his notes proving a bit difficult to decipher though you found his method much simpler than the one you’d followed during class. Severus kindly gathered all the ingredients you needed, handing them to you as you followed along, correcting your cutting method or your stirring technique every now and then, his due diligence and ability to stand silently as you brewed your potion surprising you. Though your potion was in a much better state than before, you knew it wasn’t perfect, at least compared to how Severus’ looked, and you knew it must have taken quite the stamina to keep from snatching the ladle from your hand and brewing it himself. 

Carefully pour the Sopophorous bean’s juice into the cauldron. 

Half way. You were already half way through the potion and you’d barely been brewing for a half hour. You picked up the small bowl of Sopophorous bean juice which was now filled to the rim after Severus had instructed you to crush them with your knife rather than cut them. Careful not to spill, you hovered it over your cauldron and began to slowly pour it into your mixture, aiming to evenly distribute it into your cauldron. A smile beamed across your face as you stirred your potion, the charcoal colour decimating into a much softer lilac.

“Stop!” Severus suddenly reached out, grabbing your hand before you continued stirring. “You’ve stirred seven times anticlockwise already. Now stir once clockwise and add your cut up Valerian root.”

You nodded your head, following his instructions as you mentally kicked yourself for letting the colour of the potion distract your brewing. “Remind me again why we stir once clockwise?” 

Severus took a seat and watched you carefully before answering your question. “It helps the potion settle. You’ve stirred seven times in one direction, so giving it a stir in the opposite direction helps prevent it from being overly stirred.” 

You shot him a quick smile as you picked up your ladle once more, ready to stir the potion correctly this time. He was quite the tutor. Catching your every mistake, answering, and even encouraging your questions. His talent for potions was absolutely inspiring, but to see him teach the subject was something to behold. 

Slughorn looked up from his desk and noticed you were nearing the end of your potion as you added the powdered root of asphodel. Deciding to bestow a little faith in you, he cleared his desk of the papers he was grading and turned to address you and Severus.

“I have to step out for a while,” he said “But I see you are almost done, so I’d like you to put away anything you didn’t use and clean up. I trust what happened last time won’t happen again.”

“Yes sir,” you nodded with a smile. 

“Good,” he mumbled as he quickly peered over your cauldron. He still seemed hesitant to trust you, but he had to realize by now you were in your seventh year. No longer were you a moody fifteen-year-old, but a grown witch who’d matured quite the handful over the last two years. “Your potion making has greatly improved,” he stated simply before straightening up, ready to head out the door.

“Thank you, sir,” you watched as he left, shutting the door behind him. 

Severus smirked as his eyes followed his Professor, finally giving him a moment alone with you. He’d been breathing down both your necks all evening and Severus was inches away from risking his graduation just to drown Slughorn in your unfinished potion. 

Severus walked up behind you, placing a hand on your hip as he reached for the ladle in your hand. “You’re stirring too slow,” he said as he led your hand in a clockwise motion. “Remember, every stir should only take about two and a half seconds.” 

You leaned back and grinned as you felt him pressed against your back, his hand tightening around your hip. You continued to stir as you adapted to Severus’ speed, until the concoction finally cleared. Letting the potion drip from the ladle, you held it above the cauldron before setting it aside.

Severus peeked at the clock before gripping your hips and pulling you closer. He slipped his left arm around your waist, tightly holding you in place as his right went to swipe your hair to one side, his lips pressed gently against the crock of your neck. You giggled as you placed your hands over his arm, your left foot between his, standing on its toes. Shifting your body weight, you tried to turn and face him, but his grip on you was so tight, you were barely able to squirm in place. “Your potion looks nearly perfect,” he mumbled as he peppered you with kisses. 

You smiled as your eyes shut in delight, your head tilting to give him more access. “Because of you,” you whispered. “Thanks for helping me Sev. You’re absolutely brilliant.”

“Anything for you.” His breath tickled the back of your ear as he continued showering you with sweet touches.

You never felt like you could praise him enough. The duty of showering him with love and support had fallen so heavily on you after you’d watched everyone in his life underestimate and undermine his abilities. But it never felt like a burden, nor would it ever be. He deserved to hear how amazing a wizard and how magnificent a boyfriend he was. He had his downs of course, but nothing he ever did warranted such lack of compassion from those in his life that were meant to love and care for him. Nothing would have warranted the neglect from his mother, the abuse from his father, the dismissal from his teachers, the abandonment from his childhood friend. 

The sound of the door suddenly swinging open had your heart stop. Severus flung himself back, peeling away from you as you both turned your attention to the intruder. 

“Forgot a few parchments,” Slughorn said as he made his way to his desk. “Looks like you’re about ready to add your last slice of Valerian root,” he stated as he looked into your cauldron. You gave him that polite smile you’d perfected for him over the last few years and nodded your head in gratitude as he shot you a simple congratulations for succeeding in your second attempt before quickly shuffling out of the classroom and slamming the door behind him. 

You looked over at Severus and saw him shuffling around uncomfortably with his hair sweeping across his face. His cheeks no doubt as flushed as it was when McGonagall had almost caught you both in the dark corner of the library making out a few weeks ago. He began putting away ingredients as you reached for the jar of Valerian roots. Once you saw your potion turn a pale pink colour, you turned off your burner and set the cauldron aside before making your way over to the shelves, putting away the last jar on your table. 

After pushing it into place, you spotted Severus carelessly adjusting the jars on the shelves so the labels were facing outwards. You giggled as you watched the tension in his body rise. Stepping forward, you placed a hand on his shoulder and quickly turned him to face you, gently pushing him against the adjacent wall. You bit your lip as they stretched into a smile when you lifted his chin and saw his cherry coloured cheeks. Brushing away his hair, you looked into his eyes and found nothing but fear and embarrassment. It was far past adorable how childish he could be when it came to private moments with you. 

Failing at capturing his gaze as his eyes bolted down, you collided your lips with his and felt him relax under your touch. You tangled one hand in his hair while the other rested over his shoulder, pulling him closer to you. He hesitated before placing his hands around your waist, slowly moving them to your lower back as his lips finally began moving against yours. You leaned up on your toes and slid your tongue past his lips, exploring the inside of his mouth. A soft moan escaped him as your tongues danced, only parting when the need for air was too great. 

Severus kept his eyes closed a moment after, letting his worries slip away as he focused on your touch. Your foreheads met and you both revealed in the moment, wanting nothing more than for it to last longer than all the others. 

“What was that for?” he whispered as he opened his eyes. His voice cracked from speaking so low which only had your smile stretching further from ear to ear.

“A thank you for helping me with my potion,” you shrugged as you rested your hands on his chest. 

“Well if that’s the reward I’d get for helping you with a potion,” he said with a smirk, “I wonder what you’d give me if I wrote your Defense essays for the rest of the year.”

You giggled as you moved your hands to the nape of his neck. “Not nearly enough if you took my N.E.W.Ts for me,” you joked, quickly pecking his lips one last time before stepping back and making your way back over to your cauldron. 

“But, if you’re offering, maybe you could help me with my Liquid Luck potion tomorrow?”

Severus let out a slight huff before crossing his arms, watching you bottle a sample of your potion before vanishing the rest. “No,” he said. 

“N-no?” you asked, pausing your task to look back at him as your brows furrowed in worry. Had you offended him? Did he think you were taking advantage of his talents?

Severus took a few steps forward and leaned against the table before explaining himself. “Neither of us will have time for that because I’m taking you to Hogsmeade tomorrow.”

You smiled at him as you finished packing up. “Is that so? I don’t remember you asking me to go.”

“That’s because you have no choice. You’re going.” He threw his bag over his shoulder and waited for you to do the same. 

“What if I say no?” you teased, snaking your hands around his waist as he began slowly running his hands up and down your arms, his soothing touch having you melt into him once more.

“Sorry love, you don’t have the option to say no.” 

You smirked at his commanding tone, secretly loving that dominant side of his. 

“And why not?”

“Because, the way I see it, you owe me a date to make up for the lack of alone time we got today,” he said before stepping away and motioning to head out the door. “Besides, you’ve been working non-stop for the last few weeks, I think it’s time for a break.”

You followed him to the door after placing your vial of Draught of Living Death on Slughorn's desk and thought back to all the times you had directed those same words to him. Most people would learn to take care of themselves as they grow, but when it came to the two of you, you’d always look after one another rather than do the sensible thing of looking after yourselves. It was endearing how well you both worried over each other, doing nothing less than demand the best for the other, only bringing you closer together as one.

~

Next Chapter

~

@dusk-realm @a-slytherin-sin @trashandshook @gbatesx @sneezy-s @emsdroid @leah-halliwell92 @dellightfullydeceitful @malfoymendes @sparklingkeylimepie @nameless-sovereign @living-in-margins @justanobodyinthisbigworld @soft-slytherin-sweetie @youtube4life10 @scarletmoon83 @fluffymadamina @sleepysnapesnake

[w-k-smith]

Once again, tumblr has hidden the version of this post that has links. (Clearly, weird fan fic where ghosts eat candy bars is just *too radical* for this website.) This story is also available on AO3, under the username w_k_smith.

Chapter Two is here of “Don’t Go to the Netherworld!”

In this chapter, Beetlejuice and Lydia make their way through Saturn, but are waylaid by Zagnuts, a boy band, and all the obstacles the desert otherworld has to offer.

Chapter One: “It’s a Wonderful Afterlife” (6/19/20) Chapter Two: “Worm Welcome” (07/03/20) Chapter Three: “Ghost to Ghost” (upcoming) Chapter Four: “To Beetle or not to Beetle?” (upcoming)

Warning:  This story contains depictions of, references to, and discussion of  topics like suicide, untimely death, abuse, and body horror - you know,  like the musical does (though this probably has more). Know your  boundaries, and stay safe.

New chapter under keep reading!

“I don’t understand,” Lydia said, as they crossed from the midnight  of the administrative area, toward the hot afternoon of Saturn, through  the twilight in between. “What’s Saturn? Are we going to the  planet…somehow?”

“Nope. Totally unrelated, and don’t ask me who  named it. Saturn is the part of the Netherworld that acts as a trap for  ghosts who get out of line, like if you try to leave the house you’re  haunting, or jump the line in processing like someone I could mention.  Going through processing would only take a couple steps, but Saturn is  an anti-shortcut from the feverish nightmares of M.C. Escher. It’s a  giant desert, and it’s full of sandworms. Those are snake monsters that  eat ghosts. Foreshadowing?” he muttered to himself.

“This is so weird,” Lydia muttered. “I love it.”

She didn’t seem like she was being sarcastic. Maybe hanging around her wasn’t going to be too terrible.

Unfortunately, he saw trouble ahead.

“Keep your head down,” he whispered to Lydia. “Look dead. Deader than that. And don’t sneeze! Dead people never sneeze!”

“What?”

“Hello, Beetlejuice,”  said five tenor voices in unison. A cluster of expressionless young  white men was drifting through the shadows toward him and Lydia. The  boys had died in their late teens and very early twenties, long enough  ago that two of them sported frosted tips. They were dressed just  differently enough to be distinguishable from one another, in dated  pants and t-shirts with no personality.

“Hey, Boy Inferno,” he grunted.

“What are you doing out here?” they asked. They all floated six inches off the ground, in a formation reminiscent of migrating ducks.

He rolled his eyes. “Just running an errand for Juno. Miss Argentina find that living intruder yet?”

“Not that we’ve heard. Who’s your friend?”

“New  hire. Juno wants her on border patrol. Her name’s Lydia, and she’s  boring. Kids these days, you know, they think eyeliner and TikTok counts  as personality. But them’s the rules: if you add to the work, you have  to help out.”

“Do you want to hear the introduction song, Lydia?”

Geez, they didn’t back off easy. “Save that for people who’ve committed genocide or worse.”

“We were talking to Lydia.”

At his elbow, Lydia scratched the end of her nose. Boy Inferno caught the gesture, and as one, cocked their heads.

“What did you die of…?” they asked her.

“Um,  I don’t want to talk about it,” Lydia said, which was the wrong thing.  All newlydeads ever wanted to do was blather on about how they’d bitten  it.

“OK, you got me!” He stepped between Lydia and the boys. “This  isn’t an approved mission to Saturn. We were actually trying to, ah,  hide out from Juno for a while. She is in a mood today, I tell ya. Just  impossible. She wants me to take a statement from all the recently  deceased who were in line when the alarm went off, and then pinch each  of them really, really hard to see if they still have nerve endings. I’d  rather swallow my own toenails. Remember that time Juno made me swallow  my own toenails? You were there for that, weren’t you? So be a  hive-minded pal and help me stay on the DL. This one already threatened to tattle if I didn’t show her my good hiding spot.” He jerked his head at Lydia.

Boy Inferno blinked.

“Alright, then,” they said, and each voice sounded suspicious. But they drifted back toward the administrative area.

Lydia stared as they went. “Who are those guys?”

“Boy  Inferno is a dead boy band. They didn’t have enough brains or  personality to be individuals when they were a living boy band, and when  their tour bus crashed, the situation got worse.”

“Yikes. And speaking of yikes, what were you saying about sandworms? Are they going to eat us?”

He  waggled one hand back and forth, and started walking. “Eh. It’s  probably OK. You’re alive, so they’ll leave you alone. I’m half-ghost,  half-demon, which confuses them more than anything. We’ll be fine if we  don’t run into a sandworm that’s pissed off or starving.” They were  crossing into Saturn proper. The terrain changed from dark gravel to  rolling sand dunes dotted with twisted rock formations. Wooden doors  hovered here and there, from three feet off the ground to 20 stories  high. There was the light and warmth of a yellow sun, but if you turned  in every direction, you would never see a sun or any other stars in the  royal blue sky.

“Huh. Now I kind of want to meet a sandworm...” Lydia said, looking around like one was going to pop out from behind a dune.

“Yup. That’s definitely foreshadowing.”

“So…what’s it like? Being half-demon? How does that, um, happen?”

He  waved his hands to turn them into sock puppets – one red and bearing a  vague resemblance to Juno, the other a grey blob and as good a  representation as he’d ever had of his father. “Hello, children!” he  said in a screechy voice. “Let’s talk about the occult birds and bees.  When a demon woman tolerates a living human male very much…”

She shoved him. “I know that, gross! I’m ace, but not completely ignorant. I just wondered if you were ever alive.”

He  put his hands back to normal. “Uh-huh. I was alive. Looooong time ago,  though. Long enough that we didn’t pay much attention to what year it  was, and only bathed twice a lifetime, and drank beer instead of water.  Hm. Or maybe that was all just me. Anyway, Juno only had me to see what  would happen if you mixed demon magic with ghost abilities. Turns out,  you get yours truly. She hated the result, and I never got any little  siblings to chase around. But it’s fine with the just the two of us; my  mom has this sweet thing she says to me every day: ‘I wish you had never  been born.’ I think it’s a Swedish pet name.”

“How did you die?” Lydia asked.

“I asked a bunch of annoying questions that weren’t any of my business and someone stabbed me.”

“Ha ha,” she deadpanned. “How far is it, anyway?” she asked, shading her eyes. “I don’t see anything…”

“Distance doesn’t really work like that here, and we could move way, way faster if we were both dead. But it’s pretty damn far.”

She sighed.

*

He  had to give Lydia Deetz this: she was a trooper. She was wearing a  dress, and boots that were very much not made for walking, but she kept  moving, eyes forward, not a single complaint. When her stomach growled  like an angry guard dog, she held her head high and acted like she  didn’t notice.

“OK, time for a break!” he said.

“No!” she said. “We have to keep going.”

“If  you keep going like this, you’re going to collapse, and then you’ll  die, and a sandworm will eat you, and that’s my whole day gone. Sit  down.”

“I don’t need to.”

She was going to give him grey  hairs, she really was. He shook one hand like he was shooing a fly, and  she stumbled backwards until she sat on the closest rock.

Lydia’s eyes bugged. “What am I – what are you –?”

“You’ve never been possessed before?”

She stood back up. He waved his hand again, and she sat.

“No, keep it up,” he said. “This is fun.”

He flicked his fingers, and her expression brightened.

“Beetlejuice, you’re my role model!” she said, in a tone much more chipper than any that had ever come out of her mouth, he was sure. He released her.

Lydia’s face soured like old milk mixed with lemon juice, and she made the fingers-down-the-throat gesture. “I’ll sit for five minutes. Don’t do that again.”

“I  always knew I’d make a great babysitter!” He settled on the other side  of the rock. He folded his hands over his stomach, figuring he’d take a  nap if she stayed quiet.

She didn’t. “My mom would love all this,”  Lydia said. “Her favorite holiday was Halloween. We’d make our own  haunted houses in the garage – but in the summer, when no one in the  neighborhood was expecting it. She liked the weird stuff in the world.  Or – she likes the weird stuff in the world. She doesn’t just avoid it, like most people do. Like my dad does. I think she’ll like you, even.”

He  wanted to make a face at the idea of a well-adjusted person liking him  (though it was a nice feeling, deep in his black heart), but Lydia  couldn’t see him, so it would be wasted effort.

She was quiet for a while, and he thought he was free to drift off to sleep.

“Um…do you have any food?” she asked.

He reached into his jacket and pulled out a handful of Zagnuts. He tossed the kid two. “Here ya go.”

“Why so many Zagnuts?” Lydia asked. “They’re good, but I didn’t think people ate these anymore.”

“It’s the only candy in the vending machines in the Netherworld.”

“Really? Why?”

“Because everything around here is at a baseline of low-grade crappiness. Haven’t you noticed?”

“Are  you really supposed to spend eternity here when you die?” she asked, in  a muffled way that told him she’d bitten off half a candy bar at once.  “It seems like it should either be a whole lot better or a whole lot  worse.”

“You aren’t supposed to spend eternity here; that’s the  point,” he said. He popped a Zagnut into his mouth, and swallowed it  wrapper and all. “You have to move on, eventually.”

“To what?”

“Do I look like a priest? Or a philosopher? Or a TV psychic?”

“The  last one, a little. A bad one. The kind who gets tricked by reporters  to help contact their dead kid, but it turns out the kid is really alive  and just in the next booth over in the Denny’s.”

“Touché. The  point is, nobody around here knows. You hang around the administrative  area until you’re ready to go into the miserable nothingness of the  Abyss, and then you swirl around in the Abyss until…I dunno, something  else happens. Maybe you just stay in the Abyss forever. I don’t plan on  finding out anytime soon.”

“Is that where my mom is?”

“Yup.  If she didn’t come running when you first came through the door, she’s  definitely gone through security. Don’t worry, though. You poke your  head into the Abyss and shout her name a few times, and she’ll come  right out.”

He lied easily. He always had.

“I’m just  surprised she hasn’t tried to contact us,” Lydia said. “I guess she must  be confused, because we moved and everything. My dad dragged me out to  Connecticut, away from New York and all our friends and family, to work  on this stupid gated community project he has in mind. And he took my  annoying life coach with us. She’s friendly and positive,  and keeps trying to make me fill out a star chart. I don’t know why he  thinks she’s helping me. It’s not like there aren’t actual therapists in  Connecticut. I don’t get it.”

He chewed another Zagnut for a  beat, waiting to see if she was making a joke. Then he broke the news.  “Your dad is boinking the life coach.”

“What?!” she said. She whirled around the rock to sit right next to him. “How can you know that?”

“Um, because I’m an adult with a brain.” He grabbed the top of his head and lifted his skull to show his grey matter.

“He isn’t…Dad’s not…” She slumped. “He’s totally sleeping with her.”

“Totally,” he agreed.

“How could he do that? Mom’s only been dead a few months. Well…when he sees Mom – if he just talks to her again – he’ll understand what an ass he’s been.”

“Uh-huh,” he said, non-committedly.

“How much farther do we have?” she asked.

“Long enough to aaaaaaalmost make you give up and collapse in despair.”

She groaned.

For  a second, he thought her groan was superhumanly long and loud, and he  prepared to be impressed. Then he noticed the ground was shaking.

“Looks like it’s our unlucky day!” he said. “Run!”

They  both got to their feet, and made it about five steps before the sand  exploded to their left. A sandworm rose from the earth, its  black-and-white stripes blurring into grey. At the peak of its jump, its  inner head came out of its mouth, eyes glaring, jaw snapping.

It dove back down toward them.

He  dodged one way, and Lydia dodged the other. The spray of sand blocked  out everything, and when it all cleared, the sandworm had risen from the  ground again, undulating in and out of the dunes. Lydia stood in place,  looking all around. But it was hard to know where to run when you were  being attacked by a sandworm.

The sandworm’s chomping heads came out of the ground an arm’s length from Lydia. She yelled, and punched it in the closest eye.

The  heads hissed and thrashed, knocking Lydia down. The sandworm dove down,  and the sand around them whirled and roiled, until he felt like he was  standing in boiling dirt.

When the sandworm rose again, it  accidentally scooped up Lydia. She showed a little more survival  instinct than she had before, and clung to the sandworm’s back.

“Knock it off!”  he heard her say. She nudged the sandworm with her left boot, and the  sandworm turned to the right. But it had had enough of its passenger,  and whipped its body to throw Lydia like a beanbag.

She shrieked as she fell through the air. He stretched his legs, about 20 feet, and caught her.

As  he dragged her back to the ground, he braced himself for another attack  by the sandworm. Maybe if he transformed into something big and scary,  showed some lionfish spines or extra limbs, the worm would leave them  alone. Getting swallowed would be no good. Not only did he usually try  to avoid getting eaten, but sandworms’ digested prey just wound up back in processing…after a wait of at least a decade or so.

The  sandworm jumped over their heads, dove into the ground, and kept going.  Its writhing body upset every dune it plowed through, but it didn’t  double back.

He wasn’t going to look a gift worm in the mouth.

“And don’t come back!” he yelled. “G’on, git! Git!”

Lydia jumped out of his arms. “That was awesome! I thought I was going to die, but it was awesome.”

He  was more tired than he’d been in a while. He was tired like Juno had  been screaming at him for hours. Also, there was a lot of sand in his  shoes. “You did OK But why the hell did you try to punch it in the  face?”

She didn’t look ashamed in the slightest. “I thought it  would be like avoiding a shark attack. That’s what the Discovery guy  said during Shark Week: punch the shark hard in the eye so it leaves you alone.”

“Since when has punching something made it leave you alone?” he asked. “That has never worked when I’ve tried it with people.”

“Because then the shark – or the sandworm – thinks you’re too much of a threat and it ignores you. I made it go away, didn’t I?’

“I  seriously doubt you’re what made it leave, Karate Kid. If a sandworm  had its multiple hearts set on eating us, it would take more than your  mechanical bull riding skills to dissuade it. I don’t know – I’m not so  sure it was all that interested in us.”

“If it wasn’t going for us, why did it come over here?”

“I said I don’t know! I’m not a sandworm scientist.”

“Your hair is changing color,” she said, pointing at his head.

“Can you blame me? I’m pretty pissed off right now.”

She brightened. “It changes color with your mood?”

“Yeah.”

“Can I touch it?”

He  grunted, and tilted his head. She patted some strands on the right side  of his head, which were dark green at the tips, but probably working  their way to red. The cocoon the caterpillar had made behind his ear  popped open, and a death’s-head hawkmoth shot into the air and planted  itself on Lydia’s nose.

“Augh!” she yelped, and fell right on her ass. He doubled over laughing while she tried to get back up with dignity.

“You’ve taken things too far this time, Beetlejuice!”

Once, just once, he’d like to go 48 hours without hearing those words shouted at him.

He turned to see Miss Argentina stomping up a sand dune, clipboard in hand, sash askew, which meant she was really really really upset.

“What have I done this time?” he asked, resigned.

“What have you done this  time?” Miss Argentina pointed at Lydia. “Let’s start with child  endangerment! And the fact that your disappearance has about given Juno  apoplexy.”

“Ah, she loves me.”

“No! She just knows  that if she hasn’t heard from you in twelve hours, it means you’re up to  something! And that means the rest of us suffer! I’m just glad she gave  me clearance to go to Saturn to look for your sorry, sagging ass, so at  least I was able shoo a sandworm away from some newlydeads. I have a  sneaking suspicion you bear some responsibility for that, too?”

“OK,  that is both not fair and completely true,” he said. “And I’ll have you  know I’m doing a good deed. I’m guiding this one around the  Netherworld.” He jerked his head at Lydia.

“And why, in the name of all that is sacred, would you consider that a good idea?”

“Um…”  He faltered. He may have been able to fudge a few details with Lydia,  but Miss Argentina had been around long enough to know how the Abyss  worked.

“Newlydeads…” Lydia said. “That must have been what attracted the sandworm. It wasn’t coming for us after all.”

“Why  did you drag newlydeads with you?” he asked, happy to change the  subject. “What, did you need help shouting at me? Anger backup singers?”

“Of  course not.” Miss Argentina frowned. “But – that’s a good idea.” She  clicked her pen, and scribbled on her clipboard. “I am actually writing  that down. If Boy Inferno is free…”

“Excuse me!” came a woman’s voice from the bottom on the dune. “I’m so sorry – could you wait just a minute?”

“It’s very hard to walk on sand!” came a sexy, nasal male voice from the same direction.

“These  newlydeads have a problem, you see,” said Miss Argentina, her voice  icy. But something was wrong – she wasn’t looking at him. Her gaze was  fixed on Lydia. “Apparently, a living person used their Handbook without  permission.”

Lydia became interested in the horizon. “Huh. That’s weird.”

Miss Argentina jabbed a finger in Lydia’s face. “Oh, don’t even try that on me, living girl. I am not in the mood today.”

“Whoof! We made it.” The newlydead couple crested the dune…and he was smitten.

The  woman was white, a pretty blonde, in a green wrap dress and  suburban-mom-at-the-nice-grocery-store boots. Her companion was a  beautiful Desi man, with light brown skin and a lock of black hair  hanging over his forehead that he immediately wanted to run his fingers through.

“Oooooh…” he said. “Hello, sexy…”

Lydia looked at him with a scientific expression. “Which one?”

“The  Trader Joe’s guardian angels over here. Not that Miss A isn’t pretty  easy on the eyes herself, but she’s a friend of Ellen, know what I mean?  A patron of U-Haul. An adopter of shelter cats. Wrong tree, is what I’m  saying. But she loves me platonically.”

“She doesn’t,” Miss Argentina said.

The couple pushed past him and bent over Lydia.

“Oh, thank goodness!” the woman said.

“Lydia!” said the man. “I’m so glad we found you. We were worried sick!”

“Adam, Barbara?” Lydia said. “What…what are you doing here? You weren’t supposed to go to the Netherworld.”

[burnt-tomato]

“Soba ni ite Hoshii”

Hinata Shouyo x Reader

Introduction: Hinata has seen you as someone special, but couldn’t take the courage to say it out loud. He begged his team to help him out and give him a step up, but anything they adviced didn’t work out like they imagined it would. There was this upcoming school festival for Karasuno High. Will Hinata finally grab the chance to tell you or would it take him much longer to be ready.

Anime: Haikyuu!!

Genre: Fluff

➴➵➶➴➵➶➴➵➶➴➵➶➴➵➶➴➵➶➴➵➶➴

[“Hey y/n.”

“Mmmm?”

“You never knew what Soba no ite hoshii meant right?”

“Nah. You did tease me about it though.”

“Then I’ll tell you.”

“Will you really?”

“Yes. Y/n… Soba no ite hoshii!” Hinata blurted out loud without hesitation.

“? We’re you saying that to me? Because if it was, I didn’t understand haha. Sorry Hinata.”

“I’ll tell you, y/n… do you-”]

.

.

.

“Y/N!!” Hinata shouted your name while waving his hands and running towards you. “Thanks again for the meat buns you bought me yesterday. You’re a real lifesaver!”. Yesterday Hinata walked with you because your houses were close. He got really angry and told you he forgot his wallet at home, so you bought him some of his favorite, meat buns.

“Nah dude, don’t mention it! You don’t have to owe me even if I always buy you food after school”. He smiled widely and went to Kageyama, supposedly to discuss about their quick, which just ended with them bickering at each other.

Tanaka walked over to you and got close to your ears and whispered. “Hey y/n, mmmmmm is it just me or you and Hinata auhhhh… have gotten closer?”

“Hm? Well dUh. We walk to school together, we walk home together, we’re in the same grade, we’ve been friends since middle school, and were basically neighbors. Are you stupid?”

“THatS nOt wHat i mEanT- yknow what, nevermind” he said as he walked away to Daichi and spoke to him.

You noticed your phone ringing…

Unread Messages

Y/n where are You? I thought that you agreed to hang out with us after school today.

“Ah. Sorry. I forgot. I’ll be there, so wait for me.”

Are you with Hinata and his volleyball team again? You spend your after school hours there, so hang out with us for a chance.

“Fine fine. I’ll tell them that I have stuff to take care of. But ill only do this today.”

Thanks y/n!!

You looked up from your phone.

“Daichi-san, I’m really sorry but I have to go. I have some outside school things to take care of, but only for today! I’ll make sure to come tomorrow.”

“Oh y/n. Of course you can!”

“K guys! I’ll head out now.” You said as you waves your hand above your head and rushed out.

[♤: Even if y/n is gone, the story continues on even without her, and in this part the perspective is 3rd person to narrate everyone’s perspective]

The end of practice drew closer, and the boys went to their clubroom to change.

“Crap. Exams are drawing near, and after that, a 3-day festival, and after are the finals.” Yamaguchi said.

“Yeah…wait. E-exams? C r a p.” Hinata said

“Kshh, oooooh that’s gonna hurt.” Suga said

“N-nevermind! I’ll just ask y/n for help! She’s really smart and good in teaching, and she’s also really nice.” Hinata said

“Yeah. If you pass the exam period, you can still enjoy the festival.” Daichi said

“Hey Hinata. Since yknow, y/n has helped you alot till now, especially during exams right? So don’t you like, wanna repay her back somehow?” Ennoshita said

“Yeah, like inviting her to the festival and yknow, finally tell her how you feel, or something?” Tanaka said teasingly

Hinata’s cheeks grew bright red and instantly looked away. “Wha-? W-what are you s-saying?” He stuttered

“Oh c'mon Hinata, it’s hella obvious that you both like eachother. Anyone could tell, even the dumbest person we know can.” Suga said

“N-no I don’t! Besides, we’ve been friends for so long, she’s seen how stupid I am, so obviously she’ll never like me. I can’t even gather up the courage to tell her, heck, I don’t even know how to set the right time to let her know!” Hinata said

“Mmmmmm…. then.. we’ll help you out! How ‘bout asking her to teach you? So if you confess by then, you both would have fUn together at the festival. Or at least hint it, yknow?” Nishinoya said

“During a study session? Noya that’s like the worst time to tell someone your feelings. This is why Kiyoko doe- u r g h-” Noya screams at the top of his lungs to overlap what Suga was saying

“Mmmmm… I’m not sure about this. I can barely stay focus when with her.. maybe we- I shouldn’t.”

“Dumbass. If you won’t do it now, when will you? You’re just gonna sit there till she finds someone else? If you really don’t want to lose her, then at least make your move now. One day you’ll regret not telling her if you don’t, so get moving and let us- I mean tHEm help you.” Kageyama said wow some actually good advice from kags. How rare.

“Wow. Who knew? Kageyama can actually say stuff that are helpful?”

“K r00d.” Kageyama snarled

“Heh. Fine. Since you’re all willing to help, I guess the least I can do is set your plans to work.” Hinata said.

“Ok. Since we’ve been planning for this day since the time you introduced y/n to us, we have a plan in mind already. Care to say it Suga?” Daichi said

“Ok. Y/n sucks at Japanese right? So here’s what you have to do….. did you get that?” Suga asked

“Mmmm… yeah. Kinda” Hinata said

They all called it a day and went straight home.

You were about to sleep when you heard your phone buzz, revealing a message.

Ah. Y/n. Sorry for messaging you this late

“Mmm Hinata? No no it’s Fine! What’s up?”

Well I’m pretty sure you have like alot to do and I’m just being a bother because I always ask you about this buuuuttttt

“Mmmmmm it’s about the exams isn’t it? It’s fine! I’ll help you study, and you can even bring Kageyama too, maybe Noya-san and Tanaka-san too.”

Haha yeah. I forgot that your knowledge is actually advanced, so you’re capable of teaching upperclassmen.

Hinata told Tanaka and Nishinoya, as well as Kageyama and Yamaguchi what y/n told him. This boosted the chances of their plan and to offer Hinata support.

3 days till exams, 4 days till the festival, and 7 days till Finals. Goal, to carry out the plan before Finals comes.

Hinata and the others were able to come to your class during breaks and free periods and study hours.

“So y/n, you sucked at Japanese literature, right? Even if you speak Japanese, it’s hard for you to actually write what certain words say.” Kageyama asked

“Ah, yes that’s true lol. But isn’t that the subject that Hinata’s good at? That’s why I asked him to teach me that” you said

As time went by, you all continued to share learning and understandings, plus you were able to help even the second years alot.

“Ah, Hinata! What does Soba ni Ite Hoshii mean?”

“Mmmmm… that means-oW” Hinata said, surprised. Tanaka gave him a soft kick on the leg and shot him a look. “Are you stupid Hi- ah- y/n? Everyone knows that!” Tanaka exclaimed.

You pouted. You were confused as to why they didn’t tell you what it meant but teased you instead. But that didn’t bother You, you wanted to focus on studying and to pass your exams to be able to enjoy the festival with your friends.

2 days till exams, 3 days till the festival, and 6 days till Finals. Goal, to carry out the plan before Finals comes.

“Y/n!!!! How tf do you do that Pythagorean theorem nonsense whatever that shit is again??”

“Oh! Tanaka-san! I’ll teach you, you do this and that then you do that” (♤: ok like I can’t describe how this theorem stuff works so I ain’t using my time to Google it and copy paste it here lmao)

“Psstt! Shou, what’s Soba ni ite Hoshii meaannnnn??” You asked. “Hmmmmm… I’ll tell you if you buy me 10 meat buns for the entire year.” He said. “GeEz fInE u d0nT hAvE t0 tElL mE” Damn Shou be bullyin you nowadays.

“I’ll tell you after exams” he said as he half smiled at you. “0r mAyBe n0t”. Damn Shou be savage.

Tomorrow are the exams, 2 days till the festival, and 5 days till Finals. Goal, to carry out the plan before Finals comes.

“Hey y/n, after school today, want to stop by Ukai-san’s shop and buy some meat buns?”. “Shou we always stop by there and I’m the one paying for our food.”

“Ok guys. Tomorrow are the exams, so show me how much you’ve learned from me by passing the exams so we can enjoy our 3-day festival to rest up before finals”

After studying together with the others, you finally wrapped up and separated ways, with you stopping by the shop to buy some snacks then walking home with Hinata.

Today are exams, tomorrow is the festival, and 4 days till Finals. Goal, to carry out the plan before Finals comes.

Time seemed slow. The entire class remained quiet, but deep inside, everyone was panicking. Today is the day of exams. Today is the day that’ll determine who gets to enjoy the festival and who won’t. It was obvious in the atmosphere surrounding the school that no one dared to make a single sound.

“Time’s up class, pass em in. The results will come out by the end of the day, but for now, turn to page 345 of your Mathematics textbooks and answer the 50-item Chapter Review there.” The teacher said. You all watched the teacher’s every step as she exits the classroom. Once she closes the door, everyone breathed out a huge sigh of relief. You could hear everyone talking to one another, transferring seats, and talking about how hard the test was and what challenged them the most, but all you thought was I wonder how Shou and the others did… I hope they pass so that we can all enjoy the festival together.

Hours and hours passed by. You couldn’t take it. You were minutes away from hearing about the results, and everyone was scared shitless. Everyone was restless, and you were sure that the only thing in everyone’s minds was I hope i pass, even if I get the exact passing grade, just let me pass.

The teacher came in, carrying cards that probably contains your grades and how well you did. No one dared to breathe a single sound. Everyone barely moved. Everyone seemed to be stuck on their chairs, all eyes are focused unto the teacher’s hands.

“Well start with the students at the back row, once I call your surname, stand up and retrieve your grading cards. We’ll start with… Nichiiyama…”

Nichiiyama stood up, his movements were stiff and his hands were shaking as he held his card, and quietly made his way to his chair. The teacher continued calling students’ names, until she called yours. You stood up stiffly, making your way to the front desk and held up your hands and- “Good work y/n.. You scored the top grades in the class. Continue your good work, alright?” The teacher whispered into your ear and patted your back. As you walked back, you opened your card and saw that your grades were either 1 or 2 in every subject. You sighed when a huge wave of relief came over you. The only thing you’re worried about now is how Hinata and the others did.

“Aaanddd that’s all of You. Those who didn’t make it, you’ll be spending your 3-day break in Supplementary classes to retake your tests and pass, but those who passed, you’re free to enjoy the festival as you wish. That’s all for today, and let’s see eachother next week.” The teacher bowed and made their way to the door. Everyone started to pack up, chatting with eachother about how they did, or who passed. “Hey y/n, did You pass?” Your friend asked. “Yeah I did, how about you?”. “Man, I barElY made it, yknow? My scores were a solid 42 and around 40s, and my grades were Like, 3 and 3.5! I was lucky to make the 40-grade mark. Btw y/n, do you want to hang out after school today?”. “Ah… I’m not sure… I have to stop by the club today, but I’ll catch up with you.”

You rushed out of the classroom and to the gym. You arrived to the clubroom with the 3rd years inside already, and Ennoshita, Kinoshita, and Narita. “Oh hey y/n, you’re here early. Your students aren’t here yet, but they should be arriving soon” Narita said. You waited and waited for them while playing animal crossing on your phone.

“Y/n!! Y/n!! We passed! We fuckin passed! How in the world did I passs??”. Tanaka said running towards the room, teary- eyed. “Idiot! It’s all because y/n helped us!” Noya said, smacking Tanaka’s back. “Yeah, it’s all thanks to you, y/n. We’ll be able to enjoy the festival because of your work. Even I passed all of the exams.” Kageyama then bowed. “Ah- no you don’t need to thank me! I didn’t do much, you should thank yourselves, for working hard to pass! All I did was help you get there.” You said. You turned to look for Hinata and hear about his results. “Heh. Yeah. Thanks so much y/n, we passed because of your help. So uh… because of your help and all uhm.. I wanted to somehow repay you and stuff..” Everyone turned their heads to Hinata and you, somehow expecting something or an answer. “What is it Shou?” You asked. “Well uh.. I was thinking that since you helped all of us and personally you help me alot everyday I was wondering if you wanted to come to the festival with me.. I mean all of us ofcourse!” He said shyly, his cheeks heating up a bit and fiddling with his fingers. Everyone looked like they were gonna laugh and some were smiling widely. “Ofcourse I’ll go! I was planning to anyways, but I gotta go right now since my friends and I are going out for a bit, so I’ll meet you all by the entrance tomorrow! See ya.” You said as you rushed out of the room and met up with your friends. As you left, Hinata looked like he was about to faint and exploding.

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Geh. I’m too early.. we all agreed to meet up by 3pm.. and look at this, it’s only 1:30pm and I’m already here. Guess I should walk around for now till they come-

“Y/n?” You were surprised to see the 3rd years standing by the entrance, along with the 2nd years and the 1st years, except one person..

“Why isn’t Hinata with you, y/n? Aren’t you 2 neighbors?” Ennoshita asked. “Mmmm, his mom said he might get there late and told me to get along, so I decided to wait for him here.” You told them.

“Crap.. If Hinata doesn’t show up, what’s the point of doing all this?” Tanaka whispered to Suga. “Don’t say that, we just have to do as we planned. I’ll call Hinata to check up on him.” Suga whispered. “I’ll go over there for a while to call someone, k?” Suga walked over by the trees and took out his phone and dialed Hinata’s number.

“Hinata, where are you?”

Suga-san? Oh sorry, I didn’t feel well when I woke up… My mom said that I should rest, I’m really sorry… you all planned for this day, but I blew it, just because of a godDAMN fever-

“Nono it’s fine Hinata. Don’t apologize, I understand, these stuff happen unexpectedly, but it’s not like you lost your chance, alright? Remember, this plan is full proof and we have 3 days of the festival! Although I’m not sure if you can heal up by Then, but we’ll have to hope for the best. Just, rest up right now ok? So you can catch up.”

Alright Suga-san. Bye.

Suga puts down his phone and walks over to where the others are. “Well, Hinata wouldn’t make it today… he’s gotten a fever. But he said that he’ll try his best to make it tomorrow though! So let’s enjoy this day and hope that he feels better, especially with Finals coming up soon.”

Damnit Shou. You’re the one who invited me, then you’re the one who wouldn’t make it.. sigh.. I’ll just drop by your house later I guess… I do hope that he’ll feel better soon, I wanted to tell him something and decided that the festival would be nice…

Despite Hinata’s absence, you all tried to enjoy the festival. Checking out every stall, entering games and winning them, and eating with the team. You decided to bring Hinata a stuffed crow you won at one of the shooting games, and to stop by a convenience store to buy him some food.

“Alright guys, we’ll all meet by here tomorrow at the same time, if you can. But we’ll all be there at the last day of this festival, okay? On the 3rd day there’ll be a fireworks showcasing, and i think that’ll be fun and calming so all should be present by Then, but for now, all of you go home and rest.” Daichi said. Everyone began to separate ways, including you. You walked lazily, not used to walking at night alone. Looking up at the sky, you remembered how you and your friends always went out stargazing during cold winter nights like this. Even if you were wearing a yukata that travelled along your feet, you could still feel the cold air breezing through. After stopping by the store to buy some food, you started walking up the mountain road towards home. You were cold and freezing. You were lonely.

“Walking home at nights like this without anyone to talk to sure is lonely.” You let out a little chuckle afterwards.

“It sure is. Why didn’t you call me that you were heading home? I could’ve walked with you.” You jolted. You were sure that you were alone while Walking, but as you faced infront of you, you saw Hinata in his pajamas, holding a jacket. “Here. You must be freezing.. Sugawara told me that you all went home, so I tried to get out to bring you home, but Natsu insisted me to stay. I had to give her one of those ‘Play with Sister for 1 hour Coupon’ just so I can leave lol.. ah! You must be freezing, here, wear this.” He said as he put on the jacket on you. You felt safe and warm, and complete with him. You both shared chars and laughs as you walked, which reminded you from when you were middle schoolers.

The next day you called Hinata’s house number, but his mom was the one who picked up, saying that he wouldn’t be able to come again, but he was feeling a little bit better. You thanked her and dropped the phone. He’s still not healed up yet, huh? What should I do for today? If I go to the festival, it would be boring because we already experienced all of it yesterday, and plus Hinata wouldn’t even be able to come with us..

Since you weren’t feeling like doing anything productive today, you just slept till afternoon.

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“Shit-! I slepT an entire day? Is it seriously the last day of the festival?? I only planned to sleep till afternoon, so how is it the next day already?? Geh, fuck that. I should just get changed to meet up with the others. Especially that today is when all of us should be present..” either way, you got up and got dressed. After getting ready, you found yourself standing infront of Hinata’s doorstep. I probably shouldn’t disturb him, he might still be resting. You decided to go on alone.

You met up with the others and surprisingly-

“Hey y/n..”. You saw Hinata standing infront if everyone. “Sorry I didn’t tell you that I decided to go on ahead. I wanted to sorta… surprise you I guess…haha” Hinata said with a short laugh. “It took awhile, but when he called up on me, he said that he was feeling a bit better, although he still has a bit if his fever.” Yamaguchi said

You were really happy that you’re able to spend the last day of the festival with him especially so that you could finally tell him.

You spent the entire day playing games, eating in every stall, and watching the band’s perform. You all had an amazing time together. Suga and Daichi trying to contain Tanaka and Noya, Ennoshita, Kinoshita and Narita all sitting in a bench calmly, Tsukki and Yams playing with the fish thing, yknow… the one ripoff game where you catch fish using a paper on a handle thing but the fish wouldn’t survive an entire month, Asahi and Kiyoko looking at souvenir shops, while you and Hinata, long with Kageyama, go around eating everywhere.

Finally, 8pm came around. The fireworks were said to start at 8:30, so you all decided to get a spot to put a tent on so you could all wait.

Hinata was with Tanaka, Noya, Kageyama, and Suga. “C'mon Hinata, now is nOt the time for you to back out! This is finally the moment you can tell her!” Suga said. “Yeah! Shouyo, this is now or never, if you don’t do it now, then when will You? Noya asked. “You don’t want to lose y/n right? Then take it now.” Kageyama said.

Hinata wasn’t sure. All he could thing was what if she doesn’t feel the same? If I told her and turns out it isn’t mutual… wouldn’t that make our friendship awkward? What if confessing just break the history we had? What if-

“I’m sorry guys… I’m… just not sure I can. What if she doesn’t feel the same? Then that would just ruin everything… maybe we should give this more thought…” Hinata sighed. “Yeah But.. Hinata what if-”. Suga was cut off by Hinata standing up. He smiled then said “Its alright… if she does find someone… then I’ll support her whole- heartedly.”

He stood up and walked over by the trees. “Hinata wait-”

He sighed. “Heh. What was I thinking? Actually hoping that if I confess, it would work out? She probably doesn’t like me at all honestly..”

20 minutes passed by. No one could find where Hinata went. “Suga! Dis you check any of the stalls?” “Yes we did! But he wasn t there! I don’t think he’s at the festival anymore..” “maybe he went home already?”

You helped everyone search for him. What was he thinking? Wandering off like that out of nowhere.. Dammit Shou! Where are You? You saw a trail of footsteps towards the forest. You thought that just maybe, he might have went there..

You walked through… and as soon as you saw light, you saw..

“Shou?” You asked quietly. He froze for a minute. When he turned around to face You, you noticed that he had tears running down his face.

“H-hey Shou… why are you- are you alright?” You asked. You walked towards him slowly

“Y/n… I uh.. I’m sorry for disappearing so suddenly.. I didn’t mean to- i-” he stops. “I wasnt-” he pauses. He quickly wipes his tears and plaster a huge smile on his face

You instantly run up to him, and throw you arms around him, hugging him tightly. “Idiot. At least tell me if you’re going to disappear like that..” You release.

“Haha.. yeah.. sorry about that..”

Crap.. is it almost 8:30? We better get back to the others before we miss the firewo-

Just as you were tugging his shirt, signaling that you both go back, he grips your arm.

“Maybe we should stay. The view is nice out here.” He says with a soft voice

“Yeah.. but what about the others?” You asked. “They’ll be fine.. since you haven’t come back yet it’s obvious that you’ve found me already.” He says. You both stood next to eachother waiting for the fireworks. Hinata stood silently looking at the sky with a wide smile on his face.

“Its been a while since we went stargazing..” he said. “Ah. Haha yes it has..” You said. There was a moment of silence and awkwardness. You wanted to break this unstoppable silence covering the two of you-

“Hey y/n.. have I ever told you what Soba ni Ite Hoshii meant?”

“Mmmmm… nah. You all teased me about not knowing it though..”

“Then I’ll tell You, right now..”

He takes a deep breath then.. “Y/n! Soba ni Ite Hoshii-!” He takes a few steps back, trying to process what he has said without thinking.

“What? A sorry Shou… I didn’t really know what it means lol… Maybe if you can tell me in English?” You laugh nervously.

“Fine.. y/n.. I-”

You could hear the fireworks blasting off with your left ear. You both stood firmly from where you where standing. The fireworks were loud, loud enough to overlap what he meant. But You heard him loud and clear. What he said caused your heart to skip a beat. You couldn’t process properly what you had heard. You thought that you were somewhat dreaming.

You both stood in silence, both yours and Hinata’s faces were red. You were speechless.

“Shou.. i-”. “I get it y/n.. it’s not the same huh? Maybe we should just stay as friends.. or if that’s too awkward for you-” he pauses. He turns back, waving his hand to signal you that you both should go back.

But I haven’t given him my answer yet…

You grip his arm, jerking him towards you. “Shou please listen for a while..”

You told him everything you’ve hidden since God knows when. All you could think was this is it. This is now or never. There’s no backing out now. If i don’t tell him now, when will I? I don’t want to lose him. You were speaking in a hushed tone, your face heating up, your heartbeat growing faster and faster, but you knew that you shouldn’t stop. You didn’t.

After you told him, you tried to avoid eye contact. He pulls you closely, your faces drawing nearer eachother. You felt his hands tightly behind you back, yours on his. His face resting in your shoulder, beside your face.

“Does this mean we-”

“Dammit Shou, don’t make it more awkward than it is already” you laughed.

“Hahaha yeah… but we should really go back to the others now y/n..” He said. “I guess we should lol.” You hold his hand tightly as you both walked towards your team.

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“Congrats on your win at the Finals, Shou.” You giggled as you both walked home. “Thanks y/n, but I wouldn’t have done my best without you watching us.” He says. “Damn, since when have you been romantic?”. “Shut up.” Hinata says looking away.

“Hey y/n… stay with me always, will You?”

➴➵➶➴➵➶➴➵➶➴➵➶➴➵➶➴➵➶➴➵➶➴

The cringe is unbearable in this one lol. Sorry for the late post and for being wAy t00 inactive lmao. It took me some time to decide what I’m doing first but I finally finished this lol.

Feel free to send in requests for hcs, scenarios and oneshots!

-♤

[yoyoblogss]

personal experiences

Hi guys, it’s me again Yoanna, coming back to overshare my personal life experiences on the internet. In this blog, we’re going to be speaking about the sexualization of POC, specifically POC women, as well as stereotypes we beautiful people face daily and how they correlate with one another. I’ll be mentioning a few articles and a video to talk about these topics. Using these sources, I’ll be answering a question I came across a few days ago, which four of the many voices we encountered in this class speaks to you? How and Why? Let's start with sexualization, sexualization is making someone feel like a sexual object making something sexual. Every day we are being sexualized by the media and capitalized off of it. It’s how the world works, it’s how the media is always money hungry and will sexualize anyone to increase their dollars in their bank account and will shapeshift how people view one another. One day, we love skinny girls, and one day we love big girls specifically with a tiny chub. One day we like men with a dad bod and one day we like men with hard rock abs. Every day, the media makes it hard for us to love ourselves. So let me start with the JLO video, it's one of her many popular songs called Waiting for Tonight. During an assignment I had to do for class, we talked about exoticness, fetishization, and how sexualized this video was. The director himself put jungles in the background to show how exotic JLO is and the women of color in this video. He stuck to the stereotypes of POC women and said yes! Put a jungle in the background and women from different countries with unique features to show how exotic they are! This music video is confined to the day to day stereotypes of POC by including beautiful women from different backgrounds and showing that they’re comfortable in their skin but some might not understand, the way I interpreted the music video, especially the ending was the sexualization of JLO in the water dancing. The director knew that if he showed this part of the video, it would attract more audience because it’s a beautiful Latina in the water even though it was just JLO simply dancing to her music, the outside world would interpret it as the director did. Every time a woman steps out in her clothes or posts a bikini photo confident within herself, others would always degrade them or oversexualize them for no reason. When a woman shows a bit of skin, she’s immediately called the worst names and looked upon differently which SHOULDN'T even be a thing. In our day in age with the upcoming app Tiktok, when anyone posts a video themselves showing a bit of skin, the comments flood with “I’m looking respectfully” which is an odd saying to me because what is the point of saying that? Some people even dare to say “I’m looking disrespectfully”, which is so weird to me and odd because it’s a form of degradation and basically initiating that it’s okay and normal to sexualize them, if I'm looking “respectfully” or “disrespectfully”. Trust me, whenever I post a TikTok with some sort of revealing clothes, people run to the comments and say the same thing to me. I don’t like it, I don't like how normalized it is to do this, it makes me very uncomfortable and I want to hide forever from the internet. In Aparicio, Maria Conchita Alonso described how confined she was to the stereotypes that were made because of her “exotic background”. She talks about how she’s always seen as an object and “half out of her mind”, which in other words, crazy, which is exactly what these stereotypes describe her as. The second you search up “exotic women”, on google and look through their images, all you see is POC women with the caption, “beautiful sexy exotic women” basically listing them as objects for people to stare at and imagine the unimaginable. POC women always struggle with these stereotypes and being seen as “foreign” objects. I feel like what Alonso was saying completely describes how I feel. Ever since I was a kid, I’ve been oversexualized and experienced what it’s like to feel like an object. In middle school, I developed earlier than the kids in my grade, guys would make comments about my ass and boobs, slap my ass and boob, and I didn’t understand what everything meant until I started growing older and more knowledgeable. It was wrong but I was too naive. As I started getting older and appreciating the body I was given, full of self-love, I would wear clothes that would accentuate my body and it felt good. I felt beautiful and sexy for myself, no one else. In high school, guys would also make comments about me, calling me sexy, saying sexual things to me at all times, and would talk about having intercourse with me behind my back and to my face. One time a guy looked at me in the face and said, “Suck me.” I was in shock that someone I saw as a friend, nothing more, would say that to me in a public setting, literally in the middle of my English class. It made me feel like an object and sexualized. When I used to be on dating apps, men's sadly first pickup line was, “I’ve never seen anyone so exotic”. Getting called exotic made me feel like I was a special drink they made at resorts that are far out of my budget. It was a weird feeling and something I hope to never feel again. Whenever I would speak Arabic in public, I would have everyone's jaw especially the whites to the ground and them continuously asking me to say something else, teach them a word, or talk about how different it is. During my course, we also stumbled upon identity and how it talks about how they're restricted to these stereotypes placed upon them. In “A Conversation with Latinos on Race”, talks about how they had to change their traditions and who they are to become more accepted in America. Gregory, one of the people in the video talking about his experience, spoke about how he was automatically labeled as an African American because of his skin and voice, which he isn’t. This spoke to me because coming from an immigrant family as a first-generation, it was hard learning American traditions and becoming more socially accepted so I as well felt like I needed to change. My family predominantly speaks Arabic in the house, so it was already a struggle to learn how to speak English. I dressed differently, ate differently, and acted differently in school. I barely ate any traditional food at home anymore when I was a kid because I forced my mom to make American food. No one ever identified me as an Egyptian. Some would assume I was Latina and would automatically speak to me in Spanish which led to me awkwardly cutting them off and saying “I don’t speak Spanish” and walk away. Some would assume I was Indian, but never where I’m actually from until they hear me speak Arabic. In “Light in the Dark”, by Gloria Anzaldua, she mentions how there are always certain expectations on people's race and we can’t control how people perceive us in America. Coming from an Egyptian who’s from Queens, Astoria, predominantly full of people who speak Arabic or different dialects of Arabic, there are many assumptions about them. The assumptions would be that specifically, your father was a cab driver, owns a hookah lounge, has a halal cart, or a deli worker. In school, I would hear kids making fun of Arab kids in my class about how their dad is a cab driver and barely makes money. For some time, I didn’t like admitting that my dad was a cab driver or worked in a deli. Listening to kids being made fun of for their parent's occupations made me scared to be in that same situation. It would take me a really long time to admit that my dad was a cab driver, it felt like my mouth just couldn’t even open and utter the words. I should’ve never felt embarrassed to admit that he was a cab driver or a deli worker because my dad is a very hard worker and did what he can for us to survive but that’s what assumptions do to people. You can’t control how people perceive you. All of these articles plus the video touched me and made me rethink my past experiences. I hope you guys enjoyed this analysis of my experiences and hope it made people with similar experiences like mine feel less alone in this cruel world. Remember, self-love is the best love.