#welp it took me 1½ hours to write but here it is

[bubbleteacat]

Welp, took a while eh? ^^ I swear I lost motivation at some point but after people commented/messaged me, asking for part 2, I somehow got the motivation back to write this. ALSO I just noticed that no one said a word in the last drabble... let's say the last one was just... character introduction... yeah. NOW HAVE FUN WITH PART 2

Trigger warnings: Stalkerish behavior, violence mention, yandere behavior

[ See here Part 1 ]

You slept in the next day, mostly because you could use the sleep, and didn't intended to stream that early. If the power was back on that is. You still had to get grocceries before though. So, after rolling around in bed for a few more minutes, you finally got up and immediately went to check if the energy was back. And as you had hoped, everything worked perfectly again! Seems like you will have no problems to get live later! While you poured yourself a bowl of cereals, and shoved some inside your mouth, you looked through the news to see if there was any information about the blackout from last night. To your surprise there wasn't really any information. Just some news that the cause of the blackout was not clear, so they just said it probably was a simple technical error. How annoying. A simple technical error was the reason you couldn't stream. Wonderful.

After finishing breakfast, you got dressed, and went outside to the groccery store. It wasn't to far away, so you saw no reason to take the bus. You also had no car, but why should you get one anyway? You could walk to your job, and to the groccery store, and if you needed to go further there were always busses or the subway you could take. Besides that, driving sure was exhausting in the city. You silently walked in the direction of the store, not really paying much attention to anything as you were thinking about what you could talk about with the stream later. But you were suddenly ripped from your thoughts as a somewhat... eerie feeling creeped up your back, and made you suddenly stop in your tracks. It's the same feeling from last night when you went home. Like someone was watching you. It honestly wasn't the first time you had noticed such a thing. People had watched you before, but mostly because they had recognized you from your streams. You guessed it was just the same now. Even if this feeling was more... intense than the times before. You looked around, trying to find the source of said feeling but... there was no one staring at you. None of the people you saw on the street were looking at you. And as soon as you had looked around, the eerie feeling had disappeared again. Perhaps you had just imagined it. So you shook your head a bit, and continued on your way to the store. Perhaps you were still tired... You should make some coffee before the stream.

Your trip to the store didn't took to long, and soon you were back on your way home. You have around an hour left until you decided to start the stream, so you had to hurry a bit if you still wanted to eat something before you start. On your walk back to your apartment something caught your eye though. A small group of people, around your age or slightly younger, stood around someone on the other side of the street. You could hear how energetic they spoke. Was there someone famous around or what? It certainly seemed like it by how excited those people were. You craned your neck, as you passed by them on the other side of the street, to see who they were talking to... and you immediately stopped in your tracks. Oh. My. God. That was a Hank cosplayer! From Madness Combat!

"Holy shit! They look amazing! Uh, I wish I could take a pic."

You mumbled to yourself as you eyed the man in the middle of the group, who looked a bit confused from one person to the other. Maybe they hadn't expected that so many people would recognize the character? But the cosplay was amazing! The googles, the coat, the sword on their back, and just everything was just like how they had made Hank look like in the trailer! That's one really determined cosplayer, in your opinion. But you sadly didn't had time to cross the street, and try to take a picture with them. It would take to long, especially with all the other people around who probably had the same idea like you. A shame, really. But perhaps you see them again at the next game convention! So you hurried along, but not without looking one last time at them... just to notice the 'cosplayer' was staring at you. It was kind of strange, but you didn't thought to much about it. Perhaps they knew you from your streams. So you simply smiled at them, before continuing on your way home.

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

You smiled at him. Hank immediately recognized you. The Player. His Player. Of course he would recognize you. He had stared for hours at the pictures of you that they had taken from the Auditor's office. And you simply smiling at him had the grunt rendered speechless. He could not move, not shout out to you. Everything around him disappeared, and the voices of the other people around him seemed suddenly so far away. You must have recognized him as well, otherwise you would have never granted him a smile like this, right? Maybe- Wait. Where did you go? The mercenary suddenly snapped from his dreamy state, and frantically looked around just to find no trace of you. Where had you gone? Why haven't you come to him? Roughly, he pushed some people, of the circle that had formed around him, out of the way, not caring for their complains, before making his way to the other side of the street where you had been standing a moment earlier. You couldn't have gone far. If he hurried up, he surely can reach you! And while he did choose the right direction in which you had walked off, you had already had disappeared into your apartment building... by which Hank rushed by, and down the street in a frantic attempt to find you again. But he couldn't find a trace of his player anymore... So he just decided to go back to Doc and the others to tell them about his encounter. Perhaps Doc has an idea how to find you again. So the mercenary returned to their new hideout in this world. The moment they had entered the world all of them had noticed that it was so different from Nevada. The colors, the residents. There were also beings in the sky, and also basically everywhere that they had never seen again. So, given that they were also very different from everyone, and everything here, they had decided to set up a base that is a bit more hidden. And they had immediately found something that should do the job. An old run down building. It had been boarded up, and it seemed like that no one had entered it since years. While it hadn't been perfect, it was fine for the time they stayed here. While they looked for you. The Auditor, and the other Employers, had entered this world as well. So they had to hurry finding you before they did.

Hank entered the building through the cellar door, that they had entered the place the first time, and went immediately to Doc's new office. Well, 'office' was perhaps a bit exaggerated. It was just a room with a few computers, some medical equipment (all that they had totally not stolen), and a few very old beds. Earlier when Hank had been here, everything had been still full of dust. Seems like they had tidied the place up pretty quickly. Surely with most of the help from Sanford. And the moment the mercenary had entered the room, Doc immediately started to lecture him. Ugh.

" Hank! Where the hell were you? I told you not to go out until we gathered more information! You- "

" I saw the player... "

That immediately made the other shut up, and just stare at Hank for a moment, before he found his voice again.

" WHAT??? Where?!? And why aren't they with you? "

He asks, fearing for the worst already. What if the Auditor had found you before they did? What if they-

" They saw me, smiled, and left... "

Wait, what? 2BDamned just stares at Hank for a long moment through the googles his mask. Confused but also relieved that nothing that he had imagined had happened. Apparently. Still, how could Hank have lost them so quickly? He was fast! Had he been sleeping or what? The 'doctor' let out a tired sigh, not even in the mood what kind of excuses Hank would make if he questioned him. At least they know now that the player was near. He was about to ask where the mercenary had seen you as Deimos and Sanford rushed into the room, with Deimos holding a laptop that he had snatched for himself.

" DOC!!! You need to see this! "

Deimos spoke, and shoved the laptop onto 2BD's desk, knocking over some things, but didn't seemed to care about that all to much. And as Doc came over to scold him, and be more careful... he stops in his tracks as he sees what was on the devices screen. A website was open. A streaming website. And there you were. Idly chatting with your chat, smiling, and apparently you were alright. Doc was taken aback given that it was the first time for him to see you move around, and not just in a picture. The others were also entranced, and did not say a word as they just stared at the screen, and listened to your voice. But Doc was the first one to rip his attention from the screen.

" Hank saw them earlier as well. "

" WHAT " " WHAT "

Deimos, and Sanford called out simultaneous, and looked at Hank who just huffed, and kept looking at you on the screen.

" Yes. He lost them, but at least we know now where they could be. The Player can't be to far from that place where he saw them. Deimos. Can you somehow hack into that system, and track where they are? "

The Hacker gave a sharp toothed smirk at that, and immediately sat down on the laptop to start to track your IP, and your exact location. Wouldn't be the first time he had done such a thing. But usually they killed the person he tracked.

" Sure, Doc. On it already! "

While Deimos worked on the laptop, they let the stream run on one of 2BD's screens. Though instead of doing anything productive, the others kept watching the stream, and you. Until the Hacker announced that he had successfully tracked your location. But instead planning about how to approach you, they kept watching your stream... until you went offline, and to bed. Just then they actually started to plan how to approach you... on the next day already. They really wanted to hurry up, and get to you first. If it was because they feared that the Employers got their hands on you first, or if it was just their own desire to finally meet you is debatable though.

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

You surely had a blast at the stream yesterday. Sure, you did apologize to your chat that you hadn't been online the previous day, but they were quick to reassure you that it hadn't been your fault. You had also a few very generous new followers. Funny though that one of them had a name that is obviously from Madness Combat. They did donate a very high amount which had made you almost cry. You surely are getting that cool new headset, that you got your eyes on for some time, with that money! You got a bit earlier up that usual this morning. You had to work this night again, and wanted to stream again later before you had to head out. As you walked into your kitchen, to make you once more a bowl of cereals... you noticed that you finshed the box yesterday, and forgot to buy new ones when you went to the supermarket. Great. You really wanted some cereals right now... Maybe a short trip to the store again won't hurt? So with an empty stomach, you got ready for your short trip, before leaving your apartment. Not knowing that your vessels had also already went out to finally meet you. They were approaching your place from the direction in which you walked to actually. From where you had seen Hank for the first time. You didn't noticed the group that slowly approached you, and suddenly halted in the tracks when they laid their eyes on you, because you were more paying attention to your phone. Until you were standing almost in front of them. Just then you also stopped, as you felt eyes on you, and looked up from your device... just to stare at them as well. None of you said anything. Them because they clearly had no idea what to say, and you because you were amazed to see such accurate cosplayers of your favorite madness combat characters. After a few seconds passed, you opened your mouth to say something... but suddenly flinch heavily when a black car stopped right next to you and the group with screeching tires.

Confused you looked at the car as the doors opened... and two men in suits got out... But something immediately seemed off about them... They had sunglass but.

Where are their nose? Or ears? Their skin was also weirdly gray? They really did remind you of these agents in-

And then they pull out some guns. You gasp in shock. And suddenly they open fire on the group, and you.

[frenchfries02]

(8) Played a lot, who cares duh haha

I was groggy this day, cus I haven't had decent sleep. My remedy? I played valorant a lot hahahaha, not healthy right. Not recommended btw.

That's all I did. Cus dis 2 days I don't have class. Tomorrow it would start tho.

Also felt better cus the ketchup days was already over. Felt productive. Read a lot of things tho. Idk, also felt like doing it.

Ah, also, there was an electrical failure disruption a while ago, around late in the afternoon. I took an hour of nap haha, after getting sleepy from writing my novel drafts. Because there's no internet, and my go to is either writing or sketching stuffs.

When the disruption got fixed I got back on playing valorant but my brother needed to use the pc so, I just played like 2 or 3 games.

I'm still a noob tho haha, going back and forth in silver 3- bronze 1. Ew right. I don't have a lot of time to play okay!!! and I know it's a shitty rank. I'm embarrassed about it. But welp that's also one of the reasons I am depending on, to have a reason to be alive. I play that game with my friends as well. I look forward to improve on it.

I am very scared really if some of the people I know get to read stuffs that I post here in Tumblr HAHA. It's just that I felt doing this. Nobody's reading this anyway. That's why I am so brave dumping all of this here HAHA.

Welp.. welp.. As I always say.

Life is short, so why bother care about it right haha. ( don't be like me, goodluck to the future me as well if you read this, continue cringing on this )

I hope mine would be shorter tomorrow ^^

[mentallyburningwaffles]

Word Boyfriends (A Frog x Duck Word World Fanfic) #1

A/N: Hey I know what you are thinking. Why am I writing a fanfic for some children’s show that literally educates babies how to read letters? Well, in a nutshell, it is a show that I’ve never got to experience in my childhood. I’m going to be 18 literally next year, but that won’t stop me from writing about my current hyper-fixation. This will be a series of fanfics that I might as well post on Tumblr. Take note that this fanfic will take place a bunch of years after the end of the series; therefore, it will be safe for work and fluffy (To be honest, I don’t do raunchy literature anyway.) Welp. Hopefully you’ll feel nostalgic reading this. ʕ ᵔᴥᵔ ʔ

It was a beautiful night in Word World, and Frog and Duck were settling down on the couch after a long day of celebrating with their friends. Now it is time to relax a little.

The living room in Frog and Duck’s log was dimly lit, which had a comfortable liking to it. The house was all cleanly and well kept from the books being on their shelves - Duck is reading a lot now that he knows his letters well, the floors were swept, the dishes are done, and dusting was already done by Frog an hour ago.

“That party was something that we’ve never done before,” exclaimed Duck. “You’ve always thrown parties around your birthday Y’know?”

“Oh yeah. It was so much fun,” recalled Frog who was wrapping an arm around Duck; Duck rested on his shoulder comfortably. “But now I’m glad it’s over.”

“But why Frog?”

The amphibian word friend smiled gently looking at his partner with nice gentle eyes. “Because I get to spend the rest of the night with you.”

The yellow feathered word friend felt light red on his cheeks, and he felt a smile coming along. He quacked happily snuggling with his lover hugging his waist; Frog croaked in happy pleasure.

“Angel,” Duck said. “You make me the most happiest duck in Word World.”

“And you make me the most happiest Frog in Word World, too.”

They both sat embracing the moment of affection and comfort. They have always cuddled with each other and exchanged a few kisses here and there, and they both like being together. That’s why they’re boyfriends.

“I will say I’m in a mood for some leftover ice cream right now,” Frog said as he played with Duck’s hair feathers gently. “And then we can read your favorite book ‘Duck Saves the Day’.”

Before Duck could say anything else, a loud boom came from outside. It crackled and popped just like rice cereal when the milk gets on top of it, and Duck’s face turned from joyful to frightened. His eyes shrank, his smile went away, and he was gripping tight on Frog’s waist.

Frog looked outside from the window noticing that little drops of water was coming at a fast, fast pace - it was not pretty at all from the sounds that the sky made. He croaked and looked back to see his love curled up into a ball with the expression of fear streaking his face; therefore, he knew that he had to do something.

“Honey.” Frog calmly hopped towards Duck sitting next to him. He whispered “Hey. Is-is it okay if I help? What are you feeling?”

Duck was breathing a bit quicker than usual. Instead of steady breaths, he was breathing at a quicker speed with his hand over his chest. Frog was highly concerned and a bit fearful, but he had to understand what’s going on.

“I don’t want it to get me,” Duck shouted with each breath he took.

Frog was panicking on the inside and felt like he needed to do something, so he knew the first thing he had to do whenever Duck felt a strong emotion that he cannot control. He ran towards the bedroom and got the weighted blanked out from the bed that the couple usually sleep in.

He hopped back shushing him reminding Duck that he’s there. The poor word friend was shivering, and his body temperature was low.

“Duck,” Frog spoke softly bringing the love of his life closer near his chest. “I know you feel something, but I think I understand what’s going on.” He looked out the window and back at him. “You must be frightened by the loud noises of the thunderstorm outside, right?”

Duck glanced at him with tear streaked eyes and responded. “Yes. I’m feeling scared, and terrified too. I don’t like the storm. The noise scares me.” He nuzzles him on the neck still quivering. “I don’t want it to get me.”

Frog nuzzled his hair like feathers as if he’s petting Dog, a friend of everyone in Word World. He closed his eyes softly and took a deep breath of sorrow: he feels sad when his babe is upset. He felt rocks in his stomach and a verge of tears, and he remembers how the rain made him feel like he almost lost who he loved best.

“I understand how heavy that feeling is,” Frog recalled. “I remember when I couldn’t come to play with you because I was so scared of the rain. You know my skin feels uneasy and slimy when it touches me.” He lifts Duck’s chin up lightly like how a leaf gets picked up by the wind. “And I was afraid of telling you how I felt because I felt frightened by the fact that would laugh at me. But you helped me.” He smiled. “You built me a coat with the C and the O and A along with a T. I’ve never so excited about water my whole entire life!”

“Yeah. I remember,” Duck wiped the tears from his face - as a result, his eyes seemed a little bit red. “I felt so happy that you came out to play again. I liked riding that boat with Goat. He gave us some great advice: always follow where your hearts lead.”

The amphibian word boyfriend nodded in agreement and chuckled a bit. “I remember that advice too.”

The loud boom came again. BOOM! BOOM! Crackle…

Still Duck held him snug and warm like a huge Build a Bear stuffed animal. His breathing was at a normal motion, he felt safe with the weighted blanket around him, his body temperature was warm. He felt comfortable. Frog felt the rocky feeling from his stomach lift up and he felt a warm feeling that can’t be explained but felt through his heart; therefore, the feeling was security and understanding.

“Yes. I think I did it all right,” he thought. “No actually, I did it well. I think we deserve what we needed in the first place: ice cream and a book.” Then he asked Duck, “How ‘bout we read whatever story you want?”

Duck lightened up. “Yeah. How about those poems me and you are working on in that journal?”

“Okay. Whatever you like,” Frog agreed. “I’ll get us the ice cream.”

[kittyfairyblog]

March 29 2024

Sigh I don't know what is it with me and the four o'clock hour. I always have nothing to do. It seems like I can't fill it with a good amount of stuff to do. I usually have a good idea of things I want to do during the day and I follow a schedule that I wrote myself to follow during each hour of the day. I do a pretty good job following my schedule. Today I messed it up a little bit. I usually wait for the mail to come around 12 to 1 pm but today the mail doesn't run because it is a holiday. So I went ahead and went to my room to watch YouTube and play some Nintendo Switch. I am playing Animal Crossing on my new Switch. Meow I ran out of daily YouTube videos to watch and so I left my bedroom to the front part of the house. I grabbed my laptop as I usually do and started stuff. I couldn't think about what to do. So I grabbed my shoes, put them on and took a walk with Kylie our dog for a while. I came back in and had some Ramen Noodles. So that solved that problem. I thought of putting my desktop computer back together but I took it apart so I couldn't put it back together. Sigh I can be really damaging to my stuff when I can be. Anyway so that was out of the question. I have been feeling better thanks to being back on my meds and getting a decent amount of sleep. Mewo I did my laundry today and already put my clothing away. Anywho what is it about me that I can't figure out when it comes to using my free time. I also have to schedule it because I get frantic when I don't know what to do. I am using this time as it is 4 something in the afternoon to write this blog entry. If I stretch it out long enough I can take my afternoon shower and be done with being in the living room. Meow I have Kylie here with me in the recliner with her head on my right leg. Oh I started a new new novel. Hopefully I can finish this novel to start and end without getting tired of it or distracted by other things. Meow this neko boy is listening to the group Scandal a Japanese rock band on my cell phone. Anyway I think I might close out this entry. Sigh I did have plans to fix that PS3 but it looks like I might just put it away and fix it later. Sometimes I do things I think I can accomplish but turns out I don't have a clue what I am doing. Welp meow that's about it for now. I think I will post some photos after this entry. Until later folks bye.

[dearfizz]

hi op. I uhm dumped A LOT of words into the tags. Sorry about that. I tried to make it as comprehensible as possible. This took me like 2h to write. I honestly didn't have to spend that much time, but brain had lots of thoughts on your post. There is a lot of opinions in this, some agreeing and some disagreeing with you. This is the general tldr of all of that word dump.

1. I agree, limited life does not feel like a life series because of the lack of tension.

2. double life is the most ironic season. The season is about pairing up, but the winner (pearl) literally soloed it. Not to mention the fact that the last 2 pairs standing was the divorce quartet.

3. I added on "everything is shared in double life point." Because it is, if you take a moment to think about it. (the example I gave was that grian and bigb's secret soulmate thing was being used as leverage for Bigb as well as Ren. Like you can't really make an alliance with one soulmate. The other soulmate would be involved in some way, shape, or form.)

4. last life was not almost calmer. I'd argued that last life is a bit more brutal than 3rd life. Just a bit. (this is coming from someone that only watched 3 povs combined for 3l and last life. I don't have a lot of credit here. I'll get around to watching more povs eventually) Reason: lots of betrayals (cause boogey) and being outcasted from your alliance when you're red.

5. one of the pov I watched was scott's last life. I wouldn't really call scott a tactician. I would say that he was loyal in a season filled with betrayals. He wasn't really playing social chess that season. But I would like to hear out why you called scott a tactician tho.

Edit: half of the tags didn't make it :(. Welp, now I know there's a tag limit. That's at least an hour gone. But tldr summary is like roughly what I said.

feel free to disagree with me or wtv. Heck, you don't even have to read this honestly. This rb post would just be right here existing.

there’s something poetic in the different ways the life series different twists add to the stories they tell. 3rd life is desperate and brutal. 3 lives is all you get and then your out no if ands or buts. Each life is more precious than diamonds, and the taking of a life(desert duo) requires a similar payment in return. and the stakes are oh so high so it gets down to a two team battle and then it’s over.

In direct contrast, last life is almost calmer, in comparison. People have up to 5 lives, a seemingly insane sun in comparison to the previous three. The lives are traded and won and gifted. People share lives. They tick down to red slowly and with the entire server fighting against it. It’s a tactician that wins because it wasn’t about fighting this time it was about teams and betrayals and promises.

Double life is a return to form in a way. After last life it’s three lives again or more accurately one and a half. Everything’s shared and all your enemies are halved or doubled.

Finally limited life rolls around with its new idea: there’s no set number of lives. It’s all about time. Technically all the player start with approximately 24 lives but the clock itself is against you as well for this game. In short limited life is anything but limited. There’s more lives more freedom more time, ironically enough. And due to this being the fourth season there’s more partnership already and it’s easily to build on. They’ve got the hang of this now and they’re willing to try to mix things up. Limited life so so shockingly free from the constraints of its former series, there’s family drama, an episode where someone afks, there’s flowerhusbands, it’s full of callbacks and references, and in that way the finale ends diffenrly as well. The added twist of a betrayal unlike what we’ve seen before

[vinyls-and-valentines]

Okay, it's like 2:30am as i'm starting to type this, but i really wanna talk about my robobro ocs okay. Like, i love these mfers.

Anyway, if you don't care you can just scroll past(if ur interested though you should be able to look up 'gasoline firefly' and/or 'lighter stars' if u don't know who they are)

TW: for canon-type violence and breif mention of sexual assault

~°~°~°~°~°~°~

Okay, so, of course, our story begins in The Slums where one of the upper class droid lounges is having one of their semi-anual maintanance check-ups. Afterall, these are top line droids and the lounge has a reputation to uphold, so they gotta make sure everything is pretty much perfect- think of it as a fucked up life insurance situation.

Anyways, some droids need new batteries since they're starting to lose charge- an intentional factory fault made to sell more batteries- and they get replaced with new ones. What they didn't account for, though, was two particulary stubborn souls wiggling their ways into the electricity contained by the batteries. And so two droids 'wake up' in the middle of the night freaking the hell out and nearly getting in a scruff when they run into eachother in a panicked haze.

The two don't recognize eachother- how could they, they'd been lost in the static for so long they couldn't remember nearly anything- but they have a gut feeling they know eachother, so they get back up and start exploring the lounge. They find out they're stuck inside with no one else up and about, but they make quick work of one of the rooms' windows and step out onto the fire escape. By the time the owner arrives the two are roaming the streets of the Slums, lost and disoriented- and cold as fuck because it'd been so long since they were alive they forgot everything about clothes.

They stumble over a band of Juvees and Ritalins who are mostly nice to them, giving them clothes and asking questions they didn't exactly know to answer. A guy quietly fixed them with his gaze for a while before actually walking up to them and pinning one of them- though they can't tell you which one- to the wall and begining to full-on full-out have a heated make-out session. No one seems bothered by this turning away to do their own thing except for the other droid who tries his best to pry the man off his friend though streght, it turns out, wasn't his model's strong point, so to speak.

However he did manage to free him, as the man turned around hissing in pain and shoving him off as the former's nails dug into his shoulder; re-opening an old wound, perhaps. Taking advantage of this the droid pinned to the wall kicked the man in the groin making him stumble back in pain and the two took off running again, only this time chased by angry Ritalins shouting degrading things after them. They reached a deadend when a hand pulled them in through one of the doors just below ground level ending up in what looked like a dressing room.

There were other droids there too, who offer to let them stay with them as they prepared for whatever they were about to do. The two agree reluctantly and frankly a bit suspicious given the encounter they just had, but the other droids turn out to be super nice. Their questions are certainly different from the Halls and the Ritalins', but they aren't sure they were all that better. Still, they help them out a lot, even going as far as allowing them to trade in their bland white wigs for some more colorful ones that they cut down to match their preference since the bob didn't feel right.

They decide they are brothers when a green-haired droid comments how much they look alike- and it sticks. Not all things last forever, though, and one day low-level scarecrows come flooding in firing their white blasters in waves; turns out that whatever the was going on there wasn't exactly BLi approved. For the first time the two leave the dressing area into a large dimly lit room where they duck under a bar, waiting huddled until the gunfires stopped and then some.

Then there was silence. Just perfect silence for what must've been hours on end before a pair of mutters started growing louder and louder, a head of hot pink hair shortly poping up from behind the counter. The girl didn't seem like neither the Halls nor the droids. She asks them if they are alright, they don't answer. She asks them about their name and still no answer. Eventually she gets to the one question that at least one of them had an answer to; what's their age.

17. The number rattles in the orange-haired droid's head and when he says it outloud the pink haired girl seems taken aback for a second before she disappears behind the bar again only to reappear a few moments later. She tells them to follow her and they do warily, not wanting to argue with someone who clearly could overpower them both- they had longs cut down their nails as well, but in the moment it felt so much better and they had worried less about their practicality.

The pink haired girl turns out to be no threat, though, as she welcomes them in her and her girlfriend's studio apartament and introduces herself as Laser Babe and her white-haired partner as Moonflower. They ask her if she's like them. She doesn't understand. They end up getting names as well- the orange haired droid naming himself Gasoline Firefly and his blue haired brother naming himself Lighter Stars. Everything goes well until it doesn't.

The brothers start spacing out more often than not, sitting down somewhere and waking up doing something completely different, missing snippets of conversation and so forward. It takes extensive research and looking around, but one day Laser returns home with two batteries and a solution. They had to switch the twins' old batteries for the new ones, but they had to do it quickly for reasons they didn't quite exactly understand either. It was their only option, though.

First time it went smoothly, Lighter only being out of 15 minutes before booting up and snapping back to his usual self. In Gasoline's case, however, they almost passed the one hour marker when he returned coughing and sputtering, being tackle-huged by his brother before he could even get back up. As time went by it didn't get any easier, they still wait with their hearts in their teeth everytime they have to do it. They haven't lost any of them yet and developed a way for them to shut down during the night to save power, though, so they figure they're doing pretty alright.

[skinnyducky]

awkward apologies (pt. 2 to unexepected visits) // v.h.

This was soooo cute to write. When I tell you it was so hard to not laugh while writing this, I was trying my best. But, that's the whole point of this. To laugh, to go "awweee", and to be happy. So, thank you to those who enjoyed pt. 1...here's pt. 2 :)

link to part 1

Word Count: 1557, slightly edited

WARNING: language, sexual themes, embarrassed vinnie, and i think that's it.

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Vinnie leaned against the fence of the skatepark, cradling his board close to his chest. Jett sat next to him, still laughing from the story Vinnie had shared with him.

“Please tell me that all was a joke,” he laughed. “You can’t be serious?”

“It’s not funny, dude. I was so embarrassed.”

Jett shook his head, trying to stop his giggles. “Look, shit happens. It’s not the end of the world. At that, it’s not like Y/n was mad at you or anything.”

“Jett, Y/n hasn’t called me since that night.”

It was true; you hadn’t spoken to him in three days since the night of the incident. Why would you though? He embarrassed not only himself, but you, in front of your parents. Those are the very people whose opinion matters when it comes to your relationships, and he just blew it. It didn’t even help that he did not bother to explain his urgent departure right after. There were no texts, no calls, not even a tweet that gave you any hints as to what went wrong.

“I just don’t know, man. I messed up something so good.” Vinnie sighed, looking down at his shoes.

Jett sighed, placing a comforting hand on his friend’s shoulder. “Like I said, it’s not the end of the world, man. Everyone knows how head over heels you two are for each other. One little mistake isn’t going to make or break what you have going on.”

“I get that but…I…I wish I hadn’t-“

“You don’t need to repeat it.” Jett said. “Now, how about you get on your board, skate for a few minutes, and calm yourself. The more you think about it, the sadder you get, and I really don’t feel like having to cuddle with you in one of your sad moods.”

Vinnie chuckled. “Those are the best cuddles though.”

With that, the boy hopped onto his board and rode off. He skated, doing turns and all sorts of kickflips. He was in the zone, and nothing could bring him out of it. With his tongue peeking out between his lips, he gathered himself to do an ollie. He got into position, keeping his eyes on his board and his fit. With a leap, he looked up and lo and behold, there you were with your friends. He gasped, the sight of you catching him off guard, so much that he barely came close to nailing his trick.

“Shit!” he shouted, landing on his ass.

Even as far as he was, he could hear the sound of Jett’s cackles echo throughout the skatepark. Even through his awkwardness, he managed to look over at you. Much to his surprise, you were looking right back at him, laughing along with your pals. He shot you a small smile, but that fell once he saw your happy expression turn into what one would refer to as…disgust. Oh, you were mad mad.

The boy gulped, picking up his board and hurrying over to Jett, who was still laughing his ass off.

“I wish I had caught that on camera, man!” He hollered, clutching his stomach. “You should’ve seen the look on your face before you fell! Oh wait, I can show you!”

Jett proceed to mock Vinnie’s expression, failing his arms in the air.

Vinnie stared at him with an irritated gaze. “Ha, ha…very funny.”

“Dude, what happened? You normally nail your ollies.”

“Y/n happened.”

Jett’s laughter stopped as he realized what Vinnie said. “What? What’s going on?”

“They’re here.”

Jett scanned the park for you before finding you on the other end from them, chatting with your friends.

“What is Y/n doing here? I didn’t know they skated.”

“They don’t, which is why it caught me off guard.” Vinnie replied. “You think they’re here for me?”

Jett shook his head. “No, I think they’re here to protest.”

Vinnie squinted his eyes in confusion before turning back to you. There, he saw you pick up a board and wave it around, chanting, “Save the whales!”

“Why at a skatepark?”

“Don’t ask me. I’m not the one protesting.” Jett snickered.

“Y/n laughed at me.”

“Then they’re not mad.”

“I wouldn’t exactly say that.”

Jett turned to his friend with a puzzled face. “Why do you say that?”

“Because, when I smiled at them, they just looked at me like I was some creep on the street.”

“Welp, then this is your chance,” said Jett. “Talk to them, explain what happened.”

Vinnie sighed, “What am I supposed to say? That I accidentally jizzed in my pants and had to leave before I made an ass out of myself?”

“Yep.”

Vinnie looked to Jett with shock. “You’re joking. Jett, I can’t do that.”

“Listen Vinnie, you are making a big deal out of nothing. All you have to do is walk up to Y/n, tell her the truth, say you’re sorry, and hope for the best. I mean, if anything…it was kind of a compliment to her, right? Trust me on this.”

Vinnie sat there and thought about it for a minute. Jett wasn’t completely wrong; it would be better to tell the truth than to not say anything and let what could be good relationship just wither and die. With that in mind, he pulled up his britches and walked over to you.

“Save the whales-“ you stopped your chanting, merely glaring at the boy in front of you. Your friends scoffed to themselves, turning to stare at Vinnie.

“Um, hey…Y/n.” He greeted, rubbing the back of his head.

“Hey…that’s all you can say?” You replied. “You haven’t called me, you haven’t texted me, you haven’t even left a voice message. What the hell, Vinnie?”

He stood there speechless, not knowing what else to say.

“Like, what the hell happened? That thing with Mac and then not shaking my dad’s hand, like…what?”

“I know, Y/n, and I’m so sorry.”

“Vinnie, I managed to fly to Seattle with you and spend a week with your family, and you can’t even spend one hour with mine? I thought you were different.”

“I am, Y/n. I promise you, I am.”

You sighed, rolling your eyes and crossing your arms. “You know what…I can’t do this here, Vinnie. We’re trying to save whales and…”

“Okay, sorry.”

Vinnie shoved his hands into his pockets as he turned and began to walk away. But something stopped him. Maybe it was the ounce of pride in his system or the fact that he didn’t wanna lose you, but something kept him from leaving. Then he did the unthinkable…

Swallowing his embarrassment, he turned back around and stepped towards you.

“I, um…I ejaculated in my pants.”

Your friends snorted behind you, trying to keep their laughter to themselves. You stared at him with a glimmer of amusement in your eyes. You tried so hard not to break out into a smile.

“We were, um…we were getting hot and it’s not every day I have someone as…hot…as you grinding on top of me, and I got a bit excited. Next thing I know, your parents come in and I’m sitting there with jizz in my pants.”

You pursed your lips as you turned to the side, trying to contain the fit of giggles begging to escape. Your friends on the other hand…they were nearly on the verge of pissing themselves.

“So, uh…sorry. Sorry.”

Vinnie cleared his throat and slowly treaded back to Jett.

You moved to face your friends, joining them in the laughing session.

“That was the most awkward thing ever.” One of your friends said. “But I’ll say this, he’s honest. There’s no way anyone could make that up.”

“Right?” You chuckled.

“I say you should you talk to him. He’s a good kid.” Your other friend added.

You smiled. “You think so?”

The two nodded.

“Okay.” You said, running towards Vinnie.

“Vinnie!” You called, gaining the boy’s attention.

He glanced over to Jett, who took this is as his signal to give you two a minute.

“You know, never once have I ever heard of something so weird,” you said, “but so adorable at the same time.”

Vinnie grinned, awkwardly shooting you a thumbs up. “What can I say, that’s all I am. Just a weird, yet adorable, person.”

You grabbed his hands, looking into his eyes. “Why didn’t you just tell me what happened? I totally would’ve understood.”

“I was just too embarrassed, and plus I didn’t know if you still even wanted me.”

“Vinnie, I could never not want you. I told you before, I really like you and I wouldn’t want to do anything to mess that up. You should never have to question that.”

He sighed, “I’m sorry for not coming to you sooner.”

“And I’m sorry for my friends. They’re still laughing about it.”

He smiled, bringing you closer into him. The two of you stared at each other, your faces inches away.

“I love you.” He said.

It caught you off guard a bit, granted you had only been seeing each other for a short time. But nonetheless, it still made you feel butterflies inside. Grinning you closed the gap between you two, bringing your lips together. It was so good to have his lips against yours, and vice versa. You pulled back, pressing your forehead against his.

“I love you too.”

[wthjillie]

Kiyoshi Teppei (short) Imagine

a/n: Hey hey heeyyy I decided to write another one of these but for Kiyoshi because he's so so soooooooo underrated and I feel bad for once being a hater but now I'm not so I guess I owe it to our teddy bear Iron Heart himself :(( anyways I'm trying to keep these short and sweet because the one I wrote about Kagami was SO LONG 😅 hope you guys enjoy this one too!

You and your boyfriend, Teppei Kiyoshi, finally moved into a condo together just a couple of blocks away from his grandparents' house just in case something happened

You guys get a phone call one night saying that Kiyoshi's grandmother had taken a pretty nasty fall and his grandfather wasn't able to drive them to the hospital

"Do you want me to come with you, hun?" You ask from the kitchen just as Kiyoshi starts to put his shoes on and you're finishing up the dinner clean up

"No, darling, it's okay! I'm sure we'll be in and out of the ER quickly so I won't be too long. Don't wait up for me though, just in case it does go long." You can barely see your boyfriend but you know he's smiling

You assured him you'd go to sleep shortly, gave him a quick kiss and he was on his way. You took the time to organize the place a bit and really enjoy your night time routine

You crawl into bed and suddenly you're wide awake. You start to feel kind of empty with such a vast space on Kiyoshi's side of the bed. You never realized how used you got to falling asleep beside him

Several hours pass by and you can only barely fall asleep, tossing and turning while flipping the blankets around

You try so hard to fall asleep, knowing that Kiyoshi would be sad to see you still awake. He was always trying to make sure you were taking care of yourself

It's 4:00am and you're finally drifting off to sleep from the exhaustion when you hear the front door creak open

You swiftly try to make it look like you had been sleeping for hours, messing up our hair a bit and finding a comfortable position

Kiyoshi tiptoes into your guys' room, sighing in relief to see that you're "asleep"

He tries his best to remain quiet while he changes out of his clothes and slowly crawls into bed with you

Unfortunately he slips up and lands heavily on the bed, frightening you slightly as you let out a small welp

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Oh my god baby, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to wake you!"

You giggled softly seeing your boyfriend so apologetic and panicky, but he also looks just as exhausted as you do

As you compose yourself, he gives you a good look and raises one of his eyebrows

"You weren't asleep, were you?" You stop in your tracks and give him a guilty look, he sighs

"Honey, I thought I told you not to-"

You cut him off. "I know, I know... it's just that- it feels weird without you here..."

He smiles as you try to cover your embarrassed face

He gently tackles you, making a funny growling noise as he nuzzles his face into your neck. He knows it's your ticklish spot

You laugh and giggle as your try to stop your big goofy boyfriend

He finally stops as he's laying on top of you, just barely stopping you from breathing

You wrap your arms around his neck and give him a soft kiss

"Mmm, I love you, Teppei..." you quietly whisper after kissing him

He replies, "I love you more."

a/n cont'd: I really tried to make this short but 😅 it's kinda long but at least it's just 1 part hahahah I hope you enjoyed!!! So much fluff hehe and also! Kiyoshi's grandmother is okaayyy in case you were wondering hehe

[hyuckssunchip]

Blooming Pt. 1

Pairings: Jisung x Reader, ft. nct dream, lucas (honorary member of dream)

Words: 7.5K

Warnings: Language (there is almost always language in my writings), angst, fluff

Synopsis:

Love isn’t as easy as it seems, Park Jisung is an advocate of that. A blooming relationship that has prematurely ceased can be re-sparked years later, or can it? Will Jisung be able to overcome his fears in order to succeed in what he deems love?

Part 1 | Part 2 

Freshman Yr.

Hey Jisung,

I know that this is kinda random and I only have the guts to do this now because I probably won’t see you again but here goes. I think you are a really sweet and cool guy and I wish I had gotten to know you better, probably because I had a big crush on you... I just thought I would send this to you because I know it’s nice to know and it’s probably a little bit of a confidence booster. (I also kinda wanted to get this off my chest). Sorry for the essay and you don’t have to respond to this if it’s awkward … I hope you stay safe especially with what’s going on right now 

You held your breath, panicking at the loading sign on your phone. Welp, it was too late now.

You were pacing back and forth in your living room, nail very much in your mouth as you bit them anxiously.

“I just sent it.” You breathed out, “Oh my god, I just sent it.” At this point you were nearly in tears you were so nervous.

“That’s good. It’s like one a.m. though, so don’t be too worried if he doesn’t answer right away.” You nodded into the receiver, and although your best friend couldn’t see you, she still understood your silence.

You had called your best friend earlier to ask for her advice about the guy you had told her about months ago. It was the last quarter of school for this year and you finally had the courage to confess to him. 

Your best friend Megan was a little bit more experienced than you and she laughed when you had told her you wrote drafts, and you promptly sent it to her.

“He’s not writing back.” You told her, staring intently at the screen, refreshing it every few seconds as if that would make him answer. 

“Well of course not, you literally sent it ten seconds ago. Besides I told you, it’s late, he might just reply in the morning.” She sighed at your panicked state.

“Oh my god! He read it.” You bit your lip, staring at the numbers below your text.

“Oh.” She giggled, “Cute, he has read receipts on like you.” 

You barely had time to comprehend what she had said when you gasped out, “Oh my god. He’s typing, he’s typing! There’s bubbles.”

She laughed, “Wow, that was fast.”

You weren’t exactly paying attention to her, focused very much on the bubbles that were still there. Then suddenly they stopped.

“They stopped.” You felt the need to relay everything to her.

“That’s fine, he’s probably just reading over it.” You nodded, trying to convince yourself. But you couldn’t because nothing ever came. It was almost 25 minutes later that you heard the familiar ding of your phone.

Hey Y/N! thanks for letting me know, it really is not easy but rip coronavirus really is kinda messing with everything. i think you’re a really nice person and if circumstances would have allowed, i would have wanted to get to know you more too. everything is kinda hectic rn and i wish you the besttt and stay safe too!!

Immediately you called Megan again. “It doesn’t look good…Listen to what he said.” You read the text, heart dropping with every word you read.

“What are you talking about? That’s a good thing. Y/N he said he wants to get to know you better too. That’s sweet. I think he’s just keeping it open though, cause there’s not much you guys can do anyways.”

“Yeah.” You tried to not let out how dejected you were, but it was clear to her.

“Hey don’t worry about it. If he doesn’t like you then he’s not worth worrying over.”

“Right.” You pouted despite what she said making sense. “Look I’ll call you later, I’ve got to go now.”

“Okay, Y/N, don’t stress too much about it, okay?”

You hummed back, mumbling out your goodbyes.

The moment you hung up, you threw your phone on the bed, falling next to it. You sighed, trying not to overthink everything.

That’s why you confessed now, so that if you were so badly rejected, you wouldn’t have to see him again. Right?

You groaned, closing your eyes, hoping that sleep would make you feel better. Or perhaps you would wake up and find that this was all a dream. 

You woke up and of course with habit, the first thing you did was look over at your phone. You rubbed the sleep out of your eyes, grinning at the screen. 

You weren’t thrilled that it was in reality a dream, but on the other hand things had become very real very fast.

NOTIFICATION

Park Jisung            5:18 a.m.

oh, are you still going back to school next year?

You smiled at the text, heart immediately choosing to beat faster than you would’ve liked. With a glance at the clock you realized it was 8:07 a.m. and you couldn’t stop yourself from replying the moment you saw it.

yeah, i’m planning on living off campus tho… are you gonna live off campus too?

You panicked, staring at the screen, knowing damn well that he wasn’t about to reply at 8 in the morning. You had to restrain yourself from calling your best friend that very moment, you were in a happy mood and waking her up would not keep that.

The entire day you were buzzing, constantly checking your phone for new notifications. For the first time you understood what phantom texts felt like. Every couple of minutes you were sure that you felt a text, but alas it was your imagination. 

It wasn’t until 4 p.m. when a real text came through, ringing loud and clear. You had turned your ringer on and off, making sure that it was working just in case.

yup! I’ll be living by the shopping complex in downtown. how about you?

Restraint was not easy for you, and you replied after a few moments passed. Megan had constantly told you to let at least a few minutes pass, but you couldn’t help it. Besides, read receipts were not in your favor.

Conversation seemed to come really easy to you, and after an hour of texting non stop he said he had one more final to take.

You understood and immediately felt bad, realizing that you had taken up precious study time for him. You wished him good luck and spent the rest of the night relaying every detail to Megan over the phone.

Little did you know that that conversation would be the last for a long time.

3 months later

It was time for a break. And what better way was there than a small kickback with your best friends after midterms?

“I brought the good stuff.” You were startled, laying on the daybed of your other friend, Camille’s room. It was the perfect spot for a kickback. A couple hundred feet from the main house, and completely stocked with all that you needed. 

You sat up glancing at the armfuls of alcohol Megan had snagged, don’t ask how she got it.

You giggled at the thought, watching as Camille helped unload. “Let the games begin.”

“Truth or Dare Y/N?” You groaned, turning away from the both of them. 

“You know I hate this game.”

Megan didn’t let up. “Camille has a pond.” 

That was enough information for you. You took a glance out the window, noting that it was freezing outside. You were not taking a chance on her intentions. “Truth.”

“Boring.” She sang, but nevertheless had a question set. “Have you talked to that boy since the last time you called me about him?”

You grumbled to yourself, taking a shot and grimacing. “No.” 

“Why not?” Camille asked, reaching for the bottle still in your hand.

You rolled your eyes. “I don’t know, I’m too much of a coward to text him now. But he could text me first too you know. Especially cause I took the first jump. It’s probably because he doesn’t like me.”

You sighed, staring at the bottle again, tempted to take another shot.

“I’m sure that’s not the case.” You missed the look Megan shot Camille, already coming up with a new idea.

In the end you caved, choosing that perhaps another shot could bring you happiness. But it just burned your throat.

“Megan truth or dare?”

“Dare, duh.” You watched the proud look on her face.

“I dare you to… snapchat that dude that sent dick pics to fuck off.” Camille said, watching Megan’s face contort into delight.

“Hell yeah! It would be my pleasure.” She giggled, and you noticed that she was feeling the alcohol as well.

You felt the need to roll your eyes again.

“Done. And blocked.” She tossed her phone in the middle of the group with satisfaction.

“I don’t know why you just didn’t block him right after he sent them.” You commented, chewing on a gummy worm. 

She just shrugged, “I don’t know, it was kind of fun I guess. Anyways. Camille, truth or dare?”

“Truth.”

“Do you really only see Carson as a friend?” Camille sputtered at the question, spitting out a bit of juice.

“No, I see him as a brother. That’s disgusting, besides he’s dating Bailee.” She shook her head, working to clean up the mess.

“Doesn’t mean you can’t like him.” Megan muttered, before dropping it and turning back to you.

“Y/N truth or dare?”

“Truth.” You mumbled out, not really paying attention.

“Come on, do at least one dare. It’s not fun if you only answer truth.” She whined, pushing another cup of jungle juice towards you.

You hesitantly sniffed the cup before taking a sip. A moment of silence passed as they waited for you. You let out a deep sigh, “Fine, dare. What do you want?”

“I dare you to text him.”

You froze, you knew that’s what she was going to say, but you were so out of it that you let it slide.

“You know I can’t do that.” You answered, wide eyed.

“It’s a dare.” Megan nodded at the window, insinuating the punishment.

“No, I really can’t. I’ll give you my phone though, but I can’t do it.” You dug the phone out of your backpack and tossed it next to hers, which she grabbed immediately typing in your password that she had memorized.

“Deal. I’ll just start it, then you can keep the conversation going.” You waved her off, choosing to drown yourself in as much alcohol as you could in hopes of forgetting that this happened tomorrow morning.

“Done. I just sent hey, with like three y’s and a smiley face. Not the emoji though.” Your mouth dropped at her.

“That’s so not me though. You know I use emojis, and I don’t do the all, heyyyy thing. He’s gonna know.” She just shrugged, sliding the phone back to you.

You sighed, staring at the empty screen, the other two returning to the game.

But it was three minutes later when your phone dinged, a text from Jisung lighting up your screen.

“Is that him?” Camille asked, peeking over at the screen.

“Yeah. I don’t wanna read it though, you do it.” You pushed it away, pulling your knees into your chest.

“I got you.” Megan paused. “See. Guys like the hey thing. He did it back, I don’t know what you were talking about, he’s totally into you.”

You grinned, crawling forward to see for yourself. The phone dinged again seconds later.

“Ooh, that’s hot. I like it when a guy texts in multiple bubbles, it shows they just text you what they think. They’re not planning it out or anything.” Megan commented, already typing in a response for you.

You watched over her shoulder, glancing at Camille who was doing the same. 

“Is this good?” You just nodded back, sitting back on your heels to take a break.

“Oh, wow. That was fast. He texted back.” Although she sounded impressed, she frowned at the text.

“What? What is it?” You asked, panicking at her expression.

“Nothing. He’s just… dry. Was he always a dry texter?” She asked, handing the phone back to you.

“No? I don’t know, I didn’t think he was dry, we texted for like an hour straight that one time.” You mumbled, looking at the phone disappointed.

“Well he seems pretty dry to me. Maybe you should text him, maybe you were right, my texting was too different from yours.” You bit your lip and nodded, trying to come up with a response to him.

You didn’t know if it was because you were drunk, or that he could tell you were drunk, but while the conversation did get slightly better, he seemed dry to you as well. It was after twenty minutes of texting that you couldn’t keep the conversation any longer. You became frustrated at the dwindling conversation.

You had chosen to contact him again after three months of ghosting each other, and now he was making it difficult to carry a conversation. Maybe he really doesn’t like you. You felt your face heat up in embarrassment. Fine, you thought, you weren’t reaching out anymore. You didn’t want to be seen as pathetic, you could catch a hint. He just didn’t like you and was being nice. If he did actually like you, he could reach out to you.

This didn’t stop you from thinking about him for the month following the drunken incident. 

2 years later  Junior Yr.

“I swear if you’re late for this one too, I’m not setting you up on anymore blind dates!” You winced at the sound of your roommate cursing at you.

“I’m going!” You yelled back, slipping out the front door before she had a chance to attack you again. 

You managed to close door without hearing what ever else she had in store for you. 

Your keys jangled as you quickly tried to lock the bright red door, giving it one last tug of reassurance when you turned on your heel to find your car.

“Oof!” A body collided with yours, you were partially, well mostly at fault. 

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry. I should’ve paid more attention. It’s just, I was in a bit of a rush…” You trailed off, finally getting a good look at the other person’s face. “Jisung?”

He simply stared back with a blank look on his face, mouth hung slightly open. “Y/N?”

You hated how your heart quickened at the sound of your name from his lips. 

“I-I… wow…” You stuttered out, not quite able to act as natural as you had hoped. “Do you live here?”

“Uh… yeah, I live next door.” He pointed to your left, and when you followed his finger sure enough it was right next to your apartment. You missed the way that he looked you up and down, gulping at the sight of you in years. 

“Oh. Wow, what a coincidence, I guess.” You laughed out nervously, hands playing with your lanyard.

“Yeah.” He nodded back, not really making eye contact. Not that you were trying either.

“Well…”

“Yeah.”

There was an awkward silence between you two, and you cleared your throat to break some tension.

“I was actually on my way out, so… I’ve got to get going. But I’ll see you around.” You put on a fake smile that didn’t really reach your eyes, and shot him a wave before rushing off to your car. Once under the safety of your car, you sighed and tried to discreetly glance at the boy you hadn’t seen or thought of in years.

You shook your head, starting the ignition. It’s time to forget him, you told yourself, besides I’ve got a date waiting for me right now.

It wasn’t until Jisung was positive you could no longer see him, having driven off minutes ago, that he threw his head back and let out the deep breath he didn’t know he was holding. The blush he had been so desperately holding out finally came over his face, as he felt the heat burn his ears.

He had just begun to forget about you, from time to time, pausing over your conversation stream. Although it was torture, every once in a while he would read back all the texts, hating the way that they abruptly stopped. On occasion, mostly when he was drunk, but there were times when he was sober, he would even type out a text but fail to send it.

Jisung was never the outgoing type, he envied those who were. Those that could just strike up a conversation and carry on like it was second nature. But it was hard for Jisung. It took work and energy, and sometimes he didn’t have that. It was stressful and scary to Jisung.

It was a godsend when you reached out to him years ago, claiming so boldly your feelings for him. He wasn’t going to admit it, but then he had asked for his friends help in responding. It was Mark’s wishy-washy personality that had unbeknowingly sent your mind in circles that night.

It was Haechan’s straight-forward nature that had forced him to text you at 5 a.m. the next morning. He was tired of hearing about Jisung’s concerns as to why you didn’t reply earlier, complaining that if he was that worried just text her.

So he did.

And it worked. 

It worked so well. That hour he had spent texting you had butterflies dancing in his belly. He had never felt happier or more connected than at that moment. It wasn’t until his alarm rang, notifying him that he had five minutes until his last final did he stop smiling.

He was more than disappointed when nothing came out of the conversation. Of course he knew that it wasn’t just your fault, after all he had a phone, he could text you too.

And he tried, he really did. Multiple times. But every text he drafted was soon deleted and so the conversation ran dry. That was until three months later, May 16th.

But you always seemed to catch him at a bad time. It was Saturday, but his professor had given him an extension on his paper and it was due at midnight.

Your first text came at 10:58 p.m. 

It took all he had not to answer the text, and eventually he did cave. But as much as he wanted to focus on you he couldn’t, after all he had begged his professor to extend his deadline, he had to finish this. 

Maybe that’s why this time you didn’t seem so responsive. Maybe that’s why this time it only took twenty minutes for the conversation to end.

Maybe that’s why, after it took him forty-five minutes to respond to your last text, you left him on read.

“What’s with the long face dude?” His best friend, and housemate asked, slapping his back passive-aggressively.

“Nothing. And I don’t have a long face.” He pushed back, shoving him softly out of the way.

“Who was that? At the front door?” Jaemin asked, shoving a cookie into his mouth. 

“No one, just someone I knew.” Jisung muttered back, reaching out to steal one from the jar.

“Just someone I knew.” Chenle mocked back, leaning against the wall of the kitchen. “Right. We all could see the look on your face, that’s not just someone you knew.”

Jisung shrugged. “She was a girl I was texting.” He tried to pull it off nonchalantly, but it was evident to his housemates that it wasn’t nothing.

“Shit. Was that that girl you were talking to freshman year? The one you were head over heels for?” Jeno asked, grabbing a seat on a barstool, his laptop tightly in his grip. It was obvious he was working on something.

“Y/N?”Jaemin asked around the crumbs that filled his mouth.

“Ew. Gross. Have some manners dude.” Renjun said shoving Jaemin off the counter where he was perched, “And how many times do I have to tell you not to sit on the counter, that’s not sanitary. We have chairs for a reason.”

Jaemin made a face, but still moved to take a seat next to Jeno.

“Yeah.” Jisung frowned at the rest of the guys. “Did I make it that obvious?”

Renjun laughed, pulling a plate out of the cabinet. “You just talked about her everyday for a month. But no, not that obvious.”

“You should talk to her again, does she live close by?” Jeno asked, typing away at his computer.

“Yeah, she’s… uh… she’s our neighbor.” He rushed the last bit out, knowing that they would take advantage of the situation.

“Ooh! Our Jisung’s little girlfriend lives next door guys!” Chenle cackled out, “Guys, this is fate. And it’s our job to help out.”

Jisung scowled at him, knowing that Chenle meant what he said, “No. Guys leave her alone. Don’t make things weird. We’re going to be neighbors for the rest of the year, I don’t want to have to avoid her.”

“Avoid who?” 

“Haechan, how many times did I tell you to give me that key back?” Renjun asked, narrowing his eyes at the boy.

“Too many.” Haechan shrugged, letting Mark close the door behind him. “You can have this one back though, I’ve got two more copies at my apartment.”

Renjun threw his hands in the air, “I give up.” He picked up his plate of leftovers, opting to sit at the bar next to Jaemin.

“Who are we avoiding though?” Mark asked, settling against the wall next to Chenle.

“Y/N.” Chenle said, giving Mark a knowing grin.

“Y/N? Wait isn’t that...?” Mark furrowed his eyebrows, sporting his signature confused face.

“Uh-huh.” 

“Why are we avoiding her?” He asked, turning to Jisung, who had been awfully quiet.

“We’re not.” Jeno spoke up, finally shutting his laptop. “We just found out she’s our neighbor and Jisung doesn’t want us to do anything about it, cause he doesn’t want to avoid her.”

Haechan grinned, pulling out a glass and filling it up with water from the fridge. “So you still like her?”

“No.” There was an empty silence. “Yes.” 

Jisung sighed at the commotion his confession caused. 

“Well, don’t you think it’s our duty, as your friend, to help you out? After all, I feel like I am very invested in this budding relationship. I did help send the text that set things in motion.” Haechan boasted animatedly, accidently spilling some of his water, which he wiped up with this sock.

“No. I don’t think that it’s your duty. And please stay out of it?” He all but begged the rest of the boys. Much to his dismay, none of them looked like they were swayed. 

Jaemin clapped his hands together standing up, “Okay, how about some neighborly cookies? Everyone likes cookies.” 

Jeno rolled his eyes with a smile, but stood up anyways. “Sure I’m down, but no more of those peanut butter ones, those are shitty. Can’t we just do chocolate chip?”

Jaemin frowned, digging through the pantry cabinet. “You’re lucky we’re out of those. Chocolate chip it is.”

Haechan strolled towards Jisung, wrapping an arm around his shoulder, “How about we get drafting then?” He snorted, “I think a nice love letter should do it.”

Jisung shoved him away with more force than necessary, “Get off me. And no. Stop it with the love letter thing, I was drunk and sad okay?”

Mark butted in before the two of them would really start fighting, “Actually I don’t think that’s a bad idea. I think she’d like that, like, slip it in with the cookies or something. Just say you’d like to see her again, and hang out.”

Renjun stood up, placing his dishes in the sink, “Dude this is why Jisung sent mixed signals in the first place, ‘i’d like to see you again’, ‘let’s hang out’. Can you get any more confusing than that?”

Mark frowned and cocked his head, opening his mouth to retort, but Haechan beat him to it.  “Then what would you say Renjun? ‘Oh how beautiful your eyes compare to a midsummer’s eve. May I court you this evening?’”

Renjun glared at him. “You’re not funny. And no. I was going to say, just tell her it was a missed opportunity. That you’d like to take her out on a date now that you can.”

Jisung shook his head violently at the sound of that. “How am I supposed to do that? That’s way too straight forward, what if she says no?”

“Dude, she likes you. Remember? She sent you that text. And if her feelings aren’t there anymore then… well… I don’t know. But the chances are low.” Jeno tried to reassure him, not doing a very good job of it.

Jisung sucked a breath in, ultimately letting out a hissing noise. 

“Trust me on this one Jisung. I make a mean cookie, we’ll just head over there later today and rekindle whatever you two have.” Jaemin cooed at the boy with a big smile.

“Right. Like I can trust all of you.” He muttered to himself, choosing to escape to the confines of his room.

“So… how was it?” Your roommate asked expectantly, a far change from the way she was speaking to you earlier.

You shrugged, “I dunno, he was nice I guess.” You shook your head. “I don’t know why you guys are all pushy on this stuff. Like I get it, but it’s weird trying to date someone that I’ve just met you know?”

Your roommate Alex just shook her head, waving you off. “Whatever, so did you like him or not? Is there gonna be a second date?”

You laughed at her, she was way too invested in your non-existent love life. “I don’t know, I think so. He was sweet and stuff, but like I said it’s weird.”

“Well, that’s the furthest you’ve gotten so far.” You sent her a glare. “I’m just saying. You always either end up leaving the date, or never seeing them again.”

“Shut up, I don’t-”

You were cut off by the sound of the doorbell ringing. Alex and you exchanged glances, you weren’t expecting anybody.

She stood up, grabbing the bat next to the door, that your mother insisted you bring, ‘just in case’.

You huffed, moving past her, “You know, you could just look through the peephole.” You leaned forward squinting into the door, only to find a group of boys that seemed your age.

“Who is it?”

You pulled back, tilting your head, “I don’t know, just a group of guys.”

You unlocked the door, peeking out through the crack slightly, and you were greeted very enthusiastically by the boy in front.

“Hi!” He grinned, showing off a perfect set of pearly whites. He was waving very aggressively with his free hand, the other seemed to be holding a plate of cookies. “I’m Jaemin! We’re neighbors.”

After his quick introduction he shoved the plate towards you, never letting the smile leave his face.

“Uh… hi?” You weren’t quite sure what to say. 

Luckily Alex did, “Hi, I’m Alex and this is Y/N. That’s so sweet of you.” She smiled back, taking the plate from you. “Do you guys want to come in? We can crack them open right now.”

You stepped back, watching the trail of six- no seven guys just stroll into your apartment. 

“What the hell?” You muttered to yourself, closing the door softly behind the last boy.

“Hi Y/N.”

You looked up to see Jisung again, and you took a slight step back, startled at the sight.

“Jisung. Oh.” You barely let out.

“Sorry, we didn’t mean to overstep or anything. The guys just wanted to meet you… all. They wanted to meet all of you… cause you’re our neighbors, and all…”

You blushed realizing that he had heard you comment, completely ignoring the way that Jisung was stumbling all over his words.

Haechan took no time in introducing himself, and taking the honor of introducing everyone else as well.

“I’m Haechan, this is Mark, Jeno, Chenle, and Renjun. You already know Jaemin, and I’m aware that you already know Jisung.” He grinned proudly after gesturing to each of the respective boys.

“Jisung?” Alex asked, eyebrows raised. You hadn’t told her about him. For one, it never came up, and secondly, it’s not like it was anything important now. That was years ago, you didn’t feel the need to inform her of every detail of your life, like him.

Haechan cocked his head, “Yeah. You didn’t know they knew each other?”

You furrowed your brows at him. “And how do you know that?”

Jisung shyly raised his hand next to you, embarrassed that he was outed for spilling the details to his friends. “Sorry, that would be my fault.”

You turned slightly, mouth dropping at his face, “Oh. I didn’t mean it like that. I..I- That came out wrong. I’m not mad or anything, I was just shocked.”

You bit your lip feeling guilty about the way he responded.

“Anyways.” Jaemin interrupted the awkward silence. “We just wanted to say hi and stop by. Maybe we can all hang out and stuff and be neighborly.”

He grinned, looking around at the group.

“Right.” You nodded slowly, “Thanks for the cookies, and it was nice meeting you all.” There was a forced smile on your face, but none of the boys seemed to notice or care.

Eventually the boys filtered out one by one, and you closed the door, sighing against it.

“They were nice.” Alex said, taking a bite in a cookie. “Oooh, and these are hella good.”

“Yeah.” You mumbled, moving to sit on the couch.

“Why do you look like that? You don’t like them?” She asked, grabbing a glass for milk. “You and Jisung already know each other though. By the way, how do you know him?”

You rubbed your hand over his face. “It’s a long story.”

“Well, I have the rest of the day.” She sang back, taking a seat on the cushion next to you.

And so, now that Jisung was back in your life, you were left no choice to fill her in.

“Damn! That’s awkward as hell.” Her eyes were widened to the max.

“Yeah, I know. But I didn’t want them to feel super weird, cause you know, neighbors right? I just can’t believe my luck though.” You sighed leaning back, slouching down.

“Yeah, but do you like him though?” She asked, to which you whipped your head towards her.

“What?”

“Do you like him? I mean this could be really good for you. Actually it’s a win-win for everyone here. I can stop forcing you on blind dates and you can date the boy you’ve been pining after for years.” She shrugged like it was obvious.

“Okay, I have not been pining after him for years, and we’re not going to date just because I liked him two years ago. I mean, didn’t you get it from what I told you? He doesn’t like me.” You tried to shut her down.

“What are you talking about? Did you see him today? He couldn’t tear his eyes away from you.” You frowned at her observation. You didn’t remember it the way she did, every time you looked at him, which wasn’t that often, he was desperately trying to avoid eye contact.

“No he wasn’t.” You nevertheless blushed at the idea. 

“Ooh, you’re blushing! Someone has a cru-ush!” She raised her voice, and you slapper her.

“Shut up, they’re right next door remember? They’re our neighbors.” She simply winked at you. 

“And no I don’t.” You added as an afterthought.

The small restaurant was bustling with energy, something the boys loved.

“Dude, why haven’t we been here before?” Mark asked, eyes wide with excitement, smacking Haechan’s shoulder unnecessarily hard.

Haechan tried to move away from him, but to no avail.

“I told you, Jeno always said this place was pricey.” He muttered back, giving in when he realised Mark’s habit wasn’t disappearing anytime soon.

“We shouldn’t have trusted Jeno’s cheap ass.” Renjun snorted, “The prices here look decent.”

“Hey!” Jeno tried to defend himself. “I’m a college student, everything is expensive.”

Jaemin threw an arm over Jeno’s shoulder, trying to comfort him. “Let’s just grab a booth.”

As they trudged down the busy pathway, Jeno spotted a familiar face.

“Hey isn’t that Y/N?” Jeno asked, elbowing Jisung in the side. But Jisung was already aware of your presence, he had been the moment they stepped into the restaurant.

“Don’t point.” Renjun slapped the boy’s hand down.

“I wasn’t-”

“Shut up.” 

“Wait… who’s that with her?” Jaemin asked the obvious, slurring his words at the end, as if just understanding the situation.

It seemed as if you were on a date, and Jisung’s heart dropped. It felt like his entire world came crashing down, like any and all hope he had in you went out the window.

Of course you would have a boyfriend, it’s been two years since you last talked, and it’s not like you were even an item. You texted for an hour. 

Jisung closed his eyes for a second, but the picture was still searing in his brain. Hell, he wasn’t even sure if he told you that he liked you.

“I guess we didn’t think about that. That she could have a boyfriend.” 

“Yeah, I mean it has been two years.” Mark nodded, agreeing with Jaemin.

“Guys, not helping.” Renjun said between gritted teeth.

Jisung bit his lip, silently running over the image of you. 

Is that your boyfriend? How long had you been dating? Was it after he ran into you? If he asked you out then, would that be him? 

He had so many questions he wanted answered, but he would never get them.

Chenle pulled his arm roughly, trying to drag him into the booth. “Jisung you’re staring. Try not to make it so obvious.” He teased.

Jisung quickly averted his eyes, choosing to sit where he could watch you from his seat. His stomach felt queasy, maybe that was a bad idea. Suddenly he lost his appetite at the sight of you smiling so widely at something funny your date had said.

Mark glanced up from his menu, staring at Jisung who was now downing his water. He elbowed Haechan who was concentrating on the menu. 

“Dude, say something.” He hissed at him, trying to get Haechan to lift the mood. But for some reason, today of all days, he wasn’t having it.

Haechan just shrugged, shaking his head, “What do you want me to do?” Then he went back to his menu.

Mark bit his lip nervously, feeling uncomfortable at the sight of Jisung so anxious. He shot a look at Renjun who understood and at least tried to spark up conversation.

“So Jeno, who’d you come here with again?” He asked, an attempt at diverting attention from the elephant in the room.

“Uhh… some girl…” Jeno mumbled back, blushing furiously.

“Jeno’s blushing!” Chenle shouted out, his loud voice carrying across the restaurant. 

This had Jisung cracking a smile. 

“Dude, not so loud.” Jeno groaned out, sinking into his seat. He turned to glare at Renjun, “Did you have to bring that up?”

Renjun shrugged, but sent a small apologetic smile. ‘Sorry’ he mouthed at the embarrassed boy.

You had Chenle to thank for alerting you of the group’s presence. You pulled away from your conversation with Lucas and craned your head to get a glimpse of your neighbors.

“Do you know them?” Lucas asked, following your gaze.

“Oh, yeah, they’re my neighbors.” You said back, tearing your eyes from their booth.

“Yikes, they’re kind of loud.” He chuckled, “That must be rough on you.”

You gave him a smile, accompanied by your own giggle. “Lucas, in case you didn’t notice, you’re loud.”

He let out a fake gasp, holding his hand against his chest, “Me?”

You laughed, “Lucas, on our first date you thought we had so many complaints about the ‘loud dude in the booth’ that they asked us to leave.”

He frowned, “It’s not my fault my voice carries. And I have a very pleasant laugh, they should’ve been happy to hear it.” He pouted, “But we got ice cream to make up for it.”

You bit your lip, holding back your grin at the memory. “Yeah and it was freezing out.” You paused watching his expression, “But it’s never too cold for ice cream, besides, I wouldn’t have gotten your jacket out of it. And by the way, I’m keeping it. It’s soft.”

He smiled widely, immediately agreeing with you. “I’m just gonna use that excuse to see you again.”

You returned his sentiment, it wouldn’t be all that bad to meet Lucas again. You seemed to enjoy yourself every time you met.

“Oh. Jisung, hey.” You let out surprised.

“Hi.” He smiled at you shyly, staring back at you.

“Hi.” You blushed at the awkward tension between the two of you.

You turned and locked the door quietly before facing your neighbor again. “I was just heading out.”

“Right.” He mumbled, retreating back towards his apartment.

“I was going to the bookstore to pick up some things…” You trailed off, watching his expression, “If you’d like to come…?”

You immediately regretted your offer, ducking your head to hide your embarrassment. “You don’t have to, that was-”

“Sure.”

You froze, quickly snapping your head to meet his gaze.

“I uhh… have some things to take care of too.” He stumbled over his words to accept your offer.

“Oh, okay.” You smiled shyly at your feet, a strange feeling in your stomach turning.

You nodded in the direction of campus, trudging forward slowly at first to let him catch up. Soon enough the two of you were keeping pace.

A few minutes passed before Jisung cleared his throat, “So what are you getting from the bookstore?”

You nodded to yourself, “I have a textbook I ordered. It’s ridiculous isn’t it? How insanely overpriced it is, and it’s not like it’s even possible to pass the class without it. I mean I’m paying enough for college, now I have to pay on top of that.” You took a breath and chuckled nervously, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to rant on you.”

Jisung grinned at the way you were so worked up, “No not at all. I totally agree. It’s a rip off, I mean why not just make it part of tuition, we’re paying enough as it is.”

You nodded, “Right? It’s not right to make it required, like I could totally pirate it online, but if the professors make our homework using the online site to turn it in, that’s not even an option.”

You sighed exasperated, and missed the look on Jisung’s face. He seemed to enjoy the way you raved on about something as simple as a textbook.

You paused at the sound of his laughter from beside you, and you turned to look at him with a smile, enjoying the sound. 

It was a fifteen minute walk to campus, and another five to the bookstore. And before you knew it the building was looming over your heads.

Jisung jogged a few paces before you, reaching for the door. You paused, watching as he stood aside, holding the door for you.

You blushed, perhaps, as they say, chivalry isn’t dead. “Thank you.”

You reached your hand up, pressing your cold fingers against your burning cheeks, an attempt to chase away the color.

“So which class is it for?” He asked, looking around, and thankfully not noticing your heated face.

“Economics.” You replied, lifting your head in search of your department.

The two of you wandered around for a few more moments, not searching particularly hard for the book in question.

“Look, introduction to Korean Pop Music.” He laughed, pointing at the textbook. “Can you believe there’s a whole course on that?”

You smiled, looking. “I dunno, it seems interesting. Besides, there’s classes for classical music, and pop music, why not K-pop?” 

He nodded back, giving you a glance.

“Here, economics.” You mumbled out, walking down the long corridor. You ran your fingers along the spines of all the books, stopping at the familiar title. “Jesus, 98 dollars.”

He frowned, sidling up next to you. 

Sighing you reluctantly pulled the book off the shelf. “Ready?”

Jisung looked at you under heavy brows.

“You’re going to get it?”

“It comes with the online version. I mean I have to get the online portion, might as well get the hardcopy for free with it.” You nodded towards the check out, stepping towards the staircase.

He followed in suit, stuffing his hands in his pocket. He ran into your back after you stopped abruptly, suddenly remembering something.

“Oh, didn’t you have to get a book?”

Jisung’s eyes widened, “Oh yeah.” At that moment he reached out and grabbed what seemed to be a random book from the closest table, but you chose to ignore it.

He raised the book, and gave you a smile.

Your eyebrows shot up, “Introduction to the female reproductive system?”

Jisung suddenly turned very pale, as he tried to play it off. “Yeah, ummm… for my biology class.”

You grinned, nodding like you believed him. But you chose to continue up the stairs, unable to watch as his face contorted. While you weren’t looking he quickly flipped over the cover, gulping at the sight of the price.

“80 dollars?” But he shook it off, trudging after you.

“Anything else for you?” A boy around the same age as you was checking you out.

“Nope, that should be it.” You smiled, fumbling around with your purse to find your wallet.

“Economics huh? Are you a ManEcon major?” He asked, leaning towards you slightly, ignoring Jisung who had arrived nearby.

You looked up from your bag, “Huh? Oh, yeah ManEcon. You?”

Your hand was still deep in your back when he replied. “Same, I’m a Junior, I managed to switch in last year.”

“Really?” You raised your eyebrows, “Was it difficult?”

“No, I mean I knew I wanted to switch early on, so I already was taking the classes I needed.”

You nodded back, “That makes sense. Have you taken macro yet? I’m signed up this quarter but I’m a little nervous.”

“I had Zeggert last quarter, she was pretty good.” He smiled, nodding, “She likes it when people go into office hours, really tries to help.”

You cracked a smile of your own, “No way, I have Zeggert. Thank goodness, I’m definitely going to use her office hours a lot then.”

You took a moment to successfully dig out your wallet, sliding him your card.

“That’s good, well, I’m here basically all the time. So if you ever need help, you know where to find me.” He winked at you, returning the card.

You murmured out a quick thanks, and stepped aside to let Jisung pay for his books.

Jisung didn’t take long, and you noticed that he was particularly cold with the cashier, who in turn wasn’t nearly as friendly with him as he was with you.

“He was kind of flirting with you.” Jisung mumbled out, picking at the brand new spine of his unneeded textbook.

You glanced at him, stepping through the door that he once again held open, not knowing how to respond to him.

“Don’t you have a boyfriend?” He asked under his breath as you caught up beside him.

“What?” You shot him a puzzled look.

Jisung raised his eyebrows, “Your boy...friend?” He slowed his words, questioning them himself.

“I don’t have a boyfriend.” You let out, not pausing in your steps. The same couldn’t be said for Jisung.

He jogged slightly to catch up. “But your date…?”

“My date?” You asked, now choosing to stop and face him. You shook your head, confused, “What date?”

“The- the guy you were with at the restaurant Wednesday.” He studied the sidewalk intently, flustered at his confession.

“You saw me?” You leaned down slightly, trying to catch his gaze.

“I-uh… I mean I didn’t mean to watch you. But we just happened to go to that restaurant.” He mumbled, choosing to walk forward and escape the situation, but you quickly caught up.

“He’s not my boyfriend, I mean, we were on a date, but he’s not my boyfriend.” You felt the need to defend yourself, or at least clear things up. Although you didn’t know why you felt the need.

“Oh. A date.” He mumbled. He was overjoyed at the fact that you weren’t dating anyone, but couldn’t help but be disappointed at the mention of a date. From what he remembered, you seemed to be enjoying yourself then.

The silence grew until you reached your doorstep. It had taken Jisung fifteen minutes to decide, fifteen minutes to pluck up the courage he needed.

“How about a date with me?” Although he refused to meet your eyes, you felt the genuinity.

Part 2

© Copyright 2021. hyuckssunchip. All rights reserved.

[chaos-caffeinated]

Miracle of a Chance Ch. 9 (Part 1 of 2)

Taglist: @ultimatebottom69 @bitxhinthecomments @natiebug1

This is the longest chapter of yet, so there will be two parts. One posted today, the other tomorrow!

Enjoy!

There's a little extra in there, I didn't write alcina x reader for nothing.

Giggles erupted into the hallway in a teasing manner, and it came from none other of the three witches themselves: Bela, Cassandra, and Daniela. It would stop for a couple minutes and resume once again. Inside a room, the library, was 7-year-old Ezekiel with his mother, Lady Dimitrescu.

Currently in his home studies, Ezekiel's cheeks were puffed as he pouts at his mother's direction, clearly showing his frustration.

"Once you finish with your assignment you can play with your sisters." She stated calmly, reading over his answers. She skimmed through the answers with her glasses on.

"But I did do my work." He raised his papers, "See?" The page was filled of his handwriting. For the past hour, he had been practicing his handwriting, his natural writing and his calligraphy; it needed work, and that is why he was practicing.

Alcina wanted all her children educated, but it was unnecessary for her girls to study what he was because of his human stance. She wanted him prepared for the world, for he would represent what men should be: courteous, respectful, self-worthy, yet still carrying the assertiveness and confidence without humiliating anybody.

She looked up to admit he did finished, "What about the rest?" She asked, opening her palm, only to receive the paper.

"Mom...you said if I had finished my assignment, and I did." Ezekiel confidently spoke, smiling small as he made a point. She was surprised that he listened so well, but she was also slightly upset that now she had to let him go, "Well, Mr. Dimitrescu, You are correct-"

Ezekiel beamed at her reaction, "So I can go?" He asked, almost bouncing in his chair, beginning to pack up.

"Wait a minute, your homework."

Ezekiel slumped in his chair, and Alcina raised an eyebrow which caused him to straighten up in his chair.

Then she placed her hand over the other, "You'll read 5 paragraphs of your favorite book and recite it to me in French, in addition, you'll also practice more of some cursive words to get better at it. That's it for today, you've done well." She praised which lit up his facial features with pride.

"Thank you, Mom!" He cleaned up his desk before running out to the hallway to meet with his sisters.

Alcina smirked softly as she continued grading his papers, distracting her for awhile before going to her bedroom today.

~

Each of the girls' plan was to scare Ezekiel as he searched for them, already deciding to play hide-and-seek. They were ruthless when hiding from Ezekiel, but he would always scream then laugh at their attempt, it was music to their ears when not dealing with actual men, or maidens.

As Cassandra listened to his footsteps, she noticed the pattern of walking and searching, and running with confident of their whereabouts.

When laughter erupted and bounced on the walls, the footsteps stopped only for there to be a scrape.

"Cassandra!" He shouted with confidence laced with his voice, giggling afterwards, "I know that's you."

"It only counts when you find me, little brother!~" She replied arrogantly.

Ezekiel placed his finger on his chin as he glanced around the main living room. He scanned the area before noticing a shadow cast on the ceiling, "There you are! On the ceiling!" He called out. The mass of flies buzzed off from the ceiling and reached to the floor, nearing him only transformed to her human form, giggling, "So you found me first?" She grins, ruffling his hair only for Ezekiel to giggle and fixing it. His hair was in a ponytail with a bow on the back.

"Now you must help me find Bela!" He pointed at nothing in particular as he took charge in the moment.

"Lead the way, brethren." She picked him up and settled him on over her shoulders. Together they searched and searched, and he even looked on the ceiling. That was until they entered a room. Like every room, it was elegantly designed with the golden details, white walls. There were two wardrobes on each side, and both Cassandra and Ezekiel checked twice because "checking twice removes...it's just better to check twice." he would come up with, and the anti-climatic quote would make Daniela burst out laughing only for him to laugh with her.

Once they check the wardrobes, Ezekiel hummed in dissapointment, "They're not here..." he commented, crossing his arms and resting his finger on his chin before he raised an eyebrow at a brick on the floor. He pulled his hand away from his face slightly before making his way to the brick only to notice a broken side of the wall, "Hey, Cassie....what is...this?" His voice faltered as he felt an ominous vibe from inside. It was horribly lit with the terrible rotting wood compared to the golden accents in the castle. The oil lamp was still lit, and he even stepped back.

"OOh~ Bela and Daniela could be down there, mother is going to be very mad." She inspected the broken wall, "Hm..." She turned around to look at Ezekiel with a grin, "Shall we go?"

"Uhm...I don't....I don't want to..." Ezekiel wrapped his own arms around his shoulders as he stared at the room with a uncertain look.

"Oh come on, baby brother, you're going to let them win? We spent an hour looking for them and they could be here." Cassandra pitched in, "Come on, it'll be quick. We'll hop in, and out in no time-"

"You promise?" He asked, his hands trembling softly against his arms as he made eye contact with her piercing yellow eyes.

"Yes, yes, I do promise. Now shall we? Do you want to be behind me?" She started walking inside, "There's a ladder." she revelled, "Bela and Daniela made so much effort for you to look for them."

Hesitantly, Ezekiel followed. He watched and observed everything around him as he became more sensitive, getting goosebumps at any point. He watched Cassandra just become her swarm as she went to the bottom of the ladders and he turned around to get down. He was cautious about his movements as he tried not to get his clothes dirtied from the dust.

When he reached to the bottom, he followed Cassandra as he passed a pile of loose papers by the table and just watched her become the swarm again and into the cracks of the wall. He was confused as to how she knew her way, but he was disappointed that the wall was not a signal of dead end, a signal for him to turn back.

In the process of Ezekiel and Cassandra making their way to the cellar, Alcina was enjoying her meal from her favorite maid, the nanny that was taking care of her son when not playing with his sisters, and someone she secretly considered someone closer than a personal maid.

Her red, semi-glossy lips were pressed against your flesh as she sucked on the blood, making you grunt as you bit your thumb.

"You make a wonderful noise, dear, I made no mistake in trusting you." She complimented as she pulled way, her lips removing from you sounded that of a separated kiss, a kiss you desired for so long.

"Thank you, my lady." You sighed softly as you lay on the bed, sheets covering your torso and below.

She smirked and caressed your cheek, confidence surging as you leaned closer to her, "Who would have thought that because of your persistence, you would be here?"

You turn your face slightly to face her, to see her smile lines, to see her this close to notice the brush strokes, the eye shadow, and the beautiful pair of eyes you laid upon, "I had no participation other than following you, my lady."

She pressed her smile, and even then she got closer ever so slowly, "Well, my dear, I made a good choice. And, draga, it's Alcina to you only." before pulling you in a soft kiss. That moment, you felt light-headed, you felt your heart rate go up by the second and hoping never to forget what happened before you felt her whip away. The rush of air hitting your body like whiplash as you heard it. A scream, and not just any scream you became accustomed. Your eyes widen in fear and concern as you sat up.

Alcina was already up and getting her robe on, helping you with the gown. She wasn't worried about you two anymore, but Ezekiel and it showed.

You felt her hands shiver as you looked up at her, "Go, I'll follow you."

And she didn't hesitate to go.

~~~~

Oh no a cliffhanger?! Oh but you knew already, welp, until tomorrow! Ta-ta!~

[thelittleboyfromloveactually]

Two Shorten the Road

part 1

joel dawson x reader

warnings: cussing? idk, bad writing.....fluff, cuteness, monsters(is this a warning), mentions of death, SPOILERS

word count: 2154

prompt: when your best friend decides to leave your colony to go find the love of his life, you decide to join him on his journey even if you aren’t so happy about where this journey is going

Welp I did it, I took it into my own hands. I am writing a joel dawson series. Because we👏need 👏more👏joel👏fics👏 it’s basically the movie, almost the same script but obviously slightly different…ENJOY! <3

No one in my generation or later had a typical upbringing, I mean some of us did but then the world ended. This type of thing sounds straight out of some apocalyptic movie, but we basically live in one now. Agatha 616, an asteroid heading straight for earth, I know, so original. So we all came together and did what we do best, blow things up. Yup, we blew up teh asteroid, and humanity was saved! We thought. But here’s the thing about rockets, they are made of a bunch of chemical compounds which eventually rained back down on earth. Suddenly there were these Aileen creatures that mutated and started eating us. Ants, lizards, roaches, crocodiles, you name it. Our president was even killed by a giant moth. Ya….not so original now huh? We suddenly need tanks to kill ants, oh man I remember the good old days when a shoe would do just fine. Sometimes even the tanks didn’t work. Eventually the really big ones and our military took each other out and we lost 95% of the human population in a year! Those of us who survived hid, bunkers, caves, panic rooms, all around the world. So for the last seven years I’ve been hiding in an underground bunker. It’s really not as bad as it sounds, and it’s better than getting eaten alive. It’s a great group of people and we all love each other.

“Are you sure they’re asleep?”

“Who?”

“Y/N and joel!”

“Oh ya I’m sure”

“Joel? Y/n?”

“He’s asleep”

Actually we are both awake. Me and my best friend joel have kinda mastered faking being asleep. Our beds are right across from each other so we normally just lie there and make stupid faces at each other. We are the only two single people in our bunker. Nice huh? Joel is my best friend. I met him when I joined the colony. He’s the sweetest. It’s funny cause everyone thinks we should just have sex already because that’s literally all everyone else does. But we are way above that. Anyway, joel is in love with his girlfriend from before the colony, her name is Aimee. With one “I” and two “e”s. He loves to talk about her, he writes her letters. So in reality, I am the only one who is not in love in this bunker. I’ve never had a boyfriend, ever, even before the world ended.

We don’t really get any sleep. The moaning kinda keeps us awake. I got up and out of my bed and headed for the kitchen. I heard Joel’s bed creak and then his footsteps as he followed behind me. Another annoying thing about being down here is that to get to the kitchen from my room, you have to walk though other people’s bedrooms. Oh shit, they are busy, why would they leave their door open. Me and Joel stopped.

“Oh” joel and I said in unison

“Hey Y/N! Hey Joel!” Ava said

“Oh hey Ava” Joel said, we didn’t dare look over to our left.

“Y/N how’s it going?” Tim asked

“T-totally good tim, h-how are you doing” I asked

“Yeah, good” he responded

“I uh we couldn’t sleep” said Joel looking at the ceiling

“Ya we know the feeling” Ava said with a laugh

“Yeah probably not for the…..same reasons” joel said looking straight ahead

“Your guyses door was open, did you…did you know that?” I asked

“Yeah we know” they said

I shook my head and knitted my eyebrows together

“Okay” joel trailed off

Ever since Tim’s parents were eaten by a swarm of termites he and Ava have gotten really close, in every way.

“Okay, goodnight” joel said as we walked

Basically everyone is coupled up down here, a baby was born last winter! Welcome to the apocalypse kid. Ok if we ever get out of this, that would be an awesome story to tell your kids. “Oh ya I was born in an underground bunker doing a monster apocalypse” “yes exactly like World War Z but with bugs bigger than a 5 story building”. I mean come on.

So your probably wonder how the hell we get food, we’ll we have a cow. Gurdy. Gurdy is great. We also have a hunting party that brings back whatever they can from the surface. It’s gotten harder and harder, cause we ran out of bullets. And facing one of those things with a handmade weapon is just as hard as it sounds. It’s very very difficult. I go with them….sometimes. I still get scared. But I’ve been out quite a lot, especially compared to my man joel over here. I’ve been out maybe 30 times, he’s been out…maybe once, or not even. He’s the chef of the bunker. He makes super good Minestrone.

Me and joel like to hang out with Mavis. A robot. Yup. Not much for conversation, her batter is shot. Just like every other mavis I would imagine. When I’m not hunting we hang out with her. But sometimes I just go read. Reading and joel keep me sane. I mean sometimes joel drives me insane but I still love him. I have quite the collection of books too! I’ve got Emma by Jane Austen, a couple random ones that we found, all the hunger games and Harry Potter books, some mysteries that stopped being mysteries after a while, and then of course some smutty romance books for personal entertainment.

Joel likes to say that his thing is target practice. He has never hit the target but ya know, gotta entertain yourself. I think his thing is drawing though, he has this book that he draws in from Aimee. It’s really cool actually. He’s really good.

I sat watching Joel as he tried to hit the target, laughing a little every time he missed. It was cute how hard he tried.

“Shut up” he said shaking his laugh away

I laughed again, but then suddenly the lights started flickering. You could hear screeches and creeks echoing through the bunker. Joel turned to look at me. Worry and determination in his eyes. We both scrambled out of the room and into the kitchen where everyone was preparing.

“Hustle, hustle people we’ve gotta move”

I turned to look at Joel but then realized that he wasn’t next to me. Where did he go? Worry flooded through me. Suddenly the clanking of our weapon started behind me.

“Hey guys!” Joel said as he rammed into the railing, I shook my head. “Guys! I’ve got the weapons” he smiled at me

A few people walked over to him taking them out of his hands

“Stay” said Tim

“W-what?” Joel asked looking around in confusion

Everyone was talking and barking orders “grab what you need and let’s go! Y/N you coming?”

My eyes shot open “yes! Yup!” I jumped up and grabbed the bow and arrow from Joel.

“W-what's happening?” He asked innocently “what’s going on?”

“There’s a breach” said Tim

“What do you mean? Like inside the bunker breach?!” He asked

“Yes joel! Now come on!” I told him, patting him on the pack as I followed the others

He followed me and watched the plan get arranged

“Anna, Y/N and I will engage. Anderson and Tom plank him”

“Plank him, ya ok where do you guys need me? You want me to uh come through the rear or..?” Joel asked eagerly

“I don’t think your going to pass this joel” I told him

“Pass what? You guys need help, let me help” said clutching his crossbow

“You gonna make me say it?” said Sam

“Say what?!” God he was so adorably clueless

“You can’t handle it joel, your shook” said Sam, we all began getting into positions

“Ya ok, yes so you guys don’t get scared..ever?” He asked still getting ready to fight

“We get scared, we all get scared joel, but you get really scared” said Sam

“They are trying to make you feel bad joel” I said sweetly, trying to calm him down

“We love you joel”

“But your a liability”

“Ok why did that speech feel so rehearsed? And what about Y/N? She’s like…ya know?” He said bobbing his head

“Joel-“ suddenly the bunker shook and the lights flicked again

“Ok 30 meters out! Let’s move!” And we were off

Leaving joel and some others behind. You could hear the growling of whatever we were up against

I followed the others and listened carefully. I was freaking shaking. Don’t ask how I got sucked into becoming one the the hunters. Kinda just happened and I was just-

“OH SHIT!” I heard someone yell, it was too dark to see. Someone was gone, that thing took them. I couldn’t even see it. Oh fuck my life. Everyone began scattering, running away from the monster. I stopped running to take a breath, when I realized I was alone. Nicely done Y/N. The lights kept flickering. I heard something blow up in the distance.

“Conned? Conner?” I heard a whisper, one I knew all too well. Shit, joel. I ran toward the sound, and had no idea I was also running toward certain death. I stopped running. There it was, that thing. I’d never seen this before. I didn’t recognize it. I stayed silent, not moving at all. It slowly crawled over a shower curtain. Oh fuck. He was going toward joel! I quickly grabbed my bow and arrow and shot it. Right though the face. Next to its….eye I guess you could call it. Joel stood there, frozen.

I slowly walked over to him “Joel, hey are you ok?” I asked as I slipped my hand into his. He was trembling. Tears ran down his cheeks. He has a bad freezing problem, so I've been helping him work on it.

About an hour later I sat with Joel, still holding his hand as he stared out into space. We could hear everyone talking. How could this have happened?

“It ripped through steal”

“Anderson and I resealed the Breach point, nothings getting in that way again”

“But why did it happen?”

I tried to toon it out, and I hoped Joel did too.

“Joel, do you wanna talk about it?” I asked squeezing his hand, he looked so sad, which just crushed me

He shook his head

“Ok….” I nodded, I leaned into hug him but was interrupted by his voice

“How far away is Aimee's colony?” He asked

I pulled back, looking at him confused. The talking stopped and everyone look at him

“What?” Tim asked

“Aimee’s colony, how far away is it?” He repeated

“About 85 miles” he said as he furrowed his brows

“How long will it take to get there?”

“What do you mean joel?” I asked leaning closer to him

“Just humor me, how long?” He insisted

“7 days” said Tim

“Someone who’s armed and trained would hardly last 50miles, but you…joel” Ava said, I felt bad for him, he really didn’t deserve any of this

“Alright” Tim continued “now I need volunteers”

“I’m gonna go” joel said

No one said anything, they just stared

“It’s an impossible journey joel” said Tim, crossing his arms

Joel stood up, moving around my chair. “No im serious…I love you guys but there’s only one person in this world who ever truly made me happy and she’s only 85 miles away” he said strongly “I’m gonna go see her” I could see his mind was made up

God he was such a romantic, how could you not love this guy? Sure it hurts when your best friend tells you that you didn’t make him truly happy. Especially when you maybe sorta kinda have a crush on him.

He let out a breath “woah, that felt awesome” he said as he walked off to start packing

I stood there for a second processing and thinking, but then suddenly my mouth took over and well….

“I’m coming with you!” I said, he froze “I mean you can’t leave me here with these middle aged people, and your my best friend so” I shrugged

“I’ll come back for you I promise” he walked over to me “I can’t let you put yourself in even more danger” he said grabbing my arms

“I can’t let you put yourself in danger knowing that I could have helped protect you” I said, he stared blankly at me

I smiled “o-ohK…then I guess…” he trailed off

“Cool I’ll go pack” I skipped past him. Was I scared? Hell yes. But like I said, I needed to help joel and protect him in every way I can. And sure I wasn’t so happy that he was returning to his long lost love but if it made him happy then I would live. And anyway, two do shorten the road.

[frostsinth]

Burdened by the Stars - Pt. 5

Part 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 - MasterList - Art

Holy Shit, it’s an update! A real update! For an existing story! Not a new project, not some random side quest.

Hey! I’m not dead! Whooo!

Welp. I hope you guys enjoy this! I’ve started writing the next chapter already, so hopefully it won’t be another four months for an update. Thank you for your patience! Lots of love.

Requested tags: @lightning-butterfly

“Auntie Gana!” Lorette squealed excitedly, launching herself onto my back and wrapping her arms around my neck. “I found you!”

I jumped nearly a foot, then laughed to dispel my jitteriness. Nearly toppling over entirely as her brother Corwin gave a shout upon the discovery of us both and jumped right on top. Our combined hot breath billowing like a cloud around us.

The afternoon with my nieces and nephews had certainly been refreshing. Though the mountain air of the goblin castle gardens was cold (colder even than the usual winter temperatures at lower altitudes), with all the running around we were doing, I hardly noticed. The six of them had been ecstatic to be pulled from their lessons early for the day, and had nearly bounced off the walls. Much to the disdain of their tutor, who gave me a dark glower as I pried the youngest off their chalkboard. But as I was the goblin Princess, and technically an adult, they had no recompense against my decision to dismiss them for the day to take over supervision of my nieces and nephews.

“It’s your turn to find us, Auntie!” Corwin informed me as Izaak and the twins skipped over. Likely alerted by the sounds of my hiding spot being uncovered.

I nodded my agreement, tossing Lorette over my shoulder as I stood up. She squealed and kicked, laughing so hard she was breathless. Her red braids slapping about her face as she wriggled. I glanced up at the sky, feeling the edge of anxiousness at the pestering thoughts of what Erramun might be doing. It was a thought that had often interrupted my afternoon. Leaving me more than a little distant and distracted, to the point where even my youngest charges were starting to notice. Hopefully he was still asleep, or at least resting quietly. Though with the sun sinking ever lower, I wasn’t sure how much longer I could assure myself of that.

“Alright, one more round.” I told them, placing Lorette back on her feet. “Then I’ve got to get you all back inside to wash up before dinner.” 

I ignored the round of groans at my response. The twins, Yua and Hilal, each grabbed on to one of my legs and began to loudly proclaim I’d have to drag them inside if that’s what I wanted. Hilal even argued that she wasn’t hungry, and that dinner was going to be yucky anyway, so there was no point going in. Apparently Niko was currently on a healthy eating vendetta. Feeling that his family was far too indulgent in sweets and treats not indicative of a well-rounded diet for growing boys and girls. So he had taken a firm mindset and an iron grip on what was being cooked and served for their meals. A decision that I gathered was not sitting well with his offspring. Or his husband, evidently. I looked around four a moment as Lorette ducked under my elbow and tugged on it insistently.

“Where’s Viktor?” I asked Izaak, who was currently having a shoulder shoving match with Corwin, the closest to him in age with only a year between the two.

“Viktor?” Izaak took a step back, letting his brother topple to the ground at his feet as he turned his attention to me. Craning his neck back to look up at me with his soft, umber eyes. “He went to pick flowers I think.”

“Shut up, you ninny!” Cried Yua, jumping up from my leg and shoving her older (and much larger) brother to little effect. “He wanted to surprise Auntie Gana!”

Izaak gave the 6 year old a barely concealed scowl. “Well then he shouldn’t have taken so long.” The little prince squared his shoulders and tucked his hands behind his back. “He should have stayed with the rest of us, now it’s getting dark.”

“It is getting dark,” I agreed, reaching out to ruffle his messy blonde hair, “We should go find him.”

Izaak squealed in displeasure, pushing my hand away. “Auntie! Please don’t touch my hair! It took me forever to get it combed straight!”

Corwin, having scrambled back up, attempted to now launch himself at his sibling. Trying unsuccessfully to rangle Izaak to the ground. They may have been close in age, but Corwin was a full blooded goblin, leaving him smaller and lankier than his half-blooded older brother. Izaak was tall, even for a human child at his age, and while Corwin was by no means a runt, he would likely never quite manage to catch up. Still, he gave Izaak more than a little trouble, hanging off him as he was.

“Be careful not to get Crown Prince Izaak messy!” He mocked as he did, giving a sharp toothed smirk, “Papa is never messy, so Crown Prince Izaak can’t be messy either!”

“Get OFF, Cory!” Izaak howled back, beating a little fist into his brother’s back.

“Alright, that’s enough,” I told them, prying Corwin off and tucking him under one arm despite his wiggling and the fact that one twin was still latched to my leg, “Come on, we’ve got to find Viktor before it gets too dark.”

“He’ll get scared if it gets too dark,” Yua reminded the others busily.

“He can’t see in the dark like us,” Hilal finished, tugging on my skirts and offering me a traditional pointy toothed grin from her place still wrapped around my leg. 

I glanced at her, returning her smile, then at Yua, now standing over her sister to tug at my skirts. The pair weren’t actually twins; Niko and Grier had adopted both of the goblin girls at the same time as chubby infants, and they had fast become inseparable. Now they championed the title of ‘twins’, rarely going anywhere without each other and making it a point to finish each other’s sentences. And thoughts, at times. It helped some that they didn’t look particularly dissimilar, though Yua had copper brown hair while Hilal’s was nearly pitch black. Other than that, they were the same age and height, and tended to prefer the same clothes and hairstyles. I brushed a few wild strands of Hilal’s hair out of her face as I finally put a kicking and wriggling Corwin back on his feet.

“But Auntie Gana,” Whined Lorette, “If we spend all that time looking for Viktor, we can’t play one last round!”

I thought about that for a second, tapping my fingertips dramatically against my lips as goblins did and leaving the children giggling excitedly. I had long ago adopted it as my signal to show them I had something fun planned for them. I could see them all bouncing on their toes eagerly as they waited. Even Izaak, trying so hard to be stoic and proper as he thought a Prince should be, had a glimmer of light dancing in his wide eyes.

“Well then, we’ll just have to make a game of it.” I told them. “First one to find Viktor… Gets dessert after dinner.”

I didn’t have to say it twice to have 4 of the five children screeching with delight and bounding off through the gardens. Certainly they must be deprived of sweets for such an incentive to work. I almost laughed at that, and almost being able to picture the tiniest of scowls at the corner of Niko’s lips when he found out. Soon their bobbing heads had disappeared among the hedges and paths. Izaak looked like he wanted to join them, his body slightly angled as if to launch into a full sprint. But he stopped, hesitating and looking up at me.

“Are you ok, Auntie Gana?” He asked me quietly, shuffling in place.

I looked at him in surprise. “Of course, Izaak! Why?”

He shrugged, bringing his hands around to rub at the palm of one. “I just thought you seemed a little quiet today… Are you and papa fighting?”

I almost groaned. “Did your inunu put you up to this? Or Niko himself?” I asked knowingly. Eying my oldest nephew suspiciously. Wondering if he had been spying on me this entire time. And also wondering if i had given anything away.

He gave me a sheepish grin. “Both. Inunu promised I could have three isiok if I asked, and papa said I could stay up a whole hour late with him.”

I would have laughed, shaking my head and putting my hands on my hips. “Is that why you aren’t racing off with your brother and sisters to find Viktor?” I reasoned, and he nodded.

“I already get dessert, even if someone else finds him.” He told me, sounding pleased with himself. “Papa doesn’t know inunu already asked, and inunu doesn’t know papa asked!”

I did laugh then, reaching out and giving his shoulder a gentle squeeze as we turned to make our way off the grass and walk along the main garden path. Mindful of his hair per his request. It hadn’t appeared particularly neat, but I was sure the messy locks were quite uncooperative. And I knew how much he tried. He slipped in a little closer, matching my stride with his and squaring his little shoulders again. I smiled to myself. He looked so much like Niko when he did that. A tiny little green-skinned, blonde-haired Niko, I corrected myself with amusement, but Niko-esque for certain.

“Two birds with one stone,” I mused aloud, wrapping my arm about his shoulders, “Very clever of you, Your Highness.”

He couldn’t seem to help grinning again, looking down at his shiny boots. “Yeah, but I think it only works if I have something to tell them.”

I shook my head once more, kicking up a little gravel as we went. “Not at all! The promise from both of them was just for you to ask me right? They didn’t say you had to get an answer.” I grinned back at him. “Or that you couldn’t tell me they asked you to.”

He seemed to think about that for a second, then nodded. “Yeah, Auntie, you’re right!” He looked up at me again, tilting his head to the side. “So you don’t have to tell me… unless you want to, that is.”

I sighed a little. “Alright,  here’s what you can say. You tell Niko I said that he needs to stop treating me like a baby and pestering me all the time. And tell Grier I said you should get four isiok, because you are a very sweet and clever little Prince and you deserve all the extra dessert you want.”

Izaak chortled, nodding in bemusement. “Alright Auntie. I can do that.”

“And tell them Lorette gets dessert tonight too,” I proclaimed more loudly, as the rest of the gaggle returned, the half-goblin triumphantly holding a screeching Viktor over her shoulder, “As she is the best little brother wrangler of all time.”

That brought a round of giggles as Lorette passed her still kicking brother to me. Viktor stuck his tongue out at her, then quickly offered up a messy fistfull of half pulverized flowers to me.

“You’re not coming to dinner, Auntie?” Corwin asked, shoving Hilal out of the way to come and stand next to my leg.

“Not tonight.” I told him, reaching down to push his curly black hair out of his eyes after taking the flowers from Viktor with a pleasant thanks. “I’ve got… other stuff to do.”

“Lorette cheated!” Squealed Yua, stomping one foot angrily. 

“She’s bigger than us! We can’t carry Viktor like she can!” Hilal agreed, pouting.

“Not forever,” I assured her, “Soon, I think Viktor will be taller than all of you!” I hoisted him up into the air over my head in illustration, which had him giggling with delight. “Besides, the deal was whoever found Viktor got dessert, not who carried him back.” I turned to the twins, who looked at each other for a moment before turning back to me. “And who found Viktor?”

“Lorette.” They admitted begrudgingly.

“So, the dessert award stands as it is.” I declared, putting the youngest back down on his feet to hold his hand instead. Not that I felt particularly bad. I knew my brother’s sense of fairness was indomitable, and having granted one child such permissions, I had likely granted it to them all. “Now, let’s get you all inside and washed up before your fathers take away my dessert.”

That brought a fresh round of laughter, and the six royal children of the goblin kingdom darted eagerly around my legs and up and down the halls as we made our way back up to our quarters. I spared the tower a final glance before we ducked into the castle, wondering not for the first time just what I would find when I went back to my own rooms.

.....

I was able to hand off my nieces and nephews to their caretakers after helping them all get washed up and changed for dinner without running into either Niko or Grier. Which I took as a small blessing, as I kept nervously glancing out the window to try and gauge just how long I had left until the Kings might just decide to pop in. I knew it was unlikely; usually they met their brood in the dining room at the end of each day. But I didn’t put it past either of them to attempt to catch me unawares. Especially as I was sure they had already heard I had liberated their children from their studies early to play with them in the gardens. Little went on in the castle that the two didn’t know about.

That thought made me smirk to myself in accomplishment as I hesitated outside my own door, having seen the Princes and Princesses off down the stairs with their attendants before heading back down the hall. Certainly I could think of no one else who would have been able to smuggle an orc of all things into the castle undetected. I had even managed to get his mare into the stables with no one batting an eye at her blood splattered coat before I had picked up my nieces and nephews. I glanced about briefly to make sure I was alone once more before I slipped back into my rooms. My heart in my throat and my nerves jumping on end.

The sitting room was quiet and dark, and I closed the door and latched it behind me. My eyes strained in the dimness, with only the barest hints of light coming from under the door to the hall. Perhaps I should get my eyes charmed like Niko’s, I thought to myself as I fumbled for the candle by the entrance. Placing the bundle of pulverized flowers from Viktor on the little table there for a moment as I did.  It would certainly make living in a goblin castle half the year much easier. As the wick caught with a soft hiss, I heard the telltale creak of my bed in the other room.

Quickly I had to douse my nerves, straightening myself out with the reminder once more that these were my rooms. I was supposed to be here. Erramun was not. I felt another twitch of satisfaction at the corner of my mouth again, unable to resist feeling a little smug in that confidence. Even if he wanted to leave, he wouldn’t get anywhere without my help. It was a reassuring feeling to have the half-orc under my thumb. Though the reminder of my guest set my heart skipping again. Which I of course briskly ignored.

I used the light of the candle to find a vase amid my things, feeling each clutter and clank of my shuffling was louder than a thundering herd of cattle. Rather hoping the half-orc wasn’t sleeping. I had to move two small boxes and a stack of books out of my way. But I eventually found what I was looking for, and placed the small colorful vase on one end table. Gathering the messy bouquet up carefully from where I had left it by the door to set it into its new home. I ran my fingers over the pretty blooms, smiling to myself. I’d have to get them some water. But I should check on Erramun first.

However, it was suspicious how quiet everything was. I paused for a minute by the door to the bedroom, listening to see if I could hear anything beyond. I had assumed such a behemoth would be a snorer, though I guess that was rather small minded of me to think so. It was also, I realized, possibly silly of me to assume he would even be asleep. I had been gone for hours, perhaps he had woken, if he had slept at all. I pushed aside the fearful thoughts of what he had been doing this entire time if he had not been sleeping.

I hesitated with my hand over the handle. If he was asleep, would my entering wake him? And if he wasn’t… My face felt hot with the sudden reminder of a pair of dimples at the base of his spine. Not to mention the rest of that scene permanently burned into the backs of my eyelids. I glanced around the foyer once more, still trying to decide. Working to calm my suddenly racing pulse. Then chided myself with the reminder yet again that these were my rooms. If he was naked again, well then, I’d just have to scold him better this time. And… maybe I could get a better look. I scoffed silently, pushing away that thought as wholly undesirable and the heavy blush that accompanied it. Giving the handle a solid downward yank and shoving the old bedroom door open with my shoulder.

I had barely started to draw in a breath for a proper greeting when I released it suddenly in a loud shout instead, my body jerking forward with a sudden intruding force acting upon it. My hands went up defensively, the candle abandoned to gravity, as I reached for the sudden weight dropping on my shoulder.

Muscle memory took over then, and it was a blur as my hands found purchase. I shifted my weight, dropping my shoulder down and bending at the knees to use the larger form’s already moving momentum to my advantage as it went to grab me and send its weight forward. Then, a quick twist and a sweep of my foot had it flipping the rest of the way with a abrupt and heavy THUD that even managed to shake the room a little.

I blinked rapidly in the dark left behind by the now doused candle that had clattered to the floor, trying to make out whatever I had just laid low on the ground. My heart racing in my chest, my blood pounding in my ears. A muffled groan broke through the adrenaline, and I nearly scoffed in exasperation. Remembering that there weren’t actually a lot of possibilities.

“Erramun!” I snapped at the large half-orc currently splayed out on my bedroom floor at my feet. “What in the nine HELLS do you think you are doing??”

“Gana!” He said in surprise, tugging at his hand still in my grip. “It’s you!”

“Of course it’s me!! Who else would it be??”

“I thought you were someone else!”

“In my personal rooms, you big idiot??” I retorted, then looked down, realizing I had twisted his arm back with his elbow facing out and his shoulder turned in the way Niko had shown me. Leaving the half-orc completely at my mercy. I was sorely tempted to twist it a little further in my ire. “Who do you think would be just randomly coming in here other than me??”

The dark shadow at my feet gave a growl, and I gave a startled yelp as suddenly I found my own feet swept out from under me. I landed heavily on my back with a gasp, too surprised to react properly. A meaty hand on one shoulder, and the rest of a big orc pining me down with his body crouched over mine.

“I dunno. Could’ve been anyone.” He grumbled, and I saw the glint of his eyes in the dark. “This place is very odd.”

His dark hair spilled like water around us, and I had to take a few moments to calm my swirling thoughts as the smell of him filled my nose. Not to mention the heat of his body, with his big thigh on my left and the other between my own legs. One hand was firmly planted on my shoulder, half-pining me to the floor, the other held one of my hands flattened to the ground by the wrist. I wriggled for half a second beneath him, then stopped dead as I heard him snort.

“Not many can get the jump on an orc.” He noted, sounding heavily amused. I thought I could see the flash of his teeth. “But nobody can best them in actual combat even if they do.”

My temper flared at that, and I twisted sharply. Reaching up with my free hand to catch the back of his neck and burying one knee straight up. Catching his inner thigh and with a sharp upward jerk at the same time as I yanked hard with my hand. Toppling him off balance just enough to use my own weight to flip the tides once more. Using his greater weight and size to roll myself with him.

Another breath later, and Erramun was back on his back, and I glared down at him with a small but satisfied scowl etched into my brow.

“Must not apply to half orcs.” I replied smugly.

I couldn’t see him well at first in the low light of the moon filtering in from the balcony window, but at least now my eyes were finally adjusting properly. I could make out the edge of his jaw, the breadth of his shoulders in the cream colored tunic. The side of his face closer to the window was also mostly visible. His black hair caught the moonlight with dazzling strands of silver, and I was pretty sure I saw his pronounced brow raise up. Thought I saw even a bit of the white in his eyes as he widened them. I could distinctly see them blink very slowly after that, and saw his wide nose flair. In fact, I could feel his entire chest rise and fall as he drew in a deep breath.

It was then my brain decided it fit to recall that I was currently sitting directly on top of the half-orc. My knees barely reached the ground on either side of him, my skirts bunched up at my thighs, and my hand was still cupped around the back of his neck. I had managed to free my other hand from his grip, and had his wrist now pinned above his head. Which brought me leaning perilously close. My own wild hair cascaded down like a net around my shoulders, and I realized my face was not all that far from his.

It seemed he had realized this same fact a that exact moment as well. We stared at each other for a long, quiet breath. Frozen in place. I found myself wondering distractedly how well Erramun could see in the dark. Was I just a shape bathed in a silver outline as he was? Or could he see the way I hovered over him, with the collar of my dress dangling a few inches from his shirt, baring the top of my chest to him? Could he see the expression on my face? And if he could, was he any better at reading it than I was at the moment? Could he see the flush of my cheeks, and hear the race of my pulse at his proximity?

I abruptly and quickly pushed away from him. Shoving him so hard in my retreat that he gave another soft grunt as I stood. My face was burning hot, despite my better judgement, and my head swirled as I tried to compose myself once more.

“You’re an idiot.” I grumbled defensively, smoothing my hands down my skirts as I took a few steps away.

“You’re impressive.” He returned, his voice a bit breathy. I saw him sit up, propping his knees and leaning on his elbows over them. “You fight better than some orcs I’ve met.”

“I thought no one could best an orc.” I chided him, carefully making my way over to the bedside table to find a fresh candle. “What are you even doing out of bed? I thought you were supposed to be resting.”

It took only a short minute of fumbling to light the candle, and when I turned to face him once more, he was still sitting on the ground. Looking up at me with emerald green eyes and his long locks spilling over his shoulders. He grinned a little sheepishly, and I had to force my heart to beat again in its wake.

“Some people can best an orc.” He said, as if deciding on it in that moment, then chewed at his thick lip thoughtfully. “Some people can beat some orcs.” He amended, and those lips split back into a wry, crooked grin. “And I got tired of resting. I’ve been resting for hours.”

“So you decided to tackle someone instead?”

His grin grew by a few molars, and I eyed him warily. “It was fun. At least for a moment.” He winced, and his hand went to his injured side. “I think I may have torn it open again.”

“Serves you right.” I grumbled, walking around to light a few more candles around the room. “Perhaps you should just stay on the floor all night then. Seeing as you seem to like being there. At least I’d get my bed back.”

He chuckled, and I heard him give a soft huff as he pulled himself back to his feet. When I shot him a glance over my shoulder, he was using the bedpost to steady himself. I watched him blink a few times, then shake his head stubbornly. I scoffed with a click of my tongue, putting down the candle in my hand and bustling over to him.

“Let me see.” I ordered him, reaching for the edge of his shirt.

He grunted, but didn’t argue, pulling up the hem over his navel. Exposing the wrappings to my critical eye. There was a spotting bloom of pink at the center, and I ran my fingers lightly around the edge thoughtfully.

“Well, the good news is I don’t think you made it worse.” I commended him, unable to resist the urge to skim my fingers over his skin a little. Checking to see if it was hot with infection, I assured myself. “The bad news is you’re still an idiot.”

He laughed again, and I felt it in my fingers currently pressed against his flesh. I straightened slightly, reluctantly removing my hand and trying to ignore the fresh flush that rose to my own face. Perhaps I was the one coming down with an infection instead, I reasoned distractedly.

I almost jumped as his hand came around, catching mine as it retreated. My eyes jumped to his face, and he tilted his head to the side slightly as he peered down at me. Those thick lips of his twisted into a fresh smirk, one side higher than the other. I resisted the urge to quiver at the sight.

“Lucky then that I have you, Gana.” He mused. “You have brains enough for the both of us.”

“And brawn.” I quipped, which only had his grin growing. I shuffled in place, glancing down at our hands before carefully pulling mine back. “Still. No more tackling people in the dark, agreed? Damjan won’t be happy if I return his tunic with blood stains all over it.”

Erramun nodded, slowly pulling his borrowed shirt back down. “Who is Damjan?”

I hesitated only a brief moment, turning to walk over to sit at the edge of the bed. “He’s the General of the goblin forces. Retired, supposedly. But that’s his wardrobe you’re wearing.”

That had a small flash of surprise rolling across his features. “He is large for a goblin then. Or is he human?”

I shook my head, then gave him a small grin of my own. “He’s goblin. Half-goblin at least. And half-orc.”

“Orc?” He echoed, and I wasn’t sure if it was nervousness or excitement that laced his voice. His smile had quickly faded.

I nodded, considering him. “Yes. He grew up here though. I don’t know if he’s ever met another orc. Though I suppose he must have at some point.”

Erramun nodded as well, chewing on his lip as he stared at the ground. I could almost see the thoughts swirling behind his eyes. I couldn’t help but notice that he looked a little relieved. I leaned forward on my hands currently propped at the edge of the bed.

“You avoiding all orcs at the moment?” I poked, curious despite myself.

His gaze darted up to me, then he shrugged his big shoulders, coming around to the edge of the bed slowly. “Just most.”

I tried not to stiffen as he sat next to me, the mattress depressing almost to the frame with his added weight. “Any particular reason why?” I asked warily. “You aren’t on the run, are you?”

The soft chuckle in his chest rumbled like distant thunder, and I felt goosebumps skitter across my flesh at the sound. He glanced at me again, then down at the floor.

“I worry they might try to stop me. If they found out.”

I waited for him to go on, to explain that further. When I was answered with nothing but silence, I shifted in my seat. Debating only for a moment whether or not I cared enough to pry further. But the curiosity proved too much, and I even leaned a little closer to him.

“Found out about what?”

He glanced at me again, and I froze as his eyes ran over my face. Especially the way he seemed equally distracted for a moment as his gaze met mine. I wasn’t sure how much time passed before he finally spoke. But found myself releasing a breath I hadn’t known I was holding when he did.

“Let’s just say I’ve got something to prove to my family.” He mumbled, then his eyes finally dropped away and he shifted. “We should leave it at that. I don’t want you to think I’m stupid.”

His voice was strangely soft again. The way it had been when he had first mentioned the plight of his people at the border. With that same look I had seen a hundred times before on my brother’s faces. The weight of a thousand weights, I called it. I didn’t quite like his face in that shape. It made him seem older, more tired. It hurt me a little to see that look on him, when usually his eyes were filled with such vigor and bravado. I leaned a little closer, nudging his shoulder with mine until he looked up at me again.

“... I already think you’re stupid.” I assured him lightly, and my teasing tones had a smile flicking across his lips again. “But you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

He nodded, and I saw his eyes shift between mine for a moment. “Thank you, Gana… You have been very kind to me. And I have given you nothing but trouble.” He leaned a little closer, and my breath caught in my throat. “I would like to give you something else. To repay you.”

It took me far too long to respond with his breath splashing across my face. With his eyes locked in mind. Heat swelled in my chest, and my heart fluttered behind it. I swallowed slowly, trapped in those emerald eyes of his.

“... Oh yeah?” I fumbled my lips around the soft words. “What would you give?”

He paused a moment, and I felt the bed shift beneath us as he adjusted his weight. Somehow managing to shift even closer to me.

“What would you like? What can I give you, that would make you happy?”

I laughed shyly, glancing down. Away from those entrancing eyes. “I don’t want for much here.” I assured him, my heart thrumming in my ears.

“Surely there must be something you don’t have. Something you want?” He pressed, his voice still whisper soft.

My hands twitched, and I brought them together to cup in my lap. Thumbing at one as I stared down at them. So aware of his proximity I couldn’t seem to draw in a deep enough breath for fear of pulling it from his lungs.

“Freedom.” I admitted quietly. “... To go where I want. To see the world.”

“I can give you that.”

I scoffed, shaking my head. “No one can give me that.”

“But I can take you with me.” He pressed. “I can bring you back to my home. It is wild and untamed. That is a start at least.”

I glanced up at him again, and found him closer than I had left him previously. He was leaning on one hand, twisted at the waist. Almost at my eye level with the gentle bow of his broad shoulders and the relaxed curve of his spine. If I moved too quickly our noses might brush together. I kept my breath trapped in my throat. I saw his eyes move, and my face suddenly blazed hot.

Abruptly, I stood, putting a few steps between us. Squeezing at my palm for a moment and feeling horribly, horribly foolish. It took a breath to steady myself, but I turned back for him.

“... You are not here to promise adventures to silly girls in castle towers.” I reminded him bitterly.

He started for a moment at that, staring at me a little wide eyed. The candlelight danced in those eyes, and I had to look away. I made the pretense of picking up the broken candle from the floor where I had dropped it earlier. I ran my thumb over the smooth wax, trying to calm my racing heart.

“No, I’m not.” He admitted, and my efforts were demolished by the skip of my heart at the regret in his tone. “... But if you help me win the Princess, then I can still give you want you want.”

I almost laughed, shaking my head and feeling the sinking weight of his words deep in my chest. Reminding myself why this man was even here in the first place, and chiding myself silently for forgetting. Trying to swallow the sudden disappointment in my throat.

“I can’t help you do that.”

“You’re the only one who can.” He pleaded. “I don’t know this world. I don’t know these people, but I need to. I need to be better, to be bigger than I am. It’s the only way to help my own people. I see that now. My plan was foolish, and I cannot do it alone.”

I was already shaking my head before he had finished speaking. “I cannot help you win the Princess.” I told him firmly, stubbornness lacing my breath. Still refusing to look up at him.

“Fine. Not the Princess.” He agreed, and I heard the creak of the bedframe as he stood. “Then help me learn to be someone worthy of her. Of this court. Teach me how to impress the Kings. How to talk without saying anything. How to dress, how to speak. How to be… human. And goblin, if needed.”

I did laugh now, and turned to toss the candle to a pile of rubbish to be taken out later. “That’s ridiculous. You don’t know what you’re asking.”

“So teach me.” He insisted, and his voice was closer. Somewhere only a few steps behind me. “Teach me to be better than I am, to be human enough to be at this court, to pass for one of the goblins, and I will take you far away from this place when I leave. I’ll even tell you stories of all the places I’ve been and the things I’ve seen in the meantime.” 

I jumped as his hand grazed my elbow, and spun to face him once more. He peered down at me quietly for a long moment. Then his lopsided smile returned, and I felt my heart skip.

“I can’t give you your freedom, Gana.” His eyes sparkled with determination. “But I can give you the chance to take it.”

Excitement surged in my chest, and I felt the heat of my blood rushing through my veins. I felt the familiar itch; to run. To just go, to leave this place and never look back. To be out there, in the world where I so longed to be. I couldn’t quell the intensity of my desire, and felt it seep throughout my entire core. I saw his grin grow, and wondered if he could see it in my eyes. I chewed it over, trying to keep a level head. Trying to think it through.

“... No Princess? Just-”

“Just teaching.” He assured me. “Even if it doesn’t work, and the goblin Princess doesn’t like me and I go home, I’ll still take you with me.” His head cocked to the side. “If you want to go.”

It would never work. I had managed to smuggle him in, but I was only here for a month or two. Could I even smuggle him back to Geriveria? Or could I leave with him at the end, like he promised? Niko would never allow it. He’d send half of the Kingdom after me, and Val wouldn’t be far behind. Even Grier would think this was crazy. I didn’t know this man! I had no idea where he had come from, or what kind of person he was. And how was I supposed to keep him from figuring out who I really was? Once he found out that he couldn’t even use anything I’d taught him, surely he’d be mad. He would not keep his promise. Besides, how was I supposed to keep him hidden from my brother, the goblin King, my nosy nieces and nephews, my ladies-in-waiting, and everyone else in the entire castle? It was insane! It was dangerous! If I was caught, if Niko found out, if anyone saw him, who knows what they would do! And even if I could manage all that, two months was hardly enough time to train some wildling everything it had taken me a lifetime to learn. It was impossible. The odds were far too high, and the chances of success so slim I couldn’t even see them.

I felt a grin sliding across my face at the challenge raised, and felt my heart skip excitedly in my breast.

“You’ve got yourself a deal.”

To be continued ...

[acup-ofawkward-andclumsy]

Hey! This is for your 40 followers match up event, and I thought Id join it!! Plus I really like your works and stuff, so I'm really glad I found your account :)

Anyways, here's my form for this:

Fandom: My Hero Academia

Name: Aspen

Pronouns: Any (Genderfluid)

Gender preference: N/A (It's called gay PANic for a reason)

Personality: MBTI- ISFJ

- I'm an Ambivert, so I'm between an introvert and an extrovert.

- It takes me a long time to get close to people, but when I do, I basically become really loyal and attached-- its kinda hard to get rid of me, lol. I also absolutely loveee hearing about people's interests, and things they like to talk about!! I could talk to people about it for hours, If life allowed me to.

- I'm a pretty hard working individual, but I know when to not push myself, and have fun :D Plus once I have a goal, I'm pretty much set on it.

- I have a lot of compassion for other and myself as well, ig (other people have told me this)

Appearance: (Clothing isn't accurate, its basically whatever I find that cool on pinterest, and buy at thrift stores, lmao)

Likes/dislikes: Likes- Trying new foods, I like being outside as much as I like being inside, EXPLORING (Cultures, new places, whatever cool thing I can fine, which is why I like open-world games so much) talking to people with similar interests, animals. Dislikes- Loud noises, unexpected touching unless it's someone I'm close to, people crossing my boundaries, shitty people. (Not limited to this list, but that's what I could think of)

Hobbles: I'm a musician (to elaborate, I play a ton of instruments, and I write my own music), I like writing stuff (stories fanfiction I'm a gamer boi™ and a skater boy™, and I occasionally make stuff

BONUS: Love languages- Physical affection, and quality time

Welp, that's it lol I hope you can do something with this, and good luck!! Good luck, and happy belated New Years!!

- Aspen <3

YOU GOT JIRO KYOKA

Personality: She's an ISTJ, so expressing herself, might be a little difficult, but with you around, she may have an easier time doing so, it's simple for you guys to communicate because you both won't pressure each other into a conversation.

➶︎She loves gaming, so both of you would organize gaming Fridays with Class 1-A either in your room or hers (you both would be dressed as the hosts every single time and make commentaries on the others way of gaming ("Kaminari is shit at Mario kart, i mean look at these awful moves" you would say and jiro would agree and laugh)

You would both dose off during breaks, with your shared earphone connecting you both.

➶︎She doesn't really like to go out, but you would often encourage her to sneak out of the dorms during the night to do some skate boarding

You would both play instruments together all the time, she would play the guitar while singing the song you wrote, and you would be playing the piano next to her.

➶︎She would try her best to help you achieve your goals and support you every step of the way

Small scenario: "Aspen, it's 3am I don't think we should be sneaking out, let alone awake" Kyoka whispers

"Oh come on we are going to have a blast"

She sighed, followed by a smile. You took her by her hand, having your skate board in the other. When you got to your destination, she stared at the training place that fitted perfectly for doing skate boarding as well. Without warning her, you hopped on your skate board with her in tow.

"Hold on tight"

You did not even have to tell her, because she was already grasping onto you for dear life.

A song a would give to you both:

I hope you liked ittt, don't over work yourself and stay hydrated!! <3

40 Followers Event

MASTERLIST

[writteninsunshine]

Heaven’s A Lie - Lucas Baker/Ethan Winters - NSFW

Title: Heaven’s A lie

Author: Reno

Fandom: Resident Evil 7: Biohazard

Setting: Baker Family Estate

Pairing: Lucas Baker/Ethan Winters

Characters: Lucas Baker, Ethan Winters, Mia Winters, Zoe Baker, Jack Baker

Genre: Hurt/Comfort/Romance

Rating: M

Chapters: 1/1

Word Count: 1376

Type Of Work: One-Shot, Part of the For All These Times series, Whump Fic Bingo fill #1

Status: Complete

Warnings: Gay, Slash, Yaoi, MLM, Non-Con Kissing, Gore, Blood, Vomit, Sick Fic, Comfort From Whumper, Whump Fic Bingo, Trauma, Traumatic Experiences, Canon-Typical Violence, Mostly Canon Compliant

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything.

Summary: The last thing that Ethan needed was Lucas’s comfort, but that didn’t mean he was going to deny him. He didn’t have it in him to fight right now.

AN: Hey guys, it’s me again! Just thought I ought to say, if you want vague updates and to talk to me more, I have a writing Tumblr, too! Twitter is Sunshinecackle, and Tumblr is Writteninsunshine! I also have a writing Discord that is currently pretty dead. xD If you want it, please contact me on Twitter!

So, I was looking for a good whump fic bingo I could use for Ethan, since that man can take a beating like no one else. I didn’t find one I liked, so I made one myself. Requests are open for it, and only three slots are taken out of twenty-five, so please give it a look? People on FFN can PM me for the link or search HimboHungry on Twitter. It’s under my pinned! Warning, it’s a NSFW twitter.

Here we go: https://twitter.com/HimboHungry/status/1391276875415269379

With that, here goes nothing!

Resident Evil Fic Masterlist

Ethan Whump Bingo Fic Masterlist

Heaven’s A Lie

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

There was no fighting it, now. Fatigue crept into every fiber of his being, and his eyes could barely stay focused and open. Pain wracked his body, and there was a distinct collection of saliva in his mouth, leaving him nearly drooling as he gasped for air like a man drowning, lost at sea.

0Heaving shoulders and a lurch in his stomach had Ethan crumpling to the grass, hands and knees bracing him against the dewy turf. The humidity of the swamp around them didn’t help the sweat dripping from his face, broken pants bursting from his nose. Soon, he wouldn’t be able to breathe out of that. With a painful heave, he gagged, coughed impossibly hard, and spilled the contents of his stomach all over the ground in front of him. It splashed against his arms, staining the sleeves of his shirt and hitting his face; he would have grimaced if he wasn’t otherwise occupied. Nothing but acid left him, as he hadn’t eaten in God knew how long. Dehydration was going to set in soon and only make the pounding in his head that much worse. Blood pumped loud and harsh in his ears, his vision swam and he felt another dry heave coming on. 

For a moment, he begged any God listening to end this torture, but his ardent pleading fell on deaf ears. Nothing reached out to save him, and death was still lightyears away. How could he still be kicking after all of this? Every injury, every removal of his limbs. Jack had seen to it that he wouldn’t die, he thought, and that was the most shocking education he’d ever had.

Eyes watery and nose dripping over his lips after six more emissions, he staggered back to his feet. Swaying for a few seconds, he scrubbed at his face, smearing the tears and mucus up his cheeks, trying to regain control over himself. He had to get to the barn that Lucas was hiding away in, he had to save Mia, himself, and Zoe. That was his main focus, the only driving force to keep him going right now. A one-track mind helped in this situation, and he stumbled forward, the light peeking out from under the door a beacon showing him where to go next. Would this kill him? Maybe. The heaviness in his arms wasn’t helped by the gun in his hand, his arms nearly limp as he fought against the weakness in his knees.

Not paying attention to where he was going, lumbering ever forward, a sudden shout left him and he plummeted to the ground hard. No time to catch himself, the biting pain in his leg too much for him to handle on such short notice, his face hit the mud hard enough to bruise his cheek. With the wind knocked from his lungs, he lay there in agony for a long moment, eyes screwed shut as he tried to catch his breath.

Once he could wrap his mind around filling his lungs again, his eyelids lifted and fell sluggishly as he pushed himself up off the ground halfway, hips still glued down. Turning to look at his right leg, Ethan winced at the sight of barbed wire looped around his ankle, a thin, short leash of it tied to a stake in the ground. It looked like the kind screwed down, meant to keep a dog in the yard. That was him, now, wasn’t it? A dog trapped in a yard that wasn’t his, kept by someone intent on keeping him. Tears leaked down his face again, his nose a snot faucet, the fire in his face unable to compare to the tight grip ripping into his flesh.

Footsteps alerted him to a presence, and he grabbed the shotgun not far from his hands. They quivered as he looked up, expecting a molded to be coming for him in his hour of darkness. Forcing himself to sit up on his hip, he leveled the gun on Lucas, surprised to see the other man out of his control room.

“Aw, look at you, Ethan…” Lucas chuckled, his grin splitting his face nearly in half, “Caught like a coyote in a trap.” 

Ethan was hyper-aware of Lucas’ southern drawl, ‘cai-yote’ leaving his lips, and he clicked another bullet into the gun in his hands.

“Now, now, no need for that,” Sauntering over, Lucas pried the shotgun from Ethan’s hands with more ease than the injured man wanted to admit to, and he watched as Lucas set it aside. Apparently, he had more sense than to simply throw it, and Ethan recognized that all too well. Self-preservation, at best, but at least Ethan wasn’t going to get shot.

“Fuck off.” Ethan managed, his voice wavering, cracking as Lucas kneeled down to take Ethan’s chin in his filthy hands.

“You ain’t in any position to tell me what to do, now, are ya, Ethan?” Lucas shook his head with a happy chortle, leaning in quickly enough that Ethan was stunned, stuck in place.

Dry, cracked lips met his in a violent kiss, and he tasted blood, snot, salt, and bile as Lucas’ tongue strong-armed its way into his mouth. A disgusted grunt left him as Lucas plundered his mouth, taking from him what he wanted and leaving no room to struggle against his advances. Ethan was exhausted, in too much pain to fight him as Lucas tugged him forward by his armpits, straining the limited reach of the barbed wire lacerating his skin. Another cry of pain left him when Lucas bit into his lip hard enough to split his plump, chapped flesh, leaving a trail of blood down his chin.

“There you go, Ethan… Look so good like this.” Lucas was nearly purring in excitement, blood thrumming through his system, “Want to make you mine.” His whispers against Ethan’s lips almost left him bereft, but he was sure he was past that point, now.

“Wh-wh-what do you want, Lucas?” His tone wasn’t as rough, wasn’t as spiteful as he’d wanted, but Ethan had to take whatever he could get at this point. Spitting at him, Ethan glared as hard as he could with= his wet eyes and watery, almost stern frown. 

“Don’t go playing hard to get, now, Ethan. It’s unbecomin’. You’re dependent on me to get you outta this, ain’tcha? You oughta be nicer to me.” Lucas’s smarmy smile almost made Ethan sick again, he felt his stomach railing against his insides, bile rising in his throat.

Another rough kiss met his mouth, his blood mingling with Lucas’s saliva, staining both of their teeth pink. Suddenly, Ethan shoved at him, unsure when he cared not to give him his ire. God knew Lucas deserved it. Turning just enough to feel safe in this moment of weakness, a few dry heaves soon produced more stomach acid to slap on the ground, splattering more against his chest and arms.

“Can’t handle yourself no more?” Lucas asked, absently rubbing Ethan’s back as he spilled his stomach contents again, eyes red and puffy from tears and throat hoarse. Quivering, he leaned into Lucas’s touch, hating himself for wanting the comfort he provided. Elbows buckling, he did his best to fall to the side that his vomit wasn’t on, shocked to find Lucas scooting forward and sitting down cross legged.

Yanking Ethan into his lap, he held him close, wiping at his face and sweaty forehead.

“Pushin’ you too far, baby boy?” Lucas asked softly, his voice almost tender and eyes soft as he took in the sheer amount of pain in his face. Ethan nodded vaguely, eyelashes fluttering against his bruised cheekbones. Lucas was right. If he’d stayed away, he wouldn’t be suffering like this. On the other hand, Mia would have been, and he couldn’t find it in himself to give up on her. Eyes sunken in, he looked like he might pass out, and Lucas took pity on him. Reaching for the shotgun, he held it up above Ethan’s oblivious head, his eyes closed to the world, before slamming it down against his temple as hard as he could.

The world swam for a moment, Ethan’s vision hot and white for just a second before everything went dark.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

AN: Welp, I feel like this vaguely covers another part of the whump bingo, but I’m not going to count it because the theme is still being caught in a snare. At any rate, I hope you guys enjoyed the ouchies. I had fun writing this! It’s partially a vent piece, as a lot has been happening lately and it’s driving me crazy not getting it out.

Prompt: Caught In A Snare

[kbuggg3]

JC Caylen Imagine: “Don’t Be Sorry”

Today's has been a pretty eventful day to say the least. While my boyfriend JC was out with some old friends who came into town to visit him, me and my dad got into a fight... again.

But the thing that hurts the most is not only is this the 4th time in a row he's been caught, but I'm the one that keeps witnessed it. Your probably wonder "the 4th time? Why do you keep falling for his bullshit?"

Welp. He's my dad. I'm not just gonna give up on him completely. When we would catch him doing something he would let fake tears fall from his eyes as he was apologizing to us and we would forgive him.

And then we'd catch him again, he'd apologize, we'd forgive him. It was an endless cycle. But this time I knew I can't get my hopes up to high anymore.

My mom always told me it takes years to build trust and seconds to destroy it. I felt that. He didn't only ruin my trust with him, but my trust with everyone else. I let everything that happened get to my head and now I have major trust issues. With the exception of one person.

JC Caylen

Before i met JC my life was pretty miserable. I lived in Florida with my mom and my older sister. After my mom and dad got divorced, my family slowly started going down hill.

My dad was barely in the picture due to his constant sneaking around as he was hooking up with random people and getting drunk and being so lazy that he never even bothered covering his tracks, allowing us to discover his dirty little secrets for ourselves.

My poor brother was clueless. Had no idea what his own father was doing behind his back and we didn't bother telling him because 1.) he was a very sensitive boy at the time and 2.) he looked to my dad for everything. My dad was his role model.

After awhile of all of this, my sister was diagnosed with depression. Not too severe but even the smallest bit can make you feel like shit. And as for me, I struggled with self love. Because I didn't really have a good male figure on my life I looked to guys for verification.

But after i spent a week with him and the rest of the O2l house at Vidcon i felt like my life was finally picking up. Fast forward a couple years and my sisters depression is gone, my brother grew up to be an amazing dad of 2 kids, and as for me, i stopped looking for verification in guys and me and JC started dating.

We've been dating for 2 years now and he has been nothing but amazing. I love him so much and I know he loves me. Ever since we've started dating people have been telling me they've never seen me so happy before or they've never seen me smile or laugh that much before.

I just wished he was here to comfort me right now. I haven't told him what happened yet. I didn't wanna ruin his day. He was hanging out with some old friends of his who flew down to visit him.

I wasn't gonna burden him with my stupid family issues while he was out with his friends. I turned on a random disney movie and began to watch as I continued to cry at random times when the old memories would pop up in my mind.

I would squeeze my eyes shut and burry my head in my pillow trying to make them stop but they never went away, no matter how hard i tried. Eventually I decided enough was enough. I just couldn't take it anymore. I had to call JC. I grabbed the phone and went to his name in my contacts. I dried my tears and took a few deep breaths to stop myself from crying so he wouldn't notice and be too worried.

After attempting to recollect myself, i pressed call, holding the phone up to my ear as i heard it ring. A few seconds later the line picked up and i heard his sweet voice on the other end.

"What's up baby." JC said in a super deep voice cause you to giggle only slightly.

"Hey JC. Um, I was just wondering when you were gonna be home?"

"Is my girl missing me already?"

"What do mean already you've been gone for hourrrrsssss." She groaned causing him to chuckle.

"I know baby I'm sorry. I'll actually be home soon."

I sighed with relief before responding, "Thank god!"

"Is everything ok (y/n)?"

Shit. Don't cry don't cry don't cry don't cry.

She sniffles a little and swallowed hard.

"Y-ya baby why do you ask?" My breath was uneven and he could tell.

"No no. Your not ok. I'm coming over right now."

Don't mess this up (y/n) he's having fun. Don't ruin his day.

"JC it's fine. I'm gonna be ok. Just go hang out with your friends. Have fun!"

"Gonna be?!"

I pulled back and cringed at my own words. Shouldn't have said that.

"Gonna be ok??? (y/n) what happened???" JC exclaimed again. She sighed and rubbed her forehead.

"JC I'm-"

Tell him your fine. He's with his friends. He doesn't need this right now.

Tell him what you tell everyone else in your life. Your fine.

"It's my dad again." I said with tears in my eyes.

What the fuck (y/n)! How could you?!

He can tell by my voice I was crying.

"Fuck. Baby I'm coming over right now." He side sternly. Was he mad?

"N-no JC it's ok really I-"

"No! (y/n) it's not ok! Baby he's put you through so much shit and I'm tired of it! You don't deserve that! You nor your family!" He began to shout a little and it caused her to cry harder. Not because I'm scared of him. But because he cared so much and that meant the world to her. He's the only one who gets it.

He did a deep sigh and you already knew he was running his hands through his hair and pacing, something he did when he was stressed, nervous, or in this case pissed off.

"I'm coming over. I'll be there in a few just hang on ok?"

At first no words were spoken. She didn't want to agree because she still felt bad about burdening him with it. But she was going to lose her fucking mind if he wasn't holding her ASAP so she finally spoke a barely audible "ok".

Immediately the phone call was ended. (y/n)'s phone slid out of her hand and onto the floor. She sat there curled up on her bed for awhile, staring blankly at the floor as her head was leaned on the head rest.

The thoughts and images filled her head again and she began to cry and cry and cry. "Go away." She whispered with quivering lips. "Go away!"

Not too long after the phone call she heard keys rattling as whoever was on the other side, who she assumed was JC, tried to open the door. She then heard footsteps quickly going up the stairs.

Her teary eyes slowly looked up to the door and saw the door knob slowly being turned, then the door opened revealing her boyfriend. In her mind she was smiling, finally being able to see him, but on the outside she unintentionally showed the opposite.

They made eye contact and (y/n) saw the sympathetic look on JC's face. She hated it when people would look at her like that and he knew it. He just couldn't help it. It makes her feel weak and helpless even tho those are the exact words that describe her in this moment.

When she saw the look on his face she quickly looked away, turning her head to the side and squeezed her eyes shut as more tears slipped down her cheeks, slightly embarrassed by her fragile appearance.

She felt the bed beside her dip down meaning JC was now sitting next to her on the bed.

"Baby..."

JC gently touched her chin and moved it to where her eyes had nowhere else to look but his.

"I... I am so sorry."

After looking into his beautiful brown eyes, (y/n) finally gave in and buried her face in his shoulder as she sat in his lap in a straddle like position.

Her arms were tightly wrapped around his neck and the more she cried the tighter she would hold on. In return JC would squeeze her back, both arms wrapped around her waist. He then began to run his hand through her hair and draw small circles on her back in a soothing motion.

JC continued to whisper little nothings in her ear as she gripped his shirt that was soaked with her tears.

"You don't deserve this."

"None of this is your fault."

"You're an amazing girl."

"You're my amazing girl."

After a few minutes or so of them sitting in silence, JC asked her if she wanted to lay down and cuddle while they watched a movie. (y/n) could only nod her head as they repositioned themselves to where she was laying on JC's stomach with her face still buried in his chest. He put on her favorite Disney movie "Finding Nemo" hoping it would encourage her to lift her head and hopefully help calm her.

When she heard the music play softly from the TV she slowly and hesitantly lifted her head from JC's chest as she positioned her head to where she could see the movie displayed on the large screen. JC smiled at her and kissed the top of her head. Occasionally throughout the movie he would rub her back soothingly, play with her hair, and give her kisses on the top of her head or forehead, causing (y/n) to smile slightly.

"Thank you... Seriously," (y/n) said quietly. He was surprised at first, judging by the fact that neither of them have said a word to each other for about an hour (not in a rude way of course but because there was no need for words. They just needed time to think and relax). "No problem, baby. I love you so so much."

(y/n) look up at him, resting her chin on his chest. He noticed how the red puffiness in her eyes went down and there was not a tear in sight, causing his heart to warm and a smile to make its way across his face. "I love you too." They shared a short but sweet kiss and went to sleep cuddled up in their bed as "Finding Nemo" continued to play and lull them into a deep and peaceful sleep.

ngl I hate writing sad stuff (unless y’all request it obvi) but I got this idea and couldn’t get it out of my head so you’re welcome. If you have any requests and/or feedback let me know plz! Love y'all💋                                                                                                                                 ~Kbug :)

[eyeofthedrgn]

I have finally decided on a title for this multi chapter Rowcan fic: A Heavy Battle Symphony. Inspired by two Linkin Park songs (Heavy{feat. Kiiara}, Battle Symphony) that seem to fit the bill of the overall tone of the story. Since it deals with such dark topics and mental health, it just works. I wasn't intending for this to be song inspired, but here we are.

Also, I'm bad at summaries, but here we go:

Set in a modern high school AU. Lorcan was forced to live with his Aunt Maeve and boyfriend James Perrington, both of which are abusive. Once they move to Orynth, Lorcan's life is thrown into disarray when he meets Rowan.

Trigger warnings : language, mental abuse, verbal abuse, physical abuse, violence, depression, anxiety, panic attacks, self harm, self-esteem issues, sexual abuse (only alluded to briefly in future chapters), just a lot of trauma, angst, smut - lots of lovely gay smut

Word count: just over 2k

Chapter 1 - Numb

Lorcan Salvaterre has had a pretty shitty life for only being 17. He's been to so many different schools, he doesn't remember them all. His mother died long ago, he didn't have a father, and he was then forced to live with his despicable Aunt Maeve when he was five. Lorcan didn't remember his mother anymore, all he knew was the cruelty of his aunt and her boyfriend, James Perrington.

Maeve's job required them to move every few months. Which meant his schooling was rather poor and often overlapped from school to school. He was always the loner and easily overlooked, at least until his growth spurt last year that catapulted him to be six and half feet tall.

He'd never had a friend in his life. No one would ever want to be friends with him in the first place. He always had a scowl on his face, wore black, long black hair, head down, his skin was a beautiful deep olive, his eyes dark as onyx. He was rather strange. And since his growth spurt, his hulking frame kept everyone away.

He never smiled, he rarely talked. To anyone. Not that he had much to say. He had no hobbies, no pleasures. All he was allowed to do in this meaningless life were chores, his homework, and lay in his room staring at the ceiling.

The way Lorcan had grown up was brutal. There were beatings for not finishing chores, misbehaving, or most of the time, just existing. He never got three meals a day, on the very rare occasion, he would get a small dinner, but generally, the only meal was usually lunch at school or when they were traveling. Even then, Maeve would order the smallest meal for the boy, gods forbid she had to spend more money on him than necessary or look bad in front of people.

That also meant that if he needed new clothes or something for school, he had to work extra for it. A lot of the time, he felt like a severely more abused Cinderella. His aunt made him do some of the most tedious chores in payment for his necessities.

The chores he could handle, sometimes they were even relaxing. The beatings on the other hand were less than desirable. Especially when most of the abuse wasn't even a result of Lorcan's supposed incompetency. But every beating was recorded in Lorcan's journal and accompanied by self harm.

Lorcan's mental health was far from healthy. He wished he had the courage to slice his wrists deeper, but if he failed to finish the job, he couldn't imagine how Maeve would react and what she would make Perrington do to him. So, he settled for the scars. 

His wrists and forearms were covered in scars. Every shirt he had was long sleeved to cover his coping habit. He didn't want questions or people staring, he hated being pitied. Honestly, he hated pretty much everything.

---

The new apartment Maeve had rented in Orynth was just like the rest of them. Lorcan's room was the smallest and also used for storage. Not that it mattered to Lorcan he only had a few things anyway, but it did mean that either his aunt or her boyfriend would barge in, whenever they wished, to grab something. Since Lorcan realized they were never going to stop and they always removed the lock from his door, he took to changing in the bathroom.

Lorcan was exhausted. He had spent all day moving every single box Maeve and Perrington had into the new apartment, making sure he put the boxes in the correct rooms. And setting up his room to give himself some semblance of privacy with the way he piled the storage boxes. 

A sleeping bag, a duffel bag full of worn and faded clothes in various shades of black, a few well worn books, a journal that he used to record every beating and every cut, and a fraying backpack full of school supplies were all of Lorcan's belongings. He didn't even have a real bed. Or a pillow.

Almost asleep in his sleeping bag, Maeve barges into his room and starts yelling at him.

"Lorcan! Where in the gods' forsaken apartment are my hair products!"

Lorcan had no idea why she needed them at midnight. "They're in your bathroom." Obviously.

"If they were, I wouldn't be here, you useless piece of shit!" She grabbed him by the hair and pulled him up, then shoved him into the hall. He knew better than to fight as he stumbled down the hall, he did his best to keep his face neutral, but fuck, that hurt.

Resisting the urge to rub his poor scalp, he stalked to Maeve's bathroom and opened the box labeled MAEVE'S HAIR PRODUCTS. Lorcan sighed when he was greeted with her towels.

"I already looked there, you little welp," she snarled. "Now find my shit!" She stormed out and slammed the door.

Lorcan hung his head and looked around the room. He just wanted to sleep. It wasn't his fucking fault she mislabeled her fucking boxes. Again. Finding the box labeled MAEVE'S TOWELS, he opened it and sighed with relief as he set eyes on her missing items, and set the box on the counter. He informed Maeve of his discovery before heading back to bed.

---

Five hours later, Lorcan woke up, like clockwork. He released a heavy sigh and rubbed his eyes. Hel, he was tired. Time to start an exhausting day of learning a new school and schedule.

Every morning was the same, up at five, shower, get ready for school, make breakfast that he wasn't allowed to eat. Only the adults were allowed breakfast. He'd get a knee to the gut if he attempted to snatch a strip of bacon or a link of sausage, or even a piece of toast. So, his stomach would growl until he got to eat a pathetic school lunch.

This morning would be slightly different from the rest, though. Maeve would have to take him to school and make sure he was registered. She always acted the caring aunt in public. It disgusted Lorcan. Especially when she would go the extra mile and kiss his cheek.

After Maeve left without a word to Lorcan, he stood in the main hall with his schedule and map in hand. This school was huge. Much bigger than most of the other high schools he had been to. That was to be expected, though. This was Orynth High after all, the biggest high school in the biggest city of Terrasen.

He looked over his schedule. He had no idea how he made it to senior year with all the holes in his education.

Fuck, why was pre-calc first? At least he was good at math.

He looked at the clock at the end of the hall, he still had half an hour before school actually started. Rather than wasting time, he found all of his classrooms in order, twice, and then went to the library to grab the necessary textbooks. 

By the time he left the library, the halls were filling up. Kids all around him were chattering, he was either ignored or kids looked at him with scared eyes and scurried out of his way.

He tugged his hood up and shoved his hands in his hoodie pocket and made his way to first period.

---

Since it was the start of a new semester, most teachers ignored that Lorcan was new to the school. That was fine, he didn't want the attention anyway. But in his last class of the day, creative writing, they had to split into groups for an assignment. Lorcan hated group assignments. He was partnered with the smallest teenager he had ever seen.

"I'm Elide. You're new here aren't you?"

His nod was barely perceptible.

"It's Lorcan, right?" He nodded again. "Where are you from?" Her eyes were filled with pure curiosity. 

He cleared his throat. "Originally from Doranelle, but I don't remember it. My mother died when I was five. My aunt took me in and we move a lot." He blinked and shook his head in confusion at himself for telling a complete stranger something he hadn't told anyone else before.

How did this petite young woman bewitch him to talk more than he had in weeks? Lorcan felt exposed under her gaze. It felt like she could read him like a book. It was unnerving. 

"That sounds rough. I hope you like it here and I hope we can be friends." She finished with a smile.

Lorcan just turned back to the assignment.

The class passed without much other conversation besides about the assignment they had to do together.

Finally, the bell rang signalling the end of the day.

The first day at this school was done and he was exhausted and hungry. Lorcan was so focused on packing up his supplies into his ratty backpack that he didn't realize Elide was talking to him.

"A group of us are going to the park to hang out, wanna join?" He was zipping up his backpack, not hearing a word she said. "Lorcan?"

"Huh?" He looked up, confused. She giggled. His cheeks heated just slightly.

"Do you want to hang out with my friends and I after school?"

Why would he want to do that? Lorcan did remember saying she hoped they could be friends, but he thought she was just being polite. Now, she was trying to follow through.

But there was only one answer.

"No."

---

Elide adjusted her bag on her shoulder as she walked to the park to meet her friends. She could see Lorcan walking on the other side of the street away from her. His hood was up, head down, hands in his hoodie pocket, his posture slightly hunched. She thought he could almost pass for a shadow if his black clothes weren't so faded and worn.

She remembered looking into his eyes during class and seeing deep pools of onyx, they would have been gorgeous, but instead, they were dull, and lifeless. He had been so hard to read. Elide had guessed that he didn't have a good home life and they were poor, by the state of his clothes and backpack. She had seen the scars on his wrist when he reached into his bag for an eraser. It broke her heart. Watching him walk away, she noticed how awkwardly his clothes hung off of him. He was definitely too skinny for his frame.

So lost in her thoughts, she didn't hear one of her friends come up behind and loop his arms through hers. Elide yelped and then realized it was her friend, Rowan Whitethorn. He had silver hair and pine green eyes that were always bright.

"I didn't mean to scare you! I called your name, but you were off in your own little world!"

"Sorry. I was thinking about the new kid that you will probably end up having a crush on." Rowan scoffed, Elide just laughed. 

They walked a bit in silence until Rowan made his confession.

"He is hot! He's in my gym class. Tell me everything, my precious Elide! I want to know!" Rowan was so excitable, it was infectious.

"He's in my creative writing class and we were partnered together. He said he's from Doranelle, his mother died when he was five, and his aunt took him in. And apparently, they move a lot." She also told him about the assumptions she made from her observations.

Rowan soaked up every word.

---

Lorcan was doing homework at the kitchen table when Maeve and Perrington came in with take out. It smelled good, Lorcan's stomach rumbled. Damn it. To his surprise, Maeve set down a small Chinese take out box right in the middle of this textbook. He blinked at it, and then up at his aunt, she looked kind for once. "Thank you." It was barely a whisper, but he knew she heard it because she nodded before walking away.

Sometimes he actually thought she loved him..

After his studies and meager dinner, Lorcan laid in his sleeping bag, using an old hoodie that didn't fit anymore as a pillow, trying to sleep. A sigh left his lips and he rolled over.

He couldn't sleep even though he was exhausted, so he pulled a well worn novel from his duffle bag. It was The Hobbit. Lorcan had read it many times. The spine was broken, pages were dog eared, some of the pages weren't even glued in anymore. But he enjoyed the adventure.

Lorcan was halfway through his book, when his window started lightening with the new day. He groaned and his stomach growled.

++++

Rowan couldn't get that new dark haired boy out of his mind. Lorcan Salvaterre. He had soaked up all the information he could from Elide about his new crush. Concentrating on his homework was so hard.

"Ugh." Rowan ran his hand through his hair and smacked his cheeks a couple of times to get himself to snap out of it. He still had homework to finish.

"Rowan, love, would you like some hot chocolate?" His mom leaned into his room. "You seem distracted today."

His mom, Barb, was the sweetest lady and the best mother one could ask for. They talked about everything. And he swore she had eyes everywhere because she always knew everything. Sometimes, Rowan hated that his mom was so observant.

"Yes, please." He got up from his desk and followed his mom to the kitchen. He enjoyed his cocoa with marshmallows. After taking a few sips, he told his mom about the new kid in school. She just smiled knowingly at him.

"Elide says he moves a lot. But I don't know exactly what 'a lot' means. Also, he's probably not into guys." He quirked his lips to the side. 

"You should probably start with actually talking to the boy."

Rowan whined, "Mom!" She just laughed and kissed the top of his head before retreating to the living room, leaving him with his thoughts and empty cup.

_____

Thanks for reading! I'll probably post the next chapter next Thursday or Friday.