#where were the top students who didn't get into their first choice school? or knew that they didn't want to go to college at all?

[heycoyotegirl]

love how the message of season 4 was that you have to have extremely good grades and have gone to parties to be able to successfully adjust to university

[starsexplodeatnight]

Ghost x Pre-school teacher!Reader

A request from @maxicorn !!! My first request! And its a good one!!!

It was dark in the back of the plane. But he knew where he was, the fuselage of the plane jerking subtly with their descent.

Simon was home.

Didn't feel like it yet. His mind was still smothered in an oppressive slog of adrenaline that refused to yield and let him relax.

He used to not care. He never had anyone to come home too. Now that he does? He notices. Or really, he cares enough to acknowledge things he's ignored because they worry you.

As much as he hates to worry you, its nice. Nice to have someone who cares.

The door creaks open, blinding them with the light from outside. England was fucking sunny, go figure.

Battered but not bloody, Ghost makes his way down the plane and his feet hit tarmac. It felt good...

The sight that met him was even better.

There you stood, beaming at him. Hair whipping around from the wind kicked up from the plane landing. And all of your students were lined up in front of you.

They all had paper plate masks on their faces, all of them crafted to look like skulls. Mimicking him. Oh god, that fucking hurt his heart.

You had yours propped on top your head so he could see your face.

"Lieutenant!!!" "Ghost!" "Mr Ghost!" All of them cheer, bouncing on place. They all obediently stayed put, they'd promised best behavior if they got to see him land.

How did you manage it? He stood dumbfounded, staring like an idiot.

Laswell, she stood next to you with a miniscule smile... She tips her head towards you and raised her brows minutely. Approval of his choice.

Ghost lumbers over, dropping his duffle and looks down at the tiny humans. They all held out gifts, masks still in place. Macaroni necklaces, pictures of what vaguely resembled him and hand crafted... Stuff... They children all showed their idol.

Simon laughs, a small sound before lurching forward. He snatched your paper plate mask off your head, held it up to sheild your faces as he simultaneously pulls up his mask up. Exposing the lower half of his scruffy face.

The shocked look on your face was worth those 4 fucking rotten months away... So were the disgusted gagging of the little ones.

They crowd him, tugging at his gear, begging for stories as you stare at him star struck. That was the first time he's kissed you in public! Infront of what you believe to be his boss!! You could be wrong but, still!!!

Your face heats up immediately, Ghost chuckles. "Come on." He grunts, grabbing his duffle in one hand and the lead rope for the kids in the other. "Lets get them home."

You try and take the rope from him as the kids all grab on. He let go, only to envelop your hand in his so you both lead the kids off the tarmac...

It was so much fucking better than nice to have someone care...

Years later? Every single one of your students remember you and Simon ... Especially the ones who got to see him come home that day. Some even still have their paper masks, somewhere.

They'll call out to you in the street if they see you. Run up and hug the both of you... The little girls who used to play tea with Simon now tweens, run up and all squeeze him...

(They all have high standards for dating now. If they aren't treated like how Mr.Ghost treated Ms._ then they can beat it!)

They coo over your new baby, all begging to be your babysitter... All begging to be back in your lives again....

So many people care about Simon Riley… he can’t hardly believe it. Even to this day.

Thank you @maxicorn for this!!! It was fun to stew on while I was at work!!!

[wakacreations]

I loved you childhood HCs about Cal and Lia! Would love to hear your thoughts on Rolan if you get the chance!

(P.s love your drawings! Your style is so cute and I Love the color choices!)

I am glad you've enjoyed the Lia and Cal HCs! Thank you for the art compliment you're too kind.

Rolan HC.

I always seen Rolan as somewhere between late twenties to early thirties.

Rolan

Childhood:

Before being found:

I was going to make a list of what happened before he met Cal and Lia's mother but it got too long and it became a short fic.

Rolan: Before Being Found

After being found:

Rolan did not formally join Cal and Lia's family till the age of nine (Cal and Lia were both three years old at the time)

He was the smallest tiefling in the whole school (Even Cal and Lia were both taller than him.) He had a sudden growth spurt later in life. *Cal and Lia still call him their "little big brother"

Initially Rolan was placed three grades behind other children his age. (Didn't receive much proper schooling at the orphanages except for writing) *He quickly caught up and was later placed in the same grade as others his age the following year

Rolan was quite popular in school. It was not for his academic prowess (He ranked number one in the school for perfect marks) nor his looks (He was voted in the top three most beautiful in school. The top number one spot kept rotating between him, Dammon and Alfira) but for his intuition and gossip intel (He would be first to know of any gossip going around) *Somehow he was the first to know that Lia's most hated teacher was having an affair

He was not a "troublemaker" (Cal and Lia both insist he was) *you have to be caught to be labeled a "troublemaker"

"His" crimes:

Sneaking into the teacher's lounge (How else was he supposed to know when a pop quiz was coming) *The teachers' gossip was supplementary and how could Lia's teacher do such a thing? Their partner was such a sweetheart as well.

Breaking into the school's gymnasium (Where else could he privately practice spellcasting) *Administration was still dumbfounded how the fire sprinklers went off *Rolan attempted to learn color spray for the school's talent show. *He later practiced on the lawn at home after he saw security guards posted at the gym's entrance *His siblings later caused him to set the lawn on fire

Secretly "borrowing" the school's lab equipment (The school always ordered more equipment. It would be a waste if most of it doesn't get used) *His mother was quite surprise to see her son come home with the alchemical supplies *He told his mother the school was not using them (that was true). *She never questioned him any further

Knocking multiple students unconscious (He admitted to those crimes and did receive punishment) *In his defense half of those times his classmates spooked him while casting sleep during lunch (it was the fastest way for him to achieve a power nap) and the others were just deserved ass whoopings (if you choose to participate in gossip let it be purely be factual and truthful) *Rumours went around the school that Cal was the least intelligent sibling because he stayed silent most of the time *The rumours went further to say that Rolan and Lia were secretly ashamed of him (Cal himself knew those rumours were rubbish and didn't pay them any mind) *Rolan proceeded to find the gossipers and with a swift firm hand, his fist met their chin. He then publicly shamed them and went about his day. *Rolan went about the school confessing that Cal was the one who taught him how to read and do basic arithmetic

Skipping class and going home (There was no point in staying in class if nothing new was being taught) *He would stay at school for as long as his siblings were present on campus. *the staff knew about his comings and goings but he never received punishment. *Rolan was not a troublemaker as far as they knew so he was free to go

An accomplice to Lia's shenanigans. (Lia was the visionary, Rolan was the planner, and Cal was the executioner) *Lia suggested to have a picnic on top of the school roof during gym class. *They got caught when the security guard saw Rolan and Lia fighting over the last cookie. Cal was trying to warn them to keep their voices down. *Rolan manage to misty step away but Lia and Cal were sent to detention. *Lia cursed Rolan while eating the cookie when she saw him through the window walking to his next class. *Rolan distracted the teacher while his siblings snuck out of the window.

General Facts:

Rolan is a snack hoarding fiend (He has multiple secret snack hordes in the Tower) *it's a carry over from hiding food at the orphanages and later from his time on the road.

He is sensitive to touch and is very ticklish (He will bite, kick or punch if he's tickled for too long) *Cal learned that the hard way when he sported a black eye. Rolan apologized profusely. He became Cal’s servant for as long as the bruise took to heal. *Cal enjoyed Rolan’s fussing over him but he couldn't handle seeing Rolan looking so worried. He would catch glimpses of his brother's deep self-loathing which was truthfully undeserved (He was the best brother!). *Their mother gave him a health potion to drink the first day of the incident and gave him a proper lecture about boundaries *Cal drank the health potion on the third day when he noticed Rolan crying in their shared room. *Cal hugged his brother and dragged him to nearest bakery to eat some pastries.

Rolan was always insecure of the lisp he held. He worked extra rigorously to correct his speech but sometimes his lisp speech would slip through whenever he was caught off guard or emotional. (It was one of the few ways Cal and Lia could tell something was bothering Rolan) *Sometimes Cal and Lia would tease Rolan just so they could hear his lisp. They both found it quite adorable.

Out of all his siblings, he is the practical survival expert and held the most street smarts. Before being taken in by his now mother, he lived in the wilderness and the streets of Elturel for two and a half years starting at the age of six. He prefers to keep that time of his life private even from Cal and Lia but he had told them only small snippets. (He knew how to haggle, steal/pickpocket, and lock pick. He knew how to start fires, hunt small game, and find water. He knew how to make what little last.) *Hellrider Tilses would sneak off from patrol and teach him those necessary skills whenever possible. (Under the "command" of her commanding officer but she would have done the task anyways. Tilses did not mind at all. Patrolling the city was always mind-numbing work but Rolan's presence made the experience more interesting). *though he was not the strongest out of his siblings, he had the technique to survive and win a brawl. (Tilses was impressed when the kid delivered a beautiful liver punch to a angry drunkard.) *They dared call him a monster and a wretched urchin. (Rolan threw the punch after the inebriated man lunged at him first he swears.) *Her commander had a good laugh when she returned to give her report.

Rolan knew he had a talent for magic, he would be a fool to deny it. For all the glory and power that came with studying the weave, he was more than satisfied to live a humble life with his family (Cal, Lia and his mum). After the descent of Elturel he felt lost and weak like he did when he was a child. Cal and Lia deserved a better brother. Rolan studied the weave feverously. Anything to guarantee his siblings a future. He owed that to them and to his mother.

Lia is the prep cook, Cal is the head chef and Rolan is the pâtissier. He would assist his mum at the bakery she worked for. From working there, he learned he had quite the sweet tooth. Rolan's mum taught him everything she knew about baking. As time went on, Rolan begun to develop his own recipes. (The owner of the bakery even sold one of his desserts as a special.) *They quickly sold out the first day they were offered.

During his time at the grove, Rolan would bake pastries if there were sufficient supplies. Halsin would periodically check up on him if anything needed restocking. (Truth be told Halsin and Rolan met up often to drink tea while discussing different types of desserts.) *Rolan knew Halsin would "suggest" to him into making honey desserts. (It was every time they met up for tea...) *He did acquiesce to the druid's demands once in awhile. It soon became a running gag between them. Rolan still bakes in his spare time in Ramazith's tower. He sends his pastries to Cal's orphanage and some honey flavored desserts to Halsin.

Rolan does enjoy reading stories to people. It first started when his mother introduced him to Cal and Lia. (Cal ran up to him with a smile holding a picture book about a wizard that used thunder wave. They eagerly chanted to be read the story. Rolan happily obliged.) *Cal would read along with him in his lap. They would read the words that he himself didn't know. (Lia would lay between his horns following along) *Lia enjoyed correcting him whenever he pronounced a word incorrectly. Rolan took over story time when Halsin was missing from the grove. He still continues this pass time whenever he visits the children under Cal's care. When Cal, Lia or himself missed their mum, he would begin reading a story aloud. The three of them would huddle together. Sometimes he would just recount a story by memory. Cal and Lia would follow along to the words of their favorite picture book the wizard that used thunder wave like all those nights ago till all three of them fell fast asleep.

[bungeo-ppangie]

drunk-dazed // p.sh

ღ pairing. dancer!student!sunghoon x fem!reader

ღ contents. romance, fluff

ღ synopsis. sure, being the top of your school and the most likely candidate for a great university was great. but if everything comes crashing down, a single drunk night can’t have that much of an effect on your life, right?

ღ an. soooo a week or two or three without posting passed quickly- i’m dealing with some personal issues right now so i can’t guarantee a faster schedule, but for now have an entirely too long drabble where i’m just bsing ngl mbmb

﹒⪩⪨﹒scene below cut

Others might know you as an overachiever. Socially nonexistent, perhaps. Problem was, they weren't entirely wrong.

It's not that you didn't have friends- Yang Jungwon was your best. It's not that you didn't want to socialize, either. You were simply aware of your circumstances, and how big of a jump it would be to get you from your current position to what you envisioned yourself being.

With your father being out of the picture and your mother financially unstable, you had no financial support to get you to college, even. All you could really depend on was your intelligence and passion, both of which burned brightly.

You just knew what it took to get you to your dream, and you were willing to sacrifice accordingly for it. Or, at least, you used to be.

The first year of high school, you were completely immersed in your studies, never once glancing above your books to care about anything other than academic work. You didn't think about what others did with their friends outside of school, and frankly, you didn't care. All you knew was that you were the youngest and the top student of Decelis, and that was all you needed to continue on.

The second year of high school, you didn't expect to be any different from the prior year. It had taken Jungwon immense effort for weeks for you to begin even realizing his presence, and it was half a year before you were aware that you two had been roommates since the first year. That was the year you had finally allowed yourself to make some social connections. They were admittedly small in number and mostly very shallow, excepting Jungwon, but they were an improvement. Incredibly, you also began to realize the presence of one of Jungwon's friends, Sunghoon. It was around this year your tiny crush on him began to bloom.

The third year of high school, you grew aware of the activities going on around you. Students chattering as they left classrooms, making plans to get tteokbokki after school. Clubs and extracurriculars organizing events outside of school just for the sake of having fun. Hell, even Jungwon was constantly out of the dorms while you studied, dragged out by his six friends from the dance team, including your idolized Sunghoon, who you had never seen or heard a word directed at you from. That was when the jealousy and desire to make the most of your younger years set in. But you never stopped working long enough to consider that, if you just tried to open up more to people, the active social life you wanted could be yours to take.

Now, it was your fourth and final year at Decelis. Let's see what you've got going on your side so far; One good friend and still the top of Decelis. Several offers from prestigious colleges that you couldn't afford the tuition for, with none of them giving you the choice of a full ride scholarship. Hm. Seems that improvement for you stopped in your second year. Bad luck.

At least you knew now that you should've tried to have some fun throughout your high school years. You spent it all slaving away in your dorm, completing extra work for hours at a time for a few bonus points on a test. You had truly believed that, even without money, maybe your indisputable talent alone could help you succeed.

Evidently, funds were a sorely needed factor that were, simply put, way out of your reach. You had worked your ass off for years for nothing. You had let your childhood slip by, and for what?

This year, you decided, you were going to change. Hopefully, you would become like all the other Decelis students- a package complete with friends, partying, and a good dose of underage alcohol consumption.

Besides, who cares? It’s not like staying out of trouble will get you anything. You were going to a crappy college anyways, and that was the lowest of the low to you. With only 2 months left until graduation, you figured you would let loose a bit. So, one thing led to another, and now…

“You want me to take you to the next party? I can just introduce you to Sunghoon some easier way,” Jungwon asked, bewildered and entirely shocked beyond comprehension. It was an understandable response- after all, you barely let him become your friend, and it took him weeks to convince you to room with him.

If you asked any student- heck, maybe even the faculty- to bet on who was the least likely to attend a party, filled to the brim with underage drinking and sexual advances in unoccupied rooms, all fingers would be pointed towards you.

“Shut up, it's not for him. And it's random, I know. But whatever, I’ve had a change of heart. I haven’t even been accepted to any of the universities I’ve applied for, even though I’ve been ignoring my life for studying for as long as I can remember. If you can’t beat it, go with it, right?” You grinned shakily, already regretting the decision and imagining yourself being completely out of place at the chaotic mess, known to many as a party.

“Are you sure, yn? It’s a little… ah… how do I put it? It doesn’t exactly seem like your scene.” Jungwon glanced at you, looking like he was about to call you out for identity theft. By this point, you were almost ready to back down. Call it a day. Maybe you’d try to be a main character some other time. Unfortunately, Jungwon chose this time to begin talking again.

“Alright, well, the next party is at Lim Eunbi’s house on Saturday. I’ll be going with the dance group, but we can take you along,” He said, mentally going through possible scenarios of your being at the party. Good news: you weren’t for sure going to end up drunk and passed out in a random partygoer’s house, as long as you weren’t roped into any drinking games. Bad news: most of the scenarios imagined involved drinking games.

“Great… I’ll just go buy a new dress… or something…”

"For your beloved hoonie~"

"I'm cutting off ties with you."

You held back a wince as you started preparing yourself for what was likely going to be either the most eye-opening or the worst experience of your life. Scratch that, it’s probably somehow end up being both

—

“Hyung! Are we there yet?” Riki leaned forward to grip onto the side of the driver’s seat, staring at Heeseung with a grin. You were finally on the car with the famed Decelis dance team, heading to the party. From your past 4 minutes on the car, you had gathered this much about each of the members:

Jungwon seemed to hold his leader card over all of the members, but ended up listening to half the bad ideas they suggested anyways. Heeseung was the oldest and the ace of the group, but Riki, the youngest, often complained about the title, because it was “a dance group”, and vocals didn’t technically matter. Jake the aussie was just like a golden retriever puppy- you could practically see the tail wagging. Jay was eternally half-annoyed and found every other second to be his new most embarrassing moment. Sunoo was far by the friendliest, and loved talking to you about any subject. And Sunghoon…

Everybody on campus called him the ice prince, and they really weren’t off by that much. You knew that he used to be a professional figure skater, but decided to focus on dance recently, and both of those professions were evident through the grace of his movements.

He wasn’t nice or mean- just… aloof, sort of. Even though he was sitting next to you, it was hard to pay all of your attention when Sunoo, sitting way in the front, had his head turned towards you and was talking endlessly about how a professor had wronged him.

You didn’t try to talk to him, and he didn’t strike up a conversation with you. You enjoyed Sunoo’s bright presence, but… somehow, Sunghoon’s cool and relaxed aura was more comforting to you.

And it definitely wasn’t coming from blooming feelings you had for him- despite what Jungwon constantly teased you for, there was no way these harmless little, ah, emotions meant that you liked Sunghoon. Never mind his unfairly smooth, pale skin, and his unnecessarily sharp jawline. What’s the purpose of the details of his perfectly styled hair, his pretty hands, the tiny mole on the side of his nose? Who would even care about the way his eyes flickered and settled on objects before focusing on them, for which their victim at the moment, was you?

Wait. You? Shit.

You blinked and quickly tried to turn away, blushing as he caught you staring. You murmured some excuse, tripping over the vowels and stumbling on the consonants. You almost didn’t get to catch his bright smile successfully tugged at his lips, amused, slightly bewildered, and might I say, perhaps even pleased, at your actions.

That smile. It was a pity he had stopped smiling as often as he used to when you glanced at him on campus. It completely lit up his face, transforming it from icy beauty to the most endearingly cute expression you had ever seen. It was amazing how much a smile could do to him. You had heard that some people had the most beautiful smiles, but it was heard for you to understand until you saw him.

“Whoa, how come you’re smiling now? We’ve been trying to get you to do that for weeks, Hoon,” Heeseung gaped in the rearview mirror, stunned by the fact that Sunghoon was capable of smiling so easily after parting with skating.

“Oh. Nothing. And I still don’t understand why you guys insist on calling me Hoon. Sunghoon is a perfectly fine name, you know,” Sunghoon’s face quickly became set to his default aloof expression again, much to the disappointment of everyone in the car.

“Seriously, that kid. I’m telling you, it’s puberty,” Jay muttered from the front, making Riki nod in agreement.

“Riki, you’re one to talk. But in any case, the party’s already in full swing. Hurry up,” Heeseung parked the car in the driveway, jumping out of his seat. Sunghoon opened the door for you, getting out first and closing the door after you. You followed him nervously as Heeseung led the way, sharing some information from likely incorrect sources about which people were paired as couples at the party, and which rooms to stay out of- mostly because they were perennially occupied by very(very.) sexually demanding couples.

You took a deep breath as you walked in through the door, ready to down some alcohol that you didn’t particularly want, and to get lost in the midst of this place you were starting to regret coming to.

—

You walked around, vaguely aware of your swaying, uncertain movements. Your head was filled with cotton, your thoughts fuzzy.

How many shots have you had? Two? Three? Five? Ten? They were beginning to blur together. Oh, hey, where was Jungwon? Had he left already? That traitor. You had the faint idea of a phone being in your pocket, but you weren’t entirely sure why you wanted to pick it up.

“Yah, yn. Here, put this on,” A smooth voice sounded from behind you, wrapping a warm and nice-smelling jacket around your shoulders. Was it a tinge of worry you heard in their voice? You must have misheard- nobody here would be concerned about you.

You spun around, coming face to face with possibly the most handsome person you had ever seen. His face seemed familiar to you, but you couldn’t place where you had seen it before. The room wobbled and spun and you tried to place your thoughts, making you stumble forwards as it took a sudden turn.

Strong arms caught you from either side, wrapping tightly around you, a familiar scent engulfing you as the person's arms wrapped around you. Was that... Sunghoon? Didn't he leave earlier with Jake? Ah, you felt so dizzy... if only you could sit down, just for a second...

"Yn, it's Sunghoon. I'm gonna take you home, alright? Tell me if you want to stay," He, now identified clearly as Sunghoon, gently righted your standing position, steadying you on the ground with his firm grip.

You nodded, thinking only of curling up with your blankets, his arms wrapped around your waist, lulling you to sleep with his soothing voice... Wait, no. What were you thinking? Must be the alcohol. You wouldn't be developing feelings for someone this quickly, right? Obviously, you didn't already have them before this moment already... hopefully.

You barely remembered the drive back, only barely recalling Sunghoon's comforting words to you as you drove back, telling you that you would be home soon. However, as nice as home sounded, all your stupid drunken mind could think about was how it felt when he (somewhat?) hugged you as you fell into his arms. It was a cliche, but rightfully so- who wouldn't want to experience that moment?

You dozed off in the car as you neared your shared apartment with Jungwon, so tired that you didn't even register Sunghoon carrying you to the door and gently setting you on your bed when Jungwon answered. Tidbits of quiet conversation floated from the closed kitchen door to your focused ears, though you knew you wouldn't remember it the next morning. You drifted off to sleep yet again, not feeling the hand adjusting some stray hairs from your face as you slept peacefully.

—

You woke up with a pounding headache, stretching as you painfully sat up. See, this was why you didn't drink.

Looking at the alarm clock on the bedside table for the time, you caught sight of a hangover relieving energy drink on the table and a sticky note. Frowning, you picked up the sticky note, and read the message.

In case your memory isn't back yet, I sent you home last night, so don't worry. You can ask won for details, or text me if you're comfortable with it- xxx-xxx-xxxx. - hoon

Ignoring the vertigo and sudden flood of heat to your cheeks, you got up and rushed out of your room, looking for your roommate. Luckily, you didn't have far to go, with him being in your kitchen.

"Won! Why did you abandon me last night? You literally forced the hottest person since ever to send my embarrassing drunk ass home, you idiot!" You punched his arm, albeit lightly- not by choice, but working out was a pain, and not entirely worth the crying bleeding and losing that came with it.

"How is this my fault? You ran off the moment we went inside, and when we were supposed to meet up to leave, nobody could find you. Your favorite lovebird volunteered to stay back for you, so it's actually your fault?" Jungwon rolled his eyes peacefully going back to drinking his coffee and muttering, "Ugh, young love is disgusting."

"Oh. Sorry. Kinda. Wait, why would he volunteer? Even though it's not a bad thing- not really- well, actually-"

"No. Don't go on. You sound like the protagonist of a teenage angst movie about friendship. The boy has literally been idolizing you for a year already, just get together already. No, I'm not supposed to tell you this. Yes, it's true. I'm tired of listening to him talk about your voice. I personally find it annoying, but you do you, I guess. I'm going to practice, yn-ah. See ya later~"

You just gaped at him as he walked off, your brain cells slowly melting into mush, working overtime to process his words. You began entering Sunghoon's number into your phone from the sticky note he wrote for you, dazed and barely functioning.

"I- thought he didn't like being called Hoon?..."

—

"Yn-ah, remember when you were drunk out of your mind?" Sunghoon asked you playfully, laughing at the memory. Your better decision making skills after the fateful event allowed you to keep Sunghoon at your side throughout all parties you attended, refusing drinks for you when you were too much of a wimp to, and checking rooms for absolute pg-quality before letting you go inside.

"Ah, that was bad. At least I stopped being so closed-off after that. And I met you, so it's all worth it," You giggled, letting him play with the strands of your hair and you two sat closely on the ground of the practice room.

"We're in here too, you know... How is it even possible to get this close in a month?" Sunoo side-eyed the two of you disgustedly, not even trying to be subtle as he scooched farther away. He only received you sticking your tongue out at him and Sunghoon's bright smile while looking at you.

"Yeah, kids present." Riki said distractedly, without even looking up from his video game.

"At least he's not moping around like he's still stuck in his emo years now. Although you're still somehow 10 times happier with yn than us, you traitor. You're great, yn, but you can literally do better than this backstabber. " Heeseung fake-glared at Sunghoon, before getting interrupted by a notification from your phone. Sunghoon looked over to check it, as he was closer than you were.

"It's an email from... Seoul University? I thought you said they rejected you already?" Sunghoon's brows furrowed at the email, still annoyed that you hadn't let him reject the school's offer for him to attend when he realized you weren't going.

"Oh, yeah, they did. What’d they send?” You asked, only half-interested in the sudden news. After all, they had rejected you when they were your last hope of going to a good college, and you were past it and happy now. Yes, you would have been out-of-your-mind happy to go, but what happened happened. Better to just let it go, right?

“Hm, let’s see. Miss Yn Ln, we at the Seoul University admissions center would like to extend our deepest apologies, due to a processing error on our part. We have recently been alerted to the fact that your application to our university was declined… Yn!! Oh my god. Here, read it yourself.”

“Apologies?” You murmured confusedly as Sunghoon handed you your phone, sitting up with a sudden burst of adrenaline coursing through your body. It couldn’t be- they wouldn’t admit to such a mistake anyways- had you actually been-?

You quickly scanned the letter, only releasing the huge breath you didn’t even know you were holding when you read their statement that they would be “honored if you would attend” the school. You buried your head into Sunghoon’s chest, overcome with emotion.

You had worked so hard for your goals, too hard really, and had been crushed by the weight of rejection in response. Was it really true that you would finally get to keep living your childhood dream? Even though you already had your greatest happiness right next to you, Sunghoon? Even though you had resolved to stop your completely academically focused lifestyle?

And of course, the love of your life just had to respond to those silent thoughts perfectly.

“Congratulations, yn. You deserve all of it- every single bit and more.”

[hater-reads]

Haunting Echoes of the Past - CHAPTER 4. The Calm Before the Storm

Gojo let him go. After all, Geto was already moving on, or so he thought.

Gojo started to put his life together, he found out that what he really wanted was to be a teacher, so he could protect kids like Geto; so, he could teach stupid kids -like he once was- to really be able to talk about their feelings and be strong enough to not fall into their families' expectations. Because he realized, his life had broken down in pieces because of him, his stupid choices, his family, and the cowardice that took over him back then. 

Now, he would have to work his ass off, like he never did. Surprisingly, life gave Gojo a chance. That university degree that he thought would be of no use, was a useful tool for his new life as a teacher. It took him a while to find a place, but thanks to old contacts he had met while studying, he was given a place at a high school a bit far from the city.

Despite the unseriousness with which he spoke, Gojo was good at his job. He respected the rules, and the students trusted him, they almost saw him as a friend. Thanks to that, he was beginning to feel a little less lonely. 

Yuta Okkotsu, one of his top students, said in his graduation speech that if he had been able to get this far, it was thanks to his teacher Gojo Satoru. Gojo was moved and he became fond of the boy. Even after graduating, the boy would email him to see how he was doing and ask if he wanted to go out for coffee sometime. Gojo accepted and discovered that Okkotsu was a more mature person than he thought he was, life had not been easy for him, and after a round of meetings, Gojo saw him as a friend. 

Life was flowing calmly for the first time in years. A calm and quiet life, yes, he was lonely, but he felt peace. Every so often, he dreamed of Geto and the memories of his youth. When this happened, he would drink some water and avoid sleeping, then spent hours looking at the sky. He felt that the moon and the starry night were as close as he could ever get to Geto again. It was okay for him. 

The years went smoothly, nothing big happened. A few more years working and then he could retire as a teacher, he thought. 

It was a day like any other, when a woman arrived at his office. He was sitting in his desk looking through papers when the woman walked in without asking. He knew who this was, almost like if he had already met her before, except he didn't. He could feel his essence coming from her. A slim woman with blonde hair, he would never have guessed that this was Geto's type. 

"Satoru Gojo." the thin woman said.

"Who are you?" he said, not caring. 

"I think you know very well who I am."

"I don't know why you came here, but I don't have anything do to with him anymore. I haven't seen him for ages."

"He's dying." said the woman with a serious tone, there was not a bit of humor in her voice.

Gojo felt his world stop. He stood abruptly and slammed his hands on the desk at the same time. 

"I'm not in the mood for jokes. Tell me why you are really here!"

He looked at the woman who had teary eyes, she wasn't joking, not in the slightest. 

This was not possible, Geto was a healthy person, he took care of his diet, and exercised, he was a little thin but nothing to worry about. How could he be sick? 

"What happened?" 

"He has a heart condition that the professionals barely noticed. He had a heart attack a few weeks ago. We thought he was getting better, but his heart became less and less responsive. I'm afraid there's not much they can do."

Things were serious. Gojo's body felt heavier and heavier, and his whole body ached with pain too hard to bear. He sat back in his chair, trying to process the sad news, he didn't speak for a while, it was hard to breathe. On another occasion, he would have asked her to leave, but this woman didn't even have his number. Talking about Geto now was the only thing they could do.

"Where were you, huh? He spends years of his life with you, and you are not even able to take care of him and realize that he is getting sick." Gojo said with a tone of both disdain and disgust.

"And what about you? That you let him go just like that. Think I don't know about you and him? The pain you put him through?" 

"His illness has nothing to do with me!" Gojo screamed.

"It does, you scumbag!" The woman lost her sanity. "I heard him mourn at night for years, during our marriage I had to hear him say your name in his sleep countless times, even if he cried or laughed, he always said your name!"

Gojo was speechless, how could Geto still think of him when he had a wife who loved him?

The woman kept touching her eyes, trying to stop the tears. 

"You know...we even have two daughters, two adorable girls who love him. And he loves them more than anything in the world. I thought that by giving him children he would be able to move on, but even now, I know he's looking for you in the crowd."

Gojo could imagine him, Geto was probably a loving and responsible father, he imagined him playing with his daughters, taking them to stores, his daughters probably playing with his hair. He imagined Geto playing with dolls, and he couldn't help but smile.

The woman continued, "I am married to him legally, but I suspect he was always married to you in soul. He has a void that I will never be able to fill."

Gojo didn't speak.

"I don't know how much longer he has left, if you want to do something good for once and say goodbye, this is the hospital where he is. The girls and I are with him every hour." The woman took a deep breath. "I hate you more than anyone, I hope you realize that. But I know that seeing you one last time will give him the peace to leave without regrets." said the woman as she left Gojo's office, without even looking him in the eye.

What was Gojo going to do now? His life was finally going as it should, but now that he was calm, that woman came with news that made him lose his mind. He was going to lose him, not for the first or second time, he was going to lose him forever. Only at that moment did Gojo realize how insignificant all those years of pretending to leave everything behind had been. Nothing made sense, there was no point in pretending that he lived well and that he had made peace with his past. He had not.

He always thought that he would leave this world before Geto, because seeing himself alone in a world where his Suguru did not exist was too painful to bear. So, he always thought that he would die and Geto would live a long and happy life, even if it was without him.

It was as if the world was coming to an end.

[asena-graywolf]

I Love Make You Angry

You were an art student. As long as you can remember, drawing was your favorite hobby. You had talent and wanted to develop it. You wrote the Art department in the first place in your university preferences and you have been taking drawing lessons for two years in your dream department.

You wanted to be a famous manga illustrator after school was over. The person who supported you the most in this regard was your boyfriend Tsukishima. She even modeled for you. You drew her portrait.

He hung the portrait he had drawn for her on the board in your study so that he could always see it while he was working.

Yes, you both rented a house near campus when you enrolled to college and have lived together for two years.

That evening you were at your desk to practice drawing again. The area was very quiet. Having sound, you turned on a music from the phone. Maybe it would be strange for the person who sees it from the outside, but you enjoyed listening to this kind of music while you were drawing. The music you turned on was a kind of Christian chants. Along with the music, there were also ambient sounds in the background. You felt like you were in a church library. The ambience had the sound of rain and the splash of water drops falling on the stone floor.

You were so immersed in drawing and music that you didn't even hear your boyfriend come home and call out to you.

“Y/N! I’m home!"

Noticing that you weren't responding, he thought he was drawn to drawing again. The situation became even more awkward for him when Christian chants music came to his ears.

He approached the room where the music came from and finished behind you

“May it be easy y/n”

You turned over your shoulder and looked at him.

“Tsuki? I didn't hear you come"

You got up from your chair

"It's okay... so, what is this?" he said pointing to your phone

"What could it be? It's the music"

Tsuki had a hard time not laughing, but she couldn't help giggling.

"So what? Christian chants? How long have you been listening to them? Couldn't find another song to listen to? Or are you a Christian and I don't know?"

You answered your boyfriend while muting the music on your phone

“Oh Tsuki! It’s just a music! Listening to rock 'n' roll music while working is tiring for my brain. This kind of relaxing music helps me to relax and concentrate better. It's like a kind of meditation"

“You're really funny. How did I not notice this interesting habit of yours? You were so unappealing about the choice of music"

You frowned. Your face turned red with anger

"Excuse me, I forgot music is your business. What's wrong with the music I listen to?"

“What if you are listening to Christian chants? If you love it that much, I'll take you to church on Sundays and you'll hear it live.

Tsuki was still reeling you in

"It's not funny! Do I interfere with your musical taste? Then don't mess with mine either!"

Your nerves shot through the ceiling but Tsuki knew what would calm you down.

"Come here"

He took you in his arms, pressing your head to his chest. You punched his chest to get rid of it

"Let go of me!"

“Shhh! Okay, calm down. I was just kidding"

He kissed your top of head. He stroked your hair. I knew you were different from the day we met.

You lifted your head off his chest

“Tsuki! You really are an asshole"

He pinched his cheeks hard

“I love pissing you off. Because you're so cute when you're angry. Did I say that before?"

“A hundred times”

You grabbed his hands that pinched his cheeks and slid off him with a swift move.

You said, "my wise guy darling," and you grabbed his nose.

So he’s 1.90 meters tall, you had to stand up on your toes to reach his nose.

He kissed your nose too

“You are so cute y/n. I wasn't serious in what I said, I'm sorry if I offended you"

"It doesn’t matter"

“I know how to win your heart. Let's eat dinner. I'll order for you your favorite pizza"

“Let it be so”

You rolled your eyes and smiled sweetly at your boyfriend.

[trinh24]

On the concept of luck and my legacy in Japan:

When I came to Nishiki, my supervisor told me, "You were really lucky to come here, to Nishiki." Out of all the small rural towns in Japan, in Kumamoto, in Kuma-gun. And I really didn't believe her. As many other upset people feel when they uproot their lives to move somewhere unfamiliar, I couldn't see the so-called luck I had. Me moving into a foreign country struggling with things that could have easily been prevented was not luck. Being able to say "I guess it could get worse" is a privilege, but it obviously didn't feel like that in the moment. At that tumultuous time, I was a pessimistic person who wanted some validation that my new struggles were real and painful.

But I admitted to myself that didn't know how my year in Japan would shake out or what kind of challenges I would face. As I slowly moved through the first few months, I had both positive and negative experiences that I thought were very balanced. I knew that I was lucky to have someone help me with the endless paperwork and translate my language shortcomings, but also unlucky that my house wasn't clean and I had a hard time teaching at school. Yet I needed to persist, even when overtime, the challenges eventually got worse and worse.

But sometimes you can only count on chance and luck. As a JET or an ALT, I knew from the get-go that I was already giving up many of my freedoms. I came knowing that I didn't get a choice of where I would live, what car I could have, what town suited me, what scenery I liked, or the types of friends and communities I could have around me. I allowed myself to be frustrated with losing those freedoms, because I know they're important to my life. But there was also no use in crying and sobbing for weeks over spilt milk.

After many months of getting to know my town and my coworkers, I realized that many of the relationships I had here, my car, and my house were all hand-me-downs. They were all things that someone else had maybe poured lots of time into, or things that had gone unattended after someone left suddenly. I could see things like love and attention in many places. Students I talked to could remember past ALTs and asked for them to visit them in Nishiki, fondly. Other times, it was things like the storage room next to our office, littered with years of old materials that had been stuffed full into cardboard file cabinets that are so heavy they couldn't slide out. Year after year, no one had touched what had come before and simply piled more on top and slammed the cabinets shut. And now, as I forced the drawers with two hands, I needed to use my body weight to yank them open. Peering inside, there were old worksheets, dirty flashcards, broken toys, picture books, and attendance lists that were once so precious. It had been so many years, but the worksheets were still here being archived in the storage room. Someone had created them, used them, and then left them here because they didn't want to forget them. But seeing the worksheets crumpled and forced into their spot between the books, the care that went into writing and printing these sheets was not also stored in this drawer. The people who came after didn't care to reuse them, to sort them, or to learn from them. The original care had left, and now the papers had become feed for recycling when I found them. They lasted so long here, but only to feel thin and fragile now.

Over the past year, I slowly learned of all these hand-me-downs that were out of my control. They were put here by someone else. But nevertheless, I could feel that they were mine. I inherited them. I didn't choose to inherit them but they were given to me. I can close the drawer and pretend not to notice, but every so often, a student will call for another teacher and tell me that they still remember what has come before, even if I try not to listen.

And now, the positive to all of this is that I have the chance to overwrite or continue building upon these relationships and these old memories. I didn't get a choice in what landed in my lap, but it's with my own freedom that I can change it.

Many people here were surprised I was only staying for one year here because I haven't experienced everything I could. When I arrived, staying for a short time actually threw a wrench into their plans, and I knew for others and myself that it was hard to conceptualize welcoming, training, and building a relationship with someone who had already decided to leave just as they arrived.

I think it's a habit of mine to overbook and keep myself busy with unrealistic expectations of what I can accomplish in such a short time. But I wanted to somehow leave this place just a little bit nicer than how I'd gotten it. Even if it wasn't at a macro, school district level of improving the proficiency of every single student, I wanted to peacefully and happily leave people with good memories or resources. I wanted to do the 頑張る and put in the "work" of what I saw in the worksheets in the storage room. But this time I would archive it together with the care, the organization, and precision I felt was missing from the previous years. I saw the opportunity to upgrade so many things at the office, the schools, the storage room, in my apartment complex, with so little time. But I was (or still am) determined to make it something worthwhile.

Even if it wasn't for me or my own self-growth, I slowly found people I trusted and people who had helped me through the lonely and frightening parts of this corner of the world. And I wanted to leave them something.

On a certain rainy Wednesday in July, It had been 11 months since I came to Nishiki. I wasn't surprised by many things at this point, but the fatigue and burden I had put on myself that came with trying to change or grow a legacy was weighing down heavily on me and my co-ALT Will. We simply wanted everything to go well, which was a small yet surprisingly high bar to pass with all of our stressors and obstacles at work. Every event we planned felt like an uphill battle, being bombarded at a nursery school and running around the office for hours had us listless by the end of the day. As the afternoon melted away, we both agreed that it was days like this that made us realize why overtime was common in Japan. Things like overwhelming deadlines that get pushed up due to unfortunate domino effects, needing to rethink and debate logistics a million times, and knowing that the next day we'd have to do it all again and explain (or debate it) with other coworkers.

As rewarding as it is to work with students and children, Will and I think very carefully about the reputation and legacy we're attempting to create and build upon. I suppose both of us are very ambitious in the sense that we consider our work to be crucial stepping stones for future ALTs to have smoother transitions and relationships with the people in Nishiki. It's quite a self-righteous and virtuous goal to chase. The catch was that it involved us having to teach ourselves how it all worked.

It's not that we said yes to too many things, but I feel that it's particularly in these last few months where we're seeing the dividends of our year's work. We were falling into the rhythm of the new school year and fiscal year, and now the work that people were gracious and comfortable to entrust us with came at us all on that day.

When my shift was finished, I took gathered my things from the office and walked downstairs to leave ahead of Will. Seeing the warm rain sprinkling down, I opened my umbrella and walked to my car quietly. As I approached it, another lady across from me got into her car, and I greeted her before opening the door to my passenger seat. I threw all of my things inside haphazardly and then finally closed my umbrella, luckily not needed because the sprinkles had come to a stop. I took the last of my energy and slammed the door shut to walk around to the other side when I heard a quick kerchak of the door lock.

I tried all four doors and the trunk, and of course nothing would budge. Of course it was on this day, and of course this would happen to me. I stood staring into the tinted windows of my car, with my phone and key locked inside. And after a minute, I saw Will walking towards me with the sad smile born from corporate fatigue. I returned the same smile.

As he lamented my situation, we relocated inside his car, which was parked right next to mine. I held my face in my hands and his phone rang, and we waited for our supervisor to call our car dealer.

"Of course this happens today of all days," I remember saying again out loud to him. I'm a believer in karma, and that whatever force that governed luck was doing it as a reaction to some other event in my life. Even after I had had enough of the day, the day had not had enough of me. It was luck that would do this. After a stressful work day, it was only fitting to get locked out of my car and feel even worse sitting with my friend in his car and taking up his time. I hid my face and wanted to cry because I knew that we were both tired and wanting the day to be over. If there is a fate or karma or luck in the world, there's that, plus me and my choices as a catalyst. The world slowly spinning on its axis plus me leaving my car keys deep inside my bag. With no luck to fish them out from the outside.

When our car dealer arrived from his busy schedule, I felt that I needed a deeper hiding hole to crawl into. Even though I was reassured that things were fine and that a representative from the car company could come to pick open the lock, I didn't feel any less tired and the process dragged on. As I listened to my car dealer, or rather my grandfather in spirit, talk to Will and I about locking mechanics, I thought if this was how it would feel like to still have grandparents. Will and I stood outside my car as he gave an anecdote about another lady he helped locked out of hers. I rotated between the same three reactions and shifted my weight from one leg to another. The grey sky showed no indication of time passing, like I was stuck in a video game cutscene or world that was choosing to move slower. Slowly, the rain began to fall on my glasses and we agreed to sit back in our cars.

I was being held hostage in the parking lot for longer and longer, and finally, our repairman came and we all crowded around outside to watch him use a stick to force the lock open from between the door and window. The rain hit my shoulder because Will's umbrella wasn't wide enough for both of us, and I again felt terrible for taking everyone's time. If I could've solved everything without mentioning it to a single soul, I would have. My original mission to make life and work easier for everyone who had helped me in Nishiki was slowly crumbling the longer I watched everyone stare at my car.

While the repairman struggled, my dealer/grandpa went into his car and came back to hand me an umbrella. I looked at the tacky print and hurriedly said thank you. It was a nice reverse or inverse umbrella that for sure was his wife's. When I puffed it open, it smelled like a grandmother.

In time, the other workers from the office finished their work days as well, and they drove past us, all crowded around the car.

"Ara, what's happened here?" One of our education advisors said, rolling down his window to look out at the absurdity of my fate. I sheepishly explained the situation. He smiled at how silly it was but reassured me it would be fine. When he wished us luck and drove off, another car drove in with my coworker and supervisor, back from an appointment.

"Ara? You're still here?" They rolled down the window and opened their mouths, gaping at the spectacle of my misfortune. Then, they parked and got out to help with the staring. I thought I was living out the rule of threes from children's storybooks. The next person to show up would surely have porridge that was not too hot nor cold or be a pig with a house made of bricks.

And sure enough, another secretary had, without me noticing, materialized on the other side of the crowd behind my car. "Oh, it's all fine now. You can go home, please!" But he ignored me and said he would stay to see if I needed his help. Everyone was insistent that they stay to watch the lock click open. I was stressed about the situation, but I wasn't trying to turn an anthill into a mountain.

At long last, the lock clicked open and they opened the door, setting off the piercing alarm. I scrambled for the key in my bag and turned it off, feeling the silence and relief.

I said thank you and good bye and thank you again and good bye again to everyone who had helped me. It had been a slow hour and a half since I had locked my car. Everyone slowly dispersed, and my dealer came back after seeing off the repairman. It turned out he was acquainted with his boss's boss, so he advised me that if a bill came for me in the mail to pay it. And if by some random chance there was no invoice at all... to not tell a soul and leave it at that.

I didn't know what to say other than thank you. After driving to come and help me for nothing in return, I was embarrassed and wanted to cry again.

What had I left for everyone who had come to help me today? I felt so lonely and confused coming to a new place alone with nothing, and wanted to strengthen the legacy I thought was weak from people before me. My goal was to help everyone who had paid me kindness this year, yet I was somehow leaving with more kindness and the urge to pay the debts I had accrued. But there was no real debt that anyone was expecting from me.

As I sat in my car by myself with the engine on, waiting for it to warm up and drive away, I knew that this was that blessed or cursed fate. That luck that my supervisor had told me I had. The reason why the car locked, and I spent an hour and a half here. That was the time it took for people to gather around me, to help me, and to support me. The time for me to have no choice but to be living in that moment where people were coming to me and saying that they cared. Because I needed to realize the kindness and love I was lucky to have, the universe and my stupidity banded together to make me sit down and show it to me. With no chance to look away or run away.

The care that I believed was lost from previous ALTs maybe wasn't in that drawer anymore. But it was sprinkled across this town, somewhat imperfect but still here, and I had grown it further. I was lucky that I inherited the people in this town who still cared for foreigners and strangers amongst them. I was lucky that everyone wanted to ask if I was okay and make sure it was so, even if I didn't say anything. It was both that luck I inherited and the effort I had poured into this place for 11 months, working together.

The last things for me to do are to continue writing thousands of words in advice I wish I had, using my strengths to help my co-teachers, and introducing my new friends to each other so they're not lonely after I leave. I can't control what's going to happen to the town or to me when I leave, but I trust that all the work I tried so hard to improve will settle into all the cracks and crevices of this town and sparkle.

Maybe I am lucky after all.

I cried on the drive home, thinking about how I did my best. I worked hard. The Trinh who wanted to make sure that the future was safe and comfortable had already accomplished that goal.

[winterapocalypse]

Winter Apocalypse chapter 27

Grey + Ghost

Jon woke with a start, jolting Sam awake as he slept in the bunk bed beneath him. Sam originally wanted to sleep in the top bunk, but given his weight, Jon didn't want to risk being crushed under the other boy in the middle of the night if the bed ever gave way.

"Jon?" Sam actually asked. Jon, his mouth still thick with sleep, muttered that he had had a nightmare and not to worry.

"You always have nightmares since we've been here at Winter Hogwarts." Sam told him, and he was right.

Jon, Sam, Grenn, Pyp, Satin, Edd and all the other boys who usually stayed and studied at the Night's Watch's wizarding school, Castle Black, had been hastily transferred to Winter Hogwarts. Of course, their dormitory was not particularly large or as refined as the four towers intended for the four houses of the school, but it was still livable. It was an unused area of the castle, and which must have been, centuries ago, a kind of meeting room, or perhaps a warehouse for when the winter became unbearable and unlivable there in the North.

Winter Hogwarts was further south than Castle Black, it was bigger, older, elegant and beautiful and warm even in the coldest months of winter, but Jon… Jon couldn't get comfortable with him.

Maybe because, if he leaned far enough out of his bed, he could see right out the window, into the Dark Forest surrounding the castle. He knew who was hiding in there - good creatures, evil ones, and above all Mysterio… Or maybe because in that school there were some guys to really stay away from.

It was almost time to wake up anyway, so Jon didn't go back to sleep. He leapt from his bed with a nimble leap, and landed as gracefully as a cat on the dark granite floor.

For that new, first day of school at Winter Hogwarts, he decided to wear the simple uniform of the place - black trousers, white shirt, gray sweater and finally the cloak and scarf of the Guardians, black as the night they had solemnly sworn to protect .

Yet, inside that castle, Jon didn't feel like doing his job.

He looked at himself in the mirror one last time. His black curls fell softly on his pale face, barely covering the ugly scars on his eye, which was miraculously safe. Since he had met Mysterio, he had not needed to take those muggle medicines that Robb's jovial Slytherin friend had brought him, because the centaur had healed him with his sweet and comforting magic, but the scars remained, reddish and cruel as the claws of that gigantic eagle.

At Castle Black, all courses were compulsory and there was no choice of courses whatsoever, there at Winter Hogwarts every student from every walk of life could do whatever they wanted, even though most were the children of nobles and extremely magically gifted from all over Westeros.

Robb, his half-brother on his father's side, had treacherously enrolled him in the "First Men runology" course, a course that was free, yes, but was definitely recommended to all ethnic wizards of the First Men, therefore coming from North, from the Vale or Riverlands of Westeros, or from Northorios.

Jon hurried to the room, but he still didn't know how to orient himself well. In his pocket, he felt the cold stone – Mysterio's seal – pressed against his leg, comforting.

As he wandered through the still semi-deserted corridors, a familiar voice woke him from his stupor - it was Robb, his half-brother.

"Jon! Ah, I see the wound is healed!" the red-haired boy said beaming, the red and gold Gryffindor cape draped over his shoulders.

At his side his silver direwolf, Gray Wind, rushed towards Ghost who had remained faithfully close to his master the entire time. They played around a bit while the two boys headed towards the room where the First Men Runology course would be held.

The door was closed since the professor had yet to arrive, but some students were already waiting in front of the door.

Previous Chapter

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[your-sweet-cookies]

What’s your all-time favorite memory?

I have many wonderful memories, but perhaps one of my all-time favorite memories it's one of the first interactions I had with my dear beloved Niragi! I remember it even now... It was during the start of my first year of University...

~ Flashback ~

The beginning of the University year! A time full of energy and movement due to the swarms of students arriving back for another semester full of work, projects, studying, parties and stress, so that they could get ready to readjust themselves to the campus life, or if they were freshmen, to accommodate to this new form of lifestyle.

Kukki just so happened to be one of the first years of that new school year and since she'd just arrived at the Tokyo University's campus for the first time, she was a bit disoriented on top of being somewhat nervous. This was the start of a new chapter in her life, a new beginning, and she was rather excited and a bit scared about what was to come next. She was curious about the kind of people she will meet here and eager to study the realms of the human mind. So Kukki was determined to not start it on a wrong foot!

But as it happens, her luck wasn't soo great and in her first day there, she'd already managed to get lost while looking for the dorm rooms...

That was probably to be expected for someone as unlucky as she was, the silver haired though to herself after wandering aimlessly around the giant University grounds for the last one and a half hours, as she stopped all hopeless on one of the many courtyard benches. She heaved a deep sigh and rested her face in her hands.

What was she going to do? She couldn't spend all day looking for a dumb building! Plus, on top of that she had to organize her stuff in the new room, get the week schedule for the semester, finish delivering her documents to the secretariat and some other minor, yet annoying administrative things that had to be done before the start of school.

The young woman heaved a deep sigh. It couldn't be helped, at this rate she had to go on and ask one of the older students or staff members for instructions on where the freaking dorm rooms were located. Of course, that would've been the right thing to do from the very start, but given her shy and somewhat antisocial demeanor, talking to strangers came kinda hard for her and that's why she avoided that for the time being, struggling on her own. But now she didn't have any other choice, unless...

'I'm saved!' A big smile illuminated her gloomy features when her gaze landed on a giant billboard showcasing the full map of the campus. 'Why the heck haven't I seen that earlier?!' Kukki thought to herself and got up from the bench, starting to hurry towards the life saving map. But as she was walking fast like that, only paying attention to the billboard in front of her and nothing else, the young woman didn't even realize the other person coming from the side, staring at their phone screen, which caused the two to collide into each other.

Next thing she knew, Kukki was lying on the ground, with her luggage next to her and the documents she was holding just moments ago, scattered all around her on the grass. 'H-Huh?' She blinked for a few moments, as if trying to register what the heck just happened and the next thing she heard was an angry voice, reprimanding her. "Hey, look where you're going!" The voice startled her and rendered her even more confused than she already was.

Looking now in front of her, she finally noticed the other person, who collided into her as they were both walking, leading them both to fall to the ground. The other one was an older student, probably in his final years, staring annoyed with his brows furrowed at her. Mid shoulder length raven hair brushed in a messy half bun, familiar dark brown eyes, face piercings and a cold stare... Kukki noted the man's features, not even realizing that now she was staring at him. 'Handsome...' Was her next thought followed by a blush, before she was brought back to reality by another scoff and rude retort from the man. "Got a problem?! Stop staring at me!"

"W-What?" Kukki finally muttered, a feeling of awkwardness creeping up on her as she realized that she was in fact ogling at him like a weirdo. "I-I... I was not... Uh... s-staring... I-I..."

"Are you daft or something?! I said watch where you are going! You bumped into me and almost made me drop my phone, you idiot!" Of course, it was his fault for staring at his phone while walking, instead of minding his surroundings, but he wasn't going to admit that and instead threw the blame on her. "But I didn't..." Kukki was still confused, she could've sworn there wasn't anyone in her direct line of vision as she was walking, otherwise she would've avoided them.

"Whatever, I don't have time for this!" He started getting back up, mumbling and grumbling under his breath, but right as he was about to leave, a slight ounce of common sense seemed to reach him, maybe as he realized it was actually his mistake, making him rethink his actions and heave a sigh. The man turned around and stretched a hand out to her to help her get up. Kukki stared at the hand for a few moments then at its owner, before hesitantly accepting it and getting back up on her feet.

"I-I'm sorry, I really didn't mean to bump into you! I don't even know what happened or how and why it happened, since I was looking where I was walking and..." She stuttered an apology, all while she was still staring at him, before he interrupted her. "I said whatever! I don't care about your poor excuses, you've already made me lose enough time! Also, instead of staring at me, you should pick those up before the wind blows them who knows where, since I assume they might be important papers." He pointed at her documents, still scattered on the ground.

"Ah, right, s-sorry again... T-thanks for telling me..." Kukki's blush grew a hue darker at the second mention that she was still staring at him, as she felt the strong urge to facepalm herself for it. Without further ado, she started working on picking up the documents, thinking that that awkward conversation was now done and the other student will just continue on his merry way, since he did make it clear he didn't have time to waste.

But yet again, she was taken aback by the fact that he didn't leave, but instead helped her with the papers, all while still mumbling under his breath words like 'stupid freshmen' or 'dumb idiot making me waste my time', which made the silver haired grimace since he didn't even have any obligations to help her and she didn't even ask him to do it. But whatever, she wasn't going to complain for an extra hand helping her.

"There. This should be all the papers left on the ground." He shoved them into her hands and now turned his back on her to leave for good.

'W-What a strange man...' Kukki thought to herself, still blinking in disbelief at what just happened, before realizing the opportunity that just graced by her. "Hey, wait..." She shouted after him, making the man stop yet again and growl in annoyance. "What do you want now?!" He asked, not turning to face her again. "S-Sorry for bothering you... again... But... D-Do you know where I could find the dorms?" Kukki's timid voice was barely audible, but she still managed to ask the question.

"Are you really fucking stupid or something?! It's the building right next to the cafeteria, aka the one in front of you! It says in bold letters above the freaking door!" He grumbled in frustration and even more annoyance, as if Kukki could've predicted that the cafeteria was situated next to the dorms, which by the way, unlike it, didn't have any 'bold capital letters' plastered above the entrance door to signal that those were dorm rooms.

"Ah... I guess it kinda makes sense for the canteen to be situated next to the dorms..." Kukki rubbed her chin and nodded as if she finally had this sudden revelation. "Thanks a lot!" She smiled joyfully and he sighed again. "Now, if that was all, I will leave!" The man's grave tone made it clear he was fed up of her and wanted nothing more to do with her, so Kukki nodded again and didn't say any other word, allowing him to finally leave, although she maybe wished to at least know his name.

'Maybe some other time...' She continued staring at his back, watching his silhouette grow smaller and smaller as he continued walking away. He was a truly rude young man, but still... Kukki couldn't brush away that strange feeling that made her heart pound in her chest like crazy and the sensation that she knew him from somewhere.

~ End of flashback ~

Yeah... A truly charming memory indeed! Quite an intense way to start your first day on campus, but I'm not too upset about it. Suguru was nice even back then when he tried being all mean! <3

[concerningwolves]

We had the accelerated reader programme as well (English high school in the early–mid 2010s), and I can trace the moment I fell out of love with reading back to that bloody thing.

To start with, we'd have to take a test at the start of every term, possibly every half term if I'm remembering right, which determined our AR "level". Every book in the school library was labelled with a number that dictated which AR bracket it fell into, and the idea was you read books that fell within your bracket – with the heavy implication that you were meant to progress up the brackets over time. There weren't explicit rules that prevented you from going "down" a bracket, but by god the librarians and teachers would make sure you knew they didn't approve. If you wanted read something from a bracket below yours (and I cannot state enough how much I hate the notion of books being graded on a ladder scale, with the idea that everyone is meant to climb their way up to some lofty highbrow height), then you often had to justify that choice to the teachers.

The school expected us to complete a book – and to complete its associated quiz – every two weeks. In order to ""help"" us achieve this, there were twenty minutes in every school day dedicated to reading, and then we were expected to read for twenty minutes at home as well. They said if we read for forty minutes every day we could read a book a week, or two weeks for longer books. So, not only did it become a matter of reading for points, but also a time crunch.

Not every book was on the AR system, either, and you could only read books that were, because otherwise there wasn't a quiz to take. My TBR pile was never bigger than during my time in the AR programme, because every time I found a book that piqued my interest, I had to go and check the Accelerated Reader Bookfinder first. I don't know in what world restricting what children can read because they have to be able to take a quiz afterwards encourages a love of reading, but it sure isn't this one. Children should be able to freely explore whatever books they like! (I think the books included in the programme tended to be more "popular" or "mainstream" books, but honestly their metric for what to include still makes no sense to me. You wanted to read some random book about caring for dogs? Sure! But if you loved Watership Down and wanted to read another of Richard Adams' books, you couldn't, because that was the only book of his on the system).

Before high school and the AR program, I was a voracious bookworm who LOVED reading. They exempted students from having to participate in the programme in our last two years because we were prepping for our GCSEs, and by then, reading had become pure obligation. If I wasn't reading to keep up with the AR programme, I was reading for escapism, because high school was awful and I was stressed out of my fretted little noggin. Pleasure hardly came into it.

Over five years later, I still struggle to read for fun.

But sure, screens are the only reason why children don't read any more. [<- heavy sarcasm]

(Also, I don't think there were rewards like the pizza in the UK & Ireland AR programme? The school tracked the points we accumulated, and the top three or so students got vouchers or some other reward at the end of the year in a public awards assembly. The school had a behaviour points system where you could earn positive or negative points for your behaviour and performance in class; some teachers gave out positive points for completing an AR quiz each week, and a negative point if you didn't manage it. Too many negative points landed you in detention, while positive points would get you rewards at the end of the year, so book reading also became tied to your overall school performance in a pretty tightly-knotted way).

Why Kids Aren't Falling in Love With Reading - It's Not Just Screens

A shrinking number of kids are reading widely and voraciously for fun.

The ubiquity and allure of screens surely play a large part in this—most American children have smartphones by the age of 11—as does learning loss during the pandemic. But this isn’t the whole story. A survey just before the pandemic by the National Assessment of Educational Progress showed that the percentages of 9- and 13-year-olds who said they read daily for fun had dropped by double digits since 1984. I recently spoke with educators and librarians about this trend, and they gave many explanations, but one of the most compelling—and depressing—is rooted in how our education system teaches kids to relate to books.

What I remember most about reading in childhood was falling in love with characters and stories; I adored Judy Blume’s Margaret and Beverly Cleary’s Ralph S. Mouse. In New York, where I was in public elementary school in the early ’80s, we did have state assessments that tested reading level and comprehension, but the focus was on reading as many books as possible and engaging emotionally with them as a way to develop the requisite skills. Now the focus on reading analytically seems to be squashing that organic enjoyment. Critical reading is an important skill, especially for a generation bombarded with information, much of it unreliable or deceptive. But this hyperfocus on analysis comes at a steep price: The love of books and storytelling is being lost.

This disregard for story starts as early as elementary school. Take this requirement from the third-grade English-language-arts Common Core standard, used widely across the U.S.: “Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, distinguishing literal from nonliteral language.” There is a fun, easy way to introduce this concept: reading Peggy Parish’s classic, Amelia Bedelia, in which the eponymous maid follows commands such as “Draw the drapes when the sun comes in” by drawing a picture of the curtains. But here’s how one educator experienced in writing Common Core–aligned curricula proposes this be taught: First, teachers introduce the concepts of nonliteral and figurative language. Then, kids read a single paragraph from Amelia Bedelia and answer written questions.

For anyone who knows children, this is the opposite of engaging: The best way to present an abstract idea to kids is by hooking them on a story. “Nonliteral language” becomes a whole lot more interesting and comprehensible, especially to an 8-year-old, when they’ve gotten to laugh at Amelia’s antics first. The process of meeting a character and following them through a series of conflicts is the fun part of reading. Jumping into a paragraph in the middle of a book is about as appealing for most kids as cleaning their room.

But as several educators explained to me, the advent of accountability laws and policies, starting with No Child Left Behind in 2001, and accompanying high-stakes assessments based on standards, be they Common Core or similar state alternatives, has put enormous pressure on instructors to teach to these tests at the expense of best practices. Jennifer LaGarde, who has more than 20 years of experience as a public-school teacher and librarian, described how one such practice—the class read-aloud—invariably resulted in kids asking her for comparable titles. But read-alouds are now imperiled by the need to make sure that kids have mastered all the standards that await them in evaluation, an even more daunting task since the start of the pandemic. “There’s a whole generation of kids who associate reading with assessment now,” LaGarde said.

By middle school, not only is there even less time for activities such as class read-alouds, but instruction also continues to center heavily on passage analysis, said LaGarde, who taught that age group. A friend recently told me that her child’s middle-school teacher had introduced To Kill a Mockingbird to the class, explaining that they would read it over a number of months—and might not have time to finish it. “How can they not get to the end of To Kill a Mockingbird?” she wondered. I’m right there with her. You can’t teach kids to love reading if you don’t even prioritize making it to a book’s end. The reward comes from the emotional payoff of the story’s climax; kids miss out on this essential feeling if they don’t reach Atticus Finch’s powerful defense of Tom Robinson in the courtroom or never get to solve the mystery of Boo Radley.

... Young people should experience the intrinsic pleasure of taking a narrative journey, making an emotional connection with a character (including ones different from themselves), and wondering what will happen next—then finding out. This is the spell that reading casts. And, like with any magician’s trick, picking a story apart and learning how it’s done before you have experienced its wonder risks destroying the magic.

-- article by katherine marsh, the atlantic (12 foot link, no paywall)

[violettelueur]

GOJO SATORU || FOR A LIFETIME

| featuring : gojo satoru from jujutsu kaisen

| warnings : grammar errors other than that n/a

| form : imagine

| word count : 1733

| published : 19 november

| request : Gojo Satoru x wife! Reader. They're just cuddling and being all lovey dovey until his students burst in, and are immediately asking questions cuz they didn't know he was married. He just says they've been married for three years and met at the Academy, and she's just smiling as they start asking her questions and how he managed to search up a pretty girl like her

| barista’s notes : i really loved writing this imagine for some reason  ʕ·ᴥ·　ʔ like i just had so much fun thinking all the events that could happen with the trio but i kinda feel like i didn’t paste my imagination well into words ʕ ﾟ ● ﾟʔ other than that, i hope you love your cup of classic black coffee and i hope you come again and order soon once we’re back open ʕ •ᴥ•ʔ

Stretching your arms upwards, you could clearly hear the few cracks that your back had released telling you that you had been sitting in the same position for too much time causing you to groan from the satisfaction that your back felt lighter than it did a few seconds ago.

Looking at the clock that was hanging to your right side, you had come to the realisation that you had been working on your reports for a full three hours, leading you to take a deep breath as you were glad that you had managed to finish everything before the sun was going to set. Quickly standing up, you collected all the papers you needed and started to make your way out of your office and let your feet guide you to wherever they wanted to take you.

From what you could recall from this morning, no one had a mission assigned to them today unless it was an emergency to which that was unavoidable - sometimes you can’t even escape them yourself. However, compared to the other Jujutsu sorcerers that were in Tokyo Metropolitan Curse Technical College, you weren’t a teacher but rather the school principal’s right-hand person as you were a student of his back from when he was a teacher himself. 

You continued to walk around aimlessly around the corridors until you stopped to see a sliding door in your way. Tilting your head to the side, you wondered why your feet decided to drag you here while you were daydreaming, causing you to grab one end and quietly slide the door open to see if there was anyone that was in the room right now.

To not much of your surprise, you ‘unexpectantly’ found a very tall man relaxing on a chair acting like he didn’t have any students to teach at this current moment in time. After sliding the door behind you, you walked up to the sleeping man before taking a seat on the remaining space of the chair and decided to rest your head on the palm of your hand that was relaxing on your knee. To think that you were married to his man, made you wonder what was going on in your mind when you said ‘yes’ to his proposal.

“Am I that handsome to you honey?” the man suddenly asked in a teasing tone, as he used his thumb to lift up part of his blindfold to reveal one of his bright sapphire eyes staring at you back, “you’ve been admiring me for quite some time”.

“Nah, I was wondering how drunk I was when I said ‘yes’ to marrying you,” you answered with a playful smile before you suddenly started laughing when your husband gave you an offended expression on his face. “Honey, I’m hurt by that comment,” Gojo stated causing you to reply with, “well you have to live with that for the rest of your life,” leaving him no choice but to give up this little game of banter - since the day both of you became friends, Gojo knew that you were one of the rare people that he wanted to remain by his side as he did with Geto, but that didn’t half of his dream didn’t come to last, yet you were here with him by his side. For a lifetime.

Slowly, he leaned forward to gently grab your sleeve before tugging it, somewhat telling you that he wanted you to move closer to him. Looking at his hand that was holding your sleeve, you scooted closer to him to the point where you were on his lap with your legs hanging out from the side and the side of your head was resting on his chest with your reports in hand.

“What’s that? Shouldn’t you be concentrating on me?” Gojo asked as he looked at the papers in your hand. “These are reports babe, something that you never do,” you answered, before rolling up and sheets and using it to hit the top of his head. However, before Gojo could even playfully comment back at you, the door was slammed open causing you to slightly jump at the sudden interruption leading you to look up, only to see three students with the most confused expression on their faces.

“So I assume you didn’t tell them that you were married,” you quietly asked your husband to which he used your head to rest his head on top and in a high tone muttered, “I forgot wifey~”

“Gojo-sensei!” a boy with pinkish hair yelled out - to which you assumed to be Itadori Yuji - leading to the only female student - to which you quickly figured out that she was Kugisaki Nobara - within the trio to then say, “who is the pretty lady?”. While Fushiguro stood there with the surprised expression still plastered on his face.

“I assume you forgot to tell Megumi as well,” you then giggled out, to which then Gojo laughed with you, as he remembered that after all the years he took care of his precious student, not once he had mentioned you to him.

“This pretty lady here is my little wife, Gojo Y/N,” said to the confused trio, fully and finally introducing you to his first-year students.

“YOU’RE MARRIED?!”

“It’s nice to meet you all, Itadori, Kugisaki and Fushiguro, am I right?” you greeted them with a smile, as the three of them quickly grabbed a random chair out of nowhere and sat down in front of you as if you were about to get interrogated - to which you technically were.

“How does she know who we are?” Kugisaki asked as she was confused about how you knew all their names.

“Your useless teacher here talks about you guys from time to time, so I sort of already know you guys without you knowing.” you answered her as you used your thumb to point at your husband, leading Kugisaki to ask, “can we call you Gojo-sensei as well then?”

“Wouldn’t that confuse us as well as them?” Itadori then asked, to which Kugisaki looked at him to shout at him, only to realise what he was trying to interpret to her. 

“You can call me by my first name not to get confused, I’m alright with it,” you mentioned to her, leaving the students to nod at you.

“Gojo-sensei, how long have you’ve married for?” Fushiguro asked, still wondering why he didn’t know this piece of information about his teacher, let alone that he was with someone.

“Three years!” Gojo proudly announced as he lifted up three fingers as if they didn’t understand what he said so he had to show them. “How did the both of you meet?” Itadori then pressed on with his hand up, seeing how much information he could gain about his teacher’s love life.

“We both met then we were students here and then time flashed by and here we are married,” Gojo answered his student with the vaguest answer that he could have given to anybody, leaving his student annoyed.

“Y/N-sensei, how did both of you met?” Kugisaki then asked you, as she was not satisfied with the white-haired man’s answer.

“Well like Satoru said we met when the both of us were students here, just like all three of you. We were on the same team with Shoko and another person, causing me to have to deal with this man since my first year at Jujutsu High,” you then answered in some detail, causing the students to be more intrigued on the both of yours relationship.

“What do you do Y/N-sensei? I don’t see you around the school at all,” Fushiguro then asked, leading you to smile at him before answering with, “you could say I’m the assistant principal,” causing all the first years to look at you with surprised expressions again.

“GOJO-SENSEI THERE IS NO WAY SHE IS YOUR WIFE, SHE TOO SMART AND PRETTY,” Kugisaki shouted as she looked like she was about to flip her chair - as she confused on why you would be with someone like him - causing you lightly blush at her compliment before giggling at the chaos that was happening right in front of you.

‘This is really just how I imagined it to be. Chaotic’

“Here’s a picture if you don’t believe me,” Gojo then casually stated as he suddenly pulled out what seemed to be a small picture from his wallet, causing you to be curious of what it had to show since you didn’t know he kept something like that within his possession. Once he passed the picture to Fushiguro, you leaned forwards slightly only to be surprised on what the picture displayed.

It was a picture of you and Gojo standing together with you wearing the traditional white kimono with the white wataboshi on your head, while Gojo was wearing the traditional black kimono that contrasted with his bright white hair and bright blue eyes perfectly. It was your wedding picture. 

“Y/N-sensei you look so beautiful!” Kugisaki stated as she snatched the picture out of Fushiguro’s hand to take a closer look at the image, “your makeup is so beautiful, you really suit a red lip,”.

“You look really pretty sensei,” the boys simultaneously said, as they had a light blush on their faces after seeing the picture.

“Since when did you have that picture?” you asked your husband, as you turned around to look at him, only to find him looking at you without his blindfold - fully showcasing his beautiful blue eyes that you have fallen in love with since you met him - as he brushed his fingers through your hair, amused at your surprised expression.

“Since I got the picture printed after the wedding,” Gojo admitted before he moved his hand to caress your cheek causing you to suddenly feel the coolness from his wedding band. "You looked really beautiful that day,” Gojo sentimentally said to you, causing your cheeks to go a light shade of red.

“But you always have been and always will be”

Slowly, he took your left hand in his left hand leading to both your wedding bands to hit against each other lightly, reminding you that this whole thing wasn’t a dream. 

“For a lifetime ha?” you questioned him with a soft smile painted on your face, to which Gojo reciprocated back to you. 

“For a lifetime wifey~”

[s-brant]

Cherry Bowl (3/8)

(gif: @kiekiecarrera) (PART TWO) (PART FOUR) (SERIES MASTERLIST)

Summary: When Kie cancels their plans together, Y/N asks JJ on a date to the Cherry Bowl Drive-In. Unsure of how to navigate his first ever date, JJ seeks out advice. Unfortunately, the night doesn’t go as planned, and both parties are left shaken by miscommunication.

Word Count: 10.6k

Warnings: Smut, public sex/exhibitionism, sexual choking, angst, depictions of mental illness, post-traumatic stress disorder, and implied/referenced abuse.

A/N: Welcome back to Tokens! Slight trouble in paradise is brewing for these two lovers, so buckle up and read because it’s gonna be a rollercoster for a little while after what happens in this chapter. I hope you all like it, and if you did, feedback is very appreciated. Have fun!

"I'm just saying that oatmeal raisin is superior to chocolate chip, why is that such an egregious crime, Kie?"

The lunch room is filled to the brim with students going to town on questionably cooked frozen foods, soggy tater tots, and sugary drinks from the vending machines despite the Obama-era posters on the walls advocating for healthier school lunches that never seemed to make their way to Kildare County High. The extent of their healthy lunches extended to a serving of overcooked canned green beans served with the worst slice of doughy pizza known to human kind, so it was sort of contradictory.

Y/N sits across the table from Pope and JJ, the latter of which being the one who launched into a full-fledged debate with Kiara about which type of cookie was better.

The clear cling wrap sits, unfolded, on the table with one of her stickers neatly placed on the back of it. As consolation for his epic loss yesterday at the beach, she paid an extra .75 cents to get him it when she arrived first to their shared lunch period—one of only two class periods they have together, the other being gym. He was still in line when she peeled a surfboard sticker off of her sheet and placed it at the center of the wrapped up cookie as if to remind him of her triumph over him in the waves.

"Thanks, hot stuff," he said, voice somewhat quieter despite the fact that hardly anyone was in the cafeteria with them. Then his smile dropped into an deadpan expression as soon as he saw her choice of sticker and looked back up at her. "You're never gonna let me live that one down, are you?"

"Never in a million years. I'll be gloating about it until I'm elderly."

"That's my girl."

The sound of the constant chatter surrounding them from at least two hundred other people drowns out the memories of yesterday that threaten to haunt her when she watches him debate with Kie. The mere recollection of their night in the back of the van has her reaching to pull the collar of her cropped tee up to assure that the hickeys remain hidden on instinct, and he catches the action out of the corner of his eye. It has him fighting a smile.

Kie quips, "Maybe on another planet, but, here, I think we can all agree chocolate chip is better, right Y/N?"

Y/N's eyes widen around a forkful of mushy "green beans" at the sound of her name being said bringing her from the depths of her memories.

Usually, she's quick to jump in and give her two cents on whatever stupid back and forth they're all having, but her mind was elsewhere. Unbeknownst to Kie and Pope, she was mentally reliving every second of getting fucked in the van last night, so her attention to detail when it comes to the Chocolate Chip vs Oatmeal Raisin case isn't all too sharp.

"Uhhh," she stops for a second, looking at the half eaten chocolate chip cookie in Kie's hand, "If I say chocolate chip is better, can I get a piece of it?"

Kie's face lights up at her words, and she's already pulling off a generous chunk of the baked good to hand off to her. The sound of a certain someone whose lap Y/N's legs are outstretched onto from beneath the table scoffing distracts her from the first bite.

"I know you prefer oatmeal raisin, you traitor," JJ says.

Their brunette friend's brows scrunch.

"Why is she a traitor?"

They try to keep from making any faces or giving anything away, but Y/N has to stifle the sound of her choking on her mouthful of cookie at the question. You'd think one of them came out and asked if they were dating or something with how she reacts, and she feels JJ squeeze her ankle in a non-verbal way of telling her to hold it together. It was her idea in the first place, yet he's a lot smoother with keeping it under the radar.

Under it all, the aspect of keeping it a secret does unnerve him to a degree. He doesn't think he'd be brave enough to communicate it, especially not when their relationship remains undefined, but the darker side of his mind wonders...

He shrugs, saying, "Cause we were friends first. Duh. Other than John B, I've known her the longest."

None of them stop to acknowledge the identical aches in their hearts at the mentioning of his name. They skip right over it like it never happened. After the funeral a few days ago, they've filled their quota on mushy-gushy sad talk for the next week and a half.

The real reason is something far more complicated than him having a claim staked on her loyalty through having the longest friendship. It's something tied up in days of slowly getting pulled into one another's worlds like the tug of gravity itself, in how he has to refrain from slipping his arm around her waist in the hallway or kissing her goodbye after a sleepover at the Chateau. But until she gives him the go-ahead, he won't let it slip to anyone.

Pope speaks up from beside him, "You literally met her twenty minutes before we did."

"Still counts. Technically, I did meet her first, so her betraying Team Oatmeal Raisin is enough to be tried for treason in Pogue Court."

"Pogue Court isn't a thing."

He crosses his arms after he pops the rest of the cookie into his mouth.

"It is now. You can be tried for treason for breaking the rules. Rule number one is that all Pogues have to admit oatmeal raisin is superior."

He's about to ball up the cling wrap to throw away later when the surfboard sticker catches his attention again. It's the same color as his board, which he'd like to think is a result of her being an evil mastermind that went out to get this sticker sheet for the sole purpose of teasing him, but he's the one who got her the sheet as a gift for her birthday, so he knows it was pure coincidence.

Last second, he peels the sticker away from the cling wrap and looks down to place it over the top of her yellow converse that were once a vibrant, paler color when Big John got them for her, but have since turned into an ugly mustard/dirt-dusted color they heckle her over.

"What are the other rules?" Y/N asks.

One of the hands holding onto where her feet are casually planted in his lap, something that they've done long enough that their friends won't see it as anything odd, slides down to caress the stretch of skin beneath the frayed hem of her dark jeans. Something she didn't know about him before whatever it is they have together started was that he constantly needs to be touching her. She can't say she doesn't love it though.

Pope answers, "The oatmeal raisin rule is not official"—a pointed glance at JJ—"But I'd assume the rest of the rules of Pogue Court would be no lying and no macking."

"So, basically you two break almost every rule except the oatmeal raisin one, and I lie," JJ says and turns to look at her, "How does it feel to be better than everyone, Y/N?"

"Pretty good, not gonna lie."

He keeps caressing little circles and tracing up and down her skin beneath the flared out pant leg of her jeans while he swipes his phone off of the table top without attracting the attention of their friends, who continue on to a new topic. She isn't too focused on what it is. She only picks up that it has something to do with a class they're in that's more advanced that hers, so she promptly checks out of the conversation.

Ever since John B died, she hasn't been performing too well in school. She tries, truly tries, but her mind outright refuses to absorb any of the information. When she reads her assigned reading, she hovers over the same paragraphs over and over until she shuts the book in a huff and hides it in her backpack again. Losing someone you love has a surprising amount of side effects.

Her phone buzzing in her hand brings her away from the impending cloud of doom that often accompanies any thoughts of John B, and when she taps in her passcode, her brother's birthday, a message bubble appears with a banner displaying JJ's contact name.

JJ (Derogatory) ur a good liar. prob could've fooled me if i weren't the one macking on u

Their eyes meet for a second across the table, then he watches her thumbs move to type a response.

Kief Princess Little do they know I break every rule now that I've switched sides on the cookie debate. Kinda impressive ngl.

JJ (Derogatory) triple threat, baby

JJ (Derogatory) thanks for the cookie btw

She smiles to herself, so wrapped up in their own world that she doesn't notice everyone in the room starting to pack up their stuff in anticipation of the bell that is due to ring any second now.

Kief Princess Had to repay you for last night somehow ;)

When she glances up to see his reaction, she watches his chest rise with a particularly large inhale, and he chews on the inside of his lip in thought.

JJ (Derogatory) strategically bringing up last night so i'm turned on in physics? ur an evil mastermind

Kief Princess I try.

Kief Princess Apparently whooping your sorry ass at surfing isn't the only thing I'm good at.

She hears him scoff.

JJ (Derogatory) first of all, ouch. second, u barely beat me

Kief Princess I'm happy to challenge you to a rematch. I have plans with Kie tonight, so I can't till this weekend. All it'll prove is that I am the rightful winner, but we knew that already.

JJ (Derogatory) what r the stakes this time

Kief Princess No sexual favors. If you beat me (fat chance) I'll formally rejoin team oatmeal raisin.

JJ (Derogatory) :( sex makes it more fun but i still accept those conditions

JJ (Derogatory) team oatmeal raisin needs u, even if ur a traitor

Kief Princess Why bet sexual favors if you're just gonna fuck me after anyway?

JJ (Derogatory) good point

The sound of the bell ringing echoes through the cafeteria, and they both pop their heads up from their phone screens to see everyone, including Pope and Kie, already packed up and raising from their seats to scurry off in the direction of their next classes. Meanwhile, their stuff is all bestrewn across the table, particularly JJ's belongings.

The sight of Kie walking away makes Y/N ask after her, "We're still on for tonight, right?

She stops with Pope's hand interwoven in hers. The look on her face when she turns would make you think she got caught doing something she wasn't meant to. Something like forgetting about the plans they made last week to watch Fear Street together. The Cherry Bowl Drive-In is premiering the first two movies as a double feature for the horror movie buffs of Kildare, so they decided to get tickets. Kiara shares a fondness of horror movies with her. Since gory movies make the boys squirm, though JJ pretends they don't, it's their own thing.

"Actually, Pope and I were gonna go to the beach. I'm sorry."

JJ knows she's more upset about it than she lets on, but Y/N simply gives the pair a smile that doesn't reach the eyes.

The sound of JJ behind her makes them laugh on their way out, diffusing the minor tension lingering in the air from the awkward encounter, "Use protection!"

After their friends offer them a goodbye, they gather their stuff quite leisurely, not really caring about being late.

It's something they've talked about before here or there: her feelings surrounding Kiara and Pope's sudden relationship. It's not as if she harbors any ill feelings for them, she doesn't, but the ripple effects of their pairing on the group, and more importantly the girls' own friendship, couldn't be clearer from her perspective. Between the missed hangouts, forgotten plans, and the convenient way she never seems to have time to hang out with her and JJ unless Pope is there too, it's been building up for a month now.

What makes it sting the most is how close her and Kie used to be. They didn't hit it off immediately the way she and JJ did as children until her thirteenth birthday when no one she invited showed up to the party Big John helped her set up in the yard of the Chateau.

She was the one who rallied the boys together to walk to ask their school friends from the year above to come hang out for an hour or two, promising a slice of the wonky-looking but delicious strawberry cake her and John B spent the morning crafting together. She can remember the sound of their high-pitched laughs and the cloud of flour that hung in the kitchen when they high-fived over the finished product like it was yesterday. In her heart, it was yesterday.

That night was when she fell in love with her friends, and that was when she first knew Kiara was her best friend. They wove friendship bracelets on each other that night and wore them for years until they withered away. No one had ever done something like that for her before. Not even JJ.

"You okay?"

Feeling his hand on her arm, slipping down to take her hand for a moment in the seclusion of the empty cafeteria, makes her glance up at him with a distinct sorrow washed over her features.

You know what? Screw this. Why should she be torn up over Kie and let it ruin her excitement for the double feature tonight? There's no way in hell she's letting her best friend ditching her for her boyfriend get in the way of her plans.

"Do you wanna go on a date tonight?" she asks him abruptly, then adds, "To the Cherry Bowl with me instead of Kie?"

The question sparks a pause in his mind, a halt of hesitation in which he worries about her avoiding having to answer what he asked, but he attempts to play it cool and not fuss over her outwardly. There have been times where being treated like that has made her feel suffocated, so he doesn't want to risk it. When she's ready, she'll talk about it, and if she takes too long and buries her feelings, then he'll intervene. For now, he tries to keep his face neutral despite the frown tempting his lips at her disappointment.

JJ looks around once more before throwing his arm around her shoulder to walk her out.

"You bet your ass I do."

What is a person supposed to act like on their first date that's not actually a date cause everything between them is the same, but kinda is a date because they called it one? If you ever find out, please find JJ and tell him because he has no clue.

Pope wasn't too much help in the Instagram group chat he made for it seeing as his and Kie's relationship is too fresh, John B isn't even alive, so he's out of service for advice unless there's Ouija Board he can borrow, and, thankfully, Kiara was his savior.

Their phones began blowing up as soon as he reached his class after lunch period ended. He couldn't under any circumstances let it be known that this mystery girl he had a date with was their friend, but thankfully Y/N already had the alibi of going to the Drive-In alone. All he had to do was make up a fake date scenario and get basic advice.

danknugstickiestickies added kiara-c and popeheyward to the groupchat

danknugstickiestickies named the group HELP ME

danknugstickiestickies i have a date with this chick i met on the beach when i was out with y/n last week. i need ur advice

His phone screen lit up with the notification that both of his friends were typing, signified with the three dot symbol bouncing in the bottom left corner as he thought it through. They couldn't possibly figure it out, right? They'd been careful, he'd been respectful of her wishes, and they'd been too busy together to notice anything new with them. He figured it would work. It was a risk, sure, but it was worth it to him. He didn't want to fuck this up with her.

Knowing her, she probably wouldn’t even treat it differently than any of their other hang outs. It's not like they haven't been romantic or sexual with each other. They've done everything but go out on an actual date, so why was he nervous?

kiara-c ummmm

popeheyward Yeah, I'm gonna need you to ELABORATE!!

kiara-c did hell freeze over? since when does jj maybank go out on dates??

danknugstickiestickies renamed the group hell froze over

kiara-c very funny, I'm laughing so hard 😐

popeheyward Do we know her?

danknugstickiestickies don't think u do. she moved here last week and hasn't enrolled in school yet. her name's steph

popeheyward What about Y/N though?

kiara-c ^^

JJ's chest muscles tightened with the question prompting a rush of anxiety that made his breathing feel slightly harder. He glanced up at his Physics teacher, who was essentially dozing off behind his desk with his hand in a bag of chips and an educational video on the projector as an excuse to not teach, and looked back down at his phone without the added stress of possibly getting his phone confiscated.

Pope's message might as well have been a sucker punch. Forget butterflies, he set a wasp’s nest loose inside of his stomach to tie it into knots and flip it every which way. His neglected textbook served as a prop for his phone to lean on as he set it down to think.

Did they know? As far as he was aware, they were getting away with it. No evidence, concrete or circumstantial, was there to prove it. At least the stress of the situation killed any chance of him being turned on by her reminder of last night in their messages. This shit was boner repellant of the highest degree.

He played stupid. Better to let them volunteer whatever information they had before he went in saying anything incriminating that they didn't already know. If anything would sour the experience of their first date, it would be him accidentally making their strange in-between relationship public behind her back.

danknugstickiestickies ?? what do u mean

Three dots bounced in the bottom left corner of his slightly cracked phone screen.

popeheyward ...

kiara-c I mean, you don't see it?

danknugstickiestickies see what

popeheyward I guess we were wrong, but all of us always thought you two had some feelings going on.

"You don't say?" JJ murmured sarcastically to himself under his breath. "Never crossed my mind, Pope."

danknugstickiestickies bro that's jb's little sister

kiara-c so?

danknugstickiestickies forbidden fruit? making john b roll over in his grave? do those ring a bell or am i speaking in tongues

He was already a proficient liar in real life, but, fuck, it was easy in text messages. There's no chance at deciphering facial expression or tone, just a plain message with no room to budge. Thank God he didn't do this in person with them. He could've survived, but it wouldn't have been as quick and painless as the group chat was.

kiara-c jeez, sorry

Pope didn't voice it, but he noticed something.

He looked up from his phone and stared off at the wall in thought in his AP European History class. It piqued his interest that JJ simply said she was off limits, forbidden fruit as he put it, but did not outright deny having feelings for her. In fact, he didn't even address the question. He made excuses for why he shouldn't have feelings for her, but he never said he didn't have feelings for her.

Kie did not notice. Not because she wasn't smart enough to either, but because she was too busy hiding her phone behind her backpack to think too deeply about it. Her teacher was one of those teachers that would flip shit if they saw a cell phone turned off and faced down on the desk, let alone being used by a student during a lesson.

In his classroom across the hallway, JJ bounced his leg up and down beneath his desk in an absentminded urge to release the built up energy the anxiety produced in an over abundance.

popeheyward Our bad then. Even John B thought y'all were sus lmao.

Since when was that a known fact? Could he tell? Did he talk to Pope about him and Y/N before he died? Either way, it wasn't the time to pry about it.

kiara-c yeah you guys honestly could've fooled me if you wanted to

danknugstickiestickies well thank u, glad ur invested in our friendship but

danknugstickiestickies please help, i have no fucking clue how to act on a date and this girl is too cool for me to screw this up

That was when they finally dropped the interrogation session and started offering up tips. The best ones came from Kie, which made sense to him since women are more likely to know what other women like than two dudes who share one collective brain cell and never had real relationships.

Rule One: Be ready to pick her up five minutes early.

He wasn't ready to pick her up five minutes early. His bike broke down by the time he made it halfway down his street, so he had to push it back up the road and into the yard before setting off on foot to reach the Chateau quickly enough. And by quickly enough, it means he got there five minutes late, not early.

Rule Two: Compliment her after you get in the car.

She tossed him the keys to the Twinkie from across the hood, not giving him the chance to open the door for her, and it wasn't until they were setting off down the road that he remembered the next piece of advice he was given.

Side-eyeing her in his peripheral vision, he tried to find something to compliment her on specifically rather than the general compliments about her being pretty that she never fully believes when he says them. He was intending to say something about the skirt she had on, but when he chanced a glance over at her, she caught him and asked—

"What is it?"

Sent into panic mode, JJ blurted out instead, "I like your shoes."

He could've bashed his face against the steering wheel twenty times right then and there at the utter absence of reaction on her part for the next few uncomfortable seconds. It wasn't that it was a bad compliment. She appreciates any compliments at all...but her shoes were hidden from his view. Not to mention, they were the dirty, mustard yellow converse that the Pogues bash on a daily basis.

She laughed, lifting her leg to expose the sneaker on her right foot, and asked, "These? Dude, you roast me for these all the time. You and John B said they look like Big Bird shit on them."

The skin on the apples of his cheeks scorched hot with embarrassment, and he was never so glad that the overhead lights in the van were burnt out until that moment. He would've died on the spot if she saw him blush like that, face flushed pinker than sunburn. All he could do to save himself was murmur something about the color growing on him and keep driving in the direction of the theater with his hands white-knuckling the steering wheel he fantasized about banging his face into.

Rule Three: Insist on picking up the check.

In this case, it meant insist on buying the popcorn and drinks, and he miraculously managed to drop his wallet somewhere along the way when he ran over to the Chateau, so when he stepped up to the makeshift concession stand with her standing at his side, he felt around for his wallet in his jeans to no avail.

His thoughts echoed back to him, You gotta be fucking kidding me. Seriously? Is this actually happening right now?

"JJ, it's honestly fine," she said softly as he leaned over to search back of the Twinkie for the wallet. "We can look for it on your street right now if you want. It has your ID and stuff, you don't want a stranger to have that. We don't need to stay—"

It took all of his control to not shout it in reaction when he said, "No way. You've been waiting for this, and Kie ditched you, so I ain't ditching you too. We're staying."

His wallet could go kick rocks.

He came too far to be dragged down by the old leathery piece of shit anyway. Would he go out and search for it tirelessly the second the date ended? Hell yeah, that fucker had twenty dollars and his debit card in it, but he couldn't bear the thought of abandoning her or ruining her anticipated movie night by taking her out to search the streets with their phone flashlights for a wallet they might not find. He'd wait till the movies ended, take her home, then haul ass around the Cut searching for it after.

Thankfully, he found a couple bucks crumbled up in his front pocket while she scavenged for coins in the glove compartment, and they came up with enough to buy a water bottle and small popcorn to share together.

Rule Four: Don't have sex on the first date.

And it may sound easy enough to not act like a complete Neanderthal for the length of two movies, but the girl makes it pretty damn difficult if he's to say so himself.

That's what led him here, laying in the back of the sideways-parked Twinkie in the farthest corner of the outdoor theater with her practically on top of him. In any other instance, he wouldn't be opposed in the slightest, but with the cursed fourth rule in mind, he isn't too thrilled with the feeling of her hand rubbing up and down his thigh.

It isn't even meant to be sexual. They're constantly touching one another this way. She'll even slip her hands up under his shirt just to feel the warmth of his skin or when he asks her if she can get an itch on a part of his back he can't reach, but for some reason his brain is short circuiting right now.

The thing is, when Kie and Pope said he shouldn't do it on the first date, they meant it for his and Steph's made up circumstances, not his and Y/N's full-blown relationship without labels. When you've had sex with someone as many times as they have with each other, the hesitancy on the "first date" is nonexistent. It doesn't matter. But JJ, trying to follow the advice given to him to the letter for the sake of being the date she deserves, doesn't think about it that way.

It shouldn't be this nerve-wracking. They've been best friends since they were children, they've been flirting since they found out what basic attraction was in the first place, and they've been forming this relationship ever since John B died. Why can't he relax? Why is this so different compared to how easy it felt between them yesterday on the beach or today at lunch?

Rule Five: Be yourself.

It takes him another few moments of laying here with her before he realizes quite abruptly what went wrong in a quick flash of a thought that brings the fifth rule back to him. The problem wasn't the bike, or the weird compliment about her Big Bird sneakers, or the lost wallet.

The problem is him. The problem is that he's trying way too hard to make this something it isn't. The part about them that he adores so dearly is how they never have to try when they're together. With any other girl or guy, they'd have to fake something or act a certain way, yet when they're together, they can simply exist and everything is runs smoothly. That's not to say they don't disagree or bump heads, they do, but short of those outlier moments, it's easier than anything else they do in life.

His eyes flicker away from the screen for the first time since the movie began, which, by the way, is gruesome enough at times that he had to divert his eyes to prevent himself from seeing it happen. They land on where she lays, completely content with the night in spite of its mishaps, with her head propped up on the pillows they brought from the Chateau.

He wonders if she can tell he's acting differently. Surely she must notice. She's the type of person that typically never misses a thing, perfect for the gold hunt they went on in the summer with picking up the clues and helping her brother unravel the mystery, so maybe she noticed how flustered this date has him. Does it bother her? Does he bother her?

With a confirming glance back up at the movie to see nothing important happening, he can't fight the urge to speak anymore.

"Can I tell you something?"

His voice appearing through the darkness of the shut off van after spending the past half hour in complete silence makes her jolt at first before realizing who it was. Though she loves horror movies, she can't claim to not be affected by them. The night she falls asleep after watching one, she often finds herself compelled to turn a light on and keep her feet from dangling off the edge of the bed. It's worth the fear, though.

When she turns to look at JJ, there's a warm smile on her face. She's cuddled into his side with a hand placed casually atop his thigh, caressing with no purpose or intent, and her movement halts when the light from the movie on the projector allows her to see the expression on his face.

Anxiety has become an increasingly significant presence in his life with the recent events in mind; John B and Sarah, the four-hundred million dollars they lost out on, and dodging his father whenever he sneaks home to switch out the backpack of clothes and personal belongings he keeps at the Routledge house.

It manifests itself in jittery nerves, stomach pains, shortness of breath, and, at worst, panic attacks striking either at random or in response to a specific trigger. It's one of the few things he still tries to hide from her, and she tries not to push him too hard with opening up about it.

She abandons the movie for the time being and rolls onto her side to face him, upper body propped up on her elbow as she examines his face with downturned features.

"Of course," she says.

The words left unsaid are, "You can tell me anything. Whenever you need someone to listen, or to talk to about shit, you can tell me." He's heard her say it enough that he doesn't need to hear it now to know it's true.

There's a pause, then—

"I feel like I fucked this entire date up," he starts to ramble and cuts her off before she can think about saying what she wants to, "and I know it's okay to you. You have way too high of a tolerance for my bullshit, and I've been trying so hard to make this perfect, but all that did was screw it up."

She's left quiet for a second, taking it all in.

Maybe if he hadn't been so anxious about it, he would've realized what was wrong with his bike when he rode it home from school, or he would've noticed his wallet fall out of his pocket. The point is, he wishes he hadn't let the label attached to this freak him out so much. He isn't sure why it does, but it does.

But she doesn't do what he expects. She isn't drowning him in reassurances and, "It's okay's" because she knows he doesn't care for them much. When he, the most stubborn person she knows, apologizes for something he did, he doesn't want it to turn into the person accepting the apology coddling him.

Y/N sighs.

"Is that why you've been acting so different all night? I scared you with the whole ‘date’ thing, didn't I? It doesn't have to be a date if you don't want it to be."

What she doesn't know is that he wants it to be a date. He wants it to be a date so badly, he risked Pope and Kie finding them out for the sake of getting some proper advice on it, and now he's caught up in the same game of tug and war in his mind that always occurs when he wants to tell her the truth about his feelings for her.

Part of him doesn't understand why he doesn't outright say it. With every other girl he once showed interest in, he had no issues in letting them know he wanted them, but this is different. This isn't simply wanting someone, he thinks he's fallen for her. But whenever he says he's gonna grow a pair and tell her after all this time, he chokes. Involuntarily, he's reminded of his parents. Other than his friends saying it platonically, the only people to tell him they loved him were them, and with how they treated him, he sure as hell doesn't think that is love.

From his dad's brutal physical abuse to his mom's abandonment, he's too timid to tell her he loves her because of what could happen if she loves him back. Everyone else that has said that to him has either hurt him, died like John B did, or abandoned him.

He won't let that happen with him and Y/N. What they have, albeit undefined and codependent, is safe. It's the only thing he has left. Maybe it isn't right, and maybe he should open up about it to communicate the correct way, but somewhere in the misshapen logic of his mind, he correlates love to abandonment. And he doesn't want that to happen with her.

There are two sides of him at battle inside his mind. One side, the side that wants to do right by their relationship and actually communicate his feelings for once in his life, wants him to tell her everything. The other side, the side that responds based on the history of his past, wants him to hide it all.

"Will you be mad at me if we don't call it a date?" he asks.

She shakes her head.

The heavy sensation inside of JJ's chest nears a point of vitriolic violence against him as he starts to realize what he's doing to her, clearly letting her down, but he can't stop himself. Like a passive witness watching himself from outside of his body, the instantaneous trauma response to the sudden confrontation of his true feelings for her guides his actions without his permission. It shuts down any protest he has.

The sound of the movie fills the gap of silence between them the entire time. It’s a variety of bloodcurdling screams and disgusting sounds that would've made him gag if he weren't as distracted.

They can make out each other's faces through the darkness, but barely. It takes a flash of bright color from the film or a nearby car's lights turning on for them to fully see one another. Without the other knowing, they both put masks of calm and collected coolness on their faces despite the feelings raging beneath the surface—more so on his part than hers.

"Maybe," he says, pausing, "we should just keep things the way they've been."

As soon as the words leave his mouth, a soul-crushing amount of disappointment weighs her down. She said it was fine if he doesn't want it to be a date—and it is, she would never hold it against him—but that doesn't mean it can't hurt her. Things have been going so well, she almost thought...If tonight went well, she was thinking about no longer keeping it a secret, but if he said he wants things to stay the same, then maybe he isn't as ready for it as she is?

Meanwhile, JJ is on another page entirely.

She's embarrassed of being with you, a familiar voice in the back of his head croons. She's gonna leave just like everyone else does. If she doesn't even wanna tell your friends, why should you pretend you're dating?

The internal comments are the type that cause him to physically grimace when he's alone. Intrusive thoughts are just that: intrusive.

Sneaking into the guarded sanctuary of a person's mind, they set out to convince them the opposite of their reality. The only thing is, where most people's minds are guarded sanctuaries with walls of impregnable defense, his mind is the equivalent of a fortress blown to smithereens. The castle walls lay in rubble, the guards no where to be seen, and the path for these thoughts to slip past and straight to the vulnerability of his mind is left wide open.

In the privacy of his room, these thoughts attack him the most at night when he tries to fall asleep—when things get too quiet. With nobody around, when they get this bad there's nothing he can do except break down. It builds from the mere anxiety of attempting to force the thoughts away to full-blown panic attack mode. The more he resists them, the more aggressive they become. He'll gasp for air with tears streaming down his face, hitting his head with the heel of his hand as if that'd do something to stop his relentless mind.

But he can't afford to react in front of her, so the extent of his reaction is a subtle twitch of his face that she cannot see in the momentary darkness before the movie switches to another scene a second later. In a way, it does make the thoughts go away to have her here preventing him from spiraling alone. Having to focus on her keeps his mind away for moments at a time until the thoughts ease their grip on him.

When she hasn't answered for a while, he asks, terrified that he did something bad, "Are we good?"

The question seems to wake her up, snapping her out of the lonely direction her thoughts went into when he "rejected" her. It takes every bit of common sense she has left to force herself to understand that this doesn't mean he doesn't want her. He does, and not calling this a date doesn't mean they won't be together in the way they have been since John B's death, but she isn't perfect. She gets as unsure and insecure as he does.

As if the cloud of doom was lifted off of her, she makes her face lighten where she lays on her side next to him. Seeing this expression makes his chest feel less heavy, and he could let out a sigh of relief at the realization that he didn't break her heart and stomp on it. He should've known. Y/N is the sweetest person he knows, so she never would've flipped shit over him not wanting to label this as a date. That's not how she is.

And he's partly right. It isn't how she is. She would never hold it against him if he didn't want something further with her since she got herself into this position by pursuing him with his reputation with girls in mind, but she can't ignore it. Whether she wants it to or not, it had its affect on her as soon as he said it.

She leans in to kiss him, their lips meeting in the middle with the faint taste of popcorn salt mingling at the soft peck.

When she pulls away, she brushes the hair back from his face and says, "Don't worry. Nothing can change how I feel about you."

She has no clue what it feels like to hear that from her.

Despite the turmoil they unknowingly share beneath the surface due to this conversation, he could cry hearing her say it. It doesn't feel real to him that she feels the same way he does about her, because nothing could change how he feels about her either. That’s why he manages to work up the courage to repeat it back to her, and, for now, this is the closest he's physically capable of coming to telling her the truth.

"Ditto," he says.

It isn't what she wanted, but it's close enough, and if she dwells on this any longer, she might start getting too emotional and let the urge to tear up become too strong. Why does she have to be this sensitive? It's no secret that it's remarkably easy to make her cry, but this is insane to her. When all of this began with him, she didn't give a shit about him not wanting a label. She understood him, and she understood that he doesn't do this kind of thing, so why has it changed? Why doesn't she want to keep it a secret anymore? Why does she want this to be a date when she knows he doesn't want it to be?

Pulled by an invisible string back to him to silence her mind, she leans in to kiss him again with a hand cupping the back of his neck to guide him the rest of the way to her.

It shouldn't be laced with any sexual intention. She should be kissing him simply because she wants to, and, in a way, she is. Their kisses and touches are never lacking the motivation that is their underlying connection and mutual feelings for one another, but this is not the same. As he kisses her back with as much confidence and passion as always, she is reeling from the conversation that reminded her too much of a breakup.

It takes another minute of this for the kiss to heat up, their breathing becoming shallower in the moments they part to inhale, and she is undeniably the one instigating when she officially crosses the line between casual and sexual by crawling onto his lap. It's not hard for him to pick up on when their innocent moments take a turn. She's easy to read in that regard, and this has happened a multitude of times with them, so the shift of a mini make out session turning into something more is nothing out of the ordinary for them.

If he knew how shaken she is on the inside, he'd never want this. And the same would go for her if she knew what he was thinking before this. Neither of them wants to admit what they're feeling.

With her legs seated on either side of his hips, she kisses him like it's the last time she'll ever get the opportunity to. Her hands wander wherever they can, pulling at his shirt and feeling him up as his hands guide her hips to move against his in a steady grinding that she has no issue partaking in. It's an eagerness he hasn't seen from her in weeks. She's never un-excited when it comes to being physical with him either, but this is another level. The last time a girl was all over him like this, it was desperate touron at a party a few months ago.

In the span of time it takes her to glance over her shoulder to see if anyone could see them and reach to pull her skirt up until it bunches around her hips—no one can see them, by the way, since they got here late and were forced to cram the van into the back corner of the lot with no street lights illuminating the path—his brows raise at her presumptuous behavior. Not that he's one to complain, however, seeing as he's typically the one doing what she is.

Their next kiss clashes their teeth hard enough to make them wince, but he loves it. It makes him smirk into her parted mouth, alive with both the feeling her reassurance provided and the fuzzy-headed high that often finds him when they're together in this way. Incomparable to past flings or the high related to any drugs, she is the peak of everything to him. It's no contest.

His chest stutters against hers with a bout of amused laughter, asking within a brief pause in what feels like the most JJ thing he's said this awkward night, "Two for two in the Twinkie. What's gotten into you?"

Y/N's hand dips between where their bodies move together to unclasp the closed buckle of his belt in one smooth motion that has it falling apart with a clinking noise.

Her features are set with a look that tells him she means business. Whatever it is that sparked this, he wonders how the fuck to make it happen again another time. She's begged for it before, but never taken control so dominantly, and he can't deny what the role reversal does to him. The evidence is obvious in the distinct hardness she feels pressing up against the hand undoing his jeans.

"I was hoping it'd be you," she says, voice breathless and airy from the constant contact in a way that makes it ten times hotter for him.

If there were any chance of him not being in the mood prior to this, which wasn't the case anyway, it's gone now. He never wants to hear her say she doesn't deliberately try to tease him ever again.

He doesn't need to be told twice.

JJ surges forward to capture her mouth with his, this time with no intention of pulling away to breathe or speak again. No, he'll let himself get lightheaded and dizzy if it means he can stay with her for as long as possible.

With the circumstances of it all, them being visible to someone if they happened to pass by the open door of the van, they move at a pace quicker than usual. She's immediately helping him shimmy his jeans and underwear far enough down his hips to free his dick from the confines of his clothes, making him sigh out a breath of relief when her hand brushes against him in the process.

There's no opportunity to slow down, it has exploded into a full-throttle speed race that neither of them can halt.

His hand blindly flies out beside him to grope the floor of the van for the set of keys he tossed carelessly to the side once the movie started, eyes shut in the midst of the hot, messy kiss they share. His fingers find the fabric of one of the blankets they brought in case they got cold, then drifts again and lands on her Big Bird sneakers until he feels the sharp metal of her keys meet his calloused palm.

After the events of last summer, she bought a switch blade to keep on her key ring alongside the keys to the van, HMS Pogue, and Chateau. She may not like violence or weapons, seeing as she was a skeptic of JJ keeping the gun alongside her friends, but she saw it necessary. Between Rafe, Topper, and Kelce, how could she leave the safety of her and her friends up to chance knowing what some of the kooks did to them not long ago? What happened to Pope on the golf course alone was enough to make her skin crawl.

Right now, though, the knife flips out from the pressure of his thumb pushing the button to release it. He holds it out away from her at first to assure it doesn't nick her in the process, then uses his other hand to tug the side of her panties that hugs her hip far out enough to press the sharp side of the blade onto the inside of it.

She can hardly believe what she's watching as JJ cuts the delicate maroon underthings from her body as if he were doing something so normal, like it's something he's done before. Her forehead is pressed against his, her mouth parted both in shock and in a need to pant for oxygen, and she watches the knife ruin her favorite panties. The stitches come apart with a satisfying ripping noise that can hardly be heard over the sound of people reacting to the movie in the background.

Other customers of the Cherry Bowl Drive-In are too glued to the screen as a beloved character is chased down, reacting in shouts when she's seized by the killer and shoved onto the table of an industrial bread slicer, so they remain wholly unnoticed.

The lace, now ripped in half, dangles on the tip of the knife when he lifts it away from her, tosses it aside, and presses the button once more to retract the blade. It clatters to the floor, but is in no way forgotten with them resuming in a desperation to keep going until they both satisfy the need clawing at them from the inside. But her sense of need is different from his, and even with the fresh memory of him with the switch blade in mind, she's still somewhere else the whole time.

Her mind is faraway, muted through layers of sadness, anger, and disappointment as he reaches between them to line himself up to her entrance. The sensation of him running his cock, hard and messy with a few drops of precome, through her dripping pussy to coat it in her slick arousal is enough to make her moan pathetically. Yet when he's about to guide himself inside of her, she stops him.

"Wait, wait, wait," she breathes out rapidly, heart pounding so hard she can feel herself pulsating between her thighs, "Condom."

They were so antsy to get to it, they almost forgot.

"Fuck," he curses under his breath, and his eyes flicker from where they were trained between their bodies to glance back and forth around the van before it hits him. "I lost my wallet..."

But right when he thinks their public rendezvous in the back of the Drive-In is over due to his unfortunate mistake, she shakes her head and slips away from her perch astride his lap to crawl over to her bag.

She fumbles with the old tote bag and plunges her arm in to sift through the hodge podge of things that are purely Y/N in nature—stickers, glitter pens, a half-eaten bag of candy, etc—for the square foil package she decided to toss in before she left just in case. She usually doesn't keep them on her because he never fails to have one, but, thankfully, she had the random instinct to bring it tonight.

The only thing to bring her out of her cloudy, malevolent storm of feelings when she settles back onto his lap with the condom wrapper ripped open for him is him saying, "So you planned this, huh?" with his mouth tipped in a familiar self-satisfied grin.

She didn't plan it. In fact, she threw herself at him the second she sensed him withdrawing from her and can't stop herself despite the fact that she constantly feels two seconds away from letting a tear slip down her cheek. If that counts as "planning it", then sure.

"Maybe so," she answers, cool, calm, and collected—the antithesis of the truth.

They usually don't lie to each other.

They're thrown right back into it without any other hiccups once he rolls the condom on, and he takes in a shaky breath at her hand wrapping around him to align their bodies up. Before she can do anything, though, he takes chance to swipe the blanket he found a moment ago and wrap it around her back to keep her covered in case they get caught.

Y/N sinks down onto his cock with her lip caught between her teeth to stifle the sound that threatens to escape. JJ, on the other hand, doesn't bother concealing the sound of the groan he makes at the sensation of having her wrapped around him like this. The tension in her entire body from the anticipation and the looming threat of being seen by someone has her squeezing him so tightly, he can't help but be a little louder than he should.

Her soft palm slaps over his mouth with enough pressure to force his groan to quiet itself, and she watches his pretty blue eyes widen in reaction to the dominant action. Who is this girl and what has she done with his sweet, submissive Y/N? Don't get him wrong, he is very turned on by it, but it's unlike her to take the lead this way. He can't figure it out.

"What's wrong, angel?" she asks in a whisper into his ear, her hand over his mouth and her hips starting to slowly rock against him, "Watch the movie."

Once the words leave her mouth, she drops her hand, just in case he wants to stop and can't say anything because she had his mouth covered, and JJ is pretty sure he's died and gone to heaven.

He doesn't watch the movie, not at all, because he's too busy watching her. For someone losing their mind internally, she does not let it show, nor does she let it distract her from what's happening. If anything, the distraction in this situation is the sex, not what's going on inside of her head.

There's a moment of adjustment and going as slowly and gently as possible while waiting for the dull pressure of feeling him inside of her to fade away, but, for the most part, she doesn't waste any time. As soon as she feels comfortable enough with the ache between her thighs giving way to a spark of pleasure when she grinds her clit down on his pubic bone, she starts to ride him at a better pace than the initial slow movements of her hips.

She raises herself up and takes him again inch by inch, enjoying the sense of fullness she gets from having to fit him in spite of the slight discomfort at first, and she could swear that he'll leave bruises in the shape of his handprints with how tightly he clutches her hips. It's all he can do to prevent himself from moaning or saying something, ever the vocal lover she's come to know.

Unless his mouth is preoccupied like it was on the beach yesterday afternoon, JJ is usually impossible to shut up, especially in this context. With him always whispering dirty things to her, whether it be praises, pet names, or plans on what he wants to do to her, she has come to find it breathtakingly hot. He could likely get away with saying something if he wanted to, but he isn't sure he wants to risk it. If he opens his mouth to spew something filthy to her, he won't trust himself not to make a louder, different kind of noise that won't fit in the with background audio the other moviegoers are listening to.

The wet sound of their bodies colliding that fills the space of the van is drowned out by the loud and violent sequence occurring on the screen far ahead of them, and hearing it makes her bounce herself on him a little harder. She's fueled on by it all, and, strangely, what happened before she practically pounced on him is the main contributor.

Similarly to the nature of his intrusive thoughts, the harder she resists the memory of how it felt when he told her he didn't want this to be a date, the more forceful it is in its return. Her eyes trail down to watch where they connect with her forehead pressed to his, then she's thrown back into the feeling of helpless disappointment and insecurity. His head tips back against the window with his bottom lip dropped open and his brows furrowed just enough to create a crease on his forehead, and she's bombarded with the look of relief on his face when he realized he didn't have to be tied down to her with a label.

It makes her want to get rougher, harder, and she doesn't even care if it'll make her sore later on. She presses herself down so far every time she slides down on his cock, her teeth draw blood on her lip with how hard she must bite it to remain quiet. The pain of her hipbones rubbing against his doesn't even matter to either of them at this point. They're both too lost in the pleasure that has begun to take control of them to care about something as minuscule as that, or the burn in her thighs from the repetitive physical strain.

She grabs his wrist and brings his hand between them, flattening hers overtop of it and pressing down on the base of her abdomen in the midst of the increasingly feverish thrusts.

"Feel you here," she murmurs to him through a quiet moan, hoping he can hear it over the movie, and pushes down on his hand for emphasis. And if the way he reacts by cursing under his breath tells her anything, it's that he picked up on it. "JJ..."

He reaches out to grab her by the throat with his free hand and tug her forward to kiss him, as if something inside of him snapped in response to her doing that. The motions of her jolting up and down throws the already messy and uncoordinated kiss off-kilter, but they don't mind. It has them separating every time she lifts up, producing this heady little head rush from from them breathing in each other's air without actually letting their mouths meet in the middle.

Though they're trying their hardest not to alert anyone outside of what's happening, it didn't occur to him until now, when his eyes catch John B's old bandana swinging back and forth where it's secured around the rear view mirror.

They're worried about moaning while the entire fucking Twinkie is rocking with their movements. Well, at least it makes good use of the corny sticker he gifted John B last year as a gag gift. He tried to peel it off after JJ snuck it onto the side window to no avail. So, now Y/N is stuck with a sticker on her car reading, "If the van's a-rockin', come on in, we like orgies," rather than the more common phrase.

It almost makes him start laughing, and he prays no one takes that shit seriously, 'cause he is never intent on sharing this breathtaking girl. Ever.

Y/N isn't anywhere near laughing like he is, in fact, she's finding it difficult to keep herself together. She feels her eyes sting with the promise of tears, and she's never felt so pathetic before. Is she seriously about to cry during sex? Is she really that girl that is so ill-equipped to handle rejection, she can't get through it without tears?

She won't cry. Perhaps if he sees how glossy her eyes have become in a rare moment of good lighting, she can blame it on the hand around her throat putting pressure on the sides of her neck.

The worst part about her being near to crying is the timing of it.

The emotion of what she feels mentally mixes with the swirling, building sensation she feels in the pit of her stomach that tells her she's close to going over the edge, and it's so overwhelming. Was she imagining that their friendship had changed? More importantly, is this all she'll ever be to him? Sex is the only thing she's sure of with him, it's the only thing that doesn't require deeper emotions, and when the ground beneath their fragile relationship felt shaky...

He can feel her starting to unravel, and he knows that he'll come before she does if he doesn't do anything now, so he decides to take control.

JJ pulls the hand he had resting on her abdomen away as though he were burned by it, wrapping his arm around her waist to steady her body against his and using the hand around her neck for leverage to thrust up into her, effectively reducing her to a teary-eyed, moaning mess atop him. They both stopped caring about making noise the second he began to fuck her like this.

She cries out in ecstasy at the sudden change in pace and depth that has him hitting all the right places. Every time he thrusts up into her, just as rough as she wished for, the tip of his cock nudges into that perfect spot inside of her that makes her incapable of silencing her moans. This time, it's JJ that puts his hand over her mouth, letting the one he had around her neck move away to keep her from alerting everyone around them of what's happening.

There's nothing she can do to stop her climax as it barrels through her in its initial sweeping wave of bliss to contrast the venomous doubts in her mind. She's never felt such conflicting, yet powerful feelings before—the intensity of the physical pleasure that makes her whine into the palm of his hand, then the part of her mind replaying every word he said in their conversation before this.

Her body is rigid and tense through it all, squeezing down around his cock with the involuntary spasms of her orgasm, and he can't help himself anymore. All it takes are a few more frantic thrusts for him to bury himself inside of her one last time and spill into the condom, uncovering her mouth so he can drown out his own groans into a kiss.

Their skin sticks to their clothes on the inside with sweat from the exertion of their actions, and he can feel her stomach tremble where it presses up against his with each undulation of her hips that meet his as he rides it out.

But even with the added distraction of the sex, she can't rid herself of the feeling that started plaguing her as soon as things went awry. That was why he was acting weird all night. He must have been so worried about her thinking this was anything more than their typical hangouts that he couldn't bring himself to act normally.

She forces herself to look happy when they pull away from the kiss, panting, and JJ, unaware of what she's been thinking, doesn't notice the small deception.

Tag list: @gabiatthedisco

[jonnnysuh]

How To Write Good // Vernon

A/N: It all started with watching Vernon’s English tutor series and now we’re here omg. This is my first series so please give it some love <3 kind of unedited so lmk if there’s any mistakes! PART ONE | PART TWO | PART THREE

PAIRING: Vernon x You

GENRE: enemies to ???, fluff, student!vernon, tutor!vernon

WARNINGS: swearing

WORD COUNT: 2.7K

SUMMARY: There’s the crisp air of campus, the rush of something new, and a four year degree ahead of you. Your college experience doesn’t go off as smoothly as you’d hoped when you fall asleep on course selection day and are stuck with left over electives. Struggling to get through your creative writing class, you have no idea how you’re going to get through this semester. Fate steps in when the stranger you fought in the library might just be your only chance at passing. This is all just part of the college experience… right?

Orange leaves began surrounding the burnt red brick pathway, and the small green hills of the campus quad.  Fall was fast approaching, without much warning.  The bright summer sky, now often clouds of gray. The wind brushed past you, causing your hair to fly up. Your legs brushed together quickly as you tried to make your way through campus to get to your Writing in the Arts class. You swore to yourself that you wouldn't sleep through course selection but sometimes sleep was an actual priority to you...and it so happened to be on that day.  Not your first choice, but definitely miles ahead of  Economic History on the list of leftover electives.

You flipped over your wrist to take a look at the time on your brown pleather watch. 8:12.

Professor Hampton was an older woman, who always kept her sandy brown hair in a slick tight low bun. She had enforced a rule that the doors to the lecture hall would shut 15 minutes past the hour. If you didn’t make it then you’d have to get notes from a classmate. Maybe it’d be fine if you had a friend in the class that was actually punctual, but you had often sat alone in the same spot in the far left corner of the class room.  Time was definitely never on your side as you reckoned you only had 3 minutes left until your trip downtown was rendered useless. 

You swung the thick metal door open, and began pumping your legs forward, not stopping until you reached the top of the stairs. To your luck, the lecture hall was on the exact end of the hallway. As you took longer strides, your gray backpack bounced behind you. Finally arriving at the end of the long hallway, you came face to face with Professor Hampton, who had a scowl so thick you’d think it was drawn on with a felt tip permanent marker. Without an ounce of forgiveness, that old lady secured the door shut, eyes keen on your betrayed face just a few centimetres from hers.

With the little pride you still had, you contained the urge  to bang on the door repeatedly and say "OPEN UP."

If you hadn't had time to get ready that day, or missed your bus, dammit this would've been the boiling point that would've driven you to  kick the wall. Your saving grace was that there was a cute guy typing away on his laptop in this hallway and you'd be damned if you were about to look a fool.

It was that moment, you knew that if you were going to pass this class without sacrificing a wink of sleep, you were going to have to make a friend that was good at writing notes. And quick.

—

The next day, you navigated your way through the twists and turns of the library, never having had been there a day in your life. You swear you’d gone in a circle at this point. You promised your best friend, Taylor that you’d secure a spot for your impromptu study date. Although you both had good intentions, you knew it was more than likely going to become a gossip session that involved sometimes looking at class material.

Among the rows and rows of occupied tables, you finally found an empty table, situated next to the window that overlooked the architecture and art buildings. You settled in the chair, slipping your laptop out of your tote bag , and typing mindlessly to look busy while you waited for your friend. With a look around the room, you wondered if people actually studied at the library or if they were just faking it like you.

You were so immersed in your game of Tetris you almost didn’t hear the voice that said , “Hey, I think you’re at the wrong table.”

You paused your game and surveyed the empty wooden table you were sitting at.  You blinked slowly at the brown haired man.  “I was here first.”

“That might be true but I booked it out for the hour.” The stranger stood with a slight slouch, sporting a backwards snapback and a deep green hoodie. He didn't look like the type to hang out around the library- but then again, neither did you. You swear you had seen him before, but you couldn't place where.

Did I go to high school with him?  you thought.

What if he was ugly and had a glow up and that’s why I don’t recognize him?

You took a closer look at him.

Nah. I don’t think he’s ever been ugly in his life.

“Look. My name's right here." He leaned forward, showing you his screen.

[TABLE 9] 3:00pm - Vernon C.

You pushed the phone away, unimpressed. "But you showed up late."

"It was only 6 minutes." Vernon scoffed, as if his tardiness would automatically forfeit him from his table.

"Well, have you ever heard of finder's keepers?"

Vernon nodded, his voice pointed. "But have you ever heard of fair and square?"

You tried your best to conceal the fact that you were somewhat amused by his elementary-level comeback.

"Could you look into your great, big heart to share?” You pouted tauntingly.

"Oh, yeah, because you need a table to play Tetris." He responded sarcastically but it was as if he had crept into your mind. You dreaded the idea of being on your feet trying to find another place for your game.

Your best friend rolled in between you two innocently, confused at the interaction at hand. It was like a kid walking in on their mom and dad fighting for the first time… except dad is a Tetris-hating stranger you just met 3 minutes ago.

“Sorry I’m late, Y/N.”  Taylor interjected, trying her best to mend the atmosphere with a grin.  Vernon's posture went notably straight as he exhaled, returning a sweet close-lipped smile. You couldn't help but notice the way he looked at your friend- you squinted at the shadow of the difference between this Vernon and the one that basically told you to fuck off only moments prior.

Without a doubt, you knew he was suffering from the "Taylor Effect".

Taylor was your textbook girl next door; equipped with a warm demeanour, and a confidence that was endearing rather than cocky.  You could tell that Vernon was trying his best not to stare so obviously, but he was failing miserably.

Because everyone gravitated towards her, many found it odd that she chose to keep you as company. Sometimes you thought she stuck around only because your personalities were so starkly different and would emphasize how great she was, but time and time again she proved she was notable on her own accord.

"Did I interrupt something?"

You and the man shared a look.

Vernon had a feeling that if he let you speak first, that you might ruin his chances with Taylor, and there was absolutely NO shot that he was going to tell her what had just happened. You were quick to take advantage of the situation.

“Vernon just wanted to take the tab-“

He shook his head, "No, no, no I was just leaving."

You raised your eyebrow, smugly.

“I'll see you later,” He bid.  Your eyes widened as he went closer to you, clasping his hand around yours and pulling you forwards into an almost embrace. He dapped you up. Vernon dapped you up. What? Did he think you were bros now?

Ya, right. You thought. This is my first and last time in this library. You will never see me or my Tetris again.

And with that, he swung his backpack over his shoulder  coolly and headed down the long carpeted aisle in the other direction.

Only a few moments later did he return to go through the north exit. “Wrong way.” He mumbled, charting past both of you.

—

“So you don’t know anyone in that class?” Taylor said in disbelief as you two sat at the table you had only marginally won.

“No, I missed the first two weeks so by the time I actually went to class  they already had their groups.”  you responded, blowing air out of your mouth in frustration.

School had only just begun and Taylor had swept up a bunch of friends, including you, in just this one semester.

You, on the other hand, were awkward, but not in the forgivable way. You never knew the right thing to say, and your sarcasm drew a fine line between a joke and the truth. You felt like you always had to bite your tongue to hold a decent conversation with someone. In turn, this scared a lot of people away, and resulted in a small but good group of friends that understood you.

For some reason though, you did well with confrontation. That was the only time you could force yourself to not care about what someone else thought about you. Other than that, your communication skills were almost useless.

“So go up to those kids and say hi.” Taylor responded.

You knew your best friend was being well meaning, but sometimes she felt like she oversimplified your problems because she saw it through her own lens. Of course it would be easy for Taylor to do so, but for you it would be a different story. Your stomach turned at even the mere thought of introducing yourself to the group of strangers that always sat all the way in the front of the lecture hall.

“I’ll just figure it out. I don't know how to just talk to people."

“What about that guy that I just saw you with? What was that about?”

You cleared your throat, fixing your attention to your laptop screen. Getting work done suddenly seemed more interesting.

“No, no, no look at me.” Taylor dragged your laptop away.

You begrudgingly looked at your friend. “What about him?”

“Who was that? He was kind of cute.” She cupped her cheek with her hand and sat closer, clearly interested. It was rare to see you with anyone other than your usual friend group so Taylor was invested in your endeavours outside of it.

You knew that if you told Taylor about your weird argument with a stranger, that she’d explain that you were unfriendly, that you needed to be nicer, etc. etc. You didn’t need a lecture today.

“Just some dude who finished using the table.”

Taylor chuckled, “What kind of guy says bye like that to a person he just met?”

Her guess was as good as yours.

—

ONE WEEK LATER

Determination is setting 25 morning alarms, pre-picking your clothes and opting for an on-the-go breakfast in order to just make it on time for class. You took your final strides towards the class slowly, knowing you finally had time on your side. Would it be crazy to call waking up at 6am a victory? Doesn’t matter, you were just so happy, you could answer Professor Hampton’s questions… that is, if you listened.

At the bottom of the lecture hall, sat the aforementioned groups, while the top were lonesome stragglers looking at their phones in an effort to look less lonely. You knew they were probably just reviewing their settings; turning their wifi on and off.

Professor Hampton cleared her throat into the microphone at the front of the class, prompting you to pick up the pace to your regular spot at the far left corner.

No way.

Your speed slowed down again, as you craned your head to get a better look at a brown-haired boy sitting by himself.

Despite the numerous empty seats to choose from, your caffeine rush assisted you in making the possibly dumb decision of sitting exactly right next to him. He seemed unbothered, though as he didn’t look up to question it.

Professor Hampton played her slides, while you pulled out your laptop out of your tote bag.

“Hey.” You whispered.

The man’s light brown eyes flickered towards you.

“You’re in this class?” Vernon whisper-exclaimed.

It registered in your brain that this might’ve been a mistake.

You nodded.

Vernon kept his focus on the front of the class, his pencil swivelled  away on his lined paper. You had never seen anyone actually take real-life notes before. You scanned his paper, pleasantly surprised at the organization.

“Why did you dap me up last week?”

“I honestly don’t know what I was doing.” He admitted.

Boys do dumb things around pretty girls. You'd seen it happen so many times with Taylor.

“She’s cute isn’t she?”

“Who?” Vernon was quick to play dumb, but he clearly knew. 

You were fascinated by how he was writing and listening to you at the same time.

“Taylor—my friend.”

Vernon squinted his eyes, either to think or because he couldn’t see the projection clearly. It made you wonder why he sat in the back of the class if that was the case.

“Yeah, she is.”

Bingo.

You silently relished in your impromptu decision to sit next to a stranger.

“What would you say if I got you a date with her?”

Vernon put his pencil down. “You strike me as the kind of person who wouldn’t do that out of the kindness of your heart.”

You snorted. “You’re right.”

Vernon let out a deep sigh, pushing his hoodie sleeve up his arms. He relaxed back in his seat and stared at you as he waited for your proposal.

“What is it?” His deep voice was littered with impatience but it was clear he was at least curious.

You weren’t  prepared to gain his full attention. Your mind went several ways as you collected your thoughts to be as concise as possible.

“I’m struggling in this class, okay? I can’t always make it on time, and creative writing? Not really something I’m interested in.”

“Then why’d you take the class?”

“Why does anyone do anything here? For the credit.” You responded as if the answer was obvious.

Vernon’s raised eyebrows was enough to tell you that he was actually passionate about this subject— which was perfect for you if you wanted to pass the class.

“How do I come into this, though?” His patience running thin from your incredibly interesting backstory.

“If you tutor me up until midterms and I pass, I’ll get you a date with Taylor.”

He shook his head “What if you fail?”

“Then you can take that as a reflection of your teaching skills,” Vernon rolled his eyes. Okay maybe that was a bad joke. “but on the plus side you’ve gained a new friendddddd.”

Professor Hampton gave you two a dirty look on her way back from shutting the lecture hall’s door. Vernon picked up his pencil to look busy and you tapped on your trackpad to turn the screen on.

“And what if I say no?” Vernon said between his teeth, catching the professor glare right at him with her scowl turned up to one hundred.

“Then I’ll shit talk about you to Taylor so you never have a chance.” You threatened. Your mom always urged you to use your brain, and boy, were you using it.

“You want me to teach you how to be creative?”

You shrugged. “I mean, how hard can it be?”

Vernon looked down at his notes contemplating his choices. He was silent for so long that you actually started typing notes.

“Y/N” Vernon whispered. You seemed to be fully immersed in the lesson now. Your eyes absorbing the information... Maybe writing was kind of fascinating.

“Y/N” He tried again, snapping you out of a trance.

“My bad.” you apologized. “I didn’t know the interesting part of the story was called the climax like ew—”

“I can only tutor you on Thursdays between 6 and 8 in the library. Bring your laptop and be prepared to learn.”

You knew you didn’t have class at those hours, so it should’ve been fine, but you also dreaded staying after school longer than you had to.

“What about 4-6?” You pleaded.

Vernon looked offended at your counter offer. “No. 6-8”

“4:30…?” You tried once again.

Vernon snorted at your no-quit attitude. “You wanna pass or not?”

You stuck out your hand defeatedly and Vernon shook on it before either of you could change your mind. Vernon was your new tutor.

Maybe Taylor was right. All you had to do was go up to someone and say “hi.”

And blackmail them. And use your friend as bait.

Making friends was easy.

[azlrse]

A Delinquent's Prized Possession (Yandere Shigaraki x GN!Reader)

Ayooo it's time for a yandere brainrot cause I can't stop thinking about shiggy—

CW: yandere themes, kidnapping, stalking, obsession.

Part 2

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

Imagine yandere shigaraki being a local delinquent in the school you attended with his small group (the entire league). He is top notch the worst student in the campus; talking back to teachers, shoving anyone in his path and spits out disrespectful words from his mouth, both towards teachers and to his peers.

When he first met you, you are actually a wallflower, just an ordinary goody two shoes student that aces every test and joins extra-curricular activities. As soon as he saw you, it was love at first sight and does anything in his will for you to be his.

He tried everything, from flirting to slipping flowers into your locker (with the copy of your keys of course) and constantly asked his allies a favor to hand over some letters and small flowers on your classroom. However, you prioritize your studies first so being in a serious relationship was out of the question and it was impossible for him to win your heart.

It didn't take long for him to stalk you on your way home, saving your pictures on his phone and knows some personal info about you. Shigaraki thinks that this is alright I mean, their soon to be boyfriend needed to anything from the love of their life, right?

It wasn't long for his simple crush on you turned into something dark, something that it was eating him on the inside, desperate for your sweet yes to his proposal to be together, it was obsession....

You were even confused as you set foot on your bedroom. You swore to yourself that you locked your window before going to school. Your clothes were missing and your bed sheets are kinda touched. You just shrugged it off, thinking that it's your dog messing your bed or your mom opening the window to let in some fresh air.

A year passed and you just heard rumours that the most feared delinquent developed feelings for you. You just brushed it off, saying that it was just someone else and you didn't have time for some stupid relationship.

Your friends frantically pressured you to confess towards him, imagining on what's it's like to be in a relationship with the local delinquent in their school but you said a firm no, which makes them disappointed.

Little do you know, Shigaraki heard every single word you spoke, this made him upset and angry. He has no choice but to resort to an.....extreme method.....

As you are walking home, a van stopped in front of you. Two of his allies grabbed you as a wet handkerchief was pressed against your mouth and nose. You began to thrash around, trying to loosen up their grip against your body.

Suddenly, you felt tired. Eyes are threatening to close down as your legs began to feel like jelly. The last thing you seen is you were taken inside of the van and several tall figures stared at your body.....

You woke up at a dimly lit room, the sound of air conditioner hummed softly as your senses began to get back. You realized that your leg was tied on the side of the bed post. You began to feel scared, 'Who took me? Where even am I Where did they take me? I am screwed, I am screw—'

"I didn't realized you awake, (y/n)..." A voiced rasped on the corner of the bed, which startled you a bit. "You know, if you just accepted my tokens of affection, I didn't have to resort to this..." Shigaraki spoke. The rumours are indeed are true. The most feared delinquent was, in fact, has feelings for you. You began to feel scared, tears are starting to form from your eyes as you began to feel fear and paranoia.

"I-I'm sorry but p-please let me go. I promise I won't t-tell the authorities about this!"

"Shhhshhhh, it's okay love it's okay. You're staying with me from now on."

Your tears slide down from your face whole your sobs became uncomfortable. Shigaraki knew that this is wrong but he doesn't have any choice. He need you, you need him. You are his and you belonged to him, is this even difficult to understand?

"Shigaraki, why? why did you do this?"

He sighed, getting up from the chair he used to sit beside his bed and lies down on his bed, enveloping you in his arms, ignoring your body shaking.

"it's because I fell in love with you. I can't bare seeing you with someone else other than me. And please, call me Tomura my love..."

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

Do not republish, edit, or repost to other websites.

Reblogs and likes are appreciated! 💕

[excaliburofficial]

Headcanons Undesputable, 100% Canon Facts I have about Mira Naigus

Okubo didn't give us the time with Naigus that we all deserved so I'm here to make up for his crimes. Here I have a list of headcanons 100% real facts that I made up just now got in an email from Okubo convienently at the same time I said her vibes are too cool to be in the background. Yes this actually happened I promise. No you can't see the email becaus....uh... bc my dog ate it.

It was a very real email tho

I haven't rewatched NOT for a while but I simply did not like the vibes they forced on her so it doesn't exist now because I make the rules (yes this was in the 100% real email Okubo sent me himself)

Really tho I'm sorry but going from super cool camo pants wearing mummy with abs design to the like generic anime teacher lady vibes is like the hugest downgrade in anime history and it simply does not exist. It is not real. I do not see it

Okay actual headcanons now

She was actually really shy and awkward growing up and had trouble speaking up

But she was a really good student and a hard worker even as a kid and did super well even if she was shy

She and Sid were childhood friends and part of why they got along so well was bc they were both really hard workers even when they were young

Idk I also feel like Sid was probably p outspoken as a kid and I kinda like to imagine he was more like B*Star as a kid than he wants to think (idk I like the vibe) and Naigus always really admired that he could be so extroverted and confident

He was probably one of the only other kids her age she could open up to much growing up

They're basically siblings tbh

When she was at DWMA she was usually at the top of her class even if she was so quiet

Even if she's so quiet she's always been really good at staying calm when things go south

She was a band kid in high school and played the oboe

She is one of the absolute best at DWMA at keeping calm under pressure and is really good at thinking on her feet and improvising

Loves working out on the field where she can put that skill to good use and it shows

Sid isn't stupid obv but Naigus is the real brains of the operation bc of how good she is at working in stressful situations

She generally prefers working behind the scenes to get things going and is the backbone of whatever operations she is involved in for sure

In fact the only reason that she didn't become a death scythe is bc she wasn't really comfortable w all of the attention and fame that comes with it and I've ways imagined that death scythe work is mostly like kinda boring compared to basic weapon/meister work (except when the real big stuff goes down) bc I get the feel you would use them as like your big defense line idk?

She looked at it and made a really hard decision to pass on it bc she knew it just wasn't what she wanted

After making that decision she actually left DWMA for a bit

Wasn't really sure she made the right choice in not doing it at first

When she was away from DWMA she worked as a paramedic (which is why she was qualified to be school nurse for a bit when Medusa was found out)

During that she was actually really glad she turned down the opportunity to be a death scythe bc she really likes that fast pace environment

Being a paramedic actually really got her out of her shell and made her more confident as a person and just made her ability to stay calm even better

After a little while she got home sick and went back to DWMA and partnered back with her good pal Sid who was v glad to work w her again

Really proved herself as a great weapon when she returned esp with her experience as a paramedic

Prob brought a really good and fresh perspective to the job bc of it

Is an honorary death scythe because she is a badass

Shes worked really hard to overcome being shy and its really worked out, shes alot more confident now and has no trouble speaking out about things or putting her ideas/strategies out there

But she is still p reserved and is slow in opening up to people especially civilian types

She doesn't really see that as a flaw though and more just accepts it as part of who she is

She would rather show who she is through her actions than through talk anyway

She actually has a really good sense of humor with people she is close to though and is absolutely the funny one between her and Sid

She has a rescue dog (german shepard/husky mix) that she spoils

Has absolutely gone skydiving

Actually really likes to cook when she has time, she makes a really good veggie sauté

She is best girl (fact)

[punderfulowl]

Top 10 Anime (That I've Seen) in 2020

Well now, it has certainly been awhile. I'm currently sitting at eight months too late for posting this, but, y'know, something something life happens. More accurately, I already made this list, but wanted to try out what response I'd get from Reddit. Turns out, they're not as cool as you guys!

Anyways, as the title states, this is not a list of my favorite anime that came out during 2020, but instead my favorite anime that I just so happen to see during that year. While it's fun to have an end of the year retrospective, I find that having a list in this format not only adds variety, but also helps bring attention to anime that might have been lost in the shuffle in previous years (I also don't have enough time to stay caught up in seasonal releases).

Honorable mentions:

Aggretsuko S3, My Hero Academia S4, Today's Menu For the Emiya Family, Interspecies Reviewers (yes, really), and I Couldn't Become a Hero So I Reluctantly Decided to Get a Job

10. Maid-Sama (2010)

In hindsight, I find it a bit funny that I wanted to watch something wholesome to kick off 2020. Anyway, Maid-Sama is about a high school girl that is also a no nonsense Class President and she kind of has to be at a school where, until recently, was an all boys school. While she kills it in academics and is good at shutting down any shenanigans from the male student body, her financial situation isn't the greatest and has to balance a job at a maid cafe along with her school-related responsibilities. She does her best to hide her employment there to keep up appearances, but is one day found out by one of the boys who happens to be a big flirt and, yeah, hijinks ensue. While this anime doesn't have too many surprises, our main leads bounce off each other well enough to keep me entertained. Nothing I haven't seen already in other anime Rom-Coms, but I think it has more than earned its place at the start of this list.

9. Haganai NEXT (2013)

It's a personal rule of mine when making these lists that I don't include sequels of shows that were in previous lists. While I DID see the first season of Haganai a couple of years ago, it didn't quite make it into the top ten at that time. Because of that, it meets the criteria for this year's list. While I found the characters were just as charming here as I did during the first season, the development of their relationships really took off. It's a shame that it will most likely not get a third season, but I'm happy with what ride this show gave me. But hey! At least I can read the light novels/manga to continue the story! Wait, nevermind, the Haganai fans on Reddit are saying that's a bad idea.

8. Engaged to the Unidentified (2014)

Based off of a Four Panel joke manga, Engaged to the Unidentified tells the story of a girl in high school suddenly getting some life changing news. As it turns out, her grandfather made an arranged engagement with her and the son of a family he knew. Next thing she knows, the boy in question, as well as his little sister, moves into her family's house! While the boy is unassuming at first, there may be more to him and his family than he lets on. Plain and simple, this anime has charmed me. There's a decent amount of drama and mystery despite the source material and I applaud it! Even though this also doesn't have much new to offer, even to the point where I would compare this to Maid-Sama, what made me pick this at the 8th spot were the color choices and animation quality. Give this a shot if you can!

7. Grimoire of Zero (2017)

It's a fantasy/adventure story starring a loli sorcerer and a huge, anthropomorphic white tiger man. I honestly can't say anything else. I won't be able to do it justice. That first sentence should intrigue you a lease a little bit. Read it, again. Please check it out. It's an underrated gem that no one is talking about.

6. ID: Invaded (2020)

Hey, here's something recent! Unfortunately, this is also not something I can say much about. There may not be too many deep characters and the secret bad guy isn't hard to figure out, but BOY is this anime cool! The best way to describe this series is that it's like the movie Inception, but instead of brain heists, it's brain murder mysteries.

5. Carole and Tuesday (2019)

A runaway rich girl has a fated meeting with an orphan and they decide to make music together...oh, this also takes place Mars. Joking aside, this show was something special with its music (a new song almost every episode no less), interesting setting (freaking Mars, dude), and endearing main cast. Shoot, the music itself would be top 3, maybe number 1, but what bogs it down is the show's second half. I can easily see myself watching this again someday, and maybe my opinion will lighten up, but for now, 5 is a dang good spot.

4. Fate/Grand Order: Absolute Demonic Front - Babylonia (2019)

Part of me hesitates placing this high up on list due to this show being animated, fan service spectacle for Fate fans. However, that hesitation is overshadowed by the fact that I am a Fate fan myself and I can do whatever I want with this list. Even if you're not a Fate fan or play FGO, if you enjoy some solid fight animation, this is worth a look.

3. K-On S1 (2009)

I'll admit it, I might regret not watching the second season then putting the series on the list as a whole, but this how I've been doing these lists and I'm such a creature of habit. There's not much I can say about K-On that hasn't already been said. By itself it's an anime classic and one of Kyo-ani's biggest properties. It's a sweet and wholesome watch, but be sure to have some insulin within reach.

2. Princess Principal (2017)

Imagine you're working with a team of programmers trying to make a mobile game then all of a sudden someone asks to make a show out of it. You know, a show with different character motivations, plot, twist and turns and all that? Most might say that's just a shameless, shallow cash grab, but it turns out okay for Princess Principal. Sure, most might summarize this anime as, "cute girls doing espionage things," but with its cast, visuals, and interesting alternative timeline, it works! Apparently there's a new season or movie in the works and I am all for it!

1. Beastars (2019)

I was not expecting this to be number one, but with much deliberation (with myself obviously) this feels right. It tells a pretty unique story while showing itself to be the exception to the rule when it comes to 3D anime.....it being that it's actually good. While I acknowledge that shows like K-On are classics and deserves to be number one on many different lists, it didn't line up with my personal criteria like Beastars did. My biggest deciding factor is: Now that I've watched this, do I want more? It's true that while I'm excited to start K-On S2, Beastars intrigues me more and ever since season two was announced, I'm looking forward to that more.

Sorry again for this list being so late, but at least the silver lining is that the next end of the year list is about four months away (in theory)!