#which is INSANE bc I ordered it like. a week and a bit ago?? and I live in ENGLAND do

[clownwithoutamedicallicense]

MY BE NIMBLE BE QUICK CD ARRIVED ANNDNSNDNNDE

[ananxiousgenz]

SONG FOR A CAGED LOVEBIRD: PART 15

wow. wowie wow wow. this section got me up to a little over 19,500 K. that's fucking INSANE homie!!!

this section took me a while to work out bc i knew what points i wanted to hit but not the order I wanted to do them in, so I had to break some stuff apart and rearrange it. hopefully this makes sense? this sections got a weird energy to it and i'm not sure why. but we are in the home stretch of this fic guys!!!! maybe like 3 or 4 more chapters max and then it is FINISHED, which is so crazy to me

alsoooo enjoy some bonus content!! aka me singing a lil bit of epic iii in honor of this absolutely insane milestone

HEY GANG IT'S FRESH FOOD: @smidgen-of-hotboy @ceaseless-watchers-special-girl @urjover @waters-and-the-wilde @gwenlena

@demonic-panini @the-private-eye @one-joe-spoopy

Voices singing in harmonies, orbiting in perfect rhythm, chasing like the sun and moon across the sky, echoed in the deafening silence of Hadestown.

The workers had stopped showing up a few days ago. Wouldn’t pick up their pickaxes or lay a hand on their wheelbarrows. Slowly, the factories ground to a halt. The furnaces died down. The wall stopped being built. And for the first time in a long, long time, the workers didn’t care.

They took beatings from the executives with a smile and a song on their lips, a song that spoke of unity in the face of loss with a melody that grew like creeping thyme through the town. It had been a while since Peter had heard Juno’s voice, but he knew. Even from this distance, he knew it was him. His strong, clear voice helixing through the air with another voice that he assumed must have been Ben’s. And the world stopped its ceaseless grind and listened.

And from his gilded cage in Slip’s office, Peter watched with no small amount of pride as his beloved husband brought the hell of Hadestown to a screeching halt.

Slip stormed back and forth in his office. Nureyev had been up here for…. Well, he wasn’t quite sure, but his best guess was a week. Slip had taken him up here after his executives had beaten Juno and left him for dead. Something about how he didn’t want him associating with those kinds of people anymore. 

Nureyev knew that was bullshit. There was something else at play here, something he saw as clearly as if the sun were shining down through the rock overhead.

Slip was afraid of Juno. 

He could see it with every furious step and angry huff. An undercurrent of fear laced his every move. Juno had crossed some sort of line, broken some sort of spell that Slip was afraid might never be put back into place. He was getting more erratic and scattered as the days went by. And for some reason that Nureyev couldn’t quite explain, a well of dread was beginning to bubble up in the pit of his stomach.

After all, it’s the scared animals that are the most dangerous.

“Godsdammit all, why won’t they work anymore?” Slip snarled, steps heavy but quick as he paced across the room.

Nureyev turned his gaze coolly away from the window. “Don’t know. Maybe they realized the lies and bullshit you’ve been feeding them!”

“Keep talking like that and I’ll leave you right where I left your precious husband.”

“Oh, I don’t know, he seems to be doing quite well for himself so far, considering he’s brought your whole town to a standstill.”

Slip stopped pacing like a frustrated predator and stared at Nureyev. Nureyev wasn’t scared. He’d already lost so much to this man he could barely remember. What was losing a little more? He stared right back, almost daring Slip to make a move.

“What else did you expect, Slip? You lie to these people for years, force them to work for nothing, keep them away from their homes and families, and expect they’ll be happy? That they’ll listen when you speak? That they’ll care about you and your opinions?” His motions were jerky with a deep set anger and hurt that was starting to burn hotter than the heart of the Hadestown furnaces.

Slip’s jaw was beginning to tremble, but in rage or fear or pain, Nureyev couldn’t tell.

Go on. Tell him. Tell him what he needs to hear.

“How long did you think they’d put up with this before they turned on you? How long do you think they’d wait for you to change?”

How long did he think you’d wait for him, little songbird?

“They’ll put up with it for as long as I am in charge of this town.”

Nureyev sighed deeply. “You don’t get it, do you?”

“What is there to get, Petya? That these people don’t comprehend the logic of a business?” 

Slip threw his arms open wide. Even now, even with all his power and might and control, he still looked like what he had been the last time Peter had ever really known him: a small, scared kid.

“They’re going to destroy everything I’ve ever worked for. Everything I ever built for you. And all because of that husband of yours and his fucking music.” 

“Everything you built….for me?”

Slip sighed, and his expression softened slightly. “Of course. I made this town for you. I was going to show you all of its wonders. But you never came to find me, like you said you would. Remember?”

Peter couldn’t. Not at first, anyway. But slowly and surely, a memory began to creep back into his consciousness. 

He was young. Couldn’t have been more than 12 or 13. The last of summer was still in the air. Slip had just finished telling him the old Story of Hades and Persephone, a story the two of them shared like their stolen food and blankets. Peter had cracked some kind of joke, something about the two gods in the story being a perfect pair because one could kill you and the other could dispose of your remains, and he and Slip were howling with laughter.

When the laughing had died down, Slip turned to Peter, suddenly serious. “Petya, can you promise me something?”

“Of course, my love, anything.”

“If one of us dies before the other… can we send a message to them from Hades? So the one that’s still living knows to go get them?”

“Slip, don’t talk like that. No one is going to die!”

“I know, I know, but…. Just in case, you know? If I die, I’ll send you a sign. A huge sign. I’ll…. I’ll get rid of the spring altogether! I’ll keep Persephone locked up in the underworld until you come to find me!”

That sent them both into another peal of unstoppable laughter.

And then the memory faded away, and Nureyev was left standing in the office, facing a man he had known so well decades ago, but didn’t know anymore.

“I should have brought you down here sooner, you know,” Slip said, chewing on his lip. “I thought, if I can take Persephone’s reincarnation and keep him down here, and change the world above, he will notice and come for me. Surely, if I just hold out a little longer, if I just let the winter go a little longer, let him starve a little longer, he’ll remember the promise he made to me. He’ll come to find me. But no.

“Instead, you moved on. Grew up. Got a respectable job. Even got married! All while you left me to fester down here. But it’s okay, my love. I don’t blame you. No. It’s all that Juno Steel’s fault.”

Nureyev suddenly realized his mouth and throat had gone bone dry, and a slightly manic gleam had entered Slip’s eyes.

“He stole you away from me. He’s what’s keeping us apart. You know, I should have killed him when I had the chance. Maybe I can still kill him now. You wouldn’t happen to know which of my workers he’s associating with, would you, Petya, dear? Maybe I could hurt them too.”

Peter’s whole body went rigid with fear. 

“Don’t you fucking dare.”

He could barely make his hands shape the words. The sudden adrenaline rush made him shiver. He could barely imagine the pain Juno felt when he woke up and discovered his lover was gone. He couldn’t imagine having to go through the same pain.

Slip just looked back at him, face calm and still and eyes shining as he slid into the chair behind his desk, and Nureyev knew. If he made one false move, Juno would suffer the consequences. He swallowed hard.

An executive rapped on the door. “The leader is here to discuss negotiations, my associate.”

Slip’s eyes never left Nureyev’s face. “Of course. Bring them in. You might want to stay for this, Petya. I’m sure you’ll find it interesting.”

Nureyev didn’t move a muscle.

A moment later, Juno stumbled through the door, an executive hot on his heels, and Peter couldn’t decide if he should let out the breath he was holding or grab his lover by the shoulders and sprint out of the room. Maybe both.

Once Juno regained his balance, he glanced around the room until his eye rested on Peter, and a soft, relieved smile inched onto his face.

“Hey, babe, what’s going on? Where have you been?” he said gently, taking a few steps in Peter’s direction. 

Peter wanted so badly to run to him, to kiss him, to leave town and never look back. But Slip’s threat had been genuine. He knew that. He stayed where he was, silently willing Juno to read the room and get the hell out.

“Mr. Steel. I will kindly ask you to keep your conversation directed to me, seeing as I am your host here.”

The smile fell from Juno’s face, and a mix of determination, fear, and hope appeared in its place. Simultaneously, a wave of dread crashed over Peter like a tsunami. Gods above, he wanted to throw up.

Juno bowed his head slightly in a greeting. “Slip.”

Slip bowed his head in response. “Let’s skip the pleasantries, shall we?”

“Sounds like a plan to me.”

“What the hell do you mean by shutting down my whole town, Mr. Steel? I knew you were a troublesome one, but I never knew you had the guts to take it this far.”

“Oh, this isn’t my doing. It’s theirs,” Juno said simply, pointing out the window to the gathered crowd of workers partying in the street. “They decided they’ve had enough of being treated this way, so they decided to stop showing up. I had almost nothing to do with it.”

Slip leaned forward over his desk. “But you are the one who taught them that song, right?”

“And what if I am?”

“That still makes you an accomplice. You gave them the song that they unified around, and that would be considered a crime down here. And now that I’ve got you in my office, right in front of me, well…. I suppose it only makes sense that I punish you. I suppose you’ve been told how we punish those who step out of line down here?”

Juno’s jaw was set. He nodded. Peter wanted to scream.

Slip stood. “Very well then. Do you have any last words before we dispose of you?”

And suddenly, Juno looked very calm. Calm and careful, but still living up to his last name, with features set like quenched metal.

It took a moment, but Peter realized knew that look. He knew it very well. He knew it from all the nights of playing cards with Buddy or figuring out how to stack a new shipment of crates or watching him discover a new piece of the never ending puzzle that was his song.

That look meant that Juno had a plan.

The smallest spark of hope ignited in Peter’s gut.

And then Juno opened his mouth, and began to sing the song of spring.

[groovenians]

Ditri how are u ????

okay i was answering this the other day but then my computer shit itself and force reset and i lost my response so let me now give you a full rundown of the amount of bullshit i've been dealing with

or tl;dr i'm doing kinda bad rn but u know. i'll get through it.

so in order of least to worst

i need to find my dog a new vet which means my next weekday off i have to call multiple places and inquire about what they charge for certain testing and meds which is going to be a fucking pain. plus expensive. also his dumbass decided this morning to dive into a pile of birdshit on the sidewalk so i had to go out after work and buy him a new collar. ough.

i need a root canal real bad but the place my dentist originally referred me to DOESN'T take my insurance. i called other places and was either rejected or left on read. my own primary dentist i called a whole ass week ago and they also left me on read. the problem is i need an endodontist specifically bc the tooth already has a crown on it from a cavity i had filled previously. i can feel it more and more and i'm lowkey freaking the fuck out. i hate teeth. i hate them so much. i wish i could just pluck it out and replace it with smth cooler.

i have multiple coworkers making me and collectively everyone else at my job completely fucking insane. bc they're completely fucking insane. i am in actual hell daily and i am praying the one at least quits soon. not going into detail on here bc sliiiiight paranoia but. please god just know it's bad. like really bad.

ummmm my mother still doesn't know (?) i'm on hrt. i have no idea how bc my voice is like. deep. noticeably. also i don't know if i'll actually be prepared for the expected nuclear reaction of my family. which i mean fuck them but also good lord the trauma of it all.

oh yeah and the general transphobia raging in this nightmare country. which i try daily to ignore. especially living in ohio.

but in better news i'm finally receiving help??? i have a psychiatrist appointment soon and in a month or so i'll be contacted about a therapist. finally going to get diagnosed with shit and also validation on my abuse and all that. i think i also kinda...got an ocd diagnosis during my assessment. which is already a lot. like emotionally. since i've had symptoms since i was around 10 or so. i think finally having professionals tell me my pain is real and being able to name it is going to end up making me cry lol. i've just been through so much and treated so god damn badly you know.

but aside from all that things are okay. i actually like coming home now. i rearranged the living room a bit last night and made it more cozy.

[namuneulbo]

week ninety-one

i had tuesday and wednesday off this week and i had a morning shift on monday so afterwards i went shopping. i needed pyjamases and i found three !!!! i wont need anymore in a while. one was just a pair of pants, one was a pink barbie set and one was a black more lingerie-esque dress. i havent tried sleeping in the dress yet.

tuesday! i was off work! i went to watch oppenheimer w my dad in the evening. it was so good omg. i really liked it and god i love cillian murphy. i also found out ss height hehe i told him how tall i was weeks ago when he asked me but i never got to find out his. ive been thinking ab it a lot bc back then he said i wasnt much shorter than him so i held my expectations low but he exceeded. i think hes a very nice height :)

wednesday was piercing day!!! i got another piercing in my lobes. i went w t and we went by bus. we talked the entire way there and then we went for breakfast at a café and then we went shopping while waiting for our piercing appointments. i had a mozzarella and pesto filled croissant at the café and it was so good but the coffee i had was extremely mid. i got a phone case from tiger and i got a pair of loafers from h&m.

the piercing hurt more than i thought it would. my first lobes, and my first piercings ever, were made w a piercing gun and the pain was quick and not even really there. i healed just fine from them so i actually wanted to do that from the beginning but nowadays thats the same price as just going to an actual piercer so yk. afterwards me and t walked round a few places trying to find a restaurant. t suggested this pasta place and we went but they only had two things on the menu at that hour so we decided to look for more places and ending up where we always end up, hesburger.

i slept the entire bus ride home.

i woke up feeling like shit on thursday. i had sensed it a bit the evening before but it was really bad in the morning so i decided to call in sick from work. it was insane, dude. i first call this girl whose like a bit of an upper employee who was at work at that hour and she doesnt answer so i message her. i give her some time to reply and when she does she told me to call the boss. i absolutely despise talking to her. everything she says is said in such a negative and mean tone and shes always hissing. literally get teary-eyed whenever i talk to her im not even kidding and shes made me cry before. anyways, i call her and i tell her ive been feeling poorly all morning and she just hangs up? so i get pissed off and send the same thing through text. she doesnt reply but i never go to work that day and no one says anything ab it.

later in the day i go to the store to go buy soda and chips. i go for a little walk afterwards and it was very nice apart from the fact that i was wearing too much. i got home and just played a bunch of gta.

saturday! i had another work shift although it was shorter. it felt way longer though which is rare for mornings. i was supposed to go to the pharmacy after work to go buy a specific nose spray but ofc i forgot. i was already pissed off but i changed out of my work clothes and dressed up a bit and it made me feel better. i wore my new loafers.

i once again forgot to go to the pharmacy and realized after i already went shopping and ordered food so it was a bit panicky considering i got ice cream from the store. it turned out fine though although going to the pharmacy w a bag of fast food is something im not planning on doing again anytime soon.

today i had work for five hours in the morning... OR SO I THOUGHT. it was 10 minutes before my shift was ‘ending’ when my colleague walks up and asks when i want to go on my second break. i was like “what? i have two?” and he was like “u have three.” and i tell him i end in ten minutes and he was like “what? no ur not?” and we checked and i had indeed the wrong time. in my defense it was one of the lists that the boss said might change so i just had the old shift written down in my calendar TT i had to stay for another two hours... i managed though since yk,, it kind of helped getting through the hard part which are the early mid-hours thinking i was gonna go home soon and then after realizing my shift was longer it was still just two hours but it still annoyed me a lot.

ive been talking a lot w s. i reallyreally like talking to himmm and i still dont know if were flirting or not but like im def more on the positive side. yesterday he asked me if he should shave or not which i consider a thing guys only ask if they like u so :) im probably just bullshitting that though. i think weve got something though bc we literally talk all day everyday. ah, hes so fun.

sotw: bring me the horizon - pray for plagues

[hella1975]

hella!! important (not really) question: what's your favourite scene that you've written for taob so far? like,, of the published ones

(capt-snoozles)

ohhhhhhh this is actually such a cool question do u mind if i give you like a top 5? this isn't me going 'well they're all just so good how could i possibly choose' it's just bc i'm taking this as what my favourite scene is GENERALLY and not in regards to the writing, and as it is bc taob is such a personal story for me a lot of the scenes have been really impactful and cathartic to write, and also i have scenes that mean a lot to me bc of what they meant to OTHER PEOPLE and just bc of the general reaction they got, so this is just all of that lol (i feel like none of that made sense. im half-awake rn allow it)

okay in no particular order we have;

the aurora scene in ch8 (b1). this scene is the first proper time i let my own personal writing style go a bit feral in taob. up until that point, i'd been too nervous and had actually been trying to mimic the way muffinlance wrote, bc i thought that was what people would want. but i knew this scene was incredibly emotional and my writing style works better with stuff like that, so i let myself write it how i wanted to write it, and the response that scene got and still gets to this day is insane

sokka seeing zuko's scars in ch26 (b2). this is quite simply an occasion where i was really proud of my own writing, which is actually really rare for me bc im so so fucking critical of myself (but im trying to get better at Not Doing That so who knows). i'd been planning the metaphors and fleshing out this scene for weeks beforehand and it was just one of those writing moments where you're like 'omg! here it is! that scene i've been excited for!'

zuko naming his feelings as rage in ch28 (b2). this was so so so important for me personally. zuko had all these feelings and there was that recurring metaphor of the eagle-hawk and it had gone on for 18 chapters by that point, and we finally got to see him accept that it was anger that he was feeling. it was very much a 'name the monster' moment and it probably shouldn't have been as cathartic for me as it was, but i just think there's something so important in finally accepting that, regardless of how ugly it is, regardless of how much you don't want to be, you are angry

the zuko alone chapters 29/30 (b2). OKAY I KNOW THESE AREN'T SCENES AND ARE IN FACT ENTIRE CHAPTERS BUT THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT THESE THAT I KEEP COMING BACK TO AND I DONT KNOW WHY. there are a lot of moments in these chapters that stick out to me. my favourite bit of imagery in the entirety of taob (and one that was very much on purpose and is very much going to be mentioned again) is the scene in ch29 where zuko is staring up at sozin's portrait. And then there's also all the conversations had between zuko and azula in these chapters, and them holding blue fire on the beach, and zuko trashing his room etc. i literally couldn't tell you why these all hit me so hard but chapters 29 and 30 are probably the chapters i've reread the most out of the entirety of taob

the fever dream sequences in ch33 (b2), particularly the stage one. i'd known ever since the beginning of taob that i wanted to go ham with the writing here, but it also happened that ch33 fell over a time where i was really self-conscious about my writing. i thought taob had become really average lately and that i was losing the spark that attracted so many people to my work in the first place, and i was actually in quite a bitter mindset, to the point that reading other people's fics filled me with this really ugly jealousy. i'd like to say that ch33 was me healing from that, proving to myself that i could still write good things, but it was actually quite a petty 'fuck you look what i can do' that i wrote almost in a fit of anger. but the end result was the same, and every time i feel self-conscious, i remember that ch33 was not that long ago and i managed to churn out that shit while doing my economics exams, so i can't be that awful

[runfast-runfar]

Life update 🤗

Long time no talk my friends! :) Life has been stressful and full of unknowns, buuuut all and all it has still been good!

9/15/22

✨ work has been really draining. I’ve been opening for about 3 months now, five days a week which is getting up at 3:30am each day. And it’s just all caught up to me. I’m currently out with the flu 🤒 So that’s not been ideal, but it’s okay. I spoke with my boss and told him about how I’m going to apply for career jobs and so I’ll hopefully be leaving soon, and he’s been so supportive bc the company I work for (large coffee chain, no not Starbucks lol) is just not well run, MAJORLY underpays it’s employees and expects overtime constantly but then will dock your pay so you’re not violating hours but you’re then working for free. And I’m so done with it. But despite that, having a boss who’s willing to help me leave bc he sees the toxicity has made it so much more manageable.

✨ that however has now added the INSANE pressure of job searching!! It’s so stressful!! I’ve been applying via LinkedIn, indeed, direct websites, for 4 days now, I’ve sent about 55 applications out and so far heard two rejections lol… strong start 🤦🏻‍♀️ it’s so nerve wracking to worry about potentially never landing a job, being stuck at my current job forever….. ugh. But I’m trying hard not to spiral and stay positive. It’s still very early on in the job search. And my parameters are wide.. I am just looking for a remote job so I can move to portland oregon next year while employed, and a job where I’m earning a minimum of $45,000/annually. Not too picky so I’m hopeful!!

✨ I’m dog sitting right now and I love this pup and their house is so nice (and they have a peloton bike!!!) and so I’m happy here. (Also been doordashing food wayyy too much 😅).

✨ Super bummed I’m currently sick bc that means no peloton atm, but I’m going to do no exercise today, probably tomorrow too, and then when I’m feeling better I’ll get all the peloton time :) I’m dog sitting for this goober until September 25th, so there’s plenty of time :)

✨ I’ve had many early morning runs in order to beat the heat!! Thea has been perched on front of the AC haha, and that’s been nice!

✨ I started watching Bones like a week ago (very late to the party haha) and it’s SO SO GOOD!! I’m already on season 3 bc I’ve been watching it none stop lol! I’m also doing super great with my reading goal of 22 books this year! I’ll finish my latest book “Devil In Ohio” and that’ll be book number 17! I’ve been reading 3-4 books a month the past three months so I know I’ll be able to reach my goal pretty easily with 3.5 months left to get the final 5 books read!! Excited about that!

✨ I hope you’re all doing well! My day is going to consist of watching more Bones, finishing my book, drawing, therapy a bit later, and then cuddling with the goofy furball I’m watching!

Anyone who’s been through the post college job searching that has any advice on landing jobs, help a girl out lol!

[bittywitches]

What if. You and Gray were coworkers at a random fast food restaurant like McDonald’s or somethin and you guys ended up having a shift together n ur all flirty

Ok Ik realistically neither of the twins would work at a restaurant like McDonald’s bc they’re ⋆ ˚｡⋆ vegan ⋆ ˚｡⋆ but like realistically they’d never work at a fast food restaurant period so. Anyways here you go :)

The only sound that could be heard throughout the quaint diner was the faint sizzling of the oil back in the kitchen, just loud enough to cover the slow and painful ticks of the clock as you agonizingly stared at it from behind the counter.

It was a no brainer than you hated the night shift, but you were desperately in need of a higher pay check, what with your friends coming to visit you at college next weekend— you couldn’t have them thinking you were a mess, despite how much you absolutely were. You hoped you could get by with a simple dinner at home and a movie night, but knowing them they’d want to go out, and with book rentals and keeping up with rent, you were barely getting by.

“What are you doing?” You yelled over your shoulder, you fingers drumming atop the porcelain countertop. With the 2am shift being the most unpopular one among all the employees, you were pretty much stuck in the empty diner with your one co-worker.

“Making fries!” He yelled back at you, and you rolled your eyes.

“Yea I got that, why though?” You had the urge to gesture towards the empty seats, but you resisted it, because it would be a shame if he didn’t get to witness your dramatic flare.

“Someone might as well get to eat em.” He finally appeared in the doorway of the kitchen, a cute little smile on his face. He leaned against the doorframe, crossing his arms across his chest, covering the logo of the restaurant on his apron.

You raised an eyebrow at him, and finally stood up from your hunched over position on the counter. You stretched out your back and shook your left arm, the joint hurting a little bit from your chin resting atop it for so long. “Fair enough.” You said, stifling a small yawn before finishing the last word.

“Come to the kitchen, I’m booored.” He let his head fall against the frame, eyeing you whimsically.

You bit your cheek, taking him in a little bit. He looked stupidly cute in his navy jeans and apron, his dirty converse and completely messed up hair. You were fairly certain he’d napped before coming to work, which honestly probably would’ve been the smartest decision for you as well, because you were so sure you were gonna fall asleep in the next few minutes.

You didn’t know Grayson too well, you hadn’t had many shifts with him and when you did they were busy day shifts with a lot of other coworkers. You knew a bit about him; he went to the college a few streets down for yours, and was majoring in business. He had a twin, which you didn’t believe at first but were sure of when you saw his brother come in a few times to pick him up from work. But other than that, he was a stranger to you. You’d both only started working this shift together a few nights ago at the beginning of the week, and you hadn’t gotten to talk all that much on account of you both being so insanely tired you could barely think straight. Plus, there was usually Atleast a few people who came by, either late party goers or college students popping in for a coffee, once even a family on a road trip stopping to pick up breakfast for the morning. But tonight was silent; and you assumed the boredom was what was making Grayson chatty.

“I really can’t, I’m supposed to be watching for customers.”

“Oh yea, and we’re so insanely packed, you can’t even spare a minute.” He rolled his eyes at you. “We’ll hear the door open if someone comes in. Come hang out!”

You sighed, but decided, why the hell not. “Alright, sure.”

You both made your way to the back, and you jumped up onto the counter next to the fryer as Grayson took the fries out of the oil.

“Gimme a box,” he motioned to you, so you grabbed one from behind you and held it out for him to put the fries in.

“You want sauce?”

“Ketchup and barbecue?”

“ ‘Kay.” He squirted some into tiny paper cups and set them and the fries beside you, grabbing a few fries and leaning back against the counter across from you. You gently blew against one and popped it in your mouth, and your eyes grew a bit.

“Hey, these are so well fried??” You grabbed another two and dipped them in some ketchup, taking another bite.

“Haha, yea?”

“Yea!! I can never get them this crispy without making them taste burnt.”

“Ahh yeah, key is not to get the temp too high.”

“That’s what Diane says, but they take too long otherwise.”

“Yea it’s why you do em in advance.”

“But then they cool down before serving!”

He shrugs. “You take a chance. Most people always have fries with their orders so I just constantly have em going. And if they don’t then—“ he popped another few fries in his mouth. “More for me.”

You snickered. “Alright true.” You swallowed. “Either way, these are the magical fries they talk about in the training video.”

He burst out laughing at that, and you grinned.

“So what got you on this shift?” You asked, trying to nonchalantly lick the salt off your fingers as you swung your legs back and forth.

He sighed. “Ahh, rent, bills, all that. Thought it would be easy considering my terrible sleep schedule but apparently I was wrong.” He laughed, and you did with him. “You?”

“Same, pretty much. Seemed like a good option considering I don’t usually have any late night plans.” He tilted your head at you and you winced. “Ah, haha. Just realized how pathetic that sounds.”

“No, no! It doesn’t. I just thought that’s weird because your boyfriend would probably be taking you out?”

You raised your eyebrows at him. “Uh, I don’t have a boyfriend dude.”

“What? I thought— that kid who picked you up the other day? He’s not—“

“No! Oh my god no, that’s just my friend from school.”

He gently nodded his head, letting a small ‘oh’ leave his lips, but you knew he wasn’t convinced.

“He’s gay.”

“Ohhhh.” He said more confidently this time, his shoulders relaxing.

“Wow, okay, I was kidding. He’s not gay. You should believe girls more when they say someone isn’t their boyfriend.”

He looked back up towards you with widened almost panicked eyes. “I’m sorry, I—“

You laughed. “Relax.”

He smiled. “Yea.”

“How’d you know about him anyways? He never comes in. He just waits out in his car.”

His mouth formed an ‘o’ shape, and he looked away to grab another fry. “I just noticed. His car is pretty noticeable...” he laughed and shook his head. “Ah, no. Actually, I’ve wanted to ask you out after our first few shifts together but I thought you were already with someone so like...”

“Oh!” You straightened, your cheeks flushing a little bit. “I didn’t know.”

“ ‘course you didn’t. No big deal. But, um...” he cleared his throat. “Would you ever? Wanna go out with me? Or hang out or something, I don’t know.”

You smiled. “Yea I’d love to go out with you.”

He breathed out with a chuckle. “Really?”

“Yea!”

“So maybe if you’re not too exhausted tomorrow, would you wanna get breakfast? I know a pretty cool place.”

“That sounds really good.”

[lostinfantasies38]

Ten Favorite Dialogues from 2020

I picked 10 dialogue exchanges that I loved from the stories I posted this year. A few of them are from the same stories, since I spent a good chunk of the year working on long fics instead of one shots or shorter stories. Under the cut bc they are lengthy.

I also realized that most of my zingers tend to be in my descriptions and don’t always make it into my character’s dialogue. I might have to change that. 

In no particular order:

1.

Dorian chuckled. “Honestly, you two are disgraceful. You can’t come to a club looking like sex on legs when you aren’t single. You’re going to give people a heart attack.”

“Jealous, Dorian?” Alistair needled.

“Insanely,” he replied smoothly. “Aside from myself and Zevran,”—he saluted the elf who shot him a saucy wink—“you’re the most attractive men here. And to add insult to injury, you’re together,” he sighed dramatically.

Accidental Alliance, a oneshot modern Cullistair AU 

2. 

“Step two of the pie liberation was to avoid suspicion of the adults.” Evan giggled at Connor’s phrasing and thought he heard Alex snort in amusement, too. “Zoe’s job was to act as a distraction, which wasn’t hard to accomplish because Cynthia decked her out in this frilly monstrosity that every woman within a five-mile radius oohed and aahed over. She fucking hated it, of course, but it worked in our favor for The Plan. And yes, those are honest to God capitals, babe. Think Mission Impossible: Thanksgiving 2010.”

“Alternate title: Pie Larceny,” Evan quipped, overjoyed by Connor’s rich laughter. Alex definitely chuckled at that.

“Yes! Oh my God, that’s amazing. I’m totally renaming it Pie Larceny.”

Save Me From Myself - part 3 of my DEH series, Connor Murphy/Evan Hansen

3.

“It makes me want to wrap you in blankets and bubble wrap and smother you with attention until you’re sick of looking at me, though.”

A broken laugh tumbled out of Evan’s mouth. “Well, there’s a mental picture. What are you gonna do? Roll me down the street?”

“I’m working out the logistics, but rolling you around does sound kinda fun,” Connor teased.

Snorting, Evan retorted, “I mean, you do have practice rolling joints. Guess a bundled up boyfriend isn’t much difference.”

Connor’s borderline hysterical laughter almost drowned out Evan’s airy chuckles. “Jesus Christ, Evan,” he wheezed, shakily wiping away tears. 

Save Me From Myself - part 3 of my DEH series, Connor Murphy/Evan Hansen 

4.

Returning his head to the shadows, he hissed, “Sister Agnes is milling around. I need a distraction so I can reach our room.”

Kai grinned and pulled a dehydrated pepper from his pocket. “Down the hatch.”

Gavin stopped him with a concern expression. “Are you sure about this?”

He snorted softly. “Please, I grew up eating these. My mum sends them because she knows I love them. They’re like candy. I’ll be shitting fire for a week, but they don’t hurt my mouth. I’ll burn hot and sweat like crazy though. Trust me, it’ll work.”

The redhead arched an eyebrow. “So you carry them in your pocket at all times?”

“No,” Kai answered irritably. “That’s why I needed Easton earlier. To act as a distraction for me so I could get it out of my room.”

Gavin sighed. “If you’re sure. I mean, we could brawl in the hallway, that would work, too.”

Alistair glanced around the corner. “Hurry up and choose. I’m not waiting forever.” Kai smirked and popped the pepper in his mouth.

“Well, that decides it,” Gavin groaned. Alistair tried not to laugh as over the course of a few minutes, Kai’s face visibly flushed in response to the spicy heat and sweat pooled under his hair, running in rivulets across his face.

“How do I look?” he asked.

“Like you’ve got the sweat,” Gavin replied sardonically.

“Perfect,” he retorted. “Right, good luck, Alistair. If I fail to distract everyone, Gavin’s got you covered.”

Find Me Well Within Your Grace - young Cullistair prequel fic - excerpt from Ch 11 featuring a few of my OCs and Alistair 

5.

Wrapping his arms around her as she hummed at the stove, he said, “Sirra and Alistair either just left my apartment or she only now deigned to tell me they’re gone.”

Eowyn grinned wickedly at him, checking the clock on the dining room wall. “My, my! Four hours later! Scandalous.”

“I wish you could have seen them. The magnetism! It was instant.”

She giggled. “I saw the photos. That’s more of Alistair’s almost-O face than I ever want to see again, thanks very much.”

He snorted. “Fair enough.” After a pause, Zevran chuckled, “I give them a month.”

Rounding on him in horror, Eowyn stared at him with wide mossy eyes. “You just said they were perfect together! Do you think we made a mistake?”

“No, amore mio. I mean, I give them a month before they elope. I might have been party to their engagement shoot today.”

She blinked slowly as the giggles built until she was clutching the kitchen counter in a fit of uncontrolled mirth. “Okay, that may be accurate knowing Alistair!”

“I’m thinking of changing my business cards. Should I add ‘Matchmaker Extraordinaire’ or ‘Signor Soulmate’?” he asked cheekily.

Shot In The Dark - Sirra Brosca/Alistair modern AU oneshot [dialogue shown is between Zevran/OC]

6.

Cullen grinned with him. “Me either. Maybe we can improve your chess skills enough for you to graduate from mediocre.”

“Oh, ha ha. You and the others can have fun with that, thanks very much. Here I was hoping we could spend more time in bed,” he teased, sliding a hand into his curls.

Rolling his eyes playfully, the blonde retorted, “Of course, count on you to think how often we can sleep together instead of improving our skills.”

“That is how we improve our skills.”

“Training skills, you fiend.”

Heaving a melodramatic sigh, Alistair quipped, “Well, one of us has to be the boring one in the relationship. Glad it’s not me.” Cullen elbowed him gently in the ribs, chuckling along with his lover’s bright laughter.

Find Me Well Within Your Grace - young Cullistair prequel fic, excerpt from Ch 12 

7.

“You’re not worthless,” Alistair whispered. The breath she’d been holding passed her lips with a tiny mewl of surprise. Still unable to look at one other, Alistair kept his hand on her wrist and she resisted the urge to scoot further away.

Sirra murmured, “You don’t know me, Alistair. You can’t say that.”

“I can,” he insisted firmly, his fingers pressing just a bit harder on her flesh. “It doesn’t matter who you were. When you join the Grey Wardens, all that matters is who you are. I may not know who you used to be in Orzammar, but I have a pretty good idea who you are in the sun.”

Sun Touched - excerpt from Ch 4

8.

“I’m sorry, Alistair, I wanted to surprise you. Most dwarves in Orzammar, caste and casteless alike, have genital piercings. It’s cultural and unrelated to murder.”

His eyebrows climbed into his hair. “Even the men? How in the Maker’s name does that work?” Sirra opened her mouth to explain, but he hastily held up a hand and shivered. “Rhetorical question. Please do not answer that.”  

Sun Touched - excerpt from Ch 14

9.

“I love you, too,” she murmured, gracing him with a watery smile. “If I had known you were up here, I would have left Orzammar years ago and tracked you down,” Sirra mused, only half joking. 

“Oh, really?” he quirked an eyebrow in amusement. “I can just imagine you sneaking into the droll monastery and breaking me out. I would have assumed you were a figment of my imagination, a desire demon, or Maker-sent. Regardless, I doubt I could have resisted the mischievous glint in your eyes as you crept in to find me in my smalls, surrounded by thirty other recruits, and told me to run away with you.” 

Laughing, Sirra raked her short nails down his toned chest. “A naked teenage version of you? I would have taken you on the spot, letting the recruits feast their eyes on us, before dashing out the front door with your bare ass in tow.” 

He closed his eyes with a lusty moan, and swallowed hard, his voice strained when he replied. “Definitely Maker-sent then. To think, we could have been on the lam for the last few years, making mad love wherever we went.” 

Sighing melodramatically, Alistair smirked and playfully bopped the tip of her nose with his. “Ah, well, at least I have you now and that’s all that matters.”

Sun Touched - excerpt from Ch 17

10.

“Stop it,” Morrigan mumbled irritably.

Alistair feigned innocence. “Stop what? I’m sitting here like a good patient. I wasn’t even talking until right now.”

Yellow eyes bored into hazel as the subtle light faded around them, his shoulder apparently healed. “You know very well what. Stop staring at my hands. ‘Tis most distracting.”

“And here I thought it was my hands distracting you during the fight,” he smirked. “Not where my eyes happened to land. How could you have known that I might have been paying attention, if you weren’t observing me, too, hmm?”

Scoffing, Morrigan took a large step back and crossed her arms haughtily over her chest. “You are insufferable.”

Sheathing his sword, Alistair shrugged with affected boredom. “I may be insufferable, Morrigan, but that doesn’t mean I’m wrong. Deny it all you want, but we both know the truth.” 

Snagging his shield from where it fell on the ground, he slung it over his back and murmured for her ears alone. “Besides, for a cranky witch who grew up in a swamp, they’re surprisingly soft and gentle… when they want to be, that is.” 

You Give Me That Lovin’ Feelin’ - ch 2. Part 1 of 3 of Morristair written for @scharoux 14 Days of DA Lovers 

[sarcastically-defensive17]

Hey, so I really like your work so I have a request 👀 maybe you could write Luke and reader being best friends but both having deeper feelings, they're roommates but they fight over Luke's gf bc he says that she needs to move out bc his girlfriend wants to move in and she doesn't like reader so she ends up leaving and running with Crystal but she asks to not tell anyone (except Mike for obvious reasons) that she's there and Luke is really worried but he and reader end up together, pretty please

I LOVE THIS REQUEST!! Sorry if I didn’t do it justice, but I hope you like it!

Also I’m so sorry that the layout went weird! I posted it from my computer and now it looks odd on the phone!

Original story by sarcastically-defensive17

Love? Love. - L. Hemmings

"If she gets those fake blonde extensions wrapped around my straightener one more time, Lucas, I will rip them out myself."

He simply sighed, focusing more of his attention on his phone rather than his best friend.

Y/N and Luke has been best friends since they were 17. They kindled their friendship on the very last day of year 12, such as she did with Calum and Michael.

Since that day, as they sat in the barren English Room and discussed everything and anything that came to mind, her and Luke had been inseparable.

She was the Bucky to his Steve, the Yang to his Yin, the regular sized human to his giant stature.

Well, until Suzanna stepped into the picture.

She is 5"7, coated in fake tan that was applied by somebody with the vision of Stevie Wonder and fake blonde extensions that accentuate how beautiful she would be, if she toned down the Geordie Shore look.

Y/N couldn't help but wonder if her personality would be able to shine brightly through the thick foundation, if she had one, that is.

"Thank you for pretending to listen to me, I appreciate it so much," she rolled her eyes.

For the past few weeks the air in the house had been incredibly tense.

"Y/N?" He asked, his voice hesitant. "Can I talk to you about something?"

She couldn't stop her eyes from lighting up. This was the calmest her and luke had been with each other in almost a week, and she would take any chance to talk to him in a civilized manner.

To be honest, the idea of talking to him did nothing to quell the overflowing feelings she had for the man.

"Is that even a question? You can always talk to me, Lu," she sat opposite to him on the lounge, pulling her legs up underneath her.

He was nervous. That was obvious in the way he raked his fingers through his blonde curls. Suzanna constantly hounded at him to cut his hair but Y/N knew how much he loved his hair.

She couldn't deny that she adored the ringlets that decorated his soft locks.

"I've been meaning to talk to you about this for a little bit," he rung his hands together, spinning rings on his fingers. "I, um, I'm gonna need you to move out."

He mumbled the last few words, sighing softly when she asked him to repeat it. It's safe to say, she was at a loss of words.

"You - you want me to move out? Why?" Her eyebrow was cocked, and she tilted her head to the side slightly.

Luke couldn't help but admire how much she resembled a puppy dog. He always found her to be a mix of adorable and purely beautiful. Which is part of the reason he forced himself to say yes when Suzanna asked to take a larger step in their relationship.

He had spent so much time fighting his feelings for Y/N. Suzanna helped, but he still needed to force himself to deny his feelings in favour of the smaller ones he had for his girlfriend.

He was cruel, he knew it.

"Suzanna and I were talking, and we’re ready to move in together. And she couldn't move in here because of-"

"Because of what? Because I can't stand the woman that has cheated on you multiple times?" Y/N was angry, that much she knew. She couldn't believe the audacity. "Why am I not surprised?"

"Well I would love nothing more than for my girlfriend and my best friend to get along but you make it so difficult for Suzanna to get to know you," he snapped pinching the bridge of his nose between his long fingers.

"I gave her a chance before she slept with one of your mates, Luke. As far as I'm concerned, you should have gotten rid of her months ago when she did it a second time."

"Why can't you just be happy for me?" His eyes were narrowed and the blue orbs held the same lack of patience she had seen a lot over the past week.

She opened her mouth to retort but couldn't find the words to say. Truthfully, she was shattered when Luke told her about his relationship, but she decided to be the bigger person and let go of the idea that Luke could be hers. Their friendship has lasted too long for that to be a possibility.

Luke's comment set her off.

"Oh so I am meant to happy for you, with the Geordie Barbie who fucks another guy regularly, but you couldn't be happy for me with Daniel?"

"Daniel was an asshole!"

"And so is Suzanna!"

They were both on their feet now, staring each other down with a ferocity they hadn't seen since an argument in their teenage years.

Sure, Daniel was a bit of an asshole, but Luke knew he was in the wrong for hating the man so fiercely. The moment he had finally worked up the nerve to ask Y/N on a date - a real date - Daniel swept in and the two were together for almost a year until he started getting more controlling.

The last straw was when Daniel flipped because of the close relationship Y/N and Luke shared and Luke threw a punch at him.

"You're jealous," Luke scoffed, his blue eyes aimed anywhere but at her for he knew his anger was unwarranted but he couldn't bare to face the truth about his relationship.

"Excuse me?" She cocked a brow again and he had to glance away quickly as his eyes fell on her for a second.

"You are jealous that I can keep somebody around and you haven't been able to keep anybody around for almost a year." His brows were pinched tight together and he squared his shoulders.

It was easy for Y/N to notice the slight hunch in his posture, a symbol that he was immediately guilt stricken by his words.

"Oh, I'm so sorry that I can't settle for somebody who doesn't deserve me," she barked out a sarcastic laugh, slamming her hand on the bench to grab her keys.

Luke opened his mouth to retort, but she fixed him with a glare so angry that he physically recoiled.

She slipped her vans on at the door, grabbing her bag off of the hook where she organized all of her daily belongings. She was meticulous and Luke had always admired how neat she was compared to his disorganized chaos.

"You wanted me gone? I'm going. Don't bother contacting me til you wake up to yourself," she stomped towards the door, pausing as she pulled the wood open. "I'll have my stuff gone by the end of the week. Tell Barbie to keep my straightener. God knows she fucked it anyways."

The door slammed behind her and the entire house instantly felt as if the warmth was gone.

She went straight to Crystal's house. The woman was packing for the impending move to a new house; one which her and Michael would share.

"So he wants you to move out so that thing can move in?" Her voice was laced with disgust.

All of them despise Suzanna. The woman had hurt Luke more times than they could count, she blatantly ignores or insults both Y/N and Crystal for fear of any sort of threat in her relationship, yet she regularly cheats on him.

Go figure.

Y/N made a noise of agreement around her glass of wine. The minute she had stepped in the door Crystal had phoned Micheal and ordered a Girls Night, to which Y/N profusely demanded that she would make it up to the couple whose date night she disturbed.

"He better hope I don't get my hands on him, Y/N."

"It's not worth it Crys," she sighed, swirling the contents of her glass in a circle. "I've been basically invisible in that house since the Barbie started coming around."

Crystal pulled the girl into a hug. Not many knew of her hidden feelings for Luke, but Crystal figured it out after a week of knowing the pair.

"I'll cut her extensions and glue them to Luke's eyebrows."

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

Exactly a month had passed. Y/N had ordered Crystal and Michael to not speak a word of where she was because she didn't want to see Luke. Instead, she found a small apartment to live in, while she gathered her wits to find a better place.

She knew it was petty, but she didn't have the care to feel guilty.

Luke on the other hand, was going insane and harbored so much regret surrounding his decision that he couldn't bare to think straight.

Moving in with Suzanna did nothing to make the home feel less empty. Y/N had made sure to collect the rest of her things while Luke was out.

She knew his schedule inside and out and used it to her advantage.

Luke wanted nothing more than to see her face. To hear her voice. The time apart made him realize just how deep his feelings went. The same feelings he had spent many years attempting to bury.

Now his only fear was that he would never get the chance to tell the woman how much he needs her in his life.

That, and how he would manage to get rid of the woman who he had caught sneaking out of their house at all hours of the night.

He didn't know what to expect when he entered his house to hear pornographic moans echoing from the bedroom.

He didn't feel angry. He didn't feel sad. He didn't even feel betrayed.

In fact, he couldn't contain his laughter. After all, catching her in the act of cheating on him simply opened the window for him to break up with her without the guilt.

He simply walked towards their bedroom door, which was ajar, and entered with no hesitation.

He was met with the sight of a bare assed male and a moaning Suzanna.

"I'm breaking up with you," he had a wide smile on his face, already planning his next actions with severe determination. He pulled his long curls into a small bun at the back of his head, “Please get out by tomorrow?"

He didn't leave room for her to argue, instead choosing to snatch his keys off of the bench and exit the house while Suzanna called him from behind.

The minute his backside hit the seat of his Jeep, he had the key turned in the ignition and he was dialing Crystal's phone number.

If anybody knew how to get in contact with Y/N, it would be the woman she had the closest bond to.

"What do you want, Luke?"

"Is Y/N at your house?" He asked quickly.

He was met with silence for a moment. He knew that Crystal knew where she was, but he also knew Crystal would most likely be reluctant.

"Why should I tell you? Want to go kick her out of her own house again?" He heard the malice in her voice.

It was obvious that after a month the pain would still linger. He deserved to be spoken to in such a way.

He knew he had a lot to make up for.

A deep sigh sounded through the receiver, and Crystal took another moment to reply.

"She is going to kill me for this, but I swear, you better be taking your breadstick ass over to apologise or I will kill you myself," she recited the address for an apartment not far from where Crystal and Michael now lived, and hung the phone up without another word.

He arrived at the apartment block soon after, and rushed up the stairs - not having the patience to wait for the elevator.

Number 304 shone brightly in his vision, and his heart tugged at the thought of seeing Y/N again.

He knocked with such urgency that caused the girl inside to jump out of her seat.

The door swung open and before she could close it in his face a converse covered foot was wedged between the door and the frame.

He cringed at the pain but refused to move it.

"What do you want?" Her voice was hard, and his stomach lurched at the sound. Even if she was mad, she still sounded more melodic that he ever could.

He chose to jump straight to the point, not wanting to leave room for her to reject him before he could confess.

"I have been in love with you since a few months after we met. I realised it when we were at your house, and you were doting over your baby cousin," His eyes were basically smiling, as he retrieved the fond memory. "Since that moment, I have done my best to push down how I feel about you, but I am sick of hiding it. I just broke up with Suzanna. I walked in on her with another guy, but I can't do this without you. I can't go back to that house for another minute without you there."

She was at a loss for words. He spoke so fast that it took a moment to piece his sentences together, and when she did, she couldn't help the confused look that coated her features.

"You- what?"

"I broke up with Suzanna," he had a wide smile on his face that she couldn't comprehend.

"Finally?"

"Yes. And, I have been in love with you since we were 18."

"Are you sure?" She cocked her head again.

The action made his stomach erupt in butterflies. He truly adored how she could look so cute through a simple gesture.

Y/N was genuinely confused. She knew how she felt about Luke. The month apart from him hadn't done anything to stop those feelings.

She truly had feelings stronger for him than she had for any of her past relationships. If she were to think about it, she would even say that she loved him.

"How could I not be sure?" He pinched his brows together in confusion. He grabbed both of her hands in his, leading her into the house and to the lounge where they both slumped down.

She stammered, "Where did this even come from? How?-"

He moved his hands to the side of her face, framing her confused expression.

She didn't know how to feel. For so long, Y/N had longed for Luke to notice her in such a way, and now that he is admitting that he has felt the same way about her that she had about him for so long, she was truly at a loss of words.

His eyes were full of pent up emotion. He didn't necessarily look sad, but he looked the most apologetic she had ever seen him, and she had been there through many emotions with the man,"Y/N, I'm sorry. Not just for what happened last month, but for everything I have done. I'm sorry I couldn't work up the courage to confess to you so many years ago, I'm sorry I let my jealousy ruin your relationship with Daniel, I am sorry I wasted time with other girls just to try and deny how much I truly adore you, and I am sorry that I ever thought I would be happy choosing anybody over you. I can't stand to live without you, and even if you have zero feelings for me in the same way I feel for you, would you please come back-"

She pulled his hands from her face and put her own on his before crushing her lips against his in an urgent moment of passion.

The contact was full of so much emotion, and it was the most loving kiss she had experienced from any of those who she had kissed.

It was intimate, but not rushed. Simply lips against lips; no pushing to move it deeper.

They pulled back after an unknown time, and she bumped her nose against his.

"I can't tell you how long I have wanted to do that for," she told him, feeling most of her anger melt away along with her confusion.

Instead, they both felt a love that they hadn't felt before.

"Come back, please?" He was ready to beg. Hell, he was ready to not go back to that house until she was ready to go with him.

"My name's still on the lease, you can bet your thick ass I'm coming back. But if I see one blonde hair extension, I will go on the warpath," she smirked at him, staring at his plump lips.

"I'll make sure it's spotless for your return," Luke beamed at her, feeling his nerves both escape his body and ignite at her touch.

"Good. Now get back over here and kiss me some more."

[ificanthaveu]

NYE, You and Me || Shawn Mendes

Description: It’s New Years and you’re alone in Toronto. Someone might just come along and change that. 

A/N: DAY 8 (i keep forgetting to say the day ope) I’ll be in FLORIDA for New Years so my experience will be opposite of this BUT this is cute and shit and I want this to happen to me ok ok and she’s early tonight bc I gotta go see my bb boy Chris Evans in Knives Out :)

Word Count: 3.1k

12 Days of Ficmas

Maybe catching a flight the day before New Year’s Eve to avoid seeing your high school friends at bars around your small hometown wasn’t your best idea ever.

Especially since you were flying to Canada.

A flight to Toronto was one of the last ones available in such short notice, so you decided Toronto was going to be where you spent the beginning of the new year. 

Your flight had been delayed twice, and then you had to stay over in a hotel for a night before finally leaving the next morning. 

You were exhausted. This wasn’t how New Year’s Eve was supposed to be. 

You booked the last Airbnb left in the city, a small cottage on the outside of Toronto. It only had two bedrooms, but it was just you, so it didn’t really matter. 

You sat down on the couch in the small living room and pulled out your laptop, hoping to find somewhere to spend your night to ring in the new year. 

The more you looked at bars, the less appealing they seemed. You’d be fine with a drink or two, but getting drunk sounded like even more of a nightmare after the night you just had. 

You decided you’d just walk around the city for a little bit and hope to see a sign advertising an event for the new year. 

You started down the sidewalk with your face buried in your scarf as you pulled up a map on your phone to get an idea of where you were going. 

You heard laughter to your right, and you turned to see what it was. 

You were met with one of the prettiest parks you’d ever seen. There was a sledding hill in the back, trees lining the edge with lights, multiple gazebos and a small playground. 

You smiled at the sight and walked forward to wander the area. It looked like they were setting up for something.

You were proven right once you saw a sign on top of one of the gazebo’s adverting “New Year in the Park” starting at 8:00 that night. You didn’t think you’d find something so soon, but this seemed perfect. 

You walked back to the cottage and pulled out some warmer clothes to wear that night before finding a place to order dinner from. The only place that delivered to where you were was Chinese, so you ordered your meal and waited. 

You scrolled through your phone at all the posts of people excited to be home. You rolled your eyes at any post talking about missing school and the friends they made. 

You were glad you left before you had to run into any of them.

Before you could get angry about it again, the doorbell rang, and you answered the door to get your food. You sat at the island in the kitchen and watched whatever was on the TV as you ate. 

Your cottage was a few blocks down from the park, and you were shocked to see cars parking by your house and walking towards it around 8:00. Maybe this was a bigger thing than you thought. 

You pulled on a pair of leggings with a pair of jeans over them and laired on a long sleeve, a sweater and your winter coat. You pulled on a hat and mittens and wrapped your scarf around your neck. You grabbed the keys, your phone, and your wallet and started your walk to the park. 

You couldn’t help but gasp as you walked up to it. There were booths everywhere selling every type of food or drink. Music was booming, and there was even a small ball ready to drop at midnight. Kids, grandparents and everyone in-between had something to do. 

It was perfect. It was just what you needed. 

You started down the path lined with the booths, looking at each one and trying to decide what to get to drink. You settled on a peppermint mocha and continued walking. 

You found a light-walk around the corner and started to wander through it as you drank your mocha. You stopped at a bench and sat down for a moment, watching a set of lights that were timed to the music. 

People walked past you, some smiling at you and some giving you confused looks, but you didn’t mind. 

You weren’t paying attention until someone sat right next to you. You looked over and saw a tall man with a mop of brown curls, cuddled up in a scarf and winter coat. 

“It’s fucking freezing,” he mumbled as he looked at you out of the side of his eyes. 

“Welcome to Canada, I guess,” you said with a smile. 

He looked at the lights for a moment before turning back to you. 

“Are you waiting for someone?” He asked.

You shook your head slowly before saying, “Nope, just me.”

“Spending New Year’s Eve alone?” He said with a shocked tone to his voice. “Why?”

“Long story,” you said quietly. 

He glanced down at his watch before back up to you. “We still have three hours until midnight. I have time.”

“Aren’t you here with someone?” You asked. 

“Yeah, my family is up there,” he said, pointing forward to three people walking away. “But I needed a minute away from them.”

“I get that,” you said with a nod.

“So, are you from here?” He said. 

“No, I’m from the states,” you said, looking at him. 

“Why Canada?” He said with a scratch of his nose. 

“To be honest, it was one of the last flights left to book when I was looking for a place to go 2 days ago,” you explained. 

“So why were you trying to get away?” He pried. 

“I don’t even know your name,” you countered. 

“Shawn,” he paused. “Now answer the question.”

“My name’s [Y/N]. Thanks for asking,” you deflected. 

“The beauty of this, [Y/N], is that we don’t know each other. So you can tell me why you’re here, and it’ll be no difference to me,” he said, leaning back and crossing his arms. 

“After high school, I stayed in my home town,” you started. “I worked as a manager at a store in the mall because college just wasn’t going to be for me. It still isn’t for me. I love my job, but I went to a private high school. People are judgy. College is expected. Any time I run into someone from my high school, it’s the same shit. ‘When are you going to college?’ ‘You’re still working there?’ ‘Why don’t you move?’ If I would’ve stayed there, I would’ve gone insane.”

“College isn’t for everyone,” he said simply. 

“You’re preaching to the choir. I wish they’d get out of that mindset, though. I used to be really good friends with a lot of them, but I just can’t take the criticism,” you said. 

“Do you like what you’re doing?” He asked. 

“I love it,” you said with a smile. 

“What about your family? Couldn’t spend tonight with them?” He asked further. 

“Well, I’m an only child, and my parents got married on New Year’s. So they go on an anniversary trip every year,” you said. 

“Yikes,” he said under his breath. 

“Yeah, I don’t mind it. I moved out a while ago anyway,” you said. 

He nodded his head and went quiet. 

“What about your family?” You asked as you motioned to where they were moments ago. 

“Well, I’m kind of all over the place right now. I travel a ton for my job, so I don’t see them a lot. I’ve been back for around two weeks, and I’ve been with them for every minute of that. I love them to death, but I can never be with anyone for that long,” he explained. 

“You’re from Canada?”

“Born and raised.”

“So, when you said that you’re ‘all over the place,’ what does that entail?” You questioned. 

“Name a place, I’ve probably been there,” he said as he looked at you. 

“Wow,” you mumbled under your breath. 

“Yeah, pretty cool, also pretty exhausting,” he said with a quiet laugh. 

“What’s your next destination?” 

“I believe I go to Chicago?” He said with hesitation as he squinted.

“You don’t know?” You asked with a laugh. 

“It could also be New York. It’s probably New York,” he said with a little more confidence. 

“Are you sure about that?” You tested. 

He rolled his eyes at you, “I’ve known you for twenty minutes, and I already regret sitting here.”

You ignore his remark and continue to ask him questions, “Do you live here then? Or do you live in some city you don’t know?”

“I kind of live here,” he said. 

“Kind of?”

“Kind of.”

“So what’s the other place, if this one is kind of?”

“LA,” he said softly. “Kind of the hub for what I do.”

“Which is?” You asked. 

“Which is what?” He asked. 

“What do you do?” you asked. 

He shrugged his shoulders, “Nothing much. I sing sometimes.”

“Sing anything I know?” You asked jokingly. 

“Probably not,” he said, looking at you with a smile and admiration. 

“So not a good singer then?” You asked. 

He feigned offense as his hand went to his chest, and his jaw dropped open. You couldn’t contain the giggle that slipped from your lips. 

“That hurt!” He exclaimed. 

“Well…” you trailed off. “If you were good, I’d hear you on the radio.”

“Maybe you have, and you just don’t realize it and I’m lying to you,” he said. 

You narrowed your eyes at him before shaking your head, “Nah, I trust you.”

“You trust me?” He said with a laugh. “You didn’t even know I existed thirty minutes ago.”

“You just have this presence about you,” you said with a shrug. “Can’t describe it.”

He smiled at you and nodded as a small blush crept onto his cheeks. 

“Thanks. That actually means a lot,” he said with that same smile you didn’t plan on getting sick of. 

“Want to walk the rest of the path?” You said as you pointed forward. 

He nodded his head, and the two of you stood up and started to walk. 

You forgot he was even there as you admired the lights once again. You walked through a tunnel of lights and slowly spun around, as Shawn stood back and watched you.

“This is amazing,” you whispered. 

“This is my favorite part,” he said in response. 

“I feel like I’m in a dream,” you said as you continued to walk forward and Shawn followed you. 

His hand bumped against yours, and at first, you ignored it. Until it happened again, and you let him hold your mittened hand in his. 

You both continued walking, your hands swaying gently as you both looked opposite ways. 

“Hey, look,” he said softly. 

You turned to look at what he was pointing towards. There was a house a little ways back with Santa sitting on top of it. 

“He’s always watching,” Shawn whispered. 

You rolled your eyes and hit his arm as he laughed. 

“Christmas was over a week ago,” you said. 

“But he watches year-round. Better be nice to me,” Shawn taunted. 

You tugged him forward as you continued to finish the walk through the lights. Eventually, you made your way to the exit and threw your cup in the trash. You expected Shawn to want to find his family. 

“We still have an hour until the ball drops. Want to go sledding?” He said with a big smile. 

“Aren’t you here with your family?” You reminded him. 

He shrugged his shoulders before pulling you towards the hill. 

“They probably won’t even notice I’m gone. They’re used to it.”

“That’s horrible.”

“I know, but I want to sled.”

You slowly made the treck up the steep hill with him. He insisted you walk in front of him, so he could catch you if you slipped. He was slipping more than you were. 

You stopped for a moment and looked back at him to see him on his hands and knees. You rested your hands on your hips and waited for him to look at you. 

“Another thing I’ve learned about you, stranger. You’re clumsy as hell,” you said. 

“Shut up,” he mumbled as he stood up and gently pushed you forward. 

You finally made it to the top of the hill, and Shawn went to go grab your tubes. 

“There was only one left,” Shawn said slowly as he approached you. “Guess we have to share,” he said with a smirk and a shrug. 

Shawn set the tube down and sat down first before motioning for you to sit in his lap. You hesitated before sitting on his lap and laughing. 

‘We’re going to fall off,” you said. 

He wrapped an arm tightly around your waist that made your heart skip a beat. 

“Hold on to the handles, and we’ll be fine,” he said as you felt his breath against your neck. 

You rested your head back on his chest as he pushed you forward slowly. 

You squealed as you heard Shawn laugh in your ear as your tube sped down the hill. His grip tightened around your waist as you picked up speed. 

You slowed to a stop at the bottom, you and Shawn still laughing as you stayed sitting in the tube. You finally calmed down after a few moments. 

You went to stand up, but his arm didn’t move. You tapped it a few times, but he just tightened his grip. 

“You’re warm,” he mumbled into your shoulder.

“If you let go of me, we can go down the hill one more time before we have to find a spot to watch the ball drop,” you whispered. 

That sold him as he loosened his grip on you and allowed you to stand up. He handed the tube off to one of the employees and followed you back up the hill. He loosely held onto your hips as you climbed up, claiming it’d help him stay upright. 

It didn’t.

You eventually made it to the top of the hill and went to grab a tube. 

“You riding again with me?” Shawn asked as he threw an arm around your shoulder. 

“Yeah, guess I will,” you sighed. 

He squeezed your shoulder before grabbing a tube. The two of you sat in the same position and were a fit of giggles once again as you raced down the hill. 

You lingered a minute again as the two of you just sat at the bottom of the hill in the tube. You finally stood up and helped him up with you, once again handing the tube off. 

Shawn held your hand again as you walked towards the center of the park. You had fifteen minutes left of this year. 

“Thanks for hanging out with me tonight,” you told Shawn once you found a place to stand. 

He looked down at you and smiled, “Thank you for allowing me to.”

You shivered and crossed your arms across your chest. Shawn noticed and pulled you into his chest. You rested your head against the edge of his scarf and watched people start to make their way towards the center as well.

You took a moment to think about your night. You’d bet you’d never see Shawn again after this. He’d go home with his family, and you’d go back home. And that’d be it. 

“Ready?” Shawn whispered. “Five minutes.”

You separated yourself from him and glanced down at your phone, confirming the time. 

“Any last things to get done this year? It’s now or never,” he said as he shook your shoulders. 

You laughed and thought for a moment. 

“It was a good year,” you finally said. “I’m happy with it.”

“Are you happy with how you’re ending it?” Shawn asked hopefully.

You turned to face him head-on, looking up at him. 

“Yeah, I am.”

People around you started to count down from thirty as you and Shawn stayed still, staring at each other, just inches apart. 

You felt his gloved hand rest against your cheek. 

15 

14

13

“Can I kiss you?” He mumbled. 

12

11

10

“Of course,” you whispered. 

9

8

7

Shawn pressed his lips against yours as you wrapped your arms around his neck, pulling him closer. 

6

5

4

You felt him smile against your lips as he held your hips tightly.

3

2

1

Everyone erupted into cheers as the clock struck midnight. But you didn’t care.

You felt like you were in your own world as you rested your forehead against Shawn’s. 

“Happy New Year,” you whispered. 

“Happy New Year,” he responded as he pulled you into his chest, and you watched the fireworks explode. 

People started to walk out after that. The wind was getting colder, and you were starting to wish you had worn another sweatshirt underneath your coat. 

You and Shawn started to walk towards the edge of the park. 

“Where are you staying?” He asked as he turned towards you. 

“A little cottage down the road,” you said, motioning in that direction. 

He nodded his head before he said, “I should probably find my family.”

“Yeah.”

“Thank you,” he said sincerely. “For one of the best nights I’ve ever had.”

“Same to you,” you said as he started to back away. 

“See you around, [Y/N],” he said as he sent you one last wink before finding his family and walking away. 

The walk back was short, and you went right to bed, wrapping yourself up in numerous blankets and falling right to sleep.

You woke up at 6:00 for your 8:30 flight, throwing your things in a bag and calling a cab to come get you. 

You rested your head against the window, trying to convince yourself that last night was just some dream. 

The airport was dead as you breezed through security and found your gate. 

First flight back to Chicago of the new year. 

You found a seat near the front and scrolled through your phone. 

You felt someone sit next to you. 

“Guess I am going to Chicago,” the familiar voice said. 

You whipped your head around to see a grinning Shawn starting back at you. 

You let out a breathy laugh, “You’re a mystery, Shawn.”

He didn’t say anything and instead threw his arm around the back of your chair. 

“Think I can show you around my city since you were so welcoming in yours?” you said as you leaned your head against his arms. 

“Sounds perfect.”

REBLOG, REPLY, SEND ME A MESSAGE, AN ASK, I LOVE LOVE AND SUPPORT PLEASE

tag list: (message/ send me an ask to get added for ficmas!)

@fallinallincurls​ @sunrise-shawn​ @shawnblrficawards​ @itrocksmysocks​ @mendesficsxbombay​ @particularnervous​ @adelaidestreets​ @rosebudmendes​ @shawnwyr​ @dancing-oceans​ @illuminatepotter​

[in-tua-deep]

Umbrella academy hogwarts au? I feel like 5 would be a slytherin. Would he be in a younger year than everyone else, kinda like in your pride and prejudice AU?

HMMM i think if i was ever to go for a real hogwarts au and not just gently dumping all the characters into the hp world for a laugh (they make it so easy with five’s mystery jump at the end of s1 lmao) then it would have to start from like. the very beginning and together. as Actual Kids.

(p&p au is a bit different bc it’s a no-powers-period-drama type au)

we’re not going to explain why hogwarts is getting some american kids bc i don’t have the brainpower rn to think of why. maybe reginald trained them in the US in this au and then moved them to the UK in the months preceding their debut for whatever reason which officially makes them a Hogwarts Problem now idk

lemme put this under a read more

so instead you have Five at like, ten-and-three-quarters years old. They’re scheduled to debut in front of the entire world very soon. Five has bruises on his skin and anger in his heart, even as young as he is.

(He’s not the worst off. Klaus has screaming nightmares and bags under his eyes so dark he looks like a raccoon. Ben hasn’t spoken a word in two weeks after his last special training session with their dad. Diego’s arm is in a cast where sparring with Luther went wrong a week or so ago.)

And Five is the curious child, the challenging child. He’s a constant buzz of need to know, have to know, have to move move move and part of that is knowing everything that’s going on in the house. With his power to jump, he knows all the good spying spots. He knows which rooms are above the others, knows which vents have sound that carry, knows the spots he can prop himself in and see but not be seen.

So when there’s someone knocking on the front door, Five sneaks into one such spot and looks - because no one knocks on their door, ever. Reginald’s door is never knocked upon by girl scouts or friendly neighbors or salesmen. It’s like, a rule. So he’s curious who it is, and he crouches down to watch and to listen.

Grace is the one who answers the door (Pogo tends to keep out of sight of guests, when he can) and offers the severe looking woman a dazzling smile. Five thinks she’ll be turned away, but Grace nods and gestures her inside and tells her to wait right there as she fetches Mr. Hargreeves - 

His dad comes, looking just as severe as the woman does and twice as intimidating. And then the woman opens her mouth to speak and - 

Magic?

Them?

A boarding school?

And Five doesn’t really think they’re magic. Yeah, unexplained things happen around them all the time (Klaus’s lightbulbs were constantly being replaced when he bolted out of a nightmare screaming and they blew or shattered or whatever) but that’s just part of their powers, right?

But a boarding school. That’s promising. Even if they aren’t magic or whatever, even if this school is for insane people - anything is better than here. And it’s not foster care, right? If it’s a school then there’s no issue of them being split up, being torn apart. They’re a family, and Five has been trying desperately to think of a plan to get them out since he was seven-and-a-half

Of course, Reginald says no. Denies everything. Refuses to acknowledge the woman and sends her out.

And Five has about three seconds for his quicksilver mind to run back over the conversation, to pick up on the woman’s bristling and comments about control and community and you can’t hide magic forever and -

Five jumps, in a flash of blue, and pops out in front of the woman outside. She startles with wide eyes. “What on earth - ”

“What happens if a magical child wants to attend but their non-magical guardians do not.” Five asks the woman, hands clenched into fists by his sides.

The woman stares at him for a long time, “It would depend on the circumstances - ”

That’s a bullshit answer if Five’s ever heard one, and he cuts her off. “If a magical child needs to be trained, could they achieve that going around a guardian? What are the laws concerning education?”

The woman looks over her shoulder, back towards the manor. She looks bemused that this tiny slip of a child is confronting her like this outside of the knowledge of his parents.

Five grits his teeth, because this is a low risk high reward situation. If the woman leaves - whatever, no skin off his back or however that saying goes. If she can get them out and going to this fancy boarding school so that they’re only within Reginald’s sphere of influence during the break times - well. 

Five has a hunch, and plays it without mercy.

“He’s not our biological father. He bought us. We have - we do things no else can do. Magic? He wants us to be superheroes. He’s got something planned, to show us off to the whole world. Us and our powers.”

If the woman’s face had gotten tight at the beginning of Five’s words, it’s aghast at the end of it. So Five is correct - if magic was real, then Five should have already heard about it. If it is and he hasn’t, that means that the magic people are exceptionally good at keeping secrets. 

Which means Reginald and his planned publicity works in Five’s favor. 

“I’ll see what can be done.” The woman says grimly.

But there’s something Five needs confirmation of, because it’s important. “If one of us goes, we all go.” He tells the woman, feet planted shoulder width apart and hands curled into fists with the thumbs on the outside. Ready for a fight. “We stay together.”

(Vanya doesn’t have powers, like the rest of them. But Five will be damned before he leaves her behind in this house by herself, not when Reginald hardly cares if she lives or dies.)

The woman blinks, waves her hand like that was never the problem. “There are seven children at this address, yes? If that’s all of you, you all have places at Hogwarts.”

Five, who was geared up to defend his position and smuggle Vanya with him in a suitcase if necessary, melts back. “There are seven of us.” Five says, cautious and careful, “But - yes. There are seven of us.”

(He almost tells her that Vanya isn’t magic, but if they think she is then he’s not going to try and persuade them otherwise. He’ll figure something out for later, when they realize she’s ordinary. He’ll find a way to fake magical powers for her or something.)

“I’ll be back.” The woman tells him, looking serious. Then she raises a stick in the air (what?) and something happens and she just - warps in place and vanishes. It makes Five jump back, startled.

What was that? That wasn’t - that wasn’t jumping. Not the way he does it. But - she vanished? There’s no blue light but it looks so much like what he does that he can’t help but doubt. Are there variations of his power? Are there lots of people who can jump?

Suddenly this whole ‘magic school’ thing is looking more like something exciting to look forward to instead of just a convenient escape route.

Five hovers for a few seconds, before jumping himself. It wouldn’t do to be found lurking outside of the manor when he isn’t supposed to be permitted outside at all, after all. 

He waits with baited breath until a week later he wakes up to yelling and scrambles for the door. He can see his other siblings coming out as well in the pajamas, all of them exchanging looks and agreeing as one to creep quietly to figure out what’s going on.

What’s going on isn’t quiet at all. There’s a dozen men and women downstairs, including the woman that Five spoke to the week before. They all looks very official, and they all have sticks like the woman did. Does. 

Reginald looks furious.

They’re all crouched in Five’s spot, the good one where if you stay still no one would notice you between the banisters but you get an unobstructed view. The key is if you stay still. One of them moves, or makes a noise, or whatever and one of the people’s eyes snap up to look directly at them.

They all freeze.

“You might as well come down here, children.” One woman says, looking distinctly unimpressed. “This involves you, after all.”

They look to Reginald, but he says nothing. He doesn’t even look at them at all, though they can see the muscle in his jaw tightening. 

The travel carefully down the stairs, single file, in order. Klaus and Ben hold hands as they go down, and Five looks back frequently to make sure that everyone is present, including Vanya. 

“I’m afraid,” The woman from the week before speaks up in her Scottish brogue, “That is has come to our attention that… your guardian can no longer provide you with the necessary education you require by law.”

She keeps going, explaining to them about magic. Five can see Vanya at the end of their little like, getting more and more pale by the second. Five heard most of this speech the day before, so it’s easy for him to duck out of their little line and bump Klaus and Ben over so that he can stand by her side.

He takes her hand in his, not caring about how Luther and Allison are shooting him looks. He squeezes tightly and, after a second, she squeezes back.

They’re in language classes with Grace together, so it’s easy to him to tap against her hand.

n-o g-o w-o u

Not going without you. Vanya is still pale, but she squeezes Five’s hand and stops looking like she’s going to pass out on the floor. 

“As such,” The woman is continuing, “You will be attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. You will be staying with me until the start of the term, during which time we will sort out permanent living arrangements.”

“We’re not coming back?” Luther demands loudly, looking frightened. Five would almost feel bad if he didn’t remember the fact that Luther was still recovering from a concussion from private training that he still would talk about. “But - what about dad?”

“Your father is not equipped to deal with magical children.” The woman tells them, actually quite diplomatically. Five can read between the lines though to where she’s actually saying this man is an abusive fuck who shouldn’t have been permitted to care for a cactus let alone seven entire human beings.

“We stay together?” Five pipes up, staring holes into the strangers in his house. “No matter what, we stay together, right?”

The woman inclines her head, “We will do our utmost to ensure it, Mr. - ”

She pauses for him to fill in his name, and he can feel the panicked look Luther is shooting him. He’s the worst one to ask for his name, because he gave up his chance for a name so Vanya could have one.

Luther is shaking his head, trying to get Five’s attention to signal him to not answer, but Five lifts his chin up high. He is not ashamed as he puts the final nail in Reginald’s coffin.

“Number Five. I’m Number Five.”

The expressions on every adults face are priceless and drive home just how not ordinary that is. Just how terrible it is to have a number instead of a name. Five doesn’t understand it - he likes his name, thank you - but that doesn’t mean he’s not willing to use it as a weapon to put another knife in Reginald’s back.

And that’s how, against some of their protests (mainly Luther, who protests leaving Reginald, and Diego, who protests leaving Grace) all of the kids end up in the house of “Professor McGonagall” who at this point is just. resigned to these kids being weird as fuck

(to be valid she first met Five apparently apparating with a) 0 training and b) without even a wand what the fuck)

They’re all just. Really confused? They all report for breakfast bright and early and McGonagall hasn’t even had her morning coffee yet and she’s just kind of like “yeah you kids do whatever, settle in and all that. we’ll go to diagon alley and pick up school supplies and all that later”

and it is bizarre. The kids stick close to one another, watch all the weird magic shit going down with careful eyes, and then they get their wands. Five almost has a fit because what if they find out Vanya isn’t magical and he’s about two seconds away from using his own shiny new wand (that had let out a bright blue light reminiscent of the one that came with his powers) when Vanya picks one up and waves it and manages to blast through three shelves.

The wand maker looks absolutely delighted at this destruction of the shop and all of them gape at Vanya because they were not expecting her to be magical. And clearly Vanya wasn’t expecting to be magical either, because she’s pale and shocked as the wand maker plucks the destructive wand from her hand and pops another one in.

All seven of them walk out with their brand new wands, and Vanya and Five hold hands tightly. Half in relief and half in alarm.

When they talk later, hushed whispers camped out in freshly transfigured beds, they come to the conclusion that some witches and wizards just need the stick to do things and that the rest of the Umbrella Academy is kind of weird. (McGonagall lectured Five at length about apparating and not doing it while he made various faces)

The kids survive until term starts and Professor McGonagall takes the to a train station and drops them off and tells them that she’ll see them at the school. They take up an entire compartment by themselves and talk at length about what magic school is going to be like.

Luther is still withdrawn and sullen over being taken away from Reginald, Diego is still sad about Grace, Allison has her head held high and is determined to make a good impression and finally meet some new people outside of her siblings, and Klaus is loud but in the way that means he’s anxious, Ben is speaking again but is still far too quiet, Five has read all of their schoolbooks already and is practically vibrating in place with the need to know everything and Vanya - 

Vanya is off her meds. She didn’t want Professor McGonagall to decide she was broken or not good enough or anything because she was on anxiety medication. Any mishaps within the McGonagall house have so far been chalked up to accidental magic (and some of it actually had been). This is important for later.

They change into their robes (just another uniform) and disembark and get to Hogwarts and stand in the Great Hall and listen to the Sorting Hat sing and then - it’s their turn to be sorted.

Luther is all Gryffindor bullheaded stubbornness and an insistence on what he thinks is right, proud and strong. Allison is Slytherin ambition and drive to her bones, clawing her way to the top and making sure she will stay there. Diego is Gryffindor impatience and need to prove himself, doing what is right even if it is outside the law. Klaus is Slytherin cunning and resourcefulness, sneaking out and getting what he needed under the nose of a tyrant (though since leaving the house, drugs have been noticeably absent from his possessions). Ben is Ravenclaw knowledge and hiding behind books, quiet words and hungry eyes. Vanya is Ravenclaw hard work and well gained knowledge, passion for her difficult art and determination to be good at something.

Five gets up there, and the Sorting Hat hums. 

Five is made of loyalty that could weather an apocalypse. He is a boy who had a power perfect for running away and keeping away, but who stayed because he couldn’t bear to leave his siblings. Five is a child who, every time he got knocked down, he got back up again. Five is a child who has hard work pressed into the marrow of his bones, who never gives up and never gives in.

Five is driven by knowledge and a need to know. His hunger consumes him, always pushing at boundaries that perhaps would be safer for his health to leave untouched. Always testing and twisting and seeking more. He is bright and smart and one of his very first words was why. 

Five is cunning and careful, twisting words and bending rules and scraping everything he can from a bad situation. He is the boy who had a split second to think, who jumped outside and confronted a stranger and went off of a hunch and won it all. The boy who had so few resources to work with, but twisted and pulled at them until they were enough. If getting his entire family out of Reginald’s house intact was not the very definition of ambitious, then nothing is.

Hufflepuff. Ravenclaw. Slytherin.

Choose your own adventure, choose your fighter.

Five would probably prefer Ravenclaw, in a house with two of his favorite siblings. Perhaps he would choose Slytherin, because Klaus is fragile and he doubts Allison will protect him and Five has always been protective of his family. 

(Klaus is stronger than the family thinks, away from the mausoleum and the memories. He’ll have Slytherin house wrapped around his finger before they know what hit them, will eventually fall in love with a Hufflepuff transfer student named Dave, will eventually be happy.)

Maybe Five is alone in Hufflepuff, a house too kind and too soft for the sort of jagged edges he has. But maybe that’s what he needs. Maybe he doesn’t need a house to sharpen his claws against, to sharpen his words or his mind. Maybe he needs somewhere safe, where people take his hand and show him how to tickle the pear to get into the kitchens and teach him how to play exploding snap and who look the other way when he sneaks out to visit his siblings at night.

(Whatever they can do outside of their wand waving, they discover, it isn’t magic. Or at least, not what the magical world seems to consider magic. They figure this out because apparently Hogwarts is warded against apparating within the grounds.

This doesn’t seem to stop Five.)

There’s so much that needs to be done. The wizarding world is still rebuilding. It’s 2000, scarcely three years after everything went down. 

Vanya’s “magic” seems to act up and no one can figure out why (even the family doesn’t realize it’s because she has non-magical powers like the rest of them. how could they? their entire lives Vanya had been ordinary.)

(when the revelation comes, Allison remembers her orders, remembers a small quiet room she was brought and told to say terrible things. They all weather the storm of Vanya’s fury together, magical shield summoned in a technique probably too advanced for their age but Ben is a natural until they finally managed to stun her. 

later, they all sit together in the hufflepuff common room, curled up on the sofas with mugs of hot chocolate stolen from the kitchens, regardless of if any of them are even in the house. at the very least Five has a talent for wriggling his way into areas he isn’t supposed to be in. they drink the hot chocolate, and contemplate their lives living with a man who would order something like that. 

they are grateful, even luther, of the turn their lives had taken. it would have been so very easy for McGonagall to walk away, to trust that they would be homeschooled or sent abroad or whatever. they are free, and they are thankful)

there is, of course, still the issue of what to do with the seven magical children once their first year comes to an end. they could stay with professor mcgonagall again, perhaps. despite being generally no nonsense, she’s always had a soft spot for the troublemakers (and the Hargreeves, despite best efforts, fall soundly into that category)

maybe they end up staying with some empty nesters. Molly and Arthur Weasely have no children left staying at home since Ginny moved out, and they’re used to dealing with large numbers of magical children. Diego would thrive under Mrs. Weasley’s attention even as he would feel guilty for loving anyone but Grace. 

maybe McGonagall calls in a favor, maybe she contacts her old students. She knows a boy who was an orphan himself, who knows what it means to be too skinny and too wary and to not want to go home at the summers. An orphan boy with wealth enough to take care of seven orphans with no problems, who would be glad to take on several wards if it was a favor to his old professor. 

(Harry Potter is only 20, but the war aged him. Aged all of his generation, really. There are lots of orphans in the wizarding world, and he is one of them.)

or maybe their arrangements are something else entirely.

The important thing though, is that despite everything they stay together. They might not have the Academy anymore, they might not belong to Reginald, but they are family and they stick by one another.

They protect one another, through means both magical and not.

(If you think Diego is giving up his knives, you are very incorrect about that.)

[anotherkpopvictim]

Heated Love - NamJinGi A/B/O Drabble

(Pic edit by me)

A/N: Soooo, I was trying to figure out what pairing or relationship to write about next, and I thought, why not make a kind of companion fic (to The Scents Of Us - Hoseok X Jungkook X Jimin X Taehyung) with the other three members? You don’t have to have read that one for this one to make sense, though.

This one does not have littlespace like the last one. I just felt like writing something a bit different, so here ya go!

And a very Happy Birthday to Mr. Kim Namjoon AKA our leader AKA our president <3

Relationship: Omega!Seokjin X Beta!Yoongi X Alpha!Namjoon

Rating: M

Words: 2641

Smut, fluff bc I’m me okay

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

“No, no, stop!” Yoongi ordered, reaching over to press a button to cut the track. The group of four boys all looked up at him through the window in the recording booth with fear in their eyes. “These harmonies are what’s going to take this song to the next level. Minhyun, you need to focus more on your part, you keep getting distracted by the others. Yejun, I know that you’re not as comfortable singing as you are rapping, but I need you to be a little bit louder, a bit more confident. Siwoo and Sungjin, I need you two to sing just a tad bit quieter so I can really hear the balance in the harmonies.”

The kids - teenagers - nodded swiftly in understanding, anxiety swimming in their eyes. Whether that was because of the pressure of singing perfectly or the unforgiving bluntness known of their producer was up for debate, but it was probably a mixture of both.

Yoongi knew he could come off as harsh and cold sometimes, but it was just that he took his job seriously and didn’t have any time for pointless goofing off or complaining.

The beta took a deep breath and gave the group still standing frightened in the booth a small smile, hoping to ease their obvious nerves. “Hey, you guys are doing a great job,” he said, voice softer than before. “Take ten minutes to yourselves and practice what I’ve just told you, then we’ll regroup and try recording again, alright? You guys are so close to finishing the song.”

The four boys all nodded once more, looking infinitely more relieved thanks to Yoongi’s kind words. Siwoo, the group’s leader smiled back and said, “Thank you, Yoongi-ssi. We’ll work hard!”

Just as the beta left them to their own devices, sitting back in his own chair and taking a sip of his now lukewarm coffee, there was a hasty knock on his studio door.

Yoongi’s eyebrow rose in surprise. Everyone at the company knew not to bother him with anything while he was in session with a group, not unless it was important.

The beta hurried to open the door and was greeted immediately by his alpha boyfriend and the familiar scent of sandalwood. The sight of him at his studio when he should have been working caused Yoongi’s heart to sink to his stomach in fear.

“Joonie,” Yoongi began, “Is everything okay? Why are you here?”

Before his thoughts could start running wild about what could be going on, Namjoon cut him off. “Hyung, everything’s fine,” he reassured with a smile, “Jin-hyung’s just started his heat early.”

Yoongi let out a breath of relief. “Oh...oh!” he blinked, “But I thought he wasn’t supposed to have one for another few weeks yet?”

Namjoon nodded, but didn’t appear worried, “I think it’s the stress of the workload he’s had at the bakery lately that caused it to come so soon.”

“I told him to take it easy,” Yoongi grumbled, running his hands through his dark locks anxiously. “Taking on catering for five big events in two weeks is insane. Especially with the number of staff he has at the moment.”

The alpha hummed in agreement, “Well, you can tell him all about how right you were later. Right now, we have an omega at home who is on his way to being very angry at us for not being there.”

“Right.”

Yoongi told the four idols still waiting in the recording booth that they would have to pick up where they left off in a few days and gave them a couple more tips to improve their vocals in the meantime. After they’d all left, Yoongi slipped on his leather jacket, mask, and hat - all black, of course - and hurriedly followed Namjoon out of the company building.

“Jungkook and Hoseok-hyung are with Jin-hyung now,” Namjoon explained as he began driving through the city and towards their apartment. “Jin-hyung was feeling kind of strange and called them over to talk, thinking that it was an omega thing he’d never experienced before. When his heat hit, Hoseok-hyung called me to tell me what happened.”

“It usually takes a few days of preheat before his actual heat hits,” Yoongi frowned, “No wonder he was confused.”

Namjoon reached over and settled his hand easily on the beta’s thigh. “Hey, I looked it up already. I promise this is all common in early stress heats.”

Yoongi nodded, placing his hand over the alpha’s to give it a squeeze. “I know, I’m not doubting you. My head just...”

The alpha lifted Yoongi’s hand up to his lips to give it a quick kiss before settling their hands back on the beta’s thigh. “I know.”

Yoongi hated that his anxiety made him feel so crazy sometimes, so jumpy and filled his thoughts with the worst-case scenarios, but his boyfriends understood and never complained about it. He could always see the genuine honesty in their eyes when they told him that they loved him for him and everything that included.

The beta allowed his boyfriend’s familiar, calming scent of sandalwood to ease his worries and keep him grounded as they drove home.

When they arrived, they were greeted at the door by a slightly flushed and disheveled Jungkook who gave them a knowing smile. “He just started nesting a little while ago, Hobi-hyungie’s with him in the bedroom.”

Sure enough, when they entered the bedroom, they found their Seokjin working away at perfecting the nest he was building, adjusting the pile of blankets, pillows, and clothing to his liking. He had the most adorable concentrated pout on his face that his two boyfriends couldn’t help but sigh fondly at.

Hoseok was the first to see them, and he greeted them with a smile just like Jungkook had.

“How bad has it been?” Yoongi asked.

“Not too bad,” Hoseok replied with a shrug. “He was starting to get angry earlier when he remembered you guys weren’t here, but Jungkookie suggested that he start building a nest and it’s kept him busy ever since.”

Namjoon gave his friend a hug, “Thank you for looking after him. You guys are awesome.”

Hoseok grinned that infamous heart-shaped grin of his. “No problem Joon-ah, Yoongi-hyung. We love you guys, we’d do anything for you.”

“You guys, too,” Namjoon replied. “Say ‘hello’ to Jimin and Tae for us, alright? And dinner’s still on for next Friday so don’t forget it.”

“Aye aye, captain!” Hoseok saluted dramatically with a grin. “Don’t have too much fun, yeah?” The omega waggled his eyebrows teasingly before giving both Namjoon and Yoongi pats on the shoulders and departing from the room.

“There you two are!”

The alpha and beta both looked up with wide eyes at the familiar, angry tone. Seokjin had spotted them, it seemed, as he was glaring in their direction with his hands on his hips. His slightly overgrown chocolate locks fell into his eyes and he pushed it out of the way with a huff.

“I’ve been waiting for you for weeks!” the omega pouted. “Thanks for finally showing up, I guess.”

Namjoon went right towards him, arms outstretched. “Don’t be so dramatic, hyung. It’s only been a few hours.”

“Weeks!” the omega insisted stubbornly, whilst simultaneously throwing himself into Namjoon’s arms.

Yoongi sighed fondly and joined them at the bedside. “How are you feeling, hyung? Do you need a cool bath or anything yet?”

The omega’s demeanor changed in an instant as he turned in the alpha’s arms to bring Yoongi into a tight embrace. He wasted no time in nuzzling into the beta’s neck, making sure to leave his scent of strawberries and cream all over him and inhaling his soft scent of a rainy forest in turn.

“I’m okay right now,” Seokjin finally answered, remembering that he’d been asked a question. “Just want my mates.”

Namjoon curled around the omega from behind and pressed a kiss to the side of his head. “We’re here now, hyung. And we’re not going anywhere.”

Seokjin nearly purred in contentment at being squished in a Namjoon-Yoongi sandwich. The feeling of being surrounded completely by his mates, in his own house, his own nest, it made his wolf feel utterly safe.

“You know what I do need?” the omega asked, a teasing smile on his face as he glanced at his mates.

“Hm, what?” Namjoon inquired.

“A good fuck.”

Yoongi groaned at the blunt words, his cock already tenting in his pants. “I think that can be arranged.”

The beta lifted both hands to cup the omega’s face and brought him in for a passionate kiss. Seokjin sighed happily and bit teasingly at Yoongi’s lower lip.

Namjoon watched as they continued to make out languidly, their tongues and lips tangling together lovingly. The alpha’s eyes flashed red with desire as his large hands began running up and down Seokjin’s sides. His fingers brushed the soft skin under the omega’s t-shirt (which Namjoon belatedly realized was actually his t-shirt) and felt pride bubble up inside him when Seokjin let out little breathy whines at the feeling. He pulled the shirt off completely, but apparently it wasn’t quite enough for the omega.

“Mm, get in my nest.” Seokjin pouted, “This is taking too long.”

The alpha huffed out a laugh, “We’ll get in, but after that, you’re not going to be making any more demands, sweetheart.”

Seokjin shivered at Namjoon’s deep voice in his ear and smirked. “Make me, alpha.”

There was a sudden flurry of movement and the omega found himself laid out in the center of his nest. Someone was on top of him, between his legs. He expected it to be Namjoon but was mildly surprised when he saw Yoongi looking down at him with a dark, lustful gaze.

Seokjin didn’t fight it when the beta grabbed his hands and lifted them above his head. “Keep them there,” Yoongi ordered.

“Yes, sir.”

Namjoon sidled up beside the two of them, running his hands all over Jin’s torso, from the waistband of his sweatpants to his collarbones. “You’re in a bratty mood today,” he commented, sounding amused.

Yoongi was busy pulling down the omega’s pants and boxers that were getting close to becoming drenched in Seokjin’s slick. The beta tossed the garments over his shoulder nonchalantly, unable to care where they ended up.

“‘M always bratty,” Seokjin remarked with a prominent pout on his plush, pink lips.

The beta snorted, “Can’t argue with that.”

Seokjin opened his mouth once more, probably to make another sassy comeback, but his words turned into a loud moan as Yoongi plunged two fingers into his asshole without warning. It didn’t hurt, of course, because of the copious amounts of slick leaking out of him, but the sudden feeling of being filled with something caught the omega off guard. Not to mention that Yoongi easily found his prostate (thanks to years of getting to know Seokjin’s body) and thrust his long fingers mercilessly against it.

Taking advantage of the older’s opened mouth, Namjoon locked their lips together and growled at the arousal growing in his gut.

“Oh, fuck...” Jin groaned.

The beta looked up at his mates once the omega was thoroughly prepared and took in the delicious sight of them making out. He also noticed that Seokjin’s hands had stayed above his head the entire time, just as he’d asked.

“He’s ready for you, Joon-ah.” Yoongi announced, ignoring the displeased whine Seokjin let out when he removed his fingers from inside of him. “And he’s obviously desperate since he’s actually listening to us now. Give him a good knot to calm him down.”

“Yes, fuck!” the omega all but whimpered, “Give me your knot!”

Namjoon looked over at Yoongi, “You sure I can go first?”

The beta nodded, “I’ll get my turn with him later.”

So, Namjoon and Yoongi switched places, the beta pressing kisses to Seokjin’s lips and the alpha running his hands admiringly over the omega’s legs he now knelt between.

Belatedly realizing that they were still fully dressed, Namjoon nudged Yoongi and the two of them began to strip out of their clothing hastily. Seokjin enjoyed the show until the two of them were completely naked and Yoongi claimed his mouth once more.

Namjoon’s cock always stretched the omega so good and this time was no different. The alpha’s large, thick dick sliding into him gave him slight discomfort - despite the thorough fingering he’d received from Yoongi earlier - but it also felt oh so good.

Seokjin let out little whiny mewls into the beta’s mouth as he waited for his body to adjust. It only took half a minute, and once he felt he was ready, the omega wasted no time in circling his hips to get the alpha deeper.

“’M good, Joonie.” Seokjin assured. “Give me all you have.”

And, really, Namjoon didn’t need to hear it twice. He grabbed the omega’s hips in his hands and pulled back until just the tip of his cock was still inside of him, and then he thrust back in harshly.

The pace didn’t take long to pick up, Seokjin’s body rocking up and down with the force of the movements. “Oh, yeah, that’s it! Right there!” The omega nearly squealed when Namjoon moved his hands to his thighs and lifted him slightly off the bed, the new angle causing the alpha to thrust straight into Seokjin’s prostate.

Yoongi reveled in the heady smell of sandalwood and strawberries and rainy forest, the scent of safety and love. As the omega got closer to his orgasm and became more out of breath, Yoongi shifted his attention from Seokjin’s lips to his neck, where two mating bites sat proudly. He kissed and licked at Namjoon’s bite mark lovingly before moving slightly upwards to his own. His teeth found the healed-over mark and bit gently, just enough to cause the omega to lose it completely.

“Fuck,” Namjoon moaned, “Made him get so tight around me, Yoongi-hyung. Getting so close.”

The beta grinned and turned back to Seokjin, who looked stunning laid back in his nest, naked and sweaty, mouth parted and eyebrows pulled together in pleasure. “He’s almost there, Joon-ah.”

And he was right because within ten more thrusts directly to his prostate and the gentle sting over his bite mark, Seokjin came. He came loudly and all over himself, but he kept his hands held above his head, determined.

“Oh, shit!” the alpha hissed, his sandy blond hair wet with sweat and falling in his face. “Seokjin-hyung, that’s-”

Still riding on the wave of his high, Seokjin whimpered when he felt the alpha’s knot expanding inside of him until the two of them were locked together completely as Namjoon came.

Yoongi pushed the alpha’s hair off of his forehead with one hand and used the other to touch gently over his bite mark on Seokjin. The omega mewled and leaned into the touch easily as he came down from his high.

A few minutes passed in silence as they caught their breath and Yoongi gave them water.

“Love you guys,” Seokjin mumbled with a dazed grin. “Always make me feel so good.”

Yoongi leaned down to kiss him, this time more softly than earlier. Namjoon followed suit before flopping down on the other side of the omega. “Love you, too.”

“Love you,” Yoongi repeated with a gentle smile. “Now let’s cuddle while your heat is sated for a bit.”

Seokjin eagerly pulled Yoongi into his chest, allowing Namjoon access to give the beta a much-needed kiss on the lips.

“I want Yoongi-ah to fuck me next,” Seokjin announced, blunt as always.

The beta snorted as Namjoon huffed out a tired laugh, “I see you’re back to being bratty again.”

Seokjin shrugged, “I want what I want and I have no problem asking for it.”

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

A/N: Well damn, that was a ride. I thought it would be interesting to write Seokjin as a bratty omega and I have to say I’m pretty happy with the result, but let me know what you think!

Also, I was planning on ending it here but if you want a second part where Yoongi fucks Seokjin then let me know!

[everythng-is-blue]

Second Chance

hey guys, i’m back and i bring you dad!harry bc who doesn’t love him lol, i really hope you guys enjoy it!

   The days Harry came over to pick up or drop off Haleigh were days that definitely didn’t look forward to. I mean, I did look forward to the fact that some of those days he was bringing our daughter back, but seeing him was the part I was always disinclined to. And though Haleigh was old enough to understand her parents weren’t together anymore, I still felt awful that in order to spend time with us she had to leave one for the other. It also didn’t help matters that Harry was engaged to some other woman as of a few months ago. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t care what he did or who he was with, but at one point he was convinced the only person he could see himself with was me. But I guess things had changed.

Today was one of those dreaded days, but sadly Haleigh was getting picked up. We’ve had this arrangement for almost two years now, so we were more than used to the whole thing. I was honestly glad that things weren’t nearly as awkward as they were in the first few months. I always felt sick to my stomach the night before Harry was supposed to show up at my door. Now I still have a bit of anxiety when he comes over, but I try to ignore it for my daughter’s sake.

“You have everything ready?” I asked Haleigh as I entered her room.

She zipped up her bag and grabbed her stuffed bunny off of her bed. “Yep!”

“Alright then, let’s go wait out in the living room for Daddy, okay?” I said and she nodded, following me out of the room and sitting with me on the couch.

We watched a bit of tv, and after a while, we heard a knock on the door. Haleigh jumped to her feet, grabbing her bag and running towards the door.

“You better slow down!” I called after her.

When I caught up to her the door was open, and Harry had Haleigh in his arms as he hugged her and swung her back and forth.

“How have you been, my love?” He cooed.

“Good,” She answered. “Look, I got a loose tooth!”

“Really? Let me see!” He said excitedly, watching as she wiggled her loose tooth.

“Cool, right?” She asked.

“So cool! Let’s get inside and shut the door, yeah?” He said as he put her down. “Don’t want your Mummy getting after us because we let flies in.”

Haleigh giggled. “Yeah, Mummy hates flies. We had two inside yesterday because Mummy’s friend let them in.”

I laughed as well. “That wasn’t yesterday, babe, that was last week.”

“Oh,” Haleigh said, seeming confused, then laughing at herself.

I pat her on the head. “It’s okay, you silly.

“Was this a guy friend or a girl friend?” Harry asked cheekily, throwing me off guard. Why was that any of his business? He’s engaged, and not to me. And I can hang out with whoever I please.

“A boy!” Haleigh said, and I hid my face in embarrassment.

Harry raised an eyebrow. “Really?”

“It was just Khalid,” I crossed my arms. “We’re working on a song together,”

I wasn’t sure why I felt the need to explain myself, but I really didn’t need him questioning me anymore.

“Ah,” He nodded, that smirk he used to always have plastered on his face. “Well, good for you. Can’t wait to hear it,”

He hadn’t smirked at me in years. What was up with him today?

“Well, you guys should be off,” I sighed. I knelt down and opened my arms, Haleigh running up and hugging me tightly. I looked up to see Harry slightly confused by my sudden dismissiveness, but quickly changed his face once he saw that I had noticed, running his hand through his hair as he looked away.

“I’m gonna miss you, ladybug,” I held onto my daughter, not wanting her to leave.

She giggled in my ear. “I’ll miss you too, Mummy.”

I sighed again as I let her go, kissing her head. She walked over to Harry and grabbed his hand, him taking her bag and carrying it for her.

“We’ll see you next weekend,” Harry said.

“That you will,” I grabbed the door behind them as they walked out. “Bye, Hal!”

“Bye!” She said back as she waved at me. I waved at her too, then closed the door.

...

Later that night Niall and Julia came over to my place, and we talked about anything and everything. It had been a while since I had seen the both of them, with Niall working on his album and touring, and Julia touring as well.

“So, any development in the baby daddy drama?” Julia asked eagerly, adjusting herself on the couch so she was facing me, trying her best not to spill her wine in the process.

“Not really,” I furrowed my brows. “Though, he seemed kind of different when he picked Haleigh up today.”

“Different how?” Julia questioned.

I looked around the room in thought. “Like, when Hal said something about Khalid coming over the other day, she said I had a friend over and he was like, ‘a guy friend or a girl friend?’ Like that was any of his business...”

Julia looked at me in surprise. “Wait, what? He really asked if you basically had a guy over or not? That’s crazy,”

“I know right?” I agreed. “And then, when they left he said, ‘we’ll see you next weekend.’ Which wouldn’t seem weird to anyone else, but any other time he’s picked up our daughter in the past two years he always says he’ll have her back the next weekend, or she’ll see me next weekend, never we.”

Niall, who had been weirdly quiet since Harry was brought up, took a swig of his beer, then said, “You seem like you don’t know so I guess I should tell you... Harry broke off his engagement a few weeks ago.”

My eyes got wide, and Julia almost choked on her wine. “Excuse me? So no one thought to tell me this sooner?”

“Hey, I thought he would tell you himself,” Niall put his hands up in defense. “And I’m his friend too, so I really shouldn’t be saying anything.”

“Wait, so why did they break up?” Julia asked him.

He sighed. “I dunno, he’s been real cagey about the whole thing. I mean, we’ve talked about it but he never says anything directly about the reason behind it. You know how he is, doesn’t like answering questions.”

I blinked slowly. “I guess that makes sense why he’s acting different.”

“Do you think you’d take him back?” Julia wondered. “Like, say he brought Haleigh back and then asked if he could talk to you, and then asked you if you would give him another chance. Would you do it?”

“No,” I said very quickly.

Niall gave me a look. “Come on, (y/n), you guys were together for four years and you have a kid together.”

“You’re telling us you really wouldn’t take him back?” Julia matched Niall’s look.

“Yes! I mean... I don’t know,” I said indecisively. “Yeah, we were together for a long time, but you both know how things ended. We argued so much towards the end, we said so much shit we didn’t mean, and then he walked out on me. I felt like I failed my daughter because I couldn’t get her father to stay with me.”

“But your main problem was that you felt he didn’t have enough time to spend with you, and he has time now.” Niall pointed out.

“But you can’t just expect her to want to jump into things all of a sudden,” Julia sympathized. “It’s been years since they were together and things were okay between them.”

“Not to mention he’s been with someone else,” I added bitterly. “Who he proposed to, he never did that with me,”

“Exactly,” She gestured towards me. “Plus, a lot can change in that amount of time. Hell, I’d be hesitant too,”

Niall exhaled. “You have a point, but I know what hasn’t changed in the past couple years, which is how he feels about you.”

...

It had been a few days, and I couldn’t stop thinking about the conversation I had with Niall and Julia. Even while I was working on the song with Khalid, and while I was in a very important meeting with my management team, my mind was on Harry. I had come so far since we ended things, or so I thought. For a while, I didn’t even think of him unless it had to do with Haleigh. But now he was constantly stuck in my head and it was almost driving me insane.

After a long day of working in the studio, I got home and went straight to my room. My mind was exhausted and I was determined to get some rest. As soon as I closed my eyes my phone went off. I whined in disappointment, then grabbed it off of my nightstand.

When I glanced at the screen my eyes went wide, and I squeezed my eyes shut and opened them again just to make sure I wasn’t seeing things. But I wasn’t, I had definitely just gotten a text from Harry.       

Sorry if this is a bit forward, but there are some things I’d like to talk to about and my Mum and Gem have Hal for the night. Would you be up for a drink? If not I completely understand.       

I took a minute to collect my thoughts before answering. I knew he was going to tell me what Niall already had, but he said he had things to tell me. As in plural, not singular. What else did we need to discuss? I took a deep breath, then texted back.       

i guess that’s fine, and you’re lucky it’s anne and gemma, or you would be getting an ear full for not asking me first

I’m sorry, I wanted to ask you but I figured you didn’t want to hear from me. I’ll send you my location so you can meet me here. You have to come through the back, though. Paps are outside already but they think I’m across the street.

Harry sent you his location.

alright, i’ll be there in ten

See you then. x

...      

I was extremely anxious as I drove to the place that Harry was at. Mainly because it was the first time in a long time that we would be alone together, but also because it happened to be at the place we had our first date. I had no clue if he did this on purpose or what his intentions were, but my heart was beating out of my chest already. I parked behind the place, then went in the back way when an employee Harry and I had gotten to know let me in. He told me Harry was upstairs, so I quickly made my way up, trying my best not to be noticed by anyone. When I got upstairs I saw Harry sitting alone at a table, his eyes lighting up when he saw me. I sat down in front of him, and he smiled at me.

“Thanks for agreeing to meet with me,” He said nervously, finishing his drink.

“No problem,” I replied.

It was quiet for a moment, and I could feel things getting awkward pretty fast.

“Been a while since we’ve been here,” Harry spoke up, looking around the room. “Lots of memories,”

I sighed. “What are we doing here, Harry?”

His eyes snapped to me, his smile fading. “Um, I need to talk to you...”

“About?” I looked at him expectingly.

He looked down at the table, popping one of the last few remaining fries on his plate into his mouth, chewing and swallowing before he spoke. “I, um, I ended things with my fiance. Well, ex-fiance now,”

I didn’t know what to say, or if I should act surprised or not, so I sat there silently. He looked up at me.

“You don’t seem surprised...”

I laughed sadly. “Because I’m not, Niall told me last night. Something you didn’t decide to do until now. Why are you just telling me this? It wouldn’t be any of my business if we didn’t have a child together but we do. I should be one of the first to know whenever major changes happen in your life that may affect her.”

“I know, (y/n), I’m sorry,” He apologized. “Again, I wanted to tell you, but I didn’t think you wanted to hear about my relationship. I didn’t think you wanted to hear from me at all,”

“Most of the time I don’t, to be honest with you,” I said coldly. “But that affects my daughter, so I need to know. Did this happen while she was with you? Does she know about this?”

He hesitated, not daring to look at me. “Yeah, she does... Told her not to bring it up around you...”

I scoffed, surprised by the amount of nerve this man had. “You asked our daughter to keep things from me? She’s six, Harry!”

“What am I supposed to do, hm?” It was his turn to act coldly. “Let her tell you that we had argued in front of her? That we had decided to break things off while she was in her room playing?”

“Yes!” I raised my voice, then remembered where we were and lowered it. “I expect you to tell me everything. You don’t get to keep shit like that from me, you know I would never do that to you.”

He sighed loudly, trying to calm himself down. “I apologize, okay? I should’ve told you, and I won’t do it again.”

“You expect me to just let it go since you apologized, don’t you?” I laughed, crossing my arms.

“Please, (y/n),” He pleaded frustratedly. “This isn’t how I wanted this to go at all.”

“How did you want this to go?” I asked incredulously. “You wanted me to be okay with what I was just told?”

“Absolutely not,” He shook his head. “But I thought we could handle this without arguing.”

I rolled my eyes. “Clearly you’ve forgotten what the last few months of our relationship were like.”

“I haven’t forgotten anything,” He looked me in the eye. “I haven’t been able to think of anything else but our relationship for the past two years.”

I chuckled at his comment. “You forgot about it long enough to propose to some random woman. Who you had just met very soon after we had broken up, by the way.”

“No, I didn’t,” He countered. “Sure, I made some stupid decisions, but I made them so I could try to forget about my love for you. And I was an idiot for thinking I could, because she broke up with me because she knew I was still very much in love with you.”

I sat there in shock, not sure what to think of the information I was just told.

“I know that we said shit we shouldn’t have, and I know that I left you, but if I could take it all back I would do it in a heartbeat,” He continued. “Nothing makes me happier than being with you, (y/n).”

“Nothing’s going to change, Harry,” I breathed, wiping away the tears that were now falling down my face. “We’ll just argue about the same things and end up in the same place.”

He shook his head again. “No, we won’t. We’ll figure it out, I’m almost done with my second album and I haven’t even started planning the next tour. I have plenty of time right now.”

“And when you end up not having time, then what?” I asked.

“I’ll make time like I should have before.” He answered. “And whenever I need to go out of the country for long periods of time you and Hal will come with me, as long as that’s what you want. And we’ll come with you if you have to do the same. I won’t ever choose work over you, and I’m never leaving you again, (y/n).”

I looked away, trying to fathom what was happening right now. In a perfect world, I would take him back in a second, not worrying about the future or our busy schedules, but this isn’t a perfect world. I was terrified that things would just end up the same, or worse. But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t miss Harry and all of the good times we had. And I wanted Haleigh to have her parents together. I had denied my feelings for him so much that I had convinced myself they didn’t exist anymore. All the while, they were there and hadn’t changed in the slightest. I was terrified, but I wanted Harry to make me feel safe like he used to.

I looked into his begging eyes and couldn’t help but feel my heart break all over again.

“Please give me a second chance,” He tried again.

I thought for a moment, and I could tell that he anxiously awaited my answer. 

“Fine, okay,” I told him.

Shock overtook his face as he heard my answer. “Really?”

“Yeah, really,” I giggled, wiping away my tears again.

He practically jumped up out of his seat and came over to hug me as I stood up. He squeezed me so tightly I could barely breathe, but in that moment I didn’t care. After a moment he pulled away just enough to rest his forehead on mine, the both us laughing as we cried, a surge of different emotions going through us all at once.

“So does this mean you’ll love me again?” He asked me, his thumb rubbing my cheek.

“Who says I ever stopped?” I answered, causing him to beam down at me, then kiss me passionately.

I was the one to pull away after a while, keeping my eyes closed as I enjoyed the feeling of being in his arms again.

“You know, I think I’m gonna need a ride home, I’ve had a few drinks.”

I opened my eyes to give him a questioning look. “You were planning this the whole time, weren’t you?”

“Maybe,” He smirked at me mischievously.

I rolled my eyes at him. “Alright, fine, I’ll do it because it’s the right thing to do. But I know you’re not drunk, so don’t start acting like you are all of a sudden.”

He chuckled, following me out of the pub and getting into my car.

...     

The next morning I was sat in Harry’s living room, watching tv alone while he was in his kitchen making us some food, when someone knocked on his front door.

“Could you get that, love? I’m sort of busy in here,” He yelled.

I got up, walking towards the door nervously. I looked through the peephole in the door to see Gemma holding Haleigh, and took a deep breath before opening it.

Gemma’s smile fell as her jaw almost hit the floor at the sight of me.

“Mummy!” Haleigh exclaimed as her eyes landed on me.

“What is going on? Why are you answering my brother’s door?” Gemma questioned me.

“Glad to see you too, Gem.” I chuckled, grabbing Hal from her and hugging her tightly.

Gemma laughed as well, placing Haleigh’s bag down. “I’m sorry, I am happy to see you, you’re just the last person I expected to be on the other side of that door, is all. Did I miss something, or?”

“Yeah, Mummy, why are you here at Daddy’s?” Haleigh asked me.

“Well, guys, we’ve got some news, we—“

“Would you look at this, three of my favorite girls all in the same room again,” Harry interjected cheerfully, and I turned to glare at him.

“Yeah, about that, (y/n) was about to tell us some news?” Gemma said expectingly, her hands on her hips.

“As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted,” I continued, Harry mouthing ‘sorry’ to me. “We’ve decided to give things another try.”

“So you’re back together?” Haleigh asked excitedly.

“Yes,” I answered her, then turned my attention to Gemma. “But we’re taking it slow, so things won’t be like they were before for a while.”

“Yay!” Haleigh squealed as she hugged me, Harry joining in and hugging us both.

“I give it a week before Harry’s moved back into your place, two tops,” Gemma teased, and I shook my head at her.

Harry pulled away, taking Haleigh from me. “Hey, Daddy’s making some food, would you like to help?”

She nodded quickly, and he rushed off to the kitchen, causing her to laugh loudly. As cute as that was, I realized he was probably rushing because he forgot about the food for a moment and was probably burning something.

Gemma raised an eyebrow at me, crossing her arms over her chest. “So, you spent the night, hm?”

“How do you know that?” I said playfully.

“Why else would you be here before noon? Especially when we had Hal last night.” She questioned.

I chuckled. “Okay, I did, but before you—“

“You guys hooked up, didn’t you?!” She poked, nudging me with her arm.

“No!” I gasped. “We did nothing like that, thank you, I slept on the couch.”

She looked me up and down. “Mhm, whatever you say, missy...”

“Gemma, I swear nothing happened!” I said. “I wouldn’t lie to you,”

She looked at me for a moment, then smiled at me mischievously. “Just wait until Mum hears about this,”

    thanks for reading! i’d really like to start posting more frequently again, so if you have any requests for imagines please send them my way!     

[doberbutts]

Hi Jaz, I just wanted to thank you so much for making the post you did about dysautonomia, I’ve learned a lot I didn’t know before just in that little bit of info! My sister was diagnosed with POTS and additional gastro problems a couple years ago, after she hit 21 and had her gallbladder removed she suddenly rapidly declined and only after dozens of doctor visits did someone finally tell us what she’s suffering from. It’s crazy to see how she lived a relatively normal (now looking back she did faint often and had stomach problems but we didn’t see anything too strange, I see now it could’ve easily been her POTS) life and is now insanely disabled. We had no idea of this condition before, as you said most people don’t. She constantly sees doctors for help and we’re dealing with variations of “I don’t know anything about dysautonomia/I think it’s x instead/I can’t help you let me refer you and you wait 6 months for another app”, and it’s feeling so hopeless! Right now she can’t walk without a walker, has a port and gets sodium infusions 3 times a week, and faints every day. She’s completely bed ridden and has a catheter after randomly losing control of her bladder. Just going to a doctor can put her in tears from how weak it makes her, and she passes out in the shower every day. We’ve seen every doctor from under the sun, from Vanderbilt (who diagnosed her) and Mayo Clinic, but no one will help her improve her quality of life. Her veins are closing and she’s in constant pain and she requires a stent large enough to custom order, but they won’t perform that surgery until it (almost) kills her bc they don’t think she’s “bad enough”. I’M SORRY THIS IS SO LONG I’ve never been able to talk to anyone about this and I feel so helpless watching her waste away. We got our 18 week old Dobe Enzo for company, guardianship and potentially to help her or one day become her service dog (or we’ll consider getting another for this purpose) and I wanted to ask if you had any advice for what I could teach him, be mindful of, or bring up to doctors to try for my sister? I just refuse to believe she has to be bedridden and will waste away with no hope! Seeing you live a life though you suffer gives me hope and I want to understand and do everything I can to help her! Again I’m so sorry this is so long, if you ever find the time to reply I’d love to hear what you think I/Enzo could do for her if anything! Thank you again for spreading the awareness, it’s wonderful to learn more when Google and doctors aren’t much help. Best wishes to you 💛💛💛

Hey, no problem!! October is Dysautonomia Awareness Month so I try to dig up that post every October to remind folks about it!

Sadly a lot of doctors really don’t know what to do with POTS and it can be really hard to find someone who can help you. I’d go to one of the social media pages regarding Dysautonomia and see if someone can help you find a doctor based on your location or how willing you are to travel, and see if someone will give you a better answer than what you’ve been getting. Sadly because POTS is such a variable syndrome, some people have only a minor inconvenience caused by their symptoms while others are like your sister and are so disabled their quality of life is like someone dying from heart failure. 

As far as Enzo goes, it really would depend on your sister’s exact symptoms and what she needs. It sounds like she has it worse than I do, which means what I do with my dog is probably not what she needs at this point in time (but, perhaps if a doctor can help her get control over some of the more debilitating symptoms, that can be a goal in the future). Creed helps me in a number of ways whether by retrieving dropped objects, alerting to chemical changes in my body, and even guiding me to a chair to sit when I’m blinded by an episode... but whether that would help your sister remains to be seen. 

[fmdchanmi]

oK LISTEN.. listen.. l i s t e n... it’s me, nessa lol i know i just dipped like two weeks ago, but with everything that’s been going on lately, i’ve had a lot more free time on my hands! plus, i decided instead of just bringing hyeri back, i’d start fresh with a completely different muse! only similarity is the fact that they have the same fc. now you can check out her profile here and her plots here, and if you want to add me on discord, feel free to do so at ryunjins shoulders#6779

she's the 'middle child' in her family, was always ignored/overlooked because her siblings' accomplishments and talents impressed her parents more. her older sibling is an academic, and her younger sibling is a child music prodigy (piano and violin)

she's always loved music, but she leans more on the dancing side of it, and her siblings and parents never really supported her, when she used to sing and dance around the house they would tell her to knock it off. it was just really upsetting to her that her parents supported her siblings but never showed her that kind of love

she was ten years old when she asked her parents to enroll her in dance classes, and they surprisingly agreed with little to no hesitation. they figured it would be the perfect opportunity to get her out of the house and while she was hurt by that, she took the opportunity and ran with it.

by the time 2010 rolled around, she was apart of a dance troop that would perform on the streets in crowded areas in order to get more attention and develop a fanbase. that was how she was scouted out by an employee from gold star entertainment. 

when she asked them, her parents decided that they would allow her to audition, if only to make her realize that her fantasy of performing professionally wasn’t going to come true.

color them surprised when she got a call back not even a week after her audition telling her that she had made the cut. her parents begrudgingly allowed her to start trainee, hoping that the trainee lifestyle would knock the determination out of her. 

before becoming a trainee, chanmi used to think she was a great singer, even though she knew that her dancing was better than her singing. she never thought she was a bad singer until she became a trainee and was repeatedly ripped apart by the vocal trainers at her first several evaluations. she wasn’t a horrible singer, but it was obvious that she wasn’t as good as a lot of the other female trainees under gold star. 

so she worked harder. every critique she received made her push herself more and more. all of the added stress toyed with her weight throughout her years as a trainee. even though she improved her singing by a long shot, there was still a lot of pressure on her shoulders. pressure to keep improving so she could impress the higher ups enough to land a debut. 

she was almost positive she was going to debut with fuse when talks of a new girl group came around. but when the girls were selected, she wasn’t one of them. she asked one of the trainers and he told her flat out that it was because she had “gotten chubby” 

she was aware that she had gained a little bit of weight, but she didn’t think it was a lot. definitely not enough to warrant her being cut from the lineup of fuse, but then again, she had to remember what industry she was in - visuals outweighed actual talent by a long shot. 

EATING DISORDER TW // that was the catalyst behind her decision to take matters into her own hands. it wasn’t healthy, she knew it wasn’t, but it made her feel as though she had some semblance of control in her life. she didn’t get to choose what she did during the day, where she went and who she could hang out with, but she could control her eating habits. binging and purging, ironically, became her peace of mind. even though it was horrible for her body and health, it gave her a few moments of clarity that she so desperately needed. 

she kept her bad habits for about a year and a half before her friends started realizing that she wasn’t looking or acting like herself. she had lost weight - too much weight, and she wasn’t as energetic as she used to be. she was wasting away, and they didn’t want that to happen. 2016 was when her friends forced her to get the help she needed. at first she was against it, not believing that she had a problem, but it didn’t take long for them to chip away at her resistance and make her see that she was doing herself more harm than good.

the path wasn’t an easy one, but she started to get better. she had relapses here and there, but with the strength of her friends, she continued on and started healing. started eating more and eating healthier. instead of binging and purging when she felt stress, she started to turn to exercise and working out instead, which she found helped her a great deal.  // END EATING DISORDER TW 

it was 2017 and it happened yet again. chanmi was almost positive that she would be a candidate for gold star’s next group. and just like last time, she was let down again. but this time didn’t draw the same reaction out of her. this time she wasn’t upset or hurt; she was pissed off. 

she spent SEVEN whole years with gold star, missed 2 girl group debuts (3 if you count aria because she joined gold star in 2010). why was gold star holding her back? why didn’t they want her to debut? those were the questions that kept running through her mind the more and more she dwelled on it. 

it would be over half a year before she would be finished with her contract as a gold star trainee, so she did her best to wait it out. she didn’t put forth nearly as much effort when it came to her training anymore though, because she knew that it was all coming to an end anyway. what were they going to do? kick her out? she would be out the door before they even finished saying her contract was terminated. 

when her contract finally came to an end, she turned her back on gold star. before her contract even officially ended, bc reached out to her with an offer she couldn’t refuse: train with them for a year and debut the following summer. it was a no brainer for her. she already wasted eight years of her life, what was another one? plus bc entertainment was a top music company. she’d be insane not to take up their offer. 

and here she is now! not quite a year into her career as an idol, but close enough. lol personality wise, chanmi is the exact opposite of my old muse, hyeri. where hyeri was aggressive and a little mean, chanmi is a sweetheart. she cries easily, but she’s not a weak willed or minded person, she’s just a little emotional. she cries when she’s happy, when she’s sad, when she’s mad. you get tears, you get tears, you get tears, EVERYONE GETS TEARS !!! 

a hopeless romantic tbh, like she falls in love twice a week. just show her a pretty boy or girl and she’ll be hearteyes until someone else catches her attention. 

[baekibi]

Jaehyun | Cherry Tree

Words: 2138

Written: a while ago lol

Pairing: Jaehyun x Reader

Genre: Fluff

➺

It was another of those boring days;

- you know those days where the only source of entertainment is drawing on your hand in black ink and conversing in sign language to your pals over at the other end of the classroom,, one of those days.

This day like any other was not passing very quickly, the heavy atmosphere of stressed and angsty teenagers was unpleasant and the temperature was above boiling, my head felt as if it was melting under the pressure of math.

I prayed the lesson would tick by swiftly, my pencil gripped tightly in my fist, my eyes swaying from the teacher to the clock, teacher to the clock, teacher to the- *brrr, brrr*

crap.

The familiar ring escaped my backpack, the sound whirring around the class making a public humiliation of myself. Eyes grasped shut, i gritted my teeth and bit my lip as silence struck through the whole room, even catching the teacher off guard completely.

I could feel the hundred eyes focused on me at this moment, including those of the piercing glare my teacher produced. "Kim Kyungha". The echo of his voice harpooned in my direction. The fear of opening my eyes now was a level I'd never felt, however I knew it was the only option I could take.

"I-I apologise, s-sir" I stuttered, trembling in my seat, my feet making rhythms as they tapped nervously on the ground below.

"Detention tonight, 5000 sentences." His sharp spoken words cut straight through me.

ugh. Second detention this week because I forgot to turn my phone off.

The first was for being two minutes late; but that was only a short 30 minutes detention now adding another... however long it will take to write that much.

I was used to detentions but never because I was particularly disruptive or a bad student~ usually just due to coincidences like my phone ringing during class or something as small as forgetting that one piece of homework. I usually used the time to continue some extra work which was handy but knowing it was detention seemed to make it more tense.

I reached inside my bag and almost crushed my phone with the rage that slowly brewed in my body, I took a peak at who had called to see it was my best friend Jaehyun.

One thing, he's in the same. Class.

And you know what's coincidental? He. Also. Has. A. Detention. Tonight.

I wanted to scream. I could see his plan from this moment, but the one question in my mind of wether or not I should snitch on him was the only thing that stopped me from letting go of my voice.

Instead I turned my back, where Jaehyun was sitting and sent him a glare of defeat and hurt to which he just giggled.

-

It was finally the end of the day, I walked over to my locker with Jaehyun who's was right next to my own. His arm was now bruised to a purple colour from my fist meeting his flesh at least ten times in the past thirty minutes for what he did during math.

He leant onto his locker next to mine, and faced me with a smirk. I carefully opened my locker, still eyeing on him. Once the door fully opened a few papers which I'd never saw before fell onto the floor below.

"You still haven't found out who's sending you those letters, have you?" He sighed, watching me gather them.

"What they said this time, eh?"

I mumbled to myself, flicking through the scattered sheets in my hand.

"Oh this is a new one" I hold it up to Jaehyun, displaying a really badly drawn kitten holding a piece of paper which read,

"You're perfect n cute n adorable n you mean so much to me. Don't ever let anyone tell you any different bc you're cute and deserve the world. I know you may be sick of these letters but think of it as a spark of confidence and support for your day and the challenges you decide to take. I hope you'll find out who sent you these letters one day and accept me, as I accept you. But for now I'll remain your secret admirer and as long as it doesn't scare you I'm happy to hide behind my messages to you. Have a nice day. Hope we can talk soon. xx"

I read it out clearly, Jaehyun following my finger along the paper as I drew strokes guiding me along each line.

I have to admit, the letters were cute and the badly drawn cat was even cuter. I wouldn't say they creep me out because it has never been anything scary or remarkably insane written on the papers like it's a stalker graphically describing how he or she is going to climb into my window and watch me as they order me to suck to their toes.

...like that would ever happen anyway...

"Well, does it ever weird you out?" He asked, sounding muffled in his tone.

I shook my head quickly, a smile even crossing my face as I recited the words on the note. It was quite encouraging actually.

"Well we got detention now, so hurry idiot" he straight up said beginning to walk, sliding his palms into his tailored trousers. His head turned to me as he walked, gently resting on his shoulder as he hurried me with his glances.

I ran after him willingly.

-

I turned my phone on silent, but not don't disturb so I would still receive calls but instead they'd be a small buzz which the teacher wouldn't be able to hear.

It was just me and Jaehyun in the After school detention which I assumed is why he got me in trouble, so I could join him.

Just after spending approximately ten minutes in the detention classroom, I could feel a vibration at my feet which were leaning against my bag. Whilst the teacher wasn't looking I faked dropping my pen so I had the perfect excuse to bend down to look at my phone.

"Sir, can I please go to the restroom?" I heard the familiar voice of Jaehyuns speak abruptly, raising his hand.

"Sure. But be quick. You have five minutes."

Jaehyun stood and walked passed me, nudging my shoulder as he walked signalling me that he was obviously up to something.

I continued for my phone, noticing a message left by him. He must have did the same thing as me, to get to his phone.

=

Jaebunny

I'll get us out of here ;)

Kyungha

Jae I stg DONT you dare-

Seen ✔

=

I sighed at this moment, whatever Jaehyun was up to, I wasn't looking forward to it.

=

Jaebunny

I'll be back in a minute, sir will be leaving the classroom in a second too, once he leaves I want you to run over to his desk and grab the keys.

Kyungha

Excuse me?

Jaebunny

Sweetie cakes just do as you're told

Seen ✔

=

It had been about a minute since I'd left the chat, just as Jaehyun told me sir took a call and was immediately needed at the heads office.

"Kyungha, I'll have to leave you here alone for five minutes. Don't dare move and wait till I come back." He said as he stood nearing the door.

As he left the door slammed, I sensed whatever Jaehyun did was not good.

I could hear his screams in the hall as I assumed he ran into Jaehyun.

The muffled conversation was only just loud enough for me to make out, it's either this school has incredibly thin walls or Jaehyun is really being screamed at.

However I did what Jaehyun said to do, although my mind was hesitant my body seemed to take control.

I searched his desk and picked up the keys, as if perfect Jaehyun walked in at this exact moment.

"What the heck are you doing?" I shouted at him, to which he quickly shushed me, placing his hand on my lips.

He swiped the keys from my hand and locked the classroom door. Continuing over to the window, as he passed, grabbing my hand to take me with him.

"Come on." He guided me over, opened the window wide enough and edged me to jump out. Throwing the keys at the floor, he insisted I got out first. Luckily the classroom was on the first floor so it wasn't a long drop. For some reason I seemed to obey him. My hands moved on their own, gripping the sides of the window frame and launching myself over quickly followed by Jaehyun who shut the window on his way back.

"Why are we doing this? Can't we just ride out the detention? What did you do? Why has-" the questions flew out of me, making Jaehyun get slightly aggressive. He pushed me to the wall and clasped my mouth completely shut as he pressed his lips onto mine. A moment of silence fell upon us.

He was quick to move after he disconnected his plump flesh from mine. He looked straight into my eyes, I was now heavily breathing, my mouth dropping.

He reconnected his hand to mine and ran quickly in a direction I'd never gone before.

-

"What was that about?" I question out of the blue as we finally stop under a row of cherry blossom trees.

He didn't say a word but rather pinned me gently against the tree and repeated the kiss again, this time going deeper and lasting longer. I was shocked but I didn't want it to stop, something inside me clicked, I wanted this to happen and felt it had to. I began to participate in giving, making the kiss more heated and passionate. I could feel it making him happy as he smiled in between exchanges of tongue. His hands made their way from the tree to my waist, he held me tightly as I began to play with his hair.

But my questions hadn't changed. I was still curious and confused. So I stopped.

His face was now full of shock and disappointment that I had pulled back so soon.

"I still have my questions." I smirked.

"L-look I- I'm sorry something just came over me-" Jaehyun attempted to apologise. As much as I wanted to shut him up and kiss him again I had questions to ask.

"Why?"

"I- I don't know."

"You were the one sending me those letters weren't you?" I smiled, my hands still resting on his shoulders.

He slowly shook his head, now looking embarrassed at the grass beneath us.

I felt something crawl up my back, assuming it was Jaehyuns hand to which I soon found was a spider which had made its way from the tree, to me.

I jumped in shock, almost screaming as it stood on my shoulder. I dead ass karate chop the little shit off my shoulder, and continue by flailing my arms all over to assure it was off of me now.

"You okay?"

I was suddenly snapped back into reality. Remembering what the heck I was doing here and why.

"No. Don't ask me questions."

My statement didn't make any sense, making Jaehyun raise a brow.

"What exactly did you tell the principal?”

I asked, puzzled.

"Remember when He lashed out on our class mate yesterday during our exam?"

I nod. "Yeah and almost broke the poor kids phone?"

"I videoed it and showed it to the principal"

He confessed, now having the biggest grin on his face.

"He deserves it, people like him shouldn't be teaching."

-

We spoke a little more about what was going to happen when they go to school the next week, most likely they'd get even more detentions but at this point they didn't care.

-

"So how was it?" Jaehyun asked as he was about to let me go to my bus stop.

I glance quizzically. "How was what?"

He answered my question by kissing me on the cheek. To which I answered with a shrug.

"I-it wasn't good?" He said, stuttering as if he'd just been heart broken completely.

"I didn't say it was bad. Just next time don't do it after we've just escaped a building and possibly ruined someone's career." I say to which he nods agreeing,

"So... next time? Jaehyun inched.

"Next time. We'll go on a date and you'll kiss me in a proper place and ask me things properly."

"So its a date? Tomorrow. 12am. Be ready. Sweetie cakes." Jaehyun declared, passing me a grin flirtatiously.

I gently slapped his shoulder and continued to my bus stop as he watched. Giggling on the way home, I couldn't stop thinking about what just happened and I assumed neither could he.

➺

oof

Master list