#which to him just means 'im going to assign you three major projects at once'

[queercatboyrights]

anyone got any tips on getting art industry jobs w/o a college degree bc holy fuck this shit is horrendous /oAo;\

[woozisnoots]

svt in college! | alex edition

° pairing: ot13 x reader ° genre: fluff(?), what my stream of consciousness finds funny, college!au ° word count: 1034 ° warning: slightttt violence ° a/n: i know i have requests to write >< but i really needed to write smth fun :( act as a shot of of serotonin into my veins ahahaha [insert fratboy emoji] disclaimer tho - this was ENTIRELY SELF INDULGENT and very very catered to me which is why vernon’s is unnecessarily long SO IM SORRY !!! i still hope you guys think its fun :D

° masterlist! 

seungcheol: a business major, minoring in international relations. has the slightest crush on you but suppresses it pretty well without you realizing because he knows you like someone else. he likes to take you on what he calls bestie dates to a nearby arcade or places to eat when you’re stressed.

jeonghan: a psych major, minoring in communications, whom you oddly spend a lot of time with because he asks for homework help every other day when you’ve only taken 1-2 psych classes in your entire life :P but he’s a good listener and subs in as therapist on the weekdays so you let him stick around. 

joshua: an english major. doesn’t know why and slightly regrets it but if it means he can keep the tinie bookshelf he has in his doom to make it look like he’s smart, then that’s motivation to keep him going. you tolerate him because you guys randomly go on trips at 2am and buys you food :D

jun: a childhood education major. the friend of a friend of a friend of someone’s cousin that happen to be your friend and so you see him at parties sometimes :) actually really fun to be around when you’re not too much into the party scene and play hopscotch or bean bag toss outside the persons’ backyard. 

soonyoung: the loud dance team captain that won’t give you 5 minutes of quiet time waiting for your chem professor to open the door to the lab room because he has his speakers on at max volume dancing to kelly clarkson,,,, he’s pretty chill otherwise, he’s in my math class. claims hes the eye of the tiger when he comes to class in leopard print

wonwoo: premed that’s somehow taking enough classes to graduate with a literature minor. he and cheol talk a lot because they’re in the same broadcasting club or something of the sort. you guys acknowledge each other’s presence and share a moment of tea together sometimes with cheol.

jihoon: double majoring in music composition and theory. says he absolutely hates it because he thinks the work he does is completely pointless. but then goes on to write you like 27484737 love songs within a week for a single assignment. denies to other people that you’re his best friend and that he hates your guts but you’re the only one allowed in his private studio on school days and can fiddle with his equipment sometimes :3

minghao: an art major minoring in history. eventually wants to be a gallery director so he can hold his own. you make him drag you everyone for his work when you’re bored or have free time bc he takes pictures for the school newspaper/website. you guys strike a negotiation that you drive and he buys snacks. 

mingyu: you only know him for playing in your uni’s (american) football team. his tall ass is like linebacker or some shit you don’t even know his major. you had to take a kickboxing class for PE credit and you swept him to the ground and put him a choke hold. you never let him live that down everrr. you also steal his lunch money from his bag when he’s at practice.

seokmin: a musical theatre major, minoring in music composition. you guys met through jihoon. you were absolutely FLOORED when you heard him sing as the lead for the school’s spring musical. it is now tradition that you guys get crepes after every show and make jihoon pay B) he hangs out with you and jihoon a lot and randomly make music together. and ahahaha people think jihoon and seokmin are fighting over you!! >:( that’s absolutely preposterous, seokmin is too good of a soul (you say this as you help him kneed dough for the pizza you guys are making together)

seungkwan: an education major, minoring in music because he wants to teach music to little kiddos ^-^ THE BESTEST OF THE BESTIES!!! like if you’re not hanging out with jihoon/seokmin or cheol, you crash at seungkwan’s apartment and raids his kitchen when you run out of groceries ;D he keeps making fun of you for your car until you remind him that he can’t drive. on the weekends, you guys love to bake muffin, cookie, or cake recipes to prep for the daycare on mondays :3

vernon: okay actually, he doesn’t go to college SHDJSJSHS you met him on the side of the road once when you decided to walk instead of using your car (silly you!) and you saw vernon doing some cool graffiti art (IT WASN’T VANDALISM!!!). which was a total coincidence because at that point, you were ready to take a bus and wait right at the bus stop where he set up. since it was a long wait, you guys talked and he kept you company. you learn that this is actually a big project he’s been working on and is finally getting paid big bucks for something he really likes doing. you learn that he’s a great conversationalist and you miss the bus first bus ride home and have to wait another hour or so whoops! this becomes more and more of a daily thing, slowly getting to know each other. fast forward months later and it’s your birthday :D and you don’t expect anything at all because how would he know, you don’t really like your birthday anyways UNTIL vernon surprises you with a spray paint drawing of your favorite animal! and then asks you out on a date and you guys fall deeply in love

chan: a linguistics major. yeah, he doesn’t know why either, he’s just rolling with it. says he’s liking it so far, but no one really knows if he’s lying or not, including yourself. you drag chan to college events like club fairs and rallies because you’re too embarrassed to go alone and no one else wants to go LOL he begs you to drive him places during your three day weekends because he always wants to go off campus and do stuff with you and the guy pals, but he doesn’t like the freeway :/ its fine though because he pays for gas. 

[that-one-weeb-but-it-transformer]

𝔹𝔼𝕀ℕ𝔾 𝕀ℕ 𝔸 𝕊𝔼ℂℝ𝔼𝕋 ℝ𝔼𝕃𝔸𝕋𝕀𝕆ℕ𝕊ℍ𝕀ℙ 𝕎𝕀𝕋ℍ ℝ𝔸𝕋ℂℍ𝔼𝕋 𝕎/ℍ𝕌𝕄𝔸ℕ ℙ𝔸ℝ𝕋ℕ𝔼ℝ (𝕋𝔽ℙ)

My dumbass always breaks my own heart with a sadass ending- i gotta make a happy ending

-hello yes I am a bio-medical-engeering scientist in trainning- nice to meet you

-Wheeljack was the one to get spotted and brought you in

-Ratchet was quiet impressed when you introduced yourself- he could hold a conversation with someone else besides Raff now

-he also thought you were quiet beatiful- you know- for a human- who was he kidding- he thought you were gorgeous

-Ultra Magnus also seemed quiet impressed with you- which was rare and Ratchet Hated it

-So when Ratchet actually was assigned to be your gaurdian he secretly mentally died inside knowing he'd see you- often- and alone- fuck-

-you introduced yourself to him respectfully, calling him Dr. Ratchet seeing it was appropriate- he let it slide- but only for you

-only after a few drives and projects you both worked on, he was head over heels, enjoying your thinking face the most- or maybe it was your dedication- even falling asleep in your projects

-Raff out of all people spotted it first, and then comforted Ratchet on it.

-"Why would I like a human- Plus. Im perfectly fine by myself" "Ratchet." -silence- "say I metaphorically- hypothetically did have such- emotions-" "Ratchet just tell her the truth"

-So Ratchet did it! He confessed! Sort of!- Okay maybe not really!:

It was a late night, Y/n staying over at the base to work with Ratchet as she screwed smaller peices together ment for the control panel of the base.

"I feel you eyes boreing into my head. Whats the matter?" Y/n asked turning her head seeing Ratchet indeed looking at her.

"I."

Y/n sat ready to listen, "Intergrating species? What is your take?"

"Mhmm." Y/n thought, "I never thought about that before."

Another moment of silence, "Well! Actually I suppose I have thought about it." Y/n smiled.

"You have?"

Y/n nodded, "I'd always wondered what it'd be like if me and you went out together."

"Went out together?" Ratchet asked- was this happening?

Y/n nodded once more, "Of course. You know when I first met you. I thought you'd be another person to not take me seriously. But it turns out you took me seriously. Im glad you did so. You've became someone I not only look up to but love dearly."

"And you mean this?" Ratchet questioned, shocked by her bluntness.

"Well of course. I'd hope you'd love me too. " she smiled, "I figured that's why we're such great friends. I've never had a friend like you, and Im glad we're friends."

-did- did he get friendzoned??????

-he was lucky to clarify it for you, but barely

-cue fluttered Y/n and a quick: "well look what time it is by! Smokescreen! Its one of those times!" "I gotchu homie!"

-you didnt come to base for a week unable to process what happened

-so Ratchet showed up at your house- well in your living room- so you walked out in your towel to a random- yet handsome- man in your living room- so lets call 911-

-Ratchet stopped you claiming it was his "holoform" you were suspicious. But he knew facts and thinks about the autobots so you believed him

-"I-uh...you want tea and biscuits? Coffee? A smack to the head for breaking and entering into my house!"

-he let you get dress- to his dismay- I mean what

-You got dressed made a tray of coffee with some sweets and brought it over- you poured him a cup akwardly handing him the beaker tea cup:

"So. Uh. Scientist even at home?" Ratchet said gesturing to the robotic-scientisty tea set

"Oh uh. Yes. It was a gift. From uh. A. A coworker." Y/n responded sipping from her Erlenmeyer Flask.

"Very clever."

Y/n nodded as the silence was thick.

"I-" y/n sppke up her face bursted in red, "Apologize...for um...running off like that. It was unprofessional of me."

"It was unprofessional of me to think of you in such a way." Ratchet apologized.

"Its my fault. I should have been more respectful." She spoke setting her cup down infront of the tea tray kneeling on the floor besides where Ratchet sat on the couch pouring some more for herself.

Taking the opportunity to sit closer to him she sat on the cushion besides his, but then again akward silence.

"I understand if-"

"Listen I really like you! And I know its werid! But your so much more that someone I just look up to!" Y/n spoke over Ratchet quickly, surpising him as she flushed darkly, looking away.

"Y/n."

She looked back at him as her lips were captured in a kiss, a hand ran to the back of her head fingers intangled in her hair. Shocked by what was happening she welcomed the kiss hrr hesd being tilted as she kissed back, setting the cups on the table her fingers ran through his hair as her brother walked in the house.

-WHO TF IS THIS SIS-

-No! Wait! Dillion! I can explain! Do not go and get the sandal! Not the sandal!

-Ratchet got the sandal- then you got the sandal

-you started coming back to base which made both of you happy- Smokescreen was wondering if you both were a thing-so he got the sandal

-you both work together even more now

-When he was in conversation with you the bots never attempted to talk to Ratchet- knowing they couldn't get through to him.

-when he was captured by the Decepticons you were furious- so furious that you went and faced Megatron- alone. Calling him out

-Megatron respected you for such courage- Ratchet thought you were plan stupid

-but it gave the autobots time to sneak into the warship. Which you were applauded for

-Evidently the autobots won, and were finally able to go home, back to Cyberton

-Ratchet said he was staying on Earth but you argued that he deserved to go home, to help rebuild the world he had pleaded for.

-he still stayed- which of course you were happy for, but couldn't help in feeling that you had been one of the major reasons he stayed- and felt somewhere deep inside it was your fault

-sooner or later, you both did say goodbye- even if it was bittersweet.

-you never seen him again, and lived your life, you had fallen in love- got married- and had children- but of course I have to have a sad ending

-The bots had visited the humans again- but no Y/n:

The bots came through the space bridge, feeling at home almost immediately as they were greeted by there old friends.

"And Y/n?" Ratchet asked.

"Please. Tell him! I swear he's been more energetic than Bumblebee to come see her." Arcee teased with a laugh as Ratchet rolled his optics.

The three looked at one another, unable how to tell him.

"Uncle Jack." The small boy hidden behind him asked, "He doesnt know about Mommy?"

"She had a child?" Ratchet asked quiet shocked, his spark starting to break.

A small girl poked her head out with her brother as she looked up at the bots.

"Twins actually." Jack spoke a lump in his throat, looking down at the young kids, "They live with me. After..."

"After?" Ratchet asked.

"She got sick." Raff informed, "Ratchet. Y/n passed away two years ago. She died from brain cancer."

"I don't understand. Y/n was healthy before I left I did not leave that long ago." Ratchet spoke.

"Ratchet you've been gone for fifteen years." Miko spoke, "anything can happen."

The other bots in the room saddened by the news but not as much as Ratchet, she got married, had two kids, and passed away within the time he had been gone.

"Hey." The small girl spoke tapping on the ped of Ratchet, holding hands with her brother as they looked up at Ratchet, both almost perfect images of Y/n, "Momma never liked anyone sad. So can you smile?"

[theunmappedstar]

I dare you to give some random badboy au headcanons

so, i’m sorry, but “random headcanons” turned into “here’s the beginning of highschool badboy au plot that i have stuck in my head”... so... enjoy.

Sophie meets them because she joins Foxfire’s photography class as an elective. She has a group assignment that she has to complete, which requires her to take some photography scavenger hunt. She’s given a piece of paper with a list of different prompts she has to use to take pictures. (She’s mostly intrigued by the “street photography” bullet point).

Sophie gets paired up with Biana. They make quick friends and decide to divvy up the work - but this is also how Sophie learns about the boys.

She’d heard a little about them prior, but Sophie tended to only dip her toe into the gossip sparingly, so she doesn’t know exactly what’s up with these dudes

Sophie finds out that Biana is related to Fitz. Biana’s actually a real chatterbox when it comes to her family, so over the next week Sophie’s filled in on the majority of the timeline. (Also, the fact that everyone seemed to know of it, but her made Sophie feel really out of the loop and unpopular, but.)

The Vackers are a very wealthy and influential family. Biana’s parents naturally expected the most of their kids. Unfortunately, that only ended up dividing them. The three siblings weren’t very close when they were younger, but at least they talked - they barely interact normally anymore, according to Biana, focusing solely on their own lives and work. Alvar’s long since graduated, but Fitz and Biana are still held to their parent’s high expectations; they feel pressured to somehow reach above Alvar’s already-tremendous feats. Biana says even though it was rough, she never really saw it as a competition like her two brothers did. But that doesn’t mean she liked it, either.

Anyway, Fitz got so fed up with it and after a blowout, he managed to fall into what the Vacker parents love to call the “wrong crowd.”

The “wrong crowd” happens to be two kids - one from Foxfire Academy and one from a neighboring not-so-pristine school called Exillium.

Sophie’s interested as to who the two kids are, naturally, so she asks.

She almost immediately regrets that decision because as it would turn out, she knows those two kids.

Or, at least, she used to.

The first, Keefe Sencen, was surrounded by a lot of talk in her grade because of how he’d managed to skip a year when he was younger - and now Sophie finds that he’s apparently close to having to retake a year, since his grades have started to slip. She’d only seen him a couple times in elementary and had been paired with him for projects a staggering record of two times, but that didn’t mean he was one she would forget. (Those two group projects had been hell for her. He’d messed around with her so much and made her so frustrated and flustered and urg she hadn’t known how to act around a boy so obnoxious-but-cute).

Sophie doesn’t know if she’s surprised or not to find out that he managed to flip into the resident bad boy

The second one, Tam Song, happened to be a childhood friend (or she assumed that was the same Tam Song. There couldn’t be that many Tam Songs in the world, right?). She’d had a couple playdates with him before his parents had moved him and his twin sister away. She found out years later from her parents that the Songs had been having financial troubles and could no longer afford to be in the neighborhood/attend the academy

Sophie is baffled that the three managed to get together and start a reputation for themselves, no less

Sophie’s also baffled that they’re so well-known and yet she hadn’t really heard a thing about them; seriously, how unpopular was she?

When she relays the info to Dex and Marella at lunch, they tease Sophie that they’ve been waiting for it to hit her for years.

“...Why do you think we sit alone?” Dex asks.

Honestly, Sophie never really bothered to think about it. “I don’t know.”

Marella just snort-giggles. “Listen, you’re really smart, Sophie: you could build an entire AI system if you put your mind to it. But sometimes you lack a little thing called common sense.”

She doesn’t know whether to be offended or flattered.

She chooses to be flattered.

In the following days, Biana and Sophie get to checking off the to-do list for the assignment. Sophie’s first one requires her to take pictures of the interior of the school. She knows full well she could use her press pass to take pictures of the empty hallways during school, but that would require setting a time up with teachers, which would mean talking to teachers, which required basic social interaction... which.... was not very appealing and definitely not on Sophie’s list of Things I Want To Do.

She instead decides to stay after school for half an hour and take pictures.

She’s meandering around, snapping pictures here and there, trying to find out which angles would make the pictures less boring when she’s startled by a voice.

Sophie nearly drops the camera and whirls to find a boy sprawled across the bench outside the principle’s office. It takes her a moment to recognize him, but it eventually floods her brain.

Surprise, surprise - it’s Keefe Sencen.

He’s changed a lot since she last saw him. Granted, she last saw him when they were, like, six, but she lets herself be shocked.

Keefe’s got the whole getup. Ripped jeans, black tee, jet-black leather jacket... And he wears curiously, Sophie notices, an abundance of chains. Specifically, those rapper chains that dangle around your neck.

Sophie doesn’t realize that he’s called for her until he does it again. He’s asking what she’s up to, walking around with a camera like that after school.

She doesn’t know why, but “Yearbook” stumbles out.

She is not in Yearbook. She’s in Photography - close, but not quite it.

Keefe seems to feed off of her being flustered. It looks like he seriously enjoys it. he goes on to ask her what she’s got to take pictures of

She can’t really speak when he stands, hands shoved in his pockets, looking like that, so she just... hands the list over to him.

He quirks a brow and muses about the student/faculty box that has yet to be checked and he asks why she’s saved that one, since she’s been at school all day.

“Well, I... don’t really know how to casually approach someone and ask for a picture.”

It’s true. Everyone’s moving so fast and about their day during school hours and it’s especially hard to catch anybody after school.

Keefe just shrugs. “Then, you don’t have to.”

It takes her a second to realize what he means. He’s offering to let her take a picture of two of him.

It seems like a good idea. He’s right there and she can get it done and over with, but something about lifting the camera and snapping some shots of Keefe Sencen... Having to go home and know that she has access to pictures of him that she herself got to take...

He seems untouchable, is the thing. It seems like this is something that shouldn’t be happening - like he should have shooed her off like she was some human scum. It seems like they’re on two different levels. She’s the weird kid nobody really strives to talk to and he’s the boy that everyone’s terrified and annoyed (but secretly impressed) of.

“Oh, you don’t have to-”

Keefe interrupts her to assure her he doesn’t mind. He does ask if it sounds a little too self-centered, though, the way he just offered himself up for grabs.

Sophie’s not really listening because she’s too mesmerized by him combing his hands through his hair.

She kinda just blinks and mumbles some incoherent reply while trying to set the camera up. Her hands are super shaky and Keefe notices. Sophie stiffens when he outstretches a hand and asks if he can see the camera

“Um,” she starts, forcing herself to look at him, “I don’t think I should. I don’t own this and if it gets damaged-”

“Relax,” he murmurs. He retracts his hand instantly. “I was just asking. I took photography - I’m interested what camera they’ve given you. It looks different from the one I used; which seriously sucked, by the way.”

He pauses for a second to look her up and down. It makes her squirm, feeling on fire.

“And the pictures don’t have to be of me, right? They can be of students, if I’m remembering the guidelines correctly.” He waves the paper in his hands before reaching out to give it back to her. “And you, Miss...”

When Sophie recognizes he’s asking for her name, she blushes. “Sophie.” She plucks the paper from his hand.

He gives a swirling hand gesture, like he’s prodding for more.

“Foster,” she contends.

He nods, satisfied once he has her last name. “Foster,” he repeats, then continues, “Well, you’re a student, if I do say so myself. So, that means...” He lifts up his hands, pretending like he’s holding an imaginary camera. He pretends to adjust the lens and focus on her, finger hovering over the imaginary button that would take the imaginary picture.

He smirks. “Need a smile there, Foster,” he beckons.

She’s pretty sure she can’t get any redder. “I’m not really photogenic,” she argues, reaching forward to beckon his fake camera down.

He relents and let’s his hands drop, but his smirk remains. “Sure.”

She doesn’t really know what to say after that, so she hands him the camera with a mumble. Keefe eagerly takes it in his hands (which makes her notice the rings he has littered on his fingers) and he starts flipping and fiddling.

He says some random model name to her which she doesn’t really pay attention to. She only snaps up when his meddling ends and he asks, “Hey, by the way, how’ve the group projects been going?”

His smile seems more tender. More reminiscent. There’s a teasing lilt to his voice, which makes Sophie realize he remembers her. And, in turn, he remembers those god-awful projects they were forced to endure together.

She’s pretty sure she turns redder than her rosy skirt. “You remember that?” she mumbles.

Keefe chuckles. “Remember? Can’t really forget.” He taps his temple. “Also, anything that involves a cute girl is immediately filed to the front of my brain.”

Sophie’s so struck by the compliment that she nearly grazes over his first fact. How had she managed to forget he had a photographic memory just like her?

She doesn’t quite know how to respond, but she manages to pull a smile and mumble something about needing to get to work if she wants to finish the project. Surprisingly, Keefe just smiles back and offers her the camera. She makes sure not to graze too much of his skin as she takes the camera from his hands, shaking. She thanks him and turns to bolt away as fast as her legs can carry her (because she knows she’s on fire and she knows he can see it and oh god-) when his voice slows her down.

“I’m serious about that picture thing, Foster. If you need any help, I’ve got time.”

She stops in the hallway to look at him. Sophie raises a slow eyebrow and gestures to the office. Her hand is unsteady, but she’s proud when her voice doesn’t shake. “You seem pretty busy to me.”

Keefe laughs. “Nah, this is normal. But I can find a way to make some time for you.”

Sophie’s sure he says something more along the line of, “All you need to do is ask,” but she’s pretty sure the entire world has become a blur. in a flash she’s said her goodbye and she’s speed walking out to Dex’s car (he offered to drive her home after school, that day. He does it whenever he has time, actually. They live in the same neighborhood, which is pretty convenient, given they’re best friends and adoptive cousins).

Dex can see she’s off her game, but he doesn’t delve into it. The car ride home is pretty quiet.

Also when Biana and Sophie see each other in class the following day, it’s pretty hard for Sophie to come up with an excuse as to why she doesn’t have that many photos. She promises that she’ll stay after school again to try and make them up.

She does.

And that’s when she meets Fitz.

Sophie doesn’t really know how it happened. She avoided the area she’d seen Keefe in at all costs, snapping pictures literally anywhere else she could find, but somehow she wound up outside on the curb. And somehow she ended up wandering through the mostly-empty parking lot, snapping pictures of the parking spaces that the seniors had decorated (every year the graduating class got to customize their parking spot with spray paint). And wandering through the parking lot taking pictures led to her spotting a few sleek bikes.

In hindsight, Sophie thinks she finally understands what Marella meant by “you’re smart but you have no common sense,” because she walks up to the bikes. They’re against the curbside parking spaces, so Sophie steps up on the sidewalk and begins observing the shiny vehicles.

She’s never really been keen on motorcycles (the idea of getting one kind of terrifies her) but she has to admit that they look good.

And Sophie, lacking that beautiful common sense, snaps a picture.

She barely holds back the squeak when someone behind her asks what she’s up to. Sophie turns around to meet two boys in leather jackets. They’ve both got dark heads of hair, but one is noticeably lighter. And the darkest sported silver-dyed bangs.

She’s pretty sure her insides shrivel. It’s them, there’s no denying. Her photographic memory compares Tam’s aged features with the ones from his youth, seeing how his soft face had turned to hard-and-handsome lines. And she can see the resemblance to Biana in Fitz’s equally-charming face.

(Also, the more that she thought about it, she’d actually been put against Fitz during one of the stupid elementary spelling bees. She severely prayed he didn’t remember her as spelling bee girl.)

“Sorry,” she apologizes sheepishly. She lifts the camera. “Photography. I can delete it.”

She should have asked before doing that. She seriously should have asked. She feels like she’s been caught and she’s considering turning tail and running when they shrug and tell her it’s fine. She’s pretty sure she’s dreaming when she gets asked if she at least liked the bikes or if it was just for the assignment.

She says it was for the assignment, but she does like them.

Fitz smiles at her for the first time and Sophie’s legs become jello. 

Shit, how can someone look that nice while smiling?

But it doesn’t last too long because Tam asks who she is and where he’s seen her before. His head is tilted at her, dangly earrings twirling with the motion. Sophie can tell he does recognize her, at least a bit. All eyes are on her, so she feels a bit squirmy mentioning how she knows Tam, but once she does, his eyes light up and his eyebrows launch.

“Oh, Sophie. Shit.”

“Yeah,” she agrees. “Shit.”

Years later, it looks impossible to imagine that they’d ever been friends. They were so... different from each other, now.

They all start making semi-awkward conversation, discussing the school year and Sophie’s photography anything random they can come up with when Keefe rolls out of the school.

“Foster?”

She waves. “Oh, um. Hey.”

Keefe reaches his friends and his eyebrows crunch. He asks if they know her. Tam shrugs and says they knew each other when they were little, but they haven’t seen one another in years. Fitz admits Biana’s mentioned a Foster girl, but he doesn’t know her (Sophie’s pretty sure she’s dead. She didn’t know Biana talked about her at the house, even if it was something like measly dinner small talk.)

Keefe turns and grins at her, seeing the camera in her hand. “Yearbook again?”

She flushes. “Photography, actually.” Seeing his confusion, she continues, “I don’t know why I said Yearbook, yesterday. I’m in Photography, not Yearbook.”

Shockingly, Keefe just snorts. He muses that she’s something else before waltzing over and outstretching his hand. Sophie hands him the paper chock-full of guidelines again. Keefe starts muttering that she has a lot more crossed off than yesterday.

“You’ve still got a bit to go,” he points out.

Sophie just kinda nods. She’s mostly focusing on not letting her knees buckle in front of all of them. Her hands on the camera are sweating. It’s weird, how she’s managed to get caught in this situation. Everyone steers clear of these three, she knows, but now she’s somehow stuck in normal conversation with them. About photography, no less.

Keefe spots the street photography point and hums. He points to it, showing her the paper. “That seems interesting.” He meets her eyes. “Gonna take me up on my offer, yet, Foster?”

She swallows. “Oh, uh, street photography isn’t here, it’s-”

“On the street,” Keefe agrees, handing her back the paper. He shares one glance with his friends before meandering to his bike, slinging his leg over the seat.

Tam huffs a short laugh, grinning like he understands before he goes to hop on his own ride. Fitz is the last one behind, hands shoved in his pockets, just standing and smiling in amusement.

“You’re free, aren’t you?” Keefe implores. “We can make it quick. Drop you off back here - or wherever.”

Sophie chews on her lip. It is a tempting offer. She doesn’t really have a ride into the city planned, so it seems like the perfect opportunity. One quick ride, a few pictures, and she can leave. But that also means getting on a motorcycle. Which. . . kind of terrifies her.

“One ride, Foster,” Keefe promises, seeing the way she’s staring at the bike. “Does fifteen minutes sound good?”

Fifteen minutes is definitely enough time for her to get in a crash. Fifteen minutes is also definitely enough time for them to murder someone, but Sophie tries hard not to think about that.

Especially not when Keefe shrugs off his jacket and tosses it to her. Sophie catches it with a gasp, thankful that she doesn’t drop the camera. “Um,” she starts.

She cuts herself off when Fitz goes to his bike and pops open a back storage compartment. He snatches out a spare helmet, then waltzes back up onto the sidewalk next to her, reaching out his to trade the camera for the helmet.

Sophie swallows.

Seeing how nervous she is, he smiles, making a short nudge with his chin in the direction of the bike. “It’s up to you,” he promises.

“You won’t get hurt,” Keefe also assures. “You’ve got jeans on. And you wear that jacket and the helmet, you’ll be fine.”

She doesn’t like the fact that she has to take those precautionary measures in the first place. But, she guesses it’s just what one has to do. It’s like wearing a seatbelt in a car. This is the motorcycle’s seatbelt.

Sophie hands Fitz the camera and takes the helmet. She slips on the jacket, ignoring the heat that runs through her body at how nice it feels - and how Keefe looks at her.

Sophie clears her throat and puts the helmet on. Her fingers fumble horribly with the straps around her chin and no matter how much she tugs, she can’t get it right. Fitz has to come back over and help her, laughing gently. He narrates to her how to do it as he cinches it up for her with diligent fingers, smiling.

Sophie, however, is anything but smiling when he pulls away. There’s only one step left - to get on that bike with him, hold on tight to his waist, and pray that they don’t take her to some secondary location.

Sophie makes sure to look him in the eyes to know she’s serious. “You kill me, I kill you.”

Fitz chuckles. “Noted.”

[softyoongiionly]

Fear and Dumplings: Chapter Six

Confronting your fears for a final grade sounds unappealing but, with Yoongi as your partner, things might not be so bad.

Summary: You’re in your final semester at University when your Abnormal Psychology professor assigns you a partnered project surrounding your greatest fears. Lucky for you, your partner just so happens to be a cute boy named Min Yoongi.

Pairing: Min Yoongi x Reader

Genre: College Au, Underground Rapper! Yoongi, Soft!!! Yoongi, Fluff!!!, some moderate angst (later), smut (later later),  slow-ish? burn

Word Count: 5.1K

A/N: I’m literally on fire after writing this chapter lol. I hope you like it!😊

Warnings for this Chapter: mentions of fear, anxiety, sadness, some angst aka Jimin is an insecure boy who is unaware that he is literaly heaven on earth, swearing, suggestive situations/concepts, if you squint really hard you can see the beginnings of smut.

Warnings for the Fic: mentions characters confronting their fears, characters in uncomfortable situations, emotional moments between characters, mentions of bad parenting, explicit language throughout the fic, moderate angst, and very explicit smut later in the story.

Chapter 6: Doubt and Shadow Demons

You’re lying on your bed in one of your many baggy t-shirts, smiling like an idiot at your phone. Jimin had sent you screenshots of what he believed to be Yoongi’s twitter. If Jimin wasn’t aiming to be a dancer, you would have suggested a career as a private investigator because,  he could literally find anyone. You hadn’t asked Jimin to go looking for more information on Yoongi but, you’d be lying if you said you weren’t interested. His Twitter was mostly black, no bio and, no location but, the avatar was a picture of Yoongi wearing headphones, his newly blonde hair disheveled as he smiled at the camera. He really had no business being that cute. ‘@agustd93’ was his handle and you furrowed your brows in confusion as you tried to decipher what it could mean.  Yoongi didn’t seem to tweet much, he just retweeted a lot of music equipment accounts however, there were a few scattered tweets here and there that made you laugh.

“Roommates are drunk, again. They can’t hold their alcohol for shit.”

“Update: Drunk Hobi is obsessed with my cheeks and, I swear if he pinches them one more time, I’m going to cut his hands off.”

“Another Update: Joon just started crying after explaining to me that, “we are all just little flowers in the garden of life, trying to find our bees.” What the fuck does that even mean?”

You giggle, shaking your head, your thumb scrolling down to search for more tweets. There were more scattered between retweets of what you assumed to be the latest music equipment as Yoongi quoted some of the them with captions like ‘Dream Studio’ and ‘if only I wasn’t broke.’ You kept scrolling before coming across a tweet that made your stomach flutter.

‘Where? Everywhere.’

Fuck. He tweeted that last night. After you and Yoongi got off the Ferris Wheel, you actually ended up having a pretty decent time. The two of you got dinner at the park and wrote your experiences down in your research journals. Yoongi acted like the conversation on the Ferris Wheel never happened but, he seemed to warm up to you more and more as the night progressed. But still, nothing flirty occurred between the two of you and, Yoongi was very careful not to get too close to you. The whole thing was very confusing, one minute, Yoongi’s admitting that he would kiss you ‘everywhere, if you let him’ and, the next minute he’s treating you like he normally did. This tweet was sent at 11:30 which would have been around the time he got back to his place. Maybe it wasn’t about you, Yoongi seemed to have a habit of being vague and, he easily could have been talking about something else but, none the less, it made your heart skip a beat.

Did you like Yoongi? More importantly, did it matter? You shook your head, trying to rid yourself of your complicated thoughts as you rolled out of bed. Marzipan throws a complaint your way as you walk past her lounging at the end of the mattress. Normally, you would be out at your favorite crepe café gossiping with Jimin over some iced coffee but, Jimin had texted you the night before saying that his showcase rehearsal was running late and he didn’t think he’d get any sleep if he met up with you. You had of course met this with an abundance of understanding as you knew better than anyone how hard Jimin had been working at his showcase routine. So, instead of meeting up with your best friend, you planned on working on your final paper for your International Relations course. You had been working on it all semester and, felt accomplished that for once, you didn’t procrastinate. Green tea was essential for today’s writing session so; you brewed a decent sized pot before, continuing your paper. Marzipan eventually made her way out into your living room, opting to sprawl out on the couch, claiming her space as usual.

After writing for some time, you glance at the clock at the bottom of your laptop and your eyes widen. Shit. You had been writing for 4 hours. How was it possible that much time had passed? You had gotten a lot done, adding an additional 6-7 pages to the giant that was your final paper. Just after leaning back in your chair and stretching your limbs, your phone lights up with a text message.

BROS 4 LYFE (Jungkook): I miss the squad tho.

You giggle at the message, your heart warming as you reply.

BROS 4 LYFE: me too tho :/

BROS 4 LYFE (Taehyung): me 3 tho :/ :/

BROS 4 LYFE (Jimin): MY BABIES :( i miss u guys.

A hint of sadness plucks at your chest as you read the messages being sent in by your friends. You had made new friends in school and, college had been an overall fun time but, you had to admit that you never stopped missing having all three of your bestfriends in one place. The past four years hadn’t been the same without them and you couldn’t wait til the four of you graduated so, that you could finally have your group back together again. Jungkook had been drafted to play pro ball on a minor league team in your current city and, Taehyung had made the decision earlier in the semester to pursue his masters in art history at the school you and Jimin were currently attending. This meant that in a few short weeks, everything would back to normal for a little while.

BROS 4 LYFE: only a few more weeks my dudes, we got this.

BROS 4 LYFE (Jungkook) stay on that grind squad, college grad hours are about to be open.

BROS 4 LYFE (Jimin): kookie and tae, will you be here for my showcase? It’s two weeks before graduation.

BROS 4 LYFE (Taehyung): duh. We wouldn’t miss it for the world Jiminie.

BROS 4 LYFE (Jungkook): yea we would never miss a chance to see the world’s shortest ballerina.

Your eyes widen as you laugh, already imagining Jimin igniting in fury when he reads the message. His reply comes before you are able to chime in.

BROS 4 LYFE (Jimin): YAH! IM NOT A BALLERINA!

BROS 4 LYFE (Jimin): I AM A CONTEMPORARY DANCER.

BROS 4 LYFE (Jimin): THE CHAMPION CONTEMPORARY DANCER

BROS 4 LYFE (Jimin): THREE YEARS RUNNING THANKYOUVERYMUCH

At this point you’re in a full blown laughing fit, shaking your head as your fiery best friend pops off in the chat.

BROS 4 LYFE:  go best friend, that’s my best friend.

BROS 4 LYFE (Taehyung): let the record show that Kookie bought 12 of the limited edition Jimin shirts that your school sold after he won the championships.

BROS 4 LYFE (Jungkook): YOU PROMISED ME YOU WOULDN’T TELL

BROS 4 LYFE (Jimin): >:)

BROS 4 LYFE (Jimin): love u kookie

BROS 4 LYFE (Jungkook): …love u too…

The responses eventually dwindle down and, you decide to hop in the shower to tend to the mop of hair that was growing slightly greasy on your head. Afterwards, you throw on a cozy sweatshirt and your favorite pair of fuzzy pajama shorts and, settle on the couch to watch some Netflix. You hadn’t had a night in to yourself in a long time and, it felt amazing to be able to sit around and, do nothing.  Marzipan made her way up your body before, snuggling up in the free space between you and the edge of the couch. As your fingers absentmindedly stroke her fur, you feel your lids becoming heavier and heavier and, finally, you drift off into a much needed nap.

Needless to say, the nap turned into you passing out around 7:30 and, sleeping through the night until, finally, you awake to the ethereal sound of the never-ending city construction. You grumble as you pull the covers over your head to drown out the noise causing Marzipan, who clearly hadn’t left her spot all night, to flee from the couch.  Checking your phone, you noticed a few messages from your group-chat and a snapchat or two from some of your other friends. After responding to the majority of your missed messages, you drag yourself off of the couch and into the kitchen to make some coffee. The microwave displayed the current time: 7:45am; an unholy time to be awake on a Saturday morning. The coffee was finishing up before a loud knock at your door caused you to jump out of your skin. Who the hell was at your house at 7:45 in the morning? You gingerly made your way to the door, hoping that it was just someone from maintenance. Opening the door, you nearly scream as a tuft of pink hair practically collapses into your arms. It was Jimin and, he was crying.

“Jimin, babe, what’s wrong?” You hold him to you, your eyes wide with concern as you usher him into your apartment.

“I can’t do it y/n, I can’t do anything right.” He cries into your t-shirt, his hands clutching you as if you’re about to slip away.

You rub his back, maneuvering you both onto your couch, Jimin clinging to you all the while.

“Hey, hey, that’s not true at all.” You murmur soothingly. “Jimin, what brought this on? Did something happen?”

Jimin, still crying, nods, as the tears stream down his puffy cheeks.

“I’ve been rehearsing for…for 36 hours…and I ca…can’t….do it…I can’t get it right. I ke…keep messing up. I’m n…not getting it…they’re…they’re going to drop me from the showcase if I can’t do it….they…they will…” At this point, your heart is broken, your usually smiley best friend is completely shattered, sobbing, into your arms. You hadn’t seen him like this since he had his first serious breakup sophomore year and, even that couldn’t compare to what you saw before you.

“Shh…minnie…it’s ok, it’s ok, I got you.” You gingerly tilt his swollen face towards yours, your eyes holding an immense amount of emotion as you gaze into his. “Listen to me ok? You can’t rehearse like that, you’re going to burn out and, get hurt. You have to rest. You’ve been practicing non-stop for the entire semester. You could do that routine in your sleep babe. The only reason you probably messed up is because you are exhausting yourself.”

Before you can even finish, Jimin’s eyes well up with tears once again as he shakes his head.

“No…no…you don’t understand…y/n…the coaches came to watch me last night and, I fell…I fell and they…they said that they were disappointed with my progress…and that I need to do better…so…I had to stay to re…rehearse…cause I failed. I failed y/n, I failed.” Jimin bursts into another fit of sobs as he clutches you tighter and, you actually have to hold back the tears that are pricking the corners of your own eyes.

“Dancers fall all the time Jiminie, it’s ok, you had been rehearsing all day. Every free moment you have, you spend in the studio practicing. I know it must have been so hard to fall in front of your coaches but, hey,” You tilt his face to you once more before he can hide away in your arm again. “You are Park fucking Jimin. You are the youngest collegiate dancer to win the national showcase and, the ONLY dancer to win it three years in a row. Dancing is like breathing to you. Audiences are mesmerized as soon as you step on the stage. You did not fail. You are exhausted. You can’t work yourself like this or, there won’t be a Park Jimin to win the showcase four years in a row.” As your words tumble out of your mouth, Jimin begins to calm down, still sniffling lightly, he hugs you again, his normally sparkling eyes, heavy with exhaustion.

“I’m so scared…y/n…there’s so much pressure and, I don’t think I’ll be able to bear it if I disappoint anyone.” You place a chaste kiss to the top of his bubblegum hair as you nod.

“It’s ok to be afraid, this is something you really want and, when we really want something, the thought of failing can be crippling but, you have worked so unbelievably hard.  No one deserves this more than you do. Try and have a little faith in yourself ok? There is nothing you can’t achieve. You have something so magical within you.  Working hard is good but, everyone has their limit and, if you keep pushing yourself like this, you won’t be healthy enough to achieve all of the amazing things I know you are capable of.” Your voice has dropped to an even lower volume as you continue rubbing Jimin’s back. He is looking up at you with intense focus but, you can tell he is on the verge of crashing.

“You promise? You promise you believe I can do this?” He whispers and, your heart shatters in pieces that someone whom you care so deeply for, is in so much pain.

“I don’t just believe Jimin, I know.” You whisper back before jerking your head to the other end of the couch. “Can you please try and sleep for me? When you wake up, we can go somewhere, or we can stay in,its up to you. Just try and rest of a while.” At your request, Jimin lets out a yawn, his lips pressing to your shoulder once more before he flops back onto the couch, still sniffling lightly.

You help him out of his shoes and his coat before grabbing a blanket and, literally tucking him in.

“Thank you y/n.” Jimin whispers, practically half asleep, his hand holding yours lightly.

“You don’t have to thank me, that’s what best friends are for. I’ve cried on your couch a few times too, remember.” You smile fondly as Jimin lets out a twinkling giggle, happy to see that he’s feeling somewhat better.

“I love you.” He whispers, his eyes beginning to shut.

You squeeze his hand lightly before replying.

“I love you too Jimin.”

Jimin drifts off a few moments later, his light snores filling your living room. Your heart feels achy as you reply the last few moments over in your head. You knew your words wouldn’t be enough to completely take away Jimin’s uncertainty but, you were so grateful that he came to you instead of suffering in silence. Jimin had a history of feeling this way right before a showcase. He had done something similar to this your freshman year before, winning and subsequently making history. It absolutely devastated you to see him hurting but, you meant everything you said. There wasn’t a doubt in your mind that Jimin was going to go far in life; you just hoped one day, he could see it for himself.

—————————————————————————————————-

“The dark and the ocean….I think maybe it’s time that we start tackling our fears one by one, what do you think?” You look over at Yoongi, who nods from behind his phone.

“Yeah, I think so too. I don’t know how we’d combine the dark and the ocean anyway.” His voice was slightly scratchier than normal but, when you had asked if he was sick, he told you that he had lost his voice at a concert he went to the night prior. For whatever reason, you didn’t believe him but, rather than prying, you opted to enjoy the sound of Yoongi’s raspy voice becoming even raspier.

“If we did, it would be terrifying and, I would probably die.” You state bluntly, causing Yoongi to scoff in disbelief, shaking his head at you.

“You’re so dramatic.” He chastises, smirking lightly, tapping away at his phone. You shrug, not bothering to disagree with him as you doodle on the corner of your paper. “Are you comfortable confronting this fear directly? I don’t know how you would imagine it, unless, you just imagine yourself in a dark room.”

The shudder that passes through your body was completely involuntary and, Yoongi notices it.

“You don’t have to, we can think of something else.” He assures, his almond shaped eyes, wrinkled slightly in concern. You shook your head insistently, putting on a brave face.

“No, its ok…I can do it. I won’t be alone so, it will be a little easier.” You force smile onto your mouth but, Yoongi isn’t buying it. Thankfully, he decides to accept your statement anyway.

“Does tonight work for you? I have a free Tuesday for once so, I figured we could do yours today and mine on Thursday.” Yoongi’s suggests, his demeanor returning to normal. You nod, leaning back in your chair, attempting to look casual but, your heart jumped slightly in your chest.

“Yeah, that’s fine, what time?” You needed to know how much time you had to straighten up because, you definitely left dirty dishes in the sink and, you were quite certain that you dropped a pair or two of clean underwear whilst running late this morning.

“Well, it doesn’t get dark until 7:30-8 so, maybe around then?” Yoongi cocks his head slightly, his eyes sleepy as usual. You had never had such a strong urge to tuck someone into bed and, kiss their forehead until you met Min Yoongi. That boy needs more sleep.

“I’m good with that yeah. Are we eating together or do you want to eat before you come?”

“I’ll bring something, I have a lot to make up for since somebody, decided to buy our tickets last week.” He gives you a pointed look, disapproval gracing his features. You laugh, shrugging shamelessly, looking up at him.

“I guess you better bring something good then.” You insist, smiling, nudging his desk with your foot.

————————————————————————————————–

It was that very conversation that led you to where you were now:  belly full of That’s Amore’s pasta, apartment tidied up, and Yoongi glancing over at you curiously.

“What?” You giggle lightly, confused at his intense gaze before, he nods over to you.

“Why are you afraid of the dark?” He murmurs, his tone cautious but curious.

You bite your lip, as you feel your body grow slightly uncomfortable. Meeting Yoongi’s gaze, you attempt to sound as brave as possible before, answering his question.

“I…used to have really bad nightmares as a kid. I had them every night for almost two years.” You admit, your eyes moving to stare at the couch instead of continuing to look at Yoongi. “My parents finally took me to a doctor and they told them that I would eventually just grow out of it. They gave me something to help me sleep through the night and, over time, the dreams finally stopped but, I slept with my light on until I was like 14.” You giggle, trying to lighten the mood, not really enjoying the serious tone of the conversation.

Yoongi nods, regarding you earnestly from the other end of the couch.

“I’m sorry.” He says softly and, you can tell that he means it. You smile over at him, brushing it off.

“No, its ok, it happened a long time ago. I’m just still not a huge fan of the dark.” You explain, finally meeting his gaze again.

“You don’t have to do this, you can just keep talking about it…I don’t want you to feel afraid.” He insists, his tone firm and certain.

You nod, your smile growing more genuine.

“I can do it. I think it will be good for me and, like I said, I won’t be alone so, I don’t think it will be too bad.” You’re lying. The dark terrified you but, logically, you understood that there was nothing dangerous about it. You know you can do this.

Yoongi nods but, you can tell that he’s uneasy, his movements cautious and hesitant as he looks around your apartment.

“Ok, do you want to start slow? We could just turn off the lights first; the streetlights shouldn’t make it too dark.” He assures you, nodding toward the window but, you shake your head at his suggestion.

“No, I think it’s better if we just do everything now. I think prolonging it will just make me more nervous.” Your voice is growing smaller and, once you catch that, you sit up straighter.  As if, sitting up straighter would lessen the fear you felt. “Let’s do this.”

Yoongi nods and the two of you move to start closing the curtains and turning off the few lamps that you have on in your apartment. You both stand on opposite ends of your living room as Yoongi’s hand hovers over the main light.

“Are you ready?” He calls softly, his face littered with concern.

You nod, smiling tightly, bracing yourself for the darkness.

“You have to protect me if a shadow demon tries to eat me!” You insist, giggling, trying to lessen the tension as Yoongi rolls his eyes.

“There’s no such thing as shadow demons.” He counters, smirking before, he nods anyway. “But, yeah, I guess I’ll protect you if that happens.”

Your heart is picking up its pace in your chest as you attempt to pull a deep breath from your nose.

Yoongi looks at you pointedly and, before another question can pass his lips, you nod to the light.

“Go ahead. I’m good.” You assure him, putting on the bravest voice you can find.

There’s a click and then, darkness envelops your apartment. You could never have imagined that your apartment could get to this level of darkness. The room was pitch black, you held your hand out in front of your face and you saw nothing but a faint blob.

“Are you ok?” Yoongi calls softly from the other end of the room.

Another shaky breath passes your lips as you attempt to calm yourself.

“Yeah, I’m good. I’m ok.” You assure him but, even you could tell that your tone wasn’t convincing. There’s a shuffling on the other end of the room that causes you to jump out of your skin. “What was that?”

“It’s just me; I’m trying to find my way to the couch.” Yoongi’s voice calms you and, you curse yourself for being so obviously afraid.

“Yeah, I should probably do that too. I don’t want to just stand here…vulnerable…where literally anything can attack me if it wanted to.” You muse casually and, this causes Yoongi to finally break out in his rickety laughter.

“Nothing is going to attack you, just come here and, be careful not to trip over anything. That’s the only real danger you need to worry about.” Yoongi’s voice is practically a whisper and, you use it to guide yourself to your sofa. You finally feel the familiar fabric and make your way around the arm of the couch before, tucking your body into one of the cushions. The heartbeat in your chest hasn’t lessened its pounding but, you feel slightly better that you’re not doing this alone.

“I made it.” You whisper but, Yoongi could already feel you sit down at the opposite end of the couch.

“How are you feeling?” Yoongi whispers back to you and, you feel yourself relaxing slightly at the sound of his voice. He really should be doing ASMR in his free time. Your mouth opens to lie again but, you end up sighing in defeat.

“I’m scared.” It’s the first time either of you have uttered this phrase since beginning your project and, you grow uneasy as you wait for his response.

“That’s ok.” He assures and then he falls silent for a moment. “I know it’s difficult for you. We can stop whenever you want.”

“I’m ok right now; my eyes are starting to adjust.”

Another moment of silence passes between the two of you and, you feel a familiar thickness in the air that seems to occur a lot when you and Yoongi are alone. You close your eyes for a moment, stifling your desire to mention it to him. He had made it very clear on the Ferris Wheel that he wasn’t interested in being with you that way… ‘right now.’

“You can…move closer to me, if you need to. I’m not sure if that will help but, you can try. I don’t mind.” Yoongi whispers and, his offer catches you completely off guard. Should you move closer to him?

Silently, you scoot your body down the length of the couch until you feel your shins meet Yoongi’s feet. He must have been sitting cross-legged on the couch and, now that you’re closer to him, you can make out his posture. He’s sitting with his legs crossed, his body turned to face the direction you were sitting, while his hands rested in his lap.

“Thank you.” You whisper, and you can sort of make out the faint smile ( :] ) on his lips.

“Is it any better?”

“Yeah, it is, actually, thanks.” You repeat your gratitude and you finally start to feel the anxiety subsiding from your chest. Yoongi was warm and, he smelt like berries and the ocean? An odd yet tantalizing combination that, in all honesty, made your stomach tighten. His hands are adorned with a few rings and your eyes squint in curiosity as you try to make out what they look like; regretting that you hadn’t checked them out when the lights were on.

“What are you trying to look at?” Yoongi’s whisper causes you to smile as  you realize that his eyes were also adjusted to the darkness and, he was probably wondering why you were staring intently at his lap.

“Your rings.” You giggle, your head jerking their direction. At your answer, Yoongi’s fingers flutter lightly in response, his head turning down to look at them.

“Oh, yeah, I don’t wear these a lot but, my roommate Namjoon got them for me and, started giving me shit for not liking them. So, I made a point to wear them more.” He explains his tone one of fondness and annoyance. Another laugh passes your lips as you nod in understanding.

“They look nice. Namjoon has good taste.” You compliment, feeling far more comfortable.

“Yeah, he’s alright, I guess.” Yoongi jests but, you know he doesn’t mean what he says, always hiding behind a snarky comment. Before you can speak again, Yoongi holds one of his hands out to you. “You can look at them if you want.”

Your heart stalls a moment as you look at Yoongi’s out stretched hand. The hand that had been on your own lap comes up to bring Yoongi’s closer to your view. The rings were actually beautiful and, you were thankful that the tiniest amount of light had escaped through the curtains so you could properly see them. There were four of them each covered in silver, the engravings depicting the four elements: Earth, fire, water, and air. You smile as your fingers gently examine Yoongi’s rings (hand). His hands were one of your favorite things about him. They were nearly double the size of your own, blue and green veins pushed slightly against the surface, fingernails bitten out of what you could assume as nervousness.  There is a light increase in your heart rate as you continue to examine Yoongi’s hand and, if he had noticed that you stopped looking at his rings, he wasn’t showing it. You tilt his hand up so, its perpendicular to your own, your fingertips only reaching the middle of his fingers, as you place your palm against his hand.

“Your hand is small.” Yoongi whispers but, this time, you detect a different tone from him that you can’t say you’ve ever heard before.

A small smile graces your mouth as you nod.

“Against yours it is.” The whisper that leaves your lips is almost in audible, your eyes find Yoongi’s and, you find him staring back at you, the faint streetlight illuminating his face. The two of you stare at each other as you feel Yoongi’s fingers lace with your own. Your heart beats wildly in your chest as you lick your lips in attempt to compensate for the dryness in your mouth. Without warning, the two of you are leaning towards each other, your shaky breathing intertwining momentarily before, your lips press together. Yoongi audibly lets out a sigh of what literally sounds like relief as he mold his lips against yours. You rise up on your knees lightly, in an attempt to get closer to him, your free hand coming up to gently touch his face. The butterflies that had been taunting you for the past month erupt in your stomach, your heart racketing against your sternum. Yoongi’s hand that was interlaced with yours slips out of your grip and, settles on your waist instead, pulling you into his body. Your lips are beginning to move against one another and, you actually feel Yoongi’s heartbeat rattling against your hand. The thought of you having that effect on him, makes you clench between your thighs. Your body moves to make its way into his lap but, before you make it there, Yoongi is slowly pulling away. He seems reluctant to stop, his swollen lips still pecking against yours as he presses his forehead to your own.

“I don’t want to stop but, I think…”His breathing is too ragged for him to speak properly, and you press your lips to his cheek in an attempt to sooth him, even though, your breathing is just as bad. “We….should slow down….”

You nod in agreement but, relish in the fact that Yoongi is still holding you close to him, your body leaning into his chest.

“You’re right.” You whisper in return, your breath just as shaky as Yoongi maneuvers you so, that you’re tucked into the side of his body. Your hand rests on his chest and you smile as you feel his heart pummeling against the palm of your hand. The two of you lay there for a moment in complete silence, Yoongi’s fingers play with your own  as you wait for the other to say something.

Surprisingly enough, it’s Yoongi who breaks the silence, his raspy whisper penetrating the darkness around you.

“Are you still scared?” He whispers softly, his eyes finding yours.

You look up towards him, a soft smile on your lips.

“No.”

Yoongi smiles back at you and, you can’t help but notice how shy he’s being, his eyes softer than you have ever seen before.

“Good.”

Maybe, the dark wasn’t so bad after all.

[yoongihime]

Cheeky Bunny

 Hybrid!AU: Leopard!OC x Bunny!Kook Length: 4.1K (lol is this even a drabble anymore?) Genre: The Most Fluffy Fluff Type: Disney Drabbles ☞REQUEST HERE☜ Recommended OST: (x) Request By: @/kimtrain:“Don’t underestimate the importance of body language." love youuuu MJ so so much  (a/n): IDK OKAY? I REALLY IDK WHY IM SO SOFT. But anyways I this is so frickin fluffy idk anymore (read: I screamed a lot and wanted to smash my keyboard) and any comments are always appreciated, my inbox is open for you lovelies. 

Summary: You’re a predator and he’s the prey, so what happens when the tables finally turn for our dearest bunny? 

“(y/n), you’re fucking drooling.” Taehyung lands a particularly hard pat against the nape of your neck, immediately eliciting a hiss from you and a chuckle from him; your attention now regrettably snagged away from your little crush.

“You brat, that's not a good enough reason to grab my nape,” you hiss, your hands rubbing against the tender flesh. As felines, the neck area is off limits, it’s too intimate and oddly sensitive due to the period where parents would grab their litter my the scruff. So you find it absolutely necessary to repay to favor with a hard smack against his abdomen with your tail, causing a growl to bubble inside the lion-hybrid’s chest, his sunny demeanor evaporating and lips peeling back in act of dominance.

“Oh hush,” you dismiss, rolling your eyes and petting the thick fur of your tail, “You’re honestly acting childish, what are you? A big domestic cat?”

“Just because you are naturally a solitary breed does not excuse you from social norms, (y/n).” Taehyung firmly states, his ears twitching in his messy mop of golden hair. An involuntarily side effect of annoyance.

Well shit, you gone and pissed him off. Again.

“Fine, fine. I’m sorry,” you murmur, your steely blue eyes turning downcast and fluffy white ears laying low in a form of regret. You’re not exactly good with other creatures, since it’s in your nature to want to be prickly and sarcastic, but more often than not you come off as rude or completely awkward. You could say you were born this way. Taehyung lets you brew in your regret for approximately five seconds until the switch it flipped and he’s back to his grossly capricious self.

“Alright, alright that's enough serious talk to last another month, how about we go grab some lunch?” Taehyung suggests, his hand already pulling you closer to his body and his arm wrapping around your form, causing a smile to blossom on your face, taking comfort in his forgiveness. To the entire school you two are the perfect pair, despite the fact that your relationship with Taehyung is completely platonic, the student body seems drawn to the aura you two give off. Taehyung is the ever carefree feline, The Popular Kid everyone gets along with, from the wolves to the fawns, they’re all his loving admirers. At the complete opposite end of the spectrum, there’s you. You’re the icy princess, the rare snow leopard hybrid, with your piercing electric blue eyes and smokey grey hair, you’re the moon to Taehyung’s vibrant sun. It’s quite obvious that people are afraid to approach you, even the biggest predators in the school have difficulty holding a conversation, let alone the domestic creatures. As a cruel twist of fate, the object of your affections, the reason the sun rises and the moon cries, is-

“Hey, bunny!” Taehyung greets the retreating boy, his long strides coming to a halt as he turns to look at the two of you. His tail twitches, the fluffy black ball bouncing where he can’t, bunny ears popping up to match and he turns around with a nervous smile tugging the edges of his lips.

“Jungkook!” You half-yell, causing the boy to flinch in his spot, “Do you want to go have lunch with us?”

“I-I err,” Jungkook begins, his composure already melting by the degree from your attention, “I have a meeting to get to,” he practically spits out and bolts out of the room, causing you to freeze in your tracks, your spirits broken once again.

“H-he he did it again.” You sigh the sentence out, as if the harsh exhale would also expel your disappointment. Collapsing back into the chair, you let Taehyung blatantly laugh at your distress as you sulk in the bitter rejection. Jeon Jungkook, the resident film major and bunny hybrid, is your unrequited crush of two years. It’s not his fault that he’s uncomfortable around you, it’s only natural after all, but the boy goes through such great lengths to avoid you to the point where you’ve convinced yourself-

“He hates me.” You deliver the final blow, the statement cutting deeper into your bruised ego.

“He’s just intimidated, the poor kid is a bunny (y/n), and you look at him like you want to gobble him up.” Taehyung winks, making you groan and place your head none too gently on the surface of the table.

“It’s not intentional,” you bemoan, “he just looks so… sweet.”

“There you go again, stop using adjectives that describes food to talk about him! Delicious, irresistible and delectable are absolutely off limits too,” Taehyung lectures, “unless you’re describing me of course.” Taehyung notes your lack of response with an empathetic pat to your back,

“It’s easy (y/n), just relax a little.”

“What difference would that make?”

“You my dear, underestimate the importance of body language,” he insinuates with a wag of his eyebrows.

Almost as reflex, your tail whips out to punch him once again, but Taehyung is done with your antics and grabs the plush fur, causing you to hiss in surprise,

“Okay, okay let’s get you lunch before you claw my face off.”

“(y/n) and Jungkook, you’ll be partners for the upcoming project.”

It’s quiet. The ensuing silence is borderline comedic in it’s magnitude, sharp enough to cut and thick enough to suffocate, so much so that your professor tilts her chin down, her scrutinizing stare piercing through her -5.75 prescription glasses and her voice shattering the eerily tranquil lack of noise,

“I believe I am to take the silence as an affirmative?”

Jungkook fidgets in his seat, his nervous energy radiating off him in tangible waves that suffocates the air surrounding you, despite the fact that he is seated three rows away. When his back straightens and his lungs fill with more air than the usual capacity, you choke out a response before he could light your reputation along with his into fine-grained embers.

“Yes, m’am.”

His incredulity is apparent, even if you can’t see those precious eyes widen in front of you, he makes his vexation clear as day though the twitch of his ears and the occasional half turns he performs every few minutes to stare blankly at you. As the hours tick by, you begin to get restless. It’s not his fault, or yours for that matter, your senses are simply on high alert from the sheer amount of movement he’s making, his fear soaking into your skin, triggering your instincts to hunt.

As the thin thread of your self control begin to deteriorate, the bell rings, effectively snapping you out of your frenzy. Students begin to shuffle out of the room, along with the professor for her next lecture, but your hairs are still standing on end and you take longer than usual to gather your laptop and array of stationary into your backpack. When the grumbles about said hellish assignments fade, another sound perks you up from your packing, the sound of Jungkook’s sneakers squeaking to a stop in front of your desk. Silence gathers gradually, building up under his gaze until you’re drowning in it and have to look away with a clearing of your throat—

“So when do you want to meet up to do the project?” You zip up your backpack, settling it onto your shoulders and rising from your seat without meeting his gaze. Jungkook swallows, his resolve crumbling when you stand up because you’re that much closer to him and his pounding heart. He wanted to say that sentence, wanted to arrange a time and maybe get you to smile at him again today, but it’s impossible to concentrate when every cell of his being is screaming at him to run. So when your eyes meet his, the orbs chatoyant and inquisitive, he blurts out the first phrase that comes to mind which happens to be-

“I can do it.” He states it like a fact, like he is telling you that the sun rises east and sets west.

Curse that stupid fight or flight response.  

“W-what?” you splutter, your limited patience finally running out. It’s one thing to harbor personal feelings towards you but another completely to bash on your work ethic, so your body chooses the choice that he so easily abandoned: Fight.

“Listen Jungkook, I’m going to hope that you didn’t mean that just now and try again. So you really don’t like me, I get it. You’ve made that more than clear to me, so I don’t know why I keep trying like this.”

A sigh.

Jungkook is at a loss, his mouth opening only to close once again, the only consistency being the frown between this eyebrows and the strange twitching of his ears; his body as uncooperative as ever in this imperative moment.

“Maybe dislike is a bit too tepid,” your face sour, “maybe you even hate me.”

Your finger shoot up to hush him at his sudden look of panic.

Wow, your heart hurt.

Stupid, stupid bunny.

“Don’t worry I’m not going to pounce on you just because of your personal feelings,” you explain, but your claws are extended, “but I will not hesitate to do so when you’re bashing on my honesty and work ethic like this. Now, I’m open to work together during lunch and I have a free period for sixth. Come find me or whatever.”

Your ego is so bruised by this point you stumble haphazardly towards the end of row and closer to the neon exit sign, your escape. Fingertips brushing the metal doorknob, you’re pulled back by a strong grip on your wrist, and of course it’s Jungkook. He’s panting, as if those measly steps towards you required immense effort and if you weren’t so caught in your own bitterness you would have noticed the rose tinted hue coloring his cheeks and the faraway look residing in his eyes when you turned to meet his gaze.

“I-I don’t hate you.” Jungkook pleads, his eyes sincere and you hate how your heart leaps out of your chest at those three words. Not exactly an ‘I love you’ but at least that’s some progress.

“Please give me another chance, (y/n).”

Your anger wants to say no, to cut him off and drown in your own self pity, but his hold tethers you to reality and releases you from your childish emotions. Maybe it’s your stubborn ambition that wants to see him try his best, to pine for you as you have for him or maybe it’s the way your name rolls of his tongue, smooth like a melody, that convinces you to agree,

“Okay.”

“You’re here again today, bunny!” Taehyung greets Jungkook who looks up from his notebook to smile at the lion hybrid as he drapes his legs over the bench across from you. For the past week, Jungkook has been sitting with you at lunch and even near you during classes, his presence rivaling Taehyung’s during your days on campus.

You’ve gotten quite smitten with the boy, but your wounded pride refuses to accept that any of his precious displays of affection could mean anything more than friendship. Yes, the way his hand brushed yours as he picked up his assignment has nothing to do with the fact that he wanted to touch you, but didn’t know how to or the constant smile that appears on his face when he makes you laugh is most obviously one of curtesy for your sake. It has to be. You’d sooner believed that the boy would like you (let alone love you) than if he goes and tattoo ‘I <3 (y/n)’ on his forehead.

Yet the reality is indeed the opposite for the lovestruck bunny. You’re his poison and his cure, a step loving you is just a another step towards realizing how incredibly little of an impression he has in your eyes. To say Jungkook is frustrated by how lukewarm your reactions are to his efforts would be an understatement of enormous proportions; for goodness sake he swears you were not like this last week. So what gives? Oh right, him and his loose reflexes that’s what happened. At the verge of giving up, Jungkook looks pleadingly towards the golden boy across the table, his eyes conveying what his speech can’t.

Taehyung knew it was going to happen sooner or later, that poor bunny is reaching his breaking point. He’s not saying that this is Jungkook’s fault (because let’s face it you’re denser than a steel wall when it comes to romance, especially once you’ve been jaded by it), but he’s not going to say that the bunny is innocent in this either. So when those round, clear eyes turn his way as he was munching on his cheeseburger, Taehyung swallows thickly, knowing exactly what the brunette is asking of him.

“Hey (y/n), can you so get me a soda?” Taehyung interrupts your scribbling, your eyes looking from him to his half filled water bottle with apprehension.

“You have drink right there?” you question, clearly confused by his need for another beverage.

“Please? I’ll buy you lunch tomorrow, I’m really thirsty.” Taehyung pleads, his large hands coming to frame his face in a V and his eyes blinking rapidly in an attempt to act cute. Damn him and his beautiful face, if it was anyone else they would look like a Class 1 idiot, but Taehyung somehow pulls the stunt off with grace. You immediately cringe at the display but laughter blooms from your chest nonetheless,

“Okay, okay I’m going. No need to threaten me Tae.”

As you shuffle away, Taehyung turns his attention to the Jungkook. The boy was staring after you with so much longing Tae considering smacking the lovesick grin right off his face.

“So Jungkook,” Taehyung begins, causing those doe eyes to meet his scrutinizing ones, “maybe its just me, but I think you like my best friend.”

Jungkook splutters on the water he was sipping, his chest having up and down to ease the burning of his lungs.

“I- err ..yeah.” Jungkook’s noncommittal response drifts from his lips, if admitting it to Taehyung as difficult, how the hell was he going to say that to you? He grasps his chocolate brown locks messing up the already fluffy strands,

“But she doesn’t notice at all! I’ve been trying so hard.” Jungkook groans, his frustrations overwhelming his shyness for the time being.

“Listen, bunny. You’re going to have to try a lot harder than that for that girl to understand. She likes you too you know?” Taehyung says through a mouthful of fries, causing Jungkook’s ears to perk with interest but his face remains pouty and sad on the surface of the table.  

“I’ve been trying so hard though, Tae. Compared to before at least.” Jungkook sulks.

“Ah, that’s where you’re wrong, my boy! She had hope before you went and shot all of that down and now her emotions are in Grade A lockdown prison called Denial. Unless you want to spell it out and tell her straightforwardly she’s not going to register any of it.”

Jungkook groans, his ears drooping with realization.

“So what do you suggests I do?”

Taehyung’s devilish smile is rather unsettling but Jungkook trusts the lion to not fail him and he draws closer for Tae to whisper into his soft ears.

You come back to a rather strange scene: Jungkook blushing profusely as Taehyung pinches his ear, cackling and whispering something into them only for the two of them to answer with guilty Nothing’s when prompted.

Finger quivering, you take in a deep breath before pressing the little doorbell. It elicits a light, soft sound inside the household, probably because bunny hybrids are sensitive to noises. You hear multiple thumps from the inside, no doubt the siblings Jungkook told you about, and three seconds later the boy himself appears in front of you. He looks amazing today as always, his brown locks ruffled and black ears sitting attentively on top along with a huge cream-colored sweater that he fills out all too well, completed by distressed jeans that seem to be screaming for air from his muscular thighs. As if he’s vocalizing your thoughts—

“You look beautiful today.” Jungkook compliments with a blush, his cheeks turning rosy and a cough is forced out of his chest as a way to avoid your eyes.

Only curtesy (y/n). He’s being polite. You chant mentally, not daring to search for any hidden meanings behind his words. Your body is a bit more honest with the way your ears seem to stand on end, and a dust of rose also makes an appearance across your features.

“Thank you,” you manage to reply, “you’re not so bad yourself.”

He seems to be encouraged by that, taking you by the hand and tugging you upstairs towards his room with some utterance of how his parents are away on a trip and that’s why he has to babysit the kids. His comments flow into one ear and out the other because all you process are your heartbeats ringing in your ears and the way his hand completely envelope yours.

God what is this boy trying to pull today? you mentally yell, praying that he won’t be able to feel your racing pulse through your adjoined hands.

“This is my room.” He announces, hand still firmly holding on to yours despite the fact that the two of you arrived at your destination.

It’s as if you’re seeing an extension of Jungkook between the rows of black and white film photos on the wall, the neat and tiny desk, as well as his color coded figurines down to his deep navy blue sheets that smells just like him.

“You’re so neat.” you breathe out, not knowing what to say when you’re so immersed in his scent you’re practically dizzy from the pheromones.

You pull away from his hold, not looking back to notice his pout and sitting down in his office chair, as far away from him as possible.

“Let’s get to work then!” You suggest, and he nods pulling another chair right next to yours, and leaning over to turn on the desk lamp. At this angle he’s close enough for your lips to brush his nape, the temptations making your canines ache. All too soon he leans back, his smile innocent and you had to exert all your self control not to groan in frustration.

You and Jungkook.

In his room, immersed in his scent.

With about two inches of space in between.

Yep, this was going to be the longest day of your life.

This has to be the most productive you’ve been in your entire life. Maybe it’s because this project is worth more than half your grade, or maybe it has something to do with the need to distract your mind from the bunny sitting next to you. You’re busy drawing up the next draft when—

“Kookie?”

“Oh my god it’s a mini Jungkook!” You exclaim before your mind realized what you were saying, but the tiny little boy at the door was too adorable to dismiss with just a glance. He’s simply too precious, with his short grey ears and round eyes, you barely held yourself back enough to scoop him up in your arms. Jungkook laughs at the wonder displayed on your face, a little jealous that his little brother would be able to steal your heart so easily when he couldn’t.

“Yes Jeonghyun?” Jungkook rushes to his little brother’s side, but the little boy only eyes you with apprehension as he pulls his older brother closer.

“Okay, okay don’t cry.” Jungkook soothes him, lifting him easily in his arms and walking away with him, but not before you spot the unmistakable glare the little bunny is throwing your way.

Great, his entire family hates me, you sigh, the thought more disturbing to you than you would have imagined.

“Hello? Earth to (y/n)?”

You blink, realizing that Jungkook has been trying to get your attention.

“Are you okay?” He prompts, his face a bit to close for your liking so you nod your head, not trusting your voice quite yet.

“C’mon I know you well enough to know when you’re sulking (y/n),” Jungkook places both hands on your cheeks, causing your eyes to widen, “What’s wrong?”

“Would your entire family be scared of me?” You whisper the question because even to you it sounds ridiculous and childish. Jungkook is surprised by the hurt in your voice, but it makes him realize how vulnerable you are right now, with your heart on your sleeve and tears pricking your eyes. You’re simply too soft, delicate enough for him to strengthen his resolve and pick you up princess style, plopping onto his bed with you snuggled tight on his lap.

“Jungkook—“ You tense in surprise, trapped on his legs with his chin resting on your right shoulder and his arms the lock to your makeshift prison.

“Of course not, (y/n). I’m not scared one bit.” Jungkook declares, as if it is the most obvious thing in the world. To emphasize his point, his hands intertwine with yours, fingers grasping yours tight and his face nuzzles deeper into the crook of your neck, his nose skimming your sensitive nape, eliciting an involuntary pleased sigh from you.

“Jungkook, stop.” You plead, but your voice is much too weak and your body melts further into his hold. Why is he so strong for such a bunny? You never realized how broad he was until this moment, with your body so easily wrapped up into a harmless little bundle on his lap.

“Don’t wanna.” He protest, the childish tint to his voice only making you blush harder.

“You’re supposed to do this with someone you like.” You protest, but you’re as soft as dough in his grip at his point.

“You’re so dense you know that?” He pauses, beaming at you and you open your mouth to counter when he saying takes the chance to attack,

“I like you, you dummy.”

As if the crushing embarrassment crashed down on him all at once, he burrows his face back into your neck, letting you precess the words all by yourself, eyes glazed over and dreamy. It’s not until he begins to laugh that you snap back into reality,

“(y/n) why are you making that noise, it sounds like you’re choking on your meows.”

You completely heat up at that, burning much to hot to be suffocated on his lap.

“It’s called chuffing you dumb bunny,” you defend your self, cheeks overheating at this point,

“and it means I like you too.”

The pair of you soak in the moment until you hear Jungkook’s gentle musings, “Ah Jeonghyun is going to be even more upset,” he says as he kisses your temple, you’re so distracted from the feeling of his lips on your skin that you don’t even question it, but he graciously explains, “he’s a little jealous of you.”

You make a noise of acknowledgement, your brain overridden by your heart and its giddy thumps.

“It’s okay I like him more than you anyways.” You teasingly tell Jungkook, causing the bunny to flip you over on his lap so that you’re straddling him. Preparing yourself for a retort, your mind completely blanks when he surprises you with a kiss instead of a reply. He’s as sweet as you assumed in your daydreams, his lips gentle and hesitant against yours. Sugar melting on your tongue, you instantly crave more of him, his scent, his taste. True to your nature, you let out in impatient whine, having none of his gentleness when all you want to do is taste him properly. You pull him closer by the baby hairs on his nape, giggling slightly as he lets out a keen of surprise when you nip at his bottom lip and soothes it with your tongue.

“Serves you right, bunny.” You taunt, mirth filling your eyes and laughter ringing until he shuts you up with another kiss, his finishing statement making you splutter with shock—

“I love you, kitten.”

.

.

.

“So what do you suggest I do?”

Taehyung’s devilish smile is rather unsettling but Jungkook trusts the lion to not fail him and he draws closer for Tae to whisper into his soft ears.

“She really loves it when people call her kitten, why don’t you try that?”

“Wha—“

“Trust me.”

“What are you guys whispering about?”

“Nothing!”

[101scenes]

CEO! AU Wanna One Park Ji Hoon

  featuring: park jihoon, lee daehwi

genre: angst, fluff

word count: 1,700 words

summary: he found himself being allured by you, wanting to know more about you. he would always try to stop himself, but he was extremely captivated by your aura. it was soothing to him, extremely calming to his 5 senses.

suggested: yes!

you entered the doors of the same reputable school that everyone in the entire state talks about. shoremont business institution, is where you were at. it was the most prestigious school in the state, home to many sons and daughters of well-known business companies that would soon take the helm years later after graduating. even though you were the daughter and soon-to-be chief executive of a gigantic smart device company, you still felt inferior compared to everyone else. maybe it was because of park jihoon.

ah, park jihoon. one of the smartest, cutest, but most cunning boys in school. despite his adorable looks and innocent smiles that he gives to everyone, he was the complete opposite. being the oldest son of another famous smart device company known worldwide, he was destined to take over the throne. to think people would bash him to bits by now. he has the power to end ones reputation in a split second, destroying their company and most likely ruin their life. everyone was the puppets and he’s the puppeteer. 

you rummaged through your locker to find your economics textbook. even though you were the daughter of a prestigious company, it didn’t mean you’re the most organised, or even the smartest. you were pretty average on every class you attended, though your father always instructs you to try harder and put in more effort. however, there was something that you had that many other students do not. you were pragmatic and sensible. you were not driven by greed or ambition, but rather for the good of everybody. you are a great listener and an amazing adviser, though many people don’t know that.

while walking to your first class, you waved and greeted many other students on the way there. you were quite popular in school, being the captain of the badminton team and secretary of the student council. everyone seemed to be on good terms with you, knowing you were someone they could trust and count on. everyone but park jihoon.

for some reason, he always had despised you. it was probably because your fathers were the owners of rival companies, both in the same industry. you didn’t seem to care much about that. you focused more on treating people the way you would like to be treated, and maintaining amazing friendships that you have fostered.

sliding open the door to your classroom, you were immediately greeted with a crude remark, right from park jihoon’s lips. “hey look, its y/n! nice costume, i didn’t know it was halloween yet,” jihoon exclaimed, grabbing the attention of the quarter-full classroom. there were a few giggles, but mostly just people looking at him in utter confusion. jihoon’s friend, lee daehwi, sighed. “sorry about that y/n, i think jihoon forgot to take his ‘stop being so rude’ pills this morning,” daehwi stated, rolling his eyes. jihoon turned to daehwi in disbelief. “tch, i’m not being rude, i’m being truthful. thank me later y/n,” jihoon scoffed, and headed out the door. “psht, it’s okay daehwi, i’m not affected by his remarks. thanks again,” you said with a smile, heading towards your designated seat.

your everyday routine included jihoon passing disparaging remarks about you, attending class, going for lunch to be teased by him again, class with him teasing you, then end of school. and since he lives in the same direction as you, you get some on the way home too.

despite all that, he’s a major flirt. there was a rumour that he had 6 different girlfriends at once, but no one could confirm that. he enjoyed making a girl flustered, to the point where he would make them fall for him, then easily throw them to the curb. everyone is wary of that, but girls seem to fall for him easier and easier. 

the following week, you expected to enter economics class once again to face his scornful comments. maybe it’s about your hair, or your choice of clothing. he can probably pin-point anything and switch it into an insult. however, when you entered the classroom, jihoon was at his desk, talking to daehwi. while walking to your desk and saying hello to everyone, you take a glance at jihoon. he was staring right at you, took a quick wink, smiling straight after. he expected you to blush immediately or hide your face like the rest of the girls he had ever spoken to. but you stared right at him, and winked back. you had no idea why, you thought it was funny. placing down your books on your table, you took a glance around the room, then to jihoon. he looked a mix of confused and offended, with his ears fuming red. but you probably thought daehwi made him do “jeojang” again, so you took a look out of the window, waiting for class to start.

right after economics lesson, as you were heading out of the door, jihoon came over and flung his arm right around your shoulder. “hi y/n, how was your day?” jihoon asked, smiling. you didn’t think much of it, but it was probably another one of his games to make you crush on him. it worked on everyone, and the exception was you.

you looked at him, and grinned back in response. “i’m doing okay,” you said, matching your footsteps with his. it was a good silence for about 5 seconds before jihoon grabbed the stack of textbooks in your arms. “no i can-” “i insist,” jihoon says, plastering the same smile that all the girls love. you could see why girls love it, it was adorable. but nothing really sparked in you.

the next few weeks included jihoon following you around. he began walking you from class to class even though his lesson may not even be in the same block, and joining you while you do student leader patrols around the school. he would sit with you during lunch in the library, where he would play around while you would read new novels. he would also wait in school for 2 hours just for you to be dismissed from your student council meeting, then walk you home. you weren’t complaining, it was nice to have a friend accompanying you. 

through the experience, you two would talk about anything and everything, sharing problems with one another. since you were such an amazing listener, jihoon found himself sharing more and more about himself, though it was not his original intentions. in turn, you shared about yourself too, and jihoon found himself being allured by you, wanting to know more about you. jihoon would always try to stop himself, but he was extremely captivated by your aura. it was soothing to him, calming to his 5 senses. steadily, he became attracted to you, though he did not want to admit it.

as another economics lesson rolls along, a project was assigned in groups of three. naturally, jihoon probed you to join him and daehwi, which you agreed to. you three decided to meet at jihoon’s house after school the next day to discuss about the project. it was the perfect time for jihoon to carry out his plan.

the next day, you arrived at his house in casual wear. since his parents were on a business trip, he thought it was okay to invite you over without starting a dispute with his parents over betrayal. it was a requirement to dress smartly when going to school, but jihoon found it refreshing to just see you in a hoodie and plain shorts. your hair was in a mess and you were bare-faced with a pair of glasses on. though you may find that a bit unglamorous, jihoon found it so enthralling just to see.

once you both took a seat upstairs in his room, you began waiting for daehwi to arrive. since you had finished a portion of the project, jihoon allowed you to rest while he caught up with the work he had to complete. taking the rest time to your full advantage, you decided to catch a nap as you had 4 hours of sleep the previous night. soon, you quickly fell asleep.

“hey, y/n, how’s your dad’s company doing?” jihoon asked with a hopeful tone, only to hear silence as a response. he took a peek over his laptop screen, seeing you fast asleep with your arms resting on the edge of his bed. jihoon couldn’t help but to smile. walking to sit beside you, he leaned his head right onto his bed as well, turning his head to see your face. jihoon thought your face looked really pleasant when sleeping, and he couldn’t help but to reach his hand out to touch your face. you didn’t seem to notice, which caused him to giggle in response. “oh y/n, what do i do with you,”

he sat in silence while you still continued resting, taking occasional glances at you. “y/n, the more i see you like this, the more i want to cry,” jihoon said, as tears welled up in his eyes. he looked at you and smiled even though he was hurting. he covered his eyes with his hand, allowing the boiling tears to flow down his cheeks. at this moment, you jolted awake.

“jihoon?! wait, why are you crying?” you asked, leaning closer to jihoon. “n-no..thing..” he trailed off, now covering his entire face. you removed his hands from his face, seeing his eyes swollen with crimson. you opened up your arms, and enveloped him into your embrace. you slowly pet his hair, calming his trembling breaths. “y/n, i’m sorry..” he whispered in between breaths. 

you pat his back, telling him to explain the reason for crying. “y/n, please don’t hate me for this..” jihoon said, turning away, breaking the eye contact. you nodded in response, wrapping your arm around his shoulder and front, patting him occasionally for comfort. “i wanted to.. get closer to you so i could get information about your company,” he murmured. you withdrew yourself from his figure. “but after spending so much time with you, i..” he continued, turning to you and holding your hands.

“i think i have fallen in love with you.”

BFFFFF WHAT A CHEEZY ENDING

it’s not really as angsty as i thought :/ maybe im more of a fluff kinda person ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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[annabethwisegirl-chase]

250 Headcanons (Part 4)

I bet you thought you’d seen the last of these.  Headcanons #151-200.  These cover from Annabeth’s time in college, to her death, as well as a little extra.  You’ll see what I mean if you make it to the end of this.  

151. One of the general education requirements at the university in New Rome has to deal with an Ancient Roman history course, and how they’ve evolved over time, how things have changed and stayed the same, and how the past repeats itself, etc.  Being the good Greek demigod that she is, Annabeth spends most of the class creating edited versions of notes that contradict half of what the professor’s saying.  The myths that were so obviously stolen from the Greek tradition get the most heavy handed treatment, with Annabeth opting to continue telling it the way she knows.  After all, it’s based on her culture, so it has to be more accurate than whatever the Romans turned it into.  Since most of the tests in the class are short and long essay response questions, Annabeth ends up not doing too well in that course because of the fact she refuses to change her perspective on Rome and its history.  Her final paper in the class has about half a page about Roman history/mythology, comparing it to its Greek counterparts, before she spends the rest of it detailing where the narrative is completely wrong, citing sources like “my mother, the goddess, Athena,” and “Chiron, trainer of heroes,” and “former Praetor Jason Grace, who met this guy and said he was a dick.”  The last one, she found, was really hard to cite in APA format.

152.  Although Annabeth does have friends in New Rome (Reyna, Frank, Hazel, and the occasional appearance by Jason), she never feels quite right there.  She knows that most of the others living there don’t think twice about having her around, but there’s still an underlying prejudice with many of the younger demigods still at Camp Jupiter.  It’s enough to make her want to move back to New York after one year.  But, the credits at New Rome don’t really transfer to any other university, and Annabeth can’t stand the idea of feeling like she wasted her time there.  So, she agrees to stick it out for the next three and reevaluate at the end of it where they want to live.

153.  She spends those next three years drawing up plans for New Athens in her spare time and working with Chiron via IM on how to make it a reality.  At first the centaur seemed hesitant, because camp was never intended to become a permanent home.  But, with demigods living longer and Camp Jupiter having such a well working structure, Chiron knows he really has no choice but to give in.  Through some “anonymous funding” provided by the Olympian gods, the camp is able to buy more land and expand its borders for the creation of a new town.  The Athena Parthenos is moved to where the gates of the new city will be, and Annabeth almost hates that she’s not there to see its symbolic new placement.  Almost.

154.  At the college in New Rome, passwords have to be changed every 180 days.  It’s a supid rule, and Annabeth has to get IT to reset her account for her once because she forgets and lets it expire.  But, each year, she sets up her passwords based around a “theme” in the hopes they’ll be easier to remember.  (Although so many people are amazed at the things Annabeth can remember, passwords just don’t seem to be among them).  Her first year is pretty simple, just naming her friends and adding a number at the end of it.  The next few years have themes including favorite Disney characters, famous architects, and superheroes.

155.  Annabeth has never liked the taste of coffee. Ways to keep her going after pulling all-nighters usually include a lot of exercise and Dr. Pepper.  She also has very specific stages that she goes through whenever she hasn’t slept that are, in order: drunk sounding Annabeth, giggly Annabeth, sarcastic/sassy Annabeth, flat out mean Annabeth, and finally dead girl walking Annabeth.

156.  The first place she starts to design for New Athens is the home she wants to live in with Percy.  It’s completed in bits in pieces, because she keeps trying to hide it from him, which is definitely a task that is easier said than done.  He keeps trying to sneak up behind her or steal her blueprints away, just to see what is taking her away from him that he knows isn’t school work.  Somehow though, she manages to keep it tucked safely away, in a tube with a pen mark down the side that she stashes with her old Olympus sketches.

157.  She will drop anything and everything to have her head and/or neck rubbed. 

158.  Annabeth also is just a really good artist in general.  Like, she’s great at proportions and angles from her years of trying to train as an architect.  But, it transfers over into other subject matter as well.  Her notebooks are filled with doodles in the corners that look way more detailed than something absentmindedly drawn during lectures.  

159.  Since her mom is also the goddess of crafts, Annabeth tries to take up knitting over a winter break, watching Youtube tutorial videos to try and get good at it.  Although she can make a pretty wicked scarf, her hats kind of look deformed.  But, that doesn’t stop her from making them for nearly everyone that she comes in contact with.  It’s therapeutic, to be able to work with her hands and continue to create things instead of feeling like she’s only tearing them down.  And making hats and scarves take so much less time than watching a building rise from the ground up.  So it definitely provides the more immediate satisfaction while she’s waiting for her more major projects to come to fruition.

160.  Annabeth cannot cook to save her life.  She made it a point to learn how to make cupcakes, but that’s as far as her ability in the kitchen goes.  Everything else ends up burnt or not completely done.  Then, when Annabeth tries to cook it/bake it longer, then it just ends up burning.

161.  Ham, pineapple and extra black olives is her pizza of choice.  However, due to the fact she seems to be the only one on the side of pro-pineapple, and her boyfriend’s insistence that the pineapple taints the pizza entirely, she just settles for olives on her half of the pizza. 

162.  Literally always cold.  It doesn’t matter that they spend the majority of the year in California, Annabeth always has some sort of jacket or sweater on her.  She walks around her apartment with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders and sleeps with her socks on because she swears that it keeps her warmer.

163.  Annabeth is that person who always dresses up for class.  Well, not necessarily dresses up, but is careful to make sure she looks professional at all times.  Literally the second she gets home though, it’s goodbye pants and hello oversized sweatshirt.  If there are going to be any plans to go out to eat dinner, or hang out in the city, those have to be made between classes or immediately after she walks through the door.  Because the second she changes out of her clothes, that’s it for the day.

164.  The first year that Percy and Annabeth live together brings back a lot of the bickering from their younger days.  And sometimes, that bickering can spiral out of control and have them in full on fights.  The argument that crops up the most definitely has to do with household chores.  Annabeth is used to having a certain level of cleanliness.  It helps her to stay focused it there’s not a huge mess everywhere.  Percy, on the other hand, does not seem to be quite as phased by it.  Fed up, she decides to try and institute a chore wheel, but it ends up causing more problems and neither of them pay much attention to it.  But, they never think to take it down off its place on the fridge.  So, it stays there pretty much the entire time they live in that apartment.

165.  She owns three calendars.  One is a little planner that she keeps in her backpack, one is hanging up on the wall by her desk, and one is huge and actually sits on her desk.  Although the same information is written in pretty much all three, the constant reminders and hope of seeing it makes it more likely that Annabeth will complete a task that’s set out for her.  Everything is also color coded.  School assignment due dates and tests are in red, family events are in blue, social events are in green, appointments are in purple, demigod related things are in orange, and anything else that might pop up is in pink.

166.  Annabeth gets a job her second year of living in New Rome working at a cafe.  She has to be up way too early for her liking, but she always has been an early riser so it’s not too hard to make the adjustment.  Besides, it means that she’s done with her shift by the time her classes start, giving her ample time in the evenings to work through her homework as well as her plans for New Athens.  She walks around all day smelling like coffee though, and it’s enough to make her never want to get near the stuff when she finally quits a few months before graduation.

167.  Growing up at camp, Annabeth’s used to eating pretty healthy.  However, that does not mean she can’t inhale junk food like the next person.  Her favorite non-healthy snack has to be chocolate covered peanuts (specifically, Goobers, but she’s not super picky on that).  On the flip side, she doesn’t really like peanut M&Ms.  Despite the fact that people have tried to convince her they’re basically the same thing, she’ll have none of it.  She claims that the candy coating gives the M&Ms a completely different flavor and basically refuses to eat them.

168.  There’s only one movie that Annabeth has ever cried at: Dinsey’s Hercules.  And, it didn’t even start until she was in her teens.  Even in college and beyond, she spends the entire film pointing out things that the movie got wrong.  But, the last ten minutes of it has her tearing up every single time.

169.  Annabeth is a Slytherin.  She also thinks that the people who combine houses (Slytherclaws, Gryffinpuffs, etc.) are just lying to themselves to make them feel better.

170.  Annabeth and Percy end up adopting two dogs from a nearby animal shelter.  They definitely went with the intention of only getting one, because their apartment was still small, and they were super busy all the time.  But, they couldn’t decide between two and ultimately decided to just get both of them.  Since there were two, each of them decided they got to rename one each.  So Otis and Aramis Jackson were added to the clan.

171.  Annabeth’s eyesight starts to get really poor during her sophomore year of college.  She dealt with it being slightly fuzzy, too stubborn to get her eyes checked out, for more than a year before finally giving in.  While she thanks the gods that she’s allowed to get contacts from the get go, her back up glasses have large, black frames and she feels sufficiently like a dork when she has to wear them.

172.  They’re juniors in college the first time the question of marriage is seriously discussed.  It’s Christmas break, and they're spending a weekend at her dad’s before Percy’s family flies in to celebrate the holiday.  Her stepmom meant it as a joke when she asked when they were getting married, and everyone--including Percy--looks stunned with Annabeth answers: “the summer after we graduate, that Saturday in the weird week where July becomes August.”  She says it without even looking up from the piece of chicken that’s she cutting, and is genuinely confused at everyone’s expression when she does look up.

173.  That same night, after everyone goes to bed, Percy asks her if she was being serious about what she said at dinner.  Annabeth responds in the affirmative, explaining how she felt like it went along with the whole idea that she wanted to be married young.  And, she wants to change her last name before she makes her mark in the mortal architectural world so that when she becomes a sort of “brand,” she’ll be restricted from doing that.  Since everything in their life happens in the summer, it only made sense that they’d get married then and she picked the weekend closest to the middle of their birthdays.  He acts all offended for about half a second, claiming that he can’t believe she made all these plans without even asking her to marry him, but they’re both a little too giddy at the prospect of actually getting married for them to believe it’s actually genuine.  Their laughter only grows when Annabeth gets down on one knee and asks him to marry her, slipping his college ring onto his ring finger to keep up the charade.

174.  Technically, they get engaged twice.  The first time, when Annabeth proposed with a college ring and it’s the time that she swears is the official start of their engagement.  The second time takes another year to crop up, and they’ve already started planning their wedding when Percy slides the engagement ring onto her hand.  It’s the second time that he swears is the official start of the engagement.

175.  In high school, the running gag was that if Percy didn’t graduate, then he couldn’t come to New Rome with her.  Of course, it was a ridiculous thing to say, because they both knew that no matter what happened, she would not be leaving him behind.  In college, the running gag becomes that if he doesn’t graduate, then he won’t get to marry her.  Of course, it proves to be just as ridiculous as their old gag, and not just because they’ve already put their deposit down on the venue.

176.  She designed exactly four structures for New Athens before deciding it wasn’t worth trying to do it all on her own.  She would go insane.  So, Annabeth handed over her designs and basic outline of the town to the Athena campers living at camp.  Those campers team up with the Hephaestus cabin to work on the city, careful to make sure each of Annabeth’s designs--including the house she made for herself and Percy--go into the final construction of the city.  It’s not ready to move into when they graduate college, but it’s closer than anything Annabeth could have achieved on her own.

177.  When they graduate from college, it’s a huge ordeal.  They have their friends from both camps come out, Percy’s family flies in, Annabeth’s family (including Magnus and two of his friends) shows up, and most of them end up crashing in their tiny apartment.  It’s cramped, and you can’t walk two steps without stepping on someone at night, but it’s great.  They have a barbecue after the ceremony, and the entire day is spent laughing and reminiscing on the various instances that made everyone doubt either Percy or Annabeth would end up as college graduates.  All through the day, Nico keeps shooting her strange glances, like he suspects something, but never voices a concern.  The party lasts for an entire weekend, and when people finally start leaving, they all express excitement at reuniting again in New York in a few months for the wedding.

178.  They decided to move back to New York after graduation.  Although Annabeth liked being close to her family and the safety of New Rome, neither of them felt they were truly at home.  So, two weeks after graduation, Percy and Annabeth pack as many of their belongings as they can into their car, and drop off the rest with Frederick, who promises to mail them soon.  It’s a long trip that’s only supposed to take four days, but because they’re who they are and constantly need breaks, monster attacks, and a weird case of car sickness from Annabeth, it ends up taking them almost twice that long.  Percy ends up having to drive most of it because Annabeth is exhausted or has a headache for most of the trip, and spends as much of it as she can sleeping.

179.  Since they don’t have an apartment when they move back to the city, Percy and Annabeth move back into his old room at Sally’s until they find one they like.  It’s still small and not in the best part of the city, but it’s theirs and her dad insists that he doesn’t mind helping them out a little.  At least, it’ll do until Annabeth’s job becomes more than just an internship and Percy finishes up with the final three courses that he has to take in order for his teaching license to be compatible with New York’s teaching requirements.

180.  She’s never been good at taking medication.  It doesn’t matter if there’s people there to remind her to do it, or if she puts post it notes up everywhere to try and get herself to take it.  It’s just one of those things that slips her mind.  It was the case when her stepmom put her on medication for her ADHD, and now, it’s the case with her birth control.  And it’s hard for her pills to work if she never takes them.  Which might be why she finds out she’s pregnant a little over a month before her wedding day.

181.  She absolutely does not want to invite any part of their godly family, and insists that they won’t even show up if they are invited.  But, Piper convinces her that it’ll be a slight if they don’t get invited to it, so Annabeth eventually relents.  Her invitation to Hera though has to be mailed a week later by Percy when Annabeth insists that it got “lost.”  However, due to the fact that Hera is the goddess of marriage, he vetoes her in saying that it’s asking for trouble if they don’t have her come.  Everyone is surprised when most of the gods RSVP with a yes.

182.   I keep seeing people saying Percy and Annabeth’ll get married at Camp and I’m like... no.  Okay here we go.  They get married at Montauk, and there’s this place called like the Navy Beach House or something, and it’s super nice and expensive but Frederick insists on paying for it because he knows that this is what Annabeth wants.  And he hasn’t really felt like he’s been able to really give her anything she wants before, so this is something that he goes all out for.  Also keep in mind, mortals can’t enter camp, and there is no way that Percy and Annabeth would get married without Sally, Paul, and baby Blofis around.  They want it to be a small thing, but of course, what Percy and Annabeth want and what usually happens end up being in complete contrast with each other.  It’s another huge party, with people from both camps coming in, basically all the gods showing up in human-esque form, the hunters of Artemis showing up (but they kind of have to, since Thalia’s in the wedding), in addition to the mortal sides of both their families.  The gods put up a protective border for the day, because that many demigods in one place would definitely draw monsters.  And Aphrodite has been waiting for this day since Percy and Annabeth were eleven, so no one is messing it up unless they want to deal with her wrath.  It’s great, but there’s so much preparation and planning and hugging relatives that it seems to go by in a blur.  Annabeth is sufficiently disappointed when the only piece of wedding cake she gets is the piece that Percy smashed in her face.

183.   She manages to keep the whole pregnancy thing a secret from everyone (except she’s like 85% sure Sally knows something’s up, and Nico definitely knows.  Turns out he can sense new life just like he can sense people dying and that’s why he gave her the weird looks at the graduation).  It’s during the reception that she just writes “I’m pregnant” on a napkin that she passes to Percy before walking off to go greet more guests.  The look he gives her when she finally makes eye contact again is priceless.

184.  She changes her last name to Jackson as soon as she can after they get back from the honeymoon.  Piper gave her some grief about it, claiming that it was giving into the patriarchy or something, but Annabeth didn’t care.  She finally was officially a part of a family that was going to be permanent and that was going to be there for her, no matter what.  Changing her last name to symbolize her belonging to that family was 100% her choice and something she’d decided on doing not long after her and Percy started talking about getting married.

185.  Annabeth wanted to get her master’s directly out of college and was even accepted into a program.  However, she decided to delay it due to the fact she was the idea of working, going to school, and taking care of a newborn seemed next to impossible.  Annabeth knows she’s incredible, but she’s not that incredible.  It actually gets pushed back a lot farther than she meant to, because all of their kids kind of end up being born back to back to back.  Eventually, she is able to go back to school when the youngest starts kindergarten, and gets her master’s degree, before going on to achieve her doctorate as well.

186.  They have three kids: two boys and a girl.  The first two were not planned.  The only reason they did decide to have a third was because of the whole ‘rule of three.’  Despite the fact that Annabeth proved it was a stupid law on her first quest, something about it still seemed safe.  So, they had one more.  It becomes a tradition for the next two kids that whenever Annabeth finds out she’s pregnant, she just writes it on a napkin and slips it to Percy at the end of dinner, before taking one of the kids to another room in their apartment.

187.  It’s after their second kid is born that New Athens is completed and they’re able to move back into the safety of camp borders, while still living as functioning adults.  It’s kind of a difficult commute for Annabeth for work, but she doesn’t care.  She likes living in a home she designed with her family.  And knowing their safe is worth the trip she has to take every day to get to the firm she works at.  When Annabeth got to take Percy around the house the first time after it was done, and explain the intricate details of it all and why she designed things certain ways, she was couldn’t stop bouncing on her feet as she walked.  They totally make out like teenagers in their newly finished kitchen before remembering that their kids are being watched by a few of Apollo’s kids in camp that probably should be relieved of their babysitting duties as soon as possible.

188.  Their youngest gets Percy’s water powers and he can’t properly control them until he’s about eight.  However, that doesn’t mean that his emotions don’t set them off.  Annabeth loses track of the number of times she gets doused in toilet water (to which Percy can’t help but laugh every time) and his siblings find themselves getting water from the faucet shooting straight at their faces every time there’s an argument.

189.  There are family Halloween costumes pretty much every year until their oldest is ten.  Some of Annabeth’s favorites include the Incredibles, Batman, the Scooby Doo gang, and the Addams Family.

190.  Due to the fact that both Percy and Annabeth are ADHD and dyslexic, all three of their kids have ADHD.  Only their daughter is not diagnosed with dyslexia and there are definitely tears of joy when Annabeth first hears her daughter read through a sentence without stumbling any more than any other child learning to read. 

191.  When each Jackson kid is six, they receive a plastic sword to begin learning to sword fight.  Granted, it probably seemed overkill, but all three of them definitely do still have a potent smell.  So, it’s necessary for them to learn how to fight.  After proving that they are capable of handling a blade and not hurting themselves (or pulling it on their siblings for the fun of it), they are given a real weapon, made especially for them by Tyson.  

192.  Board games, card games, and puzzles aren’t actually a thing that can go on in the Jackson household because everyone is so competitive about it.  Pieces go “missing” from puzzles because someone took it so they can put the last piece in.  Cards get traded below table tops to help someone win a hand.  Board games usually get tipped over “accidentally” when someone gets up to go to the kitchen for something to drink.  

193.  Annabeth falls asleep more at the kitchen table than she does in her own bed.  She gets wrapped up in some new project and insists on it being perfect.  So, even though she swears she’ll only be up for fifteen more minutes, there’s no telling what time Annabeth will actually pass out and Percy gave up trying to wake her up to come to bed about a year after they got married.  It just seemed that when he would wake her up, she’d murmur something about being awake enough to keep going and that she still definitely had five more minutes of work time left in her.

194.  She’s totally that mom who frightens teachers and coaches a like about her kids.  Like, when they make a mistake getting onto her kid for something that wasn’t their fault, or they take them out of a play when they’re clearly the best player on the team, Annabeth loses it.  She ends up banned from her daughter’s volleyball games for a year.

195.  When they take their kids to Disney for the first time, Annabeth is just as excited as any of the Jackson spawn.  She spends the entire time describing the inspiration for the facades of the buildings, as well as how the forced perspective is working.  She spends weeks planning their days down to the minute, factoring other potential plans for extra wait times, shorter wait times, etc. but ends up ditching all of it as soon as she rides Dumbo for the first time.  No one really understands why, but that is her ride.  They have to ride it first the two days they go to the Magic Kingdom during that trip.

196.   It’s not uncommon for either Percy or Annabeth to be asked to go out and escort a halfblood to camp.  Typically, they go as a team on the weekend, after dropping their kids off with Sally and Paul or letting them stay in their cabins at camp.  However, after getting a call from Chiron about a halfblood near by, Annabeth opted to take on the mission by herself.  After all, she’d be heading back close to camp’s borders at the end of the day anyway.  It only made sense to find the demigod and take them back with her.  But it wasn’t one demigod that she found.  There were three.  All kids under the age of twelve, and all looking absolutely terrified and banged up from a long journey.  There’s a rushed warning about something following them, and Annabeth decides then and there that it’s probably better to take them back to camp now instead of convincing them to hang out at work with her for the rest of the day first.  True to their word, there’s a cyclops on the trail of the three half bloods, who is ruthless in its attempts to hunt them down.  It destroys Annabeth’s car, and they’re but a few hundred feet from the protective borders of camp when she tells them to run and she’ll hold it off.   And it’s almost poetic, in a way.  When she’s turned to call directions to them, the cyclops knocks her to the side with a blow she didn’t see coming.  It sends her knife flying out of her hands, but she knows that she has to stall it in order for the kids to get to safety.  And they do.  They make it.  But Annabeth doesn’t.  She’s a month away from turning forty one when she dies.

197.  There’s a weird murmuring when Annabeth goes into the Underworld, and a few of the guard spirits seem to click excitedly when she arrives.  Despite her better judgement, she decides to go in front of the judges, to see if there is any sort of reward waiting for her on the other side.  Maybe she’ll get Elysium, or maybe--if she pleads her case hard enough--she’ll be able to wait for a few dozen years before Percy shows up so they can make the decision together.  After all, it was never a conversation that had popped up before.  Whenever they got close to the topic, they’d quickly find something else to talk about.  It definitely took her by surprise when she made her way in and found that she’d been granted not Elysium, but the Isles of the Blessed.  Her third life had been completed.  It’s then that she’s granted the memories of the first two lives as well before being ushered on.  In each of them, there are two common elements.  The first, there’s always a demigod present.  Somehow, the Greek gods continue to plague her life in each of her three incarnations.  The other, the boy she falls in love with is always the same.  Different names (except for his first and last lives, a fact she finds amusing), different parentage, slightly different personalities but the same goofy grin and same quick wit.

198.  Her first life found her as a princess in Ancient Greece, with parents who claimed she was more beautiful than Aphrodite.  The claim was considered blasphemy, and she was chained to a rock to be eaten for her parents’ words.  It seemed unfair, but she was too prideful even then to try and beg for her life from the gods.  So, she kept silent and faced her fate.  But her fate never came.  Instead, there was a boy--a demigod--who carried Medusa’s head that turned the monster to stone.  They married and lived happily ever after.   Seriously, depending on what version of the myth you read, Perseus and Andromeda are described to look exactly like Percy and Annabeth so fight me on this.

199.  Her second life had her as another Greek demigod, born in England.  This time, she was a daughter of Apollo.  Her mother had died when she was young, leaving the girl to become a charge to an aspiring artist during the early years of the English Renaissance.  He taught her how to paint and how to play the lyre, which she found that she was rather good at.  A soldier heard her playing, and quick banter made the girl find this soldier interesting.  Due to who her father was, she was talented with a bow and arrow, so she cut off her hair, ran away from her home, disguised herself as a man, and joined the army.  It was foolish, of course, and she died not long after by throwing herself in the way of a sword that was meant for the soldier she cared for.

200.  One of the privileges of being in the Isles is that she can travel through the Underworld, but it comes with stipulations.  It can never be for too long, she can’t look for people she used to know who chose to stay in the Fields of Asphodel, she can’t speak to demigods that come down for a quest, and the Fields of Punishment are completely off limits.  She uses this slight freedom to visit Daedalus when he’s working, often offering up tips for the redesigns he’s doing and to play catch with Cerberus.  As much as she enjoys the relaxing after three taxing lives, it does get a little lonely, even in a perpetual paradise.  There are definitely some happy tears shed when she finally reunites with who she can only call her soulmate.

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Six-month-long stretches of seven-day work weeks and looming deadlines: What it takes to be a strategy guide author

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Ancient map-making required mastery over the disciplines of mathematics and astronomy, the means and courage to venture into dangerous uncharted territories, inhuman patience, artistry and attention to detail, and the ability to perch on the cutting edge of every new technological advancement your cultures most talented minds could muster. David Hodgsons job is arguably more difficult and certainly more tedious.

Hodgson makes video game strategy guides which, much like ancient cartography, is a lost art of primitive methods and painstaking processes.

Not that Hodgson would complain. He started working at gaming magazines in the 90s, but was always drawn back to the world of strategy guides. Currently working on contract for Prima Games, the largest strategy guide publisher in the US, he gets access to some of the biggest games in the world months before the public. And he slaves over their every detail, spending months and months gorging on each new obsession.

I think it’s one of those jobs that you kind of have to pinch yourself, he told me in his workshop a converted guest house behind his Spanish-style Southern California home. The room is equipped with comfortable seating, a large wraparound desk housing three monitors, countless books most of them strategy guides lining floor to ceiling shelves on one wall, and various macabre knick-knacks, from Lovecraftian posters to the crown jewel: Two replica Egyptian sarcophagi flanking the flatscreen like golden guardian deities.

It’s one of those jobs that you kind of have to pinch yourself.

Exact statistics about strategy guide sales are closely guarded info, Douglas Walsh, another longtime strategy guide author, told me over Twitter. As you can imagine, the sales today have consolidated around a few big hits: Skyrim, Grand Theft Auto, things like that, he said. [Sales] have also dropped off considerably, especially for shooters. The Call of Duty and Gears of War books sell a fraction of the copies they used to. But a big hit, especially as a Limited Edition hardcover, can crack Amazon’s top 25. Fighting game books in particular (and Skyrim, GTA, etc.) have even cracked the top five.

Despite those isolated successes, the number of guides produced each year is down along with sales to about 60 every year, half of what the figure was in the PS2 era, Walsh said.

Like vinyl records, the strategy guide as we once knew it all but died as a medium with the internets rise, transforming by necessity into a niche market for hardcore collectors and hobbyists. Hodgson said hes one of around a dozen remaining strategy guide authors.

In the middle of the afternoon, the rays of golden California sunlight barely grazed the exposed rafters of Hodgsons lair. He wore a black t-shirt with the words Who are you a ghost of? a reference to his brother Ian Hodgsons experimental musical act, Moon Wiring Club, described on its own labels website as confusing English electronic music. Hodgson often speaks wistfully of his succulents, and hes frequently sarcastic, though in the dry English way that you barely register after a while.

Each guide Hodgson authors is a massive undertaking involving a six-month-long stretch of seven-day work weeks and looming deadlines, gargantuan organizational conundrums, word counts and page limits, two-week spans of 12-hour days spent hunched over monitors far from home in a game studios back room, trying to beat every quest in a 100-hour RPG. Hes been doing this long and well enough with somewhere over 100 guides to his name (he lost count around 80) that he gets to pick what games he tackles. He mostly chooses massive role-playing games like The Witcher 3 and Fallout 4, simply because he loves diving deep into overwhelmingly huge projects. These are the types of games that seem to get more complex with every release. Each new feature Hodgson must chronicle and quadruple-check is another grey hair in his tangled beard.

I have a very understanding wife, Hodgson said.

***

The process of creating a video game strategy guide is shockingly complex. Look, for example, at what it takes just to make the hundreds of maps that go into the average guide on which Hodgson works.

In the old days the 90s hed draw maps freehand on graph paper and hand them over to a designer. But the games back then were significantly smaller than the ones he writes guides for now.

He starts by doing fly-overs in a special debug version of the game that still contains developer tools, taking screenshots of every single inch of the games exterior locations. In the case of Fallout 4, that included 3.82 square miles of irradiated wilderness and crumbling city streets.

What I’ve done is I’ve flown over the entire tiles of the map, multiple times, inch by inch. I do a north-south pass, I do an east-west pass, over the course of a week, he said. This isn’t playing the game. This is me floating above each sector in the game and plotting it out.

This isn’t playing the game. This is me floating above each sector in the game and plotting it out.

The game wont be out for several months, and its still very much in development, which unfortunately means that dozens of the points he and his assistants and co-authors have plotted in these exteriors could change.

Then you have 500 maps that need to be drawn of all of the different interiors in the game, he continued. You have to figure out first how many interiors there are in the game. So you go to every location in the game, and you see how big it is, then you estimate it, then you tell [strategy guide maker] Prima, ‘It’s going to be about this big. Find more mappers please.

At this point, hes still far from done. I’ve figured out how many primary locations there are. I’ve then figured out how many secondary locations there are that don’t appear on your worldmap. Those are just like, Oh, it’s a shed. Does it appear as an icon on the world map? No. Shit. Well, it has to go in the guide, he said. I’m talking about stuff that isn’t even a quest-related location. I’m talking about a pond with some barrels in it. Maybe he doesnt have to be that thorough not all strategy guides take inventory of every nonessential part of the environment the author can find. But thats just his personality, and its part of the reason hes so good at this job.

With the exterior and interior maps more or less complete, the rough versions based on screenshots are sent to a team of around 20 designers. Its now been weeks since Hodgson first received the early build of the game, and he hasnt even written anything yet.

He hasnt catalogued, sorted and described every single gun, sword, helmet, potion, blueprint, material, artifact, food, enemy, character, spell and skill in the game; he hasnt completed every possible branch of each and every quest, mission, side-quest, bounty, treasure hunt and optional objective; he hasnt compiled strategies for every mini-game, tactics for every boss, solutions to every puzzle and tricks for every fight; and he hasnt taken the hundreds screenshots that need to accompany it all.

A lot of it isnt playing a game necessarily its just checking something in a game and then checking it against an Excel document or a map or something like that, he said. If Im playing Skyrim for 6,000 hours over ten months with a co-author, Im not Woohoo! playing Skyrim; Im going here and checking to make sure that the guides accurate at that location.

The part of my brain that says ‘You don’t need to be this meticulous’ doesn’t work.

The games change in sometimes major ways, even after the guide goes to print. In that case all they can do is update the guides online component and point readers to the web should anything in the final book prove inaccurate. Whenever possible, though, Hodgson redoes a lot of work every time he gets a new build. For 2001s 007: Agent Under Fire, for example, he had to retake all of the screenshots two days before the game was going to go to print because they changed the color of one of the lasers, he said.

The part of my brain that says ‘You don’t need to be this meticulous’ doesn’t work, Hodgson told me.

***

Hodgson began working in the video game industry in the mid 90s after graduating with a history degree from the University of Sheffield in South Yorkshire, England. Hed wanted to become a history teacher, but instead used a PlayStation fan zine hed started called PlayStation Frenzy to get a job at Maximum, a new gaming magazine from a media company called EMAP.

He wrote massive 40-page features on individual games a precursor of things to come in his career while living on a disused German fishing trawler called the St. Michael that he says was moored illegally on the River Thames in London. They had to siphon power from a nearby car scrapyard.

It sounds quite idyllic, but it wasn’t, he remembered. It was dripping with different weird poisonous acid from roofs that hadn’t been sealed, and it was sort of slowly dissolving.

I kept my PlayStation, but not my sanity, he continued.

Maximum folded after seven issues, and Hodgson went on to a brief stint at Official Nintendo Magazine before receiving a call from Dave Halverson, publisher of the popular GameFan magazine.

Hodgson moved to LA and worked on his first strategy guides at GameFan for games like Super Mario 64, Soul Blade and Doom 64 under the magazines GameFan Books division. He flitted among various publishers and magazines until 2000. He called Prima, at the time one of the biggest strategy guide companies (its main competitor, BradyGames, would later be bought by publisher Penguin Random House and folded into Prima). He sent Prima his Metal Gear Solid guide, and they assigned him Armored Core.

That was 16 years ago and I’m still doing it right now, he said.

***

Hodgson flipped lovingly through his creations as we chatted, pointing out where hed embellished a simple description with some flowery joke, or where hed really gotten into it and written entire sections in the voice of a character from the game.

That love goes both ways CD Projekt Red, developers of The Witcher 3, built Hodgson his own tribute in the form of book merchant Marcus T.K. Hodgson, a character in the games Free City of Novigrad.

We just wanted to honor David for all the awesome work he does, CD Projekt PR Manager Radek Grabowski told me over email. This is just a tribute.

The Witcher 3 tributes Hodgson in the form of book merchant Marcus T.K. Hodgson

Hodgson seems to always go above and beyond. His humor is often self-deprecating, but hes also proud when he talks about some of the things hes accomplished within the limited medium of strategy guides, like the note he received from Hideo Kojima about his Metal Gear Solid guide in 1998.

Strategy guides were usually just go here, do this, go here, do that. I wanted it to be a bit more of an ‘official mission handbook.'”

He loved the guide. He liked the fact that I’d put box-outs for the history of the forklift truck in the first level, Hodgson said. Strategy guides were usually just go here, do this, go here, do that. I wanted it to be a bit more of an ‘official mission handbook,’ we called it. Kojima said hed shown the guide to his mother, who didnt really understand video games but of course knew what a book was.

For 2004s Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II Hodgson planned and orchestrated an easter egg on the strategy guides DVD pack-in: Pressing a secret combination on your DVD player remote results in a special menu where you can access videos in which the voice actor for HK-47, a popular droid from the games, quotes other famous fictional robots and AI. Hodgson was excited to get the voice actor involved for a secret he deemed so obscure although his assertion that Nobody A) cares or B) has ever found that, because we never published the easter egg code is more self-deprecating than accurate, based on the above YouTube video and this forum thread.

But he nevertheless lit up when he talked about it, or about the more creative work hes gotten to do, like A Fractured Land: Tales of the Northern Realms, a 96-page lore book that came with the hardcover edition of the official The Witcher 3 guide, or The Improved Emperor’s Guide to Tamriel, a 224-page illustrated guide to the lands of Bethesdas The Elder Scrolls Online that was packed in with the games Imperial collectors edition.

Hodgson wrote the Emperors Guide in character as the scholar Flaccus Terentius, conjuring the characters imagined journal entries as he walked the games fictional lands. It has annotations like Strange to find such Daedra worship among the devout, nestled next to detailed sketches, diagrams and paintings.

I studied history. Its sort of finding the evidence for something and then writing about it, and that was my transferrable skill, Hodgson said. If I wasn’t going to become a history teacher, I was going to maybe become a travel writer or something like that. And in a sense I am, except the places that I write about don’t really exist.

But travel writers dont go to Paris and painstakingly catalog every street sign and boulangerie.

Though travel writers much like strategy guide authors have been made obsolete. Why read a book about a place when you can simply search for photos of it on Instagram? Likewise, why buy an expensive book when everything you could want to know about every game ever made is a Google search away?

For one thing, you only have to look at one of Hodgsons guides to see the value for collectors and hardcore fans. And while the internet is always playing catch-up to catalog new releases in YouTube guides and Wikis, the official strategy guide arrives on day one (or earlier). That makes the physical strategy guide, ironically, the first choice for players who want instant, day one gratification.

“There’s a nice archaic nature to strategy guides that I enjoy. I can write about something that’s cutting edge, like Fallout 4, but I can publish it using 16th century technology.

Hodgson has his own reasons. I can’t show you the writings I’ve done for Maxim.com and Gamespy, because those sites aren’t there anymore, he said. Stuff disappears when you’re on the net. But this Akuji the Heartless strategy guide on paper, or in fact the Fallout 3 strategy guide that’s in the Library of Congress. So even after the bombs drop and we’re in the future apocalypse, you can go to the bunker down below the Library of Congress or even now, if you’d like to do it properly [and] you can search my books out. I think I’m the only person who will ever do that, but there’s a nice archaic nature to strategy guides that I enjoy. I can write about something that’s cutting edge, like Fallout 4, but I can publish it using 16th century technology.

***

Hodgson works on guides ten months out of every twelve, and he rarely plays video games for fun anymore. At the end of a long stretch, Im just sick of staring at screens, so I just go outside or I go and buy another aloe tree or an agave or a different type of succulent, he said. I maybe go on Facebook, but just to see what some of the people that I never get to see do. Friends.

You are suffering from extreme fatigue, and the dogs looking at you going I need to be fed and walked. Immediately, he said.

But if he quit tomorrow, hed still play games after a six-month sabbatical, at least. After your first week [off] youre just like Ah, sort of semi-retirement, this is great. This is fantastic, he said. And then another week goes by and youre sort of starting to get an itchy feeling. Cabin fever sets in. Youre like, whats next?

Hodgson recently wrapped up work on the Complete edition guide to The Witcher 3 and the official Watch Dogs 2 strategy guide, and at the time of writing hes putting the finishing touches on his Ghost Recon Wildlands guide. You can find his work wherever strategy guides are sold.

Mike Rougeau is a freelance journalist who lives in Los Angeles with his girlfriend and two dogs.

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