Tumgik
#I know it’s bc this past semester was hard on top of other things
crybaby-bkg · 1 year
Text
I love mythology so much and it’s taking everything in me to not write a full fledge fic about a Cupid and Psyche au omfg
justttttt Cupid Bakugou who is just so, so fucking beautiful. he’s always been recorded by other mortals for being akin to sunlight himself—all golden hues and sharp angles and high cheekbones and massive wings. wings that span as wide as an entire village, that sparkle when the light hits them, loud when they beat to send him soaring into the skies above. but his mouth? his attitude?
everyone always wonders why he was never the god of war, instead. but he’s damn good at his job, with his arrows propped up on his back, swift with discharging them into another stupid mortal who’s fallen for the local towns idiot. but hey, they’re in love, and it’s his job to enforce that love go over well.
and then he sees you—the most beautiful mortal, that you’re even compared to the gods, to his mother. he wants you so bad, if not to treasure and keep you against his side as he travels over the oceans cold waters, than to keep you safe from the vile men who want you as their partner and the disgusting women who envy you for having it all.
omg and the part where he takes you to stay in his palace and asks you not to ever look at his face???? it’s killing him, to wear that mask to your nightly dinners, to be able to look at the soft curve of your mouth when you frown and ask him to reveal himself. to be able to look at how you stare back at him, eyes pretty and furious, frustrated and mad, wanting to go back on the conditions you agreed upon because having to sit across from him without seeing him is absolute torture. I am. vibrating.
255 notes · View notes
gyuphorias · 2 years
Text
changed an ask rule on my rules page, but i'll mention it here too. going forward, i'll no longer be accepting requests. this method has worked for me in the past, but recently, the idea of requests has been stressing me out for a number of reasons. hard and soft thoughts will still be accepted ofc, but i won't be taking requests. on top of feeling stressed abt the idea, i just want to take my account in a different direction (e.g. posting fics at random times, doing ask games here and there, etc.). i think it'll be a lot easier for me to feel motivated abt writing and the like, so i'll be able to post more frequently with higher quality fics!!
also, i know i've been gone for a really long time. i've been going through a massive amount of mental health issues. i hit rock bottom really hard with my academics and then other things just sorta fell apart after that too. however, the end of the semester is coming up soon and i'm pushing my way through studying for finals, plus i've been working really hard on my mental health and good self-care habits !! once i'm done with school for the semester (not even the summer .. bc i have summer classes </3), i should be back full swing!! i miss u guys a lot and i'm ready to be able to come back soon <3
0 notes
okaywa · 4 years
Note
I love your works omg! 🥺 could I request hcs for oikawa , Kuroo and bokuto where their s/o just finished a bunch of school work and they “reward” them 😳 if you get what i’m saying 😂 (smut is all I ask for basically 😳) thank you! ❤️❤️
ddHahah my classes just started so here we gooo 
... wish I had a haikyuu man to reward me lmao 
NSFW BENEATH THE CUT
Oikawa
is first of all one of the neediest boys even though he acts indifferent sometimes (mainly when he’s stressed about volleyball)
but even though everyone says he only cares about volleyball he is actually so attentive and in tune with you
he’s an amazing boyfriend and you can pry that out of my cold dead fingers  
so of course he sees how hard you've been working and is so proud of you for powering through your massive workload 
bc sometimes its easier to get overwhelmed and lost in it 
(this is unnecessary to the request but y’all met in Argentina while you’re  studying abroad and he’s playing in the San Juan club) 
But he’s barely seen you all week :(( stupid exams so he let himself into your apartment after practice to find you passed out in your bed, backpack tossed against the wall 
He smiles softly at the sight, he can't help it, you're just so cute. You're hugging one of your pillows while wearing a sweatshirt of his that he’d left here (on purpose but you didn't have to know that.) He crawls up the bed, careful not to bounce the mattress and leans over you, pressing featherlight kisses against your cheeks and lips. He can tell you're starting to wake up by your little twitches and the scrunch of your eyebrows. 
“Mm, Tooru, when did you get here,” you slur sleepily, shoving aside the pillow to wrap your arms around him instead. 
“Just now, sweetheart,” he murmurs, not letting up on his kisses until you purse your lips for him. 
He kisses you languidly, like the slow build up of the morning tide just a few miles away, until he’s got you pinned to the mattress. His hips grind down on yours, soft gasps shared between the two of you when his tip hits your clit just right. You're still sleepy, despite the sudden arousal that sends sparks through your tummy, so he keeps it relaxed. He captures your lips again, the rutting of his cock against your damp panties steady as to cause a quick buildup of heat in your core. 
“So proud of you, sweet thing,” he sighs into your ear. “Hnn- ah.. you work so hard..”
“Tooru,” you whine, now moving in time with his slow thrusts. 
“Shh-shh, let me take care of you,” he smiles down at you gently, rolling his hips at a new angle so his tip nudges your clit each time. 
You nod weakly, lips parting for his tongue as he guides you to completion. His hips lose their rhythm once you stiffen beneath him, whining as your orgasm finally crests and spreads through your core. Oikawa grunts above you, dropping his forehead against your clavicle while his cock throbs against your ruined panties and he spills into his pants. 
“Love you,” you pant against his hairline. 
“Love you too,” his lips press warmly against your throat. 
Kuroo
probably has just as much work as you but hes clingy so he insists that y'all study together even though your majors are totally different and you're not much help to each other 
He’s the type to shove your papers out of your lap so he can lay his head there, or he just puts his head right on top of them 
just constantly in the way but you love him so its kinda cute 
also I think Kuroo is one of those ppl who barely takes notes, is on his phone the entire lecture, and only studies the night before and somehow still has a 4.0, I hate him (sike)
that or he’s so studious he keeps track of your due dates as well
Yall come back to your shared apartment exhausted but pleased exams are over
“Mm, just one more semester and we graduate,” Kuroo sighs, wrapping you in a tight hug so he can rest his chin on the top of your head. “How do you think you did?”
You laugh into his chest, squeezing your arms around his waist. “I feel good about them, actually.”
Kuroo smiles proudly, ruffling your hair before grabbing your chin to pull you into a kiss. You smile against his lips, humming when his fingers start to play with the hem of your shirt mischievously. 
“Tetsuuu,” you whine when he tugs insistently. “We just got home...”
“I knowww,” he mimics, slowly walking you backwards until your knees hit the back of the couch. “But I want to show my pretty girl how proud I am of her for getting through these exams.”
Your stomach flutters at the low, sultry drop of his voice. He nips at your ear teasingly before pushing you to sit. 
“As soon as I saw you put this little skirt on this morning,” Kuroo grins, dropping to his knees in front of you. “I’ve been thinking about how much I’d like I hide my head under here and...”
His fingers tease the damp cloth of your panties lightly. “Devour you.”
You whimper as he looks up at you through his lashes, fingers stroking your covered folds more firmly. He cocks his head curiously until you nod desperately, parting your thighs eagerly for him. His smirk widens once he lays his eyes on your ruined panties and he wastes no time pulling them down your legs and shoving them in his pocket. 
Grabbing your thighs, he pulls your butt to the edge of the cushion and drops your calves over his shoulders. He immediately draws his tongue through your soaked folds to tickle at your clit. He moans throatily, murmuring about how delicious you taste before burying his face between your thighs. 
“Haaah- ah! Testu!” 
Kuroo’s tongue immediately licks inside of you, his nose pressed firmly to your clit. Gasping at his fervor, you grasp at his hair, knowing how much he enjoyed having you pull it. His eyes immediately fluttered open, heavily lidded and foggy with lust. Winking up at you, he curls his tongue just right and groans when your thighs lock around his neck. He shakes his head slightly to give your clit just enough stimulation to have you hurdling to a quick orgasm. 
He licks up your slick eagerly, determined to catch every drop but is cut short when you writhe away from the intense overstimulation. He laughs softly, climbing up the couch to smash his lips to yours, shoving his tongue into your mouth so you could taste yourself. 
“Mm, let’s go to the bedroom,” he rumbles, nibbling at your bottom lip.
Bokuto
He is so damn proud of you it’s adorable 
He’s been gushing for the past week and a half to his teammates about how smart his girlfriend is 
He’s a little bummed you haven't been able to pay attention to him but he understands and is happy to just watch you study
So when you finally get home from your last exam he pounces on you
Scoops you up and brings you to the bedroom immediately 
“Kou!” You laugh into the crook of his neck, squeaking when he suddenly drops you on the bed. 
“I've missed you so much,” Bokuto clambers on top of you. “Been driving me crazy with how busy you’ve been.” 
“I know, handsome,” you frown sympathetically, bushing your fingers through his wild hair. 
“I’m so proud of you though,” he nuzzles into the crook of your neck. “Fuck, you're so smart. Pretty sure Atsumu was ready to throw a ball at my head because I wouldn’t shut up about you.”
He settles on top of you, kissing a wet trail up to your jaw. Your hands are gliding up his back muscles and grabbing at his broad shoulders. 
“Kou... I need you to-” you're cut off by his lips on yours. 
“I know, baby, I got you,” his rough hands shove your pants down so you can kick them off. “How about I make you cum for each of your exams, hm? I think that’s a good reward for all your hard work.”
“Please,” you whimper, needing him to release all of the stress that had built up. 
“How many was it, baby?” He asks while pulling his shirt over his head. 
“Six,” you take in his toned chest and defined abs hungrily. 
“Six orgasms it is,” he grins, pulling your own shirt off. 
Within seconds he’s knuckles deep inside you, groaning about how ready you always are for him. He pumps and curls his fingers perfectly, thumbing at your clit until you’re cumming all over his hand.
His cock is always a delicious mix of a burning stretch and a sensation of fullness. Bokuto’s cock was thick and long, his head dragging along your g-spot with each of his rolling thrusts. Your walls suck him in greedily, clenching so tightly that he’s whining against your lips. 
“So wound up, aren't you?” He pants. “Need me to take the edge off, huh?”
You already have tears in your eyes as you nod, crying out when his fingers find your clit. He ruts his cock into you roughly, gritting out praises until you arch underneath him and cum for a second time. He stops completely, kissing your cheeks gently while you recover.
“Kou...” your eyebrows draw together. “You didn't...?” “Four more times,” he grins, and slowly starts thrusting again.
1K notes · View notes
jiminrings · 3 years
Note
Can I request a drabble, hobi is kinda like a band singer and Y/N is like his old time friend and they like had a falling out bc he got super successful but years after they're like together again? IS IT TOO SPECIFIC UHM :")
parallel
Tumblr media
pairing: hoseok x y/n
wordcount: 4k
glimpse: hobi’s kind of an asshole and is vERY much emotionally repressed, y/n’s serotonin is dependent on wearing bridesmaid gowns, the dwindling one-sided pining anD the everlasting question of where the fuck was hoseok when you needed him :D // gif is from pinterest!
notes: this drabble really hits close to home and tysm for the request babe!! even if i’m a month late yeesh :O
you can’t believe yourself either when you say it
but holy shit — weddings are definitely your thing!
there’s something about the union of marriage that gets your head into overdrive but in a gOOD way
there’s just something so pulling about last-minute changes and family drama and awkward trips to the restroom that make your mind mHMMMM THIS IS IT CHIEF
yea granted that not every wedding you go and participate in isn’t exactly straight out of a rom-com
lmao sometimes it’s so obvious that the bride doesn’T love the groom but hey!!! who’s keeping tabs :D
you love wedding environments so much that here you are, two years out of uni and a couple of gigs later — couples are LITERALLY fighting over you
heh not to brag but uh
you weren’t recognized as best wedding planner for two years in a row and have your face in multiple covers of bridal magazines and such
time magazine recognized you as one of the most influential people in the scene last year but hey !!!!! no big deal lads
“i am asking you for just one minute, y/n!! stop being a wedding planner and start being my maid of honor!!”
nayeon exasperates and tugs you by your sleeve, having already noticed your second nature of taking charge the moment you entered the hall
after all, this is just cake tasting! that’s why she’s brought her maid of honor to help her out, nOT immediately go fishing for a clipboard
“well if the planner you hired wasn’t so sloppy-...” it’s a fact! he relies too much on his tablet and doesn’t even have any paper with him, and even if he’s already using a tablet, he doesn’t even use different colors to mark out!
apparently nayeon can’t handle the truth because she’s stamping her hand to your mouth that’s already a frown, about to suffocate you if only you didn’t bite it
>:|
y/n - 1 | jisoo’s hand - 0
you’re just a lil bit cranky alright
the last wedding you’ve catered to was just three days ago, and well you’re thankful for your job!!! really!!! bc not everyone is as booked as you nor sought-for
but there’s something about her wedding that puts you off :((
she’s very kindly yet firmly told you that no, you would absolutely not be her wedding planner and coordinator
“b-but i-“
“i want you to relax! and it’s-...”
“we said-“
“we said when we were kids that we’d plan each other’s wedding, but we didn’t swear on it! and i want you to-...”
“y-you told-“
“i told you that we didn’t have a wedding planner yet so you’d intentionally clear your schedule for me! and here we are-...”
“i’ll cry-“
“aww you big baby, save it for the wedding! i told you, just relax, m’kay? let yoongi handle the planning, and you do the unwinding.”
goddamn yoongi
yoongi who’s a wedding planner in his sPARE time could fuck right off
you don’t care if he’s very persuasive and firm and happened to book nayeon’s wedding even it was peak season :((
you don’t wanna admit it, but being a wedding planner has basically been your personality trait for the past years and it’s hard to cope when your job is to not.... plan and worry
anyways besides that
you’re a little iffy because nayeon’s wedding is your wake-up call
you’ve been planning weddings.... but uh when the FUCK is yours
u are so tempted to put a sock over your head and just yell gIVE ME A RING!!! PUT IT IN THE BAG
unfortunately, you don’t even have someone in your life to readily propose to you
you would have had someone, actually —
if only hoseok didn’t wake up one day and decide to remove you from his life
if only your childhood friend didn’t suddenly decide that you’re not worthy of his attention and time!!!
god he thinks he’s a bigshot
and well yea ok he IS a bigshot
who doesn’t know jung hoseok at this point :((
you’ve always figured that he’d be successful at whatever path he chooses and for a moment, you feel sorry for him that he’s stuck in such a state of mundaneness
he’s stuck between home and school and since he has no choice — you
your each other’s day one!!! the moment your mom went home from the hospital, her first instinct was to knock on hoseok’s mom’s door and then iMMEDIATELY present you to her
the two of them are absolute best friends and why not make our babies the same way ya know????
the two of you were apparently so close as babies that when one was crying, the other would comfort
and you weren’t even a year old then????
you’ve shared cribs and milk bottles and clothes and everything in between with hobi
so why is it that when you’re just almost at the peak of your life with graduation, he just suddenly decides to drop you?
he’s suddenly too cool for you as if he hasn’t spent countless nights crying on your shoulder for any inconveniece that gets brought up
he can’t even meet your eyes :(((
that’s why graduation is the blandest and emptiest day you could recall
hoseok is over there with his bandmates looking the absolute hAPPIEST and you’re there by the corner.,.,. alone by yourself feeling like your cap has the words dropped by jung hoseok :D all over it
he’s at his peak and at the top of his life performing and touring, whenever and wherever
he’s happy
but without you in it :(
the irrational (and probably rational) part in your head is beyond infuriated at him because atleast offer an explanation!!! if you did wrong at one point, then he should tell you!!!
not suddenly pretend that you were nEVER in his life
even his mom feels guilty and ashamed over his son’s actions so she orders flowers from the shop signed underneath your company, then send it back to you
for awhile she tried to pretend that it was hoseok but no :((( that man will physically convulse if he doesn’t add (atleast) three hearts after his name
you hate him so much that you still religiously visit his instagram and wonder if he could see your likes despite a couple other million liking the same posts
you hate him so much that he’s number one on every single thing in your spotify wrapped 
you hate him sO much that you wonder who’s behind the songs his band plays and how you’d wish that you’d be the one he’s writing about
“is the cake that... perfect?”
nayeon gently places a hand on your shoulder to which you flinch and she backs off because christ i’m nOT taking the cake away from you!!!
oh my god why are you tearing up
“yeah, yeah! it’s so good. you should try it nayeon!” you’re scrambling to scrape up your plate, almost shoving the fork into her mouth as she squeals with the sudden attack
yoongi has ???? hovering around his head but this is nOT about you my man
he sneaks a look to the bride’s plate and uh-huh... yup..... she has the same moist chocolate fudge cake with coffee ganache on her alright
the topic of hoseok that you bring up to yourself, one that no one knows (not even nayeon!!!), is just something that never seems to vacate your mind fully
it’s been two years and you’re still so touchy and you dON’T KNOW WHY
he probably doesn’t even think about you when he’s drunk and bored
“this champagne must be so... nice?”
nayeon thinks out loud as you’re once again crying into doing your maid of honor duties
she’s a lil worried if she’s being honest but you always whisk her away when she’s about to ask
like right now :D
“are you-...”
“i just can’t believe you’re getting married!! wow, you’re so cool. with the love of your life. then the two of you could be cool together after the wedding. you aren’t gonna forget me once you’re married, are you? nayeon do you think that i would ever be married-...”
you should just accept it now :((
you’re a little bit of a mess and a half underneath your pantsuits and walkie-talkies and the special pride you’d carry whenever the couple mentions you in their wedding speeches
absolutely WHY in the hell do you think about hoseok when it comes to weddings???
it’s almost a pavlovian response when you instruct the people to open the doors and the bride to start walking and your mind would iNSTANTLY think about him
it’s sometimes awkward when the couple would ask ah !!!! ms. y/n u are such a world-renowned wedding planner !!!! your own wedding must’ve been magnificent :D
aha actually about dat.,.,
you get tons of gifts of gratitude from just a single client alone and you don’t have hoseok and his stupidly powerful arms to help carry boxes back to your car
you don’t have him to give untouched and left-over flowers to
you don’t have him to remind you when you’re getting a little ahead of yourself over just talking to sponsors and trying to squeeze in as much as you could for an initial budge
you don’t have hoseok, in all his glory, to put his hand on the small of your back when you’re talking to how you need the fireworks to start the moment the band starts playing ice ice baby and the vendor does nOT need to know why it’s the song chosen by the couple
it’s what he’d do when you’re trying to fit two semesters’ worth of notes into a pricey A3 notebook that you’ve bought 
and just how many weddings do you plan and coordinate, even within just a span of two week?
:)
a lot.
often.
you think about hoseok a lot. often. oftenly a lot.
but aha nOT TODAY!!!
today’s nayeon’s wedding and you’re not gonna ruin it for her by projecting your yearning into your best friend’s wedding that clearly isn’t yours
10/10 she’d probably stop reciting her vows to ask you why you’re sniffling
your only source of distraction is your gown!!!
your maid of honor is the absolute pRETTIEST and you’d be lying if you said you didn’t feel gorgeous in it
it’s floor-length silk!!! fLOOR-LENGTH !! SILK !! GOWN
it’s in a deep mauve with an off-shoulder situation and a little risqué bit of cleavage!!! cinches right at the top of your waist and poofs a little and oh my god mayhaps you aRE pretty
god hoseok may have not written you a song, but sean kingston dEFINITELY did
nayeon knew you’d be catching everyone’s attention as much as her wedding dress would and she’s absolutely happy and fine with it!! 
in fact she’s strategically practiced her throws for her bouquet so you’d catch it and your gown would nOt go to waste
having a wedding happen right where you are, but being in it as a guest instead of a planner, is just so much... calmer
you’re not fixing the chaos but you’re just watching it!!! if you feel a little more bubbly then you’re gonna partake in it hee-hee
yoongi’s actually not so bad
he could just be a little too lax which ends up with him being lost and distraught 
you could see so much of you in him when you were just starting out and it’s endearing actually
(( nayeon’s told you in passing that she once told yoongi that you were her best friend and he looked both intimidated and awed at the same time ))
the only thing you help yoongi with is sending him a thumbs-up every now and then and he perks uP because that’s the signal that he’s doing a good job and not fucking up
nayeon looks so beautiful and you’re already tearing up fixing her veil :((
you know how wedding photographers and videographers LOVE people crying???? they r probably eating your shit up so quick that you won’t be surprised if you take up atleast half of the same-day edit of their wedding film
there’s something so serene about the hecticness everyone’s indulged themselves in
you’re grinning when you walk down the aisle because you realize that omg you haven’t doNE this in a long time!!! 
the last time you did was testing out the aisle for a client that wanted it ala crazy rich asians and you had to walk back and forth cOLD-ASS water with damp rolled-up pant cuffs before they got the temperature and the levels right
nah you should definitely know how it’d be because after all :D you aRE the consultant for that scene in crazy rich asians :D no biggie :D
it’s such a serene blast to see everyone happy and in their element
you’re sitting the reception out bc yoongi very kindly pleaded to please give him notes and promising that he’d never tell it to anyone else
the whole planning process for nayeon and not oNCE did he bring a notebook..,., but he just hAPPENS to have one when you’re telling him how to say no to your client
“listen, you have to tell them in the sincerest way possible, that you tried everything. it gets them going when you tell them that you even pleaded with the vendors, but don’t go too low on your knees, alright? and then after that, you say a strict no. no, because their choice of flowers is absolutely sHIT for their tie-dye theme they’re so adamant about!”
yoongi has never listened so intently
not even when his roommate lists out their grocery checklist
“mhmm. and if they still push, should i give them an ultimatum? or tell them about a wedding that totally happened that did exactly what they were planning, and how much the guests hated it?”
okay nOW he’s talking
“what you do is...”
the buzz of the reception never really dies down because it’s barely even starting!! the couple’s still finishing up on their pictorial which gives everyone time to get to the venue and freshen up or get last-minute gifts lmao
you know that it’s starting when the band or the dj starts doing polished mic checks
mic check! one, two, three! sKRRRRRRRRRRRRRRA
no, no 
there’s something definitely wrong
the rolling and the lull of routine words just seem so familiar
mic check! J-A-Y! H-O-P-E! J-HOPE! jung-...
oh
my
fucking
gOD
that’s hoseok.
that is most dEFINITELY hoseok
you turn your back to see the stage set-up and god...... fuck
it’s someone you haven’t seen in the flesh for two years yet spent the years of your life with before that 
he looks sickening in his black mandarin-collared suit with thick white lining on it wITH his hair styled up and parted to the site
it’s even more sickening for you because you don’t actually know if you can mANAGE to be here
you’re standing up abruptly and yoongi squawks at that because he is the furthesT thing from being finished about asking how to make the guests arrive on time without holding a field trip assembly-like type of line with the megaphone
the fastest way out was dashing through the front part and you must have forgotten that hoseok has a knack for catching things with his perfectly good eyesight
“y/n?” 
ok what now
he mumbles your name to the mic, his eyebrows furrowing as his eyes trail the speed-walking speck of mauve from in front of him 
his little question to himself must have gotten people more than curious
they’re already mORE than curious because it’s his goddamn band that’s playing!!!! and the fees are not cheap and it’s practically impossible to book them!!!
but jungkook, their drummer, was a close friend of the groom’s and alright.,.,. okay maybe we CAN play at weddings now
ok hoseok’s mind is probably just playing tricks on him and he should finish setting up before the lights dim again for what they insist is the 𝓼𝓱𝓸𝓬𝓴 𝓯𝓪𝓬𝓽𝓸𝓻
but then he can’t help but look oNE last time
then he sees the watch he’s gifted you on his wrist — one that he was supposed to give you at graduation but later made his mom give it to you instead and not say that it was from him
...
....
whew he might need his inhaler for this one and he doesn’t even hAVE asthma
oh my god what the hELL is hoseok doing here????
you haven’t seen him for two years, and the moment you do, it’s in your best friend’s wedding with no date present??
you’re clearly panicking and the only form of caffeine you’ve gotten is the pre-game of getting a few bites from the coffee ganache in nayeon’s wedding cake that she was munching on while getting her makeup done
you know what!! it’s fine
it’s totally fine :D
hoseok is just hoseok and you’re not gonna be intimated by the man you’ve been loving in the sidelines from practically your whole life :D
it’s not a big deal!
besides, people are looking for you bc you’re supposed to give the opening toast to welcome nayeon and her groom in
you’re walking, you’re talking, aaaaaaaand-
yeah this is not nOT a big deal
you’re crumbling from the inside out because seeing hoseok is just too painful after two years of wondering where you could’ve went wrong and what could’ve happened if the two of you didn’t fall out
you feel especially bitter when hoseok starts singing their famous song about love and everything in between
everyone’s sWOONING and on their feet and you’re literally just there vibrating with how furious you are
you keep downing the good champagne as iF it’s gonna get you drunk
yoongi has a clue that the server must be a little dizzy having to go and back forth to your table so he just offers his portion to you
you’re so goddamn busy and absorbed with loathing him that you don’t even turn your back to notice that his eyes keep flickering to you
even at the cheesiest lyric, hobi expects that you’d atleast LOOK at him for that one but nOOOO your champagne flute and the blondie beside you is just much more interesting
you’re buzzing with anger that you aren’t enjoying this reception At All
you fail to even recognize that nayeon’s intentionally had your favorite food to be served!!! and you have an extra portion delivered to your table!!!
you just want your suffering to eND wow absolutely how much longer could this go
you’re so busy with cussing the whole ordeal in your head that you didn’t even notice how the band isn’t playing anymore and instead everyone’s swooning over the cake
it’s lost in you that hoseok’s shooed yoongi from his chair, sitting right beside you and even scooting closer until his knees bump to your own
and that’s when it sinks in
hobi doesn’t even have time to tell you how beautiful you look because you’ve gone straight to seething him
“for the record, i want you to know that i hate you.”
...
:O
okay hoseok didn’t expect that
for all he knows, the two of you even vOWED to never say the h word even if it’s meant jokingly!!
it’s a lethal word and the two of you collectively agreed to never play with it in regards to saying to one another
but well here you are
you’re saying it as if you’ve never been more sure of anything in your whole life
you feel actually relieved to say it to him right to his face, a miniscule weight lifted from your shoulders while your arms are crossed just by looking at him
hoseok does you one better with a timid chuckle, looking down on his rings that he’s fiddling with nervously
“yeah. i hate me too.”
.... oh
you’re perplexed at his reply so much so that you’re speechless
you’ve been keeping to yourself what you should say to him the moment you see him for two years and now that he agrees to what you’ve just said.,.,.,
oh fuck that
“i hate you so much, hoseok! i don’t even know what i did wrong and i asked even your own mother what’s wrong with me! did you know that you are, without a doubt, so fucking selfish???”
you exclaim as quietly as you could but that doesn’t stop people from glancing because the two most-known people in the room, besides the bride and groom, are having what seems to be an... intimate conversation with how close the two of you are??
“did you even try once to consider how painful it was for me to wonder why i just am the way that i am? or is that even too big of an inconveniece for you to think about because you’re so busy?”
“did you suddenly get too big for me, huh?” you ask straightly without malice, not even thinking about the double meaning because clearly, you’re too PRESSED lightly jabbing your finger to his chest
right he deserves that
hoseok’s fucked up big-time, that much he knows
his eyes are actually stinging right now and he would ask you for your handkerchief that you used to always carry for him but uH he thinks he doesn’t deserve any of that
“why couldn’t you just tell me what was in your mind? you know that nothing would change whatever it was that-”
“i love you, okay?”
hoseok interrupts you with his mumble before he sets his eyes down once again on your watch
you’re speechless for long this time
“..... w-what?”
okay maybe he fucked up even more
“listen i-...”
“if you love me, a single text wouldn’t have hurt, hobi!!”
your chest doesn’t hurt anymore but it iS constricting with the amount of emotions and scenarios you’re trying to process
he’s kinda lost because oh my god you aren’t mAD anymore!!
and you don’t look fazed that he just declared his love for you
“i dropped you because i-i — i don’t want the people i love seeing me fuck up, y’know? i finished uni for the sake of it, and i didn’t even know if the band thing would work out!!”
“but baby it dID work out!!!!”
jesus christ hoseok may be a fucking iDIOT
you’re shaking him by the shoulders and he actually has to stand up so he wouldn’t fall by your ministrations
you feel so happy because your processing was just about to be finished, equal parts relieved and happy and maybe a tiny bit confused still
“it did work out because look at you now!! hobi, you could’ve just called me and i would’ve accepted the call before it even rings!!” you’re happily frustrated with him that you push him until the two of you are in the dance floor, his mouth curving up both in disbelief and giddiness
“i didn’t because i thought-...”
he’s interrupted by a swift and tight hug to his middle, his arms moving on their own to envelope you in his warmth
the top of your head still smells the same :D
his purpose is lost before he gathers his bearings once again, freezing in his stance before weakly attempting to push you off
“... you were married.”
the harsh sQUINT of your eyes you’re giving him prompt him to explain
why is he so nervous
“i-i go to your instagram? and well you uh, you posted this pic of you in the middle of the aisle???? you had your back turned and your silhouette’s seen then you were holding a bouquet!!! then after that, i-i never opened your account. jesus christ, is your husband here with you, y/n? what am i supposed to-...”
the realization’s starting to sink into hoseok because it’s something he’s shoved to the back of his head and now he’s seeing it straight-on
you’re throwing your head back laughing at him :D
great
now he’s both heartbroken AND a fool
there’s a gentle kiss on his cheek, one he didn’t expect and one he doesn’t hate
“i’m a wedding planner.”
god now this is just so fucking funny
the two of you fell out and remained distanced because of just a series of unprecedented miscommunications!!! 
the whole thing is so ridiculous that it actually feels light and relieving to talk about
“you’re.... a wedding planner,” he mumbles once again for confirmation, his loose arms around your waist now tightening
oh my god
hoseok starts chuckling to himself out of delight, turning to full-on cackles with you at how much the two of you have just been beside each other like parallel lines
“i need to make up the past two years to you.”
he declares seriously as a promise, pressing a tender wet kiss to your cheek that gets you giggling
“only if you write me a song,” you do him one better, kissing him on the corner of his mouth 
“don’t you know that most of them are about you? anyways, you should plan our wedding once it happens,” he’s forward with his words, having waited long enough that he nuzzles his nose to yours
:D
you’re gonna do him one even better
you’re gonna go right for the kill, the truth spilling out of you before you kiss him longingly, for the first time that it feels that it’s been something you’ve always yearned for
“don’t you know that you’re in my mind for every single one?”
165 notes · View notes
dallonm-archive · 3 years
Text
Tumblr media
[image description: a cropped image of a pink sky. on the right hand side is a bunch of darker pink clouds. Just left of the centre is a full moon. In the centre, in a white serif font reads "writing update" /end id]
july writing update
Hi friends! This writing update is me pretending I did Camp Nano and didn't kinda give up a week in! I had a proper goal and everything, but a lot of things got in the way that I'm not gonna talk about here because I already ranted about it in another update I'm drafting rn. Lets just say it's Disability Pride Month and being not neurotypical or able bodied in writing communities and their inherent focus on productivity is Hard.
But I did get some writing done and wanted to do a little Camp wrap up post regardless. And I'm doing it now because I'm cancelling the last week of July for some rest/self care and I do not want to think about writing for that time and if I write a tumblr post about July Nano being over my brain will think it's actually over <3 I will probably do updates like these for most months tho! Depends on how much I write lol! This one is not too long (by my standards) and has some Revelations, Revelations, Life Cycle of Massive Stars, Nocturne for the Holy and a new wip idea 👁️
excerpts under the cut!
general taglist ; ask to be + or - ; i only have one! ; @childhoodlovers @svpphicwrites @abiandwriting @kowlazovdi @avi-why @ryns-ramblings @kitblogsthings @bijouxs @bookphobe @moonhungers @alicewestwater @bookpacking @shaelinwrites @onlyganymede @theelectricfactory @write-like-babs @oceancold @sidhewrites @wolf-oak @oasis-of-you @coffeeandcalligraphy @cecilsstorycorner @howdywrites @keira-is-writing @flip-phones @piyawrites @avakrahn @goose-books @finch-goes-write @ziyin @aphaimaniis @isherwoodj @laughtracksonata
I'm also editing this in to say I only just realised that July is my writeblr birthday month and that is very weird to me! A year and a couple days ago I impulsively turned an old blog into a place to document writing for me and ended up meeting people who now mean the world to me and my writing blossoming in a way I never thought it would. And the funny part is it doesn't feel like it's been a year, ever since I joined it's just felt like life has Always been this way and I cannot fathom that it hasn't. I'm sappy bc it's 4am lol but ultimately the friends I made (you know who you are) and the community I found is what retaught me the value of writing and helped me unlearn toxic ideas and whilst the last year was tough I wish I could tell July 2020 Dallon (who did not realise he was Dallon yet </3) what July 2021 would look like.
revelations, revelations ;
Oh the absolute state of affairs with this book rn. Nothing bad but I don't know when I'm gonna update y'all because sometimes I do not know where to start when talking about this wip lol! Currently on a break with it (but also my thesis work is on late 20th century queer lit/history rn so am ever really free of RR? <3) but had a lot of fun with it at the end of June/start of July. Anyway here's Dorothy finally revealing more of herself to me after a year. Dorothy as a character is like, I truly believe she is capable of killing a man but the story she is in just does not allow that so I am trying to grow her unhinged side a little bit in other ways bc I know she has it in her but I also really cannot deal with the plot repercussions of her actually killing a man! I'm sorry Dotty but this'll have to do!
(cw for groping/a man being creepy as hell, death/funeral mention, drug mention, drowning imagery kinda)
There’s too much to tell Felix. That his sister lives on the fringe of Castro and has attended three funerals since September; that it’s January 11th and she’s already attended one this year. That his sister drives through sunsets and imagines parties: the amber dusk, warm mosaic tiles, platters of Greek salad skewers and shrimp tostadas, and sometimes Jolie joins her and they share a blunt on the hill. That his sister bought an aquamarine body-length dress for six bucks in a thrift store sale bin, so when her and Jolie broke up for the second time, she waltzed into a sunset party, locked arms with a CEO’s son and gave him a fake number and plucked strawberries out of champagne and blended so well nobody noticed when she left. That during the summer of ’83, his sister walked a neighbour’s Golden Retriever on Wednesdays, and on the sixth Wednesday he gave her a wad of tens with one hand and palmed the back of her neck with the other, so she walked his dog to the beach and stole another hundred from his wallet. That his sister bombed an interview for a Nursing school and didn’t get home until night and missed their monthly call, and Jolie heard the phone ring and didn’t take a message, so his sister snuck into the CEO’s son’s villa and floated in the centre of their heated pool like a cloud. A pause, a breath, an Opheliean threat.
life cycle of massive stars ;
Switched to LCOMS this month because I was burnt out with RR and it made such the difference! I really love working on two novels at once because it keeps me consistently creative but also both of these books are so different so its always refreshing to bounce back into one from another. I have a whole update in the drafts rn for this so keeping this part brief but still love this book, still the best thing that has ever happened to me, me and this book will have a glorious summer wedding etc etc. These excerpts are from chapters that summarise the first semester of each character's first year and have to say it. has been Very Fun to get into the mindset of Freshers Melodrama. Here's Junie having a crisis and an unhealthy relationship with her hetero flatmate :( (alcohol cw for both excerpts)
In October you are drinking double espresso and trying to breathe normally in lectures and you are trying to figure out your favourite colour because Fleur asked and you stumbled out an answer (Purple, I think. Violet? Lavender? Indigo?) and it didn’t match hers (I like yellow. I like sunlight). You buy mugs from IKEA to paint you paint cats and fireworks and constellations and moon phases and daisies. You try to scratch paint stains off your desk. You do laundry at 2am. In October you colour code your notes with pastel highlighters. You go to the library at 3am. You paint your nails sunlight and hate it. You finish an essay that’s due in December. You knock on Fleur’s door at 8am so she makes her 9am. You wear off the shoulder tops and you let a girl dab glitter on your collarbones and you are watching Fleur kiss a boy from the neighbouring hall. You bite your sunlight nails. You break the handle off your IKEA constellation mug. You leave your keys in a lecture hall and stand at the reception for forty minutes waiting for them to realise that the keys on the desk have the moon chain you mentioned - or, you are waiting to say it yourself. You are watching the rain trail down your window. In October you get a halo headband tangled in your hair you are sipping a vampire themed cocktail that tastes like acetone you rip your heels off and you go home early and do laundry at 2am and you are waiting for the courage to tell Fleur you don’t like clubbing - or, you are waiting for her to ask where you are. In October you are many things / a good student a dancer a painter an angel a big sister an alarm clock you are nocturnal and a lucid dreamer and confused about your sexuality / and it’s still October but it’s not because it’s November now and you are still Junie but not because you don’t know who Junie is. It’s November, it’s September October November December. It’s 2016 2017 2018 2019. You are fragments and you don’t know if you are a kaleidoscope or shattered glass.
And here's first year Tomas being like I Moved Countries For University And All I Got Was Homesickness And A Crush On My Flatmate And Resurging Autistic Symptoms And This Lousy T Shirt (cw: vomit mention, injection mention, parental death mention)
Kristen is seven months younger and five inches taller than you. He’s the last flatmate you met and the only one you talk to beyond kitchen greetings and passive aggressive texts about dirty dishes. He is too quiet and too loud and not the type of person you befriend. The first night, he lost Ring of Fire and downed the concoction of Echo Falls, Dark Fruits, Jack Daniels and coke, vodka and lemonade alongside a cigarette and said he’d let God figure out the rest. He held your hair back when you threw up amaretto and held onto your knee when you first self-injected testosterone. He taught you Yorkshire dialect and you pretended to understand the Yorkshire dialect. He told you he got diagnosed at four and you told him you didn’t get past the first assessment but sometimes you flick the bathroom light on and it’s fire: the orange on the orange towel is louder, the white on the white tiles are louder, the colours and light and sink and showerhead are prickly and all you can do is blink and breathe until it fizzles out. You reminded him to take his meds and asked if you were weak for wanting to drop out and hop on the first Eurostar to Rotterdam. He reminded you to take off your binder and asked if he was robotic for not grieving his mother. You spent inky nights on the kitchen floor, counting the dead flies in the lights and scooping crumbly coconut ice cream out of a maker you got for half price in TK Maxx. You spent dusk-dusted afternoons at the global street food markets, at the vegan markets. Spent student loans on raspberry lemonade in recycled cups, veggie burgers in beetroot buns, got him hooked on poffertjes and advocaat and could’ve cried when the vendor spoke to you in Dutch. Sometimes you didn’t buy anything. Just liked hovering at stalls ambered with fairy lights, writing down Etsy stores on your notes app; just liked Kristen’s impulse to trek forty minutes into the city for a market he didn’t know existed until five minutes before; just liked how he always invited only you, cancelling your other plans last minute, the feeling of being ambushed; just liked how he stopped to take photos of dogs and the sunset; just liked how he looked haloed under lampposts waiting for Ubers, golden on golden.
This is also nearing creative nonfiction because Sheffield truly is a haven for just. vegan markets and cafes lol! I experimented with veganism there and never struggled to find something and at this point I call myself a fake vegan because it's too easy to be vegan in Sheffield and too difficult to be vegan in my actual hometown. And the global street food markets!!! SO GOOD! I miss pre pandemic days
nocturne for the holy ;
Giving her a little shout out because she does exist actually! I've figured out a really good system for working on two novels at a time, so my plan is maybe to start properly on this after I finish either RR or LCOMS. Idk I got 3 novels to pick from haha oops! I did do some free drafting back in April though and found it recently and I Like It! And I edited it so it counts as Something I Did This Month :) Also have decided that I loathe this working title <3 Okay see you with an update for this novel in like a year, sorry for the absolute zero context for this excerpt hehe
The morning I was due back, I hadn’t yet decided that this would be my last visit. I wandered between rooms like an overstayed guest, like I didn’t know which crockery lived in which cabinet and which bedroom had the best view of the overlapped hills. Dad would wake for his run in an hour, plastered to his twenty-year-old routine. Mum would pretend to be asleep until breakfast. Until then, it was myself and the house, hazed by sleepy sunrise. Downstairs. The peeling paisley wallpaper in the lounge, the lilies in the middle of the kitchen table, the vases of candy floss pink peonies wilting on every windowsill, the desolate double swing-set in the garden. The mist-clogged mornings. I stood outside in my dressing-gown until my fingertips felt numb. Upstairs. The sage coloured bathroom. The bathtub I’d laze in with my clothes on and no water because it was the quietest room in the house. The dusty dance trophies on the top of my wardrobe. Wine-flushed Jeanette in my teenage bedroom. The stale grey mum painted my teenage bedroom after I moved out. Minus their room, I stalked the layout of the house three times before settling back into bed - teenage Nora’s bed. Nora who cared for peonies and pushed her brother on the swing set and flung her ceramic ballerina at the wall and jogged with her father and collected wine bottles and acorns and kisses from girls who were supposed to visit for dance practice. Before I left, I’d have cycled each room another three times. And in every room he was there, hovered in the corner like black mould.
love this update bc it's like i've got my third person, my second person, my first person! collecting all the POVs like chaos emeralds :)
eulogy for our burnings ;
-looks away-
girl help I did it AGAIN!!!! Apparently Camp Nano is just the perfect time for me to get novel ideas. I made this post specifically to talk a bit about this because I have no idea when I'll draft it but it's certainly not soon. This is not me trying to doubt my own skill but I feel like I am not in the place I'd like to be as a writer to tackle this project with the zest it needs, however I am v excited by the prospect of it! Don't know how I feel about the working title bc I'm like "that doesn't sound right but I don't know enough about this wip to dispute it" but the only purpose my working titles serve is to sound pretty lol! But here's the tea:
1991, UK.
2nd person present + past. Very flexible form. I can't decipher how yet but I'm feeling interviews, newspaper articles, receipts, grocery store lists weaved with actual narrative, that kinda vibe.
Best summary is we follow our nameless narrator, a stealth trans man, as he becomes unhealthily obsessed with a man who "hires" him to photograph the buildings he burns
Very,,, isolated? Minimal settings, minimal characters, minimal prose etc. Almost claustrophobic
There's basically only two characters and they are probably the most morally deplorable, indefensible characters I've created which just means most of you are gonna LOVE this /lh I do too I do too
Only comp title I can give is it has the vibes/tone of Boy Parts by Eliza Clark (just with none of the nsfw content lol if you've read the book you know what I'm talking about) (also that book is great for morally deplorable women protagonists but omg look up the content warnings because it caught me off guard! enjoyed it tho gave it 4 stars)
The pinterest board is the best visualisation of the Vibes also follow me on pinterest lol
And that's all I've got today! A bigger Life Cycle of Massive Stars update coming in the next few weeks. Might do a proper intro post for Eulogy For Our Burnings but idk!!! It's a surprise :) Thank you for reading this far!
50 notes · View notes
inkofamethyst · 2 years
Text
January 20, 2022
Update: math actually sucks and I’m glad to be done with it.  I can say “oh I love problem solving and applying things I’ve learned to new situations” till I’m blue in the face but my true feelings are hiding just beneath the surface and make themselves known as soon as I encounter a problem that is ever so mildly more difficult than anything I’ve done before.  [my sister needed help with test corrections and they were hard (I mean I eventually figured it out but only after giving up lol)]
Okay but,,, Lin Manuel Miranda, am I right?
Listen.  That guy has such a talent for writing musical lines that go on top of one another and build with each other and are separate but flow into and out of one another’s orbits and it’s just kind of incredible.  You can switch between listening to each line individually like changing television stations or you can have them all going at once like you’re listening to four different youtube videos simultaneously but they all line up at certain parts.  Like, I remember doing that one song before the Big Fight in West Side Story and thinking that was cool.  Two summers later I heard Non-Stop for the first time and haven’t been the same since.  We Don’t Talk About Bruno?  Incredible.  I’m sure In the Heights had an example of this too but I can’t recall specifics.
What’s interesting is that concert band/orchestral(/chamber choir too, apparently) music does this type of thing all the time, but the tricky part is the addition of words.  In band, different instruments have different voices, sure, but adding words can make things muddy (I have personal experience with this through singing warmup rounds at choir practices last sem ugh).  Miranda’s music is clean.
Anyway I’m gearing up for next semester (yknow, setting up Notion, clearing out Notability, etc), and I have a look at my schedule and come to find out that I’m taking the less favored prof for both biochem 2 and physics 2 which is lovely (I can tell based on who has the most seats left open lol).  Frankly, I chose to stick with the same phys prof because even though he can’t teach I a) don’t want any classes before 11a this sem, b) want as many of my classes as possible to be back to back instead of having a gaping 2-hour hole between them, and c) got an A in his class last sem despite being frustrated and fed up the whole time so it probably will be annoying but at least it’ll be annoying in a way that I expect.  The only reason I’m taking that biochem 2 prof is because the other one conflicts with my anth class.
Speaking of anth,,,,, I’ve been stressing over the past few weeks bc I couldn’t figure out exactly when the right time would be to send the anth prof an email checkup of like “heyyy I know I’m supposed to TA for you,, are we still cool for that?” because I didn’t wanna be too forward but then it got to the point where I’d waited too long to follow up in my opinion and I was also stressing bc I’ve got the whole imposter syndrome thing climbing up my throat again like bile (you know how it is) and it’s been absolutely paralyzing and the first day of his class is this Tuesday and then today he just goes and sends a casual little email today and is all like “excited to have u as a uta :) also meet ur co-uta she’s been working with me for a bit :)” and honestly that made me feel a little bit calmer.  That’s what I’m thankful for today.  That my fears were unfounded (and that, so far, everything seems to be turning out alright), as they so often are.
Last thing: It’s a crazy thing to be involved on campus.  Over the past few days I’ve received emails from almost all of my major orgs about kickoff meetings and jazz and it’s kinda wild.  That said, seeing the email from the orchestra reminded me that there was one primary goal which I did not complete at all: practicing the concert music.  Not once.  I completed the waistcoat and walking skirt (which I took out for their first spin today actually and it was fabulous (if I get some American Duchesses the skirt length will be perfect)), started on another top instead of the mauve one bc I need to figure out sleeve length stuff (might be able to finish it before I go back), finished my mom’s dress, started Ni No Kuni and Shadow of the Colossus pieces, and started working on my summer plans.  So while I didn’t complete everything, I did do quite a bit, and I’m proud of what I was able to accomplish.
6 notes · View notes
robinofinashiro · 3 years
Text
Tumblr media
“what if you had it all / but nobody to call / maybe they know me / cause i’ve had everything / but no ones listening / and that’s just fucking lonely / i’m so lonely /
request status: closed 
pairing: mirio togata x fem! reader (slight bakugou angst) 
note: i’m closing reqs bc my semester starts next week and need a clean slate by the end of next sunday so i can get my writing and school schedule together. i promise i won’t go anywhere !! 
you were sitting at your desk, hearing the conversation Tokoyami and Jirou were having about something. one ear was on the conversation and the other was hearing what Bakugou was screaming to Kirishima about. 
“getting yelled at again, Kiri?” you asked, giving the two boys a smile. Kiri flashed you an embarrassed look as Bakugou didn’t say much but give you a quick glance before yelling at him again, “come on Tsuki, leave him alone?” you asked, trying to get him to quiet down. 
he gave you a scoff but quieted down to a ‘normal’ tone of voice. you gave Kiri a wink before going back to the conversation with Tokoyami and Jirou. you could see she wanted to tell you something but decided against it. 
“did you hear?” Mina said, walking over to the three of you, “there are some third years visiting us!! kind of exciting, isn’t it? hearing some stories from the upperclassman!” she exclaimed. 
you nodded, “I heard this morning and yeah, it’s pretty exciting! I think if we get the chance to train with them, it would be even better. do you know who any of the third years are?” you asked her. Mina shook her head, “nope! ask Midoriya, he might know but I think they’re meant to be surprise!” 
before Mina could say anything else, Aizawa walked into the class lazily, per usual. 
all of you sat back down in your seats, hearing Aizawa speak on exactly the thing that Mina was talking about. you felt your hands get a bit sweaty, not really knowing who to expect to see walk into the classroom. maybe some over the top students? students who thought they were better than all of you? 
it didn’t take long for the students to walk in, your thoughts immediately coming to a halt when you saw the blond haired boy walk in. your eyes widened a bit, not realizing that you might have been visibly simping over him. 
Aizawa informed you on who they were. they were the end all, be all for U.A. known as the big three and who all the hero students should strive to be like. 
you couldn’t help but feel for their shyest student. you could see the anxiety written on his face as soon as he saw all of your eyes on him. you wanted to tell everyone to stop looking but you knew that if he felt nervous about a confrontation with regular first year students, how would the actual pro hero field treat him? 
finally, the attention was diverted to the blond who you immediately turned your attention too. you couldn’t help but laugh, seeing as how he instantly told the entire class to fight him with those excited arms flailing everywhere.
while you did want to take him up on that offer almost immediately, you were out of commission for the next few weeks. 
you had gotten hurt while training with Katsuki last week and your knee had broken. Aizawa had mentioned that while you could have gone to Recovery Girl to get it fixed, it was an injury that didn’t need such urgent recovery and told you to sit out for a few weeks until it healed. 
“take him up?” you asked jokingly to Katsuki. he scoffed, rolling his eyes, “please, he’d lose in seconds,” he responded. you laughed, trying to keep it down as Aizawa told everyone that they were moving to the training grounds to actually fight Mirio.  
Katsuki was about to ask if you wanted help getting to the training grounds but upon that thought, he saw Mirio heading both your way. Katsuki saw your eyes widening, seeing how you got a bit flustered at Mirio approaching you with that contagious smile on his face. 
“hey, you’re ( your name ), right?” he asked excitedly. you nodded, your heart stopping at the fact that he knew who you were, “Mr.Aizawa said you needed help getting to the training ground so here I am !” he exclaimed, “I’d love to help a first year who is in trouble!”
you stood still for a moment, not knowing how to respond him. it wasn’t until Katsuki moved past him, growling in your ear before jogging to catch up to everyone else when you finally payed attention. you looked at Mirio with a shy expression. 
“sure, I’d love help!” Mirio grabbed the work you had been doing and held it to his chest before helping you onto the crutches, “so, you’re THE Mirio Togata, huh?” you said, trying to make conversation. 
Mirio nodded, “the one and only! did you know who I was before hand?” he asked. you shook your head no, “ah, so you’re just assuming I’m popular?” he joked. you gave him a smirk, “or maybe you’re just assuming that I think that?” you replied. 
the two of you started laughing. “but I’ve heard of you before!” he said, “really now?” your eyebrow arched in confusion, “nah, just kidding. the only one who I’ve ever heard of was your classmate Midoriya and how reckless he is out on the field,” you laughed nervously, knowing exactly what he meant by that. 
“yeah, Midoriya sure is a cause of stress for everyone in 1-A to say the least,” you replied, “but he’s going to make a great hero, right along with everyone else in the class,” you added on.
Mirio saw the way your eyes sparkled when talking about your classmates. he could sense that you genuinely believed in all of them. maybe some more than others but he could tell that you weren’t trying to actively put anyone (outside of mineta) down. 
“I bet you’re going to be the best of the class.” 
your could feel yourself stop in your tracks, your crutches accidentally making you trip. Mirio without a second thought caught you, his arms holding you firmly in place. you didn’t dare to look at him, knowing if you did, you would get flustered almost immediately. 
“you okay?” he whispered, “yeah, I’ll be fine!” you said back, limping your way to where Aizawa usually told you to sit. 
you were trying to focus on your work, you really were, but as soon as finally focusing in on the work, Mirio decided to do what he did best, and flex before permeating into the ground. 
“he’s so attractive,” you whispered to the closest person to you, that being Kirishima. he laughed, seeing at how your eyes basically wanted to pop out of your face when you saw him shirtless, “I think you’re supposed to watch them train, not watch Mirio the entire time,” he joked. 
you rolled your eyes, not sensing the glare you were getting from the blond a few feet away. Bakugou had never heard you talk about any of your classmates that way before. yeah, the few side comments about how cute Todoroki was did happen but it was inevitable considering ALL the girls in class thought he was. 
“I mean no disrespect Kiri but is what I would consider manly,” you murmured, not fully realizing what you meant. Kiri looked at you before whispering to you a bit offendedly that he was manly, “I told you I didn’t mean it towards you! I’m just saying, he’s very nice to look at.” 
Bakugou growled, telling the two of you to shut up before going straight into the fray. you stared at Kiri confused, “any reason why he’s so upset all of sudden?” you asked. he shook his head, knowing exactly the reason. 
“wait, I think they need your help,” you told him, pointing out that everyone was either screaming at how quickly Mirio permeated and how no one was able to catch him yet. Kirishima followed Bakugou and ran to try and get Mirio, in which he easily went back into the ground. 
you sat on the bench, not bothering to watch them much afterwards. you were getting ahead on schoolwork which really worked out in your benefit when it came to being lazy as soon as you got to your dorm after classes. it usually meant stuffing your face with snacks or going straight to nap. 
“hiya!” you heard Mirio tell you from the ground. you looked down, laughing at the smile on his face, “all done torturing my classmates?” you asked. he nodded, trying not to permeate to the point where he would flash anyone again. 
“well, I have to go back to class. gotta make sure Iida doesn’t lecture me for being late again,” you told him, grabbing your crutches and seeing Bakugou basically run towards you. “come on, I’ll walk you back to class,” he stated, giving Mirio a look of near hatred before grabbing your things. 
you tried to tell Mirio goodbye but Bakugou didn’t let you, telling you that he wanted to walk behind you to make sure you didn’t fall or anything. you wanted to question him about his sudden attitude change but seeing as how he was just generally upset, you walked back to class in silence. 
“so, did you think they were hard to fight off?” you said, trying to break the silence. Bakugou shrugged, “I guess, not anything I can’t handle,” he said proudly. 
you rolled your eyes, trying to smack him with your crutch. the walk back, you could still sense the awkward tension, however; you were kind of happy that Bakugou wasn’t saying much. your conversation with Mirio was enough to keep your mind occupied. 
he could tell you weren’t even watching what you were doing until he heard Mina scream for you. you stopped your movements, waiting for her to catch up when she save Bakugou a look to basically scram. 
“what the hell do you have to tell her that I can’t hear?” he yelled. Mina gave flipped him the middle finger before turning to talk to you, “Midoriya wanted to let you know that Mirio wants to see you again after classes are done!” she said excitedly, “I think he might have a thing for you, ya know?” she mentioned, poking you side. 
you gave her a hearty laugh, not believing what she was saying. 
“yeah right, what’s next? he’s gonna bring me lunch every day after today?” you said sarcastically. “something wrong Bakugou?” Mina asked. 
not realizing what he was going, he saw that he was releasing small explosions into his hands, “mind your business, pinky,” he screamed, marching into the room, not even seeing that he left you stranded in the hall. 
Mina let out an exasperated sigh, “anyway, he said he’d see you in the first year lockers after class,” she explained, “and you have to tell me how it goes! seeing Mirio suddenly take an infatuation with you is interesting. not every day you see a third year on our floor.” 
you nodded in agreement as she took your book and folder before continuing to walk to class with you. 
once the end of the day came, you could tell that whatever it was that pissed Bakugou off earlier still hadn’t gone away. anytime Kirishima or even Kaminari tried to say something, all they would get is silence or just incoherent screams from him. 
“so, you’re off to see Mirio?” Jirou asked plainly. you nodded as Mina grabbed your bag from you, “I’ll help you with your bag and hopefully Mirio will walk you back to the dorms,” she said wiggling her eyebrows. 
you wobbled your way out of class, not bothering to tell anyone besides the girls goodbye. Kirishima found it odd as you usually would tell Bakugou goodbye or even a ‘i’ll see you later’. 
the hallways were a bit packed to move through them swiftly but eventually, you got to the lockers and saw Mirio talking to a few the students surrounding him. you gave the blond an excited smile, “here ya go Mirio! I assume you’re gonna walk my friend back?” Mina asked rhetorically. 
you stared at the blue eyed boy who instantly grabbed your backpack and slung it around his back, making it seem like a child’s backpack with the way it fit around him. 
“you asked to see me again?” you mentioned, getting tired of the way crutches felt underneath your arms, “these crutches aren’t the most comfortable and it’s getting kind of tiring to stand with them,” you complained. 
“you left your pencil on the bench and wanted to give it back to you,” he said, showing you the glitter purple mechanical pencil. you stared at him, knowing that wasn’t the only reason, “ahhh, I guess you could see right through me, haha. the other reason was that I was wondering if I could get your number? to get to know you some more,” he murmured that last part. 
if there was one thing you had to thank Mina for, it was at how crazy accurate she was with certain things. 
“yeah, that’s fine with me!” you said taking your phone out and giving it to Mirio as he did the same with him. Mirio put his name on the contact like with a heart emoji next to it as you did the same but with a blushing face instead, “but now you’re really going to have to walk me back to the dorms, my arms feel like noodles.” 
Mirio without a second thought, he grabbed your crutches and put them underneath his arm before swinging you behind his back in piggyback mode. you laughed as he carefully pulled on the leg with your broken knee to wrap around his waist, “hold on tight, sweetheart,” he said happily. 
you hit him on the shoulder, telling him to move, “come on Togata, can’t have either of us get into trouble by our advisers for missing something,” you replied.
the walk to your dorms was relatively enjoyable. Mirio making sure that the conversation didn’t die out and you felt as comfortable as possible with you on his back. you gripped onto his upper shoulders as you finally saw a few of your classmates sitting in the grass, studying under the nice weather. 
“hey guys!” you said happily. Mina smirked at you as Momo stared at you, surprise written on her face, “afternoon Mirio. making sure she gets to her dorm safely?” Momo said. 
“of course!” Mirio replied excitedly, “that’s if it’s okay with all of you!” he added on. 
Momo and Mina nodded, telling him it was more than okay. you let him walk into the living space where Sero, Kirishima, and Bakugou were at. 
Bakugou instantly felt himself getting angry at Mirio all over again. it was like he was burning his stare into Mirio as you gave him kind of a dirty look for that. Sero and Kirishima could feel the small tension going on in the room as he watched Mirio help you get your bag onto your back so you could safely enter the elevator, him claiming that he didn’t feel comfortable entering the dorms all the way. 
you quietly told him goodbye, whispering that you’d text him later tonight. 
from that day forward, Bakugou felt the way you were now putting all your attention to Mirio. the way you would leave the dorm on some nights, completely missing your ‘study’ time with him to go hang out with Mirio in the lunch room. 
other times, he would see Mirio waiting for you outside of the class, promptly doing what he used to. Mirio would be holding your favorite coffee and snack, asking you to come to his dorms to study with Nejire and Tamaki. 
you had already gotten extremely friendly with Nejire as she took her place as your cooler, older friend. Tamaki was still getting a bit used to you but he could sense the way you felt about Mirio and vice versa. 
yeah, he had saw Mirio happy all the time but this was different. sometimes, you were all Mirio could talk about. the slightest of things like a purple pen would have him talking about how he still kept the mechanical pencil you had left on the bench when you first met him. 
one Saturday afternoon, you were sitting with Kirishima and Bakugou, having your mid-day coffee as all of you were talking about random things. your conversation was cut short as you saw Mirio’s contact pull up, asking you to Facetime in a few minutes. 
“you and Togata are getting kinda close,” Kirishima said a bit cautiously. you nodded happily, laying your head on Katsuki’s shoulder, “yeah, he’s perfect, honestly. he’s so nice, the sweetest person you’ll ever meet, and to be truthful? I think he might ask me out soon.” 
Kirishima gave Bakugou a quick glance as Bakugou stood as stiff as a bored, seeing your phone go off with Mirio’s Facetime. you got off the chair, basically walking away without saying goodbye to them as they heard Mirio talking to you, a bit too affectionate for Bakugou’s liking. 
+
as class had gotten dismissed for lunch, you saw Mirio walking into the class, making sure Aizawa was no longer there. you gave him a smile, waving at him to come in. 
“hi Miri!” you said, digging for you ID that you needed for lunch. he smiled nervously at you, “I brought you lunch! Nejire helped me with it and was wondering if you’d like to come eat it with us!” he said. 
“of course, lets get going before we’re late,” you said trying to wipe the nervous look off of him. he grabbed your wrist lightly, “I promised Tamaki that if he saw you today, it would be with you being my girlfriend....”
you stood silent for a moment, everyone who was hearing the conversation waiting for an answer, “Mirio,” you whispered, “you dork,” you got onto your tip toes to give him a kiss on the cheek, “yes, yes I will,” you finally answered. 
he laughed, bringing you into a bone crushing hug as he swayed you slightly. what you didn’t know as Bakugou standing in the back of the class, ready to rip everything in close proximity into shreds as he saw Mirio place a playful kiss on your forehead before grabbing your hand and dragging you out of class. 
86 notes · View notes
chemicalpink · 4 years
Text
Trust Fund Baby ♡ Kim Seokjin
Tumblr media
Pairing: Kim Seokjin x reader
Genre: Fluff + Softcore Smut with a side of Comedy
Word Count: 6.1k
Warnings: includes softcore porn, mc cries during sex bc too much feelings, fake engagement, Jin’s mum dislikes YN
Summary: Kim Seokjin is the biggest Trust Fund Baby, it is no secret but he’s almost thirty and on the line to inherit his dad’s CEO position, which makes his family set a deadline for his engagement or he loses it all.
OR
The one where Seokjin is no good with buried feelings but Y/N isn’t any better (they kinda hate each other and they have to share a bed okay, thats the cliche here)
A/N: banner made by me, whoa I finally got this bad boy finished that took quite some time, well, I hope you enjoy, these past few days haven’t been nice to me but I’m slowly working on it. Much blessing to all of you reading this first attempt at a slightly longer shot.
Seokjin has always been one to enjoy the finest things in life, traveling around the world at any given time? check. shopping without checking the price tag? check. attending a top tier university? also check. 
The thing is, one can only live so long without having to actually work for every single swipe of a black card. He is about to turn 28, youngest child of the most successful tech innovator in Korea and a former second-place Miss Universe, and he has yet to bring a girl home that provides him with some kind of secured future to the family name.
“We are not getting any younger” his mother had said the first few times the topic was brought up during their usual family Sunday brunch, but the words fell on deaf ears.
When his dad started getting involved in the matter, Seokjin knew he was over and done with.
But as much as his dad was headstrong, Jin was one himself too, he entered each blind date knowing that he would make whoever was sitting across from him, absolutely despise him after less than an hour went by, which was quite a hard task in itself, seen as he was pretty good looking and with a heavy amount of money under his name. 
See, he would have probably agreed to marry to some of the girls that his dad sent his way, but every time he sat down for dinner with each of them, they were not even trying to fake being interested in him, just his lifestyle, whether it is if his dad was about to name him CEO any time soon or how much money they could blow off in the wedding.
He could do it for the rest of his living days, scaring off his father’s candidates, that is. It was somewhat fun, earning a weirded out look when he mentioned he liked bathing in goats milk religiously, or how he allegedly liked being put to sleep like a baby, he even once went as far as admitting a fake toe kink in the most perverted way possible when one of them just wouldn’t budge.
Then again, his fun could only last so long, as his father called him up to the office to give him a 30-day ultimatum or his trust fund would be taken away for good. Now that had the gears in his head working, how on earth would any sane enough person agree to marry in a month-long time.
“I’m not saying you’re not a keeper, hyung but I honestly don’t think I can take up such a responsibility,” Namjoon laughed as they sat in one of the campus’ lounge chairs while they waited for their class to start, the elder groaned in response.
“Could you imagine having to marry THE Kim Seokjn in less than a month, but also having to meet the standards of tech genius Mr Kim and universal beauty Mrs Kim” Jungkook laughed at his friend as he patted his shoulder in pity “I don’t think anyone is willing to put themselves through it hyung”
“Could you just- I don’t know, help me out a bit? I already know I’m fucked” 
“Okay, let’s say… who could pass the scrutinising judgemental eye of the Kims?” the blond one offered, just a bit of teasing in his tone “They would have to be a girl, your father seems adamant on that one” he paused as if in thought “ A nice family name would help too”
“She would have to be good looking too, my mum says Seokjin-hyung’s mum can never be seen without looking like she is about to own a runway” 
“Well that’s about it, I will be broke for the rest of my life, I won’t be able to pay my student loans, it was nice knowing you guys, I’ll just have to work at some greasy old diner to pay for a one-bedroom apartment somewhere out of the city and we’ll never hang out again because I’ll be a disgrace of society, this handsome face will just wrinkle and spot without the high maintenance and- ugh” he buried his face in between his hands, resting on the table in an overexaggerated manner after his rant, making the youngers try to stifle a laugh
“Whoa, what is the drama queen crying about now?” Taehyung, another friend of theirs approached the table after hearing the not so subtle commotion “Hyung, if your night cream went out of stock again, you know I can get my mum to ship some to you, we’ve talked about this”
If Seokjin’s dramatic outburst from before had made them laugh, Taehyungs’ confession made them burst in a fit of laughter that had both of them holding onto their sides “You’ve- you’ve had to restock Seokjin-hyung on- on night cream before?” 
“And now he’s going to kill me, stop laughing!” he took a seat next to them “What is this about anyway?”
“His dad said he has to marry or they will completely obliterate his spending rights” 
“Oh but, how hard can it be? You’re Kim Seokjin, just ask a girl to fake marry you” 
“He’s just worried that after having a taste of Worldwide Handsome, they won’t let go ” Seokjin let out an overdramatic groan at that, continuing to fake cry, sound muffled by his arms
“Then just ask someone that doesn’t give two shits about your money or reputation to fake marry you”
“I don’t think such a person exists, hyung”
“Yah, Y/N is a good option, her family is filthy rich too” 
“But isn’t Y/N… you know, a bastard child?” Taehyung was known amongst their scene as a social butterfly, not caring about the protocol they were subdued into when they were children, so it made sense that while for them it was almost a rule to never consider an illegitimate child a friend of theirs, Taehyung would just jump over that fact.
“Which is exactly my point, if you show up to your parents’ house, saying you’re ‘oh so in love with this black sheep’ I could bet my life, they’ll let you off the hook”
 So maybe Taehyung was right, you were his best shot so far. Contrary to what most people new to the scene of Korea’s high society believe about your social status as an illegitimate child of the car emporium’s CEO and national treasure, he knows you are more of an insider, having grown up with him but… pretty much on the side. It wasn’t like you were alien to his lifestyle, but as you both grew up and he was involved more in the family business, you had grown apart, going as far as rebelling against your father once you were grown up enough to understand what being a bastard child meant for you. 
He never stopped seeing you around though, once you started going MIA on business dinners and family trips, he thought enough to see you during classes.
However, you stopped being recognisable after he attended a semester abroad, coming back home to see pigtails and pink puffy dresses long gone, in their place, ripped jeans, which were completely unacceptable for a lady, according to his mum, and driving one of your dad’s self-proclaimed archnemesis designs. 
It was a spring semester in high school, he could recall the time as if it were a precious memory, while the rest tried to pretend it had never happened in the first place; at age 27 he doesn’t have to try so hard to recall the way you burst into one of your father’s celebratory cocktails, drunk off your ass, barely managing to get a hold of some mic and screaming into it how he, and everyone else attending the party, had a stick up their asses that didn’t let them see anything but price tags before you were dragged off stage by security. He had giggled at it but his mother had scolded him, asking him to pretend as if you had never existed in the first place.
So of course, the secure way out of an arranged marriage was simple: you. 
Now, this promised to be no easy task, he knew you hated his family almost as much as you hated your own father, but he also happened to know his way into negotiating an infallible plan that would get you to rebel against the system you were so adamant on taking down. 
“Wait wait wait, so you’re telling me, asking me, to marry you” so perhaps approaching you on your way to class wasn’t the smartest way to do it, seen as you halted your hasty walk to turn to look at him, books in hand and looking like you hadn’t slept in days.
“Yeah, fake marrying me though” 
“I would still sign a contract, Jin you do know we would be legally married, right?” he just raised his shoulders as if to dismiss your statement.
“Say, hypothetically I do it, I don’t think your parents would approve of me” you resumed your walk and he found it appropriate to play dumb with a smile on his face.
“Why wouldn’t they?” 
You stopped walking again and blinked a few times his way as if debating inside your head if he really was that dense“Jin… I’m a bastard child, you know how it goes around here”
“Hmmm I’m willing to look past that, yeah” you stared at him for a few seconds before smiling in a knowing way, resisting the urge to roll your eyes at him,  not being able to see past his words to his true intentions on the matter since you two hadn’t really hung out for years “So what do you say?”
“No thank you” you weren’t about to turn around once you started to walk away once again, but out of the corner of your eyes you could see him hanging his mouth open in that drama fashion he was known for.
Days passed and each one seemed to go by faster than the last, by the time two weeks were left, he could practically hear the ticking clock inside his head, reminding him that maybe he should have gone for an easier target, perhaps some girl from the country club that seemed to always try so hard to steal a glance from him. But then again, he wouldn’t get rid of her for all he’s worth.
Seokjin tries, again and again, everytime ending up with a no from you, he starts actually trying as his days run low, peer pressure, you’d call it as he set up a huge booth full of roses just outside your dorm building, a mic held in his hand as everyone around him took videos of THE Kim Seokjin making a fool of himself for a girl, your cheeks blazing red as you walked up to him, finally fed up with him as you angrily whispered to him “You’re asking me because you don’t think I am on your level, you honestly think less of me, why? because I didn’t grow up in a golden cradle like you and your friends? because I actually have to work for what I have? You’re an asshole Kim Seokjin, but I will prove you, I can absolutely charm both of your parents, I’ll do it” Seokjin’s grin taking over his features.
The first time you officially posed as Seokjin’s girlfriend, you wouldn’t have thought it would be one of the most nerve wrecking experiences in your life, having grown in a wealthy family, after your mother decided to leave you with your biological dad and his rightful heirs, you were no stranger to their roundabouts, their lifestyle and everything in between.
“Well you cleaned up nicely, Y/N” Seokjin said in a mocking tone, body resting against his black car just outside your dorm building as he watched you close the glass door, ready to drive both of you to his family’s vacation house all the way in Jeju Island
“Why aren’t you a gentleman and help me with my stuff?” you groaned as, once again, your suitcase betrays you and tries to slip away from your grasp.
“Nah, not really my thing” he adjusted his sunglasses perched on his nose as he mockingly added “...darling”
“Kim Seokjin, I am the one doing you a favour by going with you!” you shouted back at him, in a futile attempt to get him to help you as he was already buckling himself up  inside the driver’s seat.
In all wealthy family fashion, as soon as Seokjin phoned back home to let his parents know that he was ‘finally ready to bring his girlfriend over’ his mum had gone all out and invited most of the inner Kim family for a weekend get together in one of their houses in Jeju, with just a text the night before having to leave campus as a heads up for you to get ready, currently on your way to catch a plane. 
“Wait so let me just get this straight” you said, surprised at Seokjin’s story of how the conversation with his mum went down, turning in your seat to face him more clearly “just after month of your parents trying to set you up, you just went ahead and straight up lied to your mother by saying that you’re bringing your long time girlfriend that you just somehow never mentioned before?”
“Yeah, Y/N, didn’t you hear me out the first time?”
You let out something between a laugh and a scoff as you melted into your seat “We’re so screwed”
Two hours and a lot of bickering later, you are still pushing your own suitcase forward as you and Seokjin made your way to a rented car just outside the airport.
“Listen so- these family things are kinda..”
“Stuck up?”
“I was gonna say etiquette-driven, but yeah, stuck up probably fits best” he said as you buckled your seatbelt on, him beginning to drive away and towards his family address, somewhere from the side of your eye you could see his hand trembling lightly on the steering wheel. Could it be that Kim Seokjin was nervous? The Kim Seokjin? 
“Relax Jin, I know exactly how to handle it. We grew up together, remember?” you said smiling at him as he turned your way for a second; to calm him down, but honestly it was more a thing to try and calm yourself down, having ran away from such a lifestyle, stirring things up in your family, only to end up somehow at the center of it all was sure a wild ride to be on.
“Yeah, I sometimes kinda forget you used to be so much better at this stuff than your sisters” his eyes lingered on you a second too long as you stopped at a red light, a small smile taking over his lips and the car behind you being quick to make it known that Seokjin was taking up too long to start the car going again when the light changed.
The ride was pretty much silent and kinda awkward but soon over with as the car pulled up to a familiar villa, white houses with fancy front gardens and over the top luxury cars lining up together as Jin parked on the third house on the right, just beside the one that used to be your father’s, and probably still was.
A woman was waiting by the entrance door, which you soon recognised to be Seokjin’s mum, looking just a tad older than how you remembered her from all those years ago, a bright smile on her face as she rushed to the driver’s side to greet her son.
“Ah Seokjinnie! You never visit anymore, look at you! Are you eating well? You look so thin!” she said as she placed two sonorous kisses on her son, one  on each cheek.
“Yah, eomma, we talk on the phone a lot though” 
“Wait so who’s the lucky lady you’ve brought home?” you stood kind of awkwardly on the front of the car to greet her with a small bow and a faltering smile, your heart speeding up at the memories of what your life used to be, fingers gripping your bag tighter in an attempt to not run away as soon as her eyes landed on you and her smile fell “Y/N? Seokjinnie, is Y/N really the girl you brought home?”
“Surprise?” Jin said from behind her as she not so subtly let out a huff and entered the house as you tried not to notice how your heart sinked at the sight, surely, you had always known deep down that you were quite the talk of the town amongst the families, with you being a bastard child and all, which was exactly why Seokjin had asked you to pretend to be his girlfriend, so his parents would drop the topic, very much preferring to see his son single rather than married to an out of marriage offspring, which not only made you realise that what you had promised yourself to make Seokjin down his words would never be true, you could never in a million years make his parents love you, and you didn’t calculate just how much it would hurt yourself as you tried.
“You can take the room upstairs, I’ll call you when your sister’s back so we can have dinner together” his mother said as she made her way inside without another word
“So I don’t think your mother likes me” you blurted out as soon as you closed the door to the room “Which I guess, goes exactly as you planned, after this I don’t think they’ll be pestering you to marry”
“Y/N that’s the least of our problems”
“What are you talking about?”
His eyes opened up to emphasize along with his hands dramatically pointing towards the bed “There’s only one bed and I have a bad back so I’m not about to sleep on the floor”
“Well that’s the least you could do Kim, I’m not about to share a bed with you”
“Take the couch?” he said as he pointed to a small couch that faced the window 
“Kim Seokjin I’m doing this much for your sorry ass, so unless you want me to go down and tell your mother that all of this is a set up, you take the damn couch”
“Well I never knew you looked that hot while yelling at me, Y/N”
“You’re insufferable” 
“Y/N come on, I don’t fit in that couch” he whined at you as you walked towards the bathroom to freshen up
“Do as you please Seokjin, but you’re not sleeping with me” 
As if dealing with Seokjin’s mum wasn’t enough, his sister was about to burst your head either from all the questioning or out of spite from the looks she was giving you as you sat across from her on the dinner table
“So Y/N, your sisters never mentioned you dating our Seokjin”
“Oh yeah- it was more of a very private matter, we dated for awhile just to see how it went, right Jinnie?” you said the nickname in a honey dripping voice that fitted the fake scenario you had going on
“Ahh yeah, yeah, Y/N and I, we uh- we like keeping to ourselves”
“And I haven’t seen you at your dad’s company dinners after- well, the incident”
“Seung” their oldest brother said sternly, catching up with her intentions “We’re just glad to see you again, Y/N”
“Thanks”
After dinner, Jin and you walked upstairs saying your goodbyes to the rest of his family to enter the bedroom, separately doing your night routines, you lied on one side of the bed as Seokjin prepped a few blankets and pillows in order to lie on the floor “I was just joking, you know? You could sleep on the other side of the bed” you said, feeling somewhat guilty at how he had taken your past statement as a rule
“I don’t want to make you uncomfortable” he was quick to say, already tossing at being uncomfortable lying on the floor.
“Oh so now you’re being considerate?” you scoffed- sure, Seokjin was kind of a dick, most of the time, but he wasn't half as bad as most people his age and social status, but honestly speaking, if he was so preoccupied on making you uncomfortable, he wouldn’t have even proposed to make you go through this whole ordeal “After what I just had to go through with your sister?”
“Well you kind of accepted to come” he retorted in a soft voice, one you hadn’t listened to him use before, as if over the course of the short dinner time, something had changed in your relationship “A friend doing me a favour, you know?”
“Seokjin…” you trailed off, however as far as you two went back, after news broke that you were somewhat cut off from your father’s heirship, and everyone started treating you cold as ever, you would have thought Jin had gotten the clue “We stopped being friends a long time ago”
“What are you talking about” the night was filled with silence apart from your two whispering voices in the dark as both of you laid there
“Yeah after… that time, we hadn’t talked to each other until now” Describing your relationship with Seokjin was one of the most difficult things to do, while you were still part of the official lineage of your father’s, the Kims had actually even rooted for you to marry Seokjin, whomst you were head over heels at the time, both of you were, but Jin being the good son and heir to a tech emporium, had always disliked the way you stood up against your father and the whole elite thing your families had going on; needles to say, you both completely cut off any strings attached after you proclaimed your despise to the whole wealthy ordeal and you were vanished from your dad’s will. 
“I fail to see your point” and for a second you would have loved to believe his soothing voice in the dark, to still be in friendly terms at least, with him, after all this time.
“Nevermind just- goodnight” you said as you turned on your side to cuddle the pillow in between your arms, his soft voice reaching your ears once more and for the last time in the night.
“Goodnight Y/N”
“I’m just going straight to the point here, Y/N what exactly do you plan on achieving by marrying my son?” Jin’s mother said as soon as you came down the stairs, Seokjin having left the room a while back
“Nothing ma’am, we’re just really in love” something inside you twisting at the lie that could have been truth if things were just a tiny bit different than how they were evolving at the time, the words leaving your lips sounding as the mere truth to your ears nonetheless
“I don’t buy that lovebirds facade, Y/N drop the act now” she turned to look directly at you, trying to sound menacing, which, would have worked, had it not been for you handling her for quite some time now, so you just tried your sweetest smile at her “Whatever you and Seokjin had when you were teens, your father and Seokjin’s father called it off”
“I know” you tried to conceal just how much the reminder hurted, the memories flooding into your mind, of you and Jin being engaged even before meeting each other, the good times you both spent together as friends, a few months as something more, then the lonely nights when it was all over and it had seemed like a dream that just wouldn’t ever come true.
“Just so you know, I’m keeping a close eye on you two” were her last words before leaving the kitchen, off to some other place in the house.
“Yes ma’am”
“Hey, Y/N, we’re heading to the beach you coming?” Seokjin asked as he laid his elbow on the counter, you pull him towards you, taking his hand in your smaller one as you watched his mother closing in on you two from the distance before she set her eyes elsewhere
He leaned in to you, whispering “What was that for?”
“Your mother knows something’s up” you shortly answered
“Y/N, I didn’t know you were coming” Seokjin’s father looked just as he did the last time you saw him years ago, his face contorting into an incredule one as he saw you descend from one of the cars that took you to the beach “Are you and your father on a better place now?”
“Oh no sir, I’m accompanying Seokjin” if he hadn’t believed your presence at first, he surely wasn’t believing the words leaving your mouth; Seokjin’s father had always had a soft spot for you, my hardest working tobe daughter-in-law, he had once said, and even after you and Seokjin’s engagement was called off, mainly by your father even when Jin’s mum said otherwise, his dad had offered you a place in his company’s headboard after you graduated, which you politely denied, knowing that someday, Seokjin would be CEO and you would have to work under his name directly.
“Seokjin? my son?” you nodded “What has Seokjin ever done to deserve you as his fiancee?”
“The same thing I keep repeating myself” you mutter more to yourself than for him to hear
“What was that?”
“Oh, nothing!”
The weekend with Jin’s family was as monotonous as you remembered them to be, with family dinner after a day at the beach, plus the constant scrutinising eye of his mother on you two, which made you both hold hands more than the normal amount a real couple should, only to have to spend the night at a lonely bed.
 “Jin, I’m cold” 
“Well you sure aren’t planning on also taking my blanket from me, you’ve taken my bed already” he joked from his made up bed on the floor, which in hindsight, was probably even colder for him than for you
“Jin”
“No can’t do”
“Come cuddle me then” the words had left your mouth before your brain could even complete to process them, the situation all too familiar from years before, like muscle memory, your brain had just dwelled into a common relationship between the two, too easy to slip away from.
“Ohhh you’re already falling for worldwide handsome” he joked, only you knowing the truth his words hid behind them and you felt your face heat up, somehow deciding against backing up.
“Shut up just-” torn between spilling your “new found” feeling for him that were remains from a past love or keeping it the bare minimum “I’m cold”
“Fine, I’ll be there” he paused, and you knew him all too well to know that he was wearing a stuid grin on his face, wondering if by any chance the innocent banter had a deeper meaning for him too as he added “Almost fiancee”
You could hear a shuffling  of blankets and him throwing his pillows on the bed before he literally jumped on it, whole body hovering over yours, his eyes glistening as they bore into yours as he kept his body weight on his extended hands, a familiar twist in your heart at the distance, his lips on yours in the blink of an eye for less than a second before he rolled off to the empty side of the bed
“What was that for?!” you panicked, not loud enough for anyone to hear but him
“I don’t know it felt right”
As you turned to confront him, the air suddenly didn’t feel as cold as before, a warmth enveloping you both that felt like home, like this place and time was exactly where you were supposed to be all along, your hands coming up to caress the side of his face as his larger ones tugged you closer to him effortlessly without breaking eye contact; both of your faces coming closer to each other, noses brushing against each other before your lips found his, an all too familiar setting for the both of you, everything feeling as if both of your lives had been a movie that had been unwillingly paused and someone had pressed play just as you were close like this, feeling as if all those years apart were nothing when together, his hot tongue lapping your lower lip as you granted him entrance, tongues dancing with one another as time seemed to slow down, a gasp escaping your lips as his cold hand found its way into your pajama pants “sorry, is this okay?” he whispered against your lips, to which you agreed, your own hands scurrying under his top to caress his torso, his lips finding your sweet spot under your ear all too easily, as if he had never forgotten about it, his pants straining by each passing second as you felt him grow harder against your thigh, hand going under the covers to palm him over the fabric, which made him exhale a moan in your ear, feeling yourself grow wetter at the display, all too familiar, yet not enough, you lunged yourself over him to straddle his hips, clothed core rubbing against his covered length in a futile attempt to ease the tension “ah- you’re sure about this, Y/N?” he found himself checking in with you before you both lost yourselves to pleasure “a hundred percent, Jin”.
Seokjin was quick to rid you both of your clothing, both of you grimacing at the cold and giggling about it for a second before you resumed your ways with one another, Jin’s tongue working its way down your body until he reached your folds, eating you out like a man starved, his hand finding yours to grip tight as he went down to business, lapping up your juices and working you to your first quieted orgasm of the night with a questionable experience, were you two to have never broken up in the first place; you quick to turn you both over so you were on top and ready to ride his apparently aching length as soon as he disctrated himself by kissing you post-bliss tasting yourself on his tongue, a smirk forming in his features as he reached on the bed side table to roll a condom on himself, your hands teasing him already as you muttered a “Your parents are in the next room” that was soon answered with a cocky “We shouldn’t let them hear then” before you lined him up with your entrance and slided down on him, hands gripping each other’s as you started working a pleasurable deep pace, moans tangling with the other’s, eyes fluttering shut and a lonely tear rolling down you cheek at all the emotions that you had pent up and were slowly releasing by each thrust as you buried your face on his neck, startling Jin  and making you look down on him to check on you as he noticed you crying “Y/N, are you okay?” he muttered sweetly before kissing your lips in the sweetest form, hips stilling as he was buried deep inside you, him tossing you underneath him, angling his hips better and taking over a more passionate pace, plump lips kissing away your falling tears, as if knowing that they were caused by something bigger than the both of you “God you’re so beautiful” he said as his pace became erratic “Come with me please, Y/N” whether his words or the newly found position as he pulled a leg over his shoulder, hitting all the right spots, worked you to your second orgasm, followed by him spilling in the condom, would remain a mystery as he was quick to dispose the used condom and clean both of you as you edged on sleep, his naked torso colliding with your bare back as he cuddled you.
“What are they doing here?” You muttered under your breath as Jin leaned into your frame, your right arm intertwined with his as you both rounded the corner to greet the guests that Jin’s mother had so carefully selected for the engagement party
“What? Who?” his eyes scanned the room rapidly 
“My father and- Seoyun and Junghee” his free hand rested on top of yours in an attempt to let you know he was there for you, having witnessed first hand all the history between you and your family and mentally cursing his mother for playing you so dirty
“Shit”
“Seokjin I can’t keep doing this” you turned to him, eyes panicked and wide on the verge of tears, his mind racing a hundred miles per second in search for the right words that would make you stay, he had already lost you before, and even though things didn’t quite turned out the way he had planned, he wasn’t about to let you slip away again “I can’t face them again, after all they’ve put me through, Seokjin, they took away my dreams just because I wouldn’t pace around like the rest of them,  this is your life, not mine I’m so sorry” you had ran out of his grip and out the door before his brain could even begin to process it, blinking a few too many times before he called out to you 
“Seokjinnie! What’s taking you so long?” his mother had gathered the guests in the garden for the grand entrance of the newly announced engagement, tired of being kept waiting, walking up to him
“I’m so sorry eomma, I’ll- I just- I have to go” in his mind he was already out the door looking for you, had it not been for his mother’s hand on his bicep keeping him on place and turning him to look at her
“Kim Seokjin, we get it. Your father and I will wait until you find a girl to marry, one that suits you well” Seokjin’s mother was sure a woman that could not be fooled, but this one time perhaps it was Jin that had been fooled by himself on letting himself get close to you and fall in love all over again, just the way it happened all those years ago, just the way it was supposed to be
“That’s what you don’t get mum, I’ve already found the one” 
“Y/N? Jinnie, Y/N is not part of our world, you know it” 
“Then I want to be part of hers. I don’t care if you take my trust fund, take everything, I’ll build myself up, just like she did all those years ago and all of us, we all turned our backs on her, I want to be there for her, like it should have been from the start” he would have loved to record the incredulity in his mother’s eyes as she let her arms fall to her sides defeated, the first time Kim Seokjin had fail to complied with his mother was about none other than in an engagement matter.
Truth be told, you couldn't go far, there was no possible way you could just run home all the way from Jeju Island, but somehow seeing your tear stained face as you slumped over an old set of swings that he now recalled, you two used to go to back in the day, had his heart filling up, butterflies roaming his tummy
“...Jin” you exhaled his name, his mind quickly recalling the night before, how your eyes spilled love all over, how the past days watching you go on your daily routine alongside him, had him imploding with the purest kind of love
“Y/N? Listen I-” he began, a thousand words tangled in his mind waiting to be released
“I don’t think I made it”
“Made what?”
“Your parents to like me” a smirk appeared in his features as his hand came up to caress the side of your face lovingly
“Well you certainly made me like you” he said, close enough to your lips that you could have sworn both of your breaths mixed into one
“I don’t think you ever stopped liking me” a mirroring grin traced your lips before you leaned in to kiss him, whatever the path you two were once destined to walk, it was all different now, whatever turns it may take the only sure thing was that you two would walk it down together after all those years apart. 
Plus, technically speaking, Jin’s trust fund should remain intact since he found a wife in less than a month’s time, and you could always ask his dad for that place in the company he was always talking about.
352 notes · View notes
oyesmendes · 4 years
Text
all i wanted was a happy ending
a/n: it’s been a hot minute hasn’t it???? anyway, summer’s ended and we’re in the new semester which is #tragic because im still doing online school and i barely see my friends. but ya here’s one that’s been sitting in my inbox for awhile, probably gna get yelled at bc its an angst piece but yknow what? suCK IT jk i hope you enjoy as always, leave me a message!!
Tumblr media
trigger warning: mention of cheating, general angst and a couple of baby swears
It felt like a war in her own home. Hurtful words shot like bullets through the wreckage. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Shawn and Kiara were supposed to be happy. But somehow through the year long world tour, señorita and the fourth album, they seemed to have lost their way. Date nights were reduced to once a month, and nights in were converted to screaming matches and cold wars. Every moment spent together was a battle against each other, tonight was no different. Shawn doesn’t even remember what the argument was about anymore, they were now just pulling shit out from the past to use as their ammunition.
“Don’t pin this on me, Kiara.”
“I never pinned it on you, Shawn. I’m just stating facts that are known to the whole world. Don’t tell me you don’t see those rumours about you and Camila? And don’t tell me they aren’t true.” She grimaces at the way Camila’s name rolls of her tongue, and the way that her thick Mexican accent starts to peak out when she’s mad.
“They’re not true.” He tries to defend. Kiara scoffs, taking a couple steps away from Shawn.
“Everyone knows you’ve had a thing for her since you were a literal child, Shawn. Don’t need to treat me like an idiota.”
“I wasn’t treating you like an idiot.” Shawn seethed.
“Then tell me the truth!”
“That is the truth, Kiara! I love you, and not her! Why can’t you just believe that we’re just friends?”
“Because I’m not a cabrón. Friends don’t look at each other like that! I recognise the way you look at her, Shawn. It’s the same look you gave me when we first started dating. When you and her had that awkward phase and she was barely in your life, you gave me that look - like I was the most important thing in the world to you.” The part comes out like a whisper and she feels her heart physically break. Shawn watches Kiara walk the borders of the room, eyes fixated on the lines of the tiles on the floor. He wants to stop her from pacing, hold her close so he can stop his mind from racing a thousand miles an hour. But he doesn’t. Instead he keeps his feet planted to the ground, body slumped in defeat as he just watches her.
“You are the most important thing in the entire world to me, honey.” Tears prick at her eyes when he uses her pet name. Kiara knows why this fight started even if Shawn didn’t. It has been a storm that was brewing inside of her for weeks. She had seen an article of Shawn and Camila cozying up on each other when he was away on tour. She didn’t think much of it at first, trusted Shawn with her whole heart. But after more rumours spread and some of her friends asking if she was okay, Kiara finally had enough. A thunderstorm ensued, and it was in no way relaxing for either of them.
“Am I really?” Kiara finally looks up at him, and he nods so eagerly that for a moment she thinks she shouldn’t bring the article up. But the anger makes her hands work faster than her mind, scrolling through her phone to the article her best friend had sent her a couple weeks ago. It was a picture of Camila, with her legs wrapped around Shawn and passionately kissing him on the streets of Nashville. She feels the bile rise in her throat looking at the picture again. He could say that the picture was blur as hell, but anyone who knew them would know that the head of luscious brown locks belonged to Shawn.
“Then explain to me, Shawn. What is this?” She shoves the phone shakily into his hands and he feels his heart plummet to his feet. When he doesn’t respond, Kiara nods her her head and looks at him in disappointment.
“Yeah, I thought so too.”  
“I-I wanted to tell you and-“ Shawn scrambles to find the right words, though at this point his efforts seem to be futile.
“When Shawn? When did you want to tell me? Because this picture has been sitting in my phone since the night it happened. I’ve tried so hard to push it out of my mind, and amor I’ve really tried. I didn’t want to give myself a reason to ever use it. But you- you picking fights, and in between tour and the fourth album - we’re no longer the same anymore, and I can’t help but think that this is the reason.” Shawn drops the phone to the table, approaching Kiara and touching her arm. She flinches, moving away from him.
“Don’t.”
Shawn drops his arms to the side.
“Mila was my first real love, Ki.” The way both hers and Camila’s nicknames roll off his tongue so easily in the situation makes Kiara’s stomach churn. He runs his fingers through his hair and continues, “She used to be my world - but that was the past. And that photo, we just haven’t seen each other in awhile and we got really excited so she-“
“So she jumps on to you like you’re her chico amante at the airport? So she kisses you like she’s your fucking girlfriend? That’s some top notch bullshit, Shawn. I thought you’d try harder than that.”
“If you would just let me explain-”
“If you haven’t noticed, there’s nothing left to explain.”
Kiara turns on her heel towards their shared bed room and Shawn’s following closely behind her.
“Don’t walk away from this, Kiara Anne!” In the heat of the moment he raises his voice and Kiara stops dead in her tracks, almost making Shawn crash straight into her.
“You have no right to tell me what to do, Shawn Peter Raul Mendes. You lost your rights ever since that night. I gave you weeks to come clean, to tell me the truth. Instead, you choose to pick fights in every possible situation.” She pokes his chest with her finger when she so desperately wants for someone, for him, to hold her. She wraps her arms around her torso in replacement, willing her tears not to fall.
“All I wanted was a happy ending, Shawn. All my life, I just wanted a happy ending. It didn’t need to be a fairytale happily ever after bullshit, I just wanted to be happy with someone who loved me. I thought it would be with you.” Kiara backs up against the wall, her head tilted back. “Guess the jokes on me huh?” She let’s out a humourless laugh.
“I’m so sorry, honey.” Shawn rubs her arm. She doesn’t move from her spot, and she’s given up on holding back her tears. When her eyes meet Shawn’s, she’s pushing his arms off hers and squirming her way out from the small space between them. Kiara turns to look at him again, and this time the words that spill from her mouth are laced with pain,
“Sorry doesn’t fix anything.”
169 notes · View notes
zukkaoru · 2 years
Text
i was tagged by @verdanthoney @girluncle and @rejectscanon to do this end of year fic ask game and i did Not have the brainpower to do it last night so we are doing it now! ty for the tags!! <3
how many stories did you complete?
38 that have been posted on ao3.. i also have a couple fics floating around on tumblr from ask prompts and at least one fic that's done but not posted. and i wrote a couple original stories for my fiction writing class this past semester,, i don't think that's healthy but let's just move on
what are you most proud of accomplishing?
definitely finishing this ultraviolet morning light!! it's the longest fic i've completed and technically most of it was written in 2020, but i did finish it this year so i'm counting it. also though. writing all of where fire & ice collide in one day was pretty impressive and i still don't know what possessed me to be able to accomplish that. just the spirit of zukka week i guess
what is your total word count for the year?
328,307 posted on ao3. i don't feel like going and adding all of the word counts of other stuff i wrote this year that's not on ao3 but also i'd guess ~60k-70k of that was written in 2020 bc like i said, tuvml was mostly written in 2020 so maybe those two things will cancel out and that number actually is accurate
which fandoms did you write for this year?
atla, tlok, sk8, and jjk!! also i finally finished the no good nick fic that i started back in 2019 lol
did you write more, less, or roughly about what you expected?
Definitely more!! I wanted to beat my ~139k words posted on ao3 last year but um. i was literally aiming for 140k minimum posted on ao3. not well over 300k. so yeah definitely wrote way more than i expected
what's your favorite story of the year?
i mean tuvml is still my baby but like. it's so hard to pick a favorite,, i'm gonna copy nellie and pick my top five (excluding tuvml)
(in no particular order) some things just make sense, my twisted knife // my winless fight, of all the stars, the fairest, a little bit of you & a little bit of me, i know i've kissed you before
what is your most underappreciated story of the year?
probably a little bit of you & a little bit of me but i knew that one wouldn't be read by very many people when i started writing it lol like,, it's a gen fic centered around a character who doesn't even have a common [character]-centric tag on ao3, it's over 19k words long, chock-full of niche headcanons, and very much just me projecting onto jinora. but i did pour my blood sweat and tears into it, barely managed to finish it in time to get it up before the technical end of the extended time to post fics for atla gen week, and somehow wrote it while also working full time this summer. and also writing that was what made me sort of accept that not only am i nonbinary, but i'm nonbinary enough to claim that label, so it's very special to me
biggest fanfic-related disappointment of 2021?
well i really wanted to finish both sweeter than sugar and show them the way before the end of the year but. that did not happen. and also my ask box is still full of prompts that i wanted to write more of before the end of the year😬 (i am still planning to work on them!! i just. had and still have other stuff i'd like to finish first)
something you look forward to working on in 2022?
sweeter than sugar and show them the way obviously. also the prompts sitting in my ask box. and i have a sequel oneshot to my twisted knife // my winless fight i want to finish. i also just started a stsg fic that i really really want to finish, but it's going to be a longer one, so i have no idea when (or if) that will end up being posted. i have tons of other ideas and half-written fics that i'm wanting to work on this year too!! plus my atla 18+ reverse bang fic is um. finished. but rough and needs editing so i'm hoping that will be posted soon!! also there are a couple fan weeks i want to write stuff for coming up,, (atla side character week + geto week) but whether or not i'll have time remains to be seen
uhhh idk who has and hasn't been tagged already, so if you want to do this and you haven't been tagged, i'm tagging you <3
6 notes · View notes
orionwhispers · 4 years
Text
Perfect Places // Steve Harrington
Tumblr media
(A/N - yep. this isnt peaky, i know. im taking a little breather so i dont completely burn out writing tommy, but trust me i have 3 wips for him coming soon!! i dont know if any of you guys will like this bc its stranger things and thats ok!! i just had a blast writing it and i love steve and it really challenged me. pls let me know if u like it!! stay safe my loves xxx)
warnings - angst but also so much fluff your teeth will rot 
You felt like the moon was mocking you.
It loomed overhead, round and full and beautiful, the colour of purity and innocence, a beacon of light contrasting against the ink coloured sky. Your face was red hot, streaked with tears that dripped down your nose and collarbone and into your shirt, staining you with sadness that you could feel clawing under your skin.
You were sat on the Byers’ front porch, the sneakers you had once kept so pristinely clean were now caked in mud, your socks soaked through. You felt numb, you ached for something; a familiar lash of anger or heartache, anything to make you feel human again, but you just felt numb.
You could hear clattering from inside the house, low murmurs of voices and whispers tangling together, but you blocked them out like it was just white noise. The steady hum of those you loved and trusted brought some comfort, but that was instantly replaced by longing for the one person who deserved to be there, the person who deserved to still be alive.
You had been ecstatically high on adrenaline, you were terrified but vivacious as you helped bundle your boyfriend and the kids into Hoppers’ car as he raced past the Laboratory’s gates. You remembered the feeling of Steve’s hands around your waist as he pushed you into the back, flustered and protective, determined to get you away from any danger.
You should have said something.
You knew something was wrong, but you kept quiet. The air in the car was thick and dense like smoke, and Hopper was covered in crimson coloured splotches, you noticed the way he didn’t look at you, instead keeping his eyes focused on the road ahead. You should have said something, should have asked where your Uncle was, should have demanded an answer, but instead you pushed those thoughts away and watched the road through the windshield until your vision went blurry, Steve’s thumb soothingly rubbing over the top of your hand.
You knew he felt it too.
It was only when you reached the driveway of the Byers bungalow, feet moving on autopilot, tearing through the front door and seeing Joyce waiting for you, tears running down her face as she pulled you into her chest, did you realise the immensity of the situation. You let out a wail that could rival a demogorgon, sinking down into the coarse fabric of her hospital gown, her hands clambering across your frame, desperate to offer any comfort she could.
Steve was beside you in an instant, gripping your elbows to stop you falling onto your knees and onto the shag carpet, cradling you into him like a child. He felt so helpless, not knowing how to ease your pain, words getting stuck in his throat like cotton balls as he watched the girl he loved shatter into pieces. One look at his familiar face contorted in torment and it set you off again, coughing and spluttering like you were drowning in your tears. You pushed the consolatory hands off of you harder than you had intended, feeling suffocated and in desperate need of some form of relief. You were no good to anybody like this, you needed to wallow in your grief alone, Joyce had bigger problems and you refused to drag her down under with you.
You stumbled towards the front door, murmuring “I need some air.” You sank into the darkness like it was an old friend, wrapping your arms around yourself as your head throbbed and pulsed. You let the cold air hit your bare skin and fell to the ground, knees to your chest and silent screams leaving your throat.
Steve ran forward to be by your side, but Hopper pulled him back by the hood of his jacket, a large hand consoling your distraught boyfriend, “Let her go kid, give her a minute.”
He gave you five.
Watching the hands tick away meticulously on the clock above the fridge, he flexed his fingers and allowed the slow and steady noises to keep him grounded. He loathed the idea that you were outside alone, beautiful face covered in tears, heartbroken and shattered. Not only that but the knowledge that those things could be looming in the woods waiting to sink their teeth into you was driving him mad with paranoia. The only thing stopping him from pulling you inside where he could safely watch you was the unwavering concern that not letting you grieve would do more harm than good, so he settled for watching you through the window, hands clamped around his trusty bat - just in case.
————————————————————
You were sure you had run out of tears. Exhausted and dehydrated, you buried your head in the palm of your hands, desperate to stop the mind numbing pain at the back of your skull. The trees rustled gently, olive coloured leaves glinting under the stars. You wondered what could be lurking inside of the forest, but you were too drained to care.
You heard the door creak behind you, but relaxed at the familiar weight of Cortez’s against the soft wood.
“Hey.” His voice was soft, almost timid. Sounding so foreign coming from his mouth, so cautious and kind that it almost made you start crying all over again. He paused momentarily, before inhaling and sitting down beside you, his long legs awkwardly bent, his back starting to ache, but he couldn’t care less. You both sat in a comfortable silence for a minute, unsure how to break down the barrier that was forming between you. Your hazy eyes lingered on the T-shirt’s and sweaters dangling from the Boyce’s washing line, sleeves swaying with the movement of the wind, almost as if there was an invisible person dancing inside.
Steve was the first to break the silence. He usually was, his quick wit and smooth demeanour had been one of the reasons you had fallen for him in the first place, the only person you had ever met that could make you melt into a puddle and then cry with laughter with just a few sentences.
“How you holding up?” He faltered, picking angrily at a loose thread hanging from his denim jeans. “That was a stupid question, I’m sorry.”
You didn’t trust yourself to form words just yet, but you tilted your head as much as you could muster, communicating with your boyfriend in that nauseating way that only the both of you understood, except this time it felt sour instead of sickeningly sweet.
You crunched a stray leaf under your shoe, mulling over the sound as it tore under your heel. “It doesn’t feel real.” You muttered finally, biting your lower lip with your front teeth, letting the pain stop your tears. “I keep expecting to see his face, his stupid goofy grin.” You smiled gently, “I keep waiting for him to turn up and say it’s all a prank, but I know he won’t, he’s too kind for that.”
“He was the nicest person I’ve ever met.” Steve said truthfully, “He was a good guy.”
Was. Three words that swam around your head and tangled your stomach into knots and you choked on the thickness in your throat. The strangled groan was so heartbreaking that Steve wanted to tear apart the things that did this to you with his bare hands, but instead he pulled you closer with them, clasping you against his chest.
He let you cry, he let you ruin his t-shirt and cover him in your mascara and wet, hot tears. He would let you bawl into everything he owned, even his prized The Clash shirt or limited edition Charlies Angels sweater that was buried in the back of his wardrobe - he would give it all to you, to stain and rip and ruin, if it meant you had at least one moment of solace.
Under the beautiful navy sky littered with stars, Steve sighed, wishing he knew what to say. He wished that he was as articulate as Nancy, or as strong as Hopper, he’d even take being as soft spoken as Jonathon, if he knew it would make you feel better. But you hadn’t fallen in love with any of them, you had fallen in love with him and he was going to do everything in his power to try and make his girl hurt a little less. So he tried to distract you.
“Do you remember our first date?” He said, breaking the silence, his eyes focusing on the branches of a tree swaying in the distance.
He heard you sniffle, felt the rise of your head under the palm of his hands. If you were surprised by his question you didn’t show it. “How could I forget?”
He smiled, thinking back to the day, over two years ago. If he thought hard enough he could almost relive the gut twisting anxiety and the sweat pooling on the nape of his neck as he pulled up to your house. The two of you had been friends forever, bound since the day you both shared peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in the playhouse in kindergarten. But you both started naturally drifting apart around the end of middle school, settling onto different paths as you grew up, only really seeing each other in the hallways or at the back of the school bus.
By the time you both entered high school, Steve was completely swept up with basketball and his newfound popularity, and you were settling into your own friendships and trying to stay on top of your grades. You rarely saw one another, but by chance the two of you were paired as lab partners one semester in sophomore year, and soon science became his favourite subject. Seeing you became the highlight of his day, better than scoring a goal in basketball or cutting class with Tommy and Carol. It was as if no time had passed between the two of you, the conversation so easy and genuine, and he made it a personal challenge to have you in stitches by the time the bell rang.
He fell hard, and fast. He had always thought you were beautiful, even when you were just kids and you wore your hair in two braids and seemed to always be covered in glitter. There was just something about you, an ease and a lightness that you carried, something about your smile and sound of your laugh that had him stumbling over his sentences like an idiot. He liked hearing about all of the things he had missed, like how you got grounded for sneaking out of your room to go and watch the new Star Wars, or how you crashed your dads car into a tree the very first hour after you got your license.
It wasn’t long before he realised that his day didn’t feel complete unless he had spoken to you. He started noticing how every game he searched for your face in the bleachers, the only person he really cared about seeing. His eyes would flicker over faces at parties, determined to find your sparkling eyes and kind smile, finding the hit of seeing you more electric than the cheap beer and fizzled out joints being passed around him.
He was nervous. He didn’t get nervous - he was Steve Harrington for Christ’s sake, but somehow you had managed to turn his whole world on its axis. He tried to live his life with as little regrets as possible; but in the quiet of his bedroom, with the moonlight casting shadows across his walls, he couldn’t help but feel furious with himself. If he could go back in time and do everything all over again, he would make sure to hold onto you as tight as possible and stop the two of you drifting apart.
He wasn’t stupid, he knew you were a knockout. The kind of girl that would bring even the strongest of men to their knees, the kind of girl that lingered in his brain long after he had fallen asleep. He also knew that he wasn’t the only one who had been completely captivated by you. He had seen the way Mike Adams cornered you after the school assembly, laughing at something you said as you sat with a group of friends, an enamoured look in his eye. He saw the way Jacob Taylor tried his hardest to get as close to you as possible at a house party, dazed by the way you twirled your hair obliviously and smiled like white, hot sunshine.
He knew what they were going through, smitten and stupid and dopey and practically a puddle at your feet, because he felt exactly the same way.
He was going to ask you out to dinner and then the movies. He had an elaborate speech planned in his mind, one that he had practiced in the mirror repeatedly - not that he would ever admit it. He was nervous. So goddamn nervous of screwing up the one thing that he really fucking liked, of potentially ruining your friendship and making himself look like an ass for misreading the signals and making you uncomfortable that he almost talked himself out of it as he walked into the physics lab one rainy afternoon.
But when he saw you there, looking up at him. As sweet as cinnamon in your oversized lab coat and stupid goggles, lips slightly chewed and fingertips stained with charcoal, and he couldn’t stop himself from blurting:
“Doyouwanttogooutwithme?”
For a moment he wished he took photography class, so he could snap a picture of the blush on your cheeks, have a physical copy of your wide smile and the glint in your eyes; something to look at when he was trying to fall asleep.
“About time, Harrington.” You had said, and it had knocked all of the wind from him, and he had walked around with a big goofy grin for the entire rest of the day.
————-————————————————
“I remember being so goddamn nervous. I thought I was going to throw up.” He said now, his voice laced with humour, somehow always knowing how to diffuse any situation.
You curled up further into him, craving his stability and warmth, and you relaxed as you felt his palm rubbing comforting circles across your back.
He looked into the darkness, remembering the anxiety filling him as he waited for you on the street by your house. He remembered peering into the rear view mirror, fluffing the edges of his hair with his fingertips, twisting and pulling the strands until they sat where he wanted. He could feel his leg shaking, foot hovering above the gas as he struggled to keep his composure. He hadn’t even been this nervous when college scouts came to a game, and he seriously needed to stay cool before you opened the door and saw him.
“You brought me flowers.” You said quietly, and he looked down at you with a gentle smile, his heart clenching at the sadness in your voice.
He remembers standing in the grocery store, cursing and muttering under his breath, wondering what was more romantic: tulips or sunflowers.
He bought both.
He can remember holding them in his shaking hands as carefully as he could as he walked up the stone path to your house.
“I had to talk myself into ringing the doorbell.” He felt you scoff under him and he laughed,
“Seriously! I was terrified, more scared than I was tonight.”
Its a lie. Running through the junkyard and fighting off strange monsters had been exhilarating, but also the most terrifying experience of his life; especially when he knew that the kids and you were just metres away, hidden in the old bus. He really thought he was about to die when the demodog reared and snarled in his face, teeth gnashing at his throat, but in those moments all he could think about was protecting you.
It’s strange, he had never been so terrified to lose someone.
“And then Bob opened the door.” Your voice was heavy and thick, like you were swallowing honey and it snapped him out of his thoughts, reminding him of the reason you were both huddled outside.
Your parents worked ninety percent of the time, only really coming home to crawl into bed and then driving back to work six hours later. You were used to it though, falling into a somewhat stable routine of eating TV dinners and doing your homework to the sounds of Jeopardy! playing in the background. Despite the lonely nights and your parents distance, there was always one person who tried their absolute best to make you feel safe and secure. Your uncle, Bob Newby.
The goofy, gold hearted manager at RadioShack was always there for you, especially whenever your parents weren’t. He always made sure your refrigerator had something green inside, and would come over after work to sit and watch cheesy rom coms with you. He even installed new locks and security lights in the yard and on the porch, just to make you both feel better, even though it was Hawkins - and nothing ever happens there.
He was basically a surrogate dad and your best friend, and you weren’t even embarrassed to admit it. Some of the happiest nights of your life had been with him, like when you went to the midnight viewing of The Godfather and shared toffee popcorn and cherry twizzlers, or when he drove you to Lake Michigan for your birthday and you ate sandwiches next to the water.
So when he found out the captain of the basketball team had asked you out on a date, he was a little apprehensive.
“He really grilled me.” Steve muttered with a sad smile, it hurt him that one of the most poignant moments of his life was now to be covered in a thick, black cloud, and he could only imagine what you’re going through. “I thought he was going to pull out a shotgun.”
“Psh. It would have been a lightsaber.”
You remembered shovelling in cereal at the breakfast bar the morning of your date. Bob watching you over his steaming mug of coffee curiously.
“So… Any plans for today?”
You rolled your eyes and smiled fondly at your uncle. “Steve is taking me out. This is only like the billionth time I’ve told you.”
He nodded, “Right, Right. Steve. Steve.” He tested the name on his tongue. “And Steve is - the captain of the basketball team right?”
“Yep.” You said, through a mouthful of sugar. “Oh, and he’s the leader of this really tough biker gang, to get in you have to murder three kittens.”
You watched his eyebrows shoot to his hairline, and then slowly fall back to their original spot when he caught on to your teasing. He held up his hands in playful surrender, taking a swig of his drink and then placing his mug on the granite counter.
“I know I’m being a fusspot! But I’m just looking out for you.”
“I know, Bob! But I’ll be fine! We’re just going to catch a movie and then dinner.”
“Ok.” He sighed, turning to wash up the dishes left from the previous nights pig out fest, but his hands stilled before he could twist the faucet. “Wait! Nothing R rated - or too romantic, and tell him to knock it off if he tries that whole ‘I’m so tired, let me put my arm around you schtick!’”
“I’m ignoring you now!”
You remembered getting ready, picturing the soft blush hue of your summer dress, and the taste of your strawberry gloss on your lips. You remembered the heat of your curling iron as you meticulously styled your hair, checking your reflection as a way to distract from the minutes ticking by.
You knew the familiar feeling of sweaty palms and butterflies before a date, but that morning it was as if somebody had realised a kaleidoscope of monarchs and swallowtails inside of you. You were completely nauseous, but so excited, and you felt like you were floating on cloud nine, unable to believe that Steve Harrington - the boy you had been crushing on since first grade - wanted to take you out.
You were nervously touching up your makeup, widening your eyes and applying yet another coat of mascara, when you heard commotion downstairs - and the telltale sound of your date getting completely grilled. You practically flew to your feet, haphazardly tying your converse and grabbing your purse, hoping to save Steve from the clutches of your overprotective Uncle. You nearly slid down the carpet when you noticed the door was ajar, smiling widely at the sight of Steve clutching two bouquets, his hair perfectly coiffed and his sneakers white and gleaming.
“- No I’ve never been in an accident, Sir.” You heard Steve say, his voice carrying through the hallway.
“Hmm?” You heard Bob reply, “And what about alcohol? Do you drink it?
“Only eggnog at Christmas.” Steve replied with a grin, his lips falling down when Bob sent him a glare. “Ok, not in the mood for jokes.”
“Are you under the influence now?”
“What? No! Why would I… Wow.” He faltered when he noticed you at the top of the stairs, and for the first time his mind went totally blank, his brain short circuiting at the sight of you. He felt his mouth go dry and he struggled to say something, not wanting to look like any more of an idiot than he already was, but Bob got there first.
“You look great, sweetheart.” He said, voice brimming with pride.
You blushed a deep crimson, feeling awkward under both of their stares. “Thanks, Bob.”
As soon as you reached the floor you blinked up at the men watching you, raising a brow slowly when Steve didn’t move. “So are you ready?”
“Yep. Yes. Yep.” He said quickly, rummaging around his pockets for his keys, and then realising they were in his hands the whole time. “Lets go.”
“Be home before eleven!” You heard Bob yell, his words just carrying into the night before you managed to slam the front door shut.
After the initial awkward meeting at your door, and Bob shooting unconvincing daggers at Steve as he guided you towards his car, the rest of the date went smoothly. You had been out with boys before; middle school crushes that took you to the ice cream parlour in town, and letting your best friend rope you in for a double date with a boy you had never met - but nothing like this.
As the car lulled through the streets, any unease forming quickly uncoiled between the two of you, and it wasn’t long until you were both in stitches. It felt so natural and easy, and you found yourself wanting to know everything about the hazel haired man sitting next to you.
You ate at a diner just outside of town, because according to Steve: “they have the best strawberry milkshakes - ever. I swear they’re like crack.”
“I’ll believe it when I see it, Harrington.” You had said, shooting him a million dollar smile over your shoulder. He was glad that you walked in first, because it felt as though a bullet had soared through his gut.
——————————————————————-
“I remember the milkshakes.” You said. Steve looked down at you, curled up on his lap. He nodded at your words, thinking of summer days and winter nights snuggled up in your booth at the diner. You must have shared hundreds by now, drinking such an obscene amount of the sweet treat it was a surprise neither of you looked like a strawberry. You had ruined the fruit for him. He couldn’t take a bite from a strawberry without remembering the taste of your lips or the sound of your laugh, it was conditioned into him like he was one of Pavlov’s dogs. But he would be lying if he said he didn’t love it, strawberries had become his favourite fruit.
“I told you those milkshakes were great.”
“Yeah, you did.”
He could feel you wobbling under him, could feel the heart wrenching tremor of your body starting to shake with tears and he swore internally, trying his best to distract you again.
“And then we watched Ghostbusters.”
You let out a half hearted laugh. “And you almost shit yourself when you saw Slimer.”
“He popped up outta nowhere!”
“And then you spilt popcorn everywhere.”
“Yeah, that old lady was pissed.” He clicked his tongue at the memory, crumbs and melted butter flying everywhere, the entire row in front covered in his mess and glaring at you both, you laughing so hard into your sleeve you thought you might just pass out.
“And then I drove you home - way before curfew I might add - because I’m a gentleman.”
“And then you kissed me.”
“I think you’ll find you kissed me.”
“Ha.You wish.”
It felt good to hear the bite back in your voice, and it warmed him like a zap of electricity that his plan of distraction was working.
Besides, it was partly true - you had kissed him first.
That night as he pulled into your driveway, his gut felt like a huge boulder inside of him. There was nothing more that he wanted then to lean over the console and kiss you, but he was too goddamn nervous.
The date had gone so brilliantly, and he could feel himself, tripping, stumbling and falling completely head over heels for you, but he was so uncharacteristically anxious that it was kind of freaking him out. He was getting all worked up about things he had never thought of before, like his teeth clashing against yours, or accidentally knocking your heads together and giving you a mild concussion.
He left his car running, because he didn’t want you to be cold, (and the constant vibrations were good at hiding the tremor in his legs). It was fully black outside, the night sky a long stretch of navy and the stars were pretty but not nearly as pretty as the girl smiling at him in the passenger seat. Just as your eyes connected and he thought he was going to finally kiss you, the porch light turned on, a nice little reminder from Uncle Bob that he was still watching. You laughed exasperatedly and reached over, filling the distance between you as you tried to grab the strap of your handbag and Steve leant over to give you a hand with the sticky door, but instead your lips caught his and he froze in place, his eyes closed and his heart feeling like a jackhammer in his chest, all of his worries evaporating behind him like ocean spray, because suddenly everything felt right.
“Night, Harrington.” You had said smugly, leaving him in his car that suddenly smelt like cotton candy and coconut shampoo, and with an entire carnivals worth of fireworks erupting from his stomach.
————————————————————
“When I got inside he pretended he had just woken up.” You said now, your words coated with tears but laced with tenderness. “Tried to act like he wasn’t staring through the window watching us kiss.”
Steve tangled his fingers through your hair, anchoring the two of you together, hoping that the small action would give you at least some comfort. He mulled over all of the memories the two of you shared, picturing them shattered at his feet like shards of shimmering glass. He wasn’t sure how to comfort you and it hurt, the silence settling around you like thick, poisonous gas.
“What about our first anniversary? The first time we committed a felony.”
“It wasn’t a felony.”
“Yeah and I’m sure it wasn’t the first time either, you little criminal.”
He remembered when you went out to a much too fancy restaurant in the city. How angelic and beautiful you looked in a little sundress and heels, stealing the breath right out of his lungs whenever he looked at you. How even when he was out of his comfort zone you felt like home, always making him feel stable no matter where he was. He remembered those glances you stole at one another, tongue in cheek laughter and suppressed smiles at the strange place you were both in, the two of you sticking out amongst the older, richer and snootier couples like a sore thumb.
He remembered the glint in your eye and the look on your face, the one that had him completely wrapped around your little finger - (but really, you could look at him anyway and he was a complete goner). It was how you both stood up at the same time, grabbing your handbag and wallet and rushing through the sea of people, laughing loudly as he slipped his hand in yours and pulled you with him, dodging the doorman who was cursing loudly at the kids who had just dined and dashed, even though neither of you had had more than a mouthful of your overpriced starter.
“You are such a bad influence, (Y/L/N).” He had scolded, playfully pinching the inside of your thigh as you lay stretched out on a picnic blanket overlooking the forests on the edge of town. You swatted him away, and he felt his breath hitch at the sight of you, hair tousled and makeup slightly worn, so effortlessly beautiful beneath the headlights of his car.
“Oh, please Hargrove. You would be lost without me.”
He didn’t reply, because it was true.
Instead he leaned over your body, stealing a quick kiss and also a handful of fries from the drive thru bag next to you.
“Hey!” You whined, leaning up and swatting at him. “Those are mine!”
“Technically, technically,” He said, licking salt from his fingertips. “They were at the bottom of the bag, not in either of the cartons - so they were never really yours.”
You rolled your eyes, punching him softly in the gut and laughing as he collapsed on top of you. “You are such a dumbass.”
“Yeah, but I’m your dumbass.”
He ran his tongue over a canine, finding clarity in your eyes.“I can’t believe you’ve put up with me for a whole year.”
“Me neither, but the money your dad gives me to go out with you makes it worth it.”
His finger trailed along the bridge of your nose, his lips curling the same as the path his fingerprints followed. “Stupid.” It was a terrible comeback, but when you looked up up at him like that, all of his sentences spilt into a bowl of mismatched alphabet soup. He blinked down at you, feeling the way his heart hammered against his rib cage, engulfed in the terrifying feeling of being so in love with somebody. “Seriously though, this has - this has been the best year of my life.”
Your rosebud lips parted, showing him that dammed smile that would make him burn down the whole town if you asked him to. “Mine too.”
——————————————————————-
“Remember when I got a black eye because of you?” He murmured, glancing up at the stars that flickered above you both.
“Because of me?” You scoffed, halfheartedly. “Hardly.”
“Ok. Keep telling yourself that.”
There was once a time where he loved nothing more than spending Friday through Sunday completely wasted, waking up on somebodies couch, his mouth tasting like sour liquor and his clothes scattered across the floor - but not after he met you. He used to long for the high from downing tequila shots or jumping into the pool with hazy eyes, a burnt out joint being passed around friends, but soon he realised that nothing came close to the fever high he got from simply being around you.
He remembered sitting in the school parking lot on a Friday afternoon, listening to Tommy and Carol natter about how a group of seniors were going to break into the rec centre and get drunk, but there words were nothing but static as he looked for you among the familiar faces.
You had been officially dating for a few months, and much to Tommy’s dismay, it seemed as though neither of you had any intention of letting the other go. It stung the teenager when Steve started blowing him off to hang out with you, his usual alibi for wild parties leaving him high and dry. He was jealous of the way you managed to consume all of Steve’s attention, and the fact that since the two of you had gotten together, Steve was so much kinder to everyone, and didn’t want to join in with his juvenile antics. When you went to parties, he drank less and laughed more, and Tommy was left doing shots and keg stands alone.
More than anything though, Tommy was jealous that Steve had scored a girl like you, kind and soft and sweet, when he had trouble getting Carol to stay over longer than the time it took to drain a bottle of stolen wine. It made him feel envious and insecure, watching the way you kissed Steve in the hallways with rosebud lips and your eyes shone like diamonds under the gentle sun; when was a girl going to look at him like that?
“You coming tonight, Harrington?” He asked from the hood of Steve’s car, his legs dangling onto the asphalt.
“No.” Steve said, chewing on his fingernails. “Sorry man, I’m taking (Y/N) to the drive in.”
“Aww.” Carol preened, a solid supporter of your relationship. You hadn’t known her too well before you started seeing Steve and hadn’t expected to become so close to her, but now she was one of your best friends. Sure she could be a little vapid and a little rude, but she also made you laugh loudly and always helped you get ready for dates with Steve, and you really appreciated the way she let you into the inner circle. “That’s so sweet. You guys are too cute.”
Tommy ignored her. He could already feel himself boiling over.
“Cmon Harrington, it’s one night. It’s tradition.”
“No it isn’t.”
He exhaled loudly. “Well it should be.”
“I’m good, man. And besides, we’re still going to see the Bulls play on Saturday, right?”
“I guess.”
Silence settled around them like cigarette ash. Tommy, growing more irate by the second, toyed with the collar of his shirt and curled and uncurled his fingers. He wasn’t quite sure why he was pissed - as Steve’s best friend he should have been pleased with how love struck and happy he was, and it wasn’t as though he never saw Steve anymore, or that you had split up the group or anything - but he was still annoyed, and that’s why he said it.
“God, I hope she’s a better fuck than she looks. I mean, she must be if she’s got you this whipped.”
It took a moment for Steve to process what he had said, swallowing his friends words like they were barbed wire, his throat filling with blood.
“What the fuck did you say?”
“Just what everybody else is thinking.” It wasn’t what everybody thought, but Tommy thrived off of mob mentality, and the small crowd watching in the parking lot was enough to spike his adrenaline.
“Tommy.” Carol warned, her voice thick and heavy, eyeing him from over the roof of the car.
“What did you say about her?” Steve asked, his face turning crimson, the shade matching the colour coating his pupils.
Tommy didn’t hold back, his hands firmly grasping his shovel, ready to dig himself deeper. “Jesus. Look at you! Look what she’s turned you into. She’s a bitch, and so are you.” He gestured wildly with his hands, the severity of what he had said was slowly sinking in, but he was stupid enough to stand by it for the time being.
Steve was livid. His body rattling like he had been struck by lightning. He knew he wasn’t some fucking white knight who had to defend your honour, but there was no way in hell he was going to let some fucking prick about you like that.
“And…you know what? The both of you can - ”
“Fuck you.” Steve brought his fingers to a fist and clocked him right in the nose, a sickening thwack echoing around the school. Tommy recoiled backwards, almost falling through the windshield. He managed to regain his balance at the last second, and his face was contorted with both pain and disbelief.
“What the fuck man?” Tommy seethed, spitting out a wad of blood and lunging at Steve, managing to grab him by his collar and slam him onto the asphalt, their jeans ripping across the gravel.
The two of them rolled around, a deadly mix of closed knuckles and crisp white sneakers. A small crowd had gathered around the two of them, the air thick with the metallic tang of blood and rich with stories to be shared around the party that night. They both managed to get a couple good hits in, Steve just managing to get the upper hand before the school janitor started calling in for backup.
You had just left World Civ, your textbooks still cradled in your arms and your best friend laughing in your ear as you made your way out of the school and towards the parking lot.
“Yeah, I swear! She…” Your best friends voice trailed off as she noticed a blur of movement in the distance, her ears picking up like a bloodhounds. “Oh my God. I wonder what’s going on.”
You looked up shrugging your shoulders, expecting to see some of the wrestling team or soccer players roughhousing like they usually did, but your blood turned cold when your eyes focused fully and you caught sight of that damn perfect hair.
“Holy shit. Steve!”
If only your phys ed teacher could have witnessed the speed you ran across the car park; dust picking up with your shoes as you bolted towards your boyfriend. You managed to break through the inner circle crowding around them, the teenagers egging on Tommy and Steve as they scrambled towards one another, the sound of elbows and knees and fingernails clashing all around you.
“Hey. Hey! That’s enough!”
Poor Mr Springer tried his best to separate the two of them, wrapping his arms around Tommy’s waist and trying to tear them apart as they continued scrapping like junkyard dogs.
Your mouth was agape as a couple of boys helped break the two of them up, your eyes widening at the scarlet red blood staining the ground and the deep purple bruises already starting to show. You managed to catch Steve’s line of sight, his eyes widening at the sight of you, his face starting to swell.
“Steve? What the fuck!”
“Oh! Hey, babe? How did your pop quiz go?” He asked, throwing you a dazzling smile as though everything was right in the world.
Despite everything, you bit back a laugh, kneeling down to wrap your hands around him. “You’re an idiot, Steve Harrington.” You said, cradling the now puffy side of his face, a quarter sized apricot indent growing under his eye.
He winked at you as he was pulled away and dragged to the principal. He knew he was in for a months worth of Saturday detentions, but he couldn’t care less. He avoided the death glare his former best friend was giving him, licking the blood pooling across his split lip.
If he had to chose between you or Tommy, or choose between nights in with you or nights out with the rest of the seniors - hell, if he had to choose between basketball and you, it would be you, every time.
Point blank, period.
———————————————————-
There was a chill in the air, swallowing the both of you whole. Steve could feel his jeans dampening, your tears cascading down your face and onto his denim. He could feel eyes on the back of neck, and knew without turning around that Dustin and the rest of the kids were watching from the kitchen window, waiting to jump out and rescue you both if something crawled out from the bushes.
He didn’t have much time left. Soon he would have to bring you back inside, away from the vulnerability of the night and into the embrace of those you had grown so close to. He thinks back with a grimace, to the fight you had over your new routine.
Bob and Joyce dating came as a shock to everyone involved, especially Steve. Not so much that Bob had found companionship with the pretty single mother, but more so that it meant you were spending more time at their house - with Jonathon.
He wasn’t jealous.
He wasn’t.
No matter how many times you rolled your eyes and teased him - he wasn’t jealous.
He just didn’t like the idea of you sat next to him at movie nights, laughing with him during family board games, eating breakfast in the chair beside him, driving to school together and singing along to the stupid obscure bands that Jonathon liked.
Ok maybe he was a little jealous. Sue him.
He’d spent the night at your place, under the guise of helping you with your calculus homework, even though you had a higher grade than him, and he watched with sleepy eyes as you rummaged around your desk in the morning.
“What?” He mumbled under the slowly rising sun, half of his face still buried in your pillow. “What? Where? Where are you going?”
You rifled through your handbag and examined the contents, glancing at him over your shoulder. “Bob’s taking everyone out for lunch - well it should have been breakfast but someone - ” you emphasised with a playful glare, “Is making me late.”
“Whose going?”
“Everyone.”
“Everyone?”
“You know. Me, Joyce, Jon and Will.”
Jon.
“You didn’t tell me Jonathon was going.” He’s not sure if it’s true. He remembers fragments of you telling him your plans for the weekend, but he also remembers your words shattering before they reached his brain, because of that little strappy top you were wearing and the blackberry colour of your lipstick.
“What?” You asked distractedly, untangling your headphones from your Walkman. “I did.”
“No.” He clicked his jaw, a sign of his annoyance. “You just said Bob was taking you out.”
“With everyone - everyone includes Jonathon.”
“Right.” He’s pissed. His anger isn’t directed at you, more so the floppy haired teenager you’ll be sharing pancakes with, even though it’s not exactly his fault either. “Since when did you guys become The Brady Brunch?”
You let out a dry laugh, oblivious to the fact your boyfriend was getting more agitated by the second.
Did you really have to wear that skirt? He thought. Why did it have to be the short little denim one covered in cherries that made you look so damn good?
“You know how much Joyce loves her kids, Bob just wants to make an effort.”
“Yeah but why do you have to go?”
You shrugged, applying a swipe of lipgloss and tightening your cardigan in an effort to hide the hickeys blossoming under your collarbones. “He invited me, said it’s a family thing.”
“It’s not as though you’re really family though is it?”
He regretted it the moment the syllables left his mouth, but he was too wound up to think before he spoke. He cringed at the way you lost his gaze in the mirror, really fucking hating himself when he saw the crimson blush rise from your throat and onto your cheeks, and the sheen coating your eyes.
“I should go.”
You didn’t hesitate, grabbing your belongings and darting down the stairs. Family had always been a sore subject for you, and he loathed himself for striking you in the one place that it really fucking hurt.
“Wait.. Baby I -” He chased after you, but you were too fast. He wished that you would stay and argue with him, he’d let you scream and yell and shout at him, because he deserved it and he wanted to let you know he was sorry for being a prick, but you were already out of the door.
“Just up when you leave.” Were the last things you said, disappearing into your car.
He apologised with your favourite chocolates and red roses and an attempt to make you dinner. You couldn’t stay upset with him and his sheepish grin even when half of your kitchen was covered in tomato sauce and your moms pan was coated in burnt pasta.
The boy could screw up, but he always knew how to make up for it.
He trusted you, and loved you, and apologised for - in your words, ‘being a class A jackass’ - and even put away his pride long enough to tell you that, Ok, fine, maybe he was a tiny bit jealous of Jonathon and the bond growing between you.
That night as you curled up on your living room floor amongst an abundance of pillows and crocheted throws, you reassured him that you were in love with him and only him, even when he drove you up the wall. He fell asleep a little easier that night, his girl happy and safe in his arms, your words calming the storm that was once brewing in his mind.
…And maybe Jonathon wasn’t that bad.
———————————————————-
The light of the moon was harsh, almost like the street lamps that flickered in the distance. Steve could feel you moving underneath him, and his palms were starting to dampen, the reality of the evening finally sinking in.
Bob was dead.
As though the same thought had passed through you, you spoke, your voice strained and quiet. “I can’t believe he’s gone.”
“I know.”
Your voice cracked like thin ice. “He didn’t deserve to die. He didn’t… He.” You choked on your words, and Steve pulled you into him firmly, as if to stop you from falling apart.
“I’m so sorry, baby.”
You sniffled, a sob tearing through your lungs and clawing through your throat, and you tried desperately to not think about your poor uncles lifeless body. “What am I going to do without him?”
You weren’t looking for an answer, but Steve gave you one.
“It’ll be me and you, it’ll be us. Forever.”
His future was uncertain. He was under a mountain of pressure from his teachers and coaches and guidance counsellors to get his head down and decide about college and scholarships and what he was going to do with his life.
He even took one of those quizzes that was supposed to help him figure his shit out, but when he sat there, pencil in hand and he read the words - where do you see yourself in five years? The only thing he could think of, was you.
He thought of you, so smart and pretty, your future just as undecided as his, but still by his side. He could see road trips and night drives and long distance calls, he could see morning laughter and monumental arguments and make ups, in the distance he could even see a house with a white picket fence and a big dog and a few kids who looked like a mixture of the both of you.
It seemed so simple. So much more simple than applying for college or an internship, because he knew that whatever he did, he wanted it with you.
And then this crazy fucking year happened, and things weren’t so simple anymore. Soon he was best friends with a bunch of pre teens and fighting off big scary fucking monsters and Billy Hargrove. Soon his small world of basketball and strawberry milkshakes and tongue kisses was filled with danger, and he needed to keep you safe.
“I miss him.”
“I know.” He says honestly. “I miss him too.”
He remembered the last conversation he had with Bob. It was before they found Hopper underground, and Bob was getting ready to leave and see Joyce and Will. You were in your room, finishing off the last of your homework, and Steve was heading downstairs to finish off the last of the pizza. He had just grabbed a Coke and a slice of pepperoni, when he saw Bob rummaging through the cupboard in the hall.
“Hey,” Steve said, waving the hand with the soda in it. “I heard about Will. Is he alright?”
Bob gave a kind nod. “Yeah.” He hesitated. “Well, actually, I’m not sure. I’m uh - I’m looking for my old board games for him to play with.”
Steve smiled, because that was exactly the thing Bob would do. “Well, give him my best.”
They exchanged pleasantries, and Steve spun his heel to rejoin you upstairs, taking a big bite of melted cheese as he walked, before Bob spoke aloud once again.
“There’s something strange going on in this town.”
Steve remembered the year before, standing in Jonathan’s living room, twinkling Christmas lights draped on the wall and a baseball bat in his hands. He remembered Barb and Will, and the body from the quarry.
“Yeah.”
Bob exhaled, moving so that he was standing face to face with the teenager. “You make sure nothing happens to her, alright? You know she’s - you know she’s my little girl.”
Steve straightened, his voice solid. “I would never let anything happen to her.”
“I know. You’re a good guy, Harrington.”
He doesn’t know if he agrees, but he knows that for you, he will be.
“Take care of her.”
“Always.”
And they had partied ways: Steve upstairs, where he pulled you into his arms and made you laugh as he planted wet kisses on your face. And Bob to the Byers house to find a map spanning the length of the walls, and then the hospital, and then ultimately, to his death.
———————————————————-
The dark felt much more menacing now, shadows moving like long fingernails and jagged claws around you. He knew that he had to get you inside. He knew that the others would be making plans and setting traps and he knew how much safer you would be there. His heart was shattered after the small sobs leaving your body, your chest deflating like a burst balloon. He also knew that the best people to comfort you would be inside, Joyce with her motherly love, Dustin with his sweet, silly nature, and even Jonathon who truly loved you like a sibling.
“Cmon, lets get you inside.”
He wrapped his hands around you and helped lift you up, steadying you as you swayed on shaky legs. He cradled you into him, feeling the warmth of your breath and tears against his throat, and he inhaled, preparing himself and readying himself, telling him to be strong, for you.
He wrapped a free hand around the door handle, waiting to twist. He took one final look at the menacing bushes and trees surrounding you both, listening for a rustle from the branches.
He doesn’t know what will happen next. But he does know, that whatever it is, you’ll face it, together.
116 notes · View notes
faedawayyy · 3 years
Text
part 1
THINGS YOU PROBABLY DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT MY CHARACTERS THAT ARE ABSOLUTELY CANON. IT’S JUST HOW THEY FEEL, GO AWAY.
Tumblr media
BASICALLY, this is a masterlist of things i want people to know about them but they’d never necessarily say or show outloud bc most of them as stubborn as fuck.
DALLAS
he doesn’t regret or hate any of his exes at all. he is completely indifferent towards liana and gisele, still loves soraya and has a kind of up-down mood towards riley and zara. ruby’s a friend.
he believes he’ll end up with soraya...like one thousand percent. she’s the only person he’s loved. 
charlie, matt and evan are the only people he’d give the label of ‘true friends’ and it definitely isn’t what he would’ve expected a few years ago.
his weakness is people feeling proud of him. like that’s something he craves constantly and when it happens, or you show it genuinely, you’re most likely to get through to him.
his natural coping mechanism is to act out; some people shut down/drink/take drugs. the more extreme dallas’s behaviour is and the harsher he’s behaving, the more you know he’s hurting/in a bad place. 
definitely the victim of a serious god complex. he believes with his whole heart that some of his worst work is still better than a lot of peoples best (so do i cause im a bieber fan LOL) 
he’s intelligent - scarily so...he got into several top colleges after high school including yale (where he attended for half of a semester/term), oxford and UCL. 
before his dad’s debt engulfed his family, he had a really good relationship with him and played multiple sports including hockey and golf. 
he can’t picture himself living past 30...or 27 some days. 
biggest character flaw EASILY is not knowing how to ask for or accept help. it’s been the root of ALL of his bad decisions and shitty actions. 
this literally isn’t a secret but he doesn’t give up. if you push him, he’ll push back harder and would sooner escalate a situation than be the one to walk away. 
he does everything in his power to not have to sleep in his family home. 
a cute hidden quality - he’s shockingly very good with children 
a shit hidden quality - a lot of his choice of girlfriend’s have to do whether he finds them physically attractive or not. if it’s an ‘or not’, chances are he won’t even consider it. 
his personality type is estp - bold, practical, original, direct, insensitive, risk-prone, unstructured, defiant 
he is HIGHLY impulsive and quick to act on feelings. back to his exes, this has often made him feel like he loves people that he definitely doesn’t. 
he’s actually HUGELY affectionate and that’s the tell tale sign of who he likes and who he doesn’t. if you’ve known him and he’s never acted soft/affectionate, he didn’t care in the first place. 
he’s one million percent had his heartbroken. he’ll tell you he hasn’t all day. 
conflicting with his god complex is crushingly low self-esteem when it comes to things like being worth of peoples time/energy/genuine interest beyond just being funny/hooking up with. 
silent reassurance is a thing for him. he’ll check that someone he’s comfortable with/loves is there every so often as social events and eye contact/acknowledgement definitely helps 
MASON
confrontation and disputes gives him huge anxiety but the carmichael house is the definition of toxic masculinity, so he swallows it and tries to be as rational as possible in arguments. 
comparison is a very real thing for him. he compares every element and detail of his life to others; especially the other boys. 
he considers madison his first love 
his love language is definitely acts of service, if he’s willing to help and  work towards something w.you, then he cares. 
he is definitely a burnt out over-achiever. he struggles with the concept of ‘reaching his full potential’ and no matter what he does, he doesn’t feel like he’s ever there
between leo and brody, he feels like he was never a child or even young. he’s always had a really wise head on his shoulders and is rarely impulsive. it’s the thing he hates most about himself...yet the thing a lot of people find appealing 
if you mention a critically acclaimed movie as your favourite, it gives him a bad first impression of you LOL 
he struggles to show emotion more than the others, who tend to act out and make rash decisions. i doubt anybody’s seen him cry ever. 
he didn’t peak in high school but he 100% misses who he was back then 
nostalgia is something that consumes him sometimes - if he’s shared a deep connection or memories with you, he won’t forget about you 
he’s literally never been on the wrong side of the law but police sirens make him anxious 
he never wants to be turn out like his dad, but also wants everything his dad created and had and it’s his biggest dilemma 
dogs are and have always been his favourite animal
organisation is a big thing to him. people probably assume kendall is the one who keeps things in check in their apartment, but it’s totally him. cabinets, wardrobes, shelves and everything...he can’t leave it alone if it’s disorganised 
he struggles being spoken down to or feeling like he’s being patronised. it’s the quickest way to piss him off 
he over-thinks everything, even if it doesn’t feel like it 
his worst habit is nail biting. he even had the stuff you put on your fingers as a kid and it didn’t squash it
he’s vegetarian 
if he wasn’t a carmichael, he definitely would’ve gone backpacking and worked from place to place after school but his dad definitely wouldn’t have approved
feeling useful to people is something that makes him feel self-worth 
it’s very rare for him to quit ANYTHING. if he’s committed, he’ll be in it until it comes to a natural end or just forever
NATE
an actual clean freak. he hates mess. 
he doesn’t know if imogen is/was his first love but he definitely considers her his soulmate
when he falls for someone, he falls HARD and will definitely give up some of his own values or change to impress somebody 
he has a lot of opinions and ideas but finds it hard to articulate them, he’s always found it easier to fall into the ‘hot guy’ trope and it’s got him far enough so he can’t complain 
he’s lowkey into zodiac signs and astrology but wouldn’t ever outwardly show it 
he’s VERY domestic; cooking, cleaning handy-work etc. are all strong points of his. it’s rare you’ll find any space he’s living in a mess 
he’s a romantic but quietly. the amount of time he spends thinking about dating/his love life/his future wife/kids scares him sometimes 
if he shouts, he’s not even that mad. when he gives up and just let’s someone go off/or he walks off, that’s usually when he’s hit rock bottom with someone 
big hero 6 is his favourite movie but he says black panther because it’s more acceptable to most LOL 
he suffers with health anxiety; not working out properly, or eating too much junk food will send him on a weird spiral where he’s hard on himself for months 
he always smells good. always. 
he doesn’t like people who act dumb for attention, it’s probably his pet peeve 
his harry potter house is slytherin, i took the test for him. 
he loves all of his sisters but is definitely the closest to evie, it may have something to do with them being the youngest of the 5. 
the thought of having to play any board game upsets him a lot 
if he sleeps over at anybody’s house, he has to bring his own pillow. most people who know him have just accepted it 
even now he’s older, his parents are very much his parents - he hasn’t got that friendly vibe some people get with their parents once they pass 20.
he’s a pretty good chameleon. he can shift and change depending on the crowd he’s with without being too obvious 
6 notes · View notes
inkofamethyst · 2 years
Text
December 27, 2021
[Dec 14]
You know, due to the fact that I love taking on immense projects that I’ve never done before and expecting them to turn out amazingly, I’m thinking about submitting a piece or two as arrangements for the orchestra.  Something from Shadow of the Colossus (probably just The Opened Way tbh (unless I did a battle suite or something)), maybe something from Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch (like Drippy’s Theme (also consider looking at The Fairyground (but maybe don’t swing it bc we know what happened the last time the orchestra tried to swing)), the Battle Theme (or the second one??), the Main Theme or World Map maybe?  probs a mashup of sorts bc the main theme is real repetitive lol, like start and end with the main theme and have those two others in the middle somewhere (AHHHH THERE ARE LYRICS TO THE MAIN THEME???  I AM CRYINGGGG)), or even Blinded by Light from FFXIII NOPE NOPE NOPE I’m listening to it right now and I simply don’t think it would work.  I mean I’ve been thinking about an arrangement of The Opened Way for years.  I could probably pull one together over winter break.  Problem is that I don’t know how to really write for piano, percussion, or guitar.  I suppose I could look at old scores for help.
Again, I’d just have to know from the get-go that I’m not expecting to get selected.  It would be an accomplishment just to make something.  And we have some really talented arrangers in this group, so I can’t expect my first tries to be The Ones.  But they could be starts.
[Dec 21]
Well, I did end up starting an arrangement of The Opened Way after all.
So my puzzle-friend showed me a bunch of cool sites that analyze your Spotify music and I’ve only done two of them so far.  This simple one told me that songs from Austin Wintory’s Abzu OST made up 90% of my top ten songs over the past six months (the very top one was Jhariah’s Flight of the Crows).
This more complex one told me that my current music taste is 97% more obscure than the Spotify listener base (my overall taste is 95% more obscure).  Primarily due to my taste in video game OSTs, but apparently showtunes is fairly obscure as well?  Walker and Wylde is my most obscure artist which totally makes sense (followed by the Spelling Bee cast, Chris Remo (composed the Firewatch OST), Shady Cicada (who I barely listen to these days), and Vincent Diamante).  It also told me that I’m 12% sadder than average, 20% less danceable than average, 25% more atmospheric than average.  They also gave me recs which I appreciate.  Wild.
Lots of links today haha.
[Today]
ALL A’s YALL WOOHOO
I... I mean I literally don’t know how I ended up with an A in physics.  Did I deserve it?  I mean, yeah, probably.  I just wish I knew what the full curve ended up being.  Oh, also, I got a 69% on my final hehe (nice).
Brings GPA ever so slightly up which I am certainly thankful for.  Yeah, that’s what I’m thankful for today.  I’m thankful for straight A’s in a semester that did not quit.  I’m thankful for the lil mini GPA boost (I mean if I fall below 3.9 I won’t cry... but I will be upset.).
Over the past few days I’ve spent time with friends, had Christmas, sewed a dress for my mom all in one night despite having the fabric and pattern for six months, was lectured at for not flossing by my dentist, went on a strenuous 10 mile hike which included a mile or so of bouldering, watched The Matrix 4 (I really enjoyed it!!), stressed out over what on earth I was going to have the saxes do in my The Opened Way arrangement, and overall it’s just been really chill.
And yeah.  That’s been the past few days.  Arranging is hard.  I really thought that having the melody and baseline down pact would be enough.  Pah!  No.  Luckily, this piece has been arranged (well and poorly) by many different people, so listening through those has given me some ideas and also clarified some tricky bits.
I’ll probably go for the Ni No Kuni arrangement next.  The cool thing about it is that the melody gets passed around to the different sections, so that adds interest.
K I’m tired of having this entry in my drafts goodbye.
1 note · View note
rokutouxei · 3 years
Text
the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart
ikemen vampire: temptation through the dark theo van gogh / mc | T | [ ao3 link in bio ]
The challenge seemed pretty simple: to try to befriend the university bookshop’s most sour employee, Theo van Gogh. As a literature major with a boatload of book recommendations on her back, it ought to be a simple task indeed. But as she uncovers what lies between Theo’s pages, the more she finds it harder to become closer to him without having to put the feeling directly into words. What can she learn from Theo about what it means to stay—and how can she teach Theo about what it means to let go? | written for ikevamp big bang 2020!
[ masterpost for all chapters ]
CHAPTER 9 OF 22
You will let my tender hook Catch the folded darkness inside you, let me occupy The dented place at the base of your throat. - "One Life", Carlomar Arcangel Daoana
--
She wakes up late.
Comically late.
No hangover, thank god—but it’s 11am and she’s dressed in lent pajamas in a bed that isn’t her own. She shoots up to sitting position in a second, and standing in a minute, trudging out the room to the bathroom at the end of the hall.
By the time she’s up and out of the room, a little more awake, Dazai and Arthur have already long gone, the only remnants of their presence the bit of glitter that they had wiped onto the sofa they nestled in.
And text messages.
She squints when she reads it, not because she had a hard time reading what it said, but—because she couldn’t believe what it said.
A series of text messages from Dazai:
[ 7:23 | Dazai ] ur still asleep but ur friend kinda hot
[ 7:24 | Dazai ] ofc I woke up first but his eyelashes tho???
[ 8:32 | Dazai ] pls tell me he’s not a douche bc im rly gonna jump him
[ 9:03 | Dazai ] mgonna jump him
[ 10:19 | Dazai ] abt to find out if he’s got the magnum sized dong u promised
Oh, god, what has she done.
With a groan, she heads down the hallway, phone securely in the pocket of the sweatpants, to see Vincent and Theo preparing a meal in the kitchen; Theo preparing some sort of fillet (fish? Chicken?) and Vincent frying some onions and garlic on the stove, filling the kitchen with a nice aroma.
“Good morning,” she says softly, as she shuffles onto one of the dining table chairs.
“Thought you died,” Theo says with a snort; but once he turns around to face her, all derision goes away in his face and is replaced by a quiet surprise.
Vincent beams as he turns to get the fillets from Theo. (It’s chicken.) “Good morning. Did you sleep well? No headache?”
She shakes her head. “Nope, I’m good. Thanks for letting me sleep here last night and for the clothes.”
“Of course, no problem at all,” Vincent answers, turning back to the pan. The chicken makes a sizzle as it meets the oil.
Theo is still staring at her with an odd look on his face.
“Earth to Theo?” she calls out, waving her hand in front of her. “Something wrong?”
“Broer. Why did you lend her my clothes.”
Oh.
“You know how most my shirts are, paint-stained in all the weird places.”
She feels the cling of the cotton around her skin so differently, so suddenly. Oh.
“She wouldn’t have minded, she was drunk.”
That’s correct, but—
Vincent smiles at Theo, the kind of smile one makes when they can see through someone; she’s filled with a kind of relief at knowing that Vincent can do that to Theo. Maybe the man isn’t an impenetrable a character after all. “No need to be shy, Theo.”
“I am not,” he insists, finally tearing his gaze away from her and heading to the sink to wash the used chopping board and the knife. “I just don’t want her wearing my stuff.”
She smirks. He is shy. True, she didn’t get the opportunity to think about what she was putting on last night because she was so tired and knocked out by the alcohol, but…if that was the price she had to pay to see this side of Theo she doesn’t have the opportunity to witness often, then it was worth it. Oh, the ever put-together Theo, brought to his knees by only one person in the world, the one he trusts the most: his brother.  “Is it because your personality is contagious?” she teases, “wouldn’t want to catch that.”
He answers her with a glare. “Reverse. It’s your stupidity that’s contagious.”
“Oh, we’re pretty much equally as stupid, Theo. No need to worry.”
“We are not,” he says, and then Vincent elbows him carefully.
“You really should be a little gentler to your friends,” Vincent comments, as he turns the fillet onto its other side.
Theo grumbles something unintelligible and it makes her laugh. Sitting in the kitchen, watching the two brothers side by side with their back to her as they prepare—she checks the clock—lunch for the three of them, she hums, content. She’s lived alone for all her life here in the campus, and it was one she looked forward to after living in a house crammed with people for most of her life. But sitting here, watching them share the chores and maybe have a little banter with each other—makes her reconsider that maybe, maybe settling down in even the worst of places isn’t that horrible when you’re in good company.
Theo opens the plate cupboard and hands her a set of it with some cutlery. “Set the table at least, freeloader?” He says, though his voice lacks all the venom his words otherwise had.
Okay, she’ll have to reconsider if Theo counts as “good company.”
--
Theo barely survives lunch with her and his brother because of how much he gets teased by the two. He might argue that this is worse than being stuck with her and Arthur because since it is Vincent, he does not get the leeway to have a comeback, only able to grumble in displeasure at being see-through. They stuff their bellies not only with Vincent’s famed chicken with herbs but also with a hefty amount of laughter.
She slides back (slightly disgusted) into her costume to walk back home in, confident that many other students will be trudging along the streets suffering the same fate. (“Not everyone wakes up as late as you.” “There’s bound to be at least one, right?”) When she comes out of the bathroom, there’s a book on top of his neatly-folded clothes.
They speak at the same time.
“I could wash these first before giving it back if you—” “You had that with you all this time?”
Silence.
She breaks it with a laugh. “Yeah, it was a Saturday. I didn’t want to break the schedule.”
“You get so thorough about the weirdest things,” he comments, but he takes the bundle in her arms anyway. “It’s alright, I’ll have them. Let me get you a book, too.”
She follows Theo into the studio, where he crouches in front of some bookshelves. Vincent peeps from behind his easel. “You should walk her home,” he offers, as Theo pulls a few books out of the shelf.
“No, it’s alright, I’ll be fine! I’m not drunk or dizzy. The walk will help clear my head.”
“It’s twenty minutes out,” Theo points out, getting up.
“Just promise that if you find me asleep on the street you’ll pick me up?”
Handing Murakami’s Dance, Dance, Dance to her, Theo grins. “I can’t promise that.”
“Oh, Theo, you know you will.”
Even when she is long out of his sight, the smile on his face does not go away. Even as the day shifts into mundanity. Even as he’s carting a bagful of clothes to the launderette. Even as he picks up some groceries on the way home. Even as he prepares dinner for Vincent, who is a few hours deep into painting.
Maybe for a moment, it goes away, but—
He thinks of her and the smile comes back full force.
--
She spends the rest of Sunday recovering and hiding away in her room after the very socially draining party, but by Monday she’s hopped onto her bike and headed for the literature club’s little gazebo. She’s left a message for Dazai, asking for company. Sure, they spent quite a lot of time together in the past week, after having jumped through thrift stores and boutiques for the perfect Night Circus costume (and yes, she made him read the book beforehand too, for good measure) but Saturday was quite a day. She’s brought a couple of cookies for sharing with him, sitting at their usual spot, looking out at the quadrangle next to it.
“Toshiko-san! Sorry we kept you waiting!”
The plural takes her off guard, and she turns to find that Dazai has brought a rather distracted-looking Isaac along, his hands in the pockets of his slacks. Isaac is always dressed so well—she supposes it’s part of the uniform or something of being seen as a respectable professor—but she sure does want to see him dress down once. T-shirt, shorts, that kind—Isaac seems to take everything too seriously.
The pleasant feeling of seeing a friend she hasn’t met up with in a long time is quickly replaced by confusion, as the science complex is nowhere near the Arts building. “Nice to see you here, Isaac,” she says, but also with the lilt of a question.
Dazai answers said question. “He’s here because he has nothing better to do, so I asked him to come.”
Isaac makes a face that’s both resignation and panic. “He passed by my office.” –and dragged me out because he wouldn’t take no for an answer, she finishes in her head.
“I see,” she answers, even though that’s not really an explanation in itself.
She knows Isaac through Dazai, and Dazai knows Isaac through a very peculiar class: Occultism 101.
A class team-taught by three major colleges in the university—the College of Arts, the College of Science, and the College of Social Sciences—Occultism 101 is one of the more controversial classes on campus because of its nature. It goes through a long history of the evolution and persistence of supernatural beliefs and practices among nations in the world, in that nice gray area between religion and science. There are only two kinds of students in Occultism 101: those who believe and who are genuinely interested, and those who do not believe and would like to spend an entire semester saying “bah! That’s not true!” to themselves all the time.
Occultism 101 is typically taught by professors from the College of Social Sciences and College of Arts with backgrounds in religious practices and other mystical behavior (whether in history or art), and then occasionally, in the middle of the semester, guest lecturers from the College of Science come in to give lectures on how these “supernatural events” may be explainable through scientific means. Say, how the piping system in a building can cause haunted “cold spots”, or how floating dust particles can come up in a photograph as “orbs”, or the likes.
And she doesn’t want to be very stereotypical about it, but a lot of people in the College of Science are pretty… well, square, and so no one really wants to teach Occultism 101, even if it’s only a few meetings in a semester. This is how this job ends up to unwilling, no-choice Ph.D. students such as Isaac.
It was just his luck that Dazai was in the section he taught.
“So, Osamu, care to tell us about your little date last Sunday?” she asks, as the other two have taken their seats across her. Dazai swoons a little at the mention of Sunday. Isaac looks at him with unsureness.
(Isaac has had the miserable experience of being the victim of Dazai’s flirtation at some point in time. One can see how that has instead simmer into a rather tentative friendship. All is well.)
Dazai rests his elbows on the table and places his chin on the palms of his hands. “He’s so dreamy.”
“No he isn’t,” she swiftly replies, without thought.
But Dazai pretends not to have heard it. “He’s not looking for a serious relationship though,” he adds. “Not that I am, either.”
“You aren’t?”
“No, sweetie,” Dazai explains. “But he’s my type and I’m his type and we couldn’t just leave it at that so I have his number now, and a little… arrangement.”
The word hangs in between them, swaying.
Oh no, that’s not any good. “What arrangement.”
“You don’t need to sound so concerned.”
“This is Arthur we’re talking about,” she insists, and the name makes Isaac flinch a little.
“Doyle, the med student?” Isaac asks, and she turns to him, blinking.
“You know him?” Remembering Arthur during the party, her mouth falls into a small o. “He knows you too, doesn’t he?”
Isaac scoffs. “Who in this university doesn’t?” Arthur’s pretty well-known to be a flirt. Something like having a checklist of bedding at least one person in every department—a rumor that would have been a little more shameful if the rumors also didn’t say how he was so good at it.
She nods. “Well, fair enough.”
“No, no, he’s an absolute sweetheart to me, so it’s definitely a you problem,” Dazai insists. “It’s just a friendship with benefits, yanno?” He emphasizes every of the following syllables with his tone and his hands: “Nice, big, hefty benefits.”
And even Isaac, who usually refrains from commenting no matter how much he has to say, has to quip with “Terrible choice, really.”
And she has to agree. “I respect you, but not your taste, Osamu.”
Dazai grins. “Understandable.” He picks up one of the sandwiches she’s prepared. “You make it sound like I’m the only one making bad decisions though.”
“Excuse me?”
He turns to Isaac. “You should have gone to the Halloween party. She brought her little boy toy.”
She scoffs. “He is not my boy toy.”
“You sure do have him around your finger though, getting in matching costumes and all that,” Dazai says. “Spends Saturdates with him all the time.”
The only strategy that will work in times like these is straight-up ignoring him. “Anyway—” she begins, about to steer the conversation away when Isaac speaks up.
“It’s nice to hear you’re getting close to other people,” he says softly. Isaac has a way of speaking that makes it always seem like he’s spent so much time thinking about what he said before he actually said it; so sometimes it’s hard to gauge if he’s saying it casually or entirely seriously.
So she blinks. “You make it seem like I have no friends, Isaac.”
“I-It’s not that!” he suddenly blurts. Ah, there. There’s the usual Isaac. “You’ve spent so much time focusing on your work lately, it’s nice to know you’re relaxing with other people sometimes.”
And he doesn’t say it, but she sure does hear it: the you haven’t been to the astronomy club in a while and it’s made me worried about you.
She doesn’t go religiously, but she used to attend fairly often to hang out with the other members and just look up at the stars. Isaac tries to organize at least two sessions in a month, one to look at the moon, and another to point at the stars. She hasn’t been able to catch them in a bit.
But then, slowly, as the image of the view outside the astronomy club’s hangout is refreshed in her mind, the way the physics building rooftop is just high enough to provide a good view of the rest of the campus below, the city downtown, just at the right place on campus that at night, the rest of the sprawling town’s streetlights trickle out like golden LED veins through the threes—an idea begins to implant itself into her head.
Taking root immediately.
She likes to go up here to think. She really shouldn’t have had permission to go up there on her own, in her free time, since they have rules about club hours and the likes, but Isaac is a close friend and gave her a spare key, so she can come and go as she pleases. And sure, the Grove is a nice, quiet place for book clubs and maybe doing homework if one doesn’t need an electric socket, but up here in the astronomy club’s “the Rooftop”, she feels like she can float away into the vast ocean of her thoughts and get lost in them for a moment.
She feels small up there. And that’s a good feeling.
She won’t tell it to Isaac’s face but it’s one of the primary reasons why she applied for the astronomy club in the first place. The stars are great no matter how dumb she is at physics, but the view—it’s really something else.
What does the world look like from the point of view of a star? How tiny are human lives in the vast expanse of the universe? How long have these stars been out there, how long will they stay out there, how much longer will they stay in this universe more than we will?
…This is why Theo teases her for being a literature major: all these goddamn metaphors.
And for a split second, she thinks…
Maybe it isn’t that bad to share that same quiet space with him?
…You know, to talk books.
“About that…”
Isaac and Dazai turn to her.
“Mind if I sneak in an outsider to the Roof?” she asks, facing Isaac with genuine hope in her voice.
Isaac only shrugs. “Do as you please,” he says casually, taking a cookie from her little box on the table.
And she grins like he’d just given her the light of the world. “Thank you, Isaac.”
Dazai shakes his head, because he knows she’s got no denying herself out of this one the next time.
4 notes · View notes