#I was completely unaware of this because I don’t use either of them
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seeing how some greens act like rhaenyra being groomed by her uncle, and subsequently being unable to let go of him, is HER personal failure turned me into a rhaenyra extremist when i simply enjoyed her character beforehand.
im really glad you're speaking about it because even though it's fiction, it still perpetuates a very dangerous rhetoric
wait this gives me an excuse to ramble, pls excuse me if i phrase things maybe a little crassly here, it’s a delicate topic i’m speaking indelicately about but also, i think i should be allowed bc [redacted] BUT-
obviously i don’t like, love, some of the changes to the show but i think the first half does a great job of setting it up to where you can see both alicent and rhaenyra are surrounded exclusively by much older men who want to fuck them, and have just no way of knowing who is being genuine with them. because no one is really! so you have episode 4, where alicent is sleeping in a room with pornographic art on the wall and being called to her husband’s bed and she can’t say no, and he’s not going to do anything to make the whole thing even marginally easier for her. and then you have rhaenyra, pulled from her bed by her uncle to a brothel, and she’s completely exposed, and she’s experiencing new things, and he’s purposefully trying to make this feel good but also overwhelming for her, then abandons her drunk & confused & half naked. this is The Same Thing - they’re both being used and manipulated by a much older man, but because that manipulation looks different, they react different. but it’s still manipulation.
yes, the type of abuse is different when it’s like, your ugly ancient grandpa grooming you vs a handsome 30 year old stranger you met online that you tell all your high school friends is your boyfriend, but ultimately, both the grandpa and the 30 year old boyfriend are abusers but more importantly, the granddaughter and the high schooler are both victims!!! i think a lot of people when analyzing this whole thing, will pin daemon as a groomer but then completely forget that this also makes rhaenyra a victim. some people will even hee hee haw haw over it because “oh your feminist icon would rather marry her groomer uncle than her gay cousin in the book” DO YOU HEAR YOURSELF. could it possibly be that rhaenyra prefers daemon to laenor because daemon has manipulated her into thinking she is only free with him? she is only safe with him?? could it possibly be that he has been giving her gifts and taking physical liberties with her for her whole life, and being the Good Cop, Sweet Confidant to her parents Bad Cop her whole life, that she feels taken in by him because he is all she knows???? in the same vein that alicent just swallows all the poison and bullshit from otto because that’s her father, and his protection is all she knows????
honestly part of like ~the discourse~ that’s most frustrating is that most greens just refuse to see rhaenyra’s pov or see that she’s also a grooming victim grasping for power to protect her own children, again just like alicent, but on the flip side, most of the analysis from the blacks side is like “if you think nyra is a victim of grooming you are just as bad as the people calling her a whore for having children out of wedlock” and like, how do you even engage with that. with either of those opinions. you can’t wksjd so if youre, ya know, like a normal fucking person who can see how both girls are being manipulated, but you have like a fondness for nyra specifically, it’s just constant bad takes. there’s nowhere to go to escape the bad takes.
i thought we had already hashed out this idea that being aware or unaware of your victimhood doesn’t suddenly mean you’re not being oppressed during the main show with arya and sansa but no, we’ve actually just taken this exact same annoying fandom discourse about which teenage girl is dealing with being abused in the most acceptable way and made it a thousand times worse.
#and like the ~analysis~ side will be like ‘nyra is a dumb bitch for trusting daemon’ but if you said that about ali and larys you’d get shot#and i’m not even exaggerating the way people talk about her it’s always this ‘she should have known better’ HOW#if u get that ali couldn’t have ever known better when it comes to her own kids. why does this not apply to nyra.#perhaps………….it is bc you cannot concieve of her as anything but the aggressor.#asks#anons
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By the way, just like a PSA in case anyone else is unaware of this as I was – DO NOT KEEP ELECTRONIC BIKES AND SCOOTERS INSIDE
My apartment is now completely uninhabitable, and at least one of my housemates lost pretty much all of their possessions, because an ebike’s battery exploded. Apparently this is quite common, and the manufacturer obviously doesn’t publicize the risk a great deal at all.
Just. Don’t let this happen to you. Don’t let this happen to the people you live with. thankfully we’re all safe, and it could’ve been much worse, but. I would not wish this on anyone
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keeping score | matt & chris sturniolo.
prologue: 'they say love is the sixth sense that destroys all other five senses’
authors notes: 1.9k, explicit language, reader discretion is advised. welcome to my first series, please enjoy the ride.
they both want you. the only way matt and chris can agree to settle who wins is through competition, one where you’re the prize. your own heart is torn between the two brothers. the thing is though, love doesn’t keep score.
they have two very different experiences to offer. two sides of the same coin. a coin you refuse you flip and settle on.
matt is the first to catch your eye in any room. he makes you nervous. butterflies, stuttering, awkward laughs, stuttering over your words. all of it. you like him. you’re unsure if he feels the same toward you.
however, you also like chris. the compliments he showers you in, the subtle flirting, the way he softens his tone around you, how giving he is, the way he’s so shamelessly himself. the list goes on. he’s different.
it’s a weird triangle of intrigue and unrequited feelings that lingers and is never acknowledged.
you’re already convinced it’ll never happen. with either of them. you’d be putting too much at risk considering how deeply you value your friendship before anything else. the fear of falling in love, and losing them both.
which might just be your karma for being into both brothers.
they occupy the living room. you’re upstairs, using nick’s bed to take a nap while he showers, and he takes long showers. he’s always given you a safe space in the house, to make it feel like home.
you love to annoy chris and matt by stealing their clothes, blankets, soft drinks out of the fridge, tagging along to every late night drive and fast food pick up.
they share everything with you, but you designate yourself in nicks’s room as to not stir up any terrible, rash decisions on your accord.
being fast asleep and tangled up in crisp, cold, silk sheets, it’s a deep sleep. completely escaping into your dreams.
you’re left unaware of the chaos that’s about to ensue in the living room between the two brothers who occupy your mind. chaos is the score in which reality is written upon.
“you like y/n, right?” matt asks chris.
you’ve had a strange feeling for a while now that matt is trying to set you up with his brother. which, as flattering as it is, it’s bittersweet.
matt is sinking lazily into the lounge while scrolling through his phone, on the furthest left. chris is on the furthest right with his feet kicked up on the coffee table.
they’re in direct view of each other on the L shaped couch. not in a literal sense, just in proximity. neither brother is actually looking up from a screen of some kind.
“what?” chris snaps his head toward matt, diverting from the television for a moment.
“just answer the question.” matt huffs.
“of course i like y/n. she’s the closest person in our life besides like, nick” chris shrugs, going to look back at the screen again.
matt groans in disappointment at his response.
“you know i don’t mean it like that.” matt sits up slightly, readjusting his position and posture.
“god here we go again.” chris runs a hand down his face, fearing his brother's next words.
“how do you really feel about her?” matt pries.
unusual for him. out of character even, chris is usually the one who needs to know everything all the time, and is never afraid to ask the hard hitting questions, as annoying as it may be. but not with this topic of conversation.
the difference is, chris does it because he’s genuinely curious. matt asks questions for his own selfish reason, to chris’s oblivion.
chris needs reassurance that he’s making the right decision in not pursuing you. matt needs to know if or when he’s going to have to compete. little does he know that time is nearing.
“man, i don’t know. i just- i like her. can’t we leave it at that?” chris’s tone is anguished.
“you’re avoiding the question-”
“i answered your question!” chris cuts matt off before he can fully form his sentence, and matt’s jaw tightens.
“fine, whatever.” matt waves his hands in the air with defeat before diverting back to his phone, leaving chris to linger on his words.
“i’m never gonna make a move. i know how you feel about her, too.” chris huffs, as though he’s annoyed at the response he’s had to give.
“what’d you mean?” matt gives chris a glare, like he’s daring his next words.
“you know exactly what i fuckin’ mean” chris scoffs, shifting in his seat, crossing his arms over his chest and pulling the sleeves of his gray hoodie past his knuckles.
matt takes a loud inhale through his nose and exhales through his mouth
“we can’t just keep pretending that we both don’t want her.” matt drops his phone onto his stomach face down, being slightly slumped.
“i’ve been fine pretending” chris throws the hood of his sweatshirt over his head to hide his eyes more from matt, a natural reaction to not enjoying the grilling.
“well if you don’t make a move, i will.” matt’s tone is serious.
“you wouldn’t.” chris deadpans, a sincere tone of disbelief seeping from his lip that he’s now biting the corner of.
“you’ve been saying you’re gonna make a move forever and haven’t done shit."
he knows it’s not nice, but there’s something about the lack of passion from chris despite the obvious crush just makes matt's skin crawl. if someone is going like you and not do anything about it, matt is more than willing to shoot his shot, give you what you deserve.
“that’s not fair” chris twists his face, glaring at his brother.
"i think it’s more than fair play at this point, kid.” matt scoffs.
if looks could kill, matt would be dead.
all those times you’ve perceived matt bringing up chris to entice you have just been a ploy to gauge how both of you feel. he knows it’s manipulative, but no harm, no foul.
the worst part is, chris isn’t actually even sure he wants a relationship. he’s infatuated by you, undoubtedly. matt on the other hand would marry you with a paper ring.
they’re both scared of their own feelings, and the intentions that might come along with them. they don’t ever want to hurt you, but their carnal desire is misleading their moral compass.
“alright then,” chris starts, matt’s words hitting a nerve for him. he slaps his hands onto his thighs and sits up in his spot.
“how do we settle this? who gets her?” chris continues, staring at his brother intently now.
“i don’t think we get to make that decision.” matt shakes his head, bringing his hand to his mouth as he begins to bite his nails, which muffles his words.
“you’re right, we don’t. but we’re gonna have to compete for it to even be an option.”
“compete” matt repeats chris’s words with a sour huff, a slight arrogance in the sense that he doesn’t view his brother as a threat.
not when it comes to you, and there might be a small part of that statement that’s correct. you have a sweet spot for matt, which fires up chris even more. he is conscious that he’s the underdog, as much as you try to show an even amount of attention to the both of them.
“what’s wrong? you scared you’ll lose?” chris taunts.
“that’s the least of my worries.” matt scoffs, his mind traveling down every possible path this terrible idea could go down.
“fine, then you won’t be afraid of a little competition.” chris says nonchalantly, pushing back with the same energy matt’s been giving, turning the tables.
“what’s your plan here? we just tally up the moments we get with her until someone wins? to boost our own egos?” matt speaks with his hands.
“i do love to have my ego stroked” chris grins to himself, the thought of you crossing his mind as the words leave his mouth. his train of thought tends to wonder easily.
“seriously, chris, how do we plan on settling this?” matt rubs his hands together, like the action you do when you’re trying to stay warm.
“i think there’s only one answer to that.” chris responds, in a “duh” tone, without explicitly sharing what’s on his mind.
their sixth sense of being able to unpack each other's minds sparks like an electrical fault in the moment. of course, neither of them hate the thought of getting you in bed. they just hate the thought of you being unaware.
somehow it’s more challenging than falling in love, or securing a relationship. betting to sleep with you is actually the hardest challenge of them all, let alone covering all the bases in order to attain it.
the intimacy, the intensity of it all. it just seems so unattainable. it requires them, and you, to be completely and utterly vulnerable.
“that seems kind of, objectifying.” matt shifts his demeanour, ironic considering he sparked the conversation.
“it wouldn’t be a competition without a challenge.” chris acknowledges, and unfortunately for the both of them, he’s right.
“this sounds so fucked up” matt says, running his hand through his scruffy hair.
“first brother to five points takes all. all of her.” chris speaks, confidently setting up the challenge.
essentially their plan is to see who can get the closest to you, and let the other brother suffer in watching it happen. which occurs points. loser has to back off of you completely. unless someone gets to you first, in which case all their hard work flies out the window. they won’t be making it easy for each other.
“points won’t matter when i get her into bed first.” matt’s smug, knowing it’ll make chris go insane.
“so i take it that you’re up for the challenge?” chris ignores matt’s words with a prompt, because if he doesn’t disregard it, he’ll lash out.
matt considers it. at least he acts like he does. he knows his answer. if he wants you, if either of them do, they have no choice but to compete. neither of them are sure if it’s love or lust, but they’re about to find out.
they are certain of one thing though. they like everything about you. the way you look. the way you smell. the way you sound. they know exactly why they want you. it’s the first time ever someone has been able to grab the attention of both brothers. hence the severity of the agreement.
“when do we start keeping score?” matt responds, and that’s all the reassurance chris needs in his brothers answer.
as if on command, you trudge down the stairs in a sleepy state. their eyes snap toward you simultaneously, and you blink repeatedly to make sure you’re seeing them right.
you are their favorite part of every day, so it’s not out of the ordinary for them to acknowledge your entrance, but you can feel the intensity of their eyes on you with a different energy.
with foggy vision still clearing as you rub your heavy, tired eyes, you let a small yawn escape. they both melt at the sight, despite you feeling like you’re in your least desirable state.
you’re not even paying attention to their back and forth bickering. the sound of their voices muffling through your ears. whatever it is they’re saying, they’re not saying it loud enough for you to hear before you even make it down the stairs.
“now.” chris states, eyes snapping back at his brother as they both raise off the lounge.
all is fair in love and war.
tag list: @luverboychris @floofparker @fake-sturniolos @letstripsturniolo @imwetforyourmom @mattsneezing @mattslolita @breeloveschris @rootbeerworshiper @mattstattoo @mxqdii @tay-laaaaa @pettydollie @lacysturniolo @annamcdonalds67 @landrysflannel @goandcomebsck @sleepysturnss @call-me-ninaaa @lustfulslxt @txssvx
#chris sturniolo#matt sturniolo#christopher sturniolo#matthew sturniolo#chris sturniolo imagine#matt sturniolo imagine#chris sturniolo x you#matt sturniolo x you#chris sturniolo x reader#matt sturniolo x reader
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Ch1: New Beginnings
teacher!reader x student's dad!Frankie Morales || W/C: 8.8k
Ch. Summary: Frankie gets introduced to a new opportunity for his daughter, Elena. You get introduced to your new job. In celebration of these new beginnings, you both set out to a night at the bar, completely unaware that your paths are about to cross.
Content/Warnings: F!reader (she/her), female sex anatomy, reader is able-bodied. No physical descriptions of reader. Slight description of reader’s outfit (no size descriptions). Tío Santi (& TF Miller boys) makes an appearance. Slight implication reader understands some Spanish. Going out to bar/consumption of alcohol. Flirting. POV switch, mainly Frankie this chapter. SMUT 18+ MDNI. Sexual activity while under the influence of alcohol (you've slowed down your alcohol intake by that point, though). “Author Chose Not to Apply Archive Warnings” because it may result in spoilers (but there’s smut here…).
A/N: thank you to @honeyedmiller for proof-reading this for me, and thank you to @javierpena-inatacvest for peer pressuring me into giving my little idea an actual chance. I love love love you both sm🩶 to everyone, I truly hope you enjoy!! All my love xx
series masterlist || main masterlist || updates blog
August 2024
“Thank you so much for coming in, Mr. Morales.”
“It’s no problem at all, Mrs. Adams, is- is, um, is everything okay? Is Elena doing alright?” Frankie asks the second grade teacher, concerned.
The school year hasn’t started yet, but from time to time, the school does accelerated summer sessions that last a few weeks up until the actual start date of the school year. Elena always attends these sessions, begging her dad every summer to sign her up for one because I need to learn more! she’d tell him. How could he deny her the chance to expand that beautiful mind of hers?
“Oh, yes, everything is good! Elena is wonderful, and that’s actually why I asked you to come in,” she states. “Are you aware of how smart that girl is?”
Frankie can’t help the cheesy grin that spreads across his face. “Yeah, she’s always too excited to show me her progress reports and report cards, always pulling them out before we even leave the parking lot at the end of her days,” he beams.
“Oh, I bet. She blows me away everyday, that girl,” Mrs. Adams says genuinely. “So much so that I actually think she shouldn’t be attending here anymore,” the teacher adds, softer than the rest of her previous statements.
Frankie’s eyebrows twist in confusion. “What do you mean?”
“Well, don’t get me wrong, I love having Elena, and everyone in this school loves her, too. She’s one of our brightest. But,” she sighs. “She is so damn smart, Mr. Morales. I’d go as far as to say she’s a prodigy.”
“Oh,” Frankie says, pleasantly surprised and confused. He still doesn’t know where she’s getting at. He tells her as much.
“What I’m trying to say is- Elena isn’t getting the proper brain stimulation someone of her level needs. She needs to go somewhere that will increase her levels at the fast rate she’s moving and somewhere that will stimulate the creative parts of her brain. Traditional public school—at least here—cannot provide her with that.”
Frankie has always known his daughter’s natural intelligence. She often comes home either excited because they worked on a topic she’s really good at, or she comes home really bored and exhausted—because they worked on a topic she’s really good at. It’s too repetitive for her, but he wasn’t sure what other options he had.
Frankie takes a moment to think. “Even if I did move her to a school that has all this, it sounds like it would cost a lot of money. Money that I unfortunately don’t have right now,” he says with a heavy breath.
Mrs. Adams’ smile grows ten times bigger. “Mr. Morales-”
“Frankie, please,” he corrects.
“Frankie, there’s a school for the gifted connected to our local university just a few miles down the way. I used to work there, and I have friends there. Please forgive me if I’ve overstepped, but I’ve spoken to the Director of Admissions. There’s a waitlist, and barely any get admitted—and it’s by semester, so you’ll have to keep up with re-enrolling her—but I told them all about Elena. They want her, Frankie. No waitlist. No tuition. They want her for this new semester. And I really think you should go for it.”
Frankie sits in Mrs. Adams’ office, utterly stunned. He’s sure his jaw is on the floor right now, eyes bugged out like those squeezable stress toys. “I- I don’t know what to say…” Frankie trails off.
“I know it’s a big step,” the teacher comforts. “But think about it.” She pulls out a card from her desk and hands it to him. “Here’s the director’s card. I’ll reach out to them to make sure they know to expect your call.”
Frankie knows this is a good thing. He knows these are once in a lifetime opportunities, and he knows if he goes through with this now, those rare opportunities won’t be so rare for her as she gets older. That’s all he wants for his daughter; nothing but opportunity and the right kind of challenges meant to help her grow as a person.
So why does he feel so nervous? He’s dealt with change before, and he’s dealt with last-minute, under pressure change up in the sky where his life could’ve been on the line—but nothing compares to the anxiety when it involves Elena. Since she was born, she is all he’s ever known. It’s been him and her against the world, and although some days are more difficult than others doing this parenting thing alone, Frankie wouldn’t have it any other way.
He gives Mrs. Adams his thank yous and goodbyes, and makes his way to the front office. It’s 12 o’ clock right now—recess time—but he wouldn’t doubt she’s propped up against a pillar with her nose in a book. He decides to check Elena out early and take her to go get dessert.
“She’ll be escorted here in a few minutes,” the front desk lady tells him.
“Thank you, ma’am,” Frankie says, resting his back against the wall.
A few minutes pass and the office’s door bursts open with the heartwarming sounds of his daughter’s giggles, an excited aura filling the room. “¡Papi!” she squeals, immediately wrapping her arms around the parts of her father she can reach.
“¡Mija!” he says, matching her energy, pulling her in for a tight squeeze. He kneels down to reach her level, placing a kiss on her forehead before he speaks. “Wanna go get dessert?”
Her eyes light up like a million stars. “Please!!” she replies, her entire body shaking in Frankie’s grasp.
Frankie picks her up, and they make their way to the car. Buckling her into her car seat, Frankie settles himself to the driver’s seat and asks the burning question before he pulls off. “Brownie sundae spot or-”
“BROWNIE!” Elena replies immediately. Frankie has to slap his mouth to stop from the uncontrollable laughter bubbling out from his chest. He knew what her answer would be. “Okay, mija, brownie spot it is.”
Their usual brownie sundae spot is in a little diner up the street from their house. Frankie began this little tradition as a way to celebrate Elena’s wins and milestones. The first milestone they celebrated was for her first word: airplane. Frankie was ecstatic, practically jumping up and down with Elena in his arms until his best friend, Santiago, had to calm him down. “Ay, tranquilo, tranquilo,” relax, relax, he said, holding his hands softly around Elena’s little head.
Today’s milestone, however, is much bigger than any they’ve celebrated, and the notion is not lost on little Elena.
“Papi,” she calls. “Are we celebrating something?”
Frankie chuckles to himself, loving how easily she can put things together. “We might be, mi amorcito.”
“Hm?” She hums, eyebrows furrowed and head tilted to the side as she settles into the booth seat, sitting across from her dad.
Their usual waiter comes before they can continue their conversation. “Hey, guys! The usual?”
Elena answers first, very excitedly. “YES, YES, BROWNIE SUNDAE!!!” She squeals as she elongates every syllable. Frankie confirms with a head nod as he chuckles at her energy.
“What’s the occasion?” The waiter says softer, directing the question to Frankie.
“We’ll see after I talk with this little lady,” Frankie tells the waiter, extending his long arm out to pinch Elena’s little cheek.
The waiter smiles and walks off, putting the order in with the kitchen and asking for a little bit of a delay to give Frankie enough time to talk things through with his daughter.
“So,” Frankie states.
“So,” his daughter mirrors, putting on her best serious face while fighting the huge grin that wants to break free.
“Do you know how smart you are, mija?” Frankie asks, smiling because he knows what she’s gonna say. Duh, papi, he thinks in his head.
“Duh, papi!” She says, a troublemaking giggle she’s had since her babbling stages echoes their little corner of the diner.
“Alright, little smart ah-” Frankie coughs to stop his mouth. “You little smarty pants,” he corrects himself.
“Daddy, were you about to call me a smartass?” She scolds.
His cheeks flush a bright red. “You spend too much time with Tío Santi,” he deadpans.
She hums, nodding her head triumphantly.
“Anyway,” he says, noting in his mind to scold Santi for his mouth around his little girl. “You’re so smart, mija, I was wondering… well, I was wondering if you feel like you’re actually learning?”
“What do you mean, papi?”
“Well, everything you’ve been learning so far is super easy for you, isn’t it?”
She ponders for a moment. “Yeah, it’s easy,” she confirms.
“Does it ever make you bored, how easy some days are?”
“A little, yeah,” she says a little softer. “But it’s okay because I end up helping my friends, and Mrs. Adams tells me I’m her assistant,” she giggles with pride.
“You’re too good, amor,” he chuckles. “But what if I told you,” he starts. Immediately, her interest is piqued. “A really fancy, really smart school heard about how smart you are?”
Her chocolate brown eyes widen, and her little jaw drops. “Me?! Really?!”
“Yes, baby!” Frankie can feel his excitement rising alongside hers, his initial nervousness fading just as quick. “And what if I told you they want you to go to their school?” Elena’s hands fly to her mouth, suppressing her squeals of joy. Frankie can hear her legs kicking back and forth underneath the table. “Would you wanna go, mi niña inteligente (my smart girl)?”
“So… I’ll learn harder things?” She asks.
“Yes,” he swallows thickly. Frankie thinks she’s having anxiety.
It’s not. “Then…” She settles for her usual diva answer. “Duh, papi!” She giggles, positively radiating pure excitement on this new journey she’s about to embark on.
She wiggles out of her side of the booth to crash into her father’s arms, pulling him into the tightest hug ever. As she pulls away and settles next to Frankie, the waiter comes out with the sundae, Congratulations! written in cursive on the side of the plate. Elena reads the message with ease, scooping up the red icing with her finger and licking it up. “Thank you!!” She exclaims to the waiter who murmurs a sweet smartest person I know with a ruffle to her curly head of hair.
The waiter looks at Frankie with a genuine smile, and Frankie returns it. This diner really has been there for all the Morales’ family wins. Frankie wonders what other miracles just might happen in this little building.
For the first time in your teaching career, you are nervous.
You’ve dealt with gifted children before, and you had no problems juggling public school and the extra side lessons you’d give to the occasional gifted child. People tend to underestimate the amount of prodigal children in the world due to the constant brushing off these adults like to give to developing humans. These little children deserve as much respect and care that any other human deserves, maybe even more. The children are our future, after all.
So, now that you’re starting a new job, in a school dedicated to your life’s passion—yeah, you’re pretty nervous.
This school was created by the state’s local university; it was their attempt at providing children with an enriching, stimulating environment that the typical school system couldn’t care enough to provide, and their attempt was an absolute success. It will take a little while to get themselves off their feet, so tuition and enrolling students is expensive compared to what you would pay for your child in the public education system.
However, with time and careful planning, the program’s ultimate goal is to adequately provide to childrens of all needs—regardless of their prodigal status—for little to no cost. It’s definitely an ambitious goal, but it’s one you’re absolutely ready and willing to stick around for.
You were hired this summer, August 1st to be exact. The principal—Ms. Sabatino—caught wind of the powerhouse of a teacher who goes above and beyond for her students, and she just had to have you on her team. Your interview wasn’t even a real interview: it was exchanging logistical information and showing you to your new home base, your new classroom. She told you if you wanted to take the time before the year officially started to make your classroom feel more like you, you could.
It took you about a week to settle the vibe of your classroom, and during your preparations, you met a few other teachers, instantly hitting it off with each other that they invited you to their “semester pregame,” they called it.
“You have to come, Ms. Powerhouse!” Ms. Smith—Linda, she corrected you—exclaimed.
“Powerhouse?!” You repeated, a little frightened. You knew coming in that the culture here was very tight-knit, but how fast does word really spread around here?
“Yeah, you powerhouse, you!” Mr. White—Blake—chimes in. “You’re all anyone is talking about! Honestly, we’ve been dying to meet you.”
And lastly, Ms. Marshall—Leah—joins in. “You’re a real legend, ya know that, don’t you? Sticking to the Rebel theme we got going on here,” she smirks, referring to their school’s mascot, the Rebels.
You flush under all their praise. “I really don’t know what you guys are talking about,” you say softly. “I’m just trying to do what’s best for our kiddos, like any of us would.” A proud smile graces your face, and not for the things you’ve done, but for the amazing students you’ve had the honor of meeting and teaching. There truly isn’t a better feeling.
The three teachers share a knowing look, the one that tells you they think you’re just trying to be humble. Their hums of secret agreement don’t escape your super-teacher hearing.
Ms. Marshall is the one to speak again. “Are you going to come though? We really would love to have you. We’ve been trying to find someone who can hold their alcohol better than Mr. Lightweight here can,” she cackles, pointing over to Mr. White, who now has an offended look on his face.
“I’ll have you know-” he starts. “Oh, Blake, enough with the excuses already!” Ms. Smith cuts him off.
You giggle at their banter, your apprehensiveness about this little squad slowly melting away. “I’m afraid if you’re looking for someone who can hold their own, that person is not me…but I would absolutely love to join you guys. When and where is this pregame?”
“YAAASSSSSS!” Ms. Smith is quick to squeal. She’s definitely the life of the party with these three. “We have it the Saturday before the semester starts! So, the 17th I believe. It’s a bit risky depending on how plastered we end up getting, but it’s all a part of the fun,” she says with a wink.
You reach for your phone in your back pocket, unlocking and letting your three new friends put their phone numbers in. You group text them so they have your number, too. “Perfect! I can’t wait,” you say sheepishly, your excitement slowly rising as their smiles begin to mirror your own. It’s been a while since you let yourself go and get lost in something else other than work, and you think this little pregame is exactly what you’ve been needing.
“Oh, come on, Fish! You have to come out with us!” Santi tells you, giving Frankie’s shoulder a punch of encouragement.
Frankie hisses at the impact, swatting Santi’s hand away with a scowl. “No.”
“Fish,” Santi reasons. “The Millers haven’t seen you in a hot minute since my ‘Lena girl was born, man. They miss you. Especially Benny, you know how sensitive that man gets. And! We need to celebrate this new chapter for you and ‘Lena!”
“We already celebrated,” Frankie corrects. “At the diner.”
“An adult celebration, Fish. When was the last time you let yourself go?”
Frankie sighs. Santi’s right. “Who would watch Elena?”
“I already spoke with Yavonna last night,” Santi says, a tinge of hope laced in his voice.
“Let me talk to Elena-”
“Fish, she’ll be fine-”
Frankie holds his hand out to signal Santi to shut up. “Let me talk to Elena,” he repeats, “and let her know our plans for tomorrow night. You know I don’t do anything without running it through with her first.”
Santi’s face is happier than a toddler getting ice cream for breakfast. He claps him on his shoulder, “Fuck yeah, man! Frontier boys back at it again!”
Frankie grimaces. “Pope, cállate, por favor,” shut up, please, he says, pinching the bridge of his nose as he kicks Santi out for the night.
“Tell ‘Lena Tío Santi says buenas noches (good night) please since her daddy likes to kick me out so soon,” Santi taunts, a fake offended look on his face.
“No,” Frankie says. Then he shuts the door.
Frankie lets a few moments pass to make sure Santi was out of sight before he calls out to his daughter. “Baby, tío Santi wishes you good night!”
Elena comes running down the stairs. “He left already?!”
“Yeah, sorry kiddo,” Frankie frowns, meeting her at the end of the stairs to kiss her forehead.
“It’s okay,” she says. “You kicked him out again, didn’t you, daddy?”
“Y-yeah, yeah I did,” Frankie stutters. There’s no lying to this little Einstein.
“Hey, baby?” Frankie says again, crouching down to his knees to meet her level. “Do you remember Yavonna? Tío Santi’s girlfriend?”
Her gears turn before recognition sparks in her eyes. “Yeah!”
“Well, would you be okay if papi went out tomorrow? And you and Yavonna have a girls’ night?” He asks.
Elena’s smile turns mischievous as she pulls her dad in for a hug, whispering in his ear. “Are you going on a date?”
“Mmm, tío Santi is nice and all, but he’s too much a pain in my ass for me to wanna go on a date with him,” he retorts. “So, no, no date. Just spending some time with your annoying uncle and some of our other old friends.”
“Oh, okay,” Elena says as she giggles. “Have fun, papi!”
“I will, baby, thank you,” he says, pulling her into one last hug before they both venture off to bed.
It’s Monday morning, one week before the semester starts, and Frankie is buzzing. He’s nervous and excited for his daughter, but he can tell this new environment is one that gets heavily involved—in both the child and the guardian’s life.
He’ll do anything for Elena, of course, and it isn’t like he wasn’t involved at her old school. But this one makes it feel like he’s also attending this place. The thought terrifies his socially anxious heart.
He puts his car in park and practices a few breathing exercises before he gets out. He has a meeting with the principal today—Ms. Sabatino?, he tries to remember. This meeting is for her to finally get to know him, and for the paperwork to get finalized. And because they aren’t charging him for this semester, he also needs to fill out some waivers.
He makes his way to her office, checking in at the front desk and waiting to be pulled back. His hand fidgets at his side, the nerves getting to him again.
“Mr. Morales?” A voice calls out, pulling him from his nerves. “Ms. Sabatino is ready for you, first door to your left.”
“Thank you,” he replies. He softly knocks on the door before entering.
“Mr. Morales! Come in, come in!” Ms. Sabatino waves him over. “Sit, make yourself comfortable! It’s so nice to finally meet you.”
“It’s nice to meet you as well, ma’am, and please, just Frankie is good,” he tells her, a slight shyness in his voice and demeanor.
“Okay then, Frankie,” she smiles. “Let’s see here,” she says, squinting to her computer. “Do you have the enrollment forms?”
“Yes, right here,” Frankie sets the folder in front of her.
“Perfect, thank you,” she replies. “Here, you fill these waiver forms out that we talked about while I upload your forms in for Elena’s profile.”
Frankie mutters a quick okay, sounds good, before Ms. Sabatino speaks again. “While we get through these formalities though, did you have any questions for me? About the program, the teachers, literally anything at all besides what the meaning of life is?” she tries to joke, sensing Frankie’s anxiety.
Mrs. Adams already gave him the rundown of this place, but the financial conversation has been clouding his mind since he first found out about this place. “Well, actually, yes, I wanted to talk to you about the cost,” he starts.
“The cost is no issue, I promise you,” she reassures. But it’s not that. Although Frankie has major social anxiety, he’ll be damned if he comes off as a freeloader—even though absolutely no one here views him that way.
“No, I understand, but it’s more so that-” he pauses, taking a deep breath before he tries again. “I’m a single dad. I’m the one catering for both Elena and I. We’re not very well off, but we’re also not entirely poor. Just enough to…not really afford this place,” he shakes his head, he’s rambling. “Anyway- sorry. What I’m trying to say is, money isn’t an issue, but I can’t just sit here and not do anything to pay you guys back, even if it isn’t in a monetary sense.”
This piques the principal’s interest. She nods her head, taking a moment to measure her response. The computer pings as she thinks to herself, signaling that it’s done uploading the forms. She hands Frankie the folder back. He takes it, handing her the completed waiver. “I respect it,” she finally states. “A lot.”
“Y-yeah,” he says, not really sure how to respond to that.
Ms. Sabatino spins in her chair, pausing towards a drawer underneath her desk. She pulls out a little booklet of some sort.
“I have one idea,” she offers.
Frankie’s ears perch up. “Yeah? Anything,” he replies.
“It’s a lot to ask of a parent,” she says. “And I know you’re eager, but hear me out before you agree. And if you’d like to say no, then say no, that’s all I ask.”
“Deal,” Frankie tells her.
“So, last semester, the head of our PTA—the Parent-Teacher Association—quit on us. She quit and also unenrolled her child. Some weird drama, it was very unavoidable if she knew how to communicate properly… anyway, we are actually in need of a new head. I will admit, it’s a lot, but you’ll have me by your side, and I know a few of the parents would help show you the ropes and help you with anything you need.”
Out of everything, Frankie was not expecting this. It’s evident in the shocked look on his face.
“Like I said, I don’t need an answer right now-”
“What about the existing PTA parents?” Frankie blurts out. He may have not been PTA-level involved with his daughter, but he knows the seriousness in which parents take their roles when it comes to this.
“I appoint the head, and choosing one out of all of them would… to be frank… be a bloodbath. This PTA needs a fresh face. A new perspective. I can tell you’re nervous, but I can also tell you’re ambitious. I can tell you’d do anything for your daughter first and foremost. That is what my PTA needs. The rest of those parents- God- I love them, but they’re more worried about looking good and their brownie points with me than their kids’ experiences.”
If Frankie was unsure before, he definitely isn’t now. All he wants is the best for his daughter, and honestly, it makes him disappointed to hear where these parents’ priorities are. He’s absolutely scared shitless about doing this, but he can’t stop the next words that come out of his mouth. “I’ll do it.”
Her eyebrows fly up. “Are you sure?”
He isn't, he thinks. “Yes,” he tells her.
“Oh- okay, then,” Ms. Sabatino smiles bigger than before. She picks up the booklet from earlier and hands it to Frankie. “Read this over- they’re just some little rules we’ve established to keep the environment thriving for our kids. We’ve never had any issues before…besides last semester… but yeah, it’s just a precautionary measure. Thank you so much again, Frankie, and please if it does get too much, do not hesitate to let me know if you’d like to quit.”
He looks down to the book in his hand. The Rebels Guide - PTA Addition. He’s definitely not cut out for this. “Thank you, Ms. Sabatino. I’ll let you know. And I really appreciate you considering me for this. You have a good rest of your day,” Frankie says as he exits.
What the fuck am I doing? He thinks to himself as he gets himself into his car.
The rule book stares at Frankie as he drives. Stopped at a red light, he decides to place it in the glove compartment of his car. He’ll grab it later. For now, he needs it out of his view before he spirals.
Saturday, August 17th. Semester Pregame Day.
You’re in the middle of picking out your outfit when a flood of texts come through your phone.
[5:47PM Linda] You bitches ready?!
[5:48PM Leah] I’ve been ready, just waiting on Mr. Lightweight to get here…
[5:48PM Blake] Yeah okay, I’m not giving you a ride anymore, good luck.
[5:49PM Leah] Blake, I’m kidding, get your ass over here.
[5:49PM Blake] I’ve been outside, smartass.
[5:53PM Leah] Linda, we’re on the way to you. Ms. Powerhouse, are you sure you don’t want a ride?
[5:55PM] Please do not call me that.. And yes, I’m sure! I’m still picking out what I’m gonna wear to be honest. I think I’m gonna be a few minutes late.
[5:56PM Linda] OOOOO GIRL ARE YOU TRYING TO GET LAID?
[5:57PM Leah] 👀
[5:57PM Leah] Blake is driving, but he also would like to say: 👀
[5:58PM] Umm. No. I can’t make myself look nice for my friends?
[5:58PM Linda] In this world? Not without a motif, no.
[5:59PM] Wow.
[5:59PM] Okay, I’ve gotta finish getting ready. See you guys in a bit.
You toss your phone on your bed, not wanting to make yourself any later than you already are. They are right, you don’t necessarily have to get all dressed up. And it’s not like you’re getting laid anytime soon, let alone tonight. Right? Gosh, it’s been a hot minute since you’ve had any action. Well, okay, if you count your trustee wand, then it’s been about an hour since you’ve got some… but human interaction? Yeah, no.
You shake away the deprived thoughts your new friends planted in your brain settling for a sage green tank top with a lace lining at your chest. Something casual yet not too casual, slightly flashy but not too flashy. And since it’s in the middle of August, you decide on some black jean shorts.
It’s 6:15 by the time you head in your car. They wanted to get there around 6:30, so you’re not too far behind after all. It definitely helps that the bar they chose was a seven minute drive.
When you enter the bar, you spot the trio immediately, huddled by a tall table, all already cheering with shots. Linda spots you with a squeal, sending Leah to grab another round with a fourth shot this time.
With the mischievous party glint in her eyes, already you can tell what kind of night you’re going to have. One that makes you think maybe you should’ve caught a ride.
The first shot goes down roughly, an immediate fiery burn sliding down your throat as Linda shoves a lime in your mouth afterwards. “Tequiiilllaaaa shootttsss!!” She sings, already on her fourth to your first.
The second and third round slides down much smoother, your entire body beginning to heat up from its effects. Tequila has always had a fast effect on you, making you buzzed after one shot and effectively fucking you up after the third. Maybe you were a lightweight. Nonetheless, you indulge in one more peer-pressured round from Linda before you settle on a sugary sweet mixed drink paired with a glass of ice cold water.
Linda disappears to the small dance floor while Blake convinces the people at the pool table to let him join. It’s just you and Leah at the table now, talking here and there, but mainly just watching the other two have their fun from afar.
“So how long have you guys been doing this?” You shout over the loud music. Once the clock hit 7pm, the music was definitely hitting the threshold for ear damage.
Leah looks at you with a genuine smile. She’s content watching her friends be social butterflies. She has them in her presence and that’s all that matters. “We’ve been doing this for a few years now, really. Linda was at the school first, then I got hired a semester after her. Then Blake got hired a semester after me. And because we were all relatively new, we all just sort of- gravitated towards each other,” she explains. “I don’t know what I’d do without them, honestly. In and outside of the school, those two are very important in my life,” she breathes in a sniffle, quiet enough to go unheard, but since you’re watching her, you catch it in combination with a tear she sneakily wipes away.
It’s your turn for your eyes to gloss up. “That’s really beautiful,” you tell her.
Leah laughs a little. “Yeah. But don’t tell them though. I’ll have to strangle you,” she says in a mock sternness. Weirdly enough, you think there’s truth behind that.
You pull your hands up in a surrendering motion, “Promise,” you respond with a smirk. “I’m gonna go get another drink. Want?”
“What are you getting?”
“Was honestly just gonna sip on beer and water the rest of the night. I’m tapped out.”
“Me too,” she grins. “I’ll get what you get.”
Making your way up to the bartender, you politely wait until she comes up to you. “What can I get you, doll?”
“Two beers, please, and also two waters, but can you give me the waters after I set the beers down at my table?” you ask a little shyly.
The bartender gives you a sweet smile. “I got you, honey.”
She hands you the beers, and you make your way to Leah. “I gotta grab the waters real fast, give me one second,” you say, already whipping around and making your way back.
In that short span of time, the bartender was met with a crowd of needy newly aged adults, swarming her with requests. She looks at you, but you give her a nod, signaling it’s okay.
Two minutes, she mouths.
You sit down on the stool in front of you while you wait, turning to check on Leah. Her eyes are back on her friends, a warmth radiating from her smile. Only now, you’re a part of her rotation, and the warmth is reciprocated to you, too. And to think you were hesitant with this bunch.
As you sit and wait for the bartender, a group of four rowdy men take up the bar space beside you. One of them even bumps into your side, and you’re quick to jump. “Hey, watch it!” You yell over the noise.
A large hand grabs onto the guy’s shoulder and pulls him away from you. The bar is loud, but it doesn’t stop his deep gruff from blessing your ears. “Benny, watch where you’re fucking going, man!”
“Oh, shit,” the tall, lean man turns to you. “I’m so sorry, I wasn’t paying attention..” he starts. You can feel the man fight for his life to stay on your eyes. He darts to your lips for a millisecond before he brings them back up. “Can I… Let me buy you a drink? To apologize?” He smirks like he just pulled the smoothest flirt attempt ever. Your eyebrows furrow in annoyance, but before you can say anything, the large hand from earlier is pulling the man—Benny, apparently—away from you and to the other end where their other friends are. “Pendejo,” he mutters under his breath towards his friend.
You stifle a giggle. The man, your savior, finally actually looks at you, and at first he was going to ask if you understood what he said, but the moment your eyes meet, it’s like all the airflow was vacuumed clean out of his lungs, leaving him mentally gasping like a fish out of water. Physically, though, he keeps it cool. Or, at least, tries to.
“Hi- uh, I’m- I’m Frankie- look, I’m real sorry about my friend back there, he can be real stupid sometimes,” he mutters, his rosy cheeks bright on display, no alcohol to blame it on.
As he rambles, only then are you able to get a good look at this man—at Frankie, he calls himself. A baseball cap sits on his head, hiding what you can make out as curly hair. The dim light of the bar ruins your view slightly, but you are both near the warm light that emanates from the side of the bar, so your view is not completely obstructed. You can see beautiful brown, puppy dog eyes with a pretty scruff that grows haphazardly across his cheeks and jaw, and above his lip, too.
“Don’t worry about it, Frankie,” you manage as you look up at him. He’s still standing. You’re sitting on an elevated bar seat, and you still have to crane your neck. Good lord, he’s tall. You introduce yourself with a smile, holding your hand out for him to take. You have to fight your body not to shudder at the warmth of his hand.
Little do you know, he’s also fighting the same battle as you.
“Can I get you a drink, Frankie?” you ask. Usually you’d never do this, but there is just something about him. You need to know more.
“Uh,” you see him flush, an internal battle going on in his brain. Is it the battle of the so-called bro-code where he can’t hit on you because his friend did or because he should be offering you a drink?
He looks back to his friend. Yup, the bro-code. You quirk your brow at him.
“Yeah, okay,” he says with a grin as he perches himself to the bar seat beside you. “I’ll have a beer,” he tells you.
“Coming right up,” you smirk, winking at him before you try and regain the bartender’s attention.
You text Leah a quick I’m sorry, to which she replies with the eyes emoji again along with a winky face. Of course she saw everything.
The bartender comes to you and apologizes for earlier with the other group and then apologizes again when she admits she completely forgot to come back to you. She tells you this round of beers for you and Frankie are on the house. You try to tip her, but she doesn’t accept.
Frankie is really nice. Really handsome…and sexy…but you try to ignore the heat tingling between your legs because of the fact that Frankie is really nice.
As your two beers listen in on your conversation, untouched and sweaty, you’ve come to learn a good amount about Frankie. Like the fact that he’s a bashful boy, but you can tell he has no problem getting what he wants when the confidence strikes him. You’ve been witness to it a few times tonight—a hand on your knee there, a tucking of your hair behind your ear here, a long glance at your lips as you lick the residual drip of your drink—and it does nothing to calm your core’s ache.
The one that really sent you over the edge though was when he made you laugh particularly hard, your reaction was to lean into him. He took the opportunity to grab onto your seat and pull you against him, his thick highs entrapping both of yours.
“Oh-!” you gasp involuntarily, your eyes immediately searching for his. His gaze is dark, and so is yours.
Although quite nervous, Frankie’s confidence has spiked being in your presence. His thumb and forefinger come up to your chin, steadying and making your heartbeat erratic all in one. He leans closer in, the tips of each of your noses a hair’s width away. “You’re intoxicating,” he whispers.
“I could say the same thing about you,” you whisper back, feeling lightheaded and not from the alcohol coursing through your veins. “Been dying for you to touch me since you pulled your friend away,” you admit.
You see his Adam's apple bob in his throat. He looks past you, eyeing the single stall bathroom. You scanned the place earlier, you know where he’s looking. Tapping his thigh for him to look at you again, you give him a look of understanding before you break away from his grasp.
He faces the bar again, taking a deep breath to calm himself down. He catches Santi and the Millers staring at him from the pool table they took over. Santi shoots Frankie a wink while Benny looks like a puppy who’s been kicked to the curb. Frankie really couldn’t care less right now.
Satisfied with the little window of time he gave, he stands from his seat, taking one more swig of beer before he makes his way to you. He knocks on the door softly, and you open it right away, pulling him in and immediately shutting it again.
Like a calculated dance, his hand goes back to lock the door while your hand grasps onto the fabric of his shirt at his chest, pulling his body flush against yours. Your hands take their time in coasting the plain of his broad chest and shoulders. Your thighs clench at the sensation.
His lips meet yours for the first time tonight, and he can feel every nerve in his body spark with electricity. Your lingering taste of all the drinks you had this evening mixed with a flavor he thinks is distinctly you consumes each of his senses.
Oh, you have him wrapped around your pretty little finger and you don’t even know it yet.
He walks forward, backing you into the bathroom sink.
You hop up on your own, your legs spreading without any forethought for his broad form. His hands coast the expanse of your body, settling at your ass on the counter as he pulls you tighter into his body, your center coming into contact with this hardness. He practically growls into your mouth at the heat he feels radiating from you.
“Fuck, querida,” he moans, his teeth chasing your bottom lip.
“Frankie,” you beg. For what, you’re not entirely sure.
“Can I taste you?” He breathes heavily against your lips, fingers twitching to take action.
Fuck. “Ye- yeah- yeah, okay,” you stutter, eyes wide. Getting eaten out probably has to be one of your favorite things in the whole world, yet, with your dating history, it’s a rare occurrence. Your last boyfriend was disgusted by it, and your last girlfriend ended up cheating on you. So. Your experience of receiving oral was rare, and God did you miss it.
Frankie mistakes your surprise as fear. “Are- are you sure? I don’t have to, not if you’re not comfortable,” he says sincerely. He starts to pull away, not wanting to make you uncomfortable, but you’re quick to grab onto him.
“No, no, I’m sorry, that’s not what I-” you laugh a little breathlessly before looking into his soft eyes again. “Yes, Frankie, please. Please, I want your mouth on me,” you say, tone a little needy on the backend. “You just took me by surprise, is all,” you whisper.
“Surprise?” He can’t stop his curiosity.
“I- I don’t know, guys don’t usually like-”
You don’t get to finish your statement before Frankie’s face turns angry. He places a heady kiss to your lips before he brings his mouth down your jaw, your neck. “So what you’re saying is,” he starts, his breath tickling your neck. If you weren’t propped up on the counter, you’d be on the floor with how weak your legs feel. Making his way down, he places a soft kiss in between your breasts. “This pretty little thing hasn’t been treated properly in a long, long time?” He asks as he kneels down, his eyes looking up and devouring you in your entirety.
“How do you even know she’s pretty?” You quip back, matching his energy.
“Oh, I know she’s fucking gorgeous based on the rest of you,” he purrs, fingers working your button and zipper. He hooks his fingers at the waist, and you lift your hips to help him.
“You flatter me,” you shakily say as you try to tease, your resolve starting to break.
Frankie smirks up at you before his entire demeanor changes upon seeding your exposed lower half. His face falls into astonishment, as if he just won the damn lottery, as if his last fucking meal was just placed in front of him. “What’d I say?” He mutters to himself. “Fucking gorgeous,” he answers his own question before he gives you no time to respond as he dives right in, the flat of his tongue licking a slow wide stripe up your glistening went cunt.
“Oh, fuck,” a loud moan leaves you, your head falling back as you relish in the immediate pleasure that shoots up your spine.
Frankie reluctantly breaks away to look at you, to check up on you, but your body is still shocked from the pleasure, and he grins, cheeks full of mischief. He hums to himself before he goes back in. “Fucking delicious, too.”
“Jesus, shit-” you murmur, trying to brace yourself for what you know is going to utterly ruin you.
He licks through your folds once more, slow and steady, calculated, measuring every small twitch and whimper that your body produces. His tongue moves up to your clit, circling around the area reveling in the way your breathing speeds up and your hips buck. Even with your movements chasing for more, he remains steadfast in his ministrations.
He continues his tease until he hears you huff. You’re getting impatient. “Baby, please,” you whine. “Please don’t tease,” you pout at him then, and whether it’s real or a ploy to get him to give in, how can Frankie say no to that face?
Without lifting from your cunt, Frankie switches from slow passes around your bud to attaching directly on it, suckling and flicking the sharp tip of his tongue across you. Your legs writhe under his expert touch, your hand flying to the baseball cap to his head and flinging it off to rake your fingers through his wild curls. He groans into you the second he feels your grip, his pace faltering for just a moment before he finds his way again.
Frankie detaches from you, dragging his tongue downward to your folds to lap up your slick. The squelch your pussy makes when his tongue makes contact is sinful. He lets his mouth wrap as much as he can around you, his tongue prodding at your entrance, testing your limits.
“Oh, Frankie, yes-” you lament, your hand pulling his face tight against your core as your hips force his pink muscle inside. His cock is definitely at full mast now, especially with how reactive you are for him. Your eyes are entirely white as you repeat his name like a prayer, your hips frantically meeting the thrusts of his tongue.
You grip tighter into his locks, angling his head slightly down, and fuckfuckfuck you squeal loudly, this angle causes his nose to nudge at your sensitive nerves perfectly with each push of his tongue inside of you.
“I’m c-close, Frankie- fuck- I’m gonna cum, baby, I’m gonna fucking cum- oh my God-” you practically scream, your body losing all strength as you fall back into the counter behind you, Frankie licking everything up while he tries to fuck you through your orgasm.
The vibrations of his moaning sends you into overdrive, and you’re so spaced out you don’t even realize Frankie’s been desperately humping nothing, bringing himself to an orgasm the same time as you. He lifts off from you completely, his breathing labored as his chin threatens to drip your arousal to the ground. Frankie’s fingers reach for his face, collecting up the residue only for him to bring it back up to his mouth. The sound of him sucking his fingers up like he just ate the sauciest of wings brings you back to reality, pulling your body up weakly as your eyes go wide when you realize what Frankie’s doing.
Your cheeks heat up, but your ability to tease is back. “That good, huh?”
“Finger lickin’, baby,” he says lazily.
He rises from his knees only for you to then notice the wet spot at his crotch. “Frankie-” you start.
“Yes, yes I did,” he finishes, knowing the question you were going to ask.
He bends down to pick up his hat, swiftly placing it back on his head while he grabs your shorts, putting them gently back in place.
“You okay?” He checks in.
You melt under his sweet attention. “Never better,” you beam.
You two stand there in each other’s presence before you finally pipe up. “So how do you wanna…” you trail off.
“You wanna head out first? I got a bit of a… mess to clean up anyway,” he says, gesturing to himself.
“Oh! Right, yeah. Okay,” you say awkwardly, as if his tongue wasn’t just inside of you. “I’ll see you out there,” you add as you turn around, opening the door just enough to slip out.
You stand there for a moment, giving yourself a second to register what the fuck just happened. You did not let a man you just met go down on you? At a bar, no less?!
You make your way to the bartender, needing an ice cold glass of water to cool you off. Your head is spinning, and it’s really not because of the alcohol anymore. But you blame the substance anyway.
Hearing the bathroom door creak, you turn around to see a blushing Frankie, his hat off his head and his hand shielding the wet patch between his legs. He sees you at the bar and he smiles, walking in your direction. However, before he can reach you, Linda magically appears in your face, drunk as shit and louder than you’ve ever experienced.
“There you are, silly!! Where’d you run off to?? Been looking for you, I swear it’s been like an hour!!!”
You look at Frankie over her shoulder, and he pauses in his tracks. You give him an apologetic smile. Before he can say it’s okay, the friends he was with finds him and drags him into a game of pool.
“Hey, sorry!” You scream over the music. “Just needed some time, it got a bit too loud in here,” you lie. You’re too overstimulated—in many ways as your clit throbs against the fabric of your wet panties—to handle more ridicule from these three. “I think I’m gonna head home now, though, I’m kind of tired,” you tell her. “Where’s Blake and Leah?”
She drags you back to your guys’ table, urging one more round of shots. You go with her to the bar to order the round, mouthing to the bartender to make yours water. She winks at you, and hands you your glass directly while Leah impressively holds the other three with a drunken ease.
When Frankie finally spots you, happy and laughing with your friends, he smiles to himself and decides not to interrupt your time. He can find you later.
Except, he doesn’t.
Monday, August 19th.
Sunday was a blur. It was spent downing more water to flush out your body while surfing every account on every social media platform you have for a Frankie in your area.
No luck. Of course.
Frankie’s Sunday was spent the exact same way, too, although he is much less tech savvy and his attempt only lasted an hour before he gave up and spent the rest of his day moping.
“¿Qué pasa, papi?” What’s wrong, daddy? Elena had asked him as she scarfed down her eggs.
“Estoy bien, mi amorcito,” I’m okay, my love, Frankie responded with a kiss on her head.
Elena didn’t bug further, but he knew she would soon.
Monday morning, Elena was way too eager for her new school, forcing her father up and making breakfast an entire hour before they actually needed to get up. Somehow, Elena even convinced Frankie to leave the house half an hour before they needed to leave, forcing them to wait in the empty parking lot until any sign of life emerged.
Elena buries her nose in a book, while Frankie sat there, watching the minutes tick by. As he stared at the building, red accents and Home of the Rebels painted in big white letters, he’s suddenly reminded of what Ms. Sabatino asked him.
He reaches over and grabs the handbook out of the glove compartment. He flips open to the first page to the table of contents, and the first section, written in italicized, bold letters catches his eye:
Ground Rules
He flips to the page.
He scans through each bullet point, each one feeling more and more like common sense, but with the way the principal described these parents, he realizes how necessary these so-called rules are.
His eyes scan the last bullet point, and he can’t help but bite back a laugh.
No parent-teacher relations. Parent will be kicked off the PTA. Teacher will be reprimanded. NO exceptions.
He flips through several more pages when Elena lets out a piercing shriek. “AHH! DADDY, DADDY, LET’S GO,” she’s jumping up and down as much as she can while being belted in her car seat. Frankie looks up to see a bustling crowd of children and their guardian. He sees Ms. Sabatino in the mix.
“Alright, alright, mi vida (my life), I’m coming,” Frankie soothes, giving a softer tone of voice that hopefully she mirrors. He gets out of the car and opens the passenger door behind him, unbuckling Elena and setting her down to the ground, grabbing her backpack and shuffling it onto her back.
Ms. Sabatino catches sight of Frankie and Elena, and excitedly makes her way over. She bends down to Elena’s level. “Good morning!! You must be Elena Morales, yes?”
“YES-” she stops herself and clears her throat. “Yes! Yes, that’s me!” She says, a decibel calmer.
Ms. Sabatino warms at her eagerness. “It’s very lovely to meet you, Elena, I’m Ms. Sabatino, the principal here!” She holds out her hand for Elena to shake. She takes it eagerly.
“It’s very nice to meet you!” Elena emphasizes, putting on her best charm. Frankie chuckles.
Ms. Sabatino rises. “Mr. Morales, it’s great to see you again!” He nods his head with a smile and a soft likewise. “May I walk you both to her class? I’d like to introduce you to her new teacher,” she directs the question towards both of them.
Elena looks elated. She turns around to look her father in the eye, Frankie’s very own signature puppy dog eyes reflected back to him. He doesn’t even need to hear the question to know what her answer would be if she pulls this card. “Oh, papi, please will you come?”
“Of course, baby,” he says, caressing the apple of her cheeks before she cheers in victory.
“Great!” Ms. Sabatino says with a clap to her hands. “Right this way.”
On the way to Elena’s new class, Ms. Sabatino really praises her new teacher. Apparently, she’s the best of the best. One of their newest hires, but she’s practically a veteran when it comes to teaching prodigal children. She’s a powerhouse, Ms. Sabatino calls her. He gets the feeling that the teacher doesn’t really like that label much.
When Ms. Sabatino opens the door to his classroom, the teacher is immediately there to introduce herself and welcome in little Elena.
Frankie really doesn’t know what happens next besides the fact that his heart thoroughly stops and Elena’s voice is a muffled daddy, what’s wrong? throughout his panicked mind.
What’s wrong? He thinks.
What’s wrong is that Elena’s new teacher is you.
And he is absolutely, wholeheartedly, positively screwed.
Fuck.
I hope you liked the first chapter of my new series, New Beginnings!🥹🥹 I poured everything I have into this story, and I’ve been so eager to share it with the rest of you. I hope you are able to love it as much as I do.
Follow & turn on notifs for @endlessthxxghtsnotifs to know exactly when a new chapter comes out!🫶
Comments/reblogs or any kind of feedback to let me know what you think is my favorite part about putting out a story!! Please let me know your thoughts!!! I love you all so much, and thank you for the endless support you all show me. I wouldn’t be here without you.
Floral dividers on top & bottom courtesy of @saradika-graphics <3 section dividers in middle of fic made by me!
#endless thoughts fics#pedro pascal#pedrohub#pedro pascal character fanfic#pedro pascal characters#pedro pascal fanfiction#pedro pascal smut#smut#pedrostories#one shot#fic#smut fic#triple frontier fic#triple frontier fanfic#triple frontier smut#frankie morales x f!reader#frankie morales x you#francisco catfish morales#francisco morales fanfiction#frankie morales smut#frankie morales x reader#frankie morales#francisco morales x f!reader#francisco morales smut#francisco morales#frankie morales fluff#fic: new beginnings
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A FOOLISH LOVER'S OFFERING (10)
SUMMARY: On the way to Moonrise you and Astarion talk about some important things.
PAIRING: Astarion & Female Reader
WORD COUNT: 3,060
WARNINGS: Spoilers for Act 2 (henceforth there will be spoilers in all chapters here on out), ANGST, mentions of murder.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hi this chapter single handedly took every brain cell I had to write so hopefully you like it because I just want to set it on fire for all the grief it has caused me!!
CHAPTER LIST / MASTERLIST / NEXT CHAPTER
-
“Gods, I hate this place.”
Gripping your torch, you try your best to focus on the Harper’s. How they move through the shadows, navigating every twist and turn without issue, leading you through the pathways.
It hasn’t been long since you’ve started your journey. No longer can you see the shining veil of the Inn but, given what you know, you’re well aware that your destination isn’t nearly ahead either. There’s still plenty of walking to do. A few hour's journey at the least. Perhaps more if Astarion insists on continuing to walk so slowly.
At your side, his eyes scan the trees with a heavy breath, taking in the decrepit scenery at such a leisurely pace that it makes you huff and glance around, noting the distance between you and the others. At this point, you’re close enough that you can still see them but too far to hear what any of them are saying —something you’re certain Astarion’s done on purpose when he plants his arm around your shoulder.
“You know, I happen to find it quite charming. All the dread and despair. It’s a bit like being at home.”
You give him a look, raising your brow only to receive a snort in response, confirming that he’s (thankfully) kidding. “Ha, you think you’re so funny, don’t you?”
“Funny?” He moves his other hand to his chest, placing it against his leathers. “Darling, I’m hilarious.”
“Yes, yes, a real jester.”
His fingers flex around your shoulder, squeezing. “I’ll have you know I’ve always been funny. Even before all this vampiric bullshit.”
“Yeah?”
He nods, a slight thought flashing across his face that makes you wonder what he’s thinking about. Given the circumstances, you assume it’s a thought of the past. Perhaps of his life before Cazador’s reign. When he was merely an elf roaming topside around Baldur’s Gate without a care in the world. You imagine he was funny back then. Mischievous. Probably a little too out there, even for a magistrate considering the personality you’ve grown to love. Based on pure assumption, he probably had more fun in one night than you in a lifetime, spending his hard-earning coin on good food and drinks and—
“It’s rude to stare, you know.” He pulls you tighter into him, using his free hand to pluck the torch out of your hand so that you can wrap yourself around him. As you do, both of you breathe a sigh of what feels like relief, even though you’re currently experiencing anything but.
“Sorry.”
“Well, you were staring at me, so I suppose I can forgive.”
“Many thanks, my liege.”
He growls suggestively under his breath, making you scoff. “My liege, hm, I could get behind that.”
“Of course you could.”
“My liege,” he repeats, tasting it on his tongue, eyeing you with a lusty gaze that doesn’t quite make its mark.
Which only furthers the assumption that he’s deep inside his head still. Sifting through thoughts you’re completely unaware of as you walk in tandem to your potential untimely end. Almost immediately, it makes you wonder if maybe this is the right time to start asking questions. To finally speak up about the inquiries that have filed through your skull. Because after this, there’s no telling where you may find yourselves. You could be killed or locked away —lost to an abyss of some kind.
The options are endless; however, time is not, so instead of stewing in the silence you currently find yourselves in, you look up at him, taking in the shape of his face.
You’ve known him long enough now to know that the comments he often makes about his beauty are true. In appearance, he’s almost otherworldly. A beacon of well-aged flesh your eyes feel constantly drawn to. Whenever he’s around there’s this feeling of awe that comes forth. A subtle beating in your chest that quickens each time he’s present. When you look at him —really look at him— your eyes tend to open a little wider, surprised by how every feature seems to fit so perfectly in place. How everything feels uncharacteristically cohesive given his time spent abused beneath the moon, forced to stave and serve for all eternity.
If it weren’t for the issue of Cazador you’d be convinced he was blessed by the Gods themselves. Melded by their very hands to create a being of such high temptation and desire. You imagine them brainstorming his existence. Tirelessly spending weeks on end crafting the perfect specimen that would ultimately end up broken.
You realize then, taking in the lines that have developed throughout countless bouts of false grinning, that the very thing he loves most about himself was more than likely the result of his own downfall.
A downfall you find you’re still curious about. Even after your conversation, Astarion’s life before all this still holds an air of mystery. Between details already revealed, there are still patches of missing information. Sections of time where assumptions feel wrong but asking feels just as bad. And because of that, deep down, you know you should leave the curiosity alone. Pack it into the back of your mind for later use, but with the oncoming war and no determined outcome, you instead loosen your hold and take a side step.
“Can I ask you something?”
He narrows his eyes, readjusting his position now that you’re not locked against him, suddenly looking awkward as he puffs out his chest. “Depends.”
“On?”
“Whether or not the question is going to be depressing,” he replies. “Because you have that look in your eye.”
“What look?”
He reaches out to poke your forehead, pressing it roughly. “The one where your brows look like they’re going to become one at a moment’s notice.”
Swatting his hand away, you twitch your brows back into their proper positioning, annoyed. “I was going to ask about Cazador,” you tell him, truthfully. “I know he’s probably not a topic you want to discuss as we waltz to our potential doom but —I don’t know— I just have questions.”
He sighs deeply, drawing out his breath before giving you an unimpressed look that speaks volumes.
He doesn’t want to talk about it. Nor do you, but at the same time, you’re at the point where you’re unable to deny your interest because Astarion’s your friend. A companion you cherish more than you know you should. A person whose well-being is so important you’d virtually do anything to maintain it. Which is why you’re determined to pry a bit more than usual. Taking these final moments you have to yourself to ask the one question you’ve been wondering for ages.
“What will you do about him? When this is all over.”
Surprisingly, there’s no hesitation in his words when he tells you he’ll kill him. As you continue along the path, listening to him come up with all the vile ways he’d do it, you find yourself strangely calm. Numb almost to the descriptions of stakes being driven into hearts or knives slicing through jugular veins. Lost in the way he throws your torch around with every passing phrase.
“Personally, I think a stake to the heart’s a bit cheap,” you eventually comment, watching him laugh. Hearing the way the sound quickly flutters out and hits your ears, making you smile despite the subject matter.
“It’s a classic for a reason, my dear.”
“Is it though? I mean, in my experience there’s far better ways to kill someone.”
“Is there, now? Do tell.”
You’re not sure if it’s just because you’ve grown used to the excessive violence throughout your journey or because Astarion’s tendencies have potentially rubbed off on you. Either way, as the two of you joke of his master’s demise you find yourself wondering if maybe such a result is even plausible. Sure, you’ve never killed a vampire. Hell, before Astarion you’re not even sure you’ve seen one up close, but for him, you’d be willing to try. Especially given the ever-growing lack of regard for your own safety.
“Honestly, the only thing that’s coming to mind is cutting him open and doing something to his innards.”
His brows shoot up in surprise, making you laugh. “Mm, a cold-blooded killer after my own heart.”
You roll your eyes, prompting his hand to subtly grip your own. Tangling your fingers together, he raises your palm carefully up to his lips and places a lingering kiss. One that tickles your flesh long after he’s gone, leaving you grinning like a fool, wondering if this is what love feels like.
You imagine it is. Deep beneath the surface, your chest is tight but not with fear. Instead, there’s only warmth that spreads —a growing sensation of heat that wraps around your lungs and heart. Filling you with this discomforting ache that only he can alleviate. So much so that it makes you want to scream sometimes, knowing he’s the cause. That somehow through his charms and tricks he’s managed to find a home inside your chest without permission. How he’s sliced you open with that wicked grin and crawled inside, calling you darling all the while.
It makes you wonder if he feels the same. If all the afflictions he’s given you are returned in some capacity. If when you look at him his mouth goes dry or his heart skips a beat. Or the longing to be near is indeed reciprocated and not just another plot to keep you close.
Because sometimes it’s hard to tell.
Throughout your journey, you’ve gone back and forth a hundred times, debating the possibilities —weighing the pros and cons of every interaction that you’ve ever had. Even now, knowing such trivial thoughts should be the last thing on your mind, you can’t help but wonder: does he care for you? Truly? Does he think of you? Does he look for you? Within his everyday thoughts does your presence linger in the background, waiting for the right moment to be put on full display for him to admire?
Does he love you?
“You know, if you ever need help with the whole murdering Cazador thing…”
It sounds ridiculous when you say it. So nonchalant and unfazed. Even you have to cringe at the way you trail off, waiting for him to speak. Praying that he’ll laugh or scoff or say literally anything to fill the silence you find yourselves walking through.
It takes him a while but eventually, you hear him quietly sigh, his gaze moving to view your nervous face. “It won’t be easy, you know. Cazador isn’t some vagabond with a blade, he’s—“
“I know.”
“No, you don’t.”
He says it like a warning. As if he’s preparing to scold you for speaking out of term, narrowing his eyes with a huff. “Darling, I appreciate the enthusiasm but Cazador —he’s different. He’s not like the villains we’ve faced thus far. He isn’t motivated by greed or lust. The only thing he wants is power. Power over me —over you.”
He pauses then, swallowing hard. Making it apparent then that this hypothetical conversation of murderous jokes has turned into something far more real. That your offering is no longer a mere gesture of kindness but instead a potential act of solidarity. One that you extend further by running your thumb along his, applying a bit of pressure at the joint, feeling him twitch.
“You know there’s very little I wouldn’t do for you, right?”
In an instant his eyes are on you, staring in surprise, trying to process the words that’ve just spilled through your lips. At first, they’re focused on their position, fully immersed in the way you clear your throat, trying to suppress a nervous laugh as you continue to grip his hand. Not long after though, they start to go distant, moving past your face to view the trees behind you, fizzling out of reality so quick that all you can do is try to pull him back.
“I know you probably think I’m in idiot for even suggesting that fact that I may be capable of killing someone who spent centuries in control of so many people—“
“A bit, yes.”
You snort, watching him slowly start to return to you, his lips curling into a half smile you can’t help but reach out and touch, stopping your stride. “But I would do anything you asked of me. Even if it meant death, I would kill that bastard for you without hesitation. Whatever way you wanted, whether it’s decapitation or throwing him off a bloody cliff or—“
The light of the torch shifts as his hand slips out of yours, taking hold of your head to guide you to his lips. To press his mouth to yours with such need that the breath within your lungs is ripped out. Swallowed behind his starving tongue —lapping whatever life you have to offer as his hand drifts over your cheek, taking hold of your flesh to keep you from leaving.
Standing still, you can feel the tenseness of his frame as it all happens. How aside from his mouth and hand the rest of him refuses to move, prompting you to reach out, running your hands along his sides, coaxing him to relax.
When his body does, you slowly pull away, sucking in air like your life depends on it, watching with half-lidded eyes and swollen lips as he opens his mouth to speak, stuttering out something incoherent before swearing under his breath.
Narrowing your eyes further, you watch him struggle to speak, wondering what could be going on in that complicated brain of his as he turns his body, releasing you from his grasp in favour of moving forward again.
Immediately, it makes you drop your jaw in annoyance, watching his hands move towards his hair, gripping his locks in frustration as you hear him mutter to himself and continue to move, leaving you behind.
“Hold on, you’re just going to kiss me like that and walk away?”
He doesn’t even turn to acknowledge you as you yell, making you even angrier as you race toward him, placing a rough hand against his shoulder to gain his attention.
“Astarion—“
“Do you mean it?”
Your mouth twitches when he turns, looking at you with angry eyes. Scanning you with knitted brows filled with so much frustration all you can do is breathe and nod.
“Why?”
Because I love you.
“Because…”
“Tell me.”
Your mouth is drier than it’s ever been, making it hard for you to form the words as you feel your tongue poke out to wet your lips. “I—“
His shoulder shifts from your grasp in one quick motion, leaving you bare —untethered and weak against the aggression of his eyes staring you down. “You know, I’ve spent centuries coming up with all the ways I’d do it. How I’d kill him if given the chance.”
You watch his gaze move to the trees again, travelling elsewhere even though you’re here, standing still in front of him, already wondering how you'll get him back.
“Despite the scenarios being nothing but my foolish imagination running rampant, every time I end up suffering. Forced further into madness —pushed to the brink of what my body is capable of handling.” He shakes his head before raising it, blinking back tears that make your body ache. “Even in my wildest dreams I cannot win against his torment and yet… the moment you mention it… the moment you look at me with those eyes—”
Hearing him choke back a nervous laugh, this time it’s you who’s on him, clutching his face with both hands, pressing your thumbs to the inner corners of his eyes to wipe away the liquid that continues to pool.
“Why are you so willing to help me do the unimaginable?”
This time there’s no hesitation. No moment of thought that graces your mind as you smile up at him, pulling him further down with shaking hands to press your forehead to his. “It’s because I love you,” you tell him then. Barely above a whisper, you let it filter out like smoke, allowing it to envelop him entirely as you breathe and take him in, watching the way his lips unfurl and the anger laced within his features slips away. “And because the thought of allowing him to live after what he did to you fills me with a kind of rage I’m not sure I’ve ever felt before.”
His hand moves to stroke the side of your neck. Gently, his fingers run across the bite marks he's inflicted, marking their positions with two subtle taps before they glide away, rooting themselves at the back of your head for support. Forcing you to remain in the moment, realizing what you’ve just said.
It’s hardly the right time to admit your feelings. But then again, given the circumstances, you quickly remember that there really isn’t one. Considering you're in the middle of a war, on your way to Ketheric’s base, it’s very unlikely you’ll have a spare moment to clear your mind and properly say all the things you’ve been itching to say.
Until the end, it’ll always feel like something’s missing —like you’ve forgotten an important phrase or detail. That whatever you say will never be enough to fully convey the weight of how he makes you feel each time he looks you up and down or makes you laugh.
Even as you stand before him now, holding him tight —watching the tears within his eyes threaten to spill once again, you know nothing you say will ever amount to the ache inside your chest, knowing that you’ve managed to give him the last sliver of hope you have to offer.
“I love you, Astarion,” you repeat then, praying this time it holds its weight. That the nervous rush inside your stomach passes through and all you’re left with is the kind of warmth you’ve only read about in stories.
His jaw is slack as you repeat your confession, shifting in a way that makes you more nervous than it should, watching him blink and hearing him breathe —doing everything but speak the words you want to hear as Shadowheart calls your name, pulling you both away to notice the annoyed look on her face as she tells you to hurry up.
-
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#a foolish lover's offering#astarion#astarion bg3#astarion fan fic#astarion series#astarion x female reader#astarion x reader#astarion x you#summer writes
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I used to think having boobs and vagina meant I was doomed to wear uncomfortable bras and impractical clothes forever and spent millions on hygiene products so let me pass my knowledge on to you.
I much prefer to wear bras to avoid underboob sweat but they don’t have to be uncomfortable. You can either find a professional who can help you find your exact measurements or be lazy like me and use hookless bras like Sloggi.
First time I wore one I was so amazed at how comfortable it was I wore it to bed just because I could. They’re so good at making them now people can’t tell and as a bonus many of them are less visible through clothes than bras with hooks. My advice is save bras with hooks for special occasions and get the comfies for everyday use. As an extra bonus they also last longer than bras with hooks.
People rave about menstrual cups but as an intersex person who physically can’t use them but still have the “pleasure” of menstruating I’m happy to inform you that reusable pads exist. They are godsend because you buy one or two packs and won’t have to worry about remembering to get new ones for years. They come in all sizes and even at my worst period I’ve never bled through them. Also, they’re a lot more gentle to your skin.
I admit I was completely unaware of the whole “women’s clothes doesn’t have pockets” debate for a very long time because I just never bought pants without pockets. The only legwear I own without pockets are leggings and some of those at least have a pocket for my phone.
So live your truth and wear whatever you want but know you’re not alone in your complaints and people have found solutions to most of it. Trust me, before going “what about” at me try looking it up and there’s most likely an option out there. Go, be free.
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I promise imma get to the eren and connie threesome but can we pleaseeee talk about how him and armin would fuck the shit out of you? Cause I just know they’d be so fucking nasty like omg. They wouldn’t spare a bitch at all. The dirty talk gone be crazy, they treating you like you an object and you definitely gone have to block their asses afterwards! 😭😭
I would give warnings for this but it’s everything so proceed with caution or whatever (I must be stopped honestly.)
“N-no more..I can’t—“
“What’d she say? Sounds like she’s tapping out, dude. What you think?”
“I think she’s just being a baby…aye, look at me, princess..we’re not done so hold those fucking legs open and stop playing.”
the three of you had been holed up in a five star hotel room for what felt like an eternity…rose petals scattered atop the mattress, a collar and chain lacing your throat and a vibrator whirring against your clit. Your eyes damn near making home within in the back of your head with the amount of orgasms you had endured in this two hour span. Surprised by your man after touching down from a flight to come visit him out on tour. The two of you had been on FaceTime while he was backstage and needless to say, you took pleasure in giving him a preview of what was to come once he made it home but he wasn’t the only one tuned into the show..it was one time when his homeboy and fellow producer Armin happened to catch a glimpse. That’s when you decided to continue on fingering yourself in front of the camera; curled toes in view and cream dripping all down your knuckles. Making a mess just for your boo but the more, the merrier..
“Is that your friend? Tell him I wanna fuck him too..”
boldly proclaiming in the moment as a show of confidence. Completely unaware of the two demons you were dealing with. Shooting each other glances, they’d both smirk and turn back to you. “Shit, I’m down..” “Bet..” the only thing either of them had to say because their actions spoke louder than any words could. When you met them in the lobby of the Bellagio, they wasted no time admiring your outfit, feeling you up and Eren even gave you a slap to the backside. “Let’s get your pretty ass upstairs. Got a surprise for you, baby.”
fast forward, after being face fucked on the edge of the bed by your boyfriend while Armin ate your pussy to being put into a full nelson; pounced up and down on Eren’s lap while he fed you deep, long strokes standing up..only to then put you on all fours, pull you by that collar rather than your hair as Eren ate you out from behind , flicking his tongue around your asshole whilst Armin used your mouth for the first timeit was wild! But the fun had only begun..
“You such a nasty fucking bitch, baby. Letting us spit in that mouth, swallowing our nut..you know how much I love that shit, don’t you?”
petting you like his loyal puppy as you sat obediently on your knees, a wide smile plastered on your face as they swiped their loads from across your eyelids. “Look at that smile..she loves being treated like a slut.” They’d tug on your collar; guiding you along as they saw fit. Taking turns using and thoroughly training your throat. Even feeding you slaps while doing so. Cupping your jaw and filling it with their massive cocks. “Yeah..all the way back, mama. You don’t need to breathe. Just eat that fucking dick up..you got it all the way back that time, made that shit disappear…good girl..”
eren not once hesitating to praise you and Armin following suit. But even so, they couldn’t stop until they broke you. They tried all sorts of things with you..taking you past limits you never sought possible. It was insane! Especially as your
“She only gone be in town for one night..gotta make sure she really misses us when she gets home.” Eren declared , shooting his best friend a wink as the two tag teamed you; putting every hole in your body to good use..Armin’s tattooed fingers thrashing around so delicately inside of your pussy; rubbing on your clit while faint twitches from his cock arose in your throat. Meanwhile, Eren was enjoying taking claim over your other entrance..holding your legs in place himself only because he wanted the opportunity to suckle on your toes whilst he did so. Watching those tears of pure bliss stream down your face. “This my first time fucking this ass too…it feels so good, baby. Spread it open f’r me, just like that.”
causing you to whimper around Armin’s shaft. And he loved the feeling. They took you through at least a couple more rounds; dredging up streams of squirt and all types of creamy secretions that they graciously lapped up when possible. “Put it in your guts, that’s what you told me, right? Tell me you can feel that shit..feel that dick pressing through your stomach.” Other times, letting it stain their chests and abs. “F-feels so good..” “I know, baby. You can’t stop..” cooing to you in the sweetest tone all while pounding you senseless, not even stopping when Eren came inside of you. It had all become a beautiful blur and you were certain you’d be all but immobile the next day..
but this was one visit that was well worth it!!
#cherry’s drabbles 🍒#aot x black reader#black fem reader#black reader#armin and eren#musician x influencer au#musician au#it’s sum about these two that just get me#like omg#eren x black fem!reader#armin x black reader#armin x eren x reader#black reader smut#musician eren#aot smut#aot drabbles#reader insert#I’m gonna have to write 15 fluff pieces to atone for this#and maybe some angst too#armin x fem reader#armin smut#producer armin#eren imagines#eren headcanons#aot au#smut warning#cw smut#cw spit#spit kink#cw sex mention
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I don’t see a lot of Tenya Iida love?? idk we need more of it. Here’s some fluff.
I 100% believe Iida wouldn’t realize someone had a crush on him. Oblivious boy.
It’s not that he looks down on himself, but he has other thing to worry about. Class rep, his brother, living up to his title, etc…
So when one day you magically confess? oh boy does it take him a minute.
You and Iida went to the same middle school. However, you don’t have a rich family. You got in on a scholarship and had a sarcastic attitude. You and him barely interacted back then, often with conversations ending in a sarcastic remark on your part and a scoff of disapproval from him.
Once you met again at U.A. You became closer realizing you had a lot of the same passions and interest. Eventually becoming really close, you hung out everyday with Izuku, Ochaco, and him.
Ochaco knew about your crush on him and decided to do what every antagonizing best friend does. “If you don’t tell him, I will.” oh, and she WOULD.
You decide to fake it until you make it. You can do it. It’s just a crush, right?
You feign confidence right up until the moment you and him are alone. “What did you need to see me about?” He asked, blissfully unaware.
Your heart is pounding, your stomach is cramping, your lungs are contracting.. “I really like you, Iida. I don’t just mean as a friend either! I mean it in a romantic sense… too…” you trail off increasingly more embarrassed. You feel yourself cringe.
he stays silent.
“…if you don’t say anything, ill do unforgivable things”
he blinks himself out of his trance. “I… wasn’t expecting this.”
you wince slightly at his statement. “yeah… me either” you laugh slightly trying to ease the tension.
“May I have time to think about this?” he asked oh so politely. like always, a little prince when he wants to be.
“Yea, of course. Just… don’t avoid me completely, okay?” you confirm with a sad smile. If this was the end of your newly found friendship with him then so be it. you’d just have to find someway to torture Ochako.
It was awkward at first. He would talk to you but only really when other people were around or to fulfill his class rep duties.
Then eventually you guys would talk like normal. It continued on like that for a while. So much so, you almost forgot about the whole confession.
He didn’t.
Poor boy was restless. Running through every scenario. What could have possibly made you feel this way towards him? Why? When?
they all flooded his mind.
He normally frowned upon high school relationships. He considered them distractors. Upon his self reflection, however. He realized he hadn’t ever really found himself in a situation to experience one.
Now every-time he ran into you, he couldn’t stop thinking about it. Eventually, you consumed his thoughts entirely. How was he supposed to live like this? He’d catch himself stealing glances at you whenever he could. Immediately scolding himself and then continuing to glance.
It became too much, he eventually found time to talk to you alone.
“So.. about us.” He spoke softly.
“So there’s an us?” you responded jokingly, trying to ease the tension. A trait of yours he found himself charmed by.
“I mean, about our relationship? You do understand what I am trying to say right?” He says struggling to find the words.
“Yes, go on.” you nodded, letting him say his piece.
“I don’t know how long you have felt this way about me… it’s been bothering me. Bothering me so much in fact, I find myself thinking of you all to often. In the most random of times. As if you take up a permanent residence in my thoughts. It’s irritating to say the least. However, because of this I have viewed you in a different light. I believe…” A breathe, to reassure himself.
“I feel the same way about you.” He concluded.
“oh” you said blankly.
“oh?” he asked anxiously. “what does that mean?”
“I.. I really thought you were going to let me down easy”
“did you want me to reject you?”
“Not at all”
“so then… will you let me be your boyfriend?”
“…”
“is this how you felt when i was silent?”
“yes”
“yes? yes you felt this way? or yes to me as your boyfriend?” he asked confused more and more.
“yes” you said with assertion and a smile.
your smile, he thought, was so gentle. he hadn’t seen this before. Actually, maybe he had. He just never looked hard enough. He understood what you meant, without you saying a word.
relief floods over him. “okay” he said calmly as his posture softened.
He was never going to glance at you again. Instead, he decided, when he looked at you, you would be his focal point.
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i’m in love with the antinitonny, can you do long anton fic? 🥺
Memories | L. Anton
Summary: it's the last summer before you start college and you and you plan to make the most of it.
Word count: 15k
Pairing: Anton x Reader
Genre: friends to lovers. Fluff. Angst. Suggestive.
Warnings: mentions of sex, mentions of drugs and alcohol. maybe some cuss words, slow burn. (like extremely slow)
Youth. The stage of life where you're bound to make mistakes, and memories. You meet the people you’re gonna spend the rest of your life with, and learn valuable lessons to teach when you’re old and bound to a rocking chair.
Adults always tell you to enjoy your youth and for once you actually plan on listening to them.
“Eunseoks here.” you run down the stairs after seeing his car pull into the driveway from the window of your room. “He’s here.” you yell once again heading towards the kitchen where your mom is.
Before you could yell again, He and sungchan walk through the door pulling suitcases behind them. You quickly open the fridge and pretend as if you’re completely unaware of their presence.
“Are those my boys?” your mom asks while walking into the living room to greet them, welcoming them both with a nice warm hug. “Your sister is waiting for you in the kitchen.” you hear her say while eavesdropping on their conversation
“Doesn’t my little sister miss me?” He slightly yells as he walks into the kitchen where you are. It’s been almost 5 months since you last saw your older brother, so yes of course you miss him. Even if he was annoying and unfun to be around.
“Oh hey Eunseok, I didn’t know you were here.” You speak nonchalantly. “Really? I saw you peeking from the upstairs window.” He exposes you
“Uh…” You stumble to find anything to say.
“I see you still haven’t changed.” He laughs.
“Why would I change? It's only been five months.” You question while peeling the orange you pulled out of the fridge. “What have you been up to?” he asks as he takes the orange out of your hand to peel for you, because you had a habit of biting your nails so you could never tear the skin to even begin to strip the orange.
“Nothing really, I’ve just been worrying about starting college.” You sigh. “There’s nothing to worry about, You’re smart you’ll be fine. Just remember like I said, don’t fall-” “Fall into the wrong crowd and stay away from drugs.” You finish.
“See you got it.” He congratulates you by handing you back the now naked orange. Eunseok being your older brother, you always received life talks from him, even if you didn’t know what he was talking about. He took his role very seriously even though he was only 3 years older than you.
“Y/n, How are you?” Sungchan walks in thankfully to redirect the conversation from turning into another unwanted life lesson.
“Sungchan!” you gleam as you head over to him for a small hug. He was as much your friend as he was Eunseoks, the three of you grew up closely together so you could basically just consider him your other brother. “How come I don’t see your boyfriend running around here?” he asks suddenly.
“We aren’t dating, and I don’t know. I guess he’s busy today.” You shrug your shoulders. As if on cue you hear the doorbell ring and instinctively you know exactly who it is. “Y/N Anton is here.” You hear your mom yell from the living room. You find no use for either of the men in the kitchen anymore as you hurry towards the door to see your best friend of 6 years.
“Hey?” You greet him happily. “Is he here? Well I'm guessing he is. I see his car.” He says shyly
“Just come in dummy.” You roll your eyes and back up from the door so he can fully walk in.
He slips his shoes off before he follows you to the kitchen. “Oh there he is.” eunseoks laughs deeply when he addresses Anton. “Hey, you’ve gotten taller?” Sungchan asks while inspecting him. “No.” Anton says, shaking his head. “Are you sure, I don’t remember you being taller than me?” Sungchan adds measuring himself against him.
“You ask this question every time you see him.” you laugh at sungchan, “That’s because he gets taller every time.” Sungchan argues back.
“Shouldn’t you know if he’s gotten taller? He’s your boyfriend.” he teases.
“We’re not dating,” You whine, but it’s not really convincing anyone.
“Yet.” He adds.
“Alright you two.” Eunseok jumps in before you could throw anything at him, like you always do whenever you start arguing with him. “Eunseok, do you know you’re the best brother in the world.” You smile sweetly at him, buttering him up with your fluttering eyelashes.
“What do you want?”
“The keys to your car.” You say without any spaces, still fluttering your eyelashes and holding your hands together. “Pretty pretty please.” You add hoping to persuade him. And you know you’ve done it because he rolls his eyes and pulls the keys out of pocket to dangle them on top of your palms that you have held out for him.
“No-”
“Texting and driving, yes I know.” You say before he tries and sneak in yet another unsolicited life lesson. “And-” “call you if anything happens.” You say in monotone looking off to the side. “Hmm, Maybe I shouldn’t give them to you.” he begins but you stop him to beg. “No please please, I’ll call you if anything happens and I’ll keep my eyes on the road, I won’t even blink.” You plead.
“Woah, but if you don’t blink your eyes will get dry and then yo-” “Shut up idiot.” You slap his arm and turn back to eunseok. “I’ll be careful, I promise.”
“FIne.” he says before he places the keys into your hands. “I expect to see my car in one piece when I wake up in the morning.” “Yes sir.” You nod your head, before grabbing Antons arm and pulling him out of the door.
The two of you end up in a random parking lot staring up at the stars. It’s silent for the first few moments. The only thing playing is the slow music coming from inside the car. There’s not really anything to say, with you and Anton being friends for so long you found that the both of you already knew everything there was to know about each other.
So silences like this were comforting to you. Just being in each other's presence was enough for the both of you. “I love this song.” you say quietly.
“Are you scared?” He ask randomly completely catching you off guard,
“Scared of what?” You finally turn to him. “I don't know, we'll be starting college soon, and I know things are gonna change, I’m just worried we’re gonna grow apart.” He explains.
“We thought this same thing about highschool, and besides look at sungchan and eunseok. They’re still really close.” You say trying to calm his worries.
“But they’re both guys. What happens when we start dating people? And we don’t have time for each other.” He continues, “I don’t know, I’m probably just overthinking.”
“How about this,” You say sitting up to show that you were serious about what you were going to say next. “We make every second of this summer count, that way if college does draw us apart, We’ll still always have memories together.”
“Deal.” He says as he smiles and links his pinky with yours.
The best way to make memories is to try something you’ve never tried before, and something that neither you or Anton have ever tried was alcohol. So that seemed like the perfect place to start. Now there was a small dilemma with this, no one in your family were drinkers. So the chances of you getting access to alcohol was extremely slim.
Luckily you had a plan.
“Where are we supposed to get fake IDs from?” Anton asks when you explain to him how the both of you were going to sneak into a bar down in the city. “Where else?” You respond with a smirk that he finds both scary and intriguing.
“Oh hey sungchan.” You say casually as you waltz into the kitchen. “sup.” he bobs his head towards you.
“just out of peak curiosity, you wouldn’t know where to get an ID would you?”
“i might know someone, depending on who’s asking.” he cocks an eyebrow up to you.
“Anton and I just need one for this event that’s happening downtown. Do you think you can get it to us by next week?”
“I can get it to you by tomorrow.” he says
“But Eunseok can’t find out about this.” you make it clear. “Of course not, do you think I'm crazy?” he asks, which warrants you to give him a knowing look. Wondering why’d he’d even ask that question as he was promising to get fake IDs to two 19 year olds.
“Don’t answer that.”
“When are you gonna start packing up?” Anton asks, looking around at your overly decorated room. There isn’t one empty space on your wall yet you always find space to hang up another poster.
“I don’t know, I might just do what Eunseok did and leave all of this stuff here.”
“Are you sure you can live without your collection?” He asks, pointing to the books you started collecting in middle school and were still accumulating.
“No, those are coming with me.”
“You know, you’re gonna have to move this stuff out eventually right?”
“I know, I’m just not ready to see this room empty again.” You ponder while looking around the room. Something about it just gave you extreme nostalgia, this is where you grew up. This is where you had your first sleepover and where you went when you had your first “heartbreak.” (You sat in your room and cried for days because you didn’t get tickets to see your favorite band.)
So seeing your room empty would really make things reality for you. Things really are changing, time is passing you by and you’re getting older.
“Special delivery.” You don’t have to check to know exactly who’s standing on the other side of the door. Sungchan lets himself in, just as he always does. Butting into your room as if it was his own. “Look what I got?” he holds up a yellow envelope right in front of your eyes.
“What is it?” Anton asks, walking up next to you.
“It’s our ID’s” you answer
“Our fake ones?”
“Shh” you and sungchan both shush him at the same time, and you hurry to close the door before Eunseok could hear anything.
“show me the stuff.” you whisper when Sungchan pulls out the ID and shows it to the both of you.
“Rachel owens?” you ask, looking at your ID. “You can’t reveal your real name. Quickest way to get caught.” he explains
“Okay but I don't know how believable Brad Murray is.” Anton says, still looking at the hard plastic card. “what are they gonna do, tell you you’re wrong.” Sungchan responds
“I don’t know, this whole idea just seems wrong. Maybe we should just wait till we’re of age to drink.” Anton says and it causes you and Sungchan to burst out into a laugh.
“Wait till we’re of age?” you laugh, slapping sungchans arm “Who does this kid think he is?” Sungchan adds.
“Exactly that, a kid. We’re both kids, and we should just be kids.”
“Fine, I'll just go by myself then.” you throw your hands up and head downstairs with sungchan following you and leaving Anton alone.
“I’m gonna head out.” You say casually passing by your mom and brother.
“you’re leaving, and you didn’t ask for my car?” Eunseok asks
“I won’t need it tonight, I'm taking an uber.”
“an uber, where are you going?” Eunseok asks, stepping up to you. “we’re going to catch a movie, but it’s pretty long so we’ll probably be tired on the way back.” Anton answers for you, thankfully because you were going to just tell him that you were going grocery shopping.
“Oh, Anton's going with you? enjoy your movie then.” You see that Eunseok loosens up when he realizes that Anton's tagging along with you and it makes you question. “Wait why'd you do that?” you turn to Eunseok
“Do what?”
“how come you didn’t ask questions when Anton said he was coming with me?”
“Because I trust anton.”
“you don’t trust me?” You ask genuinely but Anton doesn’t let you stick around to find out the answer because he’s dragging you out of the door. “I don't think he trusts me.” you say again
“he doesn’t, no one does.” Anton states before turning around, closing the door.
“You don’t trust me?” You ask repeatedly, still confused.
“no, that’s why I'm not letting you go out alone.”
you would argue more about how trustworthy you were but you knew that everything you were planning to say would have just been a lie. So you just get in the uber next to Anton and keep your mouth closed the entire ride.
well for most of the ride. “So why don’t you trust me?” you ask when everyone’s dead silent. “We’re going to a bar with Fake IDs. and whose idea was this?” he states and it pretty much sums up everything for you
“That's fair.” you shake your head
“Why do I let you drag me into these kinds of things?” He looks out of the window and you turn to him. “You dragged yourself into this.”
“I miss when we used to stay up playing mario kart, now we’re sneaking out to bars.” He sighs dramatically
“We just played mario karts an hour ago.” you remind him
“and i wanna go back.”
“I didn't force you to come with me anton.”
“as the oldest of the two of us, it’s my duty to make sure that you’re safe.”
“you’re only older by a few weeks.” you say
“I still need to make sure you stay safe.”
“If I wanted a bodyguard I would’ve just invited eunseok.”
“Alright then, let’s call him up.” Anton says as he pulls out his phone to call your brother. Before he even unlocks it you feel your heart drop and you smack the phone out of his hand causing it to drop on the floor.
He looks at the phone then he looks at you. “Why would you do that?”
"If Eunseok finds out about this he’ll kill me. I’ll never be allowed to touch his car again, he’ll never shut up about it. he’ll make me show up to college wearing a shirt that says, “I’m an underage drinker.” he’ll ground me for years.”
“You should’ve thought about that before you decided to go out and get us fake IDs.” He snaps back while bending over to pick his phone up off the floor.
“I just want us to do something different and new. Before we lose each other forever.” You force your voice to get lower, knowing that he’ll feel bad and lay off your case.
“We won’t lose each other forever, we’ll always be friends.”
“But we won’t be best friends. We've always wanted to get drunk together, this might be the last time we ever get to do that.” You mumble while looking out the window for dramatic effect.
“We’ve never talked about getting drunk together.”
“But we’ve always thought about it.”
“I’ve always thought about playing mario karts for 24 hours straight.”
Hearing his response catches you off guard, you completely forget that you were trying to emotionally manipulate him out of snitching to Eunseok. He notices when you slowly turn your head and side eye him. “Mario Karts?”
“You know what, maybe it’s a good thing we aren’t gonna be friends for long.” You add before he can say anything.
“This is why your brother trusts me more than he trust you.” he spits back
“You think that’s a flex? it just makes you boring.”
“You think I’m boring?" He asks aggressively.
‘I do. We all do.”
“Who’s we?” he pipes up.
“Me, sungchan, the uber driver.” You suddenly point to the man who’s been minding his business throughout the whole ride.
“You think I’m boring?” Anton looks away from you and to the man. “I don’t know you, but you sound very unfun to be around.” The unnamed speaks calmly while keeping his eyes on the road.
“Unfun?” Anton asks again.
“That’s what he said.” you chuckle
“I’m not unfun!” He pouts, leaning back in his seat with his arms crossed. You’re too amused to really argue back with him.
The rest of the car goes quiet yet again until Anton speaks up once more. “I hope you can hold your alcohol because I won't be carrying you back home.”
“I can hold my alcohol” you say confidently although you’re really unsure, since you’ve never had any alcoholic drinks.
The line to the club is just like you saw in the movies. It’s so long you think about just turning around and going back but Anton is still on his quest to prove just how fun he is, which is why he forces you to stand in the line with him. Until the both of you are face to face with a 7-foot-tall security guard who looks like he eats 5 dozen raw eggs and a horse for breakfast.
“IDs.” is all he says but it has your heart beating outside of your chest. Both of you are hesitant to pull out the fakes you have in your wallet. Yet, you still pull yours out first and show it to the man, Anton following your lead.
“This looks like a fake.” he says bluntly.
“A fake? ID? I didn’t even know those were real things.”
“Obviously they're not real, that’s the problem.” Anton begins to start yet another argument with you; however he’s quickly hushed when the security guard yells “Brad.” and Anton begins looking around trying to find out who he’s talking about. To which you just facepalm and whisper “He’s talking to you idiot.”
“Oh right, I’m Brad. Brad Murray, that’s me.” he straightens up.
It’s painfully obvious that the both of you are lying that you don’t even try to hide it anymore. With the security guard looking down at both of you, you’re sure he’s gonna turn you away but he just sighs and passes your IDs back.
“They don’t pay me enough for this.” he mumbles as he opens the rope to let you and Anton in. The music aggressively meets your ears before you even walk into the building. And you can smell the extreme scents of alcohol and whatever it is that people are doing inside of the place.
“Are you sure you wanna do this?” stop in front of Anton, contemplating just going home. “Do you wanna go home?” He asks, and something about hearing him say makes you realize that’s not what you want to do. So you grab his hand and guide him all the way into the club where you could fully hear the music.
It’s so loud that you can feel it through your feet. There's so much going on you don’t even know where to start, and the flashing lights are starting to make you dizzy. But it all excites you, the music, the lights, the alcohol everything is so exciting to you.
“Let’s get drunk.” You yell to Anton first, but you don’t get a chance to go anywhere because he’s pulling you back by the hand that you still have intertwined with him. “Call me boring and unfun but I still don’t think this is a good idea.”
“Well then you don’t have to drink.” You state before attempting to walk away again but he just pulls you right back, not letting you step away. “I don’t want you to either.”
“Okay I won’t.”
“You promise?” he holds his pinky finger out to you, but you only stare at it. Pinky promises were very dear to the both of you, in the 6 years that you’ve been friends neither of you have ever broken a pinky promise. And You knew that if you made this promise, you very well didn’t have the intentions on keeping it.
“I promise.” You say looking off to the side, and failing to link pinkies with his.
It doesn’t go unnoticed by him as he nudges his finger out to you so you can solidify the promise. “Come one Anton, just this one time.” Staring at him until he finally gives in and sighs.
“Only one drink.’ He states firmly holding up his index finger to really drive his point. “Okay, fine. Only one.”
30 minutes had passed and you had drunk way more than the both of you agreed on, in fact you had sweet talked some random man at the bar into paying for your drinks. Completely missing the look that Anton gives you every time you take another sip.
Despite his annoyance with you, he still hasn’t let go of your hand. No matter how many times you tried to yank your hand away from him. Or tried talking and flirting with guys around you. He’d just pull you back towards him and claim you as his girlfriend so they wouldn’t try and take the initiative to flirt back.
“Isn’t this fun?” you slur resting your face against his back because you had lost your balance to stand up straight. “Are you having fun?” he asks, flipping the question back around on you.
“Mm hmm.” You bounce your head up and down. “Lots of fun.”
“How much have you had to drink?” He asks, already knowing the answer but wanting to make sure that you were keeping up with the amount of alcohol you were consuming. “I had umm 3.” you stumble in front of him and hold three fingers up with a big smile.
“No, you had this many.” He corrects while pulling up 7 more of your fingers.
“10?”
“It’s time to get you home.”
“I’m not ready to go home.” you state while trying to wobble away from him, when you do you walk face first into some random man's chest and giggle when you fall into his arms. “Hi, wow you’re tall.”
Anton thinks about just leaving you to face your own consequences but quickly changes his mind once he notices the strange man's hand placements and weird smile. There weren’t enough signs to show that he had bad intentions until he slipped his hands over your back jeans pockets and whispered something in your ear. That’s when Anton finally made the decision to jump in.
“Sorry about her, she’s really drunk right now.” Anton politely speaks while pulling one of your arms so you could go back towards him.
“She doesn’t seem too drunk.” The man says with his arm loosely around your waist.
“She’s 19.” Anton adds hoping that it’d be enough to pull the man off of you.
“Even better.”
He had to protect you, that’s what he kept telling himself the whole ride home. He did it to protect you, any other normal person would’ve also resorted to violence if their best friend was being inappropriately touched by a man almost twice her age.
He shouldn’t really feel bad, he knew you weren’t gonna remember anything when you woke up in the morning. You weren’t gonna remember how many drinks you had, or how you got home. And you definitely weren’t gonna remember how his knuckles got all bloody and bruised.
You turn onto your side and curve into a ball when he lays his blanket over top of you. It’s pretty dark but he can still make out small features of your face, and he can see when you open your eyes slightly to look at him.
“Go to sleep.” he says, but you just kinda smile.
“You’re really cute,” you say with a raspy voice, your eyes are too heavy to keep open but you try to do so anyways. Just so you can keep looking at the pretty soft spoken boy in front of you.
“I am so gonna make fun of you for this tomorrow.” He laughs but you don’t respond. You’ve already fallen back asleep and it doesn’t take too long for him to do the same, laying right beside you but leaving enough room in between the both of you.
When you wake up in the morning you feel an immense amount of pain coming from all over your body. You feel like you’ve been hit by a bus, or maybe even something bigger. A train. You don’t really have the strength to get up from your bed so you don’t even try. You just roll over and stare at the light blue painted walls.
It takes a good 2 minutes for you to realize that your walls aren’t blue, and that the large panda teddy bear sitting on your bed isn’t yours. In fact this bed isn’t yours either. This is when you finally gain enough strength to finally sit up, and look around. Seeing that this isn’t your room at all. Who’s room is it? You’re not sure. It looks very familiar like you should know but you really don’t.
In the time it takes to find out whose bed you're in, Anton walks in with a big warm bowl of your favorite oatmeal. “You’re awake.” He says when he sits down on the bed beside you.
“Unfortunately.” you take a breath of relief when you see his face.
“I made you oatmeal.” He places the bowl in front of you.
“Thanks.”
“Sorry I didn’t take you home, I figured you wouldn’t want your brother to see you drunk.”
“Was I that bad?” Your voice is still strained from the night before
“Yes.”
“Did I do anything weird?” you ask but you don’t know if you’re ready to hear the answer.
“You said I was cute.”
“You?”
“Trust me it was weird for both of us.” He lies.
“Let’s just pretend like last night never happened. I’m never touching an alcoholic beverage ever again.” You state while mixing up your oatmeal.
“Promise.” Anton asks with his pinky out towards you.
“I promise.” You make sure you seal the deal this time, looping your pinky around his and rocking your hand a little to show you were very serious.
“Good. cause it sucked having to carry you home.” He adds when you begin eating the oatmeal.
“You carried me?”
“Well how do you think you got here?” He questions, through his smile
“I’m still sobering up, my thinking skills aren’t up to date.”
“You know something, you’re actually kinda cute when you’re drunk.”
“Shut up.” you scream covering your ears so you don’t have to hear anything else he says.
You finally go back to your own home when the sun sets, that’s when you feel that you’re sober enough to face your brother without being suspicious. Although no matter how sober you are, you’re always gonna be suspicious around him.
“You’re back finally. How was the movie?” Eunseok greets you when you first walk in.
“Movie?” you question, so Anton answers for you.
“It was good for me atleast, but she fell asleep through most of it.”
“Oh, you guys went to a movie? That’s very romantic.” Sungchan asks as he walks into the living room stuffing his face with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Despite knowing that there wasn’t any movie.
Neither of you take the time to argue with him. But it doesn't stop him from continuing.
"Did you hold hands?"
“No!” you finally answer him, and you expect Anton to do the same but he only snickers behind you, leaving you to defend yourself.
“I'm glad you guys enjoyed your date, go start packing so we can head to dads old cabin” Eunseok casually jokes, and it almost irritates you
“It wasn't a date.” you stomp but it doesn’t help you at all because they all laugh when your voice squeaks.
“Is that why you’re wearing his shirt?” sungchan points out
you look down at the extremely oversized Harley davidson graphic tee that you have on. there isn’t even any explanation for this, sure you could tell them the truth. that you threw up all over your own clothes so he gave you his as a replacement. but it was probably best that you didn’t let your anger get the best of you this time.
So you proceed to change the subject instead. “We’re going to the cabin?”
“Yeah, we’re driving out there tonight. So hurry.” He rushes you.
The cabin belonged to your dad before he died, he liked it because it was hidden in the woods. Away from the city that your mom loved so much. It balanced perfectly because it was a 30 minute ride away from the house and he enjoyed a good drive.
He’d often go out there on the weekends with Eunseok and go fishing. While you stayed with your mom and visited the small boutiques nearby. That’s what influenced your father to leave the cabin to Eunseok seeing that he’d probably get more use out of it than you would.
The cabin was pretty outdated but it had enough room for the four of you to stay for a few nights. You weren’t too fond of the old place but what you did like was the lake in the back. You liked the way it mirrored the sky during sunrises. Or the way the moon reflected off the ripples of the water.
“okay so here are the rules.” Eunseok begins but he doesn’t get to finish because the rest of you are already grunting aloud.
“alright alright, I won’t go over the rules. because I assume all of us are adults and we would know how to behave ourselves.”
“Great, I'm sharing the room with Anton.” you call dibs by looping your arm around him and pulling him closer to you.
“you guys are never beating the dating allegations.” Sungchan mutters at how tightly you have your arm around Anton’s.
“You'll never kiss a girl in your life.” you spit at him
“At least my only love interest isn’t my best friend.” He gestures quotations around the word best friend.
“Okay okay.” Eunseok holds his hands out to stop an argument from growing. “It looks like we definitely need to go over the rules.”
“no need.” Anton speaks up. “we’ll be behaved.”
“Yes we will.” you add, resting your head on Anton’s shoulder to block out the faces that Sungchan makes to you from behind Eunseok.
“and you?” your brother turns to his friend.
“I'll be good.” He turns his attention away from you the second Eunseok looks at him.
“Alright, then we’ll call it a night.” Eunseok doesn’t expect for any of you to say anything else, so he walks away to his shared room with Sungchan and leaves you alone with Anton.
“We should go swimming.” you whisper when you’re sure Eunseok can’t hear you.``it’s 11 pm.” Anton tries to stop you.
“even better.”
“You can’t swim,” he tries again but it still doesn’t work.
he should’ve known better by now. This was the dynamic of your friendship. You'd come up with a crazy idea and he'd try to talk you out of it but fails every time.
You ease your way into the lake taking one step after another. The water is cold but the heat from the summer night helps your body adjust easily the more you walk in. Trying not to slip on the rocks until your body is completely submerged under water. your feet are still grounded so it helps keep your head at the water's surface.
“feels good.” you say looking up to Anton who isn’t convinced.
“If you drown, I'm not jumping in to save you.” he confirms with his arms crossed against his chest.
“I'm not gonna drown.” You continue swimming around
“good cause i’m not gonna save you.”
“You should get in.”
“It’s dark, there’s probably snakes in there,” It’s obvious that he wants to but he refuses. instead taking a seat on the dock where the little old is so that he could just watch you swim by yourself.
which you do for a while, pushing your arms around you to keep yourself afloat. There’s nobody to accompany the two of you other than the singing owls and blue white light of the moon.
“You’re so boring.”
“That's not gonna work this time, the last time you tried that trick I had to fight some guy.”
“you fought someone?” you ask trying to float back
“It wasn't a real fight, I just punched him a few times. I don’t really know if I could call it a fight because he didn’t hit back. well, he didn’t get the chance to.”
He begins to start mumbling to himself and misses the fact that you haven’t been responding. When he finally notices and looks up in your direction, all he can see is your hands waving in the air as if you need help.
but you always play stupid tricks like these so he just laughs at you, assuming that this was another one of your pranks. “I'm not falling for that.”
“you’re a bad actor.” he continues to laugh at how committed you seem to be to this bit. However after 12 seconds he observes that you’ve been underwater for some time. which starts to worry him.
“Y/n?” he calls out just once, and immediately jumps in when you don’t respond. Swimming right to you and picking you up in his arms so you can catch some air first. You have to cough the water out of your lungs before you could even get a breath of air. Chest heaving up and down and your eyes closed tightly shut as she swims you back to the dock and sits you down.
You’re still coughing when he pulls himself out of the lake to sit down besides you and make sure you’re okay. Which he had told you already that he wasn’t gonna do. And he doesn’t just stop there. He leaves you by yourself for a little bit but only to go get a few towels that he can wrap around you, and dry you off himself.
Almost drowning took a lot of your energy so you don’t do anything to help him help you, You just stare at him while he takes the towel to dry your hair. Neither one of you says anything for a while until he carries you back into the cabin and lays you down on your side of the bed.
“Now you’re gonna have dreams about drowning.” He laughs and sit up to dry himself off.
“I wasn’t drowning, I was just trying to do a cartwheel underwater.” you lie, leaned back against the pillow and watching him remove his extremely soaked shirt.
“Sure you were.”
“I really was.” you try to defend yourself again, but he still doesn’t believe you. There’s no use in acknowledging that he literally saved your life. Because even though you were very grateful you already knew he would, and also this was going to be something else that he’s never going to shut up about.
“What would you do without me?”
“You might’ve saved my life once...”
“twice.” he corrects
“don’t flatter yourself.” you smile, gently smacking his arm.
Anton wakes up in the morning to find that you’re sitting by the window, staring at the way the sunrise shines off the lake. Your chin is rested on your knees, which are pressed to your chest and chained together by your arms.
“You’re up early.’ Anton crawls to the part of the bed where you are and sits besides you. Close enough to where you can lay your head on his arm. “I love the sunsets up here.” You speak low enough for it to be classified as a whisper.
To which he hums to show that he acknowledged what you had said. But there is just something about sitting in silence with each other that the both of you love. Nothing has to be said and there aren’t even any thoughts. But just knowing that he’s there right next to you is more comforting than anything else in the world.
“Wait, did you really fight someone?” You question suddenly lifting your head from his arm.
“It’s no big deal.” He brushes off, however you don’t buy it as you angle your entire body towards him. “Anton, you could’ve died.”
“No, actually I- wait what are you trying to say?”
“You can’t fight, even I can pin you down.”
“That’s because I always let you win.”
“Sure.” you say rolling your eyes.
“I can prove it.” he stands up in front of you. As if he’s actually ready to start a wrestling match.
“There’s no-” You don’t get to say anything because he’s begun playfully attacking you. “You don’t have to prove anything.” you yell in your defense while still putting all your force into holding him down just as you always do.
Yet this time is different, and you realize that when he hovers over top of you with both of your arms pinned to the bed right above your head. You weakly try to pull yourself out but it doesn’t work. And then you make the mistake of looking up at him, your heart jumping when you do.
His face is unusually close to yours, so close that you stop breathing and you feel like you have nowhere else to look but at him. The both of you are too stunned to say anything at first, and when you finally take the initiative to speak first, it comes out almost in a whisper.
“Okay you win.”
“Yeah.” He says looking away from your eyes and down at your lips.
“So you can get off of me now.” You say once again trying to ignore the butterflies in your stomach and the underlying urge to see if his lips feel as soft as they look.
“Yeah, sorry.” he mutters while rolling off of you and taking a seat besides you, neither of you say it but you both make a mental note to never speak of that interaction again.
“Are you hungry?” he asks while avoiding eye contact.
“A little, I’ll go see If Eunseok is awake.” You say quickly jumping off the bed and running towards the door.
It’s night two of three, when you walk into the room where Anton is seated on the bed trying to get through a 3 minute video, that seems longer because it won’t stop buffering every 10 seconds due to the very bad wifi connection.
You turn and lock the door behind you before getting Antons attention. “Wanna try this?” You ask, holding up the plate of brownies.
“A brownie? Sure.”
“No but it’s not any brownie, It’s a magical brownie.” you add, to make sure that he knew what he was getting himself into. “Magical? Like Jack's magical beans?” He asks while reaching for a brownie.
“No you idiot, they’re edibles.”
“Where’d you even get these from?” He asks.
“Sungchan gave them to me.” You answer while splitting the brownie and passing the smaller half to him.
“He said we shouldn’t eat the whole thing.” You add before taking a bite and watching him take his.
“But why would he give us four of them if we can’t eat the whole thing?” Anton asks
“Maybe I heard him wrong.” You think aloud.
By the time you finished eating all of the brownies you definitely felt the effects. Sitting legs crossed in front of Anton and just staring at him until you swore you could see his thought bubbles. “You know something…” You say leaning in closer to him, still analyzing the small features of his face.
“You have a really big nose.” You finish while tilting your head to the side.
“You have really pretty eyes.” He combats
“Okay.” You say ignoring his complement. Walking on your knees to sit directly on his lap.
“What are you doing?” He’s confused but his hands go directly to your waist to keep you bound. “Let’s have sex.” You say.
“What?”
“You don’t wanna go into college a virgin do you?” You try to convince him.
“I’m not a virgin.” He states questionably. So questionably that if you didn’t already know, you would’ve known from his tone alone that he was in fact a virgin.
“Yeah right.”
“I’m not.” He lies again.
“Shut up and kiss me.” You yell and he obeys, well partly. He only places a small kiss on your lips and finishes with a pat using the tips of his fingers.
“Wow?” you mutter
“I know, I’m a great kisser.” He boast on himself
“No, You suck.”
“Like you know? You’ve never kissed anyone.”
“No, but I know that’s not how you do it.” You say still sitting in his lap with your hands on each of his shoulders.
“Well you show me how it’s done.” just as fast as he finishes your lips are on his.
Giving him your first kiss and initiating a 30 minute make out session. Until you both fall asleep on the floor, with you wrapped in his arms.
Falling asleep in his arms wasn’t new. You’d done it plenty of times. however, in those many times, you were completely sober. So you never had to question whether or not you guys had sex.
You’re not naked, you know that much. so that must mean that nothing happened. but you very much remember telling him that you guys should have sex, and your last memory of the night was making out on the floor until you started to think that you might actually like him as more than a friend.
“we didn’t… do anything right?” you ask sitting up and looking back down at him.
“I don't remember.” he replies
“Neither do i.”
“The edibles aren’t supposed to plague or memory right?”
“I don't think so.”
and then it goes silent for a minute. right before the both of you start arguing.
“we had sex, oh my god i can’t believe i had sex with you.” you get up and start pacing
“Well you’re the one who came up with the idea.”
“I was high! plus you agreed. Why did you agree?”
“I was also high.”
“our friendship is ruined, we can’t ever speak to each other again.”
“Wait. really?” he pauses to look at you.
“don’t you understand what this means? we’ll fall in love with each other. it’s inevitable. there’s no solution.”
“We could just date.” he blurts out and stares at you as if he’s waiting for a legitimate answer.
“Why would we do that?” You say after staring at him in silence.
“doesn’t it just make sense?” he throws his hands up.
“no it doesn’t, we don’t like each other.”
“Well, what do you suggest?” He plops down on the bed.
“We should forget about it.”
To make matters worse, sungchan walks in right when you’ve started to calm yourself down about the idea of ruining your friendship.
“oh by the way i forgot to warn you guys, the brownies are high in… something that makes you horny. but you don’t have to worry about it, you guys are immune to that stuff.”
“yeah… we don’t have to worry about it.” You try to convince him but it doesn’t work.
“You had sex didn’t you?”
“no.” “yes.” you and Anton say at the exact same time, turning to look at each other before changing your answers.”yes.” “no”
“We don't know.” you answer solo this time. “I remember suggesting it and then we… I don't wanna talk about it.”
“Well, there’s only one thing left to do now.” Sungchan walks in fully and closes the door behind him. you don’t know what he’s about to say but you know it’s serious. “You have to date now.”
“That's what I was saying.” Anton says, throwing his arms up.
“No.” You turn and point your index finger to him and then back to Sungchan. “No.”
“No, we’ll just pretend like nothing happened, and Eunseok will never ever find out about this.”
Your plan to keep Eunseok from finding out wasn’t particularly solid. You walk out to the living space where he’s setting out the dishes for breakfast. He's not the best cook but it’s at least edible, sometimes. you’d usually tease him about it, but you’re caught completely off guard when he goes “there you guys are, I was worried something happened with all the noise you were making last night.”
“uh…” Anton stumbles across his words, he’s standing like a deer stuck in headlights.
“We were practicing, hand…stands.” You start to think of a lie to explain the noise he heard yesterday.
“Handstands?” Eunseok doesn’t even look at you.
“He doesn’t know how to do a handstand.” you say pointing to Anton.
“That’s a relief I thought you were doing something else.” He still isn’t facing you. But he knew the exact reaction he was gonna get from you.
“Something else?”
“He’s a boy, you’re a girl. You like boys, he likes girls.” He explains.
“We didn’t have sex.” You blurt out suspiciously
“I didn’t say you did.”
“But if we did.” Anton speaks up, despite the looks that you're shooting him from the corner of your eye to signal him to shut up.
“What would you suggest?” he continues
“Well then, you would just have to date.” Eunseok finally turns around to face you. Warranting your heart to drop to your stomach. You think you might just shit yourself right there. “But that’s just hypothetical of course.” he adds.
“We wouldn’t have to date. We could let it go and act like we never did it.”
“That wouldn’t work, the second you two even share a kiss you’re bound to fall in love.” Eunseok says.
That exact statement circulates your mind the entire day. You couldn’t fall in love with Anton, it just wouldn’t make sense. You don’t even see him that way, and you don’t imagine you ever will.
The rest of the day goes by and you’re still thinking about what may or may not have happened between you and your best friend last night. Keeping a safe distance just in case. Although it definitely seems to bother you more than it bothered him, because while you were still racking your brain of everything that happened the night prior, he’s just sitting in the corner of the room playing Mario karts.
“I think I just need to sleep.” You say heading towards the bed.
“I think that’s a good idea, I'm getting tired too.” he gets up to stretch before walking to the bed behind you.
“what are you doing?” you stop to ask
“I'm going to bed.” He says casually, staring at you as if he truly couldn’t understand why you’d be so hostile about him sleeping in the same bed as you.
“We can't sleep in the same bed.” You shake your head
“Why not? We sleep together all the time.”
“Don’t! say that.” you shush him with your index finger. “Okay, you take the bed, and I'll go take the couch.”
“The bed is big enough for both of us.” He looks at you when you walk closer towards the door.
“Why are you making this so hard?” You facepalm
“I'm just trying to get some sleep, you’re the one making this hard.”
You take a deep breath before speaking again, whispering as if someone could hear you through the walls. "What if we… again.”
“if we?” He asks
“You know, what if we..” you hold your hands up to make sexual gestures just so he’d understand what you were finally getting to. Yet he’s still staring at you like he just doesn't get it.
“What if we have sex again Anton, what if we have sex.” you finally just say throwing your arms down in frustration.
And you bicker for a good 15 more minutes until you finally cave in and just take the bed. His winning argument being that it’s hard for him to sleep alone since he didn’t have his stuffed panda with him. To which you replied, “You should’ve grown out of that phase years ago.” While still stuffing yourself under the sheets besides him.
September 6th 2015, is the exact date you met Anton. You remember because you still have the initial test that you copied off of him. It was the first time you’d ever made a perfect score on a test, and while you were proud of yourself your mom grew very suspicious.
You knew him before then, but you never thought to speak to him until he caught you cheating off his paper and threatened to tell the teacher. Leaving you with no other choice but to bribe him with dinosaur chicken nuggets. Which honesty was a win for you because your mom loved to pack them for you for lunch and you just didn’t have the heart to tell her that you hated them.
Since then, the two of you were attached at the hip, navigating both middle school and high school together.
You liked to remind yourself of that often, it made you feel better about the rest of life. Because you were soon to be an adult and it was horrifying to you. Even though you had your mom, your brother and Sungchan. It’s just reassuring to know that you had Anton, who was equally as scared as you were.
Listening to music through your black headphones, you sat in your room. The one place in the whole world where you could truly feel at ease. Where your walls are plastered with posters and your bed is never made. You were lucky to spend less than 5 minutes searching for anything within the 4 corners of your own space. But you loved it nonetheless.
You tried to listen to anything that would take your mind off of the event that happened over the weekend, however you were shit out of luck because every song on your playlist either talked about kissing or directly described the friends to lover's pipeline.
Throwing your headphones off, you huff and throw yourself back to stare at the ceiling. Dragging both of your hands down your face. Your friendship with Anton was easily one of the best things you had in your life and you were actively ruining it.
This is actually extremely stressful.
Usually when things got this stressful, you’d go to your loyal confidant, but since you couldn’t go to him you go to the internet instead. crawling towards your laptop to look up advice from others who had gone too far with their best friend.
There were over 7,340,000 results, in which you had rapidly read through at least a hundred of them. There’s all different answers ranging from “there’s no way to mend the friendship.” to “the awkward sexual makes it too hard to bear, the only solution is to cut them off.” Each website you click on makes your gut feel like it’s turning inside out.
The thought of having to lose Anton as a friend makes your heart feel like it’s getting stomped on by a 10 foot giant. Your eyes are flooding with tears thinking about the small irrevocable mistake that the both of you shared when you weren’t in the right state of mind.
Until you click on one last link that catches your attention.
“Just continue seeing each other as friends, overtime it’ll sort itself out.”
Just seeing the words on your screen alone is enough to feel like a nice warm hug. Drying your eyes and reading the message over until you finally start to believe that everything is actually gonna be okay.
You get up off your bed when someone gently knocks at your door, you know who it is because it’s the only person who ever knew to knock.
“Come in.” You try to mask the sorrow in your voice, and it works just barely enough for Eunseok to not catch on.
“Hey, just wondering if you're gonna come down for dinner.” He says only peeking through the doorway. “Yeah, I’ll be down there soon.” You begin to start looking around your bed for absolutely nothing, just so he couldn’t see how red and puffy your eyes were while crying.
“Okay, don’t be long. Also, Antons's downstairs waiting for you.” He adds.
“Antons here.” You quickly turn around to face him, no longer caring if he could tell that you had been sobbing just a few minutes before. Something about just hearing his name causes your heart to beat faster and your lips to turn up into a smile.
“Oh wait, he's right here.” Eunseok says backing up so your closest friend could walk in behind him. He could immediately tell you had been crying, you knew he could. Because his soft smile drops into an expression of empathy, but not yet saying anything until he knew that you had the room to yourselves.
“I’ll leave you guys, but don’t forget to come eat dinner with us.” He says once more before he closes the door. Giving you the privacy Anton’s been waiting for.
“Were you crying?” he asks, already knowing the answer.
“No.” You lie.
“I didn’t mean to bother you, I got a little nervous when you hadn’t texted me at all-.” He stops his rambling when you take a seat on your bed and look up at him. He thinks you’re about to cry again but you're just happy to see that nothing has changed between the both of you.
“I was just scared that we were gonna lose our friendship.” You mumble just a little.
“We’ve gone through worse, like the time that I pretended to forget your birthday and you stopped talking to me for a whole month.” he kneels in front of you so you don’t have to look up at him.
The memory makes you laugh a little. Remembering how upset you were, and how he baked you a homemade cake just to get you to forgive him.
“Could you just promise me that no matter what we’ll always be friends.” You ask, your voice still a little shaky from your crying session. Pinky held out towards him because you know that under no circumstance will the promise be broken.
“I promise that we’ll be best friends forever.” He links his pinky onto yours, but it doesn’t last for long because you’re already throwing your arms around him to engulf him in a big hug.
topping him over a little as he softly laughs.
“But, we should probably lay off the edibles and do something normal.” He waits until you’re pulled away from and seated back onto your bed. “like a movie.” he suggests
“deal,” You nod.
If it were anyone else, this would be considered a date. It had the same feel as a date, you’re sitting in your room trying to find an appropriate outfit and fix your hair. When Sungchan yells from downstairs. “Y/n your boyfriends here.” Causing you to glance in the mirror once more before you run down the stairs to meet him.
Neither of you care to argue with Sungchan, only paying attention to each other. “You look really pretty.” Anton speaks first, looking down at you. “Thanks.” you smile at him, but the smile doesn’t do justice to the fluttering butterflies that you feel in your stomach.
“Here’s the keys.” Eunseok places them into your hand without you even having to ask. “Really.” you tame yourself from jumping up and down.
“Don’t be out too late, and don’t crash my car.” He states, pointing his index finger at you.
“We won’t.” You head to the front door, when Sungchan yells one last time. “Enjoy your date.”
“What movie are we going to see by the way?” You ask only once you get into the car.
“You’ll see.” is all he says, and it makes you beg him for more information. “Could you atleast give me a hint.”
“It’s over an hour long.”
“Oh, thanks Anton, that helps.” You sarcastically say, while starting the car. “I think you’ll like it.” He says last.
Anton’s checking in the movie’s ticket while you’re sitting in the back just watching him, there’s no one else in the main area besides the employees, Anton, you and the stranger that walks up from behind you and compliments the shirt that you're wearing.
“Are you waiting for someone?” The man asks
“Yeah, I’m here with my friend.” You point towards Anton who’s staring intently at your interaction with the man in front of you. “He’s getting our tickets.” you add before turning your attention back to the stranger. “Are you single? By chance?” He asks suddenly but it flatters you.
The boy is smaller than what you’d describe as your type, but he’s cute and he looks very friendly. He has hair that you think you could spend hours playing in, and it’d be nice to get an actual boyfriend so Sungchan and Eunseok didn’t tease you about Anton.
“Yeah, I am.” You smile up at him as you stand up. “My name is Y/n.” You add, holding your hand out for him to shake. “My name is Sohee.” He’s about to connect hands with yours but Anton does it first as he stands besides you. Towering over both of you.
“We have to hurry and catch the movie.” He speaks only to you first, until you look at Sohee and back at him.
“Hey, sorry I didn’t see you here.” He lies.
“I don’t wanna hold you up.” Sohee says, particularly paying attention to the way Anton gently and subtly interlocks his fingers with yours. “Sorry about that.” You apologize sincerely.
“It’s no problem, I hope you enjoy the movie.” He says last before Antons dragging you off.
“Who was that?” he asks as you go down the hallway to find out which movie room was showing the movie that you intended to see. “He said his name was Sohee, I thought he had really nice hair.” You look up at Anton.
“I also have nice hair.” He whines.
“No, I mean his hair looks so soft.”
“And mine doesn’t.” He turns to look down at you.
“This isn’t about you.” You giggle. It takes for the both of you to walk into the movie room together for you to realize that he still hadn’t told you what movie you were gonna be watching. You don’t ask now, because you figure that you’ll just find out when it starts playing.
However, once you take your seat right besides your best friend all the way in the back. You miss the title of the movie because you’re too fixated on the fact he hadn’t let go of your hand since he grabbed it earlier. Watching the way he mindlessly rubs his thumb in slow and gentle circles around the back of your hand.
You’d pull away and scold him, but it actually felt nice. So you just rest your head on his arm and continue to watch the rest of the movie.
It was easy forgetting about the 11 pm fiasco in the cabin. You guess Anton was right, your friendship has seen worse. And now you feel kinda silly remembering how you cried thinking about the ending of your friendship.
If that was even possible, because as long as you’ve known Anton you knew there wasn’t anything that he wouldn’t do just to talk to you. Even now when he snuck himself into your room, for nothing else but to show you the memory box that he found buried deep beneath his bed.
Neither of you remember when you started making it, but both of you were glad to have it. The box was filled with random inanimate objects that actually helped to build the friendship that you have now. Things ranging from the test that brought you together in the first place.
To the small purple transparent lighter that you intended to use as a prop for your magic trick. But actually, almost became an accessory to arson. You were trying to recreate one of those fire throwing acts that you saw on tv however you got a little too carried away and set one of the towels on fire in your bathroom.
In Anton’s defense he told you over and over again that you shouldn’t do it. In your defense? You didn’t have one.
The box is filled with not only random memory sakes, but also tons of pictures of the two of you from when you got your first polaroid for christmas.
The first one you come across is a picture that Eunseok took of you and Anton in your Halloween costumes.
You’d spent months convincing Anton to go with you as Jack Skellington and Sally because of your small obsession with Tim Burton at the time.
He agreed but it wasn’t at all an easy task. And you didn’t even know he would agree until he showed up to your front door with face paint and a very unamused frown. It didn’t phase you at all though because you jumped up and down while giggling and clapping, completely missing the small growing smile that he was gaining just from knowing that you were happy and he was the cause of it.
“Aren’t Jack and Sally a couple?” Sungchan questions when you hand Eunseok your polaroid and ask him to take a picture of you.
“Duh.” you say oblivious to the point he’s trying to make.
“So if you’re Jack and you’re sally…” he points to you as he says “Doesn't that make you a couple.” He finishes with a grin. “No, it’s a costume you idiot.” You yell at him, reaching for your shoe to throw at him.
You’re ready to fight but Anton only looks down at you and smiles at how easily angry you got. And that’s exactly when Eunseok takes the picture.
Anton watches your subtle smile as you flip through each of the polaroids, he begins to mirror your smile when you look up at him and giggle softly. “Oh look at this one.” You hold one of the pictures just inches away from his eyes where he could barely see.
Rather than just taking the photograph out of your hand to see it better, he wraps his hand around your wrist and backs it up to a better angle. The gesture is very simple but you don’t fail to notice that he’s rubbing the tip of his thumb back and forth over your skin.
“I remember this.” he laughs, looking at the photo. You feel a bit of coolness fall over you when he lets go of your arm to look through the rest of the box. Which you think to do after staring at him for 5 seconds too long. Flipping though the rest of the polaroids in your hand, when you come across another picture.
This one isn’t from your camera. It’s a picture your mom took of you when you invited him over to the house for the first time. She was so happy that you had finally made a friend, she didn’t even care that she was actively embarrassing you. Sneaking pictures, and watching behind walls whenever you had finally built some gut to actually talk to him.
It was so long ago, and you were so young. It’s fun to think about now, but it’s even better to think about how long you’ve known him.
“Isn’t it crazy that we’ve been friends for so long and neither of us has a crush on eachother.” You ask, still looking down at the picture.
“Yeah.” He laughs
When you look up you see your best friend, the one person outside of your family that stuck with you through thick and thin. Who held you every time you cried and dried your tears to tell you that everything was going to be alright. Who, no matter what, never made you feel like a burden or like you were too much. Who made it obvious over and over again that they’d do anything to keep you happy.
You see Lee Anton.
He’s meant to be in your life, you’re very sure of it. Because no one understood you like he did, and no one ever will as long as he’s alive. No one defended you like he did, and you don’t care to learn if anyone else might.
But as time went on, the lines started to blur. Because you want to kiss him now, and you’re not sure if you want to do it as his best friend or something more. Gradually leaning in closer to him until your lips just barely touch.
He takes the initiative to go all the way. Furthering the kiss, you have to grab onto his shoulders to keep yourself stable.
You can’t explain it but this just feels right, or better yet, it definitely didn’t feel wrong.
Your eyes are still closed when you pull away, but the instant you open them he mutters. “I love you.” Causing you to get up and jump away from him as if he was infected with a contagious deadly disease.
“You ruined it.” You yell at him, loud enough for him to know how startled you are but not enough for anyone outside of the room to hear.
“I’m sorry!” he pleads. Within a few seconds he’s standing over you so you have to look up at him. For as long as you knew him he’d always been taller than you, it was so obvious that everyone else pointed out the extreme height difference. Well, everyone but you.
“Why would you say that?” You throw your arms down.
“I don’t know, it just came out.”
“You don’t mean it, do you?” You ask, but this time you aren’t yelling and your voice is calmer.
“Of course, I mean it. We’ve been friends for years and I love you.”
“Stop saying that!”
“Do you love me?” His voice is softer than usual and you hate it, there’s just no way you could give him any other answer outside of the one he’s asking to hear. Yet and still you can’t give him anything because you’re not even sure yourself.
“Do you?” he asks again, breaking the long period of silence.
“Could you just kiss me again?” You ask, and he listens. Just as he always does because you’re his best friend and all he wants is to make you happy.
The question never quite left your mind. "Did you love him?” No. “Do you love him?" The obvious answer is yes. It'd be impossible to not love someone that you've been close friends with for just a little less than half your life. Someone that knew almost everything about you.
But this was a more complicated question. Because you know he wasn't asking if you love him as a best friend, and that wasn't an answer you were ready to find out. If you loved him any differently than a friend, then it would change everything.
That's what you're afraid of.
Although, it's a little too late to be scared for the friendship if you're even questioning it in the first place.
It’s been two days since that night, but neither of you had the balls to bring it up again. Seems as if you were getting better at pretending things never happened. You could try and say that things hadn’t changed at all, but that’d be a lie.
Usually you liked the comfort of your own room, but the more you spent in there alone the more you felt that the silence was getting too loud for your own good, and the very last thing you needed right now was to be alone in your thoughts.
So for once you decided to sit in the living room and enjoy the presence of your brother and his best friend. Sitting further away from both of them on the sofa with your legs pressed up against your chest. There weren’t any intentions of interacting with either of them, you just needed to get around somewhere that wasn’t ear ringing quiet.
But every part of you wishes you would’ve just stayed in your room, when you become the topic of discussion.
“Are you texting your boyfriend?” Sungchan teases per usual.
“No.” Is all you say, hoping that if you don’t give him the attention he wants, he’ll leave you alone. He doesn’t but what were you expecting, he was like your annoying brother after all. “You didn’t deny that he was your boyfriend.”
“He isn’t.” You mumble, still not looking up from your phone.
“Is something wrong?” Eunseok asks, and you can easily tell that he’s really concerned. But you just cannot force yourself to tell him that something is bothering you because you know he’ll wanna help. And this just wasn’t a matter that you needed nor wanted him to help you with.
“No, just kinda tired.” You begin to say but sungchan talks over you and asks a question that makes your heart drop.
“Is this about the kiss with Anton?” He pipes up randomly.
“You kissed?” Eunseok takes turns questioning you, and just when you’re about to answer him Sungchan once again speaks over you. “Yeah, but they were both high so it doesn’t really count.”
“High?” This time he’s jumping out of his seat.
By now your heart is beating loud enough to hear, there’s no way to talk yourself out of this so you don’t even try. Only preparing yourself for what’s to come.
“You were high?”
“Before you start, just know that I’m sorry and I already made the decision to never do it again.”
“Wait, don't be too hard on her, I’m the one who gave them the brownies.” Sungchan butts in an attempt to protect you. “I’ll deal with you later.” Your brother points to him, and turns his attention back on you.
“Why did you do it in the first place? I told you to stay away from drugs.” He begins raising his voice at you. That might have been when you started crying, you think. But it’s still unclear, because all you could think about was how shitty you felt to have disappointed him.
“This isn’t a game Y/n that stuff is bad, what will you do when you get to College and everyone around you is doing it? Are you gonna do it too?” He continues to shout,
“No, I told you I wasn’t ever gonna touch it again.” You cry,
“How am I supposed to believe that? You’re not giving me any reason to trust you.”
The words he spit out of his mouth were like small but extremely sharp swords. Piercing into your heart all at once, you don’t even have the strength in your voice to speak anymore, so your next sentence comes out shaky and a little squeaky. “Did you ever trust me?”
“Why would I?” That’s the very last sword to impale your beating muscle, you can imagine that air was just ripped out of your lungs. Leaving you to suffocate alone. If there was one thing you hated in the whole world it was being scolded by your older brother.
Simply because you weren’t used to getting yelled at by anyone else. Your mom was always very soft spoken, and your dad died before you ever got the chance to really disappoint him. So that left Eunseok, he didn’t shout at you often. But when he did, it hurt.
Anton’s the one person you went to every time you felt like this, so it was a no brainer that that’s where you’d end up now.
When you knock on his door still in your pajamas and cheeks stained with tears, he doesn’t even question you. Only holding his arms out for you to claim your spot close to his chest so he could embrace you with the warm and endearing hug that you needed most.
“He’s just looking out for you.” He speaks tenderly, once you finally calmed yourself down enough to explain everything. You always liked how soft his voice was, it was the very thing that made you wanna befriend him in the first place. Even though you made fun of him for it all the time, it was times like these when you really appreciated it.
“I just hate that I disappointed him, now he’ll never trust me.” You continue to sob into his chest.
He lets you cry for another 40 minutes until you fall asleep with your face flat against his chest. Your cheeks are still damp and a bit puffy but even now he finds himself struggling to pull his eyes away from you.
Unfortunately he’s forced to when there’s a knock at the front door, and Anton has to slide himself from under you so you don’t wake up. He knows exactly who’s on the other side of the door but he opens it anyway.
“Is Y/n here?” eunseok asks, already knowing the answer. You wouldn’t go anywhere else.
“No. why, did something happen?” Anton masks his lies with faux concern. “We just got into an argument kind of. I just wanna make sure she’s okay.” Eunseok continues.
Anton looks back at your sleeping figure and faces Eunseok. Feeling no need to hold up the lie he says, “Yeah, she’s fine.”
“Thank you… for taking care of her.”
“Of course.”
Anton closes the door when Eunseok walks away. He watches you for some short moments before leaving to go find a blanket to drape over you just in case you were feeling chilly in your sleep. And sitting on the couch beside you so you didn’t have to be alone.
Anyone with a sibling would know that arguments don’t last for long. But this one did, you knew what you did was wrong but you also don’t want to apologize. So you just pretend like he doesn’t exist for the following week.
He tried nonstop for the first two days but gave up after you just stared directly in his face without a word when he offered you the keys to his car, and unlimited access for the rest of the summer.
“What do you wanna watch?” Anton asks with one hand navigating the laptop and the other playing through your hair. Your body is pressed close against his, so much so you can hear his heartbeat. And he can feel the vibrations of your voice when you hum “I don’t know, you can choose.”
“How about a cartoon?” He scrolls his pointer down to Tom and jerry.
“Not that one.” You mutter when it begins to play.
“Okay, what about the incredibles?” He asks
“I don’t like the incredibles.” you speak into his chest.
“Mickey mouse?”
“We’re not children, Anton.”
“Well, what do you wanna watch?” he shifts his body to look down at you, his frustration growing when you look back up at him. “I don’t know, but I don’t wanna watch that.”
“You don’t wanna watch anything.” He huffs.
“Just choose something good.” Both of you are bickering with each other but keeping your positions, his hand is still tangled in your hair, and you're still face to chest with him. You look up in sync when Eunseok passes by your room to get to his own, however he doesn’t make it to his room yet because he stopped to watch the two of you bicker.
If he didn’t know any better he’d think that the both of you were dating. Funny thing is, he really didn’t know any better. So he stood there in shock staring at you two together holding a half sandwich right in front of his mouth.
“What are you looking at?” You spit, after a small moment of awkward silence.
As soon as the words leave your mouth you realize exactly what he’s looking at, because you look up at Anton and jump away a second later. Not noticing how it looked from a different point of view.
Eunseok walks away immediately with a small chuckle, because although he didn’t understand what was going on you at least acknowledged his existence and talked to him, so that was an improvement.
Your relationship with your brother was still taking baby steps to recovery, but your relationship with your best friend couldn’t get any better. If you weren’t sitting right besides him, you were texting him, if you weren’t texting him, you were calling him.
You made the deal to make this summer count, just in case you grew apart from each other but with the way things were going you highly doubted that anything would break you apart now.
You threw your head back on your bed, staring at your phone with your arms held out over top of your face. You smile never wavering as you type away messages to Anton. First you send the word “hello” 8 individual times in separate messages until he responds, you wanna make sure that you have his attention first.
But when he doesn’t respond or even open the messages, you let the anticipation get the best of you and just call him, so you can at least hear his reaction when you tell him the news that has you busting at the seams with excitement.
Yet, something about hearing the phone ring over and over again slowly kills the excitement in you. Your smile is still present, it’s just smaller now.
Anton always answered his phone for you, even during the cello lessons that his dad used to make him take after school. So this is something new to you, and you’re not sure how to really feel about it.
The only thing you can think to do is just go to his house and see him in person. At Least this way you could see his reaction face to face and even hang out for a little. That’s what you choose to do, throwing your legs over your bed to rush to his front door.
“Hey, guess wha-” You start the second the door opens but stop when you see that the person who opened the door wasn’t Anton. In fact, you don’t know who this is, you’ve never seen her before.
“Hi?” The girl pipes up, smiling at you. You try to force yourself to mirror her smile, it lasts almost as long as a blink but with all the thoughts running through your head you end up just blurting out. “Who are you?”
“I’m Anton’s friend.” She holds her hand out to you. “Nice to meet you.” She smiles.
You feel your heart sink into your chest, the longer you look at her. It was happening already, and summer isn’t even over yet. you thought things were looking up, but it’s just the beginning of the end.
You wanna ask, “Are you sure?” because Anton's never mentioned her before, but you hold your tongue and simply ask “Is he here?” and she responds with “Yeah, I’ll get him for you.”
You wait for less than a minute before Anton comes to the door, you hadn’t thought about what you were going to say when you did see him. So now you’re stumbling over your words trying to find out what question you wanna ask first.
“I just came because you didn’t answer your phone, but I guess you have a date so that would explain everything.” you mutter
“It's not a date, she just came over to play games.”
“sounds fun.”
“you’re not mad.. right?”
“I'm just a little disappointed that you didn’t tell me. but she’s really pretty I hope you guys have fun.”
“why do you even care? we’re just friends.” he asks when get ready to turn your back.
“Just fr- the rest of the words can’t even leave your mouth, just caught in your throat as tears begin to swarm your waterline. “Clearly we don’t feel the same way, so I’ll just go.”
“Feel the same way?” he repeats “about what? there’s nothing to feel.” That's what does it, knocks the wind right out of your lungs.
“nothing. nothing, Anton bye.” you hurry and walk away before he could see you cry. the conversation reminds you of the stupid high school that you used to avoid. clinging onto Anton because you always thought he was far too sweet to ever treat you or anyone like that. but you were wrong, you were terribly wrong, and it makes you physically ill.
Crying for the third time this summer, barging into the house past Eunseok and running into your room. This might actually be your first heartbreak, and it’s funny to think that your best friend would be the one to give it to you.
“knock knock.” Eunseok knocks on the bedroom door that you forgot to close. Usually he’d wait for your permission to enter but this time he just walks right in and takes a spot on the edge of your bed.
“go away.” you sob into your pillow.
He continues to speak, not caring about your protests. “I know you don’t wanna talk to me right now. but I want you to know that I'll always be here for you. and no matter what i’ll always look out for you.”
“I don't need you to look out for me.”
He doesn’t say anything else because he knows it’s only a matter of time before you open up to him about what’s going on.
he thought right, it takes not even 4 seconds for you to sit up and look at him with glossy eyes. “we’re just friends, not best friends, not even close friends. just friends.” you hiccup in between words.
When eunseok doesn’t say anything you keep talking.
"He was hanging out with this girl; I've never met her before. Well, I mean he’s never told me about her, and she’s really pretty. He probably thinks she’s prettier than me.”
“you’re crying because he was hanging out with a girl?” Eunseok recaps and you roll your eyes.
“You don’t get it, no one gets it.” Not even you. You couldn’t explain to him what’s wrong if you wanted to, because you actually had no clue. All you knew was that you saw him with another girl, and it hurt. It hurt a lot.
“Then explain it to me.” Your brother looks at you, really trying to understand so he could find a way to make you feel better. When you go completely silent, he blurts out another question.
“Do you like him?”
Now you get it, now it all makes sense. You don’t wanna admit it aloud, but you know the truth. You’ve stopped crying but your voice is still weak and raspy when you say. “We’re just friends.” Repeating Anton's exact words.
It wasn’t easy ignoring Anton, not because you were struggling to stay away from him but because he made it hard to pretend like he never existed. Blowing up your phone with phone calls or text messages and popping up at your front door occasionally so you’d be forced to see his face.
You’ve moved on from being mad about whatever it was that you were mad about in the first place, to being mad about the fact that he didn’t share the same feelings you had.
This was all his fault anyways, because if it wasn't for his dumb stupid face and his annoying soft voice you would’ve never fallen for him in the first place. You were actually pretty good at keeping your emotions controlled… well more less. But this was still his fault, and you weren’t taking any responsibility.
1:15 Brachio: Wanna go skating today?
1:22 Brachio: hey??
1:37 Brachio: did I do something wrong?”
You scoff at the last message; he really had the audacity to ask if he did something wrong. Even if you didn’t fully know the reason you were mad, he should’ve definitely known.
4:49 Brachio: Hello?
4:49 Brachio: I’m sorry, please talk to me.
4:49 Brachio: this isn’t fun I’m getting flashbacks.
4:50 Brachio: I’ll bake you a cake.
4:50 Brachio: I’ll do anything.
5: 10 Brachio: wow so you hate me.
6:20 You: I do, leave me alone.
6:20 Brachio: Oh, sorry,
6:29 Brachio: Are you still mad?
You leave your phone faced up and watch his name flash more and more from the corner of your room. Trying to think of anything else to distract you from the conversation Anton was having with himself in your messages.
“What are you doing out here?” Sungchan looks down at Anton cropped down in front of your door. “Waiting or Y/n” he responds.
“Oh I’ll get her for you.” He turns.
“No! She’s not gonna come out if you tell her I’m here. I’ll just wait.”
“Is this like a game?... or”
“She came over 2 weeks ago, and we had a small argument about… actually I don’t know what it was about. I just know that it upset her that I had one of my friends over.”
“Interesting, interesting and was this friend a girl?”
“Yeah.”
“Do you find her physically attractive?”
“No, I’ve never really looked at her like that.”
“Interesting.” sungchan taps his chin 3 times for cinematic effect. “Seems to me like Y/n might have a little crush on you.”
“On me? She couldn’t possi- oh~” he comes to the realization mid sentence. “What is Anton gonna do with this new found information?” Sungchan begins to speak in his version of a British accent.
“There’s nothing I can do, She won’t talk to me. It’s been weeks.” Anton looks up to sungchan.
“If there is a will. There will be a way.” Sungchan speaks with his finger in the air as if he was some inspirational character from a children's book. “Okay…” Anton mutters.
“Sungchan says! We shall make it rain.”
“Make it rain?” Anton questions
“Make it rain.” Sungchan heroically yells.
“Make it rain?” Anton asks again.
Since summer was coming down to an end, you figured there was no other time to start packing but now. The first thing you decided to start with was the abundance of posters on your walls. It didn’t hurt as much as you thought it would. Maybe you needed a little change in your life, and growing up wasn’t all that bad.
“I never thought I’d see this room all packed up.” Eunseok says as he walks through your bedroom door.
“I haven’t even started yet.” You laugh.
“You start school in a few weeks. How do you feel?”
“I’m actually kind of excited, maybe it’s time for me to make new friends.”
“Are you at least gonna talk to him before you go?”
“He’ll be fine, he has someone to keep him company.” you don’t even take the time to look at your brother when you speak. Focusing on carefully taking down your wall art without ripping any of them.
“I’m sure he’d still like to talk to you.”
“I don’t care.’ You say bluntly.
“Maybe you should.” You only turn to look at him when he’s gone. Leaving you alone with nothing but your crowded walls and crowded thoughts to match. Going away for college meant you might not ever talk to Anton again. Well, you were probably gonna see him around campus or something, sure. But you won’t be friends like you used to. He’ll go off to build his new group of people and so will you.
Maybe this friendship wasn’t so strong after all.
The splashing water against your window is enough to pull you out of your thoughts. You guess that it’s rain at first, so you open your window to observe the sky but see that it’s completely bright and clear.
“What the heck?” You say aloud to yourself trying to observe where the sprinkles of water were coming from.
Then you see Anton standing right below you, drenched in water and Sungchan holding the water hose from the bushes. “These idiots.” You mutter under your breath.
“Y/n someone's here for you.” Eunseok yells from the stairs. Making sure to leave out Anton’s name because he knew you wouldn’t leave your room if he did mention him.
Anton doesn’t give you the chance to speak before he starts to recite the note he had in his hands. The note was just as wet as he was and the ink had already begun washing off the paper, but he continued to read anyways.
“I. am. Very. sorry. For-” not caring to hear the rest of what he has to say you snatch the damped paper out of his hand and rip it up in front of him. Then throwing the pieces back in his face before you slam the door and leave him to talk to himself.
“I didn’t need that.” He murmurs through the barrier between you two.
“Remember you pinky promised me that we’d always be friends. You can’t break it now, we never break our pinky promises.” He speaks on the other side of the door since you weren’t gonna speak to him face to face.
“For the love of god Anton, go away-” You yell at him when you open your front door, and within a blink of an eye his lips are on yours and his hands are on each side of your face. He’d pulled you far enough out of your house to get drenched in the water that Sungchan was spraying.
You break the kiss first, with a harsh slap on his cheek. “Why did you do that?” You shout.
“That’s what they do in the movies whenever they confess their feelings. I thought it would work.” he explains, holding his cheek,
“You like me?”
“Am i gonna get slapped again if I say yes?”
You don’t have anything else to say, so you pull him down to you by the collar of his shirt and kiss him once again. Before whispering “I like you too.” against his lips
“So you’re not mad at me anymore?”
“I still haven’t gotten a cake yet.” is your response to his question, but you both knew that you were far from mad at him.
You guys shared over 234 pinky promises in the time span that you had been friends. And all of them remained unbroken, except for one.
#fluff#riize x reader#riize imagines#riize#riize angst#riize icons#riize fluff#anton#anton riize#riize anton#anton lee#anton fluff#drabbles#anton angst#lee anton#promise you doie#promise-you-doie#kpop angst#kpop#riize moodboard#anton x reader#anton x y/n#anton lee x reader#anton lee imagines#anton lee riize#riize scenarios#anton fanfic#anton lee fanfic#anton lee one shot#anton lee fluff
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What would be everyone’s reaction when they found out how much of a menace Price was when he was younger?
Price playing instruments and singing surprisingly good just to ensure he was annoying the rest of his team? Would they believe that the same man that’s their Captain was such a troublemaker to his Captain?
I can imagine all the stories Nikolai and Laswell have of Price being chaotic in his youth, they’re such crazy stories that the team refuses to believe it until Price has to confirm they’re real.
The fact is, none of them would believe either Laswell or Nikolai. None of them could imagine or comprehend the thought of Price being a menace so they just chose to not believe anything Laswell or Nik said. They were obviously just trying to fuck with them.
But, then it happened. It wasn’t really a meeting, just Laswell and Price sitting around a large table with files everywhere, looking over all the intel they had that could be of use for an upcoming mission. They were barely talking, just murmuring as they moved files and reports into different piles, each showing the relevance they had with the mission.
Soap had walked in, holding a few more files for them to look over.
“Alejandro sent over some papers that might be useful.”
Now, Price was really out of it. He had been focusing on the papers so long now it had put him in some kind of trance. He heard Soap say ‘Alejandro’ and Price did what he thought was appropriate.
“Alejandro- Alejandro-“
It was so soft Soap thought he was hearing things. But no, he wasn’t. Price was softly singing under his breath, still focused on the files lying before him.
Soap stares because why was it in tune?
“Don’t bother me- Ah. Why are you still here?” Price snapped out of the trance, acting as if he was completely unaware of what he was just doing.
“You were-“
“Soap, I’m working. And I’m pretty damn sure you’re supposed to be helping Ghost.”
“But-“
“Piss off!”
Soap blinks, stunned. He starts to leave the room, staring at Price as the man turned back to the files, muttering under his breath. Soap makes eye contact with Laswell before he leaves the room. She was smirking, the loudest ‘I told you so’ he has heard/seen in a while.
Soap leaves the room, running back to Ghost’s office so he could tell him what he had just witnessed.
#call of duty#modern warfare#john soap mactavish#john price#kate laswell#simon ghost riley#ask#thanks for the ask <3#drabble#musical genius captain price my beloved
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Hiii❤️can you write some headcanons about sukuna with a asexual reader? It could be modern sukuna or any version. Of course you dont have to if youre not comfortable with it🙏
OMG Can i? This is my first request you can bet Sukunas masochism i can! Originally i had no idea what to write and then i had 17 ideas.
Then i began writing couldn’t save it as a draft it got deleted so now here’s the second idea i had.
It’s not often someone steals Sukunas attention but you do it with ease.
At first he’s annoyed by the way you stare at him with a deadpan gaze. No thoughts, no emotions just gaze.
He’s used to either fear, adoration or lust but you just give him a blank stare it’s torture…he kind of likes it.
• He likes listening to you read, sing and cook you do those things with such passion it engulfs you to the point of you forgetting he’s there.
That’s when he takes the time to Admire your hair, dark pink curls that resemble the soft texture of cotton Candy… kinda smells like it to. (It’s vanilla)
and no matter how many times you swat his hand away he cant help it…its pretty. Like you.
He’s infatuated and how dare you not be equally infatuated with him as he is with you?!
You get lots of…gifts. The head of a goat, skull of…something and the blood of your enemies. You don’t want to question how he got any of these things.
“What? Why do you not look happy?” He questions yet youre speechless unaware of the same dead gaze you’re still giving him. He cant read it but he knows its not joy.
“I shower it with gifts and yet still no emotions, these human things are so confusing”
“I’m not a thing or an it im a human and im not emotionless im asexual”
Now its his turn for the blank stare except you can read his and hes completely confused.
You laugh at his idiocy, how can you not. Or maybe the irony of someone like Sukuna trying to get you to show emotions.
He wants to hate you laughing at him but he likes the way your plump lips reveal your sharp teeth and you’re shaking with laughter.
He definitely ask uraume about asexuality. Uraume just stares— the same stare you give and it dawns on him uraume is also asexual.
Sukuna is very hands on hes just adapted to different ways.
Biting? Yes he will bite you just for his own shits and giggles. Hard enough to leave bite marks but never enough to break skin…ok maybe once but he thinks its okay because your blood didnt make him want to eat you.
hes learned your blank stares at this point and this one means you think he’s an idiot.
He also will just randomly pick you up and sit you on his lap as you rant about the characters in your book. And when you think he isn’t listening…
“Sweetheart if they were real id dismember them and make a necklace of their blood for you to wear” he promises wrapping a curl of yours around his finger ignoring the countless times youve told him to stop touching your hair.
This results in you biting his hand.
He likes having his hair played in, he won’t say it aloud but the soft groans he lets out that turn into snores is all the confirmation you needed.
Imagine how angry he was waking up to an empty bed, hair not being played with to see you talking to one of the guards in the middle of the night.
“Jealousy doesnt suit you, king Sukuna” and he hates when you call him that as if you were nothing more than just a servant and he meant nothing to you.
He uses all 4 arms to make sure he doesnt wake up in the mornings without you. Sometimes he’ll peak one if his eyes open and it’s never long before you feel his gaze and smile.
“Im still here… Now go to sleep before i poke you in your eye” Did you just threaten him? He smirks turning his head the other way… he wasnt willing to risk that.
You sometimes wondered if being asexual bothered him… it didn’t. He like that someone just wanted to spend time with him no fear, no lust, no requirements to do or be anything.
Especially after a long day of being king he just wants to rant about how annoying everyone is especially you since you weren’t there because you were soooo busy.
You went shopping with uraume, who seemed to like you for Sukuna. Though After spending the day with uraume you understood why they were bestfriends. Uraume was equally as unhinged just quiet.
He hates when you use your pointer fingers to direct his frown literally upside down. And your giggle that you let out… he needs to punch something— or turn away so you cant see him actually smile.
When it comes to dates he takes you to grand places he’s not a date person. He heard you talk about stars once so he takes you to the top of the castle and explains each constellation watching the way you hold onto every word with fascination.
Or he shows you his domain for the first time and tells you about war stories and as you look around at the piles of skeletons you notice this may be where he got the skull he gave you as a piece of him.
You realize he might have a crush on you.
Or the day he avoids you completely after you yelled at him about plucking a fish from water just because only to wake you up at 2am to show you the koi fish pond he had installed with so many different colored fish.
Hes shocked when your tiny body hugs him, laughing in pure excitement before leaning over the lake admiring each and every fish.
Its when you turn back to him the same adoration on your face this time aimed at him that his brain lags for a second. He finally… FINALLY got what he’s been wanting for so long.
and like the greedy man he is he wants more vowing to say yes to whatever you want.
He doesnt process you running back into his arms with pure excitement until you speak.
“Can we get more? I think a bigger lake. Sukuna could you imagine a wall in our bedroom with these fish? Or a secret mini pond in the throne room that can only be accessed by us”
And the sounds of we, our bedroom and us along with the way your bright eyes gaze up happily and hopefully at him makes his insides hot.
You never talked about the status of your relationship but he was yours the moment you gazed at him with that deadpan expression. And the way his name rolled off your lips through your razor sharp teeth infatuated does nothing to explain how he feels about you.
#sukuna x reader#sukuna ryomen#sukuna x you#sukuna x black reader#sukuna x y/n#sukuna x oc#sukuna x asexual reader#jjk x reader#jjk x black!reader
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Look at me !
pairing: luke castellan x reader (mostly platonic?)
w.c: 1.1k
content: fluff???, luke and reader are best friends, my own headcanons for luke, luke is a bit of a loser, he's blushing :D, he uses those nice over-ear noise cancelling headphones (js like me)
warnings: not edited so if smth doesn't make sense or it gets boring at parts yk why , it has a dramatic start, it's so nonsensical like it's not even that big of a deal but he's jst a little drama queen !, i thought of this when i was driving
Luke Castellan had a secret, something he was terrified to let anyone know about. It was so crucial that he kept this to himself. It’s why you never see his phone, why if you ever walk up to him and he has headphones on, he rips them off and immediately turns his music off. You always thought it was because he was always so eager to spend time with you, to listen to you talk about your day or new gossip you heard about as you usually do with him. But this? This was completely different, you never thought THIS was why he was so secretive about his phone.
You had been looking around for Luke all morning, going to all his usual haunts but came up empty handed each time. You even started asking around if anyone had seen him, some either told you to ask people you already had or told you he just hadn't been around. Honestly, to say you were worried was the understatement of the century. You had one last idea before giving up and you HOPED you were right about this. So without another word to Chris, who you were just about to ask if he’d seen Luke, you turn on your heel and run off in the other direction.
As you run to your usual spot that Luke and you sneak off to sometimes, you can see his curly headed self bouncing around without a care in the world and… is he trying to sing right now? “Look at me, Look at me! 나를 바라봐 나를 바라봐” He sings out, sounding completely out of tune as his arms wave up and down at his sides, his thumbs out pointing to himself before swaying his hips and moving his right hand in a circular motion above his head… he’s singing and dancing in the middle of the forest and you thought he was in trouble?
You let out a huge sigh of relief and watch as he stops dancing only to start up again with a new one. This dance is more demanding of body movements, his hips swaying with almost every move. You take notice of just how feminine the dances seem and let yourself watch as he indulges himself further into his music. “GIRLS GENERATION MAKE YOU FEEL THE HEAT!” He belts out, blissfully unaware of how loud he is, as well as the pair of eyes on him. Then he turns around and screams at the sight of you standing there, quickly pausing his music as he pulls his headphones off, letting them rest around his neck, “Um… How- How much of that did you see?”
“Enough,” You respond with a laugh and move closer to him, letting your hands fall from their place on your hips. Your eyes meet his, but he looks away quickly, finding the random patch of dandelions on the ground much more interesting than anything else, “So… you wanna tell me what that was?” You question, leaning closer to his face.
He moves away, trying to hide his embarrassed expression and flushed face, “No.”
“Okay Castellan,” You muse as your hands find their way to his hair, brushing it back and out of his face. You grimace at the feeling of his sweat and wipe it off on his shirt, “You were really into though, huh?” You tease him, lightly poking at his side.
“Don’t tease me!” You raise an eyebrow, but before you can speak he’s already talking again, “I just like the feeling of the dances, plus the footwork helps with my swordsmanship!”
You just nod your head but the look on your face makes it look as though you’re judging him. His face falls at your expression and he takes a seat on a rock nearby, his shoulders slumped and his eyes avoid contact with yours at all costs. “It’s cute,” You blurted out, not even realizing you said anything. “I mean this is your big secret isn’t it?”
“N-no comment,” His cheeks flush more and he finds himself fidgeting with his hands, wishing the ground beneath him would open up and swallow him whole.
“What were you even listening to anyways?” Before the brunette could answer your question you’re already grabbing his headphones and putting them on, adjusting them to fit your head before hitting the play button on the back of them. The song that plays is something you would’ve never expected. The vocals are higher pitched but very feminine and the song overall sounds really… cutesy? You can’t help but look at him and crack a smile, a laugh slipping through your lips as the song keeps playing, “You… oh this is fucking GOLD.”
“YOU CAN’T TELL. Please, I'll do anything!” He pleads, looking at you with his pretty brown eyes sparkling in a puppy begging way.
You shake your head and pause the song at the end, handing the headphones back to him, “I’m not gonna tell anyone, but I’m certainly not letting you live this moment down.” There’s a moment of silence where the awkward tension that was there dissipates and Luke finally raises head, his eyes meeting yours, “Who’s your favorite group?”
“Girls Generation,” He mumbles.
“Who?” You tease, raising a hand to your ear like you need him to speak louder.
“Girls Generation,” He repeats, louder this time, his face bright red.
“Hmm, let me guess. Taeyeon? No! Seohyun? You probably liked that one movie she was in!” You continue to tease him, knowing that it’s not really that big of a deal.
“What movie are you- LOVE AND LEASHES???” He looks at you like you’re crazy.
“Oh so you DO know about that movie,” You raise a brow at him and you both start walking back towards camp. He stops responding, refusing to give you any more ammo, and the silence that hangs between you two is light and comfortable. As you two walk side by side you notice his hands fidgeting with themselves, “You know it’s not a bad thing, right? Like it’s not something you have to hide, it’s MUSIC. The kids in cabin 5 blast playboi carti for crying out loud.”
“Yeah but that’s accepted, I don’t think I want the whole camp to know I listen to fucking bubblegum kpop,” He mutters as he hands drop to his side, “Besides, I have a reputation to uphold! I can’t be seen liking Twice or Fromis_9.”
You roll your eyes at him and stop in your tracks. He stops with you and gives you a confused look, “A reputation of what? Camp golden boy? I think the girl groups add character!” You laugh at yourself and shake your head, “Besides there’s bigger things you need to worry about.”
Luke’s face scrunches in confusion even more, “What are you talk-” You cut him off with a kiss, your hands cupping his face. His eyes widened and just as he was about to reciprocate you pulled away and ran off. “Gods I hate them sometimes,” He mutters to himself before running off after you.
a.n: sorry for the semi-shitty ending, i didn't know how to end it 😭 sorry if this whole thing is shitty, it was a split second thought that has consumed me for the past 2 days. Luke's favorite song is def Gee! I don't make the rules (i'm done yapping now)
#kpop#luke castellan#luke castellan imagine#luke castellan x you#luke castellan x reader#luke castellan pjo#luke castellan fanfiction#luke castellan oneshot#pjo tv show#percy jackson#pjo show#percy series#luke castellan fic#luke castellan fluff#idk#oh well#twice#girls generation
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Hi! I was wondering if you’ve ever heard of ‘nutrition response testing’ (also called ‘applied kinesiology’ and ‘contact reflex analysis’)? I had it done a few days ago by a holistic health care practice and they recommended several (expensive) supplements for various health issues. I didn’t know that was what was going to happen going in, my mom got a recommendation for their practice and convinced me to try it. I was originally going to go along with it, since they really sounded like they knew what they were talking about, and made me feel very heard and respected, but now I’m not so sure. They made a pretty big oversight regarding me being allergic to one of the recommended supplements, which lead to me doing a ton of research on everything they were doing. It was pretty inconclusive. Some sites said it’s complete pseudoscience and doesn’t work at all, but I’ve also seen a lot of people claim it helped them with decades long health issues. I just really don’t know what to make of this, or where to go to figure it out, so I figured I’d ask you.
I also know several people who found relief from symptoms from seeing kinesiologists.
I respect their experiences and am glad they found help, but as someone who worked the holistic circuit for many years and still uses some holistic treatments in my own health journey, I am going to urge an abundance of caution going forward.
In holistic circles, there's a tendency to throw supplements at you to see what sticks. If you feel better, great! You possibly had a deficiency you were either unaware of or were just on the cusp of borderline so it wasn't flagged up in regular testing.
If you don't, there's a tendency to tell you to keep taking them because "these things take time," and also have you tried {x other product they also just so happen to sell in their clinic.}
And people do it, usually because the supplements cost less than going to see the actual doctor, or their doctor doesn't make them feel heard and this nice person is offering them a solution while sounding very confident about it.
One of the major draws of holistic medicine for a lot of people is that it lets sick people feel heard. We take time with people to make them feel valid and cared for because that is also an important part of the healing process. But again, speaking as someone with multiple holistic qualifications and who still uses some of them, holistic care is not a substitute for conventional medicine. It can be a good addition, but it should not be your only method of treatment.
Now, not all of these items are useless and not all people who sell supplements and other such things in their clinic are suspicious.
It's just that there's very little regulation on who can sell these kind of things (as well as very little regulation of the supplements themselves), and you need to be careful about who you trust and be aware of how they are being promoted to you.
(One way to do this is look up the brand of supplements being sold and seeing who their parent company is. Chiropractors, for instance, are notorious for buying supplements from companies that operate like MLMs, giving them incentive to shill them to all their patients whether they need them or not.)
It's true, some holistic types are very good at spotting deficiencies in how the body looks and responds to certain things. Especially if they have legitimate medical training to back up their practice. But that is also true of any conventional doctor who pays attention.
I walked in to see my PCP not too long ago and he was able to diagnose a zinc deficiency due to the symptoms I was describing and a subtle change he noticed in my nails.
Hell, my dentist was the one who figured out my mouth ulcers and the muscle tic in my jaw might be a b12 deficiency and urged me to see the doctor who ultimately saved my life.
In those instances, supplementation was necessary because I have chronic underlying conditions that prevent me from absorbing nutrients from my food.
Unlike any kinesiologist I've known, however, both instances were followed up with diagnostic blood work to check the accuracy of those suspected deficiencies, both to ensure it was correct but also ensure appropriate supplemental dosing.
I can't tell you the number of times someone has suggested I take "shit-yourself" levels of magnesium because someone who also shills essential oils on the side told them to. No thank you.
You didn't mention if the person you saw wanted to do diagnostic blood testing before offering you supplements, but if they didn't, that's a red flag for me. The fact that they missed an allergy you presumably told them about is another (just as it would be for a regular doctor).
So, should you listen to them? That's up to you. I personally prefer to see doctors who take a more holistic approach to the body, but I also know enough to combine it with conventional medicine and when testing is needed. I have that experience and know-how. Not everyone does, and it can be very easy to trust the nice person telling you to Buy Their Shiny Tonic To Cure Thine Ailments.
Maybe it'll help, maybe it won't. But it sounds like your gut is giving you a warning sign. I'd be inclined not to ignore it.
#chronic health tag#I am trying to be kind in this post#because I know a number of my followers truly do believe in kinesiology and have been helped by it#and I am not invalidating that#just#y'know use caution and know that a lot of holistic companies are in debt to MLM type companies who sell supplements#and always follow up with proper diagnostic testing if you can
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Scoops and Spies - Steve Harrington x Fem!Reader
pairing: steve harrington x female reader
synopsis: to help distract el from mike, you and max treat her to starcourt mall. upon entering scoops ahoy, you, together with your friends, overhears a conversation that gives you the confirmation you needed in admitting your feelings towards steve.
word count: 2.5k
warnings: none :)
a/n: hello everyone! here’s a short steve harrington fic set in season 3! if you’d like to check out my other works, you can check the pinned post in my blog :>
i hope you’ll like this fic! happy reading!
°˖✧✿✧˖°
No words can express how much Steve Harrington adores you.
He can clearly remember the first time he laid eyes on you. Hawkins is a small town and everybody practically knew each other. So when he gazed at your unfamiliar face on the first day of his sophomore year, he became interested.
Still, he didn’t do anything to approach you because his pride wouldn’t let him. Girls come to him, not the other way around. It was a good thing that Carol, although she wasn’t really a trustworthy friend, was very nosy and found out the basic information about you.
Steve watched as you rapidly made friends over the next few days. It was as if you had a magnet that naturally attracts people towards you. He could not blame them, however. Because he understood why when you shot him a smile once and it made his entire body warm.
He kept his distance, slightly ashamed of the reputation that he had established for himself in high school. But he eventually got his chance to speak with you, for which he had silently thanked Dustin Henderson.
It was the day that Dustin needed help in catching Dart, and it just so happens that you live beside his house. But your combined skills weren't enough. You needed weapons, and Steve Harrington had one when you and Dustin found him at the Wheeler’s house.
That was the first time he heard Steve stutter around someone.
From then on, you and Steve became close friends. But for your other friends, it was painfully obvious that you two wanted to be more than that.
Truthfully, you were not completely unaware of his adoring looks towards you either, but you didn’t want to assume anything and risk your friendship. The connection that you had created with Steve is special, and you would rather not lose that.
Even now, with you sitting on Max’s bed while she scolds you as if she’s the older friend, you shook your head when she told you to come forward to Steve.
“You know, you don’t have to turn down a lot of guys if you just make it official with Steve!”
You groaned. “There is nothing to make official, Max. And it’s not that simple.”
“Oh, but it is,” Max stood in front of you, hands on her hips. “You like him, he likes you. Done.”
“Except he hasn’t told me that!”
“He doesn’t need to because it’s already obvious!”
“I’m not going to hold on to something obvious, not when our friendship is at stake. I want to hear something. A confirmation.” You explained, hugging one of her pillows closer to your body.
Max was the first person to know about how you felt for Steve. The girl might like to pretend that she doesn’t care, but you grew to learn that she always observes.
She was about to reply when her doorbell rang.
Your eyes widened. “Shit. Is that Billy?”
“Billy doesn’t use the doorbell.” She snorted and walked out of her room.
You peeked through the open door and stood up slightly when you couldn’t see the person Max was talking to. It wasn’t long before you recognized Eleven, walking inside the house while the other girl led her towards the bedroom.
“El!” You greeted her as she entered, throwing your arms around her shoulder for a quick hug.
She laughed softly, hugging you back. “Hi, Y/n.”
“She’s having a crisis,” Max stated seriously after you pulled El to sit on the bed with you.
“What crisis?”
“It’s Mike,” El said.
“Why? What did Mike do?” You asked.
“Last night, Mike was at my house but his Nana got sick and he had to go home. So I called him this morning because he was late but he said that Nana was still sick and he couldn’t come over. And then he said he missed me, and then he just hung up.” Eleven explained.
You remained quiet, trying to imagine everything that she had said.
“He’s a piece of shit,” Max said suddenly.
“Maxine!” You gasped at the same time El asked “What?”
“Mike doesn't have jack shit to do today, and his Nana obviously isn’t sick. I guarantee you, he and Lucas are playing Atari right now.” The red-haired girl smiled smugly.
“Or, he could be telling the truth?” You tried to reason out, but Max looked at you with her eyebrows raised. “Okay, maybe the part where he hung up was suspicious.”
“But friends don’t lie,” El said, an innocent and confused expression drawn on her face.
“Yeah, well, boyfriends lie. All. The. Time.” Max spoke, lowering her head so it was leveled with Eleven. “You’re going to stop calling him. You’re going to ignore his calls. As far as you’re concerned, he doesn’t exist.”
“Doesn’t exist?” El repeated.
“He treated you like garbage. You’re gonna treat him like garbage. Give him the taste of his own medicine.”
“Give him the medicine.”
“Mhm. And if he doesn’t fix this, he doesn’t explain himself, dump his ass.”
“Okay, that’s enough.” You cut them off, giving Max a warning look. “Let El decide what to do when we have proof.”
Max huffed, but her annoyance was soon replaced with a proud smile. “I have an idea. Let’s go out.”
“And where are we going?” You asked, standing up when you saw her pick up her wallet.
“To have some fun and treat El,” Max answered, grabbing Eleven’s hand. “There’s more to life than stupid boys.”
“Where?” You clarified.
“Starcourt!”
“The mall?” Eleven stopped Max, and when the other girl nodded, she hesitated. “Too many people.”
“Exactly. No one would notice us because there are too many people.” Max persisted.
“Let’s go.” You shrugged, leading them towards your car.
Max laughed, rolling her eyes before she leaned towards El to whisper in her ear. “She just wants to see Steve.”
=====================
Roaming around Starcourt with El and Max took longer than you expected. Your younger friends were too hyper to contain their giddiness, and they insisted on going through every store. After almost two hours, the three of you had at least two shopping bags each, with El wearing a new set of clothes and new sunglasses on Max’s head.
“Where are we going next?” Eleven asked, panting after running down the escalator.
“Let’s go to Scoops, I’m hungry,” Max said, side-eyeing you.
You followed the two girls as they ran towards Scoops Ahoy, immediately placing their shopping bags on one of the booths to reserve it.
“Hey!” Robin greeted you when you reached the counter, Max and El trailing behind you closely. “What can I get you?”
You looked at your friends. “Go ahead, I’ll pay for this.”
“Strawberry cone for me.” Max smiled at you.
You turned to El, seeing her brows furrowed as she read the menu. “Vanilla, please. With sprinkles.”
“I’ll have cookies and cream.” You stated.
While Robin enters your orders into the register after you gave her the money, a shouting commotion from the backroom caught all of your attention.
“Why are you listening to the music, Steve? Listen to the Russian, we’re translating Russian!”
“I’m trying to listen to the Russian, but there’s music playing in the background!”
“Is that… Dustin?” You were confused when you made eye contact with Robin.
She rolled her eyes. “I swear, those two are so loud.”
“What about the Russians?” Max spoke too.
“They’re trying to decode somethi–” Robin answered before she was cut off by Dustin’s voice.
“Dude, seriously, just focus!”
“I am! It’s not my fault I can’t speak Russian.”
“Whatever. I’m calling Y/n.”
Dustin’s mention of your name made you perk up, and Robin gestured to the three of you to come nearer to the backroom door. You crouched and stood carefully to avoid showing yourself through the small circular window, allowing space for Max and El as well. Robin casually leaned back closer to the sliding window.
“What does Y/n have to do with this?” Steve asked sternly.
“She’s brilliant. Maybe she could help me.” Dustin answered back.
“No, absolutely not. Don’t involve her in this, Henderson. This is dangerous.”
“Hide your protectiveness,” Dustin said, annoyed. “Hold on. You’re concerned for her, but you’re not concerned for me?”
“Why would I be concerned for you?”
“Oh, I don’t know. I thought you love all your friends equally.”
“Shut up, man.” You heard Steve groan.
“No, I won’t shut up. You’re always so attentive when it comes to her. But when I ask for help, your mind is always somewhere else.”
You furrowed your brows, looking down at Max who was playfully smiling at you.
“Of course, my mind is somewhere else. I’m literally at work.” Steve defended himself.
“You expect me to believe that? Robin told me that you spend 10% of your shift working and 90% trying to ask out girls. Which, if I may add, is extremely unnecessary when you could have just asked Y/n–” Dustin rambled but Steve cut him off with wide eyes.
“Woah, I am not going to ask out Y/n.”
You ignored the slight jab from Steve’s words, already feeling rejected but Dustin continued.
“Oh, please. I am sick of seeing you looking at her with those soft eyes and pathetic smiles. Just do us all a favor, tell her you like her, and ask her out!”
“Remind me again how our conversation went from Russians to Y/n?”
“I needed to mention her so you can focus!”
“Whatever. I’m helping Robin.”
You gasped when you heard Steve say those words, already hearing his footsteps behind the door. You ushered Max and El away, but you realized that it was too late when Steve’s face greeted you.
“Y/n?” His eyes were wide when his eyes landed on you. His heart was racing from the thought that you might have heard their conversation. Which, you all clearly did, but he didn’t know that.
“Hi, Steve!” You laughed nervously, slowly stepping back.
“Uh, hi. Have you been standing here?” He asked, suddenly becoming conscious of his messy hair and silly uniform.
“What? No.” You smiled at him while you heard Robin, Max, and El snickering behind you. “El just wanted to look over at the flavors closely so Robin let us walk behind the counter.”
Your excuse seemed pretty convincing to Steve when he nodded in understanding. “Eleven? She’s allowed outside?”
“Not really. But Max wanted to treat her out because she’s having trouble with Mike.” You explained, your mind ready to make another excuse to leave. “Well, uh, we’ll go now. See you!”
Before Steve could say something further, you waved at him and Robin before walking out of the store with Max and El. Your brain was still processing what you just heard, but Max seems to know it already.
She locked one of her arms around yours, smirking as she licked her ice cream. “You wanted confirmation? You just had it.”
=====================
Your eyes were glued to the wide screen in front of you, occasionally looking down at the box of popcorn in your hand until it was empty and the credits rolled.
After your encounter with Steve at Scoops Ahoy, you went back to Max’s house to rest for a bit. You thought that your visit to the mall was over until the girl suggested that you three could watch a movie at the cinema. You barely had time to contradict before El cheered, excited because it was her first time.
This time, however, you made her briefly call Hopper so he’ll know where she is. You heard his grave tone through the phone, but all of you were confused when his voice suddenly became calm after hearing yours and Max’s voices.
So now, you’re walking away from the cinema after watching the last show of Back to the Future for today.
You were on your way to the parking lot when you heard Steve’s voice from behind you.
“Y/n!”
You turned around, seeing him rush from the escalator.
“Hey, Steve.” You greeted, and the two girls beside you turned around as well.
“Hi. We just closed Scoops.” He chuckled nervously when he reached you.
You nodded. “Are you going home, then?”
He opened his mouth and closed it again, seemingly losing his words for almost a minute. When he continued, he sighed. “Yeah, but I actually want to… talk to you first.”
It sounded like a question if you were being honest, but you figured that it might be important.
“Oh, sure.” You said before turning around to face Max and El. “You wait for me at the parking lot.”
Max scoffed but beamed, eyeing you and Steve before pulling Eleven with her.
“Is everything alright?” You asked kindly.
He wanted to say ‘no,’ to admit that Robin told him that you heard his conversation with Dustin and he had been overthinking ever since. He was even more panicked when he remembered how quickly you took off, and he thought that he just ruined everything. But as he looks at your genuine confusion, he needs to know how you feel.
“Yeah, yeah, everything’s fine. I just want to ask you about…”
You nodded slightly, urging him to continue speaking.
“Well, uh, Robin told me that… you heard what Dustin and I said earlier. And I want to know what you think.” He blurted, eyes blinking rapidly.
You gulped, silently wishing that you could see Robin so you can give her a pinch for snitching on you. You tried to get away from the topic. “You know, I only heard the Russian part–”
“Y/n.” Steve interrupted you, raising his brows.
You sighed. “I don’t know, Steve. I don’t want to assume anything.”
“But you won’t be assuming anything because I do like you. A lot.” He spoke quickly. “You understood it right. But… I need to know how you feel about me. And it’s okay if you don’t like me back. We can just forget about this whole thi–”
“That won’t be necessary.” It was your turn to interrupt him, a huge grin plastered on your face. “Because I like you too.”
“You do?” Steve replied quietly, suddenly having the urge to slap himself to make sure that he wasn’t dreaming.
You nodded, still smiling.
“Cool, cool.” He whispered to himself before he smiled. “So, uh, that’s good. Great, actually. Do you mind if I… I don’t know, take you out?”
You chuckled at his nervous state, finding it adorable and unusual. “I’d love to. But I have to go and take El home before Hopper comes hunting for me.”
“Okay, I’ll call you later, then.” He said, suddenly bouncing on his toes from happiness.
“I’ll be waiting. Bye, Steve.” You waved at him, feeling your insides burst from joy and excitement.
Steve watched your disappearing form, cheering to himself when he saw you walk past the door.
By the time you reach the parking lot, Max and El are mumbling to themselves. Your footsteps caught their attention, and they grabbed each of your arms.
“What did he say?”
“What happened?”
You laughed at the girls, smiling softly when you led them inside your car. “I’ll tell you everything on the way.”
“You better. But I think I already know, your smile is creepy.” Max said, eyes squinting. You shook your head and rolled your eyes.
“Let’s go. I have a phone call to catch.”
#steve harrington x reader#steve harrington#stranger things#stranger things season 3#steve harrington imagines#steve harrington fic#steve harrington one shot#steve harrington fluff#stranger things fic#steve harrington fanfiction#steve harrington season 3#steve harrington x y/n
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MDZS Audio Drama Listening Guide
AKA Lace has listened to the Audio Drama an unholy amount of times and might as well put her knowledge to good use
(Suibian Subs) (NanaBeingNana) (Episode Guide by pumpkinpaix) (Purchasing guide for iOS)
NOTE: This is my own, personal opinion on what’s the preferable order to watch the MDZS Audio Drama extras.
The AD is by far the most accurate adaptation we have, and not only it follows the novel 1:1, it adds quite a lot of content that had only been left implied or left off-screen in the original text. However, there are also some events that do happen in the novel, but had to be put aside in an extra episode, either because of time restraints or for the sake of pacing. So, I’ve tried to set up this list to compensate it! The order is either based on at which point we learn such events in the novel, or if this event isn’t in the text, then it’s based on what I believe the best time to listen to the extra would be.
If you feel overwhelmed by the amount of extras and don’t know where to start, hold my hand and i’ll show you the way (*•̀ᴗ•́*)و
(The letters with an * after some episodes names refer to Gacha Episode tiers, collected by SuibianSubs. I’ve just put it there so you can more easily find it on the folders.)
Season 1
Episode 1
Chance Encounter (N*)
Episode 2
Episode 3
No
Episode 4
Escape
Make-up (link)
Good Fortune (SSR*)
Sleeping Together
Episode 5
Instant Success (SR*)
Autumn Wind and Dewdrops (R*)
Female Cultivators
Beard
Paper Balls
Invinting Friends (SSR*)
Fear of Dogs
Cultivation Through Meditation (R*)
Episode 6
Loquat
Ants
Taking Responsibility for One’s Actions (R*)
Deciding When It's Time (R*)
Better to Not Make Enemies (N*)
Longing to Speak Yet Unable to (R*)
Keeping Rabbits
Episode 7
Eating Watermelon
Simple Mindedness (N*)
Episode 8
Startled and Shocked (N*)
Gifting a Dog
Be Adaptable to Circumstances (R*)
Episode 9
Lamentations Over Injustice (N*)
Episode 10
Director
Overwhelmed by an Unexpected Favour (SR*)
Episode 11
Combined Efforts (R*)
Glutinous Rice
Episode 12
Preach To Impart Knowledge (R*)
Season 2
Episode 1
Caught Unaware (N*)
Things Remain but People Change (N*)
Articulate (R*)
Episode 2
Parting Ways (N*)
Episode 3
Episode 4
Flower Damsel
To Gain a Sharp Edge (R*)
First Meeting with Wen Ning
Episode 5
The Game of Life (R*)
The Adventures of Paperman Xian
Episode 6
Washing Clothes
Completely Incompatible (R*)
Episode 7
Flower Banquet
Episode 8
Carefree (R*)
Powerless (N*)
Episode 9
Lotus Seeds
Episode 10
Happy to Help Others (SR*)
Founder Story
Episode 11
Dulcet Melody (R*)
Lap Pillow
Episode 12
Yunmeng Youths
Episode 13
Episode 14
Episode 15
Wavering Heart (R*)
Episode 16
Childhood
Cutting Melon
Season 3
Episode 1
Filled with Noble Aspirations and Courage
Delivering Soup
Duplicity (N*)
Episode 2
Tossing Flowers
Drunk
Episode 3
Episode 4
Episode 5
Planting Radishes
Simple and Naive (R*)
Take Root (R*)
Episode 6
Helping Others (R*)
Mending a Relationship (SR*)
Love Letter
Daydream (R*)
Episode 7
Episode 8
Episode 9
A-Yuan and Rabbits
Episode 10
Episode 11
Episode 12
A Lost Desire (N*)
Episode 13
Episode 14
Episode 15
Episode 16
Episode 17
Novel Extras
Family Banquet
Into the dream 1, 2 and 3
Villainous Friends
Lose Money to Do Away with Misfortune (N*)
Leaving a Mark (R*)
From Dawn to Dusk
Intrusion
Iron Hook
Lotus Seed Pod
Dream Come True
Miscellaneous Extras
These are extras that don’t particularly fit into the list, or would feel disruptive and awkward when placed somewhere there, so i’ve decided to set them in a different list. You may watch them after you’re finished with the other episodes, in whatever order you wish!
Bogao Gifting a Swan (SR*)
Out with the Old In with the New (SSR*)
Respect Between Spouses (SR*)
Matchmaking
Harmonious as the Lute and Psaltery (SSR*)
Following Heart's Desire (R*)
Flying Thoughts (SR*)
Always Remain Smiling (R*)
Accompanying You to Sleep: Lan Qiren
Accompanying You to Sleep: Wei Wuxian
Accompanying You to Sleep: Lan Wangji
Sound Asleep (SR*) - (The JC version of the ones above)
Chilli Pepper (N*)
Disputes From Gossips (N*)
Oof! I think that’s it! Thank you for your patience haha, and I hope you enjoy the Audio Drama as much as I do! Remember to please purchase it on the official app if you’re able!
#mdzs#mdzs audio drama#魔道祖师#mo dao zu shi#IT'S DONEEEEE#i absolutely set some of these to be in the most emotionally devastating place possible (while still being accurate)#PLSSSS EVERYONE LISTEN TO THE AUDIO DRAMA. JOIN ME IN MY BRAINWORMS#modao#lace speaks
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Abusers can often tell, that what gives them the power over another person is just them owning a piece of property, a house, financial and economic hold over this person. They know that the only thing that enables them to control a victim, to punish them and keep them unable to escape, is that the victim has no other house to go to, no other source of income, no other survival resources.
So they’re not going to sit still and watch as the victim attempts to gain friends, a job, resources, piece of property. They’re going to do all in their power to sabotage it, stop it, or have it work in their favour.
For example, if the victim is acquiring friends (whose houses could be later used as a refuge), the abuser will attempt to sabotage or break it, either by monopolizing the victim’s time, giving them chores and jobs and time-consuming activities they have to do, away from friends. Or by telling the victim, that they’re universally unlikable, that their friends are not real friends, that they’re secretly judging and consider the victim a burden in their life. They might also go the route of suddenly needing the victim’s all time, being jealous, sick, feeble, needy, anything to stop the victim from reaching out and forming connections with the world.
If it’s about the money, the abuser will either find a way to claim a part, or all of the victim’s new income, or they will try to get the victim to spend it, by withdrawing the money the victim would usually get for necessities. They might sabotage the job by causing new trauma which will keep the victim incapable of work, they might steal the money, break something so the victim would have to replace it, or, they will try to talk the victim into putting the money in a place where they won’t have access to it, like in a joint account, savings account, a gamble, an investment. They will make it sound like a smart thing to do; then, the victim can’t go anywhere as their money is out of reach. And once the money is within reach, the abuser will find a new joint venture for them to spend it on, so then again, the victim would end up spending the money on increasing the abuser’s property, rather than for buying their own. The abuser will convince the victim that doing otherwise, would be very stupid.
In order to escape the sabotaging abuser, the victim has to somehow organize savings, a new place to go, new social connections, new experience and income, practically overnight, or completely in secret. This is why it often feels hard or impossible, it’s not a matter of taking your stuff and physically getting out, they make sure you have nowhere to go. They make sure you’re either unaware, or too ashamed to go to a shelter, that you’re looking at homelessness if you turn your back on them, because they made sure you have no income, no access to resources or social connections.
And I’m not saying that the escape is impossible because I did it, and others have too; it might take years, it might take risks and secrecy and fighting with the abuser over and over again for the right to privacy, for the right to keep your own money somewhere they can’t reach it, sometimes it takes enduring violence, putting your life on the risk only for the escape. I’m saying you’re not guilty for having a hard time with it. It’s not happening because you’re incapable, or lazy, or don’t know how to get anywhere in life. It’s not because you’re bad at getting friends, or a job, or income. It’s not because of you. The abuser is actively standing in your way at the every step of it. But they won’t be able to do that forever. Nobody can keep another human being where they don’t want to be, forever.
#escape abuse#financial abuse#economic abuse#using property ownership to keep victims trapped#psychological abuse#victim shaming#victim blaming#sabotage of social life#sabotage of income
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