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#but then they simply reply with saying thats not how cats should be raised and how annoying theyd be if they stayed at home 24/7
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overly-b · 4 years
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Say It Again - JJ Maybank
In which JJ questions if he is deserving of you and your love. 
Warnings: swearing, sad JJ, fluff, awful editing don’t come for me
Word Count: 3.5k(whoops) 
Author's note: this is my first time writing in so long, be gentle with me friends. I know that a lot of people have done similar prompts of JJ feeling undeserving of love and the reader helps him through it, so this is a little bit unoriginal but, this is my take on it. 
Bold italics is a flash back. 
Thank you to @maybe-maybanks​ to the late night inspiration!
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As you, Kie and Pope approached the yard of the chateau, it became undeniably clear that JJ had gone off the rails with extravagant spending since you had seen him last. 
“What did you do JJ?” Pope questions the boy sitting in the hot tub. Looking at you through his sunglasses, he smirks. 
“I got a jet going straight in my butt right now” He ignores Pope. “Y’all, should get in here immediately, you hear me?” His sentence slurs slightly. “Salud!” He toasts his plastic champagne flute in the air, but opts to take a swig from the bottle in his other hand. 
JJ scans the faces of his three friends, eyes lingering at yours a moment longer than Kie and Popes. 
You see, just days ago, after getting arrested, then beaten by his father, JJ found you, and poured his heart out, to find that you shared his feelings, and the two of you started seeing each other in secret. 
Being that it was a secret, the two of you had yet to put any kind of label on it, but you loved that blonde boy to the ends of the earth, despite what had happened earlier that day. 
“You know what, that's exactly what I’m gonna do. Go off, by myself.”  
You watched as JJ began walking away. Pope attempted to stop him, but Sarah and John B had halted his efforts. You stood silently fuming at the actions of the boy you had such strong feelings for. How could he be doing something like this? This wasn’t the JJ you knew, had been friends with for years, and were now in love with. Though if you were being honest with yourself, you had loved him for years prior. 
“JJ!” You seethed, shaking off John B’s attempts to hold you back from running after him. He was already a good distance away from the group, he probably couldn’t even hear you yelling, so you started speed walking. It soon became apparent that he was simply ignoring you. 
“JJ!” You were merely twenty feet from him, screaming at his back. “JJ stop!” His strides continued. 
“You were real quiet back there princess, finally decide to comment?” You stepped in front of him, shoving his shoulders to force his walk to a stop. “What the fuck Y/N!” 
“What the fuck me? What the fuck you! What has gotten into you right now JJ what are you doing?” 
“Nothing has gotten into me Y/N I’m simply paying back what I owe.” He states, trying to walk past you. 
“By stealing the money from the drug dealer that just jumped us?” Your brows raise as you interrogate him. 
“He jumped us, he has this coming.” He nonchalantly shrugs his shoulders, succeeding in getting past you, as you stand shocked by his words. 
“JJ you and I both know that you’re not that goddamned stupid.” His steps slow, he stands still. “Stealing money from a drug dealer? JJ I know that you owe money because of Pope but this isn’t right! You’re better than this-” 
“Am I?” He turns on his heels to face you again, this time squaring his shoulders to be purposeful in standing tall over you. Him standing over you made you feel small in comparison to the raging blond. “Am I better than this?” He repeats his question. 
“JJ what are you-” 
“Because I’m starting to think that you, and your high standards, and your perfect life, only think that I am better than this because you want me to be better than this.” 
You knew what he was referring to. You were by no means a kook, but your family was financially stable enough to afford a nice house, you had your own car, and if you wanted, you could afford to go to college on the mainland. Your life was unlike most lives on the cut, but JJ knew that your life was far from perfect. 
“What the hell-” 
“And that if we’re gonna be together,  you need me to be better than this so that I can fit in with your life.” You had no idea what he meant. Your life was on the cut, with the Pouges, with him, and the difference of financial well beings of your familys never changed that before, so why was it now? 
“What the fuck JJ stop-” 
“Well you know what Y/N! I’m not better than this, this is who I am! I get into fights, I steal, I have a criminal record, when I get hit, I hit back this is who I am!” 
“We both know that stealing twenty five thousand dollars from a drug dealer is never going to make anything better.” You attempt to reason with him. “This isn’t hitting back this is loading the gun that's already in your face!” 
“Y/N I have to!” He spits. “I know you could never understand being in so much debt but this is my only option.” His words hit you like a punch to the stomach. He looks down to his boots before continuing. “So I’m sorry that I’m not what you pictured as a boyfriend, but this is what I do Y/N. Maybe you trying to fight it means you deserve better than me.” 
And just like that, it was clear that he was more mad with himself then he was with you. However, everything that he said was uncalled for, and nasty, and he had no right. You watch as he storms away, even more tense than before, and you couldn’t help but wonder how this affects your newfound relationship. You blink away the water from your eyes, and do your best to compose yourself as you slowly wander back to your friends. 
“How much did this cost?” Pope asks. Your head was spinning as he listed all of the things that he had purchased since he left you standing in the woods. 
“Uh, well. With the generator, the petrol, and, oh, hey, express delivery,” You knew the answer before he even had time to speak. “Pretty much all of it, yeah.” 
“All of it?” Pope exclaims. 
“Oh my god” You whisper, mostly to yourself, rubbing your forehead with your palm. 
“Yeah all of it.” 
“You spent all the money in one day?” “Yeah burned a hole right through my pocket.” He confidently explains. “But, I mean like come on guys, look at this!”  The tone in his voice told you that he was holding back, it was alway his biggest tell when he would hold back his feelings. “Finest in jet based massage therapy, that's what they told me.” 
The three of you are left speechless. 
“Kie what? Can’t a man have a little luxury in life?” JJ still could not bring himself to look you in the eyes for more than a moment. “Come on, all this scrimping’ and scraping’” you notice his voice falter again. “I mean like, guys, we, you only live once. Right?” JJ finally locks eyes with you, and he reacts spastically, your dreaded look having the gravest effect on him.  
“Y/N, stop, why are you looking at me like that?” He knew full well, but he was trying too hard not to show it. “I know that you’re mad about earlier okay, but, everything is fine now!” His voice was louder now, concealing the breakdown you knew was coming, sooner or later, here with the three of you or somewhere else. “Enough of this emotional shit. Get in the Cat’s Ass come on.” He smiles, waving you to join him. 
“The what?” Kie furrows her brows. 
“The Cat’s Ass.” JJ smugly replies, proud of himself. “That's what I named her. Oh hey yo, I almost forgot,” JJ leans forward, pressing a button that makes water spray across the tub, and even more colorful lights flash in front of him. “Huh! Yeah that's right, disco mode, thats right baby!” His eyes scan yours, noticing that they were clouding with tears. He quickly looks away from you, not wanting to see the damage that he had done, and was still doing. 
“JJ,” Your voice is low and hushed as you blink back tears. 
“Are you kidding me?” Popes harsh voice overpowers yours, cutting off you and your tears. “You could have paid for restitution!” 
“Or literally given it to any charity” Kie fumes at the sight before her. 
“Guys,” You mutter, wanting them to stop being so hard on the broken boy you secretly called yours. You were mad too, if not more than Pope and Kie due to your argument. However, you could see straight through the smug grins and happy fasad that JJ was trying to project. He was hurting, and you knew it wasn’t just about the fight the two of you shared. 
“Or better yet, you could have helped us buy supplies to get the rest of the gold out of the well!” 
“Guys!” You spoke up louder this time, only to be cut off by JJ. 
“Okay well you know I didn’t do that!” As JJ’s swimsuit clad body surfaces from the hot water, you are confronted with what you knew would be there, and the tears pour from your eyes. “I got a hot tub!” JJ shakes in what appears to be anger, but you know it isn't anger he's reeling from. “For my friends,” 
Kie and Pope gape at JJ’s bruised abdomen and instantly connect the dots as to who is responsible. 
“I bought a hot tub for my friends.” He repeats. “You know what, no, you know what, screw friends. I got a hot tub for my family.” 
“JJ what the hell-” Kie gasps.
“I got this for you! Guys look what I did for you! Alright?” JJ spins and gestures to everything he bought. “Look at this!” When he turns back, he finds that you were no longer holding back the tears your eyes once held. 
“Y/N stop being emotional don’t, don’t cry okay? I know that I hurt you before,” His voice fails him as he recalls the words that he said to you. “But I did this for you,” He hangs his head, he knows how bad he fucked up, and it was hitting him all at once that this was not the way that he needed to make things right. This was not the way back to you, and the high of his twenty five thousand dollar spending spree was dissapating at his realisation, and at the sight of you before him. 
“I mean, it’s sweet right?” JJ hadn't even realized that as he began talking, you had climbed into the hot tub. He looks into your eyes for a moment as you stand before him, and lets out a sob as you gently wrap your arms around him. His forehead falls to your shoulder, and  all of his pent up energy released in the form of tears and heaves. 
“I’m sorry. Baby I’m so sorry.” He whimpers to you, only for you to shush him tenderly. Kie and Pope share a confused glance at the nickname. “I couldn’t do it.” You rub his hair and hold him close as he convulses. “I can’t take it anymore!” JJ wails, your tears land on his shoulders, and his tears land on yours. “I was gonna kill him!” 
Kie is next to join you, jumping into the steaming water and embracing the both of you. Pope follows. 
“I just want to do the right thing.” 
“Shh, JJ, I know. I know” You coo him, trying to calm his weeping. 
After minutes of holding him, Kie announces that she has to head home, and Pope offers to drive her. JJ rests in a nearly catatonic state in your arms, no doubt exhausted and knowing JJ, not ready to face the fact that he just broke down in front of his friends. 
The pair leaves bidding reassuring words to JJ, and a few more hugs. 
You are left in the hot tub, holding the blond boy as he clutches onto you. He wasn’t crying anymore, but his breaths were rapid and heavy as he was shaken, the events of the day had caught up to him in the form of you and your tears. He begins to spew soft “I’m sorry”s and other apologises, but his panic makes him stutter and his sentences start to lack direction. 
You shush him and direct the boy to listen to your heartbeat, trying your best to bring his shattered thoughts back to earth. 
“JJ, we should get out of the hottub.” You tell him, to which he simply sniffles and nods, unsure of how to speak to you after the horrible things he said to you, and his inability to form a proper apology. He knew that you were nothing like he had depicted, yet he said what he said, and there was no taking it back. 
His skin was red from the overheated water, and it itched with chlorine, so as the two of you entered the chateau, you started the shower. 
“You should rinse off the chlorine.” You told him, not sure of how to speak to him either. He followed your order and stripped of his bathing suit. You were able to track down clothes for him to sleep in, and as you waltzed back into the bathroom, you decided you couldn’t leave him alone in the shower.  
Taking off your soaked clothes quickly, you slip into the shower to find JJ standing still under the water. You snake your arms around his torso, careful of the bruises pressing your chest to his back. His hands find yours he holds them tight. You place a kiss on his spine, then rest your head where your lips touched. 
“I’m so sorry” He croaked, his voice was tired, worn out from the day. 
“JJ-” 
“No stop Y/N” He turns around to face you, grabbing your face in his hands. “I’m sorry. I should have never said any of those things about you, none of them were true, it's just that, its,” He stumbles on his words. You rub his back to ground him again, he takes a deep breath. “It's just that you do deserve better than me.” 
“JJ please-” He doesn’t let you continue. 
“No you do, Y/N you do. You deserve so much better than me, than this life, than what I can give you. You don’t deserve some, broken kid that's never getting off the cut, you don’t deserve, to, have to watch as I steal money from drug dealers, you don’t deserve any of the shit that I know that I put you through you just, you deserve better, better than someone who doesn’t come close to deserving you.” 
The tears streaming down both of your faces mix with the water coming from the shower and you have no idea how to make his saddening speech stop. 
“JJ” You sob, he pauses. “You deserve so much more, than what your life has given you. You deserve to be happy, you deserve to be loved JJ, you deserve everything that you want, why can’t you see that?” 
And instantly you feel stupid for asking. JJ’s eyes wander and find the bruises littering his body, answering your question. You stifle another sob as your eyes graze his battered skin. 
“Listen to me.” You demand his attention. “You are not worthless.” His eyes divert from yours as he realises what you’re referring to. “JJ look at me,” After a moment or two, his gaze wearily finds yours. “You are not worthless, you are worthy of love, and affection, and someone who takes care of you, and not only are you worthy but you deserve it too. Do you hear me?” 
JJ swallows thickly, nodding in acceptance of your beautiful words. He embraces you tightly, having no words of his own. No one had ever made him feel like this. No one had ever made him feel worthy of the good that was before him. 
He was hesitant to think that he deserved you. To him, no one was good enough to actually deserve you, especially not him. However your speech made him open to the idea that maybe he was at least worthy of your love. 
Your love. 
You both realised in the same moment that the word was shared between you. You had never shared the faithful declaration of love to each other since you had been together romantically, and yet now you had mentioned love twice in the span of thirty seconds. JJ smiled as he held you. You loved him, and this was one of the ways that you showed it. 
“Let's get the chlorine out of your hair J.” 
He let you massage his scalp with the shampoo that he's seen you use before to get pool chemicals out of your hair. He didn’t really know what it did or how it was different from other shampoos but, it smelled like you and he loved getting his head rubbed. His breathing was still shaky, but he finally felt some of his anxiety from the day wearing off. Fighting with you was something he never wanted to do again. Fighting with his dad was something he knew he would have to do the next time he went home. He elected to ignore those thoughts, as your fingers worked magic on his hair, seemingly drawing all of the negative ideas out of his head along with the chlorine. 
As JJ rinsed his hair of soap, he noticed you reaching for the bottle again, no doubt to wash your own hair. He holds out his hand, wordlessly asking if he could wash your hair for you, like you had done for him. This makes you grin as you hand him the bottle. JJ then realises that he doesn’t really know how to do what you did for him. That kind of small, soft, intimate touching was foreign to him. 
He squeezes way too much shampoo into his hand, but you pay that no mind. He starts slow, trying to remember the way your fingers moved on his scalp, but in the end knowing that he just wasn’t good at giving head massages. 
“I used way too much.” He states, watching as suds continue to produce from your locks.  
“It’s okay.” You hum watching the bubbles disappear down the drain. “I set out clothes for you when you’re ready, I’m probably gonna be another minute” You tell him, referring to the other bottles you had in the shower that you still had to use. 
“Okay, thank you” He kisses you as he exits the shower. You finish up quickly, wanting to be next to him, and hoping that his thoughts as he sits alone don’t carry him away like they had before. 
You find that he left his tee shirt for you, like he had on nights before. You wear the shirt that smelled of him along with a pair of comfortable running shorts and head to the spare bedroom of the chateau that JJ called his most nights. 
You spot JJ sitting at the edge of the bed, waiting for you. You slowly and carefully climb onto his lap, straddling him and holding his head close to your chest. You notice anxiety still radiating off of him. 
“Hey,” You start softly. “It’s okay, everythings okay-” 
“I love you” He states bluntly as he picks up his head from your chest. 
“What?” You stumble, surprised at his outburst. 
“I love you, and I want to be with you, like, publically, or whatever. I wanna tell the Pouges and-” before he starts rambling, you stop him. 
“I love you too JJ.” This pauses him. 
“Say it again.” 
You giggle, but inhale, knowing that he needs to hear it. 
“JJ.” You start. “I love you.” 
He lets out a breath you didn’t realize he was holding, eyes watering for the millionth time. 
“I still don’t think that I deserve this.” He admits, looking into your eyes with his crystal clear blue ones. 
“You do.” You push his hair back from his face. “And I’ll spend the rest of my life showing you that you do.” 
He was hesitant to accept everything that you had said to him that day, but he never doubted that you would give him your all. This was all he needed to know before he allowed himself fully over to you, kissing you with more desperation and love than ever before. 
“I love you so much.” You muttered into his lips, and from that day on, you would say it again and again, as many times as he needed to hear it. A constant reminder to him that he was deserving and worthy of good, of love, and of you.
Taglist:  @maybe-maybanks​  @myrandom-fandomlife​
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taechaos · 3 years
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Idea series oc sneaking Tae in the house after he had big fight with his father about something (your choice if it's smutty or fluff or angsty) with a peek of a vurberable Tae? Honestly i think he would change the topic as soon as he started it and prob with sex.
Anyway I'm really interest in their family dynamic since I remember don't know if it was in part one or two that you mention they have really religious parents? And seeing how harsh their dad is with Taehyung it have me wondering how is his relationship with the mother and ocs with both parents, despite everything the seem really distant from their kids, maybe thats why Tae and YN find comfort in each other. OC is the first real bond Tae made with someone so maybe that's the reason of his fear of being replaced and his obsession with her, and ocs mother probably don't pay that much attention to her so that's why even after the incident she still want him to be there. At this point I'm just rambling I'm sorry. And this ask is all over the place, started with a request and ended questioning characters life 💀💀. Sorry hehe.
when i read this yesterday i was literally blown away by this like hOLY shit your analysis is so in-depth at first i was like damn do my characters have more than oNE DIMENSION?? WHICH IS RLY FLATTERING BUT I THINK ITS JUST UR WORDS THAT MADE ME SOUND SMART 💀💀💀 the ending is chef's kiss tho made me bust a lung SHFJJD thank you so much for taking the time to write this its honestly so fucking amazing. hopefully u can see more of their family dynamic in this drabble :)
Rays of sunlight slither through the cracks in the blinds of the living room, allowing Taehyung's father enough light to scan the newspaper he holds in his hand, with the musical, happy chirping of mockingbirds filling in the silence. All of these beautiful signs of nature and peaceful rotation of the earth makes Taehyung tense up even more.
The moment he got back home from buying drugs, his father greeted him in monotone with a, "would you sit with me for a moment?" and he hasn't spoken since. The zipperbag in his pocket crinkles every time he shifts in his seat, making him cringe momentarily before he starts nervously fidgeting again.
This is so awkward and yet equivalent to hearing: we need to talk. God, why is he so silent?
Clearing his throat, Taehyung stands just as his father flips a page with a lick of his thumb. "I'm going to my room really quick."
"No."
"Oh." When will his step-mother return? She's his only hope as he sits down while avoiding looking at his father, whose gaze is set on the black and white printed pages.
It's only a minute later when he talks without diverting his gaze.
"Your sister is in her room, researching her major to get a headstart on a typical syllabus."
"Smart," he comments with disinterest and nibbles on his upper lip.
"Taehyung, how was your attendance in college?" he folds the newspaper and curiously peeks at his son, who is doing a poor job at hiding his nerves.
"It was alright–"
"Lying is a sin, son," his movements are aristocratic when he leans his chin on his fist. "Don't lie."
"I'm not," he stammers and his eyes flicker, "it was bad at the beginning of the year, but I fixed it."
His father pinches the bridge of nose where his frames lie. "I love your sister, Taehyung," he sighs and takes off his glasses, "I want her to do well. I've given up on you, but her? She can accomplish great things if you're not there to influence her. You're a bad influence. Are you following me?"
Taehyung nods dumbly with a racing heart before registering his words and shaking his head. "What?" he blurts. "I used to help her with her homework all the time–"
"You were home once every month."
"Just because you didn't see me doesn't mean I didn't see her," he coldly says. That's not entirely accurate, but it is true that he saw you more than he saw his parents before he started living here again. For you.
His father is taken aback, offended as he scoffs, "You avoided me and your mother, and yet have the face to stay in our home?" He stands up and passes the coffee table that was Taehyung's only barrier to hover over him with distance. "I expected so much more from you, but you can't even do the bare minimum. An adult without a stable job, respectable girlfriend, and embarrassing grades. I'm ashamed to have raised such a boy, for I can't even call you a man."
Taehyung abruptly stands but he continues, "If you can't even pay rent, go back to that landfill you came from."
"I have to pay rent to live with my family?" He's livid and his hands shake by his sides; they're taking you away from him because what? He isn't the son they wanted him to be?
"You've made it clear that the only thing keeping you here is my daughter," he blindly points at the closed door of your room, "and you will have to try much harder to see her again. Get your life together, and you can come back."
Taehyung's face is heated with anger from the injustice. "What the fuck?! This is such bullshit; you're kicking me out?"
His father frowns at his language, growling, "Taehyung! I will not let you drag her down that path with you. When you stop destroying everything you touch, I'll gladly let you live here."
Destroy? He hasn't done any harm to anyone—especially not you. He knows he's self-destructive, but it doesn't extend to his environment. If he fails, it's his failure, but his father takes it personally instead of encouraging him to do better.
The importance of reputation and success in this family enrages him; he's aware that he's not much of an affectionate person either, but a little love wouldn't hurt to witness in the household.
Instead of defending himself or speaking his mind, he obliges bitterly.
"You need to get laid," are his last words before he slams the door and opens the zipper bag to pop a pill. Ecstasy isn't so fun when you're not around, but he can use the distraction. It's been a bad day.
He flips off a stray cat idling around the garden before casually leaving the property.
—————
Studying isn't fun for you, never has been, never will be. Though you hate every second of it, it does give you something to do to make time pass faster. You've been tutoring yourself about things you'll learn sooner or later anyway, but you guess it doesn't hurt to have to study less when the time comes.
You check the time. It's approaching night at 9 PM, and your father wouldn't protest against a break now, hopefully. He only suggested that you should start studying, but you know what his suggestions really mean.
Do it, or get shamed into doing it with subtle glances.
As if that isn't enough, he constantly checked up on you throughout the day. He wasn't exactly giving you a choice, which irks you.
But that's done and over with, and there's a more pressing matter at hand: where is Taehyung? You heard bits and pieces of the argument, but you couldn't get the whole scoop. You worry he's going to go back to his old habits of never being here, rarely seeing you. He would've been hanging out with you six hours ago out of routine... It can't just be you being clingy. Something happened.
You: are you coming home tonight?
The response takes a few minutes.
taehyung: nop
taehyung: but i am coming to ur room
taehyung: cuz ik u cant sleep without me 😖
You: actually the opposite but ok lol
You: when are you coming
taehyung: whenever u want uwu
You: uwu...?
You: just come before it gets too late
—————
So that was a lie. It's 1 AM and still no word from Taehyung. Okay, maybe you're just being clingy now, but it's unlike him not to be clingy. Maybe he wanted to cool off for a long time after his tak with your step-dad, or simply wanted to hang out with his friends after spending all of his time with you.
That makes sense. What doesn't is the slide of your window and shuffling of your curtains. You instantly sit up in your bed and clutch your blanket closer. You watch a silhouette enter your room as you pick up your limp, your tense muscles relaxing only when you recognize the intruder. You put down the lamp with a click of your tongue, ignoring the relief in your pounding heart.
"Hey," he stupidly grins at you. He looks disheveled, clothes untucked and wrinkled, and from the little light you have, you can see his redshot eyes.
"There's also the door," you remark sassily. "Are you um... high?"
He shrugs and crawls in your bed, dismissive as usual. You both make an effort to keep your voices quiet.
"I talked to mom earlier," you ease into the discussion until he butts in.
"That's great."
You roll your eyes and prop an elbow to look down at him. His head lies on his hands while staring at you, mood strangely upbeat. He's definitely high.
"She was a little sad about something, and I know it involves you. I heard you talking to–" You're interrupted with a lingering peck, a little rough in its force but not unwelcomed.
"I've missed kissing you. Shouldn't you be asleep, by the way?"
Recovering from the unexpected attack, you reply, "It's not that late. I don't have to wake up early."
"You shouldn't ruin your sleep schedule," he tucks a hair strand behind your ear without taking his eyes off of you. "Staying up is hard to stop once you start."
"Yeah, you're a great example," you joke with a quiet giggle. Whispering with him feels intimate in a heart fluttering way. His heart pangs with a feeling he can't put a finger on. "You didn't answer my question."
"Hm?"
"Don't play dumb, I'm really curious. What happened with dad?"
"A lot of things happen with dad," he shrugs, "sometimes we play catch–"
"Taehyung," you give him a pointed look, and he giggles.
"You're right, he'd never play catch with me." He groans as he stretches in your bed before trapping you with his arms on either side of you in one motion. You don't know what he's trying to do, but you watch him above you in amusement. "No offence, but when is your mom not sad when my dad is around?" he laughs with a huff.
"That's rude, Tae," you remark seriously, "she's happy when you're around."
Taehyung's smile falters like yours, his happy guise crumbling when he says, "Are you?"
"Pfft," you roll your eyes, "What do you think? I was up waiting for you."
Ah. That's not a very good influence.
"I'm here now," he whispers, "go to sleep. It's okay, I won't do anything, I know you worked hard today."
You agree with a yawn and nod. But even in your sleepy state, you can read the room—Taehyung is especially attentive of his tone and volume aside from being so tense. "Are you alright?"
"I'm in and on ecstasy," he falls back on his former spot, "I can't not be alright."
"Taehyung, I haven't seen you all day–"
"Yeah, because I didn't want to be here," he looks at you dead in the eye, "and I don't want you to be here."
You blink rapidly, slightly shaking your head in confusion, "What are you saying?"
"Move in with me."
He's met with cold silence, so he persuades persistently, "Don't you want to get away from here? You'll have so much more freedom with me, and I can help you with your assignments and everything. It'll be perfect."
"I— do you... Where?" Taehyung is high and he doesn't know what he's saying is what you believe because this is so out of the blue, so irrational, but he describes it like it's utopia; you are not completely against the idea.
"I have enough money from drug dealing to rent an apartment, and you can tell dad that you want to move out to be like an adult or whatever, that you have a stable job, without mentioning me," he rambles, and his dilated pupils are more noticeable up close; it slightly puts you off.
"Wh-what about mom?"
He scoffs, "If she wants out, she can get her second divorce. Don't worry about them; after all, they're apparently the only real adults here," he relates back to not being worthy of being called a man. You shift away from him little by little. "Just trust me."
The phrase is triggering for you, a reminder of the time you were tricked into trusting him moments before your trauma. "We'll talk about this when you're sober," you meekly say, avoiding eye contact.
A wicked smile grows on his face, "I can't wait, princess."
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taleasnewastime · 4 years
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Bruce and Pascal
Jimin x reader genre: fluff word count: 800
a/n: This is kind of linked to the story cats that I wrote a bit ago. You don’t need to read it to understand this story but if you want to you can find it here. Just a random little story about Jimin and his cats. Hope you enjoy!
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“Do you find it weird that cats lick themselves clean?” Your eyes were trained straight ahead on your cat Pascal who was licking himself, so you didn’t notice Jimin turn to look at you, confusion all over his face. “Like does that actually make them clean? If I was to lick myself I think I’d become dirtier not cleaner.”
“What are you on about?” Jimin laughed.
“I just was thinking how surely even when we were cave men, and even before that, surely we still bathed in water. Surely we would have gone to the river or a pond and used that to clean ourselves rather than licked ourselves, so why do cats lick themselves?” You turn to look at Jimin and saw the wide smile on his face, teeth fully displayed.  
“But cats aren’t humans? They can’t pick up a sponge and give themselves a good scrub,” the smile was still wide on his face, fondness in his eyes.  
“But people bathe their dogs? Why don’t we put cats under a shower?”  
“I’m sure some crazy people do.”
“There you go, ‘crazy’,” you say the word motioning the quotation marks with your hands. “What makes them crazy and someone who doesn’t bathe their cat normal?”  
“Y/N, I’m not going to pretend to be an expert on this matter, but surely there are loads of animals that don’t go to water to clean themselves?” He tried to reason, though he was not sure why he was entertaining the conversation.  
“Sure, it’s just a weird thought isn’t it?” You stare turns back to the empty space in front of you. Mind wondering round all the bizarre and nonsensical thoughts that appeared there.  
“I guess so?” His reply comes out high pitched and unsure. “To be honest, I’ve never really given it much consideration. I guess they have something in their saliva that makes it worthwhile?”  
“And the fact that cats clean each other too,” you carry on. “Like Pascal cleans Bruce all the time.”
“Thats probably because Bruce is so big he struggles to clean himself. He needs the helping hand,” you both laugh at his words, Bruce was a big cat and probably couldn’t reach all the places on his body by himself.  
“Poor Bruce,” you say, though there is a big smile on your face.  
“I do keep saying we should put him on a diet,” Jimin says.  
“And I keep saying go for it if you want to be killed in your sleep,” you laugh at the ongoing joke the two of you held.  
“As disgusting as they are, they are incredibly cute,” Jimin changes the direction of conversation suddenly. “Whenever I see them I just want to squeeze them I love them so much.”  
“Apparently that’s because the same part of your brain that thinks things are cute is also used for anger,” you say.
“How do you know all these things?” He laughs at you. “You remind me of Yoongi with all these useless facts.”
“Is that why you love me so much? Because I remind you of Yoongi?” You laugh as he simply rolls his eyes.  
“They’re probably all incorrect facts, his normally are,” he says.  
“Whatever, you’re still bitter we kicked your ass in that quiz last month,” you tease him. You had regular game nights with Jimin, his bandmates and their partners and the last one happened to be a quiz where you and Yoongi teamed up and got the highest score.  
“God, still gloating about that? Just because I was with Hoseok and had to carry our team,” he rolls his eyes, blaming his team mate as usual, nothing was ever his fault. “Anyway, where is Bruce?” Jimin changes the topic of conversation again.  
“Probably sleeping on the bed,” you say.  
“Cleaning himself?” He raises his eyebrows showing he is joking, referring to your earlier conversation.  
“Maybe we should send Pascal up to help him,” you laugh, joking with him.  
“He’d probably love that,” Jimin says, eyes going over to the cat lay on the floor who was still cleaning himself. “We do have the cutest cats,” he says fondly.  
“They are pretty adorable,” you say, eyes also travelling to the cat.
“Come here,” he says suddenly, arms encompass your waist pulling you so that you fall into Jimins side. His lips come down and kiss the side of your head. “They may be too small to squeeze, but you’re not,” he says into the side of your head as his arms tighten around your frame, causing a small yelp to leave your lips. “You are just too cute,” he laughs.  
“So are you,” you look into his eyes leaning in so that your lips can touch, before you wrap your arms around him and give him a squeeze, a laugh leaving his lips.  
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smegdwarf · 3 years
Text
But Who Could Love Me? (Rimmer x Reader) - Chapter 9
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A/N: 3 chapters in 3 days holy crapoly!
Warnings: This chapter does get a little tense (Rimmer has a breakdown) and I guess some implied smut 😏
Summary: Basically giving Rimmer the love he deserves :p
"What do you want me to do?" Rimmer shouted after you as he chased you down the corridor.
"Well for a start you need to tell Lister what you've done with Kochanski's disc?" You stood with your arms crossed.
"I can't tell him, he'll flush me out of an airlock" Rimmer  was full of panic about possibly losing you "What about you?"
"Don't worry about me, I understand why you did it but you need to tell him!" You spoke sternly as you walked off, turning back after a few steps "and until you do ...I'm off limits"
Despite telling him not to worry about you he quite clearly was, it also wasn't long before the others picked up on the tension between you two,  hoping that distancing yourself from him would make him act quicker.
"Morning!" You smiled as you walked into Starbug's cockpit, standing next to Rimmer's chair as he looked at you a little upset that you weren't being your usual self, leaning against his chair.
"Krytes found a derelict on the scanner, thought we'd check it out before we head home" Lister smiled, clearly Rimmer hadn't told him yet.
"Sleep well?" Rimmer tried to spark conversation.
"Yeah fine thanks" You didn't even look at him as you sat down in Cat's seat, the feline must've already been on his second nap of the day, after all he has prepare for his main snooze.
"Is everyting ok ma'am?" Kryten asked as you turned to smile at him.
"Ooh trouble in paradise?" Lister smirked as Rimmer squirmed in his seat.
"No we're fine aren't we Arnie?" You smiled at Rimmer who was completely confused by your behaviour.
"Sure" He gave you a half hearted smile.
"Right bring her in Listy, I'll go wake up Cat" You patted Lister on the shoulder.
"Good luck!" Lister laughed.
"I don't need luck Listy!" You smirked as you left.
Before long you were all on the derelict, creeping quietly through the ship as the scanner in your hands lit up.
"Hmm theres life signs" You grumbled, Kryten peering over your shoulder to look at the scanner.
"Suggest we split into two groups" Kryten suggested "We're more of a target together"
"Kryten lets go!" Rimmer turned to leave as you shot your arm out in front of him.
"Krytes take Cat and Lister ...goalpost head is with me" You replied straight faced as the others walked off.
"I don't think the name calling was necessary?" Rimmer grumbled as you walked on.
It didn't take long for Rimmer to get frustrated with the silent treatment as you continued to walk round quietly, consistently monitoring the scanner in your hand.
"I know you're angry that I lied about Kochanski's disc and that you're off limits but you could at least talk to me" Rimmer finally broke the tension.
"You still haven't told him have you?" You asked not taking your eyes away from the scanner.
"I will tell him, but I want you to stop ignoring me" Rimmer replied as you stopped him at the end of the corridor buzzed.
"Can we talk about this later?" You whispered.
"Why can't we talk about it now?" He asked.
"Shh" You shushed him as you brought your finger to your lips.
"Y/N?" With a swift swing of your arm your hand was plastered over Rimmer's mouth.
"Take this and keep that" You whispered as pointed to his mouth and handed him the scanner "quiet!"
Your hand over his mouth was the only touch he had received from you since he confessed about the holo disc and while it wasn't exactly what he wanted ...it was still something and if it weren't for you holding a loaded bazookoid he would've had you against the wall with his lips firmly against yours. Those thoughts were knocked straight out of his mind by the sound of you firing the bazookoid although he was shocked to see the life form you had been tracking frozen in its tracks instead dead in a heap on the floor.
"How did you...? The bazookoids can't..." Rimmer couldn't quite finish a full sentence.
"I'm an engineer and we're 3 million years into deep space ...I get bored alright" You grumbled as you went over to the frozen creature "Niiice"
"I only asked" Rimmer muttered  "What is it?"
"Some sort of transforming mutant" You pondered over it, resisting the urge to poke and prod it. For all you knew it could be poisonous or toxic.
"Polymorph?" Rimmer asked.
"A polymorph transforms into to different objects to blend with its surroundings" You looked at the mutant curiously "This simply turns itself invisible"
"Well what does it do?" Rimmer was growing impatient.
"I think I know" You smiled "But I'll need to Kryten to confirm"
"Meanwhile we're going to stay here with this thing ...how long will it stay frozen for?" Rimmer was starting to panic at the thought of hanging around an unknown mutant.
"Hey Krytes we've found the life form, we're at the end of B deck" You spoke into your watch.
"On our way ma'am" Kryten's voice replied through the watch.
With the derelict not even being a quarter of the size of the dwarf it didn't take long for the other 3 to find you. Rimmer was sat on the floor, leaning against a wall with his legs stretched out sulking while you were completely fascinated by the creature you had frozen.
"Is that it?" Lister asked as he spotted that it was frozen "Have you been modifying things again?"
"So what if i have? shoot me" You smiled as Lister chuckled "What do you think Kryten?
Before Kryten could answer the frozen mutant broke free, transforming into a huge green skinny monster, spitting as it hissed at you all.
"It's a psy-mutant" Kryten could just about be heard over the screeching.
"What the hell is a psy-mutant?"  Lister shouted.
"Much like a psy-moon, a psy-mutant feeds of a persons pysche and transforms into their strongest negative emotion" Kryten explained.
"So who's it feeding of?" Rimmer asked as everyone locked and loaded their bazookoids.
"You  sir!" Kryten answered as everyone sighed and rolled their eyes ...of course it was.
"Arnie ...thats your jealousy!" You looked at Rimmer and you could've sworn that had he been alive and had a heart you would've seen it drop to the floor, he never meant for this, he knew his jealousy was a problem but he never meant for it to become everyone else's problem.
"What have you got to be jealous about?" Lister growled as Rimmer became paralysed by the fear and guilt of being confronted by his jealousy.
"Should we shoot?" Cat asked.
"The bazookoids won't touch it" You sighed "The only way to defeat this thing is if you let it out"
"Let it out?" Rimmer looked at you a little confused but mostly terrified.
"If you keep this all bottled up, that thing will keep munching on it and we wont stand a chance but if you just say whats on your mind, let everything out thats causing your jealousy it wont have anything to feed on and we can kill it" You explained "I know its difficult Arnie but its the only way"
"I c..can't" Rimmer stuttered, the both of you knew it wasn't just his jealousy it was feeding on, it was slurping up his guilt too.
"Rimmer you need to tell him now" You looked at him, your eyes glistening over as you knew that what was about to happen was going to torture him "You'll feel so much better Arnie I promise"
"I'm so sorry" Rimmer looked at you with so much guilt and sorrow in his eyes as tears fell down his cheek.
"Don't worry about me, its Lister you need to talk to" You had almost forgot about the others watching you "Tell him Arnie"
"Tell me what?" Lister grew concerned.
"I..I ...I flushed Kochanski's disc out of an airlock" Rimmer stuttered as he tried to swallow the lump in his throat, the jealousy monster letting out a loud screech as it took a hit.
"Ah ...this is awkward" Lister looked at the floor.
"What do you mean?" You asked as you anticipated his answer, he already knew and had already plotted his revenge unbeknown to anyone else.
"I already knew about that ...and in retaliation  ...I might have flushed your revision time tables" Lister replied as a small smile formed on Rimmer's face.
"I suppose thats fair" Rimmer sighed.
"Ok I'm glad thats all sorted but that green gooey thing is still here" Cat reminded them.
"I said everything why is it still here?" Rimmer asked.
"Because thats not everything is it Arnie?" You spoke softly "Maybe it would be easier if you three gave us a moment"
"Are you sure?" Lister asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Don't worry I'll kick its arse if I need too" You smiled as he nodded and lead the others away "Arnie you can do this"
"I don't want to think about it" Rimmer scrunched his eyes closed.
"Arnie you can do this" You spoke softly and calmly.
"No I can't" He shook his head as he fought back the tears.
"Yes you can" You smiled as you turned him away from the creature,  cupping his face in your hands "I know you can"
"Why are you with me?" Rimmer started to break down.
"Because I love you" You could feel the tears fighting to escape your own eyes.
"I'm out of my mind, I'm a jealous good for nothing waste of space" Rimmer sniffed as you let his forehead rest against yours "If I didn't have such a problem with getting the breaks, if I didn't get jealous every time someone else was happy, if I just shut myself away from the world maybe this wouldn't have happened, I'm not supposed to be happy, things aren't meant to go my way. I don't deserve anything"
"You know thats not true" You sobbed as you heart ached listening to Rimmer completely breakdown.
"Even my own parents didn't like me or my brothers" Rimmer kept his eyes shut tight.
"None of the way you're feeling right now is your fault Arnie" You kept your voice quiet so only he could hear you "It's not your fault you were treated so poorly, you do deserve to be happy ...more than anyone"
"Then why does everyone treat me so badly?" Rimmer sobbed, it felt strangely relieving for him to be so open and vulnerable and not be shot down further, his legs began to give way underneath him as he fell to the floor. Dropping down beside him and wrapping him up in your arms, gently rocking him back and forth as he cried. He hadn't even noticed the mutant had gone.
"Unfortunately some people are just awful" You spoke softly in his ear before placing a much awaited kiss next to the 'h' on his forehead "and those people don't deserve you in their lives"
"Please never leave me" Rimmer looked up at you, his eyes glossy and his cheeks puffy and red.
"That never even crossed my mind Arnie" You smiled as Rimmer's lips started to curl.
"I love you" Rimmer sniffed as his hand found its way to your cheek.
"I love you too Arnie" You smiled as you helped him up off the floor "Lets get you back to Starbug"
"The mutant's gone?" It was only now that Rimmer remembered why they were there.
"You defeated it!" You grinned as he chuckled "Come on lets get out of here"
Once back on Starbug with the others Rimmer opted to go to bed, he was exhausted physically and mentally.
"I'll wake you up when we're back on the dwarf alright" You smiled sweetly as you leant down to kiss him on the cheek before turning off the lights and going back to the rest of crew. 
Thankfully you weren't that far away so it wasn't long before you were back home. You assumed Rimmer had gone to his bunk to go back to sleep as you curled up in yours to read, so when he suddenly appeared in your door way at 3am you were a little surprised.
"I thought you were sleeping" You smiled as he stood in the doorway  with his hands behind his back.
"I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep" Rimmer spoke quietly.
"Lister not up? It's not his bedtime yet?" You asked "Are you coming in?"
"He's happily munching on a curry I brought up for him" Rimmer looked down at the floor "And I didn't want to over step boundaries"
"Are you ok?" You looked at him a little concerned " Come in I won't bite ...not this time"
"Its nothing, just feeling a little bad about what happened and I know he flushed my timetables but I wanted to do something to say sorry" Rimmer blushed as he walked into your quarters "I mean he is my friend after all"
"Are you sure you're ok?" You laughed as Rimmer chuckled "Don't worry I won't tell him you called him your friend"
"Thanks" Rimmer smiled, revealing the beautiful bouquet of flowers he was hiding behind his back "These are for you"
"Where on io did you get these from?" You grinned as he handed them to you "They're gorgeous!"
"Kryten has been working in the botanical gardens, he let me take some flowers to make you a bouquet ...I should show you some time you'll love it" Rimmer was babbling, pleased to see you smiling.
"Thank you Arnie!" You smiled at him as you filled an empty red plastic cup with water to put the flowers in.
"Thank you for putting up with me" Rimmer mumbled.
"What are you muttering about?" You laughed a little as you raised your eyebrow at him.
"After what I put you through over the last couple of weeks, you're still here" Rimmer had gone back to the nervous, innocent person when you first started dating.
"You don't give up on someone you love" You gently took his hand in yours.
"Even if they're as messed up as me?" Rimmer's eyes finally met yours.
"I love you no matter what, you know that" You smiled as you stared into the chocolate brown eyes staring back at you.
"I really don't deserve you" Rimmer eyes lit up as he smiled.
"Hey no more putting yourself down ok?" You gently squeezed his hand "Promise?"
"Promise!" Rimmer chuckled.
"Now are you going to kiss me or not?" You smirked as Rimmer took off his jacket and threw it to the side of the room, after a little over two weeks of not being able to touch, hold or kiss you he was definitely a little touch starved.
"I thought you'd never ask" Rimmer grinned as he held your face in his hands, feeling his body press against yours as he brought you into the most passionate kiss he had ever given you or anyone for that matter, his arms dropping to your waist, sitting perfectly at the bottom of your back as you let your hands rest on his chest, feeling each other smile between kisses "Can I stay with you tonight?"
"I already assumed you would" You laughed as you brought him into another kiss.
"I love you" Rimmer replied softly as he took your hand in his and walked you over to the bed as you both sat down.
"I love you too Arnold Judas Rimmer" You smiled sweetly, his face lighting up like a child on christmas as you said the words. Delicately tucking a loose strand of hair behind your ear with his fingertips he leant in to kiss you again, his arm around your waist as you both slowly fell down onto your bunk.
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obtain-this-grain · 4 years
Text
“All of It.”
this is my first maplekeen fic! it took me like 7 hours, so if you like it, consider reblogging! its probably not the best but im proud and thats all that matters. please excuse any typos, i proofread like 6 times but still.
_______________________________________________________Argo crept into the dorm, thinking about his meeting with the Unbroken Chain. The group still needs much more information on Fitzroy. Argo hates going around his friends back but he’s sworn to his “hobby”. 
Argo tried his best to “tip toe” into his and the firbolg’s' side of the quarters, not noticing the half-elf staring at him. Fitzroy cleared his throat, making Argo look towards him on the couch in the common area. Panicking a bit, Argo started rambling. 
“Er.. hello Fitzroy! How are you, my dear friend?”
“I'm fine, Argo. Couldn’t sleep.”
Fitzroy tried his best to play it off like that, atleast. In reality he had been waiting here ever since Argo left, being practically torn apart by the anxiety of where his coworker could be. 
God, he hated calling Argo that. “Coworker”. It made his stomach hurt. 
“Oh! Good!.. Well not good that you couldn’t sleep but... You know what I mean” Argo replied, getting more anxious by the second. 
Fitzroy hides a smile at that and pats the couch next to him. Argo debates this for a second, thinking it would be easier to just go to bed and forget about this whole interaction. 
He gives in when he looks at Fitzroy again, this time at his eyes. The half elf’s eyes look so exhausted yet so beautiful, the moonlight coming in through the windows making them shine.
Argo drops his bag and walks over to his friend. He sits down a few inches away, feeling uncomfortable.
Fitzroy looks at him, somewhat admiring his face. Fitzroy wants nothing more than to just scoot closer to the genasi and lay his head on his shoulder. 
Argo looks down at his hands and at the coffee table, looking anywhere but at his boss. He feels, no, he knows he’ll break down if he looks at Fitzroy’s face after just discussing the half elf’s life to strangers who have no business knowing.
Fitzroy coughs a bit, perhaps trying to lessen the silence the two are sitting in. 
“So... Where did you run off to?” Fitzroy asks quietly. 
Argo is knocked out of his “trance” when he replies. “Hm? Oh well ya know, just some errands. Went to the library, dropped some books off. The usual.” 
“At 3 in the morning?” Fitzroy questions again.
“Yeah! Well. I guess the library is closed right now, isn’t it?” Argo states, slightly more to himself rather than the man next to him.
Fitzroy simply nods, his stomach tying itself into knots.
“To tell you the truth. I-. I can't tell you Fitz, I’m sorry.” Argo practically whispers the last bit.
Fitzroy’s heart practically bursts. It’s a lover, isn’t it? He knew he wasn’t for Argo. He knew it. He knew it. 
“Well” Fitzroy’s voice cracked. “I hope you had fun.”
This makes Argo look up at Fitzroy, seeing the tears welling up in his eyes. 
Fitzroy quickly wipes his eyes and takes a deep breath. “Hm, goodnight, Argonaut.” He says, quickly standing up and walking to his quarters, closing the door gingerly.
Argo finally breaks, letting his tears fall. 
“God! Why’d I have to join this dumb club? I just ruined my fucking chances! We were so close.” He put his head on his hands. 
Sitting on the sofa and sobbing at 3 am wasn’t how Argo thought his Friday night would go. He especially didn’t think it would be over practically losing someone he cared for. 
———————————————————
Fitzroy woke up late that day, expecting everyone to be out and about. Instead he found Argo asleep on the couch and the firbolg sitting next to him on the floor, sketching some sort of tree. 
“Good morning.. bossss” the firbolg spoke without looking at Fitzroy, staying focused on his drawing. 
“Morning, Dr. Mushrooms”
“I.. heard you speaking wit.. Argo last night.” Bud added
“Oh! You did? I apologize we woke you.”
“Argonaut was wery... angry wit himself. After you.. left.” 
Fitzroy didn’t reply this time, he just internalized what Bud had said.
Argo started to stir with all the noise, blinking his eyes open and stretching. 
“Ermm good morning, Master firbolg.”
Argo sat up and looked around the room, seeing Fitzroy and staring at him for a moment before getting up and quickly walking over to the door, picking up his bag. 
“My! Would you look at the time! My blame taking class is about to start.” he stated, closing the door behind him.
Obviously it wasn’t, Argo just needed to get out of that situation. Fast.
“It is saturday... is it not?” the firbolg asked, confused.
“It is.” Fitzroy replied sadly. “God, I'm so scared I messed up. He probably hates me.”
The firbolg simply stares at him as Fitzroy walks to the door.
“I have to go, we’ll catch up later.” and with that, Fitzroy is gone.
———————————————————
Argo is seated at a lunch table with Raineer, talking about the night's happenings but making sure to leave out the bit about the Unbroken Chain.
“And- and I fucked it up! We were just getting close. He was just trusting me. God, what am I gonna do?  I ruined it. I fu-“ he was cut off by Raineer.
“Why don’t you just tell him how you feel? You might not be able to tell him the whole truth but at least tell him your feelings.” She replied, taking another bite of her ramen. 
Argo kept rambling on. “I can't do that! He already hates my guts!” 
“That’s not true, I know it for a fact.” Raineer said in return.
“Either way, I can’t tell him. we’re- we’re colleagues!” Argo pauses.
His face saddens when he realizes what he said. They really are colleagues, nothing more.
“Thanks for the chat Raineer. I’m gonna go.” Argo got up from the table, tossed his orange away and left the dining hall.
———————————————————
Fitzroy is sifting through books at the library. He normally isn’t here, but it’s the only place without people on the weekend.
He spots a specific book, “Kathy Easom's Easy Cake Recipes”. Grabbing it off the shelf, he walks over to a quiet corner and starts flipping through. 
Fitzroy tried to read. He really did, but was unsuccessful overall. He couldn't stop thinking about Argo. He couldn't stop thinking about last night. He couldn’t stop thinking about how much he hurts. He closed his eyes, letting a tear fall. 
He sat for a moment, simply breathing.
Fitzroy got up after a few minutes. He's got a mission now. Fitzroy was going to find Argo and talk to him. Maybe tell him how he feels, maybe just fix whatever happened last night. Either way it should help.
Leaving the library, Fitzroy went back to the dorm. 
The half elf stayed there for a while, till about sundown, when he realized Argo probably wasn’t going to show up. 
Instead, Fitzroy headed to the fountain. Thinking back to a previous late night conversation with Argo. He remembered that Argo likes to go there when he’s stressed.
———————————————————
Fitzroy doesn’t find Argo at the fountain. However, he does find a bit of peace. 
He was the only student there and the sound of the water almost lulled him to sleep. If he wasn’t anxious he probably would’ve dozed off. 
Fitzroy sat at the fountain until the moon was high. The firbolg had stopped by earlier to check in, bringing him a water bottle, but he left soon after. 
Fitzroy wondered when he would go inside, if he would go inside. He simply sat alone with his thoughts and the sound of running water. 
The half-elf yawned, about to stand and head in for the night when he heard humming from the other side of the fountain. 
It was the fucking Thundermen theme song.
Whoever was humming had to be Argo. The three of them are the only ones who know the song in the first place, and it’s definitely not the firbolg. You would’ve been able to see him over the fountain.
Fitzroy froze, thinking of what to do. He could just leave, pretend he didn’t see the argo. That wouldn’t really fix anything, though. 
———————————————————
Argo was completely oblivious to the half-elf standing on the other side of the fountain. He stared into the water, watching it ripple as he dipped his hand in. He sighed. 
“What am I going to do? I ruined any chance I have with him.” Argo spoke out loud. After all, he thought he was alone.
Fitzroy heard this. Straightening out his cloak, he strutted around the fountain (trying to look very cool), towards Argo. 
“hEllo Argo. Fuck.” He whispered the last bit, not expecting his voice to break like that. clearing his throat he tried again.
“Hello. Argo.” He said, calmer this time.
Argo was already staring at him in shock. How much had Fitzroy heard? Had he followed him out here? Argo was in deep shit if he followed him.
“Boss!” Argo exclaimed.
Fitzroy winced.
“Erm. How long have you been here?” Argo questioned.
“Sunset. I’ve just been here, chilling.”
Fitzroy cursed himself for that. “Chilling”? What was he thinking?
“Oh! so you’ve been here quite a while, hm?” Argo chuckled nervously. “How- how much did you hear?”
Fitzroy was silent for a few seconds before replying. He went over and sat on the ledge of the fountain, next to his friend.
“All of it, Argo.”
“Oh. Well then. I guess the cats out of the bag then. Listen-“ his words quickened. “I'm sorry about last night. I just really can’t tell you where I go-“ talking a bit faster, “I just really care about you and I’m so sorry I hurt you. I hope I can fix this, I'm sor-“. 
Fitzroy placed his hand on the genasi’s leg, effectively silencing him. 
“I- I care about you too, Argo. And I also wanted to apologize. I overreacted last night.” Fitzroy spoke softly, trying to calm the man sitting next him.
Argo smiled weakly, looking into Fitzroy’s eyes. They were just as beautiful as the night before. 
Fitzroy was doing the same, looking into Argo’s eyes. They were an amazing green tonight. Fitzroy blushed. 
Argo raised his hand to Fitzroy’s cheek. The half elf leaned into his touch, closing his eyes and sighing. 
Now both of them were blushing. 
They leaned forwards, almost touching their foreheads together. Fitzroy cupped Argo's face as well, his eyes flicking from the other man's eyes to his lips and back. 
“May I?” Fitzroy asked.
Argo simply nodded, leaning forward and kissing Fitzroy. God, he had dreamed of this moment. 
The kiss was beautiful. It was soft and passionate and full of so much pent of love. It was perfect. 
When they came apart they both took a deep breath, smiling. 
Fitzroy’s hands were on Argo’s thighs now, resting there. Argo's hands were on fitzroys shoulders now. 
Their foreheads leaned against each other and Argo started laughing. Fitzroy quirked his eyebrow, questioning Argo’s “outburst”.
“I never thought I would get to do that!” he smiled.
Fitzroy just kissed him again, this time shorter but full of the same, if not more, love. 
That evening they returned to the dorm, hand in hand.
________________________________________________________________
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tiaragqueen · 5 years
Note
may i request a scenario for yandere todoroki thats in a relationship with a reader that is powerful and older than him? (a third year) no violence tho. sorry if its a little weird :( i think a two year gap aint that bad. love your writing, thank u !
Eating His Heart Out
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✂ Pairing: Yandere! Junior! Todoroki Shouto x Senior! Reader
✂ Word Count: 2k+
✂ Trigger Warning: Jealousy, possessive behavior, yandere theme.
***
The first boy who got me into BNHA fandom and because I’m a curious girl. I’m not sure if this what you wanted, since I quickly thought about violence when I saw the powerful part. Nonetheless, I hope you like it!
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“Jealousy is that pain which a man feels from the apprehension that he is not equally beloved by the person whom he entirely loves.” – Joseph Addison
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Never once in his life had Shouto doubted your love. He knew you were loyal, although a tad bit quiet at times. The latter was what connected the two of you in the first place. It allowed you to be together without the pressure of having a conversation to fill the silence and be completely content with peace. You could stay quiet for hours, just minding your businesses. You also never forced him to talk about his problems; instead opting to sit beside him until he was ready to speak.
Shouto loved you through and through. He accepted you as a whole, despite the two-years age gap and powers between you. The disparities weren’t something that he minded much, simply because he knew that everyone was different. In fact, he was kind of glad that you were able to protect yourself and matured enough to not be provoked easily. You were more of a peacemaker; preferring to negotiate instead of rushing headlong into a fight. Many of your classmates had mocked your ‘disgustingly pure’ way, but you remained stubborn. And Shouto admired you for it.
However, aside from the age gap and powers, there was another difference between you.
Interests.
Shouto wasn’t one to like mysterious, esoteric stuff such as supernatural or the afterlife. Not because he was a scaredy-cat, but because he simply wasn’t interested. He preferred being realistic and think about the future, instead of contemplating the existence of spirits and such.
You, however, were wholly fascinated by the idea of mystery. Very few people knew about your inquisitive nature; a side that you often concealed under a reserved facade. You were fond of learning about everything that spiked your interest, be it trivial or strange. The weirder a stuff was, the more curious you become. You liked to think that it was one of your many, hidden charms.
And you weren’t wrong.
Shouto did love your thirst for knowledge and was pleasantly surprised when he first found out. It was better than being with a jaded person who thought that they knew and had experienced everything from this world. He was supportive and often urged you to search more about a certain topic. After all, he only wanted the best for his beloved.
But there was one thing that he disliked from you.
“Hawks-san, where’s [Name]-senpai?”
The blond paused eating his favorite chicken wings that Shouto deemed rather ironic, considering his bird-like quirk, and looked up. “She’s left with Tokoyami just a while ago,” he replied with a mouthful of meat.
Shouto’s face hardened slightly, not that anyone could tell from his already stoic expression. “Is… that so?”
“Yeah,” Hawks nodded, averting his gaze back on to the food. “Should’ve seen them, y’know? They keep talkin’ about weird stuff, and Tokoyami-kun even chuckled. I’ve never heard that kid laughing before. Guess [Name]-chan just have that kind of influence on him, eh?”
The second pro hero giggled, but Shouto couldn’t bring himself to laugh as well. Not when his stomach kept churning at every word that left Hawks’ mouth.
“I see,” Shouto finally replied, breaking the one-sided conversation between them. “Thank you for the information then, Hawks-san. I should take my leave now.”
“Y’know, Todoroki-kun,” Hawks spoke up, watching Shouto’s rigid form stopped to listen to whatever he wanted to say. “Tokoyami-kun and [Name]-chan can make a good pair, don’t you think? She’s just as quiet and strange as him.”
Shouto was well aware that Hawks loved mocking people, and although Shouto hadn’t told him about his relationship with you, he knew that Hawks knew. After all, he was the only person who asked about you every day. Hawks was bound to pick up the connection anytime soon. He wasn’t dense to think that he was a mere friend of yours. Nobody would bother to wait on someone for so long like that.
That, and because Shouto could feel Hawks smirking at him. He didn’t need to look to confirm it.
“No,” Shouto muttered, clenching his fists. The act didn’t go unnoticed by the pro hero, who silently relished in his victory of ruling him up. It wasn’t every day that you would able to irritate the one and only Shouto Todoroki due to his ability to remain calm and composed at pretty much every moment. “[Name]-senpai is dating me, not him.”
“Oh, is that so? Well,” Hawks twirled a strip of meat in his hand. “I think [Name]-chan is more interested in Tokoyami-kun. After all, love is quick to blossom through similar interests. Am I right, Todoroki-kun?”
Shouto gritted his teeth, resisting the urge to attack the hero. Hawks was undeniably stronger than him, and to attack him would be a stupid move on Shouto’s part. Therefore, he decided to opt for a more… passive way, even though it hurt his pride a little. At least, it was better than being a fool in front of his superior.
Bowing to the man, Shouto left without another word. Thankfully, Hawks didn’t make anymore taunt, instead of simpering in triumph. Shouto tried his best not to take his attitude personally and went to search for you. It was rather hard to ignore what he said, especially the ‘good pair’ part.
It was indeed true that you have been spending more time with Tokoyami more than him. On one hand, Shouto was glad that you could get along with his classmate. But on the other hand, he didn’t want you to be focused solely on Tokoyami. Shouto was, and would always be, your boyfriend. He deserved your attention and affection too.
Hiding behind a corner, Shouto watched you chatting animatedly with Tokoyami. The way your hands flailed around to emphasize a point, the way your eyes twinkled under the setting sun, and the way your lips stretched into the widest smile he’d never seen before.
Shouto had never felt jealous before. He knew that you belonged to him, just like how he belonged to you. So, why? Why did his chest hurt so fucking much? Why did he feel like stomping over there and rip you off from that… that nasty bird? Or worse, doing all the terrible stuff that swirled in his head?
No, that wouldn’t be right. You had lectured him a hundred times before to always choose peace over violence, and to see him being careless – especially for the sake of quenching his jealousy – would greatly disappointed you. And he refused to let that happen. Shouto wanted you to be proud of him. He wanted you to be the boyfriend you’d always wished for; an honorable and peaceful guy. 
But it was so fucking hard when you were there, laughing with someone other than him.
“[Name]-senpai.”
You quickly turned around when a deep voice called out to you and sighed in relief. “Oh, it’s you. I thought it was a villain or something.” The sound of your chuckle ceased after you noticed his solemn features. “H-hey, Shouto-kun. Are you okay?”
Shouto said nothing in response. Instead, he stepped forward and grabbed your hand that was unknowingly lying on Tokoyami’s shoulder.
“Oh, sorry.” You grinned and rubbed your nape sheepishly. “We were just talking around and I guess I was being too excited. Sorry if it makes you angry, Shouto-kun. I assure you I don’t like Tokoyami-kun that way.”
“’kun’…” Shouto muttered the seemingly intimate nickname with pure distaste as if the word itself left a bitter sensation on his tongue.
You sighed, shooting your clueless junior a weary smile. “Hey, uh. Sorry, Tokoyami-kun, but I need to go ahead. We can resume our conversation tomorrow if you’d like to.” You didn’t know why you were being apologetic when Shouto should be the one who apologized to you both for interrupting your little discussion.
Not that you truly minded; you missed Shouto and couldn’t wait until you meet him. But the way he appeared out of nowhere and snatched you away was a bit rude in your opinion.
“Of course, I’d like to. Have a pleasant evening, [Name]-senpai.”
Tokoyami bowed before taking a turn towards his house. Once he was far away from you both, you immediately snapped your head to Shouto.
“What the heck was that?!” you hissed.
“You were talking to him,” the bi-colored haired boy stated the obvious. “And you went ahead without me.”
“I thought you wouldn’t wait for me,” you frowned in both frustration and confusion. “You didn’t even reply to my message!”
“My phone’s dead.”
You stared at him for a moment, searching for any sign of a lie. As always, his face remained unreadable. But you didn’t need to look deeper to know that he was telling the truth, and that was irritated you the most.
Sighing for the third time in mere minutes, you snatched your hand from his grasp and walked ahead of him. You wanted him to know that his actions weren’t appreciated by you, and luckily, it didn’t take long for him to take the hint.
“Look,” he exhaled tiredly. “I’m sorry, okay? I didn’t mean to be rude like that.”
“You certainly shouldn’t,” you said pettily.
“But you looked so happy around him and I’m just…” Shouto bit his bottom lip, ignoring your piercing gaze. “I was… jealous. I thought you didn’t love me anymore. Thought you liked him more than me. I was… I was afraid that you might choose him over me because… he shares the same interest as yours.”
You opened your mouth to counter his shocking statements, but he raised a hand to shut you up.
“Hawks-san even told me that you and Tokoyami-san made a ‘good pair’ and I guess, I kind of lost it in there. I know you’re dating me, and I know you’re loyal but–”
“Then, why are you doubting my loyalty?”
Shouto curbed his tongue in fear of accidentally blurt out the wrong things. He didn’t want you to misunderstand him, but he knew that your question was valid. Being jealous meant that he was doubting your love and loyalty, although that wasn’t what he intended for. He was merely afraid that you would grow bored of him due to not having the same interest as Tokoyami did.
It was ridiculous. Then again, what part of jealousy was logical anyway?
You shook your head, finding the whole situation to be rather humorous. However, you still had the decency of refraining from laughing. As laughable as the matter sounded, you needed to take him seriously because it had a connection to his deep-rooted fear. He had been hurt again and again by his closest ones, and you didn’t want to be a part of them. Shouto, however independent and stoic he seemed, looked up to you a lot. Therefore, it was already your duty to lead him to the ‘right’ way.
“Shouto-kun,” you put a hand on his shoulder, pursing your lips in contemplation on how to word your sentences correctly. “I am, and will always be, yours. Tokoyami-kun is just my junior. Sure, we have the same interest, but our relationship doesn’t go any deeper than that. He already knows that we’re dating, anyway, and he’s been very respectful in keeping his distance. So, please. Don’t stress yourself, okay? I don’t love him as I love you. I belong to you, remember? Just like you belong to me.”
Perhaps, a time would come when you regretted your words. But today, you just had to prove to him that you were still his.
“You promise?” he whispered, looking at you through his long eyelashes like a bashful child.
“Absolutely.” You slung an arm around his neck and pecked him on the lips. “Now, let’s go home. I’m hungry and sweaty. Maybe we can watch that movie you’ve been wanting to watch too.”
Shouto smiled; a beautiful sight that he reserved for your eyes only. “Okay.”
While you were busy listing off the activities that you would do tomorrow, the thin smile slowly disappeared from his face. You might have promised him that you still loved him, but who would say that you wouldn’t stray from him?
“Should’ve seen them, y’know? They keep talkin’ about weird stuff, and Tokoyami-kun even chuckled. I’ve never heard that kid laughing before. Guess [Name]-chan just have that kind of influence on him, eh?”
“Tokoyami-kun and [Name]-chan can make a good pair, don’t you think? She’s just as quiet and strange as him.”
It was decided; he needed to talk to Tokoyami soon. And, possibly, teaching him to keep his distance even further from you.
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lgbtyrus · 6 years
Text
TJ’s Playlist Chapter 6
Story Summary: When Cyrus finds a playlist on TJ’s desktop full of old love songs, he realizes that TJ has never been a scary basketball guy but rather a huge sap. TJ just wished Cyrus could realize that all of those songs remind him of a certain boy who likes chocolate chocolate chip muffins without telling him directly.
With insecurities and fears almost set in stone, it’s hard for TJ to admit that he has a heart aching crush on Cyrus who is trying to avoid just that. Of course, it doesn’t seem like both of them are trying to get over each other when they’re always together.
Ao3 Link | Previous Chapter | Next Chapter
Words: 4252
Warning: angst, they cuss now
Cyrus found himself still lying awake in his dark room. His blanket had been thrown to the side, and he was sweating. He made his way to his restroom, and when he was washing his hands, he looked up at his mirror. He looked exhausted. He had told TJ goodnight and his intentions were to fall asleep right away like he had for the last few years. It was a gift Andi and Buffy always told him that they envied.
Only he couldn’t.
He kept thinking about his conversation with Buffy and wondered if there was anything that they had done that made her ask that question. What had put the idea in her head?
The only thing that drove him crazier was that he couldn’t get the idea out of his head. When had put the polaroid of him and TJ in his journal, he doodled a heart on the side without thinking. He quickly turned it into a shaded in circle and shut his journal.
He didn’t want to like TJ. He couldn’t like TJ. He didn’t want to be feeling all those butterflies and how his cheeks managed to feel hotter around him even though it was already 90 degrees outside. TJ was the human version of the sun to him, and it was getting harder to look at him. Cyrus couldn’t help but notice the few freckles that dotted his nose. Green was becoming a prettier color to him, and he didn’t want to know if it was because that was the color of TJ’s eyes. Their height difference was becoming a lot more noticeable to him, too. Thinking about their height difference killed him. It was when he wondered if he’d have to stand on his tippy toes to kiss him.
He would do absolutely anything to stop thinking about TJ.
Only it was getting harder.
It was kind of starting to hurt, too. It was the same longing he felt in his chest when he saw Jonah. His obstacle from being with Jonah was Andi and the probable fact that Jonah didn’t like boys. His obstacle with being TJ was simply that he didn’t like boys- making it easier to lose their friendship. If Jonah had found out, he was probably going to say “oh sorry” and then proceed to still be friends with him because of the Good Hair Crew.
If TJ found out, Cyrus had already built 22 different scenarios of it going horribly wrong. Only one of them included a “Sorry, Cyrus. I don’t like guys. But let’s still be friends.” Only, they didn’t ever speak again after that. Cyrus felt like he was driving himself mad thinking of it.
Cyrus made his way back into his room and threw himself at his bed. He hadn’t checked the time in a while, so he unplugged his phone from the charger on his bedside table. He let out a sigh as he realized it was 2:02AM. He felt curse. He had never stayed up for no reason, not even when he liked Iris or Jonah. If anything, he wanted to go to sleep to avoid the fact that he didn’t like kissing Iris as cool as she was. He wanted to fall asleep so that he could dream of another world where Jonah liked him.
But now all he could do is stay away and live in the world where TJ Kippen didn’t like him.
Cyrus shut his eyes once more, his phone gripped in his hand. He tried to fall asleep, and he knew it wasn't working. He slightly picked his head up and slammed it back down repeatedly on his pillow, hoping it'd be enough to take him out. It didn't work.
He began thinking about TJ again as he gave up and lay there. He thought about how he was actually putting in a lot more effort into his math. It made him smile.
Then he remembered.
Cyrus: Hey TJ r u awake?
In less than a minute, there was a response on his phone.
TJ: Yes but u shouldnt be
Cyrus: i can't sleep
TJ: why not?
Because of you!
Cyrus: honestly im not sure. i just have a lot of things running through my mind
You.
TJ: Do you want to talk about it?
Cyrus: I don't think so. I don't even know y i texted u in the first place tbh. sorry
TJ: youre good. i dont fall asleep until like 4am
Cyrus: oh man thats too late kgfdjgfdg
TJ: lmao i didnt think youd ever fall asleep past 10
Cyrus: i never do. i have a strict need for at least 7 hrs of sleep or ill die
TJ: looks like ur gonna die
Cyrus: please release a white dove at my funeral. make it two so it won't be lonely. Im being honest rn. im chugging a gallon of coffee tomorrow i swear. how do u do it everyday
TJ: I don't have a choice most of the time lmao. i just deal with it and let it slowly try to kill me
Cyrus: so u havent died bc you're a vampire?
TJ: u can say that. Hey can I call you instead? Im lazy
Cyrus: ye
“No,” Cyrus groaned. Hearing his voice was going to make everything feel worse. His phone started buzzing and he quickly answered it. He had never been happier about having soundproof walls. He didn’t want his parents asking what he was doing up so late talking to TJ.
“Hey,” TJ mumbled. Cyrus thought his sleepy voice was going to knock him out cold right then and right there.
“Hey, vampire,” Cyrus teased, making TJ chuckled in response.
“You sound awfully happy.”
“I’d be happier if I was asleep but I guess a late night conversation with my good pal TJ won’t kill me.”
“I’m starting to wonder if you really made up with Buffy,” TJ hummed. His voice was groggy yet Cyrus ate up every single one of his words. This was definitely a bad decision. “Did you?”
“I did,” Cyrus sighed. He was starting to wonder if he should tell him the real reason he couldn’t sleep. No. Then I’d have to tell him the idea of us liking each other is keeping me awake. But…. I don’t like him so it wouldn’t matter would it?
“We’re all cool right? I was wondering if she wanted to get her girl team to practice with mine.”
Cyrus grinned, “That’s actually be great. You should talk to her about it. I swear she’s not angry.”
“Why was she acting up with you then?”
“Stupid reasons. She admitted it herself. She’s scared of… something.”
“Buffy? Scared?” TJ scoffed. “Of what? Her reflection?” TJ paused and then said, “Sorry, that was mean.” Cyrus ended up laughing.
“No, it’s fine. She’s more worried you can say.”
“Of what?”
Of us falling in love, getting married, adopting kids, and living next door to her.
“Of us getting closer I guess.”
“So, she’s jealous?” TJ asked. Cyrus stopped himself for a moment. He hadn’t thought about it that way. He did make it clear he’d never pick anyone over her and Andi, though. He wouldn’t.
“Well we cleared it up, so I don’t think so.”
“Did she,” TJ hummed for a moment, “say anything else?” Cyrus raised an eyebrow. Did TJ know something else?
“Why are you asking?”
“Um…. Just curious.”
“You sure?”
“Well,” TJ added hesitantly. “I don’t know. I guess Amber and Buffy talked.”
“Buffy and Amber? Like my Buffy?”
“No, Buffy Summers. Yes, your Buffy,” TJ chuckled. “I guess that Amber showed her that photo where we both fell asleep and um,” TJ’s voice got lower, “I think that’s why she started acting up. Acting up is the right phrase to use but it’s 2AM. Sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Cyrus barely managed to say. His heart was beating fast and he was filling up with dread. Did TJ know exactly what Buffy was thinking?
“But did she say anything weird?” TJ asked again. Cyrus realized there were only 22 ways this could go wrong, and then chances of triggering one wasn’t that high. He was also half asleep and his “fuck it” senses were quite activated.
“By weird do you mean her asking me a million times about the idea of us dating?” Cyrus quickly spit out, hoping TJ might miss the word ‘dating’. There was a moment of complete silence for almost twenty seconds. Cyrus palms were feeling sweaty, so he put his phone on speaker and lay it on the pillow next to him.
“Yeah, that,” TJ finally said. “I think it was because of Amber, to be honest.”
“I mean everything makes sense, now,” Cyrus replied. “I was getting worried about some dumb stuff. I think that’s why I couldn’t sleep.” He felt a lot more relieved. So he and TJ hasn’t done something that made it seem like they had “more than friends” intentions. It was just a conversation between Buffy and Amber that sparked something in Buffy.
“So you do know why you can’t sleep,” TJ told him, discarding the dating topic.
“Well, kind of. I mean Buffy and I actually fought over this. We never fight.”
“Just because her and Amber conspired that we liked each other?” TJ scoffed. “They do know that will never happen right?” Those words seemed to chew right through Cyrus’ heart strings.
“Yeah… yeah,” Cyrus cleared his throat. “I mean we fixed it. She realized she was being dumb. She admitted it, too.”
“Did she apologize?”
“No. I don’t expect her to. It’s Buffy.”
“It’s Buffy isn’t a good excuse, Underdog. If I drain the blood out of a kindergartner, nobody is going to say, ‘Well, it’s just TJ.’ Are they?”
“One, they’re totally different. Two, one of them is completely unrealistic.” He wished TJ wasn’t so blunt sometimes. It made him come face to face with the feelings and thoughts he always shoved in the back of his head.
“Buffy apologizing every once in a while shouldn’t be unrealistic.”
“Well,” Cyrus sighed. “I don’t feel like she owes me an apology, okay?”
“If you’re comfortable with lying to yourself, sure.”
“I’m so comfortable with lying to myself, I’d convince myself that I love myself.”
“Self-deprecating humor, huh. Nice”
“Thanks. It’s a specialty. My brain is full of it.”
“That’s nice. My brain is full of useless facts.”
“Like what?”
“Like a cat named Stubbs was the mayor of Alaska from 1997 until his death.
“TJ, I know I don’t cuss, but literally. What the fuck,” Cyrus softly chuckled, causing TJ to erupt with laughter. Cyrus rarely heard TJ laugh like this, but it was music to his ears. He really did hate the way TJ made him feel like he was floating on the clouds. He was starting to get sleepy now.
“I can’t remember how to do long division, but I honestly can remember the dumbest things,” TJ said, starting to mumble again. “Hey, Underdog. Have you started reading The Giver yet?”
“No,” Cyrus yawned. “We don’t need to be up to chapter five until Friday.”
“Want me to read it to you until you fall asleep? You sound like you’re going to pass out any minute now.”
“But then I won’t remember where I was before I fell asleep,” Cyrus moaned.
“Don’t argue. I’m already getting my book,” TJ told him. Cyrus could hear TJ shuffling around the bedroom. “Alright. Chapter one…” TJ read to him for what felt twenty minutes before he couldn’t remember anything but the lightness of dream.
-
And now the purple dusk of twilight time
Steals across the meadows of my heart
TJ was in the middle of chapter two when he heard light snoring. He smiled and whispered, “Goodnight, Underdog.” He hung up the phone and set the book back inside of his backpack before shutting off the lights. He went back under his covers and checked his phone for the time. It was 3AM, and he could hear the distant yet familiar arguing from downstairs. He had blocked it out for almost an hour thanks to Cyrus and Lois Lowry. TJ put the sides of the pillows to cover his ears and closed his eyes.
He knew time had passed when his eyes blasted open at the sound of a door slamming shut. The front door downstairs. He then registered the soft crying. Amber’s crying. He sat straight up and saw that Amber was at the end of his bed, her back against the wall.
“Amber?” TJ rubbed his eyes. “What’s going on?”
“Dad left,” she whispered. TJ stopped moving. Was he hearing wrong?
High up in the sky the little stars climb
Always reminding me that we're apart
You wander down the lane and far away
Leaving me a song that will not die
“What?”
“Dad left. I heard them fighting in the bedroom like twenty minutes ago and he was packing his stuff,” she covered her face as she started to bawl. TJ lowered his hand and crawled over and put his arm around her. Amber shared a wall with their parents. TJ at least had the guest room in between which spared him a lot. Amber had always had it the worst.
“He’ll come back,” TJ whispered, his eyes starting to burn with tears. “He’ll come back.” Amber kept crying, her sobs eventually turning into wails. All TJ could do was sit there and hug her. He hadn’t even checked what time it was. He didn’t know if Amber had fallen asleep. It was getting hazy and everything felt a million times heavier. Amber’s sobs would die down and then increase suddenly, and he failed at trying not to cry. The only thing he heard was crying and the cars that would pass by in the streets. There was a ghostly silence emitting from the entire house. “He has to come back.”
Amber fell asleep after a long while, but TJ stayed wide awake. He gently laid her down before positioning himself next to his window. He was sitting with his back flat on his poster-covered wall, his eyes switching between watching Amber sleep and staring at the photos on his ceiling. He couldn’t really see them. It was still dark outside, and he didn’t know what he was waiting for. As soon as the sun beams started burst through the window and hit his bedsheets, he knew. He reached out a hand and let the light beam of sunshine hit his hand. There were striped shadows from the blinds wrapping around his skin. He let out a half-smile before closing his eyes. Everything will work out the way it’s meant to be he told himself. His GG always said that the rising sun meant a new era. He knew he wasn’t lying because the day he died, the sunrise turned the skies orange. It was his GG’s favorite color.
The music of the years gone by.
Sometimes I wonder, how I spend
The lonely nights
Dreaming of a song
The melody
Haunts my reverie
And I am once again with you
TJ laid down next to Amber and closed his eyes, almost immediately falling asleep. It didn’t feel like he had slept for more than a few minutes, but it was 6:30AM when he woke up to Amber turning off his alarm clock. He hadn’t even covered himself with the blankets, and he was cold. Amber stood up with her hands wrapped around herself as she shivered.
“Get ready, okay?” she told him, her teeth chattering. She looked horrible, and TJ knew he did, too. He simply nodded his head, and she made her way out of his room. He didn’t want to get up. He was exhausted and drained. It was a different type of tired where everything felt heavy and his throat felt dry. His eyes hurt every time he blinked. He had no idea how he was going to make it through the entire day. He still had work that afternoon, and he definitely could not skip right now.
He stood up anyways and got dressed. He went out into the hall and heard the sink running in the restroom. Amber was going to be a while. He went back into his room and got his hair gel from his bag and started doing his hair in there to get that over with. When he was done, he heard his phone vibrate. He reached over and smiled when he saw who it was from.
Cyrus: Good morning. I’m dead.
TJ: God I wish I were you right now
Cyrus: What time did u fall asleep??? I don’t even remember falling asleep.
TJ: u knocked out like at 3.
Cyrus: how much sleep did you get
TJ: idk like 2
Cyrus: 2 what? Hours
TJ: minutes
Cyrus: tj omg. Minutes?!!!!!
TJ: okay maybe like an hour or 2 I don’t really know.
TJ hesitated before sending the next text.
TJ: everything just sucks right now
Cyrus: hey I’m here if you need anything okay? We can talk about it over baby tators after tutoring if you’d like. My treat this time.
TJ: can’t. I have work.
Cyrus: I’ll walk you to work then. Sound good?
TJ: sounds perfect :^)
Cyrus: :o)
TJ heard the restroom door open, and he walked out to finish getting ready. Amber saw the smile on his face and raised an eyebrow, “Cyrus.” TJ shrugged, the smile not faltering. “Goofy boys,” Amber shook her head with a grin and walked back into her room.
When TJ finished getting ready, he walked down stairs to find Amber making them breakfast. He had heard their mom shuffling around in the master bedroom, so he knew she wasn’t downstairs.
“Eat up,” Amber told him as he sat down. “It’s almost seven, and I’m pretty sure we’re walking.” TJ didn’t say anything and gratefully ate the breakfast. They both ate in silence. TJ realized Amber didn’t have any makeup on and her hair was in a ponytail. He had seen himself in the mirror minutes ago, and he knew he didn’t exactly look like Prince Charming either.
They both turned to the kitchen doorway when their mom walked inside. She was still in her work uniform, and her hair was in a bun that was fall apart. Her eyes and nose were extremely red.
“I made breakfast,” Amber told her, not looking at her for longer than a second. TJ just saw her nod her head before walking to the coffee machine.
“You kids don’t have to go to school today,” she told them, her voice quiet yet rough. “I’ll call in.”
“I have to turn in an essay,” Amber quickly responded.
“Yeah,” TJ momentarily added, “I have tutoring after school.”
“Tutoring?” their mom turned to look at him. TJ sunk back a little in his seat. They had been told about his dyscalculia, but it was something they haven’t talked about in a while.
“Yeah,” TJ bit his lip. “I have it for math with a friend and Mrs. Pierson.” She simply nodded her head and went back to paying attention to the coffee machine. They were silent for the next few minutes as Amber and TJ kept eating, the clinking of dishes filling the air. Their mom watched them carefully as she drank her coffee. TJ checked his phone and told them, “I better get going.” He collected his and Amber’s dishes and placed them in the sink.
“I’ll wash them after I drop you kids off,” their mom putting her coffee on the counter. “Let me go get the keys.”
“We can walk if you want,” Amber told her delicately. She hadn’t taken them to school in ages. They called it an unnecessary waste of gas most of the time.
“No,” she shook her head. “I want to. At least today.” Neither TJ or Amber pressed the matter and just went to wait by the door. Amber’s eyes were already tearing up as they got to the door. TJ gave her a weak reassuring and smile which caused Amber to rub her eyes in an attempt of disguise. When the heard the keys rattling, Amber turned to their mom and said, “I have English second period. I might text you to pick me up.”
“I’ll be by my phone,” she said as they all walked out to the family car. TJ sat in the back seat and waited for the car to start moving. He felt ice cold even though fall had barely crept in, and it was making him want to sleep. He started considering skipping school. Mrs. Pierson would understand. Cyrus would, too. “Hey, um,” their mom gently said. “I just want you kids to know that I already talked to my boss. I’m getting shifts as I need them. I’m going to be responsible now, I swear. Nana and I talked. She’ll be on call if any of you two need anything, and I’m at work.” TJ knew Amber was crying again. It made him feel worse hearing her cry. Their mom started choking up, “Hey, I love you kids, okay? I’ve been a shitty mom lately, but we’ll get through this even if it’s just the three of us. I swear.”
He has to come back. He has to come back.
-
TJ was early to school; not a lot of kids had gotten dropped off. He walked into the cafeteria and got in line (it was only two kids in front of him). He was full already, but he eyed the chocolate chocolate chip muffins. He grabbed one and went back outside to sit at a picnic bench. He pulled out his phone and realized he already had a text from Cyrus.
Cyrus: hey I need to see you before class starts
TJ: im already at school sooo
Cyrus: im almost there. Where are u?
TJ: Benches by the cafeteria
TJ didn’t bother waiting for a response. He rested his head on his propped up arm and started closing his eyes. His eyelids felt so stiff, and he if tired had a taste, it was whatever parched feeling he had in his throat.
“Good morning!” Cyrus enthusiastically said, causing TJ to jump up startled.
“Hey!” TJ yelped. He quickly turned around to see if anyone had seen, but it was just kids minding their own business and Cyrus laughing. TJ smirked at Cyrus, “Proud that you scared the shit out of me?”
“Kind of, yes,” Cyrus grinned. He had two coffee shop drinks in his hands and one was half-way done. TJ assumed that’s where he got his energy. “Here,” Cyrus set the coffee in front of TJ. “I don’t know if you drink coffee, but I know you need it.”
“I’m usually an energy drink guy, but I tend to not splurge on them. Sleep is free energy,” TJ said and picked up the coffee. He studied the see-thru plastic carefully. He rarely got anything from the coffee shop. He didn’t know how to order it. Why couldn’t the sizes just be small, medium, and large?
“You’re not getting any sleep, and TJ, I mean this in the nicest way possible. You look exhausted. I’m so glad I chose today to get you this,” Cyrus gave TJ an apologetic look. TJ was half-asleep, so he just stared at Cyrus’ lips for a few seconds too long before remembering he was in a conversation.
“Uh, yeah,” TJ blinked furiously and set the coffee down, “thank you by the way. I owe you one.”
“No, you don’t,” Cyrus shook his head. TJ took a sip from the straw and immediately made a sour face.
“What is this, Underdog?” TJ smacked his lips a few times. It was super sweet at first, but he liked the aftertaste. He started drinking it again.
“I call it liquid cocaine. It’s 4 shots of expresso, and 4 pumps of white chocolate syrup over ice in a cold cup.”
“Sounds unhealthy.”
“You sleeping habits are unhealthy, TJ. You need to get more sleep.”
“Sounds fake.”
“TJ!” Cyrus whined.
“Fine, fine,” TJ rubbed his eyes. “I’ll take sleeping syrup or something.”
“Don’t abuse that stuff, though.”
“Do you want me to sleep or not?” TJ smiled, causing Cyrus to shrug.
“I guess,” Cyrus sighed. TJ felt nice for a change. Every time he realized Cyrus cared about him, it made everything feel better. Even if everything was a complete shit pile. “Hey we have time to talk if you want to tell me what’s wrong. Or we can wait until after school. If we don’t crash.” TJ looked around and bit his lip. If he didn’t make it to the end of the school day, it wasn’t going to be because of a caffeine crash. He was pretty good at hiding any emotional distress in person, but he didn’t know how long he’d be able to hold this in.
“I’ll just um…,” TJ bit his lip harder.
“We’ll talk after school,” Cyrus reached his hand across the table and squeezed TJ’s free hand. TJ felt himself turning red, but he didn’t reach out to cover his nose. He put the coffee down and set the abandoned muffin right in front of Cyrus.
“It’s for you.”
The nightingale
Tells his fairytale
Of paradise, where roses grew
Though I dream in vain
In my heart it will remain
My stardust melody
The memory of love's refrain.
Next Chapter
A/N: Thank you for reading! Here’s those who asked to be tagged :) If you want to be added or removed from this list, just let me know! Also if I forget you I swear it wasn’t on purpose. I skip over things in my head sometimes.
@magicalcowboycalzonemoney @the-greatt-perhaps @thedampjofangirl@evaeselgreatest @musicalsfuckmeup @stupidlambforever
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ahvie-voidsinger · 5 years
Text
[RP] Same song, second verse, a little bit darker and little bit worse
The night should have been cold. It usually was cold. It is supposed to be cold this far north, this close to the mountains. Although she probably never felt it for long enough to admit it, she remembered what a midnight breeze felt like. A refreshing caress upon her face in contrast to the near-constant Inner Fire she once drew upon to channel the Light.
She shivered, and not because she was cold. She stopped feeling cold months ago. Years ago. The Light. Sunwell guide her dreams, she thought she could remember what it tasted like to draw on the purified stream of arcane life to help her friends. Only now, amid everything seeming to go wrong around her, that memory was as distant as the nostalgia for a fruity wine she'd shared with... with... her friends. Light, it was a funny thing.
The pale-skinned elf shivered in her shroud of shadows and dimly glowing blue hair, not from discomfort or unease or fear. She knew better than to let those seeds of emotion bloom for long. Lor'danel was still... too painful. The blanket of midnight deeper than a cloudy evening upon the sea had wrapped itself around her as a second nature, a companion, a stray kitten longing for purpose. She might have done more than just dabble in the shadow and the void in her time with the Highguard, but she never claimed to understand it. Iggy warned her about giving into the dark as opposed to the more knowable flame within.
A flame was elemental, primal, but studied and basic. A void, a sentient emptiness, however, was as inscrutable as the reasons why this Light-forsaken war even began. Why it continued. That same conscious quilt of flowing inky violet wreathed around her in a reassuring embrace, warming her in a way that still made her shiver. She knew she should not enjoy it, but a grain in her mind was distictly, begrudgingly aware that she did indeed enjoy her her condition. Or, at least, its silver lining.
Breathing out a sigh, she shook her head slightly, crouched atop a snowladen branch deep in the mountain slope brush, but mere meters from the lonely campfire she'd prepared between both sides. Here, in no-mans-land, only the spies and scouts dared tread. And, maybe, kindred souls who were sleepwalking in a waking dream of days long past when a bouncy, cheerful, short elf in bright crimson silks would ferry food and camaraderie between the commoners of both factions, oblivious to the war.
She had hoped that Vyndoriel would find her missive and maps, and... yet, she also hoped deep down that other souls would dare to shirk the division and distrust that had rent Azeroth asunder worse than any grumpyface dragon aspect could have. Any soul brave enough to risk stepping into the unknown to share soup and break bread under the sky -- the only thing yet untainted by this tragedy of a whirlwind engulfing them all.
Ahvie waited, and watched with unblinking, glowing cerulean eyes that Finryx might once have pointed out as becoming of a voidtouched Ebon; eyes that still caused Vyndoriel and Adriel to instinctively reach for their weapon before hearing her voice marred by the reverb of the void; shimmering azure orbs that once were green to have easily marked her place alongside Iggy, only to now produce anger and disappointment. She didn't blame them for their reactions, their judgment. It was well-founded. She had been reckless, curious, stupid and naive in her hubris, and invoked the attention of the very ethereals that had nearly stolen Alleria and her ren'dorei nutjobs from free will.
Ahvie watched with hope, curiosity and wistful nostalgia as her void-enhanced vision granted her nightsight of the approaching armored blood elf. Unfortunately, or perhaps understandably, the familiar young woman beyond the barren clearing stopped short of exiting the Horde encampment entirely, and the void elf's ears twitched several times.
"a FrIeNd or EnEmY?" the shroud around her asked as it pulsed around her tight black leather catsuit.
Ahvie shook her head, her thoughts forming in her mind's eye as a telepathic bond with the symbiotic and sentient voidcloak the old gods had gifted her with. Was it really alive, or was it her own mind conversing with itself? "Friend. Don't you remember her? That's Fey Fey, one of the first and only Highguard to not immediately see me as an enemy."
The voidcloak around her rippled, her body warmed from the inky mass as suredly as if she were beside that unoccupied campfire beyond. It wafted quietly in the breeze in response. "wOnT yOu SaY hElLo?"
Ahvie risked a smiled and snorted. "That would only put her in danger. We're on a mission tonight."
The needles of the frosted pine jingled lightly to her shadow-enhanced (or corrupted?) ears, but the feminine and childlike drawl of her voidcloak was unmistakably clear in her head. "hMmMmmm... tHe OnE wItH fIrE eYeS. yOu LiKe HiM..."
It was a statement, not a question, and Ahvie huffed, reluctant to admit it. Having a bond with this outcast of the void comforted her at times to know that she and it had something in common, but she could hide nothing from it. The voidcloak rustled again, a childlike giggle in her cognizance, blossoming as though she only just remembered. Even her memory was no longer infallible, and she often worried how much of her unique position in SI:7 was being exploited by N'Zoth.
"bOtH oUtCaSts, BOTH LIKE US," and giggling descended into a chittering that Ahvie was grateful to be masked partially by the whipping winds at this altitude.
"He has a familiar bonded to him, too, yeah. And yet we don't want this war. We're trying to keep the bloodshed to a minimum on both sides," Ahvie replied, whether to herself or to her voidcloak was unclear.
The chittering abated, and the cloak settled in around her body, framing it snugly, as though hugging her reassuredly. She got used to that months ago, as it had saved her ass many times in her dawning and growing experience as a double-agent. Or was it a triple-agent? The warmth of the empty void was... was... was it supposed to be comforting? At least it didn't get grabby with her chest or thighs.
"HoW aRe YoU sUrE tHiS iSn'T wHaT N'zzzzzzoth WaNtS?"
She'd considered that, too. And oft wondered if it would be better if she ended her own life rather than not know if she was secretly a pawn or sleeper agent to the great deep. But, she often reached the same conclusion as now -- when Fey Fey turned back to the tents with a sad look in her glowing gold eyes -- that it was better to live and keep trying to do good with the cards she was dealt. She had brokered alliances, trade deals and friendships between factions before. She could be patient, and hoped against hope that her friends had not grown as corrupted as she had during this costly and intensely personal war.
Whatever the cost, however, Vyn and M had to be informed. Ahvie oft weighed the risks of investigating whether the interim head of SI:7 operations really was Maiev, but time and again decided against it. She already was being closely watched by Alliance brass... or, at least, as closely as those clumsy kaldorei could. They trusted her enough to give her a modicum of power and freedom, and those were two gifts she dared not gamble with. Especially now, with the whispers in her head.
Ahvie suddenly grinned and chuckled to herself as Fey Fey disappeared back behind a tent flap.
"dEfInE iRoNy," came the childlike but girlish voice.
"A servant of neither the void nor the alliance nor the horde, exchanging and trading information between what likely once was former jailor and former prisoner."
"wHeN wE tOo ArE uNsUrE oF wHiCh We ArE."
Ahvie gave her cloak a tug, wrapping it around her back and neck as she relaxed... grinning goofily as she once had -- And quickly perked up as a shadowy figure not ten paces behind her roost approached the trunk of the pine tree in utter silence. She could simply *feel* him at the edge of her mind. Unwilling to give the illidari the satisfaction or belief of having 'won' this game of cat and mouse, Ahvie raised her voice only just so, the slight echo in her voice mimicking that of her visitor's warchief.
"I was wondering when you'd show up."
A gruff male voice as sharp as a glaive fresh from a wound replied, wry amusement in its edge. "I only just dropped my demon's shroud of concealment. I did not want to alarm you."
Ahvie pursed her lips and sulked, grateful he had not yet rounded the trunk to see her pouty expression. Her voidcloak rustled in her ear: "tHiNk ThAts JuSt A bOaSt?"
She grinned and nodded silently, waiting for Vyndoriel to come into view. Her partner in crime had arrived.
She risked an old saying, "For the night is dark,"
To which a dark, not-quite-sinister chuckle emerged from the demon hunter below her, "And full of terrors... like us. Ready to talk business?"
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whimstories · 7 years
Text
Phone Number
A/N: What plot? Good day.
I’m gonna be frank, I’m posting this for the sake of finishing something. I’ve been writing a ton for two weeks but nothing that’s complete. I’ve worked on scenes, dialogue, syntax etc. But couldn’t do it all on one story. 
So this is for the books of “Things I did and I don’t care if its bad, cause I did it.”
Critiques and comments welcome!
“Why are you looking at me like that?”  
Alya is leaning on her elbows, hair wild after running to the table, with a piece of paper pinched between her middle finger and thumb— her eyes are shining at Marinette like she found the holy grail of journalism news. Marinette glances at the paper, its a torn scrap with a flourished writing of numbers, definitely not Alya’s journalistic scrawl.
“You will not believe what I just found.” Alya says. 
“Didn’t you just come out of the bathroom?”
“Treasures know no bounds.” Alya tosses her hair back and plops into her seat. The scrap is waved around like a prize and her smile is downright mischievous. This woman can find a news story in a piece of lint so Marinette is loathe to crush her friend’s glee.
“I suppose it’s a number to somewhere very important. Coordinates to nuclear codes?” Marinette teases.
“Oh, you’ll blow something when I tell you, but it isn't that. What I hold is the digits--” Alya pauses for effect. “--to the number one bachelor in all of Paris.”
Marinette gasps. “Alfredo Linguini?”
“No, my unsuspecting friend. A certain acquaintance you may remember as, Adrien. Agreste.”
Marinette raises her brows and takes another sip from her mocha, looking very impressed. “Amazing. Why does this matter again?”
Alya points at Marinette and shakes her head. “You were in love with Gabriel’s son just like every other girl in Paris, don’t deny it.”
“Yeah. Eight years ago, and I never knew him in person. It was a shallow crush at best.”
“But now you work with him! This is the time to reel him in.”
“Are you really trying to set me up a week after I broke up with John Paul?”
“I told you, never trust a person with two names. They’ll always say they deserve a second chance when they mess up. You just switch names and its like a new person.”
“That’s still a bad joke.” Marinette sighs. “You have a boyfriend, why can’t you get your romantic kicks with him instead of setting me up all the time?”
“Nino and I are already acting like an old marry couple. Very domestic.”
“How about Ladybug and Chat Noir? You like making risqué love columns about them.”
“Now that they're ancient, its harder to get dish on them. Plus it seems my previous theories were wrong about them being together. Chat is clearly hooked on another girl.”
“What do you mean?”
“You know those besotted looks Nino use to get before we got together? And we could tell it was about me because his face would change suddenly when I came through the door, like a defense mechanism?” Alya asks. “Chat is the opposite. He gets besotted looks and when the girl enters, he goes supernova with pheromones. He doesn’t do that with Ladybug anymore.”
Alya is right, but she was hoping she wouldn’t catch on.  Chat Noir use to be infatuated with Ladybug when they first began their adventures, but Ladybug refused to take interest, so he fell in love with someone else. She never asked who, she never wants to interfere with his civilian life, but he always takes a chance to mention her.
“Sooo, what are you going to do with the number?” Marinette inquires.
“Oh no, this is still for you.” Alya tosses the paper in front of Marinette. It floats down like an innocent sign from the love gods but Marinette knows its a menace brought by the gods of pain and pining. 
“Why?” Marinette jerks her cup harder than intended and a splash lands on her shirt. Clumsy.“We hardly talk. I only know him from work and magazine articles.”
Adrien Agreste does photo shoots, runways, and, on rare occasion, attends parties and passes pleasantries, but Marinette generally doesn't talk to him. She’s tried having men in her life from the fashion industry and, to put it simply, Gucci bras could provide more support than her ex-boyfriends.
Adrien maybe the son of her favorite designer on the planet, but he’s still just another guy. A gorgeous guy with lush hair, bright green eyes, and the body of pure sex-appeal— but still a normal guy.
“What will I even say?” Marinette whines. 
“What do you normally say before guys ask you out?”
“I don’t.”
“Well, he must be the one, cause you’re going to initiate. Where’s your phone? Front pocket?”
Marinette flails and sputters as Alya man handles her front breast pocket to snatch out her phone.You’d think as a journalist should would have deft pick- pocketing skills.
“You really need to change your password.” 
“I’ll keep that in mind when a matchmaking burglar comes along.” Marinette pouts. She thinks about having an impromptu conversation with a man she always admired from a distance and her nerves increase. “You aren’t really calling him are you?”
The phone is smacked in the middle of the table and Marinette jolts in her seat. Alya taps the speaker. Marinette hears the death tolls of her acquaintance with Adrien Agreste. Her mind is whirring with all the possible ways he’ll say no.
“Alya, I need alcohol. I might faint.”
“Alcohol can make you faint.”
“Well, maybe I want to faint faster.”
On the last ring there is an answer, “Hello?”
“Hi! Is this Adrien Agreste?” Marinette automatically hears her voice go to “ curtesy client call” mode. Her friends always said it was so sweet it was like the Annabelle doll before she steals your soul.  Maybe it’ll scare him off. 
“Yes. Who is this?” Adrien responds. He doesn’t hang up. What’s the point of lady luck if she can’t get out of potentially embarrassing phone calls?
“It’s Marinette Dupain-Cheng. I’m a designer for Zagg Fashion. We’ve worked together a few times.” Just keep it simple, keep it honest. Remember to breathe. 
Imagine him naked?
No, don’t imagine him naked.
A thump sounds on the line, like a person hitting something, followed by a curse and a small laugh not belonging to Adrien. Marinette’s brows scrunch as she looks at Alya. 
Alya gives a nonchalant shrugs and gestures to relax. Thats like asking to relax before a train wreck.
“W-wow, he—HI. Marinette, what a surprise. How’d you get my number?”
“Public bathroom floor.” Marinette replies without a thought. That was too honest, wasn't it? “Are you okay? I heard you hit something.”
“Oh—uh, that was just my cat? Plagg.” Adrien says. An angry grumble echoes in the background.
“Is he always so grumpy?”
“Only when the really cute girls call. Might be jealous.”
Marinette releases a nervous laugh. “Maybe, I’ll ask him out to dinner instead. I like a challenge.”
“Trust me, he’s more work than he’s worth. What do you mean ‘instead’?” Adrien’s voice leers into what sounds like a smile. Marinette’s stomach flips.
“Umm, yeah, the reason I called was…I don’t have plans tonight. And I thought, tonight feels like a Netflix and Chill night—but not that kind of—! Well,  not that I’ve never had one but—” Was she always this bad at dodging questions? How doesn’t everyone know Marinette is Ladybug?
“You want to Netflix and Chill…with me, tonight?” The buzzing in Marinette’s ears must have imagined the husky tone.
“That’s not entirely what I meant to say—“
“I’m coming over in a few hours. I’ll text you when I’m close. Your favorite Thai join is Bristros on 42nd, yeah?” He says the words in a quick breath which continues the throaty tone. Does the room feel warm?
“Wha—um, okay. Sure. How did you know I like Thai?”
“Ah, you must have told me or something. Few hours? I can’t wait, princess.” Adrien’s voice is bordering on gleeful, if Marinette could believe it. He hangs up in moments and Marinette is more lost than ever.
“Do you still need that alcohol?” Alya asks.
“Adrien Agreste is bringing Bistros to my apartment and then we’re going to…well maybe he doesn’t know. It’s possible he doesn’t know, right?”
In several hours, Marinette has her answer and she has to admit she was disappointed. If he is going to make her gasp and clutch at her furniture, at least have the decency to choose a bad movie she will never watch again. How will she ever look Toothless in the face again?
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mcstarr · 7 years
Text
drunk boyfriend tag
summary: dan and phil get drunk and film the boyfriend tag (similar to what shane dawson did) tags: alcohol, so much sweetness and cuteness your teeth will hurt, extreme fluff by: angelboydjh on tumblr word count: ~1.8k first fic posted!! please, ignore any mistakes and reblog and like!! ilu!! send in requests for fics :-) ゚*。:(人´v`*)☆゚:。*゚ dan and phil got a little drunk. they originally got out some Ribena, which is completely unharmful, until dan spotted vodka on the kitchen counter, which they only keep for parties. its almost gone, with a half a bottle left, so dan thought of an idea. "phil, lets get drunk." phil looked at dan confused; dan never really likes drinking as much as he used to, hes grown, the satisfaction of being drunk doesnt really thrill as much, and its the same with phil. "why?" asked phil, sipping his Ribena. "because why not! we have no meeting tomorrow, we are bored out of our minds, and itll be fun! we'll even be safe, we can control each other well." phil thought about it. he never really likes hangovers, who does? he gets them bad, and he knows dan gets them worse, but dan was right, they were extremely bored and had no meetings tomorrow. phil shrugged, and replied with a sure, causing dan to jump up with joy. dan grabbed the bottle and went to phils room, closing the door, and sitting on his bed. he opens to bottle and pours a lot in his drink, doing the same to phil. there is now many 4 shots full left of the drink and dan was happy he rationed out well. "wanna do a toast?" asked phil. "with our vodka filled ribena?" chuckled dan. phil nodded, giggling a little. "why not?" phil responded, and dan nodded agreeing. they lifted their glass cups up and they look at each other. "to us!" dan laughed at the cliché, but echoed phil, and a clink noise was heard when the touched glasses. dan downed about half of his drink in that one sip, phil only taking a baby sip. phil made a face, hating the taste of vodka. dan hid his disgust, looking at phil. "now we wait." dan took another sip, already feeling slightly dizzy. *:・゚✧ dan was fully drunk. he was giggling, putting his head on phil, slurring his words, all of it. phil was only tipsy. he didnt drink much yet, only about half of his drink. dan, of course, drank all of it, even the rest in the bottle! "phil!" dan slurred out, and phil glanced over slowly, so he doesnt get dizzy, and raised his eyebrow. "we should do a boyfriend tag." phil thought about this. is he that drunk that he doesnt really care if they do one or not? yes. he doesnt really care, its not like itll be posted. phil knows better than that. "sure." phil got up to get his camera from the other side of the room, and dan plopped on the bed laughing at who knows what. it took phil about 2 minutes to set up everything for filming, and an extra 5 minutes to find good goddamn questions. he finally found some question, a total of twenty. he can barely read them because of his blurry vision, and since he didnt have neither his contacts or glasses on. so he grabbed his glasses from the bed side and put them on to see if itll help. nope. he took another sip of his drink and locked his phone. he'll cross that bridge when he gets to it. he gets up and turns on the camera, praying to god its in focus. "dan, its on, we are filming." once those words left phils mouth, dan shot up from phils bed and looked at phil. "okay, okay, okay, okay," he kept repeating that until he finally was next to phil on the bed facing the camera. phil giggled at dan, dan looking at him with his red cheeks. "okay, ready, babe?" asked phil, seeing double of dan. dan nodded, and smiled at phil and then at the camera. "okay," phil breathed in and then 'took in his persona'. "hey guys!" he said cheerfully, but all it did is make him dizzy. dan was like, on top of phil, so hes grateful that he was, or phil wouldve fallen over. "im here with dan." phil pointed at him, and dan waved, his white oversized cat shirt being exposed, and you could even see his naked legs, since hes wearing shorts. "we are doing the boyfriend tag." phil said slowly, and dan nodded jumping up and down on the bed. "phil is my boyfriend! boyfriend phil! philip lester, boyfriend!" he yelled, making phil giggle. "okay, want ask the questions, or do u want me go ask them?" asked phil to dan. "ask me the questions! then we will do it back!" dan suggested, and phil nodded encouragingly. "okay, first question." phil unlocked his phone and read it very carefully. "when is my birthday?" he asked. "bonus points for the zodiac sign!" "january 30th, that makes you a......" he strung out the 'a' to think. "an Aquarius! aquarium." he laughed, and phil chuckled. "correct baby." he leaned in to kiss dan, and dan kissed him, tasting of vodka and ribena. "okay, now," phil was going to go to the next question, but dan protested. "now do mine! do mine!" dan pouted, crossing his arms. "june 11th! youre a gemini." phil stuttered out, making dan laugh. "lucky guess." he muttered jokingly. "next question," phil scrolled down the page. "where did i grow up?" "im too drunk for this phil!!" he moaned out. "the north! thats all youre getting." "well, youre not wrong." said phil. "ill give you the point." "what about me?" asked dan. "the south." "ugh! exact place!" "not fair, you didnt do that for me!" "ugh, whatever." dan pouted again. "wipe that pout off your face princess." phil whispered, grabbing dans chin. "im just kidding philly!" dan kissed phil, getting him off guard. "okay, next," phil asked. "whats my middle name?" "michael! these are too easy! i want harder ones. test me!" dan groaned out, and phil rolled his eyes. "okay, okay," phil said. he scrolled down to another website, which had different questions. "how about this: where was our first date?" "EASY!" he yelled, throwing his hands up. "well, kinda," he muttered. "its hard!" "well, tell me." phil said suggestively, leaning closer to dan. "we first met of course at the train station," he muttered out. "and then we went straight to your house, and, did things. does that count as a first date?" this took him way too long to say, as he was stuttering madly. "yes, it does. great job, cutie." phil said happily and leaned in for a kiss. "okay, let me ask the question!" phil started to give him the phone, but dan refused, saying he wants go make one up. "whats the first thing you notice about me?" he asked a bashful. "your smile." phil said simply. no explanation was needed to make dan feel all warm inside. dan covered his face and leaned on phils shoulder, grinning like mad. once he got up, he looked at phil, seeing his wonderful, eyes. "you know what mine is." he muttered, almost inaudible. it was phils turn to blush. they lean in and kiss once again, but longer than before. when they pulled apart, dan was seeing actual stars, and couldnt even understand what was happening, completely forgot about the video. "oh my god, i love you so much." he said in a shush tone, with phils hand on his cheek. they were only a few inches away from each other, and phil loved it. phil was exploding every inch of dans face, and so was dan. every moment phil made, it made him more dizzy and more dazed, but he didnt care. within a few moments, they both locked eyes, and somehow, both remembered they were recording. "uh, one more question," phil stuttered out, as dan looked around for his almost empty drink. "okay, last question. what is my favorite color?" "easy, blue." dan said, as he drank his final sips of his drink before crushed it and threw it. "hey!" phil protested, looking over at the cup. "ill pick it ip later, babe." dan slurred out almost incoherently. "whats mine?" "easy, pink." phil mocked. dan smiled softly, putting his arms around phils neck, phil put this hands on dans waist. "what kind of pink?" he muttered, with his sloppy grin on his face, his curly hair perfect in tack still. (which surprised phil) "pastel." dan groaned jokingly, letting his head drop down onto phils shoulders. "oh my god, i tried to trick you!" dan yelled. "well, you didnt. 8 years of friendship pays off." phil joked. dan put his head on phils shoulder, his head facing the camera. "can we finish? i wanna cuddle with you watch disney movies." phil chuckled and nodded. "we'll finish, lets do the outro." phil tapped dan, so he can get up from his shoulder, but dan didnt move a muscle, indicating hes not moving. "okay, well, goodbye everyone, please like a subscribe to me and dans channel, and our gaming channel! love you!" he waved and awkwardly looked at dan. "i need to turn off that camera baby." dan groaned and got up from phils shoulder. phil got up and turned off the camera, sitting right on his bed again next to dan. "can we just cuddle?" phil can tell dan was getting tired, and getting all drained. he gets like this when hes drunk, but also after recording videos. "of course, princess." phil laid down, then wrapping his arms around dan who is not next to them. they peacefully fall asleep, with the lights on and phils snoring. *:・゚✧ it was the morning, and phil is posting his premade video on lessamazingphil, just a quick vlog from florida. its taking surprisingly long to process, since its only 2 minutes, but phil didnt question it. its almost done, so phil went to go see dan, who has the worst hangover ever. "how are you baby?" asked phil, laying next to dan. "better, how bad was it?" he asked, and phil laughed. "you were fine, not as bad as a few months ago, but you were not any better." dan groaned, and at that moment his phone dinged. he unlocked his phone to see the notification, YouTube popping up, and it was phils new video. "uh, phil." dan said. "yes?" phil hummed. "you posted the wrong video." "what?" phil yelled a little too loudly for dan, as he backed away and gave phil his phone in just one beat. "i uploaded our drunk boyfriend tag." dans eyes widen. "we filmed a video? no way, i dont remember this. did we kiss?" "i was drunk too!" "well, i would keep it up." "why?" "we already made this mistake once, lets just let them have what they want."
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ella-the-vamp-blog · 7 years
Text
Dan and Phil's boyfriend tag drunk video fanfic
dan and phil got a little drunk. they originally got out some Ribena, which is completely unharmful, until dan spotted vodka on the kitchen counter, which they only keep for parties. its almost gone, with a half a bottle left, so dan thought of an idea. “phil, lets get drunk.” phil looked at dan confused; dan never really likes drinking as much as he used to, hes grown, the satisfaction of being drunk doesnt really thrill as much, and its the same with phil. “why?” asked phil, sipping his Ribena. “because why not! we have no meeting tomorrow, we are bored out of our minds, and itll be fun! we’ll even be safe, we can control each other well.” phil thought about it. he never really likes hangovers, who does? he gets them bad, and he knows dan gets them worse, but dan was right, they were extremely bored and had no meetings tomorrow. phil shrugged, and replied with a sure, causing dan to jump up with joy. dan grabbed the bottle and went to phils room, closing the door, and sitting on his bed. he opens to bottle and pours a lot in his drink, doing the same to phil. there is now many 4 shots full left of the drink and dan was happy he rationed out well. “wanna do a toast?” asked phil. “with our vodka filled ribena?” chuckled dan. phil nodded, giggling a little. “why not?” phil responded, and dan nodded agreeing. they lifted their glass cups up and they look at each other. “to us!” dan laughed at the cliché, but echoed phil, and a clink noise was heard when the touched glasses. dan downed about half of his drink in that one sip, phil only taking a baby sip. phil made a face, hating the taste of vodka. dan hid his disgust, looking at phil. “now we wait.” dan took another sip, already feeling slightly dizzy. *:・゚✧ dan was fully drunk. he was giggling, putting his head on phil, slurring his words, all of it. phil was only tipsy. he didnt drink much yet, only about half of his drink. dan, of course, drank all of it, even the rest in the bottle! “phil!” dan slurred out, and phil glanced over slowly, so he doesnt get dizzy, and raised his eyebrow. “we should do a boyfriend tag.” phil thought about this. is he that drunk that he doesnt really care if they do one or not? yes. he doesnt really care, its not like itll be posted. phil knows better than that. “sure.” phil got up to get his camera from the other side of the room, and dan plopped on the bed laughing at who knows what. it took phil about 2 minutes to set up everything for filming, and an extra 5 minutes to find good goddamn questions. he finally found some question, a total of twenty. he can barely read them because of his blurry vision, and since he didnt have neither his contacts or glasses on. so he grabbed his glasses from the bed side and put them on to see if itll help. nope. he took another sip of his drink and locked his phone. he’ll cross that bridge when he gets to it. he gets up and turns on the camera, praying to god its in focus. “dan, its on, we are filming.” once those words left phils mouth, dan shot up from phils bed and looked at phil. “okay, okay, okay, okay,” he kept repeating that until he finally was next to phil on the bed facing the camera. phil giggled at dan, dan looking at him with his red cheeks. “okay, ready, babe?” asked phil, seeing double of dan. dan nodded, and smiled at phil and then at the camera. “okay,” phil breathed in and then ‘took in his persona’. “hey guys!” he said cheerfully, but all it did is make him dizzy. dan was like, on top of phil, so hes grateful that he was, or phil wouldve fallen over. “im here with dan.” phil pointed at him, and dan waved, his white oversized cat shirt being exposed, and you could even see his naked legs, since hes wearing shorts. “we are doing the boyfriend tag.” phil said slowly, and dan nodded jumping up and down on the bed. “phil is my boyfriend! boyfriend phil! philip lester, boyfriend!” he yelled, making phil giggle. “okay, want ask the questions, or do u want me go ask them?” asked phil to dan. “ask me the questions! then we will do it back!” dan suggested, and phil nodded encouragingly. “okay, first question.” phil unlocked his phone and read it very carefully. “when is my birthday?” he asked. “bonus points for the zodiac sign!” “january 30th, that makes you a……” he strung out the ‘a’ to think. “an Aquarius! aquarium.” he laughed, and phil chuckled. “correct baby.” he leaned in to kiss dan, and dan kissed him, tasting of vodka and ribena. “okay, now,” phil was going to go to the next question, but dan protested. “now do mine! do mine!” dan pouted, crossing his arms. “june 11th! youre a gemini.” phil stuttered out, making dan laugh. “lucky guess.” he muttered jokingly. “next question,” phil scrolled down the page. “where did i grow up?” “im too drunk for this phil!!” he moaned out. “the north! thats all youre getting.” “well, youre not wrong.” said phil. “ill give you the point.” “what about me?” asked dan. “the south.” “ugh! exact place!” “not fair, you didnt do that for me!” “ugh, whatever.” dan pouted again. “wipe that pout off your face princess.” phil whispered, grabbing dans chin. “im just kidding philly!” dan kissed phil, getting him off guard. “okay, next,” phil asked. “whats my middle name?” “michael! these are too easy! i want harder ones. test me!” dan groaned out, and phil rolled his eyes. “okay, okay,” phil said. he scrolled down to another website, which had different questions. “how about this: where was our first date?” “EASY!” he yelled, throwing his hands up. “well, kinda,” he muttered. “its hard!” “well, tell me.” phil said suggestively, leaning closer to dan. “we first met of course at the train station,” he muttered out. “and then we went straight to your house, and, did things. does that count as a first date?” this took him way too long to say, as he was stuttering madly. “yes, it does. great job, cutie.” phil said happily and leaned in for a kiss. “okay, let me ask the question!” phil started to give him the phone, but dan refused, saying he wants go make one up. “whats the first thing you notice about me?” he asked a bashful. “your smile.” phil said simply. no explanation was needed to make dan feel all warm inside. dan covered his face and leaned on phils shoulder, grinning like mad. once he got up, he looked at phil, seeing his wonderful, eyes. “you know what mine is.” he muttered, almost inaudible. it was phils turn to blush. they lean in and kiss once again, but longer than before. when they pulled apart, dan was seeing actual stars, and couldnt even understand what was happening, completely forgot about the video. “oh my god, i love you so much.” he said in a shush tone, with phils hand on his cheek. they were only a few inches away from each other, and phil loved it. phil was exploding every inch of dans face, and so was dan. every moment phil made, it made him more dizzy and more dazed, but he didnt care. within a few moments, they both locked eyes, and somehow, both remembered they were recording. “uh, one more question,” phil stuttered out, as dan looked around for his almost empty drink. “okay, last question. what is my favorite color?” “easy, blue.” dan said, as he drank his final sips of his drink before crushed it and threw it. “hey!” phil protested, looking over at the cup. “ill pick it ip later, babe.” dan slurred out almost incoherently. “whats mine?” “easy, pink.” phil mocked. dan smiled softly, putting his arms around phils neck, phil put this hands on dans waist. “what kind of pink?” he muttered, with his sloppy grin on his face, his curly hair perfect in tack still. (which surprised phil) “pastel.” dan groaned jokingly, letting his head drop down onto phils shoulders. “oh my god, i tried to trick you!” dan yelled. “well, you didnt. 8 years of friendship pays off.” phil joked. dan put his head on phils shoulder, his head facing the camera. “can we finish? i wanna cuddle with you watch disney movies.” phil chuckled and nodded. “we’ll finish, lets do the outro.” phil tapped dan, so he can get up from his shoulder, but dan didnt move a muscle, indicating hes not moving. “okay, well, goodbye everyone, please like a subscribe to me and dans channel, and our gaming channel! love you!” he waved and awkwardly looked at dan. “i need to turn off that camera baby.” dan groaned and got up from phils shoulder. phil got up and turned off the camera, sitting right on his bed again next to dan. “can we just cuddle?” phil can tell dan was getting tired, and getting all drained. he gets like this when hes drunk, but also after recording videos. “of course, princess.” phil laid down, then wrapping his arms around dan who is not next to them. they peacefully fall asleep, with the lights on and phils snoring. *:・゚✧ it was the morning, and phil is posting his premade video on lessamazingphil, just a quick vlog from florida. its taking surprisingly long to process, since its only 2 minutes, but phil didnt question it. its almost done, so phil went to go see dan, who has the worst hangover ever. “how are you baby?” asked phil, laying next to dan. “better, how bad was it?” he asked, and phil laughed. “you were fine, not as bad as a few months ago, but you were not any better.” dan groaned, and at that moment his phone dinged. he unlocked his phone to see the notification, YouTube popping up, and it was phils new video. “uh, phil.” dan said. “yes?” phil hummed. “you posted the wrong video.” “what?” phil yelled a little too loudly for dan, as he backed away and gave phil his phone in just one beat. “i uploaded our drunk boyfriend tag.” dans eyes widen. “we filmed a video? no way, i dont remember this. did we kiss?” “i was drunk too!” “well, i would keep it up.” “why?” “we already made this mistake once, lets just let them have what they want.”
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mollykittykat · 7 years
Text
The Cupboard Game Pt. 2
AU in which Splinter evaded the contents of the mutagen canister and ended up raising the turtles as a human. No real warnings apply. Mostly family fluff with a teeny hint of angst. (Also available on A03: http://archiveofourown.org/works/10471893/chapters/23136108)
[If sum won coms wat do we do?]
Splinter got the fist text message a mere few minutes after he clocked in, when he was gathering his cleaning supplies and heading off to mop up the coffee spill in the recreation room.
He allowed his sons to send him text messages so long as it was important, although to four year olds “important” easily ranged from ‘I’m feeling lonely’ to ‘the stove was left on’ and everything in between. Though the turtles always forgot to say who was speaking before sending a message, Splinter could usually tell who it was simply by their writing pattern.
This one was from Leonardo. He had an average vocabulary for someone his age, misspelling things and sometimes allowing autocorrect to fill in the wrong word, but that aside he used the phone properly, and was typically clear and concise about his messages.
[Is there a stranger in the apartment?] Splinter’s return text was sent immediately. Normally he waited at least a thirty minutes before replying, not wanting to be caught shirking his duties to pour over his phone messages, but after yesterday’s encounter he was fearful that he had been too quick to deem Michelangelo’s slipup inconsequential.
There was an extensive pause, eventually followed by the long slow “typing…” message that lingered for a while. Though this was status quo for a barely literate preschooler Splinter’s heart hardly beat the entire time.
[No] [Mike want to no just in cays] Splinter let out a heavy sigh of relief, then returned with his own text.
[Remember the fire escape on the fifth floor? It leads to an alley where there is a drainage pipe leading into the sewers. If you can’t hide and must run, go there.]
He knew this would strike a familiar chord with his oldest son. They had gone over a similar escape plan when discussing what they should do if a fire should break out in their small dingy apartment, a news story about such an accident striking justified anxiety into the hearts of his four children.
[The sewers are infested with bacteria, won’t we get sick?] The next text came two hours later, this one obviously from Donatello. The turtle was very intelligent for his age, sending full sentences with proper grammar and vocabulary words that most parents could only dream of getting from a four year old. Splinter finished scrubbing down the sinks, and once they were shiny and clean he took a moment to exchange his supplies in the janitorial closet and reply to the text.
[We won’t have to stay there forever. It’ll just have to do as our hiding spot until we find a new home]
Another two hours and there was a new text. The timing for this one apropos, as Splinter had just settled down for a lunch break.
[I don want to hid in sewer thats dum this were the toylet water goos we shelled not had to hid] [Wy cant we moov to a big tenthose like peepol on tv] Raphael was clearly less patient in his texts, writing runnon sentences interspersed with nonsense words, the meaning behind his statements sometimes a struggle to understand. In some ways he was similar to his older brother, thought there was a tone to his wording that certainly set him apart from the others. It took Splinter a solid minute to realize that “tenthose” was bad spellcheck child speak for “penthouse”
[You mean penthouse? the big glass fancy rooms at the tops of skyscrapers? Penthouses take a lot of money, more than I can make.]
There was a pause. He took a bite of his sandwich as he waited for the child to finish reading the hefty sentence. [Even if u werk 198490829 ours?]
[Even if I work all the hours in the world]
Splinter finished his lunch break and was retrieving the floor buffer and a few fresh rags when another text came in…. though this one was ambiguous whether it was from Leonardo or Raphael. [I do not want u to work all the ours in the world] Splinter couldn’t help but smile at this one, taking a moment to send back an immediate reply.
[Neither do I]
Four hours passed, the phone remaining silent until Splinter clocked out. Putting on a jacket to shield him from the brisk humid wind he tore into the New York streets toward the location of his next job. The overhead sky was beginning to darken, the air thick with the smell of condensation as the forecasted rainstorm rolled in a day earlier than predicted. Splinter sighed, wondering whether or not he should ask for a ride from one of the acquaintances at the docks rather than risk returning to the apartment on foot.
His phone buzzed, the arrival of another text pulling him out of his thoughts.
[Papa heanrm forkn sjklj isnuwant abcdefgabc Mikey] Even if the turtle hadn’t put his name at the end it would have been obvious who had sent the undecipherable key smashing. Luckily, Splinter often found that messages from his youngest son, though impossible to comprehend, were immensely easy to appease.
[I love you too]
He let out a sigh, contentment and exhaustion fogging together into a single undecipherable emotion as he put the phone back in his pocket and continued his way toward the docks, where heavy crates of imports and exports would be waiting for him. It was hard work, but it had an aura of adventure to it and was worth the extra money. This time, however, he knew who would be waiting there. He felt it in his gut; certainty that the moment he was done loading crates Nezumi would bump into him, claim it was a coincidence, then push and prod with his offer once again, and worst of all… Hamato Yoshi was actually beginning to reconsider.
The night Splinter got the turtles, for all of the positive changes it had brought to his life, was a long exhausting night of many conflicting thoughts. The idea of calling the police or notifying a neighbor came to mind more times than he’d ever like to admit, the sight of four reptiles the size of infants, acting like infants, initially striking him as wrong… horrific even. But they weren’t merely acting like infants, they were infants. With every passing second the genetic mishaps showed themselves to be nothing more than helpless children, who would likely be hurt or even killed if word got out about their existence. Not knowing where else to go Yoshi brought them to his apartment. He panicked at every crying fit, he panicked over whether to feed them warm milk or insects from the windowsill, he turned up the television in order to cover up the sound of their fits until the neighbors complained, and then he panicked when the tenants knocked on his door. All night, for many nights, he made the changes necessary to carry on with the secret existence of four infants, soundproofing cupboards and stockpiling supplies. He moved on instinct, an unexpected family in dire need of protection filling his life with a sudden unexpected vigor that he hadn’t felt since his days with Shen and Miwa. Of course it couldn’t last forever. He could only be absent from his waitering job for so long before he met an ultimatum: earn a living, or leave four squirming infants all alone for eight hours on end.
He knew he couldn’t choose the latter, it would put his newfound family in a position of terrible neglect even if he dedicated every hour he had apart from work to tending to their needs. He needed a miracle, and the universe followed through, though not without it’s price.
It was by sheer luck that one day, when he was walking to the convenience store, he discovered Nezumi being thrashed by gangsters who were demanding some sort of overdue payment. Splinter didn’t know much about the situation, but he did recognize when a lone unarmed man was being threatened by hoard of thugs wielding blunt weapons. To this day he still didn’t know whether it was intuition or simple stupidity that inspired him to interfere, but in the end Nezumi got a good glimpse of what he was capable of. As a show of gratitude Splinter was given an offer, an offer that would have him working for only two hours in the dead of night, filling his pockets with more than enough to pay the rent while leaving him full days to take care of his infants sons and ensure they got a decent upbringing.
Underground fights. Serious underground fights settling bloody feuds under the gazes of vicious gamblers. It was illegal and dishonorable and extremely dangerous and yet, so long as he wouldn’t be hurting anyone innocent, Splinter knew he couldn’t refuse. After that, his sense of being was constantly jumping back and forth from opposite sides of the spectrum. During the day he was a father, a good father, watching small children slowly learn to talk, teaching him what he could about language and history and how to keep out of sight. However, when he was in the fighting ring, he was a submissive attack dog beating men that were all muscle and meat into unconsciousness while surrounding crowds shrieked and hollered. It reached a point to where even the simplest fights turned into behemothic bet-hedging schemes, Nezumi leeching off of the ‘“street cred” Splinter never wanted to make a name for himself in areas that Splinter wanted nothing to do with.
Those months contained some of the best and worst moments of his life. Overall, however, he couldn’t say he had any regrets. All it took was one memory of the quartet of two year olds falling asleep in his lap while he read about the antics of The Cat in The Hat, and he could contentedly affirm that… despite everything… he had done the right thing.
Would it be the right thing if he went through with it one more time? It was just a couple of nights in the ring, maybe only one night judging by the purse Nezumi had mentioned yesterday. With money like that he would be able move his family to a small place outside the city limits, somewhere far away from the constant prying eyes of strangers where the turtles could run around carefree like boys should... …. like they deserved to.
When Splinter arrived at his destination he found his suspicions confirmed. There was Nezumi, sitting in a dingy little sports car just off from the docks, windows rolled down a crack to release the smog of a half-smoked cigarette. The moment their eyes met the skinny tattooed scarecrow jumped, startled to see that not only had his target arrived, but he was walking directly toward him. There was the sound fumbling as Nezumi let his cigarette drop to the floor and rummaged around the glove compartment, probably in search for some hidden weapon. When Splinter yanked him out of the vehicle by his wrists it became clear Nezumi probably should have dedicated more time to locking his door than locating his switchblade, and before he could so much as blink he was pinned to the concrete, foot on his back, arm twisted until pain forced him to unhand his weapon.
“Hey hey hey hey!!! Cool it! This trip had nothing to do with you! I’m out here meeting some old friends!” he squealed as Splinter took the switchblade “Coincidence! Pure coincidence! I’m not-“
“How much did you say that purse was?”
Nezumi suddenly stopped, rubbing his sore shoulder as he found himself released from the painful hold. He rose back to his feet, watching his attacker casually toss the swiped blade to himself, a look of calm earnestness on his face.
“You… you’re serious?” “I don’t know yet” Splinter muttered, “Tell me how much I’ll win if I take part in this fight you talked about.”
“Th-… thirty grand if you win the final round. Twenty grand if you get second place and-” “Fine.” Splinter closed the switchblade and pocketed it while giving his answer. Forgetting his swiped weapon, Nezumi took a moment to come to grips with what was happening, a look of idiotic glee on his face when he realized his hopes were confirmed. “The Splinter is back in action?”
“‘Mister Takara.’ Or Daiki if you want to be informal.” Splinter knew he’d regret accepting that “stage name” the moment it caught on. His old self laid across ocean, lost in the passing years, but making his lifelong nickname into a tacky “extreme warrior” title served to twist the knife rather than help him move on. But of course, Nezumi took the correction as a signal to keep their plans on the down low, and still wearing that stupid smile the scrawny little thug placed a finger against his own lips in a gesture of silence and winked.
Decision made and instincts already telling him this was a terrible idea, Splinter turned away and began heading back toward the loading docks. “I’ve got to go. I’m already late.”
“Wait wait wait!” Nezumi rushed ahead, blocking Splinter’s path with outstretched arms. “Tell me when you get off work! I’ll come by and pick you up!”
Splinter shot him a doubtful glare.
“I’m taking you to dinner!” Nezumi explained “It’s on me. You can ask for all the details you want over some hot grub and some wine. Huh? What do you say?”
Splinter’s glare softened. He would have to skip out on the wine, he had a notoriously low alcohol tolerance, but the idea of a good meal swayed him. That, plus a ride home that would keep him safe from the rain, and he couldn’t find the will to protest.
[I’ll be home late] Raphael saw the text at about six, an hour before their father was scheduled to get home. The small turtle slowly mouthed the syllables, getting through the sentence at an agonizing pace before Donatello swiped the phone and read the sentence at his preferred speed.
“Papa’s gonna be home late Leo!” Big dark blue eyes looked up just in time to see the brainiest of his brothers get tackled to the ground, Raphael wrestling to regain possession of the blackberry cellphone. Leonardo, remembering how angry Splinter had been the last time they’d broken a phone by fighting over it, trotted over and took the device from his feuding siblings before texting back.
[time?] [Very late. There is apple sauce and cheese sticks in the fridge. Nuts raisins and crackers in the cabinet. Be in bed by 8.] [Ok] [Make sure everyone brushes their teeth and washes their face too] [Ok]
“What is it?” Leonardo had just sent out the last text before his youngest sibling snatched the phone from his hands, squinting at the letters with his tongue hanging out of his mouth in concentration. “Papa’s gonna be late” Leonardo explained before his brother could finish reading the first word, snatching the cell right back much to Mikey’s displeasure. “We’re gonna eat and get ready for bed without him” “No bedtime story?” Leo shook his head no, a dutiful look on his face as he trotted to the kitchen and opened the fridge door, standing on his tiptoes in order to reach the assigned snacks.
“Don’t worry though! Papa usually makes up for this stuff. He’ll prob’ly bring pizza tomorrow!” Though this reassurance seemed to please the youngest turtle, Donatello and Raphael didn’t look all too happy.
“He shouldn’t be out longer! He needs to sleep more! Thas’ the opposite of what I told him to do!” Donatello said, sounding close to tears as he gave a little stomp of his foot. “Whadya mean he’s not going to be home?!” Raph added, joining in with his sibling’s protests “He’s never home and I miss him!” “He misses us too!” Mikey whined in turn, now crying for reasons he himself didn’t quite understand until Leonardo and shoved an unwrapped cheese stick into his mouth, satiating him.
“We just gotta be patient. We’ll watch TV” Leonardo reassured, as if watching television wasn’t something they’d already done all day to pass the time waiting for their father to get back. Already bored by his brother’s suggestion Donatello peeled back the translucent foil on the window, big ruddy brown eye peering up at the sky.
“Turn it to the weather channel. I don’ like the look of those clouds. Papa really should’ve looked at them before deciding to stay out longer” Raphael wiped his eyes with the back of his hand and found the remote, slowly clicking his way toward channel six. Mikey chewed contentedly on his cheese stick as he yanked some blankets down from the back of the couch, curling up on the floor in front of the screen as his eldest brother delivered the food and began dividing it out between his siblings.
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