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havecourage-darling · 2 years

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Firsts: The First Argument

AO3 link || Part 7 of 12 (each chapter is a standalone)

<< The First Time || Masterlist || The First Conversation >>

Pairing: Eddie Munson x Female Henderson!Reader

wc: ~9.7k

warnings: cursing, angst

A/N: thank you all for your comments! I was feeling a little bogged down by work and a few of you commented/sent me messages that made my lil grinch heart grow. I love you forever, srsly lmao

“Eddie,” you said, head tilting back further so he could have better access to your neck. “I have to go soon.”

“Mhmm,” he hummed into your skin, the vibration shooting down your body. You let him continue his trail down to your collarbone, leaving small bite marks on your skin. Already sore from the night before, you couldn’t help but twitch when his hands drifted lower.

Eddie’s smile turned smug and you rolled your eyes. His touch softened and you, like the predictable sucker you were, melted into it. The huff of laughter that fanned across your skin meant he’d noticed too.

“I’m going to be late,” you said, voice trailing off as he pressed his hips into yours. “I know what you’re doing.” You tried not to let your mind wander and kept your eyes on your favorite baseball cap up by the ceiling.

“I’m not doing anything,” he said, blinking up innocently at you, “can’t a guy kiss his girlfriend without ulterior motives?”

“Guys can, you? No chance,” you said, laughing at his disgruntled expression as you climbed off his lap. You pressed a hand down your shirt, trying to flatten the wrinkles his wandering hands caused, and looked around for your bag.

“Where are you going anyway?” He asked, kicking his feet up onto the table, fiddling with his rings.

Smiling triumphantly when you found your bag you made sure you still had everything. “Farrah is coming to get me,” you said, absently, “she wants to go to the mall that’s like an hour away. She needs to buy something.”

“Girl’s day again?” Eddie teased. You rolled your eyes and tried not to encourage him; you knew he was only joking but it had become sort of a habit. Someone always wanted to go to the mall and it became a whole adventure really. Last week was Sienna needing new boots. The week before that Angelina needed to get her hands on a perfume. To be fair, you had been the one to start it all – asking them to accompany you to get a new jacket for winter. In the end you hadn’t even bought it, you liked wearing Eddie’s anyway.

“I’m not sure,” you frowned when you didn’t spot your jacket. “Have you seen my coat?”

“You mean my coat?” Eddie snorted, standing and unearthing his cargo jacket from what felt like thin air. You grinned, pulled on your hoodie and let him help you into it.

A car honked outside Eddie’s trailer and you peeked out the window.

“That’s Carlos!” You said.

“Carlos?” Eddie asked, his brows furrowing.

“Yeah, you know him and Farrah don’t really go anywhere without each other,” you winked, kissing Eddie one last time, “I can’t tease them considering…well, us.”

“Come on Henderson!” A third voice shouted. Eddie leaned around your shoulder to glance at the car.

“Who’s that?”

You squinted and waved when you saw Ben sitting in the back, practically hanging out the window.

“That’s Selena’s brother, remember? She’s probably riding with Sienna and Angelina.”

Eddie frowned and you paused, feeling like you were missing something.

“I’ll see you tomorrow?” You prompted when he didn’t answer. His uncertain expression cleared, as if wiped away, and he smiled down at you. Eddie leaned down to kiss your temple and squeezed your shoulder.

“Yeah, I’ll see you tomorrow princess.”

“Hey Munson!” Carlos shouted out, motioning at you to hurry.

Eddie nodded, lifting a hand.

“Hey guys!” You smiled, tossing your bag in before you slid into the back seat next to Ben. Before Carlos could pull away you popped your head out the window, your cheeks a little frozen from the cold and cupped your hands around your mouth.

“I love you!”

Eddie’s small smile broke into a grin and Carlos groaned loudly.

“Oh, like you don’t do the same with Farrah,” Ben said, defending you loyally. You offered him a fist and he laughed, bumping it.

“Alright, alright let’s just get there so we can get this over with,” Carlos said, driving out the park.

Eddie bobbed his head along to the music, his van parked outside your home. He’d honked twice and saw you wave out your window.

Gathering speed as we head down the runway

Gotta get airborne before it's too late

“Running, scrambling, flying,” Eddie sung to himself, fingers hitting his steering wheel to the beat. The guys had been thinking of covering this song for their next gig but Eddie was a little apprehensive. He knew Rick didn’t care what they played at the Hideout as long as they played something. Eddie wasn’t too sure their new place would be such a great idea. He didn’t want to scare them off – he was almost sure that if they could spread the word a bit more, just drawing in a little more people, so that they could get paid.

And holy shit wouldn’t that be something? Getting paid to play music. To shred on his guitar.

They had to get the setlist right. Eddie frowned, looking for his scrap of paper that he’d been using to scribble on.

“Hey you,” your voice carried from halfway up your driveway.

Eddie popped up, grinning when he saw you wrapped up in his jacket. He teased you about it a lot but, he loved how you looked in it. Eddie turned the heating up as far as it could go – not that that was saying much in his van – he knew that you usually ended up shivering in here.

“Princess,” Eddie bowed his head, loving the grin you shot his way. It’d been almost a year and half and he still couldn’t get enough of you. Judging by the way you pulled him into a cold kiss as soon as you hopped into the car, you couldn’t either.

Eddie couldn’t help his smile. He knew you loved him, you said daily, but he was still a little in awe of it.

“I brought you some leftovers,” you said, stopping briefly to sniff the air. He was about to ask what you were doing when you brought the cookie up to his mouth. Eddie took a bite of the new cookie recipe you’d been trying and felt the sweetness melt on his tongue.

“This one is just as great as the last one,” he said, starting the car.

You tried to hide a delighted smile behind your exaggerated eye roll. “You can’t keep saying that for all of them!”

“Sweetheart, they’re cookies. They’re all good.”

“You’re biased,” you said, laughing when he wiggled his brows.

“Fuck yeah I am,” he said, bringing your hand up to his lips. Your hands were still cold, despite the heating and Eddie felt his stomach dip. He really needed to get the heating looked at the next time he passed by the mechanics.

“How was your morning?” You asked, something flashing across your face. It was too quick for Eddie to recognize and the light turned green before he could analyze you.

“A little stressful,” Eddie admitted, “we’re trying to get the setlist just right.”

You sighed and he knew you understood the battle. “Can I help?” Eddie grinned, loving how you always offered.

“Gareth might actually like that,” Eddie laughed, “it’ll give him a break from arguing with me.”

“I’m not fighting Gareth for you,” you joked, “he’s scary when he gets all huffy.”

An image popped up in Eddie’s mind and he could see Gareth turning red as he huffed, stubborn in his decisions. “You know, he can be,” Eddie agreed. He turned into the diner, where you had your first non-date, and parked quickly.

“Is that why the van smells like cigarettes?” You asked nonchalantly, pulling on your gloves.

Eddie closed his eyes and fought the groan that resonated in his chest. Fuck, shit, fuck. He’d promised you the last time you’d brought this up that he’d try to cut down. In his defense, after this morning’s shitty rehearsal, he’d needed one for the drive home. He’d completely forgotten that you had the nose of a bloodhound and a few hours wouldn’t have been enough to get rid of the smell. Shit, it was probably on his breath still too.

Reaching for the gum he kept in his cup holders, he chewed on a piece hesitantly. “Rehearsals were tough?”

You chewed on your bottom lip, looking indecisive and small. Eddie hated that – he knew you’d taken a while to work up to asking him to consider quitting smoking. You didn’t care much about the weed, considering Steve he’d laugh if you did, but you really didn’t like the cigarettes.

While you had never outright said it to him but he could tell. The way your eyes would tighten when he lit one in front of you, your eyes would track the movement as he brought it to his lips. Eddie knew you too well to know that you were hiding your displeasure despite never really saying anything.

Eddie watched you fiddle with your zipper – unsure and you shrugged.

“I’m sorry,” he said, wanting to erase the disappointment out of your expression.

“You don’t need to be sorry,” you said, trying and failing to summon your usually bright smile. As if you knew he wasn’t buying it, you reached for the door and hopped out.

Fuuuck, Eddie dropped his head onto the wheel and winced when it throbbed. He was such an idiot.

He really did want to show you he could quit, he could. He hadn’t even been smoking for long – since his first round at senior year, the one he met you. Ironically, the month before the Halloween dance. He’d bummed some off his uncle and while he wouldn’t say he couldn’t live without them; it wasn’t as easy as he’d thought it would be. He’d also…admittedly hadn’t been putting much energy into it, despite promising you.

“It feels a little like I should be sorry?” He said, his tone making it sound like a question. Eddie jogged up to where you waited and watched you try to school your expression.

“You said you’d try and this is you trying,” you said, small smile not reaching your eyes.

Eddie’s heart sank into his stomach. Shit, he really did need to start trying. You didn’t wait for him to reply and turned to pull the door open. Eddie scrambled to hold it for you but you were already waving at your waitress and sitting in your usual booth.

The fluorescent lights today seemed to beat down on him a little more than usual, the beginnings of a headache blooming at the base of his skull. He felt his palms get clammy and he frowned when he saw you pick up the menu. In the year you’d been coming here together you’d ordered one of the same three things, you never looked at the menu. He leaned against his elbows and tried to peek at you over the plastic menu.

“Hey, I’m sorry, I did say I would and I don’t break my promises,” he tried again.

You nodded, smiling, eyes still on the menu.

Eddie nudged your foot with his and you brought your eyes up to meet his. “I’m serious.”

He watched your robotic customer service smile morph into a small – but real - one and he released the anxious grip he had on the table. “I’m sorry,” you exhaled, eyes darting down to his hand. “You don’t need to do anything you don’t want to. I never want you to feel like you have to change yourself for me.”

Eddie almost laughed. Right, like you were asking for much? Poor him, his girlfriend cared about his health and didn’t want him to smoke cigarettes. Only you would feel bad for trying to keep him healthier.

“You’re not,” he assured you, hating the anxious expression that had overtaken your face. “You don’t ever make me feel like I need to change. If anything, you might be a bad influence on me. You should really be trying harder.”

The familiar indignation that rose to your cheeks made him want to pump his fist in victory.

“Same as always?” The waitress, Doris, interrupted.

Eddie nodded, shooting her a grateful look. She nodded, walking away as quick as she’d appeared.

“You never talk about it,” Eddie said. Dustin had briefly mentioned it but he wanted to hear it from you.

“He didn’t die from it,” you said, eyes not meeting his again. “He took me to one of his appointments, halfway through, and he made me sit outside…I overheard my dad’s doctor tell him that the cigarettes hadn’t helped.”

Eddie’s heart ached at the look in your eyes. Like you were lost in a memory that you’d have rather forgotten. He knew exactly what that felt like.

“I – it’s clearly me being a paranoid loser,” you said, shaking your head, “I just…”

You didn’t say the words but you didn’t have to. Eddie knew what you meant. You didn’t want anything bad to happen to him either.

“I get it and I mean it,” and he did – he had half-heartedly managed to lower the number of cigarettes he smoked but he hadn’t stopped buying them. He still carried a pack with him everywhere he went. Not anymore.

Eddie made a dramatic show of pulling the cart from his jacket and dumping it into the trash.

“No more!” He shouted.

You laughed, ducking when the other customers turned around to look at Eddie. The waitress, familiar with his antics, rolled her eyes.

“Are you sure?” You said, anxiously biting at your bottom lip.

He was – he did want to do it for you but mostly he wanted to do it for himself.

“I am. This is for me, you know?”

Your answering smile made his heart jump back up, arms reaching out for yours.

Eddie felt ridiculous.

“You look fine,” you told him, the fifth time that night.

“I didn’t say anything,” he said.

You rolled your eyes and shot him a look that said he wasn’t fooling you. “You keep tugging at your tie.”

“I’m just not used to it,” he said, feeling like the biggest poser in his button down and tie. Wayne had looked like he wanted to laugh when he’d asked him to borrow one.

“You look great,” you said, wiggling your brows enough to make him smile. You were ridiculously cute when you tried to be suave. “I promise to peel it off you later, right after we get home.”

Eddie snorted at your corny tone but the image of you tugging him onto the bed by the tie had him shifting uncomfortably “Smooth,” he teased.

“Worked, didn’t it?” You winked.

Holy shit, did you have him wrapped around your finger. Eddie would remember to be embarrassed but he hadn’t ever managed the energy to care. He almost stumbled into you when you stopped suddenly at the front doors.

“Princess, I need a little warning – whoa, hey, what’s wrong?” Eddie watched your hands tremble as you whirled around and dug your face into his chest. How had you gone from teasing to scared so quickly?

“What if it’s the worst thing anyone’s seen?” You asked, voice muffled by his jacket. Your breath frosted in the air, evaporating quickly into the cold. Eddie rubbed his hands up your arms, trying to warm and reassure you.

“From what little you’ve shown me,” he said, pointedly, ignoring your snort, “they’d be fucking out of their minds not to love it. You’ve got talent bursting out of every cell, okay? So even if they don’t like it, fuck ‘em.”

“Eddie!”

“I said it. Fuck. Them. You’re good at this and you don’t need their validation,”

Your head lifted from his chest, your smile genuine and while your anxious shoulders hadn’t dropped all the way – they weren’t as tense. He’d take the win.

“Ready Henderson?” He asked, intertwining your fingers with his.

“Ready,” you said, walking into the gallery.

Eddie had celebrated with you when you found out that your photographs were chosen to be included in your school’s annual art exhibition. You’d tried to downplay the achievement but he knew that only ten out of hundreds were chosen. This was a big fucking deal and he couldn’t be prouder of you. Which is why, if he had to conform to the man and wear a tie – he’d do it, no questions asked. Even if he did look ridiculous.

He watched you check your coats in – you still insisted on wearing his old ratty cargo jacket and goddamn if it didn’t make some stupid male part of his brain happy – and Eddie pulled you back into his side.

Both of you ignored the fact that you were buzzing like you’d taken a hit of something. “Come on, I don’t care about this stuff. Take me to what I came here to see,” Eddie teased, delighting in the way you grinned.

“Alright, I guess we’ll have time to look at it after,” you said, pulling him towards the photography section.

The second the picture frames came into his field of vision; he knew which were yours. It was like a magnet and his feet took him towards them.

Eddie felt your curious gaze beside him, your eyes on his expression, analyzing no doubt for any reaction. He lacked the words to describe how amazing they were. He knew you had a knack for this, he’d known it from the second you’d told him you wanted to try your hand at it.

“Oh my God, you hate it,” you teased, bumping his elbow.

“I’m never going to leave you alone after this, you know?” He said, throwing his arm around your shoulders. “What is it that you say when you see me at a gig?”

“It comes natural to you, like it’s an extension of who you are,” you said quietly.

Eddie nodded dumbly. “That’s what this is Peach,” he murmured, still looking across your five photographs. “Are those the-”

“-flowers you got me on our first date? Yeah. I pressed them to save them. I thought they’d look nice with a fresh bouquet.”

“Lightning in a bottle,” he read the caption. Eddie’s heart tripped, his stomach flipping the way it always did when it came to you. The way he always hoped it would. He couldn’t believe you’d dedicated one your photographs to him. No one had done something like that for him before. Before he could formulate his thoughts into words, someone behind you cleared their throat.

“Do you two ever not look disgustingly in love?” the voice called out.

Your head turned and Eddie rolled his eyes good naturedly when he saw Angelina standing there with her hands on her hips. Sienna appeared over her shoulder, looking a little ruffled.

“I’m sorry, I tried to stop her,” she huffed, looking down at Angelina with affection.

“You guys came!” You said, your face lighting up.

“Of course, we did, doofus,” Angelina said, tugging you into her arms and squeezing tightly. Her bracelets clinked together as she waved a hand excitedly. “Yours are the best here.”

“Angie!”

“What? I said what everyone was thinking,” she said, crossing her arms.

“Excuse me, Ms. Henderson?”

Eddie straightened at the sound of a man’s voice. Your spine seemed to follow suit because you turned a little stiffly. “Yes?” You called you replied looking a little unsure.

“Ah, I see you found her!” A second older man walked over to you all.

“Professor!” You squeaked, your voice a little high pitched. “I didn’t know you would be here.”

You wrung your fingers but your expression looked deceivingly calm. He reached out to squeeze your shoulder and smiled when you calmed.

“I wouldn’t miss it, especially once I found out my favorite student would be showing her pieces,” he said, smiling warmly.

You immediately looked flustered and ducked your head bashfully. Eddie wanted to tease but knew you’d just get more embarrassed. “Oh, I’m sorry, Professor Jacobs this is my boyfriend, Eddie Munson.”

“Pleasure,” the man said, shaking Eddie’s hand. “I see Ms. Young and Ms. Jones made it too.”

“Hi Professor,” Angelina and Sienna waved, beaming.

“If you don’t mind, could I steal you away for a few minutes?” The professor asked, motioning to the first man. “I wanted to introduce you to someone.”

You blinked and Eddie elbowed you, reanimating you. “Yes, of course, I’ll be right back.”

Eddie watched you straighten your shoulders and nod along to something the professor was saying. Angelina sighed. “Well, I don’t know about you guys but I’m parched. Drinks?”

Eddie and Sienna nodded, eyes still on you.

“God you two are worse than mothers,” Angelina snorted, disappearing through the crowd.

“Is she frowning?” Sienna whispered, rising to her toes. Her arm gripped Eddie’s and he tried to be more discreet but probably looked just as obvious.

“That’s just how she looks like when she’s pretending to listen,” Eddie whispered back, pretending to look at a nearby photo. Sienna followed suit and her nose wrinkled.

“What is this?”

Eddie blinked, looking up at the large black and white image. A fruit? Wait, no was that the edge of a chair?

Sienna snapped her fingers. “It’s a swimming pool!”

“Why would anyone photograph an empty swimming pool?”

She shrugged. “What’s the caption?”

“Unicorns in the mountains,” Eddie said, biting on his lip to keep from smiling.

Sienna’s elbow hit his ribs painfully. “It’s artistic,” she said, wiggling her fingers.

Eddie shook his head; it really wasn’t funny – as an artist he knew that. But still, unicorns? Wait, was it a dog?

“I hope he’s telling her something good,” Eddie said, sighing, not wanting you to have your night ruined.

“He’s probably trying to convince her about NYU,” Sienna said, moving onto the next photo and looking even more confused.

“What?” Eddie asked, voice a little too loud.

Sienna shot him a look. “The photography program? She was offered a spot for next year.”

“What?” Eddie sounded like a broken record but he couldn’t believe it. NYU? Fuck yeah, that was big leagues. You deserved this. His sudden burst of elation came crashing down as Sienna continued.

“She turned it down already,” Sienna whispered as a couple passed closely, shaking her head, “Angelina won’t let her live it down but I guess I understand.” Eddie’s heart dropped to the floor.

You’d turned it down? Why would you turn an opportunity like that down?

“What won’t I let who live down?”

Eddie barely registered Angelina’s presence.

“NYU,” Sienna said, shrugging. Angelina’s eyes darted to Eddie’s before widening pointedly in Sienna’s direction.

“Sienna,” Angelina hissed, shooting her a look. Sienna straightened, as if struck by lightning, and Eddie’s heart dropped next to his stomach. You’d told them but not him.

“Fuck.” Sienna looked like she’d rather be anywhere but here. She stumbled over her words before muttering something about the bathroom.

“Don’t overthink it,” Angelina said quickly, as Sienna darted away, “she was going to tell you but she hadn’t rejected it officially until two days ago.”

“Two days ago?” He croaked.

Why hadn’t you told him?

“She was overwhelmed, you had that gig coming up, she was making sure the photos came out perfect for tonight, and you know how she gets,” Angelina’s voice was soft, like she was trying to soothe a cornered animal. Eddie knew you were nervous about tonight and that he’d been busy with the band but…why wouldn’t you just tell him?

“Why did she turn it down?” He asked, watching you shake hands with the men.

Angelina grunted and Eddie turned around to look at her.

“Angelina.”

Her shoulders slumped. “I don’t know, she won’t tell me all of it – I…you know why, Munson.”

Eddie didn’t know what to do with that.

“Hey,” your voice startled him. He turned and saw your eyes beaming up at him. “Professor Jacobs said he thinks one of my photographs will sell. Can you imagine? Someone wants to pay actual American dollars for my photo!”

Your happiness, despite the recent truth bomb, made a smile creep onto his face. The gut instinct to ask you, demand to know why you’d say no, died just as quickly as it rose. This was your night and…if you hadn’t told him yet he needed to trust that it was for a reason. You always did things at your pace and he didn’t want to ruin this for you.

“Of course, I can,” he said, wrapping an arm around your shoulder, “they’re the best ones here. Jones and I can’t figure out what that one is.”

Squinting, you stepped forward and bit your lip. “Is it a house?”

Angelina snorted and Eddie smiled down at you.

“Hey, where’s Sienna?”

Eddie was being weird. You’d noticed it at the gallery last night but he’d been trying to cover it all afternoon. He’d offered to swing by for you this morning but you had to go in to cover one of your co-workers’ early shifts. You’d driven to his trailer after work and picked up on his mood almost instantly.

It wasn’t a mood, per say, but more like he was…off.

“Did you want to see if we could catch a movie? I think Nancy is going, we could invite Angelina or Jeff. I think he said he wanted to see the new release.”

“Hmm,” Eddie hummed.

“Eddie?”

“What? Sorry, I missed that.”

You narrowed your eyes at him and he scratched the back of his neck.

“I asked if you wanted to catch a movie tonight?”

“Sure, yeah,” he said, eyes returning to his guitar. “What time?”

“I think it’s at seven,” you said, checking your watch, “we’ve got like three and half hours.”

“Wait,” he straightened, “what time is it?”

“3:40,” you said, settling more comfortably onto the couch.

“Fuck,” he stood, almost dropping his guitar. You sat up, shocked. Eddie was never careless with his guitar.

“What?” You asked, glancing around the room instinctively.

“I told Rick I’d be by at four to stock up,” he groaned, pinching his nose, “he’s going to bitch when I’m late.”

You immediately grabbed your bag and his keys. “Come on then, let’s go.”

“What?” He asked, stilling.

Glancing at him, you opened the door, shivering when the cold air burst through. “I said come on, we can make it if we take the shortcut on Delancey.”

“Uh, no,” he snorted, “I’ll go and you can wait here. I’ll swing back for you and drive us to the theater.”

What? You frowned. “That’s driving twice as far for no reason, I can just go with you. I’ve never met Rick anyway.”

“He’s not really interesting, I promise,” Eddie said, tugging his leather jacket on. “I’ll be back.”

“Eddie, you can’t be serious, you’ll be hours,” you said, closing the door. “I’m coming with you, don’t be stupid.”

“I said no!” He said, shoulders tensing.

You blinked at his outburst, taking a step back.

“What the hell is your problem?” You asked.

“My problem?” Eddie’s expression contorted into something you’d never seen before. Was he mad? What the hell had you done? “My problem is that I’m going to go pick up drugs and you want to come with me!”

“Yes?” You said, incredulous. “I’ve literally sat in the car before while you sold to someone Eddie, I’m not blind. Besides, stop acting like you ever sell anything other than weed-”

“I got the special K!”

“That was twice! Regardless, why would I care?”

“Because you should!” He huffed, crossing his arms. “I don’t want you there!”

You took a step back, as if he’d shoved you. “I don’t even know what you’re talking about,” you snapped, temper awakening.

“What don’t you get? You can’t come to restock, period, that’s it.”

“Are you worried someone’s going to see?” You asked, trying to find out why he’d suddenly lost his mind.

“Yes! I don’t want you involved.”

You snorted. “Well, it’s a little too late don’t you think? The whole town knows we’re dating!”

“I care!”

“Oh, now you care,” you said, narrowing your eyes at him.

“What does that mean?” He asked, crossing his arms, brows furrowed and mouth twisted downwards.

“You never care! That’s your thing, isn’t it?” You shouted. “So why would you start now? Even if it’s about me?”

“I have always cared about you!” He said, expression fierce.

You rolled your eyes and took a few steps away from him. “No, you care about what it would say about you if people were talking about me!”

“That doesn’t make any sense!” He said, looking confused and annoyed. You didn’t blame him, this was starting to get ridiculous.

Opening your mouth to repeat it – to be honest you weren’t sure you knew you could – he threw his hands in the air and exhaled loudly.

“Whatever! You know what, you’re right. I don’t care about any of it – not school, not about my reputation, and certainly not what snotty people think of me.”

Was that a dig at you? How had you gone from going with him to restock to caring what other people thought of you? Unless he didn’t want you there for another reason? Did he think you were snotty? Just because you cared a little didn’t make you a snob! You felt yourself getting defensive.

“Well, not everyone has the luxury of not caring Eddie.”

The silence felt like a roaring pulse in the room.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” He asked.

“That you shit on people who conform to society but I have to care sometimes okay? I don’t have the money to pay for college. I need to get good grades or else I don’t get a second chance okay! I can’t just repeat a year.”

Eddie’s face flinched like you’d slapped him.

“That’s not what I meant-”

“No, by all means, say what you really feel.”

You groaned; you were just trying to defend yourself. “Not everything is a dig at you! If I would’ve meant to say it, I would’ve said it!”

“Right, like the way you told me about the NYU program?”

You froze. How the hell had he…you closed your eyes. That’s why Sienna hadn’t been able to look at you. You were going to kill Angie; she should’ve given you a heads up.

“Right, didn’t think I knew, did you? Maybe, just maybe, because you didn’t tell me.”

“I was going to tell you!” You were – today actually.

“Right, when? Because Angelina said you’ve known for days,” he said, expression full of hurt.

“Soon! Okay? Today. I was worried…well I was worried you’d react like this!” You threw out your hand at him. “Irrational!”

“Irrational? Oh, I’m being irrational?” You nodded, crossing your arms. “Why? Because I won’t let you come with me on a drug run when I’ve told you I don’t like it when you come with me to stock up, I’ve always told you that.”

You put your arms on your hips. “Which I’ve respected despite the fact that I don’t know why! I know what you do Eddie, I’ve always known, for fuck’s sake I bought from you! The night we officially met, the one you say is a good memory, was right after you sold Steve a joint. We hid out in Rick’s house for days when the town thought you were a murderer. I’ve always shown you the worst and best parts of me. Why do you hide this from me?” Your heart sunk at the sight of his changing expression.

“Because I’m embarrassed! Because this is who I am, some drug dealer that has to feel worried about how I don’t make enough money at my real job so that maybe I can afford a better car? So that one day I could take some classes? Or better yet, so we can find an apartment that isn’t a total shithole? One I can actually afford? One you deserve? Or are we going to pretend it’s been almost six months since we stopped looking at places?”

“Don’t you dare put that on me,” you hissed, “you’re the one who found something wrong with every apartment we saw! I work at a fucking bookstore Eddie! What do you think I’m earning? Millions? I’m on a scholarship!”

Eddie rolled his eyes and your temper flared beyond the point of return.

“You don’t know what this feels like!”

“Because you won’t talk to me about it!” You yelled back. “If you would just open up-”

“Perfect, smart, talented, Henderson. With the poor, stupid, local dealer. You’d obviously never lower your standards to be with me,” he said, frowning, “who was I trying to kid? I won’t ever measure up and it’s about time we both stopped pretending I will! I just drag you down – I’m doing it now.”

“Don’t make this about the internship,” you hissed.

“You don’t see it, you just don’t see it,” he shouted, surprising you both.

“Then fucking show me!” You snapped.

Eddie’s eyes flashed and he started picking up speed. “The day you didn’t invite me along to the mall with your friends! I thought that was a girls only thing and then Carlos and that new guy is there?”

You gaped, at a complete loss. “I didn’t ask if you wanted to go because I know you hate shopping!”

“Last I checked it wasn’t your favorite either!”

“But they asked me to go, I was going for them!”

“I would’ve gone for you, but you didn’t even think to ask?”

You hadn’t. You wanted to spare him what you thought would’ve been a hard trip.

“And you think that’s because I’m embarrassed of you?” You asked, heart breaking. “You think I’d do that? That I’ve been acting these past, what, seventeen months? That I’m that big of an asshole? Like the rest of them?”

Eddie shrugged and you felt your heart sink further. How could he?

“Please, tell me how you really feel about me,” you said after a moment, mortified to feel pressure behind your eyes. Did he really think that about you? That you thought you were perfect and he was just some loser? Were you just lumped in with the rest of the judgmental assholes of this town? “I didn’t know you thought so highly of me.”

Eddie’s shoulders slumped and he pinched the bridge of his nose, regret already overtaking his expression. “That’s not what I meant.”

“Right,” you laughed dryly, “but that’s what you said. Or didn’t say.”

“Henderson-”

Incensed, you stood, not knowing what to do with the sudden rush of adrenaline. “And for your information, I’ve never said I was embarrassed! You’re the one who acts like you need to go around rejecting people before they hurt you first. Steve was an asshole but he was never mean to you, right? Nancy might seem stuck up but she’s just quiet and doesn’t open up to strangers. She’s never been rude to you.” You crossed your arms, not knowing what to do with them.

“Angelina and Sienna have always been your friends. Carlos and Farrah show up to almost all your gigs – they tell anyone who’ll listen about how good Corroded Coffin is. You’re up on your high horse so sure others are judging you – and yeah, some of them are, but you don’t give anyone a chance!”

Eddie curled into himself and you hated the pang of sympathy you still felt. Unfortunately for the both of you, once your temper was roaring – it was hard for you to break the fire.

“If you want to talk about secrets,” you said quietly, “why don’t we talk about the fact that I saw that internship application for the recording studio in Indianapolis in your drawer last month.”

“I…” Eddie sputtered, looking like you had pulled the rug from under him.

“It’s easy to point the finger, isn’t it?” You sneered. “I have never been embarrassed or unaware of who you are Eddie. Sometimes I feel like I know you better than you know yourself. I know you’re a good person and you deserve better than what you allow yourself to have. It’s like you’re clinging to these things that you hate doing as a form of punishment. If you’re so ashamed of selling or of how you think people perceive you then do something about it. Stop acting like you don’t care, stop projecting onto me, and stop assuming you know how I feel. Because clearly you don’t.”

At the resounding silence, you starting packing up your bag.

“Where are you going?” His voice sounded panicked.

“The hell away from you.” You snapped, grabbing your keys and shoving your feet into your shoes.

“So, what, you’re just going to run away? That’s real mature!”

“Whatever!” You snapped, feeling like you could punch his stupid, heartbroken, face. God, why is it even when you were mad you felt the desire to pull him to you.

“Yeah, whatever!” He snapped back, anger resurfacing.

“I don’t want to talk to you. I don’t want to be around you right now. I want to be alone,” you reached for the door, stumbling over your feet, “and you know what! I know you’ve still been smoking! So next time don’t promise to do something when you won’t even put an effort in!”

Slamming the door felt satisfying, the jolt in your arm ached and you stumbled to your car. How had that escalated so quickly? You didn’t even remember what it had all started with. It wasn’t until you were almost to your house that you broke down. Tears clouded your eyes and your lungs felt like they couldn’t draw in air.

Fuck.

“Well, well, well, look at what the cat dragged in,” Robin said, her arms crossing, and Eddie felt like he wanted to shrivel up and die.

More than usual.

“Buckley,” Eddie greeted, hesitating by the door.

“She’s not here,” she said, leaning her hip against the counter. “You missed her by ten minutes.”

Eddie’s heart jumped. You’d been here?

His expression must have looked as pathetic as he felt because Robin’s glare softened minutely.

“Alright, Robin, he looks miserable – let’s go easy on him,” Steve said. He walked out of a nearby aisle with the box of tapes in his arms. “Hey man.”

Steve slapped Eddie’s hand, bumping his fist after and saluting him.

Eddie hated to admit that you had been right about Steve, not that it surprised him. You were right about most things. Steve was a good friend, one he could count on, and a loyal one. Once he got passed the hair, the popularity, and the persona he carried, Harrington was pretty cool.

Not that Eddie would ever tell him that. He’d never let him live it down if he did. Dustin already jokingly referred to them as co-parents.

“Hey,” he said, chewing on his lip, “I need advice.”

“Hmph, how the mighty have fallen,” Robin snipped.

Steve winced at her tone, but Eddie couldn’t blame her. He knew Robin’s loyalty to you was unmatched. “She’s clearly Team Henderson,” Steve said.

“So should you! You’ve known her for most of your life you traitor,” Robin said, stepping away from Eddie.

“Robin, look at him,” Steve hissed.

Eddie wanted to resent that but who was he kidding? He knew he looked bad – worse than usual. His mood wasn’t helpful either. Gareth and Jeff had all but barred him from practice. It’d been a week since your fight and Eddie hadn’t gone that long without talking to you in over a year. It was a humbling experience to realize that he really didn’t know what to do without you. Which was fucking pathetic but he was desperate.

The next morning, Eddie had woken up with a pit in his stomach and he knew he’d been an idiot. He’d tried calling you but you wouldn’t talk to him. Dustin was even starting to sound worried. The first, and only time, he tried to talk to you in person, you’d sent out Dustin. He’d passed along the message from you – that you’d like to be left alone and you’d call him when you were ready to talk.

That had been five days ago. Eddie’s skin was starting to crawl and he knew he had the tendency to lean towards the dramatic but – he couldn’t help but feel like if he didn’t do something soon, he’d lose something he wasn’t prepared to lose. Something he couldn’t lose. But he didn’t know what to do, he didn’t want to show up unannounced, he couldn’t keep calling, he had no blueprint to follow. You’d never fought before – this was new territory for him.

On the fourth day, Eddie had gotten wasted in Gareth’s garage and Jeff had looked at him so pitifully that Eddie knew he must’ve looked bad. Gareth had been the one who suggested he go to Robin and Steve. So here he was – because he was desperate.

Eddie felt Robin’s inspecting stare and was surprised to see her animosity drop. “You do look a little pathetic,” she admitted.

“Thanks,” Eddie said dryly. “I just…need help.”

“And you thought coming here was the best place to get it?” Robin snorted, making Eddie’s heart drop. “That’s ballsy, Munson, even for you.”

“You’re the safer option than Dustin,” Eddie joked flatly.

Steve laughed. “Yeah, avoid Dustin as long as you can.”

“Please,” Eddie cleared his throat, wishing he didn’t sound so pathetic, “can you just… she won’t answer my calls. She doesn’t want to see me. I don’t know what to do.”

“She’s mad,” Robin said, pointedly. “You basically called her stuck up and judgmental.”

Eddie felt his chest tighten. How the fuck had he gotten here? “I didn’t mean to-”

Robin huffed, crossing her arms again and Eddie closed his mouth.

“You know I was starting to think you guys weren’t normal,” Steve said, pensive, when Eddie turned to him.

“What?” Eddie blinked.

“You guys never fought with each other and that’s not normal, it can’t be normal!” He said defensively, turning to Robin. “It’s been more than a year without you guys having a real fight. Everyone fights! Shit, I’ve lost count of how many fights we’ve had.”

Robin picked at her nails, reeking of superiority. Eddie wanted to melt into the floor.

“Robin, please I already feel bad enough,” Eddie said, rubbing a hand down his face. “I can’t apologize if I can’t find her. It’s almost been a week.”

“She was listening to Elton John,” Robin said quietly.

Eddie froze. No…you couldn’t be. Things weren’t that bad, were they? Not Elton John bad. “Which song?” He demanded.

Robin ignored him and disappeared through the back door.

“Steve,” Eddie turned to him, voice a little pleading.

Harrington groaned and shook his head. “I’m Still Standing.”

Eddie closed his eyes and his heart all but stopped in his chest.

“Well fuck,” Eddie said, nodding as he slowly let his head hit the counter, “fuck, fuck, fuck.”

“Alright calm down it’s not unfixable,” Steve said, walking over to him. Eddie felt him pat his shoulder. “At least she’s moved on from Tina Turner?”

“She was listening to Tina?” Eddie closed his eyes and sighed. Shit. Maybe he really had fucked this up beyond no return.

“What’s love but a second-hand emotion?” Robin sang under her breath as she walked past them both, shelving more tapes.

Eddie straightened, his stomach flipping uncomfortably.

“Robin,” Steve said, shaking his head, “don’t sucker punch him when he’s down. Look at him.”

“I didn’t say anything,” she said, humming to the beat.

“She only listens to that album when she’s pissed, remember that fight she had with Dustin?” Eddie said, feeling worse than before.

Steve winced. “I said it’s fixable not that it wasn’t bad…” He snapped. “What about flowers? You should just show up to her next shift. She can’t stay mad forever.”

“I don’t know,” Eddie sighed. He’d avoided ambushing you at work, worried he’d make it worse. “I’ve never…gone this long without talking to her. I don’t know who to ask – she’s the one I’d ask in this situation. She’s my best friend. Isn’t that pathetic?”

Robin’s eyes snapped to his and her expression looked pitying.

“I’m telling you man, chocolates and flowers,” Steve insisted, “she’s got the early shift tomorrow.”

Robin groaned and Eddie heard her drop the pile of tapes. “Dingus, you give the worst advice.”

“Hey!”

“You,” she said pointing a finger at Eddie. “Are you sorry?”

“Yes.”

“Do you realize what you did wrong?”

Eddie frowned and Robin squinted at him. He nodded, not wanting to ruin his only chance.

“She misses you too,” Robin said, sighing, “you’re both pathetic really. She thinks you’re mad at her but she’s also mad at you. You look like a kicked puppy and it’s weird when you two fight. You need to talk it out.”

“That’s what I’m trying to do!”

Robin raised her brow. “She likes white calla lilies,” she said, pointing to the market across the street.

“I know what my girlfriend likes,” Eddie said, defensively. He wasn’t an idiot. Well…

“She’s at home,” Robin said and Steve choked. ��Her mom is at work, Dustin’s in school, and she called out sick from the store.”

“Robin, she’s going to kill you,” Steve said, looking worried as Eddie reanimated.

Eddie smiled and kissed Robin’s cheek. “You’re my friend too – even if I take her side.” He watched her small smiled before it vanished. “But you can’t keep carrying the baggage without trying to deal with it. You both messed up but for the sake of this not happening again, you gotta try Munson.”

He felt a surge of affection for her. “I owe you Buckley,” he said, half running back to his car.

“Yes, you do!” She yelled out.

“And there's a cold, lonely light that shines from you,” you sang loudly, and off key, “you'll wind up like the wreck you hide behind that mask you use!”

Licking the batter from the spoon you were using, you danced in place. Robin was right, who needed men? They were all stupid.

“Have you tried talking to him? Instead of ignoring him like a ten-year-old?” Steve’s voice echoed in your head.

You’d been ignoring his calls, making Dustin tell him you weren’t home. Your mom had looked suspicious but you hadn’t wanted to tell her and swore Dustin to secrecy. Your heart had grown when he offered to beat Eddie up for you.

In reality, you were hiding from the fact that this fight wasn’t entirely on his shoulders. You knew you had made a major mistake not telling him about the program. You never lied to Eddie, about anything. Were you hurt by what he’d said? Yeah. But you’d said hurtful things too.

Fuck, you grunted, feeling the wind in your sails die. You needed to apologize. This whole argument was so stupid. You knew Eddie was insecure about his financial situation – despite you not being that much better off, you knew it was a sore spot for him. So, what did you do? Poke at it until he exploded.

You had stood there, pointed out all his insecurities, and then had the audacity to be insulted when he insinuated that you were like the rest of them. Hadn’t you done exactly what he was worried about?

Groaning, you winced at this mess. You really had to call him. Tonight. You were done hiding because you were embarrassed by what you’d said and how you’d acted. He’d been wrong, but so had you. Plus, you missed him. You didn’t know you could miss him this much – it really was worrying.

The doorbell interrupted your musings and you covered the mixing bowl so none of the cats could get to it. Lowering the volume to the sound system as you padded to the front door, you wondered who it was. Robin had said she would be by during her lunch break. Had she ditched Steve and come by earlier?

Looking like a true survivor, feeling like a little kid

And I'm still standing after all this time

“Did you leave King Steve alone – Eddie?”

“Hi princess,” he said, bouquet of lilies in hand.

“Hi,” you said, suddenly aware that you were wearing one of his AC/DC t-shirts and your oldest pajama bottoms. You ran a hand down your hair and winced when you felt how frizzy it was. “I wasn’t expecting you.”

“I know,” he said, frowning, “I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s okay,” you reassured him, opening the door further, “I’m not…busy?”

A ghost of a smile flashed across his face. “No, I mean, I’m sorry.”

The knot in your chest tightened further.

“Why didn’t you come by earlier?” You asked, feeling immediately stupid. Clearly, he didn’t come find you, you wouldn’t answer his calls – idiot. He was respecting your space. “That was such a stupid question, I’m sorry-”

“No, it’s okay,” he said.

“I could’ve come to you too, or answered the phone or-”

“Princess.”

You snap your mouth closed, shooting him an apologetic look.

“I’m just going to start, okay?” He asked. You nodded and motioned for him to follow you to the living room.

“I’m sorry, I never meant to hurt you,” he said, eyes on his fingers. He twirled his rings, a clear sign he was anxious.

“Me neither,” you said quickly, “I’m sorry Eddie.”

He shook his head. “You didn’t say anything I didn’t already know on some level. I’ve asked Bert if I could pick up more hours at work and Jeff thinks we’re close to getting paid gigs. I think…no, I know I want to stop.”

“Not because of me, right? Because I meant what I said-”

“No,” he surged forward, taking your hands in his. “I want to do it for me. You were right – I think I’ve kept myself back for long enough.”

“I’m glad,” you said, squeezing his hand.

“I’m sorry for yelling at you,” he mumbled, eyes going back down. He played with your fingers, his index finger tracing the lines on your palm. “You said you didn’t want to be around me and I don’t know, I thought I’d fucked up. It took a year but I finally fucked up like I always thought I would.”

“Whoa, whoa, what,” you said, stopping him. “Eddie, we’re not breaking up?”

“We’re not?” The hope in his expression broke your heart.

Your mind worked overtime trying to remember if you’d indicated that. “Unless…you want to?” Your voice cracked and Eddie’s eyes widened.

“No! That’s not – definitely not. I just thought…after our fight, you didn’t want to see me anymore?”

Relief flooded through you. “Eddie it was a fight, everyone fights.”

His brows furrowed and you saw genuine confusion bleed into his eyes. “In my family, when you fight and people leave, they don’t come back. I don’t want us to break up. I swear, it won’t happen again. I just need a chance-”

“Hey. That’s not how we work okay? Sometimes I’ll need space. You’ll need space from me. It’s normal, Eddie look at me. I was leaving the moment - I wasn’t leaving you. Okay? I’m sorry that you ever thought I would,” your heart broke a little at the fact that he thought that’s how arguments ended, “I love you, Munson. A fight over stupid shit like white lies about college courses and internships are not strong enough to break us.”

His smile widened but you could still see the shadows in his face.

“If you leave, I will come after you,” you teased. “Until you tell me you don’t want me around, I will always follow where you go.”

“Really?” His voice started to return to its usual cadence.

“Eddie, you dove into lover’s lake and into a world you had no idea about just because you were following me,” you reached out for his arm, “you’ve literally followed me into a layer of hell. Why is it surprising that I would do the same for you?”

He shrugged.

You resisted the urge to sock him in frustration. “Do you know when the first time I realized I loved you was?”

“My mother’s death anniversary?”

You shook your head. “The first time we had sex,” you said, rolling your eyes as his lit up. “It’s a cliché, I know, but I was nervous and you made a stupid joke-”

“-hey, it made you laugh-”

“-and I just knew. I knew that you loved me too,” you said softly. “I knew you weren’t ready. We grew up very differently, and I’m sorry for not realizing sooner that that means we don’t process things the same way.”

“It’s not your fault,” Eddie added, inching closer to you. “I need to step up. I’m not used to people caring about me like this. I know we’ve been together for a while but…it still feels new to me.”

“That’s okay, we can learn together,” you said, stepping towards him, “I don’t know what I’m doing either Munson. I didn’t live in the same city as my first boyfriend.”

Eddie sighed and twisted one of his rings. “I have to ask,” he said, expression apologetic, “about the program.”

You felt a little flare light up within you but you stomped it into submission. Nodding, his eyes darted around nervously.

“Can you honestly look at me and tell me that I had no weight in that decision?” Eddie asked, expression twisting, as if he already knew the answer.

“No,” you said, not wanting to lie, “but-”

“I knew it!”

“Eddie, shut the hell up and let me speak,” you said, poking at his chest.

Eddie frowned but sat down on the sofa.

“Thank you,” you exhaled, “yes, okay? I admit that I didn’t want to go that far from Hawkins because I know you need to be here for your upcoming gigs and all the work you’ve put into the music scene here can’t go to waste. I know that.”

Pacing the length of the couch, you didn’t know how to explain this properly.

“You’re my boyfriend, Eddie, you’re more than that – you’re my best friend. I…you…”

Eddie opened his mouth and you shot him a glare. His jaw snapped shut and you pinched the bridge of your nose. You knew what you wanted to say but felt a little hesitant. You knew Eddie loved you – you’ve known that before he said it to you. You didn’t want to rush through this, rush him, but…

“You’re it for me, okay?” You said, annoyed for feeling cautious about saying it. “I love you so much and I know people say that your college boyfriend isn’t the one you settle down with but I don’t want to settle with you.”

“You don’t?” Emotions flashed across his face.

“No!” You said, frustrated. “I want to see the world with you, I want to build our family – even if that’s just me and you – I want to go to your gigs, I want to photograph things, I want to travel, I want to be with you always. Okay? You’re it for me.”

Eddie’s expression softened completely, his eyes on you.

“So, when you ask me when deciding if I should uproot my whole life for a single class in a school I haven’t been accepted to, where my scholarship does not apply, in a city I can’t afford, just to see if maybe it amounts to something – if you had any weight in that decision? Yes, you did. But not because you hinder me, I know we can make it through long distance. We made it through monsters, murder charges, and the Upside Down. Long distance for two years wouldn’t kill us.”

You ran a frustrated hand down your face.

“I love you so yes, every decision I make going forward is going involve you because I’m not just me anymore – we’re us,” you said, “but even then, I wouldn’t put my own ambitions on hold for you because that’s not how we work. Okay? If I had really, truly, wanted to go – despite not being able to afford it and frankly not wanting to – I would’ve made it work. But I didn’t. I was just trying to figure that out before I told you.”

Silence. You were breathing a little hard, amped up, and you shot him a look when he didn’t say anything.

“Can I speak now your majesty?” Eddie said, smile blossoming.

You huffed, crossing your arms. “Your Majesty is how you address a queen, I’m your royal highness, thank you very much.”

Eddie’s arm tugged you to him, stumbling over your rug. “I know what I said,” he said before dropping his lips to yours.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered, “I wasn’t trying to make the decision for you. I was just…panicking. My dad, he – totally eclipsed my mother and turned her into a shell of who she was. I never want you to give up anything for me. You deserve whatever you want.”

“I know that,” you said, softening, “I don’t want you to give up anything for me either. We’re not those people. We’re not two halves of a whole. We’re two whole people who choose each other. None of this fate bullshit. I choose you, okay?”

Eddie shook his head and pressed his lips to your forehead. “How the fuck did I get so lucky?”

You snorted. “I still annoy you when I click my pen when I study remember? And I’m never going to stop stealing your milkshake after I’m done with mine. I will always press my cold feet to your legs to get warm in the mornings. You have to love me despite that.”

“You could just order two milkshakes,” Eddie grumbled, “and wear socks to bed.”

“Yours tastes better and you radiate heat, it’s not nice not to share it.”

Eddie tried to hide his smile but you felt it anyway.

“I choose you too,” he said.

You grinned, watching his matching smile chase away the lingering darkness from his expression.

“I’m telling Steve and Robin you said I was your best friend,” Eddie teased.

“I will gut you,” you said sweetly. Eddie threw his head back and laughed. His shoulders dropped and he sunk into your touch. Yeah, you’d be okay. More than okay.

#eddie munson x reader

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mylittlediarys-stuff · 5 months

Text

Bite Back Part 4

Link to part 5: https://www.tumblr.com/mylittlediarys-stuff/740736906727424000/bite-back-part-5?source=share

By the time she woke up, it was already dark outside and quiet. She guessed that Alfred put her in her room probably with the help of someone else.

What would I do without him?

She slowly made her way out of her bed, then grabbed her glasses off her desk. She put on her glasses to make her way to her bathroom. Due to previous experiences she learned that not wearing her glasses to get to the bathroom during dark nights would lead to her face planting to the floor.

She made her way to her bathroom. She took off her glasses to splash her face with some water to actually wake up. The only thing she could think of right now was what she should make for dinner. She was practically starving and it was hurting her stomach a bit.

It is probably pretty late so everyone must be at their nighttime activities.

She grabbed her towel and started patting her face.

Ramen sounds nice or could have some-

She started to pay attention to her hair. She started to mess with it.

There is no way this is real. Maybe this is a dream?

Her black hair turned red and even got longer. She even pinched her cheek to see if this was real life.

And why can I see so clearly without my glasses!

Amaka decided the next logical step was to slap her face this time because this had to be a dream.

“That hurt,” she mumbled. The girl didn’t even know how to react. She didn’t know if she should scream or if she should pass out again.

I can accept the different hair colors but I don’t understand why I can see.

Amaka had always had pretty bad vision as long as she can remember but now she has 20/20 vision maybe even better?

Thousands of possibilities of what could happen ran through her head. But suddenly she started having a headache. She opened up the drawer to get her bonnet and she covered her hair. Amaka thought if anyone were to see this she would be in serious trouble.

I need to find some pain killer so I can figure out the hair and eye problem.

The girl stared into the mirror a bit longer. She opened her mouth a bit and noticed that even her teeth looked a bit different. Almost like she had fangs. No she definitely had fangs.

I can't do this anymore.

The girl started to head her way out of the bathroom but each step made her head hurt more. The time she got to the door she felt like it was a thousand pounds on her head. She started to sweat even. She was somehow able to put her hand on the door knob but when she tried to pull the door open a bit more since it wasn’t fully closed she broke the knob.

“Okay, what is happening?” Amaka could only make one logical conclusion.

I’m sick and I should just go to bed and wake up in the morning then I will be better.

“Okay, I’m still sick.” was the first thing she said the moment she woke up. She still had a headache and she was hoping that the hair and good vision would go away (though she knew that wouldn't happen). Her morning seemed only to get worse as she kept on going.

First, when she got her toothpaste she somehow squeezed it too hard, and all the paste ended up on the mirror. She reluctantly took some of the paste off the mirror with her toothbrush. Second, even the movement she made made her headache worse and she had a cough now too. Third, not only did she break the knob of the door she also somehow broke her shower knob thing.

It can’t get worse.

It got worse. The moment she made it downstairs to get breakfast. She covered her face with a mask and wore a hoodie to cover her hair. She even put on her glasses even though she didn't really need them.

“Good morning everyone,” Amaka said before taking a seat, she turned her face to make eye contact with her favorite butler. “Good morning Mr. Alfred.” Even though he couldn’t see it, she made enough to have a small smile. She picked up the good morning she got from her brothers and Bruce. They were too busy talking to each other to even make eye contact with her.

“Good morning Miss Wayne,” Alfred replied, then brought a cup of orange juice for the girl and a stack of pancakes with eggs and bacon. “Miss, are you feeling well?”

“Oh, yes. I just got a small cough.” She said, before pulling down her mask and taking a big bite of her pancake. “I think I just need to take it easy for today.” Alfred nodded his head before heading back into the kitchen to do whatever he did.

Amaka tried to listen to the boy's conversation while eating but she found that their voice was making her head hurt worse, every word they said just seemed so loud. She did pick up the reason why Jason was here because after the brother bonding day (which Dick forced Jason and Damian to go on) he was too lazy to go home and Dick was here cause Dick basically lived here when he wasn't working.

She slowly got up. She wanted to just go back to her room and sleep. She picked up her plate and headed to the kitchen to thank Alfred. The moment she got up was the moment Damian threw a butter knife at Jason but he badly missed. The knife ends up going toward Amaka where she catches it easily. It took her a second to realize she had caught the knife.

“Since when can you do that?” Damian asked, all the attention was on her now. Which made her feel very uncombable.

“Do what? Oh catching this?” She lifted the knife a bit higher. “Anyone can catch a knife I guess?” Amaka laughed awkwardly.

“I can throw a ball at you going at 5 mph and you won’t be able to catch it,” Damian replied. The thing she really didn’t like about Damian was that he enjoyed saying the most rude or passive-aggressive comments toward anyone in a radius of 1 yard.

“Maybe it was luck then,” She muttered. “Yeah, that's the only possibility is luck.”

“And why do you look so weird?” He asked.

Weird?!

“Damian, stop being rude,” Dick said.

“But I’m only telling the truth she looks like she aged 50 years-” The only reason why he stopped was because Dick covered his mouth with his hand and because Bruce gave him a ‘Stop or no going on patrol’ look.

Do I really look that bad?

“Well because I’m sick if you hadn’t noticed.” She mumbled and made her way out.

Extra-

After Amaka left the room, Damion continued his complaining again.

“I am not wrong,” He mumbled. “I mean look at her face, she had eye bags and everything. The face mask was actually saving her.”

“Like she said she was sick Damian,” Tim replied. “and everyone gets eyebags when they're tired or sick.”

“Drake you 're only saying that cause you can’t get rid of your eye bags.”

“Demon spawn needs to learn some manners,” Jason said.

“Don't even talk about manners Todd.”

“Damien, your brother is right, you lack manners, especially towards your siblings,” Bruce said.

“Yes, Father.” Damian was able to finally shut his mouth after Bruce said something. “But, you guys don’t think it's weird she caught the knife.”

“No, not at all,” Bruce said.

“Anyone who lives here can catch a knife easily,” Dick said.

“She can’t even dodge my punch during practice,” Damian said. “But she can catch the knife I threw?”

“Dodging and catching are two different things,” Jason said.

“Not really they're both just reflexes,” Tim said. “They're more alike than you think.

“Smartass,” Jason mumbled.

“Someone doesn’t get that good overnight, and not someone as bad as fighting like her,” Damian said.

“Just drop the topic,” Bruce said, he realized his sons are just going to give him a headache.

Note: Red hair? Check! Accelerated vision? Check! Super strength? Check? Fangs? Check! Superhuman reflex? Check! Possibly some spider sense? (check the end of the last chapter) Check! Spoiler alert Amaka powers going to be based on Migual and Toby versions spider man. I still didn't really talk about how Amaka looks but now you guys know she used to have all-black hair but now it is red for some magical reason and she has glasses. I don’t know if you guys could pick it up but Amaka is Nigerian you can tell by her name. I think i'm going to make a whole character profile for her and probably draw her to it.

#batsis x batfam #batsis #into the spider verse #spider oc #bruce wayne #dick grayson #damian wayne #jason todd #alfred pennyworth

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t-lostinworlds · 7 months

Text

t-lostinworlds' commissions

STATUS: OPEN

↳ hi! as some of you might know, i'm on my broke college girl era and i will need all the help i can get to pay for tuition and everything else. so i thought, why not give commissions a shot? so here i am!

if you're interested, then keep on reading!

WHERE to ask for a commission

DM me on here! my messages are open to everyone so it should be easily accessible.

KO-FI | linked in my bio. everything is already set up there so all you have to do is pick & choose.

Send me an email at:

HOW to pay

through ko-fi or p*yp*l (please dm me for it bc tumblr acts up when it's linked sometimes)

DM me if there are other methods you’re comfortable with and we’ll figure it out!

DETAILS, INSTRUCTIONS, TERMS, and PRICES can be found HERE or on this tumblr page

STUFF I OFFER

WRITING

character x reader — open to doing a Character x OC but with an additional charge since it's going to take longer for me to familiarize the OC that you will provide.

second person POV by Default — open to doing a third person POV if that's something you prefer. I won't do First Person.

current characters I write for include: bucky barnes, miguel o'hara, steve harrington & peter parker

RATES WILL DEPEND ON LENGTH:

Blurbs (500-1000 words)

Short One-Shots (2,500-3,500 words)

Long One-Shots (5,000-10,000 plus words)

EXCLUSIVE WORKS | ONLY AVAILABLE ON MY KO-FI SHOP ↳ my writing that won't likely be posted...ever. so when i say exclusive, i really mean it.

Scene from a One-Shot

will include scenes from: a nathan drake one shot, revisiting is sweeter, a tom holland boxing AU, and a tom holland frat au

A Chapter from an Unfinished Series

chapters from my Tom Holland Mob/Mafia AU — there are only 7 parts in total that are fully completed. the rest are rought draft that i'm willing to share privately for free if anyone simply want to know what happens next.

GIFS & GRAPHICS

2-Set Gif — two (2) gifs of any scene/character(s) of your choosing

5-Set Gif — five (5) Gifs of any scene/character(s) of your choosing

Icon & Header Pack — one (1) icons + one (1) header for tumblr and/or other socials

Writing Graphics Package — one (1) gif header, three (3) dividers, and page breaks and banners

↳ again, more details can be found on the google doc or on my ko-fi pages that are linked below:

↳ if there are any further questions, please don’t hesitate to message me! thank you so much for your support! <3

↳ also, i just want to say that, i'm still going to be writing and posting for free on here when i do get the time. but as of now, i really need the extra income. BUT there's absolutely no pressure to commission whatsoever. even a simple reblog will do!

#bucky barnes x reader #miguel o'hara x reader #steve harrington x reader #peter parker x reader #tom holland x reader #nathan drake x reader #t's commissions #writing commissions #fanfiction commissions #gif commissions

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sacredsnape · 2 years

Note

I love your writing. ❤️❤️

Some romantic headcanons/one shot/whatever: Sev and her have 2 kids and another on the way. And he buy a big manor near London as surprise and thanks to their family for giving him maening to his life.

Thanks darling 💖

thank you for loving my writing, it really means a lot to me c:

summary: snape has had a very tough life but you've made up for it, giving him so much joy, love, and the family he's always wanted, and he finds the ultimate way to repay you.

snape lives!au, post battle of hogwarts

genre: fluff

warnings: mentions of a near death experience

link to masterlist

you've nearly lost snape plenty of times over the years - whether it was from him having his life threatened by other death eaters, or barely surviving nagini's venom during the battle of hogwarts - you've learned to hold snape closer than ever to your heart.

when you had first heard about him nearly dying during the battle, you completely broke, stunned that you had come so close to losing the man you loved.

what made you even more emotional was that you were carrying yours and snape's first child at the time, and it broke you to think that your child could've possibly grown up without a father.

snape ultimately survived yet he was plagued by survivor's guilt and paranoia, which you helped him through. to snape, you were like a lifesaver, and you helped keep him sane as he healed both mentally and physically.

today, you and snape had two children - daughters ages two and three. your third child, another girl, would be arriving in just a few weeks and snape was so excited that it was all he could talk about these days.

"i think we should continue with the theme of nature related names," snape told you one night as you and him laid in bed, his warm hands soothingly rubbing your baby bump. "we already have juniper and aspen ...how about daisy? daisy would be cute."

"daisy sounds lovely," you agreed with a smile. "let me guess, you're going to buy her her own little cloak so she can match with you, like how you did with juniper and aspen."

"obviously," snape chuckled, gasping when he suddenly felt your babygirl kick. "i'm going to assume that her kick means that she's eager to match with her daddy."

he then yawned, cuddling closer you. snape often found himself getting really sleepy around you, especially out of nowhere. he once heard that it was because his inner child felt safe around you, which he strongly believed to be the case.

"sleep, my prince," you whispered to snape as you stroked his beautiful, thick hair. "you had a long day today."

snape sleepily mumbled something in response that you couldn't quite catch, slowly pressing a kiss to your neck before sighing happily.

you kept carding your fingers through his hair until you fell asleep yourself, having wonderful dreams full of snape.

---

you woke up the next morning to find the bed empty.

confused, you got out of bed, wondering where snape could've gone. you glanced over at the alarm clock and saw that it was a quarter to seven; the kids would be getting up any minute now.

just like you predicted, you heard the soft patter of your daughters' footsteps trekking down the hallway. you smiled and joined them in the hallway, grabbing both of their hands and taking them to the bathroom so you all could get ready for the day.

you heard the front door close and poked your head out of the bathroom, seeing snape walking inside the house with a big smile on his face.

"where were you?" you asked your husband as he walked over to you and the girls, who instantly left your side to go greet him.

snape grinned down at them and scooped them up into his arms, kissing their foreheads before replying, "somewhere. it's um...a surprise. you and the girls should get something to eat to go."

you raised your eyebrows at him and shrugged, nodding. snape wasn't usually one to plan surprises, so you were curious to see what he had in store.

snape didn't eat anything until you convinced him to; he was too excited to eat much, so he just had some toast and an apple.

you, snape, and the girls traveled using a ministry registered vehicle. neither you or snape wanted the girls to travel using the floo network or a portkey until they were older, and it was lucky that you and snape both knew how to drive.

"it's not far from here," snape told you as he helped you buckle juniper and aspen into their car seats, kissing their foreheads again.

you kissed their foreheads as well before getting into the passenger's seat, which snape had enchanted to be extra roomy for your baby bump.

"can i have a hint as to where we're going?" you hopefully asked snape as he started the engine.

"nope," snape bluntly said, causing you to frown. he then smiled at you and said, "it's worth waiting for."

"it better be," you teased him as snape pulled out of the driveway. he side eyed you and then laughed, glancing at the rear view mirror, seeing that juniper and aspen were busy playing with their mini broomsticks and making them zoom around the backseat.

snape was right; it wasn't too far at all. about a few minutes before you arrived, snape told you and the girls to close your eyes. of course, juniper and aspen started asking a dozen questions about why they had to close their eyes, but they did it anyways.

you felt the car come to a halt and heard fhe car doors open, feeling snape grab your hands and get you outside before he did the same with juniper and aspen.

snape carefully walked you and the girls down the path leading to your new home, smiling widely as he positioned the three of you in front of it.

"okay, you can open your eyes now," snape happily said, and you opened your eyes to reveal an elegant manor standing before you.

juniper and aspen immediately made a beeline for the swing set sitting in the front garden, giggling with joy.

"sev," you softly said, reaching for his hands and holding, feeling tears gathering in your eyes. "when did you buy this?"

"last month," he excitedly told you. "i left early this morning to come and double check that everything was ready."

"sev," you said again, too amazed to say anything more. you tightly hugged him, smiling into his neck.

"it's my way of thanking you and the girls for making me so happy and giving me a reason to keep going," he said to you, causing you to pull back from his neck.

"oh gosh, i love you so much," you grinned, dabbing your eyes with your sleeve. "i can't wait to raise our family here."

snape kissed your forehead several times and nodded in agreement, resting his chin on the top of your head as he happily watched juniper and aspen play before you and him joined them.

#severus snape #snape content #snape love #snape imagines #snape one shot #professor snape #snape fanart #snape fanfiction #snape fic #hogwarts #snape fluff #pro severus snape #pro snape #anti snaters #snapedom #snape community

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latte-fairytaekwoon · 3 years

Text

Let Me Love You (Jeong Yunho and Song Mingi)

Pairing: Jeong Yunho × Plus sized! Reader (Female) × Song Mingi

Genre: Smut, Fluff, Angst

Summary: After finding out their girlfriend has been feeling insecure about her body, Mingi and Yunho take matters into their own hands to remind her that she is beautiful.

Word Count: 4.5+K

Warnings: Body insecurities (remember you are beautiful just the way you are), poly relationship, oral (female receiving), fingering, multiple orgasms (female receiving), unprotected sex (always use protection). (This was utter trash)

Taglist: @little-precious-baby @multidreams-and-desires @galaxteez @yunhofingers @yunhoiseyecandy @brie02 @deja-vux @couchpotatoaniki @daniblogs164 @a-soft-hornytiny @nanamarkie @minhyukmyluv @yunsangoveryonder

Special requested by @monbaebes

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Watching her favorite boys play around on the seashore, Y/N chuckled softly as she returned her gaze on the fruit in front of her. Picking up a small knife, she carefully began peeling some of the mangoes, apples and other of the juicy produce they had brought with them. Meanwhile she focused on making sure they had something to replenish their energy with, one of her lovers was concentrated on building a rather complicated architecture with the sand under his feet. Slowly but surely, the castle was beginning to take form and the man couldn't be much happier or pleased than seeing his masterpiece come to life.

"Mingi, think fast!" The other tall male shouted as he tossed the beach ball he was holding in the other's direction.

Mingi's naturally small eyes widened significantly as he witnessed his creation crumble down due to the impact of the beach ball colliding on top of it.

"Oops! Sorry bud!" The culprit grimaced as he saw the result of his little trick.

Immediately standing up, Mingi began chasing after his friend.

"I'm going to kill you Yunho!" He threatened, Yunho running and taking cover behind the oblivious girl who saw nothing that took place.

"What in the world?" She looked back and forth between the two guys.

Pointing an accusatory finger at him, Mingi let out a huff.

"He destroyed my sand castle that I was working so hard on!" He exclaimed.

"I didn't mean to." Yunho defended himself.

Not wanting them to get into a silly fight during their vacation, Y/N began to calm them both down.

"Come on you guys, you're making a scene over things kids would argue over. Seriously, this is why we hardly go out."

Hearing her displeased tone, the boys quickly straightened up their act and decided to just let it go. Seeing the delicious fruit in front of them, the young men sat at opposite sides of Y/N and dug into the food. She was grateful she opted for packing plenty of fruit given how much her boyfriends ate. She sometimes wondered if it was because they were so tall or because their stomachs were a bottomless pit. She decided a long time ago that it was probably a combination of the two.

As they enjoyed their snacks while enjoying the view in front of them, Y/N's wandering eyes soon locked themselves on the two women sitting not far from them. Although she wanted to look away before any negative thoughts clouded her mind, she couldn't help but admire their long, slim legs, their small waists and flat tummies. She envied their shape that they confidently showed off in their revealing and sensual bikinis, making more than a few heads turn in their direction to rake their eyes on their glamorous bodies. And there she was, feeling too big in her cami top and shorts.

Looking away with eyes falling on the strawberry she was holding, Y/N suddenly felt an uneasy feeling in her stomach. Losing her appetite, she tossed the fruit back in the container and just sat back, unable to hide her uncomfortable face which Yunho noticed right away.

"Honey, is something wrong? Do you not feel well?" He asked which immediately sparked the attention of the other male.

Although she didn't feel well indeed, Y/N didn't want to cause any alarm or have them fret over her behavior and decided to make up an excuse.

"I guess maybe I'm just exhausted after spending so much time out in the sun. I think I'm just going to go back to the hotel room. You guys stay here if you want."

Plastering on a reassuring smile, she gave them no chance to argue or say anything else as she quickly got off the beach towel and started heading back towards the hotel that was just in front of the beach. Her arms were crossed protectively in front of her chest, head lowered to avoid eye contact with the young men who were heading in the opposite direction. She shut her eyes when she heard them snicker behind her, no doubt making fun of her figure. She just wanted to lock herself in the room and crawl under the covers of the bed, just her alone with nobody else.

But the sudden calls for her from behind let her know that it wasn't going to be the case.

"Geez, couldn't you at least wait for us baby?" Mingi pouted as he linked an arm around her.

"Sorry, didn't want to cut your playtime at the beach short." She felt even more bad knowing they decided to follow her back.

"It's fine darling. It was getting too hot anyways. Besides we can have just as much fun in the hotel room as we do in the beach." Yunho added, leaning his face so he could whisper in her ear.

"Or maybe even more fun." He snickered suggestively, which made her blush and cling closer to the male on her right, who simply let out a small snort.

"Don't tease her Yunho. You know how shy she gets with these things." Unable to hold back from making her even more flustered, Mingi's hand that was on her waist dropping to slightly pinch her butt cheek.

"And it makes me want to eat her up even more."

With a soft huff, she shoved his hand away from him and simply walked faster to hide from their vulgar teasing that had her cheeks burning bright red.

"She's so adorable." Yunho chuckled, to which Mingi agreed with. Taking advantage of the fact she couldn't hear them, both of them started whispering a few things amongst themselves, huge grins plastering on their faces as they planned out how they were going to spend their night with their lovely girlfriend.

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Staring at her reflection in the long body mirror, Y/N cringed at the sight. She knew the guys were waiting outside in the hot tub for her, no doubt aching to see her in the dark blue bikini they had picked out for her, a color Mingi aggressively shoved into Yunho who wanted to go instead for a more baby pink choice, but eventually caved into the other's choice. She didn't feel up to going out in it though, she felt it unflattering and unsuitable for someone her size. Stripping out of it, she tossed on a tank top and shorts once more, wanting to be as covered up as much as possible. Feeling satisfied with that, she quickly came out of the bathroom, not wanting to make the boys wait any longer.

Hearing the glass door of the room slide open, the young men excitedly looked over hoping to see their gorgeous girlfriend in a swimsuit they bought her, but their faces fell flat when they saw her clothing choice.

"What happened to the bikini we bought you? Oh god! Please don't tell me we got the wrong size." Mingi groaned, already beating himself up for an imaginary mistake.

"No it fit fine, I just.... I just prefer being like this." She replied as she slipped her body inside the hot water, setting herself in between both of the men, who wasted no time in drawing their bodies closer to her, effectively trapping her.

Looking up from one and then to the other, Y/N knew by the smiles on their face that they were up to something else and it wasn't particularly pure. Taking the lead as he usually did, Yunho brought a hand up to trace the outline of her jaw.

"So pretty..." He muttered as he bent his face down to hers.

Starting off with small pecks, Yunho eventually pressed his lips deeper into hers, hand still cupping her jaw so his thumb could draw circles around her cheek. Y/N moaned when she felt his tongue dart forward and infiltrate her mouth. She gave in and allowed him absolute control, moaning louder when he pulled her tongue inside his own mouth and briefly sucking on it. For a few minutes they were lost in their little world until the third person in the relationship reminded them of his presence.

"Ok you got your turn, now let me make out with my baby."

As soon as Yunho's mouth was detached from her lips, it was quickly replaced by Mingi's, who unlike the other male, was more fervent and rougher with his kisses. Whereas Yunho preferred a lot more tongue action, Mingi enjoyed nipping at his lover's lips. Indeed he made sure to get her lips as swollen and red as possible. His teeth endlessly tugged at her bottom lip, a smirk appearing on his features each time he drew out a gasp or whine from the girl in front of him. Her sounds intensified when she felt Yunho's lips occupying themselves on her shoulder and neck, leaving small love bites on the visible patches of skin. His large hand dove underwater to clasp at the end of her top, rising it up slowly so he could take it off her.

Feeling her insecurities rise up once more, Y/N quickly withdrew his hand off her body, ending the makeout session with her other boyfriend in the process.

"Baby did we do something wrong? Did we push it too far?" Yunho immediately worried that they hurt her in any way. Mingi was also mirroring the same feeling his friend was bearing.

"No, it's not you guys...it's me."

Both of the men looked at each other in confusion.

"Are you sick? Is that it? Why didn't you say something before." Mingi brought a palm over her forehead, attempting to figure out if she had a fever or not.

Shaking her head, Y/N took a deep breath before she went any further.

"I'm not sick I just hate my body ok? I hate being chubby, it makes all the clothes I wear look ugly on me. I wish I was skinnier like some of the female idols you guys see almost on the daily. Maybe then I'd be more attractive for you guys.."

Her confession broke them to pieces. They couldn't believe she felt that way and they cursed themselves for not noticing earlier on about their girlfriend's insecurities.

"But darling, you are very attractive just the way you are." Mingi spoke up, though they could tell his words didn't have much of an effect on her.

Joining in to make sure she felt loved, Yunho tilted Y/N's face so she could clearly see his sincerity at his next words.

"Listen to me, your body is very gorgeous just the way it is. You may not believe it, but trust me when I say Mingi and I are absolutely crazy about your body. It makes you more irresistible and we wouldn't have you any other way."

His words lightened her mood just a bit, a hint of a smile starting to form on the corners of her lips.

"And we're not the only ones who think so. There were some assholes who were shamelessly checking you out while we were trying to catch up with you back on the beach." Mingi added, face frowning as he recalled the way they heard the group of men talking about their girlfriend in such a lewd manner.

"What? N-no, I'm sure you got it wrong. They were probably making fun of me." Her theory however was quickly shut down by Yunho.

"No baby, we heard them clearly as they went on and on about how hot you look....among other things that weren't exactly family friendly." Although he tried to hide it, Yunho couldn't keep his teeth from gritting against each other in a jealous manner.

"And we saw how their faces kept turning to stare at your ass." Mingi recalled rather unhappily.

Y/N felt even more embarrassed now, her hands coming up to hide her reddened face, which continued to stay hidden even when she felt both males press themselves into her.

"But if that still doesn't convince you, how about you let us demonstrate how much we adore your figure?"

Peeking out and uncovering her face, Y/N took in their hungry gazes that were awaiting for permission to devour her. Although she nodded slightly, it wasn't enough for them.

"Darling use your words please. We'd much rather hear you say how much you want us as well." Mingi deepened his voice enough to cause an effect on her.

Biting down on her lip, Y/N's voice shyly spoke out.

"Please.... touch me." She gulped before uttering her next words.

"Make love to me."

Finally hearing the magic words, both men stood up, their bodies drenched and pouring water. Taking hold of Y/N, Mingi brought her out of the hot tub as well and sat her in front of him on the wood extension of the hot tub. Reaching for her shirt, he quickly peeled it off her body and moved it somewhere else while Yunho took care of her lower half, removing her shorts and equally discarding them somewhere else.

"Fuck, she looks so damn pretty." Yunho marveled at the sight of her bare, soaked body right in front of him.

Snaking his hands down her torso, Mingi gripped the top of her thighs so he could pry them open, letting Yunho gaze into her exposed heat. He let out a chuckle at his friend's star struck expression.

"Well? Don't just stand there like an idiot. Put those long ass fingers of yours to work." Mingi told him.

Instructing Y/N to keep her legs wide open, Mingi brought his hands back up her body so they could cup her breasts. He squeezed them in between his fingers, astonished at feeling how soft and tender they were. While she was still getting adjusted to the feeling of Mingi's hands around her boobs, Yunho came up in front of her and began kissing along her collarbone, making her tilt her head back.

"God your boobs are so squishy." Mingi groaned as he pressed them against each other, thumbs tweaking at her nipples.

While Mingi's hands continued playing around with her chest, Yunho took advantage of her dazed state to brush his fingers along one of her thighs. Creeping it closer in between her legs, his thumb started slow and gentle motions on her clit. He smiled against her neck when he felt her shudder as he pressed down on her button.

"Mingi be sure to hold her steady while I finger her pretty pussy. You know how she tends to get."

Removing his hands off her breasts, Mingi proceeded to move them to her hips, knowing fully well they'd be wanting to buck into Yunho's hand. Y/N looked down and watched intently as one of Yunho's fingers slowly slipped inside her hole. She gaped with amazement as he effortlessly slid his finger out of her body and then back inside. It always amazed her how such a little action could make her so weak and pliant towards her lovers. Yunho of course knew this and loved to use it against her. Smiling ever so smugly, he inserted a second finger into her hole, his pace starting to pick up. Her breath hitched as she craned her neck back to rest her head on Mingi's shoulder, the latter taking the opportunity to plaster kisses on the side of her cheek.

"Do you like having Yunho's fingers inside of you babygirl?" He asked, lips brushing against her earlobe.

"Y-yes." She responded.

When her thighs tried to close, Mingi was quick to pry them back apart, his grip tight enough that they could leave prints on her skin.

"No babygirl, keep those pretty legs of yours open for Yunho."

Knowing exactly what to do to tip her over the edge, Yunho angled his fingers upward so they could rub at her sweet spot as he continued to wiggle his fingers inside of her. A third finger was added to the combination, which had the recipient crying out from the stretch.

"How on earth are you always so tight babygirl? It's like we don't fuck you enough." Yunho expressed, thumb circling on her nub with more detailed and faster motions.

The wet and sloppy sounds emanating from between her legs were like music to both men's ears. They enjoyed hearing how wet they could make her become, Mingi especially licked his lips as he saw how her folds started to glisten from all the arousal seeping out of her.

"Shit, her pussy looks so good. I can't wait to eat her out."

Shooting a smirk to his friend, Yunho worked his fingers deeper into his girlfriend's core, thrusting them sporadically in an effort to bring her closer to her high.

"Well just let me get her cum with my fingers and then I'll leave her in your hands..... or should I say mouth?"

Hearing them say what they were going to do to her made Y/N shudder. With eyes shut, her voice slightly broke into half cries half whimpers as she came on Yunho's fingers. Mingi's hold on her thighs prevented her from shutting her legs and thus making her orgasm feel more intense as it washed all throughout her body. Making sure to keep his fingers lodged inside until she came down from her high, Yunho gently leaned in to press a kiss on the corner of Y/N's mouth.

"Look babygirl."

Opening her eyes, she was met with the sight of Yunho's fingers pulling out of her heat. They were covered completely in her cum, leaving her surprised that she could produce that much from just his fingers. Keeping eye contact with her, he brought his fingers up to his lips and licked them clean.

"Oh Mingi, you're going to definitely enjoy eating her out." Yunho locked eyes with the other male, sending him a knowing wink.

"Then I guess I better not let her juices go to waste."

Moving her body so she could face him, Mingi layed down on his back and motioned for Y/N to move herself on top of his face, which she hesitated to do. Sensing what she was worried about, Mingi smiled at her.

"Baby, it's ok. I want to feel those thick thighs of yours on me. Now come over here and smother my face with your sweet pussy."

Getting help from Yunho who took hold of her arms, he placed her right on top of Mingi's face. Spreading her lips apart, Mingi's tongue came up to lick up the leftover arousal from Yunho's previous fingering session. Y/N couldn't help but gasp not just from the over sensitivity of her pussy, but from Mingi's warm mouth consuming her taste. Closing his eyes, Mingi lost himself in the sweetness her body had to offer. Flicking his tongue out, he made sure to pay close attention to her clit, circling the tip of his wet muscle around it. As if they had a mind of their own, Y/N's hips began to slowly grind down against Mingi's tongue movements. When she noticed what she was doing, she made an attempt to stop her motions.

"No babygirl. Show Mingi how much you enjoy having him eat you out. He told you to smother his face and that's what you're going to give him. After all, that is what he wants. Don't you Mingi?" Yunho piped up.

The man underneath Y/N responded with a muffled moan against her wetness. His hands clasped themselves on her ass, harshly slamming her down until her heat was covering the entirety of his face. Guiding her hips, he made her drag her core along his tongue over and over, slurping up every inch of tender flesh without leaving any patch dry. Y/N began panting, each stroke of Mingi's tongue making her fall deeper in that hazy state she had been in just moments ago while Yunho had his fingers knuckles deep in her. And both men knew it, they had learned and memorized each pitch of her sounds and every tick of her body to know what she liked and when she'd come crumbling down from the pleasure they gave her.

Knowing she needed a little encouragement, Yunho began peppering open mouth kisses along her neck as his fingers brushed along the sides of her waist.

"Go ahead love. Cum all over Mingi's face. Make a mess of his pretty face." He softly instructed her. A pleased grin framed Yunho's face as merely seconds later, Y/N fulfilled his command. Mingi groaned wildly as his face was smothered by her mound, her thighs trembling and clenching around his skull as another flood of her juices poured out onto his face. Making sure to lick up as much as possible, Mingi detached his mouth from her reddened folds with an audible pop, a proud smirk on his face that he was not wiping off at any moment.

Knowing she was still too worked up from her orgasm, Yunho carefully lifted her up into his arms. Gesturing for Mingi to follow, he carried her bridal style back inside their room, where he layed her down on the soft king sized bed. Stripping themselves out of their swimming trunks, the men whispered a few words amongst each other before reaching the decision of who got to have her first. The beaming look on Mingi's features answered her thoughts on who it was.

Setting himself right next to her, Mingi began stroking his already hard length.

"Come here baby. Hop your pretty self on top and ride me." He motioned for her to sit on top of him.

With hands pressed to his chest, Y/N slowly sunk herself down until his entire cock was safely nestled inside her. Hissing at the excruciatingly tight grip her tender flesh had on him, Mingi looked over to Yunho, who already had one hand wrapped tightly on his dick.

"We really should fuck her more often, she's unbelievably tight." His voice rasped out.

"Well why don't you do something about it? You're literally inside her idiot." Yunho reminded him rather agitated, anxious to get his own turn with his beloved girl.

With sharp cries, Y/N held onto the headboard in front of her as the man underneath her started pounding his hips up into her. Their moans were filling up the room, along with the slick sounds protruding from between their thighs, where they were connected. Yunho eagerly watched them, his hand working to stroke his twitching cock, making sure not to speed up in case he accidentally made himself cum. He knew he'd get his turn soon, but for the moment, he reveled at seeing the two individuals he cared about the most be so intimate with each other. He watched as their facial muscles started contorting and scrunching up with pleasure, their bodies starting to layer a thin sheen of sweat from the intensity of their love making.

Already vulnerable from the previous 2 orgasms, Y/N started to feel that familiar heat pooling in her lower abdomen, spreading under her skin and making her dizzy with lust. Mingi's pace turned slightly more rough. He loved watching as he made his girlfriend ride his cock, especially when he was blessed with the sight of her breasts bouncing right in front of him. He thought it was one of the most amazing sights to behold. Sensing that she was close given how worked out they had gotten her before and by the way her sounds grew more frantic, Mingi gripped at her sides to hold her down as he bucked his cock deep enough to have her crying out.

"That's it babygirl. Let yourself go. Cum all over me." He grunted at her, feeling himself reach his own brink from the frenetic pace he set for themselves.

With aching thighs, Y/N violently shook on top of him, vision darkening as her mind only payed attention to the sensation of her walls clamping around her lover's cock. Feeling overly constricted to the point of hurting in a most delicious grip, Mingi quickly pulled himself out of her core before any of his cum could start spilling inside her. With the help of his hand, he finished himself off by spurting drops of cum onto her thighs and stomach, some of them dripping off to land on the sheets underneath them.

"Oh my God." Mingi threw his head back onto the pillow behind him as he tried to steady his racing heart.

Finally seeing his cue to come in, Yunho fitted himself on the large king sized bed and carefully pulled Y/N off Mingi's lap to sat her on top of his own. Whereas Mingi preferred having her face him, Yunho opted to keep her facing away, pressing his chest onto her back. His voice gently shushed her whimpers as he sunk her down onto his overly endowed length. Fitting himself in her always took a little longer due to his size.

"You're doing so well baby." He cooed in her ear as he waited for her to adjust to him. Mingi was definitely right in exclaiming how tight she was, he himself was gritting his teeth at how hard her walls were squeezing at his shaft.

Knowing she was overly sensitive, clit swollen and folds puffed up, Yunho decided to go for a more slow and sensual pace. His hands gently rolled her hips to move on top of him, soft and blissful sighs being breathed out of their mouths. He made sure not to overwhelm her, and he himself wanted to enjoy the moment for as long as possible. When he heard her agitated moan, he let her relax on top of him as his hips took over. He was careful not to snap his hips too aggressively, still being gentle and precise with each thrust he shot up at her. With one hand sliding in between her legs, his fingers brushed against her pinkied clit before carefully circling around it.

"You're so beautiful my dear. Absolutely perfect." He murmured against her neck whilst his lips pressed tiny kisses on her warm skin.

Y/N gasped when she felt his pace slightly speed up, causing her body to jolt forward, which was stopped from falling when Yunho's arms held her in a tight embrace to keep her close to him. She knew she was definitely waking up sore the next morning, her thighs were already burning from cumming so much and from being bounced on top of two monster cocks that belonged to her tall boyfriends. Her 4th orgasm of the night slowly and silently crept up on her, rendering her almost numb to everything except the dull sting of her juices pouring out once more onto Yunho's cock. Even after she felt him pull out and coat her backside with his hot seed, she was still in hazy state, worn out after all the attention the two men bestowed upon them. The last thing she saw before passing out on the bed was Yunho's voice purring in her ear:

"Remember Mingi and I love you just the way you are..."

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shemarmooresfedora · 3 years

Text

Rebuilding Family

Summary: Y/N and Spencer were college sweethearts at Cal-Tech but once Spencer got accepted to the FBI Academy, he ended things deciding it was not fair to make Y/N wait for him. When they meet again years later, he discovers something unexpected.

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Fem! Reader

Warning: swearing

Masterlist

Chapter 1

“Thank you for agreeing to guest lecture this semester. My students are really looking forward to hearing stories from a real life FBI agent,” Professor Walker was giving Spencer a tour of Georgetown University.

Spencer had agreed to guest lecture once a week in Professor Walker’s Criminology course following the return of the very much alive Emily Prentiss to the BAU. Spencer had snapped quite a few times at his co-workers and was still adjusting to the sudden development so Hotch signed off on this as a little break for Spencer.

Professor Walker was explaining faculty parking when Spencer heard that voice. It was so nostalgic and comforting, filling him with a sense of warmth that he desperately craved. He thought he would never hear it again.

“My office hours are Tuesdays and Thursdays from three to six. Can you make the lab up one of those days?” the voice asked.

Spencer was desperately looking around, trying to find the owner of voice so he could prove it wasn’t all in his head and you were actually really here.

Then, Spencer saw you. You looked as gorgeous as ever. You were in a black pencil skirt and a dark green blouse with pale pink high heels which was a far cry from the crewnecks, leggings, and converse that Spencer had known you to wear most of the time in college. You looked very mature and that is not to say you didn’t seven years ago but you had this sense of confidence about you now.

“Okay perfect, see you then,” you hung up the phone and made eye contact with Spencer.

Your jaw went slack, eyes widening in what appeared to be horror, and you ceased all your movement.

“Dr. Reid? Do you have any questions?” Professor Walker asked, forcing Spencer’s gaze to drift back to him.

“Uh no, I-I’m all set,” Spencer stuttered.

In reality, he had not listened to a single word he had just said but he took the metro so he didn’t have to worry about faculty parking. He was still trying to process the brief eye contact he had just made with you and figure out if it was a dream or not.

“Perfect, then you are free to go! I’ll see you Monday morning, bright and early!” Professor Walker chuckled.

Spencer waved as Professor Walker strolled off to his office and his eyes scanned the campus for you once again. However, you were long gone. Maybe it was a figment of his imagination.

“What the fuck!” you whispered to yourself as you were in a full-on sprint in your heels.

You were trying to locate your car keys in your purse while maintaining your speed. You simply could not handle seeing him ever again. You didn’t even know why he was here. He chose the FBI over you so shouldn’t he be on a private jet or something flying across the country?

Once you made it to your car and slumped into the driver’s seat, you knew you were safe. He didn’t know what car you drove and there were way too many cars to go around looking in the windows of each one.

You took a moment to collect yourself before pulling out of the parking lot. You drove your normal route to Wesley Elementary School and turned off the ignition, hopping out the car.

The kindergarteners were all lined up in a not-so-straight line behind their teacher with their little coats and colorful backpacks on.

“Hi Mrs. Flynn!” you greeted, heading to the back of her line.

You saw a flash of purple before you felt two little arms wrapping around your knees.

“Mommy, I missed you so much,” she exclaimed as you picked her up.

“How much?” you asked.

“This much,” the girl outreached her arms, creating a gap the size of her arm span between them.

“I missed you even more than that, Josephine,” you kissed her cheek, carrying her back to the car.

You placed her in her car seat and got her all buckled up as she talked to you about her day.

Yes, Jo was Spencer’s, that much was obvious from her big brown eyes and curly brown hair. She looked just like her dad but he didn’t even know she existed.

You and Spencer had dated for a little over a year at Cal-Tech. He was already on his third PhD and you were in your second year of undergrad but you both were twenty.

You thought he was the one but looking back on it now, what did you know. You were young, dumb, and in love. As soon as he was recruited for the FBI, you were swiftly dumped as he gallivanted across the country to be a badass and save lives. Fuck Spencer Reid is all you could think as you moped around your apartment for the first two weeks, absolutely miserable.

Then, you realized your period was late and you were never late. When you found out you were pregnant, your friends and family were very supportive, your parents especially, they said they would support your decision either way.

You decided to keep the baby even though you were still very young. You knew it would be hard but you knew this was something you wanted. You knew ever since you were a child playing with baby dolls and then growing up and babysitting your neighbor’s kids that being a mom would make you happy.

You never reached out to Spencer though. He broke up with you and then moved across the country. You weren’t really up for a “hey listen, I know you live thousands of miles away now and don’t want anything to do with me anymore but I’m having your child” phone call so you simply never made it. Sure, some help may be nice but you had your parents. You certainly didn’t need any help from the asshole.

It had been hours since Spencer had seen Y/N but he still couldn’t wrap his head around it.

He went to his old dusty computer on his desk and typed in “Y/N Y/L/N”. He wasn’t proud of this but he wanted to know what you were up to.

He found your section on the Georgetown University website. You were an Associate Professor in biology. Spencer smiled, remembering all the night you would come over to his apartment with a bundle of flashcards and have him quiz you until you got every single one right.

Your instagram profile was private and Spencer didn’t even have an account to request to follow you on. Not that he would, an ex seeing you in public after seven years and then requesting to follow you on an account that he just made would definitely come off as creepy.

He could ask Penelope to do further digging but you weren’t a bad guy so that would be an invasion of your privacy and he didn’t really want to deal with all of Garcia’s questions.

Spencer sighed. He missed you. He thought about you very often. Spencer thought it would be selfish to keep you tied down to him when he wouldn’t be able to see you very often. He thought it would just make you miserable so he broke up with you in order to save you from the future pain. But it hurt him so much that he actually cried the entire plane ride to Virginia, the poor woman next to him handing him tissues occasionally. You were way out of his league to begin with, you would find someone new and better in no time, he thought.

In the seven years that had passed, he had a few occasional flings but never even close to what he had with you. You were his first love and undoubtedly his last because he had realized too late that you were it for him.

AO3 link

#spencer reid x reader #criminal minds #spencer x reader #reid x reader #cm fanfic #spencer reid fluff #spencer reid fanfiction #spencer reid

656 notes · View notes

fantastic-bby · 3 years

Text

Han Jisung's Crappy Guide: Surfing Into Hearts

Pairing: (F)Reader x Jisung

Word count: 22.4k

Summary: Jisung has a very questionable guide in trying to win hearts, one of the issues with it is that it only consists of really bad flirting and telling people he's a hot surfer. The other issue with it is that he's never actually put it into play because he's always waiting until he feels that special spark with someone...

Warnings: Brief physical fighting | Mentions of getting high | Jisung has what I think is the equivalent of an obsessed fan

Masterlist | AO3 Link

Han Jisung: aged 21 and a third year Computer Science student in Beachside University. As the name literally implies, the campus is right next to a beach in the same town that Jisung grew up in. It’s a small town mostly filled with surfers, swimmers and divers that take advantage of the easy ocean access.

Han Jisung: one of the hottest and the most popular guys on campus. He became popular because of his surfing. Known as one of the best surfers in the town, Jisung doesn’t pay any attention to the flock of girls that crowd the beach whenever he’s there in the evening.

In fact, he avoids the crowds by going early in the morning with his best friends Lee Minho, a Veterinary student, and Lee Yongbok, a Culinary student.

Minho: also known as Lee Know, is one of the friendliest yet mysterious guys on campus. No one’s brave enough to get close to him because no one actually knows what he’s like. He’s the kind of person who’s friends with everyone but also no one. Everyone knows who he is—President of the Helping Paws society and one of friendliest guys on campus—but no one actually knows who Lee Minho really is.

Yongbok: better known as Felix, is one of the sweetest yet dangerous guys. While he’s known as sweet due to his sunshine smile and generous personality, Felix is the president of the university’s MMA club; a position that isn’t that easy to acquire unless you’re really good at fighting. No one’s brave enough to physically challenge Felix. The last person who tried ended up getting a bloody nose and a trip to the campus nurse—and in Felix’s defense, the guy hit him first.

The three grew up together in the same town. Felix moved in while Jisung and Minho were still in middle school, the pair having already known each other since they were in diapers, simply adopted Felix as if they were parents waiting for the perfect child to take in. Felix considers himself lucky, mainly because he was too shy to actually make friends back then, until Jisung sat next to him in Science and broke off half of his chocolate muffin to share with Felix.

Han Jisung: also known as just ‘Han’ whenever he’s on the beach, a nickname that other surfers call him by. It’s either ‘Han’ or they call him ‘HanJi’ like Hwang Hyunjin, Kim Seungmin and Seo Changbin do.

Hyunjin: a fashion designer, is well-known within the university as one of the prettiest and most handsome guys on campus. He started his own fashion line a few months into his second year and he’s seen a handful of students wearing his brand of hoodies. He’s also the group’s gossip bird. Whatever gossip goes around will always reach Hyunjin which will then reach his friends.

Seungmin: a film student, is known as the guy with the most beautiful voice. He posts covers of himself singing on YouTube and on his Instagram—both gathered hundreds of thousands of followers—and has even met a few students who moved to the campus to see him. Seungmin has admitted that it freaks him out a bit, but they don’t exactly bother him in his day-to-day life. Seungmin’s more low-key as compared to the rest of his friends. He doesn’t mingle that much with anyone else on campus unless he needs to.

Changbin was already in his second year when Jisung got into the university. He’s a fine arts student and he’s also buff as hell. He’s at the gym 24/7 with his best friend-slash-gym buddy, Bang Chan. Changbin’s arms are littered with tattoos mainly made up of black and white designs that he came up with on his own. Some of his tattoos—like the quaver note on his left shoulder—were done by himself at age sixteen with only a needle, tattoo ink and a pair of blue latex gloves. If tattooing himself isn’t enough to scare the other students, then it’s the size of his biceps.

Chan: also known as Chris—or Campus Daddy—is the eldest of them all. He’s in his final year at 24. Chan took a gap year before he went into university and went back to Australia for a while to try and figure out what he wanted to do, only to come back to South Korea to take engineering at Beachside. In the end, he switched to game development, so he’s finally in his final year at 24.

The entire campus fawns over how gentle and sweet he is. Every time he smiles, his dimples show and it has girls and guys swooning over him. He’s also known as Campus Daddy because he’s the tour guy. Every first year follows Chan around campus when they first arrive and so far, he’s adopted one into his friend group: Yang Jeongin.

Jeongin: a pediatrics student, is also a surfer, but he doesn’t surf as often as Jisung does. Jeongin’s only in his first year and the group had adopted him because Chan thought he was so cute that he just had to introduce the kid to his friends. Given the nickname ‘I.N’ by Minho, Jeongin’s gotten used to being called ‘Yeni’ whenever he’s on the beach and he’s surfing. Known across campus as the group’s little brother, no one dares to touch him.

All eight of them are the most well-known guys on campus, all for different things. They’re just known for being extremely hot, extremely smart, and extremely active one way or another.

Minho and Hyunjin are both in the dance club—Minho, an active member but Hyunjin, the president alongside Hwang Yeji as his vice president. Minho doesn’t want to be a part of the dance club committee because he’s already President of Helping Paws; the campus's animal volunteer club.

Felix, already known as president of the martial arts club. Seungmin is president of the photography club as well as an active member of the music club. Chan is captain of their swim team with Changbin as one of his best teammates, while Jeongin is working his way up the committee of the Red Crescent society.

Han Jisung: working his way up the committee ladder, he’s the vice president for the robotics club. Their current president, Kang Yeosang, tells Jisung that he’ll most likely be their president in the next academic year.

Han Jisung: sought out by the entire campus, has a very questionable guide in stealing and breaking hearts. It honestly consists of being really bad at flirting and telling people he's a hot surfer. With the entire campus essentially wrapped around his pinky, Jisung could have anyone he wanted. The only problem is that he also has the only person on campus he refuses to sleep with again coming after him.

“Uh oh, Hyemi incoming.” Hyunjin mimics the whistle of a bomb falling from the sky before making a ‘pwoosh’ sound with his mouth just as the dreaded person approaches their table. Jisung can feel his entire being wanting to shrivel up into a ball and disappear just as she opens her mouth.

“Hey Jisung,” Hyemi greets with her ever so sickeningly sweet voice. She pushes her long brown hair over her shoulder, the other resting on her hip as she completely ignores the other two that are at the same table as Jisung. “It’s already Autumn.”

“Is it?” Minho gasps, fauxing surprise, “and here I thought it was still Spring. Thank you so much for reminding me, Hyemi.” If sarcasm had a physical form, it would be pouring out of his mouth and pooling on the white wooden table, but Hyemi completely ignores him.

“It means that the Autumn Night Fair is back. How about you and I go and check it out? Have something to eat, play some games, ride the ferris wheel,” she hums.

“Not interested,” Jisung says simply. “I’m already going with my friends and we’ve already invited Yeji and her friends to come along, so… that’s already a whole group.”

“Oh come on, you can make room for one more,” Hyemi persists.

Jisung lets out a small sigh as he stands up, adjusting the strap of his bag onto his shoulder with one hand and picking up the food tray with the other. “I’m not interested,” he repeats. “I’ve already told you, it’s not going to work out. Stop trying.” Jisung walks past her, leaving Minho and Hyunjin to pick up their stuff as well.

“Sorry, Hyemi,” Minho chuckles as the two leave the table to follow Jisung. Hyunjin and Minho catch up to him only after he’s pushed through the glass door of the cafeteria and is already making his way to the entrance of the Student Union building.

“HanJi, wait up!” Hyunjin calls, making Jisung stop to turn around. His face is straight and honestly, he looks bored. Jisung’s had his fill of having students fawn over him to the point where he doesn’t even care anymore—Hyemi is no exception. She’s been trying for three years and Jisung’s gotten so tired of her that he’s blocked all of her contacts to stop her from trying to message him.

“Christ, she really won’t take no for an answer huh?” Minho chuckles as they start walking together.

“I thought that sleeping with her and ghosting her would work because there really wasn’t any other way, but I guess even that doesn’t work,” Jisung sighs. As shitty as it sounds, Jisung only sleeps and ghosts people as a last resort. He's actually only done it once… with Hyemi. “I don’t understand why she still tries. It’s like everywhere I go, she’s there and she’s trying to crawl through the damn zipper of my pants.”

Hyunjin and Minho exchange a sympathetic look. They know just how hard he’s tried to get her off of him and they also know that it’s gotten to the point where Jisung doesn’t even care anymore. Every time she approaches him, he either ignores her or just walks away.

“When was the last time you even dated someone?” Hyunjin asks, looking at Jisung curiously.

“High school,” Minho answers for him and Jisung nods as clarification. “Ji hasn’t had a proper relationship since high school.”

“I haven’t had a connection with anyone yet,” Jisung says while shrugging. The funny thing about Jisung is that he’s totally willing to sleep with anyone, but he hasn’t actually found someone he’s properly had ‘The Connection’ with yet, and Jisung sticks by only getting into a proper, committed, and serious relationship only if he feels ‘The Connection’ with.

“He basically has commitment issues and no one’s been able to push through them.” Jisung smacks Minho on the arm and it makes the older man laugh.

“I do not have commitment issues,” Jisung argues.

“Sure, okay,” Minho rolls his eyes. “So, that time you freaked out because a girl confessed that she had a crush on you isn’t enough to prove that you’re not ready for a committed relationship?”

“Doesn’t mean I have issues!”

“Mhm, whatever you say, Hannie,” Minho chuckles. They both turn to Hyunjin when he becomes strangely quiet only to see him on his phone.

"Uhm, turn back around,” Hyunjin blurts out right before he turns around and runs straight back into the cafeteria, leaving Minho and Jisung watching in confusion. They follow the designer and when they’re inside of the cafeteria, there’s a crowd gathered around Yeji and Hyemi.

“You’re fucking crazy!” Yeji hisses as she pulls her wet white shirt away from her torso to stop it from sticking. “I didn’t even do anything to you!”

“What the fuck?!” Hyunjin exclaims as he grabs onto Hyemi’s hand that still has the plastic cup grasped.

“Oh my god,” Minho groans.

“I’ll handle it,” Jisung mutters as he hands his backpack to Minho before taking his jacket off. He pushes through the crowd until he reaches Yeji and lays the jacket over her shoulders, “come on.”

They’re both certain that if looks could kill, Yeji would have daggers sticking out of her torso from Hyemi’s glare. Jisung decides against saying anything to Hyemi and, instead, guides Yeji towards the cafeteria doors with Minho and Hyunjin following.

“Are you alright?” Hyunjin asks once they’ve pushed past the doors.

“I’m fine,” she huffs. “Good thing Lia texted you. I’m pretty sure she would’ve hit me for just being friends with you.”

“I’m sorry about that,” Jisung sighs while taking his bag back from Minho.

“Nothing to apologise for,” Yeji shakes her head with a reassuring look on her face, “it’s not your fault. You’ve already turned her down about… I don’t know, a billion times? She’s the one who chooses her actions, not you.”

“I still feel kinda guilty since, you know…”

“Ji, it’s nothing to worry about—I promise,” Yeji flashes him a small smile. “If anything, have you seen Ryujin angry? She isn’t the MMA vice president for nothing, you know.”

The sound of the cafeteria doors being pushed open followed by Lia’s, “wait up!” Makes the four of them stop and turn around to see Lia and Chaeryeong chasing after them.

“Gosh, I can’t believe she did that just because you’re friends with Jisung,” Chaeryeong huffs when they start walking once again.

“I’m not even dating you—it’s getting tiring,” Yeji mutters, hands wrapping the front of Jisung’s jacket around herself tighter. “I shouldn’t have worn white today, huh?”

“It’s okay, we’ll accompany you to your dorm,” Lia reassures her while linking her arm around Yeji’s elbow. “It’s not like we have any classes after this.”

“Mhm!” Chaeryeong hums as she links onto Yeji’s other elbow.

“Where is Ryujin anyway?” Hyunjin asks when he notices the lack of the group’s most prominent presence. Shin Ryujin, vice president of the MMA club is also one of the better known students on campus. She’s more known for just being outright chaotic as well as her habit of standing up for her friends.

"Committee meeting with Felix," Lia answer.

“Thanks for the jacket,” Yeji turns around once they’re out of the Student Union building. “I’ll pass it to Hyunjin later.”

“It’s fine,” Jisung smiles. “Just take care. If anything happens, text Hyunjin and we’ll send Felix to beat her up or something.”

“We’ll be fine,” she shakes her head with laughter before bidding the guys goodbye and leaving in the direction of her dorm building. Jisung feels a bitter feeling in his chest as he watches Yeji walk.

As much as his friends tell him that he’s not responsible for anything that Hyemi does to them, he can’t help but always feel guilty whenever something happens. It’s been this constant cycle where he goes from thinking of dating her for the sake of protecting his friends or just ignoring her until he graduates.

There’s a few things that actually stops Jisung from dating her. 1. She’s crazy. 2. He’s been turning her down since their first year. 3. She splashed water on Yeji for being friends with him. Jisung has a feeling that if he ever did date her, then he wouldn’t have been able to actually hang out with his friends anymore.

“Are you surfing today?” Hyunjin turns to Minho.

“Most likely,” he nods. “Jisung?”

“Hmm?”

“Surfing today?” Minho asks.

“Yeah, but I’m stopping by Felix’s place later. He has one of my sunglasses,” Jisung says.

“I need to check on Kkami, so I’ll see you guys at the beach,” Hyunjin waves at them before heading in the same direction that Yeji, Lia and Chaeryeong went—making Minho and Jisung wonder why he didn’t just follow them before since he and Yeji live in the same building. Everyone wonders how Hyunjin manages to house a dog in his on-campus dorm, but he’s always just said not to worry and that Kkami isn’t that loud.

Minho and Jisung bid their goodbyes before Minho walks in the opposite direction of Hyunjin to head to his dorm and Jisung heads to the campus gates. His house is only a few minutes walk from campus which bodes well for him since he doesn’t need to move away from his family. He keeps himself preoccupied with trying to detangle his white earphones while he walks, hands pulling and tugging at the white wire until he accidentally bumps into someone.

“Oh shit, I’m so sorry,” he apologises. Jisung’s slightly surprised when he’s faced with a student he’s never seen before.

“It’s fine, I think we were both a bit busy,” you chuckle as you lift your own tangled earphones.

“O-Oh yeah,” Jisung laughs awkwardly. Before he can even ask who you are, you’ve already started walking past him. He watches as you do. You’re definitely new.

The campus isn’t too big that you wouldn't know anyone outside of your circle, but it’s small enough that you can recognise all of the students at least by face or voice. However, Jisung’s never seen you before, nor has he ever heard your voice before; which leaves him wondering as he turns back around and continues his walk to the gates.

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ♫ ⋅.} ───── ⊰

By the time Jisung’s reached the beach, he’s already forgotten about your accidental meeting. The beach is crowded, but not crowded enough that it would be suffocating or too much of a hassle to find an open area for him to surf.

Galaxy painted surfboard in hand and his dark blue full body swimsuit unzipped down to the middle of his torso, Jisung stands beside Chan as Felix sits on the sand. He’s supposedly building a sandcastle, but without any tools, Felix is only able to pack the sand into mounds connected with a really crappily built wall that looks like it’s about to fall over at the slightest brush of wind.

There’s always something about the ocean that seems special to Jisung. He doesn’t exactly know what it is other than a gut feeling he gets every time he thinks or sees the water. Every time he lets himself ride the ocean waves, he feels free. Submerging himself underwater makes him feel like he’s being wrapped in a cold embrace that he always welcomes. It never matters how cold the water gets.

Jisung only cares for the water.

“Hyung, could I borrow your phone?” Felix looks up from the sandcastle and to Chan who nods without hesitation, pulling the phone out of his hydro bag and passing it to him. Felix brushes the sand off of his hand and takes the phone before snapping pictures of his sandcastle.

“Really?” Chan lets out a laugh as he watches.

“What? It’s pretty impressive since I built it without using any tools or beach toys,” he huffs while handing the phone back. Chan only smiles and ruffles Felix’s light brown hair.

“Are you surfing today?” Jisung tears his attention away from the water to look at Chan, but the older man shakes his head.

“I’m babysitting Felix today.”

Felix scoffs, “no, you are most definitely not!”

“I’m just messing with you,” Chan laughs. “But in all seriousness, I’m not surfing today. My board cracked because it crashed into some coral the other day when I got wiped out.”

“How shallow was the water?” Jisung’s only slightly confused because the water isn’t that shallow. It’s actually pretty deep a few kilometers away from shore.

“I was trying belly boarding. I didn’t want to try it around deep water, so I went towards where the coral reef was. I tried avoiding it, but… the waves carried me right above the coral,” Chan explains, guilt painting his expressions. He hates surfing above coral because he doesn’t want to accidentally ruin the reef.

Jisung’s always thought that the coral reef in their area was a charm. It’s often overlooked because no one really realised there was such a vibrant and live coral reef towards the cove on the left side of the beach.

That side of the beach was always more secluded. It turned into makeout zones for college and high school students but it was also one of the best places to be in the middle of the night when the tide was low and the moon was high.

“The cove is more dangerous to swim at, hyung,” Jisung states and Chan nods knowingly.

“The waves are a bit smaller there. That was the only reason why.” Jisung purses his lips, eyebrows furrowing. He knows that Chan is more aware of his surroundings, but sometimes he would choose to do riskier things for the sake of convenience. “I probably won’t try surfing that area anytime soon,” he reassures Jisung. “I promise.”

“That’s good to… hear…” Jisung trails off when he turns back to the water and notices one of the surfers riding along one of the bigger waves. He squints his eyes and takes a step closer, his hand moving his sunglasses to the top of his head as he tries to make out the figure. “That… is that person new?”

“Where?” Felix asks while standing up.

“The one surfing?” Chan turns to Jisung who nods, eyes completely glued to the person’s form. “Hold on, I think I’ve seen her before.” He turns away to pick up his phone. Jisung’s too entranced to actually see who he’s calling.

Despite the sound of the beach—the people and children running on the sand, and the seagulls squawking in the air as they fly by—Jisung hears nothing but the water crashing along the shoreline. Everything moves in slow motion as he watches the surfer effortlessly flip in the air.

The sunlight shines on the surfer’s face and Jisung’s struck with recognition. The image of your face and the sound of your voice crashing into him like a revelation.

It’s you.

His lips part in realisation as he watches the way you glide back towards the beach and towards a handful of other people. Jisung’s able to make out Ryujin—the only one out of Yeji’s friend group who surfs—and the president of his robotics club: Yeosang.

“Jisung.” Chan’s voice slowly becomes clearer as he repeatedly calls Jisung’s name. “Han Jisung!” he yells and it’s loud enough to snap Jisung out of his trance to look at Chan. “Her name’s (Y/n). She’s in the same course as Ryujin, so they share a few classes together. Hyunjin said that he’s met her before because she’s friends with the dance team.”

The dance team. Minho, Ryujin, Yeji, Wooyoung and Hyunjin. They’re the university’s dance team and these five are the ones that usually go to competitions. Does that mean you’re probably a dancer too? Or do you just happen to be friends with them?

“She moved here last week. Something to do with her registration process, so she came in now instead of when the semester started a few weeks ago,” Chan continues despite the fact that Jisung’s already thinking of other things. “Do you know her?”

“I bumped into her just now,” Jisung says. “Didn’t know who she was at all. I think I’m just curious because I'm pretty sure I've seen all of the new students already.”

“Hyunjin said she did a credit transfer. She’s finishing her years here.”

“Does he know anything else? Is she in any of the clubs?” Jisung finally turns to his friends, both of them staring at him bewilderedly. “What?”

Felix opens his mouth and closes it a few times before he’s able to get actual words out, “a-you… are you taking interest in someone?”

“What?” Jisung’s eyes widen.

“You’ve never actually looked at anyone else like that before…” Felix claims.

“You can try asking Hyunjin,” Chan says. It’s obvious he’s trying to pull Felix away from a strange discussion that might end up with Jisung getting flustered. Flustered Jisung means he closes himself off completely and no one’s able to actually talk to him. “I think he said he’s hung out with her a couple times.”

“Where is Hyunjin?”

“Here!” Hyunjin’s voice announces as he jogs towards them, large surfboard in hand and his swimsuit zipped all the way up to his neck. Hyunjin’s surfboard is simple. It's painted a light beige with wispy lines running along its entirety. “What’s happening? Why’s HanJi so interested in (Y/n)?”

“We don’t know either,” Felix answers with a shrug, all three of them turning to see Jisung is back to staring at you as you splash around the water with Ryujin and Yeosang.

“What do you want to know about her? I don’t know much, since I’ve only known her for a few days, but I could probably tell you something.” Jisung turns to look at Hyunjin, at a loss of where to start.

Hell, even Jisung doesn’t know why he wants to know more about you. He only knows that it isn’t the same feeling he gets whenever he’s curious about a new friend, no—

It’s the kind of feeling you get when you meet someone new and suddenly a whole new door of questions open up. Where did you grow up? What’s your favourite colour? Are you an early bird? Are you a night owl? Do you dance? Do you prefer the ocean over the mountain—wait, of course you do!

Every person who willingly moves to Beachside has moved here because of the beach. The campus is a five minute walk away from the ocean; they even have clubs dedicated to spending time at the beach.

Hyunjin turns to Chan and Felix when Jisung fails to answer, and once again, they shrug. “I don’t know what’s happening,” Felix admits. “I’ve never seen him like this before.”

“Jisung.” Hyunjin places his hand on Jisung’s shoulder as gently as possible to not startle him, but the contact still makes Jisung jump slightly. “If you want to get to know her, I can tell you what I know.”

“I, uh…” Jisung turns back to look at you for about the sixth time in the span of fifteen minutes before shaking his head. “It’s okay. I think it would come off as a bit creepy if I showed up just knowing things about her. I think I’ll just find a way to get to know her myself.”

“If it helps, she’s usually at the dance studio with Yeji, Ryujin and I at night,” Hyunjin says. Jisung lets his mind process the information, but he doesn’t look away. He’s simply staring at you with the same question that was on his mind when he bumped into you earlier:

Who are you?

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ♫ ⋅.} ───── ⊰

“...So I told him that he needs to get the stick out of his ass before I shove it up his oesophagus,” Minho shrugs.

“Hyung, what the actual fu—”

“Look out!” Minho’s warning is too late. Jisung lets out a yelp when he crashes into someone, both of them falling to the ground from the impact. The entire cafeteria goes quiet to see what the commotion is and, more importantly to them, whether Han Jisung, campus surfer, is alright. Jisung rubs his ass as he stands up, looking at the culprit only to see you scrambling to your feet.

“God, I’m so sorry, I wasn’t looking where I was going and I was… It’s you,” you cut your rambling when you see Jisung. Man, he really needs to start looking at where he is going. “I’m so sorry. This is the second time we’ve bumped into each other this week.”

“Admittedly, we were distracted both times,” Jisung chuckles calmly. His insides are currently screaming at the sight of you. There’s something about you that just seems to make his entire heart light up. “It’s okay. I feel like we need to actually have a proper introduction since we’ve already bumped into each other twice.”

“I’ll bump into you a third time and then we can move on to formal introductions,” you quip. It makes Jisung laugh slightly, his eyes crinkling with joy. “As much as I would love to get on to the introductions, I actually have a class to get to—which is the whole reason why I was running in the first place. But I’ll see you around. Bye, Minho.” You leave before Jisung has a chance to say anything else and he turns to watch you run past him and straight out of the cafeteria.

“Don’t mind her, she’s preoccupied a lot,” Minho chuckles as he brings Jisung’s attention back to what they were talking about. His voice tunes out, similarly to how Chan’s voice did at the beach, and Jisung starts thinking about you again.

They walk alongside each other, Minho talking about how Changbin fell directly on one of the cheerleaders on accident and it looked like something straight out of an anime where he happened to upskirt her and embarrassed himself, the cheerleader, and her boyfriend.

Luckily for the girl, she was wearing pretty long safety shorts, but that didn’t stop her from screaming at Changbin for being a pervert when the poor man just tripped on one of the steps of the bleachers and practically rolled all the way down.

They part ways when they stop in the middle of campus where they both had to head to their own buildings. Minho waved at Jisung as he disappeared into the red medical building while Jisung made his way into the blue technology building. He quietly makes his way to class, thoughts too busy thinking about way too many things at once. Yet, with the thoughts that raced his mind, all he could think about was you.

Jisung was barely even able to pay attention in class. It caught the attention of the student sitting next to him—Song Mingi. Mingi’s usually one of the more quiet students in class who towers over Jisung because of their massive height difference. The taller man risks a glance towards Jisung, but he barely even notices that Mingi’s staring at him.

“Hey,” Mingi finally speaks up quietly while nudging him with his elbow.

“Huh, yeah?” Jisung shakes his head slightly from the sudden intrusion and turns to look at him.

“You alright? You’re more zoned out than usual.” Jisung looks away for a moment. Is it that obvious?

“It’s nothing,” he reassures Mingi. “Just some… homework stuff, you know?”

“Ah,” Mingi hums.

He’s not convinced, but he’s also not the kind to pry so he leaves the conversation at that. Class ends another hour later and Mingi, while he usually walks out with Jisung, watches as he only packs his things and walks out as if in a trance.

Jisung goes on about his day until he’s done with classes. He stays in the park where he usually waits for any one of his friends to meet up with him, staring at the lake and watching the ducks waddle around the place. Jisung catches sight of one of the few geese that live on campus grounds and he feels fear rushing through him.

Fuck it.

He’s too scared of geese to stay in the park, so Jisung packs his things and turns around to leave only to see Hyemi approaching. “Fucking hell,” he groans inwardly before just walking straight past her.

“Hey, Jisung!”

“Not interested!” Jisung declares for the billionth time in the past three years and makes a beeline towards the lime green ‘General’ building where he texts Felix and waits for him. It seemed like the university didn’t know exactly which building to put Culinary under, so they just plopped all of the classes and equipment in the general building.

Lixie: I'm coming out late today, dude Test prep

Damn it.

“HanJi!” Hyunjin’s voice makes Jisung turn around to see Hyunjin walking towards him with Yeji by his side.

“Ah, the Hwang twins,” Jisung chuckles. “Are you guys sure you’re not related?”

“If he was my brother, I would’ve chopped his head off by now,” Yeji jokes, causing Hyunjin to gasp.

“Likewise,” he clicks his tongue in fake annoyance. “Are you heading to the beach?”

“Later today?” When Hyunjin nods, Jisung shakes his head, “I have some work I need to catch up on. I don’t think I learned anything in programming.”

“What’s up?” Yeji tilts her head with concern written on her face. “I got a text from Mingi saying you were a bit distracted during class. He asked me to check up on you.”

“I’m fine,” Jisung reassures her. “I promise it’s nothing. I’ve just been thinking about some things. It’s fine. I’ll see you guys tomorrow. I think I’ve just been a bit tired lately.” Jisung waves as he walks away from them, both Yeji and Hyunjin sharing the same look of concern.

He’s honestly scared of how alike they look. Both of them swear they’re not related despite how they look like carbon copies of each other and share the same name. It makes it even stranger because Yeji and Hyunjin are like a 2-in-1 package with how they're practically always together.

Jisung walks along the brick path that leads towards the campus gates, earphones in hand as he detangles them. His footsteps halt when he’s suddenly hit with a sense of déjà vu. Jisung looks up from his earphones when he feels someone walking past him only to see you walking towards the gates as well.

You dig your hand into the pocket of your black hoodie and when you pull your hand out, your keys go falling to the ground with a jingle that you don’t hear because your ears are plugged.

Jisung rushes to pick up the keys and chases after you. “(Y/n)!” he calls out, but you don’t seem to be able to hear him. Jisung picks up his pace until he’s jogging and taps you on the shoulder, making you turn around to look at him questioningly while pulling one of your earphones out. “You dropped your keys,” he says as he raises the set of keys.

You stare at the keychain in confusion before you stick your hand in your pocket and gasp, “shit. Thank you.” You take the keys from him. “So, the third time we meet and it’s not us crashing into each other, huh?”

“I guess not,” Jisung smiles. “I’m Jisung… by the way. I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned that.”

“You haven’t,” you hum. “I’m (Y/n). I just moved here.”

“I figured. I realised that I didn’t recognise you even though the campus is quite small, so I was wondering whether you moved here recently,” Jisung explains. “Not a lot of students move here in the middle of their courses. The ones that do, move here because of the beach.”

“Quite exactly my reason,” you point out. “I moved here because I heard it was right next to the beach and I heard that the marine biology program is quite good.” Marine biology? Since when was Ryujin taking marine biology if you two share the same course?

“Do you live on campus grounds?” Jisung asks, pushing the thought away.

“I live in the apartment across the street. It was cheaper and there isn’t a curfew.” You jerk your thumb in the direction of the large apartment building that sits opposite of the university. “That way, I can go to the beach even at night.”

“Smart choice,” he claims with a chuckle.

“I think so myself,” you smile. “Anyway, I have some things I need to catch up on for class, so I gotta run. I’ll see you some other time though—oh—and thank you for returning my keys.” You wave the keys in the air before turning around and walking towards the gates, hand plugging your ear as you do.

Jisung only watches as you do. This was the first time he’s ever had a proper conversation with you that wasn’t filled with apologies. He kinda likes talking to you.

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ♫ ⋅.} ───── ⊰

“Shut up!” Ryujin gasps as she throws her shoe in Hyunjin’s direction. The man giggles hysterically as he barely dodges the white sneaker.

“It’s not my fault! I’m right and you know it! Right, hyung?!” Hyunjin turns to Minho who’s trying his best to avoid the conflict.

“What are we talking about?” Minho questions from his spot against the wall, pretending to be oblivious because he’d much rather not have a shoe thrown at him by Ryujin.

“Hyunjin, cut her some slack,” Yeji says in between laughter, “Ryujin’s had enough teasing from the girls because of this.” Ryujin scowls when she turns to look at Yeji, another shoe in hand and ready to be tossed.

“Ah, don’t worry about it, Jin,” Wooyoung chuckles as he ruffles her purple dyed hair. “Not everyone can be cool, hot and confident all at the same time.” Ryujin turns around and whacks him in the leg which only makes him stumble backwards and fall to the ground.

“If I teased you for embarrassing yourself in front of San oppa, then you would be upset too!” Ryujin yells as she starts hitting him with her shoe repeatedly.

Wooyoung flails his arms around the ivory hardwood floors, frantically trying to get away from her, “ah! I was just—I was just joking! Jesus—why are you so bloody strong?! Minho hyung!” Minho looks up from his phone once again and laughs. He doesn’t make an effort to move from his spot and instead opens up the camera app on his phone to start recording.

“Yeah! Let’s go Ryujin!” Minho cheers. She turns to look at him slowly and narrows her eyes at the sight of his phone, making his smile falter for a moment. Ryujin opens her mouth to speak, but she’s interrupted when the glass doors to the dance studio push open and you walk in.

You stare at Wooyoung and Ryujin’s position with wide eyes, “what did I miss?”

“Nothing much,” Minho answers. Your eyes widen even more when a white sneaker flies across the room and hits him right in the head.

“(Y/n), they’re teasing me for tripping in front of a senior!” Ryujin cries.

“Oh, that’s what we’re talking about?” you laugh as you set your bag next to the other pile of bags in the corner of the studio. “I don’t think that’s a bad thing. If anything, she noticed you!”

“That’s not the point!” she groans while falling backwards and laying on the ground. “I embarrassed myself in front of her. Now she knows me as the ‘biology kid who tripped down the stairs’,” Ryujin whines.

“Jin, you do know that you’re known as ‘MMA’s Golden Girl’, right?” Hyunjin chuckles.

“If anything, I’m pretty sure noona knows you as the MMA vice president,” Minho agrees as he rubs his forehead, tossing the sneaker back in Ryujin’s direction.

“Everyone on campus knows Shin Ryujin as the vice president of the MMA club,” you say as you sit cross-legged beside Yeji. “Even I knew. Chris told me when I first got here.”

“Chris?” Hyunjin turns to you with curious eyes. “Like, Christopher Bang Chan?”

“I think so, yeah,” you nod. “He showed me around campus. Someone said everyone calls him ‘campus daddy’...?” You thought it was really weird when the guy beside you mentioned that in front of Chan because he ended up blushing like crazy.

“Oh! Channie hyung!” Minho exclaims. “He’s one of our friends,” he tells you.

“Really?”

“Yeah!” Hyunjin nods frantically. “He’s a surfer too, but he doesn’t surf as often as Han does.”

“Oh, Han is such a good surfer!” Yeji gushes. “(Y/n), have you ever seen him surfing before?”

“I don’t think I’ve been to the beach while he was surfing,” you mutter.

“He was there last week while we were there,” she claims.

“Huh? Then I must’ve been too busy trying to run away from Ryujin and her sand balls.” You throw a playful scowl in Ryujin’s direction and all she does is giggle.

“Have you spoken to him before?” Wooyoung asks as everyone scooches closer into a small circle.

“I’ve bumped into him twice,” you nod.

“Oh! I remember that,” Minho pipes in. “You bumped into him while we were in the cafeteria on Monday! He was really confused.”

“I actually bumped into him before that, too,” you admit sheepishly. “I really need to start looking at where I’m going. The last time, we bumped into each other near the campus gates because we were both playing with our earphones.”

“Ahh, Jisung’s easily distracted,” Hyunjin says.

“Very,” Minho nods in agreement. “You should try having a proper talk with him one day. He’s really nice.” The door to the studio opens once more and everyone turns to see who the new arrival is. Jisung’s head pokes into the studio and his eyes scan the entire group.

“Uhh, Yeji said that she wants to give my jacket back,” he announces.

“Oh, right!” Yeji immediately stands from the ground and rushes to her bag, where a black jacket is bundled up beside it. “Don’t just stand there, HanJi. Come in,” she beckons him over.

“Yeah, we’re not doing anything right now.” Wooyoung’s encouragement has Jisung fully stepping into the studio, but all he does is awkwardly stand at the door while everyone stares at him.

“Jisung, come sit here,” Minho pats the spot beside him and it finally gets Jisung walking towards the group and sitting on the floor beside him. You turn to look at him and offer a wave his way. Jisung’s brain short circuits for a moment because he realises that you’re here.

He waves back, hand raising in the air and his lips pulling into a pursed lip smile. You get distracted when Ryujin starts talking to you and Jisung stays quiet as the group slowly begins their conversation.

Yeji taps Jisung’s shoulder gently and places the jacket in his lap, leaning down to give him a quiet, “thank you,” before she returns to her previous spot beside you.

Jisung quietly listens in on the conversation. He lost track of it a while ago when they started talking about Choi San and his ‘Whore-Ventures’.

As far as Jisung knows, San isn’t exactly what you’d call a ‘man-whore’, but he’s somehow managed to make his way through most of the students on campus—and from what Jisung’s heard, San never disappoints. Which is the whole reason why Wooyoung never seems to have blue balls. After San’s 22nd birthday, he settled down with Wooyoung… well… kind of, but Wooyoung never fails to talk about their wild adventures.

Especially the time they climbed the campus’s clock tower at two a.m. and got high together.

“I really think everyone needs to try it,” Wooyoung says.

“Hyung, I’m not about to get high in public and risk getting expelled,” Hyunjin snorts.

“How did you guys not get caught?” Ryujin stares at him in disbelief. Even Ryujin, who once punched three students in the face in the span of ten minutes, thinks getting high in public and on campus is a terrible idea.

“The guard actually found us, but we gave him money so he’d leave us alone,” Wooyoung confesses with a shrug. “Never bothered us again.”

“Holy shit,” Yeji laughs as she stands up. “Okay, sorry for the interruption, but we need to practice.”

“Oh, right, the Christmas Showcase!” Hyunjin gasps as he scrambles to his feet.

“Christmas Showcase?” you mutter softly, more of a question to yourself.

“Every year, our university does big events that have performances. The Christmas Showcase is usually the biggest, because a lot of the clubs do special performances,” Jisung explains. You turn to him in surprise, not expecting anyone to actually hear you.

“Oh, that’s cool,” you hum.

“Move against the wall, non-dancers,” Minho says as he stands up. “We need all the space we can get, so go and sit by the wall and just look pretty.” You and Jisung oblige, sliding your butts until you’re both sitting beside each other and leaning against the red padded wall of the dance studio.

“Are you not a dancer?” Jisung asks. It’s obvious you’re not part of the dance team, but he’s still curious to know whether or not you’re part of the club in general.

“Me? Oh no,” you shake your head. “I can’t dance that well. I’ve always been better at swimming.” Yeji starts playing the music from her phone that’s connected to the built-in speakers of the room, the bass reverberating throughout Jisung’s entire body.

You both sit quietly and watch as they dance. It’s too loud for any of you to actually talk to each other unless you yell or get really close, and Jisung doesn’t think that his heart is stable enough to get any closer to you just yet.

“What course are you in?” you ask loudly so that Jisung can hear. He hears the question, but for some reason, it doesn’t register in his brain that you’re actually talking to him. “Jisung!”

“Huh, yeah?” He whips his head towards you.

“I asked what course you’re in.”

“Oh, I’m in Computer Science,” Jisung answers. “You’re taking marine biology, right?”

You nod. “Keeps me close to the ocean.” He lets out a hum at that, but Jisung doubts that you actually heard him.

“I saw you surfing the other day,” he claims. “You’re pretty good.”

“Yeji mentioned that you were there. I don’t think I noticed,” you say. “I would love to see you surf one day, though!” The music ends halfway through your sentence, and unfortunately, you didn’t realise you were yelling.

The dancers turn around to look at you and your eyes widen, flustered. Ryujin stifles a laugh, winking at you through the mirror before they start discussing what needs to be improved.

Left to your own company once again, Jisung turns to you. “I’ll be at the beach tomorrow evening.”

“Alright.” He stands up, giving you a small smile before he leaves the dance studio. Once outside, Jisung feels every muscle in his body finally relaxing. He lets out a breath he didn’t even realise he was holding and starts walking down the steps of the gym.

The Sun went down quite a while ago, but the sky’s still shifting from orange to dark blue, which only makes the sky look like a giant blend of colours. Jisung likes this time of the day the most because of how nice the sky looks. Usually, he’d be at the beach while the colours shift, but today, it’s too late for him to go and none of his friends are there.

Jisung walks through the dimly lit pathway of the campus, students occasionally appearing and walking past him. He plugs his earphones into his ears and lets his music play on shuffle as he continues walking.

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ♫ ⋅.} ───── ⊰

"Earth to Han?" Changbin waves his hand in front of Jisung's face when he realises that the younger man is definitely distracted. Jisung blinks a few times before looking at Changbin questioningly. "I said Channie hyung and I are planning on going to the Autumn Fair on Friday night."

"Oh, cool," Jisung simply says.

"Do you… want to join…?" Chan asks.

“Sure. I don’t think I have anything to do on Friday night, but I might need to help my dad with some stuff,” he answers while stuffing his mouth with a chocolate chip muffin. “Aw te ober guys cobing?” Jisung’s voice comes out muffled because of his muffin filled mouth, but Changbin and Chan are still able to understand him.

“I think Hyunjin said he’s free. If he’s free, then that means Yeji and Ryujin might be free, too,” Changbin nods.

“Felix is always free, so even if didn’t ask, I’m pretty sure he’d somehow find out and be there,” Chan jokes.

“Ah, that kid needs to get some sleep, I swear.” Changbin clicks his tongue in annoyance, the familiar nagging tone that usually comes out when he’s talking specifically about Jisung, Felix and Jeongin, and how they need to get their shit together.

“If Hyunjin comes, does that mean he’ll invite the new chick?”

“What was her name again?”

“(Y/n),” Jisung says without even thinking. Both Chan and Changbin pause, heads turning to look at him. Jisung’s frozen as well. He’s usually pretty quiet whenever they talk about any new students and with the way he’s been acting recently, it makes Chan wonder what exactly is floating around Jisung’s seemingly clouded mind.

“Ahh! That girl!” Changbin gasps with a smile on his face. “Dude, she’s honestly pretty cool.”

“Really?” Chan turns to look at him instead.

Changbin nods ecstatically, “you should see her when she’s sparring with Ryujin. (Y/n) isn’t part of any clubs yet, but Ryujin pretty much adopted her into every club she’s in for the time being.”

“Sparring?” Jisung’s interest is piqued as he swallows the last bit of his muffin.

“(Y/n) knows how to kick some ass. She managed to tackle Ryujin without even moving from her spot,” Changbin gushes. “She had the cockiest smile on her face knowing that she managed to get Ryujin down. I bet she’s gonna try and spar with Felix next.”

“Ryujin’s not an easy person to tackle,” Chan chuckles. Ryujin’s determination, stamina and technique are a few of the reasons why she’s one of the most feared students on campus. The last time someone pissed her off on purpose, she stomped on their foot so hard that they cried in the park for a whole hour.

“If we invite Hyunjin, he’ll bring Yeji who will then bring her friends, which means that Ryujin might bring (Y/n),” Changbin rambles. “Apparently, Ryujin is now (Y/n)’s campus mum.” Jisung lets the thought settle in his mind for a moment before a light bulb illuminates his mind; this is his chance to get to know you!

“Let’s invite (Y/n),” Jisung declares.

“Seriously?” Chan looks at him in surprise. “You’re okay with that?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

“You get all nervous and fidgety around new people.” Chan’s claim makes Jisung blink as he stares at him.

“Hyung has a point,” Changbin nods in agreement and it makes Jisung turn to him. “You don’t like new people, HanJi. You said it yourself: new people make you nervous.” He pauses as he gives Jisung a look.

“When did I say that?” Jisung wonders, bemused.

“Last year at Wooyoung’s Summer party.” Changbin purses his lips before continuing, “you said that you were too nervous to meet Kim Hongjoong because you were scared that he would pick up on your fidgeting.”

“Jisung, what Changbin is so desperately trying to say is, we’re just worried that you might get a little anxious spending the night with someone you don’t know that well,” Chan speaks up. He glances at Changbin, silently telling him to let him handle it. “But, if you say that you’ll be fine with it, then we can invite (Y/n). It’ll be good for her since she’s new.”

“I wouldn’t mind.” Changbin and Chan end the conversation just as Hyunjin approaches the table with Yeji by his side.

“Hey, Yeji’s spending lunch with us today,” he says as they sit down.

“Ryujin’s too busy trying to figure out how to kick Felix in the face without him dodging, Lia’s having a vocal workshop, and Chaeryeong’s having volleyball practice,” Yeji explains.

“Jisung wants to invite (Y/n) to the Night Fair with us this Friday,” Chan tells the two. Hyunjin’s head whips to look at Jisung in shock.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, it’ll be fun,” Jisung nods.

“But, you don’t like new people—” Hyunjin cuts himself off when he sees Chan shaking his head.

He glances at Yeji who lets out a small laugh, “it’s fine. I think it’ll be nice. Ryujin and I have been meaning to take (Y/n) to the Night Fair anyway.” She pulls her phone out of her pocket, unlocking the screen while she talks, “I’ll give her a text. I’m pretty sure her class just ended.”

“Invite her here,” Hyunjin says as he glances at Yeji’s screen.

“Aaaaand done,” she hums contently while putting her phone face down on the table. “(Y/n) said she’ll be here in a bit. She just finished Physics.”

“Physics?” Changbin winces. “I can’t imagine having to take physics all over again. That class physically hurt me.”

“Oh come on, physics isn’t all that bad,” Chan rolls his eyes with a laugh.

“Yeah, it’s pretty fun once you get the hang of it,” Jisung laughs.

“Easy for you guys to say—you’re both taking courses that need physics!” Changbin whines.

“Good for the brain, Binnie,” Chan hums, poking at the tattoo of a rabbit on his bicep.

Changbin swats his hand away, whining, “I have enough brain movement from trying to do perspective drawings.” The table erupts into giggles and laughter when Chan and Jisung continue to tease Changbin on his lack of maths skills despite everyone knowing that he’s the best at Mathematics out of all of them. Changbin just likes to dumb himself down when he’s with his friends.

“Oh, there’s (Y/n)!” Yeji raises her arm into the air and waves at you from where you’re standing at the food line. You perk up at the sight of her waving and immediately make your way over to the table, taking a seat opposite from Yeji and right next to Chan.

“Hey, (Y/n),” Chan greets you with a warm smile when you sit down. “Have you met Changbin? He’s in fine arts.”

“I don’t think I have,” you shake your head. Changbin waves at you and you return the wave. “I doubt we would have any classes together if he’s taking arts.”

“Mhm, wouldn’t expect a fine arts and a marine biology student to cross paths in terms of our classes,” he hums.

“We’re going to the Night Fair on Friday,” Hyunjin tells you. Jisung mentally notes the way your eyes widen for a second at the mention of a night fair. “You wanna come with? It’ll be along the beach sometime after seven.”

“Oh, I fucking love fairs!” you exclaim excitedly. “I was planning on staying home and finishing up one of my geography assignments, but I’ll just finish that on Saturday instead.”

“You sure?” he laughs.

“I’m not going to skip going to a fair. Fairs are so fun,” you beam. Jisung keeps his eyes trained on you as subtle as he possibly can, his stomach erupting with butterflies every time you laugh or smile.

If Jisung is being honest, he feels confused. He doesn’t know why he feels such a strong attraction towards your entire being. Hell, he’s only had one proper conversation with you and that only lasted barely ten minutes because neither of you could hear each other properly. Is Jisung finally feeling ‘The Connection’?

“HanJi, are you going to the beach later?” Hyunjin asks.

“Most likely,” he nods. “I don't feel like surfing, though. I feel like just sitting on my board in the water.”

“We can chill at the cove. I don’t really feel like surfing either,” Chan says. He gives Jisung a small smile before he starts gathering everything into his tray. “Alright, I have to go. My class is starting soon, so I’ll see you guys later today.”

“Yeah, me, too,” Changbin says as he stands up. “Bye guys.” Chan and Changbin wave at the table as they leave, leaving Jisung, Yeji, Hyunjin and you sitting together.

“(Y/n), are you coming to the beach with us?” Hyunjin questions while stuffing his mouth full of ramen.

“I’ll have to see whether or not I’m busy, but I’ll let Ryujin know if I am,” you answer. You turn to Jisung when you feel his eyes trained on you, but he immediately turns away and stands up.

“I have to go,” he announces.

“Class or are you trying to avoid… her?” Yeji asks. Jisung’s entire body stiffens. Why did she have to bring Hyemi up now and in front of you?!

“Yeji, I really don’t want to think about having to bump into—”

“Han Jisung!”

“Speak of the fucking devil.” Jisung hangs his head. “I actually might start running—just break into a sprint and fuck off.”

“Too late.” Hyunjin’s face twists into a grimace when Hyemi slings her arm over Jisung’s shoulder.

“Are you busy later this evening, Jisung?” she asks.

“Uhh, yes, I’m going out with my friends,” Jisung states as he shrugs her arm off. “I’m also late for class, so... bye.” He starts walking towards the metal shelf where used food trays are stacked.

“See you another time, Hyemi,” Yeji waves at her with a smug smile on her face knowing that Jisung lending her his jacket is enough of a warning to Hyemi.

“You stay away from him, Hwang,” Hyemi spits.

“Which Hwang are you talking to?” Your comment makes Hyunjin choke on his water while Yeji tries to contain her laughter by covering her mouth with her hands.

Hyemi’s eyes narrow and she leans against the table, “and who exactly are you?”

“I don’t think my name would really matter to you,” you sigh with disinterest dripping from your words. “I mean, I’ve heard about how you keep trying to win over Han Jisung, but if you’re able to constantly forget how he turns you down, you might forget my name a second after I tell you.” You turn to Hyemi and smile at her with the sweetest smile you can muster. “I’m just saving you the trouble, sweetie. Makes it easier for that pretty head of yours.”

“(Y/n),” Hyunjin shoots you a warning look but you shake your head.

“And what are you to Jisung that you would tell me to stop? Do you like him?” Hyemi asks while crossing her arms over her chest.

“What if I do?” You turn back to look at her and stand up. “I don’t see how that’s your business.” You take a step closer to Hyemi and look her straight in the eye. A quick glance at her hand and you can see her reaching for the cup of juice on the table that Changbin had accidentally left, so you grab it instead and chuck it over her top.

Yeji and Hyunjin gasp while Hyemi shrieks out at the top of her lungs. “Y-You! You! This top was expensive!” she whines.

“Well, should’ve worn something else today,” you shrug with a smile. You pick up both your food tray and your backpack, turning to the Hwang twins who are staring at you in complete shock and amusement. “My appetite’s a bit ruined. Must be a bug,” you say while glancing at Hyemi.

You leave the table, Hyemi frozen in her spot with purple liquid dripping down her bubblegum pink blouse while Yeji and Hyunjin can only stare at her while she fumbles around.

“Gotta run quick before the grape juice stains, Hyemi!” Yeji sings when Hyemi turns to her. She lets out a loud sound of frustration before storming out of the cafeteria.

“Is (Y/n) always that bold?” Hyunjin asks once Hyemi’s gone.

"As far as I know, she's just not scared of biting back."

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ♫ ⋅.} ───── ⊰

Jisung’s legs dangle in the water while he stares at the horizon. For the first time in his life, he was too lazy to put on his full body swimsuit and opted for just wearing a pair of his swimming shorts.

“HanJi! We’re going to play volleyball!” Seungmin announces loudly from the shoreline and it makes Jisung turn around to look at him. “Wanna come?” Jisung shakes his head and raises an ‘okay’ symbol into the air which then makes Seungmin nod and give him a thumbs up before turning around to jog back to where Chan, Changbin and Jeongin are.

The waves around the cove are more gentle as compared to the rest of the coast, which makes it more of a chill hangout spot. Jisung and his friends usually only hang out by the cove whenever they don’t feel like surfing or having to deal with the crowd.

The sound of water splashing catches Jisung’s attention and he turns around to see you paddling towards him on your own surfboard.

“Mind if I join you?” you question once you’re close enough.

“Not at all,” Jisung grins, watching as you lift yourself up to straddle your board and sit beside him. The waves gently sway your surfboards as you stare out at the darkening, purple sky.

“I haven’t had the chance to see the sky like this,” you mutter. “It’s beautiful.” Jisung turns to you and lets out a soft exhale as he leans back on his board. You’re beautiful, he wants to say, but he doesn't.

“I’ve always liked watching the sunset from the cove,” he says. “It’s less chaotic than trying to find a place to sit when you’re at the coast.”

A comfortable silence settles between the two of you. There's no need to actually talk and Jisung feels it. There's not even a lick of anxiety that would usually bubble in his chest when he's left alone with someone he doesn't know. Jisung feels comfortable.

You make him feel comfortable.

But there's something that's been bugging Jisung's mind since he left the cafeteria.

Hwang 1: The girl you're practically drooling over just dumped water on Hyemi I think she's the one for you LMAO

Hyunjin's text has been a lingering thought in Jisung's already clouded mind. Did Hyemi do something to you to piss you off? Most likely, right? He wants to ask you about it, but Jisung worries if you might react a certain way.

"Tell me about Lee Hyemi." Your words come out almost like a statement rather than a demand and Jisung sighs.

"She wanted to make me love her in our first year," Jisung starts, "I couldn't shake her off, so now I just ignore her." There's a huge warning in his mind that screams "DO NOT TELL HER ABOUT THE GHOSTING" and Jisung listens to it. He doesn't want you to think he's that kind of a guy, so he just doesn't mention it at all.

Thankfully, you respond with a hum and leave the conversation at that. Jisung wants to ask more. What did she do to you? Did she hurt you? Hyemi definitely started the issue first—no one in their right mind would fight her.

Beachside University students have learned that leaving Hyemi alone means to live your college life in peace. Jisung, however, doesn't get that privilege because of how fucking persistent she is.

Unfortunately, whoever makes their interest in Jisung known immediately earns a red X mark in Hyemi's bitch book. Jisung wonders whether you know that. He also wonders whether you know that now you've bit back at her, Hyemi might try biting back even harder than before.

"You look like you have something on your mind," you point out when you notice that Jisung is lost in his own mind. He turns to look at you and you give him a small smile, "penny for your thoughts?"

“Oh, it’s nothing,” he shakes his head. Jisung appreciates the way you don't pry, and instead, slide off your board to dip into the water. Your arms sling over the width of it, legs dangling with minimal effort to keep you afloat. "You mentioned that you were a swimmer." His words come out as more of a statement and you turn to look at him in confusion because it also sounds like Jisung wanted to follow up on it.

"Yeah," you nod your head when Jisung doesn't add to it. "I thought about joining the swimming club, but I feel like I'd have more fun in the MMA club with Ryujin."

"You don't look like a fighter." Jisung's face immediately fills with panic after he speaks. Stupid! What is that supposed to mean?! His face reddens impossibly when you look at him with your jaw dropped. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean it that way."

"What’s that supposed to mean?" You scoff as you climb back onto your board. Fuck, good job, Jisung.

"I-I…" He stumbles over his words because nothing sounds good enough to defend himself. Jisung only watches as you purse your lips and look at the water. Good job, dumbass, his mutters in his head. He practically said you look weak. How does Jisung save himself from that?!

"I'm going to go check up on Ryujin," you announce as you turn around. "I'll see you around, Jisung."

"Y-Yeah, uhh… later." Jisung feels close to tears. How could he say that to you?! He mentally screams at himself for being so careless with his words—of course you'd be offended! He just said you don't look like a fighter! What's a fighter even supposed to look like?!

"HanJi," Changbin's voice tears Jisung out of his frantic self-punishment and he turns around to see the older man paddling towards him. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah. Yeahyeahyeahyeah," Jisung nods. He gulps as he turns away from Changbin.

"(Y/n) and Ryujin said they were leaving… just wanted to ask if you wanted to say goodbye," he says.

"I told (Y/n) that she doesn't look like a fighter," he blurts out. Changbin's face drops and his eyes widen. "I-I'm pretty sure she's offended now, a-and that's why she's leaving so soon. It just came out! I was just trying to make conversation, but out of everything I could say, my dumbass went ahead and said 'you don't look like a fighter'—gee, Jisung what does a fighter even look like?! What am I—"

Changbin cuts him off by dipping his hand into the water and flicking it at Jisung's face, the sudden contact making him squeeze his eyes and mouth shut.

"First of all, you're bad at conversations," Changbin claims and it makes Jisung roll his eyes only to earn another flick of water to his face. "Second of all, I'm pretty sure you can just… I don't know… apologise?"

"I tried to!" Jisung exclaims, arms flailing about the place in panic. "She just said she was going to look for Ryujin and left!"

"Well, you practically called her weak-looking."

"Hyung," Jisung groans, dragging out the 'u' as he covers his face with his hands.

"If you explain it to her when she's less offended, she'll probably listen to you." Changbin knows that Jisung struggles with flirting. He's really bad at it. Everyone kinda knows that he is. But, Changbin also knows that Jisung tries really hard when he's talking to new people. "Just give her some time. Try again later tonight. I'm pretty sure she'll be wherever Ryujin or Yeosang are."

"Yeosang?" Jisung repeats while pulling his hands away from his face.

"I heard they're pretty good friends," he nods. "Just ask around until you find her, maybe your determination to apologise will win over her heart."

“I don’t want to win over her heart,” Jisung huffs. Changbin crosses his arms over his chest and gives him a look. “I don’t!”

“Let’s backtrack,” Changbin clears his throat and mimics opening up a book, his hand sliding down his palm like he’s reading from a list, “event one: Chan hyung and Felix said HanJi was staring at the water while (Y/n) was surfing—wants to know who she is. Event two: Mingi and Minho hyung both claimed that HanJi was really distracted after bumping into (Y/n) in the cafeteria. Event three—”

“Why do you just happen to know these things off of the top of your head?!” Jisung is honestly quite mortified that all of his friends know how stumbly he gets around you and how distracted he gets after interacting with you.

“Because you’re always with one of us,” Changbin says as if it’s so obvious. “You do anything funky in front of any one of us, everyone of us is going to find out eventually. Why else do you think Hyunjin and Yeji invited her over to have lunch with us?”

“They planned that?” He looks at Changbin with furrowed eyebrows and the arts student nods.

“They also planned on asking you to pick up your jacket at the dance studio while she was there—Minho hyung told me that,” he continues while Jisung can only stare at him in shock and horror. “Yeji held on to your jacket for as long as she did because they had a feeling you were, ya’know, crushing for (Y/n).”

“Is it that obvious?” Jisung is about to cringe when he’s suddenly filled with even more panic. “Does (Y/n) know?!”

“Oh, I wouldn’t worry about that,” Changbin reassures him. “Yeji said she’s actually pretty oblivious.”

“Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”

“I guess it depends on the context,” he shrugs. “Might be bad if you only hint at it, but if you just straight up ask her out, then I don’t think it’ll be such a bad thing. Don’t worry, HanJi, you’ll be fine.” Jisung lets out a small huff before he turns away from Changbin to look at the dark blue water. He may be bad at flirting, but Jisung has a few tricks up his sleeve that’ll get anyone to fall for him.

He just needs to catch you at a time where you're in a decent mood; which shouldn't be too hard considering the fact that Minho says you're usually pretty chill.

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ♫ ⋅.} ───── ⊰

Hwang 2: I wouldn't recommend talking to (Y/n) today I think someone pissed in her morning coffee

Jisung whines as he throws himself onto his bed. He hadn't been able to get a chance to speak with you at all today because your schedules just weren't lining up. Ryujin and Yeji both had also warned him against trying to reach out to you because, according to Ryujin, you were unusually pissed off during your general biology class.

He lets his whines get muffled by his dark blue covers, burying his face further into the covers until he hears his bedroom door creaking open. “What in the world are you doing?” His father’s laugh echoes throughout Jisung’s room and it makes him pull his face out of his bed to stare at him.

“Dad, what were you like when you were in university?” Jisung’s question is simple, but it makes his father’s face twist in panic.

“Oh, jeez, you’re not asking for any homework help, are you? I’m not good at computer things like you are.”

“No, it’s not work,” he clarifies as he sits up. “I mean… What was your social life like? Did you have any girlfriends? Before you met mum?”

His father’s face visibly relaxes as he fully steps into Jisung’s room, closing the door with a small laugh, “is that what this is about?” Jisung sits upright and watches as his father sits beside him on the bed. “What happened? Is it Minho again? Your mother and I have told you so many times that you can date whoever you want!”

“No! It’s not Minho hyung!” He shakes his head feverishly. “Minho hyung and I aren’t like that.”

“Then, I’m going to assume that your 16th birthday was just you and him having a fun wrestling game.” His statement makes Jisung’s entire face flush red.

“I don’t want to talk to you about relationships anymore,” Jisung hurriedly says as he stands up and quickly walks towards his door, but his father grabs onto his arm while laughing.

“I’m just teasing you, Sung.” He pulls Jisung back towards his bed. “Now, tell me what’s wrong. Maybe I can give you some love advice. I was quite the player myself when I was your age.”

“Does mum know that?”

His father pauses, blinking a few times before clearing his throat, “maybe it’s better if we don’t mention that in front of her.”

“I think I might have a crush on someone.” Hearing the confession out loud reminds Jisung of the time he had harboured a crush on the new kid in his class when he was in high school. He hadn’t acted on it, but Jisung remembers going through the same exact emotions he did then as he does now.

“I thought you’ve always handled your crushes on people quite well?” his father claims.

“I’ve only had like two crushes in my entire life. Felix when we first met and Ari. I just know that this feeling I get, right now, feels the same as when I had a crush on Ari,” Jisung explains.

“You had a crush on Felix?”

He completely ignores the question and continues. “I don’t know how to really act. Around her. I just know that I like her because she’s cool, and she’s a surfer, and she’s also pretty funny, but I also don’t know her that well at all!”

“Have you had a proper conversation with her yet?” his father asks.

“Not really,” Jisung shakes his head. “We bumped into each other twice, literally, and after that it was a lot of small talk in between classes.”

“So, you’re unsure of your feelings because you don’t know her that well?”

“That’s the thing; I don’t know.” Jisung lets out a sigh as he pauses and gathers his thoughts. “I know that I get… the feeling… around her, but I don’t know her well enough and I think it’s scaring me.” A knock comes from his door and it tears both Jisung and his father away from the conversation momentarily to see his mother peeking her head in.

“Oh, am I interrupting a father-son thing?” she gasps.

“No, Jisung’s just having some confusing feelings,” his father clarifies.

“Confusing feelings?” She fully steps into the room and approaches the two. “Is this a love thing?”

“Jisung has a crush on someone, but he doesn’t know her that well.”

“You don’t necessarily have to know someone that well to have a crush on them,” she says as she sits on the other side of Jisung. “Did you think I knew your father that well when I realised that I liked him? I just saw him once in a cafe and I thought he was handsome!”

“I think it really depends on how far you’re willing to go to try and confirm your feelings,” his father adds. “Your mother gave me her number and it just kicked off. Maybe, you just need to wait for the right time to talk to her.”

“I may have offended her, though,” Jisung admits softly.

“You? Offending someone?” His mother lets out a hearty laugh, the idea of it seeming to be so incredulous to her. “Jisung, from what I’ve heard from Felix and Minho, you’re the sweetest boy on campus. How could you have offended her?”

“I told her she didn’t look like a fighter…”

“Is she a fighter?” his father questions. When Jisung nods, both of his parents exchange a look. “Okay… uhm… it couldn’t have been that bad.”

“We were at the beach and (Y/n) and I were sitting on our boards in the water,” Jisung starts. He feels his face heating up at the idea of getting relationship advice from his parents, but he’s always been relatively quite close to them. “We were talking about a bunch of campus stuff and I asked about her wanting to join clubs. She said she might join the MMA club because she’s friends with Ryujin and my dumbass went ahead and said ‘you don’t look like a fighter’ and (Y/n) left!”

“That’s not so bad,” his mother claims. “It could’ve gone worse.”

“That is true,” his father nods in agreement. “You could’ve told her she’s a bad fighter—now, that would’ve been bad.”

“That’s not helping!” Jisung groans loudly, a whine following as he buries his face in his hands.

“Sweetie, just apologise to her. You never know, if she likes you as much as you do, then she’ll definitely push it aside,” his mother says.

“Everyone has some awkward moments here and there, Jisung. This is just a small divot in your relationship. Find some time to talk to her and just see how it goes from there. If anything bad happens, then you’ll know that she’s not the one.” Jisung’s father pats his back reassuringly, and when Jisung pulls his face out of his hands, both of his parents are softly smiling at him.

“You’ve got this, Jisungie. Just talk to her. If anything goes wrong, your father and I will go out and buy you a whole cheesecake from the bakery across the street,” his mother chuckles. When Jisung shows no sign of relief, she lets out a sigh, “oh, Jisung. Love isn’t easy, dear. It’s a lot of trial and error and a lot of learning, but that’s okay! You learn to love and you learn with the person you love. I’m sure (Y/n) will understand if you explain anything to her.”

“You think so?” He turns to look at her, his teeth chewing on the inside of his cheek.

“Definitely,” she smiles.

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ♫ ⋅.} ───── ⊰

“So, all we need to do for this assignment is… what are we supposed to do?” Jisung turns to Chan. They’re sitting in the library together, finishing an assignment for the only class they share: Coding.

“‘Create an algorithm/pseudocode that will lead to the given outcome’,” Chan reads the assignment out loud.

“That sounds way too simple,” he mutters as he reads the document.

“Ah, here’s the catch: ‘the code will then be used to create a game scene (for game development students) and must resemble the given example’.”

“What the fuck?” Jisung groans.

“I get why they made sure everyone was paired with a game development student,” Chan hums. “Don’t worry. We can work on the code together and keep referring to the example until we have it completed.”

“Wouldn’t that be a lot of work for you, too? I mean, you’re already going to be doing the whole game programming thing…” Jisung trails off.

“I really don’t mind, Sung,” Chan reassures him with one of his bright smiles. “We can work on the entire code together. It can’t really be that hard since there’s two of us.”

“Yes, but the whole point of this being a ‘paired assignment’ is so that we’re forced to understand each other's code,” JIsung points out. “Hyung, we all have different ways of coding, remember?”

“Jisung, stay fucking positive. I’m losing my mind over here,” Chan groans. “I just want to graduate—please, god, let me graduate.” He lowers his head onto the table and starts repeatedly banging his forehead against the wood while Jisung stares. He doesn’t know what to do. Should he pat Chan on the back…?

“All that head banging’s making a ruckus!” The librarian, Park Seonghwa, hisses from the counter at the front of the library. “If you want to go banging your head, go do it outside where it won’t bother everyone else.”

Chan lifts his head and glares at Seonghwa. “If you weren’t so uptight, then maybe you’d have a girlfriend,” he huffs under his breath.

“I’m gay, dipshit!” He’s about to throw his book, but his boyfriend, Hongjoong—who’s been sitting beside him the entire time—holds onto his wrist and shakes his head.

“At least one of us is getting laid!” Hongjoong giggles. The remark only makes Chan even more frustrated because he knows he’s just being an asshole from all of the stress.

“We can always just do this assignment in the park,” Jisung suggests.

“Yeah, that sounds like a good idea,” Chan sighs while nodding. He packs his laptop into his messenger bag, Jisung doing the same, before the two of them head out. “Sorry, Hwa. I’ll buy you and Joong lunch tomorrow to make up for this.”

“Aww, it’s alright, hyung,” Seonghwa chuckles. “I just like messing with you. Good luck on your assignment!” Seonghwa’s immediate switch in his personality has always been something people admire him for. His bright tone lifts the weight that’s on Chan’s chest lightly and he manages a smile.

“I’m still buying you lunch.”

Seonghwa opens his mouth to refuse, but Hongjoong slaps his hand over his mouth, “lunch sounds great, hyung. Hwa and I really like the butter chicken at the restaurant right outside of campus. We’re both free at twelve.”

“Ah, I have class at twelve. I’ll pack some from the restaurant and I’ll meet you in the cafeteria at five?”

“I love that idea,” Hongjoong nods. “See you then!” Hongjoong waves as Jisung and Chan leave, his hand only coming off of Seonghwa’s mouth when they’re at the door.

“Why’d you do that? Now I’m going to feel bad!” Seonghwa’s whining is only vaguely heard by them and it makes them laugh.

The campus park is right outside the library building, which made it a very short trip for the pair. Jisung and Chan choose a spot underneath the massive cherry blossom tree that has been on campus since it was built.

The branches are bare, but it still makes a nice spot to sit under for some peace of mind. The park is usually not that loud either. It’s only more lively in the evening when all the students are walking around or playing frisbee after their classes.

Comfortable underneath the branches of the cherry blossom tree, Chan and Jisung pull their laptops out and start working on the assignment. They’re both pretty good at coding on their own, which makes it easier for them to just work on it together in mostly silence.

“Hyung, are you going to the beach later?” Jisung questions.

“Uhh, maybe not today,” Chan answers. “I’m going to the gym after this with Binnie, so I don’t think either of us are going to the beach.” His fingers tap away at his keyboard while he speaks quite absentmindedly, his thoughts too busy with the assignment in front of him.

They return to their previous quiet state of concentration, the two of them working quickly. The only thing heard from Chan and Jisung are their keyboards clacking—quite aggressively on Chan’s side—until a ball comes flying straight towards them.

“Look out!” Felix warns. Chan and Jisung look up just in time to avoid the ball, watching as it ricochets off of the tree trunk and into the lake. “Ah, damn it,” he grumbles.

“Lix, watch where you’re kicking that thing,” Chan scolds.

“Sorry! That was my fault!” you apologise as you jog towards the two. "I'm not good at football."

"You're shit at it," Yeosang deadpans from beside you.

"It's not like you're any better," Felix snorts while looking at him.

"How do we get the ball back?" Yeosang wonders as he stares at the football that's floating quite far into the lake.

"Pray?"

"I'm an Atheist, Lix." Felix raises his arms in defense, a small smile on his face as he laughs softly.

"I mean, we could always send (Y/n) to swim and get it back," Felix suggests.

"In that murky water? Fuck no," your face twists with disgust as you scoff. "I feel like I'd be contracting 5 different diseases just from dipping my hand into it."

"Stick," Jisung says simply while holding up one of the fallen branches. "Poke at it until it comes back."

"Stick!" Felix gasps excitedly as he grabs the branch from Jisung's hand and starts running towards the water with Yeosang following.

"Not following them?" Chan chuckles when you stay in your spot and watch the two men trying to poke at the football.

"No, because I have a feeling Yeosang would kick me into the lake," you quip. Chan keeps his eyes on the two for a moment longer before standing up to join them, leaving you with Jisung.

He feels the air becoming thick when the two of you are alone together. Jisung isn’t entirely sure whether the air changed because he thinks it did or if it’s because you’re not that comfortable around him anymore. Nonetheless, he clears his throat to break the silence.

“Y-You’re not going to help?” he asks.

“They’ll figure it out,” you hum, eyes still focused on the way Chan and Yeosang hold onto the edge of Felix’s sweater to keep him from falling into the water.

Jisung thinks that now should be the best time to talk to you and try to apologise for saying you don’t look like a fighter, but he also doesn’t want to make the current vibe even more awkward than it already is.

“Hey, (Y/n),” he calls after a moment. You let out a hum of acknowledgement while turning to look at him. “I… uhh… I’m sorry about the other day… you know. I didn’t mean to imply that you looked weak or anything—it came out wrong, you know? I wanted to say that I thought you were probably going to join the dance club and learn how to dance since Hyunjin mentioned that you’re at the dance studio with them a lot, so maybe you wanted to learn? I don’t know, I didn’t mean for it to come out… like that, but I—”

“Jisung, you’re rambling,” you state, effectively cutting him off and making his face turn red before you let out a small chuckle. “I’m sorry I reacted the way that I did. I was, admittedly, having quite a shit day, so I felt bad afterwards which was why I left the beach. To answer your question, no, I’m not going to try and learn how to dance because I’ll end up looking like a baby deer trying to learn how to walk.

I wanted to apologise earlier today, but I didn’t have any time to go out and look for you.” Jisung feels a huge weight lifting off of his chest despite the small doubt that creeps up in the back of his head. “I’m not saying it just to make you feel better,” you reassure him when you see the smallest bit of doubt breaking through the relief painted on his face.

“So, we’re cool?” he asks, for extra reassurance. It makes you laugh slightly as you nod.

“Yeah, we’re cool.” You take a step closer to him so that you’re able to sit on one of the giant roots that stick out from the ground, your attention drifting back to Yeosang, Felix, and Chan who are still trying to poke at the ball that’s only getting further away from them. “How do they expect to get it back now?” you wonder out loud.

“If they really are willing, they’ll push Channie hyung into the water against his will,” Jisung quips. You let out a laugh at that, glancing around to see him smiling. “You’re joining us at the fair tomorrow night, right?”

“Seriously, I wouldn't miss it for the world, Ji,” you say while nodding. “It’s been getting busier with assignments and all, so it would be nice to take a night off and just hang out with friends.”

"Stop it!" Chan starts whining when Yeosang and Felix both start playfully pushing him towards the water and it makes Jisung turn away from you. "I'm not swimming in the piss lake!"

You let out a laugh, "piss lake?"

"There's a joke that some of the students piss in the lake whenever they're in the park because the nearest toilet is haunted," Jisung explains with a chuckle. "No one's actually ever seen anyone taking a piss in the water, but no one really wants to touch it either."

"Guys!" Chan flails his arms around helplessly when Yeosang and Felix manage to hold him by the waist and pull him closer to the water, making you and Jisung laugh as you watch.

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ♫ ⋅.} ───── ⊰

HanJi: Where are you guys? We’re already here

Hwang 1: Yeni and I are heading there now Don’t worry Blame Minho hyung for leaving this kid all on his own -_-

Minho hyung: How in the world is that my fault??? He told me he knew how to get to the fair on his own

Hwang 1: I— Yeah whatever We’ll be there in five

Hwang 2: Give us fifteen Lia can’t find Chae

Binnie hyung: “Can’t find”?

Hwang 2: I don’t know the details All I know is that we’re missing one person She’s just Gone~

Jisung lowers his phone with a small laugh. “How in the world do you lose a person?”

“Knowing Chae and her tendencies in sneaking around the place, I’m not really surprised that Lia lost her,” Minho laughs. Chan lets out an audible shiver when the wind picks up and blows past them, making him cling onto Changbin’s arm, hands shoving themselves into the pocket of Changbin's black bomber jacket.

“Wha—Hey!” Changbin exclaims at the sudden intrusion of his beloved personal space.

The six of them are gathered right outside the fair as they wait, the small path leading into the fair bustling with people. Streetlights and multicoloured lanterns lighten up the busy street with a soft glow.

“Why is it so cold tonight?” Chan huffs.

“It’s starting to get colder at night,” Felix says, eyes glued to his phone before he lifts it to show his friends his weather app. “The weather’s been all over the place lately, so I wouldn’t be too surprised if it suddenly started getting colder sooner than expected.”

“Channie hyung’s also just cold a lot,” Minho claims, grinning when Chan shoots him a glare. “You sleep with socks on.”

“Sleeping with socks on doesn’t mean anything,” Chan grumbles.

“It means you’re weird,” Seungmin claims as he pulls his camera away from his face to look at his friends. He was too busy taking pictures of the fair than to actually partake in his friends’ conversation.

“No, it doesn’t,” Felix shakes his head. “I think it just means that Channie hyung has cold feet that need to be protected while he sleeps.”

“Either that, or we’ll have a sneezing Bang Chan waltzing all over the place,” Minho snickers. He flinches when Chan raises his hand, but he immediately lowers it when he starts to feel cold and stuffs it back into Changbin’s pocket.

“There’s Yeni and Hyunjin.” Felix points in the direction of the campus where Jeongin and Hyunjin are walking towards them with their hands dug into the pockets of their jackets and beanies covering their hair. Admittedly, it’s 13 degrees celsius when the past few days have been 20, which would explain why everyone’s not as bundled up as they should be.

Jisung keeps his hands busy by tossing a hot pack back-and-forth. Even he wasn’t that prepared for the cold weather, which led him into stopping by the CU on campus to buy a hot pack. The breeze that blows from the ocean’s direction doesn’t exactly help their cold situation either. Every time a breeze brushes by, Jisung feels his ears pricking from the low temperature.

“I thought you said that you knew how to get here,” Minho huffs when Jeongin and Hyunjin stand in their small circle.

“I thought I did,” Jeongin mutters, “turns out I didn’t.”

“He’s lucky I was still on-campus or else he would’ve had to tag along Yeji and help look for Chaeryeong,” Hyunjin chuckles.

“Again, how do you lose an entire person?” Jisung laughs.

“Chae’s easily distracted and, usually, they’re able to find her in the same building, but Chae somehow managed to disappear from Lia’s dorm building and no one knows where she is,” he explains casually as though it’s something that happens every other day. Hyunjin pulls his phone out of his pocket and glances at the screen before turning around, “there they are.”

Everyone follows Hyunjin’s gaze to see Yeji and her friends approaching the group with you linked to Ryujin’s elbow. Lia has her arm linked around Chaeryeong’s arm—seemingly to stop her from straying away—while Yeji has her hands in the front pocket of her red hoodie.

“It hasn't even been ten minutes,” Felix points out.

“Yeah, it turns out that Chae was in the park staring at the geese,” Ryujin sighs.

“They’re not scary when they’re not chasing you,” Chaeryeong claims while lifting her shoulders in a shrug.

“That is very true,” Chan says with a laugh.

“Wait, so are we going to stand here and talk, or are we going to actually go into the fair and have some fun?” Changbin asks, clearly getting impatient after having to wait longer than he thought he would have to.

“God, you’re like a giant baby.” Minho eyes him up and down with a fake sneer on his face.

“At least I’m cute,” Changbin argues, which only makes Minho scowl. Before he’s able to bite back, Chan pulls Changbin away.

“Okaaay! Let’s go into the fair before the cats start fighting,” Chan announces as he starts tugging Changbin towards the entrance to the fair.

“Are we splitting into groups?” Jeongin questions as everyone starts following after the two.

“I think that would be best,” Hyunjin nods. “There’s… thirteen of us, though,” he points out after counting everyone.

“Here’s an idea—Channie hyung can stay with Changbin, I’ll take Jeongin, Hyunjin and Yeji are in a pair, Felix and Seungmin stay in a pair, Lia, Chaeryeong and Ryujin stick together while Ji and (Y/n) pair together!” Jisung’s face falls and he turns to look at Minho who all but shrugs when he sees the younger male’s reaction.

“I’m good with that,” Changbin nods before tugging Chan towards the entrance, the two of them disappearing into the bustling crowd before anyone else can object.

“I’m alright with sticking with Seungmin,” Felix hums in agreement, “he takes nice pictures.”

“Lix makes the perfect model in places like these,” Seungmin grins while turning to look at him. He waves his DSLR camera slightly, earning a nod from Felix before they rush into the crowd. With their group smaller now, Hyunjin turns to Yeji and extends his arm out towards her.

“Milady.”

“I can’t believe Minho oppa left me with you,” she huffs jokingly, taking his arm nonetheless while Hyunjin giggles.

“Are you going to be alright with Jisung?” Ryujin asks while turning to look at you.

“I’ll be fine,” you nod, glancing at your temporary partner who gives you a pursed lip smile.

“We’ll see you guys later then.” Lia, Chaeryeong and Ryujin wave at you as they walk towards the entrance, leaving you with Jisung, Minho and Jeongin.

“If you guys need anything,” Minho raises his phone, “you both have my number.” He smiles at the both of you before heading into the fair with Jeongin, who excitedly waves at the two of you.

“Shall we?” Jisung turns to you, leading the walk towards the entrance.

“When was the last time you came to the fair?” you ask as you step into the fair.

He lets out a hum, looking around for a moment before glancing at you, “probably last year. Minho hyung, Felix and I try coming every year as some kind of a tradition.”

“Minho and Felix?”

“Yeah,” he nods. “I’ve known them for quite a while. Minho hyung and I live on the same street. Our parents are pretty good friends, too, so we've known each other practically forever. Felix moved into our middle school and we've been friends since then."

"Must be nice to have your best friends in the same uni, huh?" you hum. You let out a small sigh at the thought of growing up with your friends.

"Do you not have any childhood friends?" Jisung asks.

"I have one, but they moved to Japan for studies," you say while nodding. "I haven't seen them in two years, so I'm planning on visiting them this Christmas."

"Christmas with friends is nice," he claims. "If you're on campus the week before Christmas, we can watch the Christmas Showcase together." Jisung looks to his left and stops walking which makes you stop as well. “How good is your aim?” You turn around and see one of the game stalls. The stall is decorated with various dart boards and fake darts, small balloons stuck to the back wall.

“Pretty okay,” you grin while glancing at Jisung. You approach the stall and your attention immediately glues to the line of plush toys that hang from the back of the stall. “Ooh, Ji, check out that octopus,” you tug on the sleeze of his red denim jacket and point to the round orange octopus plushie. “How many points do we need to get the plushy?” you ask the vendor.

“If you pop five balloons, you can win the plushy,” the vendor tells you.

“Let me,” Jisung says while extending his arm out in front of you, a cocky smile on his face as he hands one of the fair coupons to the vendor. “I’ll get you the octopus.”

“Whatever you say, hotshot,” you laugh. Your arms cross over your chest as you watch the vendor hand Jisung five red darts. He tosses the first one and misses. He actually misses all of them except for one and turns around to look at you with a big smile on his face when he’s out of darts. “It’s the effort that counts,” you reassure him while laughing, your hand patting his shoulder.

“You give it a try,” Jisung urges as he pulls you closer while handing the vendor one more of his coupons.

“Ji, you don’t have to use your coupons for me, I have a few of my own,” you tell him, but he shrugs in response. The vendor hands you five darts and Jisung takes a step back as he watches you intently. You manage to pop all five balloons and the vendor pulls the octopus plushie off of it’s hanging display to hand to you. “I guess we know which one of us has better aim,” you joke.

“Show off,” Jisung huffs.

“You’re just jealous that I’m good at darts,” you tease while waving the octopus in front of him. “Which means that I won Octo for myself.”

He pushes the plushie aside to look at you and laughs, “you’ve already given it a name?”

“Well, I can’t just leave it nameless, now can I?” You bring Octo closer to yourself and smile at it, your hands squishing it repeatedly to the point where you’re definitely distracted while Jisung watches with a butterfly colony in his gut. He doesn’t tear your attention away from the squishy octopus and, instead, just patiently waits until you look back up. “Okay, I think that’s enough squishing for now.”

“You sure? You don’t want to squish it for extra measure?” Jisung crosses his arms over his chest and raises an eyebrow. You look between him and Octo before squishing it one last time and nodding. “Alright, let’s go. We can check out more of the games.”

You’re quick to follow beside Jisung, the two of you making your way through the fair and stopping every once in a while to play some of the games. “Is that ukulele?” He points at one of the game stalls with a dark blue ukulele hanging from the prize display.

“They’re giving one away as a prize?” you wonder as you turn to look at it.

“It’s worth a shot,” he shrugs. Jisung takes a step closer and he lets out a sigh when he sees what kind of a game it is. “It’s a shooting game,” he mutters. There’s a BB gun sitting on the front counter and a few plastic cups lined up on the shelf at the back.

“I can try winning it for you,” you offer.

“Really?” Jisung turns to you with wide, sparkling eyes. You nod and hand Octo to him before handing one of your coupons to the vendor.

“Knock down five for the plush toys and knock down fifteen for the ukulele,” the vendor tells you as you pick up the BB gun.

“Have you ever fired a gun before?” Jisung asks as he watches you.

“Not a real one,” you shake your head, “but I used to play paintball with my high school friends.” You raise the BB gun and start firing the cups down one-by-one.

“I’m going to assume that paintball is the reason why your aim’s really good,” Jisung mutters as he watches you shoot the red plastic cups.

“Uhh, something like that,” you say absentmindedly, trying to keep your focus on your aim. “I haven’t played in a while, though—haven’t really had the time.” You shoot down the fifteenth cup and the vendor pulls the ukulele down from the display to put it in a small black bag as you place the BB gun back down onto the counter. Jisung hands Octo back to you as he takes the ukulele case. “You’re welcome,” you hum when you see the way Jisung peeks into the case to eye the ukulele lovingly.

“Thank you, (Y/n).” He turns to you with a big smile on his face as he slings the bag over his shoulder. Jisung’s toothy smile is contagious and you can’t help but return the smile, staring at him for a moment before you take a step closer and lean up. Jisung’s entire body freezes when he feels you press a kiss to his cheek.

You take a step away and let out a small chuckle when you see how red his face has gotten, “you’re cute.”

“I-I—Uhm… you’re… uhm… pretty cute yourself.” Jisung clears his throat as his eyes look around the place nervously, desperately trying to avoid eye contact with you.

“Is there anything else you want to play?” you ask once he’s in a less flustered state.

“We’ve pretty much tried all of them,” Jisung claims as he looks around. “I think all that’s left are the mirror maze and the haunted house.”

“Do you get scared easily?” You turn to him.

“Uhh, I usually try avoiding the haunted house if I’m here alone, but we can go in if you’d like,” he shrugs.

“It’s alright, we can go into the mirror maze instead.” Jisung nods and the two of you walk towards the small building with a large glowing ‘MIRROR MAZE’ sign right above the entrance. A few people go in and come out through the other door, but there isn’t a line or anything that would force you to have to wait.

The moment you step into the mirror maze, you already feel lost. The area’s barely even lit up save for the black light and the mirrors just reflect everything.

“Was this a bad idea?” you mutter as the two of you walk around mindlessly.

“Probably,” Jisung chuckles. He looks around as he walks away from you, unknowingly straying away from you and into a different path until he bumps into a mirror. “Shit,” he sighs when he’s faced with his own reflection. “I think I reached a dead end.” When you don’t respond, Jisung turns around and that’s when he realises that you’re gone. “(Y/n)?” he calls out as he tries to follow back where he came from.

Jisung wanders around for a bit longer, bumping into mirrors half of the time before he finds himself at another dead end without any sight of you. “(Y/n)? Can you hear me?” he calls out once again while letting his right hand glide along the mirrors to try and find a way out.

“Jisung? I lost you and I have no idea where to go next,” you say loud enough for him to hear. Concern fills Jisung when he hears the way your voice shakes slightly.

“(Y/n), just keep talking, I’ll try looking for you.”

“Okay, but I don’t even know which direction your voice is coming from—how are we supposed to find each other?” you question. Jisung purses his lips as he thinks about it.

“Don’t worry, I’ll figure it out,” he hums just as he takes a left turn.

“I might be freaking out a bit,” you confess with a shaky laugh. “Maybe this mirror maze really was a bad idea.”

“You’ll be fine, (Y/n),” Jisung reassures you when he stops at two turns. You’re not talking anymore, which only makes it harder for him to figure out where exactly you are. “Where did you say you were going for Christmas?”

“This Christmas?”

“Yeah.”

“Japan. I said I was going to meet up with my friend,” you say. Jisung looks around while you speak before deciding to go right.

“What’s their name?” he questions to keep you talking.

“They call themselves Mip now. I’ve known them since we were in pre-school. They used to have a dog—it was this giant… doberman…? I think that’s what it was, but it was fucking massive.” Jisung wanders around, following whichever direction makes you sound the clearest while you talk about Mip’s dog until you stop talking again.

“Are you ever going to get your own dog?” he asks when he’s lost again.

“Probably, but not a doberman. Those things are too big for an apartment. Maybe I could get one the size of Kkami,” you wonder just as Jisung turns right to see you sitting on the ground with Octo in your lap. “Jisung!” you gasp when you see him, scrambling to your feet to run towards him.

Your arms wrap around him and Jisung freezes while you hug him. “I told you I’d find you,” he chuckles as he hugs you back. “I’m pretty sure I saw the exit on the way here.” Jisung pulls away, but you keep your arm linked around his as he walks you to the exit. “Do you still want to go into the haunted house?” He asks once you’re outside.

“Uhh, I’d better not,” you shake your head sheepishly. “I’m sorry I made you go around just to find me.”

“It’s fine,” Jisung reassures you while ruffling your hair, “I’ve had to look for Hyunjin in the mirror maze a few times before.” You keep yourself attached to Jisung’s side, your other hand wrapped around Octo, as you walk around the fair until you bump into Hyunjin and Yeji.

“Hey, guys!” Yeji greets with a cotton candy stick in her hand and a dark purple cat ear headband stuck into her hair.

“We saw you going into the mirror maze,” Hyunjin claims. There’s a dark blue cat ear headband in his hair as well, which Jisung can only assume came from the same game stall. “How was it?”

“It’s the same as every year,” Jisung shrugs. “We just got lost for a bit.”

“Is that why you’re holding hands now?” Yeji snickers when she sees the way you’re still holding onto Jisung’s hand. You’re about to pull away, but Jisung keeps his grip on your hand tight.

“Yeah, she had to come find me in the maze,” Jisung laughs.

“Really? Usually HanJi’s the one that has to come find me,” Hyunjin says. “Fun to see that he’s finally the one getting lost instead.”

“Yeah,” you chuckle while glancing at Jisung. He squeezes your hand reassuringly and flashes you a small smile.

“Have you guys bumped into the others yet?” He quickly changes the topic to stop you from getting any kind of teasing from the dramatic pair.

“We saw Seungmin taking pictures of Felix in front of the ferris wheel and the girls went into the haunted house a while ago, but we don’t know where the others are,” Hyunjin says.

“I feel like heading back now, though. I think the Dance Dance Revolution machine took a lot out of me.” Yeji lets out a tired sigh and turns to Hyunjin.

“There’s a Dance Dance Revolution machine?” Your eyes widen.

“Yeah, it’s in the same area as the ferris wheel,” Hyunjin nods, his thumb jerking in the direction of the large ferris wheel on the other end of the fair. “I’m gonna walk Yeji back. We’ll see you guys tomorrow.” The pair wave at you two as they walk away and once they’re gone, you turn to Jisung.

“You wanna ride the ferris wheel then head back?” Jisung’s about to nod when all of his thoughts pause. The ferris wheel? The ferris wheel is the romantic zone; the place where everyone confesses or shares their first kiss one their car reaches the top.

Jisung’s never been on it before because he’s never actually had the urge to go on it, but with you here… Jisung can’t help but wonder whether this is some kind of a sign or a golden opportunity.

“I don’t mind,” he finally says. Your eyes light up and you immediately start pulling him through the crowd and towards the ferris wheel.

Jisung hands his last coupons to the vendor and the two of you climb into one of the cars, both of you sitting down on the metal bench inside once the door closes. Jisung’s suddenly highly aware of how quiet it is on the inside of the cart as compared to the outside where the crowd is bustling.

You’re too busy looking out of the glass window to notice the way Jisung watches you adoringly. He really hasn’t felt this way since he was in high school, and even then, he’s pretty sure you make him feel more than Ari ever did. Jisung lets out a content sigh as he looks out the window as well, admiring the view as the car slowly gets higher and higher as the ferris wheel turns.

“Wow,” you breathe out in awe once you’re at the top. You stand up from the seat, leaving Octo out of your hands as you look outside. “You can see the entire fair from up here—Jisung, check it out.” You beckon him over with your hand and he obliges, standing beside you as he looks out as well.

The entire layout of the fair is visible from your car and you gasp when you see Jeongin and Minho in the distance. “There’s Yeni!” Jisung follows your gaze to see Jeongin excitedly running towards the older man with a cat doll in his hand. He waves the toy excitedly and the two of you assume that he’s just won it at one of the game stalls.

Jisung’s attention slowly drifts back to you and his heart absolutely adores how radiant you seem without anything bothering your mind. There’s not a single thought of your assignments, your classes or your exams in your mind; only Jisung.

You turn to look at him, cheeks flushing at the way he stares at you. Kiss her! Kiss her, you fool! Jisung’s brain screams at him, but he can’t seem to bring himself to do it even though you’re definitely inviting him with your eyes. What are you waiting for?! A formal invitation?! Kiss (Y/n)!

You clear your throat when Jisung stares at you silently for a bit longer and you turn away. Disappointment creeps into the back of your head when the realisation hits you:

He’s not going to kiss you.

Jisung mentally slaps himself in the face for missing such a perfect opportunity once the ferris wheel cars start moving again. He feels embarrassed. Why didn’t he just do it?! The two of you silently step out of the car once it reaches the bottom and you make your way back to your apartment quietly.

Jisung was kind enough to offer to walk you home, but he doesn’t say anything because he’s too busy yelling at himself. You stay quiet because it’s starting to feel awkward. Jisung’s mental battle is making it too difficult for him to make any proper conversations with you and he’s too worried about saying something stupid.

“Thank you for walking me back,” you thank softly once you’re outside your building. “I had a really fun time tonight.”

“Y-Yeah, I had a good time, too,” Jisung clears his throat, his hand subconsciously raising to rub the back of his neck in an attempt to calm his nerves. “You’re really nice, (Y/n). Y-Your aim’s really good, too.”

You let out a small chuckle, “thanks. You’re not so bad at beer pong.”

“Yeah,” he nods. Awkward. It’s awkward. Do something! Jisung’s head starts screaming again. He so badly wants it to shut the fuck up. As oblivious as your friends think you are, you aren’t oblivious at all. It’s just easier to pretend you don’t know when someone’s hitting on you. You stand in front of him, quietly wondering whether or not he’ll make the first move, before you decide ‘fuck it’.

“Hey, Ji?”

“Yeah!” Jisung squeaks out, cheeks flaring at how quickly he responded. You take a step closer to him and kiss him. His brain malfunctions. Every sense in his body suddenly ignites and his hands raise to hold onto your biceps as he kisses you back. It’s soft and sweet as your lips mold together.

You pull away after a moment but Jisung chases after you and keeps his lips on yours, deepening the kiss. When he finally pulls away, you’re staring at him breathlessly.

“You have no idea how badly I’ve been wanting to do that,” he chuckles, out of breath before he leans back in.

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ♫ ⋅.} ───── ⊰

Han Jisung: Are you coming to the cafeteria?

(Y/n): No, I’m at the library I brought an onigiri from the Family Mart next to my building, so I’m finishing work while I’m eating

Jisung looks up from his phone and to Felix who’s watching him curiously. “I’m going to the library,” he announces as he pulls his backpack over his shoulder. Jisung’s pretty sure he has a packet of cookies somewhere in his backpack for days when he doesn’t feel like eating in the cafeteria.

“Alright, I’ll see you after classes then.” Felix waves at him before stepping through the doors of the cafeteria, Jisung leaving the Student Union to make his way to the library building right beside it.

Once there, Seonghwa greets him as he walks in, Jisung flashing him a small smile before scanning the library to look for you. “(Y/n)’s at the back. She usually sits at the seats next to the window,” the librarian says. Jisung turns to look at him and the older man only winks in response just as he turns around to arrange some books on the counter.

“Thanks, hyung,” Jisung mutters. He makes his way past all of the tables and shelves until he reaches the end of the library. You’re sitting at the table right against the window, back turned to Jisung and your head bobbing along to music as your pencil runs across the notebook in front of you. The sight makes him smile slightly as he approaches you, tapping your shoulder before he takes the empty seat beside you.

You whip your head in his direction and pull your earphone out, “oh! Hey, Ji. You’re not getting lunch?”

“No, I have cookies,” Jisung says while reaching his hand into his bag to search for the cookies. He pulls out the small packet and waves it in the air before ripping the plastic open and setting it down on the table. “What are you working on?” he asks while leaning his arms on the table to lean closer to your notebook.

“It’s just some math stuff, " you say while waving your hand at it slightly. “There’s some physics involved with the ocean floor and stuff.” Jisung reaches for it slowly and only takes it when you nod, his eyes reading over the page before his face contorts in confusion.

“I don’t understand a single thing on this page,” he mutters jokingly as he sets your book down.

“A lot to do with rocks,” you chuckle as you slide the book back in front of yourself.

“Is it fun?”

“Geology?” You turn to Jisung and he nods in clarification. “Eh, it’s pretty alright. It gets a bit boring sometimes, but it’s kinda cool when you think about how the rocks change if they’re pressurized or heated. It’s a compulsory subject for this year, so I can’t really get out of it anyway. Might as well be happy with it rather than resenting it.”

Jisung lets out a hum at that and you turn to him questioningly. “I just think that’s pretty cool. Most students just vent about how much they hate certain classes because they’re compulsory.”

“I mean, if you spend your entire year hating a specific class, you’re not going to enjoy it at all,” you shrug as you turn back to your book, your hand letting your pencil drag along the corner of the page. “What about you? Do you have any classes you dislike more than the others?”

“Not really, I just don’t like maths,” he shakes his head.

“Aren’t you taking a course that’s completely based around maths?” When Jisung shrugs, you let out a hearty laugh, throwing your head back.

“I just do it without thinking much, honestly,” Jisung chuckles. “It sounds strange, but I don’t think I even know half of the things I’m typing until after I’ve typed it all out.”

“I’m sorry, what’s your grade average, again?” You laugh in disbelief when he cheekily smiles. “No way…”

“My average GPA is probably about 3.8.”

“No fucking way, Han Jisung.” You let out an impressive whistle when Jisung winks at you. “You really are something.”

“In love with me yet?” he jokes.

“Not quite yet, but there definitely is a small something happening in my heart,” you quip. Jisung lets out a loud, exaggerated gasp. His hand flies to clutch his chest and mocks hurt.

“You’re not in love with me?!” he gasps loudly. “And after all that I’ve done for you?”

“Mhm and what might that be?” You cross your arms over his chest as Jisung’s eyes narrow.

“Let’s see, I bumped into you twice—not once! But twice! I stared at you while we were in the park and I saved you from the mirror maze. I’d like to think that deserves some kind of love,” he huffs jokingly.

“Aww, you’re right,” you coo as you reach up to pinch his plush cheeks. “How can I make up for my ever so ungrateful mind?”

“I want a kiss,” Jisung states. Your eyes widen immensely and you feel your entire face heating up.

“Now?” you question and he nods. “Like, in public right now?” Jisung nods even harder. You take a look around the library to make sure there aren’t any curious eyes before leaning in to give Jisung a chaste kiss. “Happy?”

“You don’t seem to want to kiss me,” he says while pouting. Before you can say anything, Jisung holds onto your hand and pulls you closer, his lips pressing to yours. His right hand holds the nape of your neck to stop you from moving away and his left hand loosens its grip on yours when the kiss deepens.

Unknowingly to you, Seonghwa actually walked to the back to rearrange some books that the students had just returned and his jaw drops when he sees you.

“Hey, hey!” he yaps while hitting the tops of your heads lightly with a book, forcing the both of you apart. “No PDA in the library or else I’ll have to start cleaning questionable stains from the floor.” He walks away and you turn to Jisung who’s watching the librarian for a moment longer before turning back to you.

"Buzzkill," Jisung snorts, breaking into a laugh when Seonghwa whips his head around to glare at him. "Ah, I'm joking, hyung. Go back to doing your thing." Seonghwa eyes him for a moment before turning around while mumbling something under his breath.

"Seonghwa's quite the character," you chuckle. "I'm not surprised that Wooyoung says he's more terrified of him than he lets on."

"Seonghwa hyung's not that scary," Jisung claims as he turns back to you, "he's just funny like that. He's actually really nice once you get to know him."

Your conversation dissolves as you turn your attention back to your notes. Jisung busies himself by leaving his picking up a random book from one of the shelves, but since you’re sitting in the geology area, all of the books are about rocks. So, he reads a book about rocks.

“Quartz is a rock?” Jisung asks while looking at you.

“It’s a crystal,” you correct, turning to look at him. He sets the book down onto the table and you scooch closer to him, bringing your notebook with you. You flip over to an empty page and set it down in front of him. “Quartz is a mineral, so it naturally comes from Earth. It’s made out of silicone dioxide crystals that usually form in igneous rocks or in geo-thermal water.”

“What does that mean?”

“Lava rocks and naturally hot Earth water.”

“Ohh.”

“In lava rocks, when it naturally cools down, the silicon dioxide crystallizes and forms quartz.” Jisung watches as you write it down on the book, drawing a small rock with ‘lava rock’ written underneath it and then pointy rocks inside of it for the crystals. “In water,” you pause to draw a small river on the page, “silicon dioxide dissolves in water if it’s hot enough and if there’s enough pressure, but forms crystals if the temperature or the pressure drops.” You fill the river with small rocks and random shapes, dotting the river with ink before turning to look at Jisung. “Funky Earth rocks.”

“Funky Earth rocks,” he repeats in slight awe. “That’s kinda cool.”

“Yeah, it is.” Jisung stares at you for a moment longer before leaning in to kiss your forehead. You beam when he pulls away and it makes him smile as well.

“Do you have any classes after this?”

“I’m going to the gym after this because Felix wants to see if I can beat him up,” you say while closing your notebook. “You wanna come with? You can watch me try to kick him in the face. I don’t have to be there now, so we can just walk around campus before going to the gym.”

“Sure. I don’t have any classes for the rest of the day.” You gather your things and leave the library, waving at Seonghwa and Yeosang when you see them at the front.

“Hey, (Y/n).”

“Yeah?”

“What’s your favourite colour?”

“Why so suddenly?” you ask while turning to look at him. Jisung shrugs and reaches for your hand, his fingers locking with yours.

“I feel like we missed a certain talking stage, so I’m asking now.” You give him a weird look, but you can’t help but feel slightly endeared. So, you tell him, and after that, he asks about your favourite food. You tell him that, too.

Jisung asks all the kinds of questions he feels like he should’ve known the answer to before he kissed you at the fair and you answer them, patiently waiting for whatever question comes next until you’re violently disrupted when someone grabs your shoulder and whips you around.

“Hyemi!” You barely even register the smack to your face because you’re honestly so confused.

“What the fuck just happened?” you ask when you look at her.

“(Y/n).” Jisung looks at you with warning eyes but you shake your head.

“I'll only hit her if I have to.” You take a step closer to her only for her to hit you again. “Jesus Christ, Hyemi stop it,” you groan. “You’re not even that strong, it doesn’t hurt.”

“What in the world are you doing with him?!” she screeches.

“Dating him…?” She reaches her and back to hit you again, the back of her palm hitting you on the cheek. That one stung. “Okay, now you’re getting it right,” you state while rubbing your face.

“You can’t be dating him! He’s supposed to be with me!”

“Hyemi, stop it!” Jisung exclaims.

“How could you do this to me, Jisung?!”

“I’ve said no to you so many times!” he yells. “You’re the one who doesn’t know how to take a hint!” Hyemi takes a step closer and pouts.

“B-But Sungie, I’ve loved you since our first year. You just suddenly stopped talking to me after we slept together.” You feel a switch go off in your head and your hand curls into a fist as she places her hand on Jisung’s shoulder.

“Stop it—this is getting ridiculous!” Jisung swats her hand away in disgust and takes a step away from her. Panic fills him even more because now you know that he’s ghosted Hyemi before.

“Hey, Hyemi?” She turns to look at you and your fist makes contact with her face. Hyemi stumbles backwards and falls to the ground in shock, her hand flying to her nose as she looks up at you. “That’s for touching my boyfriend.” You lean over her and smile, “leave him alone from now on, yeah?”

You stand up and turn to Jisung while readjusting the strap of your bag on your shoulder. “Holy shit,” he chuckles as he stares at you.

“That was a nice warm up,” you laugh while taking his hand. “Let’s get to the gym before Felix and Ryujin start wondering.” The two of you quickly walk away from the scene, pushing past the small crowd that’s formed to see why Hyemi’s crying.

“What Hyemi said—it doesn't bother you?” Jisung asks once you’re quite far away from the scene.

“Hmm, I mean, if you did it to get her to stop, then I don’t see what the problem is,” you shrug. He glances at you worriedly and you smile as you stop walking to cup his face. “Ji, I’ve asked Hyunjin about your relationship with Hyemi before. He said that she’s the only person you’ve ever ghosted and that you only did it because you were trying to make her leave you alone. Even Minho said that you don’t ghost people, so I’m not too worried about you ghosting me.”

“Really?”

“Really,” you nod. “I promise this isn’t going to scare me off. Even if you did decide to ghost me, I can just kick you in the balls and call it even.”

“Jesus,” Jisung laughs, “alright. That’s more than enough to stop me from doing anything to hurt you.”

“I trust you, Ji. I really do,” you admit with a small smile. You can see the way his eyes soften before he leans close to press a chaste kiss to your lips.

“Thank you.”

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ♫ ⋅.} ───── ⊰

“You can always just back out at any time, you know,” Jisung tells you when he senses how nervous you are.

“But, you already told them that I’m coming,” you mutter while staring at the front door to his house. According to Jisung, his parents really wanted to meet you before you had left for Japan. He gave you the time to think about it and while you were still there, you decided you would just meet them after you came back. The only problem is that you’re way more nervous than you thought you’d be.

“They’re really nice, (Y/n). I’m pretty sure they’d embarrass me more than they’d scare you,” he jokes while cupping your face with both of your hands. “If you’re too nervous, I can just ask them to reschedule.”

“Thanks, but I don’t think we should prolong this,” you sigh. “I’ll just be nervous about meeting them forever if I don’t meet them now.” You hold onto Jisung’s hand and give it a small squeeze. “I promise I’ll be fine.” He gives you one last look before pushing through his front door.

“(Y/n)’s here!” he announces while you both kick your shoes off and place them on the shoe rack by the door.

“(Y/n)?” Jisung’s father pokes his head out from the living room and gasps. “Honey, (Y/n) is here!” His mother pokes her head out of the kitchen now and she gasps as well.

“You’re just on time!” She smiles while stepping out of the kitchen with a plate of grilled beef in her hands. “Come sit.” Jisung’s mother beckons the two of you over to the set dinner table and you both oblige, sitting down beside each other while his parents sit across from you. There’s a simple spread of food on the table and your mouth waters at the idea of finally having home cooked food after a few months of living away from your family.

“Ah, it’s so nice to finally meet you,” his father smiles. “Jisung talks about you all the time, so we’ve always been curious to know who exactly has won his heart.”

“Dad,” Jisung groans.

“It’s true!” his mother argues as she sits down. “We’ve always wanted to know who it was that had him in such a twist. He was so worried that he had scared you off.”

“Mum, stop,” he whines, but she doesn’t pay him any mind.

“I didn’t think that you would be so cute! Oh, look at you! I can see now why Minho and Felix always said that Jisung would get nervous around you,” she rambles while placing meat into your bowl of rice along with some of the vegetables. “I knew to trust that Jisung has good taste and standards, but we really weren’t expecting you to be so beautiful.”

Jisung’s father smiles fondly as he places his hand on her arm, “honey, I think you’re overwhelming her.”

“Oh, it’s fine,” you chuckle. “I just find it interesting that Jisung’s already talked about me this much.”

“He talks about you so much. We were so thrilled to hear that he had finally asked you out.”

"We hear that you're quite the fighter, (Y/n)," Jisung's father says.

"Ah, yeah, I'm in the MMA club with Felix and Ryujin."

"(Y/n) might be the vice president next year because she's really good," Jisung claims with a mouthful of food. "Felix is considering letting Ryujin take over his position next year because he’s planning on transferring.”

“Ah, right! Felix is transferring next year,” his father gasps. “We’re going to miss that kid.”

“He’s such a sweet boy,” his mother nods in agreement, slowly getting lost in their own conversation while you and Jisung eat and watch.

“Are you okay?” Jisung asks while nudging you lightly with his elbow.

“I’m fine,” you reassure him.

“Are you kids planning on watching the fireworks tonight?” Jisung’s father asks.

You both turn to look at him and nod. “I’m going to take her to the beach, then we’re going to head back to her apartment,” Jisung says.

“Alright, you kids stay safe and have fun,” his mother smiles. “You can leave right after dinner. Jisung’s father and I can handle the clean up.”

“Are you sure? Ji and I can always stay for a few extra minutes,” you offer but both of them shake their heads.

“We wouldn’t want you to be late for the fireworks.”

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ♫ ⋅.} ───── ⊰

“Come on, Ji!” you call. Jisung jogs over to catch up to you, wheezing for air as he hunches over beside you. “Where’d your stamina go, Mr “I’m a cool ass surfer”?” you tease, poking his shoulder.

“I never said I was a runner,” he pants as he stands straight. To be fair, it’s extremely cold since it’s the middle of Winter and you’re right next to the beach, but you’re still going to tease him. The breakwater that leads far into the water is way more secluded as compared to the beach. You assume it’s because the walk to the end is quite far and the extremely low temperature makes it less appealing to walk that far, but you and Jisung took the effort.

“You’ll be fine,” you chuckle while patting his back before turning to the sky and gasping. “Holy shit,” you breathe out. The sky is so clear that all you see are stars. The moon is high up in the sky, full and clear. You hug your puffy winter jacket tiger around yourself as you stare at the sky.

Jisung slings his arm around your shoulder as he looks up as well. “It’s really nice at night,” he says softly. “Have I really not brought you to the beach at night?” Jisung turns to you and you shake your head.

“We’re always hanging out on campus or at my place,” you state with a shrug. You turn back to look at the beach and gasp, “it’s starting!”

“The countdown should start soon.” Jisung pulls you closer until your back is pressed up against his front, his arms wrapped around your waist and his chin leaning against your shoulder. “I like this,” he sighs in contentment.

“Do you like… the stars, the ocean, or me?” You turn your face so that you can look at him.

“I like holding you under the stars next to the ocean.” Jisung leans his head back slightly to look at you properly. “You smell nice.”

“That is such a strange thing to point out,” you laugh.

“No, it’s not!” he gasps as he pulls away from you completely. “I’m saying you smell nice! It’s a nice thing to say,” Jisung mutters.

“I’m just joking.” You turn around and hold onto his hands, “you smell nice, too.” Just as you’re about to kiss him, there’s the faint sound of counting coming from the beach.

“The countdown’s started,” Jisung says as you turn around to face the beach. “Just another five seconds.” His arms return to your waist just as the seconds reach one.

You watch as a small red light shoots into the sky with a whistle following before it explodes with bright colours. The sound from the fireworks make you flinch out of reflex, but Jisung’s hands are quick to cover your ears as more fireworks burst, filling the sky with colourful lights.

Pure warmth and joy fills Jisung’s chest as you look completely in awe, the colours reflecting off of your face as you watch the sky. You move his hands off of his ears and smile reassuringly when Jisung gives you a concerned look. His arm moves to sling over your shoulder and he turns back to the fireworks.

Jisung stares for a moment longer before he realises that you really do make his heart feel like it’s letting off fireworks every few minutes; he finally feels 'The Connection'. He leans closer to you and presses a kiss to your temple, “(Y/n), I think I love you.” You turn to him in surprise, eyes wide at the confession. You take a moment simply staring at him before you smile.

“I think I love you, too, Jisung.” You turn around as Jisung’s hands rest on your waist, leaning close to kiss him. When you pull away, he presses his forehead against yours, smiling lovingly.

“Happy New Years, baby.”

Tagging: @http-hyxnjxn

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it-was-all-a-beautiful-dream · 3 years

Text

Opposites attract (Paul Lahote x Reader)

Warnings: swearing? I don't really think there are any tbh.

Word count : 2.2k

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Sweet as pie. That’s the way people tend to describe you. So why on earth did you ever think that bad boy Paul Lahote would ever like you? It was stupid really. You’d had a crush on him since you were little and it didn’t seem to stop there. It wasn’t a phase you grew out of. Everything inside you screamed when he was near. But he hardly noticed you at all. None of the guys on the res did. At least, you didn’t think they did. You’d given up hope a long time ago that he would ever see you more than just a little girl he’d grown up with.

Leah Clearwater, your best friend thought you were stupid. She didn’t understand why someone as nice as you would waste your time liking him anyway. He was hot headed, a flirt and extremely unpredictable. Leah didn’t like him partly because he was a member of Sams group, they had always been friendly but something had changed within some of the guys on the res. They were closer than ever now, like a little gang. It wasn’t only the boys who had changed, you’d notice a change in Leah too, maybe it wad because of all she had gone through, you couldn’t put your finger on it.

Leah and Sam had dated for three years, one day Sam up and left, no explanation, leaving Leah lost and alone. Then he decided to reappear and instead of giving Leah an explanation, broke up with her and started pursuing Leah’s cousin Emily young instead. Let’s just say she didn’t really get along with the guys anymore, or Emily, who she used to be so close with. You were her rock and she was yours. You know she never wanted to see you go through the same heartbreak.

It was summer break and you and Leah had decided to get away for a few weeks. Being surrounded by the same people day in and out got a bit much. Especially when you lived in the small community you did. You hadn’t gone too far away, only to Vancouver. It was just nice to have some freedom, be somewhere no one knew you. Leah was relieved to get away, it just meant she wouldn’t have to be around Sam as much. While you were studying a higher education, she had started a mechanic apprenticeship with the one and only Sam Uley, it was her best opportunity, even if she didn’t like to spend time near him, that’s what she told you anyway.

It was your second week in Vancouver, you’d been sightseeing, visiting museums that would help with your studies but you also just took the time to relax. Everything was going amazing. Until that night.

The fancy restaurant had been your idea, you had both been enjoying your time away, but for some reason since arriving in Vancouver you’d been feeling off. Your mood swings were off the charts and you didn’t understand why, you never wanted to take anything out on Leah, you didn’t even have a reason to be moody, and yeah it was summer, but somedays you felt overly hot, like you had a fever and then it would disappear like it was nothing. This friend date was a way for you to make it up to her. She didn’t seem bothered by your change in attitude though, she seemed more concerned if anything.

You were both sat in the restaurant waiting for your food to arrive, talking about silly shit, laughing together obnoxiously, drinks flowing thanks to your fake ID, everything was going perfect until three men came floating through the front door. They were stunning. Absolutely beautiful. At this point you were sure you were staring, one of the men turned his head, caught your eye and winked at you flashing a toothy grin. You blushed and looked away, Leah kicked you under the table.

“What, he’s good looking, the red contact lenses are a bit strange though.” You titled your head to the side pondering the thought, not realising that Leah had gone extremely quiet. Then something weird happened. Your body started heating up like it had done in the past few days, your palms were sweaty, your hands shook a little and your head started to ache. You felt weird. You couldn’t focus. Leah was saying your name but you couldn’t really hear her, it was a little muffled and then…. then nothing. You were feeling alright again. You looked up Leah’s face one of terror mixed with concern.

“Do you wanna get out of here? I saw a burger van on the way we could just go back to the room.” You nodded. Not feeling the fancy atmosphere anymore. Maybe you should see a Doctor.

-Leah’s POV-

“Of all the places we could go, there’s leaches here too?” Leah was pissed, this is what she had been hoping to get away from but fate was a bitch. Not only that, but she was pretty sure her best friend was going through the change in front of her very eyes. She guessed she wasn’t the only female shifter anymore.

At one point she had paused during the dinner. Actually at a couple of points. The first, when she had watched you sip two cocktails like they were water. She was impressed, goodie-too-shoes who? Second, when the leaches walked in through the very crowded restaurant, and third, when the pack back home had heard Leah’s thoughts, the boys were worked up. Sam being Sam, was ordering Leah back immediately, worried she would accidentally phase putting you at risk. Also, they were worried that you would shift for the first time. They all knew how unpredictable it could be. One little thing could set you off and BOOM, shift in front of hundred of humans. Leah being Leah liked to defy Sam, so it came as no shock that she refused to cut the trip short. She did have a valid point though, what would she tell Y/N?

Leah was glad when she’d manage to persuade you to leave the building, burgers were actually sounding like a good idea right about now. Watching you sit and get wasted was fun, but she wished she could join in sometimes and not have to pretend. She was worried that the Vamps would follow after catching her scent. If they knew what was good for them, they’d stay away.

Leah kept on looking at you, she could sense something was wrong, she knew the signs having gone through them herself. One minute y/n was fine, the next sweating, the next she looked pissed, as much as Leah liked to handle things on her own, this was a big thing to deal with and she knew it, so it came as no surprise to her when Sam mind linked to say that a few of the guys were already on their way to your hotel to bring you guys home. She hated to admit that she was relieved. She looked to you again, now you were happily munching on your food, caught up in thought.

“Hey Y/N, so uh, some of the guys from the Res are in Vancouver, how funny is that.” Leah laughed nervously, looking at your for any reaction. She watched as you screwed your nose up and then blushed. Her friends eyes widened.

“That’s cool, Vancouver’s a big place though, I don’t think we have to worry about bumping into them. Weird how they ended up in the same place. I wonder if Paul is here…. I haven’t seen him in forever, it’s bound to have been at least 6 months by now.” Leah rolled her eyes and smiled at her best friend. She was still day dreaming over stupid Paul. She didn’t know what she found so fascinating about him. Sometimes you can’t help having a crush. Leah frowned. She knew all about how it could end up.

“Who knows Y/N, fate is a funny thing, I wouldn’t worry about Paul, he’s normally caught up in his ego to notice other people anyway, if he didn’t notice you now he’s a lost cause, cause girl you look hawt.” Leah grinned and nudged Y/N with her arm, Y/N nudged her back and chuckled. It was almost 11pm by the time you made it back to the hotel lobby, you’d only just stepped in when you heard a noise from behind you. Leah turned around. Standing on the opposite side of the road were the Vampires that she’d seen only a couple of hours earlier. She growled lowly under her breath. Her mind focused on one thing only. Keeping you safe.

“It’s okay Leah were almost there, just putting our clothes on.” Embry. His voice came through the link. Good, they were almost here. Hopefully when the vamps caught whiff of more shifters they’d leave for good. There’s no way they could shift in the middle of a city without being seen.

Leah had told Y/N to wait at the bar for her while she “Took a call outside,” which really meant she was just waiting for the guys and making sure the vamps didn’t get through the door. When she turned her head she saw her friend chatting to the the bar man, flirting and sipping on more cocktails. She scoffed and rolled her eyes, god you were amazing. Not a care in the world. She frowned knowing soon enough your life wouldn’t be as simple. Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard growling, the boys had arrived and obviously the Vamps now got the memo because they ran off when they realised there was back up.

Leah could finally relax, Embry, Quil, Jake and oh god.. Paul.. arrived just in time. Grinning at the she wolf like the idiots they were.

“Took you long enough.” Leah smirked and elbowed Jake playfully. Paul was about to retort but he stopped and sniffed the air. The rest of the present pack looked confused. Leah turned around and noticed her friend walking towards them all with a shocked expression on her half drunk face.

Then it all made sense.

-Paul’s POV-

God what a mess. Paul was pissed off as per. He’d had to cancel a date he had on his one night off to go and save Leah’s and Y/N’s ass’ in Vancouver. Of all nights. He obviously didn’t hesitate when Sam gave the orders, as much as it pissed him off he knew that if another pack member needed him he’d do everything he could to help, you were family. Not to mention, he as well as everyone else, didn’t need some new pup exposing the tribe secrets. Shifting in public would be good for no one.

On the way the boys talked through the link, communicating with Leah periodically, making sure the Vamps had stayed well away.

“So, when was the last time anyone actually saw Y/N?” Jake was the first to start the conversation. When was the last time Paul had seen you? He couldn’t remember, if he had to think about it, probably before her shifted, it had been a while, he knew you’d been studying higher education, and with all of the pack stuff, he didn’t tend to see anyone else other than his wolf brothers and sister.

“I saw her not long ago, she was in the convenience store picking up groceries for her Pops, and damnnn she’s changed, not a little girl anymore.” Quil joked through the link, wolf whistling. Paul smirked, yeah right, he had always thought you were pretty, but you couldn’t have changed that much, you were still the little, younger dork that had grown up on the res.

The conversation was cut short as they reached the outline of the trees, Sam had tied a bag of clothes around each of the wolves so when they shifted they could change instead of walking around in the nude. Maybe it would fly in the woods back home, but not in the middle of a city. They made light work of getting to the hotel and scaring the blood suckers away. Pussies. When they met Leah at the entrance. Paul wasn’t really focusing on the banter, he was too distracted by a familiar but heavenly scent. He sniffed trying to place it and then he saw her.

Walking towards the group was Y/N. Her eyes a little glossy Paul could smell the alcohol, it wasn’t however, strong enough to cover up the heavenly scent he could smell radiating off the pup to be.

"It's not like love at first sight, really. It's more like… gravity moves… suddenly. It's not the earth holding you here anymore, she does… You become whatever she needs you to be, whether that's a protector, or a lover, or a friend.”

Jacobs words about imprinting ran in Paul’s head and his world suddenly tilted. The pack paused behind him, the wolves howling in his head through the bond. Leah looked shocked and the other guys just looked stupidly happy.

Y/N was Paul’s imprint.

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As per usual, please let me know what you thought in the comments below and if you want to be tagged in future let me know xx

PT2 --------------- click here!

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kagstea · 3 years

Text

iwaizumi h. - overused

iwaizumi hajime x reader

description: iwa was tired of being used, but that changes when he meets you.

warnings: slight insecurities

He was used to it, sadly.

Iwaizumi no longer was surprised by the ambushes of Oikawa’s fangirls, always seeming nice at first only to get him to do their bidding. It would start off with them approaching him, seemingly interested. However, they had always mastered the art of switching the topic to Oikawa, then requesting Iwaizumi to give him whatever gift they had or their phone number, all which was passed down to Oikawa, who never took it seriously.

“It’s just a simple infatuation. Rightfully so,” his friend beamed, popping one of the chocolates into his mouth. Or, “They just really love supporting me.”

But to Iwaizumi, it felt like he was invisible.

Of course, he didn’t blame his best friend. It was never Oikawa’s fault that he was loved by many. But rather, he hated the fact that he was always blocked away by the setter’s light. It seemed as if everyone only used him to get close to Oikawa, never to talk to him.

“Iwa-chan!” Oikawa shouted, rushing to his friend with two boxes in his hand. “I got cupcakes! Do you want some? A star player such as myself can’t possibly eat all of this-”

“I’m fine,” Iwaizumi cut him off, but not rudely. “I have to stop by the convenience store, want to come-”

“H-Hey! Oikawa!” A small, chirpy voice interrupted the two.

In front of them stood a petite girl, noticeably nervous. She held a pink envelope in her shaking hands, and they could tell that it was laced with a strong perfume. Iwaizumi rolled his eyes as he saw how she struggled to make eye contact with Oikawa, yet stood directly in front of him. A blush crept on her face as seconds went by, before she spoke again. “Um… hello.”

A grin appeared on Oikawa’s face, and he nodded. “Yes?”

His encouraging tone made her eyes brighten, and she took a deep breath as she smiled and lifted her head to look at him. “Uh, I-”

Iwaizumi beat her to it. “I’ll leave you two alone. See you later.” He patted Oikawa’s back, not bothering to listen to him talk. It most likely would have been something like, “Just wait, you idiot,” but he didn’t think he could stand to listen to yet another confession.

His walk alone was short, but gave him a sense of peace and quiet. It’s not that he didn’t enjoy Oikawa’s company, although he often found comfort in times where he was not around, where he wasn’t compared to him.

The bell dinged, and he made his way to get himself a drink. It was the only thing he was looking forward to the whole day, even if it seems pathetic. Iwaizumi felt that the past twenty four hours dragged on, making him tired during practice.

He reached out to grab the drink in the front, however, another hand had beaten him to it. Shocked, he looked up, seeing you, dressed in his school uniform. You were just as shocked as he was, as you blinked quickly and opened your mouth.

“Uh…”

Iwaizumi quickly pulled his hand off of yours, stepping back awkwardly. “Sorry. Go ahead.”

But you shook your head, gesturing to the drink. “No, no! You reached for it first. Take it.”

He thought your smile was really nice. “Thank you.”

After he grabbed one, you grabbed the one behind it. The two of you had both awkwardly walked to the register, standing silently as you waited to pay. Iwaizumi attempted to pay for his first, but you quickly intervened, putting your own drink next to his. “I can pay for them!”

He was taken back by your gesture, not moving fast enough to decline your offer. Before he could say anything, you were already giving the cash to the worker. Although he hadn’t expected it, he appreciated your kindness.

Both of you slowly walked out of the store alongside each other. It was quiet and a little uncomfortable, until he started a conversation. “So, you go to Aoba Johsai?”

“Yes, I’m a third year student, too.” You nodded, making him confused.

“Too? How did you know?”

“Aren’t you in the same year as Oikawa-”

There it was.

Instantly, the smile was wiped off of his face, and Iwaizumi’s mood did a complete 180. It was stupid of him to let his guard down for even a few minutes. Even when he wasn’t there, Oikawa’s presence was too strong.

You noticed his frown, and furrowed your eyebrows in worry. “Are you okay?”

He didn’t bother to make eye contact with you. Instead, he nodded. “I just remembered I have somewhere to be.” As he spoke, Iwaizumi reached into his pocket to grab some money before putting it in your hands. “Thanks for the drink, but here.”

Confused, you stared at the money in your hands. The atmosphere had changed completely, and you wondered if you said something wrong. “I-”

“Have a nice night.” He told you before walking off, leaving you in the street alone.

You were told to carry some files to the library, although you didn’t expect it to be so much. As you struggled walking, you hoped that nothing would make you fall and drop everything in your arms.

However, when you hope for something, the opposite usually happens.

Your body stumbled to the ground as you ran into someone. A small curse was heard from you as the files went flying around you on the ground. It would take a while to pick them up, then you dreaded the scolding for ruining the organization of it all.

“My bad!”

“Oikawa!”

“I said my bad!”

Looking up, you saw the school’s famous volleyball player, yet your gaze settled on the same body you ran into a little over a week ago. He remembered you too, as his eyes locked with yours.

A smile worked its way onto your face before you remembered how your last encounter ended, and then you looked away, hands reaching out to gather the papers around you.

“Damn, that looks like a lot.” Oikawa had said. “You okay, Y/N?”

“I’m okay.” You said truthfully. “Wouldn’t be the first time you made a mess for me to clean up.”

He laughed, then kneeled down to help you. “I swear they were all accidents.”

“How about now?”

“Do you want me to not help you?”

At his remark, you slapped him with the pile you had in your hands, already becoming annoyed with his threats. “Just hurry and help!”

Iwaizumi watched the interaction with confusion. You didn’t act like one of his fans. In fact, it seemed as if you two had known each other for a while now. Your behavior made his brain hurt as it wondered, didn’t you like Oikawa?

“Hey, are you gonna help or just stand there?”

Speak of the devil.

Iwaizumi forced back a smart remark, then began to help the two of you. His hands reached out to grab some scattered papers, but instead he grabbed hold of a warm hand. He looked up in surprise, seeing you smile at him.

“You know, if you keep grabbing my hand I might think you have a little crush on me.” You playfully teased, making him jerk his hand away in embarrassment.

“Sorry,” he muttered. He could feel the tips of his ears grow hot and hoped you wouldn’t see it, or worse, Oikawa wouldn’t. Iwaizumi handed you what he picked up.

Once everything was cleared up, you turned to glare at Oikawa. “Next time, please watch where you’re going. I already have a hard enough time carrying this without you running into me.”

He rolled his eyes. “Whatever. If you were weak just say that.” He directed his attention to Iwaizumi. “Help Y/N carry this stuff.”

“Why me?”

The setter only grinned and held up a small paper folded into a heart between two fingers. “I’m afraid I must attend a meeting… one that I’m already late too- Bye!” Before either could object, he raced away.

You suddenly felt a weight being lifted from your arms, and turned to see his best friend taking most of the files from you. He adjusted them in his grasp and asked, “Where to?”

“Just put it down here.” You said, watching Iwaizumi set his pile down next to yours on a table. “Thank you.”

“No problem.” He nodded.

Once again, the two of you were in an awkward situation, alone in the empty library. The silence was killing both of you, yet you could not find anything to say.

It was Iwaizumi who broke the silence again. “How do you know Oikawa?”

You raised your eyebrows. “Oh! Uh, Tooru and I worked together for the school play a few months ago. I had the unfortunate pleasure to be stuck working with him for most of the time.”

He nodded, feeling slightly embarrassed. “Oh, that’s how you know him.”

“Yup.”

He felt he needed to apologize. But the words were stuck in his throat. It was not often he found himself in such a situation.

However, you already knew his predicament. “When I mentioned Oikawa- the other day- it wasn’t because I liked him or something.”

Iwaizumi’s head snapped to face you. “H-Huh?” You gave a soft smile. “I just always noticed you coming by when we prepared for the play. That’s how I knew you were friends with Oikawa, and what year you were in. Sorry if I upset you.” Your sudden apology warmed his heart, as weird as it sounded.

“You remember me?” Was all he asked. “Why?”

A blush crept on your cheeks. “That’s all you got out of that?”

He hesitated for a moment, before chuckling. “Are you disappointed with that?”

“No, actually,” You began. “I’m pretty glad.”

Iwaizumi couldn’t fight the smile on his face.

“Oh? Something fell.” You mumbled, seeing a paper on the ground between you two.

Right away, the two of you reached down to grab it at the same time, once again finding your hands touching. It made both of you stop, until you let out a soft laugh.

“What’s funny-” Iwaizumi started to ask, but was stopped by you linking your fingers together. “Oh.” He felt his cheeks heat up.

“Okay, now I actually do think you have a crush on me.”

“Shut it.” But he smiled.

#haikyu #haikyu x reader #haikyuu #haikyuu x reader #haikyu imagine #haikyuu imagine #hq x reader #iwaizumi #iwaizumi hajime #iwaizumi x reader #iwaizumi imagine #iwaizumi hajime x reader

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scarletwinterxx · 3 years

Text

End to Start pt. 4 - Jaehyun AU

For my other works you can check them out here, and for my other story series’ you can check them out here.

taglist: @the-universe-in-you-jjh @undevotedfangirl @dumplingley @halbae @johnjaespeach @notsooperfect

All works are copyrighted ©scarletwinterxx 2020 . Do not repost, re-write without the permission of author.

PREV || NEXT

“I never pegged you for a liar”

“You might be a foot taller than me but I won’t hesitate to deck you if you don’t shut up”

“You said you didn’t know him!”

“I never said such thing” you argued back, it was the typical morning for you. And by typical you mean Jungwoo bothering you as you work around the shop. Everyday he makes you wonder why you hired him in the first place.

“Your ex is Jung Jaehyun, the CEO of Jung Publishing. Their company is like established world wide, his sisters work abroad and his youngest brother works here. The world really is small after all”

“You sound like a fan”

“I can’t believe I tease Sungchan like that when his family can buy the whole block”

“Better start saying your apologies then” you mumbled

The bell ringed just then, making the two of you look up. “Speaking of, Sungchan, Jungwoo has something to say to you” You said as the younger boy walk towards the front counter

“Did I do something wrong again? I swear I didn’t mix up the salt and sugar this time”

“This time?” you asked

“No no no, you didn’t do anything wrong” you and Jungwoo spoke at the same time, the taller boy looking between the two of you like a little kid worried he might get scolded over something

“It was one time, and in my defense it was partly Jungwoo hyung’s fault. He put the two side by side”

“I kinda don’t want to know”

“You have something to say to me?” Sungchan asked Jungwoo, you just chuckled at the latter “You know, you’re a liar too”

“Too? What did I lie about exactly?”

“You’re a Jung!”

“He literally said that the day he applied here, technically he didn’t lie about anything. I was just dumb enough not to put two and two together” you answered for the younger boy. The three of you proceeded to work, the two boys in the kitchen area getting some pastries ready for display, you can hear them bickering from back there.

“Uhm noona, can I ask you something?” you were surprised by the sudden voice breaking the silence in your office, there Sungchan stood by the door peaking in

“Sure, come in. What is it?”

“Am I fired?”

“Why? Did you switch the sugar with salt again?” you chuckled, trying to make him feel less nervous

“Uhm I kinda heard what happened yesterday at home. I swear I wasn’t eavesdropping but you know, you guys weren’t exactly quiet”

You just smiled at the boy, he was so much like his siblings yet so different. He definitely got the good looking genes, much like his older brother he also has a weird sense of humor. But one thing that sets them apart is how shy and nervous Sungchan seems to be, like a little puppy being introduced to the world.

“Of course you’re not fired. Whatever happened between me and your brother has got nothing to do with you, I kinda didn’t even know you were siblings up until yesterday”

“I didn’t know you were his ex too” you chuckled at his answer, of course he didn’t. You never met the young boy when you and Jaehyun dated, you’ve met his sisters and his mom but you never got the chance to meet his father and his youngest sibling.

“That was a long time ago, you were probably still in middle school when we dated”

“He moved out of our house during his third year in college, I never expected he will cause mom wanted him to stay home. But one day he kinda just packed his things then he was out the door. Mom was so mad at him”

The two of you broke up the summer before third year of college, you left for Paris a few weeks before school started. You asked the university to let you go and transfer, which they thankfully approved.

Then you were on the next flight out. Not a single goodbye said.

You never heard from Jaehyun after that, you couldn’t bring yourself to ask about him. You had no right to, after what happened. So the story Sungchan told you was new news to you.

“He really liked the cake by the way, when he came to pick me up yesterday he asked if I could buy him another one”

“It is his favorite flavor” you smiled at the memory.

Jaehyun may or may not be the inspiration behind the uniquely flavored cake, when you were making the menu for your cafe you couldn’t help but add that selection. Given that not many people will like it but still you wanted to make it,

“So I’m not fired right?”

“No, I might have to ask Jungwoo about the salt incident though”

“No matter what he say, he was partly at fault”

This was honestly the last place you thought you’ll be at. You must look so silly right now, standing in the lobby of a corporate building in your sundress holding cake boxes while the receptionist stares you down.

“I’m sorry miss but I can’t just let you go up without an appointment”

“Okay uhm can I talk to someone that I give this to and take it upstairs?” you asked, gesturing at the boxes you brought

“Sorry we don’t allow solicitations” she smiled at you, but you know she was pretty annoyed at you.

You were just about to give up when you hear someone call your name,

“Y/N? Is that you?”

“Hi, Jess” you smiled back at her, “You brought a gift?” she asked, nodding at the box

“Yea, one of them is for you actually. It’s kind of late for your birthday but I thought you might like it”

Jessica smiled at you before taking the box and linking one arm around yours, the receptionist long forgotten.

“Let’s go upstairs, come on” then she whisked you away. When you got the elevator, the two of you made small chats. She was talking about how the designers loved the photos you took during the shoot,

“You should do it again sometime”

“It’s just a hobby now, really” you smiled at her suggestion, you did major in photography for the first two years in college but after moving schools, you decided to change majors too. Culinary was still hard to do, but you enjoyed every second if it. It was also a good thing that you were just as good with a camera as you are with a whisk.

“And let me guess, that one is for Jae” Jessica nodded at the box you were holding

You were about to say no but you both know that wasn’t the truth so you just laughed, “You know after you he never really dated anyone seriously. Chunga is a great girl and yet they never worked out. It’s like he already knew it wasn’t going to, no one was like you so why try”

“I don’t think he actually thinks that” you mumbled, “Just accept it, my brother is still very much smitten with you. He’s just trying to act all tough because he doesn’t want to get hurt again” she shot you a smile.

The two of you stepped out the elevator, you just followed Jessica since you’re not really sure where she was going

“I’m sorry” you know saying those words will never suffice but you still say it anyways.

“Don’t say sorry to me, you didn’t do anything wrong to me. And to Jaehyun too, just be gentle with him” she shot you that sisterly smile

“I don’t think he wants to talk to me, can you give this to him though?”

“Why don’t you give it to him yourself?”

“That’s not really a good idea, I don’t want to ruin his day”

“Believe me, you’ll be the best part of his day” she said as she open the door to her office you assume. She gestured for you to come in first, so you did.

When you turned around you almost lost your grip on the box you were holding,

“Okay, can’t say I walked right into that one” you mumbled, hearing a chuckle from Jessica who was standing behind you

“Enjoy” Jessica says from behind you before closing the door.

Jaehyun almost didn’t go to work today. Yesterdays revelations were too much to take in, of course it didn’t go down without an argument between him and his mother. Plus you were there and you looked like you just wanted to get away from him again, but you stayed rooted at your spot.

The two of you didn’t exchange any words besides an apology you muttered on your way out the door. He really thought that was the last of you he’ll see.

And now you’re here. In his office. He almost pinched himself to make sure he wasn’t dreaming right now because if he’s being honest it wouldn’t be the first time you’ve appeared in his dreams.

“What brings you here?”

“Uh, I’m not sure?”

“You’re not sure?”

“I didn’t think this far ahead”

He can’t help but chuckled at your expression. You were still standing awkwardly by the door, looking around his office.

“You know you can come closer, I don’t bite. Unless-”

“Okay don’t continue that sentence” you said as you walk towards his desk, putting the cake carefully on his table

“What’s this?”

“An apology gift”

“So you’re bribing me now” okay ouch.

He must have noticed the change in your expression because he quickly added, “I didn’t mean it like that”

“No no, it’s fine”

Then it was silent, not the awkward type of silence. You weren’t sure where to look so you just looked down at your feet, you hear a chuckle from Jaehyun

“What?”

“Just yesterday you were close to tears and now you’re here bringing me cake”

You smiled gently at his words, taking a deep breath before speaking again

“It was like a weight lifted off of my shoulder, at least now I don’t have anything to hide from you. There’s no monsters hiding in my closet or something like that. I don’t expect you to forgive me and forget about it. But I do want to fix this, the least I could do is make up for the wrongs that I did”

“Was it wrong?”

“I took your mom’s money, the money that she gave me to break up with you. She pretty much paid me”

“You said it yourself you never touched a cent”

“I couldn’t. I wouldn’t. It wasn’t worth it”

“Wasn’t worth what?” Jaehyun asked, he wasn’t why he did or what answer he wanted to hear from you but he asked anyway

“It wasn’t worth totally losing you. I knew if I used it then that meant I agreed with your mom. I only did what I did not because of the money but because I wanted you to be free from the burden you were feeling. She was never going to let us be if we continued dating, so I just took the money and disappeared”

He didn’t expect you to be this truthful and open about it, but then again you never really lied to him. He knew you like the back of his hand, even after all these years. There was no use to lying if it’s with him, he'll just see right through you.

“You could’ve said goodbye”

“You would’ve known then, you would’ve stopped me from going then we both wouldn’t be where we are now” You answered, this time there were no screams, no anger no sadness.

“Are you happy?” he asked

“Yes, it wasn’t always like this. There were a lot of hard days, now I’m just glad I got through all of that” you answered with a smile, you look over at him to find him already staring at you. “Are you happy, Jaehyun?” you asked him

“I can be”

As he said those words he also held your gaze, looking like he was staring right through you. This wasn’t the Jaehyun you’ve talked to previously, the one that was always angry and throwing words at you. This was just Jaehyun, the Jaehyun you used to know.

But then again he isn’t. He has changed so much in the past five years, as you have. Maybe you two were tossed together by fate at the wrong time, and it ended badly. But here you are now.

You’re not expecting a second shot at love with him, it wasn’t your time then so who call tell it is now? you were willing to gamble again but this time you both were too scared to lose. To hurt to ever risk falling again. Happiness is pretty much what all you want for him.

He deserves to be happy, even if it meant you had to end what you had in order for him to start again.

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inmegsmind · 2 years

Text

‘Falling’ Regulus Black x Original Female Character (Part 8)

Description: Sometimes the most unexpected friendships become the ones that mean the most. This was true for Lilia Arianwen Llewellyn and Regulus Black. A pureblood Slytherin from a noble family and a half-blood Gryffindor who’s wizard father fell for a muggle. After maintaining a secret friendship from their third year which began to fade at the end of their fifth year, the pairs return to Hogwarts for their penultimate year will change their lives forever.

Warnings: mentions of feelings of anxiety, i think thats it for this one?

It was now Wednesday and I had still not recovered from Saturdays antics. Partly due to the alcohol I had consumed torturing my body with this ghastly days long hangover and partly due to the embarrassment that Regulus and I had kissed then he had ran off. So far I had managed to avoid any possible run ins with Regulus by rushing between my classes, not using the library and keeping my head down whenever I was in the Great Hall. However, this would only last so long as I now had potions which was the only class I shared with Regulus.

My brain was filled with a million different anxieties as I made my way to Professor Slughorns class with the girls. ‘You ok Lils?’ Mollie quietly asked as she linked her arm through mine. Nodding, I replied, ‘Yeah I’m fine, just feeling a bit anxious’. She nodded her head understandingly and didn’t say anything else. Mollie had ended up sleeping with Sirius on the weekend and had found herself feeling sad as he didn’t seem as interested since. Both of us were feeling the burn of the Black brothers right now.

As we neared our destination I noticed the Slytherins in our class already huddled outside causing me to let out a groan. I may have groaned slightly too loudly as a few of their heads snapped towards us, one of them being the face I really didn’t want to see. Two of them actually as Penelope was also in this class.

‘Look what we have here’ She taunted and I rolled my eyes but didn’t satisfy her with a response, Dumbledore’s warning of getting in trouble again ringing through my brain. ‘Do you ever have a day off Parkinson?’ Clara asked with a roll of her eyes. ‘Not when there’s plenty of mud bloods and traitors to put in their place’ she confidently responded really thinking she was the shit as other Slytherins murmured agreement. I was pleasantly surprised to Regulus not joining in with this, instead staying quiet at the back with his head down. ‘Guess it is true what they say then’ I couldn’t help but respond, causing Regulus’ head to snap up. ‘And what’s that?’ Penelope coldly responded to me her glare becoming ever so slightly more menacing. ‘No rest for the wicked’ I quickly quipped and thankfully before she could respond Professor Slughorn appeared to let us in.

As everyone disbursed towards their usual seats Slughorn coughed to catch out attention. ‘Actually everyone, could stand at the back wall please, I will explain all once you have done this’. In a slight state of confusion, the class moved as a collective to stand up against the back wall, eagerly awaiting an explanation.

‘It has come to the staffs attention that there has been a divide emerging amongst students. Whilst we encourage house unity we also hope for you to make integrate amongst all four houses’ I had a horrible feeling about where this was going. ‘In order to try close this divide, us staff have decided it may benefit you all if you were put in a seating plan, sitting you next to someone from a different house in hope of building a bridge between you all.’ Whispers of protest broke out amongst the class which Professor Slughorn quickly dismissed. The girls and I exchanged a look, silently communicating to each other how he did not want to be sat with a Slytherin. Slughorn began reeling off the pairs and I bit at my nails, a nervous habit.

Thankfully, Ruby had been paired with a Hufflepuff. If she were to get paired with a Slytherin, as a muggle born, they would have made the remainder of the year hell. Mollie, Clara and I would always fight back where as Ruby was too timid due to the years of relentless bullying. Next Mollie was paired with a Ravenclaw and the odds were not looking in mine and Clara’s favour as the number of students left became increasingly smaller. ‘Regulus Black and uhh, Lilia Llewellyn and then Clara Thompkins and Penelope Parkinson’. My jaw quite literally dropped. Nobody even moved a second, the four names called all clearly wishing they just hadn’t heard it. ‘Chop chop everyone, this has already eaten away at valuable lesson time’ Slughorn clapped his hands and Clara and I exchanged one last glance before heading to our new seats.

I managed to get to the desk first and quickly took a seat, grateful that Clara managed to get onto the desk behind. Regulus pulled out the seat next to me and for the first time in ages I didn’t have to force myself not to look at him. I dropped my head forward and looked at my hands in my lap as if they were the most interesting thing on earth. I could feel my face heating up with embarrassment. Fuck sake, why did I get so drunk and start meddling and flirting? He obviously got caught up in the moment and as soon as he realised what was happening regretted it.

‘Miss Llewellyn’ I was snapped out of my thoughts by Slughorns call of my name. Looking up I noticed everyone’s eyes were now on me and my face became even hotter. I gave Slughorn an apologetic look confirming that I had not been listening. ‘Now you’re back with us in the room’ This caused a few of the Slytherins to snigger. ‘Could you please tell the class what you know about Amortentia please’. THANK GODRIC, I knew the answer.

‘Amortentia is a love potion, the most powerful one in the world actually. It doesn’t cause real love though, instead it caused the drinker to feel a powerful infatuation or obsession.’ I confidently answered, happy not to have further embarrassed myself. ‘Very good Miss Llewellyn, ten points to Gryffindor. I’ll give you another five points if you can tell me something else that’s interesting about Amortentia’ Slughorn declared with a raised eyebrow and I felt my smile grow, knowing what he was hinting at. ‘I can actually sir, whilst other potions smell the same to each individual Amortentia doesn’t. Instead it’s scent is multi-faceted, varying based on the person smellings desires.’ ‘Well done, five more points for Gryffindor’.

The lesson thankfully went by smoothly after this. As Slughorn dismissed us everyone began to pack up their belongings. I leant down to put some books in my bag and when I came back up I noticed a small piece of parchment folded on my side of the desk, turning I noticed Regulus had actually already left. Picking it up I quickly glanced around the room to check nobody was watching before opening the note. ‘We need to talk, meet me in the broom cupboard by the great hall.’

Once out of the classroom I dismissed myself from walking back to the common room with the girls, telling them I’d explain later. Completing the short walk to Regulus desired meeting point, I waited for the hallway to clear completely before slipping inside.

Regulus was stood with his arms crossed, foot tapping the floor nervously. When he heard the door close behind him I saw his head shoot up before we were left in complete darkness. ‘Lumos’ Regulus muttered before placing his wand on the shelf to act as a light for us both.

‘I didn’t think you were going to show’ Regulus admitted and I began to feel really vulnerable in this moment. Obviously I would show. Surely he knew that. ‘Of course I would’ I whispered and we stood in an unbearable silence. ‘Look Reg’ I began and he looked up at me. ‘I’m sorry for coming onto you so strong when I was drunk, there has just been so much tension between us recently and I think it just got the better of me and I know you regret it by the way you ran of which is understandable but I-’ My nervous ramble was cut off with the feeling of Regulus lips crashing onto mine.

I was frozen. Not being able to believe we were kissing again. Regulus pulled back a look of horror on his face but I had finally come back to my senses. Cupping his face in my hands I pulled him back, our lips meeting in a sweet kiss. His hands made their way to my waist before wrapping around the small of my back, pulling me closer. Now we were sober, the kiss was much less hungry and more passionate. Our lips slowly moving against one another, savouring the way each other actually tasted and not the cigarette alcohol combination we had tasted before. Regulus pulled back from the kiss, resting his forehead against mine as I gazed, love struck, up at him. ‘I could never regret something as perfect as that’ he whispered, yet his voice didn’t sound happy it sounded sad which made it my turn to wear an expression of horror. ‘If it was so perfect why do you sound so sad?’

Regulus let go of me following my question and ran both his hands through his hair. ‘I’ve fucked up Lil’ he declared which made my heart drop again. ‘Look Reg, I said if you regret it we can just forge-’ ‘No not the kiss, I’ve done something and I can’t get away from it’. His voice was full of worry which only caused the same emotion to bubble within me despite still not knowing what he meant. ‘Sorry I don’t get what you mean’ ‘It’s bad Lil, i-’ ‘Tell me then and I can help you’ I attempted to comfort, taking a step towards him to rub my hand soothingly on his arm. ‘I can’t, not here, can you meet me tonight?’ He desperately asked and I instantly nodded me head ‘Usual place?’ which he violently shook his head ‘no’ too. ‘No no we can’t tonight, it wouldn’t be safe there. I’ll meet you just outside your common room at 11 then we’ll go to the room of requirement’ I nodded at him in agreement before he took his turn to cup my face in his hands.

‘Promise?’ he asked whilst his eyes scanned my face. My heart melted at the intimate moment. ‘Promise’ I whispered back before he leant in, giving me a short peck but leaving his lips to linger every so slightly. Letting go of my face, he retrieved his wand from its place as a lamp and put it out before exiting the cupboard.

I stayed in the same spot. Not wanting to exit too soon and someone catch us both coming out of the same closet. My mind began to wander, wondering what he could have possibly done that would be so bad. Whilst the feelings of worry were growing inside of me I couldn’t help but smile, the feeling of his lips still lingering on mine.

(tag list - @i-padfootblack-things, @kitkatkl, @bunnietoof, @akmenia, @thosevogueskeletons, @kbakery)

#hogwarts #harry potter #regulus black fanfiction #regulus black #regulus black x female reader #regulus x reader #regulus black smut #marauders smut #marauders #marauders era #the marauders #marauders fanfiction #fanfic

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colossalcriminal · 3 years

Text

Uptown Girl - s.r

Pairing: 40s!Steve Rogers x Fem!Reader

Summary: 25 year old Steve Rogers finds himself infatuated with the well off 18 year old girl who gets Howard Stark coffee.

Warnings: Smoking, alcohol consumption and character death. Not proofread and bad writing.

He'd seen her around plenty, hell, he knew her. Almost always gliding through the streets in the most beautiful designer dresses, sometimes with another girl, arms clad in shopping bags from some of the greatest fashion houses. She also had a knack for wearing trousers that accentuated her legs, always receiving a flustered reaction from the men around her.

It was no doubt she was stunning, perhaps the prettiest girl he'd ever seen in his short 24 years of living. Bucky had always teased him relentlessly, encouraging his best friend to 'snatch her up before someone else does.'

It was a regular occurrence for him to be saved in an alleyway by the sergeant, especially when Steve Rogers didn't know when to back down, or how to. It was only when he showed Steve the newspaper he noticed her figure further down the alley, puffs of smoke leaving her lips.

Steve Rogers found it hard to understand how someone as beautiful as her could commit to an ugly act such as smoking. He was ashamed to admit that the nasty habit hadn't once dwindled his infatuation towards her. "Hey, Y/N!" Bucky called out, gaining her attention. "Shouldn't you be at work?"

Y/N sauntered over to the men with her signature dazzling smile, lips painted in the most ravishing shade of red that'd printed onto the cigarette that rested between her fingers. "Howard's got me off early." She gasped, instantly putting the cigarette out. "Sorry, Steve. I almost forgot I shouldn't light one around you."

Steve's smile reeked with nerves. "It's okay." He stuttered.

"So, he's Howard now?" Bucky nudged her.

She rolled her eyes, resting a hand on her hip. "Put a cap on it, Barnes. Anyways, where are you boys off to?"

"Your boss' expo." He displayed the paper to her, pointing to the large ad.

With a small nod, her attention was back on the skinny boy. "Picking me up, Steve?"

Waking up from his day dream, finally in the headspace to speak to the magnificent woman before him, his nod was quick. "Huh? Oh, yes. Definitely."

"I'll see you later tonight at 6pm sharp, then. Bye." She grinned at the blonde, waving as she proceeded to walk away.

"Bye, Y/N." His reply was too quiet to hear as she was too far away, but the butterflies in his stomach didn't care for that. Sighing at Bucky's light chuckles, he shook his head, mentally scolding himself for the awkward interaction.

"At least you got a date."

"Yeah," He whispered to himself, almost impressed. "at least I got a date."

6:01pm his watch read as he stood before the house - mansion - nervous creeping up the back of his spine, the large house looming over him as if he were in a nightmare.

And it was the exact time she popped her head out of her bedroom window signaling to Steve. "Just wait a minute! Dad's home, so I have to escape!" She whisper-yelled.

He'd gotten a glance of her frock. His heart pounding at the view of her hair curled into perfect ringlets, makeup even more accentuating than it was earlier that day. He watched her disappear, before quietly slipping through the front door and making her way to him. "Sorry, he doesn't like me being out in the evening."

"Well, I can understand with a beautiful dame like you, sorry woman, not dame. Young woman."

Y/N giggled at his ramble. "You have no idea how to talk to a woman, do you?" Steve smiled bashfully at her lightheartedness. "It's alright, not like I'm anyone important."

He cocked his head inquisitively. "And what do you mean by that?"

Sighing, she looped her arm through his, an action that sent his vision loopy as he inwardly cheered. "I mean, I'm just a girl with big dreams who spends daddy's money and gets coffee for Howard Stark. Nothing big."

Steve maintained his unfazed exterior, resisting the urge to stare down at their linked arms. "Tell me about these big dreams."

"I want to be a scientist, well, more of a techy one like Howard is. The idea of flying cars within a few years is so, invigorating!" She beamed. "Don't you think?"

He smiled at her, nodding. "Well, I hope you'll be around to fly our first car, considering you're so insistent on enlisting."

"Bucky thinks I can't do it, that's why they keep rejecting me."

Y/N hummed, lips curling into a small pout. "I think you could do it," He perked up at this. "you could. But just because you can, doesn't mean you should, Steve."

Before he could respond, they'd already been greeted and called over from afar by Bucky.

Y/N didn't let herself feel too downhearted when Stark's flying car show failed, but she did find herself frowning when she followed Steve to the recruitment booth.

She pulled him towards her, Bucky not far off. "Come on, soldier." She joked. "Take me dancing."

"You go ahead, I'll catch up."

Guilt had presented itself to Steve on a silver platter when he saw her shoulders drop. "You're really going to do this again?" Bucky deadpanned, unimpressed.

"I'll leave you guys to talk it out. Meet me there?" The blonde nodded, missing her small wave as she departed.

An hour and 49 minutes later she found herself walking home alone, rubbing her arms in an attempt to abandon any feeling of cold, or even worse, loneliness.

It was 2 days later when Steve finally caught her leaving her office, cigarette in hand. He couldn't help it when he gazed at the pearl earrings she wore, framing her face so perfectly, accompanied by the stray hairs that'd escaped her updo.

"Y/N!"

His voice had only expanded her annoyance as she watched the smoke exit her mouth, ignoring his calls. "Go away, Rogers."

He panted, finally catching up to her. "I'm sorry, I really am."

"What for? The fact that you ditched me on our date or that you went radio silent for 2 days?"

He pursed his lips, closing his eyes in regret. "Please, let me take you out again before I start training?"

Y/N let out a dry chuckle. "Congrats." She put out her cigarette, still mindful of the blond's asthma. "That's not the point, Steve. I wanted to go out with you because I like you! Because you're different! But it turns out I was wrong. So, good luck in training, I'm sure you'll do great. If you're alive by the end of the war, come find me."

"Please, Y/N. I really, really like you."

She'd already began walking away. "You should've thought about that before you asked to get yourself killed."

Without much thought, Steve reached forward, wrapping his fingers around her wrist as soft as possible, the surprise on her face echoed onto his own. "And what if I don't die?"

Scoffing, she shook her head. "You sound so certain."

"Because I am."

"I will not wait for you to come home and receive a letter explaining your death instead."

"Deal."

With a peculiar brow, Y/N sighed. "Where are we going then, Mr. Rogers?"

His lips spread into a beautiful grin. "Anywhere you want, Ms. L/N."

They'd spent 3 full days together before Steve began training.

The first day was spent at and around the theatre, watching as many movies as possible and eating as much popcorn as one can.

The second day, he made it up to her by taking her dancing. Y/N took the time to teach him how to waltz, giggling every time he stepped on her shoes.

The third day was spent at his home, alone. Away from the crowded atmosphere of her house, she taught him how to cook the simplest of dishes, making sure he knew how to feed himself incase no one else did.

It was hard for her not to get teary eyed as Y/N layed her hands on his cheeks, cupping his face daintily. Steve leaned into the soft touch, corners of his mouth tugging downwards. "So, I guess this is goodbye."

"Yeah, it is." He whispered, eyes staring into hers with utmost intensity, a false reality in his head tricking him into believing he wouldn't have to leave her if their eyes never broke contact.

"You better make it back to me, Rogers."

"Of course I will, Y/N."

The grief had already sunk in her, the feeling in her belly so overwhelming, heart fluttering violently as she pulled him to her, lips touching so softly. Steve didn't freeze like he thought he would- he didn't have time to freeze. He did his best, pulling her closer and kissing him back with the most confidence he could muster.

Y/N's smile was almost minuscule when they pulled away, hands moving down to grip onto his uniform, her head in a lovesick daze. "How could I not make it back to you?"

"Well, I am your best girl."

He quirked an eyebrow. "My only girl."

"We'll see about that when you come home a war hero. All the ladies would drop down to your feet."

"All the women in the world and I'd still choose you."

Returning home, she closed the front door quietly, making her way to the living room to find her father engrossed in the small tv box. "Hi." She spoke quietly, hoping not to disturb him as she kissed his cheek, hoping to walk away.

"Sit." Y/N's father offered her the seat next to him, never taking his eyes off the program as she sunk into the sofa, her frock filling out around her. "Lowell's been talking a lot."

She stiffened slightly, subconsciously crossing her legs and straightening her shoulders. "Oh, you know not to listen to Lowell. All he does is gossip. Him and his wife, vultures they are."

"He tells me you've been spending a lot of time with Sarah's boy, Steve."

"Yes, I have. He just recently went off to train."

He finally looked at her. "You scared?"

"A little."

"Then it's a mistake."

Y/N's face was blank as she fiddled with her fingernails and stared off into the distance. "I know."

Her father shook his head. "Then you'll know to break it off."

"No, I won't." He looked perplexed at her reply. "Because it may be a mistake now, he may die any day, but at least I'd gotten the chance to be with him."

He only huffed, muttering something along the lines of "Childish."

She decided to change the subject, not wanting the conversation to sour even more. "Where's Eliza?"

"She's out."

"What are we watching?"

"The Mark of Zorro."

"Can we watch something else? Sullivan's Travels is on."

"No."

"I'll be in my room then."

"Fine."

She stood, getting one last glimpse of her father. "You know daddy, I do love him. And who knows? Maybe he'll survive. Maybe we'll get married and live a happily ever after. If that does happen, I hope you'll be happy for me."

She knew they were selecting the 'lucky' one to be titled 'super soldier.' She'd been working alongside Howard, the older man curious of her expertise for an 18 year old but nonetheless grateful for her help.

Y/N certainly didn't expect Steve to walk through the doors of the laboratory, accompanied by Peggy Carter. "Jesus Christ, Steve." She gasped, embracing him.

He wrapped his arms around her, concern growing when the smallest patch of tears had formed on his t-shirt. He watched as she pulled away. "Hi." Steve greeted.

"Oh, hi." She chuckled through tears. "I'm sorry, go talk to Erskine and we'll chat later." His hands lingered on her, before he slowly nodded, doing as told.

Minutes later, her fear only grew as he layed down in what she called the pod. "Comfortable?" She queried.

"It's a little big." He commented. Y/N graced him with her smile, a real, but concerned smile. "Maybe we could get dinner later?"

"Alright, loverboy. One thing at a time." She teased. "Howard, what are our levels?"

"Levels at 100%."

"I have to say something," He almost begged. "I think I'm in love with you."

Chuckling, she held his face in her hands. "I think I'm in love with you, too, Steve." Blowing him a kiss, she waved her love goodbye before leaving to stand beside Howard. "We may dim half the lights in Brooklyn, but we are ready as we'll ever be."

She just barely missed Steve's terrified, longing glance that had remained on her back as she worked diligently, how the cold metal around him sent shivers down his spine, aching for the warmth of her touch.

Erskine began his speech into the microphone. "but we are ready as we'll ever be. today we take not another step towards annihilation, but the first step on the path to peace. We begin with a series of microinjections into the subject's major muscle groups. The serum infusion will cause immediate cellular change. And then, to stimulate growth, the subject will be saturated with Vita-Rays. Serum infusion beginning in five, four, three, two, one."

Hesitating the slightest bit, Y/N pulled the lever, eyes tearing at Steve's small grunts as each small vial emptied itself. Howard pulled his own lever, elevating the pod into a standing form, closing the blonde in. "Steven? Can you hear me?"

"It's probably too late to go to the bathroom now, right?"

She couldn't help but smile at his witty answer. "We will proceed."

"10%."

"20%."

"30."

"That's 40%."

"Vital signs are normal."

"That's 50%."

"60."

"70."

The beam emitting from the pod became too bright for the eye, the sound of Steve's groans had morphed into pained screams, shattering Y/N's heart with every yell. "Shut it down! Kill the reactor, Howard!"

"No!" He protested. "Don't! I can do this!"

Howard looked at her with a sense of sympathy. "Eighty."

"Ninety."

"That's 100%."

Sparks had erupted throughout the machinery, surges of light blinding them until it had died down, everything and everyone dead silent. Within seconds, the pod had opened, revealing a brand new Steve Rogers.

Y/N cried in relief, instantly running to tend to him, helping him out of the device. "You did it, sweetheart."

"I did it."

"Yes, you did. How do you feel?"

He panted, surveying his surroundings before looking down at her. "Taller."

She barely took a minute to lock her gaze onto the newly formed muscles on his body.

With a giggle, she handed him a shirt. "You look taller." He grinned, using his newfound strength to pick her up, a loud squeal leaving her painted lips.

A loud explosion went off, the glass pane that guarded the viewing room had shattered onto the people congratulating Erskine below. Erskine had fallen to the ground after multiple gunshots, Steve making his way to the scientist while Y/N had continued shooting at the perpetrator as he escaped, soon running after him.

Running out onto the street, she caught her breath, deathly stare on the car that had her target. She shot once, no luck. Once again, the vehicle had swerved, colliding with a parked car nearby.

Kruger had gotten into a different car, accelerating at full speed towards the young woman, challenging her as she raised her gun once again.

No impact or gunshot ever occurred as Steve had pulled her out of the way, leaving her on the sidewalk. "I had him!"

"Sorry!" He ran, leaving her to pursue Kruger himself.

After Y/N had helped Steve save the men of the 107th, the pair had received a few weeks of reprieve in the beautiful city of London.

Steve admired her as she applied the black pigment onto her eyes with utmost accuracy, the trousers and blouse she wore complimenting her in such marvelous ways he couldn't comprehend. He got up from where he stood, taking long strides towards her, placing a hand on her waist and smiling when his reflection came into view on her vanity mirror. "Hi."

"Hello." She giggled, leaning into him. "Enjoying the view?"

He nodded, swiftly turning her to face him. His grin had dropped into a sly smile as he let go of her, ignoring her inquisitive looks as he dropped down, one knee hitting the carpeted floor. Pulling out a small box, she gasped instantly. "The ring isn't expensive, or lavish." He started, displaying the solitaire diamond ring.

"Oh my god, Steve."

"I love you, Y/N. I want to grow old with you, and share my life with you. I want to have a future with you, and I want it to start now. Right here in this obnoxiously rainy place," They both laughed. "will you marry me?"

Y/N let out a breathy laugh, nodding with clouded eyes filled with tears. "Oh, of course I'll marry you, Steve." She pulled him up, smushing his face against her own into a kiss, the pair of them smiling into it. "I wouldn't want anything else."

Steve wasn't lying when he said he wanted to start now, within 5 days he stood at the end of a chapel with Bucky by his side as best man and Y/N in a pearly white frock and a makeshift veil bought at the nearest corner shop.

It didn't matter that the dress was picked out last minute, or that the veil was advertised to be a gag gift. Nothing could rival the grins on the couples' faces when they said "I do." rings slipping onto their fingers and lips joining in a moment of utter bliss.

It was later that night when Y/N crawled out of bed, slipping on Steve's blazer to shield her bare body from the cold air seeping into the bedroom through the open window. Sitting at the desk, pen in hand, she sucked in a deep breath.

Dear daddy,

We're in London now. Steve managed to save the men of the 107th, I'm sure you've seen the posters all around. He's America's beacon of hope.

I hope Eliza and ma are good. I hope you're good.

I'm writing to let you know that Steve and I got married today. It was fast, we just got engaged last week, but nothing has ever felt more right. Writing this letter, the ring sparkling in the moonlight, it's perfect. I don't regret anything.

Steve has assembled his team, they called themselves the Howling Commandos and I couldn't be more proud. He promises that once they get all of HYDRA's bases, the war will be over and everything will hopefully go back to normal.

I got my happy end, daddy. I know it's not the end, it's just the beginning of a perfect life. A perfect life with my perfect husband, and hopefully my perfect family. I hope you're happy for me.

With all my love,

Y/N Rogers.

"What are you writing, Mrs. Rogers?" Steve queried, sat upright in bed.

Y/N smirked before climbing back into bed, ridding herself of the severely oversized blazer. "Nothing, Mr. Rogers."

The pair broke out into a fit of laughter as he pulled her close, hand trailing up and down her back, dangerously close to the soft skin of her backside.

2 years later, a year after the well grieved death of Bucky Barnes, Y/N had turned 20 and the couple had decided it was time to add to their family now that some light was finally at the end of the tunnel after a long 6 years of war.

Tangled in a mess of sheets, limbs intertwined, Y/N rested her head on her lover's heartbeat. "Do you think we made a baby?" She asked timidly.

"Maybe." She let out a faint giggle, eliciting a look of confusion from the super soldier. "What is it?"

"Do you think the baby will be super duper strong? A mini Steve who can lift an entire car up as a little boy?"

Steve chuckled, snuggling her closer. "Or a little girl, just as strong as you. Either way, they'd be beautiful."

She hummed, a hand on his cheek. "With my eyes and your beautiful blond hair, I'd think so."

It was that same day Y/N would find herself supervising one of Steve's missions from base. "Come in, this is Captain Rogers. Do you read me?"

She instantly rushed over to the microphone. "Steve? Is that you? Are you okay?"

"Y/N! Schmidt's dead!"

"What about the plane?"

"That's a little bit tougher to explain."

She huffed. "Give me your coordinates, I'll find you a safe landing site."

"There's not going to be a safe landing. But I can try and force it down."

"I'll get Howard on, he'll know what to do."

"There's not enough time. This thing's moving too fast and it's heading for New York. I got to put her in the water."

Y/N's stomach dropped, her heart threatening to leap out of her chest as she anxiously twisted her wedding and engagement rings. "Please don't do this. We have time, we can work this out." She begged, eyes brimming with tears.

"Right now I'm in the middle of nowhere. If I wait any longer a lot of people are going to die, sweetheart. This is my choice, Y/N." She didn't say anything, her head dropping onto the palm of her hands. "Y/N, honey?"

"I'm here."

"We might have to reschedule that doctor's appointment."

Taking in a shaky breath, she wiped the tears of her cheeks with haste, as if Steve could see her. "Alright. I'll book it for Monday."

"You got it."

"10am, on the dot. We can't be late, it's our baby. If there is one in there."

"I want you to know, I love you, Y/N. No matter what. You'll always be my best girl. My only girl."

"I love you too, Steve."

"I was thinking about names. I want to name it after your dad if it's a boy."

She choked a sob, nodding. "Yeah, yeah. I don't mind."

"And if it's a girl-"

"Steve?" Nothing. Not a single breath. She collapsed onto the desk in a mess of tears and loud cries, not caring for Colonel Phillips who stood behind her, a look of pity set on her back.

2011 was a long way away from 1945, Steve thought.

It'd taken him too long to come to terms with the fact that his wife was most likely dead, but when Nick Fury had presented him a box of her belongings, he couldn't help but shed a tear as he sat on the floor of his apartment going through it.

He'd found the necklace he gifted her on their first wedding anniversary, an accessory he now wore himself under his clothing, slipping her wedding and engagement ring onto the chain before putting it on. He grasped it close to his heart, a melancholy sigh leaving his lips.

His eyes narrowed when he came across an unfamiliar book, flipping it open.

Dear Steve,

The war is finally over as of 2 days ago, Japan formally surrendered. I wish you were able to celebrate the victory you worked so hard for.

You missed our doctor's appointment today. You'll be sleeping on the couch tonight after I reminded you to be there at 10am, no later.

I'm pregnant, Steve. What we've been waiting so long for has finally happened and you're not here to see it. I've decided to work with Howard once the baby is here, he'll give me flexible hours and good pay. Enough to keep us going and Peggy's good company.

I'm alone now, now Bucky to help me out, no you. I think I'll keep the house. It would be nice for the baby to grow up in the house we bought together.

I don't know why I've started writing in this stupid thing.

With all my love,

Y/N.

The super soldier let out a strained sob at the confirmation. She was pregnant, and he wasn't there.

He'd missed the entirety of his child's life, and the rest of hers.

The next few pages were short blurbs of her outings with Peggy and Howard, grocery lists and so on.

Dear Steve,

The baby is getting big, I've got a little bump now. Only 24 weeks to go.

Everyone is really excited, maybe more than I am. It's all over the papers "Wife of Captain America pregnant with America's Next Hope."

In truth, I don't want our child to be America's Next Hope.

I just want them to be happy and healthy, and to stay with me forever.

Howard's started building the crib, I told him not to make it too technical. He's putting all kinds of soothers and all everywhere, but it's still nice of him to do so. Peggy took me to London for Christmas and New Year's, we had a nice time and she bought me this beautiful dress. You would've loved it.

I miss you, Steve.

Merry Christmas and a happy new year, my love.

Forever yours,

Y/N.

Dear Steve,

It's getting warmer, and April has never felt hotter. Howard and Peggy keep saying it's just me and my big belly. Well, what else would I expect at 7 months pregnant?

Sometimes I feel you around. I'll feel you sitting at the kitchen counter, reading the paper. Or your hand on my belly in the morning. You're all over the house and somehow it's breaking and mending my heart at the same time.

These daily entries are getting a bit boring now, aren't they?

I hope you read these in a different lifetime, maybe.

Your only girl,

Y/N.

Dear Steve,

Josephine Sarah Stephanie Rogers was born on the 6th of June, 1946.

I named her after your dad, Joe.

I know we never talked about girl names, but I looked at her and I couldn't resist. I just know our little girl is going to change the world, just like your father tried to.

She's a carbon copy of you. Your gorgeous blue eyes, bright blonde hair. She's absolutely perfect, Steve.

And I just know that if you'd met her, she'd have you wrapped around her finger.

But she's all ours, baby. Our little angel, and I couldn't thank you enough for giving me such a stunning gift. Thank you for making me a mother, Steve, it's the best thing I could've ever received from you.

We love you to the moon and back,

Y/N and Josephine.

Steve held his hand to his mouth. He was a father, a father to what would now be a 65 year old woman. A woman who'd already lived most her life, achieved a majority of her milestones, all without him.

Dear Steve,

Happy birthday, my love.

Josephine and I made a cake for you. Today you would have turned 28 years old.

Colonel Phillips visited me today. It was brief, really. He played with Josephine and wished us well.

As I write this ridiculous entry, the wedding rings on my finger feel so heavy, unlike ever before. My heart constantly aches for you, but I will wait. I will wait until it is my time, and I hope you'll be waiting for me at the gates of heaven.

Your ever most loving wife,

Y/N.

Dear Steve,

It's been one year since you've been gone.

I miss you, more than anything in the world.

I'll see you soon, but not too soon.

Dear Steve,

Josephine turned 1 today.

Howard and Peggy threw a party, and you know how Howard's parties are. This one was child friendly, though. He brought a circus and entertained Josephine and all of her little friends from daycare.

Daddy dropped by. He loves Josephine, and he spent most of the day telling her all about you.

She said her first word today. Guess what it was!

Dada. She said your name, Steve. And she'll never forget it.

Wait for me,

Y/N.

Steve only brushed his tears away, flipping through every entry over the next few years.

Dear Steve,

Jo turned 16 today.

It's so odd to think that just 16 years ago I was only 20, trying my best to bring her into the world. We made such a beautiful young woman, Steve, and she's exactly like you. She has a hard shell but she's a big softie on the inside.

I've never been so grateful for a human being. She takes care of me, always telling me the best things to use and the best things to buy instead of it being the other way around. She's my protector, my guardian angel. In that way, she took your place.

Peggy helped me throw a big birthday party for her, she deserves it. She's worked so hard in and out of school. All of her friends came, they danced and ate. We got a massive cake to go with it.

Everyday she hugs your picture and thanks you, and today was no different.

I hope you're looking down on us with a smile, sweetheart.

Y/N.

Dear Steve,

Jo turned 18 a few days ago. I couldn't write because I took her to Paris for her birthday.

I'd been planning the trip for a long time, saving up as much as I could. She loved it! She also told me she got into Juilliard, which is a performing arts school in New York. It's far, farther away than she's ever been from me, but it's only an hour drive. She promises to come home every weekend.

I don't have to worry about paying for it anymore after Howard, Phillips, Peggy and I founded SHIELD. It's protection for the world, saving lives, just like you did.

I have to go, Jo's asking me to help her pack.

I love you,

Y/N.

He read through the brief entries of Y/N's time at SHIELD, before stopping at a picture. Juilliard, class of 1969.

She was right. Jo had inherited all of Steve's looks, from the blonde hair and blue eyes to the kind smile she graced the camera with.

Steve finally got to the end of the journal. Recovering after reading through her daughter's longtime boyfriend turned husband, the births of their grandchildren, the death of Howard Stark and more.

Dear Steve,

I like to think I lived a good 76 years of life. I lived to see the year 2001.

I got an education, got myself a job despite spending my father's money because I was young and stupid. I met you, the skinny boy who told me to follow my dreams of being a scientist. I fell in love with you, and the new you that emerged after the serum.

My love for you is eternal, which has been proven in the 55 years I've spent without you.

I lived to see my only child succeed, I lived to walk her down the aisle. I lived to see my beautiful grandchildren.

I've lived more than enough, and I think it's finally time to come home to you, honey.

I'll see you soon.

Y/N.

Steve brought his left hand to his lips, pressing a small kiss to the wedding band that rested on his finger.

"Don't do anything stupid until I get back." Steve smirked, carrying the briefcase containing the six infinity stones.

Bucky gave him a sad smile. "How can I? You're taking all the stupid with you." They shared a hug. "I'm gonna miss you, buddy. Tell her I said hi."

"Yeah, Buck. It's gonna be alright."

"How long is this going to take?" Sam questioned as the super soldier stepped onto the heavy machinery.

"For him, as long is he needs. For us, 5 seconds. Ready Cap?"

"I'll be back."

Y/N paced around, lip caught between her teeth. "What's wrong, sweetheart?" She stopped abruptly, turning to face the new voice.

Sighing a breath of relief, she leaped into his arms. "Steve! You're back."

"Yeah, honey. I'm back."

#Steve rogers x reader #Steve rogers imagine #Steve rogers #avengers #Steve rogers x y/n #Steve rogers x you #captain america #Captain America x reader #Captain America x y/n #Captain America x you #Steve rogers fanfic #Steve rogers fanfiction #captain america fanfic #Captain America fanfiction #marvel

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rivalsforlife · 3 years

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Phoenix Wright: The Truth Reborn: Oh No We’re Doing This Again

hi.

Nearly two months ago, I wrote an essay summarizing and making very wild conclusions about the second Takarazuka Musical. I did this about two and a half years after watching the first Takarazuka musical. As such I did not have the full context for many things from the musical and was relying mostly on my memory, which blocked many things from this musical for my own safety. However, just this week, I decided to rewatch it, because I enjoy tormenting myself. I said I wouldn’t write anything on it. Here I am writing something on it.

Here’s the youtube thumbnail so that you know what you’re getting yourself into. And here, of course, is the link. This is the HD version which may be slightly more pleasant to watch. Maybe.

It was not quite as cringe in a funny way as the second musical to me, and therefore this essay may be less funny, but I feel like I’m doing a disservice to people by providing a summary of the second musical while completely neglecting the first. Quite possibly doing this is even more of a disservice. I just eagerly await the day that the third musical is translated because *that* will be the day that I finally shuffle off this mortal coil. Either way, I want to write this stuff down so that I never have to watch the musical again out of curiosity.

The following essay will contain major spoilers for both the first and second Phoenix Wright Takarazuka musicals, as I will be using many points from this musical to argue my thesis of the second musical. ... like you were going to watch them anyways.

This one broke 8k. I’m dead inside.

Introducing The Director

Again another disclaimer that I don’t have anything against the actresses or the theatre troupe. I DO have something against Suzuki Kei, who I recently learned is the writer and director of all three of the Ace Attorney Takarazuka musicals, and is quite possibly my mortal nemesis.

This man is the one who brought this monstrosity into the world.

This man, allegedly, cleared the first four ace attorney games *seven times* before sitting down to write these musicals. He played these goddamn games seven times and did not take in a single word. The man clicked through them mindlessly while watching a badly written legal romance drama in the background and got them completely confused. I genuinely have no idea how this man could have played these games more times than even me and yet managed to get so many characters (MAYA!!!!) completely and utterly wrong. This haunts me every day, truly.

This man played Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice for All, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Trials and Tribulations, and Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney seven times. SEVEN TIMES EACH!! and was told to create a musical based on the series. He played these games seven times each and you know what he said?? You know what he said?? “This sucks, I’m getting rid of all of Phoenix’s backstory, butchering half the characters, and writing Phoenix/Lana fanfiction, but also rewriting all of Lana’s backstory so that she was Phoenix’s childhood friend, and you know what, I’m changing her name for good measure.”

I think this man played the games seven times each and then hated it so much and was so sick of it he tried to write something that destroyed as much of the series as possible while still being vaguely recognizable. And then somehow it became a massive hit because people like me see this and go “what the actual hell” and watch it, or people who haven’t played the games see this and go “wow what a great musical!” and then he wrote TWO MORE, destroying EVEN MORE every time in his wake, until finally, finally, he stopped after making Edgeworth straight and time traveling into the past to face off against a corrupt Gregory. I guess that was the last straw.

I have to issue a disclaimer here that for legal reasons this is a joke. I don’t actually hate this man and would not punch him in the face if I met him because that would be rude, and he is entitled to his wrong interpretation of the games. I don’t know what his thought process was. But allegedly he did play the games seven times according to the wiki. This whole essay here is satire and not slander and I don’t want to offend this guy if he somehow stumbles across my nonsense tumblr post. At the same time: Suzuki Kei blink twice if you need help.

Anyways half the reason that I’m making this essay is because I want to share my fake ao3 page for this musical. The other half will become apparent later.

Sorry if that’s illegible because of tumblr quality it’s not really important. All you really need to know is that it’s a fake ao3 screenshot for the musical. Also in the author’s note I said he played the games four times but it was actually seven I just remembered wrong because I didn’t want to believe it.

at this point you may be like “Grace shut up and get to the actual musical” and okay, fine, let’s start this nonsense. Also note that I may be referencing things from my essay on the second musical very frequently; I’m not going to force you to go read that though because the fact that you’re reading this is enough of a torment already.

The Musical Begins

Unlike the second musical, this one opens with some narration from Phoenix.

Transcript:

Phoenix: I’m reviewing a particular case at the moment. To me, this case... is one I’ll never forget.

Immediately I think this is important because it establishes that this whole musical takes place in a flashback that Phoenix is reflecting on. Why is this important? Because we know, by the time of the second musical which takes place three years later, Leona is dead.

Knowing that Leona is inherently doomed to die of her Sad Woman Disease paints this whole musical in a different light. It’s not Phoenix reflecting on how he got back together with his lover; it’s Phoenix dwelling on their past together, and the opportunities they had, before her life was so cruelly and inexplicably taken away. We don’t know if Phoenix’s reminiscing takes place before or after Leona’s death... but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was after.

Phoenix, still in the present, starts to sing. “A wave appears on the horizon like a mirage, it trembles, then vanishes. Your voice, carried upon the waves, fades upon the shore, erasing the splendor of the past.”

This line actually shows up in the second musical, sung by Lucia about her imprisoned fiance quite possibly. It’s kind of hard to tell what the meaning of these songs even are. They’re too abstract for me I think. But this line appears very frequently in the first musical when Phoenix is thinking about Leona.

Then we enter the flashback time.

Phoenix inexplicably yells at a newspaper saleswoman. This is not relevant to anything whatsoever. Then Larry barges in to the office, looking for Maya. Phoenix describes him as “A real trouble maker, but you just can’t hate the guy”, the latter part of which I think many people would disagree with.

Well, afterwards, Maya comes in. Phoenix describes her like this while making exaggerated “can you believe this shit” gestures.

Transcript:

Phoenix: She’s as ditzy as they come. Oh, and about the outfit... Apparently she comes from a family of spirit mediums. Try not to make fun of her, okay?

Suzuki Kei personally has it out for Maya and I can never forgive him for it. Maya in these musicals is here for pure comedic relief but it’s not even comedic because I just get so angry. How can you play the trilogy seven times and think this about her?? The girl who figured out DL-6?? The girl who told Phoenix to sacrifice her life in order to find the truth?? The girl who put on a brave smile in order to try and cheer up her younger cousin even after she saw her own mother murdered right in front of her eyes?? That Maya Fey?? Ditzy as they come??????

Ugh. Moving on.

Maya and Larry run off, leaving Phoenix to watch the American Broadcast.

Important things to note here are the Godot mug, the little line up of what I think are the messed up little ace attorney figurines beneath the screen, and the fact that while this broadcast is supposedly from and to America the screen is actually not at all showing America. Like literally almost everywhere in the world except North and South America.

The broadcast says that Leona Clyde, age 24, was arrested for murdering the senator Robert Cole! Leona Clyde -- that’s Phoenix’s ex-girlfriend! He runs off to the detention center.

She is not happy to see him.

Leona: Mr. Wright... I’m not the woman you once knew.

Let’s Play A Matching Game

Sorry for the abundance of screenshots that are going to be throughout this section. Phoenix convinces Leona to let him defend her. Some of the conversation seems... familiar.

Leona: No one would defend someone who admits to killing a senator. I’m waiting for a court-appointed attorney.

Edgeworth: Every defense attorney I’ve talked to has turned me down.

Phoenix: In that case, let me defend you.

Game Phoenix: Let me defend you.

Leona: Don’t be ridiculous!

Edgeworth: Don’t be ridiculous.

Phoenix: I’ll never accept that you’re a murderer. Let me prove your innocence!

Game Phoenix: Huh? Isn’t it obvious? I’m going to prove that Miles Edgeworth is innocent.

Leona: I’ve already confessed my guilt.

Gumshoe: He confessed that he did it! In court!

Leona: It’s foolish to think you can win this case.

Edgeworth: My case is near hopeless, Wright.

Leona: (in response to phoenix offering to defend her) No you won’t! Don’t ever come here again.

Edgeworth: Look, just go away, and leave me alone!

Phoenix: You of all people should know. Once I decide to do something, I see it through to the end.

Edgeworth: Once you start on something, you always see it through, don’t you?

Leona: I never thought that you’d be representing me.

Phoenix: Ah, who could have guessed this day would come?

Edgeworth: Not me.

Phoenix: You believed in me. You saved me. And this time, I swear... I swear I’ll save you!

Game Phoenix: Edgeworth believed in me, and I believe in him. I’m the only one who knows the real Edgeworth. I’m the only one who can help him.

I could’ve done a few more, but tumblr is already threatening to murder my laptop.

So long story short, Phoenix manages to convince his lover to let him be the defense on the case. Then immediately after swearing to save Leona, he starts singing a song, which I’m not screencapping because this is enough:

“As long as there are people in this world, there’s only one path I will follow! As long as there is love in this world, there’s only one path I will believe in!”

Edgeworth sings this in the second musical after saying that he returned to California because of Phoenix. Phoenix sings it now after swearing to defend Leona. You draw your own conclusions.

And then we finally get the opening credits. Eleven minutes in.

Just Pretend This Is Narumitsu Fanfiction

Following the credits, we see a beautiful beach. Couples (exclusively heterosexual, of course,) dance and embrace in the background for some time, before revealing Phoenix and Leona, in the Even Further Past, before the LSATs or whatever the ace attorney universe’s excuse for law school exams are.

Phoenix establishes his absolute hatred of change, an important characterization moment.

Phoenix: The view here never changes, huh?

Phoenix reminisces on when they were kids. Leona’s parents were both lawyers (they’re both lawyers) and sometimes they would be like lawyers with her when she was a kid. This inspired her to also become a lawyer after their tragic death of Sickness. They never specify what the sickness is that caused two people who must be relatively young to die while Leona was in her early twenties at the latest. It may be whatever sickness claimed Leona’s life later. Sad Woman Disease. (Sad Man Disease for her father, I guess?)

Phoenix also talks about why he’s becoming a lawyer.

Phoenix: Watching you chase your dream inspired me to become a lawyer too.

So, it’s not “my childhood friend looked sad in a newspaper” because I guess that makes no sense or is too gay or something. But this is another important piece of Phoenix characterization. His entire life so far has been focused around Leona. They’ve been friends since they were kids, and then Phoenix decided to become a lawyer solely because Leona was becoming a lawyer. Not even to try and get back into contact with her after she moved away or anything; just because he’s so obsessed with her that he wants to have the same career as her, then they can run a Mom & Pop Law Firm or something, years in the future, after years of happy marriage and a few children or like whatever the hell.

Well, there’s a few steps they’ll need to get to that. At this point Phoenix still hasn’t confessed his feelings for Leona. He does so here, on this beach.

Leona tries to protest.

Leona: But I’m pushy, selfish, and only care about my goals... You’d get fed up with me.

Phoenix: That’s what I’ve always admired about you. That’s who I’ve been chasing all these years. That’s the only person... I love.

Sooo, Phoenix, your type is pushy selfish people who only care about their goals...? In the first, older lower-quality video translation it was “only care about my work”, too. Hm. Things to think about.

They sing a little duet together. Then we go back to present-day of what’s technically still a flashback. Whatever. Murder is happening.

Back To The Murder

So some plot things to establish: Leona is the legal counsel of Governor Miller, who is running for president in the AMERICAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION. After the flashback so that Phoenix has some time to change clothes, they show an interview of him talking about the murder.

Governor Miller: I vow to forge a peaceful country with my own two hands, and to prepare myself for whatever may lie ahead.

Reporters: Through thick and thin, he’s a friend of the people!

The Takarazuka musicals are not very good at hiding their killers.

Phoenix: Oh yeah... It’s almost time for the presidential election, isn’t it?

NEVER FORGET, WRIGHT. THIS IS AMERICA. LAND OF THE FREE! god what even was that line.

Anyways, we meet Gumshoe, who is incompetent once again. Maya runs around the crime scene, picks up the murder weapon, puts her fingerprints all over everything, moves things around, all while Phoenix is like “lol get a load of the world’s stupidest girl” or whatever. But who cares about that.

It’s time to get to the only valid part of this musical.

Edgeworth’s Gay Little Villain Solo

You may have seen this one before.

Edgeworth arrives, but not really. It’s like Phoenix heard Edgeworth was prosecuting and immediately entered a dream-like state, where Edgeworth is heralded by the sound of trumpets in Great Revival. He’s played by a different actress than in the other two musicals, since I think she retired in between the six or so months from this musical to the second. She still plays the role well, though, or as well as can be when you’re written in an ace attorney Takarazuka musical.

Shrouded in scarlet solitude... it’s Edgeworth.

Yes, those are six Edgeworths. Yes, they pick Phoenix up and carry him around and dance with him. Yes, it was probably not meant to be at all homoerotic.

He sings a song that’s called “My rule”. I only figured this out later, but it’s loosely based on a “catchphrase” of his in the Japanese version - in game 1 he says something along the lines of “All I can do is get every defendant declared guilty! So I make that my policy.” In DD in his dramatic anime introduction before the trial, he says “I intend to question the defendant with all I have. For that is a part of my creed.” “So I make that my policy” and “For that is a part of my creed”, to my understanding, are both translated from the same line, which I think is like, “sore ga watashi no ruru”, “That is my rule.” (If I’m wrong, please correct me.) In this song he sings about how he’ll reduce all criminals to ash and such, basically talks about his game 1 prosecuting strategy as “my rule”.

It’s very fun and probably if you want to only watch one number of this musical, it can be this one. It starts about 26:10 in the video I linked.

Once the musical number is done, Phoenix and Edgeworth stare at each other, and the background fades into the courtroom, so court begins. I feel like I should note that Phoenix has not picked up any evidence or talked to any witnesses in this investigation except for Gumshoe, since Maya just moved some things around and then Phoenix had some weird fever dream about Edgeworth which presumably took up the rest of the day.

The Trial, Day 1

Edgeworth: Consider it a prelude to the poignant Greek tragedy that’s about to unfold.

Maya: The real tragedy’s your pompous attitude!

Those are the only screenshots I took of this trial day. Here’s a summary, though:

The trial starts off with Leona confessing, Phoenix says “no I think she’s innocent”, and since ace attorney doesn’t care about the defendant’s wishes he’s allowed to proceed. For some reason Leona lets him do this without complaint.

Gumshoe is the first witness, he claims to have caught Leona red-handed at the scene of the crime, standing over the corpse. Phoenix tries to claim that since Gumshoe didn’t see Leona committing the crime, he didn’t actually catch her red-handed, to which Edgeworth responds “What do you think being caught red-handed means?”

Once Gumshoe is dismissed, Lotta takes the stand. She has a photo of the actual moment of the crime, where Leona is holding a knife in the air in front of the victim.

The Takarazuka musicals like to do this thing where the image is blurry and zoomed out, but then Phoenix will go “I’VE NOTICED A CONTRADICTION” and it zooms in really far as the resolution increases drastically in order to show you the contradiction that is impossible to spot for yourself, because they don’t want people figuring out the mystery in this musical based off of a video game where you have to solve the mystery yourself. Anyways Phoenix zooms in on this photo and sees that there’s blood on Leona’s hand, presumably before she stabbed the victim. How did it get there?

Edgeworth suggests the victim was stabbed multiple times. Phoenix says the autopsy report contradicts that. Edgeworth, uncharacteristically, does not update it to suit his argument.

Phoenix concludes that this photo is not showing the moment Leona stabbed the victim, but the moment Leona removed the knife! ... Which somehow casts doubt on her having been the one to stab the victim. Because as everyone knows, anyone wanting to kill someone would never remove a knife, it’s not like they’d bleed out faster that way, or anything.

And this whole contradiction is confusing because presumably if the victim was stabbed and then the knife was removed, they’d know that happened, because then the knife would not be found stuck in the victim’s body, since the victim was only stabbed once. So this shouldn’t be news to the prosecution that someone removed the knife after stabbing. But the investigation was headed by the most incompetent version of Gumshoe ever, so. sure. I guess no one knew.

That at least manages to extend the trial another day.

This Totally Has To Be Illegal

After the trial, Phoenix goes to talk to Governor Miller, aka Mr. Totally The Real Killer. Phoenix asks him why he decided to hire Leona as his legal advisor.

Basically, it’s because her parents were both renowned lawyers. Her father was a Chief Prosecutor, and her mother was a defense attorney. ... a prosecutor and a defense attorney couple... who does that remind us of...

Phoenix points out that just because her parents were good lawyers, it doesn’t mean she’d necessarily be one. Miller says that, sure, but she is actually really talented, and her law school marks were spectacular. Phoenix says “WHY WERE YOU LOOKING AT HER LAW SCHOOL MARKS”, like it’s somehow? suspicious? for a government official hiring legal counsel to look at their law school marks?

Apparently it IS suspicious because Governor Miller freaks out and asks if this is an interrogation. Before Phoenix can press much further, he gets a phone call, and leaves Phoenix alone in a big room.

So naturally Phoenix behaves like a fully grown adult running a law firm.

If all he did was sit in the chair, lift up a desk lamp, and poke his finger on a pen, that’s one thing. But then he leans over, OPENS THE GOVERNOR’S DESK DRAWER, and finds a knife that’s just sitting there casually. It looks like a butter knife. It’s not anything major. Maybe the dude just wanted to butter his toast?

I mean I know Phoenix will dig around in stuff whenever in the games, but he has no reason to suspect Governor Miller at all, much less dig through his drawer probably full of confidential government documents to lift up a knife that he thinks is suspicious. It’s not even covered in blood or anything?

Naturally Governor Miller’s assistant comes in just then, and Phoenix puts the knife. in his breast pocket.

bud. It may look like a butter knife, but putting knives up against your chest is not a great idea. Much less stealing a knife from a governor?

Well, in his panic, he accidentally knocks over a bunch of books on the desk. The governor’s assistant helps him pick them up, and they find a photo. Look a little familiar?

The photo has the assistant, the victim Robert Cole, Governor Miller, and the victim’s brother who died in an incident two years ago. He’s the “Neil Marshall” of this musical, and he died in what was essentially the SL-9 incident. Same general premise, except it occurred in the courthouse, and the names are different.

AND FINALLY WE REACH THE END OF ACT 1. They do a musical number here which is a weird sort of mashup of the main opening credits song, Edgeworth’s Villain Solo, and the love duet between Phoenix and Leona. They are all such different songs that it sounds a little weird.

ACT 2, FINALLY

The act begins on a sour note with Maya playing with the knife and showing off her characterization, which is one of the most infuriating Maya characterizations you’ll sometimes see around the fandom by people who don’t like Maya.

Maya: Let me whip up my special spirit channeler hamburgers!

sigh.

But then we’re saved (?) by the arrival of EDGEWORTH, who is presumably just here to chat. He asks Phoenix if he’s defending Leona in hopes of winning her back, then says to keep out of it, since it’s a very important case and he can’t understand the gravity of it.

Then Phoenix says this.

Phoenix: Would you be saying that if you were the one on trial? The defendant is in a dark prison, reaching out for hope... Can you imagine the loneliness and sorrow of being ostracized?

CAN YOU IMAGINE IT, EDGEWORTH? CAN YOU IMAGINE IF YOU WERE ON TRIAL AND I WAS THE ONLY ONE WHO WOULD DEFEND YOU AND BELIEVED IN YOUR INNOCENCE??

Edgeworth responds to this by essentially rehashing his speech in Turnabout Sisters about how he needs to find all defendants guilty because he can’t guarantee their innocence and all that. Maya gets upset and leaves so that Phoenix and Edgeworth can talk about their childhood in private.

Phoenix once again complains about how people change since nine years old.

Phoenix then says that he has something Edgeworth doesn’t: the POWER TO BELIEVE! Then Maya comes in and tries to spike Edgeworth’s coffee, so he leaves.

The Class Trial

Phoenix explains a bit about Edgeworth and his backstory to Maya. Namely, the class trial. Phoenix was accused of stealing lunch money, Edgeworth stood up for him, but instead of Larry, Leona stood up for him. I guess Suzuki Kei thought “oh the class trial, if Leona stood up for him, it would be so romantic, because she’s a woman, and he’s a man”, or something like that.

Edgeworth wanted to become a Great Lawyer Like His Father! But then he turned cold as ice.

Phoenix: His father got too deeply involved in a case... and paid for it with his life. Edgeworth saw him murdered. He was never the same again. I bet he couldn’t forgive the criminal.

Yeah I bet he couldn’t ever forgive the person he thought killed his father all these years, Phoenix. I bet he really hates that person, Phoenix. I bet he has nightmares about that person killing his father or something, Phoenix.

Phoenix: He vanished, then returned without his mercy or compassion. He had become a monster. When he lost his father, he also lost the ability to believe in others.

So like... one of the most chilling things about this musical is that they never actually solve DL-6. This probably roughly takes place 15 years after DL-6, since they were about the same age when the class trial started, and at least Leona is 24 now. The next musical takes place three years from now, and in it, Edgeworth refers to von Karma as his mentor, implying he’s still around and doing things.

So, in addition to everything else going wrong with this musical, DL-6 still happens, but von Karma never frames Edgeworth for it fifteen years later. The statute of limitations runs out, and von Karma forever gets away with his crime. And Edgeworth has no idea.

What changes did they make to DL-6, though, you may ask? I’m desperate to know as well. In the third musical, which I’ve watched because I hate myself but am unable to fully understand because I don’t know much Japanese, there is a scene where Miles flashbacks to DL-6. It’s abstract, but he makes gun-throwing motions at Gregory, followed by a gunshot sound.

Therefore, in this musical’s internal canon, either Miles Edgeworth shot his father, or he believes he did for the rest of his life.

... moving on.

Phoenix: But he still has his humanity. It’s still there, deep down inside!

At least, if nothing else, Phoenix still believes in him. Even this Takarazuka Musical couldn’t touch that.

The Feenie Sweater

Right after this, Larry barges in, and Phoenix leaves him alone with Maya. The musical tries teasing Larry/Maya, but fortunately, Maya’s having none of it.

Maya: You’re barking up the wrong tree.

Props to this musical for not being as bad as it could have been.

After this, the two sit down on the couch, and Maya asks for more gossip on Phoenix and Leona. Larry launches into a story, which turns into a flashback that ends up being narrated by Phoenix halfway through. This one’s about Phoenix and Leona’s relationship.

This is an interesting line in here, “I’ll guide you to the future”, for it loosely referencing the sort of love ballad Phoenix sings with Lucia in the second musical which is about “I’ll take you to that radiant future”, and he later sings to the memory of Leona right around the time of his big spiral into despair.

I’m sorry if you haven’t read my other essay and just said “wait what” to what I just typed.

Leona was getting ready to move to New York to defend the weak “in the big city”. This is rather strange wording because it implies that California does not in fact have a big city. She says some things in her conversation with Phoenix that probably plant some of his later issues.

Leona: This is the first time we’ll be apart since we were kids.

Leona: We promised we’d always be together.

Leona: I’ll be waiting. Waiting for you to come to me.

Haha. Sure would be a shame... if something were to happen... and they wouldn’t be able to be together anymore...

So some dancers wearing black come in and take off their outer jackets, to symbolize the passage of time. They circle around Phoenix and Leona. In this, you can just barely see, Phoenix is wearing a pink sweater beneath his jacket.

“Oh,” I think to myself, “Is that the Feenie sweater? Are they including it here as a reference to the games?”

Then the dancers keep moving.

THAT IS NOT THE FEENIE SWEATER. That is a pink sweater with a sexily drawn woman on it.

This is the other half of the reason why I decided to go through with making this essay.

This is so incredibly funny to me. Suzuki Kei Who Has Played The Games Seven Times has seen the hand-knit bright pink sweater with a giant red heart on it seven times. The sweater Iris, Phoenix’s girlfriend, lovingly knit for him that he wears all the time even though it is one of the tackiest, cheesiest items of clothing to ever exist. And so, when the costume designers were designing the clothes for College Phoenix Wright, they asked themselves: “Should we include the Feenie sweater?”

and “NO,” someone must have shouted, “NO, we can NOT include the Feenie sweater, it is PINK and it has a HEART on it and it’s TOO GIRLY. Phoenix Wright is a MANLY MAN. He would not EVER wear something PINK with a HEART on it.”

“BUT,” someone else said, “it’s a REFERENCE to the original games, where he DID wear a pink sweater with a heart on it! We MUST include it to pander to the fans!”

“WAIT,” a third person interjected. “I have a BRILLIANT IDEA. We can keep the pink... But to make it VERY CLEAR he is a heterosexual, masculine male... we put a sexy woman on it.”

And Person Three Got A Raise.

Thank god we’re finally halfway done this musical.

We Just Have To Go On With Our Lives Now

There’s plot or something happening. Leona breaks up with Phoenix inexplicably over the phone. Probably because of that freaking sweater. Imagine wearing that. God.

Eventually we go back to Phoenix talking to Leona, and he asks about the Jack Lyon case, which is the rip-off version of the Joe Darke case. Leona is pretty cagey about it, but Phoenix proves that she was there in the gallery that day. Leona refuses to answer, claims again that she killed the victim in her case, and leaves.

This makes Phoenix sad, so he starts singing.

Phoenix: I want to bring you back! I believe in you.

If this sounds familiar, it’s the part where I started absolutely losing my mind in the second musical because this line had never shown up before then, I’d forgotten it was in this musical, and Phoenix was screaming it alone in a red room, so I thought he was like desperately resorting to a necromancy ritual in hopes of bringing Leona back to life.

Instead, this line actually has CONTEXT, though it does just end up enforcing my theory. This is Phoenix mourning what he used to have with Leona, wanting to bring the “old her” back, because he’s devastated that people sometimes change. There are several flashbacks of their college days where he’s wearing his Sexy Woman Sweater. He does succeed in winning her back at the end of this musical. Before she dies, of course.

Phoenix in musical 2 still believes that he can bring back what he used to have with Leona... even beyond death. That’s something affirmed by this musical. I’m very grateful to it for somehow managing to enforce my nonsensical theory.

Doctor Ema

After this, Phoenix returns to his office, and meets with someone new.

That’s right! Only now, halfway through the musical, do we actually get to meet the Ema-equivalent to Leona’s Lana-equivalent. Her name is Monica Clyde. She has little rainbow heart stickers on her briefcase, which is the closest thing this musical has to acknowledging that gay people exist.

But what does this little briefcase contain, you may ask? Scientific investigation tools? No.

A full surgical toolset. Because you never know when someone’ll get sick, or when someone will need an entire operation in front of you. I guess.

So yes, Monica Clyde is not a forensic scientist in training, but a doctor! She decided to become a doctor because of her parents, who passed away of The Sickness, and so became a doctor in order to save lives like theirs.

Once more this has much darker and deeper implications than the musical is even aware of, because Monica is so anxious about treating sick people that she carries a full surgical toolset around with her at all times, scared to lose someone like she lost her parents... and then sometime in the next three years, Leona, her big sister, is going to die.

Of what? The strange Sickness that claimed her parents? A car accident? A botched spur-of-the-moment surgery? Whatever it is, Monica was unable to save her, even when she’d been training her entire life for it.

Monica is not mentioned at all throughout the second musical. It’s as if she does not exist.

Because unlike Ema of Rise From The Ashes, Monica is not at the heart of this story. She is, primarily, a plot device here to make Leona not trust Phoenix so that he can angst about their relationship.

What a mess this world is.

The Trial, Part 2

Rather than try to prove Leona’s innocence, Phoenix wants to link the current case to not-SL-9, the Jack Lyon case. He does this by showing this picture.

Senator Cole, the victim, is in this picture. His younger brother whose name I’ve forgotten, the victim of not-SL-9, is also in this picture. They are brothers. It is apparently novel that they are in the same picture, and somehow makes their cases linked.

As well, Governor Miller is in the picture. I guess you could say like... Governor Miller’s legal counsel is the defendant, so that’s another link? Even though the Governor would presumably know a Senator, so this isn’t an unusual group. Right now Phoenix has absolutely nothing to prove that these two cases are linked other than “hey, these two victims are brothers”, but apparently it works. So they spend a lot of time talking about not-SL-9, since Leona has confessed to the murder on day 1 and there is absolutely nothing indicating that she can’t be immediately declared guilty.

They hid the fact that Monica was a hostage in this not-SL-9, meaning that some of the case records were forged. Here’s Edgeworth’s reaction when this comes out.

Edgeworth: This is an outrage! I’m the most influential prosecutor in America! There’s nothing I don’t know!

In RFTA, when Edgeworth learns he’d been using forged evidence to give a man the death penalty, he is devastated, his entire worldview is shaken, he sees himself as a monster who could end up becoming horribly corrupt if he isn’t stopped.

Musical Edgeworth goes “I DIDN’T KNOW SOMETHING???”

It’s certainly strange characterization, but I guess Edgeworth is further behind in his character arc than in RFTA, so... ugh. Fine.

Phoenix calls Monica out as a witness to prove she was involved in the case. This causes Leona to panic, and try to dismiss Phoenix as her attorney, like Lana in RFTA, but Edgeworth interjects to call Monica in anyways. He and Phoenix have a little moment.

Edgeworth: You said to believe in others. I suppose I’ll try believing in you. Try to keep up.

Phoenix: Edgeworth!

So Monica comes to the stand to testify. We get to see this picture of Monica being held hostage, and not-Joe-Darke’s incredible eyeliner.

Lots of it is very similar to the actual RFTA, except instead of the victim being stabbed on the knight with the giant knife, he’s instead stabbed with a regular old knife. Leona still refuses to admit to what really happened, until Edgeworth convinces her to believe in Phoenix.

Edgeworth: Your attorney is a runaway train with a one-track mind. Yet he placed all of his faith in you. Believe in him. You owe him that much.

Leona testifies, and says that when she found the victim, he was stabbed with a scalpel.

Here is where things get weird.

Scalpels Can’t Kill People

So basically earlier in this trial, they talk about how Leona knew that the knife that stabbed the victim was double-edged despite being buried in his chest. The judge questions if this means Leona killed him, but Phoenix is quick to say no, she was searched when she entered the courthouse and couldn’t have concealed a knife.

Yet, Monica was able to bring in her surgical toolkit which contains several sharp knives, scalpels, scissors, etc.

This is the first major contradiction.

Leona continues to say that when she found Monica, and the scalpel stabbed in the victim, she also ran into Governor Miller, who if you haven’t been able to tell yet is the Gant-equivalent of this musical. He offered to help her with the cover-up, etc.

The next bit goes a lot like RFTA. Phoenix accuses Governor Miller, who barges in, says Phoenix has the decisive evidence in his pocket. This is the “butter knife” that Phoenix took from his office when he dug around in confidential documents and stole it for no particular reason. It has Monica’s fingerprints on it! ... And Phoenix’s and Maya’s too probably because they were handling it without gloves, but they don’t mention that part.

Leona cries about how she shouldn’t have trusted Phoenix because he was apparently now blaming Monica, Monica looks terrified, she and Leona have some good sister moments but it’s not as good as it could be if the story was actually about Leona and Monica like how RFTA was about Lana and Ema. But Phoenix has the decisive piece of evidence that can turn this around.

It is this:

Phoenix: Scalpels are made for medical incisions, not stabbings. So how did it stab the victim?

...

... What?

So like. Yes, scalpels are made for medical incisions. Medical incisions often involve cutting through flesh, very easily. As a result, they are sharp. Extremely sharp. As in: their purpose is literally to stab people, very specifically.

Yes, they’re easier to control, so that surgeons don’t regularly stab people how they’re not supposed to be stabbed, but it’s not like, impossible to stab someone in a killing way with a scalpel? Admittedly, I have never tried to kill someone using a scalpel. And I do not have experience using a scalpel for surgeries because I am not a surgeon. But I’m pretty sure, if you take a sharp scalpel, and you stab someone in the chest with it with a reasonable amount of force... they die.

Like, is this a particular kind of scalpel that is not very sharp? Is the problem that the blade doesn’t match up with the initial wound? But even then, we don’t have the original unforged autopsy report or even a picture, so how would Phoenix know what the original wound looked like to say it didn’t match up? And even then why wouldn’t Phoenix say that instead of SCALPELS CAN’T STAB PEOPLE???

This is his decisive contradiction and it makes ABSOLUTELY NO SENSE TO ME!!!

Well Darn I Guess Scalpels Can’t Kill People

This is such a decisive piece of evidence, that scalpels can’t kill people, coming from the man who thought “caught red-handed” does not involve being caught standing over a corpse with blood on your hands, that it causes Governor Miller to confess.

Unlike Gant, who created the murder with Neil Marshall both to ensure that there was decisive evidence to convict Joe Darke, a serial killer who had not left any decisive evidence behind, and gain control over the prosecutor’s office in order to pull similar stunts to get criminals convicted using false evidence, Governor Miller does not have that as his motive. After all, he’s not a police officer. Instead, he ended up accidentally killing not-Joe-Darke, and then set up the incident in order to get Leona on his side. As her parents were both influential lawyers and very respectable, having her and her parents’ reputation on his side could help him become President of America Where This Takes Place.

So, let’s just take a moment to run over some of the things that made the original Rise From The Ashes great, in my opinion. Just for fun.

1 - The heart of the story between the Skye sisters. Lana closing off to protect Ema, Ema wanting to get through to her sister and get back to the way things used to be. Phoenix, in this story, is more of a bystander to this plotline rather than in the heart of it himself.

2 - Edgeworth’s Character Development. Basically RFTA creates an interesting transition between Turnabout Goodbyes and JFA. It causes Edgeworth to re-evaluate everything he knows about being a prosecutor. So quickly on the heels of Turnabout Goodbyes, it crushes the last bit of hope in him. It compares him to Gant, who also hates criminals, and forces him to wonder if his hatred of crime will one day lead to him being a criminal himself. He’s already convicted one person on forged evidence; how many others could there be?

3 - The Ends Justify The Means. ... wait come back, don’t leave. What I found neat about this case was also Gant’s motive. At one point he was presumably an honest person who hated crime and wanted to stop criminals. But over time in the police force, he became corrupted. He wanted to have all criminals convicted. So what do you do when you don’t have the evidence to convict them? Joe Darke was a serial killer who has killed several people and may have killed more if he’d gone free. The only way to stop and convict him was by using forged evidence. Other criminals could hide evidence to get away with their crimes, so people like Gant would make it up to catch them; but then when do you stop? What happens if there’s no evidence because someone is truly innocent? When does the line between “this person is a criminal and I want to stop them” and “I just want to convict everyone I’m dealing with” become blurred? This is also something he shares with Edgeworth and helps to advance his character.

All three of these things are either lessened or outright ignored in this musical. Leona and Monica’s story takes a backseat to Phoenix and Leona’s Love Story, with Monica only showing up halfway through, and mainly as an excuse as to why Leona is withdrawn. Edgeworth doesn’t seem to blame himself for the forged evidence he used, and doesn’t have a crisis questioning his morality over it. And Governor Miller’s motive is purely power. Unlike Gant, who would have become Chief of Police whether he solved SL-9 or not, Miller needed Leona to win the presidency. And instead of asking her to help him with his campaign like a normal person, he just blackmailed her instead.

... How do you play the games seven times and miss this much?

The Case Finally Ends

god. we’re almost there.

The case ends, Leona is declared not guilty but will still face trial for covering up murders and such. Probably less of a sentence than Lana because she was not involved in ongoing police corruption? Either way she’s dead in three years, so she’s got something a bit more concerning coming up.

She’s led away. Phoenix sings a bit about Leona before being interrupted by Edgeworth... who has something important to tell him.

Edgeworth: You awakened within me those once-cherished emotions I had discarded. I see visions of a distant, nostalgic past.

So basically this is the unnecessary feelings of the musical. Something along the lines of “seeing you again and fighting for my former ideals is making me question many things about myself.”

How does Phoenix respond?

Phoenix: Edgeworth... Try talking normally for a chance.

Sure, we were all thinking it, but that’s a little cold, Phoenix.

Edgeworth tries a smooth recovery.

Edgeworth: I don’t do... idle chit-chat.

This doesn’t accomplish much. So he leaves to allow Leona to visit with Phoenix alone. He’s got to go change for something more important coming up.

Leona and Phoenix decide that they’re going to get back together once Leona is done her sentence! They make a promise that is very funny if you know she’ll be dead in three years.

Phoenix: I’ll be waiting. For you.

There are a lot of hugs here, I’m not screencapping them all. There are also several moments where their faces get very close together and like, their nose brushes the other’s cheek or something, but they never actually kiss. Is it because the actresses weren’t comfortable with it (valid), or they thought kissing would be too much for the musical (sure, whatever), or since both characters are played by women the show staff did not want two women kissing on stage (probably the real answer)? I don’t like watching kisses, but I kept bracing myself for one and then it never happened, so.

Phoenix ends the main part of the musical with one last musical number starring my personal favourite piece:

Phoenix: I want to bring you back! I believe in you.

I like to think that at this point, this is present-day Phoenix, after finishing his reminiscing, still desperately wishing he could bring Leona back from death.

But alas, he cannot. And so, after one last daydream of them dancing together on the beaches of California, singing about their love, the musical ends.

Dance Time!

This starts at exactly the two hour mark, if you’re interested in watching what is, once again, one of the only fun parts of this musical.

Seriously, Edgeworth’s actress kills it here, when I first saw this I went “oh, this is why I saw so many people being gay for her on twitter.”

Edgeworth’s song is an encore of “My Rule”, so it’s lots of fun. Afterwards Phoenix gets another fun piece.

Then we get to the love ballad part, which I can probably overanalyze, I feel like I haven’t done enough ridiculous over-analyzing in this essay in comparison to the other.

Uhhh so the fog represents how Phoenix feels lost in this world without Leona. You can see it in the second screenshot separating the two of them, representing the barrier of death between the two of them. Idk it’s midnight I’m getting worn out from having to think about this musical for so long.

But his mourning over Leona’s death becomes even more apparent in the credits, where Phoenix sings that one line again:

Phoenix: I want to bring you back! I believe in you.

I’m not fixing that screenshot, I think it’s oddly fitting, in a way. That’s me right now.

Then at the very end, he sings this song.

Phoenix: I’ll spend... this eternal life... soaring through... the heavens!

Technically, this refers to his name Phoenix, but let’s dig a little deeper. He spends the rest of his life soaring through the heavens... the heavens that Leona went to after her untimely death, perhaps?

Overall, the musical becomes much more interesting when you just see it as a prequel to the second musical. This musical establishes many core concepts of Phoenix’s character: his refusal to believe in the concept of things changing, for one, and also his extreme dependency on Leona who he was never separated from since they were kids and where he based his entire life around her dreams and ideals. All he can think about is her. And in the end, he promises to wait for her in California.

Yet, to paraphrase Miles Edgeworth, all that is waiting for him is her death. Their dream of opening up a Mom & Pop Law Firm will never come true.

Thanks again for bearing with me even though this wasn’t as funny!

#ace attorney #phoenix wright the truth reborn #idk maybe someone wanted to know what the first musical was like without actually watching it?#my essays #my posts #i'm TIRED i'm going to BED goodNIGHT #this is less funny jokes and more actually criticizing the musical #because so much of this is like. wow. you really thought that was a good idea huh #just skip to the feenie sweater part honestly that's the funniest part of this musical

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