#not to mention me wasting precious movement to put my party around her only for her to JUMP OVER | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

uglypastels · 3 years

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Slide In // Frat!Tom

(a/n) I’ve never written this au before, in like a full fic i think, so i have no idea if this is good, but i had this idea in the middle of the night and yeah. I hope you guys enjoy. this may or may not have been inspired by a certain post @duskholland made about Tom and his mirror selfies <3 how amazing that he literally just posted one today lol

word count: 16.7k

warning: drinking, mention of drug use (weed), school, social anxiety, some smexy innuendos. i made some big last minute changes, so i hope its all coherent.

DEEPFAVE: Liking a photo (or any post) from over a year ago.

It was a cloudy morning, and it was early. Really really early. Not even the birds felt up to it, it felt like. The campus was slowly awakening or going to sleep (depending on if you had been to last night’s Delta Kappa party, of course).

It was cold, and the leaves fell off the branches with each huff of the morning breeze. The grass was wet from the previous night’s rain, and it soaked your ankles as you ran through the small grass field, in hopes to cut a bit off the distance to your lecture hall.

It had not been your fault that you overslept. You had gone to bed early; your backpack was already packed for the next morning. It was supposed to be a relaxing morning, perfect for easing back into it after a week of sleeping in and celebrating the holidays. How could you have expected that your roommate would barge into your dorm at 2 am, still whoo-ing her drunk ass in the corridor with other wasted idiots?

And it wasn’t like you were against all that partying and drinking. You would have gone yourself to the frat party, but it just didn’t sit right with you. A giant house full of intoxicated strangers- the anxiety running through you just thinking about it was making you shake.

So, instead of “living a little”, as your older brother called it, you preferred to stay in bed most evenings, either watching Netflix or reading a book. Yet, still, you had been kept awake for so long last night that you slept through your alarm. What was supposed to be a calm morning turned out to be ten minutes of rushed panic. Eventually, you had decided to skip most of your morning routine, including breakfast, brushing your hair or even putting on a decent outfit. You ran out of your dorm, clutching on to your bag, phone and keys.

Your hair was reasonably alright. It was still in the braid you had made before going to bed, but a lot of hair had fallen out during your slumber. When you looked in the mirror though, you saw that it looked decent so you let it be. Not so much could have been said for your outfit. You kept on the same shirt in which you slept in, which was a slightly oversized grey graphic tee from a random indie concert you had been to ages ago. Unfortunately, it was so cold that you couldn’t just go outside in your shorts, so had to spend a precious minute slipping into a pair of sweatpants that were actually not as bum-looking as you had feared.

Luckily, the walk (or in this situation, run) to the lecture hall was short. So, you survived with only a thick sweater over your arms.

And so, just like that, you were running through campus. The cold air was piercing your lungs as you inhaled deeply. Each breath started with this whistling sound, as you tried to ignore that pain, and ended in an exhale of a cloud of condensation. Maybe you weren’t in the best shape, but even this horrible experience would not make you sign up for the campus gym. No way.

You could see the lecture hall doors, the wide wooden panelling already towering over you, and you slowed down. You were trying to catch your breath and composure. As always, the doors were heavy and to add to it, the wood could not handle the temperature, so it was even harder to open them.

“Oh, let me,” you suddenly heard behind you, almost making you jump. The voice sounded familiar, but it wouldn’t click to a particular face just yet.

“Thanks,” you breathed out as an arm extended from behind you, clad in a leather jacket, and pushed the door open with ease. You followed the arm up with your eyes and saw how it connected to an actual person. Yes, you definitely recognised him. But what was his name again?

T- something starting with a T.

He smiled at you politely, nodding the gesture for you to go inside.

“Thanks,” you said again, before finally moving.

“No problem,” he was walking behind you but quickly caught up to your side. You saw in his hand a Starbucks coffee, which almost made your mouth water.

“Professor Dowling’s lecture, right?” he asked, before taking a sip. Your eyes unconsciously followed the movement as the need for caffeine was growing.

“Uh, yeah. Yeah,” you shook your head, focusing on anything but the delicious rich smell that you could sense coming from the cup—dark roast.

“Well, good to know I won’t be the only one late,” he chuckled. Troy? Was that his name? No. He didn’t look like a Troy.

“We’re not that late,” you checked your phone and cursed internally, “only… nine minutes.”

“Dowling doesn’t care if it’s nine minutes or nine hours. Late is late.” He took another sip. You had to look away before your stomach realised how empty it really was.

“True, I guess. Well, it was nice knowing you.” You sighed as you had reached the second door leading to the lecture room. Ty raised an eyebrow. No, his name was definitely not Ty. What was it?!

“What do you mean?”

“Well, Dowling is gonna kill us, isn’t he?” You explained, and he nodded in agreement.

He was again the one to slowly and quietly opened the door, giving you insight into the room. You almost yelled out in excitement when you saw that the lights had been somewhat dimmed for a slideshow that the professor was giving. You have Tim (nope, not Tim) a knowing look and smile. You had been saved. Then, the two of you slipped into the room, letting the doors close themself. You saw a few people turn their heads as you walked by together, searching for a seat, but you didn’t think much of it. You would have looked too if someone dared to be late for one of Dowling’s lectures.

Finally, you found an empty seat. Two, actually. It was in the back of the class, so you hoped that once the lights would go back on, Dowling wouldn’t immediately notice the addition of two more faces. The mystery guy, as you were too tired to think of more names and decided to give up, sat down next to you. He pulled out his laptop and turned it on, quickly putting it on the lowest setting of brightness. Just before he had opened it up, you noticed a few stickers. Between a few references from tv shows and movies, you saw the logo of Delta Kappa. You only recognised it because you had been seeing the logo on almost every notice board the last few days together with the campus-wide invitation for last night’s party.

So he was a frat boy.

You looked up to the side at him as you pulled out your laptop and notebook. The notebook was more for doodling than anything. But also to write down some more of the essential or just entertaining parts of the lecture, since you had come to realise that writing things down by hand helped you remember better.

Your heart stopped beating for a second as you opened your laptop, praying that no embarrassing tabs were open or, even worse, you still had Spotify playing on full blast. But you could let yourself relax when the laptop just showed you your desktop.

Right then, you could hear your stomach growl of hunger.

“Here,” suddenly T, as you decided to call him for the time being, slid over his coffee to your small desk. You looked up at him in confusion. He had a cap on, so there was not much you could see in the dark shadow, but you saw his sincere smile.

You thanked him before grabbing the cup. Since it was Starbucks, you hoped to learn his name finally. But instead, in black marker, was written “Holland”. Last name. Well, that was something.

_________________________________

“Thank you,” y/n said before grabbing the drink, taking a look at the name written on it, and taking a big sip of it, although she quickly pulled it away from her lips, her face distorted in a sour expression.

“Sorry,” Tom apologised, “my hand had slipped when I was pouring in the sugar.”

“Yeah, I can tell,” she whispered, still a bit disgusted, but it didn’t stop her from taking another large sip. “How can you drink this stuff?”

“Desperate times call for desperate measures.” Tom grinned.

Times weren’t exactly desperate, in his case.

The party had been a massive success. Everyone seemed to have had a great time, and this time, not even at the cost of any of the frat house furniture. Sure, some people might have thrown up in the cooking pans, but that could be easily cleaned up by one of the pledges.

It all ended around 2 am, which was fairly early, but it was, of course, a school night. Tom remembered to drink water before going to sleep and woke up with only a mild headache. A few painkillers solved that pretty quickly. He got up, stumbled a bit over the mess around the house and was on his way to class.

He was sure he would have made it on time if it wasn’t for his usual appetite and need for coffee. Yes, he could have made it at home, but for some reason, the coffee from that machine always tasted like piss. And Tom did not want to find out why. So, it had almost become routine for him to stop by the Starbucks that was on the way from the house to the lecture halls.

What he had not expected was the giant line of customers inside. More people had felt the need for coffee after a wild night of partying. He recognised some girls, still wearing the same dresses they wore to the party. A few guys who looked like they were on the verge of death were sipping their drinks in the corner of the room. The two baristas were running around behind the counter, trying to make the drinks as fast as possible. As fellow students, they knew that there were a lot of people rushing to get to class, at least.

Tom had even looked at his phone, checking the time before he decided to step into the queue. He had majorly misjudged the time it would take the baristas to make the few drinks before it was his turn to order. In the meantime, people would walk up to him, also recognising him from the party, to tell Tom what a great time they had last night.

Finally, he got his drink and made his way over to the second station and poured in some sugar. For that extra kick of energy, but also, secretly, because he could not stand the bitterness of coffee. Then, it was really time to leave the crowd. Tom never really minded people and was definitely what you call a “social butterfly”, but there was always a limit. And the limit on a Monday morning was minimal. Even smaller, if you are still trying to get rid of a hangover.

He had just reached the main square of campus when he saw the big clock. He was already late, so it wouldn’t do much to run. Professor Dowling did not care for excuses or how late you were, even if it was a second. So he could as well just take his time.

Others had different ideas apparently.

Tom watched as someone ran across the grass, clutching on to their backpack. She stopped at the same door that he was heading for, so he got to have a good look first. The first thing he saw was the back of her head. Hair made up in a braid that was falling apart. A large black sweater, probably her boyfriend’s, was covering most of her frame.

She was trying to pull open the door that had the word PUSH on them, but Tom didn’t say anything. It was early, and by the looks of her, not that he was judging, she didn’t have a great morning.

When they had made eye contact, he recognised her from the lectures but did not think he had ever heard her name being mentioned. Professor Dowling loved interacting with the class, no matter how large, and often called out people to answer his absurd questions. She had never put her hand up to answer. Tom was sure of it; he would have remembered her name.

It interested him to see her pull out, not only a laptop but also a notebook. Did people even use those anymore? Even the dim light he could see the words scribbled on the cover. The decorative style did kind of make it hard to miss it.

Property of y/f/n.

So that was her name. Tom couldn’t help but smile to himself.

Having already missed the first ten minutes, he tried his best to focus on the words of the professor, but some things just couldn’t go unnoticed.

By the look y/n was giving his coffee cup, he could tell that she had not had any herself and the sound of her empty stomach as they sat next to each other only confirmed his suspicion. So, it only felt like the right thing to do to give her some. And the smile he got in return definitely made it worth it.

His attention was entirely gone by that point, as he watched her open her notebook. It was filled with little drawings. Some were more distinct than others. There were the classic five-petal flowers and the single mysterious eye with no other entity attached to it—also a few little scratchy tornadoes and random filigree. Patches of just lines and different patterns filled up the corners and extended out to the middle of the pages. Tom also definitely recognised a few attempts at bringing back the Super S in there.

But what also filled up the page were little characters. She must have drawn them during the lectures around Halloween because he recognised a little witch, stylised to the perfect amount of cuteness. There was also a cauldron of bats flying off to the side.

Tom could have looked at it for much longer and still find some more doodles in there, but unfortunately, she flipped the page. This one was blank. She took out a pen and started to doodle mindlessly.

First, a straight line, to which she attached little ovals. Lightly, but the lines got darker, the more she went over it. Then she made some more lighter lines across it. It made him chuckle when he recognised what it finally was—a piece of wheat. The way she stopped drawing for a second, Tom thought that she had not realised what she was drawing either. It was just a random coincidence where a few lines suddenly could make up an existing object. Then she continued.

From time to time she’d stop to make a note somewhere in the middle of the page, something that professor Dowling said that made her giggle. It was adorable to hear.

“Now, this,” Tom could hear the professor say from his little podium, the two little words shook everybody in the room awake because those they were code for IMPORTANT. As Dowling kept on talking, y/n closed her notebook and pulled her laptop closer to type. Tom had to pull himself together to focus on the actual lecture.

Then the sound of her stomach pulled him out of that. That was followed by the whisper of an angry “fuck”. Tom looked over to y/n again. She was trying to type something out, but her shaking fingers kept pressing the wrong buttons. She was crumbling apart from hunger.

Crumbling…

Suddenly, Tom remembered. He leaned down to look in his bag, hoping it was still there. It was.

“Hey,” he nudged her side, making her look up at him once more, with caution. He grabbed the small pack of Oreos and slid them over to her desk. She looked perplexed. Then she pushed the, slightly flat-looking, cookies back to Tom. He frowned.

“I thought I’m not supposed to be taking candy from strangers.” She whispered. Tom chuckled and pushed the pack of four cookies back to her.

“Well, good it’s not candy then. Eat. I can tell you’re starving.”

Y/n looked at the Oreos, not sure whether to take them or not, but her stomach answered for her. She opened her mouth, but then she closed it again and turned away. Tom understood it. It would have been the fourth time she would have said: “thank you”. By now, he got the message. As she opened the packet of cookies, Tom went back to listening to the lecture.

_________________________________

You hesitated before taking the cookies. Were they some kind of prank? You knew how frat guys loved to pull jokes on everyone, even if they were no better than middle school hijinks or cheesy April fools clichés. But the silver packet, except that it looked a bit flat, seemed to be untouched. Most likely because of getting squashed by something in his backpack.

You opened it and were immediately hit with the delicious whiff of chocolate. You took out one cookie and didn’t bother with the usual way of splitting it open to eat the filling first. You needed food. Now. Even if it were just four broken Oreo cookies. It was better than nothing.

Obviously, you were still hungry and in need of a proper breakfast, but the small snack helped you hold out for the rest of the lecture.

But now that your stomach was sorted for, you had another problem concentrating. Your new, still unnamed, friend tended to type very loudly. At first, you looked over in a bit of annoyance, which made you actually notice his hands. There was nothing special about them. They were naturally just hands, but the way he moved his fingers across the keyboard… it made you look back in that general direction a few times more.

Probably because of all these distractions, the usual hour and 45 minutes felt much shorter. Before you knew it, professor Dowling was saying his goodbyes and everyone around you started packing up their things.

Needing to get some food ASAP, you packed up your things and practically ran out of the room. Only as you were nearing the cafeteria did you realise that you had never said goodbye to your snack provider.

Shit.

_________________________________

“Hey, so I was thinking-” Tom was going to suggest grabbing a bite for breakfast together, being somewhat hungry himself, but when he looked up y/n had already packed her things and was on her way to the stairs, following the other students out the door.

Tom sank back down into his seat.

“Any problems, Mr Holland?” Tom’s head shot forward to see professor Dowling looking up at him. When he looked around, he saw he was the only one who had not started packing up.

“No, everything’s alright, sir,” Tom said before getting up with his laptop. “Great lecture. Learned a lot... and stuff.”

“Good, good,” Dowling said. His glasses were slipping off his nose slightly, so he pushed them back up with his middle finger. “I did not expect you to have heard anything, by the way you and miss y/n were chatting.”

The professor’s words made Tom’s cheek burn up as he pushed the laptop back into its place in his bag. That man saw everything.Suddenly he felt as if he was in middle school again.

“Try to not make it a habit.”

“No, sir,” Tom said.

Dowling just nodded, meaning the conversation had ended and giving Tom permission to sprint out of the room.

He wasn’t sure why he was in such a hurry. Maybe he was hoping to find y/n waiting outside the doors. He didn’t even know why he wanted to see her there. He just did. He had this urge just to watch her doodle in that notebook of hers. There was something so endearing about it.

Alas, no one was waiting for him outside that door. Or even in the proximity of it. There was no one but groups of students making their way from and to class.

Then, Tom realised that she must have run off to the cafeteria. Still, he decided against going there. As much as he wanted to talk to y/n again, he didn’t want to come off stalkerish. Besides, they’d have another class tomorrow. He could speak to her then.

“Ayo! Holland!” Tom looked over to a group of people he recognised to be his friends. They were gathered around one of the large windows that was open in the hallway. He waved to them before making his way over.

“What’s up, man? You looked like a lost puppy.” Jacob said.

“No nothing, I just zoned out a little, I guess.” Tom shook his head, clearing it off thoughts of y/n.

“Well, we were thinking,” his best friend and fellow Delta Kappa resident, Harrison joined in on the conversation, “There is this new bar opening next week. The… something- shit, what’s it called again?” He looked over at the rest of the group.

“The Sterling,” it was Zendaya that answered. She was sitting on the window sill with both legs in front of her, not living much space for anyone else to sit. She had something between her fingers, and Tom could not make out if it were a regular cigarette or a joint. (The smell insinuated at nicotine, so that answered for itself.) The fact that they were on campus did not make much difference to them. She took a drag and blew the smoke out, before handing it to Harrison.

“So, Holland, you’re in?”

“Yeah of course.” There’s nothing like the hysteria of drinking yourself sick in some new dingy place across campus. A new one would open up every few months because its predecessor would get shut down after too many accounts of selling alcohol to minors. It had almost become a game for younger students to see how quickly they can destroy a business. Tom and Harrison had been record holders for a while. Five weeks. Tom wasn’t exactly sure how anyone could tell they were the reason for The Six-Ball to close, but it didn’t matter. (“With a name like that, they deserve to shut down,” Harrison had joked before ordering two Long Island Iced Teas.)

Now that they were of the legal drinking age, of course, maybe it wasn’t as fun to go to those shitty holes in the wall, but with the right people, they made it a party every time.

“Nice! So-” Jacob started talking about how he thought the night had to go, but Tom was already zoned out again. Between Zendaya and Harrison, he had the perfect view of the small grass field. Some people had sat down there with their friends to enjoy the midday, but most people still considered it too cold to sit outside. But what Tom was looking at was behind the grass field. It was the cafeteria doors. He saw that large sweater again. y/n walked out, holding something that looked like a sandwich. Tom smiled to himself.

“What are you smiling about?” He got nudged in the ribs by someone.

“Oh, you know, the uhm-” he had no idea what the rest of his friends had been talking about to include in his lie.

“I know,” Harrison said, lounging his arm across Tom’s shoulder to point in the same direction that Tom had been looking at. Tom froze up when he pointed straight at y/n with his finger.

“Angela Pikowski.”

“What?” It took Tom a second, but indeed, right in front of y/n, stood Angela with her own group of friends. She laughed at something, whipping her bottle bleached blonde hair across her shoulder. He understood too, how Harrison had caught her so quickly in his vision, for she had her jacket open and her shirt was pretty tight and low cut. How did that girl not catch pneumonia or some shit?

“You ain't slick, bro.” Harrison patted him on the back. Tom, not wanting to get into it more than he needed, just grinned awkwardly. When he looked out into the square, Angela still stood there, but y/n was gone.

_________________________________

The campus food was never that good, but it didn’t matter. The feelings of having actual food in your body felt so good that it might as well have been a five-course meal from a three-star Michelin restaurant. While, in reality, it was just a little bacon, egg and salad sub on stale bread.

It did not matter.

You enjoyed your breakfast as you walked down the path, back to your dorm. After that horrendous morning, and the pretty… interesting lecture, you were ready to lock yourself up in a room and do nothing but watch Netflix. And thankfully, due to having only one morning class, you could actually do it too.

You said your polite “Hi”s and “Hello”s as you passed some other people you recognised from other classes. A bit hopefully, you were on the lookout for your (still nameless!) friend from the lecture. You really had to figure out what his name was.

By the time you had reached your dorm building, your sandwich was gone. A part of you was still hungry, but you ignored that. You were probably just bored anyway.

The dorm hall was basic in every way, from the carpeted grey floor to the plainly painted walls. But the inhabitants, of course, did try to give it some life. They hung up posters and banners, flags and lights. You reached the door that was decorated with a collage of different 80s glam rock artists and walked into your room. That college had been a little bonding experience with your roommate, Marie, during the very first week of Freshman year.

When you walked in, your eyes were immediately drawn to the lump on one of the beds. A groan erupted from underneath it when you switched on the light.

“Ruuuude,” Marie yelled out. She came out from beneath the sheets. Her hair was bigger than ever, and you could see the mascara and eyeshadow stains under her eyes, and there was still some glitter on her.

“You know, you should take off your make-up before going to sleep,” You said as you took off your sweater.

“You know, you should put some on before leaving the house,” she said before diving back underneath her sheets.

“Ouch,” you both laughed. But you couldn’t help but take a look in the mirror as you passed it. Maybe you could have used some concealer under your eyes, but it wasn’t that bad. Right?

The room the two of you lived in maybe wasn’t big, but it wasn’t small either. You were definitely one of the luckier people in the building. Your room, after all, had just enough space for the two beds, desks and closets to mirror each other on each side of the room. You also went the extra way to put up some extra shelving on your side above the bed, since one closet was not enough.

“Didn’t you have class this morning as well?” you asked as you sat down on. You could hear something coming from Marie that resembled an “Mhm”. Not in the talking mood, got it.

So, in quiet, you pulled out your laptop and searched for something that did not look mind-numbingly dumb to watch, eventually settling for a show you had probably watched five times out of pure overwhelming of choice. After a while of moving around in your bed, you found a comfortable position at last and turned the show on, ready for a day of uninterrupted laziness.

_________________________________

Tom got home a bit later than he had hoped. After making plans for the next night, his friends were determined to go out for lunch as well. What he thought would be just a quick grab-and-go, turned out to be a full two-hour lunch where they talked about anything and nothing.

He loved the company of people, but not on Mondays. Mondays were his day to do nothing except for going to class, and Tom felt like he had already done too much.

When he did get back, people were still busy cleaning the aftermath of the party. It had gone a bit wilder than Tom remembered. Some jackass had decided to spray paint one of the upstairs hallways, and the colour was not easy to get off. Luckily, it had become almost a custom for all the house members to lock their doors during a party. For privacy sake firstly, but like anything at Delta Kappa, it turned a bit into a game.

The first two unlock their door, either if the person was too tired to stay at the party or wanted to bring a guest into their room, was obliged to do something horrible. It was up to the rest of the house to decide what. Fortunately for Tom, he had not been the first to unlock his door that night. That luck fell on poor Billy.

Even if it came to be so, the rule didn’t make sense because no one could check who the first one was to open their door and even if- it was not an official Delta Kappa rule. That meant that, even if the person got caught to be the first, they could simply deny the dare. They would be known as Head Chicken, of course, but there were worse things in life.

Tom moved up the stairs, saying hi to a few of his roommates, feeling very lucky as one of the senior members of the house, he did not have cleaning duty. Most of that was up to the pledges anyway.

He remembered when he had to do all those tasks and shit to get into the house. It was so stupid; he didn’t even understand why he chose to be in a fraternity, in the first place.

He did think the other guys had gone a bit softer on himself and Harrison since at the beginning of it all, they had been chosen by the sorority of Alpha Zeta Zeta as the favourites. Still, some unspeakable things had been done that year.

But now that he lived in a giant house with some of his best friends, it all felt like it was a bit worth it. He had a great time at Delta Kappa.

One of the best pros, by far, was that he had his own bedroom. Spacious for everything he needed plus a bit more. A large, unmade, bed waited for him when he opened the door. That, and the happy barks of Tessa.

“Hello, darling,” he bent down to pet her as she jumped to his knees. Tessa was the official mascot of the fraternity, but she had very early on found a great liking to Tom. It only took her a few days to get settled in his room, and from then on, she wouldn’t sleep anywhere else.

Tom moved up to his bed, and Tessa gladly joined him. She patted down a circle before lying down with her head on his chest, letting out a satisfied huff of air. Even if he wasn’t comfortable, Tom had no way out anymore. He was stuck. With nothing else to do, he took out his phone and went through his notifications.

Some texts from Harrison and Jacob, a missed call from that girl he made the mistake of giving her his number. People were getting Wi-fi again because he got at least twenty different Snapchat pictures and videos from the party.

What else there was plenty of, were Instagram mentions and tags. He went through the photos, smiling. It really had been a great party. Then, something popped up in his mind.

Property of: y/f/n

y/f/n

Could it be that easy? He could just search for her and hope to find her account. He typed it in. Her first name was already enough to get plenty of results. As always the profile pictures were too small to really make out a true identity, so he made his way through the accounts.

He only needed three tries, though. The picture already resembled her, so with hope, he clicked on the account.

This account is private. Follow this account to see their photos and videos.

Tom sighed. Not so easy after all. Then he saw the bio. It was a bit vague, just a few random emojis. But what interested him was the Followed by and the fifteen mutual followers that she had. It couldn’t be anyone else.

For some unknown reason, his heart was beating in his throat as he clicked on the blue Follow button and watched it turn grey. Now it was just a matter of waiting until his request got accepted. Or maybe denied. Who knows.

_________________________________

Watching a show for the fifth time got a bit boring. You could still laugh at the jokes, but at the same time, you could also almost flawlessly quote it as the scene went along. So, a few episodes in you took out your phone and started scrolling through various app feeds.

Marie had fallen back to sleep since you could hear her snore in her bed. And you were falling asleep slowly too. It was so warm in your room, and your bed was so soft and comfortable. Your eyes were getting heavier by the second.

Then a notification popped up, brightening up the screen in your hand. Half-awake, you tried to read it.

(your account): Tom Holland (@tomholland2013) has requested to follow you.

Tom? Your mind took a moment to process. Then the face finally clicked to the name. Tom! His name was Tom!

Without much further thought you accepted the request and before you even put your phone down, you fell asleep.

_________________________________

Not to sound desperate, Tom waited for a good half hour before rechecking his phone. He clicked on the Instagram app and the search icon. Her account was still the last one from the recent searches he made. Tom clicked on the account and, to his unexplained surprise, he was greeted with a gallery of pictures.

He had noticed earlier that the count on top of the page said 53 Posts. Interested, he clicked on the first one. It was a picture of a coffee cup. It wasn’t tagged, but Tom recognised it to be from that café Le Moulin. He saw the distinctive black windmill on the napkin that could not be missed.

He scrolled down.

It was a selfie from last summer. The filter slightly enhanced her bright smile on the picture, but Tom could tell it was more to show off the warm atmosphere of her holiday destination. The next photo was from the same holiday, he assumed, of her and a group of friends. He recognised the girls from campus. When he tapped the picture for the tags, he saw their names. @tiffani.btx @bonne_marie @lucywithnodiamonds

He thought to have spotted that Marie chick at the party. She was French if he remembered correctly. She was definitely a wild one. Might have even grinded up against him during one of the better songs that were played.

There were some more selfies, solo and with friends, sunsets and landscapes. The picture quality got worse as he scrolled down. It matched with the timeline. People should not be keeping up their pictures from seven years ago, especially not with all those fucked up filters they used back then. Tom was, of course, one of those people.

He scrolled to the last picture; it was of a dog—one of the cutest little labrador puppies.

Out of nowhere, Tessa barked in her sleep, making Tom jump up. This sudden movement, in its turn, woke the dog up completely. Tessa kept barking.

“Right, I think it’s time for a walk, what do you think?” He patted Tessa on the head as she tried to lick his arm. Tom got up and was about to leave his room when he realised he almost forgot his phone. The screen hadn’t turned off yet, so he looked at the puppy again. But something was off this time. Something had changed.

The little blank heart under the image- it was now pink.

He accidentally liked her oldest picture.

_________________________________

There were two types of naps. Those that made you feel amazing and refreshed by the time you got up. And those that made you feel like you had fallen asleep on a bed of rocks. You felt even worse than before when you woke up. Your head was throbbing, and your bra had pushed itself into every possible part of your chest, making it that much more uncomfortable.

“What time is it?” you asked Marie, but she was still asleep.

The light of your phone almost blinded you, so you quickly put down the brightness. It was around four o’clock. Meaning you had slept for a good three hours.

Besides the time, you checked your notifications. There were not a lot of them. A few spam emails, a few texts in a group chat you never responded too and… a like on Instagram?

tomholland2013 liked your photo. 1 h

You had to think back to the moment before your nap to remember that he had in fact requested to follow you. And you had accepted it.

You clicked on the notification, and it sent you to the liked picture. To your surprise, it was the picture of your family dog, Spot. Your family had picked the name even though he was a completely yellow labrador, loving the irony.

It was your first-ever picture, from over seven years ago. Had he been stalking your account? Why the fuck would he do that?

Well, you thought, it was only fair if I do it too. So, through the like, you made your way over to his account.

First thing you noticed was the number of followers he had. 15.7k How the fuck do people even get those numbers? Well, it’s easier if you’re a hot frat guy, of course.

His profile picture was a mirror selfie, and clearly, it was his favourite composition, for at least five out of the first nine pictures in the gallery were the same style. All full-body reflections, with him holding the phone in his right hand, leaning his head a bit to look at the screen as he took the picture. His lips weren’t exactly in a smirk, but there was that cockiness in there. He really was feeling it, that was obvious.

The first picture was a classic mirror pose- A black jacket and a black hat: the same outfit he had been wearing in class. You looked at the timestamp and saw that he only posted it an hour ago. Already it had dozens of comments and a low thousand amount of likes.

You scrolled down. A denim jacket and beanie in the mirror; a grey t-shirt and sweats in the mirror; a black suit in the mirror, the list could go on. There were other pictures, mostly from the frat house parties and other events where alcohol played a significant role. There were also the occasional front camera selfies.

You couldn’t help but look at those a little bit longer. There was something about that small tight smile that he made that was so cute. In one of the more saturated pictures, with a deeper shadow, you noticed that his nose actually had a little bump in it, most likely from breaking it in the past.

But just from likes alone, you could tell that the mirror was a public favourite.

There was something about the confidence that the pictures portrayed that spoke to you.. He knew he looked good, and no one could deny it. Except, he looked so much better than good.

It was interesting to be scrolling down his posts because it was like a trip back in time. At first, it didn’t wasn’t that obvious, just maybe a change in temperature during the year that was referenced through his clothing. Then it showed a bit more as his hair started to get shorter by each picture taken. It got shorter and shorter until his hair was not much more than a buzz. The reason for the drastic hair change was explained in the next picture.

You had already scrolled down four years worth of pictures, and this one was of him (taken by someone else). Tom was standing in a victory stance on a grass field, which you recognised to be the campus square. He was only wearing boxer shorts and on his chest was painted, in bright blue paint, 𝜟K. Underneath the post, read the caption: Delta Kappa babyyy! with a bunch of other hashtags. One that was included was #deltakappapledge #initiated. Of course, it was during his pledge period.

You kind of hoped that he had to do more than just shave off his hair because he didn’t even look half that bad. It even suited him actually. Hoping to find some more evidence of that embarrassing period, you scrolled on.

The sound that came out of your mouth as you scrolled to the next picture was inhumane. Keeping to tradition, it was a mirror selfie. Behind him seemed to be some workout equipment, possibly from the campus gym, but no one would look at that. Everyone would be too focused on what was in the foreground.

It was Tom standing in front of a mirror, chest glistening with sweat as his hair draped in front of his eyes. Instead of the usual pose, he stood sideways, showing off not only his flexed bicep as he took the picture, but also the outline of all his other muscles.

Completely forgetting what you were doing, you double-tapped the post. How could you not? Only a second later, did your monkey brain realise what you had done. You had made that exact same mistake as Tom. Except while he had liked a picture of a cute dog, you had made your mark on a shirtless selfie.

As the pure humiliation flooded over you, you threw your phone to the other end of the bed with a squeak.

What’s done was done.

_________________________________

Tom came back from the walk with Tessa after an hour. They both enjoyed a long walk around the park neighbouring the campus, just to then pretend like they were too exhausted and lay in bed the rest of the day. Well, Tom pretended. Tessa seemed legitimately tired.

They went back to their position on the bed. Not sure what else to do, Tom got back to Instagram. There was no reaction to his accidental like yet. Not even a follow back from y/n. A bit rude but okay, maybe she hadn’t seen it yet?

He shook his head. He didn’t like this weird side of him. Where had it even come from? Since when did he wait for anyone to respond to him? And they weren’t even having a conversation!

Having nothing else to do, he searched through his phone gallery for a good picture to post. He chose one he had taken during lunch, on his way from the bathroom. It was still crazy that his friends wanted to go to a place where you needed to take an elevator to go to the toilet.

He didn’t care for editing, so he went through the usual Instagram process of making a post, thought of some dumb caption and send it out into the internet. Soon enough, as if they had a notification on for his activities, the likes streamed in. For the first few minutes, he tried to look through them, again hoping that y/n would be one of the likes or the heart eyes emojis in the comments, but quickly it became too much, and Tom couldn’t keep up. He still enjoyed reading the comments.

Of course, it was all one big ego boost. The praise and compliments, even if it was for something as shallow as his looks, definitely gave him a good kick of dopamine and all those other happy chemicals during the day.

Tessa was snoring and drooling on his belly as Tom went through his timeline and explore page. There was not much exciting happening in peoples’ lives, but it made the time flow by faster. An hour had gone by probably when he decided to recheck his activities. His new picture already had a few thousand likes and was close to reaching a hundred comments. He went through some of them and either liked them or responded with a matching emoji.

But as he scrolled through the activity, he saw a like that was to a different picture. A rather old one too, just from the beginning of college. And who might have liked this picture? y/n

She liked a workout selfie, huh?

With the confidence that the like gave him, Tom clicked on her account and the message button. He thought about what to send for a moment but decided against overthinking it and went with a simple-

_________________________________

(tomholland2013): Tom Holland: Hi

You looked at the notification for a while. He definitely saw you had liked his old picture. Was he going to make fun of you? Tease you how you had outed yourself for thirsting over him?

But maybe he just wants to talk? You tried to sound optimistic to yourself. After all, he did like an old picture of yours too. You were kind of in the same boat.

Putting all worries aside, you clicked on that damn nerve-wracking notification, and without much more thought send out the reply.

(y/n)

Hey :)

Before you could even send out the smiley, the message rose to reveal “SEEN” beneath it. Was this happening? Was it? You could see he was typing.

(tomholland2013)

After stalking me you could have at least followed me back lol

(y/n)

Right sorry just a lot of mirror selfies. Thought i’d seen everything there is to see 😂

(tomholland2013)

Rude Seen anything you like though? ;)

Uhhh, of course, you have. You liked it. A lot. But you weren’t going to give him that satisfaction.

(y/n)

No not really

Quickly change the subject.

So what are you up to?

Good enough subject?

(tomholland2013)

Just lying in bed with Tess

Tess? Who was Tess? Did he have a girlfriend? If he did, he would have posted something on his Instagram, right? That’s what couples did? Unless it was just a one time fling. You couldn’t even call it a one-night stand since it wasn’t even night.

Wait, why did you even care about that? You had literally only said hello to each other and shared a coffee during class.

But the curiosity was gnawing at you.

(y/n)

Tess?

(tomholland2013)

Yeah, she’s falling asleep on my chest. Kinda tired her out lol

You looked at the text, unsure how to respond, or even if to do it. Was he telling you about his hookup? It didn’t sound like the nice guy you had met in front of the lecture hall, and that gave you his leftover coffee and Oreos. Your face wrenched into a grimace, not sure anymore what to make of this conversation or of what had happened during class.

He was typing again.

Wanna see?

Jesus Christ, this was a mistake. You didn’t respond, but he still sent you a picture anyway. It was a timer, unfortunately, meaning you had to click on it to see what he had sent. But he could see you got the message and that you were online. The longer you took, the more prominent you would make it that something was wrong, and you didn’t want to hurt his feelings. He had given you his coffee.

The curiosity got the better of you once again, though, and you clicked on the little bomb. What popped up was almost what you expected- but at the same time, so not. Before your brain properly processed what you were looking at, you were scared that he had sent you an unsolicited dick pic, but it was the furthest thing from that.

What you saw was a POV shot of his chest and legs. He was indeed lying on his bed. On his chest, however, was the head of a grey silver dog. “Tess” had her eyes closed peacefully as she slept on.

Of course, it was a dog.

You decided to be honest. For the benefit of the conversation, if anything.

(y/n)

Omg 💀

(tomholland2013)

We just came back from a long walk, so she’s pretty knackered What? Did you think I meant something else?

Embarrassment kicked in anyway.

(y/n)

No... lol

(tomholland2013)

You sooo did lmao Jealous much ;)

(y/n)

Of the dog maybe

(tomholland2013)

Cause she gets to be here with me?

(y/n)

No I meant it like She’s so cute I want one

(tomholland2013)

Relax I was just messing with you But if you ever wanna come over

(y/n)

Maybe another time

The response came out in a panic. Had he invited you for what you thought he did? No, there was no way he did. Besides, you couldn’t go to his house. You barely knew the guy- your mind kept on whirring about it. But the conversation continued.

Soon the sun had gone down, and it got dark outside, but the messages kept coming in. At one point Marie finally woke up from her hangover slumber. Drowsily she got up and headed for the shower with a towel and toiletries bag in her hand. Before she left, though. She asked you if you could prepare something to eat for dinner since she was starving. You being you, agreed.

(y/n)

Hey, I think I gotta go for a bit. Gotta make dinner for my roommate

(tomholland2013)

What’s on the menu?

(y/n)

Probably spicy ramen?

(tomholland2013)

Damn. sounds good But can’t she make it herself?

_________________________________

A part of Tom wanted to send another message. I want to keep talking to you. But that felt like a bit much. She was typing again anyway.

(y/n)

Because she’s still hungover from your party lol Thank for that btw

(tomholland2013)

You make it sound like i am personally responsible

(y/n)

Well your the only guy from DK i know so you’re** 💀fml. There go my chances of an english degree

(tomholland2013)

Nah babe YOU’RE good ;)

_________________________________

Your heart fluttered at the little word, for no reason. It was just a text message. He probably called every girl he texted that. Still, the sentiment was there. Also that winky face of his. Could he stop?

He started to type again.

(tomholland2013)

But if you ever wanna meet the other guys, you really are welcome to come over.

(y/n)

I’m good thanks.

Going to a frat house alone? You felt like that could easily be the start of your personal horror movie. It would absolutely crash at the box office, but that didn’t matter. And it was the second time he invited you to come over. If it was a hint, it wasn’t a subtle one. It didn’t stop you from doubting it.

(tomholland2013)

No need to be scared. They’re pretty chill dudes.

It was cute how he could read your mind because you were undoubtedly scared, but what he probably did not think was that you weren’t interested in meeting any other frat guy because there was only one on your mind at the moment.

(y/n)

Maybe another time ttyl?

You had sent the last message in the hopes that he had as much fun talking to you as you did with him. You watched eagerly as the three dots danced around on the screen while he typed out his answer.

(tomholland2013)

Absolutely

_________________________________

Tom turned his phone off with a smile covering his face. He had just spent talking a good two hours to y/n, and he had to admit, he hadn’t had that pleasant of a conversation with anyone in a long time. It was just so easy to talk to her. It might be partly because it was only texts. But still, she was funny, sweet, and so pretty...

Unbeknown to himself, he was falling a little bit for y/n. Although, maybe he did feel it coming. The idea of getting another text from her made his face heat up. The idea of seeing her in class the next day almost made him… giddy. And it’s only been a day.

“Hey, man,” there came a knock on his door. “Better hide anything that would make it awkward between us cause I’m coming inside in 3-2-1-”

“‘S all good,” Tom said right as Harrison walked through the door.

“We’re gonna order pizza, what do you want?”

“Just the usual, I guess,’ Tom shrugged. Honestly, he didn’t really feel like eating pizza but to be the only one that wasn’t having any wasn’t a good strategy either.

“Alright, then.” As quickly as he walked in, Harrison was also leaving the room. But he peeked his head through the door once more before actually walking away.

“Hey, are you sure you’re good?” Harrison looked at him through narrow eyes.

“Yeah,” Tom answered as he prodded himself to sit up. “Why?”

“I don’t know… Nevermind.” And with that, Harrison left to share Tom’s order.

It was a rare occasion that all the house members would be at home on a night that wasn’t reserved for a party. That night, when it came to dinner, it was around 8 of them. Everyone was already sitting on the couches when Tom came downstairs to grab his pizza. He grabbed a chair and his box and sat down. A football game was playing on tv, and it made Tom roll his eyes. He still had no real idea of how football was supposed to work. He always preferred golf or basketball, or even baseball.

The guys cheered at a touchdown or whatever but all Tom could focus on was his phone. He kept checking if there were any notifications from y/n. So far, there was nothing. She was probably busy, he told himself, not wanting to feel too disappointed.

_________________________________

“So who were you texting back then?” Marie said as she slurped on her noodles. You were playing around with your own portion a bit, not really in the eating mindset.

“Huh? No one.” you shook your head.

“So it is someone. C’mon. Who is it?” She extended her leg to poke yours. She kept going until you finally gave in.

“Just this guy from Dowling’s class.” you finally took a bite of ramen.

“Aaand does this guy have a name?” Marie kept on asking.

You looked up from your cup of noodles. “Tom… Holland.”

Marie gasped, almost dropping her food onto her lap. “Tom Holland? As in Delta Kappa Tom Holland?’ you nodded your head yes. “No fucking way.”

“What?” Not the most nuanced reaction, but it would do.

“No way you have a crush on Tom fucking Holland.” You always noticed that when Marie cursed her French accent would show up again. Just the slightest bit. This time, however, what you stayed on was her statement.

“I do not!” you said as your cheeks were heating up.

“Ohhh, you do. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have said ‘nobody’. Everybody knows that ‘nobody’ is code for either crush, boyfriend, or drug dealer. And I think we can exclude the last option.” you were going to protest, but you would have only been fooling yourself.

“So, hypothetically, let’s say I do have a crush on him. Why did you scream out ‘No way’?” You bit your lip, a bit scared for an answer.

“No, no, no. I didn’t mean it like that.” Marie put down her ramen on her desk and came to sit down next to you on your bed. “I didn’t mean that you, like, don’t have a chance with him. Please, if anything, you’re too good for him.’ you both chuckled. “I just didn’t think he’d be your type.”

“What, hot?” You raised an eyebrow to which she slapped your shoulder.

“You’re being difficult. I mean, so… out there. You know, he’s basically the leader of that frat house, he always parties, always has stuff to go to. And you’re… well, pretty much the exact opposite. Not that there is anything wrong with that. Completely not. I just don’t want you to put yourself in any positions that you’re uncomfortable with to impress him or anything. Remember, you are too good for him.”

“Thanks.” you hugged her from the side. “But don’t you think that it would be good for me to go out once in a while? Out of my comfort zone?”

“Sure, if you’re actually doing it for you. Not some guy.”

“He is really nice, you know.” you smiled, remembering what had happened that morning. You went on telling Marie about it.

“Oh, so he’s got a crush on you too, huh? That works out perfectly. ” She finally said when you were done telling your story. You looked at her with wide eyes.

“What? Noooo,” you said, letting an awkward laugh escape through the no.

“Fine, whatever,” Marie moved back to her own bed and grabbed her cup of ramen. “But I bet you that if you check your phone now, you’ll have at least one message from him.”

You rolled your eyes again but grabbed your phone either way. And, fair enough, you had two notifications from ten minutes ago.

(tomholland2013): Tom Holland: Heyy

(tomholland2013): Tom Holland: I hope the ramens good

Holding in your smile, and ignoring the smart ass comments of Marie, you replied quickly.

(y/n)

It was :)

_________________________________

The speed at which Tom checked his phone when he felt the vibration in his pocket could have caused someone severe whiplash. He responded to the text and got up. Ultimately, he had hoped that he could slip out the room unnoticed, but he never got what he wanted, did he?

“Where are you going?” It was Dave that saw him get up. Tom stopped in his tracks like a little kid that got caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

“Just up to my room. Feelin’ a bit tired.’ He explained. This answer received several strange and confused looks, but Tom ignored those and just walked upstairs without saying another word. He plopped down onto his bed. Tessa was still downstairs under the table chewing on some pizza crusts, so he was finally alone.

The texting continued through the whole night, and Tom had wholly lost the sense of time. He didn’t even feel tired. If it wasn’t for y/n saying that she was about to fall asleep, he wouldn’t at least. Like that, the windshield crashed, and he felt the fatigue from the hours of messaging and staring at a screen overwhelm him. He just about managed to send out goodnight before his eyelids were too heavy to open up again.

_________________________________

The next morning you woke up feeling much better than either time the day before. Fresh and energised, with plenty of time to get ready before class started. Not that you really put much effort into how you looked for the morning lectures. It was more mental preparation. With enough time to eat breakfast, shower and brush your teeth, you felt excellent walking out the door. Dressed in a sweater that was warmer than two jackets and some loose jeans. With your bag over your shoulder.

You always thought the walk from your dorm to the lecture halls was delightful. The path leading toward it was enveloped in a tunnel of trees, and during the end of the year, when the leaves were turning into their auburn and golden shades, it almost felt warmer than in summer. Because the harsh wind still kept up with its schedule. It blew in your face as you walked, rubbing against your cheeks.

When you got there, the lecture hall was still relatively empty. Only a few other people had taken their seats. This was the crucial moment of choosing your seat. Against all your own instincts, you walked down to the bottom of the auditorium, into the fourth row. You had never sat that closer to professor Dowling’s podium, too scared you would be too easy to notice and called to answer a question. But something in you told you to be brave.

Besides, you had the idea that Tom wasn’t eager to sit there either.

As much as those butterflies in your stomach fluttered at his mention, you didn’t want to talk to him now, not during class. You needed to pass this class badly and to do that, you needed to focus. Something you could not do with him sitting next to you.

That’s what you told yourself. It was, of course, true, but the bigger problem was that you were scared. Tom sounded like a nice guy, a very good looking nice guy, but Marie’s words played in your head. He was from a completely different world. And it was a scary one. Why not keep a bit of a safe distance at first?

So, you kept your head buried in your notebook as people started to stream into the room. One by one, the seats around you were getting occupied—none of them by Tom, for better or for worse.

_________________________________

It had taken Tom a while to find y/n. He walked into the room, thinking he had come in with plenty of time to spare, but as he was making his way down the steps, the professor was already making his way to the podium. Tom tried to look around the room as quickly as he could, but he could not see her. Where was she?

Professor Dowling coughed loudly, indicating for everyone to shut up and sit down, so he could start the lecture. Tom took the first empty seat he saw. An aisle seat somewhere around the 8th row. The course started, but Tom’s eyes stayed on the seats, looking for that braid.

It wasn’t a brilliant plan, because he had no idea if she had actually kept that braid in for another day. And she had not, in fact. He noticed her, sitting somewhere at the bottom of the class, as she grabbed her hair and was pulling it up into a bun. She did it so quickly, so smoothly, without ever letting her attention get away from her. Focused on the class. He could really learn something from her.

And he tried to take a page from her book as he finally looked ahead of him to see Dowling write an entire essay on the blackboard. He cursed himself and quickly started to type everything over. His fingers went in fully automatic mode, and he had no more idea what the words he was typing actually meant.

His mind had wandered off once again. He couldn’t stop feeling that disappointing pull at his heartstrings. He had hoped they could have had a repeat of yesterday. She apparently thought differently. Or maybe she had hoped he would sit next to her, but he was just too slow?

The lecture went on forever, felt like. Tom’s fingers were cramping up from typing so much, and he could feel his back beginning to hurt in the uncomfortable chair. He kept stealing quick glances at y/n, hoping to catch her in doing the same, but she had not moved once.

He had to get a grip. They had known each other for one day, spoken maybe ten sentences to each other in person. The rest was all through text. And nothing was the same via messages. Maybe all his feelings were coming from the entirely wrong place? Perhaps she was just polite, and he had misinterpreted it for casual flirting? Besides, there was that sweater of hers yesterday- what if she had a boyfriend?

But a part of him still wanted to ignore all those signs and go for it. So, when the bell rang, and professor Dowling finally dismissed the class, Tom made sure he was one of the first ones outside. The large hall had two exits, so he stood against a wall, somewhere in the middle between both doors, hoping to catch y/n as she was walking out.

The loud rumbling of thunder caught his attention momentarily.

It was just a second, he swore to himself. But the second was enough to miss her. Somehow she had escaped him, nowhere to be found.

_________________________________

You had seen Tom waiting out in front of the room, and you felt horrible for walking the exact opposite direction. For the sake of your own feelings, you didn’t look back at any point on your way to your second lecture.

As Professor Phillips spoke, you felt your phone vibrate.

(tomholland2013): Tom Holland: where are you? :)

The little smiley made heat up in the cheeks, but you tried to ignore that as you typed out a response. You didn’t even click the notification to go to the app, just responded through the shortcut.

(y/n): had another class

Another notification popped up not long after.

(tomholland2013): Tom Holland: wanna meet up later?

(y/n): ngl I don’t feel well, will probably head back home right after

(y/n): but i’d love to chat

You shut off your phone, too scared to see the reply. Maybe it wasn’t the best move since you could not think about anything else for the remainder of the class. When you checked your phone again on your way back to the dorms your heart was lifted.

(tomholland2013): Tom Holland: of course. hope you feel better <3

_________________________________

Tom tried to think that she wasn’t avoiding him. After all, they texted almost every possible second that they had the time for the past week

They had talked about pretty much anything and everything. And it felt great. The way they spoke to each other, or at least Tom to her, was as if they had known each other for ages.

Tom only wished he could do that with her from across a table, or a on a bench. Where ever, he didn’t care. He wanted to be able to look into her eyes as they talked and see her smile. Hear that lol and not just imagine it.

Unfortunately, y/n was kind of giving him the cold shoulder in the real life. She ignored him during classes, and was gone before he could get the chance to talk to her. Whenever he asked if they could meet, she’d give him some reason she couldn’t. If it wasn’t for the fact that they had actually already met in real life, he had vary valid reasons to think he was being catfished.

Another reason could have been that she sounded too perfect.

It was the next Tuesday already, and Tom was waiting eagerly for the lecture to end. It had been a full week and he had decided, while copying some of Dowling’s notes, that he would talk to y/n today. After class.

Tomorrow would be the opening of the Sterling and he wanted to ask her if she wanted to come.Or at least to know if she wanted to hang out ever. If the truth came to be no, he would be fine with that. He respected that. He just needed to know. It wouldn’t take away from the fact how great it was to have someone to talk to, even if it was only through text bubbles.

The bell rang and Tom sprinted out. He kept his eyes on both doors as best as possible and finally saw her.

_________________________________

“Hey, y/n!” you heard your name being called from behind you. It was from Tom. He waved to you so would come over. Taking a deep breath, you decided to wave back, but your legs were frozen in place.

You felt absolutely terrible for ignoring him and denying his various invitations to hang out or to go anywhere, but it was just too terrifying. You were scared of fucking it up. Of it to turn out to be one big joke. You had heard of frat guys using dates and hookups as dares and shit. You didn’t want that. You couldn’t let that happen.

But when you saw Tom smile at you, those worries suddenly disappeared and your legs moved without connecting to your brain. Suddenly, you found your spot next to him.

He had been leaning against the wall with one foot, his arms crossed. You decided to lean against it with your shoulder. Even though you had your sweater, you could feel the grizzly texture of the bare red brick. He smiled and mirrored your movement, so you were only a few inches apart. ,

“Hey,” he said, still with the smile on his face.

“Hey,” you replied.

Tom uncrossed his arms to brush his fingers through his hair. As you watched him do so, you couldn’t help imagine how it would feel to play with his hair. It looked so soft.

“I just wanted to say,” he licked his lips. You were so close to each other that you could see how pink and chapped they were. Focus. “How much fun I had the past week. It’s bee really great talking to you.”

“I had fun too,” you said. It really was nice talking to Tom. Especially now, standing so close to him, you could smell the coffee he had consumed that morning. Was it pumpkin spice? You felt stupid for not letting it happen sooner.

“Great, that’s- that’s really great to hear. I said great already, didn’t I?” He laughed, shaking his head, “Anyway, I was thinking: a couple of friends of mine are going to the opening of this new bar, the Sterling, it’s probably going to be a bit boring, but I thought, maybe you’d like to come? With me?” He looked at you with those big brown eyes. Your mind started racing a million miles an hour at his words. The fuzzy warm feeling that you got from looking at his smile was dispersing and setting in for anxiety.

He wanted you to go to a bar with him and his friends? Would that be considered a date? For the sake of your dignity, you decided against asking for clarification. It didn’t matter. You couldn’t go to some dingy bar with strangers, even if one of them was Tom. You could already feel your body heating up in anxiety as all the horrible scenarios played out in your head.

You realised you had been quiet for a while and Tom was still looking at you hopefully.

“No,” you blurted out. “I mean, I can’t. Sorry.”

“Oh, that’s fine. Totally. Maybe another time? Or if you don’t wanna go there, we could go somewhere else?”

“Uhh,” you couldn’t breath. All his suggestions were so sweet, but it felt too overwhelming to answer. Thankfully, the clock tower at the other end of campus rang and indicated the quarter of an hour. Your next class would soon start, and it was about a five-minute walk to get to.

“I have to go.” you pointed back and started walking, but Tom grabbed your hand gently, just enough by your fingertips.

“Sorry, I just- if you don’t want to hang out with me, that’s totally fine. You don’t have to pretend to like me, no hurt feelings. I don’t want you to-”

“I do, Tom,” you told him with a compassionate smile. Then you looked back at the clock. “But I really got to go.”

“Right, sorry.” he let go of your hand, and you ran off to your next course.

_________________________________

“Who was that?”

As soon as y/n ran off, Tom heard the voice coming from next to him. Zendaya popped up out of nowhere, an unlit cigarette hanging between her lips as she leaned in the same spot y/n had.

“Just a friend,” Tom shrugged. That’s what they were, after all. If even. He hoped he could describe someone he had mainly only spoken through texts with as a friend.

“You sure about that?” Zendaya smirked. “Cause by the looks of it, she’s got you pretty hooked. You were basically begging her to go out with you, bro.”

“Yeah, well, forcefulness isn’t exactly an aphrodisiac, is it?” he sighed then almost turned pale at the words he had said. Zendaya didn’t say anything, just nodded and took out her glittery lighter.

“Could you not?” Tom pulled the cigarette out of her mouth before she could light it and put it in his pocket. “We’re inside, for fucks sake.”

“Fine, but tell me who this friend of yours is.” She nodded her head back into the direction that y/n ran in.

“I don’t really know. I mean I do, but- Basically we met last week before class. Then I found her on Instagram and DM’d her-”

“You slid into her DMs? Bro,” she laughed.

“Call it what you want, it was the only way of reaching her I had.”

“Fine, so you like her, yeah?”

“I guess.” Tom didn’t like sharing his feelings. It put him in this vulnerable position that he was not used to. Zendaya knew that, yet still she pushed him to do it almost every time they talked.

“For what it’s worth, I think she likes you too,” she said.

“How so?” he questioned hesitantly. It wouldn’t have been the first time that Zendaya had pulled that trick on him to date someone. And it had not ended well.

“Well, body language for one, she felt comfortable enough around you to stand close to you, facing you; she smiled at your rants which, props to her, is hard to do.”

“How long had you been watching us, exactly?” Tom asked a bit freaked out. Zendaya ignored the question.

“Believe me, she likes you. She’s just scared.” she pulled out another cigarette from her pocket, “also, taking a girl to a shithole like the Sterling for your first date? I’m glad she said no. Set some standards, man.” And with that lovely comment, she walked away. She didn’t have to see Tom flipping her off, she knew he would do it, and she replied lovingly in the same way.

That’s what you got for being friends with psychology majors.

_________________________________

The first thing you did after walking out of your second class was to check your phone if you had received any messages from Tom. There was nothing. So you decided to message him yourself.

(your account)

Hey Sorry I ran away like that And basically anytime after class and making those dumb excuses not to meet up Just so you know I do really wanna hang out with you I’m just not really great with crowds or with places like bars and stuff And ive also never really been asked to go anywhere with anyone, like personally Idk why im telling you this. I’m definitely rambling Texting is definitely easier than talking huh Sorry for all this

It took Tom two minutes to see your messages and to respond.

(tomholland2013)

It’s totally okay. I get it And sorry if i made you uncomfortable with all that. Can i come to your place tonight? Or how about we go to Le Moulin?

Le Moulin. You had been there before. You could do that. With trembling fingers of excitement, you replied

(your account)

Deal. Around 7?

(tomholland2013)

Sounds perfect. See u then

_________________________________

Tommo: Hey guys, sorry but im gonna have to skip on tonight

This short message was seen and very much not appreciated by his friends. None of the replies could be seen as appropriate for day-time television. Except for the one Zendaya had sent him through their personal chat. It was simple,

Z: 👍

With the entire afternoon off, Tom made sure he looked somewhat decent for the night. He took a shower. Washed his hair and made sure it was extra soft. He wasn’t sure what y/n thought of it, but from past experiences, he knew that usually, girls loved his hair. Thinking about other girls was probably not the best mindset, though. Still, his hair did look really good. He brushed his fingers through it.

It had not yet stopped raining, which was a bit of a problem, but he hoped she wouldn’t mind getting a bit wet. For the sake of it, he took an umbrella with him. Luckily it wasn’t very windy, so it actually came to good use. The walk from the frat house to the dorm that y/n said she lived in wasn’t too far away, and fortunately on the way to the place he had in mind to take her to.

On his way over, he thought about what Zendaya had told him.

Was y/n scared? Of what?

They had talked about that kind of stuff briefly, during the weekend, and she and said that she suffered from anxiety. Tom just thought it was stuff like giving a presentation in class. He hadn’t even thought about the more social aspect of it. And here he was pushing all those things at her like going to some bar with strangers. Jesus, why did he have to be such a dumbass?

The dorm complex had a buzzer system like a regular apartment complex, so he searched for her name on the long list, and pressed the button next to it.

“Hello?” It was her roommate, Marie, that answered.

“Hey, it’s Tom. I’m here to pick up y/n.” He could hear some indistinct giggling coming from the other side of the line.

“Of course, c’mon up. But I’m afraid you’ll have to wait a bit.” Next followed the buzzer, and the doors opened for him. The number on the button said 54, so he assumed it had to be on the fifth floor. When he walked up to the door with that number, he was greeted with a colourful collage of rock bands whose hair was probably more impressive than their vocal range, which said a lot considering Queen was on it.

He knocked and waited for someone to open. y/n was the one to do it. She stood frozen in the door, only a towel wrapped around her body.

“I thought we said seven?” she said, her voice a bit higher than usual.

“It’s quarter past seven!” Marie shouted out from inside the dorm. y/n cursed.

“Shit, sorry, I lost complete track of time. Give me ten minutes, okay?” she held up a finger so he would wait here. Tom nodded and let her close the door again. He could still hear her yell at Marie as to why she had not told her she was running late, to which Marie only responded with hysterical laughter.

“Holland?” someone in the hallway asked a few minutes later. Tom turned in the direction to see a guy with a head full of bed hair poke out of his doorway (which was covered in pictures of death metal posters and my little ponies). He stepped out in the hallway to reveal he was wearing nothing but a pair of tiny and tight briefs, leaving little to the imagination.

“Oh hey… Crocker,” he called the guy by his preferred nickname.

“Hey man, what are you doing here?” Crocker asked. The way his eyes were almost ruby red and the stench coming from his room, Tom presumed that the guy was higher than a kite.

“Oh you know, waiting for a date, heh.” He said a bit awkwardly, pointing back to door 54.

“Ah, getting some of that French jay nehsuh gwaa.”

Tom looked confused. He wasn’t sure he had ever heard someone butcher a language that badly. Well, probably, but he didn’t remember it. He kind of understood what Crocker meant, though.

“No, I’m here for y/n. Not Marie.”

“Damn? Really.” Crocker started to giggle, which might as well just have been a side effect from whatever he had smoked up in his room.

“Yeah?” He wasn’t sure how else to react. Crocker just shrugged and walked back into his room, smashing the door closed. Tom turned slowly, not sure what exactly had happened just then. And he turned right on time too, because the door of dorm 54 opened and y/n walked out. Wearing a raincoat over a sweater and jeans. She also had a pair of black ankle boots on. Tom could not help but smile at the sight of her.

“Sorry about that,” she said, the nervousness in her voice was unmistakable.

“First,” Tom spoke, remembering one of his earlier worries from days ago, “you don’t have a boyfriend, do you?” The question made her laugh.

“I very much do not. Why did you think that?”

“The sweater you wore when we met. It had that whole stole-it-from-my-boyfriend vibe.”

“No, I haven’t had anyone to steal clothes from in a long time.” she shook her head. Tom extended his hand for her to take, which she gladly did. It felt amazing.

“So what will you be ordering?”

“Ice cream,” Tom answered, almost matter-of-factly.

_________________________________

“Ice cream?” you asked to make sure you had heard him correctly. He nodded in agreement. “Don’t you think it’s a bit cold for that?”

“No.” He said bluntly, which really sold the case for you. You were on your way again.

You could hear the rain pound against the main door before you even reached the ground floor, and it only got harder and louder the nearer you got. Tom, being a true gentleman, opened the door for you, but you were a bit hesitant to walk outside.

“Oh, shit. Sorry,” he let you hold the door so he could step through the threshold and push open the umbrella. You noticed it was a Delta Kappa umbrella. They really made merch of everything. As he put the umbrella up, he extended his arm for you to intertwine yours through. Then, you walked.

Though it was relatively early, the sky was pitch black because of how early the sun set those days and the dark clouds that had been pestering the sky that entire day. Not a star was to be seen. The rain tapped heavily against the umbrella, and you tried to stay as close to Tom as possible. The excuse, of course, was to not get wet but really you wanted to enjoy the warmth that he was giving off. At one point you had changed position from just having your arm over his, to him wrapping his arm over your shoulder.

You walked down a brightly lit path, so you could see everything around you. The trees, the cars passing by, the building. So, when you saw the little café at the end of the street, you squealed.

While there were plenty of bars, pubs and clubs to go to around town, so there were restaurants and cafés. And while restaurants really weren’t your thing, you loved to sit in one of the cosy coffee shops with a cup of tea or coffee and read a good book. Another fun thing about all those places was that they were very internationally orientated, speaking to the wide variety of students that the university had. Le Moulin was of course based on a Parisian café. You had actually found it together with Marie, in hopes she could have something that felt a bit closer to home. Though it didn’t come close to the real magic of the French capital, it still had plenty of its charm in it. Not to mention, the pain du chocolats were to die for!

Yet, you had never actually had ice cream from their menu.

You still weren’t sure if today would be the day for it. By the time you wear under the little entrance roof, you were freezing, and so was Tom, visibly.

“Are you still sure about the ice cream?” you asked him as he closed the umbrella.

“Hot chocolate?” he suggested, suddenly fluent in your love language: chocolate and hot drinks (it was a very simplified version of said love language).

This time Tom got to be the real gentleman as he let you walk inside first. He dropped the umbrella in the stand, together with a few others. When you looked around the café, you saw that a few more couples were enjoying the cosiness. A sweet melody was playing from the speakers. The rain had also softened outside, and together with the vintage sounds of guitar and vocals, it gave the perfect atmosphere for the night.

You had barely stepped inside when one of the waiters walked up. He smiled and said: “Your table is ready,” which surprised you, but Tom took you by the hand, and you both followed the waiter to one of the tables next to the wall, where one side had a couch instead of the usual chairs. You sat down first, taking off your jacket. Tom was going to sit opposite you, but now it was your turn to grab his hand.

“Slide in.”

He smiled and sat down. He probably didn’t need any convincing and just wanted to hear you say that you wanted him to sit next to you. You didn’t mind that.

“Should I prepare the order?” the waiter asked as you made yourself comfortable, again confusing the hell out of you.

“Actually, scrap that. We’ll have two large hot chocolates.” Tom said.

“With cinnamon!” you added.

“One with cinnamon.” Tom corrected. The waiter nodded and walked off.

“Don’t like cinnamon?” you quizzed, to which Tom shrugged.

“It’s alright, just not a big fan.” Both of you looked around the room. You had never been in the café at night, so you hadn’t even realised that the walls were covered in soft gold lights, giving it all that much more the feeling as if you had stepped into a fairytale.

“I didn’t know this place took reservations.”

“I’m not sure either,” Tom replied, you noticed he had his arm draped around you again, “I just called to be sure.”

“Really?” That split you up into two. Your heart skipped a beat at the thought that he had made a special call to the café to get, probably, the best seat in the house. On the other side, you were freaking out for a few reasons. He had put in quite the effort in an almost last minute notice of plans, while you were fifteen minutes late. That was embarrassing enough. And this reservation basically put you in a spotlight for the entire business, which was really not ideal. You didn’t want to be noticed.

“Hey,” he whispered and squeezed his grip around you lightly, “everything okay?”

“Huh? Mhm,” you nodded your head and smiled, trying not to think about how the waiters might be judging you.

“I saw you had posted a picture from this place on your Instagram, and I used to come here a while back, so I thought it would be cool, but if you don’t like it-”

“It’s perfect,” you made up your mind. In the end, it didn’t matter what anyone else thought. You felt safe, sitting on the little couch, next to Tom.

Soon after, the waiter came back with two mugs of hot chocolate. When Tom ordered large ones, they delivered. The mugs might as well have been cereal bowls, topped with a peak of whipped cream and cocoa powder, and a cinnamon stick in your cup to distinguish the two drinks.

“Et voila!” the waiter put the cups down. You thanked him, and he was gone again.

There were spoons, but you decided to stir your chocolate with the cinnamon stick.

Still with his arm around you, Tom took his mug up to his lips. With the feeling of having him so close to you, you wondered what this really was. What if he just wanted to be friends and spend some time with you? Had he noticed how sad and lonely you were, and did he want to take his pity out on you? Were you a charity act for him? God, you hoped not. You really really hoped not.

“Tom?” You looked at him, to see his eyes dart in your direction. His top lip was covered in whipped cream. You gestured it to him, slightly giggling, and he wiped it off with the back of his hand. How was someone that hot, so adorable?

“You were saying?” he said, putting the mug down on the table in front of you.

“I was just wondering,” Be quick, get it over with, you’ll feel better when you say it. “is this a date?”

“Do you want it to be? It doesn’t have to.” He added the second part quickly after.

“I- I think I do,” I smiled. Though he had just put his mug down, he picked it right back up, you did the same.

“Then a date it is.” You clinked cups. Still, something felt off. You were holding the cup up to your lips, but just far enough not to be able to drink from it. Your eyes glazed over as you focused them on the mural in front of you. It was of the Paris skyline. With the Eiffel tower in the middle, the Arc de Triomphe a bit to the left, on the other side stood the two symmetrical towers of the Notre Dame cathedral. It was probably geographically inaccurate, just good enough to keep everyone who had never been to the City of Love satisfied.

“Okay, something’s up.” Tom brought you back to the date. “What’s wrong? And, please, be honest.”

“I don’t know,” you huffed out a laugh. “But before you start to freak out, it’s nothing to do with you, I swear.”

“So, you kind of know what it is about.” he raised an eyebrow. He had a point. If you knew what it was not, it meant you knew what it was, indeed.

“I, uhm,” suddenly you felt very much aware of everything and everyone around you. Were they listening? “Well, I really want to apologise for being so distant outside of Instagram.”

“There’s really no need for that, darling,” he said. “I understand it, and should have been a bit more considerate. I should have realised sooner that bars and shit aren’t your cup of tea.. or hot chocolate.”

You both laughed.

“Yeah,” you were smiling, but the word came out a bit as a sigh, conveying your all the troubling thoughts that were going on in your brain.

“There’s more, isn’t there?” Tom saw through it. You bit your lip, not sure how to say it. You didn’t want to say it. He would probably think you were a joke. Besides, all those people around. Some of them from your school. They could probably hear every word you were saying.

“Do you maybe want to text it to me?” he suggested with a kind smile. You hadn’t realised when he had moved, but he had let go of your shoulders, and his hand was now on top of yours. His thumb moved slowly over your skin, reassuring you that, whatever it was, it was okay.

How you hoped it was.

You grabbed your phone and started to type out your message, taking a deep breath before sending it to him. You heard the vibration in his pocket, and with it, your heart skipped with anxiety. Tom kept holding on to your hand as he took out his phone and read the text. His eyes shot wide open.

“Wait, really?”

_________________________________

“Never?” he asked, to which she bit her lip and shook her head.

No, it wasn’t possible.

“How has no one- nooo,”

“It just… never got far enough- No, I mean, ugh,” she finally took a sip of her hot chocolate. Tom had to admit that it was cute how that was her go-to frustration action. She wiped off the whipped cream from her lip. Tom couldn’t stop looking at them, they were just so perfect. He wanted to feel her, to taste her. He wouldn’t even mind the taste of cinnamon that would have remained on them.

“There was just never a guy that made me think, oh yeah, I want to kiss him,” she said after another sip of the hot chocolate.

“So, you’d want to kiss me?”

“Shut up,” she said glaring, but just to hide the big smile on her face.

“Sorry, I just can’t believe you’ve never been kissed.” She flinched a bit at his words. “I don’t mean it in that way. You shouldn’t be ashamed of never being kissed. Sometimes it happens early on, sometimes it doesn’t. If it wasn’t for my pledge, I don’t think I would have had my first kiss till last year.” He confessed. y/n looked at him with eyebrows that had a twist of disbelief in them.

“Yeah, right.”

“I swear,” Tom laughed, putting his hands up. “So really, no judgement here.” Then he leaned in to whisper into her ear, “and I definitely won’t mind breaking you in,” He couldn’t keep a straight face saying it, and neither could she. He had thought it would make her nervous or flushed, but she just slapped him on his arms teasingly.

“In your dreams, Holland.”

“Fuck, I hope so.” That made her freeze, just for a second though. “Shit, too much?” He asked, afraid he had finally taken it too far with his inappropriate humour.

“No, you’re good.” She took another sip of her hot chocolate, allowing Tom to do so as well.

“See, just because I’ve never been kissed, it immediately puts me under this label of being a prude or something, but I’m really not. I’ve just- had a really shitty love life.” Or just a complete lack of it.

“Well, I hope to change that.” He leaned in again and pecked her cheek. That finally got him the flushed reaction he had hoped for.

“You already did.”

_________________________________

Your hand moved up to your cheek, hovering above the area that he had kissed. You felt like an idiot, but with Tom, it didn’t even feel like a bad thing.

“We’ve known each other for less than two days, and I can already tell you, you’re way up there in the list of good dates.”

“Way up there? Give me stats.” He nudged on. You thought for a second.

“At least… top ten.”

“Top five? Oh C’mon, babe, I think I’m a bit better than that. Not to toot my own horn, of course.”

“Top five.” You said, ignoring the butterflies that had escaped in your stomach. He glared at you. You glared back, keeping your eyes on each other for another moment until he had dipped his finger in his hot chocolate and pressed it against your nose. You blinked in confusion.

“That just moved you down to number six.”

“Well, shit.” Tom leaned in and licked the whipped cream off your nose. As disgusting as it should have been, you burst into a fit of giggles, hiding your face in his chest to not disturb the rest of the restaurant. While you were trying to calm down, you felt Tom kiss the top of your head a few times.

Finally, you sat up again.

“Top three,” you stated. It was good enough for Tom. For now.

You drank the rest of your drinks in the best silence possible that could be kept as both of you kept laughing at each other. Finally, the mugs were empty. Tom paid for everything and let you take the lead to walk outside with the umbrella. When you opened the door, however, you saw that the storm had now passed over into a light drizzle. You kept the umbrella closed.

You were already letting yourself get taken up by the rain when Tom was outside. You thought he would come to join you, but he stayed under the little roof, watching you with a big smile.

“Not afraid of the rain, are you?” you asked. “Or are you made of sugar?”

“All I can say is, come and find out for yourself.” You were already a few steps away, so you hopped over to him, took his hand and took the final step, so you were touching chest to chest. His other hand found its way on your hip. You saw his eyes flicker from your eyes to your lips. You smiled and pulled him in closer, making you take a step back and exposing him to the weather.

“Mutherfucker!” He gasped, not having expected that. “Ohh, you’re good.”

Before you knew what was happening, he had picked you up by the waist and spun you around. You squealed from surprise before the both of you started laughing again. Eventually, he had to put you back down again, and your eyes widened in horror when you saw him walk to a large puddle.

“No, Tom! No, no, no.!” He put you down right next to it. Probably an inch from the water edge.

“C’mon, I’m not that mean.” he pouted.

“Nah, you’re a softy,” you poked his cheek. He grabbed your hand.

“Oi, I wouldn’t go that far.” then kissed the tip of your index finger, which you had poked him with a second before.

“Too late, I guess.”

“You sure about that? You’re still really close to that puddle babe. We wouldn’t want any… accidents!” He gripped you by the waist again, and the sudden movement made you feel like he was gonna throw you down into the puddle. You shrieked but soon felt his arms still around you and no parts of your body were soaked (only moderately wet from the light rain) or on the ground. He was still holding you.

“You never answered me,” he said, his sweet laughter was gone, and his eyes were on your lips again.

“Answer what?” you kept looking at his face as a whole, taking in every detail. The way his nose scrunched when droplets of rain well on it. How one of his eyebrows was more bushy and irregular than the other. The dimple in his chin, his freckles- everything.

“If you wanted to kiss me.”

His golden-brown eyes were so warm, even in the dim street lights at night. His wet hair was sticking to his face, but framing it so nicely. His jaw was sharp, it didn’t seem like it should be real.

“I do.”

His lips. Though thin and a bit chapped, they still felt so soft. The sweet taste of chocolate, mixed in with the rain that had fallen in the few moments that you stood outside. His hands cupped your cheeks, pulling you in closer to him. It felt so good. So right.

You pulled away but with no idea how much time had gone by. His stands stayed in their position, his eyes searched yours for a reaction. Nothing came from it since you were still in an emotional daze.

Tom chuckled.

“Fuck, I should have slid into your DMs sooner.”

“Way to ruin the mood, Holland.”

“Oh, you love it.” He said before pulling you into another kiss.

The END

> song played in Le Moulin: Rendez-vous sous la pluie (Jean Sablon)

> Thank you for reading!! I hope you enjoyed

> please leave a comment or ask with your thoughts. i love reading them and let me know if you want to see more of this au cause i really enjoyed writing it :)

> if anyone has a comment about how it had only been a day since they met etc. i wrote this 15k story in the span of 24 hours. i wish i could have added more to it but at this point, i am physically and emotionally exhausted and do not want to make it even longer.

>masterlist and link to taglist in bio

tagging:

@definitely-not-black-cat @artemisiaarm @nerdyhockeygirl @miraclesoflove @justasmisunderstoodasloki @thefridgeismybestie @m19friend @creative-happenings @parker-holland-osterfield @fanficparker @fanficscuziranout @peterparkoure @xxtomxo @happywolves81 @captainbuckyy @tra-gicx @qxeen-of-hearts @varshavisuu @kangaroobunny @petersunderoos96 @the-lost-fairy-tale @nerd-domland @sleepybesson @rissa067 @the-queen-procrastinator @scarletteclipze @screeching-student-unknown @spiderrrling @captainpeggy40 @tomhollanders2013 @miraclesoflove @playinonaloop @queenoflostspirits @roses-hxlland @hereiamhereigo @sunnydays0803 @averyfosterthoughts @moorehollandplz @beiroviski @you-bleed-just-toknowyouarealive @peterparkerbabyyy @multifandomlover21 @lmaotshollandd @badbitchydecisions @tikapollak @awesomehritz @madzleigh01 @oh-what a beautiful-parker @taciturnspidey @quaksonhehe @mountainsforwords @harryfobter @peepeeparkerr @viagracex @ethereal-beauty-p @slytherin-chaser @worldoftom @moonysoftt @peeterparkr @wazzupmrstark @saintlavrents @peachybloomss @blissfulparker @chloecreatesfictions-archive @fallinfortom @bitchydecisions @okokimfreakingoutahh @cicicantblog @musicalkeys @joyleenl @multifandomdoodles121 @awkwardfangirl2014 @marvelouspeterparker

#tom holland #tom holland x reader #tom holland fluff #frat!au #fratboy tom #college!tom #tom holland fanfiction #tom holland imagine #tom holland fic #tom holland fanfic #fanfic #fanfiction #imagine #stranger to lovers #college!au

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tbehartoo · 3 years

Text

Bursting Bubbles

My piece for @thedjwifizine that can be found here. It's full of great art and stories. Check it out!

...

Nino looked up into the scowling face of his favorite seatmate.

“Here you go, Bubbles,” she said as she thrust a mango bubble tea into his hand. “One special of the day from The Boba Bar.” Her other hand slapped a small card onto his sheet music. “And here’s your other three week’s worth of drinks.”

“Aw, Alya you didn’t have to do this,” he held up the card. “This,” he grinned as he took his first sip of the drink, “you definitely needed to do.”

“Well you won the bet fair and square,” Alya huffed as she plopped down into her seat. “You really could find a way to get a harpsichord to sound rockin' when you DJ’ed Kim’s house party.”

“Scoops, I’m surprised you could doubt me,” Nino held a hand to his heart. “It’s like you’ve forgotten that music is my life.” He grumbled toward the music piece he’d been assigned, “It’s not like I’ve spent nearly three grueling years learning this European centered musical theory or anything.” Looking at her smirk he added, “Or that I’d hardly be the first person to experiment with combining old instruments to new music.” He thought for a moment before adding, “Or old music to new instruments.”

The next week it was Nino placing a gift card on Alya’s notepad.

“Your payment for getting me those sources for my music history essay, m’lady,” he said as he bowed to her.

“Nino, what-” she asked as she looked at the card “-what is this?”

Nino felt his face warm up, but he sent a shy smile in her direction as he sat down. “You were saying, the other day, that it’s been forever since you had a mani-pedi, but that they weren’t in your budget at the moment so I figured I’d get one for you as thanks for saving my bacon. I didn’t have time to track down those translations of medieval manuscripts for that Music Development in the Dark Ages assignment, but you did it without my asking.” He grinned at her, “You really took some pressure off of me and I appreciate it.”

She looked at him, back at the card, and back at Nino.

“I don’t remember saying that,” she murmured.

“You were picking at your nails because the color was coming off and said that you’d need to see if Marinette was free for a girl’s night so you could get her to do your nails again,” he said as he started to root around in his bag.

“That was two- three weeks ago?” she said, thinking out loud. She looked at him, but he was obviously avoiding her gaze. “I can’t believe you remembered that.”

His head tucked between his shoulders, a turtle pulling into its shell.

“It was easy to remember,” he said. “You had that sparkly red polish. It really drew in the eye. I remember thinking that you had the perfect hands for playing the piano right before you said it.” He quickly looked away again.

Alya was quiet for a moment before smiling up at him.

“That seems like a really nice compliment coming from a musician like yourself,” she reassured him. She looked back at the card. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard of this place.”

“It’s, uh, one of the local beautician schools,” he told her. “You were right about mani-pedis being a bit pricy, but my cousin is going there to learn to cut hair, and she said the girls in the nail class are crazy talented and eager to get someone not a relative to paint on, and it only costs about a fourth of what the pros charge.” He shrugged. “This way you can have like half a dozen manicures for the price of one.”

Alya lunged at him and caught him in a tight hug.

“Thank you thank you thank you!” she cried before releasing him. “This is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me.”

“Miss Cesaire, if you are quite done groping Mister Lahiffe I’d like to start the class,” the voice of Doctor Agreste cut through the lecture hall and every head snapped toward them.

Alya’s face was nearly as warm and red as his own.

“Yes, sir,” she squeaked as she pulled her arms back to her side.

“Now if we may?” the professor’s curt voice took control of the class.

“Groping,” Nino mumbled. “He calls one little hug groping.” He pulled out a composition that Madame Mendeleiev had assigned just that morning. “I’d like to show him groping.”

He was startled out of his grumbling when Alya whispered, “Me, too.”

Only three more weeks and I’m out of this class and I never have to see this man’s stupid face again, Nino thought to himself. At least after today it’s just student presentations before the final.

They had finally reached the Contemporary Era and the man was butchering even the easiest movements! And don’t get him started on the composers. He’d wasted over half the lecture trying to explain that Richard Wagner wasn’t really an antisemite, but that Nazi sympathizers, mainly Adolf himself, just liked his music so much and thought it expressed National Ideals perfectly! The man wasn’t even a composer in Contemporary times!

And that just served to take time away from some real pioneers of the era like Laura Anne Karpman whose music can be found literally anywhere. Or what about Meredith Monk who includes operas amongst her compositions, since Doctor Agreste seemed to be hung up over Wagner’s damn Ring Cycle. Of course he didn’t mention Yihan Chen the brilliant Chinese pianist and composer. And though the man would fawn and dote on child prodigies like Wolfgang Mozart all day, he wouldn’t give the time of day to “Bluejay” Greenberg who could hear several compositions in his head at the same time and then be able to write them with minimal correction.

Just, UGH!

Nino was done with this entitled little man and the racist ideology he’s attempting to spread about. He was certainly spreading something, but it smelled more like fertilizer than anything else to Nino’s mind.

He could tell that Alya was concerned about his agitation, he’d been clenching his pencil so hard he heard it crack, but he refused to look in her direction. She had a great talent for sniffing out these kinds of things and if he looked at her right now, he’d probably see his frustration reflected on her face and do something dumb- like start an uprising in the middle of class. He really couldn't afford to take this class again.

As soon as they were out the doors Alya started ranting about how it was obvious that Doctor Agreste didn’t even bother to check Wikipedia for sources. She made her opinion known that the good doctor didn’t like the era because more people were included in writing and performing it rather than just white, Western-European men who were either wealthy or had wealthy patrons. And stopped mid rant.

Nino looked at her and watched as Alya got an idea. By the look on her face it was a genius idea: an Evil and Genius idea if the cackle was anything to go by.

“Whatever you’re planning, I’m in,” he declared.

“I haven’t even told you my idea yet.”

“I can tell by your expression alone that it’s going to be the best idea ever,” he said with a smirk. “So want to let me in on our plan?”

She explained her idea and Nino’s eyes lit up.

“Oh, that man is going to regret crossing paths with us,” he chuckled. “Can you come over tonight? I’ve got plenty of stuff we’d need for the music portion of the presentation.”

She shook her head. “I need at least one day to fact-check my notes and another to find accurate sources. Are you busy Saturday?”

Nino thought for a moment. “I’m free in the morning, but I have a wedding I’m playing for in the evening.”

“Okay that gives me a little more time for research.” She smiled up at him. “So, Saturday morning we’ll meet up to pull things together?”

Nino nodded in agreement.

“Great,” she said, “That’ll give us Sunday to type up the report and Monday to practice for our presentation on Tuesday.”

“Tell me the truth, Alya,” Nino looked at her, “Is this too much? Are we crazy to put together a spite presentation in one weekend? At the end of the semester?” He brushed a bit of her hair out of her face and tucked it carefully behind her ear. “You already have so much to do for all your other classes. I don’t want this to be something that stresses you out or makes you do something that hurts you.”

Alya reached up and patted his cheek before replying.

“Nino this is going to be so much fun that I doubt I’ll even notice how much work it is,” she grinned at him fully. “I might pull an allnighter here or there, but I promise you that I’m taking care to not do too much. I wouldn’t have suggested this if I didn’t think we could do it.”

He held her gaze for a moment then sighed.

“Okay, let’s ruin this man’s whole career.”

She laughed loud and pulled him toward the school’s cafe. Obviously this called for copious amounts of snacks and his precious bubble tea.

Tuesday dawned bright and clear. A perfect day to teach about the subtleties of Contemporary music while simultaneously displaying the ignorance and prejudice of the most hated music teacher on campus. Nino sipped at his Thai tea with coffee pudding as he contemplated Alya’s plan of attack. It was a nice simple plan, but it needed something. Seeing a familiar outline hurrying across campus brought a smile to his face. The final nail in Doctor Agreste’s coffin just made itself known. He hurried across the quad to see if he could catch up with Madame before she reached her office.

An hour later he stood at the podium inserting the thumb drive into the computer for the projector.

“Good morning everyone,” Alya began. “As you all know we’ve had to jump over and through many musical ages and movements. That meant we had to skim through a lot of really interesting information. Nino and I decided to do a little bit of music through the ages for the Contemporary Era for you all. Now, get ready to get funky!”

That was his cue. He started the Powerpoint and Richard Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries” began to blast from the room’s speakers while Elmer Fudd stabbed a spear into the ground singing, “Kill the wabbit! Kill the wabbit!”

“Welcome to Neoromanticism,” he called to those present.

The presentation went off without a hitch. Madame Mendeleiev had managed to slip in before their presentation and had stayed to the end of class. It was with great delight that Nino watched the Dean of the Music Department approach Doctor Agreste and congratulate him on the quality of his students’ final presentations. She even approached Alya and complemented her on the amount of research she’d done to be ready for the day. Then she turned to him.

“An adequate presentation, Nino,” she said with no trace of humor in her words. “Your compilation was a little heavy on the electronic music and light on the serialism, but I suppose that’s only to be expected with where your interests lie,” she paused, “and in light of the time constraints.”

He gulped and nodded his head. He knew she’d pick up on that.

“Please, send me a copy of your presentation at your earliest convenience.”

His eyes snapped up from the floor to meet hers. He wasn’t sure if he was imagining the slight upturn to the corners of her mouth or not, so he chose not to comment on it.

“I think I might incorporate it into my opening lecture next semester,” she remarked so offhandedly that Nino was sure he was hearing things. “It’ll be an excellent introduction to modern music for the freshmen.” She nodded to him before moving off to catch professor Agreste on his way out the door.

Alya was grinning from ear to ear and practically vibrating where she stood. He turned to her and had a fraction of a second to brace for impact as she’d thrown herself in his direction. Her arms were around his waist as she pulled him into a hug. He returned the hug with matching enthusiasm.

“We did so good!” she squealed.

He looked down into her grinning face and returned the smile.

“Hell yeah, we did,” he replied. “This calls for a celebration.” It was only then that he realized he still had his arms around her shoulders. Then again she was still holding on to him. He pulled back but kept hold of her hands. “I know you have another class in an hour, but do you want to go get boba to celebrate?”

She smirked up at him. “Only if you’ll let me treat you to dinner at Sabine’s tonight.” She looked to the side as she added, “And then we could go check out that concert in the park you mentioned yesterday.”

His mouth suddenly went dry. That sounded a lot like an actual date. Like a real date with this girl he knew he’d started crushing on some time this semester. What else could he do?

“Sounds great, but you have to let me bring pizza and dessert to our study date on Thursday night.”

Her laugh sent a tingle down his spine. “It’s a date!”

#miraculous ladybug #djwifi #alya cesaire #nino lahiffe #alya x nino #thedjwifizine #my writing

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papipopsicle · 4 years

Text

AFTERTASTE PART FIVE

Pairing: Archie Andrews X Reader

Genre: fluff and some angst

Summary: In which two best friends since childhood test whether sex and friendship can co-exist without causing conflict. Including OC's Flick and Cherry, a bisexual and lesbian in a sapphic relationship who are best friends of Y/N.

Song: Candy by Doja Cat

Warnings: swearing, minors consuming alcohol

Words: 3.6K

MASTERLIST

feedback is always appreciated

Y/N lasted two weeks before thoughts of even throwing the bet came to mind. She had been strong so far; making sure to wear her tightest outfits and highest heels, being extra touchy-feely with Archie and not reacting to his moves in the slightest. Her personal favourite moment was sitting on his lap at the Twilight Drive-In and giving him a hard-on whilst Kevin and Betty sat next to them non the wiser.

But now, on day eighteen, she needed reinforcements. The redhead realised his attempts were failing miserably and he couldn't help his reactions to Y/N’s provocative movements. He turned it up a notch, becoming rather possessive of the five foot blonde knowing she enjoyed that side of him. He carefully walked the line of teasing and taunting like a tightrope, always whispering in her ear and letting his hand rest on her inner thigh under the table. And now, Y/N found herself wanting to pounce him whenever he caught her eye. It was getting out of hand, so she called for the only two people who could possibly help.

"Have you tried doing the bend and snap?" Cherry asked out of the blue, her head rested on her girlfriends lap as the three watched Clueless from the comfort of Felicity's bed.

"Babe," the blue haired girl said with a sigh and took a handful of M&Ms, "I love you but I don't think our answer lies in a two-thousand's rom-com."

"Hey, it worked on you, didn't it?" The brunette grinned smugly and leaned up to kiss the girl above her, earning a handful of chocolate to be launched in their direction and a disgruntled groan from the blonde sitting beside them.

Y/N pouted, "Please stop reminding me how single I am."

At this, the two girls pulled away and sent her the same bewildered look, "You wouldn't be if you told that hunky ginger you're in love with him!" Flick barked, a hand playing with the hem of her partner's shirt whilst the other flew up in desperation.

The y/h/c girl sent her friends an incredulous glare, it only growing when their shared 'you know I'm right' smile made an appearance. She took a handful of sweets and irritably shoved them in her mouth, "I am not in love with Archie Andrews... I just want his body on my body... in a variety of ways, and locations... multiple times."

"Right, so let me just get this straight," Cherry sat upright and gathered her hair over one shoulder, she paused the film and sent the petite girl a serious look, "you really think a no-strings-attached relationship can actually work? Have you even seen Friends With Benefits? It doesn't work! Sure it's all fun and games now but it's only a matter of time before one of you catches feelings and shit gets real. Then we'll have to pick sides, obviously you automatically get us, but I really liked Archie, he was promising..."

"What my gorgeous girlfriend means, is that we won't have this relationship ruined because you two can't keep it in your pants. We've put a lot of work and effort into this ship and it isn't going to waste, this isn't some TV teen drama shit, there's no need to wait until season 6 to actually be happy. Don't be Lydia and Stiles." Flick rounded up, taking the remote and pressing play.

Y/N simply sighed and slouched against the pillows, her attention turning back to the TV as she sulked, "I came here for your advice, and honestly now it feels like my moms are telling me I can't have sex with my hot best friend because they ship us too hard romantically. How can sex ruin a friendship? That's like saying extra sprinkles ruin ice cream! Anyways, none of that matters unless I win this stupid bet."

"You know Y/N/N, asking a lesbian and a bisexual whose only ever been with a girl on how to seduce a boy isn't exactly your best move." Cherry commented, snuggling under her blanket with a near-empty bowl of mini-pretzels at her side.

"My advice? Just be yourself, dumbass. Clearly for some weird reason he's into that, so it's only a matter of time until he gives in and this insanity will end. Boys think with their dicks and have a lot less will-power than us. For fucks sake, he's sprung when your name's mentioned in passing conversation, clearly he wants to bone your brains out. Wait it out, you're one stubborn chick when you want to be, you got this."

Two days later, on one rather fateful Friday night, Y/N found herself in the midst of a party thrown by none other than the Blossom twins. It had been a while since she'd spoken to either of them, but since their entire year was currently making out on the couches, the invitation wasn't all that strange. She and Betty had spent the evening getting ready whilst rocking out to the cheesiest music known to their generation. The smaller blonde wore a little red number with lace cutouts, and only managed to convince her taller friend to ditch the mom-jeans for a conservative royal blue knee-length dress. Baby steps, she told herself whilst trying her best not to cut a deeper neckline in the mass of material.

Betty Cooper had absolutely no idea what was going on between two of her three best friends; and although she'd always been silently jealous of their closeness, she was used to it and didn't think twice to question it. Y/N spritzed her neck and wrists with her favourite perfume, Daisy Dream, and gave herself a final once over in the large mirror beside her wardrobe.

With perfect timing, like some magical intuition, Y/N’s phone buzzed, notifying her their ride was outside. She grinned at the taller girl and slipped her black Louis Vuitton's on, "Ready, m'lady?"

"I-I don't know, Y/N/N." Betty panicked, wringing her hands together as a worrisome look etched onto her face, "What if my mom sees us leave? She'll kill me if she finds out we're going to a Blossom party."

"She won't. And even if she does, she'll only see us getting into a car with Cherry and Flick, just tell her they invited us over for a girl's night or something... Stop worrying about the future, and start living in the now! You look smokin', I look hot, we are not wasting my precious work on Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore again, capisce?" Y/N didn't allow even a millisecond to pass before dragging the taller girl downstairs with her where they met Polly and Ren.

The four took a few quick photos together and hightailed it out to the red convertible sitting on the edge of the drive. Polly switched places with Flick and the happy couple sat in the back on each other's lap, leaving Y/N and Betty sat beside them like two spare wheels.

When the group of girls arrived, Cheryl graciously directed them down to the basement. Thoughts of being led down to a torture chamber came to mind as the redhead opened a large squeaky door, but those died down when the smell of liquor and sound of house music hit them like a brick wall.

So now, an hour into the night, it was just Betty and Y/N standing at the side of the room with a red solo cup in hand. Polly ran off to find her beloved boyfriend as soon as she arrived and Y/S/N just so happened to find herself hitting on a nearby houseplant. 'Flicky' were playing beer pong, well cider for them, against Reggie and Moose, and were winning with only one cup standing.

The petite girl, who still stood below her friend even in four inch heels, was about to save her sister from some terrible mugshots, but a strong arm stopped her in her tracks and pulled her back into a muscly chest.

"Where'd you think you're going, gorgeous?" A deep voice breathed in her ear, and a second later she ripped herself away from the boy, instantly recognising him and wishing to be the other side of the building right now. Though her actions were quick, the brunette pinned her to the nearest wall and stared hazily into her wide chartreuse-coloured eyes. Y/N actually laughed at the irony of the location, finding it funny that the last time she was in this position it was rather enjoyable.

"Fuck off, Chuck." The girl took another sip of her drink, not bothering to pay the boy any attention because that's exactly what he wanted. Though, when his arms moved from the wall to around her waist and neck, forcing Y/N to look up at him, she felt like punching the stupid smile off his smug face. But with one hand stuck at her side and the other holding her drink, she simply settled for chucking her remaining vodka-lemonade at the boy.

He chuckled cynically and wiped his face down, eyes darkening as he pushed himself against her with even more force, "Now, now. That's no way to treat the best fuck you've ever had. Why don't we go find somewhere quiet, for old times sake." He commanded, his tone leaving no room for questioning or any form of verbal consent.

But Y/N scoffed and chucked her now empty cup at his face, "Do you really want to be known for rape, as well as leaking a fifteen year old's sex tape, that you were a part of let's not forget?"

He sighed and brought a hand up to cup her face, coarse fingers gripping her jaw achingly tight, "Y/N/N, aren't we past that? I was mad and you embarrassed me in front of the entire football team, what did you expect me to do? Can't we just forget about that?" His other arm aggressively tugged her closer, "C'mon, you know you want me, slut."

Y/N had her eyebrows raised intolerably the entire time he spoke, and when she realised this had no affect on him, she cocked her head ever so slightly. That word felt so good coming from Archie's lips weeks ago. But with Chuck's intoxicated breath panting down on her made up face, she felt completely and utterly violated, physically and mentally.

She hid the look of disgust as best as possible and simply let her best fake alluring smile grace her features; Y/N wrapped her arms around his neck and looked ever so sweetly into his darkened eyes, "Clayton, we were together for what, eight months? And somehow, in that entire time, you never made me orgasm, not even close. I feel sorry for any girl, or whoever else who has to put up with your shitty oral. Don't you ever, ever use that word against me or any other girl. Don't touch me, you do not and shall never have consent to touch my body, remember that." She smoothly spoke, her voice laced with sugar-coated venom.

Using his drunken and shocked state to her advantage, Y/N unhooked his arms and rushed off to find one particular individual. She fought through the endless crowd of teenagers and after ten minutes of searching, Archie was nowhere to be found. A light tapping on one shoulder caused the y/h/c girl to spin on her heels, ready to slap a bitch if it were another jock.

But thankfully it wasn't, and Y/N let out a sigh of relief when her eyes found Betty's figure. She took her taller friend by the arms and asked, "Have you seen Archie at all? There's three fucking gingers at this party and I can only spot two."

"Last time I saw him he was in line for the bathroom, and that was around five minutes ago." The taller blonde said, peering down at her friend in concern as a hand smoothed down her signature ponytail instinctively, "Is there anything I can help with?"

Betty's question almost flew right past her as she searched for the toilet queue, but thankfully she managed to make out a few words, and quickly put two and two together. Y/N shook her head and finally looked at her friend, "It's alright, but one of us is about to lose a bet, I'll tell you who once I find out."

Betty's expression contorted at that, and she began to feel an uneasiness settling in the pit of her stomach. The Cooper girl did her best to hide her jealousy along with her crush on Archie. She'd always viewed Y/N as the unwanted cog in the machine, but as the months went on she couldn't help but feel like a spare part.

With that, the petite girl marched off and soon found herself pushing through throngs of her drunken classmates until a head of fiery-red hair poked up above the crowd. He was joking and laughing with Reggie, both wearing giddy smiles whilst sipping from from their cups every so often.

Y/N was used to being easily knocked, because she was so tiny in relation to the 6 foot something masses of muscle she called her friends, so it came as no surprise when someone practically rammed her right into the middle of the boys' conversation. Luckily, being the gentleman he was, Archie's arm instinctively wrapped around her waist to steady her toppling body. Their chatting ceased and it took Reggie no less than a second to start talking to someone else, leaving the red-haired boy looking down in confusion at his best friend.

"You okay there, Tiger?" He asked, gingerly hooking a few strands of her y/h/c hair behind her ear, making Y/N crane her neck up to watch him intently for a moment. She bit down on her lower lip and let out an intoxicated little giggle, "My knight in shining armour, however will I repay you?"

Archie breathed out a deep chuckle and smirked, "I can think of a few ways..." he all but muttered. Y/N’s thoughts flickered back to just moments ago in the lull of silence, and that was all the boy needed to lead her out of the packed basement. He saw the look confliction in her eyes, not quite understanding it, "has something else happened, Y/N/N?"

"Do you remember last spring, when I finally broke it off with Chuck... and then he, you know?" She tried to clarify, but her words wavered and fell short.

"Released a video of you two without your consent and only got suspended for a week?" Archie almost growled his voice felt so heavy. He hated remembering their relationship. Not only because he wanted Y/N to be only his, but because he was forced to see his best friend humiliated and heartbroken all at the same time and couldn't stop it.

"That's the one." The girl looked down, unable to meet his eyes as her mind raced back to one of the darkest weeks of her life. But she pulled herself away from the horrible memories, "Look, it happened and I can't change that, but I really don't want to be around him right now."

"We'll go back to mine right now, Tiger." Archie affirmed with his hand now cupping her made up face, bringing her gaze back to his own.

"Woah, didn't realise you two were a thing." A slurring Reggie turned back around and winked at the pair with his usual cheeky smile, "Don't worry, I won't tell."

Y/N giggled and hiccuped at the same time, "Fuck off, Reg."

"Hey, if you hurt her, Andrews, I'll knock you into next year." The Asian boy only partly joked with his best friend.

The Robins girl pulled herself away from the wall and wrapped her arms around Reggie, "My hero!"

"Yeah, yeah." He hugged her back, not too hard though as in his drunken state he was scared he might snap her in half with all his muscular might. "I love you too, Y/N/N."

She gave him a sweet peck on the cheek before returning to Archie's side, clasping his hand in her own and leading the both of them away from the raucous party. Nobody seemed to notice in their happy little haze, even if they did, most people assumed the two were sleeping together anyway.

"Does it bother you at all?" Y/N small voice called as they walked down the narrow roads back home. She didn't know whether the answer would be something she wanted to hear, but it had been bothering her for the past minute or so.

Archie's brows furrowed, slightly more sober and completely not understanding his companion's train of thought, "Does what bother me?"

"That people assume so much about us? That we're sleeping together? That we're a couple?" She pondered.

"Not unless it's something that puts you in a negative light, otherwise I really couldn't care less about other people's opinions. Everyone has them, but the only ones that matter to me are my friends and my family's." Archie reassured her.

Y/N giggled at her own joke, "I thought you were going to say they're like assholes?"

The boy looked at her incredulously.

"Everybody has one." She grinned and wrapped her arm around his waist as his own found its way to her shoulders, pulling her into his warmth. The rest of the walk was silent after that, cool summers air bringing an ease to Y/N's tipsy frame. Twenty minutes must have gone by before they saw the Andrews' household finally in view, it was anything but awkward though. Their hands clasped swinging between them, the girl's feet beginning to ache from the regrettable choice of five inch heels.

They shared giggles and passing comments that wouldn't make sense the next morning, gleeful smiles hanging from cheek to cheek. Before Archie had the chance to hunt for his key, the front door opened with Fred sending the two teenagers a short look of annoyance.

"Get in already." He rolled his tired eyes, not wanting to question why his son's best friend was currently looking up at him with hidden adoration as she slipped off her shoes.

Y/N hiccuped and sent the adult an apologetic smile, "Sorry if we woke you, Freddie."

"I couldn't sleep anyway, kid, don't worry about it." Fred gave her a kind smile and felt her small frame hug his own. He returned it as always and after a few moments, let the teenagers carry on upstairs. The girl immediately went into the bathroom and found her small bottle of cleanser under the sink, removing her heavy make up before returning to her best friends room.

Y/N couldn't help but gawk at the sight her eyes were greeted with, the redheads body clad with tight boxers with his warm bedside lamp lighting the room, and his muscular build, perfectly. Her hands lightly traced his back, making Archie jump before leaning into her touch.

"I'm still going to win this bet," She whispered, shutting the bedroom door and pulling the boy down to his bed with her, "but Arch, can I ask you something?"

Y/N's head nearly reached the wall as the redhead towered over her, hot breath tickling her skin while he rest himself against her without putting any weight down. "Of course." The words floated from his lips so easily, knowing his whole life he'd do anything or answer whatever she wanted.

"Do you think we're meant to be more than friends? I think I've finally realised it's not that we were never and will never be romantic in each other's minds, it's always been that way but we've just never really known." The Robins girl seemed so sure of her words, staring up into his amber eyes with so much honest admiration.

He watched her for what felt like forever, not knowing whether it was the alcohol in them both or just that the little game they were playing didn't matter anymore, and decided to throw that away. A short gasp fell from Y/N's lips as Archie caught them, rolling over and pulling her on top of his chest.

"You're right, I've always wanted us to be more than friends Y/N/N, ever since Leonardo went missing when we were in sixth grade and you kissed my cheek when I found him." Archie propped himself up and returned that same gesture. She stole a kiss but he didn't let it end, running his fingers through her curled blonde hair.

"Arch?" Her small voice called out, sitting atop of his torso still in her revealing red dress. He nodded back with the biggest smile, unable to control the pure joy as her next words tumbled into the world, "Will you be my boyfriend?"

"I don't have a choice, since I lost the bet, do I?" He mocked, smile not falling as she hit his chest and rolled her eyes. "Yes, of course, yes, I'll be your boyfriend."

PART SIX

#fanfic #fanfiction #archie andrews smut #archie x reader #archie andrews imagine #archie fluff #archie riverdale #archie imagine #archie andrews fluff #archie andrews fic #archie andrews x reader #imagine #riverdale imagine #riverdale #riverdale fluff #riverdale smut #riverdale fanfiction

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the-lonely-tree-original · 3 years

Text

Hello Once More (Killua x Gon)

Summary: Sometime after their separation, Killua and Gon meet once more. But being on the run from Illumi is hard, and Killua’s gone through measures to make sure people wouldn’t recognize him, even Gon.

***

It was a masquerade dance. One with bright colors and lavish decorations and everything expected from one of the richest hunters in the world. People were dressed in sharp, cleanly pressed suits and long, expert-woven gowns. Suits and dresses were fatuous, however, to the ornate masks that sat upon the guests’ heads. Some were embroidered with the thread of their homeland, others with precious jewels. Each hid a joyful face under the decorated material.

A boy of black hair and blue eyes found himself wearing one of these masks, a crystalline blue sort of color with white beads in a seemingly erratic pattern. His brand new suit became rumpled as he was zipped around disgruntled hunters and their companions by the firm hand of his little sister.

“Hey! Hey, Stop!”

The girl did end up stopping and turned around, a bright smile spreading across her youthful face. “Onii-chan, stop complaining. You promised you would enjoy this for me.”

Killua let out a long suffering sigh, the corners of his mouth eventually molding their way into a quirky smile as well. “I was enjoying it. I was enjoying watching you dance from the sidelines. I can continue to enjoy it from there.”

“Not on my watch. I’m not letting you leave this floor until you’ve danced at least once.” Alluka accentuated her point by giving her dress a little twirl, the movement drawing attention from prying eyes around the room. If Killua’s outfit was extravagant, then Alluka’s was downright ostentatious, the pink folds of her dress covered by a sheer golden sash, making it seem as if she had been wrapped in a glittering sunrise. She wore white, pristine gloves on her hands and brown woven flats on her feet. What she lacked in jewelry, her hair made up for. Long, shing black strands were curled into tight curls that rested on the top of her head in a flowery bun, two loose coils intertwined with golden thread and the beads she and Nanika were so fond of sat upon her chest.

Killua let himself be dragged off, only because he didn’t want anyone to try anything on his baby sister, but someone else had other plans in mind.

“Excuse me!”

Killua whirled around at the voice. The warm and pleasant voice. The achingly familiar voice.

“I’m sorry to bother you, but do you mind if I steal this dance?”

He may have been wearing different clothes and had a mask covering half of his face, but that was Gon. He knew it was. Killua had recognized it from the voice, the charming and comforting voice. Staring at him now, even if his hair had been dyed a new color and his voice had gone a tone deeper like Killua’s had, those honey-brown eyes would have been unforgettable. Keeping his hair a black-green color and only reaching a few inches taller? The familiarity was uncanny.

Snapping himself out of his thoughts, Killua stood aside. No matter how much he wanted to throw off his mask and greet his friend in a hug, he couldn’t. There was no telling what connections his brother had. If he revealed himself here, it would only be seconds before he was seized and dragged home. Gon had asked his sister to dance. He could sit back down and watch from afar once more. She’d be safe in his hands. And, if Killua was being honest with himself, it would hurt a little less too.

Gon, precious, radiant Gon, reached his hand to his neck in a nervous gesture. “So, uhm… is that a no?”

Killua felt two hands in the small of his back, and suddenly found himself pressed against a firm body.

“It’s a yes,” Alluka’s voice rang out from behind. “Sorry about that, big brother’s just a little slow with people sometimes.”

“Hey-” Killua began, but cut himself short. Gon was smiling. It was a big, shining smile, and Killua found himself involuntarily relaxing just a little.

“Great! Thank you very much!” The words were directed towards his sister, and before he knew it, he’d been whisked away to the middle of the dance floor.

They adjusted themselves awkwardly, it being clear that neither of them had any experience dancing with another male. Eventually they found themselves in a position with Gon’s arms wrapped around Killua’s waist and the latter’s around Gon’s neck. Meeting each other at eye level, that sleight height difference Killua had once been so proud of now tied by the milimeter, Killua was able to get a good look at the mask. It was an earthy green, very simple compared to the ones he’d seen on everyone else. Killua amused himself with the realization that his best friend never escaped the colors of his youth, even while he stood before him in a black and white suit - though, Killua’s mask was of white and blues, so he couldn’t say much about himself either.

“Your eyes are really pretty.”

The comment startled Killua, sending him reeling backwards with the embarrassed flush he’d thought he’d left behind.

“W-why would you say that?”

“Because they are.” Gon closed the distance between them and raised a hand to rest it on the side of his head, fingers absentmindedly flicking up black-dyed hair. “They’re really pretty. Like the color of the ocean on a clear day. Actually,” he paused here, an embarrassed flush making its way up his face for once, “they remind me of someone I know.”

“They do?” Killua leaned forward in interest. He knew that he was a big part of Gon’s life, even if the other never felt the same way that he felt about him, and he knew that he must have crossed Gon’s mind at least once, but the other boy had thought his eyes pretty. Did he dare hope…

“Yeah. He has eyes just like yours. Actually, I only really came to this party in the first place to find him. I thought I heard him earlier, but I guess I was wrong.” Gon’s voice faded into a disappointed tone at the end. A tone that he recognized in his own voice whenever he talked about his friend. Killua wanted to grab his shoulders. He wanted to grab his shoulders and shake them and scream, ‘I’m right here, you idiot’ till the sentence was ingrained in Gon’s mind. But he knew he couldn’t. Not when people could be watching. Not when they could take Alluka and him away.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” he said, caught in between the line of meaning it and not. “I’m sure he’ll be here eventually.”

Gon looked at him, long and hard but not seeing. “I don’t know. It was a long shot anyways. He’s been off the maps for a while, so I don’t really know what I was expecting.”

Killua swallowed. This wasn’t Gon. Gon wasn’t sad like this. Gon was upbeat and positive and if he couldn’t be that, then he was a burning ball of anger waiting to explode. Gon wasn’t… resigned.

The former assassin changed the subject, hoping to change the mood to something somewhat lighter. “Oh, I see. If you don’t mind me asking, why did you ever ask me…”

“Ask you to dance?”

Killua nodded.

“Hmmmm... I don’t know. It was just a feeling… I think.”

“You think?”

“You remind me of my special person. That’s all.”

Special person. Special person. Did that mean Killua was his special person? Killua turned his head, looking around the room to find Alluka, to confirm if what he was hearing seeing was real.

Gon continued, oblivious to his internal strife. “You really do sound like him at times, you see. It’s like your voices are exactly the same… and then, and then they’re not.”

Killua knew that Gon was thick headed, to not have realized who he really was even with all these things he’d picked up on. To instead find him and think that he was nothing more than a similarity. Gon never mentioned who he was though, so maybe, maybe if he left a vague enough answer, he would be able to piece together everything without Killua having to reveal anything at all.

“That’s why I asked you to dance. Cause I thought I heard him. I thought maybe you were him.” It was an honest answer, one that got straight to the point and didn’t waste time sugarcoating anything with meaningless compliments. But, if what he was saying was true, then that meant that Gon would have asked him to dance anyways. Because of who he was. Something about that realization sent his heart hammering in his ribs, giddy energy rising up inside him. “Even if you aren’t him… you look enough like him that I still want to be with you. For this dance.”

There was silence then, the only noise being the crowd’s amicable chatter and slow music flowing from the performance upstage.

“If I’m being honest,” Killua began, “You remind me of someone special to me too.”

“I do?”

Their roles were reversed. This time it was Gon with the hopeful and curious tone to his voice and Killua with resignation in his, only that Killua was completely aware of who the stranger really was.

“Yeah. He means a lot to me. He was the person who taught me to let other people in and to care about them in return. I think it’s safe to say that he was my first friend.”

Something of an understanding was beginning to flicker in Gon’s eyes, and Killua smiled at the slow process of him putting the dots together. Before Gon could reach complete clarity, before he could open his mouth and shout his name to the crowd, Killua closed the distance between their faces and connected their lips in a passionate kiss.

Not even a year ago, even with Gon by his side professing their friendship everyday, could Killua have ever done this before. Mortification wouldn’t even have the chance to reach him because the kiss would have never happened. He’d never had the self-worth to believe something good could come out of a reckless and selfish decision like that.

Their journey together and the distance between them had changed him, though. And now with his lips caught in a bruising force against Gon’s, the taste of chocolate and citrus blending together on their tongues, Killua couldn’t find it in himself to regret the decision.

Their dancing had slowed to a stop, and instead they stood, molded into each other with their arms intertwined on each other's hips, making up for all the time they’d missed.

I’m sorry.

I missed you.

I love you.

When their breath had run out and their legs turned weak, the kiss broke off. The two boys separated and stared, breathless, into eachothers’ eyes. Gon closed the gap a second time, not to go for another kiss, but to rest their foreheads together. The gesture was so childish and sweet and so like Gon that Killua found himself bearing a true, beaming smile for the first time that evening.

“Killu-” Gon began, but before he could even finish the word, Killua interrupted with words of his own.

“It’s nice to see you again, Gon.”

#killugon #gon x killua #hunter x hunter #hxh #killua zoldyck #gon freccs #romance #first kiss #fanfic #my writing #oneshot #I've never written a romantic pairing before #I hope it wasn't a nightmare #it respects their ages I swear

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sereisstuff · 4 years

Text

𝒮𝓉𝒶𝓎 𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒽 𝓂𝑒 K.T

~ 𝐓𝐚𝐞𝐡𝐲𝐮𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐚 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐚 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐥𝐚𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐫-𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐦𝐞𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭.

~ 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐬𝐭 - 𝐅𝐥𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐲!𝐓𝐚𝐞, 𝐬𝐮𝐛𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞. 𝐇𝐮𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐫, 𝐞𝐝𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐱𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬!𝐓𝐚𝐞.

“Would you excuse me, please” you politely ask feeling the fabric of your wrongly fitted corset dig into your bone creating an immense amount of pain, the party you were forcibly made to attend was growing rather boring must you admit with possibly false accusations, it was filled to the brim with royals and upper-class men and women who’d never thought a day to humble themselves.

“Now hang on a moment, I’d forgot to mention my son” she continued, searching around for her son who’d also left the party as you were about to do so amidst her distraction, quickly leaving before her attention could be held against you once more leaving no room for her bitter argument as you rushed off to the lavatory.

Your sore feet curled in pain as you were a few feet away from the lavatory, your rush gained the attention of many ridiculing gazes to whom hissed in displeasure seeing such an un-womanly act come forth in a public place, rolling your eyes as you held back from flipping them off with the snap of your tongue.

Grabbing the handle with a slight bit of struggle, jiggling it around for a mere moment until it came undone and then you continued to shove it open, slamming it shut with a following sigh of enjoyment “finally” you sighed as you smile to yourself, sliding down the door slightly.

The clink of glass brought your attention back to its dim reality, snapping your eyes wide open seeing a man around his early twenties, dressed in upper-class society clothing, sitting amongst the sink with a wine glass slipped between his bony fingers, giving you a chuckle.

You apologized quickly, turning around to shove the door open as he watched intensively with a held back laugh, fixing his positing as he ran a hand through his thick locks of loose curls, you gripped the handle ever so tightly using all your might and will in hopes the door will shove open and release you from such awkward tension.

Wanting nothing more now to feel the brisk touch of alcoholic beverages and the noise of obnoxious laughter to fill your agitated ears.

“If you feel so obligated to open the door a minute of your time is needed that door rarely opens for some unknown reason, so you should probably stop wasting your energy, beautiful” his deep melodious voice played courses through your mind sending a shiver up your spine, slowly releasing the tense hold you held on the door.

Turning around as you leaned against the door, closing your eyes in agony as the man let out a hearty chuckle “Here, have one” you looked up to meet his sharp eyes and your breath halted to an unbreakable stop, he was the epitome of beauty, the representative of the concept, sharp like eyes yet they held a soft tone to them as his gaze was painstakingly exquisite, his sharp jaw and plump pink lips that glistened under the candlelit light.

His soft hands holding the wine bottle out for you to reach as you watched a bright boxy smile stretch on his face, you took the bottle shaking your gaze away from him looking everywhere else but his face, feeling the rush of your heart press against your chest.

You took a long swing from it, gulping it down feeling the burn of the alcoholic beverage sliding down your moist throat wanting to forget the embarrassing moment that played out like a cliche “better” he seemed eager for your reply, leaning some of his weight on his lifted knee as he grabbed the drink from your hand, taking a drink himself.

Throwing his head back as his Adam’s apple bobbed up and down “much better” you giggled, finally relaxing on the frail door, moving around your corset feeling the pain of the tight-knit garment pull at your skin, groaning in agony.

“Kim Taehyung and you are” he leaned over, his hand out prepared for a handshake as you shakily took it in your own, the bitter taste of the alcohol resurfaced once you meet eyes again cursing your insides for consuming your attention in his honeycomb pools “ah, um” you forgot to mention your name gulping down your shivering intentions, Taehyung lifted his head his own heart beating hurriedly as he gazed at your oblivious self.

“Unless you’d prefer beautiful to which I would gladly call you” he flirted, you shook your head releasing a stuttering reply “m-my n-name is y/n” he nodded in understanding as a blush crept on your chubby cheeks, you were never so entranced by such a person before, he was what some may call a walking form of art beholding itself upon your eyes.

“Y/n”

“Boring isn’t it” he mentioned, shuffling his position into a slight man spread with his palms straightened at the elbow holding all his weight up looking down at you “much more than boring, plus with the added on friction of my stupid corset, it’s just great” Taehyung laughed deeply although it wasn’t as comedic as you hoped it brought a smile to you flushed face.

“What’s your excuse” you raised your brow suspiciously as he fell deeply in thought before groaning “Not much to it, people aren’t my forte if I must and this party is quite displeasing I knew I would find something fun in a place unexpected” he giggled taking another long gulp of the drink gesturing for you to take another, you had nothing to lose in a lavatory so you did so.

“Ah, so I’m the life of the party now” you announced, standing up on your bare feet as you kicked the heels off, Taehyung felt a heavyweight lift from his shoulders seeing how carefree you were becoming in a mere second, not many people he met these days had an aura such as yours.

You must have forgotten that you were a lightweight too.

When you wobbly stood up with a small tumble “Woah” you laughed when you nearly fell face-first on to the wooden floor, standing in dancing position your wide bloodshot eyes contacted his own, looking down at the spot for him to be in “would you take a moment out of your precious, dedicated time to dance with me, mister Kim taehyung” he let out a breathy laugh, the grip he had on the bottle released once he placed it down on the basin, lifting himself forth from the sink to stand straight.

“I would love too” he slid his hands in your own the soft flesh embracing your cold hand as the other slid down to rest against your hip, you initiated the first step, stepping on his perfectly polished shoe, rushing to cover your mouth with a dramatic gasp as you sluggishly held his hand again, his hand slipped further down unconsciously making you yelp.

“Sorry” he muttered awkwardly to which you just throatily laughed.

For a second taehyung felt seen, the way you gazed carelessly into his pools of ethereal honey made his heart feel euphoric, treating him like a person as he was rather than status or position, you stood barefoot before him, lipstick slightly smeared from the aggressive sips you downed from the wine yet you couldn’t care less how you appealed to him, although he shouldn’t have he felt fascinated.

You tilted your head with a pout before lightly kicking his shin “this isn’t a staring competition, come on, dance” and he did, he obliged without a question letting you control his every move as you counted your steps cutely, some of you still sober and unphased prior to the inner war you were fighting once meeting him you really felt as if that shouldn’t matter.

Taehyung looked down at you, holding you a bit closer and softer then he was known for “you’re a terrible dancer” you mutter clueless under your breath, the slow rhythm just entering the room continued, the small sound of the violin was barely audible through the doors but you still could grasp a few steps to match it.

“Am I now” he giggled, licking his lips as he intensively watched every cute mistake you made “if your so good, show me”

“Fine then, I will, like this” you pulled him closer, he let out a shocked sound feeling you place his large hands on your shoulders, putting your own on his hips as you controlled his movements “1, 2 and 3, 4” you began to smile as he stumbled a few times.

“1, 2, 3 and 4” he muttered nodding his head with every step, paying close attention to the small detail, you looked up to him “yes, you got it”

You looked up to praise him as he looked down with a bright boxy smile only for your smiles to be wiped clean, gazing into his eyes with curiosity, searching for something you couldn’t piece together a man who’d barely entered your life causing you to breathe unevenly, maybe he was fated to be a one night stand an this was the leading point to euphoria.

He leaned down, his lips caressing yours briefly as he stared into your eyes letting your hands lay loosely on his shoulders, feeling yourself begin to sweat profusely as you sat deep in thought.

This happened all too fast, glancing further into his caring eyes as he furrowed his brows letting the emitting light seep further down into his gaze the flicker of the lights created a serene moment for you both.

“I want you to stay”

“What” you whispered under your breath still not having the courage to pull yourself away from his gaze, hoping you heard him right as he repeated himself “with me, just for one night” he needed you to stay, with every fiber of his lonely being he wanted you to stay just to feel your presence cover his aching soul with happiness just for one moment, and he wouldn’t ask of anything more.

“Please don’t say no” he begged and you agreed, preferring his desirable presence over your own companions “O-okay” you replied, voice cracking towards the end, heart beating so fast you could barely grasp a pulse, a rush of velvet blushed your face and he loved the reaction.

And with that agreement, his lonely heart cracked under your serenity.

#kim taehyung #kim taehyung scenarios #kim taehyung imagines #kim taehyung x reader #kim taehyung x chubby reader #kim taehyung x oc #kim taehyung x you #taehyung imagine #taehyung x you #taehyung x reader #taehyung x oc #taehyung x chubby reader #taehyung x chubby!reader #chubby!reader #Plus Size #bts scenarios #bts x chubby reader #bts imagines

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herkawaiinovels · 4 years

Text

[SS] Chapter 13

It had been a few days after the garden party. Roman and Jack met in the imperial palace.

“It has been a while, Duke.”

“It has been a while, Marquis.”

Jack and Roman lightly exchanged greetings.

“Would you spare a moment to have a cup of tea with me?”

It had been a while since Jack had asked for a request. It had become a rare occurrence since the time he became entangled with Prillance. Roman was puzzled, but there was no reason to decline.

“I heard you’ve been having dinner dates with my daughter lately.”

As soon as Roman sat down, Jack brought up the story. For Roman, Jack’s gaze felt a little aggressive.

“That’s right.”

Roman answered simply.

“I think you had a different partner at the party, or did I see it wrong?”

Jack asked Roman, who was drinking tea. He didn’t like the relaxed behavior displayed in front of him. It might be because of the incident at the garden party he witnessed not too long ago.

Roman, who was having dinner dates with Prillance, brought another partner with him. He was making a clear contrast of Roman’s actions.

“That's also true.”

However Roman did not hide it. There was no reason to hide it in the first place since it was Prillance who liked and followed himself.

“Don’t you know that’s a bit discourteous?”

Jack, looking at Roman with his eyes wide open, looked like a real father. It was different from Jack’s usual behaviour wherein you wouldn’t know what he was thinking. It seemed that was how bad the incident from the party was to him.

“The Lady is already aware of this.”

But it didn't matter to Roman. Seeing Jack’s surprised face, Roman realized that Prillance's offer seemed purely her own independent decision.

“I guess she didn’t tell you this.”

This shocked Roman. He had thought Jack already knew about it.

Then what was Prillance thinking?

“We struck something similar to a deal…so to speak.”

Roman's eyes sharply caught Jack's expression. Even though Jack had a long political career and instinctively knew how to control his expressions, at this moment, Roman was able to catch it.

Thanks to this, he became relaxed. The key was in his hands anyway.

“What do you think of my daughter?”

At the moment, Jack wanted to ask Roman many questions. However, he managed to quell his curiosity by wetting his lips with tea. It wasn't too late to go home and ask about the deal between Roman and Prillance.

“Hmm…”

Roman sensed Jack’s thoughts and stretched the end of his words. He would have done something similar if it had been himself. But now Roman had no intention of giving him what he wanted.

“If you are still uncertain about it, how about making it clear now?”

Jack didn't know that Roman's expressions, which neither showed like nor dislike, made things difficult for Prillance. He recalled the scene at the party he witnessed not too long ago.

“There’s something I need to clarify first.”

However, Roman still looked confident.

“Viscount Grant and Lady Weiand’s relationship.”

His inquiring face seemed to indicate jealousy in Ver and Prillance’s relationship.

“Do I have to explain it? It’s because it is a waste of Viscount Grant.”

Jack was a bit offended at Roman’s sentiment. Roman seemed to misunderstand the two, but Jack knew it wasn't like that. He remembered how Prillance previously came to him and asked for Ver to be one of their family’s knights.

“My daughter is very sensible, similar to myself.”

Jack threw an implicit comment at Roman, who didn't even know Prillance’s mind. Come to think of it, it was something an average noble lady would not be able to think of. Suddenly he wanted to boast more about it.

Although he refused at the time, now that he thought of it, it wasn’t such a bad idea after all.

“You mean to say there’s nothing going on between her and Viscount Grant?”

Roman asked once more.

“If you are asking if their relationship is one between a man and a woman’s, it is absolutely not.”

Jack gave a confident answer. His answer further fuelled Roman's question.

Prillance's affection for Ver was clear. If the meaning in her eyes was not affection, was there a reason to keep meeting like this?

'If she sees Viscount Grant as something other than a man...'

Roman stroked his chin and tapped the armrest with his fingertips. He tried to remember what Ver was like before the fall of Marquis Grant.

“Viscount Grant…”

Suddenly, Roman's movement stopped. Speaking slowly, his gaze turned to Jack.

“He is an excellent knight.”

At that, Jack's movement as he drank his tea halted for a brief moment. Although it was fleeting, Roman did not miss it. It was a fact he had forgotten for a moment - that Ver was a skillful man, competent enough to join the Imperial Knights.

“Your daughter has much forethought.”

Finally, the tangled thread before him was unraveled. Roman smiled brightly at Jack. Looking at Roman’s strange smile, Jack comforted himself by thinking that his smile must be a positive response.

***

After the garden party, Prillance wasn't as motivated before. She couldn’t understand why all her plans had ended up as failures.

Even though there were many things that had not gone as planned, she felt her mind was not the same as before. Moreover, the conclusion of those thoughts was…

'Can someone else fill Ver's happiness?'

After a few days of contemplation, it became clear. She was hoping for that someone to be her.

“Be careful.”

As Prillance stumbled, Ver caught her. After quite some time, she was dressed in comfortable clothes and was once again learning self-defense with Ver. To clear her head, Prillance practiced much more vigorously.

She tried to hit the scarecrow's vital point as Ver had taught. Apparently, doing so would throw off the opponent, giving one the opportunity to run away or attack in the meantime. It was a precaution against possible dangers in the future.

“Looks like you have a lot of things on your mind.”

Ver stated as he saw her breathing heavily. Exercise helped eliminate the clutter, so on days when his head was muddled with thoughts, he purposely tried to focus on the exercise. That was the sense that Ver felt as he saw her more impassioned and focused than before. After the garden party a few days ago, she had been lost in thought even as they took a walk.

“I know right. Today, I want to sweat a lot.”

Prillance couldn’t tell him about her greed, so instead she just laughed as she wiped away her sweat. Though he could hear the bitterness in her laughter, he pretended not to notice as she seemed unwilling to talk about it.

“But still, the lady shouldn’t overdo it. The lady’s stamina cannot sustain up to that level yet.”

Ver said as he handed her some water. Ver, unaware of her greed, was still kind. On one hand, she felt bad. But at the same time, she felt that the feelings she had put away were surging once more.

Just like those days when she hid her improper emotions while wearing a friendly mask. Prillance gave a wry smile. As her face turned red with practice, she eventually decided to sit in the shade and watch him practice.

His face was expressionless as he lightly struck the scarecrow using a wooden sword. However, his gaze was sharp so as not to miss the target.

He looked sexy as he wiped off the sweat that flowed from his wet hair and ran along the side of his face.

'I didn't think I would ever look at a man and think he is sexy.'

It wasn't just his face. She thought as she saw his tidy movements hit the scarecrow in the correct spots. Every time he hit the scarecrow, tiny straws scattered around him. His swordsmanship captured her attention even when she wasn’t well versed in the area.

Throughout Prillance’s gaze, Ver kept his eyes focused on the target. His actions seemed to resemble her own.

As she became self-aware, she felt a little heartache. She knew that it was selfish of her to desire for his eyes to turn toward her.

“Oh, can you give me your hand?”

After finishing his practice, Prillance turned to Ver, who sat alongside her.

“Come on.”

Prillance wrapped a wristband around Ver's reluctant wrist.

“What is this?”

“A leather wristband.”

“Leather…”

It was usually used for bags. Ver looked at the strap around his wrist and found a round metal. On it, the letters 'VG' were engraved.

“You can treat it as a keepsake. You can wear it like a men's bracelet, or you can put it wherever you want.”

It was the item she unconsciously bought on the day they went out together.

When she got home, she wanted to make a keepsake out of the leather strap she picked up. She didn't mention there was a similar wristband in her house with her name on it.

“It's not expensive, but it's the only one in the world.”

Only one. Ver ruminated over the meaning of her words. The nuance of these words was very strange. It was a modifier; the meaning behind such words usually implied something precious and contained one’s heart.

“Why are you giving this to me?”

At his innocent gaze, Prillance could not help but avoid his eyes.

“Please think of it as a token for training me all this time.”

After hearing her response, Ver made a strange expression and fiddled with the leather strap around his wrist. He didn't even know what answer he wanted from her, but he was sure it left a lot to be desired.

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#Side Story

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flightofaqrow · 4 years

Note

🌟

Send 🌟 for lines of your writing that I enjoy a lot!

There’s probably a billion more that I could toss in here, but I’m pulling stuff that immediately jump to mind from my favorite threads, and what I can peep doing an archive skim. I’ll probably miss ones I really adored at the time IT’S IMPOSSIBLE TO PICK WITH YOU OKAY.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Speaks lots about his character that he would drink it dry over mixed. A concoction often mixed with water for its taste. Something you sip, not drown yourself in.

And Qrow drowns.

He drowns himself in everything that he consumes. From the busted pack of cheap Parliaments in his pants pocket to the oxygen that he breathes. Knows no such thing as self-control. The one variable in his life that he seeks to restrain forever flowing freely from his fingertips. Feels the glass slip from his grasp and its only luck that he catches it before it clatters onto the counter.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Wracked with guilt, Qrow pushes himself away from the counter onto shaky feet to look the other properly. Ozpin only taller by a few inches. He wipes at his mouth with the back of his hand, wet with booze and now tears that fell unprompted. The death of many weighing heavily on his conscious.

“I’m so… stupid,” Qrow breathed out finally, breaking the uncomfortable silence that fell between them.

“Everyone said not to, and I did.” A bitter laugh and Qrow’s face is all but happy. Twisted up in sadness and sorrow as he looked the other with pleading eyes.

“I gave you everything,” He breathed out, voice barely audible, “And you couldn’t give me the truth.”

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PLAY ALONG for now, mister.

Nothing more needed to be said as a warm body cozies up against his side, Qrow only mere seconds away from downing his third shot of Scotch. Sets the glass back down and he knows a trap when he sees one. Knows when a game is being played, having been one who played such games when he was younger, before Beacon.

A ploy harder to keep with age.

And age shows well on Qrow. It’s the weapon secured on the small of his black and the title he’s earned for himself that makes playing hard. He’s not as cute or coy about it anymore. Too well seasoned and trained for cheap party tricks. Secures information in more adult manner now.

A smirk graces plush lips as she leaned in, the smell of cheap perfume tickling his senses. Hooks an arm around her waist and pulls her forward and around, so she was trapped between him and the counter of the bar itself.

“Say no more, doll.”

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He’s hunched over the edge of a crate in the middle of a fucking alleyway in Mantle during a patrol. Clover the unfortunate sap stuck to tend to the huntsman in his current nauseated state of being. Withdrawal symptoms hitting him at the worse possible time and all he wants is for it to end.

A moment of peace in his life devoid of pain and suffering. He wants to breathe and be at ease. No fear of his semblance and what harm it could bring. No fear of being hurt and left behind to die. Could count the times he’s been left behind by the tribe to waste away. Liquor his saving grace from his misery.

Numbed the hurt and gave him something better to feel in return.

This, this was not better. This was miserable and god awful. This needed to end right now and all Qrow wants to do right now is to bitch and gripe about it. Shoves the hand reaching out to smooth his hair back away as he hurled once more.

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There’s a clench of his stomach in response. Empty. The idea of eating is unappealing to the Branwen however. The body wants, but Qrow does not feel the urge to feed it. Craving for liquor and basic necessities all merged into one, he can’t quite tell the difference anymore.

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HE’S QUICK. He has to be. Doesn’t have muscles oozing off of him like every other huntsman he knows. No where like anyone else in the tribe. Qrow is all speed and skill. A natural talent honed in on to make up for the everything that follows him. He over compensates for being a bad luck charm. The movement is fluid. A smooth transition, from running up on the Grimm, the fall of his footsteps quiet and controlled, to the extension of Harbinger. Qrow pirouettes from first position to second and swings down into third. Harbinger’s blade slicing clean through with each transition as he comes into place in front of Clover. Stops mere inches from slicing the other in half with his scythe. Cool metal starring dangerously into the face of the other.

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[ THIS IS A PLACEHOLDER FOR ONE I CAN’T FIND. THERE WAS AN AWESOME METAPHOR/TURN OF PHRASE WITH CLOVER AND CARDS AND I THINK A BLACKJACK REFERENCE AND FOR THE LIFE OF ME I CANNOT FIND IT!!! I liked it so much I read it out loud to my husband oh my god I’m so mad I don’t remember when it was... ]

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I won’t copy/post nsfw stuff, it might even be weird to mention it but uuhhhhhh THIS WHOLE ANSWER

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It’s like kissing ink on paper, bitter with a touch of something else underneath. Meant to stain and leave an impression.

[ oddly enough the first half of the imagery with these lines kind of had a disconnect for me, because while I appreciated the hell out of the reference I couldn’t see why black coffee would need to be shaken OR stirred, so I wasn’t exactly sure what was being communicated. THE INK METAPHOR HIT ME HARD THO. especially with the concept of it being a layered thing. ]

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[JUST INSERT THE ENTIRE F’ING THREAD WITH STAT’S RAVEN OKAY. BUT UGH I GUESS I’LL PICK SOME]

Free them all from the burden of carving out their hearts and stabbing it into the trees of the woods where it can be maimed and torn apart by the very same creatures they hunt.

They’ve fought many times before and now should be no different to rekindle their love for one another. What she did hurts, but nothing hurts more than having a part of him forcibly torn away. To see her suffering further than he can feel from afar.

They’ve wounded each other enough as it is. Not a part of them scratch free. Their blades permanently carved into one another. Said things neither one of them truly meant and felt nothing, but each other’s pain in return. Tears shed from both twins, strong and overwhelmed with the emotional force combined by both parties.

Reaches out the only way he knows how, by baring himself whole. Put his emotions on display in it’s rawest form. Knows nothing else, but how to be honest. Tells her with little words that he still feels everything that she feels, if not more that she ever could. “I’m here, Raven.”

A hive abandoned by it’s own Queen is destined to die. Wither away blindly completing tasks with no end-goal.

He tightens his grip around her hand, rings pressing into the other’s skin. Only then is he mindful of how tight it exactly gotten. Something akin to fear in his hold. Like if he doesn’t take this, take all of it, she’ll slip away from him again and he’ll be here. Standing alone in the rain with an empty hand reminiscent of warmth he craves. Warmth that could only be fulfilled by her.

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[ I should actually do some of OURS huh... lmao]

No, Qrow offers himself up on a silver platter. Highlights his best features and puts it on display with the intention of captivating anyone who inched too close.

His next drink is lined up and Qrow circles the rim with his index finger. Feels the welcoming warmth of intoxication slowly begun to consume him. Combs through his hair with a level of familiarity and comfort he’s grown far too accustomed with. Beckons him to coo in delight at the sensation.

This conversation is far too convoluted to keep his interest. There is both nothing and everything going on at the same time and Qrow has little interest in thinking. If he was looking for a chat, he would have reported back to Ozpin hours ago. He would have followed through with his meeting with James, but he has done none and neither of these things.

He smiled as Briar laced their hand together, swinging their arms back and forth as they walked the streets of Mantle post-drinking spurge. Wherever it is their feet leads them is wherever they will go for the night. It doesn’t matter as long as she’s by his side.

Sweet is the first word to come to mind at such a brazen promise being bestowed upon him. Briar is sweet. How could she not be? Gentle in nature with consideration tucked under her belt. A dosage of sugar and spice he never knew he needed in his life. She is fun and a blast in the wake of his somber lifestyle.

Makes a request for rum and ginger ale, something sweet to satisfy his tongue. Far too odd for him to simply order whiskey on the rocks in a club. A drink meant for isolation, not mingling.

He pulls back and Qrow brushed at her shoulder with his hands to get rid of everything that left him. Disgusting as it is. Small smile on his lips as nervous laughter follows next. Doesn’t know what to do with himself as he stood there awkwardly, drenched to the bone in Briar’s apartment. “Hey,” he tried, “I’m back.” What else can he say after all that? The moment gone and Qrow more than ready to move on like it never happened.

It’s Briar! Qrow LOVES Briar. Qrow loves Briar except for when Briar is being the most Briar she can be and this, long pointed finger in his face as vermilion eyes narrowed at the sight of painted nails mere inches away from his nose as he drank is the least version of Briar he liked. Briar with a point.

The people outside the tribe far too fragile about their precious masculinity and feminity. Whereas Qrow could not care about these gender norms they aspire to. He sees a pretty outfit. He wants to wear it. It’s as simple as that.

OKAY ITS BEEN HOURS I NEED TO STOP AND MOVE ON BUT I COULD CONTINUE FOR MORE HOURS. I WANTED TO PUT SOME SIENNA ON HERE TOO BUT THIS IS SO LONG ALREADY SEND FROM THAT BLOG IF U WANT IT I GUESS. OKAY. ILU BEST BITCHHH

#infortunii #* behind closed doors = ooc *#* hey i got a tip for ya = meme response *#warning this is long af #my love for risa's writing knows no bounds

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chimswae · 4 years

Text

BTS Caretaker CH9

Summary: She may think she has Bangtan Sonyeondan wrapped around her fingers. She may think it is easy to love the members equally without hurting any soul. She may think the boys wont fall head over heels for her. She assumes it is okay to show a little love and affection towards the boys, what if she gets it all wrong? What if it only brings more complication to her already complicated life? Can she survive their charms? Will she be able to resist them? What if they just wont let her go?

- Pairing: BTS x Oc ( Yoongi x OC, Jungkook x OC)

- Genre: Fluff, Slight Angst, Romance, Idol!au

- Word Count: 2,976

- Author Note: i update slightly late and i appreciate your feedback and comment, just drop in my ASK BOX :)

Previous | Next

Chapter 9

“I am going to kill Jin hyung and Jungkook once they are back” he snorted sharply while throwing glances at the round clock.

“Gosh, 8 minutes and counting yet they are not here. Where the hell are those two?” Jimin wiggled his dangly legs in frustration. He found himself getting annoyed with the waiting, it was torturous considering there was a ticking bomb outside. The girl that he met earlier, he still couldn’t find the heart to trust her. It seemed all lies.

Not seem, it was too vague. He was confident her forehead spelled LIES since the beginning.

Sauntering to the door, he pressed his ears against it with hope he could catch the sound of movement from outside. His lips pursed into a small pout “It is quiet, has she left?” he was about to twist the doorknob but only to be welcomed by a loud knock on the door.

“Let me do my job, get out” she scowled. Seul continued to pound the door lightly using the black vacuum in her hand. He got to be kidding her, she needed to leave as soon as possible before unwanted faces Min Yoongi showed up and things got even messier than before.

Startled at the sudden impact beyond the door, Jimin straighten his body as his brows pinched together, unamused by the tone of her voice “Skip my room. I can clean it later, plus I can’t trust you just yet” he cleared his throat to ease the awkwardness.

“It is not just your room you know. It is Hoseok-ssi too. Have you asked him to skip the cleaning today?” Seul pressed with an intention to tease the shy guy even though it was pointless. She found it was amusing to tease him consider how he easily got startled.

“Hoseok-ssi? Hyung will be fine, he has the cleanest room. There is nothing to clean here. J..ust.. go away… you weirdo” he murmured the last word afraid it might offend the other party.

“But…” she glanced at the name on the door before continues, since Jimin mentioned Hoseok then the person beyond the door must be Jimin. “Jimin-ssi, you might have a clean-freak roommate, too bad you are not Hoseok-ssi. I can tell your boxer is laying freely on the floor screaming for help” she smug.

Needless to say, it was barely two months since she started doing this job, yet Seul was able to catch up some of their habit. For instance, how Jimin loved to trash his boxer on the floor openly. When she first tended the job, Seul was honestly disgusted by that. However, as time passed, she was used to seeing Jimin’s infamous boxer came with different set of colour and pattern whereby sometimes it could be a sore to her eyes.

Jimin eyes rounded at her response “W-hat…are you..” his eyes scanned his room and it stopped at the corner of the room where he could find his purple boxer laid helplessly there. Just how much this girl knew about him? About them? His cheeks turned fifty shades of pink at the thought of Seul picking up his boxer from the floor and did the laundry afterwards. That was embarrassing.

“Are you… how did you know? You are creeping me out!” he gasped dramatically.

Seul’s eyes rolled a little “Whatever you say drama queen. Don’t blame me for your messy room” paying no attention to Jimin’s childish tantrum, Seul proceeded with her cleaning to the next room. The door said Min Yoongi and Kim Seokjin’s rooms, she stared angrily at the name of “Min Yoongi” hoping this would be all nightmare.

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Reluctantly, she entered the room and started the cleaning “Somehow it contrary to his foul mouth, his room is not that messy, as usual. Thank god, I don’t have to clean a lot today” she vacuumed the whole room while humming to Tony Montana. Yes, odd but it came out naturally without she realized.

On the other side, Jimin exasperated a sigh of relief knowing you had moved on to other room and stopped pestering him. Ironically, he was a little conscious with your presence there. He sat on his bed, reflected on many things like how he let a stranger saw the most private part of his life; his body and boxer.

She cleaned the dust on Yoongi’s shelf, patting the books softly, she arranged it accordingly which apparently gave satisfaction for her in the end. Seul was a little too perfectionist sometimes. Her eyes landed at the picture frame on the nightstand, something was pulling her close and she found herself had the photo in her hand already.

Her eyes scrutinized every face in the photos with a small smile “They look happy, he takes after his father I supposed” she never expected a harsh guy like Yoongi would have a family frame close to his bed, guess he is a family guy after all. Appearance can be deceiving most of the time. Who was she to judge him? If an only she had no issues with Yoongi, he could be a possible future friend.

Seul put down the frame quickly as it came to her realization, this was an invasion of privacy. It did not end right there, she was attracted to this one corner with different polaroid hung neatly there. She could see Bangtan group photos together, his selfie and a white mushy little creature namely Min Holly. A smile spread across her face at the sight “Aww, Min Holly is adorable. How can a guy like him pet something cute like this? Min Holly sure deserved better” she mentally judged him with a deep frown.

This was not her first time cleaning their rooms and she paid no attention to it before, why out of all day she was so interested with Min Yoongi’s room. Like everything that she learned from his room did not reflect his attitude. Who is the real Min Yoongi? She pondered upon the idea of finding the real Suga and reality hit her hard. She was wasting her precious time for someone who didn’t deserve her attention.

Seul shuddered at the mistakes that she almost commits few seconds ago. Moving on to Seokjin’s room, Seul must stop herself from getting involved in someone’s else life. After all, she had no intention to befriend any of Bangtan members. That would be the craziest idea that she ever had in life.

Seokjin’s room was as cleaned as Yoongi, so it took her only ten minutes to clean everything. Seul was ready to leave but something brushed passed her legs causing her to squirm in fear. She jumped a little finding the source of movement beneath her “What the hell was that?” tucking the strand of hair behind her ears, she crouched down to have a better view of it.

Without she realized, something slipped inside her hoodies making her to excrete the highest squeal of century “OH MY GOD WHAT THE HELL WHAT IS THIS” she jumped a little tried to get rid of the moving creatures underneath her hoodies. It was a total chaos when the thing started to slide creepily around her neck.

“HELP ME OH MY GOD! HELP HELP” she screamed.

Her voice sure garnered Jimin’s attention “What was that? Did she just call for help” he was contemplating whether to check on her, but the voice got louder and unstoppable? Gathering his courage, Jimin dashed out to the source of the voice only to be welcomed by jumpy Seul.

“THANK GOD! HELP ME PLEASE! THERE IS SOMETHING MOVING INSIDE MY HOODIE HELP ME OH GOD!” Seul squealed in panic. Her cheeks were flushed and Seul’s unsteady breathing feared Jimin that she was not kidding about it.

Jimin approached the scared girl with wide eyes “What should I do, what is inside your hoodie” he questioned.

“HOW SHOULD I KNOW! It is moving under my shirt, GOSH PLEASE HELP ME FASTER” she hurriedly pushed her hoodies above her head, but it got stuck in the middle. “Are you just going to stand there, help me to take this off me” she mumbled underneath the thick clothing.

“Okay wait wait!” Jimin held her arms, and carefully pulled the hoodie. He found it was harder with her moving around so he warned her to calm down and sat her down on Jin’s bed “Now, I will get this hoodie off you” he exclaimed.

Why the hell am I doing this. Helping a freak like her. He deadpanned mentally.

Jimin got hold the hoodie with both of hands and pulled it off exerting a small force careful not to hurt Seul in any way. Little did he know the moment when he pulled the hoodie it came together with the only piece which supposed to cover Seul’s body “Okay I am do-SHIT!” he gulped and immediately blushed.

He saw two small creatures moving away from Seul’s skin underneath Jin’s pillow looking for a place to hide. It was Jin’s sugar glider Odeng-ie and Eomuk-ie. Jimin’s attention now was not on the sugar glider but shirtless Seul.

Seul felt the coldness embracing her skin as she quickly brushed off her hair from covering her eyes, and it hit her hard upon seeing the shirt and hoodies in Jimin’s grips. “Shit…” Jimin cussed under his breath.

“WHAT IN THE WORLD” she covered her chest instantly and screeched crazily. Jimin flinched at her loudness, charging towards her “YAH TONE DOWN YOUR VOICE! PEOPLE MIGHT THINK SOMEONE IS IN DANGER!” Seul was alarmed by his sudden movement.

She let negative thoughts flowed in, making her shifted backwards in defence. Jimin’s legs were caught on the vacuum below him as he landed on his side in the centre of what appeared to be Seul’s body, their bodies were pressed together.

Her heart stopped beating, she didn’t get to breathe anymore. Jimin was way too close, super close to her that she could feel his fine body against her bare one. Oh god, that sounded so wrong, but it was the truth.

Both Seul and Jimin froze, having a staring contest seemed to be out of context now however for some reason this happened to them now. They were both paralyzed did not know how to react. Jimin had one of his hand rested at the side of the bed to balance himself at first, yet it failed him.

A familiar gruff voice brought them out of their daze “What the fuck?” the individual let out a loud gasp.

Seul pushed Jimin off him and hurriedly took her hoodies, putting it on with deep taint blushes spread across her cheeks. She tried to digest everything that happened to her few minutes ago, did Jimin just see her in her bra and he kind of fall above her? Her breath hitched at the memories which she wished to erase.

Jimin groaned while rubbing his bottom “Oww, what the hell woman!” he growled and stood up.

“Jimin what the hell? Why are you with her? In that.. Wait let me process this, what the hell did you guys do? Did you?” before he could jump into any conclusion Seul cut him off “NO! If that is what you think, he was trying to help me with something” she mumbled timidly.

Yoongi snorted with a sarcastic remark “By undressing each other?” he eyed Seul from top to bottom. She felt so violated with that sexy eyes of him, and she mustered her courage to shoot a death glare his way. First of all, need her to remind everyone, she shared an oh not accidental kiss with Yoongi before, and now getting caught in act by Yoongi like this didn’t do any better.

“Something moved inside my hoodie! I was trying to get help!” she justified herself.

Jimin butt in “Yes, it is not like what you think. Odeng and Eomuk got away from their cage!” he went to pick the cause of the problem underneath the pillows and showed it to Yoongi as if it is the evidence of the crime scene. He hoped it could resolve the misunderstanding.

“THEY WERE IN MY SHIRT?” Seul shrieked in disbelief.

She sighed deeply “Since when Seokjin-ssi pet them?”

“He umm… brought them in yesterday” he didn’t even dare to meet eyes with the girl in front of him. Everything happened too fast and the image of her remained fresh in his mind. This was awful.

Yoongi had enough watching those two getting all worked up in front of him and decided to have a private conversation with Seul “Leave us alone, I need to talk to her privately” his eyes were as hard as stone, it was intimidating.

“Hyung.. are you-?”

“YES! Out now Jimin” he ordered. The younger guy scurried off without complain though he was dead curious what was about to happen between them.

For once, Seul didn’t want to let Jimin go, as much as she hated the scenes moment ago, she would rather to stay with Jimin all day rather than Min Yoongi. Now, he is going to confront her about the lies and the kiss. How was she going to escape this?

She found herself shuddered under his hard gaze, taking few steps behind to create space between them Seul managed to stutter the words out “What.. d-o you w-ant” Yoongi tilted his head accompanied his little devil smug.

“You of course” he replied bluntly.

Seul jolted in fear “W-hat….”

“Need me to remind you, the thing that you did to me weeks ago?” he came closer weakened Seul’s knees. She was in deep shits with no place to escape. Speaking of escape plane, didn’t she plan to play dumb and pretended nothing happened between them.

Yes, that was her master plan. Play dumb and act you are innocent.

“Umm..no.. I cant recall” Seul coughed a little, looking away while taking a slow step back until her back hits the cold glass door behind her. Her mind started to panic as soon Yoongi closes the gap between them, she hated the look in his eyes. It was a hint of playfulness and annoyance. The combination was driving her crazy.

“Really? Try to remember it again?” he trapped Seul in between, smirking at her reluctance.

“You must be mistaken, I am here to do my job. And I am done, so I must go now. Please excuse me” she pushed his shoulder, so it could open a path for her to walk and breathe especially.

He pinned Seul’s shoulder, staring into her eyes deeply “I remember how our lips move, though you really caught me off guard that day. I would not forget how you kiss me” one of his brow arched in amusement.

How persistence. What an interesting girl. Yoongi chuckled in his head.

“Wh-at are you talking about? That sounds so wrong. I DIDN’T KISS YOU” she snarled angrily.

“Oh speaking of playing hard to get little missy. Do I need to bring you back to that day?” he leaned his face dangerously close to Seul. One more swift movement, his lips would sweep hers immediately. Seul’s breath hitched at the close proximity, while her mind finding way to escape this evil lair.

He scanned her face from her long lashes which batted beautifully, followed by her unsteady breathing, it was intriguing to see how she mewled under him. Yoongi took the chance to appreciate her natural beauty up close, the last time he was closed to a woman, he paid no heed to her facial. Until today, he realized how woman’s facial bones differ from a man like him. Giving it how a woman had a feminine face in comparison to a man.

“What are you doing, get off me” Seul chewed her lower lips slowly afraid a slight movement by her might cause another kiss tragedy between him and Yoongi. It would be bad if they kissed again. The first one might be intentional, to save her ass. But the second one later would be confusing to her.

“Are you by any chance like me?”

“NO WAY YOU COCKY ASSHOLE! WHY WOULD I? YOU ARE LIKE A TOTAL JERK!” the foul mouth Seul is back to attack causing the latter to chuckle softly, impress of her sinful mouth.

Yoongi rolled his eyes “You will be regretting it for calling me a cocky asshole. But, you still kissed me though, doesn’t it imply something. Or are you trying to seduce us? Just how you get Jimin?” he accused.

Seul was offended by his words, now that calls for real fight. Did he just indirectly turn her into a psycho bitch “The kiss was a mistake!I… did that to defend myself. You were about to murder me, you jerk! Jimin-ssi was helping me from murdering Jin’s new pets! ARE YOU INSANE?” Yoongi whom first jerked his head backward now return to his earlier position.

Their lips were now inch close again making Seul’s lips sealed completely.

Jerk, jerk! Jerk! She cursed angrily in her head.

“Now you remember, I thought you forgot it completely. I guess you are still reminded by that. By the kisses that we shared” he smirked.

“For your information, there is no kisses. It was only a kiss. Don’t get ahead yourself”

“Oh, lets make them kisses then”

Just like that, her lips are reunited with Yoongi soft one. Her adrenaline rush was so high at the moment and Seul had no idea how to recover from it. The way his small lips move against her was driving her mind crazy.

Did it just happen? Another incidental kiss with Yoongi?

Why is he kissing me! Seul screamed mentally. Part of her wanted to push him off, but why her muscle didn’t budge. Screw this.

Ji Seul, you are so done.

#bts fic #bts fanfic #bts romance #bts idolau #yoongi idolau #min yoongi x oc #suga x oc #jungkook x oc #jimin x oc #jin x oc #hoseok x oc #taehyung x oc #namjoon x oc #bts x oc #bts series #btscaretaker

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popculturebuffet · 4 years

Text

Toons for Our Times: The Casagrandes: Four Course Catchup

I take some time to catch up with everyone’s faviorite mexican-american family with a four course meal of shenanigans.

Mexican Makeover: The thorny issue of racial identity erasure is handled via a lot of costumes, spicy food and a second Sergio, which suprisingly isn’t my own personal hell. Then again giving rusty a brother wasn’t either so there’s a precident. Uptown Funk: Carl goes full Zach Morris, minus the white privlage, and marries Adelaide to get a free train ride, then let’s his hallucinations talk him into nearly killing everyone. At least the Leprechaun in the sandbox isn’t telling him to burn things anymore. Bo-Bo Business: Hector won’t respect Bobby’s genius new ideas so Bobby sets shop at the near by hong’s market and procedes to nearly get murdered by bunnies. Dear god Anya was right. Blunder Party: Ronnie Anne and Sid host their first event as a couple, a sleepover campout on the roof with their running crew. Adilade and Carl crash it causing their sibling and cousin to send the two on a dangerous scavenger hunt. As you do. Context for what’s going on the page image under the cut.

So yeah I originally wasn’t going to add the Casagrandes to regular coverage.... but what can I say. I had way more to talk about with the recent crop of episodes than I thought, the show often airs with loud house so it increases my coverage output and most importantly.. i’ts just damn good. While still having some kinks to work out, like forgetting to use CJ, the show is just really charming and uses i’ts premise well. So yeah when the show, at least according to the wiki, so expect full coverage of both this years halloween special and the show in full when it comes back in november... and with bobby being hypnotized into thinking he’s a cat apparently.. so yeah i’d be watching anyway, so why not go all in. .So with that out of the way we’ve got a lot of ground to cover so, Golpeteo de pitter, which is spanish for pitter patter... maybe. If google translate mangled that I apologize.

Mexican Makeover:

Like with our last bit of loud house coverage, we start with the least of the episodes first. That being said this one isn’t TERRIBLE, just a waste of a good concept and something intresting to explore. It’s also a real shame given this episode is written by Lalo Alcaraz, the writer of the comic strip La Cucaracha who works as a consultant on the show and previously wrote my favorite episode of the season, Croaked!, which we’ll be talking about soon. But he seems like a great guy, but everyone dosen’t bat a thousand. This episode centers around Rosa, whose mother Mama Lupe, and her parrot sidekick Paco, coming to visit. Paco is a recolor of sergio which actually explains a LOT honestly, as I now feel Sergio is the Quaks to Paco’s Squaks.

As in the crappy recolor who dosen’t have as many skills. As you can tell I don’t like Sergio much. He’s annoying, not very funny and only rarely has his moments and also spent one episode constnatly being obnoxious to Bobby, who as we’ve discussed and will soon discuss some more, is my boy. My precious baby boy. So bullying him is the equilvent of slapping me with a dueling glove. So yeah Paco is better than Sergio, being more laid back, less obnoxious.. and voiced by, of all people, legendary cartonist and the namesake of the parrot sergio, Sergio Aragones. I grew up with the guy in middle and high school as he frequently, and I belivie still does, work for parody magazine MAD Magazine, and while I haven’t read it also did 80′s indie comic Groo the Wanderer with Mark Evainer of Garfield and Friends Fame. The guy’s really damn funny and it was a real treat to find out he’s involved here, especailly since the namesakes for the loud pets have all sadly passed, so it’s nice at least one pet namesake between shows gets to guest star. But my fanboying aside, Rosa is worried she hasn’t been making her family Mexican enough and thus goes a bit absolutley nuts. She steals the kids clothes and replaces them with various traditional mexican outfits, which is a bit psycotic, and gives us a shot of carl’s ass when he compalins about his underwear being replaced, which...

Yes thank you wayne. I’m sure even some of the 7 year old’s watching this don’t want to see a fellow 7 year old’s butt. Stop that. There’s a reason the parent show stopped the gag of having Lincoln in his underwear all the time and it wasn’t just because only chris savino thought it was funny. It’s especially creepy given after Savino’s sexual harassment, John K’s reveal of being a pedophile and whatever Dan Schinder did they refuse to talk about to the public but has ciruclated around, you TIHNK the’yd be more congizant of not showing borderline child porn. I mean it’s one thing to have a kid in underpants for a gag it’s another to have a close up of his butt. Just stop. Stop. So the episode goes as you’d expect, Rosa keeps pushing things harder without explaining herself, including trying to force the kids to speak in spanish, feeding them extra spicy food and againt eh whole replacing their clothes thing.. which\ do look nice though and we do get that blessed image of bobby up top. The kids eventually confront Rosa who reveals she just dosent’ want to give her mom a heart attack, they go along with it with Sergio feeding ronnie anne spanish, which is nice continuity as her not knowing i’ts come up before, and everyone putting on a show.. which goes horribly wrong with super spicy food understandably not being built for a 80-100 year old woman, and while i’ts nice Bobby’s buddy par, we’ll cover their episode at some point too, shows up he also heavy metals so hard it knocks her over and destroys the painting, which yeah of course. Rosa comes clean and Lupe.. is entirely fine with it and feels that culture is more in values than in what you know about it, though she will teach them a few things because knowing where you came from is still important. Also Paco returns and.. why coudln’t both he and Lupe stay. For all my issues with the episode besides Carl’s butt shot, which we’ll get to in a second, I do really like Lupe and Paco is better than sergio in every way shape and form apart from the name. just color him read and have him smother sergio in his sleep and we’re up a better parot.

Final Thoughts for Mexican Makeover: This one was eh. I saved my thoughts on the main plot for here because it IS a topic worth talking about: loss of cultural idetntity, especailly for first or second generation, as our main kids and their parents are, kids, how to ballance the cultures, what really matters.. it’s all good, deep really senstiive topics that i’m in no way qulaified to entirley judge because i’m very much white and am not going to whitesplain topics that I have no personal experince with. But I can at least say they could’ve done MORE with this. For one thing Maria was absent, and it would’ve been REALLY intresting to get her take on it since Croaked! established she didn’t really give Ronnie Anne at the very least much of a lesson in their heritage. You can’t really BLAME HER: She works a demanding job, ended up having to raise them alone, and is tired a lot. As I said i’ts a VERY complex topic that’s created some VERY brilliant works around the subject, and while i’m not asking for “Moonlight... for Kids!” I am asking you to explore something like this. How aclimated the kids are to white culture is a topic worth exploring and could’ve been a special and while yes I know, it probably would’ve been “A Very Special Episode”..sometimes you need to tackle complex topics for kids. The Proud Family was also a screwball comedy, but it tackled the civil rights movement, xenophobia and other heavy subjects from time to time.. it also thought music piracy was the root of all evil but as I said no one bats a thousand. And it wouldn’t lack jokes as Alcaraz’s career is in satire: He knows how to write jokes about heavily charged topics and be clever about it on the freaking comics page, and given The Casagrandes like it’s sister show is basically a comic strip in animated form, he has the right format tow ork with it just ultimately becomes instead the cliche “person is coming time to hide everything we’ve been doing plot”, which has never been that good and is even worse on top of a more interesting idea. I don’t expect the show to be super deep all the time but I expect better than broaching a clearly difficult subject and not really giving it any weight.

Uptown Funk: Now we’re past the one I was eh on because I knew how it’d turn out, and somehow got even less on board as it wasted a good concept and good ideas, and to the one out of the four I was most pumped for. And of all things it was a CARL episode. I passingly mentioned last time I didn’t like Carl, and that opinon’s started to change. I’m still not a huge fan, his voice is grating and he STILL hasn’t given up on Lori seasons later after Clyde long has and the other show long regonized this was a bad idea. Buuut i’ve come to realize he has his moments, with Monster Cash, which i’ll cover very soon for Halloween Havoc, and this very episdoe which is utterly fantastic. Though part of that is also the supporting cast, who were the reason I was pumped. I talked abotu the Changs Breifly in my Operation Dad review but since Adalaide and Stanley are more promenent here and Becca will be, if not in person, in Croaked!, i’ll gladly dive into them. The Changs are the Casagrandes next door neighbors and EASILY one of the best parts of the show. A lovely interacial nuclear family, the four are all really likeable and distinct. I’ve talked about Sid before, so we’ll save more of that for in a bit. Stanley her dorky dad voiced by Kim Jeong who works as the subway conductor for Great Lakes City. He’s just a treat, in both sense of hte word, and really sweet interacting with his daughter and has a tendency to make small apperances due to Ronnie Anne and Sid riding the subway wherever they need to go. As i’ve said it’s nice to see Ken Jeong get to play a goofy, normal-ish dad and be funny without having to either play an over the top lunatic, weirdo or asshole. I love community but Chang could be a lot but this Chang is alright.. and probably dosen’t speak to his community college student brother that often for his family’s saftey. He does have Rabi Chang, his other brother over a lot though. Look if Teen Titans go can be jammed into the same multiverse as ok ko and steven universe, this show can take place in the same unvierse as community.

Becca is stan’s wife and the head zookeeper at the zoo as well as the runner of their various shows, voiced by melissa joan hart and while not around as mcuh as her husband, is still a delight and it’s a delight to have clarissa back. Also together with her husband they make one hell of a couple to get sandiwthced between.. and no shame there, and yes i’m aware they have kids, i’d be happy to help raise them. I”m no asshole.

Anyways speaking of those kids, we lastly have Adalaide, the star of this show and an adorable 6 year old and as Sid calls her “A sass bucket” which is accurate both for 6 year olds in general, and for this one, though like most kids her age she flips from being adorable to entirely blunt when warranted. She also has a Frog, named Froggy II. We’ll get into what happened to Froggy I and how she met Froggy II in October.

So yeah two of my faviorite side characters, I consider sid main, PLUS one of my other faviorites Vito in a supporting roll. What’s not to love? As for the plot Carl brushes off Adalaide, because he’s a little jerk festival, but changes his tune when he overhears Stanley offering to have Adilaide join him on the train even see the control. Carl being a fanboy for trains among many other things which I shall list now: Things Carl’s a Fanboy For: 1. Money 2. Petty Schemes 3. Zack Morris 4. The Ladies 5. AC Slater 6. Luchadores 7. Trains.

He naturally has his eyes light up like a christler buliding and given numbers 2 and 3 on the list quickly comes up with a scheme to get that train ride, since Stanely offered her a plus one. Granted he could’ve PROBABLY just asked Stanley for a ride and being the upstanding guy he is, and given Carl’s also a train nerd and stanley is their king, he would’ve said yes, but this is the same boy who thought his adult cousin’s same aged girlfriend would want to go out with him when said girlfriend lives in a house with at least 3 girls close to his age instead she could set him up with. The boy is more of a short term planner, like most schemers in fiction really, he sees the dollar signs like eddy from ed edd n eddy and has some good ideas, but not the more obvious solutions that aren’t as scheme based around him. I swear if this kid didn’t have a moral center this would be him in 50 years

I mean the only reason the boy hasn’t used sharks or explosives is because his parents and grandparents won’t’t let him.

Anyways Addie is skepteical for about 5 seconds and my one real complaint about the episode is it felt like she was genuinely skeptical, and playing him slightly with their games.. but it turns out nope she just genuinely bought it. But as smart as she is she’s also only 6, and her being adorably trusting works just as well. So they play games. They have a tea party, with carl wearing a truly glorious peacock that I guarnatee sid has worn both for playing with her sister and just to feel fancy. They then play with Froggy.. which gets uncomfotable as Adaladie forces Carl to kiss him, and then basically goes full on “NOW KISS” when it fails to turn froggy into a prince and Froggy runs because he wisely dosen’t want to make out with Carl, and is omly passable and not disturbing instead because she’s 6 and dosen’t know better. They then play chase froggy, which Carl wins but gets flies thrown at him in hte process so does he really? They get to their final game superheroes, with carly playing his faviorite el falcone.. but also being the hostage while Adalaide saves him because this is 2020, she don’t need to be no damsel in distress. And this to me is why the episode works.. Carl IS a huge jerk here, manipulating a younger child who just wants to be his friend to get a train ride he could’ve gotten just by asking her.. but he gets put through the ringer, and most of his “humilation” is stuff that isn’t that bad: Tea is alright, there’s no shame in wearing makeup or a veil, and being rescued by a woman is awesome. It’s just Carl’s own baby’s first toxic masuclinity that makes these situations minus kissing froggy uncomfortable, so it adds to it as Addy’s doing nothing wrong really and any pain on carl’s part is an accident on hers. She’s just an imaginatiee little lady and he’s jsut a jerk. But they pair well together his underserved ego with her adorablility and creativity and as we’ll see smarts. Part of the reason I was so excited is their one real scene togehter in monster cash, when Carl is throiwng everyon’es money back at them which is also the best bit of the episode and we’ll get to that when we cover it her response is a stern “Don’t you even dare” and he hands it back to her because you don’t mess with Addy.

Addy then brings up pretend marriage and while Carl has his first , and probably not last, panic attack over comitment he does realilze this can be used and gets his train ride over it, with the two taking Froggy along as their baby. But being Carl, he’s not ready for marriage to a strong judge on the supreme court who makes him change the diapers and humilaties him in public, whcih i’d be more upset about if again he didn’t deserve it. We also have VITO! Local itallian, the Mercado’s best customer and Hector’s only friend. He also has his two winer dogs with him which.. yes. Just yes. And they have matching hats and sweaters because Vito is the best. Hedecides to toss froggy and book it for the train car. Adalaide realizes she’s been played and is understandably pissed but sadly, needing to find her friend her husband threw, dosen’t storm into Stanley’s conductor car and throw him off the train.

Instead Carl geeks out with Stanley over the train, which means he probably is meant to marry into this family, and Stanley’s glart awards. When Stanley’s called away to deal with the frog fracas, Carl is left told not to touch anything. So the obvious happens.. Carl hallunciates a bunch of pre school level choo choos who tell him to press the button. I love .. everything about this. It’s just pure hilarity and insanity and I’m here for it and a really creative, and insane gag and a nice take on the shoulder devil trope.

Naturally Carl, being Carl, presses the big button which turns on the ac and then blasts Stan’s train mix. Which sadly isn’t just this over and over and over and over again.

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With Carl possibly banned from trains for life he naturally turns to his wife for help, who is none to happy with his bullshit, and not willing to help him because why would she? But Carl.. genuinely apologizes. It’s why I mentioned he has a moral center. Unlike say Zack morris 80% of hte time or Eddy from Ed Edd N Eddy at his worst, Carl can FEEL human emotions like guilt, and while he does need Addy’s help to not get in massive trouble, you can tell he genuinely feels bad about hurting her and is only asking because she’s his only hope and for the sake of the various passengers who if she dosen’t step in will go off the rails on a crazy train, she agrees. Turns out though Addy is pretty badass on top of being adorable, and uses Froggy II as a grappling hook, then turns out to have inherited her dad’s knowledge of trains, which was foreshadowed earlier as she said she’s gone with him a lot and was bored at his offer and won two time junior glart awards.. which given that likely includes teens and tweens, is Valeria Richards levels of acomplished. God damn kid. Kudos. Stanley gets understandably mad at carl But Addy covers for him and since she saved her dad’s awards, Carl can live.. and come back sometimes. Carl, first through his action figure then himself apologizes for being a jerk toa ddy and manipulating her.. a genuine one that shows he means it and finds she’s pretty cool. Gues this marriage CAN be saved. And so we end this episode as you’d expect.

No.. for one thing i’td be leprechaun-train monstrosity. For another the happy couple team up as superheros and thwart froggy being hit by a train , who greatfully smooches carl who, having grown, takes it in stride. Happy end

Final Thoughts: I love this one. It was funny, intresting and had carl develop as a character while fleshing addy out and giving us some great stanley stuff. It made having a jerk as the protagnist here work and made me go from begrudgingly liking carl to actuallyl iking him. while he’s pretty terrible here he suffers for most of his actions and learns from it, and he and Adelade ahve a great dynamic that we thankfully do indeed see again this very marathon. But first. IT’S BOBBY TIME.

Bo-Bo Buisness It’s my first episode starring Bobby on this blog and i’ts been TOO long and there will be more to come I promise. As i’ve made no secret of Bobby is my faviorite character here, and as you can tell that’s a tight race, and is just.. great here. The move to the city fleshed him out by giving him drive with his desire to run the mercado, franchise it, and go to buisness school to do all of it properly, while keeping his loveable sweetness, stupidity and relationship with Lori which has gone from deeply unhealthy to awwwwwwwww.

So naturally I was on board for another Bobby Bonaza, and this one like most of his eps is pretty good: This time around it focuses on Bobby’s hard work ethic and youthful energy..and it leading him AWAY from the mercado. Bobby tries setting up free wifi and a table like a cafe in the Mercado, but Hector flatly refuses and refuses anthing Bobby comes up with, citing his 30 years running the place sucessfully, while Bobby cites his less than a year of it and his book of ideas, though Hector refuses to budge. And what I like here is that while hector IS still the bad guy here, it’s not in a one dimensional “Jerk for the episode’ way this show’s sister episode tends to fall into. Or treating a character being a jerk like their the wronged party, or.. you get the idea. Point is hector has SOME points: He has run a small buisness in a huge city for 30 years, beating out gentrification, racisim, big buisness and other threats to run at thriving mercado, even with another market across the street. He also owns a sizeable apartment with room for two diffrent families, 5 adults, 6 kids, a dog and an asshole, and his wife is super for the building as a whole. He’s done MARVELOUSLY for himself and deserves to be proud and his stubborness likely comes from just how much he’s been able to acomplish while others fell around him. However.. Bobby is still sympathetic. It’s very clear working here is his dream job: His plan for his life is to expland the place into a franchise and run it himself one day, he’s the clear sucessor and Hector wont’ be around forever.. probably for a LONNNG time still, and his ghost will probably haunt the place with Rosa’s scolding him, but since ghosts can’t own property probably, someone has to take over. Bobby is his clear sucessor and his ideas aren’t bad.. poorly exceuted in this case, but not bad. As we’ll see in a bit the table idea can work, bobby just didn’t think it through and Hector could’ve HELPED HIM with it and as we’ll see most of the ideas Bobby ends up doing elsehwere are just common sense for this day and age and the one that isn’t is the one that does him in. But Hector, likely seeing any change as a threat to his bottom line and his legacy, rejects him out of hand. H’es likely scared that his protege can do BETTER, or worried that one wrong move could cost him his life’s work. I also find this ironic since a few episodes ago, though I still need to see it, Bobby himself had the same problem letting go and letting someone else control the buisness with his sister and cousins running the place while he had his anniversary with Lori. Bobby DESERVES to be given his shot.. and so when he decides to quit the mercado in a huff and take his table and his ideas with him.. you agree with him. Sure he’s leaving the family legacy.. but if Hector wont let him make it his own or appricate how much fucking work he does or love he has for the place, then what legacy is there? That got heavy. We get a great joke next as bobby makes a metaphor about the dinosaurs.. then wonders what happened to them and like me on any given day stops to google it.. and since he uses a laptop unlike me and my desktop computer or phone, and his table, he inadveratly sets up a table outside.. which fixes the problems with his idea, if by accident and impresses Mr.Hong the owner of a nearbye market who could use a fresh faced go getter like bobby and hires him right on sight and agrees to start putting his ideas in.

And the wifi table.. is a huge sucess and putting it outside gave the customers more room, so it fixes the one flaw in his plan, and serving out cafe and snacks I can’t prounounce or spell properly, bobby shows his idea WOULD have worked: instead of creating loiterers it simply gives customers like Vito, who pretty much lives at the Mercado anyway so why not, a place to sit, eat and check their email and stuff, and bobby’s a good enough salesman he can convince them to eat and given the mercado already has a customers only policy on toilets.. they could’ve just made the table purchase only, and once per hour, and their regulars would’ve lapepd it up. Hector refuses to accept this though and stews and drives sergio and carl away.. which yeah if you can out asshole Sergio, you may be the bad guy here. The two feud over dinner to their family’s confusion, and to Rosa’s annoyance and dope slaps when she spills her hard worked on food over their petty sniping but bobby’ sstar continues to rise with a music video for hongs including that bit seen above, rapping and just.. whatever the fuck that video was it was the third best rap in nick history behind that “nnnnnnick” rap and this.

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So yeah with the comeerical, Hongs has tons of customers, and Hector stews more. However things can’t be good forever, as the last 4 years have proven they can be bad for an especially long time but good? Sadly no, as Bobby gets what he always wanted: The keys to the store.. maybe not the store he wanted but still and gets to run hongs solo. Sadly though Bobby ends up fucking up, letting people bring their pets which wrecks the place, and ends up with bobby getting swarmed by an ever multiplying batch of bunnies.

As Bobby is cuddled to death, his exact words, Hector finally relents and saves the boy from literally drowning, and the two get the rabbits out.. but well with social media and all that hong knows what happen and bobby’s fired. But back at the Mercado, Hector rehires bobby, and genuinely apologizes. I do feel it comes a bit quick.. but I guess after your grandson almost got bunnied to death, you rethink your life choices. Bobby admits he was in over his head while Hector genuinely admits Bobby has good ideas and he was being a stubborn jackass and decides he can use them after all. Starting with the commerical where the two perform a nice mexican song, the whole family adorably dresses up like various mercado items as seen at the veyr top and we also get this.

Yes, yes to all of this. And we’re out.. for a moment then back in but you get it.

Final Thoughts for Bo Bo Buisness: While not the best Bobby episode, that would be the one that introduces Par and again i’ll get to that one, this one is still pretty good. While I do feel Hector turns around a bit quick, otherwise it’s funny enough and has enough character stuff with bobbby, even if i’ts mostly just from knowing him in this series to work out. I”m not ANTI-nonsense episodes, I just don’t want them there when ther’es clearly a way heavier issue your steping around. This wasn’t the BEST the series has done comedy wise but it was fun enough. Alright one more...

Blunder Party:

And we end on another pretty good one. And oddly for this show it’s the only Ronnie Anne focused one of the four. Usually she’s dead center but it seems the series is getting comfortable enough, much like it’s parent show, to ease out of focusing on just one character as the viewpoint and letting the others breathe. Still this was a good un and let’s talk about it.

It’s Party Time and Ronnie and Sid are having a sleepover on the roof. Their first party of a couple.. i’m so proud of by baby gays.. or gabies as I call them. I mean.. yes i’m not subtle with my shipping but they act less like close friends and more like two tiny lebisan awww factories. Anywho the whole crew’s here, which as with a lot of things this episode let’s talk about them: Casey, Nikki and Sameeer were introduced in a loud house I haven’t seen and naturally carried over to the show proper, showing up when Lincoln visted in an episode I will defintely cover at some point, and accepting Ronnie Anne wasn’t a born city kid. They have neat designs, are nicely diverse, and while lthey do need some fleshing out, given that like Lincoln’s own friend team squad they show up in a good chunk of ronnie anne episodes, we got time for that so we’re good. There’s also new addition Laird, the school’s own screech powers, and your standard awkward dork whose not that great. So yes even this group has a waste of a character, though he’s not AS bad as rusty or useless as Liam, just feeling a bit less essentail than Ronnie Anne’s running crew, who match her general vibne, and Sid whose her soulmate.

But as the pizza arrives via Sergio, because he has to be useful at least once, our heroes soon find the party crashed by Great Lakes City’s newest power couple: Carl and Adelaide! Looking like their fucking team rocket. Seriously I had other options for this episode, including bobby sliding around on his back comically, so it says something just how great that iamge is and how fucking gloriously smug yet awesome they look.

The two want to join and even outdo the big kids at stretcing and flinging pizza, but as many little siblings like myself know all too well, the big siblings don’t want you there. I can’t count the number of times I wanted to hang with my brothers friends, but he refused frome lementary all the way up to high school. It was maddening. SO I sympathize with them, but i’ve grown tor ealize grown up kids want to have their own time and fun so I sympathize with both parties: Carl and Addy just want pizza and games and to hang with the big kids and Ronnie Anne and Sid just want to host a party as a couple without watching their siblings.

However Carl forces a compromise.. by using his special mood.. whining loudly and summoning Rosa.. whos eriously just.. teleports behind the kids. I thought only Lucy could do that in this unvierse. Respect.

Rosa however is resonable. While she dosen’t want the kids to be excluded, and it’s understandable and nice of her: The kids just wan’t to feel included and Rosa is resonable enough to say they will have to leave eventually wehn it’s time for bed. A fair compromise. Also i’d wonder why Adelaide is here but I assume the Chang Parents had her come over there, which Rosa being the lovely person she is agreed to. I didn’t get into her above but I do like Rosa a lot as a character as she’s a resonable authority figure.. but liable to slip into her own foibles, and is kind and loving with her family if strong and strict when she needs to lower the boom. Mostly on Hector who i’m amazed survived last episode and getting his own grandson to leave in one piece.

But yeah I mean I can only imagine what’s going on there...

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Also sex obviously, but since I obviously can’t and won’t show you that, have this video to jodeci’s freak n you instead and let your imagination fill the blanks if you want.

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I will use this song any time I can. Anyway, Sid being the peach she is tries to convince Ronnie anne all is not lost. Earlier she used a metaphor saying how they had all the perfect ingredents like a smore, and now adds pizzza.. which ot be fair a pizza smore, but using bagles or something sounds great, but pizza on a smore sounds like my own personal hell.. though Sid likes it so i’ll let it live.. for now. That’s also why Sergio is alive. FOr now.

But even sid has a limit and the power couple soon break those: An attempted scary ghost story session goes bad as they break poor sameer by predicting eveyr story he has even the one the poor kid wings, and he and his prehinsile hair are sad. Cheer up kid at least you can probably go live on Krakoa at some point. Free health care, free housing, living on a giant paradise. Good stuff.

The two then ruin an attempted dance party, which unlike the above which was just bad timing, this time their just obnoxious as addy wnats to ballet, and Carl wants to... put it to his butt whle playing fart noises. Okay for starters.

Secondly if he wanted to do that he could’ve got a cd of Nickleback cheaper and no one would’ve noticed.. then again they might of thought the poor boy had Dihera. Somehow this isn’t the last draw. Nikki, being a real one, holds a gross drink contest which carl spits out on the crowd.. which really WHAT DID YOU ALL EXPECT. This is how those things end. WIth spit up and fury.

Anyways enough is enough, so our ambigiously gay duo hatch a plan and send the little kids on a scavanger hunt. So while the Ronnie’s Running Crew have fun, and spot bobby and his best buddy par and bobby flop on some mangos and slide around on mango juice all episode as a result, the dream team work on getting that list done. From getting one of Hector’s nosehairs to Mr. Nakamura’s faviorite sweatervest (which takes a while) , to Carlota’s diary they do it with flair. Of note is the two having to steal Sergio’s crackes.. and nearly getting murdeered by the parot who seriously looks like he’s about to skin a child.. thankfully when HE does a shining by crashing through the door, he just gets stuck so no child murder tonight. Horay! Well until Carlota finds out her diary missing then this happens.

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But things get dire when the kids think they see the smaller kids get stuck in par’s truck. Thankfully bobby knows where his best friend is at all times, because he’s consdierate and knows where he’s headed next, and the kids end up following him, while Sameer stays behind to distract with his hair puppets since Rosa wants to little ones to go to bed.

Sid and Ronnie anne and co head to the dump , shenagins insue and they think they lost their sibling and cousin.. only to find them, the two having gotten a mango that looks like Vito and won.. and Sid and Ronnie apologizing and admitting their scam. In a nice bit though while Carl gets upset, Addy quickly points out they DID ruin their fun, and crash the party, and Carl begrudingly admits he’s wrong. Again, keep them married show. Carl needs Addy to keep him honest and Addy needs carl to hide the bodies of her enmies. They make a good pair, just like their big sis and cousin.

Anyways, Ronnie Anne and Sid ask to have the kids for just a bit longer to repair them and again this is why I repsect Rosa. She finds out the kids disobeyed her or at least found a loophole but isn’t mad and gets both sides learned from it. Our kidlets get a giant ass smore for their heroic efforrts, Nikki returns Carlota’s diary in secret to avoid their deaths while Sergio is arrested for attempted murder of two minors. A good night all around. Bobby joins in to close out, which isn’t met with any resitance because who dosen’t love bobby, while Hector wakes up to the vito mango and wonders what happened to him.. okay apparently Vito’s been turned into a non-sapient piece of fruit before and I want details show. Final Thoughts Finally: A pretty good one. Carly and Adleadie continue to prove to a hell of a combo, whie the proven dream team of Sid and Ronnie Anne work well off their younger counterparts. It overall leads to a fun episode with lots of great gags.. and also bobby sliding around on his back comically like he’s a goddamn roomba and I am hear for it. Just overally really good stuff and a really fun plot. This really feels like stife of the party done right. Both sides screw up but make up instead of one just getting their way because protaganist. And overall this batch of episodes was really damn good and I look forward to watching the series reguarlly from now on. Until then, just one more day then this blog gets all spooky! SO stay tuned, stay safe and go team venture! Play us out nickleback! WAIT WHY DID i SAY THAT NO NO NO NO NOOOOOOO

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petri808 · 6 years

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To Hell and Back

Fic Writer’s Appreciation- January 2018 Writing Challenge January (2018) Day 18 Friendship

9K+ words. Sequel to Alone No More, what did Natsu really do to end up cursed and how far would friends go to protect each other? Sorry, it’s a little rushed since I was trying to get it done by the 18th. I’ll probably tweak it and post an updated version on AO3 hopefully in a week or two. Thanks for reading :)

Levy, Erza, and Cana, three of Lucy’s best friends accompany her to a dress fitting in the city. The wedding is just six months away and they all must get fitted for their gowns. As the soon-to-be Princess of Kelekona, it was natural the girls were escorted in a carriage by several of the Royal guards. Jellal, Sting, Leo, and Gajeel were some of the finest in the army and they were handpicked for the job by Natsu because Lucy’s safety was always his top priority.

The girls arrived at the shop which had been cleared of any other customers for a private session with no trouble and once inside, the four men took up their positions, standing guard at the only entrances, two by a front door, and two by a rear exit in the back. Inside, the shop keeper, and two assistants along with the four girls were the only ones.

But little did they know, that one of the assistants was the wizard that originally cursed Natsu and she had other plans for the would-be bride…

“Ahh, Welcome again Lady Lucy,” the shop keeper bows to the young blonde, “I am honored that you chose my establishment for your royal wedding attire.”

“You are too humble, Hibiki,” she smiles, “Your dresses and suits speak for themselves and I am very much a fan.”

“Please, have a seat, ladies,” he gestures to some cushioned chairs as his assistants bring out refreshments, “Do you have a dress style in mind for you and the bridesmaids?”

“Yes…”

As the shopkeeper and Lucy speaks, one of the assistants dictates notes and sketches, while the other begins taking measurements of each women. Styles, colors, embellishments, fabric preferences are all accounted for. Natsu’s favorite colors are reds and golds so Lucy decided to go with that as the color theme, but for a fun little twist approved by the King and Queen, little dragons and stars will be embroidered on the bridal party’s attire.

When it is Lucy’s turn, Karen, one of the assistant’s gestures to the riser, “Please, Lady Lucy, step up so that I may take your measurements.”

Hibiki turns his questions towards the Maid of Honor Levy to gather more information on the exact placements of the embroidery as Cana and Erza look around the shop at the other fineries he sells. This establishment caters to mostly nobility and other wealthier citizens of the surrounding areas but, a little window shopping couldn’t hurt.

“Please stand up straight and put your arms out.” Once Lucy complies, Karen measures the length of arm from neck to wrist, then bust and waist. “Are you excited to be marrying the Prince, Lady Lucy?”

“Oh yes,” the young blonde beams at the mention of her fiancé, “It has been such a magical journey, like those fables you read to children, but it’s actually happening to me!”

Karen kneels to measure the inseam and outer leg lengths, “Prince Natsu seems like a nice young man, he is very lucky to have met you.”

“Thanks,” the girl blushes

“Would you tell me,” Still in the kneeling position, Karen lowers her voice so that the other’s around them cannot hear her, “are the rumors true, had he really been cursed and turned into a dragon and you were the one who broke the spell?”

“It’s true,” Lucy tilts her head, “But, I’m a little surprised, I thought everyone in this city knew the story.”

“Oh, I have,” the woman smirks, “I just wanted to confirm it from the source.”

“Why?”

“To make sure…” she looks straight at Lucy, “my spell is cast on the right person.”

“Spell…” Lucy begins to back-peddle, slipping off the riser and falling, “Wh-who are you…”

Karen stands up, “the witch who cursed Natsu. He should have suffered longer after what he did to deserve it!”

“Hey what’s going on!” Hibiki and the others rush over, “Karen wh…”

“Stay back, all of you!” Now even the guards have surrounded them. “I will kill her if anyone comes any closer.”

But the guards take a step forward. “Wait!” Lucy shrieks, “Stay where you are.” She turns back to the woman, “why do you want to hurt me?! I thought it was just a prank that…”

“It was no prank! And there are others that know this to be true who have helped him hide it.” Sting flinches, but says nothing. “Two years wasn’t long enough for him to learn his lesson, and so I am forced to act once again.”

“But why me? I didn’t have anything to do with that!” Lucy is in tears by this point, “I wasn’t here…”

“Don’t you think I know that stupid girl! But for him to realize and atone for what he did, I must take away what is most precious to him… and that my dear is you.”

She lifts her hand above her head, “May she draw out the truth that lies buried in his soul and deliver reparations for my heart. Lefkó os katharó me fterá chrysoú, metamorfónoun aftó to korítsi se dráko! (White as pure with wings of gold, transform this girl into a dragon!)”

Lucy’s body begins to glow just like Natsu’s did when he began to transform, “What did you do to me?”

“What did you do to the Princess!” Jellal shouts, “Damn witch you will pay!” He takes a step forward...

“Kill me and you won’t learn the secret to removing the spell,” Karen snickers. “Do you really wanna do that?”

While everyone watches, Lucy’s body slowly changes… morphing into a dragon. “Please tell us how to save her!” Levy begs through her tears, “she doesn’t deserve this…”

They must move back as the creatures grows, a little smaller in size, and white with goldish colored wings than Natsu had been… “Please Ms. Karen!” the girl drops to her knees beside her unconscious friend as the glowing subsides, “Tell me!”

“Follow the instructions I leave to the letter, and remember, the names given must do exactly as instructed or she will remain a dragon for the rest of her life…” the witch simply vanishes into thin air and in her place, lies a book.

“Fuck where did she go?!” Jellal screams. “Gajeel, Leo fan out into the surrounding areas and search, Sting let’s get these girls back to the palace now!”

“But what about the Princess? She’s still unconscious, how do we get her to the palace?”

Hibiki who is still shaken by the whole ordeal volunteers, “I have a horse drawn cart out back, s-she should fit in it.”

“Thank you, Hibiki,” Erza places her hand on his shoulder trying to reassure him…

All the while, Cana had picked up the book and turned her attentions to Levy who is sobbing hysterically over her friend. “Come on Levy, we’re gonna save her…” she rubs the girls back, “Don’t lose it now, we need you to stay strong…” she shows her friend the book, “and we’re gonna need your skills.”

Levy wipes at her face and looks at the book, “It l-looks like Dragoumik, an ancient dialect used by priests who worshiped these creatures a couple hundred years ago…”

“Girls,” they turn to see Sting walk up behind them, “We need everyone’s help to move Lady Lucy…”

In order not to create a panic, Lucy is hidden under fabrics, and driven by Hibiki himself to look like a simple delivery of goods to the palace, but Levy refuses to leave her friend’s side and lays down next to her just in case she wakes up. The rest of the entourage follows in their carriage with Jellal leaving the girls in Sting’s care to find his other two guards.

On the way, Levy flips the book open and finds a loose paper, folded, and tucked against the seam. There is too little lighting to read most of it, but clearly it is instructions just as Karen said they would be. “Hang in there Lucy,” she lays her head against her friend, “I’ll get you back to normal, and find out what the hell Natsu did to cause all this!”

Once safely behind the walls of the palace, and with the help of a few other guards, Lucy is swiftly carried to her room before anyone can see her. While the three girls wait there, Erza asks a guard to fetch the King and Queen and Sting rushes off to find Natsu who is with Gray somewhere in the training fields near the forest.

But Levy is not wasting anytime, as soon as Lucy is safely in her room she yanks the paper out of the book and starts reading…

“The three conspirators must find the keys to unlocking the spell. Natsu Dragneel. Gray Fullbuster. Sting Eucliffe…” ‘Gray and Sting know something?!’ “Fullbuster will search for the Jewel of Reflection, Eucliffe must find the Elixir of Contrition, and Natsu Dragneel shall locate the Verity Chalice. In this Book of Wisdom, you shall find the directions for each key piece.

Each conspirator will be put through their own tests in order to obtain the key pieces. Once collected, all must be brought by these individuals before Lucy in the place her heart was stolen…” ‘Place her heart was stolen? What the hell does that mean?’ “Remember, they must keep the items they were tasked to find with them.

Place the Jewel and Elixir together in the chalice and incant the spell Allagi to activate the final test. Once Lucy drinks the potion, Natsu must atone for what he did and if he speaks the truth, the curse will be broken.” ‘Spell?’ Levy frantically flips through the codex, ‘Spell? There! Allagi!’ “I’ve got it! I’ve got it!!”

“Got what?!!” Cana and Erza rush over to their friend.

“I know what needs to be done to save Lucy!”

Movement catches their attention as Lucy stretches her legs and wings, like she is waking up from a long slumber. “Lucy!” the two girls run over to her.

Cana, “Lucy, don’t freak out but you’ve been turned into a dragon.” But she literally jumps to her feet, wide-eyed, spinning trying to see it for herself.

Erza, “Lucy calm down, y-you’re gonna hurt yourself… or break something.”

Levy hugs the dragon’s neck, “Stop, Lucy, it’s gonna be okay!” tears are starting to trickle again, “We know what we need to do, we’re just waiting for the others to get here.” The dragon settles down and hangs her head. “I swear to you, Lu, I’m gonna get you back to normal and figure out what the hell Natsu did to cause this in the first place!”

The two girls and Lucy both look up at their friend, “What do you mean what he did?” the red-head asks.

“This is not over some stupid prank, that woman was angry, and she even alluded to it back at that shop… Reflection… Contrition… Verity…” Levy’s voice is cynical and irritated, “…it’s all about making amends for something and I doubt it’s because of a joke. And whatever happened, she believes that Gray and Sting knew about it and helped Natsu to cover it up.”

“So, you said, you know what needs to be done?”

“Yeah, but there’s only one thing I’m not sure about. It says once they’ve gathered the keys they must…” she looks back to the book and skims over the words as she reads them aloud, “Once collected, all must be brought by these individuals before Lucy in the place her heart was stolen,” looks at Lucy, “Do you know where that place is?” The dragon stares for a second then shakes its head. “Maybe Natsu will...”

Little did the girls know, that King Igneel and Queen Grandeeney had arrived at the room just as Levy was hugging Lucy to calm her down, and when they heard the discussion, stopped to listen.

By the time Levy was asking about the place Lucy’s heart was stolen the Queen was in tears and the King was fuming, not at what was happening now but his son. Something in his heart had always wondered if a simple prank could have led to the curse and now, with his future daughter-in-law, an innocent party affected, he was ready to demand the truth.

Queen Grandeeney is too upset so one of her attendants takes her back to her chambers but Igneel takes a deep breath and opens the door. As soon as he sees Lucy his heart drops even more. “Damn it Natsu…” he mutters under his breath and shakes his head.

“King Igneel,” the two girls bow their heads at the arriving monarch, even Lucy drops hers but the King, lifts it back up.

“I’m so sorry my dear,” moisture is clouding his eyes as he stares at the dragon, “you don’t deserve the pain my son has brought upon you.” turning to Levy, “I believe what you were saying, Natsu must have done something far worse to that wizard than he admitted to, to bring this on again. Can you really save her?”

“Yes.” Levy states without hesitation.

King Igneel nods, “Good, then I’m putting you in charge. If my son so much as whines I swear I am gonna give him a lashing he’ll never forget! Lucy is the best thing that has ever happened to him and if he screws it up I’ll… I’ll…” but before he finishes, Lucy nuzzles the king’s face with her snout to quiet him. Her eyes are soft, reflecting warmth and compassion, they say to let it go…

Exhale, “You’re too good for him,” King Igneel smiles, “But if you can offer mercy at a time like this then so can I.” Lucy closes her eyes as he smooth’s her muzzle, releasing what can be only be described as a sigh…

At that moment Natsu and Gray burst through the doors with Sting right behind them. “Fuck, what the hell did that bitch do to you!” But before he can reach Lucy, both his father and Levy step between them.

“You’ve got some serious explaining to do young man.” His father grabs his son by the shirt, “and you two,” he looks at Gray and Sting who stand petrified behind their friend, “you helped him get in this mess, you’re helping him get out of it or you’ll spend the rest of your lives in the dungeon, understood!”

Gray and Sting just nod and hang their heads while Igneel lets go of his son’s shirt. “Now, the three of you are gonna stand there, with your mouths shut, as Levy tells you exactly what you have to do to fix this problem. If any of you gives her any problems you’ll be answering to me, got it?” Again, they nod.

“Can’t I at least kiss my fiancé or hug her, something? She’s gotta be upset right now.”

“Lucy,” the king turns to the dragon, “Do you want a hug from Natsu?” The dragon shakes her head no, “Sorry son, guess she’s still upset, with you.”

“Why me?”

Having stayed quiet while the King dealt with his son, Levy just can’t hold back the anger that had been simmering for the what the Prince had caused her best friend. “Are you fucking serious!” the young girl starts screaming and advancing on Natsu, “Even though some of us don’t know exactly what you did to cause it, we do know it’s all your Fucking Fault!!”

Everyone’s mouth drops at the profanity coming out of the usually quiet girls mouth and Cana and Erza must grab Levy by the shoulders to pull her back. “…You, and Gray, and Sting pissed off that witch and now Lucy is paying for it! And you’re gonna friggin fix this or so help me the dungeon is gonna be a vacation compared to what I do to you!”

“Alright!” Natsu puts his hands up, “Of course I’ll do anything to break the curse, I want Lucy back!”

Levy reads aloud the instructions given by the witch word for word and while she does this, the King watches the expressions on Natsu, Gray, and Sting’s faces carefully. He can see the wheels turning in their minds, clearly all three of them were guilty of something, but what?

The witch called them all conspirators but according to witnesses, she also said she was taking away what was precious to him, meaning Natsu. His son must be the one who did something and the other two are covering for him.

After finishing, Levy looks straight at Natsu and asks, “Where is the Place Lucy’s heart was stolen?”

He shrugs his shoulders, “I have no idea.”

“Well think harder! Because unless we can figure it out, finding those keys are useless. Only two people know this answer, you and Lucy and unfortunately, she can’t speak right now.”

“I’m not sure…” his shoulder slump and he plops down onto their bed holding his head in his hands, “Gah! I’m not good at this romantic stuff, I-I…” Even though he’s covering his face, Lucy can smell the tears starting to trickle down his face. She walks over and nudges his hand until he finally looks up at her.

“Lucy, I’m so sorry!” he throws himself on her, hugging to her neck, “I swear I never meant for anything like this to happen…” Letting his tears go, the young Prince’s chest heaves from crying so forcefully, “I’m gonna get you back to normal, I promise, I promise, just don’t leave me please!” She nuzzles him back as if to say I’m not going anywhere…

And that’s when it hits him, “I know the place…” he sniffles and pulls back to caress her muzzle. Resting his forehead against her cheek, “It’s the same place you stole my heart too.”

“Well?!!” Everyone shouts at the same time.

He smiles and kisses her nose, “The cave, am I right?” Lucy nods her head.

“Great!” Levy stands up from the loveseat she was on, “Now that we know where it is, it’s time you three go and find the key pieces.” She hands out instructions to where they will find them. “I don’t know what you’ll encounter when you get to these locations but just come back as quickly as possible.

Once you’ve all returned, meet back here at the palace and make sure you hold on to the pieces you were told to find,” she stresses, “since the witch specifically assigned them, there must be some significance to it. Then we’ll all go to the cave together, I’ll have the spell translated by then.”

King Igneel, “Should I send help with them?”

“No,” Levy shakes her head, “the witch wanted this to be a test of sorts that they needed to complete, on their own.”

“Okay,” the king agrees, but he worries. He might be angry with Natsu but he’s still his only son.

Each person in the room, makes their way out, Igneel goes to check on his wife and let her know what’s going on, Sting and Gray still with their heads hung in shame set out on their missions, Cana and Erza drag Levy out with her to give the couple a few minutes alone, promising to return quickly with food.

“Lucy,” with trepidation in his tone, he smooths the area around her face and neck, “Are you really still mad at me?” she nods. He sighs, “D-do you… hate me?” she shakes her head no. “Do you still love me?” Now this time she doesn’t respond for a few seconds, giving him a mild heart attack, but soon nuzzles his face and nods her head.

He exhales long a deep, “I know this might not mean much under the circumstances, but you still look beautiful Luce.” She shakes her head, shying away from his gaze, but he turns her head back to him, “No, really you are, you’ll always be beautiful to me no matter what.” Leaning his forehead to hers, “I’ll make this right again, okay?” she nods, “be back before you know it,” he flashes his cheeky grin, and after one more kiss to her nose he sprints out the door…

Gray’s quest leads him to the summits of Mount Hakobe, trudging through snow drifts and semi-blizzard like conditions; it’s painfully slow going. It didn’t help that the location of the Jewel gave very little details, a cave on Rumi’s Peak marked by blue granite about 600 yards from the base. But the peak was at least half a kilometer wide and chances are the cave will be hidden by snow.

Locals in the area give him a little more information saying the cave faces East, towards the rising sun; a symbol of new beginnings. Is it a sign he wonders, as he makes his way in that direction, find redemption for what they had done and begin… anew?

He had known the second Sting told them what had transpired their past had come back to haunt them. They should have been free and clear, the girl and her mother had moved to the other side of the continent, Natsu’s curse had been broken, so why did that witch have to stir things up again?!

Unless this wasn’t just to punish the Prince, but them as well? It had been selfish of him but when Natsu was the only one to suffer the witches curse he had breathed a sigh of relief that the witch hadn’t come after them too. ‘Well I guess I was wrong…’ grumbling in his head, ‘all because that idiot couldn’t control himself, I’m here freezing my ass off!’

It was almost like the mountain heard his protests because winds began to whip around him, swirling and lashing him with the icy snow. He runs with his arms up frantically trying to block his face from the onslaught, but it can only do very little as what feels like tiny daggers slice at any exposed skin. With his desperation mounting, a glimmer of hope rises in the distance, a cave, ‘Shelter!’ And heads right for it….

“Well at least this elixir thing is in the forest,” Sting snickers, ‘Gray must be thrilled with the snow, fuck, he’s always been frigid anyways, he’ll fit right in.’ He wipes at the beads of sweat gathering on his forehead. “Tch, never thought a rain forest would be so damn hot though!” shouting at the birds chirping around him.

Hacking away at the vines and foliage, Sting traipses over the cushiony ground of fallen leaves and other debris, thoroughly irritated that he was stuck in this situation. “I didn’t get them drunk!” slicing through another thick vine. “I wasn’t even there when he shagged her!!”

It was true that the soldier hadn’t been with his two friends when they were partying with the girl, though at the time he was mad he wasn’t. Usually it was the three of them getting into such mischief but that night he was on guard duty. I mean what virtuous chick would even agree to be alone with men unless she wasn’t as innocent as she claimed to be.

The chauvinist in him had no problem blaming her for the whole ordeal and that’s why he did what he did to protect his friend and his kingdom. There was no way he was going to allow, who he felt was a whore, tarnish the Princes name, and he was pretty sure he had scared the girl enough to keep her mouth shut. Then, when Natsu had gotten cursed by the witch he became paranoid for a time that he would be next on the list, after all he had a played his part.

But nothing happened, months went by and when he learned the girl and her mother had moved far away he thought he was clear. ‘Boy was I wrong…’ When that woman started talking about the people who knew, he thought he was done for, but instead she focused on Lucy. Panic had rose like bile in his throat, but he couldn’t move, no one knew what they had done, and he wasn’t about to admit to it either.

It wasn’t until he was looking for Natsu that he could reflect on what was going on. For Sting, the girl had meant nothing, but Lucy was a completely different case. He liked her, a lot, as in, if Natsu had screwed up he would have swooped in to console her. At least he had enough respect for his friend never to cross the line until that happened and considering they were engaged to be married, probably never will. But it wasn’t right, that she was being punished for their transgressions.

“Where the hell’s this medicine guy!” pushing a branch out of his way. “I don’t have time to waste here!” another branch. “Damn it!” just as he’s moving another branch, a strong gust of wind funnels through the trees, ‘what the…’ picking up leaves and other vegetation from the ground propelling it at him. His hands fly up to block but the branch he had already started to push forward, recoils, hitting him square in the chest and flinging him backwards.

Sting’s body slams hard against a tree trunk before landing face first at it’s base, knocked out col

“…Hey Gray, why is there a girl here?” “I met her at the tavern last night, invited her to party with us.” “I’d rather not…” “What are you scared of…”

He shakes his head, ‘I should’a left, right that second, I should’a left her alone with Gray,’ he sighs and rubs his temples. But the messed-up part is, if not for that night, and being turned into the dragon… ‘I wouldn’t have met Lucy.’ “Oh, this is so fucked up!” the exasperation in his voice speaks volumes, is fate really so, twisted? ‘I got to meet the girl of my dreams… after meeting the one that became my nightmare.’

Natsu’s journey would take him the furthest of the trio, for the goblet he needed to obtain was near the city of Alvarez. Clear across the continent of Fiore it will take him at least 3 days of hard riding by horse which left him a lot of time to think. And the fact was, he didn’t even know what the truth was anymore or what to believe.

That night in the barracks he remembers drinking with Gray and the girl, he knows he got wasted on alcohol, but at some point, he must have blacked out because he doesn’t remember sleeping with her. Not to say it didn’t happen, just that he couldn’t remember. For all he knew he simply fell asleep.

But according to Gray, when he woke up he found Natsu, with only his boxers on, passed out next to the partially naked girl, it sure looked like they had had sex. So, he believed Gray when he was told it must have taken place; his friend wouldn’t lie to him, right? And in his panic, he let his two best friends cover up the incident like nothing ever happened.

And that was easier to believe, to assure himself that nothing happened, it was a misunderstanding, hell, that it was all just a drunken dream and for six months no one could have told him otherwise; until that witch cursed him. The woman never told him who she was or why she was doing that to him, but it didn’t take a genius to put it together.

That’s when the truth reversed in his mind, and believed he had deflowered the girl. His parents had raised him with enough morals to know it was wrong to take a girl’s virginity before marriage and this tore him up inside.

So, by the time Lucy had found him injured in the forest, he did want to die but not because he felt alone like he had told her, but because he felt he had committed such a horrible sin. That poor girl would never be looked upon the same if men knew she was no longer pure, and it was all his fault.

With the sun about to set in just a couple hours, Natsu finally arrives at his destination. ‘This is odd…’ he remarks to himself, for this forest clearing is eerily silent. No birds chirping or insects buzzing, no sound of wind rustling the leaves, just a still and unnerving dead space.

His horse begins back-peddling and shuffling from side to side, even this creature feels the uncomfortable energy of this place. “Shhh…” he pats and rubs his horses neck, trying to prompt it forward again, but the animal plants it front feet, refusing to take another step.

“You finally made it, Prince Natsu…”

He looks up from his horse, eyes narrowing and anger bubbling to the surface the instant recognition processes in his brain, for where there was no one before a woman stands waiting, “You!”

Back in Kelekona, Lucy is so distraught she refuses to leave her room, but worried about her sanity, her three best friends take turns to make sure she’s never alone. They do their best to keep her spirits up, and her attention on anything but the fact she was just turned into a dragon.

Lucy permits a few others to come in like the King and Queen, Princess Wendy, her servants Aries and Virgo; but only people she knows she can trust.

Unable to talk anymore, like Natsu, she instead does a lot of reflecting. Lucy hides her emotions from her friends, which is not difficult considering she can no longer smile or frown, cry or laugh and other actions that may give it away. She must admit, that being incapable of doing any of those things that makes them human, really does leave you feeling lonely.

To think Natsu spent two years in this condition and after just two days she can barely stand it. No wonder he started to retreat from the world he knew. But what about the things the witch had said? What did Natsu, Gray, and Sting do that was so horrible, to incur her wrath?

After the boys had left, Levy had divulged a little more of the translations to just the girls. Levy had purposely withheld details from them because she wanted them to suffer a little and when she explained what she meant, they could see why. Yes, each of the guys were assigned a specific item because they were tailored to what the witch wanted them to learn.

The journey to the item would be physically demanding, and when they finally found the pieces, to obtain them the tests will humble and break them down mentally. The witch wants them to understand what they did, whatever they did, was wrong. And even after all of that, Natsu must pass the final, and ultimate test given not by these magical items, but by Lucy herself for the spell will give her the ability to discern whether or not he is telling the truth….

He shakes away the layer of snow and ice now coating his face and clothing, surveying the damage left behind from the frozen projectiles. “Tsss…” he grimaces when he feels a particularly deep cut on his forehead, ‘That’s gonna leave a scar.’

‘Now, what?’ Unable to see anything around him, all he can hear are the howling winds outside of the cave. But luckily as a soldier, he had been trained to handle subzero situations and was well equipped to deal with the darkness he finds himself trapped in.

Pulling the glow wand, he had brought along, he looks around, noting the cave will provide adequate protection for now but maybe there will be another way out.

Carefully, he moves along the wall of the passageway, ducking from stalactites and stepping around stalagmites, he’s not paying full attention to what is in front of him. Bang! Walking straight into a hard obstruction he swore up and down wasn’t there, not only does his face hurt from where it slammed into the surface but his ass when he slipped and fell backwards.

“Fuck!” rubbing his bruised rear, “What the hell?!” waving the glow wand in front of him, his own image greets him. “Whoa…” reaching out to touch the reflective ice, its surprising, “Never seen ice like this before…” moving the wand higher, a slight distortion in the ice catches his attention. Gray stands up to get a closer look and realizes, this is it, this is the Jewel he was looking for!

Frozen in the center of the wall, it’s so clear it almost blend’s right into the ice if not for the raised and cut appearance. Was it really a jewel that someone had hidden here ages ago, it must be since no natural stone could have that finished gem like appearance.

Gray grabs his trusty knife and sets to work on freeing it from the ice, but the moment his fingers touch the stone, his reflection shimmers and distorts. All around him the cave he was just standing in fades away. “’what’s going on!” in a panic, the blade drops from his hand, the scene is changing…

“No! No Way!” … to that night... “Not again!”

Frantically turning around, he sees Natsu lying in the bed next to the girl but somethings different. His friend is not asleep but grinning at him, “Isn’t this what you wanted to happen Gray?” the apparition taunts the shaken soldier and sits up. “You were the one who invited her, you wanted to party, you wanted to get her drunk to…”

“Don’t say it!” Gray closes his eyes and clutches at his ears to tune out Natsu’s voice. “This is not what I wanted to happen!!”

“Just admit it Gray, and your pain go away…” someone or something grabs his shoulders, “…admit that this was all your fault!”

“NOO!!!” he pulls away from the apparition, pressing himself against the wall, “I just wanted to have some fun, I didn’t expect you to sleep with her!”

“But that still means you started the chain of events, Gray you brought her here, you helped feed her the alcohol… You’re just as guilty as I am…”

The soldier buckles and slides to the floor, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry!!!” he cries, sobbing into his hands. “It is my fault this happened… and now poor Lucy is suffering too when it should have been me… Why didn’t the witch target me instead?” he looks up at Natsu’s doppelganger, “she didn’t deserve to get cursed for our sin.”

“Everything will be okay now…” the Prince kneels and hugs his friend, “…it’ll be okay…”

Soft white light, so bright fills the room, Gray closes his eyes and exhales as the weight of the whole world lifts from his shoulders… When he opens his eyes again, he is back in the cave. He blinks, still stunned and shaken from the experience that had seemed utterly real… and it was, in his mind, he had been taken back to the night.

A pulse of red, a cracking noise, Gray looks to the jewel and sees the ice holding it begin to fracture around it, diving just as it starts to fall he manages to catch it. “I’ve gotta get this back to Lucy!”

“Young man…” someone shakes Sting’s shoulder, “Excuse, me young man, it’s time you wake up…”

“Huh?” rolling to his side, his aching body, stiff after a long slumber. “What?”

“I think you should get up, you’ve been asleep for a day and a half.”

“Whoa, a day and a half!” Sting shoots up to a sitting position. Looking around he finds himself on a cot in some old hut, with a bandage wrapped around his forehead. “How’d I get here? Wait, where is here?”

“I found you unconscious in the forest. You had a really bad cut above your eye, and so I brought you to my home to patch you up.”

“I…” trying to stand on wobbly legs, “I need to get back to my mission,” but he stumble’s and the elderly gentleman steadies him.

“Mission, what kind of mission?”

“A very important one! I need to find a medicine man that lives in this forest cause he’s supposed to know where the Elixir of Contrition is.” Turning to the man, “Hey, do you know where I can find this guy?”

“Oh yes, he’s very close.”

“Really!?” the soldier’s eyes light up, “Where?!”

“Standing in front of you.”

Sting’s eyes widen, and he grabs the man by the shoulders, “Please, tell me where this elixir is! I need to help my friend that was cursed.”

“I’m sorry, young man, but It is not something I can simply give you, however, I can show you how to try and obtain it,” Sting releases the gentleman and takes a step back, “if that is truly what you desire.”

“Yes! I’ll do anything to save Lucy!”

“Very well, sit here,” he prompts Sting back onto the cot, “I’ll be right back.”

The blonde man watches as the elderly medicine man rummages around on a back table, all the while his mind is racing. He couldn’t believe his luck to run into the one guy he was searching this huge forest for! But then again, it had been odd, the way that happened, he reaches up and touches the throbbing area above his eye.

The man had said he had a cut there, did it happen when the branch hit him? Or maybe when he his face hit the ground? Sting prided himself on his appearance, always making sure to keep his body toned and in superior form so while he waits he scans around the room and sees a mirror hanging on one of the walls.

He pulls the bandage off to survey the damage and gasps, a large diagonal cut runs down from his hair line almost to his right eye. ‘Damn, that’s gonna leave a scar!’ Anger at the witch boils to the surface, ‘that bitch! This is all her fucking fault!’

“Young man?”

Sting whips around and is confronted by the gentleman and sees something, “Is that it?” He snatches the bottle out of the man’s hands and immediately grows irritated. Turning it upside down, “It’s empty!”

“I told you, it’s not something I could just hand to you. Come,” he pushes Sting back to the cot, “sit and I will tell you what you must do”

“Ugh, I don’t have time…”

“Do you want the elixir or not?”

Sting’s shoulder slump, “yes…”

“Then listen closely. Do you understand what the word ‘Contrition’ means?” Sting shakes his head no. “It stands for repenting, being remorseful for an action you’ve done. In order for anyone to be granted the elixir they must be willing to atone for those actions or it will not reveal itself.”

“Great…”

“I do not judge you, though it is obvious by your facial expressions you may not be ready to receive it… however, it is for the elixir to give the final ruling.” He hands Sting another cup, this one does contain a liquid substance. “Drink, and it shall all be revealed.”

“Drink this?” he sniffs the strange smelling concoction.

“Drink or not, that is your choice.”

Sting takes another whiff, “Are you sure this isn’t poison?”

“You won’t die, if that is what you are asking me.”

The young man hesitates, ‘but… I need to do this for her…’ and gulps the liquid down. “Yuck!” A woozy sensation floods over the young man, “Wass… happpnin to meee…”

“Sting help me!”

“Gray?” he blinks his eyes, ‘How the…’ looking around him, ‘I’m back in the barracks?’

“Sting, you idiot, get over here!” his friend is yelling at him, half dragging Natsu down the hall towards him. He rushes over and gets under one arm while Gray carries their friend from the other. “We need to get Natsu outta here and back to the palace without anyone seeing us.”

“It’s too far to carry his ass, just take him to my room.” He lets go of his friend, “I’ll take care of the problem…”

“What are you gonna do?”

“The less you know the better, just go!”

Gray looks suspiciously at his friend but, Sting was right, “Alright, I’ll just hide out with Natsu in your room till you come back.” They head in opposite direction.

The young blonde man pauses before entering Gray’s room. He knows exactly what he’s about to see and it was a memory he had worked so hard to suppress, had convinced himself it was all to protect their friend…

The girl had still been passed out when he arrived, gathering her clothing he slapped her face, “Get up you whore!” But she was so drunk all she did was groan. A second slap, harder this time. “Bitch get up!”

“Where am I…” the throb of her cheek finally brings her around “why’d you hit me?!...”

He tosses the clothes at her, “Put your shit on!” he glares at her. “I ought’a arrest you right now for treason!”

“Treason! But I-I didn’t do anything wrong!”

“Don’t lie to me you whore. I know you seduced the Prince, so you could blackmail him.”

“N-no, I didn’t even…” she looks at her naked body, “I don’t think I…”

He grabs her arm and shakes her, “I said put your fucking clothes on!” Scared and terrified, as tears start to flow down her cheeks, she hurries to comply to his demands.

“But I swear to you sir, I didn’t do anything to hurt the Prince… I like him…”

“Wrong answer!” he slaps her so hard she flies off the bed. “No Prince would dare to beholden himself to a girl so willing to spread herself before marriage. I bet you put a spell on him, didn’t you?!”

“Please!” curling up into a corner, “I swear it’s not true! I would never be taken before marriage…”

He grabs the trembling girl again and lifts her up, “Hear me loud and clear girl, if you so much as tell anyone that you were here or that you even met the Prince at all, I will make damn sure no man will ever want you, do you understand?” She nods her head fervently, “You wouldn’t want to be known as a whore, do you?” She shakes her head as more tears stream down her face. “Then you take this to your grave! Now clean yourself up cause I’m taking you outta here and I never wanna see your face again!...”

The girl had meant nothing to him for if he truly believed she had slept with Natsu that made her a slut in his eyes. And he needed to protect his friend… With one last deep exhale he enters…

“Oh my God…” he can’t believe the sight in front of him. “Lucy?” ‘What the hell is going on? Where’s the other girl?’ No, instead, they are no longer in the barracks, but the palace and the young blonde girl is lying on the bed a bloody heap. Her face is bruised and eye blackened, hair a jumbled mess, knotted and tangled, and what little clothes remain on her body is in tatters. “L-lucy?”

“He did this to me Sting,” the girls one eye stares at him, she sits up, “Natsu did this to me…”

“No, he’d never….”

“After we got married he changed,” she stands up, “became abusive…” and slowly ambles towards him.

Sting can see cuts and marring over her legs and arms, her frame has become so frail and thin, “It’s not possible…” stuttering, “I know him, he couldn’t…”

“This is all your fault Sting…” she reaches out but collapses forward, too weak to sustain her own weight.

He catches her and cradles her in his arms as they both sink to the floor, “How is this my fault?”

“After he learned how you took care of his ‘situation,’ it made him think being cold and heartless was strength, because then no one would dare take advantage of him again…”

“B-But that’s not what happened…” tears pool at his lids, “I-I didn’t want to…”

“He started beating me, if I so much as look at him wrong, he hits me, if I don’t give him what he desires, he doesn’t let me eat…”

“I need to stop him, Lucy, I can’t let him hurt you too!”

“But don’t you believe you did the right thing? Didn’t you enjoy it?”

“No! I didn’t enjoy it, I didn’t want to do what I did… I knew it was wrong and I was stupid and I’m so sorry! I’m so sorry,” he closes his eyes and tightens his grip around her, “Oh God I’m so sorry Lucy!”

“it’s okay Sting…” she hugs him back, “Everything is gonna be okay…”

Emptiness. “Lucy!” Sting’s eyes pop open and he’s back in the hut. “Where’d she go?”

“Ah, your back,” a tender voice brings him back to his senses, “and you were successful.” Gesturing to the bottle.

“Huh?” When he looks down at the bottle in his hand, “It’s full?”

The man smile, “The Elixir.”

“I’ve gotta get back to Lucy now!”

“It’s you!” Natsu glares at the witch. “Why are you doing this?!”

“Have you not figured it out yet Prince? I could have killed you for what you did to my daughter…”

His eyes widen, ‘her daughter!’

“…But instead I wanted to teach you a lesson. I had hoped that if and when your curse was broken, you would repent and tell your new love the truth.” She looks to the sky, “how can one love without being honest to themselves and to those they care most about…” turning back to him, “but you didn’t. You lied to Lucy saying it was a simple prank when you knew, the three of you knew it was no joke!”

“I couldn’t tell her…” his shoulders slump, “I don’t even know what the truth was because I don’t remember all of it. And,” he exhales, “I worried that if I told her what Gray and Sting said had happened she’d leave me...”

Karen snickers, “Well, now you will find out won’t you, because your only hope of breaking her curse is to atone for what you did; that will be your ultimate test.” Laughter echoes from the woman as she fades away right before his eyes.

“Wait… the Chalice…” and where the witch had been standing, it lies… Lucy’s beautiful smile flashes in his mind as he picks up the cup, “It’s time to end this nightmare…”

Gray was the first to arrive back at the capital, followed by Sting, but it was not for 2 more days still before Natsu came riding in and no sooner than he was dismounting from his horse a panicked group of people came running out of the palace. “She’s gone!” Levy flings herself at Natsu, beating at his chest, “Lucy took off in the middle of the night and no one knows where she went!”

“What do you mean she’s gone!” he grabs her arms to still her. “You guys were supposed to be watching over her!”

“She slipped out while everyone was a sleep.” Gajeel pulls his girlfriend away from Natsu to comfort her, “no one saw anything.”

“Something had to have… how was she acting before it happened?”

“Come to think of it,” Erza, steps out from the group, “like you used to before you would disappear for long periods of time.”

Natsu’s heart drops, “she’s depressed…” Sinking to his knees, the young Prince cannot hold back the tears from sneaking through, ‘Oh God… I would have gladly accepted death than to let her feel this pain…’

“Snap out of it!” Gray slaps Natsu, “We didn’t go through everything we did to give up, now think!” grabbing his friend by the shirt and standing him up, “Where might she go?”

“I…”

“Oi,” Sting shakes the man too, “Where did you go to hide?”

“T-the cave,” he stammers out, “It’s a cave on Mount Heiwa, the place we lost our hearts...”

Cana, “Well then let’s go boys! We’ve got no time to spare,” turning to her friend, “Levy, you have the spell, right?”

“Yeah…”

It had been almost a year since Natsu had been back to the cave, and the last time was when he was still a dragon. With flight, the distance had been maybe a half hour but by horse, it took the group almost 10 hours to reach just the base of the mountain or as far as the horses could trek, and that still left the hike up.

Gray, “How long do you think it’ll take to get up there?”

Natsu, “It’s maybe half way up, just before the tree line ends.”

Levy, “It’s getting dark, should we camp here for the night and head out first think in the morning?”

Natsu, “No way, I’m not leaving her alone another night!”

Sting, “Then we go, Leo, Gajeel stay here with the horses, the rest of us will uses our glow wands to light the way, Natsu you lead.”

Erza, “Someone’s eager…”

“Yeah!” the blonde male glares back, “to finish this once and for all so we can move the fuck on!”

Two hours later, the group finally reaches the cave entrance and low and behold there she is curled up in the same spot she and Natsu had slept the first night they had met. Natsu rushes over, hugging desperately to Lucy. “You scared the hell out of me! Why’d you leave the palace?” She lifts her head to nuzzles him back, “Never mind, I’m just glad your safe.”

Pulling back, he kisses her nose, “We’ve got all the keys,” and smooths her muzzle, “shall we get you back to normal?” She nods, “I agree.”

Levy rummages through a small bag she had been carrying and pulls out the spell book, “Alright, where are the items you were sent to retrieve, bring them to me.”

Each of the guys walk up with their pieces, Gray, the Jewel of Reflection, Sting, the Elixir of Contrition, and finally Natsu, with the Verity Chalice. “Natsu, hold up the cup,” he does as he’s told, “now Gray put the jewel in,” dropping it in with a clang, “Sting, pour in the elixir.”

She takes the cup in one hand and with the help of Cana holding the book open for her and Erza a glow wand, so she can see the words, the trio of women make their way over to Lucy as Levy begins to recite the incantation.

“Gia na sas metamorfósoume píso stin anthrópini morfí sas, boreí i exiléosi aftón ton anthrópon na anoíxei to drómo kai afíste tin alítheia na sas afísei eléftheri! (To transform you back to your human form, may the atonement of these men pave the way, and let the truth set you free!)”

Levy takes the now glowing liquid to Lucy, “You must drink this, and if Natsu speaks the truth, it will break the spell on you.”

At first Lucy hesitates, a part of her is afraid that he won’t and that might be hard to bear. If he had truly loved her, why hadn’t he just been honest from the beginning? Or was what he had done so terrible that it may causes her to leave him, in that case, does she want to be with a man like that? She starts to turn her head away. “Lu, you need to…”

A hand falls on Levy’s shoulder and when she turns to look it’s Natsu, “I think…” he hangs his head, “I think I know why she is scared.” He takes the cup from the girl, “Could you all give us some privacy, please.”

“No way I’m leaving you two…” but now Lucy nudges her friends shoulder, “Are you sure Lu?” The dragon nods her head. “Fine, but I’m not leaving the cave.”

Natsu nods, “All I’m asking for is some space.”

Once everyone has moved to the entrance, he kneels in front of Lucy. “You’re worried… about what the truth will be huh?” she nods her head. He exhales, “I won’t lie anymore, it’s not something I am proud of, and even now the fear that you will leave me, when I tell you it’s, it’s…” she wraps her tail around him as if to say that won’t happen. “Drink it for me please, baby, I need to do this for you.”

She puffs and nods allowing him to pour the viscous substance into her mouth. It tastes so gross, shaking her head, once, twice, then stands up, as a peculiar feeling washes over her. Looking back at him she snorts. He takes one more deep breath and closes his eyes…

“One night at the barracks, Gray and I were drinking… He had invited a girl to party with us and after getting drunk I, I… had sex with her.” He peaks, with one eye as everyone around them starts to murmur, ‘why isn’t anything happening?’ “Why isn’t it working?” he turns to Levy, “I’ve admitted what I did…”

“How should I know?! It says if you tell the truth it will breaks the curse.”

‘Unless, I really hadn’t…’ “Maybe it wasn’t true…” he looks at Gray and Sting, “You guys told me I had sex with her!”

Gray screams back, “Well that’s what looked like happened! Damn it…”

Sting, “That means… what we did,” he looks at Gray, “was for nothing? I, I scared that poor girl, for nothing!” grabbing Gray by the shirt, “all because you assumed!”

“Hey, they were both half naked, what the hell else was I supposed to think?!”

“Could you two just shut it!” he turns back to Lucy, “I was too drunk to remember… but this means I didn’t have sex with her! That’s the truth! God, I should have trusted my own feelings from the beginning…”

Lucy’s body begins to glow, just like Natsu’s had when his curse had broken and slowly, the form of a girl, albeit a naked one began to take shape. In a panic, Natsu pulls his coat off and starts screaming to everyone to turn around as he places it on her prone body.

Once the glowing subsides, he cradles her in his arms. “Lucy… wake up for me baby… Please wake up…”

“Na…tsu…” a meek voice finally breaks the still of the cave.

“Oh, thank God!” hugging her tightly to him, “You’re back, I’ve got you back!”

“Natsu…” she reaches up to caress his cheek, “I was afraid, but I never would have left your side… I fell in love with the man you became after that happened, and don’t be mad at your friends, they were only trying to protect you.”

“I promise you Luce, I will never, ever do anything so stupid…”

She smiles, “Now that is probably a lie, try sticking to the truth.”

He grins, “Alright,” kissing her lips, “I’m gonna spend the rest of my life trying to keep you happy.”

“Promise?”

#veraspromptchallenge2018 #day 18 friendship #nalu fanfiction #natsu x lucy #fantasy #sequel to Alone no More- Petri808

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pieman1112 · 3 years

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Happy Birthday, to the best thing that happened in my life!

It was probably the third time Chrom had gone with Rebecca to UNSC to visit her friends and check on Spartan who was still stationed there. No one said that cannot come to visit him, eh? He has his contract thing for being a super soldier but that does mean he cannot have his family visit him–of course, when possible. Chrom would hate to trouble him since he still does not get everything around here.

Chrom and Rebecca had decided to go two days prior her and spartan’s birthday to prepare for everything and make sure the children are doing okay after traveling. Plus, preparation for any sort of party requires time, and sadly, two days prior were the only time Chrom and Rebecca had to scrap out of their busy schedule–as always. Hey, at least they can stay for a good week afterwards thanks to Maribelle’s iron fist on the situation in Ylisse. Gods, they really owe her a lot. Yes, she says it is her job as a magistrate and all but they do need to thank her properly after they come back. Not to mention of course, the two ever hard working duo, Frederick and Robin. Seriously, they owe a lot of people this precious free time they get to blow out a steam.

Rebecca had already contacted her friends who were kind enough to help with setting things ready for Chrom and Rebecca to take over when they come. Once they were in UNSC, Rebecca completed everything necessary for them to board in and then prepare a shuttle back to Earth, so they can all head to the house they have. Chrom insisted that they have somewhere they can stay in whenever they come– a second home. It felt wrong for him that the first time, they couldn’t overstay because of this issue. Staying in the UNSC hospitality was not bad but he really wanted somewhere Rebecca and call a home as well and you know, just … uh, invite her friends over and all the things she used to do before coming to Ylisse. He wanted his children to have this home so they dont forget the place their mother came from. He loves Ylisse but he cannot expect that Rebecca to keep making sacrifices just because he is the king. Yes, she signed up for this, but if he loved her as he claim, he would make efforts on his part as well.

Now they are in the ‘apar men’ … gosh, how does they pronounce this? Apa…Apart…Apartment! Yes, their home on Earth! The naming of the different types of houses is really interesting. Chrom wanted somewhere fit enough for them–as they are after all, a big family. Though for now they settled with this apartment on Rebecca’s call since they are not here all the time, it would be a waste to pay extra money for a bigger house. Besides, if they needed they can just rent a place and it would do the job. Huh…rent. He is not sure if people in Ylisse know this concept of renting. Yes, farmers do rent some stuff, for example like a farmer could rent a bull or a cow or something but houses…the more he learns, the more he really wants to stay here and learn more; perhaps he could use that knowledge for Ylisse and the other countries.

The kids have sprawled around, running and exploring the place since the last time they were here. Lucina had a mad dash to her room, checking a letter she had left for herself. She heard of the 'time capsule’ thing from one of Rebecca’s mates and she tried to replicate it. Of course, the whole time aspect is still hard for her to grasp (plus she is too impatient for it.) Thomas followed after Lucina but then went to check what is outside the windows since the view is way too different from the view from his room in the castle. Maria followed after Thomas, mimicking what he is doing and Chloe is still an infant between Rebecca’s arms. There is no stopping them now haha.

“We better get things ready, yeah?” Chrom asked as he looked around.

Rebecca nodded and told him that they first need to change their clothes. Chrom still looks like some fantasy esque prince. R-right….that. He forgot that. The two went to change their clothes for something more fitting and comfortable as they have a lot of things to do. Chloe was placed in her crib and thankfully, she slept the entire time while the two were working. Occasionally, Lucina would lull her back to sleep by rocking her bed. Lucina is now old enough to let her watch over Chloe and take care of her. Rebecca wanted her to know how to care for Chloe since she was still younger at Maria’s time. It was not like Rebecca throw that on her shoulder, she simply wanted her to know what responsibility is. Chrom totally agreed with this, since he, too was raised by his own sister. Both parents want that children develop strong bonds among themselves, not just blood bond, but the bond that like Rebecca and Spartan has and Chrom and his sisters.

Cleaning the apartment was not that hard since occasionally, someone do come over for cleaning from time to time. Rebecca’s friends brought in the extra tables, the decorations, whatever they needed for the party. Chrom is grateful that Rebecca has such a good friends she can rely on here. Her friend Stacy offered to babysit the children if they needed. Lucina and Thomas were old enough to not cause trouble but Rebecca was still worried about Maria who is still shy around strangers, plus baby Chloe. They thanked her and told her they will think about this if it was needed.

The two days had passed and it was the 28th of November. Luckily, well, they did their best to talk the officials to let Spartan come back on this day and it was successful. Who knows, was it because Lucina was puppy eyeing everyone in the room to have her grandfather back even for just one day? or was it because Chrom was so man-child, he subtly threatened to start breaking vending machines across the ship … two drastic sides but in the end, it worked?

Hunter was notified with his new orders and came back. S.T.A.R. was contacted secretly by Rebecca and told her to bring Spartan to their apartment. Lights were turned off, the children giggling and laughing waiting for their grandfather to come. Chrom praying that he does not crash the door and open fire thinking someone is inside, and Rebecca was trying to get Chloe to sleep or at least, not make loud noises.

S.T.A.R sent a notification to Rebecca that Spartan is right outside, and everyone got in position. When he walked in, the lights were turned off but with his suit, lights were emitted from his helmet to check his surrounding. He noticed a movement and walked in very carefully. S.T.A.R made sure to warn him that he cannot use firearms in case it was just an animal strayed its way inside. Chrom was by the light switch and as soon Spartan walked in, Chrom pressed the light button– “HAPPY BIRTH … … . day?” everyone shouted but there was no one there.

“Wh– but he! HUH?” Chrom walked towards the door, looking left and right but no one was there. “Did I …I swear someone walked in here, right?” Chrom amidst his confusion, Spartan has activated his stealth mode and was actually behind him. A tap to Chrom’s shoulder and the king quickly jerked around, “Wh– Hey! Wait a minute! Hunter! Don’t tell me you are hiding in that stealth thing of yours?”

Spartan appeared and the kids gasped out of happiness because they were two minutes away from crying after getting all excited to see their grandfather, then they rushed to him; hugging him tightly.

“Let me guess, you knew we were already here, right?” Chrom crossing his arms, visible pout on his face.

Hunter nodded and told him it was kind of obvious–the date, the cleaning detergent smell, the smell of the cake and sweets, the children giggles, and more. Plus, he heard about some guy who wanted to break things because his father-in-law was on a mission on his birthday. To which Chrom feigned ignorance and whistled his way to the kitchen to bring the plates.

The cut the cake, eat, sang and danced. The adults sat down to talk while the children ran around them playfully. “It is good to see you are well, father.” Chrom smiled at Hunter. “I uh, hope we didn’t put you in some kind of trouble for taking you away from your job like this?” S.T.A.R had already been there, talking to Lucina and Thomas when she turned her hologram image around to speak with Chrom to tell him that even if they didn’t come to ask permission, Spartan had already asked for a day off on this day, to which Spartan grunted not happy that she ratted him out. Chrom and Rebecca just had the dumbest of smiles on their faces. “Hahaha..right.”

It was the birthday presents time. Lucina ran first, holding out a box for Spartan. “Happy birthday, grandfather!” look at her, she can speak properly now. The box contained a notebook with bunch of paper cut out butterflies. The notebook is filled with almost everyday anecdotes that Spartan had missed out because of his job. Lucina took it on herself to write everything down so her grandfather still feel he is around them. Thomas slipped in to hand his gift–a cylinder like object wrapped nicely. It was an ever lasting fire in a glass–probably Miriel’s thing. The gift is probably not a kid his age would gift but this is Thomas. He probably went around and pestered everyone and latch to Miriel until she gave him this. Spartan might not need the light but Thomas told him that the fire reminds him of how cool his grandfather is–never yielding down. Sheesh who taught this kid to speak? Chrom eyes Rebecca–the influence of Thoma’s honeyed tongue. Maria came next; carrying a tiny basket she was really overprotective of for the past two days. She gave it to Spartan and it was filled with tiny different flowers (and some seeds) among them some four-leaf clovers. “H-happy birthday, granpapa~” finishing it with her bright smile.

“Guess it is my turn now,” Chrom walked to Spartan. Honestly, there was nothing he could think of would be a good gift for Spartan. Chrom finds it difficult to think of gifts for others, which he often let them decide what they want for themselves. Though, at times he knows he got to think of something himself. What can Spartan carry with him and not be a burden? and still you know, be useful. It was hard but in the end he .. “I hope you like this,” Chrom handed him a tiny box. “Let’s say these might be of some help if your weapon was not working somehow.” the tiny black box had a dozen…no about thirty small pieces with different colors. “It is something Ricken had been working on for years–charging items with magic for use and I requested he would make it into something to be easy to be carried and yeah…so from what I understood you just uh…throw the rock at the direction you want and it will release the magic spell contained in it.” he would take of the yellowish rocks and demonstrate but knowing it is a THUNDER magic, he could set things on fire and ruin the party. “I bet S.T.A.R can figure this out, right?” S.T.A.R. nodded and quickly analyzed the rocks to give a proper feedback to Spartan on his new…dangerous outworld weapon.

Rebecca was last to gift Spartan and two exchanged a heartful moment, Chrom was totally not staring outside because that was not emotional, absolutely not. The kids had already spent the day telling Rebecca happy birthday, they started chanting all over again for their mother now. Rebecca’s gifts were given to her before they came here. Lucina and Maria had both learned how to make simple accessories. Lucina made a tiny butterfly hairpin for her mother, and Maria made what resembles a pendant. Thomas gifted her perfume his aunt Lissa helped him get it after poking around for what is trending nowadays.

Afterwards, the kids gradually got tired of playing around and soon slept. Spartan, Chrom and Rebecca were up. Rebecca had told Spartan he has his room ready so he can stay the night but the man got up and told them that he is going back to the UNSC. Despite how much they tried to persuade him, he promised to come back first thing in the morning. S.T.A.R sent Rebecca a message saying he does not want to butt in her and Chrom’s night. This is after all her birthday as well. They might, if not most certainly want their alone time as well, to which it made Rebecca blush.

Now that the two parents are alone, they sat there for a moment awkwardly. The house was just in uproar a minute ago and now it is quiet. Chrom cast his eyes outside the window… the sun was setting down … The sun huh. Is it the same sun they have in Ylisse? The colors of the sunset is similar. “Rebecca,” he called for her attention when she was as well looking away and as soon she turned around, he kissed her. He scoot closer to her, arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her closer to him. “Happy birthday…again… ” another soft quick kiss to her lips. His right hand gently run through her brilliant blond hair, “I am forever in debt to the fate that brought to me. I am happy that you were born. I know it was not easy but here you are… look at you… a strong marine, a wonderful woman and a friend, amazing partner, brilliant queen and most of all… the best wife and mother ever. Happy birthday, my love. May each year carries with it good tides and new memories for us both.” a sweet, slow kiss to wrap it up.

“Say… there might be another present for you… ahem. To our bed room?"

Rebecca and 197′s Birthday 2020!

Rebecca and Chrom had been planning on going to the UEG this year after some debate. It was getting closer to her father and her birthday and it didn’t seem that he wasn’t going to be able to make the trip to Ylisse so they would go to visit him. They would only be given a week and two days as that was all they could get out of their various duties. Rebecca would be thankful for those two days as it was more time than she thought they would be able to get. They would definitely have to get something nice for Maribelle, Frederick, and Robin while they were in the UEG. The trio really did go above and beyond for the couple and their family.

To set up their travel, Rebecca contacted an ex-service member who she knew back from her time in the corps. He use to be an air force pilot who flew the pelicans around. A little bit after her departure he resigned and became an inter planetary shuttle pilot that would transport people from many of the UEG’s different colonies. The two talked for a little bit about current events in their lives and Rebecca asked if she could hire his services again for the trip back to the UEG’s main home world of Earth. She knew that Ylisse was technically not part of the UEG and that he normally wouldn’t be able to but she asked to pay extra for the trip. He accepted the extra payment for the little out of the way venture. Getting a ride to the UEG was easy. Getting into the UEG would be a little more tedious.

Upon their arrival, Rebecca had to go through customs and explain what they had done and all that jazz. They let the family in after a little bit of questioning and soon the family could head to the apartment they had rented. The decision of getting a home in the UEG was one they had talked about for a while and it was Chrom’s idea to get one. Rebecca was surprised by the notion as it meant that they would be planning more trips to the UEG. Rebecca thought that she would never return to the UEG after marrying Chrom since their time would be so demanded. He explained how he wanted their children to experience her world as well and it was a very sweet gesture. She spoke about how they should get an apartment room as it was a lot cheaper than trying to get a house and they wouldn’t be by often. She had set it up with her father so that it would be under his name and he could use the credits that she transferred to him to pay for it. It would also be a major help as they couldn’t stay on the UNSC Infinity. the Infinity was a military war ship not a cruise liner. The only reason they could stay the first time was because Rebecca was leaving the UNSC and technically the UEG. It wouldn’t be long until the family made their way to the apartment complex. A short elevator trip up later and they would be in their room. The location was near one of the mega cities but outside the city limits. It had a wonderful view of the city and some of the surrounding stores. It was a five bedroom apartment which was a pretty hard find but they were very lucky to find it.

She watched as the kids ran off to do their own things and explore the house. They always seemed excited whenever they had the chance to come here. She looked to her husband and nodded after he stated that they should get started with arranging the surprise party for their father. Though they should probably go change out of the Ylissian attire first before going out. After all, Ylissian fashion was very different from UEG fashion and the family might be mistaken for being in costume. After changing, Rebecca called some of her friends over for help with the decorations and some came as they had the day off of work. Rebecca was so excited to see Stacy again that when she arrived, the two hugged before going to work with Chrom’s help. While they were setting everything up, Stacy offered to babysit the kids at some point while they were here so that the two could go out to the town as a couple. It was a nice idea and Lucina and Thomas would listen to her as she was a family friend and was friendly to them, Rebecca was worried about Maria. She still was so shy around strangers and Rebecca didn’t want Stacy to think that she had done something to upset Maria. Then there was also baby Chloe. She was still a little young to be left alone without the two of them. The two parents thanked Stacy for the thought and would have to think about it. Rebecca was also thankful for her daughter Lucina to take care of her baby sister from time to time. It would teach her how to be responsible for somethings.

On November 28th, they had gone to visit the local UNSC base to see if they could talk to anyone about the status of 197 and if he could be let out of work early. Rebecca had reminded the family (including Chrom) that 197 might not be able to leave work for a day as he might not even be on planet or he might be very busy. They were able to talk to someone and she couldn’t give them a very straight forward answer as they were civilians. The official’s answer didn’t really change even after Chrom’s threat of destroying the vending machines around the base. Rebecca chided her husband for such a thought and thanked the official before leaving. It was lucky that they didn’t take Chrom’s threat too seriously.

In the meantime, 197 was transferred from the Infinity to one of the bases on Earth and was given his requested absence for that day. Thankfully not much had been going on. Rebecca and S.T.A.R had been talking to each other about the surprise plan and to have 197 go meet them at the apartment. 197 thought it was a strange request to suddenly check up on the apartment but it had been a while so he would go. When he got there he would hear the sounds of whispers and hushing. Strange. No one should be here. A break-in? He was going to grab his weapon but S.T.A.R wouldn’t let him. Why was she acting up all of a sudden? Then he realized what this was. A surprise party. His family came back all the way from Ylisse to celebrate. Still wanting to be on the safe side, 197 would enter cloaked as to keep an element of surprise if it turned out to not be his family. He would enter to see everyone yelling surprise but become confuse as the open door revealed nothing. It was his family. He would soon reveal himself to everyone by appearing behind his son-in-law.

“I apologize for the use of my cloaking but I wanted to make sure that it was actually you guys.” was all he could say before he lowered himself to hug his grandchildren who had run up to hug him. He would look back at Chrom to answer his next question about knowing they were there.

“You don’t survive long without being aware of your surroundings. I heard you and the kids whispering and hushing each other. S.T.A.R was also advising me to not be as cautious as I normally would which was another tip. Plus I heard about someone of a very familiar description threatening to break all the vending machines of a local base.”

He would join Chrom and Rebecca where they sat on the couch while the kids played and danced.

“It’s good to see you two doing well as well. I shouldn’t be in too much trouble as there wasn’t much going on.”

“He also asked for the time off prior to your arrival Exalt Chrom. Even without your intervention, he probably would have recieved it.” S.T.A.R said.

When it was time for presents, 197 thanked all of his grandkids for everything they got him and gave them each an individual hug. The journal updates would give him something to read while he was on base about just what he was missing. The eternal flame would give him something to ponder over on how it worked. And the flowers were always a nice gesture. Something that could liven up the room he was occupying.

The Spartan would stare at Chrom’s gift for a little bit trying to figure out just what it was. They looked like colorful rocks but he would soon understand the power that these rocks contained after Chrom explained how Ricken had enhanced these rocks with the magical powers of the different tomes that were used. These could definitely be useful on the battlefield.

“Thank you Chrom. I will have to let S.T.A.R take a look at these to see what potential uses they might have.”

Rebecca’s gift was last but certainly not least. Her gift to her father was a necklace of many different things. Her UNSC dog tags, a ring that said family on it, a picture of her and her father when she was younger, and a golden heart.

“Thank you for being the best father a girl could ask for dad.” She said before tightly hugging her father.

Anytime kiddo.” 197 responded while also hugging his daughter.

After their little emotional moment, it was time for Rebecca’s presents. She would thank all her children for each of their gifts with a hug and a kiss. They were all so thoughtful. The hairpin would go straight into her hair and the necklace on her neck. She would even use some of the perfume after Thomas had given it to her. She was so blessed to have such wonderful children.

It would soon be time for the children to start winding down for bed as it became very apparent that they were all starting to fall asleep. 197 would help them to their bed rooms and tuck them in. He would thank them for a wonderful birthday and then give them a goodnight kiss before leaving. Rebecca had told him that they had set up a room for him but he declined saying that he needed to report back to base early tomorrow. He thanked his daughter and son-in-law for a wonderful day and left wishing them a good night. S.T.A.R would send Rebecca a message about how her father didn’t want to disturb them as it was her birthday too and he knew that they would want to enjoy the night together. It seems that nothing escaped the man.

Rebecca would sit on the couch caught in the moment of silence that followed with the party being over. Her husband’s voice would be the break in the silence that caught her attention.

“Mmmh?” she murmured after hearing her husband call out her name.

The kiss was well enjoyed, including the numerous ones that followed after. Especially the slow one that followed at the end.

“I’m so glad that I met you too dear. I can’t wait to ‘unwrap’ my present in the bedroom.” She said giving him a lustful look before walking with him to their bedroom.

#thanks for the ask!#submission

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