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sh1tbird-shantytown · 3 years

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original post/idea came from @memes-saved-me

and thank you for encouraging me to write it! i had lots of fun <3

———

Steve Harrington’s parents weren’t around often. People knew that, they were aware. Now, they weren’t home much, yes, but they weren’t not home enough for it to be a worrying case of neglect. They still called in, had the neighbor keep tabs, and came home at least three times a month.

When you asked Steve about his family he’d simply shrug his shoulders and tell you that his father had a firm in the city. When someone asked Mr. and Mrs. Harrington about their son they’d wave a hand and mention how ‘he’s just on his way to graduating’ and then change the subject. Was Steve Harrington the perfect son? Maybe not. Were the senior Harrington’s good parents to begin with? Debatable. But they had something close to functional. They digress.

And so, as children who didn’t have prominent leaders in their life usually turn out, Steve was a lost cause when it came to actually living on his own. He had the money for food and his parents kept up with the bills. But he was horrendous when it came to actually keeping the house up to shape.

Until he had to figure it out to save his own ass.

The first instance was messy.

His first party had been wild. Junior year. Half his grade and then some had shown up. He’d gone all out. The long, fancy dining table had been loaded with foods all fatty and desirable. Kegs had been placed outside for peoples free flow. The expensive stereo which had been installed that spring blasted music from a collection of mixtapes. And by the end of the night, the party had been raging. Raging as in fights broke out, people got reckless, everyone started getting destructive.

That was when Steve regretted not having a plan, he was too sober to just let it go and deal with it in the morning. He knew that wasn’t a good idea. Multiple things happened all at once. Someone dragged a keg in from the backyard, too drunk to find the strength to carry it. And apparently too deaf to hear it scratch up the maple wood floorboards. Then, two seniors bashed their heads into the wall. Successfully denting two very noticeable holes in the drywall. But, oh, that wasn’t all the destruction. Some junior (Steve vaguely registered his name as Jake) was thrown into the wall, actively also breaking a shelf there too.

He had turned off the music and then clanged pots together to get them all out. It worked. A little surprisingly.

And then he’d been left with a damaged house to deal with.

He picked up all the litter both indoors and outdoors, put the little leftover food into the fridge, vacuumed, and then went to bed in exhaustion.

===

The next day he’d then been overwhelmed with many worries over the destruction caused to his home. He was just thankful it had been Saturday. He had the weekend to figure this shit out. He went around the house and made a list of everything that needed repair.

1.) The floor

2.) The holes in the walls

3.) That shelf (REPLACEMENT)

4.) The table

Oh yes, the table. His family’s long, fancy table had an abundant number of scratches engraved into it. Something no amount of waxing could fix.

His first thought was to look for all the tools his prestigious father had to offer. So, he looked everywhere. The basement, the attic, the closets, the offices, the shed. And he did find some. A hammer, two screwdrivers with different points, a tape measure, a wrench, a measuring level, and exactly 28 screws. But even that wasn’t enough and he knew. Next stop was the local hardware store.

Mr. Jimmy was the local handyman and he was nice enough to everyone. But not so much to the Harrington’s.

“What’re you doing here, boy? You know, son,” Jimmy’s neglected beard rustled when he spoke and his shop smelled of anchovies and cheese doodles. “I used to know yer Mama. Back in the day. She was a purdy thing, that woman.” He sighed something fond, “I miss that there woman. She’s not the same. Barely see her nowadays.” Steve was used to Mr. Jimmy’s delays, wasn’t subsided too much.

“Hey, Mr. Jimmy,” he stepped through the threshold of the old shop. “I’m looking for some tools today. Think you could help me?”

Mr. Jimmy regarded him with squinted eyes, “You using yer Daddy’s money?”

Steve blinked, “Yeah?” Mr. Jimmy folded his arms impassively. He had obvious tan lines that peaked out through his sleeveless shirt. Skin red over age.

“I don’t want no money from that bastard’s account!”

“But—“

“I’ll have none of it,” the bulky man stepped forward and Steve’s back hit the cold glass door.

“But, Mr. Jimmy, you’d be taking from him. Wouldn’t that be better than just letting him keep all that money for himself?” Steve reasoned. Adding the suggestive and innocent lilt to his tone, worked his bystander charm.

The scornful eyes grew with joy, “Why—“ he laughed suddenly, loud and invasive just as he was. “You’re a rotten little junior, aren’t yeh!” he galloped over to his counter with the same joyous lilt. Steve stood still in case the man swerved into another decision. He watched as Mr. Jimmy himself walked around his shelves, searching. “What kinda stuff you lookin for anyways?”

Steve struggled to find his voice, “Er- Uhm- Hah. W—Well I have to replace some wood flooring, fix a scratched table, replace a shelf, and patch up some holes in the wall?” He received a raised eyebrow before the man started hurriedly piling supplies throughout the shop into the counter by the cash register. Steve didn’t even want to think about how much it would cost. Although, if he thought about it, replacing everything and then paying someone else to do it all was probably more of a hole. Sure, the emergency cash that had added up over time would be gone, but at least he wouldn’t be disowned for the ruined furniture.

“That’ll be $78.75,” Mr. Jimmy pressed some buttons and Steve startled a little when the loud clang of it opening echoed. He pulled out his wallet anyway and dug around for the cash. He handed over four twenties only a smidge reluctantly.

Mr. Jimmy was giddy at least, “This here money will do me some good,” he nodded to himself as he stored the greens away and started packing the supplies in tightly within big paper bags.

“I’m sure my father will miss it,” Steve fibbed, “Keep the change.” And carried the three hefty loads up and out the door.

===

He had Queen playing the speakers and a crow bar in hand. What he was supposed to do now that he supposedly had all of the materials was a toss up to him. But he had to try.

He got down on all fours and began prying between the first ruined board and one of the unscarred ones. It lifted with a creak and he watched it carefully as he moved the bar up and down repeatedly. At one point it didn’t peel off any more and so he went side to side with it. Still nothing. He tried to push forward but there was too much resistance.

“What the hell? Come on you pathetic piece of wood!” he muttered exasperatedly. He pulled back a little and then slammed the bar back under the board. There was a sharp snapping sound that made him freeze. But the board was unstuck. And, oh would you look at that. He was unceremoniously proud. The floor board popped off. He saw that there was some dried up white lines underneath. He decided that it looked like that stuff in the bottle labeled ‘liquid nail’ and placed the board to the side.

He spent the rest of the late morning tearing up floorboards. By the time a late lunch break was approaching, he had accomplished removing all the damaged floor. He went into the kitchen to wash his hands quick before calling for a pizza when he realized the water accumulation in the sink. And it wouldn’t go down.

“Okay!” he cried in frustration, “What the actual hell now?” He got down again and opened the cupboard doors to the pipes coming down from the sink. There were steel pipes that started from the sink and curved around down into the bottom of the cabinet. There were rings that Steve assumed connected them. So to see what was backing up the sink he’d have to unscrew a couple. Right? He got up and dusted his pants off (a lost cause by this point) and went over to the pile of tools by the front door.

He grabbed a wrench, or at least what looked like one the plumber had used when he’d visited once or twice when Steve was a kid. It took him a minute but he finally loosened the mouth of it and fitted the groves over the ring of the pipe. He twisted and some water started dropping down. It started making a puddle so he hurried and grabbed a pot, placing it right underneath. He twisted again and again and again.

He sputtered as some sprayed into his face, “Awe hell! Disgusting!” but he kept twisting anyway.

Eventually it came off. But the water was quickly overflowing. Not to mention rancid. He yelped in shock and ran all around the kitchen trying to find more bowls. He found one, a china bowl that was his mother’s great aunt’s. He yelled out as he saw the grey water streaming down onto the kitchen floor at that point. He ran back and held the fancy ceramic serving bowl up to the open pipe. He sighed in relief as it worked and when it stopped, finally, just barely brimming the bowl, he saw tons of little pieces of orange.

“Who the hell put orange peels in my sink?” he muttered as he carefully waddled out to the back yard. It was cold out and he didn’t have shoes nor socks on. He jogged on his toes all the way back to the tree line and tossed the gross contents into the bushes there. He ran back shivering with a tight hold onto the rim of the china bowl. When inside he set it on the counter and fluttered about gathering towels. He mopped up the rest of the water mess and went to turn on the sink to check his work.

“Wait!” he jumped down in panic just as he turned the water on and off in the same second. The water inevitably dripped down through the open pipe but it was only a little. He leaned his head tiredly against the open cupboard door, face sweaty and hairline damp. He took the wrench and attached the rings back on snugly. Then, he turned the water on with a quick flick at the knob. He laughed happily as nothing leaked and the water trickled down without blockage. He leaned back against the counter and panted as the slight adrenaline rush flowed away.

===

Some time later he figured that he should probably work on the holes in the wall. He had some sort of paper roll made of one thick strip and a big bucket of smooth and pale mud textured stuff. He took the wide spatula thing that Mr. Jimmy had instructed of him to use and stared at the two dents in the white accent wall.

“Ummm,” Steve looked from his full hands, roll of paper stuff around his wrist and mud bucket in one and the spatula in the other. “Well what the hell do I do now?” he asked himself. He could really use Mr. Jimmy’s insight right now. Or Tommy. Tommy knew this stuff his uncle was one of the local handymen. But Tommy had also been the one to drag the keg in so maybe not him. He stepped up to the biggest of the damages and pulled off a piece of the thick paper. He held it up to the wall and blocked off the hole.

“Oh!” he realized excitedly, “I see,” Steve nodded to himself proudly and crouched to set the bucket on the floor. He stuck the spatula in and took some up with it. “Like paste,” he mumbled to himself and started smoothing the mud stuff on one side of the tape strip he’d measured out. He grinned and stuck it to the wall over the hole so that the top and bottom connected to the uncracked wall. He did that same thing until the whole hole was patched up. He looked at the pale ‘paste’ and looked back at the wall thoughtfully.

He started, then, to slather more joint compound (he’d finally read the bucket) on top of the tape (he had also then remembered the rushed instructions Mr. Jimmy had thrown out). He smoothed it out tediously and left it be to repeat on the other hole. When he’d finished with that task he found his arms and pants speckled with clumps of dried and crumbly spackle. Steve didn’t think it would be this messy. He picked it off his arms as he walked back to the upturned floor. He winced as the dried beads pulled at his arm hair.

Now, to get the new flooring in, Steve grabbed the hammer and the cylinder with the glue stuff. He really had no clue what it was supposed to be. But he did have an idea of what he had to do. So, he laid out all the new flooring, which he was happy to note was just about a perfect match to the old floor, and started patching the right lengths in place. When he had the puzzle figured out he stared at the tube thoughtfully. He scratched at the tip to see if it would give and when it didn’t he went to the kitchen for scissors.

He snipped off the cap and held it upright as he ran back to his station. Steve turned over one of the boards and pushed in the bottom to get the contents out. Which proved more difficult than he’d hoped. A spurt squirted out but then it stopped.

“Okay,” he sighed defeatedly, “What the fuck?” he set it down and went back to his pile of hardware supplies. There was an odd contraption that did have a base with the same diameter of the cylinder canister. He shrugged a grabbed it, “Worth a try.” He fitted it in and adjusted it so it looked somewhat how he assumed it should. He set the point on the board plank and pulled the trigger a few slow times until the glue came out. He laughed a loud ‘AH-HA’ and swirled it around. He flipped it over after setting down the canister and contraption and fitted and locked it in as best he could with the hammer. Sure, there was about two dents because he hit it a little bit too hard. But it was in and he only had five more boards to fit in. He felt happy enough.

Throughout the rest of the installment he had managed to not get the ‘liquid nail’ on his hands and there weren’t any too obvious dents in the floor, nor anymore scratches. He went back to his list to cross things out and check his progress.

1.) The floor

2.) The holes in the walls

3.) That shelf (REPLACEMENT)

4.) The table

He knew he had to use that block thing to sand down the dried compound. and then he had to repaint the wall white. But that would be simple. The shelf though, that was something else. He had seven wood planks that Mr. Jimmy had cut down for him already. He just had to screw them together and sand them down. Mr. Jimmy had said something about stain or wax but Steve waved it off, the only thing that went on the old shelf was little boxes that held his great great great grandmother’s spoon collection (something he had stored away before his party).

He went outside to the patio with the small hand drill, the 3x4’s, and the thin screws that he’d bought from the store. He sat criss-cross on the concrete and set up the little shelf. It took fifty six minutes and a couple minor slivers and scrapes, but he had the shelf put together with the screws just barely noticeable. He inspected the wood and decided that it was fine as it was. A close enough replica. He went back inside with it, not bothering to sand all the little nooks, and placed it against the wall experimentally. If he put it down a little the holes from before would be concealed just fine.

He drew two little lines with a pencil down the line where the original screws had been. He knew he needed a post to screw into, that the drywall wouldn’t hold. See? He was learning. He lined up the backing plank and placed the level on top, shifting the shelf just so the bubble was in the middle of the lines. He then drilled a screw through it and into the wall. Before he let it go he drilled in the second with some struggle since the he kept loosing balance. But eventually, it was in the wall. His arms were sore and he felt a headache coming on but he had the new shelf up and if his mother was kind enough to not go inspecting it, it would pass just fine. He laughed victoriously and skipped a little around joyously. He was almost done.

“Just a few more things, just a couple,” he consoled his aching limbs. Drills were hefty little things and reminded him of those wild horses in movies that always tried to buck the cowboys off. He groaned a little as he spotted the mess of a table on his way to grab a snack.

He turned his nose to the visual reminder, “I’ll be back to deal with you,” he grumbled. “I need a damn Jell-O cup.”

===

It was actually the next day that he finally got to it. His parents would be back home Monday and he still had a few things left to do. So much for an easygoing weekend. Tommy had called that morning and asked him to go with him to a neighborhood baseball scrimmage, but he’d said he was busy and hung up. He had been mid-sanding down the dining table. And after three hours of perfecting and perfecting it all again. After so much time getting sore and sweaty and coughing from dust. The table was finally flat and there was no more sign of scratches. He got the cloth that Mr. Jimmy had thrown at his face the day before and opened the strong chemically smelling can. He gagged but dipped it in and started applying the wood stain carefully, following the lines of the wood on pure instinct. It made sense too even if he wasn’t totally sure if it was actually right. But, either way, within that hour he had the table back to its original color and left it to dry completely.

He stared at the bumpy wall of compound. He knew this would be bad. If the wood dust was bad, this mud stuff was going to be worse. He wasn’t that naive.

And he was right. By the time it was smooth he was coughing and in dire need of a glass of water. He was never having a damn party at his own house again. Tammy and Sara could continue to host them, people didn’t react well to the spaciousness in the Harrington house apparently. In a rush and loss of interest in his work, Steve quickly painted over the patches with white and left it to dry. He got the can of wax and rubbed it on around the table in his final task.

He was tired as hell and he still had to go to school tomorrow. And he really needed to speak with the person who put orange peels down the damn sink.

===

On Monday morning, at approximately 5:48 AM, Steve Harrington sat in the living room watching I Love Lucy while eating toast as his parents bustled inside.

“Hello!” he heard his mother chirp tiredly as she entered through the foyer. She hurried over and he gave her as welcoming of an embrace as he could. “How are you, dear? Foods in good supply?” she pulled away to inspect him with her hazel eyes, “Heating system still working alright?”

Steve nodded and smiled, “Everything’s just fine. But I have to go and meet Tommy before school, that alright?” he stepped to the side and towards the stairs.

“Of cour—“ his mother was cut off by the monotone cords of his father.

“Stephano, what is up with this mess!” In that moment, Steve Harrington didn’t think he’d ever felt as much fear as he had in that moment. He bolted to the kitchen.

“What mess?”

His father pointed to the wrench, screw driver, and tape measure on the island counter, “Away with this mess, Steve. Clutter is nothing to approve of. It accumulates and it’s unprofessional.” If he only knew.

===

Years later, when he was in everlasting love with Billy Hargrove and they had their shared, small and cozy Chicago apartment, his handyman skills came back to great use.

“Steve! Steve!” Billy shouted in a panic.

Steve rushed from the bedroom to the kitchen, socks skidding on the floors, “What is it? What happened?” he flocked around his boyfriend and checked for any injuries.

Billy pointed rigidly to the sink, “Somethings up with the pipes or something.”

Steve rose his brows in bewilderment, “You don’t know how to unclog pipes?”

Billy furrowed his, “You do?” Steve nodded and opened the cupboard, kneeling to check the pipes.

“Okay so there’s PVC pipes here, I don’t even need a wrench!” he peaked back up at Billy’s wide eyes. “Can you get me that bucket I usually give you when you get hungover?” Billy nodded and jogged out of the room. Steve got a hand towel and placed it down, “What did you put down the drain anyway?” Billy almost hit him in the face with the bucket when he turned back. He froze and took it from the nervous man.

“Uhm. Potato peels,” he answered.

Steve scoffed, “It’s always peels isn’t it?”

Billy stepped back when Steve started turning the rings, “What?”

“Nothin’.” He twisted it quick and managed to not get sprayed in the face while the murky water and loads of potato peel flowed out into the large bucket. When the flow stopped he reattached the pipes together and hefted the bucket out to Billy. “Put that down the toilet, Tiger.” He turned back and heard the sloshing in the bucket and the grunts from Billy as he went through the hallway. Steve chuckled to himself and wiped up the small water spillage.

When Billy returned he had opinions.

“First of all, that shit was gross as hell,” he left the bucket by the front door before returning into the kitchen. “Second of all,” he boxed Steve in with a smirk in his face, “I didn’t know you were so good at pluming.”

Steve rolled his eyes, “Finish making the calzones, Bill, and maybe I’ll show you how to fix that hole in the wall behind Max’s photo hanging in the living room. It’s suspiciously shaped like that baseball I told you not to throw around.”

Billy fumbled for his words.

Steve shook his head, “Don’t think you can hide that shit from me, Tiger, I’m the one that dusts.”

===

The next time was when Max and Lucas visited.

“William, do not throw that!” Steve scolded as he held a pan with tomato sauce in it. Lucas dropped his hands that had been ready to try and catch the ball and Max turned a page of her book from where she was on the sofa boredly.

Billy grinned and threw the football anyway, of course. Steve sighed and then grew furious as the same football smashed instantly into the rickety bookshelf and the sad, old thing crumbled on impact. It fell over from Billy’s uncalculated, rebellious force and the shelves snapped apart from the sides. Books strewn out in a messy wave. Steve stomped over and only lowered his near growl of scolding when Billy showed himself already terrified. Max grinned and set her book in her lap to watch.

“What did I say?” Steve demanded while whacking Billy’s shoulder with the oven mitt. The other flapped his hands back to stop the assault.

“I’m sorry!” he yelped, “I’m sorry! We’ll just buy another one!” Steve glared and whacked his head, lighter than before, but still with vigor.

“We don’t have the money, William! We bought the last one at Goodwill for $14!” He bustled back to the kitchen and put the pan into the oven to cook the sauce the rest of the way. “I’ll just have to go down and ask Jeffery to use his wood scraps and nail gun. He’s always kind enough.”

Billy, who had followed him in, looked skeptical, “Jeffery Jeffery or creepy Jeffery?”

Steve rolled his eyes, “Old man Jeffery. And Jeff isn’t creepy, he’s just anti-social.”

Billy went unswayed, “I want to go with you. Let’s go,” he went to the coat closet and Steve sighed, unsurprised.

Steve took his coat and boots from Billy and called to the kids, “Lucas, Max, the sauce will be done in a couple hours. If we’re not back by then just take it out and let it cool please!”

“Sorry, Steve!” he heard Lucas say sincerely.

“Got it, Boss!” Max answered with another flutter of a page in her book.

===

While Steve attached the air hose to the nail gun Billy watched with creases in his forehead.

“What are you ogling, Tiger?” Steve asked as he applied wood glue to a piece.

Billy stooped forward, “Can I help?” he was almost eager sounding.

Steve grinned, “I was hoping you’d ask.” He lifted his own hands from holding the planks together, “Hold that as I nail it together would ya?” Billy nodded a bit unsurely but placed his hands and pushed just as Steve had. Steve lined up the gun, pushed down, and pulled the trigger. Billy flinched at the loud noise and Steve set the gun down and stood up from his focused crouch.

“Are you alright,” he cupped Billy’s cheeks, thumbs gently smoothed the corner eye crinkles.

The other nodded and pecked Steve’s forehead before shrugging it off, “Was just surprised is all.” Steve nodded back and smiled kindly before returning as he was before and finished the line of nails.

Not too long later, the book shelf was put together and Steve handed Billy a piece of sand paper. He showed Billy how to use it and he got complaints in return due to the uncomfortable noise it made.

But they did return home with a lovely new bookshelf. And they’d made it together so it was all that extra bit of special.

Maybe Steve didn’t disapprove of that party all those years ago after all. Look what he got out of it?

The smile Billy got whenever he looked at that shelf filled with Steve’s mystery romance and his own horror thrillers, that fond and euphoric smile was enough for Steve Harrington in the long run.

#steve harrington #handyman steve harrington #billy hargrove #stranger things #harringrove #btw that is not actually the correct way to put compound on #just mentioning #and idk why i added a random mr. jimmy but he’s there so oh well #steve harrington’s parents make an actual appearance too #max mayfield and lucas sinclair #don’t mind me sprinkling in more italian backgrounds #hope this was alright!

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starcherryberry · 4 years

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ℂ𝕠𝕝𝕠𝕣𝕤 → 𝕐𝔾 𝕩 ℝ𝕖𝕒𝕕𝕖𝕣 𝕩 𝕁𝕂 | 𝕄.

→ ❝ With your final semester left of university you expected to go through it easily however an issue with your credits leads you to take Professor Min’s Painting 101 course.❞

☾ Pairing: Professor!Yoongi Painter!Yoongi x Student!Reader x Student!Jungkook (this was suppose to be a yoongi x reader but somehow my mind wandered and jungkook came in lmao it be like that sometimes)

☾ Type: Poly!Relationship (literally you won’t see it until like the ending but oops)

☾ Genre: Smut ☆ Angst ☆ Fluff

☾ Word Count: 7.3k

↠ Warnings: there is an age gap between all characters involved, if you are not comfortable with that please refrain from reading. Dom!Yoongi, Dom!Jungkook, Big Cock!Yoongi, Big Cock!Jungkook, Sub!Reader, fingering, Public Sex in classroom, Body Worship (mainly JK), cockwarming (sort of not really but like for a few mins) unprotected sex (jeez many times someone wrap their doodles please)

✉ Song Recommendations: (I love kdrama osts don’t hate me, also these are all spotify links so use youtube if you don’t have it) (Legit none of these fit the tone of the fic I just luv to recommend sht hehe)

♡ Weki Meki- Love Diamond

♡ Jus2- Take

♡ Junggigo- Too Good

♡ Punch, Glabingo- Beautiful Beautiful (watch hit the top it’s a beautiful kdrama hehe)

✉ Note: Anyways this is my first fic to be uploaded on tumblr! I spent a long time revising & working on this legit I have been staring at my computer for way too long and my eyes hurt because I wanted to get this out. It’s currently 4am as I upload this so if there are errors in the text I apologize in advance. (a girl is tired) Please don’t steal! This fanfic was inspired by the constant Youtube painting lives Yoongi has had. In the midst of writing I added Jungkook because he added more into the story. I was thinking of making this into a Occupation!BTS collection where I can make one for each member with different story lines. Let me know if you want me to do so in the comments below! (okay im talking to much bye)

“Y/N it seems like you still need 4 more credits added to your schedule to be eligible to graduate this semester.” your advisor told you. You honestly didn’t know you still needed more credits to graduate, you never cared to look. So when it came to registering, you signed up for the courses you needed as part of your International Studies degree.

“What courses are still available for registration?” you asked even though you knew the number of courses to be left must be very few. “Well there is one course open, it’s Professor Min’s Painting 101. He’s a new professor here so it makes sense as to why not many students signed up with him yet. Even though this course isn’t a requirement for your major, it will definitely cover up for the credits you need Y/N so I suggest you sign up for this. His course runs every Friday at 1 pm-3 pm” your advisor said as she handed you a summary of Professor Min’s course.

You looked over the summary of the course to know what you’re getting yourself into. It was a 101 class so of course, you will be in a class full of freshmen. That wasn’t too exciting however you didn’t mind painting, you are actually quite great at it as a hobby. With one last look at the sheet, you turn to your advisor “Okay I’ll take the course”.

It was finally Friday and today includes your very first class with Professor Min. Unfortunately, you couldn’t go on Rate My Professor to see what kind of teacher was he since he’s new. ‘I swear if he’s an asshole, I’m gonna give him a fucking one’ you thought to yourself.

You were standing right in front of his classroom, sighing you stepped in to see a couple of students already seated. You tried looking for a seat next to an empty one only to see none, so you had to sit next to someone. Looking around the classroom to observe the students there, you saw a boy with long hair covering his eyes. ‘He looks like someone who won’t speak to me that’s perfect’ you thought as you made your way over and sat next to the boy.

The boy looked up, staring at you for a bit before speaking “Hello! My name is Jungkook” he said smiling. ‘Oh for fuck’s sake, I forgot how friendly these freshmen are on the first day because they have no friends’ you thought. “Uh, h-hi my name is Y/N” you waved slightly at him.

“Are you majoring in arts too?” he asked, his eyes were wide in a cute way. ��No, actually I’m an International Studies major. I’m only taking this course for extra credits to graduate” you smiled at him. “Oh...so you must be older than me” he chuckled. You had, to be honest, his laugh was pretty cute. “Yeah I’m 22 however I’d like to think I was younger” you laughed and Jungkook laughed with you. You and Jungkook continued to talk until class began.

Suddenly the door opened and revealed a man who looked young with long brown and blonde hair. ‘Fuck he’s hot’ you thought as your gaze focused on him walking in. Jungkook leaned in and whispered in your ear “He’s quite the eye candy right” and you nodded. What else were you supposed to say of course you didn’t expect your painting professor to be a man who looked like he was in his mid 20’s.

Professor Min’s eyes scanned the classroom before stopping on you for a bit. You could feel your face reddening as you felt his gaze on you. ‘Fuck stop thinking like this Y/N’. As you looked up at Professor Min he broke the stare and sat at his desk. “Okay, my name is Professor Min and welcome to my Painting 101 class, this course will include beginner level painting. You will learn the steps to becoming a better painter. I expect each and every one of you to come out of this class with at least more confidence in the arts.” he said as he looked over the class.

Professor Min then took out his clipboard with the attendance sheet. He checked off each student one by one before hovering over your name tilting his head before looking up at you “Miss Y/N?” You immediately looked up at him “Yes?”. “It says here you’re a senior majoring in International Studies, is there a reason why you’re taking my course?” he asked still having his gaze on you.

“Ah um well I needed an extra course to get enough credits to graduate this semester and your course was the only option. However, I really like to paint as a hobby so I thought this class would be easy to take!” You answered trying to sound like you’re happy with taking the class. Professor Min nodded to your response “I see well welcome to the class as well” he smiled before standing up.

“So for today’s class, we’ll start easy. Each of you will be doing individual work today by making a simple painting of your choice. I decided to make this a first-day activity because I want to see where you are in terms of levels of performance with painting however expect me to make some comments as this is a college course not a high school course. This will be due in class today. I expect each of you to explain your paintings and why you made them the way they are. You have 2 hours, so please get to your stations, the materials needed are on the carts in the corner.” Professor Min stated as he went back to his desk and started to go over some paperwork while we all began to work.

The two hours of painting were almost up and to be honest you were very satisfied with your painting. You painted two pink roses tied together that were falling from the sky. ‘Professor Min is going to love this’ you smiled at the thought. Jungkook looked over your shoulder to see what you painted and laughed a bit. “That’s definitely very simple but it’s cute Y/N,” he laughed giving you a light pat on the back. You turned to see what Jungkook painted to see that he made a fucking portrait of himself A PORTRAIT! “What the fuck Jungkook how did you get that done within just 2 hours?” you ask as now you felt not so confident in your painting anymore. “Well, I am a visual arts major what did you expect” Jungkook laughed as you rolled your eyes.

“Okay the 2 hours are up, I will start walking around the class to individually speak about your paintings. Once I grade them you can leave the classroom. I will post your homework for the week on canvas so make sure to check!” Professor Min said as he started to walk around the classroom to grade students.

Soon enough he reached Jungkook and he had no problem explaining his portrait of himself. “I really love the details of your painting Jungkook, I can see you will probably be one of the more advanced skilled students in our class, your grade for this assignment is an A” Professor Min smiled as he then turned to your painting. Jungkook had packed up his things and waved at you before leaving the classroom.

It was just you and Professor Min in the classroom so the amount of nervousness you felt was really high. “Alright Y/N explain your painting to me” he asked as he looked directly at you. “Well, as you can see I painted two pink roses tied together that are also in the midst of falling from the sky. I actually didn’t know what to paint at the beginning if I had to be honest but I just let my head flow with whatever came to my mind first which was roses. Roses signify love, I’ve actually never felt that before but pink roses comfort me a lot which is why I painted them falling from the sky. The roses are not within the grass they are falling because they haven’t gotten to me even though I think about them a lot.” You were satisfied with your answer as you smiled at Professor Min.

He nodded and looked at your painting again. “I like the story behind this painting Y/N however I feel like you can add more detail in your painting. Maybe add something else to pair with the flowers or add some scenery behind it so it doesn’t look like a plain sky. I see lots of paintings like this Y/N and it’s too simple for the meaning behind it when other paintings look exactly like this. Try and add more of your other feelings to this. I will give you a C for this however if you take it home and re-do it, I can consider regrading your work” Professor Min said as he wrote down your grade on his clipboard and smiled “I’ll see you next Friday Miss Y/N” he said as he walked back to his desk.

You just stood there trying to process what the fuck he just told you. It needed more detail, more work? You were sure you added everything you needed that was in your head. ‘I can’t believe this, Jungkook painted himself and got an A, what did I do wrong?’ you thought. “Miss Y/N are you alright?” Professor Min spoke up as he saw you still standing at your station. You snapped out of it and nodded over at him “Y-yeah I was just thinking of something else sorry, have a nice day!” you said as you grabbed your bag and your painting before rushing out the classroom. ‘I hope you choke on your fucking coffee Professor Min’ you thought as soon as you exited.

It was Friday again and throughout the week you worked on revising your painting as well as become close friends with Jungkook. “Did you get your painting done Y/N?” Jungkook asked as you sat down next to him. “Yeah, I was able to finish it hopefully he’s happy with this one even though I don’t understand what I did wrong in the first place,” you said sighing while taking your painting out and setting it next to your desk. “I thought it was fine even though it was simple, I think he’s just messing with you” Jungkook laughed. “If he’s messing with me I will chop his dick off for real,” you said frustrated.“ “I see I hope you don’t plan on doing that to me too” Jungkook laughed again. “As long as you don’t piss me off too much Kook then you’ll be fine” you smiled.

In the midst of talking, Professor Min walked in “Good Afternoon class, I hope you all have your homework ready to hand in. It will be the first thing we talk about in class today”. He said as he walked up to the chalkboard to write the word ‘blue’ on it. Shit shit shit, you forgot to do your homework because you were so focused on trying to redo your painting. Seeing you in distress, Jungkook handed you a sheet of paper and winked at you. You saw a post-it note on it and it said ‘I know you were trying to get your painting done all week so I did your homework for you!’. You smiled at the note before turning to Jungkook to give him a finger heart.

“So today before we start class we will go over the homework. Before I do that please pass them up so I know none of you are going to try adding in answers.” Professor Min said as we all started to hand our homework up. “This week’s homework was to give off your own meaning of the color blue, what does it mean to you and why did you think of that when you see or think of the color blue? Compared to many other colors, blue seems to be misinterpreted the most so I wanted to see what you all thought about it before we go more into observing colors” Professor Min said as he looked over the class before his eyes landed on you. “Miss Y/N what does the color blue mean to you,” he asked.

Trying to remember what you saw in your homework that Jungkook did you tried to answer. “When I see the color blue I think about the feeling of loneliness, it’s a color that for some reason emits sadness. Whenever I am alone and have no one, the color that first comes into mind to describe my feeling is blue,” you said as you exhaled feeling like you were holding your breath because you could still feel Professor Min’s intense gaze on you. He stared at you before responding “That’s an answer I expected, I am sure many of us had similar answers. The color blue definitely has a sort of tie to sadness however blue can have other meanings too, for example, it can symbolize healing.” Professor Min said.

“Since we have about an hour left, I’d like for you all to go to your stations, and paint a fruit that represents you, the fruit must contain one of the colors we talked about today. Expect that all your paintings in class to represent yourself, because painting expresses the feeling of the artist themselves.” Professor Min said as he smiled.

“This is going to be a piece of cake,” Jungkook said as he turned to his canvas. “Do you think he’s going to correct me on this painting too?” you asked Jungkook while getting your palette out. He shook his head “Nah, come on Y/N this is fucking fruit we’re talking about there’s no way he won’t give you an A”. You honestly hope Jungkook was speaking the truth.

The class was almost over and the fruit you ended up painting was strawberries. You thought it came out pretty cute. As you turned to Jungkook’s painting you tilted your head “Weren’t we supposed to paint only one fruit, why did you paint a whole fruits basket?” you asked. Jungkook shrugged “I didn’t know what fruit to paint, I feel like I am someone with many traits that can’t be linked to just one fruit, so hopefully Professor Min likes it.” he said.

Professor Min started to walk around the classroom in order so that meant you would be last in the classroom again. He reached Jungkook “Wow Jungkook it seems as you thought outside of the box, tell me what your painting means,” Professor Min said happily. Jungkook chuckled before responding “Well I feel like my life can’t be represented through one fruit, I like to think highly of myself so painting every fruit I could think of expresses that I am happy and that having all these traits is not a problem as long as I feel content with it” Jungkook explained.

Professor Min nodded “You impressed me yet again Jungkook, that’s an A” he smiled as he moved onto your station. Jungkook gave you a huge smile and a thumbs up before leaving the classroom. “Before you show me your fruit painting I want to see your revised painting of your roses Y/N,” Professor Min said. You handed him the painting of your roses. “I added a scenery behind the roses, as you can see I added an ocean behind them. You don’t see flowers growing near the ocean, I put them there because reaching the feeling of love is rare for me and it usually wouldn’t go too far so the roses would die even if they land in the sand or water.” You spoke hoping Professor Min can give you an A.

Professor Min sighed “I think you’re thinking to deep into your feelings Y/N, the painting is beautiful actually however I’m sure love will be successful to you one day. I will up your grade for this painting to an A” he said as he moved onto your fruit painting. “Thank you! For my fruit painting, I decided to paint strawberries, they represent happiness because whenever I go eat them I’m always reminded of the pretty things in life.” You stated happily. “I think that’s a nice way to go about it Y/N however I think your strawberries need a little more detailing maybe add a prop like how jungkook added his fruits into a basket. I’ll give this a C, feel free to re-do it, and turn it in next Friday.” Professor Min said as he turned away without letting you speak.

What the fuck a C again? You didn’t understand but you didn’t care. If Professor Min wanted you to fix it then you will because you simply just wanted to graduate.

As each week passed by you became more and more frustrated. No matter what you did with all your paintings Professor Min always gives you a C just to regrade to an A once you redid them. “I’m literally going to fucking kill him if he gives me a C one more damn time” you rolled your eyes as you started to eat your pizza.

“I think he’s hitting on you Y/N” Jungkook simply said as he sipped his banana milk. With that, you started to choke on your food “W-what?” you were sure that was not it, definitely, Professor Min hates you. “I don’t know it’s just weird that he keeps doing that and that he leaves you for last when it comes to grading. Plus you’re a senior right? Professor Min is only 27 there’s not too big of an age gap between the two of you.” he shrugged as he bit his pizza. “There’s no way in fucking hell he’s hitting on me, plus isn’t that illegal for a professor to do that?!” you questioned

“Not really as long as you both give consent to each other and keep it low it’s fine, plus you’re graduating so I don’t think he sees an issue.” Jungkook said as you hit him in the head with your phone “Well I promise you that’s not it, let’s not talk about this anymore kook” Jungkook grabbed his head chuckling while you just wanted to shut the conversation off because you honestly didn’t know how to feel if Professor Min actually liked you.

“Alright, so I will be walking around the classroom to look at the different birds each of you painted. This is the last assignment before I give you your final project next week, so I hope many of you improved with this assignment if it’s not good you may have trouble with the final as I will not be offering any regrading on it.” Professor Min firmly stated.

Time passed as he went to each student before reaching Jungkook. “What do we have here Jungkook?” Professor Min asked. “I painted a bluebird Professor Min, I thought it was perfect to paint as it symbolizes the arrival of spring but with the semester ending, I feel like I have put my all into all my works so the bluebird also symbolizes hard work!” Jungkook smiled while answering. “Nicely done Jungkook, you never fail to amaze me with your work. Your grade for this assignment is an A. I actually want to speak with you in my office tomorrow, even though you’re a freshman I feel like I wouldn’t mind having you as a mentor in my courses for next term.” Professor Min said as he smiled widely at Jungkook. ‘Thank you so much, I would love to help mentor students!” Jungkook smiled even his eyes fucking smiled.

Professor Min walked over to you pulling out your grading sheet. Jungkook packed all of his things happily as he made a big heart with his hands before leaving the classroom. He has a habit of cheering you on with a cute gesture before Professor Min grades you.

“Seems like you have a similar color palette as Jungkook, what bird did you paint,” he asked looking at you. “I painted a Blue Jay Professor Min they have a meaning of being fearless. The reason why I painted it wasn’t because of the meaning but because of the color blue. I was reminded back to the popular meaning of the color blue, sadness. Even though the Blue Jay is fearless it makes me think if it sometimes feels lonely while pulling that Fearless front. I always try to stay strong for myself and pull through but there’s a point where I feel stuck but I don’t want to speak about it. We all experience fear in our lives whether that be alone or with someone else.” You exhaled as you said all of that. ‘Gosh talking for that long while having Professor Min’s stare is having too much of an effect on you’.

“Wow Y/N the meaning you put to your painting is amazing, I love the connection” he squinted at the painted before continuing. “I think you should add something into the painting that shows what the Blue Jay may have a fear of. Other than that your grade is a C. You can come into my office after Jungkook tomorrow if you want to speak more into redoing this pro-” you cut him off as at this point you already had enough.

“Why a C, I don’t understand Professor Min please make me understand why you give me a fucking C every single time just for you to give me an A after I fix minor mistakes! This isn’t right and I want a true explanation why,” you yelled as you tried to slow down with your breathing.

“Y/N please lower your tone when speaking to me” he calmly said. “No! Just tell me why! I fix everything for you just for you to do the same shit all over again” you said already feeling tears coming up “Just why, please” you begged

“Y/N….your paintings always came out beautiful even without the regrading. I was interested in you on the first day of class when I noticed you were a bit older than all the other students, you stood out to me because this also isn’t your major of focus. You stood out in so many ways and I guess I wanted to get close to you. However, as my status as a professor, I can’t just do it so easily so my way of doing it was trying to keep you in the classroom and in contact with me as long as possible. I wanted to see you more Y/N because I like you.” Professor Min said as he looked into your eyes trying to at least find something.

“P-professor Min…” you stuttered surprised by his confession. “Please call me Yoongi Y/N, class is over” he stated as he got closer to you. “I don’t know what to say...Yoongi” you said moving your gaze to the floor, you couldn’t believe he was doing all this because he liked you, Jungkook was right. Yoongi grabbed your chin lightly as he lifted it before he placed his lips on yours. You kissed back slowly as Yoongi placed his hand behind your head to deepen it.

You could feel yourself starting to get hot as things got intense with the kiss and somehow you’re at Yoongi’s desk sitting on his lap. “Fuck Y/N you’re so beautiful did you know that I’ve been thinking about you like this for a while now,” he said in between the kiss as he could feel you trying to rut on his bulge. He chuckled “I bet your so wet right now Y/N look at you rutting against my cock that’s not even out for you yet.” You whined as you just wanted some pleasure, it’s been a while since you hooked up with anyone. “Yoongi please I just want your cock,” you said trying to rub your clothed core on his lap for stimulation. “Yeah? Want my cock right here huh when anyone can walk in and see my cock stuffed in your pussy?” Yoongi kissed your neck as you moaned. His words were so dirty which turned you on even more. “Yes yes Y-yoongi I need it!” you cried out.

“I need your pants off Y/N,” he said as he helped you take off your pants leaving you in just your underwear. You couldn’t believe you were doing this in a classroom with your own Professor. You helped Yoongi take his pants off and then you were left staring at his boxers. “Y/N take my cock out and suck” he demanded as he stared at you. You could tell he was already eye-fucking you. You put your hand into the opening of his boxers and pulled out his cock.

Fuck. He. Was. Huge

You didn’t waste time given the circumstances you’re in, you started to suck his cock. You couldn’t fit all of him it was too much however Yoongi grabbed the back of your head forcing his cock to go all the way in your mouth making you tear up. “Fuck Y/N that’s it take this cock, I think I’ll come soon” Yoongi growled as he guided your head down his cock. While you were sucking, Yoongi took out his phone to capture the sight of you. He never painted nude paintings because he wanted to wait for someone he loved to do so. Just by looking at you, he wanted to make you into art for only him to see.

You could feel Yoongi’s grip on your head tighten signaling that he was close to cumming. “Y/N where do you want me to cum sweetheart,” he asked looking down at you his hair sticking to his skin. You pointed to your mouth as you couldn’t form words obviously. “Your mouth is so good for me Y/N taking this cock so well” he grunted before he shot his cum into your mouth slowing down the pace of his hand on your head.

You swallowed every drop before lifting yourself onto his lap and leaning in to kiss him again. “Y/N I want my cock inside you,” he said as he grabbed your ass and positioned you over the tip of his cock before slamming inside you. “Yoongi! Fuck ugh!” you moaned out loud before Yoongi placed his hand on your mouth. “Baby you have to be quiet unless you want to let the whole school know your mine” he whispered in your ear. You moaned loudly into his hands, you couldn’t help it because Yoongi didn’t even let you adjust to his cock.

“Your pussy is so tight Y/N I might cum sooner then I thought” he moaned as he flips you over. Your face was now against his desk as Yoongi was fucking you from behind. “C-cum inside me Y-yoongi!” you cried out without thinking. Yoongi started to thrust harder and deeper “Shit okay Y/N, Do you like that? Having your professors cock inside your sweet little pussy to make you nice and full?” he growled as he started to slam his cock in and out your pussy. “Yes yes yes! I like that Y-yoongi! I-I’m going to cum fuck!” You suddenly saw white spots as your orgasm hit, you could feel Yoongi’s pace fastening as he started to spurt his cum into you.

Oh, fuck what have I done.

Yoongi pulled out slowly catching his breath before putting on his pants. “Y/N? Are you okay sweetheart?” he asked as he grabbed some tissues to clean you up. Without taking a glance at him you started to quickly put on your clothes. “Y/N?” he called out worried that you weren’t responding. “We can’t do this Yo- Professor Min it’s inappropriate and was a mistake I need to go,” you said as you teared up. You quickly grabbed your things ignoring Professor Min’s calling out.

You dialed Jungkook’s number hoping he would pick up. “Hey Y/N finished with talking with Professor Min?” he answered as you sniffled. “Y/N? Are you okay? Do you need me to take you back to your dorm?” he asked. “Please hurry Kook, I c-can’t do this” you pleaded. Jungkook comforted you through the phone as he went over to pick you up.

“So you had sex with Professor Min?” Jungkook blinked repeatedly as he was trying to take in the whole story. You nodded wiping your tears “It was wrong but it felt so good and it’s bothering me kook, I don’t know what to tell him.” Jungkook handed you a tissue “Y/N there’s obviously feelings between the both of you the only thing stopping you are each other statuses. The fact that Yoongi didn’t kick you out of the classroom and offered to clean you shows that he isn’t one of those people. I’m sure he’s hurt too Y/N. The best advice I can give is for both of you to give each other space until you’re ready to confirm your feelings back. If you realize the relationship is no good then let him know.” he stated as he gave you a hug. “Thank you, Kook. I’m surprised you don’t have a girlfriend when you’re so nice” you tried to smile as you were in Jungkook’s arm.

“I do have a crush on someone but I don’t think she likes me back” he sighed. “At least try but don’t fuck up like me” you chuckled. Jungkook nodded the problem was that you didn’t know that you were his crush. Jungkook was in love with you but he knew that it was never going to happen.

It was suddenly Friday again which means you had to see Yoongi. You were nervous you had no contact with him since you two had sex. You walked into the classroom seeing Jungkook give you a warm smile. Jungkook pointed in front of you so you looked over just to see Professor Min was early however he looked less like his happy self.

“Alright, so today’s class will be short because I will assign you all your final projects. For this project, you must make a collage of a color with multiple shades that speak words. You have 2 weeks to complete this project class dismissed.” Professor Min said as he gathered his things and left the classroom.

“Woah that was quick, Professor Min always uses his full class time no matter what,” Jungkook said as he sighed. “I think it’s because of me Kook, fuck what have I done. I really fucked everything up I’m sure instead of a C he’s going to give me an F.” You felt like crying, to be honest. “Hey, it’s okay. Want to come over my place to destress? We can watch Disney movies?” Jungkook smiled as he wanted to make you happy. You nodded “That would be great Kook” you smiled.

You and Jungkook were currently on the 5th Disney movie for the night. “Why can’t my love life be like a Disney movie, I feel like my story with Yoongi is like one of those tragedies before they get remade into a Disney Movie” you sighed reaching for some strawberries. Jungkook’s grip tightened on his cup of juice, he hated how you only spoke about Yoongi since the incident occurred. “Y/N if you keep thinking about Professor Min you’ll only stress yourself out more, give it a rest for just a bit, and maybe talk with him when finals are done?” he suggested.

“The problem is that he’s all I ever think about Jungkook, I really thought I could forget about him even while watching these movies but it’s worse now.” you sighed. Jungkook looked at you for a moment before suggesting something that made you confused. “Then let me help you forget,” he said as he looked into your eyes. “Jungkook?” you were confused by what he meant, as you laid your eyes on him his lips were against yours. Unlike the kiss with Yoongi, you weren’t responding back. “Please Y/N…..just for today...let me do this,” he asked as his eyes looked into yours searching for permission to continue. Jungkook was younger than you by a few years but you trust him and know he means no harm and that he just wants to help. You nodded as you kissed Jungkook back.

In just about 5 minutes both yours and Jungkook’s clothes were discarded on the floor. “Fuck Y/N is this what you let Professor Min see? He doesn’t deserve to see your beautiful body.” Jungkook said as he placed his mouth over your nipple. You moaned out “J-Jungkook!” as Jungkook started to suck on your breasts “Did Professor Min worship your breasts like this? I bet he hasn’t huh” he chuckled as he gave you small bites over your chest. Your hands reached to Jungkooks bottom half as you tried to grab his cock. He wasn’t as big as Yoongi but definitely Jungkook’s cock was thicker making your pussy clench around nothing. “Eager aren’t you Y/N? Just want my cock in your tight pussy right?” Jungkook smirked.

“Please Jungkook no teasing I just want you inside” you whined as you could already feel some of your arousal slipping out. Jungkook laid your body onto the couch. He left for a bit to grab something only to come back with a blindfold. “A b-blindfold?” you titled your head.

“I know you don’t love me Y/N, I’m only helping you take your mind off things so I thought having you wear the blindfold would help because I don’t want anything to change between us,” he said as he placed it over your eyes. “Thank you Kook, don’t worry I won’t forget about you and I feel bad for even letting this happen, I don’t want to lead you on,” you said sadly. “Y/N I wanted this too I promise you I’m okay with this,” he said softly.

Jungkook wasted no time as he hovered over you inching his cock slowly inside you. He groaned “Mm Y/N your so fucking wet just for me, look at how easily you’re taking this cock”. You moaned as you felt Jungkook stretching you out, you could only see darkness which caused you to clench on him. He hissed “Y/N please don’t clench like that baby I might cum within seconds.” he laughed. His laugh brought a smile to your face, you definitely felt comfort in Jungkook’s arm.

Jungkook spent his time thrusting into you repeatedly, you could feel yourself about to cum soon as your walls started to tighten around Jungkook’s cock. “K-kook I’m going to cum” you moaned as you gripped Jungkook’s back hard. “F-fuck okay I think I’m going to cum soon too Y/N, want me to cum inside you?” he asked heavily panting as he continued to thrust into you. “Yes come inside me I know you want to Kook” Jungkook’s heart felt like it was going to explode he was doing this for you but he smiled as you cared about his feelings too. You knew that the both of you probably won’t ever do this again which is why you agreed.

Jungkook changed positions as now you were sitting on his lap, He grabbed your waist making sure to help you with the pace. You wrapped your arms around him as you felt your orgasm hitting you “Jungkook ugh cum in me now” you whined as Jungkook thrust you through your orgasm and then cumming inside you.

You laid on top of Jungkook with his cock still inside you catching your breath. “You good Y/N? Let’s get you cleaned up, you can stay over if you want for the night I’ll sleep on the couch.” Jungkook offered as he slipped your blindfold off. You nodded already feeling sleepy “Thank you kook, and I’m so so sorry. I really hope one day a person who deserves you a lot will love you” you teared up saying it because you didn’t want to hurt him he’s your friend who loves you and you weren’t sure if you liked him back.

Jungkook smiled as he slipped out of you “Y/N it’s okay I’m just happy that I could take your mind off things for a bit, if it all goes wrong just know I’ll welcome you with open arms” he said as he helped clean you up before handing you some extra clothes to put on.

2 weeks passed like it was nothing and soon enough it was Friday the day finals were due. “What color did you base your collage painting on kook?” you asked him. “Oh I based it on the color purple, apparently it signifies having creativity and I definitely think I represent that” he laughed. “You really love yourself, huh, but that’s a good thing so I can’t really make fun of you for it” you chuckled.

“What about yours Y/N?” with his question you paused before speaking “Well um it’s based around the color pink. I can’t go much into detail but basically this is my confession painting to Professor Min” you said blushing a bit, nervous to speak to Professor Min after weeks have passed. “Ah is that why you didn’t attach an explanation note to your painting,” he asked and you nodded. “Good luck Y/N, I hope everything works out and let me know if you guys get some,” he said wiggling his brows. You laughed and playfully pushed him.

Professor Min walked in and stood in front of the class. “Alright everyone today is your last class with me today. Don’t worry we aren’t going to be doing anything today. All you have to do is bring your canvas up to the front of the room and make sure your explanation notes are attached to your paintings. I hope you all have a wonderful summer break” Professor Min smiled as students started to submit their paintings and then walk out the classroom.

Jungkook patted you lightly on the back and gave you a thumbs up before leaving the classroom. You smiled and started to pack up your things slowly as you waited for Professor Min to notice that you didn’t attach a note to your painting.

“Miss Y/N please come to my desk, the rest of you drop your paintings here and go” he stated.

Here we go, you exhaled before walking over to his desk. “Yes Professor Min?” you asked fully knowing what he was going to tell you. “I don’t see an explanation note attached to your painting,” he said as he looked up at you for the first time in weeks. “I didn’t write one,” you said plainly. “Well since you didn’t write one I am going to have to give you a-” before Professor Min could continue you cut him off “I love you Yoongi,” you said looking at him for a reaction.

“Y/N wha-” he said in a surprised tone. “My painting, it’s my response back to your confession Yoongi. I found love and it’s you” you told him as you started to blush. “Really?” he asked and you nodded.

“Fuck come here Y/N” Yoongi called and you obliged and sat on his lap to start kissing him. “Gosh so that means your mines now?” he asked as he started to undress you. “Y-yes I’m yours now Yoongi officially” you let Yoongi undress you as you stared at his eyes while he was doing so. Yoongi paused as he saw bite marks over your chest. “Y/N where did these marks come from” as you didn’t answer he inserted two fingers into your pussy thrusting them in. “Who did it Y/N tell me right now or I won’t give you my cock,” he said sternly as you cried out “Jungkook Jungkook did them!”

Yoongi chuckled “Where’s your phone Y/N” you pointed to your desk. Yoongi pulled out his fingers as he made his way over to your desk. “What’s the password,” he asked. “Bluemyg” he typed in the password as he started to look for Jungkook’s number in your contacts and pressed call when he found it. Jungkook immediately answered of course because it’s you.

“Did everything go well Y/N?” Jungkook asked. “Come to my class Jungkook right now,” Yoongi said as he hung up the phone turning it on silent. “Yoongi what are you doing?” you wanted to know why in the world did he call Jungkook over when you’re naked on his desk. Yoongi didn’t answer you back and slid his cock inside you “Fuck even after Jungkook fucked you he left you nice and tight for me” Yoongi chuckled.

Jungkook entered into the classroom to see Professor Min with his cock inside you. “H-huh,” Jungkook said as his eyes were blown wide. “Jungkook put your cock in her mouth,” Yoongi said not giving Jungkook an explanation. Jungkook just stood there trying to process what’s going on.

You moaned out “Jungkook just do it, it’s okay!”. With permission on your end, Jungkook unzips the front of his pants and pulls his cock out. He made his way over and placed his cock right above your mouth. “Y/N suck,” Yoongi demanded. You opened your mouth to take Jungkook in while looking up into his eyes.

“Isn’t she gorgeous Jungkook, taking two cocks at the same time with the door wide open for anyone to see,” Yoongi said as he continued to thrust into you. Jungkook nodded as he guided your head to suck his cock. You could barely think about anything when you had two cocks occupying your holes. You pulled away from Jungkook’s cock “I-I’m going to cum”. “Jungkook put your cock in her mouth again and cum when I say so okay?” Yoongi said as Jungkook agreed while thrusting his cock back into your mouth.

You started to clench harder around Yoongi’s cock as you whined while having Jungkook’s cock deep in your throat. “Cum” at that moment Jungkook and Yoongi started to pound into you and release their load. Your vision blacked out after your orgasm.

“Is she okay?” Jungkook asked as Yoongi closed the classroom door and pulled down the shades. “She’ll be fine, I think she was overwhelmed by taking the both of us,” Yoongi responded as he went over to you to start cleaning you up with wipes. “I’m not sure if Y/N will be okay with it, we’ll have to get her opinion on it, but I don’t mind having you in the relationship as well Jungkook I know you love her too,” Yoongi suggested. Jungkook’s eyes widened “R-really? Prof- Yoongi are you sure” Jungkook asked not expecting this. Yoongi nodded “I’m super sure” he smiled.

You opened your eyes to look to the right to see both Yoongi and Jungkook talking. “Did I pass out?” you asked making your presence known. Both of them looked at you and nodded. “Y/N how about adding Jungkook into our relationship?” Yoongi asked immediately. Your gaze turned to Jungkook expecting your answer “I-I don’t mind….I know you thought I didn’t love you Jungkook but after that night my feelings started to develop for you.” you smiled “I love you both” you said as you walked up to the both of them and kiss them both on the lips.

“Since we’re still sorta naked how about we make a body painting collage using all the colors we can” Jungkook suggested.

“I’m all in for it what about you Yoongi?” you asked looking at him. He laughed “Wow this is going to be a long day, let’s do it!”

✈ Um hi! I hope you enjoyed my very first fic on tumblr. Please leave me feedback down below whether it’s good or bad. I will start working on getting a masterlist post soon! Feel free to ask me questions or make comments on ‘Ask Starrymin’.

✈ I will try my best to get the Mother’s day Barista!Namjoon x Single Mother!Reader fic done this week. My plan was to get it done today however colors took me much longer than I thought. So please wait a little more until I upload it!

✈ Anyways I hope you all have a wonderful day! Please stay safe and healthy. Also I’d like to wish Happy mother’s day to all the moms out there and even mother like figures too!

→ Feel free to support me on Kofi

→ My BTS fic recs

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atomic-taco-muffin · 3 years

Text

Kingdom High Chapter 17

Warnings: some more fluff this time

Rating: SFW

Welcome, fairytale friends, to spring at Ever After High.

Where following their true hearts is the only thing on students' minds.

Royals with Royals, and Rebels with Rebels.

Well, it may not be as straightforward as that. Look at Hunter and Ashlynn! Ashlynn giggled as Hunter built a table and perfect date spot out of wood. Back at the school, Apple had entered.

"It's Apple!" a student said.

"Hey, Apple! Oh, hey," another student said. Meanwhile, Duchess held her hand out in expecting that boys would court her too.

"Hi," a goat said. Meanwhile, Raven tried being nice to schoolmates however they picked up and dart out. Raven slumped in her seat.

"Oh! Run, everyone!" a student said. Dexter tried offering Raven roses, which Cupid mistook for hers. Cupid held her hands out in acceptance but noticed that they aren't for her. Lizzie walked past Dexter and cut off the flower heads.

"Off with their buds!" she said.

It seems that hearts and destinies don't always move in the same direction. In the library, Cupid was doodling in her book and fantasizing over Dexter.

"Cupid and Dexter Charming," she sighed.

"Cupie, and Dexie!" she said. One of the step-librarians cleared her throat in warning. Dexter entered with a pile of books which he dropped on the table.

"Hey, Cupid! Anyone sitting here?" he said.

"Yes...I mean, no! No one is sitting there, and yes, you should sit there," Cupid said as she pointed to the chair.

"Thanks!" Dexter flinched at the shrill voice of the step-librarian.

"Shh! Quiet in the library!" they said as they slammed the desk.

"The evil step-librarians are so wicked!" Cupid whispered.

"Yeah! Last week, they made me re-catalog the entire Forbidden Books section," Dexter said.

"Shh!" The step-librarians said as they eyed the two of them.

"Well, look what I found," Dexter said as he held out a book. Cupid gasped in surprise.

"The History of True Hearts Day? Thanks, Dex! You are such a sweet—" Cupid said. The step-librarians stood next to them and slammed the ruler on the table.

"Shhh!" they said. In his office, the Headmaster was playing with pony figurines, a podium, and a figure of himself.

"And so, each time a fairytale is told—" he said.

"Headmaster!" Cupid said as she loudly slammed the library book on his desk. Milton panicked to pack his toys away.

"My dear, I am writing my speech for—" Milton said.

"Love never waits!" Cupid said.

"What are you going on about?"

"True Hearts Day!"

"Where-" Milton cleared his throat.

"—did you find that?" He asked as he tried grabbing the book but Cupid took it first and flipped through the pages.

"It tells all about this totally hexcellent holiday that encourages everyone to follow their true heart's desire. But it hasn't been spellebrated in years," she said.

"And never will be, again," Milton said. Cupid gasped.

"That holiday is dangerous!" he said.

"But...but—" Cupid said.

"Some students might see it as a sign to break from their destinies!" Cupid started reading a few lines from the book.

"Maybe True Hearts Day is—" she said. Milton cleared his throat.

"You are not to talk about this to anyone. Do you understand me?" he said.

"Yes, sir. I won't say a thing," Cupid said as she lowered her head. In the Charmitorium as a meetup place with Briar, Cupid decided to spread the word on the secret holiday. She started by pointing at the book.

"True Hearts Day? I don't get it," Briar said.

"Oh," Cupid said. She suddenly came up with an idea.

"Charades," she said. Cupid held out her fingers for the word count and started doing various actions. The first part was the introduction to the holiday and the Headmaster Grimm's opinion and how she wanted the holiday to be celebrated in secret anyway.

"Forty-eight words. A holiday that used to be spellebrated in the fairytale world that encourages us to follow our true heart's desire, but Headmaster Grimm doesn't want anyone to know about it, but you think we should spellebrate it anyway and throw a secret underground True Hearts Day dance?" Briar said. Cupid sat next to Briar.

"Why didn't you just say that?" Briar asked.

"'Cause, Headmaster Grimm told me not to say anything!" Cupid said.

"Secret dance...What if Grimm catches us?"

"He won't! Come on. It'll be happily ever awesome!"

"I do throw the most hexcellent parties..."

"Yay!" Briar tried to shush Cupid but she didn't listen.

"We're having a secret True Hearts Day dance!" Cupid said. It accidentally echoed through the school.

"Shh!" Briar said. She kept her voice low and held onto Cupid's arm and lead her out.

"Um, you might not wanna shout that. You know, being a secret and all," she said. In the woods, animals were being startled as Sparrow entered the woods with a blaring guitar and his voice.

"🎵Sparrow! He's the hottest guy, oh, in the fairytale w—🎵" he sang. Duchess snatched on his guitar and pulled him out of the open.

"Woah!" he said.

"Stop that! Come on, they went this way," she said. She tugged onto his arm and they walked together.

"I'm finally gonna get some proof!" she said.

"Why do you even care?" he asked as he shoved her off of his arm.

"I care 'cause it's not fair! Ashlynn is breaking the Royal rules with her secret romance, but she still gets a Happily Ever After and I don't!"

"So you got a plan?" he pointed to Duchess.

"I mean, it's not like we're just gonna find them in some romantic mo—" Duchess pulled open a thin vine wall, and coincidentally, she found Ashlynn and Hunter there.

"ment," Sparrow said. Hunter fired an arrow at flowers atop of a tree. A flower crown fell out of it and Ashlynn let out a giggle. Going unnoticed, Duchess and Sparrow swam in the lake and planned to catch the couple in surprise. Before transforming back into a human, she shook off the water on her leg and took out her phone.

"Say cheese!" she said.

"Ah, curses," Hunter said.

"Oh, hey, Duchess! Sparrow! We didn't see you!" Ashlynn said. Hunter laughed nervously.

"What's going on?" Ashlynn asked as she looked around awkwardly.

"You two are totally busted!" Sparrow said. Duchess flinched at the sound of Sparrow's blaring guitar.

"Ashlynn, Hunter, I think the real question is what are you doing here?" she asked as she danced over to them. Duchess interrogatively appeared behind Ashlynn.

"Having a secret romantic rendezvous?" she asked as she hooked her arms around the couple.

"We gotta find a better place to picnic..." Hunter said.

"Please...you two can't tell anyone Hunter and I are secretly dating!" Ashlynn said.

"Um, yeah! Wow, well, I'm gonna!" Duchess said as she pointed to her phone.

"Ash, this is gonna knock you down the Royal rankings," she sarcastically pouted.

"But don't worry, I'll take your place! And your Happily Ever After," she said as she pointed at Ashlynn in a threatening manner. She then walked away.

"Bummer, princess-to-be! Ah whoa, wha—" Sparrow said. Duchess, Ashlynn, and Hunter stood up around him.

"Stop that!" they said. Back at school, Cupid's MirrorCast show was streaming live and she got a first comer.

"Now, my love tale-friends, this is the part of the MirrorCast where I try to solve your romantic problems. So, Fragile-In-Fairyland, what's in your heart?" she said.

"Um, well, I, I..." Dexter said. Noticing the broadcaster's eyes on the pixelated screen, she recognized Dexter's eyes.

"Dex!" she said.

"I kind of, uh...no, I do, I do have a crush on this girl named Raven," Dexter said.

"Raven Queen? You have a crush on Raven Queen?" Cupid asked. Everyone gasped in shock.

"Uh, I mean, Rachel! Rachel, yeah, I like a girl named Rachel," Dexter said.

"Uh, okay, Rachel," Cupid said as she expressed the disappointment in her voice.

"So, you like her. What's the problem?" she asked.

"Well, whenever I'm around her I get really, uh, tongue-tied," Dexter said.

"Huh. Okay." Cupid found her doodle of Dexter on her desk.

"Look, how about putting down your feelings on parchment?" she asked.

"That is a great idea! I'll write her a love po...em, uh," he said. The students turned around and gasped.

"Thanks, Cupid, you're the best, bye," Dexter said and ran off.

"No problem," Cupid said and sighed.

~Le Time Skip~

Ashlynn was in her store and she found the flower crown Hunter gave her earlier. She sighed lightly.

"It's Apple White!" a student said. Apple walked inside the store and sat down next to Ashlynn.

"True Hearts Day! Aren't you just totally hexcited? It used to be such an important holiday on the Royal calendar. Ah, love, finding our predetermined princes..." Apple said.

"Um, sure, yeah..." Ashlynn said. Apple put her hand on Ashlynn's shoulder.

"Oh, sweetie, what's wrong? You can tell me. I mean, we are friends forever after," she said.

"I'm not sure you'd understand," Ashlynn said.

"What? Is it boy trouble?" Ashlynn perked up and backed away.

"Oh, wow! Hey, I am thirsty. Um, I'm gonna go get us a couple hocus lattes! Double foam, extra apple caramel, right?" she said as she sheepishly ran out.

"Eh, you work here? I want these in a size seventy-four," a troll said as she wiggled her toes.

"Oh," Apple groaned.

And so, Dexter finished his true heart's poem for Raven. Now, he just had to wait for a response.

"What's this? I-It's a love poem," Rave said as she used her magic to pick up the note.

"Ooh, a secret note! Is there anything more hat-tastic?" Maddie said.

"That's so sweet. I wonder who it's from," Chika said.

"'D. Charming'?" Raven read.

"A ha ha ha ha ha!" Daring laughed. Raven, Chika, and Maddie turned around as he winked and flashed a smile to them.

"Ladies," he said.

"Daring? I had no idea he felt this way," Raven said.

"Looks like the cards are in your favor now," Chika said.

"'Sup, brother?" Daring asked as he ruffled Dexter's hair.

"Oh, gort," Dexter said.

Love is very...

Complicated.

Yes, complicated! Raven, Chika, and Maddie walked off together as they reread the poem.

~~~~

Sakura and the girls had entered the shop and began their search for their dresses for the ball. They soon found them and returned home to show their families.

"Aww, you girls look fabulous!" Kairi said.

"Thanks mom," Eimi said.

"Alright, got my camera. Say cheese!" Sora said.

"Dad!" Akaya said.

"What? Am I not allowed to take a picture of my daughter before she goes to prom?"

"It's not prom, dumbass. It's a ball," Vanitas said.

"Whatever. Do you girls have a way to get to the school?" The girls nodded in agreement.

"Alright, go have fun," Sora said. The girls smiled and headed off to the school.

#kingdom hearts #kingdomhearts #kingdom hearts imagine #kingdom hearts imagines #kingdom+hearts+imagine #kingdomhearts imagine #kingdomhearts+imagine #eah #eah imagine #ever after high #everafterhigh #ever after high imagine

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feferipeixes · 4 years

Note

is it just me or is tau with dipper and an adder stone a really cool concept??? like 👀 at any content w it. not like. im not trying to pressure you into making anything or anything im just. sharing mutual love for an interesting concept??? yeah lol

Yeah it is really cool! I’d never heard of adder stones before that post but they seem pretty dope. I know you weren’t trying to pressure me into making anything but here is a small thing I thought up~

===

“Dipper! Hey, hey Dipper, Dipper look at me, look at meeeee, your sister! Check this out, hey!!”

Dipper, sitting on a rock in his striped swimsuit, was hunched over a shard of black glass he’d found while walking along the beach. He groaned at the sound of Belle’s voice and curled up tighter. “Not now!” he barked back. “I’m busy studying this volcanic rock I found. I read that people used to use them to send secret messages and do magic yknow.”

Belle’s padding footsteps came to a halt inches away from him. “The only secret code on that rock is the one that says you’re a nerd,” she said, shaking him by the shoulders. “And you don’t need a rock to tell you that ‘cause I’m nice enough to do it for you! That’s just the kind of gal I am.”

He rolled his eyes and looked up. “What is it?”

His sister posed dramatically like the models she’d seen on TV, which she personally thought made her look very enchanting thank you very much despite the fact that she was ten and had sand all over her legs and swimsuit. “Look at my dazzling jewelry!” she announced, showing him her right hand.

Dipper raised an eyebrow. “You put a rock on your finger.”

“Yeah!” Belle pulled her hand away and held it up to the sky. “I found this cool rock with a hole in it like a ring! Now I’m just like a beautiful swan maiden from that movie Kidnapped At Dawn.”

“Oh my stars, Belle, you don’t want to be like the girl in that movie,” Dipper grumbled, looking back at his piece of glass.

“Oh yeah? Well... it’s still a cool ring! Maybe Danny from Mrs. Penlip’s class and I will get married someday and he’ll give me a ring juuuust like this one!”

“Ew, that’s gross!” Dipper got up and snatched the rock off his sister’s finger, to her loud dismay. “The getting married thing and the putting a weird rock on your finger thing.”

“Give it back!” Belle shouted, her face turning red. “Okay maybe not Danny -- he did pee on the slide at recess last year -- but someone else then!”

Ignoring her, Dipper put his hand out to block her from grabbing the rock, and used the other to hold it up to his eye. “Just gotta check out the damage here,” he huffed, trying out the voice of the professor from Dr. Researchman because it was his turn to act out a character from his favorite show. “Gotta see all the beach gunk you got on yourself -- whoa.”

Belle stopped flailing and cocked her head. “Whoa?”

“Whoaaaaaaaaaaaaaa,” Dipper breathed and swung his head around. Through the rock he could see a massive pink lizard, stretching as far down the beach as he could see. It looked sort of like a salamander but it had red frills around its head and a catlike smile. The... whatever it was... seemed to notice his attention, as it winked at him and started crawling away.

And that wasn’t all he could see. There were little sparkling bits of fluff everywhere in the air. One close to his head made a buzzing sound and flew into his gaping mouth. He yelped and tried to spit it out, but as far as he could feel with his tongue there wasn’t actually anything in there.

“Belle, this is so cool!” he said finally. “If you look through the rock you can see all this invisible stuff! I can’t - I can’t even explain it, I uh, I gotta sketch some of this in my notebook!”

Without taking the rock away from his eye, he scrabbled around behind him to try to find his notebook.

Belle put her hands on her hips and pouted. “Yknow, it was my rock first,” she said. “I should get to look at the invisible stuff first.”

“Finders keepers, losers criers,” he shot back, sticking his tongue out.

“It’s losers weepers -” she started, glaring at him, and then faltered. “Whoa. How are you doing that?”

At last grabbing his notebook, Dipper flipped open to a blank page and started doodling. “How am I doing what?”

“That thing with your eye!” Belle squeaked. “Through the ring rock, your eye like turned completely black! How are you doing that?”

“Uhh.” He finally took the rock away from his eye and squinted at it. “I dunno. That’s kind creepy. Hey wait...” he added, catching a glimpse of his own hand through the opening. “It makes my nails look really long and pointy too. What is this thing?”

“Let me try, let me try!” Belle squealed, grabbing the ring back. “I wanna see if it makes my eyes go all creepy too! It could be a really cool Halloween effect, yknow?”

Looking at her brother, she started to put the rock up to her face, and for a split second something dark and horrible flickered before her eye, like the worst nightmare she’d ever had come to life, sending a shiver down her spine as it came into focus, and -

“Belle! Dipper!” Lionel’s voice came from a little bit down the beach. “It’s time to go!”

Belle shrieked in surprise and fumbled the rock. It went shooting into the air and landed somewhere in the sand. Both she and Dipper gasped and dropped to their knees to search for it.

“Kids?” Lionel said, much closer now. The twins looked up at him, disappointment written all over their faces. “Come on, let’s go. I bet you two are hungry -- I know I am -- and I saw a great restaurant on the way here that serves ice cream burgers. That sounds good, doesn’t it?”

“Oh boy, does it!” Belle shouted, jumping up and running toward the car, lingering thoughts about the stone already dashed.

“You coming, Dipper?” Lionel asked.

Dipper picked his hands up and watched the sand filter through his fingers. “Yeah, I guess,” he murmured. He stood up and gave his dad a weak smile, then ran ahead to catch up with his sister.

“Hey Belle,” he said when they reached the car, both panting from exertion. “Um. Did you see any of the cool stuff I was talking about? In the rock?”

She frowned. “Iunno. I didn’t really get a good look at it. There was something kinda scary in there but I dunno what it was.”

Dipper kicked at the pavement with a sandaled foot. “That blows. It was so cool -- it was like there’s all this hidden magic stuff all around us and we just can’t see it.” He sighed as their father caught up with them and started to unlock the car. “I just. Wish I could see that sort of stuff all the time.”

(Only a couple of years later, Belle saw Dipper’s eyes go dark again, and from then on he no longer needed a magical rock to truly see the world around him.)

(AO3 link)

#gravity falls #transcendence au #dipper pines #alcor the dreambender #belle sterling #fic #my stuff #long post #Anonymous #asks

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irwinkitten · 4 years

Text

got lucky | c.h

requested by anon: ok so for the bi!reader concept: last year i ended my relationship w this girl the main reason was because she was really insecure and jealous especially about me being bisexual like anytime i would talk to a guy she would just get so upset about it and she would make such gross biphobic comments and at the time i had so much internalised biphobia that i tried to convince myself i was gay n stayed in the relationship longer than i should have because i rly liked her i guess lol anyways (1/4) we ended and a while afterwards i started seeing this guy who i’d known of for ages (friends of friends type situation) but we just never really talked before or hung out but from the first date we clicked and the sex was crazy good like the type of sex were ur ditching ur vibrators cuz he’s that good lmao so one weekend we went to this party together and of course she is also there, i was so surprised and i could see her eyeing us the whole night, so when she came over i was anxious af (2/4) and this guy knew i was bi! it was no secret, i worked really hard to accept myself! so she comes over and she deadass goes “are you straight now? i knew you would end up with a man!” and she’s all smug but also hurt and im standing there like what the fuck and THEN this dumb man goes “ha guess the sex is so good i made her straight again” and i’m literally about to cry over how gross the whole interaction is and im so shocked i can’t even defend myself, i dumped him that night obviously (3/) last messgae: so basically can you pls do a redo of the gross situation where instead of being with that dumb guy its with calum and he is so protective n sweet n NORMAL n encourages u to stand up for urself about bisexuality / your sexuality, because what happened to me happens too often and its disgusting and gross and no one deserves that!! only if u feel comfortable/inspired tho, no pressure!! love u laura, thank u for creating such a safe space for all the queer babies it means a lot 💘 notes: i kinda enjoyed writing this one esp for my sweet anon baby. i love u and i hope this is everything you wanted ♥ warnings: biphobia, implications of emotional abuse

word count: 3.2k

donate to my ko-fi here

“Hey what’cha doing sweets?” Calum’s voice pulled you from your musings, your hand idly tracing patterns against the paper but the pen remaining on the desk. You wrenched your thoughts from the spiral you seemed to have fallen down, a smile crossing your lips as you felt your heart flutter at the sight of him.

“Nothin’. Just thinking.” You finally replied as he pulled up one of the spare chairs next to you, the bustling activity of the coffee shop falling into your background noise as his thigh pressed against yours.

“Really? Normally you doodle when you’re just thinking.” He countered with ease and your eyes dropped to the paper, noticing that the pen remained where you’d placed it when you first sat down. Subconsciously you must’ve realised that the route your thoughts had gone were not suitable to put down on paper, your fingers picking up the pen and mind falling blank immediately.

“Oh.” You breathed before placing the pen back down and packing away the pad and pen.

“What’s running through your head, doll?” Calum’s voice was quiet and concerned, you shrugged.

“Just, a lot on my mind is all. You’re not my keeper just because we’ve slept together.” You admitted quietly and he frowned before picking up his bag and for a sinking second you thought he was going to walk off, but instead, he took your bag from your hands and slung it over his shoulder.

He looked back at you expectantly and you sighed before standing up, leaving the coffee shop with him, your eyes on the floor as you fell into step next to him.

“Your place or mine?”

“E’s gonna be home and I don’t want to hear them rant about me bringing people back.” You muttered and Calum nodded.

“I think Ash is out. He’ll probably head out to Luke’s if I show up with you.” At his smirk, you rolled your eyes fondly before shoving him towards the bus stop. His indignant “hey!” was only ignored as you two waited for the bus, his arm slung over your shoulders.

Selfishly, you leaned into his touch, trying to ignore the fact that your stomach was doing flips at his touch alone.

The bus journey was a quiet ten minutes, but Calum seemed to understand that you weren’t willing to talk with so many people around, so he was content to just keep you close, and you were unwilling to pull away until his stop came up.

When you reached his shared house with Ashton, you noted that the car was gone from the driveway and Calum smirked.

“Looks like he’s out. C’mon.” His hand tucked around yours and pulled you inside. And for a second you wondered if you could distract him with sex, but then the guilt appeared and you could feel the tears of frustration appear as your thoughts swirled and you felt dizzy.

Calum had stepped ahead, turning to see you stood leaning against the closed door, head in your hands and he knew something was wrong. Stepping back to you, he dropped your bags and took your hand in his, pulling you upstairs to his room and your stomach twisted uncomfortably.

“Cal I-”

“I’m not suggesting that.” He muttered. You fell silent at that and as he pulled you into his room, you felt unsure, but he gave you no chance to really deny him as he crawled into bed before opening his arms out to you.

“Cal.”

“I know you. You don’t do emotional stuff well but I’m here for a cuddle and an ear if you need it.” You fell into the embrace easily, your head resting on his chest as his arms wrapped around your shoulders, his lips finding your temple as you finally felt something in you snap, the surge of emotions overwhelming and frighteningly vivid.

“I keep telling myself that I never was a lesbian, that I still found men attractive but Poppy made me feel like having that attraction was stupid since I was dating her and that I was a lesbian and it’s so fucking confusing because I like you, but I can hear her voice screeching that I’m not right, that I’m a lesbian or faking it or a freak.” And for the first time since you left Poppy, you cried.

Calum had been waiting for this. When the split had happened, you’d been ready for it, you’d already left her mentally, but this was what he knew you needed. He knew that the relationship with her had been toxic, but you’d never revealed the extent of her behaviour.

His heart broke.

“Just because you like both men and women does not mean you should feel so guilty over your sexuality. There’s a B in LGBT for a reason, doll. That’s you. You’re bisexual and you should be proud of that, not ashamed because some bitch with a control issue couldn’t handle the fact that you liked more than women.”

You found yourself gripping his shirt with your fists as you pressed your face into his chest, trying to stem the tears that seemed relentless. But Calum held his silence whilst you got it out of your system, knowing that you needed to get this off your chest.

“I’m sorry.” You finally got out, but he simply shushed you.

“She was a shitty person with an attitude to show. You shouldn’t apologise for the bitch.” His words were simple but it gave you a breath of ease, pulling away as hands rubbed your shoulders gently.

He was definitely too good to you, but he was there for you regardless and you were certain that you loved him for that.

“There’s gonna be a party on the other side of town in a couple of weeks. Ash took over the old Firefly down on Hartley. He’s revamping before opening the bar to the public. You fancy going?” And you smiled at the gentle distraction he was offering.

“We get at least a free drink if we show up, right?” And Calum laughed as he kissed your temple.

“He wouldn’t say no to me. Or you. In fact, I’m almost certain he’s expecting me to do full introductions on that night since Luke and Mike will be there with the others and their girls.” You rolled your eyes.

“It’s not like I went to school with Luke or anything.” Came your sarcastic retort and Calum laughed as the two of you settled for the evening.

“Pretty sure Luke last saw you when you started dating Poppy. He’s put two and two together but he won’t say anything unless you mention it. Even then he knows it’s not his place.” Your heart seemed to swell another size in affection for Luke.

“You’re making it difficult for me to not fall in love with you Cal. Good dick, you know how to use those lips and fingers of yours, you make me feel like I belong and you respect boundaries without me having to ask.” You finally muttered and Calum gave you an almost wistful smile.

“You may have been with Poppy but that didn’t stop me from being friends with you. You’re someone I’ve genuinely cared about from day one. Not gonna chuck that away because of who you are. Plus growing up with my mom and sister almost made certain I’d be in touch with my feminine side.” He teased but the sincerity and understanding in his tone eased your shoulders.

Your features softened at the admittance and you pressed a kiss to his cheek.

“Then I definitely got lucky to have you in my life at least, falling in love or not.”

—

When the day of the party rolled around, you felt sick with nerves and you couldn’t understand why.

When Calum rolled up to pick you up—he was driving to Luke’s who lived closest to the bar and you’d both get a ride back to yours before he picked up his car the following morning—he could see the nerves and the grimace on his face spoke volumes.

“What?” You all but demanded when you were debating outfits. He’d been sitting on the bed watching, but got up and held his hands out to you.

You took them hesitantly. His thumbs almost immediately started to soothe across the back of your hands to help relax you.

“Word has gotten around that Poppy is planning to show up. We haven’t exactly been quiet about our relationship, but I didn’t think she’d pull something like this.” And your stomach churned uncomfortably.

“We’re still going. Ashton promised free drinks and we’ll be in the VIP area right?” You checked and Calum nodded.

“Ashton has already told the bouncers that she’s not allowed near the VIP section. They’re checking and rechecking the lists to make sure she isn’t on one of them.” He explained and you let out a breath of air.

“Okay. It’ll be fine. It’s being handled and I’ve got you. Now which outfit do you think I should wear?” He studied your face for a second before a smile broke across his lips.

“The dark purple with the deep plunge. Is it wrong of me to flaunt in her face what she lost?” And you laughed as you kissed him.

“I mean, yes. But I also know that you want to show me off properly now that we’ve got things really settled.” You murmured and he grinned back unabashedly.

It was still an uphill battle, but he’d given you a lot to think about. And after gentle convincing, you’d found an LGBT friendly therapist who helped you process your thoughts. It helped you come to terms with accepting the toxic relationship that you’d been in but also it highlighted how beneficial Calum had been as a friend and confidant.

It also gave you the courage to ask Calum out officially, wanting to be with him entirely and not just in the evenings.

He took that in his stride and things shifted once more between the two of you. When you opened up to him about some of your sessions, you knew that your trust had been well placed because he never indicated anything to his friends and so you were never subjected to pitying stares or glares.

You were almost sure that you’d fall in love with him faster than you fell for Poppy.

The drive to Luke’s was filled with your nerves. You hadn’t seen Luke in years and you were also meeting his two other friends, Ashton and Michael as well as their partners.

“Ashton’s excited to finally meet you and stop telling me to be careful when I go to yours.”

Despite Calum living with Ashton, your schedules never seemed to match and more often than not, Calum could be found at your place, a small sanctuary from your hectic lives.

Ashton never begrudged that time you shared together, but Calum had mentioned a few times about how snappy he was being on the subject.

“He’ll chill when he realises I’m not out to break your heart or steal something.” You muttered with a chuckle. Calum snorted in return as he pulled into Luke’s driveway.

Your nerves return full force as he pulls you to the front door and steps in like he lives there.

“Hey fuckers, anyone about?” He called through and was met with calls of confirmation, another yell following that they were in the dining room. Your fingers squeezed Calum’s tightly and he didn’t hesitate to return it, his thumb soothing across the skin on the back of your hand.

“Look who it is!” A voice crowed loudly as he stepped into the dining room, followed by loud calls of greetings.

There was a flurry of introductions and you felt like the spotlight was being shone on you, under scrutiny from his best friends gazes once they had greeted their friend and Calum had introduced you. Or re-introduced you in Luke’s case.

“Well c’mon, the last time I saw you we were leaving school. What’s been happening to you?” Luke finally asked, indicating to the seat next to him. A small smile graced your lips as you sat down, Calum falling into the seat next to you as you shrugged.

“Life I guess? It’s been definitely more interesting with the different jobs and moving about. Building up a social life again.” Luke’s face filled with a frown at that.

Michael came in next.

“Building up a social life? Did you not have one?” His words held an innocent curiosity, yet you felt yourself hesitate.

“My ex was controlling to the point that I couldn’t do anything without their permission. They managed to make me believe that no one really wanted me around and I lost touch with old friends, like Luke.” You glanced to the side and he was frowning.

The others held varying degrees of stunned shock or disapproval.

“Well then he was a cunt.” Michael muttered and your eyes refused to meet theirs at the assumptions. Luke stayed quiet but his hand rested on your knee, squeezing it. You shot him a gentle smile in return.

“Well it’ll be good to have you back in our lives. Especially with these two knuckleheads.” He nodded at Ashton and Michael who immediately protested and you laughed.

It felt like you’d known them for years as you all had a few shots. Ashton, despite being the owner of the bar, wasn’t worried about turning up with his friends. He’d already explained to his staff that he’d be around for the rest of the night once he arrived and he’d told the small groups he’d be here and there.

After a handful of shots, the group of you made your way to the bar, your arm linked with Calum’s. There were separate conversations happening between you all, their girlfriends including you on their pamper night whilst the boys discussed a possible games night for all of you.

When you arrived at the club, you saw the queue of people waiting to get in and the subsequent groans from the line as the bouncer let you in, no questions asked.

Ashton guided the group of you to the VIP section and the music was still loud but you could still hear each other talking. You were chatting away with Luke’s girlfriend, arm still linked with Calum’s as Ashton disappeared to get drinks.

Calum pulled your attention away briefly, his lips by your ear.

“I’ve spotted her. She’s not seen us yet so don’t worry.” You barely nodded, acknowledging his words as you listened in, fighting to keep your nerves down.

The night continued and you were all a few drinks deep. Calum’s arm had barely left your waist all night as you talked and danced and drank. You’d been welcomed into his group of friends with an ease you never realised existed.

You’d deliberately not tried to seek out Poppy, silently praying that the universe would comply. But as the group of you stood out in the smokers area, huddled together under a heating lamp, your stomach sank as she stepped out, her eyes narrowing on you.

“Fuckin’ knew it!” You could feel the alarm in your face as you stepped back into Calum, his arm going around you protectively.

“Poppy, you’re drunk.” You felt curious gazes from your new friends, but you didn’t spare them a glance.

“You break up with me and go running to his arms, I knew you weren’t a fuckin lesbian. Pretending to try it out? Just another straight girl seeking attention. Fucking freak.” She snapped and your stomach sank.

“Get it through your thick head that she’s bisexual.” Calum snapped in your defence, earning a glare from Poppy. But Calum didn’t shrink from the glare, your glance to his face confirmed he was giving her his own. You were mildly impressed that she didn’t back down instantly.

“She’s a fuckin liar! Years of my life wasted on this bitch.” She spat at your feet and you took in a deep breath.

“You don’t get to control me anymore, Poppy. I’ve liked both men and women, but you never liked that because it meant that I had more chances of leaving you. And I wished I’d have left you sooner. Calum certainly thought so.”

“Of course you fucked the first man to pay you any attention.” Your heart sank once more at her declaration and you felt your mind fall into the old trap that you’d fought with for so long.

“No she never. In fact she slept with a few girls long before she slept with me. But I was her best friend as she tried to deal with the mess you created in her mind.” Calum snapped back. You felt your heart swell for him.

Poppy stepped forward, her hand raised but then Ashton stepped in front of you.

“Get out. You’re no longer welcome in this bar.” He made a gesture and security slowly made their way over.

“She shouldn’t be fucking welcome!” Poppy yelled back, but Ashton held firm.

“She is my friend. You are not. Get. Out.” When the bouncer rested a hand on her arm, she shrugged it off and stormed away. Your entire body was trembling.

“So that was the ex, huh?” Michael commented and you could feel your hands trembling as you nodded. “Why didn’t you correct me?” Calum spoke up for you as his hands took yours.

“It’s been a battle for her. Poppy had convinced her she was a lesbian, that she was wrong for having any attraction to men. In Poppy’s world, either your gay, lesbian or straight. Being bisexual isn’t acceptable in her eyes.” Calum’s arms wrapped around you and you stood there, holding onto him for dear life.

“Well that makes two of us then.” Michael’s casual comment had your knees go weak and you let out a weak laugh.

“Thank you Ash.” You finally murmured when you pulled away from Calum. Ashton didn’t hesitate to wrap his arms around you in a warm hug that was both comforting and reassuring.

“Hey, you’ve been the best thing for my best mate. And you were friends with Luke once before. I’ve definitely got your back. And I get why you didn’t say anything and don’t hold that against you.” He muttered and you breathed a sigh of relief before returning to Calum’s embrace.

“More drinks or are we gonna go back to Luke’s?” And you shook your head.

“Let’s stay. I’m not gonna let her ruin it,” you leaned forwards so your lips were by his ear as the others went inside, “also I want to see if we can christen the bar in one of the toilets.” You breathed. Calum groaned as his grip around you got tighter and he pulled you in for a kiss that promised more.

“Oh you’re so fucked sweetheart. Especially since I know where the individual lips are and they aren’t attended by anyone.” You held back a moan at that thought before pulling away, your hand in his.

“Dance first?” And the innocence in your tone made him laugh as he followed behind you willingly.

“Menace.” The term was laced with affection as he caught up to you, kissing the spot just below your ear.

You simply grinned in return as you pulled him onto the dance floor, Poppy long forgotten as he danced with you.

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pandawritespoorly · 4 years

Text

With Time: Chapter 35 - Concours D'arts Musicaux

Author’s Note: Here we go!!!

I'm not entirely satisfied with this chapter, but I do enjoy it a lot. Also, I'm sure you were all expecting a strong language warning, and you would be correct! 'Pissed' and 'Bitch'. Not nearly as many as you expected, huh?

Chapter Summary: The music competition. 🎉

First | Previous | Next

“You sure you want to go?” Allan asks.

“No one would be upset if you backed out,” Claude reminds her.

Marinette sighs shakily, glancing out her window towards her former school. She’d honestly been doing a lot better when it came to her classmates, but she hadn’t been back to the school itself since…

Since that day.

She massages her wrist unconsciously, thinking of the confrontation, the yelling, the fall. She still can’t really remember much past Chloe finding her in the bathroom.

Claude, Allan and Felix are in her room with her, on their way to the competition. Felix puts a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Marinette?”

She turns back to them, taking a deep breath to steady herself. She can do this.

“Y-yeah. Yeah, I’m still going to go. Worst case scenario, I leave early, right?”

“Indeed,” Felix agrees.

Nodding, she leads them out of her room, and the group makes their way out of the house. They walk across the street, and stare up at the school for a moment.

Marinette walks up the stairs, taking in the sight of the main courtyard, packed with students from all over for the competition. Oh, Kwami, there’s so many people-

“Marinette?!” A quiet voice says, barely loud enough to be heard.

The three boys ready themselves to deal with more of Bustier’s class. To their surprise, Marinette quickly finds the speaker and breaks into a grin, hurrying over.

“Marc! It’s been so long! How have you been?” She’s speaking to a dark haired boy in a red hoodie. Not part of Bustier’s class.

“I-I’ve been f-fine. Art club is s-so quiet without you, everyone was s-so worried, because you just disappeared, and your c-class was awful. Nathaniel said…” he trails off, frowning.

Marinette copies him. “What happened?”

“He w-was just saying a-awful stuff, and we br-broke u-up… he wouldn’t even work with me anymore, because L-Lila said she’d get him c-connected to a real writer-”

Marinette bristles. “He did what?”

Marc shrugs helplessly, “I- I think he figured it out eventually, he’s b-been sitting away fr-from everyone now.”

“But he hasn’t spoken to you? Hasn’t apologized?”

When he doesn’t meet her eyes, she gets her answer.

“Come on, we’re going to talk to him. He has no right to treat you like that and not apologize.” Marinette leads the boy up the stairs. Claude, Felix and Allan, who had watched the entire interaction smile and follow after her.

She’s doing well so far.

They arrive outside of what must be the art room, if the inside is anything to go by. Nathaniel, who they do recognize, is sitting inside, doodling idly.

Marinette’s got that look in her eyes, as she steps inside. “Nathaniel.”

His eyes snap to her immediately, and he stares at her in shock for a little bit before speaking, “M-Marinette? Y-You’re here?!”

She just stares at him, raising an eyebrow.

“I-I’m so sorry! About-”

“I’m not the one you should be apologizing to.” She pushes Marc forward gently, he’s looking at the floor, “Did you really abandon him like that?”

Nathaniel fidgets in his chair, “Well, Lila a-also said-” he realizes what he’s saying, “W-wait! I meant it differently! That came out wrong! I just… I’m sorry, Marc, I didn’t think a-about anything really, and, I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine,” he mumbles.

There’s tension in the room, from the unresolved issues between the boys. Marinette knows this doesn’t involve her. She shakes her head. “I think I’ll let you two talk.”

As she walks down the hallway, Claude stays back a moment to address Nathaniel, “She may have said otherwise, but she deserves an apology. The way she was treated here was vile and inexcusable.”

Only when Nathaniel nods shakily does the actor hurry to catch up to their friends. Marinette is speaking, “I just can’t believe that Nathaniel and Marc broke up! They had a great relationship! Lila really did a number on the class.”

“Don’t give Lie-la so much credit, Dupain-Cheng. It was you,” Chloe interrupts, appearing out of nowhere.

“What?” “The morons here get akumatized so much for a reason. You were the only one who tried to actually communicate, and the class fell apart without you. Everyday Ladybug and all that. All the couples have basically broken up, with the exception of Lahiffe and Césaire, because Lahiffe has no backbone and Césaire thinks they’re the definition of a healthy relationship.”

“Don’t exaggerate, Chloe. They’re perfectly capable of sorting out their problems on their own,” Marinette argues.

Chloe scoffs, shaking her head but dropping the conversation.

“Marinette Dupain-Cheng! Do my eyes deceive me or has the storm finally passed and our shining rainbow is back?!”

Marinette turns, sees Aurore standing a little ways down the hall, “Aurore! It’s been so long!”

She runs up to give her a hug. The taller girl rolls her eyes, “And whose fault is that?”

Marinette shrugs sheepishly, “Sorry, I-” “Not yours, little cloud! It’s that horrible hurricane that’s swept through here! She’s blocking out the sun, and that’s all we had left without you!”

“Oh, I know about that.”

At Marinette’s expression, Aurore smirks, “Ooh! There’s a storm brewing!”

The designer winks. “Perhaps.”

While the two girls chat, Chloe stands with the three boys Marinette had come with. “Marinette really downplays how many people loved her here. I’m not even sure she realizes she was pretty popular.”

Allan shrugs. “She hasn’t noticed at our school either, but she definitely is.”

“Good. She deserves people who appreciate her.”

Eventually, Aurore and Marinette part, and the group wanders away. Marinette shows them around the school as best she can. At one point, they get separated for some time and Marinette ducks into a classroom. She wanted to get out of the way of the people in the hallway to text her friends quickly. That plan is forgotten when she sees who is inside.

Lila and Alya stare at her in shock momentarily, before Lila shudders and pretends to hide behind Alya in a terrified manner. The former journalist pats her ‘friend’ comfortingly before standing and turning to Marinette.

“What are you doing here, Monsternette?”

The girl recovers from her shock and sighs sadly, “I’m here for the concert.”

Lila gasps. “I won’t let you harass my boyfriend!”

Marinette scowls, uneasiness giving way to fury. “I’m not the one harassing Adrien, and he’s not your boyfriend willingly!”

“Just because you’re some jealous creep, doesn’t mean you get to attack my bestie like that!” Alya yells.

“Oh, would you grow up?!” Marinette growls, gesturing wildly, “This isn’t some tv show where every action I take is because of some boy! Despite what you may think, I have a life outside of a romantic one!”

“Sure, so the fact that you’ve finally dropped the kicked puppy act has nothing to do with the fact that Adrien isn’t here?” Alya retorts.

Marinette stares at her. “What.”

“Please. Do you think we’re stupid? Everything you’ve ever done has been an act to gain sympathy. Thankfully, we had Lila to open up our eyes. All those times you pretended to do nice things? They were all so that we’d like you, honestly-”

“Do you even hear what you’re saying? You’re delusional! You think that was all an act? Do you think I pushed myself down the stairs and sprained my own wrist for sympathy points from a class that already hated me and a boy who wasn’t even there?!”

Alya opens her mouth to argue, but Marinette isn’t finished, “No! No! You do not get to downplay my feelings or how I was treated! Do any of you even realize how long it took me to properly heal from all that?!”

“It was just a few bruises-” “Emotionally! I didn’t even think that the people hanging out with me regularly for months even considered me their friend despite how obvious it was until I heard them call me that when they didn’t know I was around! I spent months feeling like any slip up would cause a repeat performance of what happened here! Do you have any idea how tiring that is? The effects it can have on someone?!”

Alya’s face softens, and she looks concerned for a moment. It really hadn’t occurred to her that Marinette might have been the victim. Then Lila speaks, “N-nice story, but I’m sure A-Alya won’t fall for it the way L-L-Ladybug d-did.”

Alya scowls, sympathy gone, “Of course not. Unlike anyone dense enough to like you wherever you go now-”

“I do not appreciate you insulting the entire population of the school we attend,” Felix interrupts.

Marinette turns to see Felix, Allan and Claude standing in the doorway, each of them looking beyond furious. She beams, running to give them all a tight hug.

“Now, whether or not you’ll excuse us, we have better things to do than try and carve stone with a stick,” Claude retorts as they turn away.

Down the hall a little ways, Allan is hugging Marinette tightly, and the girl is giggling slightly.

“Allan, it’s okay, I’m fine.”

“Still gonna’ hug you, ‘Nette. I can’t believe that of all the times you had to run int’ them it was the one time we weren’t there.”

Claude races over and joins the hug, and Felix just smiles at his friends.

When they separate, Claude looks at Marinette worriedly, “We heard some of that before we arrived. Did you really spend months thinking we didn’t consider you our friend?”

Marinette’s face colors a little and she looks away slightly, “In hindsight it was kind of dumb, but yeah. I thought you were all just being nice.”

“Nope!” Allan hugs her again, “You need more hugs.”

“For sure!” Claude agrees.

She only laughs, returning the gesture. When she’s finally freed, Felix gives her a quick one as well, having waited out the group hugs.

“Let’s not let them ruin our fun, I can keep showing you around!” Marinette suggests. The others readily agree, and they all move on. Lila and Alya aren’t their priority at the moment.

Soon enough, it’s almost time for the performance, so they go over their final preparations to reveal Lila once and for all.

“Alright, so first we show the slide with the public records proving she was in Paris when she was ‘traveling’, then her interview so that Jagged and Ali will speak up, then we can play the museum recording, and by then her mom will probably have some choice words, and by that time the police will have arrived, anything else?” “Nah, too much could over do it. We’ve got plenty more evidence if it’s needed though,” Allan says.

“Ms. Marinette! I was 87.3% certain you would show up for this event!”

The four turn to see a small robot floating nearby, “I wish to speak with you! I believe that Max is ill, as he seems to be suffering from delusions. He caught it from his classmates and I noted that you had immunity, and was wondering if you could help me!”

“You’re adorable,” Claude whispers.

“Markov!” Marinette greets the robot, “Actually, you might be able to help…”

---

The concert is over, and everyone did splendidly - to the surprise of no one at all. Allegra is back with her friends, and they’re all congratulating her.

It’s bittersweet in that Adrien can’t be with them yet.

The large projected image on the wall glitches, catching everyone’s attention. For a moment, it seems as if it goes back to normal, before it glitches again, changing to show a very different image this time.

Displayed on the wall are the dates in which Lila had supposedly been traveling with her mother. Directly next to them are public records showing her mother had been in Paris.

Some quiet murmurs begin to get around. Mostly confusion, either visitors who didn't even know of Lila, or people beginning to suspect the truth.

Next is a video, straight from the Ladyblog (someone had saved all the posts and made a site to act as an archive), of Lila claiming to know Jagged Stone and Prince Ali. This had been a ‘special feature’, a two-in-one interview of Lila talking about both of them in one clip.

“Oh yes, Jagged and I are very close. Basically best friends - well, after Ladybug of course - we first met when I saved his kitten from a runway. That’s when I got tinnitus. Anyways, I met with Prince Ali soon after because that’s actually why I’d been at the airport. Ali and I basically grew up together and I was on my way to visit.”

She continues, blabbering on about both celebrities for some time.

When it ends, there’s an outraged cry from the back, “That’s so not rock n’ roll! I’ve never met that girl, and she makes me sound like some creep! That’s defamation! Not cool!”

The crowd turns to see a fuming Jagged and Penny. Soon after, another woman stands, Prince Ali beside her, “Prince Ali would never associate with such a blatant liar. His only childhood friends are in Achu.”

The murmurs get louder, until a voice calls over the noise, “Lila Diablo Rossi, what is the meaning of this?! You haven’t been traveling, you said the school was closed! You said that Ladybug was incapable and that Paris was unsafe!”

Mrs. Rossi is fuming, trying to spot her daughter in the crowd. Everyone is furious now, because no one gets to speak about the city’s heroes like that.

Before anyone else can speak up, the screen changes again. There’s some text, with audio playing in the background.

The following audio was recorded when Ms. Lila Rossi happened to find a former classmate at the Louvre. This classmate had always claimed Lila was lying, and Ms. Rossi drove them out of the school through intense bullying. It has been edited to keep this person anonymous.

“-is you! Here I thought this would be a boring field trip! This is a spectacular surprise though!

“See, I told you I knew what I was doing. No one’s seen you in months and they all still hate your guts - rightfully so of course.”

There are footsteps as the speaker approaches the phone.

“You know, they call me their everyday Ladybug now? I’m honestly insulted - not only did they give me your old dumb title, but they’re comparing me to her. They were that is, until I changed that.

“Look at you! You’re pathetic! I can’t believe I considered you a legitimate threat to me. I could have just left you be and they would have eventually left you in their own time.

“Those morons could walk in right now and would still believe me if I told them you attacked me. They just despise you that much. Not that I can blame them - you’re just so detestable.”

There’s a stunned silence as everyone takes in what they just heard. The doors burst open, Ladybug and Chat Noir stand tall, accompanied by multiple policemen and people in suits with stern faces.

Ladybug steps forward, “Lila Rossi. You are under arrest for working with and assisting a known terrorist for your own personal gain.”

You could have heard a pin drop.

“There has been plenty of circumstantial evidence, but Chat and I never had any substantial proof. Then, a civilian got footage of you capturing an akuma and using it to akumatize yourself.”

The room erupts. People are shouting and screaming, Mrs. Rossi looks shell-shocked. The crowd pushes the girl forward, and she’s fighting.

“No! You can’t do this! I have immunity!”

“No. No you don’t,” Mrs. Rossi manages.

Lila pales. “...what?”

Her mother doesn’t respond, looking faint.

“I’m Gabriel Agreste’s future daughter-in-law! There’s no way-”

Chat interrupts, “Oh yes, that. We know all about that. The deal you made? We aren’t sure of the exact details, whether you made a deal with Mr. Agreste or with Hawkmoth who went after Mr. Agreste, but we know. Adrien was forced into that relationship, so there’s probably a few more charges to add to your list since you were well aware that he didn’t like you in that way.” “Sexual harassment isn’t okay,” Ladybug chimes in, “And surely you’re aware that’s what you were doing?”

At this point people have their phones out and are recording the whole thing. One of the people with stern faces steps forward, “Mrs. Rossi, you may want to come with us.”

She nods, following the procession weakly.

Ladybug and Chat take off. Soon enough, Marinette and Adrien slip back inside, showing up behind their friends, “Look who I found!”

Adrien waves awkwardly, though no one notices as he’s crushed in a tight group hug. He laughs happily as he returns the hug, it’s good to be back.

The moment he’s released, a yellow blur nearly knocks him to the ground.

“Hey, Chlo’.”

She hides her face, and while she may be silent, he can tell she’s likely crying. After about a minute or so though, she pulls away, looking as pristine as ever.

“Well, I say we get out of this place and away from these utterly ridiculous people.”

No one argues, and they head outside, quickly heading into the bakery. Adrien is ushered inside Marinette’s room where he’s bombarded with more hugs, everyone talking at once.

After they separate, they find their own spots to sit, and Marinette turns to the model, “So, what do you want to do?”

He hesitates, unsure, “Hmm… video games?”

“Yeah!” Claude cheers.

Marinette gets the stuff out and offers a controller to Adrien. Felix opts out, and conveniently enough, Allegra and Chloe are also left to wait. The girls sit next to each other, blushing lightly and pointedly not looking at each other.

Allegra’s hand lightly moves to rest over Chloe’s. She turns to look at their hands, then back to the braided girl beside her, who is suddenly very invested in the game. Chloe smiles, turning back to the screen as well.

Neither notice Felix sneakily taking a picture and sending it to the group chat.

---

Earlier:

Today’s the day! Alya is so excited for the competition! It’ll be fun to see Adrien perform, and maybe they can hang out afterwards. Lila has been an absolute godsend when it comes to convincing Gabriel to allow Adrien more free time.

It’s such a shame that she sprained her wrist again and can’t conduct the concert as she usually would.

Lila is nervous that all her usual bandmates wouldn’t be happy to see her, seeing as she ‘abandoned them’ so Alya is comforting her in an empty classroom.

“Lila, I promise, no one-”

The door opens.

She steps in.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

Alya can only stare, unprepared for this. Some traitorous part of her is happy to see her. Missed her.

Alya is disgusted with herself.

Lila shudders, attempting to hide behind her real friend. That’s all it takes to shake Alya from her stupor, she pats Lila gently and turns to her former bestie.

“What are you doing here, Monsternette?”

She sighs. “I’m here for the concert.”

Lila gasps. “I won’t let you harass my boyfriend!”

Alya’s heart goes out to her. Even when faced with Marinette. Her love and loyalty to Adrien shows no bounds. Alya is relieved that she is beginning to make progress. When it had been several months and Lila hadn’t seemed to recover at all from Marinette’s bullying, the class feared that the damage done was irreversible.

Marinette scowls, glaring at the two, as if they were the bad guys here. “I’m not the one harassing Adrien, and he’s not your boyfriend willingly!”

Oh she did not just-

Lila’s self-esteem is bad enough, and she’s confessed to Lila that she worries people will think she’s not worthy of dating someone as great as Adrien. Alya wonders if Marineitte was the source of that, because though they haven’t seen her in a while, it certainly sounds like something she would do.

“Just because you’re some jealous creep, doesn’t mean you get to attack my bestie like that!” Alya yells.

But there is no other explanation! Alya wants to shout. Why else would someone like Marinette bully someone like Lila?! Some part of her- some jealous part of her reached out and corrupted the rest of her, dragging that sweet girl that Alya once knew into some pit of cruelty.

Alya had been her best friend long enough to know that Marinette can go to extremes when it’s something she cares about.

Even if she shouldn’t care.

Even if it isn’t her business.

“Sure, so the fact that you’ve finally dropped the kicked puppy act has nothing to do with the fact that Adrien isn’t here?” Alya retorts.

The other girl looks at her incredulously. “What.”

“Please. Do you think we’re stupid? Everything you’ve ever done has been an act to gain sympathy.” If Alya had to tell the truth, she’d admit that she’d been… hesitant to believe at first that all of the nice things Marinette had done were just a ruse. Of course, now there’s no other explanation. People don’t just change personalities like a switch. If Lila’s testimonies were anything to go by, Marinette is not the girl they all thought she was. “Thankfully, we had Lila to open up our eyes. All those times you pretended to do nice things? They were all so that we’d like you, honestly-”

She makes good points, but it’s not like Adrien wouldn’t have found out! Then he would have been hovering over ‘poor Marinette’ for being injured! Lila had explained it! It made sense!

Or did it?

Alya opens her mouth to point this out, but Marinette cuts her off, “No! No! You do not get to downplay my feelings or how I was treated! Do any of you even realize how long it took me to properly heal from all that?!”

This time Alya does get a chance to point out the inaccuracies. “It was just a few bruises-” “Emotionally!” Marinette interjects, “I didn’t even think that the people hanging out with me regularly for months even considered me their friend despite how obvious it was until I heard them call me that when they didn’t know I was around! I spent months feeling like any slip up would cause a repeat performance of what happened here! Do you have any idea how tiring that is? The effects it can have on someone?!”

Oh god. Was it possible? Had they been wrong all along?! But… then they’d… Marinette had-

Lila whimpers. “N-nice story, but I’m sure A-Alya won’t fall for it the way L-L-Ladybug d-did.”

Alya scowls. She’s disgusted with herself for almost falling for that. “Of course not. Unlike anyone dense enough to like you wherever you go now-”

“I do not appreciate you insulting the entire population of the school we attend,” A vaguely familiar blonde boy interrupts.

Marinette’s face lights up at the three boys who have occupied the doorway. She rushes to hug them, and one of them speaks.

“Now, whether or not you’ll excuse us, we have better things to do than try and carve stone with a stick.”

And then they’re gone.

---

Lila had never understood why villains in stories were described as ‘cackling’ until she’d started doing this.

The pure power she feels every time she gets her latest sheep to turn against one of their own.

The way the target she chooses looks.

Utterly broken.

Completely destroyed.

It’s sensational!

It’s marvelous and she’s completely addicted.

It had been borne of boredom, but now it’s her very lifeblood. A high that never ends.

Until it does.

She’s stricken with horror, unable to do anything but stare at the projected images on the screen.

How?!

She’s been doing this for forever, and she’d never been caught by anyone other than a few insignificant brats. They’d been dealt with.

Her own mother didn’t even know!

And now…

Everything is fast forward and everything is slow motion.

The crowd pushes her forward and she finally remembers herself.

She is Lila Rossi. She’s made of stronger stuff than this! So she fights, because that’s all she has left. Pure animal instinct to kick and scream and shout.

“No! You can’t do this! I have immunity!”

“No. No you don’t,” her mother whispers.

Lila feels her remaining spirit drain away. “...what?”

At her mother’s silence Lila pulls herself together. Fine. So no diplomatic immunity. That’s fine. She can still work without that. She’s got her will. There’s always a way out. She is better than these imbeciles! They can’t just treat her like a commoner! A nobody!

“I’m Gabriel Agreste’s future daughter-in-law! There’s no way-”

Then Chat Noir speaks and all the rest of her hope disappears. She’s lost everything.

She doesn’t bother fighting anymore, submitting to the authorities.

There’s no use anymore. This is her end.

It’s all come crashing down.

---

Alya is next to Lila when it happens. The screen glitches and changes.

Everything changes.

Lila lied, and they all turned on Marinette.

Marinette, who had done nothing.

Nothing at all to deserve this.

Marinette who had done nothing.

Nothing to get back at them for all the pain they’d caused.

She’d just left them. Slipped out of their lives, and carried away like a leaf in the wind.

She had every right to be furious with them, and instead she just walked away.

Left them.

Alya knows she should be beyond pissed, though she’s not sure if it would be for Lila, or for what they all did for Lila, or even solely for herself.

And yet…

The guilt is what hits her first, and once it digs its dark claws into the pit of her stomach that’s all she can feel. Her heart feels torn to shreds and her knees can barely support her. With the guilt comes the shame, and it’s not nearly as potent but it’s just the cherry on top.

She’s not paying attention, because nothing matters right now because good god what did they do to Marinette?!

---

In a few hours time, Marinette and her friends are all decorating cookies in the kitchen.

One drops, and it breaks apart. Claude grins, and Allegra glares at them.

“Well, I guess-”

“Don’t. You already-!”

“-that’s just the way the cookie crumbles!”

Allegra sighs defeatedly. Adrien looks up. “What do you call it when you use a deer-shaped cookie cutter?”

Allan smiles. “What?”

“A cookie doe!”

Marinette and Allegra sigh. Felix just shakes his head.

“This is really friend-chip goals, huh?”

“Claude, these are sugar cookies,” Felix remarks drily.

“Hey, why did the Oreo go to the dentist?” Adrien turns to Claude.

They feign innocence as they turn to him, “Why?”

“To get his filling replaced!”

It’s almost impressive how many puns they get through without repeating while everyone finishes the cookies.

When the cookies are done, they turn on the TV, finding a news broadcast. Nadja Chamack is turning to the camera seriously.

“Shocking news in Paris today. If you’re just tuning in, you’re going to want to stay. During a musical arts competition at Collège Françoise Dupont, it was revealed that one Lila Rossi has been actively working with Hawkmoth himself for sometime now, doing everything from akumatizing herself, to manipulating others to be prone to akumatization themselves..”

“This is called karma, bitch!” Chloe cheers from where she and Allegra are sitting together.

“Language!” Adrien calls. The blonde only sticks her tongue out defiantly.

“Ms. Rossi is being held outside of the city pending investigation, but authorities assure us that this was investigated thoroughly before they made the public arrest. Ladybug and Chat Noir themselves assisted in the investigation, revealing that Ms. Rossi’s motivation was, in part, forcing Adrien Agreste to be her boyfriend. That’s right folks, Paris’ favorite couple has been revealed to be nothing more than an abusive relationship consisting of an involuntary victimized Adrien Agreste and a teen terrorist in the making.”

Everyone cheers at that.

“The Agreste brand has issued a brief public statement saying that they are unaffiliated with Hawkmoth, and that they were unaware of Ms. Rossi’s crimes. Adrien’s location is unknown. It is assumed he is taking a break from the media spotlight, and everyone agrees that after going through what is now known to be regular sexual harassment, he certainly deserves the break. Gabriel Agreste is under public fire for how Adrien was treated and some theorize he could be a close accomplice to Hawkmoth, if not the man himself. He is not the only one under fire though, as it was revealed that Collège Françoise Dupont allowed Ms. Rossi to get away with an astonishing amount of offenses while enrolled there. She faked disabilities, missed months of school with no real proof of where she was, and even caused one of her former classmates to leave the school due to the intense bullying she received while there. Speaking both as a mother and a friend of the child’s family, I am appalled that such behavior was not only allowed, but actively encouraged. Authorities assure us that investigations are underway - both into the school and the Agrestes, but many can’t help but feel that this is not enough. No amount of investigation can undo the pain caused by this individual.”

The broadcast continues, but the group tunes it out. Marinette sighs, “She’s gone. She’s gone and she won’t be coming back!”

“Finally.” Chloe rolls her eyes.

“It is a relief,” Felix comments, “that we will not have to deal with her nonsense anymore.”

“I’m glad that those awful classmates won’t have any reason to bother you now Mari,” Allegra sighs.

“About that…” Marinette raises a finger hesitantly. Allegra and Adrien look at her, while the other boys just frown. Chloe scowls.

“Yeah, they had a run-in before the performance,” Claude sighs.

“What did they do?” The two blondes say in unison.

“Nothing really,” Marinette shrugs. Adrien disagrees, if the way he hugs her tighter is anything to go by.

“We got separated and she ran into them in a classroom. Lie-la was up to her usual tricks, and Alya was defending her from Mari,” Claude starts.

“She held her own pretty well, but we got her outta’ there once we got there.” Allan smiles at the pigtailed girl proudly.

“Then she was hugged,” Felix states a-matter-of-factly.

Claude looks at Marinette meaningfully, asking permission. She understands and nods.

They sigh, “We also found out that Marinette didn’t think we considered her a friend for a few months.”

“Apparently, we were just being nice,” Allan remarks.

Allegra squawks, turning to Marinette, who is being held even tighter by the model beside her, “I will come over there and hug the low self-esteem out of you!”

“Already on it,” Adrien says. Marinette giggles as Allegra hugs her too.

Chloe is fuming, “Ugh, I think Queen Bee should come out of retirement just so Pollen and I can sting some people. Both of those wannabe faux foxes and their lackeys.”

Allegra turns to her, though still hugging her friend, “I think Honey Bee would be perfectly willing to do that herself.”

“I don’t think Kit Mime deserves to be compared to either of them,” Allan pipes up. Claude smiles.

“No superheroes are going to do anything to anyone,” Marinette reprimands. Adrien recognizes her Ladybug Voice™.

Chloe sticks her tongue out, “You’re not the boss of me. I’m also not hearing any protests to me just beating them up without the miraculous.”

Marinette glares at her.

“I don’t think you need to do much,” Adrien interjects, “I’m sure it won’t take much convincing for Chat Noir to pay them a visit.”

“These are all wonderful ideas.” Felix nods approvingly.

Marinette sighs in defeat.

---

Adrien and Marinette wave at everyone as they go, each with their own share of cookies (Chloe with extras for Sabrina). Marinette turns to him, “When do you have to-”

His phone rings, and he sighs, “Speak of the devil.”

She waits, watching. He keeps his face impassive as he hangs up and turns to her.

“Well?” “Father says that it may be for the best to ‘hide from the media’ here if it’s alright with your parents,” he reveals, grinning cheekily once he’s finished speaking.

She hugs him, “He’s basically bribing you with a sleepover, but right now I’m just glad that you get to stay over!”

Hurrying inside, she calls to her parents, “Maman? Papa? Can Adrien stay the night?””

Sabine pokes her head out from a doorway, “Of course, dear!”

That’s all Marinette needs to hear before she leads Adrien upstairs to her room hurriedly.

“If you’re not careful, I might just think you’re excited to have me over, Princess.” He smirks.

“I am! Usually you’re stuck in my room! Not to mention that you’re finally free from her.”

“I’m with her, Kid,” Plagg mutters lazily.

“I’m so proud of both of you! Both of you went through terrible things that you didn’t deserve at all, and you made it out without even being akumatized. You deserve a break!” Tikki chirps, “I’m so sorry you had to go through all that.”

Marinette smiles softly, petting Tikki until the Kwami smiles again, “It’s not your fault, Tikki.”

Tikki just looks at her mournfully, and the two Gods fly off to speak, giving their charges a break.

Adrien flops across Marinette, looking at her happily. She’s about to tease him when he slow blinks at her and she blushes lightly. He grins, then grins more when she returns the blink.

He snuggles against her, purring happily. She laughs, her hands finding his hair. They sit contentedly in silence for a little bit until Adrien notices Marinette drooping slightly, holding back a yawn. They’ve been sitting together for a while, his head in her lap while she scratches his scalp idly. She’s slowed, and stares forward blankly, blinking slowly every so often and seemingly just a few moments from dropping to the floor. She doesn’t realize she’s been found out yet, continuing to scratch where his cat ears would be.

He frowns, she wouldn’t normally hide being tired, unless-

“Marinette, I thought I made you promise not to overwork yourself,” he reprimands.

She flushes slightly, “What are you talking about? I’m fine.”

“You’re exhausted. When was the last time you slept, and how much sleep have you been getting most nights?” He sits up, studying her.

She slumps, knowing there’s no use trying to hide it. “I technically never promised. I just wanted to make sure that this went smoothly. For your information though, I slept last night.” She sticks out her tongue at him.

“How long?”

“...four hours. Three or less for the past week and a half?”

He gives her a look, and she just grins sheepishly. Shaking his head in feigned exasperation, he scoops her up into his arms. She kicks her feet, “Hey! I don’t need to go to bed, I can just sleep in tomorrow!”

“Yes, yes you do need to sleep now. I know how awful being overworked is, but you don’t have someone making sure you have time for sleep, so I will be doing that.”

She harrumphs, wrinkling her nose.

He reaches the top of the steps to her bed, turning and flopping backwards onto the mattress. The pair bounce slightly, and Adrien lets Marinette go to allow her to get into a more comfortable position.

“Oh, so you’re planning on just watching me to make sure I sleep?” Marinette teases.

Adrien shuts his eyes. “Nope. I’m a cat, so I’ll take any o-purr-tunity I can to nap.”

He knows she rolled her eyes, even if he can’t see her. She lies down next to him, huffing so he knows just how awful he is for having the audacity to make her rest properly.

After a few minutes, he feels the mattress shift as she carefully sits up, trying to go down and presumably work on some project. His eyes fly open, and he grabs her wrist. “Excuse you, I believe you’re supposed to be sleeping. I guess we’ll be doing this the hard way then.”

Before she can protest, he pulls her arm out from under her, catching her as gravity pulls her down.

“I’m not tired.”

“That’s because you’re being a stubborn baby bug.”

She scoffs, “Alley cat!”

“And proud of it,” he murmurs, pressing his face into her hair.

He leans against her pillows, dragging her with him so that she’s farther from the edge of the loft. Nestling her head under his, she reaches her arm over to give him a sideways hug. His other arm is wrapped around her back, and he carefully undoes her loose pigtails with his fingers. She hums appreciatively.

“I’m not tired you know,” she mumbles.

He just purrs louder, holding her closer.

She yawns, “Still… not…”

She never finishes the sentence.

Adrien grins, hearing her breathing beginning to even out. He rubs soothing circles on her back, trying to get her to rest sooner. He knows he was successful when her soft breathes line up with the pattern of sleep.

It’s not long before he goes the same way.

---

Author’s Note: There's a lot happening here, where do I even begin?

Anyone curious as to Lila's middle name? It means 'devil'. Very fitting.

Don't you love it when the resident supervillain is too busy doing PR to cause anything?

Sabrina is with her father, sipping her tea and watching Lila's world burn.

I sincerely hope you all enjoyed this long awaited chapter!! As I said in the beginning note, I'm not satisfied with it. Something just feels off, but who knows? I could be crazy! I hope this lived up to all the hype! 💖

Thanks for reading! Feel free to leave any thoughts, theories, constructive criticism, or anything really in my ask box, in replies or through reblogs. I love seeing what you think!

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joeycupcakerichter · 5 years

Text

Zach Dempsey v Cyrus - Crying Lightning

A/N: So I’m going to put this out there, first off. I don’t know exactly how I want this to end. I’m just kinda letting this one flow through my fingers and into existence so this is very much so freeform. That being said, I am very open to input and feedback if anyone would be so interested.

Pairing: Zach x Reader, Cyrus x Reader

Warnings: Lots of depressed mind imagery, might be kinda heavy as I based actual events from when I was in school for this one.

Word Count: 1652

Masterlist

Another weekend, another night stuck at home while everyone else frolicked and partied. You missed the long nights at Bryce’s, though admittedly you didn’t miss the painful hangovers that came with it. You’d fallen asleep with Zach Dempsey more times than you could count, after long nights of talking about nothing in particular and lugged Justin Foley back to a bed with a waste basket and a bottle of water after many a heated battle of beer pong, usually becoming more and more extreme with every reset.

But those days were over now. When Hannah’s trial began, it alerted your parents to goings on at the Walker Mansion and sent them into a frenzy, declaring you were relegated to your bedroom every weekend until graduation. They tried to convince you they weren’t mad, that they did the same thing when they were teenagers but the firm foot down approach they regarded the weekend with made it feel more like a punishment than genuine concern for your safety.

Every weekend, you were left to watch your friends party it up, only the less and less detailed play-by-plays to keep you in the loop every Monday as Jessica fixed her makeup in the bathroom before school.

“We really missed you this weekend, (Y/N),” she’d lament the first couple regalings. Justin’s Beer Pong elbow was getting rusty without a proper opponent, apparently and Zach was often found moping around when it died down, with no one to unload the myriad of drunken thoughts that would weigh him down as the night wore on.

As people normally do, they moved on without you. The parties died down without Bryce’s luxurious manor to use as host and you stopped finding Jessica in the bathroom. If you were honest, it broke your heart. You considered these people your friends but it seemed life could just move on as though you’d never been there. Anger welled in your gut at your parents, unfairly blaming them for putting you on lockdown when you hadn’t done anything wrong. Isolated and alone, you found yourself trying to fight off the feelings of hopelessness as life continued to press on.

“Hey, (Y/N), you finished with that?” a voice asked from behind you. You turned to step out of the way of Cyrus, who looked down at the printer expectantly. You nodded distantly, moving away from it and returning to your desk to straighten out the printed off sheets of the essay you had all too much time to work on. Cyrus’s eyes followed you back to your seat, turning to watch as the printer shot out his own work.

“Hey, (Y/N),” he said again, appearing at your side, reading over the paper in his hand, “I think you left these on the printer. Gotta have those sources and citations.” He held out your missing pages, watching you carefully as you took them silently. “You okay?” he asked hesitantly, raising an eyebrow as he surveyed your face.

“I’m fine,” you croaked, unable to meet his gaze as you cleared your throat, embarrassed.

“Where are your friends? Usually don’t see you sitting all alone,” he remarked, his eyes finding Jessica Davis and Zach talking against the wall in hushed tones as their eyes darted around the room.

“They’re not my friends anymore, I guess,” you shrugged, letting your eyes wander over to the two in time to see Zach stand sharply and stalk back over to his desk.

“What do you mean?” Cyrus asked, breaking your gaze as Zach caught your eye.

“I mean, we don’t hang out anymore. I guess they’re still technically my friends, but I don’t see them much anymore since the trial,” you explained, trying to keep the irritation out of your tone.

“So you mean to tell me you’re an outcast now?” Cyrus asked, sitting down at the desk in front of you and turning to face you.

“I guess so.”

“Well then, I have excellent news for you, (Y/N),” he grinned, ”My friends and I would love to have you join us,” he announced proudly. You looked up at him, raising an eyebrow in confusion. “We specialize in outcasts, I’m sure you’ll fit right in.”

“N-No, don’t you take pity on me,” you grumble, returning your eyes to the words you’d written and then reread a thousand times.

“I don’t take pity, (Y/N),” he assured you. “Look, offer stands, find me at lunch. I’ll introduce you to everyone.” Without another word, he stood sharply, heading back to his own desk, leaving you to stare at the back of his head in confusion.

“You okay, (Y/N)?” a deep voice asked behind you, making you jump. Turning around you find Zach watching you intently. You groan at the sight of him, turning back to face the front of the classroom.

“I’m fine Dempsey, you really don’t have to worry about me,” you murmur, flipping through your agenda and finding the first page to start doodling on, focusing your anxiety anywhere other than the six foot two walking emotional crutch sitting behind you.

“I-I’m sorry I haven’t been around much, Chloe-”

“Are you guys finally together? It’s about time,” you chuckle a little too enthusiastically to mask the pain rocketing through your stomach.

“T-Together? What? We’re just friends,” he explains indignantly, almost as if he’s confused by the implication.

“Bryce is gone, I figured you’d finally go after her after moping about her last summer,” you remarked, rolling your eyes as your pen dug into the paper just a little harder.

“I-I wasn’t moping about her?” he shot back, “Bryce ra- Bryce hurt her and I was worried about her,” he hissed, coming mere inches from your ear. The bell ringing was music to your ears and gave you the out you were desperate for.

“Whatever you say Dempsey,” you smiled sweetly at him, “I won’t lie though, I miss talking to you. Too bad you just never had enough time if you weren’t drunk.” Grabbing your bag, you stormed out of the room almost plowing right into Tyler, who looked terrified as you apologized and breezed past him to the library.

The tall shelves offered you the best privacy you’d find in the entire school. Zach had gotten under your skin and every time you thought you were done shedding tears for him, more still surfaced. As you slid down against the back wall, you did your best to be as silent as possible as you sobbed for the heartache that never seemed to dissipate.

“H-Hey, (Y/N), right?” a hesitant voice asked gently. A girl you recognized as Cyrus’s sister Mack stood in front of you, holding her arm awkwardly as she shifted in place. “W-We could hear you- I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“Why is everyone so worried about me?” you cried out, frustrated despite yourself. Sniffling as you wiped your tears away, you pulled your knees to your chest. The knowledge that people had heard your emotional breakdown left you feeling exposed and vulnerable and this girl, this absolute stranger checking in on you made you feel like a freak show in the worst way.

“H-Hey, just come out here and sit with us,” she offered gently, holding out her hand to help you up. ”We’ll keep you company and if you want to, you can talk to us. No judgement,”

“I-I’ll be alright, I promise,” you tell her dismissively, shaking your head.

“Look, he’s gonna be mad I told you this, but Cyrus is worried about you,” she confessed as she watched the bookshelves warily.

“Why in the hell is he worried about me?” you laughed incredulously, “Cyrus doesn’t even know me. Since when does he care about has been popular girls?”

“Why don’t you ask him yourself?” Mack prodded gently, holding her hand out again. “Come on, I promise we don’t bite.”

Sighing deeply, you wipe the remaining tears away and push yourself up off the floor. Mack led you back out into the main seating area and you’re grateful to find mostly empty, save for Mack’s friends and Clay Jensen studying with his headphones in.

“(Y/N)! So good of you to join us,” Cyrus welcomed you dramatically. Your entire body tensed as Cyrus’s friends looked you over, “You’ve met Mack, this is Chad, Toby and Eric.” He pointed out his friends as he listed their names off, leaving you to nod politely at each one.

“Come on, sit down,” Chad said, pushing a chair out for you as he continued surveying you.

“Don’t worry about Chad,” Mack assured you, taking her own seat, “He’s as gay as they come, he’s just trying to figure you out.”

“Let me guess. You were abandoned by your friends because you weren’t down with the shit they were into,” he guessed as you finally sat down.

“Chad, seriously, leave her alone,” Cyrus reprimanded him as you squirmed under the intense line of questioning. Chad raised his hands in surrender but the urge to flee back into your corner began overwhelming you.

“It’s okay, Cyrus,” you assure him, turning to Chad, “After Hannah’s trial and the tapes my parents decided it would be best if I didn’t go out on the weekend. I kinda just got left behind.”

“That’s shitty,” Eric interjected leaning over the table, “Friends don’t just abandon friends.”

“Apparently when there’s secrets to be shared and you can’t be involved anymore they do,” you sigh, pulling your phone out of your pocket slowly as a distraction only to find a text from Zach.

“Can we talk later?”

You stare at the phone, ignoring the debate at the table as you tried to steady yourself. Why was it today of all days that everyone had become so interested in your presence? You could feel Cyrus’s eyes on you as you typed out your response.

“Bleachers, after school.”

𝓹𝓪𝓻𝓽 𝓽𝔀𝓸

#13rw #13 reasons why #13 reasons why imagine #zach dempsey imagine #cyrus imagine #cyrus 13rw #zach dempsey #when will they tell us Cyrus's last name

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coffeecomicsgalore · 4 years

Text

She... Loves Me?

Ao3

Chapter 4 – Macaroons

Adrien sat numbly at his desk, notes long forgotten as he doodled little ladybug and cat figures in the margins of his notes. He should probably pay attention; the mock test after lunch was important and considered a large part of their grade. He studied all week for it, so it would be a surprise if he failed the test, but he still didn’t have it in it to care.

He let out a hearty sigh and looked at the clock. Just a half hour to go until the bell released them for lunch. He was able to convince Nathalie that he would be working on an experiment during lunch testing the weight, composition, and texture of spherical products made with sucrose and sodium chloride. What she didn’t know was that he was tasting those spherical macaroons filled with delicious sugar (and of course salt to taste) to see if it was good enough to sell.

It was still an experiment and not a full-on lie; he just chose to omit a few words on where the experiment was being held. Yet the thought of spending time with his friends this way felt thrilling. It was just like the moments when he transformed into Chat Noir just to get away to breathe, catapulting into the air and into his famous barrel rolls off the rooftops.

Twenty minutes.

Ms. Bustier continued to go on as his mind went over his conversation with Nino the night before.

When you finally realize that she’s more than that to you, I’ll be right here to catch you when you fall.

Marinette was just a friend. He was in love with Ladybug. He would always be in love with Ladybug. He wasn’t going to just stop that just because another girl confessed her love to him. Well, she didn’t do it to his face, but she still said it. Yet the thought of Marinette wouldn’t leave his mind.

But then there was Kagami. She confessed her love to him in her akuma form. Even though she tried to sway him to change targets, he outright said he wouldn’t. He would keep trying until the world fell apart at his feet. His lady deserved all the love in the world and he would be the one to give it to her. She was his soulmate and one day she will realize that he is hers too. One day she’ll say that they can be together. So until that day, Adrien would just keep chugging along.

Ten minutes.

Adrien started to feel restless. He put his elbow on the table and leaned his head against his fist. His leg started bouncing and he tapped his pen against the edge of the notebook in rhythmic pats. Nino noticed the desk shake slightly and looked to his right to see Adrien suffer in silence.

“Dude.” He whispered causing Adrien to freeze mid movement.

“Ugh, sorry Nino. Just antsy to get out of here.”

“So you can see Marinette?”

“What?” Adrien’s eyes widened at the comment. “N- no!” He said a little too loudly.

Ms. Bustier paused her thought and glanced at Adrien. “Adrien? Is something the matter?”

The class paused their note-taking to stare at the interaction. Adrien blushed. “No, Ms. Bustier. I thought I messed up my notes. I’m sorry for disrupting your lesson. I didn’t realize I said it loud enough to be heard.”

“If you need to fix your notes, maybe Marinette would be willing to assist you.” She said flatly.

“Th- thank you, Ms. Bustier. I will let her know.” Adrien said as he sunk slowly into his desk.

-----

As soon as the bell rang, Adrien gathered up his belongings and turned around to wait for Marinette, Alya, and Nino to finish to do the same.

“Are you guys ready?” Marinette said sweetly and coherently as she tugged a loose lock behind her ear. Her eyelashes flitted down some, making her look bashful.

Adrien noticed her little movements and unconsciously grasped the strap on his book bag a little more tightly than normal. He smiled just as sweet back; a feeling of flutters radiated in his chest.

Alya and Nino watched him carefully. A cunning grin curled her lips. “Let's go!” Alya said jolting Adrien out of his trance. “Those cookies last night were off the chang. Hopefully Nino and Adrien will like them just as much.”

Marinette made her way down the steps slowly past Adrien, her eyes closed and her shoulders scrunched up as she let out some giggles. The sound echoed throughout the classroom and the flutters increased a little more.

Clearing his throat to rid of the nervousness, Adrien coyly added, “I can’t wait to try out those pastries. Everything your dad makes is amazing. If Alya says they are good, then I won't doubt it for a second.”

Marinette ducked her head and a blush spread across her cheeks. “W-well you're in thuck, len. I mean - in luck, then. My dad made a fresh batch and created a few extra treats in that same flavor. When Alya, myself, and my mom praised him, he spent a few hours going over his recipe books finding out where else he could incorporate it in. He told me this morning that he made about four different treats. If they were just as good as the macaroons, then they'll be a hit with the other pastries.”

Adrien and Nino grinned when she mentioned the extra treats.

“Dudette, your dad is the man!”

“What flavor are we taste testing today?” Adrien questioned with an excited tone.

Marinette paused to think it over. Her finger tapped against her lips as she scrunched up her face in thought. “Nope! Alya and I were sworn to secrecy!”

Adrien clenched his hand against the fabric of his shirt as he pretended to falter to the ground. “Oh, my heart! Your betrayal is too much for this poor boy.”

Nino joined in with him. “The pain! The horror. Dudettes, you broke our spirits.”

Marinette and Alya crossed their arms and laughed. “Adrien,” Alya started, “I didn't know you had it in you. Perfect model has a dorky side?”

“Alya!” Marinette scolded.

Adrien straightened himself up and laughed. “I’m usually a model citizen. But I'll let you all in on a little secret.” He looked around conspicuously and huddled the group in closer before whispering. “I'm a huge dork-a-sarus.”

Marinette’s eyes widened and then snorted out a laugh. “Oh my god!” She squealed. “Adrien Agreste? A huge dork? No way.”

“Way. Anime, video games, books... you name it.”

“It’s true. My bro puns and talks in anime phrases all the time behind closed doors. It’s like he has a secret identity.”

The group continued to laugh as they made across the street. The bell chimed as they opened the bakery door, prompting a welcomed greeting from both Sabine and Tom.

“Hello dears!” Sabine said cheerfully as they wandered towards the register.

“Hello Mr. Dupain, Mrs. Dupain-Cheng.” The trio said. Marinette added a kiss to her parents’ cheeks.

“I’ve told you all to call us Tom and Sabine.” She said with a grin. The trio smiled as they nodded their heads.

“I’m so thrilled that you are all trying out my newest flavor pairings!” Tom said, clasping his hands together in joy. “I don't know if Marinette told you, but I was so happy that everyone loved them last night that I could not wait to test them out in a bunch of other recipes. So I have the passionfruit, papaya, and strawberry buttercream macaroons from yesterday, but I also made danishes, cream puffs, croissants, and flan with the same flavoring!”

The bakers could see Adrien and Nino visibly salivate over the prospects. Sabine laughed. “But not until they eat a small dish of food first, Tom.”

“Of course, dear. I’ll make sure I set a plate of each piece for everyone to try and I’ll personally bring them up to you in about a half hour.”

“I can’t wait to try them!” Adrien said excitedly. “Passionfruit is my favorite flavor!”

“Well then, it looks like we have the perfect taste tester amongst us.” Tom bellowed.

“Marinette,” Sabine added. “I have vegetable stir fry ready upstairs. There is steak and chicken. The steak is on the spicier side, but the chicken is just right. Go on and enjoy yourselves.”

Marinette led the group upstairs and into the kitchen. Alya assisted with the plates as Nino and Adrien poured drinks into the cups. They all sat down, Nino sitting across from Alya and Marinette across from Adrien. They ate as they conversed about random things – video games, the Ladyblog, and the new music that recently came out – until the topic of summer vacation came up. Nino talked about a few gigs that he had lined up and Alya said she had a trip to Marseille sometime in July. Adrien was about to ask Marinette what her plans were when Tom walked into the apartment with the tray of treats.

Adrien took a bite of the macaroon and almost cried in delight. “Oh wow! This flavor pairing is absolutely delicious!” He took another bite and passionately ate it with his eyes closed. “Yup. Your dad is the absolute best baker in Paris, Marinette. There’s no doubt about that.”

Marinette beamed. “Thanks, Adrien. I thought so too last night. I told him it was the perfect flavor – it wasn’t overly tart and had a bit of sweetness. It would taste good anywhere, so he just went with it.”

Adrien sipped down a glass of water and then took a cream puff to enjoy. Nino did the same and moaned in delight.

“Dude. So good. Just. So good.”

Marinette and Alya did the same and just moaned as the dessert dissolved on their tongues. “My dad is seriously the best. I wonder how long it will take to put this on the menu.”

Adrien gulped down the last bite of the cream puff before asking. “How long does it usually take?”

“Depends on what it is.” Marinette started as she took a slice of flan. “Now that he figured out the perfect flavoring in a small sampling, he’s going to have to multiply it a couple of times for larger quantities. But he has to start off slow first and have larger group samplings over a course of a few weeks.”

“Is that to have it tested out in random test groups?”

“Exactly. The same twenty people won’t come in daily. So he’ll have samplings throughout the week for one item, then he’ll switch it out for something else the next week. He’ll then go back to the first set of samplings, before going out for the second samplings the week after that. He’ll cover more ground, gather more testers, and have more data.”

“So it won’t be on the menu for at least five weeks?” Adrien asked curiously.

“Something like that. But when he makes batches for samplings, he’ll actually make enough to have a limited supply for the day or days. It depends on the item. Like flan isn’t great sitting out for a few days, but macaroons can.”

Alya and Nino watched Marinette and Adrien converse. She hadn’t flustered once and the conversation was moving smoothly. This was the first time that Aly could remember Marinette actually speaking in full sentences with her long-time crush. Was this the start of a new Marinette?

Alya smirked at the pair with a sneaky thought. She took out her phone before a worried glance crossed her face. “Oh shoot. My mom just texted me. She needs me to run an errand for her and bring it to her before lunch is over. Nino, do you mind coming with me? I need an extra set of hands to bring the stuff.”

“Uh, yeah. Sure. Sorry Marinette.” He said with a shrug. “Thank your pops for me. I just wish I could have tried everything.

“Oh, ye-yeah. No problem. I’ll just....” she said as she looked down to the plate nervously, “I’ll just package everything you didn’t get to try and I’ll get it to you?”

“Sounds good, my friend.”

With a wave to bid them goodbye, Alya and Nino left.

Marinette sat back down at her seat at looked at the treat on her dish. The air started to feel a little tense, so Adrien tried to lighten up the mood.

“So... have you designed anything new lately?

“Huh? Oh, uh, yeah. Actually...” Marinette stood up and walked to her bookbag to grab her sketchbook. She flipped through a few pages until she fell upon the one she wanted to show him. “I’m designing this dress. I was... inspired.”

Adrien sat there with wonder in his eyes. It was a black dress with green trim around the off-shoulder sleeves and on the waist of the dress. There were simple silver accents in specific spots on the bodice. The dress reminded him of his costume. All it was missing was the bell.

Marinette let out a breath. “I’m loving this dress, but there’s something missing. I just can’t figure out what.”

Adrien looked up at Marinette. She was so creative and passionate in her designs. Her perplexed look made him wonder what was going on in her brain. Her blue eyes seemed to shine brighter when she talked about something she loved. It was mesmerizing. So mesmerizing, in fact, that he didn’t realize he was staring at her until she looked up at him and touched her face.

“Do I have something on my face?”

“No! No.” He brought his hands up in surrender. “I just noticed how blue your eyes get when you get excited. They shine brighter.”

“Oh. Th-thanks.” She said as she shyly smiled, her fingers running through one of her pigtails.

Great, I made her nervous again. Make her happy! Make her happy!

“Ho- How’s things with you and Luka?”

Marinette shot him a confused glance. “Um. Good? He invited me over a few days ago to listen to one of his new songs. It sounded... amazing.”

“That’s good. His songs are pretty good.”

Marinette picked up the sketchbook and closed it. She shuffled back to her bag and slowly placed it back to its spot. Marinette let out a shaky sigh.

“Yeah. They are.” She fiddled with her bag again, but didn’t turn around. Actually, she sounded somewhat dejected. “How’s everything with Kagami?”

Adrien noticed the shift in mood, but didn’t question it. “Kagami is doing good. She’s been working hard since our last fencing tournament. Said something about rising to my level since I won the tournament last weekend.” He chuckled. “I don’t know why she thinks she isn’t just as good. Sometimes I think she’s better than me.”

Marinette turned back around her with a wet smile. “I’m glad things are good, Adrien.”

“Hey, Marinette? Are you okay?”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m fine. Just poked my eye.” She said as she wiped her eye. “We should probably get going. Lunch is almost over.”

#miraculous ladybug fanfic #miraculous fandom #ml fanfiction #adrienette #ml fanfic

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rogers-metaphor · 5 years

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Lessons in Falling in Love: Chapter 13

Permanent warning/disclaimer: this will be a story that contains smut, will have cursing, and other themes like these. So, if you’re under the age of 18, please skip this story. Also, everything in this story is completely fictional and not based on real life!!!!!!!! It’s for dramatic and entertainment purposes only.

A/N: Sorry it’s been quite some time since an update on this story! I’ve had a lot going on... anyway without further ado, here’s chapter 13 (14 will be out soon after!!) please share your thoughts and feelings w me!! ALSO if i missed you on the tag list or you wanted to be added, shoot me a message!!!

previous chapters: One, Two, Three , Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, eleven, twelve,

my masterlist

It was strange to wake up tangled in Ben. Selene’s eyes fluttered open and she sighed softly when she realized Ben had cuddled back into her. His heavy head nuzzled into her and his arm fastened tightly around her waist. He was always good looking, but especially now he looked soft and pretty. His skin was warm against her. her hand through his soft blonde hair, unable to stop herself.

Ben starts to stir soon after and she quickly froze what she was doing. She just couldn’t stop marveling at him.

“Mm” he hums. “Morning.” his voice is so deep and groggy. She can feel her body shiver.

“Didn’t mean to wake you.” she said quietly, “Though i don’t know what time it is, and that makes me anxious.” he chuckles softly, his eyes are still closed, his fingertips are running circles over her skin.

“You have a huge head.” she comments. He chuckles slowly moving off of her. She didn’t realize how much she enjoyed having him there until he moved, she frowns but he can’t see.

“How are you feeling? I mean after last night?” he asks, his eyes finally opening to look at her. she shrugs, and offers him a short smile.

“Alright.” She says not really knowing how she was feeling. A part of her felt guilty, still. Another part of her enjoyed it. A small part of her felt dirty. “Let’s see how I feel in a month.” she says quietly.

Ben’s face was a wash of concern. Though he didn’t express how he felt. She didn’t know if she wanted to hear it. Maybe he didn’t want to go on that date after all. Maybe he did just want to sleep with her and now that he got it, that was it for him.

She knew this was a dilemma. She also knew she started classes in a day, and that she needed to focus on that and get graduated. So she didn’t ask any further questions and tried to go about her day like she didn’t just have sex with Ben.

Which, Nova raised a brow at her friends quiet demeanor when she finally got home. Selene tried to avoid her questioning gaze, but failed.

“Nothing happened.” Selene lies, but her lips deceive her, spreading into a smile.

“Sure. mhm. yeah.” she sarcastically spits out. “What happened?”

“Nothing.” Selene yells, with some laughter.

“I’ll call Ben right now…” Nova warns.

“He wouldn’t tell you anything.” Selene says, a little unsure but hopeful.

“So there’s something to tell…” Nova says quizzically. Her brows raising again. They just stared at one another, Nova silently waiting for her friends confession. Selene had to give it to her.

“Alright!!!” Selene groans. She tells her what happened. While Nova listens, her eyes growing wide.

“I left you alone for one night!” she raises her voice.

“I know. I didn’t plan for this. After it happened, I felt guilty. But I hadn’t thought about Joe the entire time.”

“Don’t feel guilty.” Nova says, “You can do whatever you want. You’re not with him anymore. Do you think Joe felt any guilt?” loaded question. Selene felt like her chest was on fire.

Of course Selene wanted to believe Joe felt guilty. That every time he left her to call his other girlfriend he felt terrible at it. She wanted to believe that he was having trouble sleeping too. That he missed Selene sleeping beside him. That he missed her as much as she missed him. Selene wanted to believe that Joe thought about her just as much as she thought about him. She wanted to believe all of this, but couldn’t be sure.

She sighed, “I hope so.” she says, “But probably not. I also feel guilty about Ben.”

“What do you mean?” Nova asks, curious.

“He wants to take me on a date and I’ve been like, ‘I’m not ready for that we just broke up’ and then I go and BANG him… he probably thinks I’m a slut.” she groans.

“One: he doesn’t think you’re a slut, he took part in the banging… and two: I bet he’ll still want that date. He’s a nice guy. A good guy. And he definitely likes you.” Nova sighs.

“I wouldn’t say he likes me…” Selene shrugs.

“You’re ridiculous.” Nova groans frustrated. “He likes you.” this time, Selene doesn’t protest. To exhausted from her night to carry on the irrelevant argument. Knowing that Nova and her would always disagree when it came to things like this.

And then she laid in bed for the entire day, until night rolled around and she slept through to morning. Her alarm waking her up to start her last semester of classes

Ben hadn’t stopped texting her. She was hopeful and happy that he hadn’t disappeared like she thought he would . She didn’t feel bad or down or anything really. A bit tired but ready to get her classes over with.

She walked to class alone, not having Nova in any of her classes this semester. She stopped and picked up a coffee knowing she wouldn’t have anyone to get one for her in the middle of the day like she was so used to.

She smiled down at a simple “good morning” text from Ben. And as she looked up, she saw the one person she didn’t want to see, her smile abruptly washing from her lips. Even as he offered her a weak smile. She groaned quietly to herself as he stood in the same path she was walking. She didn’t stop, brushing past him.

“Selene…” he said, in a voice that sounded as if he was begging. She stopped at the sound of her name on his lips. The familiar and lovely tone, made her skin warm but not with any positive feeling attached. It felt as if she’d been punched in the gut. She contemplated running away but found her body turning to him. She looked down at her phone, her heart rate climbing quickly. She couldn’t bring herself to look him in the eyes, it hurt to much to look at the familiar striped blue sweater he wore.

“I’m giving you ten minutes. Tops. What do you want?” she asks, impatiently. She really just needed to be away from him. Being near him just made her want to forgive him, forget about everything. Let him take her in his arms and hold her like nothing had happened at all. Her arms folded into her, as if she was holding back from reaching for him.

“I just want to see how you’re doing.” he says quietly.

“How do you think I’m doing?” she snapped, her fists clenched at the ridiculous question. She watches as he struggles to keep his eyes on her, his lips pursing as his eyes fell to the ground, the space between them. As if that will help him. She shifts at the silence that isn’t comfortable but awkward and heavy. Afraid that if neither of them talk in a couple of seconds she would yell or worse cry.

“I broke up with her… you know? I did. That night.” he says quietly.

“That doesn’t change everything prior.” she snaps. “That doesn’t change the awful, dirty feeling that I can’t wash away. Because you were with someone else while you were with me.” she sighs, and she feels okay. Angry but better than sad. “Every time you touched me… kissed me… fucked me.” she looks around to see if anyone else is in the vicinity. No one is, no one is even glancing in their direction.

“I hadn’t slept with her. While I was with you.”

“You didn’t have a choice in that, though. Did you?” she snaps again. He’s silent.

“If she was here when I met you, I would have broken up with her then.” silence on her end now.

It’s painful and foreign. Like she doesn’t know who he is. Selene feels like her heart was breaking again. She loved him, she hated it but she did. His hand reaches out to touch the side of her cheek, and she flinches at the feeling. She moves his hand away with hers, and mutters out a quiet, “don’t.” Even though she wants him to. She craves his soft touch. She feels desperate to kiss his lips. She yearns to be with him. Her heart aches for his soft touch, his gentle kiss, things that used to remind her that everything would be okay.

He looks like he’s been punched in the gut. “I’m not ready to talk about this yet.” she says.

“I’ll wait until you are.” he says, “I love you. Nothing can change that.” the words feel like bullets, and her stomach churns. She then feels as if she’ll cry. She looks at her phone, they had only stood there a few minutes, but it felt like an eternity.

“When I’m ready… If I’m ever ready… We will talk.” she says, “Goodbye Joe.” she quickly walked away. It pains her to do so, but she doesn’t look back at him. She can feel his eyes on her, she can still feel his fingertips on her skin. She lets out a hitched breath, and gets to class as fast as she could.

Once inside the unfamiliar room, most of the seats are occupied. She makes her way to an empty seat at the double seated tables. A girl with curly black hair sat doodling on her notepad, she just looked up at Selene for a moment, as she sat down. Selene just looked forward. She went over everything in her mind over and over and over until she heard the girl speak.

“Girl what he do?” she asks, as if she was some kind of psychic.

“Excuse me?” Selene asks, almost doesn’t realize the girl is talking to her.

“You have that look on your face… like a man did you wrong.” the girl shrugs, “I’m Heather.”

Heather wasn’t prepared to hear her story, but she wanted to hear it. She listened to what she could until the professor walked into class. Then at the end of class, Selene asks. “Do you have any plans after this?” Heather has none, and Selene didn’t work until later in the night. This left time for more coffee and some lunch. So that’s where they went.

Selene told Heather everything that had happened, leaving out that he was her professor. Heather listened intently. Shaking her head and her jaw dropping as she continued on up until the very moment outside of class.

“He sounds like garbage.” she sighs, when Selene runs out of things to say.

“Pretty much.” Selene tries, even though she doesn’t think Joe is garbage at all. She loves him. Unfortunately.

“Enough about me.” Selene sighs, “I’d like to know about you.”

She learned that Heather was also graduating in May with her. She talked to her about her husband, and how they have been together since high school. Of course Selene gushed at her love story. Selene loved weddings and hearing about couples. It always gave her hope that one day she’d be lucky enough to find the same. Though, right now as happy as it made her, in the back of her mind she thought about Joe… and then she thought about Ben.

Selene brushed it off.

Immediately she liked heather. She told her that they’d have to go out for drinks together and bring Nova along. Selene felt like they’d all have a great time together and said they should shoot for the weekend. Then she had another class and then work.

Once February hit things had started to shift. When Selene saw Joe she could accept a “hi” from him, without feeling sick. She still missed him. Everything still reminded her of him. Joe wouldn’t just disappear out of her brain, but she was doing better than she expected.

She and Ben would hangout as often as their schedules would allow, and she felt something when he texted her all day. She wasn’t sure what it was. She felt like she still loved Joe, but then Ben was there. He was sweet and handsome and from the one time they slept together, he was good in bed. He made her laugh and listened to her vent about school and work. Selene loved talking to him. He seemed to always know what to say to her when she was sad. His hugs weren’t bad either.

Selene liked the way he ranted to her about work. Even if she didn’t understand everything he was talking about. She liked to hear his voice. She liked when he’d call and talk about his day to her during lunch. She got giddy when she got to see him, and introduce him to her favorite things.

They never talked about the night they had sex. Even though the chemistry between them was blatant. Selene thought about it, more often than she cared to admit. Thought about kissing him when they would giggle drunk on her couch in the middle of the night. Thought about his hands and the way they felt on her skin. She wondered if he thought about it too.

Then, there was Heather. She and Selene became friends. Within a month it felt like they knew one another forever. The two instantly bonded over their love for music and art. Heather was funny and shared the same humor. The plus was when she met Nova. the Three of them felt the connection then, too. It felt perfect and spending time with the girls helped relieve all of her stress.

It was February when Ben finally asked her on that date. Selene agreed but promised herself if she didn’t feel anything by the end of the night she would have to solidify this to ben. They’d just be friends.

She was, in fact, nervous for the date once it rolled around. A part of her hoped she’d feel something more toward Ben at the end of it. A part of her was afraid of just that. Though she got ready, and felt ready to move on. Ben told her it was semi-formal attire, but he was keeping it a surprise. She went for a floral dress that hit her knees. It was sheer with a black slip under it. A pair of flat boots to finish the look.

She pushed her nerves down with a shot of vodka from her fridge. Then she heard a knock on the door, and her heart skipped a beat before she snapped herself over to answer it.

Ben offered her a warm smile when she opened the door. She tried not to notice the way his eyes lit up when he saw her. She tried to brush off the smell of his cologne which she really liked.

“You look great.” he said, that smile never leaving his lips.

“You do too.” She smiled in return, and meant it. He was in just a black button up but that just made his eyes more bright green. With a dark, blood red colored blazer over top. She couldn’t stop looking at him.

They drove for a little while and of course Selene didn’t mind. This is when Ben found out her love for long car rides. Selene gave him bonus points for letting her pick the music. They liked a lot of the same music, and she liked the way he sung it quietly with her. It made her smile.

When they pulled into the parking lot she was a little confused. “The aquarium?” she asked, and he nods. “Is it even open?” she asks, and he chuckles.

“There’s a special event going on.” he explains. “Wait here.” he says, before jumping out of the car and rushing around to the other side, opening her door for her. He held his hand out and she didn’t hesitate to take it.

She held his hand as they made their way to the entrance Ben handed them tickets before the two were handed glasses of champagne. The entire aquarium was available to view, with a side room setup with tables and a DJ. Everything was low lit and beautiful and she immediately wanted to look at everything.

Waiters walked around with finger foods, more champagne, and wine. While Selene walked hand in hand with Ben. She liked the way his hands felt. Soft but strong, she only let go to point out pretty fish or her favorite penguin. The she would slip her palm back against his and he would let her pull him along.

Selene tried not to notice him gazing at her as she gushed about the sea animals in front of them, but she could see his reflection. Like he didn’t care about what was going on in front of him, like she was what he was supposed be looking at. She could feel a blush creeping in as they made their way to get some food.

After eating one of her favorite Frank Sinatra songs played and she beamed at the couples on the dance floor. Ben’s the one who leaned forward, “You wanna get out there?” he asks, and she nods. He holds his hand out and pulls her along to the dance floor. She puts one hand in his, the other on his shoulder. He pulls her close around the waist, and then they begin to move.

Selene couldn’t look him in the eyes. It was the hardest thing to do since they slept together. They were intense. She knew that he was sweet but he looked intimidating, she laughed at her thoughts.

“What?” he asked, smirking. Interested in her thoughts.

“You look so mean.” she smirks. “You look like a big tough man.” she laughs.

“I do not.” he scoffs.

“It’s okay. I’m not afraid of you.” she says, matter-of-factly.

“Really?” he asks skeptically.

“No. You’re a giant teddy bear.” she laughs and he does too.

“Are you having a good night?” he asks. She shakes her head. His face drops, he looks sad and concerned.

“It’s awful. This beautiful place, tons of aquatic animals… which god I love animals but i am hating this date.” she glares at him. She’s speaking sarcastically and she laughs. “God, Ben. I’m kidding.” His face lightens up.

“Thank you for everything.” she says smiling up at him. “Seriously, it’s been so fun.”

“That makes me very happy to hear.” he sighs, a big relief. It was sweet and Selene felt her stomach flutter. She found herself lost in his green eyes, her smile lazily melting away. Then she panicked at the feeling. She pulled away from him, and felt hot all over.

“I need some air.” she says quickly rushing off without waiting for him. Her heartbeat was so loud she could hear it in her ears. When she reached the door she gasped as if she couldn’t breathe before. She rushed toward a metal fence, that looked over a river beside the aquarium. The air was cold, she didn’t mind it though. She tried to calm her breathing in the ivory moonlight. She hadn’t realized how tightly she was gripping the metal bar, until she heard footsteps behind her.

“You alright?” Ben’s voice was deep, full to the brim with concern. She sighed and turned to him. She nodded, trying to sort out what was going on in her head.

“I just…” she starts but stops herself. She looks around for what she can say to him. In short she was scared. She did feel something for Ben. That was scary to her. She’d only known him for a short time, so that was scary. She wasn’t positive his intentions, so that was scary. She was having an amazing time with him and when she felt the butterflies flutter in her stomach, she panicked.

“Talk to me.” he says, quietly walking closer.

“I’m scared.” she says, so quiet she wasn’t sure he could hear her.

“Of what?” he tries to understand, and she shrugs. She feels stupid, her eyes prick with tears, and she drops her shoulders. One of his hands comes up to her face, his thumb running over her skin. He was to perfect. He always knew what to do. She warmed into his palm.

“Of this.” she says, sheepishly her eyes look past him. “Of… of getting hurt.”

“I know you’re scared, and I know we’re just getting to know one another but… I could never hurt you.” she inhales deeply and exhales sharply. “I like you way to much.” he smirks, and her heart beats rapidly at his words. Hearing them leave his mouth feels good. Right. She brings her hand over Ben’s and can feel him closing the small space between them.

“I like you too.” she says, smiling. Her eyes finally find his again, and she hates how beautiful this man looks in the moonlight. It’s hitting him perfectly, illuminating him like a spotlight. She giggles, as he gazes back at her. “This is where you’re supposed to kiss me.” she folds her arms. He lets out a chuckle, shaking his head.

One of Ben’s hands falls to her neck, his other pulls her in softly but swift. Her arms dropping to his chest, her teeth bringing in her bottom teeth as the and on her neck tilts her chin up. He leans in, and she holds her breath, involuntary. His nose gently nudged hers, and her head falls back a bit more waiting for his lips to meet hers. Her eyes fall shut, as she waits and he grins before his lips met hers. They’re soft and pillowy, and fit her perfectly. Selene’s hands move up and around Ben’s neck, and he pulls away just for a moment, just to smile once more before he deepens the kiss. His hands switch now, and bring her even closer to him. His thumb ran over her cheek as their lips move in a perfect synchronized motion.

Selene can feel it. Her heart hadn’t stopped racing, her skin burned at his touch, her body wanted more of him. When he pulled away again, she practically whimpered. His hand brushing hair away from her eyes, his hands running down her sides, taking her hand in his. They both just took in the moment.

Everything seemed to be happening so fast. It felt like in no time at all she was falling for Ben. It was like he didn’t have to try.

From there they left, just wanting to be in each other’s company. She just wanted to keep feeling his hand intertwined with hers. It was comforting, his skin felt nice against hers. She missed his lips from the moment they parted.

She chose to go to his house, having stashed a pair of leggings and a long shirt to sleep in, in her bag. She was prepared. She wanted to sleep beside him, and hoped he’d ask her to come over. When he did, she tried to hide the excitement. Nodding and running her hand up and down his arm.

When they got inside they were giggling about something said in the car, and Ben was pulling her back into him. She pretended to struggle and put up a fight but fell into him, their lips meeting briefly, and he quickly pulls her toward his room.

She didn’t pause or hesitate when she felt him deepen the kisses, and she let him remove her clothing as she did with his. It was what she wanted, to feel close to him. She wanted to feel his lips on every inch of his skin and he wanted the same. She needed to feel the orgasm rippling through her, or at least that’s what she thought.

But the moment the high started to go away something wasn’t right. She didn’t feel like she just had an orgasm. She didn’t feel on top of the world as she normally would. She was trying to steady her heart. With her eyes closed she felt Ben’s lips on her shoulder, his breathing the same as hers; rapid and uneven.

Then it hit her like a ton of bricks. Her mind beginning to run rampant. It came out of nowhere. She felt her heart sinking, and she quickly rolled away from him. Rushing to get out of the room, taking the sheet from the bed with her. He called for her, but she didn’t stop. She got into the bathroom and shut the door, her heart racing. She turned on the sink with shaky hands, splashing at her face. Anything to try and calm her down, her tears spilling over down her warm cheeks. She didn’t know where it came from, but she didn’t feel good.

She sobbed, hoping the water running was enough to cover the sounds. She couldn’t help herself, she just cried and cried. Her breathing getting worse as she tried to hold it all back. It just kept coming. She didn’t have time to process anything, she barely heard the light taps on the door. She tried again, to stop herself but failed, and threw the door open.

“I’m sorry.” she sobbed and his face dropped, he was full of concern.

“Did- Did I hurt you?” he asks, distress is clear in his tone. “Selene, did I hurt you?” he asks again, and she shakes her head.

“Do you think I’m a slut?” she manages through broken sobs. “I-I feel like one.”

“No.” he says, almost like he doesn’t believe what she’s saying to him. “No,” he repeats, “Why would I ever think that about you?” she can’t think of an answer, her mind clouded with to many thoughts to pick just one. To make matters worse she feels embarrassed too. She turns away from him, crying more from being embarrassed. She struggles to find her clothing but starts to get the pieces back on.

“It’s stupid I’m sorry.” she says through shaking breathing. She can feel Ben’s hands on her, as her breathing audibly hitched and fell uneven as she whimpered and cried. He looked concerned and full of worry. She felt her chest burn as she struggled to breathe. It was like he knew.

“Just give yourself a moment and breathe.” he says, his voice calm and even soothing. He shows her how, “In through your nose in 5.” he says, “Hold for 5.” he says, “now breath out in 5.” it’s hard for her to look in his eyes, but she finds a strange comfort in them, as she mimics his breathing. She feels her tears start to lull. Not completely but enough to calm her.

A few minutes later she is calm, and he runs his hand down her cheek gently, before pulling her in. Then he pulls her to sit with him on the bed. It’s still hard for her to find his eyes, and she looks for something to say in the walls of his room. They never give her an answer but she looks anyway.

“Look, I don’t know what’s going through your mind, but know this… I like you a lot. Us having sex doesn’t make me look at you in any negative way.” he says, softly, and carefully. His hand is what brings her attention to him. Her eyes still drip with tears, but she’s breathing better. His fingers are gently running over her chin, and up her cheek. She warms into his touch. “Okay?” he asks, and she nods.

“I’m just. I just…” she stumbles over her words, unsure of if she can open up to him. She knew that opening up meant letting him in, and letting him in meant, he could find out who she really is. In her experience not many people liked that.

“Fire away.” he says, “Tell me whatever is on your mind.” she can feel her body warm all over at his words, simple but sweet she inhales and exhales still contemplating her options. What did she really have to lose.

“I just don’t want to fuck this up. I’m always impatient, I want everything to move quickly because I’m impatient.” she sighs, “I’m afraid that because I started this off with sex, maybe that’s all you’ll think i’m good for… I know it sounds stupid.” she stops herself, already pouring out to much information. She internally screams at herself, but Ben shakes his head.

“I don’t think anything you have to say is stupid or irrational.” he shrugs, “I understand why you’d think that… but it takes two people to have sex, Selene. I wanted it just as much as you did. So don’t blame yourself.” She sighs, and nods. It feels like a weight had been lifted off her. “I like you a lot.” he repeats, “I think you’re funny. Interesting. Sexy.” he nudged her playfully and she cracks a smile. “Nothing is going to change how i feel.” he smiles, leaning closer to her.

“Wait until you hear my conspiracy theories.” she manages to joke, and he chuckles, but kisses her lips anyway.

Ben made her feel better. It was important to her to find that in anyone. Just with his words. The way he held her didn’t hurt, either. She melted into him, and they laughed and talked for the rest of the night. It all felt to perfect, but Selene let it go. She didn’t want to think of all the possible negative outcomes, or what could happen. She just wanted to live in the moment for now.

The next day is spent the same. With Ben and Selene cooking breakfast together. They laugh and talk and sing their favorite songs while dancing around in the kitchen. They discuss more of her favorite things, including history and art. They end up on his couch for hours, just watching trash TV and eating take out for dinner.

And she feels sad, when she knows she has to go home and go back to class and work the following day. Ben assuring her that nothing would change and he’d still send her funny pictures and call her when he could. She felt like he was being honest. Especially the way he kissed her before letting her go into her house.

And after her moment of bliss she walked into an intense argument in the living room. Gwil and Nova clearly frustrated. Nova radiated anger, almost like it was fuming off her. Gwil ran his hand over his face. Selene pondered if she should even ask.

“Gwil why don’t you tell Selene the shit news.” Nova snapped when she seen her friend. Selene cringed at being brought into it but was curious and anxious to hear whatever Gwil had to say. He turned to look at Selene and hesitated. Nova couldn’t wait any longer than a second and snapped to her friend. “Gwil just informed me his groomsmen include Joe.” Selene felt her heart drop but sighed.

“I’m sorry.” Gwil sighed, “He and I are friends and I didn’t think it would be a big deal.”

“Big deal!?” Nova snapped, “He is an asshole!”

“Nova.” Selene sighed, “It’s- fine.” she says.

“It’s not!” Nova argued. “It’s fucked up!” Gwil groaned.

“Look. It’s not about me…” Selene explains.

“It’s not right.” Nova says, glaring at Gwil.

“I understand. It’s fine with me, if it’s fine with you.” Selene says, “It’s not my call…”

“It’s not fine.” Nova repeats.

“It’s fine. And I’ll talk to Joe. We’ll discuss how it’ll be like a job.” Selene shrugs.

Nova is silent, Gwil looks relieved.

“Look, I’ll talk to him and it’ll be fine. Don’t make Gwil choose.” Selene sighs. Nova groans getting up, and folding her arms. “Seriously.” Selene tries.

Nova storms off, and Selene sighs and Gwil looks to her.

“I’ll talk to Joe, and then I’ll talk to her.” Selene says to him.

“Are you sure?” Gwil asks, “I didn’t think it’d be a big deal… seriously I’m sorry.”

“it’s okay.” Selene tries, “It’ll be fine.” she says one last time before heading off to her room.

@omgellenlouise @hellysthings@justapurrcat@endlesslydead@hardcoredisneynerd @laurenn-nicoleee@asiachekov106@babebenhardy @fairestkillerqueenofall @hellysthings

#joe mazzello #ben hardy #joe mazello x reader #joe mazzello x oc #joe mazzello fanfic #ben hardy fanfic #ben hardy smut #joe mazzello smut #ben hardy x reader #ben hardy x oc

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littlemonstersau-blog · 5 years

Text

The Feels Awaken, Part 3: A New Hope (for Friendship)

Written by @jkl-fff, illustrated by me

PART I - PART II [Interlude] - PART III - PART IV [Interlude] - PART V [FINAL] (you are here)

——————————————————————————————–

A new day dawned then waxed then began to wane, but Ford and Bill hardly noticed. A manic, obsessive energy (plus an unhealthy amount of coffee and sugar) kept them focused throughout their self-appointed task. Such is often the case for the kind of people who feel the need to write to right a wrong in the world. Not all heroes wear capes, after all; some wear turtlenecks and trenchcoats, some wear paper-based clones of teenage boys produced through unholy abominations of SCIENCE!.

… For that matter, not all heroes are particularly heroic; some are morally ambiguous straddlers of the line between antihero and antivillain, some are demonic chaos gods who (quite frankly) still wonder how in the 79 Hells they found themselves in this position.

In the end, though it did take more than the one night, they still finished in just over 16 hours. The plot outline came in at just over 18 pages, which they tidily stacked together on the table and declared to be more than adequate … before passing out on the carpet. Facefirst.

When Bill next regained consciousness, he was in his attic bed and morning light was streaming through the window. His mouth tasted like an abandoned prison for criminally insane chalk and his head felt like the internal turmoil of a buzzsaw having an existential crisis. It was a pain that was anything but hilarious; it was the sugared caffeine hangover equivalent of nuclear fallout … Mouthwash fixed the first problem. The second took an adult dosage of aspirin, a lot of water, and deliberate manipulation of many of the clonesuit’s normally automatic processes for a full eight minutes. And even then, not completely.

“Guess I can’t pilot one of these things through 36+ hours of no sleep on a gallon of coffee … Not if I wanna be able to still maneuver it the next day without crashing every ten feet into a wall or the floor, at least,” he grumbled to himself. “Major design flaw … Can’t believe they got evolutionarily approved for mass production with such weak durability …”

Downstairs in the kitchen, Stan greeted him jovially enough. “Stancakes are up, and so are you, it seems. How you feelin’ today?”

“Honestly, confused,” Bill graveled, his clonesuit throat still raw. “I can get longterm possession of a meatbag leading to me—y’know, the real me—developing emotions and physical cravings and other … gross, brain-mush junk like that. Neurochemistry is basically just an addictive habit, like how people respond to hearing the question ‘What is love?’—”

“Baby, don’t hurt me. Don’t hurt me no more,” Stan mumbled automatically.

“Exactly. But what I don’t get is why the real me is also feeling this coffee and sugar hangover. No joke: I tried leaving my clonesuit to get away from it, but it followed me. How is that fair? And, yeah, existence isn’t fair,” Bill interjected before Stan automatically could. “But still …”

Like the benevolent and experienced sage he was (more or less), Stan chuckled to himself. Then, laying a companionable arm around Bill’s shoulders, he leaned in and whispered the truth as grimly as Death itself, “You can outrun your sins, but you can never outrun a hangover.”

“W-wha?”

“Some say if you never stop drinkin’, it’ll never catch up with you. But they are fools. Sooner or later, all things must sleep—sooner or later, all who drink must suffer.”

“Uh … K-kinda freakin’ me out here.” Bill tried to lean away, but Stan’s hold was inescapable. “And, just sayin’, I’m kinda responsible for making most of the 79 Hells as freaky as they are.”

“Heed my warning, child.”

“I’m heeding! I’m heeding! Elder Gods, Stan, the only one who’s supposed to give people nightmares around here is me …”

Straightening up, Stan went back to the stove to continue what passed for cooking with him. “Once you’re done eatin’, by the way, I gotta plate for you to take down to Ford. He prob’ly needs some food and water more ‘n you do.”

Between mouthfuls of food, Bill said, “Yeah, sure … You seen what we wrote, by the way?”

“Yeah. It’s not bad at all. I’d def’nitely go see movies like that. Might even pay my own money for it, too. Heh … Even Soos admitted the storylines are better. Haven’t seen him that downcast ‘bout anything in a while, either. Looked as painful for him as cutting out his own kidney. Might have to do something nice for him soon just to make up for it,” Stan added to himself.

“Huh … Yeah, maybe …” Bill chewed on his breakfast, almost starting to maybe feel guilty. Then, when he finished, he put his dishes in the sink, picked up what was meant for Ford, and took it down to the lab.

Ford, as usual, was at his desk. He was hunched over with a pen, which was also fairly usual. However, and this was very unusual, all his notes and Journals had been pushed into a corner—neatly stacked, but well out of the way. Close to hand, as if for quick reference, was actually their Cosmos Conflicts storyline.

Bill cleared his throat. “Brought some breakfast for ya from Stan.” He set it on the desk, but away from any of the papers (just in case). “How you feeling? I woke up with a caffeine hangover I couldn’t escape even when I left my body. Er, clonsuit. Whatever. Same dif.”

“… I didn’t really sleep very deeply,” Ford eventually replied, his voice as hoarse as Bill’s. “Ergo, I can’t really say I woke up with such a hangover, but I’m suffering one all the same.”

“Yeesh, that sucks. Taken anything? Had some water and some food? That helped me.”

“Some water and aspirin, yes, though I’m not sure I could keep much food down … I suppose I ought to try, anyway.”

“If you feel more rotten than a two-week-old apple core, why are you working?” Bill asked, sliding the plate closer.

“I’m not really working, per se,” Ford answered guiltily. “Just … sketching. Some stuff. For what we came up with.”

Bill’s eyes lit up with interest. “Ooo! Really? Can I see? Please?”

For a moment, Ford’s jaw worked. As though trying to control himself.

“It’s okay,” Bill said hurriedly, though unable to fully contain his disappointment. “I get it. I’ll leave you al—”

A couple pages’ worth of images (some rough sketches, some little more than absent doodles, and some rather intricate and detailed) were thrust at the Demon. “Here. Can’t see any harm in you looking at them, anyway, so …” Ford mumbled. Without looking up, he cut in to his food. “Was just doing this since I’m too awake and restless to just not do anything, but too … wooly in the head, I suppose you could say, to do any productive work.”

Bill poured over them, delighting in the imaginative whimsy of them. Most were of characters from the prequels, though with distinctive touches—touches reflecting their own collaboration (such as Otherkin in a stained pilot’s attire, Imdolledupa aiming ruthlessly with a blaster, and Jelived Knights wearing a different style of clothing from Jelived Sentinels or Jelived Healers). But some were very different, especially among the doodles. “Ha! You made a Soos Wookie!”

Ford couldn’t resist smiling. “Soosbacca. Co-pilot to Stan Solo.”

“In their spaceship, the Mystery Falcon, right? Is Melody a Wookie, too?”

“Huh … That’s not a bad idea, actually. I was having a hard time seeing how to fit her in, since she isn’t really the Princess Leia type.”

“But Mabel and—pff!—Dipper are?” Bill snorted, pointing to where they were both sketched with the iconic braids wrapping around their ears. “Both of them together?”

“Well, they’re also both Luke, since I couldn’t really pick who fit which roll better.”

“Two sets of the twins running around, huh?” Bill murmured, though he was really thinking about two Dippers (and they weren’t running around, either—they were very much not running). “… And Wendy’s Lando, I see. Am I Yoda, since I’m the most triangular or everybody, and the right size?”

“Uh …” Ford hesitated.

“Pff, it’s alright, I can already see 3PO and R2 are both me.”

Lamely, the Weirdologist explained, “Because you’re shiny. That’s the extent of the logic.”

“You gonna do any more sketches?”

“Assuming I can keep breakfast down, probably,” Ford said around a mouthful. “It’s … distracting. And fun. And relaxing, too. Helps to pass the time on a down day like this.”

“Um … M-mind if I stay and watch? Please?” Bill almost begged. “Y’know how much I love watching you meatbags make art.”

“… Oh, fine,” Ford relented. Because what was the harm in being nice to the Demon? Ford didn’t have to trust him for that. “Just don’t make any noise. My head aches enough as it is.”

Bill mimed zipping his lips and throwing away the key before pulling up a chair and settling himself comfortably beside Ford. The only time he broke his silence after that was to ask Ford if he wanted more water, and to assert that the others would get a kick out of seeing these sketches (“especially Soos … the Twins, too, though we’d have to text ‘em a photo of ‘em, or mail the whole project to ‘em to see …”).

All in all, it turned out to be a rather nice day for both of them together.

#little monsters au #the feels awaken #bipper #stanford #bill cipher #writing #fanfiction #please excuse the dopey ass looking star wars sketches #also omfg this is finished finallyyyy #submission

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sugarcoated-pain · 5 years

Text

Heavy Rotation-Part Two

Alright guys, I know it’s been a while but I’ve finally finished Part Two of my series, Heavy Rotation.

Best Friends to Lovers (eventually) trope- original character + Ashton

Part One

Warnings: Cussing and drinking. I think that’s about it though.

Another giant thanks to my homegirl @sublimehood for helping again!

“Come on, guys! Just one more game!” I beg, bouncing on the loveseat next to Ashton. I'm sitting cross-legged with my knee against his thigh and he has not moved away. I take small victories where I can get them. In the three months I've lived with these guys, I've started a little game I secretly like to call 'how much can I flirt with Ashton without anybody noticing’.

“No fucking way. Absolutely not.” Calum replies as he abandons his place on the couch next to Georgia to get another beer.

“You kicked our asses FOURTEEN times! Why the hell would we keep playing?” Mikey declares indignantly, tossing the Wii controller on the coffee table.

“Yeah I’m fucking done.” Luke chimes in.

“Don’t be sore losers. It’s very unattractive.” I add condescendingly, eliciting a chuckle from Georgia.

Ashton takes a swig off of his beer before contributing to the conversation, “I’m still playing. I came THIS fucking close to winning last round! But you have to change your character this time. No more ‘Lucky Luigi’. “ he mocks, “and we’re doing Battle Mode.”

“Deal!”

Just as the next round starts, I hear a knock at the door.

“I’ll get it.” Mikey says as he jumps up to answer the door. “Oh. Hey Camille, come on in.” Oh, NOW he moves his leg. Typical.

“Hey babe! What're you doin here?”Ashton asks, pausing the game and standing up to greet her.

“Uh, you said we could go to the club tonight, remember?” She shoots me a glare, potentially having noticed how close he and I were just sitting. I roll my eyes and unpause the game while Ashton is distracted and proceed to kick his ass.

“GODDAMNIT EMMA! You little shit!” He laughs “Come on, not cool!” He shouts, grabbing his Wii controller and pausing it once again. “The club, that's right, “ he adds, hearing Camille's impatient huff as she crosses her arms. “Yeah no problem, let me just get changed. You guys wanna come?” He asks the room at large. To Camille’s clear delight, no one else was interested.

The two of them were gone within fifteen minutes, and it wasn’t long after when Luke and Michael retreated to their rooms. I continue playing Mario Kart with Georgia while Calum rests his feet in her lap, leaning back on the couch and browsing aimlessly on his cell phone.

“BRB.” Cal says, eliciting an eye roll from myself and Georgia, as he gets up and heads down the hall to the bathroom.

No sooner do we hear the door close than Georgia pauses the game and rounds on me. “Alright, spill.” She demands.

“Uh.. you're gonna need to be a little more specific.”

“You and Ashton! Something is definitely happening between the two of you...” Georgia watches me with intrigue as an excited grin passes over her face.

I unpause the game nonchalantly. “I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about.”

“Oh come on, Em!” She pauses the game yet again. “I know you better than that by now. You can trust me.”

I sigh, and look around the room to make sure no one else is around. “Okay. Fine. I may or may not have ...slightly more than platonic feelings for him...” Georgia lets out an excited squeal, but I cut her off before she can say anything “BUT. I have no intention of ever acting on this. He has a girlfriend and I am not here for guys. I am here to make music and I'm not letting anybody distract me.”

“Seriously?! 'His girlfriend’ is awful and you know it. He deserves WAY better than her. And what if he feels the same way you do?”

“What if who feels the same way?” Of course Calum walks back into the room at that exact moment. He makes his way back to his spot on the couch, eyeing us both curiously.

“NOBODY!” I shout a little too quickly, glaring at Georgia, who is now wide eyed and holding her hands over her mouth.

He grins mischievously and leans closer to her while watching me curiously. “Nope. I'm not buyin it. I know what I heard. Come on. I'll get it out of her sooner or later so you might as well just tell me…”

Georgia looks like she's about to explode. “UGH fine!” I snap and bury my head in my hands.

“EMMA HAS FEELINGS FOR ASHTON!” she whisper-shouts excitedly, bouncing a little as she says it.

Calum grins. “Excellent! Let's call him and tell him right now. I bet he dumps that dumb bitch on the spot!”

“NO! ABSOLUTELY NOT! He cannot find out! Do you understand me?? Neither one of you can ever speak a word or this!” I demand frantically.

“Emma, he's my best friend. I can't NOT tell him something like this.” He replies, pulling out his cell phone.

I immediately slap it out of his hand and onto the floor. “I'm dead serious. He is currently in a relationship and I, on the other hand, am not looking for a relationship. Ashton can't ever find out. Nobody can. PLEASE. I'm begging you.”

They exchange a look. “Fine, I won't say anything.” Cal replies with a huff, glaring at me angrily as he reaches to pick up his phone.

“But Em, I know you don't really want to be single forever.. don't you ever get lonely?” Georgia asks.

“That's what Tinder is for. I'm not interested in anything more than a one night stand right now, and roommates slash best friends are NOT one night stand material.” I pick my cell phone up off the coffee table and start to get up. “I'm going to bed, but please promise me you will keep this between us?” They both nod.

Once in my room, I plop onto my bed with a deep sigh. Guess I took my little game too far, but no more. It’s time to get serious and stop daydreaming about the guy across the hall. No more flirting. No more touching. It’s music time. I grab my favorite journal that has my best song lyrics written in it, and climb out my window onto the fire escape. In my first week in the apartment, I discovered one of my favorite places in the whole world : our rooftop. With a perfect view of the LA skyline, it is by far the best place in this building for song writing. There isn't a ton of space up there, just room for a couple of people comfortably. I found that out in my second week here when I went up there only to discover I'm not the only one who uses this hideout. Ashton was already sitting there, but he let me join him. And of course, we talked music, cracked stupid jokes, shared a joint, and had deep philosophical conversations for hours- the usual “just friends” stuff, right?

I was glad to know he wouldn't be up there tonight though. I needed my rooftop spot for thinking and writing. With my favorite fuzzy throw blanket around my shoulders, I start writing. All my thoughts and emotions from the day easily flow out of me, through my lucky red gel pen and onto the paper. Lately, my writing has mostly revolved around my feelings for two things: my dramatic change in scenery, and Ashton. I hold it back and fight it off as best as I can in the daylight, but up here alone, I can’t help writing about him. What can I say, he seems to be my muse. After I’m completely drained of words and energy, I head back down the fire escape to go to bed.

The next day starts out the same as any other. Camille stayed over and is walking around in one of Ashton’s shirts and little else, which makes me sick to my stomach so I avoid the kitchen at all costs until it’s time to head downstairs for work. It’s my turn to open the record store. Everybody else will probably wander down whenever they feel like it. Joys of being the newbie.

I go through the opening checklist that the guys made for me, and finally open the doors. It's a Saturday so we will probably be busy later in the day, but nobody is ever here first thing in the morning. I wander around hunting for busy work to do, but eventually end up sitting behind the counter doodling on receipt paper. After a while, Luke comes down to start his shift in the store, and I see that someone has opened up the recording studio.

As one would expect, my obsession with that studio has only grown in the time I've been there. Once Luke gets settled, I casually wander through that heavy purple curtain, under the guise of making sure the trash cans were emptied the night before. Ashton is already helping some random musician nobody has ever heard of record their album. I'm fascinated by everything happening in the room- the buttons, the knobs,the lights, the flawless human being operating them all so effortlessly.

“Oh! Hey Em. I didn't see ya there.” His voice breaks me from my trance.

“Morning.. I'm just .. uh.. just making sure the trash was taken out in here last night…” I reply as I quickly grab the nearest can.

“Bullshit. I watched you empty them last night.” Ashton chuckles. “You're just trying to get close to the board again to see how it works….”

“Yep. That's definitely all I was looking at. You caught me..”

“Well, come on then.” He motions for me to take the chair next to him.

“Seriously?!”

“Yeah. This is a pretty easy client. Good one for you to learn on. Sit down.” I hop over to the empty swivel chair excitedly. Ashton shakes his head with a small laugh at my enthusiasm, and then begins talking through the different steps in the process. I force myself to concentrate on the words he is telling me, and not the way his perfect hazel eyes light up when he talks about something he's really passionate about.

After about thirty minutes, Luke frantically pops his head into the studio. “There you are! Come on, Emma, I’m gettin my ass kicked out here!”

“Oops sorry!” I bounce up quickly to follow him out, before turning back to Ashton. “Hey thanks for showin me this stuff.. It was awesome.”

He smiles. “Anytime.”

My shift goes by in a blur after that. Any moments not involving customers are spent daydreaming about my time with Ashton this morning. That nagging part of my brain that knows he’s off limits tries to stop me, but I can’t help myself. He was so sweet and patient with me today. Since I’ve gotten here, Ash has definitely been the most interested in my music and the most supportive on my path to learn more about the music industry in general. I know by now that this is just the type of guy he is, but there is another part of me that wishes it was more than that.

The guys have band practice scheduled that evening. There’s a small, old warehouse attached to the back of the store that Liz let’s them practice in. They’re pretty good together but their practices are entertaining as hell to sit in on. Georgia and I have started bringing snacks and booze to watch. We even recently made a drinking game out of some of the stuff that regularly happens. I lay out a blanket on the floor for us to sit on and start setting up camp while Georgia playfully feeds popcorn to Calum while he’s getting ready. They’re so cute I could puke.

“Hey G, first shot of the game. Mikey’s late again.” I say as I pour cheap vodka into two dixie cups. Georgia takes hers as she sits down next to me on the blanket.

“Cheers.” she says, holding it out as if to toast. I clank my plastic cup to hers and down it in one quick motion.

Michael finally shows up and practice begins. I pour white wine into two red solo cups for Georgia and I.

Relaxing a bit as they finally start playing, I find a comfortable sitting position and take in the music. They're actually getting better, even in just the few months I've been here. But what I really love about their practices is how passionate they all are about their music, particularly Ashton. The way he moves when playing the drums, the intensity in his face. It's mesmerising.

“I've got an idea for another one..” Georgia says in a low tone with a mischievous grin, leaning closer to me. “YOU have to take a drink every time I catch you checking Ashton out.”

“GODDAMNIT GEORGIA!” It's meant to be a whisper but it comes out as more of a hiss, as I look around frantically making sure nobody else heard her.

She laughs, “Actually, make it a shot this time. You were practically drooling.”

As I pour another shot into my dixie cup, I glare at her. “I hate you.” Georgia laughs again as I throw back my shot.

Practice continues and I make an extra effort not to look at Ashton. This is apparently an impossible task for me at this point. His energy on that drum kit is like a black hole sucking me in. I try to find other things to focus on. I stare at Luke for a while. He’s pretty enough to keep my attention, right?

“OH! Luke touched his hair. Take a drink.” I say. Georgia and I both drink.

“And now Ashton is drumming on something that isn’t his drums. Drink.” Georgia said, smirking in my direction.

“Are you purposely drawing my attention to him drumming on his thighs so I have to drink AGAIN?” I shake my head and take another drink while she laughs at me as the guys start playing their next song. Within a matter of seconds, I realize I don’t recognize it. I’ve been overly familiar with all the covers they usually play, and now know the couple of originals they’ve thrown in but this one is different.

“Is this an original?” I ask Georgia curiously.

“I guess so.” She shrugs.

It’s surprisingly good. I’m actually genuinely enjoying this song. It’s heartfelt and emotional, raw even. It has a different feel than most of the other songs they play, but in a really good way. They stop a couple times during the song to discuss aspects of it, and I can tell they aren’t completely happy with it, particularly Ashton.

“There’s just something about the bridge that didn’t feel right.” He says, tapping his drumstick absentmindedly on his knee, as he often does when he’s thinking. They continue debating it for a couple minutes, struggling to agree with what was missing from the sound.

“For the bridge, what if you switch the vocals only to a minor key, but keep the guitar in major?” I chime in loudly. Everybody stops talking and turns to me.

“What?!” Luke asks, apparently stunned that I would speak up during their sacred practice.

“No that’s actually a REALLY good idea. You up for trying it, Luke?” Ashton asks, with a quick smile at me. I really hope I’m not blushing but I’m almost positive I am. Luke shrugs. They start the bridge over, but this time with Luke singing the lead in a minor key. It sounds a million times better, or maybe I’m biased. Georgia turns to me, completely impressed. They finish the song, and Ashton is beaming at me. The other guys nod their approval, looks of mild shock on their faces. They all thank me and compliment me on the idea.

When they’re all finished, Ashton walks over to me. “That was seriously a genius tip.”

“Ha. Thanks. It was already an excellent song, just needed a little tweak.” I shrug, hoping again I’m not fucking blushing.

“You really like it? That means a lot. I wrote this one.”

“I’m not surprised at all.” I say quickly under my breath.

“What is that supposed to mean?” He asks with a curious smirk.

“Never mind.” I answer as I finish packing up our little picnic site to head back upstairs.

Part Three

Part Four

Part Five

Part Six

Part Seven

Part Eight

#heavy rotation #5sos #5sos fanfic #5 seconds of summer #5 seconds of summer fanfiction #5sos fanfiction #ashton irwin #calum hood #luke hemmings #michael clifford

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noonmutter · 5 years

Text

Surprises

Amber had come by to drop of the most recent shipment of delivery boxes for him, and to discuss options for the holiday in February. Business almost always gave way to pleasure in their conversations, the consequence of friendship with a cook. The consequence of friendship with an attractive, friendly cook with a nice butt and a lovely face and...whew. Focus, Amber...

"So! What confections and sweets will you be offering this year for the holiday?" "Think I might try t'keep it relatively simple, try goin' easy on m'self just once an' see 'ow it treats me. A few specials, 'igh end, but not twenty of 'em like I did b'fore."

Leon drew out a narrow box about a foot long and two-ish inches wide with his finger. "Li'l six-piece truffle trays."

Her gaze followed the air-doodling and she nodded, "May I take a sketch home with me? For measurement purposes as I assume you will be needing these in the proper colors, and please don't remove the chocolate covered caramel medley! I loved those last year. I only ordered a dozen boxes for myself."

He nodded and quickly dragged out a bit of scrap paper and a pencil to actually scrawl out the measurements he'd been looking for, including a quick circle to rough out the approximate size of the truffles themselves.

She grinned sheepishly, "The salted caramel and orange infused caramel centers were my favorite. I couldn't get enough! I swear, I gained five pounds."

No matter how many times she--or anybody else--complimented his food, he seemed to respond the same way every time, ducking his head a tiny bit and smiling bashfully. "...Wouldn't dream of it. You an' 'alf th' Mage Quarter, all over th' caramels. I was thinkin' about at least one spicy one, an' one usin' a peach liquor a friend o' mine introduced me to at a weddin'."

"I wouldn't be opposed, though I can not be held responsible for anything I do or say should I become drunk on them. Are you doing a mint liquor truffle this year? If so, I may have to buy a few of those." She grinned sheepishly, as she tucked some loose strands of hair behind her ear and idly nipped at the corner of her lip.

She'd caught that sheepish look and it made her heart flip out of control for a few moments. Her breath even hitched at the sight before she managed to shake it off and refocus. FOCUS, AMBER, FOCUS!

Leon, at least, seemed to be mostly focused on business for the time being. Made sense, get him talking about food and he'd be busy for hours. He stood up from his chair and went a bit further down the storage room, picking along the racks until he found the right tray and pulling it out just a bit.

"Don't think that'd be too common? I do a coupla mint cookies as part o' th' normal stock."

“Truffles and cookies are not the same. And I'd personally attempt to buy you out of stock if you did chocolate mint truffles." She called out to him while watching him go through his storage. With him not looking at her and a good distance between them, she finally spoke up on another topic.

"Vae asked me to marry him."

That made him pause, but only for a few seconds before he put the tray back into place and moved a bit further down to pull another. Taking up a couple pieces of something, he return to his desk, all smiles, and held out a little slice of what turned out to be vanilla cake for her. "Tell me."

Upon his return, he noticed the rise in nervous energy that seemed to consume her as she took the offering with both hands and lifted her shoulders in a gentle shrug. "I said no...the first time." Almost immediately after that, she forked a large mouthful of cake into her orifice so that she didn't have to say more for the moment.

Yep, she was definitely nervous. If that surprised him, he wasn't showing it, only sitting back down in his chair and leaning back, attentive and, unfortunately for her, quiet.

She swallowed her cake with some difficulty before setting aside the plate with a gentle sigh and admitting, "Vaerinis is an elf. And while I love him more than anything I realized that he would outlive me by... centuries, and it just didn't ...feel right? So," She swallowed again, braving a look at him,"I made a decision in large part due to your influence."

She didn't have to be a genius to see the worry on his face at that. Had he wrecked a home without even doing anything? "'Ow so?"

She smiled at him as an offer of small reassurance. "It dawned on me that a person can love more than one person, equally and in different ways. You do it, after all. So I spoke to him about the possibility of opening our relationship in a manner that would allow him to explore that should he ever be inclined, and explained to him my worries and concerns when it came to us."

Again, she was tucking hair, a nervous tick of hers that she couldn't help right then. "After much debate and a few tears, mostly on my end, he understood and we agreed to a polyarmorous...I think that is the term...relationship, with one caveat."

She finally held up her hand to show the engagement ring to him, "We are only to be married to each other and no others so long as I live. His only demand for the entire thing."

It took him a little while after she started her explanation for him to fully process what she'd said, partially due to his worry that he'd offended. Once that had been firmly shunted aside, he could actually think, announced by a few more rapid blinks and a certain slackness in his jaw. His mouth hadn't fallen open, but it seemed like it could at any time.

By the time she'd finished, he was smiling again, and properly this time. There was, after all, a brand new engagement band in front of him, and it wasn't on a fist headed rapidly toward his eye. "That's fan-bloody-tastic, Amber! Congratulations! I... well, I can't say I'm not pretty shocked t'ear tha' from you."

She laughed as that nervous energy briefly fled in the wake of his excitement for her. "I can't say that I didn't surprise myself when I brought it up, but then again," She ducked her gaze, a crimson hue staining her cheeks as her nervousness returned full bore, " I can't say I wasn't shocked when I found myself admitting that he wasn't the only man I had deep feelings for."

In a perfect world where a merciful god not only existed, but paid direct attention to Amber in particular and thought she rather deserved some help, Leon would be perceptive when it mattered most. Unfortunately, such was not the world they lived in, and Leon was still Leon, and he only saw a girl wanting to gush to her friend about a crush she'd finally gotten to act on.

"Well, g'on, tell me 'bout 'im, then. Makes you flush tha' way, must be good."

She blushed all the more, now completely unable to even look at him. Her hands came up to tuck hair behind both ears as she attempted to capture scattered thoughts and spoke with that nervous stammer she always got when completely flustered.

"W..well. He is a m-m-man with a k-kind heart. C-Com-Compassionate. G-Giving. V...very giving. He has the most amazing b-b-blue eye. H... He can cook and he has always made me f-feel welcome and ..s...safe. H...he never hesitates to offer advice or an ear when I need it, or a shoulder to cry on and his name is Leon."

The last few words were almost a whisper as she shrank back slightly and waited for his reaction with a twisted brow.

The smile on his face, all but ever-present, slowly gave way as Amber's speech went on and his brain's maintenance guy tried desperately to reignite the pilot light. It finally flared back to life about two seconds before she came right out and said his name, but of course at that point all he could do right away was stare while his mouth went dry.

His voice was similarly whispery when he finally managed a weak, startled, "Me?"

And that was when the full blown panic set in. She was immediately waving her hands in front of her and shaking her head as she stammered and stumbled, "Please don't think that I expect anything! I would never expect--”

“Amber?”

“--it to be returned. It's just that you are so sweet and giving and everything I was taught that a man was supposed--”

“Amber.”

“--to be and I think I knew down that I loved you months ago but I never said anything because I respect you too much and I know you are married and I was with someone!"

“Amber.”

She finally whimpered then groaned as she started to scoot from his desk, fully intent on fleeing the scene, "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to upset you. I.. I should go. Yeah, I should go--”

"AMBER."

He stood from his chair as she turned away from him and brought his hand down on her shoulder. It was a firm enough grip to make himself known, but not enough to restrain her if she really wanted to escape him in that moment. "Deep breath. Right? Breathe for me."

It was the combination of that last Amber, his hand and her own suddenly smooshing the remainder of her slice of cake that managed to get her to shut up. She was slow to look up at him, emerald eyes as wide as saucers as she'd clearly just put herself into a near fullblown panic.

Deep breath. She gulped on air. Breathe for me. She tried but her lungs felt so tight that she was near hyperventilating while gulping air more than actually breathing it.

He'd been so very loud a moment ago, more so than she'd likely ever heard him go short of when he was chasing a thief. Now, he was speaking softly like there was a sleeping child in the next room, or like he was coaxing a deer to eat from his hand. ... He knew better than to make either of those comparisons aloud. "Easy, babygirl. Once more. Breathe in, wait, breathe out. Got all th'time in th' world, right?"

It felt like an eternity between breaths, but, she soon managed to find breathing with a relative ease despite the fact that she refused to look up at him, having focused on a button on his chef's jacket instead. "I'm sorry," She mumbled in a raspy little voice that still tremored heavily with the fear she still felt at having possibly ruined a friendship.

"Whatever for?" His fingertips brushed across her cheek, not making any attempt to force her to look at him. Right now force seemed the last thing she needed, even less so than restraint. "You've brought me such 'appy news."

His touch was a welcome one, despite the fact that even in her current state, it still managed to make her pulse thread dangerously. Swallowing down her heart as it felt as if it had become lodged in her throat, she bemoaned, "Yes, and then I had to go and ruin it by opening my big mouth."

"Could be worse. Coulda tripped int' me again."

His reward was a frown as she fiddled with her own fingers, just kind of attempting to wipe the ruined cake from them as she murmured, "I think I would have preferred that to this blubber up."

"Kin I offer another option?"

"Of course." She finally managed to glance up at him as if to gauge his thoughts and just how badly she just ruined things between them.

First, he kissed her forehead. Amber's eyes drifted closed, semi-relieved by the action only to frown as he said, "Never apologize." She opened her mouth to argue, "But to not apologize would be r--" but she never got to finish that thought as Leon's lips covered her own.

A series of events happened in a matter of seconds. Initially, there was shock, her body stiffening as she hadn't been expecting that. Then confusion before that was quickly followed up by a muffled whimper as her hands twisted into his chef's jacket and she actually, tentatively kissed him back all while thinking this was just another of those dreams...

The Cookbook closed a bit early that evening, and the chef was seen leaving in a bit of a rush, disheveled and carrying a delivery bag and a bottle of what looked like wine.

He only briefly stopped at home, both to pick up a few things, and to let his wives know, “It ‘appened again” and not to expect him until late. Pin joked that they needed to buy a ranch at this rate, rather than build a house. Leon couldn’t find it in him to argue.

( @theshadowborn @pinpep @shckaewynn )

#leon #amber #HOW DOES HE KEEP DOING THIS #modified chatlogs #collab #he is a magnet #he needs to stop being nice to people #TLDR friendship not ruined #the harem consumes all

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mineokun · 6 years

Text

Mineo Enomoto Character CD Mini-Drama Translation

T/N: This is a translation of the mini-drama that comes with Mineo’s character CD. Though a subbed fan video may come later, I haven’t uploaded the audio alongside this. If you buy the CD (Animate | CDJapan (Ltd Edition) | Play-Asia) or already have the track available, you can follow along while reading this! Thanks also to @jokertrap-ran for helping me proofread!

Translation key: Ichika’s thoughts: ellipses... | (Mineo’s thoughts) | [sound effects]

A Talk Between Two in the Steam

(Mineo Enomoto. 23 years old. Spring’s finally come for me too, and I’ve been spending happy days with my girlfriend. It’s truly a rose-colored life!)

(As for the love bible I stuck with, ‘100 Heart-Jerking Love Confessions’, I haven't opened it again. The reason why being… Now, by my own determination, I'm climbing up the stairway of adulthood! That's right. The stairway of adulthood that is traveling to the hot springs with my girlfriend...!)

Ngh… All right. The hostess left. God, I've been holding back since earlier. I…feel like I'm gonna explode...

...

Heh. So you noticed too, huh? It's just the two of us now… So… it's okay if I don't hold back anymore, right...?

Then… I'll say it.

--AT LONG LAST! SETTING FOOT UPON THE PLACE WHERE DATE MASAMUNE AND COMPANY ACHIEVED THEIR DREAMS - WE'VE ARRIIIIVED!!

Oh, man! I’ve wanted to try coming here for so long! I'm so glad I boldly launched the suggestion at you! It'd be boring going alone after all, y’know? I'm really grateful that you decided to come along with me.

...

Yeah, yeah! When Masamune and his company were here, his role in defending against and resisting outside invaders is what revived them…!

…

Huh? I'm as excited as a kid?

Hmph - well, I'm sorry. I'm a kid who admires Masamune so much I have an eyepatch for him after all. I mean, him being from the Sendai era would more than grab my attention…

But that's fine! I’m here with the same kindred spirit as him after all! Even without words, we'll be able to understand each other! This is - the MASAMUNE SPIRIT!

Whoops, I got kinda fired up there. Let's go bathe separately first!

(Hooo! The smell of cypress is real soothing…)

(A chance to be able to take a carefree bath like this rarely comes by… With the trip in general, I asked where she wished she could go, wanting to bring her there as a man should. But we ended up coming here ultimately.)

(But still, she came with me without pulling a single face.)

(Even though I didn't know what a mashed green soybean flavored shake would taste like, it was so cool when we both took no notice just drinking from our straws…! We tried to drink it at the same time and we ended up bumping our foreheads. But, when we looked up at each other, and started laughing after that…! Eheh! Eheheheheheh!)

(But, man, her eyelashes are so long... I couldn’t help but notice when she was looking at the shake… Ugh! What am I, Shiraishi now?!)

(...No. That’s not it. She's the only one I end up making observations of. That's just ‘cause I love her and I can't help but do that. In other words - I just feel like saying something…)

(Traveling with my girlfriend is THE BEEEEST...!!)

...Ah! Over here, over here! How was it? Did you enjoy the hot spr--! CU--!

(Gh! W-Wow… She looks amazing wearing a yukata…! It-can't-be-it-looks-too-good-on-her-more-than-that-it's-seriously-so…!)

E-Eh?! Oh, n-no no, it's nothing! More importantly, how were the hot springs? Were you able to relax in there?

…

Yeah, I feel you. The cypress floating in the bath gave it a classic Japanese feel, didn't it?

…

Ah. I saw the arcade corner too while I was waiting, but this also seems pretty promising. We might as well, so what game do you…?

…

Oh? The photo booth together?

Ohh, you wanna take some pictures? Well, we can write words onto them, so it’ll be something to commemorate our trip! Heheh. I have to brag about this to Takeru and Yanagi…!

…

Whooa…! So this is the famous… Ah, I’m not so good at handling complicated controls, so I’ll leave that to you!

Even though… I wonder what people who have it all would think in a situation like this… Ah, nothing, just talking to myself.

Oh, are we taking one now? What pose should we do?

…

Ehhh…? Clapping our hands together softly then making our faces small after? That seems cool. Let’s try that out!

[click!]

Wow! Look at those visual effects! Well, your face is small and cute to begin with, though--

Ow! What was that for?! It’s not something to hit me over!

…

Huh? Could it be you’re…being shy...?

! What’s with that…? If you suddenly make a face like that…even I’ll--

[click!]

Ah--?! I wasn’t looking at the camera…! Right, we’re still in the middle of taking pics, aren’t we? For a pose... Doing a generic peace sign should be a safe bet, right?

[click!]

The next one’s the last. Then we gotta go out with a bang. Plus we’ve come this far… Should we do a Date Masamune-like pose here?

…

Huh? ...You wanna take one with us holding hands…?

! What’s with that adorable request…?! Gah! If you’re okay with my hand, then do as you like!

…

O-Oh… I should sit closer, huh…

...You know. I’m...really happy right now.

[click!]

Next comes writing on them, yeah? There are two copies, so let's take one each and show what we wrote on them to each other afterwards! It’ll be more exciting that way!

First things first are the icon stamps, so...

Hehe. Damn… I’m having so much fun. I’m seriously so glad I got to travel with you! Coming to a place you like with the person you love is the best!

…

Huh? What’s up? ...We only have a bit of time left to doodle on them?

Ack, s-seriously?! This wasn’t the time to feel so moved inside! There’s still so much I wanna write…!

[stylus tapping]

No! Not yet! Don’t give up, Mineo! The first photo booth session for fulfilled-real-lifers I get in my life is the one thing I can’t let go to ruin…! I’ll pour all my feelings of love into this…!!

[frantic stylus tapping]

Th-That was close…! I barely managed to finish writing… Did you finish?

…

Hehh. That’s a real piece of work. Well, I’m only able to say that now. I fashioned a considerable tour de force in there myself.

Oh, they’ve come out. Let’s see, let’s see...

Ah--! You have an eyepatch too…! I see. You drew on one with a pen, huh? Lining it up like this… It's like a matching couple look…

…

Eh? That’s what you meant to…?

! N-Now, you! Just what’re you trying to do, making me so happy?!

…

Eh--? My pictures?

W-Wait, don’t yell so loud…! There wasn’t any time writing it, and I lost myself getting into it. When it suddenly stopped, I… ‘I love you most in the world’, is what I wanted I write…

...Eh? You’re happy?

Ha. I see. If that makes you happy too, then I’m glad.

Whenever we look at these, we’ll remember today. It’s...kinda weird! Us having a calm time like this...didn’t use to be a given, either. Back then, we went through pain, through sadness. Even now, there are people out there desperately doing their best. Everyone has hard times to overcome, and their daily lives to get on with now.

...Ah, my bad. I got a little solemn there! Wait, what time is it now…? They said there’d be dinner at 7, didn’t they?

All right! There’s ox tongue calling our name! Let’s hurry...!

Ahh, I’m absolutely stuffed! That ox tongue was so thick and tasty! My feet went on their own and got three helpings for dinner! Ah, it was tough…

[tea being poured]

Oh! Thanks!

[sip]

Going back to our room after a feast and having you pouring tea for me… Maaan, it’s just perfect!

…

Oh? What now? That’s true… We’ve done what there is to do outside the ryokan for the most part…

(...)

(!)

(...!!)

(Crap…! What do I do?! I don’t know what we should do now that it’s just us two in the room…!)

(Not to mention, looking right at her in the eye while she’s in her yukata makes my heart pound-- Ah, wait. It’s awkward to keep silent. Umm, uhhh…!)

(Ah! Why don't we sleep sooner! No! It's still 9 - that's way too early!)

(What else could we do… Nnrgh…! Do you wanna explore the ryokan! What am I, some primary school kid?!)

…

Eh?! You brought playing cards…?

Oh… OHOHO, nice! Why don't we play old maid or something!

…

(Phew! What a lifesaver…!)

(...No. Hold on. Could this be…she saw me struggling and threw me a bone when I needed it? Things like this happen every time…)

(She…must be thinking that…)

…Hey. ...I, uh… I'm probably just a kid in your eyes, aren't I…?

…

I mean, today… I wanted to escort you from the beginning, but at some point I just started having fun by myself. I wanted to…be classier doing this. Heh… Even though I think it’s shameful even by my own standards…

[table slam; rattling]

Whoa! Y-You scared me… Eh, w-was that something to get angry over…?

…

! It's okay if I'm not an adult…? But I'm the older one here. At some point if things keep going like this--

…

Eh! I-I get it - calm down…!

…

Being in high spirits together with me - is fun…?

...I also enjoy being with you best. I wrote that on our pictures earlier, too. That you're the one who I…love most in the world, so…

…

Hm? That's…the one we took earlier, isn't it? Ohh. We were so pressed to get to dinner, we didn't really get to see what we wrote on it.

…

Ah! You wrote something on it, too? Let's see… Mineo, I...love you…

Th-This…! …!

Really? You also wrote you love me. To think that we get along even on this… Eheh. Man, how much do we love each other?

Hah… I'm sorry. Of course that'd make you angry. You said you love me as I am now after all. I'm not me when I force and overstretch myself. That's what you mean, right?

Hey. Come over here a bit.

…

You know, I… keep feeling like I'm acing an exam when I'm with you. Just being able to travel with you made me ecstatic, and when I saw you climbing over the rock in your yukata as well, it was…kind of…different from how you normally are. It got my heart racing. When I sat closer to you when we took pictures in the photo booth, stuff like the smell of your shampoo seriously got to me.

Then, uh… I'm saying this now, but… The truth is, I...felt a little like wanting to… k...kiss you...

…

Eh--! Stupid! Don't say stuff like you'd be glad even if I did! Don’t underestimate me. Now see here - men easily get carried away! You're someone I…want to treasure.

… [hand holding]

…!

You're…always like that.

No matter how much I run away… you chase me, hold onto me, and don't let me go. You got more guts than your outward appearance suggests. You're a cool woman.

Though this is the last time I'm making sure… It's really okay?

…

Heh. I got it. Then…

[kiss]

Your heart's pounding... Hehe. Mine is too.

But, you know. We're okay like this. Having the same feelings, we reach an understanding, and move forward together. Going like that suits us most. Though I end up putting on airs in front of you, saying what I really think like this and being natural at times is also important.

Same goes for you. If you have something you want to say, say it without holding back.

…

Oh? That face means there’s something you wanna say...! C’mon, what is it? Try saying it!

…

...Eh? ...W-...Wait a sec… I-I might've misheard you… J-Just now, what...did you say?

…

Gh--! Y-You want to sleep together...?! Wai… I-Isn't the hurdle suddenly too high?! Are we going that far up the stairway of adulthood and the like...?! I mean, it's not like I didn't think of that at all, but - I thought of taking it slow and building up to the climax where--!

…

...Eh? …Next to each other?

..Ahhh, so that'd be, uh… Sleeping snuggled up in the same futon… That kind of sleeping together?

...Ha. Hahaha! AHAHAHAHA! U-Uh, of course...! I thought that's what you meant! I-If that's what you'd like, we can do that however much you want! I’ve done that with my little sister! I'm her companion when I babysit!

…

H-Hey, hey, you don't need to pull my sleeve for me to...

…

Huh? ...Hey... Your face is - looking kinda scary...

…

Not the same as my sister…? Wh-- Ah-- Oh, no! When I said that I didn't mean it like...!

…

Wha-- Oh, w-whoa, whoa...!

Uh-- Umm… I made a slip-up, earlier. I apologized, so...please cheer up.

…

C’mon, it's not that I treat you like a little sister...! Mnghh…!

...I got it. It'll be fine if we sleep together like lovers, right? Uh… Then…

[shifting; rustling]

…How's this? It's an arm pillow. Th-This is - only something lovers do, right?

…

Gh--! Is that it…?! You little…! Even though this is plenty given the situation…! If you make too many demands now… That mouth of yours? Will be sealed shut.

…

Ha. Jeez… I understand how you feel veeery well. Even for me… To be this close to you, and not do anything about it…is impossible.

[kiss]

For all of today, and until morning comes… I won't let you go.

#collar x malice #collar x malice unlimited #mineo enomoto #enomoto mineo #translation #mini drama translation #my posts

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denouxments · 6 years

Text

dylan minnette. cismale. he/him. — did you see { alex mercier }, i haven’t seen the { twenty-one } year old in a while! you know, they’re a { musician }, and have been living in jersey city for { twenty-one years }. some say they're { cynical & indecisive }, but i think they're { generous & talented }. regardless, i’m glad { alex } is here.

backstory

aaaaaand in the door to the right we have trash son #2, alex !! ( woo ! ahh ! ) you can find his dossier page HERE, his biography does not exist yet ( i’m gonna kick my own ass ), and there is a pinterest board for him HERE.

ok so boy is a middle child through and through LOL. his dad is a writer who also works as an english professor at new york university, meanwhile his mom works in human services helping people who have fallen off their track in life and stuff.

alex is essentially a male carbon copy of his mom in appearance but his personality is 100% his dad’s lmao

his siblings are a wanted connection !

also his household includes a deaf cat named shrimp that alex literally fished out of a gutter when he was 14. she’s his baby despite the fact that he’s mildly allergic to both cats AND shrimp ( i r o n i c ). here’s the instagram of the cat i’m saying she looks like

real mundane middle class life. there have been highs and lows like any other family, but there’s no tragedy here folks ! that comes later and has nothing to do with his family !

his dad was really into rock music and playing the drums when he was younger cuz wow the 80s and really wanted at least one of his kids to have good taste in music, so he kept the drum set and all the old records despite the fact that they were just collecting dust in the garage . . . until alex came along !

first was the drums, then it was the guitar, then it was being dual-enrolled in both the band and choir classes, and then, finally, it was starting his own band with 2 friends at only 11 years old

his dad got real lucky cuz alex clearly loved music, and he considers the 80s to be legendary.

i'm gonna revisit his music in a moment cuz we gotta start getting into the tragedy that i mentioned ! so alex was like a really chill dude when high school started. he was a bit of a pretentious hipster bitch, but he was chill. he didn’t really say no to things ? like if something or someone just fell into his lap, he’d roll with it and didn’t really think too much about the consequences ? he was a big stoner and lost his virginity and probably way too young of an age because of it. he just didn’t really Care too much lol

he was essentially that quiet stoner that played his guitar in the courtyard and didn’t pay much attention to anything going on around him

. . . unless he overheard you talking about something that was stupid or he didn’t agree with. then he’d butt in to be like “l o l that’s wrong !”

then he met molly ! if you’ve read chloe’s intro for bobbi you know molly ! we love molly ! molly was cute in that girl-next-door way and she was funny with good taste. it was hard for alex not to fall in love with her, really. they were friends first before they started dating, and it was through her that he met all of his current ride-or-die friends. he had never been good at making them, so she was a blessing for his social life. she was amazing. he loved her, his parents loved her, they were good. she was good and then she was gone. just like that. a car accident in which she wasn’t even the driver.

to say the loss devastated him would be an understatement. he shut down completely. he stopped hanging out with friends, stopped playing guitar in the courtyard; his presence in class was like that of a ghost. nobody ever knew what to say to alex before, and it was twice as true now. he just sort of Existed for the remainder of junior year, throwing himself into his studies instead of ever really taking the Time to Deal with it all.

it really hit him like a truck when summer hit and it was at this point that his parents forced him to start seeing a therapist.

his therapist recommended he use his band and music as an outlet, since that seemed to be his healthiest coping mechanism. ( see, i told you we’d get back to that ! ) taking this advice, he threw himself headfirst into it. like, he got really into his band. it’d been a bit of a hobby between friends before, and sometimes they worked small gigs, but now alex was also trying to produce them on a bigger scale. this helped him through his grief tremendously, especially because if felt like he was doing molly proud.

alex was 18 and had graduated when all this hard work paid off. after releasing a self-made ep entitled after molly, the band started gaining some serious traction. we’re talking getting featured on spotify’s indie hits lists and their fanbase skyrocketing in size from the couple hundred monthly listeners it had been. suddenly they were getting booked sold out indie gigs left and right all across the manhatten area. it was nuts and it is still nuts. they even have a well demanded

they’ve put out a 2nd ep since the initial takeoff and are now working on a full blown album ! exciting !

so, yeah, that’s definitely an exciting exchange for being utterly heartbroken i suppose. its been years since molly passed now, so he’s okay now for the most part. he still gets sad sometimes, and he still has all the pictures they took together and all the cheesy playlists they made for each other saved. she’s always gonna be the first girl he was ever in love with,, and i don’t think he’s yet to have a serious relationship since her, but don’t worry about him just being a clay jensen 2.0. my boy is faaaar from that and he’s had his grace period, y’know ? he good.

personality

fuuuucking hiiiiipster buuuuullshiiiit ! coffee and vinyl aesthetic all day bby. will call out your shit taste in music

loves to debate and argue semantics. will always play devils advocate even if he agrees with you 100%. also will go on for hours about the political climate and existence if you accidentally get him there

a bit antisocial. he doesn’t really know how to, like, approach people ? and then when people approach him he has a tendency to rub people the wrong way with his lackluster people skills

tries to go to parties and bars and stuff sometimes because that’s Normal, right ?

a ride or die pal when you do manage to befriend him though ! would drop e v e r y t h i n g for his friends and loves to spoil them relentlessly. the type to randomly show up at your house in his 3,000 year old mustang and take you to lunch or just go driving.

big ole hufflepuff

he’s not really that super free spirit that he was before molly passed. now he actually cares a more about his actions to the point of being lowkey paranoid, honestly. like he’s always wanted tattoos but he constantly second guesses what he wants to get cuz he doesn’t wanna be the guy that got a shitty tattoo, y’know ? so he hasn’t done it at all

cynical boyyyyy. he’s one of those guys that’s like “i’m a realist, not a pessimist”. definitely doesn’t have a whole lot of faith in others outside of his friends and family. will always assume the worst out of people and question their motives

thinks of himself as really boring. not in a self deprecating way, but a factual way

hobbies include music, video games ( he does streams of him being shit at pubg on twitch sometimes ! ), watching movies ( horror specifically is a favorite ), sitting on his roof at 3am to look at the sky, going on walks when there’s nothing else to do, and aggressively frowning when his car breaks down in the middle of nowhere

seriously he really enjoys horror. halloween is his favorite holiday even though he isn’t really big on candy or dressing up. he just thinks the spooky aesthetic is real fun and its cool to see what everyone else is doing

he’s a skeptic on all things supernatural so all you boogaras better snatch him up !!

i drew this expression doodle page that honestmeme sums up his personality pretty well ( it is messy so plz be kind . . . )

connections

his bandmates is a given. i just need 2 others , , , any gender any fc. i have a wc for it.

either of his 2 siblings . . . another wc

any music friends tbh

rival musicians ? yes

people he just doesn’t get along with in general. he’s a pretentious snot so its pretty easy

unlikely friends ( probably someone super idealistic and bubbly )

childhood friends

he hasn’t had a serious relationship since molly so maybe someone he’s kinda into and that’s kinda into him but they taking it REAL slow

on the off hand some exes from him trying to see if he was ready to date again and just wasn’t

someone he debates with a lot. friends or not, they’re just really fun to banter back and forth with

horror night movie buddies !!

gets blazed w/ him on the roof in the middle of the night rambling about if ants have a conscious

he’s got his own place but a roommate or 2 would be nice !

anything anything anything. he’s constantly finding himself in bizarre situations that he just rolls with so long as it doesn’t leave a bad butterfly effect. hmuuuuuu and we can brainstorm

#jrsy.intro #❝ alex :: musing °✧#the only thing the open house was good for was dylan minnette in glasses #just saying #also this is so late i'm so sorry #some admin i am !!

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imaginetonyandbucky · 6 years

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During Afghanistan, the ten rings got frustrated and sold Tony to hydra for hydra weapons and made him the Iron Soldier. After Steve gets Bucky back from Hydra (idk Cap 3 w/ civil war?) Bucky not only remembers the other winter soldiers, but the soldier he fell in love with (Tony) and basically him and Steve go save him (like when they went to Siberia in the movie but none of the "running from the law" stuff)

Broken People

A/N: I didn’t follow the prompt exactly because there’s already a great story like this on ITAB already. Instead of Hydra getting Tony from the 10 Rings, they got their hands on him when they assassinated his parents…

~Dracusfyre

Chapter 1 (AO3)

Bucky collapsed on the arm chair across from where Steve was watching TV and doodling idly. “I’m forgetting something,” he announced. Bucky knew the irony of that statement before he ever saw the look on Steve’s face. But this was different. Bucky, of all people, could tell the difference between memories he didn’t know he’d lost and being acutely aware of a gap in his memory, a gap that he kept worrying like a loose tooth.

Steve opened his mouth and appeared to go through a couple of responses before he said, “Ok. Let’s see.” He set aside the sketchbook and sat forward, elbows on his knees. “Is it a recent memory or from, you know, before?”

Bucky sat back and dug the heels of his hands into his eyes, trying to concentrate. “Before. With – with Hydra.” Which didn’t narrow it down much at all. Hence part of his frustration.

“Ok. Is it a person, place, or thing?”

Bucky groaned. “I don’t know.” A door came to mind, featureless and metal. “A thing? No.” He imagined walking towards the door, grabbing the doorknob- no. This door always slid open and closed with a metallic, dread inducing clang. He tried to think of what was on the other side of the door but came up blank. All he had was a sense of urgency. “It’s a place. There’s something important about this place.”

“Alright.” Steve picked up his sketchbook and pencil again. “Tell me everything you can remember about this place.”

(Watch out for the break!)

It wasn’t much, of course. Cold. Snowy. Always a long plane ride, with mountains in the background as you approach the door. Steve pulled up a map on his laptop and they narrowed it down to a few dozen possible locations in Siberia.

Bucky groaned when he saw the length of their list but Steve just patted his knee. “Ok. I’ll call Fury, he’ll be able to rule some of these out.”

In the end there were only five locations that they needed to check out in person, and Bucky knew before they ever landed at the third site that this is the one he’d been trying to remember. The door looked just as he remembered it, and his hands knew which buttons to push on the key pad without his brain ever thinking of the combination.

The place was deserted, its cement corridors cold and bare. Some of the lights still worked, flickering and buzzing eerily. Their steps echoed as they cleared the compound room by room. Eventually they came to a room, circular and spacious and ringed with cryo tubes; it was cold enough here that every breath stabbed sharply in Bucky’s lungs.

“Holy shit,” Steve breathed. “Who are these people?”

“Other Winter Soldiers,” Bucky said with a sinking feeling. He stopped Steve when he reached out to look at the controls. “Don’t. They were…They are better off frozen.”

“Was this what you were trying to remember?”

Bucky shook his head and kept walking, letting his feet guide him. He passed a room that he knew had been his his cell and hesitated but didn’t stop. Finally he came to another room, filled with tools and equipment and spare parts, cluttered work tables with a thin layer of dust and frost on top of half-finished projects. At the back was another cryotube and this was where Bucky stopped. He wiped a hand over the condensation that covered the glass, revealing the face of the man inside. He looked about the same age as Bucky, with dark messy hair and dusky skin. His eyes were closed, of course, thick lashes resting on his cheeks, but Bucky knew that his eyes were brown. “This is it. Him. I was trying to remember him,” he said, pressing his palm to the glass.

“Who is he?”

Bucky bit his lip. “I don’t…” But that was a lie. Memories started coming fast and hard, creating a sharp pain in his temples. He remembered that the man lying there in the tube had meant repair, had meant maintenance, had been reward and sometimes, when one or both remembered enough, had been home. “I…I’m not sure,” he said instead, which was more than half a lie, and started to get a sick feeling in his stomach.

After the target was dead, and the witness was eliminated, the asset hesitated when he heard a groan from the back of the car. He leaned in to look at saw a young man, barely past his teens, bleeding from where he’d struck his head when the car ran into the tree. The asset hesitated; the woman had been on the target list, but there had been no mention of the youth. He called it in to mission control and got an answer immediately: bring the Stark heir back to base.

“That’s Tony Stark?” Steve echoed in surprise.

Fury dropped a file folder on the table; paperclipped to the front was the man in the tube as a young man. According to the file, the last time he’d been seen was when he’d come home from college for Christmas break – he’d disappeared the same time Howard and Maria Stark died. It was the most famous mystery of the 1990s and countless imposters had come forward over the years claiming to be the heir of the Stark fortune. “Yes. All this time, he’d been working for Hydra.”

“Willingly?”

“Not the way Barnes describes it.”

Steve sighed and closed the file without reading too closely at the results of the medical scans of the still frozen man; he still had nightmares from reading Bucky’s file. “Any idea what you are going to do with him?” He said, rubbing his eyes tiredly.

“We don’t have much of a choice. Gotta thaw him out eventually, but it would be nice if Barnes could tell us more about him.”

“I understand.” Steve started to slide the folder back across the table to Fury, but Fury stopped his hand. “Keep it. Maybe it will jog his memory.”

Steve scrubbed his hand over his face as he went back to his rooms. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Bucky sitting on the couch, so he called out, “Hey, Buck.” He kicked off his shoes and was grabbing a glass from the cabinet when he realized that Bucky hadn’t answered. “Buck?” He came around the bar to see that Bucky was staring at the far wall, eyes distant as tears streamed down his face. “Bucky?” He fell to his knees beside the couch, waving a hand in front of Bucky’s face. “Christ, Bucky, what’s wrong?”

After a moment Bucky turned to look at Steve, Steve got a chill from the shattered look in his red-rimmed eyes. “Steve,” he said, his voice raw and broken, breathing ragged. “I remember. I remember all the things I did to him.”

The asset pinned the young Stark against the wall, the metal hand a cold and unyielding vice around his neck. Any time he struggled, the asset merely tightened his hand until his eyes went dim and his struggles ceased. Eventually the dark-haired youth got the message.

“You seem to think that since you’ve lost your family and your freedom, you’ve got nothing else to lose, is that right?” His handler paced around them, hands behind his back as he studying the youth thoughtfully. He paused and drew a knife from his pocket, flipping the blade open with a click that seemed loud in the concrete cell. “But you are mistaken. Look at our friend here,” his handler said tapped the blade against the asset’s metal wrist. “You can lose limbs. You don’t need your feet, for example, to build weapons for us.” He tapped the youth’s cheek with the flat part of the blade; the asset tightened his grip warningly when the youth tried to flinch away. “It would be a shame to ruin such a pretty face. And if all else fails, there’s always the chair. Would you like to tell him about the chair?” His handler asked, turning to face the asset.

The asset kept his face blank at the thought of the chair even as cold fear dripped down his spine. “The chair is for recalibration of malfunctioning assets,” he recited mechanically, voice coarse from lack of use. “The chair is also required for regular maintenance.”

The handler smiled approvingly and the asset relaxed, exhaling silently. The handler began to pace again, turning the knife over and over in his hand. “Believe me when I say that you don’t want the chair. So just be a good boy and when we say jump, ask how high.” The asset watched the youth as he watched the knife, and he wanted to beg the youth to just listen, to behave. To obey and save himself. But even though the youth stayed silent, the asset could see the defiance in his eyes.

The handler could too. “You don’t seem convinced,” he said with mock disappointment. “Well, it’s early yet. But we can’t have you escaping, can we? Break his leg,” he ordered. The asset didn’t hesitate as he put a clean fracture in the youth’s left tibia with a precise strike of his heavy steel-toed boot. Neither the asset nor the handler flinched as the young man screamed and writhed, still pinned against the wall. The handler waited patiently for the screams to die down into sobs before he spoke again.

“Now escort him to medical. A permanently damaged asset would be less than ideal at this stage.” The asset moved to pick up the youth but his handler stopped him with a sharp gesture. “No. Make him walk. Just be sure he gets there.”

Steve tried to put his arms around Bucky but Bucky pushed him away, not wanting to be touched while these memories were still crawling through his mind and under his skin. Finally he gave up and took a seat next to him. “Look, Bucky, that wasn’t you, nobody blames you for what you did-”

“Is that supposed to make me feel better?” Bucky said, head buried in his hands. He let out a bitter ruin of a laugh. “I’ve got these – these memories and Christ, Steve, I was so in love with him but when they told me to hurt him I did, even when –“ his breath became ragged and painful as his voice broke, “even as he looked at me, and- and still I…” Steve watched helplessly as Bucky bit his fist and closed his eyes, tears coursing down his face.

#winteriron #tony x bucky #tony stark #bucky barnes #winter soldier tony #prompts #dracusfyre #Anonymous

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