#went to work for like two hours basically and that was very chill and pleasant | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

Visit Blog

Explore Tumblr blogs with no restrictions, modern design and the best experience.

Fun Fact

Women make up for the other 50% of Tumblr’s audience.

#went to work for like two hours basically and that was very chill and pleasant

curestardust · 6 months

Text

Dust Watched: FLCL: Grunge

Genres: Action, Sci-Fi, Comedy // 3 episodes // S01/02 (x) S03 (x)

Ok, but why?

✧ story & characters ✧

For the basic set-up, let me just copy-paste this part from an older review:

"As usual, we get to witness a coming-of-age story with a lot of weird space shit and mechas thrown in. Mechanical Mechanica is trying to flatten Earth(?), Haru is doing her thing, seducing people and beating up robots while our main character has shit growing out of his head. As I said, the usual."

The 3 episodes follow Shinpachi, Shonari, and Orinoko individually and every episode is tied together by the events that take place on the final night and of course, Haruko's involvement.

Haruko and MM are doing the same thing they've been doing for the every past entry so let's look at the characters and they're... not very good? Or should I say, they don't have enough time for their stories' ending to feel like they really paid off.

Shinpachi is just chilling. He is the son of a sushi chef and that's literally it. Shonari has the most chaotic 23 minutes of character buildng I've ever seen; from the fact that he is an alien which isn't even explained properly, to his brother being an alcoholic Yakuza member, to his bullying, crush on Orinoko, and I could keep going but won't for spoiler reasons. The pacing in his episode was horrid too and I legitimately had no idea what was going on multiple times (not in a FLCL way, but in a "bad writing" way). Orinoko has a pretty interesting backstory but I didn't like the way they wrapped up her story. Despite the emphasis being on "finding your OWN future", she pretty much gets her final decision made for her by the other two. She doesn't oppose it... but she didn't have agency in it either.

✧ art ✧

Hooooo boy. The fact that it's CGI will already turn a lot of people off but as someone who's watched a few this show is UGLY. I cracked up at the first close up shot of Haruko. She looks so bad, oh my word.

The animation is all over the place quality wise too. It does have a few nice enviromental shots. Some of the character designs were quite creative (and more importantly, worked as 3D models), and I enjoyed the randomly inserted 2D animation shots... although they just looked so much better that I was then disappointed when it went back to the CGI.

Listen, the goofiness, the craziness, the cookiness of FLCL IS here. But the CGI is just hands down not pleasant to look at. Is there worse? Definitely. But geez.

✧ sound ✧

The Pillows is back, and while nostalgia and straight up bangers really carry this whole thing, it carries it *so hard* it almost felt like I was watching an overcomplicated 1.5 hour long music video.

✧ overview ✧

Overall, I didn't hate my (short) time with this but in the end my question is: why? This entire thing felt like an AU for the original. It's references upon references. Which would be fine but it doesn't do anything with it? WHY? We already have the original! Why was this made? Why did it have to be FLCL? A longer runtime wouldn't even have helped here (besides fixing some of the pacing) because I really don't think they had much to say or show that hasn't been done (better) before by the original or even the movie sequels.

Late addition: my score was actually higher as I started writing this coming off the hectic experience of watching... well, any FLCL media, but the aftertaste of this show is worse than I thought it'd be. I had some fun watching it but now the only things I remember are the bad parts.

My Rating: 3.2/10

#dusty reviews #flcl

2 notes · View notes

pbandjesse · 1 year

Text

Apologies for my posting So late. I just have had too much fun talking to my mom. What else is new.

I'm going to go to bed soon. But today has been a lovely day. Honestly I couldn't have asked for a better travel day, or a better trip so far.

It was still pretty hard to leave James. But they woke me up and gave me out goodbye. And then they went to work. And I slept until 9:30. I got up and I felt pretty good. I got dressed I picked up the apartment. And then I started making my trips down to the car to put the stuff from the wedding in there to take to store my parents. And I was ready to go by 10:15. Pretty proud of myself honestly.

When I got in the car though I put the GPS on and it said that there was closures on 95 and that the new route was the fastest and would take about 15 minutes more than normal. It's fine with me I wasn't in a rush. And so I headed to 83 like it wanted me to. And it took me the most bizarre way. I went 83 all the way up past camp to the Pennsylvania state line. I didn't have to go through Delaware at all. Instead it took me towards Harrisburg and then all the way to the Pennsylvania turnpike which I took all the way to my parents house. Honestly it was a super pleasant drive. I have no idea how much the toll is that I paid but beyond that it was great. No traffic interesting things to see. Lots of cows and sheep. Fun billboards. And it was basically going 80 the entire time. It was awesome.

I listen to two albums in a podcast. And I was having a blast. And I got to my parents around 1:00. I had a whole bunch of text messages to answer. Including ones from Jessica at work about different shifts this week. She wanted to know if I could do an outreach because someone else wasn't sure they were comfortable. But I really hate outreaches and so I declined and encouraged that the other person should be practicing since apparently they have asked to do more outreaches anyway. You're not always going to get to do them with another person so they really need to get over the fear of doing it alone. My fear is not a real fear mine is just anxiety. And I am perfectly capable of doing them I would just prefer not to and this person wants to do more. So Jessica was like that's cool and isn't going to make me do them.

That was really excited to see my parents. I came inside and I got settled and chilled on the couch with him for a long time. I didn't get to talk to my dad as much as I was hoping to but I spent a lot of time talking to my mom. We sat and talked for more than an hour and then I had to stop the conversation because I was so hungry. I had brought a couple cookies in the car with me but that it was all I had to eat so far. And so me and my mom drove over to saladworks. I drove us there and we sat and ate and talked about the wedding and I talked about the weird stuff that has been going on with family and work. And we talk about pictures and my feelings about stuff and our honeymoon coming up and all that. And it was just like a really lovely chat and meal. And I just love my mom very much.

We brought Dad a salad home. And We brought in the stuff from my car. We left it in the hallway and we would slowly start to bring it down later. I'll finish doing it in the morning. And then we all hung out on the couch. Watched a Netflix show. It's the watcher, which stresses me out a little bit. I don't know why but shows like I kind of give me anxiety. But I did like that I recognized a lot of the true cases that they were building this off of and so between episodes I got to fill my mom in on that kind of stuff. When Dad went to go change into pajamas I read Mom the entire Wikipedia article for John list and that crazy murder.

And before we start the next episode I grabbed my knitting and I worked on a few rows before Joanna texted me. She had texted me earlier in the day that she left work early because she wasn't feeling 100% and she was going to take a nap and then let me know about dinner. She didn't want to flake on me but I didn't want her to push herself too hard. But she would wake up and she had taken a Sudafed and felt well enough to chill with me for a little while. And I am so glad we did.

I had asked what she wanted to do for dinner and I didn't want to make her come all the way up here but she didn't want me to drive very far because I had driven all the way from Baltimore. And so we decided on friendly's for old times sake. And I told her to pick one and I would drive to it. The one she chose was in warminster and my GPS said it was only 17 minutes away. Dad argued that it was more like 40. But I pulled it up on the GPS and it seemed fine and we sniffed at each other for a few minutes but then I left. It turned out we were both right. It would be 40 minutes if I didn't take the turnpike but I did take the turnpike and it only cost me $2 so it wasn't the worst thing in the world. And I got there really quickly.

I did get there a few minutes before her which was fine. I chilled in the car and answered some texts and listen to music. And then she got there and I was so happy to see her.

And we were there for hours. We got there a couple minutes after 6:00 and we were there until 9:00. I left our waitress a very large tip because we were taking up the table space. And I don't know how I can keep reiterating this without feeling annoying to myself, but talking to her is like coming home. It's like taking a deep breath. And to talk to someone that knows you that deeply is so special. And I'm very lucky that my very intense relationships that I have with people can be beautiful like that even after years of being apart.

And that's really what this was. We were obviously like a little timid at first but I recognized myself so much in her and she recognized herself and me. When I was in college and I was very shy I told myself that people will like you more if you're more like Joanna. If you're bigger and brighter and more authentic with your personality, and more honest, people will love you. Because they loved her. And I think sometimes my "customer service Jesse" I put on at work or when I'm in the really good mood and very very comfortable, is just mirroring what Joanna used to be like. But at the same time Joanna says that she feels like throughout the last decade she's lost herself. And she's lost a lot of the socialization and she's been very isolated. And she sat her. But I hope us coming together can help fix that. It's going to take work. It takes a lot to maintain a relationship as an adult. Which is why I have so few friends but I think that this one is going to be worth it in the long run. I'm going to hold myself to that.

We just talked about everything. But each other about the wedding about life. I recognize that sometimes I talk about myself a lot. But it's not because I just want to talk about myself it's that I want you to tell me about you in return. But not everyone's comfortable doing that. So I told Joanna that I wanted her to tell me everything that she could about her life in the last couple years. I wanted her to give me a timeline. The last time we really seen each other was close to 2017, possibly 2018. And so she filled me in. About her jobs and an injury and her massive and impressive weight loss. Her surgeries and everything she's been through. The hardships and the things that she's found that she likes about herself and thinks that she's found that she doesn't. And some things that were really really sad and scary. And I realized how deeply she needs support. How much she came back into my life at the perfect time both for me and for her. And I really am so lucky that I know her still.

And it wasn't all intense. There were some silly stuff. Talking about how we were such mall kids and The culture that we grew up in and the way things were. We're like old ladies now. Talking about the good old days. But it wasn't even that. It was talking about how like we were very unsupervised. We were able to get away with so much. And how we both want to have kids and what that looks like. And how there isn't a rush but there still feels like there should be one and how the partners that we pick are not just our partners but they are future parents and how we view them and how a future adult will you their parents. And it was just like a beautiful conversation and I think we really got into some stuff that were very serious. And I wonder what the people around us were thinking because I'm sure they heard us. Honestly we probably would have sat there for the rest of the night if she wasn't tired and had a headache and honestly I think the restaurant was closing soon. We could have stayed there forever.

But I had to be the responsible adult and say that it was 9:00 p.m. and we needed to go. So I paid and we went to the parking lot and I showed her all my stickers on my car. And then we went home.

I got back here at 9:30, I texted her to let her know that I was safe. And then I got cleaned up. I washed my face and got changed and checked in with my dad. And he went to sleep and then I went down to the basement to hang out with Mom.

I found out the gray cat likes to drink from water bottles. And it was a bad decision, but I did share my water bottle with the cat and now my allergies are going crazy. But it was too funny to pass up. And then we just talked and talked and talked. I told her all about Tumblr stuff, and cold stuff, and Mom just lets me talk at her and I really enjoy it. She gets to hear basically every thought that I have. And I know, like I've been saying a lot lately, that I'm a lot. That I talk a lot and I talk too fast. But Mom says I'm entertaining. So at least I know I'm not boring her. And towards the end of the night while talking I told her about my experience a few weeks ago when I got a little out of hand. And I read her a couple text conversations and let her listen to a couple of audio notes where I was very ridiculous. And we were laughing and just having such a funny moment together. I'm really glad that I get these moments with my mom. These late night talks are very precious to me.

But we were both very worried that my post was not going up yet. And yes technically it is the next day but I have not gone to bed yet so it still counts. So I hope you all sleep good tonight. I'm hanging out with Jess tomorrow and we're going to paint pottery hopefully and it's going to be a good day. And then I'll go home and I get to see my James again. Sleep well everyone. Be careful out there.

2 notes · View notes

drarrily-we-row-along · 3 years

Text

Day 78: Memories

(tw: mentions blood, mentions a child being attacked by a werewolf- nothing overtly graphic)

"Well," Jeremiah said conversationally to Draco one afternoon when they were covering the Emergency room at St. Mungos, "At least it's kind of quiet."

Draco clamped his hands over his ears, "AHH!" he shouted. "Why would you say that?!"

Jeremiah stared at him, looking quite perplexed, "Because it's true?" he asked.

"Well it won't be for long," Draco said, grabbing a pair of gloves and pulling out his wand.

Sure enough, just as Jeremiah started to call him paranoid, the door flew open and in stumbled a woman whose arm had somehow managed to become attached to her head. "Help!" she shouted.

"That's for you," Draco said, nodding at Jeremiah.

A few moments later a man came in vomiting up slugs, Draco put him in a room and handed him a bucket. "You've just got to wait it out," he informed him before returning to see that their once empty waiting room had filled up. He cursed Jeremiah under his breath and started seeing patients.

He was in the middle of an intake for with a woman whose finger nails were growing nearly an inch a minute when the door opened and Harry Potter staggered through carrying a child, both of them covered in blood. "Help," Potter gasped, eyes glued to the boy in his arms who wasn't moving.

Draco was on his feet in an instant, "Move," he commanded the people milling about, using a shield charm to bump them out of his way. "This way," he told Potter, gesturing to the first room with an open door.

Potter hurried in and set the boy on the table and Draco vanished his clothes and began checking vitals.

"Tell me what happened."

(Read more below the cut)

"Fenrir," Potter said softly and a chill ran up Draco's spine, that word alone told him so much of what he needed to know. Potter's voice sounded distant, like he was in shock, which in fairness he probably was.

"Potter," he said firmly, trying to ground him with his voice, "I need you to try to focus, alright? It's important."

"Right," the other man said, shaking his head, "Yeah, sorry." He squared his shoulders, "We got a tip about where we could find him and we got sent on a raid. He was threatening the boy and when one of the other aurors made a move," he shook his head and covered his mouth with his hand. "I got to him and cast a stasis spell and brought him here."

"Right," Draco said, "Fenrir wasn't transformed, though."

"No," he said shaking his head, "Not a full moon."

"Sit down in that chair," he said, nodding to the one in the corner as he began to apply salves to the wounds.

"I'm fine-" Potter started.

"Sit down," Draco snapped. "Now." The last thing he needed was for Potter to pass out while he was working on healing the boy.

Potter obeyed, sitting in the chair with his head in his hands as Draco worked.

After twenty minutes Draco had done everything he could for the boy and he turned. "He's going to be alright," he said first and he saw Potter's shoulders sag in relief. "He's under a stasis charm right now as he continues healing but it's more for his comfort than anything."

Potter nodded, "Thank you, Malfoy," he said. "Err, Healer Malfoy, that it."

He gave a short nod, "Are there parents that we should be contacting?"

Potter shook his head before scrubbing his hands over his face, "He's been stealing orphans," he whispered and Draco's heart shattered at the way his voice broke. "Because the DMLE apparently cares less about them since the orphanages don't nag the way parents do."

He tried to suppress a shudder, he couldn't imagine how difficult this case must have been for the other man. "Come on," Draco said. "We're going to the next room over to get you checked out."

"I'm fine," he protested.

He looked him over, "Potter, your robes are soaked in blood and I am willing to bet my last galleon that at least some of it is yours."

"What if he-"

"I've got loads of spells on him that will alert us to any changes. I am very good at my job."

Potter opened, then closed his mouth, "I didn't mean to imply-"

"I'm not offended," Draco said, brushing his apology off, "I just want to be sure you're okay, too."

After a moment, Potter nodded and made his way out the door, stripping out of his robes as he entered. As Draco suspected, he was covered in gashes and bruises.

He fetched a calming drought from the cabinet as Potter hopped up onto the table, "Drink this first."

Obediently he opened the vial and swallowed the potion.

Draco started his examination, "Some of these deeper gashes are going to need to be sterilized with a wound cleaning potion," he said as he snapped on his gloves and summoned the potion. "It's going to sting a bit."

The other man merely nodded and sat quietly as he allowed Draco to tend to his wounds.

When he finished Draco said, "I'm disposing of your robes but I'll get you a set of medical scrubs that you can wear home, alright?"

"Thanks," Potter whispered.

"You," Draco started before breaking off. Potter didn't move a muscle and Draco forced himself to be brave, "You did a good job, Potter."

Potter's eyes snapped up to his at his words, "I'm not sure that you're right."

"Well luckily for you," he said, trying to keep his voice light and teasing, "I make it a practice to be right." He reached out and clasped Potter's arm, "You saved his life." He took a step back, "I'm going to go get those scrubs. I'll be back."

---------

Once Potter had gotten dressed, he asked to be allowed to wait for the boy to wake up. Draco agreed and then he basically put Potter out of his mind.

It might have been impressive that he'd managed to do such a thing under ordinary circumstances but under the current onslaught of idiots flooding through their doors it was all Draco could do to remain standing.

When the night coverage showed up, Draco found the time to follow up on the boy; he been moved up to a room in the main building like Draco had instructed.

He decided that one more follow up before he left for the night couldn't hurt. When he got to the room he was surprised to see that Potter was still here. "What are you doing here?" Draco asked.

Potter's head snapped around to look at him, "You said I could stay," he replied fiercely.

"It's been hours," Draco said. "Aren't you tired?"

The other man opened his mouth but Draco continued, "I know you are, don't lie to me."

"I can't just leave him," he whispered.

And standing there, Draco knew that there was nothing he could say to make the other man decide to leave. "Stand up."

"No," he said, stubbornly crossing his arms like a petulant toddler.

"Potter, stand up this instant or so help me Salazar, I will move you myself. I'm not making you leave."

With a grunt and a wince Potter stood and Draco transfigured the chair he'd been sitting on into a cot. "Get some sleep," Draco said. "I'll see you in the morning."

--------

And he had. Every day for two weeks. He'd started stopping by first thing before he clocked in, eating his lunch in that room, and stopping in before he went home each night.

Potter never seemed to leave. He set up a small desk that he sent letters from and he glared at the responses he received before penning another. Finally over lunch one day, Draco had to ask, “Who are you writing?”

The spoon on its way to his mouth froze and he returned it to his bowl, “various Ministry officials. We need better care for orphans.”

Draco hummed, “You seem especially qualified to tell them that.”

Harry nodded slowly, “yes. Those are memories that I prefer not to visit but I think that’s been selfish.”

“Perish the thought.” Potter started to roll his eyes but Draco continued, “I know it’s not a pleasant thought, Potter, but you are human. You’re allowed to want normal human things, like privacy.”

“Am I?” Potter asked sarcastically.

“You are, in fact.”

He rolled his eyes again and Draco was tempted to tell him they’d get stuck like that if he wasn’t careful, that’s what his mother always said, anyway. Potter plowed on, “So if I asked you for a normal human thing, like a date, for instance, that would be allowed.”

Draco’s heart fluttered to his throat but he shoved it back down, Potter was just testing him. “You’d have to ask me nicely.”

The other man huffed a laugh, “Draco, will you please go on a date with me?”

“Yes,” he replied because he’d be damned if he backed down first.

Potter blinked, “Really? Are you being serious?” He shook his head, “I can never tell with you.”

Draco lifted one shoulder, “are you?”

He nodded.

“How’s tonight?”

Potter glanced at the bed, “he’s not going to wake up tonight?”

“No,” he replied, his heart thundering against his ribs.

Potter grinned at him, the first real smile he’d seen him have in two weeks. “Then tonight sounds perfect.”

————

Day 77: Shoes | Day 79: Never

#drarry drabbles #drarry ficlets #100 drabbles in 100 days #drarry #thanks for your love the past few days ❤️#I’m slowly starting to feel like a person again

211 notes · View notes

slashingdisneypasta · 3 years

Text

Human!Freddy Krueger x Fem!Reader || Oneshot

Title: What The Fuck Now, Freddy!?

Notes:

This is not inherently romantic, at all. Or sexual. Just... Freddy being a bastard, and you are caught in the crosshairs- and are forever linked with him because of it.

I've been listening to Lizzie, a lot lately- and this is inspired by 'What The Fuck Now, Lizzie!?'

Also- I'm thinking this will have a part 2. Due to the ending not being quite enough. Maybe a part for the court proceedings!

Plot: Many will know the story of that terrible day Krueger essentially snapped- killing his wife, Loretta Krueger. She saw the basement, they say, and he didn't like that. Their daughter saw the whole thing and suffered a traumatic response to seeing the sight of her mother, strangled to death, by her father- and forgot the whole thing.

But if she were to remember something, one day.

She may remember something no one knows about that day, aside from Freddy himself.

She may remember, that someone else was there.

She may remember you.

Alternatively- you're being blackmailed by Freddy who found out you, another supposedly Plain Jane in Loretta's 'mothers club', is cheating on your husband and calls you up to help deal with the mess he made. Because who else did he have?

Warnings: Okay lemme see, its basically a potluck of triggers. Hm. Murder, swearing, cheating (You, on your husband. Not with Freddy), getting rid of a body, a child gets traumatised (Obviously, Kathy/Maggie), Freddy himself, mention of the basement and all that entails, reader with a very questionable moral compass. Look, I think if you can watch Freddy's Dead, you're good here.

I'm just heading out the door, to go grocery shopping - or, at least, that's the story I tell my husband. When really I don't do the grocery shop until the day after tomorrow. He never notices... - when the phone rings. By very nearly tripping over my feet in my endeavour to catch it before the ringing stops, I manage pick up the phone with very little injury besides an achy, slightly twisted ankle. "Hi! Hi, sorry, I'm here. Hello?"

Pouting, I sit down at the kitchen table; Rubbing my poor ankle to sooth the pain, which would soon diminish anyway. Still- I'm sorry, ankle. I'll try to chill.

When the voice on the other end reveals who it is who's called the house, I lose all need to be pleasant. Damn. I really need to memorise this goddamn number... so I can not answer it. "Whatcha wearin'?"

"Thank god Harrison didn't answer this, you fuck." I deeply roll my eyes. Thank god Har's out. No, this is not my mister, not the man I was going to meet just now- but its bad, enough. In an entirely different way. Its stupid, blackmailing, son of a... hundred maniacs. "What do you want?"

"What a way to answer the phone, Y/N. Gee, seems like every time I we talk, I'm learning how you really aren't in the right place, are you? Cheating on your poor husband, swearing... These aren't really signs of the perfect suburban house wife, is it?" Gritting my teeth, I keep from lashing out. I've learned, if you stay real quiet, Freddy wont have anything to pull from and will get bored quick. "Why so silent, hm?"

"... " Oh, fuck me. I cant help it. "Wondering where you get off judging me on being 'suburban', actually."

"Anywhere I like, thanks."

Oh... oh. Gross?

He doesn't see the disgust tearing my face into two perfect halves right now, but my silence must be enough as he laughs. The sound is directly into the phone, and harsh on my poor eardrums. Ugh... "Oh for gods sake... What are we? Fourteen years old?? Come on- why'd you call?"

"Uhhhh... " Quickly, midway through that drawn out 'um' sound, Freddy's voice transitions, and gets a whole lot darker. Something deep in his chest dislodging, to make it so. Perhaps, his heart. "Well... you might wanna come and see for yourself."

"Uh, I don't think so. I have somewhere to be right now- "

"Oh well you don't, anymore." And its clear what he isn't saying- or else I'll tell Harrison about Carter and set your life on fire. "Tell your boy toy you're takin' a reign check for the day. I think you'll last. In fact... after you come over here, you might be out of the game for a couple a hours at least- maybe days."

Hold on, hold on Freddy what the fuck- "What!?"

"... Believe it or not, I didn't actually mean for that one."

Moron.

Nevertheless, no matter how just... off setting, Freddy is, I had to when he asked. I had to jump when he said so.

Because if not, then he would tear my life apart.

So here I am, about to knock on that big red door he lives behind, wondering what I'm walking into. Where's Loretta? Where's Kathy? How long will the visit be? I told Carter I'd be an hour or two late- any longer and I wont see him at all today. Which would absolutely suck.

Just after my knuckles come down on the wood the first time, a hand comes down on my shoulder and I immediately jump out of my skin... then slowly look around.

There's Freddy, a cheeky grin on his face. It does nothing to set my nerves at ease. "Ugh... Why are you out here?"

"We're going to the backyard. Lets go." Taking me by the shoulders, he marches me around the side of the house, instead of through it for some reason, and into the familiar backyard. I've been here numerous times, as Loretta likes to hold our club meetings here - Barbecue's, tea's... that sort of thing. Just to let the kids play together and so the adults can enjoy some adult conversation. Its a nice yard... but depending on what her horrid husband is about to show me, it may not be considered as such anymore... - , but I'm now starting to develop a sick feeling in my stomach.

Honestly- I don't know much about Freddy at all. Yes, I went to school with him, but that doesn't mean much when he was a freaky loner kid the whole time. I remember he killed the class hamster once- that's about the only splash he ever made in the news pool; But it definitely stuck.

Yes, Loretta cleaned up his image a fair bit since getting married, but now he's blackmailing me, and as far as I know I'm now alone with him.

Suspicious of him suddenly, I slip out of his grip with a dirty look flashed his way. Don't touch me.

He just rolls his eyes, leading me around some hedges.

And then everything stops.

Him, me, the air; The air around me, the breeze, the breath in my throat.

There lays Loretta, on the ground. If I was really really naïve, I could imagine she were sleeping... or passed out, at least, due to the way she's sprawled out. No one would lay down like that willingly.

But... her eyes are open.

For a moment I'm tempted to kneel down; Take a closer look. Find out how, myself. Is she bleeding anywhere that I cant see now? Are her lips turning blue? If I moved some short red hair out of the way- would their be marks on her neck yet?

But then I come to my senses...

And freak. The fuck. O u t.

"What, the fuck, did you do!?" I whip around, looking at Freddy now which entirely new eyes. I mean, before I sure wasn't fond- but now I'm filled with something new, looking at him. Something a lot worse, something that makes me want to run. Run, and hide, and stay there.

And all these, even though he hasn't really changed. He still wears a mischievous smirk, stony blue eyes eating up my reactions... like always. But this time its just so so much worse. "Made some dead weight- now you're gonna help me get rid of it. So!" Finally, though its been only a matter of seconds, he turns his gaze off of me and I'm glad. That gaze is far too heavy. "Ideas?"

Only for a moment am I lost for words, struggling to push anything out. "I... I'm sorry??"

His gaze returns to mine, but this time my eyes are hard as his are dark. "Help. Me. Get rid of her. Fucking. Body. Or do you want your dirty laundry aired for the whole community to hear?"

Before I can help myself, I let out a sharp laugh, only succeeding in making Freddy's scowl deeper. "Freddy- this secret's a lot bigger, then mine. Sure, I might get divorced- but you're going to prison!" Does he get that? He's g o i n g to j a i l. Crossing my arms, I try to avoid looking at my ex-friend's body. I cant. "I'm sure as hell not gonna be in there with you, for being an accomplice."

I really cant look at her... I can only focus on Freddy. And that takes a lot of energy- its taking everything in me, in fact. Everything I have. But I have to. If its him or her, there's no choice.

But... then a creepy smile spreads across his face- a vast polarity to the frustrated glower of before. It makes my blood run cold.

"Ohhhh..." He looks almost ferocious, even in his composed state. Like a monster. Like any moment a fanged, inhuman creature is going to burst out of him and I'm going to wake up, and this will have been a nightmare. A horrible nightmare. The kind where that creature haunts me for a long time, after its over. After this over.

He's going to haunt me.

"You must think this is my first time... " My heart turns to ice, mouth hanging a little open... what the fuck have I found myself a part of!? Suddenly all the children's disappearances on the news lately come to the forefront of my brain... "Sweetheart, give a man his dues. I'm a hard working kinda guy... " I watch his gaze flicker to a door - the back door? No... The basement door, - and when a filthy smirk pulls at his mouth, my heart flies up into my throat. God, it makes me feel sick. I want to be violently ill. "My first was my adoptive Dad... pretty sick, huh?"

The fact that he didn't say anything about the basement, makes my imagination go wild. I swallow it down, though.

I just need to get out of here, and never think about this again.

And to do that I need to help Freddy get rid of this goddamn body- and... probably... testify at court... As the panic starts to finally rise up in my, right up to fill my throat, I immediately take in a deep breath and slowly let it out. "Okay... " No time to freak out. Now's the time for action.

Gaze flickering to Loretta again, I try to acclimatise to the sight. I think its a lost cause, though. "How did you get rid of him? Your Dad?"

"No, that's not gonna work. He was a drunk dead beat, and I just had to tell the police some guy's he owed money to came over to the house." Freddy grins happily at the memory, but then just as quickly, scowls at his poor deceased wife's body- that certainly cant fight back. I just tack this onto the long list of reasons I hate him. "Lore's such a goddamn goody goody- we cant do the same thing. You don't think I woulda thought of that??"

"Hey." I snap, hands braced on my hips as I flash a glare his way. "This is not the time to get defensive!"

"Whatever... "

Then- suddenly, something occurs to me. Confused, I look around; A deeply horrified feeling disturbing my stomach. "Hold on... Where's your daughter?" Seeing no sign of her anywhere, I definitely start to panic again- especially when I look to Freddy and just see a pert look in his eyes as he looks back at me, a smile that strikes something horrid inside me. My eyes narrow. "You sick fuck- where the fuck is she!??"

"Under the bed."

"What the fuck does that mean!?" I exclaim, frustrated and freaking out. He did not- he did not! Killing your spouse is one thing, but the kid?? Your own kid??

I don't wait around for him to be cryptic some more, and rush right into the house to look for her. Under the bed, under the bed, under the fucking bed...? Which fucking bed!? Forcing ferocity out of my voice, I carefully call out to Kathy. Hoping to god she answers. I try to sound normal. Maybe a little bit cheerful; Excited.

But my voice wobbles.

"Kathy?? Sweetheart, its Y/N! Are you hiding? I have something for you... " ?? You have something for her, Y/N?? God... now you have to figure out some kind of treat.

You know what? Whatever. We'll figure that out later.

Lets just hope we aren't searching for a corpse. I'd definitely be sick, seeing a child... the way Loretta is...

Shaking my head and clenching my fists, I try to focus on Kathy.

I check under the bed in the guest room because it comes into view first and she isn't there, then her bedroom and she isn't there either... and get a sick feeling as soon as I enter the last bedroom. Freddy's and Loretta's.

God, I've never been in here before but its like a museum peace now. A horrible one. Like if you would walk into the Titanic... or the Borden house.

"Kathy? You in here?" Flicking on the light I kneel down on the ground, and check under the bed.

And something immediately crashes over me, as the sight of her covering her eyes down there. It isn't exactly relief, because this whole situation is still phenomenally fucked up for her, but I am selfishly glad to not have to see her body... crumpled, just like her mother.

"Hey sweetheart," My voice quivers slightly now, but I quickly swallow. No. No. Now, you must be strong Y/N. "Its just me. Your Daddy was looking for you, and couldn't find you! It got him worried!"

"I... I don't wanna see Daddy. He hurt Mommy." Kathy doesn't remove her hands from her face, and stays firmly by the wall- too far away for anyone to grab. My heart sinks.

Slowly straightening up again, I try to take that piece of information in. Turning to the doorway, I see Freddy there. he must have followed me. I didn't even notice. Slowly, and quietly ferociously, I say; "She saw?!"

He has the good sense to look embarrassed, even if it is just to make fun of me. "It was spur of the moment... " He shrugs. "I didn't have time to get a babysitter!"

What a fucking excuse. For gods sake.

I'm definitely dealing with a psycho- if that was even a question before now.

Swiftly, I look down under the bed again, because I'm afraid that if I continue to engage with him- I'll scream, and I'll lose my breath, and I'll scare Kathy even more. She's at the forefront of my mind; That's all I can think about.

But what to do with her after I get her out from under this bed, I don't know. I cant give her back to her father... but I cant hand her over to the police either because that would involve telling them about Loretta, and... Freddy will definitely kill me, for that.

This is a nightmare of a situation.

I'm just opening my mouth to say something - what, I don't know yet, - when she speaks, instead. "Is he there?"

"... Yes." I wont lie to her; That would be treating her with not nearly as much respect as she deserves.

When she takes a deep breath and rubs her eyes, as if just trying to keep herself together, my heart clenches. God... and to think I might not have picks up Freddy's call today. I would have been leaving her with this. For the first time today, I'm morbidly glad I came.

She speaks in that loud, hissy way that kids think is a whisper. "Can he... can you please make him go away?"

Immediately I straighten back up and look to Freddy again, my eyebrows raised halfway up my forehead. Like well? "Get out."

"I don't think you're in a position to make demands here, bi- "

"Do you want Kathy to live down there now!??" I snap, trying not to be scared. Not really feeling scared, actually. Just happy to have a reason to tell him to get the hell away from me.

A deep frown creases his mouth, deeply unhappy about the situation, but steps back. I only hear him step out of the way of the door, but its good enough. Quickly, I get up and close the door - fighting with myself not to slam it, - and lock it.

Then I return to the floor, and see this time Kathy has uncovered her eyes. She looks so small, smaller then she actually is, and she looks like she's shaking. Little red bows and piggy tails in her hair are messy from crawling under the bed. "He's gone, sweetheart. And I locked the door."

She just nods, so I take the silence as a chance to offer my hand to her. "Take my hand, sweetie? Come on out from under the bed. Its cold down there, and no one wants you getting sick." I need to upkeep the family friend bit, I need to sound caring and collected. I need her to trust me.

Her big eyes, not Loretta's colour or Freddy's, look nervous as hell. And she shakes her head.

Taking a deep breath, and I conjure all the sincerity as I can. And mean it. My eyes soften and I try really hard, to resent myself as someone trustworthy- which is hard, seeing as I've never really been that. I mean, I'm cheating on my husband. I told Carter today the same lie I told Harrison when i knew I was going to be late. The only person I think who knows the truth behind all my lies is Freddy. That says something about a person, that the only person who knows them is a psychopath.

But I want to, I need to, be good for this little girl. And there's no time for me turn my life around so it has to start with this. How fucked is that?

"... I promise, I'll take care of you. He wont hurt you."

After a few whole minutes, in which I stay silent because yes she's a child, but she's still thinking, she crawls over and takes my hand, letting me lead her out. Crawling into my lap as I cross my legs under her, she buries her face in my shirt- hiding. "You promise?"

Taking a deep breath, because I've really done it now, I offer my pinky for her to see if she turned her head. I know Freddy's listening to all of this through the wall, but I try not to freak out. "Pinky swear?"

"Pinky swear." She peaks out from my shirt, and curls her little finger around mine. Okay... "Y/N... I'm scared."

"Yeah... Me too, sweetie."

What am I going to do?

#Freddy Krueger x Fem!Reader #Freddy Krueger x Reader #Slashers #Slashers x Reader #Fem Reader #Freddy Krueger #Loretta Krueger #Katherine Krueger #Kathrine Krueger #Maggie Burroughs #Oneshot #Freddy Krueger x Reader Oneshot

54 notes · View notes

obeiii-mee · 4 years

Note

Hey there! Love your writing. What about MC spending a whole day with just one of the brothers? Like you know, if the brothers were deciding what to do? Sorry if it’s too boring and romantic haha, I’m a lost case, I desperately need that night walks with Satan and working out with Beel in my life haha. Thanks xx

Same though. I love writing just typical HCs with the bros during date night or something. And I’m currently writing a few angst HCs so I really needed this too lmao. I hope you don’t mind these not being too long. I hope this satisfies you lol.

Enjoy!

——————————

The Brothers Spending a Whole Day with MC:

Lucifer:

-Mr. Prideful doesn’t take many days off

-But when he’s with you, he really feels like he can unwind properly

-Lucifer loves going on walks with you tbh

-He feels like it’s a nice break from all of his office work and meetings

-Sometimes the two of you end up in Majolish or a restaurant

-He definitely has a thing for spoiling you on days like these, because he feels he doesn’t appreciate you enough otherwise

-Like when he yells at both you and Mammon for doing stupid shit around Lord Diavolo

-The two of you could walk through the whole of DevilDom hand in hand if you had more hours in the day

-I see Lucifer as a bit traditional when it comes to dating so it’s obvious you’ll have movie dates and everything

-But a day off for him? With you? Away from his brothers, all of their chaos and the never ending attention his paperwork needs?

-It feels like he’s in the Celestial Realm all over again

-He does love you

-His past just doesn’t let him express his affection towards you very well

Mammon:

-If the two of you could spend the whole day together, there are only three places you could be at: Majolish, the casino or trying to make money for Mammon’s debts somewhere

-But it doesn’t really matter for him

-He could be stuck in a broom closet with you and still be happy (though he wouldn’t admit it)

-Spending a day with just him is bound to end in tears to be honest, on his part usually

-Because everything is going well and you’re having fun

-“Ah shit!”

-“Mammon you OK? What happened?”

-“I accidentally sold Lucifer’s gloves for 50000 Grimm!”

-How does one accidentally sell something?

-So he get a bit of an earful for that

-Other than that, being with the second eldest is crazy enough as it is

-You may have lost all that money at the casino but for the first time in a while, Mammon didn’t care that much

-Because you were there and laughing with him about how stupid both of you were

-You guys hit as many shops as possible and just generally have a messy, fun time together

-He often ends these days saying something like “You should be grateful that THE GREAT MAMMON agreed to let you tag along with him today.”

-But just kiss him on the cheek and he will shut up. For like hours. He’ll be too flushed to even look you in the eye

-He really wants to spend another day out with his human

Levi:

-Welp, life of a shut-in otaku

-It should be of no surprise that the two of you spend most of your time in his room

-It’s just the one place he’s most comfortable in and having you there makes it so much better

-Anime’s and video games are a must obviously

-But he loves doing movie marathons with you too (while loudly complaining the movie sucks and that you’re a normie for choosing it. Which means he likes it)

-Maybe a few good hours of him ranting about TSL because it’s Levi

-So the chances of you guys getting any sleep on said day are slim to none

-Also, if you agree to go to conventions with him, he will die of happiness

-On the rare occasion that he does go outside, he’s only out there because you went with him so that should tell you how much he loves you

-But most of the time you’re locked in his room to the point where Luci dearest has to come along and drag you the fuck to breakfast

-Ah, true love~~

Satan:

-I mean, this one should be pretty obvious too

-If he doesn’t enjoy dates in the library, then is he really Satan? (I never thought a sentence like that would ever be typed)

-Most of the time it ends with him reading to you because his voice is sO bEAutIful and you just melt when you hear it

-I will forever hc that he makes sound effects while reading too so imagine that

-You two don’t always get the chance to spend a whole day together

-But he tries to check in on you at least once a day

-*Cue romantic run through the house of Lamentation, trying to find you so he can gossip and bitch about Lucifer*

-Walks with him are very common too

-They usually take place at night, because he’s a sap and he read too many romance books and damn it kiss him already

-He would hold an umbreally over you if it started raining and everything

-Satan takes these moments to chat to you about anything, he just wants to appreciate you being there

-You guys made out several times while on these ‘walks’ ngl skskevshskbeuensb

-One time, you showed him a cat cáfe in the human realm and he went nuts

-Safe to say you’ve been there more times than I care to count, most of which were without permission

-A day with him can either go extremely calmly and end with you guys falling asleep on each other in his room or escalate to either pranking Lucifer or...steamier stuff

-Haha if anyone ever mentions he’s a cheesy bastard, they’re dead before they can say their prayers

-Except you, you get the pass on this one, tease him as much as you want

Asmo:

-Finally, he gets to have you all to himself without any of his brothers cockblocking him all the time~ (same tbh)

-The whole day would be planned from head to toe in activities and events

-It would start with some sort of makeover in the morning (getting your nails done, doing hairstyles, skin routine etc.)

-Then it would move on to some serious shopping sprees where he basically buys everything that he deems to be cute

-They’re for you 100% tho

-The day usually ends with you getting dragged to parties and clubs because Asmo can’t go a day without speaking to other people

-By the time you get home, you’re almost knocked out cold and carrying several bags full of clothes and shit

-But you can never say you didn’t enjoy yourself on these days

-Having Asmo around is exhilarating and somehow, even if crowds happen to not be your thing, it’s still really easy to have fun anyway

-There are times when the two of you stay at home and do each other’s nails and everything

-And you two are very fond of these sort of dates as well

-Of course, all of this assuming he won’t try to seduce you and get in your pants all day

-Turns our Mammon is somehow telepathically connected to you and rushes over any time this happens

-So much for not being cockblocked I guess

-He always switches things up as well which is usually very pleasant because you don’t visit the same shops or clubs every day

-Just be back by midnight or you’ll have your asses handed back to you otherwise

Beel:

-Beel loves you

-Beel loves food

-If those two happen to be in the same room, he might as well die peacefully

-It’s all he ever asked for (especially if Belphie is there too)

-Half of the day is spent at either Hell’s Kitchen or in your kitchen at home

-For him, the food always tastes better when you’re there so if you’re willing to go, then he’ll be like a cheerful puppy the whole time (how many times have I compared Beel to a puppy lmao)

-The other half of the day is spent training

-Work out sessions are important to him and he’s more than happy to let you join in

-If anything, you’ll be on his back as he does his push ups even though you’re not that heavy to him

-It sort of warms that demon heart of his because you’re always there handing him towels and water after he’s finished

-And you always have snacks prepared too which is wonderful really

-Kudos for being able to hide them from him the whole time

-It’s also not that surprising to know that you, Beel and Belphie hang out a lot

-So these days often mean that Belphegor tags along with you guys everywhere

-You won’t notice him tho, believe me, he’ll just stay attached to Beel’s back and sleep the whole time

-If he gets to spend a day with his loved ones, then Beel can honestly not ask for more

Belphie:

-“Belphie...?”

-“Yes MC?”

-“Is.....is that a pillow fort that’s almost as big as the attic?”

-“It is indeed.”

-“Why?”

-“Why not?”

-Tbh it would be a miracle if you two didn’t sleep the whole day

-But if he had to go somewhere with you

-It would be anywhere

-Much like Mammon, he couldn’t give less of a shit about the evironment as long as you’re there

-Chances are, however, that he will sneak you two to the human world a few times in secret

-He still insists he hates humans but truth is, he misses them and their realm

-Going back there, without permission the same way he did all those centuries ago, was like a breath of fresh air

-You guys would be chilling at a park in the human realm, probably make small picnic or something

-Belphie, as much as he doesn’t want to admit it, loves these dates and would kill anything on his path if it meant he gets to be in your arms while taking a nap in the human world

-He invites Beel along too which makes everything so much better for him

-He will just fall asleep on you while you run your fingers through his hair

-Belphie is so warm too so it’s likely you won’t stay awake for long either

-Poor Beel has to carry both back to DevilDom but he does it anyway without complaining >:(

-He knows that he isn’t allowed to come up here and that he should stop these dates before Lucifer finds out

-But being out here with you brings him an irreplaceable meaning and you’re so soft and gentle, he can’t resist cuddling into you

-Also he doesn’t give a shit what Lucifer thinks

(Idk why my writing is so bad in this post, it kinda feels like I forced myself to write it and maybe that’s why..? Anyway, I hope you enjoyed my mess of HCs)

Al~

#obey me #obey me asmodeus #obey me beelzebub #obey me belphegor #obey me imagines #obey me leviathan #obey me lucifer #obey me mammon #obey me satan #⭐️ requests #☂️ demon brothers #🕯 general

690 notes · View notes

bnhaficsforthesoul · 3 years

Text

BNHA College AU - Monoma

Major: Psychology

Minor: French

Sports: Soccer

Clubs: Debate

Neito feels the need to prove himself to everyone - he wants everyone to look at him and recognize how successful he is, mainly due to a childhood of everyone around him having very low expectations for him, so he wants to prove them wrong

Because of that, he’s forced himself into doing as much as possible - he studies in all his free time so that he can go into class and act like it’s easy and stay at the top of the class, he volunteers on some weekends at a local hospital, he’s on the soccer team and so he spends a lot of time at practices or games, and he joined the debate team to top it off

So basically, he has a full time schedule, and he is very tired. Not that he would ever admit it, he hides behind concoctions of coffee and energy drinks to make it appear like he’s fine

Even though most people tend to avoid him because of his “I’m so much better than all of you” attitude, no one can deny he isn’t amazing for pulling off everything he is. So far he hasn’t broke, so despite how tired he is, it seems to be working for him

The only people who really try and help him calm down are his roommate, Shinsou, and a friend from high school, Kendo - who are both very concerned about Neito, but he brushes them off saying that he’s fine

You’d think as a psych major he’d be able to understand that he needs to chill, but nope - his ego won’t let him

Now, you meet Neito in your Abnormal Psych class, when at the beginning of the semester your professor said that your only grade for the class is a project that you’ll be paired up for - and you ended up with Neito

At first you thought you were lucky, getting paired with the smart kid, but as soon as you two sat down together to talk about the project you quickly decided you weren’t so lucky

“Let’s just get this over with, I’ll do all the work, okay? I don’t want to fail because of you.”

Even though having him, who you already admitted was smart, do all the work sounded like a nice way to pass the class without doing any work, you weren’t gonna let him bad mouth you like that. He had no right to immediately decide that you were too dumb to even help out

“Well I don’t want to fail because of you, so I’ll take my half of the work, and you’ll take yours. I’m not putting my grade completely in your hands either.”

After a few seconds of glaring at each other, he dramatically rolled his eyes and sighed, “Fine, whatever, I’m picking what parts I want to do though.”

Truthfully he was happy you said that because he does not want to do a whole project by himself nor does he have the time to do so, but he doesn’t want to fail. So he’s just gonna hope that you’re smart

Throughout most of the project, you two just did your own work by yourselves - neither of you had any interest in working with the other

So other than the few times where he made sure to check in and go “are you actually working on the project?” you didn’t talk to him again until the day before the project was due when you met up in the library

You both needed to make sure the other actually did their part and that your work would actually work fine together, and you weren’t surprised when Neito’s parts ended up being amazing work that would for sure get a high score. He was also very happy when he saw that your work was also amazing, he had worried a bit that he would have to redo a bunch of your stuff so he was glad he wouldn’t

But poor boy was exhausted, with everything that he has to do day by day on top of a huge project that he totally didn’t end up doing most of in the past week (the hypocrite) – and you could tell. Despite not knowing him well, you knew that Monoma tended to take a lot of pride in his appearance, so seeing him show up with dark circles under his eyes and messy hair was surprising

Even though he had been kinda rude to you before, you felt lowkey bad. He had obviously worked very hard on the project, and your grade depended on that. His did too of course, but still. So, you invited him out for coffee

“Seriously?”

You thought he was gonna make fun of you for asking, almost making you say nevermind, but the look on his face showed shock rather than humor, so you nodded your head, “yeah, you look tired. I’ll buy it, don’t worry. Just to celebrate us finishing this stupid project.”

He agreed, although he still looked kinda shocked, but maybe it was just because he was tired

So, you brought him to the nearest starbucks on campus, and you ordered your drinks – he got some fancy one with a lot of instructions, and once you got them you went back to the library cause there were a lot of people in the starbucks - it is a college campus afterall

At first you both kinda just drank your coffee and went back to going over your project since you would have to present it tomorrow, but as the caffeine started kicking in Monoma started talking more and more about other things

Like he mentioned that he has to leave in about an hour cause he has soccer practice and so you were like oh youre on the soccer team?? How cool – and ofc, he’s not gonna miss a chance to brag about himself. So yes, he did talk about all of the cool things he does around campus, and despite how easily it could come off as annoying, he seemed like he was actually happy to be talking about it

However, you had to flaunt yourself too – so whenever you could you’d interject with a hard class you took or some volunteering or internship you’d done or your job, anything to show that you’re a hard worker too

And Neito liked that – you were fun. You were letting him talk about himself without getting annoyed, you were smart, you were nice, and you also were really hardworking

He totally didn’t go back to his dorm after practice and ramble to Shinsou about how awesome his project partner is

The next day, of course the presentation went great, no matter how you are at presenting Monoma is great at it and your actual project was really good so everything went perfect

You had pretty much that’d be it of you and Monoma, but at the end of class he came up to you with a proud grin on his face and asked if you wanted to come to his game this weekend

You weren’t busy or anything so you agreed, and lowkey you thought it be fun to see him playing. Even before you met him you knew this boy was pretty, and thinking about him running around playing made you a bit more flustered than you’d like to admit

So you went, and you followed Monoma’s instructions of where to go and all that, and soon the game started.

And your brain was right – he did look extra pretty like this. You couldn’t help but cheer for him as he scored goals, making him flash you a smile every time. Part of you wondered why you were doing this, you had only really known him for a few days altogether, and you disliked him for most of that, but you couldn’t deny you were having fun

Ofc, his team won, and you cheered like crazy. He came up to you after the game, ready to brag about how good he did, but you beat him to it, “You did so good Monoma!”

“I know, I know, thank you~”

Even though you should probably be the one treating him for winning, he said that he had to pay you back for the coffee the other day, and you went to get some fast food

Not healthy, but it’s a celebration, he’ll let himself eat badly sometimes

After that, you found yourself hanging out with him a lot more often, either studying or going to his games or whatever – you even ended up together in another psych class the next semester

Basically, you two had become best friends, and that was fine for a while, despite you thinking he was very pretty and had a gorgeous voice and you had started to respect him a lot

Well, it was fine for you – Neito had found himself falling deeper a lot sooner than you did. People generally don’t show him the time of day that you have, and he knows he wasn’t exactly the nicest to you when you first met but even so you not only defended yourself but were nice anyways

So yeah, long story short he loves you, he practically worships the ground you walk on tbh but he won’t ever admit that (at least not for a while)

It takes a lot of convincing from Shinsou and Kendo to even try asking you out, them saying “they’ve stuck around for this long, there’s a good chance they might like you too. Or at least I doubt they’d think it’s weird, if they can put up with you normally I’m sure they can handle this.”

So eventually, he did. Awkwardly knocking on your dorm room door one night dressed nicely, making you feel kinda weird when you answered in your pajamas, but he asked “y/n, would you like to go out with me tonight? As a date?”

Poor boy was trying so hard to sound confident but he wasn’t doing all that well, his voice coming out kinda wobbly. You were lowkey shocked when he said it but it was a pleasant surprise, no you had never really thought about dating monoma, but you were sure as hell willing to give it a try

So you said yes, asking him to give you a minute so that you could get equally as dressed up while your roommate helped you out, and soon you were on your way to wherever he was taking you

Of course it was a very fancy date, Monoma wanted to go all out for you, so it was a kind of overwhelming first date but you found yourself enjoying it greatly. He may have tried being all romantic and flirty, but there was still the goofy Monoma that you were used to under there

By the end of the date, there was no doubt about it, you liked him, so there were no objections when he asked if he could kiss you after walking you back to your dorm.

Once again, Monoma coming back to his dorm and rambling to Shinsou about how well the date went and how he even got a kiss! But Shinsou was happy for him

The next day he texted you to come meet him at the library where he officially asked you to date him, he wanted to do it there because that’s where you first became friends – how cute

Now Neito has another person constantly telling him to calm down, you support him in everything he does of course but when he’s tired you will make him stop studying so that he can nap with you

When he has matches you get to do that cheesy thing when after he wins he can run up to you and kiss you – its amazing, his teammates think it’s gross, but who cares

And you go to his debate competitions if youre allowed to, and hoo boy can he debate he always has the best arguments and everything you’re so proud like hell yeah that’s your annoying ass man

Neito is a French minor, and of course he’s gonna use that on you. He’s very good at French, like he picked it up quickly and he’s just got it down completely, so ofc he’s using that to flirt with you

But if you know French and use it back at him he will get very flustered (if you don’t know it maybe you should learn some just for this)

You guys go on so many fancy dates, not always expensive fancy dates, but things like you show up at a park and he set up a bunch of fairy lights and brought champagne or something

If you ever hang out at his dorm, which might be fairly often cause of how much he studies and all that, Shinsou will get annoyed by you two being cute

But he’ll also tell you a bunch of embarrassing stories about Neito so you love talking to him, Neito does not like it so much for that exact reason

he’s generally not big on pda but sometimes he’ll feel the need to make some big declaration of his love while you’re in public and you’re just like neito plz shut up - he’s romantic he cant help it

okay but you two have totally faked a proposal multiple times at a fancy restaurant or gone to bakeries saying you were engaged just so that you could get free food - but he makes the fake proposals so realistic that they lowkey make you tear up... imagine what he’ll be like when he does it for real

#in this household we love and support monoma neito #monoma headcanons #monoma #monoma neito #monoma x reader #monoma imagine #monoma college au #bnha #mha #bnha college au

78 notes · View notes

heyboke · 4 years

Text

SWIPED RIGHT! | Kageyama Tobio x Reader SMAU

0:10 — Pinky Promise and...

NOTE: I understand if some of my readers only prefer the SMAU part, so I made this update flexible so you can still get what’s happening without reading the writing part! Keep in mind that you still have to click on ‘Keep Reading’ to access the following photos!

But, some of the parts can’t be translated through social media screenshots so reading the writing part will really help you understand the characters and what’s happening to the story on a deeper level! ☻

Word Count: 3344 words

YOUR POV

After concluding Bokuto-senpai's non-stop blabbering about the movie he watched last night to procrastinate from studying, the boys were finally able to go to their locker room to freshen up for their long-awaited BBQ Friday.

I decided to wait for them on the bench just outside the gym. Their four hour training went by so fast that when I looked up at the sky, the stars were already twinkling. The cool breeze I only get to enjoy at night hugged my skin as the winds started to lightly gust against my bare sleeves. Ugh, I forgot to bring a hoodie with me tonight.

My thoughts were interrupted as I received Tobio-kun's very random text. It was a very pleasant surprise that unconsciously plastered a huge smile on my face. I was too busy texting him that I didn't even notice the whole team standing in front of me, all ready to go.

"What's that on your phone that's making you grin like the Grinch?" Akaashi asked, trying to subtly take a peek on my phone screen. I immediately locked the device and put it inside the pocket of my sweatpants.

"No need to peek, Akaashi! Let's not waste anymore time... let's go!" I said, jumping out of the bench as the whole team started to walk, carrying on with their small talks.

The gray haired captain stood out since he was ahead of everyone, hopping like a kangaroo while shrieking about how he's been craving for Barbecue for so long now and that he can't believe he finally got the blue check on Twitter.

I was walking alongside Akaashi at the far end side of the group, watching everyone ahead of us with a comfortable silence lingering between us.

"Do you need help with your bag? I can carry it for you." He asked, breaking the silence.

"It's fine, it's fine! I can carry it on my own. Besides, you've already had such a long training. I don't want to burden you with such a small thing." I said, smiling at him to assure him that it's fine.

"Oh, speaking of my bag... hold up," I muttered, stopping on my tracks as I opened my bag to get something.

"What's up?" Akaashi uttered his third question since I saw him outside of the gym. I shuffled through my things until I finally found what I was looking for.

"Aha! Here. I got it while y’all were doing your spiking drills." I said, handing him a slightly chilled bottle of Vanilla protein shake.

"Oh. Thanks, Y/N. It's been a while since you gave me something as boujee as a protein shake. Hmm, someone's loaded today." Akaashi teased, a small smile smothering his gorgeous face. It is an unsaid arrangement between the both of us that I can only give something a little fancy to him, or to anyone, when I have extra savings with me.

"Shut up! I've been saving up for tomorrow for quite some time now. Just... shut up and be grateful for that, Keiji." I said, chuckling as I playfully hit his arm.

"Why? What's so special about tomorrow?" he asked, eyebrows scrunching up together in curiosity.

"Didn't I tell you? To—"

"WE'RE FINALLY HERE!! YAAAY!!!" Bokuto hollered, cutting me off from telling Akaashi about my plans with Tobio-kun, Hinata-kun and my bestfriends for tomorrow. The familiar aroma of savory and mouthwatering meat being grilled, instantly filled my nostrils. I just realized that I've been distracting myself from how hungry I actually am all this time.

"God, I'm so hungry. Y'all were taking so long. If I wasn't on such a good mood, I would've been so hangry by now!" I said, eyes locked on the grilling area on the side of the restaurant where the Barbecue we've been dying to eat is being prepped.

Good thing, Bokuto-senpai already reserved a table for us ahead of time. The short list of things that the simple-minded captain would not procrastinate on would certainly include Volleyball and his favorite food, Barbecue.

Everyone decided to sit down on their desired seat. I felt comfortable sitting at the very far end of the booth’s couch. Since Akaashi and I were already walking side by side, it made sense that he just sat beside me on the couch too.

The rest of the team, and most likely even me, were practically drooling at the sight of barbecue being served to the tables around us. Yukie-san, one of the current managers of the team, is known for her great love for food. She decided to take matters in to her own hands and stood up for everyone. She simply asked one of the servers to follow up our orders.

Some of the third years, Konoha-san, Komi-san and Sarukui-san, were struggling to deal with an impatient Bokuto that was on the verge of going on emo mode.

“Where’s Akaashi? Didn’t he...“ the captain mumbled, pouting as he searched for the setter that was seated beside me.

“Oh, no. Bokuto-san’s Weakness #42. He becomes impractically impatient when people make him wait for his food, most especially when he’s hungry after training.” I hear Akaashi mutter beside me. I looked at him and he seems like Doctor Strange, looking at and calculating the different possibilities of what can happen if the captain won’t be able to get his food anytime soon.

Thankfully, Yukie-san came back to our table with at least two servers holding stacks of Barbecue on their trays, gently placing them on the table in front of all of us. Bokuto-senpai’s eyes lit up, even his hair seemed to perk up in excitement as he saw the Barbecue he’s been dying to eat being served in front of him.

“ALRIGHT, Let’s dig in!! This is in honor of me getting the blue check and a reward for all of us after such a hard training!! WOOHOOO!! Enjoy, everyone!!” the captain cheered, taking at least five chunks of meat in his chopsticks and munching the all down in one go.

No matter how hungry I am, I took the time to look at the team in front of me. The mere sight of them enjoying their food is endearing me. Am I really going to be a part of this wonderful team by next week? Do I really belong here?

I snapped out of my thoughts when I saw green vegetables being plopped down on my plate. I looked up and saw Akaashi putting one last piece of greens on my plate.

“Hey, why are you putting all that? I came here for Barbecue and not vegetables, Keiji.” I mocked him, poking the vegetables he just placed on my plate with my own chopsticks.

“Shush, you have to eat those. Even just a couple. They make you healthier. Plus, if you’re going to be our manager, you can’t be getting sick and frail.” he said, not even sparing a glance at me as he started to eat his own food.

Now this... this is one of his gestures that made me grow really fond of him. Some people might think otherwise but for me, Akaashi is not shy at all. Others often mistake his silence as shyness. When in reality, he only speaks up when he thinks it’s necessary — when he thinks it’s worth it. In fact, he is very frank with his words. He’s the type of person that would call you out when you’re doing something wrong, but he’d also compliment you when you’re doing something right. If one tends to focus more on his expressions, they can be convinced that he’s bland because his face really is usually blank. He only ever shows what he feels through his expressions at very rare occasions. Thus, he shows his feelings most of the time through his gestures; be it a small one or a big one.

“Hmph, fine. I’ll just eat more barbecue with it, so I don’t taste it that much.” I said, wrapping the greens with a chunk of meat. Bokuto-senpai, who’s instantly uplifted by now, overheard what I said.

“That’s what I do too when I need to eat vegetables!!! You’re doing the right thing, Y/N!!” he laughed, as he stuffed more barbecue inside of his mouth. The other third years that were worked up on not letting him slip in to his emo mode earlier, were now having the time of their life beside Bokuto-senpai, laughing at each other as they throw jokes at one another from time to time.

“Y/N?” said someone from in front of me. I looked up and saw that the voice belongs to none other than, Kaori-san, the other current manager of the team. She’s so pretty, oh my gosh.

“H-Hello, Kaori-san. Is there anything I could help you with?” I asked, getting a little conscious about the fact that I’m basically eating like a pig in front of someone so gorgeous.

“Oh, nothing! I just wanted to talk to you, even just for a little bit.” She smiled, eating gracefully like a princess. I could never, lol.

“I’m always down for a talk with you, Kaori-san!!” I gushed. Oh my god, do I sound a little too excited? What if she thinks I’m a crazy fangirl? Oh no.

“You’re so cute! Hahaha, anyway, I’d love to hear your thoughts right now about the team manager position because I’d be really be at ease knowing that the team is in good hands after Yukie-san and I graduate.” She said, a hint of sadness was evident after she mentioned the fact that they’re graduating this year.

“Oh, of course... Hm, before I even officially become the manager of this team, I can say that I already have a pretty good bond with them... thanks to this one person,” I nudged Akaashi who was peacefully eating beside me and secretly listening to Kaori-san and I’s conversation. Akaashi-kun, you’re not so slick. I might’ve only known you for a little over three months now, but I can feel it when your ears are trying to listen, despite having your eyes focused on something else.

I continued, “I just know that they have something really special about them. At times, I even get intimidated by their bond because not all teams can easily earn it. It takes a lot of time and everyone’s cooperation as well. With that being said, I just want to make sure that I won’t get in their way or anything. I really am taking things seriously and I’ve also been thinking about it a lot lately. I don’t want to make a hasty decision just because I got blinded with such a big opportunity. It’s a commitment that we’re talking about, not just to myself, but to the rest of the team as well.”

I didn’t even realize that I’ve been blabbering like a little kid in front of Kaori-san.

“The fact that you’re thinking about it this much already says a lot, Y/N. Hell, I didn’t even know it’s possible for me to want you to take this position even more!” she chuckled.

“Your words mean a lot to me, Kaori-san! I’ll make sure to keep it in mind once I make my final decision.” I smiled, stuffing my mouth with one of the green vegetables on my plate and Barbecue.

The warmth and liveliness around the table never died down all through out the meal. We even found the gray-haired captain standing up and doing an imitation of this one funny video he watched as a kid. The trays and plates on the table were now empty, while our stomachs were full and satisfied.

“HEY, HEY, HEY!!! Let’s go to arcade now!! Yoohoo!!” Bokuto-senpai started to hop around while flailing his arms in the air, ready to go to this arcade nearby this restaurant. He was so close to leaving the doorway when one of the servers came up to our table.

“Uhm, ma’am and sir, I double checked it on the system but... you haven’t paid for your meals yet,” the server was sheepish on approaching us. She was having a hard time looking at us in the eyes. She’s probably new here.

Everyone stood there in shock and embarrassment, except for Konoha-san and Komi-san who dragged Bokuto-san back inside to pay for our meals.

“OH... I’m so sorry!! I forgot, I didn’t mean to not pay!!” the captain sincerely apologized, quickly paying for everything we ate.

Upon entering the arcade, I couldn’t help but feel giddy and excited. The air inside the arcade just makes me feel alive and want to play games there all day. People around our age and some kids filled the place. Some of them are on dates, while most of them were just hanging out with each other.

The team scattered into groups as they went to the games that best fit their liking. The captain can be seen inside a Zombie-killing booth. His hands are already holding the fake gun inside, ready to unleash his inner warrior because according to him, he always trained himself for an apocalypse that can happen in the future. Some of the third years, like Yukie-san and Kaori-san along with some of the spikers, can be seen on the bowling area.

I rushed to the counter in the middle to get myself tokens and cards to play the games. The air hockey table caught my attention the moment we stepped in the arcade. I was about to swipe my card to play, when I realized I didn’t have anyone to play it with. How much dumber can I get? I obviously can’t play this by myself.

“Go for it. I’ll play with you,” a voice I know too well spoke behind me. I didn’t realize that I kind of ditched him as soon as I got too caught up in excitement with the arcade.

“Okay. Bring it on, Keiji! Don’t you dare go easy on me!” I exclaimed, swiping the card and grabbing the air hockey paddle on the table. My competitive side was showing as I poured my energy in each stride at the puck and attempts to block it from shooting inside my side of the goal.

After a few rounds of air hockey and a little bit of Basketball, where I took a hard L because I was against a well-trained and balanced athlete that shot the ball like it was nothing, I decided to go for a game where I thought I had a bigger shot at winning. I scanned through the games again and my eyes landed on this one game that I knew I’d win against someone like Akaashi.

“Dance Dance Revolution? I never played this game all my life and now you’re asking me to play it with you right now?” he whined, uneasiness showing as he spoke. I felt a little sad, but I didn’t want him to force him on doing something he doesn’t want to do.

“Hey, it’s okay if you don’t want to do it. I just really thought it’d be nice to play this with somebody.” I looked down, speaking softly. I hear him take a deep breathe.

“Fine... just one round.” he said. I was so thrilled. I bounced around and swiped my card on the machine. We stepped on the dancing area with the arrows under our feet and got ready to play the game. I chose a dance that was moderately difficult, keeping in mind that by doing so, I’ll increase my chances of winning. It was going really well at first. By looking at Keiji on my peripheral vision, he wasn’t even that bad. I guess the footwork training they do on Volleyball also helps him. Ugh, is there something he can actually suck at?

The most complex part of the dance started and I was slowly panicking. My score was higher, but only by a little. I was getting lost in the game that I didn’t even notice that I stepped at a faulty angle and twisted my ankle.

I winced in pain as I lost my balance and held on the metal bar behind me for support. Akaashi was alarmed as soon as he saw my current state.

“Hey, I’m fine, really. What’s that look on your face, Akaashi?” My poor attempt to chuckle was horrible. I tried to stand up, but the pain I felt on my ankles were stronger than my will to prove Akaashi that I was fine. He rapidly moved away from the game and found himself beside me, checking my, most likely, sprained ankle.

“Okay, it doesn’t look that bad but you can’t work yourself up for a while. I’ll take you home. No more ifs and buts. I’ll just text Bokuto-san and the rest of the team about what happened and that we had to leave sooner than expected.” he sternly said.

The next thing I knew, he was walking me to my house. I found myself on his back, arms wrapped around his chest and legs clung on his waist as he held the side of my thighs for extra support.

The same stars that greeted me while I was waiting for them outside the gym earlier were present as I looked up again at the sky. With that, the same cold breeze of the night blew against my skin. I tried not to shiver, but it was useless since Akaashi felt that I was getting chilly because I was shaking a little.

He stopped on his tracks as he gently put me down on the sidewalk. I was feeling confused until I saw him taking his jacket off and offered me to take it.

“I noticed you were starting to get a little chilly, so here. Take it.” he said. I didn’t even hesitate anymore as I wore his jacket. I felt so much better and we started walking again while he gave me a piggyback ride.

I let out a yawn as I started to feel my eyelids getting heavier and my breathing going slower. I didn’t even know when it happened, but I just know that along the way, I fell asleep on his shoulders.

AKAASHI’S POV

I found myself in front of your house and I knocked on the door. It wasn’t the first time I’ve been here, so your mom let me in as soon as she saw me. I told her about what happened and gave her some tips that will help you recover faster. Given that I was not new to these injuries, I knew exactly what to do.

I opened the door to your room and I softly put you down on your bed. I got some pillows that will help on elevating your sprained ankle and tucked you to bed.

You looked so peaceful. You looked so beautiful.

I’ve always been blunt about what I see and feel about everything. So, why is it that I can’t tell you about these feelings that I feel solely for you?

I wish I can tell you that all your little gifts and efforts for me never go unappreciated.

I know that you’ve recently been growing closer to somebody else. I’m not oblivious about it. I know you, Y/N.

I just hope that it’s not too late by the time I finally build up the courage to tell you about these feelings.

I gave your forehead a soft kiss, before I finally got up and left your room.

YOUR POV

I woke up in the middle of the night and realized that I was already in the comfort of my own room. I checked my phone and saw that it was 2AM. I looked down on my feet and saw that my ankle was really sprained and that I wasn’t just dreaming about it.

I let out a sigh as I remember that Tobio-kun, Hinata-kun, Best Boy Yams and Saltyshima were coming over here later.

Why the fuck did I have to sprain my ankles on the worst day possible?

☆ PARTS ☆

A/N: Here goes my first actual write up in this blog! I would really love to hear your thoughts about it! Stay safe and healthy, lovelies! ♡

taglist: @sugacoatt @kokogxddess @angelynmay @kasandrafaye @exovity @notamazinglizzy @haikyuuopalite @faiima @pyblos @volleybloop @mahalau @applepiekyuu @nvthvlyy @azgucci @tchalameme @mlkytobio @bakibakini @xyelikestobio @beastboypng @nerumiz @unlikelytigerqueen @your-local-lesbo @tycrackculture @almostcrystalized101 @alienvarmint @agneyestra @kthhyj @hakueishirei @sugawsites @wiseeggspickleslime @8zmingi @idiot-juice-enthusiast @lunarknox @wemissyou3000 @90s-belladonna @yeehawnana @mysticlarizza @hyperfixation1 @literaltrash666 @animeboyscangetit @luvelyjjk @cuddlesslut @deathcab4daddy @bloomingforbts @ashleefo @mikantsumiikii @yeehawslap @michelepiekenma @kpopstanh

#kageyama tobio x reader #akaashi keiji x reader #haikyuu smau #haikyuu au #haikyuu x reader #kageyama smau #kageyama x reader smau #kageyama x reader #haikyuu!!#haikyuu x reader smau #haikyuu kageyama tobio #kageyama tobio x reader smau #kageyama tobio #akaashi x reader #akaashi x reader smau #haikyuu akaashi keiji #akaashi smau #akaashi keiji x reader smau #akaashi keiji

332 notes · View notes

sinkix · 4 years

Text

♡ Haikyuu!!│Boys as your Roommate HC’s Pt.2│Ft. Kuroo, Bokuto, Kenma & Kageyama ♡

Since the last one did well I decided to do another 2am shit-post consisting of my bby HQ bois as your roommate so I’m v sorry if it’s messy and seems like rambling but honestly what did u expect. <(￣︶￣)> The more I write these the more I just want to summon satan and make them come to life man I love them sm.

You can find Pt. 1 here

E N J O Y ~ <3

◃:✮.❃⭒ ◃:✮.❃⭒ ◃:✮.❃⭒ ◃:✮.❃⭒

Kuroo:

So. Damn. Annoying

But in like, the best way possible??

Constantly teases and irritates you while cooking or when it’s your turn to do the chores.

“(Y/N)-kuuun I think you missed a spot”

Proceeds to show swabbed finger with the tiniest speck of dust on it with the biggest shit eating grin he can muster

You have constant competitions who can clean more thoroughly and rip into each other as a result.

I mean there’s worse things to compete over I suppose??

He likes to make it a habit of waking you up by throwing his HUGE ASS BODY ON TO THE BED IF YOU OVERSLEEP.

WHOLE BED JUST CREAKS AND DIPS UNDER HIS WEIGHT.

Wraps his arm around you and gives amazing cuddles tho so its worth it

Borderline suffocating you though just so you get up.

Also, don’t wake Kuroo when he’s had only a few hours rest

just, don’t. If you value your safety.

Last time you tried to haul him out of bed in this state he threw a pillow at you and BITCH WENT TO GRAB THE ALARM CLOCK NEXT but u dashed out the room before he could lob it.

Speaking of which, pillow fights.

so many.

Y’all are always throwing random stuff at each other just to startle one another

You both make a conscious effort NOT to aim for the head though so I guess its ok???

The aroma of coffee always greets you in the morning and it’s become hella comforting since you’ve just come to associate that smell with him.

His bed head is 1000x more extreme in the morning which you tease him relentlessly for and def has bags under his eyes but it looks cute.

sleep deprivation but make it chic.

He is much more of a night owl i’m making it canon idc - however usually has to sleep early due to club activities starting first thing in the morning.

He wakes up especially early because he knows he not only has to haul himself up at an ungodly hour but Kenma as well since he NEVER gets up on time otherwise.

Kenma lives a few blocks down from you guys and you often kick it as a three.

Sometimes he stays over just to save the extra effort of Kuroo going to his place.

It’s always v chill with the three of you as you get on really well and just play mario kart till 2am.

which again, big mistake. They end up nearly being late to practise so it’s kinda counter productive lmao

worth it though.

Kuroo is a salty loser js and will definitely wave his arms in front of you or shove his ass in your face to block the screen so he can overtake you.

Sometimes forces you to go on early morning runs with him but it’s actually really nice since you watch the sunrise together while sitting for a water break in an empty field

Almost poetic if it wasn’t for the constant teasing and bickering like an old married couple.

Kenma is VERY thankful you have become his new victim for those morning run routines.

Bokuto:

SCREAMS FROM THE ROOFTOPS EVERY DAY

MY GOD

Actually pretty quiet in the morning?? Like the lil owl is just waking up so he usually just mumbles a good-morning and rubs his eyes its so damn cute

Usually pretty good about getting up on time but some days he needs a kick up the backside to get him out of bed.

He fully made you drag him out of the covers once before he was even willing to entertain the idea of getting up.

those 30 seconds felt like a 30 minute workout since he is so HEAVY.

I feel sorry for the neighbours on that day tbh

“Bokuto-san wake up.”

“NNNgg-aaagGGHHHHH AGGAAASHIII”

“It’s (Y/N) you dumbass G E T U P”

You aren’t safe for long though because ONCE HE’S AWAKE HOMEBOY IS RARING TO GO.

Frequently makes y’all pancakes for breakfast with a frilly pink ‘best chef’ apron on and it’s fucking hysterical.

actually has several aprons and one of them has a stock image of abs printed onto the front.

Pancakes is the only thing Bokuto is competent at so don’t expect anything else without the kitchen combusting

His pancakes are SO damn good tho like bitch who taught you to flip like dat.

Does a lil shimmy with his body and throws it back each time he flips so it basically aggregates as a performance too since hes so extra

One time the pancake landed on the floor and he was in emo mode for a whole day LMAOOO

boy was spiking while mourning the fallen soldier.

Akaashi was so confused as to why he walked into practise in such a solemn mood.

had to stifle his laughter once you told him the reason.

For some reason you have this tradition to play board games on a Friday night

Obvs you have to let him win and be a cocky ass bc otherwise he will be sad until the next morning.

sis will be in a slump while brushing his teeth over losing a game of monopoly.

Doesn’t expect you to come to practise with him but is always grinning like a dork the whole way there when you accompany him.

His game is always A1 on those days so Akaashi is eternally grateful.

Often tries to make you go to the gym with him SINCE Y’ALL BEST BELIEVE BOKUTO BABY AIN’T SKIPPIN LEG DAY.

Actually a really good workout partner though, he’s so hype and encouraging.

Grocery shopping is a nightmare, y’all come back with 3x as much as what was on the list while Bokuto just looks really sheepish and guilty like a dog who shredded up the sofa.

Kageyama:

Your conversations are very minimal at first until he adjusts to living with you.

Hella private with his living space and his bedroom

You always suspected he’s got some like weird alien cult meeting from Fiji going on in there with how shady he acts sometimes.

After a while though he’s pretty chill and doesn’t mind TOO much when you invade his personal space or go through his stuff.

I’d still be careful though an angry Kags is not a pleasant one.

He’s a minimalist, so if you ever get decorating done it’s usually you that takes the reigns since as long as it’s got a roof, a stove, a bathroom and a bed he could literally not give a fuck.

Unexpectedly easy to please over the smallest things, make a meal for him after a long day of practise and it’ll be hard for him to contain an appreciative smile.

Do NOT pull him up on it though bc he will get defensive

just embrace it bro you won’t see it often.

V good at getting up on time and hella quiet in the morning when going about his routine, it’s easy to forget he’s in the house a times so at least he’s considerate.

Honestly doesn’t care whether you come to practise or not it makes no difference to him. Though the closer you both get he will sometimes wait for the moment you walk through the door and mentally slap himself for doing so.

Sometimes plays music in his room but it’s always really quiet and hard to decipher unless you press your ear up against the door.

The boi plays some BOPS though which is really surprising???

Usually takes charge of stuff like grocery shopping, cleaning etc.

Control freak™️ here to assist your household services.

He’s pretty dense though with these matters and needs some guidance at times lmao

Will not get the item on your list unless you CLEARLY SPECIFY AND INCLUDE THE WHOLE DAMN TITLE OF THE ITEM

You’re surprised he doesn’t request you illustrate the fucking bar code.

In the end you sometimes end up caving and just either going with him or going in his place.

Once he warms up to you y’all like cracking little jokes at each other and pulling one another’s leg.

if you get up even the slightest bit late he’ll just throw a lil “good afternoon” with a smirk on his face.

Sometimes he will come and chill with you on the couch to binge watch shows and it’s just a really relaxed atmosphere.

has really good taste in movies and series??

Honestly just a hella respectful roommate as long as you respect him and his privacy in return.

You once stuck his knee-pads in the washing machine on a high temp and they came out ready to fit a 6 year old.

You still suspect he holds a grudge to this day.

He also tried to give them to Hinata and never have you seen him more genuinely offended lmao.

Kenma:

The pair of you always end up oversleeping and it’s a genuine problem ur the definition of a disaster duo.

If it wasn’t for Kuroo strolling into your sleeping quarters most mornings you guys would sleep till the suns ready to set again.

Bless up Kuroo.

Constant video game marathons and y’all always compete to top each others time

It’s basically just the speed-run side of YouTube but under one roof.

Cannot and will not cook he is too LAZY for that.

Only thing he will do is stick an apple pie in the oven.

He’s courteous though he leaves you like,,, a 1/8th slice

smh.

You mostly get take-out or you’re the one that ends up cooking.

Veeryyyyy quiet, only noise in the household is the occasional snicker or lil conversation.

he has such a soothing voice hnnnnnnnnnggggg

The only time it’s remotely loud is when you play video games but even then the volume is quite low.

You usually end up crashing in his room from playing games till the crack of dawn and Kuroo frequently scolds the two of you.

you don’t listen though lmao.

For some reason you both end up in a hugging position when you wake up and neither of you have addressed it.

Except for the sus side eye look Kuroo gives the pair of you when he finds you like this.

He knows if he mentions it you’ll both infiltrate his apartment and choke him out with a console cable lololol.

You order most of your groceries online bc Kenma’s social anxiety will skyrocket and not allow him to be in a store full of more than 10 people, poor bby.

It works out for you too since why tf go there when you can have it delivered to your door.

You often binge watch anime together and he has GREAT taste mind you.

You made him watch a romance anime once and he secretly enjoyed it.

Since then he will very awkwardly request to watch them occasionally and you can’t help but smile.

The only time you clean is when you have to, like bins brimming with trash before you decide to take them out.

You accidentally broke his fav controller once and he didn’t talk to you for a week LMAO.

Still handed you one to play split-screen though so you knew he wasn’t entirely resentful.

#hq #haikyuu #hq headcanons #haikyuu headcanons #kenma kozume #kageyama tobio #kuroo tetsurō #bokuto kotaro #haikyuu x reader #hq x reader #karasuno #nekoma #fukurodani

202 notes · View notes

thereluctantinquisitor · 3 years

Text

WIP Whenever

Thank you for the tag @captainsaku! At the moment, I’m still limping through the opening chapters of Stonebreaker, trying to get a feel for the story and work on strengthening my atrophied writing muscles. Anyway, I figured I’d share what I have so far of Adiran’s introductory chapter. It’s basically just an awkward, descriptive mess, but at least it’s something. At this point, I’ll count that as a win!

I also put a short glossary at the end in case some terms were confusing. <3

Chapter 3 - A Scene

Be present. Do not cause a scene.

They were simple enough requests, Adiran supposed, as he braced himself and drained his third flute of wine. He knew it was poor form to cringe after swallowing, but the dry white was about as pleasant as a mouthful of sand and only went down half as well. If he was the paranoid type, he’d think the servers were offering him the worst vintages on purpose.

Then again, the celebration had stretched into its ninth day, now. Even the royal cellars had a limit.

Despite overstaying its welcome, the event remained at a predictably lofty height of splendour. In the ballroom - Vetrose’s famed Silver Font - delicate rivulets of water, no wider than the span of a hand, curled their way across the marble floor, draining into a shallow pool at the base of the royal thrones. Above their heads, weavelight strings were draped elegantly between pillars and across wide arches, their glowing pinpricks joining the blazing chandelier to bathe the room a honey-gold.

Beneath that radiant light, the Talveran nobility moved like swans, jewellery glittering, ankle-length gowns and embroidered jackets flashing enough to catch the attention of nesting crows. Hundreds packed the Font that night - an entirely different crowd to the evening prior, and likely the one prior to that. Attending Talveran court, with its litany of demands and expectations, was an exhausting and expensive affair. Every evening demanded a new outfit. A new glittering showpiece. A new plan for navigating the treacherous waters of social interaction, careful not to show too much interest in any one person. One night was difficult enough to survive. Very few could afford to be present for an entire turn’s worth of celebration.

Unfortunately, Adiran had no choice in the matter. It just had to be his brother returning from the northern border. As if no one else had ever come back from that waste of a campaign.

Another mouthful. Another weary swallow of something half as strong as it needed to be. Honestly, he’d almost rather be swallowing sand. At least that meant he’d be in the arena, getting his ass kicked practicing for something that mattered, instead of wasting his time decorating the wall. Divider’s Own, Lorvain was meant to have arrived by the third day! Adiran might have been able to slip away if he had been around to soak up the attentions of the lords and ladies. But no. The beloved Crown Prince had probably stopped to fawn over milkmaids and shepherds at every town between here and Morgate. Really, they should have accounted for that before throwing such a ridiculous event...

A prince should want to know his people, Adiran. I thought you understood that?

Threading paths expertly between the nobility were almost three dozen servers dressed in vibrant Volise green. Silver trays were held aloft on the pads of their gloved fingers as they moved in rehearsed patterns around the room, making sure every hand that sought a glass found a delicate stem. It was a different sort of dance; the kind that typically went unnoticed, the same way a clock’s hands are appreciated more than the mechanism behind the face. They knew the position of every crack in the stone; every rivulet.

None of them ever looked down.

Speaking of timing, the only reason Adiran paid the servers any heed was to make sure he got his right. On cue, he finished his wine with a grimace and thrust it towards a well-groomed young woman, her dark hair braided and pinned neatly around her head. Without so much as an errant blink, she bobbed carefully at the knees, accepted the glass, and replaced it with a new one from her tray.

“Careful not to drop that,” Adiran said, taking the drink and giving it an experimental sniff. Sweeter. Thank the Divider for that.

The server hesitated. They always did. Every night. “Your Highness?” she asked, and her lilt was perfection. Just the right amount of simpering, blended with polite curiosity. Someone had taken her training seriously.

“Am I slurring already? What I’m saying is that if the Crown Prince finally shows up and you’re in the middle of mopping a puddle, the King will have your hide for saddle leather. So...” He extended one bored finger towards the tray, a smirk curling the corner of his lips. “Tread lightly.”

The server’s mouth opened, and for a moment no sound followed. For just one blissful, fleeting second, Adiran thought he’d finally done it. He’d finally won.

Then, like underappreciated clockwork, her lips shaped themselves into a beatific smile, and she dipped into a curtsy. The tray never even wobbled. “Thank you for your concern, Your Highness. On my word, I will remain diligent. I would not dare bring shame on our King’s house.”

Damn it. The smile Adiran flashed back - half a sneer - could cut glass. But the server had already completed her parting bob and returned to her dance, weaving and gliding among the gaggle of silver-bloods with her tray of weak wine. Expression turning brittle, Adiran huffed and leaned back against one of the massive marble pillars - just one of fifteen lining the room. He’d claimed it on the first evening, like a hound staking its territory. Most people knew better than to bother him once he’d found his haunt, but the serving staff simply didn’t have that luxury. He supposed it was probably unkind, to force them to speak to him. But Divider, he was just so bored...

Scowling, he took a long swallow of his new drink, the chilled, sweet liquid a welcome enough sensation as it ran down the back of his throat.

So he was unkind. So what?

“Are you finished losing to the servers for tonight, or should I come back later?”

A familiar voice, and right on time. Adiran gave no indication of surprise, barely even turning to acknowledge the man. After all, this was just another ritual for them; a way to take a knife to long hours of affluent, barely drunk loitering. “Yeah, I’m done. An earthquake couldn’t shake them.” His gaze finally cut across, delivering what he hoped was a scathing look as Riin settled against the pillar beside him. “Took you long enough. Get distracted by all the pretty gowns and pouting lips?”

Folding his arms across his broad chest, Riin chuckled softly, utterly immune to Adiran’s glare. “Could you blame me if I was? Everyone looks appealing under this light.”

“That’s generous of you.” Sniffing, Adiran glanced up. Even with the smoke-glass covers encasing each glowing orb, he still had to squint against the brightness of the weavelights. “Guess it could be worse. We looked more like corpses before the covers were put on.”

“Really? I’m glad I missed it.”

“Yeah. Being dead inside is more than enough.”

Riin laughed, and a faint smile curved Adiran’s lips. He quickly hid it behind his glass. Truthfully, the entire ‘weavelight saga’ had been ridiculous. The King and Queen had commissioned hundreds of them from Tel Shival, purely because no one else had ever done it. Even the wealthiest families only ever had a few per household, usually kept in a lantern or a sconce in the most frequented rooms. After two seasons of painstaking arrangement that nearly killed two of their staff, the Silver Font soon found itself bathed in a thematically violent silver light. It had been an exciting novelty, at first; nobility flooded in from all over Talvera just to bask in the glow of thousands of wasted sicets. But then they quickly realised that colours didn’t behave the same way. Their favourite jewellery didn’t catch the eye. Their skin didn’t appear as youthful and rosy. Instead, every flaw - every stray hair or unpolished button - was placed on stark display for the vultures to pick at.

The weavelights were as bleak and clinical as a physicker’s ward. They sucked the warmth out of everything they touched.

In Adiran’s mind, the wash of corpse-light over each soiree was a perfectly fitting thing. But, as was typical, no one else agreed. So, they decided to encase each of the weavelights in honey-tinted glass and returned the room to almost exactly how it looked before. Back when it was lit by oil and flame.

That was how things were in Talvera. Decisions were made, sicets were spent, and then everyone just wanted to go back to how things used to be. Like nothing had ever happened.

GLOSSARY

Weavelight - spheres of crystal or glass, with a light-bearing glyphstring engraved by a thaumist specialising in Weaving. Maintains a bright, steady silver light. Cannot be dimmed or turned off at will. Thaumist - a well-trained practitioner of the thaumic arts, capable of manipulating thaumic essence. Turn - ten days. Tel Shival - An independent, famously insular city dedicated to the training and cultivation of thaumists and thaumaturgical study. Sicet - Currency used in the Allied Kingdoms.

---

Tagging: @frenchy-and-the-sea, @leothelionsaysgrrrr, @bladeverbena, @thefluffynug, @rufinagertrude, @arduyn, @anarchyduck, and anyone else who has a WIP they’d like to share!

#wip whenever #(because i always miss wednesday lol)#reluctant memes #stonebreaker series #adiran #riin #the more i read it the more i dont really like it but #just... gotta... MOVE ON....#hURGH #reluctant writes

20 notes · View notes

bywordofaphrodite · 3 years

Text

Book Reviews 3&4: Nancy Drew and the Lilac Inn by Carolyn Keene & Trixie Belden and the Secret of the Mansion by Julie Campbell Tatham

This review’s theme is girl detective books ! Audience age range: roughly 12 and up !

Just as Enid Blyton’s books made me fall in love with magical creatures and faraway lands, detective novels became an obsession during late primary school, with classic lead female characters Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden being my absolute favourites. My school had an extremely small and limited library, and the Nancy Drew books were one of the only decent series there- even with a great chunk of the collection missing. My mother introduced me to Trixie Belden, which she insisted was better than Nancy Drew, though I refused to listen to such a declaration at the time.

Now, though? My opinions have definitely changed.

Nostalgic review

Rating: ★★★★★

From memory, Nancy Drew is a clever, beautiful and well-off girl in her late teens, living with her lawyer father Carson Drew and her housekeeper Hannah Gruen, who has looked after Nancy since her mother’s passing when she was only three. I always enjoyed the dynamic between Nancy and her father, as it was similar to mine with my father, also a lawyer- Carson doesn’t step in unless Nancy needs his help, but he does assist in legal advice when necessary. I also loved Nancy’s friendship with the cousins Bess and George, and liked that her relationship with her ‘special friend’ Ned never got in the way of solving mysteries or hanging out with her friends (‘hanging out’ was practically code for sleuthing in these novels anyway). Overall, my memories of this series amount mostly to exciting searches for missing heiresses, finding beautiful jewels and battling crocodiles in Florida.

On the opposite side of the spectrum is Trixie Belden- rough-around-the-edges thirteen year-old from a poor family living with both her parents and three brothers. Where Nancy has a housekeeper, lives in an affluent suburban neighbourhood and never wants for money, Trixie lives on the outskirts of a small town, both her parents work, and she is constantly reminded of how important it is to work for money as they do not have much of it to spare on mindless things. Nancy is a fairly solitary character, often working alone unless her friends show up, and even then she does most of the legwork; Trixie is also the main sleuth in her series, but her best friend Honey is almost always at her side. While the mysteries were great, the warm friendships in Trixie Belden novels are what I remember best.

Regardless of whatever my thoughts may be after rereading books from these two series, I’ve never ceased referencing either of them and my love of the mystery genre still holds fast even now.

Nancy Drew and the Lilac Inn Review

Post-read: ★★

Synopsis: girl detective Nancy Drew is called to solve a series of odd goings on at her newly engaged friend Emily’s inn, in what seems to be an attempt to prevent Emily and her fiancé from opening. Disaster strikes when her aunt retrieves Emily’s inheritance of diamonds- Emily’s last hope to cover the costs of fixing up the inn- and they are swiftly stolen within the hour. Nancy vows to catch the thief and the intruder and save Emily’s inn from failure.

I struggled in choosing which Nancy Drew book to reread for this review, and after reading through multiple rankings lists I decided on the Lilac Inn because it ranked highly on every list. I now wish I had just gone with Crocodile Island anyway… at least there was something snappy about it. In between the bomb, the theft, the doppelganger, the underwater fake-shark, the kidnapping, the spear-gun attack- I think I’ve made my point. There’s far too much going on, and if it was well-written I would be okay with it, really I would, but it’s all so blandly articulated that half the time I had to reread just to make sure I’d read correctly what nonsense was occurring at any given time.

Straight out the gate, I just want to say how shocking the writing was- that’s shockingly bad, by the way. If I thought Enid Blyton’s work was stunted, well, this was far, far worse. Especially since it lacks the excuse of being written for young children. It was incredibly difficult to push through in the slower parts, and I must admit I basically skim-read the lead up parts to the action sequences (which were incredibly minimal compared to the gnashing crocodile teeth I longed for, but alas). Sadly for me, Bess (my old fave), George and Ned were not present at all, and I cannot remember if they had actually been introduced that early in the series because they are not mentioned once.

I did really like the concept of the story, and the element of Nancy having a creepy doppelganger posing as Nancy to cause mischief (she has several over the series) was fun, even more so that said doppelganger was an actual actress and quite ruthless in her attempts to steal Emily’s diamonds- I love a morally-corrupt pretty female villain as much as the next person, after all. There is a romance teased between Nancy and a young man staying at the inn, a young man who continuously seems to be in the same room as the diamond thief messing with Emily’s inn, but ultimately both never amount to anything. This hardly surprised me given the book is written in the thirties, and Ned and Nancy never do anything but attend dances together the entire series, but still, come on. He could’ve at least stolen the diamonds to add some spice to his useless appearances.

It’s possible that were a very talented scriptwriter to take this book and make it into a movie it could work out a lot better than it does on paper- provided the casting was done well. The sets would be interesting, and I think the creepiness of the ‘ghost’ in the orchard and the diving scenes would translate a lot better on camera. Normally I’m not one to nominate live actions of novels for no reason, but this thought kept recurring as I struggled to get through the writing.

Characters who aged well: Nancy is smart and weirdly good at everything (they don’t explain why she knows how to do all the things she does, but diving and freeing herself from bonds seems to be easy enough for her. Given male characters are always allowed to be perfect without training, I’ll allow it). For a female character written in the 30s she has plenty of agency and does not once rely on a man’s help to do anything, which is why I always enjoyed her books. Carson Drew also aged well- not present that often, but useful without being interfering, and his trust in his daughter is refreshing. As for the other main characters in the series… they didn’t even show up in this book so I can’t really comment on this.

Characters who aged badly: plot twist- I’m adding Nancy here too. She is a little too perfect, too polished, a common criticism by modern readers, though at the time of publication was her main selling point. Additionally, earlier editions of the series featured racist comments made by Nancy, although those have since been taken out. However, the publisher and creator of the first books was not a very pleasant person, so I find myself able to separate that from Nancy’s character.

Favourite scene/quote: ‘The article went on to tell that Nancy had just completed a course in advanced skin diving in the Muskoka River, and that she had finished first in total points in the twenty student group’.

I find this quote amusing because there is really no need for Nancy to be good at every single thing, and this is a good example of the many times throughout the series that Nancy is the ‘best’ at a very random activity that is often never mentioned again.

As for my favourite scene, though nothing interesting actually ends up happening in the orchard, I did like the eerie setting of Nancy dressing up as a ghost and chilling behind a tree for a while (okay it was partially eerie, mostly just oddly comedic). The actress/impostor posing as Nancy provided a few good scenes, too, but for the main villain of the story she was hardly in as many scenes as she should’ve been in.

After doing some research, I discovered something most interesting: Nancy was written with significantly more character by the original ghost-writer of the series, a woman named Mildred Wirt Benson, who wrote Nancy ‘embodying qualities that she wished she had’- but the publisher Edward Stratemeyer did not want a bold female character, and she was rewritten with similar dialogue but now accompanied with ‘dainty’ verbs to sweeten her words. Stratemeyer was also known for his beliefs that women belonged in the kitchen, and the only reason he created Nancy in the first place was to capitalise on young female readers who wanted their own equivalent of the Hardy Boys.

With all of this in mind, it’s very possible that the Nancy from my memories is a mix of the older and new editions, which allowed Nancy more personality as the series went on, no longer needing to confirm to the sexist expectations of the 1930s. And despite these origins, Nancy Drew aged quite well as an unintended feminist icon: she solves her mysteries alone and rarely needs Ned’s help at all; in fact, most of the time, Nancy is the one doing the saving. It’s nice to think that, almost one hundred years later, Mildred Wirt Benson’s version of Nancy is the one being kept alive, both on paper and onscreen.

Trixie Belden and the Secret of the Mansion Review

Post-read: ★★★★★

Synopsis: energetic teen Trixie Belden’s boring town of Sleepyside is turned upside down when a rich new family moves onto the property opposite her own, an old miser winds up in hospital and his empty mansion is suddenly inhabited by a runaway boy, and a missing fortune is waiting to be uncovered.

Whewww.

This was a massive breath of fresh air after the Lilac Inn! After being so unimpressed by both Blyton and Keene’s writing, Tatham’s writing restored my faith in my childhood judgement. Her words flowed well and the conversation between the characters was very natural. The blank slate characters in the Lilac Inn were showed up by the animated and multiple-dimensional characters in the Secret of the Mansion, and I never once felt the need to rush myself through the chapters.

Unlike my method of choosing a Nancy Drew book, I simply decided on reading the first Trixie book for this review. While I almost went for a later book where all the main characters had been introduced, I couldn’t remember how Trixie first met Honey and Jim, which I felt was pretty important to her character. I’m very glad I did. Even in the first book, Trixie endures so much character development (contrasting very strongly with Nancy’s flawless existence). Longing for a friend, Trixie takes herself up the hill to the newly habited mansion to introduce herself and her little brother Bobby, who she is babysitting to earn money to buy herself a horse. There she meets rich girl Honey Wheeler, a sickly and sheltered but sweet girl of the same age, whose parents pay little attention to her. Things fall into place with all the expected luck of a teen heroine- Honey’s governess is a lovely woman who wants Honey to befriend Trixie and offers to look after Bobby, and of course Honey’s stables are now filled with horses and a stable hand who can teach her to ride.

But for every easy thing comes an opportunity for Trixie to grow: she comes to admire Honey’s bravery after previously being irritated by her fear of trying outdoor activities; she ignores the stable hand’s orders not to ride the stallion and falls as a result, leading to her having to work to regain his trust and also being taught the valuable lesson to recognise her own limits; finally, as much as Trixie hates looking after little Bobby, when he is bitten by a snake Trixie is resourceful and quick on her feet in helping him, keeping him well enough until a doctor and other adults arrive.

Rather like the Lilac Inn, the mystery of the story centres on the hidden will to a supposed fortune of the elderly man who lived in the old mansion not far from Honey’s new home. On a whim, Trixie nags Honey into accompanying her to snoop around the building, leading to their discovery of the old man’s nephew Jim hiding there. By the end of the book, the girls have helped Jim to find the will and safely escape his abusive step-father. Later in the series, Jim is adopted by the Wheeler family, and also becomes Trixie’s primary love interest (I love that this relationship is not at all rushed either).

The reading level for the Trixie Belden series is listed as grade 3 and above, but I had no problems being completely involved and intrigued by the storyline and characters as a twenty-three year old. I think I’ll continue to read the series on my own time, as I always enjoyed the full character line-up developed after a few books in.

Characters who aged well: Trixie! If my praise during this review didn’t make clear enough, she’s a wonderful character with great development. Honey and Jim are also solid characters, and Bobby and Trixie’s parents are well-written too- supportive and kind, but realistic concerning raising Trixie to be a responsible kid. Also going to add that Trixie’s group of best friends- self-named the Bob-Whites of the Glen and consisting of her two older brothers Brian and Mart, Honey, Jim and the later additions of Dan and Di- have a strong presence and very distinct personalities when they show up in the later novels.

Characters who aged badly: nobody! All the side characters were well done, including the villain. He wasn’t over-the-top by any means, his abuse of Jim was both emotion and physical in a realistic manner that concerned the adults around him enough to comment on it without actually taking proper action to help him, as it often goes. I appreciated the author’s ability to write a male character the vulnerable one, to recognise what was wrong about the situation, and to gladly accept help from two girls younger than him.

Favourite scene/quote: “‘serves him right,’ Trixie said, wiping her grimy hands on her rolled-up blue jeans. ‘The mean old miser. You should have left him lying in the driveway, Dad.’”

An earlier quote in the book, this sets the tone for Trixie’s character: she’s messy, no-nonsense and cheeky. For a female character written in 1948 I found this quite amusing. There’s none of the internalised misogyny that often popped up in ‘tomboy’ characters of the time: Trixie just is what she is, and she’s great.

A standout scene would be Trixie sucking the venom from her brother’s snakebite to save him, and the chapters focused on the developing friendship with Honey and Jim while the two teach Trixie how to handle horses is also enjoyable.

Overall verdict:

My mother was right, Trixie Belden is far better than Nancy Drew in every category I can think of. I wish that the series had gained the popularity that Nancy Drew did, because it would make for a fun movie or television show. There is an eighteen year gap between the publication of the first novel from both series, and both heroines saw many more books written after that. Nancy Drew is so persistent, however, that multiple movies and even a recent CW show have been made, though it is not very accurate to the books at all. Even now, modern-day setting Nancy Drew mysteries are still being released under the Carolyn Keene pseudonym, showing her unending mythical status.

I still love Nancy, bad writing and all, but in all fairness, Miss Trixie deserves a cut of the nostalgic hype surrounding the girl-detective genre. I’d also like to bask in the poetic justice of Nancy not only remaining a more iconic character than the Hardy Boys, but also becoming more feminist as time goes on. I’m sure the publisher is rolling in his grave!

#nancy drew #carolyn keene #trixie belden #girl detective #fiction #university project #nostalgia #feminism #female characters

10 notes · View notes

highfivecalum · 4 years

Text

Currents {Surfer!CH}

a/n: ok so this was supposed to be like surfer!calum but uhhh i kind of forgot that whole plot as i was writing it lmao? there’s some, like beachy themes and mentions of surfing, and i didn’t want to change the moodboard because it’s kind of relevant, but it’s not like, all about surfing. but i still hope y’all enjoy this 17k random cute calum content hehehe happy reading :)!!! (also if this flops let’s pretend it didn’t happen because i haven’ written in like months) ~~~

***

Currents: A body of water or air moving in a definite direction.

Summary: Needing a change and needing to get away from her over-controlling mother, Joey moves across the world to live with her cousin in Australia, where she meets mysterious surfer boy, Calum.

***

“Joey!” Her head snapped up from her phone, a smile making its way onto her tired face at the sight of her cousin that she hadn’t seen in way too many years. Elise, Joey’s cousin who was only four years older than her, was nice enough to let her escape her life in Seattle, and stay with her in Australia for however long she pleased. “You look exhausted.”

“Yeah.” Joey laughed, pulling away from their hug, smiling down at her shorter, but older and gorgeous, cousin. She missed having her cousin around. Elise having left the city to move to Australia after meeting and falling in love with a man who was from there, Joey rarely got to see her her favorite, and only cousin on her mother’s side. “Fifteen hour flight will do that to you.”

“Right, right.” Elise hummed, picking up the three bags that Joey brought, and nodded her head in the direction of where her car was parked, still on with her hazard lights flashing. She knew they couldn’t stand there any longer and chat due to the crazy traffic that the busy airport brought. “Let’s getcha home!”

The drive from the airport to Elise’s house in the small city just outside of Sydney was only twenty minutes away, and for that Joey was thankful. All she wanted to do was take a shower to wash off the airplane smell and grime, put on her favorite t-shirt, and crawl into bed. She knew that getting used to the time difference, and sleeping off the jet lag, would take more time than she wanted it to, but, she had all the time in the world to sleep and adapt to her new, temporary home.

“So,” Elise tapped on the steering wheel and glanced at her cousin, smiling at the way she was looking at her surroundings in awe. She had never been to Australia before, and Elise remembered her reaction was the exact same the first time she visited. “How long are you planning on staying?”

Joey puffed out a breath of air and readjusted herself, turning to lean against the window of the bright yellow Jeep that Elise was driving, and pulled her legs to her chest. She twisted her lips from side to side, not knowing the answer to give Elise, since she didn’t even know herself. “No clue. Not forever, obviously, but just long enough for my mom to realize that what she’s pushing me to do is what she wants, not me.”

“Still pushing the whole lawyer thing, huh?”

“She won’t give it up.” Joey rolled her eyes. Even the mere thought of her mother pissed her the hell off. She loved her mother dearly, she really did, but she couldn’t stand the pressure and all the pushing her mother was doing. “I mean, I’m twenty-two years old, for God’s sake. I think it’s a little too late to go to law school.”

Elise giggled, nodding her head in agreement. “How is your mom? I haven’t talked to her in months.”

“Fine, I guess. Just the same neurotic, control freak, mother Jill.”

“Well, now you got me; fun, laid back, favorite cousin, Elise.”

Joey laughed, shaking her head in amusement, but still smiling at the thought of being in a new city, with her favorite cousin who lived two minutes away from the beach, thousands and thousands away from her mother.

***

The Australian sun shining through Joey’s curtain-less windows was a pleasant change from the gloomy and rainy Seattle sky that she was used to. Letting out a high pitched squeal as she stretched her tired and sore body, Joey stared up at her ceiling in complete happiness. She had been sleeping on and off for nearly a week, trying to get used to the time change and rid herself of jet lag. It seemed to be working, considering Joey felt much better that morning than all of the others.

“She’s alive!” Elise clapped her hands at the sight of a tired looking, bed-headed Joey in nothing but her oversized t-shirt that stopped mid thigh. “I was just about to go upstairs and make sure you were still breathing.”

“Not to worry. I’m all rested up now.” Joey assured her, sliding into one of the wooden chairs at the dining table, crossing her arms on the table and resting her head on them. She hummed happily, contently, at the feeling of the sun beaming down on her and the smell of bacon cooking and coffee brewing. “So,” Joey got up to pour herself a cup of coffee. “What are we doing today?”

Elise laughed, flipping the bacon over and spun around, resting her back against the counter to look at Joey. “Whatever you wanna do,” Elise winked. “We could grab some lunch and go to the beach?” Joey nodded her head in agreement, wanting nothing more than to explore her new town. “But, do you mind if my boyfriend comes with? He’s been out of town teaching surfing lessons and I told him we could hang out.”

Joey’s ears perked up at the sound of meeting Elise’s boyfriend she had heard so much about. “That’s fine.” Joey finished her coffee and put the cup in the sink. “I’ll go get ready then!”

Joey skipped up the stairs and happily pranced to her bedroom that she loved so much. Seafoam green walls with yellow, pink, and blue objects and accent pieces to match it, a huge window taking up a whole wall, and her own small, but personal, bathroom.

After her much needed shower, Joey let her dirty blonde hair air dry, keeping it natural in loose waves, applied her daily light amount of makeup, and dressed herself in a yellow bikini with a white, flowing cover up on top.

She felt a bit exposed, with her bikini showing through her coverup, but Elise assured her that nobody would be staring, it was normal for people to walk around in just swimwear. That was one thing, out of many, that Joey would have to get used to.

***

“Are we day drinking?” Joey asked as her eyes looked through the menu that Elise had already memorized, having been there a million times. The menu was endless and Joey really wasn’t sure what she was in the mood to eat.

Elise scoffed out a laugh, Ashton’s high pitched giggle following after hers. On both of their days off they enjoyed drinking and spending time at the beach. “Is that even a question? Of course we are.”

They ordered their respective drinks and food and made small talk while they waited for their food to be served. Clearing his throat, Ashton leaned forward and laced his fingers together. “So, Joey, tell me about yourself.”

“Erm, what do you want to know?” Joey laughed nervously. She wasn’t sure why she was nervous, really, it was just her cousin’s boyfriend, after all. But that question always put her on edge.

“The basics.” Ashton shrugged. Joey went on to tell Ashton about herself; why she moved away, how long she was planning on staying, and so forth.

“I’m currently job hunting,” Joey puffed out her cheeks. Job hunting was one of her least favorite things, ever. It took way too long and was way too stressful and was never promising. “El said she isn’t charging me rent, but I feel bad, so I want to pitch in and help out.”

“Oh, really? Well, I own the surf shop down the street and I’m looking for some new people to work. I have a few guys workin’ for me, but they’re more focused on the surf instructor side of the shop, so I’m in need of a cashier.” Ashton told her and Joey quirked an eyebrow. “If you’re interested, you have the job.”

“Seriously? You’ll give me a job? Just like that?”

“Why not?” Ashton shrugged. “You’re Elise’s cousin, I trust my judgement, and you.”

Joey grinned happily, clinking her glass against Ashton’s, her new boss, and felt a weight lifted off of her shoulders. She finally had a job, after a week of living there, and all she could think about was how things were finally starting to look up.

***

Joey was nervous, to say the least, as she walked into Ashton’s shop, Surf and Co. A basic name, she thought, but that’s exactly what it was - surfing equipment, swimwear, towels, and everything else that is a beach essential.

“Joey, hey!” Ashton waved her over to the counter where the cash register and another guy were standing. Another very attractive guy. “This is Luke,” Joey looked at him, taking in his bright blue eyes, blonde curly hair, and tanned skin. “He’ll be training you. He’s a great friend and a good teacher.”

Oh, God. Joey thought. She was already nervous for her first day and now this ridiculously attractive surfer was training her? Her body felt like it was on fire and it wasn’t just from the sun that was shining through the large window to her left.

“Nice to meet ya, Joey,” Luke extended his hand for her to shake and she did so politely, and nervously. His smile was bright and pretty and it had Joey smiling back easily.

“Yeah, you too, Luke.”

Ashton excused himself, going to his office in the back of the store to finish some paperwork and payroll, leaving Luke to show Joey the ropes of the store.

Joey had worked in retail before in Seattle, so she learned quite quickly how to work the register which Luke was thankful for, since it gave them time to chill out and get to know each other better, since it was a slow Monday afternoon. The store didn’t usually pick up until after three when people were starting to get off work.

“Have you made any friends yet?” Luke asked, spinning around in the wooden stool that was behind the counter.

“Erm, not really.” Joey laughed sadly, with a small shrug. “I mean I haven’t really had time, you know? With trying to get adjusted to everything, unpacking, and trying to find a job, I’ve been a bit busy.”

Luke modded his head in understanding. “Well, at least you have Elise, right?” Joey hummed in agreement, a small smile pulling at her lips at the thought of her cousin. “She has a lot of friends, including me and the rest of the guys, so I’m sure you’ll be meeting new people soon. But, in the meantime, you can hang out with me.” Luke flashed her a beautifully blinding smile, showing off his pearly whites.

Joey smiled at how nice and thoughtful Luke was being, even though she didn’t know who the hell the ‘rest of the guys’ were, but she was sure she would find out soon enough.

***

The party that Elise had talked Joey into going to was in full swing. Ashton’s house was packed full of people, only three of them that Joey knew, but the alcohol was helping her let loose and her anxiety dissipated with each sip she took, even though the liquor burned her throat.

A sudden elbow to her back had Joey spinning around to see who was behind her, though she was sure it wasn’t anybody she knew, but was surprised to see Luke. “Oh, hey.” Joey laughed.

“Joey, hi!” Luke pulled her into a side hug, slinging his arm over her shoulder, Joey happily reciprocating the hug. He smelled like booze, which was to be expected, and she sure she did, too. “Havin’ fun?”

“I guess so,” Joey shrugged. “Don’t really know anybody here, though. And I’m not sure where Elise ran off to.”

“Well,” Luke dropped his arm, taking Joey’s hand in his, pulling her along with him. “Let’s go change that!” Joey really appreciated how friendly and welcoming Luke was being, considering she was the new girl in a town where everybody knew everybody, and he could be spending his time doing anything else. “Guys, this is Joey!”

Two guys, sitting around the fire, looked up at the sound of Luke’s voice, one of them smiling up at the girl that Luke was introducing, the other’s face stoic, never changing.

“Nice t’meet you, Joey! I’m Michael.” He stood up, shaking her hand happily, Michael grinned at her. He, too, like every other male in Australia, it seemed, was also quite cute with a contagious smile. “You’re Elise’s cousin, right?”

“That’s right.” Joey smiled at him. “Nice to meet you, too.”

“This is Calum,” Luke pointed in the other guys' direction, Joey’s eyes following his long finger, gaze landing on the most gorgeous looking man she had ever seen, even in the darkness, she could see his face just fine from the flames from the bonfire. “You’ll be seein’ a lot of them.”

“Nice to meet you,” Joey extended her hand out to Calum as he approached her and Luke, but much to her surprise, and disappointment, all he offered her was a purse of his lips and a head nod, walking directly past her and inside the sliding doors.

“Um,” Joey frowned. “Did I do something wrong?”

“Nah,” Luke sighed sadly. “That’s just Calum, distant and non-approachable. He’s a bit closed off around new people, but you’ll get used to him in due time, no worries.”

Luke was reassuring, kind of, but Joey still didn’t like the feeling of being brushed off by a guy who she didn’t know, and who didn’t know her.

***

Calum couldn’t stop staring at her from across the kitchen. And he hated himself for it. “I thought you said that Joey is Elise’s cousin?” Calum asked Luke as the two of them leaned against Ashton’s kitchen counter.

“She is.” Luke confirmed with the nod of his head.

“So, Joey is a she?” Calum frowned, his eyes never leaving Joey, who was standing in the living room laughing at something Ashton and Michael were saying.

“You sound disappointed.” Luke said, his voice full of amusement.

“I just thought we would be gettin’ another dude around here to hang out with. Not-“

“A pretty girl?” Luke smirked, bumping Calum’s shoulder with his own, receiving an elbow to the ribs. Pretty was an understatement, Calum thought.

But, Calum knew that Luke was right. Joey was attractive, gorgeous even, with already slightly tanned skin, light colored, but not blonde hair, and a few tattoos scattered on her body. Even in the dim lighting, Calum could so clearly see how bright and pretty her green eyes were.

“What’s your deal with her? You didn’t even say hi to her, you totally stiffed her, dude.” Luke frowned down at his barely shorter friend. Luke liked Joey so far, only knowing her for a few days, but he liked her vibe and her personality. He didn’t understand why, without Calum even knowing her, didn’t.

Calum simply shrugged, pushing himself off the counter to walk away from Luke and busy himself with the other people he knew in the house, those people not being his friends, who were surrounding Joey and listening to her animatedly tell a story, with Elise joining in every so often.

Calum was going to stay far away from her. Or at least try to.

***

“That’s so amazing,” Joey sighed in amazement as she watched the dozens of people effortlessly surfing the waves, Elise and her friends included. She never thought she would be living on a beach, but she loved every second of it, even if it was only the second and a half week of her being there. “I wish I could be that good at something.”

“Why can’t you be?” Michael asked, looking at her behind his shaded eyes. The two of them, the only two in the group of friends that didn’t know how to surf, were sitting on the huge beach towel laid out on the sand, listening to music, and sipping Corona.

“I have no skills,” Joey admitted with a laugh. “I especially have no skills when it comes to being in the water, you know, like, water sports.”

“You and me both.” Michael snorted. “I’ve lived here my whole life and all my friends can surf or wakeboard, and here I am, talentless and jealous.” Michael didn’t really mind, he would rather sit and do nothing and watch his talented friends, than put the time and energy into learning something new. Laziness was something he and Joey had in common.

“We should take lessons,” Joey suggested with a cheeky smile. She bumped his shoulder with his, prompting him to look at her and crack a smile. “I’ll do it if you do it.”

“Seriously?” Michael laughed, not even being able to picture himself sitting, let alone standing and riding, on a surfboard. And, really, Michael was just too lazy. He wasn’t ashamed to admit it. “I would probably break my neck, so I’m gonna have to pass on that, Joey.”

“Pass on what?” Elise panted as she jogged up to the pair, shoving her board into the sand and collapsing down on the towel with Ashton, Luke, and Calum following her shortly after.

“Surfing lessons,” Joey hummed happily, her head thrown back, her hair brushing the towel below her, letting the sun bake her skin.

“You totally should!” Luke exclaimed excitedly. He would have offered to teach her, but he didn’t have enough time on his hands. “I’d give you lessons, but I’m booked for a few months, so is Ash.”

“It’s oka-“

“Calum’s not,” Ashton interrupted her quickly, kicking Calum’s foot with his own, a smirk on his face.

“I’m not what?” Calum looked up from his phone, with furrowed eyebrows, clearly confused and clearly paying no attention to the conversation at hand. Joey wasn’t surprised, really, the two times she had been around him he had totally ignored her.

“Booked for surfing lessons.”

“Oh,” Calum nodded. “Yeah, ‘m always open to taking new clients. Who are we talkin’ about?”

“Joey,” Luke smiled knowingly. He wanted the two of them to get to know each other better, wanted Calum to befriend her like he and the rest of the guys did so easily, and he knew that Calum was trying to keep his distance. But why? Luke didn’t know. And he was determined to change that.

Calum let out a heavy sigh, locking eyes with Joey who was directly across from him, biting his lower lip at the nervous expression on her face. “Fine.” Calum knew he couldn’t get out of it, and neither could Joey.

***

“Hey,” Joey stood up, wiping the sand off of her bikini bottom clad butt, smiling nervously at Calum. He didn’t look too pleased to be there and Joey knew that he was doing this against his will. “Thanks for doing this.”

“Whatever.” Calum rolled his eyes, dropping his board to the sand and pulling the wax out of the pocket of his swim trunks to wax his board. “Let’s just get this over with, yeah?”

Joey frowned, but mumbled a quiet okay and followed Calum’s lead and started waxing the board that Elise had lent to her for the day. She knew that once she got the hang of it, if she ever did, she would go out and buy her own board, but the spare one that Elise had would do for now.

After learning the basics of how to stand, where to stand, and how to work the board, Calum stretched his gorgeous body, that Joey couldn’t keep her eyes off of, and looked at her expectantly. He looked bored.

“You wanna get in the water today or wait until next time?”

“Um,” Joey bit her lip. She wasn’t sure if she was ready, but she was going to pull the trigger, and she was burning hot under the blazing sun. “Today?”

“You’re going to surf in that?” Calum nodded to her body and the black string bikini she had on. He had his wetsuit in the trunk of his car, always being prepared, but he figured that Joey, who had never surfed before, didn’t own one yet. But she could easily go to the store and pick one up for herself.

Joey looked down at herself, frowned, and looked back up at Calum. Tilting her head in confusion, Joey asked him, “What’s wrong with this?”

Calum laughed, though there wasn’t a hint of humor in it, and shook his head. Jesus, Ashton, Calum thought. “Leave it to Ashton to hire a clueless girl, who knows absolutely nothing about surfing, to work at a surf shop.”

Narrowing her eyes at him, Joey crossed her arms across her chest and tilted her head to the side, glaring at him, though he was paying no attention to her. “Why don’t you like me?”

“I don’t know you, Joey.”

“Yeah and you won’t ever get to know me if you avoid me every time we hang out.”

“Alright, let’s get one thing straight,” Calum stood up straight, eyeing her down. “We don’t hang out,” he motioned between the two of them. “You hang out with your cousin, who is dating my best friend, who I hang out with all the time. If it were up to me, we wouldn’t ever be hanging out and I would not be giving you lessons today. For free.”

“Then why are you?”

“Because Ashton and Elise would be pissed at me if I didn’t. Understand?”

“Yeah, I understand,” Joey shook her head angrily. Picking up her purse, she fished a few twenties out of her wallet and threw them in Calum’s direction, paying him for the lessons and the time wasted, even though she didn’t have to. “I understand that you’re a dick. Thanks for the lesson.”

“I don’t need your money! It’s free!” Calum yelled after her, cupping his hands around his face, as she stormed away as best as she could in her flip flops in the sand, forgetting about and leaving Elise’s spare board behind. Calum could handle getting that home to her.

Turning around, Joey continued to walk, backwards this time, and yelled back at him, with her middle fingers up in the air. “I don’t want to owe you any favors, asshole!”

***

The Australian heat is something that Joey will never get used to. After living in Seattle for over ten years, and rarely ever going on vacations, sun was a rare thing in her life. And she loved it.

The loud splashing into the pool had her peeling her eyes open to see Michael on Luke’s shoulders and Elise on Ashton’s, playing a game of chicken in the in ground pool in the backyard of Elise and Joey’s house.

The lazy, but content smile on Joey’s diminished when she saw Calum walk out of the sliding doors that led out to the backyard and pool. He was invited, of course he was, but Elise was unsure if he was actually going to come, and Joey really hoped he wouldn’t. But, of course, he showed up. Two hours late.

“Cal! You’re finally here!” Michael shouted, paying more attention to Calum than to the game, and Elise took it as her chance to push his shoulders as hard as she could and knock him into the pool. “Fuck!” Michael’s cursing was the last thing to be heard before he fell backwards into the pool.

Ashton and Elise cheered in victory about their win as Calum made himself comfortable on one of the vacant pool chairs. Joey got up to throw away her empty beer bottle, opening her mouth to offer to get anyone a drink, when Luke came barreling toward her, picking her up and throwing her over his shoulder. “Luke!” Joey squealed. “Put me down!”

She pounded her small fists against his butt, making him giggle, and he returned the favor, smacking his very large hand, against her scantily bikini bottom clad butt. Not too hard, but enough to make it jiggle slightly and enough for Calum not to be able to tear his eyes off of them.

Calum watched as Luke spun Joey around, playfully smacking her butt every few seconds, causing a feeling that Calum didn’t like in the pit of his stomach. It wasn’t anger, it wasn’t annoyance, he knew that, and he really hoped it wasn’t unwarranted jealousy.

“You ready, Joey?” Joey could almost hear the mischief in Luke’s voice.

“Ready for what?” She exclaimed, not getting an answer from Luke, as he was already running and jumping into the water, submerging them both. “Luke!” Her voice rang throughout the backyard as she wiped her face clean of pool water. “You’re such a dick!”

Splashing her in the face, Luke smirked deviously, mumbling a quiet, “not as dick of a dick as Calum,” into Joey’s ear before swimming away from her.

She almost regretted running her mouth about Calum to Luke, Ashton, and Elise while they were all at the shop, but she needed to get it off her chest before she exploded. She just didn’t understand why he hated her so much without even knowing her.

Joey rolled her eyes but silently agreed before pushing herself out of the water. Calum’s eyes were on Joey as she wrung her hair out, her half naked body due to her very small bikini, glistening with a combination of water, sweat, and tanning oil. He had to force himself to look away from her once their eyes met. He didn’t want to stop looking at her.

He may not have liked her, but he had to admit that she was surely a sight to be seen. Even a blind person could see that.

***

It pissed Joey off to no end how attractive she thought Calum was. His looks mixed with his accent and his tough, don’t give a shit, demeanor, was something that she found way too attractive. But his attitude towards her? A complete turn off.

“You’re staring,” Luke leaned over to whisper into Joey’s ear. Although it wasn’t quite whispering considering they were in a loud, crowded bar with music thumping. “Again.”

“Shut up,” Joey grumbled and sipped her Jack and Coke, practically having to tear her eyes away from Calum. “It’s just not fair,” she sighed dramatically. Luke raised his eyebrows, prompting Joey to continue. “He’s so attractive but he’s such a dickhead to me for no Goddamn reason!”

Luke snorted, finishing his drink that he had been nursing, since he was voted to be the designated driver of the night. “He’ll get past it, trust me.” Luke stood up, leaving a sloppy kiss on her cheek. “How could he not like you? You’re great, Joe.”

The corners of her lips turned up and she nodded as a thank you as she now finished her drink. She, too, got up to get another drink, but Luke stopped her since he was on his way to the bathroom, he offered to get her her next drink, which she appreciated. She wasn’t in the mood to stand and wait for ten minutes to get a drink.

Looking away from Luke, Joey and Calum’s eyes met, and she pursed her lips, and unsurprisingly, his face held no reaction. What else could she have expected? She didn’t think he would ever warm up to her. And she hated that feeling.

***

“Why is that your name?” Calum asked, finally breaking the silence between them for the first time since they got on their boards and paddled into the water, which had been almost over an hour.

“I’m sorry?” Joey furrowed her eyebrows.

“Your name - it’s a dude’s name.”

Joey scoffed out a laugh and shook her head, running her fingers through the still water. There hadn’t been many good waves that day, so Calum and Joey floated on their boards in silence while they waited. “It’s actually Josephine. I’ve hated it since I could say it, so I’ve always gone by Joey.”

“Why did you move here?” She looked over at Calum again, looking so perfect and natural on his surfboard, and sighed. Was he really trying to make small talk?

“Are you asking because you’re genuinely curious or you’re just bored of the silence?”

Calum shrugged. “Little bit of both, I guess.”

That surprised Joey. Calum had never taken an interest in her life and she really didn’t think he ever would, but she didn’t mind. She appreciated it, really. And she was deathly bored of sitting in the water without speaking.

“My mother is an overbearing control freak who tries to plan my every move,” Joey spit out without hesitation, shaking her head distastefully at the thought of her mother. “She’s been pushing me to go to law school since I was thirteen and never gave up. Finally, a few months ago, I told her I didn’t want to and I told her I needed to get away from her and from the city. A twenty minute phone call with Elise later and now I’m here.”

Calum opted to stay quiet and simply nod his head. He couldn’t imagine how stressful it was for Joey to grow up with so much pressure on her. His upbringing was much different with his parents letting him choose his own career path, letting him choose to do whatever it was he wanted to do, with their support.

“Sounds like shit.” Was all Calum had to say. Joey couldn’t help but laugh and nod her head in agreement. Calum watched her look out at the water, the sun glistening down on her and the ocean. As his eyes trailed down her body, they caught sight of a tattoo he hadn’t noticed before. It was a date of some sort in Roman numerals. “What’s that tattoo mean?”

Joey looked down at her ribs, tracing the date lightly, a sad smile on her face that Calum could clearly see. “The date my father died.”

Calum’s lips made an O shape and he suddenly felt bad for asking and prying into her personal life. He hadn’t ever asked her personal questions before, so he really didn’t know anything about her. It was weird, for Calum, to hear Joey open up to him.

“Hey,” Joey looked up at the sound of his voice and followed the nod of his head, looking in front of them to finally see a wave forming. “That’s all you.”

Joey swallowed the nervous lump in her throat, but pushed her anxiety to the side and paddled forward. She did everything Calum had taught her in the three lessons they’ve had, not many, but enough for her to grasp the concept of how to catch and ride a wave. Maybe not well, but she could get the job done.

The lessons paid off as Joey successfully caught and rode the wave, her excited squeals of excitement and clapping had Calum smiling at her smile and happiness against his will. He watched as she dropped into the water, popping back up just seconds later, and swam over to where Calum was sitting on his own board. Their smiles mirrored each other’s.

“Hell yeah!” Calum held his hand up for a high-five which Joey happily gave him and she tried to paddle away, but couldn’t get any further as Calum wrapped his hand around hers and pulled her closer to him. “That was amazing, really. For your first time catching a wave - I’m impressed.”

“Thanks, Calum.” Joey blushed, but couldn’t help but smile widely, showing off her pretty and perfect teeth. “All thanks to you.”

“Please,” Calum scoffed. “You’ve got natural talent.”

Joey rolled her eyes but smiled at the man in front of her, who, for once, was being nice to her. It was a weird, one-eighty, change for the two of them to be talking and laughing together, but they both welcomed it.

The moment was perfect, really. With Joey and Calum’s faces only inches away, the sound of waves crashing, and the sight of the sun setting behind Joey and in front of Calum, it was the perfect moment, Calum thought. And he didn’t want it to slip away.

Before he could process it, Calum’s lips were on Joey’s and before Joey could think about what she was doing, she was kissing him back. Calum couldn’t find it in himself to stop kissing her, not until he felt her hands in his hair, prompting him to pull away.

Their breaths were heavy and their chests panting. “We, uh,” Calum’s breath fanned over Joey’s lips and her eyes fluttered shut, hoping he would press his against hers one more time. “We should get going before it gets dark out.”

With that, Calum pulled away, paddling towards the shore, leaving Joey more confused than ever.

***

“Dude,” Elise snapped in Joey’s face, knocking her out of her daydream. Joey looked up from her nails and the chipped polish she had absentmindedly been picking at and raised her eyebrows at her cousin in question. “What is with you? You’ve been acting weird lately.”

“Ugh,” Joey threw her head back in exasperation. She had debated telling Elise about her and Calum’s weird kiss in the ocean, but she wasn’t sure if she wanted to spill the beans when it really wasn’t that big of a deal. “Calum, um,” Joey cleared her throat anxiously. “I- Calum kissed me.”

“What?” Elise nearly spit her coffee out on the concrete below them. The two of them were sitting outside at the small table in the corner of their backyard, in the shade but could still feel like the sun on them, and it was nice, but the conversation about to take place was not nice. “I’m sorry - he what?”

“After I caught a wave, he seemed so happy and proud of me and I guess we got caught up in the moment and he kissed me.” Joey explained more in depth. “And then he swam away and acted like nothing happened!”

“Well, have you talked to him about it?”

Joey made a bored face. As if she had talked to him. Even if she did try to speak to him about it, she was sure he wouldn’t give her the time of day. “Yeah, right. I haven’t seen him since and I don’t have his phone number, so,” Joey trailed off in annoyance.

“Want me to talk to him?”

“God no,” Joey shook her head quickly. She didn’t want anybody else to get involved. It was her and Calum’s mess, so they had to sort it out themselves, as civil adults. “I’ll deal with it. Eventually.”

Which was going to be hard, because Joey really didn’t think Calum could act like an adult, let alone a civil one.

***

After the bar, Calum walked back to Elise’s with her and Ashton, and stayed for another drink, chatting and laughing with them in the kitchen. They all had a good buzz from being out, and Calum was in an even better mood since Joey was too tired to go out, so she was glued to Elise’s side like she always was. He hadn’t seen or spoken to her since their weird kiss, that he, regretfully, initiated, and he wasn’t looking forward to seeing her.

“Alright,” Calum chugged down the rest of his beer and stood up from the stool that was at the marble island, and shrugged his jacket back on. It was getting late and he didn’t want to be walking home too late, even though his house was only a ten minute walk away. “I’m outta here. See you guys later.”

“Get home safe! Love you!” Elise and Ashton yelled as he let himself out through the sliding doors that led to the backyard and a walkway directly to his own house.

He stopped in his tracks, unlit cigarette between his lips and lighter in hand, when he saw Joey, curled up under a blanket, a hoodie that he was pretty sure was his that Elise stole from him, with the hood up and weed leaf socks on her feet. Why she was outside? He had no clue. It was nice out, sure, but she had a perfectly fine bed inside just a few feet away.

He saw the empty glass of wine on the ground next to her, as he slowly and quietly approached her sleeping body. She looked peaceful, and adorable, as she slept, which Calum hated to admit, and he didn’t want to wake her up, but it was half past one in the morning, and he didn’t want to leave her out there in the dark and with the mosquitos.

“Hey,” Calum, crouched down to lightly shake Joey’s body, watching her stir and open her eyes, looking around in confusion. She clearly wasn’t planning on sleeping outside for the night. “Why’re you asleep out here?”

“Hmm,” Joey hummed tiredly and closed her eyes again, cuddling into herself more with her knees pulled up to her chest. Even though she was outside on a lawn chair, she was too comfy to get up. “Spider in my room. Couldn’t find it to kill it.”

Calum snorted. Typical, he thought. “C’mon, let‘s get you inside, yeah?”

“Can’t get up.”

“Jesus,” Calum huffed and pocketed his long forgotten, and much needed, cigarette, and stood up to his full height, taking the blanket off of her and draping it over his shoulder, effortlessly picking her up bridal style, and made his way inside. Joey was quite small, barely over one hundred and ten pounds and shorter than Calum, most people were, so carrying her was easy and effortless for him.

Toeing her bedroom door open, Calum flicked the light switch on causing Joey to groan and hide her face in his chest. He fucking hated now nice and natural it felt.

He had never been in her room before, didn’t have a reason to, so he looked around as he settled Joey in her bed. He had been in the room before, of course, but not since Joey made it her own. Fairy lights were hung above her bed and candles were scattered everywhere, and her bed sheets were bright white with flowers on them, unlike the boring gray ones Elise used to have on the bed.

It seemed to fit her, Calum thought, and he caught himself smiling at the picture on her nightstand, of her and Elise when they were younger. “Wait,” Calum was stopped from walking any further, his plans on leaving Joey to sleep long forgotten as the grip she had on his wrist loosened. “Stay. Please.”

Calum was hesitant, one because Joey was nearly in a full slumber, and two because he was a little bit more than tipsy and the offer sounded way too appealing. Going against his better judgment, Calum sighed heavily and took a seat on the other side of her bed, his shoes on the floor next to him, and his body above the blankets, not under like Joey was.

He couldn’t fall asleep, with her right next to him and her perfume in his nose, that was for damn sure. So he sat there, wide awake, staring at the ceiling. And before Joey could wake up, Calum was gone. He wasn’t sure what he regretted more; staying the night or leaving before she woke up.

***

The little bell above the door rang throughout the shop, and Joey locked and put her phone in the drawer to her left, wanting to look professional while she greeted the new customer. “Welcome to Surf and C-“ Joey’s words died on her tongue as she made eye contact with her mother, who she hadn’t seen in over a month. “Mom?”

“Josephine.” Jill smiled, though it was clearly fake, and looked around the shop. Her nose scrunched up at the sight of her daughter behind the counter, wearing a bathing suit with a see thru shirt and jean shorts on, her flip flops on the floor below her as she sat criss cross applesauce on the stool.

“Wh-what are you doing here?” Joey was shocked, to say the least. The last time she saw or spoke to her mother, they were screaming at each other and saying things neither of them meant, and would soon regret.

“I came to see how you were doing, sweetie.” Jill rested her arms on the counter across from Joey. Joey swallowed nervously, knowing full well that her mother would have nothing good to say. “Seems like you’re doing worse than you were in Seattle.”

“Mom-“

“You could have had it all, Josephine! A good, stable, job in a law firm, not a beach shop, and a nice man in your life. What do you have here?” Jill held her arms up, motioning to the empty store she was working in. “You have nothing going for you here. Have you even met anyone you can foresee a future with?”

“Did you really travel eight thousand miles to come lecture me?” Joey asked, completely ignoring the questions her mother was asking her and the disapproval in her voice. Joey wasn’t having it.

“I came to bring you home.”

“I’m not coming home, mom.”

“Josephine-“

“No! I’m not leaving here. Not yet.” Joey stood her ground, standing up to her mother for only the second, or third, time in her life. “You want me to leave, you want me to go to law school, you want me to find a husband. You. It has always been about you! I’m a grown woman, I’m done listening to you and your bullshit.”

Joey’s voice cracked and her eyes and nose stung and she knew she was about to start crying. Not tears of sadness, but of anger and frustration. She couldn’t stand her mother and the need for her to be perfect. Joey would never be perfect.

“You want me to be this perfect daughter and guess what? I’m not! I’m not the daughter you want me to be and I never will be. Not as long as I’m around you.”

“Fine,” Jill rubbed her gloss covered lips together and picked up her purse from the chair next to her. Joey’s eyes were filled with unshed tears. “I just want you to know that if you do change your mind and come back to Seattle, you don’t have a place in my home anymore.”

The tears finally fell. “I don’t want one.” With that, Jill turned on her heel and stormed out of the shop, no goodbyes, no I love you’s, nothing, and Joey couldn’t find it in her to care, really.

Once the door was shut, Joey hid her face in her hands and let the tears fall. She wasn’t sobbing, her shoulders weren’t shaking and there weren’t any loud sobs leaving her mouth, just a few tears that she shouldn’t have even been shedding over her mother.

“Uh, hey.” At the sound of Calum’s voice, Joey’s head snapped up. Of course he was there - the last person she wanted to see. She hastily wiped at her cheeks and avoided all eye contact with him. “You okay?”

“How long have you been here?”

“Long enough.” Calum smiled innocently. “That sounded rough.”

Joey scoffed. “No shit.”

Joey wasn’t sure what she was expecting. Maybe a half ass “I’m sorry” from Calum that he didn’t entirely mean, or total silence, but sure as hell not a hug from him. It was foreign, hugging him. They had never been so close together, despite their kiss and him laying in her bed with her - both of which they acted like didn’t happen.

“I know I don’t know the situation, but you shouldn’t let her get to you like that, yeah?” Calum mumbled, his cheek pressed against the top of Joey’s head. This is the closest, and longest, they had ever been touching each other. “I know I obviously didn’t know you in Seattle, but you seem happy here, from what I can tell. You shouldn’t let her show up here out of nowhere and fuck up your mood.”

Joey sniffled and nodded her head, her hair rubbing against Calum’s bare chest due to his wetsuit being unzipped and only hanging around his hips. “You’re right,” Joey’s voice was quiet and she figured that the goosebumps that rose on Calum’s skin were from the cold air, not her breath. “Thanks, Calum.”

“Am I interrupting something?” Luke appeared out of nowhere with a smirk on his face, and Calum, quickly and sadly, pulled away from their hug. It was too short for Calum’s liking and he found himself wanting to hold her for longer, to make her feel better after getting berated from her mother. He had no clue where these unexpected feelings came from and he didn’t want anyone to know about them. Not Luke, not Michael, not Ashton, and especially not Joey or Elise.

“Just tryin’ to cheer your friend up so she stops complaining.” Calum brushed him off, trying to act like he didn’t actually care about Joey or her feelings, which wasn’t true. Clapping him on the shoulder, Calum grabbed his surfboard and exited the shop, leaving Luke confused and Joey with an even bigger frown on her face.

Why the fuck was he so confusing?

***

“Oh, fuck.” Calum cursed under his breath as he watched another, cocky and selfish, surfer swim up on Joey and take her wave right out from under her. There were some competitive surfers in their town, it wasn’t a secret, but Calum was hoping to avoid them while he and Joey were in the water. Calum knew that Joey wasn’t really ready to go up against any other surfers, wasn’t as strong, and he was worried about what would happen.

It was unexpected and Joey hadn’t even seen the much bigger and better surfer swimming up next to her, too focused on trying to surf the wave she knew she could catch. Caught off guard, a guttural scream left her lips, catching the attention of Calum and the rest of the few surfers scattered around the beach. Calum was instantly alert, ignoring everything else around him as he watched Joey’s body fly through the air.

Her body hit the water, hard, her head smacking against her board and the impact from the huge wave and the pressure of the water splitting her board in half. “Fuck,” Calum cursed again as he paddled towards her, trying to see if he could spot her, but could only see one half of her board, the waves too hard and too big to be able to see her just yet. “C’mon, Joey.” Calum nervously cracked his knuckles.

The waves kept coming at her, the cord of her board still attached to her ankle and stuck in the coral that cut her leg up, and as the seconds passed, Calum grew more and more anxious. She had been under water far too long for his liking, so, ripping off his own cord, Calum dove into the water to find her.

The salt water stung his eyes, but that was the least of his worries, all he could think about was Joey and making sure she was okay, and it wasn’t too late. He found her seconds later, eyes closed and her body floating in her own blood, and he was beyond thankful that sharks in the water they were in were rare.

The next few seconds were a blur to Calum. He didn’t even remember pulling her out of the water and putting her on his board, quickly but safely paddling them out of the water and to the sand and screaming at the lifeguard to call an ambulance. He checked her pulse on her wrist and neck and panicked. He thanked God that Ashton made him take a CPR class in order for him to be a surf instructor, and went to work on Joey right away, trying to get her back to consciousness.

“Come on, Joe. Don’t fuckin’ die on me.” Calum grunted, pressing his lips to hers and pushing on her chest. His panic and anxiety and worry dissipated, just the smallest amount, as Joey’s eyes fluttered open and she was sputtering water out of her mouth as she slowly sat up, coughing up all the salt water that invaded her lungs. “Oh, thank God.” Calum wrapped his arms around her, holding her head in his hands as it rested against his chest to steady her weak body.

She was panting, tears in her burning eyes, her mouth dry, and her throat raw. She couldn’t speak, it seemed she didn’t know how. All she could focus on was Calum’s warm, bare chest against her cheek, his hands running up and down her back, and the sounds of sirens getting closer and closer.

“Come on,” Calum helped her weak body to her feet and wrapped his arm around her waist. Her legs were wobbly and her left ankle had a deep, bleeding cut, so Calum tried to be as gentle as possible, “Let’s get you checked out, yeah?”

She sat on the edge of the ambulance, shivering, teeth chattering, and her usually pretty pink lips turning blue. The medic asked a series of questions and Joey simply shook her head yes or no, not being able to find her voice just yet, too in shock from everything that had just happened.

“We’re going to take you to the hospital to get you checked out for a concussion and to stitch up your leg, miss. Is that okay?”

“Um, y-yeah.” Joey nodded her head, finally opening her mouth to talk, taking a deep breath from the oxygen mask that was covering her mouth and nose before removing it from her face. “That’s fine.”

“Do you have an emergency contact?” Joey shook her head no. “Is there anyone you want me to call?”

Ashton and Elise were out of town for the week for their anniversary and really, Joey couldn’t think of anyone else to call. Her mind was completely blank. It felt like it was full of sand and saltwater. “I’ll follow you there, yeah?”

Her gaze snapped up from her shaky hands to Calum, who was draping a light flannel over her half naked body, subsiding her shaking just a tiny bit. Joey almost forgot that Calum was even there, but how could she? He had just saved her life.

“O-okay.” Joey rasped and Calum left a quick kiss on her forehead before the medics shut the doors behind them and took off to the hospital.

Calum looked over his shoulder, seeing Colton, the guy who so carelessly knocked over and nearly killed Joey, laughing with his friends in the water, acting as if he didn’t almost just take a girl's life. Calum debated on paddling back out in the water to confront him about it, which would no doubt lead to a fight of some sort, but he figured that Joey and her wellbeing was more important, and he would leave talking to Colton for a different day.

***

Joey hated hospitals. The last time she was in one she lost her father and she hadn’t been back to one since - a whole four years. She avoided them at all costs, but with a huge gash on her leg and a possible concussion, she knew she had to go with the medics. She would have rather driven there with Calum, but the medics told her that going with them was the best and most safe option, so she didn’t argue. She didn’t have the energy to argue.

“Hey,” Calum’a voice was quiet, knowing that Joey’s head was in pain and she still hadn’t fully recovered from the scary accident. Calum rubbed her bare thigh comfortingly, although he wasn’t sure how comforting it was, and lightly squeezed it. “You okay?”

“I think so,” Joey smiled tiredly. She was exhausted and her whole entire body felt heavy and weak, apparently almost dying takes a lot out of you. She played with the much longer sleeves of Calum’s flannel she still had on, opting to not wear the ugly hospital gown and sighed tiredly. “Thanks for saving my life.”

Calum couldn’t help but laugh as he scuffed his shoes against the linoleum floor. A small, careless shrug pulled at his shoulders. “Course.”

“Ma’am?” Joey and Calum both looked to their to see the doctor approaching them with a clipboard consisting of medical instructions to follow and her discharge papers. “You’re good to go now, but I recommend having someone stay with you for the first night just to make sure you’re okay and monitored. Is there anyone you can call to stay with you? Do you live alone?”

“I, uh, I-I live with my cousin but she’s out of town until Monday night.” Joey cleared her scratchy throat. “And I-I don’t know who else-“

“I can,” Calum interrupted. He figured he was going to have to drive her home anyway, and he definitely didn’t want her to be alone after what happened, and he had no other plans for his day, so he wanted to help as much as he could. “I mean, if that’s okay with you.”

“Are you sure? I don’t want to inconvenience you, Calum.”

“You’re kidding, right?” Calum chuckled incredulously. If this had happened a month ago, Calum wouldn’t hesitate to just drop her off and leave her to fend for herself, but Calum, even though he didn’t want to admit it, cared about Joey. “You almost just died, Joe, I want to help you. It’s the least I can do.”

“You just saved my life, Calum. You’ve helped enough.”

“You’re not gonna win this argument, love.” Calum smiled sweetly at her. “Sign the papers so we can get you home, yeah?” The unexpected pet name had Joey’s very pale cheeks heating up and Calum mentally shaking his head at himself. Love? Where the hell did that come from?

Joey nodded her head and scribbled her signature on the papers before handing them back to the doctor and hopped down from the hospital bed. They offered her a wheelchair to take out to the car, but Calum waved them off and patted his back for Joey to jump onto, which she did so easily.

The drive was silent, until Joey nervously spoke up as she applied chapstick to her now pink, no longer blue, but chapped lips. “Can we, uh, can we not tell Elise about this yet?”

“What? You don’t want to tell her?”

“Just - just not today, okay? It’s her and Ashton’s anniversary and I don’t wanna ruin it, you know? I’ll call her and tell her tomorrow.”

“Alright, yeah.” Calum nodded in agreement. “We’ll wait.”

Joey sighed in relief and smiled in Calum’s direction, the car falling silent one more until they arrived at Joey’s house. She walked in easily, not needing Calum’s help any longer, but he kept his hand on her lower back just in case.

“I’m gonna go shower and wash the salt water, near death, and hospital off of me.” Joey said, making her way to her room to shower. She was exhausted and all she wanted to do was lay down, but Joey knew that taking a shower would make her feel somewhat better. “Make yourself at home.”

***

“Can I tell you something?” Calum spoke, interrupting the content silence that lingered between them. They had been sitting on the couch in Joey’s living room after she had taken her much needed shower, binge watching Schitt’s Creek on Netflix. Joey and Calum were on either side of the couch, Joey with her back against the arm and her feet resting on Calum’s lap across the couch.

“Mhmm.” Joey mumbled tiredly. The medicine she had taken and all the events of the day had taken a major toll on her and her eyelids were feeling way too heavy.

“I was so scared I was gonna lose you today.” Joey’s eyes slowly went from the TV to Calum, who avoided eye contact with her, only looking at his hands that were resting on her ankles, his fingers lightly tapping them. “I-I really thought you were gonna die on me.” Calum chuckled sadly.

“Well, I’m glad you don’t hate me enough to let me die.” Joey grinned at him lazily and he finally met her eyes. They both had small blushes on their cheeks, admitting it was hard for Calum, and it was even weirder for Joey to hear.

“I don’t hate you.” Calum furrowed his eyebrows.

Joey scoffed, rolling her eyes at him. “Right. I’m sure.”

“I don’t!” Calum exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air. He hated that Joey thought he hated her. “I’m serious, I don’t hate you. I’m warming up to you more and more everyday.”

“You really have an ass backwards way of showing it, Calum.” Joey joked, but there was a sad smile on her face that Calum didn’t miss.

He knew he was a dick to her when they first met, and for a while after that, and he knew that she didn’t deserve it. Hell, she had done nothing wrong, he had no reason to treat her like such shit. It was hard for him to admit it to himself, but he found himself liking her the more he was around her.

“C’mere,” Calum patted the cushion next to him and Joey slowly crawled over to him, pulling her knees to her chest and resting her chin atop them. The longer he looked at her the bigger his smile was. Before he could stop himself, he found himself, after thinking it for so long, blurting out and telling her, “You’re gorgeous.”

Licking her lips, Joey pulled them between her teeth to hide her smile. “So are you.” Joey wasn’t embarrassed to admit it.

“Oh, yeah?” Calum’s eyes lit up.

Joey rolled her eyes and shoved his shoulder lightly, her body leaning into his closer than she intended to, but neither of them minded. “Don’t act like you don’t know you’re attractive, Calum.”

Their lips were close, so fucking close, and Calum couldn’t take it any longer. He was consumed by her. “‘M gonna kiss you now.”

Joey couldn’t help but smile. “Okay.”

And that’s all it took for Calum to smash his lips against hers, gripping her hips and pulling her onto his lap. Without warning, Calum stood up, making an unexpected squeal leave Joey’s lips and he blindly walked them to her bedroom. His lips found her jaw and neck and Joey moaned quietly and Calum swore it was his new favorite sound, but he wanted to hear them louder.

Their clothes were off in a split second, leaving Joey laying on her bed in just her cheeky panties and Calum in his tight boxers. He leaned up from her lips, biting down on his lower one hard at the sight of her almost completely bare for him.

“So fuckin’ pretty.” Calum’s fingers ghosted over Joey’s skin, goosebumps covering her skin and he smirked, he already loved the way she reacted to his touch. His hands found the band of her panties, tugging them down without a second thought and threw them behind him carelessly. “Fuck,” Calum ran his fingers up and down her heat. “So wet for me.”

“Calum,” Joey whined, bucking her hips into his touch. “Do something.”

She was breathless, chest heaving and sweat already coating her skin, and Calum knew he couldn’t tease her, couldn’t deny her, so he dove right in, connecting his lips to her clit, sucking and licking, moaning against her.

Joey’s fingers tangled in his curly hair, pulling and tugging, moaning loudly as she threw her head back into her pillows. It had been long, way too long, since she had been sexually intimate with anyone, so she was embarrassed when she was coming undone against Calum’s mouth so quickly as his fingers worked inside of her.

“Need t’feel you.” Calum mumbled against her lips as he worked on taking his boxers off. He hadn’t thought about a condom, that was honestly the last thing on his mind, and he prayed that Joey, or Elise, had them somewhere in their house. “Condom.”

Joey shook her head, their lips parting for just a second as she panted. “Birth control.”

Calum swore she was going to be the death of him.

***

“I can’t believe you didn’t call me!” Elise said, frustratingly running her hands down her face. She and Joey were in the kitchen, sitting at the island, discussing Joey’s accident and Joey felt like a child getting reprimanded by her mother.

“I’m sorry, El! I just didn’t want you to- wait,” Joey narrowed her eyes at Elise, noticing the new, huge, diamond ring that adorned her ring finger. “What,” Joey took Elise’s hand in hers. “The hell is that?”

“Oh, uh,” Elise laughed nervously and took her hand back, twisting the ring around her finger, smiling at the memory of Ashton getting down on one knee just three nights prior and asking her to marry him. It didn’t feel real. “Ash - he proposed.”

“What?” Joey exclaimed happily, the smile taking over her face, completing forgetting about their small argument about Joey not telling Elise about her near death experience. Joey jumped on her cousin, giving her a bone crushing hug filled with happiness. “How could you not tell me this?!”

“It was supposed to be a surprise,” Elise shrugged, acting nonchalant, but inside she felt like her body was going to erupt from butterflies and happiness. It had been five years since they met and she knew they would end up getting married, but she didn’t expect it so soon. “We’re having dinner tomorrow night here and we’re inviting everyone, we wanted to tell everyone at the same time.”

“Ah! This is so exciting!” Joey was unbelievably happy for Elise and Ashton, she knew how in love they were, and she couldn’t wait for them to make their love official.

“Thank you,” Elise giggled, squeezing Joey’s body lightly before releasing her from their long hug. “But we’re still not done talking about your accident. And about you and Calum.” Joey sighed, but knew she was not getting out of either conversation.

***

“What’s this dinner all about?” Michael asked as everyone sat around the long outdoor table on their porch. It was the perfect night out, with it being around eighty degrees with a light breeze, it was the perfect night for a nice, friendly dinner.

“Maybe they just wanted to do something nice,” Luke shrugged as he sipped his beer. They all were instructed to bring their bathing suits, too, if they wanted to swim after dinner, and almost everyone did, minus Michael’s girlfriend who could only stay for dinner. “We haven’t gotten together in a while. I think it’s nice.”

“Okay, guys!” Elise clapped her hands together, gaining everybody’s attention, with Ashton by her side with his arm draped around her shoulders. She had her hand hidden behind her so nobody would notice the sparkling diamond on her finger. “I know you guys are wondering why we invited you over, and we want to-”

“We’re getting married!” Ashton interrupted her, not wanting to wait any longer. He held up Elise’s hand to show off the impressive ring he had saved up for for so long purchased, and nearly everybody shot up from their seats to gush about it and admire the ring.

“You don’t seem all that surprised,” Calum mumbled into her ear, causing involuntary goosebumps to rise on her skin. Calum wanted to give the couple their space as everybody else crowded them to give them hugs and congratulations.

“I already knew,” Joey shrugged innocently with a small smirk on her face. She wanted to tell Calum, or anybody, she really did, since she was awful at keeping big surprises and news like that a secret, but she knew she couldn’t. Neither Elise or Ashton wanted anybody else to know. “I saw the ring when she got home.”

“Hm,” Calum hummed, pressing his lips to her exposed shoulder, due to her spaghetti strapped dress she had on. Calum couldn’t keep his eyes off of her since he walked inside of her and Elise’s house. The white, silk dress she wore that exposed all of her legs, back, and arms, made her look incredibly sexy. “Love is just in the air tonight, huh?”

“I suppose it is.”

Nobody really knew what was going on with Calum and Joey, they didn’t even really know what was going on with them, all they knew was that they were immensely attracted to each other, and they knew there were some feelings there, but they didn’t know the extent of it, and everybody knew better than to ask.

Their lips met and the kiss was light and quick, but everybody saw it, and the smirk that took over Luke’s face was hard to miss. He knew that something would eventually happen between them, he could just feel it in his bones, but he didn’t want to push anything between them. Luke knew, in due time, that they would realize the attraction and the feelings they had for one another was undeniable.

***

“So,” Luke nudged Joey’s shoulder with his own as they sat next to each other by the side of the pool. Joey didn’t want to get into the pool, so she opted for sitting with her legs dangling in them with Luke next to her, his jeans pushed up to his knees since he didn’t bring anything to swim in. “You and Cal, huh?” Joey just simply shrugged, a smile taking over his face as she sipped her Sangria that she and Elise made through her straw. Luke rolled his eyes, not happy with the lack of words from Joey. “What’s going on with you two?”

“Honestly?” Joey looked at Luke. “I’ve got no clue, Luke.”

“He likes you,” Luke stated simply. “I can tell by the way he looks at you. He hasn’t looked at anyone like that since his first girlfriend broke his heart.”

Joey furrowed her eyebrows, not having a clue about Calum’s past relationships, or past anything, really. She was interested, of course she was, but she wasn’t going to pry and she wasn’t going to force Luke to tell her. If Calum wanted her to know, he would tell her, simple as that.

Calum swam up to them, shaking his wet hair in their direction, splashing little bits of water over Joey and Luke. His hands found her calves under the water and gave them a light squeeze. “Watcha two talkin’ about?”

“Just how sexy you look swimming,” Luke winked at him, causing Joey to giggle into her drink and shake her head at the two best friends. Calum rolled his eyes, but ignored Luke, turning his attention to Joey.

“You gettin’ in?” Joey shook her head no, not quite in the mood to get her freshly washed hair and perfectly done makeup messed up. And she didn’t feel like walking all the way up to her bedroom to change into a bathing suit. “Hm,” Calum hummed, pressing his lips to her thigh. “Think I’m gonna change that.”

“What do you-”

Joey squealed as Calum gripped her hips and pulled her from the side of the pool, fully into the pool with him. Her dress rode up above her hips, exposing the fact that she was wearing no underwear, thankful that it was dark and the water was covering them. “Calum, what the hell!” Joey wrapped her legs around his waist.

“You’re not wearin’ any underwear, are you?” He could feel the skin on skin and felt himself hardening at the thought of Joey being completely bare under her dress. She never failed to surprise him.

“Why don’t you find out?” Joey tilted her head challengingly and Calum bit his lip, sexually and in frustration at how easily Joey turned him on. It was driving him insane. Ever since the night they had mind-blowing sex, all Calum could think about was Joey.

“Hm, I think I just might.” In a matter of seconds, Calum had them out of the pool, he still holding Joey and her legs still wrapped around Calum’s waist, thankful that her ass wasn’t exposed to all of her friends that were in her backyard. “See you guys later!” Calum shouted to his friends, ignoring the hoops and hollers they received.

Neither Joey nor Calum cared that their friends knew exactly what they were going upstairs to do.

***

“Why couldn’t you have asked Elise to come with you?” Calum complained to Joey as the two of them looked through dresses in a higher end boutique shop in the middle of town.

They were, or Joey was, shopping for a dress for Elise and Ashton’s engagement party that was coming up in just a little over a week. It had been a month since Ashton and Elise announced their engagement and it’s been crazy ever since.

“She’s too busy planning the party.” Joey hummed as she sifted through the dresses, not finding any she liked, and if she did like them, they didn’t have her size or were way overpriced. She was almost close to giving up.

“How ‘bout this one?” Calum picked a random one off the rack, holding it up by the hanger to show Joey.

It was a pink, mid thigh, flowing, backless dress with a halter top that tied behind the neck. Joey’s eyes lit up at the dress that she had failed to see and took it from Calum’s hand. It was her size, surprisingly, and it wasn’t too costly.

“I love it.” Joey grinned at him.

“Well, go try it on!” Calum turned her around by her shoulders and ushered her to the fitting rooms where she happily stripped down and tried to the dress on.

She came out shortly after, holding the top to her chest, spinning around, asking Calum, “Tie me up?”

“Gladly,” Calum smirked, thinking of all the other ways he could tie her up, as he moved her hair to one side of her neck and carefully and securely tied it. Spinning around, Joey looked at Calum expectantly, who was looking at her with wide eyes and a goofy smile on his face. “Gorgeous.”

“Yeah?” Joey blushed.

“Always,” Calum held his hand out for her to take and raised it above both of their heads. “Spin for me.” Joey did so happily, a quiet giggle leaving her lips as Calum twirled her around a few times before pulling her into his chest. “It’s a winner.” He mumbled against their connected lips.

“You sure? Because I can always try-“

Their cute moment was interrupted by a familiar voice that Calum hoped he wouldn’t ever have to hear again. “Calum?” They pulled apart just a tiny bit, with Joey’s hands still around his neck and Calum’s around her waist.

Stood before them was the devil herself, also known as Calum’s first and only, ex-girlfriend. His grip tightened on Joey’s hips, only slightly, but she felt it. “Ava, hey.” He was unhappy and uncomfortable, Joey could tell instantly.

“Uh, how are you?”

Calum had to repress his scoff. “Fine. You?”

“Good, good.” She nodded her head and looked between the couple in front of her. Calum’s arm was now slung over Joey’s shoulders and her arms were awkwardly crossed against her chest. She could feel the girl judging her. “Who’s this?”

“My girlfriend - Joey.”

Joey’s head snapped up to look at Calum in surprise. It was the first time he had ever called her his girlfriend before, so she was extremely caught off guard, but not disappointed. She had been waiting to hear those words leave his lips for weeks now. She couldn’t hide the smile on her face. “Hi,” she waved awkwardly.

“Joe, this is Ava, my ex.”

Joey had heard only one thing about Calum’s ex-girlfriend, and that was from Luke, and she didn’t push Calum to tell her, and she didn’t mind the thought of him having an ex-girlfriend, she had ex-boyfriend’s herself. But standing in front of her, a gorgeous model looking girl, Joey was feeling just a little bit insecure.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Joey said sweetly, even though it wasn’t nice, not in the slightest.

“Likewise,” Ava’s smile was fake and Calum could tell, but he wasn’t going to start something pointless by mentioning it. “So, what are you two out shopping for?”

Seriously? Calum wanted to scream. She really couldn’t have just left it at that? She had to try and spark up a pointless and meaningless conversation? Calum wanted to run away the moment he saw her.

“Ash and Elise are getting married. Shopping for engagement party dresses for Joey.”

“Oh?” Ava’s eyes widened in surprise at the news of her old friends getting engaged, and soon married. “You know Elise and Ashton?” She turned her attention to Joey.

“Elise is my cousin,” Joey nodded her head, and told her condescendingly, “So, yeah, I know them.”

Calum bit back his laugh and smiled at Joey’s attitude, but silently applauded her for it. He knew she didn’t want to be standing there talking to his ex-girlfriend just as much as he didn’t. “Well,” Joey cleared her throat. “I’m gonna go change back into my clothes and then we can go, yeah?”

“Yeah,” Calum smiled, pressing a quick kiss to her lips as she retreated into the fitting room, leaving Calum and Ava to catch up, or whatever it was that Ava wanted from Calum.

“She’s pretty.” Ava nodded her head in Joey’s direction.

“She is, innit she?” Calum smiled. “And nice. And honest. A lot of things you weren’t.”

“Calum,” Ava shook her head sadly. “I’m sorry. For everything.”

He pursed his lips, clearly not believing any of the words that came out of her mouth. Ever since she broke his heart, he hadn’t believed anything. “Sure you are.”

The curtain swung open and Joey stepped out, dressed in her normal street wear, her purse hanging on her shoulder, and the hanger dangling on her finger. “Ready to go?” Joey smiled up at Calum.

“Here,” Calum fished his credit card out of his wallet and handed it to Joey. “You go pay. I’ll catch up.”

“What? Cal, no.” Joey shook her head, not accepting the card that Calum was holding out for her. The dress wasn’t too expensive, really, just a little over fifty dollars and she could afford it. She appreciated Calum’s offer, but didn’t want to take it. “You’re not paying for this.”

Rolling his eyes, Calum easily shoved his card into the front pocket of Joey’s jean shorts, looped his fingers through her belt loops, and pecked her lips. “Don’t argue, baby. I’m payin’.” Joey rolled her eyes, but smiled nonetheless and made her way to the counter. Calum’s eyes followed his non-official-official girlfriend as she made her way to the cash register and smiled, but it turned into a scowl when he remembered Ava was standing in front of him, watching him watch Joey. “You have anything else to say before I walk away from you? For the last time?”

Ava shook her head sadly. “You look really happy, Calum.”

“I am.” Calum didn’t hesitate to confirm.

“Well, I’m glad.” Ava rested a hand on his shoulder, making Calum almost flinch. Joey saw out of the corner of her eye and even though she could tell that Calum was uncomfortable, she felt uneasy, jealous. She hated it. “Give Elise and Ashton my love.”

“Yeah,” Calum exhaled a humorless laugh. As if. “I won’t be doing that.”

With that, Calum walked away from his ex-girlfriend who broke his heart, and over to his new girlfriend, who mended it back together.

***

“So, ex-girlfriend, eh?” Joey finally brought up the dreaded conversation. She spun around in the small stool behind the front desk at Surf and Co., working the slow night shift that Ashton scheduled her with Calum keeping her company.

“Canada, eh?” Calum smiled innocently, receiving an unamused look from Joey, who had finally stopped spinning. It had been five hours since they ran into Ava at the store and Joey was itching to say something and Calum knew it. “Right, sorry.” Calum knew they had to discuss it. “Yeah, Ava, ex-girlfriend.”

“What, uh, what happened?” Calum sighed heavily, twisting the rings on his fingers nervously, trying to figure out a way to start the story he was dreading on telling. “Luke mentioned something about her-”

“Luke told you?” Calum’s head snapped up.

“N-no! He just mentioned an ex-girlfriend that hurt you, but that’s all.” Joey assured him. She didn’t want Calum to be mad at Luke for mentioning anything to her about it, she just thought it might make things easier. “You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to, Cal.”

“No, no. I should. You deserve to know.” Calum rounded the register, leaning against the counter next to Joey, spinning her around so she was facing him now. He smiled down at her, just the sight of her pretty face making his light up. “She was new in town a few years ago and I kind of, like took her in, much like you and Luke. But, instead of becoming just friends like the two of you, we-”

“Fell in love?” Joey mumbled.

“Yeah.” Calum scoffed. “I introduced her to everyone; all my friends, Elise, everyone. And she and one of my friends, Peter, hit it off well. A little too well. But I was happy about it, you know? Thought they were just friends. Until I found them in bed together. My bed.”

“Calum-”

“Instead of growing a pair of balls and breaking up with me, she took the cowards way out and cheated on me, so I broke up with her.” Calum frowned at the memory, but it didn’t make him as sad as it once did. He was completely over it, but the memory still stung. “She broke my heart.” He laughed sadly.

“I’m sorry, Cal.” Taking his hands in hers, Joey gave them a reassuring squeeze, and bent down to kiss them. “Is that why you didn’t like me at first?” Joey hesitantly asked. “Because I was another new girl in town?”

Calum hadn’t ever even thought that could be a reason he disliked her so much, but thinking about it now, it all made sense. He didn’t want another new girl to come into his town and his life and turn it upside again just like Ava did. But he knew, with everything in his heart, that Joey would never do anything like that to him.

***

The annoying, incessant, vibrating of Calum’s phone had Joey putting her curling iron down and crossing his room to silence it. “Cal,” Joey shouted his hearing, receiving a mumbled ‘yeah’, from his bedroom. “Your phone is blowing up.”

“Who is it?”

“Uh,” Joey furrowed her eyebrows. “Number Isn't saved, but it says, ‘it was so nice to see you last night, Calum. I’m sorry about the kiss.’” Joey’s confusion could be heard through her tone of voice as she continued to read the text. “Kiss? What the hell, Calum?”

“Shit,” Calum cursed, hopping on one foot as he tried to put his dress shoe on the other. They were getting ready for the engagement party and Calum couldn’t have picked a worse time for Joey to find out what happened the night before. “I was going to-”

“Who the fuck is this?”

“Uh,” Calum nervously scratched his growing stubble. “It’s- it’s Ava.”

Spinning around, Joey held Calum’s phone in her hands with raised eyebrows and wide eyes. She could not believe what she was hearing. And she couldn’t believe how fucking casual Calum was acting about it. “I’m sorry, what? When were you with Ava? I thought you were with the guys last night.”

“I-I was, I swear I was!” Calum approached her, resting his hands on her shoulders to give them a reassuring squeeze, but Joey wasn’t reassured, not at all. “I bumped into her at the bar and she wanted to buy me a drink as an I’m sorry sort of thing, I guess? So then I bought her one to make it even and we talked for a few minutes and-and then she kissed me.”

Inhaling a deep breath, Joey took a step back from Calum, watching as his arms fell to his sides, and licked her teeth angrily. She was going to try to keep her cool and not explode, since it was Ava who kissed Calum, and not the other way around, but still, seriously? This couldn’t have happened on a worse day.

“Were you planning on telling me this?”

“Yes! Course I was, Joey.” Calum ran a hand through his perfectly done hair that Joey worked so hard on, fucking it up in the process, and nervously licked his lips. He didn’t want her to think he was a liar. “I just wanted to wait until after the party. I didn’t want to ruin tonight for you. For us.”

“Well, you should have thought that plan through,” Joey laughed sadly, shoving Calum’s phone in his hands as she picked her small clutch up from his bedside table. “I’m gonna go. I’ll see you at the party.”

Calum let her leave without another word, knowing that fighting her or trying to make her stay would just make matters worse, and although this wasn’t how the night was supposed to start, although they were supposed to arrive to the party together, Calum knew that wasn’t going to happen.

***

“Now, a speech from the maid of honor!” Elise spoke happily into the mic, prompting Joey to stand up on wobbly legs and smile as she took the microphone from her cousin. She looked beautiful, but she always did, Joey thought.

Calum watched his girlfriend with a small smile on his face as Joey nervously licked her lips and cleared her throat before giving her speech that she had barely prepared beforehand. “Elise,” Joey smiled down at her cousin. “Ashton,” Joey smiled at her soon to be cousin-in-law. “I’m so happy for the two of you. I never thought that I would be here, living in the prettiest town I could ever dream of living in, with the two of you and the new friends you’ve introduced me to, but I’m so happy to be celebrating this with you guys. I’m gonna keep this short, because if I keep talking I know I’ll start crying,” Joey laughed awkwardly. “But I just want to say I’m so, incredibly, happy for you two and I hope to, one day, find love like yours.” Joey sniffled quietly. “I love you, both.”

Joey finished her speech with a cheers and everyone held their glasses up, cheering along, and gulped down their drinks. Joey sat back down in her seat that was next to Calum, and felt his hand on her thigh, and as much as she wanted to shake it off, she couldn’t find it in herself to. She was still mad at him, but he looked so handsome, she couldn’t stand it.

“Can we dance, please?” Calum’s voice was full of desperation and when Joey finally looked at him, his beautiful brown, puppy dog eyes and pouty lips, her resolve crumbled. “Please, baby?” Calum whispered.

Joey stood up abruptly, looking down at Calum expectantly. “Well? Are you coming?”

Calum wasted no time standing up and following Joey to the makeshift dance floor that wasn’t there when they first arrived, but Michael and Crystal transformed it into one. A slow song started playing and they swayed back and forth silently, but Calum’s hands on her waist were practically burning her skin.

“I’m sorry, Joey.” Calum mumbled. He didn’t want to ruin the moment, but he wasn’t sure if he would get her one on one the rest of the night. He needed to explain how sorry he was. He knew what it felt like to be lied to and he never wanted Joey to feel that way. “I-I didn’t wanna lie to you, but I didn’t know how to tell you what happened.”

“Up front would have been nice.”

“I know, Joey. But I just didn’t know how to-”

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Joey interrupted Calum, scoffing out a humorless laugh at the person who just walked into the venue where the party was being held. There stood Ava, in all her pretty glory, looking way better than Joey did. “Your girlfriend is here.”

With that, Joey spun on her heeled shoes and stormed through the crowd to where the private bathrooms were. She gripped the sides of the sink until her knuckles turned white. The tears that pricked Joey’s eyes were unwarranted and she wanted to kick herself for letting this bother her so much.

The soft knock at the door a few minutes later had no effect on Joey. She kept her stance, kept her hands on the sink, and kept the tears falling out of her stinging eyes. “Joey?” Calum’s voice was heard through the door. “I know you’re in there.”

Joey failed to lock the door behind her, so Calum let himself in, hoping that it actually was Joey in the bathroom and not somebody else. He was relieved when he saw that it indeed was her, but his worry came back tenfold when he saw her glossy and red eyes through the bathroom mirror.

“How’s your girlfriend?” Joey stood straight and spun around to lean against the sink, crossing her arms across her chest, tilting her head to the side. She was trying to use her sarcasm and sass to cover the fact that she was upset, even though she knew she was being immature. It was her defense mechanism.

“She’s right in front of me,” Calum took cautious steps towards her and rested his hands on her hips. He frowned down at her sad face and wanted to put a smile on it. She was too pretty to frown, Calum thought. “And she’s obviously upset with me.”

“You’re right,” Joey nodded her head in confirmation. “She is.”

“I told her to fuck off.”

“Why the hell was she here in the first place, Calum?”

“It doesn’t matter why, Joe. She’s gone. She’s out of the picture, for good, I promise.” Calum’s hands ran up her hips to her sides, cupping her face to tilt it up so he could meet her eyes. They were less red and less glossy now, which he was thankful for. “And even if she keeps comin’ around,” Joey raised her eyebrows, unimpressed. “Which she won’t. I’ve only got eyes for you. Only want you.”

“I just-” Joey shook her head sadly. “I hate feeling like I have to compete with her, Calum. She’s-she’s so pretty and you loved her and-”

“Alright, no.” Calum shut her up before she could finish. “I’m gonna stop you right there. She doesn’t even compare to you, Joe. You’re gorgeous and beautiful and she doesn’t even compare to you, okay?”

“Okay,” Joey mumbled, but Calum could hear the underlying uncertainty and the insecurity laced in her voice.

“I’ll show you just how much.”

A squeal left Joey’s mouth as Calum hoisted her up onto the sink, parting her legs so he could stand between them and attached his lips to hers in a heated kiss. Their hands blindly worked on each other - Joey undoing Calum’s pants and shoving them down his legs and Calum’s pushing Joey’s thin and lace panties to the side. She was already wet, which wasn’t unexpected, and Calum was already semi-hard, so there wasn’t much more to take care of before Calum was slipping his length inside of Joey.

“Oh, fuck.” Joey moaned against Calum’s lips as he rocked in and out of her. They tried to be as quiet as they could, considering there were people not even twenty feet away from them, but it was nearly impossible with how good they were making each other feel.

They swallowed each others moans, panting and groaning into each other’s mouths and skin and Calum worked relentlessly until he felt Joey clench around him, prompting both his and her orgasm. Their moans and breaths were in sync as they came down from their highs and caught their breaths.

“That prove to you just how much I want you?” Calum mumbled against Joey’s bare shoulder due to the halter top of her dress and she laughed, with only little humor in it.

Pushing Calum away from her, Joey adjusted her thong and jumped down from the sink. “You’re gonna have to work a lot harder than that, Hood.” With one pat to the chest, Joey rounded him and left him lonely in the bathroom with his pants around his ankles.

Calum stood there stunned with an unbelieving chuckle leaving his mouth. Joey left him speechless, more than once, but he was going to do whatever he could, work as hard as he could to prove to her that she was the only one for him.

***

“I can’t believe you’re moving out,” Joey pouted as she helped Elise pack the last of her stuff. She knew that with Elise and Ashton being engaged now that she would be moving out, but Joey wasn’t ready to live by herself, she never had before. “I’m gonna be so lonely.”

“Please,” Elise scoffed at her cousin’s dramatics. “I’ll be less than fifteen minutes away,” Elise reminded her, but it didn’t ease her sadness. Joey had never lived alone before. She always lived with her mother or a friend or boyfriend, never by herself. “And you can always call Calum and he’ll come over in a second.”

“Yeah.” Joey mumbled, unsurely as she taped the last box shut and rested her arms on it. The thought of Calum made her feel uneasy, considering they hadn’t really seen much of each other since the engagement party. They would hang out with friends as a group, but hadn’t one on one. “I think he’s mad at me.” Joey furrowed her eyebrows.

“Why would he be mad at you? He’s the one who kissed his ex-girlfriend.”

“She kissed him,” Joey reminded Elise. “But he’s just been avoiding me I think,” Joey frowned. “Like, he hasn’t wanted to hang out just us two, you know? And he’s barely been responding to my texts. I know he’s busy with surf lessons and has been with the guys, I just-” she shook her head, confusion written all over her face. “I think ever since seeing Ava, he’s changed his mind and he doesn’t actually want to be with me.”

“You’re being paranoid. Calum is crazy about you,” Elise assured her with a light squeeze to her hand. Elise knew Calum and she knew that he felt more for Joey than he ever did for Ava. It was obvious. “Just talk to him, yeah?”

***

The emptiness and the quiet of the house made Joey a bit uneasy. Sure, she had spent the night multiple times in her house by herself, but knowing that Elise was gone and not living with her anymore made it feel different and she didn’t enjoy it.

Joey: Can you come over?

Joey sent the text to Calum after much debate, almost asking Luke to come over and keep her company over her own boyfriend. She wasn’t sure why she was so nervous to ask Calum to come over.

Calum: Course, love. Everything okay?

Joey: Just lonely

Calum read the text and didn’t bother changing out of his sweatpants and sweatshirt, just slipping a pair of shoes on and grabbing his car keys. He could have easily walked the ten minutes, but he was feeling lazy and wanted to get to Joey as quickly as he could. He didn’t want her to feel lonely, especially since she had him.

Joey had told Calum that the front door was unlocked, so he let himself in without bothering to knock or ring the doorbell, and his heart swelled at the sight of Joey curled up on the couch, tucked under a blanket in his hoodie, looking as cute as cozy as ever.

“Hey, Joe.” Calum’s voice was quiet, not wanting to disturb her little bubble of peace, but when she heard his voice, her tired looking face lit up and she was holding her arms out to him, making grabby hands as she continued to lay down. He laughed at how childish, but cute, she looked and collapsed on top of her lightly.

Joey’s arms wrapped around his neck and his slid under her back to squeeze her close to him. He wasn’t sure what was wrong, why she seemed upset and off, and he wasn’t going to push her to tell him, but he was still going to ask.

“What’s wrong, baby?”

Sighing heavily, Joey ran her fingers through Calum’s messy curls and debated on telling him. It was stupid, childish, she thought. “It’s stupid.”

“Doesn’t sound stupid,” Calum lifted his head up from where it was hiding in the crook of Joey’s neck and placed a light kiss on her lips. “If something is upsetting you, no matter how small, ‘s not stupid.”

“I just,” Joey pushed herself up on her elbows so she was leaning against the arm of her couch and Calum rested himself above her on his elbows, his chin just barely resting on her stomach as he looked up at her. “I feel like ever since you saw Ava, and since she kissed you, you-you haven’t wanted to be with me as much.”

Joey avoided all eye contact with Calum as she picked her nail polish nervously. She didn’t want to see Calum’s reaction to her embarrassing confession and really didn’t want him to see the insecurity on her face, so she missed the deep frown that was on his. He hated that she felt that way.

“Baby,” Calum mumbled sadly and took her hands in his so she would stop picking at her nails, knowing it was her nervous habit, and kissed the tops of her hands lightly. “I don’t want you thinkin’ that.”

Sitting up completely, Calum pulled Joey onto his lap and grunted as he adjusted the two of them more comfortably. Her head was held in Calum’s hands, with him tucking her hair behind her ears and watching her watch him.

“Seeing Ava just brought back bad memories, you know? And I just - the feeling of her hurting me so badly came back full force and I didn’t - I don’t ever want to feel that way again,” Calum shook his head. “I don’t want to get my heartbroken by somebody I love again.”

“Calum, I-” Joey spoke up before she processed all of his words, stopping short, and leaning back just slightly with wide eyes. “Wait,” Joey reached up to grip Calum’s wrist. “Somebody you love?”

“Shit, I-” Calum ran a nervous hand through his hair. “I-I didn’t mean,” Calum stumbled over his words and Joey patiently waited for him to finish. She wanted to hear what he was trying to say. “I didn’t want to tell you like that.”

Joey’s voice was barely over a whisper, but she couldn’t help the smile that covered her face. “You love me?”

Calum loved that she was smiling. He was a nervous fucking wreck, honestly. He wasn’t sure if he loved her loved her, but he knew he liked her a whole fucking lot, and he could definitely see himself loving her. “I think so, yeah.” Calum finally smiled. “How’s that make you feel?”

“Makes me feel pretty damn special.”

***

“You comin’?” Calum asked Joey as he finished waxing his board, preparing it for the water. Elise, Ashton, and Luke were all already in the water waiting for Calum and Joey to join them.

“Um,” Joey looked out at the big waves that were forming and felt nerves prick her. She hadn’t been on a surfboard since the day she nearly died. She had been in the ocean and the pool, but was too afraid to get on a board. “I’m gonna sit this one out. I’m tired.”

Calum could sense her nervousness and frowned as he bent down again to be face to face and level with her. Everyone else was already in the water, meaning if he was to join them, Joey would be let on the sand by herself, since Michael told Ashton he would pick up a shift at Surf and Co, and Calum didn’t want to leave his girlfriend on the beach by herself.

“You sure, Joe?” Calum moved her baby hairs that didn’t fit in her bun out of her face and smiled at how pretty her eyes looked with the sun shining down. “You just tired or are you scared to get in again?”

“Calum, I-” Joey licked her lips and shook her head in embarrassment. She didn’t want to admit that she was, indeed, terrified to get back on a board after what happened. It had been nearly a month since it happened, but she could still feel an anxious pit in the bottom of her stomach at the thought of standing on a board again. “It’s kind of embarrassing, but yeah,” Joey nodded her head in confirmation. “I’m terrified.”

“Baby, no,” Calum rested himself on his knees in between her legs and ducked his head down to make eyes with her. “It’s not embarrassing. You almost died, Joe, that’s some scary shit. I would be scared if I were you, too.” Calum placed a reassuring kiss to her lips and felt her smile against his. “I’ll sit here with you so you’re not alone, yeah?”

“No, no. Go out with them.” Joey shooed him away and he grinned, kissing her one last time, before standing up and picking up his board to race into the water with the rest of the group.

Honestly, Joey didn’t mind sitting on the sand by herself. She enjoyed watching her cousin and their friends surf and do their thing, she almost preferred to sit and watch over actually surfing, since she wasn’t the best at it, and she was convinced she would be scarred for life ever since she almost died. But she was content.

She was knocked out of her daydream when a volleyball rolled onto her towel and hit her foot lightly. She looked around, seeing a volleyball net nearly twenty feet away from her, and a guy jogging over to her. She picked it up and held it out for the guy to take, not bothering to stand up.

“Sorry ‘bout that,” he panted and crouched down, bending his knees to retrieve the ball from Joey’s hands. She just smiled and simply shook her head, not bothering with a conversation with the guy. “You new around here? I don’t recognize you.”

“Uh, yeah, kind of.” Joey furrowed her eyebrows. “I’ve lived here for a few months.”

“I’m surprised I haven’t noticed you before,” he looked her up and down, even though she was sitting down and leaning against a cooler, and shamelessly checked her out, not even trying to be discrete. “A gorgeous girl like you shouldn’t go unnoticed by anyone.”

Joey rolled her lips into her mouth, trying to suppress her laugh at the shitty attempt as a pick-up line. “Well, thank you.”

“Anytime,” he winked at her and she nearly groaned out loud. She saw the guys and Elise approaching them from the water and hoped that Calum, or any of them, would nicely tell him to get lost. “I never got your name.”

“That’s because she didn’t give it to you, Colton.” Calum grunted as he shoved his board into the sand next to the guy, Colton, that was shamelessly hitting on Joey. He stood up to his full height, still a few inches shorter than Calum, and dropped the volleyball on the sand next to his feet. “What are you doing bothering her?”

“I’m just having a conversation with her, Hood.” Colton shrugged and smirked at him cockily. Colton looked down at Joey, who was only paying attention to Calum and how angry, but sexy, he looked. “Seemed like she was enjoying it.”

“Seems like she wasn’t,” Calum took another step closer. “So, leave my girlfriend alone and fuck off.” Another step. Joey could tell that the guys behind him would pounce and back him up if a fight ensued. “And while you’re at it, apologize to her for almost killing her.”

Colton scoffed. “Fuck are you talking about?”

“The girl you knocked off her board last month when you were being a cocky asshole and surfed up on her wave?” Calum tilted his head to the side, watching it click in Colton’s brain that Joey was the girl he nearly killed. “Yeah, that girl? My girlfriend. So I suggest you apologize or walk the fuck away, Colton.”

Colton bent down and picked the volleyball up, not bothering to look at Joey or apologize to her before he stalked away, leaving Calum staring at him with his hands clenched into fists. Joey knew the only way he would calm down is if she told him to.

Standing up, Joey pulled her bikini bottom out of her butt to rid herself of her wedgie from sitting down for so long, and stood in front of Calum, running her hands up his stomach to rest on his shoulders, and his eyes instantly went from Colton down to Joey.

“You good, Cal?” Calum looked back up to see Colton standing there staring at the couple, and Calum smirked, gripping the back of her thighs to lift her up and wrap her legs around his waist. “Cal!” Joey squealed at the sudden movement and laughed against his mouth as he pressed their lips together.

“I’m fuckin’ great, sugar.” Calum grinned against her lips and spun her around, the loud giggle leaving her lips made his grin widen.

How Joey could turn Calum’s mood from complete and absolute shit and anger from seeming like the happiest person in the world was beyond him. It was crazy, really, but he welcomed it with open arms, and with her in his.

***

“What’s got you so happy?” Luke nudged Calum’s shoulder with his own, holding his near empty beer by the neck as they sat in the semi-crowded bar. The group hadn’t been out to a bar in a while, since before Ashton and Elise announced their engagement, so they were enjoying their night out. “You’re grinnin’ like a damn fool.”

“How could I not be happy when I have a girlfriend that looks like her?” Calum pointed his beer bottle in the direction where Joey and Elise were playing a game of pool, not taking it seriously at all, and laughing and messing around with each other. “Don’t think I’ve ever been this happy.”

“I can tell,” Luke nodded his head with a smile. He was extremely happy for his best friend and as he watched Calum watch Joey lose against Elise in pool, he couldn’t help but shake his head in disbelief, never having seen Calum so happy around somebody before. “You got lucky.”

“Luckiest guy in here,” Calum clinked his bottle against Luke’s and made eyes with Joey, who grinned widely and waved him over across the bar. Forgetting all about his half empty beer and Luke, Calum got up and crossed the bar, wrapping his arms around Joey’s waist from behind, resting his chin on her shoulder. “You wanna get outta here?”

“I thought you would never ask,” Joey sighed dramatically, hanging her pool stick up, and the two of them left without bothering saying goodbye to their friends. They walked hand in hand down the street, Calum twirling his tipsy girlfriend as they walked and grinning at her infectious smile. “Let’s go swimming!” Joey skipped backwards down the sand with her heels in her hand and her arms out as she spun around and ran towards the water.

“It’s dark out, baby.” Calum laughed, but toed his shoes off and shed his shirt and pants, watching as Joey did the same thing. “Gonna be weird creatures in there.”

“You scared, Hood?” Joey challenged, reaching behind her to unclasp her bra, leaving her completely naked in front of Calum underneath the moonlight. Calum’s mouth watered at the sight of her and watched her teeth clamp down on her lower lip as he, too, was now naked in front of her.

They swam around, splashing each other and giggling against each others lips, and Calum finally pulled her body into his, her legs instinctively wrapping around his waist and her arms around his neck. “I think I just realized something,” Joey hummed against his shoulder.

“What’s that?” Calum squeezed her hips.

There was no nervousness or hesitance in her voice while she spoke, her words were confident and full of sureness when she told Calum, “I love you.” She spoke as if it was the most casual thing, but instead her heart was pounding and she was scared, only for a minute, that Calum wasn’t going to say it back.

“I love you a whole fuckin’ lot, Joey.”

Their smiles were so big, so genuine, that their faces hurt and they knew, right there in that moment, that they couldn’t be any happier even if they tried.

Just as they looked up at the night sky, a shooting star flew by and they didn’t have to wish for anything because they both had what they wanted - each other.

***

Taglist: @singt0mecalum @lockthisheartinchains @babyurart @cheyenne-in-wonderland @youmaycallmemrshemmings @cantbehandled-ever @gosh-im-short @cakesunflower @novacanecalum @cosmocalum @emma070900 @asht0ns-world @blahehblah @inlovehoodx @softboycal @ashtoniwir

230 notes · View notes

worldwidemochiguy · 4 years

Text

100 days (soft yandere! Taehyung)

Summary: You and Taehyung celebrate your 100th day anniversary... again. (it’s really 274 days, but who’s counting?)

Word Count: 3.7K

Authors note: This was in response to an anon requesting a part 4 for made for each other, so thank u to them :))))) and also ig enjoy

Made For Each Other Masterlist

General Masterlist

You hummed, turning the bukkimi over again to see the bottom had turned a pleasant golden brown. You swiftly took it from the frying pan and placed it on the plate next to all the others you had just pan-fried, forming two rows of neat white pouches decorated with edible flower petals. You knew you had, perhaps, gone a bit overboard for your 100 day anniversary, but you wanted to make it special.

On your first 100 day anniversary — a little over three months after he had taken you — Taehyung had been so sweet, even if you weren’t quite ready to accept him yet, still clinging onto the childish notion of independence. You had woken up to a beautiful dress set out for you to wear, one that you had no other choice but to don sullenly since he had anticipated you wanting to disobey him and had taken all of your other clothes and hidden them.

He had made you breakfast in bed — your favourite breakfast, actually — and served it along with a single rose. You had taken the food and sequestered yourself in your room. At lunch, he had asked if you wanted to eat a meal with him on the couch and watch TV — something he had not let you do since he took you. That was probably the first time you were voluntarily enjoying yourself in his company, eating the pizza he ordered and sat as far away from him on the couch as was physically possible. In the evening, he had taken you to a restaurant that he had completely booked out. It was just the two of you, and the moonlight, and the terrified chef who you were pretty sure Taehyung had threatened to kill if he didn’t stay and make the two of you the best meals you’d ever had in your lives. You didn’t realise it then, but you looking back you realised how romantic Taehyung was, even though you had been unpleasant and ungrateful the entire day.

Now, you had a chance to finally make it up to him. It was the 9th of October, 100 days after your first kiss and you were determined to celebrate this with him since you had ruined the first 100 day anniversary. Taehyung always went above and beyond to demonstrate his love for you; constantly buying you gifts, treating you with kindness and patience even when you disobeyed him, and protecting you from anything and anyone that would try to hurt you. You were so lucky to have him.

When he left for work in the morning, you had persuaded him to let you stay behind, complaining that you had a stomach ache. He was fully prepared to stay with you and take care of you in bed — an offer that had been very difficult to refuse — but you assured him that you would be fine at home alone. He had made you promise to text him at least once every twenty minutes, a promise you were glad to make, and left after a prolonged make-out session, “to make up for all the kisses I’ll be missing at work today” Taehyung had argued.

“I’d hope so!” You shot back, “I won’t be very happy if I decide to come in and see you fucking Jimin over a desk.” You had intended to make him laugh, but instead he pulled you into his chest, crushing you there as he whispered into your hair.

“Never,” his voice was hushed, but almost scarily fervent, “I’d never betray you, baby, never. I’d rather die.” Slightly shocked by his reaction, but touched to your core at the sentiment he was expressing, you had burrowed into his arms, reaching up slightly to place a kiss on his jaw. He leaned down return a chaste kiss before pulling back with a deadly serious expression you seldom saw him wearing directed at you.

“I don’t ever want to hear you doubt me again, baby. You have to trust me, always.”

“No, I-I know,” you had stuttered in the face of his controlled anger, “I was making a joke, but it wasn’t funny, and I shouldn’t have done it.” His shoulders loosened slightly. “I’m sorry Tae.” He sighed and pulled you back into his chest.

“It’s ok, baby.”

“Will I be punished?” He stilled for a second, chewing his lip contemplatively. You held your breath.

“No.” You exhaled. “I wouldn’t punish my baby when she feels poorly. Besides, you’ve learnt your lesson, haven’t you?” You nodded eagerly and he tapped your nose with a smile, before kissing you goodbye.

You had fought with yourself over whether or not to call him and ask him to come back to the apartment for almost forty minutes after he left. You hated lying to him, and every second without him felt like a moment wasted, but you knew you should make this day perfect for him. Your suffering would simply be a demonstration of your love, after all, it wasn’t like you had never suffered for him in order to prove your love before.

You started off by doing an intense clean of the apartment. After spending the better part of two hours — admittedly, about half an hour of that was spent giggling on the phone texting Taehyung while he should’ve been in a meeting — on your knees scrubbing every surface until it shined, you dotted scented candles around various points in the apartment. You didn’t light them, partly because it would be a waste since they wouldn’t be properly appreciated until much later in the day and also because you knew Tae would never be ok with you doing anything that dangerous, especially on your own.

You gathered up flowers Tae had bought for you and placed them in vases in strategic well-lit areas, the sunlight from the window bleeding through translucent petals and tinting the light a soft pink. You had even printed selcas Tae and you had taken together and pegged them on strings hanging from the walls, as well as a few of his favourite photos of you that he had taken while he was still first getting to know you from afar. He really was a skilled photographer. He had managed to take such beautiful shots, all while you remained unaware of his existence. You draped a white tablecloth over the smaller dining table, the one that would allow you to sit directly across from each other as if you were on a real date in a restaurant, and placed a small note on top of it.

100 days since our first kiss ♡

i can’t wait for countless hundreds more (of both days and kisses xxx)

i am so grateful every day that you saw me and for some reason thought i was worthy of you,

i love you tae and i can’t wait to spend the rest of our lives together !!!

- your girlfriend ♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

Now, you had just finished what you planned to bring out for dessert in what you had internally dubbed The Ultimate 100-Day Date for Tae My Amazing Wonderful Perfect Boyfriend (you were thinking of maybe shortening the name a bit). You were just about to get out the sweet potatoes to slice up for the Japchae main course when the door swung open with a bang.

You screamed as a man ran into the apartment. He turned to you - Oh my God, I’m going to die - and dropped his suitcase- suitcase? Why does he have a-

Oh, it’s Tae.

Guess I won’t die after all. Or I will, since he seems determined to squeeze me to death.

Taehyung was crushing you to his chest, gripping you tight enough to bruise, as he muttered something unintelligible into your hairline. His body was shaking, with relief or hysteria, or both, you just didn’t know.

“Tae- hey, Tae-” He shoved himself off you abruptly and you gasped in a relieving breath, too focused on getting oxygen in to worry about the expression on his face.

“Baby…” his tone was dark, dangerous — he may have called you something affectionate but there was nothing on his face that expressed anything remotely related to love. It was chilling.

“Tae… you’re back early.” He was back early, way too early, two hours early, this basically ruined your plan to surprise him. Though, he didn’t seem to have noticed the changed decor of the apartment so who knows, maybe he wouldn’t realise.

“Well, I had to leave work early and come back after someone forgot to text me for over an hour.”

Ah. Fuck.

You had felt guilty for texting him for so long earlier in the day. This meant that when the alarm you had set chimed, reminding you to text him again, you had ignored it thinking that you would be able to text in five minutes. You had not remembered to text him after five minutes, or ten, or thirty, or sixty. And now he was pissed.

“I come home expecting to find you collapsed, unconscious because of your stomach pains that had caused you to feel so ill that you absolutely had to stay at home today, alone, on your own insistence.” You gulped. You could feel the anger rolling off him in waves and it wanted you to whimper in submission. You think you did, and if anything it made only made him more incensed.

“And instead I find you miraculously cured from the pain you ensured me would cause you to stay in bed all day, within reaching distance from your phone, making fucking bukkimi.”

As he spoke, he stalked closer to you like a lion circling its helpless prey, cunningly manoeuvring himself around until your back was pressed against the wall with nowhere else to run and he was in front of you, eyes practically sparking fire.

“Who the fuck are you making this for anyway? Who is he? Tell me his name, baby, I want to hear you scream it as you watch the life drain out of his eyes. As you watch him die for touching you. I’ll kill him for touching you, baby. I’ll kill every motherfucker on the planet that touches you, and I’ll make you watch, I swear to God. I can’t hurt you like that but I’ll make you regret it.”

“T-Tae,” you stuttered, lips quivering, and his lips twisted into a cruel smirk,

“Wrong name, baby. I said I wanted his name, and I know you weren’t making these for me. You said so yourself, you weren’t expecting me. I’m home early.” He mocked your words cruelly, and you felt the floodgates break, finally allowing the sobs to punch their way out of your throat. You couldn’t believe Tae thought that you- that you would- you couldn’t even think the repulsive thought you were sure his head was full of.

You were going to be sick. All you wanted to do was make this 100 day anniversary special since you had ruined the last one, but you ended up ruining this one too.

Tae simply watched as you released your tears, seemingly unaffected, but you could see his hands clenching into tight fists, white-knuckled in the attempt not to touch you, to comfort you. This little fact gave you some hope, and you let yourself have five seconds to control your sobs before straightening up again, looking him in the eye and praying he could see the sincerity in them.

“I’m sorry. You’re right; I lied to you.” He took this like a physical blow, and reared back, undoubtedly preparing to shout at you some more, so you continued on, not letting him misinterpret. “I am preparing this food for you. Not anyone else, just you, I swear it.” Your voice broke slightly, but you tried to carry on in a calm and even tone of voice. “I just- I shouldn’t have lied to you in the morning about my stomach, I’m so sorry and I knew it was wrong even then, but I just wanted to surprise you.”

“I prepared this… date? For us. It’s our 100 day anniversary, and I wanted to… I don’t know, I spent the day preparing food for us so that we could sit down and have dinner together. I’ve got your favourite dress of mine hung up in our room and ready to put on. I even cleaned and decorated the apartment to make it more… romantic. But I ruined it. I lied. I’m sorry.” As soon as you had finished talking, you let yourself cry again. Silent tears ran down your cheeks in rivulets as you waited for Tae to leave and brood in his room for a while, like he always did when he was deciding on the best punishment. But that’s not what he did this time.

He stood there, completely still, but then he suddenly looked around him, noticing the decorations you had painstakingly placed around the space you had come to call yours, rather than just his. He then looked to the kitchen counter, where the evidence of your hours of hard work lay.

“But… It’s not our 100 day anniversary. It’s not even close. That was like 5 months ago, we celebrated it together.” His voice came out as quiet and scratchy, a huge contrast to the enraged yell he used to eviscerate your heart only moments earlier.

“No, I-I know. I remember how sweet you were that day, and I ruined it by being rude and ungrateful. I wanted to fix that, to do something nice for you, instead of just letting you do all the nice things like always. This is the 100 day anniversary of our first kiss, the day I told you I loved you for the first time. I thought it would be nice to celebrate it… together.” You finished lamely, feeling more and more embarrassed with every word.

“You… you remembered the 100 day anniversary of our first kiss?”

“Of course I did.”

You were certain that he would now — upon realising how pathetically, uselessly attached to him you were — dump you and your shit on the curb and call someone to pick you up and take you far away. But, for the second time in roughly two minutes, he didn’t do what you expected.

Instead of withdrawing, he got even closer. His arms came up to wrap around you as his head dipped down so that he could press his forehead against yours.

“No, baby… I’m sorry.” You stilled in unadulterated shock. He was sorry? For what? “You certainly shouldn’t have lied to me, but I understand why you thought that was best. And I’m happy you wanted to celebrate this anniversary with me — that is, if you still want-”

“Of course I do!” You bit your lip, you shouldn’t interrupt him, but you couldn’t bear to just let him believe you were anything other than desperate to spend time with him.

“You still want to?” He asked, incredulous.

“Of course I do!” You repeated, hoping this time he would actually listen to you. “I just don’t get why you would want to be with me, right now. You were… so angry at me, Tae.” He sighed, curling his arm around your waist and pulling you flush to his chest. That was something he always did when he felt extra possessive over you. He did it a lot.

“I know I got mad, baby, I just- the thought of you with another man makes me see red-”

“I’d never cheat on you, Tae. Never. I’d rather die.” You interjected without control, and he shushed you softly.

“I know you wouldn’t, baby. And I shouldn’t have thought that you would, especially considering how angry I was this morning when you joked about me doing the same thing.” His fingers came up to comb through your hair and you dropped your head back, finally relaxing again. He laughed softly.

“I’m sorry I ruined your surprise for me.”

“No, it’s alright.” You replied, voice softer and slurred slightly as his fingers massaged your temples, “You can keep me company while I slice the japchae.”

You made him stand far away from where you were preparing the meal, a cute pout on his face that made you relent several times and walk over to kiss him. If you let him close to the food he would just take the knife from you — aish, this is too dangerous for a precious princess like you to touch — and do all the work. You were determined that, even though he didn’t get the surprise dinner, he would at least get a nice meal where he didn’t have to lift a finger to do any work.

This plan was foiled slightly when he distracted you were you were slicing the potato into thin strips. His newest scheme to get you to let him do what he wanted was to just constantly look at you with bedroom eyes. It was, understandably, very distracting, so you were not too angry at yourself when your wrist loosened slightly and, instead of drawing the knife over the noodle, you ran it against your skin. You stopped as soon as you felt the lancing pain and looked down with a quiet whimper, watching as your blood spilled over all of the perfectly sliced soon-to-be japchae.

“That took me so long~” you whined softly,

“Babe?” Taehyung’s panicked voice broke through your mourning of the wasted dinner and you glanced up in time to see him practically vault over thin air in order to get to you faster. “You’re hurt! I told you that you shouldn’t hold the knife!” He yelled, even as he took your index finger into his grip so tenderly that it barely hurt. It was a narrow, clean cut — the knife was very sharp, after all — but it was deep, and you weren’t sure how long it would take for the wound to stop bleeding. He held it tightly to staunch the cut as well as he could, gently leading you into the bathroom where the first aid kit was.

He hushed you when you fussed about getting blood on his fancy suit, and responded each time you apologised for ruining dinner with a plea to stop being ridiculous and a kiss. He even kissed your banged finger to make it ‘heal faster’. You promptly said that kissing you on the lips would heal your finger twice as fast, and his laugh, loud and deep and clear, was the best thing you had heard all evening.

Tae decided to order takeout since the japcahe was off the table, pizza please, you requested and his expression mirrored your cheesy smile, both of you remembering that first 100 day anniversary where you had refused to even look at him while you ate the pizza as fast as you could to avoid talking to him. Oh, how things have changed. When the pizza arrived, both of you moved to sit together on the couch, curled up as close as could be and surrounded by the candles Tae had lit for you.

He happened to straighten up slightly and look around, his eye caught by a letter left on the table you had set for the original meal.

“What’s that over there?” He questioned.

“That’s a table, Tae.”

“Aish,” he jogged your body slightly, even as you both laughed, and then asked again with a cute pout that you were helpless to resist.

“It’s just a little note I wrote for you, I don’t know.” Instead of letting his curiosity be satisfied by that as you had hoped, his eyes lit up with interest and he immediately rose from the couch.

“Are you… you’re going to read it now?” Your cheeks heated up as you remembered what you had wrote, and the many, many hearts you had scribbled down next to his name.

“Of course I am. Did you write it expecting I’d never read it?” His tone was teasing, and only made you more flustered.

“No I just… didn’t think you’d read it… literally right in front of me.” You heard his laugh from across the room, though you didn’t look up to see it since your eyes were firmly planted on the ground, as was your stomach — it had lurched uncomfortably downwards as soon as it became clear he wasn’t going to read it somewhere when he was far away from you.

“I’m not literally right in front of you,” he called from the other side of the apartment, and then you heard his footsteps making their way back to you until his house slippers were directly in your downcast line of vision.

He reached down and tilted your chin up with one hand, in the other hand of course, he was holding the note.

“Now I am, though.” His smile was triumphant, and it didn’t dim even as he pulled back to stand up straight and read the short note. If anything, the smile grew bigger and brighter until it outshone all the strategic, ambience-creating candles in the room.

“Baby…” he started, his voice sultry and low, causing you to shiver involuntarily. He noted this with a smug eyebrow quirk. “I quite look forward to giving you those ‘hundreds of kisses’,” the smirk in his voice became evident as he quoted your note, and you wondered if you could burrow into the sofa and make your new home there, “But I’m afraid this letter is actually incorrect.”

“W-what?” You were so distracted by his offer of a hundred kisses that you didn’t truly register what he said, “What do you mean?”

“I mean, the part where you called yourself my girlfriend.”

“Huh?”

“It’s wrong — or at least it will be after tonight.”

“What- Tae, why-” you floundered, feeling slightly hurt but mostly confused, “-why is it wrong? Why… should I not call myself your girlfriend?”

Taehyung answered promptly, “Because you’ll be my wife.” And then he dropped to one knee.

#yandere bts #yandere bangtan #yandere taehyung #yandere taehyung x reader #yandere bts x reader #bts x reader #bts fanfic #bts fic #bts fanfiction #bts imagines #bts v #bts taehyung #bts tae tae #bts tae x reader

537 notes · View notes

writerfangirlbooks · 4 years

Text

You-Know-Who

Crowley x Reader

Prompt: You sold your soul, but continued to be human after ten years due to helping around Hell and being Crowley's assistant. You fell for each other, and boom came the rise of Lucifer, who forced you to be his new toy and assistant.

Originally a two-parter on my Wattpad book but condensed for one here!

Word Count: basically 4000.

Credit to gif owner!

"Won't you ride my white horse? What kind of bloody garbage is this?" Crowley demanded, his red eyes glowing hauntingly in the motel room. The only light was the sun that seeped through the blinds of the scratched windows. You had seen Crowley angry, of course, but he appeared ten times worse now. He was livid... and frightened.

"I don't know, Crowley," you responded, a bit of an edge weaseled its way into your voice. "He just gave me the papers to deliver to you."

You rubbed the side of your temple, exhausted. Lucifer had you working just less than twenty four hours a day. You were only human and needed sleep. Crowley noticed and his eyes flashed back to normal, softening instantly. He nodded and scanned through the packet again.

You knew the two of you were an odd pair; you sold your soul at twenty because you had lost almost all despair once your cat Marney died - she was the last family you had. You had been visiting a friend with Marney at fifteen when your parents and brother all died in a car wreck. So you found a demon and made your ten year deal, demanding and receiving your cat back. Once you died, you met the King of Hell to determine your fate. He thought your story was stupid, so he wanted to teach you a lesson and hired you to be his assistant, while also giving you your life back. A couple years passed, and you had fallen for Crowley.

Here you two were again, supposed to be on opposite sides. Crowley was on the run after Lucifer rose, decapitated his mother, took his throne, and forced you to be by his side. Of course you had tried to escape, with and without your lover's help, but Lucifer had managed to find your soul and kept a leash on it. You went where he went unless he summoned you to do his bidding. And his latest order just happened to be to find Crowley and deliver the letter, without knowing the intimate connection the two of you shared.

"This is practically written in gibberish. Look at this." He flipped to the third page and you were expecting something completely different. Your fingers touched as you held the papers, trying to decipher a code. However, you quickly realized you recognized the words.

"Crowley," you released a small, genuine laugh, the first one in at least a month. "This is a song, from a few years ago, by Ozzy Osborne. It's called Mr. Crowley. It's supposed to be in the biblical sense. I don't know why he would give this to you. It doesn't seem threatening."

You both held the lyrics into the light to get a better look.

"Maybe not. But a song? Are you sure? About me? Why in Purgatory would someone do that, biblical or not?" Crowley asked, seeming flabbergasted, though more calm. His eyes danced to yours.

You smiled at him, glad for the few minutes to spend together. You didn't know when Lucifer would call you back. You knew that once he found out about your relationship, he would never allow you to be the one to communicate with Crowley again.

"There's a lot of things in Ozzy's mind that I'm not sure about. Look, I know we aren't going to have much time today. He's been driv-" You were interrupted.

"He as in Lucifer?" Crowley asked for confirmation, setting the papers on the tangled and messy bed, though it wasn't like that when you first came in.

You gasped, wanting to smack your forehead. How could you not have told him! Crowley heard and turned towards you, curious of your reaction.

"Don't say his name! He can hear!" You started freaking out by breathing rapidly and shaking your hands wildly. Crowley immediately took your hands to calm you. He engulfed you in a hug. This wasn't something Crowley normally did. During the day, he wasn't a very physical person, but he knew you needed comfort.

"Y/N, don't worry. It's alright. You are safe for now," Crowley assured you. You took a breath and nodded into his shoulder. When you were certain that He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named was not going to be in the motel room momentarily, you stepped away. You prayed that he wouldn't hear, but knew that wouldn't work. God had been incognito for years.

"Pull yourself together. You know we don't have much time. Don't try to figure out the song right now. I'll worry about that later, darling. Y/N, tell me what he's been up to. Has Lu- has he hurt you?" Crowley asked, setting you down on the edge of the bed.

Lucifer was the devil. He would hurt, maim, kill, torture. He would do anything to get what he wants. He had hurt you no less than five times within the week so far. Mostly minor cuts, except for when Lucifer almost slit your throat when the waiter at Starbucks gave you the wrong type of coffee. He was a bit high maintenance. Then there were the times he had shoved his tongue down your throat and you looked at your knees.

"Nothing that can't be fixed with time." You tried to sound brave, but Crowley could see right through you. You could feel his protectiveness enter the room as he sat next to you, taking your hand. It would usually make you smile, seeing the one drop of humanity left in him, considering it was always directed to you. Now, you wished it weren't there. The Crowley you first met wouldn't have pity on you.

"What did that damned devil do to you?" Crowley asked, his fingers tightening in yours.

Instead of his usual suit, the former King of Hell wore a pair of dark jeans, khaki button down, and boots. You were in nothing better, torn jeans, old Converse, a tank top under a high school sweatshirt. It was what you were wearing when Lucifer rose from Hell and took you. You had been able to wash the outfit and yourself only three times so far with your little spare time.

You leaned the top of your head onto his shoulder, thinking of what the right answer should be. You had barely begun to speak when your eyes started to water. Your stomach churned. If you weren't already sitting, your knees would have buckled. There was only one person that could emit so much terror into a person.

"Crowley, run." You barely squeaked out with a low grunt, clutching his hand.

Even if he had had time, you knew he wouldn't have disappeared. Not without you, and the both of you knew Lucifer could find you quicker than he could snap his fingers. There he was. The powerful entity stood casually in the center of the room, arms crossed impatiently. His eyes were dark, yet somehow playful. His pout was anything but sympathetic. It stood more along the lines of a cruel sneer.

"Well, what's going on here?" He feigned thoughtfulness before bursting into a surprised I-Know-Now face. "Oh! Let me take a guess. You two were planning to run off! I probably should have seen this sooner, but I never really imagined that Y/N would stoop to an ex-crossroads demon. What a surprise! Now, I suppose I'll have to make an actual demon do my deals... Y/N, sweetie, you were doing great. I'll keep you, but for something else entirely."

You wanted to puke. Your cheeks were bright red. You felt nauseous. Just your everyday feelings next to just Lucifer. When he spoke, all attention was drawn to him. Not only did he crave it, but it was natural. He was a warrior angel. He was absolutely ruthless.

"If you think you can lay one measly-" Crowley began speaking, furious and fast. He immediately stood up from the bed. You remained there for a second longer, staring up at the one you loved, knowing this would be one of the last times you would see him in a long time. Finally, you stood, knowing hope has all but slapped you in the face.

"You can't stop me, Crowley," Lucifer said, his voice lowered, almost soothing. "And neither can you, Y/N. Hell's not the most entertaining, but it will work for now."

He eyed the two of you, your fingers itching to wrap around Crowley's. The tension grew as chills ran up your arms, which was soon replaced by a burning heat. You staggered back a step with wide eyes. The sensation began at your finger tips, making it way slowly and menacingly up your arms, down your torso, and swiveled around the bottom half of your body. You released a groan as it hit your pelvis and stumbled into the nightstand. You felt a shadow cross over your front protectively. Your vision was starting to fade. Your head throbbed as it landed harsh against thin weaves of string, somehow formed into carpet.

"What have you done," hissed Crowley. As your vision blurred, the last thing you remembered was seeing the former King of Hell, the last person you loved, standing above you.

<->

When you came to, you were on the bed again. You felt sore all over. Finally, you recalled the latest turn of events, which were not pleasant ones. Except for the last that you remember. Crowley.

His name prompted you to sit upwards, which was a horrible idea. Your headache was still there and more painful than it had been. You let your head fall back against the pillow and groaned. This was not going to work.

"Y/N? Darling, are you awake?" A British voice rang out.

"Mhm," you mumbled, still trying to sit up. You felt a cold hand move into yours, which was surprisingly sweaty. You blinked twice, still dazed. Crowley hovered over you.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" His voice came out, low, almost nervous. He looked at you for barely a second. Immediately, you felt that something was off.

"I feel fine, actually." You mustered up a convincing smile. "What happened?"

"Well, Lucifer was strangling you. I attacked him and he evaporated, leaving you," he announced simply.

"Really?" You slowly got out of the small motel bed. You sensed you were being watched, so you knew you had to be careful, and get Crowley back as soon as possible. As terrifying as it would be to know the truth, you needed it to form your plan.

"O-of course, darling. Why would I lie to you?" He stuttered. You turned to look and 'Crowley' flashed you a smile, one that you have never identified, but was still vaguely familiar on an opposite body.

"I know you wouldn't," you said sweetly. "Let me just get changed first."

"That's not necessary. We need to leave soon, before Lucifer catches up." Your suspicions grew more and more, almost turning to pure certainty with each dreaded word.

"I'm sure we have time," you replied nonchalantly, turning away as you tossed your sweatshirt and tank top over your head at once.

Hearing a quick intake of breath behind you, your heart rate increased. You deliberately turned so he could see your chest - what wasn't covered by the dirty bra. You opened the closet door, pretending to contemplate what to wear, when you were actually thinking of the easiest plan to threaten the devil.

However, you didn't hear him come up behind you.

You had been almost completely naked in front of the literal devil. Just another Tuesday. You felt bile in your throat as you took your time. Knowing that that particular vessel was Crowley's favorite, you wanted to save it for him. If he was even still alive.

Once you finished changing clothes, you stared into the closet for a minute longer, staring at your two knives. You couldn't go back to Hell without your king. Not only would the demons tear at you, so would Lucifer, in a much crueler manner. You had never been in the hunting life. You had no experience, just what Crowley taught you.

"You almost ready to go, sweetheart?" He couldn't be called a man. There wasn't a word to describe him. Just Devil. His voice spoke, using the voice you loved; the voice you listen to for hours; the voice that listened to you; the voice that was now possessed by Satan.

You wanted to catch him off guard. You knew Crowley's mannerisms, and saying sweetheart was not one of them. It belonged to someone else. Someone, whose heart was anything but sweet.

"What'd you say?" You tried sounding nonchalant, as if you had just not heard him speak. You felt slightly better now that you changed into cleaner, more presentable clothes, despite the nauseous feeling in your stomach.

"I asked if you were almost ready to leave, darling." Lucifer's voice was rougher than Crowley's. He didn't even try to sound appreciative, or like he actually cared about you. The way he used the true King of Hell's nickname for you ensured your hatred for him.

You walked over to him, as if nothing could possibly be wrong. You presented a sweet smile and set a hand on his shoulder, which was very stiff. You swallowed down bile and leaned up and kissed his cheek. "I just need a minute."

You had stepped away to grab your stuff, but a hand wrapped tightly around your wrists and pulled you back to him. You stared at the vessel, becoming frightened. Lucifer looked back, no emotion seeping through, before slamming his current meat suit's lips against yours, biting down. You nearly fell back from the force as his tongue entered your mouth. Damn, you would have loved to throw up right then - and proceed to run for your life.

"S-stop," you muttered, trying to tug away. One hand was gripped firmly where it was twenty seconds ago, creating a bruise. The other was creating another elsewhere - on the sensitive part of your waist, right on your hips. You could try to kick Lucifer, but you knew the way that vessel worked, so you also knew it wouldn't be easy to injure him without something major.

He continued to kiss you, roughly and passionless. You struggled to get away, murmuring for him to end whatever this was. His eyes darkened as you preceded to break away. You feared for the time he would continue to pretend to be Crowley. You were terrified now, that you wouldn't be strong enough. To save yourself. To get Crowley back.

"You can't tell me no," he said, his voice incredibly deep.

You hated yourself for not being able to out him, but you knew when you did you would surely be killed, and that death would be slow and dragged out, unlike the HellHound when they took you. You had to feign such ignorance, as if you would not be able to tell who Crowley is.

"C-Crowley. S-stop it, p-please." You cast your eyes down, stuttering for effect, as you stumbled away from Lucifer.

"P-p-please! C-Crowley! Oh, give me a break, would you, Y/N? This is too good!" Lucifer was laughing incredibly loud, and it appeared mocking was his go-to stance, as his voice returned to his own and true one. You were nearly trembling all over, too afraid to even close your eyes.

Instead of trying to think of a witty comeback or trying to get a weapon, you swiftly moved your hand out of his and punched him in the nose, before taking off. You swung open the door and started screaming, "FIRE!", as you ran as fast as you managed down the stairs, hearing people exit their own rooms.

"Y/N!" You heard your name screamed from the second floor, as you were nearly outside. People began to flood around you, unaware to the fact that there was no fire. Panting, you looked both ways before sprinting across the street, making your way to the one place you knew. An entrance to Hell.

< - >

The door was locked in the abandoned warehouse. You went around to the back, finding a smashed beer bottle and making a slit down your wrist and smearing it on the door knob. A trickle slipped into the keyhole and unlocked it. You opened the door to find darkness. Sliding your hand against the door, you flipped on the light switch and locked the door behind you.

Your eyes first identified the wooden shelves laced with traps, poisons, spell books, and notebooks. You stepped in, the door shutting and locking behind you. Taking a breath, you scammed for any threats before deciding you had found sanctuary. Still, there was no Crowley.

Looking around, you made your way into the hallway, searching the rooms. The first was the only room with internet access, along with the only computer, that was new... back in the nineties. You stopped in the entrance to the bedroom further back, examining the silky black sheets that looked as if they had never been used. They had, of course.

Recalling the only time you've ever been here, you sat in the middle of the floor, daydreaming now that you were finally away from the literal devil who was trying to kill you and may have possibly murdered the King of Hell, your boyfriend, though you didn't use labels.

This was your third mission away from Hell, within four months. Mr. Crowley had just turned you back to human about two weeks before. You had forgotten quite a bit, especially the sweet, thick smell of the air in fall, as the leaves began to change colors and it gets chillier, something you hadn't noticed in your three months as a demon.

Your boss wanted you to grab some items from his warehouse in the busy New York. You hadn't grown up here and no longer had demon senses, so you had to fine your way around the hard way. All he did was give you an address and that was that.

Now, you stood in the front of a large building with three locks on the door. Mr. Crowley had never told you anything about needing keys. The windows looked worse than glass, meaning they would be difficult to break into, though you were sure that he did not want you to hurt his warehouse in any way, only to find a safe way in and out.

So you walked around to the back of the building, not noticing the thuds your boots made on the pavement. Once again, you found a door, but after twisting the knob, it refused to open. You let out a sigh in frustration and looked around for clues. After attempting to kick down the door, the only effect was a leg in some pain.

"What. The. Heck," you grumbled, wishing you had your phone, so you could leave an angry message. But of course, your boss had it.

"Well, Y/N, are you just going to stand there all day or go inside?" The British voice said from behind you.

Turning around, you saw the King of Hell - your boss. He stood with his arms crossed, a few feet away. His black coat was snugged tightly around his shoulders. You could barely see his tie near the collar. You forgot about his attitude problem for a moment, staring at him; his recently trimmed beard, the dark, always demeaning eyes, black clothes. Damn it, you followed orders as a demon. Now you were gawking at a demon hundreds of years your senior, and fifteen years elder, if you went by what his meat suit looked like.

"I-it's locked," you stammered, feeling your cheeks turn red.

He let out an exaggerated sigh and rolled his eyes, propping out his hand to you. Your brow furrowed and you hesitantly set your hand on his. He pulled out a knife from his other pocket and your heart race increased in the cage. You let out a gasp in shock, drawing Crowley's eyes to yours.

"What? I'm not going to hurt you. I'm just showing you how to unlock the door," your boss defended impatiently.

Mr. Crowley made a small cut on the front of your wrist, barely drawing blood. You watched it trail down your hand, but he caught it before the blood could reach the ground. The King of Hell continued to hold your hand as he lead you back to the door. He paused, staring you down.

"Don't ever let your blood touch the ground. It is the most important thing about you, humans that is. Blood is the key."

Your boss turned back around, dragging you with him. He lifted your hand over the door and let the blood slide into the doorknob. There was a click and he went inside, checking for any threats. You followed numbly, covering your wrist.

"Do you understand? This won't be your last time here, no matter what happens," he said, moving around, checking the books.

"Y-yes, Mr. Crowley," you confirmed, feeling heat in your cheeks.

He cast you a look that made you freeze. When he completely faced you, you insides churned, but not in a horrible way. He stared at you for a moment longer than you knew appropriate, but neither looked away, until he blinked and picked up a book, shaking away whatever he was thinking.

"Call me Crowley, love. Mister sounds too official. Think of us as friends, or business partners, if you prefer," said the King of Hell.

He flipped through some pages, quickly scanning over the words in foreign. You stood, frozen in place. A demon, a ruler of hell - was asking you to treat him like an equal. You would have thought you were dirt on his shoes, but when he looked at you like that - it was definitely not like looking at dirt.

Business partners.

Equals.

Friends.

Love.

<->

That quickly changed, you knew. Within about twenty minutes, you were a little more intimate than business partners. You stretched your arms and legs, mind steel playing the day you realized your feelings for Crowley. Finally, you got up and shut the door behind you, walking the hall.

Abandoned warehouses were supposed not to be occupied, yet you still felt creeped out by the eerie silence. You made your way into the kitchen and looked for any foods that might not be expired. When you caught the first whiff of something, your stomach growled loudly.

That made you realized that you hadn't had anything to eat in at least one day, and haven't had an actual meal in about a month. You opened cabinet doors, searching for the smell. After about five minutes, you still couldn't identify the smell.

Instead, you went to the bathroom and pinned your hair into a ponytail, retrying twice until it looked decent and not like a rat's nest. You checked to see that the water worked before stripping out of the clothes you had changed into just two hours ago. You turned on the hot water in the bathtub, and plugged the hole, waiting for it to fill.

You went into the smaller bedroom, that held a fair of amount of your clothes from a few months ago, and started searching for something clean. You settled for a pair of black jeans, a red tunic, and a leather jacket - one you had thought you'd lost. You folded the items and set them on the counter, slowly dipping yourself for the bath, taking a breath, waiting to feel relaxed.

There was a loud bang and two male voices began shouting.

#short story #supernatural #spnfandom #spn fic #spn imagine #spn fanfiction #supernatural fanfiction #supernatural story #supernatural reader insert #supernatural imagine #crowley #crowley imagine #crowley x you #crowley x reader #crowley supernatural #lucifer #lucifer supernatural #the winchesters #winchesters

42 notes · View notes

seizethecringeofproduction · 3 years

Text

New Years - Saints Row Fanfic

Featuring: @kiyumiakuji @shuyaakuji @hirokiakuji & @tomoyukiakuji

Is a Ronin Centric Fic; Contains a bit of trolling at the start

2008/1/1 | 8:30 AM

The cool winter breeze flowed gently through the streets of Tokyo throughout New Years’ Day 2008, the first day of January as well as the new year. Even though the sun was just now rising over the western horizon, the city had never been asleep for a second - traffic was still bumper to bumper while the streets themselves were littered with crowds of people walking here and there, be it to their place of work or just to some hangout spots. True that some spots were not as busy as others, but no matter where one went it was still Tokyo. Flashing signs and billboards littered the streets and the sides of the various tall buildings - from high rises to skyscrapers, delivering advertisements to viewers which ranged from the mundane to the far more known wacky if not eccentric type; especially popular were those for that new game show, the one with that pink cat professor that was taking the country by storm.

However, it wasn’t fun, games and heavy traffic for everyone in Tokyo that morning. Case in point being the rather dull boardroom of Tatsubishi - a conglomerate based in the metropolis that is best known internationally for their automobile manufacturing and distribution; ranging from SUVs, Trucks, Cars, Motorcycles and extending even to the likes of helicopters, airplanes and more, it was a name that plenty of people throughout the world would have least heard one time in their lives. What may not be as widely known about it however was the fact that the entire corporation had a rather insidious darker side - seeing as how it was the front for the dreaded Yakuza Oyabun known as Kazuo Akuji. The man was known and feared throughout all of Japan as not only one of the most ruthless businessmen, but also one of the most brutal Yakuza leaders. The crimes which are alleged to be traced back to him are among the most horrifying in Japan’s history, many bodies mysteriously found in rivers throughout Honshu are said to be of those who wronged him. That is, if there’s even a body at all. With a decade spanning career in both the business and criminal worlds, Kazuo is as respected as he is feared. His name instills both honor and dread into those who hear it, as one most certainly does not want to hear it outside of a positive context.

Though it was no secret that the man was not getting any younger. Many debated just how old he was, but regardless of the specific age he was old. Most knew only that he was at least late 70’s or early 80’s. While most of his body, hidden beneath his blazer suit, was littered with innumerous tattoos befitting an oyabun of his caliber, the parts of him that were visible to the naked eye were still very much wrinkled. He seemed to look both perpetually irritable as well as tired - and to be fair, much of the time that would be considered an accurate description of his mood. His hair, long ago a rich shade of black was long since greyed. He still had a full head of it, but it had receded some since the bloom of his youth. While most of his body had seemingly taken a withered and somewhat frail appearance, he was still nevertheless considered to be a mighty swordsman - more than capable of defeating even a much younger man in battle even in spite of the fact his joints would very likely give him hell not long afterwards.

Point was though, he was in the evening of his life. Soon, would be the eternal night. The only surprise left for a man his age. Sitting at the head of the board room with all of his underbosses sprawled about before him, all he saw were men who a few decades ago were introduced to him as the young sons of those who sat before them. Granted, these men themselves were not spring chickens either - most of them were at least in their 30’s or 40’s and at most in their 60’s, but all of them had in common the fact their one and only oyabun during their lives was none other than Kazuo - the man sitting before them on that very day.

Thinking over this fact with a contemplative sigh, he realized one thing that had been on his mind for the past 18 years. That the day he had long since been waiting for had finally arrived. It was time for his own next in line.

As he stood up, he didn’t need to make any sound at all. The entire room of underbosses and bodyguards fell entirely silent - all eyes instinctively turning to Kazuo himself as he moved, his eyes scanning the entire room to ensure their attention before he even began speaking. Not even a cough was made, nor a sip of tea. Any such disrespect would have been grounds for very swift ‘discipline’. Cupping his hands behind his back once the silence of the room was truly deafening, only then did the old man finally speak what was on his mind:

“Gentleman, this has been a very pleasant meeting. I am very proud of the work you have all done over the previous year - the clan has grown ever more honored as it is feared throughout Japan. I have been the oyabun of this organization for longer than most others of my rank have been alive; let alone operating free of imprisonment. I have seen as many of you and your fathers go as I have the winter change into spring, and spring into fall. I have fought in wars, I have married, I have had three children and three grandchildren. I have turned my clan into one of the most powerful and influential not only in our corporate world - but in our criminal world as well.” he then had a particular pause as he finally arrived to the true point of his speech, “However…” he said, “I have come to the decision that there will be more changes this year than simply the succession of my subordinates; I myself will be stepping down as your oyabun.”

His words elicited many wide eyes from all of his underbosses, as well as chills echoing down their spines. Even the famed - and bald - swordsman Jyunichi, standing right behind the old man, was surprised to hear the words. While none of them said anything, they looked at each other in bewilderment, their discussions being as silent as the room itself when Kazuo wasn’t talking. Only when he began speaking again did their attention sharply turn back to him.

“I know that this change is most unprecedented, but after many months - years even, of rumination over it, I have come to the conclusion that it is for the best. My retirement shall be effective as of the first of this April, giving you the next four months to become adjusted to my chosen successor; my son.”

With one of Kazuo’s hands now gesturing towards the double doors used to enter the room, all eyes were promptly on said doors as they - as if on cue, flung open for just a few seconds as another figure entered the room. It was, of course, a young man. A very much younger man than Kazuo, though. In fact, the man was no older than 18 - just barely an adult.

Actually, he was technically 17, though only until April. That was not a coincidence.

His face was completely devoid of wrinkles, and his hair was entirely jet black and slicked back in a ‘respectful’ style. His body was slender - toned well by regular exercise. Even as he stood there dressed in a black blazer suit complete with black power tie that featured a golden dragon etched onto it’s ‘tongue’, while he vaguely looked like his father one would not have guessed their actual relation in a million years. Yet this baby faced, smooth skinned boy was in fact the oyabun’s son. All of the underbosses stood from the seats and promptly gave this late teenager his due respect by bowing in his presence as he walked to be right beside Kazuo - the son exchanging a respectful bow of his own to Kazuo, his father saying to him;

“My son, you have little idea of how long I have waited for this day to come. Counting only the years since you have been born, it has been only eighteen. But counting the years before, it has been since I first became oyabun.”

Looking to his father with the utmost respect, the son returned his sentiments:

“It is an honor to be your successor, father” he bowed again, “I will continue leading the clan to greatness, just as you have before me.”

“I know you will,” the old man replied, “I am the one who trained you. Now..” he then gestured towards one of the open chairs directly to the side of his own, “Let us sit and endure the rest of this meeting, my son.”

2008/1/1 | 1:55 PM

“So how’d it go?”

“Well, I’m going to be the oyabun as of April. Aside from that, most of it was uneventful; talking about finances and operations.”

“Hold on, you’re going to be the oyabun? That’s your birthday gift this year? All he ever gets me is money, literally just money!”

“Don’t worry, Shogo, you know you’re basically going to be my right hand man once I’m in that seat.”

“I know, Hiro, but still! You’re going to be the boss of the entire Akuji Clan!”

“I know, it’s a big responsibility, and an honor. That’s why he’s waiting until April to step down, he wants me to see how he handles things up close before making the switch completely. After that, I won’t have any training wheels.”

The two young men speaking along the side of a kinokuniya international shopping center, and in fact leaning against the walls of said store, were identical twin brothers Hiroki and Shogo Akuji - the sons of Kazuo. Hiroki being the one introduced as his successor mere hours before, though no longer dressed as prim and proper as he was before. He now had a pair of black jeans on rather than silk slacks, with his pants held up by a black leather belt with a dragon styled buckle. Over his smooth body was a yellow polo with a popped collar and white undershirt - and his hair was no longer slicked back but now worn down in a more spiked and ruffled style. His shoes were even exchanged for a pair of black tennis shoes, and around his neck was a golden ‘lucky’ 5 yen coin; all of these clothes and features were copied fully by his brother Shogo save for one - resting on Hiroki’s forehead was a pair of yellow designer sunglasses with black lenses, while on Shogo’s rested a pair of the same brand colored white.

The two brothers stood in that parking lot in the early afternoon, leaning with their backs and one foot each on the wall of the store, the other feet on the concrete ground beneath them as they enjoyed this most casual conversation - the day around them being quite beautiful. The breeze was still very much a cooled winter wind, and the sky was cleared of clouds; it’s blue color joined with the light of the sun to illuminate the entire city of Tokyo in a vibrant and joyous form of brightness.

“Honestly, Hiro” Shogo spoke plainly to Hiroki, “I don’t think you even need those training wheels.”

Smirking, Hiroki gave Shogo a certain cocky look as he retorted:

“I see you’re already brown nosing.”

“No, I’m being serious,” Shogo answered back in a quick yet blunt tone, “You’re totally ready to handle the family business on your own. I mean, it’s basically what he prepared you for the entirety of your life..” and for a moment, Shogo bowed his head in a moment of sudden melancholy that his brother quickly noticed even as the younger twin muttered beneath his breath “Unlike me…”

Placing a hand onto Shogo’s shoulders, Hiroki spoke to his brother in a serious tone of his own:

“Shogo, you’re going to be my-”

“No, I’m not” Shogo interrupted Hiroki, walking away from the store wall, hands in his pockets before he took a deep breath and faced his twin again, “I’m leaving Japan after our birthday this year.”

“What?”

“I’m heading to America” the younger Akuji elaborated, “There’s this place that’s going through total anarchy right now after one of their previous gangs died off, I heard about it from eavesdropping this morning on one of father’s calls. It’s that place those people he wanted to buy parts from come from, I did some research and it’s prime real estate for gangs right now.”

“And you’re thinking of setting up your own gang there?”

“Pretty much, yeah.”

“Wow” Hiroki bounced his brows a bit, remarking “And you did this all without consulting me? What happened to us doing everything together, brother?”

“Well, I hatched this plan during you and father’s meeting today and was gonna bring you into it like always, but…”

“It’ll be difficult while I am the oyabun.”

“Yeah….it would....”

The two brothers then shared deep breaths, sighs. The realization that things were changing between them wasn’t an easy pill to swallow, often Hiroki was all Shogo had through his youth - seeing as how Kazuo would often leave Shogo alone while he spent time with Hiroki, and their sister being a teen girl at the time was not interested in giving her younger brothers much company. After their mother died, Shogo came to cherish the times when Hiroki was with him, allowing him to escape from the fact that Kazuo all but neglected his existence save for when it was time to be mad at him or berate his lifestyle choices. Yet now the brothers were growing up, and while Shogo would love to rule the family organization at his brother’s side - he also wanted to spread his own wings and make a name for himself,rather than only live in Hiroki’s shadow. Perhaps in time, their father would be proud of both of his sons rather than only his first.

Yet still, they were brothers. Though it hurt both of them to an extent, they both understood each other’s needs and desires - though it was hard for him to fully understand, Hiroki understood without being told what Shogo desired more than anything else. Approaching him and placing a hand to his shoulder, the older twin said:

“Well, brother, I look forward to working with you and your gang, even from a few thousand miles away.”

Smiling at his brother giving his approval and nodding as he patted Hiroki on the shoulder as well:

“Thanks, Hiro.”

“Of course, Sho” Hiroki replied, “Besides, lord knows we both need to move out of that crazy house.”

“Speak yourself” Shogo answered before replying with a rejuvenated cocky tone, “If I were, I’d tell Kiyumi to buy her own place and kick her ass out as soon as I get the chance. That place is pretty bitching.”

Smirking and even nodding as he genuinely imagined the scenario which his brother planted into his head, Hiroki’s only response was an agreeing:

“That is also an idea.”

The two brothers then shared a laugh with each other at that moment as they both looked out to the streets surrounding them, as well as all of the people walking and driving about who paid them no mind at all. Shogo couldn’t help but remark:

“To think” he quipped, “You can become the oyabun, but you take an hour on Pumpkin Hill.”

“Oh shut up, ‘How was I supposed to know about the air necklace’.”

“Well, at least we both kinda suck at Yakuza, I guess,” Shogo laughinly confessed, “Though I’m pretty sure I beat the first game before you did.”

“Only because we shared a save file and it happened to be your turn at the time, Sho!”

“Fair enough, but you know one thing I know for a fact you can’t beat me at?”

“What?”

“Getting back on my bike first!” Having been looking right towards him and his brother’s parked kanedas right by the sidewalk on the other side of the avenue road facing them - right in front of a building they liked to refer to as ‘MaxMara’ due to the sign on the front of it. Shogo then darted right towards his - the one that was silver colored with etched in dragon decals and accents of glowing yellow lights throughout it’s form. Hiroki’s was of course, golden colored.

Accepting his brother’s offer for a race, Hiroki soon darted right after him:

“Alright, but you know that getting on is only the first leg of the race!”

“You’re on!”

Managing to quickly break into a sprint as he crossed the street, Hiroki was able to catch up to Shogo in a surprising amount of time as they ran through the parking lot with youthful vigor, Hiroki’s last words before he would have overtaken Shogo being:

“I’m catching up to you, Shogo!”

“Not anymore, Hiro-”

BAM

All it took was a single moment

The loud echoing sound of a gunshot from a tall building located just across the street from the store could be heard from some feet away, though the form of the gunman could only be seen fleeing the rooftop for but a fraction of a second. By the time he had actually heard the shot itself, Shogo had just planted his body down onto his kaneda - and excitedly proclaimed victory:

“Ha!” he laughed, “I won leg 1! Get ready to….Hiro?” the first thing Shogo noticed was that his brother was neither on his bike, nor standing behind him. Instead, much to the younger brother’s horror, he was laying on the ground - a pool of blood forming on the concrete just beneath his head. The left side of Hiroki’s head was marred by what looked like a line of flesh and hair torn right open, with the tip of his left ear being blasted clean off. Blood was absolutely covering the entire left side of his head, though also along the ground were chunks of what was no doubt his skull bone. Despite the occasional twitch, it was clear that Hiroki was not conscious by any stretch of the word - and just looking at the scene, Shogo feared the absolute worst.

“Hiroki!” Without any hesitation at all, Shogo ran towards his brother and almost tripped onto the ground once he knelt down close to him at the speed he had been going. With one hand he scooped up his brother’s head while the other tried to shake Hiroki’s head, desperately trying to just get his brother’s eyes to open; “Hiroki! Wake up! Wake the fuck up, Hiroki!” he couldn’t help but then lash out at the crowd forming around him, “What are you looking at?! Why are you just standing there?! Someone call the fucking ambulence!”

Looking at Hiroki’s face at this moment, in broad daylight, Shogo could see not only the coat of blood dripping from the side of his own brother’s head, but also the heartbreaking fact that his brother was not making any response at all. Whatever he was, he was not asleep. Tears formed from Shogo’s eyes as he realization was striking him oh so hard:

“Don’t die on me, Hiroki” he said while trying and failing to hold his tears back, “Don’t you fucking die on me, Hiro!”

Shogo was able to overcome his tears for long enough to call medical professionals himself, though he shook as he dialed the number - cursing every time he accidentally dialed them incorrectly. He wasted very little time in yelling the moment he had the operator on the line:

“Get the fuck over here! My brother was fucking shot in the head by some, by some fucking assassin or hitman or something! Get over here now, he’s bleeding to fucking death!”

“Okay, okay, sir, I need you to tell me where-”

“I’m, we’re, by the curb on Aoyama-dori Avenue!” Shogo tried to speak more calmly, though he still was in an incredibly frantic tone, “Right in front of that building with the MaxMara sign on it, you know, the Mar’s building! Just, get here fucking quick before he dies!”

“Okay, sir, we have ambulances heading for your location right now, but I need you to please try to remain calm-”

“Remain calm?! My brother is dying in my arms right now!”

“I understand sir, but it will be best for both of you in this situation. I suggest please finding some kind of tourniquet to slow or stop the bleeding-”

Before the lady on the other end even finished, Shogo quickly gasped as he realized he had completely forgotten that. Without even thinking he removed his polo shirt, leaving his body dressed only in the white sleeveless shirt he had underneath. He didn’t care about any of that though, how he looked for once was last on his priorities list - instead he just tied his polo tightly as he could around his brother’s head, desperately trying to do anything he could to slow down the bleeding. He could see the deep stains forming across the fabric even while still tying and tightening it - and it was a hard sight for him to look at. He was no stranger nor fearful of blood, but he was also not ready to watch his brother die. Just beginning to hear the sirens approaching, he looked in their direction with a renewed sense of relief as he said to Hiroki:

“It’s alright, Hiro, I’m not gonna let you die. They’re gonna have you up and walking in no time, I know they will. They have to...you’re gonna wake up...you hear me? You’re gonna wake up…”

Please wake up….

F-Father!

Shogo? Why are you calling me. How much do you need me to pay to get you out of your problem now?

This isn’t anything to do with me, father!

Then what is it Shogo?

It’s Hiroki...he’s in...he was...he’s in the hospital right now!

….

Which hospital?

2008/1/1 11:30 PM

There was a most uncomfortable silence in the hospital room on the night of January 1st, the day of the fateful gunshot. Hiroki now had proper bandages across his head, a respiratory mask across his mouth and IV’s in his veins to keep him alive - though his eyes remained closed in what only looked like the purest and most silent of sleeps. Kazuo himself sat in a chair right beside his bed, gazing at Hiroki’s motionless form with a look that had innumerous emotions running through it at once. The chief among them being shock, grief and utter rage. From the moment he had finally gotten it out of Shogo what happened, there wasn’t a doubt in his mind what had happened - he knew exactly who did this. Who would target his heir in broad daylight like this, killing him in one of the most dishonorable ways imaginable; on a holiday no less.

He repeated the name many times in his head…

Wong.

Wong was the only person Kazuo could think of who not only had a motive, but also the willingness to strike that which Kazuo prized the most. As much as the oyabun understood very well why Hiroki was targeted, he had neither sympathy nor tolerance for it. Watching solemnly as Hiroki fought with all he could to stay alive, it was a sight that no father wished to see in their lives. It was a sight that made Kazuo’s blood boil knowing in his heart and mind who was responsible, wanting nothing more now than to see Wong be put into the ground for this transgression.

With every beeping of Hiroki’s heart monitor, Kazuo’s rage grew beyond his own expectations. Put bluntly, it would be within Wong’s best interests - if one were to ask Kazuo, if Hiroki made a full recovery.

So far however, none of the doctors or nurses were confident in the chances of that happening.

Seated across from Kazuo in the room, the scene was not much different. Shogo waited, covered across his arms and torso in the now dried blood of Hiroki from earlier. His eyes were wide in fear, and body shaking. He could hear the beeping of the heart monitor on account of the door being opened, and was deathly afraid that any moment soon he would hear it flatline. Only by a miracle did that not happen yet. Sitting next to him was the rest of the immediate family - that is to say his older sister and her children. Jyunichi was standing guard by the open door.

As for the sister sitting next to Shogo, Kiyumi was a 25 - going on 26 in February, year old woman. She has been described before as the spitting image of her late mother, though very unlike her in personality. Her hair was long and straightened, and her slender, figured and beautiful young body was dressed in a golden dress - with matching heels and a black designer leather jacket to cover herself in the winter cold. She only looked so fashionable and had makeup one because she was out shopping at the time of Kazuo furiously calling her. Sleeping on either side of her lap were her youngest children, Tomoyuki and Mitsuko. A boy and girl respectively, twins of four years old, to be five in June. On the far side of the bench, next to his younger sister, was Kiyumi's first born - her 9 year old son Shuya, though he will be 10 come November. While not asleep like his siblings, he still sat there surprisingly quietly; largely on account of being bored and increasingly tired.

Speaking of which, that was a reason why eventually Kiyumi quietly stood up - waking up her younger kids and prompting them to softly whine and rub their eyes as she walked towards Kazuo, softly whispering to her father:

“I mean no disrespect father, but my children should be returning home now; it’s getting late and school starts up again as soon as next monday.”

Kazuo first responded with a sigh, looking to Hiroki one last time before looking to his daughter;

“Go. I am not forcing you or them to stay. Just leave me in peace.”

Giving her father a respectful bow, she then turned back to her kids as she began walking towards the door - gesturing for them to follow her. Shuya got up first, followed by the younger two. However, it wasn’t long before Tomoyuki with another whine said to his mother:

“Mother, I have to pee, can I go before we leave?”

Followed not very long afterwards by his sister in a very similar manner:

“I have to pee too, mother!” she whined. Shuya rolled his eyes in annoyance, while Kazuo was too fixated on Hiroki. As such, Kiyumi centered her gaze onto Shogo as she spoke up just enough to grab his attention:

“Shogo” she said, he was at first startled because of his own mindful gaze being locked on Hiroki, though calmed once he realized it was his sister speaking to him as she continued with “Can you take Tomo to the bathroom while I handle Mitsu?”

At first, Shogo tried to deflect the order;

“Why don’t you just ask Jyunichi like you did a few hours ago?”

“Because Jyunichi is in the bathroom of his room right now” Kiyumi said, gesturing to the small room offered within the patient room itself. The door was currently closed. “He’s napping in it, since he needs to have as much energy as possible - father having assigned him to guard Hiroki 24/7, remember?”

“Oh...right…”

“Mother!” Tomoyuki whined again, this time a bit louder, “I really have to go!”

“Okay, okay” Shogo responded, standing up and taking the five year old’s hand, “I’ll take him.”

Leaving the room wasn’t easy for Shogo though, even with the preschooler basically leading him out. He still gave his brother one last look before he was back out in the hall, leading his nephew towards where he remembers the bathroom was. It must have been very weird for those few others in the hall at this hour to see a teenager with so much blood on him walking down the hall with a four year old in hand, let alone the mother so casually holding her daughter not far behind them, the eldest child trailing behind. Nevertheless, nobody said a thing about the sight.

Upon reaching the bathrooms, Kiyumi led Mitsuko right inside of the ‘ladies’ bathroom - and Shogo did much the same in regards to the ‘men’s. There wasn’t really much to it, being a public restroom and all. The room was tiled from the floor to the walls, and while it attempted to match with the white and sterile look the rest of the building had - albeit with a bit more blue, it being a bathroom used by men it had its share of grime and dinginess. On one side of the room was a line of stalls followed immediately by urinals - opposite to the row of sinks on the other side, as well as mirrors.

“Alright, so, you do know how to use a urinal, right Tomo?”

“Mmhm!” Tomo nodded, not even having to be told to walk on over to any urinal and begin fidgeting with his pants. Shogo decided to let him handle his business on his own, and turned away towards the sinks. It was then that he was staring right back at himself in the mirror. At his brown eyes, still looking as though they were in shock - and sporting dark circles beneath themselves from how tired they were. The fact he only had his white tank top on, with it being covered in blood - just as his hands and arms were. Normally, he would take pride in that - but knowing this was the blood of his own brother, he couldn’t help but freeze at the sight. Memories of just a few hours ago flashed again in his mind - cradling Hiroki’s head in his hand, wrapping his polo around Hiroki’s head to stop his bleeding, even the ride to the hospital in the back of the ambulance; staying at Hiroki’s side right up to this very moment. He could picture it all as if it was happening in that moment right before his eyes.

Taking a breath, Shogo approached one of the sinks and decided to at least wash the blood off of his arms and hands to the best of his ability. It wasn’t hard to do, but it was hard to look at. Seeing the blood flow off of his limbs with the knowledge of who it all belonged to, it made him stare not at the mirror but instead at his hands as if in a trance. Shogo was not normally like this, if this was anyone else he wouldn’t even be here - but this was his brother. Not some ordinary person, and not some clan member who happened to get bumped off in front of him. This was someone he actually cared about, and one of the only people in his entire family who he felt truly was there for him these past 17-18 years. Not only did he feel lost, but he also couldn’t help but to feel even colder than he actually was as he looked after his now cleaned hands, tuning out even the sound of the sink’s running water as he just silently gazed down onto his palms - in this moment unsure of what to do anymore.

THUD

That sound, followed by the whine and cry of a small child, quickly diverted his attention. What he saw was something to no surprise, but too much irritation. Tomoyuki was on the ground, having been shoved into the wall of one of the stalls by none other than Shuya. Letting out a very irritated sigh, Shogo walked in between of the brothers - at which point Tomoyuki did manage to get up and hid behind Shogo’s legs for protection.

“Stop” Shogo said as firmly as he could, not having the patience for this right now, “Just, stop.”

Shuya was completely unmoved by Shogo’s tone of voice, and the words he said only egged his uncle on even more:

“He brought it on himself, he was taking too long to finish!”

“Kid, you can’t control how long you have to go” Shogo said, looking down at the petulant brat, “I get you’re tired and wanna go home, but have some fucking patience.”

“You mean like you did, waiting until this moment to become the next in line?” Shuya callously remarked with a smirk across his face as he watched Shogo’s reaction turn from annoyance into full anger, “I guess once we leave you’ll be sucking up to grandfather to seal the deal in?”

Shogo didn’t say anything. In fact, he didn’t even think. He only acted. His face now red with anger, his hands curled into a fist before he punched Shuya in the face. Shogo himself wasn’t the strongest person by any means, but Shuya being so smaller and even less of a fighter than him meant that the young boy was sent back - letting out a high pitched squeal as he fell to the floor, holding his eye in shock. Tomoyuki flinched at seeing the contact, having peered from behind Shogo’s leg. His mouth was actually agape as the reality of what Shogo did came over him; he froze, not knowing what to do in this situation. Shogo just looked down on Shuya with a face of silent rage, not feeling any regret at all for what he did - in fact, if anything he felt satisfaction over it.

Shuya, starting to immediately tear up as he held a hand over his now sore eye, sobbingly whined:

“I’m...I’m telling mother!” and with that, Shuya immediately ran out of the room - the door slamming behind him in his hurry. Only after it closed did Shogo realize what would likely happen now after what he just did, and let out a sigh. He then turned to Tomoyuki though, who had still been behind him up to this point - the boy flinched a little, but then Shogo in a softer tone asked him;

“You okay? No serious damage or anything?”

Shaking his head, the four year old replied “Nu-uh...I’m okay....”

“Okay” Shogo nodded, “Good.”

After a brief pause, and a bit of twiddling his fingers, Tomoyuki asked in a soft though concerned tone:

“Is….is Uncle Hiroki going to be okay?”

That was not a question Shogo was at all prepared to answer. He looked down at those big, innocent young eyes of his nephew for what felt like a while, desperately wanting to tell him ‘yes, duh’ yet knowing that he had no idea at all whether that was going to be the truth or not. Gulping and kneeling down to be level with Tomoyuki’s eyes, Shogo said the most truthful answer that he could:

“I hope so, Tomo. I really hope so.”

Tomoyuki without saying anything more than gave Shogo a hug, something which Shogo was not expecting - but he couldn’t help but feel a bit better. As ‘badass’ he wanted to pretend to be, he couldn’t deny that this sweet little moment made him feel at least the smallest bit better. Smiling for just a bit, he even patted the young boy on the back. It was a shame that this moment didn’t last longer than it did, because it was just as that face of his broke into that smile when it came crashing down.

Shouting from outside in the hall was the booming voice of his father:

“Shogo!” he yelled, “Attacking your own nephew?! Are you demented?! Must you shame me everywhere we go?! Get out here immediately!”

Shogo could only sigh.

1 note · View note

starjeno · 4 years

Text

destined | l.mh | 3

genre: fluff | soulmate!au, genderswap!au pairing: student!mark x female!reader warnings: bad words? word count: 1973 summary: it’s a fact of life that soulmates swap bodies. when mark wakes up in a bed that isn’t his, he’s delighted. you, on the other hand, absolutely despise it. a/n: filler chapter, sorry! and i know it’s been a while since i’ve posted. also, i gave the roommate a name finally.

the sunset filtering through your curtains fills the room with hazy light. it’s soft and golden and comforting, but it does little to placate your roommate. her arms remain crossed over her chest as you pace by the mini-fridge nervously, waiting for this interrogation to end.

“okay, but what did yuta say?” she’s already somehow familiarized herself with the names of the people involved, and while it took some time for her to get used to your new appearance, she currently seems to have grown accustomed to it. you groan, “i told you, yuta likes this whole thing. he just ignored me and then said that i should take mark into consideration.”

“why can’t mark take you into consideration instead?” she retorts. you huff, “i told you this too! mark also thinks i like this whole thing!”

“well? do you?”

you can’t help the hesitation that bubbles up in your throat when you think about the events of earlier. the rapid beating of your heart and the heat in the tips of your ears and the strange familiarity that accompanied each of mark’s words — he felt like a missing puzzle piece, like someone you loved in a past life, and you didn’t like how you unconsciously gravitated towards him as he spoke.

then again, you only saw him for a few hours, so maybe you’re overexaggerating. you shake your head firmly, “i don’t! you know that! i don’t want any of this!”

she gives you an unplaceable look, her eyes filled with contemplation, before groaning and sitting up, “let’s go out to eat. you’ve had a rough day.”

“you’ll pay?”

“yeah,” she sighs, running a hand through her hair, “i don’t want you to confuse the cashier with your credit card info. let’s get out of here.”

it’s a blessing that your roommate has kun. she’s accumulated enough of his clothing that your new body has a decent selection to choose from. though the clothes all fit loosely, you figure tucking your dress shirt into your pants and looping a belt tightly through should make sure your outfit is secure. she stands in the doorway as she watches you change, blushing feverishly when she associates your initial meeting with yuta with the boxers that now hug you snugly.

“where do you feel like eating?”

you hum in thought as you grab a cap, “honestly? kun’s place. he makes such good food.”

she rolls her eyes before dialing her boyfriend’s number on the phone. it rings for a few seconds until the line clicks and you hear a deep voice fill the speaker, “what’s up? you only call at this time when you’re hungry. or horny. or both. please don’t be both.”

“uh, just hungry. also, ____ and i have something we should tell you,” she mumbles, “i’ll be over in five.”

she hangs up before looking over to me and sighing, "i'll do your hair."

as you sit down in front of a mirror and watch your roommate squeeze out a frightening amount of gel onto her palm, you can't help but think about mark again. it's hard not to since his face is the reflection and it shines with a bright optimism that you currently lack. you attempt a half-hearted smile to make his features seem pleasant; it feels wrong when his face frowns.

meanwhile, the girl behind the chair slicks your hair in a neat quiff, sparing a few strands to fall onto your forehead casually. you look handsome, and you're somewhat pleased that kun's first impression of your soulmate will be great on terms of looks.

not that you cared particularly. you don't. you aren't even sure you know what a mark is, much less feel as if others should approve of him.

"there, let's go," she hums, wiping her hands off with a towel and spritzing some floral scent on the two of you before walking out. you follow reluctantly.

kun's apartment is cute and filled with small plants that are groomed to perfection. little canvases with a dramatic ink strokes line the walls above the television and couches, and pens are littered in the corners of every room. there's even a pen tucked into the pocket of the man himself, who is still in the ironed dress shirt he went to work in.

his smile radiates as the two of you walk into the hall, but you can sense the air tension rise, “mina and . . . a friend?”

“ha ha, very funny, kun. you won’t believe who this is,” your roommate grins as you two sit down. kun pauses for a bit before backing into his kitchen, grabbing a spare pan to add on top of the stove, thinking, “uh, a cousin? your long-lost brother? i thought ____ was coming over.”

“exactly,” she huffs before motioning over to you, “meet mark, or better known as ____ in mark’s body.”

kun gasps and points the pan at you accusingly, laughter lacing his voice, “oh my god, you fucking swapped?”

you grin and place a hand to drag the pot down, “i know, it’s crazy.”

“at least he’s cute,” the dimpled boy chuckles, sighing in disbelief. he definitely knew you well.

“agreed,” you smile a bit and your roommate shoots you a short-lived glare before looking at kun, “so we came here to destress from such a horrific event by eating your food.”

“that sounds like a plan . . . ,” he muses, a small smile growing on his face as he takes out cooking oil, “you guys can just chill, and i’ll have something cooked up in ten.”

as soon as you pull your phone out, a notification slides onto a screen. you bite your lip as the social messaging app displays the message of a new follower, and when you hold down for more details, you instantly recognize the handle.

mark. he must've searched you up, and if he's managed to follow you on here, he's probably found all your socials by now. as if on cue, you see three more notifs slide gracefully on your phone, beaming with a new friend request. you aren’t sure if you’re happy or annoyed, or a bit of both, but you hold down and open the app to find a new direct message awaiting your approval.

mark1ee (online): hi! sorry if this is creepy but i figured we’re friends now, so...

good lord. you bite your lips to keep from laughing at his shyness, finding it adorable, and avert your eyes from your phone. mina glares at you quizzically, raising a brow as if to ask what you’re amused at, but you simply shake your head emphatically and begin to type back.

you: how’d you know my last name? there’s probably more than one ____ out there. mark1ee is typing . . .

"here, some cheesy ass lasagna. i put, like, five different kinds of cheese in there, or just whatever was in my fridge.” kun slides two plates to you and your roommate and grabs the nearest chair to sit. he looks at you as you tentatively poke at the stuffing, “i didn’t poison it, you know.”

“shut up, i’m critiquing it!” you laugh as you place a food-filled fork in your mouth, smiling at the instant flavor, “whoa, i forgot how good you are at this.”

he lowers his brows as he smiles, “you mean you forgot my job is in the culinary arts?”

you face downwards as kun strikes up a conversation with your roommate and glance at the notification on your phone. it doesn’t take a moment of hesitation for you to swipe and check mark’s message.

mark1ee (online): i checked the profile pictures. it would be a lot easier to make sure i’m contacting the right person if i had your number ;) you: how smooth. how do i know this is the mark i met earlier today? mark1ee (online): already asking for pics? damn. mark1ee sent a photo mark1ee (online): i forgot that it’s basically just a pic of you lmao :/ now pls send #

you snort and look up to find your roommate and kun staring at you intently. you wave your hand dismissively, "funny meme, sorry."

they give you a strange look before resuming the conversation, and you hide your phone under your leg before digging into the meal before you.

"so, what's going on?"

at the question, yuta sighs as mark walks in, his hand rubbing a towel through his wet hair, "winwin is coming back early. a week early."

"are you not excited?" mark quips. the older male tiredly grins, "i'm excited, believe me. but i'm worried that i won't pay enough attention to your switch."

mark frowns, the wrinkles ruining the feminine face, "i'll be fine. she just sent me her number!"

he takes a seat by yuta and faces the flatscreen in front, his glossy eyes reflecting the bright lights of the video game. yuta glances at his long lashes and soft brows for a moment before resuming the screen, "damn, good job. maybe you have enough game to survive without me."

"wha- fuck you! and you'll still be here!" mark laughs, picking up the other controller.

"i'm running away with winwin, by the way," yuta jokes. he lets mark join the round before pressing the buttons again, "now that you have her number, what are you going to do? ask her on a date?"

mark freezes. he hadn't even thought of what to do, and right now, yuta feels like a personal certified love guru. what a great fucking idea! before he could spend more time admiring yuta's genius, mark drops the controller and sends a new text to you, hoping for a stroke of luck.

he didn't really need luck though. he had literally found his soulmate that morning.

you: wanna go on a date? nctzn (online): how would i get clothes, doof? i'm wearing my roomie's bf's shit now :/ you: well, keep wearing them and i'll buy myself a dress? i don't care what you wear though, i'm not a great dresser.

mark is lying to his new form. he had always considered himself as someone with a good eye for outfits and color coordination. he sighs as the green dot by your profile that signifies your online presence fades away, and he figures he should probably find another way to pass the time while you’re offline. yuta waits expectantly, “well?”

“clothing’s an issue. and i don’t even know where i should take her,” mark grins, “it’s going to feel so weird, like going on a date with myself? trippy.”

“you’ll survive, it’s not like you’re ugly,” yuta sighs as he rolls his eyes with exasperation. mark doesn’t respond. he’s too preoccupied with the idea of you to even process yuta’s words. he’s never felt so giddy about a girl before — even his middle school crushes never got him feeling this jittery. conversation with you flowed so smoothly, and even mark knew how strange it was to feel this way after one conversation.

he’s glad you reciprocate his feelings. everything’s he heard about soulmates seems to be true: you fit him well. mark knows he should be a little more hesitant, but this is finally a dream come true. you’re a dream come true.

you: let’s go on a date tmrw then? nctzn (online): ok why not

mark glances up at the bright orange sky. the sun has only just started to set and the evening barely grazes the warm colors. are you just as happy as he is now? is your head filled with thoughts of him, the same way he can’t stop thinking about you?

mark’s pauses, not sure if he should dare to think his next question, but the idea floats in his head anyway and he turns pink with embarrassment.

yuta turns away, silent.

prev | masterlist | next

#neowritingsnet #cznnet #neocaratnet #ncitynetwork #mark lee #lee minhyung #nct mark #nct #nct 127 #nct dream #nct u #mark x reader #sexswap au #genderswap au #destined #starjeno

104 notes · View notes

Last Seen Blogs