#I get that they’re high school seniors but at that age you should have even the most basic of first aid skills

[canthelpit0]

Heartless

Pairing: Chris x reader

Wordcount: 3k+

Summary: Chris used to drink back in high school. And now being rich and in his early 20s he started back up again.

Warnings: angst (if u squint), relapse, drinking, alcohol addiction, weed, mentioned drugs, slight use of y/n, Chris pov, (slight) unreliable narrator, model!reader, no smut, kissing

(A/N: possible ooc. I don’t do drugs, so I don’t know how realistic this is.)

Chris PoV

I feel dizzy.

But I love it, I love this.

I take another sip of my solo cup looking at all the people.

Back in high school I used to drink and smoke, and I even did some drugs at some point. But I had stopped after high school, after all, I thought that I could let loose and have fun, but that after high school that I’d start working.

Having been partying and drinking for my junior and senior year, staying sober for over two days was hard, but in the end I’d managed to stay sober for a whole year.

I wasn’t even the legal age to drink yet anyway.

I started smoking occasionally though, just to hold me off from alcohol.

Somehow we managed to become famous YouTubers, moving out to LA and living our dreams.

But being in LA meant getting invited to all sorts of parties. We usually just said no and that we wouldn’t go, mainly because of my past habits. But after a while our manager started to force us to, to make connections.

However being so close to alcohol, and being offered drinks and blunts all the time was fucking with me.

I started to smoke more, going from around one cigarette every two days to five a day.

It was a common fact that I’m a smoker in our fanbase. And I wasn’t proud of it. It is disgusting. But I would rather do that, before relapse back into my drinking habits. That’s at least what I told myself.

I started to unconsciously get colder towards Nick and Matt. I couldn’t help it.

So when an influencer texted me inviting me to some party, I agreed. I snuck out of the house at night, walked around the corner to the gas station, got an Uber and went to the party.

I put my phone on silent, turned off all trackers and snap map, as well as put it on airplane mode just to be sure.

But deep down I always knew that at the end of the day, if I do manage to get home without Matt’s help, I’ll still be drunk, they’ll know I relapsed.

But at this moment, it doesn’t matter. All that matters is getting drunk tonight.

This is the second drink I’ve had tonight. And I wasn’t even close to tipsy. Maybe I should play some drinking game?

I shrug to myself scanning the crowd of people. All people with faces that look like influencers. If that even makes sense. They just look like they do TikTok.

I shrug to myself. I glance over at the window to the backyard porch, seeing the backs of a few girls sitting there. I can’t see their faces and I don’t care to.

I look down at my drink, seeing the way it’s half empty now. I huff. Bringing the cup back to my lips again, I down the whole cup.

Jake and Johnnie come up to me. I make eye contact with Jake and purse my lips.

It’s a commonly known fact that I smoke tobacco, yes. But to everyone’s knowledge I don’t drink, and have never touched a drink In My life.

Well Matt and Nick haven’t, I never said I haven’t, but I wasn’t exactly open about my past with alcohol either.

Matt and Nick said they’ve never drank, wich is true. Yet I never agreed. I did say on that podcast that I do smoke.

“Yo Chris” Jake greets dapping me up. I give him a weak smile. “Hi guys” I respond with a slight smile.

I wish I didn’t know anyone here and could just get wasted in peace. I’d get wasted at home but I literally can’t buy alcohol

“I didn’t know you drink?” Johnnie asks taking a sip of a water bottle. I don’t know if they drink, all I know is that they’re old enough to. Unlike me.

“Well.” I shrug. I’m still standing in the kitchen so I just put down my empty solo cup for the time being.

“Aren’t you underage tho?” Jake asks raising an eyebrow down at me. He shifts on his feet. He wouldn’t stop me per se, he’d just quietly disapprove.

“Yeah” I shrug. I lick my lips glancing at the half empty beer bottle on the counter. I purse my lips contemplating if I should pour my solo cup full again.

Because on one hand I want to make it seem like this is the first time I’m drinking and that I’m innocent, but then again the temptation is too strong, and before I realize it I’m pouring my cup full again.

Both the boys in front of me were saying something about not drinking too much, but I wasn’t even paying it attention.

“-Just don’t drink too much, right, you can get drunk really fast.” Jake rambles on a smile present on his lips like he thought this was an innocent joke. Not like I just relapsed or anything.

I take a sip from the beer, feeling it burn down my throat. I don’t even make a face at it, if anything I relax more when the taste hits my tongue.

“You handle your alcohol well, wow.” Jake says half joking, having finally stopped his rant.

“Anyway, where are Nick and Matt?” Johnnie asks cutting Jake off before he can start yapping again.

“Home.” I mumble taking another sip.

“Oh why’s that?” He asks back his words questioning as he tilts his head slightly.

His eyes look really dark with the dark eyeliner he’s wearing, in the dimmed room.

“They just didn’t want to come.” I shrug. I feel like I’m being too direct and rude.

It’s funny. Whenever I’m sober, I act more cheery and extroverted. But I don’t feel good. When I’m drunk or drinking it’s the opposite.

“Huh?” Jake huffs questioningly. “Well this is the first time you’re drinking right? Were you planning to, or how did that happen?”

I think he thought that maybe some person gave a drink to me and that’s how I started drinking tonight. Because god forbid I wanted to get drunk and was planning on drinking here because shady parties like this are the only places I can get my hands on alcohol.

“No,” I pause making eye contact with both of them, before my eyes meet the beer in my cup again.

“It’s not.” I shrug.

They glance at each other before looking back at me and I feel their eyes burn through my skin.

“Well, drink responsibly.” Jake says again slowly. He wasn’t going to stop me. They were all for ‘you do you’. And besides it’s not that bad anyway it’s not like I’m alcoholic or something. “And don’t drive.” He chuckled jokingly, winking.

I let a slight smile take over my face. I close my eyes and shake my head slightly, letting out a dry chuckle.

Johnnie waves back at me as they start to walk off into the crowd of people in the living room.

Time flies.

I drink some more, wander around and what not.

I’ve taken a bunch of drugs before. Asides from the obvious like coffee, cigarettes and alcohol, I also used to smoke a lot of weed. I’ve done lsd, cocaine, ecstasy. A lot of ecstasy. And Xanax.

Well I took Xanax kind of on accident in sophomore year. Matt has anxiety, and it used to be really bad so he had prescribed pills to take. And one day I thought they were pain killers and took them.

It made me feel very euphoric but calm and relaxed at the same time. That was the first big deal drug I ever took.

I was never interested in not being sober. But when junior year hit, and I started to go to parties, I tried verity’s kinds of drugs because if the high Xanax put me on was great, how would stronger drugs be.

Tho at the end of the day I did that way less than just drinking.

I look around getting bored of just standing around. I walk out to the backyard porch to get some air. There is a couch in the corner on both sides.

What’s wired about these types of parties is that there are not just influences or that type of people here, but also low ranking celebrities.

Like actors and actresses with low status, up in coming singers, low ranking models and what not.

There is a girl all alone on the couch to my right. I glance at her, scanning her features. Our eyes meet. I’m not as drunk as I was planning to be, but the night is still young so whatever.

She looks like she could be a model. But for all I know she could be a really pretty YouTuber too.

She takes the blunt from between her lips breathing out a puff of the toxic smoke. She was smiling, the weed rolled into a perfect blunt.

“Hi?” She asks. Have I been staring? I purse my lips staring back at her. I kind of forget to respond before I see her raise an eyebrow at me.

“Hey.” I respond simply shifting on my feet to turn to face her. She nods to the couch next to her and I take the hint and sit down next to her.

I take a deep breath in, closing my eyes slightly. The cold LA air feels so good against my burning hot skin.

“You smoke?” She asks offeringthe blunt to me.

I lick my lips slightly. She seems pretty faded, she must’ve been smoking for a while here now.

I look over her features,my eyes taking in every detail.

I him in response, watching the way she holds out the blunt for me. I take it and put it between my lips. As soon as I feel the weed fill up my lungs I can feel my body relax.

I slump back into the couch giving her the blunt back while I breathe out the smoke.

“What’s your name?” She asks putting the blunt back between her lips and smoking it.

“Chris.” I say simply. She hands me the blunt once again. And oh, I didn’t realize we’d be sharing now, but oh well.

“You look like a YouTuber.” She says bluntly, tilting her head at me.

We get that a lot, we look like ‘generic tiktokers’.

I shrug. I turn my face to the side and blow out the smoke before looking back at her and offering her the blunt again. “Maybe because I am?”

She chuckles dryly and takes the blunt. She puts it between her plump pink lips. “I’m y/n” she mumbles around the weed before inhaling again. I watch the way she holds the blunt between her pointer and middle finger.

The way her hands look so delicate. The way her acrylic nails look.

“And what do you do for a living?” I ask rhetorically. A slight grin threatens to spread on my face.

“I model.”

“Never thought models smoke?”

“Well I do.”

She offers me the blunt again.

We talk for even longer. We both seem to be blunt and direct people. there was no messing around and beating around the bush.

After a while silence falls upon us again. This is the second blunt we’d lit by this point. She leans over and puts that blunt out on the ashtray on the couch table.

“You’re pretty you know that.” I blurt out. She sits back raising an eyebrow. Her body is turned to me and she just looks so pretty. If I could have my way and we weren’t at some LA house party right now, I’d eat her out right here on the backyard porch.

“Thank you?” She chuckles. And god how good she sounds.

Her words sound like silk. They flow so well together and her voice 100% fits her face.

While we were talking she said she’s from New York. Wich is great. I love meeting east coast people. There are not a lot in California.

She’s apparently from manhattan. I’d been there before.

She turns to me more and tilts her head teasingly. I lean in my eyes staying locked on hers.

I can’t help the huge grin growing on my face.

“Yeah” I breathe out. By now we’re so painfully close. I put my hand on her jaw holding her in place. I can’t help it when I glance down at her lips for a second.

She does the same tho and looks down at my lips.

So why would I draw out this moment any longer? I crash my lips on hers and feel her immediately react and kiss back.

The kiss is gentle but hard at the same time.

By this point I can barely feel the alcohol in my system, only the weed. And with us kissing that’s all I’m focused on. I can’t think straight, and not because I’m cross faded.

My eyes are shut trying to feel this as much as I can. This feels like a high. Whether that be because I am actually high, or if kissing her just naturally feels good.

I tilt my head slightly in an effort to deepen the kiss, feeling the way her arms wrap around my neck and pull me closer.

My hands go to her waist holding onto her.

But suddenly, before things can escalate, I feel my phone ring.

I pull away slightly our faces still close. I groan in Annoyance. I lick my swollen lips glancing back down at y/n’s that are also plump and kiss swollen.

I pull out my phone from my back pocked seeing Matt’s caller ID.

I purse my lips and hang up the call. I crash my lips back onto y/n’s. She sighs into the kiss and kisses back just as intensely.

But my phone goes off again. We ignore it just continuing to make out.

That is until she pulls away and licks her lips. Our eyes lock again, silence falling upon us, until she breaks it.

“Whoever is calling you really wants to talk.” I purse my lips looking at my phone on the couch between us.

I pick it up with a sigh. I sit back and turn back forward. I pick up the call and it’s Nick.

“Christopher Owen.” I hear nicks pissed off firm voice through the other line.

“Turn your location on right the fuck now.”

I sigh. I take the phone from my face turning off airplane mode and turning my location back on. After I do that I put the phone back to my ear.

“We’ll be there in 5” I hear Matt say loudly. He sounds mildly pissed off too.

“Whatever.” I groan dramatically. Why do they always have to hold me off from having fun.

I was just drinking a little bit. Like I didn’t even get drunk yet.

“Go to the front door, we’re almost there.” Nick says firmly to wich I reluctantly hum an argument.

I hang up the phone after it’s silent. I roll my eyes. I let my hand drop from my face to my lap, still holding my phone. I look over at y/n who is looking at me with a curious expression, but she wasn’t going to push it.

“I gotta go.” I say simply and get up.

I don’t glance back before i open the door inside again. I walk through the crowd of people pushing my way to the front door.

★ ★ ★

I sit at the front porch steps waiting for Matt to pull up.

When he pulls up mere seconds later Nick gets out of the passenger seat walking over to me. He looks more worried than angry.

I reluctantly get up. Nick keeps holding my arm just in case, but I really wasn’t that drunk. Sure I was not walking too straight, but it wasn’t like I was at risk of falling over.

He sits me down in the passenger seat Matt watching.

Nick himself gets into the backseat.

No word is said. Matt pulls into drive and starts to drive down the road. I close my eyes awaiting the eventual questioning and rants and whatever.

“Why’d you relapse?” Matt ask, simply getting straight to the point. Ripping the band aid right off.

“Sorry” I mumble. I open my eyes and turn my head to stare out of the window.

No song is playing, it’s just eerily quiet.

“No. Why did you relapse?” Nick asks his tone more firm. “Yeah you were doing so good” Matt adds with a sigh.

I let out my own sigh at the questions.

I don’t know why I relapsed.

It’s just something about LA that is so tempting. Partying is fun, and so is being drunk.

I’m pretty sure Jake and Johnnie must’ve told them. Somehow. After all, at this party, they were the only ones I actually knew. They must’ve texted or called one of them for some reason, resulting in waking them up.

And as soon as they were awake and checked my bed, they started to call me. Makes sense, whatever.

“Chris, you know, you need to talk.” Nick sighs frustrated.

“Why did you relapse?” Matt asks again glancing over at me for a second before going right back to staring at the road. “Is it the temptations of LA, is it your mental health,” he lists off the top of his head before sighing again. “What is it?”

“Chris we need you to tell us the root cause of this.” Nick says firmly. Honestly i should play drunk and pretend I don’t understand what they want from me, but I think they can tell I’m not legit drunk, just because of the fact that they’ve seen me actually blackout drunk before.

“I don’t know.” I say simply my tone staying low. It feels like my words cut straight through the thick tension in the room.

It’s like a re-opened wound.

“What do you mean you don’t know.” Nick scoffs. He was getting worked up, and I know that. I close my eyes for a second bracing myself.

“We thought you were better.”

We- it wasn’t just Nick that thought I got better, but also Matt, mom, dad and Justin.

“I did too.”

Masterlist

A/N: I hope you guys liked this.. I hope it’s realistic enough. But yeah, this was fun to write, tho I do know that it did kind of drift from the actual theme of the song. Tell me if u guys want a part 2 and my asks and requests are open <3

‼️please don’t copy my work/idea‼️

Taglist: @muwapsturniolo , @sturnad , @iluvm4ttsturni0l0 , @evie-sturns , @me09love , @fratbrochrisgf , @spideylovin , @chrissgirlsstuff , @stunza , @whicked-hazlatwhore , @sturniooolos , @ecliphttlunar , @orangeypepsi , @klaus223492 , @char112244 , @sst7niolo , @slut4chriss , @mattsturniololoverr , @th3-3d3n-g4rd3n , @st7rnioioss , @t1llysblogs , @nonat-111 , @blahbel668 , @rockstarchr1s , @sturnsintrouble , @nayveetbhh , @tillies33ssss , @sturncakez , @strnilo , @somegirlfromasgard , @mattslovelygf , @sturnsmaeve , @sturnstvr , @lucianastrun , @jnkvivi , @jamiesturniolo

#sturniolo x reader #chris sturniolo #chris sturniolo x reader #chris sturniolo x y/n #chris sturniolo x you #chris x reader #christopher sturniolo #christopher sturniolo x reader #sturniolo smut #christopher sturniolo smut #matthew sturniolo x reader #matt sturniolo x you #matt sturniolo smut #chris sturniolo smut #christopher sturniolo x reader smut #sturniolo #matt sturniolo x reader #matthew sturniolo #nick sturniolo #sturniolo triplets #matt sturniolo #sturniolo fanfic #nicolas sturniolo #Spotify

[theflagscene]

I’m sorry, but that mask, I can’t! 😂

Why does the killer breathe like Darth Vader? Does he have asthma too? And why bring up Tan smoking and having asthma randomly right before heavy breathing masked man showed up? Red herring much?

Why do I feel like White is not any safer with Fluke than the others are with the masked killer?

Also, taking bets now, Phee and Jin, they totally make out in the coffin now they they’re stuck. Which, duh, obviously they were going to get stuck, I mean, why would you hide in a coffin in the first place!? There’s only like what, 6 hours worth of air in there? With two people, that basically traps ya at 3 hours until suffocating. So maybe no making out, heavy breathing will only quicken that timeline.

Why would you leave the hard drive in there with Fluke!?!?

Wait, why is masked man attacking Tan, wasn’t he not part of the whole Non thing?

Fluke is absolutely losing it, also they had drugs there didn’t they? Even if it’s just weed and nothing heavier, use it on Por for the love of God! Damn. The dude is just laying there in shock, with internal bleeding that probably has gotten worse now thanks to Fluke moving the branch like an idiot. He’s probably got a staph infection raging at this point, which would explain the random seizure. Is there not a single bottle of peroxide in that house!? Clean the damn wound, pack it so the branch stops shifting and give him something for the pain.

Idioto.

#Lynn watches DFF #I get that they’re high school seniors but at that age you should have even the most basic of first aid skills #most of them as sus as hell and I don’t even think Non is the killer #I mean I hope he is because I wanna see baby Barcode kick ass #but he probably isn’t #only time shall tell #I can’t tell if this is a hate watch for me or if I’m enjoying it lol #I’m enjoying aspects of it #who knows lol #dff the series #pheejin

[munsonkitten]

steddie smut | read the tags first | 6400 words choking, spanking, sub eddie, masochist eddie (slightly), dom steve, coming in pants 5+1, play fighting, dry humping, nipple play

1. 

Eddie’s not really used to this.

He’s never really had friends his own age. His band and Hellfire are all younger than him, Rick and his friends are all older. It’s been difficult to get close to anyone, when everyone his age has thought of him as a freak since he moved to town. 

All of that, plus his new friend being Steve, put Eddie in some situations he never really thought he’d be in. Situations that he, maybe, dreamed of one day being in, but not really like this. 

Pinned under Steve Harrington with his wrists held down to the ground above his head. Yeah, he’s thought of that, but not… 

Not the part where they’re apparently wrestling.  

Eddie doesn’t remember why this started. One second he was on the couch and the next he was on the floor, and something probably happened in between there, but he doesn’t really know what. His brain is kind of fuzzy, the memories clouded by the fact that Steve Harrington is currently sitting on top of him.

He tries, though not very hard, to roll Steve off of him. He probably could, honestly, but there’s something about this that makes his limbs heavy, and yeah, Steve feels good on top of him. Warm and solid, and it’s kind of Eddie’s dream to be underneath him, so sue him for his efforts being minimal here. 

It’s just that he should probably try a little bit harder to get Steve off of him because Eddie’s very close to sporting a little problem. Steve’s ass is pressed right to Eddie’s crotch, and he’s just laughing. He’s holding Eddie down and he’s laughing about it, like he’s won some prize here by beating him, even if Eddie doesn't remember why they’re wrestling to begin with. 

“Okay, okay, that’s—” Eddie starts. 

Steve shifts in his lap, and oh god that’s — okay, Steve needs to move now or he’s going to notice how hard Eddie is, and then Eddie needs to run to the bathroom before Steve sees or he’ll punch Eddie in the face, probably, and—

He shifts again. Steve shifts again and then his entire face changes, and he’s leaning over Eddie, hands still pinning Eddie’s wrists to the ground, and Eddie has no idea why Steve isn’t getting up. 

“Are the rumors true?” Steve asks.

Eddie wishes he could hide his face behind his hands, hide the heat blooming on his cheeks. 

He doesn’t answer. 

“The rumors that Eddie Munson has a thing for me?” Steve continues. 

“Where did you hear that rumor?” Eddie blurts out. Yeah, sure, people have called him a faggot for longer than he’s known it himself, but his crush on Steve has been as tightly under wraps as it could possibly be. 

Maybe not. 

“We had gym class together my senior year,” Steve says, leaning down to whisper right in Eddie’s ear. “All the boys said you looked at me in the locker room.”

Eddie feels like he might die right about now. Of shame, embarrassment, anxiety that the entire male population of Hawkins high school knows he’s got a raging hard on for Steve Harrington. 

“They said you’d look at my dick,” Steve continues. “Like you wanted me. But I never believed them because why would Eddie want me? I was everything you hated back then.”

“No,” Eddie says. “No, you weren’t. You were — beautiful. You are. W-who told you all that?”

Steve laughs quietly, brushing his nose against Eddie’s ear. “No one. I made it up.”

Eddie wrenches himself out of Steve’s hands and shoves him off. “Fuck you, man!”

But he’s laughing, head falling into his hands as he sits up. 

“Hey, I got what I was looking for,” Steve says. “You’ve totally got a thing for me.”

“Shut up,” Eddie mutters. 

“No, no,” Steve says. “No, it’s cute. I — well, I’d been hoping. Didn’t know how to bring it up.”

Eddie’s head snaps back up. Steve’s just sitting there on his knees watching him, waiting. 

So Eddie throws himself at Steve, wrestling him back to the ground, laughter bubbling out of his lips because he can’t believe Steve just said that. I’d been hoping. It can’t be real, but — but Steve’s laughing too, something sweet, chiming like bells in Eddie’s ears, and his hands are squeezing Eddie’s hips and pulling him down against him. 

The feeling of Steve against him, his thigh between Eddie’s legs, it has him going fuzzy again. Warm and tingling, spreading through his entire body. 

Steve flips them while Eddie’s distracted, pushing his hands back up on the floor, pinned beneath his wrists. 

“You mean it?” Eddie asks. 

Steve bends down, nosing along Eddie’s cheek, and whispers, “Yeah. I mean it.”

He grinds down against Eddie, their dicks pressing together. Steve’s just as hard as he is, he notices now. It’s too good, too hot, and Eddie drops his head heavy on the floor and moans, loud and uninhibited because he’s never felt another person’s body against his own, and he can’t contain it at all. 

“A-and you want this?” Eddie asks. “With me?”

“Mhm,” Steve hums. He pulls his hands away from Eddie’s wrists and whispers a quiet,��“Stay,” in Eddie’s ear. 

Eddie wouldn’t dream of doing anything else. 

“Good boy,” Steve murmurs.

It goes straight to his dick, making him buck up against Steve’s body. He can’t believe any of this is real, that any of this is happening. He wants to pinch himself to make sure he isn’t dreaming, but he has to leave his hands where they are. Steve told him to, and Eddie needs to be good for him. 

Steve shifts, his hands going to Eddie’s thighs to spread them apart, and Eddie whines. He fucking whines over Steve’s big hands moving his legs into position, spreading them so Steve can fit between them, slotting their bodies together. 

“This okay?” Steve asks. 

Eddie nods quickly. Of course it’s okay. It’s beyond okay. It’s everything. 

Their dicks press together through their jeans again, and Eddie brings his knees up, squeezing them around Steve’s sides. He hooks his ankles behind Steve’s back, and he wants to wrap his arms around his neck, but Steve told him to stay so he is. 

Steve thrusts against him, his head dipping to press his lips against Eddie’s neck. 

This isn’t going to last long at all, not with Steve thrusting and grinding like he’s fucking Eddie through their jeans. Eddie’s never done anything with anyone, and now he’s beneath the man of all of his wet dreams, and he’s hurtling toward the edge embarrassingly fast. 

“Steve,” he moans. “I’m gonna — Steve.” 

“Okay, okay,” Steve whispers. “That’s alright, baby, go ahead. Just like this. I’ve got you. I’ve got you.”

“N-not in — this is my last pair of clean underwear,” Eddie pants, bucking his hips up against Steve’s body, rutting himself hard and fast against Steve’s dick.

Steve chuckles against his neck. “Want me to stop?”

“No,” Eddie rushes out. “Don’t stop. Don’t stop.”

Steve laughs again, lifts his head ahead from Eddie’s throat and looks down at him. “Cum for me, baby. C’mon.”

Eddie needs more. He wants his pants off, wants to feel skin on skin, but he doesn’t want to go through the effort. He doesn’t want to move his hands from where Steve placed them and told him to stay. 

He wants — 

“Kiss me,” Eddie pants. “Please. Stevie, I want —”

Steve cuts him off with a kiss, soft and gentle, and Eddie  has nothing to compare it to but he thinks it might be the best kiss in the history of the world because it’s him and Steve. Eddie can’t keep his hands in place anymore, has to move them to cup Steve’s cheeks as he moans into the kiss, his hips twitching one more time before the tension snaps and he shakes apart completely, coming in his pants. 

He cries out, legs tightening around Steve’s waist, arms sliding to wrap around his shoulders. His dick throbs and twitches in his underwear, making a mess that Steve keeps driving himself down into, leaving Eddie wet and oversensitive, and then — Steve stops. 

He pulls away, hands flying to his zipper. He draws his cock out of his underwear, hard and leaking and red, and Eddie watches. He watches as Steve quickly strokes his cock, quiet moans falling from his lips. His eyes shut, his head tipping back, and with a moan he cums all over his hand, spilling over onto Eddie’s stomach where his shirt has ridden up. 

It might be the hottest thing Eddie’s ever seen. 

He suddenly feels self conscious about not lasting long enough to get his dick out. He starts to become completely aware of the mess crusting in his pubes, Steve’s mess on his stomach. 

“Shit,” Steve pants. “Sorry. Let me — I’ll clean you up. C’mon.”

Steve makes good on that promise. He takes Eddie to the bathroom and strips him out of his clothes, then takes off his own. He pulls him into the shower, helps scrub Eddie down. The shift in their friendship is immediate. If it can even be called a friendship anymore. 

That’s just the start of it. 

2. 

It happens again a few days later. 

Not the whole wrestling part of it, no, because apparently Steve was just using that as an excuse to be close to Eddie, and now he doesn’t need an excuse. No, Eddie cums in his pants again a few days later, his hips grinding against Steve’s while they make out in Steve’s bed. 

It’s embarrassing, really, how quick it happens. One second they’re laying side by side, the next Steve’s on top of him asking if he can kiss him, and Eddie’s sitting there like no shit because all he ever wants to do now is kiss Steve. It’s kind of a problem how much he likes kissing Steve. 

Steve barely has to touch him, barely has to slide his dick against Eddie’s through their jeans, and Eddie’s rock hard and throbbing in his boxers. 

And it happens so quick because, when Eddie tries to stifle a moan into Steve’s neck, Steve pulls back and says, “C’mon, baby, let me hear you,” and then whispers, “Good boy,” when Eddie tips his head back and lets sounds fall from his lips. 

It’s like those three words in close proximity to each other flip a switch in Eddie’s brain and cock. Baby, good boy. It’s fucking embarrassing, is what it is. 

He cums just like that, hips bucking against Steve’s, mouth open with his moans spilling out. 

“Jesus, Eddie,” Steve chuckles, pressing a kiss to his jaw. “Did you just…?”

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to—”

“Hey, no that’s — don’t apologize,” Steve says. He pulls away, rolling over to the side.

He doesn’t make any attempt to get his dick out, just lays there pressing lazy kisses to Eddie’s lips.

Eventually, Steve finds a pair of underwear and some sweatpants for Eddie to change into and they settle into Steve’s bed again. They’ve only been together for a few days, but they’ve been friends for months. Their routine is pretty established at this point — get into pajamas and lay in Steve’s bed listening to music or reading or talking. 

Now, though, Steve pulls Eddie against him, plays with his hair while Eddie rests his head on his chest. 

Read the rest of this 5+1 on AO3

#steddie #steve/eddie #eddie munson #steve harrington #steve x eddie #steve harrington x eddie munson #steddie fic #stranger things #my fics

[christinesficrecs]

Hey, this is my first time requesting some docs. I’m really craving some possessive Derek🥹 Sterek please

Sure!

it’s obvious, you’re oblivious by EvanesDust | 14.8K | Explicit

Derek’s new roommate is alpha bait but seems disinterested in everyone—especially Derek.

Stiles is suddenly popular, but can’t seem to catch the interest of the only alpha he actually likes.

…or the one where Stiles and Derek get paired together in room assignments and are secretly in love with the other.

I don't know why, but I guess it has something to do with you by LunaCanisLupus_22 | 17.8K | Explicit

The one where Stiles goes thrift shopping and steals an alpha's shirt. And gets a lot more than he bargains for.

The subtle seduction of Stiles Stilinski by DropsOfAddiction | 5.8K | Explicit

Derek waits, thinking it will only be a matter of when, not if. But nothing ever happens.

Stiles doesn’t jump him when they’re pressed close watching films on the couch, he doesn’t clumsily kiss him while wearing his stupid sombrero and he doesn’t grab Derek’s hand when they’re at the movies.

He doesn’t do any of the things that Derek had predicted he’d do.

In fact, he doesn’t do anything at all when it comes to Derek.

Derek’s not used to having to make the first move and it terrifies him; even with his limited romantic experience with a few homicidal women, they usually just took what they wanted from him.

Derek’s never wanted anyone like he wants Stiles and every time he sees him lately, it’s like it gets a tiny bit worse.

A Letter From Mom by StilesIsMySpiritAnimal | 32.9K | Explicit

After waking up at the age of 11 without any memories of his past Stiles spends eight years with his father in the tiny town of Shelter Cove, California. After his father’s death he receives a notice from a storage facility in some town called Beacon Hills. Stiles is confused and thinks the manager made a mistake until he finds a letter that should have been for his 18th birthday that his dad never gave him. It’s from his mother, who he has no memory of. Weirdly enough, her letter mentions Beacon Hills and some woman named Talia, who he’s supposed to trust. Confused and angry at his father, Stiles sets out for Beacon Hills anxious and determined to find out what his dad had been hiding from him all these years.

It’s (Not) a Cult by lhr111 | 56K | Explicit

Well Stiles, you told me a few weeks ago that you thought Derek was leading a cult.”

At that Derek whipped his head toward Stiles in shock. “You thought I was a cult leader?”

Stiles will not be shamed. “Well, either you or Peter. Peter made more sense, but since he deferred to you that one time I was a little unsure. I mean, what else could I think with all the weird shit going on. You, hanging out with random high school seniors, doing secret things, ordering them around like you are their parent, them actually doing what you tell them. It’s really weird, okay?”

The Dynamics of Infatuation by AllTheseSquaresMakeACircle | 36.1K | Explicit

Stiles was slave. Then he wasn't. Ever since then, he's been stuck with the royal family. And if was being honest with himself, he did not entirely mind it.

The Darkness Fades Away by heartsdesire456 | 44.9K | Mature

After Derek is the one who saves Stiles from a terrible night gone wrong, they aren't the only ones forced to overcome barriers, break down walls, and try to rebuild their lives one step at a time.

Though, they are are the only ones doing it together.

Proximity by NadiaHart | 5.9K | Explicit

This was supposed to be a routine scouting mission. Go check out the creepy warehouse that suddenly appeared behind the abandoned movie theater off route 15; take some notes, maybe a photo or two. Do some basic recon and report back to the rest of the pack.

That is decidedly not what happened. And now, standing chest-to-chest, squished into a shipping crate with Derek, Stiles absently wonders where he went wrong.

He Gets Me High by talktowater | 11.5K | Explicit

Stiles and Derek act like a couple. But they're not. Seriously! Derek has a boyfriend and Stiles has a girlfriend. They're just friends, overly-attached and possessive friends, but that's it. Right?

When it all comes crumbling down by Littleredridinghunter | 216.1K

Stiles is recovering from the Nogitsune. Erica is the only one that is really there for him, Scott's too busy rekindling his relationship with Allison and Stiles feels like he's falling apart.

When a near-miss with a kelpie results in an encounter that he could never have predicted, Stiles begins to think his life might be getting back on track.

He's wrong.

Stiles' life is so messed up he can't even begin to explain it, maybe it's time for him to finally do something for himself and get out of Beacon Hills. But where will that path lead?

With Stiles involved, no doubt danger and death won't be far behind.

#asks #sterek fics #ficrecs #jolenedepressedswartland #protective!derek #possessive!derek

[hazelhearts]

I Can't

Steve Harrington x Henderson!Reader

summary: you're off limits. that's what he tells himself. but, does his heart understand that as well as he wants it to?

content/warnings: slow burn, angst, fluff, the upside down, age gap

word count: 6.5k

note / request: requested by anon "Hii I was wondering if you could write a Steve Harrington x Henderson!reader where she’s like 2 or 3 years younger than him and she’s in love with him and he knows about it but he pushes her away because of the age gap but when they’re in the upside down she gets hurt and he freaks out and they have an argument and he realizes his feelings for her."

of course! i love this concept so much! thank you for the request and i hope it's everything you wanted it to be!

masterlist

February 1985

You were at yet another stupid high school party. You don't even really remember how your friends convinced you to come. Parties aren't really your scene. You'd rather just hang out at one of your friends houses and watch a movie or something.

All of your friends were drunk. A few of them had already started puking. They would all feel like hell in the morning. That was your only comfort as you waded your way through the drunk, sweaty bodies to find a corner to wait it out in.

When you finally found your hiding place, you relaxed for the first time that night. You saw someone lean against the wall next to you, but you didn't pay much attention to them. Wall flowers prefer it if you ignore them completely, so that's exactly what you did. You didn't even spare your companion a glance.

--------

Steve had seen you walk into the room, automatically locking his eyes onto your figure. He hadn't seen you around here before. You must be one of the quiet ones, the ones you don't even notice in classes. He knew you had to be a senior, or maybe he just hoped you were.

One of Steve's most absolute rules was he didn't date younger. He didn't really date in general, so it would probably be more accurate to say he didn't fuck younger girls. So, if you were anything other than a senior, you were off limits.

He decided to take a swing at it, approaching you as you leaned against one of the walls in the corner of the room. You didn't even look up as he leaned back against the wall, barely a foot away from you. His face automatically turned up into the signature Steve Harrington smirk.

"Hey." You didn't even blink.

"Helloooo??" He waved his hand in front of your face, your attention finally directing itself towards him.

"Hi?" You seemed confused. He assumed it was because he was the Steve Harrington. You should feel honored he chose to talk to you.

"Hey there. I'm Steve, but your probably already knew that." You raised your eyebrow at him, seeming uninterested in his most efficient line.

"Umm... no? I have no idea who you are, apart from the fact that your name is Steve Harrington." Steve was shocked to say the least. Everyone knew him. No matter how old you were, you should know who he is.

"Well, now you know. It's seems pretty unfair that you know my name and I don't know yours." You rolled your eyes. Wait. You rolled your eyes?? What the fuck was happening here?

"I'm Y/N. That's all you need to know right at this minute. Oh, and that I'm not interested." Shock settled even deeper into Steve's features as you redirected your attention back to your phone. Who did this girl think she was?

"I can make you interested." At this point, he was desperate. He's never had to try this hard. His pride had never taken this hard of a hit.

"You won't, I promise. I'm leaving now. If you follow me, I won't hesitate to kick you in the balls." With that, you walked away. Steve's eyes didn't move from your previous spot. He sat there for nearly five minutes, gaining his composure before dragging himself back to the dance floor.

--------

"Y/N, did I hear something about you hanging out with Steve Harrington at the party last night??" Robin Buckley, your best friend, asked as soon as you walked through the doors.

You and Robin had become best friends as soon as you started at Hawkins High, her having become your own personal tour guide and people analyzer. Since she was a sophomore at the time, she already knew the ins and outs of the school, along with the people in it.

"Oh, the douchebag? Yeah, sadly. He randomly walked up to me and tried to get in my pants. It's not big deal. I pretty much told him to fuck off and went on my way." Robin's pupils nearly double in size, jaw dropping to the floor.

"Uh, yes it is a big deal! Steve Harrington is like the schools fuck boy king. He's probably slept with every girl in this place." You rolled your eyes at robin, unimpressed by the boys 'accomplishments'.

"Except for you, dingus. He doesn't stand a chance." You both practically died laughing at that one, because it's true.

Robin had came out to you a few months after the two of you became friends. You had been super supportive, probably the most supportive of anyone she's told so far. Well you are the only one she's told, but still.

"Still, try not to piss him off too much. Not only is he 'King Steve', but we're also gonna be working together at Scoops this summer. I personally don't wanna have to deal with a grumpy Steve." Robin loved jokingly making fun of Steve, happy to knock his ego down a few notches.

"Well, I won't be coming to visit you at work this summer, that's for sure." You both started laughing again. You both headed towards your only shared class, Mrs. Click's.

--------

June 1985

You avoided Steve the rest of the semester, happy that summer was finally here. You'd never have to see him again, hopefully. You feared that his arrogance could be contagious.

As you were headed home from school, you saw your brother Dustin walk into the house. You both had lived pretty separate lives throughout the school year, not really seeing all that much of each other.

When you finally made it in the house, you heard Dustin talking to his friends about the camp he was headed to this month. They were all upset he was leaving, but managed to be happy for him.

You went into Dustin's room to catch up on things, hoping to use the excuse that you wanted to help him pack. When he noticed you, he said bye to his friends and threw his radio onto his bed.

"Hey Dusty, what's up?" You had always called him Dusty, ever since you were little.

"Just getting ready for camp. How about you?" You and Dustin had always been pretty chill, never really arguing like other brothers and sisters. You respected each others space. You talked when you felt like it, ignored each other when you didn't. It was so much simpler than arguing all the time like the Wheeler siblings do.

"I wanted to see if you needed any help. And, we've not really talked all that much the past couple of months. I kinda missed hearing about your day." Dustin smiled, happy to finally get a chance to talk to his sister. He had missed you a lot over the past couple of months as well. So, you both played catch-up until Dustin had to leave.

--------

August 1985

Not much happened the few weeks following the end of summer. You hung out with Robin, did some summer work for school, and caught up on some well-needed sleep.

But when the time had rolled around, you had helped to deal with the latest visitor from the Upside Down, the Mindflayer. You weren't really that scared of them anymore. You had become numb to the fear around the second time of dealing with them.

But now, it was time to start your junior year. A part of you couldn't be more excited, while the other part dreaded it. Junior year meant Robin was leaving soon.

Sure she wouldn't be far, just right down the road working at whatever her job may be at the time. But, not seeing her everyday at school would be hard. She was your rock. You didn't know what to do without her.

Over the summer, she had started working at Scoops Ahoy with none other than Steve Harrington. For the first month, you refused to visit her at work and insisted on hanging out later in the day. However, work exhausted her and left very few days where she still had the energy to hang out.

That's when you started to just visit her at work, deciding that Steve wasn't going to ruin the friendship you had with Robin just by existing.

A few weeks after your first visit, you and him had actually started somewhat of a friendship. Robin was surprised but not nearly as surprised as you were.

You and him had started hanging out one on one. Going to get dinner, stopping at the drive-in, getting slushies, and doing whatever else your hearts desired. And after every hang out, you would call Robin and tell her every little detail.

About three days ago, you had finally accepted the words Robin had practically been preaching to you every day. You were falling for him. And you were falling hard.

--------

March 1986

You, Robin, and Steve had all ended up getting a job at Family Video. Robin had suggested the idea near the beginning of the school year, but you didn't know if you wanted to spend your spring break renting out movies to the people of Hawkins. However, Robin and Steve had found a way to convince you which, you guess, is how you found yourself in this situation.

It was near the end of a long day at work, all three of you were extremely exhausted. Today had been your busiest day so far. You all were near falling asleep in the break room as you began to collect your belongings to head out the door.

Right before you made it out, the phone in the office rang. You let Robin and Steve know that you were gonna be a minute, then picked up the phone.

"Hello, this is Family Video. I'm sorry but we're actually closed right now so-"

"Y/N, please don't hang up." You automatically recognized your friend Eddie Munson's voice on the other end of the line.

"Eds? What's up? Why did you call the store?" Eddie wasn't really big on phone calls. In all honesty, he hated the phone. He had never actually called you. So, him calling you now was an extreme shock.

"Ummm... something happened. I- I was, I was s-selling t-to-"

"Eds, slow down. Take a deep breath. Then, tell me what the fuck is going on." You heard him take a deep breath, then automatically return to hyperventilating. Something was really wrong.

"Ummm... actually can you j-just come m-meet me? B-bring your brother a-and whoever else. S-something really f-freaky happened an-and I'm afraid you w-won't believe me." You were beyond concerned at this point. Honestly, you were terrified for him.

"Uh yeah. I'll bring some people with me. Your uncle's house I'm assuming?"

"No! No, m-meet me at Reefer Rick's." Reefer Rick's? He hasn't been in town for months now. What would Edde be doing there?

"Okay, okay. Reefer Rick's. I'll be there in about thirty minutes. Do you need me to bring anything?" You were trying to keep him calm, hoping to prevent a heart attack which you strongly believed he had a chance of with how scared he seemed to be.

"Uhhh some food wouldn't b-be bad. Maybe some drinks too? Just- just hurry, ok?"

"Okay. I'm coming Eds." As soon as you spoke the words, you slammed the phone down and ran out the door.

--------

"Eds? It's me, Y/N. I brought Steve, Robin, and the kids. Can we come in?"

"Yeah, yeah come in." You slowly entered the shed, careful not to startle Eddie. With how he was right now, you had no idea what even the slightest movement could do to him.

You looked around for him and saw him crouched in the corner, bottles surrounding him on all sides. You crouched down in front of him and reached out your hand. He grabbed it automatically, squeezing it for reassurance.

"Now Eds, you have to tell me what happened. We heard about the reports when we went to pick up the kids. What happened with Chrissy?" Eddie took a deep breath, preparing himself for you to think he's full of shit.

"I...I was selling to her. Sh...she came to me asking for d-drugs. S-something was w-wrong with her but I... I didn't want to be nosy, so I just went to g... get the stuff. Then I... I came back and..." You rubbed your thumb across the side of his hand, attempting to calm him down enough to speak.

"Her body just, like, lifted up into the air and, uh... And she just, like, hung there. In the air. And her bones... Uh, she..." He whimpered. Eddie Munson whimpered.

"Hey, it's okay Eds. Take your time." He took a deep breath, grounding himself in the moment.

"Her bones started to snap. Her eyes, Y/N/N. It... It was like there was something, like, inside her head, pulling. I... I didn't know what to do, so I... I ran away. I left her there." You all stood there, ranging from eyes wide open to jaws so near the floor they looked as if they had unhinged from their sockets.

"You all think I'm crazy, right?" You could hear Eddie's disappointment, pulling yourself out of your thoughts in order to comfort him.

"No, no Eds. We don't think you're crazy. We would never think that." You pulled him into a hug, his arms automatically surrounding your figure and pulling you in as tightly as possible.

Steve looked away from the two, weirded out by how close you were. They shouldn't be like that when they barely knowing each other. I know her better than that and she would never-. Steve cut off his thought, cowering away from what his brain had been implying. That's just wrong. She's only 16 for gods sake. Get it together Harrington!

--------

You, Steve, Robin, Eddie, and Nancy were drifting right on top of what Dustin had dimmed "Watergate". You were all trying to figure out how you were going to find out if this gate really existed, when Steve began to take off his shirt.

"Harrington, what're ya doing?" Eddie was the first to react, the rest of you still trying to process what was happening in front of you.

"I'm gonna go figure out what the hell this thing is. Unless anyone else wants to do it?" Steve looks towards everyone on the boat, seeing that you were too focused on his body to be paying any mind to what he was saying. At least, so he thought.

"Steve, that's crazy! You could get hurt!" You were obviously freaking out. No one else seemed to be reacting to the fact that he could possibly be walking, well swimming technically, right towards death.

Before you or anyone else could say another word, he had jumped in. You quickly lost sight of him in the murky water. Yet, you continued to watch intently as time passed, willing him to come back out. Then he did.

"Guys, there's something really weird down there. It does look like what Dustin was going on about-" Steve's sentence was cut off as something grabbed his ankle, pulling him back down into the lake. You tried and tried to pull him back up, yet failed to do so as he sunk underneath the dark layer of water.

You jumped in not a second later, Nancy following not far behind you. You swam down to the gate, automatically pulling yourself through. Nancy, Robin, and Eddie pulled themselves up not long after.

You looked around for Steve, finally seeing him among the dark clouds. He was surrounded by bat-like creatures. Probably another demogorgon mutant thing that this weird other-world created.

You quickly joined Steve, fighting off the bats to the best of your ability. The other three rushed to help, grabbing anything they could find in order to fight the damn things.

As they all began to flock away, Steve was fighting the last one. He slammed it against the ground. Then, he bit it. Like, he actually bit the thing. You had to admit, it was one of the hottest things you'd ever seen.

You all ran to get cover, automatically assessing your friends. Everyone came out pretty good apart from Steve. He was covered in bites and scratches.

"Steve, stay still!" You ripped off a part of your shirt, wrapping it around his stomach. He grunted at the pain. You almost felt bad for hurting him, but then remembered he was in much more pain before.

Steve couldn't take his eyes off of you. You were expertly wrapping him up as if it was nothing. He had to admit, he was thoroughly shocked you were helping him. No one has ever really cared enough to help him with this type of thing. It was hot to say the least.

"All better!" You got up from your squatting position and ended up eye-to-eye with Steve. You blushed as the rest of your body tensed, unable to do anything but stand there. That was until Steve stepped away slowly, breaking eye contact without a second thought.

You tried to hide your disappointment as he walked away. Eddie threw him his denim jacket, saying something about how it was 'for his decency' as Steve covered up his body.

You all began brainstorming ways to get out of the upside down. The bats obviously weren't going to let you pass easily, so running wasn't an option. Fighting them again also wasn't an option seeing how Steve looked.

"There's guns at my house. If we can get there, we would at least have something to protect ourselves with." You all nodded in agreement, knowing Nancy's idea was your only option. Then came the challenge of actually navigating yourselves there without getting caught by anything.

--------

You had made it to the Wheeler house, just to find none of the guns Nancy had talked about. Instead, she found some old ballet shoes that she said she had gotten rid of years ago. You all were out of ideas, until you heard Steve screaming from the other room.

"Henderson! Henderson, can you hear me!" You all ran downstairs, wanting to figure out what Steve was doing down there. As you all got there. you were even more confused.

"Henderson?! Can you hear me??" You finally realized what he was doing. He was trying to talk to Dustin.

The first time you had been through all of this stuff with the upside down, you had discovered that you could hear people on the other side if you were in the same places on your respective sides. So, since Dustin was in the Wheeler's kitchen, you all were there trying to successfully communicate with him.

As communication began, you all made your way to the bedroom and began communicating through the hanging light. Your fingers began to dance through the glow of the light, fingers brushing over Steve's every few seconds. Each time it happened, your cheeks would quickly heat up and your body would tense. You hated the control he had over you, the control that you couldn't ignore no matter how much you tried to convince yourself that Steve didn't like you in that way.

Steve's fingers brushed yours again, causing him to look at you out of the corner of his eye. The view he was presented with was something out of a Renaissance painting. Your face was painted by the glow from the hanging light, every feature now on display for him to admire. The way your skin glowed from the light, the deepened hue to your eyes, the slight arch of your cupids bow. Not a single detail went unnoticed by Steve in that moment.

When you finally allowed yourself to glance in Steve's direction, you were surprised to see him already looking at you. Your eyes held each others for what felt like hours, yet still wasn't long enough. Steve forced his eyes away from you and instead focused them on the light. His every thought echoed that whatever was going on between the two of you was wrong. It couldn't happen. He wouldn't let it.

--------

Your relayed messages to your brother brought you to Eddie's trailer, attempting to escape through the gate before anything else happened in this wretched place. Robin and Eddie were the first ones through, followed by Nancy not long after. Steve looked at you, silently telling you that it was your turn.

"No Steve, you go. You're already hurt." Steve looked at you with a frustrated glare, showing you just how much he agreed with this new idea you had come up with.

"Y/N, go! If you go now, we can get out of here faster." You relented, knowing any further argument would fall on deaf ears.

You grabbed onto the sheet, beginning to climb up and out of this place. When you finally made it to the other side, you let go in order to fall to the mattress on the ground. Suddenly, everything went black.

--------

"Y/N? Hey, Y/N! Y/N, stay with me! Come on!" Steve's panic was instantaneous as soon as he saw your eyes roll back, knowing the signs all too well.

Everyone else looked through the gate, curious at to what was going on. When they all saw what was happening, complete silence enveloped the room. No one dared to move, even dared to breathe. Max was the first one to speak, confirming everyone's worst fears with one word.

"Vecna."

--------

You slowly got up from where you had landed, eyes slowly adjusting to your surroundings. You were in the school bathroom. The same school bathroom in which Chrissy had her first vision.

You and Chrissy had been really good friends most of your life, some would even say best friends. Her and Eddie were the closest friends you had apart from Robin. You all hung out together pretty often, doing anything and everything together.

You had followed Chrissy into the bathroom, having seen her rush that way after leaving the counselor's office. You knew she took the sessions with the counselor pretty hard and you wanted to be there to help her. When you came in, you saw Chrissy's shoes under one of the stalls.

"Chris? You okay?" No answer. Not a single sound was heard on the other side of the stall door. That worried you.

"Chris! I'm coming in!" You knocked the stall door open, coming face-to-face with Chrissy while she was in one of her visions. Her eyes were rolled back into her head, the rest of her body unmoving.

"Chris! Chrissy Cunningham, if this is some cruel joke..." Suddenly, she zoned back into the moment. Her eyes returning back to their normal places, heart rate increasing rapidly after whatever had just happened.

"Chris, what's going on? Are you okay?" She apparently hadn't noticed you standing there, jumping when her eyes found your figure. She quickly cleared her cheeks of any remaining tears and straightened out her uniform.

"I'm fine Y/N/N, nothing to worry about."

That was the last time you had seen Chrissy. You had originally boiled it down to her just being busy over break, until you had talked with Eddie. Until you had heard the news.

"You couldn't save her, could you Y/N? Poor Chrissy. You don't even know half of what that girl was facing, and yet you still called yourself her friend?! You didn't even know she was dead!!" Vecna's words hurt, but you wouldn't let him know that. You refused to show any weakness in front of him.

"Well, I'm not here to continue to torture you about that. I have a message for someone that I need you to deliver. A message for our dear Eleven..."

--------

"Y/N, Y/N please be okay." Dustin's quiet pleas could barely be heard over Steve's incessant yelling. You had been in this vision for much longer than you should have. They were starting to worry.

They had all seen this plenty of times before. First with Chrissy, then Fred, then Max, then Patrick, and now you. Each one ending seemingly more horrifying than the last, apart from Max. They were able to free her using her favorite song. Which they were all trying to do for you now.

Robin, Eddie, and Nancy had moved to Eddie's room to look for music to play for you. As Robin threw aside another tape that Eddie had lying around, she continued to get more frustrated.

"What are you looking for?" Robin continued her search, checking each and every tape she could find

"Madonna, Blondie, Bowie, Beatles, music! We need music!" Eddie, offense already overtaking his features, picked up one of his Iron Maiden tapes and showed it to Robin.

"THIS IS MUSIC!"

--------

You were suddenly brought into a memory, presumably one of Vecna's. You were in some kind of institution. All of the walls were white, apart from the streaks of blood painting them as far down the hall as you could see. There were doors lining the walls, all of them labeled with a number. You started to get a bad feeling about them. The feeling was confirmed when an all too familiar face came around the corner.

"Eleven?" The girl didn't seem to hear you, continuing her quick movements down the hallway towards a door at the end. You followed a couple of steps behind, needing to know why Eleven was involved in one of Vecna's memories.

As you walked into the room, the first thing you noticed was the bodies. All of the dead children and teens. It seemed as if they had been bleeding out of their eyes and noses, most of the blood having already dried. The one exception was the boy against the wall. A younger man, probably in his late twenties, was using his powers to hold him up. At least, that's what you thought he was doing until the boy fell to the ground lifeless.

You and El had become pretty close over the time you'd known each other. You considered each other sisters. That's why you automatically knew where you were. You were in the place where Dr. Brenner held El and her 'siblings' before she escaped. However, you did not know who this blonde man was.

El began speaking to him, calling him by the name of One. This led you to assume that he was the first of the doctor's creations, the test subject. If this encounter told you anything, he was an experiment gone wrong.

One began telling El about how powerful they would be together, how the restrictions of this place kept them from reaching their full potential. When she asked about the other children, he said something about how they were all terrible to her and deserved what they got. Not even a minute after that revelation, El had thrown him against the wall in the same manner that he had the other children. A few seconds later, his body was sucked into something similar to one of the gates that you had seen so many times before throughout the past few years.

You slowly watched as One was thrown through the upside down, objects of all sorts flying past his body before he could even attempt to recognize what they were. When he finally set foot on the ground, his skin was all but destroyed, any residual marks of One barely hanging on by a thread. It didn't take you long to recognize Vecna. Then, before you could really think it through, your vision one again went dark.

--------

You were dragged into yet another memory, but this time you were in a house. A house you recognized fairly well. The Creel house. However, you had no idea why you were here.

The vision began to zoom in on the oldest Creel sibling, following him through the house. First you saw the spiders. Then the grandfather clock. The ticking was slow, seemingly taking minutes to move a second further in time. Next was the dead animal outside the house, the one Victor Creel had mentioned. As you recall what the man had said, you realized that the young boy was the curse the man had been speaking of. He just didn't know it.

The final part of the vision faded into view, the night the Creel's died. Even though Victor hadn't died, the biggest parts of him had. The mother floated into the air, the same way Vecna's victims always had. Her bones snapped, her eyes went back, and she was dead. The Creel daughter followed not long after. All the while, the young boy sat at the end of the table and watched. He fell to the ground suddenly, obviously not having been attacked in the same way his mother and sister just had.

Victor collected his family, calling the police immediately. The young boy was taken to the hospital. Then, Dr. Brenner came into view. He took the boy as he had all of the other children, marking him as One. The dots had finally connected when you reached the end, pure shock radiating all throughout your body.

The vision faded away, and you were left in the hallway of the institution. You ran as far as you could to escape this nightmare. When you reached the door, it was barricaded by wood planks. You began to remove them, hearing Vecna approaching and calling your name. Just as he got close enough to touch you, you broke through the door and he was already there. You were thrown down into a chair and restrained by vines.

Vecna slowly started to approach you, sickly-slimy skin making wet sounds as he started to walk towards you. He started to speak, fear and anxiety radiating throughout your whole body.

"I want you to tell Eleven... I want you to tell her everything you see. Tell her..." His hand slowly started to approach your face, fingers outstretched.

"NO! NO!" You tried to get out of the chair, fighting against the vines holding you down.

"Tell her... everything."

--------

Your eyes opened, anxiety worsening at the thought that he had just killed you. Your breath came out raggedly, air refusing to enter your lungs. Your legs gave out as you fell to the ground, Steve barely catching you in time.

"Whoa, whoa! It's okay. It's okay. I'm here. It's okay." You started trying to even out your breathing, following each inhale and exhale Steve took. After a few minutes, your breathing had returned to normal. Steve automatically helped you through the gate.

Everyone started freaking out, they all crowded around you and began asking you if you were okay. All the while, your heartbeat pulsating throughout your body kept you from being able to really hear them, much less answer them.

Steve quickly made his way over to help you up, saying something to the group about taking you to his house to rest. You weren't sure that was what he said. You weren't really sure about anything anymore. You were so out of it that you didn't react to Steve carrying you to his car, or him holding your hand the whole ride. You didn't really notice what was happening until he laid you down on the bed.

"Y/N/N, you with me?" Your eyes focused on Steve, suddenly noticing his proximity to you. However, it didn't seem to bother you. You didn't get all anxious and stuttery like you usually did. You were calmer knowing he was there.

"Yeah, I'm with you." You collapsed into Steve as he opened his arms, basking in his warmth.

"Man, I thought I was gonna lose you back there. I was so scared. I can't even begin to imagine how you were feeling." You hummed in acknowledgement, struggling to really piece together words. The shock and fear hadn't really gone away, just faded enough for you to experience a semblance of calm.

"Well, you can't get rid of me that easily." You both laughed weakly, not yet comfortable with the sound you both heard exiting your mouths. After the events of the day, you didn't know if you'd ever really be comfortable with it again.

"Go to sleep, okay? We'll talk more in the morning." You didn't need to be told twice, exhaustion automatically overtaking your body. Sleep had never come so easily.

--------

You woke up the next morning alone, Steve's side of the bed still warm to the touch. You did your morning stretch and got out of the bed. You started to head towards the kitchen, but noticed a note sitting on the table next to your side of the bed.

I left some clothes out for you on top of the dresser. Thought you'd wanna get out of all that nasty stuff. Would've given it to you last night but you were so tired you could barely stand. Breakfast should be done by 10:30 so take your time.

- Steve

Your heart could have quite possibly exploded in that moment. Not only was this one of the sweetest things he could've done, it also felt so excruciatingly domestic. The butterflies took over your body in seconds. You were so in love with this boy that it hurt.

You rushed to the bathroom, showering as thoroughly as you could to get all of the gunk off of you. You decided to just burn the clothes you had been wearing because supernatural gunk stains seemed like they would be a pain to clean. You got dressed pretty quickly and went to Steve's phone to call your mom and let her know you and Dustin were okay.

After you found a way to wrap up things with her, you rushed downstairs after checking the time and realizing it was nearly 10:30. You were starving and happy to accept free food. Steve cooking it and looking hot while doing it, that would just be the cherry on top.

Sadly enough, he had already finished and cleaned up his mess by the time you got downstairs. He didn't acknowledge you at first, very focused on his plate of waffles. The creaking of the chair as you pulled it out finally alerted him that he wasn't alone.

"Hey! How'd you sleep?" The domesticity of the statement had you swooning even harder than the note did. You were wearing his clothes, he made you breakfast, and he was asking how you slept. This must be what heaven is like.

"Hey. I slept pretty good, you're good company when you're asleep." Steve didn't laugh, he didn't even smile. The look on his face could quite literally kill.

"Umm... Steve? You okay?" You're statement seemed to upset him, seeing as he practically jumped out of his chair and began pacing back and forth behind his chair. He was honestly starting to freak you out at this point.

"Okay?! Am I okay? Are you kidding me Y/N?! You quite literally could have died yesterday, do you understand that?! You're so careless with your life that you're borderline suicidal! I could've lost you. I haven't been able to breathe with how stressed I've been, and it hasn't seemed to affect you at all!" Steve quickly regretted his words, seeing the happy façade you had once had give way. Your face downturned, your eyebrows scrunched together, and your eyes went dark. He could swear he saw a tear in the corner of your eye.

"Not affect me? You think this hasn't affected me?! Every time I hear a clock ticking, I flinch. Every time I close my eyes, I'm afraid I'm gonna open them and see that son of a bitch. You're right, I'm not affected. I'M FUCKING TRAUMATIZED! And don't you dare blame me for what happened back there. Getting cursed wasn't be being careless, it was just Vecna finding a new teenager to terrorize! Don't pretend you have a fucking ounce of the stress I have Steve. You have no CLUE what this feels like." You were seeing red. Even after you had gotten it all out, you still could have strangled him.

"Well don't invalidate how afraid I was Y/N! I understand that you have been through a lot. I understand that you're probably terrified. I understand that I crossed a line. What I don't understand is why I can't be worried! I'm fucking terrified! I can't lose you." Steve had realized his true feelings as soon as he saw your eyes roll back in your head. They had hit him head on with no warning. When he started to process it, it explained a lot of his feelings. But for so long he swore he couldn't, he swore it was wrong. But how could something so right be wrong?

"Why do you even care Steve? I'm just Henderson's older sister! That's all I've ever been! That's all I'll EVER be!"

"Is it so hard to see that I'm in love with you Y/N?! Can you not see that I've been in love with you ever since I met you?! Are you really that blind?" Steve's word slowly sunk in, confusing you even more. Steve didn't love you. He'd made it pretty obvious ever since you developed feelings for him that he didn't love you.

"You can't lie to me about something like that Steve. That's not fair." Tears slowly began to gather in your eyes as you remembered each and every time Steve rejected you, both subtly and not so subtly. Each memory hurt more than the last, each memory taking a piece of your heart with it.

"I'm not lying Y/N. I swear to you." He slowly came around to your side of the table, cupping your cheek with his hand as he wiped away the few tears that had managed to fall. Against your better judgement, you leaned into his touch.

"I have loved you since I first set eyes on you in 1985. I have loved you ever since you rejected me. The rejection actually made me love you more in some weird way. I know I've had a weird way of showing it, trust me. I've just always told myself that it's wrong for me to love you. I've gone through every reason in the book, but none of them have ever been good enough." You slowly opened your eyes, scared of what you would see when you did. Surprisingly, all you saw in Steve's eyes was love. Pure, unfiltered, overwhelming love.

"I love you too Steve. I love you so much." You fell into Steve's arms, holding him as closely as you possibly could. You basked in his scent, in his warmth, and in his love. His love for you. You'd never get used to that.

You and Steve sat there for what felt like hours just holding each other. You both had been hiding how you felt for so long. Finally, you found each other. Finally, you could.

--------

taglist form

@strawberryforks @heartofcaroline @hearts4albony

#steve harrington x reader #steve harrington #steve harrington x fem!reader #steve harrington x reader fluff #steve harrington x reader angst #steve harrington x fem!reader angst #steve harrington x fem!reader fluff #stranger things x reader #steve harrington fanfiction #stranger things fanfiction #my writing #stranger things #joe keery #dustin henderson #steve harrington x henderson!reader #dustin henderson x sister!reader

[aineryeo]

10 Things I Hate About You Jake Kim.

Synopsis: "On the very first day in Jerry Kwon's new school, he instantly falls for Ryang Sang-min, the girl of his dreams. The issue is that Sang-min is forbidden to date until her ill-tempered, completely undateable older sister (You) goes and dates someone too.. In an attempt to solve his problem, Jerry singles out the only guy who might potentially be a match for Ryang (Name): His Senior, the same age as you, Jake Kim."

Themes & Warnings: 2000s Teen-Drama, Romance, Cliches, Fem. POV, Jake is a romantic idiot, slightly OOC, setting is in J-High, a little NSFW

Author Notes:

"Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You" - Frankie Valli | 10 Things I Hate About You (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

This is basically the whole movie but the cast is Jake Kim, You, a random character as your younger sister, Vin Jin, Mary Kim, the Practical Music Dept, Big Deal (Jason, Brad, Jerry), and cameos of our favorite characters/main lookism cast <3 I even recreated the title sequence I'm so happy for this! 1/3 parts + The OG Cast are Seniors (Vasco, Crew Heads, Daniel, etc.)

LOOKISM, SOUTH KOREA — 갱단의 삶. » “THE GANGSTER LIFE”

*Set in a school environment & an alternate universe where Jake now attends J-High School, this includes the rest of the crew heads & Big Deal. There are no four major crews and no gangs, but Jake is still renowned as Gapryong Kim's son. Sinu Han is also present.

Chapter 1 (Current) » Chapter 2

Jaewon-High School. A second-rate vocational school that focuses more on giving its students the experience they need for the jobs they want in the department they chose. There are eight (8) departments:

Fashion and Clothing Department

Architecture and Interior Design Department

Beauty Department

Comics and Animation Department

Vocal and Dance Department

Practical Music Department

Baking Department

Computers Department

Out of these eight, you were in your third year in Practical Music. The school was full of tools. The Fashion Dept always flaunted their brand clothes because they’re the only department allowed to wear whatever they want. The Architecture Dept. Always full of creepy guys who don’t look their age. Bundled together in groups to show off their strength or something like that... Unless they have a leader already. A well-known persona in their Dept was a person named Vasco for Burn Knuckles, and he’s a sophomore from what you know. There’s a rumor that a second group of men was formed, but it is not like they were all serious gangs. You hear it was because they like one guy, similar to the Burn Knuckles. 

If that was how the Architecture Dept worked, you could say the same for the Beauty Dept. Except they’re all girls, save for one Senior: Eli Jang. They all love their one boy. You could go on and on about how everyone is the same, readable stereotype. They all do things because they think they should be doing them. To act cool, tough, rich, pretty, or popular, listen to this famous K-pop group or dance to this new pop song. You hate all of it.

What you hate the most right now, though? Freshmen.

“Hey, have you listened to NCT’s new release, 119?”

“Yeah, I waited all night for the exact time of their release, and I memorized all the lyrics, yeah!”

“Already a big fan? You rock! I just mentioned this the other day!”

“You know me~.”

The girls had brightly colored hair, and they played whatever new song they were talking about loudly through the speakers of their phones while you were in the seat just behind them on the bus. Getting annoyed, you remove your headphone’s audio jack from your phone and start playing Bad Reputation by Joan Jett & the Blackhearts at a volume rivaling theirs.

“Hey, what the hell?” The first girl looks back to where you were currently sitting.

Just as they begin to protest, the bus driver halts at the station you get off. You get your bag and walk past them, giving them a natural look that makes them stare back a little before turning their heads in defeat. You? You were still playing your music. As you step off the public transport bus with the girls behind you in tow, grumbling about you ruining their vibe, you’re met with a litter of J-high’s students scattered around the grounds.

As usual, you navigate through the messy crowd. Filled with students who were learning how to skate. Some were walking to school, while the others had their bicycles.

The most intriguing sight you missed once you entered was the freshman in his small bike with a basket. Contrary to his small bicycle was a massive build defying the logic of a teen’s average growth. Pedaling this bike was none other than Jerry Kwon.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Ki Young-Mi was engraved in the wooden name plaque on the desk filled with books, papers, and a small, thick, and visibly old laptop. Below the name was Guidance Counselor, was it?

Ms. Young was a middle-aged lady with old style, permed hair, and rectangle-shaped glasses that were quite thick for her age, connected to the white-laced retainers wrapped around her neck. Her glasses were tipping around her nose as she looked down at her laptop with puckered lips.

Tap.

Tap, tap, tap.

Tapppp…

That was how slow she typed. Jerry was sitting in front of her desk, fiddling with his thumbs as if he didn’t look like a Senior student.

“I’ll be right with you.” Ms. Young says.

Jerry nods obediently.

Behind the screen, little did Jerry know was Ms. Young’s… Hobby. Right, she was writing for her novel. She was unfocused on what Jerry was asking her since he came barging in as she was still in her brainstorming stage. And now… 

«Gushiken wakes up from her slumber after her intense battle with Akaza. With the dim moonlight shining on her, she opens her eyes to see….»

Ah, perfect. For now. Ms. Young closes her laptop and takes off her glasses, leaving them dangling around her neck. 

“So, what are you here for? Did Gordon send you in already?” The Architecture Dept again…

“Oh, I’m a freshman, Ms. Young.”

Ms. Young, in her many years in J-high, had never seen a kid look… Like this. Ah, but she gets such a small salary, anyways, she shakes off her shock. She shouldn’t be shocked. Some students here could pass off as adults in their mid-twenties if they wanted to, seriously.

“Then you must be Jerry Kwon. Here you go,” Ms. Young gives Jerry a yellow piece of paper, printed with his class schedule and where his room is.

The guidance counselor then looks over Jerry’s documents, standing near the window in her solo office. She hums with a slight nod.

“You’re big for a first-year high schooler. You—” Once more, Ms. Young takes a good look at Jerry and points at him accusingly. “Are you sure you’re not a convicted criminal or something!?”

Jerry sweats nervously at this. He shakes his head and his hands in swift denial. “N-no! My father is—”

“Okay, that’s enough.” Ms. Young regains her lost composure. “I’m sure you’ll fit right into Jaewon. It’s not any different from the local schools, or any other schools, for the matter of fact.”

Splat! Behind the window protecting Ms. Young, who smiled with her eyes closed.

“Same little ass-wipe shit-for-brains everywhere.” And then she laughs as if it was normal. It probably is.

Poor Jerry didn’t know what to say, stuttering. For a big, intimidating guy, Jerry remembers what his big brother, by bond, had always told him: Respect your elders.

“Sorry, sorry… Should I go?”

The more Jerry sat on the chair, the more Ms. Young looked sweetly aggravated. “Go, I have deviants to see and a novel to finish. Bye-bye now.”

Jerry leaves with his bag on his shoulder as Ms. Young pats his back while ushering him out of the Guidance office. As Jerry approached the door, his prominent figure was almost rivaled by a familiar figure in a black compression short-sleeved shirt from Under Armour. Despite Jerry being in the original school uniform, the Architecture Dept was well-known to follow a different setup. The students usually wore jumpsuits.

“Big bro Jake!” Jerry grins.

Jake only gave a brief closed-eyed smile to Jerry, giving his head a small pat as he now faced Ms. Young, who had her arms closed.

“Jake Kim.”

Jake walks into the office just as Jerry leaves.

“I see we’re making our visits a weekly ritual.” Jake smiles at Ms. Young. Was it an attempt at charm? He nods a bit at the end of the statement. Jake places his hands in his school pants’ pockets.

“Only so we can have these moments together. Should I hit the lights?”

“Oh, very clever, the big boss, was it?” Ms. Young raises her thinly drawn eyebrow at the report in her hands. “Says here you exposed yourself in the cafeteria?”

“I was joking with the guys since it was bratwurst day. Doesn’t come all the time. And I didn't mean for the lunch lady to see anything.” Jake shrugged.

“Aren’t we the optimist?” Ms. Young’s eyes flit down briefly before flicking back to his eyes in a middle-aged, tired fashion.

Jake’s brows furrow at this. Always the weird faculty this school has. Though the students were much worse off. So, Mano a Mano. “Next time, keep it in your pouch, okay? Now scoot!”

The brief session in the guidance office was done in no time. Ms. Young had other… Business to attend to, yes…

«…“Are you looking for a wife? Oh, you know, just like a wife. Get married.”»

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

“Hello! Brad Lee, Sophomore from the Architecture Dept.” A similarly head-shaven guy approached the innocent Jerry waiting nearby the guidance office from earlier. Next to him was a lanky guy who wore red Converse shoes.

“Jason Yoon. We’re supposed to show you around; I’m a sophomore like Brad. It's rare, even for us, to see our No. 2. We usually just hear about you from Jake. Nice to see you in Jaewon, finally.”

They both shake hands with Jerry, whose other hand is holding onto the strap of his backpack. Brad looks at the little paper before looking back at Jerry.

“So… You play the flute?” Brad jests as they begin to walk.

“For a performance before, the flute is very important to me. It was given to me by big brother Jake.”

“Woah, the boss is amazing,” Jason remarks, walking with his hands behind his head.

Jerry hums in acknowledgment as he nods along. Brad then taps Jerry’s shoulder and points his chin toward a group of girls huddled together. Some had hair curlers for their bangs, even blow dryers. They all wore the standard uniform, but their hair was of different colors.

“Here’s the breakdown. Them,” Jerry looks at them again. “They’re from the Beauty Department.”

“Basic beautiful people.” Jason shrugged and looked up at Jerry, who was listening attentively. “Now, unless they talk to you first, just don’t bother.”

Jerry nods obediently at this. “They mostly only care about the only boy in their department, Eli Jang.” Brad chuckles.

Still walking along the long hall, they pass by a different group of kids. They were small, younger-looking boys.

“To the right, you’ll see the dweebs from the Fashion Dept. They’re your classic rich kids—” Jason explains.

“Hey, watch where you’re walking! You almost stepped on my Limited Edition Air Jordan 1s! You can’t find these anywhere anymore! Huh?!” A funny little lamb wearing glasses yelled. None of the three paid any mind.

“Tell them there’s a sale of whatever limited pair of pants, and they’ll come running alright. They won’t mess with you, though, I’m sure.” Jason gives Jerry a thumbs up.

Suddenly, some guy with his friend bumped into Jerry. The guy was petite compared to the giant Jerry Kwon, but he didn’t seem scared. No, his eyeglasses seemed to have lit up as he adjusted them.

“Konnichiwa (*In Japanese: “Hello”), are yuu new hero? (*In English: “Are you new here” — Korean accent)” 

Brad and Jason sweat at this. Brad leans close to Jerry to whisper and explain before Jerry thinks of beating him up. Though Jerry didn’t think of that in the first place.

“He must be from the AniCom Dept. Most think they’re the next Light Yagami or Satoru Gojo.”

Jason joins in and whispers on Jerry’s other ear, tip-toeing to reach it like Brad. “Never touch their body pillows.”

Jerry only nods rapidly and gives a brief wave before moving on.

“Arigato Gozaimasu!” The boy bows deeply for Jerry, catching a few stares from the passing students.

In one of the rooms they were passing by, they could hear loud laughter and a bunch of yells from the teacher. When the door opened, Jerry, Brad, and Jason could see the class monitor displaying… Porn. Obscene moans filled the rooms, and the furious teacher figured out why the remote wasn’t working suddenly. In the room, a particularly mischievous boy who sat on his chair with both his feet up like it was a dirty alleyway caught Jerry’s eye. 

“Dumbasses.” Jerry hears from the boy with purple hair and a devious smile.

“Kouji!!!!” The teacher screams. “Was it you again!?”

“Hah? You have no proof whatsoever, Mr.”

Jason laughed along while the porn didn’t stop playing. “Computer Department. That Kouji kid’s already famous for being known to hack easily into the school’s whole PA System.”

“Woah,” Jerry says something for the first time since their tour after exchanging names. This makes Jason Yoon and Brad Lee look immediately into whatever caught the quiet Jerry’s attention.

There walked a somewhat petite, classic, a little vintage-in-style girl. Sweetly holding her books as, for some reason, the wind picked up inside the school!? How was this possible?! But then Jerry thought, I guess for a goddess…! 

She had a strawberry-printed oversized jacket paired with the prettiest smile in Jerry Land while she walked over to a blonde girl with a cloth headband.

“Did the wind pick up just now?” Jerry hears her ask her friend.

“No, it’s just that fan over there. Someone turned it on just right on time.” Her friend replies while they walk off together.

Jerry couldn’t take his eyes off her. Is this what a campus crush is? He doesn’t think he’s seen anyone his whole life, which caught his fancy. With this, he whips his head towards his tour guides.

“Who is she..?” Jerry asks shyly. If you look closer, you’ll see a tinge of pink on his cheeks.

“The don't-even-think-about-it girl.” Jason sighs, putting his hands down on his head.

“She’s Ryang Sang-min of the Ryang sisters. A freshman like you, but she’s great friends with Mary Kim, Senior, since they’re in the same department.” Brad explains kindly.

Ryang Sang-min. Ah, Jerry will remember that name for the rest of his life. Brad and Jason notice how Jerry seems to be in wonderland, showing a small smile, but they worry for the little… Well, big guy.

“You see Jerry, Ryang Sang-min, a beautiful, deep, and a good dancer too. That, we’re sure of.” Brad Lee states, looking off into the direction that Sang-min and Mary walked off to. The trio was not so far behind the two girls walking off to their respective classrooms.

Sang-min speaks dreamily while holding her stack of papers in her arms, “You see, there’s a difference between like and love.”

“I like my Skechers, but I love my Prada backpack.”

“But I… Love my Skechers.” Mary replies.

“That’s because you don’t have a Prada backpack.” Sang-min shrugs.

Mary thinks about Sang-min’s point for a while until she finally gets the message. I mean, she didn’t have a Prada backpack, so that much was true. Mary chuckles and palms her forehead, “Ohh….”

And then they pass by the Second years’ Architecture Department room. Where Jason and Brad’s stop should be. Jerry still looks off towards the girls’ back. Specifically, Sang-min's, in pure awe until Jason waves a hand in front of him, and Brad starts talking.

“Look, Jerry, Ryang Sang-min has a very strict, uptight dad. It’s a widely known fact that the Ryang sisters don’t date.”

None of what they did or said got to Jerry, though, as he stared off into the distance. “Uhuh… Yeah.”

Jason Yoon and Brad Lee look at each other worriedly. They were here on behalf of Jake Kim’s request to look out for Jerry on his first day as part of Big Deal, but they don’t know if they failed or succeeded.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

After the bell rang, all departments were in their given rooms. There were a lot of reasons why Practical Music had a strong competitiveness against the Vocal & Dance Dept. While they battled for agencies to take them in, performances, the lot, they also had mixed classes. Mixed classes are different from auditorium sessions. It was unique to the two departments since they had ragingly similar lessons anyway. Auditorium sessions take up all the departments in the most enormous room in Jaewon. However, it was primarily used for seminars. It was easy to skip if you tried.

The mixed classes between Practical Music and VD would happen with the core subjects and Music Theory or whatnot. But topics specific to your department are when the two would separate. For now, it was Literature. The sound of clapping hands garnered the students’ attention, stopping their mid-class talking.

“Okay, then. What did everyone think of ``The Sun Also Rises?``” Your professor, Mr. Il Pae-min, asks.

A student with a pixie cut raises her hand from the back. Dreamily, she says,

“I loved it. He’s so romantic.”

“Romantic? Hemingway?” You pipe up. Scoffing after looking at her, then looking upfront to your professor, who already saw your rebuttal from a mile away. “He was an abusive, alcoholic misogynist who squandered half his life hanging around Picasso trying to nail his leftovers.”

This makes Mr. Pae-min roll his eyes. 

“Look who’s talking, Ms. I’m-bitter-Boohoo-I-have-no-friends.” Vin Jin, the twerp who always wore sunglasses and some ugly-ass hat, laughs right after his statement. He’s even got the backup extras laughing with him and giving him undeserved low-fives.

This makes you roll your eyes.

“Shut your mouth, ripoff.” Mr. Pae-min scolds, and Vin frowns at his retort.

You found your opportunity, so you’ll take it. Laughing a little at first, you say, “I guess in this society, being male and an asshole makes you worthy of our time.”

“Oooh.” The class reacts. Vin Jin was definitely pissed off. But as they spot you open your mouth again, half the class groans.

“What about Sylvia Plath, or Charlotte Bronte, or Simone de Beauvoir—?” Your little speech is cut off when the door slides open, revealing a student who was unquestionably not from either Practical or DV.

It was a guy with a tattoo sleeve decorating both his arms, and in his hand was a black bomber jacket, probably to pair with his compression shirt. Without missing a beat, he asks, and you’re not even sure if it was genuine, “What’d I miss?”

You sigh exasperatedly. Attention has already gone from the boy who just entered. You answer his question. “The oppressive patriarchal values that dictate our education.”

“...” You don’t see it, but he nods and smiles. “Good. Not my class.” And just as quickly as he disrupted your class, just as quickly he left.

“Hey!” Your professor yelled at him, but he couldn’t catch him as another student called out for him. He looks to the student and, oh, another asshat.

“Um, Mr. Pae-min…” Vin Jin initially calls in mock sadness before morphing into an angrier tone. “Is there any chance we can get (Name) to take her Midol before she comes to class?”

You look back at Vin Jin, who sat on your left, just right behind you, with an unamused expression.

“Someday, you’re going to get bitch slapped, and I’m not gonna do a thing to stop it.” Your professor butts in before you do.

Vin Jin’s smug smile turns into a dissatisfied grunt. “Tch.”

“And Ryang (Name), I want to thank you for your point of view.” Now it was your turn to nod and feel the sweet, sweet satisfaction. That is until “It must’ve been hard for you to overcome all your years in upper-middle class suburban oppression.”

Mr. Pae-min shakes his head to express his point better, “Must be tough.”

“Anything else?” You ask. Whether sarcastic or not, your professor isn’t taking it anymore. So he replies, “Yeah, go to the office. You’re pissing me off.”

“What? Mr. Pae—”

“Later!” He cuts you off, not giving you any more than that. This fucking sucks, you think. Makes your day even worse than the annoying freshmen on the bus earlier. You roll your eyes and get your stuff, kicking Vin Jin’s leg before you leave.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

In the guidance office, there sat Ms. Young, eyes closed to envision the scene of her novel in her head. Along with this, she vocalizes the lines herself. “A different and yet all the more beautiful….” And she opens her eyes.

“Yeonhui!” Ms. Young calls her intern.

“Yes, ma’am?” She springs from the open door that led to Ms. Young’s office. 

“What’s another word for engorged?”

“I’ll look it up.” The young adult says.

“Okay.” Ms. Young replies, shifting her attention back to her retro laptop. “Swollen. Turgid.” She recites to herself in thought.

“Tumescent?” You continue for her, hands in your jacket. 

Ms. Young looks at you, “Perfect.” Then types in the rest of her thoughts while talking. “So, I hear you were terrorizing Mr. Pae-min’s class. Again.”

You sigh. You couldn’t count how much you’ve done this for the day already. And it was just your first class. Sitting, you reply, “Expressing my opinion is not a terrorist action.”

“Mhm, the way you expressed your opinion to Doo Lee?” Ms. Young retorts, finally closing her laptop and taking her reading glasses off to dangle around her neck once more.

“My statement remains that he kicked himself in the balls.” You cross your arms.

Ms. Young gives you a second to stare at you with a smile that says how talking about it with you is just not going to work this time. Not like it worked all the other times, anyway. So, she gets her tall CBTL coffee mug, “So, the thing is, Ms. Ryang (Name)... People perceive you as somewhat—”

“Tempestuous?” You continue with raised brows.

“Heinous bitch is the term used most often.” Ms. Young smiles once more. You lay back on your chair with a sense of disbelief. Though you’re not so surprised about what the guidance counselor said. “You might want to work on that. Thank you.” She finishes.

You stand up from the chair facing Ms. Young’s desk. “As always, thank you for your excellent guidance.”

Just before leaving and fixing the strap of your sling bag on your shoulder, you say, “I’ll let you get back to Kyojuro’s quivering member.”

Ms. Young looked up at your back that was leaving. Humming, she nods. “Quivering member. I like that.”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

“Virgin alert. Your favorite.” One of his friends pointed with his chin.

Vin Jin looks to his back, right where a familiar face greets him, exactly when Mary flips Vin off once she catches his attention. Sang-min notices Vin staring, and she gives him a shy smile while walking to the canteen with Mary and her other friends she met in her class. 

“Lookin’ good, ladies. And Mary.”

Vin and his lackeys stare at Sang-min walking off. “Oh, she’s out of reach, even for you.” 

Vin looks at Chul with an air of confidence only he can have. “No one’s out of reach for me.”

“You wanna put money on that?” Chul replies.

Putting his hands in his pants pockets, Vin smirks at Chul. “Money, I’ve got.” Looking back into the direction that Sang-min walked off to, he continues. “This, I’m gonna do for fun.”

As Vin and his friends kept ogling at Sang-min and her friends in turns, on the other side of the open grounds were the three loners in the big group that was Big Deal. It was only break time, and Jerry’s not precisely the most… Approachable in terms of face and body structure. So once Jason and Brad saw Jerry walking alone, they approached the big guy. And there they were now. Jerry is drinking strawberry milk on the bench next to Jason and Brad.

“Who’s he?” Jerry points innocently with his finger that could probably stop a truck single-handedly.

“Most people call him Vin Jin, sometimes Jin Ho Bin,” Brad answers first. “Aspiring rapper. Take note about aspiring.” Jason continues.

“He’s a prick, basically.” Brad chuckles, laying back on the benches behind them.

Jerry nods, taking note of the boy who is visibly interested in his goddess. While sipping the last strawberry milk, his eyes flit to Ryang Sang-min. So much so that he fails to notice that the box is already empty and crushed in his hand. “She’s so pretty….”

“Conceited.” Jason cuts him off, a notebook covering his face from the sun.

Jerry visibly gasps at this. “She’s perfect!” The boy rumbles. Twiddling with his fingers, Jerry is suddenly bashful as he recites how pretty Sang-min’s smile is or how her eyes are reflected in the sun. Jason and Brad were not entertaining Jerry’s ideas, looking at each other as Jerry kept going on.

“Look, Jerry, Sang-min is a snotty princess.” Jason scrunches his nose and removes the notebook that covers his face, “She wears short skirts and tighter blouse, all against the school dress code. So that guys like us can realize that we’ll never be able to touch her, and guys like Vin Jin realize that they want to.” Jason finishes bitterly.

“No, you’re wrong.” Jerry shakes his head, which is shining from the sun. If you listen closely, you can hear someone slipping due to momentary blindness.

Jason laughs. “Take a shot, big buddy.”

Brad hums, interested. “She’s looking for an English tutor.”

Jerry shines brighter ever than before. Like a lightbulb that lit up but instead of having it over his head, it was his head. “I can teach her.”

“You speak good English?” Brad asks.

Jerry sweats. “I will.”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

End of class.

You walked with Crystal Choi to the bus stop when Vin brushed past you on his off-road motorbike. Was that new? But you internally groan and scold yourself for even glancing at it because now the dude is stopping to talk to you.

“Hey,” Vin smirks. “How’re those shitty headphones doing, (Name)?” He then leans into the handles of his bike with the cockiest face he can make, with half his face hidden in seven-layer tinted sunglasses. It wasn’t even hot out.

“Run along, loser.” You wave off, and Vin frowns, roaring his engine back to life and driving off slowly to greet another passerby.

[...]

“I know you can be overwhelmed, and you can be underwhelmed,” Sang-min’s friend trails off. “But can you ever just be… Whelmed?”

Sang-min didn’t know what to say, but she did think about it. “I think you can in Japan.” She shrugs.

“Hi, ladies.” Vin greets with his hotshot attitude. His motorbike calmed down next to them while Vin looked at the girl of his current interest. “I’m here to pick up a certain princess. Got one more free seat for a ride.”

This makes Sang-min giggle and look at her friend before she hopped on Vin’s ride. Wrapping her arms around his waist and waving goodbye to her friend. 

“Careful, the seats are brand new.” Vin notices, giving himself a little laugh once he feels the girl wrap her arms around him, “Heh.”

Somewhere near the school entrance, you can hear a certain blonde raging about someone stealing her cousin’s bike. You and Crystal watched the whole exchange between the jerkoff and your sister. Both of you were not close friends, but at that moment, the same thoughts were running through your heads.

“That’s an odd development.” Crystal remarks beside you.

You look down at Crystal, then back at Vin and Sang-min. Agreeing, you get on the bus that just arrived and sit next to her. “A disgusting one.”

The rest of the ride after that ordeal was comfortable. Later on, Crystal got off first. It was an upward stretch filled with shabby houses. Crystal was such a commendable spirit. She knew a lot of great bands, too. You think she’s fantastic for caring for that dog she told you about. Vin is more of an asshat for messing around with that mixed-breed golden retriever. You hope that one of these days, he gets just what he deserves.

Looking out the window, your bus quickly passes by the guy that mistook your room for his. You stare at him for a couple of seconds. It seems he felt the piercing look you gave him as he looked up at you from the sidewalk. Neither of you breaks eye contact, trying to see which of the other looks away first, an unspoken competition you’ve partaken in. You notice that he had a pretty well-defined face, a subtle side part where his slick hair was pushed back a little, sharply arched brows, and his black compression shirt. His bag was slung over his torso, and you know he probably wore a shirt like that on purpose.

And then he closed his eyes for a polite smile, catching you off guard.

You look away quickly, feeling your face heat up for no reason. Geez, who just suddenly flashes a smile at a stranger like that? This school’s filled with a bunch of weirdos. As your ride finally goes past him, you flip him off without looking back.

Back to the boy you had a staring competition with…

Samuel Seo, in his side-slicked undercut, white Ralph Lauren long-sleeve shirt with two open buttons at the top, the blue school tie hanging loosely on his neck, school pants, a missing coat, and his handbag lazily thrown over his shoulder, turns a corner and finally sees Jake Kim, face chasing a look to the bus that just left. The middle finger proudly displays itself in the window. When Samuel's eyes flit back to Jake, he focuses on what he is wearing. Making him scoff and call his friend out.

“The fuck you doing in my shirt?”

Jake looks back to see Samuel and walks to him. Shrugging, “Forgot to wash the jumpsuit.”

“Nasty,” Samuel replies.

“This shit’s fucking tight. How do you breathe in your shirts, man?” Jake pinches the front of his shirt, inspecting the material. 

“Shut the fuck up.” Samuel retorts, slapping the back of Jake’s head as they both walk off to their shared dorm.

[...]

“Have you seen Jerry?”

“Nah.” Samuel suddenly vividly remembers when he almost stumbled on his feet during the break when the sun shone on his glasses. Jake hums in reply.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Finally, you arrive home. You assume your sister got here first, considering she got a ride from the nation’s biggest asshole. Knocking on the door, you’re greeted by your middle-aged dad, who was just about to sort the mail in his neutral tone checkered shirt, covered by a brown vest and a tie underneath. After removing your shoes by the entrance, you get sorted into the living room and sigh from your typically long day.

Your dad approached you as you sat on the couch, putting your socked feet up. Still looking into the number of mail he had on his hands.

“Hello (Name). Made anyone cry today?” Your dad jests.

“No, but it’s only four-thirty.” You smile cheekily at him, to which he chuckles back at you.

“Hi, daddy.” Your sister butts in, coming down the stairs. Sang-min gives your dad a quick kiss on the cheek. “Hello, dear.” 

Looking at your sister and lying on your stomach on the sofa with your hands supporting your chin, you start your array of questions. “So, where have you been?” 

Quickly shutting you down, Sang-min looks at you with threateningly wide eyes. “Nowhere.”

“Hey, what’s this? Kyonggi University in Suwon?” Your dad suddenly pipes up, making you shoot yourself up from the sofa. Taking the piece of opened mail from your father’s hands and scanning it yourself. And there, it was written in bold:

«We are pleased to acknowledge and congratulate Ms. Ryang (Name) on her application’s acceptance. We were very impressed….»

Any message after that didn’t matter to you as the excitement and happiness caught up to you first. Jumping around and looking between the fancy paper, your sister, and your father, anyone could see how happy this made you from a mile away.

“I got in. I got in!!!” You yell for the umpteenth time, now running and plopping yourself back on the sofa, currently reading the whole message of the letter.

Your father followed behind you with a worried look. At the same time, your sister was curious about the current situation, following suit with your dad.

“Isn’t Suwon too far off Central Seoul?” Your dad asks.

“That’s one of the reasons why it’s absolutely perfect!” You grin.

“I thought we… Decided you were going to stay here and go to school? There’s a lot of universities in Seoul.” Your dad suddenly starts listing all the universities nearby, including the one he went to, even mimicking their university mascot. “Wooh! Go, Seoul!”

Your eyebrow raises before it scrunches together in confusion. Facing back to meet your father and sister’s gazes, you reply. “No, you decided.”

A small air of silence.

“Oh, okay. So what, you just pick up and leave, is that it?” Your dad gives you the same expression that you were now showing him. An air of annoyance was starting to radiate off you, and your sister didn’t seem to have picked up on that. Even annoyingly does her sweet smile while saying, “Let’s hope so.”

You now mirror her sickly smile. “Oh, dad, ask Sang-min who drove her home.”

“(Name) don’t change the—” Your dad points at you before facing your sister at record speed. “Drove? Who drove you home?”

“Now, don’t get upset, Daddy, but there’s this boy….” Your sister starts, testing the waters.

But you cut her off. “Who’s a flaming imbecile, by the way.”

“Please.” Your dad shushes you, but your sister starts blowing off. “And I think he might ask me—”

“Please! I think I know what he’s going to ask you.” Your dad then cuts your sister off too. Holding on to her forearms in a worried manner. “And I think the answer is always no. No. It’s always no.” Your sister’s expression turns crestfallen at your father’s reaction.

Your dad then directs her to sit beside you on the couch. Starting with his sermon every time the topic of dating arose. “What are the two house rules?” He says, volume now raised.

Once your sister sits on the couch, your dad answers his questions. “Number one. No dating until you graduate.”

And… “Number two. No dating until you graduate.” Your dad finishes counting the rules with his fingers. “That’s it. That’s all the rules.”

Sang-min crosses her arms, showing a deep pout. “But that’s so unfair!”

“Alright, you wanna know what’s unfair? This is for you too.” Your dad starts again, and you can already see where this is going. “This morning, I delivered a set of twins to a fifteen-year-old girl. You know what she said?”

In your mind, you recited: I’m a crack whore who should have made my skeezy boyfriend wear a condom.

“I’m a crack whore who should have made my skeezy boyfriend wear a condom?” Your sister said for you aloud.

Yeah, got that right. Sometimes, you even wonder how you and your sister can share the same thoughts. Your dad pauses for a while, raising his brows in acknowledgment. That hit the nail right on the head. “Close, but no.” Never mind, then.

“She said, ``I should have listened to my father.`` ”

“Oh, she did not say that!” Sang-min argues.

“Well, that’s what she would have said if she wasn’t doped up.”

You remained quiet for the whole ordeal while your sister was totally blowing up. You hear your sister groan, and she flails her arms forward before saying, “Can we please just focus on me for a second?”

“I am the only girl in school who’s not dating.” 

“Oh, no, you’re not.” Your dad shakes his head quickly and then refers to you. “Your sister’s not dating.”

“Aaand I don’t intend to.” You assure your point by looking between your sister and your dad.

“And why is that again?” Your father declares.

“Is that even a question? I mean, come on, dad. Jaewon’s either filled with boys who probably don’t even wash their hair,” You count with your fingers. “Snotty prepubescent little boys who think they’re it with their branded clothes, probably stolen shoes, or just major criminal-looking men.” The last one suddenly had your brain remind you of the boy who flashed you a smile. Internally shaking away the intrusive thoughts because that was not what you meant by criminal looks.

“Where did you even come from?” Sang-min gawks, “Planet Loser?”

“Oh, yeah? As opposed to Planet, `` Look at me, look at me.``” You taunt, with your hands flailing around like one of those nobles from the 1800s.

A swift clap of hands disrupted your little argument, making the two of you look up at your father. “Okay, here’s how we solve the problem. Old rule out. New rule in, Sang-min can date.”

Your dad’s statement leaves your mouth open in shock, and for Sang-min to cross her arms and smiles happily. Your father begins to walk off, but just before he does, he finishes his sentence. Walking backward and pointing to you. “When she does.”

And suddenly, the happy smile Sang-min had was replaced with the bitter shock that overtook her. She stands up abruptly, trying to chase your dad while you laugh at the situation.

“Wait, dad, but what if she never dates? She’s a total mutant!”

Your dad shrugs. “Then you’ll never date.” Turning his back, he mumbles to himself. “Oh, I like that. And I’ll get to sleep at night!”

Raising his finger, he makes his point clearer. “The deep slumber of a father whose daughters aren’t out being impregnated.” Then the ring from his phone indicates the end of the conversation.

Standing up from the sofa, you walk off to your room while your dad points at you as he prepares to leave. “We’ll talk about Kyonggi University later.” You give him a hum of affirmation, going up the stairs that lead to your room. On the other hand, your sister tried to convince your unmoving dad, so, in the end, she resorts to you.

With a hand on the wooden rail of the stairs, she yells. “Can’t you just find someone blind and deaf to take you to the movies so I can have one date?!”

Turning to face her and looking down, you smile at her. “I’m sorry. Guess you’ll just have to miss out on the dreamboat Jin Ho “Eat me” Bin.” You pout.

Your sister gives you a scoff, waving you off and whining. “You suck!”

“You suck~” You mock her back, and she groans, annoyed by you.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Flipping the pages of the thick book that had «Speak English for Dummies!» right on the title page, at the moment, Jerry was trying his best to take in the overloaded amount of information so he could teach Sang-min all that which he learned. Yeah, he got lucky to score an English tutoring session with Sang-min, so he was trying his best on this! While avidly reading, the quick tapping of heels behind Jerry and the following plop of a bag on his desk made Jerry look up at the beauty that greeted him.

Sang-min smiles at him, and he feels his heart fly out of his chest.

“Hi. I almost thought I got the wrong table. I didn’t expect someone like you to volunteer as my English tutor.” Sang-min begins, and Jerry? Well, he was still formulating the words to reply in his head. “Actually… Can we make this quick?”

“Zack Lee and Daniel Park are having an incredibly horrendous public fight in their class, again.”

For the whole duration that Sang-min was talking, Jerry was unknowingly leaning close to listen to her voice more. It was until she stopped speaking did Jerry regain his stance. Stuttering, he says, “O-oh… Well, you s-see. Okay, I thought we’d start with pronunciation, i-if that’s alright with you.”

“Not the overuse of Rs. It’s actually so hard to remove our natural Korean accent. Can we start on anything else, please?”

“Ah, well, there is an alternative.” Jerry poses.

“There is?”

Jerry scratches his cheek, looking back to the back. “Yeah, uh, we can try American Food. We could, uh, e-eat some together. Maybe… Saturday night?” As subtle as he can, he tries to look back at Sang-min.

Sang-min squints her eyes with a genuine smile. Trying to decipher what was going on. Speaking up, she says, “You’re Asking me out?”

Then Sang-min grins, showing off her white teeth. “That’s so cute! I never expected you to be so timid too. What’s your name again?” She leans on her chin.

“J-Jerry.” He says, looking down bashfully with his hands and fingers crossed together in such a behave-looking position. “Jerry Kwon.”

Jerry clears his throat and smiles at Sang-min too. “I know your dad doesn’t let you date, but since we’re studying so you could learn English, you know….” Around Sang-min, Jerry had the peculiar habit of scratching his cheek or picking on his nails.

“Oh, sorry, wait a minute. Tom…” Sang-min cuts off.

“Jerry.” He corrected timidly.

“My dad actually came up with a new rule. So I can date when my sister does.” Sang-min trails off with her sentence.

“Really?” Jerry perks up, and suddenly, his whole body faces her while he is still sitting on the chair. “Do you like sailing? I read about this place that rents boats made for—”

“A colossal problem, Jeremy.” Jerry almost speaks up to correct his name again, but Sang-min continues. “In case you haven’t heard, my sister’s a hideous breed of loser.”

Feeling down, Jerry picks on the corner of one of the pages in the open book. “Y-yeah, I heard she was a little antisocial. Do you know why?”

“The only mystery even Scooby-doo can’t solve.” Sang-min shrugs. “She used to be popular, and then it was like, she got sick of it or something.”

“Theories abound as to why, but I’m pretty sure she’s incapable of human interaction. I mean, she basically, like, has no friends now.” Sang-min continues, smiling at Jerry again. “Plus, she’s a bitch.”

Jerry sweats at this, trying to cook up his solutions. “But I’m sure, you know, that there are lots of guys who wouldn’t, you know, mind going out with a difficult wo-man.” Jerry stutters throughout his sentence. Trying to regain his point, he shakes his hands because he feels what he said was wrong.

“I mean, you know, people jump out of airplanes and ski off cliffs or beat up a hundred guys to protect a street. It’d be like, uh, like, Extreme Dating!”

“Shhh!” A couple of students reacted at the back when Jerry picked up his volume by the end. Though once they saw Jerry apologizing sincerely, they piped down due to sheer intimidation.

Now hush-hush between Sang-min and Jerry, who leaned into each other to whisper instead. Sang-min cooks up a reply to what Jerry was trying to say earlier. “You think you can find someone that extreme?”

“I think so…” For you. Jerry thinks.

“You’d do that for me?” Sang-min holds her hand out to touch Jerry’s arm. Suddenly hyped up, Jerry immediately says: “Yes!” Nodding his head avidly.

A smack of a hand on their table catches their attention briefly. Showing a brunette guy with a messy haircut looking at them with an intense glare. “Quiet down.” And then he leaves, Jerry, taking note of the black army jacket that he wore.

Jerry comes down from his high, focusing on the girl of his dreams right next to him. “I mean— I’ll, I could, I could look into it.”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

“There’s a lot of guys from our department. Maybe you can find one here.” Brad says, leading Jerry into the Sophomores' area, right into the deep man cave—the jungle that is the Architecture Dept.

With his hand resembling the “OK” gesture, Jason kisses the tips of his put-together thumb and index. “The finest of Jaewon.” And then the door opens.

It revealed a bunch of guys who were… Weightlifting? Half the class wore black leather jackets with “BNC” and a burning knuckle brass on top of the text. It trailed off to the sleeves with duplicated horizontal lines trailing down to the end. The other half had their jumpsuits down to reveal either a white shirt covered with a plain black coat or just the black jacket paired with whatever shirt or lack thereof they had.

Yes, the Architecture Department was filled with only men for the longest time. Usually, they’d form a single group under a single leader who had shown the most tremendous power amongst the whole batch. But for this year, there were two groups. The other was Burn Knuckles under Vasco, and the other was Big Deal. Under Jake Kim.

What they had in common was that they were formed with the pretense that they were solely just like their leader and had chosen to follow either of the two for as long as they could. Does this spark war, you ask? Well, neither of the leaders aren’t really into unnecessary fights. So, in the end, they simply coexist. Initially, Big Deal was from Sinu Han, an alumnus of Jaewon.

“Osu! Everyone from Big Deal, say hello to the No. 2!” Brad Lee pipes up, and the members of Big Deal immediately stand up from their seats to greet the freshman.

Even the men from Burn Knuckles thought Jerry was already an alumnus, whispering about how big he looked. Is this guy really a student? Was the question most asked.

“No. 2, Jerry Kwon! Welcome to our classroom!” They bow at a perfect ninety-degree angle.

“Geez, what’s the ruckus?” Jace scratches his ear, waking up from his power nap on the floor. When his eyes flit to Jerry, he reels. “Woah.”

“Our junior here was just asking for help. He’s looking for a guy that would be fit for a girl.”

“...” The classroom freezes and digests the information.

“A girl.”

“A girl?!” They yell in unison.

“Should I volunteer, Jace?” Vasco grins, tapping his best friend’s shoulder. Contrariwise, Jace was measuring the situation. He thinks about why a mafia boss has visited them. Vasco and I were just visiting the sophomores. I guess it was the right time to hang around…

Suddenly, everyone was raising their hands and asking questions.

Is she pretty?

From what department?

Can she lift 100kg?

“Who’s the girl first?” Jace asks, raising his hand, and the crowd goes silent. They were all waiting for the answer. Yui Kim? Zoe Park? Joy Hong? Ryang Sang-min?

“Ryang…” They all listen closely. Sang-min? Sang-min? Sang-min!?

“(Name).” Brad finishes.

And suddenly, they all slump their backs. No longer listening to whatever offer Brad and Jason were trying to give them. In the back, even Vasco was put down. Shivering, he recalls, “She once told me that I smelled.”

He cries to Jace, “Do I smell, Jace?!”

Jace pats Vasco’s back while the rest of the Burn Knuckles yell their reprisals. “You don’t smell, Vasco!”

“If Vasco smells, then Burn Knuckle smells!”

“It’s the true smell of a man.”

The other half of Big Deal was awfully quiet, avoiding the looks Jerry, Jason, and Brad were giving them. Absolutely no support whatsoever. None, nein, nothing. Brad sighs and palms his similarly shaven head.

“Well, we’re empty. Sorry, Jerry.” Brad apologizes while Jason tries to comfort the sad giant.

“I told you it was pointless, the girl’s hopeless man,” Jason says.

Jerry frowned as he slowly left the room. He looked like a sad baby. All things, including the scars on his face, were set aside. The rest of the sophomores felt terrible, mainly the ones under Big Deal, but it even caught the attention of Vasco and Jace by the end. At least until Jerry bumped into someone right before the sophomores’ classroom. When Jerry focused on who it was,

“Jake!” Jerry exclaims, to which Jake replies with an easygoing smile.

“Hey. Eat lunch yet?” Jake greets, patting Jerry’s shoulder. “You should eat more. Nutrients are important.”

Once the other members of Big Deal spotted their leader standing right outside the door talking to Jerry, they immediately crowded the entrance in a straight line. Once more, in unison, they speak at a volume that could be heard from the highest to the lowest floor of the whole school.

“Boss Jake! Welcome to our class!”

“Don’t I get a greeting too?” Samuel pops out beside Jake, who was busy telling them to lower their voices to not disrupt other classes.

The other Big Deal members stay quiet, and Samuel laughs, putting his hands in his pockets. “How come I feel a little hurt, huh? I was your number two for a while, too, you know.”

“The only number two you’ll be from now on is when you go to the toilet,” Jake says, using his index finger to pull his cheek down and poke his tongue out toward the male. Samuel was smiling, but a visible irk mark formed on his forehead.

While the two bicker, Jerry is downcast again. Jake immediately notices this.

“Hey, you okay, big guy? You know, if something’s wrong, I can always help.”

This perks Jerry up, and Samuel flinches at the sight of how Jerry is starkly different from what you’d assume his character was at first glance. It was then that Jerry recalled everything since the very beginning. From when he met Sang-min to his current dilemma: Finding someone that can date you.

“Oh, so that was your only problem?” Samuel reacts first. Leaning with his hand on Jake’s shoulder, he rubs his fingers together in front of Jerry. “If you’ve got money, maybe I can find someone to take up the job.”

“I’ll do it.” Jake perks up.

That was the second time that everyone froze. All motion stopped inside the classroom. It wasn’t just Big Deal that reacted harshly, screaming altogether with Burn Knuckles.

“WHAT?!”

“He’s a true man, Jace. Maybe I should have taken the chance too. He feels so cool right now.” Vasco feels a teardrop on his cheek.

“Vasco…” Jace says. Looking at the unknowing man who was scratching his chin, Jace thinks He’s not normal. Is this why he’s the ``Big Boss`` of Big Deal!?

“BOSS! You don’t have to sacrifice yourself!” Some of the members from Big Deal retort.

Samuel recovers, breathing heavily as if he’d just been beaten to a pulp. “Jake, you’re different after all.”

Jerry sees his new hope surface in the face of Jake Kim. He hugged his big brother, who was ironically smaller than him. Unbeknownst to Jerry, he also accidentally squeezed Samuel. Squishing the two men together in the bigger man’s arms, making their cheeks stick and for Samuel to tap Jerry’s back multiple times as a sign for Tapping Out.

Suddenly, Brad speaks up. “But for Boss Jake to date (Name), he’ll need money for the dates. Do you have any funds on you, Boss?”

Jerry lets go of the two boys who are fixing their clothes. Samuel was rapidly wiping his cheek off, acting as if Jake had cooties. Jake, on the other hand, simply patted himself off of imaginary dust and replied, taking his pockets out that held nothing but crumpled paper and a bunch of coins.

“Nope.”

“Then you guys need a backer,” Samuel suggests, fixing his glasses on his nose.

“What’s that?” Jake asks.

“Someone stupid, but with money.”

From the room, anyone could hear the oohs coming from the Archi Dept. 

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

It was break time in the school’s crowded cafeteria. At one of the tables, there was a student drawing boobs on one of the lunch trays with a permanent marker. That student was surrounded by his lackeys, as usual, save for one who wasn’t a lackey.

“Oh yeah.” Vin Jin says as he keeps on with his masterpiece.

“You look like a third grader who just learned how to draw, Vin.” Mary insults. 

“Vin Jin,” Jason says, sitting on the table with the rest of Big Deal, save for Jake. “He’s perfect.”

“Wait, he has money?” Brad asks.

“I mean, his shoes don’t look cheap. And he’s perfect. He likes Sang-min, too, so he’s sure to back Jake up if it means ``scoring.``”

Jerry grumbles at the term. “He will not ``score.``”

“Of course. Since that also means you can go on a date with your girl and have a chance at beating the jerkoff. We let him pretend that he’s calling the shots, so while he pays Jake to take out (Name), you can take your sweet time with Sang-min.” Jason explains

“Win-win!” Jason cheers, putting his arms up.

With this, the rest of Big Deal also cheers at the table. Jerry nods, understanding the situation. He admits, “It’s a pretty good idea.”

But a question now raises itself: Who’ll ask Vin Jin? See, none of them were intimidated, but they needed to pick the right person for the job to be done right. Because if Vin Jin refuses, then Jerry will never get married! Big Deal offered to gather up their funds together for Jake, but Jake refused to use his own group’s money. As Samuel said, if he was going to use someone else’s money, he might as well use the money of someone he didn’t care about. This made the other Big Deal members cry and inadvertently strengthened the loyalty they had for Jake Kim.

In the end, they picked one of the most reasonable people in Big Deal. Their one and only Lineman. Just as he approaches Vin’s table, Mary leaves to buy a drink. She gives a quick greeting to the guy, which Lineman acknowledges before passing each other. At the same time, Lineman takes the seat Mary once sat on and turns it so that he faces Vin Jin, who is puckering his lips in disdain.

The whole exchange was watched over intently by Jerry, Jason, Brad, and the rest of Big Deal. Lineman was their No. 6, after all. They couldn’t hear anything, but they saw the expression on Vin’s face change from annoyed to semi-interested. Even putting the cap of his marker back on, forgetting about drawing on the lunch tray. On their side…

“The Ryang sisters, they can’t date. Specifically, Sang-min can’t date if her older sister doesn’t.” Lineman starts pointing at the table to simply prove his point, “She can’t go out with you because nobody wants to go out with Ryang (Name). Well,” Lineman claps.

“See, what we think—”

“Wait, we?” Vin cuts him off. “Who the fuck are we?”

Lineman gives a glance and a nod to the side, pertaining to the many eyes that were overlooking the single table that had Vin and his two other friends in tow. Vin, for some reason, feels more animosity from the monster that sat in the middle of their long, lined table staring at him. Vin stays quiet and looks back at Lineman, who continues what he is saying.

“What we think is that you need to hire a guy who’ll go out with her.”

Vin places his elbow on the table, resting his chin on his palm and tapping his cheek. Still, with his puckered lips, this time, in thought. One of Vin’s friends then speaks up.

“What’s even in it for you guys?”

Lineman wastes no time responding, already having thought of this coming. “Our boss thinks that it’s a good idea to form good relationships with other departments. And you look like you’re the boss of Vocal & Dance. It’s only necessary to strengthen our bonds as students of Jaewon-High.” He preaches with no stutters.

“Who’s the guy you have in mind?” Vin Jin asks.

Right on time, Jake enters the cafeteria, yawning and looking like he just woke up from a sound sleep. He had a cowlick on the right side of his head, and a pen that he probably overlooked was still stuck on his cheek. Lineman points to him subtly with his hand.

“That guy? What makes you think that guy could stand the nutcase of a woman?” Vin inquires, already skeptical that he is just getting used for his money.

“He’s not the boss of Big Deal for no reason. A solid investment.” Lineman smirks.

With the sound of chairs being pushed back and feet padding across the hall, a clear path was made just so Jake Kim could pass through to an empty table with a meal already prepared with no problems. Vin also notices the visible slanted vertical scar that grazed Jake’s mouth. He felt a subtle chill on his neck before he cleared his throat.

“Tch. Fine. I’ll think about it.”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Field day.

Jake was sitting on one of the benches while the other students of J-high were either doing gym classes, having free time, or running around the grounds playing whatever sport they felt like. The sun was high, and it was hot with no shade, so Jake had to squint everywhere he looked. His black coat was off, leaving him in the baggy pants of the black jumpsuit for those in their Senior year with the top half let down, leaving him in a white tank top, his tattoos from his chest visible up to the ones on his wrists due to the sweat cultivating on his skin.

Jake had just taken a single stick of cigarette and lit it up, putting it in his mouth and inhaling.

Smoking was banned in school, but since his first year in Jaewon, Jake’s learned the habit of the professors that scolded the students for smoking. Plus, he’s got lookouts.

“Hey.” The callout makes Jake look at Vin, wearing gold chains and his leopard-printed sunglasses, he was missing his hat, and his favorite black and white-striped jacket hung on his shoulder, so this time, he was also in a tank top, though it was black. “Fuck.” He utters under his breath.

“You're the Big Boss, right?” Vin Jin asks. He was with his two other friends.

“Do I know you?” Jake asks, looking at Vin with bored eyes, tapping on the cigarette to let the ashes on the tip fly off in the passing wind.

Vin laughs under his breath, annoyed. He was about to take back his greeting and leave, thinking that the guy that talked to him probably messed with him. But Jake interrupts Vin’s thoughts as Jake remembers what Jerry told him.

“Nevermind, I remember now.”

Of course, I’m the boss of our department. Hah! Everyone knows me! Vin rubs his chin, releasing a devious smile. This makes Jake stop and visibly cringe. Man, this dude’s ugly. 

Standing a little closer, Vin smugly puts his hands on his hips and looks at where you are currently playing soccer with your class. This makes Jake look in front of him, right where Vin Jin is looking.

“You see that girl?”

“Hm,” Jake replies, inhaling another hit from the cig. 

“That’s Ryang (Name). I want you to go out with her.” Vin ordered.

While Jerry Kwon was in class, he suddenly felt the need to sneeze. “A-Who do you think you are, talking to Jake like that-Choo!” Everyone in his class looked at him weirdly, deservingly so. But Jerry seemed to have no clue why everyone was staring at him as he rubbed his nose. A thought came into mind while the professor in Jerry’s class resumed his lesson: I wonder if someone is disrespecting Jake right now…

Back to the field where Jake and Vin were staring at you— correction— Vin was staring at Jake, and Jake was staring at you. Jake realized that you were the girl that flipped him off on the bus a couple of weeks ago.

“You already know the conditions, right?” Vin continued as Jake remained silent. Giving Vin the passive treatment.

Now that Jake was actually at the premise of pulling it off, he felt terrible. Not for using Vin’s money. But because this whole ordeal felt as if you were the ultimate pawn and that everyone just wanted to get past you so they could get to your sister. But the image of Jerry’s sad face, and Vin’s annoying-ass face, got Jake reeling. I mean, he’ll be using this asshat’s money, and he’ll get to know you. Maybe it’ll be worth it, Jake thinks as he watches you breathe heavily, bending over slightly, with your hair sticking to your forehead, in the school’s soccer team uniform that was nearly skin tight from the immense practice it went through.

“So, you’ll be investing in me, isn’t that right? Let’s get this over with.” Jake puffs out another smoke. He hands out his hand, waiting for Vin to hand over his ``downpayment``. 

Vin smirks, happy to get his plans in motion.

Vin takes out the cash from his wallet and hands it to Jake, folded. Putting the cigarette in his mouth, Jake unfolds the cash to reveal about a hundred bucks. Guess Vin was stupid. But with money.

Jake pockets the early compensation and puts his cigarette out with his foot. With that, Vin walks off with his friends.

[...]

“Great practice, everybody! Good hustle, Ryang.” Your coach, Mr. Minji, calls.

You jog to the bench where the rest of the team’s stuff is placed. You thank your coach for the praise before you wipe the sweat on your forehead, threatening to drip on your eyes. God knows how much it stings when it drips into your eyes. You were fixing your bag, trying to look for your thermal 1.8L water bottle. When you finally found it, you unscrewed the cap and took a long drink to rehydrate.

Just as you finish, a familiar face greets you.

“Hey there, pretty. How’re you?” Jake Kim offers you his most charming close-eyed smile, along with a wink right after. Even leaning on his knees for a second to adjust to your more petite frame in contrast to his larger build.

You give a tight smile back, nodding. The fuck… “Sweating like a pig. And yourself?” You sling your bag over your shoulder.

“Here, trying to get your attention.” Jake shrugs and points to himself with his index finger. “You certainly got mine.”

“Finally.” You breathe out, and Jake tilts his head. Finally…? Were you— “You’ve certainly helped me achieve my mission in life since I’ve struck your fancy. It worked. Thanks.” You say with the most lifeless tone. Oh. 

Jake gives you a small laugh, following behind you closely whilst you walk. Which was faster than an average person, he noticed. Having a hard time catching up even with his giant strides. He places his hands in his jumpsuit’s pockets, now walking toe-to-toe beside you. Leaning a little closer so you could hear him amidst the array of students, Jake says with an air of playfulness:

“Pick you up on Friday?”

“Oh. Right, Friday.” You nod in mock enthusiasm before raising your hand in front of his face. “Uhuh.”

“I’ll take you places you’ve never been before.” Jake raises his already naturally arched brows.

“Take me places— Where? The Hypermarket in Gangnam?” You squint at him, unknowingly raising your shoulders in protest of his bad ideas. Plus, “Do you even know my name, dog boy?”

Jake stops in his steps for a while as you continue walking in front of him. “Ryang (Name).” Which makes you stop walking to face him with squinted brows. Both from the heat of the sun, and the way that he did, in fact, know your name. You two stand there for a while, almost recreating the time when you saw him on the bus.

“Doesn’t matter. Screw off.” Then, you walk away. Leaving Jake Kim to think.

In the sophomores’ classroom in the Architecture Dept, everyone, including non-Big Deal members, watched the whole interaction between the infamous Ryang (Name) and the more famous Jake Kim. They even saw how their Big Boss was left in the dust by the girl. Some were still commending Jake, some of the Big Deal members cried for Jake, while Jason and Brad…

“Jerry’s screwed. We’re screwed.” Jason relays to Brad.

“Hey, no, are you saying you don’t trust the Big Boss?” Brad replies. Though in his mind, he thought the same thing. To distract himself, he says, “We should be upbeat, upbeat!”

“We’re~! Screwed~!”

Brad could only nod and sigh at Jason in defeat. Placing his gaze back towards their boss, who was still standing there in the middle of the field, looking in the direction that you left him off with.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

You just finished washing your face, already preparing for bed. You wiped your face off the droplets of water sticking to your skin, feeling refreshed.

“Have you considered a new look?” Your sister brings up abruptly. You shared the same bathroom, after all. “Like, seriously, you have some definite potential under all that hostility.”

Still patting your face with the soft towel, you give her a reply. “It’s not hostility. Just annoyed.”

Sang-min begins playing with your hair, trying to style it before you lightly push her off. She sits on her chair where a vanity mirror is displayed, reflecting her image. “Why don’t you try being nice? People won’t know what to think.”

You check if you have any zits on your face, “You forget, I don’t care what people think.” 

“Yes, you do.” Your sister quips, brushing her hair lightly as she stares into her reflection.

“No, I don’t.” You say with a subtle authority in your tone. You squint at Sang-min’s reflection, “You don’t always have to be who they want you to be, you know.”

A small air of pause as Sang-min finally notices you looking at her through her reflection. She looks back at you, “I happen to like being adored, thank you.”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

You come out of the B&B Music Store after your little hustle of finding new headphones. You often visit here because they also sell instruments. And since you’re a well-known regular, sometimes, they let you try out the electric guitar you’ve been pining for and saving for since the dawn of time. It was almost afternoon, but the day was relatively calm, and the sun wasn’t too intense. A perfect day.

Until you see who’s leaning on your car. It was a blue and white used Chevy Chevrolet 1955 car that you also saved up for the longest time. Though your dad chipped in when it was your birthday, you’re proud of using the majority of your money on it. You don’t use it often since Jaewon wasn’t exactly filled with angels.

“Nice car. Very vintage.” Jake comments with a friendly smile, supporting his tall frame with his forearm on the roof of the car.

“Jake Kim…” You breathe out, pinching your nose. This makes Jake flinch, propping himself up from your car. “Are you actually following me?” 

With your accusation, Jake quickly raises his hands in surrender. “I was not! Please don’t think I’m a weirdo!”

You raise your brow, crossing your arms, waiting for more than that shitty excuse. Jake takes the hint and points back with his thumb. “I was in the laundromat. I saw you enter the store a couple of minutes ago. I came over to wait for you so I could say hi.”

“Honest.” Jake finishes off, drawing a cross over his heart. Today, he was in white, casual loose pants, a hoodie in a really light shade of brown, coated with another jacket in dark denim that was open, and plain white shoes.

“Eyes up here, pretty,” Jake smirks playfully, crossing his arms this time. This idiot. To think I was about to compliment his fashion taste.

“You came to say hi, right? Well, hi.” You remark, walking over to the door that led to the driver’s seat, just where Jake was blocking earlier. Just as you were reaching for the handle, he slid to stop it from your reach again.

“You don’t like talking much, do you?” Jake cranes his neck to level his face with yours.

You smile sweetly at him. “Hm, depends on the topic. My car nor your trip to the laundromat doesn’t really whip me into a ``verbal frenzy.`` Run along and wash your sweaty uniforms now.”

“You’re tough. You’re not scared of me?” Jake pouts. You don’t give him a reaction. He sighs and rolls his jacket sleeves up. “Not even one of these guns?”

“About forty-five percent of the school’s population consists of boys like you flaunting their inked skin. So why should I be afraid of you?”

“Hmmm… I don’t usually flaunt this, but how does being No. 1 of Big Deal sound?”

“Sounds like you’ve thought of that name just so you can say that you’re ``The Big Deal`` ‘round these parts. Corny when you actually hear it, sorry. Not afraid of that, big boy. Think of something else for me.”

Jake, still with his jacket sleeves rolled up, chuckles. He finds your replies genuinely interesting. Leaning a little closer towards you, “Okay, well, maybe you’re not afraid of me….”

“But I’m sure you’ve thought of me naked.” Jake gives you a cheeky smile and a sneaky wink.

You gasp. And Jake thinks he’s finally got you. “Am I that transparent?”

Placing your hand over your chest and leaning a little closer with every word, “I want you, I need you. Oh, baby. Oh, baby.” Jake actually blushed a little from the distance you closed in the short amount of time. If only you didn’t say that with the dullest voice and expressionless face, maybe he’d have felt butterflies.

You finally got a hold of the door handle, prompting Jake to push himself off the door. He scratches the back of his head in another failure.

“Careful on the drive home.” Jake waves, going back to his dirty laundry, waiting across the street as you prepare to leave, happy to be in your car with no nuances anymore. You put in the key, trying a couple of times as usual before the engine starts. Putting the gear on reverse, you were just about to leave.

But a motorbike parks right behind you to block your exit, and you groan, realizing who it is. Today was definitely an asshole day. You switch gear back to Neutral and raise your hand break. Peeking out of your open window, Vin Jin walks past you.

“Do you mind?” You ask, already pissed.

“Not at all,” Vin replies, twirling the motorbike’s keys around his index finger.

“Fine.” You whisper. You push the hand break back down, shifting into reverse, and you back onto the bike. Enough to tumble it to the ground.

Across the street, Jake watches and laughs at the exchange. Samuel, in his casual wear composed of mid-thigh shorts and a printed black shirt covered with a maroon hoodie because his tattoos were showing more this time, looks to what made Jake laugh and saw the scene, chuckling to himself too. They both continue to observe you laughing at Vin’s rage.

They hear Vin Jin panic and scream at you for being a massive bitch whilst you drove off, probably not listening anymore.

The whole affair with you maiming Vin’s bike, which you found out was actually Mary’s cousin’s motorbike, reached your dad and your sister later that evening. Sang-min was mad that she had to take the bus to school instead of being taken to by Vin, and your dad was angry because, well, of course, you had to pay for the minor damages to the vehicle. Still, you say, it was worth it.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Vin Jin grimaces angrily as he finally spots the guy he hired. He walks towards Jake, who is sleeping on his desk. Vin pushes Jake’s shoulder to wake him. Jake stirs awake, still in the throes of his break time nap, when Vin already starts his scolding, trapping Jake on his chair with Vin’s arms that hold both sides of the table. Jake leans back, unamused and certainly not intimidated.

“I shell out a hundred. I expect results.” Vin says with clenched teeth. Even with multi-layer tinted sunglasses in a dimly lit room, you could feel just how piercing Vin’s gaze was toward Jake. Anyone could feel it. But he’s Jake Kim. All that did was remind him that he probably had saliva that dried on his chin, wiping it off during the whole ordeal. “Watching that bitch violate my motorbike doesn’t count as a date.”

“Now, if you don’t get any, I don’t get any.” Vin taunts, “So get some.” He pokes Jake’s chest.

Just as Vin turns to leave, Jake speaks up. “I just upped my price. Add ‘nother fifty, in advance.”

“Huuuuh? Forget it.” Vin scowls. “Well, forget her sister, then.” Jake rebukes, starting to lay back down on his desk, taunting Vin by making it look like he was making himself visibly comfortable.

The next series of events were Vin grumbling as he reached into his pocket and slammed the bill in front of Jake. “You better hope you’re as smooth as you think you are, Jake Kim.”

Jake sighs exasperatedly, pulling the bill to place it in his pocket. He then goes back to his nap to replenish enough energy before the bell rings.

[...]

“Class Schedule, Reading List, Concert Tickets to one of her many favorite indie bands playing tomorrow.” Sang-min lists off, giving some of it to Jerry.

Jake didn’t know what he was doing here right now. With your sister, Jerry, as well as Jason, and Brad, who were waiting outside to give him a call in case you get home. This is definitely wrong, an absolute breach of privacy. This all feels against his personal code of morals, and in the back of his head, he can hear his previous superior, Sinu Han, scolding him in the form of a tiny angel sitting on his shoulder.

“I don’t want to do this,” Jake says, out of the blue, making Sang-min stop rummaging through your drawers to look at him.

“You didn’t seem so opposed earlier. Plus, we’re doing this so I can go to the party with Jerry that Beom from Practical Music is hosting. Right, Jerry?” Sang-min recalls, placing both her hands on her hips as she looks at Jerry for affirmation. To which the big guy nods frantically with a small smile. Seeing how Jerry was really into going to a party with your sister, Jake couldn’t help but let go of his morals for a little bit.

“Plus, it was you guys that asked for help. I refused at first, too, because it was creepy when I first thought about it, but for the sake of my social life….” Sang-ming trails. “And we’re not going too far into her stuff. You guys better not be stalkers or something.”

Typically, Jerry didn’t really ask for much.

But rummaging through a girl’s room is wrong! Imaginary Sinu says. Well, he was right, but…

But she’s actually pretty, isn’t she? Plus, poor Jerry doesn’t ask for much. Stop worrying. Who was this? Jake asks himself at the immediate entrance of a new imaginary figure. It was… Samuel?! What the fuck was going on in his head…?

“Oh, look, black panties.” Sang-min smiles cheekily, nitpicking your plain black underwear taken from inside your top drawer. Jake immediately covers Jerry’s eyes with his hand.

“Cover your ears, Jerry!” Jake sputters quickly. And Jerry, ever obedient, follows quickly. Already having a light shade of pink on the tips of his ears at Sang-min exposing your… Garment.

“What does that have to do with me dating your sister?” Jake asks with a clenched jaw, pissed but more so flustered and red at the same time.

Sang-min couldn’t believe that a guy like Jake Kim didn’t know what black panties meant. “She wants to have sex someday.”

On Jake’s shoulders sat the imaginary figures. One was laughing his heart out, while the other had a similar reaction to Jake. Sinu, who was also quite red despite being depicted as an angel, gives Jake a go-go-okay sign. Who does he think he is for giving me a go sign?! Go away! Samuel couldn’t stop laughing and hitting Jake’s shoulder in his miniature stature.

“She could just like the color. How can I trust you?” Jake rebukes, peeling his eyes off the article that is still in your sister’s hand.

Sang-min groans as if it was apparent. “Women just don’t buy black lingerie for nothing. They buy it because they want someone to see it.” She raises her eyebrows at Jake when she finishes her sentence. Jakes covers half his face with his other free hand, and he feels the heat that stuck to his skin because of whatever Sang-min said.

[...]

“So, first thing, (Name) hates...” Brad starts. Jake puffs out a smoke whilst leaning on a billiard table that he and the guys reserved just to hang out for the night. “Smokers. She said, and I quote, ``Would rather die than date a smoker.``”

Jake puts his cigarette out, recalling the detail that Sang-min told them earlier.

“And she likes pretty guys!” Jason remarks with his index finger pointing up, “As proven by the picture of that idol DG that Sang-min showed us earlier.”

The small group went quiet as opposed to their other buddies talking on the other reserved billiard tables in the local night bar. Jake forbids most of them to drink if they’re under twenty-one like him, though. Which, really, they all are. It just so happens that this was run by one of the girls from their street. None of them spoke a word as Jake pushed his hair back on both sides. “I guess we have no problem with that part.”

“...” Jason and Brad stare at Jake.

“...” Jake stares at Jason and Brad.

“What?”

“Nothing, boss.” Brad states.

“You don’t think I’m pretty?” Jake asks the question they all dreaded. If Jerry was here, he probably would have agreed with no brakes, but Jake made him go home early. So he doesn’t forget to do his homework.

“Hey, no, he’s stunning!” Jason argues, lightly pushing Brad away, and points to Jake with both his hands. “Prettiest guy in Jaewon!”

“Gorgeous guy, of course.” Brad agrees, too, all of a sudden, grasping his head. “Just taking opinions. Everyone knows Jake is a pretty guy.”

Jake looks off, playing with his hands now that he can’t smoke. “So, she likes traditional Japanese food, indie rock, and psychological horror movies that can be portrayed easily in real life?”

Jason and Brad nod, knowing that Jake got it all right. 

“All right, then.” Jake finishes the conversation quickly, pushing himself off the edge of the billiard table and getting a cue stick, ready to play Pool. 

“Club ViVi, tomorrow night, her favorite band’s gonna be playing there,” Jason adds, getting a cue stick, too, whilst Brad prepares to arrange the balls for their game.

“Club ViVi?! I can’t be seen at Club ViVi.” Jake suddenly pipes up.

“But she’ll be there. She’s marked it in her calendar.” Jason rebukes, making Jake grasp his forehead in thought. He remembers getting into a brawl with their top bouncer there once, Xiaolung, was it?

“I mean, it’s just one night. Did you do something wrong there, Boss?” Brad looks at Jake, now having the balls arranged and prepped. He got a chalk to rub on the tip of his cue stick.

She has a pair of black underwear. His small demon, Samuel, whispered in his ear. Instinctively, Jake swats the image away, making Jason and Brad think there is a fly bothering Jake. Though they both wonder why their boss was red-faced all of a sudden.

“Nothing. It’s fine. I’ll go.” Jake shakes his head, still stuck on a particular image in his head.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

The sticky air filled with sweat that any typical club would radiate permeated through the whole environment that was Club ViVi. Jake was easily let in by the two bouncers up front, allowing him to delve deeper into the club. He was trying his best to lay low and avoid meeting Xiaolung accidentally.

The club was full of drunk young adults, guys in loose shirts, and women in tight dresses. Jake opted to wear a black silk short-sleeved shirt that was unbuttoned from the top with a simple silver chain. He had black pants and black Johnston & Murphy pair of dress shoes. Jake didn’t bother tucking the shirt in his pants like Samuel told him, just allowing the smooth silk to stretch through his body. His tattoo sleeves were easily seen, and he was ogled by the many ladies that he quickly passed by.

The neon purple, pink, and the occasional green were blasting all through the rooms of Club ViVi, and Jake had to push through a bunch of people to get to the stage where a band called Bad Suns was playing. Jake’s eyes flit to the denser crowd surrounding the scene in the center of the glistering dance floor. Then to the band that was playing on the stage, shining with sweat.

“I had no reason to breathe,” Uninterested, Jake suddenly spots your image. “Until you knocked the wind out of me.”

You were wearing a white crisscrossed wrap top. Covering only what you wanted to cover. You had light-washed denim jeans and white strap heels, and despite the thin heels supporting your feet, you were still excitedly jumping around and dancing to the rhythm of the song. Full of energy, with a huge grin, your hair swayed and wrapped around your face. The same grin you had on was contagious enough to infect Jake Kim.

“Thanks for listening to Life Was Easier When I Only Cared About Me, now for Daft Pretty Boys! A one, a one-two-three!” The singer yells into the mic as the beat shifts.

As the song begins, Jake slowly makes his way to your singular form. He couldn’t believe that you go to clubs like this all alone. Even if there were so many raving people around him, Jake excused himself to keep going. Until he finally got behind you, who was still unaware. Jake bobs his head and moves lightly to the beats of the song just so he can meld with the others who are dancing with much more fervor than he was. He chose to focus more on you, waiting for you to notice his presence. Unwilling to disrupt your excitement and happiness at this moment.

“Like the gates of heaven are open now,”

Suddenly, Jake thinks about how anyone could ever be scared of you. How could anyone be angry with you? You were just— Abruptly, you accidentally stepped back and tripped backward, yelping on instinct. Your hands try to reach out for the closest support; your other leg is raised as the other is losing its balance. But just as you grab the silk material, Jake already has his stable hand supporting your back, you face him, and he meets you.

The flashing lights and the dark ambiance made it hard for you to recognize Jake at first. Thinking he was just a random boy who was trying to shoot his shot. Which wasn’t a pretty far-off conclusion, actually. 

Your eyes glowed with the neon lights, and his eyes could only softly reflect yours. With a dazed look, you finally figure it out, “Jake.” You breathe out.

“She says, ``There’s a dangerous kind of cool about you.``” The singer on the stage sang with fervor.

Jake raises you up from your leaning position smoothly. “What are you doing here?” You appraise, fixing yourself.

Still, Jake had his hand unconsciously on your back, ghosting above the semi-exposed skin. “I hang out here every now and then. I know a couple of people here.” Jake replies, leaning closer to your face so you can hear him talk. You face him, and you catch a whiff of the natural musk and a touch of mint from when Jake spoke. “You’re not surrounded by your usual cloud of smoke.”

“I quit.” Jake grins at you, and he cups his mouth. “Apparently, they’re bad for me.”

“You think?” You snarkily reply. You clutch your forehead, regaining your balance while you hold onto Jake’s forearm that he so generously offered to you. “But thanks for having my back. I think I need water, though.”

As you started to navigate through the dancing crowd that was taking your last place, Jake’s figure was right behind you, helping to push the other people lightly. He has his arm stretched out, reaching just above your head, and you look back at him, and all he did was give you a thumbs up and a wide grin. Noticing his scar that stretched out with his grin and you try to clear your throat, ignoring the way his shirt was brushing your back as you walked off.

When the both of you arrived, the bartender was cleaning a glass. When Jake looks up from your form, he notices who the bartender is. “Johan?”

“Oh. Hey.” The boy replies curtly. Jake leans on the counter, sitting right beside where you sat. “Did you always work here? Aren’t you a minor?”

“I make the drinks. I don’t drink them.” He explains. “I’ve been looking for a well-paying part-time job these days.”

Johan then looks at you then flits back to Jake. Mildly interested in how Ryang (Name) and Jake Kim mixed out of the blue.

“Uh, hey. I just need some water.” You call out to the boy. Nodding, Johan reaches out from the cooler behind him after he places the shot glass down. When he handed it to you, he decided to leave you and Jake to your own devices. Johan wasn’t one for engaging in gossip or whatnot.

Taking the cold bottle of water, you try to open the cap. But it was way tighter than it should be. Jake was looking at you struggle all this time, and you felt your cheeks heat up in embarrassment. He takes the bottle from your hands and opens it with ease, handing it back to you.

“Thank you again.” You fix a strand of your hair and drink the water. Both to cool down from all your burst of energy on the dance floor earlier and from the irritating man that was sitting beside you. Wiping your lip from the water, you face Jake. “If you’re planning on asking me out again, you might as well just get over it.”

Jake opts to lean on his enclosed hand supported by the table. He chooses to change the topic just as he drinks the glass of orange juice Johan left for him. “You know,” Jake starts with a loud volume, giving you a cheeky side glance, “These guys, Bad Suns? They’re pretty good. Though they’re no Weathers or the Technicolors.”

You feel your ears perk up at what he said. Skeptically, your reply. “You know who the Weathers are?”

Jake stands up and leaves his glass on the table. You quickly follow right behind him, with the both of you ending up just a ways back from the center, looking over the most crowded area in the entire club.

“Secret’s Safe With Me. Gave it a listen.” Jake says, inserting his hands in his pocket and using the other to tap his ear.

You pause, still holding on to the water bottle you got earlier. You’re surprised someone like Jake would even care about a band like Weathers. “I saw you out there earlier. Never seen you prettier than when you smile while dancing.”

“You’ve probably only seen me like, what, three, four times?” You chuckle. Jake then notices a waiter carrying trays filled with a bunch of margaritas about to pass by you at an unsteady pace. So, by instinct, he clears the path for the waiter. By having his hand no longer ghost above your back.

You face Jake’s semi-exposed chest, and you internally reel at the proximity of your bodies. Jake could feel your breath near his neck, and he had to gulp to think of something else quickly. But your hands were grounding him, and he could almost feel how you were trying your best not to be pushed further into him so that your chest won’t crash with his. Jake finally looks down at you only to find you already staring up at him, and he feels a form of heat rush up to his head, losing his cool and finding his words. Looking for them in the glimmer of your eyes.

“Come to Beom’s party with me.” Jake finally breathes out, something only you can hear in the noisy atmosphere.

What he says finally grounds you, “You never give up, do you?” You lightly tap on his chest, and he’s left there dumbfounded as you walk back to the dancefloor, right in front of the stage.

But Jake has to know. Cupping both his hands around his mouth, he shouts. “Was that a yes?!”

“No!” You reply, back turned.

Jake tries to catch up to you, grabbing your wrist lightly. “Then, was it a no…?”

You face him, with a close-eyed smile, just like his. “No.”

#jake kim x reader #jake kim #vin jin #lookism #lookism webtoon #lookism anime #daniel park #mary kim #vasco #burn knuckles #jace park #euntae lee #zack lee #mira kim #zoe park #jason yoon #brad lee #jerry kwon #sinu han #jay hong #johan seong #eugene lookism #yui kim #vin jin x reader #samuel seo #crystal choi #lookism manga #lookism manhwa #kim gimyeong #kim gimyung

[polysyndetonaddictsupportgroup]

based on your asks responses & characterization of yuuta this is what i’ve gathered — yuuta is like that one high school senior who looked at the new coming freshman’s & just adopted them on the spot. there’s no out. now his friends sees the kid & adopted them too. it’s a family now. a very young, close in age family. (i was yuuta in this situation 😔 i was use to be megumi in this situation but i carried the tradition out. as i should. high school & middle school was wild.)

YUUJI THOUGH. we will probably never see him in your sea glass garden au but your asks is killing me. like his one sided beef with yuuta? he’s just like me fr. i too would fight over megumi if it comes down to it.

i just know yuuji thought that yuuta & megumi was a thing at first cause of the whole “his boy thing”. i know he screamed into a pillow about it. i know he went to gojo to ask for permission to court megumi & gojo was flabbergasted at such a medieval act so he had yuuji do the dumbest shit to get his blessing (ha).

i just know nanami is sighing at the idea of his son yuuji being a jealous little brat because of his other son yuuta. i just know yuuta was so confused until he witnessed yuuji & megumi awkward ass flirting. i know he acts like a little shit to get on yuuji (& sukuna) nerves.

you know what. this is my jujutsu kaisen. this is my sorcery fight. gege who? i only know you. PLS TAKE THE PEN FROM GEGE.

Yuuta is absolutely that senior who adopted that new student and made a little family. That is His Kohai now okay megumi is their collectively raised flour sack baby and they will kill for him.

Yuuji came back to life finally met the second years had just leveled up with his cursed energy and gained a new dad got his old friends back he was so so ready to go live his best life and then his new self appointed brother opened his mouth and started rhapsodizing about some impossibly beautiful and perfect man named okkotsu yuuta and yuuji is absolutely whacked in the face a la rubber squeaky hammer that there’s some gorgeous son of a bitch out there already living his best life.

His death sentence was overturned. He’s so powerful that he can save everyone if he wants. He is the legally adopted child of Nanami Kento. The curse attached to him 1) actually liked him and 2) moved the fuck on which some people (Sukuna) could take a few notes on.

Fushiguro Megumi is his boy.

This could not have devastated him more thoroughly. Even his newly acquired self appointed brother thinks okkotsu yuuta is the perfect man, which he manages to express at length in between warnings from the second years that Yuuta’s going to fly back from Africa purely for the sake of kicking his fucking ass for touching His Boy, which yuuji simply cannot handle.

Yuuji lowkey had a new lease on life and thought “hey! Fushiguro tried to kill someone with an elephant for me! Maybe I have a shot and he’ll let me hold his hand!” and then there’s god’s perfect man off in Africa who’s enticing megumi away from movie marathons with his fucking FaceTime calls right when yuujis almost hyped himself up enough to try the yawning arm stretch thing.

He spends at least three weeks trying to figure out if Megumi’s His Boy because they’re in a long distance relationship and it only ends because maki starts finding it more annoying than funny and establishes that it is not in fact a romantic arrangement. She thinks. (Okay it’s still kind of funny.)

Yuuji resorted to a terrible wikihow on how to get someone to date you and it insisted “get their parents approval” was his in and gojo could NOT have been more of an asshole about it. Nanami had to intervene to get it to stop. He is very tired and very confused. Why are you so upset about okkotsu he’s a lovely young man why is this making you more upset

Of course if yuuji ever found out that megumi became Yuuta’s boy after Yuuta personally restarted his heart he’d instantly understand why everyone acts like Yuuta’s the best thing since sliced bread. He is that amazing.

Yuuta and Megumi are completely oblivious to all of this.

Gege pls call me I just want to help gege pls

#sea glass gardens #just remember YOU can forcibly displace gege and turn the creative property over to me #I will be making several. SEVERAL. changes. #yuuji absolutely goes back into his room and screams into his pillow over Yuuta #he was going to try to hold Megumi’s hand and Megumi left to go talk to Yuuta just because he was ‘calling all the way from Africa’ and ‘the #movie ended five minutes ago why were you just sitting there looking like you were really stressed are you okay itadori’ #nobara is exhausted just watching this #she’s the most homophobic lesbian alive why do lgbtq things happen to people who don’t deserve it #god she just wants a girlfriend with a sword and these fucking assholes are the ones who get their high school romance they don’t even #APPRECIATE the gay things happening to them #ignoring all canon since we’re never getting there in sea glass gardens #when Yuuta’s coming back from Africa Megumi’s very simply stating that Yuuta’s an important person in his life and he’s glad yuuji wjll #meet him soon which might as well be a DECLARATION OF UNDYING LOVE yuuji has a total crisis #yuuta gets off the plane and fucking hugs megumi yuuji had to get boyfriend privileges to do that who is this son of a bitch #gojo watching this: do you think I can get yuuji to wash my car again if I tell him I’ll distract Yuuta so he can take Megumi on a date #Nanami: why on earth would okkotsu need to be distracted for that to happen #gojo: that’s the beauty of it it is in no way necessary but yuuji doesn’t seem to know that

[ashes-writing]

wild one pt nine | stranger things ; g.emerson

tag list || req rules / fandoms+characters ; reqs open || send me asks? || masterlist

CHAPTERS ; 

one - two - three - four - five - six - seven - eight can all be found by clicking. the stranger things masterlist is here but be warned it is not up to date. will be soon though.

AUTHORS NOTES;

i told y'all this story has me in a chokehold and it wasn't over with that last part i posted. This part may or may not have loosely been inspired by something that happens in one of my favorite movies, Dazed and Confused. IYKYK. Basically, this is them, going through their senior year. I know it seems happy now, but I warn you, there may be angst at some point, idk yet. Depends on what way I take this and what comes to me whilst writing.

Huge thanks and all of my love to everyone, all of you. You have no much it means to me that people are even putting up with, let alone indulging my bullshit because when I started to post my writing online again, I went into it with nothing beyond the expectation of getting it out of my head and to say I am continuously blown away by you guys comments, the likes, the reblogs/reblogs with tags, oh my god, that's an understatement, you guys have kept me going with things more times than I can count, so thank you all, I love you sm.

SUMMARY;

-- cheerleaders and drummers. you'd think it doesn't work and yet... it totally does.

PAIRING;

Gareth Emerson x Fem!Reader (beyond outfit/hairstyles/glasses, her personality and having female parts, the rest is up to you. i did try to make her not so much a stereotypical cheerleader so maybe more could relate, sorry if it's too much.)

WARNINGS;

these two being adorable and awkward. Mentions of hickies, making out -kinda, use of petnames (Baby, little chaos demon, etc) and swearing.

TAGLIST;

@aurumbelis

@allelitesmut

@aries-arcade

@cole22ann

@ebonybloom

@hcloangcls

@heyaitsklaudia

@hoeshii

@hotgirlsshareaccounts

@icequeen1371

@krys-orion

@letsbedragonstogether

@littlestarfighter03

@louderfortheback

@musichealsscars

@oflavenderandevie

@secretsicanthideanymore

@suits-and-smirks

@scoobiessnacks

@thechoiceslookgrimm are the only people who are presently on my stranger things taglist. if you want to be added please click the link at the top of the post and/or let me know.

OTHER STUFF;

Set in S4/Senior year. Gareth / everyone has been aged up to 18 to make things age appropriate here, jsyk. The upside down / vecna / the monsters and the deaths do not happen / will not happen. Starcourt exists still. So does Benny's diner + a few other places I'll be adding and mentioning (a water tower, a roller rink, a county fair in another town, several other places).

Neither of you really knew what to expect. Things were up in the air, unsettled. Kissing is just kissing in high school, after all. And uncertainty was driving Gareth Emerson utterly insane. It’s driving you insane too, the problem with this is that for days now, neither of you seem willing to be the one to ask the big question.

Granted, things have been… Touchier. More affectionate. And you’re always together, too. It should be a clear cut answer, a done deal. But for him, it’s not. He needs to know, he needs to be absolutely certain this is really happening and it’s as serious as he feels it may be.

It’s front and center of his mind the entire time that he’s practicing with the band out in Jeff’s garage. He’s missing beats, he’s dazed and staring off into space and every now and then he’ll remember how carried away you got the night before when you were kissing out by the water tower and the small bruise sitting on the side of his neck right now as an end result. Or he’ll think about a similar one he left on your throat.

“Jesus, Gareth.” Grant palms his face after about the fifth or sixth time Gareth is just a beat behind in the song they’re practicing for the next show. Eddie sits down the guitar and gazes up at Gareth calmly. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah.”

Jeff is the one who notices the little purple mark and he chuckles, shaking his head. “Distracted, huh?”

Gareth flips off his best friend wordlessly.

“Look, you need to get your fucking head on, buddy. We’ve got a gig tomorrow night. Start talkin.” Eddie coaxes. Gareth lets it all spill out, pacing the garage as he twirls his drumsticks in his hands. “And I mean obviously, something’s happening,” he pulls the neck of his shirt away so that now, Grant and Eddie catch sight of the little mark. Eddie chuckles and shakes his head. “Why’s anybody need t’ say anything, though?”

“Because, man.. I don’t wanna assume one thing and then school starts next week and I find out “Oh, hey, this was just something fun to do for the summer because I was bored.” or whatever.” Gareth rubs the bridge of his nose as he stops in the middle of his pacing.

“She’s babysitting your sisters again tonight, right?” Grant asks, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

“Yeah.”

“So ask her, idiot. Stop getting distracted and do it already.” Jeff is calm when he says it. He’s trying not to laugh but it’s so funny, the whole situation is really, that he snickers about it just a little and Gareth glares.

“Yeah, if it helps, man… Kinda heard her talking to Max about it the other day. She wants to say something too, she just chickens out.” Eddie shrugs as he says it. Gareth nods, biting the edge of his thumb. “Yeah, I try to say something, y’know? Like.. I try to ask her but the words keep getting stuck.”

“One of you needs to say something.”

“Look, let’s call practice today. You, go home. Stop dancing around this, damn it. We’ve got a gig. And we’ve got that first Battle of the Bands coming up when the fair comes through and I am not letting those shitbirds from Riverton with their shitty hair metal cover prettyboy bullshit beat us again this year. Do something, for the love of fuck.” Eddie places his hands on Gareth’s arms, a firm look in his eyes as he makes the demand.

“Okay, alright.”

Gareth leaves Jeff’s house, using the entire time he’s driving back to his own place to figure out exactly how to bring it up.

By the time he’s parking behind your red Trans Am in his parents driveway, he’s no closer to figuring out how to go about doing this than he was when he left Jeff’s place.

– ( inside the house )

You’re on pins and needles. Max and Emma’s earlier advice is still bouncing around in your head and you’ve halfway convinced yourself that one of you has to say something, one of you has to be the one to bring it up.

You’ve just gotten his sisters bedded down for the night when you hear him come in the front door downstairs. You pause at the top of the landing and you take several deep breaths. One of you has to do this. If you don’t find out soon, it’s going to drive you insane. “I can do this. It’s not a big deal.” and you mumble this all the way down the stairs, distracted. You bump against him because he’s standing in the middle of the bottom stair and you look up, a heat creeping into your cheeks as you smile. “I thought you’d be at Jeff’s until later. Battle of the Bands, right?”

His hands skim up and down your sides and linger at your hips for a few seconds and you’re stepping closer, that space between your bodies is getting smaller and smaller by the second. His hand settles on your jaw gently and he’s tugging your gaze upward. Blue eyes dance when they catch on the purpled mark on your throat. You lick your lips and he melts into you, nose in your hair. “They didn’t give you hell, right? They were bouncing off the walls before I left.”

“Nope. They were little angels, I don’t see where you keep getting this hidden demon logic, ba-” you pause because you know what you were about to say. And looking up at him, you know he probably has a good idea what you were about to say because he takes a deep breath and his hand digs against your waist, fingers tracing designs against your bare skin hidden beneath his flannel. “What were you going to say just now, hm?” he questions. You’re looking at his chest, frantically hoping to hell a hole will open up in the floor or something, worried you’ve probably just crossed a huge line considering while you both seem to enjoy all the touching and the kissing and the long talks that have happened lately, nothing’s actually… official.

You mumble it out against the front of his shirt and he can’t quite understand you because his shirt muffles your voice, so he reaches down and grabs your jaw again. “C’mon, say it.” he coaxes.

“Baby, I… I almost called you baby.” you’re hot all over. Blue eyes gleam, darting from your eyes down to your lips. He’s got a soft and dopey grin, his thumb rolls over you bottom lip, leaves it quivering. You melt against him just a little, raising your arms to wrap around his neck. Laughing at yourself quietly. “Sorry, I.. I just didn’t stop before it came out?”

“No, it’s fine. Completely fine… baby.” he chuckles quietly, guiding your jaw so that you’re looking at him when he says it. 

And one of you has to say something, one of you has to do something. You take a shaky breath and you’re preparing yourself to just do it, go for it already. “W-what are we doing? I mean.. Uh.. Shit..” you rub the bridge of your nose, laughing at yourself because once again, you’re a rambling mess, “What is this?”

“What do you want it to be, hm?” he asks the question, quick to grip your jaw and keep you looking at him. Waiting. His breath hung in his throat because it’s dramatic, yes, but somehow it just feels like everything is riding on this one answer. It’s not that serious and he knows it, yet somehow, he’s worked up, worried, so fucking anxious because he wants to believe there’s something between you but he’s not brave enough to hope.

“Well, I uh..” you’re squirming a little. Emotional shit has always been Emma’s forte. Chrissy’s, even. Not yours. Blame it on being raised by a single father who taught you more about how to take care of yourself and pick locks or play pool and darts, the man who taught you how to drive a stick shift like you stole it instead of teaching you how to handle certain delicate situations. The man nearly lost his shit entirely when you started going through PMS at 12. So you know how to do a lot of things… Handling emotionally charged conversations is not one of them.

But you’re not stupid. You know that not knowing has been driving you crazy and the sooner this is out there and it’s been said, the better off you are. This way if this is just an end of summer fling, at least you know, right?

“C’mon, little chaos demon.” he coaxes patiently. Though the longer you take to say anything, the more he’s doubting, the more time he has to convince himself that maybe this is just a fling. You take a deep breath. “I wanna be your girl, okay?” and the fact that you’re grumbling and annoyed with yourself because it took so much to say something so simple has him chuckling quietly because this is what leads him to realize that you really are kind of skittish talking about things like this sometimes. It makes sense.

But more than anything, he’s soaring, he’s on cloud nine, no, he’s on the moon right now and your answer means more to him than you realize. When he melts into you and his hands are all over you as he gives you a kiss so gentle and deep that you’re weak in the knees by the time it’s over and clinging to him because you were almost out of oxygen, “You are, okay? All mine.” he mumbles as he pulls away after nipping at your bottom lip. 

You’re giving him that grin again. Then you’re grabbing his hand, dragging him towards the kitchen. “Susan uh.. She taught me how to make somethin else. You’re hungry, right?” you’re rambling and it’s the cutest damn thing. He chuckles, hugging against you from behind as you explain how fucking complicated it was at first to process how Susan made the shepherds pie she taught you how to make and he laughs when you tell him about his sisters just eating the mashed potatoes with their little hands. He nuzzles his nose into your neck and his lips graze your skin, your words trail off because he’s good at flustering you and you can feel him smirk against your skin because he knows he’s good at flustering you.

Finally, he reaches up over you to grab two plates and he nods to the chair at the table. “Go sit down, babe. I got it, ‘kay?”

“ ‘Kay.” you slink over to the chair and sit down in it and you’re laughing, smiling as he’s telling you about Eddie going on a ten minute tangent about the band in Riverton they’re going up against at Battle of the Bands.

“They play hair metal, so naturally, Eddie hates ‘em.” Gareth takes a bite, laughing. “And you know how he is about winning and losing. They’ve beaten us at Battle for two years? Maybe three. Anyway, yeah. He’s been exploding all week about it since we signed up to do it when the fair comes around again.”

“Oooh..” you laugh, taking a bite when he sits the plate he’s made for you down in front of you. “So the coach sent this stupid pledge we all have to sign in the mail today. I’m not signing the damn thing yet. I mean I probably will eventually, I just think it’s fucking stupid, y’know?” you’re ranting, rolling your eyes. “And of course, nearly everybody else has signed the damn thing.”

“What’s it say?” Gareth asks.

You dig around in your jeans pocket, taking it out to hand it across the table to him. When he starts to mock the basketball coach, you nearly double over laughing, your laughter getting worse the more he reads the pledge in that tone. He finishes reading and he sits it down. “It’s bullshit, y’know that right, baby? What’s Emma gonna do?”

“She doesn’t know either. She showed Gretchen, her mom and Gretchen pitched a fit and told her it was bullshit and if she signs it then everything she’s taught her as a kid means nothin. My dad told me do whatever? I’m gonna hold off.” you take a bite.

“What are they gonna do if you don’t sign it anyway?”

You shrug at his question. “Don’t know, don’t really care either. I’m literally a breath away from quitting, you know that. I told you that when we were up at the tower.”

“Yeah.” Gareth nods. “If you hate it, just quit.”

You nod. “I’m only hanging on right now for Em and Chris. I promised them I would when we made it together in 9th grade?”

“Yeah well.. You know it’s not gonna matter to me, right? I just want you to do whatever makes you happier.” he’s grabbed your hand over the table and you smile, nodding. “I know.” you lean across to brush your lips against his cheek. “You’re a sweetheart.”

He’s blushing just a little but he shrugs. “You’re my girl, I’m gonna take your side. Unless you’re about to do something stupid, then I’m gonna tell you.”

“Ha ha.” you flip him off, sticking out your tongue.

#gareth emerson #gareth the great #gareth emerson imagine #gareth emerson fanfiction #gareth emerson x reader #gareth emerson x fem!reader

[intoafandom]

Why I Loathe Liz Allen

*no hate towards the actress!!! I just hate the character*

Ok I just want to start off by saying fuck this bitch ugh i hate her so much (and its not just because i might be slightly jealous that hoco peter had a crush on her lol....😐) Honestly she makes my fucking blood BOIL.

Ok lets start.

1) Liz was never actually planning on inviting Peter to her party.

Right from the jump we’re gunna talk about THIS scene. Now it’s obvious that no one believes Peter knows Spider-Man and Flash is clearly throwing jabs at him in this scene. And he goes “you should invite [spider man] to liz’s party tonight.” And Peter goes “you’re having a party?” Peter clearly didn’t know about it. Which means Liz never actually PLANNED on inviting him. She only did it because flash mentioned it right beforehand. And then she follows it up with that bitchy ass attitude “Peter’s waaaay to busy for party’s anyway so” Liz actually fuck off.

2) Continuing from point one, Liz enables bullying.

After Peter shows up at the party and “disappears” soon after, Flash does this:

He gets the whole party to start bullying Peter. And remember, this is LIZ’S PARTY. At LIZ’S HOUSE. And she freaking does nothing to stop this. She just lets her entire party bully a kid who obviously has a crush on her (she literally tells him she knows later in the damn movie) (Also that scene when her dad is driving them to homecoming and she goes “you were at my party but you disappeared like you always do” I wanted to punt her outta the car, and if i was peter i would’ve been like “yeah bitch i left your party because you let everyone bully me the fuck?”

3) She led him on

First of all, she only said yes to going to hoco with him because she had no one else to go with. She literally says that she was so busy planning it that she never got around to asking anyone to go with her. Peter is literally the only guy left and pretty, popular, perfect liz allen would never actually stoop as low as peter parker if she had the chance to go with someone else. She clearly doesn’t like or care about him at all (see points 1 and 2 again). And look

When her dad says he’s going to give peter “the dad talk,” she’s like okay bye and she gets out of the car and says hi to her friends (pic 1 ). But then bitch doesn’t even wait for Peter, she just goes inside and immediately starts dancing with her friends (pic 2). That conversation between peter and her dad took literally like one minute and she easily could’ve waited for him. Just another piece of evidence that shows she doesn’t actually like him. Because seriously, no one actually enters a party without their date unless you don’t actually wanna be there with them. Also, not to mention all those ✨looks✨ she gives him throughout the movie. Like seriously, she’s a senior and he’s a cute little sophomore with a cute little crush. He’s 15 and she’s 17/18. Ik the age difference isn’t very drastic but in high school it certainly is. Plus there’s the whole hierarchy between classes. Most seniors would never actually date a sophomore. Point is, Liz knew Peter had a massive crush on her and she totally led him on and was clearly never actually interested in him.

4) She’s constantly giving him attitude.

Literally throughout the whole movie she’s just rude for no reason. Take this scene for instance:

Peter LITERALLY just got a question right and his phone rings. He asks if he can take the phone call and bitch look at the face she gives him. “Yeah, fine.” Bitch that was the most passive aggressive “yes” ive ever heard in my life. Enough with the attitude he literally asked first (and he didn’t even have to). There’s so many moments like this and they’re super easy to notice when you know what to look for.

5) Just like point 1, she also wasn’t planning on inviting peter (or ned) to the team’s “night time swim.”

Yall, just look.

The ENTIRE team is already in their swimsuits AND they have towels. Plus, liz literally says they all already raided the minibar or whatever to get candy and stuff. They were literally all ready to go to the pool except peter and ned. The only reason Peter even knew about it was because he left his hotel room at the exact same time liz was passing his door.

Literally even mj is there on the side reading her book. Everyone was already ready to go to the pool except peter and ned. And ned STILL isn’t there cuz liz never actually told him either. Like I said, the only reason peter knew in the first place was because he left his room at the same time.

6) THIS SHIT

“He’s a liar” BITCH ARE YOU ACTUALLY SERIOUS. YOURE GUNNA SAY THAT SHIT JUST TO GET YOUR FIVE SECONDS OF FAME. SCREW YOU BITCH!! Like omfffffg. Like I get you’re probably still upset that he got your dad put in prison, but he was literally a criminal so idk what to tell you. Plus, PETER LITERALLY SAVED YOUR LIFE AND YOUR DAD’S!! So piss off with that “he’s a liar” bullshit. You KNOW he just wanted to keep people safe. I’ll never get over this shit lol he should’ve let her drop in that elevator shaft like my girl gwen stacy

Anyways FUCK liz allen dumbass bitch

*again no hate to the actress!*

Feel free to add on cuz I would loveeee to hate her even more.

#peter parker #spider man #spider man homecoming #tom holland #liz allen #spider man no way home #laura harrier #michelle jones #ned leeds #jacob batalon #zendaya #flash thompson #anti liz allen

[thinkfeelwrite]

FEEDBACK (was the original title for a writing course I once did. Am reposting because I need to start somewhere but Im cringing but would also sort of appreciate feedback)

Feedback is judgement. Feedback is fear. Feedback is Failure. Feedback is shame. Feedback is the paralysis of all hope. It is the execution of excitement about my stupid doomed dreams. Feedback is the death of me.

Examples of excruciating feedback experiences and endurances that prove my point

Having to do a personality assessment test whilst at college. Answered it honestly, although I had no idea who I was back then…so did I really answer it honestly?. The feedback said that I was either a psychopath or a genius. 

Remembering all the OCD type actions I had to do before lesson observations by senior members of staff whilst I was a teacher. Praying the same prayer over and over in the car until I got to the school. “Please don’t make me fail, please don’t make me fail, please don’t make me fail. Amen’ The exhausting and tortuous repetition of actions that if not done would completely mean crushingly negative feedback. No wonder I was so exhausted post assessment as the adrenalin wore off. 

Feedback from the kids I taught. Their feedback can be the worst. You’re not really a proper person to them if they don’t like you, which in their minds translates to ‘I can destroy you with my actions and my words’.  I don’t hold any ill feeling towards those that did destroy me though. It was all my fault. I can still envisage my voice dissipating into the air as I tried to teach some of them. Like making the motion of speech but with no sound. It was when I realised I was becoming partly invisible

Ofsted inspections for someone like me with serious confidence issues. Utterly terrifying

Deciding to leave teaching ten years ago and witnessing the changing feedback from people as the years have worn on. Initial understanding and sympathy breaking down into seeing you as a life loser as you struggle to find something else to do.

Presentations. Having to do a presentation after ‘Brain Boy’ had done his. Brain boy was the cleverest person on my university course.I wonder what he is doing now? Anyhow he did this amazing, astute, confident presentation… and then it was my turn. Even my best friend who was sat next to me said it was actually painful to endure. I was so shy and nervy, I couldn’t breathe and so couldn’t talk. Looking back I can see that I had a sort of panic attack. Someone should have taken me aside. The feedback was…

A few years later I had to do another presentation. God help me I filled my water bottle with gin and drank it whilst waiting to do my presentation. I honestly can’t say how it went. There was a lot of laughter, that’s all I remember but I also recollect that  the tutor was called out just as I started mine. That had to be divine intervention. Im not sure if anyone could see that I was drinking. How drunk was I? This was probably my worst experience. You’ll never meet me so i can tell you about it. Not many people know about it. I’m too ashamed. Someone should have taken me aside

Being told by your successful Asian father that you are a disappointment as you didn’t become a doctor like him but also being told its ok because you have children and they’re a lot of work.

Trying to become an artist and doing quite well and loving it, although NOT making any money. Feedback from Father: Being asked by your father if you are making any money from doing your art. Giving up on the art.

Trying to learn about Ayurveda at a high level, thinking about practising it. Bemusement from father at ‘you and your ayurveda’. Can feel myself withdrawing from my interest in ayurveda.

My own running commentary feedback on my life. My daily feedback: Middle aged. Getting older. Weak minded. Confused. Really confused. Lost opportunities. Missed opportunities. Unable to focus. Unable to work out what i want to do. Not being able to do what I want to do. Heavy thoughts weighing down my whole body like an anchor at the bottom of the ocean. Full of regrets. Living a fantasy life. Escaping to my fantasy life. Stereotypical middle aged person who will soon be old and covered in dust in the corner of the room and in the corner of people lives. Crying. Staring. Loser. Bored with my own negativity. Wondering if my negativity is a safety blanket keeping me still, unheard, unseen. Wearing more makeup to cover up Wondering if there is a magical solution to life misery

I need a cup of tea now. This is awful. I hope you don’t feel awful. Bet you want to walk away and make tea too now. Sorry

#awkward #painful #reflection #light #path #self growth #self portrait #note to self #personal #midlifewomen #cringe #idk anymore #idfk #this is pure indulgence #self indulgent #shameless self indulgence #pure self indulgence #write to me #memory #memories #reality #meaning #existence #history #regret #struggle #thought #emotional #just starting #just reflecting

[hyenahunt]

Bankara Graffiti: We Who Never Learn - 1

Writer: Akira

Season: Winter

Characters: Hiyori, Jun, Tatsumi

Proofreading: Remy (JP) & honeyspades (ENG)

Translation: hyenahunt

Hiyori: Whenever he's around you, Tatsumi-kun, our Jun-kun just turns into a fanboy... How troubling.

Time: In the first year of ES's founding, towards the end of February.

Location: In a Reimei Academy classroom.

Hiyori: Hey there! So you must be the transfer student we've heard so much about ☆

Jun: ......

...Um, actually, I'm not.

Hiyori: Aaand cut! What a terrible shame it is that our broadcast of Bankara Academy[1] must come to an end today!

I've always thought you weren't the most entertaining boy, but who'd have thought it'd be to this extent? Oh, how you disappoint me so, Jun-kun!

Jun: All I did was state a fact, so why d'ya gotta rip into me this much, huh~?

Tatsumi: Now, now, please settle down, you two. First, soothe your soul with a prayer to our Father in Heaven, and then take a moment to hear each other out.

Hiyori: It feels like this process has one step too many, but you're absolutely right, Tatsumi-kun! Jun-kun, you ought to reflect on your actions!

Jun: Yeah, yeah, I'm the only one at fault here just as always, aren't I~?

Terribly sorry and all that, alright~?

Hiyori: Jun-kun! You're acting for all the world like a dog started barking at you on your way to school, and now you're simply shooing it away!

Cease this nonsense at once! Face me with the sincerity I deserve!

Jun: Gonna be real with ya, that’d be a total pain. ...It feels like we've been doing this for ages — should we really be wasting so much time like this?

Tatsumi: No, I don't suppose we should. However, I'm new to performing on these — what do you call them — reality shows.

Truth be told, I can't quite make heads or tails out of anything that’s been going on.

Jun: Reliable as always, Tatsumi-senpai! It's your first time doing this, and yet you're so calm and collected ~ ☆

Hiyori: Tatsumi-kun! Don't let that get to your head, alright!

Tatsumi: Understood ♪ Of course, I intend to keep my place as a newcomer to ES in mind.

That's precisely why I hope to learn from the two of you, who are my seniors in the way of being an idol.

They called me in for this task despite how clueless I am, so for real, what exactly should I do?

Jun: "For real!" Tatsumi-senpai, you actually used some slang! That sure doesn't happen often! If only I caught that on video!

Hiyori: Whenever he's around you, Tatsumi-kun, our Jun-kun just turns into a fanboy... How troubling.

Tatsumi: Well, colour me embarrassed. There's nothing wrong with your affections, but we're essentially in the middle of filming, so perhaps it would be for the best if we refrained from any unconventional behavior.

Jun: Gotcha! I'll do exactly as you say, Tatsumi-senpai!

Hiyori: And there he goes, wagging his tail again... Such disloyalty. Well, putting that aside —

As you're new to all this, Tatsumi-kun, I'll give you a little explanation about our current situation.

You see, this Bankara Academy is an online livestream show meant to depict us enjoying our high school lives.

Tatsumi: An online show? It seems unusual that it won't be airing on television.

I did hear that this Bankara Academy is once again a part of COMP[2], and CosPro is overseeing it, aren't they?

/I was under the impression that CosPro prefers to air TV programs in the more traditional manner, though, rather than online shows with their limited viewerships,

Jun: Bankara Academy is pretty niche, y'see~ It's got a surprisingly long history, but I heard they cut the program since viewership got pretty low.

Even if they made use of us starring in it to promote it, they'd have to bear the risk of it failing if they showed it on TV~

So they're testing it out as a low-budget online show for starters, or something along those lines, I think?

Tatsumi: I see now. Er, is it really alright to talk about such questionable topics? We're live on air right now, aren't we?

Hiyori: Well, it's supposed to give the impression of being a live broadcast, anyway. It'd be dozens of hours long if they truly streamed the whole thing, you see, so they edit it down to some extent.

What's most important is for us to just act naturally, without putting on any airs. After all, what the viewers want to see is our true selves that they don't usually get to witness.

Tatsumi: Is that so? In that case, I'll do my best.

However, I'm in a delicate position as I'm a part of StarPro, as opposed to CosPro.

And Hiyori-san, is it really alright to treat you as a high school student for this project? You've already graduated, after all.

Wouldn't that be misrepresenting you — or rather, misrepresenting your "true self"?

Hiyori: Oh, it's fiiine. In the end it's just supposed to give the impression of high school, so there's no problem even if I'm not a real high school student.

Tatsumi:There is certainly a lot of talk of impressions.

Jun: Well, it's essentially a pretty sketchy show to begin with.

Hiyori: That may be so, but it is formal work so we must see it through to the best of our abilities. Now, everyone, let's give it our all and show them a most delightful semblance of youth ♪

Jun: Haha. A high school student enjoying a "delightful semblance of youth", huh... I'd have an easier time acting as an alien from a distant planet, honestly.

Bankara (蛮カラ: ban - barbarian + kara - collar) is a term and style that came about during the Meiji era. It was meant to be the antithesis to the haikara trend, or "high-collar", a nickname for initially those who were increasingly influenced by Western culture and ideals, and eventually anything that was foreign and fancy. Haikara was named for the high-collared Western fashion that such individuals tended to wear. In contrast, the spirit of bankara was to be individualistic, true to one's self as well as the old Japanese values, and was characterised by an air of roughness and unrefinedness that rejected this new wave of foreign fanciness. Typical bankara fashion favoured traditional Japanese garments and accessories, such as the gakuran and geta (Japanese male student jacket + sandal/boots), hence the outfit theme of the card set. Here's another good source for more info.

COMP is the project that the present day events of Obbligato were a part of, intended to promote the image and popularity of schools affiliated with CosPro. You can read more about about it in the prologue of Obbligato here.

✦✦✦✦✦

✦ all ✦ next →

#jun sazanami #hiyori tomoe #tatsumi kazehaya #ensemble stars #enstars #enstars translation #s: bankara graffiti #type: scout #era: !! #hyenahunttl

[charfletchh]

CALLING TOO MUCH, YOU'RE BREAKING MY PHONE. MAD WHEN YOU DO AND SAD WHEN YOU DON'T.

{ VALENTINA ZENERE, 22, CIS FEMALE, SHE/HER } Is that CHARLOTTE FLETCHER? A SENIOR originally from BOSTON, MASS. they decided to come to Ogden College to study COMPUTER SCIENCE. They’re THE FEMME FATALE on campus, but even they could get blamed for Greer’s disappearance. 

pinterest/spotify

BASICS:

full name: charlotte "charlie" elizabeth fletcher

age: 23

date of birth: oct. 28, 1999

zodiac sign: scorpio

hometown: boston, mass

gender: cis female

sexuality: pansexual

RELATIONSHIPS:

father: charles fletcher- disconnected, strict, but present. a lawyer of some kind, she doesn't really care what he does.

mother: mary brandt, formerly fletcher, formerly morales. charlie doesn't know where she is and she really doesn't care.

siblings: two younger brothersPERSONALITY:

positive qualities: generous, charismatic, supportive, nonjudgemental

negative qualities: apathetic, entitled, condescending

skills: just skating by in school, bringing the party, getting what she wants

character parallels: samantha jones (satc), serena van der woodsen (gossip girl), jackie burkhart (that 70's show), michelle richardson (skins), hailey dunphey (modern family), edie britt (desperate housewives)

relationship to greer: many thought that charlie was jealous of greer, and that was probably true in the way all women were jealous of a woman like greer. but that wasn’t it, really- charlie would have never traded her own life for greer’s golden cage. she loved her friend. but something about her dug under charlie’s skin. it could have been the glass-like skin, the goody two-shoes act, the way people looked at charlie’s chest when she talked and greer’s eyes when she did. whatever it was, she often found herself in a bad mood when they were together and would pick apart the smallest things she did. they were famous for their fights, frequently heard screaming at each other through the walls over a boy who had followed them both on instagram or a backhanded comment made two days prior about someone’s shoes. no one incensed her like greer did; the only thing more fun than fighting with her was making up with her.

school activities: volleyball (because her father made her join a sport in high school and she likes the shorts- she plays outside), kappa kappa gamma (for clout and because she looks fantastic in letters), and the robotics society (because she should probably get a job someday and she was told winning a robotics competition looked good to FAANG).

WANTED CONNECTIONS

the rolodex: her reputation is well-earned, and she wouldn't want to fail to live up to it. she's messed around with half of campus. open to any kind of FWB/one night stand/potential relationship connections!!

the chase: i think it would be funny if there was one person she was really into and they wanted nothing to do with her. or maybe the other way around!

the heartbroken: while many of her trysts end with a mutually agreed upon separation (or a separation she makes you think was your idea), inevitably, things get ugly. you have to break a few eggs to make an omelette.

charlie's angels: in greer's absense, charlie is taking advantage of the power gap to cultivate her own following. she's hand-selected a few dear friends to join her inner circle.

study buddies: "why doesn't anyone think i'm smart?" she says as she googles "do i need to pay taxes". she is good at what she does though and enjoys programming. would love to have a few other STEM connections so she can elle woods in Intro to Machine Learning.

mom friend: charlie is a wreck herself so when someone's coming to her for advice, shit must be really bad. she's always good for a cigarette and some good, if not always easy to hear, advice.

yuck!: charlie doesn't have a problem catching feelings, she just can't sustain them. so why hasn't she gotten the ick yet from someone she'd thought was just a one night stand?

i am literally down for anything though so if you have any wcs my girliepop can fill let me know!! she's unhinged i would love some unhinged plots

OTHER HCS:

i think the funniest thing in the world would be someone calling her chuck like i can't get it out of my head. if our muses r close pls call her chuck.

she's a big reader but mainly of books with insane female main characters. huge fan of Boy Parts, A Certain Hunger, My Year of Rest and Relaxation, ect.

she is not a "clean girl". she is a feral girl. she always has last night's mascara under her eyes and never makes her bed. she pays to have her laundry sent out not really because she's lazy but because she lets it pile up for like 3 weeks at a time and then has no underwear.

she was some kind of senior mentor/orientation leader/tour guide and she absolutely terrified the freshmen. i think she likes to mentor.

yes, she pulls because she's confident and confidence is sexy, but she also pulls because she's a little goofy.

her favorite moment in history is stevie nicks making lindsay buckingham sing backup on silver springs. she can only dream to have that much power over a man one day.

she's one of those girls who always thinks she should start a podcast.

she's anti-weed but pro-coke

big charli xcx girl

#ok im not a graphics girlie so no one look too close!! #♦‘ﾟ‣ {.musings } — ❝ rollercoaster ride in the fast lane ❞

[thessalian]

Thess vs School Guidance

New Tory guidance incoming: schools will be forced to out trans kids to their parents. Apparently there’s an expectation of an exception if doing so would put the child in danger, but I’m not so sure. I mean, even if there were, how the fuck would the school know if they didn’t talk to the kid first? Apparently they’re not even really going to ask the kids what’s going on - they’ll be going by ‘flags’ such as ‘a boy wearing a skirt’ or a kid using a different name. Which makes me wonder what the hell’s going to happen to girls with names like, say, Alexandra or Christine who go by Alex or Chris, or who prefer to wear trousers. But since trans girls will be banned from girls’ competitive sports, I have a feeling that a lot of this is just targeting trans girls in general. Particularly since, apparently, “rules will be relaxed for non-contact sports”.

Then again, given that today’s dead cat is Sunak talking about changing the maths curriculum in schools so that everyone up to age 18 will be forced to take maths courses because “everyone needs to know basic maths”... Oh. I should explain. In this country, the school system is set up a little different than in North America. The sort of curriculum you find in a US school, with required courses in history, English, maths, science, etc? That only goes to the end of what would be a US student’s sophomore year in high school, and is technically the end of required education for a UK student. See, UK universities do a three-year degree course; they don’t spend a whole year sticking freshmen students in general education courses. So what would be a US student’s junior and senior high school years are “lower and upper sixth form” here, and you do exams they call A-levels at the end of those two years. The two year prep courses for those are really intensive, so you only do three, maybe four (though there are some overachievers who do five or so), and they’re a lot more specific to the kind of thing you want to go to university to study for. So if you’re going in for computing or economics or STEM, sure, you’re probably going to do a maths A-level. But if you’re going for English or history or media studies or the arts, you’re probably going to skip the maths in favour of something that’ll prepare you better for your upcoming degree course - English, history, theatre studies, art history, stuff like that. And A-level maths courses are hard, okay? They’re in no way to be considered ‘basic maths’. I took one year of just half an A-level maths course (you can do that; they’re called AS levels) and I had to drop the course because we were getting into calculus and my teacher was ... just ... really bad. She barely explained things, and when I didn’t understand her explanations, she just said, “I’ve told you what you need to do; work it out”. And that was in an independent (private) school with a relatively small class. I can’t imagine how that’d go in a state (public) school environment where everyone in their year is forced into the course. Plus we apparently don’t have enough maths teachers for this as is, so they’ll apparently double the size of maths classes and drive teachers into early graves through stress. No wonder the poor bastards are striking.

So, yeah, the maths requirement thing shows Sunak being completely out of touch with how the school system in his own country works. Thus, it’s probably another dead cat, which is the term for “Look at this so you don’t see the fuckery I really want to slip past you!” I’m not sure if the trans school guidance bullshit is another dead cat or something they want to slip past us (though I’m kind of guessing the latter, because the news about it came out on a Sunday, which is not a day to put out any significant news), but I do know what Sunak doesn’t want us talking about - the fact that he didn’t declare an interest in a childcare agency (technically his wife’s shares in said agency, but still connected to him, and a lot of what he did as Chancellor directly benefited his wife’s financial interests, so...) before setting out a childcare policy that would directly benefit childcare agencies, including the one his wife has interest in. So I’m guessing if the guidance requiring schools to out trans kids to their parents was meant to be a dead cat, he’d be waving that one around instead of the maths thing.

Stupid part? Apparently a whole bunch of people believe that it’s good that the PM is so wealthy and with so many commercial interests. Because they think it means he’s “doing the job for the right reasons because he doesn’t need the money”. I just ... cannot, with that. People that wealthy will never be satisfied, whereas I’d just be happy with enough money to move out of this horrible country and not have to push my disabled ass to its limits in a job just to be able to eat properly and keep the utilities going.

Oh, and of course, Labour is basically singing off the same hymn sheet as the Tories in terms of the “schools outing trans kids” thing. They’ve about stopped short at Sunak literally saying, “100% of women do not have penises”, but his response to schools outing trans kids to their parents seems to have been, “Of course I’d want to know. I say that as a parent”. Stops short at saying what he’d do about it, mind you.

This country is a horror show, and I hate being stuck in it. And of course, King Jug-Ears’ fucking coronation is coming up in about three weeks so I know what I’m doing that particular weekend - hiding. London as a city is great on the whole, but the thing that sucks about it is that it’s where all the Big Deal Shit happens. The funeral, the coronation, the Olympics awhile back... Thankfully it’s mostly over in Central London and I don’t have to look at it, but I always feel this overwhelming urge to vandalise the “Prepare For The Coronation!!!” shelves at various supermarkets. Yes, there are whole shelves dedicated to the ingredients for very British treats for people to make and eat while watching the coronation at home. I mean, I don’t, because I don’t reckon the people who stocked the shelves and would have to fix the damage are at fault for any of this, but ... incandescent rage. People are still struggling to feed themselves and we’re supposed to get excited about some seventy-something dude getting a hat full of shiny rocks stolen from other countries stuck on his head? Excited enough to spend money, time, and energy we don’t have on making a trifle to eat while watching said ritualistic bit of bullshit?

But of course, an awful lot of people will.

Fuck. This. Country.

#Thess vs the Tories #Thess on politics #Thess vs the monarchy

[dizzymuses]

🌦   «  han so hee.  cis woman.  she/her.  30.  »  was  that  NARI  SHIN  walking  through  the  doors  of  amorelux  ?  i  heard  they  just  moved  in  to  apartment  502  from  OTTAWA  and  work  as  a/an  tattoo artist.  they  seem  daring  &  adaptable but  don’t  get  on  their  bad  side  !  they  can  be  evasive &  callous  which  makes  sense  since  they’re  a  SAGITTARIUS.  you  know  they’re  home  when  you  see  a  flash  of  nimble fingers detangling unbrushed hair, books carelessly scattered but never in a bookshelf, a permanently ignored notification for unread messages, memories hung up in frames. 

hello, my loves !!  i’m daisy, she/her, 25 and from the CET timezones which is sort of sucky most of the time when it comes to rp rip. i just started a full time intership so i’m a little bit busy these days but i should be around in the evenings and weekends for the most part. anyway, finally i can introduce u to my daughter nari, who is a brand new baby and still very much a work in progress but i hope you’ll love her nonetheless !  i would be delighted to plot w y’alls undoubtedly v sexc muses so if you’d like to do this pls react to this w a like ! 

basics.

name: shin nari. 

nicknames:  idk u could make smth up ig.

gender:  cis woman

pronouns:  she/her.

age:  30.

date of birth: december 17th 1991.

place of birth: busan, sk.

hometown: ottawa, canada.

nationality:  canadian

ethnicity: korean.

education:  high school degree.

occupation: tattoo artist, studio owner.

orientation:  bisexual, biromantic.

about. (tw: depression mention)

nari was born the second of what should end up being three shin siblings, in busan. they were what you might call the perfect family, her dad being a pediatric surgeon and her mom a nurse working at the same hospital as he did. they were also a very traditional family, so while nari’s mother would often take care of them and things around the house, her father would usually come home late. he would walk up to her mother’s seat on the table, put his arms around her and kiss her on the cheek before sitting down and asking everybody about their days. in nari’s memory he’d always looked like he was carrying the world on his shoulders, endlessly tired but also truly heroic. her mother would always tell them that dad couldn’t be around much because he was saving other children’s lives and how he was making sure other mom’s wouldn’t have to miss their babies. so truly, how could nari view him as anything but that: a perfect hero. 

she often asked him for stories of his work, listening with wide eyes as he’d speak on the different children and their issues. he was good at explaining things, even as a six year old she could understand just about everything. most of all she understood one thing, it’s important to help others, especially those weaker than yourself. and just like that, she became obsessed with taking care of others. while her older sister was technically two years her senior, it would still be nari kicking the boy who had pulled one of her braids hard enough to make her cry. she’d also take care of her little brother, trying to help him with his homework and reading stories to him every night. in many ways she tried her best to be a hero to others, just how she knew her father was. 

of course things would have to take a turn for the worse at some point though and for nari that turn came when she was twelve. after scoring a perfect a on one of her maths tests, she was so proud, she wanted to show her father straight away and so she left the bus at the clinic, knowing her father was currently working. however, wandering around the department, she couldn’t find him anywhere and the nurses didn’t know where he went either. disappointed, she was just about to leave, when she saw her father through the creak of an almost fully closed door. walking closer, she took a careful look inside, unsure about the noises escaping the room. when she saw the half-dressed woman with her arms around her dad’s broad shoulders, they suddenly looked a whole lot less like the dependable shoulders of a hero. stepping back, she almost couldn’t believe what she had seen. 

not knowing what to do, certain she’d destroy her entire family’s lives if she spoke about this big secret, nari didn’t say anything. she didn’t say anything for another three months, though her mother was wondering why nari suddenly didn’t seem as eager to spend time with her father anymore. but who would want to spend time with someone like him, why had she ever wanted to be like that man. it took those three months until her mother found out herself. a scenario that looking back had always been likely, considering they worked at the same hospita. nari’s mother found out and nari found out when only days later her mother told her and her siblings that they were going to spend some time at their grandparent’s without dad. her grandparents that had moved to canada a long time ago, therefore being little more than strangers to her and her siblings. there were tears in her mother’s eyes, she clearly didn’t want to tell her children about their father’s ill behavior but nari knew and she knew her mom knew now as well. 

things were not the same afterwards, not only was their entire family uprooted and relocated into another country, their family wasn’t the same either. their move to canada meant her mother started working in her grandparent’s little korean restaurant, which soon became somewhat of a homebase to nari herself, who would spend most of her afternoon’s there doing homework and drawing endless little doodles into her notes. maybe it was a silent show of support, considering the fact that due to her mother’s relucatance to tell the children, her siblings still didn’t know why they had moved without their dad. with every month that passed, every indicator that their stay was going to be a permanent one, her siblings grew more and more upset with their mother. while nari didn’t understand why her mother would choose to protect her father like this, she kept her mouth shut. she figured her grandparents would have to know about this, figured three adults should be able to make a sensible decision about this. 

however, as the years passed, nothing about this solution seemed to work out well. they were struggling. the restaurant clearly wasn’t able to really support the lives of six people but her mother had fallen into depression, making it hard for her to take on any other job. they were making ends meet but very barely and neither nari nor her siblings were used to it. tensions were building at an almost daily level, with her siblings, especially her older sister, raining down their frustrations onto her mother while nari would fight her tooth and nails to defend her. her mother might not be perfect, these days it often felt like she wasn’t even really truly there, but the fault for all their misery clearly was her father’s and his alone. one day, the fighting got so bad she just yelled it out. yelled out that their father was a rotten bastard who had cheated on their mother. silence followed her words and only as she looked up she saw her mother had walked into the kitchen, looking at nari in disbelieve. apparently she still hadn’t put it together. hadn’t known nari was aware of what had happened all along. 

following all this, none of them ever got as close again as they had been before. her elder sister resented nari and her mother for not telling them earlier, her mother was a ghost of who she had once been and nari? she distanced herself a lot from her family, realizing the weight this entire situation had put on her ever since she had seen the awful scene. the only one she was still genuinely close to was her younger brother, whom she shared her anger about her father with. now in the second half of her teens, she mostly spent her time with friends from school, hanging around in skater parks or breaking into public pools at night. quickly she realized she liked those things that made her heart beat faster and her mind forget about just about anything else. on the other hand, she spent even more of her time drawing, having long since realized it was the only thing she truly wanted to do. she was doing pretty good at school and maybe, just maybe if her life had been different she could have gone on to become an art student.

instead, fresh out of college she started as an apprentice at a tattoo parlor. this plan had arisen after, in a drunken bout of horrible ideas, nari had once tattooed a couple of her friends and it had come out halfway decent considering her drunken state and the bad equipment. she had liked this, leaving her art on somebody else’s body. one of her friends also had a cousin, who had a friend, who was a tattoo artist and so she started her apprenticeship at the parlor that friend worked at. not too long after she got her license, finally getting to fully move out and get her own apartment. while she felt a bit bad about leaving her struggling mother behind, she knew in the end there was nothing more she could do for her. if her mom was to become better, she’d have to want that herself. not long after she moved out, her younger brother basically moved into her place. it was about the time that he graduated high school, which nari heavily supported him in. she knew he had an interest in studying and so she pushed him to try his best and even ended up paying most of his tuition out of her pocket. 

meanwhile, over the years, nari became better and better at what she was doing at her job. she had a decent following on social media as well, admiring her work and soon people would travel across the country to get tattooed by her. alongside that came more artistic freedom, as she started denying certain design requests and instead introducing more of her own ideas to clients. at 28 she had saved enough money to open up her first own parlor, which was a hit right from the start, considering the reputation she had build for herself. by now, she was a household name in the scene, known mostly for her creative designs and shading abilities. now she only tattooed her own designs onto other people’s bodies, taking rough suggestions but mostly demanding her artistic freedom. as an artist, this felt like her final step towards freedom after years and years of tattooing butterflies and inspirational quotes. she could finally do her own thing, finally truly be an artist in her own right. only just now, nari moved to seattle to open her second parlor, this time in the us. she doesn’t quite know why she went here to take care of this herself, but on the other hand she had never been one to turn down an adventure. 

tl;dr (bc lord knows this turned out way too long) 

nari was born in south korea, she is the middle child of three. her family seemed all perfect and what not until nari caught her dad cheating, followed by her mother finding out as well not too soon after. not wanting to tell her children but determined to leave her husband behind, nari’s mother moved them to their grandparents in canada. after that her mom became somewhat depressed and they were struggling financially as well. her sibling were very mad at their mom, while nari tried to be by her side. one day she tells the others and they all further distance themselves from one another, aside from nari and her little brother. after school nari took on an apprenticeship as a tattoo artist (bc she once drunkenly tattoed her friends and it wasn’t half bad) and now she is a worldwide known name in the field. she is opening her second parlor in seattle now, which is why she moved here. 

this got way too long and now i just wanna go sleep but like i’ll try to proof read etc as well as write some wc and whatnot tomorrow or so. ill also put out a plotting call then but u can react to this as well. mwuah !! <3  i hope it is a halfway decent read hskjdf

[coymessner]

               𝙸𝙽𝚃𝚁𝙾𝙳𝚄𝙲𝙸𝙽𝙶 *  ⸻  𝐜𝐨𝐲  𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐧𝐞𝐫.

✿ * · ( rudy pankow  ,  male  ,  he/him   )   a  little  birdy  told  me  COY  MESSNER  just  moved  to  sunset  hills  .  have  you  met  them  yet  ? they  look  somewhere  around  TWENTY - TWO ,   if  i  had  to  guess  !  pretty  sure  i  heard  them  driving  down  the  street  playing  SHAKE ME DOWN  by  CAGE THE ELEPHANT  ,  they  sounded  a  little  pitchy  but  they  had  the  spirit  !  must  be  their  favorite  or  something  .  hey  …  it  looks  like  they  just  moved  into  SUNSET VILLAGE  .  have  you  heard  about  what  they  do  for  a  living  ?  someone  told  me  they’re  a  PROFESSIONAL SURFER  /  SURF SHOP OWNER  ,  but  who  knows  if  that’s  even  true  .  guess  we’re  just  gonna  have  to  wait  and  see  .  nervous  ? maybe  you  should  be  .  sunset  speaks  just  posted  about  them  …  apparently  they're  RESIDENT  ID  #001  ?  between  you  and  me  ,  i  think  that  might  spark  some  things  in  the  community  …  but  what  do  i  know  !  you  guys  might  get  along  just  fine  !

���𝚄𝙻𝙻  𝙽𝙰𝙼𝙴   coy  uriah  messner

𝙽𝙸𝙲𝙺𝙽𝙰𝙼𝙴(𝚂)   coy or cummies  (  if you want him to hate you  )

𝙰𝙶𝙴   twenty - two

𝙳𝙰𝚃𝙴  𝙾𝙵  𝙱𝙸𝚁𝚃𝙷   april 1st

𝚉𝙾𝙳𝙸𝙰𝙲  𝚂𝙸𝙶𝙽   aries

𝙿𝙻𝙰𝙲𝙴  𝙾𝙵  𝙱𝙸𝚁𝚃𝙷   cape  town  ,  south  africa

𝙷𝙾𝙼𝙴𝚃𝙾𝚆𝙽   honolulu  ,  hawaii

𝙶𝙴𝙽𝙳𝙴𝚁   cis man

𝙿𝚁𝙾𝙽𝙾𝚄𝙽𝚂   he  /  him

𝚂𝙴𝚇𝚄𝙰𝙻  𝙾𝚁𝙸𝙴𝙽𝚃𝙰𝚃𝙸𝙾𝙽   bisexual

𝙻𝙰𝙽𝙶𝚄𝙰𝙶𝙴(𝚂)  𝚂𝙿𝙾𝙺𝙴𝙽   english  &  spanish

𝙾𝙲𝙲𝚄𝙿𝙰𝚃𝙸𝙾𝙽   professional  surfer  &  surf  shop  owner

*  ⸻  𝙱𝙸𝙾𝙶𝚁𝙰𝙿𝙷𝚈  !

BORN INTO WATER, coy’s sure currents will be the same way he goes out. a water birth because his parents were hippies through and through; worldly individuals that deemed their second son : their sun. kieran, the first son, his brother : would be the moon, the stars, and everything in between before he wasn’t anymore.

YOU CAN NEVER COMPETE, if you don’t compare. coy learned this at a young age, the favoritism his parents held over his brother. however, coy never took it personally because his brother was the best person he knew; that everyone knew. his mother and father still showed coy affection and praised him when it was necessary, but there was always a slight edge that kieran had. their worry more focused on the older messner whereas coy could be as reckless as he wanted.

YING AND YANG, coy and kieran fit together like puzzle pieces. his older brother picked up the pieces where their parents didn’t; always checking in on coy and making sure to pour love into his little brother. they were inseparable and coy looked up to the male, wanting to take the best qualities that made people naturally gravitate toward him. kieran never lived the crust on sandwiches or pizza, so coy ate kieran’s crust. they always looked out for one another.

HIGH SCHOOL NEPOTISM, being the brother of kieran messner was automatic popularity. however, people were usually surprised when coy didn’t exude the same magnetism as his older brother. they still befriended him if only to meet the famous messner; though coy repressing the failed relationships. girls that only dated him to make moves on his brother or the males that got close just to ditch him whenever they came to hangout to instead bother kieran. staff from different clubs swarmed coy in hopes that they could say they bagged a messner that would bring them to victory.

WATER IS SANCTUARY, the only place coy felt the most himself was in the water. picking up surfing at a young age of his own free will; it was the only thing that he possessed that kieran or his parents didn’t care for. the waves could pull and take him peacefully, riding them like it was his calling until he turned hobby into career. qualified as the FIRST youngest surfer to compete and win in delegated category. coy didn’t stop at that; liking the attention that he’d gotten on his own talent.

FIRST LOSS, a party for the nearing end of his senior year and graduation should’ve been just that. coy had found his own people and on a high after getting his school on the news; winning two competitions in the year : one from surfing and the other from basketball game ; coy scored the last minute shot at a tied game plus multiple acclaimed colleges were knocking on his door. celebration was needed, but somewhere along the line he partied too hard,  [  DEATH MENTION TW  ]  landing himself unable to function and needing kieran to pick him up. it didn’t help when he coerced his brother into drinking with him — sealed both their fate when he convinced kieran he was okay to drive them home. a mixture of drunk driving plus other driver texting resulted in the death of oldest messner. the day coy’s parents looked at him no longer as their sun, but a void.

REHABILIATION, his parents silently urged him to get help. suggested he relocate to SUNSET HILLS, CALIFORNIA. get away from the media and disconnect completely; reminding him that technology had sullied him. he quietly agreed, being handed a brochure for AA and grief / loss meetings they thought he needed to attend for his road to redemption, but also overcome his PTSD after the loss of kieran.

*  ⸻  𝚆𝙰𝙽𝚃𝙴𝙳 𝙲𝙾𝙽𝙽𝙴𝙲𝚃𝙸𝙾𝙽𝚂  !

TBA

*  ⸻  𝙴𝚇𝚃𝚁𝙰 𝙸𝙽𝙵𝙾𝚁𝙼𝙰𝚃𝙸𝙾𝙽  !

fairly new to sunset hills, but his family probably visited a couple times on vacations or business trips. coy was always out and about, going to parties held at the colleges or attending events held.

[  ADDICTION TW  ]  coy is a recovering addict of fentanyl and alcohol. he currently goes to meetings and is sponsored. doesn’t talk about this to too many people unless they spot him or he acts off.

pinterest .  spotify  .  parallels  .

#sunsetintro #pinned. #death mention tw #drug mention tw

[karlnapity]

The Reams of Gray Stencil That Fill the Tapestry

Stop & Go! is, by all accounts, the most interesting thing this side of the state. It is, in other words, just about the most boring thing on the planet.

You are one of a few miserable and unenviable people tasked with manning the cash registers and dealing with the few unsavory types on their way to whatever the fuck there is to do on the outskirts of Utah.

You got the job your senior year of high school when you decided it might be worth saving up for something better than your mom’s old SUV, and your options were slim.

You’ve somehow managed to avoid being fired thus far— even though you’ve been stealing candy bars for a long time, now— and that is how you find yourself in your sophomore year of college.

You’ve just got on shift and already dealt with yet another family with a couple whiny children begging for Reeses before they pile back in the minivan and continue on their way to Bumfuck, UT, when the bell on the door rings.

As with most customers, you do spare him a passing glance.

The man is one of the odd ones. You spend so much of your day dealing with impatient mothers and fathers and middle-aged truckers that it’s almost a thrill when you get someone really, truly weird.

Almost. You sigh.

The man must be in his forties or fifties, though you can’t quite tell if you’re not just being thrown off by the stark white streak at the front of his hair. He’s wearing a trench coat unbefitting of the heat, and he looks like a man who’s found the world’s shittiest oasis in the midst of a desert.

He peruses the aisles like he’s never seen anything like it, eyes wide and a smile to match. You swear you hear him giggle to himself a few times. You finally understand what they mean when they say ‘kid in a candy store,’ and this man is just looking at the expired twinkies.

You’re idly wondering whether you should say to hell with it and snag some of the cigarettes behind the counter and take up smoking. You need a vice if you’re gonna stick it out another six months. Or a raise. You could also go with a raise.

Your attention’s pulled away when the man starts heading towards the back room.

“Uh, sir, that room’s only for employees,” you call.

“Oh, that’s alright then. I work here.”

Whatever you were expecting, it wasn’t that. You almost snort to yourself about the idea of a Brit working at a gas station in rural Utah.

“Uh, no you don’t, sir.”

He frowns.

For all the weirdos you’ve dealt with on this job, you’ve had it easy. You’ve never had anyone malicious, for the most part, just tired people looking to be done with whatever trek they’re making across the state.

This guy is the first to make you really, truly weirded out.

“Check,” he says, and you don’t protest, if just to get into the back and out of his view.

“Sure. What’s your name?”

“Wilbur Soot.”

And… fuck. His name is right there. You can’t believe you’ve never noticed it before.

You duck back out and give him what’s more of a grimace than a smile. He beams. “You got a uniform?”

>

Wilbur Soot is perhaps the oddest coworker you’ve dealt with, and you dealt with Kevin, who is the only person you’ve ever met who actually ate the expired jerky. Wilbur doesn’t have any predispositions for expired foodstuffs that you’ve seen, but that doesn’t quite put him any higher on your list.

For one, there’s the issue of his age. His I.D. lists him as twenty-four, but you know just from looking at him that that cannot be true. When you asked him, you just got a blank stare. You left it at that.

For another, it appears he was hired… two years ago. The day after he clocks in for the first shift you’ve overseen, you get a frantic call from your manager and a few near-shouted questions about “Are you sure that’s Wilbur Soot?” and “I thought the guy was fucking dead!”

You spend the rest of your shift looking up any information online you can find. There’s next to nothing, not even a social media page other than a Twitch account that last saw activity in 2014. You sigh.

“Yo, Wilbur?” You ask when he comes in for his next shift. To be honest, you weren’t quite sure if you’d ever see him again. Utah has its fair share of cryptids, and while you don’t particularly hold stock in such beliefs, you figure stranger things have happened.

He makes a sort of questioning hum.

“Uh. I got a call this morning saying the last time the store saw you was like two fuckin’ years ago? They said you wandered into the desert?”

He clicks his tongue a few times. “I guess that is what they’d think, huh?”

You don’t get any more answer than that. You decide to cut your losses.

>

There’s something about Wilbur that makes him look regal even in the company-issued baseball caps. It takes you a few days to pin it down, but you settle on his posture, eventually.

There’s something about the way he holds himself, his ramrod-straight back and the seriousness in which he regards everything. When he fixes his attention on someone, you can almost physically see them quail.

He has a sort of self-importance entirely unfitting of someone working at a Utah gas station, is what you’re saying.

“Wilbur?” You ask.

“Yes?” He responds with, raising his eyebrows but not moving his attention from the candy bars he’s restocking.

“Throw me a box of those mints?” You ask, and then flail when he sends them your way. You only barely manage to catch them before they hit you square in the face. “Shit, man! You ever considered becoming a sharpshooter with that aim?”

He chuckles. “I guess I was pretty good at bow and arrow, once.”

You pop a mint in your mouth. “What? When?”

“Ah. Long time ago.”

You wonder how long you’ll give him before you start demanding more details.

>

It’s a slow day and you’re rambling about something or other while Wilbur restocks shelves and you realize he’s staring at you. You falter, wonder if there’s something wrong.

He clears his throat and looks away awkwardly. “Sorry, it’s just… it’s just that you remind me of my little brother.”

You nod. “Oh yeah? How old is he?”

He stammers, laughs a little. “That’s, uh… it’s a little complicated.”

You nod again, slowly, as though that makes any fucking sense, and before you can ask any other questions there’s a customer to help. You never do get clarification.

>

“Where’d you get that ratty thing, anyway?” You motion to the coat he wears like a second skin, even over his uniform. He smiles fondly, gives you a spin to show it off.

“It’s a long story.”

“Most things are with you,” you snark. He shrugs.

“You have no idea how true that is.” He sighs. “It’s passed through quite a few people, now. My friend Niki had it last, I think. She gave it back a few months ago.”

“Ah, an heirloom.” You mean it as a joke, but he just seems to consider it and nod.

“Something like that.”

>

“Hey, Wilbur?” You’re restocking the sodas.

“Hm?”

You throw him a ginger ale and take one for yourself. “You’re old enough to be a parent, right? You got any kids?”

“Yes, a son. His name is Fundy.”

You barely resist wrinkling your nose at the name, wondering where it came from. “Yeah? He with the other parent?”

“Ah, no. She swam away, I’m afraid.”

You open your mouth, about to ask whether that’s some butchered “fish in the sea” joke, but you don’t get the chance.

>

You gleam more details, over time. You’re not quite sure if you’re any closer to unraveling him or if you’re only more lost. It’s certainly more interesting that whatever you’re supposed to be doing, in any case, if a little more disconcerting and a lot more confusing.

You quit in the spring. You buy your car. You give Wilbur a goodbye hug, him and his ratty coat.

You promise you’ll see him again and tell him he deserves a better job than running the gas station alone.

He smiles. “I think this is exactly where I want to be.”

#be quiet i'm writing #wilbur soot #dream smp #dsmp #mcyt #wilbur soot finale #dream smp lore #dream smp fanfiction #dsmp fanfic #dsmp lore #dsmp wilbur #tommyinnit #niki nihachu #fundy #wilbur #tommy