#and so I told her the gist of the idea and she got really excited

[chelseeebe]

can you see me? (the way i see you)

summary: steve harrington had been your best friend for years. you had been there for every failed relationship, picked him up and brushed him off. all while being head-over-heels in love with the boy. but now things were getting more serious with his newest girlfriend and yous trent sure if your heart could handle it.

an: hey i literally hate this :D but wanted to write SOMETHING because it’s been so long !! i have a few more ideas i wanna hash out but life is so crazy at the mo! also side note: nancy wheeler i love u soz for making u the enemy<\3

!!: no use of y/n! a teensy bit of angst i suppose and very very brief eddie x reader

steve was your best friend.

was.

you still considered him your best friend but you weren’t sure that that feeling was reciprocated.

the pair of you used to spend pretty much every waking moment with one another. up until he started dating nancy.

quite honestly, you regretted even pushing him to ask her out. if you’d known that you were never going to see your best friend again you would’ve never been so encouraging.

if you’d known just how much your heart would ache seeing them together, how his doe eyes softened at the sight of her and his lips curled up into a smile at the mention of her name, you would’ve just kept your mouth shut.

the only times you ever really got to hang out with steve was at work, and even then sometimes nancy would be there.

you’re restocking one of the displays with robin, arm full of tapes when the bell dings and nancy walks through the door.

you barely give her a glance before steve is practically pouncing over the counter to get to her.

‘she’s here again?’ robin leans over and whispers to you, narrowing her eyes at pair of them kissing.

robin knew partially of your crush on steve, you hadn’t exactly told her just how much their relationship was hurting you but she had got the gist of it after your visible look of defeat you gave steve after he announced they were dating.

you roll your eyes, ‘they’re in looove, robin,’ you mock, watching as nancy giggles at something he whispers.

‘are you actually gonna do any work today, dingus?’ robin calls across the store, hands on her hips to show her disapproval.

steve straightens up, still holding onto nancy’s waist, ‘yes, yes i am.. but right now i’m going on my lunch break, is that okay with you, boss?’

‘you have thirty minutes, and i’m counting!’ she taps her watch as the couple traipse out the door, nancy clinging onto his arm.

‘god they make me sick,’ robin fake heaves, climbing to sit on the counter.

you chuckle, it was reassuring that you weren’t the only one with a distaste for their relationship.

robin gestures for you to join her, her eyes look pitifully at you, feeling bad for your unrequited love for steve.

you oblige and jump up onto the counter, leaning against her and sighing.

‘we need to find you someone else.. someone new and exciting,’ her hand finds yours, giving it a small squeeze.

‘rob.. i don’t want anyone else.. i’ll get over it eventually..’ you shrug, biting down onto your bottom lip.

‘hmm.. somehow i don’t believe that,’ she shakes her head.

you were extremely grateful for robin’s friendship. you’d only really connected after getting the job at family video but now you wouldn’t trade her for the world. especially with steve’s recent little escapade.

the day very slowly rolls on and steve eventually rocks back up, well over his allocated thirty minutes with his hair all messed up and flushed cheeks.

you ignore his very obvious demeanour and get on with your work, counting the minutes until you could go home.

-

robin slams the stiff door shut and clicks the lock, letting out an over exaggerated sigh of relief.

you follow steve into the parking lot where he turns to look at you, hand on top of his maroon car, ‘shit.. i can’t give you a ride tonight, i’ve gotta go and pick up nance.. but next time, definitely.’

you weren’t exactly ecstatic to be getting a ride with steve but it was a million times better than the bus and was now the only time it was ever just you two, how it used to be.

‘oh.. right,’ you stare at him, willing for him to just disintegrate in front of your eyes, ‘guess i’ll get the bus,’ you bite the inside of your cheek and spin on your heel towards robin who was watching your encounter.

‘i’m sorry! next time i promise i will!’ he calls out behind you before getting into his car and speeding off.

robin shakes her head, ‘what an asshole!’ she joins her arm with yours, heading towards the bus stop, ‘now are you ready to ditch him?’

‘ugh, i wish,’ you sigh, holding onto her arm and dramatically leaning your head on her shoulder in pure exasperation.

-

it had been a week since you’d seen steve, he’d called off from his last two shifts. a mysterious illness had meant you and robin were left to pick up his slack. much to robin’s dismay.

‘someone needs to give that boy a good smack, if you won’t i’ll do it,’ she groans as she rearranges her pile of vhs tapes into alphabetical order.

you were both stood waiting to see if steve was going to actually show up today or not, keith was starting to get aggravated with steve’s behaviour and for some reason you still felt the need to defend him, promising that he’d make up his lost shifts.

you couldn’t really explain why, he sure as hell wouldn’t have done the same for you but at the end of the day, he was, or once was your best friend, and you were undoubtedly, terribly in love with him.

steve steams through the door, pulling on his green vest and huffing and puffing that he was here.

‘nice of you to show up,’ keith quips, looking over at the flustered boy with a stern expression.

‘i’m sorry! my car.. i had to get gas and then there was traffic.. but i’m here! i’m here!’ steve practically screams, speed walking through to the back to clock in.

robin shoots you a look, rolling her eyes at his tardiness.

you can hear keith loudly reprimanding steve, complaining that he had to stay late to cover for him. in reality, he stayed twenty minutes later than he should to stand behind the counter and bitch about steve, either way you slyly appreciated steve getting told off.

keith eventually storms out of the room and out of the front door, you widen your eyes at robin and slink over to the back room to speak to steve, leaning against the wooden door frame as he angrily stuffs his stuff into his locker.

‘you good?’ you ask, eyeing his tense posture.

he runs a hand through his hair and turns to loom at you, ‘he’s a prick, i’m like.. five minutes late, not that big of a deal.’

‘hmm, try half an hour.. but yeah he is,’ you agree.

‘i was busy.. it’s just been..’ he sighs, his shoulders relaxing, ‘doesn’t matter, how have you been?’

‘i’m okay.. i wanted to ask you if you were still coming on friday? i know you’ve been sick and all..’ you tentatively ask.

friday was your twenty first birthday and you were finally going to host what was probably your first and last party at your new apartment.

‘err.. coming to what?’ steve asks, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

the date had been drummed into his head for months, with plans being discussed for weeks about who you were going to invite and what you were going to wear.

‘..my birthday? same day every year, steve,’ you scowl up at him.

his mind had been somewhere else entirely since getting with nancy, so much so he had forgotten his own best friends birthday.

‘oh shit! yes, yes of course i am,’ his eyes widen as he suddenly remembers why that date was so important.

‘you forgot, didn’t you?’

‘no! how dare you say that?’ he jokes, walking over and placing his hands on your shoulders, ‘i could never forget your birthday.. i’ve just been sick.. my brains all foggy.’

his attempts to redeem himself shouldn’t work, but they do. his big brown doe eyes gleaming down at you absolutely do not help as you’re already putty in his hands, ready to accept his apology.

you never could stay mad at steve. one time back in school he had genuinely forgotten to pick you up one morning, the same morning hawkins had decided to have torrential downpour, so you turned up to school resembling a drowned rat, soggy and miserable. but when steve had seen you storming towards him and realised his mistake, he dropped to his knees in the corridor, hands clasped together and already pleading for your forgiveness.

which you gave, of course. you were in love with the boy for christ’s sake, how could you not?

you attempt to hold onto your anger, jutting out your bottom lip but when he flashes that stupid cheesy grin you can’t help but return the smile and have to turn away before he notices how flushed your cheeks had become.

robin looks on in disgust and you scrunch up your face in return, getting back to your work and trying not to catch yourself staring at steve.

-

friday rolls around and there’s a steady stream of people entering your apartment, music blaring and drinks flowing.

you’d told everyone to get there for nine.

it was now bordering on ten and steve still hadn’t showed his face, which you try to not let damper your mood but it inevitably does.

robin is the first to notice, handing you a red cup full of a mysterious liquid that she practically forced you to down.

‘he’s an asshole, don’t let him ruin your night!’ she shouts into your ear, her hand on the small of your back.

you go to reply, being interrupted by the boy himself walking towards you, nancy in tow with a stoic expression painted on her face.

you don’t even mean to but you jump up, reciprocating his hug, ‘you’re late!’ you say into his ear.

‘i know.. i’m sorry.. we uh- happy birthday!’ he pulls back slightly, leaving a short kiss on your cheek.

you grin, letting go of his body and giving nancy a slightly awkward half-hug, thanking her for the birthday wishes.

‘let’s get you a drink!’ you pull steve into the kitchen, followed by robin attempting to make small-talk with nancy.

your pour a bottle of clear liquid into a cup, slightly over pouring due to your own intoxication and hand him the drink.

there’s some chatter with the couple before she inevitably takes him away, moving to their own corner of the kitchen.

maybe if you weren’t so drunk you wouldn’t have felt your heart sinking when his hand tenderly touches her arm, leaning in to whisper into her ear.

robin yanks you away from the kitchen and into the living room, ‘no! not tonight,’ she holds onto your hand, forcing you to move along to the music.

at some point someone suggests a game of spin the bottle and you groan, ‘i didn’t think we were still teenagers?’

‘oh stop it, it’s fun,’ robin says, taking a seat on the sofa and turning the music down a notch so you could all hear each other.

you end up sat next to eddie, who you knew back from high school, he ended up having to repeat a couple of years so ended up in a few of your senior classes.

the empty glass bottle is placed on the floor and you all look around, willing someone to go first.

‘well if none of you pussies are gonna do it, i will,’ eddie announces, leaning down to spin the bottle.

it spins and spins before stopping.. on you.

‘guess i gotta show the birthday girl some lovin’,’ he turns to face you and you roll your eyes but move towards him.

again, if not for the alcohol, you would’ve been a hell of a lot more bashful about this very public display of affection but you lean into him, his lips landing on yours.

your eyes flying shut and your hand resting on his cheek as his hand moves to the back of your neck, holding you in place.

you’re interrupted by someone loudly clearing their throat and you pull apart, hand still caressing his cheek.

you look up to find steve and nancy had entered the room, ‘what the hell have i just walked in on?’ steve asks.

you giggle, shuffling away from eddie, ‘s’just spin the bottle.. duh,’ you respond, shaking your head at him.

‘oh, duh,’ he remarks sarcastically, ‘can i speak to you for a sec?’

you furrow your brows but stand up from the sofa, eddie’s hand still lingering on your back, flashing him a small smile before walking over to steve.

you felt so silly. you were kissing a genuinely nice, attractive guy, and enjoying it too and yet you would still drop everything as soon as steve asked you to.

‘i think we’re gonna head out.. i just wanted to say bye before we left, have a good night,’ he murmurs, nancy standing stone-faced beside him.

‘you’re joking! i’ve hardly seen you.. you literally just got here!’ you frown at him, slightly infuriated that your supposed best friend couldn’t even hang around at your birthday party for at least an hour.

‘i know.. nance isn’t feeling too well.. we just wanted to come and wish you a happy birthday and that..’ he gives you a small, apologetic smile but disregard it.

‘you couldn’t even show up on time and now you’re leaving after barely being here an hour?’ you reply, slightly louder than expected.

‘i’m sorry.. i’ll make it up to you, chick,’ he reaches out to touch your arm but you recoil, the use of that nickname, one that had been given to you in high school and now only came came out when steve was apologising or trying to get his own way, making you pull back.

‘no.. don’t bother, it’s fine,’ you grit, tensing your jaw in an attempt to not say anything meaner to him.

‘c’mon.. don’t be like that.. you looked plenty occupied when we walked in anyway,’ he remarks and if it weren’t for nancy standing literal millilitres away from him, you could’ve sworn there was a twinge of jealousy in his voice.

‘what’s that supposed to mean?’ you glare at him.

his mouth opens and promptly shuts, leaving him looking like a gawping fish, ‘nothing.. look i’ll see you soon, okay? i’ve gotta take nance back..’ he places a hand on her back and basically pushes her out of the front room.

you exhale, spinning around to find that luckily everyone had gotten back to the game and ignored whatever the hell had just happened between you and steve, everyone except robin, who’s eyes were planted on you, that sad, pitying look.

she’s quick to jump up, already forcing her cup into your hand, ‘don’t even think about it.. it’s your birthday and that.. he’s not ruining your night, okay?’

you nod, appreciative of your best friend’s kindness and down the cup of liquor she’d handed to you, ready to squash the thought of steve out of your mind.

-

you wake up to robin poking your arm, groaning at the feeling in your head.

‘rob.. please no, i’m fragile,’ you grumble, but rolling over to face her, that cheeky grin on her face.

‘how ya feeling, buttercup?’ she asks.

‘like shit,’ you complain, curling up into the blanket.

‘well i’m not surprised, i’m glad you had a good night though,’ her hand reaches out to brush the hair from your face.

‘please tell me i didn’t embarrass myself?’

‘uh.. nah..’ she replies, slightly hesitant.

‘oh god… what did i do?’ you close your eyes, bracing for whatever embarrassing story she was about to relay.

‘well uh.. you remember kissing eddie, right?’

‘yeah.. just about..’

‘well.. you called him steve and then i caught you showing him to your room.. and that’s when i put you to bed.. see it’s not that bad,’ she tries to reassure you but she can’t stifle her smile.

you groan, pulling the duvet up and over your head, ‘no.. oh my god,’ you cringe at your own actions.

‘look, he was definitely way too drunk to remember.. don’t worry about it,’ she yanks the duvet down, exposing you to the harsh light.

‘i’m never drinking again, seriously,’ you complain, pouting at robin.

she laughs, ‘it’s really not that big of a deal.. trust me.’

‘i don’t believe you but i’m going to ignore all of that because i’m starving.. shall we get food?’

‘i am very down with that.. but you need to brush your damn teeth first,’ she giggles, moving away from you.

‘bitch,’ you joke, rolling out of the bed.

you were hoping to god that by some grace of god that eddie had forgotten. robin was the only person who knew of your unrequited love for steve and you were hoping that it’d stay that way.

-

you’re basically shaking as you walk into work, not wanting to face steve. it wasn’t exactly an argument but you were still pissed off with him and definitely didn’t want to stare into his grovelling eyes as he begs for your forgiveness.

there was no way you could stand up for yourself against him, no way you could ever tell him how much his and nancy’s relationship was hurting you, not without ending up telling him that you were head over heels for him.

you don’t see him as you walk into the store, waving at robin who flashes you a warning glance.

you look back, puzzled until you reach the back room and find steve on the phone, his knuckles white from his death grip on the piece of plastic.

he glances up at you before putting his other hand on the wall, ‘nancy, i have to go… no… i’m at work for fuck’s sake… look-… i’m going now… i’ll call you when i’m done,’ he slams the phone back onto the wall and sighs.

you silently place your things into your locker, your back to him.

‘well that didn’t sound great,’ you mumble, faffing about with your bag.

‘i just- i can’t.. every single day there’s something, i’m always in the wrong,’ he says, lightly hitting the brick wall.

you close your locker and look at him, ‘honeymoon phase has worn off, huh?’ you wanted to be kind but you were rightfully still pissed off at his disappearance on friday.

to be fair to steve, most of his relationships seemed to fizzle out by the second or third month, so to now only be experiencing this with nancy was an anomaly. girls got tired of his flirty nature and decided they’d had enough, or steve got bored, the excitement of a new relationship wearing off.

he scoffs, ‘yeah you can say that again.’

you raise your eyebrows, going to walk out of the room when his hand grabs your wrist, stopping you.

‘i just wanted to say i’m sorry.. i wanted to stay but nancy was complaining about something and if i’m not immediately jumping to her assistance then i get it in the neck,’ those soft eyes once again working their magic.

‘yeah.. it’s fine steve..’ his hand his still wrapped around your wrist and the simple feel of his fingers on your skin is enough to make you crumble.

‘no.. i’ve been a shitty friend- best friend, i wanna make it up to you, how about we do something after work? my treat?’ he blinks down at you, the corners of his lips twitching into a small smile.

‘no nancy tonight?’ it leaves your mouth without a second thought to how jealous it made you look.

he chuckles, ‘no, just me and my best friend.. like the old times.’

‘well.. if you’re paying, sure,’ you smile at him.

he rolls his eyes, dropping your wrist, ‘yes.. of course.’

before you can reply, the bell that resided on the front counter dings rapidly and you spin to see robin standing there abusing the metal dinger.

‘could use a little help out here, if you’re not too busy,’ she raises her eyebrows.

you walk out into the store, smiling to yourself for the duration of your shift, knowing that you were finally going to get some steve alone time.

-

sat in steve’s car after work, music playing out of the stereo and he’s quietly humming along and it feels exactly how it used to, before nancy was around, before your feelings had become incredibly complicated for him.

‘where are we going?’ you ask, still in your family video uniform, not wanting to have to be out in public in the green waistcoat.

‘i thought we could go and grab some food and then.. movie at yours?’

‘sounds good to me,’ you smile, ‘.. i’ve missed hanging out with you.’

you didn’t just miss hanging out with him, you missed him as a whole. how comfortable he’d be with you, how easy conversation just slipped off your tongue with him, sharing soft touches that now felt too awkward.

‘i missed you too.. i really am sorry that i’ve sorta just.. ditched you,’ he turns down the volume and pats your knee, causing your heart rate to go through the roof.

‘yeah.. you kinda did,’ you admit, shrugging.

he sighs, ‘i thought nancy was the one, you know? different than those other girls..’

‘you don’t think so anymore?’

‘i dunno.. she’s just always mad at me for something.. like i can’t do anything right,’ his shoulders slump.

‘maybe she’s just.. projecting.. i dunno, like she feels like she’s messing up and that’s how she’s showing it,’ it hurts to defend her, but you saw how much he was pining for her before they began dating, coming into work everyday with a new plan to make her agree to go out with him.

‘nah..’ he shakes his head, ‘i don’t think so.. like on your birthday she wanted to go, so we left and then we got back to her house and suddenly she was upset saying i should’ve stayed since it was your birthday.. like what the fuck?’

‘hmm.. i don’t know then,’ you shrug, looking down at your lap.

‘weird, right? anyway.. this is not about my relationship.. let’s stop talking about it,’ he pulls into the parking lot of your favourite burger chain.

-

the pair of you are lazing on the sofa, chatting over the movie playing on the tv when your phone rings causing steve to jump and knock over the half-empty can of beer.

‘nice one doofus,’ you say as you get up to answer the phone.

the voice on the other end takes you by surprise.

‘oh.. hello, nancy.. how are you?’ as soon as steve hears the name he shoots up from mopping up the liquid, shaking his head and motioning across his neck.

‘i am not here,’ he mouths.

‘uh… no, haven’t seen him since we finished work.. why is something wrong?’ you ask, glaring over at steve.

‘oh.. okay, well if i see him i’ll let him know… yeah, you too.. bye,’ you put the phone down and place your hands on your hips.

‘what the fuck, steve?’

‘what did she want?’

‘she wanted to know where you were.. apparently you were supposed to call after work,’ you stare at him, stern faced.

‘ohh shit, i forgot.. i’ll call her when i get home.. not that deep,’ he sits back on the couch and you join him although now further apart than you were before.

‘steve,’ you tut, ‘she sounds pretty pissed..’

‘when does she not?’ he rolls his eyes, ‘probably wants to yell at me for some shit i did or didn’t do right.’

‘i think she was just worried.. you better call her later and do not ever make me lie for you again, okay?’

steve turns his head to look at you fully, trying but failing to stop the laugh from coming out of his mouth, ‘you sounded like my mom then.. with your hands on your hips all bossy.’

‘oh shut up,’ you shove his shoulder, but can’t help the smile forming on your face.

he shuffles closer and leans his head down on your lap, eyes still looking up at you, ‘i’ve really missed this.. i hadn’t even thought about nancy once until then..’

you gaze down at him, trying to resist the urge to confess your feelings for him, wanting nothing more than to lean down and kiss his perfect pink lips.

‘it’s been nice.. you’re always nicer when you don’t have a girlfriend..’ you murmur.

he pouts up at you, ‘that’s not true.. i’ve been wanting to ask, what’s going on with you and eddie, huh?’

‘what? nothing,’ you shake your head, suddenly terrified of the possibility that those two had seen each other and eddie had told steve about your little freudian slip.

‘i’m just asking, you looked pretty close at your party.. that’s all,’ he sits up, leaning on his elbows, now only inches away from your face.

‘it was just a game, that’s it,’ you assure him, if only you could tell him just how much you didn’t want eddie, and wanted him instead.

‘so you don’t want me to put in a good word for you?’

‘no! besides, why would i want a boyfriend when i already have to put up with you?’ you joke, trying to change the subject.

‘you don’t put up with me you love me and love spending time with me,’ he smiles.

if only he knew just how much you really did love him.

‘hmm.. i suppose so,’ you admit defeat, he hadn’t broken eye contact once and quite frankly his stare was becoming quite intimidating.

you look back up at tv, hoping that he couldn’t feel the pounding in your chest, ‘you’re missing the movie.’

‘it’s boring anyway, i’m trying to talk to you,’ he pokes your arm, attempting to pull your attention back to him.

‘well i want to watch the film,’ you say pointedly, one more stare away from confessing your feelings for him and ruining years of your friendship.

‘look at me..’ he murmurs, another poke to your cheek which causes your eyes to flick back to his.

‘steve..’ you were seconds away from the words tumbling out of your mouth, his chocolate eyes softening at the use of his name. if this was how he acted with other girls when he was in relationship, there’s no surprise that it never worked out.

‘i just.. want your opinion on something, and be brutally honest,’ he shuffles closer, his back now leaning on your outstretched legs, ‘what do you think i should do about nancy.. truthfully.’

you sigh, ‘you really want me to be honest?’

‘yes,’ he nods.

you swallow, ‘i think.. i think you should end it.. i don’t think you’re happy and i don’t think she is either.. you’re only gonna end up hating each other if you keep dragging this out,’ it was entirely everything you wanted to say but it was your partial truth, sparing him of the details of your love.

‘okay,’ he exhales, ‘i feel like i’ve dated every last girl in this godforsaken town and i just.. i dunno.. it’s stupid.’

your heart beats faster, except me, ringing in your head.

‘you haven’t dated everyone.. maybe the one isn’t in hawkins.. how would you know?’ you say, biting your bottom lip.

‘i think she is.. i just.. don’t know if she knows it yet..’

you furrow your brows, puzzled, ‘what?’

‘i’m talking about..’ he trails off and breathes out before moving closer, softly placing his lips on yours.

you freeze for a second, unsure of what to do next. you’d thought about this exact situation many, many times but still had no idea how to react.

he pulls back, ‘shit.. i’m sorry..’ he goes to move away from you but you place your hand on his chest, causing him to look back into your eyes.

his lips crash onto yours again, slightly harder this time as you return the kiss, trying to pull him closer.

he sits up properly, not once breaking the kiss and moves his hand to caress your cheek.

‘mmm- no- steve..’ you pull away but his lips chase yours, lingering over your mouth as he groans.

‘w-what?’

‘i can’t.. i can’t do this,’ your hand attempts to push him back but he doesn’t budge.

‘why? what’s wrong?’ his eyes now open and looking back at your eyes brimming with tears.

you shake your head, ‘don’t do this to me if you don’t mean it,’ the lump in your throat growing.

‘i’m- sorry.. have i got the wrong idea here..’ he stumbles over his words, eyes searching your face.

you frown, unable to stop the tears from sliding down your cheek, ‘steve..’ here goes nothing, ‘if you’re just using me because you’re mad at nancy.. then don’t, god knows i’m far too in love with you to handle that..’ the lump finally dislodges and a sob escapes your lips.

‘i’m not.. you’re.. you’re in love with me?’ his face drops slightly and your heart sinks, immediately regretting ever saying anything.

you should’ve pushed him off. should’ve sent him home telling him to apologise to nancy. should’ve never kissed him back.

you nod, scoffing at the absurdity of it all, how your best friend, the man you were painfully in love had just kissed you and now you were admitting to your feelings in the strangest of situations.

he stares up at you, mouth agape and you want to just shove him away, completely unprepared for the inevitable rejection about to tumble out of his mouth.

‘i.. uh- i wish you’d said something..’

you look back up at him, wiping away the stream of liquid coming from your eyes, ‘what do you mean?’

he chuckles slightly and you freeze, was he going to laugh in your face? was he going to tell you that you were fucking stupid for ever thinking this could ever work?

but he just smiles up at you, ‘god.. i thought i was so stupid.. you know, i thought there was no was no way you would feel the same way.. you don’t give much away,’ he says.

you blink back at him, still digesting his words, trying to fully comprehend what he had just said, that your feelings weren’t just one sided.

you swallow, unable to find the correct words to reply to him.

‘are you okay?’ he dips his head down to touch his forehead with yours, maintaining the deep eye contact.

‘i-i.. oh my god.. i thought you were going to hate me..’ you stumble over the words, moving your hand to clasp his cheek.

your heart beats a thousand miles per hour in your chest, honestly surprised it hadn’t ripped through your skin by itself.

‘i don’t think i could ever hate you,’ he says, his breathe tickling your cheek.

he doesn’t believe you when you tell him how long you’d felt this way about him, you were so so sure that you’d given yourself away a multitude of times but steve wasn’t exactly the brightest nor the most observant.

and he sits there remembering all the times he was going to tell you about his feelings but chickened out, ‘you were so.. adamant about nancy.. so i just thought you weren’t interested.’

it really couldn’t be any further from the truth, only wanting to push him towards nancy to stop yourself from being hurt.

but now you didn’t have to, he was undoubtedly yours. there was no need to hide away or pretend that you were pleased about whichever new girlfriend he was bringing around this time, your best friend was yours.

#steve harrington #steve harrington x you #steve stranger things #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington angst #steve harrington x y/n #stranger things x you #steve harrington fic #steve harrington fanfic #steve harrington one shot #steve harrington fluff #steve harrington x fem!reader

[stargazeraldroth]

I will never be normal about the family of the First Humans in my Hazbin Hotel AU. I will never be normal about it. I really took this AU and said "Family angst to the MAX". Also this may or may not contain spoilers about Hazbin Hotel, so be warned about that when reading this.

Since we don't know much of anything about Eve in Hazbin Hotel's canon universe, the Eve included in this post is obviously how I imagine her character. Also, there are some major changes to the relationships between some of the characters. For starters, Vaggie and Lute are sisters, but they're also direct creations of Adam's.

Let me explain.

So in this AU, Adam and Eve became a thing shortly after Lilith ran away to be with Lucifer. And in this AU, they were only able to have Cain and Abel before Eve ate the Forbidden Fruit and ultimately died (I might elaborate on the whole Garden of Eden story in another post). But they'd talked about having daughters and Eve was especially excited to have little girls. Clearly, that never ended up happening. So how does this tie into the story? Because Adam made Vaggie and Lute with the idea of them being the daughters he and Eve were never able to have.

(To take this a step further, this AU started as a Reimagine series where I went over how I would've done it all, so there were also name changes. Vaggie and Lute were two characters who got their names changed; Vaggie's name became Evelyn [originally Evangeline but I thought that too long and didn't roll off the tongue as well] and Lute's became Edith, with Vaggie being named after Eve and Lute being named after the Garden of Eden. And if you want even MORE angst with that idea, Adam sometimes called Vaggie "Eve" as a nickname because of how much she reminded him of her. There's nothing romantic there, I just wanna clarify that in case anyone jumps to conclusions. The changed names aren't important to the post, I just wanted to mention this little background fun fact from before I decided to make it a regular AU)

I may not have diddly squat about Cain and Abel in this aside from the fact that they exist(ed), but BOY do I have a lot to say about these four. First, let me just start with the parallels between Eve and Vaggie in this AU:

Both someone Adam swore to himself that he'd protect at all costs

Both fell from grace and are in Hell

Both of them are on the opposing side (for Eve this'll rely on the post I eventually make about the GoE story, but the gist is that she was completely unwilling; Vaggie saw no other way)

Both of them fell in love with demons

Like... Vaggie reminds Adam of Eve so much that sometimes, it physically hurts. In this AU, Vaggie wasn't left to die in Hell, she got attacked and left behind. Adam thought she was dead, which was part of why he pushed to move up the date of the next Extermination and why Lute is so set on revenge, wants to kill ALL demons, etc. And Adam doesn't care about sexuality- he doesn't care if Vaggie's bi, pan, lesbian, ace, etc. In this AU, he only cares because Charlie's a demon (and the daughter of Lucifer, but that's another thing). The way Adam sees it, he's been losing everyone he loves to temptation and sin. He believes he lost Lilith to Lucifer's seduction (even if he was an angel at the time, he eventually became a demon), he lost Eve to both Lilith & Lucifer and the Apple, he lost Abel to Cain's jealousy and wrath, he lost Cain to his inner darkness, he originally thought he lost Vaggie to the demons, and then he thought he lost her to seduction (even though Charlie didn't do anything like that). And this- this is why Adam's both so close to Lute and why he smiles when he dies in this AU. He died believing that he failed everyone he cared about except Lute, even though- in the back of his mind- he told himself he still failed her. Because he wasn't going to be able to make it back to Heaven and stay with her.

Y'all. I don't know WHAT made me decide to focus so much on these four... but this is what I got. This is what happened. They're devouring my brain.

#hazbin hotel au #hazbin hotel adam #hazbin hotel eve #hazbin hotel vaggie #hazbin hotel lute #my heart breaks for this whole family in this AU #especially eve because i feel like her story is very tragic #and adam is meant to be very flawed #but still someone who is trying and he does care #like even though eve's a demon he still loves her and he wanted to see her again #i just #why did i do this to myself #there just needed to be background lore #and this is what happened

[mariana-oconnor]

The Solitary Cyclist pt 1

This one I know I like, but also I get it mixed up with Copper Beeches. I think they're kind of similar?

Many startling successes and a few unavoidable failures were the outcome of this long period of continuous work.

Watson protecting Holmes' reputation here. He only fails when it's unavoidable, you know.

For this reason I will now lay before the reader the facts connected with Miss Violet Smith, the solitary cyclist of Charlington, and the curious sequel of our investigation, which culminated in unexpected tragedy.

Ah, that's another reason I get this mixed up with Copper Beeches, they are both called Violet and my brain has a tendency to switch off after first names.

This is why I always get Barry Manilow and Barry White mixed up. They are both called Barry, they both sing, my brain decides they are the same person. I know one of them's dead. Don't ask me which one. Genuinely.

Also, we are being prepared for tragedy.

And yet without a harshness which was foreign to his nature it was impossible to refuse to listen to the story of the young and beautiful woman, tall, graceful, and queenly...

A flattering description this time, and a very determined Violet. Holmes is setting aside a case for a millionaire for this. I'm not sure it's entirely for the reasons Watson is suggesting here, though.

It was vain to urge that his time was already fully occupied, for the young lady had come with the determination to tell her story, and it was evident that nothing short of force could get her out of the room until she had done so.

She will clearly take no shit. I like her already. (Well, I already liked her because it's one of my favourite Holmes' stories, but you know what I mean.)

“...so ardent a bicyclist must be full of energy.” She glanced down in surprise at her own feet, and I observed the slight roughening of the side of the sole caused by the friction of the edge of the pedal. “Yes, I bicycle a good deal, Mr. Holmes..."

I really like this exchange because yes, she's surprised, but she immediately follows his train of thought and isn't put off by it. It's a neat way of establishing that she's clever and not easily thrown.

Also, Watson follows the logic, too. He's learning!

Also, hands up all of us who are a little bit sad that it's the wear on her shoes that singles her out and not the dreaded 'bicycle face'.

It's period appropriate, you're missing a trick with the terrible Victorian medical science here, ACD.

"You observe the spatulate finger-end, Watson, which is common to both professions?"

Such a complimentary way to describe the fingers of the woman whose hand you just grabbed without consent.

"There is a spirituality about the face, however”—he gently turned it towards the light—“which the typewriter does not generate. This lady is a musician.”

I assume this means he turned her face towards the light. He's really just getting all up in Miss Smith's business, isn't he? Also the idea that musicians just glow with spirituality is wonderful. What does spirituality as a facial feature look like? I'm imagining a glow, but that's at least partially because light is referenced and partially because I come from the western Christian tradition of halos and radiant beams of holy light.

“My father is dead, Mr. Holmes. He was James Smith, who conducted the orchestra at the old Imperial Theatre. My mother and I were left without a relation in the world except one uncle, Ralph Smith, who went to Africa twenty-five years ago, and we have never had a word from him since."

Hmmm... a mysterious relative in Africa.

(I am now realising that much like with the other stories I remember the gist, but not the steps of how we get there.)

"When father died we were left very poor, but one day we were told that there was an advertisement in the Times inquiring for our whereabouts. You can imagine how excited we were, for we thought that someone had left us a fortune."

People have got to stop believing that notices in the newspaper will bring them fortunes. Let me guess, it's going to turn out your Uncle Ralph was a Nigerian Prince?

"There we met two gentlemen, Mr. Carruthers and Mr. Woodley, who were home on a visit from South Africa. They said that my uncle was a friend of theirs, that he died some months before in great poverty in Johannesburg, and that he had asked them with his last breath to hunt up his relations and see that they were in no want."

I absolutely believe and trust these people. There is no way this is a scam at all.

“Mr. Woodley seemed to me to be a most odious person. He was for ever making eyes at me—a coarse, puffy-faced, red-moustached young man, with his hair plastered down on each side of his forehead. I thought that he was perfectly hateful—and I was sure that Cyril would not wish me to know such a person.”

Aw, Violet Smith, you too can join in with Watson's judgemental description club. Although you do start with the 'making eyes' at you bit, so this comes across as a little less straight up judgement based on appearance and a little more informed by his personality. The last bit is kind of weird, but I guess Victorian. Of course your boyfriend gets a say in who you know. I think a little more is coming back to me now though.

"What I wished to say was that Mr. Woodley was perfectly odious, but that Mr. Carruthers, who was a much older man, was more agreeable. He was a dark, sallow, clean-shaven, silent person; but he had polite manners and a pleasant smile."

It is a truth universally acknowledged that the nicer ones who hang out with the worrying ones are, in the end, always worse.

"He inquired how we were left, and on finding that we were very poor he suggested that I should come and teach music to his only daughter, aged ten."

Ah, yep, it is a lot like Copper Beeches. I'm contemplating whether it's worse here that they're doing this all privately or worse in the Copper Beeches where Violet Hunter is hired through an agency and it still does nothing to help her. Probably Copper Beeches.

She's getting £100 a year from this suspicious widower, which is £10,000 a year. Not exactly a fortune, but she's also getting food and board for the week.

As soon as the text is telling me he's a widower, though, I'm absolutely looking for him to be trying to scam her into marrying him. Convenient lack of wife and a suspicious interest in the young woman? It's all very Jane Eyre. (I don't think he has a wife in his attic, though.)

"The child was a dear, and everything promised well."

This Violet lucked out on the child front. At least the child she's caring for is not a psychopath in training.

"He made odious love to me, boasted of his wealth, said that if I married him I would have the finest diamonds in London, and finally, when I would have nothing to do with him, he seized me in his arms one day after dinner—he was hideously strong—and he swore that he would not let me go until I had kissed him. Mr. Carruthers came in and tore him off from me, on which he turned upon his own host, knocking him down and cutting his face open."

That's a little bit more than just 'making eyes' at you, Violet. You really buried the lede on this one. But he gave Mr Carruthers the opportunity to be a knight in shining armour. Oh dear. It's really not hard to look like a good guy when you're in direct comparison with someone that rapey.

"The road from Chiltern Grange is a lonely one, and at one spot it is particularly so, for it lies for over a mile between Charlington Heath upon one side and the woods which lie round Charlington Hall upon the other."

When was pepper spray invented? Does she have a hat pin for stabbing? She should get a nice sharp hat pin.

He seemed to be a middle-aged man, with a short, dark beard. I looked back before I reached Farnham, but the man was gone, so I thought no more about it.

GHOST CYCLIST

"I mentioned it to Mr. Carruthers, who seemed interested in what I said, and told me that he had ordered a horse and trap, so that in future I should not pass over these lonely roads without some companion."

Oh I bet he did. I just bet he leapt at the chance to offer you more help.

“The horse and trap were to have come this week, but for some reason they were not delivered, and again I had to cycle to the station."

Hmmm? That is very odd. Almost as though no one ordered them.

"I slowed down my machine, but he slowed down his. Then I stopped altogether, but he stopped also."

This image is hilarious. Also what's going through mystery man's head. Clearly he's not trying to be subtle. It's all got a very scooby doo feel to it.

It's good to see her taking the initiative and actually trying some things out, though, including the trap that is never sprung.

“Oh, it may be a mere fancy of mine; but it has seemed to me sometimes that my employer, Mr. Carruthers, takes a great deal of interest in me.”

Yeah, super Jane Eyre vibes.

“Well, at least he is fairly well-to-do. But he goes into the City two or three times a week. He is deeply interested in South African gold shares.”

Gold, you say? I smell motive. I smell a great deal of motive. And South Africa is where your estranged dead Uncle used to live, correct? Whose death and last living status have only been told to you by these two men who both appear to be interested in 'wooing' you?

"One more point. What sort of a menage is it which pays double the market price for a governess, but does not keep a horse although six miles from the station?"

These are the kind of little Victorian details you just can't pick up on in the 21st century. I certainly don't know what the going rate for a governess was in 1895. Although I probably could have guessed that not having a horse when you're six miles from the station is a bit weird. I guess they never take the kid anywhere.

“No, my dear fellow, you will go down. This may be some trifling intrigue, and I cannot break my other important research for the sake of it. On Monday you will arrive early at Farnham; you will conceal yourself near Charlington Heath; you will observe these facts for yourself, and act as your own judgment advises.

Ooh, Watson goes alone. And he's to act as his own judgment advises? That seems... risky. He's liable to just tackle the man to the ground. Which would solve the identity problem, I suppose. That is something to look forward to. I wonder if Watson will spot all the wrong things and completely ignore the things that Holmes wants to know.

#Letters from Watson #Sherlock Holmes #The Solitary Cyclist #long post

[smolwritingchick]

What is Next for The Bangtan Gal!? Upcoming Chapters Part 2!

Damn, I'm really back writing this story with new chapters. It's weird yet exciting. Please bear with me with slow updates. I will try my best not to take forever to upload. You are welcome to skip this if you do not want to be spoiled on what I plan to write next for this story. 

Here is what I plan to work on. Some of these chapter titles may be placeholders and not everything is revealed in the summary as I'm still planning to get the gist of what's happening. As well as when I'll put smut and suggestive content in it. So stay tuned! But here is the first set of what I plan to write.

--------

Blood, Sweat, and Tears- Jennie and Jimin fight over his extreme diet. BTS film BST with Jennie and Taehyung filming a sexy scene together. Jennie spends time with GOT7. (This will be the last time I write about his diet. There is angst in this but it will end fluffy with them making up. I apologize in advance for the angst :( )

Idol Parents?- BTS anticipates the release of WINGS. Jennie and Jungkook are assigned to take care of a robot baby for a parenting class at school. (A reader gave me the robot baby idea years ago and I ran with it, lol. I used to have parenting classes back in high school but could never take them because it was always full smfh. Weenies I tell ya. Always taking up spots for the classes I was interested in. College was WORSE OMFG I was pissed that I had to wait days while others got first dibs.)

Big Enough For Two- BTS promote BST as viewers and fans freak out and wonder what is going on between Jennie and Taehyung due to what they saw in the MV. Jennie suffers a wardrobe malfunction during a show. Jennie and Jungkook become stressed trying to juggle school and promotions. Pissed about having to take an exam the next morning, Jungkook's angry emotions are shown while performing late at night for a show and Jennie helps him calm down back at the dorm.

Thank You- Jennie finally tells Jungkook that she is ready for the next step. BTS continues to promote BST. JenKook plans with Bangtan and Big Hit on how they want to reveal their relationship. BTS film their Halloween dance practice

Our First Time (Jungkook smut)- Jennie celebrates her birthday in Japan and Jungkook makes it a memorable one.

BTS 3rd Muster

First Daesang!- BTS wins their first Daesang! Jennie excitedly shares on social media about her preparations to collab with Hyuna at the MAMA Awards. But less than a week before the show, Mnet claims Jennie is not ready for a vocal solo performance and it is too early in her story to perform solo. The collab gets scrapped and Hyuna plans to perform by herself which pisses off Armies with the blindslide. (That'll be the end of the Hyuna stuff. They will no longer be friends after this and I will be done writing about her. For Mnet telling Jen she is not ready, I got inspiration from Victoria Monet being told she was not ready by MTV. But best believe MAMA Awards 2017 with Big Hit making sure she gets her time to shine without dealing with another Idol like Hyuna, she will SLAY. It will suck having Jennie spend long hours every day preparing for her solo before collabing with Hyuna. She planned to release a new song too. The song I thought of was Victoria Monet's Alright. Without the cussing since it would be on TV and also without the Jaguar roaring at the end of the song. That song is a banger! Omg. The plan was to have her perform that song for the first time while DJing and then dance and stuff before Hyuna met with her on stage. She will have the chance to perform it at one of the end of the year shows instead. G-Dragon will give Jen a pep talk on everything too and show support. I hope you like the vision when I write it.)

Mama Awards 2016- Jennie and Taehyung prepare for a stage kiss at the award show and BTS wins Best Artist. Jennie still makes sure to have a little solo dance for Fire when Bangtan performs, proving that she is ready for a solo.

BREAKING!! BTS' Jennie & Jungkook dating!?- Jennie supports Taehyung during his press conference for his drama. JenKook reveal their relationship in their own unique way, catching Dispatch and the world offguard. Big Hit and Bangtan show their support for the couple

BTS GAYO Episodes 10-15

BTS RUN Episodes 10-19

Going Public- With their relationship out, Jennie and Jungkook happily enjoy being a couple without having to be private. BTS attends ISAC 

You Never Walk Alone- Jennie and Jungkook graduate high school. BTS promote their new album with Jennie getting called Storm for dyeing her hair white/grey for the new comeback.

Black Panther- BTS begins their WINGS tour. Black Panther's director reaches out to Big Hit, wanting Jennie to have a small role in the film, and makes a character for her. Excited and honored, Jennie films with the Black Panther cast in Busan for the casino/chase scene, doing her own stunts. (I have been having this idea for years! It'll be a step closer for Jennie and Jungkook to meet Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr. I got major ideas for the future after this Marvel themed chapter! I hope you enjoy the vision when I write it! It's going to be so fun!)

Billboard Awards 2017- Jennie Media trains BTS for America as they prepare to attend the Billboard Awards. Jennie runs into Trinity from Amity. (Best believe she will make sure to let Namjoon know what a heart throb is lol. I still remember that. Lots of Jennie and Namjoon fluff. She is going to have his back)

BTS Festa 2017

BTS Bon Voyage Season 2

Love Yourself: Her- BTS perform at Seo Taiji's 25th anniversary concert. BTS promote their new album

BTS Run Episodes 20-29

BT21- BTS creates their characters for BT21. Jennie creates a cute Hamster character called JW.

American Music Awards 2017- Suffering a broken ankle, Jennie documents her recovery, trying to stay positive as she promotes with BTS in America injured.

Mic Drop Remix- BTS release the Mic Drop Remix. Jennie and Desiigner snap on his version of Mic Drop. Recovered from her injury, Jennie makes a statement with a vocal and dance solo stage during Bangtan's performance after getting her solo scrapped at last year's MAMA Awards.

New Year's Rockin' Eve

Black Panther Premiere & Press Tour In Seoul- BTS attend the Black Panther Premiere to support Jennie. Jennie attends the Press Tour of Black Panther in Korea. Hobi releases his mixtape

Burn The Stage

Complete The Square- After Hobi's mixtape is out, ARMY trends for wanting Jennie, the last of the rap line for BTS, to finally release the music she has been working on for years. (Since there will be 4 people in the rap line of BTS, RM, Suga, Hobi, and Jennie, I thought it would be cool to say complete the square since she's the last one to release solo music)

Jennie X NIKE- Jennie films commercials for her Nike endorsement with celebs like Lebron James and Kevin Hart. Jennie proves that her getting chosen to endorse Nike was one of the best business decisions as her endorsement with the brand is released and sells out immediately, creating high demand. Jennie goes on press tours to promote the brand. (I'm highkey considering her Nike collab to be like Beyonce's IVY Park. Having various collections each time. I am still brainstorming.)

Love Yourself: Tear- BTS promote their new album. BTS attends the Billboard Awards 2018. BTS goes on Ellen and the Late Late Show with James Corden. (Jennie is not a fan of Ellen and will think of the negative experience she had during the Amity days with her.)

BTS Festa 2018

The Square Is Complete- Jennie finally releases her solo music

#bts 8th member #jungkook x oc #bangtan boys #bts #bts additional member #the bangtan gal #bts fanfic #smol rambles #smol update #bts black oc #jungkook x black oc #bts female oc #bts female addition #bts female member #bts fanfiction #kpop fanfiction #kpop black oc

[sinsandsuccubus]

28 Reasons - Jack Harlow

Context: “Ooh-ooh, I'm breaking every rule”; “I want to keep tormenting you”

Genre: angst

Word Count: 1,200+

Pairings: Jack Harlow x Toxic!Fem!Reader

Warnings: mentions of cheating, 16+

A/N: I got this idea from a K-pop song by Seulgi called “28 Reasons”. If you’d like to listen to the song or get the gist of the story through the lyrics, here’s the link!

-

Masterlist ☽☾

                                          ☽ ☾

“28 reasons that ruined you, you don't have to know”

“I have no bad intentions”

You didn’t have exactly 28 reasons to torment your best friend’s ex. But considering how their relationship ended, it was enough to feel into 28.

As you sat across from him at the dinner table, you wondered what your best friend had seen in him that had her head over heels. That made her damn near commit herself to a hospital over the breakup.

Your hands sat in his, his fingertips running along your knuckles, a promise ring sitting nicely amongst your right-ring-finger.

You’d probably pawn it before you headed back home. Help pay for your flight.

“You know all 28 reasons to run away”

“So, why are you leaning into me again?”

6 months and 14 days.

28 weeks.

196 days.

196 days you spent with the bastard. Jack had no clue who you were, and you intended to keep it that way until the end.

Your best friend always mentioned who you were, but never showed your face, waiting for “the right time” for him to meet you.

Thank God that never happened.

A quick fake ID from a close friend at home, dyed hair, and a new name had you feeling like a new woman. Which was also the point. You wanted to break his heart into shards, make him feel the pain she felt.

You were pretty sure he was in love with you. Especially considering the gifts he bought you, which you also intended to pawn. Or keep, maybe.

But you definitely didn’t feel the same. That was the whole point.

“Unfamiliar attraction.”

“Look at you helpless, feel so bad.”

You in fact did feel kind of bad, but at the same time, you thought it was funny. Funny how weak he was. Funny how he was so stupid to believe the little lies you told him.

“I’m from another country, France.”

You took French in college, enough to speak fluently for this purpose.

“I’ve always wanted to see America. I never got the chance, my parents are so strict.”

Your parents let you travel abroad. They also let your Aunt take you to a bar at 16 with a fake ID.

“I’ve always wanted to date an American boy.”

After this trip, you were CERTAIN you were a part of the Alphabet Mafia. You already considered yourself bi-curious, why not make it permanent?

“I’m a virgin.”

You were definitely NOT. Your body count was fair, but being a virgin? Not on your bingo card.

Overall, it was worth it. Worth it to see the pain on his face when he found out exactly who you truly were, which wouldn’t be long. As he had already paid for your meal, which was expensive by the way, and was preparing to take the two of you back to his hotel for “alone time.”

Alone time. What a perfect time to break the man who broke your bestfriend.

“I will show you heaven.”

“I'm not the devil.”

The lingerie set you picked out made you feel sexy. You felt, even more, sexier going off of the simple fact that Jack thought he was going to get some tonight.

In his wildest dreams.

While he was in the bathroom, you texted your best friend to let her know the room number and advise her how to get the key card. You also set your phone up to begin recording without Jack noticing. Eventually, he stumbled out of the bathroom, claiming to be excited about the fun you two were getting ready to have.

Yeah, the next few minutes we’re definitely going to be fun.

“I swear, I need you, my desires are growing”

“I'm playing with you like a kid”

“Hovering like your shadow and whispering to you”

“I'm your light and your darkness”

You pushed him back onto the bed, straddling him, licking up his neck as he moaned out.

“You’re really good at this. You sure this is your first time?”

You smiles at him, making your way down the bed, to his jeans, undoing the buckle as you slid them off, his hard-on straining in his boxers.

“I’ve watched a lot of… stuff..”

He chuckled, making eye contact with you as you played with the waistband of his boxers.

At that moment there was a knock at the door, Jack sitting up in the bed.

“Huh?”

“Room service!” The person announced, before you replied allowing them to come in, your French accent slipping. Jack looked at you in confusion as you slid off of him, standing back as your best friend came in, phone in hand, the camera on as you panned to you, then to Jack, shaking her head.

“Y/N? Y/BF/N? What’s going on?” Jack asked in a panic, moving to find his jeans, which you had conveniently tossed to the other side of the room. Swiftly you slipped on your old outfit, swapping out the heels for a pair of sneakers your best friend brought for you.

“28 reasons you don't have to know”

“I have no bad intentions”

“(Do you just love the pain?)”

“I played you. I played you, Jack, like a goddamn video game, and damn was I good at it, call me the MVP.” You laughed, moving to stand by your best friend.

“Y/N… this isn’t funny.”

“Oh, it definitely was. Watching you fall for me, become infatuated with the idea of being with me, being in love with me, while I felt nothing for you. It was amazing. The highlight of my year.”

You could see his face grow red as a tomato, veins beginning to bulge from his neck.

“Why the fuck would you do some shit like that?! What kind of sick person are you?”

“Sick? You’re calling me sick? My best friend was in the hospital because of you, and you didn’t care! Even when she reached out to you. Even when she told you she loved you, you went behind her back and cheated on her just like it was nothing. How you claimed to not know her in front of the woman, knowing damn well you were with her a few hours before. How your best friend kept that dirty little secret for you. How you thought that was okay. That’s fucking sick. So, I played the game. I made you fall in love with me, just like you made Y/BF/N fall in love with you. And I broke your heart, just like you did to Y/BF/N. Jackman Thomas Harlow, a fucking man whore who doesn’t know how to keep his dick in his pants. Doesn’t feel too good, does it?”

Jack remained speechless, making you laugh as you grabbed your belongings, picking up your phone to shut off the recording.

“You’ll regret this.” He spoke as you moved towards the door, now sitting at the edge of the bed.

“Oh, we won’t. Trust me. And don’t try anything,” you tapped your phone, “I have all the memories. Just in case.” You slid out the door with your best friend, running down the stairs and out the hotel's side door. You felt good. And you hoped she felt better.

“Thank you, Y/N.” Your bestfriend spoke, tears in her eyes.

“Of course.”

“Unfamiliar attraction”

“Look at you exhausted, feel so bad”

“I will show you heaven (I'll show you)”

“I'm not the devil”

“Feel free to hate me more, I don't care”

“The more you break the more you'll want me”

#jack harlow x reader #jack harlow #jack harlow fanfic #jack harlow fanfiction #jack harlow fic #jack harlow scenario #jack harlow imagines #jack harlow imagine #Jack harlow au

[sentinelpri]

Hush Hush

It’s a warm day in Konoha as Naruto Uzumaki runs up to his teammates, Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno. They’ve been waiting for him on the bridge- probably for a little too long- but he is not to blame nearly as much as his spoiled milk. When he approaches the two other Genin, he excitedly greets them with a smile. 

“Sakura, Sasuke!”

Naruto stands in front of his friends and waits for whatever it is they have to say in response to him, though he doesn’t really care. They have their normal D-rank missions today- stupid grunt work like walking dogs, picking weeds, catching cats, and babysitting noble children- but Naruto has something more important on his mind; Iruka-Sensei’s upcoming birthday.

“Naruto, you’re late!” Sakura scolds, then pauses to look at his face. “Oh, no. You look like you’re up to no good this morning.”

“Yeah, now that she mentions it, you have even more pep in your step than usual,” Sasuke points out as he crosses his arms and rolls his eyes.

“Iruka-Sensei’s birthday is in a couple months!” Naruto exclaims, though neither Sakura nor Sasuke look very impressed with the important information he’s just told them.

“And?” Sasuke questions with a raised eyebrow. “Why should I care?”

“Well, y’know, he’s like a dad to me,” Naruto answers, speaking a little quieter now. Sakura’s expression softens, but Sasuke’s remains unmoving; uncaring as always. Naruto can’t stand that about the Uchiha. “I want to do something for him! It took me a while to come up with something, but I think I have a good plan. The only problem is that I need both you guys’ help with it.”

“And why would I want to do that?”

“C’mon, Sasuke, Iruka-Sensei was a good teacher to all of us and you know it!” Sakura argues and places a hand on Sasuke’s shoulder. Unsurprisingly, Sasuke scoffs and pulls away. “The least we could do is do something nice for him!”

“Fine,” Sasuke sighs and looks at Naruto. “What’s your plan, then?”

“Now that’s where it gets tricky,” Naruto laughs nervously, then continues. He doesn’t meet either of his teammates’ eyes. “I was thinking, Iruka-Sensei works way too much. Like, it’s so bad that he spends all his time teaching, doing dumb teacher stuff that isn’t teaching, or training! He has no friends, it’s actually kinda sad, but what if we got him a girlfriend?”

“Your idea of a birthday gift is setting up this poor, traumatized, overworked man with a date?” 

“Sasuke, don’t be such a downer!” Sakura insists. “I think it’s a great idea- Iruka-Sensei could use a little love in his life! He does seem pretty lonely.”

“I don’t think that’s such a great idea… Hm,” Sasuke shrugs in what appears to be a reluctant agreement. “Fine. Since you two are so excited about it, I’ll help, but I refuse to take the blame if it backfires.”

Suddenly, the final member of their team shows up; Kakashi, who’s even later than Naruto. The Jonin flickers down to stand behind Naruto.

“Man, you guys are awful,” Kakashi laughs, looking terribly amused. “Your poor former Sensei is overworked and his birthday is coming up, so you think what he needs is a girlfriend? Like that won’t add more stress and commitment to his life?”

“K-Kakashi-Sensei!” Naruto jumps and whirls around to face Kakashi, whose chest he nearly slams his head into. “When did you get here!?”

“Before you did, Naruto, I was just hiding in the trees to listen to your little scheme,” Kakashi explains. “You know, you really shouldn’t make a habit of being so late to things.”

“Like you’re one to talk!? You’re even more late than I am!”

“Tsk tsk. Do as I say, not as I do, you’ll live much happier lives that way. That being said, shall we get started for the day?”

All three of them answer, Naruto’s birthday gift for Iruka forgotten for now.

“Yes, Kakashi-Sensei!”

~

Later that day, Sakura gathers her two teammates to revisit their plan for Iruka’s birthday. The gist of Naruto’s idea is to find someone in the village that would be a good fit for Iruka and set them up on a blind date around the day of Iruka’s birthday. It sounds sensible enough, but when Sakura finds herself dragged along with Sasuke to lurk in a tree just outside of the academy, she can’t help but be a tad confused about what’s going on.

“Okay, so I understand why you want to get Iruka-Sensei a girlfriend, but how are we going to do that by stalking him?” Sakura questions while furrowing her brow in confusion.

“Well, we have to make sure he doesn’t already have a super secret hidden relationship first!” Naruto answers oh-so-confidently, to which Sasuke pinches the bridge of his nose between his pointer finger and his thumb before responding with an exasperated-

“God, you’re a fucking idiot.”

“I dunno, I think it’s a fair point,” Sakura acquiesces to Naruto’s idea, even if she doesn’t want to admit that she agrees with the hardheaded blond more than she does with Sasuke. “It’d be pretty awkward if we tried to set him up on a date only to find out he’s already with someone.”

“Yup! Just as I said!” Naruto says in a terribly loud whisper, his bright blue eyes trained on Iruka as he walks out of the academy. Unfortunately, Iruka isn’t an idiot. He looks around, clearly on guard and aware of the fact that he’s not alone when he leaves work. Naruto is oblivious to it. “So we’re just gonna follow him for a few days, get a hang of his routine. Surely if he’s seeing someone we’d notice them, so if we don’t see anything, we can go ahead with the real plan!”

“Fine, if you say so…” Sakura trails off. “I have a bad feeling about this.”

~~

Sasuke Uchiha has a single goal in life; to kill his brother, Itachi Uchiha, and avenge his clan. So, he doesn’t like wasting time on trivial things like romance or D-Rank missions, preferring to spend his time training and doing more important things. That being said, since being assigned to squad seven, Sasuke has learned that he can make connections with people- whether he wants to or not. Sakura and Naruto are both very persistent and surprisingly endearing, so he can’t help but love them dearly, even if he will never admit it out loud to either of them.

Because of that love, he goes along with their foolish plan to set Iruka up on some sort of date. A couple of weeks have passed since Naruto mentioned his idea to them and they haven’t gotten any closer to bringing that idea to fruition. Iruka’s birthday draws closer and closer by the day.

Sasuke can’t understand why his teammates have such an interest in their former teacher’s love life, but if it’ll make them happy, he figures that helping with them won’t hurt. The only issue is that both of them are horrendous at hiding both their Chakra and their presence because they’re so noisy and unskilled. Sasuke, the more talented of the three, decides that to make any progress with getting an idea of Iruka’s routine while remaining unnoticed is staking Iruka out by himself.

So far, he’s been successful. They offered to go with him to track Iruka today, but he feigned a stomach bug and said he had to get home. The other two Genin, dejected, went to their own homes to do God knows what, leaving Sasuke to his own devices. He followed Iruka to the academy to watch him teach, to his lunch break, back to the academy, and finally to his humble apartment. Conveniently enough, Sasuke manages to hide just outside of Iruka’s large window. He concentrates his Chakra to his hands so he can hang on to the window sill without hurting his fingers or falling off. He activates his Sharingan and peers through the window.

Iruka hasn’t done much since he’s been home; graded some papers, cooked dinner. Sasuke has noticed, however, that Iruka set his kitchen table with two spots; directly across from each other, each with a plate, a cloth napkin, silverware, and a wine glass. In the middle of the table is a vase of red roses, and Iruka has an ungodly amount of scented candles lit across the apartment. 

Suddenly, Iruka perks up and rushes to the front door.

“Oh, he’s here!”

Sasuke watches. Much to his surprise, when Iruka opens the door, there’s none other than Kakashi standing on the other side. Sasuke’s lips gently part in shock as he listens to the words that come from Kakashi’s mouth.

“Iruka-Sensei, I missed you today.”

“I missed you too, Kakashi…” Iruka pulls Kakashi into the apartment in a way that’s overly familiar, shuts the door, and wraps his arms around the Jonin’s taller body. Kakashi hugs him back. Sasuke has never seen such affectionate or intimate displays from either man, and to be honest, he’s incredibly uncomfortable now that he has. He shouldn’t be here. He shouldn’t be seeing this. Damn Naruto and Sakura for dragging him into this stupid nonsense… “It’s good to see you. I’ve had a long day.”

“You’re telling me,” Kakashi breaks loose from Iruka’s hug and walks to the kitchen with the Chunin following him like a lost puppy. “I don’t know how you handled those three for so long on top of a dozen other children.”

“Are you ready for dinner?” Iruka asks as Kakashi sits at the dinner table.

“Yeah, I’m pretty hungry.”

“Great.”

Iruka grabs the pot full of spaghetti that he had been working on, serves them both a plateful, and sets it back on the stove. Then, he sits across from Kakashi. The two eat in comfortable, romantic silence. Sasuke doesn’t miss how they sneak the occasional glance at each other with such sickening affection in their eyes when they think the other isn’t looking.

“So… Are the kids still following you?” Kakashi questions.

Sasukei’s stomach drops. Iruka knew, he knew that much, but Kakashi, too? They’ve both known about their plan the whole time. How embarrassing…

“Yeah, pretty much any time they haven’t been with you today, they were outside of the academy stalking me or following me home. Pretty creepy, to be honest.”

“They’re ridiculous,” Kakashi laughs and shakes his head. Somehow, he has managed to hide his face from Sasuke while eating impeccably with the simple use of one hand. From the angle they’re at, though, Iruka must have seen Kakashi’s face… He must’ve seen it anyway. They’re dating, after all. It’s a weird thought; that Iruka knows so much more about Kakashi than any of the rest of them do. How did this even happen in the first place, though? Why are they hiding it? “I meant to tell you that I heard what they’re up to. It took me a bit to piece it together, but they think you’re single.”

“What does that have to do with this?” Iruka demands.

“You won’t believe me, but… They want to set you up on a date with a woman as some sort of weird birthday gift.”

“Seriously?” Iruka groans, then face-palms. “Bad at teamwork and bad at using their gaydars. Who would’ve guessed?”

“I could have, honestly, it’s not out of character for them to do this shit,” Kakashi sighs. Then, his gaze flickers to the window. “But before we continue this, Iruka, I don’t think we’re alone.”

“Shit…” Sasuke whispers under his breath, knowing that his confusion about the entire situation made him lose focus on controlling his Chakra.

“Sasuke, go home, will you?” Kakashi raises his voice to say while pulling his mask back up. “I’m trying to have a private conversation with my boyfriend.”

Saying nothing, Sasuke listens and scurries away as fast as possible. Who knows what sort of consequences this fiasco will have for them come morning…

~~~

A couple of days pass after Sasuke stalks their shared dinner at Iruka’s apartment. Kakashi doesn’t say anything to his Genin students about the incident or about the situation in general- mostly because it’s awkward, but also because watching them squirm in guilt about going behind Iruka’s back is hilarious. He doesn’t know if Sasuke has told his other squad members about what occurred at Iruka’s apartment, but he does know that the situation is making Iruka increasingly nervous.

So, they schedule a dinner at Ichiraku with Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura to clear the air.

The five sit at Ichiraku on the tiny red stools at the bar. While Kakashi sits on the very outer corner and Iruka sits on the inside, their three students sit between them with Naruto next to Iruka, Sasuke next to Kakashi, and Sakura in the middle. The silence is deafening minus the occasional noodle slurping- at least until Kakashi clears his throat and speaks up.

“So, Sasuke already knows, but we invited you here tonight to tell you something important.”

Naruto perks up at that, lightly elbowing Iruka, who looks back at him with a blush.

“What is it, Iruka-Sensei?”

“Kakashi overheard your plan to set me up on a date, and he told me all about it,” Iruka says with a nervous chuckle and scratches his chin. Kakashi simply watches with hearts in his eyes. He didn’t want their two year long relationship to come out like this, but he’s happy that they’re able to tell their students after hiding it for so long. It’ll be a weight lifted off of both of their shoulders- that and they can finally start inviting the kiddos to dinner after work without worrying about what they’ll say. “I’m happy to inform you that there’s no need to do that, as kind of a gesture as it is. I’m already dating someone and have been for over a year.”

“What? Who is she? Do I know her!?” Naruto excitedly asks question after question, which makes Kakashi struggle to hold back his laughter.

“Is it Anko?” Sakura inquires, and it’s a valid inquiry since Anko and Iruka are close friends and coworkers, but she doesn’t know just how wrong she is.

“No, it’s Kakashi,” Iruka clarifies.

Sasuke doesn’t appear even remotely surprised, as he had found out days earlier, though it’s apparent that he didn’t bother telling Sakura or Naruto. Sakura’s seafoam eyes are blown wide as she damn near chokes on her ramen, and Naruto looks like he’s barely able to keep from screaming the roof off of the establishment with the shock that takes over his expression.

“What?” Naruto shoots straight up and frantically looks between Kakashi and Iruka, who are now smiling at each other. “Why didn’t you tell me!?”

“Well, Naruto, it’s complicated. As much as we love each other, and as much as Iruka wants to be transparent with you all about things,” Kakashi explains and waits for all three of his students to be paying attention before he continues. “I have led a very dangerous life. I’ve fought in wars, been a squad captain of the Anbu, fought Orochimaru… I’ve come close to death a lot of times. Iruka leads a more peaceful life than I, and if everyone else were to know about our relationship, he could be a target for people looking to hurt me. We’ve only hidden it for this long to protect each other.”

“...Oh,” Naruto says quietly.

Thankfully, he seems to understand. Kakashi lets out a sigh of relief. He was half-expecting Naruto to release the ninetails and maul him to death for daring to touch his beloved teacher- now father figure. Naruto doesn’t overreact in an angry or sad manner, though. Sakura and Sasuke are clearly neutral about it as Sakura taps Sasuke’s shoulder and questions-

“Wait, Sasuke, how did you know?”

“I went off to trail Iruka’s nighttime routine on my own the other night and saw them having dinner together. They’ve known about us following them the whole time because you two can’t hide your Chakra,” Sasuke scoffs like he’s better than his two teammates, because why wouldn’t he? Kakashi opens his mouth to clarify that the Uchiha isn’t much better since he was spotted by Kakashi as well the other night, but before he can, Sasuke admits to it. “Kakashi caught me, though.”

“So we should keep this a secret too then, right?” Sakura asks.

“If you wouldn’t mind,” Kakashi nods as he finishes up his food and pays the tab before Iruka can stop him from doing so. “We still don’t want anyone else to know, we only told you three so you’d stop snooping.”

“Damn!” Naruto yells and holds his head in his hands. At first, Kakashi is slightly concerned. The following claim from the blond makes all of them laugh, though, and whatever concern was there quickly fades. “That means I’m going to have to save money to buy Iruka-Sensei an actual birthday gift instead of surprising him with my super awesome plan!”

“Seriously? You idiot!” Sakura raises her voice and crosses her arms as she yells at Naruto with pink cheeks. “I’d help you pay for it, ya know!”

“Me too, actually,” Sasuke quietly agrees, trying to seem like he doesn’t care when he clearly does.

Kakashi laughs once more. Meanwhile, Iruka objects. His chocolate brown eyes flicker between the three Genin.

“No, no,” The brunette insists and shakes his head ‘no’. “That’s not necessary. None of you need to get me a birthday gift. Just a birthday wish on the day will suffice. If you insist on getting me a gift, I don’t want you to waste your hard earned money on it. So make me a card or a cake or something of that nature, okay?”

“Yes, Iruka-Sensei,” The three agree, and with that, they’re all back to enjoying their meal and their drinks.

Just then, Kakashi realizes.

Iruka’s birthday is in a little under two months and he still hasn’t gotten Iruka a gift either…

#kakairu #irukaka #Kakashi #Kakashi Hatake #naruto #Naruto Shippuden #Naruto Uzumaki #Sasuke Uchiha #Sakura Haruno #iruka umino #fluff #oneshot #oneshots #drabble #drabbles

[itbmojojoejo]

Alright, i just finished watching High Life and uhhh yeah, i usually enjoy artsy thrillers etc but i have no idea how to feel about this film. Ewan was fantastic ofc, scary, but brilliant. Mans got talent. More thoughts (major spoilers and mentions of violence included) below the cut cause i need to get them out and have no one to talk about it with. 

First things first - i would not recommend this film to anyone that is sensitive to seeing any type of violence towards women or perhaps those that are having fertility issues as i know this can be upsetting. i was already aware of the gist of the film before watching so i knew what to expect but what was unexpected is how all those moments and details were actually delivered. 

I am going to praise Ewan for his acting here before i continue on with my WTF WAS THAT thoughts. Everything ive seen him in there has been a very clear if not HUGE difference between all of his characters, that man is NOT a one trick pony at all. He left me feeling freaked out and uncomfortable with Ettore’s brutality. Im very excited to see what else Ewan does in the future because he truly is talented and thats easy to see, especially when you put dear baby monk Osferth next to Aemond, Tom Bennet and Ettore (I have not seen his other works forgive me do not come for me with pitchforks and torches) . Hes managing to provide fully fleshed out and complex characters with a few minutes on screen at a time - this man is not flipping through a script and winging it once hes on set. He is more than just a pretty face to me, i really hope he gets the opportunity for more projects to carry on dazzling us. 

Now onto the film itself - we’re told that every member of the experiment was given a life sentence or  death penalty. That experiment being - “The real goal, the film tells us verbally, is to assess how great levels of radiation impact the human body”

How does Dibs and her little fertility experiment that was further endangering the lives of the women on board fit into this? Whose idea was that? and past the point of early infancy (i.e. the incubator) there seemed to be nothing on board this ship to accommodate a child. Dibs was clearly a convicted killer just like the others had been, she confirmed to Boyse she smothered her own children and used a knife on her husband. Was her clear obsession with Monte all because of his chastity too? and what was her being in the box all about with that furry thing that caressed her??? im confused at that. 

We know that the prisoners files are on board because Willow tells Monte she read his, so if the captain and Dibs knew what crimes people had committed what reason did they have to restrain the women to their beds in unlocked sleeping quarters??? Thats a problem waiting to happen. They could have avoided that whole situation with Ettore. Why were they even restrained in the first place? And why was Nansen in sleeping quarters with the men? Where did Dibs sleep? Did she ever sleep?

I think a little background info on all of the people would have been nice too, nothing big just a little tid bit, we know why Monte was there, we caught a glimpse of the life Boyse had but past the train thingy we dont know what she did. Tcherny mentions he thought joining the experiment would be honourable after bringing shame to his wife and son, and if i hadnt read the plot pre watch i wouldnt of got that he committed suicide (this could be something i’d pick up on with a rewatch but im not sure thats going to happen). And i dont think Nansen,  Mink or Elektra are referred to by name at all??? (again i could of just missed this while questioning wtf i was watching)

Boyse and Monte - what was their little connection that was hinted at all about? the side eyes, she cut him, he punched her, then they held hands??? explain pls.

And if Dibs was so set on having a baby on board why did she then throw herself off the ship? The injuries she got from Mink didnt seem to be life threatening? Did anyone notice that the women had more violent deaths depicted than the men too? What was that ship with just dogs on it about? And lastly - the films ending, did they die? is that what that was???

If anyone wants to chat about this please feel free!

#high life #ettore #ewan mitchell #tw violence #tw spoilers

[fruggo]

I’m not gonna lie this would be the first time I requested something so if I do something wrong I’m really sorry,

Can I request Quentin, Leon, Steve, and Frank meeting a female reader who, before the entity took her, had already faced off her own killer?

And this made her kinda tough? Like she knows what she’s doing

oh my gosh thank you so much!! this is my first ever request to fulfill so we’re in this together :DD seriously i really appreciate you!

i decided to do a headcanon kind of format for this, i hope that’s okay! also these are my absolute favorite boys aaahhh this is so fun for a first request

the boys x tough f!reader (part 1) (part 2)

warnings: swearing, reader kicks frank in the shins

word count: ~700-1k each (sorry if it’s too long…i kind of got really excited and uhhh maybe i got carried away,, yeah. sorry)

(also i'll be honest quentin's is not my best. that was the one that got eaten by the tumblr abyss and i had to write all over again, and it just didn't come out the same way that i wanted it to at first :( i did the other boys hoping i'd get some inspiration to fix it afterwards, but i got kind of stuck. so it's not my favorite, but i hope you like it okay! i want to write better stuff for quentin in the future, he is my favorite sleepy boy <3)

𝐐𝐔𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐍 𝐒𝐌𝐈𝐓𝐇

when you arrived in the realm, everyone thought you would be the same as the others—frightened, confused, and overwhelmed. but you took this nightmarish challenge in stride, adapting to your surroundings quickly and learning far faster than anybody else had.

your past experiences had made you independent and sometimes distrustful, so once you had the gist of things, you didn’t need (or want) anybody to tell you what to do. and nobody was inclined to, either—your instincts naturally told you what to do and when.

the first time you met quentin was a little awkward, i wont lie. you were wary of speaking to the other survivors; you weren’t going to let yourself get hurt again.

it was the beginning of a trial. the nurse’s fatigued shrills could be heard all the way from the edge of the wrecker’s yard, but you immediately started work on a generator, unafraid. a few minutes passed, when soft footsteps indicated someone’s approach. it was quentin—he started to work on the wires without hesitation.

you were a little surprised, only because the other survivors usually left you to your own devices. you got the impression that maybe they were intimidated by you, which you didn’t particularly mind. but you wouldn’t particularly mind some company now and then, either.

it was comfortably silent for a while, before quentin spoke up.

“what’s your name?” he asked, gaze still focused on the wires.

hesitating a little, you told him. then you said, “and you’re quentin, right?” you already knew most everybody’s name just from observation.

“that i am,” he replied.

then it was quiet for a while.

very quiet.

well, what were you supposed to say now?

the silence was deafening and very, very uncomfortable to you. normally you were okay with a quiet atmosphere, but it was the kind of silence that buzzed in your ears, chewed at your stomach, filled the area as if it were something solid. man, what were you supposed to say—

it was then that you realized poor quentin had fallen asleep, his face smooshed onto the generator. his cheek was now covered in grease and grime.

it made you smile—only a little. you finished repairing the generator on your own, causing quentin to wake with a start and bang his head on the pole protruding from the machine. he swore like a sailor until he realized where he was, smiling sheepishly.

“sorry, i wanted you to have your nap. you looked really tired,” you said. you also couldn’t stop admiring the dark grease on his face—it was really quite funny. and no, you weren’t going to say anything about it. it could stay there a little longer.

you spent the rest of the trial running the nurse around the whole wrecker’s yard, only suffering one injury until the end. quentin had no idea how you had been here for such little time and already knew how to outplay the nurse, one of the most difficult killers to survive against. he still didn’t know how to do it well himself, so he was thankful for you.

however, once the exit gates were opened, you found yourself in a bad spot. the nurse had caught you in an empty clearing with nowhere to hide or predict her moves, and she downed you instantly. quentin cringed hearing your agonized scream as you were hooked.

there was no way you were dying on his watch. once he was sure the nurse was gone, he gently lifted you from the hook, pulling out his medical kit to begin patching up your shoulder.

despite the pain, you had enough energy to smile at him and say, “thanks, nap boy.”

quentin feigned offense with a wry grin, pulling out some gauze. “is that all i’m going to be to you? nap boy?”

you hummed, pretending to be deep in thought. “maybe you won’t be if you get me out of here.”

“that won’t be a problem," he smiled, quirking an eyebrow.

“show me the gates and then we’ll talk, nap boy.”

from then on, quentin became your go-to source for supplies and general comfort. you weren't scared of this place, but it was nice to know you had somebody who would really be there for you.

he would often fall asleep on your shoulder at the campfire--he really was a nap boy, and you would never let him live that down.

𝐋𝐄𝐎𝐍 𝐊𝐄𝐍𝐍𝐄𝐃𝐘

leon could not tear his eyes away from you the first time you arrived in the realm. your presence was strong; he could tell you weren’t one to back away from a fight.

most of the survivors had been (rightly) confused and disoriented when they popped into the realm, but you tried to accept it quickly. you didn’t like it, in fact all you wanted was just to go home, but you came to terms with it and jumped into trials headfirst like an insane person.

that was the courageous part about you—maybe you were scared, but you did scary shit anyways. in fact, you did scary shit to spite the fear, to prove to yourself that you were strong enough to overcome it.

and leon couldn’t lie, that was cool as hell.

you had tunnel vision and didn’t pay much notice to the other survivors; you were too focused on learning about this place and getting out of trials. having gone through some real shit, being here hardly came as a surprise to you. if you were going to be here forever, what was the point in mourning? might as well just accept it and try your hardest to survive. maybe someday this sick game would end, but for now, you were prepared to fight for your life and that’s all you could really focus on.

your first trial was not the best. even though you were resourceful, you didn’t know what the objective was yet, so you weren’t sure where to start other than analyzing your surroundings. luckily for you, leon kennedy was one of your teammates.

after being downed immediately by bubba’s chainsaw and tossed onto a hook, you were amazingly resilient to the pain. leon was the one to lift you from the hook, and he took out his medkit to help patch your wound, but you flinched away from him before he could touch you.

he was puzzled. “what’s wrong?” he asked. he didn’t want to make you uncomfortable, but he wanted to help you.

you hesitated and looked him over before mumbling, “i’m fine.” and you tried to stand on your own, beginning to limp away. you didn’t want or need anyone’s help.

leon sighed, following after you. “let me help, that must hurt a lot.”

“i told you, cop, i’m fine. i don’t want your help, okay?”

leon opened his mouth to insist, but decided against it. if you didn’t want his help, then he shouldn’t butt in. that wouldn’t keep him from watching over you, though.

but then leon called after you (perhaps a little smugly), “do you even know what you’re supposed to do?”

begrudgingly, you stopped walking. no, you didn’t know what to do. “i’ll figure it out,” you said over your shoulder. and you would; you had been through enough to survive any situation thrown at you.

but maybe one pointer couldn’t hurt.

“do a generator,” he told you, giving you a cheeky grin when you turned around to look at him. he was lucky he was cute.

the first part of the trial had been rough, but after that first hook you were doing a lot better. you managed to find your own medkit from a chest, and you learned how to fix a few generators. you found it came pretty naturally, and were satisfied that you hadn’t needed anyone’s help (except leon’s. but you didn’t have to admit that yet). when the killer came near, you skillfully avoided him and stayed hidden as much as you could.

you were also pretending that you didn't notice leon hovering near you. he was not very good at being subtle; he was obviously trying to make sure you didn't get hurt. it was cute. you didn't want to ruin his fun, so you didn't say anything about it.

it wasn’t long before the gates were powered and in the process of being opened. you saw a red glowing light in the distance, and assumed that must be your destination. you put all of your remaining energy into sprinting to the exit, adrenaline pumping through your body.

but then there was a heartbeat. a heartbeat so loud it filled your head, splitting your concentration. it wasn’t your own heartbeat--it was the killer’s.

the sound of the cannibal’s chainsaw roared in your ears and pain tore through your body; you collapsed to the ground with a cry of agony. shit, that really hurt, and you weren't sure you could ever get used to it. eternity sure seemed a lot longer than you had first anticipated. would you really be here forever? doing this over and over?

biting your lip until it bled, you tried to crawl towards the gate, dragging the lower half of your body with much difficulty. it was no use, though--you hardly got anywhere, and you could already feel the killer picking you up. just like that, you were going to die? you had been so close..

but as you were being placed on bubba’s shoulder, you saw a flash of a police uniform and a blinding light, and before you knew it, you had been dropped to the ground, the exit gate looking awfully lovely and much more desirable than a meat hook. you gathered all of your strength and began limping forward, when suddenly you felt an arm firmly wrap around your waist and your own was placed around someone else’s shoulder.

leon. when you looked up at him, all he did was give you a calm smile, which you felt inclined to return. with him supporting you, the two of you made it safely to the exit and began the long traipse back to the campfire, where you would find yourself spending a lot of time together.

from then on, you always remained quite unfazed by the events of the entity’s realm—the only thing that ever made you feel weak was being around leon. he was just so cute :]

𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐕𝐄 𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐓𝐎𝐍

you had never met someone so persistent in your life. from the moment the entity stole you here, steve harrington was after you, and there was next to nothing you could do about it. he sure was living up to his self-proclaimed role of babysitter.

you told him you were fine, that you didn’t need him following you around, but the asshole did it anyways.

“how cool do you think you are?” you asked him at some point, to which he simply shrugged with that stupid grin on his lips.

“i can take care of myself.” “i really don’t need you to baby me, steve.” “steve, if you don’t leave me alone i’m going to break your kneecaps.” these were all things that had come from your mouth multiple times recently. you were seriously thinking about that last one now.

you knew you could make it on your own, and you only wished he would give you a chance to prove that to him so he would leave you alone. but it was like he had attached himself to your hip, and for some reason the entity seemed to really enjoy putting you in trials with him. great.

he was a dumbass and a sweetheart, and you weren’t sure which one of those took higher priority. you knew he only meant well, but god, you wanted to be independent for once. why did he think he had to protect you so much? you arrived here after running for your fucking life, fighting off your long-time pursuer, and living in awful, ever-changing conditions. you had seen your closest friends die, right before your eyes. you didn’t need to be sheltered or coddled, but you couldn’t seem to make steve understand that, no matter how much you fought with him.

steve would literally throw himself in front of the killer for you. he clicked his flashlight in the killer’s face if they were after you, and he would swear and cuss until they chased him out of pure annoyance. it got him killed countless times, and you didn’t know whether to call him stupid or selfless. probably both.

eventually you decided to just copy him and see how it worked out. you weren’t scared, you had no reason to be. you wanted to show him you could be just as flashy as him.

as you arrived into a trial, steve right across from you (of course), you smiled to yourself. you had brought your best flashlight, and you were prepared to use it. the two of you began to work on a generator together, making light conversation as usual.

“if the killer comes here, hide. i’ll take him away.” “fuck you, steve harrington.” “sure, if you really want to.” “why don’t you ever leave me alone?” “it’s a mystery, isn’t it?” “i could punch you right now.” “but you won’t. i’m too good to look at.”

you know, the usual friendly stuff.

you purposefully connected the wrong wires, making the generator spark and sputter. “oops. oh no, the killer must be on their way,” you dead-panned. steve gave you an unamused look.

and indeed, only a few moments later, you heard the sound of the hillbilly and his chainsaw roaring in your direction. the two of you split up, and the killer’s weapon collided with the generator, making an awful screeching sound.

and that was when the chaos started.

steve began hollering and flicking his flashlight into the sky as usual, and after a moment’s hesitation, you did the same. steve looked at you in astonishment, pausing, but then he started again, even louder. you tried to outdo him.

“HEY BILLY! FUCK YOU!” you screamed, ignoring steve’s attempts to get you to stop. “COME AFTER ME, SHITHEAD!”

steve started actually yelling, just yelling, while you continued to swear meaninglessly. the poor hillbilly looked confused and overwhelmed, and eventually he couldn’t take the noise anymore--he just left, opting to find the other survivors while the two of you sorted out whatever it is you obviously had against each other.

it was dead silent now that the killer was gone, and you and steve were both out of breath. but as soon as you made eye contact, laughter bubbled up from your chest, causing you to collapse against the tree and slide to the ground. your voice was hoarse from all the screaming.

and then he was laughing too, stumbling over to plop down next to you, and your giggling started up a whole new round.

after the laughter died down, you stared at your hands, ignoring steve’s gaze on the side of your face until you couldn’t anymore.

“what?” you asked, finally looking at him. he was smiling all stupid again. “what?” you insisted, fighting off a grin of your own. you hated when he looked at you like that, because it made you want to smile back at him.

“nothing,” he said coyly, laughing again. you punched his shoulder playfully.

“c’mon harrington, when have you ever held your tongue before? spit it out.”

he nodded, that was true. so he said it. “i just like you, that’s all.”

oh. oh.

realization dawned upon your face. “is that why you always--”

“yes,” he interrupted you. “i thought it was obvious. man, you’re clueless sometimes.”

oh.

huh.

you guessed…maybe…steve harrington wasn’t that annoying. maybe.

𝐅𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐊 𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐍

to say you were feisty was an understatement. frank hated your guts at first because you were so good at evading him, which he would never admit. but the thing that made him really mad was that if he ever downed you, you would kick at him and try to trip him over, like actually bruise his shins. it hurt like hell.

this lead to his decision to constantly tunnel you, and he would laugh at you while you were on the hook, too. so you hated his guts just as much as he did yours. it was a mutual guts-hating situation.

your teammates always felt bad for you, but they also thought you were a badass and knew you could handle yourself. you hadn’t told anybody where you’d come from or what had happened to you, but they knew it was something interesting. there was a reason that nothing that happened here really got to you.

sometimes things escalated even further than shin-kicking. there was one time where frank had managed to grab the back of your shirt as you tried to vault a window, and as he pulled you closer to himself, you elbowed him in the neck and squirmed out of his grasp. while he stood stunned and lost for breath, you kicked the back of his locked knee so that he fell to the ground and bonked his forehead on the wall—the classic dead leg.

this was very funny to you.

not to him.

while you ran away, laughing to yourself, frank’s anger built and built. he was tired of letting you make a fool of him, and it was time to be serious about things.

he ignored you for the rest of the trial, forming a plan in his mind. there was something he needed to do after this, so he made sure to kill everybody else to please the entity—he couldn’t get caught up, it would derail his anger train. he also didn’t feel like getting kicked in the balls or some shit, so he let you out without a problem.

frank did some brooding at the ormond lodge before he was ready to go through with his plan. and his shins really, really hurt, so susie helped him ice them before he left.

the masked killer made his way to the survivor camp rather hastily. when he arrived, he saw you pacing around, deep in thought.

so he threw a rock at you.

it was just a pebble, really. maybe it could be considered a rather large pebble, but frank insisted in his mind that it was a pebble.

“ow, what the fuck!” you cursed, rubbing your sore shoulder and looking around to find the culprit. and then your eyes laid on him.

he looked so sultry standing there at the edge of the woods, arms crossed and mask smiling, you could almost laugh at him. he acted so serious, when really, he was just an angry and misbehaving twink.

you put on your best serious face, genuinely trying not to be amused by this, and strode over to the killer.

“what do you want?” you asked confidently, mirroring his body language and crossing your arms.

frank bristled at your approach, as if trying to make himself look bigger. he wished you were scared of him like everyone else, it would really make him feel better.

“i want a truce,” he said.

you almost burst into laughter at that. a truce? what the fuck for?

he said was willing to stop tunneling and camping you if you stopped beating the shit out of him with your sticky little hands. he didn’t say it like that, but you knew that was what he meant. you, a survivor, could beat up frank, a killer, and it upset him and his little ego :(

just to humor him, you agreed. and frank nodded.

“but,” you continued, raising your eyebrows, “you have to give me something else.”

he started to say “no, no way—“ but you interrupted him: “you’re asking me to stop fighting for myself and just give in when you catch me. i think i deserve something other than just not being tunnelled.”

frank glared at you under his mask, thankful that you couldn’t see. “okay. whatever. what do you want?”

“i want to see your face.” you thought this was a good choice, something you could lord over him forever. it was surely only a win for you. his face was something private, and you would be the only survivor to know.

of course you wanted to see his face, frank thought. everyone did; they wanted to find out if he was good-looking. which, according to him, he was. if you ever asked the other members of the legion, susie was the only one to actually respond. she felt obligated to compliment him as she was basically his sister. so she would say frank is handsome in a ruggedy, jess mariano kind of way. you wondered how she knew what gilmore girls was, since that came after her time, but susie would never give away her secret.

so with a sigh, frank agreed to let you see his face. he didn’t really care, all he wanted was to stop having bruises on his shins. it was kind of miserable, and the entity never did anything to help him.

when he said that you couldn’t do it here, and you asked why the fuck not, he said it was because some other survivor might see. you decided he had a fair point, so reluctantly you let him drag you all the way to ormond.

when he took off his mask, your first thought, whether you wanted it to be or not, was “wow! he really does look like jess mariano! but with tattoos! hot!”

you were lost for words. you didn’t really know what you were expecting, but you sure weren’t expecting him to be that attractive.

he could tell your thoughts from the look on your face.

this had been per your request, and you were planning on this being something you could hold over his head, but the situation had turned into something that he could hold over your head.

oh dear. frank morrison now held pretty boy privilege over you.

and soon you would find out that he was going to keep tunnelling you anyways.

listen i've been watching a lot of gilmore girls and i just get jess vibes from frank, except our boy is more of a twinky idk shdjfhsf i love this guy sm

#so many notes!!!! thank u!! :] #dbd x reader #dead by daylight x reader #dbd fanfic #dbd headcanons #frank morrison #frank morrison x reader #quentin smith #quentin smith x reader #steve harrington #steve harrington x reader #leon kennedy #leon kennedy x reader #fruggo writes #dbd #dead by daylight #requests

[parkerslatte]

Stood Up

Spencer Reid x Fem!Reader

Warnings: allusions to sex

Word Count: 1.7k

Summary: Y/N is excited about her date and when the night rolls around, she gets stood up. She calls the one person she knows will make her night better.

MASTERLIST

Requests Open

***

Y/N walked through the doors to the BAU with a radiant smile on her face. Spencer was the first to notice and couldn’t help but smile himself as her smile was infectious. She waved at him as he placed her bag down on her desk. The excitement coursing through her veins was still there from the phone call she had received that morning. 

“What’s got you so happy?” Emily questioned. 

“Well, you know that guy I told you about.” Y/N said, sitting on top of her desk.

“Which one, the blonde or brunette?” Emily questioned, taking a sip from her drink.

“The blonde,” Y/N clarified and Emily nodded, “Well the two of us have been talking non stopover the last couple of days and he asked me on a date tonight.” 

“Where are you going?” Emily asked.

“I don’t know, this fancy restaurant,” Y/N answered, “So I have an excuse to wear that dress I bought when we went shopping.”

“Ooh, the sexy one?” Emily perked up.

Y/N clicked her fingers, “That’s the one.”

“Well, after the date, I need details.” Emily stated, sitting at her own desk.

“Obviously.” Y/N laughed. As she sat down at her own desk, Y/N arranged all of the work she needed to do for the day, not noticing the distraught looking genius sitting not too far away. 

***

Y/N had gotten to the restaurant a little earlier than she and her date had arranged. She was seated at the table he reserved and waited. Getting out her phone, she was greeted by a text from  Emily making her promise to tell her everything that happened. Y/N laughed slightly at the text before placing her phone to the side. 

Five minutes had passed and her date was going to show up any minute. Y/N was excited. She had been talking to him for the last couple of weeks and they really hit it off. It was the first date she had been on in a while as she was constantly pulled away on cases and the dates she had planned lost interest as she kept having to reschedule. 

Another five minutes had passed and a waitress had come up to her table asking if she wanted  a drink. Y/N refused, wanting to wait for her date. He was late but Y/N deduced that to traffic. After all, five minutes wasn’t a lot. She checked her phone and contemplated texting Emily but she knew that if she did, the two would get sucked into conversation and Y/N wouldn’t notice when her date would arrive. 

Ten minutes passed and Y/N was getting nervous. She hadn’t received a text from her date at all. She had to even check the name of the restaurant to make sure she was at the right one. Y/N still had hope that her date would show up but deep down she knew that he was never going to show up. Y/N flagged down the waitress that offered her a drink earlier and ordered one. Her date would have a lot of explaining to do if he turned up. 

Another ten minutes passed and Y/N knew that her date was a no show. He was half an hour late with no text. The people sitting in the restaurant offered he looks of sympathy to which Y/N ignored. Y/N would have preferred it if he texted her that he wanted to cancel the date, at least it would've been less humiliating than sitting in a restaurant on  her own for half an hour. 

Sighing, Y/N pulled out her phone. The night was still young as she was excited about tonight and she wasn’t going to let someone ruin it. Pressing down on one of her contacts, she raised the phone to her ear. It rang three times before there was an answer. 

“Hello?” Spencer’s voice sounded through the phone.

“Spence, hey.” Y/N said.

“Y/N, I thought you were on a date.” He questioned.

“Well, I thought I was too but apparently he had more important things to do. He stood me up.” Y/N sighed. 

“I’m sorry,” Spencer said, sounding genuine, “I know you were excited.”

“I was but now I know what he’s really like so I guess I dodged a bullet,” Y/N joked, “But I was phoning to ask you if you wanted to meet me here. I thought it would be fun and you don’t have to if you don’t want to, I’ll just ask-”

“I’d love to come and meet you.” Spencer cut off her rambling.

“Really?” Y/N said, suddenly lighting up, “That’s great. I’ll text you the address. It’s quite a fancy restaurant, so dress fancy.”

***

Y/N was sitting at her table for another fifteen minutes before Spencer came in through the door. As soon as she saw Spencer, she got up from the table and wrapped him in a tight hug. He wrapped his arms back around her pulling her close. Normally if someone tried to hug him, Spencer would recoil and offer them a wave and a smile instead. But when it came to Y/N, he would hug her forever if he could. 

When Y/N pulled away, Spencer saw the dress she was wearing. It was a simple black dress but it looked incredible on Y/N.

“You look beautiful.” Spencer mumbled. 

Y/N smiled, “Thank you Dr. Reid,” Y/N scanned Spencer’s body and his attire, “You don’t look too bad yourself.”

Spencer smiled at her before the two sat down at the table. Y/N’s smile didn’t once leave her face as she ordered what she wanted and Spencer watched her with a love struck expression on his face. 

“Thank you for coming, Spence,” Y/N said, reaching across the table and taking his hand, “I really appreciate it.”

“Of course,” Spencer said, gently holding her hand, “I couldn’t think of anywhere else I’d rather be.”

Y/N smiled back at him before her face fell slightly, “I’m just annoyed at my date, he didn’t even text me or anything. I would’ve felt less hurt if he just cancelled instead but he let me sit here for half an hour waiting.”

“You shouldn’t get caught up on him. He obviously doesn’t appreciate you for who you are. He missed out on going on a date with the most amazing woman ever.” Spencer said. 

“I wouldn’t go that far.” Y/N replied, looking down at the table.

“I would,” Spencer said, “You are the most incredible, strong and beautiful women ever, your date missed out big time.”

“Thanks Spence,” Y/N smiled, holding onto his hand a little tighter, “It’s just that no one had ever said that to me before.”

“Well they should,” Spencer said, “Because it’s true.”

Before Y/N could respond, the waitress came back with their food, ending the conversation. There was so much Y/N wanted to say but she guessed it had to wait until another time. 

***

After their meal, Y/N and Spencer walked arm in arm down the street. Spencer insisted on walking her home. No words were exchanged between the two, Y/N’s mind was replaying the conversation they had back at the restaurant. 

“Spencer?”

“Yeah?” He said, looking down at Y/N.

“Did you really mean those things? Back at the restaurant, how you said I was the most amazing woman ever?”

“I meant every word,” Spencer said without hesitation, “And you should hear it more often, you underestimate your value.”

Y/N stopped walking, causing Spencer to stop. He looked back at her confused before she threw her arms around his neck and hugged him. 

“Thank you, you have no idea how much I needed to hear those words.” Y/N mumbled into his neck.

“Anytime.” Spencer replied. 

The two stayed like that for a few minutes, wrapped in each other’s embrace. They gently swayed from side to side. 

“Can I ask you a question?” Y/N questioned, pulling away from the hug to look Spencer in the eye.

“Anything.” Spencer mumbled, his breath gently fanning her face due to their close proximity. 

“Do you want to go out on an official date?” Y/N said, “I would class this one but we didn’t exactly plan it and it wasn’t typically where we would go and-”

Y/N was suddenly cut off by a pair of soft lips against her own. Spencer’s arms moved from Y/N’s waist to gently cup her face, pulling her in closer. Y/N gripped onto the front of his jacket pulling him closer toward her. The sensation of kissing Spencer was one Y/N had never experienced before. There was a lot of passion behind the kiss but there was a gentleness behind it as well. It caused Y/N’s heart to flutter. 

Spencer was the first to pull away, resting his forehead against hers, both of their eyes were shut, processing what had just happened. Y/N could still feel the ghost of Spencer’s lips on her own. 

“So…” Y/N started as the two had calmed down from the kiss, “I think that we should just class this as our first date.”

Spencer chuckled, “I agree.” He said before capturing her lips with his own once again. 

***

The following day at work, Y/N was working quietly at her desk when Emily suddenly appeared at her side.

“So, how was your date?” She questioned, “You didn’t tell me all the details.”

“It went…” Y/N locked eyes with Spencer from across the room, he was trying to hide his smile behind his coffee cup, “Well. It went well.”

“Well? Just well?” Emily questioned. 

“It went more than well actually, I scored a second date.” 

“Oh, look at you,” Emily teased, nudging her, “Anything else?”

Y/N looked at Spencer who was trying hard not to make it look obvious he was listening to the conversation, “Well he’s an amazing kisser and amazing at...well I’m not going to say it out loud since we are in the workplace but you get my gist.”

Y/N watched as Spencer nearly spat out his coffee, he started coughing. Emily turned her attention towards him, “You okay Reid?”

“Yeah, I’m perfectly fine.” He said nervously before leaving to go and find something to wipe up his spilt coffee.

“What’s up with him?” Emily questioned.

“I have no idea,” Y/N responded, repressing a smirk.

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[fwkei]

Remember...?

Draken x fem!reader (mainly fluff slight angst)

Finally got my first request yall 🥳 I couldn’t strictly follow the request like i wanted to but i hope thats alright, the gist is still there. anyways thank you sm for it and i hope you enjoy 

TW/CW: Mentions of sex, mentions of alcohol, mentions of sex work

WC: 7k (omg the most ive ever written🙆🏻‍♀️)

Note: I changed my writing style a bit for this request so i hope yall don’t mind! and again i dont read my stuff over so my apologies if theres any mistakes lmao

------------------------------------

You sat on the street, overheating as you watched the ‘heat waves’ coming off the ground. You held your hair up with one of your hands since you had nothing to tie it with, while the other held a lukewarm water bottle. You sighed, you felt so anxious and frustrated.

What now?  

You thought letting your mouth part due to your heavy breathing 

You took things too fast. It had been about 3 weeks since you left your parents ‘home’ and why did you leave? Well there were a number of reasons that are a bit too much to list, but all that matters now is that you’re completely and utterly on your own. 

You only managed to scavenge small jobs here and there to get some money to buy some basic necessities but nothing more. 

“Sorry Y/n, my niece is coming down to Tokyo and I told her she could have a job here and stay at the studio above...I’m gonna have to let go. I’m sorry.” said your boss to you only a couple hours ago, with pity filled eyes 

“...No it’s fine really! I understand.Thank you for taking me in while you could.” you said bowing your head at the man, biting your inner cheek trying to keep a level head 

“I’m happy you understand. You can leave your apron and hat on the cashier. On your way out.” he said patting your shoulder as you slowly brought your head up 

“Right..” you said taking off your apron and hat as you walked slowly to the cashier, placing it down 

You brought your hands to your temples out of stress, trying to figure out what you could do now. You only had very little money, and there was a heat wave striking Japan this week. At least your boss allowed you to live and pay rent in the small studio right above his store, which had an AC, but now that was for his niece.  

This had been the first time in a while where you had no idea what to do. You had always been the type of person to be able to take care of yourself and your problems..on your own. All your life since you can remember, you always had to be the one to take care of others, not that you mind or minded...but you were only so young. You never really had a childhood, at least not that you can remember. You do remember cleaning up after your parents who lost all will just to even... parent. You remember taking jobs as a babysitter at a really young age in your apartment complex to make some money.. You remember being the reliable older kid of your school and complex, where kids would come to you asking for help with things like homework all the way to buying something for them to eat because they were hungry. Not once did you ever say no, because you really did want to be there for those kids who’s parents didn’t give them the care they needed. But it just became too much.. You ended up spending all of your saved up money on them, just so they could have something to play with or something to eat. 

Before you even realized it, you were in your last year of high school, with no money saved over, no scholarships, no one to rely on but yourself. Not even a friend. Was it really the right thing to do? Use all your money that you worked so hard for to help kids he lived next door? Or just plain stupid? You knew you couldn't support them forever...but you tried so hard to. All you wanted was to give them a childhood they never had, and someone to look up too. But now you left them. All because you were frustrated. You felt so unbearably guilty. All the work you put into your studies to get at least some type of scholarship just went to waste because you couldn't handle your life anymore. You were being so so so stupid. 

Before you even knew it, the sun was going down, and you grew even more tired and sleepy. You signed, taking a jacket out of your bag and placing it on the ground so you could rest your head on it. You brought your hands to cushion your cheek as your eyes started to close. The air finally got a little cooler making it easier to breathe and well...do anything. 

As you were falling asleep you could hear chatter and laughing, and finally a tap on your shoulder waking you up. You cringed your eyes before opening them up more to see 2 women. One had blonde hair and the other had pinkish hair. They looked older than you, maybe in their 20’s. One held a bag and the other held a bottle of wine with two glasses, they bent down so their heads could be closer to yours. After examining you for a bit they turned to each other and smiled happily before turning back their gaze to your confused face. 

“Hey?” you said sitting up more, a little startled by the intimate contact they were giving you 

“Hey there, say...what’s a pretty girl like you sleeping on the street for?” asked the girl with pinkish hair that was tied into pigtails 

“I uh..don’t have a place right now so..” you said scratching your head 

“Really? Hmmm.” said he one with blonde hair 

“How old are you? And what’s your name? I think we can help you out! Woman to woman!” said the pink haired girl smiling sweetly making you feel fuzzy at their niceness 

“18, and it’s Y/n.” you said smiling nervously 

“Nice to meet you Y/n, I’m Remi, this is Rema, my twin sister.” said the pink haired girl pointing to the blonde as she waved sweetly 

“Hi, it’s nice to meet you too..!” you said bringing your hands to your thighs smiling 

“So did you just turn 18?” asked Rema 

“Sorta, 2 months ago, why?” you asked 

“Oh good!” they both said 

“Well, it’s your choice really. One of the girls left today, and the boss sent us to scout another girl to take her place, buttt we just went to buy food with no intentions of finding someone but luckily we just found you! It’s perfect!” said Remi 

“Oh? What work?” you asked getting excited 

“Oh silly, we live in a brothel! It’s really not all that bad you know, great pay and rooms...so what do you think?” asked Rema 

“A brothel..” you said under your breath 

Your mind was in a serious state of concentration. 

It can’t be all that bad, right? You just have to please people and go on with your day so… that’s what i've been doing my whole life… plus… there's a bunch of women in those things right? I probably won't get too much attention from customers if there's sweethearts like Remi and Rema walking around...so...just for the time being… I think it could really work out in my favor. 

You thought to yourself 

You brought your head up, giving the girls a closed eyes smile before shaking your head ‘yes’ making them jump in excitement. 

“Oh good!” yelled Remi grabbing your hands 

“I’m so excited! We haven't had a new girl in years! How do you think Ken will react?” asked Rema smiling as you 3 all started to walk 

“Ken?” you asked furrowing your eyebrows at the familiar name 

“Oh right, We’ll have to introduce you to him and everyone else tomorrow. He’s the bosses foster kid..I think you two are actually the same age.” said Rema bringing her pointer finger to her chin 

“Mhm mhm! Oh and since you're new, tomorrow I will take your pictures for the board, you can borrow one of my sets till you can afford to buy one for yourself, how does that sound Y/n?” asked Remi smiling and holding your hand 

“It sounds..great! Thank you so much.” you said bowing your head slightly 

“No worries! Hopefully the boss will take you in.” said Remi patting your head 

“Yeah..” you said as you 3 continued to walk to the brothel 

You couldn't seem to get your mind off of that familiar name..Ken? You swore you knew someone named that. It definitely wasn't a popular name so it’s not like you knew it from some type of T.V program.. After thinking hard your whole way to your new home you couldn't seem to remember them. The person named Ken. And so you decided to brush it off for the time being. 

The brothel was pretty big, and consisted of 12 girls, not including yourself. It was really late so everyone was asleep. Remi and Rema showed you to your room which was much more spacious than your room at home. They told you that you were allowed to decorate it and style it however you wanted. But they told you it was important to know that this was the room where business would be done, and not to leave important things around since some of the men came into brothels for the sole purpose of stealing. Remi even told you a story about how one of her clients tried to steal one of her panites, but then the boy named Ken stopped him by knocking him out with one punch to the stomach.   

“He sounds strong-” you laughed as they gave you a small tour 

“He sure is! Like the bodyguard of this place! He’s a sweetheart!” said Remi smiling 

“I’m sure..!” you smiled 

“Alright that’s about it, you should shower now and get ready for tomorrow. The boss will probably wanna take a look at you before seeing if he wants you. But I'm sure he will! You're pretty so it’ll go smoothly!” said Remi handing you her shower stuff for you to use for tonight and a set 

“Got it, and again...thank you so much. I really appreciate it.” you said again 

“Of course! Remember..we’re neighbors so feel free to knock whenever you need something..Also I can give you some tips before your first client so you know what to do.” she said smiling 

“Right, goodnight then!..” you said feeling your face get hot at how she so easily talked about sex. 

After that, you did exactly as she said, you showered. You thoroughly washed your body, face, and hair. Getting out you looked down at the set Remi gave you. It was just a black bra and matching panties with a silk cover up which made you feel better knowing you could cover up with that.  

You rubbed your mouth as you started to rethink your decision. I mean...you respected sex workers..but was this life what you were willing to settle for? Aimlessly waiting around for some random horny man to choose you and do things with you just for you to get only 40% of the payment? Was this all really worth it? Leaving home to avoid your problems...to end up here? You were grateful, yes, Remi and Rema were so sweet and open with you. You could only hope that the others were just as nice. You really wanted things to go well, and that can only start with some good rest. 

You woke up to a knock on your door, to see Remi and Rema walking in with a smile 

“Morninggg!” they sang as you quickly got out of bed 

“Hi!” you said frantically 

“No need to rush! Usually men start coming in at 10, but since you don't work here officially yet you got to sleep in a bit! But the boss called for you, you should go to the set up room down the hall to get ready, remember it?” asked Rema 

“Yeah I do. Thank you for waking me-!” you said smiling and grabbing your stuff and shoes 

“Course, good luck Y/n!” they said as you quickly walked out of your room to get ready 

As you walked in, there were a few other girls getting ready. You smiled and introduced yourself to them, and them to you. They were all so nice and pretty. It made you feel a little bit better about being here, and less nervous since they complimented your looks. You got ready in about 10 minutes, letting one of the other girls help you out with your hair and stuff like that. You gave yourself one last look in the mirror before stepping out and waving to the girls ‘bye.’ 

You nervously walked to the boss's door. You took a deep breath before knocking. You heard a muffled ‘come in!’ so you walked in smiling while holding your covering close. You gave a nervous closed eyes smile before seeing his office was simple, just a desk with a bunch of papers and a chair on the other side. 

“Y/n, correct?” he asked placing down his paper and taking off his glasses to look at you

“Yes.” you said smiling 

“Pleasure-” he said leaning over the desk to shake your hand 

“Likewise.” you said smiling, shaking his hand firmly before sitting down

“Well, I’m sure Remi and Rema told you just about everything you need to know, I take 60% of your earrings, I use that stuff to pay for rent and bills for you girls and my kid… which usually takes up about 30% of that 60%, meaning you make a profit of 40, while I make only a profit of 30 per girl.” he said 

“Yeah, I was told.” you said smiling nervously fiddling with your hands

“Good good, now that that's over with..” he said getting up ad signing 

“I’m just gonna take a look at you, no need to be nervous I’m not gonna touch you or anything, so please don’t feel worried.” he said smiling 

“Right!” you said getting up 

“Alright just do a quick 360 with arms up.” he said smiling 

“Okay.” you said doing as he said 

He looked you up and down but not in a lustful way at all, it was more of like a ‘just seeing how you’ll hold up’ kinda look, almost like he was a bit worried for you. 

“Thank you-” he said sitting back down as you did the same feeling nervous

“I was also told you’re 18? Right?” he asked looking down at his papers 

“Yeah that's right.” you said 

“Well I don't usually have this talk with the other woman because they're older. I know the age of consent in Japan is 16 and blah blah, but you’re still pretty young, are you sure you wanna work like this?” he asked looked into your eyes 

“...Not entirely but it’s the best I can do right now.” you said with a determined face

“I see- we’ll then welcome, and just remember you can leave whenever you want, but give a 2 weeks notice. When Remi is done, ask her to take your picture.” he said 

“Understood, thank you!” you said said smiling and leaving   

You walked out of the room, closing the door carefully signing in relieve 

That went pretty well.

You thought 

You started to walk down the hall so that you could ask Remi to take your picture. But when you put your ear to the door, you heard lewd noises letting you know she wasn’t done just yet. It was already 5, and the brothel closes at 10. You didn’t really know what to do, so you walked over to the kitchen, sitting down at one of the stools waiting for Remi and or Rema to finish up with their work. You tapped the pen that was on the table and started to look around the kitchen. You remembered Remi told you there were snacks in the cabinets, so you got up and started to open and close them one by one to find something to eat. You finally found a cabinet filled instant ramen, you grabbed one and started to pour water into it, popping it into the microwave that was on the counter top. You stood in front of it waiting, playing with the loose strings of you covering when suddenly you heard the door open. 

“I’m home.” said the tall boy with dark hair tied back to reveal a dragon tattoo on the side of his head 

Is this Ken? 

You thought as the microwave beeped, making his eyes turn to you

You quickly shot your eyes to the microwave, hoping he didn’t notice your stare. He looked so familiar it was almost irritating how you couldn’t remember him. You took the hot cup out of the microwave, placing it down on the counter top, ignoring his presence as he walked over, placing down the plastic bag in his hand, noticing your frustrated face trying to figure out where the utensils are. 

“Left of the sink are where they are.” he said sitting down on the stool across from you after looking at your face a bit 

“Thank you.” you said smiling nervously turning around to grab a pair of chopsticks 

“Are you new here?” he asked taking out a styrofoam box from the plastic bag, opening it to reveal a hot meal of meat and rice and vegetables 

“Yeah..I was supposed to start today but I don’t have my pictures taken yet.” you said smiling turning back to mix your noodles 

“Could you grab me a pair too?” he asked realizing he forgot to take a pair of chopsticks from the restaurant 

“Sure-” you said turning back quickly to grab some for him, placing it in his hands as he gave you a soft smile making your eyes widen slightly. 

“You look familiar..” you both said at the same time making both your eyebrows raise in shock then turn into a slight scoff from the both of you 

“Glad we’re on the same page then.” he said taking a bite of his food as you did the same still standing 

“You know you can sit down, don’t feel nervous.” he said looking up you slightly 

“..yeah.” you said smiling, walking around and sitting next to him. 

“So when’d you come?” he asked turning his head slightly to see your mouth filled with noodles making him smile a bit 

“..I came by last night, really late with Remi and Rema.” you said after finishing your bite

“I see...I feel like I remember you from somewhere, can’t pinpoint it though.” he said looking back down at his food 

“Same here, and you must be Ken though, right? When I first heard your name I swore the same thing but I just can’t remember..” you said before sipping some of the broth of your soup

“Yeah, but you can call me Draken and your name?” he asked getting up to grab a napkin from across the table 

“Draken...sure! Oh right, my bad. It’s Y/n. Nice to meet you-” you said smiling holding your hand out for him to shake

He only completely shot up to look into your eyes with his wide ones. You gave him a confused look as you watched him get knocked out of his thoughts, bring his hand up to shake your hand before clearing his throat and walking back over to sit. Maybe you struck a nerve? Maybe had the same name as someone who hurt him in the past? You really didn’t know but it made you feel interested. He looked like he just had his life flash before his eyes or something. 

“Are you okay?” you asked 

“Uh yeah, I’m fine. My head just hurts a bit.” he said looking as if he was deep in thought 

“Oh? I have some tylenol in my room.. You want one? Or I can make you a cold drink, you’re probably dehydrated?” you asked smiling a bit 

Draken turned his head to look at you, his mouth was parted, and he just looked so..anxious? You couldn’t even tell, almost like congested because he wanted to say something. 

Draken felt his heartbeat quicken when he heard your name. As soon as you said it, a random memory that was buried deep in the back of his mind hit him as he quickly re-lived it. But could it really be you? The Y/n he knew from so so so long ago? Around 10 years ago? There could be no way, he remembers the girl moving to a different city..the chances were so low that it could really be you already. 

But the second you said those words.. Those words of offering to make something for him, or give him something, despite you thinking you only just met him...Made him know that it was really the Y/n he met when he was only a little boy...but how the hell did you turn up here? In a place and part of town like this? He was so confused and just wanted to ask you...but you still didn’t remember him. 

“..No I’m alright, thanks..can I ask you somethin-” said Draken before being interrupted 

“Y/n!! Come on, let's take your pictures!” yelled Remi coming out of her room waving as a man walked out too buttoning his shirt 

“Sorry, just remember what you wanted to say and tell me later.” you said smiling and standing up and walking over to Remi

Draken watched you as you walked away. He saw Remi give you a hug, and the man that was walking out checked you out to which Draken gave him a pissed off look. Making the man smile nervously, wave, and leave. 

Do you really wanna live your life like this, Y/n?

He thought to himself before packing up his trash and throwing it away

Remi took your pictures, telling you to do different poses etc, and you finally settled on one. You walked over to the front of the house to place your picture in its designated area above your name. You signed, stepping back to look at it, fixing your gaze to see Draken was walking over with his hands in his pocket, looking as he was going to leave. You saw him glance at the photo making you feel slightly embarrassed.

“Nice.” he said smiling but looking into your eyes in a way where it looked like he was concerned for you. 

Just as you were about to thank him a man walked in and started looking at you making you feel nervous. The man requested you, and so you smiled at him pointing your hand to where the showers were, as you started to walk behind him, you turned your hand giving a thumbs up to Draken with a nervously flushed face, smiling, as he he brought his hand up giving you a thumbs up with soft and concerning eyes before opening the door and leaving. It made your smile fade slightly, you’ve seen that face before from him. But not from today.. And it was all you could think about during your work. 

As you laid in your room, after work you couldn’t help but feel a little bit...stupid? You felt so unsatisfied, not because of your customers but because you just couldn’t remember. It felt like an itch you couldn’t scratch hard enough, and with every interaction you had with the boy almost felt like a tease, like the itch just became more itchy and your scratches just became more weak. Maybe if you spend more time with him, you’ll remember? 

It had been about 4 weeks, 4 weeks of saving your money, and every 4 weeks the boss collected his fair share of the cut. It wasn’t a pretty 4 weeks, it was probably the worst 4 weeks of your life. But... you and Draken would often exchange stories about your lives late at night which you enjoyed a lot. It always makes you feel better. But yet again you still couldn't figure him out. You felt as though you’ve met him before, and as though you two have had these kinds of talks before. 

Draken only grew more and more helpless, seeing how you still haven’t remembered. He was slowly watching your life crumble. He felt so angry that you settled and believed you deserved to live like this, barely scraping by. He felt so awful, and saw how you grew so tired of it all. He just so badly wanted you to remember him, so that he could once again talk to you like he did before.

You had one last customer before closing, going through your usual routine, this n that, the man offered you a drink. You stupid obliged drinking it, hoping it would make your time more enjoyable but you were wrong, so very wrong, and so very stupid for drinking that stupid drink. You remember some parts, you did your job, then it all went black.. You woke up after hearing knocking on your door. You jumped out of bed, confused. You remember seeing the man leave as you started to fall asleep but that's about it. Usually you never fall asleep after the work because you never do much, your mind started to panic. But the door opened revealing Remi smiling.

“Hey sleepy! Boss says it’s your turn, come on, get your cash!” she said smiling 

“Right let me just..it’s in my drawer..I don't know why I fell asleep so fast I think alcohol makes me sleepy.” you said getting out of bed and kneeling in front of your drawer to get the envelope of cash you had been saving.

“Heh, same here. I never accepted drinks from clients..they never had good intentions with that!” she said coming over and sitting at your bed 

“..yeah.” you said starting to feel that panic arise in your body when seeing the envelope was...gone.

“What's wrong?” asked Remi noticing you were frozen 

“I- the money..It’s gone..he took it..” you said with wide eyes feeling as though you were about to sob realizing you had just lost thousands of yen.

“Don’t say that..it..it probably just got misplaced! Come on, I'll help you look!” said Remi getting up  

You couldn't even respond because of the amount of panic you were in. Your heart was racing and you felt tears fall from your eyes. After about 15 minutes of looking, you two found nothing. Absolutely nothing. You sat on the floor with your hand over your mouth, again, trying to keep a level head. 

What now..?

You thought to yourself feeling hot tears stream from your face.

“Hey..guys? Boss is calling for you Y/n..what’s going on?” asked Rema walking in seeing you covering your face, crying 

“She was robbed by the guy who just left, he put something in her drink to knock her out while he looked around and took the money...she doesn’t have the money.” said Remi 

Rema’s mouth parted in shock and pity. 

How could you mess up something so easy? All you had to do was keep your money safe. But you even failed at that. 

“You have to tell him, Y/n.” said Rema rubbing your back

“Yea..yeah, could you two just give me a second? I’ll be right out.” you said smiling while wiping your face 

“Sure.” they said frowning and walking out 

You fisted your hands, and grabbed your covers before screaming into them to muffle your sounds..

Okay..it was a couple of thousand yen...not too bad right? I can promise the money by tomorrow..I’ll pick up some sort of street job...yeah! That’s good. Everything is fine..it’s fine.

You thought to yourself before wiping your face on more time and slapping both sides of your cheeks to wake you up.

You got up and walked to the bosses door feeling the eyes of people on your back. You knocked on the door before opening it slowly, refusing to make eye contact as you went to stand in front of the man with your arms behind your back.

“Alrighttt, let’s see here, in the last four weeks you had a total of 37 customers, so you should have around 300,000 yen, correct?” he asked looking at his paper 

“Yes.” you said still looking down

“Alright, just hand it to me so I can count and divide it, you can sit.” he said smiling holding his hand out 

“I..I don-” you said before being interrupted by a knock 

“Come in.” he said 

“Hey sorry dad, Y/n left her money with me while she went out. Thought I should bring it to her. Remember, Y/n?” said Draken walking in with an envelop in his hand smiling as he came to stand next to you, as you nodded your head ‘yes’ 

“Oh, thank you Ken.” he said smiling and taking the envelop 

Your mouth parted as you gave a confused look, Draken only smiled and gave you a thumbs up while his dad counted the money. You felt so guilty and shocked, and all you could do was just stand there, like an idiot. 

“Here you are...120,000 back..” he said, patting the money on the table to make it flat, putting it back into the envelope and handing it to you

You hesitantly brought your hand to grab it, glancing over at Draken who gave you small smile

“Thank you-” you said to him seeing Draken was already opening the door to leave 

You quickly followed after him as he walked into his room. Before entering his room he turned around and looked down at you 

You felt your eyes soften as you felt as though you were about to cry again, you tilted your head and neck down biting the inside of your cheek to keep in your cry. 

“I promise I’ll pay all of it back by tomorrow, all 300,000.” you said 

“Do you ever give yourself a break?” he asked as you brought your head up to look at him seeing he looked almost irritated 

“You didn’t even ask why I did it, you just immediately jumped to feeling guilty. And you don’t need to pay me back. Really.” he said bringing his hand to close to the door, but you stopped him by grabbing his wrist making his breath hitch 

“Why?” you asked looking into his eyes 

“You still don’t remember? Even after all this time we’ve spent together?” he asked smiling as you took your hand off his wrist 

“Remember...?” you asked furrowing your eyebrows in confusion, but then it suddenly hit you

“I swear it wasn’t me! I didn't steal!” yelled a little boy with blonde hair as two cops stood in front of him 

You tilted your head and walked closer, but still keeping your distance to hear. It was a winter day and you were on your way to the corner store to buy some snacks, but you were met with an interesting scene. You kept your hands in your pockets as you listened over to the boy screaming and pleading his innocence 

“I wouldn’t steal something so stupid! What would a kid like me need a lighter for!! I don’t know how it ended up in my pocket! Lay off!” he yelled as the officer dangled the lighter in front of his face

A lighter?

“Keep it down! We know how troubled you kids are here! Especially with those tattoos!” yelled back the cop as the boy grew angry and fisted his hands, ready to punch the cop

“Hey!!!” he heard a voice yelled 

“Hey wait a minute!” you yelled waving your hand smiling as you ran to the scene 

“Can we help you?” asked one of the cops in a soft tone 

The blonde boy grew quiet, and you saw his hands loosen as he looked at your smiling face 

“Yeah, why are you two yelling at my brother?” you asked furrowing your brows at the two grown man 

“...Your so-called brother stole a lighter from the corner store right behind you, where are your parents? We would like to have a word with them.” he said standing up straight 

“Yeah, and talk about how they let their son tattoo himself already..” said one under his breath making the other laugh 

You looked over at the boy growing angry, you gave him a smile..making him calm down.

“He said it was just an accident, I asked him to pick up a lighter from the store so that we could light a candle at our father’s grave! See!” you said digging into your bag to pull out a candle 

“He probably felt pressured because I asked him to get it, so if you’re gonna get mad at someone, get mad at me!” you said as you started to fake cry 

“It’s our father's death anniversary, and you're yelling at kids for making a mistake.” you faked cried

“Yeah!!” yelled the boy making you smile under your hands as the two officers became anxious, feeling bad for what they had just done.

“..we’re sorry. Please let us apologize.” they said slightly bowing at you two 

“I don’t think we can accept it...you two also made fun of the dragon tattoo on his head!...dragons were our dads favorite animal. He risked his life fighting for Japan and you two are laughing at him! Is that how your mother taught you how to behave?” you asked pretending to wipe you tears as the blonde boy watched you in awe seeing you toy with grown men 

“Please let us treat you both to whatever you’d like from the corner store as an apology!” they both said bowing lower making you smile and look back at the boy. You gave him a thumbs up as a smile grew on his face 

“Fine..come on then?” you said as both the officers raised their heads, opening the doors of the corner store for you both 

You and the blonde boy walked around the store, filling your baskets with all types of things. The blonde boy watched you in just pure awe as you walked around picking your favorite snacks, as he did the same, glancing at you every now and then. 

“Here.” you said smiling at the cops 

“Right!” they said frantically taking out their wallets as the boy placed down his stuff nervously, still watching you

“Oh and-” you said reaching your hand to grab the lighter from the officer and placing it into the bunch of snacks 

You smiled, your hands were behind your back as you watched the officers pay for yours and the boys' food, placing them into bags for you guys too. You grabbed the lighter and your bag, as the boy did the same 

“Mom told us to meet her at the cemetery steps, remember?” you said looking into the boys eyes

“..yeah, I remember.” he said smiling feeling his face become hot 

“Let’s go then.” you said smiling and taking his hand as you two ran out of the store 

After a bit you two stopped and sat on the curbside while you both chose a snack to eat.  

“Here’s your lighter, you don’t have to stay with me by the way.” you said handing him the steel lighter 

“..Thanks” he said 

“Sure- what do you need it for anyway?” you asked smiling 

“My boss asked for it.” he said putting it in his pocket

“Oh, are you in some type of delinquent group?” you asked looking at him 

“Yeah..” he said smiling 

“That's cool, what do you guys do?” you asked taking a sip of your drink 

“We kinda just...like...do stupid stuff and fight..” he said 

“Sounds fun, but...stupid.” you said laughing making him scoff 

“Why’d you do it?” he asked 

“Do what?” you asked back turning you gaze to him 

“Come in to cover me. You could’ve gotten in a lot of trouble because of me.” he said with a frustrated face 

“You’re right, I just wanted to, that's all.” you said smiling making his mouth part and cheeks redden

“You seem pretty fun too so I thought we could be friends or something..” you said nervously 

“Yeah! Sure- We can be friends!” he said happily making you feel flustered 

“Well then, it’s nice to meet you, my name is Y/n, yours?” you asked holding over your hand 

“Ken, but you can call me Draken-” he said taking ahold of your hand gently as you gave him a closed eyed smile blushing 

“where the hell did you find that candle and com up with that whole sob story Y/n?”

“Dunno, I saw the candle on the ground by a newspaper, I kinda just winged it- “

After that day you remember hanging out with Draken almost every other day. You remember him telling you how he and his close friends started their own gang and needed some sort of funding, and so you gave it to him, on his birthday.

“I saved up! You said that you and your friends needed some money to start off so that you guys could buy a flag or banner? Right? Well, here’s 30,000 yen for your birthday!” you said handing him an envelope and a small balloon.

“Are-are you serious right now Y/n?” he asked taking the gifts, opening the envelope to look inside to see the money as his eyes lit up 

“Yeah, I babysit more kids now so I was able to put some aside for you.” you said smiling satisfied with his reaction 

He didn’t even say anything, all he did was bring his arms around you upper body, hugging you tight making you laugh as you brought yours to hug him back 

“Thank you- you’re the best! The guys will be so happy!” he said smiling while grasping your wrists in excitement. Your eyes traced over his face as they soften. You smiled. 

“Likewise.” 

And- after that, you remember the day you 2 separated as friends. You both sat on the curbside, you remembered you called him to come and see you. It was a winter night and the sun was going down. 

“I uh..well I don’t really know how to say this without sounding cliche but-”

“What? Are you gonna confess that you’re madly in love with me or something?” he asked grinning, making you sweat drop 

“Jeez be quiet...I’m trying to make this a memorable moment-” you signed smiling, placing your palms on the cold cement 

“Alright let’s hear it then Y/n-!” he said bringing his hands to the back of his head as he laid down looking up at the stars 

You only frowned slightly, you shifted your position so that you could sit beside him and have a good look at his face. 

“You’re scaring me..” he said jokingly making you smile 

“It was really fun the past year.” you said smiling as Draken shot his head up to look at you face to face 

“The hell are you talking like that for?” he asked furrowing his brows 

“My parents can’t afford living in any districts in Tokyo anymore, so we’re moving to another city… about 4 hours train ride from Tokyo so-” you said looking down at your hands on the floor

“So? You act like I won't be able to come and see you or you come and see me..” he said ducking his head a bit so that you could look at him 

“Draken, train tickets are about 220 yen per person, I can't afford it, and if you came by to see me I'd feel guilty because you’d be wasting your money just to only see me for like an hour.” you said 

“How can I be wasting my money on you? It’s not wasting if I wanna do it and see you, plus what makes you think it'll only be a couple hours?” he asked 

“I’ll have to start working once we get there, so I wouldn’t have anytime...I wanna start saving so that one day I can come back to Tokyo and live here, so that I can see your dream come true of helping your friend create a ‘new era of delinquents’ you know? I’ll even help you guys if you want with financial stuff or something.” you said smiling at him 

Draken bit the inside of his cheek. He wanted to tell you so bad how he felt but..

“Look, I have a feeling I know what you’re gonna say..just remember what you wanted to say and tell me later, okay?” you said placing your hand on top of his causing his eyes to widen 

“...You’ll remember me, right?” he asked looking into your eyes deeply making your mouth part 

“Yeah, I’ll remember you as long as you remember what you wanted to tell me. Cause I feel the same” you said smiling as a tear fell from your eyes 

“good...I will.” he said smiling back and tilting his head and wiping it off your face

After the memories hit you, you stood there with wide eyes and tears, with your wrist covering your quivering mouth. You had completely suppressed your memories of Draken, and your feelings because you knew you wouldn't be able handle being apart from him for so long. And he did the same. You couldn’t imagine how unbearable it was for him to be waiting up like this. You looked up at him seeing his eyes were softly looking at you. You could do nothing but bring your arms around him hugging him, as he brought his arms around you to do the same. You were still such in shock. 

“I never thought you’d end up in a place like this, living a life like this.” he said against your ear 

“I don’t wanna see you like this, please let me take care of you like you did for me..” he said said tightening his grip slightly  

You could only cry at his words, you didn’t even wanna try to speak because you knew it would only come out as a sob. Was it really alright for you to rely on someone so much?

He pulled back from the hug and looked at your face, seeing you were still crying as you nodded your head ‘yes’, he smiled and wiped them away with his thumb. The smile on his face...he looked so satisfied...and happy...happy that you finally remembered. Finally remembered him.

#tokyo revengers #tokyo revenger x reader #draken #draken x reader #fluff #angst #idk lmfao #toman #draken x y/n #tokyo rev

[jiminrings]

hi hannah !! can i request a drabble where jungkook visits florist!y/n and he went “hi i’m here to get a flower for my girlfriend” and the girlfriend is y/n. i’m sorry if it doesn’t make sense 😭 love u <3

full blooms

love u too bestie <3

aka jungkook really should’ve thought this through!!

...... oh no

there are so many people in the shop

not just any shop though :D

sometimes you collectively forget that this is yOUR shop and you’re the literal owner of it and you’re not just working it

and sometimes, you forget just how influential things could be

case in point: kim taehyung !!

kim taehyung as in the hottest musician in the scene rn, who happens to be vante on spotify, AND someone who you just happen to know as kim taehyung!!!

kim taehyung as in the friendly customer who comes into your shop more oftenly to look at your flowers than to buy them

and you just let him look at them without buying anything because there’s no harm in it!! the guy is just straight-up Vibing looking at the flowers

(and he also leaves a handsome tip in your jar even when he doesn’t buy anything!!)

you just knew him to be that pleasant customer,,, not exactly a world-renowned musician you couldn’t exactly piece together

but apparently, you’re now more aware than ever lmao

taehyung sneaked in the name of your flower shop somewhere into the lyrics of the mOST famous song from his newly-released album

flowers from spring day on my mind, corner of the street with the neon sign, heaven on my mind and i spent no dime

goddamn

it just so happens that you letting THEE vante look at flowers as he pleases has become his favorite routine and it just makes him so happy in general

so happy to the point that your shop is specifically mentioned

— so, so happy to the point that your shop had become fully-packed and was making single-file lines that stretched all across four blocks overnight

so sO happy to the point that he had unknowingly become a catalyst for your shop to be almost fined because so many people were clogging sidewalks and a warning to get it together so that there would be better organization

YOUR SHOP WAS LITERALLY FEATURED ON THE NEWS?????

anyways, taehyung slipped in from the staffroom you mentioned to him in passing two days after he dropped his album, and then could you properly freak out about him

he was giggly the whole time when you were spouting out your disbelief for him but tHEN he also apologized for all the (positive & money-making) trouble he’s gotten you into

and he managed to sales-talk you (u swear u are the boss here) into collaborating with him for a limited collection with all the favorite flowers he’s taken note of so he could share it with his fans

he even brought you a notebook with all the illustrations and ideas he’s conceptualized so yeah,,,, there’s that

not only do you serve more than a full house in your flower shop and spend much more hours and energy, you’ve also agreed to add something big into your plate that’s easily getting crowded

what a good thing you have jungkook :D

you could literally not ask for a better boyfriend than jungkook

he’s been so supportive the whole time and he kept sHRIEKING when you casually told him that the frequent sight-seeing customer turned out to be vante himself

“all this time?! all this time and you fORGOT to mention to me that he wears a leather watch and a pearl necklace??? baby, those are basically his trademarks!!”

he supports you in ways you can’t even fathom <3

he was supposed to help you in the shop to help tackle the horde of vante-loving and flowers-from-spring-day enthusiasts, but he got an even better idea

he spent the whole week designing and building an online website for spring day from scratch!! he wanted it to be perfect for you and everything you stand by

also even him, a computer sciences graduate, had to back up the website extra nifty because he already predicts that it would get so much traffic (!!)

he took it upon himself to hire from his friends to be your helpers for the shop because ur severely under-staffed

he has tHREE more-than-willing candidates!!!

jimin’s summer job in college was him being a cashier in goddamn music festivals :D OF COURSE he’s gonna be the greatest cashier you’ll ever have!!! he can whip up change even before the customer hands the bills; he’s that good

he also has a great stern voice of making people stand in organized lines and not cut it so that would come handy

hoseok has a great instinct for color theory!!! he just knows what works and what doesn’t and you need an extra mind to help conceptualize arrangements in the blink of an eye

namjoon is a master of small talk and an all-rounder!! you have a loT of customers who have no gist whatsoever on what they want, and you don’t want to risk giving them an arrangement they loathe!! he knows how to hit it

he was actually so excited when jungkook pitched him a job offer

he could literally go “y/n, the lady in yellow has a dalmatian. i could tell she would tulips in her arrangement along with hydrangeas.”

so that’s that, basically

you and jungkook have been hectic and apart for a whole week because you practically sleep in the shop trying to keep up with everything

he’s actually keeping the website and sneaky hires from you as secrets in the meantime because he wants to surprise you!!! like literally right now

he enters from the staffroom and make sure none of the people waiting by the entrance see him because that would be utter chaos

the shutters are all closed so no one from outside can see what’s inside, but you actually fAIL to realize that your shop would still be closed for another ten minutes

the moment you hear a voice, your mind automatically goes to “hi! welcome to spring day. what blooms would you like?” mode :|

jungkook frowns because you look so haggard under his trained eye even if you still look well-kempt!! you can’t have your shops and yourself appear ratty in the eager instagram stories that taehyung’s fans take

but that’s okay!!! he’ll coax you to come home with him tonight because he’s gonna tell you about his hires this morning

“hi! welcome to spring day. what blooms would you like?”

you briefly look up to send a smile, already fetching your paper on your left hand and twine and scissors on the other

“hi! i’m here to get flowers for my girlfriend.”

“that sounds lovely. what would you-“

wait

hold on a second

that’s jungkook’s voice....??

that’s your bOYFRIEND’S VOICE???

“j-jungkook?”

you mutter and the boy beams in return, registering the blank look on your face to be surprise instead of what you’re thinking

the tears suddenly pool at the corner of your eyes even before you realize

“is this your way of breaking up with me?”

...

.....

“what? nO!”

your shoulders visibly sag in relief but jungkook’s clearly perplexed on how you even came to that

“why would i ever be dumb enough to break up with you?” he immediately consoles you when you bury your face in your hands, hopping over the counter to put you in a massive hug

“i-i haven’t slept, dummy!! and i figured that you hate me because we haven’t seen each other for a week and-“

you say in between sobs and chuckles, giggling when your cheeks are smushed and jungkook keeps peppering you with wet kisses

“ten minutes before opening,” kook sweetly reminds you, kissing you on the lips after an entire week that the sheer euphoria he’s getting now is enough to last another

“mhmmm,” you hum when he presses his warm hand on the small of your back, “tell me about your week in ten minutes.”

“sounds good,” he affirms, scratching your scalp that makes you relax even more until he stops red-faced —

“but like, while multitasking, y’know? kiss me while i tell you about my week.”

#I GOT CARRIED AWAY THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A TINY DRABBLE FEEDBACK PLS N THANK U #jungkook imagine #jungkook oneshot #jungkook oneshots #jungkook drabble #jungkook x reader #jungkook x y/n #jungkook x you

[writella]

Around and Around and Around

Pairing: Luke Patterson x reader

Requested? Yes! My first finished request! Thank you for the idea anon. Original ask: Could you do a present day... Alive!Luke x reader fic where him and his girlfriend (the reader) are just trying to spend some alone time together at one of Carrie’s parties? (I’m so sorry I didn’t make it Carrie’s party anon, I forgot.)

Summary: It’s a New Years Eve bash! The gangs all there, but the only thing Luke wants to do is spend time with his girlfriend. Unfortunately though, his friends constantly need their help which causes them to lose each other in the crowd. Around and around and around they constantly go... Can Luke meet up with her in time for a New Years Kiss? We shall see, my friends. We shall see.

Word Count: :)

Warnings: Kissing? Two curse words? I don’t think any of that counts. Oh! Over explaining? Neediness? An over use of the same words?

A/N: Hello everyone! IT IS A CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEARS MIRACLE! I finally finished a new fic. I really hope you enjoy it. I think I did a little too much, but this request just got my head turning and included the whole gang, so I just couldn’t help but give them all their own little moments! I had fun and I hope you do too. I’m taking you on a bit of a rollercoaster here, I will admit, but don’t worry though, I think I gave it a good ending.... You tell me.

“Y/N!”

“Y/N?”

“Luke?”

“Where are you?”

“Luuuke!”

“Luke!

“LUKE, COME LOOK!”

“Y/N, I need you.”

“Her shoe broke!”

“Luke, did you see his dog? It’s so cute! And he even likes pizza!”

“I don’t think you’re supposed to give pizza to a dog, Reg.”

“Well it wasn’t chocolate… Wait where’d he go? Wanna help me find him?”

“Well can she wear yours? Do you have an extra pair?”

“Where are they?”

Hey, Luke?!” 

“Y/N?!”

Boom the bedroom door slammed shut, and an out of breath Luke and his girlfriend, Y/N, filed in with a sigh: “Finally,” Luke said, his eyebrows and the corner of his lips rising with excitement. Throughout the hour and forty minus they had spent at the party thus far, they had found corners, almost empty areas, and even tall trees in the backyard, but none were as private as this. 

Still standing close to the door, Y/N looked around the walls that glittered with posters of rock bands and athletes. “Do you really think we should be in here? It is the birthday person’s room. Maybe we should be nice and leave it alone.” 

“When you throw a party you get what you get,” Luke reasoned, a hint of humor tracing throughout his words. “People travel, and we’re not going to do anything crazy on the kid’s blue basketball sheets if that’s what you’re worried about.” He ended, teasing Nick, the party host. 

She softly gave him an ‘alright,’ waiting for him to make his next move. Though they had been thrown around by their friends plenty of times by now tonight, the night was still young, and she knew Luke was adamant on spending time with her. Even more so, it was her first party after living in Los Angeles for almost a year now. (She was a Molina from Julie’s father’s side.) Back home she didn’t have the friend group that she had now, nor did she have someone like Luke specifically in her life as a significant other. After all this time in high school not experiencing these regular social events, a party— especially at this large of a house— seemed daunting, but as always Luke made it seem, as he always does, like it was the most spectacular adventure you couldn’t miss. Apprehension and excitement filled her spirit for what was to come of tonight. 

Following his gaze as she watched him survey the room, Luke’s eyes fell most notably on Nick’s guitars. “God, I wish I had this many.” 

“He definitely has the collection,” Y/N agreed,  still wondering what they were going to do, “but you’ve got like four, right?”

“Half of those were Bobby’s, and the acoustic is the one my parents got me… way back when, so really I only scrounged up enough money once in my life for one electric of my own.”

“So two. Still more than most.” She gave him a sympathetic smile, messing up his hair a little bit while doing so. He rubbed his head into her palm, enjoying the feeling.

There was a wonder in his eyes as he looked at the guitar rack that Y/N found quite charming. “Can’t believe he could spend all his time with these babies and he decides to balance it with sports.”

“I guess we all have our hobbies… but honestly I can’t believe we’re using this moment to ourselves to stare at guitars.” She laughs, “I’m just saying! This is what you wanted!” She corrects herself, “They are beautiful guitars though.”

“Yeah, you’re right. One of them could barge in any minute now,” Luke says, moving closer to Y/N till her back leans against the door. His fingers trace her jaw, then the side of her neck, ending as he swirled one finger around the tips of her hair. “And I could be looking at a much prettier sight.”

“Stop,” she blushed. Y/N was fine with tending to all her friends needs. She enjoyed being the first one Julie, Flynn, and now even Alex or Reggie went to for advice or help. Besides running the jatp social media account and co-running their YouTube page, making her friends feel better was what made her feel needed, but she had to admit, she liked this too. 

As they traveled backwards to the door, Luke pecked her lips a few times, then the corners of her mouth, then doing both again making her giggle and move her head to either side his lips fell. Finally, he moved centimeters back, looking in her eyes, ghosting her lips, “Stop doin’ what? Tellin’ the truth?” 

The rosy color on her face became more prominent. Her eyes traced between his own emeralds and his smile— his face made her mind fill with wonder. It was so bright, so positive, so warm, so close to her own. She could stay there with him, looking at her so endearingly, forever.

“Y/N?!” 

“Ow!” she screeched as Flynn pushed the door open on her leaning stance, bopping her head on the wood. 

“Oh my god, sorry!” Flynn gritting her teeth with worry, a fist coming to cover her mouth. “So yeah, ha ha,” the girl tried to build some relief, “Well there you two are!”

Luke grabbed the side of Y/N’s head, placing his hand over her own that covered where the impact landed, “You okay?” 

“Yeah…” She sighed, she was more concerned about whatever Flynn had to say. 

“I’ve been looking for you everywhere. I need you, like for real this time.” Flynn said, her voice filled with urgency. 

“Haven’t you needed her and looked for her ‘like’ everywhere three times tonight already?” Luke argued, a little disgruntled that their first truly private moment got interrupted in the matter of minutes.

“Was I talking to you, Patterson?” Flynn retorted, head tilted with a closed smirk on her face. “No, the answer is no.”

“You didn’t have to say the answer, okay? Got the gist.” His movements became dorkier by the second, his fingers coming to his face. “It was rhetorical- I knew that!” 

“Wow, learned that big boy word from your girlfriend?”

“Big boy?! I- That’s not even-“ before Luke went on, Y/N cut in: “Alright,” she lifted her hand, “What happened, Flynn? What do you need?”

“It’s Julie-“

“Don’t tell me she broke another shoe. I don’t have an extra-extra pair.”

“No.” Flynn’s eyes widened, “I actually- I don’t know what it is. She just told me to get you and come to her together.” The girl sighed, “She looked sad.” 

“Oh,” Y/N said, a frown coming to her face. A sad Julie is a Julie that should never be in this world. Other than thinking about the absence of her mother, Y/N’s cousin knew how to smile even when things got tough, so if she was feeling down now, and it was evident, it must’ve been important. 

“Yeah. So come? Like now?” Flynn grabbed Y/N’s hand and Y/N looked at her own opposite hand that was currently attached to Luke’s, trailing her eyes up to his face. 

“Well, I’ll just go too.” He insisted, “I want to help Julie, and,” He spoke directly to Y/N, “I don’t mind.”

“She didn’t ask for you.” Flynn snapped back. 

“It’ll be fine.” Y/N decided, “It’s not like we all don’t know her well anyway, right?”

“Yeah, let's go. And then we can just get back, hopefully. I want to spend tonight with you.” Luke said that last part more softly, but apparently not quietly enough. 

“Oh god!” Flynn vexed. “Haven’t you spent all week stuck to her mouth?”  Through snickers she said, “Let her come up for some air, bruv.” Then, letting go of Y/N's hand as she turns, leading the couple to the staircase, she continued: “And really you should be relaxing all those throat muscles or whatever. I've got you in two open mic night cafes next week and that kids party at the restaurant tomorrow, AND on Sunday Julie said she wanted to record that new song for the YouTube channel.” She slapped the side of her hand to the inside of the other, creating a chopping effect, “We got things to do! I’m trying to make sure you guys stay safe and have fun, but we shouldn’t be here all night.”

Luke rolled his eyes, as much as he loved playing, he hated being bossed around like this. “It's New Year’s Eve!” He complained, yet there was still a hint of playfulness in his voice. “Mind you, this is being said by the girl who agreed to DJ at this party.”

“I didn’t agree! I got reeled into it— Difference, see! This kid comes out of nowhere to bring me onto his home stage— man, he’s rich—- and asks me if I could change the tracks, put something fun on. How am I supposed to say no? It is his birthday and everything that was on before was terrible!”

“That we can agree on,” Luke noted with a laugh.

Y/N added on, after her long silence of listening to the two go back and forth, “You finally got everyone dancing.”

“I did! Thank you!” Flynn appreciated the acknowledgment, especially from Luke, but nonetheless, she persists on her earlier claim, “That being said, I really think we should leave by 10.”

“10?!” Luke repeats with annoyance. “Tomorrow’s gig starts at six. PM. And might I remind you again: it's freakin New Years Eve! We have to stay till the ball drops!”

“We have to practice one last time and we have to get there bef-“

“Alright, alright, boss.” Luke was done arguing (for the time being.) Instead his eyes followed Y/N’s who was no longer listening, bored of her best friend and boyfriend’s little fighting game, as they looked for Julie in the clusters of kids all around the room on the main floor. “Let’s just look for Jules so we can get back. And can we make it to midnight at the least? Please? I mean, come on, there no food at the Molina house to celebrate with and you were having fun up there with those turntables.” He started to smile cheekily at Flynn, “Don’t deny it.”

Flynn took in a sharp breath as she thought. Nick did have access to some sick equipment and has always been so kind enough to share, so it would be fun to play around some more. “We’ll see how I feel at 11. And by the way, we do have things to celebrate with at the garage. I bought stuff specifically so you guys wouldn’t complain when we left,” she went on, the three taking another turn, “We’re going to have some fun here till 10, or 11 I guess, get back to the garage, celebrate New Years— woo-hoo!— and then you guys are settled down by 12:15, 30 the latest. I don’t care if you’re not asleep, just not outside.” Seeing Luke’s face rise up again she defends herself,  “It's not my fault you phantoms have terrible time management skills! You guys literally have transportation powers and you’re either late or not present. It’s crazy! I need to make sure you’re there and we get paid. Period.”

Luke suppressed a grunt as Y/N rubbed his shoulders, laughing a bit at the truth of Flynn’s statement. 

Then, to console Luke, she whispered in his ear, “No matter where we are, I’ll be there. Plan still intact.” 

“True.” Luke whispered back, rubbing his nose on the side of her head. 

Luke liked his freedom. He was used to calling the shots when it came to the band, only taking on co-captain position as Julie challenged him with just as much leadership star power as he contained. This made Flynn appointing herself as band manager not something to be desired exactly, especially when she made decisions like this on their down time. He didn’t quite enjoy being told where to go and when, but on the other hand, he couldn’t help to admit to himself that the tech savvy skills both her and Y/N brought to the table were tremendously helpful. The 90s boy was used to walking around town trying to find the next cafe for the guys to play at that he didn’t know how easy it was in this digital world to find venues he never even heard of through the internet. This made him never forget to say thank you after a gig she or Y/N would find from their endless online searchings. And on Flynn’s end, she never forgot to commend Luke on his writing skills when he happened to be the scribe for one of the band’s songs she happened to enjoy, but other than that, they did not have that much to say to each other. 

Despite the natural banter and quips  that would suggest they were well acquainted, they were actually still quite awkward. Luke was used to admiring her relationship with Julie and Y/N from afar, and for Flynn, after the boys came back to life she didn’t know exactly how to fit herself into the group. Of course she was a part of it, Y/N made certain of it as she herself had also felt strange about her placement in Julie’s new friend group before Julie formally introduced her to them, not knowing that her cousin could also see ghost like she could, but overall, Flynn felt just the tiniest bit embarrassed that the boys she once called ‘cute ghosts’-- more than twice-- heard her say that and all the other things she’d say not knowing they were around (Julie told her they could sometimes snoop in unbeknownst to even her at times. ‘They don’t know boundaries,’ she would say.) Flynn especially felt this way when one of those ex-ghosts was Luke who knew he was ‘cute,’  as she once said, and would bother her about it endlessly when he was first able to communicate with her. 

Were they friends? Or was it simply that Luke was just a friend of her friends and that Flynn was just the friend of his girlfriend and mutual friend. Neither of them knew where their relationship stood. This caused Flynn to use her wit as a defense mechanism or to only begin a conversation with the guy when it was about something band related. ‘You kind of act like siblings,’ Y/N would tell them when they were at it. Both of them gawked at the word. ‘Siblings?!’

Around another corner the three went, passing the open space below the home stage that was being used as a dance floor. They went to the room adjacent to it. It was another rather large area, though this one was filled with more furniture, a lot in fact, perhaps to make space for the makeshift dance area. There was also an unused fireplace which caught the eyes of Y/N who yanked on the connected hand of Luke’s and then Flynn to take notice of who sat on the ledge. 

The water bunching up in her eyes sparked white from the room's fluorescent gleaming lights, making her tears look much bigger and shinier. It made the group feel bad they didn’t find her sooner. 

“Julie!” They all exclaimed in unison though Luke’s reaction was filled with the most apparent fret: the glow of the lights and his wide eye expression showed clearly how his eyes were growing greener with questions and worry. “What happened?” He tried to ask softly, not knowing how to react to her tears. The attempt at softness then immediately changed into one of starting frustration as he sat down next to his poor bandmate, hand on her knee, looking toward Flynn, “Why didn’t you tell us she was like this?” 

“Because she wasn’t like this when I left!” Flynn countered, coming to sit down next to Julie on her left side as Luke had taken the right. 

“Why do you always-“

“Enough guys,” Y/N silenced them for the third time that night. She noticed how Julie was shying away from both of their faces, not wanting to show them her tears. Julie was strong; a fighter; she sometimes much rather fake out her friends by smiling through her problems before she was ready to talk about them. Y/N knew all of this, related to it in fact, and could sense the possible embarrassment she must’ve been feeling. Not only did she create a movie moment for herself by being the girl crying at a party, but she was crying in front of her friends, when she was typically the person who tried to inspire hope, for she was the front man of her own band after all. 

Y/N could also sense— guessing by the way she mostly was turning her face from Luke— that it was a boy problem. Not that Luke’s jittery expression, or close proximity to her face was helping her open up either. 

Luke was trying to work on being more helpful in moments where his friends were in tears, but sometimes he could be a little too aggressive, or ‘extra,’ as Flynn would put it and Alex would agree, adding the new slang term to his vocabulary. 

Y/N took a seat in front of her on the ground, rubbing her friend's arm. “It’s okay, Jules. Nobody cares what you look like. You can tell us.” 

“I know, it’s just-“ she sucked her teeth, looking up, head still tilted to Flynn’s side. “It’s stupid.”

 “No ones going to judge you,” Y/N promised, pointing her head to Luke’s direction for Julie to see. 

“Yeah, and I bet it’s not ‘stupid’ anyway.” Flynn added.

“Nothings stupid if it made you cry, Jules.” Luke chimed in, finally agreeing with Flynn on something for the second time this night. “Who was it? I’ll beat them up for you.” He joked.

“Oh my god, no!” Julie tittered just a little while trying to wipe away all her tears. “And please never say something like that again. You sound like a dad.”

“Well he is supposed to be like 40 or something,” Flynn said, making the both of her best friends laugh. Julie specifically shook her head at this moment of Flynn and Luke’s typical banter, it was the first time she was getting a whiff of it tonight. Although she appreciated the entertainment they brought when in a room together, she agreed with Y/N that they were relentless. 

Luke let that one go, seeing how it finally brought a smile to the girl’s face, “There she is.”

Julie rolled her eyes at him, sighing as her fit of giggles passed, “Okay,” she started slowly, “Well... it was Nick… and I know it’s stupid-“

“-Not stupid.” Her friends finished.

“But you know, he invited me to this party. Directly! Said he wanted to hang out- to dance. When we came, the party just started so he had to say hi to people, that made sense, and he told me to stay near the main floor, so I waited. And then my shoe broke, and then some girl spilled some of that fondue on the bottom of my dress which I had to get out with bathroom wipes, so that was annoying. Then next thing you know it’s an hour later and all I’ve done is eat pizza and watch Flynn at the turntables…”

Julie went on. She explained that finally Nick showed up again , but as he was walking to her, Carrie had just arrived at the party, stopping him in his tracks. Apparently her gift was too heavy to bring inside, so she wanted to take him to her car to show him right then and there. “He said he’d be five minutes tops. Told me to come here by the fireplace, so again, I waited. Then five minutes turned into fifteen, so I got up.” She sidetracked, “That’s not me. Just sitting there, waiting, waiting, waiting. I felt dumb. That's when I walked to the backyard to see what was going on out there, find something to do after all this time, but funny enough that’s where I found Nick and Carrie, laughing, dancing, having a great time.” She wipes a new stray tear, “I decided to look for you,” she nodded to Y/N, “And it’s no offense Flynn, you know I love you, it’s just that I didn’t want to hear you tell me that ‘he’s not worth it’ at the moment.” She gave herself a pity laugh, “I’m currently feeling a little bad for myself as you can see.” 

“I’m so sorry Julie.” Y/N started. “But Flynn only tells you the facts like that because she thinks you’re so worthy of more.” 

“So much more,” Flynn added on, moving closer to Julie.

 “But I get it, it's not fair.” consoled Y/N. “I try to always consider his actions in those instances with Carrie as him just being a pacifist, but if he said he wanted to be with you and continuously told you he would, then he should’ve been here.”

“Agreed, but also, being a pacifist doesn’t mean to always stay quiet though, you can find a way to keep the peace and still do what’s right.” Luke spoke up. “He shouldn’t let Carrie always take him away like that.”

Y/N gave Luke a smile, “Insightful.”

“Strangely,” Flynn chimed in, “but exactly right. Not to mention how it’s not fair— no matter how nice he is— for him to just let Carrie keep saying whatever the hell she wants without calling her out.” 

“I just feel like I shouldn’t be so beat up. It is his birthday after all. He can do what he wants.” Muttered Julie.

“No!” Y/N told her. “You feel like you wasted your time, I get that! It’s his birthday, but your feelings are still important.” 

“Also,” Luke started, “Julie, I mean, come on! You could do so much better. So what? He’s like 18 now? Well I’m 18 now too, supposed to be 40 something apparently and I look like this! This! Compared to Nick?  Julie… girl!” He stated her name again, smiled wide, “I know Molina’s have better taste than that. Not to say what you didn’t want to hear, but, it’s true: he’s not worth it. Period.” He mimicked Flynn with the last word. 

Both Flynn and Julie gagged, “Oh my god,” they said in union. Y/N just put her face in her hands.

“You were actually doing well, and then you just go and screw it up like that?” Flynn sighed. 

“Now you went from a dad to sounding like a whole ratty teenage boy.” She rolled her eyes teasingly, trying to conceal her laughter at his conceited remark, “Disgusting.”

“Well as long as I got you to stop crying, that’s all that matters anyway.” He laughed goofily, invading her personal space once again. 

“Yeah,” Julie realized with a contented sigh. It seemed all the company she really needed was her friends. 

“Well, I think the only thing to do now is make up for all that time wasted, huh?”  Y/N spoke with a smirk. “If he doesn’t want to be your dance partner, it looks like you’re going to have to take on three instead.” 

“Fuck yeah,” Luke said, jumping up, grabbing Y/N and Julie’s hands and running to the dance floor.

Flynn called to the group, as she parted from them, heading to the stage, “Lemme change the song!” 

“OOOH!” Luke roared as the ooos and aahs of Donna and the Dynamos filled the room. “One of the best things to come out of the 2000s!” 

Julie and Y/N laughed at the surprisingly grand amount of love Luke had for Mamma Mia! 

Luke imitated the hustle, sticking his tongue out,  shaking his hips, and making Y/N dance along with him, moving around Julie who looked at them incredulously. 

“Come oooon,” he said to Julie’s direction, “Nobody can NOT like this song.” And after that Julie gave in, agreeing that a Mamma Mia and ABBA song was too good not to dance to. Flynn came up right behind her, making the dancing trio into a group of four. 

From jumping, to slides and shoulder grooves, and even forming their own little dancing circle the four lived in the song, seeing the last of Julie’s worry wash away as the speakers blasted the words “Dancing queen, young and sweet, only seventeen,” to which Julie’s friends made sure to spotlight her on as their hands sprinkled up and down spirit fingers as she twirled, enjoying her title that fit perfectly with her age. 

“Thanks guys,” Julie smiled sweetly, still jumping to the beat.

“WOOOO!” Luke hollered into the crowd, taking Y/N’s hand, swaying and jumping with her exclusively now. 

“WOO!” She yelled back.

“LOUDER, LOUDER!” He yelled in her face, shaking his head, his hair imitating a lion’s mane as he gritted his teeth, getting closer to her face. 

“WOOOOO!” She yelled, trying to match her boyfriend’s energy. 

“YES, Y/N. WOOO!” They kept jumping and he spun her around, letting her twirl into his grasp. He held her closer, one arm tightly around her waist while the other still held her hand, stepping and swaying side to side in a fast pace in order to keep up with the quick musical tune. Her laughs of surprisement to his actions filled him with pride. She was usually so focused on making her friends smile, she could sometimes forget to just have fun for herself. She dropped anything to tend to their needs, which is why tonight was important. At her first party he was going to make her smile and have fun, and that ended with a New Year’s kiss. Hopefully, he could find a way to hide from Flynn— and his friends for that matter— till that time to make it happen. 

Finally the song died down and a rush of endorphins filled the floor as almost everyone in the area, even those who typically didn’t dance joined along to the jumping motion the four started at the beginning of the song. “Should I change it?” Flynn asked Julie as the next song started, noticing how different the vibe of this song was from the last: slower, more romantic.

“No,” Julie told Flynn as she watched Luke take his arms closer into Y/N’s sides, “Let’s let them have their moment.”

Y/N arms went around Luke’s neck, and his arms wrapped around her waist, pulling each other closer while swaying in a circular motion. He connected their foreheads. His eyes fixated on her own. They were so gentle, so sweet, so comforting, he felt safe looking in them. He could stay that way forever.

“Luke?”

Luke sighed, once again just minutes of feeling release ruined. “Yeah, bud?” It was Alex. 

“I’m sorry to bother you, but this kid Reginald-“ 

“Don’t tell me he lost the dog again. I don’t want to look for it.”

“It’s not the dog! Well, not this time. I think he’s finally realized that we can’t take it home with us. It’s-“ Alex started snickering which then turned into great belly laughs he couldn’t stop, “I just- I can’t- I can’t- just please,” he had no control. “Please I need your help!”

“What the hell, Alex?”

“Just-“ Alex put his hand over his mouth, trying to conceal his laughs. He motioned Luke with his other hand, walking away. 

Luke kept his hand in Y/N’s, bringing her along with him, “I don’t want to get split up again, like last time with the dog.”

“It’s not the dog!” Alex exclaimed, still laughing. 

The three were now on the right side of the house, near the pool door that also stood to the right and in the area sat a couch and pool table. The wall on the left side had a small vent near the floor which is where they found Reggie, hip deep in the square hole.

“HELLO!” Reggie wagged his butt, for his friends to see, “Did you bring Luke?”

“Yeah!” Alex answered “Do you see now? He’s stuck!”

“How and why?!” Y/N asked, now joining in with Alex’s uncontrollable laughter as Reggie kept shaking his butt. Quickly Luke couldn’t help himself either.

“No! Y/N is here?” Reggie asked, “Y/N I’m so sorry you have to see me like this. I haven’t been doing my squats recently. I know I don’t look in the best of shape-“

“I think that’s the last thing I’m worried about, Reg,” Y/N said, still losing her breath along with Alex who yelled an incredulous ‘what?!’ at his words. 

“No one cares about your glutes, bro.” Luke shook his head, laughing with the two. 

“Well I do!” Reggie fought back. “I don’t wear these skinny jeans for nothing!”

Alex’s laughter from Reggie’s wackiness turned into one of apprehension. “Well there are more important things to worry about! Like my date being almost two hours late and also how I don’t even know what to say to him because I haven’t seen him in like two months and it's New Year’s Eve and yeah, okay, okay- Stop shaking your ass!”

“Okay,” Y/N held his shoulders, still losing her breath, “Willie is going to come, alright?  It'll be fine, but-“

“Let’s deal with gluteus minimus first.” Luke finished.

“That’s not even-“

“I don’t care.” Luke finished for Alex this time. “I’ll take the right leg, Alex, take the left. Pull!”

Ow! Ow! Ow!” Reggie yelped.

“PULL!”

“Ow! Stop!” 

“It’s going to hurt till we get you out, Reg” Alex explained. “And why isn’t Y/N helping?”

“Oh, sorry,” She was caught up in the hysterics. 

“Oh that’s right,” Luke noticed. “Take the right, I’ll hold onto his feet and pull from the back. On three. 1, 2, 3, PULL!”

“WAIT!” Reggie yelled.

“WHAT?” Alex yelled back.

“Luke said on three, but you pulled at ‘pull’, or really after pull, so is it really ‘on three’ or do you want it to be ‘on pull’ or ‘after three’ or ‘after pull’?”

Alex shook his head, “Does it matter?!”

Reggie’s voice cracked, “Just asking!”

“Okay, ON pull!” Luke clarified, “1,2,3, PULL”

“NO! WAIT!”

“WHAT?!” The three pullers yelled. 

“I felt a tear in my jacket, I love this jacket.”

“Oh god,” the boys complained.

“I think it’s just going to have to tear for us to get you out,” Y/N told him. 

“But you gave it to me!” Y/N heard the sadness in his voice. It was a brown leather jacket with long strands of fringe on either side. She thought it went perfectly with his banjo and love for country music. It also had big inside pockets that could hold all his little treasures, and whatever he had in his pocket today is probably the reason why it was so hard to get him out. 

“Maybe Victoria knows a good dry cleaner that can give us a discount,” she reasoned. 

“Tía does always have very nicely pressed clothes,” Reggie agreed, as an honorary Molina— self appointed, but appreciated by most— he felt that it was okay to address Victoria as such. 

“Yeah,” She laughed at his words, “So are you going to tell me how you got stuck?”

“Well I knew there was going to be a pool table here so I brought my lucky gold eight ball-” Reggie had a lucky every- “And it kind of just fell in here.”

Alex corrected him, “You mean you were getting too cocky at the game and knocked the ball so hard that it fell in there.”

“Potatoes, tomatoes, uh, spaghetti! It doesn't matter now, I got my ball and now I need you guys to help me get out.”

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Luke nodded, “You ready Reg?”

“...No!”

“You want to make out with the rats? They have diseases.” Alex sarcastically noted.

“They’re misunderstood creatures!” Reggie stated on their behalf. Reggie’s butt buzzed, “Oh that's my phone, that feels weird, “ he laughed. 

“Phone!’ Alex's eyes widened, “Where’s my phone?” He dropped Reggie’s leg

“Alex!” Luke exclaimed want to get this over with.

“Willie texted, he said he’ll be here in thirty- thirty minutes!” 

“Anything else,” Y/N asked.

“He’s excited to spend the New Years with me” He said softly, unsurely.

“That's great.” Everyone agreed, happy for the boy. 

“Are you going to text back?” Y’N asked excitedly, happy with the idea of Alex’s romance coming to life. 

“Oh yeah!” Alex’s face faltered, “Shit. It just died.”

“Just get Reggie’s,” Luke shrugged, “But after we get him out!”

After 3 more tries at “ON PULLS,” Alex, Luke, and Y/N were able to get Reggie out, only tearing his jacket on the left side.

“Thanks guys” Reggie said appreciatively. 

As Luke patted Reggie back Alex spoke: “Um, hey, Y/N?” He asked quietly, hands in his pocket, “Mind if I steal you for a second?”

“Sure,” she smiled sweetly at him, turning the corner so they could have a little bit of privacy. 

“I’m nervous.” He sighed, “ I already spoke to Luke about it before we left for tonight, so he’s already given me all the inspiration he’s got, but I’m still not sure of it all… He took the whole coming back to life hard, but I didn’t think he would take it so hard that he would separate himself from us, from me. ” The boy frowned. 

“I think he really liked being a ghost,” Y/N started.

“Yeah and we ruined his whole life,”

“We didn’t ruin his life, we saved it. He’s free, just like you guys. And…” Y/N trailed off trying to find the words, “Hm, well, I think he was just a ghost so long it became a part of his identity, and now that part left him, it must’ve been hard to take in. Should he have been more verbal about needing space? Yes. You deserved that. If you want to tell him that, you should, especially if it’ll help relieve whatever thoughts you’ve got suck up there. I’m sure he will be apologetic if you ask calmly, try to see it from his perspective. And that way he can be empathetic to your perspective as well, you know? On the other hand, you can also take this New Year in stride and just like go to the past and have a good time with him. Or do both!” She put an arm on his shoulder, giving him a warm closed smile. 

He nodded taking in her words, trying to remember what she said as she said it.

“You got this, okay? What does Luke say? Step into your greatness?”

“Heh,” he laughed, “Greatness is usually for Julie, awesomeness is mine, not saying that I am awesome though, it’s- it’s just what he says.”

“Well it’s because it’s true. You’re awesome, Alex. Just be open hearted and your awesomeness will shine through.”

“But.. how?”

“Didn’t I- Never mind. Okay, from what I know, Willie already knows you, and likes you, and enjoys talking to you, so there are no awkward first encounters to be made. You’ll see him and all you need to do is be prepared to say hi, that is unless you want to talk to him about the past, and then it will go off from there. I feel it ending up well, I promise. And even if it doesn’t? Show him the food. Everyone loves food.”

“Hi- maybe past- food- got it.” He turned, but Y/N quickly grabbed him. 

“Wait, but don’t just think about that. Remember: He’s coming because he wants to see YOU. He wants to spend New Years with YOU. That’s what his message said right?”

“Right.” It seemed Alex forgot. 

“So believe it. Live in that message.” 

“Okay,” he started to smile lightly, though still a little wearily. “Thanks… He wants to see me, he WANTS to see me, live in it.” He repeated her words. 

Alex gave her Reggie’s phone, asking her to message Willie one last time stating that he would be waiting for him by the front of the house by the band’s van. She did so and turned the corner hoping to find both Reggie and Luke, but unfortunately the latter person was not in sight. 

“Reg, where’s Luke?”

“Y/N! Meet Amelie Laurent,” Reggie introduced the girl sitting next to him, imitating a French accent as he said her name. “She’s a foreign exchange student from France. She likes my jacket.” He said with a smirk. 

Y/N guessed he didn’t hear her question.

“Nice to meet you,” the girl said giggling at Reggie’s antics. “Comment tu t’appelles?” She asked.

“Uh, yes.” Y/N stared blankly, watching the girls face fall, “I’m just kidding, it’s Y/N. I know that much at least.” Both you and the girl laughed. 

“Aw look, my girls getting along!” 

“Your girl?” Amelie questioned.

“Well maybe not yet,” Reggie winked while wiggling a brow. 

“You should get Luke and come hang out with me and Miss Amelie Laurent.” Reggie once again pronounced her name with the most fake sounding French accent he could muster, having fun with how the name rolled off his tongue. 

“Speaking of that,” Y/N handed him his phone, “Do you know where he went?”

“Well he didn’t go through the pool door because that’s where my Amelie Laurent came from, so I’m guessing back there,” Reggie pointed his thumb behind him.

“Alright, then I guess I’m going that way. Nice to meet you Miss Amelie.” She giggled, attempting her own French accent.

-

About 10 minutes had passed. Y/N had walked around to the backyard, upstairs to some rooms, to the dance floor, the kitchen, stopping along the way when Julie and Flynn caught her in their sight till she found herself back by the pool table. Reggie’s banjo and doggy friend was present but not he nor his lady friend, or Luke. Y/N wondered if she should finally try the pool door till she heard a sound, a voice actually. As she walked down the hallway she was just minutes before, she heard his voice. 

It was Luke, his tones muffled by the music and talking inside, but she could hear it, it filled her senses, making her heart flutter to hear his singing as it belted a tune much more soulful then the usual pop or rock songs the band sang. He was outside, in the backyard, one of the first places she looked. As she almost reached the back door, she was pushed rather harshly, by someone with wheels, skateboard wheels. 

“Whoa! Sorry!” It was Willie. “You’re Y/N right?” He smiled, running his fingers through his hair as he took off his helmet. “I know we’ve never really spoken, but we know of each other.”

“We do,”  Y/N said pleasantly. 

“I’m glad I finally found one of you, I’m totally lost.”

“Well I think Luke was just outside there, actually.”

“Oh really? God I was going so fast I wasn’t even thinking. Or looking would be correct, right? Anyway, I’m sorry I didn’t see you there, sometimes I still think I’ll just go through people. Can’t believe I have to walk indoors now.” He rubbed the back of his neck. 

“Life of the living,” she tried to joke, “I’m sorry. I know it must be strange.”

“Yeah, better than being under Caleb though.”

“Right,” Y/N nodded. 

“Oh, sorry,” 

“No don’t be. I’ll never know him like you did. No emotional tie here.”

“Um,” An awkward silence erupted, “So since you’re the only one in the group I’ve found you want to play a game?” 

“A game?” She asked, confused.

“Yeah!” He raised his brow.

“And what game would this be?” 

“The Where’s Alex game. If you have the answer I’ll love you forever. I already know I’m super late.”

“Oh!” she laughed at the realization, “He’s at the front! You didn’t see him? Or see the text?”

“My phone died,” He pulled out the device as proof, the glass was severely cracked, “I’m not sure how to properly take care of it as you can see. No wonder I make it die so fast.”

“His phone died too, strangely enough. But he’s waiting for you at the front entrance. You didn’t come from that way?”

“No, I didn’t know if someone would stop me if I went that way because I wasn’t actually invited. I never really did this kind of thing in the past. It’s my first time.” 

“Really? It’s my first too, but for you? You seem so cool to me to never be invited.”

“Well the actual definition of cool and high schoolers definition of cool is wildly different. We’re obviously a different breed, you and I. Better.” He joked. 

“Well thank you.” She could tell why Willie liked him. “Alex is by the white van, it has ghosts painted all over it so you can’t miss it.”

“Thank you!”

“Of course!”

As he was about to walk away, skateboard in hand, he stopped, “Can I be honest?”

“Sure.” She smiled nodding at him to continue.

“I’m a little nervous. I know that’s his thing so I should try to get over it, but I can’t help it. This not being a ghost thing has been hard, you know? Is he mad? I didn’t mean to separate myself…” he faultured. Although Y/N knew Alex’s half of the story, Willie and her were still newly acquainted, it made sense why he felt the need to stop himself from possibly over sharing. 

“He can’t wait to see you.” She reassured him, ending the silence. “It’s literally why he decided to stay by the front. He wanted you to find him right away. You’ve got nothing to worry about.”

“You sure?”

She confirmed, “Absolutely positive.”

“Alright, thanks again. And nice to meet you! You know, not just by me peering through windows and being creepy. Sorry.”

“Ghosts will be ghosts.” Y/N shrugged. She watched as Willie gave her a laugh and started to walk away. 

“Y/N,” the sweet voice from the backyard called for her again, this time saying her name.

“Luke,” her eyes brightened, turning around.

“Found you.” He grinned, intertwining their fingers on both sides. 

“Well really I would have found you first. I heard your voice, from the backyard, but Willie stopped me before I could go.”

“Ah, you heard my call for you.”

“For me?” He hummed in response.

“I’ll pretend that’s true.” 

“Good,” Luke brought one of her hands up to his lips, kissing it softly. “So where have you been in the last twenty?”

“Well I was looking for you. Reggie said you didn’t go through the pool door so-“

“I did.”

You did?”

“I did! He probably didn’t mention it because he was so focused on-

“Miss Amelie Laurent!” You both said in unison, French accents prevalent. 

“He said you went back here so I went to the backyard, but you weren’t there, so I went upstairs back to Nick room, and you don’t want to know what I saw in there-”

“Ooo tell me,”  his eyes were eager.

“Anyway, I went back down stairs, found Julie near the kitchen— we shared a cupcake— and then she asked me if I would go to the dance floor with her and find someone to talk to so I did that, but then Flynn can said she lost her bracelet so we three had to look for that one, then I came back to the pool table, heard you singing, bumped into Willie, asked me where Alex was, and then I think he needed some advice— he and Alex are literally having the same problem, it’s kind of cute— and then you finally came. That’s my story.”

Luke's mouth was open, eyes going around in a circle as she went on her tangent, hanging onto every word, he thought it was pretty adorable. “Well, my story is much shorter. When I picked Reggi up, you disappeared.”

“Oh, Alex asked me to speak to him, all we did was turn the corner.”

“I didn’t know, but then some guy from the pool came up to me asked me if I could show him some cords from a phantom song and before I could say yes he was pushing me out the door. I helped him, went back inside, met Miss Amelie Laurent, walked to the backyard because Reggie said you went that way, and there I stayed.”

“If only I went back.”

“We’re good now.” Though a smile still ghosted his face he felt a sudden suppression wash over him, “Are you having fun, Y/N/N?”

“I- Yes, of course. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“I don’t know… I just know it’s your first party here and I wanted you to have a good time, but at every second someone needs you, or someone needs me, and we’ve been pulled around and around and around,-“ Luke moves his head left to right, a rasp in his voice like a motor engine as he repeated the word for effect, “-that I feel like you’re not letting yourself get into some trouble like everyone else.”

“Trouble?”

“Lack of a better word,” he smiled smugly. “I’m just saying, you’re not Julie and the Phantoms glorified assistant-”

“Neither are you. You’ve done just as much as me tonight.” She reasoned. 

“Yeah, but that’s because I was trying to stick with you and lessen the load. You know you do so much for us all the time.”

“I guess I just like you guys too much.” she shrugged, matching his playful tone from before.

“Like just me a little bit more then.” He moved closer, placing his fingers on her jaw, “Hmm?”

He finally kissed her, a real kiss this time. His other hand moved to her neck as her hands moved to his arms. The hand on her jaw lifted her chin higher, deepening the action.

“People are watching,” she said through a breath, eyes alert. 

Before going back in he said, “No one's watching,” Then after a peck, “And no one cares.” His hands slid to her waist, head tilting to the other side, he hummed, causing Y/N’s hands to fall to his cheeks, quickly sliding her fingers against his chest; she was lost in the moment. 

Slowly Luke’s feet moved backwards, moving one of the hands that was wrapped around his waist to her hip as he motioned her against the wall. “Ow,” Y/N yelped, the black and blue Flynn gave her earlier pulsing again. 

Luke’s hand came to her head, cushioning it against the wall. “Sorry, I forgot.”

“So did I,” she laughed. 

The both smiled at each other, Luke forehead connecting with hers, he rubbed his nose against her own etching more bits of laughter out of her. He relished in the noises, the closeness, the feeling. 

Looking down he noticed their shoes, Y/N’s original chucks in the middle of both vans. He didn’t care what shoes she wore, but he much appreciated how she had to change her footwear for Julie because now they matched… somewhat. The black and white pallets, but different designs; similar, but different; individuals, but connected. He liked it. “Nice shoes, kid.”

“Thanks,” she laughed, “Not what I originally intended, but they work.”

“Work better, in my opinion.” He moved back, extending her arms out as he held her hands. He was surveying how her black dress with white polka dots perfectly matched the color scheme of the converse. “Perfect.”

Once again she blushed, but didn’t respond. Instead she made a remark about his own shoes. “You know, I don’t understand how you wear those everyday, yet they aren’t all dirty like mine.”

“Well I used to be a ghost, when I was walking my feet weren’t actually treading on the Earth.” 

“Well that was three months ago.”

“Almost three months ago,” he corrected, for that’s when their official relationship started. Luke always thought she was pretty, right from the moment he saw her, but it wasn’t love at first sight, not even like. She was a little quiet, at least with him and the boys and they all noticed. With Julie and Flynn she smiled brightly and chatted constantly, or that’s what he would hear when he would come to Julie’s room, hearing her voice through the door. It was a sweet voice, empathetic, understanding; he thought it sounded like music, and not only did he wonder how his name would sound on her lips, but he felt connected to it. He understood the desire to make others feel good. Through his singing he tried to make people feel seen, make their problems validated, and he could tell she tried to do that with her words. 

For Y/N at first, she wanted Julie to have the band for herself. She thought that this was one of the few things making her feel happy during this dark time of Tía Rose’s passing, so she didn’t want to step in too much, not to mention the realization that she could see ghosts wasn’t exactly the easiest things for her to get her head around the way Julie did. But her elusiveness only made Luke more curious, and when Luke was curious, he was persistent in finding out whatever it was he wanted to know. 

First, he would ask Julie to bring Y/N down for their rehearsals and she would, sometimes, but nothing gave. Y/N would most give Julie feedback, shying away from the ghosts gaze, still unsure how to interact. Then, he just started asking Julie about her cousin, little questions here and there till Julie finally got tired and told him to just go talk to her himself. This is where he was at a stand still as he was unsure how to approach her. Finally, after noticing how her room lights would shine quite far into the night, he decided to go up there, telling himself he would just ask her why she sleeps so late, that he only noticed because he likes to take walks at night. It sounded reasonable to him. 

This is when he realized how similar Molina’s are: Always trying to be brave for others. After she told him she always had trouble falling asleep unless it was specifically her bed at home, but didn’t want to tell anyone else because it would bother them. She wanted to stay here for Julie and for the friendships she was finally making at Los Feliz, so Luke decided to start a tradition with her: late night bike rides. It was a way to tire her out and a way for him to get some alone time with her. Him taking a bike from the garage, and her using her own she brought from her old home. They rode separately, but together, letting the quiet road open them up to the other. Telling each other stories, discussing interests, consoling each other when they were feeling down. Luke never knew how close you could feel to someone else by just conversation until he had to do it with Y/N. It made him appreciate her in a way he’d never felt before. 

They were not friends, they knew that fairly quickly, but they didn’t hurt each other by talking about being more. It was just an unspoken agreement that they hung out with each other exclusively in the way that they did, but they never spoke of romantics. Their rides were special, only for them. That’s why when he became alive the first thing he wanted to do, after celebrating with everyone, was take a ride with her. One bike this time. Her heels on the bars and she heads onto his shoulders, showing her where he used to grow up. That’s what he always wanted to do. 

“Not enough time,” Luke said in response to Y/N who mentioned that wearing the same two pairs of shoes for 3 months had to have made them a little messed up, but he was talking about them, thinking about how short of a time ago it was that he got got be with her this way. It was a long year of just knowing her without the sense of touch. He felt lucky. Once again, he dipped his hands on the side of her face, starting to go in till-

“Hey, Y/N! And oh, Luke! Hey man.” It was the New Years Eve birthday boy.

“Oh, hey, Nick,” Y/N said, maintaining a kind disposition although she knew how his actions made Julie feel. 

“Um,” he laughed awkwardly at Luke’s stoicism, it was unnatural for his character and even Nick knew that by now, “Well I was wondering if you knew where Julie was. I’ve been looking for her everywhere.”

“Really?” Luke questioned.

“Yeah, I promised her a dance,” he laughed, “or really she promised me one because we all know I suck.”

Y/N laughed kindheartedly at his deprecation. She was still trying to give him the benefit of the doubt. Carrie does have a dominating attitude, and with someone as tender Nick it would make sense that he got roped into whatever it was even at his own party, but looking at Luke’s face and knowing how she felt earlier, she decided to to be upfront, “Look Nick, you don’t have to say anything, but I think you like Julie, and I don’t know if Julie likes you, but let’s say she does: You’re sending mixed signals. I get you and Carrie have a history and that she can be bossy, but you make your own choices. If you want to hang out with a certain someone, I think you should put your foot down and make it a priority to do that.” She tried to be ambiguous, obviously failing throughout. 

Nick sighed, “I know… I have no excuse. But that’s why I’ve been trying to find her. I want to hang out with her, do a- I don’t know-“

“‘I don’t know?’” Luke intervened, restating his words, unsure about the possible actions behind them.

“I mean like... New Year's kiss, I- don’t laugh at me Y/N!”

“No! I think it’s sweet. I'm only laughing because I’ve understood your pain, Nick.”

Nick laughed alongside her albeit he was still mostly laughing at himself. Luke kept his grumpy face, eyebrows twitching. “Well if that’s what you want, go get it before the Carrie snatches you up again”

“But even if she does,” Luke started. 

“Put your foot down.” Y/n finished “You know, Stand Tall, like the phantoms song.”

“‘Whatever happens’  he snickered, waving his finger as he said the lyric in hopes to ease the tension with Luke, but he was not amused. 

“Exactly,” Y/N smiled, paying her boyfriend's chest. 

“Right,” Luke agreed, he was really only saying it for Y/N. “Nice basketball sheets by the way”

“Hey, come on, my dad got those for me. It’s nostalgic, you know? Anyway, so I know you guys were busy and I’m sorry that I interrupted anything, but do you think you could help me find her? I really want to find her.”

“Listen Nick,” Luke started once again, it was getting late and he still had a plan he wanted to maintain. 

“Y/N! So there’s this gu- Nick, oh-“

“Julie, I’ve been looking for you!” Nick exclaimed, happy to see her. 

“You have?”

“Apparently,” Luke answered. 

“Well Nick, actually I-“

“Wait. Julie, wait. I- um, I was also looking for all you phantoms actually. I mean I was going to find you and talk to you first and the ask about this later but hey two out of the four are here so,”

“What are you talking about?” Julie asks, hoping he’d get to the point.

“I was wondering if you could play a song? Just one. I don’t have a bass but I’ve got a drum kit on stage already and I’ve got plenty of electrics. The party’s coming to a close and I thought this would be one last thing to bring it all together to make a great night. I know it’s last minute,”

“Nick-“

“Julie.” He stopped, stumbling with his words, till he finally felt sure of what to say, “I’m beating around the bush. What I really need to say is I’m sorry for leaving you. You’re the only one I wanted to hang out with tonight. Carrie- Carrie’s just lonely. If I’m being honest and I promise I don’t mean this in a rude way, but Kayla is just more of her henchman. I know we used to date so it looks strange, but I think I’m her only friend right now. She bought a really grand present and took me away to show it to me, that’s all. I should have stopped to speak to you first though. That’s on me.”

Julie looked down, nodding, “I appreciate that.” 

“You don’t have to sing and you don’t have to give me any more of your time tonight if you don’t want to. I’m just glad you’re here either way.” 

“I don’t mind hanging out with you... if you actually stick around this time-“

“I will!”

“But singing? I guess I’ll leave that one to you Luke.” Julie said, noticing his expression, lips scrunched up together.

“I- It’s your choice, Jules. Whatever you want.” He said lessening the intensity that was in his eyes, Nick did do what Y/N said after all. 

“Let’s sing then. This party has been a little hectic and I think we all need to get our emotions out. Let the New Year come in with good vibes. Right, buddy?” She said tapping Luke’s cheek. “Y/N, help me find the others?”

“Sure,” she said with a sympathetic smile to Luke who she noticed didn’t seem to enjoy that little buddy comment, nonetheless, she joined in: “See ya soon, buddy,” Y/N laughed, letting the ends of her finger tips brush against his till she was pulled away by Julie.

-

On stage, Julie and the Phantoms rose, singing Finally Free. It had become quite the party anthem for them. The repetition in the chorus made it such a good song for them to engage with the audience. Every time Julie sang ‘I got a spark in me’ the crowd would sing back, throwing their hands up in the process quite literally making the next lyric, ‘hands up if you’re with me’ come true in the most perfect way.

Y/N wished she brought her camera, instead she opted to take out her phone, taking some iPhone shots of the band, hoping the fans would enjoy these raw candid pictures, but then Luke caught her attention through the screen, he sent her a wink, one that the people in front of her probably thought was for them. As he strummed his guitar he yelled a ‘WOOO’ her way, bouncing with Reggie. Y/N decided to put her phone down. This performance was a New Years special, one to only be viewed in person; in the moment; no thinking of anyone else. Finding Flynn in the crowd who was also trying to catch some snapshots of her own, Y/N passed on the energy Luke had given to her: “Lets just have fun!” 

- 

Soon after, the song had ended, and despite not being the ‘hologram band’ anymore the Phantoms vanished from the stage, still giving the audience chills as Julie was the one last standing, thanking everyone for being such a great audience. When the gang realized the guys still had some ghosting abilities, Julie wondered if they should stop the whole disappearing thing, saying it would be harder for people to believe, but honestly, seeing the guys at school, at this party, and still watching them turn to dust when the music and cheering ended still amazed the crowd and made it just that more of a spectacle; no one cared for reason, it was simply that cool to see. 

Y/N hoped Luke would pop up alongside her, saving her the hassle of searching for him again, but alas, he did not. It made sense to her though, for she was right in the middle of the dancefloor. 

She decided to travel back around to the hallway where Nick and Julie had stopped her and Luke before. Walking down the hall, a hand snaked around her arm, pull her into a small closet under the staircase. “What the-” She stopped herself as she looked up and the light illuminated the small area with a click and a pull. Her eyes traveled slowly from the buttery yellow glow of the small light, the hand which pulled on the silvery chord, the shimmering skin of Luke, whose eyes followed her gaze till she met his own. “Howdy.” 

“Hey there, partner” she said softy, small breathy giggles coming out of her. “Nice hat.”

“Why thank you, pretty lady,” he responded with a wink, tipping the brown leathered cowboy hat he’d found.

“So what are we doing in here?” She asked, watching him take off the hat.

“Wanna play seven minutes in heaven?” 

“Like in 13 going on 30? Is that the kind of game you played in your 90s parties?” 

Luke rolled his eyes at her comment, moving on, “I decided that our friends are not going to leave us alone tonight, so I want just seven minutes. No interruptions, just us.” 

“I’d like that.”

Luke took out his phone starting a timer on his phone, “Yeah,” he nodded as he moved closer to her face, “me too.”

Lips on her own, he moved his hand to the back of her head, remembering her black and blue and he softly placed it against the wall of the small space, removing it once there. 

As her head leaned eagerly against it, the rest of her body was slanted, legs in between his own, he moved his arms to her waist, hands going up her back, while hands went up to his neck, going in to play with his hair. 

“Y/N?”

The sound caused her to jump, banging her head for the third time. “Ow.” 

It was Flynn. 

“Luke!” 

It was Reggie. 

Now Julie came over, “Is Y/N and Luke in there? Guys?!” H-“

“No!” Luke yelled. 

“Hey!” It was Alex, hand in hand with Willie. “Are they coming out? It’s-“

“Five minutes!” Luke yelled out again. He slid out his phone from underneath the door. “In fact, reset it to seven, give us seven.” 

Reggie took phone, “But Luke you didn’t notice the ti-“ 

Luke bagged on the door, “When it rings, that’s when you can give us your requests.”

Y/N covered her mouth, giggling at his aggressive tone. 

“Come here,” he motioned her with his hands on her hips, lips once again reconnected. As they started to move backward again, Luke moved his hands higher, picking her up, motioning her to wrap her legs around her waist, Y/N tried to catch her breath as their lips fell a part in the action, “Not this time,” he whispered in her ear, the vibrations of his voice making her shiver. He crashed his lips onto hers again as his hands went lower on his hips, supporting her on his frame. He swiped his tongue on her lower lip in an attempt to deepen the kiss further. Thereafter, their lips were connected in open mouth kisses, Luke taking control of the action.

“We just wanted to say Happy New Years, it’s 12:03.” Reggie uttered quietly at the bottom of the door, petting Nick’s dog that found him again. Y/N and Luke didn’t answer him, he figured they were too busy engrossed in each other. 

“Happy New Years, beautiful.” Luke sang to Y/N, sighing out, admiring the way her eyes looked into his, realizing that he completed his mission after all.  

“Happy New Years, Luke.” She breathed out, planting her lips on his once more. One hand on the side of his face as the other went back to his hair, rejoicing in their closeness, finally, uninterrupted.

- 

Thank you for reading! 

Tag list: @lolychu​ @marinettepotterandplagg​

#luke patterson #luke patterson imagine #luke patterson x reader #luke jatp #luke jatp fic #luke jatp imagine #julie and the phantoms #julie and the phantoms imagine #julie and the phantoms fic #luke julie and the phantoms

[willowbleedsonpaper]

Ron was right

Theo Nott x Reader

W.C. : 3043

Requestd by @herstory-study​:  Ok I kid you not(t) another idea just popped into my head.. I hope you like it... the gist of it is Theo and the reader have that relationship where they are best friends but also dating but nobody can tell bc they’ve always been super close so I imagine like a bunch of pple (including the twins) have placed bets on whether or not they are dating and I just imagine one day they come back from a date and pple in the background are either groaning/cheering cause they got $ u can take it from there

A/N: I hope you like it, Puff! Feedbak and reblogs are very aprecciated. Happy reading.

*Not my GIF. Credit to the creator.*

It had been a quiet day the first time Theo noticed you. Grey clouds move fast in the evening sky, the light breeze comfortable for every student out in the courtyard to show their house pride and wear their scarves around their necks. His friends talked about the Golden trio and what had they done that week to ruin their mood. Nothing new really. Theo never added much to those conversations, what was the point of complaining about something when you could ignore it. He too was bothered by Potter and his friends adventures and misadventures, but Draco and his friends weren’t the target. But that was just the way Theo saw it.

“Wait until I write my father,” grumbled Draco, sitting in the middle of the bench where Theo had been sitting with Blaise. “ Potter is going to regret it.” he said with a huff.

Pansy arrived just a second after he ended rambling, rolling his eyes as she sat on the grass without a care about her robes. She gave a pleading look at the other boys as she cocked her head towards the Slytherin prince. When neither one of them said anything she scoffed glaring daggers at both before she smirked “Draco darling, Why don’t you tell Blaise and Theo here what Potter did. I’m sure they’d love to hear it.”

Blaise’s protest died down on his tongue when Theo shut his book close “No need.” he said, looking straight in Pansy’s eyes “We saw it all.” 

And it was true, it was hard to miss one of their disputes when they shouted at each other, standing at opposite extremes of the hall as the crowd gathered to witness the latest drama between Slytherin and Gryffindor.

“Doesn’t matter if they know.” Draco said desperately, leaning to rest his arms on his knees “I already have a plan for them to know their place. And plan B in case that one doesn’t work.”

“Maybe you should try plan D for dumbass.” 

They all turned around to the large tree, their gazes lowering to the base of it. There you sat, an annoyed look on your face as you straightened your robes and stood. Your movements were sharp, taking your bag on your shoulder as you stormed away from them, all of them in a state of shock to even try to stop you. 

 “Who does she think she is.” muttered Draco, already jumping to his feet when Theo placed a hand on his chest.

“Leave this one to me.” he said lowly, his eyes never leaving your form as you walked away. Draco hesitated but gave him a slow nod as he sat back down. 

Theo smiled triumphantly, hiding his face quickly so no one would see him and his true feelings. He took off and ran after you, keeping enough distance so you would walk away from the eyes of his friends. 

He kept running, your back facing him as he came to a halt. “Hey!” he yelled, your eyes glancing back at him as you picked up your pace. “Wait, stop.” he yelled again, catching up with you as he stopped in front of you. 

“What?” you said sharply, looking down at his hunched form as he breathed heavily. You raised an eyebrow at him, crossing your arms over just your chest as you leaned back. “ Don’t tell me, Draco sent you to do his dirty work?”

“You…” he smiled, trying to keep in a laugh as he shook his head “You just called him a dumbass.”

You frowned, taking in the boy in front of you. Well kept brown hair, milky skin and the most beautiful eyes you had ever seen, his smile reaching his eyes as he stood to his full height. 

“Aren’t you his friend or something?” you asked confused.

He shrugged, rubbing the back of his neck as he looked around. “Even I can get annoyed at him.” 

You squinted your eyes, eyeing the boy before you looked up at him “Who are you?”   

He extended his hand with a smile, one you hesitantly took “Theodore Nott, but everyone calls me Theo.”

You raised both your eyebrows, shaking his hand with a nod “Right.” you said “Well, if you’re not here to avenge your friend…”

“I’m not.” he smiled as you mirrored his look.

“Maybe you’re not a dumbass.” you told him, staring into each other's eyes before you realized you had been in silence for too long “I’m going now.” you turned on your heel, resuming your walk to a more quiet zone where Slytherins weren’t complaining when his voice made you stop.

“You didn’t tell me your name!” 

You turned to see him with a smile, a glint in your eyes as you said “Goodbye, Theo.” He stared at you as you disappeared in the halls of the castle, breathing out a laugh as he returned to his friends.  

It was difficult to not think about you after that. Your two minute interaction had him wondering more about you, who you were, what did you like. He started to pay more attention to you after that. 

He thought getting your name wouldn’t have been a difficult task. He felt like the detective he read about when he was younger, sneaking in the middle of the night to behind his father’s back to read the muggle novel he got his hands on not a while ago, reading until his eyelids could barely stay open with only the moonlight to accompany him. He wanted to feel the rush of Sherlock Holmes, and he wanted you to be John Watson. But as he actually tried to get something about you without interacting with you he realized why everyone praised Holmes so much, it wasn’t an easy job.

You always seemed to be with someone, but in utter silence. Muttering a few words with the people around you as you always had something better to do. You were the mystery he couldn’t get out of his head, the thought that kept him up at night, the dream that had him drifting away as his friends talked. He wanted the honor of being your friend.

****************************************

You worked on your herbology research, a pile of dusty books at your left side as you read the one opened before you. Your study partner was someone gathering more information, probably found someone and got stuck in the chat. Nothing new, really. You were used to initiating the study date with your partner and ending it alone. 

You felt someone walking behind your back. Expecting to hear your partner’s voice, your head snapped up at the sound of someone else.

“So,” said Theo Nott, taking the chair next to yours with a proud smile on his face “How are you, Y/N?”

You dropped your quill on the table, tilting your head with a curious look “Who told you my name?” you asked.

“It’s written on your parchment.” he pointed towards your handwriting on the upper part of the paper. “I got to say, it was difficult. Not many people really know you, you're like a ghost in the castle.”

“Maybe to the people you asked, I am very well known here.” you said daringly, and he nodded. “Well you know my name, you can leave now.” You took your quill back up, following the line you were previously reading with your finger when the thudding sound against the table made you raise your head slowly with a glare. “What are you doing?”

“Homework.” he said simply, opening a book as he silently began to read. Not once looking back to you, not saying another until he finished. Taking his things inside and wishing you goodnight, leaving the library without another word. 

It became a routine after you realized he wouldn’t give up. He would always show up, sitting on the chair he did that first night and working on his homework. There were times when you would get there and he was already sitting, books scattered all over the table until he saw you, moving his things to make some space for you. He didn’t bother you, so you allowed it. His presence  warm and welcoming as you studied, you even helped each other sometimes.

A year had passed by since that night, and you didn’t realize when you started to think about him as a friend. The only person you actually felt comfortable calling  a friend. He had been there for your happy days, your rough days. He took genuine interest in you. Telling you about him and his life, sharing his candy and food as you walked through the castle side by side. He asked you about your life before Hogwarts, how was your childhood with a muggle parent. You told him all about your past school, how you lost your friends through the years as you never got to see them and you couldn’t explain your sudden change of school and life. Theo became your best friend and you couldn’t be more happy. 

“What are you doing this weekend?” he asked you.

“I don’t know.” you shrugged, putting a raspberry in his hand as you ate one “Sleep sounds good.” you said with a smile and he laughed.

“Are you sleeping for two days straight?” he said in disbelief, and you scoffed hitting his face with another raspberry.

“Is that a challenge?” you dared, sticking you tongue out to him.

He scrunched his nose, catching the berries in his mouth until you stopped “Stop, your Gryffindor is showing.��� he said with a fake look of disgust. You only laughed, shaking your head as you drifted back to his question.

“I’m not doing anything, then.” you commented, waiting to see what he had to say.

“Do you want to go to Hogsmeade?” he asked simply, your heart beating fast in your chest in both nervousness and excitement. But once you saw  the carefree look in his face your heart dropped. Why were you feeling that way?

“I don’t know.” you said, trying to put the hurricane of emotions inside you at ease “I’ve never seen the fun in going.”

“That’s because you’ve never been there with me.” he said with a smile, tilting his head with a sigh at the hesitance in your face “C’mon, Y/N. You’ve told me you have never been with your friends…”

“They’re not really my friends.” you corrected with your lips pursed “They hardly are the people I hang out with. They’re just there in a silent agreement of company.”

“Am I not your friend?” he asked and you knew you had already lost the small debate.

“You know you’re my best friend.” you said with a small smile, one he returned as he held your hand, a warm tickle in your hand where his skin touched yours. 

“Then it’s settled. I’ll go get you from your common room.” he said and you nodded, praying that the emotion flowing inside you was slipping in the look of your face.

Little did you know that Theo was feeling exactly the same. His stomach was doing flips inside of him as you smiled at him. He wanted so bad to tell you it was a date, that he had just asked you out on a date but you had just said it, that word that left a bitter taste in his mouth. 

You’re my best friend.

Maybe he had been in the beginning, but not anymore. Or maybe he was, but he didn’t want to be your best friend. 

Many had noticed how the Slytherin and the Y/H/H had grown closer over the past year. Theories of what was the core of their relationship were made. How did Theo Nott get close to you? Did you have a deal no one knew about. Where you friends, partners, lovers. No one knew, and neither did you. 

The weekend arrives and just as promised Theo walked you from your common room to Hogsmeade, hand in hand as you talked through the snowy streets full of students. 

You were oblivious to the crowded mess, talking inside a bubble no one could bother you. Not even the redhead pair that stared at you as you walked past them. 

"Are you seeing what my eyes are seeing, George?" 

"We wouldn't be twins if I wasn't, Freddie." 

*******************************

"MAKE YOUR BETS, MATES!" yelled George from the top of the table in the middle of the Gryffindor common room. 

"Our lovely Y/N."

“Friends"

"Or lovers."

"With none other than Theodore Nott." 

They said, finishing each other's sentences with the invisible link the pair shared, that invisible string that made them shout the exact same words at the end. They wore grins on their faces as more bets were placed. 

"What do you think, little brother?" asked George jumping form the table 

"Friends or lovers?" 

Ron rolled his eyes, turning to Harry who was already making his bet with a smile in his face. Ron scoffed "I don't care about snakes business. They can be whatever they want." he said bitterly. 

"Someone jealous?" taunted Fred as Ron turned with a red face to his brother. 

He angrily pulled some coins from his pocket, slamming them in Fred's hands as he muttered "Lovers." 

*******************************

You had the time of your life at Hogsmeade. Theo was right and you told him so when the sun started to set, a few stars shining on the sky as you walked back to the castle. He smiled, hugging you closely with genuine joy in his face as he promised to take you again on the next trip there. 

However the next day, the murmurs and eyes from everyone in your year followed you everywhere you went. 

You were never shy, but the constant attention had you on edge the entire day. Finding refuge in the far table of the library, hidden in between the shelves where the only source of light was if you had a candle with you. 

You stayed there until late, waiting until the library was practically dead, you doubted madame Pince was still there, but you could never know. You had made it to the end of the day. 

"What are you doing here?" Theo's shushed voice came from behind you, his eyebrows scrunched together as he sat next to you, closer than he usually did. 

"I'm hiding." you whispered. 

For a moment his stomach dropped at the thought that you might have been hiding from him, that he might have let something slip on your day together and you knew how he felt. But you started ranting about your day and the looks you received from everyone and he understood, he had gotten the same looks all day long. 

"Don't worry." he murmured, opening his arms for you and you leaned on his side. "Draco probably said something about you again. I'll talk to him later" he sighed and you chuckled. 

He looked down to you, a loving look in his eyes as you kept chuckling. How could someone be so breathtaking just by doing such mundane things like leaning against someone and talking? Since the first time he saw you he knew you were beautiful but, Merlin, now you were gorgeous. 

"He is never forgetting about that, is he?" you laughed. Staring at the table, you frowned when Theo didn't say anything. 

You turned your head up to him, finding him already looking back at you. You didn't realize when you had leaned so close to him, his breathing blowing softly against your face as you gazed into his eyes. The little flick in them waking up all the butterflies in your stomach as you could have sworn his eyes moved to your lips for a fraction of second. 

You froze, realizing what that could mean when you felt him lean closer to you, his eyes closing before someone cleared their throat behind you, making you jump apart from one another. 

"The library is about to close." said professor Snape, looking at you with a glare before he settled his eyes on Theo. "Take your friend with you Mr. Nott. Directly to your common rooms." he said painfully slow.

You both nodded, clumsily taking all your stuff as you walked around him and practically ran out of there. No one said anything, your eyes on the floor as he walked you to your common room. 

"I'm sorry." he said once at the door handing you your books, your hands brushing against one another, making the blush in your face deeper. 

"No, I… You don't have to apologize." you stuttered before the words left your mouth. 

Heavy silence settled again between both of you, the tension making your stomach turn as you wished your feet would move and get you out of there. Of course, they had other plans. 

Theo wished you goodnight in a mumble, turning around and walking away just as you dropped your books on the floor, calling his name. 

"Yeah?" he asked, never meeting your eyes. You felt your mouth go dry, your hold in his wrist loosening as you breathed heavily. You brought your hand up to his cheek, smiling as he leaned in. He had closed his eyes and you ran your thumb across his cheek bone, waiting until he looked back at you. You started to lean in, his eyes widening as he realized what you were doing. His smile widened, cupping your cheeks as he closed the space between the two of you in a soft kiss. His hands wandered to your waist, pulling you closer to him as you wrapped your arms around his neck. He slowly pulled away, resting his forehead against yours with a smile that reached his eyes. 

"Remember when I told you I wanted you to be my Watson?" he breathed out with a smile "Well, I'm not so sure anymore."

You chuckled, moving to kiss his cheek as you rested your head on his shoulder "Funny, I always thought Sherlock Holmes and John Watson were lovers." you whispered in his ear. He smiled at you, kissing you once more. 

Completely unaware of the audience not so far away, hiding behind a wall with wide grins. "Ron was right." 

TAGS: @fanficflaneuse​ @nebulablakemurphy​ @lupins-sweater​ @accio-rogers​ @gloriousrebelrunaway​ @slytherinprincess03​ @not-today-anxiety​ @strawberriesonsummer​ @infinity1o1​ @haphazardhufflepuff​​ @deafgirltingz​

#theodore nott oneshot #theodore nott x y/n #theodore nott x you #theodore nott x reader #theodore nott #hp fanfic #hp fanfiction #harry potter fanfiction

[abarbaricyalp]

Idk if you are still taking prompts, but you know the vine two dudes chilling in a hot tub 5 feet apart cause they're not gay, and a girl quoting it in a park about two girls in the distance and one of them hearing and going "Actually I am gay" Like that scenario, only involving them fixing the boat? Maybe Sarah quoting it to give Sam shit when she thinks Bucky cant hear and Bucky goes "Wait, no I'm gay" or something, or just the general gist of that. Sorry if this us too specific, I've never sent anyone a prompt before :P

Hello Friend! Thank you so much for sending anything in at all! I know the vine you're talking about, but I couldn't find it on Youtube. (I did find a two day rabbit hole of old compilations though) This was also my first foray into writing Sarah as a fully fleshed character! I was excited to get the practice 'cause I had an idea bouncing around in my head about her and Bucky talking after he wakes up in the Wilson house. I kept her a little more like she had been in my other fics pre-show here. I so wish we got a little more of her!

Feel free, anyone, to send me Sambucky prompts!

The North American Superhero in a Domestic Situation

Sarah Wilson loved her brother deeply. The kind of soul crushing love that could only be formed through family, loss, and approximately four thousand brawls around the living room throughout their life. She looked up to her brother more than she could ever imagine looking up to anyone. Even when they were fighting or picking on each other, she couldn’t help but feel a swell in her chest when he came into her line of sight.

That didn’t mean she understood him. In fact, from the age of eight, watching her brother interact with the world had become her go-to pastime. Why did he have to roll every pea around the plate individually before eating them? Why did he and his friends spend seven years socking each other in the arm to prove friendship? Why did he talk to himself in the mirror, even when he knew Sarah or someone else was standing in the doorway?

Sam Wilson was just deeply weird. She had no idea how he had tricked the Avengers, a plethora of bad guys, and half of the media world into thinking he was remotely cool. She saw a news story once that had King T’Challa standing on a platform with Sam and the newscasters talked about how impressive Sam’s suit was. It was unnatural, the effect he had on people.

And in all her years, she never thought she’d see anyone weirder than Sam. But then James Barnes had showed up. It was like a complete reversal of Sam. Sarah was taken in for approximately three hours by his charm and face before she realized he too was deeply, deeply weird.

She justified sitting on the edge of the Paul and Darlene, watching her brother and James Barnes spar off about some dumb trivia fact, by deciding it was an anthropological expedition. The North American Superhero in a Domestic Situation. She watched Sam watch Barnes take a long pull off his beer. She watched Barnes kick his feet up near Sam’s legs and then draw them back quickly when a current jolted the boat. She watched Barnes’ fingers tap-tap-tap against the edge of the boat, inching closer to Sam’s shoulder before he chickened out and brought his hand back to his own lap. She watched Sam suggest Bucky take his jacket off, ‘unless you plan on sun blinding me with the robocop arm.’ She watched Sam look away when Barnes did shrug his jacket off.

When she was seventeen and Sam was fifteen, she had found Sam crying in his room, pillow pressed to his face to muffle the noise. They were at the age where going into each other’s rooms uninvited started international conflicts, but Sarah, who watched her brother intently, felt like she knew what was going on. So she let herself in through their Jack-and-Jill bathroom and shut the door behind her.

Sam didn’t stop crying, not even to yell at her to get out, so she sat on the end of his bed and rolled a baseball under her foot for a while. Finally, she’d said, “You don’t have to tell Mom and Dad, y’know.”

Sam had just about wailed and bit the corner of his pillow to stop himself.

“That’s gross, stop it,” Sarah ordered and pushed Sam’s shoulder back enough to yank his pillow free and then reached over to wipe the tears from his cheeks. “I should make you do the laundry this week so I know I’m not touching your snot germs,” she teased softly.

“How did you know?” Sam hiccuped out. Tears were still brimming at his eyes, but they didn’t fall.

“I’m your older sister. I made you. Like a doll. You think there’s something about you that I don’t know?” she joked. And when the tears did spill over his long lashes, she sighed and pulled him closer to her side. “I just know the way you interact with that boy from the basketball team ain’t just friendly.”

“Jesus, do you think he can tell?” Sam asked and she could hear the mortification in his voice.

“Sam, he’s a freshman in high school. The only thing he knows is that he’s scared of everything too. No one’s paying that much attention to you.”

“Screw you,” Sam muttered.

“What’re all these tears for you if you didn’t make a move and get shot down?”

“God, Sarah, can you not say things like that?”

“Watch your mouth,” Sarah warned with no heat in her voice. “Come on, tell me what’s wrong. I’m not leaving until you do.”

“I just…” Sam sat up and worked his jaw for a while. His chin dimpled and his eyes watered but he managed to control himself. “I’m scared, Sarah. I’m scared of never being in love. Of having to leave if I am. I’m scared to say something and I’m scared not to say something. I’m so scared of...losing any of it.”

“Sam,” Sarah sighed and pulled Sam into another hug. “You’re fifteen. You’re not supposed to be in love yet. You don’t have to think about any of that. You just have to focus on passing Geometry, alright? Mom’ll whoop your ass more for failing than anything else.”

“I have a B+, that’s not failing!” Sam snapped. He kept his face against her shoulder for a second long before he sat up and wiped his tears away. “Please don’t tell anyone.”

“Who am I gonna tell? I told you, my friends don’t like you as much as you think they do.”

“Your friends like me more than they like you,” Sam shot back and he almost sounded normal.

Sarah smiled softly and patted Sam’s cheek. “I won’t tell Mom or Dad. Of course not. That’s for you to do. But--”

“I’m always going to tell them when you sneak out the window.”

“No! Sam! You can’t! You owe me now!”

“Going to field parties is not the same thing!” Sam said in a shriek as Sarah leaned over to pinch his sides. They grappled for a second before Sam managed to push Sarah off the bed.

“You owe me,” she reminded him as she walked back to the bathroom.

Sam wiped his eyes again and nodded. “Sure, Sarah. I do.”

Sam almost had the same look on his face now. Like there was something he wanted to reach for that he thought was too impossible to hold. The Older Sister Instinct to Antagonize into a Solution kicked in.

“Two bros, chilling on a boat, five feet apart ‘cause they’re not gay,” she sing-songed. Sam looked mortified again but masked his face into something more irritated with a roll of his eyes when Barnes looked over at him.

“Ignore her. It’s this old video--” Sam started.

But Bucky interrupted to say, “Actually I am gay,” as he looked back over at Sarah. “Sorry if I got your hopes up,” he added with a grin that really did get the hopes up.

“What?” Sam asked and Sarah, ever watchful, could see the beer bottle shaking in his hand.

“What?” Bucky repeated innocently.

“He said he’s gay,” Sarah clarified.

“Thank you, Sarah,” Sam ground out. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

Bucky snorted. “When would I have said anything? ‘Sorry for ripping your wings off and kicking you off of a hellicarrier, by the way I’m gay.’?”

“You did what?” Sarah asked.

“‘Sorry for claiming I didn’t bomb the UN only to be reverted back to the assassin who would have done that and then fighting you again. By the way I’m gay.’ ‘Thanks for saving my life. Sorry about the giant undersea prison. By the way I’m gay.’ ‘There’s an imminent battle with weird ass space dogs that want to eat our faces. By the way I’m gay.’ ‘Sorry about Tony Stark, whose life I kind of ruined. Lovely funeral. By the way I’m gay.’ ‘I’m in the middle of being pissed at you about the Shield. By the way I’m gay.’ ‘Maybe don’t take me rolling through a field of flowers. It does things to me ‘cause I’m gay.’ ‘John Walker’s fucking insane. I’m gay, but definitely not for this bullshit.’ I mean, come on, Sam.”

“Flowers?” Sarah asked.

“Besides, why would you care? I don’t make it a habit of telling straight guys I’m into guys.”

“You don’t seem to make a habit of telling many people that,” Sarah pointed out. “I googled you. Nothing suggesting that came up.”

Bucky shrugged. “I’m a guy from the 30s. It was trained out of me.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Sarah said quickly. “Back up away from that because we’re not gonna try to Oppression Olympics our way through our histories. Did you just say Sam was straight?”

“Sarah!” Sam hissed.

“Sure. I mean, I saw him with Romanov. Hill. He has Tinder on his phone.”

“Samuel Thomas, you better not,” Sarah warned lightly. “You’re better than that.”

“He’s a lady-killer.”

Sarah snorted and had to bring her hand up to her face. “He definitely is not. There has been no lady-killing on his end for a long time.”

“Sarah!” Sam tried again.

“You explain it to him then. Mr. 30s is gonna need the long way round explanation.”

Sam sighed and dragged his hand over his face. “Dammit. Fine. I’m not straight either, alright? I’m...bi, or something. It’s been a while since I’ve had to think about it.”

“What?” Bucky asked, not unlike Sam had.

“He said he’s bisexual. Interested in both parties. Swings either way. Hit a homerun and then hasn’t really swung since.”

“Sarah, Jesus Christ,” Sam groaned.

“What?” Bucky asked again.

“I was engaged. To a man,” Sam said.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Bucky asked, clearly missing the irony.

“Oh, it was inconvenient for you but I had plenty of opportunities, huh?” Sam asked. “Ms. Tell-It-All over there wasn’t joking. I haven’t swung any direction in a while. Not since before I met Steve. My fiance died. And then it never came up.”

Bucky blinked at Sam. He kept bringing the bottle halfway up his body and then setting it back on his leg without ever taking a drink. “Fuck, Sam, I’m sorry,” Bucky said, which was not what Sarah was expecting and it clearly wasn’t what Sam was expecting because Sam finally moved closer to Bucky on the bench.

“What for? You didn’t do anything. This time.”

“Yeah, but if I’d known you were into me too, I woulda kissed you in Germany.”

“Oh, I am so not into you,” Sam denied. “And I wouldn’t have our first kiss ruined by immediately running into the government’s roving show monkey.”

“That’s the worst,” Bucky agreed and also finally moved over on the bench until they were pressed thigh to thigh. “Tell me how much you don’t like me again,” he challenged.

“I can’t stand you,” Sam answered and brought his hand up to Bucky’s jaw.

Sarah couldn’t fight down the grin that came to her face and turned to prop her feet on the pier, back to Sam and Bucky. Just this once, she didn’t need to watch her brother to understand him.

Read on AO3 here!

#anonymous #prompts #sambucky #writing #fanfiction #i answer things #sarah wilson #sam wilson #bucky barnes

[trashmenofmarvel]

Branded - Chapter 49

Pairing: Demon!Bucky Barnes x Reader

Summary: You begin your new normal, and come up with a new plan. Bucky likes it decidedly less than the last one.

(This is a fan AU of Falling’s Just Another Way to Fly by araniaart​ . Please check out this incredible series for all of your demon Bucky needs.)

Chapter Warnings: Mild explicit content, sexual tension, angst, Bucky being Bucky

AO3

Knowing that Bucky was fine with your extreme changes was comforting, but you weren’t willing to live with it. Not until you tried everything you could. After all, there was your mother to think about, and you weren’t sure she could survive the shock of finding out her daughter was a wizard/pseudo-demon.

After you asked Bucky to contact Strange, you both arrived via portal and went into his office. Before Bucky could get a word in edgewise, you shoved your notepad against Strange’s chest, glaring at him until he read everything you’d written down.

Strange pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed.

“First off,” he muttered, “there’s no need to threaten to tear me limb from limb if I put Sergeant Barnes back into the cryo-chamber. The chamber is beyond repair, and there is no more use for it, anyway. And while I appreciate your honesty in regards to… this latest feeding… as long as you’re not in an enslaved bond, I’m willing to change the terms of the Ancient One’s agreement. So, moving forward, please do not inform me of what the two of you do in privacy.”

Bucky choked from somewhere behind you; in hindsight, you probably should have warned him what you were going to tell Strange.

“And secondly, I will continue your education myself. If,” Strange added with a raised finger, “you agree to remain in the Sanctum for the time being. You are going to be exposing yourself to magical energies, and I want to view the effects they have on your current state firsthand. I will not bend on this point.”

Your tail lashed like a whip, and you were very tempted to reach back and grab it. Now you understood how Bucky must feel when his tail misbehaved.

You also resisted the urge to look back at Bucky with big puppy-eyes in hopes he would convince Strange to let him stay as well. But you didn’t. You needed to prove that you could do this without having your hand held. What happened to you in the demon realm was traumatic, you wouldn’t deny that, but you couldn’t let Bucky coddle you forever, either.

You gave a firm nod while looking Strange in the eye. There was another reason you wanted to be taught to harness whatever was inside you. A reason Strange didn’t need to know. A reason that had everything to do with Helmut Zemo.

The next month you spent in near isolation, only seeing Strange for lessons and glimpsing other sorcerers when you went to the library. When you weren’t in your lessons, that’s where you spent most of your time. Suffice it to say, you’d been fired after not calling in for a full week (you couldn’t really explain that you’d been kidnapped to Siberia), but that worked fine for you. The Sanctum and lessons were quickly becoming your life, and even Bucky didn’t see you as often as he probably liked.

You certainly missed him. Missed his scent and his touch and even just his comforting presence. But you couldn’t let yourself be distracted, not for a single night and not even for Bucky. You were doing this for him and for you.

Unlike before, when you couldn’t even create a spark, under Strange’s guidance you could now create ropes of fire and bursts of light from your hands. You couldn’t create a portal, not since the disastrous moment you accidentally sliced a demon in half, but Strange only patted you on the shoulder and said, “Perhaps it best we leave portals for the more advanced lessons.”

But one area you were excelling at was sensing and harnessing energies. Every night before bed, you turned that focus inward, imagining the demonic energy inside you being expelled back to the realm it came from. According to the laws of magical equilibrium, the alien energy would want to return to its natural state, which apparently was a sort of UV ray that came from the sun of that realm.

You didn’t really understand it when Strange explained it to you—hell, you didn’t have a grasp of most things he said—but you could get the gist of it. And lucky for you, you seemed to have a natural talent for magic now that you were “unblocked,” as he called it.

So when you woke up one morning and most of your demonic features had vanished, you were pleased but not too surprised. You’d thrown yourself into magical studies more than you’d done even in college, and it was showing. If only your mom could see you now.

Or… perhaps not. There were some parts of you that hadn’t changed, and you glared at your horns and tail with a frown. You’d have to start cutting holes in your pants from now on, not to mention learn how to guise yourself in public. A small price to pay for being able to speak again. Demonic Cats: The Musical had taken a curtain call.

Still, you didn’t complain, but nor did you lighten up on your studies. You were searching for something very, very specific in those dusty shelves of the archives, and when you couldn’t find it, you knew only one place to seek your answers.

When it was mid-March and the show outside had melted, most of the sorcerers were either on the rooftop or away from the Sanctum. It was the only chance you’d get, and now that you had a feel for sensing magic, you were confident you could find the vault a second time.

Without a hobgoblin to guide your way, it took you much longer to find the familiar stone staircase spiraling into the depths of the earth. You followed it with more confidence and less fear than the first time even as your heart thudded in your chest. Strange hadn’t told you not to come down here, and technically you were part of the Mystic Arts, so you had every right to explore your new home.

At least, that’s what you told yourself, standing in front of the massive door that guarded the vault. And to your eternal surprise, when you wrapped your hands around the handle and pulled, it opened with a loud groan.

Exhaling, you squeezed through the opening and came to an abrupt stop on the other side, forgetting to take a breath as you stared with wide eyes.

The room was empty.

All of it, gone. The creepy statues and mounted heads. The cabinets full of demonic body parts. You stepped into the middle of the room to confirm what your eyes were telling you. Only the lectern remained, empty and dusty as if the book that used your blood for ink had never been there.

Bracing your hands on your hips, you swore under your breath. Now how the hell were you supposed to—

“I told Strange what you found the last time you were down here.”

You whirled around, your tail sticking straight out and fluffing up to twice its normal thickness.

Bucky stared at you, his tone just as devoid of humor as his sharp eyes.

“So, he had everything moved just in case you went looking for it again.” He strode forward, his boots tapping softly on the stone floor, his guise retained as it usually was when he visited the Sanctum.

The slow, predatory walk had you soon backed away. You weren’t afraid, you were just… slightly intimidated.

“Why are you down here?” Bucky continued to walk toward you.

“I—“ Your voice cracked, something it still did after so long of disuse. “I was… doing research.”

“Yeah?” His voice was flat. “What could you possibly need to know that would require the Book of the Dead?”

Your back hit the edge of the lectern and your stomach fluttered when he didn’t stop in his approach.

“You seem to be doing just fine with Strange’s lessons,” Bucky said, eyes roving over your body, leaving both heat and a chill in its wake. “You managed to change back.”

“Mostly.” You cleared your throat so you wouldn’t sound like a frightened mouse. “Bucky, I… I was going to tell you. I’ve just, been busy.”

“Busy, huh?”

He stepped closer, only a few feet away when he tilted his head.

“If Strange is being so thorough with his lessons, then why hasn’t he taught you how to sense when something is following you?”

With Bucky’s last few steps, his guise melted away, wings half-flaring over his back as his eyes darkened. He loomed over you, bending down to growl in your ear.

“The next demon stalking you might not be so friendly.”

You closed your eyes, fighting yourself, but your shallow breathing and the goosebumps along your skin gave you away. There was definitely something wrong with you. Normal people did not get so hot and bothered from the idea of being hunted down by a demon, even if said demon was your kind-of-boyfriend.

“I assure you, I can take care of myself just fine.” You almost said it without a hitch in your breath, too.

Bucky pulled back, brows raised.

“Want me to show you?” you pressed.

He studied your face for a moment, and then gave a shrug and said, “Sure.”

Your lips twitching was all the warning he got before there was a conjured, fiery rope in your hand, whipping him across the chest and throwing him back several feet. Only his flaring wings kept him upright as he skidded across the floor.

There was a flash of approval, and oh God, excitement in his eyes as he licked his lips. You didn’t know if he was trying to distract you, or if he genuinely wanted to sink his teeth into you.

You wanted to find the answer and see how far you could push him. It was about time you put your skills to use on a real demon, anyway.

When his wings flared and his tail danced in delight behind him, you prepared yourself for Bucky’s attack—and it was good that you did. He crossed the distance between you in a blur, and you barely had time to move your hand in a circle in front of your chest.

An orange, concentric circle formed out of thin air, and it vibrated when Bucky’s human fist collided with it. He was still holding back, but that hit would have probably knocked you out cold.

Okay, you thought, watching him with a tilt of your head. You think you can pull your punches with me?

You shoved your palm against the makeshift shield, and the lines unfolded and wrapped around Bucky’s legs and chest, pulling his limbs together in a series of fiery ropes, and he shouted in surprise as he tumbled to the ground. His wings were useless, caught in the same trap against his back, and you stood over him in triumph.

“Neat little trick you’ve got there,” Bucky commented casually as he tried to wriggle out of his bindings. “Won’t hold me forever.”

“I know.” You smiled, and Bucky gave you his strongest side-eye. Your shit-eating grin only increased in size. “Don’t need it to hold you forever.”

You stood over him, a foot to either side, and you sat on his stomach, straddling him and probably looking like the cat that ate the canary. The tail flickering behind you didn’t help.

Bucky predictably went still, a mixture of interest and exasperation on his face.

“What are you doing?”

“Nothing.” You leaned down and half-laid on top of him, tucking your head into his shoulder. “Just enjoying this strapping young demon I’ve captured.”

“Young?”

“…strapping, then.”

Bucky snorted, and you dug your face deeper into his neck, reveling in his rich, calming smell. You licked him, teasing at first, but then with genuine interest.

“You gonna, uh… let me up?” He shifted under you, which was exactly the wrong thing to do, because now the growing bulge in his jeans was pressed right between your legs.

“Mmmm-no. You said you can get loose, I want to see it.”

But it wasn’t the ropes you were paying attention to when you sucked on his neck. Bucky groaned low in his throat. Both of you had forgotten about the ropes, and Bucky seemed oddly comfortable with them.

An option you might have to explore another time.

“You really want to test these bindings out, huh?” he growled, flexing his muscles as he suddenly strained against them. You nearly purred, appreciating the view of his armored bicep.

“Well, I gotta have something to show for all this training.” You went quiet, then, resting your cheek against his shoulder. “I miss you. I’m sorry I’ve been so distracted.”

“And I miss you, but I’m not going to give you a hard time for this. Not after what you’ve been through.” He turned his head just enough to press his lips to your temple. “Monster misses you too, you know.”

You lifted up, getting a good look at him.

“What? He… he came back?”

“He did. Hours after you moved back into the Sanctum.”

You didn’t know what to say. Monster had been missing ever since you… ever since Zemo shot you. Apparently, he’d been at the Sanctum when you went missing and had been an absolute nightmare to the sorcerers.

And then when the rescue mission failed to bring you back…

“How…” You swallowed. “How is he?”

To your surprise, Bucky rolled his eyes.

“A pain in my ass. He thinks he’s a lapdog. Every time I sit down, he jumps on me, kneading me with his claws like I’m mama cat.”

“Sounds like I’m being replaced,” you said, smiling as you leaned your head on his shoulder again.

“Nah. More like he thinks sucking up to me is gonna get you back sooner. Which… I’m all for that.” He brushed his lips against your hair, but your smile faded at his next words. “You will be coming home eventually… right? Because that place, my place, it’s yours too.”

You sat up again, avoiding his eye. As much as you wanted to take him up on that offer, and you did, so badly…

“Sweetheart?”

“I can’t. Not yet.”

Bucky’s voice was so soft it hurt when he said, “Can I ask why?”

Releasing a breath and closing your eyes, you knew you had to tell him. Otherwise he would just blame himself, and Bucky’s next question confirmed it.

“Is it because of… of Zemo?” He said the name like it was vile poison in his mouth.

“Yes. But not in the way you think,” you added when he blinked up at you in surprise. “It’s not me I’m worried about, Bucky.”

His eyes narrowed, scanning your face once before he looked around the room, as if just remembering where you were.

“Why did you come down here?”

You worried your lip, and Bucky watched the movement with growing suspicious. You didn’t want to tell him, not because you enjoyed keeping secrets—in fact, you had been enjoying the healthy communication between you lately—but Bucky really, really wasn’t going to like it.

“I came down here because I need to answer a question. A question that Zemo himself shed some light on.”

You focused on Bucky’s jacket zipper, fidgeting with it rather than meeting his eye.

“And… what question would that be?”

You took a deep breath. Fuck, here it goes.

“How do you prevent a free demon from being enslaved again?”

Bucky’s brows dipped.

“Okay,” he said slowly. “So you… what, wanted to be trained in magic so you could protect me? That’s… I wouldn’t ask you to do that, but I appreciate the thought. Still not sure why that involves the Necronomicon.”

“There’s more,” you said with a wince at Bucky’s scowl. “It’s not just that, though getting better at magic is part of it.”

“I’m not going to like this, am I?”

“Probably not. No.”

Bucky shifted under you like he was getting more comfortable, but his tone was extremely put-out.

“Let’s hear it, then. How do you prevent a freed demon from being enslaved again?”

“Well, you see…” You fidgeted again. Bucky may have been the one still tied in fire ropes, but you got the sense you were the one being dangled over a pit. “I already know the answer. I’m not sure how to… execute it.”

Bucky frowned.

“Execute what? Sweetheart, you’re starting to talk like a sorcerer, and you know how much I love that.”

You smiled a little, but it quickly faded again.

“All right. I’ll tell you my plan, but please, leave your questions to the end,” you said, trying to keep it lighthearted, but the gears in Bucky’s head were turning at the words my plan. You cleared your throat and continued.

“Now, the thing about free demons is you can’t protect them from being enslaved. Only demons bonded to a master are protected. Zemo said it himself; in fact, it was one of his selling points.”

Bucky scowled but didn’t interrupt you.

“He said if you were bonded to him, he could protect you from any HYDRA shitbags still hanging around. And… unfortunately, he had a point. It’s only a matter of time until someone else stumbles upon an old lab or a journal or whatever, and then they’ll be coming after you. Everyone knows about the Winter Soldier. Even if the world still believes he’s dead, that didn’t stop Zemo.”

Bucky’s scowl had vanished, his expression unreadable as he listened.

“So…” you continued, trying not to sweat. “If you were bonded to someone you trusted, someone who could protect you, that could be one way of doing it—“

“That’s why you’re training so hard?” he asked softly. “You would be willing to put a huge target on your back like that? Having me bonded to you?”

“Well,” you spluttered, face heating. So much for reprimanding Bucky for not keeping his questions until the end. “I wanted to be in the running, at least. I’m not exactly a threat compared to others you could choose from.”

“You mean Steve. I… actually talked to him about it already.” Now it was his turn to look away. “He said he’d be willing to if it’s what I wanted. It’s not what I want, but I still have to consider it.”

Bucky finally looked at you when you neglected to speak, and he rushed to say, “It’s different with a human master, it wouldn’t be like our pact at all. I don’t have to feed on him. It’s more fulfilling if I do feed on my master, but by no means is it necessary. I wouldn’t—I wouldn’t leave you to be with Steve, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

It was exactly what you were thinking, and you were so thrown off course that you floundered. Of course, you’d considered that Steve would be a good candidate, but you hadn’t realized Bucky had already had a discussion.

“Are you considering it?” The sudden lump in your throat made it difficult to speak. “Being bonded to him?”

He gave a soft smile, the kind that always held a bit of sadness.

“I was going to talk to you first, ask you for your input before I decided. Just didn’t get a chance until now. I hope you know I wouldn’t make a decision like that without you. Especially considering what happened last time I kept you in the dark.”

Whatever insecurities and jealousy lingered in your heart evaporated, and you put a hand on his chest, wishing you could express exactly how you felt. How much you loved him and didn’t blame him for any of what happened.

But like so many moments, you found words weren’t enough, and you just had to hope your actions communicated what you felt.

“Whatever you want to do, Bucky, I’ll support you.” You squinted at him and tapped him on the chest. “And what happened to me is not your fault. Zemo was watching us for a long time, and he would have found a way to use me against you eventually. I’m just grateful it turned out the way it did. Could have been a lot worse.”

“A lot worse than you dying and going to the demon realm?”

You folded your hands over your chest.

“I could have died and stayed dead.”

Bucky opened his mouth, hung there for a moment, and then closed it again. You waited for him to continue arguing, and instead, he changed the damn subject.

“You said that could be one way of doing it. There’s other ways?”

Hell, and what a subject change, too. For a moment, you really did consider lying, or at least telling him the other option was off the table if Steve was a choice. He was a safer option—that was without a doubt.

But you couldn’t lie to Bucky, or hold back. Not after everything. So you took a deep breath and pushed on.

“While I came up with that answer, I wasn’t satisfied with you being enslaved again, even if it was to me or Steve. So I tried to search for other solutions. In the archives, on the wizard internet, even Wong’s private stash of books.”

“There’s a wizard internet?”

“Bucky, please.”

“Sorry,” he said, not at all sorry. “Keep going.”

“I wanted to find a way for you to be as free as possible, without the danger of enslavement, and then… I had a thought.” You took a deep breath. “I thought… what if there’s a way to make the human-demon relationship equal?”

“…Come again?”

“The demon-human bond is always a power imbalance, right?” you said, excitement rushing your words. “Either the human enslaves the demon, or the demon owns the human. There’s no partnership. No equal exchange. No symbiosis.”

“Symbiosis.”

“It’s a term in biology.”

“Yes, sweetheart, I know what it means. I don’t think biology is going to help us here.”

“No, you’re right,” you muttered. “Which is why I needed a magical solution in order to create a soul-bound that’s equal from both sides.”

The truth finally hit home. Bucky’s eyes widened.

“No.”

“Bucky—“

“Absolutely fucking not.”

“I haven’t even told you the plan yet!”

“Does it involve you being bonded to me?”

You took a second too long to answer.

“Thought so,” he growled. “No fucking way am I ever doing that to you again.”

“You wouldn’t be! I told you, it would be an equal partnership, not—“

You yelped as the bindings shattered and Bucky rose at the same moment. You would have fallen flat on your ass if he hadn’t grabbed you by the arms and pulled you to your feet.

“Listen to me,” he said, face inches away. “You drop this line of thinking right now. You will not go looking into binding magic, and you will stay far away from anything demonic. Do you hear me? Tell me you understand and you won’t keep looking!”

You glared up at him. The full weight of his anger glared back, his wings rustling as his tail lashed back and forth.

“No.”

He bared his teeth at your refusal, a growl escaping from his throat. You didn’t flinch, though your tail betrayed you as the fur puffed out like a startled cat.

“Snarl all you want, it won’t change my mind.”

“You’re talking about experimental magic.” His gaze grew harder as his claws tightened around your arms. “Magic that Strange himself wouldn’t attempt. What makes you think you could survive, let alone succeed?”

Now it was your turn to bare your teeth, though they were blunted and human again. You almost missed the sharp canines.

“I summoned a portal to the demon realm when I was ten years old. I adapted to that same place, became more demon than human just to survive. I died and came back to life because of demonic magic.”

You met his eye, unblinkingly.

“Who else could do this but me?”

Bucky said nothing, his expression unreadable. You released a breath and let your voice soften.

“The Ancient One was adamant on three things. She wanted me to train with the leader of her order. She said you and I were very important to each other. And she told me that I would have to make a choice. A choice that would affect the both of us.”

You turned your hands so they were placed against his forearms. Bucky still hadn’t moved, but there was something like growing horror in his eyes.

“I know this is what she meant. This feels right. Like I’ve finally found my purpose. This is what I’m meant to do.”

“And what is that?” he asked, slowly, as if waiting for the other shoe to drop. And there was another shoe. A big shoe. A shoe he was going to hate, but you wouldn’t hide it from him. It was only a matter of time before he found out, anyway.

“Everyone in the Order has their strengths,” you said. “Wong is the archivist and keeper of knowledge. Strange has an innate understanding of time and prophecy. The Ancient One, according to Strange, had a deep connection to the Dark Dimension.”

“And you?”

You swallowed dryly.

“I have… a strong affinity for magic that comes from the demon realm.”

He jerked away, as if contact with your skin burned him. Before you could stop him, Bucky turned and practically fled from the vault, disappearing out the massive door without looking back.

You released a breath as your tail sank to rest on the dusty floor. The words of the Ancient One rang in your ears, and you wished she hadn’t been right. If Bucky had been on your side, you wouldn’t have cared who else disagreed. But maybe that was the point.

It wasn’t supposed to be easy. No test ever was. You just didn’t appreciate that you still had to prove yourself after all this.

Hadn’t dying and going to Hell been enough?

Your heart as heavy as the stones at your feet, you left the empty vault.

Next Chapter

#bucky barnes x reader #branded #demon!bucky barnes #demon!bucky x reader #bucky barnes fanfiction #my writing #my fanfiction