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#besties i’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: my drawings are just me manifesting..
icedhotcocoa · 1 year
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hello my dear sweet bestie PLEASE bestow upon me your medic/scout hot takes. its so underrated and important
IT IS SO UNDERRATED!! i’ve said it before but i’ll say it again
medic is Gay. he’s not like open because it’s the 70s but scout knows and he’s all like (seinfeld voice) “not that there’s anything wrong with that”
scout has feelings for medic and is like AM I GAY?!!?! AM I ONE OF THOSE HOMOSEXUAS?!?!! I CANT BE I PLAY BASEBALL!!?!?!! I LOVE BOOBS!!!!!! and then engie or something is like “son, ya ever heard of a little somethin called bisexuality” and scout loses his SHIT
meanwhile medic is having 0 angst he’s just like teehee scouts so cute i hope he likes me :) and draws little hearts around his name on his medical papers or whatever. he’s too old for an identity crisis but he’s not too old to be a teenage girl iykwim
they get together bc scout notices medic is giving him preferential treatment on the battlefield and is like “HAH! you gotta crush on me or something?” and medic is like “vell, yes!” and scout is like “oh. me too.”
and then they kiss
scout likes to sit on medics desk while he does work and medic doesn’t care that it is a complete breach of privacy that scout is there while he is reading the medical history of the rest of the team
we all know scout is a huge romantic (in his own weird way) but so is medic so they have lots of gushy dates and give each other gifts
at first they both give each other gifts that the other one does not understand (bucket of chicken for medic, aged wine for scout) but eventually learns what the other person likes and loves them that way :)
medic comes up with a lot of excuses for “check ups” for scout so that they can make out secretly in the lab. but it just means the rest of the team think scout is So Fucking Diseased
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andro-dino · 11 months
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shogun steel main gang hcs bc I’m thinking about them atm and how much I love them
- I’ve said this a billion times before but I’ll keep saying it until I die, they are very affectionate with each other. Of course, it depends on the specific people and how their feeling at certain times, but they will take any opportunity to cuddle or hold hands or just generally have some kind of contact with each other for comfort. idc if this is ooc canon is what I make of it
- Ren and kite bonding over being petty third wheels to Zyro and Shinobu is an idea that is so important to me you have no idea. They will argue with each other and be dumb any other time but instantly bond over hating on those two being losers
- This is one of my hyper specific projection moments but ren specifically any time she sees them being remotely affectionate to each other at all will immediately turn to the nearest person and go “get a load of these guys”
- underrated duo dynamic is ren and takanosuke being wlw mlm rivals/besties/gossip buddies. you just know they share the most scalding of tea while training with each other
- actually I just really appreciate their dynamic as a whole. they’re both very ambitious and headstrong bladers who are constantly working their hardest to grow and improve and I think they’d really bring out the best in each other. They have some great friendly banter thrown in there too. neither of them are afraid to throw in some really funny disses
- maru is such a creechur I really cannot appreciate that enough. she has adopted everyone as a big sibling and there’s nothing they can do to stop it, she just perched on their shoulder one day and there was nothing they could do to stop it
- the only exception to this is with kite and eight, because eight and maru are like two cats who don’t like each other being mutually stanced up and staring each other down in anticipation for one of them to pounce
- eight once was showing off a bunch of skateboard tricks and Zyro was like “psh that’s easy I could do that” and immediately ate shit and died and eight laughed at him for hours and has never let him live it down since
- kite likes to pretend he doesn’t care about any of them but takes really careful notice of their likes and dislikes and makes sure to accommodate for everyone when he can and gives them really banger gifts on special occasions but frames it as him being like “I know I know I can make and find such amazing things that’s just how it is for mr perfect” and the others are like “kite holy shit this is so kind of you thank you so much????” and he tries really really hard to pretend like he doesn’t really enjoy hearing that
- sakyo does not know how to interact with any of the main gang on his own outside of beyblade but he and taka are a package deal so he tends to tag along whenever takanosuke hangs out with any of them and he’s like the awkward cousin at a family party who just sits in the corner silently bc he doesn’t know how to approach anyone
- I think it would be funny if eight randomly started hanging out with him in that way that little kids do when they just decide they like you all of a sudden and sakyo just has no idea how to deal with that but ig he’s got a snarky little dude hanging out with him now and asking if he’s got any games on his phone
- benkei does not hide the fact that ren is his favorite child. he loves all of his kids dearly but ren is his daughter and hes very attached because he sees a lot of himself in her and wants her to be less dumb than he was when he was younger (may or may not be drawing a comic with this exact premise atm)
- this one’s kind of off track but I’ve thought abt it a lot in the past and started thinking abt it again. Kenta takes a shining to sakyo and kinda takes a bit of a mentor role over him accidentally and at some point Sakyo’s like “you act like you’re so much older than me but our age gap isn’t even that big (bc I hc sakyo as like 15-16 and ss Kenta as 18-19)” and Kenta’s like “well yeah but im the adult here?? I kinda just figured???” idk it’s just a neat dynamic I like a lot
- Shinobu and Ren go clothes shopping together. Ren likes spending Shinobu’s money and they bond over what they like, stuff they could share if they wanted to, and also shit talking stuff they think is ugly
- all of them get in really stupid arguments over the dumbest things. they’ve had big group debates over which flavor of ice cream is the best or whether or not cilantro tastes like soap
that is all for now they r very important to me thank you and goodnight
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recycled-phantoms · 4 months
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My Artist’s Year in Review
Unfortunately, I haven’t put out much art this year. So I’m using my favourite sketch pages from this year instead of pieces. I’ve had a lot of struggles w/ my mental health and personal real-life problems, so doing full pieces seemed a daunting task. But hopefully in this new year, I’ll be able to do more full pieces!
Pages (and artist’s notes) under the cut!
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December 2022
This was a difficult time for me motivation-wise, and this was the only full page I made at that point, as most of my (now-lost) art was digital then! My favourite sketch here is the Grant Cohen in blue at the bottom.
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2. January 2023
Another especially-difficult month for me. Again, the only full page I was able to fill, unfortunately. I really like the Norman in the top-left corner; he was so fun to draw!
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3. February 2023
My bestie (@harmonyblossom19 btw, hey girl) had said that MatPat gave off Fred ScoobyDoo vibes, so I drew their fusion—dubbing him “FredPat” shortly thereafter. It was the best of February’s doodles, though I’m still not proud of it. This was around the time I moved here from my old blog!
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4. March 2023
Do y’all remember The Orchard Mystery Series, that set of OCs I had a while ago? Well, here's the main two characters–Dick and Melanie! I wanted to try a washed background and layering the sketch on top of it—though I should have looked up some tutorials before taking on this task lmao
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5. April 2023
I posted this one on my Instagram (@/biblically_accurate_art btw if you want to see my art)! I got back into TMA after finally getting over the hump with some depression. Ngl, absolutely love drawing s3 Jon.
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6. May 2023
Ace but with a binder. Nothing else to say here, except that this was when I rediscovered Yugioh. These suckers ware going to get me through uni istg….
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7. June 2023
More OCs! These guys are part of my Arthuriana-based universe, The Quest for the Atlas Dias / The Atlas Stone. Meet Sol, Lyra, and Finnigan!
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8. July 2023
The only complete page I have for July lol. I’m especially proud of Ryou in the Spotify colours here!
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9. August 2023
I drew this after coming home from the camping trip that inspired the DMAU! I picked my favourite (left) and least-favourite (right) outfits, and drew my blorbos in them. Yugi’s bag is still my favourite bag I own irl to this day.
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10. September 2023
My favourite page out of this collection fr. I did fuck up Season 0 Yami/Maou’s hair, but the whole page is just a joy to look at. Tbh, I wish my current style worked with this type of page format.
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11. October 2023
My birth month babeyyyyy! And to celebrate ya boy’s 18th, I decided to draw some really nice-looking Ryous, and a full-body Yugi! The Ryou doodles are my favourite here, purely for the way the hair looks.
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12. November 2023
THIS! 👏 FUCKING! 👏 PIECE! 👏
I love every aspect of this piece to DEATH! The way Atem is looking at Yugi, their facial expressions, the clothes, the pins on Yugi’s shirt! This is definitely one of, if not the best piece here.
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13. December 2023
This is all of the OCs I’ve stuck together for various universes. Lilith and Star are from a D&D-inspired universe called Spires of Heavenly Light and Shadow, and of course, Lyra and Sol are from TQFTAD. I’m so in love with the Star doodle here.
This was a train wreck of a year, but I think I pulled myself out of it pretty well. I hope your years have been just as great, if not better!
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honeyults · 2 years
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Transient
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pairing: college student!jungkook x f!reader
Summary: Jungkook was your High School Sweetheart, that turned sour. Although he wasn’t right for you… you still want him.
genre: angst, college au! ex’s to lovers
warning: mentions of toxic relationships and sex
a/n: hey.. how y’all doing.. besties i’ve been gone for, ahem, a long time. i missed y’all. in the time i’ve been gone there was a pandemic, i got engaged, moved homes and got my first dog with my fiancé! so, right now i’m posting for my own enjoyment but please let me know if you want me to continue this! it really does help me a lot!
pt.1 | pt.2?
Sweet honey dripped off his tongue as his sibilant whispers of gentle lies eased out of his mouth like second nature.
He never misses a beat.
His fiction was your fantasy, everything you had wished and hoped for complete in all six feet of him, a narrative you knew all too well to be of fabrication was the life you both succumbed to. He would never let the words slip past his lips that he was beginning to fall out of love with you, as if he would ever say anything with diffidence, so you lived in deception. Your feelings, whatever they were or might be, lived in a box in your mind, so easily accessible yet just as easily haunting. You were your own ghost.
Your body lay under silk blankets, your legs tangled with your lover who laid bare before you. A sweet devil he was, indeed, his warmth for you didn’t come from his heart. He put his fulfillment in you not because he felt for you, but it was because his desire to feel you was the only thing that still tied him to you, again and again and again...
Although your — feelings — for one another were drawing soon to be obsolete, the safety and comfort in the tangled mess of your bodies entwined was enough to have you both come back.
‘My love... I’ll change for you.’
‘Tell me what I need to do to have you love me once more. I’ve shed enough tears to fill an ocean for you, I have fought wars in my mind for you, I have faced the devil himself. Say the word, and I’ll jump for you... and I’ll fly. Just watch me.’
“And even if it takes the rest of my life, I’ll love you right again. It’s only you. Please-... please, don’t leave me just yet. I won’t be able to handle this without you. Not now...”
He danced on the strings of your heart as these vulnerable words fell out of his mouth. He finally said... what he was feeling. Although it wasn’t directly to you, it was still just as reassuring.
Cold tears soaked the top of your head as he placed his warm lips on your forehead. A kiss.
“I never stopped loving you. Not for a second. Its just... ugh... how are you so strong? How are you still able to love me without fear?”
His voice wavered and cracked, cold arms securely pulling you closer to his chest.
‘My love, you think I’m strong? ...With no fear? Oh, I’m far from that.’
‘I’m scared to death.’
365 days before
“Are you okay?”
Answering that question wasn’t getting any easier, but lying and saying that you’re doing “just fine” was.
Two months has already passed since you broke up with your ex, Jungkook, and at the time it was way more than just perfectly rational, but hearing his name being mentioned every day made moving on that much more impossible.
Some days you would be so extremely relieved that it’s over, so glad that you don’t have to go through feeling like you weren’t important, so grateful now that you don’t have to feel like a second option anymore.
But, then you see him, or hear his name, or someone would walk past you wearing the same cologne you always bought for him, and it’s like all those nights of crying and feeling like you weren’t good enough for him never happened. You would see him smile, that damn smile, that always made your heart skip— and for a single second before you would feel hollow all over again, You would have hope that maybe he would come back and love you right.
He didn’t deserve it, but if he wanted to come back into your life, you would willingly let him stay just because you would rather have all the horrible pieces of him than not have him at all. That’s just how you were, you have a very forgiving soul, and forgive people that don’t deserve it.
It was pathetic— all the things you still felt for him was just so pathetic. He was an absolutely shit boyfriend, not just for refusing to mention to anyone that you were dating for the first half of the relationship because he, “loved you so much” and, “telling people would just get in the way of us being together,” or whatever dumbass excuse he would come up with whenever you would ask… he got mad over things that made no sense at all.
He just didn’t know how to let the minuscule things go. He was absolutely insane sometimes.
but goddamn, was the sex so good.
You would constantly remind yourself how much of an asshole he was when you would begin to miss him (more specifically: miss his dick), but even if you hated him, you couldn’t control your brain to stop thinking about him. It was just impossible.
You were currently laying down on your small bed in the even smaller space of your dorm, playing music quietly out loud as you flip through the pages of your sociology textbook.
Even though you were trying your hardest to pay attention, your eyes kept wandering towards your phone placed screen-side up on your desk. It has gone off multiple times over the course of 5 minutes, and you knew exactly who was texting you: your best friend, Tae. It was Saturday after all, so of course he had some wild thing planned for you two to do, but you already decided to stay in your room and study.
Being best friends with Taehyung was both a blessing and curse, his natural charismatic energy was something that you adored, but because of that same charm he attracted lots of attention. You were never one to want any sort of attention, whether it be good or bad, so you avoided most parties. Parties meant having to leave your sanctuary, your bed, and that was something you were never up for doing.
Hearing your phone buzz one last time finally made you cave and reach out for it, clicking it open to reveal the messages waiting for you.
From Tae:
party at my place tonight! oh wait i forgot- youd rather fall off a cliff than actually have fun
From Tae:
can u for ONCE be cool and come to a party with me dAmn it’s not torture
From Tae:
i will sneak into the girl dorms and drag you out the window if i have to
From Tae:
YOU CANT IGNORE ME FOREVER
He was right, you couldn’t ignore him, no matter how much you wanted to sometimes.
It seemed ridiculous, but.. why not? You deserve to go out and have fun, You just got out of a shitty relationship and also managed to make it through this semester without balding from stress, so- why not?
With an exhale, you glanced down at the outfit you were currently draped in; an oversized long-sleeve shirt with pajama pants. If you wanted to go, you desperately needed to do something about your appearance.
You:
fine, i’ll be there. happy?
Music blasted so loud you could feel it shake under your feet, you were all packed into the living room like sardines. People were dancing and sloppily making out with strangers on couches, a classic sight to see at a college party. All the while you stood in the kitchen sipping only water out of a red solo cup, contemplating if coming here was even worth it.
Taking another sip your eyes began to wander, almost immediately halting.
There, against the dark wall, and although the room was dim, you can spot his smile anywhere. He was not just attractive, no, this boy was… divine.
“No, no no no no no…” Your head snapped around so quickly you thought for sure you would’ve given yourself whiplash, your heart feeling like it stopped beating.
‘Why is he here? Fuck. I haven’t seen him months. What am I supposed to do? What if he comes up to me? My God… I have to go, Tae will understand.’
Before you could comprehend what was happening, he was heading straight towards you.
Your body tensed, feeling like a statue. You couldn’t take your eyes off of him. You couldn’t move. You couldn’t breathe.
His gaze never left yours. He seemed to laugh to himself, as he pushed through people just to stand there before you.
Covered in black from his hair to his matching socks, he radiated a sense of danger. His hair was messily slicked back and tattoos were trailing up his arms and neck.
“So, were you just planning on staring at me all night?”
His voice was dripping in charm and a closer look into his caramel brown eyes, you started to feel like you were being hypnotized.
Noticing that you have been gazing at him for what seems like hours already, you turned your head away from him.
“Were you planning on doing the same?” Your comebacks were weak but you weren’t wrong, he was the one who seemed to be staring at you first.
“I’m hoping that maybe I can… or, I can do more.” He laughed, only about a forearms length between you.
fuck.
“Jungkook, listen, I can’t do this. Seriously.” You put your cup down, pushing through him, trying to get anywhere else but here.
“Babe, come on. I said I was sorry a million times, it was a mistake. You know I love you and I don’t want to see you walk away.” He put a hand on your wrist, trying to pull you closer. You closed your eyes and exhaled.
“I’m not doing this here.”
“We don’t have to baby, we can go upstairs.” He pleaded, the grip he had on your wrist not loosening. “Honestly babe, I miss you. I miss us. These girls don’t mean anything to me like you do. You’re the only one I want.”
“I can’t do this to myself Jungkook,” Frustration was clear in your voice. You’ve heard this so, so many times the words had no meaning anymore. “I’m not your baby.”
“But you are,” He pulled you into him, bumping into each other’s chests. He never stopped looking at you, his eyes piercing into you. You knew if you looked up at him that you would be under his spell, that you would end up doing whatever he wanted you to, but you’re self control was getting weaker and weaker.
“Jungkook… What do you want from me?” You felt like melting into a puddle on the floor. You were gonna cave and you knew it. As much as you hated yourself for it, you wanted him even more.
“Follow me, baby.”
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landoncrris · 2 years
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hey - I have a request and I think you’ll be the best person for it! Can you do a fic where you’re Sophia’s friend from Germany who‘s visiting Soph + Kai in London? There, reader and Mason meet and hit of immediately. It’s by your choice if it’s fluff or smut - I just leave it to your imagination 🥰 thanks bestie!
anon thank you sm for requesting this!! hope it’ll meet your expectations <33
no doubt - mason mount x reader
REQUESTS ARE OPEN // MASTERLIST
warnings: english is not my first language
word count: 2.5k
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It was the first time you were able to visit your best friends Kai and Sophia in London as your job usually didn’t give you more than one Sunday off, keeping you in Germany. But now, luckily, you had a week off, and when Kai told you that he and his teammates had planned a little party to end the season with properly, and that he could bring two more guests — Sophia and you — you couldn’t help but say yes.
You’ve met some of his teammates briefly before when you were at a game with Sophia, but it never went beyond a “hello” and an introduction from Kai. That, and the fact that Kai assured you several times that they were the easiest people to get along with ever, calmed your nerves a little, because normally you didn’t feel very comfortable in a room with lots of people you don’t know.
So this was how you found yourself stepping out of the car right in front of his teammate Ben’s house, whose wealth was already intimidating you again. Coupled with the feeling of still being unsure about your outfit, which consisted of a plain black jeans with a top that was neither too short nor too long, as you didn't know what else to wear, but you certainly didn’t want to draw too much attention to yourself.
“Just stay with me, you’ll be fine. And I promise you that most of them are really nice.” Sophia said in your ear as you made your way to the front door while wrapping her arms around you, which also confirmed that she wouldn’t leave your side. “But what about Kai? I don’t want to be the clingy child you brought.” you laughed nervously, but she just squeezed your arm comfortingly and nodded beside her, where Kai was already engrossed in a conversation with Timo and not paying any attention to you at all.
“Believe me, I’m glad you’re here. Otherwise I’d have to listen to them talking about some weird video games all night.” you had to laugh at that, grateful to have her by your side and you trusted her completely when she said that she wouldn’t leave you alone. “Wait here a moment, I’m gonna go looking for Ben.” you heard Kai say to both of you, giving his girlfriend a kiss on the head before he and Timo left, leaving you to stand in the entrance hall waiting for them to return.
“Is he nice?”
“Who?”
“You know, the pretty one.” you shrugged, because you knew next to nothing about football and didn’t know the names of the people you didn’t met yet. But when you went to some of Kai’s games, there was always one particular person on the pitch you couldn’t take your eyes off. Unconsciously, that was probably one of the reasons you wanted to come here, even if you have never met him, he was ridiculously good looking. “So that’s the reason you accepted the invitation?” she asked, reading you like a book, as you didn’t tell her, you just asked her about him at the games.
“Maybe.” you shrugged with a growing smile on your lips, to which Sophia snorted, “From what I’ve talked to him, yes, he’s nice. I’ll ask Kai to introduce you two.”
“No,” you said quickly and gave her a light pat on the arm, your cheeks heating at the thought. “That’s embarrassing. Besides, Kai would never let it go.”
“Then I guess you have to introduce yourself.”
“Maybe he’s not even here.” you muttered, part of you hoping he wasn’t, because now that you’d told Sophia, there was definitely no getting around talking to him, and you weren’t entirely sure you were capable of it, especially not completely sober. But unfortunately for you, you heard her humming and surreptitiously pointing her finger at someone across the room. You could only see his side profile, but it took you a moment to recognise him, as you only ever saw him from a distance, but from what you saw, he looked even better. His hair fell in soft curls and the dimples in his face were clearly visible through his broad smile.
But before your conversation could continue, you saw Kai and Timo come back out of the corner of your eye, but this time with Ben at their side. The latter greeted you both with a brief hug and informed you that you could take any of the drinks from the kitchen but “without getting pissed and breaking anything” — a concern that was understandable, because his furnishings looked like they had cost a hell of a lot of money. And just before he went on his way again, the man you had admired just a few minutes ago approached your group and greeted Timo, Kai and Sophia before stepping closer to you and holding out his hand for you to shake.
“Hey, I’m Mason, nice to meet you.” he said politely as you shook his hand, not missing the way his eyes scanned your figure, even if he tried to do it as quickly and stealthily as possible. Just the small action made your heart beat faster, and you only managed to croak out a quiet “Y/N” whereupon he nodded and smiled.
“Mase c’mon, need you to be my wingman.” Ben said, pulling him back by the shoulders as his hand left yours, but his eyes stayed on yours for a few more seconds that felt much longer than they were, like everything was in slow motion. When he smiled one last time at you and turned away to follow his friend as he groaned out a “Seriously? Again?”, everything around you went back to normal.
As unknowing as Kai was, he completely missed the look Sophia gave you, coupled with a little nudge to your shoulder, which you returned with a shake of your head and a roll of your eyes. But you couldn’t deny how he made you feel, even though you hadn’t even really spoken to him yet, you felt more nervous than ever at that moment, but at the same time you set yourself a goal for the day, which was to talk to him again, and more than just one word.
“Can we have a drink please?” you asked, but were already on your way to find the kitchen when the words left your mouth. The next few hours were filled with you trying to get the right amount of drink to feel safe, but not too much to embarrass yourself, while listening to Kai’s bad jokes and Sophia trying to tell you to go over and talk to Mason. But since he was logically always with other people, you just couldn’t do it, especially not after you awkwardly walked past him after coming out of the bathroom while he was waiting for it to be free.
“You two want to play beer pong?“ asked Kai as he settled down next to Sophia on the sofa some time later, putting his arm around her shoulder and pressing a kiss to her cheek, while interrupting your conversation. “Have you had enough of Timo already?”
“Nah, he went home because his girlfriend isn’t feeling so good.” he answered Sophia’s question, to which she hummed. Before she looked at you with a questioning look, quietly asking if you wanted to play, whereupon your gaze went back to Kai, “With who?”
“What do you mean?”
“We need an even number of people to play.” you laughed at his drunken state, which made him even more out of his mind than usual. “Oh, yeah, right...” his eyes searched the room for a moment, his gaze wandered over the faces of his fellow teammates, considering who he could best play with.
“Mase!” he shouted a few times across the room, trying to be louder than the music, until he had the attention of the other man, who raised his eyebrows to ask him what he wanted. While Sophia just shook her head and hid her face in her hands as his shouting got almost everyone’s attention, although luckily there weren’t many strangers around so she wasn’t too embarrassed. But instead of shouting more words, he just pointed repeatedly at the beer pong table, his hand swaying a little so Mason came over shaking his head, not understanding what he wanted.
“What?” asked Mason with a smile at the state his friend was in at the moment, for he had never seen him so drunk. “Beer pong? You in?” he nodded and put a hand on Kai’s shoulder as his gaze drifted to you and Sophia with a gentle smile,
“So, what are the teams?” he held out a hand to Kai to help him stand up, “Boys versus girls, of course.” and you watched as Kai put an arm around his shoulder to support himself as you and Sophia walked right behind them, while she sent you a confident smile and a thumbs up to silently tell you that this is your opportunity to talk to him.
“Great, so I’ll be in the loser team.”
“Loser team? I’ll play with my girlfriend then, at least she wants to be on a team with me,” Kai said dramatically, pushing Mason to the other side of the table when you got there, which made him chuckle into his hand, “Right?” Kai turned to Sophia and planted a big, greasy kiss on her cheek, making her want to escape him, if it weren’t for his arms around her.
“Do you want to come with me?” asked Mason close to your ear to make sure you heard him, which startled you a little, at which you turned to him with furrowed brows, “To refill the cups?” he added as he raised them to make his point.
“Oh, yeah, sure.” you nodded, to which he winked at you, making you pray in your head not to fuck up as you followed him into the kitchen. “Shall we have beer or something stronger?”
“I think Kai has had enough for today to be honest. Might fill his just with water.” you laughed as you leaned against the counter and watched him get a few things from the fridge, “Water really isn’t a bad idea. I don’t think Ben would be happy about him throwing up in his house.” he mumbled, already filling a couple of cups with water so Kai wouldn’t notice, while he tried to take the opportunity to talk to you as he too had been thinking about it all night.
“So you’re one of Sophia’s friends?” he asked, looking at you briefly and waving you over as the music was a little too loud for the distance, “Yeah, we went to school together.”
“That means you’re from Germany, right?” he filled up the last cup of water, thinking it was enough for the moment, before turning around, leaning back against the counter too and watching you nod in response to his question. “Yes, I’m just visiting, but I plan to move here too when I graduate next year.”
“What are you studying?” he asked politely, trying to stifle the remark that he was looking forward to seeing you more often, “Psychology.”
“So beauty and brains.” he quickly replied as if he already had it in his head, which made you laugh nervously, but at the same time you felt comfortable with him and your continued conversation felt like you had known him for ages, as you don’t usually manage to hit it off with people straight away and talk to them so easily. Whereas he felt like you were actually interested in talking about him because the topic of his job didn’t come up once, like it did with every other girl he met. And during your conversation you completely forgot why you came here in the first place, so Sophia tried to deal with an impatient Kai and stop him from interrupting the conversation, which was ultimately unsuccessful.
“What are you two doing?” Kai’s voice rang out in the room as he approached you where you were standing at the sink and took both your arms in his hands to pull you with him, “I thought we were going to play.” he groaned when you didn’t move,
“Take these,” Mason muttered as he handed him the empty cups to carry and you the ones filled with water. “We were hoping you’d forget about it and go home.” he teased Kai, earning a fake laugh and a punch to his ribs.
“Are you good at playing?” Mason asked you when you had arrived at the table and had everything set up, while Sophia winked at you and raised her eyebrows the whole time, “I’m an uni student.”
“Right.” he laughed, watching you successfully aim your first throw at one of the cups filled with water for Kai to drink, “and you?”
“I’m good with balls.” he said, watching Kai miss his throw as expected, “Just usually at your feet.”
“I’m good with my hands too.” he sent you a glance, gulping at the ambiguous statement as you watched him run his tongue along the inside of his cheek as he waited for Kai to pick up the ball. “Prove it,” you muttered riskily and watched him smirk and look away with one eyebrow raised, throwing the ball and also successfully aiming it at one of the cups filled with water.
The rest of the game passed without much conversation, just the two of you making fun of Sophia and Kai while you made a great team and almost didn’t need to drink anything. “Another round?” asked Sophia, looking at you and Mason since Kai was barely playing anyway. You answered with a shrug and out of the corner of your eye saw Mason pull out his phone and look at the time.
“I’d love to, but I’m gonna go to the bathroom real quick and then head home.”
“Already?” you asked, looking at the time yourself, which just read 12am, “Yeah, have to get up early in the morning.” he replied before disappearing into the bathroom, Sophia quizzing you in the meantime.
“Alright Soph, see you around,” his voice rang out again as he came back to the three of you and gave her a quick hug, and patted Kai on the shoulder while saying a “Cheers, mate,” before walking over to you and hugging you as well, putting one hand around your waist as you felt the other sneak something into your back pocket, and the feel of his fingers on your bum made you shiver.
“Text me.” he whispered in your ear before he said goodbye to you with a final wink, watching him leave and say goodbye to the others as well. Pulling out the note immediately because you were too impatient to wait, you saw his phone number written on it, along with a “;)” that made you smile to yourself for the rest of the night.
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outerbankies · 3 years
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new light part 4: underneath the moonlight — rafe cameron
new light series masterlist
summary: you and rafe meet the parents (properly) and go to midsummers together, but not everyone is as smitten with your relationship as you two are.
pairing: rafe x kook reader
warnings: drinking, swearing
a/n: say hello to a few characters (tw: ward) i have had yet to feature thus far 🤗 more of y/n being besties with kelce (and topper this time—our fave obx himbo) there’s a lil drama in this part y’all... into the thick of it. thanks for all the feedback 💖not canon rafe
my writing
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yeah if you give me just one night, to meet you underneath the moonlight
You’re startled awake by a loud knock on your bedroom door. You’re squished between 6 feet and 3 inches worth of boy and the pink wall your bed is pushed up against. Rafe always insisted on laying on your outer side, closest to the door of your bedroom. Which means you often woke up pressed into the wall, your neck sometimes aching from the awkward angle. Not to mention Wilbur always taking up the space at your feet, Rafe usually nudging him into your space so he could stretch out.
Rafe stirs also, making sleepy noises and stretching his legs where they hang off the end of your bed. He grumbles and smacks his lips together a few times, your hand instinctively coming to rub along his jaw. His eyes flutter open as the sun streams in through your window, illuminating the hint of golden stubble on his chin. You’d only slept over together a few times, since you were both staying with your parents for the summer, so it’s always nice to wake up with your boy in your bed.
Oh fuck. Your boy is in your bed.
Rafe's eyes widen at the same time as yours.
“Oh shit, we fell asleep?” he whispers, head whipping around your room.
“Fuck, you have to hide right now,” you whisper, stumbling through your thoughts sleepily.
Another knock sounds from the door.
You extract yourself from your spot between Rafe and the wall, his hands guiding you by your hips as you tumble over him.
“Just, fuck, just like—get under the covers or something. God, I hope it’s not my dad,” you whisper.
“Me too,” he says, slinking into the gap between your bed and the wall as best he can, covering his face with a pillow.
You check that he’s concealed enough, turning to open the door just the slightest bit. Dylan stands in the crack.
“We have brunch at the Club in an hour, mom wanted me to ask if you invited Rafe,” he peers around you, gaze moving to behind your shoulder. “Or I could just ask him myself. Sup, Rafe?”
“Shut the fuck up, Dyl,” you whisper-shout. “Where are mom and dad? Can he sneak out the back? And don’t lie to me, or I’ll tell them about Hilton Head.”
“God, calm down. Dad’s in the garage and mom’s getting ready. Just have him go now.”
“Thanks,” you say, all but slamming the door in his face. You turn around and press your back against the door, letting out a shaky breath.
The covers rustle, and Rafe springs out of your bed to gather his things while Wilbur watches him. He always starts pouting when he notices that Rafe is putting on his hat or shoes, signs that he’s about to leave.
“We are so dead.”
“You don’t think he’ll say anything, do you? I don’t think I can sit at brunch with your dad in an hour if he knows I slept in your bed last night.”
“Not if he’s smart,” you sigh. “Want me to walk you out?”
“No, I got it. Just keep Willy in here. I’ll text you when I make it out alive. If you don’t hear from me, just assume your father murdered me,” he jokes, leaning down to give you a kiss after he slips his shoes on. “See you back here in an hour?”
“Yes, please be early. And clean shaven.”
“Yes ma’am. And don’t insult me,” he mumbles against your lips.
“Nervous?”
“Not nearly as nervous as I will be if I get caught, sweetheart. Gotta go so I have time to shower—and shave. See you in a bit.”
He gives you one last kiss before he departs, and you move to the window with Wilbur to watch him slink across the backyard, arms crossed and a fond grin on your face. He turns and blows you one last kiss before he disappears around the side of your house.
“Y/n, can I speak to you for a second?”
Your dad’s voice comes from his study as you pass by, checking yourself over in the entryway mirror one more time. Rafe should be here any minute.
“Yeah, what’s up?”
“Come sit,” he says, gesturing to one of the chairs in front of his desk. You feel the hair stand up on the back of your neck. Your dad only invited you to talk in his study if it was something serious. The last time he did was when he told you he was going to take away your Range Rover if you didn’t pull your Bs up to As your freshman year of college. You’ve had a 4.0 ever since.
“Is everything alright?”
“Yes, everything’s fine. Just wanted to talk about the new boyfriend.”
“What about him?”
“I always knew of him while the two of you were growing up. But I talked to him a bit back during Dylan’s grad week.”
As an unruly teenager and the rightful heir to his father's business, everyone in the Outer Banks knew about Rafe and his antics. Good or bad. You could even recall your mom gossiping to your dad, words passed on from Rose, about some of his more... notable incidences.
“Y-yeah, he's...” you trail off, searching for the right words to describe Rafe these days.
“Seems like a good kid,” your dad supplies.
“What did you guys talk about?”
“Business, mostly. His future and whatnot.”
“Is that what you wanted to talk to me about?”
“No, I just wonder... are you sure about this one? When you were kids, that boy was always causing trouble. And you know your mother and I were always so proud of how you stayed in line.”
“I know,” you sigh. “But Rafe’s not a boy anymore. Just give him a chance.”
“I will,” your dad says, slapping his knees to stand up. “But I'm also gonna give him a hard time.”
“Dad, please.”
“It’s my job. Your mom gets to freak out about Dylan moving out, and I get to handle scaring every man who gets to look at you.”
The doorbell rings.
“Please. I am literally begging.”
Your dad draws a fake halo around his head, and you just roll your eyes.
The morning gets off to an even more embarrassing start as soon as Rafe crosses the threshold into your house. Wilbur jumps into his arms immediately, all ninety pounds of him, and your mom’s eyes widen.
“My goodness, he’s usually so hesitant around strangers!”
Dylan chokes on a laugh, and if you weren’t across the room you’d have elbowed him in the ribs.
“Oh, I’ve walked Wilbur by Tanneyhill before.”
“Yeah, I-I love Willy. Mrs. Y/l/n, it’s so nice to see you again,” Rafe says, effortlessly following your lead after Wilbur scampers out of his hold. He shakes your mom’s hand politely. Your dad sidles up to her then, fixing Rafe with a stare harder than you’d prefer. “Mr. Y/l/n, you as well. Thanks again, to both of you, for inviting me.”
“Good to see you, Rafe,” your dad says, a strong hand clamping onto his shoulder. “Dylan, come say hi.”
Dylan’s grin is devilish, and you're just watching on in pure horror at this point. “How have you been, Rafe? Haven’t seen you in a while.”
Rafe’s grinning ear to ear, hand firm on your thigh, all of the windows in his truck rolled down. He even popped the sun roof, letting you blast your playlist all the way down the road.
“Okay—I just... did that go well?”
“You did great, Rafe.”
Despite Dylan's best efforts to embarrass you two, brunch had gone really well. Your dad took a second to let his guard down, unlike your mother who was immediately gushing over him. You could practically see the wheels in her head turning, the wedding colors she'd picked for you. And your dad came around quick enough once Rafe brought up Formula 1.
Your boyfriend looks so relieved, hand even coming to feel the air pass through his fingers as he hangs his arm out the window, hand on your thigh coming back up to steady the wheel. He taps on it excitedly.
“Lowkey, feel like I nailed it, baby.”
“Okay,” you giggle, leaning over to peck his check. You pull him in with a soft hand to the other side of his face. “Let’s not get too big for our britches.”
“Oh, I’m a parent-meeting expert now. Might go into consulting.”
“You’ve perfected the sport?” you joke.
“No, no. That’s—I’ve never actually met parents before,” he admits.
“No way?”
“Way? Have you?” he asks, slight edge seeping into his tone as he pulls up to the stoplight outside of your favorite coffee spot.
“Uh... once. We weren’t even really dating yet, but they came to visit and he like, ambushed me with them at dinner. They were kinda hippies, though.”
“Yeah?��� His tone is clipped as he parks his truck.
“Yeah, some guy from my comparative literature class sophomore year,” you sigh. “But, you’re the first to meet my parents.”
“Mm,” he hums, fingers tapping on your knee. That satisfies him. He gathers one of your hands in his. “You coming in?”
“Will you just get me a latte? Kinda wanna call my mom and debrief.”
He laughs, kissing your knuckles. “I’ll give you a minute, sweetheart. Oat milk?”
Your original plans to meet the Camerons fell through, a last minute staging emergency arising when you were all supposed to go for dinner. You’d tried not to look down while Rafe attempted in earnest to cheer you up, telling you how pretty you looked while you took out your earrings and let your hair down. He'd kissed the crown of your hair and apologized profusely, promising they would love you when they finally got to meet you.
“M’not upset.”
“Okay.” His hand stroked your back through the thick cotton of one of his old water polo sweatshirts he’d let you borrow for the night.
“I’m just really nervous about meeting them. You might’ve set the bar a little too high with my parents.”
“You just have a great family.”
“I don’t know,” you said when you finally cracked a smile. “Made it pretty far on your first try.”
“Don’t worry. They’re going to love you, sweetheart.”
You let him kiss your cheek, your forehead, your nose and chin.
“Hope so.”
“Know so.”
And Rafe had somehow convinced your father to let you go to Midsummers with his family, promising to join up for pictures and greetings later. Your dad had willingly let him, to your surprise.
The event was a big deal to Figure 8 patriarchs and matriarchs alike, always trying to outdo the other in every way, all while feigning some sense of island camaraderie. But when Rafe had set aside time at brunch to specifically ask your family for their permission to accompany you to the event, they’d been hard pressed to say no. Your family immediately accepted Rafe as your boyfriend, any lingering hesitations about his character drowned out by the equal chances of your personal happiness and the heightening of their social and business profiles.
But he’d still come to your house to pick you up, ready to greet your parents in the foyer once again.
He takes one look at you in that blush pink dress, hair, makeup and jewelry all done up this time around, daisy flower crown in place, and flicks his eyes around his surroundings. Your father and Dylan were nowhere in sight, and your mother was busy fixing her earrings in the hall. He takes to your side immediately, a kiss to the side of your head followed by his lips pressing against your ear. “I’m fucking obsessed with you.”
With the high from those words, you ride in his truck to Midsummers, nerves never dissipating no matter how many reassurances he speaks across the summer air streaming in through the vehicle. “Remember, they’re gonna love you.”
He helps you down from his truck so you can focus on keeping your dress off the ground, assuring you for the fiftieth time that Rose is going to like your headpiece.
“Miss Y/l/n, how lovely to see you again you at last,” Ward sighs, sounding somewhat fond. “Rafe’s been talking my ear off about this, meeting you again even though we’ve already met. Sorry we couldn’t make it work earlier.”
“No worries, Mr. Cameron. Thank you so much for inviting me to tag along with your family at Midsummers. You as well, Mrs. Cameron. You look beautiful.”
“Thank you! And of course,” Rose says, bringing you in for a hug, one you definitely were not expecting.“You’re out in California, aren’t you?”
“Yes, home for the summer.”
“That’s a long way from here,” Ward says. His eyes flicker to Rafe. “Long way from Georgia. Shorter, but still a long way.”
“Dad, c’mon,” Rafe cuts in, and you can feel his hand gripping the back of your dress:
“He’s just stating the obvious, Rafe,” Rose intervenes.
“Yeah, it is far,” you agree. Rafe’s head whips around back to you.
“We’re figuring it out,” he says. To anyone else in the vicinity, he probably sounds confident and self assured. But you know Rafe, and you can look into his eyes and see that he’s not. That if he weren’t in front of his entire family, trying earnestly to impress his father, he’d have said: ‘we’re gonna figure it out, right?’
“I’m sure things will work out the way they’re meant to,” Ward says after a lapse in conversation. “One way or another.”
“Let’s get some photos so we can all enter and the two of you can run off,” Rose says immediately after, giving neither of you the time to say anything else.
You do your best to shake off Ward’s comment as the four of you join up with the Cameron daughters, plus Sarah’s boyfriend, John B. After posing for what felt like hours, the photographer asks you and John B to hop out so they can take some family pictures, the two of you swiping up a couple of Old Fashioneds from the bar. You have to assure Rafe twice that you’ll be okay for ten minutes on your own.
“First time meeting Ward?” Sarah’s boyfriend asks, leaned up against the bar like he owns the place.
“Er—of course not,” you say, like it’s obvious. But of course John B knew nothing about Figure 8 social circles. “Just the first time as Rafe’s girlfriend.”
“Yeah, you look nervous,” he admits, chuckling when your mouth drops open. “It’s not too obvious, I just know because—been in your shoes.”
You should be insulted that the teenager compares his and Sarah’s relationship with yours and Rafe’s, but you know he isn’t being malicious. You see nothing but kindness in his eyes. And it’s nice to have somewhat of a teammate in this situation, the two of you standing by while one of the most powerful families in Kildare poses together in their finest outfits.
Rafe looks hot in his grey suit, especially with the pocket square he’d agonized over for weeks before you gifted him one that was hand sewn from the extra material where your dress had been hemmed. Monogrammed, of course.
You’d decided to go with his initials, since it was going to him after all. But your stomach gets fluttery if you think about the expression on his face when he’d received it, telling you that you should’ve put yours on it instead. “That way everyone will know I’m yours.”
Turning back to John B, you can’t imagine how he must have felt the first time he was invited into all of this. It intimidated even you, and you’re pretty sure John B was friends with the boy who delivered your family’s groceries every week.
“Any tips?”
“You’re way better off than I was, first of all,” he laughs. “But he’s really only scary when it’s one-on-one. He cares too much about this appearance of a perfect family to make digs in front of an audience.”
You nod. “That’s actually really good advice, John B.”
“Don’t sound so surprised, kook.” He clinks his glass against yours, promptly throwing the entire drink back as you watch and laugh. “That’s another tip. Drink whenever you can.”
“I’m familiar with that one.”
It's intimidating entering the event, a little after everyone else has arrived. Rafe told you that was by design—the Camerons could never be earlier than fashionably late. You always assumed you and Rafe were raised with similar pedigrees, but you're barely through the doors of the event before you realize that's not entirely true. Up until the last millisecond, Rose is fussing with Sarah and Wheezie's gowns, the older daughter making eye contact with you and rolling her eyes at her step-mother's antics. And Ward brushes Rafe's shoulders off more times than you can count, straightening his bow tie for him repeatedly. Rafe just places his hand on your back, leaning down to whisper into your ear. “You ready?”
You smile up at him, but your nerves are firmly settled in at this point. What you reply isn’t completely true. “Of course.”
You take John B’s advice, of course, and choose Kelce as your designated drinking buddy for the night. He was hard to keep up with, but you threw your inhibitions to the wind after you got meeting the Camerons out of the way. Plus, Rafe had more business to attend to than he’d let on, and you were getting pretty bored. Not too long ago he would’ve been right beside the rest of you, causing trouble and borderline embarrassing all of your parents. It was weird to see him walking around, shaking hands and rubbing elbows. He’d invited you into a few conversations, you trying your hardest not to simply watch him in awe.
You’re engaged in some strange dance battle with Kelce when he stacks his drink into yours, both empties at this point. “Your turn to get a round.”
“Boo,” you sigh, throwing your head back. “What d’you want?”
“Surprise me.”
“Aye aye.”
You’re turning on a shaky high heel, and you have to give yourself a little mental pep talk to straighten up. Of course you can, though.
“What can I get you, miss?” the barkeep asks.
“Vodka press, Tito’s, and a Jack and coke. Double Jack. Actually—single. Thanks,” you murmur, trying to fish a ten out of your clutch.
“Don’t worry, I’ve got the tip for this one,” a voice says next to you. Ward Cameron is sidling up next to you, sliding a fifty across the counter. Your eyes widen at the tip, trying not to be embarrassed as the bartender sets the drinks down in front of you.
“Oh, thank you, Mr. Cameron.”
“Ah, call me Ward.” He flicks his eyes back to the bartender, who quickly pockets the tip and makes himself scarce to give the two of you some privacy. You can’t help but think of John B’s warning: ‘he’s really only scary when it’s one-on-one.’ There’s no point in even trying seek out Rafe, you knowing full well you’re expected to stay rooted to the spot until Ward dismisses you. “Having a good time?”
“Yeah,” you nod. “It’s always fun to come back out here for this.”
“So, California to Georgia,” he whistles. “That’s probably a five hour flight, at least.”
“Yeah, um,” you take a minute to make sure your flower crown is perfectly in place. “It’s actually two.”
“Excuse me?”
“Two flights. From his school to mine. Rafe checked, he said there’s nothing direct,” you clarify.
Ward let’s out an indifferent chuckle. “Of course he did.”
Your eyebrow furrows because you don’t know what to say, turning to look at where your drinks are starting to melt. Kelce would be wondering where you are by now if he wasn’t three sheets to the wind. And where the hell was Rafe?
“Y/n, as far as I can tell, you are a nice girl. I just need to make sure we’re on the same page about one thing.”
Your heartbeat that hadn’t really settled since Ward approached you is picking up again, and you really wish Rafe had been the least bit more concerned about where you were at this moment.
“Um, I-I’m not sure I know what you’re talking about.”
“I'm don’t know how serious you two are, Y/n, but I know my son. He's clearly very invested in pursuing you.”
Your resolve crumbles a little at that, your heart warming, thinking about Ward noticing something like that.
“But Rafe needs to be committed to finishing this degree so he can come home and start learning the ropes next year. And in four years, Sarah will do the same. Then Louisa after her.”
“Wow, that’s so lucky for you—that they all want to go into the family business,” you praise, not really knowing what else to say. It must be the wrong thing, because Ward just quirks an eyebrow.
“In this family, our business will always come first. Before anything and anyone else. Do you see what I’m getting at?”
You swallow, catching on to where this is going for the first time. You still go for playing dumb.
“Ward, I really don't think I understand.”
“But you do, don't you? You know Rafe. He’s a bit emotional, he’s a ‘feeler,’” Ward says sarcastically, putting it in air quotes. All of the niceties you experienced earlier when you first greeted Rafe’s family were long gone. You can only gather that it was all an act for Rafe’s benefit. But you know the only option is to sit there and take it. “He thinks with his heart, never enough with his head. Sarah, for example—when it’s time for her to cut that pogue lose, which it will be soon enough, I know she will. Whether it’s my decision or her’s. I can count on that, because she’s just like me in that respect; she knows we have to make sacrifices. But Rafe—I don’t think I can make that same assumption about him.”
“Ward, with all due respect, Rafe is really focused on the business.”
“You're correct, and I’ve worked hard to get him there. Which is why I can't have him spending his senior year of college, when he should be buckled down, traveling back and forth from California and getting distracted from his future by some girl.”
“Mr. Cameron, I would never—”
“You know that it’s true. I can tell you’re bright. You come from a great family.” It’s a compliment and an insult all at once. He likes you because of your father’s business and your mother’s social status, not because of what you do for Rafe, or what you have to show for yourself. He continues like it was nothing but the highest praise. “But right now, you are across the country from him, and I can bet he’s determined to make that work, no matter what it takes. Which I obviously can’t have,” Ward sighs. “It’s just not the right time. You can understand that, can't you?”
You nod numbly and pick up your drinks, hoping he’ll get the signal to wrap this up soon. You’re at the point where you can’t listen to this anymore, liquid courage re-flooding your veins.
“I’m not asking you to stay away from him, because you’re both adults,” Ward says, stopping you with a hand on your shoulder. “But I’m asking you to think long and hard about what’s best for the both of you. Rafe already knows what’s expected of him. He’s always known.”
You look back towards the crowd under the gazebo, able to make out John B of all people. He sees you talking to Ward, shooting you the most subtle thumbs up he can muster. He has no idea. You don’t take the chance to nod at him, turning back to the bar.
“Say the two of you let it go for the school year,” Ward bulldozes, taking a step closer to you. “And you end up back here too, great. But even then Rafe’s going to be working all the time, the longest hours he ever will in his life. For the next few years, Y/n. You’re so young—are you really going to tie yourself down to a commitment like that? What about your future?”
In a tone you hope comes across as confident, you say, “I really appreciate your concern, Ward.”
Ward's perfectly white teeth are pulling into an even more perfect grin, and the sight makes you sick.
“Great. I'm glad we had this talk.” He pats you on the back, leaving first before you get the chance to.
You just shuffle through the crowd numbly, not even reacting when someone steps on your toe, taking it all in stride as you seek the comfort of your friends once again.
You were foolish to think Ward would warm up to you immediately, or at all. You had been way too confident in yourself, especially after witnessing the wear working for his father had on Rafe. ‘He’s not an easy man to please.’ How could you be so naive, thinking you could coast by on your charm?
You’re a few feet away when you notice that Topper had joined up with Kelce again, as had your boyfriend. He’s joking with them, amused at the way Topper is clearly almost done tolerating Kelce’s drunken antics, but you stand and watch for a bit as he scans the crowd, gaze flickering toward the bar you’d just been at. You realize he’s looking for you when he finally spots you, his face relaxing as the two of you make eye contact.
“There you are.” He pulls you in close, kissing your forehead. You want to cry. “Where’d you run off to? One of those for me?”
He’s gesturing to the drinks you’re holding, reaching for the darker of the two. But Kelce is swooping in, snatching it out of your hold quickly. “Nope,” he pops the ‘p.’ “This one’s all mine. Sorry Cameron. Thanks Y/n/n.”
Rafe just rolls his eyes at the two of you, eyes lingering on your face when he notices your fallen expression. He sets your other drink down on the high top table you’re all standing next to, pulling you in by your hips. “You okay?”
If you had a choice right now, about how to proceed with telling or not telling Rafe about what had just happened, your instincts compel you to bypass the decision process altogether; you paint a careful smile on your face, shaking your head slightly. “Yeah, all good. Just zoned out for a sec.”
He isn’t convinced. “Tired?”
“Maybe a little. Kinda drunk. Are we leaving soon?” you ask, melting into him. It’s a lot easier to handle his tone of voice when you don’t have to look him directly in the eye.
“I vote yes,” Topper says, gesturing towards Kelce, who is somehow sucking down his new drink at an alarming pace while continuing to dance to the oldies tunes they play at these things. “Like, right now. Rafe, you’re hanging back right?”
You look back up at your boyfriend in confusion. “You’re not coming with us?”
He bite his lip in contemplation, looking around the party. The twinkly lights reflect off of his pupils, making him look starry-eyed as he surveys the crowd. A sea of opportunities to prove himself to his father. Rafe looks resolved when he turns back to you.
“Well... I was gonna stay, wrap up some stuff,” he explains. His eyes flicker across your face, still not pleased with your expression. “But that’s okay, I’m good to go now.”
“No, Rafe,” you say immediately. You take a deep breath, rolling back your shoulders and painting on a smile that comes easily with years of experience at parties like this. “Stay, I’ll go ahead. How long will you be?”
“An hour, tops. Will you take her?” Rafe looks hesitant, still taking your green light anyway, already slowly extracting himself from your hold, Topper rolling his eyes but nodding and beginning to corral Kelce toward the exit.
“I can’t believe you’re making me babysit two of them.”
“Don’t let her drink too much.”
“Hey,” you protest, pushing him in his chest half heartedly. The push barely does anything, only proving your impaired motor skills further. Or that you're dating a tree. “What are you, a cop?”
“I’m your boyfriend, actually.”
“Really? When did that happen?” you decide to play along, picking up your drink again.
“‘Bout a month ago, Y/l/n,” he says softly. He can see right through you, can tell you're putting on a show for all of your friends but you're still not okay. You have to break eye contact.
“Hmm, for some reason I thought you were just this guy from middle school.”
“At least this time nobody spilled on your dress,” he teases half-heartedly, and the memory only hurts you more. “Not sure I’d wanna sacrifice this one.”
“Can you—you guys are the worst. Focus. We need to go now, before Kelce gets his entire family blacklisted from the club. You coming or not, Y/n/n?” Topper begs.
You’re nodding, leaning up to give Rafe one last kiss before you leave. He holds you close to him with a firm hand on your back, voice dropping to a whisper right next to your ear. “You’re sure you’re okay?”
The lump in your throat is growing, but you push through, lowering yourself back down to your feet as soon as you can. “Yeah, don’t worry about it. Focus on the rest of your night.”
Rafe still looks unsure, his hand resting on the nape of your neck as he kisses your forehead. “Y/n—”
“We’ll talk about it later, okay?” you finally admit. Rafe nods curtly, can tell you’re not going to let him leave with you right now. But he doesn’t know why. He doesn’t know that if you pull him away from his responsibilities right after that talk you had with Ward, it’s going to spell disaster for the two of you.
“Just some business stuff, alright?” he assures you. “I’ll see you soon. Forty-five minutes.”
“Promise?” you murmur, fiddling with his pocket square. He smiles down at you, tucking a loose strand of hair behind your ear.
“Promise. You look so pretty. Half an hour. Now go.”
Topper’s guiding you towards the parking lot with a polite hand on your back, but you have to watch Rafe as you leave. You watch him approach his dad, who gives him a smile and a pat on the back. Rafe preens under his gaze.
But Ward must have been watching you two from afar because his gaze is flickering back to you, and he fixes you with a hard stare. He raises his eyebrows, bringing his drink to his lips. Taking a leisurely sip, hint of a smirk on his face. You can practically hear his thoughts: ‘Rafe chose to stay here with me, with the business, and sent you off with his friends.’ It’s everything in you to not let the tears that have been building on your waterline spill over. But your friend isn’t easily fooled.
“Y’alright, Y/n?” Topper says from beside you, trusting Kelce enough to walk on his own as you all near the parking lot. He moves to follow your gaze but you stop him, quickening your pace towards his gray Jeep. “Did something happen?”
“Ward Cameron happened.”
———
tags: @moniamaybank @downbytheouterbanks @littlementalpolaroids
717 notes · View notes
isagisyoichi · 3 years
Note
how do u think the boy would be in a party😈😈
NEW RULES!
SYNOPSIS: blue lock at a party
CHARACTERS INCLUDED: isagi, bachira, nagi, reo, rin, chigiri, naruhaya, niko, nanase, gagamaru, kunigami
WARNINGS: mentions of underage drinking and weed (but no one actually takes anything), swearing, mentions of throwing up and food, again pretend they're all friends and go to the same school because it's more fun to think that way. ooc rin maybe? idk i like pretending he's not as miserable as the manga makes him out to be 🤗 he deserves to have fun i think
A/N: no cause this was soooo fun to write tysm anon, i got through this in a flash cause i loved this suggestion sm :') literally one of the most fun requests i've ever gotten eeee!!!!! also this made me miss my irls bye corona can suck my balls fr
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ISAGI YOICHI:
i feel like this would be his first big party aw lol, so he’s kind of nervous LMAO.
gets handed a beer by someone, has his first sip of it ever, and immediately spits it out. mutters “how the hell can anyone drink this?” and “discreetly” pours the rest into a bush.
mainly stays with nagi, chigiri, kunigami, and bachira and they just talk throughout the night
(bachira only sits down and talks after his energy dies down. i'll elaborate on this below the cut).
keeps asking nagi “what song is this?” throughout the night LOL. makes a mental note of what songs to add to his playlists.
slightly nods his head to the music, aw cute. goes a little harder and lip syncs/raps along when he really likes the song, though (i stand by my word when i said he loves “neon guts”)
does accidentally bump into someone, but isagi starts a convo with them after he apologizes, and they hit it off right away 🥰
but, the person left early and isagi, ever the dummy, forgets to ask for their number.
and he's actually so disappointed in himself when he realizes, too 😭
BACHIRA MEGURU:
not drunk or anything at all, but boy, the way he’s acting makes it seem like he is.
the self proclaimed “life of the party.”
can be found “dancing,” though i use that word generously because to classify whatever he’s doing as “dancing,” is a stretch, to every song, even if he doesn’t know the words LOL
really likes when throwbacks come on!!!! he does dance to the lyrics and not the beat sometimes, though 😭
but, bachira looks like he’s having so much fun, it’s so cute, he’s definitely been waiting for this moment his whole life 🥰
if you were dancing with him, bachira would 100% take you by the hand and spin you around
also forces gets isagi to dance with him but isagi’s so awkward 😭
bachira also ends up jumping in the pool sometime later that night. yells “cannonball!” and everything, like, okay michael phelps 😭
he doesn’t have extra clothes so reo has to give him some and they're so fucking big on him LOLLL
texts the groupchat “i was sooo crazy last night😂” in the morning LMAOO, okay babe calm down
KUNIGAMI RENSUKE:
takes it upon himself to make sure none of his friends die LOL
only drinks water and diet coke 👍
his mom calls in the middle of the party to ask how he's doing and bachira and nagi are doing stupid shit like yelling “pass the weed” and fake moaning 😭
isagi and chigiri tell him to tell her they say hi LOL
really likes when the dj puts on 90s/2000's r&b/hiphop songs (i'll die by my hc that kunigami's an oldies fan)
mostly sways side to side to the music, but he did also dance a little, per request of bachira, and ended up talking to a cute person a for little, too 🤗
offers to help clean up in the morning
CHIGIRI HYOUMA:
at least two drunk girls have mistaken him for their friend, and another four have asked to touch his hair.
tried to use one of reo’s many bathrooms, found a couple making out, outwardly said “gross,” and then left to find another one 😭
nods his head and taps his foot to the music, not much of a dancer.
also a people-watcher, and he points out things he sees are happening to his friends.
“guys, i think misa and her boyfriend are breaking up, look.” leave that poor girl alone bro 😭
finds himself laughing a lot that night because damn! his friends are funny, whether they try to be or not.
not really a party person, but chigiri actually had a lot of fun 🥰
NARUHAYA ASAHI:
also on the dancefloor! doesn’t really dance, per say, but he jumps up and down and does the fist pump thing 😭 he has the spirit, let's give him that.
drank a lot of soda, so he’s filled with energy. also pees in at least three of reo's bathrooms.
talks to his friends, but also makes new ones! also i feel like he takes a lot of pictures LOL. he needs the finsta content 😭
plays truth or dare, or something like that. ends up having to do some stupid shit like smack raichi’s ass and run away, but naruhaya did make out with the girl next to him, so fair trade, he thinks.
also ends up in the pool, but he’s playing chicken with gagamaru and some other people. does not win a single round, but he had fun 😇
leaves with like four plates of food and one of reo’s decorative towels for some reason???
GAGAMARU GIN:
goes through a bunch of reo's shit 😭 he's not taking anything, but he's just curious LOL
strikes up very, random conversations with a bunch of people out of nowhere, good for him!
weirdly good at darts, very good aim.
although one round, naruhaya accidentally distracted gagamaru and one of darts ended up in reo's wall 💔
“it's fine, he has the money to fix it,” naruhaya shrugs as he walks away from reo's now punctured, wall. so true bestie!
gagamaru somehow ends up giving some drunk stranger some “life-changing” advice. (whether it's good or not is debatable)
they thank gagamaru for changing their life and he never sees them again
NAGI SEISHIRO:
irritates the fuck out the dj because nagi keeps asking him to play one specific song over and over again.
it was good the first time, don't wear it out for the rest of us bae 😭
doesn't really dance, just nods his head, maybe raps along a little, too
when he talks to the girls that come up to him, nagi says stuff like “yeah, the host and i go way back, we’re best friends.”
“way back,” my ass, but whatever nagi 🤨
knocks out in one of reo’s guest rooms. someone finds him when they’re trying to look for the bathroom and they draw a mustache and a bunch of other stupid shit on him 😭
tries to leave before reo makes him help clean up in the morning. does not work 👍
dumbass also ended up losing his phone (reo bought him a new one so nagi doesn't really care)
RAICHI JINGO:
gasses himself up sooo much when he’s trying to hit on girls.
“yeah, i'm about to go D1 after high school, just wait on it,” yeah, okay raichi 🙄
also tries to show them his highlights, bye. babe, i mean this in the nicest possible way but, i do not care, can we just kiss 🙏
i feel like he’s one of those boys who likes to take his shirt off for no reason, so raichi most definitely ends up shirtless at some point of the night 😭
takes pictures with reo’s fancy cars in his garage to flex 💀 gets annoyed when reo says raichi can’t drive them. raichi doesn't even have his license 😑
plays pool and is actually not that bad. does almost accidentally blind isagi with his cue, though.
IMAMURA YUUDAI:
he's with some girls but, he’s a dummy and he didn’t know his other hoes would be there, so imamura had quite a few drinks spilled on him here and there.
still somehow leaves with like three new girls snaps, four numbers, and a bunch of lipstick stains. not even gonna lie, i respect his game.
actually a really good dancer, and he knows he looks good, too. knows the words to every drake song that comes on, argue with your mom.
lip-syncs the words to you when you dance together and it makes you more flustered than you would think 🙄
the type to pull you close and wraps his arms around your waist or around your neck
actually really fun to talk to. always in the loop with drama and stuff, so he's always got some interesting conversation topics. and he's funny 😭
MIKAGE REO:
obviously, the party’s at his house. what’s the point of having a rich teammate if you can’t exploit them for their possessions?
jokes, but reo did offer to throw it at his mansion house in the first place.
actually really likes throwing parties lmao, so he jumped at the opportunity.
posted on his snap, “party at my place su for address‼️” LOL
natural charm + raised with good manners = reo being an amazing host
but, reo does have a little group of girls following him around the entire night 👎
and it irritates the hell out of whoever reo’s trying to talk to because they’re all up on him, making it hard for reo to pay attention 😑
also doesn’t help that he entertains them and flirts back and dances with a couple of them, too
and looks good when he dances, too UGH!!!! he's the type to run his hands up and down your body while he dances with you 😣
i hate this man 👎 /j
ITOSHI RIN:
practicing. he didn’t come. sike! rin has a social life, too, come on now, y'all 🙄
talked a big game about how he wouldn’t show up then he still came anyways, like rin, what 😭??
super good at cup pong and he knows it. he keeps beating ryusei and if you look closely, rin has something reminiscent of a smirk on his face.
a foot-tapper, not a dancer, which sucks because he’s not even bad at dancing, either 👎
a couple of girls come up to rin to flirt, but rin doesn’t give them the time of day. no response or anything just a little side eye 😭
rin just talks to his friends and that’s it, really.
actually internally glad for the chance to kickback and relax for once, tbh.
but, he refuses to admit he had any semblance of fun. (he did, rin’s just a weenie 😒)
NIKO IKKI:
the team forced him to come 😭
niko’s already a homebody and he doesn’t like loud noises or large social scenes, so he wasn’t too jazzed about going somewhere where the both of those things combine.
also he's picky with music so LOL. does like that one remix to the pursuit of happiness, though
he’s a wall-stander, i hate to break it to y’all. just watched everything from a distance and didn't talk to anyone except for isagi and his friends.
bye, if you don’t get off the damn wall and dance (he'd dance with me i'm different 🥰🤗)
keeps opening and closing his phone so he looks busy but that mf is literally just going through the settings app 😭
called his mom to bring him home an hour and a half in 👎
NANASE NIJIROU:
i hate to admit it, but he’s the annoying first year that documents everything on snap bye
he’s just excited to be there but like, there is no reason for his story to be half an hour long.
i'm not watching all of that! sorry that happened to you or good for you 🤗
probably playing games like spin the bottle or seven minutes in heaven. is very proud of himself for kissing four people in one night #bigmoves 🥳
stays with his group of friends and they're sooo loud and rowdy LMAOO. #firstyearthings
you can literally hear them laughing over the music, but they're having fun, so it's fine (at least of those kids hits people when they laugh too)
also dances, too! has super good energy and a natural sense of rhythm surprisingly 🥰 also a good hypeman!!!!! honestly, he's just really fun to be around tbh
overall, has a lot of fun, as you can tell by his story 😇
669 notes · View notes
leviiattacks · 3 years
Note
hi bestie!! pls pretty pls do a levi one where he takes care of a sick y/n im feeling a bit under the weather and im getting kinda scared bc of covid :<< anything to help calm my nerves pls? thank you <3
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author note :: get well soon anon :-( i’m super sick rn too (when am i not tho </3) so i get how it is. this isn’t that great because i wrote it pretty quick but i hope it eases youuu :-) this is just pure fluff and sappy stuff and yup yup MODERN LEVI BC... listen i have a soft spot for modern levi word count :: some how i got to 1.4k ????? idk how i always go over the expected word count i have in my head 
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it’s literally been YEARS since the last time you were sick
if you really dig through the depths of your memory you’d say maybe you were last sick when you were seven???
it’s that or your memory is just not great
either way, you really do not want to bother anyone with your sickness so you decide to hole up in your room for the entire day
you don’t even tell levi about it because you know he’ll drop everything for the sake of your comfort
the only problem is that midway through the day you’ve become so bedridden you can’t even begin to fathom attending classes tomorrow
you guess you’ll be taking another day off
as that thought crosses your mind your bedroom door bursts open
“i...” levi lets out a long sigh and you look at him dazed from your pounding headache
you’re surrounded by scrunched up tissues and your cold meds have been left untouched
“i’m gonna get you sick too. back away.” you’re frowning and signalling with your hands that you want him out
your nose is stuffy and you’re sniffling but levi just rolls his eyes before he sits next to you on the floor
buried in your duvet you look a little like a burrito and he laughs at that
“do you know where the thermometer is? i’ll check on your fever.”
he’s looking at you waiting for an answer
you think for a second and then you try to rummage through the timeline of today’s events.
to be fair you’re a little disoriented but for some unknown reason you feel yourself get a little teary eyed
maybe it’s a mix of your upcoming deadlines looming over you or perhaps it’s missing a really important class today
but it’s so sudden you don’t even know why your body is making you act so irrationally but that’s what fevers do
“i think i” you sniff and then the waterworks flood out of you. your brain can’t adjust to the severity of your headache and your urge to sleep is higher than ever
honestly you don’t cry very much so to see the tears worries levi almost immediately
“im sorry i misplaced it.” you croak out, your voice is all scaly and weird, you hate it
stupidly you get upset about that too
don’t people sound hot when they’re sick?? why do you sound like an angry bear...?
this is not fair.
“and i’m stressed.” you blow your nose but it continues to drip despite your constant attempts to stop it
nose bright red and hair disheveled levi’s eyes soften when he sees your workbook laying at the foot of your bed
notes are scribbles in random corners and your mind map is a chaotic mess but you’re trying your best given the circumstances
god, even when you’re sick you’re working hard. you’re ridiculous but in the most endearing way known to man
“alright, lay down.” he runs a hand through your hair to fix the birds nest before he adjusts your pillows and places your head down gently
“i’m sorry i’ve lost the-”
levi’s index finger presses against your lips and he shushes you
“get some rest, please.”
you comply but not before giving him a playful glare
his warm palms move to hold your face. cheeks squished together he swipes your tears away
“i’ve got some soup on the stove you’ll be good in no time.” his soft reassurance is comforting and protective
nodding you flutter your eyes shut.
you’re unable to sleep but levi’s presence is enough to ease you even if it’s just a little you do feel better
fifteen minutes pass and levi returns he’s got you a hot cup of tea and the soup is nowhere to be seen
“i had an accident in the kitchen... so have some tea instead.”
you simply laugh it off, he’s trying his best and you’re alright with not having to be fed tomato soup
tomato soup..... it’s sick and twisted it tastes so bad
you recall having to force yourself to down an entire bowl last christmas after catching a cold
never ever again will you do that
anyways, pea soup superiority it’s the only valid type !!!
levi likes tomato soup though that’s the only reason it sits in bulk in one of the kitchen cabinets
he brushes the mountain of tissues on your bedside table away, he’ll dispose of them later
placing the cup of tea where the aforementioned tissues once were you then realize he’s brought you a slice of madeira cake to have alongside it
at this your eyes brighten you love madeira cake it’s so soft and buttery and simple but it’s just REALLY GOOD???
anyway, you definitely recommend everyone to have some it’s a solid 10/10
“picked some up on my way here.”
your heart swells affectionately
no one will ever love you as hard as he does
to be honest, the little things he does keep you grounded and you don’t really know where you’d be without him
he always pays attention to the things you love, always carries you from the couch to your bed, always tucks you in, always lingers a little just to make sure you’re sound asleep
you know about that last bit because on occasion you have stirred awake on accident
every single time he strokes your hair and holds you close ushering you back to sleep
again, you don’t know if it’s your fever making you emotional or the warm feeling of being loved so HARD?? it’s like whack a mole the only difference is being repeatedly hit by bursts of affection
not really a great analogy but your brain is fried right now and it’s the best you’ve got
levi sits next to you making the mattress shift and you then plop your head against his chest
“drink up.”
he hands you the cup of tea but you nuzzle your face into his neck instead forcing him to place it back down
“what are you doing?” he asks.
one of his hands draws circles onto your back soothing you and the other hand is fiddling around with the packaging of your cold meds, he looks to be reading the description just to make sure you can take them
the feeling of his t-shirt under your cheek fades away and you find yourself staring up at him
“get here.” he softly murmurs
rather than pressing a hand against your forehead he swoops down
at first his hands feel your face and neck
“you’re burning up.” he frowns and then he does it
he presses his forehead against yours and you swear you could stop breathing and pass out right then and there
“the fever’s getting worse, why didn’t you call me earlier i had to find out you were sick from-”
“i love you.”
he freezes.
“of course you love me but that’s not what we’re talking about right now.” he snorts and looks you right in the eye.
suddenly you’re kinda just a teeny-weeny bit self-conscious about your dark under eyes but you push that thought to the back of your mind
“no i mean. i really fucking love you levi.” the expletive only makes you sound more serious especially since you always scold him when he uses vulgar language
it looks as if his mouth moves to say it back but you stop him
“you don’t have to say it again. i’m saying it because you said it first.” you explain through your drowsy state
“when did i say it first?”
the fever must be really getting to you is what he’s thinking
“your actions spoke for you.”
he ever so slightly jabs you with his elbow before he carefully places your head back down onto his chest
“you’re so sappy.” he pecks your cheek and you hum silently still unable to breathe out of one of your nostrils
“i know but you’re sappier.”
levi doesn’t respond because he knows you’re correct
:-)
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gojospetd0g · 3 years
Text
The accidental meet-up
Megumi Fushiguro x reader
Just some wholesome fluff about running into your childhood friend you never talked to since junior high.
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“Can you please go to the store for me, y/n?” Asked mom from her office room.
“Sure.” I walked there and popped my head in “What do we need?”
“There’s the list honey, thank you so much.” She handed me the note and smiled at me with a usual tired face.
“You have enough to do mom, and i wanted to get some fresh air anyway.”
“Be careful on your way. Should i call someone to go with you?”
“It’s fine the store is not that far y’know!”
“Just making sure. Then, take care sweetie, hurry before it gets late. There’s some extra money on the fridge, buy something for yourself.”
“Thanks, i’ll be back soon!”
I went back to my room and got ready. Mom was a jujutsu sorcerer back in the day but after an incident in which she experienced a huge loss, she retired. She was a teacher in Tokyo Jujutsu High but now she’s an undercover in there. Looking for curses and informing the school, the heads of the sorceres and things like that. However, she’s considering going back because a certain boy ate a finger of Sukuna’s. She tells me stuff you know, she spills everytime i massage her shoulders or make her coffee to have a break.
In my case, i can’t see curses nor do i hold the power sorcerers have. But it’s fine, mom said it’s better this way. Her stories are fun tho, i wish i could have some connection with this whole thing, my life is really boring this way. Anyways, as i left the house i put my earplugs in, closing off the noises of the outside world. On my way i thought of getting some snacks for later tonight. I was planning on catchcing up with some shows.
After minutes of walking i was getting closer to the store. But i couldn’t believe my eyes, there was someone really familiar going to the same building. I took one earplug out and squinted my eyes. Is that.. If that’s not him i can just pretend i’m having a phone call or sum.
“Megumi?” He looked my way, a suprised expression on his face. He didn’t change one bit; hair messy, face expressionless as always.
“Y/N? What are you doing here?”
“I could ask the same! What happened to your face? The guy who always beat others got beaten up? How is that possible.”
He laughed a little, looking at the ground “Well.. stuff happened.”
“Sure did, oh-“ i looked at his clothes and asked “Are you a jujutsu sorcerer?”
“How do you know about this? Sorry I mean-”
“See you never believed me when i told about my mom beating evil curses!”
“Jesus y/n that was ages ago! How was i supposed to believe that?”
“Hmph, so disrespectful.”
“If your mom is a sorcerer why aren’t you-
“I can’t see shit, i have absolutly nothing to do with this whole thing. Sooo good luck i guess, be strong.”
“That’s...unfortunate.”
“All good.”
“Do you want to catch up? I.. missed you. I guess.”
“Aww, did you really?? I don’t even know why you stopped talking to me suddenly so yeah! I have some things to buy let’s go in ol’ friend!”
Even when we were little we were on good terms with Megumi. He stayed over at our place a lot but i was never at his, we were classmates throughout elementary and junior high school every year and there was nothing more than great friendship. He beat guys up who hurt me in any way, took me out sometimes and overall he was a really good friend. Best friend as you call it. But some days after junior high he stopped answering my calls, texting me back and everything. I was feeling really under the rock at the time, i doubted myself every day: ‘did i do something wrong?’ ‘what happened to him?’ ‘where did he go?’ ‘is he okay?’ Until one day i got a message from an unknown number saying ‘I’m sorry i’ll explain one day-Bedhair’ And i knew it was him. I was never really the type to keep grudges and i moved on since then, deep down waiting for that day. And the day came. Unexpectedly. Accidentally.
“So did you make any friends?” I asked opening the ice cream i just bought. He opened his can on Sprite, nodding.
“I guess you can call them friends. Shit, there are only three first years including me. And we live in a hostel. Kinda fancy tho. My upperclassmate is a literal panda, and the other one is communicating with sushi ingredients. Don’t get me started with our teacher, he took pics of me when i first got beaten up.”
“Bruh, damn. That’s deep.” I laughed and he smiled at that. “Sounds fun.”
“Did you make any friends?”
“Yeah, i have a few. Not as cool as your friends but they’re fun to hang out with too.” He nodded as he sipped on his soda.
“You don’t know how glad i am to see you.”
“Aw, things have been rough or sumthing?”
“Yeah. I don’t know if i’m allowed to tell you this tho.”
“Please, my mom always tells me everything. She even draws me how the curses look sometimes.”
He looked me dead in the eyes then smiled with a sigh. “So i was sent to this school to—“
And he told me. He told me how that ‘idiot’ ate Sukuna’s finger, how he met his other classmate, a full of potential but loud girl, how his said friend died in front of him and how he came back. How the fight went against the other school and other small things that happened in his daily life. He asked about me too. And i told him. I told him everything that i’ve been throught and he didn’t judge me for them being just average teenage things, he was interested in the new game i was playing, the new mangas i’ve been reading, how i started cooking ect. I’ve always loved the way he listened and the way he talked. I felt understood and at peace next to him.
“But i understand why you decided to distance yourself from me. I’m not mad don’t worry.”
“You do?”
“Yeah, mom told me how i could be in serious danger if i was in some kind of relation with anyone in this field. She’s kinda unknown now so i’m okay, but if she goes back to work seriously i might have to move.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“It’s okay, my rich aunt, swag unle and gay cousin live not that far from here. They’re even closer to my school! I’m prepared bestie.”
“Thank god. I don’t even have to explain then.”
“What is that supposed to mean!”
I pushed him hard but he didn’t even budge.
“Holy-!”
“Know who you’re messing with weakling.”
“If you keep this act up i’m going to leave.”
“Ok sorry.” He laughed and made our knees touch. Back in middle school we’d always connect our knees for no reason so it just felt quite nostalgic.
“I missed you too Megumi.”
“Happy to know that.” He smiled gently.
But as he was about to say something we heard agressive running and a “Fushiguro-kyun!”
A puder pink haired guy and a short brown haired girl clung into him asking “Who is this woman??”
“Have you forgotten the night you toasted to my eyes? Was it all a lie when you said your time with me was the most enjoyable of all? That night, that night!”
They must be the said friends, i just laughed at what they were saying. He really found good people to be around and i’m glad.
Another voice was heard “Could you not touch him so casually please?” A rather handsome man stood a few steps from us. Is he the teacher? “You homewreckers?! Megumi-chan has violin practice with me now.”
“Do you play the violin?” I asked him, not paying attention anymore. I wiped my eyes from the laughing while he just stayed unbothered and done with all of them.
“No i don’t.”
“Let’s go home, Megumi-chan.” Finished his speech the beautiful eyed man.
“Don’t mind them please. Are you done?” He said to all of them, pushing the girl away and punching the guy next to him.
I took my bags and bowed a little “Hi i’m y/n, i’m an old friend. Nice to meet you all.”
“Oh you’re y/n! I’m Itadori Yuuji.” The pink haired guy smiled at me and i tilted my head, averting my eyes to Megumi. But he looked away immediatelly “Fushiguro told me about you.”
“Did he really?? Dang, Megumi.”
“First name phasis huh? I’m Gojou Satoru. Their teacher.” He showed a rather questionable face but it was funny, the girl and i laughed. I looked at her and she turned away with a blush.
“Nobara.. Kugisaki.”
“That’s a cute name it suits you!” Her blush deepened as she flipped her hair, sticking her tounge at Itadori with the lines of ‘they didn’t compliment you but they did me!’
“Gojou-san stop staring at me.” Said Megumi “We’ve known each other since we were little we just bumped into each other.”
Then my phone rang. “It’s mom, i should go. I’ve been out longer than expected.”
“I’ll walk you home.” Suggested Megumi but i declined.
“It’s okay, i’ll be fine. It was a pleasure to meet you all. Take care of Megumi for me, be safe guys!” I said walking away.
“Tell your mom i said hi.” Said Gojou with a wink which made me shiver and gag, that sounded so wrong. “N-not in that way i just know her!”
With a laugh i answered the phone call. I was a bit far from them already as they went the opposite way as well, then i sighed.
“Thank god i was worried. Everything’s fine honey?”
“Yeah.” My voice came out weaker than expected. I really missed Megumi. And now i do again. “I missed him so much mom.” A tear slid down my face, but my smile never faded.
“I know honey. I know. Hurry home, i’m making cookies. We can talk about it when you arrive.”
“Thanks. I’ll be there soon.” With a sob i put the earplugs in, treasuring todays happening. Who knows when we’ll be able to see each other again.
I woke up and chose wholesome but make it sad at the end :D
Hope you guys enjoyed, have a nice day/night! <3
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theyarebothgunshot · 3 years
Note
this is exactly how it went down in my head.
misha: hey, everything okay? do you need me to do something?
jensen: no, lay low. we’re figuring it out.
misha: got it.
— the next day —
misha: things settled. should i say anything? draw attention? stay neutral?
jensen: you don’t have to, but if you want, tread lightly. we’ve had enough chaos.
misha: say no more.
when nobody got your back you KNOW dmitri got your back.
ANYWAYS i turned my back for TWO MINUTES and y'all went the fuck off in my inbox so, you know the drill: more under the cut
NO BUT JENSEN’S RESPONSE LMAAAAAO honestly fallout theory is so on oh my God I can’t stop-
on god they are so loud like-
Worst damage control i've ever seen. god bles.
so true bestie
I think Jensen probably just wants to be done with this petty little drama, so if he has to pretend everything between them is okay he is going to be the bigger man and lay it to rest. Whatever is going on between them he definitely doesn't want to sort that out on social media and the earlier he pretends everything is sorted out the earlier people will forget about it again.
Also it's kinda funny how J*red Tweet was like implying they had a misunderstanding but still talk to each other regularly, while Jensen went full on the we grow apart a little bit, because we were busy, let's catch back up. Makes me wonder if they actually talked or if there managers just said hey that's not good pr, let's put that to rest. Also did J*red know before yesterday that they had a falling out or did he just not realize.
- 🐌 anon
literally jensen went out of his way to say 'uhhh we never talk, worstie' god if pr management is involved then they did a bad job. also j*red still does not realise they have fallen out. jshfjdsfh
Jackles was like God bless but we ain’t talking like this worstie
good for her.gif
csdsc heeft gevraagd:
All I need now is for Misha to tweet “ is it safe to come out now?” And I’ll be complete lmfao 😂😂😂
that would have been better than what we got lmfao
I have one fear and it's Jensen being forced to add j*red to his show and his other projects because he couldn't stop whining like a baby,,, ugh i hate him
i pretend i do not see
Kinda selfish of me tbh but i don't want them to be "friends" again, Jensen sweetie run as fast as you can
co-signed
Ok Jensen's answer to Jared tweet made me feel so bad for him. Like, I can see it's damage control and public relations (obviously) but there's stuff behind it. I can't name it, but idk, I felt terrible for texas man this time, I don't think that reply was written with a "love and light energy" or even without much care. I felt some heavy vibes.
- 🌻, who is now a fortune teller and a prophet apparently
yeah i feel hella bad for him to, for having to deal with this shit. nonnie please if you ever have anything to predict, lemme know sjdfhs
You know Jensen's tweet has the energy of like kindergarten wenn an other kid started a fight with you and the kindergarten teacher wants you to forgive each other and hung it out and you really don't want to, but your kindergarten teacher is being annoying and he isn't worth the annoyance either.
- 🐌 anon
you are not wrong
Incredibly thankful that I have the day off from work 😂 I'm with hatching chick anon, the 3 dots read as passive aggressive/insincere to me, and I love it! I haven't spent this many hours on tumblr since I first discovered cockles! (On a side note, the lack of fimmf posts today has me feeling like it's not friday lol) -🐢
i, too, miss fimmf but alas things happen, they do they do they do
I was right. :(
It got almost romantic...
👀
nonnie you know i love you but this is really not the case, like, at all??? idk how you could look at those tweets and think it was almost romantic. it was THEE most scripted, pr bullshit ever. it was staged and fake. idk what else to tell ya
Danneel liked Jensen's tweet
i saw
That is so so awkward I feel so sorry for all of us being exposed to this and so happy I chose to leave the Internet for half a day - tea anon
god bless your stance on that cause i would have hated missing out on this lmao
You know what? I think it’s okay being a 38 year old moron if you’re bringing us this type of content
im happy with the food but still think its not okay tbh
pspspsps Misha this is the perfect day for you to drop the gay Cas essay pspspspsp it is still pride month pspspsps
you know you want to king pspsps
So that JIB6 link (I think it was from your post, right?). I went and watched that bit, and a little more.
Jensen makes a comment about Jared being first on the call sheet because Sam was supposed to be the main focal character.
And that him nor Misha cared about what number they were, so in all that time it never changed.
And I’ll be… if that just doesn’t perfectly sum them up and their feelings on things. And how a certain someone can be petty… 🦚
idk if it was from my post? but maybe? my analysis probably? but yeah things are making more and more sense huh
Ohh that's also an alien? Welcome to the extraterrestial family then, purple alien anon!
Also it's probably because I'm coming off the high this drama gave me but I'm not looking forward to them trying so hard to convince us everything is normal between them. Even though we now Know, they will have to keep pretending. Today (yesterday?) was a shitshow but some masks fell off, at least for a moment and I kinda wish Jensen was less professional 😂
👽
oh for real, fallout theory IS confirmed and nothing they said today will change my mind, it only made me believe in it even more lmfao and with that in mind i am just gonna sip my tea if they try to be buddy buddy on main again
I THINK MISHA UNRETWEETED BUT HE TWEETED "LOVE AND MISS YOU BOTH" I'M LOSING MY DIGNITY HERE - tea anon
yeah he now answered them sjdfhsjfhsf instead of rt
MISHA COLLINS IS A KING I STAN THE RIGHT MAN
YOU SURE DO
I just know Misha’s process was oh crap I have to let people know I’m supporting them and I can’t choose sides. Ok. Retweet. NO. Delete. I love both of you. Yes, good.
sjdfsdfh this makes me think of that post that dissected jackles' birthday post for misha where he used the heart. 'call him bro, that makes it less obvious. nailed it.'
Lol I'm off for a few days and come back to total chaos... God I missed it here
Like the "et tu... #bravo" tweet? Made my day! Frikking hilarious (every time I see it I picture J*red with a pissy frech accent saying it out loud lol) it's just such an incredibly petty hissy fit he threw (I know he tweeted more later on but... Really all that stuff coming afterwards just sounds like damage control)
Missed you Rose
-��
LOVE the french accent detail im gonna do this too sdjfhsjfh missed you toooo!!!!
Oh man Misha is really gonna get hate for that I KNOW IT
sigh well. nothing he isnt used to by now, unfortunately
i mean i believe they feel like brothers, but constantly falling back on the “brother” thing to keep up appearances is really starting to feel like “#spnfamily” at this point.
honestly brothers can be very annoying, or so i have heard, so it fits with the fallout theory lmao
They actually said if we’re gonna make this gay we cannot have Jar*d Pad*lecki involved
oh my God this is the funniest timeline to ever exist God bless I’m just waiting to canon bi Mary
king shit tbh
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averykedavra · 3 years
Text
Ever Slightly Out of Reach
So it’s been a hot second since I wrote anything, thanks to finals, and I wanted a quick warmup to get myself back in the groove. And that quick warmup may have turned out not-so-quick. That’s partly thanks to the great base prompt by @fanartfunart​, which I fell in love with. I hope I stayed true to the spirit of the AU, and I hope you all enjoy this rambling plotless ghost fluff.
(Title from Still Here by Digital Daggers. This fic is on Ao3 here!)
Pairings: platonic Creativitwins
Words: 8068
Warnings: death mentions, injury mentions, possession (but a very consensual and low-key kind), arguing, some gross-out humor, and thunderstorms
It was a dark and stormy afternoon, and Remus was preparing to be possessed.
“I still think this is a bad idea,” Roman said, floating in his favorite position above the foot of Remus’ bed. One of his legs dangled towards the floor. The other was nowhere to be found. “We should really do something else.”
“Don’t be a quitter,” Remus said. He combed his hair with his fingers. “It’s fun!”
“It’s not.”
“You like it,” Remus complained. “Last time, you squealed about getting to eat an apple.”
“Yeah, but--” Roman winced. “You feel all greasy. It’s like I’m stuck in a--really dirty oven mitt.”
“Hey!”
“You probably haven’t showered for days.” Roman flopped upside down and his mist tinted red. “Did you even wash your hands after lunch?”
Remus looked down at his hands. His nails still had dirt stuck under them in little crescent moons. Yesterday, he’d dug up weeds from the garden and brought them to show Roman. The mess was always part of the fun.
“I didn’t wash my hands,” Remus admitted, “but it’s no biggie--”
“Ew!” Roman interrupted, folding his arms until they blended together. “And I knew it! You never wash your hands! You don’t even do it after you pick your nose!”
Remus grinned and shoved his finger into his nose, just for fun.
“Ew!” Roman yelled louder. “Grow up!”
“I’m already nine,” Remus said triumphantly, poking the finger a bit further to see if he could feel his brains. “Nine and one whole quarter.”
Roman rolled his eyes. “I’m way older than you. Shut it, doodoo head.”
“You shut it!” Remus yanked his finger out of his nose and wiped it on his sash. Roman cringed. “You’re gonna go inside this doodoo head and you’re gonna like it.”
Roman huffed. But Remus knew he wasn’t really mad, ‘cause when Roman got real mad, the furniture wasn’t on the ground anymore.
“Come on,” Remus pleaded, flopping onto the carpet. He gave Roman his best give-me-candy-I’m-a-good-boy look. “You know you wanna. We’ll only do it for like six seconds and it’ll be hilarious.”
“It’s not funny,” Roman said.
“Prove it.” Remus popped back upright and kicked his bare feet in the air. “Possess me.”
“No.”
“Come on! You’re worse than Mom!” Remus rolled his eyes until the whites showed. “I’m gonna go back to school tomorrow and I wanna do this now! Before I’ve got homework and stuff. And if you practice, you’ll get really good, and we could go all sorts of places together!”
Roman shivered. “I don’t want to go anywhere in your gross head.”
“I’m awesome for possessing,” Remus said. He tried to imitate the commercials on TV and in-between videos about car explosions. “I’m cool, I’m smart, I have cool hair, I’ve had a whole entire boyfriend--”
“That was in kindergarten,” Roman said. “It doesn’t count.”
“It does too!”
“Does not!”
“And I’m awesome,” Remus said, forcing himself away from an argument. “And I have ten whole fingers and ten whole toes. You have, like, five. Tops.”
Roman counted his currently-visible fingers. “Seven.”
“See?” Remus pointed at him. “And--and! And I have a cool outfit. So I’m the best for possessing.”
Roman gave Remus a look. An I-don’t-want-to-be-mean look. Remus knew that look from teachers who didn’t like his drawings. And classmates who thought he was freaky. And his parents when they tried to tell him again that Roman wasn’t real, Remus was just making up an imaginary friend, and shouldn’t he try to go play with some kids his own age?
Remus knew, though. He knew he wasn’t making Roman up. Two years of being besties wasn’t made-up, and just because nobody else could see Roman didn’t mean Roman wasn’t there. Sometimes things stayed in houses without people noticing. Like stains. Or the slug Remus kept in a shoebox. If his parents didn’t know about the slug, it made sense that they might not know about Roman, either.
Typical grownups. Thought they knew everything.
Roman was nice, because he actually did know stuff. Not stuff like how TVs worked--Remus had tried to explain it, Roman just didn’t get it--but other stuff. Stuff he wouldn’t tell Remus sometimes.
“How’d you die?” Remus asked, instead of trying to remember what he’d just been talking about. He hadn’t asked yet today. Maybe this time it’d work.
“Quicksand,” Roman said.
Could be true. “How?”
“I fell into it.” Roman was definitely telling a story now. He got all dramatic whenever he made something up. “It was a sad, sad day.”
“Why’d you fall into quicksand?” Remus asked, sitting on the carpet and pulling at the threads. “Seems kinda stupid if you ask me.”
“Hey!” Roman said. “I didn’t fall, I was pushed.”
“You said you fell!”
“I said wrong!” Roman huffed, and red flickered around his eyes. “I got pushed because my uncle wanted the kingdom for himself. Quicksand is really cold, actually. All my bones got filled with sand one by one, and it tasted super gross.”
“Did your eye sockets get filled up too?” Remus asked.
Roman nodded. “And my ear sockets. And then I died.”
Remus decided that was a good enough story, and accepted it at face value. “That does sound real gross.”
“It was.” Roman snickered. “Almost as gross as being in your head.”
“Hey!” Remus jumped up. “Look, if you don’t like my head, you can go sit in the living room and talk to all the grownups. But we’ve done this before! You possessed me on accident--”
“I said I was sorry,” Roman mumbled.
“--and then you did it on purpose a couple times, and it was really cool, it was like--” Remus waved his hands and smashed them together. “Bam! You and me all in one brain! And I wanna do it again, so we can figure out how it works, and we can do it for longer!”
Roman raised an eyebrow until it disappeared. “Why?”
“So you can--” Remus gestured at him. “We could do stuff together!”
“We already do stuff together.”
“No, like--” Remus glanced out the window. He could just see the road in the distance. The bus stop was right across the street. He’d have to stand there tomorrow, even if it was still raining. “I know you never leave the house, but if you were me, we could--”
Roman’s eyes hardened. “No.”
Remus faltered. “I just thought--”
Roman immediately looked guilty. He shifted back and forth in midair, and for a few seconds, he almost disappeared altogether. Then he stabilized. Bright white, small, and still just Remus’ height--Roman never explained why they’d been growing together, and maybe he didn’t know. Or maybe it was just another thing Roman wouldn’t tell him.
For a best friend, Roman kept a lot of secrets.
But still. Maybe that was just how friends were. Remus didn’t really have a lot of experience.
“It’s okay,” Roman said to where his feet would probably be. “I just--fine. I’ll possess you, alright? If you really wanna. I’ll wear your weird outfit and everything. But you owe me a favor.”
Remus squealed and twirled around. He didn’t even care that Roman insulted his outfit. He didn’t care about the favor, either--Remus owed Roman like twenty favors by now, it was fine. Remus had time to pay him back later. Roman wasn’t exactly going anywhere.
“This is gonna be great!” Remus blurted out, gesturing for Roman to join him on the carpet. “Okay, you can do it whenever, and you can pop out whenever! But go ahead and try to do stuff while you’re me! So we can see how it works.”
Roman nodded a bit, floating just above the carpet. “So...now?”
“Now,” Remus said. “Unless you’re too chicken--I’m not a chicken!”
Roman’s voice, Remus’ mouth. Roman was gone from the carpet. Remus stood alone in his room.
Remus grinned. “Awesome.”
His grin twisted into an annoyed smirk, followed by an “If you say so.”
It really was awesome. Being possessed was like when you sat in one place for too long and your legs fell asleep. It tingled all over his skin. It made him kinda slow to move and slow to think, and it felt a bit like he was floating, just like Roman could. His head was dizzy and the room was deeper than it used to be, like Remus could see it from every angle, and the rain drummed louder and louder.
“This is so cool,” Remus whispered. It took a second for the words to work, even though Roman quickly let him talk. “You wanna try and move?”
“You can move,” Roman said back, seeming to retreat from Remus’ legs. Remus kicked his foot at the carpet. “I’m not good at walking anymore.”
“Practice makes perfect!” Remus concentrated and tried to shove Roman into the legs again. Go in there, go in there, come on--
“Don’t think so loud.” Roman huffed and rolled Remus’ eyes. “Fine. I’ll try to walk. Don’t grab control until I’m done, though, ‘cause you’ll make us both fall over.”
Remus mimed zipping his lips. The next second, he was pulled closer into himself and away from his skin. He felt his legs move. Roman walked with an awkward wobble--probably because he didn’t have legs most of the time--and a kind of glide. Remus tried very hard not to interrupt Roman. He sucked in his breath and watched patiently.
Roman had managed to walk them halfway across the room. He was picking up speed now, seeming to remember how it worked when gravity existed, and Remus felt his mouth twist in a smile. They walked past the window, Roman skimming fingers across the pane and leaving water on Remus’ hands. Around and around. Roman knew this place, Remus started to feel--he knew where the door was and how many steps it took to get there. He knew how to dash around corners, he knew where to kick the doors, he knew the creakiest floorboards. He’d just forgotten.
“You wanna go downstairs?” Remus asked, trying his hardest to keep his control from spreading to his legs. “We could get a snack.”
“Good idea!” Roman sounded excited. He always sounded excited. Why did he complain about possession stuff anyway? He clearly liked to be in Remus’ head, and he liked to be able to walk around, and he was good at it. Remus didn’t even have to worry, ‘cause Roman knew where to go--
And they both crashed into the wall.
Remus fell onto the floor. His knee banged something on the way down, and it started to hurt, especially when he grabbed it to see what was wrong.
“Ow!” Remus complained. The words hit no barrier. “Ow, fudge-popsicle-muffin-nugget, what the frick?”
“Sorry!” Roman was crumpled next to him, adjusting his sash. The stupid muffin probably left as soon as things started to hurt. “I didn’t mean to!”
“Why’d you lead us into the wall?” Remus inspected his knee. It wasn’t quite scream-for-Mom worthy--no blood--but maybe he’d put a bandaid on it, just in case. “That hurt, stupid.”
“There wasn’t a wall there!” Roman complained.
Remus pointed at the very obvious wall.
“I mean there didn’t use to be one.” Roman drifted upright. He did look sorry about it, which made Remus less annoyed. “That’s where the door used to be. I got mixed up.”
“It’s been at least two years.” Remus pulled himself to his feet. His knee still stung, but not that bad. “Get used to the new door, weirdo.”
“I never have to use it!” Roman floated halfway through the wall as an example. The wallpaper curled slightly, like he’d lit a fire next to it. “Not my fault that you guys put all the things in different places. I never know how to get anywhere anymore!”
Remus blew a raspberry at him. “Maybe look around you, weener. It’s your house, you gotta know it.”
Roman glared at the wall. “Doesn’t feel like my house.”
After a second, Remus clapped his hands. “Can’t have you walk around in my body if you’re gonna ride it off a cliff, so--guess we’re done?”
“We’re done,” Roman said, looking relieved. “I’m spared your terrible fashion sense.”
“Hey!” Remus grabbed his sash protectively. “I made this outfit myself and I love it and you can shut your hole.”
“Okay, okay.” Roman drifted over to the bed and stretched his arms. “What do we do now?”
Remus hummed, looking between Roman and the door. It was still raining. It was the last day of summer vacation--not the last last day, but tomorrow Remus was gonna get a new backpack, and that was fun but it didn’t have Roman. Roman never came shopping with him. So Remus got one day before Roman would be stuck in the house all alone.
He could try to get Roman to come along, but he didn’t wanna waste the afternoon.
Remus looked back at the door. Had it really been in a different place? Remus knew that all the furniture was different now, especially in the living room, but he didn’t know about the doors. He didn’t know much about the house at all. It was too big--good for hide and seek, bad for understanding. Sometimes Remus wished he had a house GPS.
Actually--
“I’ve got an idea,” Remus said. “Do you wanna make a map?”
“A map?” Roman asked. He already looked interested. “Like a treasure map?”
“No, a map of the house! From bottom to top!”
Roman tilted his head. “Why?”
“So we don’t get lost!” Remus hopped in place. “You can know the way around, and so can I! It’ll be fun, come on, come on come on come on--”
“That does sound like an adventure,” Roman said slowly.
“Yeah!” Remus nodded his head as fast as he could. “We can make a whole big map and we can both draw on it! It can be like a treasure map, except it’s just the whole house all the way through!”
Roman smiled. “We’ll need a lot of paper, right?”
“Woo!” Remus cheered. He always felt great when Roman liked his ideas. “Let’s go-go-go!”
“Paper,” Roman said as Remus threw open the door. “And pencils.”
“I bet Mom has some!” Remus waved his hands. “Come on, Ro, don’t waste time!”
“I’ve got all the time,” Roman teased, but he followed Remus into the hallway.
Remus was really good at getting places fast. Why wait and walk somewhere, if you could get to the cool place in half the time? He kicked off the edge of the carpet, slid and sped down the hallway, jumped past the other bedrooms, and barely paused at the staircase. Up onto the banister, a little push, and then down!
The rooms spun past him in a spiral, his feet flying, and he giggled wildly as he slipped towards the first floor. Whenever he tilted too hard in one direction, the wind pushed him back into place. Remus could go as fast as he liked, because Roman was there to keep him on course. He could never fall without Roman catching him.
When the banister tapered off in a swirl, Remus catapulted himself off the edge, rolling onto the carpet and springing back up. Roman grinned at him when he solidified enough to have a mouth. Remus didn’t wait for the rest of his face. He barreled across the tiles, skidded around the corner, and burst into the kitchen.
“Mom! Mom-Mom-Mom!” Remus darted over and tugged at her arm. “Mom!”
“What is it?” she asked. She’d been leaning on the counter, checking her phone. “What do you need, Remus?”
“Do you have paper?” Remus spread his hands wide. “Like, super big paper?”
“There should be some in the attic.” She frowned. “What are you up to?”
“Nothin’.” Remus glanced over to Roman, who was curiously poking at the window boxes. “We’re just gonna draw something, is all.”
“We--” Her mouth worked for a few seconds, like she had a lollipop stuck to her tongue. “Oh. Are you sure you don’t want to do something else for your last day of vacation? Go for a walk? It can’t be good for that brain of yours to be cooped up inside.”
Remus knocked on his skull. “It seems fine to me. And it’s raining out!”
“I think it’ll stop for a bit later,” Mom said unconvincingly. “I--I’m just not sure if you want to run around in the house all day. You spend too much time inside it already.”
“I do not.” Remus pouted. “I like it here!”
“I’m glad you do.” She drummed her fingers on the counter before sighing. “Maybe you’ll make some friends at school.”
“Don’t need any friends,” Remus said. “I’ve got a friend.”
“Right. Right.” Mom rubbed her eyes. “Like I said, the paper is in the attic. You might want to ask your father for help with it. And don’t get into any trouble, okay?”
“I won’t!”
“I know how much that’s worth.” She slipped her phone into her pocket and grabbed a spatula. “Holler if you need me.”
“I will!” Remus gestured to Roman, who reluctantly floated away from the window. “Come on, Ro, we haven’t got all day!”
Accompanied by a long sigh that melted into the wind, Remus and Roman left the kitchen.
“You’ll have to go back in, if you want to make a map,” Roman pointed out.
“I know what the kitchen looks like.” Remus scoffed. “Stove, oven, fridge, things I’m not allowed to touch. Easy-peasy.”
He hopped up the stairs two at a time. Roman drifted along the banister and peeked at the rooms below. Whenever he flipped upside down, his hair pooled around his face like a cloud of smoke. Remus idly batted at him. Roman felt like nothing. Nothing and warm.
“She said the stuff’s in the attic,” Remus said, hopping off the stairs and barreling down the hallway to the other stairs. “And that’s got the fun trapdoor, right?”
“We broke the trapdoor,” Roman said. “It’s just a hole now.”
“Not my fault it can’t handle paintballs.” Remus scrambled up the other stairs. “But Mom said that’s got the paper, so you and I can go get it.”
“She also said you have to ask your dad.”
“She’s stupid.”
“I can just get the paper.” Roman flickered and appeared farther up the stairs. “I’ll be right back.”
“Don’t--” Remus didn’t even manage to finish the sentence before Roman was gone. A bit of mist curled from the landing. It drifted to the window, slipped through the glass, and disappeared into the rain. So Roman’s mist could go outside, but Roman couldn’t? What kind of rules were there? Why did Roman never get to go where Remus could?
Remus shivered. It got cold easily in the house. Something about drafts. He felt very small on the staircase, alone, scuffing the red carpet with his toes.
Roman would be back soon. He always got back soon. Roman used to go all sorts of places without Remus, until Remus got tired of trying to find him every time he woke up. Ghosts were better than people, but ghosts were harder to find when they got lost. Remus used to worry that Roman would get really lost. So lost that Remus wouldn’t be able to see him anymore, and he’d forget that Roman was real. And he wouldn’t have any friends, and he’d just be alone in the cold stupid house.
Remus didn’t worry that anymore. At least, he thought he didn’t. Now, with the gray light shining through the windows, he felt ants in his intestines.
“Wait up!” Remus called, and ran after Roman.
He caught up right beneath the attic. Roman was right--it was still a hole. A square hole above the bookcase, with foldable stairs squeezed next to the books.
“Ro!” Remus yelled.
A thump or two, and a misty face reappeared. In the dark, Roman glowed, like glow-in-the-dark shoes. “What?”
“Can I come up?” Remus asked.
“I’m almost done!” Roman disappeared. Another few thumps shook the ceiling. “Catch!”
A pad of paper fell through the hole. Remus tried to catch it, failed, and grabbed it before Roman could notice.
“That’s all I could find.” Pencils and pens rained from the hole, followed by a smaller notebook. “Does it work?”
Remus frowned at the paper. It was small, only about the size of a poster. “Can we fit the whole house on here?”
“We could go room by room.” Roman drifted down to Remus, aimed wrong, and stuck his arm through Remus’ shoulder. Remus laughed and swatted the air. Roman adjusted himself. “Make one map for each room.”
“I guess.” That wouldn’t help with finding rooms, but this was about Roman knowing where the doors were. Remus didn’t want Roman to get lost while Remus was gone. “That works.”
“Fantastic!” Roman looked around. “Which room first?”
“Top to bottom?” Remus pointed at the ceiling. “Let’s start with the attic.”
It took several tries for Roman to lift Remus through the hole. Remus almost hit his head on the side, making Roman drop him out of panic, making Remus almost hit his head on the floor. Roman caught him, of course, but it took another minute for Remus to get Roman to try again. Finally, Remus squeezed through the hole. Floating felt like going up an elevator. If the elevator was wobbly, invisible, and complained a lot.
The attic was a nest of boxes. Every piece of cardboard was labeled, some in writing that Remus didn’t recognize. Old photos. Old jewelry. Old spiderwebs. The stuff in front, Remus knew. Holiday stuff, and extra silverware, and Mom’s favorite Passover sweater. Beyond that, though, was a sea of boxes that hadn’t been touched in years. Remus had explored a few of them, and he’d seen all kinds of old stuff, the kind that was probably worth a lot online. Maybe Mom and Dad should sell it. Roman might get upset, though--Roman didn’t like it when stuff got lost.
Remus cleared a space in the center of the attic and unfolded a piece of paper. He handed Roman a pencil. Roman dropped it by accident. Remus gave Roman another pencil.
“Okay, so we’re gonna draw a square like this.” Remus drew a square as neatly as he could. “And then we add the windows and the doors, and then all the stuff inside the room, and we can label it so we know what’s what!”
Roman nodded. “Can I add sparkles?”
“There aren’t any sparkles in the room.”
“There should be.”
“Add sparkles or whatever.” Remus grinned. “I’m gonna add poop. And lots of spooky ghosts with big pointy teeth.”
“Except I’m saving you from them,” Roman corrected, “since I’m the knight! They’re no match for me.”
“No, they’re my friends too!” Remus waved his hands. “They’re my army! I’ve got a ghost army and they give me cookies and think I’m cool.”
Roman pouted. “I already do that!”
“You’re a dork.”
“Am not!”
Remus snickered and started drawing some of the boxes. Roman doodled around the edges, crossed out some of Remus’ lines, and wrote labels in shaky handwriting. Remus made the room too small on the page, so there was lots of room for extra drawings around the edges. Remus drew three frogs, five rats, and seven ghosts with pointy teeth and blood in their eyeballs. And an octopus, but it didn’t look right.
When they’d managed to fill the whole paper, Remus checked the map against the room. All the boxes were there, plus the one small window at the other end, between slopes of wood. It was still raining. Remus couldn’t move without the floor creaking, and he could barely stand up all the way.
“Where next?” Remus asked, rolling up the map.
“Downstairs,” Roman said, “one room at a time.”
The first bedroom. Most of the bedrooms on the top floors were empty, and the dust made Roman look smudged. This bedroom had a small raggedy doll in one corner and a faded pink bed. When Remus kicked the carpet, it came apart at the edge. The windows overlooked the backyard, which sloped past the gardens and shed before hitting the woods with a crunch. They labeled the map ‘Bedroom’ and Roman drew flowers in the margins. One of the pencils rolled under the pink bed and Remus almost bumped his head trying to get it back.
The first bathroom. It didn’t have a sink anymore, and the toilet was still clogged from the time Remus tried to flush lasagna down it. The whole place smelled like lasagna. Maybe Remus should tell Dad about it, but that’d mean getting in trouble, so he plugged his nose and drew a map. Since there wasn’t much floor, and the tiles looked like barf, Remus put the map against the mirror. The mirror had a long crack in it that made his lines go skewed. He labeled it ‘Lasagna Bathroom.’ Roman drew stink waves coming from the toilet.
Another bedroom. The bed used to have a canopy, but the fabric was gone, leaving a little roof of wood. Remus tried to climb it. He almost got to the top until Roman yanked him back down. Party pooper. Old coats were in the closets, and the drawers were lined with lace. When Remus tried to open the window, the rust yelled. Remus labeled it ‘Canopy Bedroom’ and Roman told him that he spelled canopy wrong. Remus chucked a pen through Roman’s forehead.
Office. Probably where someone did their homework. Remus sat in the chair and kicked at the legs, and Roman ruffled the papers until they flew all over the desk. There wasn’t any ink, or any quill pens, which would have been cool. Remus liked this room because of the clock in the corner. It was broken. Roman said the hands showed the time as two-thirty. Remus wondered what happened at two-thirty. The desk made the map easy to draw on. ‘Clock Room.’ Doodles of dragons in the margins, because Roman got distracted.
They skidded down the stairs and hopped into Remus’ own bedroom. Remus had fought tooth and nail for a bedroom on the third floor, ‘cause he didn’t want Mom and Dad hearing when he brought cool stuff into the room. That map was easy to make. Then was the nursery next door, where babies were probably made, and then the other bathroom. This one didn’t smell like lasagna, which made it better, but the bathtub was yellow, which made it worse. The final room was stripped of furniture. It made for a quick map.
The maps were piling up now. Remus kept them in one tube of paper under his arm. Roman had managed to lose half their pencils. When they scrambled into Mom and Dad’s room, Remus began to poke at the closet before realizing Dad was already there. He dragged Roman back out and proceeded to make up the rest of the map. Roman said it would ruin the accuracy. Remus said that they didn’t need to go in that room anyway, and that if they wanted to finish the maps before dinner, they’d have to hurry.
“How much different is it?” Remus asked in the second bedroom, trying on an old bathrobe. It made him feel like a duke. Maybe he would cut it up and put it in his outfit later. “What’s new about the house?”
“The furniture you brought,” Roman said, drifting above the wardrobe with a pencil in hand. “And bits of the third floor have been changed, because of water damage, I think? They added electricity, and all the bathrooms used to be closets.”
“What? Really?” Remus didn’t know that. “Where were the bathrooms, then?”
“Outside!” Roman laughed at Remus’ face. “In the outhouses, obviously.”
“You pooped in the forest?”
“Not on the forest floor.”
“You pooped in forest toilets?”
“No!” Roman laughed harder. “We didn’t have toilets! We’d poop in a hole!”
“Ew!” Remus said gleefully. “Ugh, I wish I was alive back then, I wanna poop in a hole.”
“You really don’t,” Roman said.
Remus still drew poop-holes on the edge of the map. Roman stuck out his tongue and called him “Revolting.”
“Is it weird?” Remus asked as they mapped out the living room. Big green couch, several lamps, Dad’s recliner, pile of junk on the table. “To have no poop-holes? Or no doors?”
“I don’t always notice,” Roman said. “I can just walk through walls where the doors used to be, and I don’t need to poop. But--yeah, it’s strange.” He tugged at the hem of his shirt. Clouds came away in his fingers. “I suppose everything’s changed a lot since I--got eaten by an alligator.”
“Alligator?” Remus asked.
“It’s a painful tale.” Roman dramatically screwed up his face. “I can hardly bear to recall.”
“Oki-dokey artichoke-y,” Remus said. “And yeah, things have probably changed all over the place. I’m gonna go to fourth grade, but it’ll be nothing like your fourth grade. We’ll learn different things.”
“I suppose so.” Roman doodled small circles in the margins of the map, circles and circles, like a million tornadoes stuck together. “You’ll have to tell me what it’s like.”
“Or you could come and see?”
The circles grew closer together. Tornadoes circling the map. Remus wondered what a tornado would feel like. Didn’t they just pick stuff up and drop it again? Would it be like getting picked up by Roman--tingling and stomach-dropping, everything in limbo?
“It’s really not so bad,” Remus said, falling into his old job of convincing Roman to do stuff. Usually, it was easy. Roman liked having things to do, even illegal ones. “Sometimes the teachers give us candy for the right answer. If you poke an eraser with a pencil, it gets little gray holes.”
Roman looked about to make little gray holes in the paper. Remus tugged the map away from him before he could ruin it.
“I’m just saying,” Remus said. “You could possess me or whatever, or you could just float around and hang out. It’d be fun!”
“I can’t leave the house,” Roman said firmly.
“Who says you can’t?”
“Me.”
“Then say you can!”
“I’m not going to.” Roman tossed the pencil at the map. “You should erase the couch. It’s on the wrong side.”
Remus scribbled out the couch and put it in the right place, but now all the other bits of furniture were wrong. “Friends go to school with each other.”
“Human friends do.” Roman was flashing red all over now, and Remus didn’t know whether he was upset or angry or just in the mood for red. “Thought you liked ghost ones better.”
Remus was pretty sure that meant ‘I thought you liked me better.’
And he did. He liked Roman way better. But--there were perks about human friends. Parents didn’t make fun of them behind their backs. They were easier to shove when they were being jerks. And they didn’t go missing so easily. It was harder to lose a person, because they were all flesh and blood and heartbeat. Ghosts were easier to lose. They were just sky with eyes and a nose. Just air.
Playing hide-and-seek was fun, but only when it was a game they agreed on. Only when everyone knew the rules. Only when Remus could give up and Roman would float out of a closet with a pie-eating grin. Hide-and-seek wasn’t fun if someone just kept hiding. It wasn’t fun if someone had to get left behind.
Ghosts were better than people. So far, ghosts had been nicer, and cooler, and better at drawing. So far, ghosts had stuck around.
But ghosts couldn’t go to school. Ghosts couldn’t go shopping. Ghosts couldn’t eat potato chips or a latke or a really good cookie. Ghosts disappeared and Remus had to go find them. Ghosts needed maps or they’d get lost in their own house.
Remus liked Roman. That made things hard sometimes.
Circles and circles, a tornado all around the living room. They were almost done with the maps, unless they wanted to map out the yard as well, and it was raining too hard for that. Plus, Roman never left the house.
Remus stared at the maps. Maybe Roman was worried he’d get lost.
Maybe a map would help with that.
“We’ve just got a few rooms left,” Remus said. “And then we’ve got the shed, and then we’re done!”
“Great!” Roman looked happy at the change of topic. “Do we really need the shed, though? It’s not inside the house.”
“It’s still a building.” Remus gathered up the map and led the way to the dining room. “We can go outside and sketch the shed, just to get all the maps we need.”
Roman looked outside. “The weather’s bad. You’ll need your rain boots.”
“What’s the fun if you can’t splash in the puddles?” Remus set a new page of the map on the dining room table. Roman began to draw food around the edges. “And once we’ve gone to the shed and back, we could make this into a huge book, if we wanted. Color the pages and everything.”
Roman hummed, occupied with shading the edge of a blueberry. Remus checked the window. The rain actually seemed to be stopping. Definitely a good sign!
The dining room drawing was quick. After the entrance hall, the closet, the back room, and the kitchen--which they drew from memory, to avoid Mom--the maps were almost complete. A dozen pages of color and line, a true masterpiece, with several bad words written very small under the doodles. Remus tried to high-five Roman. For obvious reasons, the high-five did not work.
“Just the shed now!” Remus tucked the roll of maps under his arm and bounced to the back door. “Okay--raincoat, boots, umbrella? No room--”
“It isn’t raining so much,” Roman said. “Still, be careful, there could be lightning.”
“Nah, we’ll be okay, just in and out!” Remus tugged on his rain boots. They had little ducks on them. “And ghosts can’t get hit by lightning anyway.”
“You can.”
“I’m not a coward.” Remus pulled his raincoat over his shoulders. It felt like wax. When the back door opened, rain dripped from the doorway and dampened the mat. “Oh, those are some wicked puddles! Maybe I can go puddle-stomping later.”
“Don’t get the maps wet.” Roman motioned to the doorway. “Go ahead.”
Remus stepped through the doorway. A small path led past the boring plant garden, through the less-boring flower garden, and down the slopes of grass. The shed was nestled by the edge of the woods. It had a tin roof, and Remus could already hear the ping-ping of raindrops on it.
“Come on,” Remus said, wiping droplets from his hair. The rain was manageable enough. The grass squelched under his boots. “Ro?”
Roman looked confused. “I’m not coming.”
“You’re not?” Remus’ face fell. “Why not?”
“It’s outside of the house?” Roman sounded like he didn’t get it. “I don’t go outside the house.”
“It’s barely outside,” Remus said. “It’s, like, still in the yard.”
Roman moved away from the door.
“Come on.” Remus didn’t want to beg like a baby, but Roman needed to get out here, he needed to go outside. “I can’t do the map without you. You need to draw on it!”
“I can doodle when you get back!”
“No!” Remus yelled. “No, that’s not the right order!”
“Well, I’m not going!” Roman yelled back at him. “Leave me alone, Remus!”
Remus screwed up his face. “You’re being stupid! It’s just a stupid yard. I’ll be with you the whole fricking time. What’s the big deal?”
“I don’t leave the house!”
“Why can’t you?” Remus almost screamed. “If you want me to get it, actually tell me what you know! Stop being so vague and tell me stuff!”
Roman looked about to cry. Could ghosts cry? Did Remus want to find out? “I said, leave me alone!”
“Fine!” Remus turned on his heel. “Fine, I’ll do the rest of the stupid map on my own. I’ll go to school on my own and leave you here to sulk, just like you want. Have fun. See if I care.”
Roman might have said something. Remus decided not to hear it.
The yard was muddy. In a better mood, Remus would have smeared some mud over his face. Instead he just kicked at it. Kick, kick, kick, all the way past the stupid plants and the still-stupid flowers. All the way down the stupid grass to the stupid shed. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
It was cold outside. Remus felt cold in his rain coat, and wet, even though his skin was dry. The maps crinkled under his arm. The sky boiled with dark clouds. When he glanced back, Roman was still standing in the door, a flash of white and red against the coats and the darkness. Remus stuck his tongue out. Stupid ghost. He wished he couldn’t see Roman, like everyone else.
Remus didn’t waste time making the shed map look nice. No point, if Roman was never gonna use it. ‘Shed.’ No doodles. A wonky square with some sticks for the garden tools and some circles for the sacks of hay. It all looked stupid. It wasn’t a good map. Didn’t matter, though, ‘cause Roman never went anywhere.
The shed was cold and empty. It was dark, too, lit only by a lightbulb. The rain ping-ping-pinged at the roof. The wood shivered. Remus’ face felt very red and very hot. Count to ten, Mom always said when he got mad. One. Two. Three. Four. And he knew the rest.
Maybe he’d learn more numbers in fourth grade. Third grade had been up to a hundred or two hundred. Maybe they’d make it even further. There were infinite numbers, right? They’d never run out of numbers. They’d just run out of time.
Fourth grade was gonna be no fun if Roman wasn’t there.
Remus rolled up the map and stuck it under his arm. When he opened the shed door, the wind rustled the edges of the papers. His fingers felt cold and wet, like bits of popsicle. The house teetered on the hill. He could see all the windows, all the rooms they’d went to--the bedrooms, the bathroom with lasagna in the toilet, the stairs, the living room. Remus’ own bedroom. It all kind of made sense when he looked at it from the outside. It was like a tier cake. Room on top of room.
It looked like a haunted house, with the trees around it black and shadowy, waving in the wind. With birds flying across the wild grey sky. It was a haunted house. Roman was still there, a smudge of white, and Remus wondered why he got to see him. Why they stayed the same height and looked the same age. Why Roman had gotten stuck here in the first place, with no one to keep him company.
If Remus died, he’d want to see the world. He would never want to stay just where he’d started. What was the point of being a ghost if you didn’t do anything new?
Maybe he should ask Roman that. Maybe this time it’d work.
Remus climbed up the hill towards the house.
The wind picked up, blowing at his back. He adjusted the map and kept moving. It took all his strength to keep his boots from sticking in the mud, and all his self-control not to face-plant into the mud. The trees blew behind him, and when he looked back, he saw he’d left the shed light on. It glowed yellow next to the woods. It made him feel even colder.
Rain was starting to fall again. It was going to storm again. Of course it was. Remus was going to have a rainy, wet, no-good last day of summer. Stuck inside the house. It couldn’t be good for him.
It couldn’t be good for either of them.
But here they were.
“Hi,” was all that Roman said when Remus reached the doorway.
“Got the map.” Remus’ nose was starting to run. “It’s cold out there.”
“Close the door.” Roman poked curiously at the papers, avoiding Remus’ eyes. “Can I see it?”
Remus handed Roman the stack of maps. Roman leafed through them, pausing at the shed one, then skimmed the rest. The rain began to pick up outside. Water dripped from Remus’ boots onto the floor.
“Where’s the bedroom?” Roman asked.
“What?”
“I can’t find the map of our bedroom.” Roman looked confused. “Did you leave it in the house somewhere?”
Remus felt cold again. “I--I don’t think so.”
Roman looked past him. Remus turned around to see rain beginning to fall on the grass, and a long trampled walk back to the shed.
“I dropped it,” Remus realized. “Oh no, I dropped it--it’s gonna get all wet!”
“It’s okay,” Roman said, sounding like he didn’t know whether it actually was. “You know the way around your bedroom.”
“You bumped into the wall,” Remus said. He scanned the grass for any sign of the map. Nothing was there. It could have fallen into mud, or gotten crumpled, or blown away in the wind. “We need that! And I just lost it! I gotta get it back, Ro--”
“We’ll make another one.” Roman looked sympathetic. “It’s okay--”
“We don’t have time to make another one!” Humiliatingly, Remus felt his eyes burn. “‘Cause we’re eating dinner soon, and then I gotta go tomorrow for shopping, and then I’ve got school! And you gotta have the map by then, so you don’t get lost when I’m gone!”
Roman flickered red. “What?”
“I gotta get it.” Remus shoved the rest of the maps towards Roman. They fell through him and hit the floor. “If you’d been there, I wouldn’t have dropped them.”
Roman looked hurt. “You might have anyway.”
“Yeah, I might have anyway, shut your hole. No one cares.” Remus made a frustrated noise. “Fine, it’s all my fault and I got the map ruined. Shut up. I gotta go get it.”
Before Roman could argue, Remus stepped into the rain. It was coming down faster now. The map would probably be halfway ruined already. If he could find it, though, he’d be able to dry it. And Roman would know where the door was.
But he’d lost the map. It was lost somewhere in the backyard, stuck somewhere between grey skies and grey grass and grey rain. Remus couldn’t see it. He squinted and he cupped his eyes and he blinked the water from his eyelashes, but he couldn’t see it. There wasn’t a single flash of white.
A rumble of thunder in the distance.
“Get back inside,” Roman called. “This is dangerous.”
“I can’t find it!” Remus yelled back. He sounded panicked. Was he panicking? “I can’t find it, Ro, I need to find it--I don’t wanna leave it here--”
Another rumble of thunder. Remus was cold. He didn’t even want to walk deeper into the yard. The woods were dark and the shed was flickering and he felt frozen in his boots. His skin tingled. His breath froze.
And then the world deepened.
Two sides to everything. Like he’d grown extra eyes. It always felt like this--like a video with more pixels, or cooler colors, or binoculars attached. He could never pinpoint what he could see. He just knew it was--more than usual.
The world was a riot of color and darkness, swirling like a tornado, and Remus laughed.
“Thanks,” he said as he took a step forward.
Or tried to. “Don’t,” he hissed back at himself in Roman’s voice. “I am not going to try walking again. We’re just looking right now. Look around.”
Remus looked.
Hide-and-seek. If he was a map, where would he hide?
Color. Darkness and scribbles and circles going around, but that was all in the margins, that didn’t matter. Thunder rumbled. He didn’t jump. The rain seemed to go right through him.
White.
A piece of white, like a flag, stuck in the boring plant garden.
Remus whooped. Or maybe it was Roman who did. Who knew?
“Can I walk now?” he asked, and Roman groaned in response. Remus’ boots loosened. He ran through the rain and grabbed the map with one hand, swiping at it with a wet hand, until he realized that did no good. The colors were running. He tucked it into his raincoat, and the raincoat smeared across his hand as well, the paper leaking white and red.
Too much. Way too much. Maybe there’d been a reason that Roman didn’t want to do this. Everything was double, switching and colliding, holes opening and spinning dizzily in the air.
“It’s okay,” Roman said with Remus’ mouth. “Close your eyes, I’ll find our way back.”
Remus squeezed his eyes shut.
And Roman guided them back to the door.
When the rain stopped, so did the dizziness. Remus almost fell against the wall. Roman collapsed against the opposite one, running his hands through his hair and pulling at his sleeves. The door slammed shut. Maybe that was Roman, or maybe it was the wind that began to howl at the house. A bad storm. They’d been lucky to avoid it.
“Is the map okay?” Remus opened his eyes and peeled the paper away from his raincoat. “Oh frick, it’s all smeared.”
“It looks fine to me.” Roman drifted over and traced the edges. “All my doodles are dry, and I can see where everything is.”
Remus blinked the water out of his eyes. “Yeah. Yeah, so can I.”
“Good job,” Roman said, and Remus looked over at him. “It’s a nice part of a nice map.”
“Thanks,” Remus said awkwardly. People didn’t give him compliments very much. Maybe that was a ghost thing. “You did good with the art.”
Roman beamed at him. Red and white, a warm blanket around his shoulders.
“And--uh--” Remus motioned to the door. “You went--”
“I don’t like thunderstorms,” Roman said simply. “And I wanted to help you find it.”
Remus found himself smiling. “So you can go outside.”
“I can.”
“Why don’t you?”
Roman ruffled the edge of the map. It was already drying. “Because there aren’t good maps like this one, so I’m not sure if I could find my way back.”
“You made it back without a map today.” Remus kicked off his rain boots and shrugged off his coat. “Plus, if you went to school, I’d be there. I’d make sure you got back alright.”
Roman chewed his lip.
“It’d be okay,” Remus said. “You’d see me the whole time. And--you wouldn’t have to be alone in this house all year. You spend too much time in it already.”
Roman laughed a bit. “I don’t mind. You’re there.”
“I’m not gonna be.” Remus rubbed his arms, and the chill began to fade. “It’s the house or me, bro. And I’m pretty sure you like me better.”
Roman’s smile was smaller now, but still just as bright.
“I could make you a map,” Remus finally offered. “Of the way to school and back. Just in case?”
“I’d like that.” Roman paused. “I...it might be a while before I decide to go that far from the house. You might have to torment your teachers on your own.”
“Oh, I’m great at that.” Remus led Roman into the living room. He could already smell dinner. Mom waved, and he waved back, and Roman waved, too. Mom couldn’t see him, but Roman was polite like that. Maybe she’d even wave back at Roman one day, if they were lucky. “And--yeah, take your time. We’ve got a lot of it.”
“True.” Roman drifted along, a few feet above ground. He glowed like lightning, and red flickered in time with the thunder, impossible not to see. “I’ll find what works, okay?”
“Okay!” Remus spread the maps on the table. The lines glistened--a tornado of doodles and a house of scribbles. Maybe not much of a map. But it was fun to make, and helpful to find, and a good haunted map for a haunted house. “Are you gonna stick around to staple these together?”
“Of course,” Roman said, pencil already in hand. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“Good.” Remus smiled. “Neither am I.”
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lifeofkaze · 3 years
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A Very Hexley Birthday
A/N: Seeing all those beautiful edits on my dash for the birthday of my favourite twins in the Potterverse (I said what I said), I knew I couldn't possibly do any better. So instead, let's have a look what Ethel and Jim are up to on their birthday, shall we?
This is for you, Bestie! @the-al-chemist
Happy Birthday, Jim and Ethel! 💛❤️
Naturally, Ethel and Jim Hexley and Héloïse Perrault belong to my favourite person in this world @the-al-chemist. The attending guests belong to @slytherindisaster (Lysander Mercury), @kc-and-oc (Siobhan Llewellyn, Bradford Pendleton, Oliver and Eliot Gerard, Ivy Anders), @hogwartsmysteryho (Vinny Raymond), @that-scouse-wizard (Cledwyn Ironwood), @cursebreakerfarrier (Galen Stagg), and @unfortunate-arrow (Anthony Rosen).
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Even though the golden arrows of the September sun were showing themselves on the enchanted ceiling in the Great Hall of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Jeremiah Hexley was in a rather glum mood when he reached for the huge bowl of porridge at the Hufflepuff House table.
It was just out of his reach and his fingertips only grazed the rim; he simply would have needed to stand up to get it, but that would only draw attention to the tall, lankish boy, which was something he generally tried to avoid, but especially so today. So Jim sat straight again and reached for a slice of toast instead.
“I wish you the finest of mornings,” he heard a voice call out to him, “isn’t it a wonderful day outside? You should have seen the colours of the sunrise; no one can paint anything as beautiful as that.”
The voice belonged to Lysander Mercury, another Hufflepuff boy from his year, and undoubtedly Jim’s best friend. He had a spring in his step as he walked up to Jim, and his thumbs were hooked under the straps of his suspenders; he hadn’t bothered putting the black jumper of their school uniform over them yet.
He sat down opposite Jim with a graceful motion, grabbing the porridge bowl in the same instance and pushing it over to Jim. Giving Lysander a grateful look, Jim helped himself to a healthy portion and drizzled a teaspoon full of dark golden honey on top, just the way he liked it. But even the prospect of his favourite breakfast wasn’t enough to lighten Jim’s mood, and it wasn’t lost on Lysander.
“Why such a long face, old fellow?” he grinned, and his stress on the word ‘old’ wasn’t lost on Jim, quite the contrary. “It’s not a day to be brooding!”
Jim opened his mouth to explain himself, but was interrupted by the sound of quick footsteps approaching from behind him; a moment later two pairs of arms were flung around his neck and Jim almost knocked over his bowl of porridge in his attempt to not be thrown off the bench.
“Happy Birthday, Jim!” two girls shouted into his ears in perfect unison, of course they did. The sound of their excitement cut through Jim’s eardrums and he winced as he pushed them away.
“Uhm, thank you,” he muttered, “Happy Birthday to you as well,” he said in the direction of the smaller of the two.
Ethel Hexley, his twin sister and complete opposite and in every aspect imaginable, grinned and clapped Jim on his back so hard he almost lurched forward. “Thanks, kiddo. One more year of making sure my little brother has at least some fun in his life.”
“Like a proper big sister should,” her best friend Selene Fraser added with a knowing nod. Not even the Sorting Hat had been able to separate these two, and sometimes Jim wondered who out of them three actually were the twin siblings.
“But, er, you know Effy’s only older by a few minutes... so she isn’t really my big sister, if you want to put it that way…”
Jim trailed off when he saw something whisk past him into the direction of the porridge bowl. Before he had the chance to dive straight into it though, Lysander had already gotten hold of the brown and white ferret Ethel and Selene shared custody of; Alan’s nose twitched as Lysander held him out to Ethel.
“Take your ferret back, Hexley,” he said, “I’d say you two are looking like the actual twins here, but seeing as it’s unfortunately your birthday as well, I’ll let it pass. Consider this my present.”
“Seeing as Alan definitely is the best looking guy I’ve spoken to today, I’ll take that as a compliment, Mercury,” Ethel immediately shot back, with that unmistakable glint in her eyes that Jim knew promised nothing but bother, very wordy bother.
Lysander had already leaned slightly forward as well, his eyes fixed on Jim’s twin sister, ready for their morning round of bickering and Jim sighed.
“Could you two, uhm… maybe, just maybe… perhaps stop it? Just for today?”
“Leave him, Effy, he’s not worth it. Not a match for you anyway,” Selene muttered to her best friend; Jim gave her a grateful look.
“True, Sels, I won’t have my birthday spoiled by a wanna-be artist in suspenders,” Ethel said indignantly, and Lysander opened his mouth in protest. Selene elbowed Ethel into the side, before setting Alan onto her shoulder and linking arms with her, quickly pulling her away before things would escalate. Again.
Selene turned around after a few steps and called over her shoulder. “Come to the Quidditch pitch after classes, Jim, will you? We have a little surprise for you!”
*
Throughout the whole day, Jim wasn’t sure what made him more uncomfortable: all the attention he got because it was his birthday, or the prospect of a surprise set up for him by Ethel and Selene. The sheer idea of everything these two could have been planning was enough to upset Jim’s stomach and he couldn’t even enjoy his favourite roast beef for lunch.
When their last class of the day was over, Jim reluctantly made his may over to the Quidditch pitch, as he had been told to. He had wanted to ask Lysander to come, but then again, bringing Ethel and Lysander into the same space was too much for him today; or any day, to be precise.
As soon as he stepped through the opening in the wooden perimeter of the pitch, he raised his eyebrows in surprise. Ethel and Selene had laid out several red and white chequered picnic blankets in the middle of the immaculate green lawn, just like the ones their parents had at home. He could see baskets full of sandwiches, little cakes, fruit and cheese on every single one of them, alongside countless jugs of pumpkin juice.
Naturally, Ethel and Selene were standing in the midst of the people already gathered there, laughing and joking and having a wonderful time, and Jim’s heart sank a little. He saw many familiar faces; he saw Siobhan Llewellyn and her best friend Galen Stagg, who were feeding slices of roast beef to a very content looking Alan; he saw Oliver Gerard who was laughing with Ethel about a lively story she was telling; he had brought his brother, Eliot, a Ravenclaw boy Jim didn’t really know, and who was looking very comfortable talking to Selene, who was standing next to Ivy Anders and Vinny Raymond were sharing some cake; he could even spy the eternally grumpy Cledwyn Ironwood, who never got tired of proclaiming he wasn’t Ethel’s friend but, just like Jim, had obviously stood no chance in declining the invitation.
All of these people were there, but all of them were Ethel’s friends, not his. Jim sighed; he knew Ethel and Selene had meant well, but they just didn’t understand him, they never really did.
“I ‘ope we aren’t late, non?”
Upon hearing the familiar French accent, Jim’s heart skipped a beat before beating doubly as fast as before. He turned around and his eyes went wide when he saw the group of people who had quietly come up behind him.
“Bon anniversaire, Jim!” Héloïse swept in and quickly kissed him on both cheeks in close succession, before pushing an immaculately wrapped gift into his hands, the edges of the paper sharp and the bow perfectly tied. Jim tried to thank her but his words came out as a horrible stutter and he felt the heat rise to his face; it felt particularly warm where Héloïse had kissed him.
Next up came his dear friend Bradford, who shared his enthusiasm for painting; he extended his hand to Jim to wish him a happy birthday as well, and the gift he was handing over to him felt suspiciously like the elaborate sketchbook Jim had seen on his last trip to Hogsmeade.
His roommate Anthony was there, too, as always accompanied by his wolfhound Conall. Jim bent down to pet the animal and scratch his ears. He had to smile when he saw how enthusiastic Conall was at the prospect of all the attention; at least one of them was, then.
Even Lysander had been invited, or had in any case decided to show up; you never knew with Ethel and him. But whether he had actually been asked to be here or not, Jim was glad to see him.
By Brady’s side, more quiet than the rest, stood Brady’s friend - or at least that’s what they claimed to be - Carolyn Nyberg. Jim was surprised to see her here; he and Carolyn didn’t really have anything in common but Brady, but then again, they were seldomly seen without each other these days. She inclined her head and quietly congratulated him.
The question as to why Carolyn had come, though, was quickly answered when Ethel spotted the new arrivals and bounded over to them. “It’s so good you came! I’m so happy all of you could make it to our birthday picnic. Most of you, that is,” she said with a pointed look in Lysander’s direction, but before he could shoot back, her attention had already shifted to Carolyn.
“Did you manage to make what we talked about?”
Jim could see Carolyn was trying hard not to roll her eyes. “Please, who do you take me for? That was a child’s play.”
Brady gave her a pointed look. “Be nice, Caro, it’s their birthday.”
She sighed, but her face softened and she reached into the hidden pocket in her dress, producing a small, stoppered vial with purple liquid inside. She weighed it in her hands, looking at the mugs of pumpkin juice on the picnic blankets. “I’d say six drops per mug should be sufficient.” She moved the vial out of Ethel’s reach when she extended her hand towards it. “Not one drop more, you hear me?”
“Loud and clear.”
Jim’s apprehension about Ethel putting a potion into their drinks soon vanished when he saw what it was that Carolyn had brewed on his sister’s request. After drinking from the modified juice, everyone of their guests had a distinct spring to their step that made them jump a little every time they moved. He remembered how much fun Ethel and Selene had had when they had turned the floor of the courtyard elastic with the Spongify charm; it had gotten them three weeks worth of detention and a passion for jumping as high as they possibly could.
Not being particularly keen on moving around like a bouncing ball, Jim had only taken the tiniest sip of pumpkin juice when Ethel had offered it to him; it was enough to give his step a tolerable spring, but not enough to make him bounce like the others, and that was just the way Jim preferred it to be.
Jim usually didn’t feel comfortable among so many people, but he had to give Ethel that, even he was enjoying himself. He watched Héloïse and Selene sharing excited whispers about the latest story of the Muggle detective they were so keen about, while Brady was bickering with Siobhan over one thing or the other, and Lysander was busy trying to place Alan on top of Carolyn’s head, who told him very sternly to stop it if he didn’t want a swig of Veritaserum served with his next meal.
Happy that his and Ethel’s friends seemed to be having a good time, Jim sat down on one of the blankets, partly because he wanted to eat something, and partly because he needed a step back from the hustle and bustle.
It wasn’t long, however, before Ethel spotted him. She walked over to him, jumping into the air with each step, and slumped down onto the blanket beside him.
“Aren’t you enjoying yourself?” she wanted to know. For a very brief moment, concern flickered over her freckled face. “Because I did my very best to make this fun for both of us. Look, I even invited that horrible friend of yours,” she said and pulled a face in Lysander’s direction; he stuck his tongue out at her in response before turning away.
“No, uhm, I just needed a short break,” Jim answered and set down his plate. “You, er… you did a great job, Effy, you know? I’m having fun, I think… It’s a lovely birthday party, really… so thank you. I, uhm, I didn’t expect this, to be honest.”
“But why?” Ethel asked; she looked truly baffled at his words.
“We’re just so… uhm, how do I say it… we’re just so different, you and I. I’m quiet and, er, shy, I guess and you’re so… loud and popular and we’re just not much alike.”
Ethel dipped her head back and laughed loudly. “I’m not popular, Jim,” she sniggered, “I just don’t leave people alone. Tell them you’re friends often enough and they end up believing it,” she grinned and waved to Cledwyn, who rolled his eyes and looked away. “There’s nothing more to it than that. I bet you could do it, too.”
But Jim shook his head. “I’m not really so sure of that... I think.”
Ethel nudged him into the side with her shoulder. “Give yourself more credit. You’re my twin brother after all, that has to account for something. If this is any help, we may be polar opposites, but you’re still my favourite person in this world.”
“Uhm, what about Selene?”
Ethel pursed her lips. “Okay, maybe it’s a tie.”
Jim had to smile at that. Remembering something, he reached into the inside pocket of his jacket and pulled out a piece of parchment, tied to a scroll with a crimson piece of ribbon.
“Happy Birthday, Effy,” he said, for once without a stutter.
Ethel’s eyes went wide when she saw the picture Jim had drawn for her. It showed the two of them, laughing with each other. Ethel, despite being smaller than Jim, had his head in a headlock and was ruffling his hair while he was trying to escape, but he was laughing just as much as she was. The drawn versions of themselves were moving over the parchment in fluent motions. Jim had asked for Héloïse’s help with enchanting it; with his French still being awful, it had been one of the most awkward and complicated conversations in his entire life.
“It’s beautiful, Jim, thank you,” she said and flung her arms around his neck. When she let go, she looked a little sheepish. “Now I feel stupid for what I got you, although I’m pretty sure you can need it.”
With a wink, she produced her own gift. Jim could see she had wrapped it in her typical Ethel-style, with way too much wrapping paper and loads of colourful ribbons; one of them looking suspiciously like the hair tie their grandmother had gotten Ethel for Christmas. He blushed deeply when he read the cover of the small red book the parcel contained:
101 Foolproof Ways to a French Witch’s Heart - A Guide for Modern Gentlemen
“Effy… that… um… you… why…” Jim stuttered, his face a deeper shade of red than the Gryffindor banners hanging from the wooden tower behind Ethel.
His twin sister only sniggered. “Read it and thank me later.”
She got to her feet and pulled Jim along, motioning to the entrance of the pitch, where Selene was in the process of levitating a giant birthday cake onto the field. It had enchanted lion and badger figurines on top; the lion was throwing tiny pieces of cake after the badger, who caught it with its mouth.
“Come on now, dear brother,” she said as she linked arms with him and half marched, half dragged him across the lawn towards their friends. “We have a cake to cut.”
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Excuse me Orange. I have seen the posts of Makoto interacting with class 77 and as much as I would love to hear about it I'm really curious about how a relationship with class 79 and Makoto would be. More specifically Makoto and Kokichi.
Yes this is because I can't get the fic "Rosemary" out of my head. In summary, Makoto loses his memories and becomes a counsellor at a school in Germany after meeting Rantaro and adopts Kokichi. Besties Rantaro and Makoto with the disaster child that is Kokichi.
Hello anon! Thank you ever so much for being so polite and patient with me :). This post has been a long time coming, and people have requested it ever since I made those class 77 headcanons. I put it off partly because I was worried I wouldn't do the V3 characterisation justice. I based a lot of this off the wiki info, so I highly encourage anyone to add their thoughts or counter if they think of something different!
(Also since pre-game personalities are basically non-existent outside of headcanons, this is based off their killing game personas)
Makoto is excited to greet another school year, and some underclassmen along with it! With all the... interesting characters (turned friends) he's encountered in both his own and the above year, he can only wonder what the new students will be like...
Kaede- out of all the protagonists, I'd say Kaede shares the most similarities with Makoto, moreso than his own sister. These two would definitely get along and make a great tag team- watch out Hope's Peak, because these two will have befriended you before you know it! Makoto definitely admires Kaede's straightforwardness and her optimistic nature. They act as great support for each other if tag teaming another person/persons, as Kaede is bolder then Makoto, whilst Makoto acts well as a medium. They're both extremely loyal, arguably to a fault. Both Kaede and Makoto have lied in a class trial to protective their friend (a detective each time too, lmao). Apparently she also lied for his sake in the demo, which is sweet. I feel like they'd connect well over their mutual optimism and kind hearts. I think Makoto would convince Kaede to step out of her comfort zone- socially, she's very bold, but she strays away from activities that could affect her piano playing (by hurting her fingers) and can waste away a lot of time in the practice room. She misses out on a lot of potentially fun activities that way. On an outing with some others, she accidentally cuts her finger, and whilst Makoto apologises and tells her she was right to be cautious, she waves him aside. Despite being unable to play the piano for a few days, she fills her time with other activities and it actually... doesn't bother her so much. As an 'ordinary person', Makoto helps a lot of talented students by opening their eyes to seeing that their identity doesn't revolve around their talents. In return, Kaede offers to teach Makoto whilst he spends time with her in the practice room. Whilst piano is her favourite, she knows how to play other instruments, and teaches Makoto the violin (maybe you think he'd play a different instrument but violins are my favourite so I'm going with that-). They even practice together, and whilst Kaede still practices nearly every day, she finds that it can actually be even more fun with company.
Shuichi- ah yes, yet another detective. Makoto was initially surprised that they'd accepted another Ultimate Detective, since there's normally only one ultimate at a time in the school (aside from Luck, which is decided each year with a raffle or draw or whatever). It's revealed that Shuichi is actually undergoing part of a new tutoring programme, in order to increase the number of people with talents especially useful to society. He's to be tutored by his upperclassman... *drumroll* Kyoko! Being close with Kyoko and with Kaede, Makoto sees a lot of Shuichi and befriends him too. He helps out with Shuichi's lack of confidence and feelings of inadequacy. Unlike Makoto, Shuichi has an obvious role model that he both aspires to and compares himself against. Unlike Kyoko, Shuichi is much more connected to and feels responsible for the people his detective work condemns. Whereas Kyoko is confident in her goal to obtain the truth, in totally neutrality, Shuichi is hesitant about it, unable to feel unbiased and take a neutral stand. Makoto convinces him this is a good thing, that feeling guilt is normal and is a sign of being a passionate and sympathetic soul. Shuichi doesn't have to be the kind of detective Kyoko is- sometimes that kind of compassionate and caring person is exactly the mindset people want. He also reassures Shuichi that as painful as the truth is, uncovering it means being able to eventually move on, and embrace hope. (He also tells Kyoko to maybe be a bit more... /welcoming/ in their lessons, and eventually Kyoko grows quite fond of her student, discovering a fondess for teaching she didn't know she had).
They're both very humble and polite, and whilst Makoto isn't reserved, he can be very passive. I think the two would appreciate having more of a calm relationship, typical of a 'normal' friendship that is often er- 'lacking' at Hope's Peak. With Kaede's help, Shuichi would open up to Makoto and others over time. I personally headcanon Shuichi to have an anxiety disorder and depressive bouts, so I think someone like Makoto would be a great support friend, for him to go to when he needs company and comfort, someone to listen and to understand, and vice versa to an extent. I like to imagine Makoto, Shuichi and Kaede often spend time together (with Hajime too protag gang ftw). Shuichi likes to study in the music room with them. He's already good at research, but the music actually helps him... enjoy it more. (Maybe he takes up an instrument too, to give him a hobby to focus on, hmm).
Kokichi- Kokichi Ouma. Kokichi Ouma... what do I even say? Trying to wrap my head around his character is like trying to clear the death road of despair in your first try. Still, I'll try my best!
I've seen a headcanon before (i dont remember by who, if you know lmk and I'll credit them) that Makoto via his unpredictable luck would be immune to Kokichi's pranks, and I think that'd set up a pretty good basis for their introduction. I think if Kokichi and Makoto had to describe the other in one word, it would be... "frustrating". At first glance, they're practically opposites- someone like Kokichi, who seems to breathe lies instead of air, and a person like Makoto, who's so honest and open it's almost stupid. Makoto doesn't like how Kokichi lies so much, even if it means people hating him. He almost seems to WANT people to hate him (I think he said once that honest people scare him more than strangers). Makoto has a tendency to break down even the most difficult characters (coughcoguuh class 78 coughcofuh), and that both scares but intrigues Kokichi. Makoto couldn't hate him if he tried (literally the only person he ever even /disliked/ was Junko. Not /hate/, but just /dislike/? Really???), and it frustrates Kokichi that Makoto is so willing to trust him and put faith in him. Makoto isn't blindly optimistic either, he genuinely believes in people, and I think Kokichi would feel envious towards being able to trust so... freely. Part of Kokichi's childish and carefee personality and his perchance for lies is the manifestation of his desire for freedom. If no-one knows what he's thinking, if no one can guess his moves, if no one can use emotions or weaknesses against him, and he can do whatever he wants, isn't that freedom? Except it isn't. By not letting his guard down and being honest with people, in a way, Kokichi's lies have left him trapped, unable to open up out of a fear of vulnerability. Whilst Kokichi would be initially suspicious of Makoto, maybe even distrustful of or uncomfortable around his personality, I think having such a grounded, honest individual whom he can /rely/ on would be... comforting. Kokichi would warm up to him, and see that with Makoto, what you see is what you get. He's above all else, a /genuine/ person, though certainly not an ordinary one, and Kokichi learns to respect and even admire that. Kokichi intentionally pushes people away to avoid expressing vulnerability, by being intentionally unlikeable, but even so I think he's lonely. Pushing away others isn't out of a true desire to be alone (it never is), but a defense mechanism. That tactic wouldn't work on Makoto, and so Makoto could become someone who Kokichi not only considers a friend, but who wholeheartedly returns the sentiment.
Makoto isn't sure what to think of Kokichi at first. He's heard so much about this terrifying new student, an overlord of a secret underground organisation with roots all over the globe... and yet the first time they meet Kokichi is trying to drop a bucket of custard on him. I don't think Makoto would like how Kokichi lies so much- especially about things like killing people or sending them away to never be seen again. It upsets him how Kokichi can joke about it, and how he seems to enjoy toying with people's feelings. When Makoto has a goal, he'll follow it through to the end, so when he's determined to break through Kokichi's walls... well, it's not easy at first. He's also willing to keep Kokichi company and give him attention and hear him out, which Kokichi admittedly likes. Whilst Makoto isn't a pushover, he's also not going to threaten Kokichi or retaliate with mean words, he genuinely listens and entertains Kokichi even though he knows Kokichi is messing with him, which is.. really nice, actually. Even if he tries he can't really shake Makoto that much (pls after all the other -weirdos- people he's met?). Like oh-? They have to duel to the death with yu-gi-oh cards? It's lucky Makoto brought his stack with him! Kokichi orders him to play tea party with him? He loved playing it with Komaru when she was younger and was sad when she stopped! Kokichi tricks him into eating a really gross weird food? How did you know that was a family favourite! Kokichi is fond of Makoto, and is desperate to keep Makoto's attention on him, whilst at the same time not wanting to reveal his true feelings, leading to plenty of complicated situations. Eventually they reach a breaking point (i love drama ok) and whilst Makoto doesn't lash out at him, exactly, he admits that maybe it's best he leaves Kokichi alone, believing that maybe Kokichi truly is content to be the way he is. It's this event that causes Kokichi to realise that Makoto really is someone he'd rather not hurt- that he doesn't just 'like' him but truly cares for him. From then on he tries to dial it down a bit, and Makoto comes to understand how Kokichi's lying and 'cruelty' stems from a place of insecurity and fear of trust. He promises to be a person Kokichi can trust, to show him that vulnerability doesn't have to mean gettint hurt. Whenever the two are around each other all kind of wacky hijinks are bound to ensure, really. Kokichi loves having someone around to not only give him attention, but want to as well, and Makoto enjoys how Kokichi is willing to spend time with and entertain him, pushing him and supporting him in ways that he didn't realise initially. They both find the other extremely interesting, and their encounters usually lead to significant changes in their relationship and mindsets.
I like to imagine they'd spend time playing games and fanboying together- Kokichi adores video games, and it always poses a challenge going against Makoto's luck, which is great for someone competitive as he is. Kokichi also seems a fan of the shounen genre, and 'basic' Makoto is the only other person in the school aside from Hifumi and Tsumugi to even watch anime so you know those two nerds geek out constantly. Kokichi likes to play other kinds of games with Makoto too- and they really like word games- especially two truths one lie. Makoto is... suprisingly good at it. He's pretty poetic, and his genuineness makes it hard to disbelieve him. Which makes it all the more fun when going against Kokichi!
Rantaro- how would these two describe each other in 5 words? "A breath of fresh air". They're both some of the "normal-est" in the school tbh. It's really great for both of them to have someone to do normal teen stuff with. They love going shopping together, hanging out at cafes and arcades. They actually meet when looking for a birthday present for their sister(s). They both reach for the same one before apologising and insisting the other have it. Rantaro insists Makoto take it, since, well, it's not like /his/ sister would get it anytime soon... confused, Makoto asks why and somehow Rantaro ends up confessing the whole thing about his sisters' disappearances, and how he always buys a present for each of their birthdays, waiting for the day when he can give them to them in person. (Pls why does this always end up with makoto counselling the students akdhsjsj-). Makoto could definitely sympathise, having a younger sister of his own. I think they'd bond over that "older brother" role they share, and Makoto would definitely help alleviate some of Rantaro's guilt. I like to imagine that Makoto, whilst being a 'typical teenage boy', also has a lot of feminine interests that he might be a bit insecure about. I love the idea of Rantaro encouraging him to embrace that (guy has like 12 sisters, he gave up feeling shy about makeup, nail polish, jewellery and dressing up in tiaras years ago). Rantaro is the first person to paint Makoto's nails and he loves it so much-!!! They go out for boba together and wear matching green nail polish pls its awesome. Rantaro also tells Makoto stories from when he was travelling and its also amazing- Makoto loves hearing all about it, and Rantaro is actually an incredible storyteller. Though Rantaro initially adventured to find his sister(s), he remembers why he loved travelling in the first place, and he's able to look back fondly on those memories that used to be clouded with the despair of his sisters' disappearance. They even go on vacation together to a tropical island at some point (maybe with friends). I'd like to say Makoto's luck might even lead to them finding one of the sisters, but maybe that's a bit too coincidental ahaha.
Miu- hmm. I think Makoto would be a little put off at first by her vulgarity and very openly sexual and crude behaviour. It's not that he dislikes her, he just isn't really sure... how to react around her? Her and Kaede don't get along, and Makoto often finds himself playing peacemaker when he stumbles upon their arguments. To his surprise, though, she seems to actually... like it when they fight? In fact- she seems to like it when people give her the time of day at all, really. Maybe she's just... lonely? And well, she can be a bit... um- /obnoxious/, but she can't be that bad! Making him go to see her weird (weird) inventions, that must be her way of reaching out and trying to spend time with him, right?
And then she starts calling him "Ma-crap-to", "Naegidiot", "Makusoto", and "Na-unchi"
nevermind she sucks
Makoto, with his saintly patience, would probably end up getting closer to her similar how Shuichi does in his FTEs. (I'll be honest there's not much difference I can think of akdjsjjssksj-)
Kaito- Kaito! Who doesn't love Kaito. It's no secret Kaito thinks himself the centre of the Universe (insert space joke here haha)- he's the protagonist of his own life, and luckily for him, Makoto fits quite nicely into the sidekick role. Both of them are passionate, with big hearts and strong spirits. Kaito is really good at seeing through people too- (idk how accurate this is but apparently in the wiki it says he sees that Nagito isn't interested in his talent or him as a person so much as him as a symbol). Whilst Makoto obviously has a lot of respect and admiration for all the talented students, I feel like it's a lot more... genuine? In a way that he can appreciate the person behind the talent, more than the talent itself. Kaito is someone who likes to inspire people and I think this would resonate with him. I think the two could seriously get along! They're both hopeless (haha) romantics and stupidly optimistic lmao. Kaito can be a little hotheaded at times, so I also like the idea that Makoto could calm him down, or at least reel him in a bit. He's stubborn when it comes to... um.. certain types of people (kokichi) so maybe Makoto could open his mind a bit.
Maki: MAKI ROLLLL. Ok I'm sure she'd probably have to hide her talent until it all came out at some point. I think Makoto is someone who's very against killing (even Junko he believed there was a better way for), so whilst he wouldn't agree with her talent, I think he wouldn't hold it against Maki, especially because he's very good at separating person from talent. Makoto is very understanding, and I think that like with Kaito, he would try to befriend her and open her up. He'd probably feel bad for her, not knowing what a "normal" life was like, so he'd try his best to do that. I think Maki in turn would appreciate that, and slowly get to know him like she did with Kaito and Shuichi. (She also likes complaining to him about Kaito lmao).
(he also takes her out for sushi so she can see for herself what a harumaki is LOL)
I'm sorry anon, this is as far as I could go aksnjjssj. When I feel up to it I'll try and make a part 2 to this, but I hope this is good for now?
(Also that fic sounds awesome and I'll definitely have to read it at some point)
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izzyfandoms · 4 years
Text
Like Lipstick Stains On His Skin
SHIPS: Remile
CHARACTERS: Emile Picani, Remy Sanders
WARNING: Anxiety, references to heartbreak
GENERAL TAGLIST: @quillfics42 @aj-draws @phantomofthesanderssides @phlying-squirrel @sly-is-my-name-loving-is-my-game @because-were-fam-ily @imtryingthisout @a-creepycookie @emo-disaster @littlestr @spooky-scary-virgil @fuyel @mimsidoodles @soupgremlin @aroaceagenderfluid @birdsbookshiddeninrealbirdsskin @quirkalurk @gingers-trashy-stuff @iinyxtello @justaqueercactus @melodiread @mrbubbajones @glassferns @pun-master-logan @gayturtlez @k1ngtok1
Masterpost
A Series Of Soulmate AUs Masterpost
Emile Picani had been in love with his best friend for as long as he could remember.
The moment he had first laid eyes on Remy Sanders, his initial thought had been that that was the most attractive person he’d ever seen. And, after getting to know him better, Emile’s thoughts only solidified; Remy was funny and sarcastic, smarter than anyone gave him credit for, and casually flirty in a way that made Emile’s heart stop and pound and ache all at once.
And Emile’s feelings had only strengthened as they grew up together.
From awkward teenagers still figuring out their sexualities to adults with their own homes and jobs and independent lives, Remy and Emile had stayed friends through it all, sticking together like glue since they’d first met in middle school. They knew almost everything about each other, and they were best friends.
But that was just it – they were friends. Nothing more.
And Emile was... fine with that. He was fine.
He loved Remy. Loved, loved, loved Remy.
And, sure, it hurt when he was with Remy, but not really with Remy, not in the way Emile always wanted to be. It hurt to be around him and know that it would only ever be platonic, that his best friend would never love him back in quite the same he loved him.
But time spent with Remy was better than time spent with anyone or anything else. And Emile knew that Remy cared deeply for him, too.
Emile could take the heartache if it meant he never lost his best friend.
When Emile heard the knock on his front door, he immediately recognised it as Remy’s. He jumped up – perhaps a little too enthusiastically and excitedly, but the only person that could see him right now was himself, so there was nobody around to judge. He rushed over to the door and pulled it open. Remy’s eyes lit up when he saw Emile, and he grinned.
Emile would never admit aloud to the tremble of his heart in his chest at the expression on his best friend’s face, but he did immediately squish down the traitorous hope that emerged every time Remy looked at him like that. Which happened almost every time they saw each other.
“Hey, Remy! You’re here early,” Emile said.
“Hope that’s chill, babe. I was not watching the time.”
(Emile did his best to ignore the feelings that the use of the nickname ‘babe’ stirred up.)
Remy’s sunglasses were propped up on his head, as they often were, and his warm brown eyes were on display. He was wearing his signature black leather jacket, too, as he usually was, with a white crop-top – with the word ‘bitch’ across the front in block capitals – underneath, exposing his midriff.
It took effort for Emile to keep his eyes from drifting downwards.
“It’s fine, Remy,” Emile smiled, keeping his gaze firmly fixed on his best friend’s face. “You’re always welcome here, you know that.”
Remy laughed. “If you keep saying that, I’ll end up showing up here at 4am when I’m drunk.”
“Well, I would rather you came here than go somewhere else and get yourself hurt.”
“Even if that means I wake you up from whatever candy-coloured, cartoon-filled dreams you’re having?”
“Mhm!”
“Damn, gurl, you really are sweeter than sugar, huh? How the hell did someone like you end up being besties with someone like me?”
“Aww, Remy, I think you give yourself too little credit.”
Remy laughed again. “Nah, babes, I love myself. I’m just kinda an asshole sometimes.”
“Isn’t everyone sometimes?” Emile said.
“Not you, apparently. Come on, you’re basically an angel, like, 24/7 and I have legit no idea how you do it. You’ve got the patience of a saint and a smile that literally gives me toothache just looking at it. You’re downright adorable.”
Elation bubbled up in Emile’s heart, and those bubbles filled his chest and spilled over in the forms of happy giggles. He covered his smile with his hand, and practically melted on the spot at the soft, fond look that crossed Remy’s face for just a moment – almost unnoticeable, but Emile paid enough attention that he saw it – before being replaced with Remy’s usual grin.
“Do you want to come in?” Emile asked, still smiling.
“Sure.”
Emile stepped to the side, and Remy’s arm brushed against his own as he walked past him. He hoped the stuttered breath at the contact wasn’t obvious.
“I like the new tie,” Remy commented as Emile shut the door and turned to face him.
Emile perked up. “Oh, you noticed!”
“Course I did,” Remy said. “I’ve seen every tie you’ve got like a million times. I could tell that one was new basically as soon as you opened the door.”
“Aww, Remy... you’re great. The best friend a guy could have!”
Emile’s smile was soft, fond, and so, so caring, and – for just a moment – he could have sworn that Remy looked flustered to be the recipient of it: wide-eyed and as still as a statue. But then, the moment passed, and Remy’s expression smoothed over and returned to normal, and Emile was sure that he’d only imagined it.
“It’s nothing, babe,” Remy said, waving his hand dismissively. “You noticed when I got that new skirt last week, even though it’s identical to my old one-”
“Your old one had a big hole in it! The new one didn’t.”
“Yeah, so I had to get a new one ‘cos it made my ass look great and I wasn’t ‘bout to give that shit up, you know? Ooh, and I especially love it paired with those heels that get everyone looking at my legs, ‘cos that combo makes me look fab AF.” Remy paused. “You know what, I think that’s kinda beside the point. Any-gay, you noticed ‘cos you’re cool like that, so me noticing your tie is, like, nothing.”
“Aww, Remy,” Emile reached forward, and poked Remy’s arm. “It’s not nothing, most people wouldn’t even be able to tell! You’re my best friend, and it makes me really, really happy that you notice these kinds of things.”
Remy’s expression softened. “Well, then I guess it makes it pretty special then, huh?”
Emile felt like screaming. Or kissing Remy. Or kissing Remy and then screaming.
(Though, really, if Emile ever got the chance to kiss Remy, he’d be too busy savouring it to even think of doing anything else. Too busy savouring the feeling of warm lips against his own, of Remy’s gentle hand against his cheek, of a chest pressed against his own, of being so close to the one person he wanted to be close to more than anything else in the world. But he never thought he’d ever get the chance.)
Emile stumbled over his words, awkwardly shifting from one foot to the other as he fiddled with his hands. He had no idea how he was supposed to respond to that, and wasn’t sure if he even could without losing control of his mouth and accidentally confessing his undying love for his best friend.
“Um...” he trailed off.
Remy laughed awkwardly, running his fingers through his hair and glancing away.
“So, uh... what did- what did your patients think of your new tie?”
“Oh!” Emile perked up again, at once both disappointed and relieved by the return to the original topic of conversation. “Yeah, two of them complimented it. And someone said the red was a nice change from the usual pastels, so I think it was a big hit!”
He smiled, and Remy immediately smiled back.
“Nice.”
“I think the pink tie’s still my favourite, though.”
“Mine, too. It’s a classic Emile colour.”
Emile laughed. “There are classic Emile colours?”
“Sure, there are! You’ve got your baby pink, baby blue and, you know,” Remy reached out, tugging gently on Emile’s cardigan sleeve. “You’ve got your cardigan-colour. I’ve, like, barely ever seen you without this thing. How many of these do you have? Like, a hundred?”
Emile giggled again, covering his mouth with his hand. “I have two. And they’re both a little different!”
“Right, right,” Remy nodded. “One’s, like, a little bigger.”
“Mhm! And this one’s a bit softer.”
Remy nodded again, slowly and with an amused tint to his smile. “So, are we gonna, like, move, or are we gonna stand in your hallway forever?”
“Oh, right!” Emile said, like he’d only just remembered that they were still stood at his front door.  
He moved past Remy, gesturing for his friend to follow as he went into the next room and sat down on the couch. Remy immediately flopped onto it beside him, getting comfortable on the soft, squishy cushions. He leant back lazily and stretched.
“Ooh,” Remy finally said, straightening up. “I bought a new lipstick yesterday!”
“Ooh, what colour?”
“It’s, like, pink. It matches the shoes I bought last week, and it makes me look killer. I’m gonna get all the guys’ eyes on me, so it sucks that I can’t wear it when I’m, like, actually looking to kiss strangers, you know?”
Emile ignored the pang of pain in his heart, and did his best to smile encouragingly.
“Yeah, you’ve mentioned,” he said. “I- I bet you look great in it. And it- it's a shame you can’t wear it when you want to.”
“Yeah, I’m kinda tempted to, you know, but, like, if I’m wearing lipstick, then I won’t know if any marks my lips make are ‘cos of my lipstick or ‘cos of soulmate shit, right?” Remy continued, gesturing vaguely with his hand. “And, like, what’s the pointing of making out with people if I can’t also know if they’re my soulmate?”
“Right.”
“So, I can only wear lipstick when I’m not looking for people to kiss. Sucks, but it’s gotta be done.”
Emile nodded slowly. Then, he paused, and his brow creased in thought.
“You don’t usually wear lipstick when you’re with me,” he said. “Even when we’re going out and it’s just us, no- no kissing strangers involved. How come?”
Remy froze in place.
“Uh...”
Emile blinked at him. He tilted his head questioningly. “Hmm?”
He could practically see the cogs turning in Remy’s head, while he searched for an answer that he obviously did not have or did not want to share. He looked... flustered, in a way that Emile had almost never seen him before – opening and closing his mouth a few times – and Emile just couldn’t seem to figure out why.
Remy and Emile just stared at each other, neither knowing quite what to say to the other. Emile was confused, not wanting to speak up at the risk of interrupting whatever Remy wanted to say. He also absolutely would not let his mind wander to the any possibilities that would fill him with hope.
A crushed hope was definitely not something Emile wanted to deal with, not right now.
Remy cleared his throat. He swallowed.
“Um- there’s...” he then huffed, looking down at his lap and running his fingers through his hair. He let out an awkward laugh, and then looked back up at Emile. “I... okay,” he sighed. “There’s something I think I should probs tell you.”
Emile stared at him, blinking. “What is it?” He asked.
“It, uh...” Remy sighed again. “I have no idea how you’d react to this. The thing I want to tell you... it could probs mess up our friendship.”
“Remy...” Emile said softly. “You’re my best friend. You can tell me anything, and I promise you this won’t mess anything up, okay?”
“You don’t even know what I’m about to say.”
“I don’t need to. I know you.” Emile leant forward slightly, giving Remy his best attempt at a soft, reassuring smile.
Remy stared at Emile for a second. Then he laughed again, a strange mix of awkwardness and nervousness and with a hint of slight joy, too – with a confusing, even a little alarming, effect. His eyes never left Emile’s smile.
“Jeez, babe. How are you making this so much harder but so much easier at, like, the same time?”
Emile blinked. “Um... is that good?”
“Dunno. But...” Remy took a deep breath. He clenched his hands into fists, looking up at the ceiling for a moment before he turned back to Emile. “Okay... wow, I’ve wanted to tell you this for forever, but, like, fuck, this is terrifying.”
Emile’s expression creased with concern. He reached forward, looking him over worriedly, and rested his hand on his best friend’s shoulder, squeezing reassuringly.
“Remy, are you okay? You don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to,” he frowned slightly.
“No, I- I want to tell you. God, you have no idea how many times I’ve thought about telling you about my feelings.”
Feelings. Feelings, feelings, feelings.
Did that mean what Emile thought it meant?
The hope rose up, though he tried so hard to squash it down, but it was like trying to fit something large in a container too small and he could hardly keep it from filling up and overwhelming him. His breath stuttered, and he was sure he tensed up and froze in place for a moment, before he finally regained his composure and physically relaxed.
“Feelings?” He asked, in a voice slightly more strangled than before. “What feelings?”
Remy let out a bark of laughter. “Yeah, that’s- that’s what I’ve gotta talk to you about. My- my feelings... for you.” He took another deep breath. “I... I love you, Em.”
“I love you, too,” Emile answered back immediately. “Haven’t we said this before?”
They had. The two best friends had been friends for so long: exchanging ‘I love you’s was practically part of their routine, by now.
But it had always been platonic, at least from Remy’s side.
Right?
“We- we have...” Remy said slowly. “But that’s not what I meant. I love you. Like, love love. Like the head over heels in love kind. The- the I can never stop thinking ‘bout you kind. The, fuck, you’re so gorgeous kind. The kind that means I’m, like, basically always thinking about you and about kissing you and about how, wow, you’re- you’re just amazing. I mean, damn, I know last week when I told you that you’re my favourite person, I kinda said it like a joke, but I meant it. I like really, really meant it.”
When Remy realised that he was rambling, he clamped his hand over his mouth, like it was the only way to get the words – the pretty, pretty words that had set Emile’s heart aflutter – to stop tumbling out.
Emile was frozen.
He stared, wide-eyed at his best friend.
“Oh,” was the only thing he could say, in a strangled voice.
He was sure that his face was already bright red.
“Great.” Remy sighed, removing his palm from his mouth and burying his face in his hands. “I’ve really fucked this up, haven’t I?” He mumbled just loud enough to be audible. “I- I know you don’t feel the same way, babe, and it’s fine. It’s totally, totally fine. I’m happy just being friends with you, ‘kay? You- you don’t have to return anything. It’s- it’s whatever. It’s chill.”
Emile’s brain had broken. He could hardly think anything other than the words ‘Remy’ and ‘love’ just over and over on repeat.
Instead of saying anything in response to that – as he wasn’t even sure if he could – he just suddenly burst into nervous, delighted laugher. Emile was sure he sounded like he was crazy, especially when Remy turned to him with a bewildered expression.
“Did- did you really mean that?” Emile asked when he could finally collect his thoughts enough to speak, which took slightly longer than he would have liked it to.
Remy blinked. Then, his expression softened.
“Of course, I did,” he said. “I’d never lie to you about something like this, Em.”
“So, you... you really mean it?” Emile asked hopefully.
“Yeah. Yeah, I did,” Remy said. He hesitated for a moment, before nervously adding: “Do you- I mean, is it-”
“I love you, too.”
There was a beat.
Remy stared back at him, wide-eyed. The moment of silence was somehow simultaneously nerve-racking and also soft and so, so exciting, because, oh my gosh, Remy loved him. Remy loved him, he loved him, he loved him!
Love! Love! Love!
And, oh, heavens above, Emile was about to start wiggling excitedly because, gosh, he really, really just had to kiss Remy, right now. And maybe – maybe, maybe, maybe – Remy would say yes if he asked.
Emile let out another giggle, covering his mouth with his hand.
“You... you do?” Remy asked, eyes wide and hopeful, and Emile was suddenly glad that the sunglasses were propped up on his head, as his expression was always much easier to read that way.
“Yeah,” Emile responded, equally soft. “I really, really do.”
“Wow. Just- just wow.”
Emile reached forward, impulsively cupping Remy’s cheek with his hand, and Remy froze. His eyes widened to the size of dinner plates.
“Oh, gosh- sorry,” Emile apologised. “I should’ve asked-”
He moved to take his hand away, but was stopped by Remy covering Emile’s hand with his own.
“You’re good- you're- yes. Yes.”
And, well, that was exactly the answer that Emile had wanted to hear.
He leant forward, and finally – finally! – did the thing he’d most wanted to do for years. Years. Since the moment he’d first laid eyes on Remy, he’d thought about it.
He kissed Remy.
Softly. Carefully. Holding Remy’s face so delicately like he was holding something precious.
And the way Remy was kissing him back...
Emile had seen Remy kiss people before – strangers, friends – and he’d always kissed them like he was doing it for fun, not love. He’d never seen Remy kiss anyone as gently as Remy was kissing him, right now.
Bubbles of delight and fireworks of excitement were going off in Emile’s heart and his mind.
He sighed happily into the kiss, and he could suddenly feel Remy smile against his lips.
Emile broke the kiss with another delighted giggle and Remy couldn’t help but just start laughing with him, too. And, of course, that just made Emile’s giggles louder and more enthusiastic.
He was so focused on the laughing and the delighted feeling in his chest from the fact that he had just kissed Remy, that Emile didn’t immediately notice that Remy’s lips were suddenly pink – a light, pastel pink that certainly hadn’t been there before.
And, in fact, it was Remy who halted the laughter first, by freezing in place and staring – yet again wide-eyed – at Emile’s own lips.
Emile paused, and tilted his head in confusion.
“Remy?”
Remy opened and closed his mouth a few times, never taking his eyes off of Emile’s lips.
“Em... your- your lips.”
Emile blinked. He reached a hand up to his own lips, and swiped a finger across them. He then looked back down at his hand, and found nothing – no blood, no anything.
He paused, and then turned his head to look at the mirror that hung on an opposite wall.
His eyes landed on his reflection, and he finally noticed that there was a smear of shiny silver across his lips that definitely, definitely hadn’t been there before.
Emile sucked in a breath as Remy turned his head to look into the mirror, and he realised that Remy’s lips were now a lipstick-like pink, when he certainly hadn’t been wearing any just before the pair had kissed.
“We’re-” Remy started.
“Oh,” Emile breathed.
“Oh,” Remy echoed.
They turned their heads to stare at each other, equally wide-eyed and shocked and excited.
Soulmates.
They were soulmates.
And then Remy surged forward, and kissed Emile again.
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silvia7272 · 4 years
Text
ML Salt ~ The Cardigan Story
This is based on a true story.
Honestly, I always remembered this story because it constantly made my Sister and Mum laugh when I told them I outed a liar at school by wearing a cardigan, they were so proud of me because what I did wasn’t mean and I wasn’t even doing it out maliciousness so I thought, hey why not put it in the ML universe?
This isn’t canon to my main series so no Rosina since there isn’t any need for her, sorry sweetie.
And since I doubt Mlle Bustier would never out Lila, I’m changing the teacher to someone who actually has a backbone.
Word Count: 2303
Tags: @queenmj10, @fangirl39, @animegirlweeb, @northernbluetongue,��@maribat-is-lifeblood, @raisuke06, @indecisive-mess-named-me, @luleck, @themotherofhogwarts, @more-or-less-human-i-guess, if you wish to be tagged all you have to do is say. Also, if you change your name please tell me, I don’t want to leave you out since you’ve asked to be tagged.
I know you may not wish to be tagged for one-shots, but I thought you might enjoy some salt I was able to come up with.
Also, I wrote this in one day so I’m extremely proud of myself.
***
If you told Marinette that Lila’s reign over the school would end over a cardigan, she would tell you you’re as crazy as she was about Adrien.
A lot.
But, she did just that.
She had to thank Adrien really, the ‘advice’ he gave her was what really pushed her.
She wouldn’t outright expose her, no, she had tried that before and look where that got her, near expulsion that’s what. And not one of her friends tried to stick up for her. She always remembered that glare Alix gave her, and since then she had been ignored, turned away by them.
Even after Lila came out with ‘the truth’ she was still seen as an overly jealous girl.
“Lila’s promised she hasn’t lied about anything else she’s said to us, it only acts up around people she doesn’t know as well, maybe next time, instead of being jealous you should give her a chance and stop being a baby. Girl this all could’ve easily been avoided if you weren’t so Adrien crazy”
Really? They actually believed that load of crap?
Whatever, Marinette was done, done with everyone.
If they wanted to show her how wrong she was then she’d let them wait until hell would frost over, because fat chance that would ever happen.
If Marinette was proud of one thing about her then it would have to be her stubbornness to get to the truth.
And she could be extremely patient.
***
It was just an average day at Collège Françoise Dupont. There weren’t any Akuma’s caused by anyone the previous day so Marinette was finally able to have a good night’s rest, something the exhausted teenager really missed.
She felt so re-energised she danced in the kitchen as she made breakfast without a care in the world.
.
Before she fell over that was.
“…Owww”
“Careful dear, you wouldn’t want to be hurt before school hours, now just sit tight and I’ll get you something to eat,” Her Maman said. Marinette felt grateful. After breakfast, she gave her Parents a kiss before leaving.
She had loving parents that supported her every beck and call.
…Well most of the time, but that didn’t matter, she would never let Lila manipulate them ever, her Parents were off-limits.
By the time she arrived at school she was one of the first ones there, Nathaniel in the back drawing his comics, texting Marc as well, it seemed like he was in his own ‘do not disturb’ bubble. Max was talking to Markov about some new type of game, and Rose and Juleka were just cuddling.
She made her way to the back feeling a positive emotion before exhaling.
Because it was about to be ruined.
Lila walked in with Alya, Nino and Adrien by her side.
She was telling a story about her ‘one of a kind cardigan-
Wait-
“My Grandmother made this cardigan especially for me carving her signature on as well, it’s the only one in existence because shortly after she made this, she ended up being in a terrible accident that left her bedridden.” They pandered to her of course. But for once she wasn’t focusing on the lie but the cardigan.
Oh, Lila’s only gone and done it now.
“I’ve always wanted to wear it, but I didn’t want it to end up ruined by someone” Her gaze casually went up to a lone bluenette, but she really wasn’t bothered.
“Don’t worry girl, I’ll keep a watchful eye on your cardigan for you. Ain't nothing gonna come between me and my besties property” They hugged before sitting down in their spaces.
‘Oh my god, I have a plan’ Marinette had that thought circled around her head until break. It was all she thought of.
Mind you, she wasn’t trying to expose everything she’d done, just that one lie. And that would be enough.
As soon as the bell rang, she was ready, she gathered her stuff and rushed home.
And thank god as well, Lila would not shut up about that cardigan, through Literature, Science and PE, it was constantly my Grandmother made it for me this, it’s the only one of its kind that.
Ugh, she wanted to rip her ears out at some point but had to endure it. No one else was bothered since they all believed her, even the teachers!
Yeah, you don’t really need any proof if it was handmade, some of Marinette’s earlier stuff didn’t have her signature on, but still, it was the principle of the matter!
And she could right that wrong.
In her room she was frantically searching for that item as Tikki dodged different articles of clothing, one hit her as she wasn’t looking, and she was down for the count.
“Marinette what are you looking for?” Marinette paused to look back at Tikki before continuing a bit calmer.
“Lila’s been lying about that cardigan and this time I can prove it.” Her eyes lit up as she lifted a cardigan up from her cupboard.
“One of Maman’s friends gave this to me a few years back, it was one of the reasons I got into fashion because of how soft it is and I wanted to replicate that. Don’t you think it looks familiar?” As Tikki looked over it her eyes widened, she knew Lila was lying anyway but she had no idea Marinette had definitive proof of it.
“That’s the same cardigan Lila has!” Marinette nodded before wearing it.
At least it still fit.
“But Marinette I thought we were gonna take the high ground?”
“Tikki it's tiring having to listen to them being lied too. I may not want them to be my friends anymore, but I just want the lying to stop. If I go and tell them that she’s lying with this as evidence they’ll clearly see she’s lying”
“But outing her like that won’t make it better!” Marinette wished she could respond with ‘are you sure’ but didn’t want to piss the mini-god off.
“Fine, what if I just wear it until someone notices, that way I’m not actively looking to publicly shame her? Better?” Tikki gave a reluctant nod, she knew her chosen wouldn’t let up about the situation, besides this whole thing was really just pettiness, nothing too serious. If no one noticed nothing bad would happen.
“Bye Maman, bye Papa” As she began walking back, she grew a bit nervous with her plan.
What if Lila made a whole other lie about her cardigan? What if she lied that Marinette had stolen it out of jealousy and everyone would try to take hers? She’d have to run away and live with a secret identity, all before getting caught and going to prison, and she’d never have her three kids and her hamster named-
“Ahem Marinette, is thou there?” A hand brought her out of her trance
“Ahhh!” She waved her arms before composing herself and seeing D’Argencourt in front of her.
“Ah, yes Monsieur?” How long had he been standing there? How long had she been rambling in her head?
“As I was saying, these new garments of yours, where did they originate from?” It took her a while before realising he was talking about her cardigan, she was so used to wearing her jacket it felt strange she had changed.
“Ohh this, well it was a present from Maman’s friend. They were on sale a few years back, so I thought I’d wear it again” He furrowed his brow before telling her to carry on with whatever she was doing.
“Well, that was weird. Do you think he liked the jacket?” Tikki ponded as her head ever so slightly popped out the small handbag.
“He’s always been weird Tikki. But whatever, let's just get back to the classroom.” All she had to do was wait.
***
‘How the hell hasn’t anyone noticed yet?’ Marinette was secretly fuming in her mind right now. None of her classmates noticed the change in her outfit.
Not one.
Bustier did however, the bluenette was sure because she’d see her teacher quickly glance from Marinette to Lila but never said a word. Probably thinking of that whole, ‘be the bigger person’ crap.
And not even the excuse of maybe Bustier didn’t know, bs. By the time break happened everyone in the school knew about that damn cardigan so don’t get her started.
‘Oh well, looks like that’s it. My petty revenge came flat… At least Lila didn’t pull a Marinette ruined my belongings stunt’ That would’ve been the last thing she needed.
Knock Knock Knock
The door opened before Bustier could reply, a teacher would reprimand a student for this type of rudeness, but it wasn’t a student.
It was a teacher.
And it was Monsieur D’Argencourt.
‘What the-’ Marinette didn’t remember this part of the plan.
“Excuse me Caline, but I need to interrupt the class for an announcement.” Bustier was about to deny but D’Argencourt the stubborn teacher as he was, walked straight on through ignoring whatever Bustier would’ve said.
“Lila Rossi, may you please step in front of the classroom?” Lila looking completely confused let go off Adrien, much to the relief of the boy, and walked in front of her desk.
“Marinette Dupain-Cheng?” He didn’t need to repeat the command.
Yes, command not a request.
“Can I ask you where you got your cardigans from?”
“Armand, I don’t think this is appropriate-” He shot a glare back at the teacher.
“I can assure you this won’t take long if I’m not interrupted”
Lila looked over to Marinette and realised with a sinking feeling what was happening. But she would win this time. Just like all the others.
“My Grandmother made this specifically, you see-”
He held a hand up to silence her.
“Yes, that’s quite alright, and Marinette would you like to repeat what you said before?” As Marinette did just that Lila was seething, he cut her off. How dare that simpleton cut off Lila Rossi!
He would pay.
“Well, it appears one of you is lying, and I expect that person to own up to it now” The class gasped as they all looked expectedly at Marinette, they knew she was petty but to do this was so low.
Lila looked at her smugly, she had tried to play with fire but got burned in the process. How could she even think she’d get away with this?
“I was talking about you, Lila Rossi”
“Eh, what?” The class gasped as they tried to say of course Lila was innocent, Marinette was the one lying. Or that Marinette must’ve tricked him.
He shot a glare towards all the class members as they instantly shut up.
“I don’t remember this being a class discussion, if I want your opinion, I will ask for it. Understood?” They nodded before giving sympathetic glances towards the brunette, D’Argencourt almost had the urge to shout at their incompetence but alas they were kids.
“I can tell you why you are lying Lila, with a photo. But as I’m feeling generous, I will give you one more chance to reveal yourself.” The class was silent as they all looked on in anticipation.
But Lila stood her ground defiantly, as if he actually had proof-
Oh…
Oh no she’s doomed…
“Then I don’t suppose this looks familiar? Hmm?” On his phone was a picture. Lila immediately lowered her head, too ashamed to look him in the eye.
3 guesses of what it is?
No.
.
.
No one?
.
.
Too easy?
.
.
Ok, it was the cardigan.
And at a fairly cheap price. No wonder she had it in brand new condition.
“I first knew you were lying once I saw Marinette wear the exact same one, however, hers was clearly worn out, evidently she has worn it for several amount of years. You had already messed up when you said it was the only one made. So please…” Lila looked up to see D’Argencourt giving one of the most frightening glares of the century.
“Don’t ever lie about anything to my face or anyone ever again, you will be court out and I will be keeping an eye on you. Is that final?” She meekly nodded her head, trying to give a frightened appearance to make him have sympathy but he was immune.
“That will be all. I hope your class has learned a valuable lesson of not taking things at face value” And with that, he left. Leaving Marinette with a different impression of her PE teacher, it seemed he didn’t like liars all that much.
Marinette smiled, her plan worked, and she didn’t even out her herself. Tikki surely can’t be mad at her now.
Bustier tried to get the class to go back to normal but she couldn’t. The class erupted into a screaming fit, asking how Lila could lie about that sort of thing?
It wasn’t until someone unexpected said the next few words she wondered if this was a dream.
“Hey if Lila lied about this what else did she lie about? She even said herself she doesn’t lie to her friends but that was a lie” That made the class tick as they soon realised and soon torn into her about it.
Leaving Lila, a ‘sobbing mess’ on the floor. All before she stopped that fake display and arguing back.
But the one who said that…
Was Adrien.
He was able to slip by the crowd and stand next to Marinette.
No words were said, she knew what he would’ve said even without the noise.
‘I’m sorry’
It was a start, and maybe through time, she could start trusting again.
But for now, she just wanted to enjoy this chaos…
.
.
Before there was an Akuma alert.
***
I want more D’Argencourt I want more D’Argencourt I want more D’Argencourt. I probably screwed his speech but oh well this is salt, doesn’t have to be accurate.
Phew, hope you enjoyed it, sorry its shorter than the others but this happened when I was in Year 5 and I was 9/10 years old. Woo 10 years ago, god that makes me feel old. Also, not everything was exactly this way, the teacher did out the person in front of the whole class, but she admitted it and went back to her class, we had two classes for maths. Anyway, I actually have to give Lila credit compared to the liar we had at our school, this person actually knew I had that cardigan and actually complimented me on it like months earlier and still had the audacity to say that. I think that’s the reason why I think if I was in their world I wouldn’t believe Lila because I already had a Lila at my school who would always say they’ve done the exact same thing as we had (They even said they had the same Aunt as me living on the same street, crazy right). Mind you they never said anything to me, I think they were too embarrassed plus, I was a goody little two-shoes there.
Anyway I really hope you enjoy it and if you like real-life stories so much I can always try to ask my friends for more ideas, I did have like some slightly toxic friends there that I may be able to tell you about but I’ll try to think how later.
Cya next time.
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